Headaches Draft/Outline 1 (Patreon)

*slaps first draft on the table*

Alright so this is gonna need some tweaking and fine-tuning, but it's general how I want the story to go. As always, feedback and critique is greatly appreciated!

This is the rough outline for Headaches, the next chapter in our story. It follows Detective Pandora and Snare.

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 Twilight was worried. Fluttershy wasn't waking up.

Within the  Everfree Forest, a cache of drained crystal husks had been found.  Fluttershy's family and animals, being too close to the Everfree for  comfort, had been swiftly evacuated, placed under Twilight's direct protection,  while Discord patrolled the library's parameter, checking the wards,  conferring with the animal sentries. 

Twilight didn't remember the  last time she'd gotten a full night of sleep. 

This puzzle contained a  hundred pieces, but none of them fit together. Her scans yielded no  information. They had no leads.

"Mom!"

Twilight  startles. "Panny?" She breathes a sigh of relief, then gets angry. "Why  haven't you answered any of my summons? Don't you know what happened to  Fluttershy? To Midnight? There's a curfew in effect for a reason,  there's a dangerous criminal out there-"

"I know, mom." Pan holds up paws to placate. "I've been investigating."

"Investigating....?  Pandora, this isn't a matter of dressing up and playing detective. This  is serious. There's been a new victim. We believe Fluttershy only  barely escaped with her life."

"Auntie Shy?" Pan looks down at sleeping pegasus, covers mouth with paw in shock. "....Oh no. I didn't figure....I didn't think he'd go after one of you so early."

"He?" Twi's ears fold. "Who are you talking about?"

Pan's face became grim. "Moondancer."

Twilight jerked, then surged forward to slap her wing over Pan's mouth. "Keep your voice low." She  hissed. Her ears flicked to the door, where Starlight Glimmer's voice  could be heard, weaving with Sunset's in low, weary conversation. "There  are many here who would take any scrap of info and go crashing  right into the fray, reckless for revenge. Discord has been on edge as  well, but I can't have him or Midnight's mothers muddying the waters  with some emotionally charged attack. We've got to have a plan." Twilight pressed her feathers against Pan's muzzle, emphasizing the last word. "Everypony is looking to me now. I will not risk any more lives on some hunch,  Pandora." The alicorn's eyes grew hard. "Accusations are very dangerous  to throw around right now, Panny. So I'll ask you once, and only once- are you sure?"

"I have a witness, mom." Pan whispers, struggling a little in Twilight's hold. "Bertram."

"The corpse?" Twilight snaps. "A testimony of grunts and mumbles doesn't count, Panny. Betram has the intelligence of a border collie."

"I assure you, Bertram is as articulate as a law student. I granted him sapience."

"You did what?" Twilight's jaw drops. "Pandora Eris Sparkle, that's-"

"Yeah, I know, a direct violation of Ethics in Magic Code 87."  Pan scowls. "And you can be as mad as you want at me later, promise.  But right now, I've gotten us the only substantial piece of information  we have. Better than scrambling in the dark, right? Now we only have to do something about it."

".....But  it doesn't make any sense, Panny. Why would Moondancer go after  innocent ponies? How could he? A pony can't steal magic."

"That  stumped me too- but fortunately for us, Cupcake's the only pony in  Ponyville that ever paid attention to Maud's geology lectures." Pan  snapped her claws, and manifested a glittering piece of crystal. "Now  what we have here is-"

"Umbrage quartz." Twilight interrupted.  "It seems I've been ahead of your investigation for days now. We've  known from our first magic scans that Midnight- and now the others- have  had their bodies turned to quartz."

Pandora gave a sour look,  annoyed at having been interrupted. She steepled her paws together. "And  where is umbrage quartz typically found, Mother?"

"The  frozen North. We know from records that Queen Amore, the lost Crystal  Empress, was transformed into that very same crystal, before her body  was shattered and the pieces scattered to the winds." Twilight rubbed at  her temples. "....Panny, sweetheart, I know where you're going with  this, and I hate to dash your hopes, but...yes. We made the same  connection you did.....but King Sombra has nothing to do with this."

Pan looked crestfallen. "....What? But.....but how do you know?"

"Cadence  has had him under careful, covert observation since we first learned of  the crystal connection to Amore. Wards were placed to monitor any and  all magic use from his vicinity. Sombra is being watched- I receive a  report from Flash Sentry and his guards every hour on the hour. But as  ponies continued to go missing, Sombra did not leave his mountainside  home, not once."

".....No, that doesn't make any sense." Pan  frowned. "Moony can't.....Moony couldn't have just up and decided to  start plundering souls on his own, not without the influence of some  serious dark magic. Did anypony think to knock on Sombra's front door  and actually talk to him? Yo, King Sombrero, noticed anything weirdly sinister goin' on?"

Twilight glared, insulted. "....Sombra is neutral to ponykind at best, Panny. He and Tirek have made it very clear they are not to  be disturbed. Our truce with them is already uneasy- we don't want to  violate the terms of our agreement, not without necessity- and I'm  afraid barging into their home spewing accusations may not serve us well  at staying in their good favor."

"Good favor?" Pan echoed, incredulous. "Mom, when Tirek threatened Ponyville, you broke his jaw."

"Focus,  Pandora. We're going after a criminal. We don't need to involve former  ones." Twilight sighed. "....I'm working on a serum that I think will  bring Fluttershy back to consciousness. As soon as she's up and decently  recovered, we'll arrest Moondancer."

"Oh, of course, I nearly forgot-  friendship is magic and all that. Is that your plan? Prance into his  little lair and lead him out in hoofcuffs? What're you gonna do if he resists, Mom? Give him a lecture on ethics? Sing a song about rainbows?"

"Pandora.  That isn't helpful." Twilight growls, "...If he resists, we will have  no choice but to use the elements of harmony. He may need to be turned  to stone, or otherwise incapacitated, until we can figure out what to do  with him."

"Solid plan." Pan nodded. "But his little attack on  Fluttershy has me thinking- I'll bet he's already figured that he  doesn't need to disable all of you to nullify the elements. One is  enough."

"He won't get the chance." Twilight said firmly. 

"Oh,  sure, sure, the odds are in your favor, mom. There's six of you and  only one of him." Pan hovered in place, watching her mother like a cat.  "But Moondancer only has to get lucky once."

"Pandora-" 

"You  were our teacher, mom. You taught us about Equestria's enemies of the  past. All of them, even Dad, made the exact same error- underestimating  you little ponies. And Moony's already made that mistake, but who's to  say he'll make it again?" Pan mused, "If he's already come to terms with  stealing souls, with scheming to take down Fluttershy- who's to say he  hasn't come to terms with needing to kill? When you go to fight him, how  do you know he won't send a beam of magic right through one of your  little hearts?" She tapped a claw to Twilight's chest, letting the point  sink in.

"....You don't know that." Twilight said at last. "....Moondancer is a pony. Just a pony. Trixie's son."

"Luna  was just a pony too, Mom- and she tried to kill her sister, subject  Equestria to an endless night. Sunset Shimmer was just a pony, and she  tried to kill you." Pan rubbed her chin thoughtfully. ...My. Seems you ponies are awfully good at underestimating your capacity for evil."

"That's different!"  Twilight insisted. "They were under corrupting influences- in Luna's  case, the Nightmare, poisoning her mind, amplifying her jealousy- and in  Sunset's case, the demon she became- it was a manifestation of her own  greed and ambition- a monster outside her control-"

"Gotcha."  Pan's face split into a cheshire smile. "We therefore have to conclude  that Moondancer, poor, dumb, misguided little lamb that he is- is also  under some evil, seriously whacked-out bad juju. If Sombra did the same  to Queen Amore, I bet he knows how to reverse it. If Moony's under the  influence of dark magic, who better to talk to than the original king of  shadows?" 

"Panny, I know you want to help your friend, but-"

"Duh!" Pan yanked at her own ears, groaning in frustration. "Moondancer is my mess, Mom. He's a jealous, bitter little twerp, but he's my jealous, bitter little twerp, and no matter how much he loathes me, I know he'd never hurt a fly. He's just....not well." Pan smiled, a little strained. "He has to be."

Twilight glanced at where Fluttershy lay, unmoving, her body bruised and muddied. She frowned. "....Pandora-"

"I'll  go." Pandora pressed her paw to her chest. "To the mountainside of the  Crystal Empire. I'll go talk to Sombra. You need time to get Fluttershy  back up on her hooves, and it's not like Dad's willing to do anything  more than watch her perimeter like a guard dog. Nopony else has gone  missing since Fluttershy, right? Moony's lying low, if he knows what's  good for him. Let me go, mom." Pan smiled reassuringly. "We've got  nothing to lose."

Twilight regarded her daughter for a long moment. "I have everything  to lose." She said quietly. "As a princess of Equestria, I have to take  necessary precautions to ensure everyone's safety. Pandora, you are to  remain here, in the library. Nopony is allowed out until Moondancer is  captured."

Pan flinched. "....You don't think I can do it." 

"Do  you want my honest answer? No. No I don't." Twilight rubbed at the  bridge of her snout, lip curling in frustration. "Pandora, this isn't a game. You  can't swoop in and play hero. Moondancer has threatened the ponies  under my protection- Midnight, Fluttershy, and now, potentially, you.  This isn't a matter of who gets to play the hero, and who gets to play  the villain. Moondancer is dangerous monster, and he must be stopped. I will be the one to put an end to this."

Pan's  face had grown dark. She surged forward, shoving her snout to her  mother's. "Where would Luna be right now, if Celestia hadn't believed  there was still a good pony buried down deep under the Nightmare? How  about your precious gal pal, Sunset Shimmer? What about when the  Nightmare forces snagged Miss Rarity? Where would Dad be if nopony believed he had the capacity to be better?"

"Pandora Eris Sparkle, this is not about you-!"

"Yes, it is!" Pan  looked down at her paws, watched the way black claws curled outward  with every flex of her digits. "...I know a thing or two about being a  monster, Mom. And I know they aren't always what they seem."

"You're  not a monster, Pandora." Twilight said tiredly. "I told you, you could  be a true princess, if you'd only find the courage to stop running away  when things get too-"

"I'm going." Pan said abruptly. "To find  Sombra- to save Moony. I'm taking Cupcake." She sent a glare over her  shoulder. "Don't bother trying to stop us." Pan let her paws glow in  warning, but it was uncertain. She wasn't sure she could take her mother  in full combat.

"....I won't."  

Pandora blinked. Her  mother's voice sounded small, as though somepony had stepped on it. She  turned, and for the first time, saw her mother not as Princess Twilight  Sparkle, perfect princess and mare extraordinaire, but....just a mare.  Twilight's wings were drooping, her mane a rat's nest, and her eyes were  exhausted, rimmed with dark circles- though now, they held a curious  wet sheen. "Just......just be safe, okay?" Twilight swallowed. "Please."

Pan's  anger flickered and died. She hesitated for a moment- before moving  forward to curl her body around her mother, in a way she hadn't done  since she was a cub. "....We will." Twilight brought her wings around  Pan's body, holding her close. "You don't need to prove anything."  Twilight murmured. "I already love you, Panny. You're my daughter."

Something  about her words made Pan's eyes prick, and she pulled away, suppressing  a sniffle. "Hey, uh- don't worry so much, okay? It's not a good look on  you, old mare." Pan joked nervously. Twilight tried for a smile, but it  didn't quite touch her eyes.

As she readied to teleport, Pan  grasped for the right thing to say. "...I mean it." She fumbled with  paw, playing listlessly with her chest ruff- before she noticed the star  on her chest. "We're Sparkles, Mom." She tapped her star, and it glimmered, ever so faintly. "You and me? We got this."

Twilight smiled again, a little less sad, a little more sure- and it was the last thing Pandora saw before she teleported.

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The  journey had been long and perilous. There had been screaming wind,  pelting hail, even prowling windigoes. Pandora had been ready for all of  that. But nothing had prepared her for this- being handed a mug of hot  cocoa, sweet-smelling and inviting, save for the fistful of glitter  that'd been dumped inside. Cupcake peered into her own mug, which had a  small plastic dinosaur floating inside.

"It's perfect, Luci, thank you." Pan sipped politely from her mug.

Luci beamed, all four of her eyes crinkling with childish glee. "Yay!" And she leaned forward, whispering conspiratorially behind her cloven hoof. "The secret ingredient is crayons."

Oh god. Pan gagged on a bit of half-melted wax. Cupcake discreetly tossed the content of her mug into the fireplace. 

"Lucifer." Tirek chided. "Don't shout. Your father has a headache."

"M'  sorry." Luci's over-sized ears drooped, genuinely apologetic. She  trotted quietly over to where Sombra lay, booping her tiny snout to  his. "D'you feel better, Daddy?"

Sombra lifted his head and  managed a weak smile, before sagging back to rest against Tirek's hip.  Tirek heaved a frustrated snort, brushing rough claws through ink-black  hair. "The Shadow King has been afflicted with crippling headaches for  many moons. None of your puny equine medicines have done a thing to  alleviate his suffering." He glared at both house guests.

"Um,  sorry about that." Pan fiddled awkwardly with her paws. "I get that  maybe now isn't the best time to ask for a favor, but we have a friend  who's been turning ponies to crystal." She looked to Cupcake, who  nodded. "....Would you know anything about that? Can you help us?"

Sombra  cringed, wincing at some phantom pain. ".....I see." He spoke, with a  voice like gravel grinding to dust. ".....It is as i suspected. Somepony  has found my horn. I feel it, like a knife in my head, every time its  dark power is used- we are still connected."

"Your horn?" Cupcake  frowned, exchanging glances with Pandora. They both looked to Sombra,  at the horn that sat healthy and unfractured at the base of his  forehead. "Your majesty, your horn is right there."

"My old horn."  Sombra hissed. "It was blasted off when Queen Cadence weaponized that  infernal crystal heart against me. When I managed to tear myself free  from the ether, I presumed my horn lost to the elements."  

"If that's true, how do you have a new horn? Unicorn horns don't grow back." Pan asked bluntly, then stilled in the face of Tirek's sharp glare. 

"Perhaps not unicorn horns."  Tirek growled. "But Sombra is an Umbrum, a creature manifest from  shadow. He is not bound to the limitations of your feeble pony bodies."

"Even so." Sombra said. "If my horn has been found, it will poison anypony who attempts to use it."

"Now when you say 'poison'-" Pan wrung her paws, "Do you mean poison their mind? Make them go a little, ah, blood-thirsty and power-hungry? Do things they normally wouldn't?"

"Yes." Sombra agreed. "....And also kill them."

Both Pan and Cupcake startled. "What?"

 "Dark  magic is poison, even to the most competent of mages. It grants power  beyond power, yes, but at great cost. The addictive, dark pleasure seeps  in slowly, eats at you, until you can think of nothing else but the  next dose, the next soul you can snare to feed your hunger, to delay the  side effects, to slow the black bile that begins to taint your blood.  Your friend is almost certainly going to die." Sombra chuckled, a dark,  quiet rasp.

Pandora surged to her hooves. "W-wait, you've got to help us then! We have to save him, save everybody!"

"And  why should we care about the plight of mortals, she-draconequus?" Tirek  drawled. "It's true that we owe our salvation to your father, to the  patience of Queen Cadence- but we are under no obligation to step in and  intervene when one of you ponies plays around in forces beyond your  comprehension. The terms of our release were quite clear. We commit no  evil- but we are not bound to stop any evil."

Pandora panicked, beginning to snake desperately through the air. "You- you can't just sit by and do nothing! Ponies are dying! The safety of countless creatures is in danger! You have to help! Because it's the right thing to do! Because we need you! Because- because this would prove to ponies you're not monsters!"

"We need not prove anything, she-draconequus." Tirek snorted into her face. "To anyone."

"Consider this." Cupcake sipped calmly from her mug. "....If you help us catch our friend, the headaches would stop."

Tirek paused, then glanced down at Sombra. 

"That's right!" Pan shot a grateful look at her best friend. "And.....and think  of the stolen glory!" She gasped dramatically. "Moondancer's stealing  your whole 'Shadow King' shtick! When ponies think of the Almighty  Crystal Tyrant, the Great Plunderer of Souls, King of Darkness- is it  really Moony's name you want them to remember? Some scrawny unicorn nerd?"

"They wouldn't dare." Sombra growled. His eyes began to glow a sickly green, with wisps of smoke curling at the corners. "I am the original Shadow King."

"Then prove it." Cupcake challenged. "Come with us. Get your horn back."

"Get your title back." Pan pressed.

With a snarl, Sombra stood to his hooves. Tirek watched him carefully, reaching out a concerned hand. "Sombra, are you certain-"

"I  have strength enough for this." Sombra rumbled. In his determination,  he'd shrugged off his sickly grey veneer, and he now stood tall, black  mane billowing with unseen dark power. "I will purge the darkness from  their friend and remind him of his true place- feeble and pathetic among  the smiling, saccharine little ponies. I will restore the balance."

In  the background, the she-draconequus was enthusiastically hugging her  dull little earth pony friend. Sombra disregarded the obnoxious show of  affection, turning instead to regard his family. To Luci, he afforded  exactly one indulgent nuzzle, and to Tirek, he sent a fond, reassuring  look.

"There are none who understand the shadow magic more than  I, love." Sombra was already turning to go, but managed one last smirk  for his centaur partner- one that Tirek whole-heartedly returned.

"Everything will be returned to its proper place soon enough."