Past Shadows

by ChaosDragoon

Chapter Twenty

Chrysalis’s hoof stayed in midair as she stared at the cloud of dust, her body fearful to even move. She swallowed her fear and closed her eyes before she slammed her hoof to the ground. She had expected to hear the sound of horns lighting up and letting lose a barrage of magical energy. Instead, her fear only grew as she heard the still silence around her. She once again swallowed the knot in her throat and cracked open her right eye. She suddenly opened them both as they widened at what she and everyone else was staring at.

The dust had settled and in its place was a unicorn. Chrysalis felt the sweat drip down her face as she stared at the monster she saw so long ago. The unicorn’s coat was the color of blood, his mane and tail where as black as the starless night sky and moved like a roaring flame, the sadistic crooked smile on his face showcased his dagger like teeth, and his horn was zig zagged shaped. She then noticed a new detail on him that wasn’t there ten years ago. An X-shaped scar over his closed right eye.

Ripples began to form in the air around his body like a stone being thrown in a pond. Chrysalis stood there in shock at the sight until a small, filly-like voice echoed in her mind, “Barrier, put up a barrier!” Without Chrysalis knowledge her horn had lit up and created a green bubble around her. Just in time as black arrows flew from the ripples towards her and her changelings. The arrows pierced into the changelings who were unlucky enough to react fast enough. The Arrow’s hit Chrysalis’s barrier and bounced off before correcting themselves and flying towards her changelings. Seconds later the ripples disappeared and those who had been struck by the arrows now lay at Chrysalis’s hooves, lifeless. The unicorn’s sadistic crooked smile grew.

“Now raise my creatures,” the unicorn said. His voice was distorted and dark.

The changelings that lay on the ground soon began to rise as the arrows that had pierced their flesh now sunk down into their bodies. Ant-like pincers grew from their cheeks, their insect wings seem to just fall off and black bat-like wings ripped from their backs, throwing green blood into the air. The sound of ripping flesh and bones breaking emanated from the group of changelings as their front hooves began to change into eagle-like talons with red claws at the end. Their wings began flap as they hovered inches from the ground. Their back hooves began to move closer to each other and morphed into one appendage with a red stinger. Their eyes turned blood red as six more eyes appeared. All Chrysalis or anypony could do was watch their transformation.

When it was competed, forty-two of the newly changed changelings hovered in front of the unicorn. He licked his lips at the sight of his new army before he ordered, “Kill off your former kin, then began the campaign to bring Equestria to its knees before me.” The creatures hissed before looking towards the changelings that hovered above Chrysalis. They soon attacked them. Chrysalis could only watch in fear as her children were attacked by the creatures that had once been changelings. Their talons ripped into changeling flesh, their stingers pierced into changeling bodies, injecting poison; their ant-like pincers sliced changelings in half.

Chrysalis’s mind raced as she watched the horrific events unfold. She suddenly felt the urge to flee, taking with her any changeling that was able to break free from the creatures attack. Her wings began to buzz but her body stayed firmly on the ground. When she looked at her hooves, her eyes widened. Covering them were black crystals that kept her planted on the ground. The unicorn looked towards her and chuckled, “Why not stay a while. After all you’re the main attraction.” His words sent a chill down her spine and she franticly tried to break free from her confines but to no avail.

The unicorn then turned his attention to the ponies around the princesses and Twilight. He began to walk towards them. Twilight’s friends and Flash all stood firmly in front of Twilight and the princesses to protect them. The animals suddenly raced towards the unicorn, their instincts to protect Fluttershy overpowered their fear.

“No! Wait!” Fluttershy yelled as she tried to lift a hoof. She found she couldn’t and when she looked down she saw the same dark crystals that coated Chrysalis’s hooves also coated her. She screamed as she tried to move her hoofs from the incasing but found it imposable. Her friends saw her dilemma and soon found all their hooves where coated in dark crystal. Keeping them firmly planted to the ground.

As the animals raced towards the unicorn his smile grew as he suddenly appeared behind them. They soon fell to the ground with black daggers in their chests. Fluttershy cried out as she watched them fall to the ground. The unicorn turned to their lifeless bodies and chuckled, “Pathetic creatures.”

“NO!” Fluttershy sobbed as her tears slid down her cheeks and onto the ground. Applejack, who was standing next to her wanted to console her friend by placing a hoof around her shoulder but couldn’t. The unicorn ignored her and looked around at the courtyard as a chuckle escaped his mouth.

“This place needs some more décor to make it a perfect castle for me to rule from,” he said before his horn illuminated with black and green aura. The ground began to shack as black crystals rose up from the ground. A large chalice shaped crystal rose up next to the unicorn. Its rim was lined with dagger-like shapes before a diamond shaped crystal rose up from the middle and began to rotate. The unicorn examined all the crystals around the courtyard and nodded in approval before he turned his attention to the group of ponies.

“You will not take this kingdom that easily,’ Celestia said as her and Luna got to their hooves and took to the sky. Both alicorn’s horns glowed and let lose a massive beam of magical energy. The two beams mixed together and soared towards the unicorn. His smile only grew as the beam started to shrink before it became nothing but a small gust of wind.

“What?” Luna said before he horn glowed again and shot multiple beams of energy at the unicorn. Those also shrunk and became nothing but small gusts of wind. Luna and Celestia both looked confused as the unicorn began to laugh.

“How pathetic, you’ve been around for centuries and yet you both still fall for the easiest of traps,” the unicorn said before the crystals around him let lose a barrage of crescent shaped crystals towards the princesses. Both Luna and Celestia began to weave and loop around the crystals before Celestia’s right wing was hit and was sent flying towards the castle. When her body slammed into the castle wall, more of the crescent shape crystals pierced into her left wing before crystals formed around her hooves. Pinning her to the wall like a butterfly on display.

“Sister!” Luna yelled before crescent-shaped crystals pierced into her wings and slammed her body to the side of the wall next to Celestia. Like Celestia, Luna’s hooves where soon covered in crystal. Keeping her pinned to the wall.

Twilight had finally come too and when she herd Luna’s cry for her sister she looked up in time to see Luna get pinned to the wall. She then turned to the unicorn and her eyes widened. She walked in front of her friends and asked, “Weaponry?” the unicorn looked at Twilight and his sadistic crooked smile once again formed on his face.

“Twilight! Look out!” her friends yelled in unison, but it was too late. Her hooves, like her friends. Soon where incased in dark crystals. Keeping her bound to the ground.

The unicorn turned his attention towards Luna and Celestia and his smile grew before he began to speak, “I’ve decided that you two will be my main attraction, therefore.” He turned to Chrysalis and added, “You are no longer needed.” A wave of relief should have washed over Chrysalis. She should have been able to feel her hooves be set free from the crystals. Instead more panic and fear filler her body as she stared at the unicorn and his malevolent smile. He tapped the back of his right forehoof on the ground. The Ground shook before a crystal cave rose up behind him. Inside the cave, ten sapphire glowing eyes appeared before five wolves made of dark crystal slowly walked out of the cave, their emerald teeth dripping with saliva. Chrysalis’s eyes widened as her panic only grew and she began to more violently pull herself free from the crystals but to no avail. She stopped struggling and did the only thing she could think of doing.

“Please, set me free. I promise I’ll never come back to Equestria again. Please forgive me for all my sins against pony kind,” She pleaded as tears swelled up her eyes. She always considered herself a good actor when it came to getting free from situations, but this time she wasn’t acting. No creature she ever encountered had ever made her feel genuine fear, genuine panic for her life. The unicorn lifted his hoof to the air to stop the wolves from advancing and Chrysalis felt a little relief wash over her.

“I’ve heard your pleas, your begging, and your cries for mercy. So as it stands,” the unicorn said before he lowered his hoof and pointed it at Chrysalis. His sadistic crooked smile forming on his face as he stated, “I don’t leave me enemies alive like Celestia.”

The wolves ran past the unicorn towards Chrysalis who could only watch as the wolves lunged towards her. As their emerald dagger like fangs sunk into her flesh, the crystals holder her hooves to the ground shattered. The wolves pinned her to the ground as they ripped and tore at her flesh. One used its claws to rip open her torso and pill her internal organs out. Fluttershy’s ears bend back as she used her wings to cover them from the screams of pain from Chrysalis before her screams became gurgles as blood filler her lungs and mouth. The unicorn tapped his right forehoof to the ground again. The wolves quickly turned towards him. Their mouths covered in green blood while one had the decapitated head of Chrysalis in its mouth.

“Return to your den to feast on the rest of this pathetic creature,” the unicorn said. The wolves dragged Chrysalis’s mangled body towards the crystal cave, leaving a trail of green blood in their wake. As they disappeared into the darkness of the cave it sunk back down into the ground.

“Weaponry! Why are you doing this?” Twilight asked. The unicorn looked at her and his smile grew. He walked over to her, her friends tried to move to get in front of him but couldn’t. He was standing eye to eye with Twilight before he backed away.

“Weaponry is no more,” the unicorn said in his low, distorted voice. Twilight’s eyes widened. She recognized the voice, the same voice the dark figure in Weaponry’s memories had, the same voice that came from the orb when it changed to pitch black. Before Twilight could react, Celestia lashed out at the unicorn.

“Release him Sombra! Release this unicorn and go back to the darkest pits of Tartarus from whence you came,” Celestia roared. The unicorn quickly turned towards her, his eyes narrowing before he started to walk over to her. He was seething with rage as the ground under him turned to crystal and lifted him up into the air so he was eye level with Celestia. She could feel his hated and rage with every breath before the crystal he was standing on floated away from her. His horn glowed and a black orb appeared out of his horn and created a scythe. The scythe quickly swung down and its blade slammed into the wall, inches away from Celestia’s neck.

“Don’t you EVER! Compare me to that pathetic unicorn again!” he roared as the ground shook. The crystals seem to cringe at his sudden outburst as they chimed. Celestia looked at the unicorn in confusion before he took a few deep breaths to calm himself before adding, “Sombra was nothing more than a pathetic colt before I gave him power. He wanted the crystal empire to flourish. I granted him that. He wanted power to protect his subjects, I granted him that. So when I took over and enslaved the crystal ponies so they would be obedient. He objected to it by screaming at me to let him back in control. I refused. However, you two had to show up and I was, for a second time. Ripped from my physical body!”

“Second time? When was the first time,” Twilight questioned. The unicorn looked towards her and he began to laugh.

“I see Celestia has wiped me from the history books even though I helped create the most powerful magic Equestria has!” the unicorn seethed.

“Oh please. The only powerful magic in Equestria is the Elements of Harmony,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Yeah, and Star Swirl was the one who created them,” Twilight matter-a-factly

“Wrong!” the unicorn yelled before he added, “My dimwitted brother only created three of the six: Kindness, Laughter, and Generosity. Whereas I created the three most power elements: Loyalty, Honesty, and Magic!” Celestia’s and Luna’s eyes both widened as the word escaped Celestia’s lips.

“Ozark?” Celestia gasped.

“So, you finally remembered me have you?” Ozark said with a sadistic crooked smile.