Memories of the Stone

by WanderingPony

Chapter 1: Dropped into a plot hole.

Light. Dark. LightdarklightdarklightdarklightdarksnowskysnowskysnowskySNOWCOLD

The fragment of horn that was the last remnants of one "King" Sombra, unicorn, once cursed shadow, tumbled into an icy crevice of the Frozen North as a splintered ruin of horn.

DARKPAINCOLDRAGE

For untold furlongs the blood-red fragment fell, the gravely reduced spirit raving in it's prison, to depths where ice became almost liquid, beyond to a long shaft of stone...and with a few glancing blows off random outcroppings, finally came to rest.

Light had never touched this part of Equestria, nor Diamond Dog dug, not even in the deepest black horrors of Nightmare Moon had any creature born on Equestria found their way so far, so low, so dark. Tarturus itself would have been an easier hole to dig your way into.

And yet Sombra was not alone, as the blind agony of near-disintergration faded to a mere constant suffering, the "mercy" of the Sisters preventing final dissolution. Something else felt the spark of rage and pain, knew the fragment of bone had entered a domain nothing wise or likely sane would. Clearly, a visit to the new denizen was in order. He had...potential.

DARKPAINCOLDRAGEPAINHATEDARKPAINCRYSTALHATESLAVESDARKPAI-

"CEASE THINE MINDLESS PRATTLE."

Inside his horn-prison, the maddened spirit of Sombra found itself reformed into coherence, as tendrils the color of the abyss intruded into the fallen object. Thought clarified. Sombra's true intelligence returned for the first time in centuries, with the bitter taste of rage and humiliation as it's dregs...along with not a little fear. Such power Sombra had felt only a few times- none of them friendly - from Celestia and Luna's punishments, then the burning light of the Heart. And never, EVER inside himself.

The tendrils knitted themselves into an almost familiar creature. He stood the height and breadth of an earth pony stallion- obsidian of pelt, with a mane that would be called black by any other comparison save for the hint of brown that one might call "ebony", and a few strands that shone with the dim glint of gold in a dragon's hoard as his tail switched about. Two eyes like the embers of a dying star regarded the shade of Sombra, and twice as many legs as any pony should bear were the hooves he stood upon. A stallion of the stygian depths, that walked in a manner that reminded him distubingly of an insect rather than a pony as it circled, examining the prize. Teeth that had far more points than any equine had a right to showed themselves as words echoed:

"SOMBRA, THOU ART CALLED. IT IS MEET AND RIGHT YOU ARE WITHIN MY DOMAIN. I WOULD KNOW OF THE WORLD ABOVE. OPEN NOW YOUR EYES, SO I MAY SEE."

The unicorn knew, from a place that every living thing has but few go willingly that the stallion before him was something more, some Power in equine shape. Eyes that Sombra realized he'd had shut all along (and yet, he saw) opened and stared into the embers, now regarding his soul (such as it was).

Images over a thousand years old- of slights piling against a young dusky unicorn colt, compounded by the cruelty of foalery into a bitter thing- whose last attempt at success was butchered into a humiliating farce before the very royalty of Equestria itself for the amusement of childhood rivals.

The colt becoming a stallion, studying books nopony should ever know, his horn beginning to take on a blood-red hue and his eyes tinging with green.

The stallion becoming a master, throwing the blessings everypony eventually found into the sacrificial fires of ambition- trading his cutie mark along with much what could be considered a soul for dark powers the like of which could challenge an alicorn.

The master becoming King, using that power to enslave and spread misery first on those around him, then an entire kingdom in chains to rule.

Banishment. Curses and a thousand-year nightmare sleep. One stunted alicorn, a handful of ponies, and a wyrmling runt thwarting the reawakened shadow and casting him into...

"MY HOME, FOR MANY A YEAR, NAY THOUSANDS OF THEM. BUT NOW THAT THOU HAST COME INTO IT, WE SHALL BOTH BE FREE. WE SHALL BARGAIN WELL, THOU AND I."

The green eyes of Sombra now lit with cunning and a wicked mind that had confounded a pair of goddesses worked for only a moment, then-

"Your name, then thou and I shall bargain."

"MANY NAMES HAVE I, FOR MANY PLACES. HERE, I AM PONY, AND JOLFR WILL DO. BY MY SECRET NAME AND MY POWER SHALL I SWEAR A PACT WITH THEE, AS THOU SHALT IN RETURN."

"THOU SHALT BE FREED FROM THIS CURSE AND GIVEN FORM, BOTH MIGHTY IN CRAFT AND STRENGTH. MY HOOF SHALL BE ABOVE THEE, AND PROTECT THEE FROM SUCH INDIGNITIES AS WERE SUFFERED BEFORE. THOU SHALT BE MY STRONG HOOF UPON THE UNWORTHY, MY SHADOW LORD."

"DOMINION THOU SHALT HAVE OVER MY SERVANTS AND MY SERVANT'S SERVANTS, WHO WILL BE THINE ARMY AGAINST ALL ENEMIES. MY DARKNESS SHALL YOU SPREAD LIKE A BROAD ROAD EVEN UNTO THIS "EQUESTRIA", THEN THE FINAL BATTLE, THE RAGNAROK."

"I SHALL GIVE THEE THE POWER TO CONFOUND THINE ENEMIES, SO I MIGHT FACE MINE OWN, AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, AS HAS BEEN THWARTED UNRIGHTEOUSLY."

"FOR ALL THIS, I REQUIRE YOUR LOYALTY, YOUR OATH TO ME UPON YOUR TRUE NAME AND POWERS....AND CRYSTALS. YES, MANY CRYSTALS. BALE-WORKER AM I, AND OUR DESTINY SHALL BE WROUGHT FROM THINE WORK. THOU SHALT BE MY DARK RIDER, UNTO THE END OF ALL DAYS."

And in these words, Sombra felt to the depths of his being that of every treacherous thing, every lie, every untruth and deception- there were none, and a master of every falsehood was he. And no room for any in return. Truth he was offered, rich with power, promising final vengence against everything that he felt had wronged him. And some hint of...respect?

Low upon Sombra's knees did he bow before the eight-legged pony before him, and his answer began with a word so stained by wickedness that it would have blackened anything less dark than the depths he and Jolfr dwelt in. It was his Name, and by it he swore fell things, in a old language rich with words that cause stillborn foals and poisoned forests if they are spoken too near to either. But he meant every word, giving himself unto the creature before him, now and until the end of all days in trade for what was promised. It was done.

Comments

[Zennistrad]

Wow, this is completely epic! How has nobody seen this yet?

Also... Jolfr? I'm fairly sure this fic has something to do with Final Fantasy, but I don't recall there ever being a villain named Jolfr.

[that1dude]

That was pretty metal. Lovin' it!