//------------------------------// // Seeking Answers In Madness // Story: Spike's Shadow // by DraconequusMaximus //------------------------------// "Okay... So lemme see if I understand. The Umbra saw Discord do something, and then something terrible happened to them, and somewhere in the fill-in-the-blanks is where you come into the picture." Spike asked in between mouthfuls of gems. "More or less, yes. This array will call Discord forth and bind him, if I am able to use it as the Umbra instructed... Though to be honest, I'm quite nervous. The figure that used it in the Umbra memories was bandaged and bloody with mismatched eyes. Umbra don't see in color, but I'm positive it was Dirge recovering from the destruction caused by Gavin." Sombra added. Everyone was gathered around the large array Sombra had painted from his gifted memories, eating the dehydrated provisions they had brought for breakfast. Or at least they would have been. But Sombra had merely shadow jumped back to Ponyville and acquired the makings of a proper breakfast with all the trimmings. Spike had no problem using the somewhat low-tech camp equipment Daring's crew had to whip up a proper meal. Spike had even managed to find a barrel of gems within the dark castle, and was delighted when Sombra approved them for consumption. Daring was eating like she had never had a proper meal in her life, as was Clayton. Hardly surprising, as Clayton was easily the largest earth pony Sombra had ever seen. Sneak ate sensible portions, but would only drink from their own personal canteen out of either suspicion or habit. Blast Radius had eaten her fill quickly, as she had wanted to document the magic circle before Sombra activated it. "So, who's this Dirge guy? Somebody you two know?" Daring asked before stuffing her face further. Sombra still seemed to have some soreness as far as Dirge was concerned, so Spike decided to field the question. "A burnt-up pony that can use blood-control magic. He kills people and turns them into zombies that basically do whatever he says, and they can self-destruct too. Basically walking claymores that don't fear or feel. Really dangerous. Not as dangerous as Beznik, but really not somebody you wanna mess with." Spike replied. "Beznik... That's the cat-thing that iced Zotl. Right?" Daring asked, dropping a palpable silence over top the assembled crew. Daring's students obviously knew all about her exploits, but it seemed as if the trio didn't know about Ahuizotl's fate. Neither Spike nor Sombra had any intention of touching that subject with a ten foot pole. It wasn't their place, which they were currently quite happy for. "Yes... Dootha's shadow. A great deal stronger than either Spike or myself. At least last we had opportunity to compare. Spike has obtained new magic, and I've grown several times stronger since then. We could be a formidable match now, but I wouldn't risk going it alone." Sombra replied after a brief awkward silence. Daring nodded, still having mixed feelings about the demise of her mortal enemy. But thankfully with a glance at her crew of lovable misfits the melancholy mood ebbed away. She had moved on, but still she sometimes had to look back at the last two and a half decades of adventure. After breakfast, everyone cleared the area to watch at a safe distance as Sombra activated the magic circle. Sombra stood in the middle of the spectacularly advanced and complex array, while Spike was around him occupying the majority of it just in case things went south. Or in case the ponies present needed a shield. To begin, Sombra ignited his dark and unique soul. His eyes changed, and the circle was charged with Sombra's neon-pink spiritual energy. For those watching it was still a breathtaking experience even though they had seen it the day before. Even Spike was in awe. He had only ever seen Zecora use spiritual power in such a noticeable way. But in the end, it wasn't all that surprising. Sombra was probably the strongest person Spike knew in a spiritual sense. He was constantly going through unspeakable pain and mentally scarring experiences. Were he weak of spirit or will he would have cracked ages ago. Sombra began speaking in something that sounded a bit like draconian, but Spike got the impression it was something older. Two days prior, Spike would have said that was impossible. But impossible seemed a lot more like difficult as time wore on. Regardless, the circle responded. The energy flowed into the air above the circle, and the neon energy quickly changed to purple and green, but of a different sort than Dootha's miasma. It was full of splashes of other colors and occasional flashes of strange imagery. Spike had seen it's like once before when Tirek had drained Discord of his powers. As the energy began to coalesce into a familiar mismatched shape the circle responded by rotating on the tiles. The painted-on circle moved as if it were alive, and it even pulled itself up off the floor. It shifted and changed until it was a net-like lattice. It opened up and wrapped itself around Discord's developing form. It was like watching shadows dance in the light of a campfire, but on a grander scale. The lord of chaos had not only been summoned, but bound in place. By the time Discord was completely defined, he couldn't even struggle. The powerful immortal spirit of entropy and mischief was completely captive, looking down at Sombra with a particularly sad expression on his face. "You could have just called. I'm in the phone-book you know." Discord whimpered, sounding like a guilty puppy. Sombra appraised Discord with his spiritually enhanced vision. To his surprise, the general look of Discord's being was nothing but the magic he had been comprised of moments ago. Just like Sombra's own silhouette being completely black when he looked at himself in the mirror. He disliked the similarities between them, and Sombra blinked away his enhanced awareness. "Enough mystery, Discord. No more being coy, or cheap jokes. You're at my mercy, and I want real answers. I want to know what you did for the court, in this very place over a thousand years ago. I believe I know the answer, but I can't be sure. I need to hear it from someone who was there." Sombra barked. Spike had scarcely seen Sombra so nettled before. The dark stallion was flowing with shadow erratically, like fire burning too hot and too high. "How much do you know? I need to know where to begin." Discord asked, not denying anything. Sombra swallowed the figurative venom he wanted to spit, then told Discord of the Umbra, and the song. Uncharacteristically, Discord listened and nodded his head every so often. There was no fight in him. He was merely accepting everything as it was without complaint. Spike hadn't ever seen the god-like chimera so guilty. Even after the fight with Tirek. "Hmm. Not surprised those minor spirits weren't too keen to watch... But if you want me to start from the beginning, I need to explain some things. Alright?" Discord responded. "Very well... So long as it's relevant." Sombra grumbled. Discord nodded his head and produced a wispy sigh. "The court didn't just summon me... They also invited me into this dimension and cobbled together this body for me to dwell in. Chaos exists in all dimensions, but not every dimension has a physical embodiment of chaos. In the realm they summoned me from I was imprisoned, so I had every reason to be grateful. Especially with how special this universe is." Discord began. Spike understood what Discord was saying, but it seemed to make more questions than answers. "Okay, so you were something else before you were in our dimension? What were you, and what makes this universe that special?" Spike really wanted to know. Discord smiled for the first time that day, but it was a smile rooted in the past more than the present. A look of nostalgia. "I've been sooo many things, my dear boy. A mad god more times than I can count, a snappily dressed triangle, even a hairless bipedal monkey now and then. But I couldn't ever worm my way into this realm without an invitation. There's so much magic in this dimension I could hardly believe it when I first got here. Lots of universes have magic, but more don't than those that do. "But here, it's absolutely everywhere, and in almost everything. My powers are stronger here than anywhere... When the court offered me ninety-nine percent of this little blue pearl of a world to myself... I couldn't refuse." Discord explained. "Whoa whoa whoa, back-up. They offered you the world?! Why the hell would they do that? They want Dootha to rule. No way they'd honor that deal." Spike interrupted. Sombra was likewise skeptical, tightening the circle until Discord squeaked like a dog toy. "Well... Ninety-nine percent of the world for as long as I could keep it. But I was confident enough that I could take on all comers. The catch was I wasn't allowed to touch the Crystal Empire in any way. This is their holy-land or something." Discord finished. Sombra relaxed the circle's crushing grip a little bit, reminding himself that Discord still hadn't talked about the Umbra. That, and he wasn't sure what would happen if he accidentally sliced Discord in half while his powers were disabled. He wouldn't stoop to cold-blooded murder, as much as the thought had been on his mind after seeing the terrors in the Umbra's memories. "What did the court ask for in return? What did they feel the need to rip you from time and space to obtain? What did they need the Umbra for?!" Sombra glowered. Discord bit his lip, not wanting to answer. Several minutes passed before he could articulate his thoughts. "Dootha's host body was dying. As had every host body before it, as they told me. He was inside a decrepit white husk that had once been a unicorn when I saw him. I thought he wanted my new body and power as his own at first, but chaos is too unstable for anyone else to control for long. Dootha needed the body of a more stable incarnation of power. Something that doesn't ever cease to be, because it's an integral piece of the universe." Discord explained. Sombra was listening intently, but even so he had difficulty believing everything Discord said. He was increasingly difficult to trust, no matter how cooperative he was being. Or forced to be as the situation had it. "As it turns out, there weren't any available incarnations in this dimension. So, Dootha's flunkies gathered up every last dark spirit on this planet. Must have taken a long time, but regardless they asked me to help them merge their inky-ghosty forms into something solid. They compressed them into liquid with magic, then filled the pool in the center of the tubes with them." Discord said, no longer able to look at Sombra. Sombra was hit with a flash of borrowed memory and emotion. The Umbra were trying to confirm Discord's story via his subconscious, or their trauma was getting to him. He wasn't sure which was happening, but he knew the events had unfolded as Discord claimed. He could see them playing out from thousands of perspectives, all of them shaking with fear. But the horror was only in Sombra's mind, and his expression hadn't changed, meaning Discord just kept speaking. "My job was to do the impossible and use my chaos magic to crack open the tablet above the dais a little. I was able to do it, stealing a tiny mote of the tablet's godly but untamable power. Just enough, Dootha told me in a voice like ice. Then he lit his horn with that terrible glow and turned his body to ash. Some creepy pony in bloody bandages swept him up and dumped him in the pool. "The ash hissed with green and purple smoke as it hit the umbral ooze, and the same ice-cold voice, now coming from a creepy little cat told me to toss in the mote of divine power. A fiery ball of white energy, it sunk into the pool. Nothing happened for a time, but then everything just sort of mixed. It became a tiny black orb, but it began to change and grow." Discord sighed. Sombra actually felt his head begin to swim and his hearing was replaced with muffled ringing. The only experience Sombra could possibly compare it to was being half-exploded by Dirge. Yet the critical impact Discord's story was having was far more damaging. Yet Discord talked still, like a broken faucet. The truth was coming out, and he had to let it go. It had been eating away at him for the last six months. Ever since he had seen Sombra floating in the jar in Twilight's study. "The sphere began to shift and change into a new shape. Before long it resembled a foal, but then it stretched and grew and became more defined. When it was finished a stallion the color of ash and ink was standing in the empty pool. But when he opened his eyes, my spine practically froze. An incarnation had been simultaneously born and possessed. You were born here, Sombra. Born with Dootha inside you." Sombra's hold on the circle relaxed, as he had lost every ounce of concentration. He fell over into Spike's arms, the dragon having made a fast dive preemptively. He had seen Sombra's heart break as soon as Discord had finished. Sombra was weeping, but frozen like a deer that had gotten struck in the eyes with a bright light. It was like his mind hadn't been able to decide on shutting down or freaking out. Sombra could only cry for several minutes. After which time his mind finally registered the fact he was in the warm scaly embrace of his lover. "I had suspected it after the memories flooded my mind... But I didn't want to believe it. Dootha... He made me. I don't have memories, because I didn't have a life before Dootha. Now I know that the first time I opened my eyes, I wasn't even myself. And the Umbra..." Sombra choked. Sombra's mind was running like a network of gears that had suddenly found themselves motorized. Everything was working to fit the complex patchwork of his life together. But everything kept falling apart when facts surfaced on his subconscious. Like a balloon animal popping as soon as it was finished. And much like the recipient of such a gift, Sombra felt like a traumatized child. "My body is made of Umbra... I knew the nine wished to reunite with their kin, but I didn't think that was what they meant." Sombra muttered almost incoherently. Discord looked down as the shadows the circle were comprised of lost cohesion. He was free, but he was content to float in place. Discord watched with interest as the broken circle formed a puddle, then as it flowed back to Sombra. Sombra wriggled about and began howling in pain for an unknown reason. Spike couldn't do anything but watch as Sombra contorted and spasmed. It didn't become apparent what was happening until Sombra began to form limbs. Not his usual arms or tendrils, but additional legs and heads. Sombra seemed to be trying to split himself into multiple parts, but it just didn't seem to be happening. It was horrifying to watch, but thankfully it didn't last long. Sombra was coughing up blackness and breathing far too hard to be alright. The cracking Sombra experienced when he was heavily injured had returned, but worse than ever. There were actual sections of his fur and flesh missing, revealing nothing but deep dark nothingness. "I-I can't separate them... The nine are fully integrated into my consciousness. I'm the only one now... I'm all that's left. I know their number, it's in the minds of the nine. There were thousands." Sombra cried. Spike's terror and empathy quickly turned to rage as he reached over and grabbed hold of Discord. Discord wanted to escape, but the ring of light forming around Spike's wrist seemed to anchor him into place. "You... You could have told Sombra this from the start! Why would you put him through this?! Hasn't he had to suffer enough?!" Spike actually roared. Discord could feel the mana boiling in Spike's body out of anger, and he was practically able to hear every muscle tensing, ready to tear him asunder should he say the wrong thing. But Discord knew full well he deserved it. "I didn't care back then... All I wanted was unlimited chaos. All party, all the time. It wasn't until Fluttershy that I started to regret my actions, but I had assumed Dootha died when Sombra exploded. It wasn't until I saw Sombra with a comatose Dootha trapped inside of him I even realized Sombra was a conscious being. "I... I tried to undo it by turning Sombra as mortal as I could, hoping Dootha would vacate his body when it lost it's zing. But that didn't work out well. Sombra is much more physically attuned to his element than I am, and his spiritual awakenings didn't help either. He wore through my magic in almost no time. He's a prodigy." Discord admitted. Spike seemed ready to pop Discord like a tube of cheap store-bought biscuits, but it seemed Sombra was already on it. He purposely lost cohesion, slipped out of Spike's grasp, and reformed himself across the room. In a much more precise and deadly way than the troll had been cleaved in half, Sombra sliced Discord's head off of his body at the base of his neck. Discord screamed as his stump hit the floor, as did Daring's team, minus Sneak. Discord was obviously fine, but incredibly startled, as was everyone else. No one had even seen Sombra form the blade. A shadowy hand grabbed Discord's fearful head and pulled it over to Sombra, who currently looked more menacing than anything the ponies in the dome had ever seen. The shadows of everything in the dome were bleeding across every surface they touched, flowing into Sombra. He wasn't in control of himself at present, and the darkness itself was bowing to the master. Even Discord was fearful for his eternal life. So... You say we're the same sort of creature? Then let's see how well you can put yourself back together from tiny pieces. But don't worry, it only took me fifteen years. Then maybe I'll put you through some other terrible event I suffered because of you. A shadowy hand separated itself from the one holding Discord, running it's fingers across Discord's face. The damage was startlingly significant and near instantaneous. Discord's face began to darken over like the troll, albeit much slower. It seemed Discord's power prevented him from being overcome so easily, but Sombra wasn't pulling any punches. He was out for blood, or whatever he could wring out of Discord. Spike was watching in morbid shock, and was only broken from his stupor when he felt a tug. The shadows bleeding into Sombra from everywhere were trying to take the rest of Discord Spike had forgotten he was holding. Tendrils of shade too weak and too thin to pull it out of Spike's grip were mindlessly grabbing at it from his own shadow even as it was trying to escape to Sombra. Daring's students had already lost their shadows to the vortex-like draw, though Daring herself was barely resisting. "Sombra! Stop it! You're better than this! Discord may deserve it, but you can't kill him!" Spike shouted. Sombra spared Spike a glance, but his expression didn't change. No... I can't kill him, we're cut from the same cloth. Neither of us can die. But I can break him. I can inflict some fraction of the suffering he has caused me and countless others. To say the nothing of the Genocide of the Umbra. The darkness continued to encroach over Discord's skin, and seemed to be causing him a great deal of pain. Spike could feel Discord's body trying to flail about in vain in his grip. Sombra's overwhelming spiritual pressure and magic seemed to be keeping Discord from retaliating, but Spike felt it was more than that. Discord wasn't fighting back at all because he felt he did deserve it. Spike couldn't bare to attack Sombra, but he knew something had to be done. "Sombra... If you do this, you'll be the monster Dootha wanted you to be. The Umbra aren't just gone. They're you. Be better than Discord. You've got a family now, it doesn't matter where you came from." Spike whimpered, feeling the weight of the words in his gut. Sombra looked at Spike with a dawning realization, and found he found himself feeling ashamed and hurt. The black infection recoiled from Discord's face, and Sombra dropped the severed head unceremoniously. The shadows stopped moving of their own accord, and the pressure subsided. Everything began to normalize, except for Sombra himself. His mane's flow slowed to a crawl, and tears flowed from his eyes. Spike discarded Discord's headless body and rushed to Sombra, finally able to hold him again. "Sombra. You've gotta know I don't think you're a monster. But I didn't know what to do. I never wanted to hurt you. I'm sorry if what I said hurt. I couldn't ever blame you for this. You know that." Spike cried along with Sombra. Sombra stayed silent, merely enjoying the warmth and comfort Spike could give him. But inside he felt damaged and broken despite being more complete than he ever had before. The emptiness was gone, but the cold knives of emotional pain tore through his chest like a cannonball through tissue paper. Everything was wrong, and Sombra felt lost, even with Spike there. After a few precious moments of togetherness, Sombra pulled away from Spike and landed in front of the confused dragon. "Spike... I need some time to pull myself together, and to reign in my emotions. My power is unstable when I'm not stable emotionally it seems. So, for the time being... I'm going to go somewhere quiet until I can set my affairs in order." Sombra announced, unable to look back at Spike. Spike wanted to say something, but Sombra seemed to have already made up his mind. Sombra cast a scornful sideways glance at Discord's halves that were slowly crawling to each other, but he sighed internally as he sunk into the shadows. After a few seconds Sombra was gone. All that remained was a new sigil left where Sombra had been. But somehow Sombra's voice began to echo through the dome. It was coming from the shadows that still existed, permeating the forsaken ruins with his presence. I love you, Spike. I won't be gone any longer than I have to be. "I love you too..." Spike replied, unsure Sombra could actually hear him. Everyone was silent for what seemed like forever. By the time everyone was in thinking condition, Discord had set himself to rights. He was just about to snap his fingers and teleport away unnoticed when he found Spike's tremendous mitt encompassing it. To his dismay, the light-ring still floated there to keep him in place. "Discord... If I were in Sombra's shoes I would have done the same. But I don't hate you for it... Dragon greed runs deep, and I wouldn't have Sombra unless you had done what you did. I not going to tell anyone, but I won't stop Sombra from telling anyone he feels comfortable telling." Spike stated in an unsettling level monotone. Discord nodded his head, a flicker of hope igniting in the draconequus' eyes. "Thank you... It's more than I deserve." Discord replied softly. To Discord's surprise, Spike craned down his neck and looked him dead in the eyes, snouts millimeters apart. "Yeah. It is. This is the third time I've seen you hurt my loved ones. If there's ever a fourth, I don't care what happens. I will find a way to murder you. I don't care if costs me my good name, or my titles, or anything. I won't rest until I've ripped you to pieces and I'm sure you won't be getting up again. No stone shell, no magic rainbows. Just fire, and death. Got it?" Spike continued, as if he were merely stating facts. Discord was currently fearful of Spike more than he had been of Sombra, as Spike had merely sounded like he were telling someone the time, or stating that grass was green and the sky was blue. There wasn't hate, or disdain, just cold logic. Spike believed every single syllable to be the absolute truth, and he was doing a damned fine job making Discord believe it too. The worst thing was Spike's eyes. Dootha still held the top slot for coldest eyes, closely followed by Spike. They dug into Discord's mind like arbiters of truth, telling him to keep clean, lest he meet his end. The very instant Spike let go of him he was gone. Daring and her pupils had watched everything in fear-stricken silence. Even the mare herself couldn't find it in her to speak while everything had been happening. Blast Radius had begun praying at some point, Clayton had wet himself, and Sneak seemed to be rocking back and forth in the fetal position. "Kids... The most important lesson I can think to take from this situation is: Don't get into situations outside your pay-grade. We're archaeologists and explorers. What you just saw was a clash of titans. Super-powered dudes with heavy shit on their minds. Just remember that most of them are the good guys, and get out of the way before the train hits you." Daring announced as she adjusted her hat and took solace in the fact she wasn't more than an ordinary mare trying to do the extraordinary. Super powers came with even bigger problems. ~Meanwhile~ The snow covered hills of Trottingham were even more silent than in the summer, but deep beneath the quiet countryside there were seeds of evil growing. Under the fog and blanket of white, absolutely everything was wrong. The fundamental laws of nature were being bent and broken, and the townsfolk barely two miles away were none the wiser. In the abandoned abbey was the door to the catacombs, and in the catacombs was a tunnel. A tunnel dug by an insect of sorts. Dug out in a desperate effort to escape the cold and light of the world above. Inside the tunnel were glistening green and glowing pods, each one full to bursting with luminous teal eggs. Thousands of them, in dozens of identical pods. The whole area smelled of death, each and every tunnel being littered with the remains from the crypt above or stealthily stolen from below the nearest graveyard without disturbing the ground above. The mother of all those eggs needed food for when they hatched, and as disgusting as she found it, the corpses and bones smelled delicious. Not in the way the souls she had been fed had, but still good. She had been changed, and her children were likewise altered. Though she supposed that since they were to be born that way, abomination was their default setting, so to speak. Chrysalis was in a pod of her own, surrounded by the eggs and damp earth. Her body was still changing and she could only move about freely periodically without feeling intense pain. Most of her time was spent in the pod developing into something different, or digging like a soulless machine for rotten food. Either activity gave her a great deal of time to think, wondering how her future children would compare with her last clutches. Changelings had a low-level psychic link with one another that only a queen could truly feel and use, but by all rights she wasn't supposed to be a queen anymore. Yet she could feel the growing minds of her babies dreaming with singular purpose. The desire to serve her, to love her, to obey. While they weren't mindless drones, they were more like trained dogs. Beastly, but loyal. She couldn't even compare them to her traitorous former followers. Her children had been smart and independent. That had to have been her downfall. Letting them get too rebellious. As much as I hate to admit it, Clypeus has changed the game... She's full of love, and not a one of my older children ever go hungry. I can feel them in the distance, and even my grand-babies. All happy and healthy... As she ruminated on her past, the closest clutch of eggs, the first laid, began to hatch. Grey larval abominations burst forth, screeching and squirming. With a little mental nudge, Chrysalis told the horrifying worm-babies to squirm their way to the nearest corpse. Like maggots the size of soupcans, they began eating away at the body, filling their tiny bellies with rotten flesh and bone. Chrysalis could feel their satisfaction and gratitude, and just like that her cares had left her. She was a mother again, and it was the start of something new. Something grand and terrible, which no one would even see coming. Clypeus and the traitors will be the last to die. Starving as the other races they feed on fall like dominoes. I owe her that much for taking such good care of my former people... But Momma's a whole new mare, and demon's don't forgive. Chrysalis smiled as unconsciousness crept over her entirely. Everything was going according to plan, and whether it was her plan or not seemed irrelevant. As soon as the winter ended, so would the so-called peace the world was experiencing. The bloody pony and the cat were a means to an end, and she was determined to make sure the end wouldn't be hers.