//------------------------------//
// Chapter 15 - What Must Be Done 
// Story: Heir to Darkness 
// by Vivid Syntax 
//------------------------------//


Present


Brimstone panted. "Father, spare her!"

Sombra scowled at him, and as he spoke, his form melted into smoky shadows. "I will not make the same mistake again." With a whoosh, he flew towards her in a cloud of darkness.

Brimstone tried to scream, but he coughed and tasted iron.

Rosewood backed against the bars of her cage. "Brimstone! Brimstone, please!"

Brimstone clenched his jaw and looked up, and time seemed to stand still. He saw his father's writhing form snake towards Rosewood through the air. The back of his mind burned. 'I can still intercept him. It's not too late.' He tried to visualize himself stopping Sombra. Somehow. 'But I cannot.'

Brimstone's jaw quivered. He had never felt so small, so powerless. He felt every bit the weakling that his father had always accused him of. Whispers grew louder at the back of his mind, but still he resisted. 'There is nothing I can do. The power will take me. Rosewood will–"

But then, he heard Rosewood's words, "Brimstone, you can control it! You can do this!"

His mind flashed with visions of Rosewood and what Sombra would do to her. He saw the same fate enveloping all of Equestria and to the lands beyond. His mind tossed and turned. He felt the wheel of fate turn around him, and when his fear told him one more time that it would take hold of him and twist him into the same monster as his father, a small, radiant sparkle flared to life in his heart. 'I will not let that happen.'

Brimstone roared through tears of pain and terror. "RRRAAARGH!"

A wall of dark crystal jutted from the floor and intercepted Sombra, who hissed in pain. Sombra turned, and his twisted form smiled. "I am truly surprised, son, if not impressed."

Brimstone felt a well of power within him. It was cold and deep, and it beckoned him with a siren's call. He knew it would be easy to fall into it, to embrace it, but he silently resolved to draw power from it without giving in.

Sombra's tongue flicked out of his mouth. "Yes, son. Surrender to it."

With a heaving breath, Brimstone pulled himself to his hooves. "I shall do no such thing." He felt his wounds close, and he saw the world with a green tint. "I shall not allow it to control me. This is my power, and I decide how to use it."

Sombra snarled and laughed. "Haha! There is the fire! I knew you had it inside you, son! But tell me, do you have the experience to wield it? Ha!" The cloud of Sombra's form rushed at Brimstone.

Brimstone tapped into the power within him, and he felt his body change, different from anything he had ever felt before. He swelled, and his body evaporated into a silver cloud of energy with red wisps inside it. His world flashed a brilliant green, and a wave of intoxicating power crashed into the back of his mind, so swift and mighty that he wanted nothing more than to drown himself in it. But he steeled his resolve, and the world came back into focus.

Sombra charged him, and he felt a surge of dark energy as the black and silver clouds met. Brimstone felt invaded, like every part of his ethereal body was on fire and crawling with insects, but he refocused his mind and rebuffed the intruder. "Out!"

With a flare of red light, Sombra's cloud was cast out, and Sombra reformed into a pony on the cold crystalline floor. He cackled, wild-eyed and unblinking. "Very good, son! But you are still sloppy. Allow me to hone your skills!"

Sombra's horn glowed. The weapons that lined the back wall transformed into sharp, needle-like crystals and flew towards Brimstone in a volley. With no lungs, he could not gasp, but soon, his instinct took over, and he viewed the approaching crystals like he would the obstacles in the steeplechase. His gaseous form ducked and weaved between them masterfully, and even without physical wings, Brimstone was able to dodge them all.

Except one.

"Gah!" Brimstone's cloud form collapsed on itself, and he reformed into a pony in midair. His right hind leg showed a large gash, and with a still-sore wing, Brimstone barely coasted to the ground without further hurting himself. He stood quickly, keeping his weight off his injured leg, and barked at Sombra, "But I-I was a cloud! They should pass right through–"

He was stopped cold by the deep frown on his father's face. Sombra shook his head slightly. "So much wasted potential. You could have been a great ruler, my son, if only you had let me lay the world at your hooves."

Brimstone shook on his legs. "I want no part of your world! And I shall not take part in this… senseless violence!"

Sombra nodded solemnly. "Then I will do what I must." He turned his head towards the crystal wall protecting Rosewood. With a flare of Sombra's horn, the wall shattered, and Rosewood gasped. As Sombra quickly transformed back into a cloud, his voice boomed, "I shall show you the price of inaction."

The moments ticked by in slow, powerful heartbeats as Sombra barreled towards Rosewood. The cloud covered Brimstone's vision, and he saw that this was his last moment to save Rosewood and, indeed, all of Equestria.

Brimstone's heart reacted faster than his mind. He embraced the red and the silver and the green of the world, not in submission, but as he would his wing blades. His feelings were swift, and they all centered on one thought: 'I will stop you.'

There was a loud crash from the floor, and in the blink of an eye, it was done.

Rosewood screamed, and as Brimstone refocused his eyes, he saw a dark crystal – the crystal he himself had just manifested – jutting from the ground and though chest of his father.

Rosewood looked up, quaking, and she stared at Sombra's motionless form. She whispered, "You… did it?"

Brimstone's wings drooped at his sides, and tears stung his eyes as all the power drained from him. "Father?" He wailed as he ran towards him, "Father!"

Weakly, Sombra turned his head towards his son and took a labored breath. His body was already dissipating into wisps of black smoke, and his smile was so, so wide.

"Father!" Brimstone rushed to his side and began feeling around, as if trying to catch the smoke in his hooves. "How do I fix this? I can fix–"

"I called you a disappointment," Sombra wheezed. His tail and hind legs were mostly gone, and the light faded rapidly from his eyes. "But look at you now." He sucked in a large breath, and his eyes unfocused. "I have never been so happy to be wrong."

Brimstone quivered, finally setting his hooves down.

Sombra coughed a small laugh. "You are no disappointment, son." His remaining body became nearly transparent, and with a last whisper, he dissipated completely. "You have made me proud."

Brimstone paused, alone, staring at nothing.

He weakly grabbed once more at the air, his hooves remaining empty, and for a long moment, there was silence. He sat like a forlorn statue at the edge of his crystal.

Rosewood started to say, "Brimstone, you–"

She was interrupted with a lightning-quick flap of Brimstone's wing, which sliced her cage door open. Rosewood stayed inside, observing the hunched-over prince.

A minute later, the large doors at the opposite side of the great hall opened. Two guards stumbled in, clutching their heads and with their helmets removed. "S… Sire?" One of the guards looked up. "Where is…"

Brimstone, eyes cast downward, mumbled, "We must alert the princesses. I… I need a messenger."

The other guard took a tentative step forward. "Excuse me, Your Highness, but I didn't quite–"

Brimstone's head whipped towards them, and his wings flared out as tears streamed down his cheeks. "Messenger! Now!"

The guards stood at attention and quickly left the room. Brimstone faced the sharp crystal that had slain his father, and again, there was silence as Brimstone felt the weight of the world on his shoulders.

The cage creaked as Rosewood stepped cautiously towards him. After hesitating twice, she finally set a hoof on Brimstone's shoulder. Brimstone relaxed at her touch, and she said, "Brimstone… You did what had to be–"

Brimstone spun around. He threw both forelegs around Rosewood and wrapped her in his wings, as a colt would his mother, and he wept.

Rosewood held him close, and there they stayed, for as long as he needed.