As Sombra drove to their destination, Tempest navigated with her phone in her hand.
“How far now?” Sombra asked.
“I told you, we’re almost there,” Tempest answered for the hundredth time. Though tired of Sombra’s repeated question, she understood that on some level even a monster like him was anxious to see his son again. “Turn right at the next intersection.”
At the next intersection, Sombra drove as instructed. When he did, he was greeted by a welcoming sight.
The neighborhood he drove down was as welcoming and pristine as any he had seen in his life. Here, the homes were clean, and the lawns were trimmed. The hedges were edged neatly, and were as green as the grass they bordered. This neighborhood was the home of Spike and his new family, and it was as good as Sombra could have asked for.
In the passenger seat, Tempest was looking out the window, counting the houses as they drove on.
“There it is. That house with the rainbow postbox,” Tempest said.
“And a rainbow postbox to top it all off. How saccharine. How quaint,” Sombra thought to himself, as he parked beside the curb and unstrapped himself from his seat. He was stopped by Tempest’s hand on his arm.
“You stay in the car,” Tempest said, as she took the keys from the starter, and put them in her pocket.
“Tempest, don’t you think I’d want to meet the people who are looking after my boy, now that me and his mum aren’t around?” Sombra reasoned.
“As much as I can appreciate you wanting to see what kind of life your son has now, I think the last thing these people want is to see a known killer on their property. Especially when they find out that there’s already one after their new son. And it’s Officer Tempest,” Tempest said, as she got out of the car.
The officer warily eyed Sombra, as the inmate displayed the very same smile as when he learned who had adopted his son.
“Fair enough. You go on ahead. I’ll just wait here. But, could you at least tell me what these people are like, and what kind of home they have?” Sombra asked.
“Sure,” was all Tempest answered, before she closed the car door and walked to the house.
In the few steps it took her to reach the front door, Tempest was rehearsing what she would say to the family, and how she would gently break the news that their son was in danger. It had been a long time since she had done anything like that. Not since she became blind in one eye, and was forced to take a desk job. Still, after so much time, the job was as difficult as ever for her.
In seemingly no time at all, she reached the front door, and was faced with breaking the bad news to the parents. After psyching herself up with a deep inhale, Tempest rang the doorbell.
Seconds passed, and steps were heard approaching the door. Luckily for Tempest, it seemed that someone was home. The door opened, revealing who the officer assumed to be Night Light.
“Um, yes?” Night Light greeted the officer.
“Are you Night Light?” Tempest asked.
“I am. Do you need something?”
“Officer Tempest Shadow, Canterlot PD,” Tempest said, as she presented her badge.
“Night Light? Who is it?” asked Velvet’s voice from somewhere in the house.
“It’s the police,” Night Light answered.
Velvet abruptly walked into the room, where she faced the officer in the doorway.
“What do they want?” she asked.
“I’m afraid it’s in regards to your son,” Tempest explained.
“Actually, it’s in regards to my son,” Sombra said, as he walked in from behind.
Even though his appearance had changed, and he had aged much from the boy they knew, Twilight Velvet and Night Light were both taken aback by the sudden reappearance of Sombra into their lives.
“God dammit! I told you to wait in the car!” Tempest said.
“And miss the chance to reconnect with my old friends? I don’t think so.”
“Do you know these people?” Tempest asked Sombra.
“Yes. We go way back, the three of us. Suffice it to say, I couldn’t have asked for better people to take in my son,” Sombra answered.
“You...You’re Spike’s father?” Night Light said.
“As you can see, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen one another. But, right now, we have important business that concerns all of us,” Sombra said.
Even though she couldn’t see Sombra’s eyes, Tempest knew he was glancing at her. Without a word, she knew that what Sombra was hinting at was true.
“He’s right. I’m afraid I have some bad news regarding your son, Spike,” Tempest continued. She paused a moment to allow either of the adoptive parents to speak. “I’m afraid he’s become the target of a known killer.”
Velvet gasped loudly.
“Yes. You two remember Pharynx, don’t you?” Sombra asked.
Before anything more was said, a loud rumble was heard in the distance. Shortly after, the sky above turned deep red.
The stranger from Equestria was casually walking down the path on the side of the road. Around his neck, the piece of the god of chaos glowed brightly as the world around him fell apart.
No cars were on the road, as it had become a stream of lava. Everyone who passed by the stranger met with a terrible end. Be it they melted into the concrete, burst into flame, or simply disappeared altogether, none were spared from him.
The clouds above began morphing and churning like liquid, and turned pitch black in color. One by one, they each grew black tendrils that reached down from the sky, and corroded everything they touched on the ground below.
The ground and the sky both cracked, as if to mirror one another. A vortex reached through from each, meeting in the middle and spreading wide from there. What was caught in the vortex was not blown away. Rather, it was twisted and warped beyond normal recognition. What might have been a building could have been pieces of a car. What might have been the street could have been the sewer. What might have been a human could have been a twisted distortion of another creature.
The stranger did not even smile at his handiwork. This was all that was meant to be, and he was only the purveyor to help it along.
At Canterlot High, things were not faring much better. The destruction could be seen easily from the school, and it was quickly closing in on them all.
The ground was waving toward them like ripples in a pond. The further it traveled, it destroyed everything in its path.
It was nearly upon them all, until Twilight touched the geode around her neck, and levitated everyone into the air over the rippling ground. Once the ripples passed, Twilight lowered them all back to the ground.
“What was that!?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve only seen something like this once before,” Princess Twilight said.
“Us too. I think we need to have another ‘talk’ with Discord,” Spike said, before rushing off to the city.
“Spike! Spike, wait!!” Twilight called, as she and the others ran after him.