//------------------------------//
// De Profundis 
// Story: The Absence of Light 
// by Gordon Pasha 
//------------------------------//

There, fully illuminated by Cadance’s light, stood Radiant Hope. But she was not the beautiful crystal pony Sombra had always known. No, now her coat was a dull grey with only a hint of purple. Her eyes, much smaller now, had no pupils but were only a dull, milky white. Her long muzzle could barely contain the sharp teeth pushing out from beneath her lips. Tall, spindly insect wings had sprouted from her back, and she was using them to hover a little off the ground. Her whole body seemed as though it was formed by a dark, unhealthy smog, and her hair, now a sickly pale white rather than blue, floated around her head like a haze. She hovered there, the pony he loved, looking nothing like a pony at all.
“I saved you,” she said, her voice taking on a buzzing quality. “It was the only thing I could do.”
“But... what... but how....”
“She swapped your essences, your natures, your... I don’t know what to call it,” Cadance said. “But you became a crystal pony. And she became an Umbrum.”
“It was the only way I could save you.”
Sombra could barely speak. “But... but how... how did you know how to do that? How could you even know?”
“I didn’t,” Hope said. “I just did it. It came to me naturally, like when I got my cutie mark, like the first time I saved you. I didn’t know I could do it until right when I did, but then it just felt right.”
Sombra leapt to his hooves. “Right? Right? How is this right? Hope, look at you! You’re a monster!”
Hope scrunched her snout. Then she turned to Cadance. “Can you please stop using Amore’s magic, just for a little bit? It’s hurting me.”
Cadance looked uncertain.
“Please?”
Cadance nodded. The brightness ceased, replaced by the low-light Cadance had used when she and Sombra first entered the prison. Freed from the glare of Amore’s love-glow, Hope’s Umbric features faded away and she resumed an appearance more like the one Sombra knew. Not quite the same as the one Sombra knew, but enough to where he could recognize his Radiant Hope again.
She took his hoof.
“When you were like this, I used to tell you that you weren’t a monster,” she said softly. “And I was right. You were never a monster. Neither am I.”
“But, my people are evil. You’ve seen what they did.”
“And I’ve seen what you did as one of them. Being a shadow pony is just another form of life. It’s what you choose to do with it that matters. Like I always say, we make our own destiny.”
Sombra shook his head sadly. “But, Hope, this? This is the destiny you wanted?”
Hope smiled and touched Sombra’s cheek. “My destiny was to save you. That is the destiny I chose. I have no regrets.”
“But now you’re trapped in here! You’re trapped in the Prison of Shadows!”
“I know. But it was my home for a thousand years. I’ve grown used to it.”
“But the Umbrum hate you now! They won’t forgive you for turning me against them!”
“I’m not afraid of them, Sombra. And they can’t kill me, whatever else they do. Umbrum can’t kill Umbrum down here.”
Sombra felt tears welling up in his eyes. “No! You can’t stay here! You can’t stay with them! We’re supposed to be together now! That’s what’s supposed to happen!”
Hope lost her smile. “I know. But life has never happened like it’s supposed to. Not for us.”
Sombra stamped his hoof. “I won’t leave you, Hope! Not now, not after just getting you back! I won’t lose you again! I’m taking you out of here, one way or another!”
“You can’t,” Hope said. “I’m an Umbrum and the Umbrum can’t escape the prison on their own. That’s why they needed me. That’s why they needed you.”
“But there must be a way. Amore’s magic made this prison, it has to be able to undo it.”
“Nopony really understands Amore’s magic. Only she did, and after what you did to her when you... well.... Not even Cadance understands it.”
“Thanks,” Cadance said gruffly. “But she’s right. Even I haven’t mastered love-magic to the extent that Amore did. I couldn’t build a prison like this and I certainly couldn’t undo an enchantment of this magnitude. Even if I wanted to.”
“Even if you wanted to?” Sombra said sharply.
“I have the safety of my subjects to consider, Sombra,” Cadance said. “I couldn’t just undo the enchantment and let the Umbrum run free.”
“So you’d leave Hope down here to rot, would you?” Sombra snapped at her. “I was right about you the first time.”
“So you keep saying,” Cadance replied.
“Please, Sombra, she’s right,” Hope said. “There’s no way to save me. Not right now.”
“Then I’m staying with you,” Sombra said. “If you stay, I stay.”
Hope shook her head. Sombra could see tears beginning to form in her eyes. “No, Sombra, you can’t do that. I don’t want you to do that. If you stay down here instead of living the life I gave you, then it was all for nothing. You need to go up there and live in order to make what I did worthwhile.”
“But I can’t live without you, Hope!”
“You can, Sombra. I know you can. I’ve always had faith in you. I’ve always known you were a good pony. Now you need to go out and prove it to yourself.”
“All that was good in me came from you, Hope.”
“Maybe.”
“And without you, I can’t be good.”
“Now, that’s not true. And besides, I’ll always be with you, even when I’m stuck down here.”
Sombra wiped his tears. “No. No sentimental cliches. I can’t leave you. I can’t live without you. I love you, Hope.”
Hope smiled through her tears. “You love me? You’ve never told me that before.”
Sombra himself began to smile. “It’s true. I don’t care if you’re an Umbrum or a crystal pony. I love you.” 
“Oh, please,” Cadence said. “I mean, I’m the Princess of Love and all, but is this really the time?”
Hope and Sombra barely heard her. All their focus was on each other. 
“I love you too,” Hope said. She leaned toward Sombra. Instinctively, he responded in kind. Their lips grew closer, moving into their first kiss in a thousand years. Their first true kiss, perhaps. In just a moment, it would happen. 
There was a loud crash. Sombra jerked his head up. Princess Cadance was laying on the ground. He could see several long, bloody gashes running down her side. Teeth-marks, by the look of them. And there was only one creature who could make teeth-marks like that.
“You really have changed, Sombra,” came Rabia’s sinister voice. “Using a descendant of Amore to fight your battles? And a pregnant one, at that? Did becoming a crystal pony make you a coward as well?”
“Pr-pregnant?” Cadance said weakly before lapsing into unconsciousness.
Hope grabbed Sombra. “Sombra, you have to go now! If Rabia is here, the other Umbrum can’t be far behind.”
“No, I can’t leave you!” Sombra said.
“You have to! If not for yourself, then to save Cadance. You might be able to survive down here, but she won’t. Not with those injuries.”
Sombra looked to Cadance. Rabia was hovering over her. Sombra knew that it wouldn’t be long before she went in for the kill. He looked at Cadance on the ground, broken and bleeding. Then he looked to Hope.
“Please, Sombra,” Hope said. “I know it’s hard. But Cadance was willing to sacrifice a lot for you and for me. You can’t just let her die. And if what Rabia said is true, it’s not just her. You can’t let two ponies die, Sombra! Not for me!”
Sombra looked once more to Cadence. He felt a tremendous pain in his heart.
“What do we do?” he said, unable to bring himself to look at Hope again.
“I can hold off Rabia, at least until the others come. You get Cadance and escape.”
“I’ll come back for you. Once she’s out of here, I’ll come back.”
“No. Her wounds are bad. She’ll need you. Besides, the Umbrum will be swarming the area by then. You won’t be able to come back. You’ll have to leave me for now.”
“But what if I can’t help her once I get her out? What if I don’t know what to do?”
“You’ll know what to do. As soon as you get out of here, you’ll know what to do. I have faith in you.”
Sombra looked once more toward Cadence and Rabia and then looked back to Hope. “I can’t! I just can’t leave you! We’ll never see each other again! I can’t handle that!”
Hope nuzzled his neck. “We’ll see each other again. Someday. Someday we’ll have the happy ending we deserve. You just have to believe that.”
“And if I can’t?”
“You have to. No matter what. You just have to have hope.”
Hope. Why did it always seem to come back to that?
No time to ponder it, though. Sombra heard the distinctive noise of Rabia swooping downward. He knew what it meant. Cadance was in trouble. He dashed toward her with all of his speed. He grabbed her up, tossed her on his back, and galloped out of the way just before Rabia made contact. Pieces of rock flew everywhere as the Umbrum made a hard landing. 
“You’d save the life of your people’s greatest enemy?” Rabia squealed as she rose out of her self-made crater. “Of Princess Amore?”
“She’s not Princess Amore,” Sombra said. “She’s my friend.” 
He was just glad that Cadance wasn’t awake to hear it.
Sombra took to his hooves and made for the staircase. He looked over his shoulder to see Rabia coming quick behind him. 
“Too bad you don’t have our ability to fly anymore,” Rabia taunted. “Pony legs aren’t made to handle the Prison of Shadows.”
“Oh, won’t you just shut up, already?” Another dark mass slammed into Rabia, knocking her sideways. She snarled and righted herself to fight the new enemy. Sombra could barely make out their forms, but he still recognized the voice. It was Hope.
His heart sunk, even as he ran up the staircase. He knew he really had lost her now. 
Whether it was because of the adrenaline or because of all the complicated emotions he was feeling, Sombra made his way up the stairs much more quickly than he had his way down. Before he knew it, the portal was only a few steps ahead. Below, he heard the sounds of Hope and Rabia struggling, though looking backward he could not see a thing. He looked ahead once more and steadied himself for the final plunge. 
Then, Rabia’s voice pierced the darkness. “That’s right, Sombra. Run away! Run away and abandon the only pony you ever loved! You betrayed us, now betray her! Prove to her at last that you are what we always said you were; a monster. Or if not a monster, then at least a coward. A coward is worse than a monster.”
Sombra sneered. He stopped in his tracks. His hoof tore at one of the steps, causing a few pebbles to bounce down the stairs with a long rattling sound. He could feel the weight of Cadance on his back. He could feel her blood pouring down his crystalline coat. He knew that she was in bad shape. But he did not care.
He turned around and readied himself. “Hope, I’m coming! Hold on!”
“No, Sombra!” came Hope’s voice from the darkness. “Don’t listen to her! Cadance needs you to get her to safety!”
“I can’t, Hope! I can’t leave you!”
“You can! You can do it because it’s the right thing to do! You know that!”
“I know,” Sombra said. “But I can’t. I can’t do any of this without you.”
Suddenly, there was the sound of another loud crash. Sombra bit his lip. He was afraid. Had Rabia gotten the better of Hope? Sombra couldn’t bear to think of it, but he couldn’t get himself to think of anything else. And then, he saw a dark form rising directly in front of his face. The form of an Umbrum. Sombra readied himself as best he could. He expected the worst.
“That’ll take care of her for now, but we don’t have much time. She won’t stay down for long.”
Sombra relaxed. It was Hope.
“You can do this, Sombra,” she said, “I know it’s hard. I know it’s not fair. But you can do it. Do you know how I know you can do it? Because you’re going to do it for me.”	
“Do it for you? But how am I doing this for you?”
Hope smiled and touched Sombra’s cheek again. Even though it was the harsh, gnarled hoof of an Umbrum, he could still feel the warmth, the love of her touch.
“Because you’ll do it to prove to me that you are what I always said you are: a good pony. The type of pony who can sacrifice his happiness for the sake of others. Prove to me again that you are good. Prove it to yourself. Do the right thing.”
Sombra tried to hide back further tears, but a few found their way through. Hope wiped them from his cheeks. He looked to the portal and then to her. He knew what he had to do. He did not like it, but he had to do it. He turned away from Hope.
Sombra made his way up the last few steps. The portal was right in front of him. He looked at it and made himself as ready to leave behind his past — his whole past, the bad but also the good — as he could. But just as he began to step through, he looked behind him once more. 
There was Hope. She alighted on a stair a few steps down and resumed the form that was more like her natural pony self. Sombra could see now that she was crying. But she tried to smile through the tears.
“I’ll find a way to save you,” Sombra said. “I promise.”
“I know,” Hope responded.
From somewhere below came a great tumult and cry. The rest of the Umbrum had arrived. 
“Go now!” Hope said urgently.
Sombra just stood there, looking at her.
“It’s not the end, Sombra. We’ll see each other again. Just have hope.”
With these words, Hope disappeared into the darkness.
With the dreadful noise of the Umbrum getting closer and closer, Sombra turned back to the portal and, with Cadance snuggly draped upon his shoulders, jumped through. 
The next thing Sombra knew, all he could see was white. All he could feel was cold. For some reason, before remembering where he was and what had happened, he thought he was dead. But then his strength returned and he was able to lift his head up. There, in the distance, he could see the spires of the Crystal Empire gleaming against the twilight. 
He got to his feet and looked around. It was the frozen wastes again with their biting cold. Sombra had to admit, the cold felt good. Everything felt good. Just being alive felt good as he remembered the horrors that he had just managed to  escape from. Then he remembered Hope. And nothing felt good.
He also remembered Cadance. He looked around and saw her lying in a snow-bank a few feet away. Sombra rushed to her. Her eyes were partially open but she did not respond to shouts of her name. She was still bleeding from her side. Sombra did not have Hope’s extensive medical knowledge, but even he could tell that she was not in good shape.
Sombra panicked. He did not know what to do. This was one of the situations when he wished he still had Hope by his side. The first of many in the years to come, he suspected. He thought he should try to take Cadance back to the Crystal Empire. But she looked like she was fading fast. He surmised that there was no way he could reach the Empire in time.  
He did not know what to do.
And then, suddenly, he did. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did. 
A blue glow enveloped Princess Cadance, just as it also enveloped Sombra’s horn. He put all of his might into the enchantment. He struggled, he squirmed, he forced, he fought. This type of magic was not easy. But then, he heard Cadance let out a loud, peaceful sigh. He looked and saw that the wounds along her side were all gone. All that remained as proof that they had ever been there were a few fainr drops of red blood on the white snow. 
Cadance, looking as though she was coming out of a long, deep dream, lifted her head up. Slowly, she shook off the grogginess and got to her feet. She rubbed her side with a wing, and looked at it with a mixture of surprise and relief. Then she grabbed her stomach.
“Cadance, what’s wrong?” Sombra said in alarm.
“I think I feel the kicking,” Cadance responded with a smile. “I guess Rabia wasn’t lying. Finding out about your new baby from a living force of evil must take the cake on pregnancy stories, though.”
Sombra allowed himself to smile a little in relief.
“But what happened?” Cadance asked, stretching her legs. “I felt Rabia tear into me and I was certain I was a goner. But now, I can’t find a scratch.”
Sombra looked away bashfully. “She did, but... I, well... I healed you.”
Cadance’s jaw nearly dropped. “You healed me? But how?”
“I... I... don’t know....”
Cadance looked Sombra up and down until her eyes settled on his flank. She smiled. “I think I know.”
Sombra looked down. His eyes grew wide. He found himself nearly stuttering and gibbering. He could not believe it. There, on his flank, was a winged staff around with were entwined two serpents. 			
Hope’s cutie mark.
“You didn’t just exchange natures or whatever,” Cadance said. “You exchanged powers. She gave you her healing power. She took in your darkness and gave you her light.”
Tears filled Sombra’s eyes. “Hope....” he said.	
And then, in an instant, he spun around and galloped back toward the crystal. “Hope! We can still save her! There’s still time!”
But just as he was about to reach it, a light-blue light enveloped the crystal. It shattered. Sombra was lucky to avoid the shards flying all around him.
“No, Sombra,” Cadance said firmly.
Sombra wheeled on Cadance. “What did you do?” he bellowed.
“What I had to do,” Cadance answered. “What I had to do to protect my people. I’m sorry, Sombra, but that weak point is a danger to the Crystal Empire. My first priority must be securing the lives of my subjects.”
Sorrow and anger filled Sombra in equal measure. “But... I thought... I thought you were different! I thought you were better than Princess Amore! You really had me believing that! And now... you’re not better. You’re exactly the same.”
“For the last time, I never knew Princess Amore. I don’t know if you’re justified in hating her as much as you do or not, but if she did what she did to protect the crystal ponies, then I’m not ashamed to be like her, at least in that respect.”
“So you don’t care! About me, about Hope, you don’t care!”
“Of course, I care, you idiot! But I have to look at the big picture! I have to do what is right for my people. You would understand that if you had ever been a real king and not just a tyrant!”
Sombra let out a growl. His horn began to glow. He could fry this princess right now, he was so angry. But then he remembered Hope and he turned away. Sombra turned his back on Cadance and tried to hold back his tears.
Cadance walked up beside him and put her hoof on his shoulder. When she spoke, her voice was softer. “I’m sorry. But this is the right thing for everyone. I know it doesn’t feel like it, but it is. If you would have charged in there just now, you would either have lost your life or the Umbrum would have used Hope to get you back on their side. Either way, that’s not what Hope wanted for you. That would just be a waste of her sacrifice.”
“Don’t talk to me about her sacrifice.”
Cadance chose to let this go. Instead, her voice grew even softer, even sweeter, very much like the mother she was soon to be.
“We’ll find another way,” she said. “I promise you, Sombra, I will put all the resources, all the knowledge, all the magic of the Crystal Empire to work finding another way. And I know Twilight, Celestia, and Luna will do what they can. Just come back to the Crystal Empire. Come back with me.”
Sombra pulled away. “Excuse me, but I’ve had enough of princesses for one lifetime. Besides, I don’t need the crystal ponies’ hate. The Crystal Empire is my past. Best to leave it there.”
“But where will you go?” Cadance said in concern.
Sombra picked up a shard of the shattered crystal. “I didn’t kill Amore. I know everybody thinks I did. But I just turned her to stone and shattered her.”
“Oh, is that all?” Cadance quipped,
Sombra was not in the mood for more banter. “If I find the pieces, I think I can bring her back. Using Hope’s magic, I’ll be able to bring her back.”
Cadance was overjoyed, “That’s great news, Sombra! I can send out the crystal guards to help—”
Sombra just sneered at her. “Listen, Cadance, go back to your palace. Raise your child. Love your little family. Rule your empire. Enjoy all the things that I’ve never been allowed. I’m not doing this for you, I’m not doing this for Amore, and I’m not doing it for the Crystal Empire. I’m doing it for Hope. I’m doing it to get answers about that prison and to find a way to get her out of there. And—”
Sombra held the shard up in front of his face. For a moment, he thought he saw Radiant Hope’s reflection appear in the crystal. She looked downward, not meeting his gaze, while a single tear ran down her cheek. Sombra felt his heart breaking again. He rested his head against the image and fought back more tears.
“I’m doing this to prove that I’m the pony she always said I was. A good pony. That’s the only way I can live with knowing she sacrificed herself for me.”
Sombra did not wait for Cadance to respond. He did not care what she had to say. There was nothing left for him here. So he left. Without another word, he walked into the uncharted depths of the Frozen North. Behind him, Celestia’s sun plunged below the horizon, bathing the world in Luna’s cool, sombre night.






Completum est.