//------------------------------//
// Prelude: Piercing the Veil 
// Story: Kingdom Hearts: The World's Reluctant Heroes 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Sombra's day had been a mixed bag of events, as he had been fighting to get back inside the Crystal Empire for a time, despite the magical barrier that was keeping his shadowy form outside, and the princess who was powering it had been in the process of getting weaker, as she wasn't as powerful as Celestia and Luna. He discovered that this particular alicorn, Cadance, was supposedly the Princess of Love and his quick glances of her made him realize just how much she reminded him of the last ruler of the Crystal Empire, based on her appearance anyway. Her husband, a unicorn called Shining Armor, had done his best to stall him, helping his wife power the barrier while they sought a way to be rid of him, and occasionally coming out to do break down some of the dark crystals that Sombra called forth to distract him. His plan had been to just distract and wear down the unicorn, cutting down on Cadance's ability to protect the city, though as he did that Sombra found that a train had arrived near the border and six mares, plus a baby dragon, had shown up to aid the city.

Out of all of them only one peaked his interest, the unicorn mare called Twilight Sparkle, as her intelligence was above and beyond everyone else that was there, though her arrival allowed him to cripple Shining's magic by implanting black crystals in his horn, thanks to his own dark magic striking his horn.

The benefit to that was that his own horn was cut off and landed on the other side of the barrier, allowing him to do more damage to it in the grand scheme of things, though it was still a long process since that piece of him was cut off from most of the main body, which was fine since his distractions meant they wouldn't see this coming. Sombra found that the mares who came from the train, which likely came from whatever kingdom Celestia and Luna ruled over, used the library to discover a festival that the crystal ponies used to do before he took over, but they were missing the Crystal Heart. It was an important artifact for the empire that he had hidden, at least so it couldn't be used against him and until he found a way to corrupt it to suit his needs, but that didn't stop them from making a stone replica before realizing that it was a real artifact, as someone had to tell them about what Sombra had done to it. He had laughed as he watched them run around like maniacs, trying to figure out where in the world he had hidden the artifact, while showing great interest in Twilight as she figured out that the artifact was hidden inside the castle, locked away behind a number of locks and traps that would detain anyone looking for it.

What he wasn't expecting was for her to eventually figure out how to get to the heart of his containment area, despite the fact that it might be due to her dragon pet helping her out at times, and even as she triggered the final trap her dragon was able to carry off the heart. At the same time Sombra finally broke through the barrier and surrounded the city in his darkness as he rushed towards the center of the city, only stopping as he found his prize falling through the air, which was around the time that his physical form was allowed to reform in all it's dark glory. It was an amazing turn of events for him, as it installed so much fear into the crystal ponies that realized he was back, before his joy turned to sorrow as Shining did the unthinkable, he lifted his wife with his bare hooves and hurled Cadance into the air, where she sailed towards the now falling Crystal Heart. Sombra had attempted to claim the artifact before it fell, to complete his goals, only for the alicorn to catch the artifact and insert it into the center of the area below the palace, something that caused the ponies of the city to cheer and bow their heads towards it, empowering an ancient magic that had been sleeping for some time.

Sombra had been unable to flee or do anything as the power of love, that which powered the empire, poured out of the Crystal Heart, driving back his darkness and shattering his physical form until the only thing that remained of him was his curved red horn, which flew off into the distance of the Frozen North.

From there time lost all meaning to him, as it was impossible to do so in his dark spirit state, especially with his soul on the fringes of death, causing Sombra to spend what he assumed were his days slowly drawing together enough of his power to stitch himself back together, which was a painful process that took some time to accomplish. Fortunately in this state he didn't have to worry about being attacked, though at the same time he also had to be careful, as he knew that both Celestia and Luna knew a bit about how to use dark magic, which he was an expect in, hence his title as the 'King of Darkness'. While he did all that Sombra also felt what seemed to be a number of magical influxes coming from somewhere down to the south, though the number of them allowed him to pinpoint where they were coming from, so when he finished putting himself together he could leave without having to worry about anything. Another thing he had discovered was that no one from the empire bothered to come looking for any signs of him, which made sense when he considered that they didn't want to big up the past again, though Sombra also knew that it would come back to bite them when he regained his full power.

What surprised him was that one pony did come out into the wilderness multiple times, actively forcing him to move so he could remain undetected, and he found that it was none other than Radiant Hope, he recognized her anywhere, even in the icy region of the Frozen North. Before his 'fall to darkness', as some no doubt called it, he and Radiant had been close, a friend despite how his early life had gone, even though he couldn't recall exactly when it was that he had seen her last, but Sombra had to assume that, for her to be here, a thousand years after his banishment, she must have found her way into the empire when it was sealed. It was either that or the realm of the Umbrum, the species that Sombra came from, though in the end he determined that it didn't matter, rather he remained in hiding as he mended his soul, because she knew him better than most and might turn the tables on him if she had her way. To that end he kept an eye out for her or her scarf she wore, which might be more like a cloak when he focused on it, and whenever he spotted any signs of Radiant he got out of the area before finding a new place to resume his healing.

When the time came for him to move, and his soul was fully intact, Sombra departed from the Frozen North and made his way to the south, tracking down whatever he had felt previously, and found that it eventually brought him to an odd town that was right outside the Everfree Forest, a place that didn't follow the rules all of the other provinces followed.

The signature he had been feeling happened to be coming from the odd crystal castle that looked like it was part of a tree, a structure that reminded him of his time in the Crystal Empire, as odd as it sounded, which made him wonder where it might have come from, as he didn't recall one existing this far south during his reign. As he thought about that he found that one of the ponies of the town happened to be heading to the same structure he was heading towards, a yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail, whose Cutie Mark was three butterflies, who he recognized as one of the mares who had joined Twilight on her journey to his domain. While he could just pass through the wall and see what was inside the structure for himself, all without drawing suspicion, he suspected that he could gain more information if he posed as the shyest pony around, who might go unnoticed until she spoke up, causing him to make his move. In the next few moments he lined his soul up with her body and sunk himself into her very being, effectively covering her bright soul with the dark mass that was his own, where she was able to gasp for just a second before her body was fully under his control.

The moment he was done possessing Fluttershy's body, as that was the mare's name, Sombra let out a sigh as he took a deep breath, taking in the fact that he could feel everything again, especially since there was a gentle breeze in the area that he hadn't known about in his soul form. He found that it was nice to take in the night air for a time, where he quickly realized that he had missed this during the unknown length of time he had been trapped in his soul form, despite the fact that he was currently using another's body to feel the breeze as he calmed his host's heart down. Fluttershy had been terrified for a few seconds, that much he could tell thanks to the sensations he was feeling, but soon her body returned to normal, almost as if nothing had happened in the last couple of moments, and her soul was too terrified to speak out against his, effectively allowing him to settle in with too much of a fight. Sombra honestly couldn't remember the last time he had possessed the body of a mare, especially since there was a key difference between them and a stallion, but right how he wasn't picky and knew that Fluttershy's body would help him out in his personal quest.

For the next couple of moments Sombra made sure he remembered how to move a body that was made of flesh and blood, instead of a spectral form that could touch nothing and pass through walls, which involved raising and lowering his hooves to make sure he could walk, and potentially run, with ease.

Once he was satisfied with how the body moved, while ignoring the wings since he'd have to learn something he had no idea how to use, Sombra quickly approached the front door and pushed it open, quickly finding a couple of corridors and passages to head down as he entered the structure. What he discovered was that the castle was bare, as if it had been freshly made and the owner had spent no time in personalizing it, though the shocking thing about what he was seeing right now was the lack of something that was a must for all castles, namely he found that there were no guards in the castle. It was as if whoever owned this structure, most likely Twilight Sparkle since her power had been above everyone else's during his last defeat, was asking for someone to rob them of everything they had, though with the lack of anything he suspected that if a thief dared to come here they'd be walking away with a frown and a sack full of nothing. With this discovery made he closed the door he had entered through and started to explore, rooms that had nothing in them, and an odd table with a number of seats around it, likely signifying Fluttershy's group since her mark was on one of the chairs, before he stopped in the hallway that was outside that room.

The reason he stopped was because there was a window in front of him and he could see Radiant rushing towards the very castle that he was currently exploring, in fact it looked like she glanced right up at him, or Fluttershy, as she neared the structure, meaning she had tracked him to this place. Sombra wasn't sure how she had tracked him down, other than through sheer determination, but this meant that his exploration had to be cut short, causing him to head down the rest of the hallway as he sought out whatever it was that had drawn him to this place. He passed by the ballroom for a moment and paused as he found a slumbering chimera creature that was inside it, who looked like he was sleeping on a bed made from a pink cloud, though in the next moment he resumed moving, deciding that there would be time to question why Discord was in the castle later. He figured that getting away from Radiant was more important than dealing with the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, even though it was impressive that the slumbering creature had remained undisturbed, as he figured that the sound of his hooves would have caused him to stir, but he was fine with this since it meant he wouldn't have to deal with the creature at all.

After a few more minutes of searching the castle, during which he knew Radiant had entered the structure as well, Sombra finally found the section he had been looking for, the library, and he entered it without delay, closing the door behind him in the hopes that Radiant wouldn't search this room. Once the door was shut he quickly glanced around for a few moments and found what appeared to be a board with a list of names on it, and descriptions of places he didn't recognize, though in the next instant he smiled as he found what had to be the source of some of the energy signatures. The source appeared to be a tall mirror like object that had what appeared to be a magical amplifier attached to it, likely to boost the power that the artifact contained, which only made him more interested in what he was seeing, before an idea sprung to mind as he quickly glanced back at the board. He realized that he had missed something in his haste, as there was also a diagram of worlds on it, ones he didn't recognize, causing Sombra to grin as he stared at the mirror for a moment, because he had found the key to obtaining even greater and terrible power.

"Sombra." a voice said, where he turned his host's head for a moment and found that Radiant had followed him all the way to this room, in fact she was huffing quite a lot, as if she had realized that she would lose him if she didn't pick up the pace, and now here they were, staring at each other as he understood that she must have seen him possess his host before entering the castle.

"I'm leaving, Radiant. You cannot stop me!" Sombra stated, finding that he spoke in Fluttershy's voice, which made sense since she was his host, though at the same time he turned and approached the mirror that seemed to be a portal to all sorts of worlds, as he could only wonder what sort of world he'd be sent to and what sort of powers he'd gain.

Radiant rushed towards Sombra and his host without delay, though as she did so she tripped on herself and tumbled forward like she was rolling, the sound of which caused Sombra to stop and turn towards her, just in time for Radiant to hit him and his host, sending all three of them into the portal as the magic latched onto them and sent them to whatever world was resting on the other side.





Sombra found that the other side of the portal, for that was what the magical tunnel had to be based on his observations, dropped him into what appeared to be the middle of a sea or ocean, based on all of the water that was around him, but in the next moment he discovered that it was actually all around him. He was underwater, why he had no idea and he wasn't about to start questioning things, especially when he found that something was fulling him backwards, down into the dark depths, only for him to discover that he was no longer possessing Fluttershy, as he was a soul once more, plus he found that neither her or Radiant were with him. He barely had time to think about that as he discovered that he had no power to fight whatever had latched onto him, so all Sombra could do right now was relax and let the current take him, only to be caught off guard as he burst through the water's surface and landed on a beach. It appeared that he was on a small island, with what he guessed were coconut trees since a few of them had several fruits resting around their bases, though he found that he was alone, as there was no one on the beach he had appeared on, meaning he was left to his thoughts once more.

As he started to think about things, however, he noticed what appeared to be a shooting star streak through the air, then a second and soon a third, causing him to glance back towards the sky as he noticed that it was a shower of shooting stars, a scene he had never seen back on the planet he called home, before noticing a dark spec falling towards the water.

The World acknowledges your existence. a voice said, something that caused Sombra to turn his head, as he realized that it wasn't like an actual speaker, like one would assume upon hearing it, but he wasn't sure what the source really was, it was stranger than anything he had felt or heard before this point in time.

As Sombra thought about what was going on he discovered that he suddenly fell backwards, as if something had pulled him back while he wasn't looking, and that he was suddenly up in the air, meaning he was actually the dark spec he had spotted, though at the same time he found that a surge of strange energy, made up of equal parts light and darkness, wrapped around his soul for a time.

The World realizes that you don't have a body, and apologizes. the unknown entity added, where Sombra realized that part of it's power had to be the energy that was all around him, meaning the portal must have brought him to the domain of a powerful being, who had clearly taken an interest in the odd newcomer that had entered it's realm, and he was surprised to learn that he didn't have a physical form still, The World would like to offer you your own physical form. Do you accept it's offer?

Yes. Sombra replied, figuring that since he didn't have a mouth he would need to speak with his mind, since that had to be how the Entity, for lack of a better term, was communicating with him right now, so this would allow him to speak like a normal being again and let him focus on his own goals.

In the following moments a surge of energy pulsed through his soul, unlike anything he had felt in the past, and he felt like he was slipping into unconsciousness, though he did close his eyes for a time as the Entity's magic washed over him, since it was too late to turn back now. Sombra could feel something happening to him as new appendages became known to him, because he could feel four limbs, similar to his front and hind legs before his physical body had been shattered, and it wasn't long before he felt his tail start to grow out, along with his mane. What he found to be weird was that his new form was stretched to match a bipedal stance, instead of the quadrupedal form he, like all ponies, was used to, meaning that this had to be the common form of the residents of wherever he had been teleported to, something he would have to get used to. Other than that there were a few other things that caught him off guard, such as the fact that he felt his chest swell in two spots, his frame felt smaller than what he was expecting, and his mane felt longer than what he was used to, all things he would have to check out when he opened his eyes.

In the next moment his new form smashed into the ocean he had seen from the beach and it was like a surge of life pulsed through his body, because it felt like his bodily functions just sprung to life all of a sudden, before he noticed that he wasn't wet from hitting the water, rather it felt like he was sinking into the darkness again.

Eventually he found himself turning around and his hooves touched down on a flat surface, which was followed by a surge of doves as the dark floor transformed into a large flock of the birds as they flew off into the great darkness that was around him, confirming that, while he had hit the ocean earlier, it was more like a portal to a new area. As the flock disappeared he noticed that he was now standing on a large flat circular surface that seemed like the top of a tower of some kind, though it looked like everything was made out of stained glass, depicting who he assumed was a princess of some kingdom that was unknown to him. In the next moment he found a floating mirror nearby, allowing him to see his new form, which appeared to be like a small minotaur, as he stood on two legs, which ended in his hooves, while what had been his front legs were now arms and ended in what he assumed were hands, both having five fingers, plus he had his curved horn and both his hair and his tail had black hairs. As he looked at his reflection he quickly noticed that something was off about him, the first being the large mounds on his chest and the slim frame he had, plus the long hair that came to a stop just below his shoulders, before discovering that he was wearing a red shirt and shorts, though he was stunned by his young reflection being of the opposite gender for some reason.

He really wasn't sure what was going on right now, or what this meant for him, but he had the feeling that part of his wish to gain more power had been granted, he just had to figure out where he was, what was going on, and if there was a way to fix his current form before he actually started his grand quest.