//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Sombra: The Shadow Over Ponyville // by Blaster Master //------------------------------// Chapter 1 Anger. Anger was the only thing coursing through him, his only anchor to this mortal coil. Once, he could feel many things. He could feel those things some short time ago. For a brief moment he was enraptured by his new feelings. Surprise, relief, happiness… Triumph. But it was snatched away again. What was rightfully his was snatched away, and he was… Reduced. Just as before when he was reduced by those Alicorns. He was turned into little more than shadow, barely alive. But with time he collected his mind again, found his thoughts, and remade himself. He remembered who he was. Sombra, King of the Crystal Empire. He had returned in all his wrath, his former self growing stronger with every passing day, every day growing that much closer to being as he was. Being whole. But She had shattered him again. He had felt Her magicks in his tower. SHE had bested his obstacles and traps. There had been others, so many others infesting his city like parasites. But they would have failed without HER. How he burned with fury at the thought of Her. He barely knew what She looked like, but he had felt Her and that was enough for him to hate. She had recovered the Crystal Heart, returned it to his slaves and they had used it to destroy him. Or so they thought. The process the Alicorn sisters had done to him had made him beyond life or death. He desperately clung onto the edges of both, belonging to neither but also both. And he had BEEN SO CLOSE! He had felt the wind in his face and the heat of the sun. But now he felt neither. He wanted to scream in rage, but had no mouth. He wanted to look for Her, but had no eyes. He wanted to wreak his terrible revenge on Her, but had no power. Not yet. But Sombra was unwilling to let this stop him. He would have his vengeance upon Her; She who had thwarted his return, reverted him to his weakened state, and had kept him from his destiny. Whoever She was and wherever She ran to, Sombra vowed he would find Her. And She would suffer. But now he was barely a thought. But that thought was powerful, its power kept him warm. Kept him alive. That thought was hate. He did not remember the Empire, or the Princesses, or even his own name. But he remembered Her, and his hatred shined. And slowly, the days turned into weeks, turned into months. And King Sombra again recovered his mind. He collected his thoughts and began to remember. Remember how to move again, how to stretch out with his magic. And at the frozen outskirts of the Crystal Empire, a hunk of red matter poked up from the snow. It was a severed horn, and it glowed faintly with dark power. The horn rose out of the snow, hovering a short distance off the ground. And then it began to move. It began to head south. For even in his weak state, his Monomania allowed him to feel Her power from many miles away. It didn’t matter how far She might have traveled, he would follow Her to the ends of the world to get his retribution. On and on he traveled, slowly but resolutely. As the weather began to warm, Sombra remembered more. He remembered names: Celestia, Luna, his own name, even Cadance. Sweet Cadance... Precious Cadance… Innocent Cadance… How he longed to squeeze the life from her. But she would keep, nestled on her shiny throne and tending to her crystalline subjects. Sombra was a pony obsessed, and would see to that revenge later. Over treacherous mountains and through grassy hills the horn went, going as straight as it could, but also staying below the radar. Sombra knew enough now to know he was vulnerable. If word reached the Princesses that he was alive and roaming their lands in this diminished form, they’d throw him right back under his glacier or worse. More than once he had to stop to allow a traveler to see him, pick him up, inspect him, and then discard him, writing him off as a strange rock. Over time, Sombra learned to stretch out and touch the minds of these interlopers. He could do little to bend their wills, but he could give them a ‘bad feeling’, so they would pass him by. It was degrading, but Sombra was in no state to fight a curious foal, let alone a pair of goddesses and their armies. Eventually, the horn glided its way into a forest, but this was no ordinary forest. Sombra could sense it in the air; there was darkness here. Potent, strange, and primal power swirled through the very air, though he doubted many could sense the true extent of it. The horn drew deeper into the forest, nimbly navigating the foliage and hovering above the ground enough to avoid sinking into quicksand, puddles, or sinkholes. When it was sufficiently deep in the undergrowth, the horn nestled into the knothole of a gnarled tree and laid to rest. The trip had been an ordeal, but She was nearby, he could feel Her aura just beyond the forest. But what would he do? He needed to know more. He didn’t even know Her from sight, let alone the limits of Her powers, Her strengths, or weaknesses. He could not approach Her like he was, barely clinging to life by his horn. He needed a plan. As the hours passed while Sombra pondered his next move, he sensed another presence approaching. No… Several presences. Something wild and feral was being drawn to his dark energy. Sombra could not laugh, but was richly amused none-the-less. Timberwolves. These low creatures were fierce but little more than golems, constructs made from the ambient energy of the forest itself. But even creatures as fierce as these were still too simple to be any threat to Sombra, even as weak as he was. But suddenly the Shadow King had his plan. These Timberwolves could yet be of use.