Shards of Hatred

by ChaoticHarmony

Recollections: II

The Dreamscape was darker than she last remembered, no doubt corrupted by the sheer proximity to one of the darkest beings that had ever walked the world of the waking. It was a place whose appearance was affected by what kinds of dreams the ponies were having inside of it, after all. There was blackness that stretched in every direction; the normally clear bubbles of dreams now pitch black and pulsating with an evil violet light. They were something that raised the hairs on the back of her neck and made her inner instincts scream at her to cancel the spell she used to get here. We shouldn’t be here, this isn’t the place that we know! Her inner voice wasn’t the only thing that screamed at her, however.

All around her the shouts and screams of agony and pain cut through the air, echoing against themselves and nearly deafening her before she could react. Deftly weaving a silence spell to cut out the worst of the heart-rending sounds, Luna slowly and cautiously drew closer to one of the oily barriers that enclosed the dream within, wincing occasionally as a fresh shriek, though greatly muted by her spell, pushed into her ears. “Where are all these nightmares coming from?” Her whisper was lost upon her ears, too quiet to bypass her spell. “I thought that the Crystal Empire and the ponies within had vanished.” Luna reached out a hoof and touched the shimmering barrier before her, hissing at the pain that jolted along her leg before she could jerk away.

She was nearly about to abandon her foray into the Dreamscape when another scream rent the air, coming from the bubble that she had just attempted to enter. Ignoring her inner instincts that shouted for her to turn back, Luna plunged forward into the oily blackness. It felt exactly how it looked; it was corrupt, oily, and filled with an evil darkness that filled her body with pain. The pain rose and rose with every second that she spent trying frantically to cross the border between Dreamscape and dream, as did her panic. A scream of her own rose to fill her ears and followed her through the darkness that teased at the edges of her vision. As she reached the point where she thought she was about to lose control of her spell, Luna broke through the barrier and crashed head-first into a brambly thicket of plantlife.

She lay there for what seemed like ages, gritting her teeth against the slowly fading pain. From her spot in the bushes, she could just barely see two figures struggling in a clearing up ahead, one of which was pinning down the other and moving in a rough sort of rhythm. That was when the scream sounded out again. It was a mare’s scream, followed by a cruel laugh and what sounded like a hoof against flesh. She wasn’t prepared for what passed through the air next. “Silence, Crystal slave whorse! I am the King of the Crystal Empire, and I will have what I desire!” At the last word, another scream broke through the air, though it was weaker than the last. Forgetting the fact that she was ensnared in brambles and still warding off the pain from entering the dream, Luna bolted forward into the clearing with her horn glowing brightly with a spell ready to obliterate the source of that voice that brought chills down her spine.

There in the clearing was something that she would never be able to forget, nor forgive. Needless to say, her spell ripped through the figure that was straddled atop the poor mare and sent the wisps of his banished-from-the-dream body out of the dream bubble. As she turned back towards the mare that she had just saved, her blood froze. Sitting there, pushing that poor pony to the ground again, was Sombra. “How… How did you return?! “ Again she cast the spell, banishing the evil king from the dream. Again he re-appeared, mounting the mare that let out a wail pain at each time he did so.

Tears formed in Luna’s eyes as she cast spell after spell, each more futile than the last, until her attacks stopped having any effect upon the dream in anyway and she was forced to watch helplessly as the scene played its course over and over again. With difficultly she pulled her gaze away and fled, forcing her wings to carry her into the sky above and through the barrier back into the Dreamscape.

As she crashed upon the cobbled ground that she favored to craft the Dreamscape of, a cruel voice soon reached out to touch her mind. “Why hello, my little Luna. How nice of you to try and interfere with these sweet dreams that I have been so gracious to give to all of my loyal subjects.”

“Sombra!” Her tearful shout cut through all of the screams that were passing through the air, her voice breaking as her rage took control of her body. Bolt after bolt of magic spewed forth from her horn, fading into nothingness as their light was consumed by the blackness that enveloped everything. “Show yourself, so that we may do battle!”

“Oh, come now, little Lulu. Do you really think I wish to fight with you? No, I quite enjoy the darkness, as you can see from my little decorating session. But I suppose I shall show my elegant self to you, if not in a personal sense. After all, it’s quite difficult to appear in a physical body when you’re trapped in an icy sleep.” Shadows flowed down from the sky, coalescing in the shape of a rather large stallion with a curved horn jutting out of his head, complete with streams of purple light coming from his green eyes. Sombra chuckled at Luna’s bared teeth and lit horn, flashing fangs of his own. “Oh you can put your little magic away, Lulu, I can’t do you any harm here.”

“How are you able to control their dreams, Sombra? You are banished from the Crystal Empire with the forces of Harmony. How were you able to escape?” Luna stepped forward, refusing to do as Sombra told her to and instead brightened her horn threateningly. “Tell us!”

“Well, if you must know, Lulu, I cast a spell over my empire so as to preserve it until I am able to return.” He smiled again, though his eyes were as cold as ice. “After all, I cannot expect you and Celestia’s little spell to hold me forever, and I wish to be in control of a powerful empire again. Think of it as if they were simply taking a nap.”

“You are a monster.” Luna’s voice was merely a whisper as she stepped towards the creature that was the cause of so much pain. “You cannot simply be a pony, we refuse to acknowledge it.”

“A pony? A monster? You surely have interesting thoughts as to what I am, dear Lulu. I am neither of those things.” His shadowy outline dissolved into nothing only to reappear on top of one of the darkest dream bubbles, laughter shaking his frame as he shouted his glee. “I am a king! King of the Crystal Empi—”

Luna didn’t let him finish before sending her magic through the space where he had previously occupied. “Show yourself, Sombra! Show yourself and we shall destroy you!”

“Destroy me, Luna? Is that really what you want?” She felt something cold brush against her side and shot a beam of magic at whatever it was. When the after-image had faded from her vision, all that was there was nothing. “You can’t kill a shadow, surely you know this.” Another brush, another blasting spell to create a smoking crater upon contact. “After all, I couldn’t kill you with that spear of mine, could I?”

She faltered before sending a jet of light through where a pair of emerald eyes had been hovering, her heart pounding with fear. “What do you mean? Do not play your mind games with us, Sombra, for they shall not work!” Luna wanted to kick herself for allowing her voice to tremble, but there was nothing to do now that the words had left her mouth.

Sombra didn’t let her weakness go unnoticed, either. “Oh? Is that doubt I hear? Well, allow me to elaborate, dear Luna.” His voice took on the tone of a bored teacher, further grating on Luna’s frayed mind. “Tell me, who is it that rules over the affairs of Equestria?”

“My sister and I, even you know this, Sombra.” Luna stood on shaking legs, her eyes darting around in different directions as she tried to spot her foe.

“Oh really? Why is it that every letter I ever received from Equestria always had her seal on it instead of yours? Or perhaps you had gotten a chance to read them and gave her verbal approval?”

She felt a thrill of shock jolt down her spine as she stepped back uncertainly. “No, that isn’t possible. Our sister would have never sent any documents without our approval as well!”

Laughter cut through the air as Sombra re-materialized directly in front of her, bringing a hoof under her chin and bringing her face to look into his eyes. “Do you really think that she relies on you? That she needs you? Come now, Luna, she already knows that she’s better than you in every way.”

“No… no, it’s not true, we know that our sister needs us to run Equestria together!”

“Let me show you, Luna, just how wrong you are.” The emerald orbs that were Sombra’s eyes soon grew, blotting out the darkness and enveloping her in a sickly green light. Her scream of disbelief was easily overpowered by the cruel laughter that followed her into the past as Sombra had seen it.

She opened her eyes, breathing heavily with the panic that was all-too-real under the memory spell. The pony before her had a face that seemed as if it would never change from its current expression of sheer terror. “And now, Twilight Sparkle, you know what will happen to you if you choose to give in to the hatred. Imagine that pain; only multiply it by thousands, which is what will await you if you allow him into your heart. You will be Sombra’s favorite puppet, being the strongest unicorn in the world excepting maybe himself.” She closed her eyes again, bringing her horn forth once more to rest lightly upon Twilight’s forehead. Luna formed the memory spell with some effort, trying to get past the shakiness that revisiting those times had brought her, and laid it gently over the unicorn’s still-unmoving body. “Now that you know how we were in millennium past, it is time for you to remember how you were in the past as well, Twilight Sparkle.”

Luna turned around and slowly left the room, not looking back as the door slammed shut behind her. “It is up to her to allow the memories back in, I have done all I can to help her, Tia.” Despite her resolve, she couldn’t help but look worriedly at the door and could only imagine what was going through Twilight’s mind at that moment. “I only hope that your belief in your pupil is not misplaced, sister.”

“So, you wanna tell me why Twily is in your tower, Luna?”