//------------------------------// // Chapter Four // Story: Sombra's Revenge // by Golden Skies //------------------------------//         The shadow did not have to wait long, as the young dragon soon succame to the siren calls of sleep. Feeling the dragons consciousness fade, the shadow rose up from the sombre woods it had taken shelter in, making its way towards the great oak. The entire village was once again quiet and almost entirely lacked the wretched buzzing that seemed to plague the dark mist wherever it journeyed. Only a few sparse pockets of the buzz existed, scattered throughout the settlement, but, it was hardly a concern to the shadow who glided its way through the town towards its prize.         Rolling in through a window that had been left open, the sleeping form of the dragon lay sprawled across its bed in plain view of the dark mist. Seeing the wretched creature lying there in bliss served to only further enrage the creature as it darted into the ear of the slumbering dragon. That day, the shadow had seen the fatal error it had committed in its overzealous desire for revenge. The drake had spoken to one of its cursed friends that had noticed the dragons exhausted and tired eyes. Had the dragon spoken of what he had experienced the night before, then the dark kings plans would be crushed once and for all.         The simple solution to the problem however, was going to be all too easy to carry out. ---------- Spike found himself charged with the monotonous task of reshelving the numerous books that had been returned to the library. It was a dull duty, but one that had to be done. The dragon could take pleasure, however, in the musty smell of the faded yellow pages of some books that drafted up when ever he opened one of the older tomes. The drake however, preoccupied with its task brushed against one of the larger towers of books, sending it falling to the floor in a cloud of dust. Sighing, the young dragon bent down, and slowly began the long process of restacking the pile. 'Spike...' The aforementioned dragon stood up, searching for the source of the voice. It didn't sound as though it had been spoken aloud though. Rather, the icy voice seemed to have permeated from everywhere, seemingly, almost into his very thoughts. But how could such a thing even be possible? ‘Oh, you poor, ignorant, disgusting, little dragon.’ The dragon could almost feel the sneer that had accompanied those words. Despite the drake not being able to see the owner of the voice, he knew at once who it was. “Sombra?” Spike said aloud, doing his best to cover up the many traces of fear in his voice. ‘Ah, so glad you can remember the name of the monarch that you killed.’ The icy voice responded, it’s tone dripping with sarcasm and barely concealed rage. The drakes cold blood turned to ice as the room visibly darkened, the sky outside the windows turning a deep violet filled with black stormclouds. The very pressure of the room seemed to raise as the warmth of the room evaporated, replaced with a feeling akin to that of being in a dungeon of a castle. The young drake could only stand there, watching the room transform, his breath turning to vapor the second it hit the air, his words, caught in his throat. ‘You thought that you could just kill me and then walk away?’ The creature yelled from everywhere at once. A great gust of wind broke the windows of the library, sending papers and shards of broken glass flying a great vortex in the center of the room, spinning around seemingly without end. The dragon backed away from the center and found himself pressed up against one of the bookcases, searching desperately for a route through which to escape. But he was trapped far from both the entrance to the library and the stairs that led up to the next floor. He tried to make himself as small as possible, just wanting to get out of there. ‘You thought that you could just hide from me!? That I wouldn’t come looking for you!?’ The drake heard a great creaking sound and looked up to see the bookcase he was pressed against beginning to tip over. Spike dodged to the side of the bookcase, just narrowly avoiding being crushed entirely beneath its great weight. With a sharp burning pain however, he realized that one of his back legs and his tail had not been so fortunate.  He pulled at his leg, managing to free it, but the bookshelf refused to release his tail. The dragon yelled in pain, as the weight of the bookshelf crushed the spines and bones of his tail. ‘You thought that I wouldn’t seek vengeance!?’ Lightning lit up the room as thunder drowned out the sound of the whirling vortex for but a moment. Then the laughter came, harsh and grating, each bit feeling as though it were tearing straight through the young dragons ears and into his head. Spike grabbed the sides of his head with his claws, trying to block out the horrible sounds, but it was of no use. Nothing could stop the incessant laughter of his tormentor. The dragon cried for help, but his voice was drowned out in a great crash of thunder. The dragon clawed at his ears and head, desperate to escape the noise. Even feeling his claws scrape far enough down to draw blood, to which the dragon let out a cry of pain. Amidst all this noise however, Spike made out the sound of his name being called. Looking up, in between the pieces of swirling paper and broken glass, the dragon could just make out the form of a lavender unicorn standing near the entrance of the library. “Twilight, help!” The dragon called, feeling a small glimmer of hope at seeing her. ‘Oh Spike, your friends can’t help you now.’ The dark voice said. The entire deafening sound of the wind and thunder stopped for a moment and everything seemed to freeze. In that brief moment, Spike could see relief in the eyes of his friend who began to make her way to him with a relieved smile; that all too soon was replaced with one of agony. The broken glass and paper in the room that had just been hovering, now turned on the lavender unicorn and charged at her. The dragon cried out, but it was too late. The young librarian let out a bone chilling scream as the paper and glass cut through her skin like knives. It only took a second before the blood came. It poured from each one of the thousands of cuts along the mares body. The dragon could see tears in the eyes of his friend as she refused to abandon him, continuing to walk towards him. Spike tried to move by her side and help her, but was held back by his tail which still remained firmly trapped beneath the bookshelf. The dragon tried to push his claws below the great weight, hoping to free his tail, but the shelf was simply too heavy to lift. The laughter from before came once more, causing the dragon to look up. Across the room, the pile of glass and paper that had fallen into a heap after cutting through the unicorn raised and aimed itself at her once more. The young dragon yelled and thrashed against the shelf unsuccessfully.  Then he could only cry out in despair as the swarm of glass and paper tore its way through her a second time, leaving the mares coat in shambles, and her left ear barely attached to her head. But still, she wouldn’t stop. “No! Stop! Please, stop!” The dragon cried out, watching, as his friend stumbled over one of her legs that seemed to have stopped working altogether. ‘Stop,’ the sinister voice replied with practically a laugh, ‘why would I stop?’ The young assistant let out a scream of horror as the glass tore through the mare again, this time carving a deep gash through a vein in the unicorns neck. The mare stumbled and fell, collapsing into a pile on the floor, bleeding from hundreds of tiny cuts all along her body. Her chest rising and falling rapidly as she took long hoarse breaths in between, coughing up blood. “Please, stop,” the dragon pleaded, watching the mare he had known since hatching, bleed to death right in front of him, “stop… Leave her alone. Kill me instead, just please… don’t kill my friend…” ‘Oh I have no intention of killing you any time soon, Spike...’ The dragon watched as the eyes of the unicorn drifted towards his face, tears streaming out and mixing with the blood that had pooled around her body. ‘...however,’ the dark king continued, ‘I suppose that I can spare your friend...’ The unicorns eyelids begin to droop, fighting to remain up, but slowly failing. ‘...so long as you keep my being here between you and I. After all, it’d be such a shame to see such a beautiful young mare killed for no reason...’ “Fine, okay! I won’t tell anypony! Please, just don’t let her die!” Spike let out a final scream as the unicorns eyes closed and his vision faded into an all consuming blackness. ---------- The young dragons eyes shot open as he woke from the horrible nightmare. ‘That’s all it had been, right?’ the dragon thought to himself. He looked over to see the sleeping form of the lavender unicorn in her bed, her chest slowly rising and falling. ‘She’s alive and well’ Spike thought with a sigh of relief. ‘So long as you remember our little agreement, she will be.’