Harry moved slowly as he entered the entrance hall of the castle. He stepped over the crystalline vines that grew over the floor and clung to the walls. Now that Harry had entered the castle, he could tell that the vines originated from deeper within the castle. He took a moment to examine the room and besides the vines growing on everything, the castle appeared to be ruined. The grand staircase that had led to the second floor had been shattered leaving a pile of rubble that blocked the entire back of the room. Scowling, Harry spread his wings and flew up to the second floor. Flapping his wings, he examined the entrance to the second floor carefully. Vines had grown over the entire entrance of the second floor, making the entrance impassible by normal methods.
“Of course it’s blocked what else?” Harry muttered to himself as he ran through his repertoire of mental spells, which was pitiful. Regular spells tended to be warped by mindscapes as it ran by the owner of the mindscapes expectations shaped it. There were a few spells that tended to keep their effects the same which made them useful for those who messed about with the mind, like the mind healers who fixed those who damaged their mind with obliviate. Harry was brought out of his musing by the rustling of vines and he watched as they opened a hole into the second floor. He stared at the hole for a few moments. “Right that’s not ominous at all.” Shaking his head, he entered the hole.
Past the hole the vines had grown so thick that you couldn’t see the floor or walls. Harry kept off the floor as he flew down the hall. The hall seemed to extend straight as far as the eye could see. He slowed as he saw something he hadn’t expected to see. There was a young colt surrounded by an area clear of the vines. The colt was glaring down the corridor. Harry examined the colt for a few moments before he realized the colt seemed to be a younger Sombra. The young Sombra glanced at Harry, his green eyes narrow, before he returned to glaring down the corridor. Harry set himself down next to the young king when he spoke.
“You shouldn’t be here, this is my head.” Harry stared for a few moments. That definitely hadn’t sounded like an evil overlord, but then again he had only ever fought Voldemort. The colt looked at Harry as if examining him and he frowned. “Last I checked, there were only two alicorns around, so where have you been hiding?” Harry glanced down the corridor before he spoke.
“That’s sort of a long story best kept for when we aren’t trapped in a mindscape.” Sombra nodded as he returned to glaring down the corridor. “What exactly are you glaring at anyway?” Sombra grunted as he answered.
“I am not quite sure, I’m merely aware that it’s infested my mind and is twisting my body to its own actions.” Harry frowned down the corridor. He could see things in the darkness, writhing about. He had the feeling of being watched from the shadows that lurked behind whatever writhed in the shadows. “You see them too, don’t you? The thing that’s watching me,” Sombra frowned at the shadows, “It showed up along with the damned vines and it resists everything I do to get it to vacate my head.” Harry frowned as his horn lit up and a orb of light appeared on the tip. It flew off into the darkness and was swallowed, not lighting it up. Sombra snorted at him.
“Did you think I didn’t try that already?” Harry scowled at the young king, before an idea came to him.
“I may be able to do something though I’m not sure what will happen to you or your mind,” Harry looked at Sombra who looked conflicted before he nodded at him and speaking.
“I have been trapped within my own head for a very long time,” Sombra glared down the corridor. “Do whatever you have to.” Harry nodded and closed his eyes. He reached within himself and felt the thread of magic that lead back to his body and gave a sort of flick to a very anger part of his magic and felt it stir and felt it take notice of the magic leading out of his body. Harry shuddered as it raced down the precarious thread connecting him to his body and turned his head to Sombra.
“This is probably going to hurt,” The magic arrived and Harry seemed to explode outward, his limbs twisted and he slammed against the walls of the corridor and collapsed against his new bulk. He looked like a dragon, but a dragon that some cruel god had twisted into some unholy mix of flesh and bone. The beast’s eyes opened from where they were sunken into its skull and they burned with hatred. It reared back its head and let out a roar that shook the mindscape of king Sombra. The castle was starting to fall apart now and the creature that hid in the shadows surged forward and slammed into Harry and it knocked them out of the mindscape.
Death froze and turned his head skyward. His master started to convulse, but before he could even issue a warning to the ponies around him, Harry seemed to explode outward as the shadows surrounding Sombra struck at him and surrounding him. Death could see what was forming before the shadow smoke surrounding both fighters.
“This is not good.” The one called Twilight looked at him confused before glancing up. She hadn’t noticed what was happening, more concerned with keeping the crystal ponies calm. Death didn’t find that all that unusual, what had happened occurred faster than most mortal’s perceived things while still living.
“What’s going on?” The purple one inquired as she too looked up and froze. This prompted the others to look up. Death grunted as the Crystal ponies broke out in a panic. He answered the purple one’s question even as the shadow started to bulge like a balloon filled with too much air.
“My master has brought his inner animal out to play,” Death looked down at Twilight, “unfortunately, what was once a mortal animal was altered by his trip here through the void between worlds.” Death’s lips shaped themselves into a smirk. “What occurs to mortals in the void wasn’t meant to be forced onto the immortal magic of wizards.”
The shadows exploded above them and a roar shook the world, causing everything mortal to freeze before a predator. Everyone’s head turned upward barring those already looking. Hovering above them on two ragged wings was something that appeared to be a dragon. It carried the basic form of a dragon, but warped by the nature of the void, a thing of bone and rot. What had perhaps been something majestic was terrifying to behold, flesh clinging to a skeleton where bone wasn’t forced out and twisted into spikes. The beast was focusing on something that still lurked within the black smoke of Sombra’s. It reared its head back and from its mouth sprouted black flames that consumed the light. The smoke swirled as it took shape while dodging the flames. Death would have paled if he could as he swore.
“That can’t be here.” The creature taking shape above them was extinct… or it should have been. It was one of the more foul things in the universe, entities of living smoke and shadow. Death ignored the ponies around him as he called for his scythe. His master could prevail, but Death wasn’t willing to take that chance.