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// Chapter Four: In The Dark Of The Night 
// Story: The Secret of Her Past 
// by Nerdz 
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The little crystalline bate flapped his wings, weighed down by the lantern hanging from his claws. He grunted, trying to stay in the air against the frigid northern winds. Snow stung his face, and he could hardly breathe. He was starting to doubt himself.

"I don't even know where he is." he told himself, "It's been ten years, if he's even still up here. Is he even still alive? I saw that spell shoot him this way. No one coulda survived that! Oh, this is a bad idea..." Suddenly, the lantern blindingly lit up, jerking toward the ground. The bat struggled against the lantern's pull before plummeting to the solid sheets of ice below him.

There was an earsplitting shatter as he crashed through the surprisingly thin ice. Panic gripped the winged creature, seeing the hole in the ice getting smaller as he fell. He kicked his foot around, trying to rid himself of the lantern. He gave one final flap of his wings before finally allowing himself to fall. He briefly wondered what'd happen to him; where he'd end up. Would he eventually hit something, or spend an eternity falling through a black abyss?

After a few moments, he crashed onto a raised slate of ice, knocking a few shards loose. He groaned, leaning up to rub his temple. The cave he'd fallen into was massive. The walls were ragged, and large jagged pillars rose to the ceiling, holding it up. The space itself almost looked as if it'd been created by a large blast.

"Ow!" He mumbled, rubbing his nose. "I tell ya what, OW!" He froze, hearing someone walk up behind him.

"Who dares to invade on my seclusion!?" There was a crash behind him, and a few ice shards slid past him. He felt a red aura grip him around his neck, cutting of his windpipe and yanking him into the air. "Get out!"

The bat wheezed, clawing at his neck as he was brought face-to-face with a slate-grey stallion. The stallion's angered expression quickly turned to one of surprise at the sight of the little bat. He released his aura, quickly finding his voice.

"Cobalt? I-is it really you?"

The bat, Cobalt, again rubbed his head before staring up at the stallion. "M-master? You...you're alive!?"

The stallion's expression turned sour as he glared daggers towards the distance. "That's one way to put it." he grumbled before turning away, pacing back and forth in front of the winged crystalline rodent.  "Something...something's happened. I can feel the Darkness billow and stir, and...and oh, how it makes my blood boil!"

The little bat Gave his wings a flap, trying to hover at eye level with the stallion. He nodded briskly, slightly out of breath from overcoming the initial shock of seeing his master after a decade. "It's because I saw her, sir! A mare who calls herself Niya, but she's really Luna! She's-"

"Luna!? As in the Galaxianov's brat!? S-she lives and breathes!?" He whirled around, anger pulsing through him. His eyes glowed with a purple mist as he let his rage come to a boil. "That's why I'm stuck in limbo! My curse is unfulfilled, and will remain so until the wretched foal is six hooves underhoof!" He stomped his hoof like a pouting foal, punctuating his sentence. Before his hoof could touch the ice, however, the bottom half of his leg faded to a shadow. He landed face first onto the solid ice, darkening his vision. He laid there a moment, allowing his head to stop swimming. When he again could see clearly, he let out a wail.

"Look at me, Cobalt. I'm fading away!"

"Oh, c'mon, sir, you look fairly good considering how long ya been dead! You had your old spark for a minute there!"

The stallion shoved himself from the ground, groaning. "If only I hadn't lost...the gift from the Darkness. It was the key to my power."

Cobalt flitted over to the raised ice slab. He lighted down next to it, kicking at the relic that had brought him there. "Oh, ya mean this lantern thingy? I found it back at the palace ruins." He snatched the cord up in his sharp little claws, flying over to his master and dropping it around his silver neck.

The stallion in question stared completely dumbfounded at the shadows that billowed and twisted within the glass casing. Slowly, a purely dark grin spread itself across his features. His mane and tail began to twitch, moving slowly before almost floating behind him from the sheer power that was coursing through his veins. He let out a quiet chuckle which quickly turned to a throaty laugh. "My friend, you've no idea the power you've given back to me! With this, my Dark purpose shall be fulfilled, and the last of the Galaxianovs will die!"

"In the Dark of the Night, I was tossing and turning." he let the song pour from his lungs. "And the Nightmare I had was bad as can be. It's scared me to this very day; a shadow fading away! Then I opened my eyes, and the nightmare was me!" He strutted about the cave, using his magic to fire out his anger. "I was once the most powerful stallion in Equestria. And when Eclipse betrayed me, he made a mistake." His magic surge, forming a screen in the center of the dimly lit ice chamber, allowing him to spy on this 'Niya'. "My curse made each of them pay, yet one little foal got away." he laughed. "Niya, beware, for Sombra's awake!"

"In the Dark of the Night," Cobalt joined in, flitting about his master, "evil will find her! In the Dark of the Night, just before Dawn!"

"Revenge will be sweet, when my curse is complete!"

"In the Dark of the Night-"

"She'll be gone!"

Sombra conjured up a mirror and stood in front of it. He donned silver armor before dragging a brush through his billowing mane. "I can feel my powers slowly returning. Tie a sash, with cologne for a wicked smell! As the pieces fall into place," he threw the brush into the mirror, which shattered before disappearing along with the brush. "I'll see her crawl into place! So long, little Niya, Your Grace! Farewell!"

"In the Dark of the Night, terror will strike her!"

Sombra grinned wickedly as he used his magic to carve a staircase going deeper into the ice, descending it as it grew. "Terror's the least I can do!"

"In the Dark of the Night, evil will brew!"

"Soon, she will feel her Nightmares are real!"

"In the Dark of the Night-"

"She'll be through!"

"In the Dark of the Night, evil will find her!"

"Find her!" Sombra called upon his magic, letting it pull a pedestal of ice.

"In the Dark of the night, terror comes true!"

"Doom her! My dear, here's a sign: It's the end of the line!" With a final twitch of magic, the lantern was placed in a slot atop the pedestal. It's light filled the darkened chamber, shadow bats pouring out is rising to and passing through the top surface of the ice that'd for so long been the stallion's prison. "Come my minions, rise for your master. Let your evil shine! Find her now, yes, fly ever faster!"

Cobalt flitted about, giving directions to the shadows, who all chanted 'In the Dark of the Night'.

Sombra reared on his hind legs, his teeth bared, and head thrown back, a terrifying whinny erupting from him.


"SHE'LL BE MINE!"