//------------------------------// // Chapter Seven // Story: Sombra's Revenge // by Golden Skies //------------------------------//         The Princess of the Night turned to her sister to read her for any signs of emotion. True to her nature however, the elder sister masked any form of emotion and maintained her neutral expression as she contemplated what she had just witnessed. The diarchs sat alone within the dreamscape, surrounded by the great sea filled of brilliant white orbs which dotted the seascape. The air was silent and even the dark sea below had calmed itself to having little more than occasional ripples across its dark surface.         The sisters sat quietly on either side of an empty space in which a small world had stood. The dark sphere which had plagued the younger’s mind for more than a week now had destroyed itself without warning. Shattered itself, into thousands of miniscule slivers of black glass which had descended down into the shadowy depths of the water below. Neither princess knew what such an event truly entailed, but both knew all too well that to downplay such an act would be a foolish mistake.           The pair remained there throughout the night, neither making a comment. From time to time, the Princess of the Day would light her horn, and use her magic in an attempt to discern some sort of reason behind the destruction of the orb, but never to any avail. The pair spent the night there in silence staring into the space left by the sickly orb. As dawn approached, the elder sister released a sigh as she lit her horn to bring about the beginning of the new day.         As the sun began to shine its fiery rays from the east, Celestia unfolded her wings and carried herself up and away from the void left by the broken orb. Her sister stared for just a moment longer before she followed suit and trailed behind her elder as she contemplated the implications that such an event could possibly entail. The fact that her sister was so silent on the matter was distressing, and her own inability to solve the problem herself was frustrating, but she had confidence that she would find a solution to whatever poor creature’s dream they had just witnessed. The Lunar Princess only prayed that it was not too late. ---         The drake made a great rasping cough as he was thrown from his dream. Blinding lights from every direction shown down upon him, forcing him to squint his eyes, and muffled sounds echoed their way throughout the room. The drake instantly recognized it as the one from the nightmare, and attempted to scream, but felt his very core flare up as he attempted to make any form of noise. Leaning back into the table, the drake felt his muscles continue to give off a dull burn which sapped away at his strength. Dark shadows moved across his field of vision as he laid chained within the room of his torturer. Desperate to remain awake, the drake endured the pain despite how much energy it required of him. Even simply closing his eyes tortured him a little as his head became filled with images of the doctor’s fierce gaze staring down upon him, or of needles flying into his sides. This desperate struggle for consciousness eventually caused the drake’s mind to become muddled and he began to have trouble discerning the shapes of the objects moving around him.         Ever so slowly, from the corner of the entrapped creature’s eye, it watched as a dark shape approached where it lay and began to take shape, revealing itself to be the sadistic doctor . A primal terror gripped its heart at the sight of its tormentor, and with a renewed energy founded in its terror, it began to lash out against its bindings in an attempt to free itself. Although the leather straps cut into its arms, they eventually loosened themselves as the animal tore itself free from its prison. It saw the shape of the maniacal doctor approach, and lashed out with its claws, sending the tormentor back from where it stood.         Seizing its opportunity for freedom, the creature dashed from the room and into a long corridor filled with hazy shadows that turned to stare and eye the thing before them. Some attempted to approach the drake, but it simply lashed out with its claws sending the shapes reeling backwards. The animal began to run as it fought its way through the halls, searching desperately for a way to escape. The screams and shouts of the horrid dark shadows echoed all around the creature as it lashed out against anything which stood in its way. Smells of harsh chemicals permeated the air, and the countless dead ends at every turn led the terrified creature endlessly throughout the dark holdings of its prison. Throughout its attempts to flee, the dark shapes shifted all around it, with some attempting to block its path, while others fled from the wild creature’s attacks as it attempted to escape.         Just as the creature was ready to resign itself to being trapped in this unending hell, a brilliant shimmer of light pierced its vision. There, before the animal stood a bright and golden threshold which would lead it from its prison and into the glorious light of freedom. Oh, sweet, beautiful freedom! Focusing all of its will, the animal sprinted for the exit and burst through the gates of its prison and into the golden glow of the outside. Not willing to risk recapture at the hands of the shadowy minions of the doctor though, the creature continued in its flight from the dark prison. It could hear the fading yells of the shadows behind it as it ran down a great incline and into a nearby forest.         As it traversed it way through the dark woods, thorns and branches sliced through the animal's skin, and the rough, and rocky terrain of the ground split and cracked the animal’s feet, but the wounds only served to further the animal's great frenzy. Even as blood seeped from the wounds across its body, the sweet taste of freedom helped to mask the pain of any such minor nuisances. Stumbling through the darkness below the canopy, the animal had to constantly pick itself back up as it stumbled over hidden roots and dead logs. Small biting insects, attracted by the smell of creature’s freely flowing blood, hounded it as it fought its way through the thick underbrush and to the end of the unforgiving forest.         All around the animal, the sounds of its pursuers were intertwined with those of the forest’s inhabitants. Numerous times, the creature attempted to lose the shadows which followed it, but regardless of how many turns or loops it made, the dark shapes remained only half a dozen meters away. It would have screamed and yelled for help and out of terror were it not for fear of attracting some of the natural predators of the woods, but even without this added noise, the animal’s heavy breathing was more than enough to turn a few glowing eyes that it passed. Thankfully, the thick undergrowth eventually began to thin out as the creature approached a light which made its way past the thick trunks of the trees. Rushing forward then, it pushed its way through thick brambles and out into the light. Having at last escaped the woods, the creature continued through the large open field and down the steep hillside of a small valley. Small stones cut and dug their way into the pads of its feet, and the thick dust thrown up from its tumbles down the hillside began to burn its eyes, and cause them to water. Even as the air rushing in and out from the creature’s lungs began to truly take its toll, the drake spotted a settlement in the distance and forced itself to continue pushing forward. Fighting back raspy coughs and wheezes, the animal made its way through a small brook and into the shining light of the town which lay ahead of it.           Its vision beginning to cloud, the creature stumbled its way into the village and made its way through the abandoned streets in search of some form of hiding place. While the rough dirt paths were far more forgiving than the groundcover of the forest, they still caused the animal to stumble as it made its through the village, eventually slowing itself down to a dead-man’s march. In the distance, it could just make out the sounds of the yelling shadows as they followed in pursuit, but it did little to spurn the sense of urgency in the already exhausted animal as it weaved its way through the streets of the hamlet.          It approached what appeared to be a deserted marketplace in the center of town, and no longer hearing the sound of the shadows that had followed it, the creature decided to take the opportunity to rest for a moment and allow its breath to return to it. As its vision slowly came back into focus however, it quickly realized that it was far from alone. All around it, the ink black shapes moved throughout the square, and to the creature’s horror, it realized that a few had already noticed its presence and were now approaching it. With a screech, the creature ran from the approaching shadows and towards the nearest street leading from the plaza to the rest of the town. Halfway to reaching its goal however, the creature stopped as more ink black shapes began to enter from his to-be exit and into the marketplace, thoroughly blocking its path. It turned to search for a new exit, but quickly saw that from every side, the dark shadows were moving towards the dragon in order to attack it. Charging at the nearest conglomeration of shadows, the dragon made its way into the center of the square and found itself even more exposed than it had been before. With no other option left to it, the creature began to lash out at the approaching shadows, in order to repel them, but to little avail.         Regardless, the animal was determined to die rather than return to being tortured within the prison by their leader, it lashed out at every side in order to fend off the shadows. With each swipe of its claws however, it grew to be more and more sluggish as the fatigue from its earlier flight quickly caught up with the small creature. It felt itself stumble, and a growing sickness rose within its stomach as it clung to consciousness. The sickness grew and the dragon felt the few contents of its stomach empty themselves onto the ground accompanied by a fair amount of its own blood.         Falling to its knees, the dragon gave a few final swipes with its claws before collapsing to the ground as its muscles sang out their cries from the roaring fire of agony which engulfed them. The creature looked out through its rapidly darkening vision as the dark shadows stopped a half meter away from it and simply watched as lay upon the hard ground dying. The sound of its pursuers indicated that they had finally caught up with their prey and would now return it to its cell. With one final raspy cough, the animal closed its eyes and let the blackness enfold its consciousness amidst the cackling of the dark king. ---         As the lavender unicorn and the doctors finally caught of to her young assistant in the marketplace, she braced herself for the worst. Making her way through the large crowd of ponies, a growing sense of dread filled her heart as she briefly glanced at some of the wounds adorning the crowd. Thankfully, most were not deep, but it was more than clear that the sharp claws of the dragon had done a fair amount of damage to the numerous individuals which had tried to help the dragon. More than a few of the individuals gave her sorrowful glances as she made her way to the center of the group of assembled ponies.         Finally, she caught sight of the crumpled form of her assistant lying in the center of the marketplace. His entire body was lined with deep cuts and dark bruises, and in several locations his scales had been entirely torn off, exposing the red, irritated skin and muscle that lay below. Around the young assistant’s body, there lay a rapidly expanding pool of blood which stained the earth.         The unicorn’s body froze up at the sight of her friend’s barely moving, and she could feel warm tears slowly trailing their way down her face. She was lightly pushed aside as several doctors rushed to the drake and began to desperately treat his wounds and attempt to stem the flow of blood.         “Oh, Spike, no… please… I…I-” she stopped as her crying turned into sobbing and she was pulled away from the scene by her friends.         Spike… please don’t die...