Sombra slowly moved ahead. His hoof steps were painfully cautious, more so because of the strange environment around him. The trees surrounding him would brush back and forth in an unnatural way. They would sway to one direction as if a gently breeze moved them, 'reset' back to their natural position, and then go the opposite way. This only made it all the more obvious that he was dreaming, something he's grown quite weary off as of late.
"Did I doze off?" Sombra asked out as he continued forward, though hesitant to do so. It had already been confirmed he could cease to be if he dove too far into his subconscious and Luna was nowhere to be found to undo any damage like last time. This could prove fatal.
Yet even with the danger well in sight, Sombra was attracted to this bizarre plane like a moth to an open flame. The autumn leaves continued to sway back and forth in a hypnotic motion. For a while, Sombra had forgotten to even look where he was heading, not that he had a destination to begin with. But soon he was only fixated on the motion of the wind.
Suddenly his view of the leaves disappeared as he entered a small clearing, quickly bringing him back to the matters at hoof. It was a familiar sight, a small wooden cabin. His home, at least from what he could gather from his memories. Sombra took a moment to look around as he made his way towards it. It was a calm, serene place with the only real landmark being the small hill that the cabin burrowed into from behind.
Looking at the door knob once he reached the door, Sombra extended his hoof out to it but remained inches away from grasping it. Each other time he had opened that cabin several things happened. None of them entirely good. That being said, he was heavily weighing the pros and cons of venturing further in, but the decision was soon made for him instead. The door swung open and a small filly ran out in a cheerful trot.
"A-Amethyst..." Sombra said softly as he took a step to the side in shock. His eyes remained glued on her as she pranced around before finally settling down under a nearby tree with a small sketch pad.
Shaking his head to break free of his trance, Sombra awkwardly moved towards the filly who was drawing away with rather a valuable looking quill and ink. It ill suited the modest style of her living conditions.
"Where could she have gotten something like that?" He wondered as he leaned around to look at her notebook. As he did, Amethyst began to hum a familiar melody.
He flinched as a headache hit him. Placing a hoof to his temple, Sombra received a small glimpse of a long forgotten memory. The scene around him quickly shifted to what he was forced to recall and he saw himself in standing over a tall cradle. He saw himself gently rocking a foal in the cradle as he hummed the same rhythm Amethyst had just a moment ago.
♪Una linda niña, duerme en su coral.♪
♪Canta, ríe, juega, que feliz esta.♪
♪Y todos preguntan: ¿En quién pensará?♪
Sombra quickly recognized the rhyme from when he had sung it to Sweetie Belle a few nights back. The song seemed to calm both the cries of the foal and his own headache. By the time his past self finished the lullaby, Sombra found himself back in the forest clearing from before, disoriented from the sudden change of scenes again.
He shook his head to break out of the daze, something he found himself doing quite a lot lately it seemed. Still, he was quickly able to focus his mind and notice that his daughter's memory had almost finished her sketch.
"There!" Amethyst shouted as she looked over her master piece.
It was a sketch of their home, the cabin. In front of it was whom Sombra presumed was him, Amethyst and Rosa. They stood together in a family portrait all smiling out towards the front. However, he found her portrayal of him to be a little off. He and the sketch shared similar features, but it was clear that he had not yet undergone the change that left him with a red spike of a horn and crimson thinned out eyes.
"Now I just need to color it." She said as she jumped up in a rather familiar pep. "Where did papá say he put the other ink he brought?"
"Ah." Sombra said as he watched her go. "So I brought them for her. I probably stole them for her or something." He joked with a chuckle. "Still..." He continued as he looked back at the sketch. "Where did I get them? I doubt she knows either."
<=•=>
"Are ya sure this is a good idea?" Applebloom asked as she hid behind a corner with her friends.
"Yeah, this is kinda dangerous..." Scootaloo echoed her. "It's usually Applebloom who comes up with these bad ideas."
"Hey!"
"Shhhh!" Sweetie gestured as she tried to quiet them down. "It'll only get dangerous if we get caught. Right now we're just following him."
"Because I'm sure a thief don't mind bein' followed right?"
Sweetie Belle ignored the sarcastic comment and poked her head out of the corner. It had been a long journey already to this point and she had a feeling it wasn't getting any easier now.
Using what she had read from the papers Sombra gave her in the morning and what she could gather from a recent victim of the robberies, she learned very little. Mostly that it seemed that Dice wasn't working alone, yet no pony had seen another newcomer in Ponyville. Instead of trying to find this other pony, she hoped that by following Dice he might lead them to where he had been keeping the stolen items.
"Where did he go?" Sweetie asked as she failed to spot their target.
"We lost him again?!" Scootaloo asked as she jumped from around the corner and began to look ever which way to find Dice.
"Ah don't think we're good at this." The farm filly said as she joined her friends in looking around.
"We've lost and found him three times already, we can do this."
"Look, he's over there!" Sweetie shouted as she pointed a hoof to Dice who was quite a few blocks away from them cheerfully talking to a local vendor. Though happy she was back on track, she couldn't help to wonder how he got way over there. Logically speaking, Dice had been walking in another direction. How did he manage to make such a large turn around and missed their line of sight?
Pushing her doubts aside, she simply rushed over in Dice's direction and hid alongside the buildings. They tried to remain inconspicuous, though that bared little fruit as ponies would see and greet them along the way. They somehow managed to keep themselves hidden from Dice, but they would be distracted for a few seconds and lose sight of him momentarily.
"You three be careful now." One of the adults told them as they finished their small talk. "Ya'll get home soon, the pegasi are bringing in another big storm tonight."
"Okay!" Scootaloo shouted back in a smile, though it died out as she turned her face away from the grown-up. "Guh, I hate spring weather. Storms like every other day."
"It's not that bad." Sweetie Belle said, which surprised her friends. They knew that she in particular hated thunder storms. "Besides we've got more important things to worry about. Dice went that way!" She continued as she pointed her hoof at Dice turning the corner.
Pushing the subject away, all three quickly ran over to catch up to Dice, but as they did, they walked into a dead end. They all remained shocked to see there was no stallion anywhere in sight. They remained dumbfounded for a moment since they had all seen him make this turn. For him to be gone seemed impossible. Sweetie Belle slowly walked forward a few steps as she looked around with her mouth open in surprise.
"Again!?" Scootaloo screamed as she threw her hooves up into the air.
"It can't be, we saw him walk in here!"
"Maybe he teleported." Sweetie Belle said, trying to explain the strange occurrence. Calming herself like Sombra taught her, she squinted her eyes and looked around the alley for any clues she could use.
"Maybe our eyes were playin' tricks on us." Applebloom said as she ran back to the entrance of the alley to peek around for any sign of Dice. She was quickly joined by Scootaloo, leaving Sweetie to her own endeavors at the dead end.
Using her usual tactic, she took a deep breath allowed her eyes to glide around the walls of the alley. With her friends gone, she could hear the soft rustling of fabric and in a couple of seconds, found what was causing the noise. A window curtain was being moved by the wind, strangely enough it was the only open window in the alley and it had been on the third story of a home. It was also rather close to the entrance of the alley, so they easily missed it when they ran in.
Narrowing her eyes, Sweetie noticed the dirt ground had a few indentions just under the window and that the wall had been disturbed just enough to leave small traces. At first glance, nothing was wrong. Now that she had inspected more closely she found proof that somepony had scaled the wall.
"Is...is he in there? Is he stealing from that house?" She asked herself softly. She quickly hightailed it back to her friends eager to share the news, but was quickly caught off guard by a peculiar sight.
Having turned the corner to search for her friend, she caught a glimpse of Dice speaking to a nearby merchant. She slowly walked back to see if she had perhaps mistaken, but she had not. Dice was truly standing only a few meters away.
"Hey, you found him!" Scootaloo said as she joined her behind cover.
"Yeah, but I was sure I-"
"I'm going to get Applebloom!" Her friend interrupted, leaving the area quickly. Sweetie Belle never took her eyes off Dice, instead she narrowed her brows and stared at him deep thought.
There was something off about this. And it only sparked a sense of worry deep in her stomach.
<=•=>
The sound of Sombra's hooves heavily echoed on the wooden floor. Leaving the memory of his daughter to herself, he decided to venture into the cabin home. Everything seemed calm enough for him to take the risk. He wanted to learn more about his home, his family. Yet even now, the question at the back of his mind itched at him: Where was he.
Before in these more stable memories he would see the ghost of his past self; watch his memories play like a spectator. Yet this time around he was nowhere in sight. Could this be nothing more than a simple dream after all? No. The chilling sensation of dread was much too familiar to be a simple dream. His own absence only made him worry more about what he was witnessing. After all, he knows for a fact something horrible happened in this cabin.
Instead of thinking about that, he focused on the cabin around him. Certainly modest as households go. He couldn't imagine himself making a living in such a place. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but after his years in the Crystal Empire, this seemed rural at best and hermit like at worst. If he had built the cabin, he had gone out of his way to keep it hidden from any roads or passerby's way.
"What a curious place..." Sombra said to himself as he looked around. It was almost melancholic to look at the furniture. Perhaps he had hoof made them all himself. That would explain the feeling of pride he felt as he placed a hoof on a nearby table.
Suddenly, the sound of humming caught his ears. Twitching them for a moment to locate where it was coming from, Sombra followed the sound to where he assumed as the kitchen. He unknowingly cracked a smile as he looked over at the mare in the middle of making dinner.
She was stirring a pot filled with an array of vegetables and the smell finally reached his nose. He instantly recognized the pleasant scent and moved closer, completely forgetting the hesitance he once had. He poked his head around the mare, both getting a good look at her and what she was brewing.
"You just love this stew don't you Sombra?" Rosa asked out softly. Sombra quickly jumped back wide eyed.
"Y-You can see me?" He asked, his guard quickly raising at knowing how badly things went last time this happened.
"Well I'll make sure to let you know how it tasted when you get back." She continued with a mischievous smile. "That'll teach you to just up and go when I told you not to."
Sombra let out a held breath as he realized she was simply talking to herself. Though once he calmed down, he began to think on what she had said. It appeared he had left recently, explaining why he wasn't around, but that only raised more questions. If he wasn't around, how is this something he 'remembered'?
He suddenly gritted his teeth as a sharp pain entered his skull yet again. Quickly holding onto his head, Sombra felt a unsettling presence around him. Fighting off the headache, Sombra looked around for the eyes he felt glaring his way. He quickly found them.
Through a nearby window, Sombra found a pair of blood red eyes stare over at him, or rather, through him. Stepping to the side, he quickly understood that he wasn't the target for the glare, but rather Rosa. His protective instincts kicked in and he returned the death stare even though he knew quite well the beast could not see him.
After a short while, the glowing eyes looked away and slowly crept to the side, away from the window. Sombra breathed easy for a moment, but his peace was short lived as he quickly realized something crucial.
Amethyst was still outside.
<=•=>
"I dunno'." Applebloom said softly as she peeked around the corner. "That looks like Dice over there."
"Which is why it's so weird!" Sweetie Belle said in something a little louder than a whisper, not helping in their stealth.
"Maybe it's Dice's partner who went inside the house." Scootaloo suggested as she peeked out of cover to make sure they hadn't lost their target. Content with seeing him, she ducked back to continue the discussion.
"So what, he's keepin' his partner in a magic bottle or somethin'?"
"Well maybe it's a pet of some kind. That would explain why no pony had seen any new face around town. Right Sweetie Belle?"
"Yeah..." She agreed reluctantly. "But ponies would notice an animal carrying stuff like a sword or painting. They couldn't just walk around with the stolen stuff."
"Sooo..." Scootaloo began with a muffled laugh. "No dice?"
"Haha." Applebloom laughed softly as she rolled her eyes at the pun her friend was making.
"Still, I wish I knew what he was doing." Sweetie said after they stopped their laughs.
The trio all looked down at the ground for a moment and tried to come up with ideas but their silence spoke for them. None could come up with an explanation.
"Ah shoot, if Twilight couldn't figure it out, how could we have any hope to do it instead?" Applebloom asked out in a frustration. Thinking instead to use her energy on something else, she stood up and looked over at Dice only to let out an angry groan.
"Let me guess, he's gone?" Scootaloo asked as she stood up just as annoyed. Sure enough, it had been the case. Dice was once again nowhere to be found. "Great, now we gotta find him again!"
"Wait." Sweetie interrupted before her friends could gallop away. "Let's head back to the house with the open window."
"Why?" Applebloom asked as she came to a stop.
"Let's face it, he's going to be keep getting away. Maybe we can find some clue at the crime scene."
"Well anything beats running around in circles." Scoots agreed with a sigh.
They all nodded to one another and began to make their way back. It was a short trot and soon they were passing by the alleyway from before. As the turned the corner, however, Sweetie Belle bumped against somepony's leg.
"Oh, sorry." She said as she rubbed her forehead. "I didn't-"
"It's quite alright." Dice said as he looked down at the fillies. They instantly opened their eyes wide as their hearts dropped.
For a second Sweetie Belle felt her hooves go numb in shock. Her friends were in no better position as they too stared dumbfounded at seeing him. Once again, there would have been no way they would have missed Dice walk back in this direction. Unless he ran around the entire town, Dice would have had to pass them by for him to be here.
"What's wrong?" He grinned a fake smile as he tilted his head to the side to match his persona. "Cat got your tongue?"
"I...I was just surprised." Sweetie quickly responded as she tried to regain some composure. She thought of what Sombra would have done in her place but the more the thought about it, the more her heart raced.
"I see. I suppose your heavy breathing is because you and your friends have been running around all day? I've seen you everywhere this morning." Dice continued as he looked up at the sky. "Actually, it's past morning now isn't it?"
"Yup, time sure flies when you're having fun!" Sweetie Belle pushed all her fears and thoughts aside as she settled on what to do. She was to play a persona just as Sombra played his when talking to others. "My friends and I like to run around looking for ways to get our cutiemarks, right?" She asked as she turned her head.
"R-Right!" Applebloom spoke up as saw her friend look her way. "We're the Cutiemark Crusaders!"
For a fraction of a moment, Dice's grinned banished. He was taken aback by how Sweetie Belle had replied to him. He had expected her to remain scared as he knew full well what their intent had really been.
"To-Today we were trying to get cutiemarks in being a ninja!" Scootaloo pressed on with the idea as they tried to follow Sweetie Belle's lead.
"Unfortunately, we didn't get anything today..." Sweetie said as she took a shy step back. It was an act of course, but Dice wasn't exactly in the position to call them out. Especially with so many other ponies around.
"I'm sorry to hear that." He continued the act.
With Sweetie Belle taking up the innocent child persona to talk to Dice, he couldn't help but get the feeling of déjà vu. He had a disturbingly similar sensation to when he had spoken to Sombra back when they too held a conversation in alternate personas. As he recalled that, however, things clicked for him and his grin grew ever larger.
"Anyway, we should really get back to the club house. I hear it's going to start raining soon!" Sweetie said as she looked up at the sky. A few pegasi was seen moving clouds together to begin the soon to come storm.
With a nod to her friends, Sweetie Belle walked to Dice's side and they quickly followed suit. They remained quiet for a while, but as soon as Dice was out of line of sight, they let out a deep breath. Applebloom in particular placed a hoof to her chest to try to steady her beating heart.
"I've never been so scared in my life!" She shouted out, but Sweetie quickly pushed a hoof to her mouth to keep quiet.
"What's wrong?" Scoots asked.
"I have a bad feeling. Let's just head back to Mister Sombra." She replied with a hint of nervousness in her voice. This only made her friends more weary and they quickly agreed to the idea.
The first of the rain drops began to fall as they walked away, but in their wake Dice peered from around a corner, his eyes fixated on Sweetie Belle.
"I bet that's the filly he told me about." He said to himself with a sly grin. "I warned Sombra, now to show I'm not all talk." He finished with a chuckle. Though Sweetie Belle couldn't see or hear him, she felt a shiver run down her spine as she felt his presence around her. Slowly, she edged forward faster.
<=•=>
"Amethyst?!" Sombra shouted as he reached the outside of the cabin. He knew deep doubt it was pointless to shout, but he did so anyway. "Amethyst, where are you?!"
He looked back and forth for any signs of where the filly could be. Looking for clues proved useless as his dream didn't leave any leads for him to go on. It was as if the area had remained untouched for days. He let out a growl in frustration and simply took off running. He didn't have a destination, but he felt he needed to get moving. He needed to find either Amethyst or the beast. He didn't know what he'd do when he did, but he had to.
As Sombra pressed forward, the soft sound of a low screech echoed in his ears. He didn't have to look up at the sky to know what it meant. He knew he was getting too close to his memories and his mind was fighting against him. He didn't care.
Though he had run straight ahead, Sombra found himself back at the cabin as if he had ran around the world and back. Coming to an abrupt stop to look around, his surroundings looked different, darker. The front door, for example, had been broken off. Gritting his teeth, Sombra shouted out.
"Rosa?! Amethyst?!"
He had no response, only a louder screech echo from above him as he felt the tingle of a headache being to sink into his skull. Again he shouted for his family in vain as he searched the cabin. A quick run in proved that this was a different memory as it had seemed aged and dirty. Claw marks decorated the distressed home in a what seemed like savage frustrations. He didn't see any blood or stains, but he couldn't base the truth on what he could see given how faulty memory dreams have proved to be without Luna around.
Again the sound of glass cracking filled the sky and his head was pierced by a sharp migraine staggering him for a moment. Sombra struggled to balance himself as he placed a hoof to his aching head. Memories began to interlope one another as the sun rose and set in a matter of minutes. After images of Amethyst and Rosa flashed in front of him to signal different points in time.
The memories faded into one another rapidly and it worsened the pain he felt. At this point the cracking sound was so loud and jarring it began to drown out the sting of his headache. To make matters worse, for a moment, he saw what happened to the memory of Amethyst earlier.
She had looked up from her sketch pad to find the beast from before coming her way. Standing and running away, it quickly gave chase after her. He now knew which way they had gone but was helpless to follow, especially with the sky on the verge of breaking.
"Maldición!" Sombra grunted. "Not yet. I can't break yet, I want to know more!"
As Sombra shut his eyes to struggle against the pain, he failed to realize his body began to glow in the markings that bound him to Sweetie Belle. Her command was taking effect as his mind stopped tearing itself apart and even repair itself. Before long, Sombra's mind was stable again though a few spread cracks remained in the sky. By the time Sombra was able to open his eyes and focus his vision, the light of his markings had faded away.
He didn't question why his mind was back to normal, he simply took the opportunity given to him. With a powerful push of his legs, he sprinted forward as fast as he could to follow the afterimage of his daughter.
<=•=>
With the clouds now dark in the sky, they let down a drizzle of rain that was progressively getting stronger. Many ponies had already left the streets to get to their homes. Sweetie Belle and her friends on the other hoof had not. They were still quite a way from their club house where they would camp out the storm.
That had meant that they were now walking alone in the empty streets of Ponyville, and though they've done so before, there was something extremely eerie about the situation. Something in Sweetie's stomach just didn't sit right with her.
"You okay?" Scootaloo asked her nervous looking friend.
"Uh huh..." Sweetie replied half heartedly.
"Hey did you hear that?" Their friend asked as they all looked to their right. For a moment the sound of a splash was heard like if some pony had stomped on a puddle of water.
They all began to walk backwards away from where they had heard the noise but as they did, the first of the night's lightning hit behind them. That wasn't what frightened them, but rather the fact that they saw not only their shadows but another much taller one.
Frozen in fear for a moment, the fillies had plenty of time to register what they had seen. With a loud yelp, Sweetie Belle was the first to run forward, away from the shadow behind them. Her friends soon followed after her and as they ran, turned back to see whom they already knew it was. Dice remained still as he watched them run.
"What is he doing here?!" Applebloom shouted out as they ran down the street and around a corner to catch their breath.
"I dunno, but it can't be good!" Scootaloo echoed her concern.
"He probably figured out we were following him all day."
"Great, so we managed to tick off a thief. He's probably going to fillynap us!"
"No..." Sweetie Belle said as she poked her head back around the corner. "If he wanted to do that he'd had done it already. We've been on our own for a while now."
"Then what does he want?"
Sweetie Belle didn't really have an answer. All she really knew was that it would be bad if they got cornered by Dice. They needed help, but they were already at the edge of town, away from Scotaloo's home, Twilight's castle, or the Boutique. They had only one choice.
"We need to get Mister Sombra. He can help."
"Yeah, the club house is just a little further ahead. Maybe if we run real fast we-"
"No, that's a bad idea." Sweetie Belle interrupted. "Remember how fast Dice was able to go from one place to another earlier? He'll catch us for sure."
"So what should we do?"
"We need to split up!"
"Are you kidding?!" Scootaloo shouted. "That's like number one on the list of things not to do in horror movies!"
"Yeah..." Sweetie Belle said as she looked back at her friends. "But this isn't a horror movie, if we split up, he can only come after one of us. The others can get help. Its more like a game of strategy."
"And what game is it exactly?" A voice asked out from behind them. The fillies all stood up straight as their blood ran cold for a moment. Sweetie was the first to turn around to confirmed her fears. Dice stood close by as he leaned on the side of the building spinning a pair of dice with his magic. "Because if you're talking gambling I think I'm much better than you little girl."
"Not the game I had in mind." Sweetie replied after a moment to recover some composure. "I'm more into chess."
"Oh? And what pieces are you playing with?" Dice asked with a smirk. The lightning struck again, lighting up their surroundings and causing her to flinch from fright as she always did. By the time she opened her eyes, he had vanished from sight.
Without hesitating another second, Sweetie Belle turned around and pushed her friend from around the corner they were hiding.
"Hurry, we have to run!"
Though they were lost at what exactly was happening, Applebloom and Scootaloo did as they were told and began to gallop down the raining street. Sweetie followed short behind them, peering over her shoulder to look for their chaser. After a brief moment, she quickly knew he wouldn't come at them from behind.
She returned her gaze forward at her friends to see a figure quickly run at them from the side. It moved extremely quick and Sweetie didn't even have time to warn them. She did what she could and followed in Sombra's hoof steps.
Gritting her teeth, Sweetie Belle quickly drew out a spark of flame from her eyes and conjured out her dark magic. A small crystal pillar was erected between Dice and her friends, cutting him off from them and allowing them to continue their escape. She, on the other hoof, suddenly felt enormously tired from exerting her magic.
"What in the world?!" Dice shouted out in shock. The sizzling sound of water hitting a flame caught his ear and he slowly turned to face the filly whom took the opportunity to catch her breath.
"You asked about what pieces I'm playing with?" Sweetie Belle said in between pants for air. "I'm the King with two pawns making their way to the other side of the board."
For the first time in his lifetime, Dice was intimidated by a filly. The darkness of the night complimented her glowing green sclera and fiery eyes. But soon the rain proved too strong for her small blaze and her magic died back to normal, allowing for him to calm himself.
"Oh? So you're hoping you can get your pawns to the other side and bring back what? Two Queens?"
"No, just one Queen and a Rook." Sweetie Belle said as she finally began to breathe normally.
"And what makes you so sure I won't just capture the King before they get the chance?"
"I'm pretty sure." Sweetie said as she slowly glanced to the side, she saw a wooden fence and barrel close by and quickly ran towards them. Jumping onto the barrel and lunging herself forward, Sweetie Belle called forth some dark magic again to raised another crystal as a platform to jump over the fence.
Slipping and rolling on the mud as she landed, Sweetie Belle pulled herself to her hooves quickly and continued her escape. But as she ran, the loud stomping of hooves echoed behind her. Looking back, Dice was already on the chase.
"How did he get here so fast?!" She asked herself as she ran. She needed to get away and fast, all she could hope for was for Sombra to get back soon.