The first thing we did upon entering the Empire proper was to seek shelter for the time being. With the shield being out for whatever reason, the cold could and did make a return. We apologized to the pony whose home we were invading, but as I succinctly told the crystal mare, "We really, really need to be out of the cold. Seeing as how we just walked through the tundra to get here and all."
She was a little perturbed by the makeup of our group, but permitted us to rest in her house. And then something happened that didn't bode well at all.
The shield came back. But where before it was a bright blue shield that repelled the cold, this time, it was an oppressive orange, in a shade I recognized. I now knew exactly when we'd arrived. Sombra had probably just overthrown the rulership here, and was about to force these ponies to experience hell under him.
We would have to move quickly, if we were to get involved. And quite frankly, I sort of wanted to. If we could stop Sombra before things got too out of control, imagine the good we could do.
The six of us exited the home and made our way to the large, now-black crystal palace on the horizon. We could see the dark nature of the palace begin to spread out to the houses around it. Our time was growing shorter at an alarming rate. We'd almost made it to the palace when we found we would have to cross into the corrupted zone. With a slight bit of trepidation, I was the first one to cross that line. When nothing happened to me, my friends quickly joined me, and we resumed our previously-frantic pace towards the palace.
We reached the base of the spire, to find a grey unicorn, with a red-tipped horn and a black mane and tail staring at the spot where the Crystal Heart used to be. He seemed to be muttering something to himself, though, and only turned to face us when we approached. "What?" he said, before he took in our appearances. "Bah! Like I have time to waste with would-be heroes! I have a spell to enact!"
That...didn't sound good. I pulled my sword loose, and Sombra lit his horn up. He probably planned something gruesome for us...
And then I ran lightning down my blade, which shocked the dark unicorn. Probably because I could use magic. My allies readied their weapons as well, and Justice beeped as he identified the unicorn before us. "King Sombra. Overthrower of the Crystal Empire, proficient in dark magics."
"One and only chance, Sombra," I said. "Release your hold on the ponies and empire, or we'll make you?"
"You honestly think you could?" he said, before laughing. "Ahahahah! Fools! My dominance is nearly complete! And when it is, the power of this 'empire' shall fuel my greatest spell!"
"Well then," I said. "We'll just have to take you out before you get the chance to do that."
"Like I said," Sombra said as his horn lit up again. "The fact that you think you can amuses me."
Then he paused, and one ear flicked as he listened to...something. "The black winds howl," he said eventually. "Very well then. Come, if it is death you seek!"
Well, that told me volumes. However, we had a plan to make, and very little time to make it in. Assuming he had a similar battle strategy as Magus...we would have to wait for his first spell. The easiest way to make him cast one would be...
"Gregory! Show him the strength of your blade!" I shouted, and the griffon charged, slashing away like a mad bird. I could see Sombra attempting to shield himself, but under the assault of the Masamune, his magics were worthless. He instead opted to push Gregory back with a new barrier spell. One that scorched and felt of heat.
"Copper! You and Justice! Combine your strengths!" I shouted out as Zehan and I worked on distributing a wave of healing power to everyone. The robot and mare got the memo, and in a second, the dark unicorn was eating flaming hooves. This prompted him to change his barrier again, and this time it chilled to the very bone.
"Heal beam online," Justice beeped.
"Good!" I replied. "Justice, keep us healthy! Zehan, Gregory, use your magic! Freeze him right back!"
Griffon and Zebra combined their magics to suspend a chunk of ice in the air above Sombra's head. The bubble carrying the huge chunk hovered for a moment or three longer after it was created, before splashing down and drenching Sombra with ice-cold water and large pieces of ice. Then Justice unleashed a hail of green lasers from his body, coating us all and making us feel...better, somehow. That was about when Sombra unleashed his latest change of barriers, and this time, it shocked us. Quite literally, I could feel the familiar sting of electricity dancing across my skin.
Time to return fire with fire then. I held out my hand and focused my power, causing a storm of lightning to erupt from me and strike the tyrant unicorn king. He howled in agony and panted, clearly not having expected the magnitude of power I possessed. Then the king got up again, and plunged the area into darkness so deep, I couldn't see my hand in front of my face.
We still had a weapon for this, though. "Justice! Fire your lasers at the source of this darkness!"
There was a beeping noise from beside me, and then the unicorn howled again as the robot connected with his form. The dark veil dropped, and Zehan and I distributed more healing aura around the area, to keep us all topped up on health. That was when I noticed something alarming.
The city's conversion into its corrupted form was accelerating. I could only assume that this would fuel Sombra's dark magic to the point where he would be able to cast truly terrifying spells at us. "Gregory, show him the might of a griffon knight!" I yelled, readying my own blade as well.
It turned out to not be needed. With a mighty cry, the griffon unleashed the Masamune upon the dark mage, and I saw a wonderful thing happen as he did. For every blow landed, the corruption receded. The half-lion, half-eagle let out another war cry and let out a flurry of blows, before drawing back for one final mighty one. Something I aided him in, adding my own mighty blow to his, mimicking the X-Strike from the game.
Sombra panted, collapsed, and his horn's glow died as the corruption on the entire city receded back to just the palace. That was when I noticed something on his back, under his cloak. A large, heart-shaped object. Apparently, we'd gotten here so quickly, he hadn't had time to hide it yet. I snatched the thing from him, causing him to hiss and charge one final spell. "The magic I have accrued will have to do!" he shouted. "I will deal with you all, here and now! Wrongs will be set right! My vengeance will be had!"
Then I replaced the crystal heart in the spire, banishing the last of the corruption and destabilizing his spell. And a familiar sense of Deja Vu overtook me as I saw a dark hole appear over Sombra's head. One that began to grow...and grow...and grow. It sucked the unicorn in before rapidly expanding, and we all tried to grip onto the base of the castle to anchor ourselves.
But one by one, we all lost our hold on that time, that era. And we were lost to another hole in time itself...
When I came to next time, the first thing I noted was the cold.
The ever-present, constant cold.
The winds whipped around us, carrying snow past our faces and sending ice-cold down into our very cores.
"We need to find shelter!" I shouted, even as I took notice of the Gate that had formed behind me.
"There is a structure approximately one hundred feet in this direction," Justice informed us as he began walking into the eternal blizzard. All of us followed after him, and it wasn't long until we found a small building just sitting in the middle of nowhere. I heaved open the massive doors and everybody rushed inside. I then slipped into the building myself and pulled the door shut after me, which closed with a loud, booming noise.
Inside this small building, it was bleak and bare. The only thing of real note was a large, rune-covered circle in the middle of the room. The six of us drew close, before Justice walked across the border. The circle of runes lit up with a purple light, and the robot vanished.
All of us were slightly panicked at that, and wondered what we could do to bring him back, before the circle lit up again and Justice returned. "Most fascinating," he said. "This would appear to be a system of translocation gates."
"...Did you just say this is a teleporter?" I asked the robot. He merely nodded, and I asked my other question then. "Well, where does the other end come out, then?"
"I am...uncertain if my systems are functioning properly," the robot said. "But it is safe. Perhaps with exterior input I can come to a correct conclusion."
Thus prompted, the rest of us joined him in the circle, and for the briefest of moments, my entire world was bathed in purple light.
And when the light cleared, we saw floating islands in the sky, with gleaming cities of shining crystal refracting the sunlight into all the colors of the rainbow.
Oh, fuck.
This world had a version of Zeal.