//------------------------------//
// Part Four: An Eye for an Eye 
// Story: Through the Snow 
// by Ice Star 
//------------------------------//

Sombra cocked his head to the side so his unbound eye could better grasp the specific slope of this particularly steep drop.

He sighed and stuck his tongue out as snow occasionally ruffled his overgrown black mane, revealing an inquisitive crimson eye. The left however, was bound with rags crusted with spots of blood, dull in comparison with its unconcealed neighbor who was as bright as a single star in a sky of black.

Sombra's customary frown deepened somewhat. If I slide down carelessly I could break my neck, which according to everything I know about normal ponies is a tad lethal.

He looked up at the sky, a gray smudge so even the stars he knew were behind them barely reflected off the crystalline-looking snow.

Sombra's frown vanished into a manic grin which exposed teeth that became slightly pointed when his magic acted up too much. "But since when do I care?"

He said even though he knew no reply would come. Again, he didn't care.

His curved horn started to glow with his familiar dark power; from the ground a somewhat rugged slab of äerint emerged, breaking off until it rested perfectly in the endless snow, tilted downward toward the unknown.

No time was wasted in jumping on.



...



"WAHOO!"

I was sliding down the steepest drop in all of the Arctic Wastes, gliding on a slab of the äerint crystals as fast as I could go, snow whipped by my mane as I swerved past the occasional rocks. The ragged brown fabric called a cloak flew behind me although, it felt strange not to have my bangs fragmenting my view.

Behind me the sun was setting bathing everything in a blue-purple hue. A few of the memories that were not mine included a sky with slashes of gray, like it was being drained of color. I didn't like that, and was glad that at some point this had changed and the sky now seemed as alive as the ground I walked on.

I may have been created only a few months ago, but I was learning everything fast and couldn't wait to find out everything else.

This part of the world seemed to be endless snow, the only memories of trees were not my own, but I'm sure I would run into one soon as these don't seem to be a rare occurrence.

Sometimes, when I thought about all these things it was almost like Onyx never existed at all... I couldn't help it, even if ponies were nothing to me this world wasn't. I wanted to see it and learn how it worked as well as make things, whether it be creating them out of existing objects or something as new as myself although not as great, nothing is as great as I am.

Onyx, who wanted to use me as a weapon. Onyx, who treated me worse than the snow on which I tread. The same pony who starved and almost killed me out of his sheer stupidity. He thinks I don't know any of this, when it's just the opposite.

My scowl returned and I checked behind me quickly before returning my gaze to the territory in front of me, which receded just as quickly as I saw it.

Peering ahead, I noticed that the landscape seemed to be broken by a large crack.

"Oh. A ravine. How utterly challenging an obstacle," I muttered sarcastically, all the while instinctively calculating the time he needed for the spell that came to mind as I nonchalantly surveyed the chasm's icy maw.

You think this world would actively try to screw me over by giving unbeatable physical obstacles, but nope, being undersupplied in a wasteland without a map is almost overrated if you think about it. But maybe it just has to do with me being better than everything, this world is mine after all. Mine to explore.

"Here goes nothing," I muttered, crimson-gray magic igniting on my horn.

In a flash I was gone, no longer gliding downward toward its gaping maw but instead standing on the other side staring down at my cloth-wrapped legs.

Unfortunately, this stretch of terrain was not a steep drop but a somewhat hilly stretch of - more snow. Which could get a bit boring after a while, even though I like snow, especially when it snows at night which makes it seem like the stars themselves are falling.



...



The first thing Onyx had 'used' me for was to kill one of the ponies that had caused him pain, and I knew that Onyx mostly killed for fun and had only used the Book to fuel his need for power. To make him a better murderer. I don't have any noteworthy objection to murder at this point, except that I don't really find into to be as fun as he makes it out to be and I didn't see the need to go around killing everypony on a whim even though I cared about nopony but myself.

I had noticed a lot about Onyx in the time I had known him. Onyx was a weak fool who had an endless bloodlust while I know that I have the potential to be one of the most powerful things the world has ever seen. Another opposite of I had picked up on was that Onyx disregarded everything around him and thought it boring.

But what about me? Well, even if it technically went against some more cynical aspects of my nature, I believed the world that he was in was astounding, even if nopony in it was.

Then there was the talking. Onyx seemed to have a need for it. I longed for total solitude, which even in this place was non-existent. Onyx may be silent for now, but he was still there. He was gone for now though, and while that was something, it wasn't enough and it would never be.



...



The night was still new and although I had no objection to silence, there was still something I needed to do.

Pausing for a moment, I reached into one of the sacks I had on my back and telekinetically pulled out a hoofful of a fuzzy green substance - moss -and began to nibble at it. In between bites, I recited all that I knew of myself with only the twinkling stars to listen:

"My name is Sombra, I am fourteen winters old, I am good with magic, I am a murderer. I am very snarky, I am a fast learner, I was created only months ago, and I am smarter then Onyx. I am a good fighter, I know lots about survival, My memories aren't always my own, and I am heading southward."

Most important of all is that I am Me. Nopony else. I am just me, stubborn as... as... somepony? ...okay, I'm stubborn.

I had stopped galloping and was now listening to the silence, broken only by my breath as I tried to blow my bangs out of my eyes. I couldn't believe how long my mane and tail had grown.

The hills around me seemed to gradually dip, as if there was a valley up ahead.

As I pressed onward, the land shifted and soon I stood on top of a large hill looking down at a woodsy expanse, yet I felt higher than I had on the mountains back north.

I looked around, slightly dizzy, noticing how the evergreen tree - yes that's what it was called - was joined by more of its kind who starkly contrasted against the snow with their green color. In fact, the slope I had come down and chasm seemed to be part of what could be a basin.

Once more I looked up at the sky.

Everything was so open I swear I could touch the midnight stars.

It was the sound of my own laughter that startled me most.



...



I felt lightheaded but could not explain why. Though it wasn't like I could heal myself - dark magic can't do that - even though it would have been so useful considering Onyx was such an impulsive, reckless, fool who put both himself and me through so much harm, I was starting to wonder if Onyx was not only an insufferable twit but an insufferable twit who was doing this on purpose. If the former, my ever-growing hatred for him is now deepening at rates so fast they're immeasurable.

I continued to frown and headed into the glen, dragging my hooves as I did so, I would go slower because who knew when Onyx would decide to take over again and steal the body that was clearly mine. While he was getting a bit better with the magic, I would always remain superior.

Though it wasn't as if I didn't have a plan, although it didn't make the present any less miserable...



...



I hated sleep because I never knew if I would wake up as myself or as the half-present reader to the mess of the a story that were the actions of him. I was so relieved to wake up collapsed in part of the grove that what surprised me most was not the incomplete freedom I'd get to have for who knows how long, but the smug smile in place of my typical scowl.

I still had months to go until I reached this 'Crystal Empire' where Stupid Inseparable Onyx was leading me as his half-willing accomplice. It isn't as if I can run anywhere. I didn't have something I could just kill and then walk away from.

You can't run from yourself.

You definitely can't run from a voice in your own head - especially one that controls you.



...



I had turned to look behind me for a brief moment when I unexpectedly made one bad step and immediately plunged through a tangle of thorn bushes. They mercilessly tore away the bindings on my left eye until it was running red with hot sticky blood as I screamed curses at Onyx, the wraith who had done this to me, and the pain until I collapsed completely, worn out from the madness that was my life. Even though I was even crazier than Onyx was.



...



"Ugh... what happened...?"

I wasn't sure how much time had passed, but the moon was still up and my head felt like Onyx had been talking for hours, when thankfully the reverse was true.

"At least Onyx is still silent," I muttered, promptly getting up.

This was a decent forest alright, fern-covered and cool.

Igniting a levitation spell, my possessions floated around me a moment before I went to find a clearing.

My cloth-wrapped legs were stiff and achy but otherwise nothing seemed too bad. Bruises and cuts could heal on their own. Those influenced by dark magic can never heal themselves.

I plopped everything I had against a fallen log and began to rip the moss off of it, stuffing it and any other plant I could find in any of the loose sacks I carried.

I had to do everything important, and maybe for the better. Onyx would kill us both if it weren't for me.

I know that both of us are ponies, but he is the impatient and bloodthirsty one. It’s not like I have anything against murder though, just against his way of doing things. Sometimes I wonder if his existence is just to kill, again, no objections - but at least I have a personality, am I right? Of course I am. I'll show Onyx. This is my body and my mind. He's just a soul now. I'm smarter, stronger, and more powerful and I know I can win.


Because if there is one thing I'll never do, it's lose.



...



Pools of unfrozen water are rare here. So I was very surprised when I found one off to my right, a perfect reflection to the stars rippling gently. I had never seen one with my own eyes before. The only other water like this I knew of existed in those memory copies. Despite the fact that the memories were his, I had my own thoughts about them and my own interpretations on the pathetic excuse Onyx had called his life.

I would see the world with my own two eyes, while he would barely even be able to get glimpses of it while trapped in the strongest prison that ever existed.

Unfortunately, his prison is me and my prison appears to be him...

I stood up on my achy legs and went over to get a drink. It was only water that came from a town or something that was particularly bad, I think. I really shouldn't be trusting water of all things, but right now I didn't have much of a choice, even though sometimes I swear I don't need to eat or sleep.

Plus I wanted to wash the bindings for my left eye and have a bit of a break from looking at this blackness...

I peered in closer to the pool.

If it can reflect stars in the sky, can it reflect me? I wondered.

Cautiously, I crept up to the edge and looked, relatively nervous at what I might see.

"It worked..." I breathed, astounded.

Inside was a tall gray colt with a curved red-tipped horn. His shaggy black mane was so long it hid some of his face. While on the other hoof his tail was long enough to trip on. The faint smoky expression he had was caught between cocky and curious. When I flipped my bangs aside I was able to see one crimson eye was wide with a tangled net of emotions: wonder, determination, intelligence, mischief and if I looked close enough, wrath.

Using my magic, I unwrapped the dirty binding that was all that protected my injured eye from the rest of the world. I knew that I had to wash the blood off this thing if I ever wanted it to remain uninfected and have a chance at healing.

The rag with its dull brown hue and blood stains fell out of my grip as the force holding it disappeared distorting the surface for a moment as it drifted around, dark black-red splotches tinting the water.

"No..."

My reflection changed, no longer bearing the look of cockiness it had only a moment ago was horrorstruck. There was no more wonder or mischief in my eyes. Instead, both of them only burned with seething wrath.

"ONYX, YOU BASTARD!"

Even if it wasn't milky, my left eye would see only black. Forever. It would never heal because I can't heal it, and because nopony would ever think to heal me. To them I'm just an unintelligent being lacking any form of sapience. Those ignorant parasites would brand me as a wicked creation mimicking life by my origins alone.

What would Onyx do when he found out when I was blind? He viewed me as property, but even worse is that to him I was property he couldn't discard and he had worked his whole life to get, and would hardly take it kindly to me being 'broken' in his eyes even though he's tried to break my mind before, and never with any success. I was unbreakable.

If he found out would he gouge out my eye? I wondered. Both my eyes?

It would hurt him too, but I could see him doing it. He was cruel enough. 'If it doesn't work,' I could see him saying in that shrill, leering voice of his, 'why should you have it?'

I know that no matter what way he would overreact if he found out, even though it was his fault I was injured in the first place. I would be fine with just one working eye but that didn't excuse anything he would do! Onyx never had a logical reason to do anything, however much he thinks he does.

First he stole my freedom. Next he stole my identity. Now he stole half my sight.

But there was one thing I could do... if I work out some sort of reflecting or mirroring enchantment for when he is using my eyes, it would make him think I still had perfect sight. Onyx was also weak-minded enough that creating a sort of mental barrier to prevent him from learning about this would be too easy... I could work out something like this tonight.

The rest of the world would be blind, but I never would be.

Because Onyx would never win and I would never lose, and it just so happened I had all the time in the world. Rage continued to burn through me, so much raw power that was all mine.

I left the glade the same night, seeing no need to stay.

I left it burning, flames roaring and leaping desperately at the air while clouds of ashes danced in the air, the misery to the fire's vengeance.

And me?

I was a red-eyed shadow walking across the snow, the left side of my mouth curled up into a sinister smirk as the stars in the sky seemed to scream of all the sins I had yet to commit, however unwilling or willing each deed was.

I felt better now.

So.

Much.

Better.