Sacrifices Made
Snow crunched with every step he took. Now climbing up the mountain top towards the only cave he’d been able to see, was one unicorn risking it all.
With each inch Sombra covered, the worser the blizzard seemed to get. But he did not give up, for this was his chance to do something. To make a change, that would benefit the others. And he would not be beaten by a mere blizzard and chilly altitudes.
So he pushed on.
Twice the stallion had nearly slipped and fallen to his death. But twice he had recovered and willed himself to continue. Thinking of his home, thinking of his friends, the ones he considered family. The children; foals, fillies, colts, elderly and young alike. They were all suffering from an unknown illness and it was his duty to save them now.
He shivered, as a cold gust of wind sailed by the mountain, whipping him harshly with even more snow as Sombra could now see the peak of the cliff.
“Almost there” he whispered through squinted eyes. “Just a bit more” Sombra thought, ignoring the aches in his body. The soreness of his muscles making themselves well-known, as he set another hoof up on a easy handling space.
Hoof by hoof, Sombra pulled himself up the cliff till eventually, he placed a shaky hoof on the peak of his objective. Placing another hoof at the entrance, Sombra pulled himself up to the top and with some effort pushed through the whirlwind of snow and wind,entering the cave with a heavy breath.
Once inside Sombra allowed himself to collapse on the wall of the cave’s mouth. Letting his body rest a few minutes from the strenuous effort he put on it. Walking up the steep mountain then climbing the rest of the way had been tougher than he thought.
The cold air, slightly high altitude, and snow had done him no good either.
“There...that wasn’t so hard” he said in between breaths and a rather weak chuckle. With a grunt Sombra lifted himself back up to his hooves and began trotting deeper into the cave.
For a while he saw nothing. He just kept going and getting deeper and deeper in the cave, hearing a few drips and drops till eventually he saw a light.
Breaking into a small gait Sombra quickly moved towards the light only to stop and see, he was back outside at the cave’s entrance.
It took a second for him to figure out what had just happened. He’d been walking through the cave for minutes and he was pretty sure he’d been getting deeper in the cave, but now he was back outside the cave’s entrance.
His brows rose with realization. “Illusion magic” he whispered with a slow nod of his head. Turning his back to the cave’s entrance, Sombra began scanning the area for any caved in side or slope that would allow him to get through this never ending illusion with ease.
He found it.
The ceiling had a steep drop, acting more like a slide of sorts. Seeing this Sombra grinned, “Smart idea, using the ceiling as the only way to reach the item, make it difficult for creatures that can’t fly or those that don’t have enough magical potential to cast gravitational spells.”
His horn ignited, aura slowly covering his entire body as he cast the reverse gravitational spell on himself and began floating towards the ceiling. “Lucky for me I’m not one of those unicorns.”
Landing on the ceiling Sombra immediately slid down the slope, the entrance behind him fading as he shot down the slide like surface. In a matter of seconds Sombra could see a drop just ahead of him, one he hadn’t been able to see before on ground.
“Looks like I was right.” The moment his momentum had slowed, Sombra immediately fell through the rather large drop, shooting out into another part of the cave.
Quickly readjusting the gravity around him, Sombra landed on the ground with a slight thud a few inches from the drop.
It took a second for anything to happen, but after a few seconds and once his eyes had adjusted to this new level of darkness, a platform appeared with lights turning on rather suddenly.
Sombra had to shield his eyes from the brightness, but once they’d adjusted he saw three orbs of purple light, floating around a vial that rested on a small stalagmite like make-shift table. Above the vial where the three purple orbs floated around it was a stalactite.
Moving slowly and with caution Sombra approached the vial, and the three purple orbs. Every step he made, made Sombra’s heartbeat quicken. This was it, this was the moment. The moment he drank that vial he’d be able to save his people.
But then again if he lost, it would mean the end of him and probably the complete isolation of the Crystal Empire.
I can’t let that happen.
With confidence the unicorn stepped onto the platform, and lifted the vial off its resting place with his magic.
Magnus, read the vial. “Ratin for “great”,” he said with a small smile.
Taking a deep breath he popped the cork on the vial, then shifted the contents around a bit.
“Bottoms up” he said, tilting the vial into his mouth Sombra swallowed every drop of the liquid.
When he finished he released his hold on it, then waited to see if something would happen. A second passed. Then two more. Then a whole minute, yet nothing happened.
“Was the book lying when it said I would have to face a challenge?”
When nothing happened after two minutes and the purple orbs had went from purple to red Sombra merely shrugged and began to turn towards the exit.
He stopped when he felt a tingling sensation on his horn. At first it felt tingly, then quite suddenly his horn began burning, pain immediately shot through his horn as soon as the burning sensation died down.
Then something else happened. Making him turn his attention back to the three floating orbs. They were red now, and emitting from them was red like electricity. Each orb crackled with magical power as the three moved away from the stalactite they had been circling and formed a horizontal line pointing directly at Sombra.
His eyes narrowed, when the first red orb cracked ominously. Then a shot of electrostatic shot out at him.
Jumping out of the way, Sombra watched the ground get scorched where he had just been standing. Trying to activate his magic Sombra only managed a wince when the pain came back with a new force through his horn.
Another shot from one of the red orbs came at him, this one connected with his horn.
The only thing Sombra could do was wince in pain as he felt the orbs magic hit his horn with such a force that it made him yelp. The other two orbs added into power by pumping their own energy into the first one. Doing this the red orb that was currently shocking Sombra’s horn lifted him off the ground, continuing to unleash it’s electric fury on him
The pain only grew as Sombra remained suspended in the air. Every few seconds he would hear a horrible cracking sound, like bones breaking. Then would feel an immense pain coming from his horn as if it were being broken and glued back on.
This continued for minutes. The pain growing worse as seconds passed, till all Sombra could do was yell in pain. His own voice mocking him as it echoed through the cave.
Finally after what could have been five minutes had passed, the orbs all cut off their assault, lost their red ominous glow, then faded out of existence their jobs done.
Sombra landed on the ground roughly with a heavy thud. His horn still immensely paining him. His eyes burning with tears and his teeth firmly clenched.
Lifting a hoof up Sombra touched his horn and let out a painful gasp as he forced himself to rise on his shaking legs, wincing once more as his headache came back.
“What do you desire?” a voice asked him.
Sombra panted, he was currently sweating from the pain that still remained in his head and his possibly reformed horn, as he could now tell it had a slight curve to it now and was feeling pretty warm from the midsection upwards.
With grit teeth he managed to stutter the word “power.”
A chuckle echoed in his head intensifying the pain, before responding in his own voice. A much darker version of his voice: “As you wish.”
Feeling another shot of pain run through him, Sombra collapsed on the ground, darkness slowly filling his vision.
Last thing he remembered hearing was his own voice telling him: “Good luck.”
Sombra once again found himself in darkness, this time he was not alone though.
Standing before the unicorn in the darkness was not a pony at least not in his eyes, but something else entirely. It was himself.
His own reflection, yet different. This Sombra had a curved horn, possibly mirroring his own image as well, but then again this Sombra had what appeared to be almost fangs. A nasty grin and eyes that glowed a sick green color as the dark arts book had. And those same eyes that stared at him radiated nothing but a constant desire for power.
A desire for not only power but a desire to conquer all. Rule all with an iron hoof and nothing else. This Sombra, was not the one the unicorn wanted to become.
Yes he wanted power, but who doesn’t every now and then? Yes possibly deep down within Sombra he felt that he should rule the Crystal Empire. There was so much he could do. So much he could change, but he wasn’t about to betray the princess for his own selfish desire.
His evil twin laughed, seeming to read his mind. “Do not lie to yourself. You know you want it. The power, the strength. You can feel it can’t you?” the shadow asked taking a step towards the scholar.
Sombra took a hesitant step back. His shadow smiled, a cruel smile that only a tyrant could give. “You can’t lie to me Sombra. I am you, and you are me.”
“I am not a tyrant!” Sombra shouted with a slam of his hoof.
His shadow merely smiled wider, laughing, sneering at his refusal to accept the truth.
Sombra scowled, allowed his new horn to glow and with a gentle tap of his foreleg a crystal formed in the dark abyss. Sending the crystal shard directly into his shadows body Sombra watched with an icy expression as the laughing shadow became impaled with the shard.
The shadow fell silent. Merely staring at the crystal shard that imbedded his chest.
Sombra smile confidently, believing that he had conquered this challenge with ease, he waited for his body to awaken out of this horrid slumber.
But nothing happened.
Sombra’s smile faded into a confused expression. He looked at his shadow, the being with glowing green eyes still stared at the crystal shard, unmoving.
He was sure he had finished his shadow off with ease. He had won...right?
The shadow smiled, then lifted it’s head up staring at Sombra, the original. “See” the shadow said, the crystal within him slowly getting sucked into the being’s body. “I am you, and you are me.”
“We are nothing alike” Sombra stated his horn glowing once more.
“You just attempted to kill me. Only one who uses force would do that without negotiating, wouldn’t you agree scholar?”
His magic faltered. The shadow continued, “You said it yourself did you not? You desire power. Crave it. You believe that you, yourself should take control of the Crystal Empire, you know that you can do more good than our current princess. So why stop there? Why not make sure that something like this never happens again?”
The shadow moved closer to his original, walking around Sombra with a pleasant grin on his face as Sombra fought with his morals and the somewhat wise words being tossed in his direction.
“I...I can’t” Sombra said turning his head away, his horn losing its glow. “I cannot betray the empire, the Crown in such a way.”
A chuckle. A dark chuckle, then Sombra felt his head get lifted up by his copy’s hoof. “It is not betrayal, if it is for the greater good” Sombra’s shadow said with a friendly smile. “You came out here to gain power did you not? You have it now. What’s wrong with bettering one’s kingdom with that power.
“After all isn’t there a wise saying, “The odds, justify the means?”” the shadow said.
Sombra’s eyes narrowed in thought and inner turmoil. He knocked the hoof under his chin away then backed up from his dark side.
“No” he said firmly.
“You’re making a mistake” his copy said. “What’s wrong with indulging in your own personal desires. You came out to sacrifice yourself for others, so why not have some fun along the way? Embrace your darkness, enjoy it, let me get you the power you desire. So you can change the world. Watch over it under an iron hoof! With power you can make your enemies tremble. Fear brings obedience.”
“But obedience through fear is not true loyalty” Sombra corrected his horn glowing once more.
Sombra’s shadow’s smile faded, his lips pursing together to form a straight line with lidded eyes that only showed disdain.
“I see” his shadow said, his green green eyes brightening as his own horn glowed with dark magic. “There is no changing your mind then?”
Sombra shook his head. “I would rather wait for my time to come as king, then force my way to power.” The clone laughed darkly, his voice reverberating back to them throughout the vast dark abyss.
“We’ll see, scholar. We’ll see.”
“Yes” Sombra said his eyes now expressing steeled resolve. “We will indeed.”
Both horns glowed. One red, one dark. A flash of magic brightened the area, before darkness once again filled the void.
Sombra awoke seconds later, having done what needed to be done. Getting up he moved through the cave and reached the exit in a few seconds.
With resolve once again burning in his eyes the unicorn stared at the shadow of the Crystal Empire down the mountain.
Sombra stepped back out into the cold, ignoring the way the snow nipped at his pelt, his body, his arms and his newly reformed horn as he made his way down the cliff once more.
Once back down the mountain and re-entering the Crystal Empire’s vicinity, Sombra saw Princess Luna and Celestia waiting for him at the kingdom’s border.
The two looked slightly surprised by the appearance of his horn. He merely ignored them and continued to walk through the emptiness of the castle without another word to them.
Luna and Celestia exchanged looks before following their ally towards the Crystal Heart. Once there Sombra’s horn glowed with a powerful bright red light, which he gently touched against the ancient artifact.
The Crystal Heart glowed red for a brief minute, then a second later the heart spun at rapid speeds, Sombra backing up as Princess Celestia and Luna watched the artifact release a powerful surge of magic that covered the entire empire. Curing all the ill and sick within the hospitals in the process.
Luna smiled a bit at Sombra her eyes still staring at his new horn. Celestia gave him a somewhat encouraging smile as well before the three waited for a few citizens to come out of the hospitals.
A few seconds later Sombra turned his back to the two princesses heading in a different direction. A voice stopped him, he turned to see Princess Celestia staring at him with observant eyes.
A second passed and the two did not break eye contact. Sombra merely smiled at her. The princess of the sun did not return the gesture.
“What did you do Sombra?” she asked after a few seconds of silence, the three ignoring the cheers of the crystal ponies returning to their homes and duties.
Sombra smiled weakly before it faded into a warm yet stony expression.
“I did what I had to.”