//------------------------------// // Sombra, the Shadowlord // Story: Undertales of Friendship // by ngrey651 //------------------------------// “Ohhh no. Oh no, no-no-no-no.” Frisk held his head, his green eyes wide in horror, hands digging into the side of his skull as he shook his brown-haired head back and forth. “Oh Lordy, no!” He whispered out. “I...I think I just did something very bad…” He whispered. “Dear God, no!” The half-Asian, half American child murmured, hands covering his mouth as he struggled to get to his feet, only to fall back on his knees. The blood pooled around the bodies of each of his friends, their eyes sightless, never able to see again, their bodies long since grown cold and stiff. How...how was this possible? Their milky blood dribbled all around him, a trail trickling towards the knife that laid in front of him… “No, this...this can’t be real. This has to be a dream.” “Oh, quite a dream, alright. A dream come true.” A familiar voice rang out as Frisk stiffened, his eyes going wide, a harsh breath being sucked into his lungs as he turned around, eyes wide. Oh no. NO. The...the Anomaly. The Completionist. Mocking face, sneering with a wide smile. “You always know how to make me smile, Frisk. My lovely little puppet, I have to say, Ol’ Gepetto here is VERY proud.” “No! No, this isn’t real! Monsters turn to dust when they die! This is just a bad dream!” Frisk insisted, holding his head in his hands, shaking it back and forth as the Anomaly advanced, its hand shifting and twisting, a horrific laugh croaking out of his mouth as he walked towards Frisk...an immense knife now held high. “Know that no matter how much you try to run, this puppet maker is always right behind you...pulling. The. STRINGS.” The knife came down, Frisk screaming… “Disappointing...not what I need...” “Dude, wake up!” Frisk gasped, falling flat out of his chair in school, panting and heaving, everyone staring at him and then each other as Squirt gently helped him up, faintly neon yellow eyes looking into Frisk’s. “You alright?” He inquired. “I...I think I need to see Toriel.” Frisk muttered out, wiping sweat off his brow as Ms. Cheerilee gave a soft little nod, Squirt escorting him out of the schoolhouse as they made their way down the road, heading for Toriel’s home. A soft wind went through their hair as Squirt looked over at Frisk, biting his lip. “So, um...what were you dreaming about?” “The anomaly. That...that DEMON.” “The one you defeated, right?” Squirt murmured. “...you’re so brave.” “Well, we had to beat him. Everyone  was in danger.” Frisk reasoned, seeing Squirt’s face, trying to read the expression on the half-breed’s face, looking confused as he tilted his head a little. “Uh...Squirt, what’s the matter?” “It’s just...your use of your DETERMINATION, of...of RESETS and SAVES, that’s just so huge. It’s mind-blowing. It’s…” He hesitated. “Do I scare people?” Frisk asked quietly, a nervous feeling rising in him, brought along by the dream he’d just had. Had the Dream-Anomaly been right? What if he really WAS a puppet and didn’t know it? What if something was lingering inside him? “No. It ain’t fear, Frisk.” Squirt muttered. “It’s more like jealousy.” He sheepishly confessed, hanging his head, black mane flopping down, the dark-grey-furred little colt sighing. Frisk stupidly stared. “Jealousy? Really? Why? I mean...why ME? Why not Chara? I mean, they’re far better at fighting, and Sans can teleport and Papyrus-” “I’m SERIOUS, Frisk.” Squirt murmured, stopping at a small park bench, the two of them not far from Toriel’s house. They sat down together, the wind continuing to blow through their hair as Squirt laid his front hooves in his lap and hung his head. “Look, I...never really got to know my parents. Like, at all. I had no sister like Shinedown did. I never even got to know my parents. And the worst part is that...that when I talked to him and asked him if he could find them, he…” Squirt trembled. “...he had that look on his face. That look of “I already did”. And I knew that he had something awful to say. That there was a REASON he’d never taken me back to them.” “...what is it?” Frisk wanted to know, his voice soft and comforting as he gently laid a hand upon Squirt’s shoulder and Squirt bit his lip. “He said they were high-falutin, high class types who viewed everything they made as a total success in the HIVE and in CANTERLOT as a success. Except for me. They wanted a vunderkid and what they got was an average half-breed with a combined Stallion Aptitude Test score of “Too lazy to show up”. I didn’t even end up with magic like my parents had. But you? You’re one of the brightest kids in class, everyone loves you, and with your abilities, well…they would have LOVED having you as a kid.” “I…” Frisk hesitated. “Thanks, I guess? I’m just...sorry that they weren’t the parents you needed.” “It’s okay. I know you lost your mom and your dad had...y’know…” Squirt trailed off. “That must have been really hard.” “It was, but…” Frisk reached up to the locket around his neck, opening it up, showing off what lay within as it softly glinted in the light of day. “She’s always with me. And you’ve still got Shinedown.” “He knows what it’s like. His dad died, his mom wasn’t there for their childhood when he and Trixie needed her to be, and now she’s trying to reconnect with Trix and him, but...it’s hard for him. He wants to forgive her, but the fact she kinda went to go connect with Trixie first made him...well...” Squirt hesitated. “...he was kinda jealous too.” “Well, everyone has their problems. I mean, Sans is a lazy glutton. He’s so full of cheer cuz he only has to work one day a year!” Frisk laughed as Squirt shrugged. “But my adopted dad can get SERIOUSLY weird, though.” Squirt admitted with a shrug. “I wonder if he’s a bad influence on me. I mean, not just the stuff with Mettaton. Sometimes HE gets really weird dreams too that wake me up in the middle of the night.” “Oh?” Frisk tilted his head. “Really? Does he ever talk about what he dreams of?” As it turned out, Shinedown was having one such dream. A common fantasy of his. Soft music was playing as he made his way through the fields, a gentle wind blowing as rays of the sun beamed tenderly down upon him. Upon his bare back as he rode...atop a horse. My lovely, lovely, lovely, horse! “My lovely hooorse! Rolling through the fields! Where are you going with your fetlocks blowing in the wiiiiind!” He walked alongside the horse atop his hind legs, stroking it’s flowing, black mane as the two strode atop a mighty rainbow, little cherubs blowing horns as another hoof tossed sugar lumps all around them, Shinedown grinning broadly. “I wanna show your with sugar luuumps! I wanna riiide you over fenceees! Polish your hooves every single daaaay! And take you to the horse dentiiiist!” My lovely, lovely, lovely, horse! Now the two were standing atop a cliff, taking in a deep breath, letting the sun set upon them as Shinedown spread his arms wide, letting out a happy sigh, the wind flowing through their soft and bouncy hair… “My lovely hooorse! You’re a pony no moooore!” And soon the two were racing along the plains as the sunset lit them up like a roman candle, Shinedown’s arms spread wide as he giddily laughed and laughed… “Rollin’ along, with a man on your back, like a train in the niiiight! Like a train in the niiiiight!” And then, a voice. A voice he hadn’t heard before. “This? THIS is what you waste your time dreaming of?...I’d find it amusing if it wasn’t so...DISTURBING. I suppose you truly do take after...ah. Almost said too much.” The world around Shinedown faded, the dark grey stallion now lying on an endless abyss of black as he rose up, dark blue hair flipping about as he looked around, his deep blue eyes gazing upon a pair of green ones that blazed deeply high above...green eyes with blood red pupils, as indigo smoke wafted around them. “Oh my stars and garters!” Shinedown’s eyes went wide before he stood his ground, gritting his teeth. “Show yourself fully! Who are you?!” He demanded furiously. “How’d you get into my dreams?!” “You’ll understand soon enough…” A grin stretching out endlessly, as the dark abyss around Shinedown began to tug him down...down...down. Down into the endless black as he shouted and screamed in terror… “One down…” Unbeknownst to Squirt, they weren’t the only ones whose loved ones were asleep and having strange dreams. Toriel was walking through a long, long hallway, having taken a nap at her home, walking past row upon row of paintings. Every single painting was of her, of her many, many years gone by, and time and time again...she saw him. The little prince, one of the 7 Magicians, the one who’d helped to speak up on behalf of monsters. That cute little button nose...that adorable smile, how many times had she seen it on his face- And now every single one of the paintings shifted and altered, and before her eyes as she stood before one surrounded on all sides by red drapes, they morphed and twisted. Now it was CHARA staring back at her...and then it became FRISK, each change brought about by a wave of dark blood that oozed over the paintings before, at last, something began to climb OUT of the pool below, turning from blood to a foul, unnatural purple pool of inky material as the little prince rose up, staring into Toriel’s face, looking hurt. “You never came back.” His quiet, slightly shy voice inquired. “...I kept hoping you would. But you never did. I would have done anything for you to come back just for a day. I waited and waited beneath the tree, but you never came back once you met Asgore. Couldn’t you have at least said goodbye?” “I knew your father didn’t like us meeting.” Toriel murmured, her goat-like head hung as she shook it back and forth. “I...I just didn’t want to hurt you, Tobias.” “But that’s what happens when you love someone, Toriel.” Tobias’s shadow murmured, his eyes growing wider and wider, now pure abysses of black. “When you love someone, you hurt them. And they hurt you back.” He said, as she felt herself sinking, sinking down, down into a dark abyss below. “Loving you...was the most painful thing I ever felt. Just as loving Asgore...loving Chara...Asriel...Frisk...the Six...would become the most painful thing you’d ever endured.” He whispered. “That’s how it works. If you love someone...you WILL hurt them.” And with that and a gasping cry...she too was gone. When you love someone...you will hurt them. Whether you want to...or NOT... Sitting up from her throne, Princess Luna gasped, mouth agape.  Chara looked over at her, head glancing up from the book he was reading on “Proper dueling techniques” in the palace, his eyes filled with worry. There was an unnaturally horrified expression on Luna’s face he’d never seen before. “What is it?” “...I can FEEL it. Someone is abusing the power of dreams to hurt the ones we love. I’m intricately tied into the Dreamscape. I know when someone is abusing it.” Luna said, standing up tall, eyes firm and solemn. “I must go into the Dreamscape. I must track down this interloper who dares pervert MY righteous domain!” “How can anyone get into the Dreamscape? I thought it takes, like...decades of study or natural talent or the like. Nobody can just go from one person’s dream to another unless you’re accompanying them!” Chara reasoned, scratching his head in confusion. “There’s a few people who have that experience.” Luna murmured. “Not just me. My sister also has some experience. As does...HE. The Shadowlord…” … … … ...Luna stepped forth from a large doorway, making her way down the hall, her mane like the night sky billowing forth behind her as she glanced about, eyes narrowed slightly. Door after door was locked and barred shut in the near-endless hall that showed off ponies dreams. And almost all of them had a disgusting, inky haze that was covering them, blocking her from getting inside. But one wasn’t quite covered. The ink was sloughing under the door crack, and Luna ran towards it, bursting the door open as she saw Undyne curled up in a ball, hands covering her head, humans circling around her over and over, all young...all faintly familiar. Wait...wait, she knew who they were. The Six Souls. The children whom had fallen down after Chara and before Frisk! “How could you?!” “You murderer!” “You hypocrite!” “You’re no hero, you’re a barbarian!” “We’ll never forgive everything you did!” “You don’t deserve any mercy!” “Stop it...stop it…” Undyne whispered, her body becoming younger and younger, now having two normal eyes, no longer missing one, her body faintly frail and trembling like a leaf before Luna raced forth, her horn glowing, the visage fading as Undyne gasped, seeing Luna standing tall over her, looking down in concern. “Y-Your majesty, you’re...you came for me?” “Something is definitely wrong in the Dreamscape. Stay close to me, Undyne.” Luna said as Undyne shook her head, clenching her fists as her armor manifested around her. “This is MY dream. I’m gonna help you.” She insisted as a soft chuckle filled the air. “Ahhh, THIS is more like it. This is the kind of reaction I want. Maybe you could, perhaps, do it. I’ve news for you, my little pony...my little mermaid.” The voice chuckled. “Already an endless nightmare is passing over this land. If you want to put an end to it...you’ll come to the old castle you once called home, Luna. The site of your betrayal of your sister. We’ll be waiting.” “WE?” Unydne growled as the dream began to dissolve away into tiny specks of nothingness, and consciousness began to creep back into the two as the voice spoke one last time. “I have my friends. But what kind of reunion would it be...without FAMILY?” Squirt gasped. He and Frisk had made it to Toriel’s place, and had found her surrounded by a dark purple miasma that had settled over her, engulfing her like a cocoon as Frisk tried to shake her away, his eyes filled with horror. “Goat-Mom, please! PLEASE wake up! You have to...to stay Determined!” He insisted, Squirt’s hooves flying to his mouth. “Oh crap. This is not good. Maybe we better get her to the hospital. Or...wait. Your cell phone!” Squirt reasoned, Frisk nodding in agreement as he dove into his pocket and began calling immediately. “Call up Mr. Sans, he can teleport us right there!” “No...I’m afraid he can’t. You can try to wake him, try as you might. But I guarantee you, he’s out like a light.” A voice intoned, dark, authoritative, faintly echoing as the two of them shuddered, and something began to happen to the bedroom they were in. The faint yellow walls turned a horrific dark purple as blackish/purple rays of light began to beam forth from an inky void that was forming in the center of the room, Squirt taking Frisk and easing him away. The room’s temperature began to sink like a brick, and they could practically see their breaths in front of them as a figure of endless shadow began to rise, purple smoke glistening off his green and red-pupiled eyes. “I do hope you’ve time to have a little chat with you and your adoptive father’s shared ancestor.” “Ancestor? Listen, I dunno what you’re playing at, Mister…” Squirt growled out, pointing an accusing hoof at this being, trying to muster his courage to the sticking point, before a demonic, sickening grin that seemed endless stretched across the face of the dark being before them, who now manifested in a more physical frame. “No, no. Not MISTER…” A red cloak with white, well-fluffed linings, and strong silver gauntlets and neck armor. A circlet atop his head, with a small pair of ruby “horns” at the center and a couple of other little silver “horns” shooting up the sides. He was well-built, with a fanged maw, and he grinned, showing off ALL the dagger-like teeth within. “Your MAJESTY.” “K-King Sombra…” Squirt murmured. Nobody had seen him in ages. There were many, many rumors about where he’d gone, but nobody truly believed he was dead and gone. People like him didn’t go away that easily. Frisk took in a deep breath before turning to Squirt. “Is this that guy who used to rule the Crystal Empire? The dictator?” “The Dictator...the Tyrant...the SHADOWLORD…” Squirt whispered, body quivering in fear. “Yes.” King Sombra remarked, waving a hoof in the air as inky shadows stretched out, Frisk racing in front of Squirt, fists clenched tightly as he whipped out his weeding knife, holding it in front of himself, eyes firm and resolute, face beaming with Determination. “Ahhhh. There’s the face I was hoping for. Now I understand how to reach through to you. When the ones you love are in danger, you will cross just about any line, won’t you?” He inquired, black maned head looking intently at Frisk. “You’d never, EVER let me hurt a friend. Never, EVER let me hurt someone as close as a mother...would you?” “You were in my dreams. What’re you up to? What do you want?!” Frisk demanded. “Don’t be all vague and stuff!” “Simple, really. You, the Princess of Night and the Princess of Day...the Warrior of the Ocean, why, even the little one next to you and his adoptive father and his aunt, all of you have a special ability inside you. An ability over...CONTROL. You can tap into other people. You can make them do what you desire, conquer any foe, as long as you believe in yourself. Within all of are levels, though you don’t know...of DETERMINATION. Of the power of Will. Of Control.” Frisk gasped, mouth gaping slightly. “The Princesses have “Determination”?” He murmured. “Then why can’t they...like...fiddle with time and space like I can?” “It manifests itself differently, little human.” Sombra chuckled as he clasped his hooves together, then spread them wide, as the room around them faded away into the black, a soft golden light emanating from Frisk, a faintly bluish light from Squirt, a dark green one from Sombra as he held out a hoof, showing off a little “star”...something just like a “SAVE” point that Frisk had seen so, so many times before in his travels through the Underground. “For you, it allows you the chance to not only return to a time before...to RESET and SAVE...but to give you...heh...near “inhuman” abilities. You’re quite a slippery rascal, after all. Your Determination helped boost that. Just like you, little one...your Determination allows people to believe just about everything you say. It’s why it’s so easy for others to believe in your little pranks and lies.” He informed Squirt… Before grinning wildly. “And I’m going to claim your Determination. All of yours.” “Get ready, Squirt!” Frisk said, taking up a fighting position before Sombra held a hoof up. “Ah-ah. You don’t want to fight here. You and I would hurt your beloved Toriel.” He intoned, a black, claw-like extension of inky blackness enveloping her as he held a hoof out, rubbing it under her chin. “You don’t want that. I want all of you together when I defeat you. No point in wasting time. Why go one on one when I can just wipe you all out at once?” Sombra said with a dark chuckle as Toriel was dragged down into the dark abyss below, Sombra sinking in along with her. “Go to the princesses’s old castle. I will wait for you.” He spread his arms wide, head bowed, but before he could sink into the dark abyss along with Toriel and leave, he stopped, Frisk’s voice calling out, halting his descent. “WAIT! You said Squirt and Shinedown were your descendants?” Sombra seemed to hesitate, his tone becoming faintly softer. “...yes. They...are of my blood. My own race and the Changelings were born in the same darkness. And I have had several...dalliances...with Changelings. Both of which, in the end, produced you at the end of my line.” “You don’t have to do this.” Frisk said, trying to speak gently. “You don’t have to be defined by what you can do.” “...you don’t understand. I know that...that for me to put an end to the lives of my only remaining blood kin is...it’s…” He cringed slightly. “,,,I am saddened.” Sombra softly cooed. “But as I’ve learned...when you love someone...you hurt them. And they...in turn...hurt you.” And with that...he was gone, the room barren as Frisk and Squirt looked at each other, Frisk pulling out his cell phone once again, putting his knife away. “I gotta call Celestia and Luna. Squirt, do you have your aunt Trixie’s number?” He asked, Squirt giving a nod. They had no time to waste. Meanwhile, Sombra calmly made his way across the stony floor of the front pavilion of the Princesses old castle, hundreds, if not THOUSANDS of ponies all tied up and bound in dark, inky, foul bonds that kept them tied to walls that had been rebuilt. Ramparts had been repaired, dark curtains hanging over tinted windows as Sombra’s red pupils turned, looking at the cloaked, hat-wearing pony that was standing tall, blue eyes narrowed angrily at him. “Well, well, well. The “prodigal daughter” is here.” He remarked. A pulsating, inky black “heart” rose up beneath his hooves, interconnecting all of his prisoners, a loud THUMPA THUMPA THUMPA pulsating in Trixie’s ears as the skies clouded over, turning a foul, unnatural color, like a grey and purple blanket threatening to smother all of the world and choke out the life from it. “However did you-” “It’s a big giant castle that suddenly got repaired within a few minutes as I was approaching the town!” Trixie remarked with a wry remark. “Did you think a pony wouldn’t NOTICE the giant glowing purple thing off in the distance? Especially with all the spooky clouds circling around it? Subtle, you are NOT!” “True, but I suppose that runs in the family.” Sombra remarked with a small smile and a toothy, fanged grin at Trixie. “No doubt your sense of concern for your brother has led you here?” “Hey...T-Trix…” Shinedown’s voice rang out. He was currently half-EMBEDDED in the heart that Sombra stood on, cringing slightly as he and Celestia laid across from each other, veins sunken into their own chests. “We got j-jumped while w-we were asleep…” “I am attempting to break out, but…” Celestia cringed slightly. “Regrettably, I was one of the first one’s captured, and with every passing hour and every new captured soul I grew weaker.” The royal monarch confessed. “I really MUST brush up on my defense spells. I’ve been out of practice for these past few months.” “Have no fear, because TRIXIE’S here!” Trixie proclaimed, holding a hoof up high. “And I’m going to start things off with a BANG!” She added, twirling her cape… As a gigantic cannon popped up right behind where she’d just had it, an enormous cannonball shooting through the air at Sombra. He blinked a bit, then held up a hoof, batting the cannonball away as it sailed through the air and bonked Big Mac squarely on the head. So, in short, his least vulnerable spot. “...ow.” He managed to grumble out from his slumbering state as Trixie’s horn glowed brightly and she held her hoof forward. Streaming, burning stars shot forth as Sombra nonchalantly waved a hoof in the air, and inky black tendrils shot out from the pulsating black heart he stood up. Eyes wafting purple energy, the tendrils smacked and slashed at the shooting stars that sailed towards Sombra, Trixie launching an ENORMOUS one in his direction as his eyes shot wide. The heart shot forth two immense inky tendrils that molded together, forming into a shield as Sombra barreled through the air, hoof shooting forward… Missing Trixie as she launched her cape at Sombra, covering his face as he growled and tugged it away, JUST as an immense, fiery fist punched him into the wall with  a THRUDDA-THUD. He groaned, quickly tugging himself out as Trixie’s horn glowed brightly and she formed an enormous crescent moon blade, holding it up as she launched herself forth at Sombra, who’s eyes sparked. The moon blade shot down, but he blocked the strikes with his silver gauntleted hooves, standing on his back hooves as he grinned a fangy grin. “Ohhh, YES. This, THIS is what I want to see. None of the others could do it. But can you, Trixie? You, who’s Determination granted you the ability to charm just about anyone with your illusions? Do you think your Control is great enough?” “I’m ALWAYS in control of the situation!” Trixie laughed, shooting her head forward, her and Sombra locking horns, trying to push the other back. “Tough! Terrific! Talented! That’s Trixie!” “Also “boastful”, Beatrix.” Sombra laughed uproariously, eyes narrowing intensely, his arms shoving hard, the moon blades twirling out of Trixie’s grip as he slammed Trixie’s chest hard, knocking her clear across the pavilion. Trixie bounced and flopped about, finally slamming into the doorway she’d came through, the door collapsing as she tried to get to her feet. “I can appreciate the vanity of ambition. But it looks like you’re just...not enough.” An inky black claw shot forth, and Trixie screamed.