//------------------------------// // 2- Beyond the Veil // Story: The Terror of Death // by FrostTheWolf //------------------------------// The Terror of Death- Beyond the Veil Canterlot (Some time later)         Princess Mi Amora Cadenza was having a lot of things bounce off the walls inside her head as her Aunt Celestia began to explain why she had called them and the Elements of Harmony. As it turns out, due to some unknown circumstances, the Crystal Empire was no longer hidden away and can be seen by almost everypony. Given the fact that King Sombra would do anything he can to seal his kingdom away from the rest of the world, they had a very little timeframe in order for them to defeat him and save the empire. Everypony else reacted differently to it, but before they left, Celestia and Luna began to advise a bit of caution.         “Before you leave, there is something you must know… There is a unknown monster out in the Crystal Empire with unimaginable power that was known as The Terror of Death. I want you to be cautious if you come across this monster and do not try to take them on by yourself.”         “Pfft… Like something with a spooky nickname will try and stop us, Princess.” Rainbow snickered. “Why are you so concerned about this creature anyways. If I’m not mistaken, this Terror you speak of just makes me think of that Sombra freak again.”         “Sombra and The Terror of Death are not in the same league. Some have said that his powers were because he stole some of the abilities from the host. I want you all to be cautious nonetheless.” The Princess advised them. However, as they went on the train to go to the castle of crystal in the north, something was on Cadence’s mind. Something that she couldn’t get over ever since she was a filly.         The one person that risked his life so she could escape from the Empire. ‘Amber, take Cadenza and run as far as you can!’         “Haseo……” She mumbled to herself, looking out the window as Shining heard a small bit of what his wife said.         “Cadence, did you say something?”         “N-no… I was just… Thinking… That’s all.” She sighed, redirecting her attention outside as the warm rays of the sun were soon replaced by the white drops of snow that began to turn the area outside into a field of white. Gate of the Empire         Haseo had only seconds to think of a plan as soon as he approached the walls of the Crystal Empire alongside Radiant Hope. From the looks of it, Sombra did not take the revealing of the Empire too kindly as Soldiers were scrambling to force ponies inside their homes and to beat anypony to a living pulp that even disobeyed a direct order. Fortunately, he still had a lot of his initial skills from before he was encased in ice. And with being an Adept Rogue, he had many tricks to the trade.         Adept rogues were capable of wielding different kinds of weapons and Haseo was no exception. For each weapon he could control, each one had a different set of skills for him to wield. His two blades allowed for skills like Gale Blade and Ghost Falcon from the Twin Blade class tree, his two handed sword allowed him to control attacks and arts from the Edge Punisher class and lastly, his Scythe made it possible for Haseo to fight with the skills of a Flick Reaper. Each one with their own specialties and drawbacks. But as of right now, he needed to find a way inside without drawing anypony’s attention.         Of course… that was nearly impossible. Because the first moment that they got in the courtyard, all eyes were on him and Radiant as dozens of guards had their spears pointed in his direction. “So much for not drawing attention.”         “It’s the Terror of Death! Run away!”         “Damn it… I swear, if Sombra had something to do with this…” Haseo growled, until noticing a poster with his face on it. The caption at the bottom being… “If you see this monster, stay away as far as you can and let your almighty king deal with him. Your concern is noted.” The name at the bottom of the caption was King Sombra as Haseo now was really beginning to feel pissed off.         “...... Sombra had to lie about me?! That bastard has gone too far.”             “I’m sure this is some kind of misunderstanding.” Radiant spoke looking at the wanted poster.         “Misunderstanding?” Haseo said, shaking his head. “He must’ve gotten that notion after I lost control and Skeith tried to mess him up… Radiant… I need you to do me a favor.”             “Yes?” She asked, not sure what to do.         “Make sure that all the citizens here are safe… I got a score to settle with a backstabbing traitor named Sombra who murdered a dear friend of mine.” With that, Haseo began to run towards the castle that he felt the King’s presence inside, all before Radiant was able to say anything to him at all or warn him of what he was going up against.         “Oh no, what do I do now?” Radiant said worriedly, going off to warn everypony about what going to happen. Only to not notice the smoke coming from the train that was in the distance.         As the Adept rogue ran through the empty streets and worked his way past the marketplace, he could tell that nothing was the way he remembered it. However, some things he still remembered from back in the days when he served Amore. Like the vault that contained a bunch of devices that he stored anytime he picked up something new. He thought that some of these would come in handy for the encounter with Sombra that he was about to have. He also had to make sure that his weapons were durable enough to deal with the mad king blow for blow. Haseo remembered in his last encounter that he could make weapons out of his dark magic that were as strong as his. Possibly strong enough to break them if he wasn’t careful.         Once he had everything he needed in the combat department, he picked up a few azure colored crystals and placed them within the leather bag that helped him carry the items in his inventory. They would be important because Crystals in the crystal empire were the Equestrian version of a Swiss Army Knife. Which means they could be used for multiple purposes. Now that he had everything that he needed to make sure that he stayed alive, the Adept Rogue began to walk over to the castle that he sensed was empty. However, he seemed to find something off with the door.         “Great, he’s using Signs to keep anypony out…” He thought to himself. Signs were special kinds of symbols that had three edges and could be used to keep anyone or anything out. But, if you had a skill revolving around it, those people could access those areas. Fortunately, Haseo knew Sign Hacking and based on what he knew and what he was looking at, by pulling this off, he would be in the same place where Sombra would be… The lions den.         “Sign… Hacking!” The energy that flowed from Haseo’s hands soon wrapped around him as he re-emerged inside the long hallway that lead to the main chambers of the castle. He knew that the Crystal Heart was at the top of the castle, but that was a couple floors above the main hallway where Delegates would normally meet.         He had less time to think on that though as an eerie and demonic voice that he remembered from long ago began to echo across the room. “We meet again, Terror of Death.”         “I only was named that because of you, King Sombra… You were still Chancellor when you decided to murder Amore in cold blood because she trusted me instead of you, you selfish jackass.”              “I don’t know what you’re talking about monster. It was you who killed our dear Amore.” Sombra smirked.         “Don’t Bullsh*t with me, Sombra. You used my anger and my rage as a scapegoat for your schemes. The shadows around your eyes are proof. Your corruption and greed has gotten worse since I’ve last seen you.” He snapped back, looking at him. “I swore an oath that I would never harm Amore. She was the reason I was given a chance here! Now you are just hurting everypony here and blaming me for the reason, even if you sealed me off for 1000 years and I couldn’t do anything during then!! You used me as a scapegoat, you lying bastard!” At this point, Sombra sighed. He decided that the only way for him to actually stop him was to admit it to him… After all… Nopony else was here besides them.         “Heh… Not easy to fool, are you?” The king snickered. “I should have guessed, Amore always trusted you more then me, That why she had to die. I could not run the risk that you’d be given a rank above me. Therefore I killed two birds with one stone, I killed Amore and planted you as the villain! These fools had no idea that I killed her, all thanks to your rampage! Now I’m king and your where you belong, a worm in the dirt like all the rest of them! Hahahahaha!”         Haseo growled… But something then caught the mad king by surprise… He growl then changed to a … laugh? Why would he be laughing of all people? “What so funny worm?” Sombra asked giving Haseo a glear.         “You… are a really dumb idiot.” Haseo said, holding up one of the crystals in his inventory. “You recognize what these are?” Sombra did. He used several different kind of voice crystals in order to make announcements all across the city. But… if he was using one now…         “Wait, what-... HOW LONG HAS THAT BEEN ON!?!” Sombra’s voice roared across the whole city. Radiant herself was helping all of the ponies be safe by the time she heard them talking. Unaware of the ponies that pulled in from the train station behind her and also heard the entire conversation.         “From the start. Everypony in the city heard every word of your schemes… I think you sacrificed your intelligence a long time ago to feed your greed.”         “...... Okay, what’s going on?” Radiant heard somepony speak behind her as she turned to see eight ponies that definitely did not look like they were from the Crystal Empire. Two unicorn mares, two pegasi mares, two earth pony mares, a unicorn stallion and a… wait… is that an Alicorn!?             “I’LL KILL YOU FOR THIS YOU WORM!!” Sombra voice roared in rage.         “Who… was that?” The Lavender Unicorn asked.         “I think that was the Sombra guy that Celestia mentioned before we got on the train,” The pegasus with the cyan fur and the Rainbow Mane answered. “Umm… Who are you?”         “O-oh sorry… My name is Radiant Hope,” The Unicorn answered back. “I was trying to help get some of the civilians off of the streets while a friend of mine needed to take care of something-.” It was then that they heard a loud clash and that two powerful sources of energy could be felt from the other end of the city.         “Well, if that guy was Sombra… then who has the energy fighting him?”         “Umm……”         “As Protector of both the Empire and Amore, I will END YOU SOMBRA!!” That though, triggered something inside the head of the Alicorn as her eyes flinched. Causing her to separate herself from the group and take off towards the castle.         “Cadence, WAIT!!” She heard Shining Armor desperately call out her name, but the princess ignored it. She wanted to know the truth… the real truth on who she just heard.         “Haseo? …… Is that you?”         Seconds after Sombra heard what Haseo revealed to him, he was downright FURIOUS. Using his magic, he sent multiple spears conjured with shadow magic heading straight towards the Adept Rogue. However, he was surprised to see him moving straight at him, weaving left and right in order to dodge the incoming strikes. Even a few attacks from his twin blades caused the king’s spears to shatter like glass as Haseo tried to get close enough to strike him. Only clipping a small portion of the king’s shoulder.         “You little pest… You’re a lot different from when I last fought you.”         “Sorry Sombra, but last time, you never got the chance to fight the real me. So don’t expect to think that the same plan you used before is going to work.” Haseo grinned as he strafed backwards to avoid another few attacks.         “Don’t be… So sure of yourself. Ever since that day… I tried to find that power you used.” Sombra growled. “I want that power! With it no pony can stop me, I’ll be seen as a great king!”         Haseo knew what he was talking about. He was talking about Skeith. His avatar… Not the character that he was, but more likely similar to a guardian spirit. His avatar was something that only he could control and something no one else can. It couldn’t be taken from him and it was bound to him the moment that he first woke up in this world. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but you can’t take Skeith. He’s mine and there is no way in hell that you can make him yours!” With that, he put his hands behind his back as a faint glow went off. Sombra didn’t know what he was doing, but when he tried attacking again, he now saw Haseo holding a different weapon than the one that he had used before.         A scythe. “Heh, a fitting weapon for the Terror of Death.”         “Pfft… I thought you would be surprised at the fact that I switched weapons immediately without having to go into a nearby armory.” He said as the scythe disappeared and a two handed claymore now emerged as he easily help it with one hand.         “I just assumed it had something to do with your power. But I think it time, I show you… What I’ve found in the last 1000 years!” Sombra growled as a sound like a bell rang out, as black bubbles started to come out of his shadow. Haseo saw this and his eyes widened. That… was impossible. How could such a thing be here of all places!?         “Sombra, what the hell are you doing!?” Haseo snarled. “Are you insane!?”             “It doesn't matter how I got this power! What matters is I kill you!” Sombra roared, as the world around them started to change. The walls began to crack as the mad king slowly losed control over himself. Cracks along his own body formed as his eyes turned black.         “Why you-!!” Haseo shouted, just as the walls around them exploded. Seeing the massive black bubble grow in size as it  corrupted and took control of Sombra’s body. All before he let out a bloodthirsty screech.         “DIE!!!!”         Haseo did the first thing he could and held up his weapon in a defensive stance to try and block Sombra’s next attack. But in the process, his power increased his speed. He was just as fast as Haseo. Probably even more if he didn’t focus on his attack power.         “Once you're dead, no pony will stop me!!” Sombra screams, as the room started to change around them.         “Are you insane!? You have no control over yourself!!”         “I don’t care! Now die!” Sombra channeled a spell and fired it at Haseo. As the spell was fired, the doors that originally held the chaos in broke down and the Alicorn that was running towards them only had seconds to move before the spell threw Haseo into a wall. Causing him to cough up blood from the impact that he felt.         “D-damn it…” He growled, taking the spear edge that he fell on and pulled it out. “Sombra’s gone mad…” He staggered upright, not even noticing the alicorn that was watching him. The same one that he swore to protect when she was a child. “That’s it… I don’t care if I die or whatever happens to me… I will make sure that this madness stops NOW!!”         “That it Haseo! Show me, Show me… Show me that power! I wanna see it again! And again, and again, and again! Until I can take it from you!” Each time Sombra snapped at him, he sent more attacks towards him as chips of Haseo’s armor broke off to the point where he was almost surrounded by Sombra’s newfound power. Making it look like that he was being swallowed up by the darkness. “SHOW ME TERROR OF DEATH!!!”         “So… is this the end?” He asked himself. “Am I going to die like this?”         “No Haseo… You are not ready to go this early.” He heard as a flash of light began to surround him. He had heard that voice before… someone frantic that he knew. But who? As he turned around though, he saw the last thing he ever would expect.         “A-amore!? B-but I thought you were-?”         “Dead? I am… Gone, I am not,” The Alicorn said to him. “I’ve been given a new position to watch over the world from anything that could do it harm. I’m now Aura… Goddess of the World. Haseo… ever since you disappeared, I’ve learned many things about you… Including how you came here originally… But now, the empire needs you… Equestria needs you… Call upon the light of the Crystal Heart and end the madness.”         “B-but Amore, I c-can’t possibly control it! I’m not one of the royal family unlike you-.”         “I’ve always considered you family, Haseo.” She said to him. “Your heart is pure… and your soul is just the same…” It took a moment for him to process, but then, the Adept Rogue finally made a decision.         “Alright… I’ll do it.” He said. “Together?”         “Together.”         Out in the real world, Sombra was now seeing the shadowy mass that was trying to engulf the Terror of Death now poking holes of light. Breaking apart in front of his eyes.         “Soon… It’ll all be mine, no pony will stop me once I take your power… And then, heh heh heh… I’ll show them all this power.” However, it was then that a bright pillar of light emerged from the shadows, destroying them completely as it casted a light all across the city. The crystal heart glowed in response as Sombra watched the events unfold. Haseo, the one he had just tried to destroy, had broken free of his newfound powers.         “W-what is this? What happening?!”         As the light settled down, he now began to see the Adept Rogue named Haseo… in a newfound form. With it, a silhouette of Amore behind him as he stared down the mad king with a fierce gaze.         “Sombra… You have murdered too many lives and have lost control over who you are. You no longer are able to control yourself. And for that, you will be destroyed. For the Crystal Empire… For Equestria… For The World…”         “For… The world?... Who care about the world. What matter is power… Without it, you’re nothing. Without power you can’t do anything! I need this power, OR I WILL BE ALONE AGAIN!” What came from Sombra was not rage in his voice but fear.         “Alone? Why do you see yourself as such?” Haseo questioned him. “It was your fault for accepting the power of AIDA. In exchange for power, you sacrificed your personal self. Your emotions. Replacing everything with greed and rage. I’m sorry, Sombra… I can’t save you…” Haseo grimaced, biting his bottom lip. “But I can make sure that this pain ends now…”         “Then show me… hehehe, Show me your true power… HASEO!” Sombra screamed as part of his body start to crack, and then the world exploded with sound. Thankfully, Haseo noticed that Radiant was with a few other ponies, protected by a dome barrier of magic. He grinned, just as the ponies noticed red markings glow along his body and face. Causing them to look back at him in confusion.         “Alright… I’m going to need you once more… For my sake… For everyone’s sake… I’m right here… SKEITH!!!!” The ground began to rumble as he charged at the insane dictator. Now as the ponies saw the energy around him take form into a massive figure. Sombra’s new form was changed into the form of a serpent with nails pierced into it’s body and held together by metal chains. With it’s head having a metal crown and a red horn.              “At last… This is what I’ve been waiting for… This is what I’ve wanted for 1000 years! Now… SHOW ME HASEO!” However, what he soon saw was not what he expected. Instead of a huge monster carrying a scythe. What he found this time was completely different. It’s body was split into multiple parts, with a pair of wings that resembled blades of pure energy. And the one part he could not tell at all was when He saw Haseo with it… and they both were in sync as they struck his face and broke off one of the fangs that the snake had.         “H-how-!?” Sombra asked, unsure what happened or what was going on. “How… What did you do!?!” He screamed as the snake attacked, trying to ram Skeith with it horn. Only for it to stop him and grab onto it mid-attack.         “Sorry to break it to you, Sombra…” He heard Haseo’s voice speak to him. “But Skeith and I are one! And this will be the reason why you will lose!”         For those who were watching the battle unfold from the protection of the dome on the ground, everyone was just as shocked as they were confused. Some ponies, Like Rainbow Dash, were devising a plan of action. “Okay, all we need to do is find the crystal heart, get the Elements of Harmony over here, and zap both of them before they cause any trouble.”         “B-but that means that you would hit the good monster!” Fluttershy squeaked.         “Are you even hearing yourself, Fluttershy? Good and monster don’t go with one another in the same sentence!” Her friend snapped. “Just who was the ape like figure anyways?”         “How are we meant to do anything with those two fighting up there?” Asked Applejack.         “I’m not sure what to do…” Radiant herself stammered. “I-i never thought Haseo was this strong.”         “Wait, wait wait wait…” Twilight paused for a second. “You know him!?”         “Yes… Well we just met.” Radiant said weakly before looking back at them, only to notice Cadences expression change. “I-is something wrong?”             “I thought he was dead…”         “Woah woah woah woah…” Rainbow interjected, “You knew him!?”         “Kind of, I remembered him trying to keep me safe once… And him being close with my mother...” Cadence said back, “Haseo… royal protector of Princess Amore… I never knew he was capable of something like this though…” While she was saying that, though, everypony heard Pinkie chuckle a little as they looked at her.         “What’s so funny?”         “Oh nothing, it’s just the silly looking snakehead that looks like it’s about to eat us!” She giggled again, only for Applejack to turn around and see a second set of jaws flying towards them. It eyes were stitched shut and had wire sliced into it lips to try and fail to keep it moth closed. The last thing she saw was the collar around it neck with spikes going into the snake's neck.         “Oh horseapples-!” She cursed, catching everypony’s attention as the snake tried to break through the barrier.         “I’m so… Sorry… I never wanted this to happen…” The snake head spoke in Sombra voice sounding sad as it tried to break in.         “W-what was that!?” Twilight asked. Looking back at the Cadence and the others as Shining tried to keep up the spell.         “No matter how hard I tried… They never cared about me… I just wanted her to see me, but now… What have I done?” It cried as it’s next attack caused the barrier to shake, throwing almost everyone backwards except for Shining and Cadence. The only thing different with Cadence though was that Twilight saw marks glowing along her forelegs and body. Almost similar to the ones around this… Haseo… but as a light sky blue instead of red.             “What happening now?!”         “H-how should I know-?” Rainbow snapped. “It’s almost like that Haseo dude over there-.” It was then that Cadence did something that actually surprised everyone. She teleported herself outside of Shining’s barrier.         “I know your sadness… But it doesn’t make what you’ve done to my home right… I will not allow you to harm my friends, family or my home!!” She snarled as her horn began to output a massive amount of magic.         “No… Please run away… I don’t want to hurt anypony else… Please, SAVE YOURSELF!”          “I save myself… by saving my HOME!” The Alicorn snapped as a new form stopped the snakes outward attacks. One that radiated from the amount of energy that she was pouring out. All that happened was a bright flash of light that blinded everypony in the vicinity, and when the light was gone, the snake head was slowly turning into dust as Cadence looked to the two others in the sky. She didn’t care about how she had defeated the monster she had to face… But now, there was one more that had to be destroyed.         “Haseo… please… WIN!”         Up in the sky, Haseo was trading blows with Sombra as he and Skeith punched the snake in the face and knocked the crown off of his head with his left hand while using his other hand to hold down the monster’s chains and use them against Sombra. “Choke on this!!”         The head of rage was roaring profusely, but struggling to no avail as Haseo prepared to finish him off. This fight had gone on long enough and if it would continue anymore, then other ponies would get hurt. Using the chains, Haseo used two of Skeith’s abilities while in this form. Slash, which turned the seven swords on his back into a scythe and shot out four waves of energy towards Sombra, and Chakram, which had that same weapon charge an energy disk projectile before firing at him after attacking three times. Slash was used to scar Sombra’s body and cut it to where the tail (which he didn’t know was a second head) wouldn’t try to wrap around him while Chakram had sliced cleanly through the horn on his head as Sombra hollered in pain.         “AARRGH!!! I WILL END YOU” Sombra roared, as the end of the snake body pull up the second head. It hissed in what sounded like pain. But Haseo used the energy chakram he threw by guiding it with a hand and having it cut the two snakes down the middle.             “I’m… Free… Thank you… Haseo...”          “Wait… Did I hear that right?” He thought to himself before shaking his head and looking at the other head. He didn’t care for what or why it was acting like that. The Adept Rogue just knew that he needed to end it. Disengaging, he held out his right arm while holding it down with the left and aimed his hand at the fallen king as the seven swords around Skeith were now around his hand. “Data Drain!” He said, softly as the attack took care of the rest. Not leaving anything behind as the castle and the surrounding structure of the world began to repair itself.         However, For Haseo, he was beyond the point of exhaustion and as he felt himself land on the ground, his legs gave way as the Adept Rogue passed out on the stone tiles.             “Okay… What do we do now? Hit him with the elements?”         “Don’t even think about it…” Cadence snarled as she hurried over to Haseo’s body.             “Okay, am I the only pony who completely lost here?”         “Whoever he was, that… things power just saved the Empire-.”         “Haseo.” Shining Armor and the others stopped talking. “His name is Haseo…”              “Wait… That, the Terror of Death?!” Yelled Rainbow Dash. More in surprise then shock.         That was when Radiant spoke up. “Sombra framed him as such because he had a severe hatred against him and what he was capable of. Haseo is… well… unique so to speak.” The Crystal Unicorn looked back at Cadence and raised an eyebrow though. “How do you know him though, Cadence?” She then asked.         That was when Cadence took a moment to look back at him before looking back at all of the ponies nearby. “He was my protector… and to me… he’s like family.”