//------------------------------// // Secrets In The Dark // Story: Spike's Shadow // by DraconequusMaximus //------------------------------// The darkness stirred, and consciousness flared back into existence. Sombra was aware of himself again, aware of his surroundings. The familiar sensation of Spike's shadow enveloping him. Like snakeskin and silk made fluid. Pleasantly warm, and oh so comfortable. What was unclear was how long he had been asleep. After getting a handle on the new vast volume of dark matter he was comprised of, it took Sombra a moment to regain cohesion. It was a bit alarming being so much more powerful than the last time he had woken up. Almost like having put on a great deal of muscle while napping. Very disorienting. Breaching the veil, Sombra returned to the world of light. Sombra's eyes took a moment to adjust to the light, but when he was able to see again he found himself beside a sleeping Spike. The only light was some kind of plug-in in a nearby wall, telling Sombra he wasn't anywhere he recognized. What little the nightlight illuminated shone like brilliant crystal, and the much smaller forms of Rampart and Amy were nestled up to their cousin atop blankets decorated with stars and planets. Sombra could see out a nearby window, telling him it was the dead of night. But as soon as Sombra noticed the auroras in the night sky he knew they weren't in Ponyville anymore. Sombra silently began to panic. Every dormant anxiety that slept in his subconscious flared up in full gear and everything seemed to blur. He could barely breathe, and he wasn't even sure if he needed to. He couldn't even remember if his darkness made flesh needed oxygen, he could only think of fleeing to regroup. Barely managing the all too simple technique, Sombra slipped back through Spike's shadow and into the void. The frenzied stallion cried out and released the screams of utter discontent and anxiety that would have awoken the entire empire into the soundless darkness. Spike is in The Crystal Empire... I was in The Crystal Empire... He brought me there without telling me... I should be livid. But if I cause a scene... Ugh. I feel like I'm going to vomit. I wasn't ready for this. Spike wouldn't do this to me unless it was necessary... But I... I wasn't ready for this. I wasn't ready for it by a long shot. Sombra allowed himself a tantrum in the dark dimension. He thrashed about in the nothingness with terrible force, trying to relieve the undue stress that had been inflicted upon him first thing after waking up. Sombra still had no idea how long he had been away, nor what was happening. Despite having so much power now, he still felt helpless against his own mind, and he hated it. Sombra spent an hour in the void after his energy had waned a bit, meditating in the blackness. He let himself dissolve into it until he could barely distinguish himself from the nothing. An extra little sabbatical for his consciousness, necessary for his sanity after the totally unexpected ordeal. After a time Sombra felt well enough to get on with his day, or night as it so happened to be. Right then... I should regroup at the house. In the morning, I'll contact Spike... Now I just have to wait through the night... Alone. I'm not good with downtime, and I'm too frazzled to get any reading done... I need coffee. Coffee is always the answer. After fading out of the dark back at the house, Sombra made himself a pot of coffee and attempted to make himself breakfast. While he still preferred Spike's cooking he had to admit it was nice being a bit more self-sufficient. Though he took note to remember to expand his repertoire the next time he had the opportunity. Neighponese cuisine was heavenly, but sometimes you wanted something a bit more traditional for breakfast. That, and he burned far too many pancakes to consider the exercise a complete success. After drowning the passable pancakes in boysenberry syrup and getting the dishes done, Sombra found some paper and drafted a letter. Dear Spike, When I awoke, I became aware of your/our location. I quickly panicked and fled back to the house. While I imagine you have a perfectly acceptable reason for throwing me into the nexus of my collective fears and anxieties, I am understandably confused and mildly angry. If you would be so kind as to find privacy within the next hour, I will rejoin you in the empire via shadow jump. Also, we should get a pet. Peewee roams abroad at his leisure, and It is absurdly quiet around the house without Lyra. If I'm being honest, I'm not very fond of dogs. I hear Bon Bon rave about her cat... But perhaps we should discuss a feline companion after we've killed Beznik. Love, Sombra After using his lighter to send the note, Sombra watched the letter whisk way in the form of sparkling ash. Allowing it a good five minutes to travel, Sombra waited out the hour. So, after a total of sixty-five minutes, Sombra dared to travel through the realm of shadow back to the sigil on Spike's arm. The jump took about ten seconds in all, but Sombra hesitated exiting the shadow realm for a few minutes. There was just so much fear and anxiety boiling just beneath the surface of Sombra's mind. Eventually, Sombra bit the bullet and passed through the veil once more. The place he emerged was decidedly not the crystal palace. It was a large cavern of some sort. The upper half of the cavern walls were made of dirt and rock, but the bottom was essentially entirely crystals. It was far less rough, and had quite possibly been smoothed out. The cavern was large, about the size of Spike's home. It was littered with giant mounds of earth and crystal shards in the corners, while the majority of space was occupied by tents and digging equipment. In the center of the room-like cave was a pit covered in boards, guarded by a pony Sombra didn't recognize. After hearing an intentional cough, Sombra turned to see the source of the shadow. Spike was in his compacted size, a large half-eaten crystal in his hands. "Uh... Hey. Sooo... I'm really sorry, but they kinda put us on the spot. You've been out four days, and Daring got impatient." Spike explained, discarding the crystal. Sombra appraised Spike, and he certainly seemed less than his typical vibrant self. There were bags beneath his eyes, and the light in his eyes was dim. He clearly hadn't been sleeping well, and Sombra could tell the crystal was a bit of stress eating. Common crystal was typically nearly flavorless according to Spike. So devouring such a large chunk was rather suspect. "What's this about Daring? Is this not the dig site? Why on Earth does she need us for this?" Sombra asked, trying to tone his annoyance and anxiety down as much as possible. Spike ran his hand over the spines on his neck, and he moved his back legs about nervously in a subtle way. Sombra recognized the guilty body language quite well, something he wasn't fond of thinking about. "Uh, well after the whole fiasco with Ahuizotl, Daring figured it was best not to open the lid on the collapsed dome full of the same magic without us. She's a pegasus, and she's not getting any younger. I hate to admit it, but she's got a point. There's a high chance there's some powerful bad mojo down there." Spike elaborated. Sombra massaged his temples with his hooves, his mind struggling to try and poke holes in Daring or Spike's logic. Unfortunately, the argument seemed water-tight. Especially when combined with the information that he had been out a whole four days without any chance of being woken up. "Very well... You are absolved. I can't fault you... I'm sorry I'm on edge, but being here is rather unsettling. Things have been going so well, I had buried a great deal of the empire trauma, and the guilt. It's all just boiling close to the surface right now. I just... I need time, which we do not have." Sombra sighed. Spike picked Sombra up off the ground, holding him to his chest. The simple act of contact lessened the stress between them considerably, and Sombra settled into the muscled dragon's arm nearly instantly. It was warm and familiar, and even though Sombra was in the place he wanted to be the least in all the world, it felt like home for just a moment. "I know you're nervous... But just remember I love you, and I'm right here with you." Spike reminded Sombra. Sombra used his surprisingly strong mane of shadows to pull Spike down into a kiss. It wasn't long, but it was just what the doctor had ordered. They were both much less on edge by the time they separated. "I love you too, dear. Hopefully, we will come out of this stronger than before. In the meantime, I could really use a smoke. It feels like an age since I had my last one." Sombra sighed sweetly, with just a bit of guilt. As soon as Sombra had retrieved a cigarette from his mane and readied his lighter, he noticed a familiar goldenrod pegasus headed their way. Sombra's expression re-soured a bit, glaring at Daring as he lit his cigarette. The effect was somewhat bolstered by the fact Sombra was holding the lighter in an arm made of flowing darkness. Sombra's amethyst eyes were even cold enough to shiver Daring's spine, despite her history of fighting powerful evils. Daring was accompanied by two ponies Sombra didn't know, nor cared about at the moment. A pale blue unicorn mare that seemed a bit put off by Sombra, and an androgynous-looking lilac-colored pegasus with a knife in a holster on their side. They weren't much impressed by Sombra, though their expression led Spike to believe they weren't easily spooked. "Sombra... Hey. Looking pretty slick there without the armor, and that whole 'prince of darkness' look." Daring attempted. Sombra got the distinct impression that Spike had tried to warn Daring of his unavoidable anger. Sombra broke the self-imposed bonds that held together his body and fell from Spike's arms as a billowing cloud darkness. He reformed himself directly in front of Daring. His cigarette still lit and between his lips, smoking blue ephemeral mist as it always did. Yet as if Sombra had some form of control over it, Sombra's smoke trail never drifted near anyone but himself. "Daring... You seem to have healed nicely. Who are these ponies you've brought with you? I was under the impression you preferred solitary work." Sombra asked, motioning to the clay-colored earth pony stallion guarding the pit. Daring whistled into her hoof, and the reddish brown pony rushed over with heavy hoofsteps. At closer inspection, he was wearing large metal horseshoes and the mark on his flank was that of a dirty shovel. His mane was the color of dirt, and his eyes were a brown so deep they were barely distinguishable from black. The blue unicorn's curly mane was was deep red, and her eyes were vibrant orange. Her cutie mark was a hefty stick of dynamite, and the fuse was lit. She was surprisingly meek-looking for such a volatile-looking mark. The pegasus had a green mane with a single white streak in it, and their eyes were yellow on the right and blue on left. The mark on the flier's flank was of a book closed tight with a lock. The book itself was black, and the spine reinforced with metal bands. It was clear that the pony valued secrets a great deal. "This bunch of idiots are the ponies dumb enough to wanna be my proteges. The stallion is Clayton. He's an archeologist, but his real passion is digging, and he's strong as an axe. The unicorn is Blast Radius. She's kind of a shy egghead, but she's triggered she becomes a master demolitions expert. The pegasus is called Sneak, but we can't figure out their real name, or even gender. Sneak is a tactical mastermind, and pretty goddamned scary to be on the wrong side of. But I trust them all, they're the kids of some of my old contacts. The next generation, and all that sentimental nonsense." Daring explained. Despite trying not to seem attached, it was clear Daring had some small affection for her crew. "Interesting... They seem competent enough. Shall we get this done? The sooner I can leave, the better." Sombra rushed. "Am I to assume the pit here is the long since sealed off access point to the court's headquarters?" Daring looked over to the aforementioned hole, and motioned for Clayton to step forward. The pony looked rather nervous, but did as he was told. "Er, yes... Your majesty. We're directly above an artificially constructed dome several miles in diameter and nearly a mile high. Large sections have caved in, but surveys say it's stable now. We're in the process of setting up a crude but secure elevator system, but we're having trouble gathering enough resources to make one long enough to reach the bottom safely." Clayton explained, bowing his head. Sombra closed his eyes and grasped the bridge of his nose with a shadowy hand. "For future reference... Do not, under any circumstances refer to me as anything other than just 'Sombra'. I am no king, and you owe me no more respect than anyone else. While it is not public knowledge as of yet, I was possessed for the events in the empire, targeted because of my powers, and my inability to die. Be that as it may, I feel at least partially responsible for the suffering my body caused while it was not my own. I am not yet ready to reveal my continued existence to the world, especially not here in the empire. Forgive me if I am a bit testy." Clayton merely nodded his head vehemently, but Blast Radius seemed ready to wet herself. Sneak however walked up to Sombra and gave him a hug. As per Daring's claim Sneak said absolutely nothing, and after they broke contact Sneak merely resumed their place at Daring's side. "Sombra... There's a knife in your back." Spike announced casually. "Yes, I know. Sneak seems to be intent on testing my claims of immortality. I don't particularly care, but I will be keeping the knife." Sombra replied as he gave Sneak a dirty look. Sombra's body absorbed the knife into the darkness, and Sneak cast a glance Sombra's way that seemed to say 'that's fair'. "Right. Well, whatever. Let's just get on with it. Forget setting up an elevator, that's gonna take way to much time. Plus that sounds way too dangerous for as high as that is. I can just hold you guys, and fly us down after we've cleared the part of the pit too small for my wings. Then I can shrink to bring us back up one at a time later. Just lemme bulk up first." Spike pointed out. In a flurry of green flames, Spike became his unrestricted self. More than large enough for the task at hand. With a masterful application of his tail, Spike ripped the boards off the pit. Putting them aside, Spike ran his claws around the rim of the pit. The border expanded and smoothed out as dirt and pebbles swirled about his claws. Before long, the hole was made a bit more friendly to Spike's generous proportions. With only the mildest discomfort and bickering, Spike grasped the group, minus Sombra. Sombra formed a number of tendrils and strapped himself to Spike's back between his shoulder-blades. The rest of the tendrils were used as seat-belts for the more perishable members of their party. Before jumping into the abyss, Spike conjured up a number of large green fireballs that orbited them for light in an effort to allow the group to see. With as few theatrics as possible, Spike plunged the lot of them into the darkness. While none of the others could see in perfect blackness, Sombra could see everything. The farther down they traveled the more everything came into focus. As Clayton had said, a great deal of the dome had collapsed and covered seventy percent of the ground. As Spike kept them from falling too fast, more and more came into view. A castle of black crystal had once dominated the center of the floor, but an entire wing of the building was covered in dirt and still-pure crystal. Skeletal structures of the building poked through rubble here and there, telling Sombra the insides of that section were going to be incredibly difficult to sift through. Though he was thankful Daring's team would most likely do that, being professionals. Spike landed them on a pile of rubble near the dark castle, and the flames separated into many parts and zoomed about. They searched out any and all braziers in the area and lit them. In about three minutes the area was lit with green flames, but with a little magic Spike changed the lighting to white for better visibility. "Okay grunts! Clayton, Radius, get unpacked and set up a tent for artifact cataloguing. Sneak, fly the perimeter and appraise any sights for value or danger. Draw us a map if you find anything. Spike and Sombra get first dibs on the castle, because they know what we're dealing with better than any of us. I want everything ready to roll in the space of an hour. Move out!" Daring barked. Her group moved with astonishing speed, unloading their packs and completing their objectives. Daring herself readied a machete, just in case. "Wow. Your little squad is on the ball. You're coming with us though, right?" Spike asked, knowing the answer. Daring nodded, a determined fire in her eyes. "Buck yeah, I am. This is one of the baddest adventures ever, just waiting to happen. It'll be a good first-run for the kids. What with all the extra muscle on staff." Daring joked. After walking up to the dark castle, Sombra took charge. Changing his eyes to their transformed state, Sombra examined the castle thoroughly. It was absolutely teeming with corruption, but on a level Twilight would have described as 'background radiation'. Sombra thought about simply eradicating all of it at once, which he was sure he could do. But after considering the traps that had once filled the palace far above he decided to leave it, lest the lack of Dootha's power ceased the castle's remaining functions, or activated and traps. "The castle has a low-level hum of Dootha's power to it. It shouldn't be harmful as long as everyone keeps their heads about them. I could eliminate it, but altering the flow might cause anything from lock-down to a self-destruct. Just don't touch anything before I get a chance to investigate it." Sombra instructed. Daring had plenty of questions, but she trusted Sombra despite only meeting him once before. She understood his apprehensiveness, and accepted she was largely to blame. It was unavoidable, but she would give the dark stallion his space. Sombra did the honors of opening the doors, revealing a rather grand, if dusty castle. There were magical lights hanging from chains, though the glass too was dirty and difficult to see through. Everything was dim, but visible enough. After several hours of searching the rooms that hadn't been destroyed, it was clear that the place was still at least partially operational. Nearly every intact room was a library, laboratory, or rooms for storing questionable materials. Namely skeletal remains, organs in jars, caskets, urns of ashes, and all manner of malevolent looking weaponry. The bodies Gavin's rampage had generated were nowhere to be seen, and some equipment seemed to have been used recently. Or at least more recently than a thousand years ago. It was unclear exactly when the dome had last been used, but it was dead for the time being. All the rooms were unlocked, surprisingly enough. Except one. A hatch built into the floor in the main hall. It was barely noticeable, but Daring's expertise had taught her to look for hidden passages and traps. The only indication of the hatch's existence were hairline seams in the crystal floor. Even Spike had missed it, though he hadn't thought to look for hidden tunnels when they were already miles beneath the Earth's surface. With a simple application of overwhelming physical force, Spike ripped open the hatch. The depths revealed to them were the only part of the castle not illuminated by magic lamps. All Sombra could see were stairs, leading down. But all three of them could feel the unnatural forces leaking out of the lower floor. "Whoa. Something crazy definitely happened down there. It reeks of ominous unholy rituals." Daring exclaimed. Spike and Sombra were forced to descend the staircase quickly to be certain Daring would be safe, as she rushed down like an overexcited child. When they got to the bottom they were treated to the sight of something right out of a scary movie. A mid-sized chamber full of dim braziers and chains hanging from the ceilings. Nine perfect golden circles at least six inches deeper than the rest of the floor were arranged around a divot in the center of the room. The divot was easily large enough for Spike to sit in, and it deepened as it got closer to the center, connected to the recessed circles by small channels built into the floor. Above the strange arrangement of circular anomalies, there was what looked like a series or organic crystal-like roots. Deep within the bundle of roots was a large sandstone tablet covered in unreadable runes. It was obviously of great significance, but it's power was a great deal stronger than any magic or spiritual energy Spike and Sombra had encountered thus far. Sombra began pacing the room without saying a word, as if on auto pilot. "Sombra... You okay there?" Spike asked, worry in his voice. Sombra stopped, blinking as if he had just been woken up. "I realize this might sound strange, but I feel something familiar about this place. There's something missing though. I'm not sure what, but I suppose I'm looking for it." Sombra explained hesitantly. Out of curiosity, Spike pressed on one of the disks. He found it to be pressure sensitive. There was some kind of mechanism beneath. He quickly realized just how bad an idea touching it had been, and hoped with all his heart he hadn't just triggered some sort of magical claymore. "Uh guys. These are buttons. But just in case it's a trap, be ready to take cover behind me." Spike warned apologetically. Daring dove and rolled behind Spike immediately, but Sombra chose to stay and see whatever was about to happen firsthand. Spike backed away as the disk sunk and slid into the floor. Up from the newly revealed hole, a large glass tube rose up. It rotated a quarter turn, and with a loud click it seemed to be locked into place. It was six feet tall and had round bronze-colored metal lids on either end. The tube itself was mostly empty, but there was a strange black icor hanging on the walls of it and at the bottom. Sombra got shivers down his spine as he looked at the tube. Yet Sombra knew he needed to know more. In one quick movement he created eight arms of shadow and activated the other buttons. Each one yielded the same result. A giant glass cylinder, each one empty, each sparsely coated with the same black ooze leftover from something. Spike looked at the tablet hanging in the center to see nothing had changed. The purpose of the magical array still eluded them. Daring felt it safe to come out of cover, but she was likewise oblivious to the purpose of the tubes and tablet. "Spike... Can you hear it...? It's muffled, but it's the song. The song that I sing to control the darkness and meditate. You've heard it once. I know you heard it when I regained my full power." Sombra asked him. Spike nodded his head no, but he wasn't denying anything. "I heard it... We all heard it. It was so sad... But I can't hear it here." Spike admitted. Sombra reached out once more and broke open the tops of the tubes. He crushed them so that the glass fell inward as much as possible and discarded the bent caps away from the strange ritual site. The tubes did not react in any way, leading Spike to believe they weren't inherently magical. But then Sombra lit his eyes and began to sing. He sung louder than ever before, and it was indescribable. The sound of it filled the dome, just as clearly as if there were a Sombra whispering into everyone's ears. Even the team outside the dark castle could hear it. It was the same sad song as before, but louder. It permeated the air like mist, hanging throughout and filling the listeners with a heartache that could only be described as bittersweet. But the result was even more astonishing than the wordless whispers from the dark. The black goo clinging to the tubes began to move as if it were alive. It slid out of the tubes slowly, merging as it traveled up and out the broken tubes. The black ooze formed puddles in front of the tubes, and they began to take shape as Sombra sang to them. Their forms were the shapes of creatures, but they were like pitch black silhouettes. Two dimensional beings of shadow. If you turned your head they would look like lines, thinner than hairs. One could stare you straight in the face and you would be hard-pressed to find it. Sombra stopped his song after all nine tubes had been cleaned out, and the nine shadow creatures had been reconstituted. They stood in front of their respective tubes, waving about a bit. Like paper blowing in the wind. They were a bit unsettling to look at, as their features shifted from the silhouettes of one race to the next. They were fluid to some extent, but there was no way to know exactly what they were capable of. "Holy crap. What... What exactly is going on?" Spike had to know. "I... I believe they are the Umbra. Elemental spirits of darkness, like in the book Twilight gave me. I didn't even know if they were real." Sombra explained in utter amazement. The Umbra at the mention of their kind glided forward toward Sombra, but Spike cloaked himself in light magic. As he had expected, the Umbra recoiled from the sight of him. They stayed close, but they got the message. "Sombra... What do they want with you? Can you talk to them?" Spike asked, keeping a ball of light mana at the ready. "Yes... I can speak with them. Give me a moment." Sombra replied. Spike and Daring watched as Sombra moved his lips, but produced no sound. Instead of the song of sadness, Sombra spoke in silence. The Umbra spoke in kind, although they had no lips to move. Sombra's eyes shrunk to pinpricks as the Umbra spoke, and Spike began to grow even more concerned. Just as Spike was about to intervene, Sombra turned back to face him and Daring. "The Umbra want me to... Consume them." Sombra grimaced. Spike let the mana return from whence it came, totally caught off guard by the revelations of the last couple minutes. Daring was especially disgusted with the idea it seemed, understandable considering her unfamiliarity with Sombra's eating habits. Sombra didn't know what to think, despite their wishes and their obvious similarities. "Why the buck do they wanna get eaten? Didn't they just wake up from a thousand-plus years in a creepy glass tubes?" Daring asked, making a valid point. Sombra hesitated, but after sparing the dark spirits a quick glance he seemed to have come to a decision. "The Umbra say they are the last, and they wish to be reunited with their kin. As dark spirits, I can't imagine killing them is easy. Being absorbed is likely more peaceful than burning to death in the light... They also say that if I do it, they will transfer their knowledge to me. They witnessed everything that transpired here, as it had something to do with the loss of their kin. Which they narrowly escaped." Sombra explained further. The Umbra turned to their individual tubes and seemed to weep. As if to reinforce their wishes. Sombra obviously didn't want to consume such fascinating and exotic creatures, but he could feel their pain as if it was his own. There was an absurd degree of empathy between them, and Sombra couldn't shake it. Sombra turned back to them to tell the Umbra he couldn't do it, but it seemed they had already realized it. Before Sombra could do anything, the Umbra jumped at him. Or into him. Without warning or consent, they merged with Sombra's being as if they had been a part of him all along. Sombra could feel them. He could feel their consciousnesses going to sleep inside his own subconscious. Most striking of all was their knowledge, injecting itself into Sombra's open mind. He couldn't stop it, but he wasn't being overwritten or suppressed. It was more like the Umbra had given him the keys to a vast library. But the shelves were barely big enough to hold all the books. When it was over, Sombra knew everything they knew, and it was a terrible shock to his system. Sombra stood there eyes wide open for a full five minutes before he felt in synchronous with the rest of reality again. Spike had apparently been shouting at him and shaking him, but in hindsight he thought some small part of him had realized that. Despite his fantastic powers of regeneration and his ability to mold his flesh like clay, he felt like a stranger in his own skin. Knowing what he knew was worse than he could have ever imagined. He wanted to scream, but Spike broke the trance. "Sombra? You finally blinked... Does that mean you're back?" Spike asked, sounding distraught. Sombra shook his head hard, as if trying to jar something loose from within his head. Afterwards, Sombra seemed a bit more responsive. But Spike could tell there was still something amiss. "Spike... I know a great many things I didn't know just a moment ago. Terrible things. But I have useful information as well... Take the tablet trapped within the crystal vines. It's too dangerous to leave unguarded, let alone in enemy hands. I'm not sure what it is, but the Umbra knew that much." Sombra instructed. Spike wanted to know more, but Sombra seemed adamant about the tablet. With a good tug, Spike freed the stone slab from the roots, which were surprisingly stretchy. It was heavy, even by Spike's standards. But Spike could feel it pulsating with the same sort of power as the tree of harmony and the black mirror had when he had touched them. What came next was very unexpected. The slab in Spike's open palm sunk into his hand. It didn't hurt, but Spike was left with an empty triangular mark on the back of his hand. That too vanished after a moment, leaving no traces. After a cursory once over on physical and magical levels, Spike couldn't find anything different or wrong with himself. "Okay, seriously. What's going on?" Spike asked, sounding rightfully perturbed. "It's guarded now, the Umbra would say. For now, we need to get to Daring's team. Security measures will almost certainly react to the tablet's absence. We cannot leave them to fight whatever horror was guarding this place." Sombra commanded. Spike still wanted answers, but a rumble from up above seemed to prove Sombra correct. The trio ran up the stairs back into the castle to see Clayton, Blast Radius, and Sneak standing in the entryway of the castle. They looked mildly singed, and Blast Radius was wearing a belt of grenades. Their state of affairs and the grenades seemed closely related. But the apprentices seemed quite relieved to see Spike and their master. "Daring! The floor tiles started to bleed, which was scary enough, but the blood pooled and turned into a big red troll! It's out there looking for something, but it tried to crush us! We got away, but it's watching the door!" Blast Radius squeaked. "It's only watching the door cuz you tried blowing it to bits! It's all pissed off now!" Clayton reprimanded. Daring whistled again, and all three of them stood at attention. "Rule number three is?!" Daring shouted at her students. "Never panic in the face of danger!" The vocal two shouted in unison. Sneak seemed to be doing some sort of sign-language comparable to signal flag waving with their wings. "That's right! Now get yourselves together, and let's go bust some heads!" Daring shouted. Despite the near instant boost in morale, nobody made a move to open the doors. In fact, none of them could move at all. Except for Sombra it seemed. He hung his head low and made his way to the doors. Upon reaching them, he stopped. But he didn't look back. "As much as I appreciate the enthusiasm, Daring... I've just had a thousand years of rage forced into me. Nine times over even. At the same time, I've just gained my full power and haven't tested it. This troll, or whatever it is, is mine. I've nailed your shadows in place. I've just learned I can do that, too. You four will be unable to move anything other than your eyes and mouths until I remove the spikes. If you don't wish to watch, don't." Sombra explained, sounding cold. Everyone moved their eyes to their shadows as best they could, finding several jet-black spears stabbed into the ground through their shadows. They hadn't felt it happen, nor did it hurt. Spike was actually scared of Sombra for an instant, and the power flowing off of Sombra was tremendous and cold. It sent chills down everyone's spines, and Sombra didn't bother opening the door. With a single swipe of a shadowy hand that struck faster than lightning, the crystal door was shattered outward. The debris fell, and everyone could see the monster Blast Radius had described. Though she hardly did it justice. The so-called troll was a hulking behemoth of greasy red flesh streaked with lines of swampy green. It was gigantic, at least two of Spike in comparison. It was quite the opposite though, flabby and menacing rather than muscular and kind. It had one gigantic green eye that stared directly into your heart, as if trying to figure out how best to mash you with it's tremendous hammer. Sombra walked out of the castle confidently, not a single care to be given about the giant lumbering across the crystalline floor of the wrecked dome. It was slow and fat, but it's strides were great. In no time at all it was within range to smash Sombra. It wasted no time whatsoever, bringing the crude yet powerful stone mallet down on the dark stallion. The earth shook, and everyone saw the black ooze that had been Sombra seconds before paint the immediate area. Daring and company were terrified, but the ebony icor began to travel up the troll's hammer like an infection. In no time whatsoever the beast's arm was covered in the darkness. It grew alarmed, trying to rip and tear at the blight taking it over. In an unthinkable act, and after pointless struggle the troll pulled at his arm. With a sickening series of pops and ripping noises the troll had freed it's arm of it's socket. There was no blood. Only miasma, roiling like fire. Purple and green evil, thrashing about in defiance of the laws of nature. The arm began to heal, reforming itself. All the while, the other arm grew entirely dark and began to shrink. When it was done, Sombra stood in it's place. He was virtually unscathed. "Dootha's power... It's all so clear now. It's not magic at all. It's spirit energy. That's why anyone can access it, and why I can destroy it. I am unbreakable in body and mind, and I have felt Dootha closer than anyone. You, my porcine foe are entirely composed of spirit energy made solid. You will be my test dummy, and I will feel nothing for ridding the world of you." Sombra said calmly. The giant was out of breath, having lost a great deal of power and his weapon. It was near helpless to watch as Sombra created an arm of shadow from his tail. Sombra's eyes ignited into their pink glow, and the green miasma burned far off his face. Spike had never seen, or felt power so intense from Sombra, or anyone since the battle with Tirek. But even then, it had felt much different. Sombra's body began to glow with a pink aura, all the way up his ebony arm. A mass of it formed in the palm of the hand, and in it's core a blob of pure darkness formed. It bubbled and grew, then all at once it condensed. It was still about the size of a beach-ball, but compared to the titanic scale of the battle it seemed negligible at best. But still the power had not ceased to flow. If anything the pressure had grown. Sombra stretched the arm, then grabbed hold of the sphere. Grabbing the ball of unstable darkness and spirit energy, Sombra tossed it like a normal ball. It flew like a bat out of hell, slamming into the troll's gut. It didn't tear or explode, it seemed to have merely gone inside. The monster patted it's stomach experimentally, but it seemed perfectly fine. It began a charge, seemingly in it's second wind. But the charge petered out after three steps, and the creature began to look ill. It's flesh began to darken, and pink fluid began to leak from it's eye like tears. It fell to it's knees with a terrible thud and began to scream in pain, falling over and writhing about like it was being devoured from within. It's body became black, and a pink inferno ushered forth from it's mouth and eye. Yet still it wouldn't die. Only suffer, agony unending. Sombra growled a bit and spat a silent curse at himself. "I'll have to try harder next time." Sombra hissed. In a flash, Sombra was gone. In the spot he had just stood in was the lowest point of a blade of shadow. A vertical tidal wave of darkness that had sliced clean through the monster and well beyond into the wall of the dome like an unbelievably huge blade. The screams stopped, and the monster was still. The halves of the monster fell over, showing waves of ashen folds within. Like the remains of a burned book's pages. Whatever the monster had been comprised of had been utterly destroyed and replaced with decaying black matter. And like ash, it all began to disintegrate. The wave became a cloud and flowed back to the doorway of the castle. Sombra reformed himself and stood before Spike, Daring, and her students and smiled at them sadly. The spears of shade flowed back into him, and everyone felt as though they had just let out a held breath. Sombra hung his head again, but now in apology. "I'm sorry I was so rude to you, but none of you had any business being on the battlefield with me in that state. You can move again. I just didn't want anyone to get hurt. I didn't know how stable I was, and so much has happened to me as of late." Sombra apologized. Everyone was literally too in awe to respond for a moment. "That was the craziest thing I've ever seen." Clayton balked. "I'm gonna need bigger bombs..." Blast Radius muttered to herself Sneak settled for bowing down to Sombra in an exaggerated manner. Though after seeing the glare Sombra cast their way, Sneak was quick to stop. Sombra then merely rolled his eyes and returned his attention to the object of his affection. Spike was used to Sombra surprising him, and had already calmed down a great deal. "I get it... But next time, maybe just ask me to stay out of it instead of nailing me to the ground? Which was uncool, but also super badass. Did the Umbra teach you that?" Spike asked. Sombra seemed to hesitate a bit before answering, as if something big were bothering him. "I learned a great deal from the Umbra... About my powers, about them, even clues to my origins. They're as old as the world, hiding in the shadows all the time until... Until they were captured by Dootha's forces. But I can't be sure of anything yet. I do however know who we need to talk to to fill in the gaps, and I know how to get there." Sombra claimed. Spike couldn't help but worry about Sombra after seeing such a merciless display, but this was as close to answers as they had come. Sombra had learned something that had disturbed him. There was no way he would be able to go back to his normal self until he got some kind of closure. "Okay? Where we headed?" Spike asked in an effort to be supportive. "Just help Daring and company while I make preparations. It's going to take me awhile." Sombra replied. Spike watched as Sombra transformed his tail into one thick brush-like tendril. With the modified appendage, he began to paint the tiled floor of the dome. There were symbols being drawn out in circles, forming larger arrays. Spike had seen their like before in his mother's advanced magical theorem studies. Sombra appeared to be drawing a hyper-complex summoning circle, which in itself was amazing. More amazing still was the fact Twilight herself couldn't get one to work for anything larger than an orange. Still, Spike did as he was asked and began carrying artifacts out of the castle to the tents Clayton and Blast Radius had set up. Namely all the big ones that would have been nigh impossible for anyone else to move. Sombra hadn't sensed anything of Dootha in most of them, and they had already been tagged long ago by court scientists. They were likely some sort of research materials. Blast Radius was already snooping through ledgers, trying to decipher their purposes and places of origin. Daring was even acting like a typical archaeologist, which was a strange sight given her rough attitude and action-first mentality. Spike had to admit her dedication was impressive. She was almost as focused on her work as his own mother would have been in the lab or while reading. "Gotta say... You're full of surprises. You never actually talk about the other half of your work in the books." Spike joked. Daring laughed, taking off her reading glasses that were also part of her A.K. Yearling persona. "Yeah, well... Most people don't give a crap about tagging artifacts and piecing together broken pottery. But the past is important, and in my experience it's plenty dangerous too. Gonna have to stash these creepy artifacts in a secret bunker somewhere remote. They're too powerful and we don't know enough about them to try and destroy them." Daring replied. Spike watched as everyone did their jobs, and the bizarre sight of Daring acting like a teacher. Clayton, Blast Radius, and Sneak all hung on her every word. She showed them the proper usage of tools, from dusting brushes to tiny picks. It was all strangely heart warming, though Spike would never tell that to Daring. After several hours Spike was just about to fall asleep from the sheer lack of anything requiring his help when Sombra finally walked up to him. He smiled and hugged the dark stallion, his grogginess alleviating the uncertainty for the time being. "You know... You scare me sometimes. Not what you do. Just how much hurt you can take. You feel the pain every time you get hit, but you just hold it all inside and pretend it isn't there. Umbra or not, you vented against that troll-clops. You need to vent more often. I love how calm and collected you are, but everyone needs an outlet. "Just, y'know, talk to me about things. I know how powerful you are, and how indestructible you are... But you get taken out of commission a lot, then bounce back like nothing happened. I just... I don't like being left in the dark about what goes on inside your head. Pun mostly unintended." Spike told Sombra in a voice barely above a whisper. Sombra suddenly sunk back into his everyday set of mind, and he felt incredibly guilty. "Spike... I realize I'm not a simple person. I forget things when I get focused. The truth is, I am a mess. I have nine sets of memories spanning the ages that don't belong to me. Nine parts of which are all totally the same, but only from their perspectives. They don't know what happened after... They were too afraid to look." Sombra revealed, tears forming in his eyes. Spike didn't say anything, because he wasn't sure what to say. Instead he merely held Sombra there, not caring that Daring's crew were watching them as if they were a day-time soap opera. Not that he blamed them. Sombra decided to put off their mystery encounter through the magic circle until the next day. He had been callous, and even cruel to his new comrades. He intended to rectify this now that Spike had brought him back down to Earth once again. Using shadows as his doors and alleyways, Sombra brought everyone dinner from the finest restaurants in Canterlot, right there in the ruined castle. He even moved the base camp down a few pieces at a time so everyone could sleep closer to their work. For an hour or more, Sombra sat there and told Spike and the others stories he had acquired from the Umbra. Tales of ancient heroes, unadulterated or filtered by writers. Only the truths of tragedy and loss. But there were victories, and they brought their listeners to tears. Everything was calm, and Sombra got to vent literal ages of frustrations that were not his own. But doing so eased his spirit, as hard to define as it was. Sombra turned down the offer of a tent that night, as he was completely fine nestled up to Spike. Though Sombra was still the very last one to fall asleep that night, right after Sneak. Even as he drifted off his mind was buzzing with activity at the thoughts of the day to come. The possibility of closure, and the uncertainty of whether or not he would like the information gained. Tomorrow... Discord. Sombra muttered as his mind finally went dark.