Nightmare

by Blackdrag-rose

Four-Sombra

Jackson stared out the window of his apartment, looking out at the night that surrounded his home city as he formulated what he was going to do. Thievery was his calling, his cutie mark as the ponies and Bronies called it, but with his new borrowed abilities he figured he could do so much more. Simply stealing from others would soon prove to be boring, despite being paid for it all the time by his employers.

The news reported that Discord was in Las Vegas, somehow having changed his shape into that of a human being, but Jackson knew the Spirit of Chaos would assume his true form in due time. Discord was trashing players left and right, bringing in the chips as he kicked players out of the game in a matter of turns. As he played he drank some type of wine while his foes drank beer, yet somehow he failed to get wasted while the others did exactly that. Jackson knew he was using his magic to do exactly what he said he was going to do, gamble while he waited for the other gods to arrive.

The sky flashed with lightning and thunder filled the air, telling Jackson that a storm was on its way. Rain was a simple part of life in Seattle, something that Jackson had grown used to and now he saw more opportunity in such a simple thing. Tonight he was going to test some of his abilities and, maybe, blow something up that wasn't too important to his current employers. That was after he ended up stealing all the valuables he could find within the building and placed them at a safe distance before blowing the place sky high.

"Hmm...where to steal from?" he asked himself, levitating a list of store names that his employers had given him a while back to hone his skills on, "JCPenny? Nah, far too easy. Starbucks is hardly worth the effort. Can't exactly rob a coat factory or a run down hardware store. There's always that gemstone shop I stole that Hope Diamond lookalike from a while ago. They likely got some new stones in and there's always the hope of a new challenge."

There were literally a dozen jewelry stores in the area, several of which were actually on his employers list of stores he couldn't target, so his own list was much shorter. His chosen target was the same store he had broken into and had stolen that one necklace from for his employers. He knew the routine of the guards already, so bypassing them wouldn't be a problem, and he knew where the cameras were as well. All in all he could easily pass by all the buildings defenses and rob them blind before they could even detect what the problem was.

And ironically enough his apartment was across the street from the exact store he had stolen from in the past, making it easy to watch everything while keeping an innocent face for the public.

So at exactly eight-thirty Jackson left his apartment and locked the door behind him, hiding the key behind the lamp that rested next to his door. No one ever came around his door area for some reason, but he expected that his employers had something to do with making his other three floor mates leaving the area. So until three people moved into the area he was all alone on the top floor of the three story apartment complex that he lived in. Made it good for him, he could curse however he wanted without his neighbors getting pissed off at him and now he wouldn't have to worry about people figuring out he had become a pony.

He eyed the store as he walked down the stairs, noticing that one of the guards, a fat man by the name of Thomas, was currently on duty at the front door. How easy it would be for Jackson to slip by the easily distracted man and enter the store without having to do much to the poor guy. One lone guard, while unusual for the store, proved that he could easily test his powers without disturbing the area. He grinned a big toothy grin as he prepared to do what he had been planning on doing since he had focused on it earlier.

Thomas had a very bad day today. Thanks to the recent thievery of their lookalike Hope Diamond necklace the head boss had chewed everyone out that had been on the late night shift. So now several of the employees had their hours and their pay cut into ribbons while some unlucky souls had been outright fired, but Thomas had lucked out on both accounts. Sure he had been chewed out for the loss of the one item, but he was somewhat glad he still had enough hours and a job to support himself.

Right now he wished he could wrap his hands around the neck of the dirty little thief that had sneaked passed their guards and wring the dirty bastard until his neck snapped. That or he could always bring the thief to his employer and see what she did to the person who had cost her hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. Thomas had a thing for making sure those who broke the law were reported and caught like they should be, but this one thief had passed him by one time too many already.

"Hehehehehe," came an eerie laugh from somewhere in front of him.

"Hello?" Thomas called out, lifting his flashlight to scan the area in front of him, "Is someone there?"

"Hehehehe, crystals." a second laugh followed by a word.

"Seriously, whose out there?" Thomas called out again, this time his left hand slipped to his stun gun in case the thieving punk decided to return.

Across the street he couldn't help but notice that one of the streetlamps, the one on the corner of the apartment complex, had burned out completely, leaving the area in darkness. It was the perfect place for someone, hopefully the damned thief, to hide while he taunted Thomas by laughing and saying one word. Thomas hoped that his gut was correct and that the thief was staking out the building again, that way he could tase the bastard before the night was over.

Darkness surged out of the unlit area and barreled right into Thomas, knocking him backwards as the stun gun fell out of his hand. Something wasn't natural about the attack, as if there was something working the night against Thomas and his guard duties. He got back up and got sucker punched in return, causing him to cough as his eyes focused on what was swirling around him. But even as he focused on the darkness he was surprised to find part of it suddenly open up to reveal who was assaulting him, making him even more shocked.

Standing in front of him was the ex-tyrant of the Crystal Empire, King Sombra himself.

"Im...impossible." Thomas groaned, staring into the hate filled eyes of the fallen king, "You...DON'T...exist..."

"Hehehehe, that's what you think," Jackson said, approaching the fallen guard, "I am only the first in many to arrive from Equestria and you, you shall be the first slave of my new empire."

Before Thomas could even attempt to do anything he felt the icy sting of what could only be Sombra's dark magic assault his mind. All he saw was what he assumed was supposed to be his greatest fears, such as losing his job or even failing to protect the store from harm. In a matter of seconds, or what felt like an eternity to Thomas, he was released, but instead of a normal eyed person standing there Thomas stood there with hate filling his eyes.

Jackson smiled as the rush ended, leaving him in the center of a swirling mass of darkness with a mind slave that would do whatever he wanted. He turned his gaze to the door leading into the store and with a quick burst of his horn the door blew open as the darkness filled the area. He was painfully aware that the alarms would soon be going off, unless they were silently going off this time, and he had minutes to secure some gemstones for himself.

So he wasted no time in letting the darkness seep into the store and shroud the cameras while he browsed the glass containers that lined the floors. Everywhere he looked he saw rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and every other gemstone in various sizes that he could imagine seeing. But even with the selection he knew he would have little time to gather the stones he really wanted, the ones that were hidden in the back room of the store, before the cops showed up and noticed Thomas.

Without wasting another minute he strode to the back of the store, where the locked vault full of gems would be located, and tore through the locked wooden door with his new magic. He barely glanced at the iron clad door as he worked his magic into the seams of the buildings frame, allowing the darkness to corrupt the surrounding area. Once he was satisfied with the results he tore the door off the hinges and threw it into the opening area, not caring as he focused on the prizes of his efforts.

Resting in the center of the store's container for the special gemstones was a locked window filled with three of the finest cuts of black ebony opal stones he had ever seen. Jackson could tell from his side of the glass that the three gems would have been on his employer's list if they had known the gems were even inside the store to begin with. He smiled and smashed the glass with ease, carefully drawing out the three stones and depositing them in a small pouch before returning his attention to the rest of the store.

The darkness he had thrown into the store had remained where it was, continuing to block the cameras and Thomas while Jackson had done his work. All the owners of the store would know is that someone was violently angry with them and decided to trash parts of the building while knocking out the one guard and making off with three priceless gemstones. Thomas would make an excellent first edition to his slave army when he got around to conquering the city, but for now he could return to his normal life until he decided it was time.

Besides; if Jackson wasn't in the mood to conquer anything or anypony than King Sombra, on the other hoof, would do it for the fun of making himself known to the masses at large. And Jackson was beginning to seriously love the power that the darkness was giving him.

Comments

[Sonata Blaze]

Sombra's here to inflict his icy rule on Seattle.
Things have gotten all that more interesting.