A Musician's Shadow

by Evowizard25

A New Body, Same Goals

There is just something about music that connects to me. It soothes my soul. It lights my inner fire. It gives me courage and helps me get through even the most stressful of days. I have plenty of those, given how successful I am. Being famous is an aspiration of most. I have obtained it, at a relatively young age. Yet it can be strenuous, which is why I prefer not to think on it. My music is what keeps my attention and interest. My fans are important to me, but my music is my life. I would play on even if there was no one there to listen. It made me happy.

Which is why I was playing in the Crystal Empire. These poor ponies had been gone for such a long time, enslaved to a tyrant. I couldn’t believe it honest. To think, a pony would let himself be consumed by such dark magic willingly. Not to mention what he did.

I can still see the marks of the chains and whips on some of the ponies….Even the children.

That villain deserved to be blown to bits. I would have loved to shown him what for. My mother taught me a few things in self defense and I am quite nifty with a crossbow, thanks to my dear father.

Back on track, he crystal ponies deserved a little bit of happiness. Music could soothe the savage breast. A saying I took to heart. These ponies would hear me play. They would see me putting my heart and soul into every single note. They would listen to my true desires and aspirations. I hoped it would be enough to soothe them, give them comfort. I wanted them to know they were welcome in Equestria. That we would help them whenever we could. As I and my fellow musicians travelled through this place, we knew it was our duty to help them. I’d make sure a hearty portion of our next years revenue went to the Crystal Ponies.

The royal concert hall was thankfully in tact. Most of the crystal empire’s cultural icons had been destroyed during Sombra’s reign. He apparently didn’t like any of the crystal pony’s culture, the blasted sod of a stallion. Blimey, I can’t even begin to wonder why. I’ve just been here a few days and I’m already loving it. The music is a bit different though. They seem to prefer horned instruments to the string variety. Their music plays loud and with a hearty tune. Vinyl would love it here.

With that in mind, I made sure to play accordingly. Oh yes, I do most of the writing. Mostly basics. My compatriots always contribute however. I honestly can’t do it without them. True friends to the end. Hopefully Frederick would work his magic with Beauty Brass soon. Friendship is great, but love is something else entirely. I’ve never experienced it myself and I probably wasn’t going to for some time. All I needed was my music and that was all.

Going back to my music, it was louder than normal. The notes weren’t held for that long though as it was quick paced. There were added pitches of high notes at certain parts. We had played for nearly an hour now and we were reaching a crescendo. With a final triumphant note, I stopped playing.

Before I even opened my eyes, I could hear the audience cheering. They were stomping their hooves on the ground in joviality. Oh such inspiring sounds. I finally opened my eyes to gaze upon their adoring faces. I felt such love and care. I just hoped I gave it in return. I smiled faintly and bowed my head. I...I wasn’t crying. A lady doesn’t cry, even if I felt such joy like never before. It was the empire, the ponies around her. I had heard about how connected they were. How the Crystal Empire gave it’s ponies such jubilee. I didn’t believe them.

I did now. I felt the magic of the empire course through me as I smiled. Oh I was going to love it here.

______________________________________________________________________________

Death holds no sway over the dark. We outlast everything, even light itself. Did they really think they could kill me with such a trinket? With love?!! The Crystal Heart is powerful, I give them that. Yes, it is the only weapon that can destroy me completely. Yet, they are all fools. I am no common monster. I am King Sombra. That blast destroyed my body. Yes, they won the day.

They would not win the war. Umbran do not admit defeat. We endure. We survive. We make our enemies bleed until they die of their wounds. I was bested twice by the ponies. They would not win a third time. The dark endures. Perseveres. We are everywhere. I am the dark and I will endure for eternity.

Of course, that spell had taken much of my power. If not for the strength my Umbran family gave me, I would be dead. A normal Umbran would not have survived such love and compassion given form. I am no normal Umbran. I have ascended beyond such.

I am Sombra, King of the Crystal Empire and the god of darkness! Even as weak as I am, I can kill whoever I wish. I should march on that purple mare right now and slay her. Oh yes, I wonder how they will fare without that mare to save them. Perhaps I should kill the little drake first.

‘You musn’t rush into anything, my child.’ The silken voice of my ‘mother’ spoke in my mind. ‘You must be patient. We waited under the ice for ages. We can wait just a little bit longer.’

Right as ever, mother. I noted. She was always right. Infuriatingly so. I could feel her smug smile, even though she had no lips to which she could smile. She was a thing, but so was I. We are Umbran, shadows given life. The light will fear us once more.

I just needed some time. Something to do. Information! Yes, a disguise would do. I shant go prancing around as myself, before or after my enlightenment. Hmm, it will take energy though. I have enough to do so, but I won’t be able to do much more than simple spells for a while. It shouldn’t matter. All ponies are fools.

With determination, I steeled myself for what was to come. Conjuring up a body is a painful and long process. Every fiber and nerve is new and for the first few days you are as weak as a kitten. I would have to take extra precaution. This was worth it though. Soon, my conquest will be complete. The Umbran, my race, will be free once more.

It was easy to form a base for my new body. All I needed was an idea. A picture in my mind. With that, all I needed was a basic understanding of the body type. A unicorn is good choice. I was once a unicorn, so my mind is easily accustomed to it. Hour after hour I poured my magic into my form. There was so much to check and prepare. I had to appear inconspicuous. I needed a reason to roam. Ah yes, a bard. Musicians travel the land. My cutie mark shall mirror that form.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity and I should know that feeling well enough, I was finished. It was hard to stand, so instead I laid down in the snow for a while. My flesh and blood body was susceptible to the cold, but I had enough magic to keep myself warm. That wouldn’t last. I needed to get to the Crystal Empire soon. Still, once I got my bearing, and after a few clumsy spills that I would have executed anypony if they saw them, I wanted to see my new form.

I was dirt brown with a light green mane. Inviting colors. I had been tempted to keep myself gray, but I didn’t want any suspicion. My subjects would fear gray unicorns. A picture of a lute was stamped on my flank. Perfect. I was ready to go and ‘mingle’ amongst my subjects. Disgusting thought, but it was only temporary.

___________________________________________________________________

The Empire was closer than I thought. Good. That gave me a bit more magic for myself. Not nearly enough that I felt comfortable with though. I am overlord of shadows, the god of darkness. I should feel above these peasants. These vagabonds that built their city over the ruins of my race. They will once again slave away in chains.

That was for later. Now, I had to ‘deal’ with them. None of them paid me much mind. Perhaps I garnered the occasional glance, but that was because I wasn’t a crystal pony. I would never degrade myself as to take one of their forms. Now I needed to find a place I could extract some information. Who was that purple mare and that drake? What was Equestria like these days? Was I worrying over their threat for nothing?

I needed to know. I was going to tear this place apart to find out……

What was that music? It was like the music of this infernal place, but different. It gave the crystal pony music purpose and life. How they could stand it is beyond me. I had to get closer. It was too faint here.

I trotted off towards the music. The sweet melody was enticing, especially...string music? There was barely any string instruments in the empire, only used when playing equestrian songs. I was curious as to who was playing it.

The concert hall? This is where the music is coming from? Well, perhaps I’m glad that I didn’t tear this place down. I just never got around to it, since I focused on just destroying crystal pony instruments. No real purpose and I could renovate it later. I pushed my way inside. Some of the ponies protested, but a quick snarl shut them up.

They knew their place.

I had to find out who was playing.I had finally pushed my way to the main hall, where in the middle of the room, were the band of musicians. They played such beautiful music. Ah, I remember the days of yore. Equestrian music was the only thing I could stand. The local musicians were too full of themselves. Too flaunting of their talents when they had none.

They never let me play any of their instruments. Spiteful xenophobes.

I listened to them play for what felt like hours. They played as one. Each helped and supported the other, yet one drew my eye. It was the the mare with the large string instrument. She was...she was...perfect. That gray coat. That black hair. I’d mistake her for an Umbran if I didn’t know better. She was obviously an Equestrian. Her coat lacked the shine and luster of the race that dwells here. Nor was her form hinting the rock hard body and neither did it show any signs of crystal growth. She was pure equestrian.

Then the music stopped. I didn’t care about the cheering. I only cared about this mare’s eyes. They were dazzling and filled with such passion. I have only seen one mare with such eyes….One mare who loved me with all her-

‘My son!’ My mother hissed. ‘You are distracted. Forget her. She hated you. She wanted to use you.’

Yes, she didn’t love me. I snarled at the thought of Radiant Hope. She wasn’t the one. She was just some ditzy unicorn...who had no one else but me and my caretaker.

‘They are gone,’ my mother assured me. My happy thoughts...what happy thoughts? Oh yes, subjegating my empire. ‘Yes, that is it my son. Forget that silly nonsense. Focus on freeing your family.’

I would. I would free my family and take my rightful place as king of the Crystal Empire.

But who was that mare?

Author's Note:

Greetings one and all. I did promise this soon enough and here it is. This story starts out shortly after The Crystal Empire and will continue on during and after Love Needs No Reason. I hope you enjoy this and please leave a comment.

Comments

[Smashing Skunk53]

I both hate you, and love you for this.

[Evowizard25]

6308318 Haters gonna hate~
Though, don't see why I'd get any hate....okay a little bit, given that Octavia is pretty much paired up with Vinyl, but eh, I'm crazy so I like this ship more.

[Clawder]

Da hell is up with your ships?! Have a like, you insane and good writer.

[Evowizard25]

6308818 I like being different. Helps that my sanity isn't the most 'secure'. Still, I love giving myself a challenge and most of my ideas are off the wall.

I hope you enjoy this story and thanks for the like.

[D48]

6308842 Sanity is overrated.

[Black Umbra]

A different ship from the one we usually see. I love it, here is a like and a story fav.

[ScrambledCrackers]

Interesting. I'm intrigued on where this is going.

You know, I gave this a shot after seeing note of it in The Greatest Treasure (which I devour, by the way). I'm glad to have given it a shot, too. I hope you gain more attention with this one as time goes on. Still can't get over how unexpected it is to see Smaug/Celestia, either.

Something that sprang to mind out of the blue, in part because I was researching something indirectly relative to the subject, this fic is a perfect place to consider using melolagnia (sexual arousal caused by music) in one or both of them. Might be entertaining to see Sombra coming to discover it in himself, or taking advantage of it in Octavia.

[Evowizard25]

6319008 Oh Octavia is a big case for that. She really gets into her music, with Slice of Life just confirming it for me. I had no idea there was a term for it, but thanks for bringing it up. We'll see if it happens to Sombra or how he uses it to his advantage. Probably the latter.

Still, thank you for giving this fic a chance. I'm honestly surprised it's gone unnoticed. I mean, this is Sombra/Octavia. I was thinking it'd get something for out there the pairing is alone....Instead it gets overlooked for some 'cosplayer in Equestria' thing or something or another. {Not trying to sound pessimisstic, just a little annoyed at that trope.}

I do hope you enjoy it, even if it doesn't get popular. I'm already working on the next chapter, so I hope to post it in a few days time, or less.

[ScrambledCrackers]

6319079 It's a funny thing, getting attention. Sometimes, those odd things that nobody does simply don't garner much notice, or not enough before they slip into the background among all the others. I'll bet a lot of people would love to read Xenophilia, but have never considered looking for completed fics and just read new or updated stuff found on the front page. Others, such as Kudzuhaiku's The Weed or M.F.D. are not very eye catching, but are fantastic reads once given the chance. Unusual ideas can be hit or miss on both getting attention they may well deserve, as well as ones that don't sound nearly as interesting as they turn out to be. At the same time, popular ideas are generally popular because they're what people knowingly or unknowingly want to see from the get-go.

Personally, for my own work, I just decided not to worry about it. I'll put my ideas in, what I think is fun or interesting, and let people find me as they will. The ones that like my ideas will keep going, possibly even looking into what else I've done and enjoying those as well. Notice is nice, but the second I allow myself to worry about it, being unable to really control it, I'm wasting my focus that could be spent on exploring that next idea. I can also write a story with those stresses involved, turning it into a driver instead of a negative.

What I focus on is purely my own enjoyment, same as with the fics I choose to read, as I imagine it's the best approach to start from in writing. This fic is on my tracking list and I really enjoyed the first chapter. The interpretation of the characters, the way they think, the hints for the future, make my imagination tingle with what could be. That's the kind of stuff I keep going back to read.

And by the way, the basis of Rule 34 exists beyond internet humor. It's human nature to sexualize literally everything in existence. You'd be hard pressed to find a sexual fetish that didn't have a name on some level already. Look up a list of paraphilias if you want to feel weird sometime.

I probably wasn't quite eloquent in expressing my thoughts, but hopefully I got the points across. I'm reading this interesting story to the end. Keep up the good work.

[Evowizard25]

6319274 Oh I know very much that I am writing for myself foremost. There isn't any point in writing if I don't enjoy it and I'm enjoying this story well enough. It's possible I'm a bit spoiled with two stories getting really popular, though I'm a tad miffed A Different Sunset didn't garner a 'bit' more of an audience, but I chalk it up to being an alternate universe fic. {Even though I worked on it months prior to posting, to create the world.}

So yeah, I'll be happy if even just two or three people commenting here or something.

Though, sometimes, a 'popular' idea isn't a very good one. Like 'cosplayer becomes what they are wearing and sent to Equestria' thing. It's honestly misleading as I walked into a few of them actually thinking I was going to read about the real characters, and not just cosplayers. It'd be more interesting seeing two canon characters work off each other and contrast the world. It's a lazy idea in my opinion, but I'm sorry for griping.

Still, I hope you enjoy what is to come.

[Xion_Stellar]

Back on track, he

I think you mean the here.

[DualKitsune]

Mommy Umbrum, meet Zeera. Zeera, meet mommy Umbrum. You guys seem like you have a lot to talk about.

Like the fact that the Mother of the Year Awards has a restraining order against both of you.

Oh and your kids. Yeah....

[BroBpony]

7390121
And any relatives probably.

[Revluc_The_Pony]

I like this.