Awake
Pain is a weird feeling.
It’s essentially a message from your own corporeal body, that it is getting damaged. Its a sign of your mortality and a reminder that we all in the end march towards the grave.
Yet, this time, things were different.
The pain he felt was not from the warning of his impending death, but rather, a sign that he had cheated it.
He gasped for air, his eyes shooting open and his senses was assaulted by waves upon waves of pain. He could feel everything hurt, all of his legs, his head, his body everything. It was as if his muscles was rebelling against any kind of animation, demanding that all work would be suspended until the pain stopped.
But it wouldnt, It was new.
Hissing in pain, the stallion curled up into himself. The pain was unbearable. That was a new feeling. Why was this all so new? And Cold. Why was everything so cold! He was being assaulted by pain and cold as if someone had shoved ice straight into his veins. He writhed around in pain, which only escalated the same feeling. He didn't want to move his limbs as they hurt, but if he didn't move he was cold.
It was agonizing.
He had no idea how long he was there, breathing through his teeth, his entire body restarting from scratch.
He looked down himself, seeing he was lying down in a heap of snow, and with even more falling down upon him with every passing second. Thankfully due to his writhing, he was only covered in a couple of snowflakes. His black coat completely contrasting the white frozen rain that was gently settling into his fur.
He blinked a couple of times and tried to let his eyes look around.
Everything looked white or gray. Shapes were formed in the horizon, but they didn't have any kind of real consistency for him.
Every sensory input felt new, yet, Old at the same time. He had the nostalgic feeling of having seen this before, but it was not the same. Not with these eyes.
Suddenly a powerful wind sent an equally powerful cold shiver down his spine. Snow began to come down in much harsher quantities, and he could feel his newly beating heart race in panic from the sudden cold.
‘I need to get out of the cold...’ He managed to coherently think.
Grunting and growling in pain, he looked down at his hooves as he slowly began to support his weight onto them. It felt like he was standing on a couple of spikes that was slowly sinking into his own flesh. He really didn't want to stand up, and, even if he did not completely understand the consequence for just staying either, he knew he just couldn't.
He took a deep breath and gathered the energy needed. He pushed himself onto his hooves with a small scream from the sudden extra shot of pain through his system.
Stumbling on his newly formed limbs, he limped forwards, Awkwardly stumbling several times, but he was proceeding.
But to where?
His head felt scrambled, but he knew to proceed towards the shapes. It was… Mountains, that he knew. He could remember one of those.
He had no idea how long this took. He just knew the journey was agonizing. The snow was smashing against his face, and half of his vision had also gotten blocked by an even blacker mane than his coat fall down in front of his eyes.
But he just pressed forwards. He knew he needed… that… before… Something else.
It actually took so much of his mind, that he didn't even look forwards anymore, he just continuously staggered forwards like a, Carrot was hanging in front of him.
Carrot, C again.
The only diversion from his internal rewiring, ended up being the end of the wind. He was no longer feeling as cold. He finally took some sense of his surroundings. It was a cave, or more a cave system, as it continued deeper into the mountain of itself. He didn't know why he continued. He had found somewhere that wasn't cold anymore. But he was still pressing forwards, and his brain was still continuing to look for Continuity. Another C.
The tunnel opened up into a large cave, which was almost pitch black, yet, he could still see in it. Why could he see in darkness? Something was telling him that that was Contradictory. Urgh, those Cs were now really starting to gnaw at his Concentration. He just knew something with a C was important, essential, something he needed… something he needed to remember.
Finally he stopped, in the middle of the Cave, his legs gave in. They had an all new feeling of pain over them, exhaustion.
His head flopped to the stone ground, but the flop caused him to knock the side of his horn into the harsh stone, which only backlashed into another sting, forcing him to raise his head. He yelped in pain and rubbed the aforementioned horn gently as to ease the pain.
Wait, A Horn?
It was only then he realized he had a horn. He could feel it, completely smooth and sharp at the tip, almost like a Cutlas.
He growled in frustration. His brain was giving up. What was what it was trying to get together? He was away from the major cold now, even if this cave wasn't that warm. What was it he needed? What was it he wanted?
He felt his horn again. Another thought struck him. He seemed to have a feeling that he could Conjure something with this. Conjure, another C.
It was worth a shot at least. Nothing else was working. His brain was still scrambled, and it was a miracle that the words even were coming to his brain, and that he even could remember that they all had something to do with C.
He tried to… Concentrate, he remembered the word, focusing the energy he had, Siphoning the pain he felt, that exhaustion, and everything into a centre point around his horn. And then released.
Something happened. He could feel the energy leave his horn, and a black magical beam shot down into the stone floor in front of him, and in an instant, The floor cracked, summoning a few small black structures.
The stallion´s eyes transfixed on the things in front of him.
They was spiked, sharp, Curious, and Crystalic…
That’s when it clicked.
“Crystals”
A roaring pain trampled over him, stumbling him to the side before barely catching his balance.
It all came back to him in that instant.
He had the world at the tip of his hooves, ripe in the making of his own image. He was on a pedestal of power no mortal had experienced before.
Only to crash pathetically and humiliatingly down the rocky cliffs of defeat along with his crumbling kingdom. No mortal wound could rival the gaping pit where his pride was ripped from him.
Oh, he should have been dead, he knew that for sure. The stinging light that engulfed his very form should have claimed whatever remains he had of a soul. It was obvious now by the way his hooves clicked against the stone floor of the cave and breathed the icy air that he had somehow found a way out of it. He had cheated death.
It all made sense now, how every sensation going through his very being was like he was experiencing them for the first time again. The light of the Crystal Heart had destroyed him, he was literally feeling it for the first time, with this body. He had somehow, retained life.
Though this gift of life was not all it was cut out to be. Life came with the considerable amounts of pain and the humiliation of defeat. His heart was empty and he was stranded in this barren treacherous wasteland -wasn’t death what he needed now?
He caught sight of himself in the reflection of the crystal. Crimson eyes glowing with strain, his mane a disheveled mess, his breath puffing out in clouds, yet he looked daringly at his reflection as if posing a challenge.
‘I still have strength’ he told himself. He approached the crystal; ‘I, King Sombra, can--’
A stinging sensation ran through his forehead.
‘King…’
He leapt forward in anger and smashed the crystal with his front hooves. The black shards scattered across the stone floor.
‘King of WHAT?!’
Even his title was an insult to himself! His name used to strike fear into ponies, give him the utmost confidence and honor. It was a name he had claimed with his own strength. The same strength which had been his very foundation. Now…now it was a scarring memory of his past following him like the shadows he used to control.
He paced the cave, crushing the black shards of crystal beneath his hooves. He needed a place to be alone, to brood over his defeat. Oh yes, he had to have been King of being defeated by a baby dragon and a reincarnation of… That mare. He swiftly kicked another crystal, shattering it’s remnants like glass against the stone wall. He was so mad he could spit.
He raised his head. All he could see ahead of him was the darkness of the cave that sheltered him from the unforgiving snowstorm. He needed to refocus his mind elsewhere, the pain in his chest was becoming nearly unbearable.
But where?
Where would he take his hollow corpse now?
He looked behind him. He could go out into the snow again. That could make short work of him. Just keep walking until the cold would literally freeze his hooves off of his legs.
The cold could perhaps freeze his heart up, stopping it from stinging in his chest as the words ‘Failure’ and ‘death’ kept circling him like a pair of hungry crows.
So the other alternative was walking further into the mountain.
With heavy steps, Sombra slowly carried himself forwards, not sure where he would find himself, but he knew he needed to find somewhere to gather his thoughts. Somewhere that was not here.
This was where a Normal pony would have stepped away, shying away from the complete darkness of the underground, and settling for the semi safety of the cavern. But it was not enough for Sombra. He was not scared of the darkness beneath. He was the darkness, -- no-- he was worse than darkness, he was what ponies feared would be hidden in the dark. The sadistic power he gained from their distress comforted him as he walked the uneven rocky surface deeper into the mountain. He knew there was nothing in here that could be more scary than him. Walking into the depths of the mountain was more comforting to him. Not that he needed the comfort, he told himself, but his jumbled mind seemed ever more and more concerning with each piece of the puzzle that set itself together in his mind as he was walking.
Defeat crippled him like an arrow to the flank. Constantly there, jutting out of him as a reminder of his mistake, and the scar that came with it would be no minor one; and definitely no badge of honor. Weakness, he told himself, such weakness would not be tolerated. Perhaps being shattered like glass and left stranded in a frozen wasteland was a suitable punishment for his show of impotence.
Each passing thought was like a new weight hanging by his throat, forcing his head to lower, and his thoughts to take even more presence over the physical reality.
As he mused over the large stalactites in the ceiling, He thought back upon his defeat. He hadn't actually thought it possible until seconds before the deed was done. He had defeated the pathetic Prince, pinning him down like a dragon would pin a mouse under his claws. He had been able to break the spirits of those traitorous crystal ponies by his mere presence. The darkness that was him was going to return to its rightful place to rule. Not even those pathetic ponies sent by Princess Celestia were able to do anything against his power. Everything came down to the stubbornness of a baby dragon, as it fell with the Crystal heart ready to fall straight into his lap, he could take the last thing that was keeping him from regaining his empire.
And then she had to take what was his again.
Anger boiled inside of him with the intensity of Celestia's sun as he thought back on her. Even beyond death she continued to hinder him, to pester him, to ruin everything!
To try and release the sudden influx of anger and rage that had built within him, Sombra reared back on his hind hooves before smashing his front hooves into the floor with a massive roar.
Though, this roar ended up trailing off into a confused yell as the moment his hooves met with the floor, the rock beneath him cracked, giving in to the sudden increase in pressure and letting gravity take a hold of the weakened Unicorn.
Within seconds of falling through the air, his body was enveloped the unforgiving cold of a water surface.
He squirmed in pain and panic as his lungs were suddenly filling with water. His actions returned to pure survival instinct, desperately flailing his limbs to try and reach for what he could feel to be the surface. Quickly throwing himself out of the water and gasping for breath didn't help him much as his lungs were still filled with water. He clambered around for a few more seconds before grasping the rocky side of the pool he had fallen into. He dragged himself out of the pool, coughing to empty out his lungs of fluids. His body was fighting against itself through the horribly painful process of emptying his lungs, for he needed to get air, but he could not while there was fluids in his lungs, but he could not empty his lungs without a bit of air. The hacking coughing were accompanied by pained wheezes and desperate gasps.
As the wheezing and gasps began to take more dominance, his forelegs gave in, and he rolled onto his back, staring wide eyed up at the hole in the ceiling that he had just fallen from. Now, with the immediate threat of drowning removed, he could finally see where he had fallen to.
It was of course another cave, though it was rather roomy, with many stalactites hanging from the ceiling, and plenty of stalagmites on the floor. There were lots of space surrounding the pond he had just fallen into. Though pond might have been a generous word. Raising his head slightly, while still drawing sharply for air, he could see the thing was extremely deep. At least half of it was.
Finally, confident that his surroundings were not about to leap onto him and crush him instantly, though that would have been a welcome alternative to listening to his own thoughts, Sombra laid back onto the floor, flattening out, his wild and now wet mane clinging to his face and the floor.
He sighed in relief. He was still alive, as little comfort as that fact was. He knew that he couldn't stay here though. This was not a good enough place… he had to keep moving.
With that in Mind, Sombra looked around for anything resembling an exit. He didn't find any.
“Of Course… Of Course… Its never that easy now is it…” He mumbled for himself, before slowly forcing himself back onto his hooves. He staggered at first, ending up supporting himself against one of the stalagmites. He raised his head towards the hole above him.
A small confident smirk formed upon his lips. A normal weak pony would have been trapped here forever. But not him. Not for somepony of Sombra´s might.
He focussed his magic, closing his eyes and letting the darkness that already had domination over the room flow into him, centering every piece of magic into his horn as to make a spell he was so very fond of…
That was until the entire magical mass of energy slingshot straight back from his horn and into his body, all passing straight through his head and causing a very infamous headache. It was as if someone had just smashed a hammer straight onto his horn and nailed it through his skull. He screamed loudly as he clung himself to the stalagmite.
Sombra gasped for breath after the initial strike. “M...M...Magical Whiplash?” He asked, completely confounded. “H-H-How…?”
He tried a second time to focus his magic, only to get the same agonizing result, this time throwing him to the floor from the shock.
Sombra was shaking, his body not willing to give in to any more plans of his mind, while his mind completely baffled by the situation he had fallen into. “Magical Whiplash… I… I haven't had a magical whiplash since I was a Teenager…” he stated aloud.The walls echoed back his voice, but the statement didn’t come back any less true. Anger pulsed in his already throbbing temples. “How far have I fallen!?” He growled, his blood already slowly beginning to boil. “I am Sombra! I will not be defeated by a mere child’s mistake!” He roared, smacking one of his hooves into the Stalagmite standing next to him. Though the stalagmite didn't seem to agree with him, as the sudden slam of Sombra´s hoof sent ripples up through the little rock structure, cracking off the tip, and sending it down to hit Sombra over the head with an audible ‘Bonk’.
“Argh! Son of a… Urrrghh…” Sombra exclaimed in frustration, holding his hooves on his head to ease the pain. While still holding his head, he glared at the offending stalagmite. “Is this all some kind of conspiracy on your part?! Huh?! Does everything Inanimate or previously dead want to torture me!?”
His voice bounced around the cave, but he received no answer of course. The stalagmite stood silently.
But sometimes reality just isn't something an angry stallion would be connected to. Why should he follow the rules of reality anymore? He was living and breathing -and angry- proof of a reality slip-up.
“Answer me!” Sombra roared and for a second time, but this time with much more force, slammed his hoof into the stalagmite. The already compromised structure shook from the strike and cracked underneath his mighty hoof.
But the cracked pieces had to go somewhere, and sadly, physics decided that where Sombra was sitting, was an adequate place.
The he foundation to the stalagmite was lost, gravity grabbed ahold of the and let the aforementioned stone structure fall like a tree down towards a wide eyed Sombra, who only too late realized the error of his strike.
In an attempt to not be squished, Sombra threw himself aside, hoping to get out of range.
He almost did, except for one part of him. One of his hindquarters were still just within range.
Sombra roared in pain as the stalagmite caught his hindquarter.
Nothing had broken he could feel, thankfully, but the stalagmite was rather heavy, and no matter how much the former monarch tugged and pulled, the limb was still stuck.
“Come on!” Sombra growled, still trying to pull at his leg. However it was a precarious position he had found himself in, lying on his stomach and the stuck hindquarter preventing him from rolling onto his back.
Anger was growing within Sombra like wildfire, and with each tug of his leg it was adding more fuel.
“Let go of me you dumb piece of rock!” He growled, of course receiving no reply. “I am King Sombra! And I Will not be defeated by mere minerals!”
But despite his best exertions of strength, the most he could do was lift the offending stalagmite about a centimetre above the ground, and not for long enough to pull out his leg.
Sombra grunted as he fell back onto his stomach, the realization that he was stuck was slowly sinking in.
“Ok…” he thought aloud, the solitude sort of removing his inner monologue. “I'm stuck… Thats just… Fantastic…” He grumbled. “I can't waste time here… I have to get home… Have to get back my empire!”
‘Its not your empire. Not anymore’.
Sombra twitched as the thought struck him. He immediately began to tug some more at his leg, as if the thought was a predator he had to physically get away from.
“Its fine… I'm fine… I can do this…” he mumbled, yet his reassurances failed to distract from the fact that the thought was still there. He could feel its very presence in his head, and its weight upon his heart.
‘You can't get it back. You have failed. It's impossible’.
“It's not impossible! Nothing is impossible! I have done the impossible before! This is just going to be another of those times!” He spoke aloud, fueled by his stubbornness and determination. But while they had seemed infinite, they slipped up much quicker than he had ever imagined.
‘You should have died. You have no place anymore. It's all over. You've failed them.’
Sombra´s tugging became desperate. He wanted to physically run, try to get away from those thoughts, flee over the hills and perhaps hide away somewhere half a continent away from them. They were terrifying.
And that realization made him stop.
He was scared? Why was he scared of his own thoughts? His own considerations? Why was he even fighting with his own head, instead of proving that the thoughts were wrong?
Because he couldn't. Because they were true.
The admission felt like pushing a knife into his own chest, with each sinking feeling and thought becoming confirmed as truths, the blade slid further and further into his chest.
He had failed. He had almost been killed and was now in the middle of nowhere, stuck under a piece of rock. He had been the master of nightmares and fears, but he could not prevent his own fear from coming true around him.
The sting of fear and defeat had now almost completely settled in him, the emotions figuratively encircling his heart like murderous crows.
Only one bastion of defense left.
Rage.
“No… No… No No no no no NO NO NO!” Sombra yelled in defiance.
“I am King!”
He kicked his spare leg into the stalagmite, the rock barely shaking.
“I am Darkness!” He repeated the kick, but somehow had been able to summon more force, the stalagmite shaking a bit further.
“I am Fear!” His horn suddenly began to light again, the darkness of the room itself channeling itself through the broken horn, and flickering wildly. He fired a concentrated beam of the magic and the darkness from the room at the stalagmite. The piece of minerals began to shake and slowly cracks were showing up, but just as quickly as they appeared, Sombra was thrown down by another magical whiplash. Grinding his teeth and seemingly ignoring the pain in rage, he raised his voice again.
“I am the most powerful!” He roared, as he did the very thing every magic teacher told every unicorn to never do. Continue channeling magic, straight after a whiplash. His own horn almost seemed to be tearing at the seems, but in his blind rage, Sombra did not care. He fired off another beam of darkness at the stalagmite, which this time cracked completely, and exploded into hundreds of fragmented pieces of mineral rock. The pieces flew everywhere, many of them scraping Sombra all over. He didn't care. He was on a high of rage and momentary success as he raised himself back upon his hooves.
“I am the Savior!” Sombra´s horn lit up again and he fired his beams wildly about. Despite how much the magic was tearing at his nerves, despite how much pain was searing through his head, how many tiny cracks were forming in his horn, he kept on firing. Each stalagmite, and stalactite he stuck, exploded into hundreds of smaller pieces, some larger than the others. He was creating sedimentary mayhem around him.
“I. am. a. Hero!” He roared every single word with enough force to echo throughout the entire mountain, and into the outside world. The rocks and the rock formations were shaking around him, almost as if cowering beneath the might of Sombra´s rage.
Yet no matter how he tried to destroy, crush or shape the world around him as proof of his own words… They failed to retract from the words he had hoped he never again would think.
‘No, You're not.’
And with that, the last bastion fell and the crows settled in.
Sombra shivered. He tried to breathe but the air died in his throat. His eyes closed in desperation of trying to contain everything. The pain from within his head of the whiplashes forced him to the ground, the dark stallion curling up in a fetal position.
And thats when Sombra did something he had not done in a millenia.
He cried.
Rich and muddled tears formed in his eyes, forcing themselves out despite his best efforts to control what little rule he had over his own functions.
He could do nothing else. Everything else had fallen, he had no more defences. He had effectively crushed himself by simply looking upon reality. Slowly, his senses of the reality outside his head faded away. The unforgiving cold of the stone floor and prickings of the pebbles evaporated like droplets on a summers day, leaving only his fallen bastion to battle with the tearing pain from within his skull and now seeded within his heart.
He had nothing. No home, No empire, No rule. He didn't control. He did not empower. He didn't overpower. He didn't, Belong.
He had no idea for how long he was just lying there, his eyes leaking the fluid of depression that he had not shed for ages. Minutes passed, hours, he knew not. He only knew the dark blanket of the cave enveloped him in a futile attempt to console his tears away.
His senses were muddled and his mind felt like he was swimming on in a stormy sea of boiling water. He couldn't concentrate.
After a while, his limbs were slowly trying to make some sort of activity, to prevent his body from cooling down to dangerous temperatures.
The sound of a slight clicking sound, caught what little attention he had. Slowly opening his eyes, still soaked in tears he saw one of his hooves gently resting over a piece of rock. Though as he wiped away some of his tears, he could see that it was in fact two pieces, but it was two pieces that had fit together before. So his absent minded movement of a hoof had found two pieces that belonged together, almost like a puzzle.
“Well… You two don't belong anymore either…” he mumbled. “Except maybe together…”
Staring at the rocks with weak interest, he pushed at them a bit, seeing their determination to stick together, despite the force that had shattered them just earlier.
Had Sombra not been under his emotional strain, he might have gotten mad at the rocks again. But, he already spent his rage in the last bastions of his heart. All he had now was weakness.
“Heh… You're like a brick…” he mumbled into nothing, staring at the rocks. His mind, while under the strain of the magical whiplashes, slowly dawned a small idea. And, out of weak resignation, Sombra didn't think, but just did.
Slowly, he moved his other hoof over to find another piece of rock to add to the brick of the two. This one was big enough to almost seem like a second brick. And then a third one. And that was slowly how he continued.
He kept gathering together pieces of rocks and stacking them together. Laying the more symmetrical pieces together like one would when building a brick house. Several times the rocks simply collapsed on their own weight, but Sombra just placed them back up. He was not thinking, he was acting.
Sombra focussed his magic, the pain having lessened, and didn’t act as much up as the spell was much more low level this time, and cast the spell. Dark crystals slowly grew up from the base of the stone miniature, enveloping and absorbing the structure, taking now the perfect shape.
It was the Crystal Castle, the place he had once called home.
Simply looking upon this model structure was like the gentle embrace of a friend long gone.
And giving him the slow but gentle realization that he needed.
“I need it…” he whispered, before laying himself gently down besides the tiny structure for some well needed rest.
He had plans now. Plans that would keep off the crows circling his mind and heart. But he needed sleep.
Despite the protest of his stomach and aching muscles, the fallen king slid into a dreamless sleep. Food would have to wait. He had lots of work ahead of him.
Stats
Page generated in 0.039 seconds
Total duration
1,013 users online
1,670,812 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Ahem.
4833340
DEEEEEEEEERPPPPPPP!
I just dont know what went wrong...... I thought I had it...
4833380
No biggie. It happens.
Make more for I would LOVE to see what happens. Oh and 'incarnation' of a mare? Ohhh I REALLY hope it has to do something with a certain unicorn...!
This is so wonderfully written! Hope another chapter comes out soon
4951492
Just got some issues with my proofreader being busy and me being swamped by Uni 
Working on it!
4951731 I know the feel
You know, you do something interesting without probably even realising it. The scenery is the frozen outdoors: desolate and covered in snow, grey and white as far as the eye can see. Despite being cold and freezing at times, Sombra is never really in any true panic sans when he falls into the water. He's got his magic, even with his whiplash, so he doesn't really worry about dying because of the cold or from hunger.
In a colourless world, with no immediate priorities to securing his own survival, a character like Sombra has nothing to do but to consider what happened to him when his last body got destroyed. In his case, the defeat has stripped him of every sense of superiority that apparently held him up. And we get some interesting hints at what his past may have been.