I Am Going To Save And/Or Destroy Equestria!

by Bucking Nonsense

Interlude: My Transformation Begins With Me Getting Tired Of My Own Bullshit

The dimwit's... Ambrose's progress was nothing short of exemplary. For all his impulsiveness, he has proven himself to be skillful at planning, at motivating others, and in drawing out the best qualities in other ponies. Even Ladyhawke, a mare who, by all rights, should hate him with the fiery fury of a thousand erupting volcanoes... instead seems to be somewhat taken with him, although she disguises that attraction with a facade of constant anger. Ambrose's memories call this tendency 'tsundere', although I'm uncertain if she is truly in such a state. If she uses the phrase, 'It's not as if I like you or anything," I'll know for sure. In the meantime, I have more relevant concerns...

Ambrose's body is changing, and not simply in that he grew wings: My body was originally nothing more than a husk in which to contain my true essence. The Crystal Heart could damage that husk, even destroy it, but all it could do to my true essence was expel it from the city. The Elements Of Harmony, being of much stranger and more powerful magic, were able to destroy even that.

Had the resurrection that the mares had intended gone as originally planned, I would have returned to that state. Instead, there are two Sombras now, one of which is Ambrose, an alicorn who is now fully of flesh and blood...

And myself, a creature of pure darkness, currently disguised as Ambrose's shadow.

I am currently conflicted: Ambrose, as mentioned, has made exceptional progress, having slain two fiends in as many days, and seems to have no intentions of slowing. In one moon's time, he may have completed a quest that should have taken years to accomplish, if it could have been done at all. I cannot help but to cheer him on, and yet... and yet...

And yet I realize now, since he is me and I am him, just Sombras of two different worlds, that I might have been capable of as much, or more, than him, had I simply taken a different path.

I am slowly becoming less relevant to his quest: He didn't realize it until after he had succeeded in slaying Tirek, but he'd done everything himself, from creating that musical performance to striking down the centaur with the power of the cosmos. He didn't need me at all. I don't mind being his adviser, it is the role I had intended to play, but I had not planned on his being so quick a learner...

And then there's the biggest issue that I cannot help but ponder as Sombra flies the unconscious unicorn up to Sanctuary. Yes, he even appears to have gotten the hang of flying, in spite of only having been aware of his wings for a few hours. His progress is simply terrifying...

Ah, sorry, I was distracted. My biggest concern?

Ambrose told me that there were questions that I should have asked before, and that there were choices I could have made, choices that might have sent me in a radically different direction than the one that ended with my death. The choices I understood immediately: Upon awakening to my heritage, I could have chosen to turn my back on it and leave the Crystal Empire behind, going with Radiant Hope to keep her company while she learned from the princesses. I could have listened to the princess of the Crystal Empire that night when I stole the Crystal Heart, and stopped myself before I did something truly unforgivable. Hades, I could have slapped myself in the face, jumped up and down on one hind leg, or painted myself purple and sang the Equestrian National Anthem in pig latin while doing the hokey-pokey! I had been told that I had no choice, and I had believed the one telling me so, in spite of having known that individual for less than a day.

Ambrose would not have fallen for it, as he had learned a very important lesson from a game called Bioshock: When someone tells you that you have no choice, it's because that person wants you to take the choice that they want, not one of the millions upon millions of other options that the world provides you at every second of every day. I didn't even understand that much...

I was manipulated, I can see that now. I had called myself a king, when in truth, I was a pawn. Never again.

As Ambrose begins making the arrangements for the unconscious unicorn to be put to bed and kept under observation until he recovers from his fatigue, I cannot help but to take a peek at what is in the cart that those crystal mares had brought with them. I was expecting the Crystal Heart, or perhaps the remains of the princess whom I had transformed into crystal and shattered to pieces. Both, I suppose, were foolish expectations: The Crystal Heart cannot be destroyed, nor can it leave the Crystal Empire, else I would have destroyed it immediately, rather than stealing it, or else just banished it to another dimension. As for the princess' remains, those were scattered far and wide, and while I could recall them in the blink of an eye, it would take lesser ponies years to collect them all.

Instead, what I saw sleeping in that cart spawned a thousand questions, as well as a few terrible, painful answers. I returned to Ambrose immediately...

*Ambrose.*

'What, no more dimwit?'

*I'll call you that again when you've done something stupid. I doubt it will take you long to do so, so enjoy this while it lasts,*

'Heh. Alright, what's up?'

*After we've returned to the Crystal Empire, and you've finished dealing with the fiends there, I need a favor.*

'Shoot.'

*Really? No jokes? No conditions?*

'You've been straight with me, and I wouldn't have gotten this far without your help, so if you really need something, I don't mind, as long as you're not going to ask me to do something bad.'

*...Thank you. Alright, I think you were on to something when we were speaking in our dreams last night. There are questions that I need to ask, questions that I should have asked before now, and I'll need your help to get the real answers, rather than just the ones that others will want me to know. I need to know the truth. If you will help me, I'll be grateful and indebted to you.*

'If it's the truth you want, I don't mind helping you get it. But, will you want me to play it 'sane', or would you want me to go full 'Spider Jerusalem' when the time comes?'

Heh, Spider Jerusalem, one of Ambrose's idols. I'd done some research upon him after Ambrose mentioned him last time: A reporter, a man obsessed with finding the truth, no matter where he needed to go or what he needed to do in order to find it. It had cost him everything, but in the end, he succeeded in destroying one of the most terrible monsters of his time, and had done so knowing that he'd never receive any just compensation for it. His methods were extreme, but the results more than justified the ends he went to.

*Ambrose, if you have to, feel free to blow a knee cap off of the fucking world.*

I had questions, and I was going to get the answers to them. Why? Because I'd just been given the answer to a question that I had not even considered asking, and probably had a few more answers already that I needed to confirm.

As I peeked back at the little filly sleeping in the cart, who had somehow managed to remain fast asleep in spite of everything that had happened...

A little filly with a dark gray coat, and a mane and tail as black as soot...

...I knew in my non-corporeal gut the answers to questions that my head needed evidence to confirm, and while I doubted that the red chunk of crystal that had originally set me on my path of darkness would give me the straight truth, I needed to confirm whether or not I'd be given more lies instead of the truth. But I feared that the answers, the real answers, would be the ones now rumbling inside of me, slowly festering into a hatred sufficient to burn a hole into the fabric of the cosmos itself...

Why was I born?

Because mommy wanted to be free, and can't break out on her own.

Why was I born and left alone in the snow outside the city?

Because that way, no one would suspect your true nature. Otherwise, you'd have been sent away, to live your life peacefully in another place far from the Crystal Empire, where you'd never be able to fulfill the role I had planned for you.

Weren't you worried that I might freeze to death out there? Or that the Crystal Heart might destroy me during the Crystal Faire?

Worried implies loving or caring, and Umbrum are incapable of both, so no, I wasn't worried. Not even a little.

Why were the Umbrum sealed away?

For the same reasons that ponies seal away anything else: We're bad news, and no matter how much time passes, we won't stop being monsters in pony form.

And of course, the biggest questions on my mind, only one of which I had an answer to...

Will I be the last time you try something like this?

A little filly with a dark gray coat, and a mane and tail as black as soot...

No.

Was I the first? Not the first to make it to the Crystal Empire, but the first one of my kind that you spawned in the deathly cold snows outside of the city? The same snows that I was found in?

...I hope, I hope, I hope so badly that the answer to that question is yes, but I fear that the answer will be no... and no... and no... and a thousand times again no... and that the path I had first walked to the Crystal Empire was carpeted with the frozen remains of my brothers and sisters...

Comments

[Bucking Nonsense]

INTERLUDE UP!!!

[Brother Uriel]

Interesting... I do enjoy this fic, please do keep it going, but some of this stuff, does make me pause and think...

[hs0003]

6067176 Perhaps you should rename the story to "Interludes with a bit of human Sombra things on the side" because you keep writing interludes.

[Magical Trevor]

There had BETTER be a Neon Pegasus to romance that Space Unicorn, or I'ma have a conniption fit, sirrah. >:[

[abcd_z]

'Heh. Alright, what's up?'
[...]
*...Thank you. Alright, I think you were on to something when-

"alright" is not a word. You're thinking of the two-word phrase "all right".

[Seeking Dusk]

So Sombra and Ambrose have a little sister now. And quite likely many many more siblings that didn't survive.

[SebasMarolo]

although she disguises that attraction with a facade on constant anger.

"of", maybe?

And also, holy sht... child soldiers? Now that's evil.

[Seri]

6067226
It's progress, which is better than all the stories which have no updates for month after month.
As long as the story is being written and the story isn't being bogged down into senselessness, there really should not be many complaints.

[Bucking Nonsense]

6067286
More like Tykebombs, little kids thrown at the city, hoping that one of them will make it, and eventually mature and 'go off', taking the city with it. See, viewing them as child soldiers implies that the person commanding them at least views them as people. Instead, they're just bullets to be shot at an enemy.

[Evowizard25]

Come on. Get Radiant Hope to cheer Sombra up. He deserves her after everything that's happened to him and is still happening to him.

[Moongaze14]

Wow, this chapter made me feel sad for the original Sombra.

[Ralfil]

6067258
That's actually something up for debate since it's been in use for over a hundred years. Link

[SebasMarolo]

6067319
It's all in the eye of the beholder. The heartless crystal sees them as ammo, we see them as children...

I really want to see where this is going. Also, loved this:

I was expecting the Crystal Heart, or perhaps the remains of the princess whom I had transformed into crystal and shattered to pieces. Both, I suppose, were foolish expectations

looks like I would have lost that bet...

Can we name the litle umbrum? Can we? Can we?

[Mix-up]

This is an awesome story, I am amazed that you manage to make such unexpected twist that always take me by surprise. The back-story that you create for each for you characters has such depth to them that it will rely feel it if any of them where hurt or die. Also If my memories are serve in medical times traveling was very dangerous, especially without arm escort, as the roads where constantly plague with brigands that would steal from you, take you hostage or kill or steal from you take you hostage than kill you even if the demands weer met. in those times, you could only be safe in the castle wall or maybe your home town. I would perfectly understand why Sombra didn't event think of leaving the Crystal Empire people hardy ever travel at all.

[ArtichokeLust]

Oh wow, that's more evil than I've seen on even some of the most immoral scenes on TV.

Wait, so, Sombra is in Ambrose's shadow? Does that mean he can go back to his pony form at any time?

Edit: Isn't Sombra being racist against his own species when he thinks, "Worried implies loving or caring, and Umbrum are incapable of both"?

[shirotora]

Nice to get a chapter from Sombra's perspective. I can't wait to see where this is going.

[whyudothis]

so do the crystal pony refugees not recognize him as sombra?

[Lycanthromancer]

6067258 "Alright" is in every dictionary I can get my hands on.

Just, y'know, so you know.

[Ultimate Warrior of Zera]

My god, Sombra's mother is evil.

[Gamerlord99]

6067441 it was not that bad, thing is we often exaggerated are just out right fabricated brigands were only really a problem during war time and even then not really on the well travailed roads lords and kings had a interest in keeping trade open at least internally

[Lycanthromancer]

6067384

Can we name the litle umbrum? Can we? Can we?

...I see an "Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way" in our future, if we're not supremely careful.

[p0nypanda]

I'd suggest naming Sombra and Ambrose's new sister Nyx, but Past Sins already did that.

[Bucking Nonsense]

6067384
6067571

I was thinking of going with...

*Deep Inhale*

The Most Secret And Sorrowful Of The Bearers Of The Endless Destiny Of All Creation Which Wander Amidst Forgotten Sights And Fallen Tears Along The Tread Of Ancient Ashen Footsteps Through The Shadow Of That Which Comes And Into That Riotous Cacophony Which Births All Fools And Steals All Beauty, Who Heralds Through Her Silence The Stillness And Chill Of Those Who Were Not Born And Who Will Fade ‘Till All Things Fall And In That Most Grim Harvest Form The Final Restful Tomb Of All Awakened Life And All The Sleepless De-

*Passes Out*

I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I just wanted to do a Keychain Of Creation reference. But seriously, I think I'll let her get her name the same way Sombra did in the comics: She'll name herself.

[lilflamewars]

The Most Secret And Sorrowful Of The Bearers Of The Endless Destiny Of All Creation Which Wander Amidst Forgotten Sights And Fallen Tears Along The Tread Of Ancient Ashen Footsteps Through The Shadow Of That Which Comes And Into That Riotous Cacophony Which Births All Fools And Steals All Beauty, Who Heralds Through Her Silence The Stillness And Chill Of Those Who Were Not Born And Who Will Fade ‘Till All Things Fall And In That Most Grim Harvest Form The Final Restful Tomb Of All Awakened Life And All The Sleepless De-

S'beautiful man.

[BlueYoshi]

That last scene though....

Why was I born?
Because mommy wanted to be free, and can't break out on her own.

Why was I born and left alone in the snow outside the city?
Because that way, no one would suspect your true nature. Otherwise, you'd have been sent away, to live your life peacefully in another place far from the Crystal Empire, where you'd never be able to fulfill the role I had planned for you.

Weren't you worried that I might freeze to death out there? Or that the Crystal Heart might destroy me during the Crystal Faire?
Worried implies loving or caring, and Umbrum are incapable of both, so no, I wasn't worried. Not even a little.

Why were the Umbrum sealed away?
For the same reasons that ponies seal away anything else: We're bad news, and no matter how much time passes, we won't stop being monsters in pony form.

What?????

And of course, the biggest questions on my mind, only one of which I had an answer to...

Will I be the last time you try something like this?
A little filly with a dark gray coat, and a mane and tail as black as soot...
No.
Was I the first? Not the first to make it to the Crystal Empire, but the first one of my kind that you spawned in the deathly cold snows outside of the city? The same snows that I was found in?
...I hope, I hope, I hope so badly that the answer to that question is yes, but I fear that the answer will be no... and no... and no... and a thousand times again no... and that the path I had first walked to the Crystal Empire was carpeted with the frozen remains of my brothers and sisters...

[abcd_z]

6067543
6067372

Fair enough.

[RanmaChaos]

Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.

[Lycanthromancer]

6067660 If ponies live up to their names, she should name herself something like, "Won the Superpower Lottery."

[The Devious Writer]

6064937 I have watched most of the G1 MLP episodes involving popular villains (Catrina and Crunch are next on my list). The only points you made would be that he does impressive feats. Except all the villains do. You mention he never stops being a threat, but neither does Lavan or Arabus, until they're defeated. You say he throws around attacks like no one's business, but so did Lavan. You say he was efficient, yet Lavan nearly effortlessly stole the wands and imprisoned opposition.
My only guess is that he had a better design as a villain. Lavan looks generic as a lava demon, and ugly as a crystal being. Arabus is really wimpy, and unintimidating. Crunch, like Sombra, was more so a raging monster than a villain.

[Rockstar_Raccoon]

6067759
Iknorite?

[Boss_Hoss1]

As for the princess' remains, those were scattered far and wide, and while I could recall them in the blink of an eye, it would take lesser ponies years to collect them all.

I hope this means an eventual ally to retake the Crystal Empire once the Rock Star God finds out his shadow Sombra's been keeping back that little tidbit.
If she is reassembled and somehow revived, awkwardness of biblical proportions should ensue when she sees who her rescuer is...

[SoulTheFreebornMustang]

Lovin' the originality of the title, and this interlude's one of the best ones I've seen so far.

[Shadow Bolt]

So Sombra now has a little sister.(I expect sibling shenanigans, anime style.) But now how hostile is Ladyhawke going to be with two Sombra's in Sanctuary?

[whyudothis]

Ambrose needs some pentakill in his life

[pahnazd]

Well, this chapter turned suddenly pretty dark. So now the real Sombra will work towards salvation or utter destruction of his own kind only because he realizes what they mean to the world?

Let's find out! ... eventually.

[Odd_Sarge]

6067279
For your viewing pleasure:

[WorldWalker128]

6069721
Yes, but the thing moves, and this is taking place after the conclusion of NMM vs Celestia, which is about a thousand years before the show takes place. If Sombra can be brought back to life, so can they. Excluding the fact that he's killing off the fiends and Sombra's no longer a bad guy, this could in theory stay mostly canon. Canterlot hasn't been built yet. And what better capital than a literal seat of power?

[ArchAngelGundam]

That was fun, may I have another? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.

[Borderline Valley]

6068704
Especially with the power of virgin's blood at hand, a resurrection seems like only a matter of time once Ambrose is aware of the possibility.

[s1]

6067660 6068704

Both, I suppose, were foolish expectations: The Crystal Heart cannot be destroyed, nor can it leave the Crystal Empire, else I would have destroyed it immediately, rather than stealing it, or else just banished it to another dimension. As for the princess' remains, those were scattered far and wide, and while I could recall them in the blink of an eye, it would take lesser ponies years to collect them all.

I was expecting it being the part of the pieces of Princess Amore and not be able to fully restore her like this:
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/4/10/870597__crying_semi-dash-grimdark_spoiler-colon-comic_crystal+pony_artist-colon-xenalollie_spoiler-colon-comicfiendshipismagic1_petrification_fiendship+is+magic_princess+amore.jpeg

[namar13766]

I like the last bit with the Umbrum. It adds a definite level of creepiness about its nature.

[Philosophysics]

6066917 Thank you!

[Philosophysics]

6067176 LOGIC SHALL RULE ALL!

[Bones_]

6068862 How about a... RAMPAGE!!! (dota vs lol flame war starts NOW!)

Holy. Shit. Who we gonna fuck up next?

[CaramelDrop]

6067176
Wow... um... no words.
Wait, what is sombra could somehow get his own body, and then he could have 2 Sombras! :D

[Ice Justice]

Huh, what is this I see? I see... cyclops, I see minoutaurs, I see Greek mythology, generals, ocs, and more. I see earths, I see the birth of fiends, for the strengths of infinity are naturally innumerable. I see a creationists for reasons I know of not. But most of all I see an omage to "Who is this Tirek of Which You Speak?"

[Bucking Nonsense]

6075646
Which is funny, since I wrote that story .

[GrayfoxReloaded]

This fic...is so fucking awesome.

I just need a JoJo reference and my life would be complete...

[Kage no Brony]

6074552

Ha ha! The kickass has been doubled!

[FOXTrot2]

Hehe. Tirek can KISS my ass!
He rocked, then he rolled.
And the pay was trolled.