• Published 2nd Nov 2015
  • 6,205 Views, 139 Comments

Umbrum ad Infinitum - Pixel_Spark



When Tirek's brother Scorpan resurrects Sombra to use him against all of Equestria, Twilight and Co must not only retrieve Sombra from his clutches, but find a way to heal the damage that's been done to the former King. Can they save him in time?

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Immunity

When Sombra woke, it was to a chorus of birds outside his window. He groaned, the noise jarring. He waited until the room came into focus before sitting up. The first thing he seen was a note stuck to his nose.

He realised that thankfully, he was back in his normal form. The Umbrum one still startled him, he wasn’t used to it fully.

--Bet I know who YOU'RE from..-- he laughed softly as he peeled the folded piece of paper from his muzzle and opened it.

He should have known anything from Discord wouldn't be normal in the usual sense. When he opened the note, it made a loud honking sound, causing Sombra to yelp, back-peddle off the bed, and fall onto the floor. As seemed to be the habit when he got scared, his wings pomf'd out, as if they wished to protect him in some way. He let out a sigh as he stared up at the ceiling a moment.

The door clicked open as Sombra sat himself up, rubbing his head.

“Everything alright? I heard a weird noise..” The guard peered at the disgruntled Sombra, who was glowering at the sheet of paper floating in front of him.

“There, now you’re up!”

was written in Discords spidery writing.

“I’m going to stuff him down the back of the couch.” Sombra glowered at the paper.

“Uhh...if you say so sir.” The guard wondered what he was on about “Since you’re awake, shall I send up the doctor? He wished to see you once you were up!”

“Yes, of course.” Sombra nodded. Then his stomach grumbled extremely loudly, causing him to flush slightly.

“Shall I add breakfast to that, sir?” the guard snickered subtly.

“That would be more than welcome, yes...” Sombra said with a cough.

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The door clicked shut behind the guard as he left, and Sombra sighed, feeling somewhat light headed. He recalled what happened and shuddered.

That pony had tried to take him out...or had he? From what he could recall, the spell that’d infected him and Firefly had been trying to make him act as he'd done before. Truth be told, his recollection of events was marred by the pain and tiredness he'd suffered...

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The Doctor arrived, and with him a member of the palace staff pushing a trolley with a breakfast tray on it.

“You’re looking better, I must admit I’m surprised at the speed you recover. Whatever magic Umbrum's have, its clearly intertwined with self-preservation. What you endured in the last 24 hours would’ve floored any other pony, but you seem remarkably robust.”

“I prefer to call it 'too dense to notice'!” a familiar voice piped up.

“Good morning Discord,” Sombra said with an amused smile “interesting wake up call you left, by the way.”

The Draconequus grinned widely “Oh, you got my note? Yes, I figured I’d need to startle you out of bed, lest you park your behind in it for any further periods of time!”

“He's got a point,” the Doctor raised an eyebrow “you do spend far too much time inside. For the sake of your own health, I seriously suggest you go for a walk or three around the empire. You wont encounter any real problem, there are forces that will see to that...” he shot a glance at Discord as he left alongside the staff pony, but Discord didn’t bat an eyelid.

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“What did he mean?” Sombra asked, as he sat himself at the table and began on the breakfast the staff pony had delivered.

“Its a long story...” Discord said lightly. Sombra swallowed the bite of food he'd taken and looked concerned.

“I have all of this to eat through, you can go ahead.”

Discord sighed, knowing it would likely upset Sombra one way or another, but began detailing the whole incident. When he got to the point where he'd interrogated the pony to find out what he'd done, Sombra looked like a ghost.

“Whu...” Sombra set the cutlery down, going pale “t-they wanted what?!”

“They wanted the OLD you.”

“I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Calm down, we got them all. And besides, the Umbrum told me you point blank refused to let it happen, gave them a little speech before saving that little kid from the same visions.”

He sympathetically rubbed the pony’s back, until it seemed Sombra wasn't going to aim for the bathroom..

“Better?” he asked. A mute nod.

When he was satisfied Sombra was seriously OK, not just saying it, he finished the story. How he'd gotten the information out of the one that'd fired on Sombra to start with, located the group and gotten the spell.

He seen Sombra wince as he described the nightmare illusions. They DID sound scary when he said them out loud, Discord mused.

“It was the only way to get the spell I needed to stop those nightmares, before they destroyed everything you worked to rebuild. It may have been a little excessive, but I couldn’t sit back and see those lowlifes-”

“I know.” Sombra said softly, cutting him off. When Discord glanced at him, the stallion still looked a little stunned but he was also smiling gently.

“I'd be little more than a demonic tyrant once again if it wasn’t for you. Saying I owe you one is an understatement. Honestly, Thank you...”

The Draconequus was surprised, but extremely pleased. He was reminded of how nice it'd felt when Fluttershy had first stuck up for him, and spoken so kindly to him.

“See? You don’t need to worry!” he grinned next, tweaking Sombra's ears “now, get on with breakfast, after that it's “leaving the castle” time!”

“Is that necessary? I know the doctor said- but surely the palace garden...” Sombra rambled. Seeing Discord's deadpan, unmoving expression he winced “you mean actually OUT, don’t you?”

“That’s about the gist of it, yes.” Discord said, nodding “I'm booked later on to discuss the whole incident and the raid with Cadance and Shining Armor, so I aim to get you to take some fresh air before that!”

“No escaping you is there?” Sombra chuckled wryly.

“Not even close.” Discord patted him on the head, earning a sarcastic glower “now, eat!”

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Once breakfast had been summarily scarfed, Sombra reached for the fluffy cloak, but got a surprise when it was whipped out of his reach.

“Its a hot, sunny day. You’ll get heat stroke if you go out wearing that!” Discord tutted, lobbing it over the back of a chair.

“Well there’s got to be SOMETHING to cover these wings with!” Sombra looked around the room, soon realising the fur-lined cloak was the only one he had right now.

“Why do you need to hide them anyway? According to Cadance, most of the crowd seen you with them at the incident.”

Sombra fumbled for an excuse before realising he didn’t have one. His face went red as he spotted Discord's knowing expression.

“Stop hiding them!” The Draconequus made a mirror appear in front of the pony, and lifted Sombra's wings so he could see them at their best.

“I DARE you to sit there and declare these aren't beautiful, Sombra!”

Sombra stared at the floor, sighed, then glanced back up at the crystal appendages. They WERE stunning, able to fly yet resembling a sculpture. The dark grey was mixed with soft hues of red and purple, so seamless it made them seem as if they were shifting and changing along the breadth of the biggest feathers.

“Well?” Discord asked.

“I...i guess I don’t despise them...” Sombra admitted awkwardly at last.

“Eh, its a start. Close enough!” Discord let the wings go, seeing how Sombra automatically folded them to his sides. He was about to suggest they leave, when he seen a box on the bedside table, made of a familiar crystal.

“Hm, what’s this?” he indicated it.

“Oh, that’s the box Excel gave Firefly to deliver to me...” Sombra had forgotten about it, “I was supposed to open it, read the letter inside, then go see them!”

“Don’t worry, they know you’re still recovering, they'll be happy with whenever you go to them.” Discord assured him.

He grabbed the box and opened it. Inside was a neatly folded letter, and something covered by a cloth. He handed Sombra the letter.

Stomach belly-flopping all over the shop, Sombra began to read it out loud;

“Dearest Infinitum;

We watched those memories you gave to us. We seen how you suffered the same we did, but where we got a respite in the darkness, and we had each other as we slept, you were forced to endure it alone. We don’t blame you for the actions of the past. Your friend told us you've paid the price for those actions. You were alone, and forced to cope with more than any child should, including losing your childhood and advancing to an adult in an effort to cope.”

Discord smiled to himself. He'd had MANY a conversation with Sombra's race.

“We seen how you refuse to forgive yourself, and we implore you to think otherwise. You've carried enough guilt, suffered enough trauma. Your friend told us how you declined your place at our heart because you’re afraid you'll endanger us. We don’t see any danger in you infinitum. We just see somepony that understands us, that uncovered the truth and faced our wrath to show us the truth. That you offered the choice to us just makes this all the more important. We ask that you accept-”

He cut off, the letter dropping from his magic to slither across the floor to land at the base of the mirror.

Discord swooped over, picking it up and reading the last few words.

“T-they cant be serious…” Sombra shook his head earnestly “no way!”

“You said you'd accept whatever decision they make, you told me so yourself!” Discords looked over at him, seeing Sombra was as white as the fur on the cloak Discord had snagged out of his reach earlier.

“I-I know I did!” Sombra was stammering incoherently, looking totally shocked “but what about their safety-”

“Stop!” Discord snapped loudly. Sombra clammed up, eyes wide.

“You just read it out loud yourself: “We don't see any danger in you.” and “we just see a pony that understands us”. They can see the same I can; beneath that burden of guilt you're forcing yourself to carry is the realization that you want only the best for them. And is that not what a ruler does? Takes care of his or her citizens?”

A mute nod.

“So what's holding you back? Afraid you'll make a mistake?”

Another small nod.

“Who doesn't have those reservations! Remember that secret I told you before, about how headless-chicken 'Tia could be when she was a filly? You aren't alone.”

“I know THAT, I remember you telling me! But...” Sombra closed his eyes, heart pounding “how can I be so sure? I haven't got a good track record with governance-”

“You were out of your gourd last time, through a mix of your own misguided anger and an overload of power. Look at you now, perfectly capable of thinking clearly. You screwed up, is that what you want to hear?” He wasn’t letting Sombra run away from it this time. The stallion needed to face up to this.

Sombra looked over at him, ears drooped.

“Well it's out there, I’ve said it, now deal with it. Its passed, been and GONE. You've made more progress than you credit yourself. You accepted you made a big mistake, and you chose to apologise rather than save your own hide after the Scorpan fight. Remember? “

“Yes...” his voice was a mere whisper.

“The only one out to hurt you right now is YOU. The public have been more than accepting after Cadance told them YOUR side of the story. They realise you didn't entirely mean to enslave them, you were already losing your marbles to that power surge, and the pain of the crystal heart. Yes it was a horrible thing to do, but dont forget, they KNOW about your apollogy. AND they seen you acting perfectly sane and convincing a petrified kid not to hate the world!”

Sombra couldn’t find a retort to that, after all, he could see what Discord was getting at. To trust himself THAT much was a terrifying thought. But yet he'd felt a peculiar crushing pain back when he'd declined the chance to become their King there and then. He hadn't felt he deserved the chance, yet he hadn’t wanted to say goodbye to them. He WANTED to stay as their guide.

He closed his eyes, not realising his emotions were writ clearly over his face.

Then he felt something brush his head, and heard Discord's voice:

“Open your eyes. Take a look.”

He waited, as it seemed to take the pony an eternity to do so, but eventually Sombra opened his eyes and lifted his head.

He realised the Draconequus had placed the crown upon his head. Looking at it, it was beautiful. Made of a pearly crystal, it curved behind his ears. A tri-pointed crystal made of a white diamond was set at the front. It was simple, yet elegant.

“It suits you.” Discord said bluntly “and I don't just mean the style of it.”

Sombra took it in, ears trembling in a mix of curiosity, hope and nerves.

“Well, are you going to accept their judgement? They’ve chosen their ruler, now its just up to HIM. Will you give yourself a chance this time?”

Sombra looked at himself in the mirror, felt his stomach lurch and jump as he forced himself to confront the reality of his own feelings.

It seemed to take everything he had, but he nodded.

"Whats the word i'm looking for?" Discord grinned, this was gonna be fun-!

“Yes.” Sombra managed to utter it, so much relief behind that one word. But why was the Draconequus smiling so?

Discord grinned and suddenly shot back. Sombra stumbled up, wondering what was wrong? Then he had to shut his eyes as a blinding light surrounded him. What was happening?!

When he opened his eyes, he stared in shock. The crown had clearly had some heavy spell-work added to it, designed to trigger on that one word. Why else had Discord insisted on a vocal agreement? He hadnt even picked up on it, his mind so focused on his inner struggles it'd slipped his attention. Then again, he had never suspected it would have a spell like that written into it.


What had this spell done? It'd created a suit of armor! Made in a similar pearly crystal, it fitted like a glove. The shoes and chest-plate both bore the tri-crystal symbol. There were even intricately sculpted panels of armor overlapping on his wings, reinforcing them. He stared at himself in the mirror.

“Very regal, no?” Discord grinned “can't tell you how late we were all up trying to design it!”

“We?” Sombra asked.

“Yes, the Umbrum and I! That drab old armor of before is long gone, so we figured you deserved something new! Quite snazzy if I say so myself. Not to blow my own trumpet – I’m tone deaf apparently – but it looks excellent!”

“It's...” Sombra fought to speak, so much was swirling around in his head “perfect, thank you.”

“For taking such a huge step and finally accepting where you need to be, consider it a present! Now, I suggest we go see your ponies, then we can store the armor here, you'll get heatstroke times double if you go out in that!” he all but towed Sombra out of the room.

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Sombra was uneasy as they made their way down the quiet halls. Luckily they managed to scoot past the guards, or Sombra did, not wishing to draw attention.

Even so, one was sure he'd clocked a big armored pony go shooting by.

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As they approached the room, Sombra heard squeals of laughter, recognising them as Firefly's.

“Little one!” He was relieved to hear her happy, and hoped she was feeling better after the terrifying incident of the nightmares! Mood perking up, he raced into the room.

“'Fini!” Firefly, still unable to pronounce Infinitum, spotted the stallion and zoomed over to hug him gleefully. It seemed she'd been playing with the two guards on duty at the entrance to the cave that day!

The two guards had been unable to resist the kids happy-go-lucky antics. She was adorable after all.

When Firefly seen the armor and most importantly, crown, she let out a shriek of delight and zoomed down the stairwell bellowing;

“He said yes!! Guys-”

“Excitable isn't she?” Discord chuckled. Sombra coughed, and zoomed after her, calling her name.

“What did she mean 'he said yes'?” the first guard asked.

“Remember she was talking about that box holding a very important question? If I’m not mistaken, wasn’t he wearing-” guard number two began.

“-Yes, you did see correctly.” Discord said. “When he first calmed the Umbrum's rage, the prophecy stated he became their leader by default, should he want it. But he refused, opting to give them not only the choice of who they wanted as a ruler, but giving them all the evidence of his past and present actions.”

“Seriously?” the first guard raised an eyebrow in surprise.

SERIOUSLY.” Discord mimiced “he didn't attempt to sugar coat any of it. Even if it made them distrust him completely, he was willing to risk it. Its a testament to how much things have changed with Sombra...”

“So they..”

“They didn't want anybody else. Nopony is better able to understand them than Sombra. He was created to counteract their anger at their imprisonment. To find a way to get them a second chance. Freed from the madness caused by the past, he did exactly that. Its a little delayed, but the prophecy has finally begun. From what they told me, an Infinitum is a legend since the dawn of their kind. A pony with every ability needed to understand the three subsets of their race, same as yours.”

“Pegasi, Earth and Unicorn..” the second guard realised what Discord was saying.

THAT'S why he's an Alicorn.”

“Exactly. Only they don’t use that term, they refer to these legendary ponies as Infinitum, a legend that’s lasted eternally. Umbrum ad Infinitum means “Eternal Crystal Shadow” or close enough.”

“Wow.” the guards had to admit they were impressed by Sombra's honesty. That he hadn’t tried to lie to his race, rather opting to give them the unvarnished truth. In this manner he'd truly earned the role of being their ruler it seemed. THEY certainly had a new respect for him.

“So, is it official then?” one asked.

“They're a separate subset of ponies, and now they have a ruling pony. I'd say so, but honestly I’m not an expert, ask Celestia or Cadance...”

They heard happy cheering from the cave down below, Firefly shrieking in glee and asking about a party?

“They sound pretty happy!” the first guard chuckled.

“They've been on tenterhooks, wondering whether he would accept their sincere wish,” Discord smiled “I'd be celebrating too if I were them!”

After several more minutes, a somewhat exhausted Sombra wobbled out fo the stairwell.

“You OK?” Discord asked.

“Yes, just a little dizzy.” Sombra shook his head “not sure why!”

“Well, you're still suffering the effects of that nightmare of yesterday. That's why the doctor wanted you to get some fresh air, you're still working off all the crazy shenanigans that’ve happened since awakening from the crystal stasis! Its just been one episode of chaos after another, I should know!”

Sombra nodded, then noticed the two guards had crept close enough to get a look at the armor he was wearing.

“Wow, that's a pretty sweet setup. Look at the craftsmanship!” the first said. The second nodded.

“Is it heavy?" he asked "It looks pretty solid...”

“Not really, I can barely feel it.” Sombra said in honesty.

“Blimey, you gotta be pretty strong if THAT isn’t heavy!” the second nodded.

“That’s for certain!” Discord chuckled at an earlier memory “he's got a right hook like you wouldn’t believe!”

“You what?” Sombra asked, then realised what he meant, and flushed in indignation “well YOU scared the crap out of ME!”

“And I maintain it was worth it!” Discord sniggered as Sombra glowered at him “oh don’t look so put out, it was my fault! Goading you was the only way to get a response from you back then, you were catatonic!”

“True..” Sombra muttered, still flushing in embarrassment.

“I mean, I told you coconuts migrate and I’m pretty sure you agreed with em!”

“What? No-!”

“Well they were migrating in that stasis world you created while you were asleep!”

“That was your fault, you put the idea in my head!”

I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts, There they are, all standing in a row! Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head~” Discord put on a carnival outfit and began singing.

“Argh! Enough!” Sombra facehoofed, desperately trying to remain dignified, but he so badly wanted to laugh!

The guards were biting their hooves to try not to laugh while this ludicrous argument raged on. Sombra spotted them out of the corner of his eye-

“Just...go ahead-!” Sombra sputtered in exasperation, which gave them free reign to fall over laughing their arses off.

He shook his head at them, then caught the amused Discord's eye. The dam broke, Sombra made a faint sniggering sound, then outright began to laugh!

For a few moments, all that was heard was laughter as the trio of ponies and one Draconequus giggled like idiots.

Sombra shook his head, but his sides were aching when he finally stilled his laughter.

“OK, time to get moving, Doctor's orders..” Discord shepherded Sombra out of the room, as the two guards waved farewell, still sniggering occasionally.

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The armor and crown were deposited in Sombra's room, and the stallion only had time to grab the saddlebags he'd been given, then Discord towed him outside.

“Good to see you finally laugh again by the way, I was starting to think you'd forgotten what fun was!” The Draconequus nudged Sombra, who smiled softly.

“It did feel good.” Sombra sighed contentedly.

“So do it more often, laugh at anything that’s remotely funny!” Discord encouraged, making Sombra smile again.

But as they walked away from the palace, Sombra spotted the Crystal Heart ahead and froze up. Discord seen he was shaking, his whole body tense to the point where it had to be hurting him.

“What's wrong, you feeling ill? OH. Gotcha.” Discord looked from the heart to his friend. He thought he seen the heart gleam a moment, but put it down to a trick of the light.

“I just don’t want to be around it. Can we go around?” Sombra said softly, voice laden with fear.

“Easily!” Discord snapped his fingers and they teleported far enough away that Sombra felt the bands on his chest loosen, able to breathe easier.

“You feeling OK, is it hurting you?”

“No, not really, I just feel dizzy. I don't think I was near it long enough to cause damage...” Sombra told himself.

“Lets see, maybe something to eat!”

Discord spotted what he was after, a fast food store, and when they resumed their journey, they were both munching on some exceedingly nice hayburgers.

“These are nice,” Sombra remarked “is this a new thing?”

“As far as I can tell, they weren’t around before my imprisonment either!” Discord chuckled.

“Tastes pretty good!” Sombra decided, feeling better after the food.

“Oh these are just the start, wait until you discover the other food related goodness ponies have invented in the last thousand years!”

“Sounds good..” Sombra smiled.

"Sounds like a challenge!" Discord grinned.

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True to his promise, Discord showed him several other edible treats, including crystal berry cakes.

As they talked, Sombra became absorbed enough in his responses that he failed to notice the world around him. Thus he missed the curious glances thrown his way by the crystal ponies.

Seeing him talking and laughing alongside another former troublemaker, they were surprised. But it gelled with what Cadance had told them, what the papers had been reporting. This wasn’t the same lunatic they’d encountered. THIS Sombra was reasoned, intelligent and not above admitting to his mistakes.

They were curious to see what would happen next with this mysterious race of Umbrum ponies!

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“Oops!” Discord jumped as an alarm clocked appeared from thin air and began ringing. He swatted at it, shutting it off “I gotta scoot!”

“Where- oh..” Sombra recalled Discord mentioning a meeting earlier “I see..”

“You'll be fine! But at least promise you'll stretch your wings before bolting back to your hidey hole!”

“It's a promise.” Sombra nodded, then watched as Discord declared;

“Dingus AWAY!” and shot off like a rocket.

Sombra chuckled, unable to help himself. Alone in the street, he NOW noticed the curious glances. There were a lot of them. He felt himself flush at the scrutiny, and in a bizarre effort to protect their owner, the wings fluffed up slightly.

Several ponies stepped closer, about to open their mouths and ask a variety of questions. His hearing faded into a frantic pounding of his pulse, so he couldn’t make out what they were saying...

“I have to go-!” he blurted to nopony in particular, and his brain unsnapped his wings fully and bade him to flap them and get moving. Thus he found himself in the air before he realised he'd done it. He thought he heard a voice calling “you don't have to ru-” but the rest of the sentence was lost to the wind.

“He's gotten weirder...” One pony mused “first he's mad as a box of frogs, now he's jumpier then a frog that just sat on a tack!”

“I heard a rumour some nasty things happened when that weird gargoyle held him prisoner.”

“Define 'nasty'?”

“I heard it was flat out torture.” one pony said. The others turned to look.

“I got a pen friend in Canterlot who's part of the royal guard. He wrote to me AFTER the attack by that gargoyle, when Princess Celestia finally dropped the secrecy act to inform everypony. He seen Princess Celestia guiding Sombra around in the days before the attack, when she stopped to ask him and his partner about the patrols. Soon as she mentioned this “Scorpan” guy, Sombra looked about to be sick. It seems they're healed now, but my buddy told me Sombra had all these seriously bad injuries, and he didn't seem to like anypony coming into contact. Even Princess Celestia wasn’t able to get him to relax!”

Raised eyebrows abounded. It certainly sounded bad.

“Sounds about right,” one mare spoke up “I studied trauma and its side effects before becoming a Doctor, and if what your describing is true, it's remarkable he's as well adjusted as he is. Whoever Celestia hired to help him must have really known what they were dealing with! But even so, he undoubtedly still has some residual fear in his head.”

This set them all wondering what’d really happened to Sombra, between being resurrected as a pawn, and finding out who he really was. It had to be a heavy load to work through. They looked up at the sky, but he couldn’t be seen, too far away by now...

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Up in the air, Sombra mentally kicked himself for acting so jumpy. But every time he'd convinced himself so far that he'd be fine with crowds like those, reality intervened. Panic clawed away every bit of resolve he thought he had. With his friend to talk to, he'd been able to push the sensations down, suppress them. Alone, he couldnt fight the sensations off, and he gave in to the wish to be away from it!

Same as the incident where that madpony had take a shot at him. By focusing on taking care of Firefly, he'd been able to dampen the worst of the fear. He had a point of focus, he'd be OK. Over and over he'd repeated that to himself…

Gradually his breathing steadied out as he flew, and he felt calmer after a few minutes.

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He flew high enough to get a good view of the empire, and marvelled at the colours in it as he made a lazy circle over the city.

BANG. He jolted, losing control of his wings and plummeting down before regaining control and pulling up before he hit a building. Looking around he heard more bangs and realised someone was setting off some sort of glittery explosion in the sky.

Curious, he drifted closer, feeling silly for being so startled. But it'd reminded him of the sound of Scorpan's spells detonating all around him, the sound his own crystal body had made when he'd been slammed into a building-

--Enough, that's over now!-- he lectured himself, as he spotted a close enough roof to land on.

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He soon realised he wasn’t as good at landings when he was on edge. He perched on a roof and nearly skidded off it, tensing his whole body until he could edge back into a steadier position.

“Not used to 'em yet, huh?” a voice interrupted his sigh of relief and he jumped again, wings going POMF.

“Sorry..” the pegasi who'd spoken giggled at Sombra's reaction. Sweet Celestia, the pony looked distinctly distrusting of his own wings! He was glaring at them even now, as if daring them to twitch even a mite. His expression was oddly comical.

Another sparkly thing shot into the sky, sending glittery sparks everywhere. Sombra watched it as it faded into the wind.

“What is THAT?” Sombra asked the pegasi.

“Glitter Fireworks of course! They're for celebrating! Never seen 'em before?”

“No, nothing like this...” Sombra responded, studying the sparkles with curiosity.

Then he asked “what're they celebrating?”

“Its a parade, they're gonna start it soon!” the pegasi and her friends gestured to the ground below. Sombra peered down, seeing numerous floats theme on the empires history. Some things he recognised.

“It's to celebrate all the new books being recovered, so much new history! So we're showing off what we know so far!” another pegasi said.

Sombra realised Shining Armor and Cadance must have given them the news about the information revealed by the key Sombra had given them. He fidgeted uncomfortably, thinking he should leave. It was HIS fault they were only now getting the info.

“It'll be cool to see this new stuff, we can see what’s similar to the ideas we came up with ourselves! Get the best of both!” the third said.

Sombra tried to gauge his balance, see if he could take off before he was spotted-

Then there was a shriek down below, and he nearly slipped off the roof again.

The first pegasi couldn’t help thinking he seemed extraordinarily jittery for whatever reason, but then her attention was drawn to something below.

The crowd were scattering, screaming. Something small was whizzing about underhoof, aiming for one float in particular, that had a crystal replica of the royal throne on it. As the crowd stared, the ponies atop it, dressed as a princess and her guard, were forced to flee before it attacked THEM.

But it was only interested in the crystal. In seconds it gnawed through it, its body growing as it did. Wings popped out of it's back and it buzzed aloft, licking its chops. It soon ate everything else that was made of crystal on the float, including some crystals that'd been enchanted to shine brightly in faux-metal lamps, thus feeding its strange power. It cast its gaze, looking for the next meal!

“What IS that?” one of the pegasi stared in grossed out horror. The thing looked like a blur of teeth from up there! Sombra focused his magic on it, getting a funny reading-

“Its some sort of transmorphing spell!” he blurted, eyes widening in surprise.

“You can sense that?” one of the pegasi asked.

“Of course, it's dark magic, I’d recognise it anywhere! Amateur at best, but there's no denying it...”

“It's after crystals-!”

“It’ll eat everything-!” another cried. Sombra had a flash of inspiration.

“Not if it sees something more interesting!” he declared, spreading his wings.

“What do you mean?” the first pegasi asked. Sombra answered by changing into his full Umbrum form and taking off, shooting towards the thing.

“I don’t get it.” the second frowned.

“I do.” the third, a stallion, copped onto Sombra's plan “look at him, he looks like a rare crystal! Add in he's got similar magic, that thing won't be able to resist! But if he gets bitten by it, its gonna hurt big time!”

They watched as Sombra's plan unfolded.

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Just as the thing was about to lunge next for a mare wearing a richly decorated headpiece, a voice rang out.

“You want crystal, do you?” The thing paused, craning round and seeing-

Sombra. The mare and the rest of the crowd stared at this crystal Umbrum. The way the light reflected his gleaming crystal form was mesmerizing. Even more so to the creature.

Letting out a feral roar it lunged for him, teeth bared. Sombra teleported out, reappearing behind it, firing a blast at it. This slammed the critter into the ground. It hissed, reforming it's body so the wings were bigger and it now sported claws like knives. It sped back up, using its small size comapred to the pony to dart this way and that, trying to sink its teeth into him!

It kept trying again and again to catch this delectable prey, but no matter what it tried, this crystal delicacy kept evading him!

The crowd below stared, the speed of the fight between a possessed whatever-it-was and Sombra like something from a book! Magic met claw swipes, leaving cracks in the creatures façade. It may have been small, but it was tough!

At last it managed to feint and catch Sombra off guard. It sank its teeth into his ear, cackling in glee. Sombra shut his eyes, struggling to maintain flight as he powered up a spell. There was a flash and the creature was sent flying off him by a blast that seemed to originate from the inside of the Umbrum's body. Sombra wasted no more time, shooting forward and udner it as it fell. He used the edge of one wing to hit it, stun it, and send it flying up into the sky.

By the time it reached it the apex of its flight, he was there again. He closed his eyes, conjuring up a spell to shut this thing DOWN. It screeched in helpless fury as a blast of purple-white magic wrapped around it, closing in even as it fought!

Down below everypony had to shield their eyes as there was a flash and a BANG.

When they opened their eyes they seen a jewelled necklace hit the ground. Then Sombra touched down, approaching the fallen jewel. He lifted it with his magic, studying it intently.

“Is it...is it safe?” one pony asked at last.

“Yes,” Sombra replied, nodding “the spells been unwound. Now it's harmless.”

“What kind of spell WAS that?” another cried. Sombra tilted his head to the side, recalling the spell he'd just unpicked.

“Dark magic. Given its a necklace, a somewhat intimate gift, it was likely a revenge strike. Designed to destroy. Thats a nasty motive in ANY case. I will say THIS, whoever cast it did NOT fully know what they were doing. This thing was set to absorb crystal energy and any other magic with no way to make it stop. Anyone truly versed in dark magic would know better, put in a way to reign it in. Likely, this thing wouldnt have stopped after its intended target! It would have just....kept on going!"

He noted the spell felt...old. So there was no telling who had caused its existance! All the same he memorized the spell, perhaps he could work it out later, find out who was behind it.

"Given its only awakened NOW, i'll warrant its original recipient never wore it, or even got it."

“Whoa...” the crowd broke into excited curious whispers.

Sombra tucked it into his saddlebag “I’ll bring it to the guard, maybe somepony will come looking for it?”

“Thank goodness THAT'S over!” somepony else said, and the ponies began to approach the floats to check the damage.

“Ohhh, look what that thing did!” the mare dressed in a traditional empire royal dress cried in dismay as she and the stallion dressed as her guard regarded their float. Sure enough, the crystal throne had been demolished by the things appetite.

“It took AGES to put that together!” the stallion said despairingly. The mare teared up, looking utterly devastated.

It really meant so much to them, didn’t it? Sombra seen the mare starting to cry, and was reminded of Queen Haydon. How she and her husband had been the ones to suffer after Scorpan had done his damage. This situation felt the same, albeit on a different scale. But an innocent party was still left to pick up the pieces….

Hoping they wouldn’t object to his assistance, he walked over to them.

“Stand back..” the mare and stallion turned as Sombra approached “there may be a way!”

They stood behind him as he closed his eyes, recalling the image he held of the throne from his memory from before he'd remodelled the palace's decor.

Jaws dropped as spell lines etched themselves into the ground around Sombra, then abruptly raced up and over the float. There, they formed a wire-frame replica of the throne, in exact detail.

“Now..” Sombra murmured to himself, using his instinctive Umbrum ability to create a very unique crystal. The air inside the wire frame seemed to grow foggy, then solid, then-

With a flash, it finalised. The throne was back, good as new, better even! From his memory, Sombra had added some distinctive markings he recalled from his time in the empire, even adding a jewelled symbol of the empire at the chairs top.

When he seen the other decorations had been gnawed too, he reconstructed those from memory as well. But as with the chair, some familiar touches were added, detailed things he recalled from his days in the palace.

At last it was finished, and he shut off his magic. He felt a bit light-headed, he wasn’t fully recovered yet, as Discord had pointed out. He turned back to the couple behind him.

"It's not exactly as it was before, I apologise, but-” he cut off as the two just stared, jaws hanging open.

“Is-?” but he didn't get to finish, as the female shrieked in delight, startling Sombra. He scooted back, wings pomf-ing a little before he stopped them, as the mare and her stallion shared a delighted hug and danced around in a circle.

“I love it!!” she declared, as they raced over and onto the float.

“Allow me my lady..” the stallion declared with a flourish as he guided her to the throne, where she sat down and even effected a regal wave!

The crowd clapped and giggled, amused by this display. Sombra smiled, tucking his wings back down as he turned to slip through the crowd.

“Wait! You’re not leaving, surely?” he stopped and glanced back in confusion as the mare spotted his attempted exit.

“I don’t think his name's Shirley...” One pony joked to his friend, prompting giggle-fits amongst them.

“The problem has been dealt with, there's nothing more for me to do here. Your free to carry on with what you were doing,” Sombra honestly couldn’t think think what else he could do, “unless anything else got eaten?”

“Nope, this was as far it got!” the stallion brushed some bits of crystal debris off the float.

“This is beautiful, I’ve never seen crystal like this, its got so many colours in it!” the mare looked from it to Sombra “how did you make this?”

“I don’t know, truthfully. It appears to just be an inherited memory from my predecessors, that’s all I know.” Sombra finished.

“Such detail, it's amazing!” a pony carrying a clipboard peered at the versions Sombra had created “this looks like traditional empire design, only more intricate!”

“It's...from an earlier time period.” Sombra said uncomfortably. His wings twitched, again sensing their owners desire to flee the scene.

The mare and what was clearly her colt-friend hopped down and approached Sombra. The mare removed something from around her neck. It was a mini replica crystal heart on a lengthy gold chain. It was this that allowed her to loop it over their rescuers neck and settle it around his neck.

“As a thank you!” she insisted as Sombra made to object “Thanks to your magic, we wont have to cancel the parade! We spent so long planning it, it would be heart breaking to see it grounded because of an accidental spell gone awry!”

“Exactly!” her stallion nodded “thanks man!”

“I made this by hoof, to mimic the real heart. It suits you!” she nodded, then asked “will you stay to watch us? We'd like that!”

Sombra found he couldn’t refuse, not when she'd been so accepting of his help. And her gift as well. It was important to her, yet she'd given it to HIM. Still feeling as if he stuck out a mile, he nonetheless gave a firm nod.

It did pop up in his mind this was THEM trying to adjust to HIM as much as it was the other way around. That lessened the pressure somewhat.

She grinned “Awesome!”.

“Nice.” Her friend added with a nod.

“Oh, I'm Golden Glitter by the way, and this is my coltfriend Speed Streak!”

Sombra honestly told them it was a pleasure, and they smiled. Glitter asked if Umbrum magic was a separate type?

“For the others yes, but mines….abnormal.” Sombra sighed, how to explain it?

“I lived in disguise for so long without knowing what I was, my magic manifested as something that actually exists, hence dark magic. But now the Umbrum power is starting to grow, they seem to be blending together.”

“Whoa, cool!” one of the surrounding crowd said in awe. Sombra glanced at the voices owner, seeing it was a unicorn. He was surprised, thinking they'd consider it freakish that even his magic wasn’t quite right. But the crowd seemed pretty intrigued.

“Nothing like that’s ever existed before, that’s pretty amazing! Imagine what could be learned about your new magic?” Golden Glitter pondered.

“I never thought about it,” Sombra said honestly “trying to get used to everything changing is exhausting enough!”

While they were talking, Sombra noticed a small crowd of various, well he'd call them teams maybe, were gathering nearby.

“Is ah, something the matter?” he asked Golden Glitter subtly “they seem to be, how do I phrase it? Amassing?”

“Hm? OH! One moment..” She chuckled and trotted over to the group.

“Psst,” Speed Streak sidled up “don’t worry dude, I get startled by so many ladies at once!” he nudged the stallion and grinned.

“That's not why I was asking-!” Sombra objected, but Speed Streak seemed oblivious, so the bigger pony just shrugged his wings and shut up.

Golden Glitter returned, smiling hopefully at Sombra “they were admiring the changes you made to the float, and they were wondering if you'd be able spruce theirs up too?” She giggled “theyre a little envious it seems! It's no trouble if you cant do it, I cant help but notice you seem a little pale?”

“It's nothing, just a bad night,” Sombra politely dismissed any concerns, “and if it doesn't bother them, then I don’t foresee any problem.”

“Alright!” the ever optimistic Glitter whooped, doing a happy jump “follow me!”

“I'll finish cleaning the debris up!” Speed Streak grinned, earning a delighted kiss on the cheek from his marefriend. Golden Glitter then all but TOWED Sombra away with her, tagging the first group from the crowd, talking a mile a minute!

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The rest of the float designers were as delighted as Golden Glitter when they seen the detail Sombra was able to replicate. It really gave the floats an extra touch!

There was some slight chaos when one mare tripped up carrying a pot of glitter, and the container sort of exploded on impact with the ground. This meant everypony in the vicinity, including poor Sombra, got liberally sprayed with silver glitter. Sombra sneezed, shook himself, then sneezed again. A couple of the mares giggled, it was kind of adorable the way he scrunched his nose and frowned, as if DARING one more sneeze to bother him!

Most of it came off quite easily as he was still in his Umbrum form. But when he changed back to his normal pony form a little later, there was still a smudge of it on his nose. Naturally, nopony told him, it was kinda funny to see if he'd notice…

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At last, the final float was finished, each one bearing some form of Umbrum magiced-up decoration. And Sombra was feeling light headed again.

Golden Glitter and Speed Streak once more thanked him for staying and helping them! They were so honestly happy with him being there, Sombra was content to accept it. For the first time in days he felt at ease-

His ears pricked up as he heard a worried mare asking if anyone had seen a-

The crowds noise drowned out the rest so Sombra got up and walked closer, hearing her repeat;

“-Jewel? It's the craziest thing, it just-”

“Came to life?” Sombra spoke up. She yelped, and Sombra instinctively stepped back, wings raised in alarm.

“Oh-!” She gave a sigh “sorry, you scared the hay outta me, I didn't see you there!” She regarded him curiously, he was the LAST pony she'd expected to see here “did you just say-?”

She trailed off as Sombra retrieved the jewelled necklace from his saddlebag, holding it up for her to see.

“That’s the jewel! It was the strangest thing,” she shook her head “That necklace suddenly changed when I used my magic to check it over. One second it's just another antique, the next it's BLINKING at me and tearing out the door in a flash! It looked like a ball with teeth, have you ever heard the like?”

“Not to date ma'am. On the subject of teeth, it DID manage to wolf down a display in its near entirety,” Sombra said with a wince “seems it was imbued with an appetite!”

“Is it-?” she regarded the necklace with hesitation.

“The spell is gone, I dismantled it completely. It's just a normal necklace now!” He handed it over to her, and she put it in her bag with a sigh of relief.

“What was it?” she asked.

“A sloppily executed dark magic spell, likely a vengance attack. A necklace is a very...specific target.”

Her eyebrows rose “really? Goodness me, that sounds nasty! Why on equestria would somepony create a spell that does that?!"

“I cannot begin to imagine,” Sombra shook his head “a jilted lover? An angry associate? I can only guess. Was anything else in your shop damaged?"

”No, just this one, the rest of the shipment was fine! It's magic must have been dormant all this time.”

Sombra nodded “my theory precisely, it's highly likely it was kept in storage for a LONG time before you got hold of it. Long enough for it to lapse into a stasis of sorts.”

"I hope the damage wasnt too bad-" she began.

"Its been fixed, it wasnt able to do much." Sombra assured her.

“I don't know how you managed it, but you got it back in one piece, thank you!” she offered the pony a grateful smile. Even though she was still leery of the powerful-looking stallion, so far he'd been perfectly polite, and he HAD returned her necklace safe and sound.

“It was easy enough to unravel the spell, the difficult part was catching the little s.o.b!” Sombra shook his head in memory.

She nodded, then did a double take and peered closer at him “is that a bite mark on your ear?”

“Yes,” Sombra coughed “it decided to try taking a chunk out of my crystal form.”

Her eyebrows rose, she'd heard about the crystal transformation. It was supposedly very stunning, a living crystal pony!

“So, is this-” she indicated the normal looking pony (bar the crystal wings) stood in front of her “an illusion?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes.” Sombra nodded. Illusion was how he'd been thinking of it.

“Doesn’t it drain your magic?”

Sombra shook his head “from what I’m able to tell, it uses next to nothing. What's a suitable analogy?” he thought a moment, then settled on one “It's no different to putting on clothing! You don’t notice it, and it's not a drain.”

The curious crowd exchanged whispers and murmurs, wondering just how Umbrum magic worked? It seemed quite advanced!

“Well, thank you for getting that necklace back! My husband will be very relieved to see it!” She smiled, much more honestly this time, before trotting away.

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“Okay everypony, 5 minutes till start!” The parade organizer called out through a megaphone now the curiosity had been satisfied “places please!”

“Woohoo!” Golden Glitter reappeared by Sombra “come on, I’ve reserved a special seat for you!”

True to her word, she'd found him a prime spot to watch the parade from. The pegasi he'd bumped into earlier flew down to join him.

“Not a bad plan..” the first one he'd met said with a grin. “well, mostly..” indicating Sombra's ear.

“Indeed. Bitey little thing.” Sombra chuckled faintly.

More fireworks went off, and Sombra barely kept a lid on his easily startled wings. That would take some getting adjusted to, but the fireworks were quite stunning in their show stopping glory!

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When she spotted him from the float, Glitter waved in his direction, with a great big grin appearing when he waved back. It made him feel a little less worried to be able to sit outside and not feel on edge over whether he was going to be in danger.

--Could Discord be right, WAS that spell just a one off attempt to resurrect the past? Can I hope for so much?-- he tried to keep those concerns at bay, and just relax, but he knew it'd be a long time before he truly felt at ease completely.

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He thought that was the last of the attention, but Golden Glitter went one step further then he expected and told the crowd at the end who'd helped them rebuild the throne! They were surprised, and Sombra suddenly found himself in the spotlight, at which point it was a sheer effort not to leg it back into obscurity, aka the palace.

But, when he finally stopped trying to cram his highly-strung wings back down, he seen they weren’t glaring. They seemed curious, and they were even applauding! He couldn’t help a small but happy smile. Which as luck would have it was caught by a close enough pony with a camera. With it being broad daylight, there was no flash so Sombra didn't even notice!

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Once the parade was over and the crowd began to disperse, Sombra said farewell to Golden Glitter and Speed Streak. He walked back to the palace, rerunning the days events so far through his head. It'd felt nice to be able to relax…

He encountered Discord en route to his own room. On spotting him, the Draconequus finally stopped pranking the latest set of guards and turned his attention to Sombra's whereabouts.

“You must’ve enjoyed yourself!” Discord chuckled “I was starting to think you'd gotten lost! Wait, hold on, you got something on your face-”

He brushed the remainder of the glitter off the stallions muzzle, laughing as it made Sombra sneeze and scrunch his nose. “What WERE you getting up to that involved glitter?”

So Sombra told him the whole story, and Discord was impressed Sombra hadn’t legged it. Judging by Sombra's body language and expression, the stallion was...happy!

--About time you got that look on your face, Sombra..-- he mused, relieved to see that haunted, saddened expression off the pony's face for a while.

“Is she the one who gave you this?” he asked, spotting the necklace Golden Glitter had gifted him.

“Yes, after I fixed the float.” Sombra nodded, then chuckled dryly “A crystal heart that wont try to drive me batty. Makes a nice change...”

“Hey, don't go getting mopey! Come with me, I have the most EPIC prank to show you!” the chaos being cackled. Sombra ditched his saddlebags in his room and followed after Discord, admittedly curious to see what this prank WAS.

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That night, Sombra fell asleep still wearing the faux-heart pendant around his neck. He felt better then he had in the previous few days, but he was STILL nervous about the fact he'd accepted the role as the Umbrum's ruler.

--Please let me do the right thing this time. It's all I want...-- was his last thought as he drifted asleep.

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But in what felt like a brief sneeze of time, he was woken by an unnamed SOMETHING in his room. He could sense it there. Opening his eyes, he seen the room was being permeated by a blue light.

--Blue…?-- he wondered, then put two and two together and bolted up in bed. The bed covers slithered to the floor as he stared at what was hovering in the middle of the room.

The Crystal Heart. The REAL one.

“No!” Sombra shook his head, staring at it “No, don’t do this...”

He tried to run, wings helping to propel him off the bed and send him racing for the door. But tendrils of blue magic lashed out from the hovering artefact and wrapped around his wings and midsection, holding him up in the air so he couldn’t escape it. He could only stare straight at it, as it brought him closer.

“What do you want?!” he cried, but the thing didn’t answer. It just began to glow brighter. He really began to panic then.

HAY! SOMEPONY-” he began to call out in the vain hope a guard would hear him, but the Heart acted faster.

A beam of bright blue magic suddenly lanced from its centre, to the replica on the necklace Golden Glitter had given Sombra. Intense pain fired along every nerve, and a desperate cry of agony was all that escaped Sombra now. Somewhere in the haze, he could hear hammering at the door, but the Heart wasn’t going to be interrupted.

Faint words filtered through the pain, words he realised were coming from the Heart.

“I'm sorry this has to hurt. Bear with it, it wont hurt for much longer. Then the past can never be repeated...”

“What...do you mean?” Sombra gasped, tears blurring his vision as he fought to keep his mind steady against the steady influx of magic his very species couldn’t fight! It felt like his blood was made of molten magic, searing in his veins!

“The Princess took me inside to study me in the hopes she could find out more about the conflict between me and you. Through her I learnt what had transpired, and I wish to set things right with you. I can give you the immunity to my influence, my power. It is up to you to transfer it to the others, you have the ability.”

“You mean we….won't have to fear you…?” Sombra laboured to talk steady amidst all this.

“Exactly. You wont have to suffer the madness of the past again.”

“I...I’m sorry..” Sombra shut his eyes as he fought to stay conscious “for EVERYTHING I did.”

“I know. You have a strong heart, now that darkness has cleared. Thus I entrust this immunity unto you…”

One last jolt of painful electricity to his very core, and he knew it was over. Blurredly, he seen the heart pulse once more, and the sound of a door crashing off its hinges echoed on the edge of his awareness. Then came the sensation of being set gently on the floor, and after that, only blackness.

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Discord had once again sensed the errant, overloading power of the Umbrum stallion, but something else was mixed in too. Curious, he flew up to Sombra's room, where two guards were trying to force the door open. Blue light spilled out from under the door, and Discord was concerned to hear Sombra cry out in pain. What was going on? A magical force was holding the door shut, he couldn't break it!

At last the spell receded, and the guards next kick sent the door crashing open. They raced in, and skidded to a halt at the scene before them. The Crystal Heart was floating in the air, coils of magic holding a semi-conscious Sombra in the air. As they stood there in surprised silence, it carefully set him down, where Sombra duly passed out.

The glow faded, and the heart fell to the floor, one of the guards doing an admirable lunging manoeuvre to catch it in his hooves.

“What in Celestia's mane is going on?” The other guard asked “what was the Heart doing here?”

“I don't know, but it clearly wanted Sombra. And whatever it was doing, it didn’t want us intervening until it was done!” Discord crouched by Sombra, shaking the pony's shoulder.

“Is he OK?” the first guard asked.

“I think so, hopefully whatever it did didn’t hurt him!” the chaos being grumbled.

“Should we call a doctor?” the other guard suggested, but Sombra stirred then.

“Ugh…” he groaned, hesitantly opening his eyes. His vision focused on the Draconequus and two guards that were studying him with expressions of confusion and concern.

With help he was soon sat up, back resting against the end of the bed.

“What happened sir?” one guard asked.

“I...I was asleep, and the next thing I know the Heart was here. Seems it had something it wanted to give me...”

“Which was what? It sounded painful!” The second guard blurted “we could hear you yelling in agony from down the hall!”

“I-it did hurt...” Sombra shivered in memory.

“Why was it trying to hurt you?!” Discord frowned, it didn’t make sense!

“It wasn’t! Not like you think...” Sombra took a deep breath to steady his stomach “It wanted...to grant immunity to its power.”

“By torturing you?” guard number one asked incredulously “some method it has!”

He stared at the heart his partner was holding, in disbelief. This had never occurred before!

“To create an immunity, a certain amount of the dangerous or infectious material has to be introduced to the body. It used the maximum power it theorized I could tolerate, for long enough to force me to adapt to it. I doubt it could’ve been painlessly done in any manner..” Sombra explained.

“Smartass.” Discord joked, making Sombra smile weakly. But he looked exhausted, shivering slightly.

“Do you need a doctor?” the second guard asked. Sombra shook his head.

NO, I am perfectly fine, just a few aches and pains. I just want to sleep...”

“And up you go!” Discord said, using his tail to lift him up and set him down on the bed. Sombra gave a sleepy yawn and curled up in an ball, falling asleep in a second.

“Wow, he wasn't kidding.” the guards stared at the oblivious stallion as he just passed out without reservation.

“I suggest you get that back where it belongs before somepony panics!” Discord motioned to the Heart “seems its done with its crazy hi-jinks!”

As they left, Discord grabbed the covers from the floor and draped them over the deeply asleep pony. Then he left Sombra to sleep...

Author's Note:

What Sombra feels in reaction to the crowd mirrors my own fear of crowds. A mix of agrophobia and a general dislike of crowds, i freak out at the unfamliar contact! Its not fun...:fluttershbad: Ive suffered panic attacks in the past, they aint nice.