Princess of Infinity

by Echo 27

XVIII: Sombra

It was not real. It could not be real. She was asleep and all this world she had endured was only a horrible nightmare. For nothing she had ever known could hope to compare to this nightmarish, unholy sight of Sombra’s shadowed palm piercing her husband’s chest before her very eyes. She could not speak, she could not even breath. She had seen death, stared into its beady eyes and known its breath upon her face, but never had it struck against her as deeply as it did now.

With a sickening squelching sound, Sombra’s hand retracted from Ford’s gaping wound, within his palm a small, crystalline sphere of white light no larger than a marble, Ford’s body falling limp as the claws were removed. For a moment Sombra seemed to stare at the little sphere with a strange sort of curiosity, feeling it against his fingers before conjuring forth a small vial and placing the white sphere within it. Still holding the body of Ford in hand, he turned to face Celestia and flashed a malevolent grin, tossing the broken body aside like a child’s plaything before turning his back upon his foe, opening up the floor with his powers and revealing a deep tunnel into the abyss into which he disappeared.

She stood there, the spell still unbroken. The few seconds she had been here felt as though it had been an eternity, the miniscule moments played out before her over and over again: the violent crunching of Sombra’s hand plunging into Ford’s body, the sudden gasp of air and the immediate dimming of his eyes- how limp his body had become-

“Ford!” Celestia rushed over to his body that had been flung so carelessly and fell before it, hesitating to touch him lest she give death its permanence. Slowly, with all the fear and sorrow in her heart mounting into a crescendo, Celestia turned Ford’s body up to face her and saw the eyes that held no light within him, the arm that lay severed and caked with blood, the many wounds and scars that lay colored red across his body, culminating with a vile, blackened mark across his chest where Sombra had dealt the final blow. Already his body had become cold with the emptiness of this awful place, not even his blood still flowing from his wounds. He lay there in her arms with a gaze that saw nothing, his life taken to where no Light could find him.

“No, no, no, no, no,” she whispered, her vision reduced to blurs by her tears as she caressed him, knowing that there would be no spell, no magic nor might she would ever find that could bring him back from the Deep. “Ford…” she let her tears fall freely and she wept aloud, her wails of grief echoing across stone and earth like the cries of the countless throng, for no other soul had known her and loved her so deeply across the many thousands of years, all of them shared together. The young man she had once known, transformed into her great guardian, and at last to a peaceful warrior who had sacrificed his life to spare her own- Saber Ford, the steadfastly, loyal love she cherish was forever gone, lost in this forgotten hell.

She looked at his many wounds and felt sickened to see such bloodshed of her beloved, the slick sensation of crimson trails she felt against her skin enough to make it crawl. She rejected the sensation, unable to stomach it. Though he was gone, there would be no accepting this for the one she had loved. Taking some of her own garment and tearing it into strings of cloth, she turned to his wounds and cleaned them with all the tenderness and loved she held with her, pushing away the filth and grime that riddled his body and even wrapping his savaged arm in bindings, only tossing them aside when no trace of his injuries could remain.

She took the strangely lightweight form of her husband in her arms, rising to her feet and carrying him to the sacrificial table to lay him there, gently pushing away the ashes of the Philosopher’s Stone until they had disappeared into the dust of the earth. There she set him down and she found herself wishing for there to be a sword she could place in his hands, or even a garland of flowers to lay at his feet, for no other soul had given such boundless courage, or such tender gentleness, to her so freely in all her years.

Her memories drifted, far from this darkened world, and back to the land she had once known, thinking of their first meeting and all the warmth that had been born from it. She remembered all the many ‘firsts’ they had shared together, their laughter and heartbreak, the joy and grief all intermingled- and all made better by the endless life they had shared together in their true home. Now all of it was gone, for here, alive, she still stood, whilst he had departed into the dark. Celestia fell beside the table, unable, or perhaps unwilling, to press on without him.

She knew not how long she lay there in the dark beside the body of her fallen husband; in her grief, the hours became as centuries. But eventually the world around her found means to rouse her from the endless memories she was unwilling to depart from, and bring her back to the senses she had rejected. For all around her, the world had grown misted. Was it a trap? A trick of Sombra’s meant to defile her beloved’s lifeless form? She rose to her unwilling feet to meet it, but in the mist she faced there was no wrath or wickedness of which she could sense, but instead only a great sorrow that echoed within her own heart. She watched as the mist swirled and churned, gaining mass and form until it became a multitude of shapes; people of all kinds stood there before her, a great mass of a funeral march taking shape as they surrounded the grieving woman.

“Who are you?” Celestia asked of them, her voice cracked with the pain of her grieved wails. “Why have you come?”

The mist churned again as one of the wispy figures came forward, the shadow of an old king who had long ago left his crown. He came to stand before the Alicorn and in his eyes she could see the weight of a thousand terrible sins that had consumed him and brought his spirit to this place. “We come because we must,” he answered, though his lips did not move to speak. “We who are bound to the walls of this Prison of Souls.”

“Like your fallen warrior shall become,” answered another.

“Why? Why must he become like all of you?” Celestia challenged, her sorrow causing her to turn quickly to anger. “He is not of your land or your people- he is free, he belonged to my home, to me!”

“He is bound to this place by the lord of this Prison. The lord of all this world,” answered the Old King. “For his soul is now within that lord’s grasp, and loathe would he be to relinquish it.”

“He holds the stolen soul of your fallen warrior like a hunter baits his prey,” said another of the shadows. “Before your face shall he dangle it until you cannot resist the temptation of it any longer, and he shall ensnare your own spirit as well.”

“So he has been taken into the Deep…” Ford had never been worthy of such a punishment. Too good, too righteous, too noble to deserve such a fate. It was not an end fitting to his legacy.

“He is within the grasp of the lord of the Prison. He has no light or dark in which to dwell,” said the Old King. “He remains in an emptiness as we are, but held fast within an unforgiving hand. And there he shall remain in his restlessness, lest you seek the means to free him from such an end.”

“He can be freed..?” Celestia looked back upon Ford’s still figure, recalling Sombra’s blackened mark that had so heavily scarred his chest. “So he is still alive! I can bring him back!”

“What fate he is truly destined for is not for us to decide- nor is it a decision of your own making. Free him from your foe’s grasp, and he shall be at peace, no matter where next he takes breath.” The Old King’s words were flat, final in shape. There would be no other way, nor other words to bring to her.

“If I stop Sombra- if I kill him…” Celestia hesitated. “Shall I free all of you? Can the ones who are trapped within this place be set free?”

“If the lord of this Prison falls, then we shall be at peace.”

Celestia turned one last time to look upon the body of Saber Ford, recalling the many memories; his headstrong charge against the Fire Roc, his selfless rescue of the Colony, his desire to protect the Accursed, his long reign of their true home. Even here, at the very end where he had sacrificed all, not once had he hesitated. She did not have to wonder what he would have fought for here.

“Then it is in his name that I shall see it finished.”

The descent into the deepest Abyss took her far from time and life, the very fundaments of existence passing away until only the deep blackness of the Void was there beside her. Above the surface she had felt the bitter cold of the great emptiness of the world, but here there was not even the smallest sensation to grace her skin, not even the heat that welled from the core of the earth. Sombra’s descent into this place had become all it knew, and the natural trappings of the world were tossed aside in his longing for solitude. On and on she went until she wondered if the great depths of this place would never have an end to them. Slowly, held in the dark, she could feel the tightness of the descent begin to come to an end, opening up into wider and wider spaces until it was as vast a place as she would ever know, making the coliseum above feel like a droplet of water compared to the oceans. And there, far on the other side, she knew Sombra waited.

As soon as she entered that place the earth came up behind her and sealed off the route to the Prison above. This was Sombra’s truest domain, where all of what he had become was allowed to lay bare. She felt entombed as though this place was not a hideaway but instead a great grave, a monument to the sins of its maker. She paid it little heed, allowing her only focus to be upon the colossus who stood across from her.

Sombra, back turned to the entrance, seemed to give Celestia’s entrance little heed, instead marveling at the vial that lay tied about his neck like some necromantic necklace, handling it with utmost care as he examined its contents. “He fought valiantly,” Sombra told her, his voice placid like a lake in the morning. “I am not fool enough to ignore it. Though he was the last of a long-lost people, he honored their memory.”

“Why must you continue to do this?” she asked of him. “You have lost. The Stone is gone, your power over this world will fade. Your work to worm your way into the reality of this place will fall. Why continue to kill when there is nothing left?”

“I must understand him,” Sombra answered. “I want to know why you chose him instead. Why, out of all the many souls you ever knew, you chose to give your heart to such a common thing… why I failed.”

“Why you failed?” She could hardly believe the words had come from him. “You took more lives, enslaved more people, crushed the wills of the multitudes- only the sins of your master could rival you! What did you hope would rise from your actions?”

“I could not stop!” Sombra roared, his anger setting the very air to boiling. “I tried to be something great- to be glorious! I was a king, and it was my duty to rule! The world begs for unity in the dying breath of every soul who has been betrayed by his people, and I would have brought peace to them all!”

“You would have brought destruction!” Celestia snarled. “You chose power and armies and all your grandeur over the decent things that give light unto the world! I was too fool to see what you had become, blinded by the same emptiness that so easily ensnared you. You could have chosen life, and a home, but you bowed to your maker and sold your soul to the Deep!”

“I would have brought peace to the universe- to everyone! I would have been the greatest king the world had ever known, and you could have spent eternity by my side!”

“I knew the greatest king that ever was- and I spent more years by his side than I could ever hope to recall,” she said, her words beginning to tremble with her grievous anger. “You want to understand him? Why I loved him? Because he chose what was good, again and again- even when it cost him everything!”

Sombra’s face spoke to a bitter rage, the truth of Celestia’s words cutting so deeply into him that there would never be a healing to his wound. “So it is done,” he murmured, letting the vial fall against his chest as he faced his one true foe. “I offered the universe a chance, and instead I have been rejected. So I will rise from this place and finish what I started. I will remake the Philosopher’s Stone, and with it my army shall rise once more. And until the last beating heart that roams across the galaxies belongs to me, I shall not rest. And there at my side I shall have your head as my trophy.” He raised his great hands in battle, allowing the Void to surge into him and give him strength.

Celestia did likewise, allowing her memories of Ford to rise into her and give her strength. The countless thoughts of those she loved came forth in a great tidal wave; Luna, Twilight, Hearth Fire, and Ford- dear, dear Saber Ford. “Sombra, I come to end this once and for all!” she declared, igniting her hands and glowing in the darkness. “Now, give me back my husband!”

Sombra sneered, giving a snarl that spoke to unrivaled rage. With a great cry he thrust his hands against the earth and brought forth a fiery fissure, allowing the molten core of the world to rise forth and send its magma into the air at her-

Celestia summoned forth water from the air and surrounded herself with a great flood, heaving great jets of water at the fissure and sealing it away, forcing the liquidized rock to cool and harden once more. One last spurt was solidified into hardened ice, and she took the great spear in hand and hurled it Sombra’s skull-

Sombra caught the javelin in hand and shattered it in his grasp, letting the myriad shards fall around him like glass. With a snap of his fingers a great whirlwind of dust appeared and careened towards Celestia with violent intent-

Celestia closed her hand into a fist, bringing it upwards and then back down as the ceiling fell apart, great chunks of rock falling onto the small vortex and crushing its strength into the ether. Again she flung her hands, bringing forth down an endless cascade of stone down upon them both until the world above had been at last exposed-

A flash in the distance and Sombra’s power tore through the land, coursing through the fallen rock like lightning in the clouds and turning even the smallest pebble into an explosive-

Celestia brought forth a barrier and let them ignite, forcing herself to withstand the blast, each successive ignition more concussive than the last. At last when it ended she relinquished her protection, only to find Sombra there atop her-

A quick slash of claws and Celestia had been knocked aside by the colossus’ strength, her senses momentarily dashed-

Sombra leapt through the air towards her, his shadowed blade in hand to crush her into the earth-

A cry of fury and she let her power fly, a blast of purified sunlight emitting from her hands and coursing through Sombra’s chest, sending him flying backwards and back into the haze of smoke-

Celestia rose as quickly as she could, giving chase to her foe knowing that he would not be staggered for long-

The smoke around the depths began to swirl and take form, Sombra summoning it to him and giving it his power. A great host of soldiers came into view, standing before their master and facing the Princess. With a thunderous war cry they charged forward with sharpened blades-

Celestia set her hands against the earth and felt its spirit, allowing the dust and rock to speak to her. The elements took shape at her command and became like the beasts of the wild, a countless throng of untamed creatures that rose forth to protect her and they charged into the army of shadowed soldiers, rushing through their smoky frames and turning them into nothing-

Sombra stood there before her with blade at the ready, waiting for her to next move. “I am not even tired, Princess of the Sun!” he taunted. “After all those years, is this all you have within you?”

Celestia did not deign to give him answer, snapping her fingers and letting the power that held her earthly guardians together fall away. She plunged her fist into the ground and all around them sprouted thick vines, the verdant growths becoming like whips and binding themselves to Sombra until he could not even begin to move. She did not wait, instead bringing her hands into focus and igniting the glory of starlight and letting it fly towards him-

A great gush of flames came from nowhere, Sombra’s open mouth spitting tongues of fire at his bindings until he was at last freed, he catching the font of starlight Celestia had flung and holding it captive, twisting the celestial might into his own darkened shadows-

Celestia rushed forward, holding a great axeblade that shown with the light of the sun, carrying it in hand with all its weight and splendor towards her foe-

Sombra, having fully twisted the starlight to his will, gave it the shape of a lightless vortex and carried it in hand, racing to her and bringing down upon her-

The two worlds ignited and broke apart, Celestia’s axe shattering into countless pieces and she was tossed back into the rocks, the blast scarring her flesh and tearing open wounds. Sombra disappeared from her sight and when she fell she lay there for a moment stunned.

To rise from where she had fallen was excruciating. Bones had indeed been broken, and her blood was slowly dripping onto the ground at her feet. Her breathing was coming in perilously hard, and she felt the slightest tremor of panic begin to take hold within her; she was losing strength and she did not even know if she had gained any ground. Sombra was winning.

“Where are you, coward?” she called, stumbling across the broken terrain in an attempt to display her supposed might. “Have you run from me into the dark?”

“Run, have I?” Sombra growled, suddenly appearing from the depths behind her and knocking her aside. “I do not hide anywhere in this place. It belongs to me, knows me by name. I am its master, and here the Darkness seeks to snuff you out.”

Celestia struggled all the more mightily to regain her footing, turning to face Sombra and found herself facing a great shadowy face, its crimson eyes burning down upon her with unrelenting heat-

She did not dare to cower before it, instead clapping her hands and letting a great gust of wind push through it. She felt beads of sweat fall down her face and she wondered if it would be enough to drive the darkness away-

At last the shadowed face disappeared, but only to be replaced a heartbeat later. Out of its echoes came a fiery shape like that of a great dragon, bellowing and crying until it seemed the rocks about them would split at the sound, and it charged towards her-

Celestia sought out the waters yet again, giving form to that of a mighty serpent, it winding and flickering its way across the land until it faced the dragon and put its coils around the beast’s neck. The dragon screamed about as its body was slowly destroyed, writhing about madly until suddenly it rose back to its feet, the flames of its body burning white hot and evaporating away the serpent until little more than vapor remained, and still it barreled towards Celestia-

She tried to conjure forth a wall of rock to protect her but was too slow, the furious dragon careening into her and searing her skin, crushing her beneath its feet. To rise from the blow was tortuous, and only the sound of Sombra’s mocking laughter was enough to rouse her strength. She would not bow to that noise, not again.

“She weakens and tires,” he sneered. “Is that truly all you have within you?”

“No,” she growled. “It’s not.” With all her might she cried out, bringing her arms above her head as she summoned forth every scrap of strength, every small fragment of will and fury she had within her. Exhausted though she was, she would not even begin to give in while she still held hope. She was the greatest of all Alicorns, and long had been her days of rest. In this last blow would she put all she had, allowing herself to become filled with the depths of her strength. No war of attrition to be dealt any longer, but instead one final move, and the time had come for her turn.

Above her head, a sphere of pure Light began to grow, at first hardly larger than a small orb- but quickly it grew, its maker summoning forth every scrap of might that could be found-

Sombra stood there and did not try to stop her, instead steeling himself for the blow that he knew would come. He gave a great roar of defiance that shook the air, welcoming her onslaught-

Celestia felt her knees begin to buckle and she stumbled, the weight of her sphere bearing down hard against her weary frame- No! She would not falter or give way to weakness here. She would stand beneath it, she would do what must be done! On and on the sphere of Light grew, becoming great and mighty. No longer was it miniscule, instead dwarfing its maker as it continued to grow, becoming all the more massive until it seemed its light would consume the whole world-

With one last terrible scream, Celestia released the sphere of Light and fell to the ground, watching as it careened towards Sombra with devastating power-

For a moment it stood still against him- until a great hand cut through it like it were mere paper, the shadowed claws eating away at its brightness until the great sphere could not withstand any longer, weakening until it were no more, the light within it fading into nothingness. And there Sombra stood, unharmed and smiling on the other side.

No. It could not be. Her mind refused to believe it, so weary was she with exhaustion. She had to have done it, he could still falter! She flung bolt after bolt of energy at him, each one weaker than the last. Desperation added to their number until the air was filled with her strokes, Sombra batting away every last one as though it were a fly buzzing at his face. He stepped towards her with a slow finality, his smile turning into a vicious leer.

One last blow and Celestia could not bear to even stay upon her knees, falling to the ground as she could barely breathe. Her blood poured onto the ground below her, her limbs trembling as there was no strength left to hold them. “No, no, NO!”

Sombra laughed at her despair, still marching towards her. He dropped his sword and let it fall away, his bare hands all that he would need to finish his work. “All of that, all of yours years,” he sneered. “Thousands upon thousands spent within this place, and for what? Not even a drop of blood. How does it feel to come so far, to sacrifice everything you have, only to fail?”

Celestia raised her head to wail aloud, her screams of grief echoing across rock and space and time. She had no strength left with which to fight back, no power that she could still summon to make one last defiant charge, though her heart would burst if there was an effort. She had failed; this world would fall into Sombra’s grasp once again. He would restore his strength, resurrect his armies, and march out of the Palace and into the waking world once more, where there would be no might great enough to challenge him. Everyone she had ever loved would die- Luna, Twilight, all of Equestria and the world with it would be burned away. Ford’s soul would be lost in the depths of the Prison forever, endlessly searching for a place of rest. And there she would be with him, yet held eternally separate as she lay ensnared in Sombra’s agonies.

Her vision was blurred by the shape of Sombra before her, and she felt a great hand fall about her neck, dragging her into the air where she lay limp, too weak to even stare at her last foe before she was slain.

“Enter into the Deep, oh Princess,” Sombra said softly, squeezing her until bones began to break. “It is done.”

His grip tightened and Celestia’s mind began to drift. All fear and panic and mourning began to leave her, an emptiness taking hold of her senses. So far had she to fall, and never would she find the bottom. One last glance to the skies was all she could manage, and there above her in the darkened skies that held no light could she sense the sun, held deep within the grasp of a tyrant while its heart lay dormant, waiting for the call to be given unto it-

To give it life once again.

Sombra felt it before he saw it. A spark, smaller than the merest of things, but growing strong. Then it came- a flash of light across her body. Then another, and another! Great sparks surged through Celestia’s skin and ate away at his flesh, crackling like thunder until he could not bear to hold her any longer and he dropped her to the ground. Sombra began to back away, keeping himself distanced from the dying Alicorn. He watched as she rose from the ashes, her head rising to face him, and he saw that her eyes were glowing with a Light that grew across her form.

“No,” she said, almost as though a whisper that grew in strength. “Noooooooo!”

Celestia’s body became that of pure Light, striding towards Sombra with an unmatched purpose. He staggered back, beginning to feel a heat picking away at his skin. He had fought on, he had all but slain her and stolen away her spirit- but this? This was impossible!

“You shall not take them from me!” Celestia called, her voice crackling and bursting with a thunderous roar the likes of which had never been heard across the earth. “I will not falter, here at the end! And you shall bear witness!”

Sombra’s skin burned and began to fall away, inch by merest inch. He tried to move further away from her, away from that horrid Light that had come to her in power, but nowhere would be far enough to be free of its grasp.

“You are Darkness, and that is your name! Darkness, Depths, Shadows! In you there is nothing but absence!” she called, Celestia’s words eating away at his spirit. “Light comes to fill your void, and not a trace of you shall remain! In me there is Light, and not even the greatest of darkness can withstand it! Face me now, Sombra, and hear me words!”

Sombra did not dare but found himself forced to look upon her, his eyes burning away as he took her in all her might of fullness-

“Let there be light!” she cried. She flung her hands into the air and she became a pillar of light that burst forth into the heavens, spiraling ever upwards until it seemed it would reach into the ends of the cosmos- only to stop against a great solid shape, its glory pouring over the darkened star until the vastness of the horizon was ignited by it. There was a great Thrum! Across the heavens- and then another, as the heart of the Sun began to beat yet again, reborn in the pillar of Celestia’s making.

Clean, pure sunlight flowed across the world, and Sombra gave a scream as flesh and bone were eaten away and burned into nothing, his soul that had been borne in darkness unable to withstand the wholeness of Light.

A small vial, held fast by a simple string, began to fall to the ground in the hopes of shattering. Before it could even brush the ground a trembling hand was there to snatch it away and it was held close to warm flesh that was quickly growing cold. It was pure, precious, and worthy of all protection that could be given.

She had no senses with which to guide her. No strength to sustain her vision, not even the hope of sound was there to be of aid. If she stumbled onwards or simply lay there Celestia did not know, her weary mind so far drifted from her that she would not even find the means to speak. All she knew was that she held the vial in her hands so tightly, clutching it with what little of herself she still had to spare.

A sudden pressure before her. Hard and immovable, suddenly giving way to softness and flesh. She knew- the vial shattered in her palm and she held the sphere in hand, pressing down against the softness until it disappeared and she collapsed, her breaths coming in fragmented, weakened gasps.

As she began to feel a light against her eyes, followed by a tremendous warmth, all she had the strength left to do was smile. And smile she did, as the Doom of Man fell about her.

Author's Note:

October 12th, 3 P.M.
When all that has has been will come to a close,
and all that time is left for,
will be one last farewell.

Soundtrack additions Here

And, for one last time... comments and corrections below. It has been a pleasure.

Comments

[Echo 27]

9871157
Only an epilogue remains. Release time stated above.