Shadow And The Heart

by DR-Fluffy

Chapter 3: The Darkness in the Ice

Ponyville had changed much over the years, but at its core it still clung tightly to its small town roots. It was easy to see if one knew where to look; the way the flower seller greeted each pony by name, the way the air seemed to hum with energy, even in the placement of the buildings and how no matter where you went the path would always seem to draw you back to the city square. Yes, Ponyville was a city, yet out of the many cities that Shadow had visited few could claim to have held onto that core.

Shadow sipped at a fruity tea drink, a local special at the cafe he sat at. Of course to the outside observer that saw him, all they would see was a lime green unicorn with a camera around his neck, sitting alone on the patio. A simple tourist, nothing more. Though Cadence and her lackeys were the group that hounded him the most, he would be a fool to think that Twilight would be any less dangerous.

Even now he could feel the magic that coursed through the city, like a vain, it ran through the streets and crisscrossed into a web that blanketed the city. It was a net, one that at the slightest use of dark magic, would light him up like a star in the sky. He had seen them before and knew how to be wary, but it was no less annoying. It was simply another burden that he would take on, and do so gladly, if only for the view that came with the cafe.

Though the view was not the best, Shadow could still see the Friendship Castle, and the alicorn washing the side of the building with a long handled mop. Several times he had to stop himself from snapping a picture of Flurry Heart in a jumpsuit with the grumpy face that made him want to laugh. He finished off his drink and signaled to the waiter for another.

It was those quiet moments that he could reflect on what brought him to this point, and why, no matter what, he had to continue on his path to the very end.

***

Six years ago

Shadow ran that’s all he could do, through blinding snow and the deafening roar of the wind. He didn’t know where he was going and he didn’t care anymore. She had seen him, was that why he always hid from other ponies, because a part of him knew he was a monster?

Shadow flew through the air, like a dark flair ripping through the storm that howled against him, desperate to put as much distance between himself and Flurry Heart as he could. Until at last his exhaustion won out against the pain and he crashed into the ground, carving out a strip of snow as he landed. He was too tired to hold the spell together, so he laid half buried in the icy powder a mere pony, too tired to stop the tears from falling. Shadow felt a numbness that had nothing to do with the cold that lashed against his thin coat. He wanted to lie there, to be buried in the snow and be forgotten. Perhaps he could have if not for the call.

Like a siren's song, it called to him. It wasn’t music, but more of a feeling, a direction to follow. Having nothing back the way he came, Shadow chose to follow it.

And so he did, one agonizingly cold step at a time, barely able to see a few feet in front of him. With nothing but time, the blizzard could not keep his thoughts away forever, and before long he found himself pondering that last day. Could he have done something different? What if he had not run when Cadence found them? He pondered them all, each thought weighing upon the next, until they were more of a burden then the snow that fell down on him.

He was overwhelmed with a feeling of triumph when he emerged at the edge of an icy gorge. The snow was too blinding for him to see how wide this gorge was, but it was deep enough that he couldn’t see the bottom.

Shadow could feel the call somewhere down there. He had regained enough strength to use his smoke form and flew down. A few feet from the edge he found a thin layer of ice on the wall, so thin that he could almost see through it. Solidifying a hoof, he slammed it into the ice and could feel the vibration run through it, but he didn’t have the momentum to break it, hovering in the air like he was, nor did he have the energy to spend trying to beat the ice down. However, there was another option. Shadow moved to the other side of the gorge and rushed at the wall. At the last possible second, he changed himself back into a pony.

He smashed through the ice with his weight alone and landed hard on a patch of ice. Right away his mistake became obvious, he had come in too fast and was now sliding uncontrollably down farther into the tunnel. Too tired to transform again so soon, all he could do was hold on. The walls were brightened by the ice that sped past him, casting everything in a shade of blue. He slid quickly down and around corners, up short hills that launched him onto the next icy patch.

Shadow flew out of the tunnel as the end of the road ejected him into a large open room several feet below. He landed in a pile of snow that ringed a small pond. The pond had a perfectly round ice platform in the center with a connecting bridge to it. Dusting the snow from his body he trotted to the edge of the pond. The sound of crunching ice echoed off the walls with each step of his hoof. The cavern seemed almost unnatural, it was simply too perfect. The water was crystal clear enough to see the bottom, leaning down he took a drink and soothe a burning in his throat he didn’t know he had.

“What do we have here?” another voice spoke, seemingly everywhere and nowhere. It took Shadow a moment to realize that the voice was coming from the Call. The voice was the Call.

His eyes turned to the platform and from every corner, from every shadow, the darkness poured in. It swept over him and fell upon the ice like a tidal wave. The shadows molded together and took on the shape of a pony. As the shadows turned into darken fur and piercing eyes, Shadow could do nothing but stare. The older stallion held the face of someone he had only seen in his dreams, who watched him with a look of indifference, but there was no mistaking who this was: Sombra.

His body was in tatters; many parts were simply gone and replaced with twisting shadows: his right leg and eye, parts of his ribs on his left side, his hoof on his left foreleg, and even his horn was only a broken bone. He looked like he was being pieced back together bit by bit.

“Hello, my Horn,” Sombra said. Despite the distance his voice was clear.

“W-what,” that was all Shadow could stammer out. His mind was stalling. There was too many questions running through his head, but one stuck out to him: Why did Sombra call him 'his horn?'

Sombra moved to take a step and the image of his body shuttered, blinking in and out. Shadow thought he was seeing things, but before he could think about rubbing his eyes, Sombra blinked in front of him. Shadow fell back on his flank and stared wide eyed at the stallion that towered over him. Sombra’s face took on a dark tone as he looked down on the colt before him. “I said you are my horn,” he touched the jagged bone protruding from his forehead. “And I have waited a very long time for your return,”

Shadow pushed himself back to put as much distance between them as he could, but he knew it was pointless. “I don’t understand, what do you mean I’m your horn?”

“You were born from my magic. In the event that my body was destroyed and I couldn’t regenerate, my horn would create another me. Think of yourself as a backup plan to ensure that I live on. But it would seem the spell triggered prematurely when I was blown apart all those years ago.”

“I’m just a backup,” Shadow repeated in bewilderment. He wanted to scream in protest, to declare that he was not just some clone, but a part of him knew it was true, the little question that had plagued him just fell into place: why he had no memory before coming to the Empire, why he could use the smoke form so easy yet not explain how he did. Being so close to Sombra the call was so strong. It was like a lullaby telling Shadow to curl up at his hooves. He shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. He just needed to focus on the present.

“That you are, and quite an inconvenience. If I had your power from the start I could have fully regenerated, and be on my way to reconquering the Crystal Empire.”

Sombra was after the Empire, Flurry Heart. Her name jumped to the forefront of his mind, overriding any fear and the pull of the call. Shadow knew it, as he gazed into Sombra’s demented eyes, that she was in danger. But what could he do, a mere fly before a spider.

“What’s wrong, my Horn? You seem so… shaken,” He smiled down, clearly finding amusement in this. He reached out and tapped the tip of Shadow’s horn. Shadow jerked back as he felt something tearing away from him. Sombra touched his hoof to his own stub of a horn, and it grew ever so slightly. “Oh, Horn, you have been a very bad pony. This ‘Flurry Heart’, how she haunts your thoughts. Oh, and she’s the daughter of one of those wretches that robbed me of my victory.” A cold smile spread on his face that sent a chill down Shadow’s spine. Sombra looked off into the distance and continued to speak aloud. “Yes, yes, that could work. If I kidnap this Flurry Heart those vermin would do anything to get her back, though it’s doubtful they would give up the Crystal Empire that easily. Yes, this could work.”

He wanted to take her. He wanted to make her cry, to make her suffer. “I won’t let you!” the words were out of Shadow’s mouth before he knew he had spoken them.

Sombra looked down at him like he had forgotten the colt was there. His cold expression hadn’t vanished “Is that so, and what, Little Horn, are you going to do to stop me?”

Shadow felt the attack before it came and dodged to the side just as a spear of shadow impacted the ground, knocking the snow into the air. It was clear to see that he had overstayed his welcome, yet the reality of the situation was that he couldn’t win. Maybe if he could summon those black crystals again, but he had no idea how to do that. To make things worse he hadn’t eaten in days so he wasn’t even sure how long he could transform into smoke. Shadow chanced a quick glance at the tunnel he came in from, to get his bearings, it wasn’t too far. There was a chance, but only one.

Shadow threw balls of snow as fast as he could scoop them up. Sombra laughed as he smacked them away with the mist that cloaked him. Shadow dodged whenever the spears attacked, but those were slow. It was painfully clear he was being toyed with.

Sombra knocked away another three snowballs before his face dropped. “This is just sad, and here I thought you would surprise me. It matters not, let us end this.”

Another spear attacked, forcing Shadow to the side and right into the path of his awaiting shadow tendril. It wrapped around his throat and cut off his air. It brought him over to hang before Sombra, who looked at him like Shadow was little more than a tedious chore he had to take care of. Shadow was clawing at the tendril, barely able to breathe, but he had to wait. Just a little closer. He had no idea how Sombra planned to ‘reabsorb’ him but he hoped it was close and personal, for his sake.

Sombra loosened up on the tendril just enough for him to speak. “Any last words,” He teased, savoring the moment

“Yes,” Shadow gasped out, and mumbled out some gibberish.

“What was that?” Sombra leaned in just a bit closer. In that moment, Shadow swung his leg to hit Sombra’s one good eye with all of his might.

Sombra let out a cry and dropped the colt to the ground. Shadow didn’t waste this chance, using what little strength he had left to turned into smoke. Just as the spot he had fallen was hit by a dozen shadow spears, there was no hesitation in their strike. He flew into the air and headed for the tunnel entrance.

“Very well, Horn, no more games!” Sombra’s voice reverberated through the cave, dripping with rage.

Shadow passed through the entryway and black crystals erupted from the tunnel walls. he weaved his body around them and sped up the winding path. He couldn’t slow down; the black crystal was consuming the tunnel nearly as fast as he could fly. He squeezed through small gaps in the crystals that would have trapped him in pony form, but was trivial as smoke. Shadow could see the light of the exit, but behind him he could hear Sombra, “You can run, Horn, but know I will find you. I will always find you!”

Shadow broke into the light and banked up hard. The black crystal erupted from the entrance like a geyser, barely missing him. He rose out of the gorge and aimed for the Crystal Empire. He would not let Sombra have her.

Shadow collapsed at the border of the Empire where the cold air met the warm. His chest rose and fell in time with his heart. He didn’t have anything left. It was night already and his body wanted rest, it begged for it. But he was so close; he just needed to see if she was ok. As he rose off the ground he noticed a nostalgic sight that his hoof had uncovered: a blue Ice Lilly. The sight alone gave him just a bit more energy.

Flurry Heart’s room was protected with countless unseen wards. But they were thinly placed enough that Shadow could slip past them. Still he had to be careful, one misplaced step, or careless spell, and the whole of the castle would come down on him. He had nothing left to escape with.

Flurry was asleep on her bed. She was safe. Shadow didn’t want to wake her, so he simply placed the flower on her pillow. She couldn’t see him, not anymore, but he would watch over her. He wouldn’t let Sombra or anyone else hurt her.

Shadow leaned down and whispered into her ear, “I’ll always be your friend.”