A Growing Shadow

by KorenCZ11

A New World

“And you remember what I told you right?” It was the nine at night. Most of the crew had retired to their deathbeds, and anypony asleep in the hold would remain that way forever. When next I step into the Viscount’s chamber, my Silence curse will trigger, and the door will be locked behind me. And when I visit the doctor… everything will come to a head.

“Yes, Shadow, for the hundredth time. Don’t leave the room until you come get us, I got it,” Sunny said with a roll of her eyes.

“Good.” Though I trust you, I’m not taking any chances. I hate to do this to you, but…

“Why are you on night watch anyway, Shadow?” Moonlight asked.

“I want to see daybreak on the new world for the first time. The new world will be our new home. I want to ingrain this sight in my memory forever.”

“Oh! That sounds like a good idea. Are you-” Sunny started to get back up out of bed, and I pushed her back down.

“Yes. I’ll take care of the Viscount before my watch, and I will wake you up before daybreak so you can see it too, okay?”

Pouting, Sunny sighed. “Alright, Shadow. But you better!”

“Yeah!” Moonlight echoed.

I nodded. “I will.” I brought the pattern for the Sleep spell in my head and pressed it against the edge of my horn. “Goodnight, Moonlight.” I kissed her forehead, and in an instant, her eyes fought to stay open.

“Goodnight… Shadow…” and off to her world of dreams she went. Next, I turned to Sunny. Those big, violet eyes, bored through me like a beam through ice. No matter how she looked at me, she could make me melt. If I was hers… I don’t think I would mind, being a slave again… Though it pained me, I prepared the spell again and went to do the same thing. In a surprise, she beat me to it and met my lips with hers. I released the spell on accident.

“I… love you… Shadow…” Her eyes fell, and so did she.

“You what!? Sunny!?” I grabbed and shook her, but the spell was already in place. At the earliest, she would wake up in the next six hours, and nothing, would disturb her slumber. I bit my lip so hard that I tasted blood. “Damn it!” I punched the wall as hard as I could, but even to my ears it was muffled. Silence was already in place in this room as an extra precaution I took. The only pony that’s ever said that word to me… was my mother, when she threw me in that carriage. I couldn’t find it in the Doctor’s dictionary. He laughed at me when I asked him about it. He said it wasn’t a real word. That it didn’t mean anything. Just a malfunction ponies have.

She knows the word, and what it means! The doctor is a bald-faced liar, and he will tell me before he dies! A familiar sting in my eyes, an ache in my heart, and rage burning inside, I blew out the candle and closed the door to my chamber. A physical lock, a magical lock, and a shadow encryption on both, the girls would be safe. Now, it was time to act.

---

The first thing I did was trigger the Sleep curse over the hold. They wouldn’t suffer like this. They’ll dream of a better life, and live in that dream forever. With any luck, the goddess will see fit to let them dream their dreams for eternity. If nothing else, the sleeping slaves will be slaves no more.

Casting the Shadow spell on myself as I’ve done many times now, I tread silently and unseen through all the decks on the ship. Silence and Lock on every room and every door in the berth deck, a Sleep curse with the instruction to reverse its effects just before the ship wide drain goes off for every unicorn, and finally, the many spells I’ve prepared for the viscount and the doctor.

The dangerous one was asleep now, the curse I put on his bed triggered as intended. His candle was still burning. If I had to guess, the trap went off before he even realized what was happening. Too bad he’s too powerful to keep his horn before I torture him. A precaution, but a necessary one.

With the bone saw I stole from the sick bay, I went to work on the sleeping doctor. The sound of steel grinding on bone was sickening, but I needed to do this. I might be more powerful than the doctor, but he’s more experienced than I am. A quick caster too. Had I not set all these curses over the last month and tried to do this all tonight, there’s little chance I could have. One at a time, slowly and carefully, taking every measure to make sure I went unnoticed. One… two… three!

CRACK

And just like that, the doctor becomes an earth pony. A giggle found its way out of my lips. What would be more poetic, than using the sharpening spell on this, and ending the doctor with it? He does so love his analogies of trickling liquids… I put the severed horn in my bag, and then left the doctor’s room. My time piece read nine thirty.

Just like every night, the Viscount would be just about to lay down in bed. Once I was near enough that I could carry it in without getting winded, I opened my bag and started to cast the copy spell on the little bundles of hair I’ve collected over the last three months. I took my gold coin in hoof and started changing hair to gold. After fifteen minutes of work, I counted two hundred forty coins, and even had a few more bundles of hair left over. perfect…

I knocked on the door. “Viscount? Are you still up?”

I didn’t hear anything, which meant silence was still in effect. Vibrations did however, come from the other side of the door. The fat stallion’s hooves crashing against the wood. The door opened, and an irritated old unicorn stood before me.

“What is it boy!? Do you realize what time it is? Why are you here?” His orange mustache was out of place, what little of his mane that remained on his head was uncharacteristically curled in odd ways, his pale violet coat was pushed in odd directions, and even his pajamas were wrinkled. I have to savor this sight. Ah, what a wonderful morning tomorrow is going to be…

“Well, I made a promise to you a few months ago, didn’t I?”

His brow furrowed. “Promise? What…” he looked at my bag, noticing the strange shape of it, and narrowed his eyes at me. “What have you got in that bag, boy?”

“I wish to purchase #23 and #24. You said that they would cost me two hundred forty gold. Even though you so rudely damaged #23, I still have enough here to pay full price.” I opened my bag just enough to show the good viscount the glint of the many fake gold coins in it, and again, another face to savor. His tired eyes snapped to alert, and his pupils dilated like a cat with catnip.

“Well, I, er… The doctor commanded that I… he wanted a fair… You, er…” he swallowed and found his words. “Why don’t you come in, yes?”

“I’d love to.” Because as soon as you close that door, your fate is sealed, viscount.

---

“I simply cannot believe it. I’ve counted and checked every coin four times, and I still cannot believe it. Where in the world did you happen upon two hundred forty-seven gold pieces? And at such a young age… what age, exactly?”

Sitting on the viscount’s bed, I used the curses I’d already placed there to enhance the bone saw in my bag. He was far too interested in his fake gold to see it though. “Oh, my birthday is tomorrow. I’ll be seventeen.”

“Seventeen! My, when I was so young, I couldn’t even dream of this much gold! And my father was a baron! How did you acquire so much? I know the captain told me you paid the fare, but to think you had all this the whole time…”

All the curses applied, this sweet blade will cut through the viscount like butter. Ah, how sweet the screams will be. How wonderful the sound when agony turns to panic. How delicious the fear will be. “Well, my father is a very important stallion, viscount. Surely you know him. His name is Dark Canter.”

Again, the viscounts eyes nearly bulged out of his skull. “You… you’re the son of Lord Canter!?” He got up out of his chair and came closer to inspect my eyes. “By the goddess! You are Lord Canter’s! There isn’t a noble in the old world with eyes that green but he! And that stark black mane… you really are his progeny aren’t you?”

I nodded. “Oh, yes… Initially, he sent me with that bag so I could secure Spiral Horn Mountain for him. I’m sure somepony as important as your self knows about his plans to build a city there? From the talk of the crew, I hear it juts straight out of the land that can be seen from everywhere.”

The viscount swallowed. “O-of course! I… I had overheard that Lord Canter had already made a claim on it, but to think that he sent his own son to hold it… Is this um… your payment to me won’t interfere with the lord’s plans, will it?”

I couldn’t help but smile. Though only half of what I said was true, the fact that this piece of refuse thinks so highly of my father just adds to the satisfaction of killing him. “Oh, not exactly. I’m certain I could make some decent coin myself, but he did want me to buy some laborers with this so I could get started on the settlement he wants to build there. He said he would call it, ‘Lot,’ a place he could rent land to the lower species. It wouldn’t make much money on its face of course, but a small community trading and paying taxes there? Over time, that would turn into quite the investment, don’t you think, viscount?”

The viscount brought a hoof to his several chins. “By the goddess… Canter is a mad genius!”

My eye twitched. This slimy dastard and that one would be peas in a pod, wouldn’t they? I’m sure the viscount is just thinking of all the piles of gold he could amass by latching onto my fathers nethers and singing his praises…

“You know, er… what was your name again?”

“Sombra.”

“Ah, right. Canter’s little shadow, yes, I remember you now. #23 and #24 really aren’t all that necessary to build my own castle. Even without them, numbers 17 through 40 would be more than enough labor to accomplish what I need. If you were… willing to put in a good word with your father for me, I believe I could find it in my heart to part with the both of them for the small fee of eighty gold. I would hate to impede on the good lord’s dealings in the new world after all. How does that sound?”

I felt my teeth grind together. Making the very same argument I did when I first asked for them! Only now that he knows who I am does he try to ‘sweeten the deal’ to get me to curry favor with that old worthless slave master! ‘Ah, I remember you now. Canter’s little shadow.’ A number of spells came to the forefront of my mind, and had I less self-restraint, I would have acted on them. A few months ago, I certainly would have. But I’m different now. Smarter than I was. This is for them, more than anything. Calm down. He needs to sign their titles over to me before we can kill him. Otherwise, this will all have been for naught.

I took a deep breath and nodded. “Of course. I’m certain my father would be happy to meet somepony like you.”

The viscount clapped his hooves together. “Splendid, positively splendid. Allow me to just find their titles, and then I’ll take my fee…” his horn lit, and then a small chest underneath his bed floated to him. He pushed the fake gold away, unlocked the rather plain box, and started digging through parchments. “40, 39, 38, 37, 36, ah, no need to keep this one anymore.” He produced a small flame in his magic and went to light the parchment at the corner.

“Wait!” I shouted.

Startled, he turned. “What, what!? Is something the matter?”

Damn it! What are you doing!? “I um… that page is worthless to you, correct?”

“Well, yes, that is why-”

“Can I have it?”

The count was confused. “I… suppose you can. Not that I have any use for it. But um… why exactly…?”

“I treated him… up until he died, that is. I… don’t want to forget him.”

He eyed me for a moment, but in the end, he simply shrugged and set it aside. “Very well then. A favor for a lord’s son never hurt anypony.” He went back to flipping through pages until he’d gathered all three. “Here you are my boy. #23, #24, and a memento of #36.”

I took all three pages in hoof and inspected them carefully. Though he was clearly dazzled by the fake gold, there was still a chance the viscount was just as slimy as he looked, so I made sure the pages were real. Using the reverse Shadow spell proved they were all authentic, and I let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

“Think nothing of it my dear boy. A pleasure doing business with you.” He stuck out his hoof to shake mine, a bright smile on his face. And equally bright smile on my face, I took hold of his hoof with mine. My horn lit, the saw in my magic, I swiped it through his foreleg with the ease of hot water melting snow.

The count didn’t make a sound. He merely looked at the severed foreleg dangling from my outstretched hoof. My smile only grew wider.

“Ahhh!”

And then, it came. Oh, how beautiful. How wonderful. How delicious, the sound. Spilling like a pierced wine skin, the crimson drained from the count’s new wound as he rolled around on the floor.

“Careful. You might stain my ownership forms. We can’t have that!” Raising my hind leg as far as I could, I slammed it into the count’s stomach, knocking the air out of him. Before he felt like he could fight back, I stepped on his face and went to work on his horn. Thanks to all the spells I’d added to the saw, it came off with much less effort than the doctor’s. I threw a numbing spell on the count’s hurt leg, then picked up his horn and made him look at it. Pain, terror, agony, confusion, but most importantly, despair overtook his face.

“How does it feel, Viscount? You’re an earth pony now!” He went to scream, but my raised hoof quickly found his teeth. “No, no, none of that. Not that it would do you any good to begin with.” Like a worm, the count slithered away from me as fast as he could and reached for the door with his remaining forehoof. He pulled and pulled and pulled at the handle, but it just wouldn’t turn.

“How cute. You think you can run away.” Using magic to hold it was starting to give me a headache, so I reared to my hind legs and put the saw in my right forehoof.

“W-why are you doing this!? I-I thought-” His voice irritated me, so I launched and kicked him in the jaw again with my rear hoof.

“You thought what!? You thought I would forget what you did to Sunny!? You thought I would forget how you looked down on me when I asked to buy her!? How I made a fool of you by rising to your jape!?” I grabbed a pile of coins and threw them at his face.

“You sold your ‘precious slaves’ for the mane of a dead pony! For the very hair of the stallion whose title you were going to burn like a piece of trash!” The coins bounced off him and as they fell, the spell I cast on them faded away. Little bundles of dusky gold and bright gold landed in neat piles all around the count.

And there it was. The moment I’d been looking so forward to ever since the day he hurt Sunny. The face of a stallion who regrets every single decision he’d ever made. The face of a stallion who had no bowels left to evacuate. The face of a stallion who knew he was staring death in the face. “The new world doesn’t need stallions like you or my father. I’ll let him know you’re already there when he comes to visit you in hell!”

---

“Good morning, Doctor.”

The white stallion blinked a few times. “Hmm? Shadow? Is that you?”

“No. My name is Sombra.”

He looked down at me, then took in his surroundings. His legs are all spread and chained down to a table in the sick bay, he stared at the light I’d placed above him, and then finally, his eyes fell on the white bone in my hoof. Then, he met my eyes.

“I see you’ve been busy. Is the Viscount dead already?”

My smile fell. That was… not the reaction I was hoping for. Or, really, even one I was expecting. “You wake up like this and that’s your first question?”

The doctor shrugged. “I wasn’t certain you would act on it, but I always knew you had it in you to murder everypony on the ship. You’re just like me, after all.”

My heart was racing nearly as fast as my mind. He expected this? But… but… he didn’t do anything about it! He… he just let me cut his horn off? Why…? “How did you know?”

“How did I know what, Shadow? That you wanted to kill me? That you have a deep seeded hatred for unicorns? How there’s little else you hate in this world more than Lord Canter? How you were going to kill the viscount the first chance you got? You’ll have to be more specific. I know many things, Shadow.”

“That is not my name!” I jammed his horn into the pit of his foreleg and his body twisted in pain.

“Ooh, didn’t even numb me! Did it feel good when you tortured the viscount to death, Shadow!?”

I pulled his horn out and stabbed him in the chest again. “It did! Answer my question!”

He coughed, but… something strange happened. There was no blood. Not from his mouth, or either hole in his body. What in the world…? “Hah! You are nothing but my grand experiment Shadow, and with this I would say you’re a rousing success! Do it! Stab me again, hit me even closer! Inflict as much pain as you possibly can without killing me! You know just where to pierce me to accomplish it, I know I’ve taught you well!”

I took several deep breaths and held still. He’s gaming me, even now. Why? He knew I was coming for him, but… what’s going on? He isn’t even bleeding. I don’t understand... I removed his horn, then cast the scanning spell on the doctor, and again, even without his horn, the body didn’t show signs of anything. Not even life.

“Curious are we? You were always more interested in learning than your vengeance!” Wild eyed, smiling like today was the best day of his life, the doctor stared at me like the Viscount stared at all that fake gold.

“What are you?”

He twisted his head until he was looking at me from a right angle. “What… am I? Me? I am just a sign to point you in the right direction. I am merely a step in your development. A stone for you to walk across. Another inch on the path of your journey. You, my dear Shadow, will become the most powerful dark magic user there ever was. I have never seen a pony with such capacity for hatred in their hearts as you! You are a work of art! A gift from Entropy itself!

“You can wield chaos as if it were second nature! Casting curses, bending entropy to your will, even passionate enough for love and murder with the same breath! You are my masterpiece! You will create such chaos unlike the world has ever seen! Your future is black! The very ones you love the most will turn on you and strike you down! But not before you destroy both the new and old worlds, no, you will do exactly what you set out to do! Aha ha ha ha ha!”

The doctor laughed and laughed and laughed. At some point, I think I realized that whatever this creature was, it was nothing more than a shell now. A puppet. The doctor did say that he can make a corpse dance. My only wonder now is whose puppet he was.

I decided to keep the horn. If nothing else, it could be an ingredient for a spell or a curse. But what it would serve me as for now, was a reminder. There’s a pony out there that was using the puppet he called ‘the doctor’ to get to me. And though the doctor is no more, he is still out there.

There’s little doubt in my mind that he will find me again some day.

---

Once midnight had passed over the ship, I collected the bodies and tossed them off in the waters. When I returned to the room I’d left the doctor in, the body had rotted away into dust. Truly, he was nothing more than a puppet. Once that was done, I set a spell to make a sound after a few hours and took a nap. I’d worked hard tonight. Sunny and Moonlight and all the other slaves were free now. All the other slaves… except for me.

I agreed to give him my all. And he agreed to give me his. In a way, I think then, I became a slave once more. Forever, I would be cursed to think of the doctor. To think like the doctor. To become the doctor, or really, the pony behind the puppet. Truly, it scared me to my very core. He knew it all. He planned it all. He watched and waited and he bet on it happening. I can only pray that the future isn’t as set and stone as he seemed to think it was.

When morning came, I retrieved Sunny and Moonlight from their slumber and brought them on deck. For just a moment, there was a glimmer in the eastern sky. A bright orange ball in the break in the clouds. One that looked just like Sunny’s cutiemark.

Even if I’m destined to become what the doctor said, then I can’t let that bother me. Whether or not he was manipulating me to put me on this path, I’d already decided in the beginning that this is what I wanted to do. This system of slavery and ownership must end. The long winters must be brought to a halt, and summer must return. This corrupt world must be burnt to ash and rebuilt. A free world. A green land. An end to the sunless winter.

I am Sombra, and I will create a new world.

Comments

[Sasha Nein]

Hmmm... I wonder what will happen with Sunny and Moon now. I hope there is more to this story. A lot more.

[KorenCZ11]

10002266
Possibly. Though this is the story as of now, I did have it in mind for either a two part or a three part story. In the event I do move forward with the idea, chances are I'll call the next part, "A Rising Shadow." It would be a very different story though.

[duckmagee]

10002266
Probably origins of two future princess which if so add a whole other layer of tragedy

[Ice Star]

It might be worth adding the right character tags to this so it could be added to more groups and the people who want to read about the characters in it find the story.

[KorenCZ11]

10003700
I thought about that and decided against it. You don't know who you're dealing with here until the middle of the story at the earliest, and I'd like to keep it that way.

[Ice Star]

10003720
Well, there is a tag just called ‘other’ and it’s used for when a character is still canon. I’d at least suggest adding that one instead.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Yup, what I thought. Though it's definitely a fascinating approach to the questions it answers. I do have to wonder what happened between the end of this story and the final conflict, but this was one heck of a ride. Thank you for it.

[Littlepony115]

Excellent story, loved the Doctor character. I'd also love to hear what comes next, if you're ever wanting for more to write...