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The Trial3,232 words
Containment4,042 words

Containment

Sombra stood in shock. He looked, mouth agape, at his father. Captain Sonalo. His father had been dead for years, was this some kind of a dream? The stallion attempted once again, to touch his father's shoulder. But to no avail, Sombra's hoof phased right through his father's image, only slightly blurring the vision, as it moved through. Sombra stepped back in fear as his father began to speak.

"Come on men. Whatever was in this cave, we need to make sure..." Sonalo paused, taking a deep breath before finishing his sentence.

As he opened his mouth to speak again, Sombra turned his head towards the rest of the group. He recognized none of these ponies, surely if they were part of his father's team, they'd surely be somewhere in the Crystal City, right? He turned back to his father as he began to speak once more.

"We need to make sure, that "it" doesn't get it first."

It? What was "it" referring to? Surely if whatever it was, it wasn't something good.

The group of soldiers began walking again, in the direction that Sombra had come from. The gray stallion knew that it was just a dead-end that way, but it wasn't like he could tell them to turn around. As the group fell into formation, Sombra fixated his eyes on a certain pony. He noticed a unicorn, who was dark red in color. As the group turned the corner, he saw only the first two letters on his nameplate. "Bl"

Sombra began walking towards the group, to try and catch up. As he reached the corner, he halted abruptly. He felt the ground below him starting to shake lightly. Above him, the stalactites hanging from the cave ceiling began swaying back and forth, ever so slowly. Drops of water slowly fell from the spikes, making a light dripping noise as they fell to the cold hard ground. The shaking began to intensify.

The black maned stallion turned around, as the walls behind him began to crumble. In shock, he rushed towards his father's group, sliding on the ground and falling to the floor as he turned the corner. He rubbed his head, and re-opened his eyes. He noticed his fathers team, scrambling around, looking for some place to hide. The ceiling in between Sombra and his father collapsed.

"Dad!"

The ceiling caved in, and Sombra could no longer see his father or any pony else behind the dark black boulders. He grabbed a rock and tried to throw it away. But, the rock wouldn't budge. He pulled with all his might, but nothing. The rock was simply stuck in place. The same went for the rest of them. Sombra began banging his hoof on the wall.

"Father! Can you hear me? Are you alright!"

No reply. Sombra repeated himself multiple times, until he collapsed from exhaustion. His vision began to blur, and as he tried to stand up, it got worse. He felt faint, and he stumbled as he took a step forward. The stallion fell once again, and struggled to keep his eyes open. The ground began to shake once again, and as Sombra began to fall unconscious he heard a voice, whispering to him.

"Rage... Torment.... Suffering..."

Sombra's lips moved ever so slightly as he replied to the voice.

"Wh, What?"

"I come for you Sombra!"

The stallion felt himself fall out cold, as he closed his eyes and a dark shadow rushed into his eyes.

Sombra opened his eyes, only to find himself in a small white room. A short white mare stood in the room next to him. The stallion jerked himself up, while the mare jumped back in shock, hitting the small shelf behind her. Feeling dizzy, Sombra observed his surroundings. Out in the hallway was a big red cross on the wall. He must have been taken to the hospital after collapsing.

"Where am I?"

The white pony picked her head up and looked at Sombra closely. She turned her gaze towards his front left leg, where the sword had slashed him.

"You're in the hospital. Do you remember what happened to you?"

The stallion put his hoof on his forehead as the wound on his head began throbbing and he felt himself getting dizzy.The last thing he could recall, was passing out in the king's throne room.

"You had quite a nasty scrape with Xilon. It's amazing that you're even awake, going sword to sword with him, trial or not."

Sombra's eyes widened. The trials, would the king even still let him finish? He tried to stand up, but collapsed under his own weight, feeling the sharp pain in his leg. The white mare helped him up, and set him down back in the bed.

"Don't try that again. Your leg is still in serious shape and several of your bones have been broken."

Sombra groaned as he laid back down. He was in no mood to just sit still and recover slowly. How long would it be before he could move? Or even worse, how long would it be until he could fight? Surely the king would forget about him and move on. A soldier that couldn't fight, was of no use to the guard.

"You should be back on your feet in a week. But I'd lay off any kind of combat for a while, you need to give that leg time to heal."

The injured stallion looked at his injured leg, hissing at his wound. If only he had kept his balance during that fight, he wouldn't be stuck here. The nurse left the room, and as the thoughts of his injury faded away, Sombra began to think about the dream he had had. It seemed all to real too be a dream, he felt the ground shaking beneath him. When he fell and the ceiling collapsed over him, it couldn't have been just a dream. No, it was something more, but there was nothing to prove otherwise.

As his mind was locked in an internal conflict, he started wondering what his father had to do with it. He knew his father didn't die during any kind of cave expedition, his body was never found, only his nameplate, but it was nowhere near any kind of cave. so why was he seeing him there? Was it just some sick trick his mind played on him? Or was something else going on. Suddenly, the image of that red unicorn he saw ran through his mind. He remembered seeing "Bl" on the nameplate. He focused his thoughts and tried to remember the face.

He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to picture the unicorn. His heart froze as the image came into view. It was the same unicorn that had threatened him before is fight with Xilon. Was the unicorn part of his fathers team? That would explain why he was captain of the guard now, his dad's team was the best of the best.

"Ugh, this is too much. I need to focus on the other two tests. I can worry about this later."

But the longer he laid down in that bed, the longer he tried to keep the thought out of his mind, the more it bothered him. He would close his eyes to sleep at night, but the images of his father, the red unicorn and the crumbling cave would come into view. He barely caught any sleep all night, each day feeling longer and worse than the last. At this rate, he wasn't going to recover any faster.

After a few days of lying in torment, the nurse came into Sombra's room.

"Well, you can go today. Your bones have healed enough that you should be able to walk around freely. Just keep calm for a few weeks."

"Ugh," Sombra thought to himself, "King Allian won't wait for me forever."

His muscles strained as the stallion picked himself up. His legs wobbled as he walked out of the room. He set off towards his house to recollect his thoughts. What was he going to do about this?

As Sombra walked home, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He saw the red unicorn from before standing right outside the castle. Sombra could clearly see his nameplate now.

"Captain Blaith"

So his name was Blaith. Well that answered one question, but why was he so hostile towards Sombra? Did he hold some kind of a grudge against his father? Even if that was true though, why would he have been enlisted in Sonalo's squad. This was all too confusing to bare. He decided the best thing to do was just to go home and sleep on this for day. He would worry about everything else in the morning.

Sombra opened the front door of his fathers old house, which he had inherited after his death. He kept his head down as he walked through the halls of the old crystalline house. He looked at the pictures of his father that stood nailed to the wall right beside his bed. Instead of bringing back old and sweet memories, these pictures filled him with a sense of confusion.

He crawled into bed, hoping to peacefully fall asleep and purge his thoughts from his mind. They swirled around in his mind like a tornado, just ravaging everything in its path. It was all he could focus on. Sombra tossed and turned in his bed, jamming his eyes closed.

"Sombra..."

The stallion's heart stopped. His eyes jerked open and quick as a falcon, he jumped up out of the bed, landing hard on the wooden floor.

"Who's there!" he said with a harsh tone.

Sombra's voice echoed off the walls, until the only response he got was the sound waves bouncing off the walls back towards him. Time slowly passed as the stallion stood still, moving nothing but his eyes to look around his room.

"Answer me!"

"Sombra..."

He took one step forward, towards the doorway. He felt a cold breeze pass over his shoulder. Sombra shivered as he felt the temperature around him drop. It began to get even colder, until the stallion began to shiver. His teeth started chattering and his ears started ringing. The ringing got louder, and louder. Sombra lifted his hooves and jammed them over his ears and screeched in agony.

The ringing stopped, and Sombra dropped his hooves and looked at the floor. Breathing heavily, he muttered to himself,

"What the hell is going on."

The petrified stallion turned around. He picked his head up, and fell back in shock as a shadow rushed into his eyes. He felt himself fall to ground, hearing one final word before passing out.

"Anguish."

Sombra laid unconscious on the floor of his bedroom, like a statue. His hooves were up in the air, as if he had flailed them around. His mouth was wide open and his eyes were rolled up in his head. On his face, you could barely see it, but there it was, a little demented smile. He looked like a possessed victim in a horror movie, but this was real. All too real.

The next day, Sombra had awoken, feeling terrible. His head was in pain from hitting in on the floor last night and the ringing continued in his ears. The lone stallion slowly limped through the Crystal City. He wasn't sure if what happened last night was real or not, but he didn't care. Too many things were going on and he wasn't going to let that bother him. It was probably just a dream? Or at least, that's what he hoped it was.

If he was going to continue King Allian's trials, he would need to recover, fast. Time was going to take too long to heal him, he needed an alternate path, now. There was only one pony in Equestria who would even know anything about healing him. The arch-mage of the Crystal Empire, Lanloc. He was the one pony who kept the barrier over the Crystal City, that kept its residents safe from harm. Anything that tried to enter, with any kind of dark intention in its heart, would be repelled. Next to the captain of the guard, and the king himself, Lanloc was one of the most important ponies in all of Equestria.

If any pony would know how to heal Sombra, it was Lanloc. And if that happened, he could continue King Allian's trials and succeed in becoming a guard. Which on the other hand, brought another question into Sombra's mind.

What was he going to do about Blaith? For whatever reason, Blaith held a grudge against him for whatever reason, and that would surely get in the way, but what use was it worrying about it now. Sombra ignored the thought, and continued towards the arch-mage's tower.

As the tower came into view, Sombra picked up speed and began a light jog towards the arch-mage. Two guards stood by the entrance.

"I'm here to see the arch-mage."

The guard on the left looked at his partner, who slowly nodded no.

"I'm sorry sir. I can't let you in, official business only."

"You don't understand. I need to see the arch-mage now."

The guards raised their swords and pointed them at Sombra.

"You need to leave, now."

"It wasn't a request."

Sombra's eyes grew a dark flaming red. He stood on his back to hooves and raised his front ones pointing them at the guards. Two shadows rushed out of his arms and into the guards faces, knocking them out cold. Sombra fell back down, and looked in shock at what he had done.

"What, what just happened?"

He had suddenly gotten so angry at them, and then he just lost control. What was happening to him, he wasn't a unicorn and should have no type of spell or magic. This was something else, and it wasn't good. Sombra dragged the two guard's bodies behind the tower and set them down behind a bush. Hopefully when they woke up they wouldn't remember what happened.

He entered the tower, carefully making sure that no pony had seen him go in. As the door shut, a lone unicorn stepped out from behind a nearby house, and stood staring at the entrance.

"He's breaking. I can see it."

Sombra climbed the spiral staircase, leading towards Lanloc's chamber on the top floor. He approached the front door, and rammed into it, breaking the lock.

He now stood in the arch-mage's chamber. It was a large room, lined with bookshelves filled with spell-books containing varying schools of magic, Necromancy, Wizardry, Witchcraft, Cleric etc. In the center of the room, there was a small orb, sitting on the pedestal. It shined a bright blue as the suns rays reflected off of it. Sombra approached the orb.

"Lanloc!"

Sombra listened for a reply, but there was no answer. He called out again, and still no reply. As he called out a third time, he began to hear footsteps coming from behind him. He turned around, and faced the arch-mage, who slowly approached the young stallion.

"Sombra. Son of Captain Sonalo I presume?"

"Yes arch-mage Lanloc."

The old unicorn paced back and forth, with a perplexed look on his face.

"I'm not so sure I want to know how you got up here, it's why you are here that is important."

Lanloc stopped walking, turned his head and faced Sombra.

"I know why you're here. It's quite obvious actually. I heard about what happened between you and Xilon. Not many that stand against a swordsman such as him live to tell the tale. But, what less would some pony expect from Sonalo's son."

The arch-mage stopped speaking, and looked into Sombra's deep green eyes. His gaze was solid, almost... creepy, like he was staring into Sombra's soul.

"I sense a dark presence within you Sombra. Painful, anguished cries echo in your spirit."

Sombra leaned his head down and replied to the old wizard.

"I'm not hear to listen to you preach to me. Can you help me or not?"

Lanloc stroked his beard for a moment, pondering the question. Finally, he set his hoof down, and spoke to Sombra.

"I'm sorry Sombra," he turned around and faced the door, "But to heal your wounds, I would need to tap into powers confined by the secrets of necromancy, a boundary that I will not cross."

The old mage began walking towards the exit.

"You should leave now, before the guards find you here."

Sombra clenched his teeth, angered at Lanloc's response. He charged at the arch-mage, and wrapped his hoof around the old unicorns throat. A dark gray fire lit up around his eyes. The green in his pupils drained out, and replaced the white background of his eyes. His pupils lit up a bright red color. He charged the old mage and struck him to the ground. He lowered his head, just above his victim.

"You WILL, help me."

Lanloc choked as he tried to speak.

"Shut up! I don't want a response. Just do it!"

Suddenly, Sombra began to growl loudly. His muscles strained and his head began to hurt immensely. He grabbed his head and began to yell as the fire in his eyes receded and the red in his eyes faded away. The crazed stallion shook his head back and forth, screaming in pain.

Taking deep breaths, Sombra stopped screaming and looked again at the arch-mage, who was still struggling for air. He didn't realize how much pressure head put on the old unicorns throat. Whatever was happening to him, it sure as hell wasn't good. If he kept losing it like this, he would end up killing some pony.

"You see now what's happening to you! You can't control your own rage anymore! I fear what you would do if you were in perfect shape."

Reluctant to agree, Sombra, being as stubborn as he refused to turn away from his goal.

"Whatever this is. I'll learn to control it. But I can't control anything if I'm in this state. I'm telling you Lanloc, heal me and I can use whatever this is to my advantage. Please, I need to finish Allian's trials."

The arch-mage pondered the question for a few minutes. After waiting, for an answer, Lanloc broke the silence.

"I should put you down for what I've seen here today. But from what you've shown me, I would stand no chance."

Lanloc turned his head, breaking eye contact with Sombra.

"I'll do it, but no that when you lose control, and your soul turns against your body, you'll regret the day you came here."

Sombra stood in silence. The old mage walked towards a section of the bookshelves in the back of the library. The books were dusty and old, and hadn't been touched in years. The art of necromancy had been outlawed in the empire, and it's secrets were locked away in Lanloc's chamber. After rustling through a pile of books, Lanloc returned from the center of the room, with an old red book in held tightly in his grasp.

"Heth, ishann alkraah."

As the words escaped the arch-mage's lips, a twisting purple been fired out from his horn. He squeezed his eyes shut trying to keep himself focused, the spell was obviously taxing on his abilities. The ray struck Sombra. He shrieked in pain as his wounds began to close up and the scars disappeared. The stallion could feel his bones moving around inside his chest. He began to shiver as they shifted back into place. The pain eased as the ray of light began to fade. The arch mage raised his head, making eye contact with Sombra.

"Go. Now."

Sombra nodded quickly and rushed out of the tower.

The old unicorn laid in silence as Sombra's footsteps faded away.

"May you find redemption in the path you walk," the arch-mage muttered as he closed his eyes.

Sombra, sprinting at top speed rushed towards King Allian's castle. The wind blew his black mane in all directions, creating a frizzy mess. But he didn't care. His strength had returned and the only thing on his mind right now was King Allian's trial. As he approached the front door of the palace, a lone pony stepped out of the door. A red unicorn, with a light gray mane that fell straight down and hardly blew in the wind as he exited the palace.

"Well, well. I'm surprised to see you here so soon Sombra."

Blaith smiled.

"Move Blaith."

"Why. I don't think our king needs to see another failure."

The red unicorn let out a small chuckle, seeing how angry this little insult actually made Sombra. Why not capitalize on it and enrage him further. He could use a good laugh today.

"You're no different from your father. Every pony expects so much from you, but in reality you're nothing but a coward. An outcast. That's why I'm captain of the guard. I keep my soldiers in line. Without me, everything would collapse, like when your father lead us."

"My father was a great leader. Noble, courageous, unlike the reject of a soldier in front of me."

Sombra felt the darkness growing inside of him. He had to keep it contained, or else Lanloc's prediction would come true, all too soon.

"You know nothing about your father! I hope that soon you'll see your father as you should! A coward, thought nothing more of his men than expendable bodies, to fight for him while he would escape and reap the rewards of his fallen brothers."

"Oh and I'm to take the word of a captain who hides behind his words rather than those of my own father!"

The red unicorn let out a small chuckle.

"Perhaps, maybe you'd be more optimistic if your father hadn't blinded you with his tales of his own heroism and acts of valor instead of telling you about the amount of blood he had on his hooves.

Enraged Sombra grabbed Blaith's throat and held him in the air, gripping the unicorns throat.

"Go ahead Sombra. Do it. You know you want to!"

Voices swirled around in Sombra's head. The more he fought what was controlling him, the more powerfully it fought back. His own will was pathetic compared to this, he may as well be protecting a sand castle from a tsunami.

Sombra released his grip from Blaith's throat. The red unicorn rubbed his neck.

"I knew you couldn't do it. And when the time comes, I won't grant you the same courtesy."

Blaith walked away, leaving Sombra alone sprawled across the ground in front of King Allian's palace. The dizzy stallion stood up and rubbed his head. He growled silently at Blaith, and walking into the palace.

"Yes Sombra. Succumb to the darkness..."

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