> Shadows and Twilight
>  by CasperSantiq
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> just because i couldn't do it doesn't mean someone else could
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Out in the frozen north of what use to be a plane of tundra and snow where a lone train stop stood, a bright flash tore across the expanse. At the end of a railway to nowhere stood a gleaming archway of brilliant crystal shimmering in a myriad of luminous splendor. Beyond such archway was a road made of the same material, glittering and gleaming. Ponies were lying about as if they had just fell to rest right on the spot. Along the road of crystal were houses and buildings and lamps aplenty made of the very crystal like if a monarch had tried to flex their wealth at their neighbor, and succeeded.

Honestly it was an eyesore. Beyond all the buildings and houses, in the middle of the standing effigies of wealth stood towering hundreds of meters( or feet if you're from murrica) above it all was a crystal palace. if it belonged to a stallion, it could have possibly be considered an attempt to compensate for... something.

It just so happened that a stallion did own this, and if anyone were to check they would be able to tell that he wasn't. He too was lying on the floor in the castle throne room, but unlike those who were out cold, he was awake from the moment he popped back into existence.

"uhg, why did i try to do something so Fucking STUPID?" he rolled onto his side and gripped his head, clearly suffering from whatever had transpired before now. "I have no way of actually governing this farce of a kingdom or its ponies!"

Swiftly he shifted from a clearly equine shape to a shadow then back to a pony in the blink of an eye. He stood before the throne in a regal manner, drew a dark and mysterious power upon his horn and zapped the jewel upon the peak of the throne. Darkness flowed through the crystals and into the floor before him, opening into what appeared to be a fathomless pit. As soon as it had opened enough for him to fit a tendril of his shadow into, he disappeared in a wisp into the pit.

As the pit revealed all of itself, stairs could be seen on the sides, clearly unneeded by the dark lord. At the bottom of the pit a lone door appeared, but was quickly zapped by a regular bolt of magic, forcing it open to reveal a hallway containing a set of stairs upward and another door leading further inward.

Soft grumbling could have been heard if anypony had been close enough, "Damn princesses and their stupid 'holier than thou' "We can't abide by your evil reign any longer!" bull!" he made his way to the second door, leading into a study with a great many a book shelf a few chairs and a bed in the corner, his hooves clanking upon the floor loudly. "'Your evil ends here!' Pah! As if i didn't try to petition for their aid that harvest! And the previous queen had been a total Lame! Damn near sent the Empire into ruin with all those parties! And her unlawful imprisonment of the Umbrum! I mean yeah, they don't look the nicest compared to a pony, but they had been needed to eradicate the Wendigos!" He walked up to and roughly shoved a bookcase aside, revealing another hallway, the books staying on the bookcase as if held by magic, this one ending at a door affixed with a bar holding it shut.

Whispers could be heard from within, begging him, pleading for him to open the door and release what lay within. Yet he ignored it, magic building up and writing itself upon the wall surrounding the door. The whispers died out, waiting for whatever was happening to end. Despite being trapped for and unknown amount of time, the stallion clearly had enough power to do what he was attempting. As the magic grew to an end, two things happened, the bar broke, opening the door... and a portal opened up before the door, sealing the hallway from whatever lie within.

With a satisfied yet strained humph and a flick of his tail, he turned away and began his trek back out. He kicked the bookcase back into its previous spot, masking the hallway. With another humph and a quick jump, he landed on the chair.

"Radiant hope, I'm leaving this place, and I want you to stay and hoof over the Crystal Heart over to whomever the blasted sisters send out here. After that you may join me out in the world. just don't expect to find me." a figure could be seen trying to escape the confines of the blanket upon the bed.

The head of a pink crystal unicorn mare popped out of the covers, "What in the name of Tartarus are you talking about?" her head popped up out of the grasp of the comfy confines, "I thought you were going to free the Umbrum and take over the world! It was your whole Shtick!"

"Not anymore, I give up and have sent the Umbrum Back to our native Shadow Realm, from whence we belong, but i'm going to stay around for a bit and find out what exactly happened in the blink of time we were trapped in." he dropped his head upon the table, clearly more worn out from the magic he had wrought back in the hall hidden behind the case. "And after that I will decide weather or not to stick around for a bit longer or go back unto the shadows. now go forth and retrieve the Crystal Heart and present it to whomever comes to the Castle, I draw weary of this place."

With a flick of his shadow Sombra disappeared back towards the throne room and out of the castle, and further beyond into the frozen norther tundra lands, following the train tracks to wherever they may lead. Swiftly as the wind, and as silent as stars, he made his way to the lands before him.