An Equestrian Lifestream Corrupted and Manipulated

King Sombra bared his teeth and bum rushed Sephiroth into the Crystal Palace with a ferocity that shook its foundations. Pieces of the palace fell to the ground below with many ponies and changelings running in panic. As some of those were crushed below by falling rubble, Sephiroth emerged from one side of the building unscathed with a look of amusement. King Sombra gave pursuit to the man trying to rend him with his teeth to which Sephiroth took a swing cutting into King Sombra’s face.

Sephiroth, in midair, landed on the ground below watching his enemy above yelling in anger. Sephiroth waited for the impending attack but instead noticed crystals rising from the ground below his feet. He also noticed that King Sombra’s horn had begun to glow a fiery red. The crystals below Sephiroth’s feet had started to engulf his lower body. King Sombra took this opportunity to rush his enemy again smashing into the man with enough velocity to level the surrounding buildings.
Watching from afar, Cloud turned to Cadance and asked about the shadow being.

“King Sombra is a shadow of the Crystal Empire. Under his rule, all ponies were slaves. He rules without mercy and is unrestrained in his use of power.”

“Sounds like Shinra,” Cloud remarked.

“Who?” Cadance asked.

“Just an old memory.” Cloud turned to his friends and said, “Sephiroth is our responsibility. We can’t sit on the sidelines and allow him to get stronger.”

“What the @!$# are we supposed to do?” Barret asked.

“Whatever we can. I’m not about to let Sephiroth have his way.” Cloud and his friends moved into the fight leaving the container behind until needed. They didn’t make it far before the black fog became thick cutting visibility to only a few feet in front of their eyes. All they knew was that they needed to stop Sephiroth before anyone else gets hurt.

King Sombra emerged from the ground missing his left eye screaming in fury. His horn started to glow again making the surrounding black fog much thicker. However, he was struck in the face with a soft object to which he stopped his outburst long enough to notice his missing eye falling to the ground where Sephiroth was smiling below.

The fog became so thick that only a single green eye with a red iris could be seen. Its intense glare was racing to and fro with loud crashes heard throughout the empire. That is until it disappeared followed by a loud scream – not one of fury but agony. The fog disappeared revealing the outcome.

Sephiroth stood over King Sombra who was missing his one eye, his horn, and bleeding very badly. In Sephiroth’s right hand he held the horn as if studying it. He felt like this particular pony was special and knew the magic it had casted. Sephiroth drove his sword, Masamune, into King Sombra’s side. His intention was two- faced. At first glance, he killed the king and let his spirit attempt reunion with the planet’s lifestream. However, he intercepted the leaving spirit with his control of the Crystal Heart – with a direct influence to the planet’s lifestream - to take King Sombra’s power as his own.

Cloud and his friends ran up to Sephiroth so as to take him down quickly. Sephiroth expected this and turned to face the approach.

“Not yet, Cloud. I’m a little busy. We’ll have our own special moment soon enough. So, why don’t you obey your master like a good little puppet?” Sephiroth raised his right hand and, in turn, Cloud stopped in his tracks unable to move. Tifa stopped to check on Cloud. Nanaki (Red XIII), Barret, and Vincent pressed the attack. Sephiroth swung his sword in a wide but quick arc cutting off Barret’s gun arm. With Sephiroth’s right hand he grabbed the attacking red lion.

Sephiroth tossed the red lion at Vincent who dodged it with ease. Vincent stopped within arm’s length distance of Sephiroth, pulled out his guns, but did nothing.

“Soft spot for the woman, huh?” Sephiroth jested.

Vincent was not amused and did not lower his guns.

“You understand I see. That attacking me is the same as attacking her. Good. However, what do you intend to do? Hold me at gunpoint forever? Or long enough to have the resolve to carry it through?”

“I should’ve stopped her…then this all wouldn’t…damn you Hojo!”

“Hojo? What does he have to do with this? I think you might want to get this checked out,” Sephiroth raised two fingers to his temple tapping it.

“I can’t…she’s…Lucrecia…I’m sorry…forgive me…” Vincent lowered his guns and head in shame.

Sephiroth, still amused, walked past him and said, “You lack commitment. However, I do not. You consider yourself immortal but remember immortals face a fate worse than death. Next time we meet, I’ll erase your very existence.”

Sephiroth walked past Barret still in pain at losing his arm and up to Cloud and Tifa. Tifa stood in between the two only to be knocked aside by Sephiroth.

“What did you do to me, Sephiroth!?” Cloud seethed.

“I reattached your strings with my blood. You are my puppet after all. All I needed to do was reintroduce my ‘mother’s’ cells into your body.” Sephiroth said poking Cloud in the forehead.

“Damn you, Sephiroth,” Cloud spoke in anger.

“Now, now. You are mine to control. What if I were to make you have an accident?” Sephiroth waved his right hand towards Tifa. Cloud, as well, turned in her direction with his drawn Fusion Sword. Cloud walked a few steps forward until standing directly above Tifa who was yelling his name to snap out of it. Cloud raised his sword trying fruitlessly to regain control of his body.

Sephiroth lowered his hand to which Cloud lowered his sword - without striking. “See, Cloud? You are my puppet and nothing more. We’ll have more fun next time. I look forward to it.”

Sephiroth left Cloud and his friends behind to pick up the pieces of the confrontation. Cloud, regaining control of his body, dropped to the ground with anxiety over Sephiroth’s influence. Tifa tried to comfort him but it didn’t help.

Behind them, Sephiroth continued slaughtering ponies and changelings alike in an attempt to further his control of the planet’s lifestream. Even Chrysalis stood in his way and tried blasting him with magic and feeding off him. However, it was not enough as Sephiroth cut her down the same as he did with King Sombra.

Cadance, Twilight, and the rest of the Mane 6 approached Cloud’s party bewildered to the destruction that remained of the Crystal Empire. Words could not express the disarray of the situation. There was no comfort and the air seemed very still. The ground was covered in bodies. The empire was completely destroyed. Blood ran in its streets. Twilight had never seen this kind of destruction. She looked in the direction the man went as he was responsible for it all. She then realized he was heading towards Ponyville.