Ghost of the Crystal Empire

Sombra let a deep, booming laugh once he observed his surroundings.

“Thanks to your foolishness I am once again free!” he gleefully exclaimed.

“Only your consciousness,” The Doctor reminded him. “And it’s still deteriorating.”

“That no longer matters!” he replied, brushing off The Doctor’s observation. “I am no longer confined in that accursed crystalline prison! No longer shall I need to wait for my curse to finish its work for me-I can take Cadance’s body by force now!”

“Aren’t you still forgetting something?”

“And what pray tell, would that be?” asked Sombra with a confident smirk.

“The Crystal Heart,”

“So?”

“It’s still in the center of town, the only reason it didn’t affect your consciousness is because it was already within the empire and concealed within that prison, but now that you outside of it, the Heart has detected your presence and it won’t let you back in.”

The Doctor let this sink in as the tail end of his coat billowed in the icy wind and the first flakes of snow began to fall outside the warm, summery empire.

Sombra’s confident demeanor fell as his smirk slowly turned into an ugly scowl.

“You lie.” He accused angrily.

The Doctor stepped out of the way and gestured to the empire.

“See for yourself.”

In a sudden burst of speed, Sombra’s shadowy spectral form charged forward, until his curved red horn collided with a light blue barrier which had been invisible up to that point.

Green and violet magical energy was being emitted from it as black smoke trailed behind him; the barrier also emitted its own magical energy in the form of electrical charges, which nullified Sombra’s.

“Gyyyraaahh!” he pushed even harder as the dark violet mists streaming from his eyes became even more profound, as if they were tears of desperation, but even with all of his might combined with his remaining, dwindling magical power was of no avail.

“Are you quite finished?” asked The Doctor.

“My empire….my slaves…” he breathed, feeling what remained of his life force draining even quicker than before.

“They’re not slaves, Sombra.”

His icy glare returned to The Doctor.

“They are people; living, breathing, thinking, feeling people-a king, a good king protects his people, makes them feel safe and loved-you did the opposite of that.” He explained.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I’m trying to help you, despite the fact that you’re too stubborn and stupid to listen. I’m trying to explain to you why you you’ve lost both times in the past, why you are losing now and why you will always lose.”

“I have power! Enough to make them fear for their lives and their loved ones-enough even to force them if need be.”

The Doctor merely shook his head in exasperation.

“You’re just not getting it…” he sighed. “That alone means nothing!”

“You’ve had power before and you used to spread hatred and fear throughout your empire during your reign, making their lives a living hell, dedicating your every waking moment to making others suffer for your own amusement and did you ever once consider showing a single shred of mercy or decency?” he asked.

“Those are inconsequential,” he snarled. “I own them, I can do whatever I want and they will still submit to my every whim.”

“Besides,” a malicious grin spread across his face. “Just because I can’t get inside doesn’t mean their beloved princess can’t either…she has to leave some time.”

“Perhaps,” agreed The Doctor. “But, if she succumbs to your curse before then?”

“There’s still her husband.”

“Well, I suppose that’s true…but, everything you are; your magic, your strength, your hatred, is coming apart at the seams; the very core of your being is unraveling and what will you be left with? Consciousness…no interactions with others, no voice, no strength, no magic…you will just exist without a body or even an astral form like the one your using right now.”

He narrowed his gaze.

“Do you really think someone as devoted and loving as Shining Armor would be willing to leave their wife in the state she’s in now, before that happens?”

Sombra merely hovered in place, glaring daggers at The Doctor.

“Well, I suppose he might if she thought she were close to dying and had some sort last request that would require him to leave the empire and you could possess him then, but that really wouldn’t matter.”

“What? Why not? I could still use his body to get into the empire! What could possibly be stopping me then?” he demanded.

“You could get back inside the empire, sure-but, you’d be unable to remove the Crystal Heart from its pedestal, let alone destroy it…not to mention you’d still be deteriorating without a proper body.” He explained.

“What did you do!?” he growled, beginning to lose his patience.

“Well, I realized that if you had taken control of Cadance’s body and had control of an Alicorn’s vast magical prowess, you may have had a chance to keep yourself alive and rebuild your physical form, but not as a unicorn-which is why once I’ve looked over the console back in the cave, I recognized the designs were similar to that of a teleport device, taking advantage of it, I removed us both from the empire to keep her safe.”

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE CRYSTAL HEART!?” Sombra roared angrily.

“Oh, that.” replied The Doctor in a tone that made it seem like trivial, minor detail in his grand scheme.

“Yes…” Sombra confirmed through gritted teeth. “…’that’.”

“Well, since you decided to possess the bodies of others, I came to the realization that even if you did find a stable host body, I couldn’t let you affect the Heart in any way, so through a bit of Sonic engineering I was able to lock it down to its pedestal with Isomorphic controls.” He replied.

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that the console, the pedestal, and the Crystal Heart cannot be manipulated in any way…unless I want them to.”

“You want the power for yourself?” he challenged.

“Oh, not at all…I just want to keep away from people like you-who want to destroy and misuse its properties for your own benefit-other than that I really couldn’t care less about it.”

The malice filled grin Sombra wore earlier was slowly beginning to return.

“Which means, all I really need…is you.”

His eyes returned to The Doctor as he licked his lips in anticipation of the success of his plan.

“Die, Doctor!”

He charged forward once more as The Doctor stood there idly.

As he moved Sombra felt something strange at the back of his being, like he was being erased.

‘What!? No!” he mentally exclaimed before pushing himself to move faster towards the stallion standing across from him in the snow bank.

He had to keep going, he was almost there…

There was a searing pain running down the center of his face, as if he were being split into.

The Doctor stood there stoically watching as a single white crack trailed down the center of Sombra’s being, emitting a white glow.

“No! No! NOOOO!” Sombra screamed in a mixture of disbelief and agony as his being was pulled apart.

But, maybe he could still make it….

Fighting through the pain, he put everything he had into reaching The Doctor.

‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ he once again exclaimed mentally, as his mouth not longer functioned properly, save for a few grunt and screams.

They were practically nose to nose, a single hair away…

‘Noooo…’ was all he could think of in despair as he was ripped into with the white glow shining even brighter.

Both halves blew past The Doctor, causing the tail of his coat to once again flutter as the two halves collided with the snow bank, creating to parallel tracks in the snow as both dissipating halves of what remained of King Sombra left behind trails of smoke.

The Doctor turned around to look at them.

“Is that it?”