You walk inside a strange-looking tent, filled with even stranger objects, such as unknown electrical devices, magical artifacts, and alien relics. In the center lies a round table with a cyan glowing crystal orb. Sitting at the end opposite of you, an old gray mare cloaked in a tattered red and brown cloak looks at you with white eyes that glow beneath the shadow of her hood. She smiles slightly. "Welcome, traveller," she says calmly with a clear, yet slightly aged voice that might carry much wisdom. "I assume you're here for a story." She leans her forelegs on the table and brings her hooves together. "But not just any story... no, you're here to listen to a unique story. An exceptional story." She smirks. "Hm. I can assure you, this is really the only story I should tell you... after all... you and I both know what story I'm talking about." She motions for you to sit in the chair opposite of her. You approach the chair and sit down.
She notices your confusion. "Relax," she tells you, spreading her hooves wide. "You might not remember much, but trust me-- all will be explained in due time." She looks down at the crystal orb and places both hooves on it. Then she looks back up at you. "Are you ready...?" she asks. You nod. She closes her eyes, and there is a low humming sound. Suddenly, she opens her eyes, which have turned red, along with the orb. The tent's interior goes dark, and the only light is the radiance of the glowing red sphere. She takes her hooves away and looks at you. "Look into the orb, and you will be immersed in the story." You lean forward and look into the orb. The red light grows brighter and brighter until your entire vision is filled with red. Then you hear the mare's voice:
This is the story of an ancient inter-dimensional being, who, currently, will either save the multiverse... or destroy it.
But we'll talk about that later.
A jagged rock comes into your view, showing that you were looking at a red sky. The area around is a wasteland. Your mind is sucked into the memory...
He travels through the fourth dimension and beyond, seeking justice throughout the universes.
The wasteland had a rocky terrain, and a blood-red haze. There were creatures walking around, pony-shaped wisps of shadow with green eyes leaking a purple essence. Large, black crystals jutted out of the charred, stony earth, and each seemed to have an unnatural shadow.
He is sworn to protect the space-time continuum from illegal alteration and destruction.
Upon the largest hill in sight, a dark, tall unicorn stood strong, watching over the scene before him with green eyes leaking a similar purple essence, a malicious, fanged smile placed on his lips. Formless wisps of shadow surrounded him, entities of evil magic waiting at his beck and call. He was none other than King Sombra.
He also seeks out those responsible for mass murder...
He looked over to a small alcove, surrounded by shadow wisps, swirling around in menacing circles. In the alcove were several shivering, terrified ponies, some locked up in shackles, others lied dead or dying in the corner. He laughed devilishly at their suffering.
Genocide...
A wisp led a shackled unicorn up to the shadow king, and caught his attention with an incoherent whispering noise. Sombra looked down at the stallion with a displeased look. The unicorn looked back up at him nervously. Without warning, the shadows around Sombra engulfed him and seemed to drag him down in the earth with lightning speed. Not a second later, the same shadow erected right in front of the unicorn, quickly dissipating to reveal the menacing form of the king. The unicorn reeled back with a gasp, and stared at the eyes of darkness and corruption. Sombra glared at the pony as his orange horn began to radiate a bubbly purple and black aura, sparking with energy. He gave one last smile at the unicorn before dissipating into a black mist that grew larger and taller until it dwarfed the pony. The same eyes of darkness appeared at the top of the pillar of smoke, glaring again at the little unicorn, who looked up in fear. In one swift motion, the darkness consumed the pony from above, engulfing him in a cloud of shadow. A blood-curdling scream was heard from within, which slowly died down. A few seconds later, a body flew out of the cloud, landing in the pile in the alcove, with the rest of the dead unicorns.
Terrorism...
The living ponies gasped as one more unicorn was added to the body count. One pegasus mare in particular screamed as she ran up to the carcass, holding his leg in her hooves, shaking her head vigorously. Her hysteria finally devolved into mourning, and she slumped over her lover, sobbing.
Suddenly, she felt herself being turned to look the unicorn in the eyes. When she did, she screamed. The body was no longer the stallion's, but the king's, who was smiling devilishly. The mare jumped back and scrambled away as Sombra sadistically laughed at the mare's torment. The mare screamed-- then fainted, and Sombra chuckled once more before vanishing through the ground.
War crimes...
Sombra appeared before another cave, this one with a narrow entrance and darker depths. Wisps stood guard outside, and the cries of soldiers could be heard from within. The wounded form of a winged soldier emerged from the cave's shadows, carried by two more wisps. Sombra changed to his unicorn form as he approached the prisoner and snarled at him. The soldier dazily looked back at the face of darkness before him. Then he gritted his teeth and shook his head.
Sombra growled and gave an order to the wisps. They nodded and dragged the stallion back into the cave. The stallion struggled and resisted, wanting anything but going back into the shadows. Unfortunately for him and his comrades, in his line of work, what he wanted was irrelevant. He disappeared into the shadows, and moments later, more unimaginable screams could be heard from the cave, implying unspeakable acts of torture...
Assassination of high authority...
The king appeared once more atop the stony hill. His evil eyes drifted over to a crown on the ground next to him. A plume of dark smoke rose up from underneath it, holding it up to him. He smiled as he stared into the radiant crystals engraved into the golden regalia.
Mass corruption...
He tossed the crown aside and took a moment to reflect on what he created. The land around him was scorched to the bone of the earth. His loyal wisps... the lost souls of his prey... obeyed his every command, wandering the wasteland, scrounging for anything else to consume... His prisoners whimpered and cried in the red atmosphere. He looked upon this massive atrocity as he stood upon his "throne."
And in his corrupt, malicious eyes, it was beautiful.
...And crimes against the living and life itself.
He is only required to protect the space-time continuum; yet he chooses to protect more.
But not everyone agrees.
Unknown to the king, a lone wisp had wandered a bit too far from the rest. No one was watching him. He was completely isolated. He wandered into a small trench, with plenty of alcoves. He was distracted.
He was the perfect prey.
From the shadows, a black figure crept up from behind the wisp. The wisp had his back to the figure... As a blood-red blade extended from the wisp's chest, earning a demonic cry from him. The ectoplasmic material of his body solidified around his wound into a black crystalline form, shattering when the blade retracted, and forcing the rest of the wisp to dissipate into nothing. The figure stood there for a moment... then looked towards where the wisp had come from.
He has carried this self-inflicted burden for eons.
A small patrol of wisps wandered near the outskirts of the territory. There was a hacking sound, and one quickly turned around. There was nothing there. His comrades were gone. He turned back to alert his superior, but he was gone as well. The shadow wisp, a being of fear, was now afraid.
But only for a few seconds.
He has lived so long he has forgotten how old he is, along with the memories of an unknown amount of years of his past.
This is something that troubles him greatly...
A lone scout stood atop a small rocky hill. He looked over to a small path-- where the patrol was supposed to be. He looked behind him and called out for one of his subordinates to investigate. He watched the wisp as it rounded one of the jagged rocks-- only to be flown backward and dissipate into the air. The scout hastily snarled and dashed forward, rounding the same corner-- only to hear a shattering sound come from behind him. He spun around and saw his other spotter dissipate into thin air. The scout froze. He was about to shout out to the other scouts... but he was never given the chance.
He is one of the most feared things in existence.
One of the watchers could have sworn she heard commotion coming from the forward scouting area. She heard shouts coming from one of the patrol groups. They all rushed into a small alcove-- and were blasted into oblivion by some sort of red burst. She shouted out to a nearby squad to investigate, double-time. They only made a few meters toward the alcove before another blast came from behind them, engulfing them in red plasma. The watcher looked at where it came from-- a field of tall and jagged rocks. The watcher screamed out for another squad, until she realized... there were none left. Not even her squad.
However, he sometimes wipes the memory of his foes so they won't remember him until he tells them his name.
The King, by this point, was aware. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the rising smoke in the distance. He listened to the demonic shouts of his wisps. He stood there, waiting... letting his army take care of this... problem.
He goes by many names...
A rather unorganized crowd of wisps formed in the stony plains, frantically looking around them, a watcher above, shouting orders. A scout charged into a dark cave-- only to have its gaseous body flown backward and die. The large group roared and fired unrelenting volleys of dark magical bolts into the cave, decimating the interior. However, their barrage was cut short as a similar red bolt of energy hit one of the wisps from the opposite direction, exploding on impact and destroying two others in collateral damage. Some of the group turned around and looked about, confused. Two more bolts flew towards the group and exploded, eliminating half of them. The watcher looked towards the source of the bolts. He caught a glimpse of a figure darting behind a rock. He turned to shout to the rest of the group-- only to explode in a red flame not moments later.
The Protector of the Universes...
More and more large groups converged on the enemy's last known location. They surrounded the small group of rocks. There was a very brief moment of disturbing silence before one of the wisps lost its cool and open fired on the rocks, causing the majority of them to join in on the barrage. The rocks were easily reducing to rubble... but the wisps didn't learn their lesson. The figure dropped out of the sky behind one of the groups. As one of the wisps turned to face it, the figure slammed its hoof in the apparition's face, shattering it into black fragments. Not half a second later, it repeated the action with two other wisps who dared to face its direction. The final member of the group turned to face him, and received a magic bolt to the face. The groups nearby rushed to assist, but the figure was already gone.
The Defender of the Fruit...
Sombra heard explosions much closer to his location. He looked to where his wisps were detaining the soldiers, only to see red flashes come from deep within the cave, followed quickly by demonic cries. When they had ceased, the bloodied prisoners charged out, running to where the civilians were being held. Sombra growled and summoned an enormous group of wisps from the rocky ground to his location, ordering them to stop the soldiers. The wisps screeched and gave chase, only to stop abruptly as a light-gray smokescreen erupted from the ground, surrounding them in a flurry of smokey bursts.
The Obsidian Knight...
As the soldiers rescued the other ponies, the wisps frantically and angrily looked around in the growing smoke, searching in futility for the enemy. Sombra gazed into the cloud, also searching... until he saw--
Like a black angel of death, the figure leapt from the smoke, red eyes glaring, glowing blade extended, and landed on one of the wisps, impaling it. Giving no time to react, the figure rolled off of its victim and swung its blade straight into another apparition, slicing through and drawing more attention. Without hesitation or falter, the figure kept moving, striking every surrounding wisp. The wisps around it fired haphazardly at the moving target, missing every time and sometimes striking each other. A long row of wisps landed in front of the figure, separating it from the rest of the group. Immediately, it extended its hoof, which lit up with a red glow, and sprayed a red beam across the line of wisps, destroying them all in under a second. Before the crystalline shards could hit the ground, the figure dove back into the group, landing square on a wisp and jumping off, slicing through another in mid-air. It landed with a metallic thud, and opened its eyes.
The Lurker of Realms...
Sombra frowned as he watched the intruder decimate his army. But as the sounds of battle quieted, a mischievous smile broke out on his face. He licked his teeth as he thought of a worthy opponent. His body dissipated into a smokey gas, which seeped into the ground.
The figure retracted its blade from the lone wisp, letting it shatter and vanish. The smoke began to clear up, and the figure stood strong-- a soldier clad in black metal armor, the chinks of which were highlighted in red. A bolt of dark energy splashed across his helmet, doing absolutely nothing. The soldier slowly turned his head toward the final wisp, who stood there, frozen. The knight simply raised his hoof and blew the apparition away. If the rocky field wasn't considered a wasteland before, it would be now. Fires burned across the scorched land, the heat and smoke warping the air... the ponies fled off in the distance, leaving nothing but shattered crystals and shattered hearts. Said crystals were littered across the ground... they were all that remained of corrupted souls...
Not moments later, the smoke began to thicken again, taking on a darker hue. A low, evil laugh echoed across the burned field. Then, a tall pillar of smoke rose high, and the notorious corrupted eyes of King Sombra, the lord of shadows, appeared among the mist, glaring down at the soldier, who glared right back. The shadow essence narrowed its eyes, and the walls of darkness closed in around the warrior. Said warrior nonchalantly looked around him, eying the smoke. Then, he looked up at the king... and vanished.
"Demon"...
The dark eyes of Sombra blinked with confusion. The walls of smoke quickly caved in on where the soldier was standing-- but there was nothing there. The eyes vanished and the tall pillar collapsed downward, splashing on the ground below and forming the shape of the king's body, who looked around angrily. The thick clouds of his essence told him everything-- but there was no one there. And yet... Sombra still heard voices... voices... "Voices... in your head..." Sombra cringed, trying to rid the voices... "Your mind... is my battlefield." He heard him. He heard him... near him... voices...
There! With a roar, Sombra erected a sharp black crystal from the stone, barely missing an invisible figure in the darkness. Sombra formed more and more shards, barely missing the hidden soldier every time. Finally, with one massive surge of energy, eight tall spikes rose from the ground, surrounding the soldier, who stopped. Sombra laughed in triumph.
However... the soldier rematerialized and looked at the king. There was a pause. Then, his eyes changed from red to a deep violet. Before the king could react, there was a high-pitched humming sound, and a shockwave emitted from the soldier, shattering the crystals and hitting Sombra with a magical aura. Sombra felt weak. He could no longer control his shadows. Purple sparks emitted from his horn. He was stuck in this body... He looked around. The knight was gone. Sombra growled at the shadowy smoke that was no longer his own. He felt so blind... so naked... so... vulnerable.
And with that final thought, Sombra spun around just in time to see a large red bolt strike him, exploding and sending him backward. The king tumbled until he came to a stop, and opened his eyes to see the black angel of death once more... leaping straight at him, blade extended. Time seemed to slow. The soldier's eyes had returned to their frightening red glare. The armor glinted in the light of the flames. This stallion resembled every trait of a demon... until the smoke above him cleared for a brief moment, revealing the bright and radiant sun behind the soldier's head.
And King Sombra, King of Shadow and Fear... was terrified.
...But these are not his real names.
The knight landed square on Sombra with a loud thunk. The king's crown fell to the ground. Sombra shivered and coughed under the pressure. When he regained enough control, he looked up at the terrifying soldier above him. "W-who... are y...you...?" he asked shakily.
His real name must not be heard by some... some must never remember.
The warrior cocked his head for a moment. Then he chuckled lightly. "Who am I...?" he muttered.
It is said that some foes have committed suicide after seeing him...
"I can tell you this... I'm not your worst nightmare..."
It is said that he has made armies of the multiverse's finest soldiers rout in fear at the very mention of his name...
"...I am what your worst nightmare fears most."
It is even said that he has made gods beg him for mercy.
"You want to know who I am...?"
He is the protector of the Fruit of Life.
Without warning, the warrior seized Sombra's throat with a hoof and applied much pressure, forcing Sombra to hack and gasp for the hot, dry, smokey air.
It is said that the day he is defeated... is the day everything dies.
The warrior lifted the fallen king of shadows up so that their faces were inches apart, and that his eyes stared into Sombra's soul.
And he has yet to be defeated.
"I... am Delta."
"Now, the question is..." The mare looks up at you and smiles knowingly.
"...Do you really want to hear the rest of the story...?"
