From the Shadows

Cold; the only word Celestia could think of as she looked out across the barren, desolate landscape.

There was nothing on the tundra, except for the unforgiving, brutal cold; everything that existed only added to its dead, icy touch.

The ground was hard. There were no plants; the only thing that seemed to grow was the ice, spreading on the ground like an infection, coating the already tight, wind packed snow in a sharp, thin layer of near invisible frost.

The terrain was as featureless as the storm, nothing but white existing for miles around. The ice was dark white, the ground was blue white, the sky was dull white, and the snow was plain, milky, never ending white. Nothing but a few jagged rocks here and there and endless tundra, a plain without character, or hospitality for that matter.

It was among the dark, contrasting rocks, weathered and chewed to ragged, incomplete versions of their former selves by the merciless wind, that the princess and her companions found relative shelter. Relative.

The snow did not fall; it whipped back and forth horizontally in the blizzard's current, hard, frozen flakes lashing at those unfortunate enough to be caught in its grips, regardless of the amount of exposure. Even an inch of exposed hide could be enough to cause frostbite to set in in conditions as unforgiving as these.

Not even enchanted parkas helped to shield the equines from the freezing cyclone, and Celestia, along with a few Guard ponies, shivered in the biting cold. The regal mare's body was freezing and numb, but her resolve remained unflinching, even though she stared into the eye of the arctic storm.

Celestia squinted through the horizontally falling flakes, raising a hoof to shield her eyes as she tried to gauge that which was causing them to stay out in such misery.

A few meters beyond the rocks, at the edge of her visible range, was a large crystal, carved in a cordial shape and resting in the ice, slowly accumulating snow as the storm progressed without showing signs of stopping; The Crystal Heart.

Everything was exactly the same as it had been for... She didn't even know how long. It was impossible to tell night from day, let alone time in a whiteout like this. The sky was featureless, a dull, white void without end, progressing infinitely in every direction, and the lack of celestial bodies made the Princess of the Sun feel all the more homesick. But, she had a job to do.

Celestia's focus was diverted from The Crystal Heart by a sudden popping noise behind her, and she whipped around as she felt the foreign sensation of warmth at her flank.

"What are you doing?!" she shouted over the gales as she found a unicorn guard with his horn aglow, huddled against one of the rocks.

"Trying to warm up, your majesty," the guard, shivering despite his numerous layers of clothing, explained innocently.

He instinctively reduced the flame from his horn, which was put to shame by the fire in the princess's eyes.

"You'll give our position away! Do you want to let him know we're here?!" she bellowed, only a few decibels quieter than the full fledged Royal Canterlot voice, the wind drowning the sound as it picked up in a sudden increase.

"She's right Sergeant," came a new, masculine, but very familiar voice, "Why don't you and the others gather in groups; three to a rock. See if you can huddle and stay warm. We don't know how much longer we'll be out here."

Celestia turned around to see Shining Armor coming up from behind her, carefully stepping over the few rocks that weren't covered in thick, white snow. He was scarcely a resemblance of the prince she knew him as. He was completely covered, apart from his mouth, with clothes, his scarf and coat tattered and torn from constant buffeting by the relentless wind.

The guard trotted off to do as he was told, and Shining Armor took a place adjacent the regal equine.

"I thought you had gathered the best guards from the Crystal Empire and Equestria for this mission," she scoffed, her tone unusually cold.

"They're only fatigued, your Highness," the stallion explained, defending his troops, "By the looks of it, we all are."

Shining turned to the alicorn, and she understood what he was trying to say.

"You're right," she sighed, barely audible over the howling gusts, "This Tartarus condemned cold has bit into even my patience. And you need not be formal with me; consider me as a friend, not a ruler."

The two ponies stared at the Crystal Heart, still nestled in its icy nest a few meters beyond the safety of the rocks, and a prolonged silence ensued.

"I suppose that's why you chose to banish him here?" inquired the prince without averting his eyes from the crystalline prize, "Not much to do in misery like this other than suffer and think."

The princess gave no response. Her eyes remained glued to the heart, the stinging cold having no effect on her, or so it seemed at least.

"There's still time to go back you know," said the prince, stifling a shiver.

"Even if there was, we can't afford to do so."

"Why not? I mean, using The Crystal Heart as bait is risky enough in itself, let alone the rest of the plan. Is there even more to gain than we have to lose by bringing him into Equestria?"

"Sombra is our only hope of saving both Equestria and the Crystal Empire. Dark magic has taken root in the kingdoms; there are no others that know more of dark magic than he."

"'Sombra' and 'hope' in the same sentence? Never thought that would happen." chuckled Shining, retaining his humor through the oppressive cold.

"Sombra as he is now will be reluctant to consider helping us, but perhaps, if he could be reformed somehow..."

"I doubt that will work."

"Where is your faith in your sister? She is an alicorn princess now, not the filly you knew growing up."

Even underneath his facemask, Celestia could see Shining's eyes grow wider.

"I still think bringing him to Twilight is too dangerous."

"Your sister and the other bearers have already reformed Discord, have they not?"

"Yes your Highness, but Discord was less of a foe; he cared more for amusement than power. Sombra is the embodiment of evil."

"We are out of options, Shining," explained the princess, "My sister and I only know of benevolent magic; magic oriented around the elements of harmony. We are near useless in the realm of dark magic, of which Sombra is a master. Trickery, hate, and fear are his assets, assets we need knowledge of in order to expel them from Equestria. Without his intervention, it will only spread like a cancer, until all of Equestria is dead from hate and fear."

"The master of trickery, hate, and fear," started Shining, pawing at the ground nervously, "What makes you think it's a good idea to try and trap him, even if it is possible? There are still traps yet to be sprung in the Crystal Empire that he set centuries ago."

"The scent of the Crystal Heart will draw him in. Sombra's lust may be one of his few flaws, but it is his hubris nonetheless."

"And even if this does work, what makes you think my sister and her friends will be able to convince him to help us?"

"Have faith, Shining. There are things about Sombra very few understand; I am sure that the bearers will be able to find those things."

"You make the call princess, and I'll stand by it, but I respectfully disagree," stated the prince, shrugging his overcoat farther up onto his shoulders, "Sombra's too dangerous, but the only way we risk Equestrian safety is by underestimating him. We should not let him within our borders, regardless of what may have showed its face in the kingdoms. I think we should abandon this plot, and leave while we still can. Ponies will find a way to end the fear without hi..."

Shining Armor stopped talking and snapped his head towards a white, oncoming front. Something had seized his attention.

"Did you hear that?" asked the stallion, looking into the storm concernedly.

"What?"

Only the wind whistled, creating the only noise in the otherwise silent abyss of the bland, monochromatic tundra.

"There it is again!" said Shining excitedly, "It's definitely not the wind!"

Celestia remained still, listening for whatever Shining had heard, but no sound reached her ears.

"I don't hear anything..."

"Shhh," the stallion hissed, lowering his head as his whole attention was directed at identifying the source of the noise.

Again, only the wind spoke, singing its mournful song as it whistled through the rocks, and swirled in the frigid air above.

But then, something added its voice to the monotonous chorus of the wind's wailing.

A howl, more akin to a groan, came forth from behind the barrier of white, and Celestia's eyes went wide.

Shining knew the sound; its source had nearly ended him when he first heard it. He looked to his right, where he could see a trio of stallions looking nervously over their igneous barrier, almost out of curiosity.

Shining Armor waved to get their attention, and once it was his, he motioned for them to stay down. They repeated the gesture to an unseen group of guards, and then huddled behind the boulder, trying to occupy as little a space as possible.

Shining Armor and Celestia did the same, crouching, concealing themselves behind a jagged rock, protruding sharply out of the frozen ground.

The howl came again, much closer this time, its eerie, prolonged bass note pushing through the sound of the wind, and terrorizing those who heard it. It was unlike any other animal's howl; it was feral and strong, as any creature's would be, but this roar had a unique note in its resounding report. Anger.

Celestia peeked around the base of the earthen barrier, exposing only a solitary eye to the world beyond the barrier, while Shining Armor did the same on the opposite side of their cover.

From beyond the white void, an immense, black cloud came to be. It  floated closer and closer with each passing second, and Celestia ducked back behind the rock, hiding the entirety of her being behind the immense stone.

"Things are about to get interesting," Shining mused to himself as Celestia struggled to control her rapidly accelerating respiration.

The shape drew nearer and nearer.

It closed the gap to The Crystal Heart with amazing speed; however, it did not move to seize the prize. Rather, it stopped short of the stone grove.

It waited just beyond the rocks, where the immense mass underwent a transformation. It materialized eyes; large, glaring, verdant eyes with red irises. A violet tail flowed out behind each ocular, creating a royal purple aura that was vaguely reminiscent of the celestial manes of the Equestrian princesses.

The shadow moved reminiscent of a being, turning its ominous essence back and forth, seemingly inspecting the area around The Crystal Heart. Those green eyes, still glaring, scanned everything, and Shining ducked behind the rock again to avoid detection, praying the others were doing the same.

The howl came again, deafening at such a close range, and Shining Armor and Celestia both jumped as its wrathful sound shook the air around them.

Shining Armor cautiously peeked around the corner again; the expansive shadow was moving closer to The Crystal Heart now, gradually creeping forward, still scanning everything and anything.

"He's onto us," Shining thought to himself, and dreaded what would happen should those menacing eyes detect some sort of movement in the rocks he and the others occupied.

There was something about the way it moved. For its intimidating size, it moved cautiously, deliberately,...intelligently.

It didn't lumber as something its size should; it floated with a certain ominous grace, the same kind of grace a predatory cat would move with, the kind of grace that goes hoof to hoof with danger.

Slowly, methodically, Shining Armor watched as the expansive shadow crept forward. It neared The Crystal Heart, stopping a few meters from it, and gauging the rocks thoroughly once again.

Shining observed a sudden shift in the emotion the eyes held; they grew more confident, reassured, almost surprised.

Suddenly, the eyes vanished, and the shadow twisted itself into a new form; a tornado.

Shining ducked as the wind force increased sevenfold with the new presence of the jet black, twisting funnel cloud. The wind roared, not unlike the howls of the entity earlier, and snow was thrown back into the writhing air as the massive power of wind pummeled everything within its area of effect.

Shining looked up when the gusts reverted to their previous intensity, seeing the column shrinking to a single point, finally dying out completely to reveal a pony standing at its point of recession.

Sombra.

He could see the former king in his entirety, even though the blizzard's snow partially obscured some of his finer details.

The fallen king was tall, dark, and imposing, even from a distance. He wore metallic armor, and a black steel crown, not only encompassing his scalp but a good portion of his head. His mane, thick and black, whipped in the cruel wind, and despite his relative lack of warm clothing, he seemed not to mind the cold.

His horn, a curved, sabre-like appendage that was red as well as gray, the shade of the rest of his hide, was exceptionally long. Over his back was a regal crimson cape, and just like his previous form, he was scanning the land around him with that verdant, menacing gaze. Only his head moved as he scanned the arctic void around him.

Finally, he took a step forward, small, black crystals sprouting in place of hoof prints. Before taking another step, he gauged his surroundings one more time, again finding them devoid of activity.

He bared his teeth, long, sharp fangs, in a vile, confident grin, and at last, approached The Crystal Heart, confidently striding forward with jagged dark crystals sprouting in his wake.

He looked down on the prize, eying it greedily and displaying his glimmering, toothy grin again.

He bent to seize it.

"Now!" yelled Shining Armor, and The Crystal Heart was flung away from the menace in a blue aura.

Sombra looked up in surprise to see several ponies springing from cover, and he snarled a deep guttural rumble as he began to twist into his former entity. However, Celestia cast a spell before the transformation could be completed.

She encased the upwards writhing shadow in an immense, light blue shell, a force field constructed from magic, trapping the former king.

"ARGGGH!" he roared, more akin to an animal than a pony, and as eyes sprouted from the shadowy mass within, the figure glared at his captors.

He roared again, louder this time, and smashed against the side of the magic sphere, causing a long vertical crack to slowly spread.

"Hold him!" yelled the princess, and Shining Armor as well as the other unicorns cast similar spells, reinforcing the magic and increasing its strength.

Sombra roared a third time, smashing against the recently reinforced barrier again to produce a deafening crash. One layer shattered, but the others held as the stallion whose barrier had failed recast his spell, stronger this time, to keep the foe imprisoned.

"We got him!" yelled a stallion, to be answered by another crash from the dethroned as he bashed the barrier again with the force of a freight train.

"ARGGGH!" Sombra roared again, a deep, jealous sound like those of a challenged lion, and Celestia, her horn glowing hot in the snowstorm as she held him in a telekinetic prison, stepped in front of him.

The shadow's eyes snapped to the princess, insurmountable rage and wrath held in their glaring gaze.

"You've lost Sombra!" she yelled, somewhat of an arrogant smile spreading on her exposed mouth.

The shadow retained its form, staring contempt and rage through the barrier at his captor, and an eerie, low, predatory growl emitted from within the confines of the mass, and all the stallions took a tentative step backwards in fear.