From the Shadows

Twilight skidded to a halt in the dimly lit streets of the town as the shrill note of a terrified scream drifted through the chilled air. She looked back to the sound's source, and then back down at the trail of crystals she'd been following. It came from the direction of Carousel Boutique, and she knew her friend was in trouble.

But, was going to her aide worth giving up the trail?

Unless, Sombra was the cause of her fear in the first place.

The unicorn wheeled around, and began sprinting through the streets again, approaching Rarity's home in haste. She arrived promptly, bucking the door in and following a pair of crystal trails, one going up, the other leading down, to the stairs.

"What's wrong?" she shouted as she burst into the bedroom.

Rarity was propped upright on her bed with her back against the headboard, sobbing. Twilight received no answer, so she started trying to figure out herself. She saw nothing amiss at first, until she eyed the crystals alongside the bed.

"Was he here?" she asked excitedly.

Rarity nodded as she heaved in another sob, tears staining her sheets.

"What did he do to you?!" Twilight pressed, angry now that the king would dare harm one of her friends.

Rarity pressed her eyelids together as she held out her forelimbs, showing her the red marks encircling her wrists, and exposing the ringlet of red teeth marks on her chest.

"He held me down," she cried, "he trapped me with huge shards; they were sharp, I couldn't move... I felt him inside of me."

"No... Did he?" Twilight mumbled, and Rarity confirmed her suspicion with a tearful nod.

"That monster assaulted me," the unicorn sputtered, weeping.

Twilight crawled to her friend's side on the bed, and held her closely as she provided a shoulder for her to cry on.

She sat there; her friend needed her, and her priorities were here now, when a thought occurred to her.

Rarity said she'd felt the king, but earlier, the king was not tangible as he'd been a shadow, converted to darkness by Celestia and Luna centuries ago. Objects would pass through him as if there was nothing there, and he made no sound when he walked, because his hooves didn't have a surface to strike the ground.

Either it was a dream, or... or he was no longer a shadow.

She kept the thought private; she knew the feel of Sombra's induced nightmares, and she knew they felt real. To Rarity, it had been real, whether it was a dream or not, and she didn't want to bring it up again regardless.

But still, Sombra was still out there somewhere, and he was definitely up to no good.

"Rarity," Twilight said slowly and carefully, "I'm sorry, and I know that you're in pain, but Sombra is going to make more victims tonight. We have to try and stop him before he can harm anypony else."

"Ok," sobbed the mare as she picked herself up from the bed, retrieving her element of harmony and clasping it around her neck; her face was still damp with tears, "Ok... let's go."

With that, the two, one of them still not herself from the events of the dream, galloped back into the darkened streets of town, following the trail of crystals on the ground.

****************

The cloud home was serene and peaceful, and the night came in through the window in the form of pale moonlight and darkness. The cumulus's interior was painted blue by the full moon, and the bedroom was no exception. Rainbow Dash, sound asleep on her puffy white bed, was at perfect rest.

Everything around her was calm, from the shadows to the pale blue walls, colored so by the moonlight that arced through her window in rays. The color alone drove one to dream, and it permeated the entire house, save for where the shadows, though few, were.

A passing cloud eclipsed the moon for a moment, and when its light was free to flow into the home's interior with its passing, the number of shadows in the house had increased by one.

Sombra glided across the fluffy floor of the home, and upon reaching the bedside, twisted his shapeless essence into the form of an equine.

Red eyes and dark fur, his mane constantly flowing whether there was wind or not, and he stood over the cobalt Pegasus, looking down on her dormant body. He eyed every inch of her as he debated with himself over how to go about it; he'd harvested almost enough power from the others to suffice, but he would need more, and this session had to yield as much as possible, partly for benefit, but mostly because he thirsted for the rare fear of the Pegasus who'd so brazenly enforced herself on him as if her power could stand to his.

A guilty pleasure, maybe, but it would happen regardless, and making the mare, who claimed to be fearless, know fear as one knows a family member, would be most amusing.

Sombra lit the tip of his sabre of a horn, and slowly, touched it to Rainbow Dash's forehead, entering her limpid mind.

****************

Rainbow Dash was flying through an endless sky; it was always endless, but in the dream, it felt even more so. She felt the wind rush by her mane, and the wet kiss of the clouds as she barreled through their embrace.

She felt free here, in life as well as in dreaming; she felt happy here, no matter the situation. and as she sped along through the air, she spotted a cloud, the largest in the sky. She blew her prism of a mane out of her face, and darted off for the cloud formation, climbing above it in a spiraling climb.

Surmounting its height, she rolled, and buzzed the flat top of the cloud, reaching down to let her hoof pass through its fluffy, pure body. She closed her eyes as she felt the overwhelming feeling of serenity at heart, but when she opened them, the sky was gone.

She was still flying, but now, she was in an impenetrable fog, a mist that kept her from seeing as well as flying as she normally would; she couldn't even tell up from down. She slowed down, barely being able to see inches let alone feet in any direction, when she felt herself bump into something. It clinked when she hit it, and she felt herself fall backwards on her rump, surprisingly landing on solid ground as she did.

She shook her head and looked up at what had blocked her path; a pony, a tall, dark foreboding one with the majority of its form hidden by the fog. Dash began to lean up to see the face of the equine, but before she moved very far, she jumped as something came through the fog.

A face, suddenly materializing as it came down to meet her through the fog; it was Sombra. He wore a lazy smile as well as half-shut eyes in an expression that screamed apathy.

Rainbow Dash drew back, and Sombra made the entirety of his face visible as sarcastically, he mumbled, "Boo."

"What are you doing here?" asked Rainbow Dash angrily, rising up to look into the king's eyes and denying him the chance to look down on her.

"I could ask the same of you, Loyalty," he grumbled, content and almost chivalrous.

"Where am I?"

"How should I know?" Sombra said, looking around concernedly at the omnipresent fog all around them, "This mist is most inconvenient, isn't it?"

"What's the deal with you?" she asked threateningly, but her tone had no effect on the king.

"You are the one that bumped into me, Loyalty. I was merely out for a stroll, if you will, when our paths happened to cross, and how coincidental that they did."

"No, I mean what's the deal with you?" she asked a second time, clanking her hoof against his metallic chest plate as she finished, and tapping it a few more times to confirm its solidity, "Earlier you nearly tried to kill me, right after I tried to tackle you; then, I couldn't touch you. But now..."

She rapped hard on the metal plate one more time, and the sound carried, echoing through the mists. Then, she drew back, and punched the king square in the face. His jaw jiggled back and forth as his gaze became much more angry.

"That's for choking me out."

"You will regret that," he growled.

"I don't think I will."

"Well then tell me Loyalty...what do you think?"

Rainbow Dash's gaze was unflinching as she stared the king down with a sassy, confident expression across her face.

"I think you're overrated, I think you're a bully, and I think you've got no chance against us."

"Ouch," said the king sarcastically, and he waited for her to continue.

"I think you're going to spend forever in the cold and alone, and knowing that everypony in the world hates you, because we do, and the only thing keeping me from sending you out there right now is that I don't have my element of harmony. Because as soon as we get them, you're toast."

"Maybe," said the king, nodding in contemplation, "now tell me, what do you think about something that does not pertain to me?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, what do you believe in?" the king growled, his voice going deeper as it morphed suddenly into a menacing, ominous rumble in the otherwise silent fog.

"I believe that harmony is more powerful than evil. I believe that I'm the best flier to ever come out of Cloudsdale. I believe that the Wonderbolts are the most awesome thing ever, and I believe that you are a pathetic excuse for a villain and a king, and that you don't deserve to have anything, even if it is a cold, icy wasteland like you live in."

"And why do you believe these things?" asked Sombra, stepping closer to her with a glowing glare.

"Because I've seen them," she said to him slowly, as if he were stupid, "I believe, what I see."

"Hmm," Sombra said to himself, before taking a step backwards to expose his body in full.

"Then tell me this, Loyalty," he hissed, looking down at himself before reverting his eyes to Rainbow Dash's, "Do you believe in ghosts?"

"No," she said suddenly, maintaining her arrogant attitude as she let the king know in body language and words that she thought he was a farce.

"Interesting," he crooned.

The king began to turn away, nodding, but suddenly jumped back around with a roar as he snapped his ivory teeth shut inches from Dash's nose, and roared, "Then you are blind!"

Rainbow Dash moved to strike him again, but he caught the blow, and forced her to her knees, crushing her bones in his grip, both physical and telekinetic.

"Shall we see what else you are blind to?!"

Sombra took one hand off of Rainbow Dash's forelimb, raising the other into the fog, and it parted at his command. Through the mist, there was a congregation of ponies, and Rainbow Dash tried to look away, but Sombra grabbed her head, and forced it towards the scene while he used the other to keep her on the ground.

The ponies through the fog became clear, and Rainbow Dash could suddenly hear them talking.

"Yeah," drawled the familiar voice of Applejack, "she thinks she's somethin' special, braggin' all the time and always showin' off. I tell ya what, I really get sick of her."

"What?" asked Rainbow Dash aloud to herself before a second voice came through the fog.

It was high pitched, raspy and young; Scootaloo's.

"It's no use Applebloom. She said we'd be like sisters on the camping trip, but ever since, she's just been too busy making herself look good to even teach me to fly. She's got plenty of spare time; she spends half of every day taking naps, but she's just too cocky to care about anypony else."

"No, that's not..."

Another familiar voice made itself known; Captain Spitfire's

"She's not Wonderbolt material. She's brazen, cocky, lazy, she only seeks personal fame instead of the good of her teammates, she has a lazy work ethic and she relies on past accomplishments to try and secure things for herself now. If she doesn't improve drastically by the time the course ends, tell her we'll contact her when we think she's ready, and erase her name from the candidate's list."

Rainbow was crying now; she'd left the Wonderbolts Academy with promises that she'd done fine, and that she would be called back. Was this why she was never contacted again? Was this really true?

But the final voice bore the weight of memory. Deep and raspy, familiar from foalhood, and forever embedded in her mind.

"I don't know about her," it said.

"Daddy?" she cried, "Daddy, it's me! I'm here!"

But the voice ignored her.

"She's just, she's not what I expect her to be. She can do so much more, but, she doesn't. If she would commit, she could be great a I was, but, I leave every race she's in feeling disappointed."

Sobbing now, Rainbow Dash's mouth hung loosely as she heaved and shuddered, not able to articulate words.

Sombra took full advantage of the mare's silence, and leaned in close to her ear as the fog rolled back in on them like a wave.

"I too believe what I see," he growled, almost made elated by her being crushed, "And I believe you are weak, that you would be nothing without your friends, and for how high you hold yourself, nopony else thinks of you the same way."

He dragged her back into the fog.

"I believe you will lose because, like I have seen in the past, your courage will succumb to your fear. I believe you are nothing but a self-righteous hothead if not an element of harmony."

The king slowed suddenly, and lifted Rainbow Dash a bit, setting her up so she faced him on her knees. His voice changed, and his regal composure and nonchalance came back.

"And," he hissed, "I believe that without these," he unfurled one of her wings slowly, spreading it to its full length, "All the power you claim to love will leave you."

Sombra held her down as  the wing began buzzing in his grip, and he refused to let her escape as he raised his curving, razor sharp horn.

"I told you that you would regret striking me," he crooned as her struggles intensified.

His horn reached a peak, and Rainbow Dash pleaded no, but he brought it down anyway. She didn't even feel the pain, but the blade of his horn sliced clean through the base of the bone and severed the wing completely.

Blood spurted through cut arteries, and she only sat there, having stopped struggling as she waited for the pain to come while she watched her wing twitching in Sombra's outstretched hooves.

"You know," the king started to say to her as her face turned pale in shock, "you may want to let your friends know you're in trouble."

He viciously separated the other wing, and Rainbow Dash screamed.