Wolverine's Unwanted Relocation

Another scream tore through Wolverine's throat as he tore himself, the monster, and the ground apart. He noted that in spite of the energy he was using to attempt this, nothing much was getting done. At all.

Another charge in vain yielded similar results, with more of Wolverine's flesh taken off, and more pissed off monster to deal with. He dodged under another wisp of black smoke. Though he'd not had much luck with fighting this thing, he had noticed something. Every time he'd gotten some flesh singed off, the creature, if that's what it was, would wince, ever so slightly. The near-debilitating pain that wracked his body at every touch made it seem like it was nothing, but he still noted that the creature was trying to ward him off, more so than inflict injury. In fact, it seemed like this being before him was completely incompetent when it came to conflict, or battle of any kind. Most of his fighting was dodging impossibly fast and sending a counter from his horn.

He needed a distraction. More than that, he needed some serious mental fortitude for what he was about to attempt.

He jumped back, out of the fray. Another wisp of darkness came towards him in a sort of looping lasso. The mad being before him expected him to dodge. Counted on it.

So he didn't. He took the damn blow head on.

Except this time, he didn't sit idly and wait for the pain. He took advantage of the momentary pain that the creature in front of him felt, and lunged faster than any human could ever hope to. He found himself inside the darkness, and it was like a light shut out. He couldn't see anything, but it was more than that. Not just subdued, but completely concealed. He then saw a light in the distance. It came closer and, with nothing to do, he simply embraced it.

(Outside of Battle)

Twilight was running furiously up the stairs. With Spike now at her side, she felt much better about facing the tasks before her. She, like everything else that ran for several minutes straight up stairs, was getting very tired. Spike shared in that sentiment.

"Twilight!" He yelled, finally sick of the running, "If Sombra put up a doorway that led to your worst nightmare, couldn't he make an infinite staircase just as easily?" He asked, panting wildly. Twilight stopped and considered only for a moment.

With her extreme academic ability, she knew that, of course, an infinite staircase was impossible. However, magically, looping was a serious possibility. The spell was cleverly hidden, but Twilight managed to isolate it, and with some careful spell-weaving, managed to get rid of it, and reverse their gravity temporarily, taking advantage of the slide on the bottom of the stairs above her. With no further resistance, she and Spike rode it to the top to receive the Crystal Heart.

(Within the dark recesses of Sombra's mind

(Sombra POV))

'You, my son, are meant for greatness...'

"Save them... don't let them..."

'I now crown you... Sombra, true king of the Frozen North... The Crystal Empire'

"Dead, all dead. No, this can't be, you can't let them die!"

`Sir! The dragon's are coming, hundreds of them!'

"I won't let them die. They trusted me. This won't end."

'Sir, we're being overrun, our guards are no match for these monsters...

Your orders?"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

'Your descent into madness was not a long one, my king.'

"The sacrifice has been made, but you specified no cost? What kind of beast are you?"

`Yes, you saved them. But at what cost, Sombra! Who are you? Your coat is black with the ashes of your home, your people enslaved by your madness. They fear sleeping as they do waking, you are a nightmare, a plague!'

"Yesss, Crystalllls"

Finally, the memories stopped. Wolverine woke to an eyeful of tears after the mental assault. He sat up, finding whatever shredded remains of his clothes now thoroughly destroyed. He stood slowly, and looked for the beast. The monster who was responsible.

And he found him, laying in a heap, crying his eyes out. He was coughing, specks of blood splattering against the lush grass. The ponies from before were grouping around, finding the time only now to see what all the commotion was about.

"Please."

Wolverine's head whirled around back to the voice. It was small, but by no means faint. He looked upon the lone, grey unicorn. His face was distorted, and some of his skin was torn away. His teeth on the right side were totally visible, with his canine only too visible.

A part of Wolverine pitied him. Wished to know what he had to do. In the brief moment he spent in the mind of this... pony, he came to find his tale quite sad, and he'd be lying if he said he didn't have at least a little respect for the horned horse. But, he knew what he was going to ask before he did. He'd seen the look before.

A soldier. A soldier who'd lost everything. A soldier who just wants some rest, who wants their troubles to be over and done. His claws unsheathed.

"As you wish, king," was all he said, before bowing his head slightly. He walked towards him, bent at the knee to look him in the eye and said:

"I know that you don't know who I am, and me you. But there is something I know about you." He said, getting the attention of the downed unicorn.

"You sacrificed a hell of a lot more than I can even imagine to save the people you care about more than your own life. for that, I will respect this final wish." He said, putting the tip of his claw over the heart of the unicorn. "Goodbye."

A quiet 'shlink' was heard as the metal pierced his flesh, and his eyes fluttered up. He lay back down into the grass, greener and healthier than any on earth.

A burial fit for a king.

"HEY YOU"

Wolverine turned around at this, not expecting something like that for at least another minute.

"You MURDERER!" Was also shouted. He looked around in astonishment before locking eyes with a very angry group of ponies.

But get this.

The pink one, whose eyes had gone yellow from rage, was making no advance to him at all. The white one didn't seem to have her heart in it at all, but stood with her 'friends' all the same. The orange one was giving him a glare that almost unnerved him, but not quite, though it was a valiant effort. The purple one, who seemed to be holding up some sort of blue heart thing, was looking away from him, and the yellow one was-

"I'm talking to you!"

Wolverine's attention was brought about face when a deafening shout was shot straight into his ear-hole. Cupping a hand over it, he sighed, and turned ahead. There she was. Despite attempting to make a joke out of all the pony's rage, this was starting to get uncomfortable. As far as he'd gathered, this one was shy and rather... pussyish. This seemed like quite a jump. Bipolar? Maybe some kind of stress disorder? Who knows.

He refocused in, and locked eyes with the aggressor.

He immediately wished he hadn't, because he was petrified. Not out of fear, just literally petrified. No movement, no thoughts, just a strong urge to apologize?

For what?

As Far as he knew, he was not in the wrong. He immediately shut his eyes at this revelation, and, quite harshly, shoved the flying yellow horse off of him. He stood up, not realizing he was on the ground, and began to pace towards the, now terrified ponies.

"Listen up." He said authoritatively, "If you're unhappy about the way that I've dealt with this problem, you're welcome by the way, then you should probably consider this possibility; You have no fucking clue what went on just then. He asked me for death, for an end to his suffering which, by the way, the poor guys endured for several lifetimes. I gave him a respectful, painless, honorable death. And if you think that you could've done better, you'd better goddamn speak up."