"Cobalt, you are too nice for your own good..."
Looking at himself in the mirror, Cobalt knew that was the pure and simple truth. Orphaned from the day he was found on the front doorstep, the blue earth pony had been stuck in the same orphanage for all five years of his life thus far. While Miss Penny Whistle, the lady who ran the place, was great, and she treated everypony well, Cobalt wished that he could find parents of his own. The thing was, well...
Every time that prospective parents came by, Cobalt went out of his way to show the potential mother and father the best qualities of each of the other children. He couldn't help it: All of the other colts and fillies here were great. Some were really athletic, others were artistic, and some were really smart. He couldn't help but boast about how great all of his friends were... so they ended up getting adopted, while he was left behind. While his friends wrote to him regularly, it wasn't the same as having them around. And as of today, as a result of being such a nice colt, Cobalt was now the last orphan here, and he'd overheard Miss Penny Whistle making plans to shut the orphanage down for good... and where, exactly, would that leave Cobalt?
Sometimes, it really stinks, being a good pony.
With a sigh, he turned away from the mirror, and began getting ready for bed.
In a way, his timing could not have been better, for a moment later, a pair of red eyes appeared in the looking glass. Had he seen those staring back at him, the colt would have freaked out, big time...
Sombra considered the colt, from his vantage point in the mirror, and cursed his luck once more. His defeat a few short moons ago had been a painful setback, but he had taken steps to restore his body, provided such an event should occur. He'd planned for the process to take a thousand years, long enough for the world to forget about him. However...
...Something was impeding his revival, and siphoning away his dark power.
His horn, the source of his power, was hidden someplace where he could not locate it. He could feel that missing piece, and feel his power slipping slowly away from it, but could only get a vague sense for its direction. Nowhere near enough to zero in on its location. Were he able to find that missing piece, he could enter into the missing body part and take back control, so that it could return to restoring his body like it should. However, with its location blocked, he was utterly helpless... and if his horn were drained too much, it would be disastrous on a vast multitude of levels.
He needed a set of hooves to perform a series of tasks that would allow the tyrant to locate his horn, but given the circumstances, the number of individuals he could trust with this mission was almost vanishingly small. There was nopony in the Crystal Empire who would be willing to give him the time of day, for obvious reasons. The average pony on the street would be of little help, as well: This task would require a specific set of skills to accomplish. The royalty, the ones best suited for this mission, would not be willing to work with Sombra, and if they found the horn, they'd likely toss it into an active volcano. Just the thought of that made the tyrant shudder: Like most evil overlords, he had a pathological fear of parts of himself being thrown into molten magma. There were few things that could permanently destroy someone like him, but that was one way to do it...
Still, Sombra needed somepony innocent, gullible... a do-gooder would be best: Sombra had tried to solve this riddle for weeks, and had gotten nowhere. If his plan failed to produce results, then a different perspective, like that of this innocent young colt, would be needed more than anything. This Cobalt Blue... he had the sight, the heart, and the spark. All he would need is guidance, and a goal.
...Of course, he didn't need to hear the whole story right now.
But that was fine: Sombra was great at telling the truth without actually telling the truth. All it took was a bit of showponyship...
At midnight, Cobalt Blue was awakened by a thunderous noise. Springing up out of bed with a start, he looked, wide eyed, as a pillar of white light appeared at the foot of his bed. Awestruck, he saw a glowing white sphere, not much larger than his own head, emerge from the column as the light began to fade. A pair of bright red eyes appeared, a crescent of a mouth cracking open beneath. Whatever it was, it appeared to be grinning. The column winked out completely, and the creature studied Cobalt with interest.
WIth a voice filled with gravitas, the orb spoke. "GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS, YOUNG HERO! I HAVE COME FROM DISTANT LANDS TO BESTOW UPON YOU A QUEST OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE!!! HEAR MY WORDS, AND KNOW THEM TO BE TRUE!!!"
His eyes wide, and his jaw hanging open, Cobalt simply nodded, waiting for the... whatever it was to continue.
"A TERRIBLE CALAMITY WILL BEFALL THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE IN SEVEN DAYS TIME!!! YOU, THE CHOSEN HERO, MUST JOURNEY THERE STRAIGHTAWAY TO PREVENT THE CITY'S DESTRUCTION!!!" Seeing the Cobalt had raised his hoof, the entity asked, "What?"
"Ummm," Cobalt felt a little embarrassed, but after a few seconds of hesitation, he finally admitted, "I'm not a hero. I'm just an orphan. I think you've got the wrong pony."
Giving the colt an another appraising look, the entity said, in a slightly more subdued tone, "No, I am almost certain you're the hero I needed to find. Let's see... blue on blue, a heart of gold, five years of age with no mark... Yes, you're definitely the one destined to save the Crystal Empire."
Having difficulty believing it, Cobalt asked, "Really? Because I'm not even old enough to ride a train on my own yet."
With a snort, the entity said, "That is hardly a problem. There is no minimum age for being a hero, nor is there a height requirement." The entity's expression became stern as it continued, "But that is neither here nor there. Fate has chosen you to be the savior that the Crystal Empire needs in its darkest hour!"
Clearly confused, the colt asked, "Well, what can I do? I'm just a kid!"
Looking at Cobalt with a smile, the entity stated, "Your father was a stallion, same as anypony else. Your mother was a mare, same as anypony else. From origins as humble as your own, some of the greatest heroes that have ever lived were born. One does not need a tragic past, or special powers, or a noble bloodline to become a hero: You need only to believe in yourself. I believe, from the bottom of my heart, that you will become the greatest hero that the world has ever known."
What a load of hippy-dippy baloney. Behind his illusion, the tyrant wanted to vomit. Sombra could not believe he'd managed to say all of that with a straight face. Honestly, he wanted to scrub his tongue with sandpaper after spouting garbage like that, even if it might have been mostly true in the colt's case. The unicorn just hoped that he wasn't laying it on too thick...
A tear ran down Cobalt Blue's cheek. Before Sombra could say a word, the colt was weeping uncontrollably, yet at the same time he wore a broad smile. This was beyond the tyrant's understanding: What had he said to cause this sort of a reaction?
The colt, after a few seconds, wiped away his tears, then said, "Thank you." His expression turning serious, Cobalt asked, "What do I need to do?"
Crafting a smile on his illusion that, strangely, the tyrant could not help but echo, Sombra said, "For tonight, go back to bed, and sleep well: We have much to do, and I expect you to be up and ready for action at the crack of dawn."
With a salute, Cobalt Blue immediately laid back down and was almost instantly snoring. Chuckling to himself, Sombra couldn't help but find himself liking the youngster. The tyrant was not surprised about that, though: Heroes, even the young ones, tended to have magnetic personalities. That, along with the other traits that this young colt possessed, made him the perfect pawn: Once given a quest, heroes were almost impossible to stop. Cobalt would do everything in his power to save the Crystal Empire from the impending disaster... and in the process, he would revive King Sombra to his former glory.
"Help me!"
Sombra dreamed of days long past...
The young colt looked up from his meal in surprise. He'd lived here, in the sewers, for a very long time. The vast complex of tunnels beneath the City Of Spires that served to direct the rainwater that fell onto the city out into the aquaducts was usually deserted. While a few ponies had tried to 'tosh', that is, to try and scavenge for bits and jewelry that ended up getting washed into the tunnels before getting caught in a nook or cranny, Sombra had made such activities a harrowing venture, what with there being a 'dreadful sewer monster' who would attack anypony who tried to intrude upon his domain.
Because of that, Sombra had the sewers, and all of the plunder therein, to himself. He had amassed a veritable treasury of bits, shinies, and sparklies, and now ruled over a vast kingdom as great as the city over his head. Sure, it was a kingdom of one (Well, it was a kingdom of many, actually, given the vast multitudes of rats whom he allowed to occupy his realm, but they didn't say much, and mostly paid their taxes in cheese), but it was his. Admittedly, he'd likely leave it in a heartbeat if the nobles ever made good on their plans to divert... other things than rainwater into the sewers, but for now, he had solitude, safety, and security, the three things he craved most of all, while he awaited his father's return...
Two years now, he'd been waiting.
Still, the sound of somepony screaming meant intruders, so he should see what was happening. Here in his private chamber, one could hear a pin drop anyplace in the vast network of tunnels, and a practiced ear (And Sombra's ear was superbly practiced) could tell exactly where that pin was. On a quiet day, Sombra could even tell what metal the pin was made from. He could clearly hear the hoofsteps of somepony running. Correction... several someponies. It seemed that there was a chase going on...
He couldn't have that: A chase typically ended with a murder down here, and a dead body would bring the guards. The one time Sombra had let a murder happen without doing anything, the guards had spent a week combing the sewers for clues, terribly hindering Sombra's activities. That, and the fact that the murder in question had been a grisly, extended affair that still gave Sombra nightmares had persuaded the colt to be more vigilant. He never wanted to go through that again...
The sewers were filled with tunnels, as well as tunnels that ran alongside, over, and even under other tunnels. These 'sub-tunnels' were in place so that, if a blockage were to occur, maintenance workers could bypass the barricade, and work on clearing the debris from either side, and a few sub-tunnels and air vents connected to other tunnels, allowing one to bypass the main paths with ease, provided one was a small colt. Sombra knew every tunnel, sub-tunnel, and air vent by heart. He could have navigated the tunnels blind, and at night he often did.
Since his route was much more direct than that of a pony traveling through the main tunnels, Sombra was able to reach the source of the disturbance just as the hoofsteps stopped. Looking through a spyhole, he saw that something terrible was about to go down.
A young unicorn filly, dressed in a cloak seemingly made from sackcloth, was backed against a wall grate, trapped by her pursuers. A trio of stallions, each of them with that scraggly, unwashed look, as well as that high quantity of fat mixed with muscle, that announced them to be hired thugs. The brutish look to them also implied that they were the type whose heads might rattle if shaken, the kind that was all brawn, no brain. Perfect: Thugs like these were a superstitious, cowardly lot, easy prey for Sombra's tricks. And they had chased their prey into one of the young colt's favorite haunts, a lovely little spot he liked to call 'The Terror Tunnel'.
First things first, he'd need to get that filly out of the way. That wouldn't be too hard. She was in the perfect place. All that was needed was a distraction...
Of course, Sombra was in the perfect place as well: In the small sub-chamber he currently occupied, the area over his head was filled with ropes and wires, and the walls around him filled with pipes and tubes. He could trigger tricks and traps throughout the entire tunnel...
He twanged a small wire over his head, and the noise was transformed, due to the natural acoustics of the room and the tunnel beyond, into a low, rumbling growl originating behind the trio of brutes. Startled, the three turn around, wide eyed, searching for the source of the sound. As they did so, Sombra quickly and quietly moved over to the wall grate the filly was in front of, slid it open quickly and quietly with a well practiced motion, and pulled the filly inside, shutting the opening behind them. Making a shushing motion with his hooves so that she would remain quiet, he pulled her back into the sub-chamber, where she could watch the fun that was about to begin through a small crack in the wall.
One of the thugs turned back towards where the filly had previously been, and asked, clearly confused, "Where did that filly go?"
Ah, perfect setup. Sombra stepped over to a sack filled with dry sticks and rotten tomatoes, and began stomping on the sack with enthusiasm. While normally, it would just make a disgusting sound of snapping and squishing, since it was happening right next to an air duct that connected to the main tunnel, what the thugs heard was a series of noises almost identical to a carnivore tearing up a carass coming from further up the hallway.
Another of the thugs, already terrified, stammered out, "Wh-wh-wh-wh-what was that?"
All three of them were turned towards where they though the sound was coming from. Smiling, Sombra used his horn to cut a rope overhead. A bucket, artfully concealed in a small hole in the ceiling, tipped over, spilling its contents: About three stone worth of rotten fish guts. A pain in the neck to get (Fish sometimes ended up caught in the tunnels, and expired when the floodwaters that brought them in passed. From there, it was just a matter of disassembling the remains), and it stank to high heavens, but if you wanted to freak somepony out into thinking that there was a monster in the sewers, a faux-corpse was absolutely vital.
The fish guts, humorously, landed directly upon one of the thugs, and splashed spectacularly, coating all three brutes red and purple. If they were scared before, now they were well and truly horrified. The filly, watching this all with a sort of bemused awe, smothered a chuckle, and Sombra began the next phase of the operation.
Placing his mouth next to a pipe, Sombra asked, "Who dares trespass in my domain?"
Three seconds later, Sombra's question was echoed in a voice better suited for a daemon than a small colt. The three thugs turned towards the source of the sound, which was in the opposite direction of where they'd been looking.
One of them whimpered, "It's the King of the Sewers..."
"Ah," Sombra said into another pipe, causing the sound to come from another direction, "you've heard of me." Chuckling, he added, "And yet you still decided to trespass here, within my domain. How foolish of you. Still, you brought me a tasty little morsel, so I suppose I might be merciful... this time." The three thugs relaxed. Time for the big finish.
His voice taking a sinister tone, one magnified a thousand-fold in the tunnel, Sombra said, "Tell you what: If you can outrun my subjects, I suppose you might leave here with your lives. If you can't?" He chuckled wickedly, and the voice in the tunnel laughed fit for the king of all daemons himself, then Sombra said, "Well, then they'll eat well tonight..."
Now came the tricky bit. Sombra focused, then cast his signature spell: The fear spell. Not on the thugs, who were well and truly terrified on their own, but upon the rats all throughout the sewers. The filly's eyes went wide, almost as if she knew exactly what Sombra was doing, and was impressed by it. Using the fear spell to herd the rats, Sombra sent them running towards the thugs, the stampede beginning at the end of the tunnel that the voice had just come from.
Seeing the advancing tidal wave of small, furry animals with sharp and wicked teeth, the thugs turned tail and ran like their lives depended on it, shrieking like three year old fillies the entire way, never realizing that their pursuers were just as terrified as they were...
Once the way was clear, Sombra led the filly out of the alcove. Once out into the tunnel proper, the young filly gave Sombra a gigantic hug and said, "Thank you for saving me."
Blushing slightly, Sombra said, "My pleasure." Well, it wasn't, really, but while replacing those fish guts would be a pain in the neck, and revealing himself to another pony had been a massive risk, the show had been well worth it: He'd be laughing about that one for weeks. "Just don't tell anypony I'm down here. It's taken me a long time to build up the legend of 'The King Of The Sewers': If anypony ever finds out its just a colt with a bag of tricks...
"It was an impressive bag of tricks," a voice said behind them. Both of them turned around to see a tall, greying wizard with a ridiculously elaborate getup and a spectacular beard. How he'd managed to sneak up on the two of them with all those bells was beyond Sombra's imagining. The old stallion had moved like a cat!
Sombra's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but the filly's widened in joy as she exclaimed, "Mister Starswirl!" The young filly abruptly jumped into the wizard's forelegs, giggling. It was quite clear that they knew one another.
"Clover, dear girl," the wizard, Starswirl, said, gently chiding the young filly, "I've warned you time and again not to wander off. There's more than a few ponies in this city who would gladly hurt you if they thought that they might use you to manipulate me."
The filly, contrite, said, "I'm sorry. I just wanted to go see my new baby sister."
Smiling gently, the wizard said, "I know, child, and I am sorry that we were not able to visit your family first thing when we got back. When we are done here, we will visit your parents, and your new sister, right away." Setting the young filly down gently, Starswirl turned towards Sombra, a grateful expression upon his face. "I owe you a debt, young one. I saw what you did, from start to finish. Impressive work, and not just the spell at the end, although I will freely admit that was the most amazing bit of emotional manipulation I have ever seen from any pony, let alone one so young. You've done an impressive job, setting up this tunnel. Tell me, do your parents know you are here?"
After a moment, Sombra said, "Well, mi padre told me to hide down here, while some bad folks were chasing us. He said he'd come back for me, but..." It took him a moment to admit the truth, but he finally said, "Um, that was two years ago. By now, I don't think he's coming back."
His expression sorrowful, Starswirl admitted, "No, I imagine not. Regardless, young lad, this is no place for a clever lad like yourself. You have amazing potential, and I would be happy to help you explore it. If you'd be willing to come with us, I'd gladly take you in as my newest apprentice."
Suddenly, things clicked inside of Sombra's mind: This was Starswirl the Bearded, the most legendary of the legendary wizards of this age, and the first mage to create a new spell in over a century! On his occasional trips to the surface to purchase food, Sombra had heard stories of the great sage's adventures that had made him wonder about the world outside the sewers, and the City of Spires itself. This was the chance of a lifetime, and it had just fallen right into Sombra's lap.
Sombra made a noise that, much, much later, would be known as a fanboy squee. Nodding his head vigorously, the colt said, "Yes, definitely! Just give me a few minutes to gather my things!"
It took more than an hour, actually: Two years of 'toshing' had given Sombra an impressive stash, and while Starswirl and Clover were able to help sort out the real treasure from the junk, it took a long time to go through. Still, according to both the wizard and his apprentice, the resulting pile of wealth was a small fortune...
More than enough, Starswirl suggested, and Clover agreed with a giggle, to get him a good bath, and some serious grooming, to clean the distinctive aroma of the sewers off of him...
Sombra woke from his slumber, and once again cursed his rotten luck. He had found, since his 'near-death experience' began, that while he didn't actually 'need' to sleep, he would find himself drifting off when he got bored. And when he slept, he dreamed. And when he dreamed...
He began to remember things better left forgotten.
There was a block in Sombra's mind: While he did not know the reasons for it, he could tell it was his own handiwork. His own memory blocking spell was obscuring something inside his mind. He was not certain what he had hidden away, but whatever it was, it contained a large number of memories from his youth... and those memories were now starting to leak out. Something had happened that was so terrible that Sombra could not bear the thought of remembering it. Whatever it was, it terrified him: What could be so terrible that the great and terrible Sombra could not bear to remember it? Better it remained forgotten. But without his dark magic, Sombra could not restore the block, which crumbled further every day...
With a sigh, Sombra watched over Cobalt Blue through the mirror. It was less than half an hour before sunrise. The colt would need to get up soon, and then the game would begin. He just hoped that the colt was able to live up to his potential: Failure would spell disaster, not just for Sombra, but for the entire Crystal Empire...
