Author's Note

So I have done it, I have rewritten my story. As little as there was to begin with, I was not happy with the minor direction it went last.

Hopefully I can get 2 done again soon with the same treatment.

I hope you all enjoy.

Of Darkness and Dreams

Woken up to a frozen darkness, a man slowly came to. Groggily he regained control of his body, his sight blocked by the snow, he moved his arms close and lifted himself up just enough for his head to be free from its cover.

What he saw was a blizzard going on in the night, it's harsh winds passing his head threateningly sounded soothing to hear somehow. He felt something off about his body, like something was missing. He looked around, and saw a light in the distance and it gave him pause.

It was no sun so it must have been a civilization of sorts, but out in the cold?

He didn’t care too much in his daze and continued to see what was wrong with himself. He found that his legs were gone, and instead of bleeding, they were smoking.

It didn’t alarm him however, he found it quite comforting and yet he didn’t know why. He could not think about himself or the civilization for long as he was tired. He simply lay his head once more and let himself drift to a cold dark sleep.

His eyes shot open to the sound of a woman yelling. “SOMBRA!” He saw two women charging at him from a distance. Both clad in armor, one in white and gold wielding a halberd, the other in blue and silver wielding a sword. He also noted that he was standing, fully armored and held a… giant club?

“PREPARE TO DIE!”

He quickly raised his oversized weapon in a defensive position, his mind raced to comprehend what was happening when their weapons collided.

To his surprise, he spoke “How droll.” He almost did a double take ‘What did I say?’ he wondered. He felt something coming from the ground, but made no attempt to push away. They, on the other hand, decided to jump away right when it came.

Dark Crystal Spikes.

He remembered something and quickly looked around. They were in a throne room, walls with window panes, two were shattered. Beyond them a city, but dark, dull and twisted.

He remembered that it was his home, and he was it’s king. King of the Crystal Empire… and tyrant of its people.

The battle he was in slowed to a stop, as if time itself was put on hold. He got a better look at his opponents, and recognized them as Celestia and Luna, Princesses of the Sun and Moon respectively. Both had wings on their back and gems on their forehead, shining as bright as their eyes. A sign of a powerful attack, but he could care less about what the spell may be.

He was more focused on how he stooped this low. Taking a couple of steps, and feeling an extra presence behind him, he turns around to only find... himself... there.

It was a frightening sight to see. His face covered in shadowy smoke, with three things that was perfectly visible. Green glowing eyes with purple smoke trailing out of them. The gem on his forehead was colored blood red and grown from its center in four direction. It reminded him of spilled ink on his hand. What scared him the most was his predatory grin. He could not tell if the helmet helped amplify the effect.

’A dream… no. A memory. It's to reminiscent not be one.’ Getting over his initial fright, he saw that his armor was silver and black and had a red cape with white fur trim. He grabbed his own cape and rubbed his hand on it. He could not feel it through his gauntlet, but could tell it was a nice fabric.

He released it and looked at his weapon. It was an oversized double edged greatsword. It did not look stable, but he knew it was more than capable to give and take many powerful attacks of its own.

With a sigh, he started to- “YOU!”

Startled, he looked back at the sisters, but they were still frozen. He quickly looked up and found another Luna, wearing a dress of dark blue and purple with a matching pair of long fingerless gloves. She has a look of shock and anger.

“I don’t know how you are still alive, but I'll make sure to REMEDY THAT!” She started to cast magical spells at the ready, ‘She would keep me here!?’ Time decided to continue slowly, 'I only have a small window, I must stay alive till I wake.' He quickly ran past Dream-Luna who seemed to be only interested with his dream self. 'Perfect'. He ran alongside Dream-Celestia whose weapon, glowing in a vibrant golden color, deflected Luna’s attack away from them.

Luna snuffed out her next spell “COWARD!” she proceeds to summon her staff while time returned to normal.

Dream-Celestia jumped high while Sombra hopped onto the large spike attack that his dream-self launched, whom brought his weapon to block her attack. Sombra was quickly launched through the air, while making himself look like he was to attack, he was hoping that he could reach the closed doors at the other end of the hall.

Luna saw him coming and flew down, while casting arcane blasts at where in the air he was going to be. He swiped them away with ease, and they landed with an explosive impact, but left no marks. With a booming thud, he landed back on the floor, though the floor did not seem to crack.

It was worrisome that they were not making any marks of battle of their own. ‘If dreams don’t allow minuscule changes like that, then that means one of the parties remembering the event is forcing the dream to play out as it did happened.’ He turned to look at Luna. ‘And if I’m not mistaken, she will be unwilling to let me wake up with her presence about.’

“SISTER!” Luna looked and saw her Dream-self be tossed across the room, landing past them. While she struggled to get up, Dream-Celestia quickly dodged the crystal spikes that were coming from the growing dark crystal tree that Dream-Sombra has utilized.

Sombra on the other hand knew the next major attack that will make an escape, the wall behind Luna would break open by her. He only wished he didn’t need to be antagonistic with his actions to do so, however he also knew she would not let him past had she known.

He slow paced and readied himself, watching Luna as he did. He knew Luna had to have something as her ace. A quick glance at her Dream-self. ‘You always did.’

Luna started to cast magical orbs in a rapid succession, some went to Sombra who swiped them away, others stopped in places a small distance around him.

“HAHAHAHAHA!” Dream-Sombra swung his sword, releasing powerful slash attacks that glide across the air, some destroyed Luna’s orbs, others forced Sombra to rebalance himself. That opening was enough for Luna to attack with the remaining Orbs and send him closer to the throne and the wall he wanted.

Sombra was feeling the pain he just received, his helmet flew off and his armor was busted open in some area’s and off in others. He was sprawled on the floor and even though his face was covered in shadowy smoke as well, blue lines in the fashion of electricity rippled across his face, making him somewhat viewable.

“Give up Sombra, you’ll only hurt yourself if you continue to struggle.” He heard Luna say, though it was filled with malice she did make a point.

“Of course.” He grunted as he got himself up. “It is your realm after all.” He looked at Luna with a smirk. “it is also our memory.”

Dream-Celestia flew past Luna, hitting her left wing into a bad position. Luna screamed in pain and dropped to the ground, as Dream-Celestia started preparing a spell.

“It is also my Dream” He turned to the wall as he morphed his Giant Sword into a Scythe and his armor started to repair itself. At that same moment, Dream-Luna launched Dream-Sombra towards the wall while Dream-Celestia casted her powerful magic at him.

The wall came down in rubble and glass shards. Luna heard both Sombra’s spoke at the same time “That was my favorite wall, it showed my dominance/arrogance.”

She quickly got up with her winged healed, and prepared another spell, and both Sombra’s charged past each other. Sombra limped-jumped out of the now open wall. Luna quickly chased after and saw him fall. ‘What does thou mean?’ and flew after him.

He wondered how long it would take to reach the ground and started to ponder what has just happened. He had just fought the moon Sister in a memory of his final days as a tyrannical king, and now wonders ‘How in the frozen north did I become king in the first place?’

He looked up and noticed that she was chasing him... with her wing healed… while he still had his searing pain from before. ‘It's definitely her realm.’

Luna casted spells, from beams to orbs in hopes to distract him enough to lock him in the dream realm. She was gaining on him, though she kept some distance due to his new weapon of choice.

Using his scythe, he blocked and deflected the attacks away from him, now he can return them to slow her attacks. “What are you planning, Sombra!?” She yelled, casted one last spell that would lock him.

He quickly looked at the ground that was coming fast, and back to Luna and said, “Leaving.” and tossed his scythe at the spell, effectively stopping it.

And he woke with a gasp, followed up with hacks and coughs as the snow entered his throat.

The frozen wasteland was cold as ever, but he was glad to feel it again. His lower body has also came back which he was grateful for, allowing him to get up completely. He started to walk away from the Empire, in hopes to hide until he figured out what is going on..

Luna on the other hand witnessed the dream she was in, shattering into fragments when Sombra crashed into the floor of the Empire. As the shattered dream became her realm again, she had one thought in mind. 'He survived!’