Welcome to Equestria

You know, the best part of my entire day was seeing the faces of my friends when I showed the mentally healed Nightmare Moon to them. Twilight, on the other hand, was pestering me with questions. Especially about key information on how I could heal someone's mind. However, I did not reveal such advance spells to her knowing what type of pony she is.

And so with the long intense conversation out of the way, I went home feeling good about myself. It was no surprise to see Zecora cleaning the hut as she smiled at me. "I see you came back. How was your trip?" she asked.

"It was alright. I assume you want to know?"

Zecora nods happily as we sat down side by side on the couch in the main room. And from there I told my crazy adventure at the asylum about healing Nightmare Moon. I wasn't surprised when she seemed lost for words.

"How were you able to do such a feat? Not even I could repair damage to the mind like that." She said.

My happy expression seem to somber a bit at the painful memories that came in. "Well, let's just say it's a long story. I rather not go into detail." I said.

Zecora seemed slightly disappointed but was understandable. "Of course dear, if that's what you want."

From then until nightfall we spent the rest of the day talking about daily things and enjoying each other's company.

That night however I couldn't stop thinking of that moment during the wedding. The mare named Crushing Skull. Whatever it was she came for was important, but the question was what was so important to go back in time for?

My mind went back to all the new and old villains I defeated in the past. None matched to what could be the reason. I sighed turning and comforting my wife with a smile before I let sleep claim me.

The next day was not very eventful other than the fact it was a muggy day. Which strangely didn't fit the unusual forest too well. Then I heard the sound of someone approaching from the pathway. I turned my head to the pathway to find that three Royal Guard soldiers were at the hut entrance. Zecora and I approached them as the one in the middle seemed to be the one to give the friendliest greeting.

The mare seem to be familiar though.... My heart almost skipped a beat when she took off her helmet.

It was Crushing Skull only she seemed to not recognize me. Now that I got a good look at her I also realized she was a unicorn. "You must be Private Shadow Faze," She said.

"Yes, I am. This is my wife, Zecora." I said as Zecora did a polite gesture toward her.

"I'm Crushing Skull and my job is to escort you to the Canterlot Castle. A problem arose that requires your direct attention. " Crushing Skull said.

I sighed as I said my goodbyes to Zecora before I head back to the castle once more. To await me is Celestia herself with her student Twilight Sparkle. Twilight appeared to have many scrolls, parchments, and papers for something though.

"You request my audience again, Princess?" I asked cutting into the conversation Twilight and Celestia were having.

The Sun Princess seemed to brighten at my presence. "Shadow, you showed up! I thought you would have stayed home with your wife. After all, this does seem like a very trivial matter."

"Nonsense Princess. I always report to duty," I glanced at Twilight. "I assume I'll be her bodyguard?"

"Not quite. Have you two ever heard of the Crystal Empire?" Celestia asked.

Twilight searched in her notes while I just plainly looked at her in confusion. "I'm sorry, I-I thought I studied- oooh. I don't think there is anything in my books-"

"There won't be." She said.

Twilight immediately stopped searching to stare at the Sun Princess. She had my interest peaked a bit too.

Celestia faced her throne before her horn lit up to a small glass dome. The glass contained a long, hexagonal prism crystal was pulled from the small glass dome. "Few ever remember it ever existed at all," Celestia continued taking the crystal out with her magic placing it in front of us. "Even my knowledge about the Empire is limited."

She struck a beam at the crystal before it started to glow making an hologram of what the Empire had looked like. Twilight stammered back in slight shock and awe at the beauty of the holographic image of the Crystal Empire. It looked to me like a giant snowflake with a sort-of crystal eiffel tower in the middle of it, but I stayed quiet to let her finish her story.

"What I do know is it contains a powerful magic. One thousand years ago King Sombra, a unicorn who's heart was black as night took over the Crystal Empire," A visual of a black crystal spread across the hologram. I kind of felt a bit disappointed at the description she gave me of this Sombra dude-pony. Really all the supposed 'villains' of this world just feel like jokes. "He then enslaved the Crystal Empire to do his bidding and take over all of Equis."

I saw the holographic form of him appear at the top of the eiffel tower structure. I felt only deep hatred build up inside of me strangely. He was a dark grey stallion with black everflowing on him. His pupils were flowing green while his ires were serpentine red. He wore a cloak of something a stereotypical king would wear with a sinister grin plastered on his face looking down on his slaves. That didn't really help with my rising anger.

"I'm guessing he was defeated?" I asked.

Celestia glanced at me. "Yes, and he was ultimately overthrown. He was then turned into a shadow and banished into the ice of the Arctic North."

Once again, it showed the visuals as Twilight stared intently, but could clearly see that the ones who defeated him were Celestia and Luna. For whatever reason she didn't tell Twilight was beyond me. But I myself wouldn't trust that information to a selective hearing pony either. After that visual, it returned back into its holographic self again.

Twilight of course had no words to express herself to what happened. "But not before he could put a curse on the Empire. The curse caused it to vanish in thin air."

At this point, I was done listening and was about to walk away. "-If hatred and fear take hold-" I felt Celestia's magic grow unfamilarly dark. I turn around to see some of the same streaks that Sombra had glowing off his eyes. She struck the crystal making the entire crystal engulfed in the same darkness. It released a shadow toward Twilight as it came in lightning speeds in front of her. The same black crystals grew around her before I shattered them with my punches. Celestia's concentration broke in shock at my display even Twilight seemed surprised.

"I think we get it now, Celestia. So all we have to do is kill this Sombra du-pony, and also make sure the Crystal Empire stays safe too." I summarized.

"Y-Yes. Exactly," Celestia said as she regain her composure. "It is, as I said, a different kind of test, but one I am certain you both will pass."

Twilight looked determined for moment. I grinned finally being able to meet the bastard to knock him down a few pegs. "How do we begin?"

"By joining Princess Cadence and Shining Armor in the Crystal Empire." the Sun Princess explained walking down the throne room. Twilight tagged along beside her while I stayed only a few steps back from them.

"My brother will be there?"

"He is. And your Ponyvile friends will join you there as well."

I had to resist the urge to sigh at the situation with her friends in it.

"Of course, they are the Element Bearers, but they could still be troublesome if push comes to shove. I'll have to keep myself extra careful now."

"But, what if I fail?" Twilight asked skeptically.

Now that surprised me a bit. She usually doesn't have those doubts. "You won't." Celestia said.

"But, what if-" Before she could continue, Celestia placed a hand on her shoulder with a soft smile on her face.

"You won't," Celestia assured her student. "But Twilight, in the end, it must be you and Shadow who ultimately assist Princess Cadence and Shining Armor in doing what needs to be done to save the Empire. Do you understand?"

Twilight seemed to take pride in her order as she nods to Celestia. "Then there is no time to lose." Celestia said.

She shut the door firmly behind us both. I finally let the sigh escape my muzzle. This was going to be one interesting business trip.

We arrived at the Frozen (Arctic) North train station, but nopony appeared to be there. It wasn't until I heard a male voice break through the snowy winds that I noticed anypony else there besides the girls and Spike. It was Shining Armor as he looked relieved she was here.

"Twily, you made it." Shining Armor said as he gave her a hug.

They broke up the hug after a moment went by. We then start to follow him through the blizzard. "We better get moving, there are things out here we really don't want to run into after dark." His tone drifted dark slightly as the girls looked at each other concerned.

We continued on the blankless snow valley. There was so much snow that we could only see slight visualizations of mountains in the distance.

"Something keeps trying to get in. We think it's the unicorn king who originally cursed the place." Shining informed.

"Good to know we came to the right place."

That's when I stopped listening to their conversations. Because I was throughly bored and so I decided to let my mind drift off to other thoughts. Like trying to figure out why the sun hasn't destroyed the weather all over this planet yet? Or how the pegasus just twist the weather however they like it to be? I sometimes wonder if this planet will eventually turn against ponykind.

Suddenly, a strange howling noise pierced the blizzard around us. We searched for it, but by the time Shining told us to move faster a tornado of pure shadow burst forth from the snowy ground behind us.

The dark magic I felt from the monster was more intense and possibly several times more powerful then the spell Celestia attempted earlier. However, I had a bad urge to fight the bastard. It was short lived when several towers of a red crystal crowded around the girls. I materialized Apocalypse out to cut it only for it to ricochete off the crystal. I was completely surprised to say the least. Shining Armor recovered enough to lead them out of the death trap, and then we all ran like hell away from the tornado of shadows. The red crystals still tried to impale all of us despite our struggle to get to the Crystal Empire still.

Some of the shadows itself burst like an explosion causing the darkness to fall everywhere. Many missed but one lucky hit caught Shining Armor's horn. Shining cried out in short pain black crystals forming on his horn. It didn't matter though because our lives were on the line at the moment.

"Almost there!" Shining said gaining more speed along with the rest of us.

I could see in the distance a pink barrier, but I didn't have time to question the color of it as the shadow bellowed out in fury gaining up more speed as well. The shadow revealed a sinister smile with green and red eyes like he knew what was going to happen. It didn't take too long as we all crossed through the barrier walls. The shadows however cried out in agony as it hit the sphere of light. The girls let out a sigh of relief while Shining only let out a frustrated growl at his unusable horn. So much for his magic.

We carried on to the crystal castle which was.....nice and quiet. Not many of the locals stirred about in the city which felt odd to me. Some of them didn't even feel too happy to be alive again. All I could feel was.....fear.

Well, we get to the throne room to find out that Cadence is the only pony strong enough to hold up the shield by a thread, and now since Shining Armor can't preform the spell he can't relieve her of the magical strain. So the girls, Spike and I then go to the library they have. And thus we begin our search for the history of the so called 'Crystal Heart'.

I scanned through the many books aimlessly for hours and hours until one book fell from one of the top selves. This book got my attention, so I decided to at least check the title out. It's title read Artifacts of the Ancients. It looked relatively harmless enough especially since I'm looking for an artifact. I opened the book and read. However, I stopped on one peculiar artifact.

Its fancy illustration was in the shape of a strange collection of naturally-grown together crystals. The drawing also showed wavy lines coming out from it. I read its symptoms and what it was capable of doing. My eyes grew wider and wider connecting the dots. It should have been impossible to find it in this land, but somehow it's here.

I have to act quick before it's too late.

I ran toward Twilight and her friends as they see me coming by. "SorrygirlsbutIhavetogosopleaseexcusemeanddon'ttouchanythingthatlookslikeredcrystals, bye!" (Sorry girls but I have to go so please excuse me and don't touch anything that looks like red crystals, bye!) I said as I zipped by them with Apocalypse unsheathed. I wasn't going to let the bastard ruin anymore worlds while I was alive.

However, I saw the shield flicker from the loss of power, so I increased my speed. I had a few moments at best before Cadence's magic failed and allowed the thing to enter the kingdom. Half a hour into my run the pink shield completely falls apart. Many of the locals screamed in panic around me but I pushed through the chaos. Then I heard the tyrant's laughter near by. The shadow morphed into a recognizable stallion along with fully armored foot soldiers at his side. The stallion looked exactly like the hologram Sombra was depicted. He ordered his foot soldiers to attack the rest of the Crystal Empire before attending to me.

"So, you are this King Sombra Celestia warned about." I said with a nonchalant tone in my voice.

Sombra grinned before he stride up towards me. "I see you are well informed. The question seems to be now who are you? You are just a simple unicorn with no experience in magic whatsoever." Sombra said.

He carelessly summoned his simple weapon of a type of sword. It radiate a great deal of evil behind it. He grinned behind his cold expression. He collided blades in a matter of seconds before I was forced to go on the defense. Sombra seem amused by my fast reflexes barely able to catch his attacks.

It wasn't long before he delivered a sturdy uppercut and then threw me down on the ground with his curved horn's magic. I began to whisper a chant in my native tounge as he approached me.

"You know, for a big mouth your power carries very little weight to- Where did he go?" Sombra said in slight surprise and confusion only for something to slice open his back. He cried out in pain before he jumped back to quickly regenerate himself.

I smiled as I reappeared in front of him with a teleportation spell. "You really thought you had beat me yet? Pathetic, that cockiness is going to get you killed." I said as the black fog rolled off my blade.

Sombra's surprise goes further at my sudden boost in power. He couldn't fully indulge in his own thoughts before he was on the defense this time blocking my current series of strikes at almost blinding speeds. At this point, he was cut up, beaten, and bleeding in various places all over his body. I just stood there a good distance away from him while he tried to catch his breath.

"Are you done now, Sombra? Because I can do this all day."

Sombra chuckled first before it turned into manical laughter. "YOU WANT TO SEE HOW STRONG I AM?! THEN PREPARE TO BE OBLIVIATED!" he shouted as he released whatever restriaints he had on him. His body revealed itself to be half completely consumed in a type of red crystal.

I grew wary of what I saw as it matches up perfectly to 'it' now. "You got more surprises in you I see." I said getting into one of my more serious types of combat positions.

Luck had it out with me this time because his anger and hatred rose from my remark. In a matter of seconds, he charged a beam of strong dark magic mixed with the red crystal launching it at me. I luckily dodged his attack, but the land itself was torn up from the sheer power the beam produced. What was left had turned it into a large scar in the earth.

I blurred up in front of him bending backwards to avoid another beam then stabbed him through his stomach. I then swing him around in a few quick circles before launching him directly into an abandon crystal home. The force of the impact caused its entire structure to shatter moments later.

Sombra however bursts from the crystal pile letting out an outraged roar expelling the same energy around the area. I quickly covered myself in a forcefield just in time for the force to engulf me. When everything cleared again there was nothing but ash around me. The destruction stretched out for a mile long. In that time frame I saw his body work its regeneration magic.

"There's ponies here! What the hell is your problem?!" I yelled at him.

Sombra laughed in amusement. "Who cares. They are just dumb slaves to bend to my will. They didn't have lives to begin with."

My anger boiled as I formed my claws to tear some pieces of meat off the bastard. The bastard cried out in pain before elbowing me in the chest. Lady Luck seemed to get a kick out of this because I felt more force and damage into it thanks to gravity pushing me forward so fast. I was painfully sent flying a few meters before stopping myself.

A dark chuckle escaped from Sombra's lips as he now completely took a different stance from before. No more was he selfdestructive and arrogant. Instead it seemed like he had switched personalities somehow.

I got back up again glaring at him to at least keep some of my dignity. "Who are you? You don't seem to be Sombra anymore."

"As observant as you ever were, Herra Dovostro. I'm impressed." he said.

My eyes widen in pure surprise as it slowly turned into my silent anger. "How do you know that name?" I asked.

He grinned before his blade code itself in mysterious red crystal. The crystal seemed to melt itself directly into the blade. I recognized that blade anywhere. It was Rufusdraco's favorite curved sword. The sword also had a blood red hue to it that said he never bothered to wash the blade of its kills. I thought I was the last one.

"How are you still alive? After all this time you should have died." I said.

Rufusdraco, impersonating as Sombra, just stared coldly back at me. "Simple really. I just got lucky. Can't say the same to your friends and w-"

"YOU BASTARD! Don't pretend you know that pain!" I yelled interrupting his explanation.

He smirked again. "You're right, I don't. Which is why I'm kill you first, Dovostro. Then I'm taking over this world because then after that I can finally gain enough resources to not depend on this weakling."

I knew he would try to spread his influence onto everypony too. My grip on Apocalypse tightened as he and I both then clashed blades with each other, but this time a full blown shock wave came from the connection shattering any windows in sound distance. We didn't stop there though as he raised a tower of sharp red crystal under me. I teleport behind him before stabbing through his right shoulder. The painful cries made me quite oblivious to the pillar that struck out from of his back a second later impaling me.

I coughed out some of my own blood as I teleported me and Apocalypse from Rufusdraco several meters in front of him. The red crystal was taking more over his body as the real Sombra fought for his life now thrashing on the ground.

"Dammit,
the bastard got a deep wound into me... Time for plan B."

I pushed myself up from the ground near the thrashing Sombra as the black fog encased Apocalypse again. With great force I sped up to him then impaled his stomach. I twisted it violently into him for good measure. His screaming only increased as he attempted to tear me to pieces with his fingers but could not.

His regeneration spell couldn't keep up with the multiple bleeding holes as his movements started to slow down. I looked into his eyes seeing Rufusdraco's serpentine crystal red eyes flash back at me. He coughed up some blood before lightly chuckling.

"It....appears that I have....underestimated one of my greatest foes......... It doesn't matter though because.......... Not even the gods can save you now...." He sputtered weakly.

As if on cue, a huge bright white light in a growing sphere outwards burst forth from the crystal castle. White cracks quickly spidered across Somber's body. It wasn't long before his body shattered itself apart into nothing. With nothing to hold me down I fell to the stone floor with my trusty Apocalypse beside me. The wound he did on me was too deep for normal spells to preform unfortunately. I can't simply do it myself because of my brain unable to focus right now.

I needed medical attention, but I was too weak to get back up again. I felt my body instinctively relaxing itself before my mind drift off into blackness. The last thing I heard was a roar of cheering ponies.