Into the Light

Absolutely everything went wrong. I told her this was gonna happen, and I'm still pissed!

Deep breath.

Let me back up. After leaving my room, Twilight and I went to collect the other Bearers, (which apparently all sleep together in the same room?) who were asleep, of course. After them, we went to get Cadance. From the state of her mane, I'm going to hazard a guess and say she needs at least two hours to get ready in the morning.

Every morning. What a pain.

Everypony gathered around Twilight and I, Rarity helping brush Cadance's mane, Orange was between Pinkie and Fluttershy, and Rainbow was hovering overhead.

Twilight spoke, "Silver and I got to talking, and I think we've figured out what is inhabiting Shiny."

"What?" Cadance cried, leaning forward. Rarity gently pulled her back, clearly displeased with the Princess's behavior. Cadance continued more calmly, "What is it? How do you know?"

"It's just a theory," I said, "but it explains everything observed so far." I looked at Twilight. "Do you want to explain, or will I?"

"I will." she said quietly. Speaking up, she continued, "Girls, you all remember how we defeated Sombra, right?" A general chorus of 'yes', 'yeah' and 'uh-huh'. "You all know that we assumed he had been defeated forever, and that we never checked to see where he was or what had become of him."

They glanced at each other, they might see where this is going.

"What's that got to do with Shinin'?" Orange said. I tried not to sigh. Of course they wouldn't see it.

"It's possible that he was not destroyed in that blast, simply reduced in power. That reduction might have actually been what allowed him to attach himself to Shiny." They still looked confused.

"Look," I said, "if you took enough of his power, he would have been little more than a shadow. That state of being, combined with his knowledge of dark magic, may have allowed him to capture and inhabit somepony. Whether or not he lured Shining into hurting himself on purpose or not is still up to debate, but the fact of the matter is this: we are hoping that the Elements can separate them, or that Sombra is still weak enough to be destroyed completely."

Cadance opened her mouth, hesitated for an instant, then spoke, "How did you come to that conclusion, Twilight? What evidence? We can't make rash decisions like this."

"Actually," Twilight said, "we talked about that. First, it is plausible simply because we never confirmed Sombra's defeat. Second, if Sombra had inhabited Shiny, it would explain almost everything regarding his situation." She looked at me. I suppose I should continue.

"The first and most obvious is his soul." I said. "It is nearly pitch black, as you all saw before. We took a look at Twilight's soul, and her is nearly as light as Cadance's, save for a few wisps of black because of her brief use of dark magic."

"U-under Princess Celestia's supervision, of course!" Twilight hastily added.

"Since Sombra was such an avid user of dark magic, his soul would be severely tainted."

I paused for a second. "Next thing: I can't heal him. That might be because of some innate magic Sombra has going to protect himself against foreign magic."

Deep breath.

"Then: there is the permanent feeling of death around Shining. Sombra would need to be nearly dead to pull off a stunt like this, which means I might actually be feeling Sombra, not Shining. That might be why I can't heal Shining. I'm trying to heal Sombra, but he has no body to work with, so it's not doing anything."

I looked at Twilight. "Is there anything else?"

"Well," she said, "I just thought of this, actually. Where did you find him?"

"Under the snow. Pretty far down, like he'd fallen in a crack in the ground."

Cadance spoke, "If he fell and hurt himself, that would have given Sombra an opportunity to get inside him."

Don't smirk. Don't laugh. Everypony here is very upset. That would be extremely rude.

"Right," I said with a perfectly straight face, "Sombra might have also kept him alive 'till we found him. I can't think off any other reason he wouldn't have frozen to death."

Silence reigned for a moment.

"What about the storm?" Rainbow said. I looked up, startled, she hadn't spoken much aside from threatening me so far.

"What about the storm?" Twilight said, also looking up at Rainbow.

"Well," Rainbow crossed her forelegs. "It started when Shining went missing, and it hasn't stopped since. What about that?"

She had a point. Hadn't I even thought Shining's disappearance was connected to the storm? How would Sombra be able to do something like that if he was so weak he needed a host body?

"I have no idea." I admitted. "But at this point, I don't think using the Elements could do more harm than good. We may as well try."

They nodded, some yawned, and began to get their respective Elements. I looked at Cadance. She looked...less like she had just lost a fight with a bush, which spoke volumes of Rarity's abilities.

"Are you all right?" I asked. I walked towards her while she nodded slowly.

"Yes," she said, "just still somewhat sleepy. I really hope you're right, and it's as easy as blasting Sombra out of Shining."

I shook my head. "It won't be. If there's anything I've learned in the last four centuries, it's this, and it's kinda the motto I live by: Life is a bitch, but fate is sadistic."

"That said," I continued, "being immortal helps. I can't imagine trying some of the stuff I do on a regular basis with just one chance."

She laughed, a tinkling little sound. "Well, I think that your worldview is a little skewered, given how often you get yourself killed."

I smirked, "That may be the case, but my point stands: nothing is ever easy. And if it is, life is just getting a good, long run up for the kick in your flank."

I heard the door open. Cadance and I both looked. The Bearers were already heading out.

"There in quite the hurry, aren't they?" I said.

"We should be too." Cadance replied, standing. She paused, then arched her back like a cat, stretched her legs, flared her wings and yawned. I had to duck to avoid a face-full of feather.

I stood up. Off we go.

As we got closer, I felt that something was off. Glancing at the others, they just seemed tired, though their determination was evident, especially in Twilight. They were nervous, but that wasn't it. Something was missing.

No.

I realized what was wrong. This couldn't be. I gathered power, then teleported. I only went down the hall, I could hear them suddenly talking loudly, confused at my movement.

I was in front of the door to Shining's room, but I couldn't feel him like I had before. Slamming through, my stomach dropped into my hooves.

He was gone.

The staff wouldn't have moved him without alerting Cadance, even in the middle of the night. They definitely would have alerted us if he was out and about. He was gone, though he hadn't just walked out. It may have been the middle of the night, but there were doctors and nurses everywhere. Somepony would have seen him, stopped him, and told us.

He must have teleported out.

The others had made it to the room by now, filing through the door and expressing their shock at his absence. I wasn't listening to them. I made my way to the middle of the room, horn lit, looking for the signature of a teleportation. It would only have lasted a few minutes, it was unlikely we had been so lucky as to show up as soon as he left.

There was no teleportation, but there was a whisper of dark magic. Just enough to confirm what we had believed. Bringing myself back to the world, I heard the others talking quickly. Concern, fear, anger.

I turned to them, moving slowly. "Twilight." I said. The conversation ground to a halt, all eyes on me. "Where is his soul?"

They looked at her. "I, uh, I..."

"We need to get it before he does. It may be our last option, but it is the single most effective weapon we have against him."

"I...left it...here." she squeaked.

Nopony moved. Nopony breathed. It took me an instant to really hear that.

"In this room." I deadpanned, a wisp of frost riding my breath.

"Yes."

"And now it's gone." I closed my eyes. I could hear frost crackling as it spread across the floor.

How could she– Why would– Uhh!

I was going to kill her. Then resurrect her, and kill her again. Multiple times.

Deep breath.

Deep breathe. Again. And again. Do not kill the stupid ponies. It's not worth it. No matter how much they deserve it, they are mortal and without centuries of experience. They make stupid mistakes. Do not kill them.

Deep breath.

"Alright." I said. "I'm going to go find him." Without opening my eyes, I teleported out of the room, then to the front of the castle.

I waited a second. Then opened my eyes. I could see my breath. Looking down, there was already frost on the ground, spreading from the point where my hooves touched the ground. Maybe I froze them in the room. That would be fine. At least as ice statues they couldn't make my life incredibly difficult.

I was just outside the main entrance of the castle. There were two guards, both behind me. One to my right, one to my left. The one on my right had jumped at my appearance, left had stayed still.

There were several ponies in the street in front of me. Two looked at me, none seemed to really care. Everything was slower than it should have been. I needed to hurry.

I reached out as far as I could, until I hit the dome. Thousands of hearts, thousands of lives, all unaware of the danger present. I could feel the ponies dying in the hospitals, in their homes, a few on the streets. Poor ponies. Any other day I'd jump to help them, but Shining-Sombra (Shombry?) was on the loose and an unknown enemy.

I could feel a few dying, but nothing that felt like him. He must have fled the city.

I didn't want to risk teleporting with my senses extended again. Reeling myself back in, I gathered the power I would need to teleport out of the shield.

Teleporting once, I saw a pegasus hovering over an earth pony frozen in mid jump. They were laughing.

Twice, I saw a guard in front of a statue, mouth open, facing a unicorn. He was pointing to something behind me.

Thrice, I saw a house. A window on the second story was open, a little filly leaning out to reach for a pegasus colt hovering in front of her. She was smiling.

On the forth, I saw a pond, a mare with a long flowing mane throwing bread pieces, frozen in midair, to the waiting swans.

With the fifth, I found myself face-to-face with a shield. Quickly stepping beyond it, as I didn't want to try teleporting through it, I felt the snowflakes hitting my face like a thousand fairy punches, carried by the howling wind. I reached out as far as I could, drowning out the world around me. Animals beneath the snow, one snuffed out in that brief second.

I pulled myself back in, made ready to teleport as far as I could away from the city. I needed to get close to the maintains. There was no reason for him to be anywhere here, he would have needed to find a refuge.

He might be in a crevice like he was before, or perhaps a cave. He might even have made his way all the way to the mountains. I needed to cover as much ground as possible as quickly as possible

There are two spells I have mastered over the course of the last four centuries: shield bashers, and teleportation. I've never been in a situation where some combination of those two, and my dagger, were not immensely effective.

That said, I can cast those two spells more quickly than most ponies could blink, using less power than I did for something as basic as levitation.

I was very glad for that. Otherwise, this next task might prove impossible.

I gathered power, then began teleporting.

One. It had taken me five teleportations to go from the center of the city to the perimeter.

Two. From some painting I had seen a long time ago, which clearly wouldn't be accurate,

Three. I guessed that the distance from the Empire to the maintains was roughly four Empires.

Four. As such, I would need to teleport forty times to get to them.

Five. However, since, in relation to the Empire, which is now a system of measurement,

Six. I can only sense up to 12 teleports, or one point two Empires,

Seven. And since I believe I could disregard the first half-Empire from the shield,

Eight. I would need to stop at seventeen teleports to guarantee I don't miss something.

Nine. If I keep the shield at the edge of my view, I would be able–

Ten. –to go around it, keeping at a constant distance.

Eleven. But I wasn't sure what I would do further out.

Twelve. Maybe I could feel further than I thought if I focused.

Thirteen. Barring that, it was likely I wouldn't find him anyway.

Fourteen. Since he seemed to be capable of blocking my magic–

Fifteen. –passively while asleep, he may be able to hide–

Sixteen. –completely while awake.

Seventeen. Arriving my destination, I reached out. I felt nothing but animal hearts. I focused in the direction of the Empire, trying to establish a connection. I couldn't feel it.

I pulled back from other directions, putting all my focus towards the shield. I thought I felt something. Just barely brushing it.

Right. If the Empire had a diameter of pi Empires (the diameter) than the circle I needed to do would be four point four Empires times pi...roughly one hundred forty teleports around. Given my range of vision, which at its maximum could reach back to the Empire, I would need to make nine checks.

To get from the center of one check to another, it would simply be the diameter devised by nine, or just over fifteen teleports. Good.

With that plan in mind, I put it in action, teleporting fifteen times before checking around me, then at the Empire in order to make sure I was still aligned properly.

That went on for a while, with nothing much happening, and no signs of Shombry.

Halfway to the eighth check, I nearly landed on Cadence. I actually teleported twice more before realizing that. Doubling back, I put myself at a respectable, not-trying-to-trample-you distance.

That is to say, about three hooves.

"Silver!" She shouted. Ow. Look, I get the storm is loud, but I put myself next to you for a reason.

"Yes?" I said as nonchalantly as possible.

"What the hell-" She flipped her mane out of her face. I was having much the same problem, but my mane was short enough it didn't bother me. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Looking for Shombry." I replied.

"Who?"

"Shombry. Shining-Sombra. I don't want to use either of their names, so I made a new one."

She looked incredulous, but I pressed on, "I'm about to finish the last check. After that, I need to head further out, to the mountains."

"I don't think it's worth your time." She said, not shouted, thankfully. "Sombra–"

"Shombry."

"Shombry is very good at hiding when hurt." How the hell would she know that?

"Do you want to head back now, then?" I asked. "What else are we supposed to do? Wait for him to gather strength so he can attack at his leisure?"

"We won't be able to find him!"

"Not with that attitude we won't!" I said, then teleported away. Not able to find him my flank!

I completed the check, then began to head toward the mountains. It took a while, but I went all the way around. I think. I hadn't found anything.

Maybe Cadence was right.

Even so, I took solace in the fact that I hadn't just given up.

That didn't change the fact that I was very lost now.

I had thought that simply heading perpendicular to the mountain line would eventually put me within sensing distance of the Empire, but that hadn't happened.

Sitting on a field of white, surrounded by lots of hateful white, I realized how much I appreciated the dark. It wasn't loud and annoying and boring like this.

At least while under my bed I could meditate and reflect on past mistakes and all that good stuff, but this blizzard was unrelenting in it's assault on my concentration now that I wasn't so panicked.

Anyway, I was completely and hopelessly lost. I'd have to wait for somepony to find me.

Since we had officially lost Shombry, I thought that I might as well go around the Empire and help some of the ponies I had felt before I left.

I really should have done that before, but the anxiety of having found Shombry, but not knowing what was wrong with him or what to do about it, had been eating me alive.

Now though? Now I might as well enjoy myself.

I scowled at the blizzard around me. Once I got back.

I kicked at the snow. Stupid snow.