The daughter of shadows

by Lyra133

Rating: teen
Tags: Thriller, Original Character, King Sombra, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Adventure, Violence, Death, Sweetie Belle, Main 6, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 1484

King Sombra will do anything to protect his child from the horrors of death and war. Even sending her over one thousand years into the future.

Sweetie Belle had always thought herself to be a regular unicorn with a few bugs in the magical department. She has a loving family, good friends, and a walking talking shadow that keeps her up at night. But when she and her class take their final field trip to the Crystal Empire, a mistake causes her to discover a secret that had been hidden from her her entire life.

I would like to give a big thanks for Everfreepony for editing this.

Cover art was done by me.

Published 2018-06-21 04:20:07 UTC
Last updated 2018-06-29 16:43:53 UTC

Prologue, to give what once was mine.

King Sombra ran through the large empty halls of the Crystal Empire's main palace, weaving his way past large piles of crushed crystals, that had shattered by the impact of the many blasts of magic the city had sustained in the last several hours. He gritted his teeth as he tried to ignore the throbbing pain in his left leg, he was already wasting precious time and magical energy with the task he had before him, a possible minor wound could wait. Outside the many shattered windows and large holes in the walls and ceiling allowed the cacophony of battle to echo through the palace as he continued to run. He frowned as he glanced over at the bundle of brown blankets that were being held in his light red aura.

"She'll be fine," he muttered to himself. He made a hard left and leaped over a large pile of rubble a few feet away with perfect eas. He then bursted through the large doors of the palace's throne-room and quickly summoned a flash of magic through his horn, making a winding staircase appear in the middle of the room. Without hesitation, he ran down the stairs, making sure to be careful not to miss a step and fall the rest of the way down.

"Are you sure this is wise?" whispered a voice that echoed from the shadows surrounding him.

He gave a small snort of anger before replying through barely controlled rage. "Yes. Besides, what choice do we have? This may be our only chance of saving her from this hell."

"And if the spell fails?" Sombra ignored the question as he reached the bottom of the steps, and quickly trotted towards a large ornate door inscribed with ancient runes only the king could understand. With another flash of magic from his horn, along with an extra burst of shadow magic from the glowing purple smoke trailing out from the corners of his eyes, the large heavy door slowly opened with a high pitched squeak from its hinges. Not wanting to waste anymore time, and already feeling his magic draining with each second, he rushed inside.

The room was about one hundred meters from wall to wall, and was about fifteen stories tall with small glowing gems lining the cave walls and ceiling in arcane symbols that bathed the room in a light blue glow. In the center of the room were six evenly spaced circles that grew smaller and smaller until the last ring was the size of an adult pony. In the space between each ring was a circle of different colored gems that were embedded into the stone.

"Do you need my help?" the voice asked from Sombra's left. The young king turned to face the darkness with a frown.

"No, but I do need you to keep the door safe."

"Very well, but may I take one last look at her before you cast the spell?" Sombra gave a warm smile before levitating the bundle of blankets towards the darkness. He watched as a shadowy hoof extended out from the void, and the perfect shadowy form of King Sombra stepped out and gazed down at the sleeping white unicorn foal that lay within.

"Beautiful," the shadow whispered in the king's own voice, but there was a slight echo that trailed his words. Sombra gave a sad nod before hovering the foal towards the center ring. "Have you given her a name?"

Sombra shook his head before answering, "No, I trust whoever raises her to give her a worthy name." He allowed a small chuckle to escape his lips. "Besides, where she will end up, it is doubtful she will be given an Umbrum name." The shadow gave an understanding nod, and quickly melted against the floor and slithered between the two doors, closing them once he had made it to the other side.

Sombra sat down on the cool stone floor, and took in a deep breath to clear his mind. Gently closing his eyes, the king began imagining Starswirl's time spell, and quickly began twisting, adding, and subtracting parts of the spell to work in his favor. After several minutes passed of concentration, he felt that the spell would do, and began summoning as much of what little remaining magic he had left. He reached out with his magic and began powering up the crystals in a large connected line of magic that slowly drew towards the resting foal in the center.

However, his focus was momentarily hindered for a brief moment by a muffled explosion that shook the room from somewhere above him, and he felt a brief stabbing pain in his ribs. It knock the breath out of him and caused the second to last ring to flicker and die. "C-mon, Miles, keep them off my back for a few more minutes," he grunted. Gritting his teeth, he quickly regained his focus and finished the missing ring. Slowly, the final ring was powering to the spell. However, Sombra was sweating heavily, and was nearing to the point of total burnout.

"Just... a... little... more..." He heard the sound of battle coming from the other side of the door, and he knew he had to quicken the spell. Redoubling his efforts, he noticed that the room began to violently shake, causing dust to fall and small jagged cracks to run up and down from the walls and ceiling. He watched as the final gem in the ring glowed to life, causing a large bright flash of white light to fill the room and shoot up through the now cracked roof. After a few seconds, the light quickly dissipated, leaving the heavily dust filled room in complete darkness.

The doors to the room burst open with a loud bang, and a large group of Equestrian guards quickly flooded the room, followed by both princess Celestia and Luna clad in their armor.

"W... where is he?" Luna asked, panting for breath as she began lighting up her horn and looking around for the king. "Are we too late?"

"It appears so, Sister," Celestia said solemnly as she stood at the edge of the rings and stared down at something near her hooves. Luna quickly trotted over to where her older sister stood, and burst into tears at the sight of Sombra's curved red horn lying before them. Celestia gently wrapped a wing around her sister to calm her, but the gesture worked only slightly. "I'm so, so sorry Luna. We were too late."

"They will pay for this," Luna hissed in a cold whisper. "I will unleash every conceivable nightmare upon those monsters until they beg for death." The Lunar princess glared towards the open doors, and quickly summoned a scythe made from her Lunar magic and charged out the door roaring in bloodcurdling rage.

"Your Majesty, should we go after her?" one of the guards asked, glancing over to the door and back at the ruler of the sun. Celestia grimly shook her head.

"I would advise against doing so, Captain. She is quite deadly when mixed with anger and the thrill of war. Besides, she needs to let out her anger in one way or another." The guard nodded, and looked around the room.

"So what do we do now, Princess?" Celestia took in a deep breath to calm her anger.

"We will take back what belongs to him." She then looked around with a sad expression. "And once the battle has been won, this room will be his resting place, along with the others that died bravely to defend the Crystal Empire. For today will not only be the day Equestria loses one of its greatest allies, but a dear friend." Celestia lit her horn and levitated the broken piece with her magic, but took in a sharp gasp in surprise. The guards all looked to her with concern written on their faces.

"Princess, are you alright?" The Captain of the guard asked, taking a small step forwards. The princess gave a small gulp and nodded towards him.

"Yes, yes I'm alright. Go and aid the fight, I will join you soon." The ponies all gave salutes and quickly galloped away. Once Celestia knew her ponies were gone, she lit her horn a little brighter to see if her senses weren't mistaken. After a few seconds, she frowned and stared down at the broken horn.

"What did you do down here my friend?" she asked in a whisper. Shaking her head, she placed the broken horn in the center of the rings, and left the room with the doors closing behind her, plunging the room once more into complete darkness.

Author's Note

I listened to the audio for God of war 4, and thought the new voice for Kratos would be awsome for king Sombra.