Bare My Curse

"Listen, drake. I have a thirst - call it a passion."

Indigo looked up from the campfire as he tossed another log into it. Still attached by her smoky tendrils, Nightmare Moon had given herself a transparent image of a body, which lay in front of the flames. The journey throughout the day was rough. More guards had come to try and kill the two of them, possessed and otherwise. Nightmare Moon had explained to him, when he had sustained some injuries, that she can regenerate his wounds, but only such. Anything too lethal will kill them both, apparently. If he dies, she dies with him now that they've bonded both physically and mentally.

Once night had fallen, Nightmare Moon had practically forced him to stop and set himself up to rest in a nearby cave. As much as he didn't want to, she had reasoned that if he kept going, he'd be too tired to even fight, which he could agree on. Still bothered by the fact that Sombra would get even more ahead of them, he relented, grabbing sticks and logs from the forestry of the Frozen North and allowing the deity to start the fire with the embers of her power. Now sitting before it, they had passed the time talking.

"When it comes to the night, the stars, and moreover; nightmares, I'm something of a... connoisseur."

"Connoisseur?"

"You see, I was once part of somepony. A shadow of her mind brought to life by rejection and loneliness. When she gave in, I was given flesh, and our goal was to coat the world in eternal night."

"So... the neverending moon?"

"It was my second attempt after spending ten centuries trapped in the moon, but unlike the first, I had little to no power to spare. I could only morph my body into the blue smoke that you see now."

Indigo glanced down at the fire, taking in her words as Nightmare Moon continued.

"The pony I was attached to, and created by, has lived longer than the exile. In fact, we BOTH were there when King Sombra met his first defeat. The Elements of Harmony were said to have banished him to these mountains, but that was a lie. Truth is, I was the one to finish him off. I killed off his physical form, and used my power to seal him in the earth beneath the Frozen North. That must have been when my back had a target as well."

"A... target?"

"Just like you, and your parents: Blitz and Quaker."

Indigo blinked as he turned back to her.

"W-Wait, how do you know...?"

Nightmare Moon grinned as she gave Indigo a hauntingly coy look.

"I'm inhabiting your body, mind, and soul. I know what your favorite meal is. I know where your favorite lava spring is..."

She giggled teasingly.

"I even know about that cute little mare you met in Canterlot on your migration travels with your family: Sunset Shimmer."

Indigo looked away, glaring into the fire.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oooooh, a closeted lover. You haven't told her how you feel, have you?~"

She snaked over to him, leaning up against his back with her hooves gripping his shoulders.

"Well, that's too bad. Now that you're mine, my power has made you into a beast. If she saw you right now, I don't think she would think of you in a positive light anymore.~"

She laughed as he bristled, shooing her away with a violent wave of his claw.

"Hey! Cut it out!"

His hand only his smoke as she faded from his vision, reappearing by the fire. He grumbled as she snickered, tossing yet another log in as Nightmare's ears flicked. Silencing herself, she looked deeper into the cave. Her sudden shift in emotions caught Indigo's eye.

"What is it?"

"Look deeper in the cave. What do you see?"

He followed Nightmare's instructions, turning his head to look into the throat of the cave. What he saw could be described as darkness, but it wasn't a natural darkness.

"What is that? It... It's like the walls are moving."

"That's one of King Sombra's shadows. It must be how all of his new guards are coming to and from the Crystal Empire."

"So, what? It's a portal?"

"Essentially. I remember seeing that on the battle field in the first war against him. Ponies he had under his will were always transferred using them."

Indigo walked towards it, stopping a few feet away.

"Think we can use it?"

"It won't be a simple jump, but it's faster than traveling through the Frozen North. I would say leave it for the morning..."

Nightmare Moon receded back into Indigo's body, humming as she put out the fire.

"But the shadows will leave upon daybreak, so we must act now. One thing you must know, however, is that hijacking a worm hole is... an adventure all on its own. We may end up in the middle of the Empire, or further away."

Indigo poked the moving wall.

"So, it's a crapshoot? We're basing this on a gamble?"

"I'd much rather base our chances on a gamble than be certain about our demise."

He gave her that. Continuing onward would guarantee they were getting somewhere closer to Sombra. Whether or not that entailed approaching the Empire as well, that was anyone's guess. With Nightmare Moon now back into his body, he pressed through the wall, falling in with rather surprising ease. Falling down several feet, he landed in some damp and dark place. It was like a stretch of grey, vacant land in all directions. Hitting the ground with a grunt, he blinked as he saw the weird void.

"What is this place...?"

"The void. A plain of space that exists where the boundaries and barriers of reality are weaker. If we're here, then we could be spat out anywhere in Equestria if we leave. If my assumptions are correct, we could even wind up in the distant past, or the far future if we misplace the destination."

Indigo looked back up at where he came from, then turned forward again. He jumped as the plain was no longer just empty nothingness. He was in a manor hallway of some kind, the colors still greyed.

"What the-?!"

"I am quite familiar with this place myself. After the Elements of Harmony stripped me of my previous host, I resided in the void through the helmet you wear now. I know my way around in here, and if we want to stay north of the Kingdom, we need to follow the corridor."

Glancing at himself, he took Nightmare's word and moved forward, first at a walk, then a jog. His movements were fast, but he knew his enhanced speeds would just crash him into a wall, and while that would be amusing to Nightmare, they had no time for jokes and gimmicks. Rounding the corner, Indigo decided to get more information.

"So, what exactly IS Umbra Sombra, anyway?"

"He's an old King that once ruled the Crystal Empire, right after the first Queen fell. Having used Dark Magic for so long, it's corrupted his mind beyond repair. His body has become everything and nothing, the many angles of a pony's shadow. He's unknowable, timeless, eternal. He inhabits darkness in itself, a corrupted darkness as opposed to my pure darkness. His horror is the gulf of what's said and unsaid. His mind has stemmed the Crystal Empire's suffering, and what's made it disappear for as long as my exile."

Indigo slowed down at that, widening his eyes as he placed his hand on a pillar.

"The Crystal Empire has been GONE for a thousand years?"

"When I defeated him, he took the Empire down with him. A cowardly act for sure. Remember when I said I had a target on my back? I meant it. Over the thousand years I've been away, Sombra's been extracting my power through nightmares, growing stronger as I grew weaker. The whole point of the second attempt at eternal night was to regain what power I'd lost. The night powers me, and the nightmares of my subjects make me stronger. We're one in the same with different purposes. I am the yang to my creator's yin, and Umbra Sombra is just a disease; unnatural, and heartless. If we want to survive..."

"... We have to kill him."

"Exactly."

The two finally reached the end, seeing another moving wall like the one in the cave.

"That essence... This is it."

"This is the portal? The one that will take us to the Empire?"

"It'll take us to Sombra, and if he's anywhere near the Empire, then yes."

"Then in we go, I guess..."

"No! WAIT!!!"

She didn't get the chance to warn him fast enough as something came down in front of Indigo, flinging him backwards and slamming him into the wall. Groaning from the pain, he pushed himself up, looking forward as something was blocking him from the portal.

"What the HELL was that?!"

"Language! And that, my dear host..."

Nightmare turned his head towards the way they came, seeing some sort of creature made from a cluster of shadows.

"Is one of Sombra's little pets, made in this void."

"That thing is a PET!? What sort of sick imagination does this guy have?!"

He jumped to the side as several spires of dark crystals erupted from the ground.

"Believe me. Even the most horrifying nightmares would pale in comparison to the mind of an insane tyrant."

The shadowy creature reimaged itself into a more corporeal form, taking on legs and arms all plated with a weapon or protection. The right arm was a long needle that spun like a drill, and the left was a spiked mace. Judging from its size alone, it could easily tower a two-and-a-half story building. Nightmare stared up at it as it looked down at them.

"So much suffering to make this creature... It's... It's... beautiful..."

He glanced at her as she hissed.

"KILL IT..."

"With pleasure."

Indigo jumped to the side as it slammed its mace arm down, smashing floor in and taking them to another level in the void. Sliding down the crumbling side, he jumped onto the beast's arm before it could attack again. Hopping off onto its shoulder as it, too, slid down the folding grounds of the void, he raced across its back and up the needle arm, letting the giant fall the rest of the way as he cruised on down, hitting the next level of this void's mansion. Seeing the giant had fallen over when hitting the floor, he seized the chance. Flexing his arms in a boost of strength and adreniline, he jumped on top of the shadow monster. Making a spinning jump, he evaded the mace as it was swung over its knee. Grabbing the bottom of the weaponized appendage, he used it to vault over and onto the center of the creature.

"The heart's the key! All monsters have one, and it's buried behind its protective shadows. Tear it out!"

Complying with Nightmare's direction, Indigo let the creature swing on him, jumping out of the way just before it hit him. Smashing the shadows like glass around its central chest, he came back down on top of the shards, ripping them away with ferocity. Seeing the red, juicy flesh underneath, he gripped the pincers that guarded the ribcage, pulling them away and jamming his fist through the gap, Grabbing the heart, he squeezed with all his might, pulling it through the ribs and snapping off the tendons as he jumped away. A horrifying screech escaped the headless monster as Indigo landed back where he started, looking down at the creature as the floor gave way again. Tossing the heart down after it, he watched both it and the shadow monster descend deeper and deeper into this void before turning to the wall he was denied entry from.

Walking towards it, he was given applause from Nightmare Moon for defeating the creature, especially without her help. It seemed as if not only was Indigo getting used to this power, but he was less hesitant in taking a life, too. Still, though, as he went through, Nightmare had a question that plagued her mind.

"You still don't trust me, do you, Indigo?"

"You know the answer to that."

Nightmare huffed as they seeped into the wall.

"Well, that's too bad. Trusting me; that's the only chance you and the Crystal Ponies have now."