The Escape of The Darkness

"Jackie, why didn't you save me?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know, I wasn't fast enough!"

"It hurts me, Jackie"

"I'm sorry, please forgive me!"

Suddenly, Jenny dissipated into the blackness. Jackie started to run after her, but fell into a deep pit.

"NO!"

JACKIE

The first thing he felt was a sheer, bone chillingly cold wind. He was lying down on what he could tell was a hard rock floor. "And that was the....fourth time I died?" Jackie wondered to himself as he got to his feet, feeling slightly ill. Jackie then made his way over to the entrance and peered outside to get his bearings. He was in some sort of frozen tundra that seemed to stretch on for miles and miles in all directions. All he could see was snow laden gales and a heavily overcast sky. The only thing of note was a light in the distance that seemed to be flickering brightly every minute or two. Seeing as that was his only hope of finding civilization, Jackie began to trudge through the thick snow, a difficult task for someone currently wearing Italian loafers.

He slowly plodded and plodded through the snowy desert, clutching his body to keep warm. Snowdrifts the size of small houses rose up around him, making his progress even more difficult. If it were not for the inhuman resistance to damage his birthright granted him, he would have already gotten frostbite. On and on he walked, soon the light became clearer, and his eyes opened wide.

A massive crystal city rose up out of the wasteland, seemingly as if some trickster god had picked it up and dropped it there for a hilarious prank on its' inhabitants. Everything was pure crystal, a central tower glowing like a second sun. A massive dome of energies surrounded it, and it looked like spring inside. It would be a vision of paradise if it wasn't for one distinguishing feature.

A black cloud surrounded the city like a besieging army, constantly billowing and swirling around. Jackie could now see that several crystal buildings inside the city were black and gnarled like they had been corrupted somehow. Suddenly, a dark shape rose up out of the miasma, cackling menacingly. It was about fifty feet tall, with a spiked red horn and ominously glowing eyes. A vaguely famili-

"HE DARES USE MY POWER!?"

"AHHHH!, what the fuck!?" Jackie yelled as he clamped his hands over his ears, "What the hell is your problem!?" He said as he berated the Darkness.

"THIS INSOLENT CUR IS USING MY ESSENCE, MY ESSENCE!"

Jackie recomposed himself and retorted "Slow the hell down and freaking explain!"

The Darkness growled, "WHEN YOUR FORM WAS SHATTERED, SOME OF THE DARK ESSENCE WITHIN COULD NOT BE RETRIEVED, AND LIKE PANDORA'S BOX, A LARGE AMOUNT OF IT PULSED OUTWARDS, SOME OF IT WAS APPARENTLY DRAWN TO THIS STRIPLING"

Before Jackie could reply, the unknown shadow rammed into the shield once again. This time however, it fizzled out of existence, exposing the city, the sky turning an ominous hue of orange. It growled as it entered into the earth, black and jagged crystals forming in its dark wake. Jackie could now see that there were ponies inside, and amid the screaming mass, his eyes widened as he recognized a certain few.

Shining Armor could see Spike running down the black crystal, clutching the glowing heart in his claws. Sombra was getting closer and closer, moving through the earth, and then leaping into the air. He looked to Cadence and they locked eyes, both giving a small nod. Shining then picked her up and turned towards the rapidly approaching dark king.  Cadence spread her large pink and purple wings wings, and he threw her with all of his might. She soared quickly through the air, intent on getting the heart.

However, any of their hopes were instantly crushed by Sombra. He lashed out with a tendril of darkness from his horn, wresting away the heart from a terrified Spike. Sombra then quickly descended in front of the tower, quickly getting out of range of Cadence.

"HAHAHAH! the heart is mine once more" Sombra cackled as the ponies stared at him with shock and fear. The dark king threw the crystal heart on a nearby patch of grass, creating a cage of black crystal.

"No" Cadence whimpered as she descended in front the crowd.

"My black reign of fear will begin anew, crystal princess!" He said as his eyes began to luminescence "With my new found power, I shall enslave the whole WORLD! HHAAHAHA" He laughed as a dark cloud began to overtake everything. But just at the cusp of victory, a single voice rang out.

"Big talk coming from a fuckfaced egomaniac like you!"

"Who dares!?" Sombra said as he turned around. In the black mist, a tall and bipedal figure could be made out. Shining couldn't believe who it was as the being stepped into view.

The familiar being then spoke again "I do"

It all went dead silent, not a single movement from any living being. Jackie walked forwards before stopping, spurring all the ponies except the elements and the black one to back away in fear. The shadow pony was staring slack jawed at Jackie, but quickly gathered himself.

"What are you"? He hissed as he got into a ready stance, pawing at the ground.

Before Jackie could answer, a tendril burst from his back, growling in anger. "YOU DARE USE MY POWERS!?"

He backpedaled slightly, but reaffirmed his footing "W-what do you mean, what in tartarus a-are you?". His voice faltered slightly, "Do you mean the dark magic that awakened me?"

"THE POWER YOU NOW WIELD IS NOT YOUR OWN YOU WHELP, RETURN IT TO ME AND I WILL THINK ABOUT LETTING YOU LIVE"

Apparently, that struck a nerve with the pony, and he growled in anger as his eyes lit up. "I am King Sombra, ruler of this realm and lord of shadow, DIE you insolent abomination!". Sombra then gathered black energy on his horn and fired, the beam searing through the air towards Jackie. But just before it hit him, the beam slowed and was sucked into the tendril's mouth.

"KILL!" The Darkness screamed, Sombra looking on in shock.

There was too much light for the armor, but Jackie could survive without it. The other tendril appeared, both growling and snapping while Jackie reached into his suit, intent on pulling out his guns.  Jackie paled when all could feel was empty space where they should be. Suddenly, Jackie was thrown back several feet, a large gash being torn in his chest. With his wound already healing, he got up to see a jagged crystal, blood dripping from the tip. Sombra was laughing, "Couldn't absorb that one could yo-?".

This time, it was Sombra's turn to be blown back, tumbling head over hoof into a wall and dissipating into shadow, the grab tendril retracting back towards its owner. Sombra re-solidified himself and growled, sending a rain of dark crystal pellets from his horn towards Jackie. He dodged and scurried around them, slashing and throwing random debris at Sombra again and again.

The corrupted unicorn just reformed his essence each time he was hit, taunting Jackie. Crystal shards still flew towards Jackie constantly, giving him dozens of cuts all across his body with some embedding themselves. "Fuck, you're more annoying than Bragg!" He yelled as he dived behind a wall for cover.

"GET CLOSE TO HIM, I WILL TAKE IT BACK" The Darkness said.

Jackie peeked around the corner before jerking away from a hail of crystals. "You better know what the hell you're doing!" He yelled as he took off towards Sombra

Jackie then bobbed and weaved to try to throw off his aim. More and more cuts soon adorned his body, but he was still getting closer. He tried to tackle Sombra, but ended up falling right through his body.

"What was that supposed to do?" Sombra jeered as he hovered over Jackie.

"THIS"

Sombra noticed that several small streams of his shadow were flowing into the mouths of both tendrils. The small few then became a torrent, the dark monarch crying out in pain as his power was sucked away. He tried to run, pawing frantically at the ground as he was consumed, both tendrils now clamped on to him. Sombra screamed for a final time before his soul was consumed by the Darkness, leaving nothing behind. Jackie then began to feel extremely ill, he started coughing violently, tremors going through his body as he felt hot and cold at the same time. The last thing he saw before passing out was a blur of pastel rushing towards him.

In a dark cave in the scorched south, a black portal opened, and out stepped a man. He was soon joined by his brothers.

Jackie gradually came to, thankfully feeling a soft mattress below him instead of hard rock. He was in a hospital bed from what he could tell, that also seemed a bit short for him, his legs past his knees dangled over the edge. The girls, the two newlyweds, and the diarchs were all present, all of them were staring at him with shock and disbelief, except for one. Princess Celestia stared at him with a neutral expression showing barely any emotions. The two parties stared at one another for what felt like hours.

"I found your ashes" She said plainly, breaking the silence.

Jackie sighed, and after a long pause  "Its not the first time I died".

The ponies gasped, the two rulers especially.

"Let me tell you the whole story" Jackie started "The night of my 21st birthday, that's the first time I died"

The man and his brothers exited the cave and felt its presence. They reveled in it, and rejoiced in whats was soon to come.

The ponies stood open mouthed and in tears, simply trying to take in everything Jackie had said. "Oh and by the way, where am I"

"Y-you are in Canterlot, Sombra injected enough poison crystals into your blood to kill a manticore, so we took you here to....." Celestia trailed off. Jackie got up and stretched his muscles a bit, breathing deeply.

"I'm gonna go for a walk" Jackie said almost cheerfully, jerking his thumb towards the door. He walked out, leaving the still stunned ponies behind, and closed it behind him, his footsteps gradually fading.

"Sister" Luna asked, turning towards Celestia "Do we have an immortal demi-god harboring the sum of all his world's evil roaming around Canterlot"?

Celestia looked towards her sister, but before she answered, a look of a horrific epiphany came across her face "The Darkness is pure chaos, the statue garden!" She said as the rest of them gasped in realization.

"Discord!"

With nothing trying to rip him limb from limb for the past five minutes, Jackie just decided to take a fucking break. He walked out a door and came upon a large and well trimmed garden. A large hedge maze sat in one area, while a statue garden was nearby. One statue near the back in particular seemed to catch his eye, and he decided to take a closer look. It appeared to be  some kind of taxidermist's joke, it looked like a dozen animals jumbled together in a random way, and it looked like it was screaming in horror. Something felt...off about it, like it wasn't really a statue, he also felt a familiar pull like those darkness relics had given him. Jackie reached out and touched it, just as a panicked voice rang through the air.

"Jackie, wait!"

"What?" Jackie turned around and asked in confusion.

The statue exploded, sending shards of stone everywhere. Jackie then turned back around and came face to face with one of the weirdest things he had ever seen.

"Hello". It said cheerfully as a small pink cloud suddenly poofed into existence and deposited what appeared to be-

"Chocolate Milk?"