Rise of Darkness

Begin Song:

Dark Hysteria (King Sombra's theme by youtuber BassBrony)

4 days, 4 weeks, 4 months, 4 years.

Sombra's not sure how long ago he was run out of his home and became the most wanted Pony in Equestrian history, but... here he is, the most wanted Unicorn in history, on the run from Celestia herself, fleeing the country and running to the frigid arctic north. The bitter cold stung his young body and the harsh winds struck his face with snowflakes that struck like icicles.

For all the time he was on the run, his mind always wandered back to the old days, when he still had a family and pleasant friends... and Tulip. His life turned to hell when Red Vine married his mother- that much is certain. And now... now he's living it up.

He used his magic to summon his shadow. He used it to wrap about him, forming a blanket of some sorts. It wasn't effective, but it was still something. It's better then freezing to death.

He stopped walking and collapsed into the snow, crying intensely. "Mom... Tulip... i miss you guys." The crying went on well into the encroaching night.

"Why... why did this have to happen..."

Unknown to Sombra, Celestia realized that Vine had been lying to her from the start and ordered his enrollment into the Baltimare Mental Institute- His roommate is an extremely insane filly named Screw Ball; no more then 2 years old, yet she's already set five fires.

Realizing that she made a mistake listening to Vine, Celestia ordered all of her guards, even her personal ones, to go out and find the runaway colt- a task that will ultimately end in failure.

Having 'borrowed' a blanket from a village of leopards he passed by, Sombra continued on to the north and as far away from Celestia and Equestria as possible.

He continued walking until his hooves begged for rest but he continued onward.

"Sombra..."

Tulip sat by herself beneath the birch tree she and Sombra always sat under, looking at the toy sword he had gotten for her little brother. "Please.... come home...." She wrapped her hooves around the foam sword. Tears fell, staining the foam.

Sombra collapsed in the snow, his body finally giving out to the freezing cold. The blanket flickered and fluttered in the raging winds. He had finally exhausted every bit of energy in his body.

As his vision began to black, he heard the sound of clanking armor. He forced his head, believing this to be one of Celestia's guards sent to kill him.

the owner of the armor came into view... and it wasn't the guard. It was... bipedal. It walks on two legs. And based on it's body shape, it looked like a overgrown monkey without the tail. The armor itself was foreboding and completely black, with it's helmet like something from a bad dream.

"This is not your place to die..."

That was the last thing Sombra heard before sinking into unconsciousness

end song.

When Sombra came too, he expected a raging blizzard, with no hope of surviving. Heck, he'd be surprised if he survived he at all. but survive he did, and there was no blizzard. On that matter, there's no snow either.

Sombra opened his eyes and found that he was on grass with trees and wildlife like rabbits. For a moment he thought he was in the Afterworld, until he heard the sounds of a raging wind.

Feeling surprisingly spunky and full, despite not have had any food in days, Sombra walked up to the top of the hill he was on. The source of the wind was revealed instantly.

Somehow, the wind and the snow were kept at bay by a unseen force. There was a line and the snow and wind weren't able to cross it. It's... unexplanable. But Sombra, being the young foal he is, didn't care. he's just glad to be out of the cold. Well, okay, it's still cold, but at least there's no wind and snow getting in his face.

"Where am i...?" He slowly started down the hill, taking in his unknown surroundings. This place just seems bizarre. How can a place like this exist in the extreme cold?

His search around gave him another unknown; a dark and foreboding castle in the middle of the territory, built into some of the mountains. With nowhere else to look for answers in this oasis, he headed to the castle.

His mind returned to the last moments in the blizzard, with that bipedal creature in armor. Did it save him? Did that unknown creature rescue him? Hopefully this castle has some answers.

The massive doors opened wide as Sombra pulled on the handle with his magic. He peered his head inside and saw that the entire place was abandoned. Everything was covered in cobwebs and the castle interior looks like it has seen better days, covered in mold.

Suits of armor lined the red carpet, leading up to a throne, which is the only part in the castle that's untouched. The suits don't look like the bipedal creature he encountered in the snow. Then again... he was near death. It could've been a hallucination. But he needs someplace to stay, and this Castle is the only shelter.

He cautiously set one hoof inside. The stone was warm to the touch. The entire hallway was warm, surprising considering the surroundings. "H-h-hello...?" Sombra nervously called. He slowly made his way in. "I-is anypony home??" No reply came as he walked in further. "I-i'm lost and i'm scared and i... i need a place to stay."

He reached the throne and ran his hoof along the rim. "I-if it's okay... i'm gonna go to sleep on t-this throne. If no one objects."

He climbed onto the throne and laid down, resting his head on his front legs and pulled his blanket over him. He closed his eyes. tears ran down them as he silently cried.

Sombra was abruptly snapped awake by monsters roaring. He raised his head and looked around. There are monsters of various shapes and sizes, all roaring out.

Frightened, Sombra hid inside the blanket, shivering in fear.

"This... this isn't right... Mom... Tulip... Everyone... i want to come home..."

Unaware of it, Sombra's horn glowed.

He wasn't aware that he had fallen asleep inside the blanket, but when Sombra came to, the monsters were all gone. He figures they're nocturnal beasts.

He pulled the blanket off and rubbed his tired eyes. "When did i fall asleep...?" he tiredly asked. He smacked his lips and got up... only to come face to face with a creature made entirely out of shadow. "Hey there." it said in a cheerful manner. Sombra screamed and fell backwards out of the throne.

"Oh, oh ow! *wince* that looked like it hurt."

Sombra rubbed his poor rump. He snarled as he looked up to the unknown creature. "OF COURSE IT HURT! i fell onto stone!" He blinked a few times in confusion. "Wait... you're a shadow."

The shadow, which was based on a creature that looks like a leopard, frowned. "You just figured that out, did you?"

"But but but..." Sombra got up from the stone floor. "What are you doing here? There's no leopards around here."

The Leopard tapped it's middle 'fingers' together. "Yeah... that's true. But i am not a leopard. well, not anymore. I died a long time ago."

"Died? That means you're a spirit?"

"Yep. Instead of going to Tartarus, i was stuck here. I'm not sure how but it happened."

Sombra went 'huh' then looked up to his horn. He wasn't aware he can some spirits of the dead. "But... if you're a ghost... how can you be a shadow? Shouldn't you be a white specter or a... blast, what's the word i'm looking for... ach, it was on my tongue but it passed."

"I dunno. Guess it's Ka."

Sombra raised a eyebrow in confusion. "Ka?"

"OH, that's right! this is your first time in the castle. Mm... well, come with me. i'll show you." The shadow slithered though the floors and emerged near the entrance to a hallway. With nothing better to do, Sombra wrapped the blanket around him like a cape, to keep himself warm, followed after him.

The hallway has a very intriguing design, with stained glass on the floor, walls, and ceiling. Cobwebs covered this place as well. Sombra looked around, amazed at the design. "Whoa... who made all of this?"

The leopard stopped and thought for a moment, placing on of his paws on his head. "You know, i don't quite know. Whoever made this left behind a lot of books, though. That's where i learned that Ka thing, along with a ton of other stuff."

"Oh..." The two started walking again. "So... the people who built this place. Do you have any clue who they were?"

"No. I do know that one of them was named..... oh, Faust, what was it...? I want to say Kosochi... no.... Amaxhi...? Nope. ... Orochi? No, that's not it. ARGH! i don't remember."

'Okay, okay, okay. sorry i asked." He remembered the line between the snow and the grass. "The constructors of this Castle... were they so powerful that they could create some magical barrier that blocked out the blizzard outside?"

"OH! yeah. they did. they created a machine that emits a shield. nothing can pass though it, not even creatures. OH... if you're in here, i guess that means the shield's beginning to wane."

"That or i was just lucky and found a bad spot."

"That too."

They passed by the master bedroom, which Sombra saw had a EXTREMELY huge bed. "So... the owners of the caste. where did they go?"

"I dunno. they just up and left. No warning; They just disappeared in the night."

"And you know this how?"

"I was dead for more then 1200 years. I was able to see things. Hearing, on the other hand, was another story. I always had something, like moss or something getting in my way."

"Ah."

The door opened wide and the duo walked in to a MASSIVE library with hundreds upon hundreds of books. Twilight Sparkle herself would have a orgasm just at the sight of all of it.

"WOW!! That... is a lot of books."

"Yeah. one of the previous owners loved to read." The leopard shadow went over to a pile and rummaged though it. "Let's see... where is it..."

While the leopard looked though, Sombra took a walk around the room. This is certainly the biggest library he's ever seen. He bets even Celestia doesn't have a library this big. "Wow..." He stepped on a book. He looked down and picked it up with his magic. He read the title, "The Lifestyles of the Harmonica inhabitants: from Ponies to Dragons, Changelings to Gryphons, and Diamond Dogs to Leopards." Harmonica? That's the name of a musical instrument; he never figured that's the name of their world. Of course, the world is based around living in Harmony and there's not really a lot of words to make out of Harmony.

He looked at the book again and saw that it wasn't really a book. The way it was written, it was more like a report. He flipped though it; it detailed strenghts, weakness's, what they eat, what their lifestyles are... It's like they were casing out their planet for an invasion. But who? and why?

"Found it!" The shadow exclaimed. It floated over to Sombra with a book titled 'Egyptian Mythology and Meanings.' He flipped open to a mark page. "Right there. read that."

Sombra took the book and read the part he pointed to. "Ka: In Egyptian Myth, they believed that the souls of the people are devided into 5 parts: the heart Ib, the name Ren, the personality Ba, the shadow Sheut..." He looked to the shadow with a grumpy expression. "Ka means death, genius."

"oops. My bad. but you see what i'm getting at, right? the Shadow is one of five parts that make up a person, according to... wherever Egyptian is. Remove that part and the person is a shell as you are taking half of him. Take the complete shadow and he might die."

"Huh..." Sombra summoned up his own shadow and looked at it. No wonder he always felt like he was staring at himself. The shadow is half of who he is... if that book is to be believed.

A loud roar echoed though the halls of the castle, sending shivers down Sombra's spine. "W-w-w-what was that?!!"

The roar came again and the leopard recognized it. "Well, he's up early. Odds are the others are as well."

"W-w-what?"

"Come with me." The shadow slithered over to the exit to the library. Sombra put the book down, pulled his shadow back into the ground, and trotted after him.

Sombra and the shadow took a lift down to the basement of the castle, where the owners of the roars resided.

"What's down there?" Sombra nervously asked.

"Oh, just some creatures the previous owners kept as pets. Nothing big; just some building sized and/or blood thrist monsters."

"AND THAT'S NOTHING BIG!!!?!!!"

"It is if they're kept in impenetrable cages."

"........................................... oh."

The lift reached the bottom floor of the basement. the shadow slithered out and to the exit a few feet away. Sombra slowly walked off and towards the door. He shakily brought his hoof up to the door and cautiously opened it.

True to the leopard shadow's word, all the monsters are locked up in crystalline cages. There were creatures of all shapes and sizes locked up behind bars. There were giant spiders, giant snakes, giant lions... basically, think of any animal and supersize it.

The place was set up like a zoo, which made him confused. Did the previous owners keep these creatures here for sport? Nobody on their world does something this sick, least no one he's heard about.

Sombra passed by a cage containing a animal he's never see or heard of before. It was a dragon covered head to toe in crystal. and it's massive, too. "What the hell is that...?"

"OH, that thing? That, my sir, is a Crystal Dragon; the last of his kind, too."

"The last of his kind?" Sombra gasped. "Is there no way for her to reproduce?"

"Her? HA! that, Sombra, is a bull dragon- a BOY dragon. and last i heard, guys don't get to carry babies. Unless medical science has advanced a WHOLE lot."

"Nope." Sombra looked up to the slumbering giant. It's so huge and looks so powerful. And the last of his kind, too.

The Leopard shadow gave Sombra a tour of the rest of the castle, showing him the dining hall, the bedrooms, even a fricken swimming pool. The place is in need of some repair but, all in all, the previous owners made this place into a luxury fortress.

"Where's your mother?"

Sombra gasped as he stopped in his tracks on his way into the master bedroom. He stood there, not sure what to say."Sombie?"

Sombra glanced away from the living shadow. "She... she's gone..."

"Oh... i'm sorry. i didn't know."

"It's okay." He knew that the shadow was going to ask what he's going all the way out here. "I was... run out of my home town. I did something stupid and they all hate me for it. So i ran and ran and ran, before i wound up here, of all places."

"What did you do?" the shadow asked.

Sombra glanced further away. "I don't want to talk about it."

The shadow hovered there for a moment. "Ok. i won't ask again. If you want to tell me, you'll tell me. But... what will you do now? like you said, you have no home anymore."

Sombra looked up to the ceiling. He had already thought about it when he first saw the castle. "Well... this castle has no owner, right? Well... i'm gonna take this castle."

"You are?"

"I have no place to live and the owners are gone, right? I don't think anyone is going to complain, will they?"

The leopard thought for a moment. "You're right. they won't. Well, you're getting no argument from me."

Sombra smiled and opened the door to the master bedroom. "Oh. what's your name?" He asked the shadow.

"My name? Oh, Faust, it's been centuries since anyone's called me by that name." the leopard thought for a moment. "Hmm..................... call me... Ishmael?" Sombra gave him a 'are you kidding' look then used his magic to bring up one of the books form the library titled 'Moby Dick'. "Oh... hehehe. Eh, i honestly don't remember. just call me Leopold. better then nothing."

"Right you are." Sombra entered the room and closed the door behind him. "See you in the morning, Leopold."

"See ya." Leopold waved.

The master bedroom sure does live up to it's name. the room itself is big enough to be mistruned for a throne room and the bed... hoh, the bed is big enough to hold a entire harem.

Sombra had never seen a bedroom this nice before and he never will again. His eyes beamed up as he ran over to the bed and jumped onto it. At least something good is coming out of all this. He just wishes he has his friends and family to join him in this giant castle.

With just him, Leopold, and the monsters in the basement, it's going to be mighty lonely.