Guardian

CHAPTER 3 – DARKNESS

Snow fell harshly upon the arctic northern terrain. In the shadow of the massive cloud above, all of the snow was a much more dim and strange shade of white. There, in the umbra of the cloud that blocked out the moon's light, the visibility was all but non-existent.

The black cloud had absorbed the storm clouds around it, and though the blizzard in the area continued, the crashing noise of the electricity that would normally be released from the clouds had ceased hours ago and the wind had died out completely. Instead, the only sound was of the heavy snowfall.

Then, a new sound entered the area. The crunching of ice crystals under heavy steps. A large, black, ghostly figure moved across the wasteland, the snow repelling around the unnatural being as it moved forward. Coming to a location that it deemed fit, the shadow turned its head towards the ground and opened its eyes, revealing nothing but two glowing red orbs that tore through the humid, icy air.

The spectral shroud took a form, reaching a hand, one with three talons rather than five fingers or a hoof, down to the snow. A yellow pulse released itself from the claw and the snow erupted violently, clearing away from the epicenter of the blast and revealing a figure trapped in ice. The spectral being dug its claw into the ice and ripped the massive chunk from the ground, slamming it onto the snow. With a slash of its talon, the ice shattered completely, the figure within falling out onto the shadowed blanket of snow.

The eyes of the figure opened, a sinister purple glow shining brightly through the shadow as a wave of black erupted from the pony before the ghostly being. The stallion, wearing broken silver armor and a tattered red cape, stood to his full height and looked up at the spectral being before him. As the stallion snarled at the shadow, the ghostly presence began to speak, his voice shattering the falling snow around him into mist.

“Your power is my treasure. My price for your freedom from your icy tomb. It shall be mine, Sombra.”

“Fool. Had you not been here to free me, I would have done so myself. I was nearing rejuvenation from having my body desecrated by the crystal peons regardless of your arrival. When my body had been repaired, so too would have my freedom.”

“Do not flatter yourself. Arrogance like yours is the very reason that you fell to the wielders of the Elements of Harmony. The very reason that you are not worthy to wield your power. The very reason that it shall now be my own.”

“And just who are you to make such a demand after waking me so rudely? You think that you could claim my power for your own? You are nothing but a shadow, and we are within the shadow of the cloud above. You are and are within my domain, fool! Surrender now, or be devoured!”

“Surrender your powers now, or I will remove them by force.”

“You'll have to claim them from my cold, dead hooves!”

“Your terms are acceptable.”

The dark gray unicorn stallion's form erupted into a black mist that enveloped the ghostly entity. As the shadow enclosed, however, and Sombra's head formed from the cloud with a triumphant, evil smile, the red eyes of the specter found their gaze piercing and shattering the gaze of the purple-eyed unicorn.

Sombra found himself caught in the large talon of the specter, feeling its deathly-cold grip squeezing him tightly. Struggling to break free, the gray unicorn found himself filled with a sense of dread. He looked up, meeting the gaze of the specter, and suddenly became incapable of looking away as the world changed around him.

He found himself in the same position as when he was last defeated by the Crystal Heart, this time knowing what would happen as the purple dragon from before was caught by Princess Cadance. Attempting to move out of the way of the blast, Sombra found himself completely immobile, even when striving with all of his efforts to simply move some distance.

The blast hit him once more, this time more painful and agonizing than the first could have ever been, at a much slower rate than before. For what seemed like hours, the pain continued until he felt himself crystalizing once more, a pain that dwarfed even the hours of torment he had just faced. Then, a crack split down the middle of his front legs, which was an agony so intense that he blacked out.

He opened his eyes and found himself in the middle of a crystal. On each side of the crystal were the visages of each of the ponies who had caused his downfall, all laughing at him as he was helpless to do anything in their presence. Angrily attempting to use his powers in retaliation, Sombra suddenly felt a searing pain that he had never felt before as instead of turning into a dark cloud, he was simply torn asunder by his own power.

Awakening once again in a plain white infinity, Sombra looked around quickly, fearing what horror the next vision would bring. This time, however, nothing happened. No pain, no cries of torment, nothing. He could not hear the sound of anything, not even his voice as he muttered to himself. The only sounds he knew were those of his heartbeat and the sound of blood rushing through his veins. His sight seemed to be completely useless now as well, as even when he held his hoof in front of his sight, only white was visible to him.

Minutes. Hours. Days. Weeks. Months. Years. Decades. Centuries. Millennia. Megaannum. Eons. A seemingly infinite amount of time passed for Sombra, a period in which he was completely alone, could not age, could not die, could feel nothing, but could hear the maddening sounds of his own heartbeat and blood flow for the entirety of the time that he was in that white prison. He had long ago been reduced to a shivering ball, scared of everything. Nothing could break him any more at this point. Or so he once thought.

A massive explosion of shadow before him startled Sombra to the point where he could do nothing but scream in terror. All of the sound and sight that he had forgotten so long ago suddenly returned to him as the massive occurrence enveloped him. The specter from billions of years ago appeared before him in the darkness as he continued to scream in horror, the red glowing eyes digging into his soul as the specter's voice rang out in the world...

“FEAR ME, SOMBRA. FEAR ME. FEAR ME...” The voice trailed off as Sombra once again lost consciousness, this time reawakening in the blizzard, still clutched in the talon of the spectral entity. Drooling and spasming violently, Sombra heard the shadow's voice once again.

“Ten seconds, Sombra. That is the extent of your psychological resistance to my power. Make no mistake,” The specter dropped Sombra into the snow with a clumsy splat as the gray unicorn curled into a ball and continued shaking violently, “My power is already far greater than yours. It always will be. But you are a stepping stone to my next target, one who's will shall bend only in the face of your presence.”

The specter extended his hand outwards towards the collapsed ball of Sombra, and opened his talon with his palm facing the shivering unicorn. Tendrils extended from the specter's palm and enveloped Sombra, slowly dragging back towards the specter's hand, claiming all of the color on Sombra's body as they went, leaving nothing but a black and white outline of the once-tyrannical king of the Crystal Empire.

“In the end, even your strength cannot match my own. Even you give in to the power of Terror. And soon, all of Equestria shall fall before my grip.”

Terror turned his shadowy gaze towards a barrier in the distance that surrounded a massive crystal structure.

“The Master of Defense and the Princess of Love shall be my next targets. Come, Sombra. Come with me and watch as I succeed where you so miserably failed.”

Extending his other hand, Terror shot forth a gray translucent ball that enveloped the shaking unicorn and raised him into the air, trailing behind the specter as he slowly began his march to the Crystal Empire.

“Vengeance upon this unnatural world... It shall soon be mine.”