Obscured in Shadow

Luna breathed in the fresh cool air, liberating her from the uncomfortable feeling of the rocky surface of the earth where she had slept the night. She looked to the sky, calm filling her and soothing her nerves. The grey sky was littered with clouds, foreshadowing rain. Luna drew her gaze from the sky and looked around. This act was inherently necessary when awaking from sleep in strange areas, especially areas that contain large magical dragons. Luna saw nothing, and exhaled, with a small hint of a sigh.

Luna had not seen any living thing since the Amphithere, which she was more than glad of. Luna realized that she was not in need of a stretch of any kind after sleep, which was probably due to the fact that she had not been comfortable at any point during the night. After all, rocky ground is not a comfortable matress. She looked down at the ground. It was very frustrating for her trying to fall asleep the last night, but sleep eventually took her as she listened to the flowing lava in the distance. Lava. Yes, sleeping with flowing lava and unstable volcanoes close by. A safe practice? No, but she needed sleep, and where she was now was one of the most viable options available to her. She wasn't prepared to risk a second incident similar to last night. For some reason unknown even to her, she much preferred the concept of being burned alive in lava than falling to her death.

Come to think of it, she had not had any 'bad' dreams during her sleep. And if she did, they were certainly not ones like what her incident in the sky was caused by either. Luna's mind, knowing her wonderfully inconvenient susceptibility to dark thoughts, began to wander to The Stone Monument. She was very close to it now, not even an hour away, surely. Luna vaguely remembered this landscape from long ago, when she and her sister founded Equestria. Her memories were clouded though, as she was deep in conversation with Celestia during the flight, and was not concerned with the land bellow her.

Luna was still worried, but her need to destroy her repulsive sister was a more powerful emotion than fear or worry at that moment.

----------♣LunaoftheCrescent♣----------

This was no dream, Luna was sure of it. The once grey sky was now a much darker grey, approaching black. Luna landed on the soft grass and looked at the ground. She knew what it was that was in front of her. Luna began to shiver. She knew what it was that made her grow cold inside, what caused goose- bumps to ripple across her. She swallowed, and looked up slowly. The intertwined serpents seemed to watch her, as she looked deep into the statue. The world around her was moving, but the Monument stayed in place. Everything seemed to revolve around it now, literally.

Luna's eyes rested on the inscription: Von Ominnum Dura. Those three words, were words that as a younger Alicorn, were confusing. But now, as Luna stared at these words, the only salvageable emotion she could feel, was fear. What does this... mean? Luna continued to stare. Perhaps it was best that she didn't know. Simply looking at the Monument was enough to chill her to the bone, the last thing she wished was to know what it portrayed symbolically.

Luna shook her head, and forced herself on task. Alright, Luna. Let's get this done. She would cast the revealing spell that she had been planning to use from the beginning. It was dark magic, but she didn't care. She wanted this to be done, finished. She never wanted to be in the presence of this statue again.

Luna's horn glowed a dark purple as she focused on creating dark energy. She immediately felt a temperature drop, so dramatic that it nearly made her cancel the spell. Her blood went icy cold, and her heart felt like it had frozen in place, unable to move. Luna's eyes began to spark and glow green, darkness enveloping them. Luna grunted as a tear fell. Sadness and anger. Every moment in her life that created these emotional reactions began to flash before her eyes. Snowdrop, Star Swirl, her mother; every single pony she had loved, cared for and bonded with flashed before her eyes. Anguish consumed Luna until her sadness became hate. The spell began to strengthen and kick into action, but Luna did not notice. Her deepest rage began to surface. It flew towards the outer layer, as fast as it would go, until it finally penetrated.

Celestia.

Every fiber of Luna's being was on fire. That repulsive creature that Luna would have to refer to as her 'sister', began to fill her up. Celestia, receiving praise for her sun, while the rest looked upon Luna with disdain. Celestia, being treated like a god as she entered the villages and cities and even kingdoms, while Luna was some kind of secondary soul. Celestia, as she sat there bathing in her narcissism and praise, pretending as if everything was all in Luna's head, as if Luna's judgement was clouded. The older sister, was not caring and loving, but merely a self- indulgent sow of a pony.

With that, Luna's spell exploded outwards, excreting a black mass, The Stone Monument linking to her horn as the spell shot outwards. Luna looked on in wonder, as objects that had been touched by the cloud of darkness showed themselves. The cloud revealed more and more, so much that it took Luna aback. Luna fell to the ground, panting and sweating as the cloud faded away into invisibility. Tears streamed from her eyes, and she sobbed. It was a pitiful sight indeed. Luna hated herself, she wanted to hurt herself. She hated the fact that she even HATED. She wanted to crawl into a hole and pass away. She wanted nothing to do with the world.

"Why do you cry?" Luna opened her eyes. She looked up, a figure standing before her. Behind it, was a huge temple, fit for the gods. Luna gasped as she took everything in finally. It was truly a spectacle. Black marble walls, great never ending stairs... But Luna's attention was once again drawn to the figure before her. "Why?" The figure repeated. As Luna's eyes focused, she let out yet another gasp. A...human? That is what it appeared to be. After all, what other creature stood on two legs and looked...well, like that.

But I thought they were mythical creatures. Luna thought wildly. "Who...who are you?" Luna raised her voice, looking at the human.

"My name is Djorn. I am of Tartarus." He bowed, at least that is what the gesture appeared to be from Luna's stand point. "You are the spirit of the Moon, are you not? And in the form on an Alicorn, no less." The human tilted it's head to the side. "Intriguing." Luna did not respond, she was petrified. The human waved a hand.

"Oh come now, I mean you no harm." The human chuckled at Luna. The man's countenance was dark. He was rather slim, with gaunt eyes and long dark brown hair. He was draped in black robes. Black is the theme in Tartarus, I suppose. Luna joked to herself. She needed to keep her spirits up after casting that spell, she was still emotionally shaken.

"And you are a Human, are you not?" Luna gazed at the man, but he shook his head.

"No, but that is a fair guess." The man walked towards Luna. "Our species has no name, we are merely referred to as 'Man' and 'Woman'. We are similar to humans in many ways, but we are far more spiritually connected, and we also have many abilities that humans do not possess, such as-" The man gestured towards Luna's horn. "Magic. Humans are very unaware of magic. They have a very strange view of what it is, and don't necessarily know it when they see it," The man paused and shook his head.

"Either way, let us not bother with such things. You have successfully found this place, so I am interested to know the reason why you have come here. This place is not for you. It is a dark and unholy place." The man leaned forward slightly and surveyed the Alicorn with visible interest. Luna looked to the side, and then back at the man.

"I would hate to be rude, or anything of the sort." Luna was uncomfortable. "But would I be able to speak with somepony who is a little bit more like myself?" Luna looked away. "I think my reasons would make more sense to one who is of my kind." To Luna's relief, the man nodded curtly.

"'Tis understandable. After all, I'd doubt you have ever met an individual such as myself before, I can see why it may be uncomfortable. Do you want to speak to anyone in particular?" Luna thought for a moment.

"Actually, yes. Are there any ponies here who are of the '6th Bloodline'?" Luna looked hopefully at the man, hoping that the use of the word would resonate with him in some way.

"Ah, the 6th. Yes I thought so-" The man closed his eyes. "SOMBRA," His voice was calm, yet incredibly loud. Luna's hooves snapped to her ears as his voice echoed throughout the seemingly (once again) lifeless temple. "THE MOON SPIRIT REQUESTS TO CONVERSE WITH THEE". These words echoed for several seconds until the man smiled at Luna. "My apologies regarding the volume, the one you seek will be here shortly. And also, do watch yourself, will you? He can be a little snappy at times." His eyes darkened. "If you end up dead, then it would mean trouble for myself." His expression softened once again. "Good day, Alicorn."

"Von Ominnum Dura." The man spoke these words with a thick, unidentifiable accent as he raised a hand, parallel to his body. His fingers were forming a clear hand sign. Before Luna could register this though, the man erupted in black flame. She backed away as his body literally melted before her, visible limbs melting into a pool of liquid. Eventually, nothing more of the man was left, as fire slowly began to subside, the pool of liquid evaporating with it. Luna did not know who that human was, but it was clear that this 'Sobra' character was not the type to joke around with.

At the same time as these thoughts passed through her mind, a great whirlwind of black fire wheeled about before her, almost singeing her fur. She closed her eyes with the heat flowing onto her like a wave, until it eventually ceased. She opened her eyes slowly. As expected, a new figure stood before her, but it wasn't human. Luna breathed a mental sigh of relief as she realized that it was indeed something that at least LOOKED like a pony.

He was rather large, possibly even larger than Celestia. He was certainly reminiscent of a horse, which was an extinct species. The only other horse Luna had ever seen was Discord, but he technically wasn't a horse, only partially so. It was one of Discord's little ideas to wipe out every horse in existence as an act of absolute genocide. Discord thought that it would be entertaining to be the ruler of a world that only consisted of miniature horses.

The other feature of Sombra which caught Luna's attention were his looks. He was in fact, rather handsome. But Luna had no time for such things, especially after what the human had said...

"What is it that you want?" Sombra spoke, his voice booming as he looked down at the still disheveled Alicorn. "It has been several eternities since one has come seeking our bloodline." His eyes narrowed. Luna made sure not to be visibly intimidated by the Unicorn.

"I have come to ask something of you."