Quote:Compared to the Crystal Empire this was tartarus because of the temperature alone. Equines weren't made to endure such extremes of weather in either direction. Given that he had enslaved the Crystal Ponies in the past, Sombra had made sure a few things couldn't happen. One of which was during his reign the barrier that protected the Kingdom wouldn't break no matter what happened to it. This had been one of his first acts as the monarch but not that it would do him any good. Here there was no Crystal Heart and there was no Pegasi to control the seasons. If a pony wanted something done he had to do ithimself. Since Sombra wanted to ensure his own survival he had to gather the strength needed to do so. As he had no allies or minions that he could call upon he realized that he could use some backup. But who would be worthy of backing him up? 


Well the Alicorn Sisters had been worthy foes but he didn't seem them helping him even though he was a pony in severe need of some help. While she was the princess of...accursed friendship King Sombra could also not see Twilight Sparkle being willing to render any sort of aid to him. His past actions meant that she was more likely to shoot the rainbow ray of death in his general direction. A ray of death that he needed to find a solution to. Dehydrated,  Sombra continued to trot rapidly towards whatever civilization was here. There had to be somewhere a Pony could find to lay his head. Even one like Sombra deserved a place where they could lay their head at night. But his armor wasn't going to do him much good out here. Going nude was not exactly one of the most attractive things to a member of royalty but he could do so if need be.  Dissipating the armor and the crown he converted it back into Omnilium and made a mental note of this place. It was filed under A for avoid. Specifically avoid due to the extreme heat of the environment once he found a way out or could gather supplies to go back the way he had came.  

"I've got a long road ahead of me." 

Celestia was the princess of the sun and Sombra knew that SHE would not last long in heat such as that of the desert he was going through. Was this the work of some sort of reverse ice-creature that absorbed cold and released extreme heat? Sombra hoped not. Otherwise he was going to have to while not being a hero put an end to it. For he refused to die in this heat.  As the only Umbrum Unicorn left, King Sombra knew it was his duty and his honor to fight and to make himself triumph against the odds. Against his better judgment he had come here to this desert place. There had to be a civilization somewhere around here and if there was he was going to find it. Where there was civilization there was also information on this place and such information was what he needed more than anything right now. Well more than sleep. But he also needed food and a place to call home. A nice cup of tea also sounded lovely. When he encountered the individual who had made this desert he was going to unleash a dark magic blast point blank into their cranial cavity in hopes of blasting some sense into them. Sweating as he continued to walk he began to notice a nearby town. 

Finally he was almost there. Move you stupid legs. When his legs wouldn't move due to the sweat and exhaustion King Sombra grew annoyed. Had he possessed his magic it would simply be a matter of turning into his shadow form and going that way.  Eventually he'd find a way to regain his shadow form because it beat traveling like this by a long short. Survival dictated that he do this so he could learn more about this world. But he didn't exactly have to be happy about doing something like this.  After fifteen minutes of being unable to move he was finally able to force his legs to move and keep going on the path he had set for himself. It may not be pretty, but King Sombra intended to survive. 

Thinking outloud he began to say.  

"A cup of tea sounds lovely right about now." 


Dark Magic was magic that depended on the pain and the negative emotions of the caster. Right now there was plenty of that within even one of his pain inducing cause him to want to scream out at the world hooves. For his hooves were swollen with all the running he'd been doing in the extreme and dangerous heat that was the desert. But he had finally made it to a town where he could rest... or not. Given that he was surrounded by about five bandits and they were all armed with what appeared to be swords or some sort of toy that he didn't know what it did,  King Sombra was wary. 


"Perhaps if we skin the animal we can sell it's pelt to the guy who lives out deeper in the desert?" asked the first of the incredibly dumb bandits. 

"No. He'd make a better pet for a cute little girl..."  Another of the bandits quipped. 

"Maybe we could sell him at an auction..."  said the third. 

"Or maybe we could cook him into stew?"  The fourth asked. 

"How about we catch him as he's getting away?" asked the leader of them,  the fifth. 

King Sombra was not someone's food. Nor was he a pet that someone could sell to a cute little girl. Furthermore he had no intention of being skinned alive thank you very much. Being frozen under the ice for thousands of years was all the punishment he needed. Karma existing or not, it could be damned because he was not going to allow those individuals to do any of what they had thought of. But wait. He could defend himself. Of course. He could make these idiots feel horror and fear. He could make them flee with their metaphorical tails between their legs. 

"Alright you bastards. You want to see what a truly enraged king is like? Fine. I'll show you the power of darkness itself. You will live in fear of me for all of your lives because I will condemn you to the realm of nightmares itself!"

"Yeah right. Like you have any real power..."  said the Fifth advancing on him.  The others were following him at close proximity. A wicked grin formed on King Sombra's face. If these idiots wanted to deliver themselves up to him on a silver platter he was willing to accept it.  Forcing himself onto his swollen hooves he kept himself moving. There was no way he was going to surrender to these retarded imbeciles any time soon. Being dissected or cut or skinned or boiled into a stew or sold were not on his priorities. While he was moving,  he was also building dark magic into his horn so that he could use it. Since these idiots wanted to believe they could mess with someone of his power level,  he'd chastise them. Given his power was rather limited he didn't want to use too much of it though. Yet at the same time,  the one spell he knew could be the ticket. Nightmare Force was after all one of his favorite spells even if it didn't do much physical damage. It did do a lot of psychological harm though. 

Realizing that he couldn't power up the spell and continue moving King Sombra nearly facehoofed. Of course life had to be difficult for him like that. But since they were all grouped together he froze in place.  The fifth asked. "What's a matter,  the Unicorn afraid of us? Bet you can't even work magic out of that cheap horn on your head!" 

King Sombra's eyes glared menacingly as he charged up Nightmare Force the rest of the way.   "You'd be surprised what one can do when one has no other choice in the matter."  With that he'd fire the blast. Just his luck,  the beam struck all five of them. Each one was now writhing on the ground in nightmares. "Keep the Spiders away from me...."  screamed one of them.   "No... the snakes.... no more of them please..."  said another.  The third one who had suggested boiling him into a stew begged. "Please mr..giant... don't eat me." 
The fourth pleaded. "Please.. keep me away from that giant bat..."    The Fifth had the most easiest fear of all to exploit... fear of imprisonment. "Please let me out... I'll do anything..." 

King Sombra had no intention of letting these idiots out of the Nightmare Force but he could only sustain it for so long. Still given they had particularly pissed him off with their plans for him,  he planned to be nowhere near them when they recovered. With that in mind he trotted off. Sure using his magic like that had drained his energy reserves severely. But on the other hand those five should spread the word not to mess with him. Or at least possibly they might hopefully wait until he had a decent night of rest,  and some nourishment.  As he trotted off,  King Sombra said. "You should be back to normal by the time I reach a town. Let these be a lesson to you vagabonds. Don't pick on people who are more powerful than you." 

What he had done to the imbeciles who had irritated him by attempting to injest him or skin him alive was nothing short of what they deserved. Had he been more powerful he probably would have killed them. As it was they were unlikely to attempt or even think of such a thing again given that he'd left all five of them in the desert and knew they weren't going to be coming after him any time soon. Finally he reached an oasis of civilization in the middle of the uncultured desert. While it wasn't his home of the Crystal Empire this place definitely had it's perks. For one there were no Alicorns, at least to his knowledge. Another thing was that the Elements of Harmony and the Crystal Heart were a universe away and thus without them he could operate without any constraints on his power. Assuming of course no mages could fashion 'Elements of Harmony' or 'Tree of Harmony' or 'Crystal Heart' King Sombra's victory over the Omniverse was all but assured unless someone could overpower him. When he reached the city,  he collapsed. But he had gotten this far and was now safe from any would be bandits.

Dark power came out of his horn and wrapped around his body or would if he could actually use his magical abilities. The one spell he had wasn't enough because he actually needed a weapon of some sort if he was to survive here. This desert was simply intolerable and not just from the bandits who had attempted to sell, stew and skin him alive. The heat alone was enough to make him wish he was back under the ice. At least under the ice he was not entirely soaked to the bone. Sweat was dripping off of his fur because of the heat there was presently. The soundest idea was to return on the path that he had traversed to get this far in the Omniverse. One thing was for certain. Until he found spells to ease the swelling in his hooves and also make him able to tolerate extreme heat, once he had left this particular pocket dimension he wasn't returning. 


It took him roughly about three hours for him to get back to the gate from where he had been. Of course given he'd only been a mile away from one of the few bits of civilization here, that was to be expected. Painfully he forced himself to keep going. What he really needed to do was find someone who could perform medical procedures on equines and heal his swollen hooves. In addition he also needed to locate the address of Omni and blast him with magic point blank once he was strong enough to actually wield dark magic.  As he looked upon the gate Sombra began to feel a little bit of hope. Survival here was possible but there were worlds to avoid and this one that he was currently in was one of the ones. Was the heat not bad enough this place had a bandit problem. Later when he was strong enough he was going to come back and murder every single bandit that was here. A king should after all protect potential places for his domain to be. Eyeing the gate,  King Sombra finally made up his mind and slowly trotted into it. This action returned him to the Nexus. [/qoute]

King Sombra remembered the bandit incident. There had been something that he had not entirely expected. This Omniverse as it was called had people who believed that ponies were suitable nourishment. Such a... poor view needed to be corrected at his earliest opportunity. Yet he was not powerful enough to do so at least not on his own. Gathering dark magic he'd attempt to cast some of the spells of the past. But he simply couldn't. Why were most of his spells inaccessible? It was then that he realized what Omni had done. Omni had ripped away the bulk of his magical power and also his knowledge on how to cast the spells properly. Another expletive was about to shoot out of his mouth like a rocket, but he restrained it. 


"Truly then I was the king of all fools. Going up against them without the proper arsenal of spells was foalish."   He'd then think to another fight he should have avoided but had unfortunately involved himself in. The fight against that bipedal creature with the strange sword. 

[qoute]

While he was not the paragon of physical strength,  King Sombra knew that he had plenty in the way of magic that he could use. On his way back from the Endless Dunes he'd found a certain pendant that he believed had some magical properties. Little did he know that this pendant was actually a banishment circle that could be used to remove other Primes from the world. Presently he was completely unaware of such as he trotted through the Nexus on his sore as tartarus hooves. Whoever had created that desert that he'd been in would be hung when he had a chance. No hanging was too good for such an individual. He'd have an army of unicorns roast the individual alive.  


No that was even too good for someone who had created a desert with such scorching heat and bandit problems. Thoughts of revenge aside he needed to find someone who knew more about the Omniverse. Suddenly his magic activated and a black crystal appeared near him. The crystal glowed and began to show the Dataverse, specifically the info by Lord Dominator. Such a thing was definitely intriguing. It might give him the potential to gain even more influence in the Omniverse. Chances are those bandits at the very least were going to remember what he did. His actions while not done in a 'kind' way would likely save other Primes from being beset by that particular group. Of course that hadn't been his intentions at all. His goal at that moment had simply been to avoid being sold, skinned, eaten or anything else that they had planned for him.   

"What to do now?"

Wait,  he knew what he needed to do now. Finding a medic who could work on equines was definitely in order so he could get his hooves looked at. Each trot he made felt like someone was jabbing a white hot lance or sword into his hooves. To make a long story short when he encountered the absolute moron who had created the desert,  King Sombra was going to be creative with how he was going to torture the guy. For that reason he needed to work on making himself stronger.

A soldier in white armor or what King Sombra assumed was a soldier was nearby. Matching armor was a definite must should he find a way to make soldiers of his own in the Omniverse although it would not be white in color. Examining the soldier as he walked up to him,  King Sombra asked. "What worlds do the various gates contain?" The soldier was freaking out. Unicorns were real and one was talking to him? Immediately he fumbled with his blaster and set it to 'stun' because he thought it was a hallucination. The blast hit Sombra and hurt like nobody's business. Given it would make a scene Sombra decided against using Nightmare Force on the individual. As tempting as it was he didn't need legions of guys in the white armor after him. It stung all over and didn't help the pain in his hooves which were swollen. What he wouldn't give right now for a medic. 



"...Fucking Hell." 



King Sombra groaned out those words as he made himself stand. The gate the white clad morons were near he was not even going to enter and he hadn't gotten any useful information about the worlds yet even. But he knew that if he was to survive in this place he could not afford to be weak. Friendship and bonds were tools for the weak. Sure the Crystal Ponies had been able to use the Crystal Heart to defeat him. But it was only due to six mares that they'd even been able to wield the Crystal Heart against him. 



Applejack was the Element of Honesty.  An Earth Pony who was an excellent combatant if what he'd seen while under the ice was any indication. Of any of the mares she was the most likely to buck him in the face. Creating her out of Omnilium to heal his injuries wasn't a good idea and besides she didn't possess magic or medicine either of which he could really use right now. 



Pinkie Pie was the hyperactive party pony and also the element of Laughter.  Making her afraid wouldn't work as she'd been able to overcome the power of Nightmare Moon through laughter of all things. 



Rainbow Dash was the Element of Loyalty. A speed obsessed pony. She could control the weather. Admittedly she would have been useful in that desert world as she could have struck them with a bolt of lightning or something. 



Fluttershy was a shy mare and a Pegasus who could barely fly. She was also the Element of Kindness. Furthermore she as a medic on some level and that alone could prove useful to him. Still recreating her with the power of Omnilium was beyond his current capabilities. 


Of the mares,  there was one who might be useful. The Element of Generosity herself -- Rarity was likely the easiest to be manipulated onto his plans of survival. Given that and she lacked offensive magic capabilities she was better than the Princess Twilight Sparkle whom he'd not even consider using as a potential summon and ally within this world. However he was not going to summon any of them. What he needed was information on the various gates and the worlds they contained. Given he was not stupid he had no desire to be caught off guard by extreme environments again.

Upon researching the information about the various verses via the Crystal Orb he had made,  Sombra learned something. The world he was previously in was called the "Endless Dunes"  and had been made due to experimentation by the Empire. When he realized the Empire wore the white armor and called their troops "Storm Troopers"  Sombra began to question something. Were the Storm Troopers able to control the weather? If not why were they named such? They did have guns that shot something that wasn't magic... he'd have to research that later. After about an hour of researching, King Sombra decided on something. The Endless Dunes despite the numerous hazards were far safer for him than the Nexus.  On the other hand he didn't like the intense heat of the place. Another issue was the 'locals' of the Endless Dunes.

Crowley: Enter, stage right!

The cruel and unrelenting desert sun beat down on the demon as he tripped his way over a sand dune. All the while, he gamely mumbled about no good Knights of Hell and their strange habits, the First Blade swinging loosely in his grip.

Dean Winchester was no more. Well, maybe he was alright— Crowley couldn’t be all that certain in a strange new world such as this, but to say that he was optimistic about the Knight of Hell’s chance of returning would be a massive overestimation. One moment he had been standing there, brusquely speaking to Crowley about how they were going to invade this shoddy old bandit stronghold (something which Crowley hadn’t been very optimistic about, either,) and the next he had disintegrated into a swirl of black smoke only to be sucked up into the First Blade a half-instant later. Like a demonic vacuum tube.

Naturally, Crowley had picked the jawbone up. As if he was going to leave his newfound pal just laying around where any idiot could swipe him up, no sir. Nothing significant had happened since that point, though he did notice that a strange aura of power coursed around the weapon. As he watched a tumbleweed roll past his legs, he dearly hoped that the decision to take it wouldn't cause him any trouble in the future.

It was unbearably hot. Waves of air shimmered in the distance, the insubstantial specks that littered the far-off landscape the only sign that he was headed in the right direction, towards civilization. Sinners, the righteous, false saints, paragons of ineptitude; even in mankind's earliest moments of architectural genius, all gathered around the huddled security of a fire. Crowley could only hope that the same could be said for whatever inhabited this plane.

He had disintegrated his beloved Bentley back into its raw Omnilium state a while before, choosing not to let the harsh climate damage the fine machinery any further despite his ability to miracle it all away. So, he walked. And walked. And walked. Until, finally, the swirling portal and gate that he had entered the enormous sandbox through stood out from all the rest, the savanna around him paling in comparison to its utter magnificence in that moment.

Grinning widely, Crowley hastened towards the portal. He had only made it a few long strides before he noticed that someone else had just passed through it, a sound like a soap bubble popping accompanying their entrance.

It was a horse. No, no, not a horse, it was a bit too small for that-- a pony. A unicorn, judging by the horn. Armed with a fearsome appearance and an adorable disposition for homicidal behavior. Weird.

"S'up?" Crowley said, flipping his sunglasses up so he could squint at the strange equine-like beast. The closer he peered at it, the more he wondered if he had ingested some weird dust with hallucinogenic properties by mistake.

First one of the Bipedal creatures had the nerve to pet him. A roar of No had sent the little girl fleeing in the opposite direction and screaming for mommy. While the screams had been entertaining they hadn't had any real value other than therapeutic as in get him in a NOT ready to murder everyone who had happened across him mood. Of course all that was now out the window when another of the bipedal creatures had approached him and said a three letter word,  namely Sup to him. Sombra checked through his memories and was unfamiliar with the vernacular that the creature was speaking having never encountered such before in his life. Never before in his life had he ever been so insulted. Really only one recompense existed when a pony or an individual insulted him the way this one had being overly casual with him. Unfortunately that recompense couldn't be done unless he suddenly regained the bulk of his abilities at magic.  When you added that Sombra had a rotten day thus far having dealt with bandits who wanted to basically make stew out of him or sell his pelt or do other indecencies to him,  Sombra was not in a good mood. Ever heard of the straw that broke the camel's back? This was like taking that and multiplying it to the millionth power.  After that it was like attaching the bloody death star to the mass and then adding several other spacecraft. To make a long analogy short,  Sombra was PISSED. 

"ARGH!"

If this were a cartoon steam would be blowing out of his ears and his eyes would be on fire. But given he didn't have the dark magic to do either although Sombra made a mental note to research such spells in the future he said.  "You have insulted me, Cur. Prepare to experience something I normally reserve for those who anger me the most of all I encounter. You will live the horrors and terrors that you keep buried deep within. I will show you things no training could prepare you for. Are you ready? No? Too bad! First I believe I'll rough you up a little." 

His hooves may be swollen and painful but Sombra was not a pony who liked to take insults like the one he'd been dealt.  His temper may be a bit of a character flaw but he didn't care. This nut case deserved everything he got. Plus he reminded Sombra of the bandits he encountered just from the posture and general body type which was not good for him. Of course had they not tried to assault, eat, sell or skin Sombra, chances are the mood of the former king of the Crystal Empire would have been a lot better.  "So are there any rules to our battle, or shall I cut loose with my full array of dark magic abilities?"  The last part was a lie as Sombra only had one spell but he wouldn't admit to weakness.

Crowley took a moment to glance over his shoulder, checking to see if there was anyone else standing behind him who may have provoked the talking pony’s ire. When he found none, the demon shook his head in disbelief, honest confusion coloring his expression as he refaced his assailant. “Look, pal, if you want my money—“

 

“I have no need of your meager peasant funds, you insolent worm!” the dark grey unicorn bellowed, his weird pony fangs bared in a snarl. Something dark and unquestionably mystical exuded from him, though the demon couldn’t place it for the life of him.

 

It was strange how, with each new acquaintance he made in the Omniverse, Crowley seemed to have a dangerous knack for pissing people off. First the talking sword, then Magus, and eventually that ghastly Warlock creature to a lesser extent… and now there was an escaped petting zoo occupant looking for a brawl.

 

Even as the former King of the Crystal Empire’s challenge echoed across the pristine white of the Nexus, Crowley merely stared at him. The corners of his lips twitched upwards a tad, his mirth barely concealed.

 

“Well? Has your impudence abandoned you, O foolish one?” Sombra jeered once the silence had stagnated long enough to start growing a new strain of fungus.

 

Still struggling not to laugh, Crowley reached inside his jacket and pulled out a jawbone blade that appeared almost unfit for use because of its obvious age. Insidious veins of red struggled to attach themselves to his forearm as he held it, the odd connect-and-disconnect sensation causing his grip to falter somewhat. The First Blade clearly was not meant for him, and the ancient weapon seemed to want to make sure he knew it.

 

“Rules?” Crowley asked with a grin, lazily swinging the blade ‘til it was flush against his shoulder. “It’s so easy, when you know the rules…”

In response, the dark unicorn’s eyes narrowed as Crowley’s voice took on a distinctly theatric quality— he wasn’t about to be fooled by whatever game this cretin was trying to play. Once he was finished turning this insignificant mongrel into a blubbering mess of agony and tears, there would be no more fun and games. The mongrel would rue the day that they insulted King Sombra. The mongrel—

The mongrel was sauntering away.

A sharp glint slanted across the demon’s shades as he attempted to subtly moonwalk away, his gait clearly that of one at ease. When he spoke next, it was brasher, affected with more feeling. “It’s so easy! All you have to do is fall -  in - love!”

In an instant, the unicorn bowed his head forward in a blur of darkness, his reddish, curved horn beginning to emit an infra-black swirl of congealed magical energies. To his credit, Crowley’s voice only wavered a little in the face of the former monarch’s wrath. “Play the game—“ 

The demon held his weapon lengthways across his chest, outwardly steeling himself for whatever would come next. However, the gears in his head were turning frantically, and if they had been anything other than a figure of speech then surely they would’ve needed some oiling up. 

A shaky grin split across Crowley’s face. “Everybody play the game of lo— oof!” 

Freddie Mercury’s song was interrupted by a dark beam hitting Crowley squarely in the chest. It didn’t hurt any more than getting lightly smacked with a baseball bat, but he grimaced all the same. Because what can’t be seen….

 

The demon noted a strange presence closing in around him, a psychic shadow of malignant forces and perverse horrors, and squeezed his eyes tightly shut. He couldn’t move. Could scarcely think.

 
…. can hurt you.

"Suffer in despair thou worthless worm. Thee deserves nothing more than thine fury for daring to insult thine royal honor."  King Sombra was not in a good mood presently. Of course good mood was a ship that had sailed long ago. Said ship had promptly been blown up in the second he had been brought against his will to the Omniverse. The ship had rotted the moment that Celestia and Luna had banished him with the Elements under the ice. The ship had been attacked after rotting when he had been blasted with the Crystal Heart. Gathering up dark magic Sombra knew he couldn't do the spell he had used for the Nightmare Force for a bit of time. It did need to cool off and recharge. Fortunately he now had another spell in his arsenal. This spell had he had it earlier would have condemned the bandits to death. "Thou will experience a new power that I had hoped to save. Say Thine prayers wretched worm!" Two seconds later a jagged shard of crystal had been fired by Sombra. It was aimed at the guy's leg. "The misery of Tartarus shall be the home for thine insulting tongue."  The aforementioned shard of crystal was traveling as fast as a bullet.

The world around him became weepy and grey, like an acrylic painting freshly doused by a bucket of water. Thoroughly startled by this development, Crowley gulped in a breath he didn’t need, the soft radio static panic steadily building into a roar. 

What had been done to him? And would he be able to tear himself free of it?

Crowley struggled against the stifling darkness that engulfed his mind, but it was harder to break away from than he expected. He still could not move after several long seconds of agitatedly willing his body to do so. The magic was almost sticky, thick in a way that clung to him the more he tried to wrench himself free. It felt like being smothered in bubblegum, more or less, the spell fulfilling its primary purpose in keeping his feet firmly rooted to the ground.

And yet the demon knew where his attacker was, if only vaguely— he had seen the unicorn standing a few paces away before being struck, neighing something or other in his weird Elizabethan speech. It was almost as if the pony had been transformed into a babbling brook, a long stream of insults battering at Crowley’s already damaged pride.

So Crowley eagerly drank in another unnecessary breath, his yellow eyes brightening as he willed himself into alertness. Everything lurched back into place with the force of a full-speed car wreck, the ground itself shivering under his feet. Or maybe that was just him, Crowley couldn’t be sure.


There was a sickening thunk as Crowley rushed forward and tackled the dark horse, sending them both spinning across the floor of the Nexus and further away from the gate behind them.


A series of loud thumps accompanied the ensuing struggle. Crowley discovered just why it was a bad idea to body slam a horse (albeit a small one), whereas Sombra was clearly dazed by the direct assault. Even as his hip popped after being dislocated, Crowley remained unaffected and took a quick swipe at the pony’s head with the blunt end of the First Blade, successfully popping him one across the snout. Using his opponent’s confusion to his advantage, the demon just barely managed to evade that dangerously sharp horn and reeled backwards onto his feet.

“That was a bad idea,” the demon mumbled as he attempted to regain feeling in one of his legs by shaking it out. When that didn’t work, he was a bit disappointed when he glanced down to find a jagged crystal embedded in it, oozing lifeblood. “Okay, ow.”

“So, thee want to play with magic?” Sombra snarled wrathfully as he rose to a standing position, red-green eyes burning bright. “Boy, thee shouldst knoweth what thou art falling for ….”

Crowley yelped more out of surprise than pain as the crystal shard burst, the projectile fizzling out and taking a fair chunk out of his leg with it in death. Once he had regained some semblance of composure, he gritted his teeth in a sneer at the pony, who seemed rather smug about having dealt the serpent harm.

In an instant there was a second bullet-quick projectile whistling his way, this one just barely managing to nick him on the cheek as it hurtled past.

“Ha!” Crowley said, barking out a laugh and touching one finger to the paper thin cut. “You missed me, motherfu—“ 

He didn’t get the chance to finish the thought. By some no doubt magical means, the crystal shard had circled back around and nailed him right at the center of his back.

Tripping forward, the demon gasped as the spike detonated and undoubtedly dealt heavy damage to his spine. “A-at least I won’t have to pay a visit to a chiropractor anytime soon,” Crowley joked, fumbling distractedly at the bloodstain blooming across the back of his jacket. “Ugh.”

With snake-like quickness, the fallen angel narrowly escaped the path of yet another crystal shard. His eyes widened as he twisted his head to watch it turn and approach again, only this time Crowley was prepared.

“Art thee ready for a perfect storm?” King Sombra cackled, another crystalline barb screeching through the air towards the demon just two seconds later.

There wasn’t anything for Crowley to do but snort in reply, whisking around the Nexus floor and taking minor cuts from the two crystals as he dodged. He knew he couldn’t keep up the evasion game for much longer, the white ground already slick with his blood. His dust-laced shoes slipped once or twice, nearly pitching him over into bends worthy of a professional gymnast.

Ducking away from one sharp crystal as it nearly took his eye out, Crowley jerked in surprise when it exploded just as it was about to loop around again. It hadn’t been wedged into him like the others; was there perhaps a time limit on how long they could maneuver on their own without lodging into flesh?

Whatever. It didn’t matter, at least not enough to garner much of his precious attention. He was tiring fast, his movements less spirited than before, and for the first time Crowley considered that he might meet his fate at the hands— er, hooves— of a talking horse.

Crowley couldn’t let that happen. He hadn’t tested out the full capabilities of the ever mysterious ‘Omnilium’ yet. He hadn’t even been able to see how much ice cream he could summon without hitting a block.

The arm holding the jawbone blade swung it sharply, the remaining crystal shard shattering upon contact. As the sparkling remnants drifted down to the ground, Crowley lowered his weapon, his forked tongue slithering out in an open-mouthed grin.

“Is that really all you’ve got, Seabiscuit?”

His opponent was not going down as easily as Sombra had hoped. It was time for the big guns and so Sombra concentrated. Creating several of the Crystal Shard Spikes Sombra controlled them for about two seconds before sending them at his opponent. Each of these were sent by Sombra at different trajectories and angles so that at least one of them could damage the opponent. Ten had been fired initially with this.  After all he was REALLY starting to dislike this bipedal creature who had slammed into him and insisted on making an ass of himself. The attack of getting thumped on the muzzle hurt. Did this idiot believe he could make Sombra stop with a mere toy?!? If so he was underestimating the lord of the Crystal Empire. "Since thou insists on making an ass of thine self I will treat thou like I would deal with a stubborn mule or a dragon. I will make thou extinct."  The moment those words were spoken,  Sombra would shoot about 20 Crystal Spike Shards at his opponent in an attempt to bring him down. Yeah,  he was done messing around with this imbecile now.  

"DIE ALREADY WRETCHED CUR!" 

Inside of Sombra a storm of emotions was brewing. Most notable of these emotions were the ones that lacked any sort of positive nature. One of these emotions was Rage. This rage was due to the all consuming hatred he was starting to develop of Bipedal creatures including this Omni and the Bandits. This individual was no exception to that because Sombra was really starting to loathe his existence.  "For the pain you have dealt you will suffer a trip to Tartarus, Whelp!" 

Grimacing against the tiny bits of glass digging into his skin, Crowley peeled the cracked remnants of his shades from his face. The demon was loath to admit it, but he was beyond tired. A dozen little cuts and scrapes marred his skin, some lightly charred and still smoking from the detonated crystals. The dark grey horse stood a short distance away, still looking royally pissed even as another barrage of crystal spikes began to shimmer in the air.

 

Between the dodging, ducking and deflecting, there was hardly any time for Crowley to lash out, but as with so many other boring things in life, he would just have to make time.

 

He broke their little standoff first, dashing forward with Dean’s blade held at the ready. While he had been reluctant to chop the pony into itty bitty little pieces before, the rigid set of his shoulders and the slightest narrowing of his eyes made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t going to be pulling any punches this time around.

 

As expected, the unicorn lurched forward to parry the incoming strike away, the jagged line of teeth attached to the jawbone raking against his reddish-grey horn. A scrape like nails across chalkboard shrieked in the air, the weight of the blow itself causing Sombra’s legs to momentarily buckle before he righted himself, and Crowley had to wonder at the sturdiness of his opponent.

 

The serpent took another swipe at Sombra, grinning all the while. Not feeling especially eager for a repeat of the scraping incident, the pony ducked and tracked the movement of the ancient blade with a slight widening of his eyes. This, of course, had been what Crowley was counting on, and it was rather rewarding when the magical horse’s chin bounced off from his knee with a painful-sounding crack.

 

“Oops. Did I do that?” the demon asked with mock concern, grasping some of the pony’s dark mane in a fist. “Here, let me help you up!”

 

Sombra was promptly tossed backwards, though it wasn’t very far, his body slamming against the white ground with such force that he slid the last couple of feet. Once he had salvaged his footing, he snarled ferociously at Crowley, crystalline darts already screeching towards his bipedal aggressor. “You will pay dearly for that, oaf!”

 

The first crystal hit Crowley head-on, sinking halfway into his chest with a positively disgusting gurgle before shattering into sparkly shrapnel. With a lengthy sigh, the demon attempted to deflect one of the others only for it to explode anyway and sear into his arm. The sweet-smelling odor of charred flesh burned in his nostrils, causing him to wrinkle his nose and do his best to pat out the small fire gnawing at his jacket sleeve.

 

Astonishingly, the movement of his arm was uninhibited by pain, and it was with great gusto that Crowley pointed straight at the pony with his weapon, one eyebrow raised in an unimpressed look. “Getting real tired of these half-cocked insults, man.”

 
A narrowly avoided spike to the face was his only response, the stupid crystal things still buzzing around him like a swarm of angry hornets. They were a good representation of their master’s anger, the demon supposed: painful, chaotic and single-minded. It was…. kind of alarming, actually, because Crowley could feel that same sort of anger building inside himself, clawing out from the First Blade in reddish tendrils of impurity. It was the kind of horrified realization that ordinarily came with situations like accidentally throat-punching a puppy— he had made a terrible mistake in taking up this cursed weapon.

"Cur. Thee will not survive thine righteous fury. Not only has thee insulted me, but Thee has the royal attitude of a pompous ass. I don't normally take pleasure in completely mopping the floor with the faces of those I despise. But thee has most certainly earned it."  If Sombra had been enraged before it couldn't even hold a candle to what he was feeling now. The more snarky remarks that the individual made the more King Sombra wished he were a utilitarian. For if he were he would be able to do something more...permanent to this individual. What could he do to the individual? Lacking most of his abilities in this strange new place Sombra simply couldn't order one of his men to smite the guy. For one he had no soldiers with him.  A wickedly creative idea donned on Sombra. There had to be some way he could dispose of the guy. But what could he do to the man? Sombra groaned before firing another Nightmare Force at him.


When he noticed that his opponent was not getting up,  a smirk began to form on the expression of the monarch of the Crystal Empire. There were many places he could have banished this person to were they in Equestria. The Frozen North was a good option but such a place didn't exactly exist here. Suddenly his horn lit with red and blackish energies as a beam fired. Above the form of AJ Crowley a rift in the fabric of space time was torn and a portal of sorts made out of swirling darkness materialized. Should one look through the portal they were likely to see the place that most primes feared namely the Underverse itself. The portal began to suck in AJ Crowley and King Sombra maniacally laughed. 



"How's that for comeuppance, knave?" 


Once the portal had done it's work,  the portal closed.  King Sombra started to look around. At least now there was one less upstart in this universe and he could proceed to focus on more important things. Medical attention and as his stomach cursed the whole dictionary of curse words at him, food were both priorities for King Sombra. Yes he had a lot of work to do in order to make sure that he could survive here. But it was work worth doing and also a powerful opportunity for King Sombra to take down his opponents. Omni was on his shit-list the moment he was able to regain the bulk of his magical abilities,  Omni was going to be among the first to fall. For that to happen he still had a lot of power to regain.

Since he had just succeeded in ridding himself of one of the most annoying of the Bipeds,  had he a palace to stay in King Sombra would have been celebrating. But he was not celebrating. The fight had taken more than the energy it should have and that proved one thing. He was not at full strength. This was annoying, like ants nipping at his soul. For King Sombra knew that in order to 'amuse Omni' he was going to have to regain his full abilities as quickly as he possibly could. In order to be named like he was,  Sombra the king of all monsters he'd need to actually have the power to back it up. With that in mind he assumed the stance that he'd done when he'd fought Celestia and Luna. There had been a battle royale. If he could cast just a few of the spells he used then, he'd be sure he could handle himself come what may. 



"Crystal Noctus!" 



Sombra spoke that in a clear voice. He half expected black crystals to grow from the ground and form a spiked wall in front of him. But to his surprise it didn't happen. In fact,  nothing happened. Trying again and willing magic to his horn he soon realized he didn't have that ability. An attempt was made by him to turn into his shadow form. Unfortunately like his earlier spell this didn't work. What the hell? Why was he without the bulk of his powers? He needed them in order to fight here. Well whatever the reason he was not going to remain helpless and weak for long. Such levels of stupidity like his for engaging that bipedal abomination in combat without preparation meant he was the king of all fools. 


Attempting once more to cast the powerful spell that would simply create a spiked wall of crystal that would move towards an opponent,  the dark monarch of the Crystal Empire was beginning to become annoyed. 



"GRAAGH!" 



It was clear to him now what he was going to be doing upon regaining his abilities. Omni was going to get a face full of hoof for draining him like this and leaving him with only two of the vast array of spells that he had previously possessed. What he needed was someone who was more analytical and had a calmer perspective. As much as he hated to do something like this, King Sombra knew that he needed help. There was only one pony who embodied friendship and magic enough to possibly know something about wherever the hell they were. Since he didn't know how else to do it, King Sombra channeled dark magic to his horn and then released it in a pulse. The pulse should in theory bring that Princess of Friendship running. It was more like a magical SOS than anything though.


"I'm seriously going to need some help." 

As he thought about the Omniverse,  King Sombra took a deep breath. The Omniverse was nothing like the world he was used to. In some ways he supposed that could be a powerful advantage for him given his weaknesses didn't exist. The Elements of Harmony were not here and couldn't be a pain in the flank. Of course there were also other things that couldn't be used on him now. Without Princess Cadence or Shining Armor the Crystal Heart even if it existed inside of this world would prove to be useless. Such a thing made him a bit happy because he no longer had that vulnerability. Darkness and shadows were power to him. Negativity and anger provided him the strength that he needed. Friendship? It was for the weak and vulnerable who lacked the power they needed in order to defend themselves. Sure Princess Twilight and her friends had bested Tirek and King Sombra was aware of that. Her victory had made him a bit worried honestly but she had done him a service. With Tirek trapped in Tartarus King Sombra could concentrate his efforts on conquering this new world without any issues. 



The bipedal creature he had encountered was nothing more than a jester whom Sombra was going to exterminate. After all the individual had the gall and the nerve to attack him. But he was gone now and King Sombra needed to concentrate. Thinking back to the spells he had used in the past,  King Sombra groaned. Perhaps at least one of them would work if he were to try to cast it? Gathering dark magic to his horn he attempted to fire a simple blast of dark magic out of his horn. Nothing happened. Why was nothing happening? The blast had been supposed to come out of his horn. It could be a problem with this universe he supposed. Trying to make dark pillars to raise himself on he watched as nothing happened.