Reunited in the Dark.

Chapter 21 - My Empire Pt. 2

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Third person POV

The crystal castle

Sombra crept slowly through the unusually quiet corridors of the castle. There were no guards about, and it concerned him a lot. He peered into almost every room he passed, checking to see if the crystal heart or Stello were present. His ears constantly flickered at any sound, helping him to stay alert for any sudden attacks or traps.

Eventually he passed the throne room. He looked inside, noticing that the throne was empty and there were no sounds. Sombra was almost certain that he would find his brother sitting on the throne and smirking victoriously. The thought angered him, and he huffed air in frustration.

Sombra passed more rooms, all of which were strangely silent and empty. There seemed to have been no trace of Stello, as though he vanished for whatever reason. Sombra felt like he spent hours checking every room and corridor, but to no avail.

The grey alicorn sighed and hopelessly dropped his head. Not only he couldn't find his brother, but he had no idea where to start looking for the crystal heart. He would have to return outside empty hoofed, and face the humiliation and disappointment of the public.

Suddenly, a faint high pitched scream echoed through the castle. Sombras ears flickered as he tried to tell where the source was. He galloped quickly down a few corridors, until the sounds of a mare crying in pain grew louder. They seemed to have came from a room that Sombra knew was used to store unique weapons of all kinds. He quietly approached it, finding the door was ajar and listening to what was going on on the other side.

"P- please not any m- more..." A mare pleaded, almost suffocating on her own uncontrolled sobs.

"Obey me!" A familiar voice roared.

Sombra knew that was Stello inside, so he stayed quietly by the door for a moment, trying to gather as much information as he could before he would reveal his presence. He then heard a smack and the mare grunted in pain as she continued to cry. She coughed and spat something out, which Sombra guessed was blood.

"I said obey me you bitch!" Stello roared again. The mare winced and Sombra heard the metal of chains clank against eachother. "There..." Stello said. "If you're good I might consider going easy on you..." He muttered hungrily.

Sombra felt disgusted and couldnt bare to hear it anymore. He pushed the door all the way open, which caused a sword to fall to the floor that was resting against it. It made a significant rattle against the crystal floor. At the same time, he saw a mare chained to the wall. She had bruises on multiple parts of her yellow coat, her crimson mane was scruffy, her cheeks were drenched in tears and Stello was pressed against her. He quickly turned around to see who the intruder was.

"Brother!" Stello exclaimed with an evil grin, quickly grabbing a sword and putting it to the mares neck. The mare winced and her facial expression begged Sombra to be rescued.

"You disgust me..." Sombra snarled, looking around the room and seeing traces of what happened there. Images of horrible scenes crossed his mind.

"Oh but little brother, wasn't hurting others your thing once too...?" Stello questioned, keeping the sword placed closely against the mares neck. Sombra knew that any wrong move would get her killed.

He glanced around the room, trying to figure out a way to get her out of there. "Not the way you hurt her." Sombra replied, gesturing to the mare and making his tone obviously disgusted.

Stello chuckled and shrugged slightly. "This hurt, that hurt. All of it hurt. Whats the difference...?" Stello questioned rhetorically. "See, maybe we're all not that different little brother. You like pain just like me!" Stello exclaimed, tugging onto the mares red mane and causing her to yelp in pain. Her tears flowed down her cheeks in streams, and she closed her eyes praying for this to be over with, be it freedom or death.