Author's Notes:

40k and UTF crossover here if you are interested. Could use more love: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/148189/faith-and-fire-concerning-mortals

Heads up, you should read Rescue Part 1 and 2 before making any sort of judgement or else things may not make sense. It's literally one chapter I divided only for the sake of not having too many words on one page. It's the longest thing I've written.

Everypony was starring at Scarecrow with their mouths open in shock. The members of Shadow themselves were rather startled by the news as well, and were almost sweating.

Scarecrow stood in place with his eyes staring off at the distance, his pupils almost shrinking.

"What do you mean she just vanished? You aren't making this easier command!" hissed Scarecrow. To him, the safety of the Ponies' was his duty in this situation, and wasn't going to take Fluttershy vanishing lightly, lest he bare the burden of responsibility.

"Okay, can you just show me a fucking hologram of the video footage the Blackjack gathered while surveying Equestria last night? That ought to give us a clue on where the hell she went."

Scarecrow pointed his wrist computer away from his mouth and pointed it at the the space before him. Suddenly, a holographic display giving a satellite view of Equestria materialized itself before Shadow and the Ponies. The recording was of last night, at the minute before Fluttershy's disappearance.

Scarecrow located Fluttershy's home on the map and zoomed in on it. From the footage, Shadow viewed Fluttershy sleeping rather peacefully and surrounded by her animals, when all of a sudden there was a strange hiss and the footage cut off.

"What the?" frowned Scorch.

"How could it just cut off like that?" wondered Scarecrow.

"Doesn't look like we can uncover anything. Audio, video, nothing." noted X-ray.

"Blackjack, why are we getting nothing but static?" questioned Scarecrow.

"Static doesn't last indefinitely." radioed a crew member. "After five minutes the recording returns to normal."

Scarecrow forwarded up the recording and sure enough, the group finally got a clear view of Fluttershy's home. The yellow mare was no where to be seen after regaining a proper view. Instead, all everyone saw were animals running around in a panicked state.

"Poor critters, they just lost Fluttershy. Must be scary for them." pitied Applejack.

"Maybe we should get back to Fluttershy's home to calm them down." suggested Rainbow Dash.

"No one is moving anywhere until we find out what the fuck happened to Fluttershy!" ordered X-ray.

Twilight placed a hoof on her chin. "You know, based on the noise we heard, I'm willing to bet that she was kidnapped."

"But there don't appear to be any signs of breaking and entering." noticed Rarity upon inspecting the hologram.

"Duh, that's because whoever kidnapped Fluttershy did it with teleporting!" insisted Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie's on to something." nodded Scorch. "A lot of times, kidnappers and crooks with advanced tech can get passed security and avoid signs of struggle by simply teleporting. It's barely happened, but it' a possibility."

"Doesn't explain why we're seeing garbled bits of footage though." said Rainbow Dash.

"Whatever or whoever kidnapped Fluttershy would need video and audio scramblers to do that." informed Overwatch.

"I don't think anyone has the technology of that caliber." shook Twilight.

"Well, at the end of the day, what is magic other than unexplained tech and science? So, what we're dealing with here is some sort of powerful magic user." guessed X-ray.

"Still, UTF ships are powerful in their surveillance tech. Who could produce the currents of magical energy needed to counter a starship?" stated Scarecrow.

"From what I've seen, not even Celestia or Luna could pull that off." frowned Rarity.

"Even if a Terran scrambler was being used, UTF ships have counter measures to unscramble recordings. This guy would have to use tech beyond Terran understanding." remarked Scorch.

"Technology like a Narret's?" frowned Pinkie Pie.

Scarecrow paused, but proceeded to nod. "Exactly."

"Hey, did y'all say that yer ship couldn't gain information outside of Equestria because all the video feed went fuzzy or something?" reminded Applejack.

"Yeah, you're right." realized X-ray. He used neural controls to zoom out of the map. Sure enough, any part of the map that did not cover Equestria gave off an error signal.

"Apparently, whoever kidnapped Fluttershy is also the same person cutting off your ships from support." growled Rainbow Dash.

"Also known as this ally guy." gritted Applejack.

"Alright, so it's clear that whoever we are dealing with, is some sort of really fucking powerful magic user." concluded Scorch.

"But why would he kidnap Fluttershy?" gulped Pinkie Pie.

"That's what happens when you've got enemies." sighed Scorch.

"Plus, it could be a trap for all I know." hinted Scarecrow.

Twilight knitted her eyebrows. "I think you're right. Whoever must have kidnapped Fluttershy must be doing this because he knows that we would go out of our way to save her."

"That sick devil." gritted Rarity.

"For all we know, he's already killed Fluttershy by now and we'd only be walking into a false lead." muttered X-ray.

The Ponies almost cried.

"No. No. That wouldn't be true." begged Pinkie Pie.

"Who would ever do something sick like that?" asked Applejack.

Scarecrow raised an eyebrow to remind the ponies where he came from.

Rainbow Dash gasped. "Don't tell me you guys have-"

"To our enemies yes. To innocent Pegasai that don't deserve it, no." affirmed Scorch.

"And trust me, if we find out that Fluttershy has been harmed in any way, we'll make this son of a bitch pay with more than his life." swore X-ray.

"But what about walking into a trap?" squealed Twilight.

"Trap or not, we aren't going to find Fluttershy just standing here." said Scarecrow. "Our only bet is to find this kidnapper and bring him to justice."

"Even if Fluttershy is dead, we still need to take out this kidnapper. Sounds like a guy to dangerous to be alive." added Overwatch.

"But, she isn't dead right?" cringed Rarity.

"Only one way to find out." replied Scorch.

"But what about our plan to surrender you guys to the Alliance?" remembered Twilight.

"Change of operations. If we take out this little fucker, we'll likely find a way to take out this barrier too." told Scarecrow.

"I don't know guys, this Ally sounds really powerful. We should probably get the Princesses." advised Rainbow Dash.

"You have us." pointed X-ray. "A bunch of messed up psychopaths that will put this little prick in his place. If the ally proves too powerful for us, he'll be too powerful for the Princesses. Best keep them alive for the morale of your nation."

"But what if you four die?" glared Twilight.

Shadow laughed for a moment.

Suddenly, Scarecrow stopped and spoke in a deadpan voice. "Le'ts not think about that."

X-ray placed his gloved finger on his chin. "We can't just go find Fluttershy without knowing where she is."

"Any thoughts as to where she may be?" asked Scorch.

"She's not on our holo maps or HUD, so either she's in the distorted zone or her kidnapper has magic akin to stealth technology that could render certain individuals invisible to sensors." theorized Scarecrow.

"This is hopeless. Fluttershy could be anywhere in the world for crying out loud!" yelled Rainbow Dash, on the brink of despair.

"We're trying to think here." hissed X-ray as he pondered a possible location for Fluttershy which was proving incredibly difficult given the weight of his circumstances.

"This fucking sucks." groaned Scarecrow. "The 23rd isn't one to launch rescue missions, but we've never had this much difficulty in laying out a plan or finding someone. Especially someone completely innocent."

The ponies looked at Shadow with uncertainty. They could tell this was pretty much the first time where their mission wouldn't be an easy curb stomp for them, especially considering that their usual and supposedly infallible methods were failing.

"Can't believe our tech isn't helping." gritted Scorch as he tried to search for Fluttershy through every app he had on his HUD.

When all was quiet, Pinkie Pie suddenly went through a series of spasms. Her tail split in two, her tongue stuck out, she was dragged by her neck off the ground by a supposedly invisible force and slammed down on the ground muzzle first.

"You alright?" frowned Scarecrow.

Pinkie Pie got up and started skipping in place. "OMG, I think I know where Fluttershy might be!"

"What did your messed up ability to calculate probability, AKA, Pinkie Sense tell you?" moaned X-ray.

"Think about it. Where would a teleporting kidnapper hide someone if he wanted their friends to fall into a trap?" hinted Pinkie.

"Abandoned warehouse? Military base?" guessed Scorch.

"Actually, those would be genius locations......but with the context of Equestria.....it would be a cave!" answered Pinkie.

"Which there happens to be near by in the Everfee Forest!" realized Twilight.

"Which is also a part of the world the Federation can't use surveillance gear on!" added Rarity.

"Oh that jerk!" gritted Applejack. "Hidin' Shy in a cave for Celestia's sake how long!"

"And your Pinkie sense told you this?" said X-ray.

Pinkie Pie nodded with an anxious expression.

X-ray, Scorch and Scarecrow immediately turned to face Overwatch who was typing something on his wrist computer.

The sniper sighed. "Well, taking Pinkie's variables into account along with her rate of being right, I'm calculating 73% chance of success if we go along with her plan."

"Works for me." shrugged Scorch.

Scarecrow faced the Ponies. "Any idea which cave Pinkie Pie is talking about?"

Remembering the cave Spike had ventured to when he had ran off, Twilight immediately took charge.

"Follow us, I know exactly where the kidnapper would be." instructed Twilight.

"You sure? I don't want you five to get hurt after a messed up week." empathized X-ray.

"Hey! Fluttershy's our friend." yelled Rainbow Dash.

"Not to mention we know the land better than you do." pointed Applejack.

"And just because the threats you faced were far worse than whatever Equestria threw at us, we can still handle ourselves." reminded Rarity.

"Nice to see you all being incredibly brave." commended Scarecrow.

"I hope we're not too late." gulped Pinkie Pie.

"You have a genius, but ridiculous way with numbers to uncover the future, can't you use that to figure out if Fluttershy is alive?" questioned X-ray.

"Doesn't always work." blushed Pinkie.

Scarecrow put on his mask and so did the rest of Shadow. Taking out their Gauss rifles from the magnetic plates behind their backs, they were ready to go rescue the yellow pegasus.

"Lead the way." said the now masked Scorch.

-

The cave showed no signs of struggle and had a completely natural feeling to it. However, it also appeared to play a bit of a mind trick on anyone who saw it and ventured in, for it was bigger than it looked.

Shadow normally would have switched their mics to local as to avoid giving their location, but their communications were jammed and needed to be able to advise the ponies.

"So Spike once ran off to this cave?" asked Scarecrow.

"Yeah." whispered Twilight. "Last time I remember, there was a dragon and a hoard of gems in here."

"There's no presence of either." noticed X-ray. "This cave appears to be untouched."

It became darker and darker as the group ventured further and further into the cave, with the only source of illumination being Twilight and Rarity's horns which thankfully gave off a massive quantity of light energy. Shadow was unfazed thanks to their HUDs.

"How far does this cave go?" muttered Scorch.

"Seems like we got a kilometer or two left." replied Overwatch.

The group continued the trek with vision being less of a problem as Twilight focused more of her energies on her horn, no matter how tiresome it would have been.

Upon getting a better view of things however, Pinkie Pie let out a loud yelp that even startled Shadow.

"What the hell!" gritted Scarecrow.

"I just saw something creepy." panted Pinkie Pie. "Once the light from Twilight's horn got better I saw a shadow!"

The 23rd squad glared at Pinkie.

"We're right here." muttered Scorch.

"No! Like a literal shadow shadow. It was black and creepy and floating on the wall over there before it disappeared." explained the Pink Earth Pony.

X-ray cleared his throat. "Um, a shadow is a shape produced by a physical object and a source of light. The lighting from Twilight and Rarity's horn is good, but not good enough to warrant a noticeable shadow, let alone appear in the direction you pointed at for our Shadows should appear in that direction."

"I know that silly! I meant a heaping ball of darkness!" cried Pinkie Pie.

"But we didn't get anything strange on our HUDs. No voices, heartbeats or motion. Nothing physical at all." stated Scorch.

"That's because a shadow isn't physical." panned Twilight.

Scarecrow placed a hand on his mask. "I for one am savvy enough to know to never dismiss something strange as nothing. Especially in an ominous situation like this. Pinkie might be on to something."

Applejack knitted her eyebrows. "If that's the case, then we have company."

"But we're not reading anything!" said X-ray.

"They must be hiding from your technology with that stupid stealth magic. I've remembered reading about anti detection spells during my free time once." realized Twilight.

"Great, this is what our victims feel whenever we're doing the exact same thing." gritted Scorch.

"Let's not talk about that now dear." panned Rarity.

Shadow started to move their rail weapons from side to side in a more cautious, but still stoic manner.

"Whoever this jerk is, he or she is gonna get a fine pummeling." hissed Applejack.

Rainbow Dash was the next to speak. "But there's still no sign of Fluttershy or-"

Suddenly, the group heard a squeak of a very soft and timid voice.

"Fuck, I heard something." hissed Overwatch.

"So did I!" yelped Rarity.

There was another whisper in the distance that sounded like a cry for help.

Rainbow Dash's eyes shot open. "That must be Fluttershy!"

"Or is it?" Scarecrow. He used his arm to barricade the ponies from advancing.

"What are you doing?" questioned Pinkie as she noticed Shadow's hesitation.

"Hold on, I have an audio recording." announced X-ray. He turned to his tablet and uploaded the footage from his HUD, both audio and video. He turned on an app for facial and vocal recognition and played the recorded faint sounds in the distance.

"I'm getting a 92% match."

"Then what are we waiting for?" complained Applejack.

"Whenever we lure our targets into a similar situation in a secluded area, we always use voice alteration to confuse them before we roll in the executions." told Scarecrow.

"Voice altering spells do exist and I'm sure they function the same way as a technological one." nodded Twilight.

"So it could be a trap." realized Rarity.

"Hell, we're not even getting readings of Fluttershy even being here." muttered Overwatch.

There was yet another faint sound.

"Please help! Hurry before he comes." The voice was sad and afraid, but not broken.

"Fuck it, let's move. Shadow keep alert." gritted Scarecrow.

Taking a left and then a right, the group made its way to the end of the cave. Shadow had their grips on their weapons tightened unable to accept the irony of them being the stalked and hunted.

While they were moving, Shadow began to see signs of faint traces of black that always disappeared the moment they looked at them. They rally hoped their insanity wasn't getting worse.

Finally, the trek concluded as the group reached the dead end. There, they found a sight that they did not accept.

Fluttershy was there. Her mane was messed up and she clearly hadn't slept. There were no signs of assault though other than a few minor bruises on her coat. What startled Shadow the most however were her incredibly disturbed eyes.

As Shadow glared at Fluttershy, they couldn't help but realize that her being placed at the end of a cave with no form of restraint was far too easy. They looked from side to side, waiting for their ghostly friend to show up any moment.

The ponies galloped towards their yellow pegasus friend and gave her a big group hug.

"Fluttershy! Is it really you?" gasped Rainbow Dash.

The timid pegasus nodded, but she evidently wasn't in full control of her body as her movements were shaky and crooked.

"Are you hurt?" asked Twilight.

Fluttershy shook her head 'no' while trying to stifle a tear.

"This was too fucking easy. It has to be a trap!" yelled X-ray.

"It is." whispered Fluttershy.

Applejack knotted her eyebrows. "Alright, tell us who's the jerk that kidnapped you."

"You're not going to believe it." cried Fluttershy.

Suddenly, a black cloud whisked from one side of the cave to the other.

"Shit! Did you see that?" pointed Scarecrow.

"Affirmative."

"Got away though."

Scorch turned to the ponies. "Bail. Now! Before this bastard gets you!"

"Hey, we want this Ally gone just as much as you do." replied Pinkie Pie.

"You're gonna need all the help that you can get." added Twilight.

"Acknowledged." replied the demo man.

When all seemed quiet, a spiked purple crystal immediately rose from the ground, almost stabbing X-ray in the foot.

X-ray swore in Armenian followed by English. "Holy shit! That just happened."

Another crystal rose, this time nearly stabbing Scarecrow.

"There it is again!"

More and more knee high purple crystals spiked from the ground until they formed a circle encompassing Shadow squad. The four counter terrorists found themselves back to back, with still no sign of any physical enemy anywhere.

"This cave shouldn't have any crystals! Not for its location!" noted X-ray.

"They must be teleported from somewhere. These are the exact same crystals found in the Crystal Empire's mines!" realized Twilight as she took a closer look.

"Whoever is controlling these things is doing a shitty job." insulted Scarecrow as he side stepped the emerging spiked gems.

"They also appear to be only targeting you four!" pointed Rarity.

"You think?" replied Scorch as he found himself almost dancing in his attempts to runaway from the emerging crystals.

Twilight inspected the situation in the midst of the panic. Whoever was controlling these crystals could have simply lunged them at Shadow to do damage. Furthermore, these seemed to be the type of crystals that were gigantic in nature and should have been able to reach the wall, meaning that only a fraction of these formations was sticking from the ground In fact, the crystals were noticeably pushing the four commandos closer.

The Alicorn suddenly knew what was going on.

"Shadow! Run out of the circle! It's going to-"

In the heart of the moment, the crystals on the ground suddenly revealed their full form and grew to the top of the cave, restraining, imprisoning and concealing Shadow squad in the middle of a make shift jail.

The four commandos were sealed in tight, almost unable to move their limbs as the crystals pressed on their bodies.

"This is tight." gritted Scorch.

"Is the fucker gonna crush us to death?" groaned Scarecrow.

"Think again." muttered Overwatch as a greenish glow illuminated the area.

Shadow looked up and saw a concentrated ball of green energy forming above their heads at the top of their crystal cage. Their HUDs read energy signatures not too different from plasma. The plasma would have little room inside the crystal prison to dissipate, allowing for it to unleash a devastating concentrated blast if it struck the squad.

Without even having to think, Scarecrow struggled to hold up his LMG and fired a rail round, shattering one of the crystal spires. Shadow immediately used their enhanced reflexes to bail out of confinement as the plasma ball soared straight for them.

Right when they were freed, the energy blast hit the ground, causing a greenish detonation with a minor radius, albeit one still strong enough to shatter the surrounding Crystals.

Twilight instinctively used an energy shield spell to protect her friends while Shadow's barriers absorbed any incoming heat, which only depleted 10% of their protective unit.

"Well that was close." panted Scorch.

"Plasma wouldn't have killed us though, but I'm willing the asshole would have just generated a few more bursts." inferred X-ray.

Twilight placed a hoof on her chin. "That spell was dark magic, as in a type of practiced magic that is forbidden to most due to its destructive capabilities."

"In this case, it was a plasma blast. I could see why they'd call that type of magic dark." responded Scarecrow.

"Why aren't we ponies being attacked though?" questioned Rainbow Dash.

Before anyone could answer, the group caught a glimpse of a familiar (and animated) trail of smoke whirl right infront of them before disappearing in the rocky walls around them.

It was there that Pinkie Pie put two and two together. "Everyone! I think I know who's the Ally after us! Black smoke, dark magic, pointed crystals, big shields and a green energy signature!"

At this point, the other ponies knew too.

"Who?" questioned Scorch. "Spit it out!"

Fluttershy took a big gulp. "It's Sombra."

"......."

"WHAT!" yelled Scarecrow. "How the fuck could it be Sombra? Are you sure it's not Discord or something? That would make total sense considering he was created by our ancestors with Narret tech to be a walking trail of-"

The trail of black smoke suddenly whipped out of the walls and headed straight for X-ray, who immediately side stepped to his left to avoid the attack, with the supposed form of Sombra disappearing back to the wall again.

"It can not be Sombra. He's dead!" yelled X-ray. "I mean, it would be far more reasonable if it was Discord. After all, he's powerful, we haven't seen him for a week and screwing us over with a war is totally like his chaotic nature."

"Talk about someone hiding in the shadows. This came out of nowhere." shook Scorch.

"Figures. I knew the ponies couldn't kill someone." realized Scarecrow.

"We thought he was dead too! Doesn't make any sense why he's here!" shook Applejack.

"This is jut too fucking confusing. I mean, no one can be this good at hiding from others and leaving no traces unless you were a 23rd squad." groaned Overwatch.

A menacing voice that even startled Shadow caught everyone's attention.

"Truly, it's about time someone caught on to my orchestrations!"

"I'll admit, you didn't give away any hints. I commend you for that." slyly remarked Scorch as he jerked his rifle from side to side.

"How the fuck are you still around!" yelled X-ray. "Goddamn it, why won't you appear on my HUD?"

"Such ignorance." The fierce voice growled impatiently.

Sombra's shadow form appeared before the squad and ponies, with a pair of green eyes flashing this time. Instinctively, Shadow took the pragmatic route and leveled their rail weapons and unleashed all their might on Sombra-

-Which simply passed through the black shadow of darkness.

Sombra cackled. "Pitiful! You truly believe your clumsy machines can scathe me?! I am beyond your solid state of existence. I am unassailable! " The dark unicorn teleported once more, but everyone knew he could hear them.

Twilight and Rarity responded by firing a blast of magic at Sombra, who this time was forced to retreat into the walls before the spells could get to him.

"Coward!" yelled Rainbow Dash.

"X-ray, get out your pulse grenades." whispered Twilight.

"The shock will disable your magic too." replied X-ray.

"So? At least it will leave Sombra vulnerable." frowned Twilight.

"Well, I can't use my pulse grenades on him if he's hiding in the cave's walls that are made up of non conductive material." gritted X-ray. "Besides, the shock can kill you if you aren't armored. I also know for a fact that you won't teleport to let us out of your sight in this situation."

"Get out here and fight you cheater!" cried Pinkie Pie.

"Don't make him mad, you'll only make it worse." pleaded Fluttershy.

Sombra's voice overtook the scene. "Tell me flesh-creature, of what ignorance has the Librarian revealed to you? What hopes did she feed your shallow mind?"

Sombra's shadow form again zipped from wall to wall, throwing random energy blasts at Shadow all the while. The squad found it increasingly hard to concentrate as volleys of energy continuously were thrown at them. Sombra didn't have the time to generate mass sums of energy though without having to compromise his shadow form, causing his blasts to only do minor damage when actually hitting Shadow.

The dark unicorn continued to speak. "Watching you four has been a joy! Your arrogance, your paranoia....so much fear. And yet, you still deserve praise for revealing the truth behind magic, lifting the veil of superstition and ignorance that has plagued its study for so very, very long."

"What does this have to do with anything?" cried Rainbow Dash while trying to catch Sombra's shadow form whenever it appeared.

"Such a revelation came to me over a millennia ago! I shattered the boundaries that imprison magics fullest potential! I set my magic free! I made myself king through right of power and fear!" The shadowy pony seemed to turn his attention specifically to Shadow once more, "Just like you! Gaha! Hahaha! We...we're practically family! For do we not both wield the same blade of darkness and fear? Do we not both delve into what has been forbidden? We have both found the true nature of this world."

"So a lot of these spells you're doing are from Narret schematics?"

"Precisely. I can bend my matter into nothing more than dust, I can tear your mind in half and I can amplify my abilities to be ten thousand times MORE TERRIBLE!"

Sombra laughed hard which only made Shadow and the ponies angrier.

"What we call 'science', I also know as power. And I bear the power to destroy all of you!" gloated Sombra. "Your technologies fall short of what comes naturally to me. All that you can do I can overcome. What had you in a drooling stupor I embraced, it was utterly hilarious seeing you four so dumbstruck by the Librarians archives!"

"So you've been following us!" said Twilight.

"For how long?" gritted Rarity.

More energy blasts were emitted by Sombra. The lethal ones attacked Shadow while stun spells went for the ponies, who used their magic and considerable stamina and speed to evade the dark stallion's attempts.

"Hey! Answer our question pal! " demanded Rainbow Dash. "How long have you been stalking us?"

"Longer than you could have ever known my little pony. I am everywhere, I live on in all darkness."

"So you've been hiding from us the entire time? It's almost been a year since I thought we got rid of you!" pointed Applejack.

"Without the alien machines, self re-composition can prove...timely." sighed Sombra through the echos of the cave.

The next thing anyone knew, more Crystals emerged from the ground and engulfed the Mane 6 and Shadow, trapping them inside like a man frozen in a block of ice.

Now that his targets were frozen, Sombra charged an energy blast with enough power capable of vaporizing the trapped Shadow. He had other plans for the Mane 6.

What Sombra didn't take into account however, was that Twilight and Rarity could still feel their horns, allowing them to release a wave energy that shattered their crystal confinements.

Right when Sombra unleashed his spell of pure destruction, Twilight emitted a dark energy blast which opened a pocket into sub space, causing the plasma blast to vanish into the meaningless void.

Twilight proceeded to use the reverse of Sombra's crystal spell to free the frozen commandos and ponies.

Shadow regained composure. For once, it was the enemy that had the element of surprise. They decided to continue their interrogation of the dark unicorn.

"I get the feeling you were the one who placed a distortion field in the first place." inferred Scarecrow.

"But that would mean Sombra would have the foresight to know that the humans were coming." pointed Rarity.

There was a dark chuckle from Sombra. "Sadly, it wasn't through foresight. While exploring the both physical and sub space around Epona, I saw the precious human star ship making its way. It was when I took a closer look that I realized it belonged to the humans."

"So why distort communications?" inquired X-ray.

"I had counted on you loosing interest in this world, in all honesty. But instead your kinds feverish curiosity saw you four sent here. Four cold hearted, mentally broken murderers."

"And you were the one who put up this barrier!" accused Twilight.

"But of course, does any other pony exist capable of such things?! Of such superior capabilities?!" gloated Sombra.

"I don't know, Discord?" replied Pinkie Pie as she darted her eyes from side to side, waiting for Sombra to pop out.

Sombra materialized in front of Shadow in his full regal form. He didn't look any different from the last time Twilight and her friends saw him. His menacing smile and glowing eyes brought back distinct memories.

Rainbow dashed immediately for the unicorn, only for him to fire a biological friction beam from Narret Schematics that slowed Rainbow Dash in her tracks. To the reference point of the Pegasus however, everything appeared to be moving faster rather than her moving slower.

Sombra finished the job by firing a wave of kinetic energy to send the blue pegasus flying in the opposite direction, only to be caught by Rarity's and Twilight's magic at last second.

In the middle of the distraction, Scorch immediately drew his launcher and fired a magnetically propelled rocket at Sombra, only for him to cancel out the magnetic force by reversing polarity. With a sinister smile, Sombra calculated the force needed to inflict serious damage and propelled the rocket back with his own magnetic force emitted from his horn, essentially making a biological rail weapon.

The rocket struck Scorch and depleted his barriers to zero percent while the impact retained enough momentum to send him flying against a wall. The explosion had also depleted a significant portion of X-ray's, Overwatch's and Scarecrow's barriers as well.

The unicorn king continued his tale as Shadow activated cloak mode while their barriers recharged.

"That lesser daemon swine! Gone to a frequency of subspace I have...yet to investigate myself. Mention of meeting his own kind was heard, not important." gritted Sombra.

The shadow unicorn suddenly laughed. "Boy, is he in for a surprise when he gets back next week. It'll be a treat seeing his heart break at the sight of his home consumed by darkness! That is, assuming he truly is reformed."

The next thing anyone knew, a rail bullet was suddenly fired, only to deflect off of Sombra. A purple glow with a hexagonal pattern (just like Shadow's barriers) were emitted where the stallion was shot and should have had blood leaking.

"What. The. Fuck." blurted Scarecrow as Shadow's cloaking wore off.

Sombra immediately converted to smoke mode and took to the walls.

"Are you copying all of our defense mechanisms?" blurted X-ray.

"Why not?" inquired Sombra with a pretentious tone. "Knowledge is power, and I reap it wherever it lay available. What is it, fleshling? Feeling inadequate? Unprepared? Outmatched?...Trapped? Just like your own victims?"

"No one can be this savvy unless you received 23rd training!" face palmed Scorch.

"I don't get it Sombra, why the hell do you want us dead? Humans did nothing to you and I'm sure the reason isn't that you're evil. Although granted, you're a guy the UTF would want dead in a heart beat." inquired X-ray.

Sombra's disembodied voice was made apparent.

"When I was in the Narret archives, I only pretended to fain defeat when the Librarian wouldn't allow me information. Since magic isn't barred from the laws of science and I embrace such knowledge thousands of years ahead of my race-" Sombra let off a gloating laugh. "-I was able to overcome certain security measures. Narret applications that I could cast with my horn were just one of the things I could see. What I did pay a lot of attention to were archival records of this planet's creation by your stupid ancestors."

"With all due respect to them, they were primitives." defended Scorch.

"Primitives that tried to play god." mocked Sombra. His tone shifted to a more serious one. "When I saw your human ship above the skies of Epona, I feared that you would force the races of this planet back to subjugation as your power hungry ancestors swore or at least burn us away from the skies."

"But don't want to enslave every race! Humans have gotten passed that stupid bourgeois notion of racial subjugation!" yelled X-ray.

"Is it true! Have the hominids elevated their minds beyond such primitive needs?! So nice to hear you've cut out your primal ways...well, perhaps not all the way out." chuckled Sombra.

"Cut the chatter! Come out so we can face ya and go home!" dared Applejack.

"As you wish." whispered Sombra through his echoing voice.

Once he appeared, Shadow wasted no time firing at the tyrannical stallion, who himself brought up a green shield with a hexagonal pattern that not only stopped the bullets in their tracks, but instead caught them in midair.

The 23rd team lowered their weapons as they stared at the shield's ability to catch bullets with disbelief.

Sombra proceeded to form a malevolent smile and propelled the rail bullets with a magnetic stream much like a Gauss rifle back at the counter terrorists, with uncanny kinetic force.

Right before Shadow could react, the reflected bullets vanished from the vicinity when they were only a millimeter from impact.

"Two can play at this game Sombra!" yelled Twilight. "If magic really is a physical force we can control, than there should be no reason why I can't control it either."

Twilight remembered all the times Shadow fired their rail guns and visualized its firing mechanics. A stun spell was too simple, so she needed magnetism and a projectile, but there weren't any ways for her to gain the latter. Instead, she could propel an energy blast with magnetism in its place.

Charging up all the magnetic current she could, Twilight started to generate a familiar noise to Shadow and emitted and fired an pulse of energy and the tyrant unicorn.

For reasons Shadow did not know, Sombra did not just allow the blast to pass right by him, but rather reverted to smoke form and fled.

"If you're going to be hiding darling, you could at least tell us why you sided with the Alliance!" chastised Rarity.

"Simple really. I've been recovering my power slowly so I could strike again once more to reclaim what was mine." told Sombra.

"The Crystal Empire?" piped up Pinkie.

"Why stop there?" chuckled Sombra. "I can burrow into the archives once more, I can seize the alien artifacts and I can spearhead an assault through all Equestria! I will rule all this land, then the world...maybe even beyond. I wonder what secrets those little minds of yours hold? Perhaps the location of your home world? The location of my NEXT KINGDOM!"

"Fascist." whispered Scarecrow.

Sombra fired another volley of plasma behind Shadow who simply let their barriers take damage. Shadow knew that the opportunity cost of staying in smoke form would drain a large portion of Sombra's magic, making a major sum of his attacks useless unless he appeared in full form.

Sombra continued. "I remembered how humans were portrayed as the ultimate harbingers to all. I saw to turn this world against you, and drown you in its own blood!"

Before anyone could reply, a series of crystals sprouted from the ground and morphed into a twisted shape. Shadow's HUDs began to read signs of artificial intelligence present in the cave, but with no sign of machinery. Rather, their visor pointed to the morphing barrage of crystals.

The formation finally created a gigantic Crystal beast shaped like a humanoid lobster that let out a huge and hideous roar-

-that only lasted two seconds before Shadow shot it down into a few dozen miniature fragments with only a single bullet from each of their weapons.

"What? Did you honestly think that it would work? That we wouldn't shoot it down?" laughed Scorch.

Sombra didn't reply but simply formed another Crystal beast.

Scarecrow realized that there had to be another reason for Sombra to form another minion. He raised his LMG before his allies did and fired a rail bullet, that reflected off a barrier with a hexagonal pattern. The squad's HUDs read that it would take a massive amount of rail bullets to counter the barrier, leaving only one option.

"Pinkie, Rainbow Dash. Distract that son of a bitch!"

"Okey Dokey Lokey!" smiled Pinkie Pie.

The pink mare used her sugar supplied stamina to zip straight to the monster who was readying its claws for an attack.

Pinkie Pie tapped it on the leg, noticing the reflection of the barrier as her hoof made contact.

The Crystal monster looked down at the party pony.

"Hey there you pink colored crystal automaton! Come and get me!" cheered Pinkie.

The monster lifted its leg to stomp Pinkie Pie, only for her to simply skip to the other side.

The next thing the monster knew, Rainbow Dash flew right in front of its face. The rainbow maned pegasus gave the beat a wave.

The lobster like monster raised its pincer to ensnare Rainbow Dash and crush her, but the pegasus simply flew out of its reach in less than a second.

"Too slow pal! Hey Sombra, I might not be a brainy pony, but you gotta take mobility into account when making things."

The monster tried to swat Dash again, but the pony was too fast. Sombra had not realized that the way he designed the creature made for poor flexibility and agility.

Right in the middle of its attempts to decide stomping Pinkie Pie or slapping Rainbow Dash with a pincer, the monster felt a hand, not a hoof, touch its right leg. This was followed by a major electromagnetic wave encompassing its body.

The next thing the monster knew, its barrier was gone.

X-ray proceeded to uncloak with a smile under his mask. "Pulse punch."

In the following second, Applejack sped up to the monster and delivered a swift buck to its left leg. A crack appeared over the previously mentioned crystal appendage that traveled up to the monster's waste. As expected, the left leg shattered into collection of miniature pieces.

The monster fell, and its face was suddenly blown off.

"Head shot." gritted Overwatch while lifting his sniper.

Unfortunately, Sombra did not give up and reassembled the artificial Crystal monster once more.

His intuition kicking in, Scarecrow realized that Sombra was adapting to Shadow's attacks. As a result, this variation would likely be structured with the properties of something akin to a Faraday cage to repel EMP attacks.

"Twilight, teleport the creature away." ordered Scarecrow.

"Got it." replied the alicorn. Twilight fired a dark energy blast which ripped open the fabric of space and time to vanish the monster into a meaningless void that went who knows where. Like all wormholes however, the opening was unstable and collapsed.

"Son of a bitch. That was way too easy. Sombra is just trying to figure out how to counter our attacks." said X-ray.

"You always were the thinker, hahah!" roared Sombra's voice. "Turns out all your boasting, all your methods of intimidation were for nothing! All they did was fuel my knowledge!"

"And here I thought you were just lucky." glanced Twilight.

"But how did you avoid being detected by the Federation's technology?" whispered the normally quiet Fluttershy.

"Why through Shadow, of course. You four are surely familiar with your equipment and techniques?" questioned Sombra in a sarcastic voice.

The squad only nodded.

"Well why should my magic be exempt from similar capabilities? The Narret schematics I looked at were already useful in revealing techniques to see me gone from your sight and touch. Not to mention the working of your tools of death!"

Sombra appeared once more, his horn charging with a blast which according to Shadow's HUD, could compare to the strength of a powerful coilgun which could shatter their barriers had likely their bodies.

Coil guns needed to charge however, which unfortunately resulted in a distraction for dark stallion.

Right before Sombra could fire his attack, he was suddenly lifted by the throat by an invisible force, slowly chocking to death. His horn had shut off in the midst of the confusion.

Overwatch revealed himself and stared into Sombra's soul with his glaring mask. Sombra looked more surprised than afraid however.

The sniper immediately diverted power to his magnetic gloves to deliver what was a 'pulse choke' with an electric attack travelling all over the helpless stallion's body.

"Just burn motherfucker. Burn." hissed Overwatch as his glove began to crush Sombra's neck while the electricity began to drain him of magic.

Unfortunately and to everyone's surprise, Sombra broke free of Overwatch's grasp by dispersing into his smoke form and flying away.

"When the fuck did you become EMP proof......like our suits?" screamed X-ray.

"Enough! You are, all of you, beneath me!" answered Sombra. The stallion was coughing as he spoke, indicating Overwatch's choke still did a number on him.

"You are all such fine murderers! No adept at destroying anything less than yourselves! So wrapped up in your own capabilities that you never once asked yourselves how you'd defeat anything superior to you!"

"I'm sorry dear, but if you're so powerful than why in the name of Equestria didn't you obliterate us when you had the element of a surprise before?" mocked Rarity.

"Yeah, we were pretty open targets for a whole week like like a donkey just begging to get is tail pinned." added Pinkie Pie. "Why didn't you just take us out? Shadow would have done that if they were after us."

"And why are you only focused on attacking Shadow?" noticed Applejack.

"Yeah, are you afraid of being beaten by a girl or something?" snickered Rainbow Dash.

"Mare. You're technically a mare. Human females are girls." corrected X-ray.

Sombra laughed once more. Oh how Shadow wished they could shut him up. "The Elements are required to further my designs. So consider yourselves lucky, for you must remain alive."

"But the elements are gone." gulped Fluttershy.

"What's this plan your cooking up? Tell us!" demanded Twilight.

Sombra appeared before the group in shadow form, with two piercing green eyes looking straight at everyone. Shadow knew better than to fire at him this time.

"This war has been raging, silently, for longer than you could possibly know."

"Elaborate." hissed Scarecrow. "You might as well considering aren't getting anywhere with this conflict. We just keep countering each other's attempts to no end."

"When I learned of the Alliance forming, I realized that this was my chance to reclaim the nation that belonged to me."

"How the heck did the other countries agree to aiding you. You're an enemy of the planet for crying out loud! A threat to everyone." Challenged Twilight.

"The founders of the Alliance quickly sought out every resource they could, even volatile ones, even me!"

Sombra materialized behind the group.

"I became their finest tool, as they unknowingly became my slaves! I would provide them abilities and knowledge to overcome you, and they would kneel before me in return!" gloated the stallion.

"What would you even gain from helping the Alliance destroy Equestria?" panned Rainbow Dash.

Sombra appeared in his non stallion form and attempted to fire a wave of energy blasts that homed on Shadow, only for the beams to simply be absorbed by commando's barriers.

X-ray immediately had a hunch. Sombra's magic had a limited output and a powerful enough blast to kill him would require the near maximum of his potential. Thus, any time he was hidden in smoke form or split his beams into smaller fragments, his attacks would be too weak. Furthermore, the attack Sombra just fired needed his maxmium output, which meant he wasn't putting up a shield...meaning......

X-ray raised his rail rifle to fire a round at Sombra, but the stallion saw the commando jerk his arms up and turned into his smoke form in response.

"Ha! You're magic's too weak to kill us unless you divert all your energy to a beam, but that would leave you vulnerable." smirked Scorch.

Sombra was seen, but he howled in response. Shadow popped in fresh rounds to their gauss rifles all the while.

"I get the feeling that the Alliance promised you land if you helped them annihilate us." realized Scarecrow.

"But of course! Wouldn't you be willing to offer something similar to save your homes and families? Little do they realise in vanquishing one danger, they simply unleash another!"

"You twisted tyrant!" scowled Rarity.

Much to everyone's ignorance, Sombra had appeared behind the group, casting a spell reminiscent and blatantly copied off of the mechanisms of Shadow's suits.

Trying his luck, the hapless stallion tried to cast another spell like the coil gun he had made with his magic.

Unfortunately for him, Shadow immediately turned around as if the near quiet charging of the rail gun was all they needed to learn Sombra's position.

Normally, Shadow would have opened fire and rail gunned Sombra to death, but there was only one force in the universe faster and crazier than an augmented Terran's reactions.

Pinkie Pie, using her sugar induced bodily enhancements, appeared behind Sombra and shoved her hoofs in his eyes, causing the dark stallion to start whaling about in random directions while Pinkie Pie clutched on tight.

"Take the shot! Take the shot!" begged Applejack.

"His horn his down! He's vulnerable!" shouted Twilight.

'You can't kill me!' growled Sombra.

Overwatch gritted his teeth. "Pinkie Pie is clutched on to him and swinging from side to side. I'm calculating a 85% chance of her getting hit too if.......on second thought.....greater good."

Fluttershy's eyes shot open as Overwatch raised his sniper rifle. "Wait!"

Overwatch took the shot, and his sniper immediately accelerated a rail bullet. Sadly, Sombra had persevered enough to light up his horn in time.

A kinetic barrier had formed right in front of Sombra as Overwatch pulled trigger, but this barrier was too weak to totally deflect the bullet. This time, the rail round retained enough momentum to knock Sombra back after striking him in the chest.

The stallion fell to the side with Pinkie Pie being thrown off as well. Before Shadow could open fire however, a massive crystal spire appeared from the ground that rose to the roof of the caves.

Shadow immediately opened fire on the spire and shattered it. Twilight and Rarity used their magic to clean up the mess. Behind the wall however, was only Pinkie Pie who struggled to get up.

"Pinkie, are ya alright?" gasped Applejack as Fluttershy helped the pink earth pony up.

"I'm fine, but Sombra cast something on me." shook Pinkie Pie. The black stallion had evidently teleported away or had resumed his smoke form.

X-ray scanned Pinkie's vitals. "Well, good news Pinkie. Your next doctor visit should yield outstanding results, because as of now, all traces of caffeine and artificial super sugars are gone. You're healthier than nutritionist's wet dream."

"What!" cried Pinkie. She attempted to leap at Shadow like she normally would with her sugar-given powers, only to falter and tumble over.

"Oh! Just wait until I eat another coffee flavor cupcake with energy drink filling and morning pill frosting!" swore Pinkie.

"Shame. Those weird powers were rather handy." sighed Rainbow Dash.

"WEIRD!" roared Sombra's voice. "If anything, the pink one represents a portion of the future! My future!"

Twilight let out a huff and charged her horn.

"I am already your better in all fields of intellect and combat! And in time I shall ascend beyond what even the Narret could ever comprehend!"

"Yeah, well guess what? You haven't been able to kill us despite there being quite a bit of hindsight for what you could have done to finish us off earlier." laughed X-ray.

"Face it pal. It's an even fight that won't end for quite a while. The odds are equally in our favors since we can pretty much predict what you're going to do to us." mocked Scarecrow.

"Without the alien gifts you hold nothing to assault me with!" replied Sombra. "The only thing that truly defeated me is the Crystal Heart, and that was Narret technology."

Sombra finally materialized in behind Shadow in his full stallion form. Before he could show up on Shadow's trackers however, he immediately used his magic to open a rip in sub space under the Mane 6's hooves, causing them to fall into a void before they could let out a scream.

Shadow immediately faced what was supposed to be the Mane 6, only to see a miniature wormhole collapse.

The squad immediately put two and two together.

X-ray dropped his carbine in shock.

"What the fuck did you do to them?" yelled Scorch, moving his rifle from side to side, trying to find where Sombra had taken off to.