Andromalius was looking around. The place he was at disturbed him. It was different from everything else he has seen in Sombra's dark realm. When he walked through the halls while being taunted by the King of Shadows, he felt more secure than here. He felt like he touched something he should've left alone.

"Too far thou hast gone..."

Andromalius stopped and prepared to fight. He looked around, and yet there was nothing but crystal walls. He knew he heard something, and he felt the threat in what was spoken. He was very afraid, and yet he knew something must be done to stop Sombra.

Summoning his sword, the hell stallion continued his way deeper inside the darkness. He lighted his horn, yet not much was uncovered. The darkness was thick almost as smoke, Andromalius could barely see anything even with the rather bright light he summoned.

He walked carefully, listening closely to the surroundings. He could hear faint whispers, some distant thumping, and even screams. Everything put pressure on Andromalius, making him feel less and less confident with each step he took deeper into the darkness.

Suddenly, a door emerged from the darkness. It was tall and wide, blocking the way. Andromalius touched the door, and in a blink of an eye he was at the other side, the door behind him. He blinked in surprise, trying to realize what has just happened. Seeing no logical explanation, he aimed his awareness on the surroundings.

He appeared in a dimly-lit hall that had two large windows. They showed dark skies, buildings of black crystals down below, and many shadowy silhouettes walking in the streets of a city. They walked aimlessly, without a goal, lifelessly. Often they would fall or disappear, only to appear again somewhere around. Some of them were standing still, looking up at Andromalius, sending shivers down his spine.

"This must be the Crystal Empire, the country Sombra made disappear with himself." Andromalius concluded. "Though..." he narrowed his eyes. "It isn't real. Maybe... maybe it's how he sees it? It is some kind of... distorted vision, perhaps. Strange..."

He walked further when he noticed someone staying by the next doors. It was a shadowy figure of a unicorn stallion with glowing red eyes.

The stallion stepped forward, summoning a saber. Andromalius warily looked at him.

"Thou shalt walk no further, pony." the shadowy figure spoke in an emotionless, monotonous voice that distantly resembled Sombra's. "Thou shalt now die."

Suddenly, the hall around them transformed into a large arena that was cut from the outside by a high round wall of black crystal. A freezing rain fell down from the dark skies, instantly forming ice on Andromalius' body. The hell stallion ignited his hellfire, making the water turn into vapor upon impact with his body.

The shadowy figure slowly approached Andromalius, walking steadily and yet warily. The saber was pointing at the demon.

Quickly, the figure teleported right in front of Andromalius and swung his saber. The hit was blocked by the demon, and the figure teleported backwards, avoiding counterattack. Andromalius used his magic to send a lightning bolt at the opponent, only for him to turn into smoke, effectively dodging.

"Powerless and weak like a dying bug on the roadside." the shadow said, seemingly mocking and taunting the hell stallion for his effort at destroying the figure.

Andromalius frowned, and then performed a series of teleportations to appear behind the opponent, and struck. The blade went right through the body, leaving an open wound from which purple liquid splat the lifeless ground. The figure growled, and moments later the wound closed, leaving a noticeable scar. By that time, Andromalius teleported away to a safe distance.

The figure stood, staring at the hell stallion emotionlessly. Suddenly, three red lightnings struck from his horn. Andromalius summoned a magical shield, and it protected him, deflecting the lightnings, one of which hit the figure. He was thrown to the ground with a noticeable hole through the chest. The wound closed soon, but the figure had obvious problems trying to stand up. He teleported, reappearing on the ground, and he was standing again.

"Thou believest thou canst defeat me, get out of here, and live happily ever after?" the figure taunted. "Thou canst not."

"So... is that door the exit?" Andromalius wondered, preparing his next attack.

The figure moved, teleporting somewhere. The hell stallion didn't wait a moment and instantly teleported to another location. He saw the figure striking the empty air, missing Andromalius.

The demon summoned spikes from under the opponent, and they went through the figure, completely impaling him. He struggled to get off of them, and turned into smoke, reassembling nearby. Andromalius expected this, and exploded that area, scattering the figure in a chunks of crystals. Surprisingly for the demon, they reassembled again.

"A pony shall soon be burried." the figure taunted, walking to the demon. "The skies weep."

Andromalius raised his sword to fight, but was suddenly knocked off his hooves. Lying on the ground, he summoned a magical shield around himself, and saw how the figure tried to break through it, pounding like a beast in the cage. He struck and struck, trying to get through the barrier, and Andromalius felt the power behind the strikes. He teleported away and allowed the shield to fall, accidentally leaving his sword behind.

Appearing behind the figure, he realized the loss of his weapon and snatched the saber. As his magic touched it, Andromalius was almost knocked out by a loud scream that appeared inside his head. The scream was horrible, far worse than one of agony, far worse than one of hatred — it was everything. The fear, the hate, the anger, the agony — everything got into Andromalius' head, rendering him unable to fight as he released the saber and held his head, trying to make the scream go away.

"Goodbye, pony." the figure slowly raised the saber to land a final strike that will end Andromalius. The voice was clear as it got through the scream.

The hell stallion was still stunned, and was completely defenseless. He just stared at the saber as it hung above him, ready to bring a fast end to him.

Realizing the imminent end of his life that would bring much pain to others, including those he loves and those he is supposed to save, Andromalius growled terrifyingly and loudly, getting on his hooves and bucking the figure, sending him to the ground, forcing him to drop the saber. Quickly, the demon went for the throat and bit into it, and then teared a large chunk off of it. Using his massive forelegs, he snapped the figure's neck with a terrible crack. The figure knocked Andromalius off and stood up, healing the wounds the angry demon left.

Andromalius went for the final thing he had — he summoned the ancient weapon of the demons, Potentia Deamonis, and struck the figure with it. The figure was pierced through the head. He turned into statue-like crystal thing, and started to fade into black smoke, his mouth opened in a silent scream.

As the figure disappeared, Andromalius subdued his anger, and stood up, picking up his sword.. He was in the hall, and there was no one between him and the door he knew he had to enter.

"Not today." Andromalius growled. "And never."

He inhaled, waited a few seconds, and exhaled. He calmed down and made his flames disappear. He calmly looked around.

It's not over until I say so."

Andromalius frowned. He decided to return the sword back into the amulet and to leave Potentia with him. Then, he opened the door the figure was guarding. Behind it, he saw something that surprised him. It was Crystal Empire in all its glory: blue skies, lots of crystal ponies around, and bright colors. Nothing seemed out of place... until Andromalius noticed a gray figure in the crowd. It was smaller than anypony else, kept its head down, walking on shaking legs. The crystal ponies didn't seem to notice it, but some stared at it as it passed, and others avoided it altogether.

"Is it... young Sombra?" the hell stallion wondered, moving closer to the figure. "Is this a memory? I must investigate... No matter how much I hate Sombra right now, I need to find the cause for all of this."

Coming rather close to it, Andromalius could finally see that it was a colt. He had dark gray fur, long black mane, and dark-green eyes that kept looking at the ground. The most noticeable feature of the colt was his horn which was curved and had no spiral. There was also a simple red scarf wrapped around the neck. He walked, not noticing anyone at all. And that led him into trouble — he bumped into someone.

"Hey, look where thou'rt going!" a pony said angrily, scaring the colt into running away.

"So, this is a place of Sombra's memories." Andromalius concluded. "No wonder he guarded it... And it seems that even in his world, Sombra isn't in full control, otherwise he wouldn't even allow his memories to be seen.

"Also, maybe I'll be able to find out what led him to his current... state. Maybe... maybe I can even help him. Even if he is evil and violent, there may be a way to convince him to at least try to take a different approach, to make a new life. If he wasn't damages too badly in the one he lived through, though... So, I shouldn't destroy him outright. Even if I don't like him, I should see everything from his perspective, too. My emotions must be thrown away for some time, least I destroy everything because of my anger, and it will be unreasonable."

So, Andromalius followed the colt further. Sombra often looked back, scared by the pony he bumped into. Soon, he was away from the bustling streets, hiding in an empty alley. He sat by the wall and started to cry, burying his face into the scarf.

"Where am I?" he whispered to himself. "Who... Who am I? How did I get here?" silencing, he kept crying quietly.

Andromalius sat near him and looked at him. The colt didn't notice the demon, still shedding his tears, staining the scarf. Only now the hell stallion noticed how skinny Sombra looked, how he was shaking. He looked like he hasn't eaten for days and was suffering because of it.

Soon, everything faded into nothingness, leaving only darkness and Andromalius in it. Another crystal hall appeared. It was rather brightly-colored and didn't look as threatening and lifeless as other halls, although there were small shards of black sticking out of the walls.

"It is symbolism..." Andromalius concluded, looking at the shards. "This memory is perhaps the first one Sombra has of his life. And it didn't start good... If I am right, this hall symbolizes Sombra himself. The bright colors... the good that he had inside from the beginning started to turn black because of what he experienced as a foal. Maybe I am wrong... More memories may shed light onto the situation. I need more information to make any more conclusions."

Finishing his line of thoughts, Andromalius went deeper into the depth of Sombra's world. He was determined to see the truth.

Author's Notes:

This chapter is rather short but I didn't want to reveal everything at once.