Hate, rage, and grief had consumed the world... letting them return.
Sombra looked out into the snowy wasteland, that was once Appaloosa, and smiled... but he could no longer remember if it was forced. Blood stained the snow, as his masters fed on the carnage.
Finally, after a thousand years, these monsters would pay for what they did to him. At last he fulfilled his purpose, at last... the wendigos had returned.
They had been trapped within the tree of Harmony, for nearly 2 thousand years. Trapped there, by Clover the Clever and her friends, at the founding of Equestria. But the Global War had weakened the Harmony magics that bound them. Allowing Sombra to destroy the tree, and free his masters.
The various armies had re-united to fight off their true enemy. Dragons and Griffins, Hippogriffs and Seaponies, Changelings reunited with Changelings... they all forgot what they were fighting about, and together joined, in a single force to fight back the Wendigos.
This was the final battle to decide the fate of the world. This was their last stand... too bad they didn't stand a chance, the shadow bender thought with a smirk.
It was too late. Too much blood had been spilt in this war. Too many lives lost. Too much misery had infected the planet, and made the Wendigos strong.
Sombra stood on the cliff and just watched... his heart aching as he tried to cling to all the things the ponies did to him. The unprovoked beatings, the cries of "Demon" at the mere sight of him... with the peasants near constant attempts to kill him... but his curse was too strong.
The shadows protected him. Moving like fog around him. He was born a monster, a demon of shadow. Rejected by the ponies, constantly told he was the monster... how could he become anything else?
The Wendigos offered him salvation in their service. They offered him companionship and acceptance. They reached out to him, as he traveled the Shadow Realms, feeding his rage and despair... and he allowed them to feed off him in return.
The Wendigos could speak to him, but they couldn't leave his realm. They wanted back into the mortal world. To taste such lovely despair. So they told Sombra what he needed to do to feed them. With mind control helmets.
They could not only control those wearing the helmets, but could feed off them. Fueling the Wendigos, and weakening their prison.
That plan had failed, but it was fate the creatures of Equus took it on themselves, to destroy the Harmony of the planet.
Once the world was their's, he would rule the slave armies, keeping them miserable so that their pain would feed his masters...
The world would be blanketed in an eternal winter. All would suffer as he had. He would finally have his vengeance on this world... Why wasn't this making him as happy as it had in his dreams?
Behind him he heard the sound of crushing snow. Turning his head, he saw a Stallion. A plain brown stallion with a darker brown mane... and an hour glass cutie mark.
"Doctor," Sombra growled, his voice echoing in his throat. He slowly smiled as he reminded, "You are no threat to me. I know the laws of gods. You are forbidden from interfering in internal wars."
"So many rules," The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I was never so good at following them. However there are always work arounds. So long as I don't use my godly skills, I can still help."
Sombra actually laughed, "You think you can beat me without your powers! I am the master of shadow and decay! My curse is strong enough to overwhelm Alicorns! You think you can stop me!'
"I can," The Doctor said simply, with no real malice or fear... or any trace of doubt. "With a very special power, one the ponies taught me. The power of friendship."
Sombra became enraged. His body turned to fog and he spread out to consume the sky. He roared as he stared down the Doctor, fully ready to kill a god.
The Doctor spoke just as Sombra was about to charge. "I know what you are," but those simple words caused the demon to pause, "And I know the crimes of the Crystal Ponies."
Sombra eyed, before those eyes widened. "... You know?..."
"I know," The Doctor nodded. "but perhaps you'd like to tell me about it, anyway."
"The three tribes don't like to admit it, but there are far more then 3 kinds of ponies. There are the horses of Saddle Arabia. The Bat Ponies, evolved from Thestrals. The Seaponies, the Hippogriffs, even the changelings. We are all part of the same Animal Family. As we were all, once, the same species... this includes the Crystal Ponies... and my own ponies...
"Shadow Ponies evolved from a race of magical horses called 'Nightmares', but we are no more evil then the Bat Ponies... they just wanted to live their lives... the Crystal Ponies saw our very existence as unholy... Crystal ponies are creatures of light, descended from celestial beings. Where Shadow ponies are, by our nature, creatures of the night... It is the Crystal Ponies holy duty to cleanse Equus of all dark things. And so they hunted us to extinction... all but me...
"I was only a child, a baby... prince to the fallen king... to the victor goes the spoils." Sombra looked back at the Kami of time. "I was a trophy. An exotic pet... bastards even had me gelded to insure my race dies with me... I grew up in the Empire, as the princess' personal slave, though we had no word for it... she was kind... her mother, the Queen, was not...
"As I said, I was a baby when they took me. I didn't know anything about my ponies, nor my native powers... I was beaten the first time I accidentally used my shadow bending... all I knew was that I was a captive forced to labor, hated by all... all but the Princess...
"One day she helped me escape... she freed me... she pointed me in a direction and told me to run... to not stop until I learned where I came from... it was several weeks, in a cold blizzard, until I found what she was talking about... the ruins of my father's kingdom. What I found, at first, startled me."
"Wendigos," the Doctor Acknowledged.
Sombra nodded. That was, after all, fairly obvious. "They had taken shelter in my family's ruins. And in gratitude they taught me of my ponies." Sombra lightly touched his cape, "Even gave me momentos of my family line. They educated me, taught me to read and write, such knowledge long kept out of my reach. Then they showed me the royal library, which was filled with secret spell tomes and dark rituals I used to unlock my full power. They showed me true kindness, not out of pity but respect. They believed I could save them from suffering my ponies fate.
"They held nothing from me, telling up front of the prophecy and how I was their only hope... and telling me about the war between my ponies and the Crystal ponies... a war so old and ancient no pony even remembered what started it... who was truly in the wrong...
"Then Princess Luna warned the leaders of both our civilizations. She had a vision... she foresaw the destruction of both our great ponies, if we didn't end the war... the Crystal ponies offered us a peace treaty... after so long my ponies thought the war was finally at an end... but it was a sham...
"They used the signing as an excuse to get all of their army behind our walls... then, with they ink still wet on our treaty, the begun their attack... they killed everypony... not even the children were spared... only me, as a trophy. As a warning to the other tribes... yet somehow, history has forgotten all that...
"I returned to the Crystal Empire, blessed by the darkest of magics my ponies had long since forbidden... and learned the Queen executed her own daughter... for the 'blasphemy'... of showing me pity... that is when I knew. Crystal ponies are the true definition of evil. So sinister in their hearts they believe their actions holy...
"Still I showed them kindness. I refused to fulfill the prophecy. I killed some, yes, many actually. I will not deny I took pleasure from it. But I let most live. I insured their species would survive... I was the first slave ever known to ponykind... and I created an army of more...
"The Crystal ponies will not escape Justice! They will pay for what they did to my ponies. History will remember their atrocities!... and I will be harolded as the hero who saved them from themselves. I will bring Justice to a race of monsters!"
"Sombra," The Doctor's eyes were filled with pitty. "I'm Sorry. I'm so sorry... but that doesn't excuse this." gesturing at the war below them.
Before Sombra could counter, the Doctor continued. "I realize the Wendigos were the only creatures to show you kindness... but you must understand, they are using you. All you did was trade one master for another."
Sombra bared his sharp teeth, before turning back into fog. "What would you know of it!!!" he demanded, though not for an answer.
"It's true." The Doctor insisted. "But not for the reasons you think. You see Sombra, you're not just a shadow pony. No no, that wouldn't explain you're sheer level of power.
"You were born with a very special gift. Magic is tricky like that. Sometimes it comes out in odd ways, but it doesn't make you a monster. You are a Shadow pony, with a shadow bender Archetype on top of that. The sheer level of manipulation your capable of... made your family very proud."
"WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW OF MY FAMILY!!!" Sombra raged. His fog like body, twisting aggressively.
"I know they wouldn't want you, to live down to what ignorant primitives thought of you. You. Are. Beautiful. And there are children out there just like you. Misunderstood, lost, you could do so much to help them."
Sombra growled, "You won't stop me with some random speech!"
The Doctor smiled and bounced a bit, "Is kinda what I do."
"You can't stop the war!"
"Oh I don't give a buck about this war," The Doctor rolled his eyes. "As you said, it's an internal affair. If it was an invading interstellar army, or some demon apocalypse, I would be all over that. But the planet chose this route for themselves, it's part of the whole 'free will' thing, and as you said. I am forbidden from interfering."
Sombra growled, disbelievingly. "You said you were here to help them!"
"... I'm here to help you."
Sombra paused.
"Honestly, why must people constantly misunderstand me," He huffed childishly.
"Why?" Sombra asked.
"Truth?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "I look at you and I see everything wrong with the world, all worlds. I see a child, hurt and confused. Shunned and talked down to. A monster created by the cruelty of Sapience.
"You don't have to be that. You don't have to be what the world demanded of you. I can help." the doctor raised his hoof, practically begging the shadow pony to take it. "And in return, all I ask is you help others, so that the next generation doesn't have to suffer like we did."
"Like WE did?" Sombra hesitated.
The Doctor smiled, "I understand what it's like to be shunned for being different. To be told you would be responsible for horrible things... to grow up to do far worse then anyone imagined. I know what it's like... to want to change... I was given a second chance. It's time you got yours,"
Slowly, the fog gathered together and Sombra reformed. He looked at the extended hoof, then at the Doctor's expectant face. He truly believed... in him...
When the Wendigos below looked up for Sombra, ready for his attack, all they saw was an empty cliff.