Unlike Shining Armor, Cadence and some of the other prisoners, King Sombra was not imprisoned within the dungeons of the Steel Palace. Instead, Vice Grip had placed King Sombra in a cage where every pony could see him: in the middle of the market square. While exposed to the elements(of nature), the deposed tyrant was in no danger of being trapped in bad weather. The air had been still in the Empire since Vice took over.
A pale-yellow flash of magic appeared along with Dan, Phoenix, Spike and the Director at the entrance to the market square.
"Why do we need to free King Sombra?" Dan asked, continuing the conversation. He looked around mid-sentence, not letting the abrupt change in location interrupt him.
"Former Chief Resource Advisor to the Crystal Council and self-proclaimed King Sedicosos Solitario Sombra, he is currently the only known practitioner of umbaran magic still renegade and the only known user of geo-umbaran magic," The Director explained.
Dan, Phoenix and Spike exchanged confused glances. "He's a what?"
"Ugh," the Director held a hoof to his forehead. "He's a bad guy."
"Oh," Dan said. "Yeah, I think it says that in the brochure. 'Welcome to the Crystal Empire and watch out for the local bad guy, King Sombra! No flash photography please; it reflects off the crystals and causes temporary blindness!'"
"I've heard about him as well but what did you mean about magic?" Phoenix asked.
The Director faced him directly. "Heh, glad you're paying attention, Mr. Wright. Umbaran magic, creepy-dark 'evil' magic that most ponies consider forbidden. Sombra's able to make solid strata using his powers and corrupt existing crystals, they call that geo-umbaran. How he figured it out isn't known but there are those in the arcane and science ministries that would like to know."
"So he's the only one who knows how to do what he does," Phoenix said.
The hooded creature chuckled. "It would appear that way, yes. I suppose the higher echelons of complex magic will always appear taboo when viewed from a simpler, basic level."
Dan shrugged. "Maybe some just prefer to master the basics."
"You'd be surprised what Twilight can do with just unicorn magic," Spike said.
"No," the Director said to the small dragon. The creature's head lifted up revealing pale, white eyes that a light shown through. It illuminated the dark street in all the wrong ways. "I'm afraid I wouldn't."
The Director's visage was enough to silence any further comments from the three. A creepy smile crested the creatures pale gray muzzle. "I'll leave you to it, then. Vice Grip may be short a few circuits but he's still quite dangerous. In three days, the Swords will be ready to launch and they'll destroy every city on Earth. If you want to stop him, you'll need to find evidence to challenge his claim of regency before then."
Dan shook his head. "How is getting him impeached going to stop him from nuking Earth?"
The Director turned his smile to Dan. "The magic that's controlling the Crystal Empire is tied in with the current rulers of the Empire. They only obey those with authority over the Cogstal Heart. If he's thrown out of office, they'll throw him out shortly thereafter."
(The current rulersā¦ not ruler. Back underneath the palace, Twilight followed the Director's instructions over Vice Grip's. So that means, he must also have some kind of power here.) "What exactly are you doing all of this for? Why help us?" Phoenix asked.
"Vice Grip and I are helping to realize each others' dreams. Perhaps I decided I wanted a littleā¦ something more," the Director looked at Phoenix. "The Sword Spells won't destroy all of humanity. There'll be survivors, something he's counting on. He promised me I'd be able to take all the bronies errā¦ I mean-"
"What?" Spike asked. "What's aā¦ brony?"
The Director pulled its hood down. "The humans on Earth that survive the Sword Spells will be placed in my care after the invasion."
"Andā¦ what exactly are you planning on doing with these broni-"
"I have my reasons," the Director replied. "Break a leg!" In another flash, the strange hooded figure was gone.
"Does anybody else get a really creepy vibe from that guy?" Spike asked.
"Yes."
"Oh yeah," Dan said, turning around. "Now, I'm gonna head to the nearest crystal hardware store and we're gonna start taking apart these Magic Gears. Nicky, I want you to go find a really big mirror and Spike, you go get a megaphone."
The lawyer stopped him. "Dan, you really can't be thinking about disassembling every one of those things. There's no way we'll be able to take them apart safely in just three days."
"Yeah, I really don't think that's a good idea," Spike said. "Not that I'm against blowing up a bunch of robots, y'know. I don't think violence will work this time."
"Not with that attitude," Dan replied. "And the longer we spend here talking about it, the less time we have to scrap them all when they're in nice, neat little rows. Of hate."
"Dan," Phoenix grabbed him by the collar as he tried to walk off. "We have to find another way to neutralize the Magic Gears. You can't take on the whole Empire yourself."
"Yes I can."
"Dan," Spike stood by Nick's side. "What if you accidentally set one of those things off? And we still have to rescue Twilight, Chrys and Fluffle Puff. If we break his robots, he'll just make more. We have to take him down directly."
Dan considered the words of his two friends. He thought long and hard, weighing his options: burning down all the Magic Gears in a violent display of defiance or listening to two individuals he didn't trust and defending one of them in court. And then he thought of Twilight, Chrys and Fluffle. He sighed heavily. "Finnnne. So what's the plan?"
Phoenix looked back down the street. "I'm going to defend King Sombra."
King Sombra's full name in this chapter was something I came up with. Apologies for the small update, I'm on vacation at the moment and it's hard to find time to write.
Page generated in 0.048 seconds
Total duration
1,090 users online
1,928,138 hits today, 1,996,409 yesterday
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Gotta say, I'm liking Sombra's full name, its interesting.
Nice job man! :D
6220425 Thank you, took a while to decide on it.
6220430 You're quite welcome friend! :D
Well, again its an awesome name!
Keep up the good work dude.
At least let Dan practise on Metal Gears, if only because its what expected of him, and therefore will be more of a distraction when he isnt?
Dont forget Parcel ties. those things are vicious.
I wonder how well Magic Gear processors handle a collection of glitter balls. Thats an awful lot of rapidly varying high data rate imagary to process. Like the Suez Canal Dazzle setup? Just things to play with.?
So, the Director's temporarily aiding Dan to achieve his own goals. Doesn't surprise me.
I'm assuming he wants to turn the bronies of Earth into what he is? I wouldn't complain. As long as he isn't going to do something to get the bronies to do what he wants.
Really wish my iPad would stop changing bronies to brownies.
And during all this 'Claws been doing things behind the scenes.
[No I'm not.]
You are because I say you are.
[You can't tell me what to do here. Only Barro can!]
Damn, you're right.
6221794 Actually since Lightning is your OC, even though he's in the story, he can still do what you want him to do. You just don't know everything he knows.
6229387
Yeah. 'Tis a shame, if you ask me.
6233972 I ship it like a bromance Dx
Whatchu thinking bout? O^o
you're going to what now?
Well buck me, I never thought anyone would be saying that in Equestria!
Uhh, Mr Director? Are Pegasisters included in your 'I get custody of all surviving Bronies' plan? Just curious ... while packing my 'just in case' emergency bag. Go Dan! Go Phoenix!
Curiouser and curiouser...
I know it's been a while for me, but could someone catch me up on why Vice wants to nuke earth? All I remember was that the portal that brought Dan here was deliberate. His arrival was an accident, but the intent was to send a tracking device to determine the world's location. That's it. Some one on earth - no idea who - is aware that Equestria exists and is trying to pinpoint the location. No hints at a deeper motive of any sort. This is just basic scientific fact finding that could lead to literally anything. And given the political state of earth at the time this story was written, the most likely outcome for any government or group of governments would be a threat assessment, followed by either attempts to seal the portal permanently or begin diplomacy. Even if the earth governments of earth thought they could win a war, that sort of thing is just bad optics... which Vice would know if actually paid any attention to his own so-called reconnaissance.
Maybe just reprogram one and have it destroy all the rest. Seems more practical.