My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Stallion Edition

by SuperPinkBrony12

Chapter 203: An Army of Darkness

A distraught Shining could only stand there, a look of helplessness reflected in his eyes. The rest of his friends didn't share quite the same look, they were more shocked but still ready to keep fighting.

Sombra just looked at the stallions and taunted them. "To think, all it took to break your special bond was destroy a tree and end an innocent filly's life," Looking at the prince he added. "Had I known that one filly's death would upset you so much I'd have done it much sooner."

"You... you fiend!" Soarin growled and grit his teeth! "Mark my words, you won't get away with this!"

Sombra just shook his head. "Oh come now, you mustn't lie to yourself. Just look around you, it's hopeless. Your leader is broken, and without him the rest of you are no match for me."

Big Macintosh stomped his hooves down. "We'll just see about that! You're gonna pay for this!" He rushed forward, hoping to tackle the king. But Sombra was able to turn himself into a dark mist and Big Mac went right through him.

Soon after Sombra had returned to normal, he lit up his horn and surrounded the six stallions in a prison of solid crystals. "Just a little insurance," He informed his prisoners. "I doubt you pose much of a threat now, but I can't take any chances. This time I'll ensure that no one gets between me and what I desire!" He ended his brief gloat as he eyed his captives and told them. "I know what you're thinking: 'Why not finish the job now? What's stopping you?' Well, I'll answer your question. But you won't like what you hear."

"Just get it over with! Are you that in love with the sound of your own voice?" Fancy Pants inquired. "You really talk too much."

"When you've been left to wander the ether as a shadow like I have, you soon find yourself desperate for someone to talk to," Sombra simply retorted. "And I suggest you stay quiet, unless you want to be made an example of right here and now. Besides, I'm not stupid. The six of you are going nowhere, so there's no chance you can foil my plans. Oh, and what magnificent plans they are," Then he cleared his throat. "I'll keep you all alive for now, because you haven't suffered nearly enough. I want you to hurt like I hurt. You've twice denied me my throne and my empire, cost me my chance to get revenge on my crystal slaves for fearing me and treating me like a monster since I was but a child. So now it's your turn to watch as everything and everyone you care about is taken away from you."

"You stay away from Ponyville, you monster! And don't you dare hurt our friends and family, they did nothing to you!" Thunderlane bellowed at the top of his lungs as he tried to stick his head out of the crystals.

Sombra gave off a sadistic cackle as the smile on his face grew larger, taking on a rather malicious appearance. An evil look flashed in his eyes. "Oh, Ponyville and the Crystal Empire are just the start. I'm not going to stop there. I won't rest until all of Equestria, perhaps all of this world, is part of my new dark empire! I will raise an army of darkness and make all bow before me! Then and only then will I come back for you. Then and only then will I see you beg like the pathetic worms you are. And only when you've begged and pleaded enough will grant you the sweet release of death."

"Never! We'll never bow to the likes of you!" Soarin roared in defiance!

"We'll just see about that, won't we?" Sombra taunted. "For now, enjoy your final moments and watch as your world is ripped away from you. Then you'll know what's like to be me!" And with that he transformed into his shadowy, mist form and quickly disappeared from sight. All the while his laugh echoed through the chasm.

And all the while Shining only stood there, unable to bring himself to say or do anything.

Author's Note:

"The Beginning of the End" made a lot of changes to Sombra's character, most noticeably him speaking more frequently (he was voiced by Alvin Sanders, the second Flutterguy voice) and doing generic villain things like not killing when he had the chance. Speculation is that they did it to play up Grogar as a bigger threat by contrast, but I feel like in doing so they overcompensated and took away a lot of what Sombra was meant to be (though if there was one thing he lacked in his debut appearance it was interaction with the heroes, without it he could easily be mistaken for a physical obstacle or a natural disaster).

So I want to try and fix that, give Sombra some of his original personality and make sure he's still a serious threat. Plus, I want to give him more of a reason to target Ponyville rather than just because he's petty and greedy. I am still using at least some of Sombra's Fiendship is Magic issue for his backstory. I think it still works if you're willing to toss aside "Siege of the Crystal Empire" which is obviously non-canon because of Season 9.

Comments

[Comickook]

Not much I can say beyond, really good job on this latest chapter. The work that went into the exchanges, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up is well done in all the right places. I especially liked how you included at least a little of Sombra's backstory from the comics, actually provided a reason he didn't just kill Shining and his friends and be done with it AND the fact that, even though he DIDN'T kill them immediately, he still took at least SOME precautions.

No dialogue ideas for THIS arc, but I DO have some ideas for the finale:

1. For "The Ending of the End", Shining can appoint Fancy Pants as his royal advisor (as Fancy is the only one of his friends who has actual experience with politics AND is one of the very few nobles he KNOWS he can trust implicitly).

2. Following Shining's coronation, Shining can tell Flash "My SECOND official act as ruler of Equestria is to appoint YOU Twily's official bodyguard. While things will HOPEFULLY be a lot more peaceful with ALL of the major villains defeated, I still need somebody I KNOW will do anything necessary to protect her and Spike just in case. You have DEFINITELY proven yourself QUITE trustworthy and, if it DOES prove to be much more peaceful as we hope, it will still be a very good excuse for you to spend as much time with Twily as possible."


Unless, of course, you already have other/better ideas, which IS definitely possible.

But, at any rate, I will most assuredly be looking forward to more of this.

[Yoshifan30]

Sombra just looked at the stallions and taunted them. "To think, all it took to break your special bond was destroy a tree and end an innocent filly's life," Looking at the prince he added. "Had I known that one filly's death would upset you so much I'd have done it much sooner."

So that's what it is not only destroying the tree but killing a kid oh sombra you are the worst

[Yoshifan30]

I'll keep you all alive for now, because you haven't suffered nearly enough. I want you to hurt like I hurt. You've twice denied me my throne and my empire, cost me my chance to get revenge on my crystal slaves for fearing me and treating me like a monster since I was but a child. So now it's your turn to watch as everything and everyone you care about is taken away from you."

Oh just like the one I read in the official comic about Sombra past