The tyrant of fear and hate

by Askre

Chapter 7. Private's very bad morning.

Chapter 7

Private blinked awake and immediately groaned when seeing the dark crystal ceiling above him. Slowly he glanced around, only to confirm that he was indeed still in the chamber in the castle. The unicorn sighed, missing his bed and room back home in Fillydelphia. With a grunt he rose to sit up, usually he woke up fairly easily in the mornings, but right now he just wasn’t sure he felt like going out of the bed.

Yesterday he and Foxy had just waited in his room until Dew returned. Foxy started to become nervous once some time had passed and Private had almost been tempted to go out and look for her when the blue pegasus finally returned.

Dew didn’t say much, just said that they could apparently move around, she made it as far as the throne room. However, she wouldn’t elaborate more and fell silent if asked if she saw the king around. The sisters then retired to their chamber as everyone was tired, it had been a long day.

It had taken Private a bit to fall asleep again since he had already been asleep thanks to Sombra’s sleeping spell. It didn’t help that his mind was on a bit of an overdrive. He was very freaked out that Sombra showed so much interest in him, especially considering his low level magical abilities.

There was a knock on the doors, Private glanced at it but said nothing. Carefully one opened and Rubinstein peeked in, for once the crystal pony said nothing, he just smiled nervously and pushed in a cart with breakfast. Once the cart was inside, the servant just did a quick bow before rushing back out.

Great, now I feel guilty that he is too afraid to speak. Private shook his head and looked at the cart. It was mostly fruit and veggies. No pancakes? Damn.

He used levitation to float some food to him and he started eating. The unicorn stared forward as he did, wondering how they could escape. As far as he was concerned, escaping was top priority.

Wait, even if we do get the Doctor out, is the TARDIS still where we left it? He suddenly remembered that the TARDIS had been in the process of being encased in crystal the last time they saw it.

“Enjoying your breakfast?” The dark voice of King Sombra addressed him.

“Gah!” Private jumped and nearly fell off the bed on the other side. He had been so preoccupied with his thoughts that King Sombra had managed to come in unnoticed. What was that Dew said about me being observant?”

Private glared at the king and slipped off the bed so he had it between him and the tyrant. I would tell him to stop, but that would probably just encourage him to keep doing it

“Well, Private, I do hope you had a pleasant night.” The king said half mockingly and started to go around the bed towards the unicorn.

“Would have preferred my bed at home,” Private muttered and grimaced when the dark pony was now standing right in front of him.

“I suppose nothing is quite like home,” Sombra chuckled, then he grinned wide. “I couldn’t help but notice yesterday that you and your friends were very interested in my empire and even me.”

Well from our perspective, neither of you exist, the smaller unicorn thought.

“I’m interested in history and… well you know the Doctor, you probably already guessed that we are not from this time line,” Private relented to give some form of an answer.

“It had crossed my mind.” The king agreed with a nod.

“Well I’ve read pretty extensively about Equestria’s history and there is nothing about you or your Crystal Empire,” the smaller stallion grunted. “Yet according to the date we saw, it’s only been few weeks or so since the Princesses defeated Discord.”

“Ah yes, that spirit was quite a nuisance, took a lot of my powers to keep him away from the Crystal Empire,” Sombra mused, tapping his muzzle with one iron clad hoof. He glanced at Private who stared at him with mouth agape.

He could keep Discord at bay? Private suddenly found the dark unicorn in front him a whole lot more scarier.

“Do not be so surprised, Dark Magic like mine and Chaos Magic like his aren’t that dissimilar, it’s more that we could cancel each other out, I couldn’t enter Equestria while he ruled it but he couldn’t enter the Crystal Empire either.” Sombra’s gave a slight shrug.

Private didn’t feel much better hearing that. Discord’s second attack had maybe been more focused on Canterlot and Ponyville, but the effects were still felt all over Equestria. The unicorn still remembered it vividly when some of the letters in his book just suddenly came to life and began dancing around. Dew had to fight her own breakfast which had turned it some sort of an oatmeal monster, Foxy and her daughter Coal had spent most of the day fleeing from the filly’s suddenly alive toys.

“So you like history, hm?” King Sombra peered at the smaller unicorn who was broken out of his thoughts. “Tell me, what do you know of the great mage Meadowbrook?”

“Oh wow, that’s old, older than even Starswirl the Bearded.” Private arched his brow a little. Then he had to rake his brain a little bit, he figured it was innocent enough to answer this. “Uh, she had eight enchanted items… ugh I’m rusty in wizards and mages…. I think she was also experts in enchanted seals.”

“Indeed,” the king said with an approving nod, then he turned and started towards the entrance. “Follow me.”

Private hesitated, the last thing he really wanted was to spend any more time in close proximity of that particular pony. However, it wasn’t like he had much choice, Sombra wasn’t going to take a no for an answer.

“You can follow willingly or I can drag you along with me,” the king said without even turning to see if Private was following.

Grunting the smaller unicorn started after the bigger one. Keeping a respectable distance between them. Or that was the plan but Sombra waited for him at the entrance of the chamber, when they started down the hallway the king kept his pace to walk right beside his prisoner.

They walked for a while down more hallways, up stairs, down stairs and through corridors. Private was just thankful that so far the King had remained silent. There wasn’t much remarkable to see though, everything had the same dark crystal motif and torches that lit things up with greenish hell flames.

Not that Private was paying much attention to décor or lack of it, but in his mind he was mapping out the route they were taking. He was pretty positive they were probably higher up in the castle tower by now.

Where is he taking me? Private frowned now that the walk had gone for quite a bit. Wherever it was, King Sombra kept it clear away from the guest chambers.

Finally they entered a dark room. The only real illumination was from a sickly blue crystal from the ceiling that shone a beam of light on top of a dark crystal table. Resting on the table was a big black book. It looked incredibly old, that was probably not even paper used in it, most likely parchment. Private couldn’t tell for sure, the light from the crystal wasn’t enough.

Sombra walked all the way to the table and Private followed. The book cover was made of some sort of black wood, it wasn’t painted. On it were carved the images of hellish looking creatures. But the most striking feature and stood rather out was a round silver object resting on the middle of the cover. Engraved on the medal was the image of a unicorn head.

“The Umbrum Tome,” Sombra growled softly. “Within it are kept the secrets of powerful spells and forbidden dark magic that could enhance my already considerable power.”

“But its forbidden knowledge was sealed by Meadowbrook, she took the tome here to the Crystal Empire and asked the first Queen to hide it away. She did, deep within the earth, sealed with many spells and wards.” The king raised a hoof and gingerly touched the black surface of the cover.

“I searched for this thing for nearly my entire life knowing it could unleash even greater power within me. It didn’t take the slaves in the mines long to find the hidden chamber after I took the throne and my magic was formidable enough to break the spells and the seals locking it away. But even my strongest spells don’t work on Meadowbrook’s seal on the tome itself.” Sombra slammed his hoof on the table beside the book and narrowed his eyes.

Private eyed the tome worried. He didn’t know a lot about magic but judging from what he was hearing, Sombra could never be allowed to open that book. Then again that didn’t seem to be too much of a problem since the king hadn’t been able to yet. It was then that unicorn realized that the king was now peering at him.

“There is one way though that I’ve been just dying to test, but it requires an Equestrian unicorn,” he said and smiled now wickedly.

“Um… what do you mean?” Private whispered, his ears lowered and he took a step back. His eyes widened when Sombra’s horn began glowing and he conjured up a jagged knife.

“I did consider if blood could remove the seal,” the king growled and looked at the tome and twirled the knife lazily in his magic aura.

Private froze in shock when Sombra then turned the knife to his own face and forcefully began cutting a deep bleeding line into it. The king grit his teeth as he did this assault to his own features before leaning over the tome and let the blood drip onto the silver medal. Once the medal was covered in blood, the dark unicorn raised his head and used his magic to heal the still bleeding wound on his face.

“But as you can see, nothing,” the tyrant snarled, his horn glowed brighter and the blood on the book began to bubble. “Not even when I try and enchant it.”

This is sick. Private just felt ill watching this going on. Then his jaw dropped as the implication finally hit him. “You’re not an Equestrian unicorn.”

“I certainly am not,” Sombra snorted as if he was insulted by the very notion of being one. Then he turned to look at Private again, a sinister smile now plastered on his muzzle. “But you are.”

The smaller unicorn didn’t even get a chance to protest. Magic aura grabbed him by the ears and he was dragged back to the table. Private struggled wildly, kicking and trashing around, but to no avail Sombra had him in a firm magical grip as he forced his prisoner to position his head above the book.

“No… no please don’t,” Private cried as he saw the knife approach his face. He tried one more time in desperation to kick free but only found his legs magically bound as well.

“Your fear is delightful, Private,” Sombra’s spoke softly but there was a sinister edge to it.

“No,” Private whimpered and tears started to form, fearing now that this was it. He yelped when the knife was plunged into his cheek and it dragged across his face, letting a stream of blood down on top of the silver seal.

The knife was pulled out and the whimpering, crying unicorn was tossed aside. Private didn’t bother wondering why he was still alive, he just desperately tried to put his front hooves against his bleeding wound, it didn’t help and blood just seeped between them.

“It still won’t open!” Sombra snarled and plunged the knife deep into the table, it sank all the way to the hilt. He glared down at the whimpering bleeding pony on the floor. With a roll of his eyes, the dark unicorn used his magic to heal up the deep cut on his prisoner’s cheek.

“Be quiet!” he snapped, stomping one hoof on the floor and his eyes lit up in green and red flames.

Private huddled up on the floor and tried desperately to quiet down his sobs. The wound was maybe gone but the pain was still fresh on his mind. He couldn’t believe he was still alive, the unicorn had fully expected to be drained of all blood and his lifeless corpse to be tossed aside. Well the tossing had certainly happened.

Sombra continued to glare down at him for a second before turning his attention back to the book. With a snort he dispelled the knife away and used his magic to clean up the blood from the book. He narrowed his eyes and sat down his mind now deep in thought.

“W-why didn’t you kill me?” A voice interrupted him, the king glared to his left, Private was carefully watching him, there was still fright in his eyes and was hugging the wall to try and have as much distance between them.

“Now why would I kill the only Equestrian unicorn I currently have available?” Sombra pointed out and then narrowed his eyes so the smaller pony flinched. “Even if he is just a pathetic worm who can barely do magic to safe his own life.”

There was no response from Private who just huddled up again and tried not to think of what had just happened. He really, really just wanted to go home now, crawl under his bed and just stay there for the next few years. Now more than ever the unicorn felt they had to escape as soon as possible.

With an irritated grunt Sombra rose up and stepped over to his prisoner. Private winched but didn’t dare to move as the dark unicorn put an ironclad hoof on him. Sombra was frowning in thought the whole time as he began tracing an invisible line, starting on the pony’s neck, going down his back, partway his belly and then ending at the book image on his flank.

“The lay lines in your body are very under used, do you use your magic at all?” the king snorted, he kept tracing invisible lines on the prisoner, always ending on the cutie mark.

“Levitation… mostly,” Private whispered and shuddered at the groping hoof. His magic was tingling, it felt the invisible magical veins being disturbed by the cold iron and the dark magic probing them. “Light spell…sometimes.”

“I’ve seen more magic used by my slaves,” King Sombra snorted unimpressed and finally removed his hoof.

I’m not sorry to disappoint you, the smaller unicorn thought. He had a strange feeling deep inside of him that he pushed aside. Now he just hoped he would be allowed to go back to his chamber and be left alone.

King Sombra grabbed the chains of the collar and pulled the other unicorn forcefully to his feet. Private hung his head, grimacing at the sight of blood on his hooves, his blood. His face was also still bloodied even if the wound was healed.

“I probably should just toss you into the dungeon with your Doctor. Unless that historically interested mind of yours can come up with some idea how to break the seal,” the tyrant growled and pulled at the chains, forcing Private closer to him. He used a hoof to grab under Private’s muzzle and forced him to look up locking his eyes in his. “Can you give me a reason not to just toss you down there? Stop wasting my time on you and just concentrate my effort on your lovely mare friends?”

No… not really. Private shivered under the cold emotionless gaze.

“My patience runs thin, worm,” the king growled, his eyes turned green and the purple mist began producing from the corners of his eyes. “You will soon have a very fleeting moment to give me your answer.”

The girls will be all right, right? I could probably be of a better assistance to the Doctor down in the dungeon. Private considered his options. The next thing Sombra said though chilled him to the bone.

“You have one second before I tear off your useless horn, use it to reopen the wounds I have healed for you and throw you into my dungeon to rot with your time pony friend,” the king threatened with a sneer.

“I-if I help you… b-break the seal… can I see the Doctor?” Private stammered, hoping this would buy him a little time before he would be mutilated beyond repair.

“You think the Doctor may have an idea how to break it?” Sombra frowned and his eyes stopped glowing, he had to admit he hadn’t considered that. The problem was, would the Doctor cooperate.

“W-wouldn’t hurt to ask,” Private whispered and fell down to his rump when the king finally let go of the chains. He closed his eyes when Sombra put a hoof on his head in what almost seemed like a comforting gesture.

“Now then, I’m very pleased to see that you have the thinking capacity to make the correct decisions. I do admit, I would have hated to have to cut that handsome face of your again,” the king chuckled and removed his hoof after taking a moment to pat Private on the head.

Handsome face? No… mind out of the gutter please… he’s just messing with you. Private grit his teeth as he slowly rose up.

“But first things first.” King Sombra’s eyes narrowed. His horn activated and a beam of energy struck Private’s horn, encasing it in dark magic aura and connecting it to the dark unicorn’s

Privat gasped and then clenched his teeth. It felt like something was constantly pushing at his head, something big and something heavy. His knees started to buckle, he began to shake, sweat started pouring down his whole body. It didn’t let up for a whole minute and by the end of it the unicorn was starting to sob, this was just too much.

Finally Sombra stopped and his prisoner crumbled to the ground, wheezing and sobbing. His head felt like it was going to explode, his ears were ringing and now his entire body was wet from sweat and ached. Slowly he looked up at the king who was smiling.

“The collar is fine enough in case you try and attack me but that’s about it. Figured I should put a few extra security spells in you if you’re going to be working for me to break that seal,” Sombra explained.

Private didn’t respond, just stumbled back to his feet. He took few deep breaths to try and calm down but found it wasn’t really working. He was anything but calm. Ever since arriving he’s nearly had his guts torn out by a crystal, shown some of his worst fears, dark magic fused into him, his face cut and now this.

Please stop touching me. The unicorn whimpered this time when a leg was put around him in a gentle hug.

“Now how about we go and see the Doctor and see if he’s willing to help us with our dilemma here,” King Sombra said and smiled. Ah he’s beginning to crack.

King Sombra let go of his prisoner and allowed him to go first out of the room. Private walked rather clumsily at first, still recovering from the massive amount of magic he had just been force-fed. The dark unicorn followed still smiling, the gears in his head turning.

The Doctor will no doubt give him a pep talk, try and cheer him up, Sombra thought and gave the book one the table a glance. With a chuckle he used his horn to make the silver colored seal disappear.

Fear. If it’s strong enough, it can make you see anything. With a devilish grin the king left the room and shut the door behind him, then he hastened his pace to catch up with Private who had already stumbled a bit down the hallway.

End Chapter 7