This story is a sequel to The Time Keeper of Ponyville
A silent grouchy pony is found by Princess Cadance and Shining Armor in the snow outside the Crystal Empire. He refuses to reveal his identity and doesn't say why he climbed the small mountain he was found on top of, but deep in his mind the pony has a very unwanted guest who has his own designs for both the Crystal Empire and the Royal Couple.
The prince and the princess know they must stop their enemy, but it might come at a terrible cost. The possessed pony's life.
Special disclaimer (that should have been here from the start, author apologizes):
The story contains light mild m/m sexual innuendo and mild discussion on bisexuality, but not strong enough to warrant the sex tag. However it still might be enough for people who are uncomfortable about this topic.
This story is part of The Equestria Tales series.
First story in the "Return of the Dark Ponies" story arc.
First story in the "Barricade's redemption" story arc.
Cover made by Evehly
Chapter 15 onwards are proofread by Hail King Sombra
This story is marked as a sequel to The Time Keeper of Ponyville, as the story uses rather heavily some of the plot points from that one related to the original characters that feature in this tale. Explanation can be found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/592234/sequel-sort-of
Creepy. Yet intriguing.
6732053 Yes, I agree. Creep factor goes hoof-in-hoof with Sombra. You've got my attention, Askre. I'm so glad I caught sight of the simply beautiful cover Evehly did for you (*jealous, but in a good way and so happy for you!!!*) because I can never resist a good, well-written Sombra Tale. Will keep reading. Have a thumbs up and a smile for a good start! =D
I have to tell you, Askre, because I love it when people tell me where they laughed in a story of mine. I laughed at two parts in this chapter - first at the line, “My, my, how ever did you become the Captain of the Royal Guard with an aim like that.” And the easy banter between Shining Armor and his beautiful wife seemed very easy and natural for a couple in love.
And the second laugh came at Shining Armor wanting to take Flash Sentry up to Sombra's Maw (great name, by the way. My King would be pleased you remembered him!) and WHY he wanted to take him up there (i.e., his little sister).
I also like how he came to be possessed (with touching Sombra's horn) and how our King has a plan for everything - even things he doesn't think were likely to happen - like his defeat.
Well done so far (again). I like where this is going!
6732053 Creepy is the name of game for the Shadow King
Thanks for reading 
6832656 Indeed it does and I'm glad you're liking the story so far. Thanks for reading
6832687 It's strangely painfully easy for me to write married couples, considering I'm single. I suppose I just draw from the various interactions I've witnessed from married family members, we are very close knitted bunch so I quite often witnessed how they interacted, because many of them where not shy of bantering even in public. It also helps that I love Shining Armor and Cadance, they are on my top tier favorite MLP characters.
I found it fitting that the scariest looking mountain in the Crystal Empire was named after our King
It always made sense to me that the horn would be the gateway to the possession, since Unicorns channel their magic through it.
I just simply drew his crazy preparedness from the Crystal Empire two parter. The layers of traps he had laid for the Crystal Heart just told me that this was a guy who prepared for just about everything. He struck me as someone who would plan for his death and be powerful enough to do something about it.
I think theres a few typos craters ?
6887367 Yikes.
I think I got them all, thanks for pointing those out.
Whoa! Holy crapbaskets!!! I LOVE that freaking ending!!!
I'm starting to like Sharp Spear. Firstly because she's a mare in the royal guard and I haven't seen any other stories utilize mares (tho I'm sure there are some out there). I like the bits you're dropping in about her background and how she jumped at the chance to go with Flash up North.
Where did Flash go when the possessed bar patrons woke up? I lost track of him, is he still there?
I also like the message the King sent by killing the crystal ponies. Sent a shiver down my spine!
I'm going to PM you with a few typos I found. I like doing it there as opposed to here in comments. Comments should be about praise & constructive criticisms - not nit picky crap like typos that are easily fixed. If you ever need someone to do a more thorough proofread, I'm your gal, er pony, er mare, whatever! I'm proofing for GryphonStar5678 these days but he doesn't have anything for me to proof right now, so I'm free and available
It just keeps getting better and better, Askre. Keep those chapters coming!!!
6946506 Glad you like it. "Crapbaskets," now that's a new one.
I'm striving hard to have more female characters (I used to be very bad at creating female characters in my various works) and when I created my squadron of guards I knew I should have at least two mares in it. Sharp Spear who I have had in the back of my mind for a quite a while and Emerald who is actually in the Tyrant of Fear and Hate as a maid. Decided to allow her to be a guard in this story.
Flash got sent away, after quickly comforting Emerald he left the inn to fly back to the city to get more guards and cart to carry the dead bodies plus see about getting some strong magical help to wake up the inn patrons. I send the one canon character away when danger reared it's ugly head.
Sombra always struck me as the type to leave a nice little message like that to his former subjects.
I've responded to this part in the PM
More will come, no fear.
Not that I have anything against the FlashLight ship, but I smiled when I saw you debunking it. Most peeps are, YEAH! Go Flash/Twilight! Who ever considers what Flash Sentry thought about it, lol.
Dew and Foxy TRAMPLED poor Private??? That poor bastard! You gotta take that target off his back, man. I'm glad we're getting a chance to learn more about him.
Cadence is a sneaky one.
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I'm actually a FlashLight shipper myself, but I went and took a look at those instances Twilight interacts with the pony version of Flash Sentry back in Equestria Girls and yes she bumps into him two times but in neither instances does he actually show any interest in her, it's all Twilight who goes blushy while he just smiles politely and the second time just jokes about bumping into each other and then walks off without a care in the world.
I figured then, why not have pony Flash actually not interested at this point in time? It still leaves room for something if I want something to happen, but at the present time, he's content with his life as it is.
Also I just love playing with expectations, I figured people might be expecting something after having Shining Armor joke about dragging Flash up Sombra's Maw because he might have a thing for his sister, so what better than have Flash actually not be.
NEVER!!!!!
But seriously, I always wanted to imply that Dew's infatuation with Private started as a Florence Nightingale syndrome before it developed into actual love for him. So what better way than have them run him over.
The Princess of Love is at work.
It turn of event is intersting the world building of about the dark unicorns is very interesting and I would love to see Sombra win to see what he would do to the Cristal Empire and Equestria and see how Privet will think of all of this. I am happy that the story has progress so far at fist it didn't seem to go much of any where but I am happy to see that I was wrong on that point and that it is really getting good. Looking forward to see how things will go from here on out.
7019616 Hey glad you're enjoying the story. Yes I realize things seemed to process slowly, especially in part 2 considering we heard nothing from Sombra and the twins for six chapters. Unless you count the instances when he was possessing inn patrons. But at least we are back on track and heading towards the end.
Thanks for reading.
7020655 well my problem what more about just having Sombra evil for the sake of being evil that for a while he didn't to grow much as a character seeing his approximation to the main protagonist, until the trio went on the run and finally started to see an insight into his mind and she how he is trying to corrupt Private mind into seeing things his way. As a character Private has also grown a lot, from being just a wimpy shut-in how just protested his situation with his captor by sulking in his corner, to when you introduce his relation to his family and start to make a better showcase of all the different characters and their personalty that you have introduced. So far as I see it, the cannon characters are still a little stiff but are getting much better in their flow.
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You and me both, mix-up. I HATE and DESPISE stories that do that! Real life isn't that way, so why the Tartarus should we waste our time reading it as well?!?
I had faith that Askre could totally pull this off. I was fascinated from the first chapter in how the new rulers of the Crystal Empire were going to get that King out of Private's head without his Majesty leaving the poor unicorn brain-damaged or outright dead. Yes, I admit it, my reasons were Sombra-obsessed at first (have you read my profile name, after all???), but Private and Barricade and the whole clan including Private's roommates have grown on me a lot since this journey began.
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Well I hope that it is true that you are are a devote of Sombra domination of the world. It is sometime great to see the bad guy win sometime, they way they are not constrained by normal morals is liberating at times, and they can do things that the good guy wouldn't do, or would make a totally hypocritical arguments to do so,while the bad guy just do it because he can. I dearly hope that it will be the case for this story to be a Sombra victory this time around.
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I want nothing but the best for my King and that isn't always what he wants or realizes is good for him at the time. I am planning several stories in the near future where he does win, utterly and completely and causes great suffering for those around him, but not always in the usual, expected ways.
And let me tell you, he dominates my world off FIMFiction and gets very insistent when wanting attention. Not a bad thing when one is fantasizing and fervently hoping that one day I'll wake up and find His Majesty in my bed. I know Private totally HATES the thought, but man, what I wouldn't give to change places with him right now, lol!
Heh, we are at Askre's mercy in that regard. I'm sure he doesn't want Private to be Sombra's comfort colt (or does he????). I not so secretly want Private to be and so far have successfully dodged therapy for my insistence on this, which hasn't been easy!
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[quoteI know Private totally HATES the thought, but man, what I wouldn't give to change places with him right now]yea, for some reason, I always love it when the main character is squeamish about being forced( preferably by a weapon point) into a unsolicited relationship, to get my kicks.
Their is just something about Stockholm syndrome that fascinate me about the prisoner empathizing with the captor. Do you have any thoughts on that?
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7021957
Loving the discussing here.
I'm going to mention a little thing about Private. I actually severely handicapped him from the first chapter onwards. He's normally not that whiny actually but that's usually because he can just stay at the side line, be quiet and think. Private can actually be surprisingly competent if he's allowed to think things through. I took that away from him with Sombra being in his head and hearing his thoughts so he was utterly out of his element, he was in a situation where he was never alone and being the kind of introvert he is, one who really, REALLY values his alone time, it has just been nerve wrecking for the poor guy.
In the Time Keeper, his first appearance in the Equestria Tales series, he's much more himself, of course then he just has to deal with Barricade being a über jerk, not the spirit of a near demonic Unicorn King inside his head.
Sadly the Time Keeper (due to length of time writing it) turned into a bit of a mess in the end, ah well.
I'll never tell. MAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I'm glad you two are enjoying that little twist in the tale with what Sombra wants with Private, I have to admit being hesitant to use it and at first wasn't going to, but in the end decided to go ahead with it, I just can't resist Private torture.
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Hope you've created a ponysona who's a therapist, Askre, 'cause Private's gonna need it after this. You should give him some downtime and write a nice little slice of life story where he can relax.
To quote our favorite cartoon network cartoon around here, The Amazing World of Gumball, "I LOVE IT when you're EVIL!"
7022059 Oh yes, I definitely have plenty of thoughts on the subject - some are actually clean, believe it or not, lol.
The fun thought, hence my more personal and kinky thought, is that for some, myself included, there is a certain thrill in the danger of being held captor by a powerful, enigmatic figure such as our King Sombra. Giving up authority to another means we don't have to face the responsibility - and the consequences - of his terrible actions against us. For females (real-life women and those in the darkest parts of our fantasies) LIKING and WANTING a male to take charge over us and submitting to his dominance, let's face it, is HOT. (As long as said female has never had a traumatic experience with it, that is)
Oh, and you want to blow your mind? It is said "timing is everything"? Add to that, "everything in the universe is connected to everything else"! I had written a story scene for Frozen Shadows just YESTERDAY addressing Stockhoof Syndrome in my ponysona, Nyx, regarding HER relationship with the King of Shadows. You might have missed it since I posted that newest chapter late last night after you had favorited the story. Look for the origin of THAT in Mad Seeress of the North if you want to continue this eternally fascinating discussion further (which I would LOVE to do!).
(OKAY, here comes the nerdy, Twilight Sparkle side of my thoughts. BRACE yourself for NERD VOMITING!)
I think part of the phenomena comes from the fact that people want to establish connections with one another to explain their world and the world around others within their world and without. I believe in the Eastern Indian philosophy of reality being "Maya", or Illusion, which seems to be substantiated by quantum theory - that if one goes down to the subatomic level of an atom, there is literally NOTHING THERE. If this is in fact true, how much more so would our subconscious lead us to reach out to others to validate and give meaning to our own existences?
I looked up its wikipedia definition, which gave me, in part, this: "One commonly used hypothesis to explain the effect of Stockholm syndrome is based on Freudian theory. It suggests that the bonding is the individual's response to trauma in becoming a victim. Identifying with the aggressor is one way that the ego defends itself. When a victim believes the same values as the aggressor, they cease to be perceived as a threat." I generally agree with this definition because a lot of the time - and according to the U.S. FBI database, 7% of all kidnap victims suffer from Stockholm Syndrome.
7023435 so that is why I have a thing
for those bad mares like Nightmare Moon, Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer (hotess mare around
). I will try to get to your story ASAP to talk more about our share interests in tyrannical ruling.
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Hehe, I don't have a character who is actively working as one but I do have one that is, if she wanted to, qualified to take up the practice. Don't think Private would mind getting a session with her.
It's *drumroll* DEW DOE!!
I've always had the idea that Dew Do had a hard time making up her mind in what field she wanted to work in to help ponies, so she studied a lot of things, she is a qualified nurse and has studied enough psychology to qualify for license as a psychotherapist by Equestrian standards. She eventually settled on helping ponies through social service, but there you go, she's overqualified to help with trauma
Then again she just needs to put on a nurse outfit and I think Private will instantly forget everything about King Sombra.
((This song inspired a lot of Sombra's amoral attitude.))
7023717 I was wandering what is the average life expectancy of a dark pony royal and where they all unicorns or did they had all three tribes in the ranks; if so how did their dark magic manifested itself in them?
7024727
In Dark Pony society only the Unicorns were royalty, but even the commoners, who were Earth Ponies and Pegasi, had some amount of Dark magic in them. In all three it didn't quite manifest like it does in King Sombra, he was and is an unusually powerful one (especially after he left to travel and enhance his powers) for one they didn't need fear and hate to fuel it. Dark Unicorns could blend into shadows (but not turn into them), produce dark crystal like structures and could gauge negative emotions, it was also very effective offensive magic with much more powerful magic blasts and conjured up weapons than their regular magic could produce.
Dark Earth Ponies would use their innate dark magic to enhance their strength and since most were farmers detect any pest animals who would try and get into their crops. The pegasi would use it in similar manner in terms of weather control or in battle situations as Pegasi tended to flock to the Dark Pony military. (I always like the idea that Pegasi, be they Equestrian or Dark Pony are the most aggressive of the pony tribes)
As for the life expectancy of the royals, if nothing happened to them, they could live for quite a while. Because of this they had this tendency to get children late in life, Queen Rabia was already 800 years or so old when she had Sombra and was expected to live at least another 1200 years or so but was assassinated sometime after Sombra disappeared. Sombra himself if he doesn't get himself killed again could well live to be 2000 if he decided to retire and live a quiet life. They are not immortal but incredibly long lived, but nothing compared to Alicorns (who in my book could live even longer, I'm talking close to ten thousand. I'm not in the Alicorns are immortal camp but consider them an exceptionally long lived race).
This was great, Celestia and Luna actually had the hots for Sombra at one point in their lives and this story doesn't present it in a corny manner that doesn't make it sound forced or contrived. The fact that in back story behind their relation it sound so normal medieval by standards and that is isn't presented in a love sick puppy love, or an other stupid forbidden romantic melodrama, that it was just circumstances that presented the relation of forming and that when Sombra left his mother's hold on him that ship had already sealed a long time ago and that they all changed during that time. Still I wander what made Sombra decide to take over the Crystal Empire, even doe he said that they where just already that weak willed all ready for poring all their hopes in the Crystal Heart, he could have run off to marry Celestia or Luna and maybe just be, but chose not to do it. So, their I guess that Sombra didn't want to be just a trophy husband with no actual power or influence over the realm, that he wanted to make a name for himself as well as he wanted power, control and a real for himself. But I think that their must have been more to his plans ant that heir was something near the crystal Empire that he wanted for himself there and that he needed a large body of workers in order to get it, and I think that taking over the Crystal Empire was just actually just a stepping stone for something bigger in mind.
I wander how the Shadow pony where ultimately defeated, by how and more importunely why would didn't Sombra come with his own forces from the Crystal Empire to help her and then over trow her and take control in the name of his birthright? Was his forces just too weak to make a difference any difference to the war? After his sister was so ineffectual in her leadership I would have imagine the the renaming populaces and nobles would have rallied to him to lead. At the very least, I would have thought that if Sombra had help his sister he could have counted for her to support him, seeing their sibling relation, in case of an Equestrian invasion. Was Sombra that piety about being robed of his crown that he was willing to let the whole kingdom burn... of course. So what was so important to Sombra in the Crystal Empire that it was more advantageous to shay put and let his homeland burn? I know that Sombra still has pride in his in his dark pony heritage and that he says that he has plans to somehow restore his race.
7077906
Well glad you liked that angle.
I'm personally a sucker for Celestia X Sombra ship, but I am among other things bit of a History geek like Private and based the whole thing off on medieval courtship just with the gender roles switched plus some twists and turns of my own.
That is not far off how Sombra was thinking in parts. After living with such a controlling mother he wanted control for himself.
I'm only going to say that you are on the right track.
Ah in case of the Dark Pony Empire fell, it was pretty much the Saddle Arabians going full force on it, using the opportunity that they now had a young and inexperienced Queen. Had Queen Rabia still been alive, they wouldn't have stood a prayer.
However the fall of the empire happened before Sombra came to power and was still lost in obscurity as the Lost Son of Queen Rabia, he hadn't actually taken over the Crystal Empire yet. That happened little bit later. Sombra however enacted his revenge on the Saddle Arabian king who orchestrated the Dark Pony Empire's destruction. Let's just say that it took that king a looooooooooong time to die.
That's another layer of why Sombra took over the Crystal Empire. He was a little grief stricken to have just pretty much lost his entire homeland and as far as he was aware at the time, was now a member of a endangered race.
7078468
So, aside for the lust for power, he is also motivated by desperation, that in his mind he really has nothing to lose by subjugating the Crystal Ponies, how he already view as inferior, and that he is keenly aware of his mortality and the last pure bread Dark Pony in existence.
What are Sombra's thoughts of the Dark Pony haft-bread in Equestria? Does he have plans for them in restoring his race with; probably in a very painful way? Are all the ponies that have been time displace in time and experimented on are descendants of the Dark Pony race? Where the Dark Ponies Empire Evil as such, as their name would suggest? How much of the equestrian population is of Dark pony descent?
For Privet, what is he going to do during the weeks that he will take to for Sombra's body to be restored? How will he feed himself if he is cut off from the rest of the world for so long? will he learn to feed on hate and fear like Sombra?
7078540
Pretty much.
The best way to put is is that he is intrigued.
Very likely.
No, the whole time displacement was completely random, he had no control over what kind of pony came over. Private was in fact the first and only pony of Dark Pony descent he acquired through the experiments.
No, the Saddle Arabians just liked to paint them in that way because of Dark Magic and that they could eat meat. Queen Rabia and previous Queen's were dictators sure, but at the time so where the Saddle Arabian kings, Saddle Arabia just won the whole propaganda war.
I'm going to say less than 3% of the entire population.
Sadly, those questions can't be answered without spoiling the entire ending of the story. So I must just say, answers will come with future chapters.
Interesting chapter, note much happen as such just a lot of action. I am not sure why Sombra reveal his hand to the princess about still being able to recreate his body from other hosts, along with Private(he can do that?) unless he is bluffing. I would have imagined that Sombra could have just let the selling fall on the princess heads to kill them and then comeback from one of his other hosts. I am not sure why he revealed to the princess that he would resurrect Private along with him. I know that Sombra has become attached to Private but to hold him hostage, as a bluff to get the princess away from them so that he can keep maybe Private's body intact, it just feel like an unnecessary stalemate for me in Sombra's perspective. He could in one stroke decapitate the equestrian leadership with little trouble, and the country could easily be taken over while it is leaderless.
7329889
I guess even King Sombra can fall prey to the rules of The Evil Overlord's Handbook, which state evil must brag about their evil plans to take over the world BEFORE they do it.
And of course, the best line in the entire chapter is, "Yes, I've been very naughty," OMG, that was brilliant!
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7330005
At this point all I can really say is, everything is not as it seems.
You'll see what I mean next chapter.
Love this story! I liked the part in this chapter when you threw in the random celestia and sombra thing. That could make it very interesting if he acts on it.
7339448
Glad you liked it.
It's not as random as you might think, it's meant to parallel Cadance and Celestia's talk from chapter 19.
We'll see what he'll do.
Thanks for reading.
7339884
No problem!
Well, that is what you get for being merciful to your enemies, and lose you common sense because he had "feeling" for her in the past
. Still I wander if it would still be possible to have a three way relationship with Private and Celestia 
. Still the salt two chapters where good, but I honestly have a hard time imagining that with all that he has done to stay ahead in life, that he didn't sized his chance for victory when he had the chance, especially with the hash world that he used to live in back then. Still it was interesting to see how his bravado was all a facade that he very skillful managed to maintain in front of everybody.
7345809
Indeed, sentimentality, the downfall of many villains.
Well there is always alternate universes to explore.
Yeah, as I sort of hinted at it with Private's mulling, but Sombra is a bit unhinged in this story, for the first two parts he is just a spirit and I already had Sombra lament how spirits often act more on strong emotions than rational thought, then in the third part he's strictly speaking newly resurrected and is a bit disoriented and his powers are fluctuating, he really just wants to find a quiet corner to just lie down and sleep but knows he can't because his enemies are right on his tail. So for those last chapters he is a bit desperate, then sees the mare he used to have feelings for, can't really bring himself to cause her harm at this moment and just tries to bail out of there.
That's also why the fight wasn't more epic than it was, Sombra was pretty much just wildly flailing his hooves in the end and trying to find a way to escape.
Exactly, that's why it's maybe not so obvious how desperate and disoriented he is, he is putting on a front and hoping nobody spots it. I will give this though, Celestia saw right through him and Private was sort of starting to guess it, though he's bit more traumatised to dwell too much on it.
Well, the ending was good, I still wish their was more doe. Private is now probably traumatized for life about what happen to him during his possession, maybe he will spend the rest of his like in an asylum because he can't handle any more stress in his life, his brother abandon him when he could still need his emotional support seen that he has lived the same hell as he did, I think he lest more out of sham about himself. The main cast get to continue their live as normal and they aren't worst for ware. All doe, I would still have lover to see Sombra win, I aways been a sucker for the bad guys win, and love to see how the world will change by his sheer will and see how his enemies are one by one lay low and how he his not hindered by any pretense of morally. I hope their will be a sequel to this or at least see the other ideas that you have proposed about it.
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Thanks, glad you liked it.
He is traumatised sure, but he'll not be spending the rest of his life in an asylum, I got too many plans for the guy.
Yeah, Barricade has his own issues that can sort of warp his priorities, I do intend to address some of it in another story.
This is the third story now in the Equestria Tales that has Barricade in it, the fourth one will sort of will address this little world he seems to think he lives in and Sombra did help shatter.
Yeah, for them this was just Tuesday, you could almost say Possession was about the unnamed background extras in the show who don't escape so easily from the monster as the main characters do. I mean not everyone has gotten used to it like the ponies in Ponyville.
I don't mind seeing these kind of stories either and I do have a story in mind in an alternate continuity where Sombra has in fact won.
And we can't really say that Sombra strictly speaking lost in this one, he got resurrected, he's alive and loose in Equestria. Sure he doesn't have the twins, but I can guarantee this is not the last Private and Barricade have heard of him.
Since Possession is part of a larger series of loosely connected stories called the Equestria Tales, there will definitely be a follow of up of some sort later down the line, Possession it self is a semi-sequel to my story The Time Keeper in Ponyville, especially because it touches on the fallout between Barricade and Private that happened in the previous story.
I can't say for now when an actual follow up will come that deals with the fact that Sombra is now alive and at large, but it will eventually.
Thanks for reading
7353685 more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
7449466 More will eventually come.
Shit's about to go down for Icy boy here.
What's the other way to look at it? Body rental?
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I'm almost tempted to say that's how Sombra sees it.
Considering how we see into Iceland's mind; why would he refer to himself as 'Private'?
Oh snap, this guy's back.
It's a bit of a pet peeve when laughter is written out as long as this, but if you want to enhance it and make it look like the laugh is growing more intense, use italics on the parts you envision sounding harsher. That way it might look more like:
Sombra and Tirek are gonna have some shared grumbles at the next Villains' Anonymous meeting, huh?
D'aww, Iceland's crush on Dewy rears its head again. His insecurities about finding romance and being bi were the harshest moments of the chapter - until Sombra decided to use that torment him; that was even harsher. Poor Icy boy.
Okay, so this was some spooky mood whiplash. Sombra's control is certainly growing.
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Mostly because he just prefers his first name, he was never much of a fan of his second. But if you want to continue refer to him as Iceland, I won't stop you.