//------------------------------// // Using Mind Games! // Story: King Sombra Wants Back Inside His Empire // by naturalbornderpy //------------------------------// Sombra marched toward the Crystal Empire gates with a look of sheer determination. Stopping before the wall, he shot his head up, trademark scowl set in place. “I want to speak with Shining Armor!” he barked out. “Right this instant!” Atop the wall, a purple mare poked her head out. She smiled at Sombra politely. “And why exactly do you need to speak with him?” “He was in one of my dreams last night,” Sombra explained, “doing highly questionable and inappropriate things to me! So tell him to knock it off and stay the hell out of my dreams! And if I dare hear that Luna was somehow involved…” The purple mare shook her head. “Sorry, Sombra, but Shining’s already left the Empire.” Sombra paused, furrowing his brows. “Shining… left? But why? He’s supposed to be protecting the Crystal Empire! Protecting it against the likes of me!” “Well, about that…” the purple mare said with a grimace. “How do I put this gently? You sort of broke his brain in two and everyone thought he deserved a much needed rest. Or ‘stress leave’, if you want to get technical about it. At the moment, he’s at our parents’ house back in Canterlot. And seeing a highly trained therapist three times a week.” There was almost a whine to Sombra’s voice. “But… but he’ll be back, right? Eventually? I’m not nearly done annoying him yet!” The mare shrugged. “Hard to say. But in the meantime, Shining left the ‘dealing of you’ to me and my friends. They all came along with me from Ponyville.” Again, she smiled daintily. “You actually might remember me. I’m Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor’s younger sister.” Sombra scanned all of his thoughts and memories in search of that name. It took him roughly eight seconds to search his entire brain. He came up with nothing. “Sorry,” he said, “but I have absolutely no idea who you are.” Twilight raised a brow. “Really? I did technically battle with you when you tried to reclaim the Crystal Empire three years ago.” Sombra shook his head. “I never tried reclaiming my Empire. This is still my first attempt.” “Well, I know that’s just not true. Don’t you remember that crazy battle we all had here? Back when you were just a giant smoke cloud—” “Wrong!” “And you infected Shining’s horn—” “Incorrect!” “And later Princess Cadence was thrown at the Crystal Heart—” “Alternative facts!” Rolling her eyes, Twilight asked, “So we’re just not gonna talk about your defeat? You’re just gonna deny the whole thing ever happened?” “Quite correct, smaller Shining,” Sombra answered with a nod. “Now… if you are the only thing blocking me from reentering my precious Empire, then that makes you my enemy. So hear this, enemy: let me back inside my Empire right this instant!” Sombra’s loud roar echoed across the land, but it didn’t seem to faze Twilight in the least. She pointed a hoof toward a set of doors close to him. “Oh, so you want back inside? Why didn’t you say so earlier?” One of the doors opened inward. There was nothing but darkness inside. Sombra snorted. “About damn time!” Then he took a step toward the door before stopping. “Hey, hey, hey. Wait a minute. Just what’s behind that door?” he asked. Twilight smirked. “Your precious Crystal Empire, of course. Or if you want to get more specific… it’s actually a rather simple foyer that leads into the central marketplace. There’re coat racks and weapons racks and stuff like that in there. But not much else.” Carefully, Sombra angled his head to try and see beyond the open door. Yet all he could glimpse was a vast pit of black. His hooves began quivering in the snow. He asked tentatively, “Who’s to say there’s not a thousand guards with sharp, pointy spears in there? Waiting to poke and prod me until there’s nothing left?” “Well,” Twilight said, a tad irritably, “for starters: there’s not. Also, how would we even fit a thousand guards into one room? That room could hardly hold twenty. Thirty if we stacked them.” “I dunno! Maybe you recruited a bunch of super tiny guards recently. Just to stab me in the knees with!” “Highly unlikely.” “But still possible!” Twilight sighed. “Look. Do you want back inside the Empire or not? Haven’t you been clamoring to get back inside for months now?” “Yeah…” Sombra admitted meekly. “But I didn’t think it would be so easy, though.” “Think of it as a ‘Welcome Back Sombra’ party,” Twilight told him helpfully. “Flurry Heart’s even waiting on the other side of that door with a cake. A cake just for you.” “Now I know you’re lying, purple Shining!” Sombra spat back. “There’s probably nothing behind that door! Just a pit that goes on for miles and miles that I’ll fall into! And years later, late at night, ponies will still be talking about my death! They’ll say, ‘Sombra screamed for hours and hours before hitting the bottom’. And some will even say, ‘Sombra fell to his death with no welcome cake at all!’” Twilight’s pupils shrunk. “Oh, my Celestia. Now I see why Shining needed that stress leave so bad.” Sombra held a hard hoof up to Twilight. “You’re not fooling anyone today, Shining Sparkle! I is too smart to be played like some less than smart pony!” He glanced at the open door again, whining like some injured dog. “Unless… this really is an invitation back inside the Empire…” “It is,” Twilight said bluntly. “Nowhere in the budget could we afford a bottomless pit.” “Then maybe it’s only a six-foot pit!” Sombra exclaimed. “Now I see what you’re up to! I’ll go through that door, break a leg, and become trapped! Then you’ll fill the hole up with cement! Or worse… day old coffee and bagels from the bagel shop!” Up on the wall, Twilight held both hooves to her temples, blinking rapidly. “Oh, wow. This stupidity is strong. Fascinating, but strong.” Sombra’s body swayed between the open door and back toward the woods. He danced on the spot as if he had to use the bathroom rather badly. “You know what? I think my bar might be on fire. Back in a bit!” And with that said, he retreated as fast as his cowardly legs could carry him. *** Twilight Sparkle nudged open the door that Sombra wouldn’t dare enter, crossing the foyer and sitting down at a table. She patted Flurry Heart’s head. “Sorry, sweetie,” she told her softly, “but Sombra didn’t feel like coming by today.” On the table next to Flurry Heart was a cake; written on it was “WELCOME BACK SOMBRA!” Flurry Heart had icing all across her muzzle, as she’d been busy eating it. “Som-Som?” she gurgled out. She held up two hooves covered in cake. Again, Twilight ruffled Flurry Heart’s mane. “Maybe one of my friends will have a better time with Sombra.”