//------------------------------//
// Chapter 18. Oh, a real player, huh? 
// Story: The Last of the Dark Ponies 
// by Askre 
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Chapter 18

Private had taken Dinky and Coal back down to the cell cavern, but since Sombra was away, no opening opened, so he couldn’t return them them their cells. Not that he minded. The unicorn didn’t relish the idea of locking his nieces up again.

So at first they had gone to Mirage and Hard Shovel to reassure the old ponies that the fillies were okay and nothing bad had happened to them. Then he had to break the news about Cara’s escape, claiming she was going to get help. That of course lead to the reveal that Rainbow Dash had suggested to the teenager she try and escape.

It was one thing for Private to confront his brother when he messed up, or work up the nerve to defy Sombra. When learning this, Private gave Rainbow a deadly glare, but she was an unknown element to him in many ways and confrontations were not one of his strong points, especially if he didn’t know the pony very well.

Resisting the urge to stomp off in rage like he usually would in such situations he just slumped down in front of his parents’ cell. He didn’t want to leave Dinky and Coal alone since they were still outside of the cells.

“Is he okay?” Rainbow asked from her cell after confessing about telling Cara to try and escape and seeing the anger come over Private. She hadn’t expected the unicorn to just lay down and stare silently on the ground. There was no response. Hard and Mirage did give her a ‘not right now’ kind of glare, they themselves not too happy that Cara had done this. Barricade was still completely oblivious in his cell. He still hadn’t woken up yet.

“They are all a little mad right now.” Dinky finally approached Rainbow’s cell, followed by Coal.

“Ugh… Okay, I know it was not a good idea to ask a kid to try and escape, but we had to try something and she had the best opportunity,” Dash grunted. She had actually developed some second thoughts about this shortly after Private had left the caverns with the fillies earlier.

“Oh don’t worry. We aren’t mad. Cara would probably have tried anyway,” Coal said and shrugged. “She is a bit like dad...does things without really thinking about it too much.”

“Cara does all kind of crazy things sometimes. Heck, Uncle Private once told me that when she first tried to fly, she dove off our grandparent’s balcony,” the black filly added. Dinky looked at her, shocked.

“I suppose that’s one way to do it,” the violet unicorn filly exclaimed. Having only met Cara once or twice by now, she was still learning about her oldest biological sister.

“Well, it is kind of what they do in flight school to get the foals trying their wings properly the first time,” Rainbow Dash pointed out with a small grin. “There is usually a cloud below to catch them.”

“Unicorn! I am so glad I am unicorn,” Dinky declared, looking absolutely bewildered. Coal shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, those random magic bursts that accidentally change your favorite toy into something completely else sure are fun,” Coal remarked, earning an unimpressed glare from her sister.

“So how is your dad doing? Haven’t heard a peep from him yet,” Rainbow Dash asked and tried to see towards Barricade’s cell.

“Uh, that’s a good question.” Coal turned so she could see the cell. Then she simply trotted over and looked inside. Dinky decided to stay with Rainbow Dash for now.

“Dad?” Coal addressed her father, who lay slumped down on his side.

“Huh… what?” Slowly Barricade raised his head and slowly rose to lay on his stomach. He turned his head to look outside, looking weary. There seemed to be little life left in his eyes. “Oh, hey Princess.”

“Are you okay?” Coal asked. She’s never seen her father like this.

“Oh I’m fine… just… tired.” Barricade tried to chuckle, it came out really weakly.

“Dad. You promised. No more lying,” Coal said and lay down in front of the cell. She gave the stallion a hard look.

“Yeah… you’re… you’re right.” Barricade looked down. “I’m sorry… just don’t want to worry you. We have to be strong.

“How is your uncle?” he then asked, prompting Coal to glance where to Private was still steaming.

“Um… he’s a bit mad right now,” the filly told him. Barricade raised his head again dropping his brow in a frown.

“Why…why is he mad?” he wondered. More life was returning to his eyes, as if hearing about his brother had triggered something inside his mind.

“Cara escaped and it was kind of Rainbow Dash who told her to try,” Coal explained with a nervous grin and returned her attention to Barricade.

The stallion blinked and for a moment said nothing. The filly thought he was going to get angry as well. To her surprise, Barricade started chuckling.

“Oh your sister is going to put me in an early grave,” Barricade said and never dropped the smile. Then he managed to call. “Hey Rainbow Dash!”

“Yeah?” came the wary voice of Rainbow Dash. The cells were close enough that she had heard Coal confess to Cara’s escape.

“Twenty bits she makes it,” Barricade said, causing Dinky, Coal and even Private and his parents to look surprised.

Rainbow was momentarily stunned to hear Barricade wager if Cara would make good on her escape. It washed over quickly. This told her that at least this particular pony was on board with what had happened.

“Thirty she not just make it, but brings the entire cavalry to kick Sombra’s rump,” she countered and smirked when hearing weak laughter come from Barricade’s cell.

“Oh, a real player, huh? Alright, I’ll take it.” Barricade made an effort to rise up and walk closer to the bars so he could see out. Coal and Dinky were grinning wide. This sounded more like their dad.

“Are you serious?” Private rose up and stomped over to Barricade’s cell, glaring at his brother. “Are you actually wagering about your daughter’s foolhardy escape attempt?”

“Oh, hey bro. Figured that would get you talking.” Barricade never lost his smile as he turned his attention to Private.

“Wait, what?” his brother blinked, having not expected this response at all.

“Oh Private, I know you too well.” Barricade sat down. He still looked weary, but seemed far more with it now. “When Coal said you were mad at Rainbow because of what Cara did, I knew you would just be steaming in a corner instead of saying anything. Had to get you properly riled up, and I’m the only one who can rile you up so you actually speak.”

“Cara is just a kid! We are somewhere up in the mountains. Even if she can fly, there is no telling if she can find her way back. The mountains are loaded with snow and it’s freezing out there!” Private growled and pushed Coal aside so he could fully face his brother.

“Rainbow, I’m changing it to forty bits,” Barricade simply called, never taking his eyes off his brother.

“Uh, you’re on?” Rainbow responded, more unsure now. This looked more like Barricade trying to rile up his brother at this point.

“WILL YOU STOP IT!” Private screamed having had enough of this, thinking his brother was not taking things seriously enough. “Seriously? You think King Sombra will let her get far anyway? Have you seen how fast he travels in that smoke form of his? He knows this bloody terrain better than her. She would never have even gone if I hadn’t told Rainbow Dash about the fort so she could tell Cara about it!”

Private clamped his mouth shut, the anger subsided a little and he looked down. In front him, behind the bars, Barricade weakly chuckled.

“So, you’re actually blaming yourself, not her,” his brother said, smiling more knowingly now. “Bro, this is Cara we are talking about. I can barely keep control over her. She would have tried at the first opportunity, knowing about any fort or not.”

Private just groaned and slumped back down to the ground. His brother wasn’t wrong. He was more mad at himself than Rainbow Dash. It was also true that Cara was pretty stubborn and would probably have tried taking off at the first chance available.

“So uh, what was it? Forty?” Barricade looked at Rainbow. He was smiling a bit more normally and more life had returned to his eyes.

“Uh, I guess?” Rainbow said, still a little confused over what had just happened. Private did look calmer and more contemplative now. Mirage and Hard were smiling and shaking their heads. Even the fillies were giggling at how expertly Barricade had defused things.

“Well, since the show is over,” a dark voice addressed them out of the blue. “How about fifty that I just tossed her to the yaks, inviting your rescue party to come right into a trap I’m planning for them.”

All the prisoners froze and slowly turned their attention to the entrance. There stood King Sombra with a devilish smirk on his muzzle. Before they could say anything, two cells opened and shadow tendrils pushed Coal into Barricade’s cell and Dinky into Rainbow’s as the fillies were the closest to those ones. The bars slammed back into place when the girls were through. Then a tendril wrapped tightly around Private, who yelped when he was yanked over to the king.

“Now, if you will excuse me. I am going to have a word with my servant here before I make my trap ready,” Sombra growled and dragged Private after him out of the cavern, ignoring the shouts of protest from the other prisoners.





Private whimpered as he stared straight down at the very, very long drop and the unseen ground below him. He was held up by Sombra’s magic, upside down so he had a full view of the distance that was to the ground from the entrance of the fort.

“Quite a drop, isn’t it, Private,” Sombra growled coldly. “Don’t worry, I’m not tossing you out. I still have plenty of plans for you.

“I just figured you would appreciate the view before I tossed your parents down it.” He pulled the unicorn back inside and violently tossed him towards a wall.

“No… no please…” Private stammered where he lay now in heap on the ground. He was picked up again by magic and pulled closer to be face-to-face with the king.

“They are old, probably don’t have many years left in them. Certainly not under my care,” Sombra snorted, sneering so hard that his fangs were clearly visible. Private could really only whimper at the sight of all these teeth right in front of his face.

“I warned you, Private. Your family’s safety depended on your behavior!” the king snarled. “Oh just give my enemy the layout of my lair, tell her exactly where the exit is. You know what that is called in my service? Treason!”

The dark unicorn dropped his prisoner from his magic grip, allowing Private to drop hard to the ground. Then the king stomped one hoof down hard, very close to the unicorn’s head. Private flinched. Cracks had formed on the stone floor.

“Now, give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just go down there, fetch them and give them a very unscheduled flight lesson,” Sombra snapped. “Starting with your dear mother.”
 
“Mom is Timido’s descendant. You think he would be happy that you killed his great great great great great… etc. granddaughter?” Private quickly covered his head with his front legs, fearful he would get stomped on by the ironclad hooves in front of him.

Silence greeted him. Slowly Private dared himself to look up. King Sombra was still glaring down at him, the sneer was still on his face, however, he didn’t move. The unicorn realized he was supposed to go on.

“A-and I don’t think you would have gone through all this trouble to get us, just to kill us,” he dared himself to say and held his breath, fearing the worst.

“No, you are right. I didn’t take them just to so casually kill them,” Sombra growled low and took a step back. “Fine, I will forget this transgression this time, only because it did in fact work in my favor. It alerted me that enemies are closing in and I need to prepare for them,” the king finally relented, but his eyes narrowed to slits.

“But I am no longer giving you free range. You will not go back to the tunnels below unless in my company. In fact, you are confined to this fort. Now get in there before I forget this mercy I just bestowed upon you.” Sombra raised a leg sharply to point a hoof towards his chamber.

Private gulped and slowly rose up, then he quickly slinked to the bed chamber, feeling strangely like he had just been sent to his room without supper by his parents. Sombra watched as he closed the door, before the king went to the one that led down to the tunnels.

Sombra made his way back to the prison cavern. He was received with many glares, but he ignored them as he walked to the middle of it, giving all the prisoners a clear view of him.

“Well I hope you enjoyed Private’s company so far, because that was the last time I am allowing him to see any of you,” the king growled low, glaring at each and every cell.

Dinky hid behind Rainbow Dash, who stared right back at the king with a defiant scowl. Mirage was sobbing and was held by her husband, who did give their captor a withering look. Barricade managed to work up the courage to give the Dark Pony a stinging glare.

“What did you do to him, you bastard?” Barricade growled and was so tempted to hammer a hoof on the bars, only holding back because he still remembered how much it hurt. The stallion kept Coal behind him, the filly looked glum.

“Don’t worry, Barricade. He’s still amongst the living and mostly unharmed. A bit banged up I suppose after hitting that wall. He is just confined to the fort now,” Sombra eyed him. Barricade found he couldn’t meet the stare and looked down, slightly trembling as he fought to keep it together.

“Now if you will excuse me, I need to prepare for our visitors,” the king the snorted, stomping out of the cavern, turning to head to the lab.

Hard Shovel watched the king leave, still holding his crying wife. The old stallion could do little else except comfort the upset mare. He could hear Rainbow Dash talking encouragingly to Dinky, also overhearing Barricade speaking gently with Coal, who was sobbing.

He wanted to tell Mirage that everything was going to be alright, that their boys would be fine and things would start looking up. Hard just wasn’t sure right now if she wanted to hear it. They way things were looking so far, it just didn’t seem likely that any of them would be fine.

I am surprised he hasn’t done anything with us, he thought. So far we’re the only prisoners who haven’t been taken out of their cells. 

“Mir, remember when we took the boys to Horseshoe Bay, they were what, two or three, wasn’t it?” he said, deciding the best thing he could do now as just to calm his wife down. 

“They were two,” Mirage whispered after a little while and sniffed, still clinging to her husband. 

“Yeah, Barricade was running all over the place and Private hid under you...he was so scared of the seagulls at first, always thought they were going to eat him,” Hard continued to reminisce, figuring remembering happier times might help his wife calm down. He smiled when hearing her chuckle weakly, then tried not to laugh when hearing Barricade groan.

“Coal, you will not repeat this story to anypony!” he heard his son grunt. He knew what would be coming up soon enough.

“He was always so shy and timid, never liked strangers coming close to him,” Mirage sighed, referring to Private.

“Yeah, meanwhile I had my hooves full keeping up with Barricade. He was getting into everything. Then he got onto the dock and managed to find a hole in it. He tried to go through it and got stuck halfway,” Hard Shovel kept going with the tale. There was another groan from Barricade’s cell, then a giggle from his granddaughters from two different cells.

“Not the first time he did something like that,” Mirage shook her head and then smiled. “And he didn’t even cry, just roared in rage that he couldn’t get through. How dare that hole being too small for him!”

“I was about to go and get him out of there, when I suddenly hear an alarmed squeak from underneath you and then ‘Noo Barri bein’ eatin’ and Private came rushing over, shouting ‘Ah git ya, Barri’ and grabbed his brother’s tail in his mouth and started pulling with all his might,” Hard was chuckling now at the memory and even Mirage was softly giggling.

“Barricade was shouting, ‘Piat, staph pull mah tail’ and wiggled as he could to free himself. Private still with his brother’s tail in his mouth, going ‘Ah save yah Barri’ and ‘staph eatin’ mah brutha.’ I really wish we had remembered to take our camera with us,” Hard finished and he could hear that the fillies were having giggle fits, there was grumbling from his son and even Rainbow Dash could be heard laughing.

Hard looked at his wife. She was still smiling, though there were tears in her eyes. He lowered a little to nuzzle her head.

“Our boys were always getting themselves into trouble, weren’t they?” he asked gently.  His wife nodded, her smile turning more solemn.

“I just wish that horrible monster would leave them alone,” she whispered, the story over the reality of their situation washing over her again. 

“I know, me too,” Hard hugged her a little tighter. “But we have been in tight situations before. Remember when you threw that vase at Caballeron’s head?”

“He deserved far worse after what he did to you, leaving you stranded with a broken leg in the middle of a desert!” Mirage snorted and scowled. “If Daring hadn’t found you…”

“She and Private did, I’m here to prove that,” Hard chuckled, then looked up when hearing a surprised whinny coming from Rainbow Dash.

“W-wait you two know Daring Do and Caballeron?” the rainbow pegasus asked stunned. Arching her brow when hearing the old couple chuckle.

“Everypony in the archeological field knows Daring Do,” Hard Shovel explained with a smile. Then it dropped a bit and he snorted. “And had a run in with Caballeron.”

“We could tell you many stories that never went into her books,” he said, then added. “At a more appropriate time.”

“You’re on,” Rainbow grinned, then glanced at Dinky who was dumbfounded.

“Wait… Daring Do is real?” the unicorn filly blinked in surprise.

“When we get out of here, sweetie, we’ll take you to meet her, if you want,” Hard Shovel offered, Mirage had by now parted from him as the mare was feeling better.

“Can I come too? It’s been a while since we last met!” Rainbow Dash asked with an eager grin. The old couple chuckled before nodding.

Hard turned back to his wife. He put a hoof on her back and she looked at him.

“We will get through this Mir. We and our boys and our granddaughters...Rainbow Dash too,” he said, knowing well that his wife wasn’t so worried about herself, but everybody else in the cell cavern.

“I hope your right,” she whispered and leaned over to give her husband a small kiss on the cheek.

End chapter 18