Chapter 20
Twilight sighed sadly, staring down at her shackles. She couldn’t really do much more, her friends were around, but there wasn’t much they could do either. Rainbow had tried to force off her restraints, but to no avail, even Applejack couldn’t break off her own shackles.
“I’m sorry, I failed, failed Celestia, you all,” she whispered and leaned on the cold wall of her cell. Rarity scooted closer and put a leg around her.
“No, no it’s not your fault, Twilight,” she said reassuringly.
“Yeah, we didn’t know this High Shadow would butt in like that,” Rainbow said where she now lay bored out of her skull further in the cell.
“And Temor just didn’t listen, that Sombra has clearly screwed with his head worse than an apple smashed in a cider maker,” Applejack pointed out.
“So what do we do now?” Fluttershy asked worriedly, she and Pinkie lay huddled next to Applejack.
“What can we do?” the apple farmer said, shaking her head. “Except wait.”
“What do you think they will do with us?” Pinkie asked, shuddering a little as her wild imagination started thinking up all kinds of uncomfortable scenarios.
“Whatever it is, I hope they will do it soon. I’m getting stir crazy just laying here,” Rainbow Dash grumbled, ignoring the unimpressed glares she got from Applejack and Rarity.
“Look, whatever happens, I will try and ask to have the five of you released. Whatever they want to do, they can do to me. They clearly hold us responsible for the death of King Sombra, but it was me who found the Crystal Heart and had Spike deliver it to Cadance. Hopefully they will accept that the heaviest responsibility lays on me,” Twilight spoke up and looked at her friends.
“Absolutely not,” Rarity immediately protested and the others sharply nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, if you are going down, we all go down,” Rainbow declared.
Twilight wanted to protest herself, try to reason with her friends that it was for the best, but realized it would be no use. Instead she resigned herself to wait for the inevitable.
The mares weren’t sure how long the were kept in the cell. There was no window outside, all the light they had was from a lit torch high up in the ceiling and out of reach. Periodically a pony would come to give them food and water and that was really all that broke the monotony of their stay.
Eventually Pinkie did try and engage them in a various I spy games, but none of her friends were very enthusiastic in participating. As time dragged on, Twilight was beginning to wonder if they had simply been forgotten about.
The friends were now positive that at least a day or two had passed when the small peeping hole on the cell door was slid open. Into their prison stared Prince Temor, smirking mockingly at the sight before him.
“Private…” Twilight started and was silenced by a stinging glare from the prince.
“You really don’t know when to quit, do you?” Temor snorted, then resumed his smirk. “Then again, I wouldn’t expect anything less from Celestia’s prized pet. Father told me how preachy she could get.”
The prince chuckled at the glares he got from some of the mares. Then he looked at Twilight again, who still watched him with that sad pleading expression.
“I didn’t come here for idle chit chat. I just finally had time in my busy schedule to come down here and see for myself, the murderers of my father, chained up,” Temor growled, narrowing his eyes.
“Seriously, what prayer did you think you had? You honestly think I had any interest in hearing what the ponies who killed my father had to say? Even using my family, who are all proud members of the Order of Umbrum, to try and reach me? Pathetic!” the prince spat, scowling hard, then he gave Twilight a withering glare.
“I remember you very well purple one. I saw you evade my fathers traps, locate the Heart and sent your little lizard out with it so it could be used to shatter the one pony I cared about. The only pony I had for a family,” Temor snarled and gave the door a loud kick.
“Know this well, Twilight Sparkle. I will never forgive that. I will never forgive you for what you did. You have made an enemy for life!” the prince snapped, he then looked at the others.
“If I had my way, I would have had you all executed right here, right now. However, your fate is not in my hooves. This is Ira’s show, you are her prisoners. Pray that she is more merciful than I would be.” With those final words, Temor closed the peephole and the mares could hear faint clanging of armored hooves stomp away.
The six friends gave each other worried glances. Applejack did her best to hold Fluttershy now to comfort the upset pegasus. Pinkie’s mane had deflated a bit and the pony had very uncharacteristic frown. Rarity did her best to comfort Twilight who looked very dejected now. Rainbow Dash growled to herself but stayed where she lay.
After a while a click was heard on their cell door and it swung open. The mares all looked up to see Barricade, wearing his captain armor, step in followed by several guards.
“The slayers of the king are to witness the ceremony,” the stallion coldly declared and then with a point of his hoof, ordered the guards to round up the prisoners.
Rainbow Dash growled and pushed off a guard who was going to drag her to her hooves, the mare chose to stand up on her own. Applejack did much the same, then pushed a guard away from Fluttershy who was petrified with fear. Speaking calmly to the frightened pegasus the apple farmer managed to coerce her friend to stand up. Pinkie and Rarity were similarly pulled up and so was Twilight who made no effort to struggle.
Barricade walked out first, followed by the mares and the guards. The prisoners were led out of the dungeon and to the upper levels of the fort. They passed through several hallways before reaching the one they had first arrived in. From there they were pushed forward until they arrived at the doorway leading to the great hall.
Twilight and her friends all gasped at seeing the crowd of ponies, all glaring back at them. The guards pushed them onwards and the mares obeyed yet couldn’t peel their eyes off the crowd. Suddenly they realized that some of these angry faces directed at them were familiar.
“Wait! Derpy?” Rainbow Dash had spotted a gray pegasus with crossed yellow eyes, standing next to a maroon pegasus and three young fillies.
“The spa ponies?” Rarity blinked when seeing a pair of earth pony mares, one pink and one blue.
A cold dread came over the mares as more and more familiar faces from Ponyville, Canterlot and other places they had been too were spotted in the crowd. It dawned on Twilight that all these ponies were members of the Order of Umbrum.
“Those… were our friends…” the purple unicorn whispered, tears in her eyes. It stung her heart to see so many ponies she had known for so long stare at her so hatefully.
“Bring the murderers to the front of the stage!” a cold yet familiar voice ordered.
The mare’s attention was drawn to the stage at the end of the hall. On it stood Ira, she was wearing a regal red cape and silver hoof guards. On her head rested a tiara that looked recently mended. The guards pulled the six friends all the way and forced them to sit at the very front. They could feel the burning eyes of the crowd on the back of their heads.
“Now look, murderers.” Ira stared at them with cold emotionless eyes. “Your work will soon be undone. Step forth, Prince Temor.”
Twilight and her friends could do little else but watch as Prince Temor arrived on the stage. He was once again clad in his full armor, including the helmet. Everything had been polished, and his cape washed and cleaned. He stared down at the six ponies with contempt.
“Everypony, please…” Twilight glanced back at the crowd, hoping to spot at least one friendly face.
There were none.
Ira fired up her horn with dark magic and restraining muzzles materialized on her and the other six mares that prevented them from talking.
“You be silent! Your poisonous words will not be allowed to spread here. We will hear no more of the lies Celestia has taught you to preach,” Ira snarled, glaring daggers down at the six ponies who all flinched.
Temor smirked down at the prisoners, then he turned to face Ira who was composing herself. The mare then looked over the crowd. On balconies overlooking everything sat Mirage, Starlight, Emerald and few other high-ranking members of the order. The six mares silently gasped when remembering the description of the crystal pony they were also supposed to look for.
Emerald is one of them too? Twilight just felt all hope flee from her heart.
“I apologize for my outburst; this is an emotional moment for me. Long have I dreamed of this day… now let us rejoice, for the hour is here,” she addressed the crowd and her smile turned warm and the eyes shone love.
Rainbow glanced back at the crowd and frowned when seeing all the ponies smile back at the dark unicorn, some stared at her with admiration and love. The pegasus returned her attention to the stage, wondering how Ira had managed to win over so many ponies.
“Nephew, step forth. I apologize, this will cause you some discomfort,” Ira spoke to Temor and watched him come closer to her. She activated her dark magic and a purple and green aura formed around his horn.
Temor gritted his teeth when feeling a pull. He glanced at Sombra who watched, now unseen again, the proceedings. The king looked concerned but not alarmed. The prince gasped when feeling something yank from his head. Then he blinked when seeing Ira holding aloft something red. He felt for his horn and cringed when feeling it was cracked like after he had been blasted by the Crystal Heart.
“Behold, the horn of the king,” Ira declared and held high a red horn. Temor looked around and frowned, he could no longer see his father. The crowd began cheering and stomping their hooves.
Ira closed her eyes; her own horn began bending and became as red as Sombra and Temor’s. Purple mist began pouring out from the corner, she opened them and they were glowing green. Twilight and her friends could do little but watch in fear as the Dark Pony began pouring dark magic straight into Sombra’s horn.
The prince and the crowd watched in awe as the horn seemed to drink it up, more and more came from Ira and then her horn turned normal and so did her eyes. The mare stumbled and her magic faded, Sombra’s horn dropped to the stage floor.
“Live again… brother,” Ira said weakly and struggled to stand, clearly worn out.
Temor frowned in concern and started to approach his aunt but stepped back when his father’s horn began shaking on the floor. Suddenly black shadow and smoke began pouring out of it and lift it up. Slowly green eyes with purple mist in the corners formed under the horn, gradually a head formed, then a body and finally legs.
The six mares cringed when seeing the smoke and darkness disappear, in its place stood King Sombra, fully formed. The Dark Pony looked momentarily stunned as he touched his chest with a hoof, then he looked up and a smile formed on his muzzle.
“I live,” he whispered, his eyes landed on the crowd of ponies who immediately ducked in a bow and started to chant.
“Hail King Sombra! Hail King Sombra! Hail King Sombra!”
“Sister.” Sombra looked concerned as he turned to the mare who had managed to stand tall again but looked weak. She smiled at him and gave a sign that she was alright. Then the king turned to his son who was still in awe that his father was alive once more.
“My son.” the king stepped closer, putting a hoof on his cheek. “You have no idea how I have longed to do this.”
Twilight blinked when Sombra promptly pulled the prince in a tight hug. Her friends were equally surprised, they couldn’t comment though, not with their mouths bound like they were. They did however began eyeing each other, very worried.
“Brother,” Ira addressed Sombra. Her brother let go of Temor and glanced at her, all the mare did was gesturing to the six prisoners. The king slowly turned his gaze towards the worried, some frightened, ponies.
Sombra started chuckling and walked closer to the edge of the stage, never taking his gaze off the prisoners. For agonizing long moment, he continued to just regard them, smiling. Then his horn lit up and the muzzles preventing them from talking were removed.
“What say you now, little pony? Despite your efforts, despite Celestia’s efforts, I stand now here, alive. Reunited with my sister and…” Sombra halted and looked at Temor. “My son.”
“He’s not your son!” Twilight snapped, ignoring the angry murmurs from the crowd and the glare she got from both Ira and Temor. Sombra, however just laughed as he returned his attention to her.
“Than what shall I call the pony I raised, hmm?” the king asked and stepped over to the prince, gesturing to him. “The young colt I gave shelter, fed, clothed, had my servants bathe. He’s certainly not my servant nor my slave. I certainly gave no such comforts to them.”
“You stole him, you tortured him, changed him into the same monster that you are. Who are you to call yourself his father and him your son!” Twilight growled, somehow feeling braver since Sombra wasn’t forcibly shutting her up.
“Yes, I stole him. That is true,” Sombra nodded, stunning Twilight that he so simply admitted to it.
“He was originally just one of my many contingencies I had in the event of my untimely death. I always intended to return him, in fact the spell I used was designed to return him.” The king shrugged and walked back so he was in front of Twilight.
“The spell failed, a mishap that not even I can fully explain caused it. I was suddenly stuck with a boy I had no clear idea what to do with.” Sombra’s expression turned graver. “What was I to do? Throw him to the slaves? Just dispose of him? I considered it but no. Not him.”
“I was cruel and brutal to him at first, yes, in fact I was downright horrible.” Sombra closed his eyes, sneering a little. “He deserved so much better than me as his father.”
Twilight opened her mouth to respond but felt silent, she looked at her friends who looked at her, just as confused by this confession. When they returned back to Sombra, he was opening his eyes again and looked more solemn.
“Yet, the boy grew on me, he began worrying me constantly. I lost sleep when he fell ill, worrying he would die. He made me laugh when he did something absurd.” Sombra turned to look again at Temor. “When I was exiled, all I could think about was him. When I returned, I found I only wanted to reunite with him. I felt cold dread when seeing the Crystal Heart activate and not knowing if it would harm him or not.”
“My son… I have seen what has happened if my initial plans had worked, if you had been returned and… I do not want to be that creature my sister saw torment you. I heard him, staking his claim on you as if you were no better than a slave, you are not my slave, you are not my servant. You are my son,” Sombra declared, he fired up his horn and looked down at the six mares again.
The prisoners braced themselves, expecting some horrendous torture to happen. What they didn’t expect were all their restraints coming loose. The manacles disappeared from the horns of the unicorns. The six friends blinked and looked down at their hooves, then with heavy frowns glanced up at the king, who stared at them gravely.
“Believe what you will. Nothing I say will change it, nothing my son says will change it, all you will hear is the words of someone you believe I brainwashed and tortured to be loyal to me,” Sombra snorted and turned away, his horn glowed again and on him appeared the crown, cape and armor.
“Release them. Send them crying back to their precious princess. They can whine about their failure to her!” he snapped as he began walking away.
Twilight’s jaw dropped at hearing the order, she looked up at Temor who was walking away, following the king. Ira seemed somewhat surprised by this turn of events herself, but then quickly composed herself and raised a hoof, looking over the crowd.
“Behold, the mercy of the king!” she declared, receiving thunderous applause and cheers. Then she looked at the prisoners who were being surrounded by guards. “And you begone. Show them the exit, they can make their way to Equestria on their own.”
The mares could do little to protest. Already the guards were forcing them to back away towards the exit of the hall. Soon they found themselves being escorted right out of the large stone fort up in the mountains. When the steel gates slammed shut behind them, the six friends looked at each other.
“Okay, what the hay just happened?” Applejack asked what everybody else was thinking.
“Well I for one am glad to be out of this dreadful place, did you see those banners? Ugh,” Rarity shuddered.
“So what do we do now? We can’t just let them get away,” Rainbow snorted, stretching her sore wings since she finally could.
“We must at least get back to Equestria and report to the princess, she must be worried sick about us by now,” Twilight said, they really had no idea how much time had passed since their captivity. There wasn’t though much determination in her voice. She looked regretfully back at the fort looming over them.
“Yeah, then we should just get the Elements, go back and blast that shadowy creep and his sister too!” the rainbow pegasus nodded sharply. None of them noticed Fluttershy frowning when hearing that.
“That may be our only option now.” Twilight nodded and the six ponies began trotting away.
Fluttershy halted on her walk and looked back towards the fort. The events in the meeting hall still played in her mind. The timid pegasus furrowed her brow in thought. Then she resumed following the rest of her friends.
End chapter 20