//------------------------------//
// Chapter 20. I will put it on my schedule. 
// Story: Rage of a Queen, wrath of a Mother 
// by Askre 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 20

“My Queen, I really must protest. The boy is far too young to be exposed to… this!” The voice of Captain Vago echoed through Sombra’s mind as he charged for the nearest rage mutant, skewering it with his horn, lifting it, and tossing it away.

“Are you again presuming how I should raise my child, captain!” his mother’s voice growled. Sombra snarled and turned on his magic, blasting two mutants who had managed to corner Pinkie Pie.

“I… no My Queen.” Vago’s defeated voice remarked in the king’s mind as he reared up on his hind legs and slammed his front hooves into another creature.

Images were also flashing through Sombra’s mind. Memories of these same creatures he and the element-bearers now fought. He was a young colt in them, his mother dragging him towards the mutants, insisting on showing him these creatures. Saddle Arabian spies that had been caught and had been twisted and disfigured with her powers.

“Sombra! If these are Saddle Arabians, isn’t there anything we can do for them?” Twilight called. She had spent most of the fight using her magic to toss and otherwise restrain the attacking mutants, feeling reluctant to harm them if there was a possibility they could be saved.

“My mother is not that merciful!” Sombra growled as he blasted another creature with his magic, the memories still playing vividly through his mind. A creature had lunged at him back then, with his mother just coldly watching. As a colt, he hadn’t noticed it was chained and couldn’t actually reach him, but Sombra recalled screaming in terror and trying to hide away. His mother had dragged him forward and forced him front and center of the snarling mutant.

Sombra managed to make his way to where Twilight was. The others were doing marginally well, dodging and scoring hits to keep the mutants at bay. Fluttershy had even managed to play a decoy, so Rainbow Dash could punch one hard enough to throw it away.

“Whoever these Saddle Arabians were…they are long gone. These are just husks. There is nothing left inside them except the rage. The only reason they aren’t clawing their own eyes out in their wrath is because mother has a firm hold on them.” Sombra looked around. The creatures were still advancing. Finally, he looked at the Friendship Princess.

“If you recall my trap at the inn when I was possessing Private Iceland, this is almost the same, but far, far worse,” he added to give Twilight some proper context.

Twilight gulped, recalling too vividly the burning inn and the patrons, all driven mad with fear. Although she had managed to save their lives, most of them were still in mental institutions, barely with any minds left. One or two had managed to miraculously recover slightly, but they were still never the same.

They looked back when hearing a shriek. Fluttershy had landed badly and lost her footing, tumbling to the ground. A creature was already almost on top of her, ready to bury its claw-like hooves into her. The pegasus was frozen, unable to escape.

The creature never struck. A large sharp crystal burst out of the ground, skewering it high in the air. Pinkie and Rarity were quickly on the scene to drag their petrified friend away. Twilight sighed a breath in relief, looking at Sombra, whose horn was glowing purple and green.

“Thank you.” Twilight was actually grateful. She wasn’t sure if she would be quick enough to get her friend out of the way before she got seriously harmed, or worse.

“Just didn’t fancy a visit from Discord,” King Sombra remarked, then glared around. “Perhaps it’s time you all deploy the elements.”

“Yes, you’re right. Girls, Elements of Harmony,” the princess called. Her friends were already grouping together around Fluttershy, who was still recovering. Twilight’s crown and the necklaces of the others began to glow.

Sombra steeled himself, not sure if this would affect him or not. The harmonic weapon was not being aimed at him, just the general area. Right now, though, he didn’t care - he just wanted these bad memories of his youth to be gone. All six ponies lifted from the ground, glowing with power. The creatures made a mad scramble for them. Those who got too close to Sombra got skewered on a few more crystals.

There was a brilliant flash and the area was bathed in a rainbow light. Sombra closed his eyes and got ready; nothing happened to him. It was as if the weapon knew he was currently on the element’s side this time. He heard the painful and enraged roars of the creatures slowly fading away.

When the king opened his eyes, the six ponies were dropping back to the ground. The corruption all around them was gone and so were the creatures. The mutants had all been disintegrated into dust. The cave now just looked like an ordinary dark cavern. Twilight glanced around sadly.

“I wish we could have done something for them,” the princess whispered sadly. Rarity, who stood next to her, gave her a sympathetic pat on the back.

“You did what you had to do. Their suffering is over,” Sombra addressed the princess, who looked at him, surprised to hear these kinds of words coming from the king. The dark pony, however, was now walking past them towards the cave and entering it.

“Seriously, his mother is sick,” Rainbow said and looked around. The woods looked peaceful now and the sun shone brightly in the sky above them.

“Can’t argue with that,” Applejack nodded and fixed her hat, then the farmer glanced at the cave. “Ya recon she is in there?”

“No, she’s not,” Sombra responded as he returned out of the cave. “We simply sprung a trap she set up in case anyone found her hole.”

“Well, at least we know where he gets that from,” Dash muttered, but no one heard it.

Twilight started to rub her muzzle in thought. If Rabia wasn’t here, that had to mean she had abandoned this hiding place, quite possibly after her attack in Fillydelphia. Now the question was had she found a new one or, worse yet, was she already heading for Saddle Arabia? While she thought this over, Fluttershy was approaching King Sombra.

“Um… uh, thanks for saving me,” Fluttershy addressed the dark pony hesitantly. Sombra just glanced down at her, to her credit the pegasus didn’t shrink back, just gave the king a friendly smile.

“You were really scared of them, weren’t you?” she then asked, causing the dark pony to look away quickly. “It’s okay. We are all scared of something. I guess even a master of fear has to be scared of something.”

“You are… not wrong,” was all Sombra would relent to say between his teeth. He was sorely tempted to ditch the six ponies. He had all his powers now. They would never be quick enough to stop him. But the dark pony knew that no matter where he hid, his mother would find him eventually, and while she was still out there, he had to see this through.

Then the king felt something. He looked into the forest and furrowed his brow. Suddenly he took off in that direction. Fluttershy blinked at this sudden departure and looked between her friends and the running pony, then she took to the air and hurried after Sombra.

“Hey!” Pinkie Pie noticed and bounced after them, but stopped when her name was called. She looked back and saw that the remaining four ponies were staring at her.

“Quick, Sombra and Fluttershy went this way,” she called and then darted into the woods.





Fluttershy felt a little better about the woods as she flew in the direction she had seen Sombra run into. The trees looked normal and the sunlight filtered through the canopy above. She could even hear birds and definitely saw some bugs flying around.

The pegasus landed when she saw that the king had stopped, landing next to the stump of a tree that looked like it had been blown up. Another similar stump was nearby.

Oh, dear, what happened here? She thought, glancing warily at the destroyed trees before returning her attention to Sombra. He stood in front of three large rocks with runes engraved into them.

Hesitantly the pegasus approached but was slammed to the ground when Pinkie tackled her in a hug. Fluttershy, however, by now was quite used to her friend. “Oh, hi, Pinkie.”

“Why did you run off like that?” Pinkie Pie asked, showing a hint of worry as she let the pegasus go and helped her stand up.

“I don’t know. Sombra ran over here,” Fluttershy said and gestured to the king where he stood and seemed to be reading the runes. Behind the two mares, their remaining friends came running.

“What are these?” Applejack wondered when she beheld the scene in front of her.

Fluttershy approached first, followed close by Pinkie. The other four followed soon after. Twilight tilted her head when seeing the runes. She recognized them as Dark Pony in origin, but couldn’t quite make them out. They did look like spells to her.

“Protection runes, these are grave markers,” Sombra finally turned around but didn’t look at the ponies; instead, he was looking towards the distance thoughtfully. “Mother buried my sister here.”

“So she went through the trouble of invading the Crystal Empire to retrieve her body, just to bury here out in the middle of nowhere?” Twilight was rather confused to hear that.

“She probably intends to move her later. She just wants to finish with Saddle Arabia first. At least we know where my sister is so that she can be relocated to a more proper place,” Sombra said. He glanced back and raised his brow when seeing that Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had gathered some flowers and placed them by the stones. “What are you two doing?”

“What? Just because your mother is a big meany and you aren’t much better, your sister at least deserves some respect,” Pinkie said with a wide grin. Twilight cringed a little at her friend's blunt honesty. Sure, none of them particularly liked the king, but they did need his help. Thankfully Sombra just tilted his head then smirked. The princess wondered if he was actually pleased to see his sister being given a small tribute, even if it was by ponies he saw as enemies.

“Darlings, Ira was a queen. We need to arrange this properly,” Rarity stepped forward and grabbed the flowers and began using her magic to weave some into wreaths and arranging others by color and even plant type.

“What is happening?” Sombra was now stunned as Applejack came over to help them as well.

“They are being friendly and respectful. Isn’t Ira the real victim in all this current family drama?” Twilight said with a small smile. “You are just witnessing friendship in action.”

She’s not wrong, Sombra thought, but made no move to intervene as the ponies continued to decorate the gravesite with what materials they had available around them. Even Rainbow Dash was now helping, putting some of the wreaths on top of the rocks.

“You think your mother is headed for Saddle Arabia?” the princess then turned to more pressing matters, allowing her friends this brief reprieve. She felt they needed it after the recent battle.

“That is my thought. Maybe not directly; that is not her style. But probably heading there, finding a new place to prepare, and then she will strike,” Sombra nodded, still watching the proceedings at the grave.

Twilight agreed with that. Since Rabia had failed to do anything with her son, it seemed most logical that Saddle Arabia was her next target. The princess did still think it was a little odd how cooperative and even calm Sombra was, wondering, much like Celestia had, if his stay at Private’s home had had more of an effect on him than the king would ever admit. She was almost starting to see why the Sun Princess was willing to take the risk of having him help.

“Hey, there is something written on the back,” Rarity called. She had gone behind the rocks to see if something could be added there. This prompted Sombra and Twilight to look at each other confused, then walk over, all the ponies gathered around behind the middle rock. On it was a small message, not written in runes but in a script. The king and the princess recognized the dark pony letters, but only Sombra could read them.

“These are more freshly carved.” Sombra frowned as he began to read. “If you are to find this place, my son. I’m in Odio’s Square.”

“What’s Odio’s Square?” Applejack looked at the dark pony whose expression was darkening.

“The town square of the capital of the Dark Pony Empire,” the king growled and narrowed his eyes. “She’s waiting for me. She knew I would come here soon.”

“So the trap was more meant for you?” Twilight wondered, remembering the king’s reaction to the mutants. Sombra slowly inclined his head in a nod.

“Oh boy, here we go again,” Rainbow Dash grunted when Sombra immediately assumed his smoke form, grabbed every one of them, and they all vanished from the grave, now richly decorated with flower arrangements around the wreath-dressed rocks.





“How is the evacuation going?” Celestia asked when seeing Luna coming in for a landing. The princess stood on the steps in front of the museum.

“The city is almost empty, and so is the surrounding countryside,” her sister announced and glanced around the deserted street before them. “I haven’t been here for a long time.”

The Sun Princess nodded. Luna, Starswirl, and she had arrived when the evacuation was in full swing. Luna had volunteered to assist with that while Celestia and their old mentor began setting up the trap they intended to spring on Rabia. They were mostly done by now, but Starswirl had insisted on making some finishing touches, so Celestia had headed outside to see how things were going there.

“Hopefully, these streets won’t be empty for too long,” Celestia remarked, not liking seeing the city so empty of life.

“I don’t think we have discussed this, but if we capture Rabia alive, what do we intend to do with her? Throw her into Tartarus?” Luna asked, just now realizing they had never actually talked about that.

“Tartarus is reserved for great threats against Equestria and monsters that have proven to be a threat enough to our subjects. Rabia has made no show that she is interested in us. Granted, she has made minor incursions, but they were all either to get her daughter’s body from the Crystal Empire or in search of her son. Her main threat has been against Saddle Arabia,” Celestia explained and turned to her sister. “We may have to hear what they want to be done.”

“Much like we are still waiting to hear from King Thorax regarding Chrysalis,” Luna nodded, understanding that. Though it could be argued that Rabia had shown her to be a sufficient enough threat, Celestia did have a point that Rabia’s actions in Equestria were just to look for her son and to retrieve her daughter’s body.

“Rabia had power enough to wipe out Saddle Arabia several times over during her reign, but never did. She was never a conqueror. She may also just not be in her right state of mind. She was brought back to life over a thousand years later, her empire in ruins, her daughter dead and her son… maybe if we could get her to calm down, maybe talk with her,” Princess Celestia couldn’t help but wonder.

Luna arched her brow but said nothing. Her sister did have a habit of always wanting to give a second chance and see the best in ponies and creatures. Everybody thought Celestia had gone absolutely mad when she had intended to reform Discord, yet that had worked out surprisingly well.

“If that fails, I get to rib you about it for the next several years,” the Lunar Princess warned with a small smile.

“I will put it on my schedule,” Celestia smiled as well. “Daily ribbing from Luna. Six o’clock sound good to you.”

“I may just have to put that on my schedule,” her sister chuckled, but assumed then a more serious expression. “That is if it will even be necessary. Twilight and her friends may just end up dealing with her for us.”

“That is a distinct possibility as well,” Celestia agreed and turned towards the museum entrance, as did her sister. They saw Starswirl standing there, having just arrived.

“Princesses, I do believe I have made things as ready as they can be,” the old unicorn announced. “If all goes well, a simple ambush will suffice. But if not, more drastic measures are in place.”

The two princesses glanced at each other, nodded, and then walked to the museum entrance to follow Starswirl inside. Before she fully entered, Celestia glanced back towards the north, frowning. She could have sworn she saw faint whisps of black smoke in the far distance.

Guess we’ll find out soon enough if it works, she thought and went inside the museum.

End chapter 20