NOWHERE
POV CHANGE: Bugze
Down With Chrysalis’s Narrative
BrownDog77’s Narrative
You stare, mouth agape as Sombra faces down his backstabbing mother on ultra high definition screens of some kind. It sort of reminds you of the televisions back in the human world, but even more crisp. You would appreciate them a bit more if what they were showing wasn’t so dire.
“So what are you betting on? Matricide or infanticide?” the voice of “your friend” asks behind you, causing you to face him. The brown earth pony stallion with the fancy hat with the smiling/frowning mask cutie mark sits on that couch which hadn’t been there a moment ago, chowing down on his popcorn. “Or maybe a double whammy and they take themselves out? That’d be pretty dope too.”
“That is not “dope!” the buck is wrong with you?” you growl at the nonchalant earth pony. Once more, just like in the dungeon, you feel an overwhelming strangeness from him. It isn’t just the unsettling grin he sports, there’s just something plain off about him. As if he was there…and yet not at the same time.
“What’s wrong with me?” he repeats hollowly. “Guess it depends on who you ask, and at what time of day. Right now? I’d say I’m a bit hungry.”
“Hungry?” you repeat flabbergasted before shaking your head. “Alright, quit messing with me! A second ago you were talking about how all I love and care for is going to be destroyed like some whack job comic villain!”
“Well yeah, because the end is near and that’s how your story is going to end,” he says plainly with a shrug.
“What?!” you shout and he rolls his eyes.
“Honestly, the trait of you not listening and asking for info to be repeated has not been one of my favorites. Let me break it down for you. You’re life is coming to an end soon, but before that, a lot of anguish and suffering awaits.”
Again, the stallion’s blasé tone over such horrifying words takes you aback. And once more, that annoyingly haunting poem’s opening rings in your head.
I have a rendezvous with death.
“Shut up!” you say to both the poem and the nutjob in front of you.
“Hey, you were the one asking the questions, and I’m answering like a good friend aren’t I?” he smirks.
“You are not my bucking friend!” you growl as you start walking towards him.
“Oof, ow, how stinging to hear,” he says in mock pain.
“Quit joking around and give me some damn answers!” you demand as you reach the couch and loom over him, blocking his view of the screens. “Who are you?! What is going on?! Why are you doing this?! Where the buck are we?! And how do I get back to the Empire?!”
“Really? You wanna have a chat right now? A fight to the death is about to start, and you wanna just talk over it?” he sighs in boredom, trying to peer around you, but you block his sight by leaning your angry face further into his space.
“Answers! Now!” you growl. The stallion just sighs again, sets his popcorn aside and leans back from you into the couch, seeming more relaxed somehow.
“Fine, since you wanna go and be a sourpuss,” he says arrogantly as he clicks a button on his remote, which pauses the screens showing Sombra and Rabia. “But first, how about you take a step back? I don’t feel like getting Lyme Disease if you accidentally bite me.”
Feeling beyond frustrated at his attitude, you cock your hoof back and swing right for his stupid, smug face. Despite your sudden rage however, the stallion does not attempt to dodge the punch at all, instead his smug grin only seems to grow. Warning bells go off in an instant in your head, but they are too late as your hoof reaches its target…only to phase right through him along with the rest of your body.
“Wha-Oof!” you grunt as you find yourself falling face first into the couch, which he is no longer sitting on. Confused and disoriented, you look up to see him staring down at you from behind the couch.
“Now now Bugze,” he mocks from above, his smile even more unnerving. “Is that how you treat someone who’s helped you so much in the past? I wasn’t lying when I said I didn’t want Lyme Disease.”
“What help have you EVER given me?!” you shout as you try to stand up from the couch and reach for him, but the material seems almost too soft and malleable, and you end up falling again.
“Really? All the nice letters I sent with hints of what’s to come? What about the chainsaw, wasn’t that helpful? And let’s not forget the Inventory, you’ve had that one for awhile now,” he points out matter of factly.
“You gave Nightshade the Alicorn Amulet!” you accuse as the couch warps as if made of liquid, and you find yourself upside down somehow.
“Yes, yes I did do that,” he says while looking at his hoof, sounding bored. “Admittedly I wanted you to have it originally. I mean, can you imagine the disasters you would’ve caused while wielding such dark power?”
His face suddenly shifts to that of unsurpassed sadistic glee, the intensity of which actually causes you to flinch.
“It would’ve been sick! Your awakened form would’ve been jacked up on steroids! You might have even reached Kaiju height levels! There actually would’ve been an epic smackdown between you and Tirek and everything! Not to mention the thematic irony of you sharing Trixie’s tragic fate!” And then quite suddenly, his glee is replaced with melancholy. “Or what should have been her fate. Stupid mare had too much of a stockpile of unused good luck and she ended up surviving and all. Bullcrap cop out if you ask me.”
“Huh? What are you going on about? How’s Trixie factor-“ you start, but you end up sliding in the gooey chair thing, till you are in a sitting position, facing the paused screens. The stallion, continues on though, ignoring you.
“So maybe it was for the best that you were off galivanting in another dimension since those parallels got cancelled out,” he sighs before frowning. “You know that really got my goat not getting to see your shenanigans for a year? You being in a human world sounds hilarious, even if I wouldn’t have had any influence!”
Influence? You wonder as he seems to be disappointed, but he continues while the couch seemingly pulls you in further.
“But I guess I do have to admit that Nightshade’s antics were pretty fun. The amulet getting stuck inside her was like a surprise bonus,” he says, leaning towards your ear from behind, which causes it to twitch.
You want to struggle through the jello like surface of the couch and pounce on this jerk who made your baby suffer, but suddenly you see his hoof tap the couch, and it solidifies, with it partially around you.
“Wha- how did you do that!?” you ask taken aback as the snugness closes in.
“And there you go questioning magic, as if something like this hasn’t happened to you constantly in the last four years,” he rolls his eyes. “Low IQ’s really are surprised by everything aren’t they?”
“But…aren’t you an earth pony?” you inquire, this discrepancy overwhelming your anger for the moment.
“Yeah, and?” he responds smugly. “Pretty speciest of you to think I wouldn’t be able to do that.”
“Oh don’t even try to play that card! You insinuated I’d give you a disease that only ticks can give since I’m a bug!” you growl back as you try to escape the couch, but are unable to budge.
“No, not because you’re a bug, because you’re you Bugze,” he corrects. “I bet given enough time you’d be able to give a sea pony rabies.”
“I’m not some diseased ridden dog! But answer the question, how are you doing magic? Who are you? What are you?”
“I’m still only an Earth Pony you closet speciest,” he says playfully, bopping you on the head. “As for my name, I already told you Buggy Boy, I’m DWC.”
“Oh for-What does that even mean?! What does DWC stand for?”
“Oh wouldn’t you like to know fly boy?” he chuckles before putting his hooves on your shoulders from behind. “Maybe it stands for Delightful Witty Character, which I am, or maybe it’s a purpose like Dying With Class. Maybe it’s a rebel rallying cry of Down With Chrysalis! I know you’d join that cause. Maybe it’s from an old shopping list to get Donuts Without Cream, or an old police ticket for getting Drunk With Children. Perhaps it’s so mundane as Dirty Wash Cloth, or as grand as Divine Water Chapel. Or maybe, just maybe it could be short for my mood, Done With Changelings.”
“None of those sound true at all,” you argue with him and he smirks.
“Yeah, you’re right. And honestly I’ve had so many names throughout the years they all jumble together after awhile. Ultimately though names are pointless in the end, meaningless titles with no true purpose,” he says nonchalantly. “You can call me DWC because it’s simple, and maybe it once stood for something, but maybe even I don’t remember what it was…or maybe I just don’t care.”
“Okay fine, you’re nuts I get it! But that still doesn’t answer a damn thing!” you growl back.
Seriously, this guy keeps shifting moods on the dime. Is he bipolar or something? You wonder.
“Which was the point, but I get where you’re coming from,” he says patting your shoulder before walking to the side of the couch. “But come on, I gotta make you a bit aggravated after making me pause the family drama.”
You are about to tell him to get on with it, but he holds his hoof up, and suddenly his popcorn bucket appears in it.
“The magic right? It’s always about the magic and never where I got this fancy hat,” he sighs. “Well, let’s just call it a benefit of my employer. You ever play Ogres and Oubliettes? Think the Warlock class, only less railroady.”
“Employer?” you question and he rolls his eyes.
“Employer? Employerrrr, eeeemmmmppppllllloooyyyyeeeerrrr,” he mocks, as he leans over you. “See, I can repeat words like a moron too.”
“You piece of sh-“
“But yes, the power comes from the one I serve, and that’s how I’ve been able to make your life so interesting the last four years.”
“You what?!” you exclaim, but he puts a hoof to his chin in contemplation.
“Although, truth be told, getting direct with you was never my first choice. I prefer handling things in the background, but after a year of your absence I guess I got a bit impatient to make sure you got your fitting end. Opportunity knocked with you running out to Tirek and all and-“
“Hold up, hold up! Go back a bit there,” you interrupt. “What do you mean you’ve been making my life interesting?”
“Well that’s a bit of misnomer,” he hoof waves. “You’ve made your life pretty interesting with your choices and actions, all I did was give a few tweaks here and there. Little things that you spiraled out into grander things, stuff like that.”
“You’ve been influencing me? How?” you ask and he just gives you a side glance with a raised brow.
“Really? Isn’t it obvious?” he asks, his voice drippy with some twisted mix of glee and uncaringness. He points at the screens where Sombra remains frozen, and under the center screen is some sort of control panel with blinking lights and levers. “You think these monitors are just for show? How do you think I always got my letters to you?”
“So…you’ve been watching me all this time?” you ask in disgust.
“Well, except for when you universe hopped this last year. At least in the Nightmare-verse I knew exactly where you’d gone, but trying to figure out a human world without any other info is almost impossible,” he admits, sounding frustrated. “But still, four years of manipulation and observation can only keep things interesting for so long after all. So when I saw a chance to spice things up I just had to take it!”
“And what chance was that?” you inquire.
“You going out alone and weakened to confront Tirek of course,” he answers. “You chatting him up was actually pretty funny, but the timing was all wrong. You still had hope left in your heart and were high on love. When you next face that centaur, you need to be broken not just physically, but mentally is well. So that’s why I plucked you out of there, because the big red guy still needs to eat his fill.”
He says all of this, sounding excited…but even that emotion doesn’t feel genuine to you.
“That giant is not going to eat anymore!” you shout. “The others will activate the Crystal Heart and-“
“Not so sure about that one, seeing as how old Mommy Dearest turned on Sombra and all,” he points out, before he walks in front of you with a sadistic grin, your positions from earlier reversed. “Don’t get me wrong, I would have loved to just continue my rouse behind the curtain. But seeing as how our little tale is coming to a close, I thought I’d move things along during this whole chaotic mess. It is the grand finale after all, so logically I should make an appearance right?”
“…What is your problem!?” you growl out, sickened by his maliciousness, which only causes the stallion to gain a blank look.
“My…problem?” He asks with a tilt of his head, as if the word was completely foreign to him.
“Yes your problem!” you snarl. “You’re talking about making my life interesting and laughing over my family’s suffering and saying I’m going to die like it’s no big deal! So why the buck have you been ‘helping’ me all these years and then pull something like this?!”
The stallion continues to give you a blank look before his eyes widen in realization.
“Oh! I understand now, you want to know my motivation is that it?”
At your glare he just chuckles, which somehow manages to sound both joyless yet genuine at the same time. He gains a faux look of thought as he starts to pace back and forth before your trapped self.
“I could claim to be some power-mad stallion bent on world domination, controlling all from the shadows of some convoluted secret organization…”
The stallion’s gaze lingers off to the side, as if contemplating what he just said before scoffing in disinterest.
“Though to be frank that would be rather dull wouldn’t it?” he questions you, as if you somehow knew the answer to his bizarre inquiry. You just give him an indignant stare, which he just nods at. “You’re right, this tale has had its fair share of secret organizations by now. Three is enough, and manipulating Robo Flag Burner and his Suns was pretty mind numbing.”
“So you did have something to do with them?!” you accuse and he just waves his hoof dismissively.
“Yes, yes, I’m the stallion behind the stallion and all that, but who gives a buck by now?” he says impatiently as he continues to pace back and forth. “What matters is the motivation right?”
This guy’s mood swings are starting to grate on me, you think angrily as the insane stallion continues, plastering on another obviously fake gleeful smile.
“I know! I’m a pony from your family’s past, who is out for revenge against you and your kin for the sins of your forefathers!” he shouts, but almost as soon as he finishes, his face squeezes up, as if he just tasted a particularly sour lemon.
“On second thought, no. That is awfully boring, and I do so despise the idea of ever fitting into something so cliched,” he growls out, spitting out the last word as if it personally offended him and his first born by simply existing.
Finally having enough of the mad stallion’s prattling you growl out,
“Okay, enough! Make up your mind already about whatever your lame backstory is or tell the truth! Either way I’ll kick your flank in the end!” you threaten, even though it is lessened somewhat by the restraining couch. DWC stares blankly at your outburst before a dangerously sly grin forms across his face.
“Now there’s an idea!” He stares intently into the surrounding emptiness, seemingly speaking to some invisible force as he continues, “I should have gone with that from the start, how silly of me to take this long to realize it.”
“And that would be what exactly?”
“Why the truth obviously! Never really went with that option before so this is bound to be interesting. But the whole truth they say can’t be handled immediately, so let’s go with some of the truth first,” he says, making up his mind before facing you directly. “I suppose the steps in how we got here will make it easier to understand, even for you. In a way, you could say my actions were because my aforementioned employer ordered me to cause as much trouble in your life as possible.”
“So you have a boss who has it out for me? Who?!” you demand, thinking through the myriad of enemies you’ve made. To this question though, he stares at you blankly.
“You already know her name, you shout it in the air at least three times a day after all,” he explains condescendingly. Your confusion at his statement only lasts for a few moments before your family motto rings in your head, causing your eyes to widen in realization.
“Lady Luck…” you whisper out in shock.
“Ding! Ding! Ding! What do we have for him Johnny?” he shouts with that maniacal grin, looking off to the side. But just as quickly, his face returns to being dull and melancholic. “Yes, My Lady Luck.”
“There’s just…there’s no way…” you say speechlessly.
“Yes way there is,” he responds grinning once again.
Even after hearing about Grandbuggy’s past in ticking her off, some part of you still didn’t quite internalize her as a physical entity, but now here is someone with strange powers claiming to be her employee.
“You…you serve Lady Luck?” you ask hesitantly and his face droops again.
“Again with the repeating questions that have already been answered,” he monotones before grinning again. “But then again your skepticism is good. Because that’s a complicated answer.”
You raise a brow and he continues.
“In one regard, yes, I am an Agent of Luck. Cosmic entities like my Lady aren’t wholly omniscient, and they don’t devote their time 24/7 to carrying out their duties, so Agents like myself are employed,” he explains, sounding now like a teacher. “Heck, I’m not even the only Agent of Luck out there, but I am the one stationed to you dear Bugze, or rather, your bloodline.”
“Me? Why me?” you ask before the revelation from a few days ago comes back to you. “Is this because of the Curse?”
“There’s using your noodle,” he nods and rubs your mane. “Yes it’s because of the curse my Lady placed on your Grandbuggy.”
You grit your teeth at that, but are taken aback before he chuckles without humor and shakes his head.
“But honestly, that old bug has blown out of proportion what exactly that curse entailed.”
“Huh?”
“Bugze, my Lady got rejected, so she placed a petty curse on Quick Fix. Something along the lines of bumping his hoof on the dresser in the middle of the night every so often, losing out on money opportunities randomly, or getting into shenanigans that would get him bonked upside the head,” he says boredly. “Annoying little things like that, which I would ensure would befall him. And because he kept cursing her for every little thing, the backlog of pettiness just kept growing.”
“But he had to leave Granny Smith, and then my parents…” you stammer as you remember the big tragedies of your family life. At that though, he shakes his head.
“That’s just real life Bugze. Bad things happen, and it wasn’t by my Lady’s will for all of your loss,” he shrugs. “Really, your Grandbuggy was enacting a self-fulfilling prophecy, because he knew he was cursed, so obviously every bad thing in his life and your family’s life had to be because of Lady Luck right?”
Your head spins as you take in this info. All your life, you’ve been cursing Lady Luck just as you’d been taught. But if what this guy says is true, then Grandbuggy has blown out of proportion on what’s been happening.
No, wait a dang second!
“How can I believe that? If that were the case, then what about the last four years with me?!” you accuse. “You said you were spicing things up and were laughing about my suffering as if you caused that! Sure seems like a bucking curse to me!”
He gives an unnaturally toothy smile at that.
“Oh, I just love when you have a brain blast,” he chuckles and squeezes your cheeks. “Shows that not all the neurons died. Remember when I said this was a complicated answer?”
“Uh-“ you start, but he continues.
“Because the truth is, these last four years, I haven’t exactly been carrying out Lady Luck’s will.”
“…Say what now?” you ask, feeling even more confused.
“I’ve been going to the beat of my own drum with you, ever since Chrysalis killed you,” he says plainly before letting go of your face. “I mean, I have made you have your little misfortunes as well, but that’s just surface compliance. I mean, I love my Lady, don’t get me wrong, but she really has no ambition.”
“Ambition? What the buck are you talking about?” you demand and he sighs.
“Bugze, I’ll be honest, pulling what were essentially minor pranks on you, your Grandbuggy and even your mother was a dull, boring ordeal for me,” he admits, sounding tired. “Most of my life is boring and dull, but the tedium was what got to me. But as it was a bloodline curse, my job would have ended with your death…but you didn’t stay dead.”
He smiles wistfully and looks up into the distance which makes you shiver. “No one could have predicted Chrysalis shoving a magical weapon into your chest and restarting your heart by force, but the minute that she did…that’s when things became interesting for me. I wasn’t the only one to take notice, and when I realized you had burgeoning eyes upon you, well, I just couldn’t help myself.”
“What do you mean you couldn’t help yourself?” you demand, briefly wondering what he means by eyes.
“Bugze, you had the essence of Nightmare Moon inside your heart, and with just nudge of bad luck, you ended up near where she had been defeated,” he explains. “And from there, well, I’d see how far I could go in pushing your shenanigans. And boy did they go places I didn’t expect, like with Nightshade, the Doctor, and don’t even get me started on the Crimson Knights and the Otherworld.”
“So…you just pretended to be my friend so you could manipulate things?” you ask and he puts on a false show of hurt.
“Oh Bugze, you still don’t consider me a friend?” he sing songs. “I guess you have your reasons. But honestly, if I hadn’t called myself your friend and given you gifts, you were probably less likely to trust my letters. And just like your Grandbuggy giving into a self-fulfilling prophecy, you took my warnings and made them happen anyway. That is why your new life has just been so, so interesting.”
“Inter-“ you start to repeat, but he covers your mouth with his hoof.
“And therein lies the whole truth, and nothing but the truth to the question of ‘why did I do any of this?’” he states as he leans closer to your face. When he’s close enough that you can feel his breath, he whispers out a simple phrase. A simple phrase that shakes you to your very core.
“Because I could.”
These words fill you with dread for reasons you can’t truly grasp. But through the madness in his eyes, you know they hold far more weight than they have any right to.
Wh…what? You think in shock as your mouth is still covered. Sensing the question in your pale face, his grin turns malicious as he removes his hoof and backs up raising his forehooves in some grandiose gesture.
“Why my dear bug, it’s rather simple, I was presented with two choices. Option one, continue to spread minor misfortune along some insignificant Changeling’s lifetime,” he monotones, in sheer boredom, before suddenly he is full of joy as he dramatically flourishes his right hoof “Or option 2! I take matters into my own hooves and make your life the most interesting tragedy this pathetic mud ball has ever known!”
He then lifts both his hooves up and down as if he’s weighing something while saying,
“Hmmm, dull and boring existence or the never-ending change of a black comedy tragedy?” he drones before chuckling and shooting his right hoof into the air. “The choice was rather obvious, wasn’t it?”
“So…so you just decided to torment me because you were bored?” you gasp out.
“Exactly! By inserting myself more blatantly into your story, giving off clues and gifts, and tweaking your luck here and there, your life has become so so fun to watch, and not just for me…” he says looking off into the nothingness. “There’s other watchers out there, thinking they’re in control, but just like you Bugze, they never really had a choice. The Game Was Rigged From The Start!”
He stands on his back hooves, shouting the last part for all the world to hear as hysterical laughter soon fills the air.
“…You’re out of your bucking mind,” you state as goosebumps roll over you, disturbed beyond belief at the insanity before you.
And what the buck does he mean by watchers?
Almost instantaneously, his laughter subsides as he coughs into his hoof and he plasters a fake sheepish grin on his face.
“Sorry about that, got a bit carried away there.”
You stare at the nutjob before you in dread, but after a few moments you find yourself capable of speech once more as you stutter out,
“S-seriously, what the buck is wrong with you?”
“We already answered that question Bugze,” he dismisses, before he suddenly hops onto the seat next to you. “And repeating things over and over again is boring.”
“Oh to buck with your ‘boring,’ this is my life we’re talking about!” you shout as you try and fail to wiggle out of the couch. “And speaking of which, if I was just entertainment for you, why are you ending things now? Why are you trying to kill me?”
To this, he puts a hoof around your shoulder and faces the screen.
“Bugze, all good tales must come to an end, and your tale was always going to end in tragedy, even if the buildup was fun.”
“And you won’t suffer going back to boredom once I’m gone?” you accuse, trying to pick apart his logic.
“Only one way to find out,” he shrugs carefreely. “But don’t fret too much Bugze, your end has been put in place by your own hooves. I mean if you think about it, the ending is just going to be returning you back to your proper place. These last four years with the Nightmare Jewell cranking your heart have been borrowed time.”
You take in his insane words as the poem echoes in your mind again.
“Alright fine, if I’m going to die, then so be it. But why are you torturing my friends and family?”
“Because of the suffering it brings,” he responds plainly as he picks up the remote. “The hero being dragged down, losing everything he’s gained, it’s…cathartic.”
“You’re a sadist!” you hiss and he shrugs.
“Maybe so, but I’m not cliched. Because ultimately your suffering will be miniscule compared to what THEY feel,” he says looking off again into the nothingness.
“Who is THEY?” you growl, which causes him to smile, but not at you.
“Nobody of importance,” he says, looking towards something only he sees. “They can’t stop what’s coming anyway.”
He then clicks the remote and the screens once more begin to play.
“So sit back and relax everyone, because it all starts tumbling down now.”
And with that, you and this insane stallion begin to watch as Sombra and his mother begin their duel. All the while, you can’t help but think.
I’ve got to get the buck out of here!
The Crystal Empire
POV CHANGE: Sombra
Puzzling Frost’s Comment
Kichi’s Comment
Ponygamer12’s Comment
As the thunderous crashes of Tirek’s hoofsteps grow closer and closer, you stare down your mother with contempt. She scowls towards you, before you both clash with blasts of dark magic. The blasts strike one another and explode, causing the chambers around you to echo and shake.
“You would dare to challenge me?” Rabia growls in rage. “I who brought you into this world and gave you purpose?!”
“Mother, stand down now!” you order and throw up a shield in preparation for another blast.
“Why should I listen to you disobedient child?!” she seethes, the eyes of her new physical body glowing brightly.
“Because I’m trying to save you, you small minded elder!” you snarl back, deflecting a shot at that.
“You Dare?!”
“Yes I dare! Because for so long I wanted to be by your side!” you shout out and this actually causes her to pause. “All I’ve ever wanted was to be with you, to feel the bond only a mother could give her child. It’s why I’ve worked so diligently to save our people!”
To that, your mother huffs and begins to give a sadistic smirk. “Then stop this foolish-“
“However,” you cut her off, “I will not let you throw everything we’ve planned to the winds just for your ego!” You punctuate as your eyes glow and crystal shards begin forming all around her like a cage.
“My ego? MY EGO?!” Rabia snaps her roar shattering the crystals. “I am trying to save what is left of our people! This plan is nothing more than a fool's errand! That demon will kill us all if we remain here just like he did with the others!” Her cape of shadows extends out into the shape of various beasts which strike out towards you, each one wishing to take a bite out of your hide.
“And you, the proud Queen of the Umbrum would throw away our only chance at getting revenge?! To stop him?” You snap back, summoning crystals to pierce the shadows. “You would run and let him take the world?”
“I would have our people flee and survive! It would take time, but I know of a way to take out that demon!” she shouts causing the Umbrum to perk up, while the others still awake look on in doubt. “Even if he were to take these alicorns' power we could best him, especially if we were to acquire it. But only if we retreat now!”
For a split moment you find yourself curious about what thing she is so confident would end the approaching monster. But only for a moment.
“Bull-ACK-Spit!” Nightshade coughs from the table drawing the queen’s focus. “She’s lying!”
“I do not lie you brat! The power of Shadow will be more than enough to-“
“I already control the shadows, and even they are no match for that bucker!” she snaps back as she shakily stands up, using Selena as a brace. Your mother’s newly formed features scowl at the filly who pulled you out of the depths of despair and that only serves to piss you off more.
Even if she isn’t lying like Nightshade says she is, Rabia’s betrayal is still detrimental to everyone here.
“This power does nothing to help us now mother!” you call out. “If it did then we could have all taken it together!”
“There’s no time!” she snarls at you as the crystal fragments she shattered earlier go flying towards you, to which you dodge. “And I would not share that power with ponies!”
"Seriously? You’re doing this now of all times for a power play?!" Nightshade snarls.
“My thoughts exactly!” you concur as your crystal column launches underneath Rabia, grazing her and knocking her backward.
“Oh you insolent whelps! Don’t you understand?!” Rabia shrieks as the alicorn amulet glows fiercely and the column explodes.
“No we don’t you hag!” Nightshade rants as you shield yourself from the debris. “We literally have a giant magic eating kaiju right outside, and you think it’s the best time to start a bucking magic fight! I mean, the dude just ate your people for their magic not even an hour ago and you think that’s a good time to betray everyling?!“
Despite being haggard and weakened from her surgery, Nightshade is full of rage and vigor, which you can respect since her feelings are matching yours point for point.
“Betrayal?!” Rabia shouts in offense. “I will not take criticism from a pampered alicorn pony who’s done nothing but lived a life of luxury while my people have suffered for a millennium!”
And with that, your mother sends a blast towards Nightshade.
“NO!” you shout as you form a barrier of crystals, to which the spell shatters. This does however leave you open to one of her shadow summons to ensnare your legs and clamp it’s jaws around your leg. “AGH!”
“If I were in any fighting shape, you’d be dead for that bitch!” Selena growls over the attack on her daughter.
"Seriously? Are you bucking serious?!" the filly snarls, as a vein starts to pulse on her head and you dislodge the beast from your leg. “You think I’ve lived the good life?!
“Oh boy,” Grandbuggy mutters to himself as she starts to rant.
“Ever since I’ve been born me and my family have been hunted, whether by fearful misinformed idiots that wanted to rainbow death laser us or skanks that wanted to replace my mom!” she shouts and Rabia looks rather confused at that. “Not to mention I had to lie for so long, pretending I wasn’t an alicorn, always getting shoved in the bag because Dad found it convenient, and don’t forget the BUCKING ALICORN AMULET you just yanked out of me dumb buck! So yeah, what part of that is luxurious to you?!”
“Even a life of hardship is greater than a life of imprisonment!” the queen shouts angrily and again tries to send a blast at Nightshade, but you are able to cause an updraft of magic from below her and send her into a wall. “Agh!”
“Your fight is with me Queen Rabia! Or can you not see who is the bigger threat even in this instance?!” you accuse as you stalk towards her.
“Yeah idiot! Did you?!” Nightshade cat calls, and both Selena and Grandbuggy pull her back.
“Alright child, best let Sombra handle this,” Selena shushes while throwing a glare at Rabia.
“I’ve never lost sight on who the true enemy is Sombra, unlike you!” she spits as the green magic absorbs into her amulet and she hurls it back. “Ponies like her are but collateral now, it matters not how they die!”
“IT MATTERS TO ME!!!” he roars and pushes more dark magic her direction, but she turns to shadow and floats out of the way. “For the love of the gods, what about Hope?!”
“What about her?” she responds cruelly and that really ticks you off.
“You kept her safe for over a thousand years! She is the most important creature in my entire life! A pony that you claim to not care for!” you shout, and you notice said mare off to the side looking touched, even through her fear.
“Just a tool to be used and abandoned! Never forget that my Umbrum!” Rabia declares, directing that statement to your sister and the rest of your kind.
“If we abandon the ponies we would be sealing our fate!” You counter just as she coalesces into a physical form again. You glance behind her as Spike moves closer to Cadence, but thankfully she hasn’t seen him yet. “You don’t think he wouldn’t immediately turn his eyes on us as we fled like cowards?!”
“You speak of our people as if you give a damn!” Rabia growls. “I should have known letting you hide among the ponies would make you weak! You see yourself as one of them more than one of us!” Rabia roars, her eyes shifting to Nightshade especially after all her outbursts. “It’s all her fault! She poisoned your mind, made you sympathize with the enemy! You would pick a disgusting hybrid foal and her insane family over your flesh and blood?!"
“She showed me what a family truly is! One that loves and supports each other, and doesn't take advantage of those who wish to help us!” You growl horn pulsing with even more magic.
“Those ponies imprisoned us for centuries! Taking our homeland and burying us beneath the ice!” she lectures, glancing over toward the Umbrum and Ira, “Denying us our right to live as we see fit! Free to use our magic with impunity, they would sooner have us bow down and in chains than let us run free!”
“Denying us our rights? Or deny you?” You counter, conjuring your crystal scythe as you know this discussion is going nowhere. “You are of unsound mind and unfit to rule the umbrum. You refuse to look past your grudges and see reason!” Rabia roars as she pulls out two blades of shadows, you both charge and clash. The crystal floor cracks beneath from the impact, your horn clashing against hers alongside the blades. “You would rule over a graveyard of a world!”
“If it’s a graveyard of ponies then so be it!” Rabia decrees, “If that beast is the end of ponykind then let them burn! I shall claim his head after!”
“And with that sentiment you’ve just proven why they, our enemies, are better royalty than you. Because they were willing to save us despite everything that’s happened,” you condemn, before your eyes go harsh and you go in for the proverbial kill. “You are proving that Princess Amore was right about us all along.”
You know your words have hit her where it hurts as her features twist into something ferocious, and you even hear your sister and several other Umbra gasp.
“GRRAAAGGGHHH!!!” she shouts as the amulet glows fiercely and the ground gives way under the two of you, causing you to fall to the next floor, your blades still striking one another.
And as you fall, you see as the hold on the others loosens, and the purple dragon grabs the Crystal Heart.
Down With Chrysalis’s Narrative
Brown Dog’s Narrative
NOWHERE
POV CHANGE: Bugze
“Sombra!” you can’t help but shout in worry.
“Ooohhh, level transitions, classic fighting game mechanic,” DWC quips, before shoving popcorn in his mouth.
And then there’s this flankhole, you growl mentally as you turn to glare at your current jailor.
DWC continues munching away on popcorn, so slowly and methodically that it annoys you. But even through your aggravation, you also feel creeped out, because though he makes quips and even cheers here and there, his eyes are empty. Any outward emotions he has watching Sombra’s fight aren’t genuine, and that makes you shiver. You’d expect that someling who is so clearly insane would be having an absolute ball watching your family get hurt while you’re helpless to stop it, but his words were hollow, aside from the mocking.
“You see, they should’ve started the fighting much sooner, the whole anime trope of having these long drawn-out conversations that are only supposed to be a few seconds, doesn’t translate well into real life,” he complains, sounding bored and annoyed.
Somehow that attitude only pisses me off more, you think in aggravation. Sombra is literally putting his life on the line, and you have the gall to sound bored!
“Oh where are my manners,” DWC interjects once he notices your glare as he slightly tips the bucket of popcorn towards you. “Do you want some old friend? While this fight is rather mundane I have no doubt you could use some comfort food to settle the nerves.”
“I don’t want any gorramned popcorn! I wa-Glug!” you are cut off as he shoves the bucket into your face, and you involuntarily gulp down a few kernels. The majority of it though, spills all over you and the couch.
“Wow, so slovenly, even at the end of all things,” DWC says with a slight giggle before pulling the bucket back. “Had your fill?”
“Ptoo!” you spit mulched corn onto the ground and blink your eyes rapidly. “Oh gods, I got butter in my eyes!”
“Well that’s to be expected when you just dive right in,” he tauntingly shrugs, before flinging the bucket into the air, spilling even more popcorn. “But then again your comfort doesn’t really matter to me does it?”
“Grrrr,” you growl in anger as your eyes sting from the melted, salty dairy. To this, DWC chuckles halfheartedly.
“Yes yes, growl all you want. Really after all these years can’t you come up with some better way to express your anger?” he asks with a dull tone and face.
“Oh screw you!” you shout as you finally blink away the butter. “How else are you gonna respond when some flankhole-Ugh, what the buck?!“
You are cut off as suddenly a screen appears in front of your face and a bright light suddenly assaults your eyes.
“Like this! Losing control and just rampaging,” DWC says with a frown of contempt, and you realize what the screen is showing. A montage of the various times you used the cloak plays before you, almost like a highlight reel of the pain and damage you’ve caused while using it. “That Bugze was fun, and somehow far less emo than what you are now.”
“Sorry to disappoint, but that Bugze died a long time ago,” you declare as you look away from the screen, feelings of guilt and shame not quite subsiding.
“Did he? Did he really?” DWC mocks as the screen disappears.
“Yes! I’m not that kind of bu-”
“Grah!” Sombra’s pained voice erupts from one of the main screens and your eyes dart to it. You see as your friend has been cut along his rib cage, and blood starts to drip, as he evades another of his mother’s attacks.
“NO!” you shout in anger, your body flexing against the immovable couch.
“Heh, right, sure looks dead to me,” DWC mocks, which only serves to make you angrier. “But I guess without the cloak, that is true in a way. Nightmare Moon’s power made you entertaining, but now you’re just whiney.”
“Whiney?! My friend’s life is on the line and you think I’m whining?!” you snarl. You are about to shout a bit more, but are cut off as DWC starts to break down in a giggling fit. “The buck are you laughing at!?”
“At you, if that weren’t obvious,” he chuckles before abruptly stopping and going back to monotone. “Well no, that’s a lie actually.”
“Huh?”
“I’m laughing at this,” he gestures to the entire area as he continues, “this silly little suspense act going on here. It’s simply…hilarious to me is all.”
“Sombra and the rest of my friends and family being in danger is hilarious to you?!” you snarl and he nods.
“Eh, that’s only a part of it. I mean I have this whole setup to make you quake in rage, wondering if your ‘family’ will live or die, and it’s working…” he pauses before looking back at you with that hollow expression. “And the fact that it’s working is amusing given how truly, and utterly pointless it all is.”
Silence falls between the two of you as DWC’s words seem to echo in your skull, the strangeness of them and casualness behind them blindsiding you completely as you stare at the mad pony in shock.
“...Pointless? The buck do you mean pointless!?” you demand after a moment and he raises an eyebrow.
“Exactly what it sounds like,” he drones as if the answer is simple. “There’s no hidden deeper meaning behind my word. When I say this whole debacle between you, me, and all your little friends and family is pointless, I mean it truly as such.”
DWC leans towards you, his bored look slowly growing into something more diabolical as he says,
“Its all pointless, meaningless, unimportant, and utterly insignificant! Nothing truly matters Bugze!” The volume of his voice startles you as that sadistic glee returns as if from nowhere. “You could fight night and day, the princesses could battle using the very celestial bodies they control, Tirek could wipe out all life on the planet, and it would all mean nothing! Even my own actions are pointless, because the ending is already set in stone, and that’s why it’s hilarious. No one, not you, not me, not those watching, can change a gorramned thing, because nothing else matters.”
The amount of madness oozing off the stallion leaves you momentarily silent in shock, but you quickly shake it off.
“Well I don’t know what crazy pills you swallowed to make you think that, but this all matters to me!” You say in determination, a fire lighting in your eyes as you continue to speak, “All those innocent lives down there, my friends, my family, they all matter to me! And like Tartarus am I gonna let you say otherwise!”
The unhinged joy on his face disappears at that, and he lets out a sigh, just as Sombra on the screens knocks Rabia off her hooves with a magic attack, and sends her skidding across the ground.
“The irony is, it was pointless to try to explain that to you. But I guess you’ve gotta see for yourself,” he sighs before clopping his hoof on to the ground, and suddenly a doorway appears off to your right. “Go on through that door Bugze, the bathroom is down the hall and to the left. But “Don’t” enter any other rooms okay? Even if some may lead to the way out.” The insinuation in his tone is evident, as he’s goading you to do the opposite of what he says.
“What are you-?” you ask before suddenly the couch spits you out, and you land hard on the ground in front of the doorway.
“If it’s not all pointless, then prove me wrong,” he calls out as he turns to face the screens. “But you won’t because you can’t.”
You pick yourself up, and feel like running and dropkicking the bastard…but you realize he’s expecting exactly that.
“Gah!” Sombra shouts on screen as a magical projectile cuts across his cheek. This causes you to steel your nerves.
If there’s a chance of getting out of here, I’ve gotta take it! I’m not good to my family trapped in that couch, you think in determination and with that, you look down the blank hallway full of doors.
“You know what?! Buck you and your Lady Luck you freaking psychopath!” you yell at your “friend.”
“Haven’t heard that one before,” he waves boredly, not even turning around to see you leave, as he continues to watch Sombra’s fight.
“Well you’re gonna hear it more in the future when I kick your flank to Tartarus and back!” you threaten before turning and galloping into the possible escape route.
There has to be a way out, there’s got to be! You think in desperation.
Puzzling Frost’s Comment
Nightslayer’s Comment
As you walk down the endless hallway, your mind wanders to the many bombshells that psycho has dropped on you.
“So, this dude has been watching me my whole life, probably since I was a larvae, and he did so because Grandbuggy didn’t go out with Lady Luck way back when. Not only that, but DWC’s gone rogue and amped everything up because he was bored, and now he’s trying to lead me to die and for all my family to suffer…” you say aloud, and the ridiculousness of it all finally hits you. “This is all so stupid! I may not have always been a good bug, but I don’t deserve this bullspit!”
You punch at a door in frustration, causing it to thump loudly.
“By the gods I wish I still had my powers just so I could knock his rotten teeth in!” you growl vindictively. “Give you a few good broken bones and then toss you down in front of Lady Luck’s feet and snitch about all you’ve done! I mean true I have no idea where she actually is, or even if she would listen to me after years of cursing her name, but still!”
You thump the door again, before sighing in exhaustion, as all the wounds you’ve received since the Battle of the Bands make you feel old and busted.
“Honestly, just buck everything! I did not go through Tartarus and High Water to be together with Selena and Nightshade for it to end like this!” you declare with ragged breath before shouting down the hallway. “You told me not to open any other doors, but screw what you have to say you bucking psychopath!”
With that said, you immediately open the door you’ve been striking.
The threshold isn’t so much an entrance as it is a screen-like look into somewhere else. Really looking into it, your eyes hurt and a buzzing sound echoes in the back of your mind. You see an empty maze with yellow walls, a somewhat wet carpet, and bad lighting.
“What in the buck?” you mutter as the fluorescent lighting hums ominously. You place a hoof up and try to reach in, but it meets a glassy surface, which causes the view in front of you to flicker with static for a moment.
“Okay good,” you sigh. “Because even if that was an exit, something tells me I’d get lost in…wherever the buck this is. Or eaten.”
The second you say that, your words are proven true as you hear some kind of creature groaning.
“Nope, nope, nope!” you shriek and slam the door. Even if it’s just a screen, you’re not taking any chances. You’ve seen that Neighponese horror movie with the ghost filly crawling out of the TV.
“Okay, next!” you say as you peek inside another door. This time, you see a very blocky-looking world, with square clouds and a square sun. “Hey, ain’t this that one game that Nightshade was prattling on about?”
As if to answer your question, you see as a strange green creature hisses and chases after a blocky bipedal figure, before suddenly blowing up.
“Is DWC playing this right now or…?” you trail off with your question before you shake your head and close the door. “Okay so we had horror movie setting, and video game, so next door will obviously be…”
“Wheel! Of! Fish!” an audience cries out as you open the next door. Inside you see three humans behind podiums on a gameshow stage. The host human has them spin a wheel that has dead fish pinned to it and your head starts to hurt from the randomness.
“…Okay, not this door obviously,” you monotone as you close the door.
“Stupid! You’re so stupid!!!” the gameshow host yells at one of the contestants, before the door drowns him out. You then slap the sides of your cheeks and steel your gaze.
“Alright, these are obviously all just movies or something, and are used as decoys to hide the exit…yeah,” you theorize, even though a part of you thinks otherwise. Really, the glimpses into those first three doors reminded you of the reality images you saw in the Time Storm back in the Human World.
Choosing to ignore that though, you rush down the hallway on tired hooves as you start rapid fire opening and closing doors. As you do, you glimpse quite a few strange sights.
You see a blue tabby cat chase a brown mouse with a mallet in its paws, a pirate ship with a captain singing about a jar of dirt, a giant kaiju lizard fighting an equally sized giant ape with a glowing battle ax, an unholy terrifying looking foal version of Scootaloo at a tea party, an earth pony in pharmacist clothes fighting a fedora-wearing teal green platypus, a familiar looking decayed yellow robot rabbit fighting a black animatronic bear with a missing eye in a burning building, a samurai warrior battling a shape changing shadow creature with a green face, a pair of bipedal creatures in red and orange futuristic space armor wondering about why they were in the middle of a canyon, a tap dancing/singing frog with a hat and cane, and a sponge and starfish in a sandwich car. You take a moment to pause process everything you just saw.
“This place is pure insanity! A multiverse of madness!” you shout as everything hits you all at once. “Or maybe just a very inconvenient movie theater!”
You open yet another door at random, and see a red headed human dancing on a stage as music starts up.
“Oh Gorrammit! I hate that meme!” you curse and slam the door, having had enough of the song after getting trolled so many times when trying to watch cat videos in the Human World. The next door only serves to make you angrier as you see a stick bug just dancing back and forth, and the one after that is a blue gnome making stupid noises, and the next is a heavier human male with headphones on, lip-synching to some foreign song and dancing in his chair. “Is this just the intnernets, is that what this is?!”
No one answers your desperate cry as you open yet another door to see just a normal bathroom that you can actually enter.
“…Okay, gonna assume that’s a no?” you guess before sighing and closing the door. “I guess this is where DWC told me to go, but honestly, what is even the point of this place?”
You then frown as you remember him telling you that everything was pointless, and you kick at the ground.
“Buck his nihilistic bullspit! There’s definitely a way out here!” you shout, and open yet another door at random.
You do a double take after hearing the chant, looking around for any sign of your big red friend/cousin.
“…Note to self, Mac might be worshipped by future humans…or something,” you shrug as you gently shut the door. “Next!”
The next door opens onto the Friendship Express as it pulls into Ponyville station, the town itself looking barren and empty.
“Whoa, wait a minute, what?!” you gasp as you watch the Humane 6 in their pony forms get off the train with Ditzy, the Outcasts, the Windio kid, and a few others. You then watch as they start to take the mirror out and haul it towards the woods where Grandbuggy’s bunker lies.
“Wha-How in the heck did they get their already?” you wonder, knowing it hasn’t been that long since they left. “Or…is this in the future?”
No answers come to you, and the screen only shows the empty train station, so you shut the door.
“Well at least there’s some good news, and they’ll get away, but still,” you lament as you open another door.
This time, you see a strange sight as a group of creatures sit around a poker table that appears to be in space. One is a giant floating eyeball with tentacles, a human child with a face that’s half orange and half purple wearing starry pajamas, a bipedal white rabbit with a toothy grin, and a blue ram with large horns, red eyes, and an ornate bell collar.
“You all ever miss the 80’s?” the ram sighs wistfully.
“Focus on the game you old goat,” The floating eyeball chastise.
“I am a ram and you know it you freakish librarian!” he snaps back.
“This game is boring. Can we play something else Grogar?” The child groans.
“Sure, how about double Russian Roulette?” the white rabbit suggests happily pulling out two revolvers. “That’s where you fire two guns at once, and the chambers got double the ammo!”
“No Max, we’re not cleaning up that mess again,” the eyeball lectures.
“Spoilsport,” the child blows a raspberry at the eyeball while the rabbit shrugs, puts the guns away, and then lays his cards down, causing the other two to fold.
“Oh come on!” Grogar groans.
“Thats the 12th time in a row!” The kid bellows.
“It’s called skill, git gud scrubs,” the rabbit chuckles.
“If Slendermane were here, you wouldn’t be winning so much,” the tentacle eyeball complains.
“Right…” you trail off as you close the door on the strange scene. “Note to self, drugs are bad.”
Shaking your head, you look down the continuing hall of random doorways and grumble.
“Then again they’d probably improve my mental state with all this random nonsense.”
You then try a few more doors at random, not really paying attention to the erratic images on the screens they hold. After moving on from a door that had alien blue monkey-cat things fighting humans that visually looked impressive but you felt was really overrated and dull, you find your first real room since the bathroom.
“Okay, now we’re getting somewhere,” you say a bit enthusiastically as you look around the room…and then your face falls. “Or maybe not.”
It’s a bedroom with a queen-sized bed, what looks like a computer from the human world on a desk, and a chair in front of a television with game consoles you’ve never seen before. So pretty much a plain and simple bedroom…or rather not plain due to the sheer amount of nerd memorabilia lining the walls and bookshelves.
You see figurines of comic book, video game, and anime characters, you see posters of sci fi and fantasy movies, and there are plenty of those same genres filling the bookshelves. Heck, you even spot an entire case filled with nothing but movies in both disc and tape form.
“Seriously? This guy acts all evil and mysterious and crazy, but he’s really just a huge nerd?” you say in disappointment before shrugging. “Well I suppose nerds can be evil monsters too, Tirek seemed to be a huge weab like me. But still, I think this guy may be obsessed.”
In particular, there is one wall in this bedroom that is devoted to nothing but Pokémon. Or rather one Pokémon and all it’s evolutions.
“Why are there so many Evee-lutions?” you say feeling a bit creeped out as you see the countless plushies and figurines. “I mean, Evees are adorable but there are much cooler Pokémon out there. I bet DWC’s one of those sickos who’s attracted to them.”
“Well that’s a bit of a slanderish assumption,” his voice suddenly says from right behind you.
“EEP!” you shriek and whip around, and you see as the stallion is sitting in the gaming chair as if he’d been there the whole time.
“I’ll have you know I only appreciate Evee’s adorableness and their versatility. You could make a whole team of nothing but their evolutions,” he defends with a hint of offense.
“Yeah, sure, keep telling yourself that sicko!” you insult, even as you back up into the Pokémon shelf.
“I see having access to human internet has already corrupted your sense of innocence,” he monotones before grinning sinisterly. “Also, didn’t I tell you not to open any other doors? Didn’t your mother ever teach you to not go looking through other people's things?”
“Don’t talk about my mother! And don’t you dare act as if you didn’t say that so I intentionally would open doors!” you defend, and he puts a hoof to his chin in fake contemplation.
“You’re right, I did do that. Why did I do that again?” he asks rhetorically before bopping his head. “Oh right, to prove to you that everything was pointless.”
“Well I don’t know if this stupid hallway was pointless, but it sure was a waste of time!” you spit, fed up with his attitude.
“Eh, two sides of the same coin really,” he shrugs before looking at you with no emotion. “But yes, you’re little adventure, peering into the scenes of other realities was entirely pointless, because it did nothing to further your goals.”
“Well, uh…um…” you try and fail to argue, and he continues.
“There is no exit from here Bugze, unless I open one. All of these scenes meant nothing and they can’t help you change your fate. For them it may have been a welcome distraction from the drama, but in the end, this whole tangent was pointless!”
“Yeah, but…I found your room!” you argue back and he just raises a brow.
“And that helps you how?”
“It lets me know you’re a big dork, and gave me access to otherworldly weapons!” you shout as you reach behind you and pull a pokeball off his shelf.
“…Really?” DWC asks in disappointment.
“Yes! Now open the exit before I go Team Rocket on ya!” you threaten, pointing the ball toward him.
“That is literally just a toy, why would I have real pokeballs?” he asks, actually sounding incredulous.
“Don’t give me that! You gave me the Inventory remember? So you definitely have stuff from alternate universes!” you say triumphantly. “Now, let’s battle!”
You then throw the hefty metal ball on the ground in front of him and…it bounces, rolls around, and opens revealing a Vaporean toy inside.
A silence falls in the room, while DWC just stares at you disappointed, and your ears feel hot in embarrassment.
I thought for sure that was going to work, you mentally whimper.
“Yet another pointless action, but somehow worse, because that cost me money,” DWC says with a roll of his eyes. “Now, why don’t we get back to the show? Sombra’s gotten a few more injuries since you left.”
“Gyah!” suddenly your whole body is shoved out of the room by some invisible force and you tumble across the floor. You groan in pain as DWC trots out the door pulling out a small device and with a click, the door slams shut with a hiss before vanishing into thin air. Looking up, you see that you are in the room with the monitors once more, even though you know you traveled down that door hallway for a good while.
“How?” you groan, feeling exhausted as you witness Sombra and Rabia blasting magic at one another.
Ponygamer12’s Comment
Down With Chrysalis’s Comment
“All roads lead back to the beginning,” he says matter of factly. “These roads anyway. This is my realm Bugze, and no one, not even Lady Luck can peer into here without my say so. They can see because I allow them! Any actions you take here don’t matter.”
“The only reason everything is oh so “Pointless” is because you’re manipulating things!” you challenge as you shakily stand up. “Without you being a bucking jerk, none of this would be happening!”
“Parts of that are true, so I suppose I do have some blame in your tragic fate,” he says with that false tone of realization, before he smirks. “But come on Bugze, your actions aren’t only pointless inside this realm, but everywhere. “Hasn’t it ever occurred to you that for every step you move forward in your goals, it’s so closely followed by a massive leap back?”
You pause at that, and he continues, his wrong smile returning.
“I mean, if things do hold meaning then why can everything you do be so easily undone? Doesn’t that seem even the tiniest bit strange to you?”
“You’re saying it’s not all just you? What are you trying to imply?” you demand.
“Me? Imply something insidious or vindictive? Perish the thought,” he says with mock shock before continuing in what sounds like a feral growl. “I’m not implying anything, I am stating the fact you’ve tried so hard to ignore. Everything, and everyone, holds no meaning in this pitiful world. You’re just the biggest example of it.”
“You keep saying that!” you growl as you try to shrug off his words, even though the finality in which he says them strikes you deep in your core. “If none of this matters, then why are you even putting in any effort?”
“Like I said before. Because I can,” he answers with a smirk.
“Yeah, well buck that answer!” you say defiantly, which only causes him to smile more.
“All these glimpses into other realities, and yet you still can’t realize how futile it all is?”
“What the buck do those other worlds even have to do with me?!” you snarl and he clicks his tongue.
“To show you that in the grand scheme of things, with infinite other worlds out there, that you and even this reality are insignificant,” he monotones, even as Sombra grunts in pain on the screens. “There’s even countless Equestrias where you don’t even exist, and everyone still lives their lives and solves their own problems. Heck, in some ways, they’re better off and more effective without you around.”
“Well I don’t give a gorram about other realities, I care about this one!” you say defiantly, and he rolls his eyes.
“You’re right of course this is our reality, and even your part in it will soon be at an end. I mean, you do have a rendezvous to keep don’t you?” he implies evily and your eyes widen.
“Do you have something to do with that stupid human poem that won’t leave my head?!”
“It’s not just a human poem, but sort of,” he shrugs. “You were supposed to hear it this year and have it be an annoying tic that always filled you with dread, which I guess it still did, but I didn’t get to see it.”
He seems to pout about that fact, but you advance on him.
“Why? Why did you make me hear that over and over again?” you demand angrily as you reach into your Inventory for something.
“Because I could, and because it’s the truth,” he says coldly. “Now enough of pointless chit chat, get in the damn chair Bugze.”
Suddenly something hits the back of your legs hard.
“Grah!” you grunt, as you fall into a thick wooden chair, and your hoof is yanked out of your inventory, brushing up against several of your items along the way.
“What are yo-agh!” you grunt as your legs suddenly become shackled, and just like with the weird shapeshifting couch earlier, you are unable to move.
“There we go, right where we should be,” he mocks as he fiddles with something behind you, and suddenly metal clamps pull on your eyelids, keeping you from blinking.
“Agh-Gah! STOP!” you shout, but he does not listen to your pleas. You are now trussed up like that psycho in that Clockwork Orange movie, and he faces you towards the screens.
Once more you are forced to watch your family and friends struggling as Sombra continues to fight his bitch of a mom. And in the time when you weren’t watching, Sombra has gotten pretty messed up. There are cuts all along his body, and you can see him panting heavily, but he is still going all out and parrying Rabia’s attacks with his scythe through the already damaged palace.
“Sombra,” you say in worry for your friend, just as DWC sits down on the couch beside you, which wasn’t there a split second ago.
“You missed a few interesting blows while you were snooping, but again, just like your life, this too is meaningless,” he says gesturing to the screen.
“Then why even bother showing me?” you grunt as your eyes start to sting.
“Well, just because it’s pointless, doesn’t mean it won’t be fun to watch,” he shrugs, now having another popcorn bucket in his hooves. “Not to mention watching you losing all hope and your fighting spirit.”
Again, his words hit you in your soul, and you do find a bit of your resolve washing away. After all, you are trapped in another dimension with a powerful psychopath with no discernable way out. And while you fight against these feelings of helplessness, Sombra battles on.
Despite his struggle of the onslaught of attacks, you watch as he parries one of Rabia’s blades, before getting in close and shouting,
“Falcon Punch!”
His free hoof then strikes his mother right in the gut, taking her by surprise and expelling the air from her newly formed lungs.
“Oof!” Rabia gasps out, just as Sombra follows up with another surprising attack.
“Shoryuken!” he calls out, his hoof covered in crystals as he uppercuts the Queen into the air. He then leaps up into the air with her and slams forth the Scythe in an overhead attack, which she blocks, but it causes her to crash to the floor.
“Is he using my attacks?” you ask aloud in bafflement, and a bit of pride, which breaks through your melancholy somewhat.
“What fighting style is this?” Rabia grunts out as she back summersaults out of the way of Sombra’s landing fist strike.
“One that served a certain idiot just well for over four years,” Sombra quips back with a smirk. “And if you can’t beat ‘em, Join ‘em! Psycho Crusher!”
With that, Sombra propels himself forward with a spinning tackle, courtesy of the summoned crystal platform he used as a launch pad. Rabia of course isn’t used to such a strategy and gets speared into the next room, with both of them skidding across the crystalline floor.
“Ha! Yeah, get some Sombra! I taught you well!” you cheer as you watch your sick moves from a third person perspective for once.
“Ah, so that’s how he’s been able to hold out so well, using weaponized idiocy,” DWC quips from behind you. “A bold strategy from him, even I wouldn’t have expected it. But it won’t hold out much longer.”
“Why the buck not?” you spit as you feel your eyeballs getting red from dryness. “Like he said, it’s worked for me, so why not for him?”
“Because Mombra there’s got the alicorn amulet on,” he points out. “Nightshade used it in fun and exciting ways, and even Trixie kept you on your tippy hooves. Guess that means she hasn’t gone all out yet. Probably still getting used to having legs and all.”
If the contraption wasn’t keeping your eyelids open, they would have widened even more at that statement. His stupid prediction is obviously proven by Sombra’s many injuries. Sombra is holding his own with a few tricks, but he is definitely outclassed right now, especially since he’s only just received his new body.
Whether it’s due to the Queen's pure rage over the betrayal of her son, the loss of most of her people, or the close proximity to ponies without being able to mortally harm them, she is empowered in this fight.
It also doesn’t help that he is fighting his own mother, you think analytically knowing first hand that family drama never makes a fight for control easy.
And just as you have that traitorous realization.
“Enough of this ungrateful child!” Rabia shouts as the amulet bursts with light, and suddenly a clump of shadows underneath Sombra shoot upwards, sending the former king through the ceiling head first.
The Umbra Queen then shoots up through the hole in a torrent of smoke, and the scene refocuses to show that they’ve ended back up in the throne room.
“Huh, guess they’re keeping this one relatively contained,” DWC snarks and starts elbowing you in the side a little too hard. “Guess all the other fights used up the set piece budget, eh? EH?!”
You grimace at the ribbing, as your ever drying eyes take in every detail. Nightshade, Selena, Grandbuggy, Sunset and all the rest are still relatively where they were when the fight began. The Princesses though have groggily woken up and are attended to by Jack and Flash. The Umbra are still surrounding everyling, and Ira is nearer to Hope with a saddened look on her misty face. Also…
“Heh, and nothing of value happened with the rest of the gang,” DWC snickers as he turns his eyes back to Rabia just as she lifts Sombra up by his neck with magic, only for him to break the hold with a pillar of crystal. “Not surprising really.”
DWC is wrong on one thing though, and you don’t know how long it will take him to figure it out. Something has changed, and it is both minor and major. Spike the dragon is nowhere to be seen, and neither is the Crystal Heart…
The Crystal Empire
POV CHANGE: Sombra
Queen Rabia chortles and gloats as the fight moves in her favor. You are now back in the throne room, where all of your allies still remain captured, though it seems your mother’s hold may have weakened somewhat since the Princesses are stirring.
Even though you discern that, you also know that her well of power is nowhere near depleted. You’ve done well in holding your own, but now as you huff and puff in exhaustion, nursing the various wounds Rabia has inflicted, you realize that stopping her will require a feat of wit rather than strength. But you may just be at your wit’s end.
If Bugze were here, he’d probably quip about needing family therapy or something stupid like that, your tired mind thinks and you shake your head to clear the cobwebs. True or not, you can’t let idle thoughts wander.
That becomes clearly obvious as Rabia takes a page from your book and summons spikes of crystal under you, to which you barely hop away from. That hop though does leave you open to a pillar that bursts from the wall and smacks you towards the outer balcony.
“Agh!” you cry out as you feel your ribs pulsing in agony. You clench your teeth at the pain, and shakily stand back up, facing your mother as she slowly advances.
“Do you see now you petulant child? You cannot win this fight. Cede now, and I may still bring you with us as we leave these pests to their fate!” she demands, the amulet shining brightly to punctuate her words.
You scowl at that order, glaring her down as you spit a wad of blood onto the ground. At that, a pillar bursts from the wall behind you, throwing you forward and onto your face in front of her.
“Do as your told Sombra, or you shall suffer immensely,” she warns and you pinch your eyes shut in pain.
You know that ultimately she’s right. Not once in your life have you ever defeated the power of the alicorns, and here she is using a bastardized version of it. The end of the world is at the gates, and yet here you are struggling uselessly for nothing.
No…not for nothing, you think resolutely. Your eyes wander around the makeshift fighting arena and see the countless faces around you. Watching your defiance are looks of worry, fear, surprise, and anger spread across the faces of not only the ponies, but all the other assorted creatures as well, including your fellow Umbrum. Your newly discovered sister seems to convey all of these emotions, as well as confliction, but she acts neither one way or the other. What ultimately holds your gaze though, is the three ultimately in your corner; Nightshade, Hope, and even Selena surprisingly. Their faces do not express fear, worry, not even anger. No, they hold the namesake of the mare you love above all else.
Hope.
These ponies, your true family, have no fear of your failures or worry of your imminent defeat because they have complete and utter faith in you. They who have seen you at your utter worst, convey without words that they still think you can triumph and end this madness before it’s too late. They, your family, believe in you, and even through the pain and misery, it fills you with an emotion you haven’t truly felt in a long, long time.
Love. And who are you to let it go to waste?
Gritting your teeth, you stand back up before your mother, her glare intensifying as you continue your defiance.
“So you still resist?” she mocks.
“Of course I do, because I need you to understand something before this is all over,” you mutter as you begin the incantations within your mind.
"And what, pray tell, does a failure of an heir wish me to know?" Rabia growls out, seemingly so certain of her victory that she ignores the growing magic forming within you.
"All my life, I was scorned by forces I could never understand. Forces I refused to understand," Your tone begins low, but rises with every word you speak. "I ran away from my problems, ran as far and as hard as I could from the one pony who was there for me in my search for answers I didn't even know existed."
The dark magic thickens around you, creating an aura as smoke leaks from your eyes.
“Here we go,” you hear Nightshade whisper with anticipation as you continue to rant.
"And when I stumbled across you, I never questioned your knowledge or information, I just accepted it without ever wondering why. ‘Why were ponies and umbrum enemies,’ ‘why did they lock us up,’ or more specifically, ‘why did they lock you up?’”
Her eyes narrow at this, but you continue.
"I gave into the darkness and anger I felt was deserved, used pain I couldn't ignore to fuel my revenge. With it, I went far in my endeavors and caused many to suffer for my hubris. But now…” you trail off as smoking, sparking dark magic twists around your body, now impossible to ignore.
“’But now?’ Now what? What inane point are you trying to prove?!” she growls as she builds up her own magic in anticipation.
"…But now I realize that I was limited by the pettiness of rage and pain, that there is something that could further drive me far past the limits I once had,” you tell her pointedly.
"Of for- you must be joking?!" Rabia chortles out, seemingly amused and disappointed at your words. "Did spending time with these pathetic ponies honestly make you believe that 'Power of Friendship' nonsense?” To this, you smirk at her smugly as the power radiates further.
"No dear mother, I’m talking about something far more useful than friendship. What truly drives me, what makes me know I will defeat you…" you glance to Hope and the others before saying in a firm tone, "is family!"
“…Such ignorance and ungratefulness,” she sighs in disappointment as the amulet glows brightly. “I am your queen! Ruler of the Umbra and darkness, your mother! Your family is me, not them! And if you think that your next attack is going to be strengthened by these delusions, you’re sorely mistaken.”
"It’s you who is mistaken mother. FOR I AM SOMBRA, KING OF FEAR! USUPER OF THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE! PROTECTOR OF MY FAMILY, NIGHTMARE TO YOU!" you declare with determination and resolve, causing her to brace for your inevitable attack. You then mutter under your breath, “And my family has taught me a thing or two…”
You then throw your hoof up and yell…
Adood’s Comment
Skiny_Boy’s Comment
“LOOK! A DISTRACTION!!!”
“What?!” Rabia shouts in confusion at your words as she subconsciously turns her head around following where your hoof is pointing.
“Surprise Mother Bucker!” Nightshade shouts as she throws Bugze’s Boomstick right into Rabia’s face.
*BOOM*
“Gyagh!” Rabia is blindsided by the sneak attack and her defensive magic wavers as she flies towards you.
…It really is so dumb how that keeps working, you think for a moment before unleashing the spell you’d been building up.
Down With Chrysalis’s Comment
Ello Calebero’s Comment
Ponygamer12’s Comment
Your spell blasts Rabia with a tidal wave of dark magic, which encompasses her, but even with Nightshade’s sneak attack, the power of the alicorn amulet allows her to reflect some of it, causing you to be surrounded as well. The truth is, you were prepared for that inevitability, so you continue to pump power into the spell, but what you weren’t prepared for was the feedback.
The swirling darkness around you, in addition to your mother’s attempted warding, and even a smidgen of the magic from the Boomstick, causes an explosion which rockets you and Rabia out of the damaged palace and hurtling to the streets below.
The darkness cushions your fall, but the impact still rattles you both as you bounce across the broken, icy streets, not knowing your directions, until you come to a rest. Still, despite the impacts, you continue to feed power into your spell as it’s effects start to prey on you both.
And what spell is it? An old specialty of yours.
“Wh-what is this?” you hear Rabia’s panicked voice. “This can’t be! You’re dead! You’re dead! Get away from me Amore!”
Fear.
Such a simple spell really, especially for an Umbrum, which is precisely why it’s working so effectively. You never expect to be hit with your own talent after all.
“This was our kingdom! Ours!” Rabia shouts within the darkness at a princess you killed so long ago, though it’s hard to feel motivated by this slight victory because…
“Sombra…why?” a filly’s voice asks full of anguish and sorrow. You take a deep breath before looking towards the voice, and you see Hope as she looked when you were children. Tears stream down her face, and she looks at you like the monster you are. “Why did you betray us?”
You knew that you might be caught up within this spell as well, but even with that preparedness, it still hurts to look upon your bare subconscious.
As the filly Hope continues to cry and berate you, your other fears begin to trickle in. A younger you sits by a window, looking into the snow, the overwhelming sadness of growing up alone filling him. The Crystal Heart appears and shows you the truth of what you are as Amore looks on at you with uncaring eyes. The adult Hope appears next to her younger self, and looks at you with malice.
“It’s all been a mistake Sombra, after everything that’s happened, I can’t ever truly love you again. Just let go and free me of your presence…”
These words jab into your heart, causing you to wince, but you do not say anything back. You can’t break concentration on the spell now.
“You would dare usurp me Ira?! You’re just like your father! I knew this day would come!” Rabia shouts within her own nightmares, even as more of yours show up.
You see the Alicorns deciding to blast you into another incorporeal form, the crystal ponies taking you to the guillotine, and then comes Bugze, Selena and Nightshade looking at you with malice.
“You should just give up, you know it’s inevitable right?” Nightshade says cruelly. You do not answer back, but she smirks and holds up a pair of scissors. “I mean, it’s already falling out, so we might as well get rid of the rest right?”
At that, you see as your hair falls out in large clumps, and your heart quickens a bit.
“Gotta get used to wearing pork pie hats and growing a beard smokey,” Bugze laughs and holds up Human Sombra’s hat.
“And you’ll need spectacles soon too you old has been,” Selena chuckles cruelly, holding up some familiar looking glasses.
Really? This has been added to my list of fears? You think in exasperation as you pull your focus back to the spell.
“We should probably get him some whacky clothes too, since he’s becoming just like you Bugze,” Selena says holding up an assortment of mismatched, ugly clothes and your eyes widen.
“Yup, just as crazy as daddy, and just as ugly to boot,” Nightshade nods.
Oh come on! You mentally groan, your concentration slipping a bit.
“It gets easier old buddy ol pal,” Bugze says getting closer with the hat.
“You’re already crazy, so just give in already,” Nightshade implores, advancing with the scissors.
“Or would you rather you go back to your Room?” Selena challenges. Those words cause you to shudder, and then freeze as you hear another set of hooves walk up behind you. With goosebumps crawling up your neck, you turn around and see…
“Oh Hai! How is your sex life? Ha ha ha.”
The only reason you don’t scream aloud is that you bite down on your own tongue to the point that blood is drawn. Even still your heart beats a million miles a minute as adrenaline floods your system at the sight of the long haired, greasy stallion with the unplaceable accent.
“Ha ha, you just a little chicken. Cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep~” he taunts and you grit your teeth.
Okay, they may be family now, but I guess they did leave me a bit traumatized from that stupid prison. Still gotta pay them back for that in the future, you think vindictively before you get your breathing under control. The old fears, you’ve had years to reflect on, but these new ones are so stupid and unexpected that they threw you off a bit. Still, you will not allow your mother victory over something so dumb.
You allowed yourself to be consumed by this spell because you have mastered your fears, and these ones, no matter how stupid, will be no different.
With that resolve in mind, you dig deep within your mana pool and unleash everything you have left to shift the swirling mists towards your mother more, and away from you.
And as the wave washes over her, and your fears evaporate into the night time snow, you watch as the darkness swirls into your mother’s eyes, causing them to glow brightly green.
“…Ira? Sombra?” she calls out, her eyes not seeing you, or any of her surroundings. “Where is everyone?! Come forth to your Queen!”
She is shouting orders, but not to anyone in reality. You let out a gasp of air, and sit down in the snow, feeling weaker than you ever have in your entire life.
“Come forth! Someone! Anyone! Please…don’t leave me alone like this!” Rabia’s panicked voice becomes more solemn and fearful as her eyes only see her greatest fear. The power of the alicorn amulet is useless when your enemy is your own subconscious.
“Please…please…” she starts to cry as collapses to the ground. Foam starts to come from her mouth as she pleads with no one, as she is trapped within her never-ending nightmare.
“So your greatest fear was being alone,” you observe as you wipe sweat from your brow. “No matter how much you proclaimed your greatness, you’re just as simple as the ponies you so hated…”
“Gone…it’s all gone…” she whimpers, not hearing your words, probably not able to hear any other words after your spell.
“I’m sorry Mother…but you brought this fear upon yourself,” you apologize to the rambling mess before you. It may have been necessary to win, but it does still feel rotten. But alas, you have achieved victory. As the last of the smoke begins to dissipate, you look behind you and see that you have traveled several blocks from the palace. Up on the throne room balcony, you see the forms of your allies, standing side by side with the Umbrum, witnessing your “triumph.”
Taking a deep breath, you call out to them.
“I have defeated Queen Rabia! By rights of combat and lineage, I am now the new King of the Umbra!”
You watch as your shadowy kind look around at each other in confusion, but then your sister speaks up.
“He is right. All hail King Sombra!” she shouts, and with her words, the others all begin chanting as well.
“Hail to the King! Hail to the King! Hail to the King!”
Since they are no longer restrained or being threatened, you see as Hope, Nightshade, Selena, Grandbuggy, Jack and even Flash join in on that chant, while the rest of the alicorns look a bit lost and groggy over the whole situation.
They aren’t the only ones. When you enslaved the crystal ponies in the past, they’d been forced to chant your greatness. But this…these creatures are genuinely praising you, especially your sister. It’s a weird feeling, but not altogether unpleasant.
You then hold up your hoof to silence them.
“Yes, I am your king now. And for my first decree, I order all of my subjects to follow the plan from before!” you order, finally getting things back on track from Rabia’s derailment. “Do not tarry, it may be unpleasant, but this will ensure your survival. We have lost many today, but as long as I am king, we will not lose anyone else!”
"Aw, what a lovely sentiment,” a deep, guttural voice echoes suddenly, rattling the very ground you stand upon. Fear suddenly twists the faces of all those in the palace, even as it flows through you.
“Sombra! Behind you!” Nightshade calls out, even though a part of you knows it’s too late. Gulping, you slowly turn and look up as the last of your shadow magic swirling in the area funnels into the large, red centaur standing over you. Your own spell that had ensured your victory, has now brought you to death’s doorstep. A large monster would not have been able to sneak up on you, or even go unnoticed by the others if not for your spell’s obscuring mists.
“Unfortunately though, I’m still hungry, and that power spike just now smells like what I sucked out of that crystal a little while ago so…” and without waiting for any acknowledgement from you, the giant reaches down, picks up your comatose mother and brings her towards his maw.
“No, wait! Stop!” you call out uselessly, because it’s too late. The centaur begins to breathe in all of the magic contained within the Umbrum Queen. You watch stunned and horrified as her newly made corporeal form dissipates back into smoke as the alicorn amulet is drained as well, all the while she mumbles in her nightmares. It’s all over in the blink of an eye, as Queen Rabia is fully consumed by Tirek, leaving not even a body behind. Shrieks and cries ring out back at the palace, but to your shocked mind, they are but a murmur.
The Alicorn Amulet, now nothing more than a regular hunk of junk, falls to the street, shattering into a million pieces.
“Oh wow, that was unexpected,” Tirek says rubbing his belly. “Never seen a pony full on disappear like that, or maybe she was a ghost or something. Whatever the case, she had a unique taste with whatever that necklace thing was.”
“You…you…” you stammer as immense guilt strikes your heart. You essentially served your mother up to him on a silver platter.
“That being said, I’ve still got a hankering for Alicorn,” he says aloud. “So if there are any changelings in the area just know I’m coming for the princesses and the regular ponies, but you and whatever ghost things are around are fair game too.”
“I…” you still struggle to comprehend everything, but the neurons start firing after what he says next.
“So yeah, you’re next little unicorn.” And with that, he opens his mouth, prepared to drain you as well.
“Buck!” you shout as you summon a crystal shard cluster under his hoof.
“Yeowch!” the giant shrieks and does a little hop, lifting his injured hoof up. “Okay, I guess we’re doing this the hard way!”
“Umbrum! Ponies! Everyone! MOVE NOW!!!” you order to those in the palace. There isn’t a second to spare thanks to the late Queen’s treachery. Everything has gone downhill and with how drained you feel, you don’t know how long you can even resist against this monster. But you’ve got to do something, no matter how insignificant if it means giving your family and friends a chance…
NOWHERE
POV CHANGE: Bugze
BrownDog77’s Narrative
Down With Chrysalis’s Narrative
“How in the buck was he able to even get that close?! Kaiju aren’t known for their stealth!” you vocalize your displeasure as everything comes spiraling down.
“Oh, just a twinge of bad luck is all,” DWC says nonchalantly as he shoves a hoofful of popcorn into your mouth, to which you promptly spit out. “Still, I doubt their little “battle” is going to last that long since Sombra’s late mommy took a lot out of him.”
“You absolute bucker,” you growl over his callous enjoyment. “You got someone killed!”
“I didn’t do anything,” he responds. “Monkey boy was already on his way, and she was gonna get eaten anyway, just like the rest.”
“Whatever! That was still his mom!”
As someone who lost their mother in the past, you know Sombra’s gotta be feeling some of that hurt. Even though they’d just fought tooth and hoof, you saw as his face fell when she was consumed.
I’m sorry buddy, you think solemnly as he creates more crystal shards under Tirek’s hooves.
“Believe me, she’s gonna be the last thing Sombra’s gonna worry about. Once he and the rest of them are drained, there will be no room for mourning,” DWC says as if the outcome is inevitable.
“They’re not going to get drained!” you spit in defiance. “Look, they’re still following the plan!”
Sure enough, you watch as the Umbrum, led by Ira and Hope make their way back into their prison as quickly as they can.
“Oh big whoop, Tirek will just suck them up through the straw again once he takes care of everyone else,” he shrugs just as the screens show Flash’s mech rocketing out of the palace.
“Aha! Flash is back in action!” you shout in encouragement. Sure enough, as Tirek hops in place from another stabbed hoof, the mech suit slams right into his face, knocking him off balance and causing him to crash down onto a building.
“Ugh, this thing again?! I thought I finally got rid of you once I entered the arctic!” Tirek groans in frustration.
“You can’t get rid of me that easily!” Flash taunts as he unleashes a volley of missiles, probably his last bit of ammo. Tirek just shields his face with his hand as the explosives hit him, and Sombra is able to launch crystal javelins, but they don’t bite deep enough into the creature.
“Annoying little pests, give me chatty changelings any day over this!” Tirek huffs as he stands back up, and back hands Flash into another building, before launching out a laser towards Sombra, who barely dodges.
“Oh wow, reinforcements sure are helpful,” DWC taunts sarcastically and you grit your teeth at the quickly escalating situation.
“This is such bullspit!” your daughter’s voice catches your attention. Turning to the screen focused on her, you see as she and Grandbuggy and Selena are huddled together, watching the battle below.
“Agreed, how in the buck did that large turd sneak up on us?” Grandbuggy grimaces.
“We were all distracted by the inopportune timed duel!” Selena hisses in annoyance.
“Stupid bucking Rabia. You know what, I’ll say it, she got what she deserved for pulling such an idiotic scheme right now!” you daughter angrily shouts and kicks at the ground.
“Just desserts or not, we got more things to worry about right now,” Jack says as he helps Sunset stand up properly.
“Yes, what do we do now?” Twilight asks to the rest of the alicorns.
Well surely the Princesses could do some long range attacks or something right? You think desperately as you look over to their screen.
“Aunties! I can’t find the Crystal Heart!” Cadence shouts in desperation.
“Even if we had it, there’d be no time to gather the Crystal Ponies,” Luna realizes, as she hangs her head in sorrow.
“Then all is lost,” Celestia says with a defeated sigh.
“Wait what?” Nightshade says overhearing their conversation.
“The time for desperate measures has come,” Celestia proclaims to Cadence and Luna. The love and lunar princess both look at her in resignation before they nod silently.
“Oh right, they were passed out,” Nightshade says to herself. “Hey princesses, Spike has the-“
“Twilight Sparkle!” Celestia shouts, not even hearing your daughter.
“Y-Yes?” Twilight asks taken aback as the three surround her.
“The last of our hopes and dreams lie with you,” Celestia says with authority.
“No seriously, guys, Spike right now is on his way to-“
“Keep our power out of Tirek’s hands, and live to fight another day,” Celestia orders, with a sad tone.
“…Wait, wha-“
And before she can even finish her sentence, Celestia, Luna and Cadence light up their horns, aim them at Twilight and blast her with immense power.
“What the buck?!” you, Selena, Nightshade, Grandbuggy, and even Sunset all say in unison as the glow around Twilight becomes as intense as the sun.
“There! There it is! Alicorn Magic!!!” Tirek says almost ecstatically, just as Flash slashes at his flanks with a long blade and Sombra tries to encase his hooves in crystal. The large beast barely even pays this any mind as he pushes his way towards the palace.
He comes to a halt however at the same moment that the Princesses collapse to the ground, and the glowing ball of magic disappears, along with any trace of Twilight.
“What?! Where did it go?!” Tirek shouts in confusion, whipping his head left and right. He isn’t the only one confused.
“The buck just happened?” you ask in desperation.
“Looked like a barely thought-out, last-ditch effort by the princesses there,” DWC shrugs. “Though pretty much pointless in the end.”
“Wha-But-Where’s Twilight?!” you shout.
“What the buck happened to Twilight?!” Nightshade asks at the same time, as the three princesses lay on the floor, the color drained from them.
“She is safe Nightshade, do not worry,” Cadence tries to reassure.
“Do not worry my butt, what in Tartarus did you do to her?!” Grandbuggy gripes.
“We entrusted our magic to young Sparkle and sent her far away from Tirek’s clutches, at the cost of our power,” Luna answers the old bug.
“…And why the buck did you do that?!” Nightshade asks with a twitching eyelid.
“We couldn’t risk Tirek getting alicorn magic on top of what he’s stolen,” Celestia says weakly. “Thanks to Rabia’s betrayal, we had no other choice to ensure that he did not become unstoppable.
“Then what about me, Sunset and Mom?!” Nightshade points out the other three alicorns in the room and you see as realization suddenly comes across all their faces.
“…Oh,” Celestia mumbles in shock.
“That’s it? Oh?!” Selena barks. “Did you three seriously forget that there were other alicorns besides you four?!”
“…This contingency was thought out long before we were all allies and…” Luna tries to excuse, but trails off when she realizes how big of a blunder they’ve made.
“Well to be fair, I still keep forgetting I’m one since it only just happened today,” Sunset points out.
“That’s not the point Sunset!” Nightshade huffs and throws her hooves in the air. “Now that monkey horse thing is gonna want to eat us three, and if he does it won’t matter if Twilight’s juiced up on their magic!”
“And right now, both the kid and her mom are weakened from surgery and battle, so you’re the only shining beacon left in this tower Shimmer,” Grandbuggy lays out, and the red and yellow maned pony looks out the window nervously just as Flash gets knocked to the ground, shattering Sombra’s pillars.
“It’s gone! Where did it go?! I still smell some of it, but that big spike of energy is gone!” Tirek roars in anger as he blasts a wall of crystal with his magic effortlessly.
“Oh dear…” Sunset gulps.
“You can do this Sunset,” Selena encourages. “You have to.”
The orange alicorn nods curtly before unsteadily flapping her wings and flying out the window. Just as Tirek is about to kick at Sombra, Sunset puts up a barrier.
“Yowch!” Tirek yelps as he rubs his injured hoof. “Okay, that definitely smells alicorny, but nowhere near as strong as I’d hoped.”
“…I’m still getting the hang of this,” Sunset mutters as Flash blasts some missiles at Tirek’s flanks.
“Not to be a neighsayer, but we are so screwed! And on top of all that, you didn’t have to do that!” Nightshade growls at the princesses. “I was trying to tell you, Spike’s got the heart and went to get the Crystal Ponies! We could’ve helped with that if you didn’t just drain yourselves!”
“Heh, your brat still thinks that lizard even has a chance? Hilarious,” DWC chortles with no real amusement.
“Well he would’ve had a better chance if they hadn’t beamed Twilight away! Seriously, the buck?!” both you and Nightshade bellow simultaneously across dimensions.
“You know, for cobbled together abomination against nature, she really is just a miniature you,” DWC laughs hollowly.
“Don’t you call her that you bucker!” growl, hurting your eyelids as you involuntarily scowl.
DWC doesn’t even acknowledge your insult as he turns up the volume on the screen as your poor daughter begins ranting and foaming at the mouth.
Kichi’s Comment
“Why does today suck so freaking much?! Why does everyone here suck so much?! Is everything just a big test for Twilight to overcome?! I thought the whole point of her making friends and stuff was that you can’t handle problems on your own! Didn’t you lot learn that?!” she shouts, pulling at her mane as the princesses look at her meekly. “And now, with the end of the world outside, you gotta make things harder than us because you all think Ms. Twilight is the main character in some anime, but we all exist too!”
“Alright kiddo, no need to shout, I think they got the message,” Grandbuggy tries to calm her down.
“Oh I haven’t even begun to shout! If I still had the amulet in me, there’d be a bucking crater where we stand!” she snarls. “Seriously, was all this mayhem, hatred and eventual forgiveness over the last four years leading to this? THIS? That’s bullspit! Now we’re all gonna get eaten because our heaviest hitters are down and Spike will end up failing now! Let my dragon have his wins already!”
“Oh great, she’s all wound up now. Not that I disagree, but still,” Selena sighs as you daughter continues to berate the weakened princesses.
“I’m sorry Nightshade, for all your frustrations,” Luna says meekly.
“It’s just that…in a way, Twilight’s destiny has been front and center the last few years. Even the Tree of Harmony has her cutie mark on it, so I’ve always known she would be Equestria’s biggest beacon of hope…but I just…lost sight of everything else I suppose,” Celestia admits ashamed.
“It’s literally Tartarus on Equus out there, and you want to have this talk now?!” you yell at the weakened Princesses, but of course they don’t hear you across the screens.
“It’s literally Tartarus on Equus out there, and you want to have this talk now?!” Nightshade yells, repeating you word for word, and even in the same inflection.
Wow, I really have imparted a lot of my personality onto her, you think a bit impressed, despite everything.
“She’s not exactly wrong,” Jack sighs and points out at the battlefield. “Our defenses are all but stripped away.”
Just as he says that, a loud explosion rocks the palace, as Flash’s mech is blown apart from the waist down by a laser beam coming out of Tirek’s mouth.
“FLASH!!!” you and several others shout in alarm as the upper half of the mech crashes into the ground.
“Oh?” DWC leans forward with anticipation. “Did we seriously whack the waifu thief?”
After that declaration, the hatch, what little remained of it, pops off and inside is a singed, but still alive Flash Sentry panting.
“Ah, just missed him,” DWC sits back. “Why’s there never any unique kills these days?”
You growl as you are forced to watch as your best bro struggles to get out of the sparking torso, which begins to catch fire. Sombra notices as well and gallops towards the Pegasus to assist, while Sunset continues to pepper the giant with beam attacks.
“They ain’t gonna last much longer!” Grandbuggy growls as he stands in the balcony hole, takes off his hat and transforms it into it’s gatling gun form and starts to take pot shots of his own. Jack then picks up a laser emitter which had fallen off of Flash’s mech while they fixed it earlier and adds to the fray.
“He’s right, the rest of you should flee while you still can,” Celestia speaks up sadly. “Our state may confuse him enough to draw his attention.”
“And though he may take his frustrations out on us, the rest of you can slip away,” Luna adds.
“There may still be outposts along the rail road tracks that you can-“ Cadence starts but is interrupted.
“Oh shut up! We’re not just going to leave you three behind!” Nightshade growls taking them all aback.
“Indeed, though you did this to yourselves, we aren’t abandoning you. Even if there were someplace to escape, you three are sticking with us,” Selena adds authoritatively, which causes the downtrodden princesses to look both touched, and saddened.
“Yeah, misery loves company and all that,” Nightshade nods. “Plus we’re all in the same boat now.”
And as the rest of the alicorns seemingly accept their fate, and Sunset, Grandbuggy and Jack uselessly try to stop Tirek’s advance on Sombra and Flash, you struggle, not being able to take it anymore.
I’ve gotta get back there! I’ve got to help! I’ve gotta do something!
Your eyes sting, and your legs are still bound to the stupid torture chair, but it’s not like you haven’t been in this situation before. Even when Chrysalis had you tied up, you were able to get out…but it was painful. You’re not wearing your glove, and you can’t exactly aim at anything precisely, but there’s one you can still use to damage this chair…and yourself.
Your eyes look to your right hoof and you twist it slightly to point at the armrest itself and you bite your lip.
I broke my hand when I was a human, and I dislocated my shoulder earlier when Chrysalis had me tied up…you debate with yourself. That debate ends though when you hear a scream.
“NOOO!!!” Sunset shouts and your eyes dart back to the screen.
Sombra was able to get Flash out of the mech before it completely caught fire, but in doing so he was left open. Tirek has grabbed both stallions, one in each hand and has brought them up to his face, even as the others shout and attack.
“He is a monument to all their sins…get it? I know you all like references,” DWC quips to you and to the nothingness, and in that instant, you don’t even hesitate.
“Would you kindly Bucking Bronco?!”
You feel the chitin on your hoof crack down the middle as the force escapes your body, directly into the chair, causing the whole thing to launch upward. You spin violently in the air for a few moments, before crashing back to the ground, the chair shattering around you. The eye clamps also fly from you, but the left one didn’t come off so smoothly and now blood drips into your eye painfully.
“Owwwww…” you groan as you coil in on yourself. Through the chair is shattered, you still have pieces shackled to you and you are reminded that it has been a full day of you getting your butt whooped as your everything hurts.
“…Well that was dumb,” DWC says after a brief pause of observation. He then gets off his own couch and walks towards your crumpled form. “But that’s just how you roll after all.”
He then takes a bandage out of seemingly nowhere and puts it on your damaged eye lid.
“There we go, we can’t have you missing the finale,” he says with false enthusiasm as he forces your eye open and turns your head towards the screen. “This part is gonna be sick!”
And it is sick, but not in the way that he meant it.
“So you were the prize on the inside?’ Tirek mocks to Flash who struggles uselessly. “Disappointing seeing as you gave me just as much of a headache as that soulless doctor.”
He then winces in pain as Sombra summons crystals around him, piercing his palm.
“Agh! Alright, I’ve had enough of you too little dark pony! Prepare to join momma!”
And with that, he opens his mouth and the magic from both Sombra and Flash pour out of their bodies and into the maw of the giant.
“Stop! Leave them alone! Take me! I’m much tastier!” Sunset Shimmer tries and fails to goad, but Tirek continues to drain the two until there is nothing left. Flash’s color has become muted, but Sombra is much worse. His body is semi transparent now, and his red horn is gone.
“You motherbucker!” Nightshade’s scream echoes across the city and your mouth hangs agape in shock.
“You should really watch your language whoever’s shouting,” Tirek chides before he lifts his arms up, and throws both stallions towards the palace.
“Oh No!” Sunset swoops to intercept them, but with different trajectories, she is only able to catch Flash. But before Sombra can flatten himself into the castle wall, he is enveloped by a dark purple aura.
“GGGYYYAAA!!!” Nightshade screams out as the effort strains her already taxed body. “Oh gods, I think I pulled something!”
“Nightshade! Get down from there!” Selena calls out in worry.
“I can’t just drop Som-Eek!” she shrieks as she loses her footing and falls out the hole in the wall.
“NIGHTSHADE!!!” you, Selena, and practically everyone else call out.
“It’s okay! I’ve got wings! I-Oof! Sombra why are you so heavy all of a sudden?!” she yelps out, sweat beading on her forehead as she haphazardly slows her descent, her connection to Sombra going up and down like a yo-yo and throwing her off balance.
“Wait, another one?” Tirek says in surprise as he sees Nightshade. “Seriously, how many alicorns are there? Or are you just the moon princess? I don’t recall you being that small.”
The monster’s confusion is ignored for the moment as Nightshade is able to finally get her hooves on Sombra on one of the rebounds. Still, she is taxing herself as she beats her wings furiously to give him a soft landing on the snow.
“There you go Sombra, you’re okay, you’re going to be okay!” she stammers frantically as the drained king groans and lies weakly on the ground.
“Ni..sha…” he sighs out as he struggles to keep his eyes open.
“I know I’m not misremembering the sun princess being white, but this orange one’s literally got a sun motif too. I suppose it has been a thousand years and they could’ve had children, but still, how come that inbred changeling didn’t say anything?” Tirek ponders aloud as Sunset lands next to Nightshade and Sombra with the drained Flash in her magic. “Speaking of changelings, where the heck did they all go? They just left all this bountiful feast for me and fled?”
“Heh, heh, heh, I didn’t think Tirek would have riffing tendencies,” DWC chuckles, which sets your nerves on end. “Now I wish he’d broken out sooner if he was going to have such fun banter.”
You ignore his lighthearted tone in such dire straits, even as your own heart shatters over the state your loved ones are in. Even still, your now freed hoof sneakily reaches into your saddlebags.
“Nightshade, we’ve gotta get back to the palace!” Sunset urges.
“Can you carry all three of us and fly?” your daughter snaps and Sunset bites her lip as she looks between the drained stallions and her. You can tell by both their expressions, that the hopelessness of the situation is closing in on them.
“Nightshade…” Sombra gasps out and their attention turns back to him.
“Easy Sombra, don’t strain yourself,” she shushes. “We’ll get you to Hope and she can give you life caffeine or something and-“
“Activate…the Crystal Heart,” he interrupts her, his eyes sharpening as he gives that order. Nightshade looks surprised by that order before she shakes her head.
“We can’t do that right now, you’ll die!”
“Already dying…” he grunts before he weakly puts a hoof on her shoulder. “Do it and save yourselves.”
“B-but…” Nightshade stutters, as her lip begins to quiver.
“Eh, lack of changelings and mysterious new alicorns aside, I still gotta eat,” Tirek shrugs as he finishes his rant and stomps over to your daughter, Sunset, Flash and Sombra.
“Nightshade?” Sunset asks nervously as she readies herself.
“There’s nothing I can do. Spike’s got the heart, it’s all on him,” Nightshade sighs in defeat as she cradles the older stallion’s head in her arms and closes her eyes.
And as the monster closes in, and Selena, Grandbuggy and the rest cry out over the inevitable, Nightshade whispers.
“We just gotta hope that Spike and Daddy are able to solve this…”
Roker12’s Comment
“I will baby, I will,” you almost whisper, causing DWC to give you the side eye.
“Really? You really still think you can do anything right now?” he asks incredulously. “Bugze, this is the culmination of a lifetime of bad luck. It’s spilled over so that those around you suffer, causing you to suffer before your pitiful life finally ends.”
“Then all they need is a little bit of good luck to turn the tide then right?” you shoot back.
“Pfft, sure, as if that’s gonna help,” he dismisses. “It’s not like I’m going to tweak it in their favor anyway.”
“I didn’t expect you to,” you tell him as you finally grip what you’ve been searching for. “By the way, can I get your opinion on something?”
“My opinion?” he asks curiously, looking to you and raising an eyebrow.
“Does this look like an accurate portrayal of Luna?” you say as you whip out the Knock Out Luna Plushie and hold it in front of him.
“Oh son of a-*Thud*” DWC’s eyes roll up and he falls to the floor unconscious.
“I’ll take that as a yes, you psychotic buck,” you spit as you place the plushie on his snout and then quickly go about getting yourself freed from the broken chair.
Time is of the essence as Tirek is now leaning over Sunset and Nightshade, the former of which has erected a barricade. Grandbuggy’s pot shots aren’t bothering him in the slightest, and Jack is holding Selena back from jumping out the window. Grunting, you shamble your way towards the monitor board and look about the many buttons and levers.
“Come on, come on, where’s the magical fix all button?” you say as your eyes dart over everything, but there is nothing so simple as the easy button. Eventually though, your gamer vision spots a glowing bar with two symbols at either end. The left end has a picture of devil horns, and the right side has a picture of a shining halo. Right now, the majority of the bar glows red, with barely any blue left for the right side, and there is a dial underneath it.
“Well this isn’t entirely accurate, I’m not shooting out red lightning or killing random civilians,” you complain to the pseudo karma meter as you turn the dial. Once you do, there is barely a change in the bar’s lights. A sliver of blue overtakes a red portion, almost enough to be imperceptible.
You grit your teeth at that and look to the screen anxiously as Tirek begins to suck up the barrier Sunset erected.
“Come on, I’m not asking for a miracle here,” you plead aloud. “All I’m asking for is a bit of good luck for my family and friends…please…”
You think your efforts and prayer have fallen on deaf ears as the barrier disappears and Tirek reaches for Nightshade and Sunset. But it seems that a bit of luck has gone towards them after all.
Tirek’s hands are blasted away by an immense wave of shadow. So taken off guard is he the he stumbles backward, and the wave of darkness crashes into his gut and begins swarming around him. At first you think it might be Sombra, somehow returning to the fray, or even Nightshade expelling her internal reserves but you see on the screens they are just as flabbergasted as everyone else.
“What is this?!” Tirek calls out in panic before he starts wincing in pain. “Ow! Agh! It hurts! It hurts!”
Within the moonlight, the images become clearer, and you see that the “wave” of darkness isn’t just smoke or magic. It’s thousands of creatures of grotesque visages swarming over the centaur like ants.
And standing in front of Nightshade, Sombra, and all the rest, is a short, shadowy imp with an army helmet on.
“YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!” the tiny creature roars in a voice much too big for it’s small frame.
“Bob?” Nightshade gasps out.
You wanted to give them a bit of luck, and you have delivered.
BrownDog77’s Narrative
Down With Chrysalis’s Narrative
The Crystal Empire
POV CHANGE: Nightshade
To say that you are surprised is an understatement. It’s been a long, tiring day after a long tiring week of a long tiring life, and you had already in your heart decided to give up.
Without the alicorn amulet, you aren’t as strong as you’ve been over the last few months, and the traitorous whorse who did steal it already got eaten by the red monkey thing. With Sombra drained, your mother exhausted, and your Dad M.I.A. you felt there was nothing left to do but just give in and hope some one else took care of things for a change.
Jackie Bob and your shadowy minions returning to save you in the 11th hour was not something you were expecting, that’s for sure. Especially after the Alicorn Amulet was removed.
“Bob?” you gasp out as the general of your army stands protectively in front of you.
“Medic Pony! Pull the Mistress and her allies towards the Crystal Heart’s pedestal! We shall halt his advance!” he says pointing towards the underside of the palace.
“On it!” says Radiant Hope who is suddenly in the midst of you and Sunset. Her magic alights and both Flash and Sombra are bathed in her healing glow. “Oh Sombra…”
“Hope…” Sombra breathes out, relief in his fading voice.
“When did you get here?” asks Sunset.
“Just now, the shadow minions helped speed up the evacuation process. The Umbrum are all within the prison and Spike has gathered the Crystal Ponies,” she explains as she places Sombra on her back, and Tirek roars in pain as shadowy wolves tear into his flesh.
Looking over to the underside of the Palace, you see surrounding the pedestal are the rather frightened crystal pony citizens, with a familiar purple dragon standing above them with the heart. And then in the midst of them, a curtain of inky blackness appears, and your Mom, Grandbuggy, Jack, Celestia, Luna and Cadence are all deposited from it.
“What in Sam Hill?” Grandbuggy exposits in confusion.
“Nightshade!” your mother calls out to you, but you just feel flabbergasted.
“What the-What happened to you all? And where’s Twilight?” Spike asks the newly teleported group.
“What is going on now?” you ask, feeling dizzy.
“There, now everyone’s in the same place,” Jackie announces before snapping his fingers and the ink dissipates. “The epicenter will be the safest place for you all, now go!”
“Whatever you say scary monkey thing,” the dazed Flash salutes and tries to stand, but fails.
“Don’t strain yourself,” Sunset warns as she picks him up with her magic and starts moving towards the group.
“Come Nightshade, we have to go before it’s too late!” Hope urges as she effortlessly carries the hollow Sombra.
“But wait, I-“ you stammer before turning back to your imp. “Bob! This isn’t a good idea! Tirek is gonna start eating you guys soon since you’re all magical,” you warn, but to your surprise he nods.
“Yes, he will,” he says plainly.
“Huh?”
“We are subduing him now, but he will consume us, which is the point,” he says sternly. “The more concentrated the dark magic, the stronger the reaction from the Crystal Heart will be. We will ensure that the Crystal Heart expels this creature from our mistress’s site.”
Your jaw drops at his explanation, and you hope to the gods that you’ve misheard, even though you know you didn’t.
“Get off of me you pests!” Tirek roars out and opens his mouth. Near his face, several of the minions are absorbed.
“What? NO!” you cry out as your loyal servants begin being consumed. “Bob, this is stupid, call them back and get out of the Empire before the heart goes off!”
“This is our purpose mistress, we will die so that you may live and fulfill our duty,” he says resolutely holding a hand up to stop you from going forward.
“But I’m not your mistress anymore, right?! The Alicorn Amulet is gone, so you don’t have to protect me anymore!” you argue as even more are consumed.
“It matters not whether you have the Amulet or not, we were called to you and we chose to serve you. We still choose to do so,” he says with unwavering conviction.
“But you don’t have to die! Just-“
“It has been an honor serving you Mistress Nightshade, true heir of the darkness,” he says in a gentler voice, putting his hand on your shoulder. “Now go and live!”
“Bob! Don’t-“ you try to scream out, but you are enveloped by the inky shadows, and suddenly your perspective shifts. You are now beside your mother who latches onto you, and Bob is further away.
“Nightshade!” your mom cries out in relief as she hugs you tight as Hope and Sunset arrive and place Sombra and Flash down amidst the group.
“Mom! Let go! We have to stop-“
“The mistress is secure! Hold him back until the end! WITNESS!!!” Jackie Bob commands to the others as the shadowy minions double their efforts and swarm over every inch of Tirek.
“Ugh, gack!” the centaur cries out and gags, for every dozen he consumes, twice that amount take their place, some even forcing their way down his throat. He still grows larger, but there is in fact more dark magic within him, which is exactly what the Crystal Heart is the antithesis of.
“Eat your fill you overgrown monkey!” Bob shouts from Tirek’s horns and stomping on his head.
“Stop! Stop it! You don’t have to do this!” you cry as they continue to throw themselves at the centaur.
“Nightshade…” your mom says as soothingly as she can, and holds you tighter. “They’ve made their choice. They’ve chosen to protect you.”
“But they…they…” you whimper out as they continue to feed themselves to the monster.
“They sacrifice themselves, that you might live,” Grandbuggy says solemnly. “It ain’t pretty…but they ain’t wrong.”
“They’ve…they’ve given me the time I need to activate the Heart,” Spike adds in, looking at you with a pained expression. You look to his face, to the faces of all the crystal ponies, and of all of your beleaguered and battered allies.
We do have a bit more of a chance than a few minutes ago…but still, they… your heart hurts, and you wish that such a choice hadn’t have been necessary, but it’s too late now.
“Spike’s right, we do have the time,” Cadence nods. “Now, citizens of the Crystal Empire, pour your love and will into the Crystal Heart and-“
“Wait! Not just yet!” Radiant Hope shouts out above the Love Princess. “I need to get Sombra out of the city, or into the prison or-“
“There’s no time! Spike! Activate the Heart!” Sombra shouts out, mustering up whatever strength he has left.
“No! Sombra we can’t!” Hope argues. “Look at yourself! You’re see-through!”
“I’m well aware Hope, but we can’t delay any longer,” he tells her plainly. “If we don’t activate it now, we all lose.”
“But you’ll lose the most! I will lose the most!” she cries. “I just got you back!”
Sombra gently places a hoof to her face and just looks into her eyes.
“He is not the stallion he once was,” Princess Celestia speaks up. “Even the Heart must recognize that.”
“If Friendship truly is magic, then there surely must be a chance for him,” Luna agrees.
“…He has love in his heart…that surely counts for something,” Cadence says tiredly.
“Then I will try my best to stay with you,” Sombra says to Hope after hearing these platitudes, though you can hear the doubt in his voice. “We just have to take that risk. We all do.”
At that he looks to you and you know what he’s implying.
Why do I have to make that decision? You think in melancholy. Hope’s right, it’s bad enough Bob and the others are sacrificing their lives, but why do you have to do this too?!
“…I won’t let go of you, no matter what comes,” Hope declares as she holds onto Sombra even harder and looks to Spike.
Spike looks to you, a look of confliction on his face. Even at this juncture, he still cares for the feelings within your heart.
Dang it Spike, you inwardly sigh before looking to Sombra.
“Don’t you die on me Sombra,” you order and he just gives a small smirk. You then look to the shadow minions throwing their lives away, with Bob still stomping from above. You close your eyes and sigh once more as a tear rolls down your cheek, before opening them as you order,
“Spike…do it.”
You don’t look behind you, but you hear as he places the Crystal Heart in it’s pedestal. You hear as Cadence gives orders to the crystal ponies to start filling the artifact with their love, and you can feel the build up of energy thrumming behind you. It doesn’t hurt anymore, but you know it will hurt your servants.
You don’t take your eyes off of them, off of their sacrifice. Your mother and Grandbuggy each place a hoof on your shoulder, and you place your own on Sombra, but still you do not look away.
Tirek’s choking, the thrum of magic, and even the chatter of everyone around you, they all fade into white noise as you look to your most loyal. Jackie Bob, across the distance and chaos, looks to your silent vigil, sensing your intent gaze.
He gives a smile filled with too many teeth, stands at attention, and gives you one last salute.
“Witness Me…” he whispers softly, yet you hear it plain as day. With your free hoof, you gently return the salute…and then the Crystal Heart expends it’s payload.
The force of the wave consumes all of your minions, many of which disintegrate and explode almost immediately inside and outside of Tirek who roars out in agony. Just like when you and your Dad were hit last year, Tirek is lifted into the sky, only thanks to your minions, he is launched at a much higher speed.
You hear their cries as they are snuffed out…and strangely, they are cries of victory. Long before Tirek disappears past the horizon and your vision goes white, the presence of your shadows disappears, leaving you alone for the first time since they became your servants.
“…Gods Speed you magnificent bastards,” you whisper within the blinding light.
NOWHERE
POV CHANGE: Bugze
“Jeeze, that was giving good luck? That was morbid as buck!” you say in shock. Sure your family and friends were saved, but hot damn was that messed up.
“I mean, did Nightshade really have to lose all her demonic shadow spawn from the pits of Tartarus to…” you trail off as you put a hoof to your chin. “Okay, maybe in the long run it’s good that they’re not around her anymore, but they didn’t have to die like that. They did go out like heroes in the end, but still!”
The screens showing the Empire are whited out at the moment, but you watch as Tirek flies across a few monitors through the sky, losing a quite a bit of mass that he’d accumulated from the Umbrum and Shadow Minions.
“HHHHHEEEEAAAARRRRTTTTBBBBBUUUUURRRRNNNN!!!” he shouts, clutching his stomach and throat as he continues to blast away.
“Well at least he’s flying far away, guess it would’ve been too lucky to have him turn to stone or vaporized as well,” you sigh tiredly. “Now all everyling has to do is regroup and-AGH!”
You are interrupted as your face is slammed into a monitor of Tirek, causing your horn to go through it which causes sparks to fly.
“You bucking spoil sport!” DWC growls out as he grips your mane hard and pulls your face from the monitor, leaving a few more cuts on your face. “You just had to prolong this endeavor, didn’t you?!”
“Oh, you mad?” you sneer, and despite the fresh cuts, you feel victorious, because this is the first instance where you’ve seen genuine frustration and rage on this psycho’s face.
“Yes I mad!” he snarls before slamming your face into the karma meter thing, causing it to shatter and spark. “I can’t believe you got me with such a stupid trick!”
“Many have fallen pray to the knock out plushie,” you quip and spit out pieces of plastic and glass and he narrows his eyes.
“Yes, well not anymore they won’t,” he says pointing to the ground. Your eyes dart over and you see the Luna Plush burning to ashes in a tiny bonfire.
Knock Out Luna Plush Removed from the Inventory Forever
“Oh you son of a- I’ve had that thing for years!”
“I know, and it was amusing when you’d actually use it, but now I know I should’ve had you lose it a long time ago!” he growls out in a pissy manner.
“Oh, so it’s all fun and games unless it inconveniences you?” you accuse as your hoof slips into your inventory again, this time activating a different tool of yours.
“Yes! I’m the architect of this misery, I don’t need to share in it!” he spits, his eyes going wild.
“Hey DWC ol’ buddy, ol’ pal, don’t worry about it, it’s all pointless right?” you say smugly with blood on your teeth and he slams your face through another monitor.
“Do not use my words against me! It is all pointless, but that doesn’t mean your actions can’t be annoying as well!” he snarls before pulling your face from the shattered screen. He then shouts off to the side. “This was not of your doing either! You can’t stop what’s coming you simpletons!”
“Heh, seems like your precious Lady Luck can affect your fate as well,” you mouth off and he intensifies his grip on your head.
“She does not control me! Her whims are childish and simplistic! Your actions are just your usual troublesome bumps in the road, and it makes them feel like they have sway in this matter!” he says with ragged breath, and you take smug satisfaction after finally breaking that stoic aloofness.
“Well too bad, I’ve given you some misery and saved my family from a heaping helping,” you say victoriously.
His maddened eyes glare at the screens as Tirek skims the upper atmosphere, and you take pride in your small victory…but then you see him grin.
“Oh, you think you’ve saved them misery? That you’ve saved yourself from it?” he asks as he grips your hair tighter and forces you to look at a screen that is no longer pure white. “Everything has a cost Bugze! Sure you uselessly gave them more time on the clock, but the silver lining is, you still get to watch a friend die!”
His voice is vindictive and full of anticipation, and you can see why. Now that the Empire screens are fading back into focus, you see many things. The snow and ice have disappeared and every building and creature in the Empire is sparkling from the effects of the Crystal Heart, which spins triumphantly. Every creature that is, except…
“Sombra!”
“Oh no…” you gasp as you watch the stallion begin to fade away in Radiant Hope’s arms as she bellows in horror. He had become see through before, but now he is barely even visible, more ghost than physical being.
“Oh yes…as I’ve been trying to tell you. POINTLESS!!!”
The Crystal Empire
POV CHANGE: Selena
A lot has happened in such a short amount of time. The Princesses have become depowered and sent Twilight away, Nightshade’s army sacrificed themselves, Tirek is now nowhere to be seen, and you and everyone else around you is lit up in the moonlight by a crystalline sheen.
You want to sit down and relax and nurse the wounds you received fighting Chrysalis, you want to comfort Nightshade over the loss of her minions, you want to hold Bugze and let him tell you that the worst is over. You want all these things, but just like the last few days, you’ve been given no time to breathe.
“Sombraaa!!!” Hope bellows out, holding the barely tangible stallion who had resided in Bugze’s head with you for 2 years. Whatever amalgamation of magic and science that Torchwood had created to give the two of you bodies, it still couldn’t change the fact that he had been an Umbrum. No matter the amends he had made and the good he strived for, his very being could not be denied. It’s a miracle in and of itself that he hasn’t already faded away like the shadow forces in the wake of the Crystal Heart.
This ghost of himself must be the result of the good he’d accomplished these last two years. A sliver of resistance against the Heart…enough to say goodbye, you think sadly as Hope sobs uncontrollably, pouring every ounce of her healing power into him, just to keep him stable.
“Don’t go! Please! Don’t leave me alone again!” Hope pleads, as every crystal pony looks on in sympathy.
“Hope…it’s alright,” Sombra says, his voice faded and distant. “I knew this was a one-way ticket from the start.”
“No! I refuse to let that be the truth! I’ll buy you a new ticket so please just stay with me!” Her magic intensifies, putting a strain on her, but his form does not become more corporeal.
“Hope…I’m sorry that I have to leave again…” he says softly. “But I’m glad I was able to see you one last time.”
“I don’t want it to be the last time,” Hope whimpers as she places her face into his hoof.
“Neither do I…” he admits as his eyes look around.
A circle has formed around her, between the countless crystal ponies. Celestia, Luna and Cadence, shining brightly yet still without power bow their heads. Sunset Shimmer, the mare you wish would become your daughter looks on, feeling just as powerless despite retaining her magic. Grandbuggy has placed his bowler over his heart, Jack stands at attention, his head bowed in respect, Spike and Flash look on in sympathy, and Nightshade…
“Sombra…” you hear her sniffle as she watches the stallion she claimed as an uncle, die before her very eyes. “Not fair…so not fair…”
And you agree, it is not fair at all. Against all odds, you’ve actually developed a fondness for him as well. He was someone that you absolutely despised, especially after what he did to Bugze during the Trixie incident. A loathsome creature that you would have easily dispatched just like Chrysalis…and yet, unlike that tart, he came through for you and your bug in the darkest hours.
For you who was once a monster and sought redemption, you know he was a kindred spirit. More than that, he was a friend. Family.
You redeemed yourself in not only our eyes, but the eyes of the world…it’s not fair that you are denied the rewards, you think solemnly. It’s not fair.
“My friends…” Sombra calls out, as his eyes find Nightshade. “My family…keep watch over Hope for me. She was the most precious thing in my life.”
Tears begin to flow freely now, on practically everyone’s face, many of which come from the Crystal Ponies themselves. Even your own eyes are not immune.
“I wanted us to grow old together…I love you Sombra,” Hope says, leaning in close to his face, her magic still not dissipating.
“…And I love you Radiant Hope…I always have,” he responds with a smile. And with that, the mare leans down and kisses whatever physical lips he has left. When she raises her face back, Sombra continues to smile, but fades even more and his eyes close, becoming almost invisible in the moonlight.
“Sombraaaa,” Hope strains out as he continues to fade, looking to all of you in desperation. “Please, there has to be something we can do! He’s a good stallion! He deserves to live!”
Expectedly though, there is nothing anyone can do. This level of magic is beyond them, even if the Princesses still had their powers.
“…Mommy?” Nightshade looks up at you with pleading, tear filled eyes.
What does she expect? Some last-minute form of salvation? A hidden secret technique that you’ve never shown before? There’s nothing you can do, no matter how much you wish you could to ease that look on her face, on the look on everyone’s faces.
There’s nothing I can do. Unless…
Your eyes snap open as an epiphany comes to you. There is a spell you know to recreate a body, a spell you swore not to use again, and there are still three alicorns within this city who do have their power.
Some adjustments and tweaks may need to be implemented but…your thoughts trail off as you realize that if this is going to even have a chance of succeeding, you need to act now.
“Radiant Hope, pour everything you have into keeping him stable!” you order loudly. Everyone looks at you in shock, but the desperate mare follows your orders without hesitation. “Sunset Shimmer, fly to the throne room and collect a sample of Sombra’s blood, he shed much in his fight with his mother!”
“I-Okay!” she answers and swoops up into the air.
“What are you-“ Celestia begins to question, but you cut her off.
“There may be a spell I can utilize to save him, but we have to act now! All of us!” you shout. Everyone’s eyes widen at that, but they latch onto the faint glimmer of hope you’ve presented.
“Okay, what do you need us to do?” Nightshade asks quickly.
“When Sunset gets back, you and her will help me weave the incantation, and it is going to take every ounce of what we have left!” you warn her, but your daughter is resolute and nods. “His blood will be diluted, so we will need another sample to help increase it’s effectiveness!”
“By the gods, you’re talking about transmutation aren’t you?” Luna says, looking slightly horrified.
“Yes I am,” you tell her plainly and you see Grandbuggy look troubled, but he bites his tongue.
“But that’s not possible, even Starswirl-“ Luna starts, but you cut her off.
“I’ve done it before!” you tell her truthfully. “We can discuss the morality of it later, but right now I am going to correct this wrong!”
You see in Luna and Celestia’s eyes as they come to understand what you mean. They look between Nightshade and you, but you don’t have time for that conversation right now.
“His soul still remains, so it will form around him! But for that, I need powerful blood, and I need it now! You three have been weakened, so I need another’s,” you urge to those around you.
“Take mine! I was a princess candidate, so it should work!” Hope offers through gritted teeth as she continues to pour power into Sombra, but you shake your head.
“I can’t use yours, if he’s to be your lover, you shouldn’t be sharing the same blood!” you answer curtly.
“Huh?” Nightshade asks taken aback.
“Ah tartarus, take mine then, I’ve brought plenty of bastards into this world over the years, what’s one more?” Captain Jack offers as he stands over Sombra. “A regenerative ability might just be the edge you need.”
“Very good! Spike!”
“Y-yes ma’am?” Spike says with a curt salute.
“Bite Jack’s hoof now!”
“Oh, but I’m not supposed to bite po-“
“Spike, bite that weirdo right now and save Sombra!” Nightshade shrieks.
“Okay, okay!” he hold his claws up as he rushes to Jack’s side and looks at him apologetically.
“Sorry in advance for this.”
“Trust me kid, I’ve had far, far worse,” Jack replies non-chalantly.
And with that, Spike chomps into Jack’s foreleg, causing blood to flow onto and through the unstable form of Sombra.
“Blech! Oh gods it’s salty!” Spike grimaces and spits, as he tries to brush the blood off of his tongue.
“I’m back, with the-Why is he bleeding?” Sunset asks in shock looking at Jack, in her hooves she holds a crystalline spike stained red.
“It’s all part of the plan, now mix the blood together,” you order.
“Okay, okay,” she says feeling rushed as she places the stained crystal amidst the stream pouring from Jack, which starts to lessen as his wound starts to close.
“Cadence!”
“Yes?” asks the bewildered princess.
“Stand next to Grandbuggy!”
Still weakened, she hobbles over, but the bug in question assists her.
“What you need her to be by me for?” he asks, still looking disturbed.
“You are going to transfer the love you’ve accumulated from the Crystal Heart’s blast into her, and she in turn is going to weave it into my spell.”
“I’m going to what now?” he asks taken aback.
“He’s going to what now?” Cadence asks just as bewildered.
“She is the Princess of Love, so she knows how to work with it the best, you know how to feast on it, and what we’ve seen from the last few days, it can be transferred,” you tell him plainly as you start forming the spell in your head.
“Well ya but-“ he tries to argue, but you cut him off.
“No arguing, she’s powerless, but she can still guide it from you. The Love magic is the most important aspect to add to this, I’m sure of it.”
It was the unknown variable that let Nightshade be Nightshade after all, you think to yourself. And as you do, a sliver of doubt comes to you. Just like with Nightshade there’s a chance this could create someone new, someone who isn’t Sombra. But you shake your head from these thoughts. That is why I’m tweaking the spell. I will not form a vessel for the soul, but build a body around the soul!
“…Alright then, guess that makes some sense,” Grandbuggy relents, before he pulls Cadence close and places his horn against hers. “Sorry in advance darling, but this is probably going to feel unpleasant.”
“After what Chrysalis has done to me, trust me, I feel like this will be a walk in the park,” She quips back.
“Verily, wait for my signal, or this will all be for naught! Now, if all the preparations are complete, then huddle around, we’re only going to have one shot at this,” you say as you grab Nightshade’s and Sunset’s hooves.
“Am I really going to be able to help with this Mommy?” Nightshade asks unsure, but willing to try.
“Yes precious, all you need do is pour whatever you can forward into my spell, it shall become visible soon enough,” you explain.
“Okay, then bring it on! I lost Bob and the others, I’m not losing Sombra!” she says in determination.
“So, are we just enhancing your spell?” asks the orange alicorn.
“In a sense, though you will bear the most brunt Sunset,” you warn. “Nightshade and I are exhausted from these trials and tribulations, and consciousness may fade. You have to keep the spell going!”
Sunset takes a deep breath at that and nods.
“I’ll do my best.”
“It’s all we can hope for,” you say with a sigh before looking to Radiant Hope. “No matter what happens, keep his form in tact!”
“You don’t have to tell me twice! Now do it!” she shouts.
“Very well,” you say as you take a deep breath before your eyes sharpen.
You begin the incantations in a long dead language, that only Celestia and Luna would vaguely understand. You pour your mana and will into the words, and they manifest into a web of interconnecting shapes and figures that all blanket around Sombra’s form. You squeeze Nightshade’s and Sunset’s hooves, and they begin to send their power through the labyrinthian pattern you’ve created.
You ache and throb all over your body and your mind begs for sleep, but you will not relent, not until you’ve seen this through to the end. Out of the corners of your eyes, you see as Nightshade and Sunset strain as well. It’s no wonder, this spell will put them out of commission for days at least, maybe even longer thanks to the taxing events you’ve all been through. But still, you as the instigator cannot give up.
The spell interweaves in and around Sombra, even taking in Hope’s healing magic which is a welcome bonus, but even still his form is only faintly there. When the mixture of Sombra’s and Jack’s blood begins to vibrate and bubble though, that is when you give the signal.
You flap your wings to get Grandbuggy and Cadence’s attention, and then add the tweak to your spell. It resembles a heart shaped box, just waiting to be filled, and there is no way that the changeling and alicorn could mistake it for anything else.
“Here we go!” Grandbuggy calls out in a tone reminiscent of that red plumber pony from Bugze’s games as his horn expels the sparkling green love energy into the grooves of Cadence’s horn. The pink alicorn winces from the pressure, but she pushes through it and directs the magic from her own horn, turning it into the more lightly colored pink that she’s used to.
And just like you wanted, the magic pours into the heart box symbol, causing it to glow and permeate along the webs of the rest of the spell.
Now for the hard part.
“Alright, everyone, pour everything you’ve got and do not let up!” you order as you grit your teeth and start infusing large amounts of mana into the spell on the level that you used to beat Chrysalis.
Sunset and Nightshade follow suit, along with Grandbuggy and Cadence. And the second you do, the blood begins to boil and expand. It begins to form the pathways of a circulatory system throughout, filling out the inside of Sombra’s hollow form. It expands into the creation of bone, muscle, sinew. The sight is horrifying and majestic at the same time for those that can witness it through the intensity of the spell. You yourself can not see it with your eyes as they are clenched tight due to the pounding in your skull, but you can sense the creation of the body, bit by bit.
“It’s working. It’s working!” Hope cries out in joy as her love’s form more and more solid.
“It’s incredible,” Celestia whispers, her eyes wide.
“Amazing…I’d read Starswirl’s notes, but to actually see it…” Luna whispers in amazement. Long ago, you two had shared both this knowledge, yet you were the only one to actually put it into practice four years ago. And just like back then, you know why the bearded old stallion never implemented this spell. It is the single most taxing spell in possibly all the realms.
“One…Last…PUSH!” you shriek out, as you reach the bottom of your reserves of mana, with Sunset and Nightshade doing the same.
“HHHRRRRGGGHHHH!!!” Sunset grunts, gritting her teeth.
“LET’S GOOOOO!!!” Nightshade cheers in determination as her eyes glow white.
“Um, everyone? The Heart is doing something,” Spike tries to warn, but his voice is drowned out by the last burst of magic from you all, lighting up the night with blinding white light, just as the Heart had done earlier.
Now completely and utterly drained, you flop to the ground on your belly, barely being able to keep your eyes open. You aren’t the only one, your little filly, and the young mare you’d like to take in fall right beside you, panting hard, covered in sweat. Grandbuggy and Cadence lean down as well, both just as winded, and as the light begins to dwindle, you all wait anxiously
“Did…it work?” Nightshade pants, barely able to keep her head off the ground.
You don’t answer your daughter as the energy to do so has been spent, but you just stare forward.
“Please…after all that…please…” Sunset mutters and you agree with her sentiment.
Yes…please have worked…you silently pray.
And as the light dims, and the moon light takes over once more, you all hear as Radiant Hope cries. The sound fills you with dread at first, but once everyone’s eyes have adjusted, you see as she sobs while holding the physical body of Sombra…who is breathing.
“He’s alive…he’s alive,” Hope bawls, cradling the king’s head, of which his former red horn has been replaced by a regular grey unicorn horn. And though his eyes still remain closed, his steady breathing show that he’s merely asleep.
The king is not dead, so now long live the king.
You, Sunset and Nightshade all sigh in relief, as the Crystal Ponies all begin to cheer over this dark miracle you’ve accomplished.
“Thank you! Thank you all!” Hope says through tears of gratefulness, and you let yourself relax even more.
“Good job mommy!” Nightshade says with tired enthusiasm as she scooches over and places her wing over yours.
“Yeah, great job Selena,” Sunset also congratulates, flapping her wing tiredly onto yours.
You did just as much to help, you think but are too exhausted to vocalize.
“She did it, she actually did it,” Celestia says awestruck as she looks over at you with both admiration, and perhaps a little bit of fear.
“A dark magic, being used for good…” Luna mutters, just as impressed.
“And another son, or rather half son is born. Though this time, not from my loins,” Jack quips, getting a smack on the back of the head from the weakened Flash.
“This headache is worth it,” Grandbuggy chuckles, rubbing his forehead, keeping Cadence from falling over. Cadence for her part just looks to the reborn stallion with whom she’s had a rocky relationship with, and just nods, before smiling over at you.
“We all may be drained of mana now, but thank goodness it was on our terms…” she says happily.
“Oh, we won’t be drained forever though,” Nightshade smirks. “Just need some orange juice and a nap and we’ll be good again.” The yawn that follows makes everyone around chuckle, and for the first time in a while, you feel safe and content.
And as Hope continues to sob in happiness, and the crystal ponies cheer in joy, you swear you hear Spike trying to say something over the crowd, but you feel too elated and exhausted to make it out.
For once, we’ve had just a bit of good luck…you think wearily as your eyes start to droop. I just wish that Bugze were here to see it…
NOWHERE
POV CHANGE: Bugze
The scene before you is so moving it could bring a tear to your eyes, but they’re still slightly dry and red from the torture chair earlier, so you just smile. Especially at the dumbfounded face on DWC.
“That’s…that’s…not how that was supposed to go,” he says sounding lost and confused. He just continues to look between the broken gages he put your head through and at the screen as if something will change.
“Well it did happen you putz,” you insult smugly. “So I guess my actions weren’t pointless after all since Sombra’s still alive.”
He grits his teeth at that and shakes his head.
“You, the brat and the old fart had their luck tweaked to negative! Your family shouldn’t have been able to pull off this hail mary pass!” he growls, his eyes darting around all the mismatch of levers and monitors.
“Maybe not, but Selena could. I knew she was bound to have plenty of unused good luck,” you challenge and he eyes you dangerously, to which you grin. “You said it yourself earlier moron, this is a family curse, and Selly and I aren’t married yet!”
When his eyes go wide at that declaration, you just laugh.
“…I can’t believe I overlooked that,” he mutters to himself with a tired sigh. “She was caught up before in your bad luck because she was in your head but now…”
Again he sighs and your chuckles start to dwindle. His mood swings are in full effect again, as he goes back to his stoic, bored demeanor.
“Pedantic rules like that are why my employment with Lady Luck grew so tedious,” he tells you plainly. “But still, I suppose I could look at it as a welcome surprise that spices things up. But in the end, it doesn’t even matter.”
“Really? After what they just accomplished, literally creating Sombra a new body for the second time in 3 days?” you challenge and he just shrugs as he grips your hair tighter.
“I was really hoping for the finality of death to really put your mind in the dumps before the finale. It would have made them upset and fuming as well,” he monotones before grinning. “But having a taste of hope before the hammer comes crashing down works too.”
“What hammer?” you say, suddenly feeling nervous again.
“The hammer of loss,” he explains. “Sombra and the rest may not be dead, but you’ll still never see them again.”
“What are you-“
“EVERYONE!” Spike’s voice breaks through the cheering on the screens. “Something’s happening to the city!”
Your eyes dart back to the monitors and you see as the buildings underneath the dome of the Crystal Empire start to fluctuate as the Crystal Heart spins in a rapid blur.
“What is happening?!” Celestia shouts as everything around them blinks in and out of existence.
“The Crystal Empire is disappearing!” Luna shrieks.
“Not just the Empire,” Jack says holding up his hoof, and it’s there that everyone realizes they are blinking in and out as well.
“It’s just like before!” a crystal pony yelps.
“We’re being cursed again!!!” another one bellows in fear.
“What’s happening?!” you yell in bafflement as everything starts to blink out like the TARDIS.
“Your Loss Bugze,” DWC whispers creepily in your ear and your jaw drops.
“But why now? Why is this happening?” Hope whimpers, holding the unconscious Sombra closer.
“This must be a safety protocol,” Cadence theorizes, her wings and ears drooping. “Tirek is still out there, so the Heart must be taking measures to ensure he’ll never get it.”
“But the last time the Empire disappeared, it took a thousand years to come back!” Nightshade cries out and tries to stumble to her hooves. “We’ve gotta get out of here!”
“It’s too late Nightshade,” the drained Sunset says as she looks through her own disappearing hooves.
“We’re already…caught in the spell…” Selena whispers, still far too weakened to even move.
“But-but…” Nightshade tries to argue, but Grandbuggy simply puts a hoof on her shoulder. He says nothing, but the tired and hopeless look he gives her, causes her to deflate. The old bug then takes the filly into his arms, who in turn wraps her hooves around her mother.
“No no no no no no no!!!” you stutter out as you see everyone begin to dematerialize out of time and space.
“Boy…” Grandbuggy mutters sadly while looking off in the distance.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait!!!” you whimper desperately.
“Bugze…” Selena whispers wistfully as she closes her eyes.
“WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!!!” you shout helplessly as DWC grips you tighter.
“Daddy…” Nightshade says in a heartbroken tone as she just looks up at the sky, the angle of which makes it look like she’s looking right at you through the monitor.
“NO! PLEASE NO! NOT LIKE THIS!!!” you shout and struggle, foam coming from your mouth, but your pleas do nothing. The Crystal Empire, and everyling inside of it fades out of existence, leaving nothing on the screens but the barren, arctic landscape.
“…” you can say nothing as you stare, mouth agape at the nothingness. Your body even forgets how to breath and you begin to choke. Your mind fails to comprehend the impossible.
Nightshade, Selena, Grandbuggy…everyling…
Your Family and Friends are Gone.
“…”
“And that concludes the broadcast of what I’d like to call the Siege of the Crystal Empire Arc,” DWC sounding chipper as he lets go of you and you flop bonelessly onto the control panel. “It had it’s ups and downs, surprises and cliches, and a lot of struggling and fighting, but in the end, it’s lead you right to where you belong.”
His words wash over you, but your whole body feels heavier than the moon.
“The despair and hopelessness aren’t as extreme, but loss is loss. Really you could have just sat down, had some popcorn and been comfy on the couch since it was gonna lead this way anyway, but you just had to be you,” he accuses before chuckling. “I told you it was pointless in the end…but your predictable struggling wasn’t boring, so I’ll give you that. Knocking me out earlier was a fun shake up after all.”
Slowly, you lift your head off the panel and turn back to look at the psychopath who has taken everything from you. He is just pacing back and forth and talking to the surrounding nothingness, more than addressing you.
“Bugze’s all alone now, and the end is nigh, how do you all like them apples?!” he mocks before devolving into unhinged laughter.
“…Bring them back.”
His laughter cuts off immediately and he looks at you quizzically.
“Say again?”
“Bring them back…please,” you bargain, all energy having left your body. DWC only raises a curious brow at that.
“Really?” he mocks. “You’re begging now?”
“I’ll do anything,” you say defeated, looking to the ground. “I’ll admit my whole life is pointless, I’ll watch whatever you want me to watch, I’ll even be a good colt and die, just like you want me to…just bring them all back…”
“Wow, that sure was a vulnerable thing to say Bugze,” he monotones before shaking his head. “But you’re going to be doing all those things anyway so why should I give you peace of mind before your tale ends?”
“…” you don’t answer him as he cruelly talks down to you.
“Besides, I can’t do anything so grand as to bring an entire city back from Time and Space,” he admits smugly. “Way outside my wheelhouse. I’m sure the Empire and everyone in it will show up again one day, probably another thousand years or so when Tirek’s probably eaten himself out of boredom…but yeah, you won’t be around to see that happen.”
Your head slumps even more at that and you sit on the ground, and he chuckles softly before pacing once more.
“It’s like I’ve been trying to tell you Bugze, this was all pointless because this was how it was always going to end,” he says in false sympathy. “From the Gala, to Fillydelphia, to Chrysalis and the Hive, and of course, the Otherworld, your life has been a tragedy of failures with delusions of hope sprinkled in between. Every good deed you preformed, was balanced out with something horrible. Every ounce of happiness you scrummed up, was made moot by the misery you wrought.”
The metaphorical knife twists in your gut as he breaks down your entire life. He then lifts your head with some unseen power to look you in the eye.
“It’s been genuinely fun to see you and all those insipid watchers think you can escape fate and earn a happy ending, but that’s not how the story goes,” he says with hollow, empty eyes.
“…Then how does it go?” you ask weakly and he smirks.
“It goes down the road that all tales in this genre go down, with heartbreak. The choices you’ve made and they’ve influenced have all just been a deliciously entertaining distraction from the truth.”
“What truth?” you beg for the answer.
“That this has always been a Tragedy,” he says sinisterly. “And tragedies don’t have happy endings.”
He then wildly gestures to the nothingness, to whatever audience he thinks is out there.
“You all tried so hard to divert these waters, but all rivers lead to the ocean eventually. This was the life of a wanted changeling, an outlaw with the whole world against him, someone so sympathetic and downtrodden, you couldn’t help but root for him, because he was the underdog,” he rants with eyes full of insanity. “But true underdog stories end realistically. The old boxer doesn’t win the title, the poor teens don’t make it out of their crummy town to become actors, and the bug with the weight of the world on his shoulders gets crushed.”
He then faces you again with that cruel grin.
“That’s how the story goes Bugze, with someone who thought they could fight fate, realizing it was all pointless in the end. A story that at least was entertaining, just like those countless glimpses of other realities you saw in the doorways. Interesting, but altogether pointless in the end.”
Silence meets his proclamation. Your mind is weary, and your heart is heavy with many negative emotions. But mostly, you are just tired. So very, very tired.
“So…is this the part where you kill me?” you ask wearily, and he chuckles as he places his hoof on your shoulder.
“Bugze, Bugze, Bugze,” he demeans. “I was never going to kill you, I am your Overseer of Luck after all. Even if I wanted to, killing you personally would go against the rules.”
“Then, what is all this talk of death?” you ask, at the end of your rope and he pats your shoulder.
“Because that’s where your fate lies,” he states with authority. “You’re only “alive” at this moment because of the Nightmare Jewell acting as a battery for your heart. But once Tirek drains that, it’s all over.”
You look to the mad stallion, confusion and sadness all over your face.
“What?” you whisper.
“Of course you’ve been dismissing all the signs ever since the other two got yanked from your mind,” he shakes his head in disappointment. “Haven’t you realized all those chest pains you’ve been having lately when using your plasmids? Or earlier when Tirek nearly gave you a heart attack?”
You touch your chest where Chrysalis shoved Selena’s weapon into you shiver.
“There’s…still magic in me? Or rather, in my heart?”
“A lot of unspent magic befit of a weapon which only worked correctly because of the mare in your mind. And if it gets used up, or eaten then…” he claps his hooves together and smiles. “No more heartbeat, and ergo, no more Bugze.”
You don’t say anything as you continue to feel your heartbeat. You had noted it earlier, but had pushed it to the side, but now you can clearly tell, the beating is irregular.
“And that’s how it’s going to end Bugze, you’re gonna go the way of Queen Rabia and the other Umbrum, an unexpected casualty of magic draining,” he states boredly. “Of course you’ll probably think you’ll stay away from Tirek, but I guarantee you’ll run right to him.”
“Is that why you took everything from me? So I would be suicidal and let him eat me?” you accuse and he shrugs.
“That’s one possibility, but I feel like you’ll go more along the “Heroic Sacrifice” option, either way, it all ends with Tirek,” he explains as if he’s certain. “Right now, the big guy is landing somewhere hard, and feeling quite hungry after having all the umbra and shadow magic rupture inside him. And without fail, he’s going to be heading towards Ponyville.”
Your eyes widen slightly at that, a bit of emotion splitting through your malaise.
“Why would he end up there?” you ask, afraid of the answer.
“Because that’s where Twilight’s gonna end up,” he responds going back to his bored tone. “And just like you, she can’t leave well enough alone when it comes to saving her friends.”
“But everyling there has already been drained haven’t they?” you point out and he fake grins before clicking the device in his hoof and more monitors appear behind him.
“Sure, except for all the survivors of the drain taking refuge in the Everfree with Zecora,” he says and your jaw drops. You see what looks like a field hospital surrounded by the enormous Everfree trees, and countless drained ponies are lying on cots. Among the victims, you see Caramel, Thunderlane, Aloe, Lotus, Golden Harvest, Bulk Biceps, and even Discord.
They are attended to by ponies who still retain their magic and cutie marks, a few of which you spot are members of The Horde, like Lyra, Bon Bon, Vinyl, Octavia, and heck even Crackle is there. All of them are being overseen by Zecora you would guess, considering all the cauldrons full of medicine brewing everywhere.
“Even some Canterlot refugees made it there,” DWC points out, and you see a few familiar faces, like Fancy Pants and Fleur, but one individual completely takes you by surprise when you see her blue coat and silver mane.
“Trixie?” you gasp and DWC rolls his eyes.
“Yeah, she made it out of Canterlot. Helped out Sentry too if you recall him saying that during all the chaos earlier. But of course, you were distracted and all”
You eye the blue mare as she gives Discord something to drink. The scar on her belly has faded, but you can still see it, but other than that, she seems to be doing better. At least she still has her magic. If you weren’t suffering so much heartache at the moment, you’d probably appreciate that fact more.
“And of course, there’s all the new refugees showing up,” he smiles cruelly and suddenly, the monitor shows something you weren’t expecting.
“…How?” you gasp in disbelief which only makes DWC chuckle again.
You see as the Human 6, along with The Wanted and the Outcasts and the others on the train are speaking with Zecora in her home, and the Dimensional Mirror is on.
“But that’s impossible!” you shout, as you get on your hooves in worry. “They only just left!”
“Of course you didn’t figure out the clue earlier in the hallway,” DWC rolls his eyes. “You saw them getting off the train right?”
“Y-yes but…wasn’t that another world?”
“Once again, just me giving pointless clues,” he smirks. “There’s a few liberties when it comes to time here. You can’t go too far into the future like The Doctor, but a few days is nothing. It’s how I always prepared for the gifts and hints you needed.”
“Then…then how were you surprised earlier with Sombra?” you ask and he rolls his eyes yet again.
“Because I was watching in real time, duh,” he mocks. “Plus, getting personally involved always muddles things, but this here right now, this is where you’re going.”
And as he says that, you watch as the real Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie come through the mirror, along with the Dazzlings and the rest of the Outcasts.
“But why would they come back? They were supposed to keep it safe,” you stammer and DWC shrugs.
“Oh they probably still plan to keep it safe, but those human girls all got bleeding hearts after all. After seeing so many drained ponies, why wouldn’t they try to get them to a safer world?” he insinuates. “Not to mention for all those Equestrians, it’s probably been weeks thanks to the time dilation, so they’re eager to get home, so of course the Elements of Harmony have to check things out now that they’re in tip top shape.”
Your ears droop as you realize what’s going to happen.
“They’re gonna try to evacuate the injured, and Tirek’s gonna feel it,” you realize in horror.
“There’s using the damaged brain,” he insults before picking up his remote thing again. “They still think he’s in the Arctic after all, but he’s much closer than they realize,” he says as he clicks the remote. The new screen now shows Tirek, near some mountain range near the forest, and you see as he starts to sniff.
Oh crapbaskets, you mentally worry.
“And the scent is in the air. He’s going to recoup his appetite, and after that, comes the fight with Twilight,” he says sounding bored. Another screen pops up at that, and you see as a wild haired Twilight is crackling with alicorn energy, seemingly teleporting randomly all over Equestria. “I’ve seen that fight before in world’s where you don’t exist, and it’s pretty epic. Of course you’ll already be gone by that point and won’t get to enjoy it.”
“…Why are you telling me this?” you inquire as you watch the red ape start marching into the woods.
“Just to hammer in how meaningless it all is,” he says boredly. “Now that you’ve seen the situation, you and I both know you’re going to try and uselessly save them. And that’s when you end up on the menu too. Your grand and epic tale reduced to nothing as you become a casualty in a plot that never needed you in the first place.”
You can’t really argue with that statement, because a part of you knows he’s right. With Nightshade, Selena, Grandbuggy, Sombra, Flash, Sunset and the rest trapped outside of time and space, you know in your irregular heart that you can’t let any of your other friends be hurt.
Even if I abandoned and avoided them like some heartless monster, this nutjob would somehow make me still get squashed by Tirek, you think pessimistically.
“And there’s that look of despair I’ve been looking for,” DWC gleams brightly. “You’ve finally accepted the truth.”
You just give him an emotionless stare in response and he nods his head.
“Very well then, let’s get this farce finished then shall we?” he announces before tapping his hoof on the ground, and suddenly the both of you are now outside of whatever pocket dimension he called home.
THE EVERFREE FOREST
The darkness of the trees around you make it nearly impossible to know if it’s night or day, and the smell of wet decay assaults your nose. It’s been some time since you’ve set hoof in this gods forsaken place, but there’s no mistaking it for anything but the Everfree.
“And here we are, right at the beginning of your second life, and right where they started to first notice you” DWC announces dramatically sweeping his hooves. “It’s like poetry, it rhymes.”
I have a rendevousz with death, the haunting poem echoes in your mind and you lower your head. For once, you fear that the haunting melody is actually prophetical.
“Now, it’s been a few days since Tirek got blasted, so all the humies are activating the mirror as we speak, so you’ll go and pointlessly do what you do best, and…well, I’ll be watching as always,” DWC smiles before going back to being stonefaced as you don’t respond. “…Don’t you have any last thing to say to me?”
You look up at him silently and he raises a brow.
“Really? Nothing? Not even a curse or a quip or a threat?” he goads, but still you say nothing. “I mean, this is the end Bugze. I’ll probably have to watch over Nightshade and tweak her luck in the future whenever the Empire returns.”
A twinge of anger spikes through you at his bait, but you just still stare at him, which causes him to frown.
“…You’re really going to be boring during this last leg huh? Just to spite me?” he grumbles, but still you don’t say anything. “Fine, act all childish, it doesn’t matter in the end. I just thought you’d like to give your old friend at least something personal before we go our separate ways.”
He then looks you up and down, before sighing.
“Very well. Goodbye Bugze, and thank you for the entertainment these last four years in this meaningless world,” he says as he raises his hoof to do whatever magic he possesses.
“Tell me something before you go DWC,” you interrupt and he pauses and looks at you expectantly. “…About Lady Luck.”
His expectant expression turns sour and he sighs in frustration at that.
“Of all the things to end on,” he mutters in disappointment. “Yes? What about her?”
“You think she’d be pissed if she found out about what you’ve done?” you ask quietly and he just raises his brow again.
“Heh, who cares?” he dismisses and raises his hoof again. “She never will, and who’s gonna tell her that she’ll believe? Now, so long Bug-“
“Yes! I’m the architect of this misery, I don’t need to share in it!” his own voice interrupts and he freezes.
“Hey DWC ol’ buddy, ol’ pal, don’t worry about it, it’s all pointless right?” your earlier words respond, sounding metallic and echoey.
“Do not use my words against me! It is all pointless, but that doesn’t mean your actions can’t be annoying as well!” DWC’s angry voice responds. And as his voice continues to rant, the DWC in front of you looks around in panic.
“What is this?! Where’s that recording coming from?!” he says, with a look of genuine fear on his face.
Now giving a vindictive smile, you pull your hoof out of the inventory, revealing the device you turned on back in his pocket dimension.
“The humies called it a cell phone, and it has this nifty voice recording app on it,” you say in faux innocence holding up the magic square that let you watch cat videos. “I guess this whole time you were kicking me while I was down, my hoof just so happened to brush over the button for it.”
“Heh, seems like your precious Lady Luck can affect your fate as well.” Past you mouths off.
“She does not control me! Her whims are childish and simplistic-“ past DWC declares, and present DWC goes white as a sheet.
“Oops,” you say with a toothy vindictive smile
“No, No Wait! You-“
A bolt of lightning suddenly comes from out of nowhere, striking the stallion, causing him to shriek in agony.
“AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!”
You take a step back and shield your eyes from the brightness, relishing in the sounds of his pain. After a few seconds, the impossible lightning ceases, and you now see as kneels on the ground, his coat is blackened and smoking, and his hat burnt to a crisp.
“Hah…hah…” he pants heavily, trying not to fall to the ground.
“Did that hurt you sick bastard?” you taunt as he looks up at you, looking utterly lost and confused.
“Q-Quiet You!” he growls and thrusts his hoof in your direction…but nothing happens.
“No, no no no, NO!” he stammers as he thrusts his hooves uselessly at you several more times. But there is no invisible force striking you, no change of scenery, and most of all, no magic.
“Yes actually,” you tell him plainly as the phone chimes in your hoof. “I had a feeling Lady Luck wouldn’t appreciate all this bullspit you’ve wrought. Also, with how petty she is, I knew she wouldn’t like being badmouthed by her subordinate.”
“M-Mistress Luck!” DWC suddenly shouts to the sky. “This is all just a huge misunderstanding! It’s not true! It’s-“
*Kapow*
Your hoof socks him right in the jaw with a pleasant crack, and the madstallion stumbles back into a tree.
“Oof!” he grunts and slumps against the trunk. When he opens his eyes, you see as his confusion has tripled. He puts a hoof to where you punched him and mutters, “What…what is this?”
“It’s payback is what it is you monster!” you declare, as you let your rage start to build up. “A whole lifetime’s worth!”
“But I-“ he starts to say, before you rush towards him, placing your foreleg across his neck and pushing him into the bark.
“And the best part is, it’s sanctioned by your former boss,” you say with a cruel laugh as you hold your cellphone up for him to see.
Choking and gasping, you force the insane moron to read the words that magically appeared in your text app.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Sorry for the oversight, I had no idea.
Kick his ass Bugze!
Love, L.L.
DWC’s eyes widen in shock and surprise, even as they start to bulge out from the lack of oxygen.
“And though a part of me cringes at the thought of following her orders, this is something I can get behind,” you snarl before releasing your leg from his throat and punching him in the gut.
“Ooohhh,” he groans as he painfully tries to breathe in air, despite the punch.
“Because right now DWC, you have pissed me off more than any other being, living or dead has! And though I don’t have my powers anymore, neither do you!” you declare as you reach into your Inventory and pull out a glass vial. “Even on my worst day, I could beat the Tartarus out of you, but since I had one left, why not go all out?”
You then chug your last Health Potion.
Health Potion Removed from the Inventory.
0 Health Potions Remaining
The exhaustion from this last day (which is technically like three days ago now) lessens somewhat, and the cuts and bruises you received since Chrysalis numb and wither. You then toss the empty vial at DWC which shatters on his head and cuts his cheek.
“Ack!” he grunts as blood starts to drip from the wound, causing him to shuffle off of the tree and away from you. “Y-Y-You-“
“Yes, it’s me! Just how I was in the beginning!” you grunt haughtily and pat your clothing for emphasis. “Just a regular changeling in a nobody cloak stumbling around the woods. You wanted the old raging Bugze? Well here he is!”
“This-this is-this is…” DWC stammers as he backs away from you.
“This is what you sadist?”
“This is all stupid and pointless!” he declares angrily. “Even if I’ve lost my powers, it still doesn’t change a thing! You’re still going to die by the end of this day, so why fight me if it solves nothing?!”
To this, you give him the most vindictive answer, which also just so happens to be the truth.
“Because I can…” you echo his own motivation, which actually causes him to flinch.
“Maybe it is all pointless DWC, and the more I think about it, maybe I do have a rendezvous with death,” you admit as all your worries and frustrations flow through you. “But if I can’t escape that fate, then the least I can do is make you suffer for the sins you’ve committed!”
With that, you pull the hood over your head, just like in the old days and prepare to face down a foe who actually shudders.
“You really shouldn’t have taken my family from me,” you threaten with all of your hatred. Your eyes do not glow, but the malice in them still shines.
You two are just a changeling and an earth pony in the middle of the woods. Two depowered individuals with a score to settle. A price that must be paid using your hooves.
And as the smug snake readies himself defensively, his eyes dart about and he grits his teeth.
You don’t know why, but you feel as though the they he’s been talking about are rooting for you.
Even if they are, it doesn’t matter. You’re going to beat this son of a bitch into the ground, and then and only then are you are going to make your way to the others where your destiny lies.
You have a rendezvous to keep, but vengeance comes first.
For everyone in the Crystal Empire.
For everyone in the Everfree.
For Grandbuggy.
For Selena.
For Nightshade.
For Yourself.
WHAT DO YOU DO?
