//------------------------------// // Sombra Speaks // Story: Stallions on Strike! // by Aegis Shield //------------------------------// Stallions on Strike Part 12: Sombra Speaks Princess Cadance sat curiously in a prison cell. She’d been given a nice blanket, some straw to eat or nest in, and the place had been swept before her arrival. She tilted her head a bit at her three captors, a trio of stallions assigned to take care of her and Princess Luna. Though, Princess Luna was a bit less well cared-for. The midnight mare lay hogtied with rope around her muzzle and an inhibitor ring over her horn. She glared fire and brimstone at them from where she lay on the stone cold floor. Her cell was not nearly so nice. It smelled of old straw and rat poo. “Alright, what now?” one of the three stallions asked the other two. “I found this book in the jailor’s office, lookie.” An orange Pegasus with a dark blue mane lifted a slim volume from under his wing and showed them. “’All You Need to Know About Caring For Prisoners But Were Afraid to Ask.’” He read the title off. “By Gate Key.” He showed them the picture of the author in the inside flap. They frowned, for it was a mare’s picture. “Hrm, well, it hardly matters. Let’s see what she has to say.” They flipped it open and crowded around. They mumbled over the table of contents, then skipped around for a bit. “Luna, are you okay?” Cadance whispered, looking over at her with concern. Luna would’ve snarled angrily if not for the rope tying her mouth shut. The stallions were not stupid, they knew the Princess of the Night would try to use the Royal Canterlot Voice on them, or worse, if left to her own devices. “W-well, other than the obvious.” The Princess of Love smiled a little painfully, pawing at the rope that hung loosely around her neck. They’d lasso’d Cadance, for lack of a better word, but she’d been a willing prisoner and had not been harmed. “Ah, here we go!” said the orange Pegasus stallion. He read from the text. “When you have your prisoner secure in a cell,” he paused, and all three stallions checked that the two alicorns were, in fact, in cells. “Mkay,” he mumbled, back to the book. “You must remember that they rely on you for anything and everything, and they cannot get it themselves because they are being held there.” “Makes sense.” One stallion said, nodding. “Also remember to feed, water, and care for your prisoner, and keep them in good shape. If they get sick or something, it’s all your fault and nopony else’s!” The orange stallion read aloud. The other two nodded along. “Would you like some tea?” offered the stallion to the right in earnest. “Oh? Uh, yes, please.” Cadance smiled a bit. They checked to make sure the thin little rope was tied securely to the cell bars, then went to fetch said tea. All three of them. The alicorn scratched her head. They’d not picked the brightest stallions to keep their prisoners, but… oh well. Celestia had told her what to do, and she was doing it. She only hoped Shining Armor was doing alright. Turning, she checked on Luna again, who was wriggling furiously now that the guards were gone. But no, Luna had been tied tightly so she couldn’t escape without magic. She couldn’t chew on her ropes, or kick free of them either. Even her wings had been bound. With the inhibitor ring on her horn, not even the moon herself could aid her down in this dungeon. She wanted very much to drop the moon on Canterlot, just to teach those striking stallions a lesson. She caught Cadance staring, with the slender little rope around her neck. It wasn’t even tight like a dog’s leash! She eyed her up and down, furious to know why the other Princess had not been bound and gagged as well. A few minutes later, the trio of ponies returned. One of them had a tea set on his back, bringing it to the bars. They stopped to stare. They couldn’t get all that in the cell without opening the door. “Hrm…” they opened the book again to check. Flipping pages, they found the proper passage. “When giving your prisoner an item or items, make sure there is nothing among them that they can hurt themselves or others with. Use the following phrases to coax them into compliance…” he trailed off, tilting the book at one of his companions. Checking that Cadance was paying attention, the stallion recited. “Back! Back, you! Against the wall where we can see you! No funny stuff, or else!” it didn’t sound the least bit intimidating, but it was in the book so it had to be right. Cadance tried very hard not to smile, “Yessir.” She said compliantly. Backing up as much as the rope looped loosely around her neck would allow, she stood with her butt against the cool stone wall. Luna watched, aghast. How could she let them order her around like that?! She was a Princess! When she was back far enough, they used a simple iron key to open the cell door. Bringing the little tea set into the cell, they set it down for her, then retreated outside and locked it fast. “There now!” they checked Cadance, checked the tea set… then consulted their book again. This thing was so useful! “Remember to only reward a prisoner for good behavior… mkay, just did that… and to take things away when they’re bad. It is up to you to help them become better ponies, and they must understand that good behavior is always good for everypony in the end.” “Sounds right.” said the stallion on the left. They flipped a few more pages, looking over at Luna. “What do we do about her?” they gestured to the Princess of the Night. “I mean, she looks pretty taken care of.” Luna watched Cadance serenely start making tea for herself, then started bashing her head against the floor. She wasn’t sure when she was going to stop. “What’s the book say about that?” he winced. “Er…” they flipped pages back and forth while the dark alicorn kept trying to knock herself out. “Self-destructive behavior, here it is!” he jabbed a hoof into the text. “If a prisoner engages in self-destructive behavior, it may be a sign of self-hatred, boredom, or thirst for attention. Keep the pony engaged in a pleasant activity to keep his or her mind occupied, and with time the behavior should cease." Luna wanted to explode when the stallions left and came back with a kitten for her to play with. They set it in the cell with her, and it went to nuzzle her nose. Luna groaned, sighing and going limp at last, giving up. This was the worst torture she could possibly imagine. “I dunno, she still looks pretty upset.” said one of the three, scratching his chin. “I know what helps me feel better when I’m upset!” he grinned suddenly, getting into his saddlebags and rooting around. The other two stallions leaned, and he produced a hairbrush. “Make-overrrrr!” he squee’d. Both of the other stallions’ faces lit up. Luna’s eyes bulged and she started to struggle again. Cadance giggle-snorted into her tea. =-----=-----=-----=-----= Princess Celestia tried to make herself look small and pathetic as she walked, but it was rather hard given that she was twice as tall as everypony present. With Shining Armor rather meekly riding on her back, she was steered down long halls and to her own throne room. Put up on the dais, she watched as group after group of stallions filed into the room. The chaos out in the streets had lulled as word spread of their victory over the solar tyrant. It did not take King Sombra long to show up either, spearheading the S.o.S. with his mighty Princess. There were cheers as he mounted the dais and stood with Celestia. Shining Armor clambered off her back, and after a little coaxing, tied the alicorn’s bridle to her own throne. She sat on her haunches, hunched a little, with a brilliant black eye. The room got louder and louder as more and more males flooded in, waving angry signs and pitchforks and improves weapons. Celestia didn’t dare look at them. After a time, Sombra raised a hoof for quiet. He was their spokespony after all, and it was time for him to speak! Turning to Celestia, he opened his mouth to shout something accusing, but was suddenly interrupted. “Excuse me, pardon me! Hey, no touching! Owch! Lemme through, it’s important!” A mare was making her way through the crowd, roughly tossed about and jostled as she went. “I have something for the S.o.S. leader, honest! Make room, ugh! Owch!” Stallions made her trip across the room a real obstacle course, through all the muscle and angry faces and such. She had serious balls, going into the room full of angry stallions. She was light blue, with a dark-blue-with-white-streak mane. “Out of my way you hussy! King Sombra! King Sombraaaa!” she tried to call out over the crowd. Sombra turned, cocking his head. “Wargh?” he wanted to know, furrowing his brow. Wasn’t that his… dentist? What was she doing here? She finally made her way to the base of the dais, waved energetically, and started up it like she owned the place. A quartet of armored solar guards stopped her, glaring. Sombra waved them away. It wasn’t like a dentist could harm him, anyway. “Wargh-rawrgh-snargh, Karg-argh?” “Well you missed your appointment a few days ago, silly!” Colgate smiled, her brilliant pearly-whites bringing a bright shine into the room. “I came to let you know you can take your lines out now!” Sombra’s face lit up as she got into her saddlebags for a moment. “Hold on, hold on, let me get them properly. No use in realigning your teeth after a thousand years of no attention if you’re gonna rip out the bracers I put in!” she leaned as he opened his mouth. The crowd watched, a little confused, as Colgate snapped a white mask over her muzzle. Leaning with a dentist’s drill and a tiny-tiny-tiny Allen wrench, she leaned towards his mouth. Working quickly and expertly, she undid the metal bits that were affixed to the roof of his mouth. One at a time, she removed the installation that had been helping his fangs not intrude on the rest of his teeth. Having large canines could really harm your mouth if they weren’t cared for properly! Thank goodness Sombra had gone straight to a dentist after his release from the powers of darkness. He did care a good deal about his charming, kingly smiles, after all. “Therrrre we are then!” she pulled the mask off when she was done with her work. She gave him a brand new toothbrush with his name inscribed on it. “See you in six months for your check-up!” she turned on her hoof and was away. “Thank thee.” Sombra said, stuffing the ice-blue toothbrush in his breastplate. “I shalt be there.” Clearing his throat a bit, he smoothed his outfit to look presentable again. The crowd parted for the dentist as she left, more than a little shocked. “Oh thank goodness!” Somepony in the back shouted loudly. “I thought that was his accent before! I couldn’t understand a word he was saying!” “Forgive my mild lisp up to this point, friends.” Sombra’s voice was deep, syrupy, and rang like a bronze bell over the crowd. Something in it shook the air, vibrated it like the tones of a church signal bell or a tuning fork. It was a powerful thing meant for great speeches, soothing reveries, and wise statements. Everypony in the room oooh’d apprieciatively, hoping he had more to say. “But now, to business!” he turned about with a flare in his cape. “Princess Celestia, thou has much to answer for!” he spoke for his ponies, and voiced their anger. “Word hath reached us that thou have denied our perfectly legal petition without waiting for the summit between yourselves and a representative of its party. Namely, me.” He gestured regally to himself. “Doth this be true?” His lexicon was odd, that of a stallion from a thousand years ago— when he’d been sealed away. Much like Luna, he’d only been back a short time, and it showed. Celestia blinked at him. Or, did the best she could to blink with one black eye. “…no?” it came out like a question, shocked. “No?” Sombra was caught off guard. He cocked an eyebrow when she shook her head to confirm. “No?” he asked again. “The summit is in three days still, isn’t it?” Celestia turned to Shining Armor, the stallion holding her bridle. He nodded a few times. “Who told you that I or my sister had denied your petition outright?” she asked softly, trying not to sound righteous or threatening. “Who was it?” Sombra turned, calling out over the crowd. “Who brought that news from Canterlot?” he made a sweeping gesture. There was hush. “Bring me the royal missive that says it!” The room was silent for a long time. “Well?” he called. “There must be some shred of evidence that bequeaths this! We can’t have marched for two days on the deceptive wings of rumor!” Everypony in the room was looking back and forth amongst themselves. Who had brought that news? They didn’t know. Somepony had said it, then it had spread like wildfire but… had it been written in a letter somewhere? Had Celestia declared it to the public? Luna, maybe? None of them knew, they’d just been following the crowd. Sombra sagged a little. “Thou art joking.” He said blandly. “Thou art joking, right?” They looked everywhere but him, and Celestia could almost taste the guilt in the room. She looked up, cocking her head. “I made no shh-uch claim, my little ponies.” Celestia added helpfully through the bit in her mouth. “The summit was-shhh to happen in three day’s-sh time between Shh-ombra, Cadanc-sh-e, Luna, and myshh-elf. There, we were going to discuss the royal petition you all worked so very hard to bring to frui-shhh-ion.” She reached up and touched her swollen eye a little gingerly, looking rather hurt. The bit in her mouth made her sound ridiculous. “But… that didn’t happen. It seems-hhh you arrived a bit early.” She wilted her ears and hung her head to one side. Shining Armor put an arm around her for comfort, trying to smile for her. The guilt in the room increased tenfold. Pitchforks were lowered. Angry signs slowly came down from their high positions. There was mumbling throughout the throne room. They’d made a pretty bad mistake. King Sombra clenched his teeth so hard his cheeks were vibrating. Fools! All of them, fools! Even himself! Some weak rumor had sparked all this fire and rage after they’d been patient enough to go through legal channels to make all this happen?! He heaved a deep, shuddering breath. “Everypony, go home. Now.” He told them. “Back to Ponyville and elsewhere to thy homes.” He bade them. “Thy part in this is done.” They stared at him in shock. Go home?! Now?! They murmured back and forth. He couldn’t tell them what to do! He was an elected official, he represented them—he didn’t command them! Anger rippled through the room and they started to glare at him. Celestia looked around rather worriedly. Sombra’s horn took on a sickly black glow. His eyes flared over to a neon, blinding green as flames poured from them. A spectral aura flared around him, concussing the air as dust rushed away from him in a ring. “THOU WANTED ME TO FIGHT FOR YOU?! HERE I AM! I AM DOING THIS—MY WAYYYY!” Every window in the throne room exploded outward by the pure, concussive force of his voice. It was like Luna’s Royal Canterlot Voice, but deeper and more masculine. The crowd was driven to its knees, terrified. “Foals! All of you! Foals! Instead of talking to your mares and herdmates you stir up this frantic rebellion and listen to rumor instead of reason! I came to help and thee THIS is what happens?! Shame upon thee all! APOLOGIZE!” he brow-beated, pointing at Celestia. “We were doing this in a legal, responsible way to bring about social change! APOLOGIZE!” he roared again, snapping his hoof at the white alicorn. Celestia peeked at the crowd a little, unsure. She’d not expected this. She’d hoped Applejack would find Big Macintosh and helped to talk some sense into the S.o.S.— meet their demands with love and understanding instead of mandatory laws— but this was something else entirely. She’d not expected the leader of the bunch to turn on his head like that! There was mumbling and guilty looks all around. “S-sorry…” one stallion near the front said. “Sorry, Princess.” said another. “Ahm sorry too.” An Apploosian accent floated over the crowd. A little breeze of sorry’s floated around the room for a bit, until every stallion had said his piece. “Go home.” Sombra repeated a little more kindly. “Make thy wives listen. Make thy herdmates listen.” Sombra’s voice rolled like a slow, rolling wave of summertime water through the room. It was strangely comforting and fatherly. “If they truly love you, they will listen and see to thy unhappiness as they would their own. Especially after all this.” Slowly, the stallions came to their hooves. They looked at each other rather guiltily. King Sombra was right. They began to trickle out of the room like so much water. “Shh-ombra…” Celestia said softly, impressed and lisping on the bit in her mouth “King Sombra.” He corrected gruffily. “I shalt return in three days, Princess. Our summit is still coming up.” “Yes-sh, of course.” Celestia leaned while Shining Armor began to untied her and get the bit out. “Oh, thank you. I sounded silly with that thing on.” Her stallion began to work off the cuffs and bridle while she spoke, smiling quietly. He was still pretty upset about the black eye he’d been made to give her. “I don’t know what game thou art playing with that.” Somba said with a scowl, gesturing to her chains and black eye. “But it stops now. Thou art no more cowed than if I assaulted thee with a feather duster.” He was not buying Celestia’s ‘I’ve been taken prisoner’ bit. He wasn’t stupid. Bringing an alicorn to her knees took far more violence than a hoof to the eye and a few bedroom toys to bind her with. “Forgive me.” Celestia amended a little bit guiltily. “I could not bring myself to harm my little ponies. My only choice was trickery, after this violent misunderstanding.” She gestured to the damage out in the streets. King Sombra grumbled. “Ever the elusive chess master, Celestia. A cruel streak immeasurable.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “I shalt return. Be ready.” He swept from the throne room, walking among the discarded protest signs and pitchforks. But then, he stopped on the threshold of the huge double doors. “By the by,” He smirked with all his fangs, looking over his shoulder at her. “Thy protégé’s herd is courting me. She is lovely.” he winked in a rather male way. Shining Armor’s jaw dropped. Celestia gaped at him, eyebrows launching into her mane. “What?” King Sombra threw his head back into a diabolical laugh, then swept from the room. End of Part 12