Sombra was stunned and defenseless. His clone army was still too far away to be of any assistance. As for Bael? He was having a grand ol' time.
"Y-you treacherous beast!" Sombra stammered, "Thou will ruin EVERYTHING!"
"That is none of my concern," Bael responded coldly, "Your plans were lying in ruins the moment you tried to use me. A fatal error that will NOT go unpunished, you puny morsel. Now, you will learn your new place in this world."
The weather began to turn, as a blizzard quickly formed into its full might. The great toad straightened up proudly, before announcing. "I AM BAEL! LORD OF TOADS AND MASTER OF FROZEN SOIL! And you," he glanced to the approaching army of Sombras, "ALL of you," he looked back to the cowering black crystal pony below him, "Will henceforth be baptized as-" He stepped closer to the Sombra clone, leaning in for extra emphasis. "- Dinner."
With a powerful chomp, the clone was gone, and the only indication that there was one there were the shrill cries of pain coming from Bael's mouth as he chewed with glee, before swallowing the hapless animated lump of crystal. He turned to the approaching army, ready to get this banquet started.
"ATTACK!" The lead Sombra shouted to his copies, "SHOW THIS CREATURE NO MERCY!" None shall cross Us and live to tell about it!
The copies did as they were told. Some created crystal walls for defense, while others marched forward, firing volleys of concentrated dark magic. Despite Bael's size, he nimbly jumped out of the way, and charged to the attacking clones upon landing. With a swift swing of his body, his remaining Rusalka feeler whipped forth, grabbing one of them and tossed it back at one of the walls. The wall shattered along with the clone's back.
Bael leaped forth at the dumbfounded clones, and caught a pair of them in his jaws. He began to quickly and mightily chew them up, relishing in their taste. One of the braver clones decided to try to repay the favor by jumping at Bael's right hind leg, and bit down. The great toad didn't appreciate such a foolish action, and kicked the clone up, causing him to loose his grip and fly in the air for a moment. As soon as he hit the ground, the foot came back up again and swiftly crushed the clone without ceremony.
A trio of clones stepped forth, and tried to send a shock wave of black crystals in Bael's direction. Seeing it coming, Bael leaped backwards, avoiding the climax of crystals that erupted from the ground. With enough distance between him and them, he breathed in, and exhaled his special gas. Suddenly, he was gone.
The clones were utterly confused as to how they lost track of something so massive. Stranger still, they noticed that the snow not only got a tad thicker, but everything got much darker.
Cracking the dimness of the battleground, Bael's glowing Rusalka feeler dropped down from the heavens, right in the center of the trio. It "smirked", transformed its arms into blades, and spun quickly like a deadly ballerina. The three unlucky Sombra copies were knocked backwards with heavy wounds. It stopped spinning, and began slowly walking forward to one of the downed foes. The unlucky foe rose back to his hooves, not willing to go without a fight, but found himself taking the feeler's blade right in the neck. The other two swiftly got back up and jumped the feeler, but it danced around them like an expert, laughing the whole time. More clones joined into the fray, firing at the feeler, attempting to grab it, or at least trying to harm it. Despite their numbers, they were just much too slow, and relied too much on their magic to face the ghost like appendage.
Suddenly, it was pulled back up to the heavens and disappeared. Before they realized what was happening, the battle ground got a bit lighter, and Bael shot out from nowhere. His leap was precise. His arc was true. His mouth was WIDE open. It was too late for the clones to realize that they accidentally clustered together while fighting against the feeler. With a mighty chomp, a decent handful of them were snatched up in his powerful jaws and devoured like others before them. Unfortunately, this left Bael quite vulnerable. The copies took the opportunity of his dining to start firing upon the toad. The balls of dark magic struck the great white beast, irritating him.
"You will regret that!" Bael growled, as he jumped to the side, avoiding more fire. He slammed his forelegs upon the ground, forcing a wall of ice to appear in front of him, defending him against further attack. When he knew he was safe enough, he shook his body violently, and launched the ice crystals from his back. They sailed through the air and dropped down like comets of death. A few of the clones were able to get away. Others weren't that lucky. Some were outright crushed, others got knocked back by their landing. One unfortunate clone was knocked backwards, and then got its head crushed in by a second shard. The smarter ones created a black crystal barrier to defend themselves from the sky falling doom. However, they weren't smart enough to notice that Bael had jumped out from behind his own shield, and was well on his way to belly flopping the stationary target. A satisfying CRUNCH was heard when he landed on the shelter. He got back up quick enough to take another shot to the face. Bael, upon instinct, jumped backward, avoiding further shots. With enough distance, he breathed in, and exhaled the equivalency of absolute zero. This froze a few of the unlucky clones in the range of the blast, and encased them in ice crystal prisons, with looks of pain and utter horror preserved on their faces. Bael jumped forward and gobbled them up.
"Frozen fools always taste the best." He chuckled darkly.
There was one more left. Many have said never to play with one's food, but that just wasn't any fun. Besides, this was a puny, pathetic horse that thought it could command him. After all he went through because of it, he was certainly gonna take his time on this one.
"We will not let you leave in once piece, cur!" The last Sombra clone pledged with a hint of desperation in his voice.
Bael rushed forward, surprising Sombra, and body checked the little black crystal stallion. As expected, his comparatively smaller form couldn't take the strike, and ended up tumbling backwards from the weight of the attack. The toad waited for Sombra to get back up, wanting to prolong this scuffle as long as he can. Bael venomously wanted to make him pay for every single second he spent under the dark spirit's control.
But Sombra had other plans. He no longer had strength in numbers, but without his army, he could concentrate on the one form he had, instead of the many. An army would work against the Crystal Empire though invasion. A single warrior would work against a monster.
Sombra rose back to his feet, as he smiled darkly, "Then, it is decided. We shall destroy thou. Prepare thyself."
With a sick purple and green glow of his red horn, he engulfed himself in his own dark magic. An armor of spikes formed upon his body, with blades attaching to the hooves, both front and back. His tail disappeared. His head adorned a helm, bladed where his horn is.
Bael gazed at his more intimidating opponent. Well, this could be a problem.
Sombra shot off like a bolt, right towards Bael. The toad was able to dodge, but not before Sombra sideswiped his body, leaving a small gash. Slight pain rushed through as Bael landed. Sombra skidded and power-slid to face his foe once again, before taking off and heading right for the toad. Bael flexed his legs and leaped over the violent warrior king, avoiding any slashes. Unfortunately, it left him wide upon for Sombra to fire at his underbelly. The dark magic struck him repeatedly before he landed opposite Sombra. A landing he almost didn't stick due to the increasing quantities of pain. Bael knew he couldn't keep dodging forever, and he had to start going on the offensive.
Sadly, it would be easier said than done, as Sombra took off once again, charging his horn. Bael put up a wall of ice in reaction, hoping to get a little extra time to form a plan of attack. Sombra leaped up and slammed his fore-hooves against the ground, causing waves of dark crystals to scream towards the wall, exploding at it, piercing its surface. Bael flinched as one of he sharper crystals nearly impaled his eye. He backed off, and slammed his fore-foot against his ruined shield, sending the debris of both ice and crystal flying towards the foe. Sombra easily ducked, dodged, and weaved between the chunks of clear and black. Once safe of the crystals, Sombra slammed his hooves against the ground again, going into a drum beat.
The waves shot towards Bael, and before he could react accordingly, he was struck repeatedly by the heavy and sharp crystals, at first pushing him back with each successful hit. With a final heavy strike on the ground by Sombra, a maxed out wave of crystals shot towards the toad, crackling with dark energies. The moment it reached just below the toad was the moment it let loose its load. The attack sent Bael flying upwards and flipping in the air for a moment. He landed with a deafening thud, thankfully upon his belly, despite how sore it was from the cuts, pierces, and gashes it took from those damnable crystals. He faltered as he tried to stand, but was successful in recomposing himself.
Sombra slowly walked forward, his eyes glowing menacingly and a pleased and wicked smile beaming beneath his helmet. "Oh, what ails thou? I beseech thy trampled form." He chuckled lightly, "Thine are naught but a squashed toad. WE are KING! Learn wit thine place, pond scum."
Bael chuckled, brushing off the insult, "You talk too much, Dinner."
"How DARE THEE!" Sombra roared, not noticing that Bael inhaled sharply. Before Sombra could react, the toad bellowed his special gas. Sombra rushed forward, trying to attack his foe in an effort to stop him, but it was too late. Bael was gone, and the battlefield was once again dark.
"We play by my rules now..." Bael said from an unknown location, as his feeler descended from the heavens once again, behind Sombra. The warrior king whipped around to face his threat, but was quickly smacked by the feeler. Sombra flew for a moment before landing on his back. He quickly recovered from the fall, and kept an eye on his ghostly foe. It waited, dancing tauntingly, almost begging for Sombra to make the first move.
None mocks King Sombra! He charged forward, throwing strike after strike with his bladed hooves at the Rasulka. It easily ducked and weaved passed them, dancing around his efforts with little problem. Sombra swung a powerful right hook, aiming at the things midsection, but grossly miscalculated, missing his target and opened himself up for attack. Something which Bael's Rasulka counted on. It struck him in the back with a quick jab, then hooked the side of Sombra's face, before finishing with an expertly timed back kick, sending Sombra tumbling back. The ex-King of the Crystal Empire recovered quicker this time, fury in his eyes. With a surge of hate and dark magic, he roared, and sent a shock wave of crystals erupting from the ground and covering the immediate battlefield. The Rusalka jumped up, entirely avoiding the strike. Taking his airborne opportunity, Sombra leaped up after it, and struck the blue appendage down with a powerful stomp of his fore-legs.
The Rasulka recovered quickly upon landing on the ground, and back stepped quick enough to avoid Sombra's follow through stomp. With a swift motion, the Rusalka shifted forward, transforming its arms into blades once again, and slashed at Sombra. With a quick one-two combo, followed by and upward spinning slash, Sombra was once again in the air, and this time had no control. The Rusalka quickly grappled the foe, and glowed brightly. Within an instant, Sombra flash froze. The battlefield began to brighten up once again, as Bael reappeared and slowly approached his incapacitated foe. With the feeler still gripping Sombra, Bael swiftly lifted his prey up, and slammed him on the ground, shattering some of the spines. Again and again he did this, until the armor and weaponry Sombra created was completely stripped. With one final whip of his feeler, he launched Sombra against the ground, and let him tumble about. Cracks and cries of pain were heard as the dark foe began to stop.
Bael moved forward, glaring at his downed foe. "So much for a King. Any last words?"
Sombra gazed up at the victor of the fight, hate burning in his eyes. His body was broken, and was swiftly running out of energy. "It is not over, wretch."
"Pathetic," Bael responded, "Here I believed Kings died with dignity and grace, and yet here you are, attempting to insult me. Allow me to be the bigger individual." He raised his foot over Sombra. "This buffet is over." And with that, he violently stomped on the head and chest of Sombra, destroying him utterly.
Bael breathed in slowly, and sighed in relief. While he was thankful his foes were tasty, he wasn't too impressed that they dared to fight back so diligently. Then again, the evil spirit in question had this annoying superiority complex that prevented it from having anything BUT such a disorder. At least it was gone for now.
Considering they were all copies, and that they had the faint smell of his personal magic, which the spirit likely stole from him, he believed more may come in the future. It would be an excellent prospect. A never ending supply of food, delivered no less. Though, he probably would have to make sure he would stay hidden, lest Dinner decided to pull the same trick he did when they fought.
The sound of hooves and metal approached the great toad beast. He turned to the origin, and noticed the group of horses he first met had decided to show up, plus a few extra reinforcements. They stood in a defense position. Not like it would make much of a difference if I were to attack them.
The supposed leader of this brigade stepped forward, followed by the purple horse that dared to demand his servitude. "And, what do YOU want?" Bael hissed.
"You destroyed them." Shining stated flatly.
"I did" he responded, just as flatly, "It was easy, and they didn't taste too bad either. What's your point?"
"Why did you?"
Bael paused for a moment, then answered, "A canary told me that food was near. I came by, and, surprise surprise, licorice horses. An interesting meal, but it works."
"You just came to get a quick meal?" Shining asked, rather insulted.
"You misunderstand. I didn't come to get a quick meal. I came to see if what the canary told me was correct." He smiled, just thinking about what he was about to say next. "Considering what they are, though, this isn't the last of them. So, I'll be coming back every time to get a decent meal, until I'm satisfied."
"What do you mean? Are you just going to abandon us once you have your fill?"
"You catch on quick, for a horse."
"You can't do that!" piped up Twilight, stepping forth towards the beast.
"And why not?" Bael growled, leaning towards the offending pony.
"Because If we go, you won't ever go home."
"Your canary friend mentioned that concept before, but I have trouble believing you could succeed in such an effort."
Twilight thought for a moment, thinking of a way to convince the beast. Something clicked in her head. "You know how powerful Sombra is, correct?"
"Not as powerful as I."
Yeah, whatever, Twilight thought in a huff. "Well, I know somepony that is twenty times more powerful. One who is properly capable of helping you get home unharmed, I'm sure."
Bael's eyes squinted, "You lie."
"I lie about as much as my canary friend."
Bael leaned to his normal position, thinking for a moment. He REALLY didn't want to stay here longer than he needed to, and if one told the truth in earnest, then perhaps the one's friend would keep the promise.
"Do you swear on your life?" Bael asked seriously.
Shining was shocked, and attempted to intervene. To tell his sister that agreeing with this monster would be a mistake. Twilight was quicker, however, and replied, "Provided you find the source of those clones, and put a stop to Sombra, once and for all."
It was a hard pill to swallow. Both options of accepting and declining had their benefits, but long-term satisfaction was key, and there was only way to go for it.
"You drive a hard bargain," Bael muttered, before sighing, "Very well. I accept." He lowered his feeler, which outstretched its hand. Twilight extended her hoof and received the cold hand.
"And I swear that we will do what we can to help you get back home." Twilight nodded sternly.
With that, the Rusalka feeler let go, and Bael shuffled back. He turned towards the black tower in the north east, flexed his legs, and began leaping in that direction.
He wasn't entirely thrilled he was going to destroy his infinite food supply, but going home as he currently lived and breathed was a much greater reward. Besides, dealing one last lash against the spirit that tried to get the upper hand would be a sweet fortune.
Revenge is a dish best served cold, after all.