//------------------------------//
// Chapter LXXI 
// Story: Journey to the center of Equestria 
// by Rarity Belle 
//------------------------------//

The anthronies had become genuinely scared of the other lamia after he had spoken his actual name. Lord Sombra, that was the name behind the creature that was dubbed ‘the Gorgon One’ through time. But still hadn’t the mares seen how he actually looked like. It could have been anything in their eyes actually. It could have been a big slug like Rarity described the king as, or he could have been another monster all together. The two of them didn’t know the answers yet.

The clouds lowered down back to the ground and more was revealed of the creature that laid within it. Though it wouldn’t have stopped either of the anthronies from what they had set out to do. “Lord Sombra, we command you to stop with whatever you’re doing and give us back that lamia,” commanded Twilight towards him in a confident tone, after which she took another step forwards.

But the lord wasn’t in the mood to be commanded by anyone. He had been telling his own rule for the longest of time already. He would have been the one who made the rules in fact. They had to listen to him and not the other way around. Yet the creature in the dust only shook his head in response. They were anthronies, beings that dwelled upon the surface. The rules were a lot different up there then down by them.

It didn’t mean that he wouldn’t place them in their right spots thought. For the creature was just furious that he was being commanded at. “Your world may work differently, but down here I am lord and master. All of the lamia are scared to death of me as they should!” Sombra explained quick. The dust finally had dropped down to the ground, revealing just how he looked like.

Finally were they all given the rightful view of the one that was called the Gorgon One. Finally could everypony present see just how he looked and what he actually was. Finally they could shudder in horror, because of the looks that were revealed to them all. When the dust had finally fallen down upon the ground. In front of them there was another lamia that appeared.

One that seemed even thicker and longer than Pinkie Pie was. But he couldn’t be deemed as fat. No, all of the thickness came from the sheer amounts of muscles that were found in his body. To make matters worse were the green and red eyes, smoking from the dark magic.

Twilight had a careful look over the creature and couldn’t believe what she saw. The constant venting of dark magic through the smoking eyes was one thing, but the horn on top of the head was another. The soothsayer couldn’t trust upon her eyes as she looked once again.

It was there, it was actually there and sitting right upon his very head. A brilliant black horn with a bright red tip and a translation between the two that almost seemed to be flaming. “This can’t be, true,” she spoke up before her head made a violent shaking motion.

Sombra noticed the motions but never replied to the words in a verbal manner. Instead he just gave them both a deep grin of utter discomfort. One that would send the shivers down their spines as they looked at the fangs he carried. It was a true nightmare that they had walked into.

Fluttershy trembled whereas Twilight was still setting her sights upon reality. And Pinkie just laid down upon the table. She couldn’t be going anywhere because of the dark magic that held her in place. The very energy that was constantly leaking out of Sombra. He was constantly depleting his own energy reserves, whether he knew it or not.

The doctor was perhaps the only one of the two who dared to speak against the giant lamia. She took a step forwards after she had gathered all of her courage and looked him straight in the eyes. What followed was a series of words that was spoken almost directly out of her heart. “Then we beg of you, powerful lord, that you allow our friend to go and leave this place in peace. There’s no need to made a big deal out of all of this.”

The lamia caught to her words with a set of listening ears. He was hearing them loud and clear. He even appeared to be taking them into consideration. The feeling of relief went through Twilight, she thought that he at least seemed to have been reasonable.

But she couldn’t have been more wrong. A fact that she should had seen about the fact that he used dark magic and was actually venting it all the time. The will of the good in everypony had taken its hold in Twilight sadly enough. She still thought that every last being with a conscious mind had some kind of good inside of them.

Reality would wake her up, hard. For the Gorgon One narrowed his eyes all of the sudden. The creature had glances over the anthronies before his horn coated itself in a magical aura that was a mixture of both black and purple. It bode bad ill for the mares as they took a stance of fighting just as quick.

Fluttershy would have used her fists if she had to, whereas Twilight had already charged up her magic. Then it were the mares who narrowed their eyes and silently awaited the attacks of Lord Sombra.

Seconds ticked by while if they were hours in both of their minds, then the magic of the lord was finally released. Where they had expected a massive beam of dark magic to be cast their way, there was something else that happened.

The beam didn’t happen but the aura intensified around his horn. When they both had a closer look, they could see that it was his hair that was undergoing some kind of transformation. The strands of hair at the back of his hair all slithered up and even seemed to have gotten scales.

Once again there was both terror and fright that took both of the anthronies over. Pinkie had closed her eyes on the table and thus didn’t capture any of the things that were going on. A few dozen strands of hair had morphed upon the head of the dreaded lord. They revealed something that was just frightful to look at. Almost as it came straight out of a nightmare.

The very strands of hair had become snakes. Living, breathing, scaled, fang loaded snakes. He had revealed his true form to the mares and chuckled like the devil he was in reality. His eyes glanced over to the mares and a grin formed over his lips.

“What’s the matter?” he then asked them while a hand went through the snakes. “Does my new look, frighten you? Hmhmhm, I hope it does.” He was just plainly taunting them from that moment onwards. If they still had the guts to command him that he had to let the other lamia go, all hell would be literally have broken loose.

Twilight and Fluttershy tried to remain their cool as best as possible. They looked one another in the eyes for just a moment. The thoughts were at one line and they both knew exactly what needed to be done. Whatever it would have taken, they would have done it. The two gave a powerful nod to one another.

Then they looked back to Sombra and Twilight took over the word. “We ask you one more time. Let, our friend, go,” she spoke to him in a demanding tone. With the magic still primed, it should have been a clear threat to him. But Sombra wouldn’t answer to it, outside of a deep growl.

That was going to be the way that they would be playing the games? It was fine with him, but they would be paying the price for the events to come. Everything that would happen afterwards, would be placed upon them as blame.

The massive lamia gained once again a grin across his lips before he finally spoke the words he had been dying to say since their conversation began. “Nopony commands me, especially not two idiots! She, is mine. She, was kicked out of the city as a sacrifice to me. I, let her run around for as long as she wanted. Time’s up,” he growled up to the both of them. He would make his move.

With one massive jump he managed to land upon the table and released a deep hiss straight in the face of Pinkie. The snakes on top of his head all released hisses of their own while both Twilight and Fluttershy watched in horror. The only thing they could have done in the moment.

“I hunger for fresh lamia flesh, and after the troubles she went through most recently… I would say that she would suffice well enough. She’s tender, light and extremely easily to bite through.” His very tone had turned to an even darker one. One that spoke of pure evil and ominousness at the same time. He turned his head over to the mares as he spoke the last words of taunting. “Just how I like them. 

Fluttershy nor Twilight couldn’t witnesses the scene anymore. Something had to happen and it had to happen in an instance. The unicorn wanted to release the magic that she carried but noticed how the pegasus was already making her way to him. With her legs running and the wings used to gain even a greater speed, she almost appeared like a lightning flash.

“What?!” Sombra exclaimed. Not even he had the faintest of ideas about what was happening. So before he knew it, he was tackled by Fluttershy who climbed on his back. Anything would have been done by the pegasus to get him off of Pinkie Pie. Who at her own turn was almost crushed by the sheer weight on top of certain parts of her body.

“Get off of me, you vermin!” Sombra shouted to her while his horn charged once again. Blasts of magic would soon enough be released into the air as Twilight just stood there for a few seconds. The soothsayer only had one thing that she could be doing.

All of the magic that was primed in her horn was released in the form of a massive beam without a single word being spoken. The beam travelled out of the hand and straight towards the lord himself. Fluttershy noticed the beam heading their way and quickly jumped off of the beast. Sombra on the other end looked straight at it and before he could do anything it had hit him.

The pegasus landed back upon her hooves as the beast was flung off of Pinkie and disappeared in the darkness. The fight wasn’t over, far from it even. He would have gotten back to the both of them whether they liked it or not.

And they were right on the matter. The pegasus had rejoined herself by the unicorn. They both looked at the table and the area behind it from their position. Their eyes would have gone over everything as they were looking for him.

Moan and groan fell eventually in their ears before the words of the dark lord were finally spoken. His eyes appeared in the shadows behind them and were located quite the bit higher. “You two, have given me enough trouble!” he roared up to the pair of them. His horn charged again. “You wanted to leave this place in peace?! Here’s a lesson for you both… It’s not going to happen!”

He would have flung himself forwards and was revealed once more out of the shadows. With a roar of power he lashed out to Twilight while the magic kept on charging. The unicorn soothsayer would dodge the claws at his hands with unseen skill before Fluttershy took for the skies.

The battle they had hoped to not engage into, had erupted. The worst part was that they were sucked straight into it. The soothsayer and the doctor weren’t just fighting for the life of a friend of theirs, but also their own. They knew the kinds of damage that dark lord could give and they didn’t had the desire to end up in the same manner.

Even though all parts of his body were dangerous, it were the eyes that the mare were the most terrified of. Whether they knew it or not, they had the feeling that if they looked in the eyes, there would have been something terrible happen to them. It was just a gut feeling that told them that. Yet the feeling was strong enough to make it a dominant one. Which naturally resulted in the two of them believing the feeling.

“Fluttershy, do whatever you have to do!” shouted Twilight to the doctor after she had evaded another slash of Sombra. Both of their horns were primed and ready to fire anything if needed. They were ready to end one another there and then. There was a fire that could be witnessed in both of their eyes.

Fires that raged for two vast and different reasons. All while Pinkie Pie almost laid whimpering upon the stone table. She didn’t want that her friends would be fighting against the god of her own existence. But there wasn’t anything that she could be doing. All that Pinkie could do was to keep her eyes firmly shut and hope for the best.

The pegasus on the other end nodded before she dive-bombed down towards Sombra and give him a couple of punches straight in the back. The snakes all coiled around her before she realized that the scales at his back were as tough as rock.

Every punch she delivered almost felt like she was breaking her own hand. There had to come a new strategy if they wanted to win the battle from him. Perhaps the underside was a lot softer. It was a natural thought for Fluttershy to have as she had experience with animals. And since the lamia were basically snakes, the truth of the matter might have been found already.

With haste did the pegasus shook the snakes off and landed back on the ground. Only to then circle around the slashing Sombra. Perhaps it was stupid to have rejoined her by Twilight, but it was the safest place to be. Especially with the fact that the unicorn was about to release a massive blast of magic to him.

The horn had coated itself in the raspberry aura, before Fluttershy could have said a word would it have happened. Once more had the blast been released. But Sombra quickly turned his back to the beam. Where Twilight thought that he would have been sent off in the air, the spell almost had no effect on him.

All that it left was just a little mark of burn. Other than that, there was nothing. “That’s, what I wanted to say,” replied Fluttershy just before she gulped afterwards, “his scales are…”

“Are thick, I figured that out as well by now. Means we have to adjust our strategies. Distract him for as long as you can. Whatever you do, don’t look in his eyes!” Twilight said quickly before she ran away.

“W-What?!” exclaimed Fluttershy to Twilight. She was left all alone with the lord. Another gulp went through her before she just ran. She ran and ran as fast as she could. She wanted to get away from him as quickly as possible. But whether or not Twilight would hurry up with whatever it was she was working on remained to be seen.

In the moment did it all just seemed like a massive nightmare for the three of them. Yet the strains of sweat and the charges of magic were a constant reminded for all of them that that was reality. Reality had set in by them all and each of them realized they were playing with their lives. Which made them come to the realization that they were doing something incredibly stupid and dangerous. Not that that was anything new to them though.

“Hey, snake-face!” Twilight yelled aloud all of the sudden. Sombra turned himself around to face the soothsayer and hissed towards her. For then he saw her standing with the staff right in her hands. The thing was aimed to him and she grinned almost like a maniac. “Think fast,” she added before another massive beam of magic was released.

The body of Sombra placed himself firmly against the ground as the grooves alongside the bottom of his body clamped against the surface. “Foolish mare,” he replied to his before his own magic was called upon.

Two beams of magic collided in midair. Though the beam of Sombra was shorter than he would have liked. But at least he was countering the attack that Twilight was giving to him. He let out an annoyed growl towards her before he intensified the charge.

More and more smoke left his eyes while his beam did gain a bit of ground. Twilight’s eyes went wide when she realized the fact and intensified her own magic as well. Fluttershy could only watch while the two titans of magic were battling it out. In the moment she regretted it that she didn’t carry anything like a dagger, or had asked Rarity for one of he swords.

She could have ended the life of the dark lord there and then. But the question remained that if she did have the dagger, would had the courage to thrust it inside his body? A question that was almost constantly haunting her mind.

Though she couldn’t be thinking too much about it. Too much stuff was all happening at the same time and she needed to keep her eyes out for all of it. One wrong step and she could have been next in the line of fire.

The magic duel between Twilight and Sombra lasted for almost a minute before both parties released their beams in different directions. Yet both beams somehow managed to find perhaps the most unlikely place to ended up. They both ended up right inside of a statue.

The powerful beams didn’t just crumble the stone, it shattered everything. Therefore they both ended the lives of two other lamia’s that were caught. But over the course of the fight had numerous lamia already seen the end of their lives by the claws of Sombra.

His nails were as strong as granite and could crush every other material right under them. The moment he noticed the chance, the gorgon lamia launched himself forward again. He wanted to see Twilight’s blood flow right out of her body, no matter what.

Yet the sharp eyes of the unicorn noticed the incoming attack. And just like that she took a step or two aside. An annoyed growl came from the gorgon lamia when he then crashed in yet another statue. Once again it was shattered to dust and he had one sentry less.

Out of the rubble he emerged unscratched though. The snakes shook off the last little bits of dust before the voice of the creature filled the room again. “I’m having so enough of the games that you are playing. You wouldn’t just let me enjoy my dinner in peace would you?!” he exclaimed to the both of them.

His words were right though, they did crash the dinner he had. Then again, he would be eating one of their friends. They were both right in their own right.


~~~~


Twilight and Fluttershy regrouped with one another. They made certain that he wouldn’t just launch himself to Pinkie and fulfill his own promise. The two anthronies kept their eyes, horn and fists ready for anything.

“You should have picked out a different target to consume, lord,” commented Twilight to him almost in a mocking tone. The raspberry aura coated the whole staff by that point. She was angry and ready to give him yet another blast. “Pick your friends wisely, but one must pick his enemies even wiser. And you just made that mistake.”

The Gorgon One just erupted out in a deep chuckle while he shook his head. The magic around his horn had returned as he too was priming it for something. Twilight narrowed her eyes as she thought he would extinguish all the light in the room. That would have been the most logical step in her eyes.

Instead did Sombra something different. He made a use of the opportunity to talk to the mares, even if it would have been brief. The lamia would use the time off to catch up with his breath before the last blow would be dealt.

“Oh but I do pick my enemies wise. Two anthronies like you I can easily take. You just happen to be knowing the one place you aren’t supposed to be looking. Doesn’t matter much really. Why would anypony voluntarily want to look in my eyes, when I can also force them to?” commented Sombra in a dark tone. His voice reeked of a trap being set up as the mares prepared for anything.

Though anything wouldn’t have been enough in the matter.

“I’m just, so hungry!” cried Sombra out while he slithered away from his place and seemed to have gone into the direction of Pinkie. “I just want, to finish my dinner and be on my way again. But no, you just had to come in and crash my little party. We have fought already, you destroyed dozens of my statues… What more do you want me to do?!”

“That you release our friend!” Fluttershy exclaimed before she realized it. Instantly were the hands brought over to her mouth as she prayed upon the fact he wouldn’t go in against them.

Yet the giant lamia wouldn’t let the opportunity slip by. Not like that at least. His entire face just dropped itself before he shook his head a couple of times. “Oh, there was that,” he muttered in a fashion as if he had forgotten about it. “Anything besides, that?!”

Whether he had turned to madness or was just plainly playing with them couldn’t have been made out of the words. For Twilight it seemed as if he was doing it both at the same time. Sometimes it was one, other times it was the other. He had gotten unpredictable as the magic continued to charge up.

“Can it be that, the longer he charges, the more he consumes, the madder he becomes..?” she said to herself in a low volume. The last thing she wanted as for him to hear any of her thoughts. The soothsayer was having theories aplenty as her own magic continued to be charged.

Hunger was getting more and more to Sombra while his stomach even rumbled. Not out loud of course, but he could be hearing it clear to himself. He had to have his dinner and he needed it quickly. If he wouldn’t eat, who knew what would have happened to him. The chance existed of course that the constant venting of dark magic could have been placed to blame.

That that was the blame for the near constant hunger that he had. The chance existed that the city would provide him with ‘sacrifices’ to keep him happy. The last thing that the city wanted was a visit from the creature once more. They all had their reasons for the things that they were doing there. Reasons that may not have been liked by many.

Yet at possibly the worst possible timing began Pinkie Pie to yell. With her eyes still closed firm had she spoken the words that were on her mind. “Leave them alone, they have done nothing to you! Let them go and finish me as it was supposed to be long ago!” she yelled before she finally tried to escape out of her hold.

Fluttershy and Twilight almost wanted to scream to her that she should have held her mouth against him. But if they would have done that, who knew what else he could have done to the three of them. Clearly he had gone mad in one way or the other. The glance in his eyes confirmed that very fact even more.

The two anthronies were staring down the eyes of a creature that clearly had lost all sense of reason. Instead it only wanted to accomplish the goal where it had set out for. A goal that was horrible to say the least yet understandable at the same time.

The eyes of Sombra looked back at the pair of thing just before the tongue went over his lips. “They are made of flesh as well, sentries have been destroyed… Yes, yes, yes, that’s how it’s going to be played,” the gorgon lamia spoke before he finally had figured out just what he had to do. In order to get them both down, one of them needed to be terminated.

The grin returned once more to his face. Though before the anthronies could have reacted had he vanished into thin air. The eyes of both Twilight and Fluttershy went wide when they realized he had performed a teleportation spell of some sort.

The two stuck close together. They both feared that he could reappear at any given time and any given place. They were in the major disadvantage and were in the need to turn the tables back in their favor once more. Though that was a thing that was a whole lot easier said than done.

Their eyes looked all over the place as they prayed silently to themselves. The silence in the room had become dread as the tension was about to be cut. Any second could the Gorgon One have poofed back into the realm with anything.

A poof was heard in Twilight’s ears, which was followed by a muffled scream behind her. Then there was another poof that happened right after it. With haste had she turned herself around, only to realize that Fluttershy had vanished. The eyes went wide again as she gave a gasp for air. She couldn’t believe it that the doctor had been gone.

She had been taken. Taken to a place that was unknown to her. The soothsayer turned herself almost constantly around as she wanted to see where the mare and the lamia had gone to. But the room was empty for the rest, at least for the time being.

Twilight knew that everything that had once left eventually had to come back to the rightful owners. That also included beings who had used a teleport to their advantage. She could sense with her own staff all that she wanted, but there was just too much influences given off the statues.

All of them had been transformed with dark magic, magic that the staff kept picking up straight away. All of it combined just rendered the attempt useless. All that she could do was to wait for them to return. To keep her eyes open and act immediately when the time was there.

Another poof came into existence and Twilight turned herself around. The soothsayer the looked straight at a scene she didn’t wanted to see. Everything that happened next just horrified her. For perhaps the worst nightmare had come true. “No..!” she exclaimed softly to herself.

It was at the other end of the room that it happened. Sombra and Fluttershy had teleported back into the room. The lamia held the pegasus off of the ground with one hand firm around her neck. He didn’t seemed to be squeezing it, but was doing something considerable worse.

He made Fluttershy watch straight in his eyes. He forcefully made the doctor watch straight in his eyes. Right inside of his gorgon eyes. Fluttershy released a massive eep of terror as she tried to close her eyes or look away.

But no matter what she tried, the dark magic of the giant lamia had taken a hold of her eyes. The eyelids were pulled back as far as they were allowed as the eyes themselves were kept in place. The doctor was staring fully in the eyes of the Gorgon One.

Finally there would have been the time where he would have honored his nickname and would give Twilight the show of her life. “As I said, foolish mares,” commented Sombra in a dead serious tone. All of the madness of previous had vanished like that and his much more serious side had returned. For all the right reasons in his eyes and all the wrong in theirs.

A deep hiss was given off by the lamia, the snakes followed up in bit higher tone. “You shall become, the centerpiece of my, collection.” What followed was just a sick chuckle released by him.

Fluttershy could feel it starting to crawl up from her hooves and her fingers, the coldness that only stone could give to anypony. Her hands and hooves were already turning slow into the thickest stone there was imaginable and Twilight thought to make use of that.

Everything considered would it have been a mad, mad, mad attempt in the first place. But it possibly could be working. The magic that she had charged up was released as one massive blast. Sombra caught the casting in his eyes but never took his eyes away from Fluttershy.

One poof later though, and he was just holding thin air. “What?!” he exclaimed to himself before he looked around. Then he noticed the two of them standing next to one another. Another growl was released through his mouth as Fluttershy managed to ball her hand into a fist.

“She’s mine!” Sombra yelled to the pair of them.

“Come and get her!” Twilight replied before she vanished with a poof. Sombra on the other end wasn’t paying too much attention to the whole thing and wanted to rush over to the pegasus. But there was another poof right behind him and before he knew it, he was flung forwards. Behind him levitated Twilight with the staff resting upon her shoulder.

She had in fact used the very same staff as some kind of bat to whack the lamia forwards. Sombra was them met by the stone fist of Fluttershy right in his stomach. The underside of the body was indeed just what they had expected. It was softer than the scales upon his back and therefore a lot easier to deal damage with.

The creature fell down to the ground and realized that he wouldn’t be having any dinner, anytime soon. But it didn’t matter too much to him. He had enough of the fight between him and the mares. He wanted to just go away from them and did so by a quick teleport of himself. One last grin was given off to the pair of them, before he vanished into thin air.

Was it was the last they had seen of the creature? Who knew. They hoped they had though. There would have been a whole new problem that they had to be dealing with.

Twilight rushed back over to Fluttershy who had dropped herself to the ground. The process of her being turned into stone had progressed even further. Slowly but surely was she becoming more and more statue instead of a living, breathing being. “Time consumes us all, but in the end there’s only one devourer left… Stone, never fades away, yet takes all.”

That were the last words spoken in the voice of Sombra before he was truly gone. Gone from the scene to just wait. Wait until the time was right to return once again. Twilight could only have hoped that she had something with her. Anything in her arsenal of magic that could have been of aid for the doctor.

For neither of them had ever dealt with something like that before, in their entire lives.