The new Sombra - The tale of a villain, that tries to behave... like a villain?

by Hoppa_21

Chapter 4: About A Heroine And A Villain

Things looked great up until know. The Crystal Heart was almost fully charged and we could use it any minute now.

I just hoped that Shining is alright. I sighed. He is doing what he has to do and I have to do the same.

“Look!” shouted a nearby guard, as he pointed at the sky.

I wondered what this was about, then I saw something that seems to resemble some kind of a large black ball in the air. It was descending and some blast and explosions could be seen in that direction.

“Sombra,” I said bitterly. Shining was probably there, fighting him with all his might, but I had no time to ponder more, as the ball moved right in our direction.

“He is after the Crystal Heart! Ready yourselves!” I shouted, as my horn flared. I wouldn’t let him hurt any of my precious ponies. I chuckled on the inside. So this was how Princess Celestia felt, while protecting Equestria. Never thought I would utter these words so soon.

It put me into an important situation and I was somehow not only stressed and nervous, but also excited. My mind wandered through the stack of comics stashed under my bed. An unusual hobby for a princess, I know, but stories about saving other ponies and caring for them were one of my favorites, besides romances. Best was a healthy combination of the two. Shining often teased me about my secret hobby and I was a little embarrassed by it myself. I had a reputation to uphold and that is also a reason, why Shining had to buy the comics for me. He was interested in them too, but not as much as me. I was glad to have him. I don’t want to recall the times when I went to the store with a cloak to secretly obtain them. It was probably ridiculous, but as royalty, things are just different.

I then heard the nearing screams of the guards and drops of sweat were forming on my forehead.

He was getting closer and closer. I need to get rid of the shadows. Luckily my magical properties were light and love, the weakness of shadow magic. My special powers, if you would like to call them like that. But I couldn’t underestimate him, even with that slight advantage on my side. He had huge magical capabilities. The way he attacked the Crystal Empire the last time showed that. These huge shadow walls and the sprouting crystals. I wouldn’t allow it. Not this time. Cause I am Pink Cadence!

With determination, I pulled on as much magic that I could muster to create a shield of love and light. It spread and met with the ball, which shattered upon contact.

Out of the shadows fell a dark grey Unicorn. I recognized him immediately and was ready for everything that was to come. Or at least, I thought that at the time.

He stood up with a bewildered look on his face. I threw a quick glance to the Crystal Heart. It looked good so far. But was it good enough? It needed enough energy, so that Sombra wouldn’t return AGAIN. I was ready to give the command and sent him to the deepest pits of Tartarus, but something was off about him. He seemed confused, but then he looked at me. Suddenly I could see anger rise up in his face. I readied my stance. Time to protect my ponies.

“They can’t be serious!” I heard him shouting.

I was ready to end this and I would end this, no matter what tricks he tries. “Face your e-“

“Don’t tell me you are Princess Cadance?” I heard him ask with a hint of disappointment in his voice. I tripped over my words. Just what was he pulling off? This was getting strange. I simply nodded and tried to proceed, but he wouldn’t let me.

“Face yo-“

“THE Princess Cadance?” The disbelief in his tone could be heard by every pony.

My anger was replaced by confusion. I nodded again awkwardly before speaking up. “Fa-“

But I was of course interrupted AGAIN. “A pink pony princess?! Seriously?!”

“What are you get-“

He facehooved, before shouting, “Cut! Cut! Cut!” He made a T-motion with his hooves. “This is getting too girly for my taste. I mean Ponies, ok. Spa, why not? A cute little filly, most definitely appreciated! But this? I hereby protest! That guy over there was at least someone I could take serious! But a PINK PONY PRINCESS? What kind of hero is this supposed to be? You are qualified for the role as a damsel in distress at best! This is ridiculous!”

My anger rose again at this insult. He didn’t even think about taking me serious! For him I was a helpless little victim. Nothing more than his prey. But I calmed relatively fast. If he thought that I was going to be an easy prey and not a heroine, then he will be surprised.

I readied my stance again. This time for sure. “F-“

“And what is this! A heart-shaped butt tattoo? Sorry, but you can’t be serious! Just take a look at me!” He then presented his fangs, while pointing at them. “These make me look like a villain as well as,” he then pointed to his horn, “this nice red little horn,” then he pointed at his coat, “dark sinister fur,” and then he pointed at his flank, as he lifted his cape to present it, “and I don’t even need to tattoo my butt! Just look at my well-toned flank!” He shook his flank enticingly at me.

I gawked at the missing cutie mark, as well as his choice of words. Well-toned flank. Oh, and don’t get me started on the shaking of his flank! Not that he would leave me enough time to think about it any further.

He then held a hoof to his chin, while musing, “Talking about flanks...” I had a bad feeling about this one.

“Just sto-“ And interrupted again. Maybe I should give it up… No! I can’t give in to him!

“Hey! I’m still talking. Don’t always interrupt me!”

Interrupt him?! He can’t be serious!

Suddenly he pointed at me with disdain. “You are way too thin around your flank and therefore too fragile to be taken seriously! Eat some cake and dye your fur, then we can start talking again!” He stated this with a determination and finality, so that I was simply dumbfounded for a while.

All around me were faces of equally shocked Crystal Ponies, their jaws dropped. I was pretty sure that my own jaw has dropped by this development as well.

I then slowly started to process all that he had said and grew more and more furious. Getting insulted to such a degree is nothing I get often. Of course there were always enviers, but they didn’t take it that far. The thing that really did upset me, was that he didn’t even let me speak up. All sense of arguing was lost with him and I stared daggers at him.

He sure will wish that he wouldn’t have left his bed this morning.

From all what could have happened, I didn’t quite expect this. I mean, a pink pony princess, seriously? I expected something more. Given that I already knew she was a pony princess, but the pink and the heart tattoo weren’t really necessary. But being underweight was probably the most fatal flaw of this so called princess.

“You are a super waif and therefore the worst possible role model for little fillies! They most likely will try to get as thin as you and with that attitude risk their health! You are a threat for every innocent little filly out there!” I accused, and I had every right to be angry with her. Can’t just let the little filly have such a bad role model.

She flared her wings in an attempt to intimidate me. Wait…what now?

“Sombra! You will fa-“

“You devil!” I shouted angrily as I fell to my knees. “You really did it now!”

She groaned. “What is it this ti-“

“Wings!” I pointed at her accusingly. I can’t believe I overlooked them up until now.

“So wha-“

“You are greedy! Why do you have wings AND a horn?! I don’t even have that treat!”

“That’s bec-“

“Because you are evil! A villain! A tyrant! How couldn’t I have noticed this sooner?! You keep all the privileges for yourself! Shining is probably only a marionette to you! He has only a horn after all! A small henchman! Poor guy!”

“Hey! Stop that! It’s not like tha-“

“You are using him?! Your own brother?! Be ashamed!”

“We are married and he is not my b-“

“Incest?! You are even more evil than I thought! He is only a slave for you! You are enslaving your brother! God, this is worse than I could have ever imagined it…”

“No! Just li-“

“Oh god… It is over for me… I can’t top that… In comparison to her I look like a saint! How can I play my role now?! I-I c-can’t!” I started to sit on the ground and rock back and forth in a vain attempt to calm myself down. It didn’t help. The thought of my mind making things like this Cadance up is just too much for me. I mean what does this say about myself? I must be really mentally damaged to think of such an overkill villain…

Probably too many video games and anime. God, Joel was right, and I hate it when he is right! But it is just in my head. He doesn’t have to know!

“HE IS NOT MY BRO-“

I hastily stood up and pointed at her again. I could see her eye twitch. “You know what?! Go keep your stupid empire, I don’t want it anymore!” No, I wasn’t pouting. Most definitely not. I just turned my head in an offended manner to look away from the princess. Nothing more.

“Is he pouting?” I heard one of the guards say. Thanks for that!

“Stupid guard,” I grumbled, still not facing in their direction. I would have used a crystal stomp on this insolent guard, if it wasn’t for me being completely outnumbered.

“BUCK THIS!” bellowed Cadance as she fired a beam from her horn. It hit me hard and hurled me a few feet backwards. Let me tell you one thing, IT BURNS!

“AAAAAAAAAAAAH!” I shrieked as I was hit and a fire even started on my coat.

“IT BURNS!” I wallowed in the ground on pain, while rolling to get the flames out.

“YOU VILLAIN!” I cried out in anger. “ATTACKING A HELPLESS PONY WHILE IT IS NOT LOOKING! THAT IS LOW, EVEN FOR YOU!”

A guard turned his head to the princess. “He has a point. This was really not very princess like.”

She glared at the guard, before she set on a deadpan expression, as she mulled his words over. “Are you bucking kidding me?” was her only response. Seems like she couldn’t believe that a guard would actually choose my side.

I like this guy with his orange coat and blue mane. Maybe I should recruit him!

“Listen to your guard. I haven’t done anything! You on the other hand enslaved your own brother! Pervert! This is just sick! Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?! How can you watch yourself in the mirror or sleep peacefully even?!”

“WE ARE NOT RELATED! AND I AM ALSO NOT IN CHARGE WHEN IT COMES TO THE PRIVILEGE OF SPREADING WINGS OUT!”

I giggled. “SPREADING wings out! Perfect pun!”

At this moment steam was coming out of her nostrils. Really scary. But I guess that’s dream logic for you. Aaaaaaand she is charging her horn of course, while screaming a battle cry.

“Raaaaaaaaaargh!”

BLAST!

THUMP!

“Ouch…” I muttered and glared at her as I got up again. “Spoil sport.”

“That was really not appropriate. He was just pointing out the pun you made,” uttered the orange guard. I really love this guy for this. I will definitely mark him as a potential candidate for recruitment.

Cadance’s eye meanwhile twitched. It was really creeping me out.

After I got back to my feet, I processed the things she just said, the gears in my head turned slowly at this revelation.

“Soooo…you are not evil?” I asked cautiously.

“NO! I AM NOT EVIL!”

I let out a sigh of relief. Would have been bad, if I couldn’t have played my role! I mean, who watches a movie about a villain, slaying a villain? That’s just strange when it comes to the morals. I mean, who do you root for? The one who is a little less evil than the other? Or maybe for the one with the better merchandising products? I would totally go for the latter one. It is always a good sign if you can get things for free. This makes companies and people look less greedy.

“Well, I guess we can proceed with our play then. I hope you have prepared your script. I want this ‘heroine meets villain’ scene to be perfect!”

It is kind of strange that she smirked at this. I expected a different reaction, but if she is willing to play the role without complaining, then I won’t complain either.

“Ok then. Camera set and aaactiiiioooooon!”

She looked incredulous for a moment, but then smiled at the prospect of finally reciting her script.

“King Sombra! Today you will face your inevitable, finale defeat! Justice will reign upon this land and your times of oppression will come to an ultimate end!”

She made a toothy grin. I swear to you, she was enjoying this play more than me! But let’s get back to the script. I wouldn’t want to disappoint her.

“Oh, so you think you can defeat me? The manipulator of shadows? What could you possibly do to oppose me?”

“The Crystal Heart!” She then moved out of the way to present a…Crystal Heart? Not really a creative name, but that wasn’t what bothered me about this.

“CUT!” I bellowed, as I formed a T with my hooves again. “A heart shaped weapon? What’s just so…how do I put it?” I mused, with a hoof to my chin, “So…corny. Nothing against love. It’s some great stuff and all, but does it have to be in a heart shape? Why not a cube? Just like the one in ‘Avengers’? This would give it a nice cryptic pizazz.”

Her look of annoyingness (yep, another great newly coined word of mine) formed suddenly into an incredulous look. “Wait. You know the Pavengers?”

Pavengers? Like Pony Avengers? Wow, my mind sure made some things up here. And here I thought I could forget references. This might get interesting.

“Yeah. I mean, who does not know them. I pity the fools who haven’t heard of them before.”

This seemed to spark something inside her. Don’t ask me what it was, but she somehow got extremely excited about this.

“I know what you mean! It is the gathering of the most famous heroes of all time! Captain Equestria, the Iron Pony, Bulk, Thor… The power ponies aren’t half as good as this team! It’s a pity this city is missing a comic store, but I’m already working on fixing that. I tell you, I’m already thrilled to read the next comic! It was just such an unbearable cliff-hanger, then they all got separated right before the big fight!”

She then stopped and looked around her nervously. Almost all ponies were staring at her with confusion or surprise. Orange Boy didn’t seem to mind it just like me. I mean, what is the deal with a girl liking comics? She is just a normal pony…running a whole country. Ok, I get it now. The whole role model shebang, but that was her problem not mine, so I still didn’t really care.

“I mean…uh…I heard about this being a good comic series! Nothing more!” she said, quite panicked.

I laughed at her. She didn’t seem to appreciate it. “No need to be ashamed. I mean, I remember well, as I enslaved the Crystal Ponies, because they didn’t know about them! Scum like that just deserved to get enslaved, don’t you think?” I joked, even though I tried to sound as serious as possible.

I surely hoped this would help to recover some of my lost villain points. You know, the reputation I have to uphold? Let me tell you, it could be easier if you consider that my magical abilities are strongly limited and I can’t do that much damage. So I sometimes have to keep it up with words.

And here she was, just staring at me in disbelief. “That doesn’t make any sense. There was no such thing a thousand years ago.”

A Thousand years ago? Didn’t really get that part, but best thing would probably be to play along with it.

“Oh…I guess, it was something different then. I still have some blanks there. Memory loss and all. Let’s just say, I used some magic I shouldn’t have tried,” I lied.

At this point I was babbling complete nonsense. I myself didn’t even know what I was talking about. I’m not that good at improvising, so don’t blame me.

“Ok…then,” she said in an unsure manner.

“Yeah, yeah. Can’t we just continue our play?” I uttered, as I tried to direct the conversation into the right channels again.

“Yeah! Like I just said, the Crystal Heart tore you to smithereens and your smithereens to smithereens last time, so you can’t win! Yield and accept your defeat!”

Ok, the girly shaped weapon is a tool of total mass destruction! Maybe I should overthink my strategy?

“Hold on a moment. Do I get spared if I admit defeat?”

She mulled it over for a second. “No, not really.”

“What is the point in giving up then?!” I shouted angrily.

“Well…I just reminded this sentence from-“ she stopped and caught herself just before it slipped her again. “a novel!”

Yep, totally not a comic. If you practice in front of the mirror, you could maybe convince me in let’s say…a thousand years!

But that was not important now, I needed an escape plan. A distraction would be nice.

I heard suddenly something familiar and my ears moved in the direction of the sound. I must say, that I like this ear flicking sensation. It really is an interesting part of pony anatomy.

Snap!

I grinned. This was just TOO perfect. I already knew how to make my great escape!

I had a victorious smile on my face. The Crystal Heart was probably charged to the max right now and therefore ready to wipe him out of existence, without any chance of return. At least, that’s what I hoped for.

It was a surprise in itself that he survived the last blow, after he was torn apart by the heart last time. But there was no time for doubts now. If it was necessary, I would even blow him a third time with it. But something was off about him.

He behaved strangely to say the least. And now he grinned like he had still an ace up his sleeve. He then took a stance and I prepared myself for the worst. I mean, he insulted me before so there couldn’t come anything good out of his mouth, right? Well, despite his devotion for the Pavengers…

Focus!

He stood on two legs and announced with confidence, both hooves in the air, “I have eight thousand stallions on my side! They have surrounded the entire empire and just wait for the signal to strike! Even you can’t take on eight thousand stallions! Am I right?!”

I blanched. Did he really make that many allies? How? This had to be a lie. Was he really the whole time gathering troops, while we thought he was gone? He did know about the Pavengers…There weren’t any comics a millennia ago, so he was around for at least a while. And he was not in the Crystal Empire, though to the lack of comics. He had to be travelling through the lands to gather troops.

Even though it is dubious, I mean gathering eight thousand stallions in three months, without even Celestia or Luna noticing it? Not to mention his memory loss story. It doesn’t seem to add up. But even if the number was wrong, he could still have troops at the ready. I simply couldn’t exclude it. I have to be careful with this.

“And why did you come alone here then?” I asked the obvious question. It’s also a point that seems strange to me. Why waiting, when he could have taken over the empire just like that?

“I just wanted to amuse myself. It is really humorous to see that you still think you are on top of things. My female general only has to give the signal. She is here in the town with me and is just waiting for her cue.”

He then turned around and pointed at a pale yellow Unicorn mare. “Ok, Miss Shine, time to get this party started!”

I immediately signalled some ponies in silence with a movement of my head to get her.

“Horseapples!” could be heard from the mare, as the guards took her down at once, along with a few other swears and her promising revenge.

“Yeah! Get her guards!” Sombra shouted cheerily, as he made a step forwards and stretched his hoof out in an attempt to strike a pose. “See, Miss Shine?! That’s what you get for taking photos of me!”

My eyelid twitched at this. Was I wrong? Was he just playing with us? I just couldn’t find an answer for this question. Nothing made sense anymore.

I took a calming breath as I stretched my hoof out. A technique which I also recommended for Twilight, and it seemed to work even under this circumstances.

As I calmed down I just pushed these confusing thoughts away for now. He was probably aiming to confuse me, and I needed to stay focused.

I then noticed him sighing. “This is going to suck,” he said as he concentrated magic into his horn and I tensed up, as I saw that. It all was just a distraction!

“BUCK YOU!” I could hear Miss Shine scream, as I struck a pose and taunted her. But I had no more time for any more delays. This wouldn’t keep them distracted for long but honestly, I didn’t want to use this escape plan I made.

“This is going to suck,” I said, after I sighed. The fun part was over and now followed the highly unfunny part.

I closed my eyes and then concentrated my magic. They would not give me a second try, if this failed.

“Shadow Ball, Soaring Crystal: Pinball Combo!” I roared, as I could see the shadows forming a ball around me. After they were done I let a soaring crystal spread out of the ground fast, to push me up to high speed. Unfortunately, the crystal went at the wrong angle out of the ground, and so destroyed my well-planned escape route.

And here I thought I could go straight for the train station.

I heard screams as I crashed into some building and an annoyed shout, “MY CAMERA!”

I have to admit, I snickered at this, despite the circumstances. Served her right, the rotten thing.

The ball was lightly squeezed upon contact with the building and even made a squeezing sound, as I then ricocheted towards the Eiffel Tower.

Yes, Eiffel Tower. Just now flashed an image in my mind and it quite frankly shocked me, that I didn’t see the resemblance sooner. Not that I ever saw the real Eiffel Tower in real life, but it is somehow one of the things everyone knows about. Even though I personally must admit that the tower was for me just a metal framework. Nothing worth mentioning. Sorry my French friends, but I’m just telling the truth here!

There were a lot of other sights, which were actually more worth mentioning. Neuschwanstein Castle for example. Wished I would have visited it once. It really looked majestic in the pictures AND on the coin!

I have such a nice little coin myself! What is it doing on a coin, you ask? Euro coins sometimes have special coinages, but you are probably more interested in what happened, after my ball made contact with the Crystal Eiffel Tower, which was by the way a lot better to look at than the original. No offence again! Just my honest opinion!

The ball ricocheted again and I shot this time at least in the right direction. Nothing could stop me now.

This wasn’t a good day for me. Getting flattened twice by Sombra is as condescending as you can think. Of course he was powerful, but I should at least be able to buy Cadance more time than this. I was, back in Canterlot, the Captain of the guard after all!

But these thoughts have to wait as I cantered towards the Crystal Palace. I just hoped that she was alright. There was no telling what this fiend would do to her.

I quickly entered the square, but couldn’t spot him. But what I did see was Cadance. She looked worried, but I was glad to see that she was alright. She then started to look at me panicked and motioned to something in the air.

I wondered about it for a moment, but then looked up. I couldn’t move, as shocked as I was. Only one thought reigned my mind.

“Not again.”

I watched with horror as Shining was flattened by the massive ball. I tried to warn him, but it was too late. I felt like a complete idiot now. Sombra was just making fun of me the whole time. He didn’t take me serious once and now Shining paid the price for my failure, as he was squashed under the weight I couldn’t carry.

Nopony could survive getting crushed by a firm mass like this.

Tears formed in my eyes, but I hastily wiped them away. I need to stay strong. For Shining. Your sacrifice is not going to be in vain! I swear by your grave, that I am going to avenge you! Like a real Pavenger!

I took my stance and gave the signal to activate the Crystal Heart. Sombra will not get away with this.

I felt something squashing under my ball as it landed, but I didn’t pay it any heed. One simple guard pancake more or less wouldn’t really make any difference now. I had to concentrate on my escape plan after all.

Or could you even call it concentration, if I’m only sitting here, waiting to get to the outskirts of town? Well, I have to keep the spell up, but that isn’t really a challenge. I just have to get out before they fi-

And then there was a loud bang. Something like a…magical explosion? Probably magical. They fired the magical weapon of mass destruction! This could as well be my doom now.

My ball suddenly vanished, as some of the light touched it. I was now in mid-air, but I could already see the train. Without thinking too much, I made one final move.

“Soaring Crystal!” I roared, as I let a Crystal shot slant out of the ground, which gave me the push I needed. I angled myself, so I could get straight through the train window. I crashed into it and against the wall of the opposite site.

I then looked around and could see that the veil of rainbow light was right in front of me. It could almost touch me. I held my breath out of fear that the exhaling could give way to closing the short distance between us.

I could hear my eyes flicker, or the shadows on them. Probably a sign that I shouldn’t touch that veil. It was really pretty, even if it was a deadly weapon.

After a minute or so of waiting, I could see it shrinking back and noticed then, as I moved some steps forwards, that this assault caused Northern Lights to stretch along the skies and dance upon it. A really breathtaking experience. But I couldn’t stay here to admire them. The guards will be here any minute.

I quickly moved towards the engine of the train. Hijacking a train would be a good evil deed for my mental check list after all.

I entered the cabin and saw the cream-colored conductor in front of me. He looked surprised to say the least and I grinned at him.

“Beware! I’m officially hijacking this train and taking you as my hosta-!”

I then dropped to my knees, for the…third time? Yeah, probably third time. So for the third time that day.

“They can’t be serious,” I said disheartened and let out a depressed sigh. “A heart-shaped window…”

I mulled this over. Would anyone even take me serious if I hijack this train? It was a valid question.

I hit one of my hooves then against the hard floor of the driver cabin. “Of course they wouldn’t! Just look at me! Hijacking a train with a heart-shaped window! The pretty pink pony princess probably designed this train herse-“

CLANG!

I then wallowed on the ground in pain, as I was hit with a FREAKING shovel! What is wrong with the conductors in this dream?

I looked up to see him raising his shovel again. I quickly dodged and then roared, “Soaring Crystal!” A crystal shot immediately out and tackled him, and by accident even pierced through the roof. The cabin was barely large enough for two ponies. At least I didn’t hit the engine. In hindsight it was probably a stupid idea to rely on my magic here.

He then sat on his haunches and gazed up to the crystal in shock. I grinned at this. He probably wouldn’t try anything anymore now.

I stood on my hindlegs triumphantly and declared, “I hereby hijack this train! Start the engine, because we are heading off now!”

He stood up and did as I told him. The train made its departing noises and soon we were out of the reach of the authorities. I could see them at the station by the way. A bunch of normal guards and the little Taurus stood there. I laughed heartedly at this, loud enough, to ensure that they could hear me. They should feel humiliated for their failure.

Shame on them. They couldn’t capture a single pony in their capital!

I mused over my achievements meanwhile, as we drove towards…somewhere. I still had the conductor to ask about my destination.

However, going over my mental evil deeds checklist, I recognized that I could be satisfied with my progress for now. I damaged some buildings, used guards as bowling pins, taunted the heroes of this play, took a hostage, hijacked a train, destroyed three cameras of Miss Shine and probably even got her captured! (My greatest achievement in my opinion.)

I’m not the most creative fella around, but I still convinced them about me being a threat. Maybe I will even get a wanted poster? Well, but without a photo. I had to snicker at this. Kind of a pity, that I won’t see Miss Shine again, but then again, it is her own fault. She shouldn’t upset the wrong people.

I then began to shiver.

“It’s getting kind of cold in here,” I then stared at the ceiling. “Oh yeah. Destroyed ceiling.”

I sighed at this. Of course there was a blizzard out there at the same time. I could hear and feel the cold wind. At least I got my cape. It warmed me up at least a little.

And then my eyes fell on the conductor. I rubbed the bump at the back of my head. I probably need to punish him for that. A hit with a crystal certainly wasn’t enough for this crime! I grinned, as an idea formed in my mind.

I slowly approached him.

“How does this work?” I asked innocently. Or as innocently, as a villain could ask.

He seemed nervous at this, but I didn’t give him any other choice than to explain it to me. It was pretty simple. Old technique. I was sure that I could do this on my own.

I then dragged myself to the door and mused, “This will be fun. I’m going to kick him out and let him walk back!” I chuckled lightly at this, “But I should probably make sure the blizzard is not too strong. Wouldn’t want to harm him, even if he was a conductor.”

I opened the door and stepped outside, watching the blizzard. It was pretty strong and I kind of felt bad for having this idea in the first place. The wind teared at me and I could only imagine the horror of being out there and freezing to death. I just couldn’t simply kick him out under such circumstances.

“Maybe, I will just drop this pla-“ And then my train of thought was DERAILED! Yeah, I simply had to use that one.

PUSH!

And then suddenly I was outside the train. Pushed by the conductor. I probably shouldn’t have thought out loud these thoughts. Some might think of it as a bad habit, but I personally always saw it as a personal quirk.

I remember when I wanted to prank someone, but spoke my thoughts out loud, while the person was near. I got pranked in the end.

But back to the present.

“AHHHHHH!” I screamed as I fell outside the cabin. One thought only reigned within my mind.

Conductors suck.

I was lying on a cot, with a cocktail in my aura. This sure was a ruckus right now. Seems like sun bathing is not as easy, as I thought it would be, but at the same time I couldn’t complain, since a lightshow came together with the ruckus.

I leaned up and took in the scene. Leon sure made a real turmoil. But that wasn’t my problem. I was on vacation and I would enjoy every second of it, or at least, that’s what I thought.

A young orange Pegasus was coming my way.

“General Wate Ain Sea?”

“What do you want, lad?”

“The princess is waiting for you.”

I sighed. Seems like some pony wants to cut my vacation short.

I was lying on my bed in my apartment, somehow satisfied that I finally had finished the two chapters. Finally some peace.

“Hey! What is the meaning of this? I get only one line?!” screamed a pale yellow Unicorn and I jumped up in surprise.

I looked at her baffled, but calmed down relatively fast to answer her question.

“Well, technically it was two lines. And by the way it is my decision how often you appear in my series, and besides, you were not even originally planned for this story!” I then stared at her for a few seconds more. “How did you even get here?”

“I’m a journalist. So I did a little research on you. It was not that hard to find, and of course, it was also not that hard for me to pick your lock, but you should really clean this place up. It is completely cluttered.” She then looked at a stack of books. “What is this? A guide of how to reach happiness? Seriously?”

“What is wrong with that?” I asked, annoyed.

“Somepony that has no clue about happiness? No, nothing wrong at all! Just pathetic.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

I sighed. A headache was incoming. “Listen. It is not your business what I read. And the key to happiness is an interesting subject.”

“I tell you the key to happiness. It is making photos, blowing scandals and getting known by all of Equestria!”

I eyed her warily. “Yeah…sure.”

“However, let’s get back to the topic on hoof. Do I get more screen time now?”

“The General didn’t get much screen time this chapter either, so why are you even complaining?”

“Your audience obviously enjoyed my appearance in the second chapter. You wouldn’t want to anger them now, would you? Just imagine the huge angry mob outside your apartment, after I told them where you live.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“You should really know me better.” She began to smirk. God how much I wished to wipe that smirk off her face.

I gritted my teeth. “Ok. You get more screen time.”

“Good. I will be looking forward to a complete Press Pass chapter.”

“A c-complete c-chapter?” I stuttered, as my eye twitched.

“It is the least you can do for me, for leaving me out like this in your last two chapters!”

“Fine!” I huffed. “I will make you suffer through this chapter as much as possible.”

“What was that?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Nothing!”