//------------------------------// // Saving Sombra // Story: Umbrum ad Infinitum // by Pixel_Spark //------------------------------// Fluttershy was singing to herself as she set a cake down in front of her precious Angel Bunny. His eyes brightened, and he clapped his paws, before diving into it. "Oh Angel, you DO love our tea together don’t you?" Fluttershy giggled. "What about ME?" a mock-wounded voice enquired. "Of course, Discord!" Fluttershy bestowed the Draconequus with a sweet beaming smile "i have your favourite ready and waiting!" she trotted away and came back with two more cakes for the both of them, on a silver platter. Discord came over every week for tea. He liked Fluttershy, she was truly kind to him. Very open and gentle, she'd been the first and only one for a long while who'd treated him kindly. Even after he'd mistakenly betrayed her and the others to Tirek, they'd accepted his apology. Eventually. Fluttershy had cried, and he'd vowed he'd never again to betray this pony's trust. She was valuable to him beyond words... They were interrupted from thier tea party by a bird suddenly sweeping in and settling on the back of a spare chair. "Oh! hello~" Fluttershy recognised this bird, not long ago she'd helped it with a broken wing! It hopped about, flapping it wings in some distress. Its manic chirping was like a voice speaking a mile a minute, she needed asisstance. "Discord-" Fluttershy swept her pale pink mane out of her eyes and peered up at him "remember how you made the animals talk before? For that party? C-could you please-?" "At your service!" the Draconequus snapped his fingers, and the birds squawks shifted to words. "-Pretty pony please! I have a very bad warning!" “Oh my, what is it?" Fluttershy's heart was in her mouth already. "I was out flying and I found a cave, and inside it was a pony. He was hurt badly. He gave me bread even though it looked like he needed anything he could get!" "Why was he in a cave?" Discord asked. "I don't know, but he was all chained up. A prisoner.." "What did he look like?" Fluttershy asked. The bird raised its wings as if to demosntrate "this big!" "Big pony. Red eyes. Unusual mane, like smoke-" Discords jaw dropped, surely not-? "Grey fur, red cloak, unusual unicorn horn?" Discord finished the sentence incredulously, and the bird nodded. "That’s-!" Fluttershy went pale. "King Sombra." Discord frowned, "that’s got to be impossible!" "He didn’t speak his name." the bird said. Fluttershy got up, fetched a book and came back, flipping through the pages until she found a familiar picture. She held the book out to the bird. "Please, if you can, is this him?" she asked. The bird stared at the artists drawing of King Sombra, and nodded. This picture of a proud, sturdily built stallion with fierce red eyes was undoubtedly the same one from the cave. But the picture had a vitality that the beaten, bloodied pony the bird had met sorely lacked. Something was wrong... "That’s him alright!" he squawked "only he didn’t look so well. He was bleeding, some of it looked old, like my wing when it was damaged. He wore just that cloak, but it was torn and bloody." "Dried blood means its been awhile between injuries." Discord explained. The bird nodded. "He's chained and injured. Somepony or something is keeping him prisoner. But why awaken him again? And how?" Discord honestly couldn’t think of a reason. Sombra wasn’t exactly a prime candidate for reformation. He'd been destroyed for a reason, he was notoriously unstable... “I don’t know. I-I assumed he was gone.." Fluttershy quailed. "Fear not Fluttershy, that mad pony wont lay a hoof on you!" Discord promised. But Fluttershy looked concerned. "It doesn’t sound like he's a problem this time, something else is using HIM. And if they're beating him so badly he can barely move, they must have plans to do something far meaner themselves!" Fluttershy went white "We need to tell the girls!" Discord sighed, he knew the other ponies, including Twilight, didn’t trust him as much as Fluttershy, but he followed her regardless as she raced towards the big crystal palace that belonged to Princess Twilight! The bird followed them, for in all the fuss of identifying Sombra, it hadn’t given the yellow pony the words Sombra had spoken. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once everypony had been gathered, Fluttershy implored the bird to tell its tale once more. Jaws hit the table as it revealed its discovery of Sombra's capture. "That pony managed to talk a little..." the bird said "if you’ll allow me?" "Go ahead." Twilight encouraged. The bird cleared its throat and in perfect mimicry of Sombra's voice, repeated the stallions words verbatim. With every tortured inflection included. The young mares winced at various points, but they didnt interrupt. "When he said flutter by, it reminded me of you!" the parrot said to Fluttershy as he returned to his normal voice "it sounded bad, he mentioned the Princess of the warm sun." "You think its legit?" Applejack asked the bird, who nodded sincerely. "He was in so much pain, he could barely talk by the time he'd told me that much. I don't think he even had the strength to lift his head." "Well, now what?" Rainbow Dash asked "we gonna go tell the Princess? This IS Tireks brother he mentioned..." Twilight Sparkle nodded "Yes, but I think.." she gave a sigh "I think we need to find him." "What?" Rarity blurted "what if it's a trap?!" "I don’t think so." Discord spoke up "Egoists like Sombra don’t admit defeat so easily. And for him to say he WANTS Celestia to essentially kill him to put him out of whatever misery he’s chained up in..." he sighed, shaking his head "I don't think this is a prank. Sombra's not that type, not from what I can tell." "He’s got a point," Twilight Sparkle nodded "Sombra was obsessive and egotistical." "And if somepony's got HIM tied up as a hostage, what’re THEY planning?" Pinkie Pie asked worriedly. "I don’t know, but he mentioned Tirek's brother," Twilight Sparkle shuddered "it cant be good!" "Its not even a case of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"." Discord stated "if that were the case Sombra would be his right hand pony- so to speak. But Whomever's behind this is keeping him half starved and half dead for a reason. To stop him rebelling." "Can you show us the way? Please?" Fluttershy asked the parrot, who nodded. "It's a long way ta go, an' we aint gonna fit down a crevasse!" Applejack pointed out. "Are you saying I’ve got a big bum?!" Rainbow Dash glowered. "NO!" Applejack snorted "but we aint exactly skinny neither!" Twilight had an idea. Once before, she'd turned them all into Breezies, and Breezies were very small. They could easily fly that way. "OK, good." Rainbow nodded as Twilight explained the plan "but how do we get old crazy-horse out?" "The same way!" Twilight Sparkle said calmly "I have enough magic to change another, and it’ll be easier then trying to make him walk the whole way, sounds like he’s in bad shape." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- She wrote a letter to Celestia and Spike was summoned from where he was knee-deep in comics, catching up on the latest issues, to send it. Celestia wrote back and said to bring Sombra to Canterlot, they'd be able to assess him there, and perhaps contain him. The plan set, Twilight Sparkle sent Spike ahead to the Princess, and they all set out to rescue an old enemy. Discord joined them and despite her distrust of him, Twilight admitted the chaos magic might come in handy so long as Discord didn’t get bored and start goofing off. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The group flew over trees and hills, heading towards some very distant mountains. Rainbow couldn’t resist showing off, doing aerial stunts and racing ahead. But they all slowed down as they approached the mountain. The parrot swooped in close, leading them to the same barely noticeable crevasse it'd gone to explore, thinking it was a shallow gash in the stone, intending to use it as a potential nesting spot when it got a mate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They flew in and touched down, and Fluttershy took in the pony they’d come to find. She felt actual tears well up, and Discord, also disguised as a Breezie, patted her with one foreleg. Sombra's condition had worsened in the time the parrot had been gone. He was semi conscious by the looks of it, breathing unevenly. They could see where the blood had soaked into the once vibrant red of his fur-tipped cloak. In places, it looked almost adhered to the wounds beneath. His mane was almost motionless, none of its former flow left. His ears were flattened down, shivering subtly. His body was a patchwork of old and new bruises, it looked as bad as the bird had described. The Breezie group heard footsteps approach and watched as Sombra jolted, a look of fear flashing across his eyes, and he tried to get up. Discord seen a magical ward glow on the stallions coat, near his neck, and the next second Sombra was driven to the ground by an invisible force. His cry of pain was cut off as he began coughing heavily. "No point in asking for your co-operation I suppose?" Scorpan jeered as he stomped in. "Go...buck...yourself.." Sombra's voice was a mere whisper, but he spoke the words with conviction. "Oh spare me your pathetic blathering, you know you can't escape. And we're almost done with phase one. After that, your destiny will finally be fulfilled, my rare Umbrum..." "Umbrum?" Twilight Sparkle whispered. That was new to her. What did this guy mean? They hid behind a rocky outcropping on the ground and listened in. Luckily this maniac couldn’t seem to sense them in Breezie shape! They all clapped their little feet over their mouths as Scorpan began yet another extraction of Sombra's magic. He grabbed the pony by the throat, and hoisted him up as far as he could. The wards he imposed shone once more and he laughed at Sombra's cries of agony as they bounced off the cave walls. He brought the struggling stallions face close to his own, and sneered; "Until I have my revenge on the Princesses, you'll have to do. You LOOK like a normal pony. That makes you the perfect way to remind me of what I aim for, the destruction of all ponykind." Those hidden seen a faint purple aura, which Twilight recognised as dark magic, surround the battered Sombra's body. Spasms of pain ratcheted through the ponys body as Scorpans spell drew the magic out of him and into the amulet, but they couldn't see what kind. Once he was done he let Sombra fall to the floor with a thump. He pressed a hoof over Sombra's right hind leg, laughing as Sombra tried to pull away. With a grunt, he pushed down hard enough to- Poor Rarity, in her tiny Breezie form, felt her tiny Breezie stomach lurch, as they heard a sickening crack. Sombra couldn’t even scream, the pain was so all-encompassing it literally rendered him mute. Scorpan knealt down and lifted the ponys chin with one hand, forcing him to look at him. "Even if you could get up, I cant have you running away. Call it a precaution. Also I WILL be needing you again soon...” He spotted something on Sombra's face and laughed again, letting him go and standing up “oh, you thought I was going to let you die? Oh, how naive. I’m not through with you YET. But not to worry, it’ll begin soon! I just have a few more things to get ready. Stay there and suffer, wont you?" Then he left. His laughter could be heard as he stamped away down the hall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy waited a split second, then began crying over what she'd seen. Discord and the others comforted her, assuring her they’d stop the Centaurs plans. Pinkie Pie was rubbing Rarity’s back in a sympathetic manner. “By Celestia..” Twilight Sparkle croaked “that was awful..” An equally queasy Dash and AJ nodded. Fluttershy brushed her tears away, and in turn seen faint shimmers of pained tears reflected on Sombra's face, the liquid soaking into his fur. He seemed afraid to move, even though he had to be hurting. She could see his chest rising and falling rapidly, he was hyperventillating. He was scared... Discord studied Sombra, stomach churning. How had Sombra survived if this was what he endured day after day? The parrot flew over, and Sombra's eyes brightened a little. He looked so desperately hopeful, as if even a birds company brought him some small relief. "You’re here...?" he asked, and his voice trembled audibly. He coughed, the action making his body shudder "t-this isn’t a safe place for food...that thing...he'd probably eat you.." He wondered absently where that stale bread was? He tried to get up, but the fresh injuries screamed in protest and he cried out raggedly, crashing to the floor once more. He angled his head just enough to look round at the leg Scorpan had been pressing on. It was mottled with deep bruises, and was bent at a wrong angle. He tried to shift it under him, but the effort brought tears to his eyes and he gave up, letting his body go slack. He closed his eyes, fresh tears falling silently. The parrot made a concerned squawking noise, and patted Sombra's cheek with one wing, dampening his feathers. The pony's crimson eyes caught the light of the torch as he struggled to open them again, and the small group of Breezies seen he looked so tired... "Please, let's do something.." Fluttershy hiccuped. The others all looked shell shocked. What they’d witnessed had been torture. Sombra looked like he'd been brutally beaten, and was in no fit state to fight them. Twilight focused her magic, and with a POOF, six ponies and one Draconequus suddenly filled the cave. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sombra stared, freezing up fearfully as he caught the flash of magic. "Who are you?” he croaked, nausea rearing its head as flashbacks of the last how ever many days bombarded him at once. They were here to hurt and take what little he had left... When the group began to approach, they seen Sombra panic, and somehow find the strength to stand. But he was limping badly, flinching when the leg Scorpan had broken so much as brushed the floor, so he didn't walk so much as lurch away from them. He was making a faint, desperate sound in the back of his throat that struck Discord as sounding feral, panicked. But once the chains went taught, the brand at Sombra's neck flared brightly, and he was forced to the floor in agony. "Stop!" Twilight Sparkle cried out "you’ll hurt yourself even more!" She moved forward, raising a hoof, and Fluttershy cried “Twilight, stop!” Twilight Sparkle realised what she meant and a split second later she picked up on the faint snarl issuing from Sombra. She wondered if he'd try biting anypony that got too close? The firelight caught crimson eyes full of anger and pain, lips curled back to show sharp fangs. He was like a wild animal... --The way he's feeling right now, it wouldn’t be surprising. We're a threat to HIM in his mind. But how are we supposed to help him, if he wont let us near?-- she pancied, this wasnt a situation she'd ever studied for. How exactly did you persuade a former foe you were there to save them? Sombra thought he recognised them, but it could just as easily be another hallucination. "Stay back!" he rasped. But even his voice sounded pained. They were so close, they could easily hurt him. His heart ached and he blurted out "If you’re not going to kill me at least, then get away!!" he was ashamed to hear the plea in his own voice, but he was desperate... "What?" Twilight Sparkle was floored by the bluntness of his words, her mouth falling open "kill you?" But she seen the reality in Sombra's eyes. He was hoping they were there to end the pain he was in. Had he lost all hope? She tried to approach, and as she'd guessed, he snapped at her, the sharp fangs flashing in the firelight. The growl increased in pitch, all but daring her to try once more. Anticipating this, she was ready to dart back. But she realised he was as afraid of her as she was of him. The others watched Twilight's attempts to approach Sombra. Even beaten and unable to move very far, they still had to be careful around him. A wounded animal could be the most dangerous... “This is crazy...” Rainbow Dash muttered. “I'm going to keep lookout!” Applejack nodded, keeping an eye on her and an eye on Sombra. Rainbow trotted over to the door where she stood, ears primed for the slightest alert. "Has this been happening every day?" Twilight Sparkle asked. Sombra kept his gaze fixed on her, flinching at every slight movement he seen from the others. At last he managed to nod. Part of him was willing to trust these weren't his jailers cohorts... “I’m sorry..” Twilight Sparkle said softly. He looked even more wary at this, tensing to snap again should she step closer. “Get away...” he forced himself to talk, even though it hurt to. He sat hunched up, shielding himself as best he could. Fear and confusion mixed with exhaustion as he regarded them. "We're not leaving without-" Applejack began, but Sombra shook his head. "Just get out of here-," but he broke into more painful coughing, and gave up, merely shaking his head... He seemed to comprehend he had no way to run, and couldn’t prevent them from attacking if they targeted him at once. For their journey, Twilight Sparkle had packed their saddlebags with food and water. These bags had returned to full size now they were in pony form. She uncorked a bottle of water, freshly filled from Ponyville spring. The movement startled Sombra, and he shuffled back automatically, until the wards reappeared and he quickly stopped trying to escape. When the pain faded and he opened his eyes, he seen the bottle was a short way in front of him now, and Twilight Sparkle was stepping back. "It's clean, I promise!" she said. Fluttershy seen how he looked uneasily at it. Undoubtedly he believed this was a trick. The state he was in, it didn’t seem surprising. “U-um...Twilight..” she asked “m-may I try…?” Twilight Sparkle nodded, stepped back. “Careful..” Discord muttered protectively. She smiled at his concern. She walked over to Sombra, picking up the water bottle as she did. She sat not far from him, the bottle held in her hooves. But she didn’t speak, just waited. As she had seen in her animals, Sombra's first response was to try and scare her. To intimidate and chase off a potential opponent. Drawing himself up to his full, imposing height, sharp fangs bared. That tortured snarl of warning and distrust rumbing in his chest. But she'd heard that wounded sound from a dozen different big animals, including a scared bear. So she just waited, approaching a little at a time, wings open to show she had nothing hidden under them, holding the water jug the whole time. All of this without a word. Those watching seen the imprisoned Sombra's expression shift from scared, to uneasy, but there was a smidgen of curiosity in there too. It clearly took an immense effort to remain in one spot even as his body shook, desperate to retreat. Fluttershy was close enough now she could’ve reached out and touched his muzzle. She set the water bottle down, nudging it closer to him. “You look like you need this...it wont hurt you...” Sombra looked at the bottle, it looked so tempting, but what if- Deciding he was past caring, he would be happy whether it contained life OR death, he cautiously sat and used his hooves to pick it up. Seeing him empty it, Twilight Sparkle and the others sighed in relief. Good, he wasn’t so completely scarred that he wouldn’t accept help. He coughed and spluttered a little, this much liquid at once a bit of a surprise. The jug clattered to the ground, forgotten... Fluttershy seen how he was actively trying not to lean on the broken leg, and she was reminded of the Manticore who'd softened up after she'd removed a thorn from his paw. Beyond where Rainbow stood she seen a drape, decorated with the livery of Scorpan's family. She ran over, and to everypony else's bewilderment, tore it down in one swoop. “Go Fluttershy….vandalism!” Rainbow Dash snickered very softly. “I-its not like that..” Fluttershy whispered as she trotted back over to the girls, Pinkie Pie specifically. “Pinkie Pie, y-you know those “interestingly shaped branches” you insisted on bringing with you. M-may I have them?” Before they'd left, Pinkie Pie had spotted two oddly patterned branches from a tree in front of Twilight's castle. To the confusion of the other 5, she'd stashed them in her impossibly dimensioned mane. She pulled them free now, giving them to Fluttershy. “My Pinkie sense said they’d be important!” she boasted to the others, who were thoroughly lost by this point. Fluttershy took the sticks and drape, and Twilight Sparkle realised what she was up to. ”It's a bandage!” she said in amazement. Fluttershy repeated this to Sombra as she approached. “It'll hurt less once it has some support. It must hurt so much...Please..?” She held her breath as he stared at her. He'd angled his body to shield the broken leg, not trusting them not to abuse this weakness as his captor did. Sombra didn’t speak, but the way he relaxed his body just a fraction gave her the cue to approach. He lifted his foreleg out of the way so the leg was reachable. Everypony watching heaved a sigh of silent relief as Sombra LET Fluttershy set down by him. He kept his gaze gaze fixed on her though, body tensed to lash out if this turned out to be a lie. The chain around his lower leg got in the way somewhat, but Fluttershy made do as best she could. “We'd better hurry, what if a guard comes?” Rarity whispered to Twilight. Sombra's ears twitched, and Fluttershy was startled by him speaking. This close to him, she could hear the deep rumble of his voice, hear the exhaustion beneath it. “Scorpan works...” Sombra fought to speak, each word a struggle with how sore his throat was, even after the water “-alone. He relies on his wards...to keep me here...” He trailed off. “Also beating the daylights out of you so you haven’t the strength to escape! The trait of a self-centred loon..” Discord mused “yet it works in our favour.” Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath and approached once more, as Pinkie Pie let out a squeaky hiccup that echoed eerily round the cave. Fluttershy walked back to the others. Having allowed her get close enough to set the leg, Sombra seemed willing to cut them some slack. He still remained on edge, but the growl of unease was softer, more muted. "Its OK!" Twilight Sparkle said, holding her hoof up "I just want to look at that ward on your neck. I think I can break it..." Twilight could see he was shaking. The broken leg, even bandaged, still looked agonizing, and she shuddered as she replayed that sound, of snapping bone... She seen him read the thought in her expression and he flinched subtly, looking sick and scared. Fluttershy was still tearing up in sympathy, looking at the blood on Sombra's coat. She also noticed from a cursory examination that he was very thin, no doubt part of Scorpans plan to stop him escaping. Even remaining sitting seemed to be exhausting him, he was shuddering more now... Rarity patted her back. "I-i've never seen anything so cruel.." she shuddered "even after all this guys done!" "Nopony deserves THAT. Never thought I'd hear myself say it regardin' that guy! Afterall, he did enslave a kingdom." Applejack grumbled. "But this is...I don't have no words fer it. Not nice ones anyhow..." "True." Discord said "but even so, from what Fluttershy told me, he used them as slaves, not punching bags! This doesn’t justify what he tried to do, but even I'M disturbed by this situation." going by his tone, he was disgusted by Scorpan's attacks on Sombra. On closer inspection, Twilight Sparkle could see where repeated uses of the ward had burned it onto his coat. From this, she was able to see it was designed like a collection of locks, to be very robust. Not something Sombra could overwhelm. Her eyebrows raised and she swallowed nervously as she stepped back. "What is it, Twi?" Applejack asked. "It's nasty magic, this is high level stuff..." she went pale, but looked like she had an idea "but I’m sure it can be unwound. It’ll take a minute, each layer will need to be untied." Pinkie seen Sombra look heartbreakingly hopeful for a moment, then he shut his eyes and when they opened that hope seemed smothered. He regarded Twilight with a blank expression... "Get out of here..." Sombra gathered his senses and used his remaining strength to push her side weakly with one hoof, trying to push her back back towards her friends "you don't want to be here when he comes back...You think he...finds dark magic rare, imagine what he'll do with Alicorn power..?" he'd spotted Twilight's wings when she'd gotten close, realising she was a Princess. "We're not leaving!" Twilight Sparkle stepped back up to him, determined to get him out. "Nope!” Pinkie Pie added "nope nope nope nope nope nope-" "OK, we get it darling!" Rarity told her. "All tha same, we'd best skedaddle pronto, before that guy gets back!" Applejack finished. Rainbow nodded from her spot by the door. "Scorpan.." Sombra croaked "he wants revenge for Tirek's corruption and capture. Apparently he blames the princesses, including you and that other one.." he dimly recalled Cadance, but was too tired to ask her name, not that it mattered to him. Twilight Sparkle nodded, “I’m going to remove this now. You'll be free soon.” Applejack caught a flash in Sombra's eyes, a look that seemed to be...hope. And this time it seemed ready to stick around, Pinkie observed. Even after all he'd endured, when Twilight Sparkle removed the first ward, he bit his lip so hard it bled. The coppery fluid stung his throat and he coughed, droplets of crimson falling to the ground. He looked on the verge of passing out once more. It seemed to be taking everything he had just to sit up. "Oh mah word this is bad.." Applejack gulped "ah hope Celestia's got a good doctor!" “I can try find another way-” Twilight Sparkle began, but Sombra shook his head. “It.. it matters not...” he said gruffly. She nodded, closing her eyes and focusing her magic on undoing the next ward. Soon she had them all off, and sighed in relief. "Rarity...do you have any pins?" was her next question. Rarity looked baffled, then understood when Twilight Sparkle gestured to the chains holding Sombra. "Allow me~" Discord snapped his fingers, and his claws gleamed "never met a lock these beauties couldn't pick!" Twilight Sparkle spoke softly to Sombra, head turned so nopony else would see her lips move. "It's OK, he's...a friend..." Sombra thought Discord looked familiar, but the pain was making it hard to think. He could barely focus on one at a time. Discord quickly popped the lock on the chains around Sombra's legs. Despite how much it had to hurt, Sombra kept still as the chain on the broken leg came off next. "One left..." this required him to approach Sombra's neck, and he half expected the stallion to bite him. His other paw had to steady the shaken pony’s neck so he could get to the lock, and he could feel how badly Sombra was shivering, hearing a faint rumbling growl of unease echoing through his body. They heard distant hoofsteps, and froze. "Quickly!" Rainbow Dash hissed "he's back!" Twilight Sparkle lit her horn up, and uttering a quickly apology to Sombra, unleashed the Breezie spell once more. Sombra closed his eyes as the bright magic hit him. When he opened them, he was much much tinier.. "Lets fly!" Rainbow Dash cried. The ground shook as Scorpan heard her voice and began racing towards his prisoners cave- Without needing to be told, Fluttershy and Discord grabbed the shivering Sombra Breezie, and carried him between them as they flew for the crevasse. They heard Scorpan's roar of fury as they flew into the darkness, following the parrot out, only a tiny orb of Twilight Sparkle's magic to help them see... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once they cleared the mountain, the parrot suggested they place the barely conscious Sombra Breezie on his back. The warmth of its feathers seemed to ease Sombra's pain, and he fell asleep in seconds. "To Canterlot!" Pinkie Pie declared, and they winged off in that direction...