The tyrant of fear and hate

by Askre


Chapter 5. Questioning the servants.

Chapter 5

“Well guess we can’t do plan F, physically attack him,” Foxy said, she lay now on the bed, resting after her earlier choking experience.

“Plan F?” Dew Doe was starting to wonder just how many plans her sister had cooked up by now. She was sitting on the floor next to the bed.

“F for fail because I was pretty sure that was going to fail anyway,” the maroon pegasus grinned innocently and rolled onto her back, stretching her legs in the process.

Dew smiled, she always admired how quickly Foxy could bounce back. Her little sister always had this ability to try and see the humor in their situations and could brighten up the gloom by her positive attitude. She might sometimes gripe and complain but was never fully serious about it.

“Soooo have to admit, aside from tricking me into chocking myself, he didn’t do terribly much. I was half expecting him to enact on some ‘royal privileges’ with us,” Foxy then remarked and scrunched her face a bit. “Not that I’m complaining that he didn’t, I’m rather glad that he didn’t.”

“Oh we’re not out of the woods yet,” Dew grunted and glanced at the restraints that were on her wings. They were not very comfortable and she really was starting to feel the need to stretch her feathery limbs.

“But we need more information, right now all we know is that the Doctor in the dungeon somewhere, the collars choke us if we try and harm the king and Private must be in a room nearby since we heard him scream.” She looked back at Foxy who still lay on her back.

“Additionally, knowing bit more about this Crystal Empire and this King Sombra wouldn’t hurt either. I wonder why we’ve never heard of this place,” Dew frowned, considering Private’s encyclopedic knowledge of history, it was rather strange that not even he had heard of it.

“Maybe it’s something to do with that memory lock the Doctor mentioned,” Foxy suggested with a shrug.

Her sister’s brow rose slightly, the brief discussion Private and the Doctor had about where they were had actually slipped her mind. The sisters looked over to the doors when there was a knock.

“Uh, enter?” Dew called.

One door opened fully and Emerald the crystal pony entered pushing a cart full of food. The young mare took it all the way in then stepped aside, she fidgeted her hooves nervously where she stood and seemed to be working up a nerve to speak.

“I-I have brought you your food… as ordered,” she whispered finally and kept staring down at the floor.

“Thanks.” Foxy rolled to her stomach and sat up. Emerald didn’t seem to be quite finished but was still working up a nerve to continue.

“I’ve… I’ve also been assigned as… as your chambermaid, I’m to see to all your needs,” the crystal pony finished.

“Great, we’ll need a detailed map of the castle layout, guard patrol schedule and quite possibly something that can cut these collars off.” Foxy counted up with a wide grin. Emerald blinked in confusion but Dew just groaned, she was half tempted to grab a pillow and throw it at the maroon mare.

“Never mind her, she’s not being serious, we know you couldn’t possibly provide any of those things,” Dew assured the servant. “But we would like to ask you few questions if possible.”

“I… uh I will try,” Emerald whispered nervously.

Foxy leaped off the bed while Dew spoke with the servant and walked over to the cart. She started to inspect the food, it was corn, berries, funnel cakes and some assortment of fruit the mare didn’t quite recognise. Some of it had a bit of a crystalline look to it so the pegasus guessed this was locally grown food.

“First of all, are there any guards outside our room?” Dew asked, recalling Sombra saying they should be under constant watch.

“Not right outside… but further down the hallway at the end,” Emerald responded.

“Hm, they are probably watchful enough though,” the blue pony tapped one hoof thoughtfully on her muzzle. “Is there a gray unicorn with a blonde mane and tail nearby?”

“I-I think he’s two rooms down, Rubinstein is attending to him as far as I know,” the crystal pony shrugged unsure.

I wonder if the guards will stop us if we try to go and see him. Dew frowned a little, she glanced to the cart when hearing loud chewing noises. Foxy had grabbed a corn cob and was making a short work of it.

“Emerald, I know this one will very difficult for you, but what can you tell us about King Sombra?” Dew Doe looked back at the crystal pony whose eyes bulged out at the question.

“I…I…h-he is our king…” she whispered and was shaking like a leaf.

“We noticed.” The pegasus nodded, the question clearly upset Emerald too much to be able to answer it so she tried another one. “What can you tell us about the Crystal Empire?”

Emerald was too shaken now to answer, she just shook her head and looked extremely nervous and uncomfortable. Dew wondered if the servants were conditioned to not talk about either of those two subjects. She wouldn’t put it past the king to make sure they didn’t talk too much.

“Never mind it then. If we go out of the room, will we be stopped if we try to visit the gray unicorn I asked about earlier?” Dew tried to divert the subject elsewhere. It took a moment for the servant to respond as she had to calm down first.

“I-I don’t think so…” Emerald whispered once she had stopped shaking, the girl still looked nervous.

“Let’s put it to the test. Foxy, stop stuffing your face, we are going to see Private,” Dew said and rose up to her feet.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Foxy asked, in her hooves was a mostly finished funnel cake.

“I’m not hungry, besides I don’t feel like eating until I at least know he’s okay.” The blue pegasus had a determined look her sister knew meant that she wouldn’t stop until she saw the unicorn.

Foxy shrugged and quickly scarfed down what was left of the cake before rising to her feet. She hurried to the doors with Dew, before they opened them, the sisters glanced at Emerald who seemed unsure what to do, it was clear the crystal pony was waiting for some orders.

“I’ll handle this,” Foxy said and smiled at the servant. “We don’t require your service right now, just wait here or go do whatever you need to do. You can have some of our food if you want.”

“Uh… all right.” Emerald just looked even more confused now.

The sisters left the room and entered a long hallway. It was rather dimly lit compared to the chamber they had just come from. At all exits there were two guards, none of them raised any protests to the mares leaving, but the closest pair did glance towards them.

Dew ignored the guards and headed in the direction Emerald had told them Private’s room was in. Foxy followed but did glance around, there wasn’t much to see, the hall was made out of the same dark crystal wall and the floor had nothing on it. This all looked rather dark and foreboding and gave the maroon mare chills.

Foxy felt a tinge of relief when she and Dew entered the chamber two rooms away from theirs, especially so since there was a familiar face lying on the bed sound asleep. Nobody else was in the room so the mares hurried over to the bed, Dew promptly jumped on it and started shaking Private.

“Private, Private, wake up,” she whispered but the unicorn didn’t even stir.

“Not that long ago he was screaming so loud that we could hear it, now he’s suddenly sleeping like a rock,” Foxy remarked. She tilted her head and raised an eyebrow in confusion. Private was a light sleeper and generally very sensitive to ponies coming close to him.

“You don’t think Sombra put a spell on him?” Dew stopped shaking the stallion and looked at her sister worried.

“Probably.” The maroon pegasus shrugged. The blue one rubbed her muzzle thoughtfully, then she lowered her head so her mouth was right next to Private’s ear.

“Private, I got pancakes,” she said in a sing-a-song voice.

Private blinked awake and his head rose up quickly. He started to look around in confusion but then his attention fixed on Dew and Foxy who were both giggling. The stallion grunted and then raised a hoof to rub his head, he had a mild headache. Then he noticed the chamber.

“Crap, this wasn’t just a nightmare,” he muttered.

“I’m afraid not,” Dew said and scooted closer to him. “How are you feeling.”

“I got a headache and you are in my… ah never mind.” Private rose to sit, considering their situation the stallion figured he shouldn’t be griping about ponies coming to close to him, especially his friends.

“Sooo, you have really never heard of this Crystal Empire?” Foxy asked and sat down next to the bed.

“It’s not in any history books I’ve read,” the unicorn grunted. “I think the only one who can tell us about it is the Doctor or if we want to go for the unlikely, this King Sombra.”

“We tried asking the maid tending to us, but she didn’t seem too eager to talk,” Dew told him.

“You should try the guy that was here earlier, he wouldn’t stop talking.” Private muttered. “I think he’s supposed to be the one tending to me.”


“This is plain hopeless,” Apple Core sighed and sat down. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m just not seeing a way out.”

“Well I don’t agree that it’s hopeless, but I do agree that we may not be going out for a little while.” The Doctor sighed, the dull feeling in his mind was really starting to affect him.

The two prisoners had spent few hours now trying to brainstorm some ideas, the Doctor would ask questions about this and that, the guards, the layout, when food was brought. Apple Core answered the best she could, but even she had limited information on how things were.

“In fact our escape may just depend on the fact that my friends are outside the dungeon,” he said and furrowed his brow in worry.

“What do you think your friends can do? Surely they are just chained up somewhere else,” the mare snorted.

“Perhaps, perhaps not, King Sombra wants to use them against me, that I’m almost sure of. So why not play nice with them, confuse them… ugh…” The Doctor groaned when the spell started to prevent him from thinking too much.

“So you’re saying they might have freer rein than us?” Apple Core wondered though she was skeptical of that idea.

“Yes… don’t worry, they are good ponies and can handle themselves well in tough situations,” he said and smiled, memories didn’t seem to be affected by the spell as the time pony could easily recall the first time he met his three friends.

***

The future, yet in the past.

The Doctor opened the door to the TARDIS and looked around. His eyes were greeted with a green field just outside the suburbs of a city. The time pony stepped outside and took a moment to just watch the peaceful scenery. Further ahead he noticed three ponies sitting and talking. Well the two mares, both pegasi, one blue and one maroon were talking, the gray unicorn stallion wasn’t talking much.

Since they hadn’t noticed his arrival the Doctor ignored them for now and took out a device from his vest pocket and started working on it. He couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary immediately but he was still curious about a strange reading he had received from the scanners inside the TARDIS.

This is very odd, he thought and pocketed his device again. He looked up again when hearing a shriek that was immediately cut short. All three ponies were gone. The Doctor frowned, that didn’t look right to him. Although the pegasi could have easily just flown up, there was nothing that could conceal a unicorn for a long distance.

The Doctor quickly ran to the spot he had seen the three ponies at, now he could definitely feel something was off. He reached into his vest pocket to get his sonic screw driver, but tripped in the process and fell to the ground. Through the ground was tough more like it as, grass and dirt didn’t greet his muzzle, instead he continued to go down through a shimmering green portal into white empty space.

Ooooh this is not good. The time pony realized he was still falling, right below him he could see the ponies, the two mares were in the process of descending towards the unicorn who looked disoriented on the white ground.

“Move him out of the way, move him out of the way!!” the Doctor yelled as he realized that his fall would crash him right on top of the gray pony. He figured his sturdy earth pony body could take the hit to the ground.

It was too late, with a thud he crashed right onto the unicorn who had been rising up. Both stallions groaned in pain. The Doctor knocked his head up against the ground and saw stars. Up on reflection he was almost glad that he had a softer landing, even if it was at the expense of the other stallion.

“Ow, who put that hole there on the field?” The Doctor groaned as he tried to rise up. He felt a pair of hooves grab one of his legs as he was pulled off the unicorn. It was the maroon mare.

“Careful, ow, ow,” the time pony complained as the pegasus managed to fully pull him off.

“Are you alright, Private?” the blue one landed next to the groaning unicorn who still lay flat on the ground. His only answer was a grunt and a glare.

“Awfully sorry about that, didn’t even see that portal before falling through it,” the Doctor said and dusted off himself.

“Uh well it just suddenly appeared under us, who are you?” the maroon pegasus asked.

“Just call me the Doctor,” the time pony responded and stared up to the portal. It didn’t look that far away. The mares could probably fly the stallions up one at a time.

“Doctor what?” the mare asked confused.

“Just the Doctor,” the Doctor smiled at her, then looked at her two friends. The unicorn was standing now, giving him a suspicious glare, the blue one watched with a more curious expression. It was then the time pony noticed the device the unicorn was holding in on hoof.

“Where did you get that?” the time pony asked and frowned in concern and pointed at the device. There was no response from the gray pony, he just continued to stare in silence.

“Sorry, Private doesn’t socialize too well.” The blue pegasus smiled apologetically. “He bought it recently at a pawnshop downtown. He hasn’t told us why he bought it.”

“That’s because it’s compelling him not to,” the Doctor said and grabbed up his sonic screw driver and aimed it at the device. It suddenly sparked, forcing Private to drop it to the ground.

“Hey what …the…?” the unicorn and the two mares blinked in surprise when the device transformed into some sort of a black stone.

“You’ll thank me later when we get out of here. That was no device, that was a lure to a trap,” the time pony snorted.

The Doctor started to scan around and his frown turned more worried. But the worst part was that the portal was slowly closing. The three other ponies just stared at him bewildered and confused.

“A trap that we are smack down in the middle of,” he said and grit his teeth.

***

Crystal Empire, Sombra’s reign.

“And then what happened?” Apple Core asked when the Doctor had fallen silent, for some reason he had just started talking about the first meeting with his friends.

“I asked Foxy and Dew if they were strong enough to carry us. Foxy said she could easily carry one of us and that’s when Private finally passed out, he had a concussion naturally after first hitting the ground and then having me crashing right on top of him. He had tried to use his magic to pick up the lure, probably got too curious about it.” The Doctor shook his head smiling. “He’s much more curious than he gives himself credit for”

“So Foxy carried Private up and pushed him through the portal. Then she came back down and then both of them carried me up. It was a very narrow save, the portal closed just as Dew’s tail was through,” he continued.

“That pocket dimension we had fallen into had actually been the mouth of a trans dimensional entity that was passing through. The lure was its way of getting food as it travelled. We were very lucky to escape when we did, or we would have made a tasty snack for it,” the time pony finished with a chuckle.

Apple Core blinked in confusion, she couldn’t understand how nonchalant he sounded about having almost been eaten. Although she didn’t quite understand the whole trans dimensional thing, the mare knew when a pony just told her about being nearly a meal for a monster.

“So you were almost eaten by a monster,” The mare said unsure. She noticed the Doctor scowling when hearing her say that.

“It wasn’t a monster, sure it defied our understanding of how the world works, but it was only doing what came natural to it. Animals have to eat, yes it almost ate us, but that doesn’t make it a monster, it didn’t know we were sentient,” the Doctor retorted.

“You just said it used a lure to bait you into a trap,” Apple Core pointed out.

“A lot of predators use lure or traps to catch their prey, that doesn’t make them monsters, just clever,” he immediately counterpointed.

Apple Core couldn’t really argue with that. This pony was though very odd in her mind. The Doctor eased his scowl and now just looked tired. She decided to change the subject to something else.

“So, you guys been friends for long?” the mare asked.

“Few years. Funny thing that, I wasn’t actually looking for traveling companions that day. In fact I wasn’t sure I wanted to… I had just dropped off two friends and decided to stay out of their lives, they had… I’ll tell you later,” the Doctor sighed and slowly rose up. He walked to the hay in his cell and lay on top of it.

Sombra better not harm them. I don’t want to lose them, Trinity, Swift Mane, it was so close, a narrow escape. No wonder they ended up wanting to stop, he thought as he slowly drifted into uneasy slumber.


“Excuse me?” Private stared at Dew and Foxy as if they had both grown extra heads right in front of him.

“Look, I know this is a bit much to ask, but since he is showing interest in you because you are a unicorn. You probably are the one pony that can gather intel from him, one way or another,” Dew Doe said with an innocent smile.

“So far he’s done something that caused me searing amount of pain, said something about fusing his magic with mine and he’s done most of the talking. I’m not sure I could get a question in even if I wanted to, plus you know I’m horrible at questioning ponies without being too obvious about it,” the unicorn grunted and folded his legs.

“Yes but aside from the Doctor, who is currently not available to us I remind you, you are the most observant. Please Private,” the blue mare put on her most endearing smile.

Don’t you dare flutter your eyes, don’t you dare… you are fluttering your eyes. Private groaned when the mare started doing just what he was thinking. “Ugh… fine.”

“Do you want me to leave you two alone.” Foxy rolled her eyes and just smirked at the glare she received from Private and cackled on the inside when seeing Dew blush.

“It doesn’t help either that I’m wearing this thing,” the stallion snorted and grabbed a hold on one chain on his collar and pulled at it. “You know what this is?”

“Yes, we know. It’s a consort collar, it also chokes you if you try and harm Sombra,” Foxy said and rubbed the part of her neck that was not encircled by the collar. “Trust me, got first hoof experience.”

“Foxy asked about the collars and instead of telling her, Sombra told her to hit him, when she tried the collar choked her,” Dew explained when Private raised an eyebrow at Foxy’s words.

“And what about you two?” the unicorn wondered.

“That’s the tricky part, we don’t know how much we can travel in this castle or palace or tower or whatever,” the blue mare said and sighed a little.

The three ponies looked at the doors to the room when hearing one opening. In walked Rubinstein with a cart full of food. The Crystal Pony stopped short when seeing everyone around the bed and looked embarrassed.

“Oh I’m sorry, sir. You were sleeping earlier when I checked in on you so I figured I would just slip your food in and allow you to wake up to it,” the servant said apologetically.

Private just grunted, now that Dew and Foxy were in the room he wasn’t feeling as inclined to talk much. Foxy shook her head when seeing that the unicorn had dropped into his far more common silent stance, she waved the servant to come in with the food.

“I’m Foxy Stripes and this is Dew Doe, we are Private’s friends,” she introduced her and Dew to the servant.

“Hello, I’m Rubinstein. I’ve been assigned to attend to your friend while he’s here.” The crystal pony smiled weakly at the greeting.

“That’s the one who wouldn’t stop talking?” Dew whispered to Private who nodded. She quickly leaned towards Foxy and gave her a signal that her sister knew meant essentially ‘grill him.’

Foxy immediately sprang to her feet and walked right over to Rubinstein who was uncovering the food on the cart. The crystal pony glanced at the grinning mare, unsure what was going on, he had actually planned to quickly evacuate himself from the room since Private had company.

“So, Rubinstein, been working here long?” Foxy asked, crossing her front hooves in a leisurely manner.

“Uh well no just few days actually. I used to be in the mines, but well they apparently needed more servants here so they took me and few others over here,” Rubinstein told her and smiled nervously. “I actually don’t know much about service work, I used to be a mason…before… be…fore…”

Suddenly the stallion cringed and for a moment seemed to be in a pain. It didn’t last for long though and he was soon back to what seemed normal for him. He looked unsure at Foxy who was watching him with some concern now.

“Ah… sorry, this happens when I try to remember…try to remember the times before His Majesty came to power,” he whispered and then shuddered.

“That’s weird,” Foxy frowned and looked at Dew and Private. Her sister was scratching her head and the stallion frowned in thought.

“Alright, alright, never mind that. What about ‘His Majesty’ surely as a servant you’ve heard plenty about him by now, even if you haven’t been here that long,” the maroon mare decided to change the subject.

“Well his Majesty is… is uh… standing right behind you.” Rubinstein winced and quickly did a deep bow.

“Oh you got to be kidding me!” Foxy griped and glared behind her.

There indeed stood King Sombra, smirking at the reaction from the maroon mare. Dew and Private started a bit, they hadn’t even noticed the king enter the room. He must have used some sort of a magic spell to come in unnoticed.

“Seriously, this getting old, fast,” Foxy grunted and turned around to be facing the large dark unicorn.

Sombra’s only response was to chuckle before glancing at the crystal pony who still kept himself in a bow, the King snorted and walked closer to him. Rubinstein didn’t dare looking up and shivered a bit when knowing that his tyrant stood right in front of him.

“You talk too much, slave. This isn’t a difficult concept for you is it? Bring them food, then leave,” the king growled at the covering servant.

“Now hold on, it’s not his fault. I started to talk with him and asking questions,” Foxy spoke up, she took a step back when King Sombra glared at her, his eyes were glowing green now and the purple mist produced from the corners.

The king’s horn began glowing and dark magic aura enveloped around Rubinstein. The whole time the tyrant kept his eyes on Foxy. Suddenly the servant began yelping in pain, the magic around him was harming him.

“W-what are you doing?” Foxy gasped and grimaced when there came another painful yelp from the crystal pony.

“Leave him alone, it wasn’t his fault!” Dew protested, she was so tempted to try and go and help Rubinstein out of there, but Private had already grabbed her to hold her back. The unicorn was staring darkly at King Sombra.

“I’m punishing a slave, worthless worm who can’t keep its mouth shut, a pathetic creature who is to be seen and not heard as it tends to its betters,” the king growled. The magic aura dragged the crystal pony across the floor so he was right in front of Foxy. There he continued to writhe in agony from the magic torture.

“Please stop.” Foxy pleaded, staring in horror at the poor pony who was starting to cry and beg for mercy.

“You pity this thing, don’t you? Your compassion for it tears at your heart. You’ve only met it just today and yet there you are, pleading on its behalf. I can see why the Doctor calls you his friend. Will you beg for this worm’s life, Foxy Stripes? Will you go on your knees for it?” King Sombra spoke in a mocking tone, his horn began glow more dark energy and it seemed to intensify the torture. Rubinstein was screaming now.

Foxy felt tears come to the corners of her eyes, she couldn’t look away. She felt a sting in her heart when the crystal pony began screaming in in pain. The pegasus wanted so much to embrace the poor stallion and comfort him, make the suffering stop.

Finally, the mare looked hatefully at Sombra, slowly she knelt down and her eyes narrowed. The king watched her every move, his sneer slowly turning into a grin as he saw what was happening.

“Please spare his life, I beg you.” She gritted her teeth at the dark laughter that started echoing around the room.

The magic aura disappeared and Rubinstein lay still breathing hard and sobbing. He curled up in a ball when hearing the clank of the king’s hoofguards as Sombra approached. But the dark unicorn was staring at Foxy and not him, smirking devilishly.

“How fortunate for you, Foxy, that I feel being merciful. Keep that in mind next time you start asking the slaves questions you shouldn’t be asking,” he whispered softly, then his smile changed into a sneer as he bent his head down to stare right into the mare’s eyes.

“Because next time, I may not feel so merciful,” he snarled at the frightened pegasus and raised his head again. With those words, he left the room ignoring the others.

End chapter 5