The Shadows Cast by the Lantern
"Ugh, I can't believe that the princesses interrogated me for over three hours," Spike groaned as he and Twilight left the castle, the setting sun on their backs as they walked into the city of Canterlot. "And I can't remember how many times I had to tell them I don't know. I just got the ring, it's not like I've spent years mastering it." He looked at Twilight's face as he said this and immediately regretted his words. "Oh no, I do not want to add mastering this ring on top of everything else I have to do."
"But it would be so beneficial to you Spike," Twilight pleaded with him, having tried this conversation with him back in the castle. "While you have adapted to the ring rather quickly, I still think that training and practice would be perfect for you. I mean, look what it's done for me." Spike raised an eyebrow as she said this before smirking to himself.
"That settles it, I'm definitely not practicing," he said. Twilight huffed at this, but figured that she had grilled Spike enough for one day. And he had just talked to the princesses about what he knew about the ring and the other Lanterns, so he was probably tired. "Now come on, Donut Joe's won't be open forever and I want to enjoy myself somewhat while I'm here."
"Well, while you go do that I want to visit my parents," Twilight said as she turned down another street. "Can I trust you to behave and stay out of trouble?" Spike showed her the ring to inspire confidence in her, but all it did was cause Twilight to worry even more as she left the dragon on his own. The moment he was alone, he ran off towards the donut store, ignoring all the looks he had gotten from the up class ponies of Canterlot.
'Just ignore them Spike,' he thought to himself as he ran. 'They have no idea just how awesome you are.' He flung open the door to the donut store as he thought this, getting a greeting from Joe as he hopped up onto one of the stools. "Hey there Joe. Give me the supreme combo." Joe nodded as he headed into the back, Spike glad that Twilight had the foresight to give him some money back in the castle. He'd hate to have to go running to her for money after he just told her he could handle himself.
"Here you go Spike, one supreme donut combo," Joe said as he placed the monstrous stack of donuts in front of Spike, who rubbed his hooves together with a smile as he looked at them. He dropped the bits on the counter and took the plate to a booth, where he prepared to dig in.
'Should you not be looking for the source of that evil?' the ring asked him right as he was about to begin eating. Spike thrust the ring under the table, looking around the donuts to make sure that Joe hadn't heard it.
"Will you keep it down?" Spike hissed at it. "What source of evil? What are you talking about?"
'The source that I registered back in the castle. You should be looking for the source instead of being here,' the ring replied.
"And why should I do it now?" Spike asked as he began to stuff his face full of donuts. "Not like we'll find anything and besides, we're in
Canterlot. There's no place in Equestria safer."
'It is your duty as a Green Lantern to be out there searching for the evil that might harm the innocent,' the ring said and if Spike was paying attention, he would have heard what sounded like a hint of annoyance in the ring.
"Maybe if I was the dragon that was supposed to be the Green Lantern, I would," Spike said bitterly. The ring said something else, but Spike simply shrugged his shoulders as he continued to eat, though he did stop when the door opened and a pony in a dark cloak walked in, making a quick order before sitting down in the booth next to Spike. Spike ignored him as he continued to eat, but eventually the pony began to speak Spike.
"A baby dragon all by himself, at this time of night?" the pony said with an oddly reserved voice. "Are you not afraid to be out all by yourself?"
"Please, I'm not afraid to be by myself nor am I dark," Spike said with a chuckle, trying to look brave in front of the pony. The ring began to glow a little brighter, but he hid it under the table before the other pony could see it. "Besides, I'm friends with all of the princesses, so all ponies know better than to mess with me."
"It is amazing that one as young as you could be without fear", the pony said as he silently ate in his booth. "No doubts holding you back or decision that you've made to hinder you. I truly envy one like you." The words hit Spike harder than he thought they would and looked under the table at the ring. His boost of confidence had emerged ever since he had gotten the ring, but now that he thought about it, he wondered what he'd be like if Twilight had taken the ring like he was supposed to.
'I would still just be the librarians assistant that nopony gave a second thought about,' he thought to himself. 'Heck, since this thing runs on willpower, Twilight would be perfect for it. I guess that's why she was chosen in the first place...why she'd make a better hero.' Spike's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of screaming outside in the streets and he could see ponies running by through the window. 'Really? It's barely been a day since the last attack? These ponies are helpless sometimes,' he thought to himself as he ran out of the store, never noticing the thin line of shadows retracting from where he head had been resting into the pony in the other booth.
"Sir, is the food alright?" Joe asked, having gotten used to the city being attacked and being more concerned with his business. The pony looked towards Joe, who couldn't see his face but could see a smile under the hood.
"Oh yes my friend. Everything is just perfect," he said with a smile. Outside, Spike had suited up and was flying over the city, looking around for whatever was causing the panic.
"Alright, come on out whatever you are and let's make this quick," Spike said into a green microphone as he looked around. "I have a lot of other things that I want to be doing and I'd rather we didn't..." His words died in his throat as he looked up to see what looked like a giant bat-hydra hybrid flying towards him, screeching as it tried to tear him in half with its claws. He used the microphone to bat it away, but it recovered quickly and circled around back towards him.
"Well, at least it's not a Lantern," he muttered as he created a giant boxing glove that he used to punch the bat in the gut, driving it into the side of the mountain as he changed the glove to a cage. The Batdra roared in rage as it slammed itself into the green bars, but all it did was further hurt itself. "Don't bother, you'd have to have a ring if you want to bust out of there," Spike said with a smile.
"Spike? What is this thing?" Spike turned his head to see Twilight flying over to him, looking through the green bars at the Batdra. "I've never seen a creature like this before. It looks like its half bat and half hydra."
"Yeah that's what I thought," Spike agreed as the creature continued to bang against the bars. "So what do we do with it? Give it to Fluttershy? She loves these kinds of things."
"Somehow I don't think that's a good idea," Twilight said as she created a barrier to protect herself form the ball of fire on of the three bat heads spat. "Don't remember them being able to do that."
"Well then, there's only one way to deal with this," Spike said as he turned the cage into a green ball, which he began to swing around until he released the ball, watching with a laugh as the Batdra went flying off into the distance. "And it's a new world record for the bat toss! So Twilight, care to give me the gold now or what till we're back at the castle?"
"I wish you wouldn't have done that," she grumbled with a look at him. "I wanted to learn more about that creature and where it came from. It's obvious that it's not natural which means that either something's wrong with its home or somepony made it. But now that it's flying off to Celestia knows where."
"My bad," Spike muttered sadly, but shook it off as he and Twilight flew back to the princesses, figuring that they'd want to know about this creature.
"Yes, this is the third time that we've been attacked by a hybrid creature like this before," Celestia muttered once Twilight and Spike had told her the news. "We do not know where these creatures are coming from, but the guards report that they never see them coming from the Everfree Forest or from the wild plains, so we currently have no idea where they could be coming from."
"Well you two work on that," Spike said with a yawn. "Ring, how much charge we got left?"
'Fifty percent.'
"Great," he said with another yawn. Celestia smiled at the little dragon before looking at Twilight.
"The two of you should probably get some sleep," she suggested. "It will be a long day tomorrow. Your friends are already in the guest rooms we have set up for them and I bet that they will want to see you." Twilight bowed to her as did Spike, but he fell asleep halfway and passed out on the floor, getting a chuckle from both Twilight and Celestia. Twilight picked up the baby dragon and placed him on her back as she carried the two of them to their guest quarters, where she dumped him on a bed in his own room.
"Little feller seems tired, but that's what being a superhero does to you ah guess." Twilight turned to see Applejack standing at the door, looking at Twilight with a raised eyebrow. "So, when are ya planning on telling the other girls?"
"Applejack...I know that I should tell the others, but Spike asked me to keep it a secret and...I haven't seen him this happy in a long time," Twilight said as she looked back towards the dragon with caring eyes. "Plus, the ponies would never leave him alone of the word got out that he was a hero. And I'm also afraid that the nastier crowd might come after him as well," she continued as she left the room, closing the door behind her.
"It's not wise to keep this kind of secret from yer friends," AJ said as she followed Twilight to their rooms. "But ah'll respect his privacy, but ah think that the others deserve to know."
"I know, just not right now," Twilight said as she closed the door. "Spike isn't ready for that yet." The two went into their rooms, turning out the light for the night. A few minutes passed before a dark shadow slunk across the floor, slithering its way under the door to Spike's room and move right next to where the little dragon was sleeping. It quietly wrapped itself around his head and went inside, curious to see what it would find.
IOI
Sombra snickered to himself as he looked around at the young dragons dreams from the few shadows he could find, not believing how childish the dragon was.
'You have one of the greatest weapons known to ponies and all you can think of is that ugly ass mare and being muscular?' Sombra thought to himself as he looked upon the image of a much larger Spike holding Rarity in his arms, standing over the defeated foes of those who had tried to hurt her. 'But this isn't the memories I want to be in. Let's see, where do you keep the nightmares?' He slithered out of the shadows and moved towards a door marked personal, slipping underneath of it to get inside.
"Well this is interesting," Sombra muttered as he looked around at all the doors, not sure where to start. He saw one marked insecurities on to the left, but a few feet down was another marked anxieties. "Of course a dragon like him would have more than one door with his failings," Sombra growled to himself. "How did I let that foal defeat me at the Crystal Empire? I really must have been having an off day." Sombra didn't want to be in the dream world longer than he had to; knowing that there was a good chance that he could run into moon butt in here and then his whole plan would go to hell.
'But if I can find what he fears and use it against him, then I have a shot at beating him,' Sombra thought as he walked around a corner in the hallway of doors to see two giant doors. One was marked dreams and the other was fears. With a dark smile he walked up to the one on fears and placed his hoof against it, chuckling as it slowly creaked open. He looked around for the more recent fears and raised his eyebrows when he saw what it was. In it was Spike, surrounded by multiple Twilights with looks of rage and loathing that Sombra was certain that she hadn't even shown him.
"I just wanted to be one of you, to be a hero like you," Spike said to the angry Twilight in front of him, who glared down at the baby dragon with actual fire blazing along her mane. "I know I should have told you the truth, but I...I..."
"You were selfish! You wanted power!" the Twilight shrieked back at him, causing Spike to curl into a small ball at her hooves. "You should have told me that I was supposed to be the true Green Lantern! If you had, then all of Equestria wouldn't have fallen to the orange and red rings and Rarity would still be alive!" Sombra snickered as her words ripped into the dragon, enjoying all he was learning.
"I just wanted to help," Spike said back weakly, only to be silenced by a vicious back hoof from another one of the Twilight's.
"You couldn't help me! You can never help me," the Twilight said to him as a small green ring floated out of Spike's clutches and over to Twilight, who place it on her horn and was covered in the green energy. "You can't use its full power because you're always afraid! And fear is the enemy of will. Only one with a will such as mine should use it, not some dragon that chases around a pony he stands no chance with." Spike had ceased to make any sounds at this point and Sombra was loving every second of it, but what he loved more was the information that he was getting.
'So fear is the enemy of will, which I assume is what the green ring is powered by. That makes sense, considering how the other two were rage and greed,' Sombra thought, having studied the other two carefully as one of Celestia's "scientist". 'But what's even better is that the ring shouldn't be Spike's in the first place. It's Twilight's and he hasn't told her. Oh, this is good.' Sombra snapped out of his thoughts as he felt a presence approaching him, so with a snarl he closed the door to the fears and hid in the shadows, but to his surprise it wasn't Luna, but the green ring that Spike wore. Its light scanned each of the door, but the moment the ring turned away from him he slipped by it, now having an advantage over the "hero."
IOI
"So if I can make him afraid, I can weaken the rings power," Sombra muttered as he prepared a number of potions in his underground lair. But even though he knew Spike's fears and knew how the green ring worked didn't mean that his plan was foolproof. There was still a chance that Spike would be able to defeat him before he could use each of the fears and lies against him. 'After all, if I just say his fears to his face it might not have much value. I need to beat him with his fears, break him into so many pieces that there is no willpower left in him to make even a spark.'
Sombra walked over to his shelf and pulled out a vial, before shaking his head at it and putting it back on the shelf. He did this three more times before he became too frustrated and turned away from the shelves with a snarl.
"It's no good, I don't have anything in my current arsenal that can match that rings power," he muttered, having been observing the rings ever since they had shown up in Equestria. "And since the ring apparently chooses who they allow to use them, I can't just steal the red or orange one and use it myself. Then again, if it was that easy it wouldn't be worthy of my intellect. But there has to be a way.'
"But that will not stop me," he said with a cackle as he went back to his potion. "I will twist his fears until he is too paralyzed to speak! He will crawl at my hooves and beg me for mercy, the mercy of death! Only once he and the foolish protectors of Equestria have finally done the same will I finally end his fears...by ending him! Then the princesses shall be forced to witness what they fear the most...me, ruling over all of Equestria." He laughed at the thought of what their faces would look like once he was on the throne, but his thoughts were interrupted as a yellow light shone from behind him, forcing him to spin around to face whatever was causing it.
'Sombra of Equestria,' a solitary yellow ring said to him as a wicked smile crossed the dark pony's face. 'You have the ability to instill great fear.'
"You're damn right I do!" he said as he grabbed the ring out of the air and placed it on the stub where his horn had been blown off, watching with an evil smile as a yellow horn took its place and a yellow suit with a strange symbol appeared in the center of his chest. He then began to laugh as he felt the power of fear run through him, scaring away all of the rats and small animals that had been in the room with him. "And with this fear, I will be able to crush the Emerald Dragon and bring the princess...no, all of EQUESTRIA to its knees! No pony can stop me!"
He shot out of the hidden underground chamber as he said this and flew up into the sky, looking up at the rising sun with an evil smile. He could just fly into Canterlot and take it now, but he was a show pony first and he knew that he had to make this look good. After all, it would only be for the rest of eternity that ponies would talk about this day, so he had to make it one that they would never forget. He let out another cackle as he shot to the castle, while five little words whispered in his ear.
'Welcome to the Sinestro Corps.'
IOI
Spike awoke early the next morning, not sure why he did so but figured that he wasn't as tired as the last few times he had battled something. So with a stretch he stood up and opened the door, seeing as he stepped into the hallway that all of the other guest room doors were opened as well.
'So everypony else is up,' he thought as he walked down the hallway to where the great kitchen was, figuring that he'd meet everypony there for breakfast. 'Wonder why they didn't bother to wake me?' He reached the great kitchen a few minutes later, smiling when he saw that all of the ponies were in there. Twilight was talking with the other princesses while the CMC were getting chewed out by AJ. Spike assumed it was because of the inferno in the kitchen that the chefs were trying to put out as he walked down the stairs, gaining the attention of Twilight who nodded to the princesses and walked over to him.
"Glad to see that you're finally up," she said as she pulled him into a hug. "We have a big day today and you're going to be a big part of it."
"Going back to bed," Spike said as he turned around, but Twilight picked him up with her magic and dragged him over with her to the princesses.
"Not today. The princesses have asked you and me to look into the strange sightings that have been all around Canterlot and to try and find where those monsters keep coming from," she explained. The princesses asked all of the ponies to follow the two of them and the nine did so as Spike rested on Twilight's back, sneaking a look at his ring and noticing that it didn't look so bright.
"What's the matter? Feeling green?" he asked it with a smirk, but the ring didn't answer right away.
'Something feels wrong,' it said. 'Something is here that is messing with my power.' Spike did not like the sound of that, but he shrugged it off as the group arrived at the throne room, where Celestia turned around to look at all of them.
"Alright my little ponies, my sister and I just have something that we want to grab from the throne room and then we'll begin searching for any clues as to where those monsters are coming from." Since Celestia was the first to open the door, she was the first to gasp at the sight inside. The other ponies ran in as they heard her gasp and they in turn lost their breath as well. All of the room's guards lay dead on the floor, but what gained their attention was the single black stallion sitting on the throne, looking at the group with raised eyebrows.
"Sombra," Spike whispered.
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Sombra has already mastered the use of his yellow ring to the point where he could sneak into the throne room like that?
Those other Lanterns had better hurry up, is all I can say, because Spike might be out of his league on his own!
Something tells me that Sombra might try to do the whole 'girlfriend in the fridge' thing to rarity...
Sweet chapter though, can't wait for the next one. Keep goin and stay golden^^
You know, Sombra is making just about every other villain in the MLP universe look like chumps in your multiverse, being in that just about every universe the Sombras have returned. Especially Discord, who isn't doing anything despite actually being free in canon. If those guys ever found out about the Silver Mare, they'd be pissed at her for indirectly stopping them every time when they could have possibly otherwise won.
That said, the one most likely to acquire an Indigo Ring is either Fluttershy or Zecora. And as for the Ring of the Star Sapphires, the only logical choice would be Cadance.
Well, time to watch the most classic of Lantern battles. Green vs Yellow.
4414887 What about the Blue Ring, the White Ring, and the Black Ring?
4415052 Point taken. If anypony were to get either White or Black, I'd have to say that Celestia would likely be chosen for the White Ring, although it'd be awesome if Inkwell (AKA: The Royal Fausticorn) were to appear with it. As for the Black Ring, I'd like to say Chrysalis, but the only way she matches the Black Ring is the fact that she herself is primarily black in color.
I made my assumptions of the Blue Ring in a previous chapter, and many seem to share my opinion of Sweetie getting it.
Great chapter overall, but I'm disappointed in Sombra's dialog. He comes off as a cheap, campy villain here (at least to me). Dude took over an entire Empire & it took not one, but two alicorn princesses to take him down first time around.
I've always imagined him more along the lines as a confident, intellectual evil. A bit more calm.
That said and done, to be fair with criticisms, what did everyone think of the art I posted in the comments section back in chapter 10. Was a little surprised no one said anything at all about it.
4413225 If the black lantern event showed something in the DC universe, is that everyone getting revived is all part of Djavascript:void(0);eath's plan.
Yellow Ring!
So, next chapter Twi will discover the truth about the ring's original owner. I feel sorry for Spike already.
4415052 Black is Gilda. She's already dead, after all. Or any other dead historical figure. I'm rooting for Black Lantern Starswirl the Bearded, for worst-case-scenario. Maybe he can have a terrible chat with one of those mental constructs Starswirl left around everywhere in Onomonopia's stories.
I was expecting a bit more from Sombra dialouge wise but overall a great chapter. Though lets hope Spike has enough will to get over his fears and his lack of confidence.
SPIKE DESERVES THE RING
4415927 He does. He deserves all the rings. Or at least, the ones that corrupt his mind the least. Oh, and the ones that dont cancel eachother. Give him rage, but noit love. Give him darkness, but not light.
Ah, here we go. Green vs Yellow.
24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m59fto0yLj1qltqito1_500.gif
You know, you really should have the ring teleport Spike to the Green Lantern Corps so he can learn how to be a real Green Lantern. This story... I don't know it's just not cutting it for me and seems rushed a lot.
4416681 agreed, sombra is just, what? When I picture him i picture him cold and calculating and just overall a evil guy like scar from lion king. And with him going to the green corps to train if that doesn't fit, they could always send one to him, and at the start wtf was going on between everyone in space, no one s gonna see if the rings chose ppl on that planet?
4418317 It would also be cool to see the interaction of the other lanterns like Hall, Kyle, and ESPECIALLY Guy. I mean, can you imagine how much humor you can make with Guy finding out that the little Spike has a Green Lantern ring?
I kept thinking Garble would be the red lantern and attack the namby pamby princess for some reason...Lol. That and he has an actual legit grudge against Spike =P
Why kill the guards?
4756240 becuase it would spread fear, and also because sombra an asshole.
5298875
True, but it's still funny to see Sombra Sophisticated as Hell.
Sombra is such a throwaway villain. People keep desperately wanting him to be cool though XD
Sinestro Sombra...