7. Take a Stand
The pounding sound of hooves stomping on the ground echoed in the tunnels of the underground. As if things weren't already loud enough, the growling and barks of the pack of dogs chasing Sombra were ever growing in intensity as well. The only thing that made this worse was the squealing at his ear by the very filly responsible for putting him in this ordeal.
"Ahhhh! Run faster!" Sweetie Belle shouted as she wrapped her fore hooves around Sombra's neck. A constraint a little too tight for his liking, but right now, he didn't have time to protest. Instead, he did as he was told. He ran, he ran as fast as his newly created body could travel...and it was quickly tiring him out.
"Filly...I would appreciate it if you thought of a way out of this mess!" He shouted back as he took a sharp turn around tunnel, his hooves sliding across the dirt as he did his best to keep the momentum that kept them alive.
"M-Me?"
"Who else?!"
"But I don't know what to do!" The filly said in a pained voice as she held onto Sombra tightly. A quick glance her way made it obvious that she was terrified. She was in no position to make decisions, and even less so to make any smart ones. "I just want to go home..."
The filly's squeals became whimpers as the fright soon began to take hold of her. It was a downward spiral Sombra had seen before, usually a spiral he created for other ponies, but seeing such a small filly go down the same path didn't exactly sit right with him. Still, this was not the time to think about that. Without the filly giving any orders, he was free to make his own decisions.
"Fine, lets just end this." Sombra said as he jumped and turned his body around. His eyes erupted in purple flames as his dark magic began to bleed out of him. With a powerful roar, he stood his ground as the pack chasing after them began to pounce his way. The dark mage summoned out dark spears of crystal that would have impaled the dogs and stop them in their tracks, but just as they neared the skewers, Sweetie Belle looked up to see the confrontation.
"No! Don't kill them!" She shouted out. A command Sombra was not expecting. A wave of pain rushed over him as the initial warning of the curse flowed through him. In a rushed switch of tactics, Sombra merged all of his crystal spikes and instead created a wall that blocked the dogs away from their side of the tunnel.
Taking a few steps back as the pain began to slowly fade away, Sombra leaned against the nearby wall as the filly upon his back looked at him with worried eyes.
"A-Are you okay?" She asked softly.
"What do you think!? Don't give commands willy nilly! You said you wanted to go home, we can't do that if we're being chased by these Tartarus forsaken mutts. So why did you tell me not to kill them?!" Sombra asked as he used his magic to pick the filly up and place her a few steps away from him to scold her.
"I...I...I didn't mean to..."
"The only thing worse than being at the command of a filly, is being at the command of one that doesn't know what she wants, you realize I'm in pain every time you give me a command right?!" Sombra said as he began to stretch out his legs, that last burst of dark magic taking a toll on his muscles. Though he soon stopped when he realized that the filly had stopped the noise she was making. Curious, he turned to face her, though wasn't ready for what he was about to see.
With a pained expression, Sweetie Belle was quietly crying to herself. Her head down, the tears gently trickled down her face and began to drop onto the dirt below her. Sombra suddenly felt a wave of guilt rush over him, though it wasn't like he was wrong in saying what he did.
"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get you hurt..." The filly said softly, her voice beginning to crack under the refrained cries.
It was silent. The dogs on the other side of the crystal wall had long since ran off to find a different way to get to them and they were left with a moment of peace. Rubbing the back of his neck, Sombra looked around the tunnel to find a way to distract himself, not really wanting to speak to the filly at the moment, but as he placed his hoof to his nape, he felt a small bruise. It was from when the filly had grabbed onto him earlier. How could such a small and frail thing actually be able to leave a bruise on him? Was she really that scared?
With a sigh, Sombra finally give in and stopped ignoring her whimpers. He stepped close to the filly and picked her up with his magic, something that quickly quieted her crying.
"Filly, in this world ponies will get in your way when you try to achieve your goals." Sombra began to say as he placed her back on his back. "You cannot falter when it comes to your decisions, else others will take advantage of your hesitation. I say to Tartarus with them all and blow them to smithereens, but I'm sure you've a different approach."
Sombra began to walk slowly down the tunnel and continue to speak to Sweetie Belle who, for once today, had his undivided attention. "I do not wish to die again, especially not in this rat hole, but because of this curse you placed on me, I am at your command. So I ask you this: What do you want me to do?"
By this time, the duo had reached a strange convergence of the tunnels. For miles up and down all sort of path ways interconnected and thin bridges connected them across this strange void in the earth. Before taking another step, however, Sombra looked over at the filly on his back and waited for her response,
"I...I still want to get my sister's gems back."
"I can do that, but is that all you want? I would like to avoid getting another pain session if you suddenly decided to change your mind on something."
"C-Could you please try not to kill any pony?"
"Dogs aren't ponies."
"You know what I mean!"
"Well then, go ahead." Sombra said as he began to look forward again. The barks coming from the other side of the bridge they were on getting his attention. Though Sweetie Belle was still rather confused by what he had meant by that last statement. "Give me my commands."
"Really? But I thought it hurt you when I did that."
"Only when I disobey. I have to admit, when you give me a command to follow, my body seems to acquire more strength for the time I do as you say. I still have not reached one hundred percent of my dark power, but it beats this feeling of weakness when I just idle around."
"O-Okay then" Sweetie Belle said softy as she began to hide behind Sombra mane. The dogs were now in view and starting to cross the bridge towards them. "King Sombra!" She shouted out as she clenched his mane. Once more their bodies glowed in markings of light. "Get my sister's gems back from the Diamond Dogs without killing them!"
Sombra smiled as he took in a deep breath. His eyes were set ablaze in purple flames; he felt energized. His strength from a thousand years ago began to come back to him, and he loved this feeling. Though he didn't have time to enjoy it as a dog began to pounce at them. The snarls it was making made Sweetie Belle shut her eyes as she once again wrapped her hooves around Sombra. The growls, however, were soon replaced by whimpers, causing her to peek an eyelid open.
"How sad, it seems like the dumb dog ran into a crystal pillar." Sombra said with a smirk as he began to walk around the canine holding onto his face on the floor as it spazzed, causing the filly to giggle at his funny actions. "Who's next?"
"We'll get you for that!" One of the Diamond Dogs said before they all began to run towards them. Though this time, Sweetie Belle didn't hide herself behind Sombra. For some reason, she wasn't scared anymore.
Dashing ahead as well, Sombra picked up enough momentum to slide on the bridge and trip a dog over them. The stallion quickly shifted his weight to his front hooves as he kicked upward with his hind legs, propelling the dog several meters into the air and propping him into the ceiling were he stayed stuck in the dirt.
This left the duo open, but it wasn't like they actually had to worry about the dozens of dogs jumping at them with their claws. Using his dark magic, Sombra summoned another pillar of crystal from the ground that elevated them, pushing him and the filly out of harms way and making the dogs smash their heads into the hard material.
The sound of both growls and Sweetie's giggles filled the atmosphere as Sombra swiftly and graciously moved around the dogs trying to attack them. His hooves slid on the ground as he spun around to simultaneously avoid the claws of a dog while tripping him over, causing him to fall onto another of his comrades.
As he came to his hooves to dust away from dirt from his coat, Sombra blatantly ignored the dog behind him as it reached for them. The filly on his back waved 'hi' at him before a crystal pillar erected out of the ground to sucker punch him before pulling back into the dirt just as fast, leaving the dog stunned in place.
Finally done dusting himself, Sombra turned and patted the dog on the shoulder. "Better luck next time." Before beginning to walk away.
Again dogs began to rush at them and though Sombra was able to use his magic to get rid of them all, he was simply enjoying himself too much right now. Reaching back and grabbing Sweetie Belle, Sombra shifted his weight to his hind hooves as he held onto the filly with one of his free limbs.
He skillfully moved out of the way of an incoming slash of a claw while moving in and uppercutting the dog with his remaining hoof. The canine was propelled back along with all those behind him. Sombra felt a presence at his back, and he quickly jumped onto the hoof he used to punch and balanced himself on it as he kicked his oppressors with his hind legs, knocking the wind out of them.
Turning upside down on the hoof he was balancing on, Sombra remained still as he did a headstand, waiting for dogs to gather around him. The giggling from Sweetie Belle wouldn't stop as her mane hung down while she held back at Sombra. She was enjoying the show and couldn't stop her laughter. Once again the dogs tried to jump at Sombra, surely he couldn't defend against them with him standing upside down with a filly held in one hoof, right?
Just as they all pounced out at him, Sombra used his strength to throw himself out of the way and landed at the entrance to the tunnel the dogs had come out of. Just as all the dogs landed at once, the bridge gave in under the pressure and they all began to fall down. Sombra and Sweetie Belle both flinched as the sound of crashing and splinting echoed in the tunnels.
"I thought I told you not to kill any pony!" Sweetie Belle said as Sombra placed her on his back.
"My leg!"
"Get your tail out of my face!"
"Get your face out of my butt!"
Chuckling to himself, Sombra began to make his way down the tunnel. "Don't worry, they'll live."
《=●=》
"And then this super duper large order came in!" Pinkie said as she waved her hooves around to emphasize the story she was telling the princesses.
"How awful, even after all the work thou had already done?" Luna asked out, very much into the story her friend was telling.
"I know right? Can you believe it?! But I got it done! I am the best baker in Ponyville!" The pink mare said as she puffed out her chest.
"Ahem." Mr. Cake cleared his throat as he passed by with a trey of cupcakes balanced on his head.
"Umm, second best." Pinkie finished with an embarrassed blush causing every pony to laugh. Well, every pony but Rarity and Twilight who were all still just saving face and forcing out a smile.
"How much longer do you think this will take?" The white mare whispered at her friend, a worried expression on her face.
"I don't know. You know how Pinkie can talk for hours..." Twilight responded as she glanced at the clock. They had already been an hour at the shop and it seemed like neither Luna or Celestia were ready to leave.
"Ooooh, I wouldn't have left Sweetie Belle's side if I knew it would have taken this long."
"You don't have to worry, I'm sure that she's fine, what's the worse that could happen?" The alicorn said as she patted her shoulder.
"Really? Sweetie Belle? I can't leave her alone for twenty minutes without something breaking. What do you think could happen if I left her alone with full and unconditional control of a Tyrant?" Rarity asked out, her question making Twilight nervous at the thought of all the possibilities.
"Heh heh....Okay, perhaps that was poor word choice on my part...but really, Sweetie Belle is a good girl, she wouldn't do anything dangerous."
《=●=》
"Woohoo!" Sweetie Belle shouted out as she smiled, the stallion under her jumping over several dogs who were doing their best to get to them, but were simply too low to reach them. Landing and continuing on their way, Sombra raised a crystal wall to block away the tunnel behind them.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself." The dark stallion said as he ran across the corridor.
"This is fun!"
"Let's try to remember the objective shall we?"
"Oh, right. The gems. How are we going to find them in this maze anyway?"
"You mean you had no idea how to get them in the first place?" Sombra asked with a tease.
"I-I would have thought of something!"
"Sure you would. Just leave this to me."
"And how are you going to find them? Do you know where they are?"
"I've a vague idea, yes. Remember when you commanded me to reacquire you sister's gems?"
"Yeah?"
"Well I am now forced to do so. Any time I begin to move away from the gems, the curse will send a small warning not to disobey."
"So that means..."
"If I ever take a turn that leads me away from the gems, the curse will warn me I am not following orders."
"So you're using the curse as a radar?" Sweetie Belle asked with amazement. She would have never have thought of using such a 'restriction' as an advantage.
"Precisely. And if the curse is any indication of the gem's location, we should be nearing them now."
Taking the final stretch, Sombra began to gallop down the corridor as fast as he could. Coming to the first door since they had entered the labyrinth, Sombra's horn glowed in black and purple as he sent a bolt of darkness out to the door, burtsing through. From the smoke he emerged in a prideful stance.
"Was that really necessary?" Sweetie Belle asked as she dusted some debris from her head.
"I like making a grand entrance." He responded with a chuckle.
What was in front of him was quite a sight. Three Diamond Dogs and one very large one. A towering presence in the room with heavy armor plating that stood guard over the other three.
"Y-You! Stay where you are or we'll unleash the hounds!" One of them said as he pointed a claw at them.
"Well we wouldn't want that do we? How about you just give back the gems you stole and we'll be on our way." Sombra responded as he began to take a more causal stance.
"What? No! These gems are ours now, we need them!" The dog said as he whistled, telling the large guard to advance.
"Need them for what?" Sombra asked out in a sly smile.
"We need to sell them! Our families need the bits to buy food!" Another dog shouted out. At once, Sombra's smile faded as his eyes became serious. He quickly lifted Sweetie Belle from his back and placed her down.
"Stay here a moment." He said before walked towards the large dog. The guard took a swing at Sombra, but a crystal wall was erected from the ground, blocking the blow. The crystal began to grow and consume the dogs paw, trapping it in place. Sombra's movements didn't falter, he quickly made his way to the trio and stared down at them. "You need gems to survive?" He asked out, his voice commanding and intimidating.
"Uh...yes?" One of them said meekly.
"I need a definite answer. Do you need gems to keep your families alive?" He asked out again.
"Yes! If we don't sell the gems, we can't buy food." The shorter one of the trio said. "We Diamond Dogs have very large families, five to eight kids for every marriage..."
Sombra's gaze shifted from one dog to the other as he looked them down. His eyes were still on fire as the intensity of the combustion only grew with each second he stared at them.
"So let me ask you this. Did you manage to steal more gems last night than you would have found if you had continued to excavate for them?"
"Uh...maybe?"
"Yes or no answers only." Sombra said in a strained voice, making one of them cower in fear at his hooves.
"No!" The tallest of the dogs said, the pressure of being stared down making him fall with his paws over his head as well.
"So you're telling me that you took a night off to steal some gems, when you could have used that strength and time to dig and make more than you did from stealing?"
"Is that...bad?" The last one asked, also falling to the ground when he heard Sombra's voice.
"Is that bad? Is that bad? On your feet!" He commanded. At once the three of them stood up straight and at attention. "Now this is what you're going to do." Sombra began as he paced back and forth in front of the trio of dogs. "You are going to get all your underlings here and you're going to dig. You're going to dig until your little claws chip and crack. You're going to dig until your paws begin to ache from digging, and do you know what you're going to do after that?"
"Umm, dig until our paws fall off?" One of them asked out as he came out of attention, but quickly fell back into place after Sombra glared at him.
"Are you mad? You cannot dig without your paws! That's why you get shovels and then dig some more! The lives of your families are on the line here and you'd rather waste the time you have playing thief?! If I could know that my own family would be safe by slaving away at a mine, do you think I would hesitate at the thought? No! So you dig you fools, you dig." Sombra shouted out. At once the three Diamond Dogs jumped and began to run to get their henchmen.
In no time at all Sombra was pacing in front of rows upon rows of Diamond Dogs as he began to give out orders. Sweetie Belle had also done as she was told and stayed back where Sombra had left her. She was amazed to see how well he had began to organized the dogs.
"So what are you all waiting for?!" Sombra shouted out. "Get to your positions and start digging!" All of the Diamond Dogs rushed out and began to do as he had told them. All were to dig in different directions. Ultimately, there would be no such things as an 'underground' They were to dig themselves out of this hole, not an inch of the mountain would be left by the time they finished and they would have collected each and every one of the gems that laid here.
With a sigh, Sombra with a filled saddle bag finally began to make his way towards the filly who was patiently waiting for him. "These dogs are idiots. How did they think that digging aimlessly would help them find any gems at all?" He asked out with his hoof to his temple as he tried to massage the stress out of his head.
"That was really cool, how did you do all of that?" Sweetie Belle asked out as she ran up to him.
"A King is bold and demanding, if he isn't, none will follow his orders. These mongrels were wasting time and effort in pointless endeavors. It was painful to watch. Ah, speaking of painful." He said as he reached around into his bag and pulled out the gems that had been stolen. "I acquired these back."
"Awesome! Let's go back home then!" She said as she ran around and climbed onto Sombra's back again.
"Oye, who said you can ride my back again?"
"I did. And you said I should be assertive with my decisions!" She said with a grin.
"Not the answer I was looking for, but ultimately, it isn't my choice anyway. Let's just head back and hope no pony has noticed our absence."
《=●=》
"I do not believe I have ever had the pleasure of visiting your home." Celestia said as she and her sister finally came into the Carousel Boutique."
"We've been here once, in a dream that is" Luna said as she walked in while looking around at all the dresses in display. Rarity quickly dropped her forced smile as she walked into her home and ran directly upstairs.
"Is something wrong? Rarity looked troubled." The Sun Goddess asked.
"Well you see, the truth is that there was something wrong since yesterday." Twilight said as she turned to face her fellow princesses.
"What?! Why did you not tell us sooner?"
"Well it's because it has to do with-"
"Woo! That was fun, let's do it again!" A squeaky voice said as the window nearby opened. Through it jumped Sombra and the filly that had spoken.
"I think you're enjoying yourself too much." Sombra said with an annoyed expression. "I am not a-....Hi there." He said as he took notice of the audience. Silence. No Pony uttered a word.
"Twilight! Sweetie Belle and Sombra are-" Rarity shouted as she she ran back downstairs.
"Right here..." Sweetie said softly before jumping off her dark guardian and standing beside him. "We got your gems back."
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Score one for for Sweetie and Sombra.
The first half of this chapter is just a huge Terminator 2 reference.
And I love it.
The fight scene was well written and engaging and we got yet another glimpse into Sombra's psyche.
Now, give Sombra some badass shades and we'll be golden.
I look forward to seeing how Sombra copes with meeting the Princesses, particularly Luna. Assuming you follow the canon of 'Fall of the Crystal Empire'.
I wasn't sure about this story at the beginning, but I really like it now.
I spotted one error, though.
think
Anyone else see a bit of Code Geass in this?
(I know about the Terminator reference, but Sombra is a lot like LaRouche, no?
Sweetie Belle and Sombra sitting in a tree!
Got to say that Sweetie's adventures with Sombra are quite entertaining.
Thiiiiiiiiis can only end well. I'm getting some more popcorn. And then, wait for the next chapter.
Just remember the magic words Sombrero! "She made me do it!"
heh. yes to this.
I cannot help but imagine Sombra´s thoughts in all of this.
"Oh this was at least an interesting outing, I wonder how my plans fooooorrrrrrrrrrrr Heyyyy Celestia... Whats up? Been, What, A thousand years?"
Ok that one was more silly
Oh good lord sweetie belle is gonna use her powers over sombra here. Also more papa sombra that was just fucking adorable when it happaned. When is that going to grow? Eagerly awaiting next chapter.
I like this story. I keep liking, and its certainly one i'm glad to see keeps updating so strongly.
5074141
d2tq98mqfjyz2l.cloudfront.net/image_cache/1403169317284750_animate.gif
5074101
soon Sweetie Belle will lose control of her powers and order Sombra to to do something she is going to hate. Like the treaty with the elvens and the bretonions. Wink wink.
5074101 I see more Black Butler myself
oh my this gonna be exciting
pulls out a sofa along with popcorn
The scenes with Sweetie giggling while Sombra kicked butt were adorably awesome.
Not sure if intended or reference
Is it purposely a terminator 2 reference like the other comments said? I just saw it as 'generic terms of a curse that makes you follow orders'. I mean there was a 'no kill' order in both, but we all knew that Sweetie would say that eventually. It actually reminds me more of the movie Ella Enchanted in terms of "following what to do". Follow every order and take it literally, but if no specifics are given do what you can.
5074162 I see that being a perfectly viable excuse for causing trouble.
Moar pls?
I love Sombra's completely unrepentant, logical stance on slave labor here. He doesn't give a damn about ethics, you better just get to work until you can't work anymore, or he'll go Full Metal Jacket on your ass.
Doesn't make him any less a sick twisted morally bankrupt despot, but hey. Baby steps!
Where's my popcorn? This is about to get even more hilarious.
She was enjoying the show and couldn't stop her laughter.quickmeme.com/img/57/57320139579da85533680af5ec9c180f73e115648018e4995c9f5fd08e5aed16.jpg
or if you prefer this
fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/086/d/f/grammar_nazi_twilight_by_mrscroup-d7btpvc.png
5074752 HEIL GRAMMER
5074101 First of all it's LeLouche. With a second L.
And I really don't see any similarities between LeLouche and Sombra. Would you mind pointing them out?
5074253 Brittanians*
Sorry my inner grammar nazi is coming out.
5074571 My popcorn machine shall keep me well fed through the amusement.
Well, no one can say Sombra isn't a great leader. Terrible, yes, but great none the less.
As he had told me...
As he had told me...
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Sigmund_Freud_LIFE.jpg
Dr. Freud will see you now.
Out of all the things the princesses probably thought they would hear Sombra say if he returned, I doubt "Hi there" was one of them.
think
___________
So Sweetie not only has an immortal summon to do her bidding, but it doubles as an Epic Mount? Sweetie Belle is quickly growing to be best filly ... at least as far as this fic is concerned.
5074101
Don't mean..... LaDouche? (Wink,wink/nudge,nudge)
5075415
...
And then the grenade went off. Gems are back along with Sombra and Sweetie just in time for a murderous reunion... could've sworn I had a similar experience in high school once. Don't remember. Although the words "Oh ****!" did occur during said situation.
Didn't end well if I remember correctly
That's it. Sombra is British. No questions about it.
Loved the chapter and cannot wait to see what happens next and how Celestia reacts to Sombra's presence
5075525 ...Damnit,Now I'm immagining sombra if sombra was from north.
5074910
Not so much a similarity with Sombra and LeLouche, but Sweetie Belle and LeLouche. Granted it was one line and it made a single episode pop up in my mind.
Followed by,
It seems like the power of Geass. Except a small possibility to resist. And I keep thinking of when the Black Knights were commissioned to take Japan back from Brittania.
5074922 nah it's good. I understand.
5074951 well I know bow who's place I'm crashing in during the next chapter.
Oh my lord please PLEASE continue this!
Things are going to get serious next chapter, aren't they?
Can't wait yo
That should be Let's, but otherwise I didn't find any typos to mention.
I'm loving this story. So. Much.
5074922 I think he was referencing Bretons from Skyrim, not Code Geass
5075714 Oh ok I understand now. Yeah I saw it too...poor Euphemia
5075943 NNNNYYAAAGGGGAAAAHHHH!! IT'S TAKINV OVER MY BODY!! RUUUUUNNN!! NNNYAAA YOU DIDN'T CAPITALIZE NAH!!!
i.imgur.com/CAbZwCd.jpg
Too late
5076226 Well that's confusing now that I read it again. It could be read as elevens and Brittanians spelled wrong, or elvens and Bretons with an extra ion at the end...
5076253 Yeah, I guess since I read 'Elven' first, I automatically thought Skyrim
5076271 Yeah... But it could still be either... I NEED CLOSURE. WHICH IS IT!