• Published 24th Sep 2014
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Sombra visits Skyrim - Blackdrag-rose



Sombra gets blown out of Equestria after failing to take over the Crystal Empire. Only he lands in some strange land that he is unfamiliar with; someplace called Skyrim.

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17: The Brotherhood Comes

Celestia had asked the Jarl of Whiterun to bring an army to combat the darkness that was consuming Sombra before he attacked the province of Skyrim. What she got was some woman by the name of Maven Black-Briar, who she was told had connections to both the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood. She suspected that Jarl Bulgruuf was seeing the arrival of three dragons and a giant crystal structure as the arrival of another enemy that wanted to rule the world. From what she gathered about the woman was that her great plan was to call upon the services of the thieves and assassins that roamed the roads of Skyrim to defeat Sombra.

Apparently the people of Skyrim liked to ignore the experts who knew what they were talking about and do things their own way, even if it lead to more deaths.

"How can they be so dense?" Celestia growled, slamming her sword into the table until it was buried deep in the wood, "How can they not see that Sombra isn't an opponent that you can just sneak up on and take out? Luna and I tried that when we had to liberate the Crystal Empire, but all he did was shrug off the attack and immediately came out at us. They should be listening to us instead of turning to allies that are only coming for their own profits."

"Welcome to the province of Skyrim," Raika remarked, letting out a sigh as she stared at the table, "where the people choose to ignore people who know what their talking about and choose to enlist the abilities of thieves and assassins. I'm hoping that the Jarl will tell Maven off and listen to us, but that's not going to happen. We'll just have to see how everything turns out in the end."

Luna and Trixie stayed near the open window, staring out at the corrupted structure in case any of the fallen dragons came towards the Hold of Whiterun. There was no telling when Sombra would send his forces at the Hold, but Luna knew that any assault on the palace would result in whatever army Sombra had going to war with Whiterun. Even if whatever forces Maven Black-Briar could muster managed to wound Sombra they had no hope of defeating him in combat, not with his control over the shadows. Luna had no love for assassins and thieves, so she was hoping for the Jarl to see some sense before he wasted lives.

"Thane, I have news from the Jarl," a guard said, stopping at the door as Raika turned to face him, "He has approved of Maven calling on the combined forces of the Dark Brotherhood and the Thieves Guild to stealthily deal with our latest problem. According to our guest we should be receiving our other guests within the next few hours and wished to tell you to refrain from attacking them."

"I don't believe it," Raika growled, just as the guard left them to their own devices, "for the first time is ages both the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood are protected by the guards. I'd love to run my blades through the members of each faction, but for the sake of Skyrim I'll have to cool my anger for now."

Two hours passed before their guests arrived at the entrance to Dragonsreach, shocking the guards and the maids as fifteen thieves and five assassin's walked in. Raika, having moved to one of the seats surrounding the Jarl's throne, looked up the moment they entered the building and caught the eyes of one of the thieves. The man gave her a small nod as the two groups stopped before the throne, where the Jarl and Maven stood waiting for them.

What caught Raika by surprise was that the leader of the Dark Brotherhood, who she assumed was the leader, was actually a female argonian that had dark brown scales. She wore the same armor as the other assassin's, save for the redguard that was dressed up in his native clothing, but she had an aura of authority around her. She separated from the other assassins and approached the throne, turning to the guard on her right and placing two daggers, her only weapons Raika realized, in a crate.

The thieves' leader, a female dark elf by the looks of it, approached the throne and bowed slightly to Maven, which made sense seeing how Maven controlled most of what the Thieves Guild did. Her armor looked almost identical to the armor that the other thieves wore, but hers was colored black and showed that she was not to be underestimated. One other thief, Raika noted, wore some sort of grey and black colored armor that didn't match the other thieves, but she didn't dwell on it. The elf turned to the guard at the throne's left and handed him a dwarven sword, what looked like an ebony dagger, and a orcish bow with its quiver of arrows.

"Jarl Bulgruuf, may I introduce Stalks-Many-Shadows of the Dark Brotherhood," Maven announced, gesturing to the argonian before moving onto the dark elf, "and Frenda Fierce-Arrow of the Thieves Guild."

"I would prefer either being called the Listener or just Stalks," the argonian said, moving to lean against one of the supporting pillars, "though I would like to know why you called upon both of our guilds."

Maven turned her head to Frenda, fully expecting her to say something along those lines as well, but when the elf offered nothing in return the woman sighed to herself.

"The Hold of Whiterun has a problem that we cannot solve on our own," the Jarl said, staring at the two faction leaders, "One of our, guests, recommended that we gather an army to fight a threat that is sitting right on our doorstep. Her sister claims that the best way to fight this Sombra is to draw out his forces, of which he has none at the moment, with an army of our own, which we do not have. I found that Maven was visiting the Black-Briar Meadery West and asked her if she had any associates that could help us deal with our problem. We'll gladly pay for your services with coin and several chunks of the palace that rests outside our walls."

"I'm all for helping out, but what is this palace you speak of?" Frenda asked, "From the direction we arrived from I sure didn't see some sort of palace anywhere."

"Allow me to show you before you decide," the Jarl said, pulling himself from the throne and moving towards the back chambers of the palace, allowing the large group to follow behind him.

Dragonsreach porch had a great view of the land that surrounded the city of Whiterun, but tonight there was a new addition to the ruins and rotting fortresses. Celestia and Luna, having remained in the large area for the most part, had been staring at the corrupted image of the Crystal Palace and constantly studied it, making sure they still understood the Tyrant. The darker Sombra would have made it nearly impossible for the ground forces to enter the palace, forcing the flyers to attack from the air. Seeing how it was only Celestia and Luna with wings they'd need to hit the Tyrant while an army kept his forces at bay, whatever his army was this time. There could be an opening on the ground floor they were missing, but there wasn't one they could see at the moment.

"There it is, the crystal palace I spoke of," the Jarl said, stopping just behind the sisters with a large company behind him, "As far as I can tell there seems to be no access points from the front area, but that shouldn't be a problem for professionals."

"Shor's beard, look at the size of that thing," one of the thief's said, eying the giant structure before them, "Something of this size could easily fetch a hefty price as crafting ingredients for mages all across Skyrim and Cyrodiil. I'm sure that there is some sort of entrance somewhere at the back side, so all we have to do is look around for it. There are four points where the palace touches the ground, so there are at least two possible entrances we could be looking for."

"The Dark Brotherhood will take great pleasure in dealing with this enemy," the Listener said, tapping her hands against the stone wall while looking out at the structure, "You may come along if you wish, thieves of the Thieves Guild, but make no mistake, we will take the glory for this kill."

"You cannot kill Sombra," Celestia growled, turning to face the arrogant argonian, "It doesn't matter how good you are at hiding in the shadows, because he'll still find you no matter what. My sister and I tried to sneak up on him and he was still expecting us, just as he'll be expecting someone to come after him this time. As much as my sister and I despise thieves and assassins we're not willing to send you all to your deaths over this matter."

"Look, I don't care what YOUR odds at beating this Sombra were," the argonian replied, turning to face Celestia while pointing at her chest, "My Family and I are more than enough to deal with a single enemy, so sit your high and mighty rear down and let someone whose better than you clean up your messes. So stay here and wait till we get back, cause we'll be bringing the head of your enemy back to you."

Sure enough the Listener, her four assassins, and fourteen thieves turned around and made their way out of Dragonsreach, but not before both faction leaders collected their weapons. The only thief that remained was the middle aged man that Raika had spotted earlier, who she suspected was the second in command and tended to stay away from conflict unless it threatened the guild. Celestia had tried to warn them about Sombra, but they had, like Raika expected, ignored her wisdom and rejected her council.

"I take it your the Dragonborn known as Raika?" the remaining thief asked, catching Raika off guard before she nodded, "I received a letter from someone named Delphine, asking me to find someone named Esbern in the depths of the Ratways and deliver him to Riverwood. I had to deal with a couple of Thalmor agents before I could get to him, but he's with this Delphine and she wanted me to pass on a message. She told me that when your done with your friend's 'problem' that your to meet her and Esbern near Karthspire in the Reach."

"That woman is going to drive me mad," Raika sighed, wondering how the woman had contacted the thief so quickly, "Fine, I guess I'll have to see what she wants, after we deal with the threat that Discord has given us."

"Discord?" the thief asked, raising an eyebrow, "I thought the person we're dealing with is named Sombra."

"We are," Raika said, twisting around to look at the structure once more, "Discord, the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, came to Skyrim and the moment he met Sombra the memories that Celestia and Luna were keeping back erupted. Gone was the gentle stallion that they were trying to save and in his place stood the Tyrant of the Crystal Empire, a being of evil that even they have a hard time fighting."

"How much trouble are they in?" the thief asked, "I mean my friends and the foolish assassins."

"From what I saw yesterday and what I've heard from the sisters," Raika said, wondering how best to tell the thief that his friends were likely screwed, "I'd have to say that their chances at victory are very slim. Like Celestia tried to tell them, going up against Sombra will likely be like meeting their deaths."

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Nighttime, the best friends of both thieves and assassins, moved its cloak over the land, giving the Listener and the other stalkers of the night the best time to strike. They moved across the land below the black palace, leaping over rocks and crossing streams until they all came to one of the bases that could be their ticket into the palace. Upon examining the first base, the closest to Whiterun, they discovered that there wasn't an entrance to be found and quickly split up to search the other three. Two of the remaining bases, they discovered, held no entrances for them to use, but the fourth base, the one furthest from Whiterun, held a small staircase for them to use.

Once they entered the actual palace they discovered that there was only a single passageway, one that seemed to lead into the very core of the palace. The Listener knew that that was where they were likely going to find Sombra, including whatever traps he decided to place in the time since the structure was thrown up. She silently drew her weapons, making a sign to do the same as they approached the only opening in the hallway, fully expecting something to be waiting for them. When they reached the end they found themselves in a large throne room, with only a single nord wearing steel armor and a red cape standing in the center with his back turned towards them.

"Spread out around him," the Listener whispered to the others, "We will need as many advantages as possible to bring..."

"I can hear you," came an eerie voice that the Listener connected to her enemy, "You might as well come out and play before I decide to put an end to all of you."

Before any of them could react a spike made of crystal shot out of the floor and collided with one of the assassins, tearing through the armor and his chest as it pinned the corpse to the wall. The Listener had never seen someone cast a spell so quickly, not even one that could kill them if they weren't careful. She made sure to move into the open area with half of the thieves, hoping that such a number would keep Sombra distracted from the others still lurking in the shadows.

"Fine then," Sombra sighed, drawing his sword as he faced his foes, "Do as you wish without regard for your own safety, it matters little to me at the moment."

As he prepared to take a step forward an arrow shot out of the shadows and pierced his left shoulder, though the moment he noticed the arrow it was consumed by the shadows. Sombra took a step forward, for real this time, before two more arrows pierced his stomach, though they were swallowed in the long run. The redguard, Nazir, approached Sombra and swung his curved sword at him, catching the others sword and pushing Sombra backwards. Nazir was the superior swordsman, but Sombra was the superior spellcaster and he used it to his advantage as a spike tore through his enemy's chest.

Before the Listener could stop the other assassins they leapt forward and charged at Sombra, clearly consumed by their fury at seeing their mentor fall so easily. Sombra was clearly expecting that sort of reaction, because the moment they were on top of him he seemed to fade into the shadows and they stopped in their tracks. As they turned to look around Sombra appeared in front of one of them and beheaded the unfortunate assassin with ease, causing the other two to close in on him. One of the assassin's pinned his dagger right in the center of Sombra's armor, feeling it dig into the skin as he grinned in delight that the victory was his, but when he looked up at Sombra's face all he saw was the evil they were facing.

Sombra, growing tired of the assassins, threw the one closest to him onto the ground as he spiked the second one right in the chest, but before he focused on the leader he summoned one more spike for the assassin he threw. He cast a casual glance around the area, seeing which thieves were fighting in the light and which thieves were still lurking in the shadows, before letting out a sigh. He tapped his foot against the ground and the hidden thieves were thrown into the open area, some of which were impaled on spikes before they got a chance to move. One thief, he noted, was still on the ground and summoned his magic to destroy her as well, but before his spell could make contact an older man intercepted the blast and crashed to the ground.

"You son of a horker," the female thief, the one the old man had saved, shouted, drawing her daggers as she charged at Sombra, "I'll murder you for this!"

"Wait Vex, you can't take him alone," a second female thief shouted, drawing her bow and pinning an arrow in Sombra's other shoulder before a second tore into his knee.

"Hahahaha," Vex laughed, dancing her blades around Sombra as he parried them quite well, "Oh, would you look at that, you've got an arrow in your knee. Here in Skyrim that usually means that you have to give up being an adventurer or an evil villain and take up a position as a guard in one of the Holds. I guess your reign of terror, as short as it was, is at an end."

"Vex, would you kindly stop harassing this guy?" the other thief shouted, trying a third arrow in the chest before seeing them fade into the shadows, "Geez, what does it take to bring this guy down?"

Sombra, growing tired of playing around with Vex, pushed her back and watched a spike tear through her chest, smirking as the same happened to most of the remaining thieves. The only people he left untouched was the assassin's leader, the thieves' leader, and the dark elf thief dressed up in a different uniform than her leader was wearing. The three women gathered together, choosing to stand united while they planned some sort of attack against him and the darkness he controlled.

"Karliah, you need to warn the Jarl about this guy," Frenda whispered, her hand moving to her dwarven sword, "The Listener and I will do our best to take this guy down, but I have the feeling that we really should have listened to that Celestia women earlier."

"It was been an honor fighting at your side, Frenda Fierce-Arrow of the Thieves Guild," the Listener said, drawing her hand weapons as the other elf ran back down the passageway they came, "By Sithis, your evil ends here!"

"The same can be said to you, Stalks-Many-Shadows of the Dark Brotherhood," Frenda replied, turning her gaze to the nord before them, "Nocturnal guides my hands."

"Very well then," Sombra grinned, preparing himself once more, "I shall send the both of you to the afterlife. Then, when I'm done with all of you, I'll summon my army and declare war on this province."

Frenda, choosing to attack first, jumped in front of Sombra and swung her sword at him, only for Sombra to block the attack and push her backwards. Sombra noted the flames dancing around his blade after the contact was broken, so he assumed her weapon had a fire enchantment on it. The Listener drew closer and let her blades dance around Sombra, choosing to strike out at his backside while Frenda struck from the front side, making him choose who to defend against.

Sombra growled and summoned his dark magic, allowing the black lightning to gather around his blade before tossing it right into Frenda's chest, tearing right through the armor and tossing her against the wall. Then he brought his weapon down on the Listener, who stopped the attack with both of her daggers just above her head. Even as she tried to throw Sombra back she found that his strength was much greater than hers and the moment she shifted her weight his sword tore through her daggers and bit into her shoulder. As the blade shards hit the ground Sombra ripped his sword out of the Listener's shoulder before planting it firmly in her chest, grinning as the life faded from her eyes.

"You'll...you'll never win," Frenda coughed, struggling to get up onto her feet after such a blow, "Skyrim will...hear of this...they will come for you!"

"Yeessss," Sombra said, pulling his sword free as he approached the wounded thief, "I am counting on a war between me and the forces of Skyrim. Its just a shame that you won't be around to see it."

Before she could reply Sombra put her out of her misery, enjoying the thrill of actually fighting something that wasn't immortal like Discord or the Princesses. All he really needed now was to awaken his army, which he would postpone until his enemies actually came for him with their own army. After all, he had plenty of time and could wait as long as possible.

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Celestia had been watching the corrupted palace, watching for any signs that the assassins and thieves had somehow survived the ordeal with Sombra, but she knew that the Tyrant would not spare anyone. She spotted someone emerging from the palace, so she knew that whoever had escaped had done so to either save themselves or to warn the Jarl. Celestia sighed, she just wished that the people of Skyrim listened to her more than they ignored her. Maybe now she'd get the army she had asked for.

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