Into the Darkness

by Subject 19

Interrogation

Author's Note:

Was listening to this while writing this chapter with blackmaskthebrony. Skip to 35:36 and listen to the epicness while reading this chapter if you want. Also, it seems like me and blackmask are on a roll lately!
Also, what would you guys think of me posting a full bio on Christopher Razka? Let me know in the comments, which I highly doubt anyone will. So I'll probably end up doing it anyway because why the fuck not.

Christopher Razka and Swift Strike were walking down the hallways of the castle, heading down to the dungeons.

“I’m surprised Celestia was able to find the traitors so quickly,” the chairman commented.

“She was able to use an old spell to detect any dark magic on the guards. Only a few ponies even know the spell exists,” Strike replied.

“How many did she find?”

“Just seven so far that were in the guard, but there’s bound to be more in the army.”

“See to it that they’re found. We can’t risk Sombra discovering our plan of attack.”

“The princess is already on it. She trusted that you would be able to get whatever information you could out of the prisoners.”

“Wow. Didn’t see that one coming. I thought I was going to have to beg and plead with her to question the bastards.”

“Luna told me how you handled the problem at your house when it was under attack. I think someone like you should be able to get them talking in no time.”

Razka gave the general an appreciative smile. “Glad to see someone appreciates my ruthlessness.”

“I do have a question for you.”

“Shoot.”

“Forgive my… boldness, but Luna was telling me about your war back on Earth. I was wondering, what makes you believe that you’re right and your enemies are wrong?”

Razka chuckled. “There’s a legend my father used to tell me when I was younger. The legend of Razgriz. When history witnesses a great change Razgriz reveals itself, first as a dark demon. As a demon, it uses its power to rain death upon the land, and then it dies. However, after a period of slumber Razgriz returns, this time as a great hero. He told me that there was a lesson to the legend. Making the world a better place requires two things to happen: destruction and reconstruction.”

“Do you believe you’re this... Razgriz?”

“As we speak, I am burning down an entire country. Most of the country, and probably the world, see me as a demon. But when I’m done, I will rebuild what I destroyed. I will make it better than what it was. When that happens, they’ll understand why I did what I did and hopefully regard me as a hero. So to answer your question, yes, I believe I am Razgriz in a way.”

They continued down a staircase leading to the dungeons. Once they reached the cell the traitors were in, Razka looked them over for a moment. There were two guards watching the cell, ensuring the prisoners didn’t try to escape. Razka noticed that not only were all four hooves of the ponies cuffed, but black metal rings were clamped onto the horns of the unicorns. He assumed they were used to inhibit the ability to use magic.

“I’d like some privacy while I interrogate these prisoners,” Razka told the guards.

“Sorry sir, but the princess gave us strict orders not to leave them alone,” one of them replied.

“And they won’t be,” Swift said. “It’s alright, you can wait by the staircase and we’ll let you know when we’re done.”

The guards gave him a questioning look, but complied nonetheless. They handed Swift Strike the keys to cell and trotted away. Once they were gone, Strike turned to Razka.

“Being a general has its perks,” the stallion chuckled.

An evil smirk formed on the chairman’s lips as he stared at the prisoners. “Give me your sword and let me in. I’d like to begin my interrogation.”

Strike nodded and unsheathed his sword and gave it to the human. He then walked over and opened the cell, allowing Razka to swagger in, his smirk never leaving.

“I think we can skip the part where I ask you to tell me everything you know and then you all swear you’ll never say anything, and go straight to the part where I torture you all one by one.” Razka leaned down to a red and white striped pegasus. “Let’s start with you.”

The chairman raised the sword over the pony’s left front hoof. The stallion quickly realised what Razka was about to do, absolute fear consuming his face. Before he could plead, Razka sliced off his hoof, blood gushing onto the hard brick floor.

“GAHHHHHH!”

Razka placed his hand on the stallion’s muzzle and lifted his head, forcing him to make eye contact with him. “If you want to keep your other hooves, you’re going to start talking.”

“Stripes, if you say a word-” the back of the unicorn’s head exploded, blood and bits of his brain painting the wall he was leaning on. Razka holstered his pistol and grabbed the pony’s throat.

“You see what happened to your friend there?” Razka asked, forcing the suffering pony to look at his dead comrade. “I didn’t like what he said. Just tell me everything you know and I won’t make you choke on your own blood.”

The stallion didn’t respond, all he could seem to focus on was the fear of this alien holding him and the searing pain where his hoof used to be. But when the chairman pressed the sword against Stripes’ throat, he broke his silence.

“Sombra’s planning an attack!” he said, fighting back tears of pain.

“When and where?” Razka demanded.

“Ponyville.”

“When?!”

“He will attack in…” Before the stallion could continue he started feeling woozy “He will attack…” That was all he could say before he soon started puking all over himself as it dripped on the floor.

“What the hell?”

“Oh my head...it hurts!!” The stallion then began to scream in pain as he gritted his teeth. Before Razka could just put a bullet in him, the stallion soon went limp and as his head hung low and puke and blood was drooling from his mouth.

“What the fuck?” Razka muttered as he walked over and gazed at the know limp stallion. As he drew his hand closer to the body, it started to shake which caused Razka to back away. At first the stallion didn't say anything as his head was still hung over.

“Come on you son of a bitch, get up,” Razka said, kicking the stallion in the ribs. He was greeted by a small chuckle coming from the stallion. “What the fuck, you think this is fucking funny!”

The stallion continued to chuckle as it soon escalated to psychotic laughter as he still had his head down.

“As a matter of fact, I do.” Razka was taken back as the stallion’s voice sounded different, it was filled with malice and darkness.

“Look at me you fucker.” Razka ordered.

The stallion slowly moved his head and Razka was left speechless. The stallion who once had blue eyes, were now green with red pupils as a dark aura was surrounding his now dominic eyes.

“Is that better...Razka?”

“Oh come on.” the chairman groaned. “I’m getting really sick of hearing your voice, Sombra.”

“Oh thats a shame to hear because I myself am really liking these...bonding sessions that we have. Its not my fault you’re not enjoying yourself. ”

“What do you want this time?”

“Well since you were so kind to ask, I just wanted to drop in and congratulate you.” Sombra said as he crossed his forelegs (Or the stallion’s forelegs).

“For what, the inevitable slaughtering I’m going to give your pathetic cronies?”

“Well I would have called them slaves but cronies works too I guess. And yes, I want to congratulate you on finding out who my spies were, or at least some of them. And I must say you are doing quite a bit of….work on my cronies.” Sombra stated as he gazed at the body to his right.

“Take a good look, you’ll be sharing their fate soon enough.”

“Oh of course, I’ll keep that in mind when I rip you apart piece by piece. But lets not get into that, look I want to cut this short because I have things to do so I will get to the point. Due to the stupidity of my slaves you know of my attack on Ponyville, am I correct?”

“You are. And I look forward to disemboweling whatever poor bastards you send. God knows it’s been awhile since I’ve seen some real action.”

Hahaha...Thats the spirit. You know since I am such in a good mood and you have done a great job on….Working over my boys here, I am going to give you your prize.”

“And what would that be?”

“I’m going to attack Ponyville tomorrow near mid-morning.” Sombra answered bluntly which threw Razka off.

“Hubris will be your downfall. Why would you tell me that?”

“I’m just curious on how the outcome will turn out, after all I want to see some blood spilled tomorrow. So I’m counting on you to make that happen, okay.” Sombra said with a smile. “And I want the Elements of Harmony to be there when I attack.”

“You must think I’m an idiot.”

“You’d be an idiot if you didn’t. If the Elements aren’t in Ponyville by tomorrow morning, there will be no attack. Instead, I’ll wait and find somewhere else to attack. And there will be no way for you to stop me.”

“Fine,” Razka conceded. “They’ll be there, but you won’t get anywhere near them.”

“Well I think our time is up here, I have things to do and there was something else I had to say to you….what was it.” Sombra thought hard on what he was going to say until it came back to him “Oh now I remember, I want to give you a bit of a warning.”

“What?”

“When I leave this body, this stallion will come down with a terrible case of explosion.”

“Interesting.” Razka turned towards General Strike, who was still standing by the cell. “I think that’s our cue to leave, general.”

The stallion nodded and quickly let Razka out of the cell. “Ummm what did he mean by that?”

“Apparently, that stallion is going to explode or something.”

“Well thats odd-” Before he could finish, they hear a loud bang come from the cell as gushes of blood hit the side of their faces.

Razka looked down at his now blood covered suit. “God damn it. That son of a bitch ruined a perfectly good suit. Strike, do me a favor and deal with the survivors, if there are any.” The general nodded in compliance as the chairman turned to leave.

---

“Razka, why are you covered in blood?” Celestia asked in shock.

“You don’t want to know. But what you do want to know is that Sombra’s planning an attack on Ponyville,” Chairman Razka informed the princesses. “He’s going after the Elements.”

“Then we’ll just keep Twilight Sparkle and her friends here,” Luna said.

“No. We need to send them back to Ponyville immediately,” Razka argued.

“Why?” Celestia demanded, not at all liking the sound of Razka’s plan.

“Because Sombra clearly has soldiers behind enemy lines. Thanks to those prisoners-”

“Which we WILL be discussing later,” the solar princess interrupted.

“Whatever. Thanks to them, we know exactly when and where these ponies will be attacking. All I need to do go down there with the 501st, protect the Elements and wipe out the attackers.”

“Absolutely not,” Celestia replied. “I will not let you gamble with Twilight’s life.”

Razka ran a hand through his hair, a heavy sigh escaping his lips accompanied by an annoyed eye roll. “If we don’t stop this attack now, Sombra will just come up with a new one that I will not be able to prevent. Yes, your “faithful student” could die and to put it bluntly, I don’t give a fuck about her or those other five brats. If the Elements don’t return to Ponyville, Sombra may suspect we know he’s coming.”

“As much as I hate to say it, sister, Christopher is right. I don’t like it anymore than you do, but it looks like this is our best option,” Luna admitted.

“Well if you’ll excuse me, I need to wash up,” Razka said with a satisfied smile. “And I’d like my suit cleaned up, if that’s possible.”

---

After having spent an hour getting cleaned up and waiting on his suit, which remarkably was salvageable, Chairman Razka went to go see General Strike. He had very little time to get the 501st organized and into Ponyville. From what he gathered with his conversation with Sombra, he knew the dark king would be in Ponyville. If he could defeat Sombra there, he could end the war before it even started.

Swift Strike was out in the courtyard, sitting on a bench, enjoying the view of the lush garden as he waited for the human to arrive. He knew Razka was going to want to prepare them for combat in Ponyville. Part of him was nervous, owing to the fact that the 501st hadn’t seen battle since they were ordered to hunt down any remaining changelings in the aftermath of the Canterlot wedding. A wedding which had been years ago. Hunting the changelings was just that: hunting. This was a real army they going up against.

Swift was brought out of his thoughts by the feeling of a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Razka looking down on him, his face completely neutral.

“Good to see you again, chairman,” Swift said.

“A lot on your mind?” Christopher asked as he took a seat beside the stallion.

“Is it that easy to tell?”

“Not as easy as telling that this will be your first real battle.”

The white stallion chuckled. “You know, I’ve been waiting my whole life for a moment like this. But now that it’s finally here, I feel… anxious.”

“Don’t worry. If you’re as good as Luna’s made you out to be, you and your legion will do just fine tomorrow.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“Defend the town and protect the Elements of Harmony at all costs.”

Swift raised a questioning eyebrow. “I thought you-”

“Didn’t care about those six?” Razka finished. “There’s always another side to the coin. There’s a small part of me that admires their ability to make others believe in friendship. I will only be needed for a short time, but there will always be a need for them in this world.”

Swift nodded in agreement. “I never would have believed in the power of friendship if it wasn’t for those six. They’ve accomplished things no ordinary ponies could ever dream of doing.”

Razka got up off the bench and straightened out his suit. “You can start getting the 501st ready to mobilize. We’ll move out at dusk.”

“Consider it done.”