• Published 1st Nov 2015
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The tyrant of fear and hate - Askre



The Doctor and his friends arrive by accident at the edge of the Crystal Empire while it's under the tyrannical rule of King Sombra. Naturally they get captured and must now somehow escape.

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Chapter 15. Past regrets.

Chapter 15

The Doctor walked silently between the two guards who were leading him back to the dungeon. He noted that the smaller guard carried the crystal piece he had kept on his head, but also had his vest on his back. That was one of the many details the time pony had noticed when he had been cornered on the upper levels, why others hadn’t noticed it he couldn’t tell but it told him everything he needed.

Finally, they were in the long corridor that would lead to the dungeon. The Doctor knew it was now or never, right now only two guards were present and he was pretty sure one of them was on his side.

“Hey can I borrow this?” he asked and using his mouth grabbed for the plumes on the taller guard’s helmet, successfully pulling it off. This happened so fast that before the surprised crystal pony could react an armored hoof hit him square in the jaw, knocking him out.

“Thank you.” The Doctor grinned and dropped the helmet from his mouth.

“Think nothing of it, partner,” Apple Core responded and shook her hoof. “I’m just thankful that these guys are so brainless that they can’t see past my armor.”

“That is a downside of mind control, it can dull the mind so it doesn’t really notice as well when things are out of place,” the time pony said and grabbed the crystal piece from the mare and put it back on his head, he sighed in relief when the dull feeling in his mind vanished.

“Yeah I’ve noticed, they haven’t even questioned it if I’m a guard or not,” Apple Core said as she began removing the chains from the Doctor.

“Yes indeed, by the way how did you come about your fantastic disguise? I love it,” the brown pony inquired, he used the opportunity once his feet were properly freed to grab his vest from Apple Core’s back and put it on. He immediately began checking his pockets, grinning when seeing all his gadgets and devices still in place.

“Uh, it’s thanks to one of your friends. I was still stuck in the dungeon when I ran into her, Foxy I think her name was,” the mare explained to him while using the chains to tie up the unconscious guard. She then told him how she had met Foxy and their encounter with King Sombra.

The Doctor sighed as he listened. Even with his mind clear now, he had to admit that Sombra had him on the run. It didn’t matter how many gadgets and gizmos he had, the Dark King had the darkest magic on his side and that was not easily thwarted except with magical means, the Doctor hated to admit it but magic was the one area he still often struggled with.

You clever bastard, you started with Private because you immediately noticed that he was the key to the mares, they are such close friends and if he was under your iron hooves they would be that much easier to bend to your will. Then you kept me far enough away that I couldn’t do anything until it was too late. You were playing with us the whole time; we were just amusing toys in your hooves. The time pony shook his head sadly.

“So now what? Your friends didn’t look too friendly,” Apple Core wondered.

“What happened to you after Foxy left with Sombra?” the Doctor asked, wanting to divert his thoughts for a little while longer.

“Well I did as Sombra told me, dragged the idiots Foxy knocked out into a cell, then went up to the castle proper and tried to find my way out. However, one of the guards, probably a sergeant or something suddenly started barking orders at me and before I knew it I was standing guard in the hallway, then we all got orders to gather around and chase you, that’s about it,” the mare told him and shrugged a bit.

“My friends are probably right now with King Sombra and even if you still have the silver coin that won’t do much, it only works so much and won’t withstand a full blast of his magic. I can’t help my friends, except by somehow contacting the Princesses. We need to get in contact with them! Do you know what time it is?” The Doctor looked at Apple Core intently.

“Late evening, probably close to midnight,” the mare said with a confused frown.

“Do you know if Princess Luna has started dream walking?” the stallion then asked.

“Dream what now?” Now Apple Core was even more confused.

“Later in life, Princess Luna will actively start dream walking, guarding the dreams of ponies. I just can’t quite remember when she first started experimenting with it but I think she did during this time period. However, to contact her via those means, one of us needs to go to sleep and well time ponies don’t sleep much,” the Doctor explained to her.

“W-wait so you want me to go to sleep? At the off chance that Princess Luna might come to my dreams?” Apple Core wasn’t sure what to make out of this, this sounded absolutely ridiculous to her. Then again the Doctor used a silver coin to escape his cell and free her.

“Easy right? We just need to find somewhere more comfortable, you go to sleep, hope Luna becomes aware of you and give her a message,” he said with a wide smile.

“I really should just call you crazy and leave it at that, but you’ve so far somehow managed to be right. Alright while we find a good place to do this, probably not best to do it in the hallway, can you tell me why King Sombra hates you so much?” Apple Core wondered as they started walking towards the dungeon, dragging the unconscious guard with them.

“Well… that happened a while ago,” The Doctor said and frowned.

***

The Crystal Empire, before Sombra’s reign.

“You wanted to talk with me, Doctor?” Princess Amore smiled as she entered the guest chamber. Only the Doctor was there, he had sent his friends to keep a lookout on Umbra’s movements.

“Yes, Amore,” the time pony said, daring to drop titles now that they were alone. “I want to ask about Umbra.”

“Our Crystaller? Alright,” Amore arched an eyebrow and got seated by the corner table with her old friend.

The Doctor watched her body language carefully. Since he was currently in a unicorn body he also had higher senses of magic so he kept an eye out for that too. So far Amore behaved completely normal, there were no obvious telltale signs of spells on her. Then again she was a powerful unicorn in her own right, it would be difficult for anyone to cast any kind of mind control on the Princess.

“How did you come about his service?” the Doctor asked curiously, figuring that was the best way to start.

“He came here a few weeks ago, requested an audience and once he had it asked if he could access the royal library. He told us that he was a student of magic and travelled the world to learn more of it. I know he can be rough around the edges but he is really sweet once you get to know him,” Amore started telling him. She poured herself some tea that had already been served earlier to the room.

“He showed real skill with magic and seemed quite taken and interested in crystal pony magic, especially the Crystal Heart. When little Cadenza was born I saw no reason not to appoint him as the Royal Crystaller. He was already starting to surpass me in knowledge of the magic. He could actually read some of the books in the library that are written in ancient tongues that have dropped out of use.” The Princess stopped then for a moment to sip her cup.

The Doctor frowned as he considered this information. It was clear on the way Amore spoke that she trusted Umbra. There was one thing though that bothered him and he needed to verify it before jumping to any conclusions.

“How did he react to the Crystal Heart?” he asked and drank his own tea.

“Well at first he was uncomfortable in its presence but he never complained much, it was probably because of all the dark magic that’s built up within him,” Amore responded causing the time pony to almost spit his mouthful of tea out.

“Wait, you know he has dark magic?” he asked confused.

“Oh, Doctor it’s obvious he is a dark pony. A whole herd of them arrived down south in Equestria a few months ago, refugees after the Saddle Arabians destroyed their Empire. It wasn’t that surprising that one would also come to our doors,” the princess chuckled at the stunned expression that was on her friend.

“I figured he was from the royal court of the late Queen Ira. He definitely behaved as someone used to one. I’ve just not questioned him much about it as I figured it must still be painful for him. I mean his entire race has pretty much been wiped out just because their neighbors couldn’t stand their nature.” Princess Amore shook her head with an expression of disgust. “I’ve ordered all ties to Saddle Arabia to be cut for the time being. Even Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have done so. Can you imagine it Doctor? Killing all these ponies just because they were different?”

I wonder if that was another reason she allowed him to be the Royal Crystaller, show the rest of the world that the dark ponies were accepted, the Doctor thought. He really couldn’t fault Princess Amore for her opinion. Even he considered the destruction of the dark pony Empire an atrocity that should never have happened.

“I noticed Commander Hurricane doesn’t like him much,” the Doctor mentioned, earning a bemused look from the Princess.

“Ah, did he put you up to this?” she asked and chuckled slightly.

“Look Doctor, Hurricane is a good stallion, but he is old-fashioned and he remembers time when… well prejudice was more acceptable. I think it’s just an old habit of his that is refusing to go down. He tries, bless his heart, but sometimes he tends to judge ponies based on the negatives and ignores the positives,” she explained to him.

The time pony wasn’t so sure if he shared that sentiment. Hurricane had sounded genuinely concerned. It was though clear that Amore’s mind was made up regarding Umbra. He had a feeling that right now he would be wasting his time trying to convince her otherwise.

***

The Crystal Empire, Sombra’s reign.

“Uh is this coming anywhere close to why Sombra hates you specifically?” Apple Core interrupted, she and the Doctor were now in the guard room just before you entered the dungeon proper. They had just finished putting the guard in a cell.

“I’m giving you context,” the Doctor grunted. “I had promised Hurricane to get to the bottom of this, but first I needed to hear how Princess Amore felt.”

The time pony found a corner to sit in and Apple Core found a seat next to him. The stallion sighed, knowing he had to condense the tale since time was not a luxury right now, especially since he didn’t have access to the TARDIS.

“After I talked with Amore, I went to try and talk with Umbra, get a feel for him as well, see if my gut was right. However, I couldn’t find him, I found Trinity and Swift Mane though, but they told me that they lost sight of him. He had just vanished,” he told her.

Suddenly the Doctor fell silent, deeply silent. Apple Core tilted her head a little and wondered what was wrong, she saw the faraway look on the time pony and concluded he must have reached a particularly painful memory.

“He knew, Apple Core.” Finally, he spoke up and looked gravely at the mare.

“He knew what my friends and I were doing. He hadn’t hypnotized Amore, no, he had hypnotized the entire castle staff - even the soldiers. They were his eyes and ears,” the Doctor whispered, a single tear crawled down his cheek. “We had arrived too late. All we did was accelerate his rise to power.”

“Wait what?” Apple Core frowned, not quite sure how to take that revelation.

***

The Crystal Empire, before Sombra’s reign.

“Hurry!” The Doctor shouted as he ran after the hall, fast on his heels where Trinity and Swift Mane.

“What is going on, Doctor?” Trinity shouted.

Earlier they had been in the royal library, the Doctor had questioned the librarian who didn’t say much. Then they had seen some of the books Umbra had read, Trinity and Swift Mane couldn’t make heads or tails out of them, but the time pony had seen something in them that made him gasp in surprise. Then he had bolted for the exit, though he did stop to look at the librarian again, his eyes opening wider and his expression changed into one of horror.

Then the time pony just ran, heading to the throne room, giving no explanation except telling his two friends to hurry.

“Oh no, no, no, no!” The Doctor lamented as they finally arrived and stopped immediately. Trinity and Swift Mane came right behind him and what they saw made their blood freeze.

Umbra stood over the still body of Princess Amore who lay slumped on the floor in her own pool of blood. In her throat was a knife and the mare’s eyes were wide open but dead, the surprise at the horrible treachery frozen in them.

“NO!” The Doctor shouted and then glared daggers at Umbra. “What have you done!”

“Taken a step to secure my future throne, Doctor,” the dark pony said chuckling darkly, his eyes were glowing green and purple mist was sprouting from the corner of his eyes.

“Why!?” The time pony snapped and took a step closer, grinding his teeth. “Is this really the legacy you want, Prince Sombra?”

“Prince Sombra?” Swift Mane looked at Trinity, who looked just as confused.

“Oh, figured it out have you? That I’m Prince Sombra, son of Queen Rabia,” the dark unicorn laughed, then he threw off his cloak, smoke shrouded his entire body for a moment and now he was wearing a red cape, steel breastplate, hoof guards and a steel crown. “Though when I’m done here, I will be King Sombra. Has a much nicer ring to it.”

“Not if I can help it,” the Doctor growled, then he froze when hearing the wail of a child. Cadenza was still in her cradle by the throne.

Sombra actually looked back for a moment when the foal made its presence known. The Prince smiled and looked back at the trio in front of him. Then his eyes drifted to the guards that were arriving in the throne room.

“Guards, arrest him. He just murdered…” The Doctor had noticed them too but his words froze on his lips when seeing the green and red color in their eyes.

“I’m afraid they only obey me now, Doctor,” Sombra said with a dry chuckle. Suddenly his horn fired up and a magic blast was sent right towards them. It wasn’t quite aimed at the Doctor, it was actually aimed at Swift Mane and Trinity.

“NO!” The time pony dove for his friends and pushed them out of the way, receiving the full blast of the magic. He screamed for a second before falling to the ground, his entire body badly scorched.

“Doctor!” Trinity and Swift Mane shouted and rushed to the body of their friend.

“Oh and you can’t help it, wait, I probably should have said that before I killed him. Ah well.” King Sombra shook his head and chuckled at his own joke. He then observed the two ponies as they cradled the time pony. “Aw, do not feel bad, you’ll join him soon. Guards, take care of them.”

Trinity looked up and jumped to her feet. She grit her teeth, quite prepared to fight the guards if she had to. Swift Mane also rose up, frowning he glanced at Sombra, contemplating if he should risk charging the unicorn.

The battle never happened, suddenly something hit one of the guards, sending him flying at the rest and threw the whole group to a wall. Then with a slam Commander Hurricane, dressed in his full battle armor, landed between the two time travelers and Sombra.

“Ah, I was wondering when you would receive my message, becoming a little slow in your old age,” the dark pony mocked the legendary pegasus.

“When I’m done with you, you will regret ever setting a hoof in here!” Commander Hurricane snarled, spreading his wings and prepared to charge the unicorn.

“That I’ve heard before,” Sombra snorted and swiftly sent a blast of magic at the pegasus.

Commander Hurricane avoided it easily by leaping into air. Using his powerful wings, he flew higher, thankful for the ample amount of space the throne room gave, even for a pegasus his size. Then he dove for the dark pony.

“You’re about to find out why they call me Commander HURRICANE!” the legend roared as he came closer, preparing to pummel his hooves into the other stallion.

Sombra waited until the last minute before his horn lit up and the floor started shaking. Suddenly the Prince rose up on a huge column made of dark crystal. This had happened so quickly that Hurricane barely had time to change his flight path to avoid collision. Then he was forced to dodge more magic blasts.

“Swift Mane, Trinity. Get Cadenza out of here!” Hurricane shouted as he started to circle the crystal column, eyeing for an opening at Sombra.

“Oh no you don’t. I have plans for the little Princess!” Sombra growled and aimed a blast towards where the two ponies were. He stopped short when seeing what was happening on the ground. “What?”

Trinity and Swift Mane jumped back when the Doctor’s body suddenly began glowing. The light spread out all over him for a brief moment and then flashed outwards. The battle stopped, everyone stared at the stallion that now lay unconscious on the ground. No longer a blue unicorn, he was now an earth pony with light brown coat and dark brown mane and tail.

“Doctor?” Trinity blinked. Swift Mane was quicker to realize what had happened.

“He regenerated, Trinity. He’s still alive!” he said, then looked up when hearing an angry growl.

“How is this possible!” Sombra snarled and leaped off the crystal. He landed on ground level, glaring at the trio. “This is no Equestrian. What in Tartarus are you!?”

Sombra couldn’t get further, Hurricane used the distraction to sweep down and landed a hard hit on the unicorn, sending the dark pony across the throne room. The pegasus then swiftly flew to the cradle and grabbed the still crying foal up. The old legend took one last regretful look at Princess Amore before flying to Trinity and Swift Mane who were trying to pick up the Doctor.

“Take Cadenza out of here, now!” Hurricane ordered, giving his daughter over to Swift Mane while Trinity held up the time pony who was coming too, but didn’t sound quite right, almost like he was drugged up.

“What about you, sir?” Swift Mane asked, looking at the big pegasus, worried.

“I’ll keep Sombra busy,” the old stallion growled and glared over where Sombra was picking himself up from the ground.

“Swift Mane, come on, we need to get to the TARDIS!” Trinity said and started to drag the Doctor with her out. Her pegasus friend sighed, cradled the upset foal in his legs as he took off into the air and flew after the mare and the time pony.

“No!” Prince Sombra shouted when seeing them escape with the princess, but his attempt to follow was stopped when Hurricane landed in front of him with a sneer.

***

The Crystal Empire, Sombra’s reign.

“Keep in mind that those last few bits might not be entirely accurate as I am going by what Trinity and Swift Mane told me, I was still recovering from regeneration trauma at the time,” the Doctor pointed out.

“What is it that you realized before going to the throne room?” Apple Core wondered, she wanted to question the whole regeneration thing, but at this point she decided to just accept it. The guy was there to tell the tale and King Sombra certainly did hate him enough to have met him before.

“King Sombra is from a matriarchal society, his thinking was more on the line of securing the throne through the female line. He had discovered that crystal pony traditions allow their rulers to be betrothed to another royalty very young,” the time pony explained to her.

“He probably figured that neither Amore or Commander Hurricane would agree to wed their daughter to him while she was so young and could not give her own consent, so if he took them out of the way, Princess Cadenza would be the ruler. As the Royal Crystaller he would be her main caregiver and advisor. He could then easily convince others that they could marry when she was of age and even forge consent from the deceased parents.” The Doctor shook his head in dismay.

“However we ruined that by taking Cadenza away, so he had to take the throne in a more old fashioned, ‘I’m the most powerful around, so you better listen to me’ kind of way,” he finished.

“Uh, what about the little Princess? What happened to her?” Apple Core asked.

“She is in good hooves right now and will eventually be given over to The Royal Sisters in Equestria,” The Doctor said. “I really can’t say much more, because it is related to knowledge of the future that I can’t give.”

“And Commander Hurricane?” the mare wasn’t really sure why she asked that, it was pretty obvious what had happened to him.

“Sombra and he battled it out, but Sombra won. Hurricane’s life was already draining away since Princess Amore was dead, remember that it was her magic that was keeping him alive. He put up a good fight, sadly it wasn’t enough,” the Doctor sighed.

“Well… I guess I can see why Sombra hates you now,” Apple Core said and laid down on the floor. “Guess I should try and go to sleep and see if I can contact Princess Luna.”

“Wait, try and remember this message. Tell them that Private, Dew and Foxy have fallen into the web of King Sombra, the Elements of Harmony should work. Use them against him, time is short for he is aware of you and is planning counter measures,” the time pony told her.

“Will do, I would ask for a bedtime story, but after that other story, I think I’ll just get nightmares if I hear another one,” the mare chuckled and lay fully down.

The Doctor didn’t respond, just smiled at the joke. He hoped this would work because right now he couldn’t see any other way. King Sombra’s magic was too powerful and they needed even more powerful magic to combat it. The Elements had defeated Discord, so it was a fair bet that they could deal with the Shadow King as well.

End chapter 15

Author's Note:

Proofread by Hail King Sombra

Yes I got no shame, King Sombra did indeed intend to marry Princess Cadance to become the legitimate king of the Crystal Empire. Yeah I know they have said that Cadance and Princess Amore are only maybe distantly related, but I think that's boring so Amore gets to be her mother. Yay headcanons. :pinkiehappy: