Possession in the Crystal Empire

by Askre

Chapter 23. He was a good friend

Chapter 23

Sombra had indeed not been entirely honest about the tunnel. Back when he had shot some magic down it to see how far it went, it hadn’t hit any obstruction. The Dark King knew though that desperation could do many things to the mind of ponies, so he lied about it being collapsed to make sure Private didn’t try bolt down it the moment he realized he was no longer possessed. In the end that lie hadn’t been necessary, like things played out the Unicorn didn’t learn about until it was far too late.

This tunnel wasn’t exactly made for two ponies to walk side by side, let alone when one was Sombra’s size and Private wasn’t a small pony, even if he wasn’t the largest either. So the king had his prisoner walk a little bit ahead as they made their way down. He had Private illuminate the way with a faint light spell on his horn. The Dark Pony didn’t want to waste any of his magic right now.

They had been walking for a little while when Sombra suddenly realized how silent it was. The king frowned, he had severed his connection to Private to preserve his magic and allow it to build up again so he couldn’t at the moment hear the Unicorn’s thoughts. Usually the Dark Pony didn’t mind silence, he wasn’t exactly a renowned conversationalist. He had just gotten so used to hearing Private, he had forgotten that most of the time it was the prisoner’s thoughts he was hearing.

“You really do not talk much, do you?” Sombra remarked as he recalled their stay at the hospital and how Private constantly refused to speak when addressed. The Unicorn didn’t even spare him a glance, just continued to stare straight forward as he walked.

“If you said something with your mind, I should tell you I am not connected to you right now. After all these theatrics, I really do need to preserve my powers. I did lose a lot of it when the spell prematurely resurrected me,” the king told him. The only response from the prisoner was a snort that he could have sworn sounded like ‘good.’

Ah well, I don’t mind the silence, King Sombra shrugged it off. He glanced back casually, just to see if they were being followed. So far he could see nothing and detect nothing, but the Dark Unicorn wasn’t about to trust that so easily and had a feeling the others would try something eventually.

This tunnel must lead to somewhere. If worse comes to worse I will risk magic to transport to somewhere but I need it to build up some more first, he thought. So far nothing remarkable could be seen. They passed old supporting beams many times, clearly indicating that this had been deliberately dug at some point.

“You almost called me Timido again,” suddenly Private spoke, catching Sombra off guard as he had figured his prisoner would just remain silent from now on.

“If you are hoping for some form of an explanation, you will be waiting a while,” the king grunted when recovering his composure.

“You miss him?” Private didn’t sound like he cared much, though Sombra could detect a hint of curiosity in the voice.

“Hoping I go on some sort of an emotional rant, Private?” the king snorted and shook his head. Silence resumed, but the questions had brought up all the memories Sombra had of his late servant.

I left him with a good life. He was going to be married to that merchant mare, he thought and grit his teeth. Yes, a very good life, only to be slaughtered by the Saddle Arabians.

“He was a good friend,” he muttered without elaborating any further. This caused Private to shoot him a glance.

“I won’t replace what he brought you,” the Unicorn stated and turned his head back forward.

“I’m aware,” Sombra responded and scowled a little in annoyance.

Private could clearly hear by his tone that King Sombra’s patience was at an end, so he decided not to push the subject further. He had been rather relieved to learn that Sombra was no longer listening to his mind - finally for real his mind was his own and no one could hear what he was thinking. Of course the king had implied he could reconnect again, but right now, for the first time in a while the Unicorn felt marginally normal again.

Still he hated his current predicament. He wasn’t free of Sombra even if the Dark Pony no longer possessed him and by the looks of it was being dragged even further away from rescue.

I think he is unhinged; I don’t think he has as much planned as he pretends. Things haven’t been going like he had intended. He got his body sooner than he planned and he’s definitely on edge. A lot of the power he accumulated must have gone into that resurrection spell that apparently worked independently and out of his control, Private mulled over. He paid it no mind that the tunnel just seemed to go on and on, at least it kept them in motion and right now he rather be walking than doing anything else.

Seeing Celestia clearly shook him up. Does he fear her? Maybe he does in this much more weakened state. He didn’t seem that concerned about the others. He carefully glanced back at Sombra who kept walking just behind him.

“So, since you are alive now, going to burn down Equestria like you heralded?” The Unicorn asked.

“Like I told Princess Twilight, those messages were just sent to cause panic and keep the Equestrians on the tip of their hooves. Do I intend to conquer Equestria? That is on my agenda, but one thing at a time. I need to regain my strength and then I need a place of operation and then I need to properly plan for it. Four Princesses will make it more complicated, so that is a long term project that won’t happen just overnight,” Sombra responded and shrugged slightly as he did.

“You could have caved an entire roof of rocks on three of them just a while ago, leaving you with only one princess to content with,” Private pointed out, that caused the king to growl and narrow his eyes.

“Fine. I couldn’t kill Celestia any more than you could harm the blue mare that you fancy,” Sombra snapped, though it sounded more like he was irritated at himself than at Private for the statement.

“Not killing Celestia is going to make conquering Equestria difficult,” the Unicorn mentioned and had to hold back a grin when he heard the frustrated groan coming from behind him.

“I thought you were finally going to be silent!” Sombra snarled, his patience clearly coming to an end.

That probably isn’t such a bad idea, Private gulped wondering if he had gone too far. Fortunately, since he didn’t follow up with a comment of his own the king didn’t do anything, satisfied that his prisoner caught on.

How long have we been walking anyway? the Unicorn thought. It had been quite a while since Sombra had dragged him into the tunnel and forced him to walk forward.

They eventually reached what looked like a cavern. No crystal torches were in this one so the only illumination was from Private’s horn. The Unicorn looked down and cringed, he was at the edge of a ledge and it was quite a drop down to the bottom. The ledge was part of a path that went along the wall to two stone ramps, one led up and the other led down.

“Interesting. Looks like this was a mine once,” Sombra said as he stepped up beside Private. “Whoever dug it must have been mining upwards when they struck my cave and couldn’t get any further due to the magic I put in place.”

Private could really just nod, now the only question was which direction led out. The Unicorn could just barely make out two tunnel entrances at the bottom and the way up had to lead to something.

“Going up is pointless. That would just take us back to the peak,” Sombra muttered and pushed Private into the direction of the ramp that went down.

“What if there is no exit?” Private asked, grunting a little at being pushed, but he knew better than to protest and started to walk in that direction with the king right behind him.

“We’ll either make one or I’ll have to teleport us,” the Dark Pony answered and glanced back at the entrance they had come through. His prisoner stopped when noticing that the king had halted.

Sombra frowned, suspicion going across his face and he started to approach the opening slowly. Private wasn’t sure what to think. He hadn’t heard anything, then again the Dark Unicorn might have sharper senses than him. That was always possible.

Something came running out of the tunnel but King Sombra was very quick on the draw. His horn was already glowing red and grabbed the pony that came running through the tunnel by the throat and levitated him above the ledge.

“I knew you were stupid, Barricade, but seriously, this is just ridiculous,” the king growled at Barricade who struggled fiercely against the stranglehold Sombra’s magic had on him.

“Barricade!” Private shouted, startled when it registered with him what had just happened. He didn’t dare approach as Sombra seemed quite ready to drop his flailing and cursing brother down below.

King Sombra ignored Private for now because he clearly heard something more from the tunnel, glaring at it with a sneer. The king immediately turned to his shadow form and still holding Barricade in his grip, he immediately floated away from the ledge and hung above the chasm below just as Shining Armor and Flash Sentry came rushing into the tunnel.

“Dammit, Barricade, we told you to stay back!” the white Unicorn shouted when seeing what had happened. Flash said nothing, staring worriedly at King Sombra who had switched to holding the struggling Unicorn with his smoky tendrils.

Private cried out when tendrils then shot from the mass of smoke and shadow, grabbed him and pulled him closer to both his brother and Sombra. At that moment the three Princesses arrived, causing the king to scowl even harder than he had before.

“Sombra dro…” Twilight had been about to shout when she noticed both the ledge and how far down the bottom was. She quickly clamped her mouth shut before even finishing that sentence.

“Yes, that would have been a poor choice of words, Twilight Sparkle,” King Sombra mocked and rose a bit higher with his two prisoners. “On the bright side, I have both brothers now again with me. How alive they will be, will depend on you five.”

Sombra was about to say something more when a flash of magic energy passed harmlessly through his smoke formed head. The king sighed and looked at where Barricade was. The pony had stopped struggling but was instead trying to shoot magic at his captor.

“I am almost insulted that your strongest magic attack couldn’t actually even phase me,” the king said before his horn lit up and he blasted Barricade’s horn with his own magic. His captive cried out both in pain and rage. When it was over, dark crystals were forming on the unicorn’s horn.

“Now then, where were we?” Sombra looked back to the ponies on the ledge. “Oh yes, I was going to tell you five to leave now, and this is the only thing I’ll do to Barricade!”

“What the Tartarus is this!” Barricade growled as he tried again and again to shoot magic but it all fizzled out.

“Barricade, for once in your life accept it that you lost!” Private snapped where he hung a bit below him. “He’s clearly disabled your magic. Also, we are hundreds of feet above the ground. STOP ANTAGONIZING THE GUY WHO IS HOLDING US!!!”

“Cheater!!” Barricade snapped, glaring daggers at King Sombra who was using one smoke tendril to simulate hoofing his face in exasperation.

“Sombra, there is still a chance to let them go and give yourself up,” Celestia called, ready now for the possibility of having to make a desperate dive to save either one of the ponies held by the king.

When King Sombra snorted in contempt, the Sun Princess knew there really was only one option left to them. She could see that the king was not as strong as he was hoping to portray, however, he did have the hostages.

“Cadance, you have the spells that affect him in this form. On my mark, start shooting, especially the parts that is holding up the brothers,” she quietly whispered to Cadance. Then she covertly signaled Flash and Twilight to be ready.

“I’ll only say this once,” King Sombra growled and swung both Private and Barricade around to make a point. “Leave or these two will…”

The Dark King didn’t get to continue, the moment the twins were in a good position, Celestia gave her signal and Cadance flared up her horn and shot with all her might. Sombra roared in pain as the magic fueled by love and hope tore through his smoke and shadow, both powered by fear and hate. He lost his grip on the brothers who both plunged towards the bottom.

“Flash, Twilight!” Celestia then shouted as she spread her wings and dove down the chasm, followed by her former student and the soldier.

Twilight and Flash caught Barricade who had been in the highest position when Sombra lost his grip on him. The two immediately headed with the Unicorn towards the ledge, but Barricade suddenly shouted his brother’s name in panic, causing them both to stop and look down.

Private, who had been at a lower point was still falling, Celestia had adjusted her speed and both her mane and tail were on fire as she sped to catch the unicorn, but it looked like it would be very close. Then a disaster happened.

During this whole time, Cadance and Shining Armor had been engaging an enraged Sombra. The pink Alicorn could keep him at bay with her magic, but even so shadowy tentacles still escaped through and if not for Shining’s shields they would have easily swept the couple off the ledge. The one problem was that Sombra’s shadow tendrils kept smashing Shining’s shields every time they made an impact, so he had to constantly rebuild them.

Then Sombra let out a massive rage-filled roar and poured out smoke and shadow in all directions. It narrowly missed, Twilight, Flash and Barricade while Cadance was forced to put up her own shield around herself and Shining Armor that could withstand the onslaught. The one thing this didn’t miss was Celestia as some of the tendrils went even further down into the deep, striking her just as she was about to grab Private, and threw her off course.

Oh no! Celestia barely managed to correct herself and avoid more tentacles, just in time to see that Private was about to hit the ground.

In a desperate move she flashed her horn and using a special kind of teleportation spell, switched places with the still falling Unicorn so he would still have some distance to fall. With this extra breathing room, she could now ascend and attempt to catch him from below.

Just a little closer, Celestia thought as she prepared to grab Private, only for a shadow tendril to catch her off guard and slam right into the unicorn, sending him to the wall. Oh for the love of…

Celestia changed her course and winced when Private made hard contact with wall and was knocked out. However, it did slow him down enough that the Sun Princess finally caught up with him and grabbed him in her magic.

The Alicorn looked up at the battle. Cadance and Shining Armor had been joined by Twilight. Celestia couldn’t see Barricade or Flash Sentry but guessed they were keeping away as they would never stand a chance against the enraged Shadow King.

Then she looked at the magic bubble she held Private in. She cringed a little when seeing that Private was bleeding from the mouth and by the looks of it, his right front leg had been broken by the hard impact with the wall. He probably had a major whiplash as well and who could tell how many other bones were broken. Celestia did though see that he was breathing and still alive.

Don’t worry my little pony, I’m taking you far away from King Sombra, she thought. As the Princess gave King Sombra a glare, she fired up another teleportation spell, this time it was one that took her and Private Iceland straight to the Crystal Empire.

Meanwhile above, the battle raged on. Sombra had clearly gone mad from rage as he just kept slamming around with his shadow and smoke hoping, to crush the ponies fighting him. Twilight and Cadance did the best they could, both firing powerful energy beams that cut through the tendrils, causing the king to roar several times in pain.

Shining Armor resumed providing the temporary shields even if they really only served for a little while before having to be renewed. Flash Sentry and Barricade watched from the tunnel entrance. The guard was mostly in charge of keeping the dark gray unicorn out of the way since he still insisted on trying to fight.

“I think we’re doing it!” Twilight called as she noted that King Sombra was lowering down into the chasm, looking like he was retreating. The two Alicorns were about to continue with their barrage when suddenly the cave was lit up with so bright light that it was as if daylight was pouring into it from invisible holes. Then came the bellowing voice.

“KING SOMBRA!!!”

Celestia appeared in the epicenter of the light, looking very angry. Her mane and tail were no longer in rainbow like hues - they were fiery like the sun. Even her eyes shone with fire.

“You have done quite enough! Surrender now or suffer the consequences!” the Sun Princess bellowed.

Twilight, Cadance and Shining Armor blinked, having never seen their sovereign look so angry. By the looks of it, the Sun Princess had finally just had enough of this. The normally calm and patient Princess seemed even more ready for battle than when she had faced Queen Chrysalis. They all carefully looked down at the writhing mass of shadow and smoke that was King Sombra. Slowly his head was reforming in the mist of it as he stared up at Celestia.

Even if only a second or two lasted in this staring contest it seemed like it took agonizingly long for those watching before Sombra finally spoke.

“Not today, Celestia,” he snorted and suddenly poured himself into one of the entrances at the bottom of the cavern. Just as the last smoke disappeared into the tunnel, Celestia swept in after it.

“Okay, that happened,” Flash Sentry remarked as he joined the others at the ledge. Barricade came then and peeked down as well.

“Where did they go?” the unicorn wondered.

“Better question, should we go after them?” Cadance asked. Her question was answered when Celestia came flying out of the tunnel, looking more her normal self and ascended to the other ponies.

“Princess Celestia?” Twilight looked worriedly at her former teacher. The Sun Princess looked sad and disappointed.

“I’m afraid Sombra has escaped. There came an intersection in many directions and I was unable to see which one he took. In his shadow form he just blends too well into the darkness and my light wasn’t quick enough to see him,” Celestia said as she landed on the ledge.

“Shouldn’t we try and find him?” Twilight asked. “I mean he killed those ponies at the inn, so many others driven mad by him.”

“We will work on that, Twilight, don’t worry,” the white Alicorn said and put a hoof on the purple one’s back. “But I recognize these tunnels. They were dug by Diamond Dogs a long time ago and they are a maze. Sombra could hide for months in them and even escape outside before we could ever find him. He is weak now, but in such a dark environment he has an advantage.”

“So the bastard gets away, great!” Barricade snorted, then he cringed when a magic aura grabbed him by the horn. He was about to protest but all the yellowish aura from Celestia did was clear off the dark crystals.

“I think it’s time. Barricade, you head with us to the Crystal Empire to reunite with your brother. I have brought him to the hospital,” the princess simply said once she was done freeing him from the crystals.

Shining Armor had a few choice words in mind to tell the unicorn, but Cadance gave him a signal not to say anything.

“You wouldn’t probably be any better if this had been me or Twilight,” she whispered to her husband who reluctantly agreed. The pink princess smiled at Shining and gave him a kiss, just as Celestia for the second time activated a teleportation spell that took them back to the Crystal Empire.

End chapter 23

Author's Note:

Proofread by Hail King Sombra

Comments

[Mix-up]

Well, that is what you get for being merciful to your enemies, and lose you common sense because he had "feeling" for her in the past. Still I wander if it would still be possible to have a three way relationship with Private and Celestia . Still the salt two chapters where good, but I honestly have a hard time imagining that with all that he has done to stay ahead in life, that he didn't sized his chance for victory when he had the chance, especially with the hash world that he used to live in back then. Still it was interesting to see how his bravado was all a facade that he very skillful managed to maintain in front of everybody.

[Askre]

7345809

Well, that is what you get for being merciful to your enemies, and lose you common sense because he had "feeling" for her in the past.

Indeed, sentimentality, the downfall of many villains.

Still I wander if it would still be possible to have a three way relationship with Private and Celestia

Well there is always alternate universes to explore.

Still the salt two chapters where good, but I honestly have a hard time imagining that with all that he has done to stay ahead in life, that he didn't sized his chance for victory when he had the chance, especially with the hash world that he used to live in back then.

Yeah, as I sort of hinted at it with Private's mulling, but Sombra is a bit unhinged in this story, for the first two parts he is just a spirit and I already had Sombra lament how spirits often act more on strong emotions than rational thought, then in the third part he's strictly speaking newly resurrected and is a bit disoriented and his powers are fluctuating, he really just wants to find a quiet corner to just lie down and sleep but knows he can't because his enemies are right on his tail. So for those last chapters he is a bit desperate, then sees the mare he used to have feelings for, can't really bring himself to cause her harm at this moment and just tries to bail out of there.

That's also why the fight wasn't more epic than it was, Sombra was pretty much just wildly flailing his hooves in the end and trying to find a way to escape.

Still it was interesting to see how his bravado was all a facade that he very skillful managed to maintain in front of everybody.

Exactly, that's why it's maybe not so obvious how desperate and disoriented he is, he is putting on a front and hoping nobody spots it. I will give this though, Celestia saw right through him and Private was sort of starting to guess it, though he's bit more traumatised to dwell too much on it.