Chapter 24. I am really free?
Chapter 24
Private Iceland slowly opened his eyes and the first thing he noticed was a familiar ceiling. Groggily he raised his head and winced when it started pounding, then he saw why he had so much difficulty moving, his right front leg was in a cast and what he could see of his body that wasn’t blanket covered, was covered all over in bandages. He was back in the hospital, though the pony wasn’t sure if it was the same room.
Then he saw something curled up next to him on the bed. It was Coal. The filly was fast asleep, partly covered with his blanket, preventing him from moving his left front leg. The Unicorn stared for a moment at his niece before glancing to his right. On a chair leaned Dew Doe, also asleep and draped in a blanket. He could see out the window that it was still night. To his left was nothing except the sight of an unoccupied hospital bed.
Sighing, Private laid his head back down on his pillow, wondering how long he had been out. The last he really could remember was when he was falling down and then everything went black. He had clearly survived the fall somehow, but not without injury.
Wow… he’s really not around, he thought. It was a strange feeling, Sombra had been such a constant presence that it was just unreal not having him constantly bothering him one way or another.
I am really free? He thought and allowed himself to smile a little. Then the shadows on the ceiling suddenly started to congregate into a black mass. It sprouted green and red eyes with purple mist pouring out of the corners.
Private screamed loudly, causing Dew Doe and Coal to jump. The mare was quick though to realize that something was terribly wrong. She scooped bewildered filly off the bed and at the same time pressed the emergency call button. Then she went to try and calm the pony down as he thrashed around on the bed.
“Turn on the lights! TURN ON THE LIGHTS!” Private screamed in panic as Dew barely managed to prevent him from slamming his injured front leg into the bed frame. Just then hospital staff came running in and she immediately told one of the nurses to turn on the lights in the room.
Once they were on, Private stopped screaming and thrashing around, but kept staring wide-eyed at the ceiling, breathing rapidly. Dew cringed, she could feel his rapid heartbeat. Gently she started to caress his bandage-covered head, being mindful of his injuries.
“Sssh...it’s alright, Private. You’re safe now,” she whispered gently.
Private said nothing just kept staring at the ceiling. The nurses made sure he hadn’t disturbed any of his injuries before retreating, Dew Doe told them to keep the lights on as they left.
“Is Uncle Private okay?” Coal whispered. She now sat on the chair Dew had occupied earlier, looking sad and worried.
“Yes sweetheart. He just had a nightmare,” the mare said and turned to look at her for a moment. “Why don’t you go and tell your mom and your grandparents that he’s awake now?”
“Okay,” Coal jumped down from the chair and hurried out of the room.
When the girl was out of the room the mare returned her attention back to Private. The Unicorn still stared upwards, clearly still frightened. Dew Doe gently reached to move his head so the stallion would look at her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked calmly. She wasn’t terrible surprised that Private said nothing, his default nature was silence, even when facing with distress. Still he had screamed and begged for the lights to be turned on. The trick was now to figure out what had caused that, though the Pegasus had a good idea what had happened.
“Sombra is not here, Private,” she assured him and continued to gently caress what was visible of his mane. “The Crystal Empire had been checked thoroughly. They even activated the Crystal Heart and Princess Twilight put up wards around the hospital.”
Still Private said nothing, but Dew Doe was experienced in dealing with that. She knew the silent, reclusive Unicorn well. The mare could practically tell how he was feeling just by observing the faintest change in his expression. The stallion was somewhat aware of this too. He had realized a long time ago that the blue Pegasus really did seem to know and understand him.
“Your mom and dad are here. They just stepped out for a little bit. Foxy is here. She went with them, wanted to stretch her wings,” Dew started to talk, she could see that Private just wanted to keep his mind off the nightmare.
“You have been out for a few days and they want to keep you here in the hospital for a little while longer. You have a fractured rib, and a mild skull fracture and as you can see, your right leg is broken.” The mare then explained his injuries and was glad to see that the Unicorn was calming down already.
“Barricade?” Private whispered, noting that she hadn’t mentioned his brother.
Dew bit her lips as she contemplated the answer. She wasn’t surprised he would inquire about his brother. After all, Barricade had been here with him during the whole incident. Even if she didn’t think highly of Private’s brother, there was no telling what valuable support he had given his twin.
“He left for Manehattan shortly after Princess Celestia brought the rescue team back here. I didn’t meet him. He snuck off by the looks of it. It was the guard Flash Sentry who spoke with him before he departed on the train,” she then explained to him. Private just nodded and looked more contemplative.
“He kept me… sane,” he mumbled and sighed. “Didn’t matter what was done to him… he kept fighting against him… he tried everything….”
“If he hadn’t been there… I don’t know… I don’t think I could have done it… I would have gone insane…” Private closed his eyes, a tear trickling down his cheek.
So the jerk does have a heart after all, Dew thought and simply used the feathers on her wing to wipe the tear away. And all it took for him to show it was an ancient spirit of a demon Unicorn from the deepest bowels of Tartarus.
The door to the room opened and in walked Mirage Rock and Hard Shovel, followed shortly by Foxy and Coal. Dew Doe backed away to give the parents space to be by the bed as they rushed over. Private grunted a bit as he was grabbed in a hug by his mother, she was fortunately mindful of his injuries. Hard Shovel looked content just being by the bed, but did give his son a smile.
“Oh it’s so good to see you’re awake, we were so worried about you,” Mirage said as she gave her son a nuzzle.
“Gee, Private, we can’t leave you for few days without you getting yourself into trouble?” Foxy joshed where she watched from the back. Coal was again standing on the chair her aunt had slept on earlier.
Private just gave her a short glance as he was barraged with more motherly affection, Mirage seemed unable right now to let go of him. He didn’t mind, the Unicorn was finally in company of ponies that didn’t expect him to talk and his mom would eventually let go, or his dad would drag her off knowing that his son would need his space.
Then he remembered what Sombra had shown him, in this very hospital. Private showed nothing outwardly, but inside he was cringing as he glanced at his father. Hard Shovel was saying something about the laboratory the Dark King had kept him in. Private looked at his mother who was telling him they now knew it hadn’t been a nightmare.
I can’t… they don’t need to know… it’s not worth the risk… if what he showed me turned out to be true… I… no I won’t take the risk, Private thought and then glanced over to where Coal was, seeing something on her that could divert all topics away.
“That can’t be Coal,” Private said and smiled a little. “She doesn’t have a Cutie Mark!”
“I too have a Cutie Mark!” Coal shouted indignantly and proceeded to show her flank more clearly. “See!”
Private was then subjected to the story of how she had gotten it. He even grabbed her up using his magic and put her back on the bed as she told the tale.
“Is Private using my daughter to evade a subject?” Foxy whispered to Dew Doe, pretending to look unimpressed.
“Well you know Private, if he can’t out silence the discussion, he has us look at the distraction,” Dew shrugged and chuckled at how well the ploy had worked. His parents had stopped talking about him and what had happened. Now they were all talking about Coal and her cutie mark.
“I’ll corner him later and get him to talk about it. Probably best for now that he’s allowed not to think about it,” the blue mare then mentioned and smiled when Coal started reenacting how she had acquired her cutie mark. Others just got the tale, Uncle Private got a stage show.
Shining Armor stood on the balcony overseeing the empire from the crystal tower. The sun was rising and already some ponies down below were scurrying about. He barely noticed when Cadance arrived next to him.
“Looks like it’s going to be a nice day,” she remarked.
“Hm? Oh right, yes, yes it looks that way,” the Unicorn said with a nod.
Cadence looked at her husband and could clearly see that he was contemplating something. Things were finally settling down when there were no apparent signs that Sombra was trying to come back immediately.
“What’s on your mind, dear?” Cadance asked.
“The fact that the guy we’ve defeated now two times is still out there, probably preparing to return and we have no idea where he is,” Shining Armor said and looked at his wife. “Have you talked with the families?”
“Yes, one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.” The Alicorn sighed sadly. “And the rest from the inn, there is little hope for complete recovery, they barely have minds left.”
Shining Armor shook his head. The one bright spot in all of this was that the ponies that had fallen unconscious only to wake up and scream heralding messages every hour, had finally woken up normally, no worse to wear and with no memories of what had happened.
“Do you know what Princess Celestia meant when she said she might have a pony for the job to track down Sombra?” he wondered.
Princess Celestia had been very cryptic once they had returned to the Crystal Empire a few days ago. Telling them not to worry about King Sombra, she would have someone look into it and they should just concentrate on continuing to protect the empire. Even Twilight had looked confused.
“Not Discord. Remember when we asked Celestia if we could get him involved?” Cadance reminded him, Shining Armor nodded.
“Seeing the floor tiles suddenly rearrange themselves into a message saying ‘no way, no how am I coming anywhere near King Smoky’ was… weird,” the Unicorn muttered as he remembered that.
“Guess we’ll find out. Speaking of that, we successfully managed to make sure Spike wouldn’t get to see his surprise too soon. I’m impressed by the castle staff keeping their excitement in,” Cadance said and looked towards a spot close to the castle, it had some construction going on, but it was covered for the most part.
“So what have you been up to before coming here?” Shining wondered and looked at his wife. Ever since returning the couple had pretty much just dropped back into their regular routine, though the stallion had noticed that his wife sometimes snuck off without any escort.
“Oh, this and that,” she responded without elaborating any further. Her husband arched his brow but decided not to pursue the matter, when Cadance wanted to tell him she would.
The Love Princess smiled and stared towards the direction the hospital was in. She had actually been hard at work living up to her own talents. She had spoken with Dew Doe several times, suggesting she stay in Private’s room and be ready there when he woke up. She had been very subtle about it and when hearing that the stallion had awakened, had waited for the opportunity when the two of them were alone in the hospital room.
Cadance made an excuse to be visiting to seeing how Private was doing, but in truth was there to see how he and Dew interacted. The princess very quickly saw there was something mutual happening there. That halted her from using any actual magic. The Alicorn could see they didn’t need to be reminded of it. They just needed more of a friendly nudge.
Shining Armor had been busy as well. He ended up promoting Flash to sergeant and gave him his own squad. The Pegasus had quickly chosen Blackberry, Bright Spark, Sharp Spear and Emerald Shine to be in it.
Cadance had been mildly surprised to hear of the promotion because she had always assumed Flash was already a lieutenant. She also asked why Bright Spark wasn’t captain material considering his years of service, but Shining had explained to her that Bright Spark threatened to quit if he was promoted past guard. Seemed he preferred the low rank and didn’t aspire for anything higher.
“Hey, did we remember to send mom and dad a message that they can finally come?” Shining Armor was brought out of his thought as he recalled that there had been plans for his parents to visit.
“Sharp Quill has taken care of it,” his wife assured him, satisfied with hearing that, Shining and Cadance resumed watching the sun rise, hoping things would remain moderately quiet until the Equestria Games.
I do need though to remember to schedule a visit to Twilight, now that the fate of Equestria doesn’t hang in the balance at the moment, the pink Alicorn thought.
Alone in the office of his gym, Barricade sat and stared at the pictures on the desk. Ever since returning to Manehattan, the Unicorn had almost resembled his brother in silence, spending a lot of his time holed up behind his desk and barely talking to anyone, except in short, rude sentences.
Celestia had teleported them to the hospital, but when the Sun Princess had been distracted talking with Twilight, Shining and Cadance, the stallion had quickly snuck off. He made it to the train station before Flash Sentry, who had noticed, caught up with him.
“Why are you leaving?”
Barricade grabbed the picture with his magic, it was the one of Coal. She was sitting at a table with too big sunglasses and a hat. She was sipping on a milkshake, parts of her muzzle smothered by her drink.
“Private’s in the hospital, he’ll be fine there, the others are with him.”
The Unicorn sighed, wondering why he kept messing everything up. He really thought he was just doing what he wanted to do, but Sombra had shown him that the stallion was indeed just a small-timer, pretending to live the life he wanted.
“I promised your daughter to bring both her uncle and father back.”
“Nothing I did even scratched him. I’ve knocked out Earth Ponies with my bare hooves. That guy smeared me around like I was nothing. Took my strongest blast without even blinking,” Barricade muttered and put down the picture.
“And you did, I’m just the guy who slept with her mother and happened to help conceive her. Her father and uncle is Private. She’s better off viewing him like that.”
“I almost killed him…” Barricade grit his teeth. “Barging in like that, not staying back like they told me too… He almost died.”
“He’s not the one she called dad.”
Barricade turned the chair to look out the window that was behind him. There wasn’t much view. It faced the wall of the next building. Right now though, the Unicorn didn’t really care. He hadn’t responded to Flash’s remark, just silently stared at him before boarding the train for Manehattan.
“I guess my special talent is just being a stubborn asshole,” The pony muttered and slowly dropped his head down. “Best kept in this dingy hole in the neighborhood nopony cares about.”
“Just keep creating messes. I messed up things here, I messed up in the Crystal Empire…” Barricade raised his head and scowled. “Oh, stop feeling sorry for yourself. Nopony cares.”
Barricade turned his chair to face the desk again just as there was a knock and a big blue Earth Pony with a scar on his face peeked inside.
“Hey boss, you okay? Barbell’s been worried about ya,” he said and stepped further inside. “You, uh you keep stayin’ here. I thought you were plannin’ on helpin’ Rain Storm with his new reps.”
“I’m coming. Tell the kid to prep himself. He damn well better be warmed up before I come out,” Barricade snorted, not wanting to answer the actual question. Fortunately the blue pony, simply known as Blue, didn’t seem to mind, just nodded and left the office again.
“You make sure your Uncle stays out of trouble from now on,” Barricade then addressed the picture of Coal, gently poking it with a hoof before rising up and heading out into the gym proper.
The mine entrance looked old and abandoned. There were remains of tools scattered around and by the looks of the state of the supporting beams, it was clear it had been a long time since they had been fixed or replaced. There were no signs of the previous owners except some scribbles carved into the rock here and there that said very little except that the one doing the writing had been in the area.
Approaching this old gaping hole in the mountains far northeast of Vanhoover were three figures - two ponies wearing winter gear and carrying saddlebags and one old looking Diamond Dog simply wearing tattered rags and an old hood to cover his gray furred body. Even the spiked collar around his neck looked ancient.
“There, there it is, Ponies,” the old dog drawled as he pointed towards the entrance and hobbled along on his worn knuckles. “Entrance to old colony and old mine.”
“Wow, so the old Diamond Dog settlement in the mountains of the Frozen North really did exist?” one of the ponies, a young stallion with a red coat, spoke.
“Yes, yes, long time ago. Was small colony back when Shadow King ruled Shiny Empire. Then Princess Ponies banish Shadow King and Shiny Empire vanish.” The dog nodded eagerly.
“Right, the Crystal Empire,” the other pony nodded, a slightly older mare. Her coat was brownish.
“Yes, Shiny Empire, many crystals. When gone, old colony started digging, make many tunnels, mine for precious gems to sell. Mines even reach to Jaw’s Peak there,” the Diamond Dog said and pointed to a large mountain far in the east.
“Don’t they call it Sombra’s Maw now?” the stallion wondered.
“Yes, Shiny Ponies now call it after Shadow King. Say peak howl when wind go through,” their guide responded as he hobbled closer to the mine entrance. A look of nostalgia came over him as he stared at it, as the old canine was remembering a time when this mine was bustling with activity.
“Why was it abandoned?” the mare asked and dropped her saddlebag so she could produce a lantern out of it.
The Diamond Dog turned around where he stood right in front of the entrance. He looked a bit sadder now, more forlorn. Then he glanced towards Sombra’s maw.
“Many years ago, we dug into a cave in Jaw’s Peak, there much magic in it, evil magic. We found items, one dog even found a pretty amulet, black red and silver looking like a winged pony with a horn. He put it on…” the Diamond Dog stopped for a moment, his eyes growing wider. “He became mad, evil, he kill many dogs, tried to take all the gems, it took so many to stop him. So many died. When done no could sustain a colony, we abandon it, sell everything we found, try to bury the amulet far away and hidden. We never come back after that.”
“Explore the mines if you like, Ponies, but beware the cave in Jaw’s Peak, it is evil,” the Diamond Dog finally said and look at the ponies with a grave expression.
The stallion and the mare had been busy preparing themselves for a cave exploration while the dog talked, when his final warning came they looked up at him, wondering if he was being a little melodramatic. Then out of the mine entrance suddenly came what looked like a black tendril made of shadow. It was really fast. It wrapped itself around the Diamond Dog and snatched him inside in the blink of an eye. The two ponies had barely registered what had happened before it was over. Then there came a terrified scream that was cut short.
The two ponies were still frozen in shock, staring at the cave. Then black smoke started pouring out of it. The shadows from the cave entrance began stretching towards them. In the middle, two green and red eyes with purple mist pouring from the corners formed. Under them was a wide, malicious grin. Then it spoke in a dark voice:
“From the shadows, I do rise,”
The shadows and smoke came closer.
“In the darkness, I survive.”
Then, dragged out of the mine by a shadowy tentacle, was the limp body of the Diamond Dog.
“Hate is my meat; Fear is my wine.”
The two ponies just continued to stare as above the eyes a red horn began to form and soon producing out of the shadows came the large head of a Unicorn grinning sadistically at them.
“So tell me, my little ones.”
Shadow and smoke began slowly surrounding the ponies from all angles, but they barely even noticed as the head continued to approach.
“What do you hate, what do you fear?”
Shadowy tentacles began snaking up their legs, wrapping around their bodies to keep them in place.
“For the Shadow King is hungry.”
The head loomed over them now, locking them in its hypnotic gaze.
“And you are his next meal.”
The End
And so this story ends but this is not the end for these characters. Sombra will return, everybody will return in one story or another.
Proofread by Hail King Sombra Big thanks to her. 
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Well, the ending was good, I still wish their was more doe. Private is now probably traumatized for life about what happen to him during his possession, maybe he will spend the rest of his like in an asylum because he can't handle any more stress in his life, his brother abandon him when he could still need his emotional support seen that he has lived the same hell as he did, I think he lest more out of sham about himself. The main cast get to continue their live as normal and they aren't worst for ware. All doe, I would still have lover to see Sombra win, I aways been a sucker for the bad guys win, and love to see how the world will change by his sheer will and see how his enemies are one by one lay low and how he his not hindered by any pretense of morally. I hope their will be a sequel to this or at least see the other ideas that you have proposed about it.
7353205
Thanks, glad you liked it.
He is traumatised sure, but he'll not be spending the rest of his life in an asylum, I got too many plans for the guy.
Yeah, Barricade has his own issues that can sort of warp his priorities, I do intend to address some of it in another story.
This is the third story now in the Equestria Tales that has Barricade in it, the fourth one will sort of will address this little world he seems to think he lives in and Sombra did help shatter.
Yeah, for them this was just Tuesday, you could almost say Possession was about the unnamed background extras in the show who don't escape so easily from the monster as the main characters do. I mean not everyone has gotten used to it like the ponies in Ponyville.
I don't mind seeing these kind of stories either and I do have a story in mind in an alternate continuity where Sombra has in fact won.
And we can't really say that Sombra strictly speaking lost in this one, he got resurrected, he's alive and loose in Equestria. Sure he doesn't have the twins, but I can guarantee this is not the last Private and Barricade have heard of him.
Since Possession is part of a larger series of loosely connected stories called the Equestria Tales, there will definitely be a follow of up of some sort later down the line, Possession it self is a semi-sequel to my story The Time Keeper in Ponyville, especially because it touches on the fallout between Barricade and Private that happened in the previous story.
I can't say for now when an actual follow up will come that deals with the fact that Sombra is now alive and at large, but it will eventually.
Thanks for reading
7353685 more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
7449466 More will eventually come.
9621852
He’s literally named ‘Private’? I was always under the impression it was meant to be, y’know, a rank. 👀
9622137
Nope, he's literally named Private, he is not in the military or anything. It's more properly touched on in chapter 12, but like I said, if you want to continue to refer to him as Iceland or Icy, then that's okay too.
As Private Iceland always says when people comment on his name, "I got eccentric parents."
9622485
I should've realized that before! He honestly just seemed like he worked for the military.
9622678
Yeah, I have been asked this before and I'm pretty chill with it, I do see why people might think that initially.
His name is really the last holdover back when he was originally meant to be a parody character, but by the time I really started developing him into a proper character, I had just gotten so used to referring to him as Private that I just couldn't figure out a better name for him. I really had to rake my brain initially to find justification for it, finally landing on eccentric parents, plus his first name just fit so well with this general characterization (that is if you don't have access to his mind like Sombra does) and the second kind of fits once you know it has a historical reason his parents connected it with, since Private is a historian.
9622844
All the ones that are mentioned have their darker colors emphasized. So while the dark magic thing is a clear connection, all the ponies being dark-colored and having that made relevant each time a Dark Pony is introduced seems to suggest that all ponies with darker hues are evil in some way.
Guess ponies like Maud, Luna, Octavia, and others need to have somepony watching them, just to be sure.
9622921
I see your point. I have to confess I use a color wheel sometimes to try and get proper names for colors of the ponies and a whole lot of the time, color grey is put into the damn name. I may just have to start editing grey out.
But yeah, I get what you mean. Whoops.
9622975
Like, I'm pretty sure that still counts as spooky evil king flirting, whether these two goofballs like it or not. Cadance is going to have to sort a few things out, I think.
9623013
I'd rather lock up him; preferably behind his namesake.
This was super fun! I really look forward to the sequels. Seeing what becomes of Private and Sombra during the latter's re-re-return is gonna be neat. I honestly wonder what the world might look like if this Sombra succeeded, too.
9623169
Glad you liked it. Thanks for reading.