Possession in the Crystal Empire

by Askre

Chapter 8. Ready to see how this could be a lot worse?

Chapter 8

“So what’s wrong with him?!” Barricade growled at Doctor Scope.

They were both in Private’s room in the hospital, the Unicorn in question was laying in his bed with eyes open but they just stared vacantly up to the ceiling. No amount of prodding produced any response from him, the only real indication that the pony was in fact still alive was his breathing.

“I don’t know; he seems to have gone catatonic all of the sudden. The nurse that came to check in on him this morning found him in this state,” the mare told him trying to hold back her own frustration, she had to maintain professionalism even if this case was starting to become very, very odd.

“Look, we are going to try few treatments that will hopefully snap him out of this, we can’t guarantee anything at the moment,” she tried to assure Barricade who snorted in irritation.

Oh I think I know what’s wrong with him. The Unicorn stallion gave the bed a glare as he started to suspect the cause.

“I need to check on other patients, but we’ll begin the treatment soon, your brother is going to be all right.” Scope patted Barricade on the back before heading out of the room.

Barricade paid no attention to her departure, he was still glaring at the bed. He narrowed his eyes when Private’s eyes began to blink and then started to move, slowly the Unicorn in the bed looked up with a mildly frustrated expression.

“It seems your brother is having some difficulties recovering from the fears I drained from him,” Sombra remarked rather casually as if this was some minor inconvenience.

“What have you done to him?” Barricade snarled and approached the bed.

“Drained him of some of his fears, he has one that is very potent,” the spirit said with a grin and licked his lips. “It was delicious and fueled my powers quite a bit.”

“You said you weren’t going to harm him if I remained silent!” the other Unicorn snapped, pointing an accusing hoof at his possessed brother.

“And I haven’t, as long as I don’t drain him dry, he will be fine. He’s just having a mild existential crisis right now, he did face a fear he’s always refused to face, buried so deep I had to puzzle it together from various bits of his memories.” Sombra shrugged and lay back down, smiling smugly. He didn’t even react when Barricade hammered his hoof on the support railing of the bed.

“What did you show him?!” Barricade sneered, really wanting to throttle the creature but knew that right now he would only be harming his own brother.

The dark king considered if he should humor his host’s twin and tell him what he had conjured up for Private. Sombra had to admit feeling great deal of amusement at Barricade’s anger and show of protectiveness towards his twin, even if the two were estranged. It could also be additional torment for his host that his detested brother knew of his deepest secret.

“It appears that your brother has a bit of a dual nature. He fancies both the company of mares and stallions but is mortally afraid of his parent’s reaction, fearing greatly that they will not understand this nature of his and will not accept him for it. This is such a potent fear that it is additional factor in his silent demeanor he puts up,” Sombra told him and smirked when seeing Barricade’s angry expression vanish and be replaced with one of confusion.

“Wait, are you telling me Private is bi?” his host’s twin blinked, but now it was the spirit’s turn to be mildly confused.

“Bi? Is that the term used for this?” Sombra asked.

“Bi as in bisexual, swinging for both teams, AC-DC, ambidextrous, you know goes for both stallions and mares,” Barricade counted up though the confusion never left his face, the dark king raised an eyebrow.

“I see, at any rate, that does seem to be what your brother is, so I conjured up a nightmare where he is confronted by his parents after confessing to this nature. Tell me, is he close to his parents?” Sombra wondered.

“Yeah they are pretty tight, Private’s always been a bit of a mama’s boy. Don’t get why he would be scared of how they would react… no wait it could be dad,” Barricade frowned hard as he thought this over.

“Why would you show him this though?” the Unicorn then growled and glared at the spirit who smirked again. “Our parents are bit eccentric sure, but I know they won’t hate him for this.”

“Ah but that is the beauty of fear, it can make you irrational, act more on instincts than rational thought and if potent enough make you believe anything. Just those little things Private has heard his father say during his lifetime has fueled his fear to a point that he is too scared to take the chance,” Sombra chuckled and gestured to Private’s head with a hoof. “Don’t forget, I’m inside here, I see all his memories when I want to. There is very little about your brother I don’t know right now.”

Barricade snorted but didn’t respond further. He just hoped Private would snap out of it so he could speak with him. He wasn’t overly keen on speaking further with the spirit but much to his frustration Sombra didn’t seem to be in any hurry to give control back, then again right now the host was in stupor.

“So, what is it you fear, Barricade?” the dark king asked, looking directly at the other Unicorn.

“Hah! Yeah sure, I’m going tell you that. Why don’t you just go into my mind and puzzle it out!?” Barricade snorted with sarcasm laden to every word. He blinked when his brother’s eyes turned green like they had when the spirit had attacked him, the purple smoke began pouring out.

“As you wish,” Sombra chuckled maliciously and started to slowly rise up in the bed.

Barricade backed away cringing, realizing he had probably opened his mouth a bit too wide. Sombra was about to stare him straight in the eyes but suddenly the spirit halted and glanced towards the door to the room. The dark king frowned, the green glow and the purple smoke disappeared. He lay back down in the bed and Private’s body relaxed, the eyes stared vacantly up to the ceiling once more.

What the? Barricade wondered what had made the spirit retreat, but didn’t have to wait long for an answer, there was a knock and the door opened.

“Hello, I hope we are not disturbing anything,” Cadance said as she, Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle entered the room.

“Uh… no,” Barricade raised an eyebrow. He was even further surprised when Twilight looked at the bed and showed some recognition.

“Wait, is that Private Iceland? I’ve seen him sometimes around Ponyville, I think he’s an uncle to a daughter of a pony I know, he’s always accompanying another filly, Dinky’s sister I think,” the purple Alicorn said.

Ooooh boy. Barricade realized that if the newly arrived purple pony knew that, she probably knew who the father was.

“Yeah... that’s him,” he said hiding his nervousness. “I’m afraid he seems to have gone catatonic, the doctor was going to run few tests.”

“Oh right, sorry Barricade. This is my sister Princess Twilight Sparkle, she is investigating the unconsciousness epidemic for Princess Celestia, she wants to determine if your brother’s situation might be related,” Shining Armor introduced, the mentioning of the Unicorn’s name caused Twilight to look sharply towards him.

“You’re Barricade?” Twilight asked and arched her brow.

Oh crap. Barricade couldn’t help it, usually royalty made him nervous. It was one of the many reasons he seldom went to Canterlot. It was one thing to push around the ponies in Hoofington, he wouldn’t stand a chance mouthing off towards a princess. It was almost the same reason royal guards could cause him to sweat. The police were understaffed and demoralized in his neighborhood. The royal guards were not, just looking at Shining Armor alone, Barricade could tell the white Unicorn could utterly dominate him in battle.

“Something wrong?” Cadance asked, seeing how critically her sister-in-law was regarding the now sweating and smiling nervously dark gray Unicorn.

“It’s not important, but I have heard of Barricade,” Twilight said and turned her attention to Private. “So how long did you say he’s been this way?”

“I uh didn’t, Doctor Scope said the nurses found him like this when checking on him earlier this morning,” Barricade told her and slowly managed to calm himself down, knowing they were here about his brother not him.

Twilight stepped closer to the bed staring curiously at the catatonic Unicorn. She grabbed from her saddle bag some empty papers and a quill and started scribbling something down on it. While she did Doctor Scope and a nurse entered the room. The purple princess greeted them and immediately began asking them various questions about their patient.

“So, why does she think Private and the epidemic is connected?” Barricade whispered to Shining Armor.

“Well you brother all but admitted being in trouble and he did arrive here around the time ponies were falling unconscious and then woke up day before the others began waking up,” Cadance told him, she stood close enough to hear the question.

“Wait what? They are waking up?” Barricade asked confused.

“Yes, but only periodically, shouting strange prophetic messages before falling unconscious again,” Shining told him, he used his magic to borrow the scroll again from Twilight’s saddle bag and showed it to the fellow Unicorn.

“What? They are waking up already? They should have been asleep for quite a bit longer.” Sombra growled, listening quite intently to all the conversations going on in the room from the safety of Private’s body.

“So that’s the fourth Princess, she looks familiar. Ah it’s not important, just another enemy to dispose of. However, this is not good, if they are waking up already it means she is already trying to trace the source and is much closer to it than she actually realizes. The blasted sleeper spells must have deteriorated,” Sombra snorted as he considered his options.

“Wait, you said he just suddenly flew off the bed and his cheek bruised up?” Twilight exclaimed, the suspicions already crawling over her face.

“Damnation!” the dark king sneered as he remembered that incident. He could hear a snicker.

---

“And what do you find so amusing?” Sombra growled, glaring at Private who was holding his hooves over his mouth trying to conceal his giggles.

“What was that about trying to remain secret?” Private couldn’t help it, it had just snapped him out of it when hearing that the tables had turned a bit on his unwanted house guest.

“Just so you know that’s Princess Twilight Sparkle. I haven’t met her personally but I know some ponies that know her and let me tell you, she’s going to put it all together.” For the first time in a while the Unicorn actually felt like smiling, it faltered a little bit when seeing the spirit stare at him coldly.

“Then I have no choice but to boost my powers even more,” Sombra growled. His eyes turned green and sprouted the purple tendrils once more. The sneer turned into a malicious grin as he locked his gaze on his host.

“Tell me little one, are you ready to face your fears again, intensified tenfold!” he laughed madly.

Private’s smile vanished instantly, replaced with a look of horror. The darkness began to envelope him but he didn’t struggle against it. His eyes had turned green as the spirit’s and he just stared forward. Sombra appeared behind him, smirking maliciously as he bent over closer.

“Ready to see how this could be a lot worse?” the dark king whispered softly, already drinking in the terror coming from his victim.

There was no answer but Sombra expected that. With a cruel chuckle he began conjuring up images to draw out his host’s fears. Rejection from his parents, disowned by them, cast out on the streets. His family all turning against him, even his roommates leaving him. Sombra finally burrowed to the very core of this fear, the lack of acceptance, no one accepting him, being rejected and shunned simply for being who he was.

“You think your seven days spent in my cage is what made you a recluse? Tsk, tsk, I wish I could take full responsibility for breaking you so much. You do not give your fear nearly enough credit,” Sombra murmured, moving his muzzle closer to Private’s ear.

“You do not just fear your parent’s reaction, you fear that no one will accept you, that no one will understand your nature or accept who you are. That is why you keep ponies at an arm’s length isn’t it? That is why you are so silent. You fear if you open up that they will reject what they see. Did not some ponies openly question your mental health when you were younger and witnessed how much quieter you were compared to your more energetic brother?” the dark Unicorn continued to whisper softly into the ear.

“Ponies were always comparing you to your brother, no matter what you did, never seeing what you did, just seeing what your brother did and you didn’t. Why couldn’t you be more like him? The nightmare I caused you has been a handy excuse for you to conceal your true core fear.” Sombra’s malicious grin turned even wider when hearing the whimpering sobs escaping Private’s lips now. He knew that right now Private was experiencing it, ponies judging him, rejecting who he was, not accepting him.

“He’s bleeding from the nose!”

Sombra frowned when hearing the voice from outside and realized that must mean his victim was at a breaking point, almost sucked dry. With a growl he released his hold on Private before it went any further. The pony crumbled and curled up in a ball, whimpering and shivering, with the dark king standing over him.

“I just don’t understand what is going on. We can’t find anything wrong with him.”

“You won’t, at least not physically.”

“What do you mean, Twily?”

“This pony… he’s possessed.”

Sombra narrowed his eyes, seemed Private was right about that purple princess. Ignoring his whimpering host the dark king prepared to take hold on the body once more.

---

“Possessed?” Shining Armor arched his brow, Cadance shared the same confused look, Scope was frowning. Barricade, however, was cringing, fearing what would happen now, the spirit had been rather insistent on remaining secret.

“Yes, if you carefully consider what you have told me. His sudden change in demeanor, flying off the bed and showing physical injury from it. He’s possessed,” Twilight looked over to the bed. The nurse was cleaning Private’s nose and stopping the bleeding.

“He must be the host that the other ponies have been screaming about,” she frowned and then looked at Barricade. “Did you know?”

Barricade glanced at the body of his brother, wondering if it was safe to confess that he did know. Twilight did seem to have figured it out already. He looked back to the Alicorn and then with a sigh nodded, causing Shining and Cadance to look at him with startled look.

“Who is possessing him?” Twilight asked but before Barricade could response there came a laughter from the bed. The nurse gave a small shriek and jumped back. Private was sitting up, a wolfish grin on his muzzle and a mad glint in his eyes. Everyone backed slowly away from the bed.

“Do not bother, princess. I didn’t tell him,” Sombra said with another laugh. It stopped when Twilight’s horn started glowing and he and the entire bed was encased in a lavender force field bubble. Shining Armor activated his horn as well and reinforced the shield his sister had put up.

“Quaint.” The dark king glanced at the force field unimpressed. “I suppose you think this will able to contain me?”

“It should hold.” Twilight frowned and walked closer to the bubble. “Now who are you and what have you done with all those other ponies and why are they heralding the destruction of Equestria?”

“Just some tiny seeds to spread a little fear and panic.” Sombra smiled and began examining Private’s hoof, then used it to dust off his chest as he glanced back up at the princess. “I do so love when those little ponies of Celestia’s begin running around like poultry that have had their heads removed.”

“Can we get him out of my brother?” Barricade asked feeling a bit more confident now that he was no longer required to keep anything secret. He didn’t like the laughter coming from his possessed twin.

“We will, Barricade, don’t worry,” Cadance assured him and then turned her attention back to the bed.

“You fools think you can separate me so easily from my little slave here? I have owned him since he was but a colt, since I pulled him back to my time and encased him with spells that bound him to me, forced him to seek out my spirit in case I died. Oh I’m afraid I’m no mere apparition that’s gone in uninvited and squatted,” Sombra laughed and his grin changed to a sadistic smirk, he actually began gently caressing Private’s body.

“This poor little boy spent a week with the greatest practitioner of the dark arts a millennium ago without even realizing it, thinking it all but a nightmare that took one night. I confess I had no intention to abduct such a young child, I feared he would perish before I could put all the spells I needed on him. But he was surprisingly resilient, I was so intrigued that I infused small parts of my essence into him,” the dark Unicorn continued, relishing in the looks that were given him.

“I suppose that is why he responded first to my call, why he came first. Others that I pulled back I merely put the usual sleeper spells on, but with this one, I was more thorough. If the spell I used to pull ponies back in time wasn’t so volatile and only gave me a week to work on them, I probably would have just kept the boy.” Sombra shook his head, still with that same smirk plastered on the muzzle.

“Wait, you have been doing this to other ponies as well? But I only know of one time spell and it was created by Starswirl the Bearded and that one only sent you back a week,” Twilight half protested the idea that the spirit could have been doing this at all.

“So just because you only know of one time spell, that means that no others exist, is that what you’re trying to tell?” Sombra snorted and chortled when seeing the indignant look come on the princess.

“Twilight, we are getting off topic. Alright he’s established that he’s been doing this to many ponies, that explains the epidemic, they must have been the other ponies he pulled back and put spells on. Since they no longer needed to seek him out they fell unconscious.” Cadance put a calming hoof on her sister-in-law.

“Yes, you’re right, we need to know who we are dealing with here, so it’s high time we learn just who you are,” Twilight frowned and glared at the possessed body of Private.

Sombra didn’t look too impressed. He started glancing at the force field, he reached with a hoof to touch it and pulled it back when feeling the magical energy from it tingle him. He smiled as he realized what kind of energy field this was.

“Strong shield, in many cases a very, very good shield,” he complimented and looked at Twilight. “Who taught you this spell.”

“My brother did,” Twilight said with nod and gestured so Shining. “Although it’s rather poor replica of the shield he can produce.”

“Oh stop, Twily, you’re embarrassing me,” Shining Armor joked and grinned a little, he was rather proud of his shield spells.

The dark king grinned wider as he regarded the white unicorn. Remembering him better now, recalling when they had fought briefly out in the snow during his attempt to reclaim his empire. He also knew a rather important fact about the shield. There was just one thing he had to count for before acting as he eyed towards Cadance who so far hadn’t said anything to him, allowing Twilight to speak.

“But haven’t you guessed already who I am? I’ve given you hints and the answer is all around you,” Sombra decided to play difficult, not wanting just yet to reveal who he was.

Twilight raised her eyebrow but then began mulling over what she already knew, trying to piece things together. The pones screamed of shadow and fear, he talked about being from millennia ago, that is thousand years ago and Private had by all appearances been possessed by him in the Crystal Empire.

Sombra in the meantime leaned back in the bed and closed his eyes. He needed to concentrate as now secrecy was not an option. He would only have one shot at this. So the dark king began covertly building up his power, the current shield was a mere inconvenience, the main danger to him was Cadance. The one who had erected the shield that actually could hurt him back when he tried to return from his exile.

Barricade approached the shield, wondering why the spirit had suddenly just laid back as if he was relaxing. He looked at the others, all three were in deep in thought as they tried to riddle out who the spirit was. Doctor Scope and the nurse had vacated the room as their service was not needed for this.

The dark gray Unicorn looked back at the bed and scowled. Purple strands of mist were beginning to pour out from the corners of his brother’s enclosed eyes. He looked sharply back to the royalty in the room.

“Uh guys,” his warning came too late.

The dark king shot open the eyes, they were glowing green and the irises shone like blood red fire. Suddenly with a deep dark bellowing laugh black smoke like shadow shot out from the body and the horn started glowing a sickly green and purple color.

The tendrils crushed into the shield, smashing it in one shot and causing both Twilight and Shining to jump back. But one big and thick shadowy tentacle didn’t stop, it flew through the air and struck Cadance in the head before she could react, sending the pink Alicorn across the room where she smashed into the wall.

“Cadance!” Shining cried and rushed over to his wife, cradling her unconscious form in his front legs. A bone chilling laugh caused him to look up, his ears dropped and the white unicorn cringed at the sight before him.

The shadow smoke pouring out of Private had congregated right above the possessed Unicorn. Parts of it were twisting into a large dark gray pony head and the shadows formed its mane, a red curved horn produced from his forehead and his eyes glowed in sickly green and red. Sombra laughed, enjoying the sight of Twilight shrinking away as she stared up at him in shock, Barricade as well backed off, staring in horror at the creature coming out of his twin.

“King Sombra?” Twilight couldn’t believe it but there it was. The Shadow King had somehow returned. Suddenly all the prophetic messages made much more sense.

End chapter 8

Author's Note:

For the record this chapter ends part 1 of this story.