The King's Mice

by Hail King Sombra

2. Now the Worse News...

A charcoal colored hoof slammed down on the war council table, further denting the area Sombra always hit when angry or frustrated. To his Majesty's credit, it had seen very little abuse since Nyx's arrival, she having the effect of calming his volatile temper with her presence over the years.

Iron Blade and the King both raised an eyebrow at the sound. This time it had been Nyx who had hit it. The Grand Commander blew out a breath, his gaze returning to the castle floor plans suspended in holographic imagery above the table, a single shaft of light beaming upward, connecting it to the tiny datapad the rodent invaders had dropped in their haste to flee Nyx's wrath.

“I still don't get it,” Blade shook his head. “Invasion, I get. Acquisition of land and slaves for a workforce, of course.” His eyes searched Nyx's. “But a search for – a question?!?”

“There are stranger things in heaven and earth,” Sombra muttered under his breath.

“This is of neither!” the TimeWitch spat.

“And how do you have proof of this?” their red stallion army leader wanted to know.

“What – the floating holographic tech is not proof enough, Blade?” she asked, incredulous.

“Sometimes – just sometimes, Nyx, a more detailed explanation would be nice,” he retorted.

Nyx nodded, opening her mouth to answer, when a tiny, squeaky voice piped up from the other end of the war table from where they were standing. “Ahem. Excuse me.”

Everypony's gaze shot to the doors. “Who dares interrupt us?!?” Sombra growled. “I left strict instructions not to be disturbed!”

“Heh, 'dares',” the tiny voice said mockingly. “Ohhh...we're so scared!”

“Am I hearing things, Sombra?” Blade spoke up, seeing no one, now looking around the room in confusion.

“He isn't THAT scary, Number One,” another, slightly different but still annoyingly squeaky voice chimed in. “Don't know why we ran.”

The three ponies finally saw them at the end of the table - two tiny white rodents who looked perfectly average, but just so happened to talk. Blade's jaw dropped in amazement, Nyx snarled and Sombra fumed, narrowing his eyes at confirmation of his consort’s rantings.

The mice seemed to be oblivious to the reactions their small presences were eliciting until the ponies began approaching them. “Uh, uh, uh,” Number One said, waving a tiny, clawed hand. “That's close enough, please.”

“'tis true then?” Blade asked. He broke out in uncontrollable laughter. “Our realm has been invaded by...talking rats?!?” Dissolving into more laughter, he couldn’t continue on.

Number One looked offended. “We are NOT ‘rats’. We are mice,” he corrected with an air of haughtiness. “And technically we are not even that. This body is merely a projection into your realm from ours.”

“You are still invaders into MY Kingdom,” the King declared, stepping forward, his horn bubbling a slowly building brew of red and purple energies. “And if I must drag you fully into our realm by your ‘projections’, you WILL tell me your intentions before I feed your carcasses to the vultures - while you are still ALIVE.”

“The Time Wench already told you what our mission is, Umbrum,” Number Two answered, unimpressed by the threat.

“A question? To an answer? And you expect us to believe such utter nonsense?” Blade cut in, his laughter spent, though a smirk was still on his features.

“It doesn’t matter what you believe or don’t believe, primitive,” One said in a condescending tone the Grand Commander disliked intensely.

“Yet no doubt you crawl out of the floorboards for a reason, vermin,” Nyx retorted.

“Quite right, my dear,” Sombra agreed. “They want something.”

“Yes,” Number One replied, grateful to get to the purpose of them risking not only the project, but their hides revealing themselves to these lower life forms. “We would like our datapad back, please. Then we’ll be on our way and you can get back to your droll little existences pretending you rule the Crystal Empire...if that’s what makes you feel better to believe, of course.”

The tiny datapad levitated off the table, held aloft and floated over to the King, his eyes never leaving sight of his ‘guests’. He would make them pay for that remark with their lives - and slowly, he silently vowed.

“Hey! Give that back,” Number Two complained. “That is government funded equipment and we have to account for all of it at the end of the fiscal quarter!”

“Psah, we can take it whenever we want!” his rodent boss snorted, waving a tiny foot while Sombra handed the datapad off to Nyx. The two ponies exchanged looks and smiled.

“My King?” the mare asked her consort.

“I see - and not just now, Nyx,” he replied, nodding. His eyes flared emerald green, the edges bleeding an excess of purple energies. “But when! This is truly an amazing gift!”

“The lessons are paying off!” the two said to each other, Nyx in delight and Sombra in evident pleasure. They turned back to the intergalactic beings. “This will be - amusing,” Sombra rumbled, his excitement visible in the increase of his aura in every physical aspect.

“Oh?” Iron Blade asked, but then suddenly understood. “Oh!” He looked back at their unwelcome guests. “Indeed it will!”

“Now listen and listen to me well, whatever you things are,” Sombra rumbled. “The questions have long ago been known - and answered for this King, our kingdom and,” he looked at Nyx, a smile briefly lighting on his features. “our consort. You no longer have power here, so I suggest you make peace with your gods as this moment is the only moment I will allow you to do so before I end you.”

There was a moment when Number One and Two looked uneasily at each other before chaos broke out.

Nyx’s eyes flared green and she was gone in an instant. A split second later, the space next to where she had been filled with a strange, swirling black vortex through which the projection of a huge appendage with five long protrusions attached to a central mass - like the hand of a monkey, shot through, too late to grab her.

She appeared next to the door, making a gesture of yawning, lightly tossing the datapad in the air and catching it again.

“Damn!” Number One cursed, making gestures like he was typing on an invisible keyboard in front of him. “Oh yes. Right. This time - “

Nyx vanished again, and three more times in quick succession, each time the “hand” missing her by a fraction of an instant. During this, Iron Blade laughed, grabbed an apple, took a bite and sat back down, kicking his feet up on the war table. “Oh, this is going to be good!”

“Your calculations are off!” Two criticized his boss.

“Fractal probability can only cover so many possible places she'll pop up!” One snapped. “She’s obviously had more experience at this than we thought!”

The TimeWitch reappeared by Sombra, rubbing his side with her head in affection. “I don’t want all the fun, my Dark Heart. Care to take a turn?” she asked.

He took the datapad and smiling grimly, said, “Of course, but I prefer my natural form.” His body melted, turning to smoke, then vanished.

“Shit! Where did he go?!” One yelled, looking wildly around the room. The pairs beady little eyes came to rest on the only pony left in the room.

Iron Blade.

He took the last bite of his apple, unconcerned by their stares. “Don’t cross my gaze whilst thou art so tiny, miserable creatures,” he warned. “Or I will be scraping you off my shoes.”

There was a moment when nothing happened, then, “Blast it!” suddenly Iron Blade yelped as he was tipped back on his chair, the hand appearing behind him. A second before it swallowed him up, Sombra reappeared behind it, blasting with his magic, grabbing the Grand Commander, then both disappeared.

Mocking laughter accompanied a black mist that flowed over and towards the mice, racing across the room faster than they could react. It split into two arms that flowed around them and out the doors.

More laughter, this time Nyx’s, came from in front of them. The Marazon appeared, minus the datapad, waved and smiled. “Farewell, my little dung droppings.” Her own eyes flared with green and purple magic. “Ohhhh...OUCH! My evil lover didn’t make your deaths quick.” She tsk’d, then snickered. “But they were VERY entertaining! Honestly, I never would have thought to end you like that!” She turned and walked away, vanishing, stepping back out of their time once more.

Author's Note:

Heh, Iron Blade is in rare form here. I'm kinda proud as to how his personality has shaped up over the progress of these stories. And King Sombra...didn't think he could be more dangerous than he already was, did you? Well, Nyx's instruction has paid off and now that he's learned to foretell the future, we're all screwed.

Will Sombra be able to get rid of these pests and regain control over the Crystal Empire? Will Iron Blade be able to stop laughing long enough to help him? Will the mice fulfill everyone's truest wish and roast the annoying Tight Planner on a spit and serve him up to the King for his dinner? There are many in the castle who wish the mice would, the King's First Consort Nyx chief among them. Stick around for the third and final chapter when all will be revealed!

Comments

[Tale Weaver]

At least the mice didn't ask for Sombra's brain, saying he wasn't using it anyway. Then they really would have been in trouble.

Will Iron Blade get use to being pulled into a vortex?

Will Nyx give the mice back their data pad before the end of the fiscal quater?

Will Tight Planner be served up for dinner in a white wine sauce?

Will the question of the question be answered by the answer?

Will the writer stop reading these posts and get on with it!?

[Pixel_Spark]

“We would like our datapad back, please. Then we’ll be on our way and you can get back to your droll little existences pretending you rule the Crystal Empire...if that’s what makes you feel better to believe, of course.”

0.5 seconds later came the sensation they were utterly BONED. RIP space mice!

“Shit! Where did he go?!” One yelled, looking wildly around the room. The pairs beady little eyes came to rest on the only pony left in the room.

Iron Blade.

The BONING continues! XD

Just realised that sounds like a euphamism....Quota met.