In old Manehattan

by Askre

Epilogue. Silver Axe's master.

Epilogue

Somewhere.

“Let me go! Let me go!” Caballeron shouted as he still struggled in the legs of Silver Axe who had been flying with him for a long time by now. The large pegasus ignored him and just kept on course.

The earth pony then finally noticed how high up they were and that they were surrounded by snowy mountain peaks. He immediately stopped struggling when he realized that if the pegasus did as he had demanded, he would be plummeting to his doom.

“Where are you taking me?” he asked. Still no answer.

The stallion sighed, cursing his luck. He had been so close to trapping Barricade, only for this strange pony to suddenly burst into the building, swoop him up with some kind of shadow magic and fly off with him. He started to look around and actually began recognizing some of the peaks.

“Wait a minute, we are dangerously close to Mountain Goat lands. They don’t like trespassers. Are you insane?” Caballeron asked, but still got no answers. Then he noticed that the Pegasus was descending towards a mountain.

Caballeron arched his brow when seeing a fort built on the side of a cliff. The only entrance to it was built right in front of a sheer, deadly drop to the unseen ground below. The pony didn’t like this - the Pegasus was now flying straight for the fort at top speed.

“Uh, slow down, slow down, you idiot!” the archeologist screamed as they continued to barrel towards the fort.

At the very last second the door swung open and they flew right into a pitch black room. Caballeron was still screaming as he was unceremoniously dropped to the hard stone floor. The only illumination was a light source that shone a lamp light straight down on him. Everything outside that light was completely black.

“Uh… hello?” Caballeron slowly rose up. The pegasus was gone, the door behind him had been shut closed and for the first time now the pony noticed that the darkness all around him seemed to be moving.

“Ah, Caballeron. Finally we meet,” a dark voice addressed him.

The stallion frowned in confusion. “What are you talking about, we have met. You carried me here before nearly braining me on that door,” he protested. There was a soft dark chuckle all around him.

“Ah no, you met my puppet, who I spoke through. He’s been useful, but he does draw attention, being an escaped fugitive, so he is not much use to me now,” the voice explained.

Caballeron glanced to his right when hearing a thud, like something heavy had suddenly dropped down. Then there was a metallic clang. It came closer, sounding like hooves clad in armor. The stallion looked forward and had to look up as a large unicorn stepped out of the darkness in front of him. A red cape adorned his back, his chest and legs were clad in steel armor, on his black-maned head rested a spiky crown and producing from the forehead was a red, curved horn. The eyes were red and intent as they stared grimly down at the archeologist.

“Who are you?” Caballeron asked, confused.

The pony didn’t respond. His horn started to glow red and suddenly a large bag full of bits dropped down in front of the archeologist. Caballeron looked down. For a moment he was almost full of glee at seeing so much money, but came to his senses and looked up at the unicorn.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“The amount of money in this bag is worth the same as you would get for any artifacts the archeologists Mirage Rock and Hard Shovel have dug up. I’m offering you a deal,” the unicorn stated flatly. “You take this bag and from now on, you leave Barricade and his family alone. Forever.”

Caballeron looked at the bag. It was certainly a lot of money, however, his greed told him that it would only last for so long and he could still get much more.

“Why don’t you double the amount and I will consider it,” he said and put on his best business smile. It instantly disappeared when the unicorn’s eyes turned green and the muzzle twisted into a sneer.

“I suggest you take my first offer,” the unicorn snarled, looming now over the earth pony with a murderous glint in his eyes. “I’m giving you a chance to come out of this meeting, Caballeron, with your pitiful heart still beating in your sorry carcass.

“Barricade and his family have a lineage to the dark ponies buried deep within them. Know this, I am King Sombra, the last of the dark ponies and the sole living heir to the Dark Pony Empire. They and all ponies who have ancestry to my race are as good as my subjects and I will protect my subjects just as much as the Celestial Sisters protect theirs,” the large stallion growled. Shadowy tendrils began inching towards the archeologist.

“I will not have a sniveling worm like you interfere with those that are mine. I would have been content with having Barricade beat the living snot out of you, but then you just had to say you were going after his brother if his daughter was not enough to threaten him.”

The shadow tendrils grabbed Caballaron from all directions and the shaking pony was violently ripped up from the floor to be at the same level as King Sombra’s eyes.

“Private Iceland is mine! I will not have anypony touch a single hair on him! Especially a bug like you who thinks he is so big when in truth he is nothing. You are barely worth a microsecond of my time.” King Sombra then slammed Caballeron to the ground, releasing him from the tendrils. “Now, I will say it once more. You take this bag and from now on you leave Barricade and his family alone. Forever.”

Shaking in fear, Caballeron quickly grabbed the bag with his front legs before looking up at the shadow king with a nervous grin.

“Barricade who? I’ve never heard of any Barricade or Mirage Rock or Hard Shovel or whatever their names are. Yes, this will be fine,” he said in a high-pitched tone of voice.

“Smart answer,” Sombra growled darkly, suddenly smoke and shadow consumed the frightened earth pony as the king teleported him back to Equestria.

Sombra then glanced to his left, two pairs of completely blue eyes were staring at him from one dark corner.

“Take Silver Axe back to the institution you found him in for me. Give my regards to your queen and thank her again for her assistance,” he retorted.

There were some buzzing noises from the eyes before they disappeared. Briefly the door to the fort opened and two dark shapes flew through it, carrying an unconscious Silver Axe. When the door closed, Sombra dropped his frown and smiled.

“Well then, time to sit back and wait for the appropriate time to enact my plan.”

Outside the fort a dark laughter could be heard echoing amongst the snowy peaks.

The End

Comments

[HurricaneFox]

Shoot! Great story. this should have more likes

[Askre]

9559919

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.