"We may have a problem."
Rainbow Dash raised her head from her work, and turned to look over at the approaching Maud Pie, then held up a hoof, indicating to wait a moment. She looked back down, briefly, at Prince Blueblood, who was fitfully struggling to raise his head out of the urine-filled latrine ditch he was currently being drowned in. Of course, with all of his limbs broken, Dashie didn't really to keep her hoof on the back of his head to keep him there, but she'd always felt that, if you wanted a job done right, you should do it yourself rather than leave it to chance. A few seconds later, Blueblood quit struggling, and bubbles quit rising. With a final kick, she knocked his body into the ditch. A perfect resting place for traitorous filth like this.
Pinkamena was standing nearby, taking care not to look at what had just happened. She'd refused to be a part of what Dashie had done, but she hadn't tried to stop her either...
Looking back over to Maud, Rainbow Dash asked, "What's up?"
Maud Pie was not the most expressive of ponies. She rarely talked about how she felt, or expressed an opinion, or even changed facial expressions very often. It wasn't because anything was wrong with her, it was just the way she way. However, Pinkamena's head jerked up when she heard what Maud had to say. Something in her sister's tone of voice rang warning bells. Big, loud ones.
"Thanks to what just happened, we're going to be stuck supporting King Sombra, no matter what," Maud Pie stated bluntly.
Shocked, Dashie asked, "What... what are you talking about?"
"You just killed Prince Blueblood, the one other pony who has a blood relation to Princess Celestia," Maud explained. "More to the point, we were seen leaving the palace with Blueblood, and he is not coming back, thanks to you. Celestia always doted on Blueblood, ignoring his many flaws, and the fact that his actions had a small, but measurable, negative impact on the war effort. In Celestia's eyes, Blueblood could do no wrong. So, if Sombra is deposed, and Celestia put on the throne again... what happens to us?"
Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped, as did Pinkamena's, as two and two came together to make four. Sombra had removed Blueblood's royal privilege, and any protection he had granted to him by law. Thus, so long as Sombra was in charge, killing Blueblood wasn't a crime at all. However, there was always the faint hope that maybe something would happen, and the Princess could reclaim the throne. But if that happened...
Then what Dashie did would be considered regicide. A very big crime. Whatever Celestia did to Sombra, she'd do double to Rainbow Dash. And to Maud and Pinkamena, just for letting it happen.
"The worst part is," Maud added, "we can't claim that Sombra tricked us, or controlled us. He used no magic on anyone in the room. It was... very smooth: Blueblood wrote the 'treaty' in his own hoof, and anypony with any sense would have seen that not only was it full of holes wide enough to drive a cart through, but that Sombra was making no effort to hide the fact that he was setting Blueblood up. Sombra was grinning the entire time: It must have been like a tiger watching his prey season itself, roast itself over an open flame, and then lay down on a silver platter and say 'Dinner is served.'" She paused, then added, "And then he dropped the hammer on him. And we reacted exactly how he expected us to, I think."
Dashie's eyes widened in horror as she replayed the last few minutes in her head. She'd asked if Sombra's proclamation meant that Blueblood was no longer a prince, and then struck the fool directly in the face. And then Sombra had explained to Blueblood exactly what that farce of a treaty actually entailed. The tyrant had wrapped it up by saying that, if Dash wanted, she could beat the prince to the brink of death with a chair. He hadn't commanded her to, or used magic to coerce her, he'd simply mentioned it as an idea, and she'd leapt at it, like a monkey jumping at a low-hanging fruit... not realizing that she'd land in the mother of all pitfalls.
You couldn't even call it being manipulated. He'd shown them all the door leading to their doom, and all of them had gleefully jumped right through...
"And with Blueblood out of the way, and Nightmare Moon still sealed away, Princess Celestia is the only member of the royal family left," Pinkamena added, putting one more nail in the coffin of realization. "And Sombra has her right where he wants her."
"We did Sombra's dirty work without him even having to ask us," Rainbow Dash said, with the kind of horror one might normally associate with someone watching an avalanche approaching. "And it gets even worse: Blueblood might have been scum, but somepony might have tried to use him as a figurehead for a resistance movement. Having the backing of the last free member of the royalty would have gathered ponies under any banner who had it. Heck, even if Blueblood were banished from the country, he could have used his clout as a member of royalty to raise an army to retake Equestria almost anywhere he might have ended up." Looking back at the drowned corpse of what might have been Equestria's last hope, slim as it was, she added, "No loose ends: We did a better job of handing Equestria over to Sombra than even Blueblood did..."
"So, we're stuck supporting Sombra, at least for the foreseeable future," Maud stated, bluntly. "At least, until we can figure out a way of turning the tables that won't leave Celestia wanting our heads when she's back in power."
'Clever boy,' Maud thought to herself, as the three walked the long road back to Canterlot. 'Whoever you are, you're not Sombra. Sombra would have either killed the four of us on sight, or subdued us with his magic. He wouldn't have let us dance in the palm of his hoof of our own free fill. Was all of this intentional? Removing Blueblood as a threat, and forcing me, Pinkamena, and Dashie to see supporting you as our only option? The best commander in the Equestrian army, plus two of its best soldiers, are now left with no sanctuary except under your banner. Just how far ahead are you thinking, Mister "King of Equestria"?'
"Well, in the meantime," Maud said, her tone the same monotone she almost always used, "we have a speech to listen to. Hopefully, it will give us an idea of just what we have to look forward to."
What she didn't say was, 'And tell us whether the "King of Equestria" will be better or worse than the real Sombra..."
Meanwhile, far to the north...
There was a cave, deep beneath the Crystal Empire. It is very dark there. It is the kind of dark that one can only get when someplace has never seen light. Ever. It is the kind of place where one would close their eyes instinctively, in fear that the shadows might try to pull your eyes out of their sockets.
However, it was not silent in this cave. The cave was filled with what can only be called the sound of limitless rage. The rage of someone who was thwarted, a fraction of an inch from his greatest victory. It was the rage of someone who had escaped from death by bare inches. It was a sound that came from no throat of flesh and blood. No mortal body could express such fury without bursting into flames and exploding twice.
It would take dozens of ponies, digging for days, to reach this place from the surface. And if they tried, they'd run into many a terrible trap, set to prevent anypony from reaching it. And worse would befall anypony who did manage to enter this cave just now. Pure hatred like this could strip flesh from bone faster than any acid in existence.
Still, the cave was perfect for what was needed.
It's the perfect place to hide, and to wait.
And generate a new body.
There would be a reckoning.
There would be blood.
Sombra was not dead. Only one thing could truly kill him, and he had sealed that death away in a box, specially made for that purpose, and buried it in another world. He hid it in a place where he was certain no one would ever find it. As long as his death remained sealed away, Sombra's body could be destroyed a thousand times, and he'd revive again and again.
It should still be there. But it wasn't. Somehow, it was here in Equestria. It was lodged in the body he'd just abandoned.
He'd felt it reaching for him when that usurper had entered into Sombra's body. It had taken root within Sombra's flesh, and the usurper's mind had taken control, once the true Sombra had withdrawn. It was why he'd been forced to flee here, to generate new flesh to hold his spirit. And as soon as he had hooves to walk with, and a horn to cast spells with, Sombra would find that fool, and rip that death from the usurper's chest, along with his still-beating heart...
It's alright girls, I'm sure you would do better without blue blood, even figureheads can only do so much and you would be very hard pressed to find a worse one and even more so to find someone willing to rally under him, "royal" or not.
So. . .
Rainbow dash; dang girl, you scary.
Pinkie pie; (hugs) I hope you smile again.
Maud; you could have stopped rainbow at any time, but you didn't. What are you planning in that geophilliac mind of yours?
So, the Crystal Heart beats within his chest does it?
relatably.com/m/img/intrigued-memes/092da156716ca9fde2769bfa0018c8db4c5c39968735741066fafb4be0518d41.jpg
Love it. Hopefully this guy doesn't hold back and conquers the whole of equus at one point.
How much did Quapdo's story inspire you?
This looks like so much fun, please don't leave it as incomplete in the middle...
Dis gunna Be gud!
8192281
Shots fired.
*Fav'd and Follow'd*
For the first time in a long time, the feature box did not disappoint me. This is really good. I particularly enjoy the characterizations you've given to the various ponies we've gotten to see so far and the uniquely colorful descriptions "Sombra" gives us. I'm looking forward to seeing where you go with this.
the title is a reference to http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1198546-the-elder-scrolls
isn't it?
I'd love if my meme knowledge pointed me in the right direction, but even if it isn't, I'll be with the story till the end!
Keep it up!
8192636
Indeed.
8192194
Not quite. The Crystal Heart could destroy Sombra's body, to the point that regeneration would take a very long time. But kill him permanently? No. What the hero has inside of him could be best described as 'The Moment Of King Sombra's Death'. What that will mean will be discussed later.
nothing else except, wow. good writing
Now this is a good story with a great setup. I am extremely curious how events will go from here on out. And think it would be hilarious if it turns out Celestia's time being imprisoned is like the ultimate vacation where she is spoiled and treated well like an old friend by "Sombra."
Four chapters, 123 likes.. That's impresive.
So far this story isn't very, uh, comedic. This dude has willingly taken up the mantle of a vicious evil wizard, and then humiliated someone who was zero threat to him, and then manipulated the good guys into murdering him in the most disgusting way possible. Why did Dash kill him anyway? All because Blueblood surrendered to the guy who beat Celestia herself? Because you're not a traitor if you surrender when your armies are broken and your rulers are deposed and you have nothing left to fight with. That's just common sense. It's really not okay to kill someone by drowning them in piss just because they're not an uber-warrior like you. And if Rainbow is such a hardass, why not attack Sombra in a last-ditch effort to kill him when the three warriors who have the best chance of doing it are right in front of him? And on top of all that, why didn't Maud do anything to stop Rainbow Dash after the first punch if she is so perfectly perceptive in figuring out what's really going on? Is she only able to realize she's being manipulated after the fact?
And this psychopathic manipulation on the OC's part is... not what the supposedly more evil King Sombra would do? Why is this guy tricking ponies into killing each other if he's eventually going to not be an evil dictator later on anyway?
I mean it's not a bad story necessarily, assuming you can justify the grimdark outlook of the characters. But if you're going for dark, tag it that way. As in, remove comedy, and replace it with dark. This is absolutely not comedy, unless you're just into watching people get killed by a Rainbow Dash who has titanium balls but no brains to match.
I fear you have misapplied one of the Tags to your story.
So far I have found absolutely nothing resembling comedy.
And considering one of the 'Heroes' just murdered someone in an absolutely disgusting and degrading fashion and having regrets, not for murdering someone, but for being 'manipulated' to do so.
I would strongly consider applying a Dark Tag to this story.
Otherwise I fear quite a few readers will come bearing completely different expectations, and be found wanting.
8192706 Wait, so Sombra managed to crystallize (huh, that term actually works) a conceptualized event/moment in time, before it actually happened? Or is it something similar to the concept of a lich binding their lifeforce to a physical object (think Sauron and "The One Ring"), or perhaps even like Davy Jones who -to quote Tia Dalma- "carve out him heart, lock it away in a chest, and hide de chest from de world"?
That last one actually sounds incredibly similar what you described him doing:
8193116
So, the MC might have been the "chest" in question or something?
8193191 That or the contents of the chest somehow latched on to the main character when they were pulled through the void. If I'm right and this is a case of Sombra pulling a Voldemort, then that means it's highly likely that whatever this "death" is, it would be drawn to Sombra like a magnet.
"The Ring yearns above all else to return to the hand of its master."
Yikes Rainbow, I know Blueblood is a cowardly fool, but that death was pretty harsh!
Still, you have earned a fave, this story is intriguing and I await seeing where it goes! (Please continue and don't leave us in suspense? )
Does that mean he has to slowly try to better his image and slowly change the way he is treating them?
I think the problem in this world is, that if he would just tell them everything and suddenly look weak they maybe would take the chance to just kill him or something like that right? I just try to see the reason why he has to continue being like Sombra.
8193116
8193191
More like the Russian fairy tale of Koschei The Deathless. Koschei was immortal, as he had hidden his 'death', although some stories refer to it as his soul instead, inside of a needle, which is in an egg, which is in a duck, which is in a hare, which is in an iron chest, which is buried under a green oak tree, which is on the island of Buyan in the ocean. Unlike nearly any other villain in existence, Koschei made sure that it would be REALLY FRICKIN' HARD for anyone to get to his one weakness. Sombra went a step further by hiding his 'death' on another planet (Earth). However, Sombra had buried it more than a thousand years ago, and never went to check on it afterwards. What may have once been land uninhabited by anyone may no longer be so. Is it like The One Ring, in that it wants to return to its owner? While not a perfect analogy, it does kinda fit. There's more to the story, of course, but we'll get to that later. The point is, the one thing that can kill Sombra for real is out and about in Equestria, and he's got a serious murder-boner for the guy that's carrying it.
8193359
For a justification, I think I made it fairly clear: If he comes out and says that he's Someone Else is Sombra's body, and he has no means of using any of Sombra's magic, someone will have the bright idea to kill him in the hopes of making sure it means Sombra will not come back. After all, there's no way most of Equestria would know that the current situation is permanent. Sombra had just finished conquering their kingdom in a long, drawn out war, and all that any Equestrian citizen had to look forward to was dominion by an evil overlord who'd make Voldemort and Sauron look like pretty nice guys. Now, you know and I know now that if Not-Sombra dies, then Equestria's best chance of being rid of Sombra falls into the wrong hands, but nearly everyone else in the story believes otherwise.
8192985
8192963
You say it is not really a comedy, but way too many people are laughing for it not to be. Still, to keep the peace, I have put a dark tag on the story.
Please don't abandon this I rather like it
8193364 I'm personally more drawn to the "soul" interpretation, as it plays into all points. I know The One Ring isn't a perfect match, seeing as Sauron didn't just pour his lifeforce into it, he also put in the majority of his power. But if the power aspect is removed, The One Ring is essentially a Phylactery. In most fantasy stories the living soul, once separated from the mortal vessel, will be drawn through the veil between life and death. However, if a piece of the soul remains bound to the physical plane, then it will serve as an anchor, preventing the soul from crossing over.
This concept has been used many times over the ages, from the classic soul-bound objects known as Phylacteries which were used by liches, to The One Ring of Tolkien fame, all the way to Voldemort's Horcruxes. If the soul still exists in the world, even fractured and separated from the body, then the one it belongs to cannot cross over, they cannot die.
So to those who employ such things, the soul -that which most people would associate with life itself- would instead be seen as the very embodiment of their death.
"We are not among the living, and so we cannot die. But neither are we dead!"
FOREBODING.. Sombra is going to kick ass
Note: Rainbow Dash killed Blueblood? Whyyyyy... she killed him! She KILLED him! Not cool.
And the dude posessing sombra, he's cool with this? He's cool with that? He's not cool either
WoW, you appear to be new here, or just have very few stories, but alas, this one has real quality in it, very interesting plot, now where will this go?
You know, I am getting really big vibes of "Overlord" in this story. And I absolutly LOVE stories like these. In forseeable future you can count on me reading this till the end. Haha.
Hope to see more about how this will go!
well, damn. Now I want more.
You can expect my rapt attention in the foreseeable future of this story as well.
I will be looking forward to it.
Keep up the excellent work.
8193376
People laugh at different things for different reasons. There's several other inconsistencies you didn't address either, but that's your prerogative.
well lets see if blueblood's fate wont come to kick him in the flank later
This is probably one of the most enjoyable Sombra fics I've read. Looking forward to more.
i love the threat level for pinkie head for HEAD FOR THE HILLS XD
Love this fic so far, follow it i will.
nice AU touch on this!
ALL HAIL BUTTMUNCH!!!
8193373
So merely killing Not-Sombra wouldn't be enough to destroy the phylactery? Conversely, perhaps there's a way to destroy the phylactery and perma-kill Sombra without killing Not-Sombra? I guess we'll find out eventually, won't we?
I'm loving this fic already. It reminds me a lot of The Substitute Demon.
This story is totally AWESOME!!!
I love stories like This!
When next AWESOME chapter!!?
8191469 8191582 I see what you did there.
8194506
images.memes.com/meme/947948
I mean, he's off about Sombra setting up RD for a crime of passion (She did it all on her own without any manipulation, Not-Sombra did little more than allow events to unfold after he'd ruined Blueblood for life), but he's spot on about why Dashie hated Blueblood, and acted the way she did. Buttmunch sold out literally everyone, and didn't even try to offer a ransom to get Celestia back. It probably wouldn't have worked, but he didn't show any concern for Celestia, or relief when he was told she was unharmed. He was too busy worrying about himself to care. He threw everyone under the bus, Princess Celestia included, in an attempt to save his own skin. Had he been a bit smarter, he'd have tried to negotiate to keep his titles, properties, and monetary assets, so that Not-Sombra would not be able to pull the trick he pulled. But he's Blueblood: He's too stupid to be clever.
Dashie is the Element of Loyalty, in this reality and all others. It's simply that, in this reality, what she is loyal to is not her friends, but Equestria as a whole. A traitor to Equestria is her antithesis, something she would hate more than anything else. Killing is not completely unheard of in Equestria, even in the PrimeTime: Not one pony batted an eye when Sombra died in part two of The Crystal Empire (Although ponies don't normally shatter, it's still canonically a kill until we're told otherwise), so killing even a pony who betrayed Equestria isn't so out of character for the country as a whole. Not-Sombra might not have expected Dashie to immediate go off on Blueblood, since he didn't have any actual knowledge of Dashie's character, but he knew that sooner or later, someone would.
And if anyone thinks the events in this story are out of character for Blueblood, I should remind you that he was the guy who once used Rarity to block an incoming cake of immense size. You know, Rarity: Sweet, generous, beautiful Rarity. The Element of Generosity, Rarity. THE NATIONAL FREAKIN' HERO, RARITY. ONE OF SIX PEOPLE WHO ARE ABSOLUTELY VITAL TO THE CONTINUED EXISTENCE OF EQUESTRIA, RARITY. THE PERSON WHO, IF SHE'S SERIOUSLY HURT OR KILLED, WOULD SPELL DOOM FOR EQUESTRIA, RARITY!!!
SO, yeah, I'd think trying to throw Equestria under the bus to save his own skin is perfectly in character.
New chapter when?
8194565
Oh, Sombra may be good at an overall long-term strategy, but actual military tactics? Ambushes? Formations? Flanking actions? Maneuvers? Things like that? He's no CREEEEEEEEEEEED!!! All we saw in the alternate timeline in the show was soldiers mindlessly rushing in and attacking, with Sombra in the middle of it. If he were a brilliant military tactician, he'd not even need to take part in battle, barring the few situations where something unexpected happened. In most other things, we've seen Sombra being very clever, but when it comes to actual battles? He seems to be more of a 'hit them with a hammer until they break' kind of guy. He just happens to be really good at getting big hammers to hit people with.
8194942
When it happens.
This story is very interesting and enjoyable so far. I will follow and see were it goes .
'Sombra' is a true politician. He'd make his parents proud... to his horror.
8192963 It's comedic to me. So much of the popular comedy on this site is just terrible puns, bad memes, and dry ringers. It's nice to have some different comedy for a change. Something that is funny because it's clever (to a point) and situational, not just because it's a joke (with some exceptions, of course). I guess dark humor just isn't for everyone...
8195127
And he's slowly being driven insane because he keeps hearing this song in his head.
8195276 hey buddy, will you update this weekly
8195442
I can make no promises, only when I can, I will.
you know when the Evil Sombra regenerates and gets out I wonder how the less evil Sombra will react.
I could just see him faking a sign and saying one of his phylactery's has gone and started thinking its him again.