The Last of the Dark Ponies

by Askre

Chapter 16. Get in here, Private!

Chapter 16

After delivering the food, Private spent some time talking to his parents and the fillies. It was mostly just an attempt to reassure them, though he wasn’t quite sure how he could promise anything. Barricade and Rainbow hadn’t woken up yet, so the unicorn had just left the food within reach outside their cells.

Reluctantly he left the prison cavern. It was a new day and no doubt time for some more experiments. Private shuddered at the thought of seeing his brother subjected to them once again. He had a feeling very little would distract their captor now, doubting very much that the last one would work again.

Private made his way slowly to the lab cave, as the pony did, he first now noticed that the tunnel continued past it. He had never really paid much attention to it before, since so far most of the more important locations were in the other direction.

Curious, the stallion walked past the lab and was about to step further into the tunnel when a sharp voice addressed him.

“Get in here, Private!”

Private flinched and quickly turned around. He entered the lab and saw Sombra sitting by the podium his journal rested on. The king was glaring at him, the dark pony’s horn was active with his normal red magic and just above the pages of the book levitated a quill.

“Sit down,” Sombra ordered and waited until Private had complied before returning to the journal and resumed writing in it.

The smaller unicorn held back a sigh. He wasn’t sure if the dark pony had called him in because he wasn’t allowed to go past the lab in that direction, or if another round of experiments were about to begin and for once it would start with him.

“What does your last name mean?” Sombra glanced at Private after a minute.

“It’s a shortening of two words into one from an old griffin name for the frozen north,” Private responded. “Mom and dad felt that three names would be a bit much, so instead of Private Ice-Lands, they changed it to Private Iceland.”

“And why the first name? You’re clearly not in the royal guards.”The king’s brow rose a little.

Private really did not want to answer this one, as much as he loved his parents, he really did not care for why he had been named this. He made a face and looked down at the ground.

“I… was their little private ice-lands because they were studying ancient griffin culture at the time Barricade and I were born,” he finally muttered. To his surprise there was no mocking laughter, Private glanced up with some reluctance. Sombra was still staring at him.

“I see what you meant when you said your parents were eccentric back when I possessed you,” the dark unicorn commented. “And Barricade?”

“Let’s just say they sometimes joke he was barring my way when we were being born and leave it at that,” Private grunted and grumbled when hearing a chuckle from the king.

“I shouldn’t talk, mother always called me, her Little Shadow.” Sombra shook his head and returned to the journal.

Private raised himself fully up at hearing that. He couldn’t recall Sombra speaking much about his mother, aside from ranting about what she had planned for him back during the whole possession incident.

“So uh… is it a bad idea to ask about Queen Rabia?” Private asked quite ready to be given the mother of all death glares and told to be quiet. The scribbling of the journal stopped, Sombra didn’t turn his head but his eyes shifted slightly to glance at him.

“That depends, what do you have in mind?” Sombra’s voice lowered quite a bit, and his eyes did flash green for a second. Private gulped, it was very clear that the subject of the king’s mother was a precarious one.

“What was she like?” Private hesitantly formed the most innocent sounding question he could think of.

There was silence, very deep silence. Sombra returned his eyes towards the journal, but still said nothing. Private tilted his head when he noticed that the magic aura around the quill was slightly shaking.

“She was complicated,” the king grunted after a while and the shaking halted. The dark pony resumed writing in the journal.

Private decided not to risk any further questions. Instead he lay down on the floor, crossing his front legs and was really just waiting at this point. He was curious about the tunnel that went in the other direction. The unicorn had noticed at first glance that it didn’t have those torches to lit it up, hence why he had missed it before.

However, that had to wait. Right now he was clearly supposed to be at Sombra’s beck and call. It was doubtful he would get a chance to check it out anytime soon.

“You will be happy to know no doubt, that your distraction worked. It gave me more time to consider the ideas I had before you stopped me. I came to the conclusion they would not yield any results,” Sombra addressed him without looking up from his writing.

Private considered asking what those ideas were, but quickly decided that he really did not want to know. No doubt whatever they were, they would have caused Barricade more pain and he was happy to know that his brother was spared whatever they were going to be.

“Go to the cells. A large enough gap will open on the big one, bring me the fillies,” King Sombra suddenly said.

Private sprang to his feet, looking shocked and horrified at hearing this. Then he felt angry and somehow summoned enough courage to glare at his captor.

“You said you weren’t going to experiment on them!” he snapped. Private was so angry he didn’t even flinch when Sombra slowly turned his head to look at him, his eyes very narrow.

“You can go get them, or I will and I will not be gentle about it!” the king snapped coldly.

“Whatever you’re planning to do. Do it to me! Leave them alone!” Private shouted and stomped a hoof hard on the ground, his horn sparking a bit of magic.

A shadowy tendril suddenly emerged and wrapped itself around Private and the unicorn was forcefully dragged closer to Sombra, who sneered down at his prisoner.

“I think you are forgetting something, Private,” King Sombra growled, his eyes turned green and purple smoke began emerging from the corners. He locked his eyes with Private’s whose own sneer started to falter.

“You are not in control here. You obey me. Your family only stays safe depending on your behavior!” the dark pony continued as he continued to dig into Private’s mind. His prisoner was beginning to tremble and his own eyes were beginning to glow green.

“Please… don’t… don’t hurt them…” Private whispered, tears were starting to form and slowly trickling down his cheeks.

King Sombra narrowed his eyes, but as the Private’s nieces were high on his prisoner’s mind, memories related to them started to surface more readily. The king paused when seeing Private using his magic to help Cara fly. In another, the unicorn pretending to sleep on the floor as a baby Coal waddled closer to him, then quickly grabbed her and tickled her. Yet another was of Private buying ice cream for Dinky, Coal and Tootsie Flute when taking Coal to visit them in Ponyville.

The dark unicorn paused as he watched how Private interacted with the fillies, playing with them, taking care of them, even teaching them. He released his hold on the unicorn who crumbled to the ground, holding back sobs but still crying.

“You were like a father to them.” Sombra’s eyes turned to normal, he looked unsure.

“To Cara, before she moved in with her dad and Coal too… why do you care?” Private whispered, looking down at the floor.

“I was the one who practically raised my sister, Ira,” the king responded and stepped back a little. He looked a bit uncomfortable, his own memories had started to surface, memories of the past. “She looked at me more as father than a brother…”

Private slowly looked up at his captor. Sombra snorted and turned away, muttering something the smaller unicorn couldn’t hear.

“I’m willing to stay… if you let the others go,” Private said and looked down again. “Do what you want with me, but…”

“That’s not going to happen, Private,” Sombra snorted and turned around again to face him. “You are in no position to make any deals. Don’t get any ideas, just because I let you roam around free and keep them in a cell. I haven’t bothered blocking your magic because I know how pathetic it is.”

“Now, let’s try this again, with you remembering the simple fact that you serve me right now and you will follow my orders.” The king narrowed his eyes. “You can either do it willingly, or I can be more forceful.”

“What do you suddenly want with them?” Private asked, not really caring right now that Sombra might choose to harm him again, at least it would be him who was being hurt.

“This new found confidence of yours is starting to become annoying,” King Sombra growled, but then his expression changed to a frown and he seemed to be considering something. His visage eased a little and became more neutral. “I wish to confirm something. I promise that no harm will come to them.”

“I don’t really believe you,” Private muttered and started to rise up, using one hoof to dry his tears. “But if I go get them, I can at least prepare them for meeting you.”

“Just go get them,” Sombra groaned and used shadow tendrils to shove Private out of the lab.

Private stumbled a bit once the tendrils had practically thrown him out, but he quickly found his footing and with great reluctance headed to the cell cavern. He was starting to wonder if he could just tell the girls to run and hope they would find an alternate way out of here.

The unicorn was dragging his hooves when he entered the cavern and approached the biggest cell. His parents and fillies quickly gathered at the crystal bars, wondering why Private looked like he had been asked to murder.

As Sombra had said, a bar went down which gave enough space for the fillies to fit through. Private shuddered before he gave all three girls a sign to come out. Cara looked at her sisters confused, but then stepped outside, followed by Dinky and Coal.

“What...what is going?” Mirage asked, realizing too late that the girls were gone outside the cell She was almost ready to try and reach out to grab them back inside.

“I’m so sorry…” Private whimpered. “King Sombra wants to see them.”

“W-what?” his mother gasped, Hard Shovel put a leg around her. They both stared worried at their son.

“Girls, I don’t know what he wants. I wish I could say it’s going to be okay but… with him, I can’t,” Private addressed the fillies, he felt tears welling up in his eyes again. Then he walked closer and pulled all three of them into a tight hug.

“I’m scared, Uncle Private,” Coal whispered, not liking the idea one bit of going to meet the king.

“What does he want with us?” Dinky asked, not feeling much better than her sister.

“I really don’t know. I tried to stop him, but I can only do so much,” Private told them and reluctantly let them go.

“Let’s get this over with, I was getting bored sitting in that cell anyway,” Cara declared. She started to flap her wings and took off the ground. Private sighed and started to walk towards the entrance, the unicorn fillies followed very closely behind him.

“Psst, Cara!” Rainbow Dash addressed the pegasus filly, who looked over. The mare gestured for her to come and was quite impressed at the speed the young pony did so.

“If you think you can, try and buzz quickly as you can out of here. Private said there was a fort. There must be way out of here from there...you think you can do it?” Rainbow asked the filly quietly and smirked when seeing the confident grin coming on Cara.

“I’d like to see him try and stop me,” Cara whispered before she quickly buzzed after her uncle and sisters.

---

King Sombra was writing once again in his journal when Private finally returned with the fillies in tow. Cara had stopped flying and stood on her uncle’s back. The pegasus was the only one who looked confident and calm, glaring daggers at the dark unicorn when she saw him. The unicorn fillies did their best to huddle out of sight behind Private.

“I’ve brought the girls,” Private muttered and made no move to step away from the younger ones.

“So I see.” Sombra put down the quill, stepped back from the podium and turned to face them. He regarded the four ponies with a neutral expression

“I probably should have clarified. I only meant the two younger ones. I figured the young lady on your back would have preferred to be regarded as a mare,” he said, regarding Cara who looked mildly surprised at being referred to as practically an adult. Due to her size, ponies still confused her for much a younger foal than the teen was.

“Hey, where my sisters go, I go!” Cara snorted. For a brief moment the teen forgot where she was standing and stomped a hoof down. Private’s eyes bulged out at the sharp pain in his back, but managed to keep in the yelp.

“Ooops, sorry, Uncle Private.” The pegasus grinned sheepishly when she realized what she had struck.

“It’s okay…” Private whispered, gritting his teeth and tried to ignore the sore spot. The unicorns behind him giggled a little, before remembering where they were and quickly became quiet again.

“You are your father’s daughter, I can see,” Sombra chuckled and walked over to the table. Using his magic he cleared some space on it. He blinked when Cara suddenly flew over and landed on it. She was now mere inches from his face, still glaring at him.

“Cara!” Private whispered sharply, fearing the worst.

“What do you want with my sisters!” Cara snorted, ignoring her uncle.

“I was going to make a few inquiries.” Sombra took a step back, not showing how amused he actually was by the filly’s attitude. “I suppose we can start with you, since you are clearly volunteering.”

“Proceed.” Cara narrowed her eyes and sat down to make a point that she wasn’t going anywhere. Although small for her age, she was big enough that there wouldn’t be space for her sisters, unless Sombra cleared more room on the table.

“Is she always like this?” Dinky whispered, both impressed and a little alarmed by Cara’s behavior.

“You do know who she lives with, right?” Coal whispered back.

“Girls.” Private looked back at them with a stern look. The fillies grinned innocently, their fear had been somewhat alleviated thanks to their sister’s bravado.

“Have you met other descendants of dark ponies that are not in your family?” Sombra meanwhile had started questioning Cara.

“Only once, back when I still lived with grandpa and grandma.” Cara shrugged.

“Did you feel any familiarity with them?” Sombra wondered.

“No,” the filly answered. Sombra frowned a little and rubbed his muzzle as he seemed to be considering something.

“Now, think, with me standing here in front of you. Ignore for a moment the resentment and the hate you feel, which I am perfectly aware that you feel right now. Do you feel anything else?” the king asked.

Cara looked at him confused, then she glanced at Private. Her uncle looked surprised at the line of questions being directed at the filly. When he noticed her niece, he quickly shook it off.

“Remember the dark pony subconscious connection your grandparents told you about? He’s asking about that,” Private explained to her, eyeing Sombra unsure. He couldn’t say he had been expecting this.

“Oh that.” Cara understood now, then gave Sombra an unimpressed glare. “Why didn’t you just say so.”

Sombra snorted in amusement and a wry grin came on his muzzle. The pegasus closed her eyes for a moment and looked to be concentrating. Her eyes flew wide open almost a second later.

“Woah it’s strong now!” she remarked. “I always had to really, really think about it to actually feel it with dad, Uncle Private, grandma and grandpa.”

“Well, you’ve never met a pure Dark Pony before,” Sombra said and nodded. “Well that confirms that. Even if you are even more mixed than your father, you have it.”

“I take it you want the other girls to do it as well?” Private asked, still a bit bewildered that so far everything was rather innocent and Sombra really was just asking questions. When the king nodded, the unicorn glanced at the younger filles. “Coal, since Dinky has never done it before, help her feel the connection.”

“Okay,” Coal nodded and looked at Dinky. “You have to close your eyes and really just not think about anything and ignore everything else you are feeling.”

“Huh, easier said than done,” Dinky muttered. The two fillies then closed their eyes and did the same as Cara had done. They both quickly opened their eyes in surprise. “I don’t like feeling that!”

“It’s really strong now,” Coal gasped and they both looked at Private. “Uh… I think we felt it.”

“Interesting.” Sombra walked away from the table to stand in front of Private and the two girls. “Private, do you have to do this to feel the connection?”

“With other descendants, yes…” Private hesitated not really wanting to say the next bit. “You, not so much.”

“So your connection is stronger when faced with a pure Dark Pony.” The king smiled and walked over to the podium and started writing.

“Wait, you can feel it without doing the whole close your eyes bit?” Coal whispered to Private.

“Sombra and I have a longer history together than I would prefer,” Private grunted, but what he said caught Sombra’s attention.

“Ah, I’m so foolish. Of course, the essence I put into you, that’s why you feel it!” the Dark Pony stopped writing and hoofed his face.

“What’s he talking about?” Cara flew off the table and landed next to Private who had fallen silent, internally groaning when Sombra had to mention that bit.

“About that… ugh… essence… what exactly did you have me drink all those years ago?” Private grumbled. He really hated the word choice, but so far he never really had the nerve to ask. But Cara was old enough to have ideas of her own and he now wanted this clear.

“Well if you really want the technicalities, I put some of my blood and magic in the potion I had you drink,” Sombra responded. He was using his magic to erase some of his writings.

“Ewww, you drank his blood?” Cara made face and so did her sisters.

“It’s not like I had much choice,” Private muttered though secretly feeling better. His mind had gone to completely different places and he was glad to be able to reel it back out of there.

“You seriously didn’t think I had a colt drink…” Sombra looked over at Private and he seemed rather disgusted. “Please Private, even I have standards. Take the fillies back to their cells, I’ve learned what I need,” the king ordered and returned to the podium.

Private held back a sigh of relief and headed out of the cave with the girls. This had been more painless than he ever expected.

“So, that was it? He just wanted to ask us about that Dark Pony feeling?” Coal asked, unsure.

“Seems so,” Private responded, as they reached the entrance to the cavern, Cara stopped and looked at the tunnel that led to the fort.

“Where does that tunnel go?” she asked innocently.

“Hmmm?” Private halted and glanced at his niece for a moment. “Oh, that tunnel leads to where the supply cave and a cave with a water well is. There is also a door at the end that leads up to a fort.”

The unicorn then started to usher Coal and Dinky into the cell cavern, he was about to turn to Cara to do the same with her but she was gone. His eyes bulged out in terror.

“Cara? CARA!” he shouted and darted off into the tunnel, just missing the filly going through the door at the end.

“No, no, no, what are you doing!?” he called and raced after her, but wasn’t sure if he would catch Cara in time. She was pretty swift on her wings. He climbed up the winding stairs and gasped when seeing Cara at the other end of the fort heading straight out of one of the windows high up on the wall.

“Cara wait!” he cried, but was too late. The filly was gone.

Oh crud, oh crud, oh crud. Private rushed to the furthest door and opened it to look outside.

“Don’t worry, Uncle Private. I’m gonna get help!” Cara yelled as she was already pretty far away, flying as fast as she could towards the mountain tops.

Private could only stare after the filly. He didn’t notice Coal and Dinky, who had followed and were now on either side of him. The fillies stared out into the open space outside the fort, both looking as stunned as he was.

“Is there a problem?” A dark voice shocked all three of them back to reality. Turning around revealed Sombra standing right behind them, his expression showed no outward emotion as he regarded the three frightened ponies before him.

“Uh…” Private activated his magic and used it to slam the door shut. “That depends how you look at it?”

“Hmmm, let me guess. That brave little pegasus filly, an almost spitting image of her own father in terms of attitude, found out where to leave the fort and escaped,” the king said calmly. “In rather short time, which means, she must have been told about the fort and quickly realized that had the way out.”

“Ooooh, he’s good,” Coal remarked, earning a glare from both Private and Dinky. She grinned sheepishly in response.

“Sombra… she’s just a kid, she has no idea where she is. The weather out there is freezing. It’s clear we are high up in the mountains, she’s going to get herself killed. I hate to ask this, but can you get her?” Private pleaded.

“I was going to anyway,” Sombra retorted. “But you closed the door.”

Private really had no response to that. Silently he opened the door again. He closed his eyes when large column of black smoke passed through him and the girls, but was quickly gone through the entrance. The unicorn opened his eyes again and glanced back, watching a large column of black smoke speeding away from the fort.

“You think he’ll get her?” Coal asked as she and Dinky peeked back outside.

“Part of me hopes so… part of me hopes not and that she does find help,” their uncle muttered and shook his head.

End chapter 16