The Last of the Dark Ponies

by Askre

Chapter 22. Where are your friends?

Chapter 22

The fort on the distant cliff face looked very unwelcoming. Dark crystals had begun extruding out of the stone walls like infected pimples. Black vein-like lines were slowly creeping down the cliff wall. From them more crystals had begun forming here and there.

The air above was dark, sickly yellow, giving the whole atmosphere around it a very foreboding feeling. It was as if nature itself was warning that something evil and sinister currently resided here.

The five mares stood and stared at the fort with a mixture of horror and disgust. They were starting to get the idea why the goats now referred to this area as the Mountains of Fear.

“Sooo,” Foxy said. “That’s uh… nice… if you are into creepy.”

“This is it girls, the goats said that at the end of this path there should be a hidden passage.” Starlight was really not liking the looks of this. “I’ll take the more direct route.”

“Be careful,” Dew told her and with some reluctance began following Barbell and Foxy up the path. Maud lingered behind for a moment.

“You can do it, Starlight,” she said and put a hoof on Starlight’s back before finally following the rest.

I will give them a head start, take a moment to steel myself and then go, Starlight thought. She measured the distance with her eyes, it was not the furthest she had teleported before. She in fact could probably use her magic to just float herself over there, but right now the mare would rather not risk her magic failing and her plummet to her doom, especially since the pegasi were now gone to find the secret passage.

Starlight took a deep breath and activated her magic. She prepared a teleportation spell, but still waited a little, wanting to give the other mares time to locate the other entrance. When the unicorn figured she had waited long enough, the unicorn activated the spell and disappeared in a blue flash.

Starlight landed with a thud as she materialized somewhere. Shaking her head, the unicorn rose up and frowned when she tried to look around. Nothing but pitch blackness greeted her eyes. The unicorn didn’t understand - she was certain from the outside there were windows and it wasn’t night outside, just that sickly yellow glow.

“What is going on here?” she turned around but still saw nothing, not even a sign of a door.

A dark chuckle caused her to whirl around. She activated her horn, ready for a fight. Despite the light from her magic energy, nothing around her illuminated. It was still just all dark.

“Starlight Glimmer,” a voice addressed her. “The pupil of the Princess of Friendship. A friend to a neurotic changeling, a failed magic entertainer, a childish spirit of chaos and a pony who shows about the same emotional range as a rock.”

“Hey!” Starlight snapped and glared around. “Show yourself and don’t talk about my friends like that.”

The only response she got was a cruel chuckle. Something was moving around her, but was not visible. The unicorn attempted to fire random magic bursts around, but they hit nothing and just disappeared.

“Yes, I suppose those are accomplishments. It must fill you with pride to befriend such pathetic beings,” the voice continued.

“I am proud of my friends!” Starlight snorted, looking around and trying to pinpoint where the voice was coming from. Then it hit her who this was and the unicorn scowled. “Show yourself Sombra, I know it’s you.”

“Oh, what a clever girl. I can see why Twilight took you on,” Sombra chuckled, but still remained unseen.

“Speaking of pathetic, you were a busy little pony before Twilight took you in,” he continued, smiling when seeing a faint sign of hesitation come over the unicorn.

“I don’t know what you are up to, but it won’t work. We’re here to stop you!” Starlight declared.

“We? I don’t see anypony else in here,” the king said and chuckled darkly.

Starlight cringed slightly, realizing she probably shouldn’t have said that and give her friends away. The unicorn then felt strange; her forelock felt smaller suddenly. She reached up with a hoof and gasped. It had been cut. Suddenly a large crystal sprouted up in front of her, its surface was so polished that the unicorn could see herself in it.

Oh no. The unicorn gasped. She had the same mane cut and when she ruled her village. She spotted her flank; it had the equal sign cutie mark. She quickly glanced at it and there it was.

“So afraid to be abandoned, so afraid to be alone. So, you forced others to be your friends, playing by your rules. Equality, hah! What a spiel you spun to convince yourself you were doing the right thing. Just because your friend got his cutie mark first,” Sombra laughed cruelly as he observed Starlight panic over how she looked.

“No. I changed; I learned my lesson. That’s not me anymore!” Starlight protested. Remembering she had faked the equal sign, she tried to brush it off. It didn’t go away.

“And then when Twilight and her friends ruined that little safety bubble you had created, you were so filled with rage you tried to ruin her life by changing time,” the king continued to speak. Starlight was now just staring at the image of herself on the crystal, tears welling in her eyes.

“This is your fear isn’t it? To turn back into that pony who enslaved ponies to force them to be your friends, who attempted to destroy the very fabric of time and space because a group of friends stopped you, all because your friend got his cutie mark first,” Sombra whispered standing now right behind her. His image could be faintly seen on the crystal now.

Starlight closed her eyes hard; she wiped the tears away with a hoof before whirling around. She opened them again to scowl hard at the king, her horn glowing again with magic energy.

“Yes, I am afraid of that. What’s your point! I use that fear to make sure I don’t change into that horrible pony again!” she snapped and shot from her horn. The blast was deflected by a shield made by Sombra’s own magic.

There was no response. Sombra simply began backing away with a mocking smirk and he faded into the blackness again. Starlight snarled and fired again as she raced forward, blasting magic shots wildly.

“Get back here! I’m not here to play games!” the unicorn shouted and glared around.

The blackness disappeared and she was now in a stone room. Dark crystals were embedded into the walls and black, tendril-like lines were stretched across the floor. Starlight gasped in horror - scattered around the room were her traveling companions, lying on the floor looking like they had been badly scorched by magic blasts.

“No! What did you do?” Starlight whispered as she ran over to Maud. For a brief moment, the gray earth pony looked at her weakly, before her eyes rolled back and she stopped breathing.

“Me? I wasn’t the one shooting magic around blindly,” Sombra whispered, again from somewhere unseen.

Starlight felt a cold dread come over her. She sat down by Maud’s body and cradled it in her front legs. Tears started to form in her eyes and she hugged her friend, crying into her scorched fur.

“Loyalty can blind, honesty can really hurt, kindness can make you weak, laughter can be cruel, generosity can be used to cheat you,” Sombra spoke as he materialized in front of the two ponies, grinning evilly.

“And friendship,” the king started to laugh. “Oh, I don’t think I need to tell you how that can be twisted.”

“I didn’t mean to… I’m so sorry… I was trying to shoot him,” Starlight still cried as she clung to the dead body of her friend.

Wait… this isn’t right… I didn’t teleport them here… a tiny voice started to emerge inside her head.

The unicorn looked up, staring at the king in front of her.

“This isn’t… real,” Starlight shouted and dropped Maud’s body. She closed her eyes tightly and put both hooves on her temple. “THIS ISN’T REAL!”

Starlight screamed as she broke from under the spell. When she opened her eyes, she was inside the fort, but no bodies were anywhere. The unicorn was standing between two crystal pillars who pulsated with dark magic. Starlight gasped and quickly jumped away from them before they could ensnare her again.

“Impressive,” the dark voice of King Sombra addressed her yet again. “Not many can break free from that spell. Most it drives mad… wait a minute.”

Sombra materialized on the other end of the hall. He frowned as he regarded the scowling unicorn and the rest of the room. “You’re alone?”

“Yeah, that was the crucial detail I needed,” Starlight snapped and shot out a beam of magic at Sombra. She was so far not feeling any pain in her head and that was a very good sign.

“I doubt you came to face me alone,” Sombra sneered and blocked the magic shot with his own magic. He narrowed his eyes. “Where are your friends?”

“Your battle is with me,” the unicorn declared. She summoned an energy sword and charged.

“Oh please,” Sombra rolled his eyes, but did summon his scythe to block the incoming blow from the sword. “I think we’ve done this dance before, unless your ambition is to become a tricorn.”

Starlight didn’t respond. Instead, she tried another swing with her sword which was easily blocked by Sombra. Then she had to be on the defensive from a flurry of blows from him. The unicorn didn’t intend to fight like this the whole time, but right now this would do until she had to change her distraction strategy.

“Where are your friends?” Sombra asked again with a growl and struck hard at the energy sword. It shattered, but this time Starlight ducked out of the way and shot with her horn. The king was forced to back away and put up a shield.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Starlight smirked and conjured up her own shield that barely held against a beam from the king. Yikes.

---

Down in the dark tunnels, four mares slowly made their way onwards. They did have a little trouble locating the secret entrance. However, Maud could detect where the wall had been the thinnest and pointed out three rocks that looked like any other, but to her were out of place. Maud, Barbell and Foxy, being the strongest of the four, pushed them and an opening on the wall was revealed.

Now they were in a long twisting tunnel - a very dark one. The ponies probably would have wished they hadn’t let the unicorn go alone if Maud hadn’t produced a lamp from her saddlebag.

They came to many intersections on their way, but Maud pointed out that some tunnels looked more carefully crafted and hewn and not rough cut. That had to mean those ones would eventually lead to the fort.

They were not disappointed. After a while they did finally see faint glimmer of light and suddenly stepped into a torch-lit tunnel. One wall had an entrance to a cave that had been repurposed as a lab. No one was in it, so the mares continued onward. Then they heard voices.

Three mares gasped and began hurrying forward. The tunnel continued, but to their left was an entrance to a large cavern. Inside were three cells locked off with crystal bars.

“MOM! AUNT DEW!” Coal shouted when seeing her mother and aunt come flying into the cavern.

“Coal!” Foxy rushed over to the cell Barricade and Coal were in, closely followed by Barbell who was shouting the stallion’s name.

“Oh, Mirage, Hard, are you alright?” Dew Doe decided to rush over to where the old ponies were.

“We managed,” Mirage said and tried her best to hug the pegasus between the bars.

“Woah, the cavalry's here,” Rainbow Dash commented from her cell. Then she saw Maud enter. “Maud, over here!”

“Maud, where is Twilight and the rest?” Rainbow asked when the earth pony trotted over. She was a little confused not to see her five friends bursting in to the rescue.

“They are trapped in Ponyville,” Maud told her simply. “We came with Starlight.”

“Trapped? Oh, just wait until I get my hooves on that…” Rainbow growled then eyed her prison. “Can you get us out of here? Oh by the way, don’t strike the bars, it really hurts. Just ask Barricade.”

The stallion in question was currently hugging the wall of his cell as Barbell’s joy had changed into rage.

“You just come over here so I can wring your neck for making me worry like that!” the mare growled as she tried to reach him through the bars.

“You know what? I think I’m fine inside here. No need to free me,” Barricade half-joked but was wondering if he wouldn’t be better off remaining in the cell.

Foxy in the meantime was hugging her daughter and parts of the bars tightly.

“Oh, my beautiful little mischief, I could just squeeze you! We are going to get you out of here,” the mare said and kissed her daughter many times where she could reach her between the bars.

“I’ll get them out alright,” Barbell turned around and prepared to kick.

“Don’t kick the bars. They hurt!” Barricade shouted in alarm just in time. His marefriend glanced back at him, then looked at the entrance of the cell. She began kicking that instead, making it bigger. Maud was doing pretty much the same over at Rainbow and Dinky’s cell.

Soon Foxy could much more properly hug her daughter tightly, who returned it just as much. Barricade was dragged out by Barbell, who did embrace him instead of pummeling him as she had threatened. Maud in the meantime had freed Rainbow and Dinky and was now turning her attention to the cell with the old ponies.

“Alright, where is Sombra? I got two hooves I want to smack his face with!” Rainbow Dash was in the air kicking and punching with her hooves.

“Since he isn’t here, he must be up in the fort. Starlight was going to distract him while we got you out of here,” Dew told her as she helped Mirage and Hard Shovel out of their now much wider cell opening. The pegasus then looked at each cell and then frantically around. “Where is Private?”

“Oh right. That bastard confined him to the fort after Cara escaped,” Barricade growled. He was mostly recovered from the experimental magic torture, so he was more with it. It helped also that he was free and saw that his daughters were too. He was starting again to turn his panic into anger. He broke free from Barbell and charged for the entrance to the cavern.

“Come on, Rainbow, let’s go kick that smokey dipshit!” he growled, but was blocked from going further by the rainbow pegasus who landed in front of him.

“Wait, I have better idea,” Rainbow said, holding one hoof up to stop the galloping stallion who just about managed to halt his charge.

“Private told me there were two caves that dampen magic, one with a water well and one with the food supplies. If we could lure him back down here, get him into one of those caves and then the earth ponies kick the entrance of those caves,” she said glancing behind her at the entrance.

“That would cause the entrance to collapse and trap him where can’t use his magic.” Barricade grinned, liking that idea. He glanced back at the other ponies. “Hey Barbell, you think you can cause a cave-in?”

“Sure, if Maud helps me,” Barbell nodded. The grey earth pony also nodded slightly in agreement.

“Great, you two,” Rainbow Dash pointed at Dew and Foxy. “You get the older ponies and the fillies out of here. The rest of you, come with me.”

“What about Private?” Dew asked, looking really worried and nervous.

“Don’t worry, Dew. We’ll get him,” Barricade assured her before rushing out after Rainbow Dash, closely followed by Barbell and Maud.

---

Private gulped as he carefully opened the door a crack and saw what was happening in the main hall. Sombra was still fighting Starlight, who kept switching tactics as to how she fought him. Sometimes she would use magic beams, sometimes just be on the defensive and then she would try the energy sword again. She didn’t seem to be trying to win, just prolong the battle long as possible.

Should I do something? he thought, not sure if he should risk it. He might just do more harm than good.

She can’t be the only one that’s here. He cringed when seeing Starlight’s shield shatter and the mare was flung back. She did recover quickly, but was starting to look tired.

“You are tiring, Starlight Glimmer. One last chance. Where are the others?” King Sombra growled and sent a row of crystals that violently burst out of the ground towards her. The mare just barely managed to jump out of the way.

“With any luck they…” Starlight stopped. Private couldn’t see what she was looking at in surprise. Suddenly an indigo-colored magic burst struck Sombra in the head. Then there was a rainbow-colored blur as something struck the dark unicorn.

“Hey bozo, time for some payback!” Rainbow Dash declared and struck a pose in the air with both hooves on her sides.

“What?!” King Sombra looked a little disoriented but not damaged. He glared at Rainbow, then to his side. “Barricade!? Oh… I see. Your friends were freeing them!”

“Starlight, quick, we have a plan, we need to get him down into the tunnels,” Rainbow Dash called and zipped down to try and give Sombra another blow. This time though the dark unicorn ducked out of the way. He didn’t get a time to do much else. He was struck from two sides by different colored magic blasts - one indigo and the other blue.

Sombra roared in anger. Private saw Starlight run out of sight and Sombra went after her. He wasn’t sure what to do, open the door and follow? Stay where he was and wait this out? Someone else made the decision for him. The door was bathed in an indigo-colored aura and yanked open. In the doorway stood Barricade.

“Private!” he shouted and quickly reached with one leg to grab his brother in a tight hug. Private was more than happy to return it.

“W-what is going on?” Private asked, stunned to see his brother free.

“The rescue arrived,” Barricade smiled and was shaking now. The anger had subsided and he was on the verge of giving in to his panic again. “We have a plan; we are luring him into one of the caves that dampen magic to trap him in there.”

“That’s insane,” Private whispered, patting his brother on the back to try and calm him down.

“Insane enough to maybe work. Come on!” Barricade chuckled weakly and the brothers let go. They left the bedchamber and rushed through the other door and down the spiraling staircase.

The moment they arrived in the tunnel, they froze when hearing a very angry roar. They saw Rainbow fly quickly out of the water well cave and just at that moment Barbell and Maud jumped out of it too, having been hiding in it just by the entrance. The two earth ponies then gave the edges a mighty kick, causing the rock to loosen and come crashing down, blocking the opening. Starlight quickly used her magic to tear out more chunks of rock from the ground and further block it.

“Oh yeah! It worked. Take that Sombreo!” Rainbow Dash cackled and landed on the ground.

“See? Insane enough to work,” Barricade told his brother then rushed over to Barbell. “Good work, babe!”

“Hey, I didn’t do it alone,” Barbell chuckled and nudged Maud.

Private was about to say something, but a roar and very might thump on the rocks shook everybody back to reality. Sombra may have been trapped, but he wasn’t a small unicorn and there was the slight possibility he would eventually break free.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Starlight ordered and pointed down the tunnel. “Barbell, Maud, lead the way since you know where the other entrance is.”

“Come Private, let’s blow this popsicle stand,” Barricade shouted to his brother and the five ponies rushed down the tunnel.

The ponies had barely reached the adjacent tunnel leading down to the lab cave and eventually to the secret entrance, when there was a mighty explosion behind them. They all stopped dead in their tracks and slowly looked back.

Through the dust and debris came King Sombra, eyes narrow and glowing green and red, his horn sparkling with purple and green energy. Barricade and Private were frozen solid at the sight.

“The minerals only dampen magic, not block it,” Sombra hissed. “ And can be overwhelmed by my dark magic.”

“Oookay, everypony RUN!” Starlight shouted and started down the tunnel.

“You two, snap out of it!” Rainbow Dash quickly slapped Barricade and Private to wake them up from their terror. Then she screamed loudly. “RUN FOR IT!!”

Thankfully that was enough. All five ponies made a mad dash down the tunnel. They heard an unearthly roar behind them and the tunnel was already filling up with black smoke chasing them.

Starlight briefly turned her head to fire a magic beam at the ceiling to cause a cave in behind them, hoping it would at least slow the enraged king down.

“I told you it was an insane idea!” Private shouted in panic.

“Save the ‘told you so’ until we are home free!” Barricade snapped, but he was in no better state than his brother.

“Just run you two!” Starlight snapped and tried another cave in, but she was now starting to feel a headache coming on. The beam was very weak and only caused a bit of dust to trickle down.

When they entered the unlit tunnels, Starlight just barely had enough concentration to use a light spell to show the way they were running. The unicorn brothers were in too much panic to think of doing it. The smoke kept on coming closer, tendrils began shooting out to try and grab them.

By some miracle they did manage to reach the secret entrance which was still wide open. It was a narrow escape, Private, who was the last being the least fit of all, barely got out before the smoke came pouring out after them.

The ponies quickly picked themselves up and hurried down the path. Already on it further ahead, were the pegasi sisters along with the fillies and the older ponies.

“Run, just run!” Starlight shouted when seeing them. The black smoke had finished coming out and congregated into a massive black cloud. It sprouted green and red eyes with purple mist streaming from the corners. It proceeded to immediately chase the fleeing ponies.

Private was once again last, already tired from the previous running and just simply way out of shape. He tried to think of anything else other than the black cloud coming closer and closer from behind him. He looked back and gasped when seeing shadowy tendrils heading straight for him.

“Private!” Dew Doe had noticed that her friend was lagging and immediately turned back and dove into the way of the shadow tendrils.

“Dew Doe!” Private shouted when the tendrils wrapped around the pegasus and pulled her closer to the cloud.

Dew Doe grunted and struggled mightily against the tendrils as she tried to break free. She shuddered when feeling that one was gently caressing her mane. As the mare got closer to the shadow and smoke, Sombra’s head began forming on it as he grinned maliciously at the pegasus.

“Oh my, what a tasty little treat I caught,” he chuckled cruelly and pulled her even closer to him. “I must say, you look even more beautiful in person. Private has an exquisite taste in mares.”

“Let me go you, creepy creep!” Dew Doe snarled and tried to hit the face with a hoof. It just passed through. “Get your tentacles off of me!”

“Feisty, aren’t you,” Sombra crooned and moved in closer. He opened his mouth and proceeded to give her cheek and parts of her mane a lick with his tongue. Dew Doe closed her eyes and made a face. She felt sick at the attention she was currently getting from the king. “I may just have found a newfound appreciation for candy canes.”

To the mare’s relief, Sombra’s attention was soon diverted when bluish-colored energy beams shot through his smoke form. Looking down they both saw Private standing on the path. The unicorn looked livid and was madly shooting magic with his horn at the smoke.

“LET HER GO, YOU BASTARD!!” Private screamed and continued to fire.

Sombra chuckled. Though quite the valiant effort by the unicorn, his magic was just too weak. The blasts shot harmlessly through the king. The other ponies were returning when noticing what was happening.

“Now that I have your attention!” he addressed them, dangling Dew Doe upside down with one shadow tendril, while using another to still caress her mane. The pegasus kept batting at them to try and remove them, but her hooves just kept going through. “Either my prisoners return, or I take this sweet little consolation prize instead.”

King Sombra then let out a cruel, malicious laughter that echoed through the mountains, reveling in the shock and horror from the ponies staring at him from below.

End chapter 22

Author's Note:

Threaten his nieces, his brother, his parents. Private will demand King Sombra just focus on him and torture him.

Grab Dew Doe. Private is suddenly ready to brawl.