Rage of a Queen, wrath of a Mother

by Askre

Chapter 17. Thank me? Whatever for?

Chapter 17

Twilight Sparkle felt relief wash over her when she finally returned to her castle in Ponyville. She had to resist an urge to head over to the school to see how things were going there, trusting that Starlight could handle things for now while the current situation was being addressed.

Right now she had one more thing to do before calling it a day. She entered the castle and headed towards the map room. Spike was already running towards her.

“Hi Spike, are they here?” she asked her assistant.

“Yes, Fluttershy just arrived,” he reported with a nod. The dragon was then allowed to jump on her back as the princess continued.

Twilight was a little nervous. After she had caught Chrysalis and transported her to Canterlot with Luna, the friendship princess had been tasked with watching Manehattan, especially where Barricade lived, just in case Rabia tried anything else. But, as it turned out, things had taken quite a different turn. Private had arrived to check on his brother and stayed there for most of the day until Twilight got a message that he needed to go to Canterlot once he was done. It turned out Rabia had attacked his home.

The friendship princess was just out of a meeting with Celestia, Luna, and Cadance regarding this recent development and what to do next. Now she needed to discuss it with her friends. A small part of her was not looking forward to it.

Rainbow Dash had helped her keep an eye on Manehattan, and when Twilight got the opportunity, she had finally cornered her friend to talk about what was bothering her so much. Dash had been evasive at first before finally spilling it out, and due to that, Twilight was even more skeptical this next meeting was going to go well. She reminded herself that the important thing was that she remained calm.

Well here goes nothing, she thought and finally opened the doors to the map room and entered. All her five friends sat on their respective seats and turned to look at her.

“Hello, thanks all for coming. I’ve got some news and, boy, is it a doozy!” Twilight addressed them with a smile.

“Sure thing, Twi. Ah take it relates to that Queen Rabia?” Applejack asked what the rest of the mares were thinking.

“Yes, it does,” the princess nodded as she got seated on her chair; as she did, Spike jumped down to his own little chair right next to hers.

“Rainbow, have you had time to tell them we caught Chrysalis?” Twilight looked at the pegasus, who nodded.

“She hasn’t stopped talking about it,” Rarity remarked with a wry grin.

“Hey, what can I say? It was awesome. I pummeled into Queen Rabia and easily dodged Chrysalis when she flew up to attack me. Then Twilight came and blasted her down. Too bad we didn’t get a chance to grab the Queen too,” Rainbow Dash smirked and puffed out her chest in pride.

“Well, there were only two of us,” Twilight said and then looked over the group. “Rabia was busy today.”

Twilight told them what had happened yesterday night, Rainbow Dash adding her two cents at first. Then she told them what happened elsewhere, also explaining what had been happening today when Rabia had finally made her move in Fillydelphia.

“Oh my, are they okay?” Fluttershy asked concerned, referring mostly to Foxy and Dew.

“They are all fine. Sombra’s little trick was an alarm to Celestia if Rabia attacked him. The princess got the call and arrived on time to chase her away,” Twilight assured her friend. Then she sighed. “Unfortunately, Rabia escaped.”

“However, we now have Chrysalis in custody and confirmation that she was working with Queen Rabia. Celestia has…” Twilight hesitantly glanced at Rainbow Dash. “asked King Sombra to interrogate her for Rabia’s location.”

“What!?” Rainbow snapped and stomped both front hooves on the table. “First, she let this bozo out of Tartarus. Now she’s letting him interrogate Chrysalis?”

“Rainbow, let her finish,” Applejack glared over at the pegasus.

“No, no, it’s alright, Applejack. Rainbow does have a good reason to feel this way, don’t you, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight said calmly and looked at the pegasus. Things hadn’t exploded as badly as the princess had feared, then again, Twilight knew she tended to overthink things.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes, sneered a little, then fell back to her seat, folding her legs. For a moment, she just stewed here. Twilight gave everyone a sign to just let her. Finally, the pegasus eased her expression and gave a deep sigh.

“I just absolutely hate him. He captured me, tortured me, then when we went to Tartarus to talk with Tirek, he tried to pull me into his cage, saying he was going to eat me,” Rainbow told them quietly and shuddered a bit. “It bothers me that we are letting him run loose like this. It’s like he is not being punished at all. I want to see him blown up again like we did in the Crystal Empire when we first dealt with him.”

“Oh darling, it’s quite understandable that you feel that way,” Rarity said and dropped down from her seat and trotted over to Rainbow. She placed a leg around her friend in a reassuring hug. “You know you can always talk with us when feeling like this.”

“Yeah, we don’t like him any more than you do,” Pinkie bounced over and grabbed Rainbow in an even firmer hug.

“We do understand how you feel, Rainbow Dash. We really don’t like this arrangement any more than you do. We can only really trust that Celestia and Luna know what they are doing. They clearly think we need Sombra to deal with Rabia. Don’t forget; we really thought it was a bad idea when she suddenly decided to reform Discord, and you can see how that turned out…granted with few bumps in the road.” Twilight smiled warmly at her friend. Glad to see this was going better than she had anticipated. “And it’s not like we are trying reform Sombra. We are just enlisting his help in dealing with a pony who is threatening to destroy another nation. Ponies who shouldn’t have to pay for the crimes of their ancestors.”

“Yeah…I guess that’s true.” Rainbow nodded and then hugged both Pinkie and Rarity back. “Thanks, guys, I was just…”

“Just being you, Rainbow. We understand,” Applejack chuckled, and so did the rest of the mares. Dash grinned a little.

“Alright, enough sappiness,” Rainbow declared, freeing herself from her two friends. “What happens now?”

“Well, we are no longer looking for Chrysalis. Our focus is now on Queen Rabia. If the interrogation is successful, we will find where she is hiding. Celestia is also going to try and reach Saddle Arabia again. She hasn’t heard anything from Ambassador Saddlefar, and that concerns her,” Twilight explained once everybody was back in their respective seats. “However, Celestia wants us now to be ready for anything. Rabia might try and go for Sombra again, but if not, her next move will be on Saddle Arabia.”

---

In a prison cell in Canterlot Castle, Queen Chrysalis sat and glared at the pony sitting in front of the bars. King Sombra just looked neutral as he regarded the captured changeling. After Princess Celestia had shown him where the queen was being kept, he had just sat down in front of the cell and started watching her.

“I see they have not only let you out of Tartarus, but allowed you access to all your powers,” Chrysalis finally retorted, narrowing her eyes. Still, Sombra said nothing, just kept watching.

“Don’t tell me you are actually willingly working for them? Ponies both of us look at as enemies,” the changeling snarled in contempt. The king just raised his eyebrow slightly.

“Didn’t we used to be allies? I supplied you with spies; you supplied me with slaves. Surely that counts for something here. Free me since you have your powers,” Chrysalis demanded and stomped her hoof down.

“Do you not wonder why you are here in a cell?” Sombra spoke up, at last, speaking in a quiet tone of voice.

“Because Twilight and that rainbow pegasus captured me, that’s why!” Chrysalis snorted and rolled her eyes as if that had been the stupidest question she had ever heard. She sneered and glared at Sombra when the king started to chuckle.

“You weren’t alone there, Chrysalis. Wasn’t my mother there? You are not wondering why she didn’t help you? Why hasn’t she sprung you out already? I’m sure she made promises to gain your assistance, doubt those promises included being captured again,” the Dark Unicorn pointed out.

Sombra noted that this caused Chrysalis to pause, dropping the sneer. She now seemed to be thinking about what the king had said. The queen scowled as she was thinking over the events that had led to her second capture.

“What was it that you were supposed to do for my mother?” Sombra asked, though he had a feeling he knew the answer to that question, considering his mother’s impromptu visit to where he was staying.

“I was to locate you or find a way to locate you. I recalled you having this obsession over these dark pony descendants and Rabia pointed me to that pony in Manehattan. She came personally to interrogate him once I had him isolated,” Chrysalis shrugged. “By the way, I ran into one of your spells inside of him when I tried to mesmerize him.”

“Yes, I recall I asked you to leave those ponies alone. I meant it,” Sombra frowned heavily. “Glad to see how well you keep to your promises to me, my dear ally.”

“Hey, don’t you turn this back on me. I’m not the one working for Princess Celestia right now,” Chrysalis snapped.

“And you were working with my mother!” Sombra snarled, his eyes flashing green as he rose. The room started to darken. Shadow tendrils struck out from the king, grabbed Chrysalis, and slammed her to the cell's back wall. “That is a pretty bad strike as far as I’m concerned.”

“You are nothing without your hive, Chrysalis! I watched you after your second defeat. Yammering on and on in the woods how you would finally get your revenge. Doing nothing but blathering. You are absolutely pathetic without your subjects to boss around,” the Dark Pony growled and squeezed the changeling with the tendrils.

“And now look where it has gotten you. You have been captured two times and played like an absolute fool by Queen Rabia. I would sooner work with Princess Celestia than ever suffer my mother ever again!” he snapped and slammed the queen to the floor, finally letting her go.

Chrysalis coughed and retched as she tried to regain composure again. The world was spinning after being tossed around like that. Slowly she started to rise, glaring at the king the whole time.

“You call me…” Chrysalis's words froze in her mouth when Sombra assumed his shadow form, fully emerged into her cell, looming over her, baring his teeth. Extremely sharp crystals sprouted all around her and threatened to skewer her right there and then. There was a murderous glint in the king’s eyes.

“Say it.” Sombra hissed, his voice laced with nothing but hate and contempt. “Go on. Say it.”

Chrysalis felt a small tinge of worry. She knew Sombra well and knew he never made idle threats. The crystals continued to edge closer slowly, all around her. The changeling couldn’t help but wonder if this was an approved Celestia method. This didn’t look like something she would allow at all.

“Alright, Celestia, call him back. You made your point,” Chrysalis called and looked worried at Sombra. When she was facing his mother, at least she did have access to her powers, but now she was completely defenseless.

“Celestia will not help you, Chrysalis. We are all alone here. Right now, all I am seeing is a bug my mother used to get her way, yet again,” Sombra snarled and started to come closer. “Do you have any idea how happy I was when I heard she had been killed? Or the dread I felt when I accidentally brought her back? No, you don’t because you are just absolutely incapable of having those feelings. I don’t know what my mother offered you, but it was clearly good enough for you.”

“Alright, Sombra, that’s enough.” Chrysalis never thought she would be so happy to hear that voice coming from somewhere else in the room. Yet Sombra was not stopping his crystals.

“Give me one good reason why not, Celestia?” the king snapped, still not backing off.

“She knows where your mother is,” Celestia pointed out.

“She’s in a cave in the woods, near the Mcintosh Mountains! I swear! She’s holed up there with some mindless slaves she captured somewhere! She’s staying there until she’s ready to attack Saddle Arabia!” Chrysalis shouted and closed her eyes tight, expecting to be impaled at any second now.

The crystals vanished, and King Sombra returned to his previous position and pony form in front of the cell. Celestia stepped up to look into the cell. Chrysalis was slowly opening one eye, still flinching at the expected execution.

“Thank you, Chrysalis. Now, we are still waiting on word from King Thorax regarding what to do with you. You do have to answer for the crimes you committed in Equestria. However, you are also being held responsible for what you did to the Changeling race. You will be kept in this cell until that time,” she addressed the queen.

Chrysalis was genuinely too shaken to respond to that, slumping back down and watching Sombra stand up and walk away. Celestia departed and left the changeling to stew alone in her cell.

---

“That was a bit excessive,” Celestia remarked as she and Sombra returned to Canterlot Castle proper.

“I thought it wasn’t excessive enough,” the king snorted and just continued walking without looking at the princess. “Regretting our deal already?”

“That remains to be seen. At least we know where she’s been hiding. However, I am concerned about those mindless slaves. I’ve had no reports of ponies missing,” the alicorn furrowed her brow in thought.

“You have actually,” Sombra stated, causing Celestia to look at him, confused. “Didn’t you say you haven’t heard from the Saddle Arabian ambassador? Doesn’t that strike you as a little odd?”

“Oh no…communications are not that slow…I must contact the Emir immediately,” she gasped in shock and started to hurry her pace towards the throne room. Sombra just shrugged and decided to follow since he wasn’t quite sure what was the next move. He assumed going directly to deal with his mother, but he really didn’t have any desire to confront her right now at all.

As they continued, Celestia was starting to gallop, a door opened, and Private Iceland came out of it. The unicorn blinked when seeing the sun princess race past him, then froze when seeing King Sombra, with no manacle on his horn.

“Private,” Sombra just addressed him simply and continued to follow the princess. He chuckled when hearing the door slam behind him, assuming the unicorn had run back inside the room he had been in. He halted when hearing a nervous voice address him. Glancing back, Private stood there, shaking a little but still didn’t move.

“You have nothing to worry about. You’re no longer my custodian. I’m staying here in Canterlot under the watchful eyes of the Princesses until my mother is dealt with,” Sombra told him.

“Actually um…I wanted to uh… thank you…” Private rubbed the back of his head with a hoof.

“Thank me? Whatever for?” the king turned around to face the unicorn.

“Saving Dew and Foxy…She told me what happened and uh…you got Foxy out and after that, you saved Dew from that blast…” Private continued shifting a bit on his hooves as he spoke.

“They are fine friends. You are lucky to have them,” Sombra shrugged, not really seeing the big deal himself. “I can see why you love her, though.”

“Yeah,” Private nodded, then glanced at the door. Then he eyed the king again. “I uh…was also supposed to get you to talk about your mother…but guess that’s moot now.”

“I can almost picture how well that would have gone,” Sombra snorted, rolling his eyes, and started to turn around. “Well, if there was nothing else, I better get myself back to where Celestia can see me. I am still bound by agreements made, and I intend to honor them until this situation is resolved.”

“You hate your mother that much that you would actually honor the agreements?” Private asked, somewhat surprised. The unicorn was amazed the king hadn’t tried escaping now that his powers were no longer suppressed.

“Private, at this point, I will even work willingly with Princess Cadance and the other ponies that blew me up, if it means seeing my mother dead again,” the Dark Pony growled as he resumed walking towards the throne room, not even looking back at the now uncertain unicorn.

Sombra finally reached the throne room. Princess Celestia stood before her secretary, Raven Inkwell, furiously writing on a scroll, which she promptly sent away with a spell. Then she was given another by Raven and began writing on one that as well.

“I take it you have no way to directly communicate with the Emir?” Sombra asked as he walked closer.

“This is the most direct way we have, save teleporting all the way to Saddle Arabia and talking with him and his regent in person,” Celestia informed him.

“Well, why haven’t you just been doing that in the first place?” the king wondered, confused. It sounded to him like there shouldn’t be any communication problem. The princess sighed and glanced back at the king.

“I am bound by certain diplomatic agreements. Saddle Arabia is run a little differently than Equestria, also because we haven’t been sure what Rabia was going to be doing. It hadn’t reached the state of emergency that required immediate contact yet,” she said a bit sharply.

“I can’t help but feel there was a jab there aimed at me…wait,” Sombra frowned as he realized what Celestia had just said regarding the Emir. “Regent?”

“Emir Horsefar is only ten. His mother runs most governmental affairs for him until he comes of age.” Celestia returned her attention to the scroll she was writing, then when satisfied with it, sent it away with a spell.

“The Emir also has limited authority - his role is largely ceremonial. He oversees the legislative council and approves laws, but elected council members do the majority of the governing of Saddle Arabia.” Sombra turned his head at the voice addressing him, arching his brow when seeing that Private had followed him to the throne room.

“Elected?” the king was just a bit too stunned right now to form a sentence fully.

“By the Saddle Arabian population,” Private clarified. He was pretty sure that Sombra knew perfectly well what elections were.

“Not too far from how it’s here in Equestria either, though Luna and I do have more a hooves-on approach to the government,” Celestia remarked and finally turned fully around after dismissing her secretary.

Sombra glanced over to her, but before he could say anything, there was a flash of magic, and an official-looking scrolled popped into the room. Celestia quickly grabbed it in her magic and unfurled it. She took a moment to read it, her brow rising high before lowering it, looking mildly surprised.

“Well, we may have to teleport after all. Sombra, are you up for a trip?” she asked.

“To where?” Sombra asked, looking and sounding very skeptical.

“To Saddle Arabia. The Emir wishes to see you,” Celestia told him.

“Excuse ME!?” Sombra all but shouted. Then he quickly composed himself and sneered. “Why would I want to see him!?”

“That’s just it. I don’t know,” Celestia said and raised the scroll back up and read from it:

“To her Magnificent Royal Highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria. We have received your stark warning and will act promptly. We also understand from your letter that your warning comes from His Royal Highness, Prince Sombra, now defacto King Sombra of the Great Dark Pony Empire. We wish to extend an invitation to him to speak with us regarding his mother, Her Majesty Queen Rabia, the former ruler of the Great Dark Pony Empire. With haste, Emir Horsefar of Saddle Arabia, co-signed, Regent Manemin of Saddle Arabia.”

Celestia lowered the scroll again. She and Private now observed Sombra, who looked too stunned to speak. They didn’t dare think that his world view had been shattered by one letter, but it almost did seem like it had suffered a mild hit.

“That didn’t sound like a ten-year-old colt,” Sombra finally snorted.

“It was probably written by his mother, in his name,” Celestia quickly pointed out.

“Alright fine, I will come along and witness this farce, on two conditions,” the king snorted. To Private, the Dark Pony sounded more as if he had been told to do the laundry again.

“Always with the conditions. Fine. Name them,” the Sun Princess shook her head tiredly.

“I get even one hint that I don’t like how this is going, I’m out. You can throw me back to Tartarus for all I care,” Sombra growled and felt a little satisfied when Celestia nodded in agreement. “Second, Private is coming along as my retainer.”

“Wait, WHAT?” Private blinked in confusion. Sombra glared at the unicorn.

“You are a Dark Pony by ancestry. If this Emir Horsefar insists on dazzling me with titles, even if they are my rightful titles, another Dark Pony will accompany me to his court,” Sombra snorted.

“That does sound reasonable, I suppose. Private, I will be there as well and keeping an eye on Sombra. We do need to coordinate with the Emir at this point, especially if Sombra is right that Rabia has abducted Ambassador Saddlefar,” Celestia looked sympathetically towards Private.

“He already looks at me as his servant. Why do I have to agree to anything?” Private grumbled, giving Sombra a stink eye. The king sighed in frustration.

“That’s a companion. That’s not the same as a retainer,” the king grunted under his breath. He then muttered. “I want someone around that I can trust.”

This time it was Private and Celestia who were stunned. Sombra was cringing as if he couldn’t believe he just admitted this, yet he made no move to correct himself.

“I…uh…just let me let the girls know,” Private said and quickly vacated the throne room.

He does sound different. Has his short stay at Private’s home actually given him insights he’s never considered? Celestia thought as she regained her composure. Sombra was headed to a row of seats intended for ponies waiting for her audience.

No, let’s not think too far ahead. He is at least somewhat reasonable. The princess started to walk towards a side entrance. “I’m going to let Luna know that I’ll be taking a trip, then prepare myself for a long-distance teleport. Unless you wish to do that?”

“I am not wasting an ounce of my powers. I need everything I currently have in case I must face mother again,” Sombra growled. He was now seated in one of the chairs. Celestia just nodded and departed the throne room.

End chapter 17

Comments

[Ice Star]

“That’s a companion. That’s not the same as a retainer,” the king grunted under his breath. He then muttered. “I want someone around that I can trust.”

Gay gay homosexual gay.

[Askre]

11055506
ROFL To his credit, Sombra isn't denying anything about his preferences, he just doesn't like to admit he wants to have someone around he can trust. He's going to enemy territory after all.