The Ruler of Ponies and Men

by Boopy Doopy

(5-4) Top of the Mountain

Brimstone stood once again at the top of the mountain, in front of the cave that contained Grogar’s Bewitching Bell, but this time, he was prepared.

Drawn in the snow in front of him was a series of symbols, the ones needed to take down the forcefield in front of him, written seven or eight times in a row just in case he hadn’t written them correctly. As well, there were a few candles out in the snow, ones he enchanted to withstand the wind of Gusty’s spell on the mountain. They were set up in the positions he needed them in, the spots required for him to take down the field in front of him. He inspected everything, going over it three or four times to make sure everything was nice and perfect, and once he was satisfied, he began to work his magic.

He took a breath and began to cast the spell, casting each character slowly to make sure he got it right, breathing deeply as he did so. At the same time as well, he spoke the words to the spell as he remembered them, making sure to speak loudly and clearly, pausing at the right times in the spell. It was quite a process to do, to both speak and focusing on casting the characters correctly, but somehow, he was able to manage it, and after the spell was complete, he watched as his candles went out and the forcefield dissipated.

“Ha! It actually worked!” he exclaimed happily, giving a little hop in the air. “I can’t believe it! Who needs to be liked when I’ll be able to conquer Equestria? This is amazing!” He smiled gleefully as his work, taking a moment to rest and breathe while he appreciated his work before strolling in.

It was dark inside, and a bit warmer than the rest of the snow covered mountain top, and seemed to be lit up with blue crystals that lined the walls. The path inside had the track marks of another pony, Gusty the Great herself Brimstone assumed, which he thought was exciting. He was walking the very same path the famed unicorn walked. Quite an amazing feeling it was, an accomplishment that he could brag to other ponies about.

“Wait, no. Stop that,” he told himself sternly. “You’re not here to tour the place. You’re here to grab the bell and take over Equestria. Nothing else matters. Nothing.”

He would show them. Call him a villain and he would be a villain. It was what everypony did anyway. Except for Sombra, or Alex, it seemed, but that didn’t matter. He would push him aside too, although maybe he’d let him be a delegate since he was nice to him. But everypony else? He would show all of them.

In no time at all, he found himself walking into the main room of the cave, which was decorated with paintings of other famous ponies and creatures he knew, like Grogar and Discord and Celestia and, interestingly enough, Twilight Sparkle. He didn’t know how or why the cave held these paintings, but he put it out of his mind after a few seconds of examination and turned his attention to what he came all the way to the top of Mount Everhoof twice for.

In front of him, on the top of what looked to be a dried fountain carved out of rock, was the bell he wanted. It was a strangely colored object, one that seemed about the same color as the stone around him. It was cracked in a few areas, but giving it a few shakes as he picked it up indicated that the bell still rang, which was good. That meant it would still do what he wanted it to.

He smiled widely as he held the thing in his hooves. He was just about halfway to his goal now with the bell's acquisition. It was only a matter of time before he succeeded completely. Although he did have a new concern now, which was that he didn’t exactly know how to use the bell. He knew what it was supposed to do and what it would look like when it was working. He knew it would light up when it was stealing a creature's magic, but he had no idea how to get it to do so, which was a problem. He could only guess where the instructions for how to use it were.

“Sweet Celestia, I have to go back to the library…” he muttered to himself as he gathered his candles and used a hoof to mark out the symbols he drew, marching down the mountain again, slightly frustrated, but at least now with the bell in his hooves.

---

“So that’s what we think should happen,” Starlight finished, explaining to Luna what she and Twilight discussed. “I’m not sure we’ll be able to completely separate them, but it should be fairly simple to get one of them to the forefront, at least from a technical standpoint.”

“Hmmmm… and you’re sure this is the best way?” Luna asked. “Can you be sure that Sombra himself won’t try anything if you do it this way?”

“Well, we can’t be one hundred percent sure, but that’s why we have it designed to run out on its own after seventy two hours. That way he can see how he feels about each one and decide what he wants.”

“And you’re certain there won’t be any issues with the spell?” the alicorn asked.

“Nope, there won’t be any issues. Twilight and I went over it a hundred times to be sure everything looked correct, and we designed more than one way to deactivate the spell on the fly should something weird happen. Everything’s planned out to perfection, at least on our end. Right, Twilight?”

“Uhh, right. Nothing, uh, nothing weird should happen,” the purple pony responded unconvincingly, only half paying attention, more worried about the blue alicorn's reaction.

Luna looked between the two of them for a few moments as though gauging their trustworthiness before asking, “How soon do you plan on having this done?”

“Well, in theory, we could do it right now, but I’m assuming he’ll want to have Fluttershy here in case anything goes wrong, so… I was thinking we could do it tomorrow afternoon? Unless you have something going on then, or that’s too early for you.”

“Tomorrow afternoon should be fine,” Luna answered. “Thank you for coming to me with this. I realize my methods might come off as a bit… brutish. As you know, if it were me, I would have sent Cadance to Tartarus and been done with it. However, it is still in my opinion that we rid ourselves of Sombra once and for all, even as unpopular an idea as it may be.”

---

I was wearing a wide grin after Starlight and Twilight left, excited for what would be happening tomorrow, but Radiant Hope was predictably more skeptical.

“I really, really want you to be careful, Alex,” she told me with concern. “I know it’s exciting that things are finally going to be better for you, but you have to make sure they aren’t going to secretly hurt you or something. You and I both know that they aren’t that far above doing that.”

“I know, but I have to trust somepony, and if it has to be anyone, it would be Starlight. Besides, Fluttershy will be there, too, and I know she won't let anything happen to me.”

She sighed at that, continuing, “But what if something goes wrong? What if something messes up like…” She trailed off, blushing and looking away, no doubt remembering what happened in the hospital room back in the Crystal Empire.

“I’m sure it’s going to be fine,” I assured her. “They’re not going in blind like we were. Starlight said she’s been working for weeks on this, since I asked her about it before the trial. I don’t think anything is going to go wrong, and even if something does, I have my own failsafe.”

“That’s the other thing: you said you have a way to fix this, but you don’t want to use it yet and don’t want to tell me what it is. Why don’t you just use that if you think it’ll work?”

“Because it’s very risky, and I can’t guarantee what the outcome will be for me if I use that. That’s why I want to go this route first to see what happens.”

“I- I just…” She frowned sadly as she told me, “I feel bad saying it, but… I really think you’re getting better. I… really think holding out is the best idea… I’m sorry, but I really think it is. I really, truly feel like you’re getting better, and this could hurt that.”

“I know you’re concerned about me, but this really does kill me,” I told her. “It might not look like it all the time, but even if I don’t show it, every single day it kills me. I hate feeling the way I do, and I need it to end.”

“But I…” she trailed off sadly. “I… whatever happens, I lose. I don’t want to lose my friend, and even if you choose… I really think they’ll turn against us. But even that wouldn’t be half as bad as losing you forever. I don’t want to lose my friend. I mean, you’re my friend, too, but… I don’t want to lose Sombra…” She gave a little sniffle as she said it, one that made me feel just the tiniest bit bad.

“I really think it’ll all work out,” I told her. “I really, truly believe so. I still haven’t decided what I want them to do, but if it’s me who goes, I’ll make sure Fluttershy knows that they should give Sombra a chance. Actually, I’m not even sure I’ll need to do that. I’m sure she’ll say that on her own. And if it’s Sombra... well, like I said, I’ll be your friend if you want me to be. I mean, it probably won’t be the love that you and Sombra have together, but it’ll be something.”

“A… a starting point maybe?” she asked hopefully, looking up at me for a moment before looking back at her hooves, shuffling them. “If…”

I gave a little chuckle at that. “Maybe. We’ll have to see how it goes and where my feelings lie after all of this, if I’m still around.”

She gave me a sad smile at that, which was better than seeing her frown, and said, “I love you, Sombra.”

“I love you too, Hope,” I responded.

Author's Note:

A bit late, but here it is.
You can join my discord if you'd like... Also, buy me a coffee?

Comments

[Misty Shadow]

However, it is still in my opinion that we rid ourselves of Sombra once and for all, even as unpopular an idea as it may be.”

Luna's going against the grain! But yeah, it's the kind of idea you should expect to be unpopular in friendship horse world.

[shadow wolf1573]

Nice

[tsaukpaetra]

Interesting, Sparkle was foretold?
Hope really does abuse that reflexive response...

[Tenebris Lucifer]

10879279
Noticed he wasn't exactly complaining about it anymore
(At least in the chapter)