When life gives you EXP

by FanOfSun

Chapter 11, part 3: Conflict

Chrysalis stared back at the dragon in disbelief. She knew that Sombra was out there somewhere, but to think that she would meet him here? Even the fact that he was able to take control of the DRAGON was shocking, considering that the last time when Sombra was defeated, he was supposed to be regaining energy for at least 10 years. Well, at least that's what everycreature thought...

Suddenly, dragon's face turned into the irritiated one "You know, I'm just giving you some time to think, only because one silly fella is stoppin' me" he closed his eyes "He doesn't even blame you for his death right now..."

Chrysalis was caught of guard with that. It was true, Sombra wasn't the one to let his opponents get some time. He was merciless and powerful enough to do so. Even now, she could feel Sombra's desire to beat her up. Exactly, just beat her up. Not destroy, annihilate or anything like that. Simply beat her to the pulp. Which was still not an option to be honest...

Still, it was weird for Sombra to feel empathy towards his host. It was obvious, that he was possessing this dragon's body. The spell that Sombra was using, gave him access to his target's memories. Usually, he simply ignored those. After all, Sombra was a Shadow Monarch.

What could have possibly happened to him...

Chrysalis scowled "The hell do you mean?!" she herself was getting angered. She didn't have time, nor patience for this. Chrysalis's horn started to glow even more "Doesn't matter, I will-" this is when she noticed that the batpony was nowhere to be found. Chrysalis quickly spotted her, flying towards the Ponyville.

She quickly turned her barrier into a shockwave, pushing the dragon away, and was about to take off. Chrysalis couldn't allow this pony to alert the Elements. She had managed to take flight, and started to accelerate...

Untill she felt something punching her stomach.

She gasped for air, and instinctively looked down. There, was the dragon, using his wings to fly. Sombra had to take off the sweater, so that it wouldn't tear apart.

He smirked, grabbed her hoof and pulled her down a bit "Where the hell do you think you are going?"

After cutting the distance, Sombra grabbed Chrysalis's torso and turned upside down, with his and her heads facing the ground. Soon enough, they started to fall down.

Chrysalis yelled with anger "GET YOUR FILTHY CLAWS OF ME!" she tried to free herself, but the dragon's grip was way too tight.

Sombra braced for impact "Nuh uh!"

Right after those words, they hit the ground. A lot of dust, grass and dirt flew into the air. A few moments later, the wind has managed to blow away some of those, revealing Sombra, standing near to the seemingly unconscious Chrysalis. She was, quite literally, stuck with her head in the ground.

Sombra looked up, and yelled something towards the distant bat pony "Make a good use of your wings, bat!"

"Oh shut up MR BADASS!"

Still, Dandelion was able to fly away safe and sound. After following her sith his eyes, Sombra seemed to be satisfied, and turned back to face moveless Chrysalis's body. He approached it and kneeled down, looking a bit concerned.

"Huh, I thought it would take much more to take you down..." he poked her side "..I didn't kill her, did I?"

However, his face changed after he made a physical contact with Chrysalis. Dragon instantly jumped away, and blocked his face with both of his hands. Right after Sombra's actions, Chrysalis's body started to glow with a green light and, in a second, an explosion had occured.

---

Dandelion was flying as fast as she could. Of course, she was worried about Vlad getting hurt, which is why she was going to get help as fast as she could. Even if Sombra himself was possessing his body, Dandelion didn't fully trust him. Well, it would be correct to say that she didn't think that Sombra had enough experience with controling bipedal creatures.

Still, all she had to do, was get to the town. Even though Dandelion wasn't as fast as Wonderbolts, she was already seeing outskirts of her destination.

She smirked 'Heh, guess I DID lose some weight over the past month!'

However, a sudden skip in her own heartbeat alerted Dandelion, and she stopped. Right after getting back to Equestria from Earth, she started to get those as a warning signal, before something not that good was about to happen. Dandelion noticed it, and now was trusting this reliable signal, whenever it occured.

This time wasn't exceptional. Right after stopping, Dandelion heard a faint, barely noticeable 'Bang' from behind her. She turned around just in time to see a rising cloud of dust.

"Oh this ain't good.."

However, before she could even start flying towards the 'epicenter', something caught her eye. Something about Ponyville seemed odd... As if a faint mist started to surround the town. Though, she didn't think much about it, as right now, her friend could be in danger.

With a single powerfull swing of her wings, Dandelion dashed towards the place where Sombra was fighting Chrysalis. She completely forgot why she was even going to the Ponyville in the first place.

"I swear, if Sombra somehow hurt Vlad's body, I will make him suffer inside my head!"

Which, by the way, was quite a fearsome threat and fate for the said unicorn.

---

A lot of debris have fallen around the hole that was left after the explosion. The huge cloud of dust has already settled, for the most part at least, and the silhouette of a dragon could be seen, rising from the earth.

Sombra groaned and looked down at the body he was possessing "Hmpf, not bad at all..." luckily, the dragon scales were strong enough to withstand this powerful blast. Even though they were designed to counter magic (at least that's what Sombra and Vlad found out), it was still surprising that they did well against the explosion itself.

Sombra then looked up at the place where the 'Chrysalis' has exploded "An explosive clone, and the powerful one. I thought that Chrysalis would try to save up her powers" he'd walked out of the cloud and dusted himself off.

One one hand, it was a good thing that this Chrysalis turned out to be a copy, and not the real deal. Sombra knew well enough that in his current state, he wouldn't even be a match for her. It wasn't even about the raw power, it was about the body he was possessing. Sombra didn't know the limits of Vlad's disquise, and he'd rather not risk yet.

On another though, this meant that this clone was a bait for others to swallow, a deadly one at that. Obviously, the actual Chrysalis was already among the ponies in the Ponyville, plotting her plan. Sombra knew well enough, that she would never waste so much energy for nothing, so her plan must have been put in action already.

"What the hell happened?!"

Sombra looked up, to see Dandelion flying towards him. Maybe he wasn't good at reading emotion, but she was definitely stressed.

Sombra raised his eyebrow "Calm down, we are completely fine." he then looked around "Though, I guess the sweater is done for"

Dandelion landed right in front of him, and she didn't look pleased at all "The heck was that explosion!?"

Sombra pointed towards the small crater "Explosive clone"

Dandelion didn't expect such a short answer "Oh. I see .."she then instantly shook her head "I swear, if something-"

Sombra raised his hand "Hus body is just fine"

Dandelion groaned and rubbed her elbow "Good" she then raised her head, clueless "Wait, but if that wasn't Chrysalis, then what is going on?"

Sombra put his claw to his chin "I can easily recognize her energy, and it was definitely hers" he then looked back at Dandelion "Why are you still here? "

She clipped her eyes, confused "Huh?"

Sombra frowned "You are supposed to be back at Ponyville, reporting what we have found"

Dandelion huffed "Oh well, EXCUSE ME for worrying about my friend, Mr. Totally Reliable!"

Sombra scowled "What's that supposed to mean?!"

Dandelion placed her hoof on her chin "Oh, I don't even know hmm..." she then gasped and pointed back at Sombra "Oh! Maybe the fact that you are one of the most evil creatures Equestria has ever seen?!" Sombra was about to strike back with an insult, when Dandelion started to approach him "And don't even start with 'But Vlad is ok with it'! He might trust you, somehow, but I don't!"

Sombra looked surprised by that aggression, and started to back down "Y-"

Dandelion instantly cut him off "Ever since I found out about you being with Vlad, I instantly knew that it was bad, QUITE bad. I tried to find out WHY you were able to stay with him for so long, untill it finally hit me!" she then tilted her head "He doesn't know just WHO you are! He has ABSOLUTELY no idea about your actions in the past! Vlad is just one of your countless victims, isn't he?! You are just playing 'friendly' to fool everypony around, so that you can have some time to regain your energy, aren't you?!" Dandelion exhaled some air, as she stopped approaching him "Vlad just doesn't understand anything about this world. Just like me, when I was stuck in his" she looked up, with cold in her eyes "Whatever it takes, I won't let you hurt him in any way"

Sombra might have been bigger than Dandelion was, yet he felt, somehow, smaller. He looked down, and sighed "I know well enough, that what I did is unforgivable. Years of pain and destruction that I caused. Not even thousand years of Tartarus will cleanse me of my sins. You are right about everything that you've said..." he then clenched his fist "You were right about everething, except one thing..." Sombra looked up "Vlad knows everething about me"

Dandelion's eyes became slightly bigger. She knew that Sombra was quite a coward, and that this whole speech could be ome of his lies. Yet... Something was telling her, that he was sincere right now.

Sombra inhaled some air and kept on going "I even tried to control him, when we met for the first time! "

Dandelion's face changed into the annoyed one 'Of course...'

"Yet, Vlad didn't hesitate to help me... And this I could not ignore. " Sombra rubbed his eyes "I know it sounds... Quite childish when we talk about ME. But.." he lightly smiled "I'm truly grateful for this chance he gave me..."

Dandelion stared at him with a hint of suspicion. At this point, it was obvious to her that this speech was WAY too emotional for Sombra SHE knew. Never in her entire life, had she heard about The Dark Emperor ever expressing emotions. Yet, there she was, listening about Sombra's gratitude towards her best friend... Though, Dandelion couldn't blame him. Sombra might have thought that Vlad was merciful and kind.

But the truth was that Vlad was simply too trustworthy... Or maybe even stu-

Dandelion huffed and shook her head "Fine, I heard you. We are on the same page here" she then looked directly into the Sombra's eyes "But if you DARE to hurt him-"

Sombra cut her out "I understand, you don't have to repeat that again"

Dandelion snorted "I'm glad that I made myself clear"

They simply stood in one place for a few silent moments, letting the tension dissapear.

Sombra crossed arms on his chest "..So, are you going to go back into the town? We might not have much time, you know"

Dandelion's ears perked up "Oh, I actually wanted to ask you something!"

Sombra slightly tilted his head "Hm?"

Dandelion moved her hoof in circular motion and averted her eyes, as if memorizing something "Say, is it ok for the town to get surrounded by the evil looking green mist all of the sudden?"

Sombra closed his eyes for a moment, so that he would be able to take it in 'It's obviously Chrysalis's doing. What I can't understand though... Why? Up to this moment, her actions made no sense to me.' he rubbed his face with irritiated expression 'First, the clone... Now this? '

Sombra tried to memorize everething up untill now. First of all, the wagon itself was quite empty... He was able to see that while punching the clone with Dandelion. Second of all, the only noticeable object there, was a small cubic like thing in the corner, cowered with cloth. Right before using his 'Shadow Dive', Sombra managed to see a faint glow, underneath the covers....

...well, now that the wagon and it's insides are destroyed, he can't really study what exactly it was.

'Maybe there are some pieces of this thing left in the debris ...'

Sombra looked down at the Dandelion "Say, was there anything else that was weird?"

She stopped poking the dragon, and hummed "Well, it was quiet. Absolutely no sounds. Quite bizzare, especially since it's the Festival!"

Sombra frowned "Quiet..?" he then looked at the epicenter of the explosion and approached it.

Dandelion placed a hoof on her face and groaned "Fine, I will make it easy for you. There is something hella wrong with the Ponyville!" she turned back in the direction of the town "And thanks to watching a lot of cliché movies with Vlad, I'm pretty sure that this whole mist is some kind of poison or... I dunno, magical stuff?"

Sombra kneeled down, after noticing one of the weird metallic like pieces and picked it up "As idiotic as it sounds, but you might have a point" he raised the piece above his head, and stared at it. A faint vibration was going through the metal, getting weaker every cycle.

Dandelion stared back at him, slightly surprised "Huh, really?"

Sombra simply nodded and stood up, tossing the piece in his hand "Say, is this place in particular somehow special? You know these places better than I do" he already had a theory, though he had to be a bit more sure.

Dandelion tilted her head, and hummed "Nkw that you mention it..." she stared at the road they were staying next to. Only now, has she noticed just how wide it was "Wait, that's the main road towards Ponyville! Its hard to miss, since it barely has any turns, and absolutely no lant-"

"Alright, no need to go in depth" Sombra threw the metal thingy away and stood up "Guess I know just what might have happened" he turned around to face the bat pony "You ar enot stupid, are you?"

Dandelion was about to insult him back, but then she thought for a few moments "Well, I understand that Chrysalis blocked the road with a clone, so that she can do something in Ponytown" she then looked at one of the metal pieces on the ground "But what's that?"

Sombra was about to answer the question "Well, you see, that's-"

And then, he fell to the ground, unconscious.

Author's Note:

Gaaah progress is going so slooooow...

Also, I should really stop with splitting chapters into different parts. I can't do it properly...I guess 2 more parts will come out, before this chapter is finished.

..and hey, we got some uh... Drama apparently! (I'm not that good with this kind of stuff)