Long live the king

by Msande

To and back again

The room was cleared out, however he still had a small group of red glowing, each one slamming their front hooves down on the shield he had erected in defense. However it was not on the impending figures. "If they haven't disrupted my stash I should have an armory in the caves," Sombra reminded himself as his shield fell back before rapidly expanding, slamming all the attackers back. He bolted into the hall and he spotted a few more attackers. A mass of white swords appeared above him as he set them flying.

Each sword hit its mark as all three of the crystal ponies were dropped to the floor. "Now, where is my - that will work," he said as he found a massive hole in the floor. He dropped down into the caves and he glanced around. His ears pricked as the sound of panic and screaming echoed above him.

"Hello?" came out a voice. He would never have picked it up if it were not for the echo that carried the quiet voice.

"Oh dandy, just what i need, more civilians to deal with," he said, shaking his head as a massive eight-legged shadow appeared behind him.

"Where are you?" Fluttershy asked, glancing around. She could have sworn she had heard something skittering around, but what kind of creature would live in such a dark cave? The sound she was chasing was soon replaced and she silently lowered herself. "This bad, very, very bad," she kept repeating until she turned around to spot a massive spider, easily as a tall as Celestia herself, lowering down at a pony. "Oh, no, you don't," she said, picking up her pace to slide in front of the spider and glare at it. The spider was grey and black furred with big black eyes dotting its head. "Don't you dare touch that pony while his back is turned!" she shouted. The spider's legs suddenly curled up, clearly panicked.

"Fluttershy?" asked Sombra as he turned around. She blinked as he stood there in a silver crystal armor that seemed to shine even in the dark.

"King Sombra." she said in a low squeak. His green eyes went to her before slowly going up at the spider.

"Speedy?" he asked. The spider dropped to the ground but the impact threw them both straight up in the air. "How in the world are you still alive?" he asked, completely ignoring Fluttershy.

"Um Mr. Sombra, King, sir, what are you doing here?" she said in a low whisper.

"Did you get stuck in a crystal," he mused to himself, "Well I guess with magic, anything is possible. But a spider surviving in an age old Unicorn bunker."

"Bunker?" Fluttershy asked, holding her hoof out as if to tap his shoulder and get his attention.

"Well let us see, if you did get trapped, the recent shifts could have released you. Ah whatever, if an all powerful celestial being can live for a thousand years, why not a spider," he said, shrugging it off. "Come on Miss Shy, and do try not to mumble too much - a pony would think you were talking to yourself. We need to make sure every pony is evacuating."

"Why?" she asked. A mass of crystal spikes shot out of the ground under her. "Eep!" she cried, leaping and grabbing onto Sombra's neck. More multi-colored rocks began to pulse red as they started to grow. Fluttershy leaped off Sombra, screaming in a low voice. The spider dropped to the ground, it's pincers a good head higher than Sombra himself. He leaped up onto the spider's back, his armor glowing as the visor slide down over his face.

"Get on the spider if you want to live," he told Fluttershy, holding out his hoof. Fluttershy hesitated but with even his horn covered up by a normal looking one, she could pretend he was something other than the dark ruler. She grabbed onto his armored hoof and she was pulled onto the spider just as a spike shot up from were she was.

The spider didn't bother to hesitate as all eight legs scurried back to the opening, going straight up onto the ceiling and climbing out of the hole while they both clung to the spider. It leaped out of the hole as the whole castle seemed to shake.

"Speedy, give me some thread!" Sombra ordered. The spider obeyed and each of the beaten crystal ponies was soon wrapped in webbing before being dragged through the halls.

The spider slid around the corner. A group of solders were being beaten back by a much larger group as well as what looked like an blue and orange Pegasus. "Pull back and reform, shields out!" Sombra roared over the fighting. They all scrambled back; his magic flowed over his helmeted horn and let out a massive shield to let the guards catch their breath.

The shield snapped as the guards lined up. The enraged ponies clashed against the shields as spears came down.

"Eek," Fluttershy cried out in panic as she covered her eyes.

"No discipline," Sombra growled, his horn glowing. He shot out a spiral of magic, each bolt raining down and slamming each of the attackers to the ground. He pulled up a mass of spider silk and quickly used his magic to wrap them up as well. The ground broke apart behind them. "Everyone out!" he roared, pointing his hoof forward. Not even bothering to question him, the guards bolted forward.

"Who is this guy?" one of the guards asked.

"I am a stallion on the big spider, trying to protect an element. Any more questions?" he shouted. There was no reply. "No, we need to escort ponies outside of the evacuation area. Get them out of the way!" he shouted, glaring through his helmet. "Bah, you're all useless." His horn glowed as the attackers were pulled up by their hindfeet and knocked together. "We don't have much time. Everyone take a route out and make a quick sweep for any stranglers!"

The group nodded. "Where did all these crystals come from?" Futtershy asked. But Sombra seemed to ignore her.

"I was nervous about Princess Celestia and Luna when they first came into being. I was paranoid, so when they started to work on the castle for Canterlot, I put in the groundwork for the cave. I kept my mouth shut and had the rail way built to monitor their growth in the long term."

"Oh, um, why didn't you use it when you came back?"

"Not sure, my time as it is a bit blurry but if what happened to Luna is anything to go by."

"You are not ride of me yet,"

"Sombra?" Fluttershy asked as he felt a cold shiver run through his back.

"It's a corrupting agent. It does not change what we intended to do but how we do it. Luna wanted attention and appreciation, I wanted to protect my home. We got we wanted in the end."

"That is a harsh price," Fluttershy replied but Sombra didn't comment.

"All guards, this is Celestia. The area has been fully evacuated. All remaining guards, please retreat outside ". Celestia called out in a mass mental telepathic message.

Nearly everypony froze as they all looked at each other. "Did you know know she could do that?" asked one of the guards. Another other shook his head as they all looked at Sombra.

"I just got here, how the buck should I know? Celestia are there any crystal ponies still inside?" Sombra shouted out. But there was no response.

"Um," Flutershy started but Sombra cut her off.

"I am going to do a quick sweep and double check. You take Miss Kindness out."

"Wait!" she called but he had already vanished in a burst of magic.

"Did you really think I was gone, your craving for power? No, black magic doesn't just dissipate after getting a little distance from the door. And now thanks to that foolish Alicorn, my corrupting power is amplified."

"What are you?" Sombra hissed, pressing his hooves against his skull.

"I am Sombra. It's so sad you can't even remember your own name. Nightmare Moon, and now Bloody Mary. But we both know they are chump change compared to the true bringer of darkness. The fear is growing again, and so are we. You felt it - Pinkie Pie, Twilight, they dulled the fear you created. And with the door vanishing in the distance, the last piece clicked into place."

"So are you me, part me. I don't understand; when I called on your power, I lost my sanity, how are we even talking?" Sombra questioned.

"I like the theory you are concocting. Hmmm, a drop before a resurgence. Maybe they didn't go far enough with the black magic. But we can worry about it later. I think we should find our old student, Luna. I hear she got a taste of black magic during our absence," the voice whispered.

"No, Luna would kill us, i am not as strong as we were before. And those crystal ponies, they are doing exactly what I said they would, but she wouldn't listen. We kill them first, all of them, and we fix the problem," Sombra said aloud. "No, no, we didn't tell her to stay away from the door. Everything is fine, Celestia ruled for a long time. Her ideals worked out," he slowly told himself.

"Luna got corrupted after we took the city with us. Something is wrong, the ponies need protection, and Celestia was beaten. They deserve a better, more powerful ruler," it reminded. "She has gotten soft, she sent a student after us and expected it to win."

"Twilight, she is grooming Twilight. If she won, she would be stronger for it, she beat us once," Sombra told himself. A crystal shot out down the hall.

""She had help, she always had help. The elements, you gave her everything. You gave up the throne for her, you gave up your authority, and even your right as mentor. You ave her everything, and let this insect run around. And she throws a student, ill prepared, into a fight. She slandered you, denied you! She sees in you a threat and she will kill us! You know it! You have dragon blood in you, you will live long, maybe longer then her. You can do it, take the throne back," his dark half whispered in his head. More spikes shot into the hall, destroying the walls and priceless paintings. "We loved her."

"Shut up!" Sombra cried out, tossing his helmet to side, unaware of the danger surrounding him. "I don't need a reminder!" he cried out.

"We know what she truly is and not what she pretends to be. We are a threat, she will end us just like we always believed she would. Strike her down, we have the power. We can control the sun, we are the true heir!"

"I am."

"Sombra!" said a voice. He looked up.

"Celestia?" he asked. "I am not Sombra, have you forgotten my name?" he asked, his eyes wide as she pulled back. "I can't remember my real name," he murmured. She levitated him and she settled him on her back. He curled up around her body.

"It's okay, we are going to get you out," she told him. He looked up at her smiling face.

"It's still in me, and its growing. I feed off fear, and she is creating fear," he said, his voice dwindling.

"Just hold on," she picked up his helmet with her mouth and slipped it back on his head. "We will be safe soon," she said in a soothing voice.

"She is going to kill you."

Author's Note:

Sorry about the wait been doing a lot of things on the side working on a harry potter fan fic as well as a original story about pirates. Not to mention, was having a lot of trouble with this chapter, and story in general so i sat my ass down - no batman until this is finished. Which is why its so short. Hope you like it and hope it clears up a few things.

Comments

[Feurisson]

Please fix the mistakes in the long and short description. They're jarring and make for a bad first impression.
For example:

A subtle change in plans puts the King of the crstal empire in a much diffrent poistion.

"crstal" - missed an y.
"diffrent" - forgot an e here.
"poistion" - mixed up the letters i and s. Position would be correct.

[Msande]

3439736 Thank you and fixed it