The sound of hoofsteps echoed through the hallways of Sombra’s majestic castle. He was the one producing them, head upright, stamping his hooves on the ground with every step. He could hear ponies cheering from outside on the towns square just outside the castle, the sound was slightly muffled by the castle’s walls but with every step Sombra took closer to his balcony, the louder it got. He was on his way to address the crystal ponies of the newly achieved victory in which he claimed large amounts of forest by fending off the monsters in the vicinity.
Seconds after he arrived at his balcony, he was greeted by the crystal ponies, who at his sight, calmed down and bowed for their leader.
They remained in this position for a few seconds before rising again, looking up in admiration, wondering what he would say. The past couple of years his achievements were astonishing, countless battles were won, all without even a single loss. The crystal empire stood high above all the others at these times. Newly claimed lands led to expansions. Less farmers were needed and artisans had more time to invent and create new things that improved life for the crystal ponies.
“Ponies of the Crystal Empire,”Sombra spoke with his deep voice, sending shivers through the spines of his subjects. Everything he did had majesty and power radiating off of it.” We have cleared the woods of the monsters who roamed it, it went flawlessly, those who did not flee... Were eliminated...”
An eerie silence followed. Sombra has spoken about ‘Eliminating’ those who did not follow his orders before... But still, violence was considered last resort, not general thinking.
“Because of this victory we almost have all the land we need, yet there is still a part that is not yet ours...” After those words, murmuring could be heard all over the town’s square. Ponies whispering their thoughts to each other. Could he really be thinking of... No that’s basically suicide! He can’t be serious.
“The land of the dragons.” If ponies weren’t already starting to hesitate, now they were losing their mind. Dragons were huge fire breathing monsters. Their ego and the fact that they do not take kindly to ponies made them a foe. A quiet one, their lands are reasonably far away and both ponies and dragons have been living in peace for decades. Why would he even want to take over their land? We have enough already and their land is too far away to be used anyways.
“Quiet!” Sombra raised his voice, slight irritation audible in it. “As for the explanation. We of the crystal empire are proud and powerful ponies. The dragons have belittled us long enough. I can assure you that with our new weaponry, and with an attack leaded by me. We will return victors... We won’t take any risks of them planning a counterattack... These dragons are fairly young, and still not even close to their full power. Thus we will slaughter them all..."
The towns square exploded once again, yet not with murmurs and small talks, ponies started screaming and tried to run away. They didn’t get far though. Sombra’s horn glowed dark and a wave of dark magic propelled of it. Affecting all the ponies in the area. Engulfed in his black magic, they found themselves unable to move. The magic forced them to turn back, and return to their original position.
“Impressed?” He asks with a grim smile plastered on his muzle. “This is just a basic spell. I have had my researchers investigate dark magic for a while, and the discoveries were immensely pleasing to say the least. With these newfound powers, I can assure you that victory will be ours... There will be no survivors..."
Author's Note
Ermahgerd, new story without warning :O
I wanted to try and write a third person story, without romance for a change :D.
As Power Clouded His Mind
It was the day after Sombra’s speech. Ponies left their homes early in the morning, all on their way to their jobs. They tried to ignore what Sombra had in mind. He has never been defeated in battle before, heck, nopony was lost in any of his battles. Surely this would be the case when he invades dragon territory... Right? Uncertainty clouded the minds of his subjects, no matter how much they wanted to believe in his powers, they knew that dragons, no matter how small, would still be too much of a challenge, and even if he succeeded, he would lose most of his troops with this battle.
In Sombra’s Throne Room
Sombra stood beside a window in his throne room, staring blankly at his empire before him. This was all he had done, he made sure there was no poverty within his lands and criminality was nearly non existent. Sombra had no problems with forcing information out of ponies with mind control. It was all for the best he claimed, it was a necessity to ensure the safety of his lands.
Knocking could be heard on the large door at the end of the hall.
“Investigation results,” a muffled voice spoke almost inaudibly from behind the door.
“Permission granted for entrance,” Sombra spoke bluntly, not looking away from his window. He could hear the door open, and close. Yet it was completely silent afterwards. He knew which pony could be this silent, it was one of his most loyal subjects.
A middle sized pegasus stallion trotted over to the middle of the hallway before he stood still and bowed. His coat was black accompanied with a white mane and tail. His cutiemark was a soundwave.
“Sound Proof, I see you have returned from your spy mission,” Sombra said, turning around to face the stallion.“ I assume everything went well?”
“Yes my lord. I have acquired data about the dragons numbers and the best route we should take.” Sound Proof spoke confidently.
An evil grin emerged on Sombra’s face. “Good work, now tell me. If you were to guess, what are the odds of us being the victors of this battle.”
At these words Sound Proof visibly flinched.
“W-well, the amount of dragons present in the area are higher than we had speculated.” He paused “And it seems that some older dragons have appeared as well...”
Sound Proof stopped talking and looked away, irritating Sombra a little.
“So, what are the odds?” Sombra asked impatiently.
“If we were to attack right now... We would be surrounded and we would be completely d-disintegrated. There would be no survivors, my lord. We wouldn’t even stand a chance.” Sound Proof’s voice became a whisper at the end of the sentence, and he braced himself for whatever Sombra was going to do. Nothing happened however, Sombra simply smiled and started laughing.
“I was expecting such an answer, I need to show you something,” He said, and with a flash Sombra teleported the two of them outside. They landed right next to two of Sombra’s royal guards, they were well trained and already were in a battle pose. At the sight of their ruler they retracted their weapons and returned to their watch positions.
“Behold, I’m going to demonstrate you a bit of my new powers... See that mountain over there?”
Sound Proof shifted his vision, seeing the mountain in the distance, he nodded “Yeah, what about it?” He asked curiously. A wretched smile was the only answer he got as Sombra’s horn started glowing again. A huge ball of dark magic started to form at the tip of his horn, Sound Proof could see the immense power radiating off of the ball as the dark glow around it started to expand and dark lightning seemed to be forming around it. Even the guards flinched and they took a step backwards.
“And now,” Sombra spoke, lowering his head. A beam of dark magic shot off the ball distorting the trees and everything else that was near it. The beam eventually reached the mountain, where it seemingly got absorbed and disappeared. It was quiet for a moment before you could see the mountain tremble. Within seconds the whole structure collapsed, nothing was left of it, only dust.
“Upon contact with anything, it will be destroyed from the inside, death is almost instantaneous. We will be unbeatable,” Sombra spoke proudly. Sound Proof didn’t like the look in Sombra’s eyes, he wasn’t doing this for his empire, he was doing this for himself, to test his limits.
“Indeed, victory will be ours.” Sound Proof spoke, trying to sound confident. He was impressed by the sheer amount of power that Sombra holds. However, he knew that this would not lead to victory. The spell takes too much time to cast, and from what he saw, it only affected one object at a time. And the worst part was that he was taking an army with him, they won’t be able to defend themselves against the dragons.
“Let’s return to the castle and contrive the battle plans then.”
The Royal Basement
Nobles had gathered within the royal basement, a protective spell was cast. cloaking their presence. Most of them were powerful unicorns, their title allowed them to give advice to their King. Not that he ever listens to them...
“We all know why we have gathered here,” A voice spoke. “Sombra has achieved great things, but he is going to far. He has to be stopped, if the dragons attack... We are doomed. And if he doesn’t contribute to our plans, we have to stop him, by force.”
Back In The Throne Room
Sombra and Sound proof teleported back. To Sombra’s surprise, a rather large group of nobles were present in his throne room.
“What is the meaning of this?” Sombra asked with a serious tone.
The nobles were silent for a moment, They didn’t even bow, they stood tall with their chest puffed up. The front pony spoke first “King Sombra, we are here to try and convince you that attacking the dragons might not be a good idea.” He started. “For it i-”
“There will be none of this nonsense,” Sombra interrupted. “Leave, or I’ll personally have to ‘escort’ you,” They all knew what he meant by escort, and if that were to happen, their whole plan would be ruined. So at the moment he spoke these words, there was nothing left of the brave nobles. Instead of resisting, they scurried off and closed the door behind them.
“It seems we will have to take some more serious measures to make him change his mind...”
