Redemption: original

Chapter 6

Sombra rolled underneath and to the left of the Diamond Dog's strike; however Sombra's sword found its mark. The saber sliced the Diamond Dog's belly open, causing it's, for lack of a better term, guts to spill out into its arms. The Diamond Dog fell to its knees and tried to keep it's organs inside its body. Sombra couldn't tell if it was male or female but that didn't matter. He walked in front of the dog and readied his blade above him finish the would be assassin. The Diamond Dog started whining, and looked up at him with its eyes full of fear and pain. Sombra hesitated. Was he really going to kill the poor creature in front of him? Was he really going to make this begging Diamond Dog his first kill? He brought the blade down onto the Diamond Dog's head with his magic, nearly splitting its head in two. It would have died anyways, very few survive evisceration. He was doing the Diamond Dog a favor by making its death quick and painless. Sombra turned to the mare who gave him the news of his promotion. "What is the situation? I have the first legion's second and third battalions fortified along this hill. What happened to the rest of the army?" He looked out across the battlefield, surveying his surroundings. The general had been a fool and lead them into a large valley. At the center of the valley was a lake frozen near completely solid, if you moved carefully you could pass across it with relative ease but it made fighting near the center of the valley impossible. The eastern boarder of the valley was made by the base of a mountain and was littered with boulders; it was the perfect place for troops to hold up and defend, or for a trap. Two large oblong hills formed the western border; they were divided by a small drop that leveled out with the rest of the valley probably due to a river. The Northern of the two hills was held by the Diamond Dogs and was most likely where their camp was. The southern hill was the closest to the army when it entered the valley. Although initially held by the Diamond Dogs Sombra lead a charge up the hill with the second battalion, which was under his command, and the third battalion which had combined with the second battalion after their captain had been killed. (Crystal Empire troop structure places ten guards into a squad, 10 squads into a battalion, and 10 battalions into a legion.)

"Sir, the fifth legion charged out onto the ice when the Diamond Dog attack began. It was a slaughter. At least half of the fifth Legion has been killed." She then pointed to the east at a large clump of boulders near the mountain just east of his hill. "The rest of the first legion is fortified in those rocks." She pointed to another formation of rocks to the north. "The second and fourth legions are being overwhelmed over there. The Diamond Dogs have separated the second and fourth legions from the first, if we don't regroup the legions I doubt it will be possible to win this battle sir."

Sombra was visualizing the battle in his head, to believe that in only ten minutes after contact with the enemy over half a legion was killed and the army was in complete disarray. Something didn't add up though. "Where is the third legion?"

The mare pointed behind Sombra towards the capital of the Crystal Empire. "The third legion pulled back to defend the capital when the fighting began."

Sombra knew what those words truly meant. The third legion had pulled back because the commanding officer was a coward. He was going to have whoever was in command of that legion court marshaled and hanged. That is if anypony survived this battle. "How do you know this information?"

"Sir I've been running across this Faust forsaken battlefield searching for whoever is now in charge. I've checked with the other legions, you're it sir." She looked absolutely exhausted, and seeing quite a large amount of blood streaked across her armor he could assume she ran into some unpleasant company along the way.

Sombra looked out across the valley to where the remainder of the first legion was concentrated. An absolutely crazy and risky plan popped into his head. "I think it's time we link back up with the first legion." He smiled realizing that the plan was their best shot of surviving this mess. "Stay here and hold the hill for me." He didn't stay to hear her reply. Sombra ran down the hill past the makeshift entrenchments and made a beeline for the first legion. He would make passing slashes with his saber, or blast a hole in a Diamond Dog as he ran by, but he did not stop until he reached the rocks. He expected the guard to band together and using several boulders as choke points to create a natural fortress. What he found was basically a giant free for all. There was no order in the chaos amongst the rocks, it was soldier against soldier with the occasional small group that worked together. Sombra felt fear sink into his heart, how was he supposed to fix this? He charged into the chaos slashing with his saber and blasting with his magic when that wasn't enough. Every time he found a free moment he yelled out to the desperate guards of the first legion. "Legion to me!" at first the only ones to follow him were those he saved personally, but soon enough the guards began to trickle in and small groups would come to him helping save as many guards as he could. Sombra couldn't tell exactly how many were following him when he charged over to the second and fourth legion, but it was definitely more than six battalions. Now being lead by someone competent the first Legion broke through the Diamond Dog lines and regrouped with the second and fourth legions. The second and fourth faired much better then the first legion had, they had done exactly as expected and used the natural terrain to their advantage. At the center of the second and fourth's impromptu fortress was a small medical area to protect and treat the wounded. Taking stock of the troops available Sombra led most of the three legions in a charge up the Diamond Dog hill. He shouted a command to rally his troops. "SEND THEM BACK TO TARTARUS!" To the guards that fought beside him Sombra seemed to be a god of war, that nothing could stop, but Sombra knew that he had no idea what he was doing. He slipped in the snow twice as he climbed the hill only to dodge an attack by sheer luck. Within minutes he had taken the hill, and the tide of the battle had turned. After linking back up with his original force he led a charge that surrounded the remaining Diamond Dogs and slaughtered them on the ice.

Sombra opened his eyes sharply. These dreams made him feel sick. They didn't feel like dreams anymore, they felt more like he was living them. It felt like the danger was real, and so were the ponies he saw. It felt so real to such an extant that it was jarring for him. It was like being thrown from one reality to the next. His eyes almost spun in his head just thinking about it. He didn't vomit this time when he woke up, but his stomach did give him an unhappy gurgle.

"Sombra, Darling are you in there." Rarity called and knocked on the bathroom door. She probably was there to tell him that it was time to go to Pinkie.

Sombra shuddered. Though as much as he wished he could avoid the pink mare he knew it was unavoidable. He sighed and accepted his fate. "Yeah I am here."

"Well, Pinkie is here. She will feed you breakfast, Mr. No Dinner." She taunted, and walked off.

Sombra groaned, and started cleaning up the bathroom. Cleaning up any bile that failed to make it in the toilet, and washing his mouth out several times. He chanted to himself "Only one more day till Fluttershy." as he was about to leave the bathroom trying to give himself the energy needed to make it through the day.

Sombra choked down the breakfast Pinkie had made for him. He didn't know how or why but everything that the pink pregnant mare ate seemed to be made out of 90% sugar. It couldn't be food cravings since she had only been with foal for a couple of weeks, leaving the only possible explanation being that this is what the mare ate all the time. No wonder she is a live wire, and bouncing off the walls. He pushed his plate away unable to eat any more. "I can't eat another bite..."

She quickly took his plate away and suddenly appeared behind him. "YAY! You're done, now I can teach you how to make cupcakes." He didn't know how but she was grinning ear to ear. She pushed him into the kitchen and she also somehow had an apron on. Suddenly an upbeat music began to play, and Pinkie began to sing. "All you have to do-" only to realize a second later that he was gone. "King Sombrero? Where'd you go?" She checked all over the kitchen, in the pots and pans, cabinets, even the oven and fridge, but he was nowhere to be found. Suddenly she heard Mrs. Cake scream in the back room. Pinkie rushed over to her boss and good friend.

"Oh Pinkie... I have the worse news. Your friend he-... I don't know why... sure he seemed depressed but I didn't think he was that depressed..." Mrs. Cake mumbled trying to say something but Pinkie was more interested in why Mrs. Cake was between her and a supply closet, but whenever she would try to get a good look Mrs. Cake would get in the way. Pinkie got tired of the game they were playing and zipped between Mrs. Cakes legs and looked inside the supply closet. Inside the cramped space was Sombra, he hung from the ceiling with a makeshift noose around his neck. Mrs. Cake spoke up trying to prevent a hysterical Pinkamena "I'm so sorry Pinkie. Let's get the guard and-"

Pinkie hit Sombra and yelled at him. "That's not funny!" Mrs. Cake was horrified and surprised by Pinkie's response.

However to Mrs. Cake's even greater surprise Sombra talked back. "Oh I found it hysterical. You should have seen her face. How did you know I wasn't dead?"

"Because King Sombrero Twilight told me how you are immortal also there is no way that the author would kill off the main character."

Both Sombra and Mrs. Cake had the same reaction. "What?!"

"Now come on Mr. Sombrero get down from there." she folded her arms and pouted at him.

"No, I'm taking a nap." Sombra closed his eyes and shifted his body weight so he would face away from her. However Pinkie had other plans. She some how got a hold of a pair of scissors climbed up Sombra's back and cut him lose. He ended up in a pile of cleaning equipment, while Pinkie avoided the whole mess and sat by Mrs. Cake.

"Come on Sombrero we have a whole day to do fun things." She smiled warmly while Sombra blew his hair out of his eyes.

"Oh joy...."