King and I - 31

You didn’t like leaving Sombra behind on his own, especially after the trouble you went to bringing him back. By his insistence though you are being forced to go after Fury with Frost, and two other mages called Iron and Steel; they look very similar, with grey coats and white manes, with different eye colours, one red and one blue. You briefly wonder if they could be related.

Some of the citizens have since returned to the streets. They don’t know what has happened yet, as they blissfully ignore you and your comrades as you walk around the back of the palace. You pass a pair of gossiping mares, who are discussing the recent battle. “I heard that he’s not holding court today so he can rest. I imagine it was very stressful for him,” one titters. She has no idea.

According to Sombra there’s a secret entrance by one of the legs. The other mages haven’t moved in yet, you still have plenty of time to spare. Iron and Steel peel away to keep watch while you and Frost look for the passage. It can only be revealing with a special revealing spell. Since the majority of the people living in the empire are non-unicorns, it means that the passage itself is impossible to find without already knowing its location.

You and Frost begin to span the large pillar for any sign of a switch or magical trigger. It’s meant to be invisible, so the only way to find it is by activating it with the spell. Some of the nearby ponies give you weird looks as you blast the pillar with small spikes of magic, but they know better than to question the mages.

A few minutes later you hear the tell-tale sign of something shifting underground, Frost peers around the corner, “Did you get it?”

You shrug, “I don’t know, let’s just get going before somebody cries wolf. Iron, Steel; we found it!”

A staircase has appeared behind the pillar, shielding it from the view of those stood on the street. It leads down into a surprisingly well-lit tunnel, wide enough for about two ponies standing side by side. You decide to lead the way and walk down into it, almost immediately there’s another staircase that spirals up into the palace via the pillars.

“So these pillars were actually hiding staircases the entire time?” Frost asks in wonderment, “There must be a lot about this place that I don’t know.” All of the other pillars have staircases in them, so you don’t know why he’s so amazed that the one not available to the public has one in it.

Ignoring him you push on and begin to ascend the spiral. You don’t think Frost is a fan, as he is showing signs of fatigue already. “Are we there yet?” he mutters in-between heavy breaths.

“It can’t be much further now,” Iron says as the first thing he has said thus far.

“At the top we turn left at the first junction and that should put us into the lobby,” you recite. Sombra made his instructions very clear, and this was too important for you to forget. “From there we wait until the others get here, and then we make a dash for the upper floor. “

You pull away from the stairs and into another similar sized passage. A few meters in front of you is an immediate left turn. You take the left and continue for another few minutes, eventually coming to what would otherwise be a dead end, in reality this is another hidden door that can be used to sneak around the palace.

You signal for the others to stop. There are most likely ponies on the other side guarding the door and if you make an out of place noise it could raise their suspicion. You remain silent for what seems like an hour, before the squeaking on an opening door can be heard through the thin wall. You lean towards the wall and place an ear to it.

A muffled conversation is being held but you can’t tell who it is or what it’s about. You jump as two projectile spells are fired off in rapid succession. That’s your cue. “Find the switch,” you order to the other three. A few more spells are fired, but for the most part things remain silent. You can hear the sound of hooves running against the hard floor.

A door is opened in the distance, and more hooves join the precession. They must be releasing the guards. This happens several more times before somebody shouts, and the clashes start anew. You can’t tell how many are there.

Your question is answered as the door lifts away vertically, revealing an already trashed lobby. Unconscious and potentially dead bodies of two mages lie near the front door, looks like they pulled the short straw for guard duty. The mages have already taken up defensive positions, waiting for the enemy to come to them. They hide behind the pillars and some overturned tables as the now free guards scramble to gather some weapons.

Soon enough more hooves clop down the upstairs corridors giving away the arrival of several more mages and a few guards, who either have been freshly hired or convinced to work for Fury. They don’t get very far, as the multi-coloured reaction fire from those gathered in the lobby cuts them down like wheat. One survivor dives back behind the corner and runs away.

“They can’t have many left! Move and secure the exits!” the leader barks.

Most of the guards leave via the front door to go and secure the other legs, alongside a few of the mages. You briefly worry that they might not be able to handle it with the thin numbers that they have. You’re broken out of your train of thought by a tap on the shoulder from Iron.

“I think we should move up Ma’am. I don’t imagine that they’re going to come running for a while, probably trying to come up with a plan instead.”

Taking the opportunity your small team ascends the stairs. You need to be careful now, you’re in enemy territory, one wrong move and somebody could be firing a lethal spell your way. “Check the corners; make sure nobody’s sneaking up on us.”

Each taking a direction to watch, you slowly move on to the next tunnel; past the throne room and to the left. Fury must have vacated the throne room because of the fight downstairs, nobody is standing guard. Once again you scan the wall with your magic and reveal another sliding door. Frost closes it behind you.

“We need to split up, when you find him come back here. Ten minutes.”

Ten minutes later you have re-grouped, yourself personally not having found anything. It seems Frost has however as he was the first one here. “He was talking with somepony, and they sounded real angry at him.”

“Where is he?” you ask, curiosity ignited.

“His study, I went there first. If we hurry up they might still be going at it."

“Lead the way Frost.”

He nods and leads you back through the passages. The path taken is quite familiar to you, tracing the edges of the main corridors. These tunnels must lead to every damn room in the palace, how did nobody find out about this? Soon enough you’re by another dead end, which supposedly leads into his study.

“Don’t open the door yet, we need to listen in on who he’s talking to.”

Placing your ear against the wall, you can hear the well-defined voices of Fury and somebody else shouting at one another. You don’t recognize the second voice at all. “Is there any way that we can amplify this?”

“We might be able to increase the vibrations coming from the door, would that work?” Steel proposes.

“Try it, this could be important.”

His horn glows and a floating liquid spreads across the doors surface. This physical form of magic is easy to manipulate and is only limited by your imagination. By using a property changing spell on it, he can make the conversation from the room louder. It’s still not very clear, but it certainly allows you to catch some words from their scuffle.

“I didn’t… body… gone… attacked…” Fury yells.

“I supported… supplies and troops… still lost?” a feminine voice responds.

Supplies? Who the hell is he talking to? You strain your ears to try and pick out more.

“Close… dead from poisoning… few left…”

“Finished… go out and face them?”

“…be stupid… no chance… victory!”

“…rebels played their part… your turn!”

“…trust you… changing sides… Always looking for the winning team…”

“No interest in politics… I'm looking for results.”

A loud blast comes from downstairs. The conversation stops for a moment and gradually fades away into the distance. The mare must be deciding to take her leave before she’s caught in the fighting. A single set of hooves walk back and sit down on a creaky chair. You look to the others and nod, it’s time to strike. Frost flips the switch and the door opens, revealing a surprised Fury, whose face quickly turns to that of anger.

Before he can react you fire a blast of red energy at him. He puts up a weak shield to try and block your attack, but he’s still pushed away from the desk and flung to the other side of the room. “Shit, that was easy,” you comment. But as a blast of energy is returned from his prone form striking Steel directly in the chest, you realize that you’ve spoken a bit too soon.

Steel is blasted away into the back wall with a sickening crunch, his neck twisted at an unnatural angle. “How dare you!” Fury roars, picking himself up off the floor. “I am the King; I will not stand for your insolence!”

Another blast, this time striking Iron who meets a similar fate. “I do not need any of you! You traitorous curs!”

“Frost, we need to fall back!” you shout, running for the door. “I don’t think we can take this guy on our own!”

He’s already bowled over two of you, what’s two more? Going into this you didn’t realize just how dangerous he really is. You blast open the doors, sending splinters and pieces of wood into the open corridor. Frost scampers behind you as the still fuming Fury gives chase. You focus on the road ahead, trying not to look back at him.

You hear the distinct sound of a horn being charged. At its apex you dive to the left down another corridor, narrowly dodging a huge column of energy. Fury isn’t fucking around. As you run you realize that you’ve lost Frost, and that Fury is now focused on killing you. There has to be some way for you to catch him off guard.

“This is my brother’s pet whore? Pathetic! I barely felt a thing!” he taunts. Another blast flies by your head and shatters the door in front of you. You leap through the hole and curl yourself into a ball, as Fury comes jumping through after you, you release another blast of energy directly onto his underside sending him rocketing into the ceiling.

It crunches and buckles under the impact as his limp body falls to the floor. He lets out a gasp of lost air; it seems he felt that one. Trying to take advantage you stand up and charge at him, intending to finish the job. His eyes widen and he backs away behind a nearby pillar. You stop, this is the perfect opportunity for him to blast you as you round it.

Instead you back off slightly and charge your horn, if you can’t go around, you’ll go through it. You turn a corner but keep an eye on his location; you let it loose and quickly take cover. The pillar explodes into crystal shards that manage to reach past your position and embed themselves in the far wall. A scream is heard, you must have hit Fury very hard.

“You bucking whore! I’ll kill you and rape your corpse!” he screams, writhing on the floor. You can see that he has several pieces of crystal embedded in his back, blood rivulets down his body and leaves his coat smeared and matted. There’s no way he can beat you now. Even so you exercise caution as you approach; you don’t want to be caught off guard again.

Blood runs from his mouth, leaving his teeth bloodied and obscured. The crystal shards are embedded fairly deeply in his back, but you don’t know the true extent of the damage. If he’s unlucky, one of those has run right through the base of his spine. If he is, it will at least give him a punctured kidney or lung.

Still he finds the strength to laugh, droplets of blood falling from his guffawing maw and staining the ground further. “You never learn,” he slurs, evidently suffering from the effects of blood loss. “Never underestimate your opponent.”

You gasp as a blast hits your chest, a dead eyed Frost standing in your peripheral vision. The world turns white as you fly through what remains of the window and fall down into the courtyard below. Your breath is stolen away as you impact the ground hard. You must have broken something. You should have seen that one coming; he’s a blood mage too.

You roll over onto your belly and try to crawl to the door. Somebody must have heard the commotion, you’re stopped as a blue hoof steps in front of your blackened eyes. Looking up, a blur looks down at you. It’s Frost.

Another pony joins him, still coated in his own blood. “You didn’t think it would be that easy did you? You really thought you could take on the most powerful mage in the empire? I suppose you got close, but you severely underestimate the power of an experienced blood mage. His horn ignites and pulls one of the shards from his body, rotating the red gem in the air.

“A clever trick, but you’ll need more than that to kill me.” You can hear the door open and the clattering of hooves, “Ah, my audience has arrived.” His horn sparks once more and a blue beam of light shoots straight up, before a dome shield begins to sprout from it. The others don’t have the opportunity to get to you before he blocks them. They start hitting it with their spears, but it doesn’t do anything.

“This really is perfect. I get to kill my brother’s cock-sleeve, and I have an entire audience to myself. Maybe they’ll think twice before betraying me in the future.”

As fast as lightening the shard shoots into your left forehoof. You scream in agony as the thick shard is wormed into the wound by a jovial looking Fury. He cackles as the still lifeless Frost looks on. Those outside the shield watch in morbid curiosity or look away in freshly renewed disgust. “What ever shall I do with you? I was hoping that my dear brother would be here so I could take your maidenhood in front of him, but it appears that he’s a bit stiff himself right now!”

He laughs at his own terrible joke and nudges Frost in the chest. He still doesn’t respond. “The problem with these blood thralls is that they don’t appreciate some highbrow humour,” he scoffs slapping the zombie around the back of the head. You seethe in anger.

“Rose!” Sombra shouts, hobbling over to the shield. Fury looks up in disbelief at his revived brother. Sombra looks at you, suddenly becoming very sullen and quiet.

“Hmm, isn’t that interesting? You did manage to bring him back after all. I should have burnt your corpse when I had the chance,” Fury spits. “Ah well, we all make mistakes. At least now I can ruin this pretty little mare in front of you. I knew you were looking forward to it. Why else would you keep her around?”

“Is there any blood left in you to inflate that pathetic thing?” you reply. It seems you touched a nerve, as he storms up to you and gets in your face.

“Laugh now mare, but soon enough you’ll be nothing but a bucktoy for my guards.”

“Don’t you lay a hoof on her,” Sombra warns, “or I’ll make you wish you were dead.”

“Save it, you cannot enter my shield anyway. You’re helpless, a whiny little colt who cries when he doesn’t get his way.” Sombra sneers but remains otherwise motionless. He must have something in mind to get in here. You can see it in his eyes though, he’s nearly powerless. For the first time since you’ve arrived, Sombra wears an expression of plain fear.

---

The frozen wind nips at Spyglass’ coat. On the very edge of the city, it’s protective dome weakened by the death of Sombra. The inside remains warm and welcoming, but even stood away from the edge he can feel the bite of the outside world.

In front of him lies the gate to the city, a decorative arch placed in front of the city to welcome new visitors; useless now that the entire area is locked down. Stepping forwards he prepares himself for the arduous journey home, he isn’t safe here anymore.

“Wait!” a voice shouts, stopping him in his tracks. The scuffling of hooves on the dirt roads draws his attention to a familiar crystal mare. “Now, wait a second you bastard! Don’t you dare run away from here!”

Of course, there is one last loose end for him to wrap up. “Hello.”

“Don’t you hello me! Where the hell are you going?” she shouts giving him a furious glare.

“Home; or at least as far away from here as I can get.”

“And what about our deal? You promised me that-”

“Lily promised you, not me. And she isn’t in much of a position to do anything right now,” Spyglass responds coldly.

Warm Welcome scowls and steps up to the arrogant Pegasus, poking him in the chest as she speaks. “We made a deal and I fulfilled my side, I give you information on the palace and its layout, and you let my brother go.”

Spyglass chews his lip, “Listen, even if I did know where Lily kept him I don’t have time to hang around and help you find him.”

“Make time, because I’m not going to rest until you show me where he is. Do you know how much trouble I would have gotten in if somebody caught me? Those passages made your little campaign, and nobody else knows about them!”

Spyglass scolds himself for thinking he could get away; it seems he has no choice in the matter. “He’s probably going to be where we last set up our base. I’m still not sure. Lily never liked to show where she kept them because she was afraid of ponies running their mouths about it to the mages.”

“Show me.”

Spyglass looks back to the shield, freedom is so close! With a sigh he turns towards the east and begins to trot to the mine entrance, Warm tagging along behind.

“Thank you,” Warm smiles. “I could always tell that you weren’t like the rest of them.”

Spyglass grimaces internally, an old lie leaving a bitter taste on his tongue. Was he really?