King and I - 24

A cloud of cold breath escapes from your mouth as you trot down the empty hallways. The lights are all gone, leaving the palace illuminated by the silver light of the full moon. It’s cold; nobody has been here for a while. The doors pass by you in a daze, blurry yet still recognizable from your time inhabiting the castle.

You don’t know where you’re going. Getting out of bed you just had a sudden compulsion to walk, to get some fresh air. Now you’re not so sure, it feels like you need to go somewhere, somewhere important.

A loud screeching sound cuts through the silence like a knife as the view outside of the windows begins to fade away into static. Panic runs through you, what’s happening? You take off running, still unsure of where you want to go and hide.  Blotches of black and white speed across your vision, the sound of a static TV filling your mind until you can’t think straight.

You kick down some doors and run into a large room, with immaculate crystal steps and a proud throne. You let out a scream as the sound only grows louder, your eardrums are about to pop!

It stops.

Clarity returns to you, how long have you been sitting here? The moon has dipped below the horizon as the first signs of the rising sun cast the sky into a vivid blue orange mixture. You’re in the throne room, you know that much. The room is empty, but it will soon be filled with ponies clamoring for the attention of the King.

A familiar voice calls from the entrance, “Nice of you to join me Rose.” It’s Silver Shield.

“Where have you been? It’s all been going down without you,” you ask. It’s been a long time since you’ve seen him. He smiles and laughs, walking down the hall and onto the staircase, your eyes following his movements.

“Busy, very busy. I have seldom time to myself these days. You’ve been busy too haven’t you?”

“You could say that. Sombra and Fury have roped me into some stupid plan,” you scoff.

“That sounds like them alright, never going for the simplest solution,” Silver laughs. “Anyway, I haven’t brought you here to talk about what they’re doing.”

“Brought me here?”

Fury freezes for a moment, “We’re in a dreamscape right now. I thought you would have noticed with all the odd things going on in here,” he says pointing to the distorted glass window. “Can’t say I understand what that is supposed to be myself, these dreams are meant to hold some kind of meaning to you.”

Static? You’re obviously fixated on how Sombra brought you here. “Interference,” you state simply, he wouldn’t understand if you tried to explain how a TV works.

“It shares some similarities with magical interference actually, the sound; I hate that sound,” he grunts rubbing his ears.

“I have to say, it’s pretty impressive that you can enter my dreams like this. I hope you haven’t been spying on me the entire time,” you scowl. Silver gives a disarming smile and crosses his hooves.

“I swear on my life, this is purely so we can hold a discussion with one another now that my position in the castle has been compromised. Although I have tried this before with little success, I did see some very interesting things,” he mutters, sitting down on the bottom step of the throne.

“Like what?” You ask, angry that he’s been looking into your head without permission. How can he swear down that he hasn’t been spying on you before admitting it a moment later?

“Things you’ve been doing mostly, an abstract representation at least. You know how dreams are,” he shrugs, “never know what’s going to happen next; A sudden appearance by a friend or old acquaintance maybe?”

“Are you trying to imply that you’re just part of this dream?”

He chuckles, “Of course not, you’re lucid right now aren’t you? Don’t think about it too hard or you’ll wake up, and we haven’t even started yet.” He pats the space next to him, “Come and take a load off, we have a lot to discuss.”

You cautiously follow and sit an arm’s length away from him. You still don’t trust him yet, he’s been nothing but an occasional convenience since day one. The kind of convenience that starts asking for favors. He seems a little disappointed by your unwillingness to snuggle up to him.

He coughs awkwardly and looks out through the still open doors, the corridor having been absorbed into the gray and white static. It hurts to look at for too long so he soon averts his gaze back to you. “So… how are things between you and Sombra?”

“Better, if you’re willing to believe it. He made a promise to go back to his roots and tone down the oppressive tyrant thing, and to not lie by omission with me anymore.”

“That matters a lot to you, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s nice to finally get some transparency for once from him. That was probably the longest conversation we’ve had.” You let out a hollow laugh into the air before frowning bitterly. “Still left a bad taste in my mouth. He has a long way to go before I call him somebody I can trust.”

“He never lied to you directly? Sounds like him.”

“Did you used to know him?” He nods. “Guard?” You guess, it conjunction with his appearance and cutie mark.

“I actually used to be in the guild,” he reveals. “I was one of his best mages.” He looks back to you and raises a brow. “Aren’t you surprised?” He asks.

“Not really, everybody must have been part of this guild at some point or another. I mean I got in too without any experience,” you joke. “So I’m guessing he did something that you didn’t like and you left?”

“If you put it like that, yes he did. We used to be tight knit, me, him and Fury. Nopony could get in our way when we put our heads together, when we took over the empire from our incompetent predecessor,” he sighs longingly. “Those were the days; we did good for our people. We helped bring our empire the prosperity it deserved while Sombra acted as a perfect figurehead for our new dynasty.”

“I haven’t got an answer, none of the books say anything, and they say you’re dead, what happened?”

“Dead? Officially, but I’m very much alive and well in the spirit of my ponies.”

You narrow your eyes at him. “What do you mean? What did Sombra do?”

His face muscles tense and relax at random periods, like a fish out of water. “He… didn’t listen to me. After all that we went through, he didn’t listen. He was content to sit back on his fat flanks and watch as everything went to shit.”

You’re getting an ominous sense of déjà vu.

“The Equestrians, they came for us,” he says become visibly distressed. “Ran us down like animals. While he sat there and bucking watched!” He screams, the air around his body becoming distorted. You remain silent, leaning further away from him as he paces to and fro. “Because that’s what he wanted, he wanted me dead, me and everypony else like me. Because he couldn’t bucking handle having somepony else take control!”

He stomps a hoof on the ground, sending large cracks to all corners of the room. His body twitches slightly. He turns back, meeting your gaze with slightly bloodshot eyes. “And now, look where we are… you, you naïve little shit! Swallowing down his lies like ambrosia, swooning over the “handsome” devil that kidnapped you and nearly killed you!”

“I don’t swoon!” You shout, having had enough of his crazed rant.

“That’s all? That’s all you can say, of course it is. You know it as well as I do, there are no more excuses to be made, no more second chances or last second fixes. He’s got you; he has you and is dragging you through the mud like an abused housewife, a chilling foreshadowing for your future.”

You bite your tongue. “Shut up.”

“And then when he’s had his fun, taken you to his bed-chambers and given you a good tumble, he’ll throw you out to the wolves like worthless refuse.”

You can taste copper. He trots forward, his indigent rage replaced with a confident, mocking tone. His hoof grips you by the cheek and pulls you, a horrid stench wafting from his quivering maw. “Rose… Rose… Rose…” He tuts.

“You’re blind to it all, and it’ll take you a long time to realize, maybe even as you stare over the edge and into the blackness. Remember this, your good friend Silver warned you. He warned you about falling into Sombra’s web, and when everything has fallen apart around you, you will finally realize that there are no happy endings!” He screeches, his voice escalating into indiscernible white noise.

With a gasp you awaken, shivering as the cool night air clashes with the thin layer of sweat hidden away under your fur. You wrap your arms around yourself and fall back onto the still wet mattress. What the hell? Was all of that real? Your knowledge of the show tells you that only Luna could enter other pony’s dreams, but is it a spell anybody can cast with enough practice?

Still shaken you hobble over to the bathroom to relieve yourself. You look over to the tub, bringing back memories of your impromptu masturbation session when you first met Sombra. Only now do you realize that your sudden arousal must have been a consequence of that stupid collar. You haven’t felt the urge since having never been much of a chronic masturbator.

A friend of yours used to have that, you muse as you wash your face off with some cold water. You’re going to need a proper bath; you were sweating like a pig last night. You sniff the air and catch a faint whiff of the smell of sweaty horse. Ugh.

You’re just distracting yourself, aren’t you?

You look to the mirror which is in the same place as your previous lodgings. You trot over to it, preparing yourself for another round of body turmoil, which never comes. Perhaps more frighteningly, you don’t feel much of anything looking at yourself. No anger, no need to pull the fur from your body, you just feel like you always did back home.

You’re getting complacent with this, Silver was right.

Everything else he said… you don’t believe him. You still view Sombra with as much skepticism as he deserves. You don’t see how you’re going to go from skepticism to jumping into bed with him, lest it take several years which sounds about right. You decided to run yourself that bath, you aren’t going to go back to sleep.

He obviously has some history with Sombra as a member of the guild and close ally, which seems to be a common occurrence, next thing Warm will probably waltz up to you and talk about being Sombra’s long lost sister.

You shut the taps off, steam rising from the clean water. You dip one hoof in to make sure it’s the right temperature before pulling yourself over the edge and into the bath. You lean back and close your eyes, trying to collect your thoughts on the matter.

It’s obvious that something is very, very wrong with Silver; potentially caused by something Sombra did in the past. Silver was listed as a blood mage in the book, something you didn’t get an opportunity to ask him about. So that must mean it is related to the blood mage massacre, and by extension what Sombra did during and after it.

By his own word he sat and watched it happen for an undisclosed reason. Did he know it was going on; did he encourage it in some way? Why would he do that? You feel a headache coming on. You’re not in any particular rush to solve this mystery, so long as nothing else happens in the meantime. Right now you need to focus on preparing for Fury’s plan.

With a sigh you sink further into the water, wishing you could just sat here forever and not have to deal with espionage and warfare. You’re so wrapped up in your relaxation that you don’t pick up on the sound of the outer door closing. Without any other indication the bathroom door swings open to reveal an irritated (when isn’t he?) looking Sombra.

Your human reflex shouts at you to kick him out before he sees your privates. Another part of you points out that he can’t see anything, and you’re naked all the time anyway. This conflict of interest causes you to give him a simple, venomous glare which causes his blush to wither away and forces him to slowly back out of the door.

“Ahem… I’m very sorry about that Rose,” he apologizes from behind the now closed door. “I should have knocked.”

“Yes, you’ll be surprised to find its common courtesy actually you freaking perv,” you shout back. Cutting your bath time short seems to be the correct path of action here. The sooner you get out of this dumb situation the better. Grumpily you towel off, rubbing your wet red hair until it sticks out at all angles.

Not even bothering to comb it you push the door open and stare at the increasingly sheepish King. “You’re acting like a teenager, never seen a wet mare before?”

Your intentional innuendo causes his blush to flare up again and leaves him a stammering mess as he tried to come up with some kind of excuse. This is the most fun you’ve had in months, forcing Sombra to act like this. It serves him right bursting into a mare’s bathroom like that.

He must not have much experience with the ladies.

Tucking that little tidbit away you sit down on your bed and comb through your messy mane. Sombra clears his throat and sits down on the couch. “What do you want?” You ask impatiently.

He sighs, giving up. “I just wish to speak with you about Fury’s plan.”

“What about it?”

“I don’t feel confident that it will work which is why I wouldn’t humor him before. Now the tables have turned and I’m growing increasingly worried about the consequences.”

You place the comb back on your nightstand. “I can’t say it won’t go off without a problem myself, but we’re just going to place some trust in him for once. You saw how eager he was to help you out.”

Sombra shakes his head. “I’ll hold you to that.”

“We’re either going to be dead by the day after tomorrow, or home free. Pick your poison.”

“I’d rather be poisoned on my own terms, rather than his,” he scoffs, crossing his forelegs like an indignant child.

With your hair and fur dry and combed into a somewhat cohesive style you head to the door, opening it for Sombra as he follows along. “Are you always like this? I can see why Fury gets annoyed at you.”

“Don’t get me started,” he mutters under his breath.