There he was, in all his glory. Atop the castle balcony, his piercing red eyes looking below at the 'peasants.' His fangs were still as razor-sharp as ever. Her heart thumped a million times a second, despite her rise in confidence over the years, still peering at the king made her legs tremble in fear. The way he spoke in a formal attitude, he always seemed to look directly in anyone's eyes, it made her legs weak. Even by her friends, even by the bravest ponies in Equestria, did she feel unsafe.

" ... Oh is the brave six come to end my reign? I feel as if I should just cowardly run now!" Rainbow Dash scoffed loudly to express her disinterest, she readied her wings. Already announcing her intentions to 'beat him up and make him wish he was never born.' Of course, the King snickered at this, but eventually as she approached his cold eyes grew with disinterest. " Why so stone-hearted? " He arched a brow, as crystals arose from the ground, blocking Rainbow's path.

"COWARD. FACE US!" Rainbow hollered, Twilight and Applejack nodded in agreement. Pinkie Pie on the other hoof seemed to be plotting the most mischevious ways to take the king down, but he seemed to be guarded. " I'll get around here. Just you WATCH. " Rainbow tried to fly around the crystals. Sombra once again watched and summoned more crystals in her direction, yawning a bit, seemingly VERY bored of their antics at this point.

"R-Rainbow..no..." Fluttershy managed to flutter up, and quietly put a hoof on her shoulder, automatically the tensions in Rainbow's eyes vanished when they met Fluttershy's soft and unblinking eyes. Now THAT caught the King's attention, he almost found it amusing. "...We have to think this out, together." She huffed, and her voice had calmed the anger in the group.

"Fluttershy... darling, we have to act now, he's enslaving ponies! He took the Elements of Harmony!" Rarity said in a reassuring tone, which made the others turn slightly, obviously agreeing. Fluttershy was almost afraid, having to act without direction, or thought. He seemed serious, despite his occasional laughs, unlike Discord... they had a real chance of dying. Discord was looking for fun, bad fun, but in the end, he didn't give off vibes of wanting to truly kill or even substantially harm anypony, only really mentally. Sombra seemed to aim for both.

"Rarity is right, sugar cube... we gotta' get in there." AppleJack said, which made Fluttershy finally give a small nod. It seemed like they had intentions of harming Sombra, not their usual friendship motto, which wasn't right on Fluttershy's side, even if he were bad we'd just be stooping to his level. Though she just wanted to find the elements, and maybe banish him. Outright killing him with the elements like last time wasn't an option for her either.

"U-uhm..--" Before she could manage a voice, Twilight had flown up and blasted the crystals, which gave the slightest paths. She teleported quickly ahead of the crystals, but soon found he had simply blocked more crystals in her path, and there was a barrier preventing her from teleporting in. Twilight frowned in frustration, she couldn't leave and open books and discover someways, ponies were being enslaved as she moved! This was much more drastic than usual. "Girls--" Fluttershy said in a quiet voice. They were much too focused on trying to get in. He had openly DISPLAYED that he had the Elements of Harmony behind there, they were all so quick to act in worry, rather than think. " ...girls.. " She said quieter. No response.

"GIRLS!" She said as loud as possible, which was a middle-tone voice for her, which caught all their attention. Fluttershy said with a sorry-look for talking so loudly, but she didn't trigger any anger in any of them, so she huffed quietly. She gathered her words and somehow formed a sentence. " ...He's very powerful, u-Uhm. Maybe this isn't a good method, not like you aren't trying, really you're all trying hard! I don't mean to be rude... I just... think maybe we should ... maybe talk to him. " They seemed to be listening until she said 'talk with him', their eyes widened in confusion, even Sombra tilted his ears in confusion when he heard that. He was mostly not listening for the most part but in the back of his thought process, he had heard that.

"TALK to him?" Twilight and Rainbow almost said that in unison. Everyone gave disapproving looks. Rainbow spoke up. "Really? Fluttershy, I know you don't want to HURT him, but seriously? He wouldn't listen, he's practically DEAF!" The pegasus said in a loud tone, which made the King roll his eyes, he turned slightly. He would not listen to what the little mare who calls herself Fluttershy has to say.

"We should ask him first...? He's a king, I'm sure he's up to d-deals? Maybe... don't take my word on it, I'll go with whatever you all want, I don't want to be bossy." Fluttershy said in quite the nervous tone. Everyone except Twilight seemed against the idea, the purple mare thought it about it logically and thought perhaps it was worth a shot.

" Okay, we can try! Good thinking, Fluttershy. " Twilight nodded with a thoughtful look, Fluttershy returned with a soft smile of appreciation. It warranted a small gasp from the others, but they wouldn't argue anymore. Better trying than nothing, Sombra had been focused on well... getting his new guards prepared. Twilight approached quietly, thinking she'd be the best bet for reasoning with him. "King Sombra." She said confidently, the king's ears perked, and he turned with a dead yet amused look. Before he could reply with a witty comment, she cut him off, "I'd like to strike a deal, I don't usually do this, but if you so wish to expand your Kingdom, you can have a piece of Equestria WITH Celestia's permission, and you won't put the ponies in that area in desperate danger, they also have full freedom to move. For your gain, we can also reason to have some of our guards to join your court." Sombra arched a brow.

"Why would I do such a thing? Many rules, little gain. The entire Crystal Empire and soon enough, BEYOND is much ... easier for me. Perhaps if you add much more to the deal." Sombra said with a large grin. His eyes pierced into Fluttershy's, well at least she thought so, she was convinced the entire time the King was peering at her with cold eyes. She convinced herself that it was in her mind, but her legs still proved weak, having to force herself to lift her head. "...Hmm... perhaps weaponry? No, no. That is useless to me... hmmm... " He was muttering possibilities, which made hope glitter in all of the pony's eyes, but Rainbow just rolled her eyes.

"Wow, nitpicky. AppleJack, how much do you want to bet that this loser's only friend is his mom? I bet that's the only mare that even loved him, or not. I wouldn't be surprised if she left him." That was a little harsh, but Rainbow seemed keen on bashing the king and enjoyed the idea of watching him cowardly repel in defeat. Though, that seemed to spark a look in the king's eyes, that made everyone's eyes widen in curiosity.

"A queen, yes, a mare. Somepony to keep me company and help me rule my new land, well she wouldn't have that authority right away, but perhaps ... we could arrange the marriage, and you all could most certainly attend. Well, in chains." Well, that was certainly UNEXPECTED. Everyone gazed in shock, but Rainbow and AppleJack couldn't hold back a laugh.

"A Q-what?" Rarity muttered, repulsed. On the other hoof, Rainbow and AppleJack were still trying to hold back laughs, Rainbow broke out, and while AppleJack laughed behind her hat. Twilight was still in awe, Rarity still in her land of disgust seemingly backed up.

"WHAT IS SO AMUSING?" Sombra said with a vial stare, which didn't stop the mare's laughter. "I can have a queen if I so choose! Nothing is amusing about it." Sombra almost practically hissed at that. His eye twitched slightly, he was agitated at the constant laughter.

"YOU...YOU... THINK A MARE WOULD WANT YOU? REALLY?--- OHAHAHA... OH I'M SO INTO DARK AND EDGY TYRANT OVER HERE, WHO ENSLAVES MY KIND! PLEASE GET ME A WEDDING RING." Rainbow Dash mocked, which made Sombra's blood boil with a vast amount of anger, he usually could handle mocks, but he took that as a lack of respect, of COURSE, a mare would want him. He certainly didn't care for romance one bit, but of course, he sought the idea of showing her off just to display his true reign over the world that he got what he wanted. Of course, he would relish in her respect and love for him, even if unrequited. A queen would be perfect. Not like she would have any actual power, she would just 'help' him.

"Oh, please! Any mare would adore me." The only pony's reaction unaccounted for was Fluttershy's, who was showing obvious signs of fear, and she found it in herself to cowardly hide behind everypony, as she could not stand the obvious anger in his eyes. "You are just blind to see that." His tone rang with confidence, but as the laughter arose again, he shot a crystal right by the laughing mares, which had shut up AppleJack, but not Rainbow. She was quieter but held back giggles.

"Who could you possibly want?" She was expecting someone of power, beauty, or riches. Perhaps Cadence, but she dismissed it as she was already married. Luna? Celestia? What if he wanted HER? Her best thought was Celestia or Luna. He wouldn't want Twilight, but she would volunteer herself.

"I'll discover that for myself... unless you have a good suggestion?" Fluttershy could feel his eyes piercing into her once again, like a thousand daggers. But she wasn't sure if his gaze was fixed solely on her, she was just quick to assume. This would not be good.

Author's Notes:

i dunno? i had the idea, i liked the art, so i'm trying to write a story around it. god knows i don't know what i'm doing, i guess we'll see. i might or might not continue, i'm throwing sticks with these stories, guess we'll see. up to y'all.