//------------------------------// // Chapter 35 - Dealing with the Past... // Story: The Cosmic King // by Theyellowninja13 //------------------------------// I looked out the window of the train, watching as more and more snow appears, taking the place of the green fields. I sighed, my brain already going through trillions of possibilities of what could happen, and how I should deal with Sombra. I thought back to how I was like before I got my powers. Happy, only slightly depressed. Always had a smile on my face, and no one took me seriously. Now I'm perpetually depressed, and only really get joy out of fighting, and have to be serious for others. Clenching my fist, I imagined what it would be like if I could ever live a normal life again. "Hey Connor?" I heard Luna call my name from behind. Turning around, I gave a small fake smile (not that anyone could tell). "It's going to be another two hours before we arrive at our destination." I mentally chuckled, thinking about how stupid Sombra is, not blocking the trains. Sure, the trains don't go into the Crystal Kingdom anymore, but we still can get pretty close to it. "Okay. Make sure the soldiers are ready. Double check all the anti-mind-control and anti-dark magic enchantments." I replied, knowing I couldn't do it myself. Well, I could, but I was trying to keep hidden. Some ponies still talk about me, but eventually, I'll fade out of the history books, so the Connor that arrives in a thousand years won't be able to figure me out quite easily. The world thinks Luna is the war mind of the sisters, but I'm actually providing the ideas and plans, and Luna executes them. "Something on your mind?" She asks, getting worried. Anyone who knows me knows that my mind is the most important part of me. I can regenerate from many wounds, but if my brain can't give a thought to regeneration, I can't heal. Plus, my powers are based off of my memories, and if I get amnesia, I'd be screwed. 'I am so going to get amnesia sometime in the future. Because that's my luck.' "Just thinking of my past." I responded. Luna walked over to me, and sat down next to me, before wrapping a wing around me. "You've never really told us what your past is like." She leaned her head on my arm (left one). I felt her flowing mane tickling my bare arm. "Full of loss and despair." "But it couldn't have always been like that. What's your family like?" Luna looked at my eyes, trying to do puppy dogs eyes. Chuckling, I answered. "Well, my entire family right now is a psychopath who has control over fire and weapons, and my adopted father, Slenderman, who raised one of myself after splitting up." I leaned back in my chair, an image of my rival/brother fresh in my mind. Whoever is reading or hearing this probably doesn't know what Murphy looked like. While I usually wear a vest (even before the shooting), and cargo pants, Murphy wears a black leather jacket he keeps unzipped, and has a blood red T-shirt underneath it and he always wears jeans. While my hair is short, brown, and spiky in the front, Murphy had a mop of red hair, similar to Silver from Pokemon (if Silver had shorter hair). He even had fire red eyes to counteract my electric yellow. 'Lightning and Fire. That's both of our main powers. But where I go melee, he likes to use his guns which he can create anytime he wants. "What about your family before you got your powers?" I cringed at the memories. "They aren't my family anymore. I'm not related to them, as I don't even have DNA anymore, and their Connor died from two bullet shots." I closed my eyes, not wanting to relive those memories. "But they raised you! That makes you family, not relation!" Luna retaliated. "They raised me the first 15 years of my life. I've been forced to live without them for over a million years. Not like I could visit them even if I wanted to." It's true, I tried so many ways to get back to them. "I found out that when I got my powers, a lot of cosmic energy dispersed into the universe, effectively making a barrier that prevents me from entering the universe." Luna stayed quiet after that, leaning on my chest as the train kept on moving. I grunted, as I carried eight wounded soldiers to the camp to be healed. The second I got into the camp, medics ran over and took them off my back, bringing them to the medic tents. Unburdened, I walked over to Luna and Celestia, who were directing more soldiers. "The troops are almost at the generator." I told them, and they nodded. After about a day of fighting, I realized my plans won't work so well, as Sombra somehow got a Cosmic field generator, which projected a field that prevented me from entering. The soldiers can enter just fine, so I had to reveal myself, and start giving orders. The soldiers took it rather easily. "How fast do you think we can take out Sombra after getting through the generator?" Celestia asked as I took off my helmet. "About an hour. Two max. I'm going to have to go light energy on him, which isn't as strong as dark energy, but it should counteract his dark magic." I held up my left hand, and created a flickering orb of pure light energy. "Should we try the Elements?" Luna suggested. "I know you aren't that good with light energy yet." I sighed, dispersing the ball of energy. "No. We shouldn't heavily rely on them. We can't always blast our enemies with rainbows. Sometimes they may just not work, and if you rely on them heavily, you would be crippled heavily. We can use them as a last resort." At this point a soldier quickly ran over to us. "Sir! The generator has been destroyed!" He said panting, before quickly bowing. I gave a grin. "Good job soldier. Get some rest and food, and report to your superior for more orders." I turned to the alicorns. "Ready to show Sombra what happens when you mess with us?" My grin turned dark as I put back on my helmet, which only showed my mouth. Both princesses nodded, and we took off at fast speeds, quickly arriving above the castle in the kingdom. A thought occurred to me during the quick flight. 'Why is Sombra a king, but he calls his kingdom an empire?' I looked to the sisters, and we all nodded, before I blasted a hole in the ceiling, before we all dropped down in the throne room, looking to the throne which sat Sauron Sombra. "So nice of you to drop in princessesssss." Sombra said, dragging out his 's' as he looks at the unwelcomed visitors. "And the fabled Cosmic King decided to join as well. Thissss issss going to be fun." Quickly, Sombra's horn glowed, and Connor back-flipped out of the way of a giant crystal that quickly grew out of the ground. The princesses quickly left the room, their mission being the moving of the ponies out of the castle, in case any debris from the fight harms Before Connor could even land, he spun in midair to avoid the two crystals trying to impale him. The second Connor landed on the ground, he rushed forward towards Sombra, breaking mach 50 easily, and thrusting his sword at Sombra, which impaled Sombra. Sombra looked down at the sword made of Cosmic Energy sticking through his chest, before he started laughing. "You think me a fool to let myself be defeated so easily?" Sombra's horn glowed, as he tried to get rid of the sword, but it didn't budge. Connor just smiled. "Sorry, but that sword only obeys those worthy to use it. And you're not worthy." Sombra hissed, as his horn glowed again, turning him to shadow, before he burst into an explosion of crystals. Connor yelled in pain, as he was flung into the wall on the opposite side of the room, sharp crystals piercing his entire body. "Yessss. I have defeated you! The so called Cosmic King!" Sombra started to boast, before he noticed Connor's body twitching, as electric sparks fly off of it, before it shrinks, and changes shape until it looked more like one of Connor's arms. "What the?" Sombra was suddenly kicked into the very spikes he impaled 'Connor' with. Sombra turned into shadows, just in time to save himself, as he rematerialized on the ground, to see Connor landing on the ground, no longer in the armor he wore, as he reattached his right arm. "Oh, Sombraro. I thought you would be more clever than that. You honestly thought I would wear armor like that in war? I would only wear it to certain social functions." He snapped his fingers, and another purple sword appeared in his hands. It was much longer than the sword the fake Connor used, and looked 13 times more deadly. "I guessss I won't be holding back." Sombra said, readying himself. Connor chuckled. "Sorry, but I will be holding back. About my usual .001% of power, which is the same amount I use on a daily basis." Sombra growled, before splitting himself into 5 copies of himself, and they all charged forward at once. Connor swung his sword five times, slicing up each copy as they got close. But, while Connor was cutting up the clones, the real Sombra turned to shadow, and appeared behind Connor, who, due to the clones, wasn't able to turn around and stop Sombra from entering his mind. Connor fell to the ground, heavily breathing, as he tried to kick Sombra out of his head. 'Now, let'sssss see what'sssss in here Cosmic King.' Sombra spoke, followed by a laugh, as he got past Connor's few mind defenses, and started searching his brain. "S-stupid... w-w-weakness." Connor was barely able to speak those few words. At this point, Celestia and Luna barged in with worried faces, and immediately rushed over to Connor, who eyes were completely bloodshot. 'You know. The Cosmic King could make a useful slave. Just gotta figure out how to control him.' Sombra spoke to himself, as he looked around Connor's mind, Connor no longer able to hear him. Sombra shivered, before feeling a powerful energy behind him. He turned to see a dark figure standing right there. 'You shouldn't be in here.' The voice spoke in a tone that sent fear into Sombra's heart. 'You won't stop me Cosmic King! I will control you as my slave!' Sombra yelled, but having trouble believing it in front of this being. The figure just laughed. 'You think I'm the Cosmic King! I'm not anywhere close!' As Sombra took a closer look, the black figure seemed similar to what he read about Connor's Cosmic Form, but the figure seemed like it looked more childish, as if a young child designed it. Fear was evident on Sombra's face, as he backed up from the creature. 'W-who are you?' The figure laughed again. 'You can call me, Shadow Connor.' "Connor! Are you alright!" Luna yelled, tears in her eyes as she worried about her close friend, one of the only she has. Celestia quickly pulled Luna away from Connor, when he started flickering. But not flickering as showing his true Cosmic Form, but his appearance slightly changed. His hair would flicker to a deep dark black, before going back to brown. His eyes turned blood red, and then electric yellow. His skin paled, and unpaled, over and over again. Even his teeth temporarily became sharper. "Connor!" As Luna yelled his name again, Sombra was kicked out of Connor's mind, being sent flying straight at his throne, which shattered into hundreds of pieces, most of which impaled him, making him bleed heavily. Connor slowly got up, clutching his head in pain. "I HATE THAT WEAKNESS!" He yelled, hating people using mind-control against him. "THE ONE THING I CAN'T STOP OR PREPARE FOR!" Then quicker than anyone could react, Connor flew over to Sombra's bleeding body, and stood over him, his sword having changed into the Master Sword, and he was aiming it above Sombra's heart. "Go ahead, send this blasted place into the future. You might be luckier there." Connor whispered with a scowl. Sombra's eyes widened in surprise, before he chuckled softly, and then coughing up blood. "You truly do know the future. Very well. I'll see you then." Then, with a glow of his horn, his body faded into shadow, and the entire city started flickering, as it started disappearing through time. Connor put away his sword, and quickly flew over to the sisters, before grabbing them, and flying back through the hole in the ceiling, and quickly flying over the city, heading back for the camp. "All soldiers! Retreat! The city's destabilizing!" Connor yelled at the top of his voice, which caused the guards to start booking it out of the city. Connor dropped off the sisters, and quickly flew back to the edge to make sure no one is left behind, when he saw a few soldiers stuck under some debris, struggling to get out. Connor quickly flew over, removing the debris, and picking them up, before trying to fly out of the city in time, as the flickering got faster. Connor reached the edge, just as the city disappeared, and flew over to the camp, dropping the soldiers off, before landing sitting down. "Whew, we made it. No one left behind." Connor was about to relax a bit, when Luna ran over to him crying. "Connor! You're okay! I thought you would be lost in the city when it disappeared!" Luna held him in a hug, not wanting to let go. But she did when she realized something was missing. She backed up, and looked with widened eyes as Connor's leg. "Connor... your leg." Connor looked down, before scowling again. "DARN IT!" Where his right shin should have been, was nothing but a stump. "You ready for this Star Swirl?" I said, looking at Celestia apprentice. After finding him in the forest all those years ago, he's grown up into a rather respectable young wizard, with the help of my own teachings. You think a pony could figure out how to time travel? I figured out how to do it in five minutes after being curious about it. Then, I taught him a bit of it, so he would create the time travel spell Solid Sparkle would use. "I'm ready Master Connor." He said with a nod, as we looked upon the weakened Sirens, who stared at us with hatred in fear in their eyes. I pointed my right hand at them, as my hand glowed purple, and Star Swirl's horn glowed the same color, before we shot out our power, sending them into another dimension parallel to this one. After I closed up the portal, I clapped my hands together, as if I was wiping off dust. "Well, that was an interesting battle. You impressed me with your knowledge Star Swirl." Stroking his stubble, he responded "Well, I have been practicing, and reading all the old texts." I nodded, before turned around. "Well, we've got one more thing on the agenda. But you're gonna have to go alone for this." I handed him a note I just created. "In there, you'll find your instructions on stopping a major Equestrian threat." He looked surprised at this. "You want me to do this on my own?" "Yes. I have some important business elsewhere, and I believe you can do this. As long as you remember your training." Star Swirl closed his eyes, as if thinking. "I won't let you down, Master Connor." He said with a smile, as he did a pose I remember Twilight doing once in the show. Can't remember what episode. It always makes me chuckle a bit when I think about how Star Swirl is Twilight's ancestor. "Well then, see ya!" I said with a wave, before blasting off, flying straight for the castle. I landed on the landing pad made for me, before walking in and heading for my room to preform some quick maintenance on my leg. After it got cut off halfway down the shin, I had to build a new part for it, because Sombra used Cosmic energy to make sure the time travel can't be stopped by me when he sends the city to the future. But the limb seems to be malfunctioning every once in a while. As I was walking, I saw a familiar face down the hallway. "Hey Luna." I spoke up, with a genuine smile on my face, happy I get to see my girlfriend before I have to leave on official Cosmic business. That's right, I said girlfriend. A year ago, she finally worked up the nerve to ask me out. I knew she had a crush on me, and I liked her, so I said yes, and eventually, we got in a relationship. I frowned though when I saw her concerned face. "Hey Connor." She said in a sad tone, as he faked a smile. I bent down to her level, and gave her a hug, which she returned. "I have something important to tell you." "What is it?" I asked, as I looked into her eyes. But she averted my gaze. She sighed, eventually looking back into my eyes, before answered. "I'm pregnant. And you're the father." For the first time since I got my powers, I felt my entire brain, which can work faster than a super computer made by the most advanced races in a universe, just stop working.