Little Lyra and You

Chapter 12: Blood on His Hooves

You snap awake to the sound of chattering voices all around you.

"Is he okay, he just appeared out of no where, that is an awesome tattoo," and several other questions that were lost in the crowd. Whenever you open your eyes you stare up at the faces of several ponies with crystalline facets running along their bodies that shimmered in the weak evening sunlight.

"Hey buddy, you okay." A crystalline white stallion with a dark red mane says pushing past to the front of crowd. You nod quickly, hardly able to take in everything that's going on at once. "On your hooves then, you drawing a crowd." He said. He offerer a hoof and you take it. He pulls you up until you're standing on your back two hooves and you don't realize until now that everypony else was standing on their back hooves as well, like humans. The white stallion pats you should and then steps away and you do the same and the crowd disperses.

As you walk away from the crowd you hear a faint buzzing that slowly grows in volume until it is clearly there and is starting to become annoying until it abruptly cuts off and is replaced with a smooth voice that awakens the hate within you.

"Hello my friend. It's been a few minutes and I realized that I forgot to tell you that the pony you send to me has to be royalty. Royal blood is much richer than peasant blood." Sombra says. "I'd kill Luna but she's still valuable so it's up to you champ." And with that you feel the voice go away from your mind. You sigh at that thought of having to kill royalty but you can't let that bother you. Lyra's life is at stake and you don't know how patient Sombra is.

But the only problem is you don't have a plan to kill some royal type, you don't even know who nearby could be royalty. That is until you look up from the sparkling concrete and notice a tall crystal building with long velvet banners hanging from its massive spires that billow in the wind.

"That's a palace if I've ever seen one." You say to yourself at the sight of the structure.

"Pretty impressive isn't it?" A voice behind you asks. You whip around and lock eyes with a bright red mare with a blond mane, facets ran along her body as they did everypony in this place. "Your not from around here stranger."

"How could you tell." You say jokingly.

"Funny AND cute, what's your name?" She asked smiling. "Unless you'd rather me call you stranger."

"I'm Michael, and you?" You say being friendly to the strange mare.

"I'm Rosa, I tend to the gardens on the palace grounds." She said.

"So you know the palace well?" You ask as a plan clicks into place in your mind.

"Like the back of my hoof." She said smiling and examining her hoof. "I could show it to you if you'd like." She said smiling even wider if that was even physically possible at this point.

"I'd love it." You say simply. She jumps up and down clapping her hooves together.

"Yay, I love giving tours almost as much as I love flowers." She said. You smile at her happiness and offer her your hoof.

"Shall we?" You ask.

"We shall." She replies taking your hoof and leading you through the streets crystal streets, Giggling like a mad filly. And as you follow her you think you see a hint of blush on her cheeks but you could be wrong.

The rest of the evening went by fairly quickly it seemed. The mare led you around the gardens and other parts of the castle grounds, showing you every square inch of the place, before taking you inside. Outside was nice, but the inside of the palace must be what heaven looked like.  Massive columns that rose up to the ceiling and met an awesome stain glass dome that allowed enough sunlight through to bathe the crystal ground in different colors of lights that reflected through the crystals and made the entire palace look even more beautiful.

"This is my favorite time to come in here." Rosa said. She clutched your hoof tightly as you watch the sun go down and the shadows mix with the hues in the crystal flooring and columns.

"I can understand why." You reply taking in all of the beauty of what was around you. But then the voice slithered back into your head.

"Having fun you little moron? Need I remind you that your marefriend is still in my dungeon, I can't kill her but I can make her wish I will." Sombra shouts in your head. You feel your tattoo begin to burn. "Get me that blood before the moon sets or I will begin to make your marefriend into pony jerky." He shouted.

The burning in your tattoo began to subside and was replaced by an itching in your mind. You turn to rosa and do you best to act like you're dead tired.

"Hey Rosa, I just blew into town today and I was wondering if you knew somewhere I could stay, just for the night." You ask.

"Oh, of course, there's a spare room here in the castle actually. And there's and in just down the street if you'd ra-"

"Here in the castle sounds perfect." You say, letting out a fake yawn to convince her further.

"Well then I'll show you to your room." She said taking your hoof and leading you across the palace and to a flight of stairs that led up to the staff and guest rooms.

Rosa pushed open the door to the room and took step back. "One of the finest hotels in all of the empire." She said in a voice that made her sound like an esteemed hotel owner.

"And no one will mind that I'm staying here?" You ask stepping in.

"Oh no one will mind. No one ever uses these guest rooms and as a worker for the princess it's okay for me to bring friends over." She winked.

"Thanks Rosa for everything." You say looking back to her. She blushes slightly and smiles.

"It's not a problem." She smiled. "I'm in the room just down the hall if you need anything." She said. "I'll see you tomorrow." She said waving and shutting the door behind her. You sigh heavily and look back to the door one last time.

"I'll be gone by morning." You say to yourself you look to your tattoo. "Gone, or dead."

You pull the last bent feather out of your wings and let it float to the ground with a few others that had been plucked from your wings. On the time you had taken from when you had gotten to the room and until now you had decided to be as normal as you could possibly be before murdering royalty. You weren't proud of what you were going to do but it was what needed to be done, and for Lyra, it didn't matter.

You glance out the window to see the moon reaching its highest pony and sigh to yourself. 'Its now or never.' You say in your mind. You don't want to screw around to long and not get it finished in time. You pull the panel aside and let the cool night air flow into the room and ruffle your feathers before jumping out and into the night.

It only took you a moments to find the princesse's room for it is the one that is the most heavily guarded, or at least was. There were some signs of blood on the balcony that led onto the corridor in the hallway that led to her chambers, but no guards. You were quickly becoming uneasy by all of this. You land on the balcony and fold your wings. You didn't plan to take off any time soon but your knees and back were tensed, ready to spring or defend yourself.

And then a bright flash of light came from down the hall, illuminating the entire corridor for an instant before disappearing. But you had sene where it had come from and quickly made your way over there.

You press you back to the wall and steal a glance into said room. To find a single Pegasus leaning against a pedestal of sorts, facing you.

"I can see you there Michael, you can come out." The Pegasus says. You pul your head back behind cover and hold your breath. But it wouldn't help, he already saw you. So you release the breath and step out into the open tentatively.

"Who are you and how do you know my name?" You ask stepping out. You notice the pony is clad in a dark leather armor that matches his brown coat. The only thing that really stands out about him are his bright green eyes.

"My name isn't important, what you're here for is." He said. He pulled a red vial out of the folds of his armor and held it in his wing. "The blood of royalty." He said shaking it. You felt your tattoo burn at the sight of it.

"Something tells me you're not going to just give it to me out of the kindness of your heart." You say dubiously. You tense the muscles in your hind legs and prepare to strike if you have to.

"Ha, no sorry." He scoffed. "There's a little thing called destiny you see. I already know how this war and everything is going to turn out, it's been predicted by Luna already. Were all just pieces on the chessboard." He said putting the vial back into the folds of his armor.

"So, if you want destiny to come true then come and get it." He said. He flicked both of his wrists and two blades shot out . The steel glimmered in the weak moonlight as if blessed by Luna herself. You swallow hard at the look on his face but after staring for a second you see something that you hadn't expected. Under all the determination and fury there was, fear in his eyes. Something about that calmed you. You spread your wings and launch yourself forward, using your wings to propel you.

But the pony that stood before you was smarter than that, he easily side stepped you and landed a blow to your ribs as you passed, but you were lucky and it was only his hoof that hit you.you whip around and lock eyes with him again and notice the fear you had seen a moment ago has disappeared. He readied his blades and shot forward at you, but rather than freezing up like you would have expected yourself to do, you jerk your right hoof forward and a bolt of pure black flies out of the end of your hoof and collides with the brown pony's chest, knocking him to the floor, before dissipating. You stare at your hoof for a second, astonished by what had just happened, but not long. You only just manage to block a slash from the side.

You hold the Pegasus' right hoof back with your left and deliver two direct blows to his stomach before he stumbles away, breathing heavily and clutching his chest, but you were perfectly fine save the dull ache in your side.

You bring your hoof up again and a long black tendril slithers out and across the room before wrapping around the pony's midsection. He sliced at it with his blade but it just deflected off harmlessly. You jerk your hoof to the right and slam him against the wall with a resounding thud that shook the walls. You withdraw your hoof and let the pony fall to the ground and quickly rush over to him in anticipation of him getting up and continuing the fight, but when you get there you realize that the pony is in no condition to fight anymore.

His breath come in ragged gasps and blood pros from his skull. But he still locks his half closed eyes with yours, but he doesn't do anymore than that, he probably couldn't even of he wanted to. Your kneel down and begin rifling through the folds of his armor looking for the blood that you needed.

"Destiny's a funny thing y'know." The pony said, his eyes now locked on the stones ceiling above him.

"Yeah, I guess." You say not stopping your search.

"We're just two little pawns on the massive chessboard of existence." He continues. "I just hope I died for something other than a pawn. I hope I died for a king." He says smiling oddly. He picks up his hoof and flicks his wrist and a small vial pops out of the end. "You earned it kid." He says. You stare at the vial for a second, astonished that this pony would just give it to you.

You take it in and look to his eyes and feel something tickle at the back of your mind. And then it clicks, this is the pony that you had seen when Luna had first shown you the dream fields, the pony she had shown your with the orange mare and you realized he wasn't just another soldier, he was a human, or at least was a human. Bu as you take it he grabs you by the throat and pulls you down until you were touching noses with him.

"Promise me that you'll so the right thing in the end!" He said with a sudden ferocity that took you by surprise. "Promise me!" He shouted. You nodded your head quickly.

"Yeah, yeah, of course." You say quickly. The pony underneath you relaxes and releases you neck. You pull away quickly as he draws his last breath and closes his eyes, and just like that he was gone, and then with a flash of light so were you.

You reappear in the dark dungeon yet again still clutching the vial on your hoof. You would normally have been freaked out by the sudden change of setting but you had either gotten to used to it by now or were to numb by the thought that you had just killed somepony.

"Excellent, you're not entirely useless." Sombra hisses from somewhere in the shadows.

"Just get out here and take your damn blood!" You shout, frustrated beyond belief with everything you had done.

"Woah there friend, there's no need to be angry." He says. You feel some thing tug the vial from your hoof's grasp and pulls it off into the shadows. "And Lyra?" You ask.

"I am a stallion of my word." Sombra said. You hear a thump as something drops next to you. You kneel down and rest your hoof on something soft, something furry and something warm.

"Lyra?" You ask. You feel the thing under your hoof stir and a little bit of light pops into the room casting a little more light on the thing next to you and it reveals a mint green pony covered in filth, grime and blood. She had a thick bandage on her chest where Sombra had slowly bored the sword into her chest slowly.

"Michael." She said. Her voice showed she was tired but she still found the energy to raise herself up and wrap her hooves around your neck. But something was off about her. It wasn't the normal, warm embrace. It was cold and lifeless. Even if she was as tired as she seemed, you could tell this wasn't Lyra.

You pull yourself out if the embrace and step away as much as you can before you feel your back hit a wall. "You're not her." You whisper in shock. Fake Lyra hauls herself to her hooves and states at you in fear and confusion.

"Michael what's going on?" She asks. Hurt in her eyes as well as tears. It hurt you heart to see her like this but you also knew it wasn't her.

"You're not her." You say. She begins to stumble towards you, her own hooves difficult to move. She raises her hoof and rests it on your cheek and you do your best not to turn away. But you couldn't take it anymore you bring up your marked hoof and a black tendril wraps around her stomach and you fling her away. She slams into the wall with a sickening crunch and sinks to the ground.

You pant heavily staring at the body. One of the hooves is bent at a strange angle and her chest isn't rising and falling like a love pony's would. The Lyra look alike was, with all intents and purposes, dead.

Suddenly, the body begins to shimmer slightly before all the color drained from it leaving behind a pure black outline of Lyra which eventually melted leaving a black puddle on the ground.

"Bravo, I must say you called my bluff quite quickly." Sombra says stepping into the light with two glasses held in the air next to him by a lime green aura. A table materializes out of nowhere in the center of the room with to chairs on either side of it. "Please sit, we have things to discuss." He says sitting down at the table. You follow suit but are obviously seething with rage.

He pros a dark liquid into a glass and slides it across the table to you. You sniff at it before taking a sip and eventually draining you glass in just a few seconds. You feel a light buzz in you ears and you movements feel more sluggish.

"Another." You say. Sombra raises his eyes in surprise but tips the bottle and refills your glass. You tip it back and swallow every drop before slamming it down on the table. Being the lightweight you were when it came to drinking you were already starting to see double. "Now abert the bersners." You say slurring your words terribly. Sombra chuckle slightly to himself holding the drink to his lips.

"Oh, the business is already finished." He says. He knocks back the drink and suddenly your tattoo burned ferociously and turned crimson. In your current state some of the pain was numbed, but not all.

"Whert did yer do?!" You slur clawing at your tattoo with your hoof. But Sombra doesn't respond, he just chuckles.

Suddenly your muscles go rigid and you jaws part and you open your mouth with open and Sombra did the same. Panic fills your body as you try to move but find yourself paralyzed.

Suddenly a black cloud pros out of his mouth and flies through the air and into yours. You feel a sock sense of dread spread through you, freezing your every nerve in a foreign fear. As it flows into your body you hear thousands of screams of ponies in your ears each being silenced one at a times till only one is left, yours, and then the black cloud ends and the last of it flows into your mouth and you body goes slack. But so ring stops your from hitting the table. And it was then that you realized you were still paralyzed but it wasn't just you in your body anymore, you feel a new presence in your head, like a second consciousness.

"Ooo, I like this body, nice and strong." You say, but it wasn't you who said it at all.

"W-where am I, what is this place. A soft voice says from the other side of the table. A tall black stallion clad in a purple and red cape stood, his knees shaking. He looked exactly like Sombra except for one key difference, his eyes were a soft shade of blue and not the ugly shade of green.

"Quiet knave." You shout at the pony. You flick your hoof and a burst of energy flew out of it and shit through the pony's chest, tearing a gaping hole through his chest where his heart used to be and splattering blood all over the table, ground and wall. "I know longer have a use for you." The thing possessing you says. "I have not time for petty unicorns, Pegasus or earth ponies, I have a war to plan. A war with only one battle, and it shall be spectacular."