Let Sleeper Dogs Lie

Let Sleeper Dogs Lie

by neorenamon

As Queen Sombra (aka the real Rarity), Celestia and Spike made their way back towards the Carousel Boutique, a reddish ball of fire was seen coming from the roof towards the sun.  They lost sight of it long before it got there.  But then Celestia suddenly seized up and fell towards the ground.  Since Queen Sombra wasn't using wings to fly, she could change course on a bit and catch Celestia before she hit the ground.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she looked into Celestia's eyes, which seemed dimmer, "You feel so cold."

"Nightmare Celestia," she gasp as if having trouble breathing, "She's taken control of the sun."

"Why's that affecting you so?"

"I've been bonded to the sun for well over a thousand years," she replied, "It's a part of me now.  Perhaps it's even what has allowed me to live for so long... That's why when I imprisoned Nightmare Moon in the Moon, she returned a thousand years later and not aged a single day."

"Then I'll make her give control back!"

"Something's wrong with the sun!" called Spike.

Celestia and Sombra looked up to see that the sun had turned from yellow to orange.  It seems to have become larger as it shone its light down on them.  As the disc grew, the temperature went up as well.

"She's making the sun larger by heating it up!  If this continues, the sun will engulf everything and burn it all away!  I can't let that happen to anypony!"

"THAT'S INSANE!"

Sombra glanced over her shoulder at Spike and replied, "You do remember who we're talking about, right?"

"I HAD NO IDEA SHE COULD BE THIS CRAZY!"

"Ah," she moaned, "Just once, I'd like to be able to handle one crisis at a time."

She created an orb of green flame in her open palm and pressed it down over Celestia's heart.  It seemed to simply sink though her hide without burning it.  Celestia's eyes erupted in beams of green light before the light faded, and she was breathing more easily.

"That should keep you going strong until I can return the control of the sun back to you, my love.  I swear upon the Amulet that it shall not take long."

But she could just see the terrified look on Celestia's face.

"What's wrong?"

"Your eyes my love," she sighed, "They're... King Sombra's eyes..."  Then her eyes fluttered closed as she passed out.

"I'm not like him," she promised, "I'll NEVER be like him!"  She swept Celestia up into her arms as they continued on.

The disc of the sun turned from orange to red as it was now double its normal size, and the temperature continued to rise.

Then they heard a mare laughing from the roof of the Boutique as Nightmare Celestia called, "LET ALL THINGS IMPURE BE PURGED BY MY WRATHFUL FLAMES!!"  They saw her float above the place, her whole body burning with blood red fire as she stared down upon them with her burning, hate-filled eyes.

"Why do you want to rule over ashes?!" called Spike.

"ONCE EVERYTHING IS BURNED AWAY, I'LL DESTROY MYSELF AS WELL, AND PERFECTION WILL BE ALL THAT REMAINS!  THE WORLD SHALL BE PURIFIED!"

"YOU'RE NUTS!"

"Didn't we just have this little talk?" asked Sombra.

"Oh," replied Spike, "I just wanted to hear it straight from the mare's mouth."

The sun turned darker red as it doubled in size yet again.  All visible sources of water were visibly shrinking as the water was evaporated, even in water glasses.  Ponies and animals seemed to be hitting their limits on how much heat that could take, other than Nightmares, Dragons, and other naturally heat tolerant creatures.

"You know something?  I'm getting real sick and tired of your little tantrums!"

"What do you plan to do about it?!" hissed Nightmare Celestia.

"Rather than be vague," she replied, "I'm going to make the solution CRYSTAL CLEAR!!"

She slammed the palm of her hand into the ground as a massive wave of black crystal shot up from the base of her own shop, and soon shot hundreds of feet into the air before anypony could blink.  Nightmare Celestia found herself trapped in a huge mass of a black crystal prison.

"How do you know there still wasn't somepony trapped in there?!" asked Spike.

"Well d'uh," she replied as she tapped the Alicorn Amulet with one fingertip.

"Oh," he replied, "I didn't know that worked on things besides Nightmares."

The sun was shrinking as it shifted back to yellow, and temperatures were quickly turning back to normal.

"I swear as soon as the other Nightmare is taken care of and Luna is restored, I'll restore your connection to the sun.  Just rest easy knowing that while she's stuck in there, she can't use her powers or control the sun against us again."

"You know she's unconscious, right?"

"She might still be able to hear my voice," she replied with a somewhat exasperated sigh, "It is magical now after all."

"Yeah... you keep telling yourself that..."

"ARE YOU DISRESPECTING ME?!"

"Of course not!" blurted out Spike quickly.

"Before we go to the Diamond Dog mines," she said as she looked back at Celestia, "I must make sure that my love is safe until she can be returned to full power.  I'll meet you at the outskirts of Ponyville in the direction of the Diamond Dog's mine, Spike."

Celestia and Sombra vanished in a flash of black light.  Spike ran for the exit on the way to the Diamond Dog mines.  Nopony or dragon notices the black crystal that erupted from the ground where Spike's foot was just a split second earlier.

...

The two mares appeared in Celestia's bedchamber.  With a green flash of her eyes, Celestia's clothing evaporated as she lay the slumbering Princess peacefully onto the bedsheets.

"You're so beautiful," she sighed, "I don't know what I've done to earn so much love from you."

She leaned down to nibble at the white alicorn's supple throat.  Then she removed her cloak and laid it out over Celestia like a large thick blanket.

"Rest well, darling," she purred, "I'll return as soon as I can."

She vanished in another flash of black light.  As soon as she was gone, the closet doors opened as a number of noble stallions emerged into the room.

"I knew she had to come back here eventually," hissed one of them, "and now she's our prisoner.  Let's... gift wrap her for our new lord, Prince Blueblood!"

Celestia didn't even stir as the cloak was stripped away, and she was jumped by half a dozen stallions who hogtied her from nose to hoof with their coils of long silken rope.

"Wow," said another, "Is it just me, or are the Royal Hooters even bigger?"

"It's just you, you Peeping Tarpan!"

About four stallions picked up Celestia and began hauling her towards the closet.

"Now we'll whisk her out the secret door in the back of the closet and straight to the clutches of Prince Blueblood!"

"We shall all profit under his glorious rule!" said a third conspirator.

"No more pandering to the weak and poor!  It shall be all for the rich, and none for the peasants!" agreed a fourth.

"What about Princess Luna?" asked the second.

"As long as Celestia is our prisoner, she dare not act against us!"

The nobles and their prisoner vanished into the secret passage as they closed the closet door behind them.

One of Celestia's Guards poked his head in the door as he looked around.

"Did you hear anything?" asked another Guard.

"I must have imagined it," he replied, "There's still nopony in here."

"And what the hay was the deal with the sun?!"

"I don't know," he sighed with a shrug, "I just work here."