Chapters Addicted to a Memory
Clarity gazed out on the Crystal Empire as the sun hit high noon. The ponies were out doing their usual daily business. The sheep were in their pastures, the librarian was organizing books, and the occasional pony was seen polishing her house.
Things had changed a lot in the empire. A stallion named Push Play had found Clarity encased in black crystals and freed her. But he also unknowingly freed King Sombra, the corruption of Clarity's brother, Raven Dusk.
After the battle with Sombra, Clarity had vanquished the phantasmic stallion and found her lost brother. After the battle, Play left to return to Manehattan. He had gotten permission to work on his first documentary and had to return to the city to do it.
Cadance and Shining Armor had given Clarity the same room she had before Sombra's attack: in the eastern part of the central tower, where she could watch the sun rise. And Raven was in the room right next to hers. She was getting settled in to the empire, but her brother wasn't.
She walked out of her room to see him walking down the hall, still behaving distant when he saw her. Clarity wouldn't stand for it. She didn't want to lose her brother a second time. She caught up with him.
"Raven, what's wrong?" She asked, only to slap her forehead, "What am I saying? Right now, with us, everything's wrong!" It was a white lie; Clarity was settling in nicely (as said before), but it pained her to see her brother so upset.
"I just want to know what I can do to help you," she said.
"I don't know," Raven said, "Just leave me alone."
"I don't know if I can do that," Clarity answered, "Did sealing yourself away help you with your anger before?"
Raven stopped, and sighed. Out of frustration. Not because Clarity was wrong, but because she was right.
"It pains me to see you like this," Clarity said, "Can we talk?"
"I guess," Raven answered.
The two ponies were back in Clarity's room. It wasn't too big, but it held many lavender-colored crystals.
But that wasn't on her mind now. She and Raven were sitting on her bed.
"I understand if you're not ready to talk about Sombra," she said, "But can you at least tell me why you got so distant?"
"Envy," Raven answered, "You had everything I wanted. Power, attention, the future throne. I felt unimportant, like you didn't need me around."
"Oh, Raven," Clarity said, "You're my brother! Of course I need you around! That's why I kept trying to reach out to you."
"Although it seems stupid now," Raven continued, "I deluded myself into thinking that you just saw me as a pathetic prince."
"No," Clarity said, "From what I've heard from Cadance, that would be Prince Blueblood."
"I began to sneak into the tunnels beneath Canterlot and practice dark magic from an old book I found," Raven said, "And when Mirar fell ill, instead of feeling upset, I began to feel anticipated that I could seize power."
"No wonder you seemed so excited," Clarity said, with a hint of anger present in her voice, "I had the right to distrust you."
"Yeah," Raven said, "After that, all I could think of was vengeance."
"I can imagine," Clarity said.
"Happy now? I gave you answers," Raven said.
"Yeah, I guess," Clarity replied with a sigh.
With a nod, Raven exited Clarity's room. Clarity sighed again, and looked out her window.
Dark clouds were rolling in. She remembered hearing that the pegasi were planning a large storm.
'The first Raven and I have seen in over a thousand years,' she thought.
Transmission
The storm was coming in fast. The winds were blowing to the point of trees being uprooted. A guard stood at the door from the inside. He couldn't help but think of Sombra as he glanced out the window at the darkening sky.
'So Raven was Sombra,' he thought, 'I always had a minor suspicion about him. How do we know that he has changed his ways?'
A knock sounded at the enormous palace door.
'Who would be outside at this hour?' He thought. He opened the door and saw a familiar navy blue unicorn. And not Raven.
"Push Play!" He exclaimed, "What are you doing here!?"
"Despite the weather, my boss, Rewind, insisted that I come here to get some more hoofage of the empire and Clarity," Play answered.
"Not Raven?" The guard asked, before stopping himself, "Not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with it!"
"What do you mean?" Play asked.
"Nothing," the guard said, "Never mind."
Play looked at the guard suspiciously.
Rewind also seemed to have something against the prince-turned-tyrant. Play recalled the conversation he had with his boss just before he boarded the train.
'Don't worry about Raven!' Rewind had said, 'From how he's supposedly been acting, don't try to force the camera on him!'
Play had boarded the train, thinking about why Rewind was being so empathetic towards Raven's distant attitude.
'Rewind never says to not force someone into the spotlight,' Play thought. 'Come to think of it, he never said anything specific about Raven's behavior. It's like he thinks that.... Raven is trying to plot something!
Oh, geez, I need to tell Clarity about this. If many other ponies are like this, then Raven is going to have one heck of a time settling in.'
The guard cleared his throat, snapping Play out of his trance.
"Sorry," Play said, covering his tracks, "I was thinking about catching up with the recent events in the Crystal Empire. By the way, do you know where Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor are?"
"They should be in the mane throne room," the guard replied, "If you'd like, I'll escort you."
"No, thank you," Play said, walking off. With what just happened, he wanted nothing to do with that guard.
The howling winds outside echoed through the corridors as Play strolled through them, thinking as he went.
'I'm going to have to survey the other guards about the thought of Raven being here in the castle. I'm honestly surprised that he wasn't immediately thrown into a dungeon cell. I trust him as much as Clarity does, but for all I know, he might as well have the steel armor and the smoky eyes. That's what everyone else is seeing.
'Why are we reacting this way? This is a mirror image of Luna's return, but the ponies accepted her almost immediately. The closest thing to hatred was when the foals played scared in her presence. That's something I may want to talk to Cadance about...'
He found himself at the doorway to the throne room, where he saw Cadance and Shining Armor talking about the approaching storm. The royal ponies fell silent when they saw the unicorn. They looked at him, mildly surprised.
"Long story short, Rewind told me to come," Play said, resulting in a look of realization on both ponies' faces.
"So, what made him want you to come here?" Shining said.
"More info on Clarity, actually," Play answered.
"Not Raven?" Cadance said.
"Even though he's never even met him, he trusts that stallion as far as he can throw him."
"Which I can only assume is not very far," Shining said, "But I don't blame him."
"Honey!" Cadance said.
"I'm not saying that I don't trust him," Shining said, "But as the captain of the guard, I know the feelings of hatred and fear when fighting a threat to Equestria. I understand why these ponies fear Raven. Even I can't shake off the feeling that he may have a bit of darkness left in him."
"But why did no one act this way when Luna returned?" Play asked, rolling his camera.
"My guess is since few ponies remembered Nightmare Moon," Cadance said, "She was viewed as a villain that was an easy-come-easy-go type. After all, it was only mere minutes before Celestia banished her. Plus, many of the ponies who knew about her knew that she was a corruption of Luna. Raven, on the other hoof, was the polar opposite of all of this. No one knew who he was. He successfully took over the empire for weeks. The crystal ponies suffered the same time jump that affected the empire, so the memories of Sombra's rule were, and still are, fresh in their minds."
"That makes sense," Play said, shutting off the camera, "So where's Clarity? I honestly want to talk to her about this."
"Not Raven?" Shining said.
"I don't want him to see the full extent of the distrust," Play said, "At least not yet."
"That makes sense," Shining said, "He's been pretty distant with all of us except for Clarity. Good luck."
"With what?" Play asked.
"Everything," Shining answered.
Author's Note
In Zedd's album, "Beautiful Now" comes before "Transmission," but I couldn't see the chapter having that name. Plus, if you listen to "Transmission," the mood sort of fits with the chapter, even though the lyrics have nothing to do with it.
Clarity and Raven gazed out of a window in Clarity's room. The rain was pouring down and tree branches were flying through the air.
"How do I get them to trust me?" Raven asked.
"What do you mean?" Clarity replied.
"Don't play me for a fool, Clarity," Raven said, "I know what they all think of me."
Clarity sighed. "Just try not to think about it," she said.
"Easier said than done," Raven said.
Then, a knock sounded at the door. Clarity opened it to see Push Play.
"Hey, Play!" She said, "It's good to see you again!"
"Hi, Push Play," Raven said, "What brings you here?"
"My boss wants more hoofage of this place," Play replied.
"Figures," Clarity said, before turning around and looking out the window, suddenly looking worried.
"Are you okay?" Play asked.
"I'm fine," Clarity said, "But do you hear that?"
The two unicorns went to the window on either side of Clarity, and sure enough, they heard what sounded like a young colt crying for help.
"I'm investigating," Raven said, his horn lighting up.
"Raven, wait!" Clarity said before Raven teleported out of the room. A flash of light shined through the window, and Clarity could make out the figure of her brother outside.
"It's not safe out there," she said to Play, "I'm going after him." She, too, teleported out.
"Wait for me!" Play said too late. He saw the siblings talking outside.
'I don't have much of a choice,' he thought. He concentrated, and he was with them.
The next thing he knew, his head was reeling. He stumbled and fell into a puddle, causing him to scramble to his hooves. He nearly fell again, but Clarity caught him.
"Thanks, Clarity," Play said. He quickly regained his balance.
"I can hear the cries!" Raven called from up ahead, "This way!"
The trio made their way down a street, and saw an orange crystal pony colt holding on to the trunk of a slim tree.
Play, out of instinct, hit the "record" button on his camera, and rushed to help the royal siblings who were tending to the colt.
"He's freezing," Raven said, "We have to get him out of here!"
"Not to mention the guards are going to panic when they find us gone!" Clarity added.
"Then let's get out of here!" Play said.
A flash emitted from Raven's horn, and a second later, Play was back in Clarity's room. Clarity was levitating the young pony, who was still shivering and was unresponsive. Clarity put her hoof on the colt's chest, and gave a sigh of relief.
Raven, on the other hoof, was just staring at the colt with tears streaming down his face.
"Raven," Play said, "Are you okay?"
"I can't help but feel responsible for this," the prince replied.
"But you're not," Play said, "I know that you still feel guilty about all that you've done, but I could tell from the minute I saw you as yourself that you're not the evil stallion everyone thinks you are. You have a heart as true as Clarity's. Now come on. Let's see what we can do for this colt." The two ponies walked up to Clarity, who was tucking the young pony into her bed.
I Want You to Know
The next day, the winds began to pick up. On the weather station, a pegasus said, "Citizens of the Crystal Empire are encouraged to refrain from going outside from six o'clock this evening to 12 o'clock tomorrow. We'll keep you updated on the chain of storms in store for next week."
"Come on!" Clarity heard one of the guards say, "I just polished my house!"
"Maybe that's why you should've gotten a smaller house," his partner said.
"Have you seen my wife?" The first guard said, "She always insists on having the best of the best. Hayseed, I wouldn't be surprised if she was chasing Prince Blueblood right now!"
"Sounds like the two of them would be mirror images of each other, if you ask me," a voice behind Clarity said. The young alicorn shrieked and turned around, only to crash into Raven.
"Geez, Raven!" She said, "Don't sneak up on me like that!"
"I'm sorry, Clarity. I thought you heard me coming!"
The two began to burst out laughing.
Then Raven saw Clarity with a small tear in her eye.
"You okay?" He asked.
"Yeah," Clarity said, still smiling, "This just reminds me of old times. Back when we used to laugh about almost anything."
"Yeah," Raven said, "It feels like over a million years ago..."
"Well, it was over a thousand years ago," Clarity said.
"Oh, right," Raven said. Then the siblings began laughing again.
"But this is how it can be," Clarity said, "We may never be the innocent foals we used to be, but I'll always see you as the brother I can trust to brighten my day. I always have. Even when you-know-what happened, I still saw the Raven I know and love, simply taken hostage by a monster."
"Okay, can we please change the subject?" Raven said, cringing.
"Sure," Clarity said.
"But I'm sorry for letting myself get blinded by my own hatred."
"I forgave you long ago," Clarity said, "I always blamed myself for it."
"I just want to forget about it," Raven said, "But now I don't know what to do."
"What do you mean?" Clarity asked.
"What's my place here? I'm not going to rule, and I've broken my false destiny of an evil tyrant. So, what is my path in life?"
"To be honest," Clarity said, "I don't know either. It's going to take some time for us to let go of what happened all those years ago, and we're going to have to retrace our destinies, but please know that I'll be at your side. Every step of the way."
Raven hugged Clarity. "I will, too," he said.