Celestia put her tea to the side as she picked up another piece of paperwork. More legal work to get the empire to be a real part of the ‘modern’ Equestria. All the hoops she was having to go through just to make it okay that these ponies returned was infuriating at this point. She had always tried to teach ponies to accept each other and the unknown so as to be able to grow, and this… this was just disgusting.
The monarch laid her head down upon the table with a brief sigh. The last year had been a nightmare for her, from all the requisition’s paperwork required to get things like Spike’s room, or Sunset’s house into place, to having to spend four days trapped in a room with Luna to make sure she was recognized as a new monarch, Celestia had been wrung out. Luckily, the paperwork had been for such nice things, and brought her closer to those she cared about and loved. Unfortunately, the empire meant pushing one of those away. “Now is not the time to dwell on that though. No reason to let a little loneliness make Kibitz yell at me.”
She was about to pick up one of the paper’s again when a small, blue figure crashed through her window. Glass scattered itself across the room as the pegasus hit the floor. The other pony was beginning to pick itself up as Celestia stepped over, and she finally noticed the horn that was also on the small filly. Luna looked up, a shard of glass embedded into her forehead. “Sister, gather your magic.”
“Luna, why did you do that? We need to-”
“Gather your magic, and get as many ponies out of Canterlot as you possibly can!”
Celestia blinked as she saw her sister shut her eyes. Cuts covered the little filly, but still she channeled her magic, and Luna was not a stranger to danger. If she believed something had gone wrong, Celestia would believe her, and follow the example. Her eyes closed, and she began to focus.
Both of the alicorn’s magics began to flow through Canterlot, first touching all of the denizens of the castle. As the radius grew further and further, the blazing light in the room began to shine like a beacon to the denizens. While they took it as something to stare at while they possibly watched a blessing be put upon them, Celestia and Luna were gritting their teeth at the pressure of so much magic being channeled at once.
It wasn’t enough though. Celestia could feel some of them outside of the radius. The little fillies and colts of the run down skirts of town. They… they didn’t deserve to die just because she wasn’t strong enough. Luna opened one of her eyes a fraction as she began to feel heat beat against her, and watched as Celestia’s mane had flames licking at the edges. Luna almost cried at the sight, before following in her sister’s example. The ground beneath her hooves began to tremble as she felt some of her teeth begin to elongate, and the dark whisper began to return.
But then, they released, and the noisy town of Canterlot, became silent. All was still, for nopony was left there. The one thing that broke the silence, was the glass that crashed upon the streets. Soon stones joined in the cacophony, and the cobblestone roads began to split. Finally, the cause of the earthquake hit its target, and the ground began splitting in two.
Black crystal rose from the ground, forcing dirt and stone to fly. Just behind it were massive columns of ice, so dark that one could not see through it as part of Canterlot Castle exploded from the sudden appearance of them. Celestia, watching from a ledge high above, her legs trembling as she gazed upon the destruction, felt a tear roll down her face. Her home, all of theirs homes, were gone, and they would have been to if not for Luna.
The filly princess slowly brought herself over, and put a hoof onto her big sister’s leg. “It… It’s not your fault Celestia. W-we thought he was gone for good, so you can’t blame yourself-”
Celestia turned away, forcing her tears back as she took in a deep breath. Luna was wrong, but wallowing in self hate would not fix what had just happened. No, she had to take that action, even if every plan she had felt like a shard of ice through her heart. “Luna, get yourself treated for your wounds, and then tell a guardsmen to retrieve the elements. Once I have them, I wish for you to lead these ponies somewhere safe while I check on the rest of the nation, and make sure we put a stop to this. Permanently.”
Sunset slowly swished her tail back and forth as she watched the skies. She had been awoken from deep study from a strong rumble, before anything not bolted down found itself thrown upon the ground including most ponies. Most were unharmed, as the real threat of the quake had been slightly out of town. Thinking of Conductor though, still staring into nothing on the end of an icicle… It sent shivers up Sunset’s body like she had never felt before.
Spike placed a hand on on her leg as he scratched at the side of his face, grinding away a few of the scales that clung to the bone. Of course, it didn’t hurt the dracolich, but it was still an odd practice to most, and caused Sunset to smile ever so slightly. “You know, you shouldn’t do that so much. It’ll send the wrong impression to ponies.”
Spike shrugged, before snapping his claws and grinning back to his aunt. “And you shouldn’t stare at the sun, and yet, here we are.”
Sunset rolled her eyes, happy for his company as she looked back up. She wished her friends could join her in the vigil, but most of the rest of town was working on clearing the debris, especially from the obliterated train station. But somepony had to watch for help, and who better than their royal connection. She raised a hoof as she saw something in the sky, and zoomed in with her magic. “Spike, get me some tea, scones, and sandwiches.”
He asked no questions, but instead raced downstairs. They both knew what the proper protocols for talking to Celestia was, and while neither of her children had done so in a long time, they would follow it now. Chairs, a table, and a nice, white cloth was brought out from their hiding places, and into the living room. The cotton cover had only just landed upon the table when the door opened.
Sunset looked up, noting a few, errant feathers as they fell to the ground, and she swallowed hard as she bent her hooves and bowed to the princess. Celestia nodded in return, her hooves shaking with each step as she came closer. “Thank you for the meal, but Spike, if you would be willing, please collect the rest of the element bearers. I need to speak to them as well.”
Sunset looked back up as she heard the skittering of claws, and the thump of something heavy. Her eyes widened as she saw the chest open, and there sat the elements of harmony, something they had only used for what seemed like the most dire of situations. Then again, with what happened to Conductor… She shut her eyes tight, and breathed in slowly. “What is it that I can do for you, princess?”
Celestia took a slight sip of her tea. “You saw the ice, correct? Felt what it was like?”
The yellow mare slowly nodded, wishing she didn’t have to. “It felt like her normally though. Not darker, crueler, or…” She shut her eyes, knowing they were all simply excuses. “Yes, princess, I did.”
“Then you must know what I am to command you to do.”
“Please princess, you can’t be serious. To hurt Twilight would only hurt-” She stopped as Celestia brought a hoof up, a tear falling down her cheek as she shook her head.
“You don’t get it. She feared that this very thing would happen, and wanted to be gotten rid of before she could cause harm. Instead…” She breathed in, her whole body trembling from exhaustion and pain. “Instead, I sent her straight into the clutches of a mad stallion, and lost her. Now, Canterlot lies in ruin, and my sister is helping the refugees get to safety.” She paused to take another sip of tea, before the cup fell out of her grasp, and crashed against the floor. She stared at it, and shut her eyes. “Two weeks ago, I would have agreed with you Sunset, but now, I need to put the kingdom before my heart. I do not have the strength to defeat her, nor the time while I try to fix Equestria, but you do.”
Sunset stared at the chest as it was pushed towards her. Once a symbol of pride for her, she now wanted nothing to do with the damned things. In fact, right now, Sunset would do anything to just get this conversation to disappear, and go help reconstruct the town. It didn’t though, not as Celestia continued. “You always wanted to be a important, to do things that affected all of Equestria. So now, for the sake of the land, I beg that you put aside your feelings, and make sure that when you confront her and your new enemy, that you make sure to aim to kill.”
Sunset placed her hoof onto her necklace, trembling as she felt her heart beginning to crack. This… this simply could not be happening. Nothing she had ever done before had prepared her for this, not even time as a homicidal wraith herself. She still needed to give an answer though, and she could only think of one. She instead, said the opposite. “Yes.”
Celestia nodded as she lowered her head, and took a bite out of one of the small sandwiches on the table. It was only a moment later that Spike walked back in, a bouncing, pink pony following close behind him. Sunset looked through her mane as they shuffled in. All of her friends had been brought in for this, and soon she had Rarity on one side of her, Fluttershy on the other, both making sure she was okay, as they could see the tears that stained her fur.
In the rafters, Trixie put a hoof to her mouth, and shushed Marble Pie as both spirits floated high above. Marble needed no such prompting though, as she rarely spoke, but her essence gave away her own concerns as it trembled. They all were waiting to hear from Celestia.
Now with a new cup, Celestia sipped her tea again, before beginning. “So, as you may have assumed, something has gone wrong, and it will be your six’s job to put it right.” Her horn glowed, and she smoothed out a map onto the table. A quill circled the blank, northern part of it, and Celestia tapped it. “Up here, lost for a thousand years, was a part of the kingdom called The Crystal Empire. Once a beautiful beacon of light for Equestria, a corrupt, and power mad stallion took over it, and drove it into the ground. My sister and I had fought him just before the Empire’s disappearance, and had thought we had removed him.”
Rainbow grinned. “So, let me guess. You want all of us to go up there, elements his rump out of Equestria, and be home in time for the next Wonderbolt’s show, right?”
Celestia smiled at the joke, but it quickly faded as she nodded. “Yes, I wish for you to go and defeat, from what I know, The Lich King, Sombra, as well as-”
Pinkie giggled, cutting Celestia off for a moment and shoving an additional spike into Sunset’s heart. “Sombra? I mean, Discord was a cool guy, but this dude just sounds like he is trying too hard. I mean, what could he d-”
“Shut up!” All of the ponies’ eyes widened as Celestia slammed her hooves into the table, breaking it as she seethed. “Do you not understand that this bastard has not only destroyed every last bit of the railroad in Equestria, but may have also made Twilight into a full fledged wraith who will devour every soul in Equestria if you do not stop her?”
A silence filled the room as they watched Celestia for a few moments, and looked away as she collapsed onto the ground, losing the last of her composure as she became a sobbing wreck. Applejack slowly trotted over, and placed a hoof onto the ruler’s shoulder. “That-That’s just worst case though, princess. Maybe, just maybe, she could still be fighting that side of her up there?”
Celestia looked up, her royal instincts trying to get her to stand up and be firm again. These six, possibly more than any other ponies in Equestria right now, needed her to be strong. She just couldn’t do it. She couldn’t muster up the hope. She was just about to speak, when a loud, obnoxious, and familiar voice butted in.
“You better not be trying to say my wraith, Twilight, would go out like that. The Kind and Giving Trixie is not going to believe her adversary was taken to the darkside so easily, especially while Marble here still seems fine.”
The mares stared at the two spirits as they hung in the room, before Pinkie leapt into the air with a gasp, and hugged her sister. “That’s right! You’re connected to Twilight, so if she went bonkers crazy, you should be feeling it, right?”
Marble’s essence shrank slightly as she felt everypony’s eyes on her. She still managed to squeak out an, “Mhm,” in response though.
Sunset blinked as Applejack rubbed her hoof deeper into Celestia’s shoulder, trying to loosen her up as she spoke. “See? We don’t know the full picture, so we shouldn’t give up so easily on our friends. Wouldn’t you agree, princess?”
Celestia looked up to all of them, before taking a deep breath, and pushing herself up. The map soon raised itself up, now stained with tea and littered with crumbs, but still plenty useful. “I thank you all for the sentiment, but I simply cannot put my faith into it. If she needs to be put down, I need to know that you will follow my orders, and do it. Will you?”
After a long moment of silence, one by one, following Sunset’s example, they slowly bowed to their princess. She nodded in return, and three lines stretched from Ponyville, to the northern part of the map. “Good. Now, as far as I can tell, with the trains being out, there are about three paths you all can take to get there, and while the Crystal Empire will be dangerous, you all may want to split up into faster, smaller groups for the trip.”
Trixie floated down slightly, before placing a hoof on the middle path. “I’ll take this one. It should go close to a friend of mine, and, if she kept her word, she may be able to help us out, just in case anything goes wrong.”
Pinkie looked at the same line, before gasping and turning to Marble. “We should join her sis! This one takes us right next to home, and we can pop in while Limestone might be there.”
Marble sucked her lips in, before dryly stating, “She might punch you though.”
Pinkie shrugged. “What’s a punch between sisters?”
Sunset smiled, before looking to the map and pointing to the one going to the left. “There’ll be a lot of climbing this route, so Rainbow, Fluttershy, you two may want to go this way by yourselves.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “If you think I’m letting my sister go by herself with this daredevil, you’ve got another thing coming. I’ll go with them.”
Rainbow caught the mood going around the room, and grinned. “Think you can keep up?”
“For Twilight, definitely.”
Fluttershy smiled as she thought of the fun the three of them could have, before turning to Rarity. “I suppose that just leaves you and Sunset to go down the path to the rig-”
A loud crash cut Fluttershy off, and it sounded like it had come from just outside of the treehouse. The mares rushed to the window, and saw that a wall to a house had collapsed. Sunset stepped back, tears touching the edges of her eyes at the reminder of what Twilight had done, even if they were all trying to follow Trixie’s example and act like that meant nothing. At least, so far, all of them were safe. She looked to her friends, and paled as she noticed something was off. Her fears were dispelled as a roar ripped through the town.
The stone wall began to melt as black flames jutted through the cracks. Soon, a completely skeletal claw came around, and pushed the stones away, causing the mortar that kept them together to break. Slowly, the figure stood, surrounded by black flame, his scales now only covering half of his arms, legs, and even jaw. The rest was bone as the dracolich crossed his arms, and darkness filled the gaps. Rarity’s jaw almost hit the floor staring at the tall, imposing dragon.
Spike stretched his body out. He felt like this was close to his final stage of growth, like maybe this was the body he was supposed to be made with. Strong, tall, but still only about twice as tall as a normal pony, with long limbs that could reach the prey he wanted. His tongue flicked out, a black coil of magic the slid along his lips, before he turned to them, his skeletal tail, impeded by no skin, swung behind him. “I am not about to just watch Twilight go mad, or see others go off to help her while I stick around doing nothing, so I’ll go with Sunset and Rarity.”
Celestia smiled at her son, and while a part of her wanted to keep him safe, she knew he had to do this, and nothing she could presently do would stop him. She nodded and turned away from all of them. “Then you all have your tasks, and I must go elsewhere. There is simply too much that needs royal attention for me to stay,” Celestia lowered her voice, and said the last two words to herself, “or help.”
While they were all bowed to send the princess away, Rainbow looked to Sunset and whispered, “We… we can’t be serious about killing Twilight, right? I mean, even I care for her too much to do that. Sunset?”
Sunset looked away as a tear fell down her face. “I… I don’t know. When we all meet back up at the empire though, then we’ll make our real decision. Deal, everypony?”
Slowly, each pony nodded, before they went their own ways to get prepared for the trip.
Author's Note
And so we have the adventure. This isn't comment driven, as most of the characters I have plans for as far as what needs to happen along the journey, but I always listen to the comments, so feel free to try to influence me.
Twilight blinked as she noticed a slight bit of movement far below her. She had been hiding at the top of the darkened cavern, enjoying the peace, but if Sombra was awake, it meant it was time to be active, to do things that would make her life better. At the very least, it was time to do more than she had over the past two weeks since the wedding.
As she got closer, she could hear Sombra grumbling as he stretched himself out. For a moment she giggled to herself, thinking about how rigor-mortis must have set in. Of course, it was only a joke, as he was about as dead as she was. He had simply used a lot of power making sure her friends would be safe from her, and had needed some rest. Now though… “Hello, Mr. Sombra?”
The stallion turned his head slightly while he was low to the ground, and looked past his decayed, black mane. His own red eye met her green one, and he smiled before standing up. If it weren’t for her being a spirit, he probably would have towered over the mare. Levitation was one of the few bonuses to the form she found immortality in though. “Yes?”
She rubbed her hooves in front of herself, before raising them to be in front of her muzzle. Despite that, Sombra could see through them, and to the reddening essence at her cheeks as she began to speak. “Well, I was hoping, just maybe, you would be ready to begin your lessons now.”
The stallion sighed, before gritting his teeth, the skin stretching further so as to allow more of the right side of his jawbone to show. His horn flickered to life, and a black ring in the middle of Twilight responded, before he scowled. “My form is still recovering, as annoying as that may be, so unfortunately, if we may, I would rather wait.” He walked over to two, cracked circles on the ground, and ran his hoof along one of the destroyed runes. “Besides, I would assume you have questions.”
Twilight bit into her cheek, before looking back to the ground. “I do, but I need these lessons. Answers about you can come when you’re telling my friends and I.”
Sombra’s smile grew wider as he saw the mare wipe a tear at her eye, and his horn glowed. From the ring within her, her could see a pulse go out, and for only a moment, before the ring disappeared as well, a spike could be seen in Twilight’s side. “You truly do care about them more than anything else, don’t you?”
Twilight continued to stare at the ground, her mind flashing between flights with Rainbow, farm work with Applejack, and even monster hunting with Trixie. She couldn’t focus on any one of them, as it only made the pain of not having them with her greater, and made her want to cry, but now…. Why did it need to be so hard not to think of them now? Twilight shook her head, stopping a tear that was about to slide down her face. “O-Of course I do.”
Sombra slowly trotted over, before placing a hoof on her chin. He helped her look into his eyes, and kept them there. “That’s dangerous for one like yourself. Want and supposed need is what fuels desperate wraiths like you, and makes the temptation to devour stronger, even if in turn it makes your essence work harder for its next meal. Therefore, thinking about them will only make the lessons harder, and less effective.” He let her eyes fall back to the ground “If I were you, I would use this day to forget all of them. You may remember them someday, but this will protect them.”
Twilight mouthed, “Protect them,’ before simply losing it. She could think of times when she made all of them so scared, and in pain, all because she was what she was. Once her mind got there, the magic flowing through her began to have a field day as it blasted her with almost every negative thought about herself and the rest of the world.
Sombra smiled as he heard her mumble something, and watched as she drifted away. A trail of ice followed her where she went, and he could feel the turmoil in her energies. All good signs if she was to succumb to his desires. “Please don’t leave the cave. It would be such a shame if all of your efforts were put to vain by a random pony, wouldn’t it?”
Twilight slid herself behind a pillar of stone, and stared into the vacant eyes of a rat’s skull. She didn’t know, but suspected that a victim of hers would look like this, and could already imagine one in the snow. She barely squeaked out, “I won’t,” before putting her head between her hooves, and trying to let the fear out, even if it never would.
