Fire and Shadows

We invite Hanzal, Skywalker, Swift Lightning, Chrysalis, and Rabia to join us for dinner that evening. They all turn up, and as we walk into the dining room and take our seats around the table - with all the cutlery and a small feast in front of us - I can barely stop myself from smiling. Chrysalis shoots me a couple of inquisitive looks; however, she doesn’t have the power to read minds, so she still has no idea what is going on.

As well as the large meal, Sombra has also ordered some crystal berry wine. There is a full glass in front of each of us, even Cozy, as well as a second bottle for later. I look at each of the ponies sitting at the table. Wishbone is fussing over Cozy, much to the latter’s annoyance; Chrysalis and Rabia are talking amicably; Skywalker and Hanzal appear to be arguing, but the grins on their faces tell me that it is purely for the fun of it; Hope and Swift Lightning are chatting about Crystal-Equestrian history by the sounds of things; and best of all, Sombra is smiling at the sight of all of us enjoying ourselves.

He uses his magic to pick up a fork and gently knocks it against the side of his wine glass. Everycreature falls silent and turns to face him.

“Today,” he says, grinning, “we have achieved something great. Thanks to the hard work of Colonel Moonlight Skywalker, Commander Hanzal, and Lieutenant Swift Lightning, as well as our connections in Canterlot, we have been able to successfully obtain the Elements of Harmony and capture the Bearers.”

Everyone’s faces light up with delight. Rabia seems slightly stunned, just as Chrysalis is. Cozy Glow is ecstatic, and Wish is trying not to look pleased. Twilight was never very nice to her from what I heard, so it’s probably a huge relief to her.

“This means that Princess Celestia has now lost one of her main means of defense against us,” Sombra continues. “Furthermore, I have accepted Colonel Skywalker and Commander Hanzal’s requests to form a Crystal Army as well as a Royal Guard, so that we are even more prepared for future attacks from Equestria, or even to attack Canterlot ourselves.” He nods at the two of them. “On top of this, we have also improved our relations with other nations, as we are now joined by Queen Rabia of the Umbrum, which is an absolute honour.” He smiles at her, and she silently smiles back. “Together, we are bringing the Crystal Empire and its allies to new heights, and I doubt it will be long before the time comes when Celestia has to face both us and her actions.

“Now, let us drink to our successes and an optimistic future.”

We raise our glasses and enjoy the first bit of wine together. It’s more bitter than I thought it would be since the crystal berries I have grown to love are often very sweet, but still delicious.

“To you, my bat,” Sombra whispers. “Because this would all be impossible without you.”

“To us,” I reply.

“To your health, everyone.” Skywalker says.

Once again, we raise our glasses and drink together.

It is an enjoyable evening of talking about everything from plans for the Crystal Army to Cozy Glow’s birthday on the thirtieth of June. (This is news to me, but I’m sure we’ll end up throwing her a small party.) There’s also a lot of talk about Celestia. Her wrongdoings in the past, all her best ‘oops-I-shouldn’t-have-said-that’ moments, her probable reaction to finding out about today’s success, any retaliation we might face, all the names we need to call her, everything. Nearly everypony at the table has a tale to tell about her, and the others all listen intently.

Radiant Hope found that the School for Gifted Unicorns was not as good as she had been told. Hanzal and Skywalker have been on the Most Wanted list for many years now, and had plenty of fights with Royal Guards. Chrysalis tried to negotiate peace with Celestia in the past, but has long since given up.

“Yeh know, Ah never realised she was that bad,” Swift Lightning muses after hearing the tale of how Cozy Glow ended up in Tartarus because of her old diary. “Mind, none of this ever reached mah ears, an’ Ah didn’t go looking fer stuff like this either. The closest Ah heard was probably what Astral told me about you, Skywalker.”

“Astral, eh?” he inquires. “I can’t imagine she had, at least, one nice thing to say about me.”

“Yeh’d be surprised how much yer sister spoke about yeh, an’ how much she missed yeh when yeh left.”

“Better said,” the bat pony interjects, his expression becoming serious, “when she betrayed me by orders of Sunbutt.”

Silence falls and nopony dares to say a word for ten seconds. I know I’m supposed to stay quiet, to not get involved in other ponies’ business, but this issue isn’t going to go away.

“So Astral Charm is your sister?"

Skywalker nods. “...Yeah. We both enlisted into the Royal Guard, and ended up in the Inner Circle by our own efforts. We were close as foals, but... as time went by and we grew up, our opinions got in the way of each other.”

“Oh Tartarus,” I breathe. That explains his harsh reaction to Sombra trying to read his mind. I can only imagine how much that must have hurt after Wishbone attempted to convince me not to help Sombra.

“Damn filly believed everything Celestia told her, looked up to The Princess like a goddess… Heh. Can you believe that? A bucking goddess!”

“Yeh only know half the story-” Swift tries to say.

“I know enough, Swift. She might have missed me, but she… She…” He tries to think about a way to end his sentence but ends up giving up as a tear falls from his left eye.

“After Skywalker an’ the others defected,” Swift says on the former’s behalf, “The Princess decided that they knew too much. Guards in the Inner Circle are told a lotta government secrets an’ allowed into places like the restricted section of Canterlot Library which most ponies don’t even know exists, and she didn’t like the idea of those secrets getting out to the public. Me, Astral, and a few others… we were given the task of tracking ‘em down so they could be tried fer treason.”

“Most of them,” The bat pony corrects, then turns to me and Sombra. “My sister and Swift here were personally ordered to… execute me.”

Swift glances at his old enemy. “Yeh didn't have to say that, yeh know.”

“You of all ponies know I’m too honest to be alive, Swift.”

“True,” Swift sighs. “Skywalker and his lot were on the run fer a few years, then it all came to a head, what was it, two years ago?”

“Three.”

“That was when the battle in Hollow Shades took place. Probably nopony’ll ever know how many were lost.”

“Including her... Buckin’ Sunbutt played a c-cruel old game with us, making siblings fight to the death... You can already guess who won.”

“I-” I try to speak but my own voice begins to break. This is too much. We’re supposed to be celebrating one of the major victories of this fight against her. Not fighting each other. Not grieving losses.

Skywalker looks at me and notices my expression; in consequence, he sighs and leaves his seat. “I’ll… go check on the prisoners and guards.” His voice sounds broken, yet I can’t confirm that because of him turning his back to us. “Please, continue enjoying our… victory.” The last word is filled with sarcasm. For him, victory will only come when he has his revenge.

I can’t stay here. I can’t. The evening has been ruined, and I made a mistake by asking about Astral Charm. I need to cry, shout, scream, focus my anger on something because oh Tartarus, no living creature deserves to be put through that. I am disgusted by this revelation about the Sun Princess, and I am going to make sure she doesn’t get away with it.

Tartarus, she was right in that letter she sent with the cursed necklace.

This is very personal indeed.

I wipe the corners of my mouth with a napkin, get up out of my seat, and walk towards the doors. “I’ll go check on the Element Bearers with him. Just in case there’s any trouble.” I leave the room without a second thought.

Stay here, my love, Sombra almost begs me.

When innocent ponies and siblings are being forced to take each other’s lives? Tartarus, no. I’m going to deal with this problem right now, and there's nothing anypony can do to stop me. I walk out of the range of the telepathy spell. Without the enchanted armour, he has no idea what I’m thinking, and no idea what I’m about to do.

I race down to the dungeon after Skywalker, my legs unable to get me down the endless flights of stairs fast enough. Why are there so many stairs in this place?! Of course, Amoré could just teleport from one floor to another, but one, anypony who isn’t a unicorn or bat pony doesn’t have that luxury, and two, there’s a teleportation ward to stop ponies from just appearing in the castle and causing trouble.

I reach the main corridor in the dungeon and catch sight of him somewhere ahead of me. “Skywalker, wait!” I cry, but he doesn’t show any sign of having heard me at all. “Listen, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything.”

He stops. “And when have I said it’s your fault?” He asks with a calm, yet broken tone.

“I know it’s not my fault, but I still shouldn’t have been so desperate to find out why you wouldn’t let Sombra read your mind.”

“...Look, i-it’s ok. Really, ma’am.”

“No… it’s not.” I reply with difficulty.

Then, I feel tears well up in my eyes and roll down my cheeks. I whisper, “Why, Celestia?”

“Why? All we did... was dig through classified and unofficial documents to find out what in Tartarus was going on…” He looks at me. “You have a-any idea of what we found? A bucking list of crimes carried out by damn Celestia herself, or even her subordinates… Each and every one of them… d-detailed to the finest.”

“What did she do?”

Silence.

“What in the name of Grogar did she do?! I want to know all of her crimes and make her pay for every single thing she’s done wrong!”

He doesn’t respond. Instead, his head lowers until his gaze remains fixed on the ground, letting the silence endure while having a lost look in the dark which wraps his past in a cold blanket of guilt, hatred, and resentment.

He pulls a face the moment a tear falls. “W-We… We just wanted to get away from all that bullshit. It was… too much to think about.”

“How much is she hiding?”

“If you only knew… Some of the records, they d-dated back to when she and Princess Luna were pretty much kids, when they were in their early twenties.”

“Early twenties. That must have been roundabout when Discord first appeared and Grogar returned, right?”

“Yes.”

I bite my lip. “Grogar was the one who turned regular ponies into bat ponies and Umbrum, which would explain where her hatred came from.”

“And the things she did to some of them…”

“Luna was always known to be a bit of a butcher on the battlefield, but Celestia hasn’t let anypony remember what she did... except in those records you found.”

“Bingo.”

I sink to my knees. “How can anypony be so cruel?! And to think the Element Bearers probably have no idea about all of this… It’s disgusting."

He lets an ironic laugh, filled with emptiness in his voice. “You tell me.”

“We have to do something.”

“If that’s the case, what do you propose?”

A plan begins to formulate in my head, and I give a cruel smile as I think of how much chaos this will cause in Canterlot. “We need to tell everypony. The Element Bearers, the nobles of Canterlot, everypony in Equestria and the Crystal Empire.”

“No.”

“If nopony knows, nopony’s going to help us. It’s worth a try, at least.”

“No. I- ... I agree about telling the Bearers, but not everyone. I have friends who are still in Equestria. Darn Sunbutt will know who’s behind it, she’ll find them… a-and she will punish them to punish me. I can’t let any more people suffer because of my mistakes.”

I sigh, “This is getting out of hoof. If that mare ruins any more lives, I am going to be the one who ruins hers.”

He stares at me with his left eye with an intensity I haven’t seen before. “Ma’am, I ask you to not take this too personally, but… If you were given the opportunity, would you kill her?”

“I-” It takes me a moment to think about this. “It depends. I probably wouldn’t, but it really depends on how much she’s hurt me and other ponies around me by that point.”

“And what about King Sombra?”

I grin. “He’d send her to the sun.”

Skywalker can’t help but chuckle at that. His look is still a sad one, but at least I’ve managed to improve his mood enough to, once again, see a smile form on his face.

“You really are impossible,” He jokes. “but still… I would like to make her see the mistakes and pain she’s done to us all and put her on trial as a consequence. Then, if she doesn’t want to accept justice… we might consider your ideas.”

“And how much consideration would you need to deliver such a harsh punishment?”

“...Honestly? Not that much.” He admits. “But still, we cannot give a bad example to Equestria and its citizens. I mean, if we do something like punishing Celestia herself without a trial, we would just give the entire population a reason to not trust us. We must be better than... Sunbutt.”

“Agreed. So, should we go check on the Element Bearers?”

He nods. “I… think so, yeah.”

“Ok, let’s go find them and convince them that we’ve all lost it,” I joke.

“Brilliant idea, Ma’am.”

We walk through the dungeon corridor in silence, but both of us are aware of the other’s thoughts and struggles we have been through. A particularly nasty thought occurs to me, however: if nopony can read Skywalker’s mind, the chances are that nopony can enter his dreams, and who knows what they must be like if he has all of this to think about? One day, though, I’ll convince him that he doesn’t need to use those spells to stop Dreamwalkers, because most of them just want to help other ponies, but something tells me that that day will only come when he knows Celestia can’t hurt anypony else.