So falls the light of the Sun
"Beyond Redemption"
Ask not the sun why she sets
Why she shrouds her light away
Or why she hides her glowing gaze
When light turns crimson gold to grey
Contrary to the boasting of the Changeling Queen when she imprisoned Twilight Sparkle and Princess Cadence beneath Canterlot Mountain, the ancient labyrinth of gems within it was not as empty as she would have believed; but she had not been wholly wrong in her statement of it either. While it was true that the mines had once accounted for hundreds of millions of bits in wealth for ancient unicorn nobles and their families, they had not been abandoned for the reasons she believed. Greed had had lead the ponies to delve deeply into the forbidden depths, yes, but it was not rebellion or fear that had stopped them, rather it had been the discovery of something that mortals could never hope to understand.
Uncaring of breed, gender or prestige, the secrets within the mountain had shattered the minds of those who found them and caused unrest beyond anything that could be imagined; the First Discordian War had been birthed by that discovery, but it was but the least of such things. For those who still remembered them, such times were horrific in the extreme and a reminder that some things should never be found, even when they could not wholly be cast aside. The Mines of Canterlot Mountain, or rather what lay beneath them, were one such thing. It was true though, that the mines had been abandoned by the living -- overlooked in no small part to the magics of the Royal Sisters -- and lay unrecorded by history, but they were in no way forgotten.
Oh yes, the mines still served a purpose, but had it been left up to Celestia, she would have seen them collapsed and never spoken of again. But this was the one thing in which Celestia held no sway or control over, for it was far more than gemstones that lay in the great labyrinth under the mountain.
Had Chrysalis known what it was she had stumbled upon, things may have turned out quite differently, and certainly not for the better.
The gems that covered nearly every inch of the mine were valuable to be certain. Indeed every few decades, under the strictest oaths of secrecy and the most diligent of supervision, selected ponies were allowed to enter the mines and take small fortunes from them to both stimulate the Equestrian economy and to shake the delicate scales of power the wealthy upper classes so desperately clung to. But such wealth was nothing compared to what lay beneath it in the lowest levels of the earth in a chamber that had been seen only once by uninvited eyes.
It was here, within a place of peace undreamt of by mortals, that the white Alicorn known to her subjects as Celestia found herself once more
The chamber stretched outwards in all directions for immeasurable leagues and seemed to move with her as she trotted forward, but was paradoxically contained in a space no larger than a small house. Like the mines above her, its walls were both formed by and lined with with gemstones of exquisite beauty; but unlike those above that were merely perfect, those that surrounded her now were nothing less than unquestionably flawless. It was a place that saw daylight only once a year beyond the times she visited, and yet contained within each gemstone was an energy so pure that it lent the place a light and life all its own.
The Sanctuary, as she called it, had once driven those who found it mad, for it was a place meant for her and her alone.
It was a place she both loved beyond reason and yet hated beyond words; both for her stewardship of those within and for the duty she was called upon to perform.
"Hello, my little ones," she whispered, her voice the softest breeze in volume, for fear of disturbing the peace of those who slumbered within. But even in sleep their silence sang of dreams and rebirth, each one waiting for their turn to come back to the world once more. She knew each of them of course, new them by so many names she could no longer count them all and though she tried her best to show no favoritism in their resting, she could not help but place a gentle kiss -- a blessing if you would -- upon certain ones as she passed them. These would have a life they had always dreamed of when they awoke once more.
As always when she visited them, she saw that many of the crystals that had been empty on her previous visit were filled once more, but many that had been full were now empty; something which both saddened and elated her for the same reasons she both loved and loathed the Sanctuary. It meant that though she would soon be greeting old friends once more, she had to say goodbye once again to others. Happily though, she found that a few new crystals had been added since her last visit, ones that had not yet been given their first name and would be seeing the world through truly new eyes for the first time.
It was not these old friends or new births that had drawn her to the Sanctuary that day, however, but rather the unwanted duty she had put off for far too long.
Trotting forward, she let her mind wander as she made for her destination.
A memory...
One of the benefits of being a living goddess, was that 'importance' became even more subjective than it usually was; in short, if she did not feel like dealing with something, she could easily put it off for another day -- if not more -- or pawn it off upon an administrator who needed something to do. But even that benefit lasted only so long, for when one desired to lead by love and admiration rather than terror or worse, even a goddess had to perform her lofty duties eventually. Oh how she wished such duties where as simple as determining what was for dinner or how she would pay her rent for that month; things that far too many of he little ponies worried about on a daily basis of not more frequently. She longed to be a pony who had -- to her thinking -- only mundane responsibilities and worries rather than the good of a whole world resting upon her shoulders.
Instead, she found herself once more upon the velvet cushions of her golden throne as she listened to the endless prattle of spoiled nobles and the heartfelt pleas of others for whatever was troubling them that day. As always though, she barely listened to the nobility that were ostensibly her peers and reflected that such ponies knew nothing of true difficulty or wanting to instead focused upon the plights of those less fortunate; much to the chagrin of a least a few of her councilors, but she did not care. Yes, she cared about all of her little ponies, but she was but a shepherdess and teacher whose duty was to guide as best she could, not do the work for others so they wanted for nothing.
She did not want to be there that day though and in truth she would have rather been anywhere else, but for reasons that none of her subjects would ever understand, she forced herself to sit and listen not out of duty, but out of fear; fear for what was coming all to quickly and the desperate desire to hold it off if only for a few more moments.
Whispers to the contrary aside, she had not wanted to send her most faithful student to the north all those months ago. Nor had she any desire to put either her or her friends through such an ordeal ever again, but she had had no choice in the matter for it was a matter for mortals and her own cursed oaths prevented her from stepping in. Oh, she could give a gentle nudge when needed, that was the right of a teacher after all and could even interfere with things to a certain level; if only to shake the scales of history now and again. But in the grand scheme of things, despite all her power, she was powerless when purely mortal affairs were concerned and could often do nothing more than watch. Her neighsayers often cursed her for such perceived inaction, but would they be so quick to judge if they knew why?
The few times she had broken those oaths had very nearly cost not only herself, but her entire world, everything.
Had it really been such a ridiculously short, yet infinitely long time since she had gambled everything once more by sending her Faithful Student and friends to face off against an ancient foe that she herself could not?
As was often the case since its return, Celestia found herself looking northward to watch the prismatic magics of the Crystal Empire color the skies as she listened to the unicorn noble talk on obliviously to her inattention. Nearly as old as herself and her sister, the Empire had been sorely missed in its thousand year absence and she longed to see it once more after it was freed of King Sombra's tainted rule. She thought not about the matters at hoof or the words of the noble she feigned interest in, but rather of the ponies of the North whom she had decided were more than ready to rule themselves after being under the yoke of others for so long. Yes, Cadence was there now helping to prepare the crystal ponies for their reintegration into a land that had forgotten about them and though she knew her niece would acquit herself brilliantly, she wished nothing more than to be there with her at that moment.
The thought made her frown and reminded her once more of what she had been dreading for months.
"Your majesty, is everything alright? I... I didn't say anything to offend did?"
The words were spoken by an earth pony with a pale grey coat, jet black mane and a cutie mark of a phonograph set against a backdrop of ringing bells. Looking down at him, she realized too late that he had set up some kind of demonstration while her attention was elsewhere and her scowl must have been misinterpreted. Quickly, she shook her head and smiled as she recalled why he was there that day.
"No, everything is fine, Bell Graham," she said soothingly, "Forgive me, for though I am very intrigued by the notes you sent me on you invention, something weighs on my mind and I cannot put off any longer. I am sorry, my little pony, but I must ask you to come back in a few days when I can give your device the full attention it deserves."
"Of course your majesty, b-by your leave," he said, clearly disappointed but still unfailingly polite. "May um... may I ask when I might be allowed to come back?"
"Monday," she responded quickly. "I will ensure that you are the first on the schedule for your trouble."
"Thank you, your majesty," he replied.
"You're welcome, and again, I apologize," she said, but waved a hoof in dismissal. "I am sorry, my little ponies, but I can spend no more time in court today. Any of you that have business of crucial importance, I ask that you remain and speak with my sister once Lunar Court is convened after moonrise. Anypony else, I ask that you speak with my aide later to reschedule your appointments."
As she stood and descended form the throne, she could see confusion mixed with disappointment on the faces of most of those present in calling off court three hours earlier than usual; the sole exception being that of her trust secretary and long time aide who followed her at a respectable distance as they departed.
"Forgive me for not informing you of things ahead of time, DC," she said once they where out of earshot of the court. "Things just seem to have caught up faster than I thought."
The bespeckled, light-beige Unicorn known as Double Check smiled up to her and adjusted her glasses as she levitated her ever present pen and notepad before her. "It is no trouble, your majesty, how shall I reschedule everything? Are you fatigued? Do I need to have dinner sent up early? Should I contact Lady Sparkle on anything? What is it exactly that has "caught up" with you?"
Celestia smiled softly at her as she asked her questions. Double Check had been her secretary and later her trusted aide for nearly twenty years and they had very few secrets between them any longer; truly there were only a few ponies whom she trusted as much or more than the beige mare that trotted beside her. In a way, Celestia wanted desperately to tell her what it was that she would be doing, but how did one explain something that would ignite a fear so primal that it only barely had a name to call its own?
"No, thank you, DC, I'm fine," she said at length. "I just need a couple of days respite from everything, so if you would, cancel all of my appointments for the next two or three days and see too it that I am not disturbed, I would appreciate it. If something absolutely requires attention, schedule it for later next week or direct it to Luna for her perusal."
Double check raised her eyebrow lightly at this and said, "As you wish, your Majesty... and the plans for the Equinox Festivities?"
"If you would please turn those over to Luna, I would appreciate it."
"Princess, if I may be so bold, what is troubling you? I know you're not telling me everything."
"No, I'm not," she said at length. "But believe me when I say this is something that cannot be put off any longer and that it is something I do not wish to discuss, not even with you, DC, please leave it at that."
"Yes your majesty," she said and though Celestia could tell she wanted to know more, she would not push the issue.
"Oh, and if you would like," Celestia added,"take the next couple of days off for yourself as well, I know that that new stallion you've been seeing has been wanted to take you out for something fancy at the first opportunity."
Celestia, of course, intended the gesture as both a reward and a bribe in equal measures, but even though she knew that Double Check likely suspected the duplicity, the blush on the mare's face showed just how pleased she was with the time off. The foalish giggle and the spring in her step as she trotted off only added to the fact and it made the ancient alicorn smile. Deep down though, she could not help but wonder how understanding her friend would be if she knew what was going to happen soon.
Like everything in the life of an immortal, the conversations in the throne room a mere two days earlier seemed like so much longer as she made her way through the Sanctuary, her eyes roaming slowly over the crystals around her. They could easily be described as colorless as they purified the energy within them in preparation for its eventual return, but always in any masterpiece, a flaw could be found if one looked hard enough; and it was this flaw that drew her that day. Empty for over a thousand years, a crystal of such absolute darkness seemed to call to her as its cancerous appearance made it all the more noticeable against those around it. Taking hold of it in her golden magic and giving it the slightest of pulls, it came free to the audible sound of relief from its neighbors.
Taking the burden away from the others, she turned to where a simple dais of pristine white marble seemed to appear from nowhere. Barely illuminated by a shaft of pure sunlight that penetrated the mountain depths only on this day of any given year, she stared at it for several moments to contemplate its purpose as well as her own. She did not want to do it, but it was her duty. Into the thin shaft of light, she placed the darkened crystal and stepped back from it, wings flaring as the light of the sun emerged from her body to reflect across the crystals around her and call forth those within to bear witness to her actions.
"Sombra! King of the Crystal Empire and Butcher of the North! By thy name I call to thee! From thy dreaming slumber I waken thee! From the darkness of thy depths I summon thee! By they who watch over all things, I command thee now appear before mine eyes!"
Her words resonated across the Sanctuary as gems both filled and empty resonated with the call and fueled the wane sunlight with energy of their own, as ink-like, oily blackness began to leak from the darkened jewel upon the dais. Through the sheen of sunlight, she watched as they oil began to drip upwards in defiance of gravity, slowly coalescing into a rudimentary equine form. Soon after, time reversed itself as a cry of rage was drawn from the aether to fill the form before her, darkening it as shadow became flesh, sound became armor and death became life once more.
At first, the stallion within the cage of light seemed confused and simply let his gaze wander. His face however, was a mask of cruelty, his coat black as pitch, his eyes red with madness as his horn and hooves seemed forever stained by the blood of others. His world coming into focus, his tongue slowly dragged across the sharpened fangs that no pony should possess before the baleful gaze fell upon Celestia. Recognition shown in that gaze and, with a bellowing war cry, the unicorn charged her.
But the light that surrounded the dais was no mere curtain of the immaterium and held more surely than any steel or stone ever could. Striking it, he was thrown back into a heap within the center of the dais once more, the crystal from which he had been drawn clattering against his hooves as he struggled to right himself. Slowly, he came to stand at his full height and locked his gaze upon her once more as he licked his fanged maw.
"Sombra," she said quietly.
"You will refer to me as King Sombra, mule!" he bellowed. "Know when and how to address your betters or keep your foalish words silent!"
"Sombra," she repeated, purposely ignoring both his insult and outburst as she fixed him with a stare that was both remorseful and accusatory. "I have summoned you..."
"Nopony summons me! Least of all not a mongrel loving mule such as yourself!"
"I have summoned you," she said again,"Sombra, to answer for your crimes and would ask you now how you plead."
Silence reigned in the wake of her words and for several heartbeats, the dark unicorn stared at her, unmoving, before finally bursting with laughter that echoed across the chamber.
"How do I plead?!" He called. "What bad comedy is this, mulish goddess? You think to sit in judgement over me now when you could not do so all those years ago? You who do nothing but wait and watch as others fight your battles!? You have no more authority over me now than you did all those centuries ago when you sent that pitiful envoy of yours to 'beseech my understanding that slavery was an abomination' ... oh, now what was her name again?"
"Clover the Clever," Celestia replied.
"Ahh yes... not so clever when I was done with her was she?" He asked, licking his lips at the memory.
He was baiting her and she knew it, the memory of her dear friend's fate and the horrors she suffered at this stallions hoof rising within, but she did not answer the taunts with those of her own. "I ask you again, Sombra, how do you plead?"
"Plead?" He asked, laughing once more. "How do I plead you ask? Mule, I say again that you have no authority over me, but since this is the most entertainment I have had in centuries -- thanks to you -- I will indulge your farce out of boredom. I plead not guilty, of course, by right of divine rule."
Never before had she heard such a flippant response and her eyes narrowed as her breath caught in her throat.
He merely smiled to her in return.
"Sombra..."
"King Sombra!"
"Sombra, you plead not guilty and I accept that," she began. "I have but one other question for you and I beseech you think well before you answer it. Do you have any remorse for what you have done?"
"Remorse for...?" he spat. "Of all the foalish questions you could ask one such as myself you would chose one so worthless? Hah! Remorse exists in only two kinds of ponies, mule, the weak and the dead! The weak because they do not have the power to stand on their own four legs and are thus worthy only of contempt and the dead for they have wasted the lives their better so generously offered to let them keep!"
As his cry echoed across the chamber, both he and Celestia felt the soft shiver emanating from the energy that witnessed the proceedings. To her, it was a shiver of revulsion and unhappiness, but she could see in his eyes that to him, it was nothing more than a sign of weakness and fear that served only to feed his dark ego.
"Look back on yourself, Sombra... why did you become this? What could have possible made you this way when you had everything?"
"Everything, you ask?" he said, closing his eyes and smiling, letting his thoughts resonate outwards and giving them form.
A Betrayal...
The Crystal Empire, shining jewel of Northern Equestria, resplendent in both architecture and magic.
A unicorn colt of barely fifteen summers in age, shining as smoke grey crystal over the dulled body of a dying earth pony mare, her blood decorating his horn like grim frosting from where he had slashed open her sides. His hooves stained red from the blood pooling from her rapidly cooling body. A plea for mercy that was answered only by mocking laughter as the light faded from her eyes.
His victim was only a year younger than himself and guilty only of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He cared not that she had been beautiful or that she had a family that would miss her, her life meant nothing to him at all. Her death, however, had brought him a moment of joy he would savor for a very, very long time.
She was but the first of many.
Soon, the glimmer and glitter of the Crystal ponies began to fade beneath a veil of fear. So many had the unnamed murderer killed that they could not even properly hold the Crystal Fair that year. Too many it seemed were afraid to leave there homes even in daylight.
Just as he had planned.
A few of the braver ones came forward though, intent on recharging their beloved Crystal Heart. They stood before the royal family in vain support to make the heart beat once more but they were too few. The words of the royal family encouraging them, but they too late.
A splash of blood as his fathers life was snuffed out by a quick thrust of his horn.
A scream of anguish as his mothers throat was torn open by his fanged maw.
A plea for mercy as the crystal heart was knocked from its place of honor by a powerful buck of his hind legs.
"You belong to me, now!" his called, voice ringing out with maddened laughter as his subjects fled in terror.
The vision faded as Celestia watched, her wings drooping slightly as she beheld it for the first time in centuries. All around her, the gems sang their support of her, for like herself, they had seen such things before when she stood over a darkened crystal. Like herself, they also knew what would happen if she failed, but supported her as she had always done for them.
"Ahh... sweet, sweet memories..." Sombra whispered, a smile not unlike that of sexual bliss spreading across his muzzle, his eyes closing as he savored the thousand year old memory rather than be horrified by it.
"Why did you do it, Sombra?" She asked.
"King. Sombra!" he responded. "You ask me, mule, why I did it? Such a layered question for such a simple answer. You wish to know? I did it because I could! Because I enjoyed it, that's why! Because it was my birthright to stand over those lesser than myself. There is nothing like the thrill of holding the life of another pony in one's hooves and then snuffing it out as they plead for mercy. But that is something one such as you will never understand. You claim to sit in judgement over me but you cannot, do you know why? Because you let that happen! You let it happen and did nothing. You preached and sang of love and harmony, friendship and mercy and yet you did nothing!"
"I gave you a chance, Sombra, a chance to change your ways and come back to the light."
"Come back to the light, you say? Why would I do such a foalish thing considering I never left it in the first place? You think I walk in darkness? That I consider myself wrong just because of a few deaths? Mulish goddess, you labor under this misguided delusion that I am somehow sorry for what I did or that I somehow did something wrong!" He laughed coldly. "You think that it was a bad decision that I can take back but it is nothing of the sort! I enjoyed those deaths and the suffering before them, because that was my right! My right as ruler and my right as a unicorn of strength! If you had any strength at all, you would have stopped me... you would have killed me or sent your soldiers to do it for you! But no, you merely watched and hoped I would change when I never changed to begin with!"
He sneered cruelly and locked eyes with her. "Celestia, you claim power and divine rule... but you are weak. I am strong. I am strong because I am the one that took that which was mine!"
"Tyranny and murder are not power, Sombra," she said.
"King Sombra!" he shouted. "And what you call tyranny, I call divine right! What you call murder I call power! There is no greater power in all the universe than holding the lives of others in your hooves, in basking in their fear! The strong rule the week, something that you should -- but will never! -- understand! A ruler that is not feared is not respected and a ruler that is not respected is worthless!"
"You are wrong, Sombra."
"Am I?" he quipped. "Perhaps not so wrong as you think... I rage against your rule and your weakness but I suppose we are alike in some ways... you yourself have used terror in the past have you not? Your 'elements of harmony' I think you call them to enforce your will upon ponies? I suppose in some way that could be considered strength, but you never take it far enough!"
"The Elements of Harmony are not weapons to be used like that!" She cried
"Tell that to the Draconiqus, why don't you?"
She blinked at that, not having expected him to know about Discord or the role the elements played in his capture, but he saw the break in her resolve -- no matter how brief -- and pressed forward. "Am I really so different from that creature? Are you really so different? We all use terror in our own way, I simply had the strength and drive to use it as it should be used!"
"You are nothing like me, Sombra," she replied, regaining her composure. "And you are nothing, nothing, like Discord."
"Oh really? And how am I any different, hmm? Did he not slaughter ponies in the Discordian Wars? Did he not incite chaos and attempt to take over Equestria as I did? Was he not worthy of your so-called 'judgement' that I now stand accused of?" He laughed. "Apparently not, as he is stone and I am here. For him you simply locked away as if he were nothing, but you drag me here from my comfortable little bed to stand in judgement over me... I wonder why?"
He kicked the blackened crystal for emphasis.
"Discord," she said quietly. "Discord is what he is, nothing more and nothing less. He is the antithesis, Sombra. He is the chaos which balances order and the anarchy that makes harmony shine more brightly. I do not hate Discord anymore than I hate you and I could not destroy him anymore than I could destroy myself. Is he responsible for the death of others? Yes, but only because he gave them the spark of free will that order could not. Yes, Sombra, Chaos, not Harmony, is what gives ponies free will. Even now in his dreaming death, his chaos balances my order and gives my little ponies free will, the elements simply ordered his Chaos to the point it could not spiral out of control. Discord never had a choice in what he was, but you did... and you chose poorly."
"Poorly?" He asked. "Mule, you speak of free will and of this 'spark' of chaos and yet you stand before me trying to impose your will upon me, hypocritically breaking the rule you so foalishly expound upon! Perhaps you are right that I am not like discord, but I say my choice.. my free will... is my own and you cannot change that. You may preach the virtues of useless love and pitiful harmony, but it is a pony eat pony world that we live in and any pony given the chance would gladly do as I did. It was not a poor choice Celestia, it was always the right choice and it is you who are wrong to say otherwise! You stand in judgement over me not because you have any right, but because I do not fit your perfect paradigm for this world!"
She sighed as the pony before her paced back and forth within the light, testing it for weaknesses like a caged animal and seething as he caught his breath. Her wings fluttered lightly as she considered him, looking for a chink in the armor that would make him understand that what he had done was wrong and would always be wrong, but that his sin was not one he need pay for forever. Inside the cage, Sombra saw only the shimmering veil of gold that separated him from his captor, but from outside, Celestia saw so much more.
It was so rare that she stood before one of her charges like this and each time it had ended badly, but she prayed, that just this once, it would be different.
"Sombra, I ask you a second time, do you have any remorse in your heart for what you have done?"
He snorted at her as his muzzle twisted into an insane smirk. "Again with that foalish question, mule! I would think you grow tired of it. I have no such weakness in me! I would murder my pathetic parents again in a heartbeat! I would enslave every mongrel and traitor without hesitation and yet you persist with your idiotic question! How a creature so weak as yourself is venerated while I am despised I will never understand... how I was ever fearful of you, I will never understand."
"Sombra, there is still a chance... you need not do this. Please, look deep within yourself and find the remorse for what you have done. It need only be..."
"Oh be silent, mule!" he spat. "I should have killed you long ago; sent assassins or better yet done it myself. All you have ever done is watch... but I made you change that didn't I? I made you step forward and act. Oh yes, I made you come down from your lofty perch! Do you remember, Celestia? Do you remember how I finally got your attention and made you act!? Oh yes... I knew what I was doing... oh yes... oh yes...."
"I remember..." she whispered.
A Nightmare...
It could not longer be called the Crystal Empire, for it had been all but turned to stone beneath his rule.
He looked upon the work gangs of ponies overseen by his stone creations, smiling at the dullness of their coats, the luster stolen from them as their hopes and laughter died beneath his hooves. It brought a swell of pride to his breast to see it. This, he knew, was power, a taste far greater than even the finest food and drink.
This was what all of Equestria should be one day. What Equestria would be once he eliminated the ones who sought to usurp his rightful place.
Their pitiful armies would come north soon and they would die by the hundreds for his amusement.
But it was not yet so, for in their weakness, they did nothing but watch and wait.
And that gave those beneath him hope... oh yes, he had seen it in their eyes when he walked amongst them to take his daily dues from the ones that struck his fancy, his mind relishing their screams and pleas as he had his way with them.
Yes, those who would dare place themselves above him gave his slaves hope... hope which lead to resistance... which caused something more that he would no tolerate.
It caused defiance.
Yes, that was what he had seen in the eyes of even his most trusted Councillors and the ponies whom he ravished and ravaged his lusts and wrath upon. Still within them was the defiant hope that somepony would come and 'rescue' them from their rightful place beneath his hoof.
The earth ponies were the worst, but the pegasai were little better, and now the roots of defiance were settling within the unicorns of his court as well.
Thus he stood upon the balcony of his palace and watched as the golems pulled his property from the mines and forced them stand beneath him. Forced them to bear the heavy yokes and chains that held them tight while his magic pulled aside the cloth that would reveal his device. With this, he would crush the defiance and force the hoof of those who would soon fall beneath his own.
He saw the fear rush through the eyes of those gathered as his device was revealed in all its glory, the gleaming blade of pure white crystal honed and ready to perform its magnificently grisly task.
He spoke to them of course, for mongrels needed direction and instruction since their own minds were too weak and empty to deserve their own decisions. He spoke of his plans for Equestria, of how he would become immortal once the pretenders were gone. He spoke loudly into the winds of the challenge he issued to them.
One of his own council looked on in horror and tried to dissuade him, to make him take back his divine words.
His only answer for them was a smile as he called his golems to bring forth the disobedient stallion's foal and march it beneath the waiting blade.
The colt was the first, but by no means the last.
By the time the sun set that evening, it seemed as if the blood upon the square could never be washed away.
"Those foals were innocent, Sombra!"
"Innocence is such a subjective thing... they're parents were guilty of defiance and treachery, so they were as well, it is the way of things. Besides, they served their purpose and forced your hoof did they not?" He asked, smiling at her coldly as he ran his tongue across his lips. "And I might add, they were quite delicious when properly prepared."
Celestia should have been horrified by what she had remembered and in some ways she was, but having lived through it once it could no longer be used to hurt her and she let it flow off of her without further words. All around her, her audience sang songs of strength to her and wove cords of perseverance. They too, should have been horrified at what they were seeing, but instead they were saddened.
"Sombra..."
"King Sombra, damn you!" he bellowed. "I will not tell you again, mule! You will address me properly or you will not address me at all! When I am free of this place, I shall decorate my new palace with your entrails and force your mongrel blood down the throat of the traitorous unicorn you sent to topple me!"
Again she saw the decree for what it was, just more bait to get her to rise to challenge him, but again she let it flow away from her without taking it. So dark. The one before her was so unbelievably dark. Always it was like this when she brought one before her and always she failed. She should have raged back at him for his atrocities, but instead she felt only pity.
"What made you this way, Sombra?" She asked.
Her response was a mirthless laugh.
"You still labor under the delusion that I am somehow wrong, mule." He said, his voice lowering to an almost hissing whisper. "Nothing made me this way. My choice was my own if this 'spark of chaos' you speak of as free will is to believed. I have done nothing for which I should be sorry nor am i some foal who has been caught with his hoof in the cookie jar. I hold no guilt and I see nothing wrong with what I have done."
"You murdered innocent ponies..."
"I culled worthless mongrels! There is a difference!" he cried. "The only true ponies are unicorns and even then only just; those worthy of my favor at least had the gall to try and kill me once or twice! Oh they failed, but I could at least appreciate that they had the will to try! The others? Worthless! This idea that all ponies are equal is as foalish as trying to understand why one house burns and another does not! There is no equality, there is only the weak and the strong!"
"Was there never a pony you cared about? A wife or a lover that would temper the edge you made?"
"As if I would lower myself to such things... oh I had concubines of course, any unicorn or even any mongrel I decided to take to my chambers that night or simply used where they stood to slake a momentary lust or passing fancy, but never was there one worthy of carrying my seed; and any such accidents were quickly dealt with, I needed no bastards marring the purity if my line."
"Purity? Sombra there is no purity in you any longer!"
"Oh but there is," he said, smirking. "Never once in all the history of my line has my family tainted itself with the blood of another breed, nor could it ever be so. I am power and I am purity! It is my right to be standing upon those others who have thinned their birthright or had none to begin with. You try to make me 'understand' that what I have done is wrong, mule, but it is you who are wrong! You just do not wish to see it!"
He smirked cruelly as his eyes narrowed, "But perhaps it is not that you do not wish to see it, hmm? Perhaps you are blind as well as weak? After all, you did not see your own sister's betrayal until it was too late did you? Just as you did not see the doppelganger that took your niece from you?"
It was like a slap across the muzzle and she recoiled, too shocked by his audacity to respond and so he pressed forward.
"Hit a nerve did I?" He asked. "You thought there was no way that I could know about the so-called 'Nightmare Moon' or the changeling Chrysalis, didn't you? You're thinking right now 'how could he know about that when I imprisoned him in the arctic?' Oh it is simple, mule, when you banished me to shadow, I raged and fought against my prison and eventually found a way to look into other shadows. When you would not let me die, I simply found a way to see, to watch and to wait. Oh yes, i had planned on using these tools against you once I reclaimed my throne, but I see no reason to not use them now."
Recovering from her momentary surprise, Celestia again looked deep into the crimson, dragon-slit eyes before her and tried to see something other than darkness, but she saw none. Sighing softly, she shook her head and whispered, "Yes, i am to blame for those things, but I was not ignorant of them regardless of what you may think."
"And yet you do not sit in judgement over them as you try to lord your judgement over me? Such hypocrisy is unbecoming of even a mule such as you."
"Luna has been forgiven for her transgressions and Chrysalis, for all her wickedness is much like Discord in that she is what she is and can be nothing else."
"Really? I suppose that is why ponies stand beneath lamps of detection for fear of running afoul of a changeling in the darkness? I suppose that is why half your court would rather wait for days on end to speak with you rather than risk dealing with your temperamental sibling?" he laughed. "Such a beautifully lopsided world you have created."
She narrowed her eyes slightly and felt her wings flutter, but the soft chiming of the audience around her kept her resolve strong.
"No, Sombra," she paused as he snarled at his lack of title but kept otherwise silent. "Luna made her decision to become Nightmare Moon, but even then it was a decision based upon the desire to be loved rather than feared... she made the wrong choice for the right reasons. She terrorized yes, but she never murdered or caused undo harm. Her banishment was an expediency that I have come to regret, but I too have payed for that sin. As for Chrysalis, I hold her no ill will, whether my ponies do or not, because that is their decision."
"And yet you still profess free will, but do your best to take away my own?" he asked.
"No Sombra, I do not wish to take away your will, but merely to make you understand what has happened even as I seek to understand it," she said. "You could have chosen to stop any time Sombra, but you did not."
"And I enjoyed every moment of it, mule."
Celestia turned her head upwards, watching the light of her sun through the impossibly long tunnel through the mountain and knew that time was growing short. Sombra did not know it, but she was well aware that she could not hold him forever and the time to make her judgement was nearly at hand. Twice she had already asked him and twice she had been rebuked, but it was her duty to ask him once last time.
"I ask you one more time, Sombra, was there any time, even in its smallest measurement, that you felt remorse for your actions?"
"Mule, do you truly enjoy the sound of your own voice so deeply that you ask me the same question when you know the answer already?"
"Indulge me," she whispered.
This time, rather than respond with rage or mockery, the maddened unicorn sat back upon his haunches and hmmed softly, one blood-stained hoof raising to tap his jaw as he looked down as if in deep thought. Absently, he twirled the blackened crystal upon the dais with his free hoof as his eyes closed. For a brief moment, Celestia felt hope rush through her that just once, she had gotten through to one who stood before her and that things would turn out differently.
"No," he said, crushing her hopes with a single word. "To have such weakness over something as trivial as the death of a few hundred or even a few thousand mongrels and useless traitors would imply that for a moment, I felt that I was wrong in my actions. You preach to me of free will given by discord and of bad decisions made by your sister and yet you do your best to make me repent for something which there is no need for repentance? I was not wrong, mule, remorse has no meaning to me because I have always been right."
"How can you say that so casually?"
"Because it is the truth!" he shouted, springing to his hooves once more and slamming into the field of light with his not inconsiderable strength only to once again be thrown back. "I was born into a ruling family! I was born a unicorn! I was born powerful and ambitious! But always there were things like morals and kindness, immaterial drivel that tried to hold me back. I have said it before, Celestia, and I will say it one last time; the strong rule, the weak obey! I shed blood to make this so and I will shed blood to make it so again."
He narrowed his eyes and added, "And I know what you are trying to do here."
"And what is it that I am trying to do, King Sombra?"
"Ahh, finally you recognize your betters," He said. "You think me ignorant of what it is that gazes down upon me don't you? You think that because I am mortal that I know nothing of the grand plan of this world by the ones who set you to watch it? Oh, but I do. I know that is why you have brought me back. I was dead, Celestia... your precious student and her mongrel friends killed me there in the Crystal Empire when the heart was put back in place. Oh yes, I know death well, Celestia! Know it well enough that I know I am still dead even now but that you cannot let me remain so."
He paused and kicked the crystal forward, the blackened jewel sliding through the cage of light as if it were not even there and causing his form to shimmer slightly a he roared in triumphant at her look of horror.
"I remember your words, Celestia! When you and your sister turned me to shadow and banished me! Do you remember them? You said to me 'live in the darkness of your sins, Sombra, contemplate them and when next we meet, repent them and move on.' Oh I had a very, very long time to 'contemplate my sins' Celestia.. a very, very long time indeed and do you know what conclusion I drew?"
With every fiber of her being shouting for her to remain silent, Celestia asked quietly, "What?"
"That you are afraid of me! You, who are the so-called goddess of the sun, light of the world and steward of pony kind... are a weak and pathetic nothing, afraid of a mortal who has slipped your yoke!" He smiled a self satisfied smile at the look in her eyes as he waved his foreleg to the crystals around him. "These are ponies, Celestia. Not just ponies but all creatures from all walks. Everything that dies is reborn to a new life and a new being, but always their base spirit stay the same. Part of them moves, oh yes, but they are always reborn. That is why you did not kill me then and that is why you will not let me go now. I have escaped your foalish prison and the 'filters' that would attempt to 'cleanse' me. When I am reborn, I will and always shall be me and when that happens, you will once again lose sight of me until it is too late. You say that you cannot interfere? But that is exactly what you are doing!"
"Oh, you can kill me, you can kill me again and again, execute me or banish me, it doesn't matter because you cannot change me! That is why you are afraid of me, because you know that you were wrong about me, and that if you were wrong about me, you were wrong about others and they too will find a way to escape your yoke and rise to their true power. They shall then be nearly equals to me, but I will always be the first and therefore I shall always be the greatest!"
She shook her head slowly, her ever flowing mane seeming to lose some of its luster as she gazed upon him, her heart slowly growing cold as she readied herself to do what must be done.
"Are you going to ask me once more if I have any remorse, mule?" he asked. "I will save you the trouble and tell you that I do not. Not now, not ever. I am -- and have always been -- right. But I do have regrets, oh yes, I have regrets. I regret issuing the challenge to you before I was fully entrenched in my power. I regret not destroying that accursed crystal heart instead of using it to crush the hopes of my slaves over and over again. I regretting the fleetingness of shadow that robbed me of so many years I could have spent spreading my vision across Equestria. But I hold no remorse for my actions. Nothing you can say will ever convince me that I was wrong, just as nothing you profess will ever change the fact that you are weak. No matter what you attempt to punish me with, no matter your 'judgement' this day, you have no power over me because I am right and nothing will change that."
"Sombra..."
"KING SOMBRA!!!"
"You are not the first," she whispered, looking deeply into those blood-filled, dragon-slit eyes in a final desperate gamble to see some small flicker of repentance or remorse, but she saw none in the face of his verbal onslaughts. "Nor will you be the last. I do not make you out to be a monster, Sombra, you have done that well on your own and I do not know what caused you to become so, but I do not fear you, I pity you. I pity you because no matter what you say, your will is gone. You are not a god nor are you a mortal, you simply are, but unlike others who simply are, your purpose is not that of others, but your own and it is a corrupted purpose beyond all measure. There will never be any thing that will be different and your death and rebirth will always strip away the will of those around you. But worst of all, through actions you to not even understand, you have tainted something precious that should always be pure when it begins again. Decisions both good and bad are the are what gives ponies free will, but no matter what happens, you will never be anything but what you are. This, more than anything, I cannot allow."
"I am King, mule, you are nothing more than a princess and thus no matter how high you claim to be, you cannot stand in judgement over me, for you are and always shall be beneath me. Why do I say this, because you do not have the power or the will to call yourself Queen. And even then, you would stand only as my near equal, not as my better. Make your judgements mule, because they are nothing but empty words and fleeting ones at that. No matter what you do to me, I will return one day."
"Thrice I have asked, Sombra, and thrice you have denied what I ask. Let it be done then."
"Be done!?" he demanded. "You are nothing, Celestia! You have caged me, you have banished me and now you think to stand in judgment over me! But you cannot even do that. You could not kill me then and you cannot let me stay dead now! All you will do is all that you have ever done. You will banish me to the shadows, or to the moon or to some other dark place so that I might contemplate my sins... but it will not work. I know the secret now and with that, you have no power over me. With my curse lifted, somepony somewhere will get curious. Eventually..."
"Enough."
"...I will be found again! Some foolish mongrel or power hungry noble will..."
"Silence!"
"... find me once again and call me from the shadow! and do you know what I will do? I will whisper promises of power into their ears. I will make them believe me to be their savior..."
"Be silent!"
"... and you will do nothing but watch as you always have! You cannot Change me Celestia! I have already slipped your bonds for the last time. I will be reborn just as intended and soon I will...."
"THOU. SHALT. BE. SILENT!!!"
The reverberation of her voice echoed across the chamber with such force that it left only echoing silence in its wake as all those who bore witness knew that judgement had been levied that only the sentence remained. The fury in those words though, was neither righteous anger nor the unbridled rage that Sombra flung so casually. No, it was a fury so cold and so final that the ice of the frozen north seemed boiling hot by comparison.
For the first time in life, Sombra felt something other than rage or superiority. He, the unicorn who had ruled the Crystal Empire with an iron hoof, who enslaved those he cared nothing for and shed blood without thought felt for the first time what he had lorded over his subjects for so long. Deep within his sadistic and merciless heart, he felt fear.
"Celestia..." he whispered, shocked at how timid his own voice sounded.
The solar princess said nothing. Instead, she ignited her golden magic and pressed it into the light holding the unrepentant unicorn; the golden veil shattering into an uncountable number of pinpricks as she did so. In response, Sombra reared up, ready to charge and find out if a goddess could bleed as he always thought she could, but faster than even his minds eye could follow, the pinpricks of golden energy swirled about him as if fireflies gone mad. Around his legs, throat and torso, even around his tail and horn they swirled and changed, elongating and changing into bands of golden light that held him more surely than any yoke of slavery he had ever placed upon another.
"What is this!?" He demanded, his voice regaining some of its former power. "Is this your 'judgement' over me, mule!? To keep me imprisoned here in some vain hope that the other souls will cleanse me!? You are nothing Celestia! Nothing! This is merely vindication of my own strength over yours!"
Still, Celestia said nothing, merely standing before him as her wings slowly stretched outward and she straightened to her full, impressive height. But though her voice remained silent, her expression spoke volumes and as he looked, he saw in them not hate or even pity, but sadness he could not fathom. He did not know how long they stood before each other and quickly lost count of the insults he hurled as he struggled against the chains. But what confused him more than anything were the tears that flowed from the mare's eyes.
"Tears!?" He scoffed, cruel laughter following he word. "You cry for me? For me!?"
"No," she said quietly as she trotted forward, towering over the mad king. "Not for you, Sombra, but for myself. I cry because I have once again failed to save somepony like you and I have failed in the duty given to me by they who placed this world in my care. You call me weak, Sombra. You say that I lack the strength and the courage to do what must be done, but you are wrong. What I do to you now will take more strength than you will ever understand, for I damn myself a little each time I must do this and will never be offered that which you have callously refused."
He drew in a deep breath, ready to make a lunge towards her, ready to find another insult, but what happened next left him speechless for the second time in his life. Leaning down every so slightly, Celestia pressed her lips against his forehead, just below the curve of his blood-stained horn in the way a mother might kiss away the hurt of a foal. But where he thought he had experienced her at her coldest when she demanded his silence, he knew then that he was mistaken; for he had never experienced a cold so profound as the feeling left behind by her kiss.
"Damn you, you accursed mule!" he spat. "One day I will..."
His words trailed off as something began to spread from where she had kissed him; a sensation that was not given over to easy description for it felt like too many things for his mind to sort out. All he knew for certain was that as it spread, the chains that held him vanished because they were no longer needed. His body refused to obey him and thus was he forced to watch as a thin golden luminescence began to crawl over his body, stealing every ounce of warmth from his flesh and leaving behind only a thin veneer of smokey grey crystal in its wake; the color he had once been as a foal before he had made his fateful choices.
"What is this!?" He demanded
"King Sombra of the Crystal Empire..."
"I demand to know what this is!"
"By the power given to me as a steward of this world..."
"I command you to answer me!"
"I now hold thee accountable for thy sins..."
"Damn you, mule! Tell me what this is!"
"You, who are without mercy or remorse..."
"You cannot judge me! You are beneath me!"
"I cast thee guilty."
"Celestiaaaaaaaa!!!!"
His final word echoed throughout the Sanctuary as the luminescence faded, leaving him still as a statue of crystal shod in silver armor. But it was not the stone sleep imparted upon the wicked by the Elements of Harmony, nor was it even the weightlessness of being turned to shadow; no, he still had control of his senses. He could hear the sound of the souls around him as they seemed to sob quietly. He could see Celestia take his dark crystal and place it beneath him with her magic. Worst of all, he could feel that something within him was being simultaneously crushed and turn asunder.
Tears falling slowly upon the floor, Celestia leaned forward and lightly touched the tip of her horn to his own as she spoke something to him in a language he did not know. The words were as sorrowful as they were final and in that instant he knew what it was that she had done. Fear welled up within him unlike anything he had ever known at the words, but despite the fear, there was nothing within him to save. He wanted to plead his case, to shout or rage, to scream and curse her with his dying breath but it was too late.
As he had done with so many victims, Sombra watched as his time ended. Everything he was, had been or would ever have become, ceased to exist in that instant as he watched Celestia trudge slowly away from him and disappear. Bit by bit, the crystal that was now his body began to crack and shatter while time lost all meaning.
Never once did Celestia look back.
Uncouth behavior was frowned upon in the Royal Palace of Canterlot and it had long ago been determined that it would never do for anypony to ever see their rulers panic; protocol and decorum forbade such things and beyond that, when one tried to rule by example, panic was simply a bad idea. True, Celestia was something of a practical joker and engaged in the odd bit of foalish behavior, but the palace staff wrote off such things as the privileged eccentricity of an immortal existence. Luna, on the other hoof, preferred to remain proper and aloof while in the castle and only 'cut loose' amongst her small circle of friends such as Twilight and Pinkie Pie or the foals in Ponyville during Nightmare Night.
Having felt what she had just felt, however, Luna was ready to shout 'to Tartarus with decorum!' in the loudest possible use of the Royal Canterlot Voice she could muster -- which was considerable even at normal levels -- and as she trotted towards her sister's bedchamber, it took every ounce of self control to hold back not only her tears, but her own desire to break forth in a panicked gallop. Unfortunately for her, she had spent over three years trying to get those around her to become comfortable with her presence and if she broke her own rules so flippantly, all she had worked for would be for nothing. Cursing herself, she maintained a healthy trot that would look to others as if nothing more than that she was late for an important meeting.
Sadly, not a single pony in the palace would have understood just how important it was.
Turning the corner to her sister's chambers, she was unsurprised to find Captain Shining Armor himself standing at the head of a contingent of fifteen fully armed and armored royal guards who formed a nigh impenetrable barrier of flesh and magic between the room and the rest of the palace. Coming to a halt before them, she watched as the captain bent to one knee while the rest simply nodded their heads; a gesture that would have normally been insulting in its lack of respect, but she recognized that each of them had not let their guard down for a heartbeat, not even for her. As the captain rose to face her, however, the look that shone in his eyes confirmed her fears.
"Princess Luna," Shining Armor said softly.
"Captain Shining Armor," she replied. "We... I... would speak with my sister and ask that you move aside to let me pass."
If there was one thing that Luna had learned in the year since the stallion had become her legal nephew in-law, it was that the only thing he would put before his duty to Equestria, was his duty to his family. Celestia, by marriage, was his family as well as his princess and thus he was doubly adamant in his protection of her. Luna was not surprised then, when he shook his head slowly.
"My deepest apologies, you're highness, but Princess Celestia left specific instructions that she was not to be disturbed by anypony, up to and including yourself."
Luna stared into his eyes as his gaze begged her for understanding as much as it did explanation. But unlike the stallion before her, who merely suspected how deeply his princesses were troubled, Luna knew exactly what was going on and therefore would not back down. Squaring her shoulders, she spoke again, this time more formally.
"Captain, We applaud thy devotion to thy duty and to our sister, but we also know that our sister is thinking less than clearly at this moment. We ask again that thee step aside and allow us passage."
"And again I ask that you forgive me, your highness, but I cannot go against the wishes of one of the royal sisters in this matter. I would do the same for you where the positions reversed."
Again, she was unsurprised at his response and tried a different tactic.
"We know this, Nephew," she said, noting the way his ears pinned back at the word and she could see the crack forming in his resolve. "And We... I... am grateful for your devotion to our... to my ... sister, but I also know that no matter what she wants, she should not be alone at this moment. Please, Shining Armor, I am going to enter that room and be there for my sister. If that means I must go through you and your guards to do so, then that is what will happen. I do not say this for spite or anger as I have no desire to harm any of you for upholding your sworn your duty. Believe me when I say this and believe also that I have no desire to face my sister's anger for injuring her guardians or my niece's wrath should I harm her husband. I am asking, no, I am begging, captain, that you do not make me make that decision."
Shining Armor narrowed his eyes slightly and she could tell from long hours spent studying ponies that he was gauging her, gauging how long he and his could stand against the Princess of the Night and if they had any chance at all of victory in doing so. More so, she could tell that he knew they had no such chance, but to uphold their oaths they would fight to the death even against one of the royal sisters. She also knew that despite her words, she would not bring herself to raise hoof against them as she might have a thousand years earlier. Fortunately, she was saved from such a decision as the stallion lowered his head and slumped slightly.
"If you can promise me that my soldiers will not be held accountable, I will order them to stand aside. I... will bear any punishment that this decision will bring, Princess."
"You have my word upon the Moon itself that there will be no punishment involved in this Shining Armor, for your troops or yourself."
The conflict within him warred with the emotions she knew he could not explain and though it looked as if he may curse himself to his dying breath, the stallion waved his hoof and the phalanx of golden armored guards parted to let her pass. As she did so, she paused to lean down and gently nuzzled Shining Armor in a gesture of comfort.
"Are you alright, my nephew?" She asked.
"No, your highness, I'm not," he replied. "I don't know why, but I feel sad for some reason. Like something is just... gone. Something important."
"We all do, nephew, we all do, rest assured that it will pass."
Before he could ask any other questions, Luna's indigo magic took hold of the doors to her sister's chambers and pulled them open. She could feel Celestia's wards upon them, but they were clumsy -- dare she say even sloppy -- and she turned them aside with little effort. Stepping across the threshold, she shivered at the profound chill the permeated the usually inviting suite and as she looked around, she noted the sterile, seemingly uninhabited quality within.
"Sister?" She called, surprised at her own timidity.
"Go away."
The voice came from the four poster bed at the far wall, its amber-colored curtains drawn closed and obviously shrouded with a hastily applied spell to prevent anypony from looking through the usually gauzy material. But this was not the power of a goddess given form nor even the power of the Element of Magic, it was the power of a foal who had done something shameful and just like the magic of a foal, Luna brushed it aside with only the barest of effort. A squeak of surprise from the bed made her start even as her magic parted the curtains.
Inside, she beheld not the regal illusion that her sister presented to the world, but rather the real Celestia; her glamour and enchantments stripped away. Gone were the royal vestments, her pristine white coat faded to soft cream and unshod by such treasures. The ever-flowing waves of pale sunrise were gone from her mane and tail, leaving only short waves of disheveled, rose quartz hair that looked as if it had not seen a brush in days. But worst of it all were her sister's eyes; those soft, violet orbs that shone with such wisdom and playful mischief were gone, replaced by dark, puffy depths of dull red as tears rolled freely down her cheeks.
As Celestia looked away in shame, Luna felt as if her heart were about to shatter.
"Sister..."
"I said go away!" she cried petulantly, but there was no power behind the command.
The vulnerability in that cry reminded Luna of herself when she was first learning to be what she was, scared and unsure of her decisions and how often Celestia had been there to comfort her. Now that roles were reversed, the dark alicorn slid across the silken cushions and felt her body sink into them slightly as her powerful wing curled gently around the tiny body of the crying sun. As she did so, the chill of absolute zero threatened to drain the warmth from her own form, but she did not let go, instead leaning down to nuzzle her sister affectionately.
"You unmade him," she whispered, her words neither question nor accusation, merely fact given form.
"I didn't want to," came the reply. "But there was nothing in him I could save. He wanted to talk about his right and his will, but he didn't have any will left, all his choices were made and they couldn't be taken back even though I wanted him to... even though I wanted to! He wasn't a pony anymore, Lu... he was, he was just a thing in a pony's body. He was like us... but he was nothing like us."
Cheek pressed closely to Celestia's, Luna nodded silently as gentle pulses of magic emanated for her body in an attempt to share her warmth with her frozen sister. Deep down though, Luna knew there was very little she could do for her beyond being there for at that moment and so she said nothing else, merely enfolded the pale and unforgiven sun in a blanket of night. Moments -- that felt like eons -- later, the sobs began to subside as Celestia's breathing evened out and slowed, the goddess finally having exhausted her remaining energy and passed into unconsciousness.
Pulling back every so slightly, Luna touched her horn to Celestia's and let the barest of her dark magic slide across it, shuddering at what she saw within her mind before blacking it out into nothingness.
"Sleep, Tia, sleep and know that you have done your duty," she whispered. "I will raise the sun for you this day, my sister. Sleep... sleep and be at peace once more."
Unfurling the wing from her sister's body, Luna slipped silently from her bed and pulled the covers over the sleeping alicorn, tucking them tightly around her as if a cocoon from which she would later emerge. Her sister, drained beyond measure, would sleep for a this one day and awaken reborn in her own way; diminished from the execution of her duty she would be, but so too would she weather the storm as always. The irony that the bringer of the sun would not see its glory on the day it stayed longest in the sky was not lost upon Luna.
Stepping onto the balcony, the goddess of the moon stared off into dark horizon of her night and summoned power she so rarely called upon, the moon lowering slowly until it vanished while the sun crested opposite it in a burning corona of pastels and golds. Though not as powerful as Celestia, once the deed was done, Luna felt no worse for wear in its undertaking as she gazed out upon the awakening world. But even though nopony would know it was she and not her sister that gave them their day, she alone knew that nopony would find joy within it for many hours.
Despite her power and her desire to be loved by others, Luna knew deep down that she could never have born the burden that her sister wore so elegantly and she silently thanked her creator that her power was only that of dreams, nightmares and darkness. The power that Celestia held, the power to bring light to the world and guide souls to their eventual rebirth could so easily have been abused and even in her most lucid moments, Luna knew she could never have performed such a task. She knew, though, all about the emptiness that fell across her little ponies that day, for she knew just enough of her sister's blessings- or curses -- to be able to comfort her from them.
Though neither inherently good or bad, souls were strange and unruly things in many ways. The soul of a pony that gave them life was forever cleansed and reborn, but the spark that made them what they were always moved on to their final reward upon death; where they went was a place the princesses knew of, but would never see themselves. Sombra's choices had tainted that balance and forever fused the two together, making it impossible for him to ever anything more or less than what he had become.
Celestia had wanted so desperately to cleanse King Sombra, to break the hold his lower soul had taken on his higher one and allow him to be reborn. She had wanted it so badly that she gambled once more upon her power to guide rather than control. But the stain of his life had refused to let go and in the end had shown her only the stagnation in a soul whose choices had tainted its very essence. Choices that would inevitably cause even greater damage simply by its refusal to ever change.
Seeing that, Celestia had called down the power of the creator itself and snuffed Sombra's essence from the world; for all intents and purposes he was not only gone, but had never existed to begin with. Oh, he would never be forgotten of course, history itself would see to that. As time went on, however, his story would seem less like facts of history and more like a parable against falling to darkness and corruption. In this, Celestia would always see herself as a failure because she could not redeem a precious soul.
Redemption, like souls, however, was a very strange and unruly thing. On one hoof, it was the most beautiful and magnificent gift one pony could offer to another; on the other hoof, it was the most difficult of all gifts to accept. The reason for this -- as simple as it was complex -- was that redemption could never be given or taken, only offered and accepted, and if that gift was unwanted for whatever reason, no amount of pleading, praying or well wishing could ever force it upon a pony.
She reflected upon these thoughts as she reinforced the spell that would give her sister the dreamless sleep necessary to sooth the consequences of her decision; but she felt once more that it was empty comfort. Fused with the light of creation and order itself, Celestia could never understand that no matter how dangerous Sombra's taint had been, it had been his own choices, not her failings, that brought about his destruction. Neither would she accept the fact that, like Discord, she herself simply was what she was regardless of her feelings on the matter.
Luna, at the very least had some small choice in the matter of what she was, for having dominion over dreams meant having both good and bad within her to the point that she would understand the difference better; if only minimally. In that way, Luna wondered if Sombra was simply what she could -- or mayhaps should -- have been had her decisions been even slightly different, but reasoned that even at her darkest moment, she had always known what she was doing was wrong and wished to be forgiven for it. This one thing, Luna understood all too well and this one truth, her sister would never comprehend.
Ponies were neither good or bad when they were born, but sometimes there really was no explanation for why that changed as they grew. Decisions, both good and bad, where an exercise of chaos; of free will. Free will, as such was always a two-edged sword, and some ponies were simply beyond redemption; not because of another's failings, but because of their own. Denying such things or embracing them made no difference.
When a soul was first created, the world rejoiced, but when a soul was lost-- no matter how pure or wicked it may have been -- so too did the world mourn.
Looking out into the vastness of the world, Luna slowly closed her eyes and wept for both of them.
For silent falls the guilty sun
As day to dark does turn
One simple truth she dare not speak:
Her light can only blind and burn...
Author's Note
For those of you who've made it this far, I thank you for reading the story and I hope you were not disappointed.
Cover image used by permission from the very talented DragonwolfRooke. Make sure to visit her Deviant Art Page if you've got a minute :)
If you've read my other work or any of my blog posts, you'll know up front that I'm a sucker for a redemption story and a happy, uplifting ending even when the story itself is sad. However, every once in a while, my mind takes a turn down a dark tangent and I realize that redemption only works for people (or ponies in this case) that want it. If they don't want it, then nothing will ever bring them back from the abyss they've walked into. The problem then, is not for the ones who refused to be redeemed, but rather it becomes a problem for those who tried to help them could not. Hopefully, that came across in this.
As for the business of souls, rebirth, reincarnation and final rewards/punishments, yes, some of my own belief structure was incorporated into that idea. Make of it what you will, but please do not judge me for it because I do my best not to judge the beliefs of others.
On a personal not, I actually liked King Sombra, he had the kind of "cool enough that I don't need a lot of lines" vibe going for him, but I think he is easily the least developed villain in the show thus far. We know next to nothing about him aside from the fact that he is cruel, wicked and generally the stereotypical villain. The thing I always find though, is that very rarely do villains actually consider themselves to be villains. Almost universally, they think they're in the right and the heroes are in the wrong. For this reason, I don't think Sombra would repent even if faced with his own destruction and so I took the "Blood Emperor" approach to his personality to work the story. Did I develop him as well as I wanted? Honestly, I don't think so but I think I did a passable job. Let's face it, there is no real background as to why he became an enslaving tyrant so we just need to make up our own. Of course, by the same token -- and as stated by Luna above -- sometimes, maybe there just isn't a reason.
I hope you enjoyed it and rest assured my next story will hopefully be back to my normal vein!
