//------------------------------//
// 227. Matey by Knight of Cerebus 
// Story: The Sun and the Stars: A Twilestia Prompt Collab 
// by Fuzzyfurvert 
//------------------------------//


by Knight of Cerebus


***


Direct sequel to Grievous by Honey Mead



"Pitiful..." It said. The dull, raw yellow stare was still present. Ash and cinders blew through the woods. There was a gap in reality where the creature had been not a moment ago, but now it stood above her lover's broken body, a many-toed talon claiming its prize. "Many things have been aimed at me, but none so poorly as your summoned sun. You are proclaimed ruler of this world. Fight."

Celestia managed to gain her bearings. Combat instincts took her once again. The creature's pod stood not far from her. If she...And then she was swinging it, bringing it to bear upon a foe with reflexes as fast as her own mind. The pod plowed into the ray of sunlight in the creature's hand, bisecting the craft into equal halves.

Celestia's eyes narrowed to match the unblinking stare of the half-dead animal in front of her. It was clear now that it was little more than a skeleton, yet the beast it had once been must have stood at least twice her regular height. A long, white and red cloak trailed behind it, and black warpaint in the shape of tears trailed up along its scalp. Celestia well and truly thought this time, and the creature was suspended in her magic. Pure heat cascaded into it, burning it to ashes and nothingness like so many enemies before it. And then the light vanished, and the creature was still there. Somehow, its cape was still there, too. The creature recognized it was caught, and stayed completely inactive in its casing.

"So we have reached an impasse. An unkillable evil and its undaunted judge. But no matter. My army will free me soon enough."

Celestia noted, to her surprise, intelligence in the creature. It was a hollow, chilling intelligence, but it was still there.

"You have tasted loss before." It said, not but a hate without bottom in its voice.

"More than you will ever know."

Surprisingly, this was what brought forth a new emotion from within it. This emotion was mirth. "I doubt that."

"A life of war?"

"A life not of my choosing. Nor is this yours, I can see. A tired ruler, yes?"

"A broken soldier."

"Thrust upon a throne she never wanted, still looking for someone to love her." The voice was taunting and spiteful.

"An empty shell spreading its hate and pain. A vessel for nought but agony." The voice was bitter and ragged.

The two stared long into each other's eyes. A conversation of heartbroken ancients passed between their focused pupils. They read each other completely, and yet the mutual hatred was still unfailingly there. At last the silent discourse was broken by a whirring noise, and a piece of metal sky arrived above Celestia, spotlights shining upon the pair in the grotto.

"General, do you--" The nasally voice was cut off by the ship exploding into stardust.

"You kill without a thought." The General seemed impressed.

"I kill to protect." The Princess seemed dispassionate. On whim, she tried to crush the monster's skeleton into dust with the strength of her magic at point blank. The metal did not so much as bend.

"I am the Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. My body was forged in stars. Birthed by them. My skin is metal from an age you cannot comprehend. My heart burns with a Darkness to put your fire to shame."

"Am I at least to hear the name of the leader of the army of iron that has spread across my kingdom?"

"Grievous. In soul as in consequence, all that I am is Grief. And you?"

"Celestia, the everburning sun."

"Well met, Queen Celestia." The creature made a horrible sound, then, as if it were scraping its chest against corrugated steel. Celestia imagined it was a laugh. "You would do well on my planet. Your heart is dark enough."

"Your...planet?" Celestia's mind wandered. "I would like you to know, General Grievous, that I am not a queen. Nor am I despot, tyrant, major, admiral or general. I am a Princess. My rule is one of four."

Another laugh like a freight train with lung cancer came from within the confines of the force field. "I suppose that should be three, now." Fire. Pure, unending fire. Celestia poured it in, hoping and praying that somehow, someway she could make this creature suffer. Instead, the piercing yellow eyes danced with glee from within the flames, and the creature made to speak once more.

"That is my pain. That is my loss and anger. You claim you are an equal rule. You are a mate to me, a friend of hate and despair. I see it in your eyes. Your...friend, was it? Apprentice, perhaps? She was an iota of what you stand to lose, and already you jump to torture. How, then, do you think I was made? Could that be you killing loved ones without remorse, as I do. I am nothing. And you may take nothing from me. Whereas I, I spread my nothingness where I walk. I am not a "broken" soldier. Broken implies remains. Implies there is a still something behind my shell, something to fix. Hurt me as you may, but know that, like you were in that moment, I do not feel pain. I only share it. I have none left for myself. How will you drive despair to tears?"

"I won't. " Celestia's thinking mind returned. "I will deal with it as I have always done. I will bury it."

And with that, the sun goddess summoned crystal. Solid diamond wrapped around the creature, trapping the General in a cocoon of frozen, transparent rock. An animal scream met her ears, and then taunts and threats. Promises her world would die in a sea of fire. Threats her children would starve working in the hell the metal monster was raised in. Like a dying gasp, a final set of words, more troubling than any of the others, managed to squeeze though the casing just as she finished her work. "You would make Lord Sidious proud....." At last, she finished her work, and the diamond tomb disappeared in a flash of light, headed for her world's core.

At last, her task complete, Celestia turned with dread towards the body behind her. A tear ran down her cheek, and then another, and she approached the broken form with a soft, solemn step. A voice behind her rang out. A voice of a ghost.

"Tia? What are you doing here? And, uh, why am I blue?"

A broken mix of a laugh and a sob rose to Celestia's throat, and she wheeled around to find a glowing, transparent, and very confused Twilight Sparkle behind her. "Was that...thing...what was sending all those metal creatures at us?"

Celestia tried to embrace the slain scholar, but her hoof passed through the air. She did not care. There was something eternal about this love of hers. "That thing was hatred, Twilight. And a hatred we will rise above."