//------------------------------// // Lightning and Power // Story: Son of Sombra // by Stargazer42 //------------------------------// “Well, well, Applejack” White Lightning cooed as he paced around Applejack. She was strapped spread eagle on an X shaped platform, with her back and front exposed. She strained against the bonds as she glowered at him. White Lightning continued “Oh,” he said “I am going to enjoy this. You know, I do love getting to know the real deal. I need to know, what is honesty? Of course there’s the scholarly definition of honesty which I know but what is a pony who’s very life and essence is the ultimate epitome of honesty? Nay, the pony who actually represents that very element of harmony…it’s curious, don’t you think?” “You wanna know what I think?” Applejack began but she was cut off. “Not really,” White Lightning said “I just like talking to myself. It’s all I’ve had to do for the past hundred years. You know, the last pony I talked to was during the slave uprising in the Crystal Empire. That was a long time ago…and I haven’t forgotten a single day of that. Do you know why you’re here?” “No,” Applejack said straining “I just…” “You know,” White Lightning said “I could have had any one of the six elements here. But you, Applejack, you’re my brother’s favorite.” “Why the hay’s that?” “Because his whole life has been,” he sighed “a tragic secret. I love honesty in ponies. Did you know, that he’s actually had quite an impact on the history of the Crystal Empire AND Equestria? But Celestia wanted to keep him hush hush. I mean, could you imagine? A MALE Alicorn? Not only that but a SON of the EVIL King Sombra? Ponies simply wouldn’t have it.” “I don’t understand,” Applejack said “nor do I care. You untie me this instant and I swear I won’t cave your face in with my buckin’ hooves.” “Very brave of you to be sure,” White Lightning said, and then he got closer and whispered in her ear “but, I’m afraid I won’t be doing that for some time.” “What do you mean?” “I...,” he said “I’m going to have fun with you. Did you know that the mind is a very complicated organ of the body?” “What?” “I mean,” White Lightning said continued without hearing Applejack “it can take so much, and yet so little. It all depends on the will of character of the pony enduring whatever trial…or in this case torture. Let’s take your friend Fluttershy for example, she wouldn’t last two minutes with my techniques. Neither would Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash could probably last about twenty four hours…Twilight? Well, I could manage her, but she’s not the one I want. You, on the other hand, you have strength, you have will and character…let’s see how long you can REALLY last.” “I’m pretty strong,” Applejack said confidently “I think I’ll disappoint you.” “On the contrary,” White Lightning said glowering at her “your strength, will be your downfall. Now, let’s get to know the real you.” Applejack strained against her bonds, but suddenly, a bolt of electricity raced through her nerves and throughout her body. She shook violently, but didn’t scream, her hair stood up on end and sweat beaded her brow. White Lightning nodded as he looked at her “Impressive,” he said “you were right, you are strong.” With that, he increased the settings to two. Applejack’s head slammed backwards in pain as her body contorted as if she had a seizure. Her pupil’s dilated and she bit her lip until it bled. White Lightning increased the setting to three. Her body kept contorting and she was shaking violently and uncontrollably, but still no scream left her lips. Growing impatient, White Lightning switched to the maximum setting and started walking out the door. Singing quietly to himself he sang “The hills are alive, with the sounds of screaming…” Cocking his ear to listen, and as if some cruel director was conducting Applejack, she let out a long pitiful wail of pain. It was several hours later when White Lightning returned. He’d switched off the electricity the moment that Applejack slipped into unconsciousness. He didn’t want to kill his prized patient. Her head slung down on her chest and her hair was frizzled and slightly smoldering. He stepped up to her, and closed his eyes. ==================================================================================================== Applejack was in her brain, trying to recover from White Lightning’s torture. She didn’t know how long it would last, but at least she was safe here. “Well, well, well,” a dark voice said from the shadows. “Who the hay are you?” “I’m the same one who’s been enjoying this all day,” White Lightning said stepping from the shadows. “How did you get in here?” “Oh pah,” he snorted “I’m an Alicorn, I enter into ponies mind’s all the time. It’s a trivial matter once you know how to use magic. Anyway, I’m not finished with you.” “Please let me sleep,” she begged. “That’s part of the point,” White Lightning said “is to PREVENT you from sleeping. You can’t have any strength what so ever.” “Why are you doing this?” “Why?” White Lightning asked “well.” Then from out of nowhere, music started playing and the scene changed to a stage and he was surrounded by dancing pony skeletons. The song, went like this: Do you know anything about me? I know the look on your face You don’t have an single clue Therefore why should I explain anything to you You think you’re a victim but in reality you’re not Everything that you have, I have got You want to be somepony perfect But you know that it’s not ever worth it Take a little lesson from me Maybe you’ll open your eyes and you’ll see Nothing can change what you have become Unless you decide to make it all undone It doesn’t matter anymore if you are alone Your life is governed by you, it is set in stone You have no further choice to make And you’re mind it soon will break! Then he spoke to the skeletons “You know friends,” he said “I think it’s time that we have some more fun with Applejack…well?” The skeletons laughed, and smiling, he continued: You think I’m evil, and maybe it’s true I am vindictive, and I know just what to do I see your future and your past I can’t wait when you run out of hope at last You see that you’re friends are there But it’s just smoke and mirrors, all thin air Why don’t you understand there’ll come a day When their loyalty will go and fade I had friends, I had family Everything was taken away from me You know the pony who had done these things And that’s why you’re here. The music kept playing, but White Lightning stopped singing, he conjured up images of everything Applejack feared. She was terrified, she crouched in a tiny ball as the pictures swirled around her, through her, and over her. She cried out “Oh please Princess Luna!” “She won’t help you here,” White Lightning giggled “I have a spell to counter every single one of hers.” Applejack fell through a pit which appeared from nowhere. She was falling, endlessly falling. Then she landed on a gigantic mattress of feathers. The feathers turned to snakes. She cried out, and when one bit her, she screamed, but they suddenly disappeared. White Lightning’s face loomed downwards at her and she cringed. “In three days,” he said “you’ll be mine.” Then laughing hysterically, his face disappeared, but then it floated right beside her ear. He breathed a ghostly breath and she turned to find a scarier monster. She started running, but she smacked into a brick wall and became dizzy. The skeletons appeared floating around her and then popped out of existence suddenly. White Lightning was puzzled because the music also stopped. From the shadows a pony, whose horn glowed with power and whose form never came to light, advanced on him. White Lightning fought back, but was driven out of Applejack’s mind. With a shriek of anger he vanished with his illusions. Applejack stared at the newcomer, her eyes red with exhaustion at her ordeal and asked “Princess Luna?” “I have come to help you Applejack,” the figure said “White Lightning may be able to harm your body, but he won’t be able to harm your mind. I will be a shield and protect you, your pain will be mine so as to give you strength. I will find you and I will release you. You will be free again.” “But who are you?” “One who care's deeply for you, but one whom you also despise,” the pony said “but worry not, your friends will know and come for you.” “But what about you?” “It matters not what happens to me,” the figure said “I will also be there with you and liberate you from this trial.” “When?” “I will not speak of it,” the figure said “there is still a chance that White Lightning may hear us. I must leave now before my presence is protected.” “Please,” Applejack cried out as the form slowly disappeared “can I at least know your name?” “You already do,” the figure said “and you will remember soon enough.” With that, the figure promptly vanished into thin air. Applejack cried so much in her mind from pain, that only one tear trickled down her face. Lock Light opened his eyes and gasped “We don’t have long,” he said to the others “I know where she is, but we have to get there as fast as possible.” ==================================================================================================== “How is she?” Twilight asked urgently. “She’s strong,” Lock Light said “but she’s on the brink, if we don’t get to her now all will be lost.” “What about White Lightning?” Rainbow Dash asked “he’s kind of a big problem.” “I’ll deal with him,” Lock Light said with an angry passion none of them had ever seen before “our fight isn’t over yet, but I’ll end it.” “Will Applejack be okay darling?” Rarity asked. “She’ll pull through,” Lock Light said “one way or another, she’ll make it, even if I have to use all the magic I possess, she’ll make it.” The others looked at him determinedly “Let’s go get your friend back,” Lock Light said. And with that, they all dashed off from the Crystal Castle, and towards the Crystal Mountains. ==================================================================================================== White Lightning rubbed his head from a slight headache. He didn’t know who that pony was who had beat him off, but he looked familiar. It wasn’t Princess Luna, he knew that for sure. She had a distinct psychic energy which was easily detectible to those who knew how to read it. No, it was somepony else. Somepony who hadn’t had a signature like that since… White Lightning got up and started pacing, had it really only been a hundred years since the last time he saw his brother? All of the blasphemy of the historians calling his brother’s rebellion a “Liberation” and also saying that it was a thousand years ago was simply preposterous. Old mares simply perpetuate the stories of their great father in order to scare their foals, but historians should be scholars, not tale bearers. He stopped pacing and looked at the unconscious form of Applejack, and asked himself Why does he love her? He himself, never found any interest in love. He supposed it was because of that slave filly which his brother had kept like a pet, which made him sympathetic to this mare’s family, but it still didn’t make sense. She was pretty, but inner strength? Power? Influence? Sophistication? Even a remote idea of intelligence? She had none of these qualities, so what did his brother see in her? He decided to put it out of his mind, the only thing which mattered was that he used her to lure his brother into his trap. A trap which he had planned over the last thousand years. No Doctor to help him, no Princesses either, just himself and the pony he once called brother. He walked over and picked up a knife from the table with his magic. Then walking over to the unconscious Applejack, he grinned. Time to wake up the sleeping beauty. ==================================================================================================== Lock Light and the others rode a train high into the mountains, but they’d have to disembark in order to get to the more remote regions where White Lightning was hiding. Lock Light suddenly clutched his abdomen and winced. Twilight asked “What’s wrong?” “It’s Applejack,” Lock Light answered panting “White Lightning’s begun the torture again, we have to move fast!” They galloped or flew over the valleys and canyons for what seemed like ages. They had to stop every so often because Lock Light would grunt or sometimes cry out in pain. This spurred them even faster onwards, and upwards, closer and closer to the doors of White Lightning’s Tower. Applejack screamed in pain as the knife drew out, her blood oozing slowly down the blade from the tip to the hilt. White Lightning laughed “Wake up buttercup. My brother’s nearly here. I just wanted to get to know you a little bit better before he shows up.” He thrust the knife in again and she screamed. White Lightning laughed again and said “No one will hear you scream just yet. I can’t get inside your mind, so I’ll just work towards getting inside your body…one thrust at a time. So how’s this, what do you like to do?” “Why the hay do you wanna know that?” “I don’t,” White Lightning said “I simply want to try and learn what my brother sees in you…so that I can take it away and replace it with something he won’t ever forget.” “I don’t know who your brother is,” Applejack said. “There you go again,” White Lightning chimed “you call yourself the Element of Honesty and yet you tell me a lie just like that…I’m afraid that for every lie, you get a stab, doesn’t that seem fair?” “I don’t know what you call fair,” Applejack retorted “but untie me from here and fight me. That’s fair.” “Oh,” White Lightning said “but then that wouldn’t be fun. Stomping you into the stones of this tower…I’d get blood all over it and I won’t be able to actually remove the stains…it’d be a pity. I kind of like the drab charcoal grey don’t you think?” “No,” Applejack “and THAT’S the truth.” White Lightning laughed “Well,” he said “I can see that my brother loves your sense of humor, that’s definitely a trait considering…” “Considerin’ what?” “Well,” White Lightning said “you’re not very bright, ARE you?” “What is THAT supposed to mean?” “I’m calling you stupid you oaf,” White Lightning said “did you REALLY need that explanation?” “No,” she said “it’s just…I’m smart, just not in magic.” “You can’t be smart in something you don’t have dearie,” White Lightning said “all you do is buck apples all day and don’t do any studying…how ever do you manage?” “I get by…” “Barely,” White Lightning interrupted “you country hicks are all the same. Even from the days of my father’s glorious empire, your kind haven’t evolved in intelligence or any kind of social grace. You’ve called me scum before, but if I’m scum, then what are you?” “The shoe that treads on you,” Applejack grunted. “Clever,” White Lightning mused “I do see that you do possess some wit. But what else does my brother admire about you?” “I’m hilarious,” Applejack said, only slightly giving up to resist White Lightning. She regretted saying that instantly as the hot knife pierced her scream. White Lightning grinned “You don’t see me laughing now do you?” “No,” Applejack panted “but…I did make you smile.” “What’s that got to do with anything?” “Not much,” Applejack said “but you maybe don’t think that I have a sense of humor, because you yourself don’t have one.” “Charming,” White Lightning said and thrust the knife in a different spot “I didn’t that one for spite, not because I found you were lying.” “So,” Applejack panted “what’s your beef with Lock Light anyways?” “He stole everything from me,” White Lightning said “my crown, my glory, my legacy. He took that away from me and he pretended to be my friend.” “Why,” Applejack grunted again “would anypony want to be friends with YOU?” “Oh,” White Lightning said “I WAS different once. But then I stopped giving a care as to what others thought and started doing what I thought was good for me for once.” “Pity,” Applejack said “I thought that you could never be good and turn evil.” “Oh,” White Lightning “it isn’t evil, when it’s justice.” “Justice,” Applejack said “how is any of this justice?” “If only you knew the real story,” White Lightning said. “That’s what your brother kept sayin’ too,” Applejack said “I wish somepony would just plain tell me what the hay is going on?” “You’ll find out soon enough,” White Lightning said “for now, you’ll just have to be content with me having fun with you until my sweet brother arrives.” White Lightning stabbed Applejack again and she wailed in pain.