At Twilight's End

by Shrouded_Legacy

Good Intentions... (Past Part 2)

My first clue as to the current state of affairs was that there was no one on the streets. Usually, as I neared the castle at the center, it got busier. Stellaria, the capital of the Crystal Kingdom, was a bustling city-state when I left… and now it was more akin to a ghost town. As I walked through the streets, I saw no fewer than six sets of eyes on me at any given time, but they were hidden, inscrutable… I was expecting to be greeted by a town of ponies happy to be saved by their princess, but what I was met with was a distant coldness and an overwhelming sense of hostility. My guardsponies seemed to be just as unsettled by this as I was.

Once I was under the castle, a host of guardsmen appeared in a circle around me, brandishing halberds, pikes, and javelins. Their armor was jet black and consisted of schynbalds, a sheeted breastplate and a full-mask helmet with slitted eyes. “HALT!” One of the taller ones in front of her commanded, his voice sounding almost mechanical and heavily modulated. “YOUR TRESPASS ON THE CASTLE GROUNDS IS IN VIOLATION OF ORDINANCE NINE-ZERO-DASH-THREE. YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO REMOVE YOURSELF FROM THE PREMISES BEFORE I MUST EXECUTE YOU.” He started counting audibly.

“Trespass? We are Princess Luna, your sovereign! We demand to speak to Grand Steward Sombra and your superior officer!” Luna huffed indignantly, her Thestral guard having already pulled their weapons.

The guard stopped counting and cocked his head. “GRAND STEWARD? HIS TITLE IS KING. REMOVE YOURSELF FROM THE PREMISES, OR I SHALL BE FORCED TO ENGAGE!” He continued counting. “FOUR. THREE. TW---”

“STAND DOWN, CAPTAIN!” a beleaguered but familiar voice sounded from behind the guard. When the guard stood aside, I saw him. Sombra marched toward me and my Thestral Guard, looking far older than he had only a year prior. I saw exhaustion in his eyes, which now seemed darker, harsher. His horn was now tipped in red, where once it had been the same dark slate color of his coat. "Convincing. Even has the Thestral Guard." He said, the timber in his voice more dull, yet so much sharper, than I had ever heard before. He slowly stepped forward, and the guardsmen fell back. I felt a lash of energy lance across my face and flank. I then shuddered as I felt a force push through my body.

Sombra stood there for a second, looking incredulous. The corners of his lips twitched before rising slightly, as though he wasn’t sure if he could be happy. “Is… Is it really you, Luna?” his voice was gruff and restrained. He wanted to approach me, if the small tremors in his legs were to be believed, but he wouldn’t let himself trust his senses.

“Sombra… what happened here?” I asked in a voice much smaller than I had ever used before. This is one of the few times in my life that I can remember being truly scared. Trepidation and melancholy filled me in equal measure, seeing my love so afraid to trust me.

He looked around quickly before motioning for me to follow him. I did so, taking only Nightwind Squall with me. The others I told to stay with Sombra’s guard. Once we were alone, I nuzzled against Sombra, but I didn’t get much of a response. “Sombra,” I asked as softly as I could from his neck, “What happened? You were so happy when I was here last…”

Eventually his walls began to crumble, and as we stood there, he drew in a ragged breath and started crying ever so faintly. “How beautiful is this cage we built, My fair moon? How it glimmers under the light of your stars… but this facade now hides a nefarious foe.” Sombra drew another breath, trying unsuccessfully to steady his his emotions. “It started with a string of murders. We found three dessicated bodies with no physical marks betraying their death, and then others went missing. There were almost fifteen dead by the end of the first week. I began an investigation, but we lost another ten within three months and were no closer to finding those responsible… and then one of your guard captains fell in the next wave. I declared martial law and bolstered our forces to keep better track of the citizenry. The deaths slowed severely after that, but we still couldn’t find the being, or beings, responsible until I saw a green fire on one of my patrols. I drew closer and a black figure leapt at me from the shadows behind me. He tackled me and pinned me to the ground, lighting up his horn. I began to feel weaker and instantly knew what was happening. I… reversed the polarity on his spell and…” He shuddered his voice weaker and hoarser than I’d heard him before. “I drained my attacker of his spirit, feeling all of his hive-mind’s memories flood me.”

“His… hive?” I asked, dumbfounded. I had never known much of the changelings, despite knowing the cave underneath Canterlot once was a hive before Father removed them and claimed the mountain. They were supposedly frightful creatures that could disguise themselves as anypony and could drain your vital essence and feed on it. There weren't many that knew how to find them, let alone protect themselves from them. I remember vividly how ignorant and powerless I felt as he continued.

“Aye, Princess. We have an infestation on our hands, and these… changelings… can impersonate any of us.” Sombra’s gaze hardened as he looked out the window, still not moving away from my embrace. “To make matters worse, the Caribou to the east and the Yaks from the north both seem to have smelled blood in the water and have mobilized small skirmishes with our border guards. I don’t know how long we can hold the borders without assistance, but I cannot trust anypony until the hive queen has been found and dealt with.”

“I should have been here... “ I said softly, understanding just how grave the situation had become.

“Neigh, sweet princess. I am glad you were not. Some of the things I’ve had to do in your absence would have tortured your soul. I know how much you love your people, and I fear you could not have distanced yourself from them enough to govern them. Some of my policies are steeply draconian. I would advise that you not come to court, as there is naught in the way of supplication to the throne. Only punishment is issued from these halls.” Sombra sighed as he nuzzled me gently. He then stepped away to finish his statement, his horn alight with a dark red aura. “Sweet Luna, if you truly wish to help, I prithee stay in the castle. If something were to happen to you…” Sombra swallowed hard and looked away. “I’ve already had to kill you twice, but if there was a chance it might actually be you, I don’t think I could stomach it. I need you to be safe, my one and only moon.”

The glow on his horn faded as he looked at me, and I noticed a crystal formation on the door we had come through. “You would hold me a prisoner in my own castle?” I asked, with an eyebrow raised.

“Luna, you don’t know how dangerous it is out there, and I know that if you can, you’ll go looking for a solution, finding naught but trouble for your efforts. I’m sure you’ve noticed my horn is now tinted red? I’ve killed scores of creatures over the past year. Most were changelings, but some were ponies. Even if you did have the steel to kill if necessary, I don’t want you to have to make that decision.” Sombra spoke with conviction, and I could see the honesty written on his face. He truly believed it would be best to keep me out of harm’s way.

I, however, am a ruler, and would not be held back from helping my people.

“Sombra, We appreciate thy concern, however, these are Our people.” I said, adopting the Royal Empirical voice. “We shall stand against Our foes, and We shall triumph.” I had drawn myself rigid, commanding, and Sombra knew that he wasn’t going to dissuade me. “If We do not fight on the behalf of Our subjects, then We have forfeited the Our rule. We are the Crystal Empire.”

Sombra knelt low. “As you command… Empress.”

“Rise, loyal chancellor. We shall hold court, that thou might continue thine search for the heart of the swarm.” As he rose I trotted next to him, allowing myself to relax my posture.

Picking up on the change, Sombra relaxed a little as well. “Forgive my impudence, Luna. I sought only to save you from the ordeals that have haunted me for these past few years. I forget it isn’t my place to save you, but to advise you.”

I smiled softly as I leaned in to kiss him. “My knight needs no shining armor, Sombra. Your heart and mind are enough for me to find peace.”

“And your presence truly is a boon to my ailing heart… My love.” He responded with a kiss, sealing the budding romance we had no time to develop.

Maybe if we’d had more time together things might have ended differently…

Several months passed and, indeed, I had to personally put several to the sword. Sombra taught me the spell he had used to determine whether any given creature was a changeling or not. His investigations revealed many underlying problems, but things were eventually… taken care of. He still protected me from the worst of it by having me visit the borders to renew the troops morale when he knew his hunt was going to be bloody. I wouldn’t know until the census the following year, but he had uncovered a host of sympathizers, and when he raided the compound to take the queen, he slew more than thirty ponies and several scores of drones before reaching the queen and taking her into captivity. She was held until my return. When I asked him about how he had found her, he only said that it was over. I knew that something was wrong though, as he had that look in his eyes again.

I spoke to the queen before passing judgement. She was a pitiful thing at this point, having lost almost all of her hive to Sombra’s tactical evisceration of her people. She had a strange aetherial echo to her voice. I could feel power in her, but no longer the will to use it. When I came to her, she was sprawled across the floor of a dungeon cell. “Come to finish the job, murderer?” She looked up to me. “You are not him… but you have the same aura...” She looked away, defeated.

“Why did you attack my people?” I asked simply.

“I didn’t.” Was the simple, curt reply.

“We started to find corpses, drained corpses, as is the primary modus operendi of your kind. You could have been hidden for ages, with how long it took to find you. Why disturb the status quo and stir the wrath of the country?” I expounded on the question, seeking an answer. Really the question I needed to answer was, “Why did I have to kill so many?”

She stood and looked at me with a withering glare. “You dare to ask your victim why you hurt them?” Her voice was cold, harsh. “You were not forced to kill us. You chose to do so because you thought we were hazardous. You chose to do so.” She turned away.

“We reacted to your assault!” I shouted.

“You committed genocide without understanding your foe.” She said, nearly under her breath. “Did you ask why to any of the others?” She climbed on the cot and regarded me coolly.

“N-no…” I was lost at this point. I wanted to fight it, but she was right.

“And so why did you kill?” Despite the smirk on her face, I felt nothing but malice from her. “If you are to be haunted by it, at least know why you acted.”

“T-to… survive.” I whispered, looking at her as she nodded.

"Survival… hmm. It’s a terrifying thing, the will to live.” She smiled a dark smile that still haunts me to this day. I’ll never forget her words. “We all want for something. Glory,” she motioned to my shadow, Nightwind Gale. “Love,” She motioned to me. “Peace,” She motioned to the door. “Life.” She finished, pointing at herself. “There is nothing that lives that does not know desire. I can see what a pony desires most, and I have the power to grant those wishes. Those who wished to be part of something greater joined me, as drones, as nourishment… as children.” She put her head down. “A rogue element in the hive created a fledgling queen, and she was… foolish. Driven mad by the hunger she absorbed from some of my drones. This was why the status quo changed. Your prince never found her, yet continued the hunt out of fear. Now that he’s found me, I think he’ll use me to drive the rest of my hive into action by making a show of my execution.” She sighed softly, pawing at a rock on the floor beneath her. “My children will lose their mother... I will lose all of my little ponies, all of those who needed purpose… My children will be killed for defending me... But it will sate Our hunger forevermore…”

I shook my head. I was mortified at how she just accepted her death as an eventuality. She made no attempt to convince me to let her out. She made no argument as to how I was in the wrong. She made no further accusations. She just… laid there. To this day, I still can’t imagine what she felt then. To have lost so many of her people, and to know that she was next, all because somepony was afraid of them.

I would come to know some of her pain, but I don’t think it comes anywhere close to how bad it must have been for her. “I’m so sorry…” I cried before running from the room.I ran through the castle and straight to our chambers, tears streaming down my face. Sombra was there, doffing his armor and cape. I saw him, and had conflicting feelings as I looked at his red tipped horn. His dark red eyes. His immaculately sculpted body.

On my way back to his eyes I caught his grin, and it made me both sick and enchanted. Warm and Cold. Chaotic and restrained. "Sombra..." Was all I could say before my own tongue caught in my throat. I still had tears running down my face, and still he stood, regarding me with that confident, damnable grin.

"I see you spoke to our guest." He sauntered over to me. "No doubt you know now about The other queen as well." He was close enough now that I could feel his breath. “I will bring her low before us to ensure your safety, my sweet.” Something about the way he said that last word was edged in a venom I couldn’t fathom.

"It- It... It is true then?" I almost didn't want to know. Knowledge would hurt too much. I had to though, because this wasn't the same stallion I fell in love with. I had to know who he really was. I had to hear him say that it was worth it. I wanted to believe, but...

"There was a fledgling queen, a while back, that splintered from the others. I cannot confirm the rest of her story though." He put a hoof on my shoulder.

"But you- you... You can't deny it, either?" My head fell as I felt myself leaning into him.

"Luna... You know that I will do anything to keep you safe. I would give anything to keep your people safe." His hoof around my shoulder at this point gently nudged my chin up to look him in the eye. "They were killing our ponies, and they were controlling others. That queen, Misanthropy, she has no love for us. She would continue to damage our empire. I cannot allow it, for if she does, then it falls on you to fix things. Perhaps I need not save you, but I can dull your pain at least." He kissed me sweetly.

But his eyes...

Harder and darker...

"What about you? How much can my rock take before his crystal heart should shatter?" I asked staring into his eyes. Staring into his abyssal soul.

"The Light of my Moon and Stars will forever keep me." He responded, the shadows clearing as his face softened.

I knew that I had to delve deeper, but he would never let me see what truly haunted him. I wanted so badly to be his, but while I was in his heart, I was never within reach of him. I started studying everything that was known about the triune link. Body, Mind, and Soul. When I had finished that, I started incorporating what I had found into my dreamwalks, and I found that I could mould the dreams of the people I visit. This was... disconcerting, but after a few lucid nightmares, I began to understand the power. Began to be able to guide it, interpret it.

Eventually I talked to him about my research and he helped me hammer out a spell like no other had ever been conceived... And he was none the wiser as to its true intent. I would end up attributing the spell to somepony else, but finally the spell was complete, and I came to the sleeping form of my dark, handsome anti-hero. I was determined to finally see what I needed to know, and I needed to know why so much death had come to my little ponies.

No matter how much it might hurt.

I should give a little detail about the spell, as it was the catalyst of my ascension, and still one of my proudest creations. I had inscribed a spell-circle and placed pure crystal shards at each of the 8 runic tethers. A dark, raw garnet geode was placed at the center. I drew a bit of blood from myself and Sombra and let it drop into the middle of the circle. After I had about 5ml from myself and 5ml from Sombra, I began the incantation.

As the magic swirled, with a mixture of the blood magic I had studied previously, the zebraic glyphs and chants my sister and I were tutored in, and the standard force application of Unicorn magic, I bonded our beings through magic and touched my horn to his. This was a very... intimate mind delve, I became a part of him as I forced him into his subconscious mind. I could feel the spell's effect, and he could feel my presence.

"Luna!" He called in desperation.

"I am here with you, My Love"I whispered gingerly into his mind.

"Why? What have I done to provoke this assault?!" He railed against me, knowing what I had done. I could feel his emotions welling inside. Pain. Gratification. Love. Anger. Betrayal... Turmoil, barely reined in by his love for me.

"We are one now. Feel the peace of my night; embrace the cloak I offer you, and know the depth of my love for you." There, I could feel him relent as the pitch darkness about us melted into shapes. Shapes coalesced into figures, and figures focused into people. I saw myself, with a majestic, shapeless blue mane that flowed gently behind me, a thousand stars showing through as though they were one with my being. My face was flawless, and my body lithe. I had a black crown upon my brow and a red scythe at my side, with a red pool beneath it. I saw myself flash a grin, only to see my teeth in sharp points. Despite the perfection of my form, I could feel a coolness in the way my eyes bore into me, like I could see through any façade. All at once I understood that this was how he saw me, how he saw us. I was a beautiful, terrible, majestic creature; he was a means to secure my superiority.

"The Stars will give her strength! There is no foe that could stand against her fury. Heavens be merciful to those that hurt her, as Tartarus can hold no candle to the fire inside her! The coolness of space only hides the fire of a thousand suns!" I heard from all around me. I knew these words had yet to be spoken, but I also knew that it was a glimpse of what would come. Sombra's identity shuddered with both joy and fear as the form stepped closer to us. I felt the urge to kneel, but stood firm as the form in front of me spread her wings and drew herself up even taller, as though her she had contained within her an infinite, and ever growing, power. I... She was a warrior, a magi... a Queen.

Just as she had come, she went... I went...

Sombra could not have remembered any of came after this, as I delved ever deeper into his subconscious and I began to see forms all around me. I confronted his fears, and I touched his loneliness. I listened to the whispers that tortured his soul. When I finally came to the ground, I saw something that I wish to this day I had been prepared for. All of this time had worn away at my walls without my realizing, and I was raw as a babe when I came to the final piece that tortured him. The final fear, the most deep seated enemy of all he held dear.

It knew of my coming, for as I soundlessly touched down on the black field in the abyss, its head snapped up to regard me with a sneer, a green aura enveloped his eyes. I knew this to be a sign of dark magic. It sauntered over to me with the same grin he had worn before, except this time it felt predatory. "I am death, yet I live. I might grow within one or descend upon all. For those who see, I am writ upon the wall. I come to the old in time, I touch the troubled youth, I am indomitable against all simple truth. I may not lie, but what I show is seldom real. If we should touch, you will be my meal, for if we touch you'll never be free and wherever you go I'm all they shall see!”

Though posed as a riddle, its meaning was clear; in those green and red eyes was everything I feared. This stranger before me was so familiar save the madness that now hung as a veil over his face. Harder, and darker... I'm still haunted in my deepest dreams.

Without any recourse known to me, and being too sensitive to his fragile mindscape from everything else I encountered, I succumbed to the aura and cowered from this being of infinite madness. My fears got the better of me and I shut my eyes tight against the horror before I felt its teeth sink into me. I cried out in pain as I was thrown to the ground, and fell even deeper... this time into myself.

And now the tables were turned, with his madness brought to light, I was unable to defend myself against a full onslaught of his wonderful, terrible mind. As I was picked apart by his worst tendencies, I felt myself pulling away until eventually I finally lost contact with him, and physically recoiled, crying, laughing maniacally...I was hollowed by the harrowing experience. Sombra put his cape around me, and that seemed to quiet the turmoil in my mind and soul. I looked up to him with what must have been a deathly pallor and sunken eyes, because the only things I felt from him were pity and a half-hearted love.

“I'm sorry, Luna. I don't know what happened, but I feel like I owe you an apology.” He kissed my eyes and looked around him. “I don't know what you saw, but I have an idea.” He breathed in and out slowly and I saw his eyes grow green with the purple aura commonly associated with dark magic. I physically drew into myself as he towered over me, dominating me. His chuckle grew dark and menacing. “Yess...” He hissed. “Your fear feeds me, Love. I know the fear you feel. I have lived with it since you left the Crystal Kingdom and the wendigos assaulted our lands. Those zombeic figures came in droves, and I lost entire city districts to their taint, but OH how tasty their souls were!”

I gasped breathlessly, realizing what it was that was awakening. What I had brought out of his mind... or, this cape. It quieted my own instability. I unclasped it and launched myself to Sombra with a kiss as I slipped cape back on him, and his aggression subsided. Even in his kiss, I could feel the change from blind aggression and domination to the gentle but powerful passion I remembered from our first kiss. I stepped away and stood over the glyph I had drawn. I spoke a word of power, a single word.

The glyph under me lit up and the crystals levitated of their own accord. I shaped the magic through tear-filled eyes. “Seal.” The glyph glowed and an aetherial version of it lifted into the air and faced Sombra. “The wisest fear is fear itself. By the light of the moon, I will banish the darkness inside you, Sombra! I promise I will save you, even if I must save you from yourself! I cannot let you go!”

I don't know what happened next, but from what I've seen in other transformations, I think it's safe to say that I drew in ambient magical potential and upon release my eyes glowed white, and my aura solidified and a blinding light enveloped me. I remember the feeling of new tendons growing, I remember a shooting pain throughout my back as though every nerve ending I had fired at once. I may have screamed, though from the pain of transformation or the anguish of having failed Sombra by being unable to tame his madness I couldn't say. I just prayed that the seal I placed would hold long enough for me to help him through it. It is a blur up to the point that I regained consciousness, and I woke to find myself standing in my now fully red and black glyph, and Sombra still asleep on the bed.

I had never known a magic so terrible as the one that I had faced, and I came to understand more than I had wanted. I couldn't tell if the level I was on now was reality or another level of one of our subconscious' creation, but Sombra woke with a small smile. “Dost mine eyes deceive me, or is my mare of the night shining more radiant than ever?” I blushed as he reached out a hoof and hooked my neck in his fetlock, pulling me in for one of the warmest, softest kisses we'd shared. He pulled me in closer and whispered into my ear before nibbling on it. Between his breath on my cheek, his teeth on my ear, the smell of his mane and coat, and my lips still feeling that kiss, I almost lost my sense.

And that sly, smug smile on his face as though he knew how badly I wanted him...

We had agreed, however, that before *Luna cleared her throat* consorting, we had to settle matters in the empire. This wouldn’t have been the night for it anyway between how terrified I had been and he was upon what he saw when he opened his eyes and saw around my mane. Shortly before his reaction I heard a slight fluffing sound coming from behind me, which drew my curiosity as well.

Sombra jumped back, almost falling out of bed. “What-- How--- Who--”

I looked behind me and saw wings. My own wings. For the first time. I was intrigued, then, as I thought that the other level was still subconscious, and that I had separated myself from him after my fear shut me away from the madness within him. I was, unfortunately wrong, as I had not sealed it in his subconscious... I looked back at Sombra, who had a confused, pained, terrified expression. “Peace, my love! I am no less Luna than you know.” I tried to soothe him.

“Indeed not, but you are now more than the Luna you appear to be!” Sombra shot back, staring at my wings with slight flicks of eye contact. His tension was palpable, thinking I was an imposter. His horn lit defensively and his eyes stood wide.

I couldn’t help but smile softly, and something he saw in my face seemed to put him at ease. “Is it truly you, Luna? You look remarkably closer to…” His voice drifted uneasily.

“Indeed, my Love. I am Luna. I just have…” I ruffled my wings trying to get them to fold properly. “More to love than before.” I chuckled a little bit as I got them to settle. I looked back at him, and this is when I realised I was slightly taller now too. “A fair bit more…” I said with a sheepish smile.

I felt a familiar lash of wind throughout my body. “If that is all, then I should be up to the task.” Sombra said when satisfied I was who I said I was. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t hurt, but I understood. He was afraid of our foes. He was afraid of losing me… and he was afraid of me, of what I was capable of. And now, I would find, all of my other subjects would begin to be afraid of me as well.

The fear, the respect, that was ushered to me on a daily basis quickly became mundane, and I became tired of holding court. After my transformation, all of the supplication I received dwindled, as more and more people started going through intermediaries, stewards… The blood on my hooves, and now I was no longer a unicorn… My people didn’t recognize me, even though they could feel my authority. I had lost the love of my people, and all for the love of a stallion.

I spoke to Sombra about this over the course of a few nights, and essentially his response was to wield my authority, as it was better to be feared than loved if you cannot be both. People were distancing themselves from me, and so I allowed them their space as I ordered them to do my bidding through the Royal Voice. I ran the peace of the empire efficiently, while Sombra and I worked on expanding our knowledge of dark magic and battle magic. Sombra revealed to me that he hadn’t let the souls of any of the dead go to waste… and I was… impressed.

Creator save my soul, but I still am...

Please understand, Twilight, I don’t condone what was done. This was the beginning of the end for me… I had changed too much to realize what ill tidings we invited through our exploits. I also needn’t remind you that this is all very… raw for me still. Not a day goes by that I don’t punish myself for my part in the things to come, but know that all I did, I did for love. Be it the love of one, or the want of love after...

Even, eventually, trying to overthrow my sister...

Comments

[Arcane Spectrum]

New chapter is great, can't wait for more