Second Movement: Part 3- Royal Recitative
Royal Recitative
“AAaaauUUuuggGGGGhhhhHHH!!!”
Dusty Shelves awoke to a bitter, maddening pain in his shoulder. His wide eyes turned to observe a muscular earth pony mare lowering his foreleg gently to the ground. Her own eyes were wide, and she was backing away as quickly as she could. Her husband, a not-quite-impressive stallion with an onion for a Cutie Mark, took her in his forelegs.
“Well, you’re awake.” He smiled apologetically. “Sorry that we couldn’t relocate your shoulder while you were asleep. That was quite the tumble you took.”
Dusty looked around. He and the family were in a small campsite in the middle of the Equestrian Wilderness, somewhere between Canterlot and Manehatten. The three children were supposedly sound asleep off to the side, but Dusty could see three pairs of eyes watching him closely.
The stallion who had spoken draped a blanket around the former librarian’s shoulders. “Now you just rest up, and we’ll have you fixed up in no time.”
Dusty said nothing, and pretended to sleep while the family settled down for the night. Once the campfire had died down, he stood shakily to his feet and gathered anything he could carry with him. A few bits of food, a bottle of water, and a sharpened stick were all that Dusty Shelves brought into the darkness of the forest.
He stumbled a bit when a voice called out in the night. “Are you all better, mister?”
A small foal, barely three seasons old, had woken up to get a drink of water. His oversized glasses sat awkwardly on his face as he sipped from a canister. “Are you gonna go home?”
Dusty moved his mouth, unsure of how to answer the colt. “I… I-I-I don’t have a h-h-home. N-n-not now, n-not anymore.” He winced as his swollen shoulder flared in pain. “Aieee… I don’t belong anywhh-anywhere.”
The colt tilted his head to the side, and his glasses flopped down over his nose. “Then why don’t you stay with us? We can give you a home!”
The bookish stallion looked at the colt with peaked brows, but still turned to the darkness of night. “N-n-no, you c-c-c-can’t.”
“But why not!?”
Dusty did not look back as he limped into the night. “B-b-b-because I don’t deserve it.”
Days passed, and Dusty had long run out of food. His shoulder burned, and his weak leg gave him no end of trouble. A chill had descended each night, leaving him breathless and shivering. He was at the end of his rope, and the tip was fraying.
“What have I done?
Sweet Glory, what have I done?
Become a monster within?
Destroyed my hope for freedom?”
His hoof lowered, seeking purchase on the rocky ground, and sunk deep into a patch of snow. Dusty pressed on, heedless to the cold, only concerned with stomping forwards until he found someplace, anyplace, to stop and rest.
“On the eve of revenge
The bitter darkness must fall
And Twilight Sparkle evaded
But Celestia had the gall!
T-to…”
As he crossed over a hill, such a place came into view; a small mountain cabin. It was built from stacked logs and sealed with mud, much like a beaver dam. Empty and dark, the place showed no signs of activity. The garden was full of weeds, the mailbox’s paint had chipped and faded, and the picket fence was in a hefty state of disrepair.
It was perfect.
“To…
When I looked into her eyes
She showed me only pity
And sorrow for her people
She had the gall to not hate me…”
He pushed the door open easily; the owners apparently didn’t see a need for locks. The house was sparsely furnished; only a couple of chairs surrounded the dining table, and two rocking chairs sat in the living room. He made his way to the bedroom to find a simple bed with a yellow, patchwork quilt on top. He lay down and rested his head on the pillow, pulling the comforter around his broken body.
The wind howled outside, but Dusty found himself warm inside the cabin. The day ended as the sun set in the sky, though he didn’t know who controlled it. That thought brought a fresh pain to his heart; Equestria as he knew it was gone.
“It isn’t my fault!
King Sombra sought out the throne
I swear it isn’t my fault!
Manipulated with thoughts of my home
“The blame is Twilight’s!
The blame goes to Celestia, too
They pushed me out of my home
Out to the world, dark and cruel!”
Tears burned down his cheeks, and his body shook as the night wore on. Once again, Dusty Shelves found himself completely, utterly alone.
“I don’t NEED anypony!
I don’t need anyone!
I haven’t use for the foals
I am the only one!
“The only pony who matters!
The only person whose wit
Can make a difference in my life
Those others ain’t worth SPIT!”
A pale wisp glided past the window, unseen by the stallion. A trail of frost grazed the glass, and snow drifted down from the sky. The wisp stopped beside the faded mailbox, observing the apple symbol painted on its side, then drifted away into the clouds.
Luna woke in a plush bed inside her personal bedchamber. Her head whipped around as she took in her surroundings, attempting to connect her location with the events of the previous day. She got out of her bed and walked to the window. The moon hung high and bright in the sky, shining its light down on Canterlot Castle. Luna was puzzled; she didn’t remember raising the celestial orb. Nor did she remember defeating Sombra, or reviving her sister, or…
Luna passed by her vanity and caught sight of herself in the enormous mirror. Or rather, she caught sight of a young mare, barely twenty summers old, with dark-blue fur and a light-blue mane.
A young unicorn mare, lacking wings of any type.
“No!” Luna scrambled back, away from the impossible reflection. “No, no, no, no, no…”
A strong voice issued from somewhere behind her, causing her to start. “Impressive, isn’t it?”
The princess whirled around, coming face-to-face with a gray unicorn stallion. His black mane hung freely around his shoulders, and his spectacular sideburns wafted about in a draft. Atop his head sat a curved horn, fading to red near the top. His grinning teeth were sharpened to a point, resembling a canine’s fangs. The most striking feature was defiantly his red-and-green eyes, leaking twin trails of purple magic.
“Sombra,” she choked. “What have you done?”
He chuckled and circled around her, walking to the window. “Come, sit beside me and we can talk all about it.”
She stood rooted in the spot, glaring fiery daggers at the king. “No, you tell me what’s going on.”
He sat, that maddening grin plastered to his face. “What’s going on… Let’s see…”
A daisy was plucked from a nearby pot with his purple telekinesis. Sombra pulled a petal off with each item on his check list. “I’ve taken over Equestria, removed the alicorn powers from both you and your sister, put down several rebellions, begun a ponyhunt for the bearers of the Elements of Harmony… My, my, what haven’t I done?”
Luna’s mouth grew very, very dry. Her tongue felt like sandpaper as she licked her lips. “How… How did you… The amulet was cursed!”
Sombra barked with laughter. “Did you really think your sister’s little hex on the amulet would stop me, the pony that plans for everything!?” He stood, and came close by her side. “If she didn’t want anypony finding out what its real purpose was, she should have locked it up inside the sun.”
She tried, thought Luna. She decided to keep that particular thought to herself. “So, what now? What’s next in your grand plan?”
“Now, I can finally rest.”
Luna’s eyebrow raised and her mouth curled downwards into a frown. “Rest? Now that you’ve claimed the throne, you just want to rest?”
He looked down at her and smiled. “Yes, Luna, now that I have finally achieved my goal, I can settle down to more pleasant things.”
He pressed up against her and whispered into her ear. “We can start over, if you wish, and be together again…”
Luna’s mane stood on end as she leapt away from the Unicorn King. A quick buck to the chin sent him flying against the bedpost. His eyes took a moment to realign themselves before he could focus again. “I probably should have expected that.”
“If you think, for even a moment, that we can just… How do they say it?” A moment’s consideration brought the phrase to mind. “Pick up right where we left off? Then you are more insane than your twisted acts would have me believe!”
A small trail of blood leaked out of the corner of Sombra’s mouth. He wiped it away with a hoof and grinned down at the stain. “Oh, Luna, nothing’s changed, has it?”
“Plenty has changed, Sombra!” Luna backed away in order to maintain a respectable distance, though Sombra stayed seated next to the bed. “Not the least of which is you!"
Her glare was as piercing as her words. “You are not the same stallion I married, all those years ago!”
His grin vanished, replaced by an ugly grimace. He approached her, only stopping when his nose was mere inches away from hers. She flinched away from the hot breath escaping his nostrils, maneuvering herself closer to the window.
“I don’t think I need to tell you how much it hurts to hear you say that,” he growled. “I think I liked you better as Nightmare Moon.”
Luna’s horn began to glow, and the window drapes parted. The moon appeared large in the sky, glowing with an intensity rarely seen by mortal ponies. “You want the moon, Sombra?”
Sombra’s eyes widened as brilliant, blue magic began to fill the room. “Then you can have it!”
Moonlight, guided by Luna’s magic, poured into the bedchamber. The paint on the walls peeled away to reveal the bare stone beneath, the bed twisted and morphed into a simple cot, and the vanity vanished in a puff of smoke. Sombra himself was flung through the doorway, now made of iron bars instead of wood. When he impacted the bars, his body shattered into a million crystalline shards. With the Unicorn King’s illusion broken, a voice could be heard shouting. “Don’t listen to him, Luna! Don’t listen to him!”
Luna turned to view the moon that she had controlled for so long, and found the window blocked off by more iron bars. Her connection with the moon was severed when purple crystals grew over the bars, disconnecting her magical link. Sombra’s shards steamed, disintegrated, and merged into a puff of smoke. “Heh, heh. You always have had an affinity for that floating orb, haven’t you?”
“Leave her alone, Sombra!” the shouting voice spoke again. “If you want her, you’ll have to go through me!”
The dark unicorn’s eyes appeared in the cloud and glared off to the side. “Ah, Celestia, always the loyal one, aren’t you?” He looked into Luna’s room as his full head appeared. “And you, you’ll regret spurning me.”
“Attempting to woo me inside my own prison cell?” Luna shot back. “You’re just sick.”
“And you are my prisoner.” Sombra gritted his teeth, eyes burning with purple fire. “In my castle. In my kingdom!”
“Then rule it, Somber Tidings.” Luna lay down on her cot, facing away from the Unicorn King. “For as long as you are able.”
Sombra floated away, spewing rage in his wake. “I shall! And you’ll see, one day you’ll see…
“I did this all for us!”
The royal court was in session. Several unicorn mages were in attendance, as well as a few rogue members of the Royal Guard. The guards marched, herding the mages into the audience chamber. Sombra sat upon his throne, his crystalline body still trailing smoke from his encounter with Luna. He was covered head-to-hoof in royal regalia, from a leopard-spotted cloak, to a silver crown sitting above his horn. He licked his teeth and addressed the assembled unicorns. “It’s that time again, isn’t it? Time to raise the sun.”
The mages nodded, collectively gulping in air. They peered through a window, its stained glass shattered from Sombra’s coup. They all stood still, and their horns glowed a rainbow of colors.
Slowly but surely, the sun rose into the sky. Beads of sweat dripped down horned brows, and short, stunted breaths issued from a few of the younger mages. A quarter of an hour later, the job was done. “Excellent work, my little mages, your families will live another day. Equestria thanks you for your efforts.”
One guard snickered, and Sombra snapped. “You find something funny, soldier?”
“N-no, my king.” The soldier jumped to attention. “I don’t think anything’s funny.”
“You never were the wittiest stallion, Runabout.” Sombra turned his ire to the garden, where a certain statue caught his eye. “Runabout, make yourself useful. Fetch me that statue over there.”
Runabout flew up on pegasus wings to get a view of the indicated statuary. “Um, are you sure, sire? That one’s kinds weird.”
“Just. Bring. It.” Sombra’s tone spoke more of his anger than any combination of known words ever could.
Runabout caught his drift and flew off into the distance, followed by his twin, Runamuck. They returned a few minutes later with a giant stone statue in tow. It had the head of a horse, the talon of a bird, the paw of a lion, the hoof of a goat, the tail of a dragon, and innumerable other bits and pieces of various creatures as body parts.
The base of the artwork was labeled with a single word: Discord.
Runamuck swallowed the lump in his throat and addressed his ruler. “King Sombra, are you sure that this is the statue you wanted?”
He was ignored as the king walked up to the statue. Sombra sat down, looking closely at the frightened expression on the creature of chaos’ face. “Not so high and mighty now, are you?”
Purple magic glowed as Sombra lifted Discord into the air, the imprisoned Draconequus helpless in his grasp. “I’ve waited a long time for this.”
Discord was brought down to earth with a mighty SMASH, rending the statue into several chunks of granite. The head of the creature was preserved, severed off as a single piece. Sombra grinned manically as it rolled to a stop before him. “Smash the rest into rubble for the rock garden, but I want this mounted above the throne!”
Luna stuck her hoof outside the bars of her cell, pressing it against a familiar warm appendage. Celestia and her sister held hooves, even as they were imprisoned in adjacent rooms. “I love you, sister.”
Luna wiped away her tears, unladylike snot dribbling out of her nose. “I love you, too, Celestia. How will we get out of this?”
Celestia pushed a pink-and-blue-striped mane out of her eyes and flexed her stiff wings. “Twilight. Twilight and her friends are our only hope, now.” She smiled down at the floor. “But by golly, sister, we’ve got hope!”
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Huh. So this is what you meant by the romance. Kinda one-sided, isn't it?
That aside, I have to say it's intriguing that you chose to make Luna and Sombra an item. I will watch where you go with this with great interest.
Also, I wouldn't be surprised if smashing Discord's statue didn't harm him at all. After all, it's Discord. It makes sense for him not to make sense.
King Sombra is awesome and the way you write him sir or madam you truly breath life of a true monster into him. The whole Luna and Sombra romance was a shock, keep up the great work! I look forward to the new chapters of this story!
2372892
Yyyes, and no. This by itself wouldn't need the tag, but there's romance that isn't dead, nor a thousand years old, coming soonish. Just generally speaking.
Oh, yes. Very much so.
But what makes more sense? For him to not be dead, or for him to have survived?
Be sure that the opposite of whatever makes more sense is the truth!
2373569
"MyHobby," "Dude," or "Your Excellency" will do just fine.
Sombra's an interesting character to write, for sure. Mostly, i've had to decide just how evil to make him.
As you can see, I decided to go for broke.
As I stated above, it's shocking, but not out of nowhere...
I'm glad you're enjoying it!
And thanks to all! It does me good to get feedback!
Sombra and Luna, married? I wonder if that's still in affect...
(Not that it wasn't already)
I notice that Sombra seems to want his potential bride to be willing, though he did threaten Rarity, after that he allowed their refusals, well, sort of.
And what do you know - it's Discord! After his first meeting with the Elements but before his second I presume.
I look forward to reading more, this is getting very interesting