The crystal empire was beautiful at this time of day. Whenever the sun began to set, the hues and shadows the buildings cast were breathtaking. It was a view she had enjoyed every day since becoming its princess. The long hours she use to spend right here on this balcony watching it. In the past it was something that had always brought her joy and peace.
Not anymore.
She didn’t deserve to feel joy or peace, not after what she had done. Three months of hell she had put her husband through. Three months he had been trapped under those damn spells! How could she have let it happen? How in Equestria could she not notice the mare she changed ‘back’ into Shining wasn’t actually Shining?
“I-It just seems so unlike me…” Cadance uttered with a sigh.
“Cadance?” Twilight asked as she trotted up beside her. She, along with her pupil Evening Storm, were visiting again. It had been about four months now since Shining had finally been freed from the prison she had unknowingly locked him in. The prison of a nopony maid named Lowly Servant. Since freed, Evening had been here nearly all the time. Part of that was to probably help Shining out, as Evening had become a close friend of his after all that had happened, though part of it she suspected was to keep an eye on herself. Celestia knows she couldn’t be trusted anymore.
“I… it was nothing Twilight. I’m sorry.” She said looking away from the mare she had once watched over so long ago. I’ve failed you Twilight. I failed all of you.
“Caddie… please…” A voice spoke from behind her. Oh how that voice pained her now. How she wished she could make it all right. How she wished she wasn’t such a terrible wife, a terrible pony.
“What did you say?” Her husband asked quietly. Shutting her eyes tight, she tried to calm her trembling heart. She couldn’t keep things like this from him. Not anymore.
“I-I said it just seems so unlike me,” She repeated, those words causing more to spill out, “to not notice you as you were. T-to think that lunatic was my husband! How could I? Aunt Tia taught me better than that!” She stood to face him, her baby bump just barely noticeable. Another reminder of the horrible crime she had committed. She only hoped she could get past that way of thinking in time. She didn’t want to resent her future children.
Off to the side Evening Storm watched in awkward silence. He hadn’t known either Shining Armor or Princess Cadance before that fateful night when he learned of Shining’s transformed state. Still, he had been told stories from his teacher Twilight about them several times. It was hard to imagine the mare described to him in them, could possibly be the princess that sat before him, but the terrible event that had happened here was undeniable fact.
Princess Cadance had wanted to try a transformation spell for their anniversary, mixed with a dangerous forbidden spell known as the persona spell. A spell that could make anyone under it’s influence act and think however one wanted. The result had accidently trapped Shining Armor as a castle maid by the name of Lowly Servant. Forced to be obedient to anypony higher in stature, which was everypony. Then, to add insult to injury, Cadance had mistaken a random maid as Shining and turned her into a copy of the Prince. This mare Lemon Fresh had not only quickly taken to his new position, but had also sexually abused the former Shining Armor.
It wasn’t until Evening arrived with Twilight that his strange ability to sense powerful enchantments caused a flurry of events that eventually lead to him learning of the prince’s predicament. He still couldn’t believe that his actions that night had lead him to being a hero of the Crystal Empire.
“I-I know C-cadince. I know.” Cadance’s ear drooped at Shining’s response. In the past he’d have called her a nickname, whether it be part of her actual name, or the cute simple names lovers would often call each other. Even now his voice still echoed with the uncertainty of being near her. Despite all the progress she felt they made, the road to any sort of resolution seems so far away…
“We’ll get through this Cadance.” Twilight offered meekly, nuzzling her side. Cadance managed to crack the slightest of smiles back at her in response. She didn’t deserve ponies like this in her life. Then again she didn’t know what she deserved anymore. Part of her had been tempted to make herself into a maid and be forced through the same trials Shining had faced, but that wouldn’t be good for her unborn.
“So much of… what happened just feels so surreal…” Shining said slowly, staring out at the view himself. “For Blueblood to have sent us a maid under that name…” None of them would say it out loud, but they had all learned of the part Blueblood had played in trying to unload a maid on them, while trying to burden her with such a name. How strange that just so happened to be the day Shining ended up falling into the role.
“Believe it or not, I feel the same.” Evening added as he looked over the chess piece held in his magic. Shining and him had been playing a few rounds, though Evening kept losing horribly. “Blueblood was always a bit of a jerk to me, but he never seemed like that much of an asshole.” The others nodded in agreement. The entire thing felt so contrived.
“It’s all very curious isn’t it?” A voice suddenly said. One that didn’t happen to belong to anypony in the room.
Startled, the four ponies began to search around with their eyes for the intruder. How had they gotten past the guards and magical defenses?
“Wait a minute…” Twilight said squinting her eyes. “I know that voice.” It was a voice she had the displeasure of dealing with several times. Usually when they were being a nuisance. “Discord?”
“Oh bravo! Bravo!” The draconequus cried as he appeared in the middle of the room clapping his hands. Evening shrank back a bit at the display. He had heard of the creature known as Discord of course, but never actually seen him before. To be in the presence of something with such power was a bit unnerving, and yet… as he stared at him he felt some odd sense of calm.
“What do you want Discord?” Twilight demanded. Discord placed a claw on his chest mocking looking hurt.
“Oh you wound me Twilight. No hello? No how are you doing? Just jumping straight to the point.”
“Is there one?” Twilight asked, her expression stone. She really didn’t need this right now, especially with how Cadance was feeling.
“In a matter of speaking, there is. Something curious I wanted to share with the ponies in this room.”
That caught Twilight off guard. Discord was never this straightforward, it gave her a bad feeling.
“Curious thing really.” He began while scratching at his chest, “I was, hmmm, attempting to be a productive member of society-”
“Really?” Shining cut in, his expression flat. Evening couldn’t believe Shining was able to be so forward with him. Even after these last few months, Shining would still act meek and humble most of the time.
“Okay fine, I was bored and looking for prisoners to annoy are you happy?”
“Prisoners?” Twilight said before anypony else could speak. Shining’s interruption apparently forgotten, Discord continued.
“Indeed, and it seems I picked the perfect one to mess with.” As he spoke, he pulled out a large red sheet, holding it out as a flat square before him. “Observe!”
Yanking it away, he revealed a particular grey earth pony. One they all knew too well.
“L-Lemon Fresh!” Evening cried shrinking back. The wound on his neck almost seemed to pulse with the memory of when this mare had attempted to murder him. The rest of the group had similar reactions, Shining stepping back as well. Twilight was the only one to charge up a spell, but didn’t hold it for long. Something was really off about this mare.
At first all she did was stand there looking around confused, until her gaze fell upon Princess Cadance and her eyes widened in shock.
“P-Princess! It’s an honor to be in your presence! N-No wait… I-I was… your lover? But how can that be? I-” She placed a hoof on her head in mid sentence, an air of confusion around her.
“W-what did you do to her?” Shining asked flabbergasted at her behavior. Before Discord could speak, Lemon’s eyes fell upon him. The moment their gazes met, Evening saw both react in very different ways.
For Shining he looked frightened, and a little angry. Both perfectly natural for what she had done to him, but for Lemon…
Her expression was that of shock and despair. Her very world seemed to stop the moment she looked into his eyes, her body frozen.
“P-Prince Shining…” She utterly quietly staring at the form she had once held. “N-No… NO!” All present, minus Discord, stepped back in surprise at her outburst. Evening was especially confused. The last he’d seen this mare she had been trying to kill him. Nothing but anger and hatred shown behind those eyes. Now though, she was acting like a frightened filly in a horror story. He eyes wide with fear and panic.
“No! You have to get away! I-I did t-things to you! Horrible things! You- I can’t! I shouldn’t! How could I? I-I…” She kept backing up her eyes darting around the room. That’s when she finally noticed Evening himself.
He thought the look she shared with Shining had been awkward, but that was nothing compared to the one he was receiving now. While he still felt very wary of this mare, it was hard not feel pity for the look of utter horror she held.
“Y-You! I-I tried to… oh Celestia I tried to kill you! I- why would I do that? How could I do that? What happened to me!? Why!? Why did I do that? I don’t understand! I-” Her voice cut off mid sentence as her eyes suddenly glazed over. With a small groan she hit the ground.
It was several heartbeats before Evening realized Discord had snapped his claws.
“I-Is she?” Cadance began, but Discord just rolled his eyes.
“Do you really think I’d do something like that in the presence of Princess Twilight? Fluttershy would never speak to me again! No she’s merely asleep, any longer and she’d likely have tried hurting herself, and I’m in no mood to have to deal with that, thank you very much.”
“B-but I don’t understand!” Shining cried walking up to the sleeping mare. So many months of pain and sexual torture he had endured under this mare. How was it that he felt concern for her now? “That wasn’t the pony that took my place and forced me to be their little sex toy. It couldn’t be!”
“Could it be an act?” Twilight suggest, joining her brother. It was a fair assessment, but even Evening could hear the doubt in her tone.
“I’m afraid not for you see I haven’t gotten to the curious part yet.” Discord said, causing Twilight to blink.
“T-that wasn’t the curious part? I was here when she went mad in this very room and she just acted like she had no idea it was even her who did those things! I’d call that pretty curious!”
“Oh no, I’m sure she was very mad at the time, but that’s just the fallout of my real discovery.” Discord said, his mouth forming into his trademark grin. “Would you like to know what it is now?”
Twilight only nodded, her brain trying to piece all this together. With a wink, a top hat appeared on Discord’s head, which he then made a grand gesture of pulling off and reaching into. Instead of a bunny, he pulled out a pink crystal about the size of Sweetie Belle, except in the shape of an oval. Inside said crystal swirled a strange type of reddish black mist that shimmered with it’s own colors.. Even though it barely had a form, Evening got the impression that it was rather angry to be concealed in such a way.
“What is that?” Twilight asked perplexed. Discord shrugged in response.
“Believe it or not I really have no idea, I found it inside her, swirling around and have quite the influence on her actions.”
“W-what do you mean influence on her actions?” Cadance asked quickly. Something about the smoke made her feel really uneasy.
“Surely you noticed the vast difference in how our dear Lemon Fresh was acting did you not?” Discord replied dismissively. “I can assure you that was no trick. It seems this stuff really messed with her mind.”
“Discord, are you saying this stuff corrupted her somehow?” Twilight asked, he merely shrugged.
“It would appear so wouldn’t it?”
Evening looked around the room as that sunk in. The panicked maid he had just seen in Lemon certainly didn’t seem like an act, but if it wasn’t then what was going on? Had she been under it’s influence this entire time? It just seemed-
“-highly unlike you.” He repeated Cadance’s words out loud, earning him quite a few looks.
“What?” Cadance asked confused. Twilight and Shining nodded in agreement.
“Um m-mr Discord sir?” Evening asked trying not to lose his nerve talking to him. “Can you… can you sense this mist?”
“Hmm, interesting question isn’t it?” He replied. The look Discord was giving him scared him. He seemed a bit too interested in him.
“Well I couldn’t at first, after all I had merely meant to play with her, but that’s when I noticed an odd magical pattern inside that you ponies don’t normally have. So I extracted it.” He held up the crystal and swirled it around in his hand, causing the mist to follow suit. “That’s when she began to look so confused and panicked, asking where she was, how she got there. Poor little mare, seems she just wasn’t herself.”
Evening watched as Discord reached down and petted the still sleeping Lemon, he body jerking in response. Everything she had done, from hurting Shining, to nearly killing him. It was so hard to believe that all of that could be caused not by her own ambitions, but some weird smoke.
“Of course once I knew of it, I was able to devise a way to seek out more of it, and would you believe I found it in yet another pony? Why the prestige Blueblood had a big ol dose of it in his system as well! Much like our little friend here, he seemed rather confused at some of his actions once I removed it. Oh, which reminds me.”
Without any other warning, Discord reached out and seemingly plucked a small wisp of the smoke from Twilight, depositing it in the crystal. The moment it was removed from her, Twilight shivered. Grinning Discord turned to Cadance and held up one of his clawed hands, before drawing it back as if he was beckoning to someone.
Cadance gasped as a much larger cloud of of the mist billowed from her body like smoke from a chimney. Once it was all out of her, it too was sucked into the crystal that now floated in the center of the room. The princess of love could only stare at it as it danced around its prison.
“T-that was inside me…” She said quietly. The sensation of it leaving her had been both terrifying and liberating. It was like there had been some horrible thought nibbling at the back of her mind that was simply gone now.
“Okay what is going on? Is this a trick?” Twilight demanded trying to shake off her own feelings at having such a thing pulled out of her. Discord sighed.
“For once Twilight I’m afraid this isn’t my doing. Trust me or not, I only came here to bring this to your attention. What you do about it matters not to me. You do realize that instead of wasting my time here I could be having tea with Fluttershy?”
“B-but then what was that? Why was it in me and Cadance? What did it do?”
“And why wasn’t it in me or Evening?” Shining added, causing Evening to blink. He hadn’t even realized that Discord hadn’t pulled any out of them! Or were they next?
“Oh you are going to have me explain all of this aren’t you? You ponies are soooooo irritating sometimes!” Discord fumed as he summoned a plushie of a white rabbit and squeezed it till it popped. Evening was pretty sure he knew the rabbit that plushie was based on. “Very well, listen closely because it’s not like me to be this helpful.”
“Whatever this is, it seems to influence your more… darker or ambitious thoughts. Normally this would be a fun prank indeed, but even I find it has led to some… undesirable effects.” Was it Evening’s imagination or did Discord glance at him as he said that?
“I imagine it’s in quite a few of your citizens here in the Crystal Empire, so If I were you, I’d find a way to get it out of them and into this crystal.”
“Your darker thoughts or ambitions…” Cadance repeated still watching the smoke.
“So… there is smoke in us?” Shining asked, only for Discord to shake his head.
“Nope! You’re corruption free Shiny my boy! Likely due to your talent literally being protection magic. Guess it couldn’t get through that, even during your time as a maid.”
“And my friendship protected me!” Twilight suddenly exclaimed standing straight, “Because I’m the Princess of Friendship and that protected me!” Discord scoffed.
“Much as I loath to admit it, yes that is most likely the case. Hence the pitiful amount I extracted.”
“Wait… what about me then?” Evening asked, feeling nervous. Said feeling wasn’t helped by the rather large grin Discord gave him after he asked.
“Wondering if I left you out in the smoke extraction my little pony? Well I can tell you with absolute certainty that there isn’t any in you at all. You’ve remained completely untouched by it.”
“W-what?” Evening stammered shrinking back as Discord’s face got right up in his own. “B-but how is that possible?”
“Good question. As I said, it’s all very curious isn’t it? If you're lucky, maybe one day you’ll find your answer.” He winked before wiggling his fingers in a gesture of departure. “Toodles!” With a flash of light he was gone, leaving behind the four confused ponies and the pink crystal with black smoke.
“W-what? What did he mean by that?!” Evening cried, very thankful he hadn’t soiled himself.
“With Discord? Who knows.” Twilight sighed, looking over the crystal. “For all I know your magic could be the cause.”
“My magic?”
Twilight nodded. “Yes think about it, you’re the only pony I’ve ever met that could sense enchantments with their horn, or who can still mess up a spell despite studying it for weeks, or who can accidently change their gender while trying to cast a spell meant to make a flower bloom.”
“T-that was one time and it wore off after a few hours!” Evening shot back, his face red. It had actually been several times, but he didn’t feel like letting her know that.
“Regardless I’m saying your magic is weird. At this point it wouldn’t surprise me if it somehow protected you.” After all, she thought, you also managed to tear something like the persona spell apart using nothing but your raw magic. Things like that aren’t suppose to be possible. There is something very special about you indeed…
“Twilight.” Cadance suddenly said, her voice sounding louder and more sure of herself then it had in months. “Can you figure out how to trace this mist like Discord did?”
“Yes, I think I can, why?” Twilight asked as she watched Cadance carefully. It had seemed like forever since she had seen her old foalsitter carry herself as a mare, and not a wreck. It was very refreshing, but Twilight wasn’t ready to let her guard down just yet.
“Because I want to see how many of my subjects are infected and purge them of this.” She turned toward them, a fire in her eyes she hadn’t had in months. “And I want to see if there is a source of it somewhere.”
What happened to Shining Armor was her fault. Her sin. She could never forget that, but this smoke brought to her a spark of hope she didn’t know she could feel again. For days she had sat there, playing the events over and over in her mind, constantly asking how she could have possibly slipped so far to let such a thing happen.
If it turned out this mist had somehow blinded her to the truth, had any sort of fault to influencing her actions. Then there would be Tartarus to pay for whatever caused it.
* *
“Well it’s certainly spooky enough down here for this.” Evening spoke as he and Shining Armor walked down one of the basement hallways. After some quick debate, it had decided that since they were apparently immune to being ‘corrupted’ by the mist, they should seek out the source of it. While they did that, Twilight and Cadance were extracting and containing any that had already infected anypony.
“Tell me about it,” Shining said, “I hated coming down here while Lowely Servant. Thankfully not to many other ponies enjoyed being down here either so I didn’t get ordered to much.” He carefully scanned the area for any possible hostiles. Evening was rather impressed with the Prince. He had come a long way from what he had been no more than a few months ago.
“So um, about what Discord said. Can we trust his word?” He asked, feeling his fur stand up straight. “D-do you think Lemon really wasn’t in the right mind?”
“Lemon was never in the right mind from what I saw.” Shining spat back. “Though even I have to admit, it didn’t seem like she was faking it back in that room. As for Discord? It’s hard to say. He never really was the helpful type, but at the same time this doesn’t sound like one of his tricks. Just not his style.”
“If you say so,” Evening didn’t know how much help he was actually being here. He didn’t have the knight training Shining had. “It’s just so odd to think the mare that nearly ruined both our lives… never wanted it in the first place…”
At first there was no response and he feared that was the end of the conversation, before after what felt like minutes, Shining sighed.
“Honestly I don’t know how to feel. I’ve hated her since I met her on that day we essentially switched places. I had her sent to Canterlot specifically because I didn’t trust myself around her. There was too much anger and resentment in me, and yet…” He stopped in his search, his eyes squeezed shut. “That mare we saw in there. I just can’t believe it’s the same pony. S-she reminds me of how Cadance looked the night you helped set me free. So scared, so horrified by what they’ve done… I just don’t know.”
He placed his hoof on Shining’s shoulder in support. “I-I can’t say I can ever come close to saying I understand how you feel. But she did try to kill me, so I can’t say I’m all that willing to just accept and forgive either…”
They stood there for a moment, letting their expressions speak for them. Before long both were smiling in understanding.
“It does beg the question though,” Evening added as they began to trot down the hall once more, “what is to become of her now? Will you send her back to Canterlot?”
“I don’t know yet.” Shining replied, his voice shaking. “I still fear being around her, for both our sakes. I have Flash Sentry watching her along with Typhoon and Fencer. Any one of them I’d trust with my life.” He didn’t feel like mentioning they were also some of the few guards who had refused to take advantage of him when he was a maid. “They’ll be able to handle her if she’s dangerous and hopefully will prevent the rest of the palace staff from discovering her. I might be able to hold myself back from revenge, but I don’t expect that from everypony she crossed. Any tingles?”
“None.” Evening replied tapping his horn. If the source of the mist was magical in anyway, he was sure his horn would pick it up like it had the persona spell. “Speaking of revenge, I guess I don’t need to turn Blueblood’s coat pink anymore.” It was lame attempt at humor, but he was so nervous right now he would take anything to lighten the mood.
“Heh I guess not. I always thought it was a bit weird how quickly his attitude changed. Back when he helped me negotiate with the yaks he wasn’t half bad. It’s actually what lead Cadance and I to inviting him to, er, to a special event.” Shining shivered. That was too close. Even after these last few months back in his body without the spell, he still found himself prattling on a bit too much about things. He really didn’t think Evening wanted to hear about the threesome Caddie and him had with other prince.
“Well he was always a jerk to me.” Evening said with a frown. “Though I guess he did get worse suddenly without warning. At the time I figured it was because I had finally gotten on his last nerve, but now that I think about it, it was right after he had come here for a visit…”
“Where the mist must have infected him.” Shining finished, shaking his head. “It seems a bit absurd to think that all the negative and horrible things to happen in this kingdom might be simply because of some mind altering black mist, but…” He couldn’t finish. He wanted so much to believe that it was this mist’s fault for Cadance’s actions. Maybe he wanted it a bit too much, but if it was true… if it really hadn’t been entirely Cadance’s fault…
“You know I almost asked Twilight to cast the persona spell on Blueblood?” He said suddenly. Whatever came of this night would come. He could worry about what this all meant later.
“Really?!” Evening asked staring at the white stallion in disbelief. “After all it did to you?”
“Well in the end I obviously couldn’t go through with it.” Shining replied with a nod. “For many of those reasons. It’s just, when I found out he was responsible for me being named ‘Lowly Servant’ I really lost my cool for a moment.” He shrugged. “I didn’t though and that’s what counts. I did however kick him out of my kingdom for life. Guess I should try renegotiating that.”
“Well… as much misery he caused me in the past, I’m glad you didn’t.” Evening smiled warmly at him, before the slightest bit of mischief began to creep into it. “Still, he if were to accidentally be turned into a mare for a day…”
Shining couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh I bet she’d look so precious as a princess!”
Evening joined in the merriment, which Shining relished in. For the first time in months he felt truly like himself again. Moments like this had been so few recently, so it would figure that was the moment all the lamps went out, plunging them into darkness.
“Shit!” Shining spat while trying to re-ignite them. “Ugh, no good, I must not be close enough or something. Stay still and I’ll try to get them working.”
Evening watched as the glow around Shining’s horn disappeared into the darkness. Ugh, he hated this, he couldn’t see a thing! Lighting his own horn he tried to spot Shining, only to be met with seemingly black walls all around him. He couldn’t even see the floor!
Wait a second, the hallway wasn’t that large! He should be able to see Shining’s horn glow still, or the very least the floor! Something wasn’t right here. W-was it getting harder to breath? It felt like the very air was trying to compress him!
“Shining?” He called, trying to keep his panic at bay. It was nothing, he was just overreacting. Except then Shining didn’t answer.
“Shining!? SHINING ARMOR!?” He screamed at the top of his lungs, but all that answered was silence. Okay something was definitely wrong.
“Daddy?” A familiar voice called from behind him. “I-Is that you?”
“W-what?” He cried turning around. “That voice… you can’t be…”
Though the darkness was thick, he could barely make out a single image a good several hooves away from him. A small grey filly with a black mane and tail. How was he able to see her so well when he couldn’t see the floor? How was she even here? It shouldn’t be possible!
“P-Peppermint?” The little filly smiled at his words, but the expression quickly faded into one of terror.
“Daddy help me!”
“What? Help? How did you become a filly again? What’s going on?” Mist that looked very similar to the stuff trapped in the crystal began to wrap itself around her legs and neck, dragging her backward.
“Daddy save me!” She screamed as the void swallowed her. Without another thought, Evening lept forward after her. The inky blackness swirling around him.
“Peppermint! Peppermint where are you?” He cried trying to make his horn glow as bright as he could, hoping for some glimpse of her small frame. It was only sheer luck that he managed to stop himself from running smack into a wall that sprung up before him. No sooner had he skidded to a halt, did he hear a door slam behind him.
“P-Peppermint? Are you there?” His resolve was weakening. Something bad was about to happen. They come down here looking for black mist and now his fake daughter had lured him into a room that just closed itself off. Oh yeah, he was perfectly safe.
“Sorry daddy.” A distorted version of Peppermint’s voice called from the shut door. “But it’s time you and I had a chat.” The voice went from creepy filly to malicious stallion as it spoke it last sentence, causing Evening to get a chill in his spine. He barely registered that the pitch black of the room was slowly collecting into a billowy mass before him.
Evening knew he should try something. Whether it be to run or to zap it, but he couldn’t make himself move. Instead he just stared at the thing as a red glowing curved horn emerged from it, quickly followed by green eyes with red pupils. Purple smoke seeping out of them like eyebrows.
“So, you’re the one that ruined it all are you?” It spoke, it’s gaze seeming to drill into him. Though the cloud made no signs of movement, he found himself taking a step back all the same.
“All my planning ruined by what should be nothing more than a plain unicorn.” It said maliciously, every word dripping like poison. “Months of molding my vessel wasted due to you and your irritating interference! How is it that I can not touch you? That my influence can’t penetrate that thick skull of yours? Is it talent or just plain stupidity?”
“W-what? Who are you? What are you? What’s going on?!” Evening cried finally finding his voice. Focusing, he began to charge up his horn with a grooming spell. With luck he’d set whatever this was on fire.
“Well I suppose it doesn’t matter what you are, since I’m going to kill you right here, right now.” As it spoke, the darkness began to close in on him again, this time feeling as if it was made of water. Before he could fire off his spell, the stuff enveloped his head, causing him to lose his grip on the magic.
“I will not have you interfere in my plans again.” Evening could barely hear it speak anymore as he thrashed about, desperately trying to free himself. He was never able to hold his breath for that long and time was running out. As he felt himself about to break, the voice whispered in his ear.
“They’ll never even find your body.”
“Oh I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” A second voice said from the ceiling. Before Evening had time to process, he felt himself give, gasping for breath and bracing for the ooze to invade his lungs. Except none came, instead he was greeted with much welcome air. It took him several seconds before he realized he was now standing off to the side free of the black prison he could still see sitting where he had just been.
“What!?” The creature cried, it’s eyes darting around the room. “Who dares?!”
“Just a lone draconequus stopping by.” Discord said as his form poured out of the ceiling like water, dripping into his solid form above them. “So you’re the one causing all this are you?”
“Discord?!” The creature cried surprised. Before it could do anything, Discord snapped his claws causing Shining, Cadance, and Twilight to all appear next to Evening. All three appeared confused for but a moment when their eyes locked upon the horn and eyes.
“King Sombra!” They all shouted at once. Sombra!? Evening’s mind screamed. The evil king that had appeared along with this empire? He had heard from Twilight that he’d been blown to pieces! How could he be here!?
“What is this?” Sombra cried, glaring at Discord. “Why are you playing hero for this lot!?”
“Hero? Oh my dear Sombra you miss judge me. I’m here on a personal matter.”
“Personal? What are you blabbing about!?”
“Tsk tsk!” Discord said waving a finger. “That’s my little secret, and you haven’t even shared yours yet! Just what are you doing here hmmm?”
“Speak Discord!” Twilight demanded taking a step forward, a spell at the ready, both Cadance and Shining took up space behind her, their horns lighting up as well. Evening was shocked to see Cadance so quick to cast a spell. The most magic she had used for the last few months had not gone past basic levitation.
“Well I would have preferred you didn’t find out about me, but no matter. I can still work with this.” Sombra said dismissively, his form heading toward the door. “Now if you excuse me, I’ll be taking my leave.” Attempting to seep through and out the cracks of the entrance way, he instead bounced off of it like the thing was made of rubber.
“W-what!?”
“I’m afraid I can’t let you leave just yet.” Discord said with a yawn. “I told you I had a personal stake in this after all.”
“Y-You imbecile! What do you hope to accomplish? You pathetic creatures can’t harm me! I don’t have a form to hurt!”
“I want answers.” Cadance said, pushing herself past Twilight. “Are you responsible for the black mist that came out of Twilight and me?”
“I’ll tell you nothing!” Sombra sneered back. Cadance’s horn glowed brighter, causing both Twilight and Shining to take notice.
“Cadance?”
“C-caddie?”
“No Sombra!” Cadance screamed, months of fear and frustration pouring into her spell. A spell she had sworn never to cast again. “You WILL answer me!” With that the persona spell fired straight into the mass that was King Sombra. The very monster that had almost cost her the empire and the health of her husband in the past. The question now, is if he had now done it twice.
Much to her surprise and relief, the spell wrapped itself around him, seemingly taking hold. Well Cadance, she thought to herself, only one way to find out.
“I-Impossible!” Sombra cried as the spell sank into his essence.
“Apparently not.” Cadance said, her voice ice. “Now let’s try this again. You will answer any questions I ask of you, and you’ll tell me the truth.” She paused seeing the shiver run through Sombra’s form. She only hoped that meant it was working.
“Once again, are you responsible for the black mist that came out of Twilight and me?”
“Of course I am you twit! Who else?” Sombra grumbled in annoyance. Cadance’s expression didn’t change, instead she just took a step toward him.
“Why?”
“For my plan! The plan that imbecile of a unicorn ruined!”
“Tell me of this plan!”
“To take back my empire of course!”
“I mean the details!” Cadance screamed, her eyes practically blazing. “Tell me the steps in your plan!” Both Twilight and Shining watched her with concern, but neither tried to stop her.
“Fine! Since I can’t resist your pathetic questions at the moment, I suppose I’ll share my failure with you.” Sombra spat casting another glare at Evening. “The first step was to find a maid with enough ambition and drive to have power that I could easily corrupt her with my mist as you call it. Once I had her I just needed to give you a gentle little push to learn and use some forbidden magic on your buffoon there. His stupid protection magic made it too difficult to break through and manipulate him in anyway.”
“T-then it’s true…” Cadance said, her gaze on the floor. “You infected me with that crap and made me hurt Shiny.”
“Made you?” Sombra laughed. “I made you do nothing. It takes months of time and magic to corrupt a pony that much, and an alicorn? I may not have been able to get you to reach that point at all. No I already had my pawn for that, face it dear you wanted to cast those spells, I just made sure you didn’t think too much about the consequences.”
“N-No…” Cadance said her resolve crumbling. When she had seen that black mist, it had felt like a gift from the heavens. So many times she had thought about that night. About how she couldn’t believe she would let herself go so far for a kink. S-so much that’ she’d… she’d…
“That still means Caddie wasn’t fully in control of her actions though doesn’t it?” Shining said suddenly standing beside his wife. Cadance looked up at him in surprise. He was coming to her rescue? After everything that had happened?
“I need not answer you!” He shot back. With one more boost of hope, she stood back up.
“Yes you do.” She said slowly, making sure she didn’t falter again. “You have to answer any question any of us ask with honesty. Now answer the question.” Sombra’s eyes narrowed, but he could do nothing but what he was told.
“No, she wasn’t fully in her right mind if you must get so technical.”
“Then the blame lies on you as well.”
“Of course it does! I had to make sure you were out of the way so I could get my vessel ready for possession! With that body I could have ruled the empire as it’s king and none would have been the wiser! Then it would have been a simple task of quietly taking out the princess’s one by one. Or just taking them as my wives. I’ve always admired your sister Shining Armor. I bet she’d scream real good in bed.”
Evening had never seen Shining more angry than he did right at that moment. What shocked him even more was the beam of blue light that erupted from Shining’s horn to pass right through Sombra.
“Twit! I told you you can’t hurt me! Your silly little persona spell might have me for now, but I’m sure in time I can get it to slide off. Then I’ll simply hide away and wait for another chance. One thousand years taught me a lot about patience.”
“We’ll think of something.” Twilight said, her eyes not leaving Sombra. “Perhaps we can stick him in that crystal we’ve been collecting his mist in.”
“Let him join that mist? What if that makes him stronger? Besides, he wouldn’t be frozen, just trapped. He could still have smoke out here we don’t know about.”
“Do you?” Cadance demanded. Sombra didn’t flinch.
“Possibly, even I can’t keep track of all of it.”
“I don’t like it, we can’t even count on the Persona spell keeping hold.” Shining said rubbing the bottom of his muzzle. As the three of them debated their options, Evening stepped up to the evil king.
“Why did you try to kill me?” He asked, both Shining and Twilight gasped.
“What!?”
“He tried to kill me before Discord stopped him.” He replied slowly, raising his gaze to the forgotten creature above them. “Why did you save me anyway?”
“I’ve already given my answer.” He replied bored. “A personal matter and that’s all I feel like saying.”
“Well whatever it was, thanks.”
Discord just waved his hand. “Yes yes, whatever.” Evening couldn’t worry about him at the moment, he still hadn’t gotten an answer from Sombra.
“So why did you?” He asked, taking another step forward. It was taking all he had not to collapse right there. This thing had tried to kill him and unlike Lemon Fresh, he didn’t feel it’d be as simple as a shard of glass to his throat. Not if what he just experienced said anything.
“Because you, as much as I hate to admit it, are a threat to any plans I make.” Evening’s eyes widened.
“Me? How?”
“Because you aren’t normal!” Sombra screamed. “So many ponies I had managed to manipulate into playing my pawns, but not you! You who defy all magical logic!” Now Evening was intrigued.
“What’s wrong with my magic?”
“Everything!” Sombra’s form shook with his frustration. “I can’t even see your magic let alone touch it! My mist went right through you as if you weren’t even there! Yet I know you have magic! No mere amateur could change a pony’s age or form! To have that power! You’d be the perfect vessel and yet I - can - not- touch - you!”
“You mentioned that before, a vessel. I assume you meant Lemon Fresh. Why abandon her?”
“Really? You don’t get it? What need do I have of a jailed female? Let her rot, she’s no use to me now, likely too far gone from my influence to even remember how she really was anymore.”
“Y-you destroyed her! You stole her life!”
“You speak as if I care what happens to a slave.”
Evening couldn’t believe what he was hearing! The maid who had tried to kill him hadn’t even realized what she was doing until Discord had pulled that black mist from her. How long had she been manipulated as this thing’s puppet?!
“If I may intrude.” Discord said, re-joining the conversation. “Why not just possess one of Twilight’s friends? Surely they would have come in handy.”
Evening had expected Twilight to protest at having her friends turned into puppets, but quickly noted she had thought the same thing given how interested she was in the reply.
“I will not degrade myself to one of their forms!”
“Oh? And what’s wrong with their forms? You had one of each pony type to choose from. Even a unicorn.”
“That one was the worst!”
Discord’s grin kept getting wider and wider. “Why is that? Remember Cadance did say you had to answer any of our questions, and I’ve been here the entire time as well. So tell me, what is it about Rarity that prevents you from trying to corrupt her into your vessel?”
“Because I’ll not be stuck as some mare!”
That was what Discord wanted to hear. “Is that all? Don’t care to be a mare? I hear they have all the fun!”
“Never! I am King Sombra! My form will strike fear into those who oppose me! I’ll not be trapped as a female!”
“Well how very interesting!” Discord cried with glee, clapping his claws together. “Oh now we can have some fun!”
“What are you blathering about now?” Sombra demanded, though Evening was almost certain he heard a slight bit of uneasiness in those words.
“Well you are right about Twilight and her possy here being unable to harm you. Luckily for them I’m feeling generous at the moment, and just got a very fun idea.” Giving Sombra a mischievous grin, he slowly raised a claw and snapped his fingers.
Before Sombra could react, he felt his body compressing even tighter into a singular form. Refusing to give into whatever game the draconequus had in mind, he attempted once more to seep away, expect, except he found himself kicking his legs?! With a start, he realized that he did indeed have actual pony legs again! There they were before his face, yet… what was wrong with their size and shape? As he tried to figure that out he felt his tail come into existence, followed shortly by his mane.
“What are you doing Discord?” He demanded before coughing to clear his throat. He voice sounded off. Absently raising a hoof to his neck, he suddenly realized he had an entire head and face attached to it. With one last shift, he felt his ethereal form become flesh and blood, dropping him to the cold hard floor. He’d been thrilled if not for the circumstances.
“O-oh…” Evening said meekly staring at the former cloud of mist. Sombra’s expression turned to one of hate.
“And just what-” He began before the words died in his throat. That was not his voice. It was the farthest one could get from his voice, in fact it sounded like…
“Y-You didn’t!” He cried, cringing at the sound of his words.
“Of course I did.” Discord laughed. “In fact! Let’s make you all pretty!”
Sombra was barely aware of another snap before he felt his mane drip down on both sides of his neck, something holding them both in place. Did that creature just give him pony tails!?
“Why don’t you take a look Umbra?” Discord mocked as he snapped his fingers one more time. Appearing out of thin air to Sombra’s left came a mirror, giving her a very good look at the elegant female she had become. Though she dared not turn her head, she couldn’t help but gaze at the unicorn mare reflected back at her. Her body was slim and curvy, the perfect shape to entice stallions with. Her puffy chest begging to be nuzzled.
Her tail and mane had changed style, becoming more feminine somehow. Even her muzzle was cute and dainty. Finally she saw what it was that Discord had put in her hair. Two little headbands that indeed gave her adorable little ponytails. It made her sick to think she might be what some stallions would consider a perfect concubine.
“I-I’ll kill you for this!” She screamed, her new voice sounding light and airy, almost sing songy despite her fury. “You hear me monster? I’ll have your head on my wall!”
“Oh I very much doubt that.” Discord replied amused. “Especially since you still have that persona spell on you. Anyone have any words about that? Particular commands to give?”
“I have one.” Cadance said stepping forward, her expression stone. “A command that nearly ruined my marriage, and Shiny’s life.”
Feeling a sense of actual dread for the first time this night, Sombra’s stomach dropped as she heard Cadance’s next words:
“You’re an obedient castle maid, and you do whatever I tell you to do. Without resistance or question.”
