His hooves climbed the stairs slowly. King Sombra didn't wear his iron boots to do this, he relished the precision, the exactness, of each and every step. His thoughts were calm, slow, focusing on the amount of work it had taken the ponies of the Crystal Empire to build his castle, without flight or magic.
He took his time, of course, because the entirety of his empire was waiting, their breath caught in their throats. Re-helmeting his army had been his first priority, after reaching the castle. Then sending out regular military scouts. But it was all leading up to this moment—this long, drawn-out moment. At last he reached the top of the stairs and looked at his prize. "It has been too long." The words dripped with his desire, to control, to master, to rule. A flick of his magic dispelled his wards and traps, and Sombra stepped up to the Crystal Heart.
A chill settled over not just the Crystal Empire, but all of Equestria. Ponies felt ice run up their spines, as far away as Appleloosa, when Sombra wrapped his magic around the heart. "Now you are mine, I think we will speed things up a little." Sombra collapsed into a swirl of black magic, smoke that poured back down the castle, enveloping it in an avalanche of darkness. Coalescing himself back at the bottom, the King stepped up to where the Heart should reside.
Sombra reached up with his magic, holding the Crystal Heart upside-down, and set it into the magic field that would support it. All at once he drew his smoke in, folding and bending it back into himself.
Every crystal pony present, guarded by more of their number wearing the mind-control helmets, gazed at their King, watched him with a sinking despair.
The heart drank up the ponies' emotions, gathering them up in a gluttonous rush, and stained its surface black like a dark onyx. More and more of the despair the heart consumed, until finally it seemed to tremble with the effort to contain it.
Sombra himself groaned as the wave of despair rushed outwards; it poured through the stallion's body, but he held it back, his pride a levy-bank against the torrent. "Yes."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
The wave washed toward Shining's army. He watched the boiling mass of raw magic and emotion flooding outwards. "Cady?" The pair of them had been sitting with the unicorn they had rescued, trying to rouse them from their terror. "What is…" Shining's eyes widened, he drew in a breath for a full parade-ground shout. "EVERYPONY DOWN!"
A few weeks of training, a week in the field, had taught everyling to listen to that voice—that Shining's emotions ran a mix of worry and terror, led impetus to their actions. Just short of a thousand bodies crashed to the ground, a few of the underlings crawling to the fore in a noble attempt to protect their hive-mates.
The wave of darkness rolled over the camp, licking tendrils of magic down to coax at the minds and emotions of the ponies within it. Shining turned his head to Cadance, saw the darkness lash down and wrap around her throat briefly before moving on. "Cady?"
"Shiny!" Cadance fell against Shining. Emotional pain was tearing through her, as love fought with despair. She wasn't alone, Shining Armor was at her side, and she hugged him with forelegs and wings both. Even then, the two of them weren't alone.
Buzz could taste what Shining felt, and disliked it immensely. They got up to their hooves and walked closer, butting in on the other side of Shining from Cadance. The emotion ran stronger, despair fighting to grow other emotions, acting as a seed in the stallion's mind. Buzz chirped his wings—a deep, soulful, sound.
More and more of the army crowded in; they found not only Shining Armor and Cadance, but the unicorn they had rescued, and the terrified crystal ponies. Slowly, the swarm picked up and carried each of the lost ponies to their leaders.
Shining was pressed in from all sides, at first it was just changelings, but then the captured scouts were brought in. But of all the bodies, one had Shining Armor's full attention. "Cady?" He nuzzled up against his wife, the raw power of her love radiating out, fighting off the despair within him.
Her nickname made Cadance turn to Shining, and smile. "Shining Armor, my Shiny." The last remaining taint of despair fled her, overwhelmed by love. She pushed it all out, sharing her love with the ponies and changelings.
All around, among the hundreds of changelings, a soft chirping started, as each of them started to rub their wings together. When Cadance stood up in the middle of them, pink force pouring off her, the noise of their wings rose into a deafening roar. Suddenly, silence reined: Cadance opened her mouth. "We will fight on, I will not let you fail, we cannot fail! For Equestria!"
Shining Armor stood up, letting Cadance's power wash through him. "For Equestria!" His voice tried to gain the impetus to sound inspiring, but it was too tainted with his love to really sound the part. Fortunately, changelings didn't just hear with their ears. The roaring of their army was almost deafening, but what really got Shining's attention, was the unicorn.
Standing up, Short Burst looked at Cadance with undisguised adoration. "P-P-Princess…" Words failed her, she couldn't help but stare at the pink glow emanating from the Princess of Love. All the horrible things, all the terrible stuff the helmet had done to her, seemed muted, softer. Short could remember what had happened still, but it didn't hurt anymore.
Cadance's mouth opened as a single thought hit her. "Canterlot…" She turned her head, watching the wave of darkness heading towards the city. It burned her inside that she wasn't there to protect them.
"No, Cady. We have to push on, as fast as we can." Shining lifted his hoof and pointed to where the billowing despair originated. "We can't let this continue."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Chrysalis stared. As one, every pony in the room suddenly looked terrified, then fell down. "What is going on?" Panic welled up, something she hadn't planned for had happened. She looked around and saw Celestia, and Royal Guard aplenty, all felled. "What is happening?!" Her voice shook the throne room.
The taste of every pony she could reach to was disgusting, almost making Chrysalis retch. Drawing her powers in tightly, she looked to the only two creatures still standing, apart from her. "Find out what is going on, rouse the hive!"
Braced rushed into the throne room, gliding past his two hive-mates, and just before what he had suddenly realized was anger incarnate. "Princess Luna is—"
"Out of our way!" Luna stormed past Braced. She spotted her sister, her sister's pupil, and her anger grew. "What have you done? Is this the result of drinking all their happiness?!" The Royal Canterlot Voice was well deployed, she noticed Queen Chrysalis shrink back.
"No! This isn't… we didn't do this, it was something else!" Chrysalis looked around at the felled ponies. "Why isn't it affecting you?" Her tone was more curious than accusing, but the question seemed to strike the dark alicorn just as hard as if she had been blaming her.
"Ugh, stop it, you are only making it worse…" Twilight stumbled past Luna, one hoof raised to her forehead, her horn lit and active. "A wave of magic hit Canterlot, it was—"
Luna's face blanched, she interrupted Twilight. "It came from the north, despair and terror." Her voice was small, giving the negative emotions their first foothold in her. "No, your army is too late, or defeated."
"What, how did he do…" Twilight winced, her horn glowing brighter to strengthen her defenses. "How did Sombra do this?"
"This is the Crystal Heart." Luna gestured out the windows, to the gray sky. "Remember the story? When darkness reigns, the Heart radiates that instead. This is the darkness." Luna shook herself and bared her teeth again. "My Queen, I am sorry for accusing you." Her anger rushed through her, but it was aimed now, pointed like an arrow, directly at King Sombra. "With your permission, I will join up with the army."
Chrysalis was fumbling for a plan, her mind racing to put things in order. "Yes, yes you may." She stepped down from her throne and neared Princess Celestia. "I don't want this threat hanging over our heads, or the heads of future ponies." Her own fangs bared as she looked at Luna. If I didn't agree, she would have gone anyway. Or worse, stayed. Chrysalis buzzed her wings angrily. "Take the train, if you are half-spent by the flight then you will be no good to Captain Armor."
Luna stepped forward, every inch Equestria's protector. She stepped carefully past the guards, but stopped at her sister. "Tia…" She leaned down, touched her horn to Celestia's. "Guard her, my Queen. I will do what we should have, a thousand years ago."
Staring at the scene, Twilight felt a tremble of shock go through her. She almost sounded like Nightmare Moon. A soft chirp from behind her, drew Twilight's attention. "Sweet, you protected me." She looked at the sun-dazed little changeling. The feel of her leg, where he had bitten her—enabling him to seek her dreams—was barely a memory. What Twilight Sparkle did remember vividly, however, was sleeping late in the hive, having spent the night studying. Her dream had started to turn dark before the little changeling had grown, and grown. Waves of green magic had burned in her mind, protecting her.
"Anyling would have. It was lucky you were asleep." Sweet wobbled a little on his legs, disliking being awake for any reason. Buzzing his wings, the little changeling alighted on Twilight's back. "Mmm, maybe I should go back to sleep, maybe—"
"That's it!" Twilight charged her horn, flashing from her position to the carefully calculated spot at Celestia's side. "So the magic has forced her to dream, right?" She looked up to Princess Luna, judging her to be the best to make the call.
"Twilight Sparkle," Luna reined in her immediate reaction, to talk down to her sister's student, "what is it you plan? My sister sleeps, though I could not reach her where she is."
"You don't need to!" Twilight tittered a little, her excitement getting the better of her. "Sweet Dreams is a dreamling, he could—" Twilight dodged to the side, away from Luna's attack. "Princess! Please calm down! He saved me from it already, he could bring Princess Celestia out."
Luna turned to glare at Chrysalis. "You made dreamlings without asking my permission? Dreams are my domain!"
"Princess Luna!" Sweet Dreams climbed down from Twilight's back, picking his way past Celestia's stretched-out legs. "Then join me. I—" Sweet's conversation was stolen in a yawn. "I promise I won't hurt her. I just want to help." It was getting harder for the drone to stay awake.
"Please, Princess Luna." Twilight looked up at the mare she had saved. "Do it for me? Sweet is a nice pony, he protected me from the wave, he might be able to protect Princess Celestia." Twilight focused on Luna's eyes, trying to impart her trust in Sweet on the alicorn.
"I sometimes think you might know my sister better than I do, Princess," Luna stressed the title, "Twilight Sparkle. The Princess Celestia I remember… she sent her own sister to the moon, rather than risk her ponies." Luna looked down at Sweet, and had to fight her sense of dread at seeing the face of a dreamling, outside of a dream, for the first time. The danger, Luna realized far too late, was the creature looked not only sincere, but cute. "And now, she plays softer games than she or I ever would. If you can guard my sister, Sweet Dream, while I hunt the monster down, then show me what you will do."
Sweet had trouble keeping his eyes open. Lifting his plot up, he walked to one of Celestia's big limbs. He leaned down, lips kissing her fur reverently, before his tiny fangs sank in. Flexing the tendons around his poison sacks, Sweet delivered the dose to the Princess, then was offered a dark blue one. Looking up, he bowed to Luna, and then repeated the bite for her. "I only have a little left, maybe one more pony."
Luna nodded. "I am sure our Queen will decide who else is rescued, I would suggest a pony capable of fighting off the smog." She laid down, setting her head between Celestia and Sweet. One eye was focused on her sister, the other the changeling. "Cross me in this, and I will not make your life easy."
"Your Highness." Sweet yawned and closed his eyes. "Good night."
Relaxing her breathing, Luna steadied herself down into sleep, and froze. Before her stood a changeling that burned with all the power she remembered his kind having, it was everything she could do to resist wanting to blast him. "Sweet Dreams?" She froze when the drone bounced close, and bowed.
"Your Highness. Thank you for trusting me." Sweet had seen Twilight's dream, didn't want to guess at the things that would drive a pony to inflict that on somepony else. "I can feel Princess Celestia's dream, it is not a nice place."
"I can feel it too. I…" Luna hated to admit it. "I can't enter that dream, it is too much. She… she hates everything in there with her, she would see me as an invader." The huge row of doors appeared for her, almost every single one thrashing and threatening to burst the nightmares outwards.
"Princess Luna, allow me." Sweet burst with green fire. His coloration didn't change, so much as his form. His little wings stretched into a big pair of leathery bat wings, his eyes focused down into slits, and he grew a mane. "If I am going to serve you, I should look the part?"
The vision of the changeling changing to look like one of her guard, tickled Luna enough that the tension eased. "Of course." She spoke the words, and summoned a chariot. Sweet positioned himself perfectly, letting the bars of the chariot land on each side of him, the dark black traces lacing along his body, forming a Night Guard uniform. Climbing up onto the chariot, Luna lifted her head. "We go!"
Sweet had never actually fantasized about such things, but there was a certain amount of fun in playing in a dream-scape with another who could manipulate it so well. Leaping forward, he spread the big wings and started pumping, driving the dream-stuff behind them and gaining height. "She cannot resist my entrance, as she could yours."
Luna's eyes flashed a moment, before Sweet turned the flight into a crash-dive. She gripped the chariot tight as it dove, slamming down into the door to her sister's dream. A chill of terror suffused Luna for a moment, before a glowing green ball wrapped around them both. It was a storm, a tornado, tearing up any positive emotions it could find and sowing terror, despair, and worse. "We have to stop this!"
"I… I don't know how." Sweet looked around in terror, he could appreciate the mind it took to have such an expansive mind-scape, but that had meant the despair had grown far beyond what Twilight had been afflicted with. "It's too much!"
The panic Luna heard in the changeling's tone caught her off guard. Always, when dealing with dreamlings, dreamlings had been confident for a good reason: dreamlings are powerful in dreams. In a split second she realized that those had both been more and less than Sweet. Sweet was young, inexperienced, but he was also honest and, despite her initial misgivings, nice. "Help me, lend power to my actions." No sooner did she say it than her body boiled with green light—it was intoxicating.
Sweet looked back at the alicorn. "That is everything I have, Princess Luna. The rest is protecting us, but I don't dare—"
"Trust me." Luna knew she was being a hypocrite, but her sister was the one at stake. "Give it all to me." The changeling—disguised as one of her own Night Guard—hesitated only a moment. He let the barrier down and gave all his magic to Luna. Of course she had a shield ready, she wasn't stupid. "I will not stand for my sister being like this!"
The reins lashed at Sweet's neck, he was giving all his magic to Luna, but he was still the pony pulling her chariot. Guided by the lines, he winged them closer and closer to the middle of the maelstrom, where a single spark rested.
Luna dismounted the chariot, banishing the construct and leaving her standing beside Sweet Dreams. "This is Tia, her center. The wind is cold, there is nothing to burn." Luna folded her legs and curled up beside "Celestia."
"She needs to burn again, grow?" Sweet looked at the beautiful spark, the hint of a flame. "What does she need to burn?"
"Nothing more than a promise." Luna extended the barrier around the spark, something that ate a great deal of Sweet's magic. "Sister? Tia? Are you there?" The spark flickered. "You are safe here, Tia. We are going to protect you," Luna paused, knowing the next words were the tinder, "I promise you are safe to grow."
A fire burst into being, like a tiny candle it wavered, flickered, but the calm Sweet's magic imposed was enough to keep it from guttering. The flame seemed to reach up to Luna.
"You did the right thing, Tia. You were right about Chrysalis, she has the fortitude to do what is right. Even her drones are… surprisingly well mannered, and very useful." Each word of praise built the little flame brighter. "I love you Tia, I need you safe."
Sweet didn't have time to blink, the fire didn't grow—it exploded. When his vision cleared of the flash, a burning, white-hot mare stood before them, prancing in place and glaring around her. "What did this?"
Luna smiled up at the "old Celestia" that seemed to be before her. "Sombra subverted the heart. If we had gone immediately, maybe—"
"You said our Queen has the fortitude to do what is right?" Celestia was angry, like she hadn't been in over a thousand years. "What is she doing?" Her hoof struck sparks off the plane they were on.
"She is sending me." Luna bared her teeth, rising to her hooves. "She sends the only pony who can bring true light in the darkest night."
The tornado of emotions didn't stop, but Celestia bled out all her anger and rage at the winds. Sweet was almost overwhelmed at the heat, he was literally in the middle of the hottest fire that had ever existed, and the flame loved him. "Princess Celestia." He bowed his head to the heat.