//------------------------------// // The Epithalamium // Story: Cyclosa // by NorrisThePony //------------------------------// i I awoke hours after the storm had died, and soon found myself stumbling out of the Sisyphys and into the changed Frozen North outside. The poor Sisyphys had weathered the storm without much aid, but she seemed to be doing okay all the same. I made my way quickly back to the camp, fully prepared to find Luna and tell her what had happened. The storm had left the Frozen North looking new—the camp was half-buried in snow, and there were hardly any tracks to be seen sullying the fresh white blanket. A few Crystal Ponies were milling about, wearing snow-shoes and using them to create proper paths between the buildings. They saw me trudging along with effort—the snow easily up to my wings—and before I could call out they were heading in my direction, their eyes alight with concern. “T’aniqsali,” I said gratefully the moment my hooves touched hard-packed snow and walking was no longer a chore. It was one of the few Kanquitut words I knew, and it was only through simple repetition, but my thanks was greeted with a few chirruping replies from the Crystal Ponies who had helped me. The Crystal Ponies had an odd bird-like quality of them in that regard, it seemed—any praise warranted excited chatter on their part. “Luna?” I asked them as I walked. It was a simple proper noun presented without context, but it was one they understood immediately, and quickly deduced what it was I wanted. Still, the only response I received were the same Kanquitut chattering—for all I knew it was a complete answer, but it meant nothing to me. I rolled my eyes. “Look, just bring me to her?” Nopony offered, and I was quick to grow annoyed. I brushed past them and rose my voice, calling Luna’s name out to the whole damn camp, not caring if I made a scene. A few more Crystal Ponies left their tents to watch me, my anger slowly building as minutes past and Luna was nowhere to be found. I’d begun to add Sombra’s name to my calling as well, but he did not seem to be in the camp, either. And then, when I looked back at the small mooring tower on the South side of the settlement, and noticed that The Last Recluse was nowhere to be seen, realization struck me like the ground to a flightless pony. Instantly, my frustration drained into fear and fury. I’d been sulking in the Sisyphys before the storm had struck us, and The Last Recluse must have taken off in that time. I hadn’t heard it, but depending on the direction of the howling wind, such could have been expected. If The Last Recluse had been caught in the storm, her chances would have been slim. The Sisyphys had been moored and secured and she had weathered it adequately, but I wouldn’t have even thought to fly in such weather. My heart thumping, I turned around and sprinted back to the camp, already yelling back at the Crystal Ponies as I did so. “The ship! Where did it go?!” I barked directly into the face of the first pony I saw—a middle-aged stallion with eyes wide in confusion and terror. He simply stared at me, speechless. “A direction!” I was yelling at the whole damn camp now. “North, South… give me a compass direction! Now!” Eventually, after a stressed game of charades, I had a direction—East, in the direction of the sea. I didn’t hesitate and I didn’t explain. Instead, I tore off through the snow, back towards the Sisyphys. My old tracks sped my return significantly, and I had already drawn my dagger by time I was back at the Sisyphys. Sombra must have taken Luna. Without my permission. And now, they were in trouble. “Celestia!” Sombra's voice rung out,  just as I brought my dagger to the final mooring line keeping the wind from stealing away the Sisyphys. Suddenly, he was trotting towards me, the jangling of some blade ringing out in his scabard as he tore across the camp. “What the hell is going on here? What are you shouting about?!” I jerked my head in his direction, already snarling and already trotting back to where he was approaching from to intercept him. “Where is she?” “Luna?” “Yes, you son of a bitch! Where is she?” Sombra blinked, apparently not quite understanding my intensity. “With the hunting party..? You didn’t see them leave?” “No!” I said. “And I haven’t seen them return, either!” “They took off the moment the storm started to lighten up! Luna wanted to go, so she went. I don’t see what you’re so—” “She doesn’t make that decision, Sombra! We talked about this! She’s my responsibility—” “No, she isn’t,” Sombra interrupted coldly. Then, seeing my evidently distressed expression, he warmed significantly. “Celestia, hey... calm down. Listen to yourself. She wanted to go, and you can trust her with my ponies. We talked about this, and you agreed that she was mine to mentor, right? Trust me, she's fine.” “That’s not what I meant!” I drove a hoof into the snow. “Listen to me, Sombra! Luna is—” “No, Celestia.” Sombra’s said tiredly, his horn illuminated, but it was only to grasp the final mooring line of the Sisyphys, which I hadn't even realized had come undone. “You listen to me. You need to calm down. Forget about Luna—she is safe, and you are concerned over nothing.” “It’s not nothing!” I started to protest. There had been more to my statement, but Sombra spoke first. “Do not interrupt me, Celestia,” Sombra said, his voice an annoyed growl. His glowing aura seemed to intensify for a moment, as though some gust of wind had tried to wrench the Sisyphys from him.  I couldn’t help but notice some of the Crystal Ponies assuming frightened looking stances. “Your sister is safe. She is my apprentice, and you can trust me. You already know this, don’t you?” I simply stared, my mind a strangely idle frenzy—I knew something was terribly wrong, but really all I felt was a hollow confusion. Sombra tied the mooring line once again, before stepping closer, his horn still alight. Behind us, the Crystal Ponies simply watched—although some had already turned away. “She will be back soon, Celestia. In the meantime, you should get back to practicing your magic. Leave your worrying for your own affairs. You wouldn’t want Luna to start thinking you’re a poor sister, do you?” I grit my teeth at that. Sombra seemed to know exactly what to say to provoke a response, but I’d be damned if I was giving him one. Instead, I simply shook my head ‘no.’ “Good,” Sombra smiled. His horn extinguished, and he brushed past me towards the crowd of still-staring Crystal Ponies. “Wait!” I called after him. “The hunting party... where did they go?” “To Harmony Bay. It’s a day’s flight from here, weather permitting.” “A day?!” I sputtered. “We’ve checked nearly everyplace close for fish, whales, seals... anything, and haven’t seen a thing. If they can’t find any there…” Sombra let out a long sigh. “Let’s just say I won’t be happy.” ii There was something wrong. I knew it, but I didn’t know what it was that was wrong. Just that something most certainly was. It wasn’t anything obvious, though. An excited Luna returned amongst a crowd of dejected-looking Crystal Ponies. I’d watched the exchange from the deck of the Sisyphys. I couldn’t hear them, but it seemed clear from their expressions and Sombra’s reactions that they had returned The Last Recluse with an empty cargo-hold. After dropping Luna off at the camp, the ship had refueled and carried onwards, searching for food in the opposite direction. The Crystal Ponies were starving, and now it was no longer a dawning problem, but instead a critical one. Still, the Crystal Ponies had... an odd view of death, I had observed. It was considerably more apathetic than I could recall in Erisia. They did not seem particularly malicious in their intent; it seemed less akin to a devaluation of life, and more akin to a fearlessness of death. Either way, when they passed, they were mourned, but never for long. It was seen by them as a cycle, and a morbidly healthy one at that. The thought that, one day, they may starve to death in their sleep and not awaken... it did not seem to bother the Crystal Ponies as much as it filled me with dread. Sombra, however, was clearly shaken. He had done well to disguise it, but it was clear with every failed hunting expedition that his desperation was rising. I'd listen to him talk of them for hours, wishing desperately I could say something to help. I felt worthless—I was sitting her eating the bulk of their limited food, while the rest of them starved and I stood dumbly watching. I'd suggested an expedition to the South, and Sombra had reluctantly agreed that such seemed to be a dawning possibility. He didn't bother to excercise the idea beyond. Still, Luna and I were fed that night and the next. Where the still-unidentified meat was coming from, I had no idea. Whatever it was, it was starting to make Luna and I ill—I saw her throw up from time to time, and did so myself as well. Sombra had observed nearly immediately, and had soberly informed us there was little he could do. The only food we had was slowly making us sick. Thankfully, it didn't escalate much beyond our vomiting, but I suspected this was rather temporary. I didn’t ever end up talking to Luna about what had happened with the Sun. I wondered if Sombra had told her about my reaction to her disappearance; she seemed even more distant, only communicating with me through quickly diverted glances. I’d contemplated confronting Sombra, but it never quite felt like it would be a good idea to bother him with it. Instead, I focused my time with the Sun again—determined to grasp control of it if only to get back into Luna’s good graces. It was clear I was no more to her than some cynical beggar—any respect she’d had of me seemed to have gradually withered and died. I still found my thoughts straying back to Sombra from time to time. They seemed to be growing again, and I didn’t quite know why. It was as though with every failed attempt to focus on the Sun, it became more and more clear why I was trying in the first place. One night, laying awake and alone on the Sisyphys, I decided that I hated it. I'd heard these stories before, off passing travellers in the Scrapyards. Stories of ponies slowly losing their minds to something else. Discord's residual chaos magic was fabled to linger over the land like locusts, carried over the birdroads by the winds. Grasping onto traveller's minds like ticks, dragging them down to their dooms. I suppose I'd been flying far enough that I could have contradicted such a tick along the bird roads, but it eeehad all seemed like propaganda to me. Discord didn't approve of travellers much, after all—Sombra had often ranted of that, claiming he 'preferred to see us like separate little sandboxes in his playground called Erisia.' I blinked, laying awake from the rickety bunk I'd been laying upon. There. It had happened again. Back to Sombra. My own mind had been quoting the damn stallion! Knowing any sleep was far past impossible, I rose groggily, wandering out onto the deck of the Sisyphys, to the frosted front window. The arctic sky was empty of any clouds for once. The stars were sprawled for eternity, a million twinkling by the perfect dark at the top of the world. I smiled, the strange fear in my mind slowly fading. It was truly a breath-taking sight, when one focuses upon it. I'd never have seen this from Cyclosa. The world, for all the times it had tried to killed me, still seemed to surprise me with its beauty at times. I flipped the control panel of the Sisyphys on, soft yellow glow splicing through the arctic night. The electric bulbs flickered a little, occasionally dimming and relighting. I'd been fleeing Erisia because I'd thought it was my only option. The idea of fighting Discord hadn't even clicked, but Sombra seemed to have kindled some long-dormant hope that Erisia had long since snuffed out. Regardless, it seemed as though staring at the world from the deck of an airship filled me with... with... excitement. Sailing the birdroads, like I'd always envied in the Scrapyard? Sombra, Luna and I, hunting after some foolish lead to help us in our fight against Discord? Why the hell not? It seemed better than living out the rest of my days alone in hiding at some promised land far north. Besides, the thought that, without my intervention, things truly wouldn't get better, had already rooted itself in my mind. The eternal night was passing into its seventh month, and I knew the bodies would have started piling to the South. Knowing I wasn't going to get any semblance of sleep with that thought on my mind, I instead took to practicing with the Sunstone as I waited for the rest of the camp to awaken. I knew I was getting close, but still, hours of effort brought no progress. The camp had begun to show signs of life before I'd made any contact as I had before, and eventually I gave up and trotted out to join the rest of the Crystal Ponies. "Celestia!" As was more or less predictably typical of him, Sombra intercepted me before too long. I perked at his acknowledging shout, giving him a small greeting nod of my own as he trotted towards me. He was wearing a twine harness attached to a sled—the same sled I'd stolen in Trance, I noted. Whatever he was dragging was hidden to me by a heavy cloth secured fast. Either way, it looked heavy, judging from how Sombra seemed to be struggling a little as he trotted. "Hey, Sombra," I greeted. "Goin' good?" "As good as it can up here," he replied. "Still bunking in that flying dumpster, I see." "Watch it, Sombra." I narrowed my eyes. He laughed. "I'm sorry. Actually, that's what I want to talk to you about. She's got no weapons on her, right?" Shooting him a quizzical smile, I shook my head. It would seem weird to some, but unarmed ships were probably less common than armed ships. For a schooner like the Sisyphys to have made it as far as she did without arms was a feat in itself. "Well, I was sorting through some salvage Luna and the Crystal Ponies brought back, and you may like this." He gave the sled a backwards kick and shot me a smile. Approaching it, I tugged at a section of the twine keeping the cloth down, and gingerly lifted it, taking care not to let the wind grab it entirely. Nonetheless, the sight of cold metal and the jangling of what could have been coins told me all I needed to know. "It's a rotary gun," I said dumbly. "Yep!" Sombra was smiling, like a proud colt at show-and-tell. "I was actually heading to the Sisyphys to ask if you'd help me hook her up." I looked from the rotary gun to the ship, vivid memories of my nearly-unsuccessful battle with pirates bubbling to the surface. "Good call," I said simply, and led the way back to my ship. "Is this how you pick up all mares, Sombra?" "No, I do not believe 'give them an illegal killing-machine' is a strategy I've employed before." "I'd bet it makes for some nasty break-ups," I replied levelly. Sombra snickered. "Hence why I have every intent to stay in your good graces. I don't want a Sun-raising Alicorn out for my blood." Ah, I thought internally. That's your only reason for sucking up to me, is it? Still, as much as I smiled at my own cynical remark, I had to admit it was somewhat charming of Sombra. He seemed to be genuinely proud of himself, and truly, it would be an invaluable resource when things went poorly. As we made our way back to the Sisyphys, Sombra drove into an extensive tirade about the gun, asserting that one nearly identical to it had nearly taken down The Last Recluse overtop the vortex-like-waves of the Shifting Sea. I listened with passing intrigue—focusing less on the details of Sombra's stories and more the existence of such details. The average pony wouldn't give a flying fuck what he was talking about—they had their own lives in the garbage and dirt and they didn't really care much about anypony else unless they could gain something from them. I was guilty of the same damn thing after all, and yet hearing Sombra speak proper nouns of places I'd never known exist... He wasn't some fraud. I knew that. He'd been to these places, seen them with his own eyes. He'd lived a life on the birdroads and it was a life I'd been pining for myself since the first damn airship I'd ever seen had broken over the mountains of scrap into line of my ten-year-old eyes. And so, I listened. I offered what insight I could, but truly, I'd seen very little to share. I'd seen more than anypony else in Cyclosa ever would, but the world itself was wider than I'd ever imagined, and seeing more than my peers didn't quite mean I had seen much at all. Nonetheless, Sombra listened all the same. "So, where are we mounting it?" I asked, as the sled came to a hissing halt when Sombra stopped, the thing hitting his rump lightly and causing him to jump humorously in surprise. "It's your ship," he replied. "But I'd recommend the crowsnest. That way, you're not shooting over the egg, and you have to worry less about balancing bogeys on your port and starboard sides." I blinked, staring dumbly. Giving me a little smile, Sombra rephrased. "You have more range, and you don't have to worry about shooting your balloon as much, since you're above it." "Clearly," I said sarcastically, although the logic made sense to me. Still, Sombra's fluid use of airship jargon was amusing all the same. "Is there some sort of recommended reading I should know about that lists all this dorky slang?" Sombra scoffed, looking faux-offended. "I'd hardly call knowing the proper terminology 'dorky', thank you very much." The crowsnest of the Sisyphys was easily accessible through the balloon. A trapdoor on the roof of the gondola led into the balloon, with dozens of gasbags all hanging like stalactites from the framing. A metal spiral-staircase led up to the very summit of the ship—a glass dome that could be lifted open in the same fashion as the trapdoor in the gondola. I admit I'd never been up there, and I was amazed the dome actually opened properly, after a bit of heat-magic encouragement. The dome itself was cracked and frosted to the point of complete opaqueness, but the hinges seemed to work properly all the same. We hauled the entire sled onto the roof of the Sisyphys and Sombra had set to work. After securing the gun in place, he withdrew from the sled a long, wand-like device, which was attached by a wire to a cylindrical metal tube. I recognized it instantly—using such a device had been a regular occurrence to me, and I quickly rose an eyebrow in abject horror as Sombra set to work with the welding torch. I continued to stare at him with my dubious expression, until eventually I gave his shoulder a tap, flashing him a disapproving frown. "You're gonna go blind, dumbass," I said as he extinguished the torch. "What?" "You're staring right into the flame. And you're not even holding the torch right. Here, move, let me show you." Sombra blinked, saying nothing as I forcibly took the torch. In the Scrapyards, they hadn't bothered giving us proper welding helmets, and so I had to grow used to doing it without. The result was a process the guards had nicknamed 'blind welding', which was as literal as it sounded—looking away or closing one's eyes, and simply hoping for the best. I'd learned to use my hoof as a guide, holding it one or two feet from my target and using the feeling of heat against it to gauge distance. The guards had always tried to distract me while doing so, probably hoping I'd slip up and burn a limb off, but I'd perfected the whole process practically to an art-form. Sombra simply watched, transfixed but too afraid to comment. When I finally finished, and the gun was secure on its swivelling-perch, he let out a long breath. "That was..." "Impressive?" I said, extinguishing the torch. "Stupid," he replied. "And... oddly alluring. I'm starting to realize why I trusted you with the Sunstone." "That's... playing with fire on a bit of a larger scale," I agreed. "Mm, I'd say. If anypony were capable, though..." I fell silent, and Sombra did too, for a while. Something about the Sun seemed strange to me. It seemed so... unlike me. I'd been practicing a lot, admittedly, but I was hardly doing such for myself. I couldn't have cared much if I could or could not raise the Sun. I practiced, but I did so because I knew it would be key to defeating Discord. I could see it as a talent, perhaps, but everytime Sombra spoke of it, it felt like he was suggesting it was part of my destiny. That one infernal word had brought me no shortage of conflict, it seemed. "Sombra?" I said aloud. "Mm?" he'd been lounging against the open dome of the crowsnest, his eyes closed, but he opened them to look at me. "When you talk about destiny... about my destiny... what is it you see?" He blinked. "Uh... this is... an abrupt thing to ask." "I know, I know," I sighed. "It's just something that's been on my mind for awhile. I've been thinking about where my wings came from and what it is I'm supposed to do. Facing Discord I've come to terms with, but everything else..." "Celestia, that is a question that is considerably difficult for me to answer," Sombra said. "But... perhaps if I were to show you something, I can help." He cocked his head towards the interior of the Sisyphys—a wordless plea for privacy. I was reluctant but curious, so I nodded and let him lead the way into the Sisyphys proper. He trotted down the spiral stairs until we were back on the metal gang-plank weaving through the somber steel framework that was the ship's skeleton. The moment we were on flat ground, it all happened so quickly. He took off his parka, and then rose a hoof to the twine keeping the cloak underneath fastened. “Woah, hold up!” I said instantly. I admit my feelings for Sombra hadn't been subtle nor pure, but this wasn't what I meant! “I think we should maybe—” The words died a lonely death in my throat as I focused on Sombra’s hindquarters. They were… to be frank, a disaster. It looked as though he had survived some manner of roaring fire, and it had left the entirety of his back-half as a charred mess. Except, even so, it wasn’t quite so simple. The charring seemed… peculiar. It had a strangely fractal-like pattern to it, in places wisping out like waves. It looked uniform and intentional. I hadn’t even thought to be curious—whenever I had seen Sombra, we had been surrounded by cold. Him wearing the cloak seemed as natural as the blowing snow. But now, seeing what the cloak had been covering, it was far clearer. “Do you know what a cutie mark is, Celestia?” Sombra asked softly. I nodded, words failing me for the moment. “When I was fourteen, I got a cutie mark. For a while, I was all the orphanage could talk about. Even ponies I’d never met wanted to see it. They’re rare enough to warrant it, you know? A pony getting their cutie mark has an effect somewhat similar to what you’ve seen as an alicorn, I think. Public intrigue, but more importantly, veiled fear.” “You tried to remove it,” I whispered. “I succeeded in removing it,” Sombra replied. “I know I talk of fate and destiny frequently, but when I saw my own laid out in front of me… I didn’t wish to accept it.” “It’s a mark on your flank,” I returned. “That’s not destiny, it’s just… it’s like a birthmark.” “No it’s not, and you know that better than anypony else. Do you really think your wings are just a birthmark?” Sombra levitated his cloak, once more fitting it over the fractal-burnmarks imbedded onto his grey coat. “I saw my destiny before me, but I didn't like it. I didn't like the path I thought it would put me on." "Is that why you ran away?" I guessed. "If so... trust me, I can relate." Sombra nodded. "It's a big reason why. I think it was going to happen anyways, but getting my cutie-mark really sped up my departure. But none of that matters. What is important to understand is that you, Celestia, are different from me. Destiny has awarded you a greater purpose than I. You received wings. Far greater than my insipid mark." "What was it?" I looked closely, but I couldn't make out even a trace of what it had been. Giving an awkward laugh, Sombra lifted his cloak over the mark once again. "I... feel like if I were to tell somepony, that's all they would see me as. I've tried very hard to move beyond that destiny, and I think I've succeeded. I don't want to be reduced to a mark on my flank." "Sombra, look," I sighed. "I'm not good with this shit—hell, look at my sister and I—but trust me when I say... I really do respect you. I... like the idea of being around you. And no mark on your flank is going to change that." "That's..." Sombra started, then the words were lost. He smiled warmly, and took a step towards me. It seemed a strange atmosphere—surrounded by grease and steel and bits of airship machinery—but I felt something strange swelling within me. Sombra clearly had some level of feeling towards me—of that, I had no doubt. When I'd told him off at the bar in Cluster 13, he'd brushed it off nicely, but I knew he'd been hurt. And, looking at him now, I could tell the inverse was also true. It hadn't even been a lie on my part, and Sombra's smile made him look more sincere than I had ever seen him before. So, with an internal cry of 'fuck it,', I took a step towards Sombra, too, and then leaned in and suddenly our lips were touching. The look on his face was enough to almost make me start laughing. I’d never kissed somepony before, but somehow it came as naturally as breathing. Sombra, when he had gotten over the initial shock, settled casually into the embrace, lifting a hoof and tracing it smoothly up my neck. It lasted all of three seconds, and when it ended, I instantly frowned, narrowing my eyes. If this was all there was to kissing somepony, I didn’t quite see what all the fuss was about. “There you go, you creepy asshole,” I said, wiping my snout. “Hope you’re satisfied.” Sombra looked a little offended, but he put on a small grin nonetheless. “Trust me, Celestia, I am.” iii Neither of us said it to Luna, but it was quite clear as the week crept on that she knew. She watched with a small smile when Sombra and I sat together at the evening bonfires, and when I began exiting from Sombra’s tent instead of the Sisyphys deck, she didn’t ask any questions. Whatever strange force had wedged itself between us, it seemed that Luna’s seeing me happy was gradually fighting it back. On the last day of the week—which marked Luna and my fourth month in the Frozen North—a group of excited Crystal Ponies returned with The Last Recluse, which they had taken South immediately after returning Luna safely to the camp. It seemed they had come across a lone Scoutship and had shot it down without incident. Sombra had been full of praise, and the Crystal Ponies had presented a proud display of salvage for the rest of the camp at the evening's bonfire. As had become gradually become common, Sombra and I sat together, apart from everypony else. Normally, we would have been arguing vigorously over something, but tonight Sombra seemed sombre and introspective. Eventually, I grew annoyed. "Is something up there, Your Highness?" I said sarcastically. "Huh?" he blinked, looking at me. I rolled my eyes. "Seriously, the thousand yard stare is freaking me out. What's bothering you?" "Oh," he laughed. "I'm just watching them celebrate. They're all excited about the salvage, but it's not exactly what I sent them out to find." "Food?" I guessed. "Yeah. I mean, we got some, but they destroyed the majority of it on impact. A lot of these Scoutships have started carrying their stuff in glass containers. That way, when they're shot down or crash, nopony else can loot them." "That makes no sense. Why would Discord limit his own guard like that?" Sombra gave me a cold look. "You're seriously asking that question? Because he doesn't care about them. They're cannon fodder. If we shoot down a ship and get nothing from doing so, it doesn't matter to him at all. He'll always have a steady stream of ponies just itching to be replacement cannon fodder." "Alright, alright," I said, waving a hoof. "Gods above, for somepony who allegedly has my back here, you sure love driving in the 'universal hopelessness' of my whole situation." Scratching an ear, Sombra fell silent for a moment or two. He didn't apologize, but it was clear to me he felt at least a little bad. "But yes. They didn't bring back much food," he said. "I think this is all Discord's doing. He must know you're up here with us. He's sending Scoutships up here regularly, so clearly he at least suspects it. And these food shortages... I think he's trying to cut off our means for survival, too." "If that's really what he's thinking, he wouldn't bother," I replied. "He'd send an army of Scoutships up here and that'd be that. We couldn't hold off more than three with the whole camp." "Mm," Sombra nodded. "You have a point. He is the Spirit of Chaos, it could be this is entertainment to him. Like a board game. But that's too easy an explanation. More possibly, it is something tangible holding him back. Some fear or presence, I don't know. Either way, we are living in some manner of storm's eye, here." "We should move on," I said. "Me, you, and Luna. Just, get in the Sisyphys and keep going." Sombra shot me a cold glare. "And leave my ponies to get slaughtered by Erisian Guards?" I bit my lip. "Okay, yeah. Bad plan. Whoopsy." "Indeed," he said, still glaring. "No, that is a last resort. They are willing to die for you, but that does mean they are wanting to." "Yeah, I know," I grumbled. "You can stop making me feel guilty anytime." "If you are to one day rule Erisia—" "I am not," I cut him off. "Trying to kill Discord and trying to rule Erisia are two completely different things." "Sides of the same coin," Sombra replied. "Either way, we need to counteract." "Like by raising the sun?" I blurted. Sombra shot be a sideways look. "Yes, quite like that indeed. Have you made any progress?" "I... have been getting close," I admitted. It was a half-truth—I'd gotten closer than my tone was suggesting, but it wasn't like I had been successful. "That is excellent!" Sombra praised warmly. "To raise the sun will be to prove to Erisia that you are capable of doing so in the first place." "Oh, come on. They won't know it's me." "Not at first. But when it starts raising at the same time, every day? When this infernal night finally gives way to normalcy? I don't think anypony will be associating it with any Spirit of Chaos, that's for sure." I couldn't help but feel flattered, and Sombra followed his supportive words by laying his head on my shoulder softly. One thing I'd noticed about the Crystal Ponies was that, amongst them, any physical contact seemed greatly popular. In a world almost perpetually frigid, it made sense that they would be so quick to gravitate towards each other's warmth subconsciously. I understood why, but it frustrated me a little all the same, and I shifted against Sombra, forcing him off of me. "I'm not your pillow, Sombra," I growled. "And my sister's watching." And indeed, she was... she had been for most of the night, and a sideways glance told me that now was no exception. "So?" Sombra cooed, fishing for a cigar in his coat and lighting it with his magic. "It's clear she knows. You're going to have to tell her one day." He offered me the cigar after taking a few puffs, and I accepted it reluctantly, staring at it for several seconds before pathetically imitating what I'd seen him do. As such, the evening had continued. Sombra's concerns about Discord were now in the corner of my mind near constantly. I hadn't even stopped to consider it before, but the more I thought on it, the more I felt a great manner of guilt. I was putting families on the line simply by being in their camp. Discord wouldn't care who he killed to get to Luna and I, and if whatever barrier was keeping him from me now—be it something indeed physical or simple ignorance—collapsed, there would be no saving them. And yet, if I travelled forwards, this wouldn't matter. He'd still come after me all the same, and they would all perish. Not long after Sombra and I had finished the cigar, Luna had declared herself tired, announcing in Kanquitut that she was retiring early. Biting my tongue, I found my gaze following her as she made her way back to her tent. Sombra caught my gaze, too, and gave me a playful smile and encouraging nudge. When Luna caught be trotting up to her in her peripheral, and didn’t protest. “Hey Luna,” I said, giving her a small smile. It had seemed like a while since we had talked, but it surely couldn’t have been longer than a day? It was getting so hard to tell. “Hiya, Celly.” “I… was talking to Sombra about your lessons,” I attempted meekly. “He says you’re doing great! A really fast learner, he says!” “He said that?” Luna cocked her head. “Huh. Sometimes I’m not so sure.” “What do you mean?” I frowned. “I don’t know. He gets frustrated with me a lot, and sometimes it feels like no matter how hard I try, I’m always messing something up.” I blinked. “Frustrated?” I had been so worried about the things Sombra would be teaching her, that I hadn’t even stopped to worry about the very idea of him being the teacher in the first place. ‘Typical survivalist slumrat,’ I cursed myself internally. “Yeah.” Luna gave her neck a little rub with a hoof. She kept her snout low, but I could have sworn I’d seen some sort of bruise upon it. Instantly, my blood curdled. “Luna, look at me,” I said. She did, reluctantly. And, as I looked, I let out a long sigh of relief to see that my fears were untrue. Some trick of the lighting, perhaps. Some trick of the mind. “Never mind.” I shook my head. It was like Sombra had said. I’d been worrying too much, when he had been nothing but accommodating and trustworthy. Besides… if Sombra really had hit Luna, even by accident, I could see no reason why she would try to hide it from me. We walked on for some ways towards Luna’s tent, before she spoke again. “Hey Celly?” she asked. “Are… we ever going to go any further North?” At that, I stopped in my tracks. It was dark, and I couldn’t see her by the light of our horns, but I looked to the Sisyphys all the same. “No,” I said eventually. “I don’t think we are, Luna.” “Okay,” she said. “I didn’t think so.” “Why? Do you want to?” “No,” Luna replied. “I wanna go home. I miss mom and dad. I know they probably don’t love us, but I still do.” “Luna…” I let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry, but you and me both know we’re never going to see them again.” “I know,” Luna said again. “Never mind. Forget I said anything.” “You sure?” “Yes.” A sharp edge lined Luna’s tone, but it softened after the one word, so I pressed onwards all the same. “Luna… is there something wrong?” “With me? No.” I kicked a stray chunk of snow. “No, not you. Is there something wrong, just in general? I feel like there is.” Luna gave a small snicker. “What do you mean?” “I don’t know,” I sighed. “Something just… feels off. I don’t know what. Maybe it’s the cold, maybe it’s the starving Crystal Ponies.... I don’t know. Everything feels weird.” “You know what I think it is?” We were at Luna’s tent now. She gingerly tugged at the string securing the heavy seal-skin flap shut. “What?” “I think you’re happy,” Luna said, ducking into her tent. “You've found somepony you really love, and it just feels weird because you’re not used to the feeling.” With that, she vanished into the warm glow of her tent, pulling the flap closed behind her as she did. I stared for a moment, first perplexed, and then amused. Sombra had retired soonafter, and while I stayed by our spot at the bonfire with the Sunstone for sometime after, I soon grew tired and followed. When I wandered back to our tent, he was lying prone on his cot, musing over some tattered old spellbook, his back to the entrance. I fastened the twine keeping the flap of the tent closed, and shuffled out of the seal-skin anorak one of the Crystal Ponies had made me. I tossed it in the corner of the tent along with my dagger and harpoon gun and crept onto the cot with Sombra. He let out an acknowledging little nicker when he felt my body heat against his as I lied down beside him. I peered over his shoulder, resting my snout on it and letting out a small yawn as I peered at the book held in his telekinesis against the cot. It was not a spellbook, like I had been expecting, but instead a small, beaten-up leather journal, bearing pages of hoofwritten runes that I couldn’t even hope to understand. Sombra’s writing and diagrams were impeccable, jotted down with care by a practiced hoof and expensive ink. “Looks like some boring shit,” I declared. “Important shit,” Sombra replied, yawning too. His horn shifted in hue from green to red as he turned a page—surely he was turning some spell over, casually getting a feel for it. “You’ll learn it someday soon, Celly,” he said, giving my ear a playful nibble. “Mm, you’re right. I surely rue the day,” I replied sardonically, and rose to my hooves for a moment.  There was a small mirror on Sombra’s desk, and I wandered over to it, plucking a bronze barrette out of my mane and letting the whole affair—now considerably longer than it had ever been in Cyclosa—down. I bit my lip, watching Sombra’s reflection in the mirror, as he continued poring over his notebook. There was really no questioning things—Sombra was a gifted stallion. I could hardly deny it; the talentless alicorn freak I was, I knew I was hardly at a position that justified my criticism. “I talked to Luna,” I said, wandering back to him, snuggling down beside him again, wrapping one of my wings over him as though it were a blanket. “How’s her lessons going?” “Adequately,” Sombra replied, flipping a page. “But, she still needs frequent correction. She responds well to feedback, but does little thinking of her own. I’m trying to teach her to write spells, not regurgitate them from a notebook.” “‘Correction?’” I repeated, for a moment feeling a little unnerved as the split-second image of Luna’s bruised snout reverberating through my head—as impossible as such an image was, considering Sombra hardly seemed the type. “What sort of correction are we talking about here?” “What are you suggesting?” Sombra said, shuffling out from under my wing. “That I have hit your sister?” I blinked. I’d thought I was being subtle, but Sombra’s response seemed to suggest otherwise. “No, Sommy. Of course I’m not suggesting that. I’m sorry.” Sombra softened in a moment, with a small chuckle. “Sommy. That’s a new one.” I laughed, too. “Sorry.” “Didn’t complain,” he stuck out a tongue. “Just observed. Luna say anything else?” “Uh… well, she mentioned she’s feeling homesick.” “Mm. That I know. She annoyed me to no end today,” Sombra replied. “You need to tell her to stop. It’s distracting her from her lessons.” “I know,” I echoed. “But I think she may be right. I think that perhaps taking the Sisyphys south would be a good—” “Celestia, your ‘thinking’ landed you on a slaver’s ship. Your ‘thinking’ stranded you in a trading cluster in the middle of nowhere. Your ‘thinking’ got your ship smashed nearly to pieces. And right now, your thinking would get all three of us killed and any hope for Erisia destroyed.” “But the food shortage! Don’t you think it would be a good idea to—” “No. There will always be enough food for you and your sister.” “And the rest of your ponies?” “...are capable hunters.” “In a land without things to hunt. Just where the hell is all the food coming from?” Sombra let out a long sigh, closed his book and intensified the light of his horn. “Stop arguing with me, Celestia. You are wrong here. You are a newcomer to these regions, yes?” “Yes,” I admitted. “Then stop pretending you understand how to survive in them, and listen to the word of somepony who does understand.” Sombra levitated the spellbook over to his desk, and then shifted his magic to the oil-lantern perched atop it. He twisted the knob on the side, and the tent was flooded into peaceful darkness. It hadn’t been doing much for warmth, but I felt a shiver when the light vanished all the same. Thankfully, Sombra must have felt it too, for he turned over, grabbing my body in a light embrace as he pulled the heavy wool blanket over us. “I’m sorry,” I said eventually. “Mm. It is no issue,” he replied, already sounding half-asleep. “After travelling so far in so little time, it must feel strange to have your journey so abruptly halted, after all.” “Mm,” I let out a sigh. “That’s one way of putting it.” For a while, we lay silent. I listened to Sombra’s soft breathing, watching my own rise as vapour. It came to me, as I was lying beside Sombra, that this was something I’d never experienced before. This closeness. A bond like this… it felt so natural. It was so new to me, but I knew exactly what to say and do. If somepony were to ask me what I saw in Sombra, I don’t believe I could have adequately said. There was no singular reason, truthfully. Was it even who he was, or was it the idea of the two of us that was so compelling? I had in my mind some romantacized vision of the two of us, sailing the Sisyphys across the bird roads, seeking some level of meaning in the lost and dead plains of Erisia. “Celestia?” Sombra said eventually. Incoming unconsciousness had turned all of his words into a slur, but that was okay. “Is there something you are hiding from me?” It was subtle, but I felt him shift a little from me, instinctively shirking away from our contact. He took the wool blanket with him, and I shivered a little at the creeping cold. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, but truthfully, I did. After we had kissed, it felt as though my mind had been flowing into his—like it were some old bucket with a pinprick hole on its underside. Still, I had held onto the raising of the sun as best I could. Neither Luna, nor Sombra had to hear of that. Sombra exhaled. At first, I thought he was angry, but instead he leaned back, nuzzling his snout in the scruff of my neck. “You’re a terrible liar, Celly.” "Guess I am," I said. "Good night, Sombra." "Good night, Celly. I love you." "Love you too." We spoke no further, at peace in each other's warmth, the sound of our lungs fighting the Arctic easing the two of us into dreams. iv Into dreams I awoke. I was standing in the snow, although I could feel no cold around me. The snow was still and the Sun was down, and there was no sign of the camp or anypony else around me. "Child, we must speak," the Voice said. Jerking around, I saw her for the first time. She stood far taller than me, matching my size at least three-times over. Her coat was pure white—I'd never seen a mare so beautiful in my life. There wasn't a fleck of dirt or imperfection upon it, nor on her long blue-and-white mane. She had no wings, but her horn was nearly as long as my entire body. "Alright," I said, taking a single step towards her. I knew as though by instinct that this mare meant me no harm, even if she had done little to prove such. "You've been taunting me for nearly a year. Who the hell are you?" "I have had many names through the ages. My personal favourite, I think, is 'Majesty', although there have certainly been others." "Okay, Majesty," I said, taking another step forwards. I outstretched my wings for her to see. "You're responsible for these, I assume?" "I am." "Why?" I asked, looking from the wing to her. "You chose us, right? Of all the ponies in Erisia, you chose me and Luna?" "That... is mostly true," Majesty said, pursing her lip. "I was, admittedly, limited in my choices. You see, I... am not necessarily what you see before you." "A unicorn?" "A physical being," Majesty replied. "Child, I'm sorry, but could you please fall silent and listen to what I must tell you? I promise that in time the rest will all be made more clear to you, but for now, I need you to listen." I bit my lip. I was growing rather tired of being told to shut up and listen—it'd been happening my whole damn life, after all, and just when I thought it was a life I'd left behind in Erisia, here was this...deity, or spirit, or whatever the hell she was, doing the same to me... Still, she'd sounded sincere, and so I obeyed, staying my tongue. "I had been hoping you would progress alone, without my aid, but I see you are limited in what you can do," Majesty said. "So far from Discord, my influence is stronger. This is why you have been seeing more visions of me, and your sister the same." Majesty walked past me, staring out at the horizon line so far away. "However, he is approaching, Celestia. He knows you have fled to the North, and he is growing impatient. I have kept him back as best I can, but he is stronger than I. Soon, even I will be unable to stop him. He will not hesitate to kill you, nor your sister, when this happens." "Trust me, I need no reminder," I replied, looking down at my hooves. "But what am I supposed to do?" "You have discussed it with your other, have you not?" I blinked. My what? Sombra?! "No no no," I gave a squawking laugh. "He's not that. He's a friend, Majesty, nothing—" "I do not care. The point is, you have discussed these affairs, yes?" "Yes," I admitted. "And I've tried. I'm getting close, I know I am. I just need more time." "It is fading from you, child," Majesty said soberly, still not facing me. "You are hope the likes you cannot comprehend. Your sister has begun to progress along the path of her fate, but you have stubbornly rooted yourself apart from your own." "Luna? What do you mean? What's her fate, relative to mine?!" "That is her path to know, not yours. Now, awaken, child, and know this. Discord has no mercy. You are living only by virtue of his ignorance, and such is fading ever-so-rapidly." I awoke indeed, out of a cold-sweat, jerking upwards from Sombra and my cot and nearly striking my head onto the top of the tent. "Mm," Sombra let out a low moan. "Bad dream?" "No," I let out a long breath from my nose. "Weird one." Yawning, Sombra illuminated his horn, looking at me with half-closed eyes as wakefulness slowly crept upon him. "Details?" "Sombra, have you ever heard of somepony named Majesty?" In an instant, the sleeplessness vanished from him. "You dreamed of her?" "I've been dreaming of her. For the better part of a year, at random occurences. But much more frequently up here." "That's..." he scratched an ear. "...not particularly surprising. She has more of a presence up here." "What is she?" "I don't know, but you are not alone in dreaming of her. Some of my Crystal Ponies have spoken of some benevolent spirit roaming the Frozen North. I've never dreamed of her, but others have." "She..." I gulped. "She mentioned Discord. She said he's getting closer." Sombra rolled over on the cot, facing me once again. I'd never seen fear light his expression before, but when his eyes locked upon me, it was as clear as day. He lightly outstretched a hoof, cradling it around my neck a little. Then he pulled me closer into an embrace, his breathing weary and unsettled. "I know, Celestia," he said, sounding ready to weep. "And I don't know what to do about it." iv Just where the hell was the food coming from? It was a question that, no matter how many times Sombra reminded me I knew nothing, I still couldn’t shake. It wasn’t something that could be disproved with experience. It was cold fact. Nopony but Discord could produce food from a land without life, and I was fairly certain none of us were in league with Discord. For a while, I had simply thought there was some secret stash of food that Sombra had been dipping into to feed Luna and I, but the more I thought on it, the more it seemed peculiar. Just why, then, would it be a secret in the first place? If it was only intended for me and Luna, then why would he bother keeping it a secret from the both of us? It just didn’t make any sense. I asked him, and his reply had been level and vague. He’d been focused elsewhere, horn aglow and mind churning with tactics and planning, and his answer had been dismissive at best. Still, it was enough to satisfy me then, and it was only later that I realized I was still clueless. A more selfish part of me was screaming for me to simply drop it. Sombra was good, I loved him… why would I possibly be exercising the concept of him holding secrets from me? Why would I deprive myself of him, when more likely, it was Luna who was right—I simply wasn’t used to being this satisfied with my life. Staring over at the slow rise and fall of Sombra’s chest, his maw open in a comically exaggerated snore, I bit my lip. None of that mattered. At the end of the day, the cold facts were still there. Food was appearing out of thin air. Mysterious food that even Sombra could not place an animal to. It was an insidious thought that I couldn’t shake. I started paying more and more attention, and I seemed to have traced the source of it to The Last Recluse. I’d never been in the ship, but I’d seen through her windows before. There was nothing particularly striking about it—it was a smaller and cleaner counterpart to the junky Sisyphys. I helped Sombra tinker with both of them—even helping him install a rotary gun atop the Sisyphys’s back window—but truthfully, I had only a passing interest in airships. That is, while Sombra saw them as a passion, I thought they were more a tool. Either way, come dinner, the food came from the cargo hold of The Last Recluse. It was as cold as the rest of the Frozen North, but sheltered enough to avoid frost-bite, so it made sense to store it there, but the idea that I was being fed some mysterious meat whose origin I had no grasp on ultimately made logic matter less and less. I didn’t tell Sombra. These thoughts had been reverberating in my head as I stared at the rise and fall of his stomach on his side of the cot, and ultimately, they culminated into a single burst. “Fuck it,” I thought firmly, and rose from the cot as quietly as I could. I took the oil lantern in my telekinesis, and then, for no reason at all, I also grabbed my harpoon gun and dagger, before ducking out of the tent and into the deserted Crystal Pony camp. The Last Recluse was lying lonely away from all other signs of life. I trotted to her quickly, dimming the oil lantern as I approached. There were no lights on within, and I hadn’t been expecting there to be. Truthfully, I wasn’t expecting anything except to be proven an overthinking dolt, and so I didn’t think much as I tried the door to the gondola of the ship. Unsurprisingly, it was locked, but it was also frozen. Using the blunt end of the harpoon gun, I gave the lock a few firm whacks. It snapped off easily, and I perched the gun once more over my shoulder and ducked inside, closing the door silently behind me. The deck of the ship was uninteresting and I was quick to disregard in favour of the cargo hold below. It was a small compartment not much bigger than a walk-in closet, fitted onto the underside of the ship in a way not dissimilar to the hold on the Damask Rose, only far more compact. As I approached the hold, the first thing I noticed was the smell. I’d smelt such a thing before—it was plentiful in Cyclosa, like most of the other unpleasant smells I’d grown to regard as normal. Back in the Scrapyard, I had a distinct memory of finding a small litter of wildcats feeding off of the rotting corpse of what I assumed was their mother. The smell emanating from the cargo hold was the same, which, again, was unsurprising considering the nature of my investigations. Still, nothing could have prepared me for what the light of the oil lantern washed upon. Limbs. They were hanging from meat-hooks perched on the ceiling of the hold. Some looked to belong to seals or whales, but the larger percentage… I don’t quite know why, but I instantly felt like retching. I did so violently, accidentally caking my parka and mane with bits of sick. They were all dangling freely, like some exaggerated display in a horror story. Hind and fore legs of cervine species and even the occasional pony. I backed slowly, back up the stairs and onto the deck of The Last Recluse. I did so in a trance, my mind both reeling and calm, as every piece of the last four months slowly turned over within. The dead guards, that Sombra had insisted we bring back to the camp with us. The ever fluctuating population of Crystal Ponies. The secrecy behind it all, behind every non-answer Sombra had given me. I threw up again, this time onto the glass of The Last Recluse’s front window. Panting, I looked up, and nearly screamed as I saw dancing lantern light approaching The Last Recluse. Cursing, I extinguished my own—I’d forgotten it was even still on in my horrified trance—but I knew it was too late. I couldn’t make out any faces, but I know it was Sombra all the same. The only door I could hope to exit from was the one I had entered from, and so I started towards it. The ponies had been approaching from the opposite port side of the ship, so I exited into silent black night. I had half a mind to sprint out blindly into it, but such would be suicide. Instead, I crept around the ship with the intent to find Luna and get to the Sisyphys. I made it all of ten steps before Sombra stepped around the curvature of The Last Recluse’s balloon, regarding me with a calm frown. He looked ready to say something, so I spoke before he could. “Get away from me. Stay back.” I grabbed the harpoon gun in my magic, pointing it directly at Sombra. It perhaps would have been easier if he'd been the monster I'd been expecting out of the situation. Instead, his expression was exactly what it should have been—he didn't look like some emotionless murderer, but instead a desperate and concerned lover, begging to be understood. "Celestia, please. You need to listen to me. I swear to you, there is an explanation for this." “I don’t want to hear it!” I shot back, my voice a panicked shrill. I’d seen monsters and I’d seen evil and I’d regarded both with passing annoyance, but seeing this of Sombra, a stallion I'd spent the last four months falling in love with? This was something that seemed outside of my survivalist instinct. “Please, Celestia. You need to understand what it’s like living up here,” Sombra said. "Do you seriously think I want this? I don't, and I hate it with every fibre of my being. But this is what Discord has forced me to do. He's taken away every other chance I've had, and this is the only way there is to survive." “I’m getting Luna,” I whispered ignoring him completely, taking a step back, away from The Last Recluse. “We’re leaving.” “Please, Celestia,” Sombra was begging. There was no attempt at manipulation on his part, he seemed genuinely shattered. I didn't care. "They knew. The ponies you saw in there. They were dying, and I spoke with them. They wanted this, after they passed. Do you seriously think me some raving lunatic, that I would do this to my own ponies, on my own authority? They knew this is what would happen to them, and they accepted. The Crystal Ponies know that death is natural, and they—" "Shut. Up." I lit my horn, trying to conjure defensive magic without having any idea what it was I was doing. I knew damn well it wouldn't be enough against Sombra. Looking about ready to weep, Sombra illuminated his horn, and all at once, as though the force of four months had hit me in that moment, it came to me. Sombra’s horn had always been glowing. It seemed like every time I had argued with him, he had begun casting magic—lighting a cigar, reading a book… always red, and hadn’t it always been green? “Calm down, Celestia,” Sombra commanded. “Please, just calm down, and think this through.” “It’s you,” I took another step backwards. “This whole fucking time, it’s been you! What the hell have you been doing to me?” “I’ve been helping you,” Sombra replied. “I’ve been keeping you and your sister alive.” “I kissed you…” I thought aloud in horror. I’d done more than kiss! For four months, I’d had these feelings! “How much of it was even me?” “All of it was you. You were happy by my side. You will be happy.” “If I’d have known what you were doing to me, I never would have—” “Celestia, I was merely guiding you. Helping you make the decisions that deep down, I know you wanted to make. I would never force you to be anything destiny has not laid out for you.” “Get the fuck away from me,” I said pathetically in response, still backing up, not quite sure why I hadn’t already turned tail and sprinted to Luna. It didn’t matter, anyways. Sombra had taken a step closer to me, and without hesitating, he wrenched the harpoon gun from my grasp. I snarled, instantly trying to draw my dagger instead, but he knocked me back with a simple flare of his magic. I tumbled backwards across the snow, my skull thudding against The Last Recluse’s wooden gondola. I scrambled up, just in time to see the same glowing red flare of Sombra’s magic. For what seemed like a shaky moment, the world felt like it was being compressed. It was as though eveything I could see and hear was being forcibly shrunken, until I could hardly make it out. I was cast into a muddy blur somewhere in limbo between wakefulness and dream. I felt myself being dragged back into The Last Recluse, but it had felt as though it both was and was not happening. It was only when I felt my back strike something hard that I was jerked back to Erisia, the last traces of Sombra’s magic fading from me as he released me from whatever spell he had been casting. And when I was, everything came into focus immediately. The blaring light of an oil lamp held straight up to my eyes. Sombra’s outline hanging over me, his magic keeping me pinned to some manner of large table. “Get off of me!” I shrieked, my back hooves flailing about, trying and failing to make contact with Sombra’s still-cloaked form. “I swear to every god that’s listening, I’ll make you bl—” “Shut up!” Sombra snarled, bringing his dagger down onto the table inches from my snout. “You had your chance, Celestia. And you blew it. It’s your own fault for making me have to do this.” “Do what?” I snarled. “You gonna kill me now? Your precious, irreplaceable alicorn saviour?” “No,” Sombra said. “I’m just going to fix you.” Sombra motioned to one of the Crystal Ponies without turning. As he spoke, he removed my dagger from its sheath, and brought the blade against my neck instead. “Muktuk, keep that bow nocked, just in case. Qimi’q, have the spell ready for me.” “What spell? What are you doing to me?” I questioned again, this time unable to keep the fear out of my cracking voice. “You have potential you can’t ever comprehend,” Sombra replied. “And you want to waste it on yourself. But not after tonight.” I tried not to show my fear as I bared my teeth once more. “I’m not changing my mind, you crystal freaks.” “Tell me Celestia, do you know what it even feels like to be anything more than an alicorn?” I blinked. My struggling stopped for a moment, and I simply stared in confusion. “What?” I croaked. “Do you remember what it feels like to be nothing?” Sombra spat. “You were useless. You would have lived and died a waste, if it hadn’t been for those wings of yours!” “I never asked for them!” I screamed back. “And you’re wrong! I would have made something of myself, wings or not!” “You’re a liar,” Sombra snarled. “I had nothing. No gift of fate like you. I built the only resistance in Erisia that matters to Discord, and I did it alone.” I didn’t speak—I couldn’t. I was scanning the tent I now found myself in,desperately seeking something. I’d been close to death so many times before, but this was something different. Even with Willow’s sword to my throat, there had been hope for Luna. But if Sombra were allowed to succeed here? She would never even know what was happening to her until it had already happened. “Your fate...” Sombra was saying, “...Whether Erisia is with you or against, is to face Discord. If you really don’t know what gave you wings, how can you deny that?” “I… I don’t…” “You don’t know, because you simply cannot  think for anypony besides you or your sister. You are a product of Erisia,” Sombra said. “And you’re not?” “No, I am not. I may have been ignored by destiny, but that does not mean I haven't made my own. I will claw my way from this wretched world if I have to kill Discord myself in order to do so. I will show Erisia a land of peace and prosperity. And you, Celestia?” Sombra frowned. “You’re… call it whatever you want. A queen. A love. An ally. The point is, you are a tool for achieving my destiny. In that sense, you’re really no different from the Crystal Ponies.” “Do you really think I’d consider myself any of those things now?” I shrilled. “You act as though you haven’t already been,” Sombra said, shaking his head sadly. “I tried to do this kindly, and you spat all over my hospitality. But it doesn’t matter. This is the way things were always supposed to be.” A storm of pure, unbridled terror overtook me, as Sombra brought the scroll up to his snout. My mind conjured images of the rest of the passive Crystal Ponies. Bowing when told, revelling in Sombra’s glory. Really, it was no different from the way things had been in Erisia. The king was different, perhaps, but little else had changed. And then, there was myself, bowing to him along with the rest of them with a smile on my snout. Except I was bowing as his wife. I felt like retching once again. “Neztesa, Tozhe miy, yakyy z’haakyvyy slovo..” Sombra was reading, the scroll beginning to spark to life. “No, wait!” I said. “Please! Let me at least… at least say something to my sister! Please! She needs to understand!” “I don’t need her,” Sombra replied, glancing lazily up from the scroll. “She’s weak. A hindrance, really.” “But can I just—” “You’re not weaseling out of this one, Celestia. You’ve killed too many of my ponies to be in the frame of my mercy. Now shut up, or I’ll have Muktuk here cut out your tongue.” I don’t know if it was some sort of placebo induced by my panicked mind, or if it was a direct result of Sombra’s scroll, but my head had begun to pound as though some monster were trying to claw it’s way out. My thoughts were scattered about, becoming distant, hard to identify blurs in a sea of confusion. “Shh, Celestia,” Sombra cooed, and I only then realized my chest was rising and falling furiously. “This is your destiny. I’ve looked into the eyes of fate, and they’ve willed this to be. I know you can see it, too.” I didn’t reply beyond a raspy cough, blood spattering out and onto my stomach as I did. “It’s okay, Celestia,” Sombra said gently, stroking my mane. “Soon, this will all be a bad memory. My feelings for you were never false, and I don’t ever aim to hurt you again.” I opened my mouth to reply—I don’t quite know if it had been agreement or protest on my tongue. Either way, nothing formed into words spoken aloud. Sombra’s smile widened. He was now almost completely relaxed atop me. Muktuk was watching, looking somewhat bored, as though what had felt like minutes to me had in actuality passed through hours. In my confused, shifting mind, I had already begun to calculate what would ensue. I don’t know if it was thanks to Sombra’s spell that I was allowed to do so—indeed, it seemed he had successfully seeped away my panic and fear, but in its place, something else seemed to have crept up. What happened next happened without hesitation on my part. Or, perhaps it did not, but my trance-like mind hardly remembered it as such. I spat, directly into Sombra’s face. Then, at the same moment my saliva struck his face, I pushed my rear hooves out with all of my might against his stomach. Sombra went careening into Muktuk, but not before the Crystal Ponies’ nocked arrow was let loose. It whistled for a milisecond before striking my thigh. Snarling in fury and pain, I grabbed Sombra’s dagger still stuck in the table with one of my trembling hooves, and stuck it directly into Qimi’q’s throat just as he made to tackle me down. The heavyset stallion hit the ground still making grotesque gurgling noises, blood almost comically squirting from the jagged cut in his neck. Sombra was already rising and charging magic by time I turned, a savage maw of sharp teeth bared in fury. I wordlessly responded with a snarl of my own, and withdrew the dagger from Qimi’q in my telekinesis, flinging it towards Sombra instead. He ducked, and it struck Muktuk in the barrel instead. Nonetheless, Sombra’s dodge had bought me a precious Manehattan Minute, and it was enough for me to tear towards the flap of the elkskin tent. The howling wind became deafening in an instant, and I emerged into a complete white-out with no idea where to go. Another blizzard seemed to have cropped up out of nowhere, thankfully veiling me to my pursuers but casting me into an ever shifting maze. Finding Luna was my priority, but then what? I couldn't hope to fly in this weather, right? Knowing Sombra was right on my hooves, I limped as swiftly as I could manage out into the snow, following the red wire stretching between the tents lost in the whiteout like isles in the middle of the sea.