Chapter 34
“And just how long do I have to wear this stupid thing, Ross?” complained Lighthearted loudly while tugging at the leather choke collar tightly gripped around her neck, “Of all the stuff you've made me do today, this is the worst.”
He was taking her to the top floor of the castle, having spent the day pampering her in front of King Sombra to make it quite obvious that the mare was 'his'. The king had sneered and taken a perverse joy in embarrassing the little waitress, asking Rosseth to slather unneeded makeup on her face and force her to throw her hooves around him whenever he asked her to do so. Lighthearted had put up with the whole 'mistress' disguise for this payoff, to learn what his plan was.
“Only until we can get you back to the Crystal Empire tomorrow morning,” the zebra answered firmly, “I saw what Midnight Blaze did to Flaming Ivory. He put a mind control device just to get him to stop trash talking others. Who knows what he'd do to you if I can't convince him you're mine...”
“All right,” she answered reluctantly, letting the slaving collar go, “honestly though, I think you have it worse. Sombra's about to make you fight against the Crystal Guard! They might be a bit slow sometimes, but they could really hurt you.”
“I have a plan,” he assured, “and I'll tell you it once we get to the chemistry lab. There's something I need to do with the potion brewery.”
Lighthearted marveled at the thought, “Woah, so you weren't lying about being a potion-maker?”
“Of course I wasn't lying,” he said, “it's a skill that runs in my family tree. My zebra half of the family tree that is.”
Returning to the stargazing room turned laboratory felt weird to him, climbing up all those stairs again with the difference being that the staircase had been cleaned and inviting instead of dark and aged as he had first found them. They climbed up to the top of the seemingly endless well, and stepped into the candle-lit atmosphere of the refurbished rounded chamber. The floor had been completely repaired, showing that it was made of a more sturdy tile than what Rosseth had remembered, and all his potion making equipment was back in working order, including the giant cauldron he had mixed the revival brew from. Magical lights dotted the walls, the glowing runs providing an inviting yellow glow. Much like the other lab that had been converted into a missile silo, this other observatory still had a rusted spot on the floor where the telescope had been at some point in history.
But once he had entered, he heard a muffled cry, giving him reason to pause. Rosseth thought the voice was familiar, and ushered Lighthearted into the room carefully. There in the back of the room sat Techorse, curled up into a ball and keeping his face hidden in his front hooves.
Lighthearted frowned and walked over to the stallion, sitting down next to him, “Are you okay?”
Techorse refused to lift his face up, although it was obvious he was stained with tears, “I'll be fine. I just needed some time to myself.”
“Techorse, what happened?” Rosseth asked.
The stallion refused to look at him, but kept his enemy in the corner of his eyes, “King Sombra... murdered Shadow with an explosive device.”
Lighthearted gasped at the news, and Rosseth felt his legs turn to gelatin, only able to word, “What?!”
Techorse could barely talk, tears and the lump in his throat blocking him, “Sombra put a cursed collar on Shadow Breeze that must have been primed to explode if he told the Crystal Ponies where we were. When he did... he was gone. Just like that.”
“Techorse... I'm so sorry.”
“I hope you're happy, Rosseth,” the inventor said, finally making eye contact and revealing his bloodshot, angry expression, “do you think everypony's suffered enough yet for your stupid problems?”
“If you'd let me speak...”
“What do you have to say that could change anything?” he shouted, deafening Lighthearted, “You helped TAKE MY FRIEND FROM ME!!”
Rosseth watched his saddle open up and the laser cannons inside point right at his sternum. This time he wasn't going to be able to fake his way out of it if Techorse decided to fire. The guns tracked the zebra while he took off a pair of saddlebags he was wearing, and put them gently on the floor. He then relaxed his muscles, stretching out his legs one at a time while noticing the unmoving beam weapons rattling with Techorse's shaking.
“If you really believe that shooting me will help, do it,” Rosseth suggested, “I can see that you believe I deserve it.”
Techorse wanted nothing more than to put a burning set of puncture wounds in the zebra, but there was a blatant look of regret slapped on his brown and white muzzle. A pause came, followed by a pair of weapons retracting into a saddle.
“You really didn't mean for any of this to happen, did you?” Techorse asked, swallowing a lump of phlegm, “You're sorry now?”
“You have no idea. Sombra called out to me through his horn in a dream before I even found it for sale,” he explained, eyes on the ground, “He convinced me that I could have my revenge on Cadance without violence, just chaos for the Crystal Empire. He offered me a chance to feel vindicated.”
“But now he sees how much of a huge idiot he was,” Lighthearted said, empathizing with Techorse, “and he's on your side.”
“I don't think I can actually apologize for what happened to Shadow Breeze,” Rosseth said, ears down and eyes closed, “I can't be forgiven for his death, or getting us into this. But I will get you out of it before I take my revenge on Cadance myself and end this.”
“You still want to get back at Cadance?” Techorse sniffed, “That's what started all of this!”
“Rosseth, you're scaring me,” agreed Lighthearted, “what are you talking about?”
He started to dig into the saddlebags dropped on the floor with a hoof, “I haven't decided what that means yet, but it doesn't mean what you think it means, I swear! Just trust me, and let me explain what I'm trying to do here.”
Out of the bags came the Lunar Chalice, the bright silver cup reflecting the light in the room.
“You're going to try to make a potion?” Techorse asked, “But the chalice won't be powered up for another month.”
“Don't be so sure”, he said, stepping to the left and kicking the gear train to open the roof, “I wouldn't be wasting your time if I couldn't make the necessary potion, and I'm going to need the Lunar Chalice to do it!”
The lights in the room extinguished, and Techorse expected the usual darkness of night. But instead, the room was now bathed in a lighter, more clear glow. Looking up with Lighthearted, both of them felt their breath taken away by the sight of a perfectly full and glowing lunar body shining down on the room.
“A blue moon!” Techorse awed.
Rosseth held the cup aloft, watching it come to life in the moonlight, “It's a bit of coincidence that tonight would be a blue moon. Do you believe maybe Princess Luna is giving me one more chance?”'
Drying his tears, Techorse answered with confidence, “I can ask her when I get back.”
With their assistance, Rosseth was able to ignite a fire under the cauldron and get a potion brew going again underneath the moonlight. Green caustic chemicals swirled into blue base ingredients, coming to a rolling boil in the heat of the pot. Whereas the potion to resurrect Sombra used a carbon base to create a corporeal form for him, this new potion seemed to stray as far away from organics as possible, and each new ingredient made the mixture lighter and lighter, reflecting the moonlight perfectly.
“We're ready for the final ingredient,” Rosseth proclaimed, standing over the cauldron, “Techorse, I need you to hold the Lunar Chalice as high up as possible after I've added the catalyst to it.”
Nodding, Techorse took the magic cup from the sorcerer, his robotic arms grabbing it and keeping it level. Rosseth reached with his hoof, and brushed over his cape, bringing up a single lengthy black hair.
“A mane hair from King Sombra, to provide an imprint of his kind... the Shadow Pony.”
Adding it to the cup, Rosseth poured a solution made from milk and enzymes to draw the genetic coding out of the hair. The follicle at the base of the strand did indeed split apart into its base components, the organic compounds and bases separating out and permeating the solution. It turned a sickly black color, its viscosity changing from milk into motor oil, giving him the sign that the process was finished.
“Techorse, activate the chalice!” he ordered.
The stallion stood on his hind legs and held the chalice up as high as possible, the servos in the thin, jointed arms carrying it over his head. Moonlight entered the chalice, the gemstones around its neck glowed and flashed, beginning to purify the liquid within it. Soon the mixture was glowing and pure white again, and Rosseth could see the chalice had done its job.
“It's ready!”
Techorse returned the chalice to Rosseth, who chanted a strange incantation in the old zebra language, before pouring the mixture in a clockwise circle into the cauldron. The near radioactive mixture reacted surprisingly subtly to the enchanted liquid containing Sombra's hereditary information, at least as opposed to the violent explosion that had summoned him. It burned a furious white for only a moment, and then became a creamy, luminescent potion that felt warm from several feet away. Rosseth brought out a large potion bottle made of glass and gold wavy lining, and filled it completely with the substance in the cauldron, draining the rest into a smaller bottle he kept for himself.
“This needs to go into the fuel tank of the missile,” Rosseth told Techorse, giving him the large bottle to hold.
“What will it do?” he asked, needing to know.
“The potion is an ancient recipe passed down by my ancestors,” Rosseth warned, “it is a powerful curse removal meant to be poured directly on the perpetrator of the curses, robbing them of their power. I believe if this were to be spread over an area, Sombra would be burnt trying to touch it.”
Rosseth smiled as he watched Techorse figure it out verbally, “So if this hits the Crystal Empire, it'll overtake the afradium and make the Crystal Empire immune to King Sombra's magic!”
“I'm sure you have a scientifically sound reason for believing that,” Rosseth said jokingly.
Becoming more serious, he warned Techorse, “I do have to mention, Techorse. This potion's cleansing magic is so strong, it may severely harm a Shadow Pony just because of their innate connection to dark magic. Make sure not to spill it on Midnight Blaze.”
“I understand,” Techorse acknowledged, “what I don't understand is why you are helping me now after trying to get rid of me this whole time. Or at least, this was about Cadance.”
The zebra stepped away from his cauldron, and approached Lighthearted, her beautiful face basking in the moonlight's glow.
“It's not just about Cadance, or you... or even getting back at Sombra,” he said, the mare making deep eye contact with him, “somepony taught me over these past few days that there's more to life than just settling scores and achieving things.”
“Rosseth, stop... you're embarrassing me,” she said, blushing at what was coming, “besides, we were just caught up in the moment and well, look at you parents... you probably think a zebra and pony relationship wouldn't really work... right?”
“Lighthearted, forget my parents, forget everything. I'm setting things right... because I love you,” he said, eyes soft and head titled to her.
She stared into his deep eyes, and feeling the passion, locked lips tightly with her new-found love, this time meaning it with every ounce of her body. Techorse couldn't help but stare, his expression relaxing and his smile coming back to him. Once they were finished with their romantic moment, the zebra and the mare were in each other's embrace, Lighthearted resting her head on his back.
“I... I love you too, Ross,” she said softly, “we're going to make it through this! We're gonna kick Sombra's sorry flank together!”
He kissed her neck, and guided her into standing at his side, their warm barrels pressed together.
“I guess you've defeated me after all,” Rosseth said, bowing slightly, “congratulations, Techorse. You outlasted my hatred for Cadance... and I finally feel happy for once in my life.”
“I never consider this defeating someone,” Techorse answered, shaking his head, “this is way better than winning some fight.”
“I agree,” said the zebra, “can you make sure this gets into the rocket tonight? Tomorrow I will warn the Crystal Empire about it once I slip away from the golem army. Sombra expects me to lead them, and I need to 'accidentally' get captured, if you catch my drift.”
Techorse picked up the bottle again, mechanical noises coming from the arms and manipulators, “Right. I'll make sure this gets in so we can end this for good.”
He walked over to the stairwell and vanished down it with the bottle carefully held to him, his hoofsteps fading as he descended. This left Rosseth and Lighthearted alone in the bright light of the lunar reflection.
“So how about that daycare you'd like to open?” joked the zebra, giving her a smirk.
“Oh, we'll get to that,” she teased, “but you know something? I think I'm starting to like this stupid collar.”
The mare brought him in tight in her embrace, rubbing her cheek against his, “What do you think?”
He closed his eyes, “Nope, it's just as dumb as this cape I walk around in, and you know it.”
Laughing to themselves, they shed the unwanted articles of clothing, leaving their true selves cuddling in the light of the full moon.
Midnight enjoyed the fine taste of an ancient Shadow Pony hay steak recipe Sombra had the cooks prepare for that evening. The soft-cutting grass felt chewy and moist to his teeth, gravy exploring each of his taste buds. Beside him on the floor of the long dining hall, his new puppy was hastily scarfing a bowl of kibble out of a dish Midnight had carved for him out of ivory, no doubt helping to spoil the pooch. Dreamer's tail wagged all over while he chowed down in contrast to the careful bites Midnight took with a hovered fork and knife. But while masticating the latest bite of food, he felt a sharp poke on the corner of his tongue.
“Probably a bit of bone in this steak,” he thought.
But then he reconsidered, pausing his chewing, “Wait a minute... hay doesn't have bones.”
He swallowed his food, and summoned with a flash of light blue energy a small hand-held mirror. Opening his mouth, Midnight took notice of two brand new sharpened canines occupying the place his forward teeth used to have in his maw.
“Weird,” he said aloud.
Dreamer let out a guttural noise from the rest of the food going down his gullet a bit too fast.
“Try chewing next time,” warned the future prince sarcastically.
His puppy sat down and looked up at him with his big green eyes, whimpering at his master. Midnight ran a hoof over the wolf's head, trying to soothe his pet's worry.
“I guess you're sensing some sadness in me,” he mused, dark magic still clearly at the helm, “it's true, I am going to miss Shadow Breeze. Maybe I should find a way to honor him tomorrow before my coronation.”
The feral dog licked the hoof rubbing his head in approval, earning some more pets and attention for it.
“Midnight Blaze.”
He looked up and saw Sombra enter. Dreamer growled at the king before Midnight pushed him behind his chair.
Sombra seemed to ignore the pet's defiance, “Tomorrow is your coronation, but there is still one more thing you need to learn in order to truly become my son.”
“And what is that?” he asked, pushing his plate away.
“Our origin,” he said, raising his head and letting his mane flow, “the heritage of our kind and why we are worthy to rule alone.”
Another walk down a long hallway, and another magical re-arranging of the castle elements around them brought Midnight and Sombra to an atrium on the east facing wall of the stronghold. Here, multiple stained glass windows similar in design to the ones of Canterlot bore images of what Sombra intended to show to Midnight. They stopped in front of the first pane of glass, the moonlight filtering through the colored opaque window. Jagged edges and subtle shapes showed an image of many castles similar to Sombra's in the Valley of Shadows, with many of his kind at the bottom happy and carefree.
“Many years ago”, began the king, “the Shadow Ponies settled this valley in hopes of claiming a piece of the continent for themselves when all of ponykind migrated to escape the Great Freeze. We were always different from the others being only unicorns and in touch with Dark Magic, and we needed a home to call our own. Just past the volcanic region of the Valley of Shadows we found this fertile grassland and settled it. Through our developments in magical equipment, we made great things, and we all lived in castles of our own. But... we were alone.”
Moving his son over to the next window in the narrative, Midnight looked at the image, this time it was less panoramic and more figurative, with a beautiful white crystal palace on the left side, and the dark stone of the shadow palace on the right. In the middle, a pink mare on the left extended a hoof of friendship to the shadow pony on the right.
“We decided to brave the cold in the southwest of the valley to see if there were others to establish connections with,” he continued in his deep, masculine tones, “and soon we came across the original Crystal Empire, a beautiful city in the middle of the frozen wasteland, a beacon of warmth even more beautiful than the warm, fertile volcanic valley. Since we had limited land to grow food, we decided a simple trade route of our trinkets for some of their produce and farming tools would be fair, and at first, they accepted our offer.”
“The Crystal Ponies must have hated your dark magic, I'd take it?” Midnight questioned, raising an eyebrow curiously.
“We were less than trusted the entire time,” Sombra confirmed, pushing his hoof into the floor with a subtle level of anger, “many of the citizens of the Crystal Empire were happy to have neighbors to trade with. But the aristocracy of the Crystal Empire despised us as outsiders, evil, and plotting to eliminate their wealth and power. For you see, Midnight Blaze, the Crystal Empire lacked a princess at the time. The prior Crystal Princess had... eloped with a certain stallion.”
“Who?”
“He's not important to us,” Sombra admitted, grunting, “all that we knew was that the princess had shirked her duties, leading the Crystal Empire to grow rancid with the corruption of the wealthy. The de-facto leader, Lattice, wanted to see us wiped off the map so that the Crystal Ponies wouldn't develop independence from their leadership through economic success trading with us. To make sure we never returned, they committed an evil unforgivable by any standards, even the Two Sisters would have found them revolting had they been told the truth.”
Midnight wrinkled his muzzle, “What are you talking about?”
Sombra moved him to the next picture in the sequence, which was darkened and harder to see than the other panes of glass. Seeing his adopted son squint, Sombra fired a small pulse of light into the base of the image, the magical energy traveled up the pane of glass and revealed the image. Midnight felt his heart sink, and he could hear in his mind the screams and terror of the innocent. The image showed the Crystal Palace in the distance, a single pane of stained glass in white in the shape of a heart was in the center of the tower, and a long beam of white energy was aimed down at several dark castles, destroying them. Images of ponies fleeing and being turned to dust in the wake of the beam of light overwhelmed his mind, the Dark Magic present in the glass carving a perfect image of terror and destruction into his memories.
“They... they weaponized the Crystal Heart,” Midnight gasped, a distressed gargle coming from his throat, “they turned the Shadow Ponies to dust.”
“I was out spending time with Autumn Wheat when it happened,” Sombra said, the memories of his kind bringing tears even to his hardened eyes, “we saw the beam of light arc into the Valley, and when I brought her there... our castles were leveled. Those who had survived decided to leave, and I never heard from them again.”
Drying his eyes with his cape, Sombra regained his composure and bore his fangs, “But I stayed, and I vowed that the Crystal Empire's leaders would pay for their treachery. It seemed that their evil had powered my will, activating something deep within me, and I became the strongest Dark Magic user the world had ever seen. I rebuilt my castle, Autumn Wheat at my side, and developed the golem army within just days. With fire in my heart, we marched on the Empire in the dead of night.”
The final pane of glass in the room lit up, showing a picture of Sombra standing victorious over the ruins of the Crystal Empire, the ponies beneath him piled in a defeated heap. His cape and other wear detailed to the finest point that stained glass could provide, Midnight felt a sense of pride in being a descendant of the leader. Perhaps this pane was the least accurate of them all, but Sombra revered it the most, given that it was the largest and most complex work of art in the private hallway. Notably, another image of the Crystal Palace appeared, this time with flames coming from the sides, and a broken heart of light blue glass in the center.
“When we attacked I expected fierce resistance, but when I arrived even the thermal barrier surrounding the empire had vanished, and snow was falling,” Sombra explained, “I would later learn that Lattice and the aristocrats had tormented it with their magic to get it to heed their commands and wipe out my nation, and once it was finished... it had broken into pieces.”
“They were defenseless,” Midnight said.
“Correct, and no sooner did my army show, even with it only being a fraction of what we have now, did those worms come out of the city and start to grovel,” answered King Sombra, irises red as blood, “They saw how my mane flowed and eyes glowed with the power of the Dark Magic I had gained through their hatred for me and my lost kind. The aristocracy approached me, begging for peace with the entirety of the Crystal Empire behind them.”
He then narrowed his eyes in remembrance, “And then, with a single stroke of magic I fittingly turned them all into dust, freeing the Crystal Empire from their tyranny.”
Midnight looked confused, his emotions ignoring Sombra's horrible deeds, “But then, why did you enslave the rest of the Crystal Ponies if they were better off?”
“You see Midnight Blaze, this is the portion of my history that Princess Celestia and Luna will not tell you. I pitied the citizens of the Crystal Empire because they were slaves already to their leaders,” Sombra answered turning away from Midnight and staring at his stained glass masterpiece, “I would have given them their freedom in a heartbeat. However, once I had eradicated the aristocrats, their followers turned on me right away, yelling that I was a murderer and that I had no right to destroy them... despite the vast number of Shadow Ponies those monsters had wiped out! Those spineless fools chose to support their aristocracy, their ruthless masters, despite being presented with clear evidence that they were vile!”
He then lowered his head in sadness, “Even Autumn Wheat and her father told me it was vile to pay evil back with force. I decided that if she wasn't with me, she was going to turn on me too, and I dealt with her father before seizing her as my own as my prize.”
Finishing his monologue, he faced Midnight again and smiled darkly, “The Crystal Empire surrendered the moment my golems raised their weapons. They forfeited their right to their freedom the moment they failed to see the greatness of what I had done for them. I used the rest of my power to keep them afraid, under my control, and the rest is the history you already know.”
“You were treated more than unfairly,” Midnight Blaze responded, irises also red, and horn glowing a sickly purple, “I understand now why those lazy, incompetent Crystal Ponies deserve their place beneath us. After such a horrible thing was done to the Shadow Ponies, even Equestria would be appalled!”
“If only Celestia and Luna could have seen that,” King Sombra said slowly, his eyes showing a hint of disappointment, “I hope you understand now why a new generation of Shadow Pony must carry on for me.”
“Tomorrow at midnight, your legacy will be carried on,” assured the unicorn, bowing, “the Crystal Empire will be brought to justice again.”
“Very good,” Sombra answered, showing deference, “it's late now, and tomorrow will be quite eventful. Take a rest, and have a bath in the morning. I have one more gift for you before you are crowned, something that will keep you in touch with your physical side.”
Midnight Blaze momentarily felt a lapse in the connection to his Dark Magic, blinking as if sand was in his eyes, “Okay... thanks.”
“What's wrong?” the king asked, looking him over.
“Nothing, I'm just... going to go to bed,” answered Midnight, turning around and making a dash for the exit.
Sombra hummed deeply, “Strange. It's as if he knows what I have planned for him. No matter, he'll enjoy it no less.”
“Techorse this is crazy,” Flaming Ivory told his friend, “you're going to get us bumped off, too if you trust that...”
His control ring sparked to life, and the unicorn sighed, changing his tune immediately, “smart and handsome Rosseth!”
Shaking his head, Flaming Ivory screamed, “GET OUT OF MY SKULL, MIDNIGHT!”
Techorse refused to listen as he poured the potion bottle into the open fuel port on the missile, the white liquid sloshing into the liquid fuel tank loudly.
“Just stay quiet and avoid throwing out insults for now,” he said, “when Sombra tries to launch this rocket, it'll immunize the Crystal Empire from his magic, and Midnight's... if it comes to that. It's a more peaceful solution... something that Shadow would have wanted.”
“Well if Ross said that potion can mop up the Dark Magic, maybe we can cure him with it by getting him to drink it,” the musician suggested, raising a hoof, “not a lot, but just a little bit so it fixes that grip King Sombra's got on his brain!”
“I thought about that on the way here,” Techorse answered, “but Ross made it clear this could really hurt him if it even touches his body. It's that powerful of a cleaner.”
“Yeah but,” Flaming grunted, “if we don't try, Midnight's lost anyways. He just isn't himself anymore, Techorse. Don't you think we should try?”
Techorse stood still for a few seconds, then finally said, “What should we do?”
“It'll be like how you're only supposed to use a tiny bit of that concentrated dish soap,” Flaming said, making a mild analogy, “give me just a tiny bit.”
Having been convinced, Techorse finished pouring the majority of the potion into the tank, but kept a swallow of it left in the bottle. He got down from the ladder propped up against the brass siding of the rocket, and transferred the remainder of the potion into a small test tube barely the size of a thumb, corking it off.
“Now gimme that,” demanded the unicorn, “I'm gonna be the one to make sure he drinks it.”
“This is really dangerous, Flaming,” Techorse said.
He hovered the tube in front of him with his orange colored aura, “I know, but I'm doing it for Shadow. I don't want to lose two friends, Tech, and I know he's in there somewhere. Plus, I really want this awf...”
He seized up again, “well designed ring removed from my horn!”
The unicorn snapped back to himself, “See?! I'm going to go crazy, man!”
Techorse threw a hug around Flaming, “We'll do this together. Midnight's my friend too.”
“Yeah, yeah, ok. We can work together,” Flaming said, smirking, “can the awkward hug end now?”
“Sorry,” Techorse chuckled, letting him go.