//------------------------------// // Chapter 42 - Cadance Confronted // Story: The Lunar Chalice // by Spirals95 //------------------------------// Chapter 42 “So we take out that murder engine, and then the Crystal Ponies in the castle will all go free?” Flaming Ivory panted, running down the hallway by Techorse's side, “Sounds easy enough. It's just an enchanted piece of metal and wood, right?” “I'm not sure it's even that,” Techorse answered honestly, “it might be an intelligent arcane device, like a magic-born object that can think and follow orders. If it is, it's not going to respond well to being shot at!” “So if it's not really a thing, but some kind of magically conjurated machine, it's gonna fight back?” Techorse smirked, “Conjurated isn't a word. Conjured.” Flaming Ivory grumbled at him, “That's your worry, Tech?! If it can fight us like it's alive, it might take our heads off!” “So we outsmart it and find a way to beat it,” Techorse said, “if we think like Sombra, we can figure out its weakness and destroy it.” “How'd you know all this stuff anyways?” His friend turned red, “Twilight Sparkle told me.” “Figures.” King Sombra's courtyard was still as silent and covered in lichen as ever, the guillotine of interest sitting in the middle ominously with four golems guarding it at each corner. A few tall marble vases filled with the king's favorite choices in flowers mirrored the dream that he had created to invite Celestia and Luna in, even the archways and columns reflected the exact Shadow Pony architecture. Techorse and Flaming Ivory didn't stop to take in any of the scenery, instead charging in with laser blasts and orange rays of magic flying at the golems trying to protect the symbol of evil within the formerly serene garden. The first defender was riddled with laser bolts and dropped the floor with smoldering craters blown out of its armor. Each of the remaining golems brought their cannons to bear against the two stallions charging at them, but their shots missed wildly from the ponies ducking and weaving. Ivory's eyes burned their cinder glow as a bright beam with eight note particles flying off of it burrowed into the seams where the second golem's parts were assembled together. It detonated from within after heating up, pieces flying everywhere with smoke trailing behind. At last, a purple shot of energy managed to find Flaming Ivory's hoof at the joint, toppling him. He bounced on the floor a few times, collecting dirt on his light gray coat. “Lucky... shot,” he muttered, “can you get the rest, Techorse?” “I'm on it!” answered his buddy, jumping up and pointing his laser cannons downwards as the enemy's barrels tracked him in the air. Skillfully, the gray focusing tubes swiveled to the side as Techorse aimed at the two golems standing abreast of each other. Twin beams of solid yellow light swept from right to left, cutting right through their guns with precision. By the time Techorse landed on his hooves, his enemy's weapons were rolling on the floor, dripping molten shadowsteel from where they'd been severed. Deciding their fists would not be nearly as useful against an earth pony with technology on par with themselves and an extremely angry musician, the golems turned and fled back into the castle, stomping loudly along the way. Techorse stowed his laser cannons momentarily and switched to the robotic arms in order to lend Flaming Ivory a helping hand off of the dirty floor. Silently, they took a good look at the morbid guillotine set up in front of them, the breeze of the afternoon waving through their manes and chilling them. “This is it, Flaming,” Techorse said, ice creeping in his veins, “are you ready?” “Hey, before we blow it up... do you feel that weird feeling going up your spine, too?” Flaming Ivory asked as if by instinct. “I do...” answered the inventor, blue eyes narrowing, “this represents everything King Sombra is, and what ponies like him do to others. Coldness and cruelty in an obsolete machine...” The unicorn didn't want to wait any longer and interrupted him, “Tech, buddy... I know you can get preachy sometimes so... let's destroy this thing before I lose you.” “Y... you're right,” the stallion said, shaking his head, “I guess we're going to find out if it's got the ability to protect itself.” His saddle's side panels opened up with a mechanical whir of servos and motors, the familiar weapons emerging again and training on the guillotine. Techorse squinted and opened up with a burst of individual laser bolts, which impacted the machine with seemingly no effect. The shots were exploding as they normally did when they impacted a target, but no damage was being done. “Gah! This isn't working,” he complained, “it's like it's shielded!” Suddenly, the guillotine vanished in a flash of light, and appeared again next to Techorse... with Flaming Ivory trapped within its locks! The unicorn let out a horrified wail and emitted a powerful explosion from the tip of his horn, pushing back Techorse but failing to do any damage. “Oh no, NO!” he screamed, setting off blast after blast and straining his mind, “NOT LIKE THIS!” Techorse felt the sweat accumulating and turned his focus to the cursed machine's blade, firing at it as if it would do any better. The sounds of many magical weapons charging up gained the attention of his ears, and looking around, he could see that the golems who had escaped had returned with reinforcements. Now a dozen of them had surrounded the courtyard, and the guillotine moved itself through the air back to the center of the courtyard, Flaming Ivory still locked in tight. “Please, let me go!” Flaming Ivory begged, orange eyes returning to brown. The golems shot at Techorse, knocking him down with a few well placed hits and making it clear that they would increase the power of their blows if he dared to stand up again. All he could do was watch while laying on the side of his barrel as the guillotine prepared to act. “Flaming, I'm sorry!” he said to his terrified friend through the pain. The unicorn turned his soon to be missing head up at the blade, and then back to Techorse whom he gave a weak laugh, “At least this way Shadow doesn't have to be alone, right?” Techorse wheezed out a subtle laugh, “How'd we ever become friends?” The guillotine dropped its blade, and Flaming Ivory thought to tell his companion to close his eyes so that Techorse wouldn't have to see what would happen with his head. “Have you two learned nothing about King Sombra?” came a familiar voice to both of the ponies, “Nothing he does to scare us is ever real! You're keeping your heads!” A split second later, the blade hit Flaming Ivory... with surprisingly no results whatsoever. Techorse inspected the fallen blade carefully, and realized that the blade had indeed dropped all the way, but the musician's neck was phasing through it like a hologram. Crossbow bolts struck each of the golems surrounding the stallions, silver piercing right through their vital components and dropping them like flies before they could even figure out what was shooting them. A final round impacted the guillotine itself, which shimmered brightly and was wrapped in a checkerboard pattern of black and red arcane energy. Sensing it was becoming unstable, Techorse grabbed Flaming Ivory with his hooves and dragged him out of the device. It collapsed in on itself, the illusion magic placed by King Sombra failing until all that remained was the truth. The “guillotine” was nothing more than a common set of enchanted stocks you would lock a misbehaving pony's head and front hooves into when they misbehaved. “What just happened?” Techorse asked blankly, still trying to process the turn of events. “It was all an illusion spell,” Flaming Ivory whistled, “and a wicked one too! I bet King Sombra combined that intelligence spell you were talking about with some concealment stuff.“ “That's exactly what it is, boys,” said Ignitus, stepping forward with his crossbow rewound and ready for another shot, “Shadow Pony object trickery. Conceal an object in an energy shield shaped like another to mask its identity and make it harder to destroy.” Techorse lit up and stood to attention, “Ignitus?! You came for us?” “Of course,” he answered, nodding and stowing his weapon away, “I'm here to save Midnight and his friends. Which reminds me, there's the matter of the pony who let you know you weren't about to become headless. I think you'll be glad to see him.” Techorse and Flaming Ivory watched Shadow Breeze slowly step out from behind the red stallion, weakness and hope in equal measure in his big eyes and kind smile. He was still covered in bandages, and his feathers had been turned to wax, there was even a bit of scarring behind his left ear... but it was Shadow Breeze, alive and well! “Shadow... you... you're still alive,” Flaming Ivory blubbered, tears coming to his eyes. “But... you exploded. We watched it,” Techorse said in a montone voice, a shaky hoof pointing at the stallion, “we thought we were never going to see you again.” The pegasus hopped up to him as best as he could while injured, and threw himself around his friends with a big warm embrace. He could feel the shock, confusion, and the maelstrom of emotions they were going through just by seeing him alive and mostly in a single piece. The three of them were trying to not cry like children, but that kind of joy was hard to repress, and the tears flowed naturally. “I know it's really weird, but I'm alive and so are you,” Shadow sniffled, closing his eyes and accepting their hug back, “that's all that matters. Love you guys...” Ignitus accepted the three friends softly crying as a reasonable way of expressing their relief at being together again, but smiled when they were able to dry up and refocus after their short hug. “We... we need to save Midnight,” Techorse said, breaking away, “I'm so happy you're safe Shadow, but we've got to get back in and stop Sombra!” “Look at him, he can't fight right now, Tech!” Flaming Ivory complained, getting his phlegm back in his body with a snort. “But I can,” Ignitus declared, “and I intend to get my son back from that monster. Where can we find him?” Techorse answered with new confidence in his voice, “Follow me. We've got a coronation to stop.” “This... this is hopeless.” Princess Cadance tried to push back together the Crystal Heart with her hooves, but the artifact was gray and useless, a lifeless collection of smashed rock on the floor of her palace. She could already hear the thunder of the approaching rainstorms thanks to the collapse of the thermal shielding provided. Sombra's missile was also very much likely on its way, and even if it wasn't... those storms would condense into terrible winter weather that would destroy her nation forever. Despite the fact she was the Princess of Love, heir to the artifact that had been destroyed, and the hope of the city, she was unable to fix the damage. “Now do you understand?” came Rosseth's voice from behind her. The pink mare dried her accumulating tears with her wings, and quickly stood up, “ROSSETH!” Her smile disappeared when he saw his eyes and the outfit he was wearing. Each of Rosseth's clones had been naked save for the amulet and cape, but this zebra was wearing a black kimono with a white undershirt, the opposite of her own. The sword at his side in an imposing sheathe made it clear to the alicorn that this was the real Rosseth, even though his magical jewelry was clearly visible around his neck. “It's really you, isn't, Ross?” she asked, the desire to help him still in her heart, “Not a clone?” “No more clones,” Rosseth said in a worn out voice, echoing what had been yelled at him just nights before, “I'm finished using illusions, tricks, and Dark Magic to get my way, Cadance. It's just you and me now.” “I'm sorry,” Cadance said softly, barely able to look him in the eyes, “I'm sorry about your parents, about... everything.” “Quiet, Cadance,” Rosseth huffed, “let's get the formalities out of the way, shall we?” The zebra reached into his robe, and pulled out Luna's chalice from within, setting it down on the floor gently next to him. “You're returning the Lunar Chalice?” she asked, her ears perking up to attention. “All of this chaos over this,” he said, almost laughing from the absurdity, “it's just a cup twenty nine nights out of thirty, you know. I should have never taken it in the first place, and done this instead.” Cadance felt her heart rate pick up a bit in her slender chest, “What do you mean by 'this', Rosseth?” Rosseth's amulet let a tendril of cyan energy grab the sword by the handle, and the well-crafted blade slid out with the terrifying sound of sharp metal sliding along blunt sheathe. He dropped his robe and belt after, holding the sword in front of him and pointing it at the Princess's heart from across the room. The energy from the artifact traveled up the sword and wrapped it in aura magic, giving it extra electric power. “We're going to settle our debts today Cadance, with a fight until only one of us is left,” declared the potion maker, giving his ultimatum, “you'll either have to strike me down, or pay for what you did to me.” “R... Rosseth. No!” she blurted, a lump clogging her throat, “It doesn't have to be this way! Sombra's just using you to take the Crystal Empire, you don't have to do this!” “Sombra doesn't matter anymore,” Rosseth answered, walking forward with the deadly blade following him, “and neither do you. Your Crystal Heart can't help you any more.” She hollered at him, “I won't fight you!” His hoofsteps stopped, and he let out a deep breath that sounded exactly like what someone with years of unresolved pain and torment would let out. “Selfishness and cowardice. Typical of you,” he goaded, “you'd rather leave Shining Armor to mourn over you than stand up to me... and you wonder why I hate you. Just as well, seeing you've hated me so much!” Princess Cadance turned her back to him, her mane flowing behind her just like her relatives, magic starting to pour fourth from her horn. She began to speak back to the zebra, this time with a motherly voice that disturbed his dark inner thoughts. “I don't hate you Rosseth... I never did,” she said, her eyes focusing on the Crystal Heart's pieces and her own heart focusing on saving the stallion behind her, “I wronged you years ago because I wasn't experienced enough to save your family, and tried anyways instead of getting the help I should have. I don't expect you to ever forgive me, and I will absolutely forgive you for everything you've done, including coming here with a sword to hurt me.” Her aura reached her own sword, the prized gift created by her dear husband, and she drew it out with a loud slashing noise that echoed throughout the halls of the empty palace, her own magic creating a rose colored field around the blade that hovered it in front of her muzzle. The Princess looked at her own reflection in the steel of the weapon, sorrow yet acceptance in one pony mug. “Rosseth... I know you don't believe me at all, but I love you very much,” continued the princess, “and if I have to defeat you to prove it... I will.” Dramatically, she did a backflip, unable to use her wings because of the robe on her, but agile enough to land facing him, and brought her sword down clumsily. Rosseth made a slow, awkward blocking motion, catching her blade. Sparks of blue and pink flew from the weapons, eager to inflict some harm. Unfortunately, neither of them actually had any training with a sword. Rosseth had only just gotten his blade yesterday from King Sombra, and Cadance hadn't even taken a few practice swings since Shining equipped her with his. Despite the flurry of emotions between the two ponies, the swordplay between them was shameful, featuring wide and painful to watch swings, poking and jabbing that would have left them wide open for attacks against a skilled warrior, and dozens upon dozens of motions that simply had them cross blades with an impressive blast of magic energy every time they touched. However, the two of them believed this was exactly how swordfighting was supposed to work. They yelled and screamed at each other loudly like fierce soldiers, doing spins and flips while wailing away with their gifted blades, blocking and parrying each other cartoonishly while they took the fight outside of the Crystal Heart's chamber. Rosseth's anger and Cadance's love still burned in their eyes during this groaner of a fight, and their hearts dueled just as much as their bodies as they slashed and hacked their way down the hall of the palace. The evacuation of the Crystal Empire had begun in full earnest, Shining Armor directing the remaining few hundred ponies and their families for the western exit. Faerie Tail had gathered the few fillies and colts between the families, and Gaveler was leading the rest of the townsfolk away, protected by the handful of Crystal Guards and Militia remaining in their forces. Between them, there were but four spears left to use against the golems hot on their heels. “We've got to reach Steamcastle before they overtake us!” ordered Shining Armor, directing traffic with his hoof, “Hurry up! Leave everything behind but yourselves!” Even with the promise of safety, he could tell that every last one of his fellow ponies were miserable about having to leave their beloved home. Mothers and fathers of the few children were having to explain what was going on in words the little ones could understand, and the brokenness in their hearts was apparent. It didn't help that he could hear the thunder and rain approaching as a consequence of the Crystal Heart being destroyed. Princess Celestia was trying to comfort her sister, the alicorn nibbling at her left wing to deal with the swelling. She had stopped caring about being a princess long enough to face the reality of her situation. “Luna, I sent away for Twilight Sparkle and her friends to return as soon as possible,” she said, “even if we have lost today, perhaps tomorrow the Elements will let us take back the Crystal Empire.” “I suppose, so long as...” The crowd of ponies stopped suddenly near where the thermal barrier should have been, screams of terror and yelling rippling through the escapees as the western flank was cut off by the arrival of Red Commander and his troops. Shining Armor stopped dead in his tracks, shocked that he had been cutoff so close to the border! But a team of a little under 80 golems had appeared, led by the larger, stronger machine with the solid red eye. Behind them, their captives were being pulled along in cages mounted on top of sleds. “How did they...” gasped Shining Armor, “forgot it! We need to head north instead! Steamcastle must have been taken!” “Too late!” shouted Limpwing, we're surrounded on all sides, Shining! As the captain looked behind him, he saw the other golem commander with his green eye closing in with his own troops, only short of two hundred remained. The fighting had been brutal and the losses they had taken were severe, but they had the rest of the Crystal Empire surrounded now. The ponies found themselves with cannons pointed at them on all angles, and the few hundred left moved to shield the younger ones from harm. With a perfect circle of golems around them, Princess Celestia and Luna charged up their horns. “With one more powerful blast, we can take them all out,” Princess Celestia said, “but we must spend the rest of our energy to do it.” “But without us, Sombra's missile will be able to strike for sure,” Luna argued, “we must conserve our strength, my sister!” While they were talking amongst themselves, Green and Red Commanders walked in front of the group of ponies, stopping in front of Shining Armor. They seemed to know he was in charge of the operation based on his purple and gold armor plus physical stature. The red-eyed golem was particularly interested in Shining Armor, and being slightly taller than his green-visioned counterpart, tried to push forward to “talk”. But the other general pushed him back slightly with his left arm, triggering something he shouldn't have within the war machine. “I presume you two are the leaders of King Sombra's army,” Shining Armor said to them, getting a nod back in response from Green Commander. Spike tugged Shining Armor's saddle straps, getting him to look him in the eyes with a pitiful stare. While he wasn't sure that Spike's idea would work, he knew it would at least buy them time. “I'm the Captain of the Crystal Guard, but... if you want to hear our terms, you'll have to talk to Spike... the Brave and Glorious.” Spike heard the Crystal Ponies cheer for him, plunging him into a state of guilt since he knew they weren't going to like what he had to say next. Stepping forward, he tried not to panic from the two glowing eyes staring at him that felt like they were burning into his skull. It didn't help that he felt unprotected by his lack of a full suit of scales, or that the enemies he intended to talk too had fully charged weapons. “Hi...” he said gently to them, waving a claw. Green Commander waved back in a friendly manner, while the red one offered nothing in response. “As Shining said, I'm Spike... the Crystal Empire's hero,” continued the little reptile, poking his fingers together timidly, “so I have to call the shots.” Spike watched Green Commander kneel down and place a hand to the side of his head, indicating he couldn't hear the dragon. The crystal ponies perceived this as mocking their invincible hero, and began booing, hushing when Red Commander raised his weapon and spun the barrels at them. “Hey, tell the red guy to stop that!” Spike shouted bravely, “He's scaring them!” Green Commander stood up and forced the other's barrel down, a mechanical groaning sound coming from within Red Commander. The tension between the two leaders was obvious to everyone present. Spike thanked the other golem and then continued, “So now that you know who I am, I'd like to declare...” The ponies and golems sat in silence until Spike said the worst possible thing. “We surrender.” Collective cries of shock and panic filled the air. Spike knew they wouldn't have taken it well, but he waited patiently for the initial horror to die down. Green Commander knelt down again and went to shake Spike's hand in agreement that the war was over. But the little dragon refused at first, “Look, green eyed dude.. before we give in, you need to think about something. Was winning this fight really worth all the golems that got crushed like soda cans? What do you guys get out of it?” The other golems in the ring around the remaining ponies looked at each other, scratched their heads, and in general had never considered that before. Some of them had actually enjoyed the fight, some of them had competed to see who could 'collect' the most ponies, and others still had wanted to pet them... but none of them had really thought what they were going to get out of it. Their programming held them loyal to the Shadow Pony empire regardless of outcome. “Now I know, Sombra made you guys, so you probably think you have to do what he says,” Spike answered while pointing behind him, “but do you see this metal guy standing behind me? He was made by somepony too, and he gets to make his own choices.” PAL managed a weak hand wave and smile, letting Spike keep control of the conversation. “If you guys turn us over to Sombra,” Spike explained with legitimate concern, “you'll just be his slaves too! Do you think he'll fix any of your friends who got broken today? He'll just make more, replace you, and keep going! You'll be forgotten. Gone forever.” It was here the golems really started to hate the fact that they couldn't talk, lacking an arcane speech apparatus. But their processors had already been given a new kind of input no intelligent construct could ignore. If their creator didn't care about their survival, was it worth carrying out their orders? “We're done fighting,” Spike said, “but you still have to make a choice. Please do the right thing!” Red Commander was tired of hearing the foolishness of making peace with the targets he was eager to splatter, and stepped up, spinning up his gatling weapon and pushing it near to Spike. Ponies screamed in terror, and Spike recoiled in horror as the red glowing cannon tried to move over him for a quick incineration. Green Commander didn't waste time, bashing into the other golem and trying to hold down his gun. The red one resisted the attack and sent a punch across his chestplate, denting it in and throwing him backwards behind Spike and into the waiting arms of PAL. Red Commander grabbed Spike rapidly and held him clutched in his chest, holding his gun to his head and spinning the motor just inches from his face. “Do something!” urged Gaveler of the princesses. “I might hit Spike!” Princess Luna cried. Red Commander finally let out what seemed to be a motorized laugh, more of a grisly combination between a chainsaw and a cackle. Soon the 'hero' of the Crystal Empire would be a charred husk in his arms! The golem tried to shoot, but the motor on his gun had failed, and when he looked down at it, a kunai had lodged itself into the seam where his gun met his arm, leaving the barrels unable to turn. Limpwing had skillfully thrown her last shot into the mechanics, disabling the weapon. Red Commander didn't think too much of it, knowing eventually the knife would break... But that was the last thing he ever thought, because as soon as he looked up from the knife, he caught just a glance of Green Commander's fist as it traveled into his eye, through his helmet head, and out the back. In one motion, the other golem had gotten up and delivered a fatal punch to his former brother, ending the murderous machine's assault. His arms went limp, dropping Spike to the ground, and the cored head of the golem rolled on the ground as his body crashed into a heap that shook the ground. Green Commander withdrew his fist, and discarded the Shadowsteel scraps left over. Then, he approached Spike, who was picking himself off the ground with a smile on his face. “Thanks!” he said. The ponies cheered as Green Commander shook hands with Spike, ending the battle not in King Sombra's favor... but in the golems'. Each of the purple eyed ones released their captives at the orders of Green Commander, letting the prisoners of Steamcastle go. Right away, Steady Hoof claimed the near corpse of Raider and began to take out his field tools to get to work healing what the now thankfully terminated Red Commander had done to her. “Spike, you DID IT!” Princess Celestia cheered, grabbing him away from the golem commander with her magic and holding him close, “Oh I'm so proud of you!” “It wasn't me your Highness... it was the green-eyed commander,” he said, “like PAL, these guys can think for themselves if they have to, and they chose to take their win without taking us!” “Then let it be known from this day forward, that the battle of the Crystal Empire was won not by King Sombra, but by the brave Green Commander and his golem heroes!” Princess Luna cheered, the troops around them in a ring jumping up and down and high-fiving each other. Likewise, the Crystal Ponies were more than willing to cheer now that they weren't going to be taken away to serve King Sombra. Many of them hugged the machines they were fighting against just moments ago, and some of the constructs were doing their best to dance alongside the Crystal Ponies. Limpwing turned to Arbiter amongst the cheering and said teasingly, “Well, I'm still counting my kunai doing its job as a kill.” “Please. It's a half,” Arbiter groaned without thinking. “A half it is then!” Limpwing smiled, having caught him, “and that brings my score up to one half point more than yours! I win!” Arbiter choked, “What... f.. fine. You win, Miss Limpwing.” “And that means I get to pick my prize,” she answered, batting her eyelashes. “What would you like?” sighed the captain. Taking off her goggles and throwing them to the ground with her good wing, Limpwing then pulled him into a sudden kiss that caught him off guard. Arbiter managed to get the mare away from him, but she held him as tight as she could anyways. “You wanted a kiss?” he growled, “Limpwing, you're not a schoolfoal you know!” She relaxed her snarky look for a moment, just to give him her big fire ruby eyes, “I want you, Arbiter. We work so well together.” “You... you don't want all of me. There's things I just can't have anymore,” he countered, turning red at the cheeks. But Limpwing moved her longest wing feathers in, and gently, without Arbiter moving, peeled his eyepatch off of his head. His wounded eye was now fully visible, still structurally intact but whited out with a clear line of damage that matched perfectly with the angle of his scar normally only visible from outside the eyepatch. It followed wherever the good eye looked, and the owner's soul could still be felt within. “I want all of you,” Limpwing whispered with a wink and a smile, “now, don't be a jerk. Keep your promise to a lady, Captain.” Having never felt so vulnerable, Captain Arbiter gave in to his emotions and brought Limpwing in again, locking lips with her in an act out of the kind of love he hadn't felt in years. “If only Cadance were here to see this,” Shining Armor sighed, watching the new couple and the impromptu party around him. “We should probably head back to free the ponies on the east side of the city,” mentioned PAL, “as great as this moment is...” “A few more minutes, and then we'll break it up,” Shining Armor laughed, “let's let them rest awhile.” He payed close attention to Green Commander shaking Spike's hand again, “Let's let them rest...”