//------------------------------// // Chapter 43 - Midnight's Dawn // Story: The Lunar Chalice // by Spirals95 //------------------------------// Chapter 43 It was beginning to be hard for Midnight to tell at this point what was real and what was not. The voices in his head had gotten louder, one clearly what he used to be, and one urging him to continue on the path of power and greatness. King Sombra had transformed the observation room with another conversion charm that turned it into an elegant throne room complete with two golden seats, one noticeably bigger than the other. They were both studded with dark crystals, and a bright orange glowing chandelier occupied the ceiling of the high-vaulted room. Glass tubes carried molten metal through the walls, providing warmth, light, and a sense of power. In contrast, purple and blue tapestries lined the walls between these lava transporters, their cutie marks woven into them. Midnight did not recognize the design himself, but it was clearly an identical copy of Sombra's old throne room just before the Two Sisters had defeated him spectacularly. His master entered the room with a loud slamming of the iron doors at the back of it, carrying in front of him with his magic a small but ornate circlet that was much like his own, only with a blue sapphire instead of a red ruby. The unicorn could sense the dark energy radiating from the piece meant to adorn his head, and the half of him begging for attention seemed to scream in agony from the mere presence of the crown. “I would have preferred something more ceremonious,” King Sombra thought with a proper protective spell to prevent Midnight from picking up on it, “but the Crystal Ponies have escaped the castle... and that disturbance I felt was... the golems removing their control systems. No one but myself will get to observe the Shadow Pony Coronation Ritual. As soon as this circlet of Shadowsteel and dark crystal is on his head, Midnight Blaze will fully be my son, and any semblance of his past self will be dead.” Midnight stood in front of his throne, but dropped to his knees when his king approached him, closing his eyes in reverence. “Rise Midnight Blaze,” King Sombra ordered, a smile on his face. His soon to be prince looked at him and stood at attention. King Sombra, formerly a shadowy specter of the Crystal Empire, was now a handsome stallion with a normal appearance save his fangs and curved horn. The purple eyed freak and symbol of rage had become a new father to Midnight, offering him untold power and pursuit of his interests. Staring into the stone mounted on the circlet reignited his lust for power, and the stallion felt the satisfaction of power running through his veins again as he silenced the voice begging him to stop. “Midnight Blaze,” the king said his name again, “you alone are worthy of being the Prince of the Shadow Ponies. You have passed all tests given to you, have demonstrated tremendous growth in your skills in Dark Magic, and have helped defeat our enemies swiftly and decisively. Do you agree that you have done these things?” “I agree,” Midnight answered, something within his mind giving him the instructions for the ritual. Sombra continued the required speech, “Do you desire the mantle passed down from Shadow King to Shadow King? To represent the ponies who occupied this land ages before? To become the next page in our history of success and plenty?” “I desire.” “Do you accept this burden, knowing that the path of power and greatness is marked with acceptance of darkness? That anything lesser is dust before the Shadow King or his Prince?” “I accept.” The aura of magic moved, bringing the circlet over the top of his slick black mane. Purple sparks of lightning danced around the crown, flickering on his mane and horn as it attempted to bind to him. “With your acceptance, I CROWN THEE...” Sombra reared up, and prepared to complete the ritual, sealing his son's fate. He let out a bellow that shook the walls of the castle. “PRINCE MIDNIGHT BLAZE!” Yellow energy streaked through the air, burning through the oxygen atoms effortlessly and slipping right past Sombra's right cheek, so close that he could feel the heat of the pulse. Unable to stop it, the King watched the projectile slice through the crown with its antimaterial properties and then detonated as the packet of particles lost containment. His highly enchanted crown meant to turn Midnight to his side forever was blasted into a spray of shrapnel that bounced all over the floor in front of him, all of these things taking place within a split second. He turned around, and saw Techorse standing with laser cannons drawn, Ignitus, Flaming Ivory, and Shadow Breeze flanking him with equally stern expressions on their faces. Midnight felt something flip in him like a switch when he saw his dad, who was clearly staring at him with his usual cross expression. “TECHORSE!” Sombra snapped, “Do you have ANY IDEA how much effort it takes to build a circlet like the one you just destroyed senselessly?!” “King Sombra,” Ignitus said, stepping in front of the inventor to protect him, “Techorse was fairly certain crowning MY son Midnight would have caused him harm. As a Shadow Pony, I demand you perform your duty to our kind and release my child at once to the care of his parents. No Shadow King has ever had rights to another's foals under our tribe's laws.” “Hmm,” Sombra smirked, pretending to be a gentlecolt once again, “I see you are very familiar with your Shadow Pony law. But, Ignitus Enflame... Midnight has surrendered his belonging to your family and has chosen to join mine willingly.” Ignitus noticed Midnight's physiological changes, including the red eyes and purple aura around his horn. The older unicorn felt his anger begin to build up within his heart, and he loosened his trench coat to be able to whip out his crossbow quickly. “You... you exposed him to Dark Magic without warning him about the consequences, didn't you?!” the father stuttered, grinding his teeth together, “you corrupted him!” “Hmmm?!” Sombra mocked him, stepping back and holding a hoof over his heart, “I corrupted him? Surely you jest! Midnight Blaze willingly chose to partake in Dark Magic training once he had a sample small enough to avoid corrupting him in the slightest, Ignitus! The moment power and autonomy was offered to him, he took it like a starving dog taking a table scrap! All along he's wanted to aid me in the takeover of the Crystal Empire!” Ignitus decided to ignore the king momentarily to address his son with a harsh tone. The stallion towered over his son and gave him a verbal thrashing, “You chose this, Midnight? You deliberately converted your magic to darkness?!” The other three stallions in the room wanted to help, but Shadow Breeze put up a bubble of energy from his amulet and made it clear to his friends that they were going to stay out of this. “Sorry guys,” the pegasus whispered, “we need to let them settle things.” “Are you nuts, Shadow?” Flaming Ivory protested, “they're gonna rip each other to shreds!” “He's right, Flaming,” Techorse agreed with a sad nod, “Midnight is still in there, but unfortunately, so's Ignitus. He's going to have to learn his lesson, and Midnight's going to have to teach it to him.” “So what do we do?” the piano loving stallion complained. Techorse sighed and gave him a shake of his head, “Enjoy the show.” Ignitus stood just inches from Midnight's muzzle, and gave him the last of his fatherly lecture like a cruel drill sergeant, “I was coming here to forgive you for not joining the military, Midnight. But now I'm hearing you disgraced your family and all of Equestria by helping Sombra win?! What kind of a son are you?!” Midnight screamed like a banshee and fired a particle beam into Ignitus's chest, knocking him back and burning his trench coat away with purple flames, destroying it, his crossbow, and his hat in just one shot. His own son having turned on him, Ignitus stood still in shock, having never expected such strength to come from a stallion he believed rarely practiced with his abilities. Midnight was approaching rapidly one heavy hoofstep at a time, horn still ignited and ready to strike. “You just DON'T GET IT,” he yelled at him, “I'm not the problem! You HATE ME! You've always HATED ME!” He swung his head with each phrase, an arc of cyan plasma shooting at Ignitus with each wild attack, knocking him back a few more feet each time. His own ability to put up a magical shield was helping to soak the damage, but each casting of the barrier was getting weaker and weaker. He was running out of space to back up, and energy to block the blows bolstered with shadow energy. “You kept our relation to Sombra a DIRTY SECRET! You made my mom and brother SUFFER! You never respected MY WISHES or MY DREAMS!” Ignitus fell backwards with one of the blows, falling down in front of Midnight, who galloped up and began to wallop him again and again with wrathful blasts of magic in a downward arc, almost as if his son was trying to stab him. His little red magical shield tried to hold up, but was cracking with each of Midnight's blows. With each smack, came the final words from his son. “IT'S.” “BEEN.” “ALL.” “ABOUT.” “YOOOOOOOOOOU!” The last arc of plasma shattered the shield, Ignitus gasped for breath and holding his hoof out for mercy. Midnight stood over him, lungs filling and collapsing rapidly. The unicorn's anger and red eyes burned in front of his father, who realized that with the next swing, he'd be getting a face full of thousand degree magical energy. Midnight brought up another large blast of energy, and held it over him like a great sword. “Excellent, Midnight Blaze,” Sombra laughed, “you may do what you will to him. After all he's put you through, you deserve this choice.” Ignitus hear Sombra's words and had an epiphany. Midnight may have chosen to betray his family and his country, but he did it because of his life experiences. Never getting support from him, always being hounded to do things his way. Having realized what had really happened to Midnight, the father stopped caring about his own safety and made careful eye contact with his child. “Midnight, if this is what it will take to bring you back,” Ignitus said slowly, staring at him and not the deadly arc of plasma, “then do it. Do what will make you happy.” His son's face drained of color, and a few odd moments later the blade of plasma dissipated into the air. The sapphire stallion backed away, Sombra behaving surprisingly indifferent to Midnight's choice. Suddenly a lot less angry, and a lot more tearful, Midnight choked out, “You're a horrible dad. G... get out of here. I don't want to see you ever again!” Ignitus stood up, letting his mane flow and taking a healthy breath of air before hanging his head and letting a few tears of regret hit the ground from his eyes, “Midnight, I'm... I'm sorry. I lied to you, kept you from your dreams, and was a horrible father. I can see now that the only reason why you hurt your friends, Equestria, and everypony else was because you never had the life you were supposed to have. One where your father loves you, supports you, and wants to help you succeed in the things you want to succeed in.” Confused, his son tried to beat back his emotions and stammered out, “I... I...” “I'm sorry Midnight,” Ignitus said again, “I failed you.” Midnight's eyes faded from red to their natural color, some kind of bright field began to shimmer around the tip of his horn. Sombra saw the new energy and realized with dread what was happening. Shadow Breeze dropped the force field and let his friends step forward. Midnight looked at him, a wave of pure joy going through his heart from seeing Shadow Breeze alive. Another feeling, one of laughter and amusement from seeing Flaming Ivory's smile and remembering their common interest in music. Techorse, his friend, made him sense the comforting warmth of friendship and brotherhood again. But lastly, he saw the regret and sorrow in his father's eyes, and the need to forgive his old stallion and set things right helped restore another piece of his soul. As the band of bright energy passed over his body, the voice of hatred and darkness in his soul slipped away without a sound. King Sombra's influence shattered, the joy of having finally gotten the apology he had spent his life waiting for punching clean through the desire for power and control. In that moment, Midnight suddenly realized all the things he had done, and fell to the ground in front of his friends and father, crying like a baby. The unicorn pony cried like he was at a funeral, crushed like a tin can under the weight of his guilt and regret. “I'm sooorrrrryyyyy-y-y!” he wailed, tears rolling down his cheeks in utter despair. Shadow Breeze tried to console him by offering him a slightly charred wingtip, “There there, Midnight. It's okay!” Instead of accepting the wing, Midnight jumped on him and held him in a bear hug while sobbing all over the pegasus, “I almost k-killed yooou! Aaaaaaaa!” “Shhhh,” shushed Shadow, embracing him tightly, “it wasn't your fault.” “Even if I... I didn't, I still sold you all out, and you were my friends!” he continued, sniffling, “Tech, Flaming, I made you go through h..horrible things! You shouldn't forgive me like this.” “It wasn't that bad, Midnight, forgive yourself!” Techorse answered softly. “But I can't, I'm... a monster!”” “All right all right, enough already!” Flaming Ivory groaned before laughing at his own abrasiveness, “we forgive you already you knucklehead! Drop it!” Midnight found himself in the middle of a three pony circular hug, which he broke to step up to his father. Ignitus hugged his son for the first time in years, holding him tightly. “I'm glad to have you back,” he said, drying his eyes with his hoof, “you're my son, and nothing can change that.” The five stallions heard a slow stomping of hooves, usually reserved for applause, and remembered that King Sombra was still in the room watching everything. Even though he was the dreaded King of Shadows, he had a dumb smirk on his face and 'commended' them sarcastically for rescuing Midnight Blaze. “Well done,” he said, his green eyes remaining locked on Midnight, “well done indeed, Midnight Blaze. You've managed to forfeit your place at my side in a matter of seconds, after the days we've spent together planning our rule.” “Sombra, you've lost,” Ignitus warned him sternly, “stop this madness and you might be granted a bit of mercy.” “I haven't lost yet,” Sombra answered, smiling, “I can tell that my army has failed me, and my illusions have failed me, but I still have Techorse's missile! I will conquer the Crystal Empire with it alone!” From the silo room next door, the sound of rocket motors igniting rumbled from the bottom of the launch well, and grinding metal let Techorse know the blast doors were opening up. “Without an heir to the throne, your victory is going to be pretty hollow, Sombra!” Ignitus warned him, a flame sprouting from the tip of his horn, “eventually you're not going to be around anymore to keep the Crystal Ponies down, since there are no Shadow Ponies left to take your place!” Midnight and Ignitus stood side to side now, facing Sombra, who made a horrid suggestion, “You're wrong, Ignitus. While it's a shame that Midnight no longer wishes to be my prince, and you've resisted the idea since youth, I couldn't help but overhear from him that he has a little brother.” “Oh no... Twinken!” Midnight whispered. “Twinken? So you do have a little brother,” King Sombra sighed in relief, “if you have no interest in my throne, Midnight Blaze, your brother will be interested in taking your place!” Ignitus and Midnight surged with rage at the idea of Twinken suffering the same way they had, and together they unleashed twin beams of crimson and cyan fire that lurched to engulf King Sombra, yelling at the top of their lungs in anger. King Sombra cackled and returned to his full demonic form with a quick release of his illusion magic, bringing back the old image of fangs, armor, and hatred while returning fire with his own ray of green energy. The missile countdown sequence continued, prompting Techorse to lead his friends who were awestruck by the three unicorns' dueling. His battle saddle clicked and opened, his two laser cannons emerging again and ready to rock. “We've got to help them!” he ordered while pointing at the dark king with a hoof, “Hit Sombra with everything you've got!” Without the Crystal Heart, rain pounded on the roof of the Crystal Palace. The torrents raised the water level of the river running through the city to the bursting point, running over just after Shining Armor led the rest of the civilians past it to get the captives out of their cages. Cadance and Rosseth, still crossing swords, entered this horrible downfall of rain onto the balcony facing the river, hundreds of feet up from the raging water. Rosseth swung left, half blinded by the rain in his eyes. The blade missed Cadance, who pushed back against him with the tip of her sword and forcing him towards the railings on the terrace. A loud crack of thunder shot down from the uncontrollable weather, exploding on the pointed roof of the palace and knocking them both to the floor. They got back up quickly and stared at each other, holding their swords out in front while catching their breath. Cadance's mane had been soaked and stuck to her back, as had Rosseth's. Each of them ditched their waterlogged robes with a swing of their hooves or wings, and the coats fluttered away in the gray skies. “Rosseth, this is it,” she said desperately, lowering her sword to look at him, “you're out of places to run. Come back with me! It'll take a long time, but your wounds will heal.” The zebra stared longingly at her sword, the weapon certainly looked like it would hurt. But it's what it was going to take to save her. Cadance was going to have to christen her husband's gift, one way or another. His hatred for Cadance mattered nothing to him anymore. “You can't bring yourself to do it,” he answered as planned, “and you won't be around for your ponies because of that.” He stepped forward and nearly slipped on the thick coating of rain, whipping around the blade. The princess of love backed up slowly, trying to get into the cover of the Palace outside of the rain. Just within the door, a vertical pipe the size of a tree trunk that carried water to the top of the palace sat unused next to the doors that kept the balcony accessible. Rosseth pushed her back into the immediate room, slashing ferociously in an attempt to make Cadance strike back. To his frustration, Cadance maintained a look of despair, refusing to strike back in any meaningful way and only putting in efforts to block his blows. At last, the zebra cried out in anger, and brought his blade down hard, breaking the princess's block. Her sword clanged to the ground, and she grabbed his sword with her magic, it wobbled in the air just above her straining horn. “CADANCE!” shouted Rosseth, losing patience with her, “THIS IS IT!” Straining under the force of Rosseth's amulet holding the sword, Cadance pushed through her fear and moved her aura as hard as she could to the right. With him not anticipating this sudden shift, the blade slipped with the same amount of applied force, pushing it to the side in a wide arc that slashed right through the water main on the wall. With its contents under such heavy pressure, the pipe ruptured instantly in Rosseth's face, pushing him away in a massive flood of water. “W... WATER?! NOOOOO!” the poor soul cried out in legitimate fear while he was swept away by the force of the flow. Cadance could only watch in horror as Rosseth was swept out the doorway and over the balcony by the instant river, his scream echoing in the stormy air. She spread her broad wings and flew to the balcony, but could only see the raging river below being fed by the waterfall she had just created. Cadance searched the length of the river with her eyes, but the poor visibility of the storm made it impossible to see where he had landed. “ROSSEEEEEETH!” she wailed with a hoarse throat. She jumped of the ledge and soared off along the flooded banks of the Crystal River in hopes she might still find him alive.