The sky through the nearby window was just beginning to darken when Starlight Glimmer came to. She had awoken sprawled across her bed, as if one of Sombra's cronies had unceremoniously dumped her there, like a sack of oats. She lifted a hoof and felt the throbbing bruise on the side of her face, wincing at how tender it was. The inside of her mouth tasted like copper where her teeth had cut into her inner cheek, under the impact of the blow Sombra had dealt her. A moment of probing around her mouth with her tongue had revealed that all her teeth were thankfully in tact. At least that was something. Son of a bitch coldcocked me, Starlight thought, grimacing as she worked her jaw around with her hoof, to ensure that it wasn't broken. She concluded that It might hurt to chew for a few weeks, but other than that, no serious damage had seemed to have been inflicted. Still though, he had hit her hard enough to knock her out.
Celestia would be sure to hear about that little indiscretion. Starlight was a foreign prisoner. Her protection was guaranteed by the DIS, and Sombra had violated it when he struck her. Starlight's grimace turned into a grin as she envisioned Celestia smacking Sombra around like a pinball, in recompense for all the injustices he had inflicted upon her, though the thought was merely cathartic. She doubted her princess would use such crass methods of chastisement, even on one as deserving as Sombra. Princess Celestia would no doubt cook up a far more creative punishment for the brute. That didn't make the image of her mopping the floor with him any less fun to imagine however.
Starlight crawled out of bed and made for the door, but when she tried it it refused to open. It had appeared to have been secured from the other side, though through what means she couldn't say. As far as she knew there were no external locks on the door, and it didn't have any mounts or brackets to accommodate a drop bar. Starlight could only give a mental shrug. She should have expected as much: Sombra had confined her to her room to await his pleasure. All she could do was shamble back to her bed and wait for whatever was going to happen next.
Alone, and with nothing else to do, Starlight was content to just lay on her side, watching as the star-speckled blanket of amethyst that was the sky transition to twilight. She lost herself in her thoughts, mooning wistfully of the girls sleeping below the palace, unreachable, and oblivious to her dire situation. Would Twilight know what to do? she thought. What if Sombra had awakened her instead? What about Sunset? What would she do? Twilight was the level headed one, but Sunset was bold and brash where Twilight was cool and calculating. She doubted that Moon Dancer would survive in her situation. It would be her mouth that would do her in. She was wont to speak her mind. She was gutsy, and she didn't mince words, Starlight could give her that. But a sharp tongue was a detriment in her situation, as Sombra had so violently demonstrated to her in the spa.
Starlight rolled onto her back and stared at the canopy above her. Its white seams contrasted with the deep purple fabric, making the accents more prominent. She traced the patterns with her eyes as her thoughts went to Fluttershy, for whom she now had nothing but disdain. How could she defend that monster? Neigh, not only does she defend him, she's become just like him. She takes land that isn't hers and subjugates its inhabitants to her husband's dictatorial rule. She's not only complicit in the cruel and arbitrary ways her husband punishes the offenders of his court, she vehemently espouses them. Starlight wondered if Fluttershy herself had ever sentenced anyone to the whip or the mines... Or the rope. The thought made her shudder.
To think that I would ever cross that line, to even suggest that I follow the dark path you've taken, Fluttershy, you must be insane...
Starlight lacked a watch or clock to count the hours that had gone by, but she at least knew it was getting late. The crescent moon was high, the cold, dry air of the northern climate making it shine vividly in the blackened sky like a horn of polished ivory. The chill of the night air was seeping into her room. She had retreated under her blankets, and that helped for a time, but eventually her breath had started to mist in front of her, and she was beginning to feel the cold soaking through her thickly padded quilt. That was when she finally decided that it was time for a fire.
It appeared that half of the work had already been done for her. The hearth had been shoveled out -- by the maid who tended to her room, she presumed -- and a freshly-cured log was set at the center of the pit. A small cupboard located in the corner of her room contained everything she needed. Starlight removed several clumps of dried pine needles and a piece of flint from the tinderbox in the drawer, then selected a faggot from the kindling pile in the bottom cabinet. She scattered the tinder over the log and tossed the bundle into the pit.
It was the first time she had ever built a fire without the use of magic to aid her. When lighting her stove or fireplace back home she would simply ignite the molecules in the air to produce a shower of sparks. But she was currently incapable of using magic, which meant that if she wanted a fire, she would have to start one the old fashioned way. She looked down and examined the flint and tinderbox in her hooves. How hard could it be?
She turned the tinderbox over and experimentally slid the flint across its rough metallic undersurface... Nothing. Not so much as a spark. She tried again, and again, and again. She could feel her room growing colder as time went on. Hissing a structureless string of expletives, she tried again, and again, and again, getting more frustrated with each failed attempt. She tried more and again, but the few sparks she could produce wasn't nearly adequate to set the log ablaze. Defeated, she glowered at the tinderbox, and was ready to throw it across the room in frustration, when a sudden rapping at her door distracted her from her irritation.
"Miss Starlight?" a nasally voice cracked.
Starlight Glimmer turned away from her hearth and called back, "Joji, is that you?"
"Yeah... Yeah, it's me," the muffled voice announced. "Can I... Can I come in?"
"Sure, if you can get the door open," Starlight replied, remembering that it wouldn't open for her when she had tried it.
"Oh... Uhm, okay." And to Starlight's surprise the door opened, and in walked the gangly colt, all one hundred pounds of him. The wispy adolescent was balancing a domed serving tray on his hoof. He set it down at the foot of the bed, then blushed as he raised his gaze to meet hers. "I brought you, uh, something to eat, M-Miss Starlight."
"I suppose Fluttershy sent you?"
"No one sent me," squeaked the boy. "I just... I thought you might be hungry."
Joji's explanation caught Starlight off guard. "You just climbed all the way up the tower steps with that big platter on a hunch that I was hungry?"
Joji fidgeted with his hooves. "If you're not, I'll just leave you alone," he said, the gaps between his acne-riddled face reddening to an even brighter hue than it already was, his oratory perforated with cracks and rasps.
Puberty came at this poor kid with a morning star, Starlight observed. It was like he had never seen a mare before. The boy was so awkward and nervous around her he was beginning to shake... But it might have been the cold that was doing that to him; her room was becoming an ice box.
The lull between them made the young pegasus shrink back. "I could just come back later... Or, never, whichever you prefer."
"No, it's okay." Starlight approached him in the way one might when trying to pet a timid animal. "As it so happens, I am a bit hungry." She placed a hoof on his shoulder and tried to put him at ease with a smile. "Show me what you brought me."
The contact visibly flustered him. He swallowed, the apple protruding from that absurdly scrawny neck of his falling and then rising. "S-sure~" he quivered, before he removed the dome-shaped top from the serving dish.
The steam from the hot food plumed opaque in the cold of the chamber, revealing a stir-fry of diced tomatoes, broccoli, green peppers, and mushrooms. Drizzled over it was a savory-scented relish that smelled vaguely of pumpkins and chestnuts. The scorching confection of spices that had been used to season the dish made Starlight's eyes and mouth water. "Joji," she said, delighted, "this was so nice of you. Thanks."
Joji smiled shyly through a row of chattering teeth. "I'm pleased you like it, Miss Starlight. I heard that you had been confined to your room for most of the day, so I just thought you'd appreciate some room service." He breathed into his hooves and rubbed his arms. Then he finally asked, "By the way, I don't mean to pry, but why do you have it so cold in here?"
"Uh..." Starlight looked back at her hearth. "I was trying to start a fire to get a little warmth in here," she admitted, abashed that she was so incapable of such a menial task. "I've been at it for an hour now. No luck."
"I could help, if you'd like," Joji offered.
"Oh, could you?" replied Starlight, surprised by the offer.
"It's no problem," insisted Joji. "I lay The King and Queen's chamber fire for them every night. It's easy, if you know the proper way to do it."
Starlight followed her volunteer to the hearth. He hummed thoughtfully as he looked into the pit. "There's your problem," he said pointedly.
"What's my problem?" Starlight said with legitimate interest. Building a fire could be a useful skill, so she was eager to learn. She got down close to Joji, so that she could peer into the belly of the hearth with him.
The intimate proximity made the young stuart flush. "You, uh... Have the... The kindling. It's set all wrong. And the tinder, too. Here, I'll show you." He reached into the pit and removed the faggot. Then he swept the tinder into a neat pile before gathering it all up. Starlight watched as he broke the twine that bundled the dry sticks together, and he set them around the log in a teepee-like formation. After that he placed the clumps of pine needles around the cone of kindling he had built around the log. He turned and asked, "Do you have the tinderbox?"
"It's right here." Starlight gave it to him, as well as the flint. "I think it's broken, or something. I could barely get any sparks out of it."
"Broken?" Joji said. He held the tinderbox out, over the pine needles piled up around the sticks, then he struck a cascade of sparks into the dried foliage, once, twice, thrice, and whoof. The innards of Starlight Glimmer's hearth was alive with a radiant blaze, the sweet tang of burning seeder filling her nostrils.
"You made it look so easy," Starlight said in wonderment, holding her hooves out to welcome the warmth. It felt good. "What was I doing wrong?"
"You have to make sure the log and kindling aren't obstructing the sparks' path to the tinder," Joji pointed out. "You need to arrange the kindling around the log so the fire can breathe properly. And when you're striking the tinderbox, make sure you do so at a forty five degree angle. Don't just drag the stone across the steel, or all you'll be doing is grinding the flint down"
"I'll remember that for next time," Starlight said. If there is a next time.
"You don't have to do it yourself," Joji insisted. "You can just call me. You can call me anytime, for anything."
"I appreciate that." Starlight favored him with a smile. "You're okay, you know that?"
"Thanks, I..." Joji seemed to suddenly notice something, now that they were both bathed in the illumination the hearthfire emitted. His shy smile turned into a look of concern. "Does that hurt?" His hoof moved toward the angry throbbing welt pulsing on Starlight's cheek.
The unpleasant memory of the way Sombra had battered her ebbed at her gratitude. Starlight snatched his hoof before it could reach her. "Yes," she said, a little sharper than she meant to. "And you should never presume to touch a girl's face before asking her permission."
The steward looked as if she had just rapped him on the nose with a wooden spoon. He drew his hoof back when she released it, then he stammered an apology.
"It's..." Starlight made an effort to sweeten her voice, to take the sting out of her rebuke. "It's okay, kid." She looked at the food steaming pleasantly in the cold air. "It was really nice of you to come by."
"I was just thinking of you is all," Joji said, then immediately looked away from her, pretending to be distracted by the fire. A flush crept across his muzzle. The tips of his ears turned red. "Actually, I... I've been thinking about you a lot lately... Since, uhm... Well, since the first time I saw you, in the feasting hall."
Starlight, feeling strange and a little uneasy, stroked the back of her head and averted her eyes. "Uh, yeah?"
Joji gave her a quick sideways glance, then cleared his throat. He took a deep breath, looking like a nervous tiger cub getting ready to pounce upon his first kill. "What I mean to say is... I sort of... Kinda--"
"Joji." Starlight stopped him. She placed a sympathetic hoof on his shoulder, smiled apologetically, and shook her head.
The steward averted his eyes in a vain attempt to hide the dejection in them. "Well, I... Figured it was worth a shot." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, I should probably get out of your mane and let you eat." He turned on his heels and began toward the door as casually as he could make himself seem.
Starlight made no effort to stop him. He was probably embarrassed, and a little disappointed. The best thing to do was to let him go, but not before offering some words of hope. "Hey, kid?"
Joji was half way to the door when he stopped. He looked back at her, making an effort to look more attentive than melancholy. "Miss Starlight?" he replied, trying and doing poorly to conceal the somberness in his tone.
Starlight remembered what she was like at that age, the raging crock pot of hormones and anxiety that she had been. She would need to tread softly, she knew. "Is this your first time?"
"My first time?" the teen parroted.
"Is this the first time you've felt like this toward someone?"
Joji blushed and responded with a silent nod.
"It's just a crush," Starlight assured him. "It'll pass. Give it a few weeks. A moon, at the very most. In time someone else will come along, someone who feels the same way for you as you do for them, and then you'll forget all about me."
Starlight had meant her words as a salve for the boy's hurts, but with the way the anguish spread across his face, they might as well have been lemon juice. "But, I don't want to forget you," he rasped.
Starlight spoke softly, and not at all unkindly. "You're gonna have to, kid; I know it's not easy, but you and I -- It's just not gonna happen, okay? The sooner you accept that, the easier it will be to move on."
Joji let out a sigh. "Yes, ma'am."
Starlight smiled, attempting to lighten the mood. "Hey, go easy on that 'ma'am' stuff. I'm not old enough to be called that yet."
Joji returned the smile, though it was painfully obvious he was forcing it. "Sorry, Miss Starlight."
There was an awkward pause between the two of them. The mood in the room was beginning to feel strange, until Joji could bear it no longer and politely excused himself. Starlight wished him a pleasant night, and watched as he disappeared into the hall, closing the door behind him.
It wasn't until the very second the door had closed when Starlight Glimmer remembered something. Shit, the Door! She rushed over to it and tried to get it open, but her efforts were to no avail. How did Joji open it? She puzzled over the conundrum until she came upon the realization that it didn't matter. Even if she could get the door open, what next? Somehow ghost past the palace guards, abandon her friends, and escape naked into the subarctic wastes?
Sighing and feeling foolish, she turned and shambled back to her bed, eyeing the food that Joji had laid out for her. She could feel her stomach grumbling as soon as she was close enough to smell it. She took the serving dish and brought it over to one of the plush seats before the hearth, where she could warm herself as she filled her belly.
Starlight set the dish down on the floor after she finished the last bite, and she sagged back into the cushions of her chair. The fire in front of her and the spicy food inside of her made her feel warm again, and it was beginning to make her feel sleepy. With a stretch and a yawn, she decided to rest her eyes momentarily. She closed them for what only seemed like a few seconds, but when she opened them to the sound of her door creaking open, she could no longer see the moon outside her window, as if several hours had passed. If it wasn't for the glow of the fire blazing away inside her hearth, her chamber would have been pitch black.
Starlight rubbed her eyes and said sleepily, "Who is it?"
"It's me," Fluttershy announced.
Starlight's eyes narrowed, fixing her glare into the fire in front of her. She didn't bother to turn around. "Can I help you?" she said, her tone icy with formality, as if she was speaking to a stranger. And she was, as far as she was concerned.
"No more than I can help you... No matter how hard I try."
Starlight disregarded the intrigue the statement had evoked. "Then leave me alone."
"If that is your wish," Fluttershy replied, "but there's something you need to be made aware of."
Starlight listened to the sound of soft hoofsteps plodding toward her on the rushes. The Queen entered the boundary of her vision, but instead of taking a seat in the chair directly across from her, she went to the window, and for a long time she just sat and gazed at the world outside.
Starlight pretended to ignore her, but the long bout of silence was making her feel uncomfortable.
Eventually, The Queen leaned forward and rested her forehead against the cold glass. "I keep having this dream," she finally said, her voice forlorn and distant. "It's sunny, the sky is clear, and the city of Canterlot is echoing with the song of the castle bells. All of our friends and family are there. Even Discord, and all the animals I used to tend to at my cottage. Young fillies skip merrily as they shower my path with flower petals. I'm wearing an immaculate white dress, with silken flowers sewn into the sashes, with a long white train trailing behind me as my father escorts me up the aisle. My husband is waiting for me at the alter, his hair neatly combed and bound back in a pony tail, looking resplendent in his tuxedo. I've never seen him wear a tux outside of my dream, but I just know he would look handsome in one."
"A wedding?" Starlight mused.
"A real wedding," Fluttershy replied. "Ever since I had this dream, it's the one thing I've pined for. My friends and family, old and new, together... I want my husband to meet his new parents and brother-in-law. I want him to break bread with Sunset, Moon Dancer, and Twilight. I want Celestia and Luna to toast our union. I feel like, no matter what happens after that, I could die happy..." She sniffed. "But it's madness, isn't it, to hope for such things? It'll never happen. I know that now. I didn't realize it until today, but my friends and family back home, they won't even be able to recognize me, will they?"
Starlight shifted uneasily in her seat as her words came echoing through her mind. I don't know how I'll console them once they've seen you for the monster you've become. She forced herself to harden her heart. "No, they won't," was her answer. "And neither can I." It felt cruel to say, but what good would come from sugarcoating things? That pregnant mare standing before her, dressed in all that royal finery, that wasn't Fluttershy. At least, not anymore.
Smiling, and with tears in her eyes, Fluttershy turned from the window to face her. "Thank you for your honesty."
Feeling absurdly guilty, Starlight averted her gaze back to the fire, before her own tears could be seen. "Did you come all the way to my room just to ask me that? Was that dream the thing I needed to be made aware of?"
There was a long pause. Then, "No."
Starlight sighed impatiently. All the vague replies and long bouts of silence were beginning to vex her. "Well, what is it, then?"
Fluttershy finally approached the seat across from Starlight. She took her time settling into it, and when she did, she took a deep sigh and began, "It's almost midnight."
"So, it is," Starlight conceded.
"The third day is quickly approaching, Starlight. My husband will ask you to join him one more time."
If you make me have this conversation with you again, I'll jump through the damn window, and I swear I'll take you with me. "I've already given you my answer."
"Yes. Yes, you have." Fluttershy closed her eyes and, again, was silent for a long time. "Something unexpected happened shortly after the... The altercation between you and my husband. Something you should know about."
"Altercation?" Starlight scoffed. "Your husband brutalized me!"
Fluttershy's eyes were glistening when she opened them again. "Starlight, please, just be quite and listen. There's something you need to know: My plans to help you and the girls have been ruined. Celestia ended up dealing us a wild card. I-I swear to you, Starlight, I didn't see this coming. I couldn't have planned for this."
The news, vague as it was, was like a blow to Starlight Glimmer's stomach. An icy sensation jolted up her spine. "W-wait, what? What happened!"
Fluttershy looked down at her hooves. "Celestia contacted Sombra with a proposal."
"Celestia 'contacted' him?" Starlight said, perplexed.
"They have scrying mirrors they use to keep in communication with each other, it was a condition they agreed to when the DIS was signed. But that's not important right now. Sombra spoke with Celestia, and it seems they've reached an agreement concerning Twilight Sparkle's release."
"He's agreed to release us?" For that moment Starlight Glimmer was ecstatic beyond description. "Did Celestia put the screws to him? When can we wake the girls up? When are we getting out of here?"
Fluttershy didn't respond right away. She just kept her gaze lowered.
Starlight's smile began to dim when she noticed The Queen's sullen demeanor. "What's wrong? This is a good thing, isn't it?"
Fluttershy looked up at her. "I said they had reached an agreement concerning Twilight Sparkle's release. I never said anything about you or the others going free."
Starlight Glimmer blinked uncomprehendingly. "What?"
The Queen's next words were a bolt of despair aimed directly at Starlight's heart. "Celestia has convinced Sombra to release Twilight Sparkle, and in return, he gets to keep you and the others." Fluttershy shuddered. "She... Princess Celestia, she offered up your freedom in return for Twilight's. I'm sorry, but there's no way to sugar coat it: Princess Celestia has sold you, Starlight."
Starlight Glimmer found difficulty in processing the information. The hope that she would again be free was the mortar that had been keeping her together all this time.
"Celestia has already admitted that you and the others were rogue agents, who acted independently and without her knowledge. This way, Celestia gets her pupil back, and Sombra gets to keep his attempted regicides under lock and key, to prevent the possibility of a second attack."
Tears were beginning to well up in Starlight's eyes. "You... But, you promised."
"I'm sorry," Fluttershy offered feebly. "I know things seem hopeless right now, but there still may be a chance. My husband's offer may still stand."
"I can't believe you're still going on about that!" Starlight shouted. "I'm never going to join you monsters!"
"Monster?" The Queen sighed. "There you go, using the 'M' word again. You know, It hurt when you called me that earlier. I never meant to make a spectacle of myself back in the spa, but, those words cut me in a way you couldn't imagine. I didn't need to be reminded that my friends and family back home would ostracize me for what I've become. They'd call me a monster too, wouldn't they?"
Starlight waved her hoof. "If the horseshoe fits."
Fluttershy gripped the arms of her chair so firmly her hooves started turning white, though she managed to keep her voice subdued at a reasonable volume. "You know, there is indeed a monster in this room. And I'm looking right at her."
"Excuse you?" Starlight said, outraged by the accusation.
"You tried to kill my husband, Starlight. He would have quartered with you if you hadn't attacked him. But no, you tried to murder him - right in front of his wife, no less. You would have killed New Haven's only hope and widowed me all in one fell swoop."
Starlight Glimmer reddened. "We were trying to rescue you, you ingrate!"
"Whose the ingrate? I'm the one whose been trying to rescue you. Only, my rescue attempt didn't involve killing anyone. Makes me wonder who the true monster is. It's no wonder Celestia doesn't want you back."
The statement was meant to sting, and it succeeded. "You're lying. I know you're lying, damn you! Celestia would never abandon us like that!"
"It's not a lie!" Fluttershy insisted. "But there's still hope. This is the last time I'm going to say it: Join us. Free our friends. Make amends to New Haven and her people for your attempted regicide and help us fight for her. Join us, Starlight. It's the only option you have left!"
No, she thought. It was a lie. It had to be. "It's a trick. You're trying to pressure me into accepting Sombra's offer."
"You accuse my queen of lying?" a deep voice emanated from the far end of the room. "Face it, you're expendable, an acceptable loss. You and your friends are no more than currency, which was used to buy Princess Twilight Sparkle's freedom."
Starlight turned to scowl at the intruder. "I don't believe either of you!" she blustered in a rage.
Sombra passed through the doorway, a shadow advancing through the darkness with an otherworldly grace. The wisps of amethyst lining his eyes streaked tails of phantom light as he moved. He stood behind his wife's seat and placed a hoof upon her shoulder.
"How long were you standing there?" Starlight demanded.
"Oh, I arrived right around the time of the 'I'm never going to join you monsters' declaration." Sombra approached her, skirting around his queen's chair. He lifted a hoof and made to examine the bruise on her face. "Would you like some ice for that?"
"Don't touch me!" Starlight swatted his hoof away. "What do you want?"
Sombra remained cool with a composed dignity, despite the rude reception he was being given. "You know what I want," he said. "I am a stallion of my word. Three days I have given you, and the first stroke of the third day approaches. What will your decision be?"
"Starlight," Fluttershy broke in. "Please, make the right decision. For your sake, and that of the girls'."
"It sounds like my wife has already filled you in. I had expected she would have informed you before I could. It is as she has said, Celestia has forsaken you. Whether or not you believe us matters not, but believe this: Come tomorrow morning, I will awaken Princess Twilight Sparkle. I will have my finest carriage ready to escort her to the southern border, where my custody over her shall be relinquished to Princess Celestia. But you and the others, you belong to me now."
A lump began to form in Starlight's throat. The finality in Sombra's tone was beginning to dissipate her doubts. "Twilight... Will you at least let me say goodbye to her?"
Sombra considered her coldly. "Neigh. By the time the princess has been roused, you'll be on your way to the mines, where you will toil away the rest of your life carving silver and corundum from the rocks. You'll be of more use to me there than you will rotting in my dungeon. If you will not serve me freely, you will serve me in chains."
"And the others?" Starlight croaked.
"It's as I've told you once before, it's draining my resources keeping them alive in their fragile condition. I wish to rid myself of them before they drain what paltry stores of medicine I have left. I could tell my staff to stop treating them, and simply let their bodies deteriorate. Or perhaps I could just have their throats opened, or give them to the sea. It would be kinder than letting them slowly die of infection or malnutrition."
Starlight felt as if she was going to vomit.
Fluttershy seized her king's hoof and pleaded. "It hasn't been seventy two hours yet!"
"The moon is risen upon the zenith," Sombra retorted. "I did not promise seventy two hours. I promised three days. And soon shall arrive the morn of the third day. I'll stall no longer; it is time for her to decide."
"I won't let you do it!" Fluttershy sprang from her chair, opened her wings, and hovered so that she could be eye level with her husband. "I swear, I'll hate you for the rest of my days if you hurt them!"
Sombra looked her in the eye. "And what of these friends of yours? Would you have hated them just as much if they had succeeded in their assassination, if they had windowed you, if they had orphaned our child?"
"You never mentioned anything to me about killing them!" Fluttershy shot back, her voice high with distress.
"Just as you never mentioned to me that you purposely worded the DIS to give Celestia leeway in forcing me to release your friends?"
The color drained from Fluttershy's face. "What? Y- you knew?"
"I speculated," Sombra revealed. "But now, I know. Your mouth can lie, but your eyes can not."
The beating of Fluttershy's wings slowed until she was touching the ground. "How?" was all she could seem to say.
"I know you," The King replied. "You would never sell out your friends so easily. Wording the document so that I may keep your friends as prisoners for as long as I pleased? And the section barring Princess Celestia from taking hostile action against me? Why did the word 'hostile' need to be there? There are other ways for Celestia to attack me without utilizing what is legally construed as 'hostile' force, especially since we're so reliant upon trade with her nation, which was another condition I found suspicious. Why was an agreement included in the DIS that dictated New Haven would trade exclusively with Equestria, and no other nations? It was as if you purposely made us reliant upon Equestria for resources... It was as if you had given Celestia a course of attack, which would have been far more effective than any military campaign... Say, an embargo, perhaps?"
Fluttershy just looked up at him, stupefied.
Sombra reached down and tenderly touched her on the cheek. "I admire that you strived to stay loyal to me, Celestia, and your friends all at the same time. It was a good plan. You prevented a possible war, and established a rather necessary albeit limited trade contract with a neighboring nation. I have you to thank for all that. As for Celestia, she was simply too stupid to seize the opportunity you had given her. You gave her too much credit, and me not enough. Though, I will admit, you had me deceived at first. I would never have signed that document if I had comprehended the nuances of its language. I would be lying if I told you I didn't feel a little betrayed, yet I am impressed... Such conflicting emotions."
"Is this why you want to kill them?" Fluttershy began to sob softly. "To punish me?"
"I do what I do for the preservation of our nation, little dove."
Starlight shuddered. Sombra had figured everything out, and Fluttershy's plan no longer had teeth, since Celestia, the most vital piece to her game, had sold her for Twilight's freedom. The only one who could help her friends now was her. Feeling as if she was no more valuable than fodder, forgotten and cast aside by the princess she had once admired, her lips quivered as she forced out the words. "You... You win, Sombra."
They both looked at her. The relief in Fluttershy was palpable, while Sombra's visage remained an expressionless mask.
Starlight, her eyes glistening, said, "You have to awaken them. All of them, and you have to send them home safely. And you have to let me say goodbye to them. Those are my only conditions."
Sombra considered her with a cold, suspicious gaze. "You will join me, so long as I accept these conditions?"
Starlight gave a feeble nod of compliance.
"You know what you must do," Sombra said.
"R-right here?" Starlight stammered. "Right now?"
"Yes, here and now. No need to make a ceremony of it."
Sniffling, Starlight climbed down from her seat, incredulous at what she was doing.
"Well, then?" Sombra said impatiently.
Shaking, Starlight slid her left hoof forward as she prostrated herself onto one knee. And slowly, ever so slowly, she lowered her head.
"Do you recognize me as your king, and renounce Celestia as she has renounced you?" Sombra intoned.
Starlight's mind flashed with the images of the bodies at the keep, the hanged corpses twisting in the wind with blackened tongues protruding from their mouths, the piles of ashes that were once living beings, the corpses mangled and strewn about like shredded ragdolls, and all the blood. So much blood. It painted the walls. It reddened the snow. Blood, blood, blood and bodies, it was all she could see in her mind.
"Do you pledge your fealty, mind, body, and everything that you are -- to me?" Sombra continued. "If you do, then rise. Rise, and so shall begin your new life as my apprentice."
On quivering legs Starlight began to rise, her left hoof shaking as she dragged it under her to push herself up from the rushes. She tried to elevate herself, but it was as though twenty stone had been added to her body weight. She envisioned equines and other creatures being slaughtered, torn to pieces, and brutally executed as they begged on their knees for mercy. But in her vision it wasn't Sombra who was killing them. It was her. She suddenly felt too weary to keep her balance, and she crumpled to the floor. Her voice was tremulous. "I can't... I just can't!"
Sombra sneered. "Pathetic. After all the opportunities I've given you. Do you honestly find it less ignoble to squander your gifts than to join my wife and I in our crusade?"
"Starlight, please get up!" Fluttershy pleaded. "Rise, please! Do it for the others."
Starlight Glimmer summoned every ounce of courage she could, and said through her tears, "I'll live a thousand lives as your prisoner before I suffer even one as your servant."
"What of the others?" The King demanded. "You're abandoning them?"
The words pained her to say, but she managed to force them out, through the solid lump that had formed in her throat: "They would do the same in my position. What are the lives of three mares compared to all the lives you'd force me to destroy?"
"Virtuous to a fault." Sombra narrowed his eyes disgustedly. "So be it, then. I'll have no choice but to ensure your friends will never be a threat to me again. As for you, I would advise you to get all the rest you can tonight, for tomorrow starts your new life -- in the mines."