“Are you sure, princess?”
Penumbra took a breath. Her pace remained brisk as she resisted the urge to slow even slightly. Facet walked behind her and to the side, in the position appropriate for a slave, but Penumbra found herself wishing that she could stand beside her.
“I never do anything unless I am sure, Facet.”
“But perhaps you need to give it a little more thought- -”
“I am a princess. I do not think. I do not hesitate. I eradicate the enemies.” She paused. “At least that’s what Scarlet Mist taught me. It never seemed so hard until now.”
Facet raised an eyebrow. “So...you’re going to eradicate Crozea?”
Penumbra stopped walking and sighed. “That would make this easier, wouldn’t it?”
“Princess, may I speak freely?”
“Of course. You’re my friend. You can say whatever you want. I think I already made this clear.”
“You did, but it’s protocol. Slaves have been sent to the mines for much, much less.”
“Not you. I would never do that. No one will. You will never see the inside of the mines. That’s a princess promise.”
Facet smiled weakly. “Of course. Thank you, princess. But I am concerned. Crozea has already tried to end you once. I fear she may attempt it again.”
“No. She will not.”
“You can’t guarantee that! Princess, you have every right to challenge her- -”
“I literally have the right to challenge any pony in the world. I suppose we all do. I just have the power to win. But I’m not going to challenge her. I don’t want to.”
Facet seemed immensely confused by this. “But why?”
Penumbra paused, thinking. “Because it’s not what I’m for.”
“I still don’t understand.”
“Facet. Do you have parents?”
Facet blinked, confused. “Yes,” she said, “but they’re outdoor slaves. I will never see them again.”
“Imagine that Crozea were my mother.”
“She’s not. You’re not half-zebra.”
“Things would be easier if I was. But please. Please try to understand.”
Fact did so, and her expression softened. “That’s how you see her.”
“Almost. Not quite. Maybe?” Penumbra sighed. “I don’t know. But I can’t leave it like this. I have friends now, and I know what my power is, and what it does. I think this is how she wanted me to be. She has to know she didn’t fail.”
“She took your childhood.”
“And what was your childhood like, Facet?”
“I- -I- -”
“We are property of the Crystal Empire. All of us. We have no need for such luxuries.”
“Of course, princess.”
“But...”
“But?”
“But why am I so afraid?”
Facet was taken aback by this. She did not know how to respond.
“That’s why I asked you to come with me. I know I have to talk to her alone, but the walk here...I would have just ended up turning back. How can I face Celestia and Nightmare Moon if I can’t even talk to Crozea?”
Facet put her hoof on Penumbra’s armored shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. I’ll be right outside the door if you need help. But you have to do this.”
“But I don’t want to.”
“So what? When have you ever wanted to do what you do? That’s not how it works. Not for us. You do what you have to. That’s how you survive. Believe me. You do not want to die with this regret.”
“Die?”
“Hypothetically, yes.”
Penumbra looked at her friend, and managed to smile. “Yes. You’re right. Thank you, Facet. You’re a good friend.”
For some reason that Penumbra could not fathom, Facet smiled back- -but looked so incredibly sad as she did.
Crozea’s facility was deep within the Citadel, far from the others, near an area where endless pipes and fluid management systems converged. It was a dark, unpleasant place filled perpetually with noise, but it was likely one of the only warm places within the kingdom. Warm and endlessly humid.
Penumbra paused in front of the door. It was inscribed with strange writing; Penumbra recognized it as Zebric and knew that it was magic, but she could not read it. No doubt all of it rhymed.
“Go in,” whispered Facet. “I’ll be out here. Waiting.”
Penumbra sighed, and lifted her armored hoof to knock on the door. Before she could even touch it, though, the strange runes glowed with yellow light and the door swung open silently and on its own.
Penumbra braced herself and entered. The first thing that struck her was the smell. The odor was intense and spicy, a combination of things boiling, fermenting, drying, and so on; they were things that smelled ancient and dusty, exotic and familiar, pungent and subtle; the scent of herbs and plants of every type.
The second thing she noticed was the walls. Though there was little light in the room, she did not see the standard crystal of the Citadel. Instead, there was wood. Living wood, that grew thin, anemic leaves on gnarled branches. The whole of it was pulsing with magic. Penumbra could feel it.
Adorning the walls were numerous shelves packed with things in jars and bottles, as well as terrifying masks of seemingly every type. Although they did not have eyes, each and every one of them seemed to be staring at Penumbra. She stared back, defiantly.
The room contained a significant amount of academical equipment, ranging from boilers to fermenters and everything in between. In the center sat a cauldron, driven by a brass and crystal assembly. Crozea was standing at the cauldron, facing away from the door, apparently working on the potion within- -except that all she appeared to be doing was staring at it, watching the mysterious green fluid slowly swirl and bubble.
“Princess,” she said without turning. “Regardless of what you have come to say, as you can see, I am very busy today.”
“No.”
Crozea sat up and turned around, wiping her eyes. Her face pale and her gaze was cold. “I will not ask you twice. Refuse again, and I will not be so nice.”
“If you have to fight me, do it. That would make this easier.”
“If you seek vengeance for a crime I did not commit, then you truly are what he wanted, and so be it.”
“Would you even fight me?”
Crozea stared at Penumbra for a long time, and Penumbra felt an urge to flee. Not from fear, but from shame. “If I cannot convince you to desist? No. I would not resist.”
“I have been taught that violence is the answer to every problem. I believed this for most of my life.” She looked up at Crozea. “You never taught me that, though. And I don’t think it’s because you hated me and wanted to see me fail. Because I don’t think violence will solve this problem. I don’t know if anything can.”
“So you came here to reject me, to once and for all be forever free.”
“No.” Penumbra sighed. “I still don’t think what you did was right, trying to keep me from the outside world. Or poisoning me.”
“As I have told you, that is something I would never do- -”
“I know that. The poisoning doesn’t even matter. That’s the part that’s easy to forgive. It’s just that...you gave me life. Created me, in this form. And then kept me from using it. From becoming me. From becoming powerful. That’s harder.”
“If I had even suspected...Penumbra, I only wanted you to be protected. Sombra’s choice was that of a fool, to treat you as some manner of tool, and knowing you thought the same...it shakes me to my very frame.”
“I am a weapon. But I am also a pony. And princess, a sorceress, and a friend. I don’t know what I am to you. And it scares me.”
Crozea rotated completely and stood. She wore none of her normal clothing, only several golden bands and pieces of golden armor, the sides of which were inscribed with runes in Sombra’s style. Armor he had given her. “To understand my choices, there is information you must glean. Please tell me, princess, would you listen to the tale of how I joined the Dark Thirteen?”
Penumbra blinked, somewhat taken aback. She had of course known that there must be a reason Crozea had joined; there was for each and every of the others, from simple pursuit of power or pain to devotion, vengeance or politics. Yet her mind had never connected the fact that Crozea had a reason, that she, like the others, was a being of absolute evil as well. As Penumbra herself was, too.
“Sure,” she stammered. “If...if you’re willing to tell.”
“I think it is finally time. So please, listen to my rhyme.
“n the distant past, I was a mage of great renown
A witchdoctor, a healer of the grown and the foals
I was a staunch protector of my beloved town
Able to commune with nature, the land, and lost souls.
Yet my thirst for secret knowledge continued to grow
And so I turned to forbidden rhymes, dark and arcane
Not knowing the reaping that I had begun to sew.
The spirits were never ponies, nor zebras, nor sane.
In hubris, I opened the door that cannot be closed.
Eyes of Red, soul of Blight. She spoke, and I was too weak;
Against what I brought, I had no power. So they chose.
Unleashed upon the land, they would cut a burning streak.
It was my village they took, with powers infernal.
Though houses still stood, the crops grew, and the bright sun shone,
I watched it all, and their curse, a body eternal
Every friend, lover, child, foal; naught but ash and bone.
Now yet I stand, barren and immortal, wandering
Forever the nature of my sin left pondering.
For I am a thing of evil, worth only reproach,
And knowing this, you see, so did Sombra I approach.”
Penumbra stared, because she finally understood. “You were afraid you’d lose me too. Like you lost your friends and family. Or afraid that I would make the same mistake...”
Crozea nodded. Tears were running from her eyes, and she wiped them away.
“I could not bear...not bear to see... you end up like them, or like me.”
Penumbra did not know what else to say. But her instinct told her that it did not really matter. Instead, she hugged Crozea and, after a moment, the zebra hugged back.
When Penumbra was finished, she left. Facet was still waiting for her, standing outside the door.
“How did it go?”
Penumbra smiled. “I think it went well. We hugged. I think everything is better now.” Her smile faded. “But...”
“But what?”
“But she’s sad. I didn’t even realize how much pain she has inside. I don’t even know how to help.” She paused. “I think everypony here is like that. They’re all in so much pain, and I just want to help them...but where to even start...”
“You’ve been doing a good job so far. I’m happy for you, princess. I was wrong when I said you were like your father. If you ruled the kingdom, maybe things wouldn’t be so bad.”
“Maybe...”
Facet produced something from her coat. “Here. I made this for you. To make you feel better, in case this all went bad. But now I guess it’s for celebration instead.”
Penumbra gasped, realizing that Facet was holding a cupcake.
“I can’t,” she said. “The sugar, I just can’t- -”
“It’s sugar-free. It has a different ingredient instead.”
“Sugar-free?” Penumbra took the cupcake. “Well, if you went through all that trouble...thank you, Facet. You’re a good friend.” Penumbra took a bite of the cupcake and chewed it, then swallowed. Only then did she realize what was in it, and what Facet had done.
She turned wide-eyed to her friend. “W...why?”
“Because this is the Crystal Empire. Those of us not born with power have to claw our way to the top by whatever means necessary. I’m sorry. You were a good friend, too. But I refuse to be a slave.”
Penumbra gurgled slightly, then took a halfhearted step. That was when the poison reached her heart, and as it stopped, the world went black. Penumbra fell to the floor, dead.