//------------------------------// // Chapter 32: Loose Ends // Story: Knights of Ice and Crystal // by Leila Drake //------------------------------// Cadence had been right. Twilight did not appreciate that Darren had stormed into the castle without her. As soon as she and her friends arrived in the Empire's train station, she tackle-hugged Darren, both relieved and upset. "You could have gotten badly hurt - or worse!" she kept repeating. It took some persuasion from Jonathan and the girls for her to see that Darren had not had a choice in the matter. In the end, she begrudgingly admitted that she probably would have had done the same thing. And yet, even though Twilight had relented, Darren felt guilty. Twilight's friends, on the other hand, seemed surprisingly relaxed. Did they try to calm Twilight down before they had arrived? Darren knew that the six friends had a unique bond of friendship. At least he remembered all of their names by now. "What I don't get," said Jonathan as they made their way through the entrance hall, "is where Sombra got that much power from in the first place. Didn't you say he was weak when he was restored?" "Yes. In a way," said Darren, "it is my fault that all of it got out of hand. Were it not for the sword, Sombra wouldn't have had the chance to return. Or to accumulate power. The Void Lord probably needed time to take over and that is why he didn't try to destroy the Crystal Heart right away." "Yes, maybe that's it," Twilight muttered, the corner of her mouth twitching as she thought about it. "Please tell us, what's the special magic of that sword? I know it looks kind of... cold, but..." Rarity said, flicking back her beautiful mane. Twilight cleared her throat. "The sword is made of Saronite," she said, trying to sound neutral. "Yes, I already told the Princess," said Darren. "Cadence," he added when he saw Rainbow Dash's confused expression. "If any... living being is in prolonged contact with it, they go mad." "What?!" Rainbow Dash blurted out. "You're looking like you're doin' okay, though. But why in tarnation would anypony wanna use a weapon like that?" asked Applejack. Darren stopped walking. They had left the train station. Taking a moment to orient himself, he looked around, then turned to the left, following the road that led to a restaurant. They had a good lunch menu. Maybe their breakfast was also acceptable. "Saronite does have some advantages. It repels most kinds of magic, has less than half the weight of common steel and it's extremely durable." "Getting kinda off-topic," Jonathan threw in. Darren grunted. "Hm. Well, what I assume happened is that there was a fraction of Sombra's magic left in his horn, tying his soul to the mortal plane. When he sensed the sword, he absorbed the power within to recreate his body. He must have taken such a high amount - maybe all of it - that it overtook him - over time. Princess Cadence confirmed this morning that he's experiencing memory loss. Also, he appears to be a normal unicorn again. Minus the horn." "Poor thing," said Fluttershy quietly. "Ah dunno," said Applejack. "Not to sound mean or anythin' but to me it looks like Sombra had it comin' to him. If you mess around with dark magic it sure never ends well." "But maybe he just wanted to live again, I mean: not having a body sounds reeeally boring," said Pinkie Pie. She stopped skipping along to read the sign of the restaurant Darren had been heading towards. "Ooh, it says you can eat as much as you can eat! That's perfect! Is anypony else hungry? I'm hungry!" A waitress approached them. She quickly counted their heads and gestured towards two tables with eight seats in total. "Where's Cadence?" asked Rainbow Dash, snatching a menu card from the table. "Is she picking up the pieces?" Pinkie Pie chimed, her ferociously pink mane bouncing as she leaned over to look at the menu in Rainbow's hooves. "The pieces? Oh, you mean because of the explosion," Twilight realized. "No, she and Shining are busy discussing with the Guards and Sunburst what they hay they should do with Sombra. She gave me a mirror call an hour ago, while we still were on the train." "Yeah, woke me up two times," grumbled Jonathan. "Sorry," Twilight added. "I didn't mean to shout like that." Jonathan waved it off. He studied his own menu card. "Huh. Hey, Princess, what's, oh man, how do you read this, 'broo-ley'?" "Oh, you'd like it, it's when you torch -" Twilight began. "Maybe he'll be reformed," mused Applejack. "That would be nice. But I suppose this time I don't want to be the one to help with it," Rarity admitted. "Even if it was not him that tried to destroy the Crystal Heart this time, our confrontation with him was real. I would feel extremely awkward around him." "Just imagine how Sombra must feel," Jonathan said without raising his eyes from the menu. His tone made Rarity blush and hide her face behind her own card. The light in the small room was dimmed; the curtains still closed. Beneath the window stood a single bed, facing a door wide enough to push it through. Sombra felt weird. The nurse that had brought him breakfast had hurried inside, slapped the tray onto the nightstand and rushed back out without a word. The food was tasty and filling. He ate everything, from the salad to the baked potatoe. There was even a small bowl of yoghurt and fruit. After breathing in the food, he downed the single glass of water. Sombra pushed the tray back onto the nightstand and stood up. He was glad that nopony had watched him eating. At first, he had forgotten that he could not levitate things anymore. His horn stump had crackled and hurt even worse than already. And then, when he realized that he had to eat without the cutlery, he had prayed that nopony would catch him with his muzzle covered in sauce. Back in the orphanage, the matron had insisted on teaching him and everyone else proper table manners. The lessons had stuck, Sombra had wanted to prove that he belonged. He had always been a fast learner, especially when it came to magic. Now Sombra felt like a helpless foal again, much more than before losing his horn. He would have to relearn so much from scratch... He sighed and stepped to the window. It was a normal castle window: no bars, pretty curtains, a vase with fresh tulips on the windowsill. He had noticed the guards outside the door, though. He was a prisoner but apparently he was not considered much of a threat. As the sun climbed higher, he paced up and down the room until his head hurt so much that he had to lie down again. Everything was spinning. A drop of blood ran down his forehead. He opened the drawer of the nightstand in hopes of finding a tissue. Sombra was lucky. Dabbing at the red on his face, he blinked. Images of the fight with the human returned to him. Everything was a haze. Trying to remember made his head hurt, well, more... When the Princess and Prince had questioned him, they had been only moderately surprised by his memory loss. Sombra suspected that they had their own ideas about what happened. He did not know how he had gotten into the castle or why the grey colt had been there. But it probably had something to do with the whispers. Those, at least, were gone, too. But the mere thought of facing the Royals again turned his stomach into knots. Where had those voices come from? It had not been the Umbrum but something else, something even more sinister. Ever since the knight had cut off the horn, there was peace between Sombra's ears. Except for the searing pain where that part of him used to be. Oh, Stars, everything was spinning... and his glass of water was empty... The door opened, snapping him back into the present. The nurse from before was back. She snatched the tray from the nightstand with a quick movement, avoiding his gaze. Sombra slurred, "Can I get some water, please? I feel dizzy..." "I'll see what I can do," said the nurse curtly. Sombra frowned. He was not welcome here. The nurse was just doing her job and that was it. His ears folded down. He felt half his real size. Would he get another chance at life or was it too late? "We should totally have a party," said Pinkie Pie. "I am not in much of a celebrating mood," muttered Darren, working his way through his third course, a pile of waffles drowned in maple syrup. "Why not?" Rainbow Dash asked. "The bad guy is defeated, the Crystal Heart and all the Crystal Ponies are safe and that colt what's-his-name is okay, too." "Eclipse. The fight was... taxing," said Darren slowly. He exchanged a look with Jonathan. The priest raised an eyebrow. "You said it was a Void Lord?" Darren nodded. "Mind spells?" Jonathan kept digging. Darren nodded again, pulling a face. Jonathan grimaced uncomfortably as if he had seen something embarrassing or disgusting. "Mind spells?" asked Applejack. "Don't ask. Really. Don't," said Twilight, suddenly very serious. "But Rainbow's right, you did save the day. I'd say that's a good enough reason to celebrate." "Maybe another time," Darren gave in. "Whaaat?" Eclipse groaned. "But we saved the Empire!" "That's no reason to neglect your education, young stallion. And you snuck out of the house at night, during a citywide emergency. There are consequences." Feather put the packed saddlebags onto Eclipse's back. The colt sighed in frustration, the sign turning into a prolonged yawn. "Oh Stars, I've got only half of my Math homework." He rubbed his eyes. Peridot grinned, donning her own saddlebags. "Bur you can tell everypony how you and Darren saved their flanks," she said. "I'd say that's worth a bad school day." "And being grounded for three days," Feather reminded her. "I dunno," said Eclipse. "Maybe. Bye, Mom." They hugged and the two siblings went off to school. Eclipse had no idea how it was possible but the entire school already knew - or at least had suspicions - about the fight in the castle. As soon as he and Peridot crossed the threshold of the schoolhouse, he was surrounded by excited students begging him to tell them what really happened. He liked telling the story for the first four times although he left out the part about Darren getting attacked with evil fear spells. After that he just wanted class to start. Luckily for him, first period was Ethics and Harmony, a subject that was more on the easy side. Most of today's lesson still went over his head. Eclipse did his best to write along but there was a moment when Peridot poked his side, preventing his unusually heavy head from smearing his notes. Eclipse spent the rest of the school day in something of a trance. He managed to stay awake but he was glad that History was not today. He was so tired he barely managed to form coherent sentences. After their long breakfast, Twilight and her pony friends decided to go to the castle and see how they could help. Darren and Jonathan left for the Valiant Prince. Jonathan frowned when he noticed the shattered window. "Brick," Darren explained. He gestured at the bed. Jonathan sat down hesitantly. Darren opened the closet, revealing a crate. He lifted the lid. Cold vapour rose from whatever was inside of it. He quickly withdrew a glass bottle and closed the lid again. "Join me?" Jonathan accepted. Darren had exactly two glasses. They did not match. He poured a little of the drink into each one. The men raised them silently and took a sip. Darren waved his glass around, watching the colourless liquid swirl around in it. "You don't normally do that, do you?" Jonathan smiled wryly. "No. But today..." Darren trailed off. "You alright?" "I think so. Sombra won't be a problem anymore." "That's not what I meant." "I know." Darren took another sip. "The Void Lord... made me have a little walk down memory lane." Darren's mouth twitched. "I was about to give up because of who I was. Eclipse saw that. And he cheered me on." He chuckled, shaking his head. "It's what kept me off the edge. And then I won. That was... new. Don't get me wrong; you, Arcus, Twilight, Levinia... you're good friends. But his faith, that was something else. It was absolute. Remember when I said only you and Luna understood? The kid actually does, too. That's why it mattered when he said, 'don't let him win'." He smiled lopsidedly. "He'll become a great guard someday." Jonathan smirked, rubbing his chin. "But yeah... I think I get it. Guess sometimes we don't know what kind of friendship we need until we actually find it." "Hm." Darren nodded. He emptied his glass and set it down on the small table. "Teaching him to really make use of his powers is going to take a while. Even though he's a fast learner." "Shouldn't be a problem, right? Or are you going somewhere?" Jonathan asked. Darren looked out of the broken window. He would have to find a new place quickly but somehow he felt that would be alright. The street was already bustling with crystal ponies beginning their everyday routine. Their voices and clattering of hooves could be heard from up here. Strange, the things that you could get used to. A few months ago, he had been all alone in the Plaguelands, hunting the undead Scourge. It felt so far away now, in spite of the Void Lord's attack. Here, on Twilight's home planet, there was so much life and hope and... light. Darren looked back at his friend and smiled. This time, it reached his eyes. "No. I'm not going anywhere." "Oof!" Eclipse heaved his saddlebags off his back and staggered to the couch. "Moooom," he wailed. "Yes?" Feather said innocently. "Can I go to sleep after luuunch?" Feather smiled apologetically and sat down next to Eclipse. The colt had dropped himself on the couch with all four legs outstretched, his face buried in a pillow. His little wings hung limp at his side. "We wanted you to go to school so you would see what the consequences of staying awake and running off at night are. But yes, you can go to bed if you want to." She put a careful hoof on his head, stroking his black mane. "I'm glad you're okay. When you were gone, we were all very scared." "I'm really sorry," Eclipse mumbled into the pillow. He hiccuped. "I feel so bad. I felt okay before, why is everything so weird now?" He rolled onto his back, facing his mother. "When scary things happen, we sometimes go into shock. It keeps us from feeling all the pain or getting too upset. But after a while, the feelings come back. That's what's happening to you right now, honey..." Her voice was so soft. She gently stroked his fur. "You're safe now," she added. "Thanks to you and thanks to Darren, Sombra can't hurt anypony anymore. I don't like you didn't tell us you went - but," she chuckled, "I'm still very proud of you. You were so brave." Hugging Eclipse, she added, "You can always come to us when you're scared, okay? I love you, Eclipse." Eclipse hugged her back, squeezing her as hard as he could. "Thanks, Mom. I love you, too." Feather felt her shoulder getting wet. They kept on hugging for a long while.