//------------------------------// // Crimson Stained Harmony // Story: Imperial Revision // by The Sound of Loneliness //------------------------------// “Sister, I swear, I left her right here!” Daybreaker anxiously lamented. The alabaster mare cautiously covered herself with her wing as the rock she had chained the changeling to smashed against the wall with enough force to send the fragments flying and to make the floor shake, “If I knew who this bug was I would never...” Daybreaker started another apology but instantly wished she’d kept quiet. With a blood-chilling growl Nightmare Moon sent the remaining piece of the large rock flying right at her sister’s face, making her urgently dive out of its course. The rock shattered with an earthshaking crack, showering the mare with shards. Before the Daybreaker could catch her bearings again, she felt herself being roughly grasped around the neck and dragged upwards again, facing her sister’s burning glare. “Where is she?!” Nightmare Moon chided right into her face, with the tone that promised her every imaginable suffering. An uneven smile crept back on Daybreaker’s face. “I left her right here! I haven’t moved her since! I don’t know where she is now! Honestly!” Nightmare Moon’s already slit pupils narrowed into barely visible lines. Daybreaker’s smile grew even wider, another layer of cold sweat covering her body. “There’s blood, Your Majesty,” Twilight stated grimly, ducking closer to the ground and exploring a small puddle in the cave’s center. “It’s fresh, she was here only a few hours before!” Nightmare Moon immediately lost any interest her sister, releasing her throat and rapidly trotting over to Twilight. Throwing a brief look at the brownish liquid, Nightmare Moon searched for Thorax with her eyes. The changeling immediately shrank under her gaze, “Thorax, come here this instant!” she barked out the order. The changeling reluctantly obeyed, “Sniff this!” The order stunned the changeling for a brief moment; but catching the Empress’ pupils starting to narrow again, he quickly smelled the puddle, his eyes widened, “Oooh...” “What-what is it?!” Nightmare Moon urgently asked. “She is… malnourished,” Thorax stated what his mind was telling him. “Doesn’t seem to be hurt.” Daybreaker audibly exhaled in relief. “Twilight, do you know a tracking spell which could prove useful here?” Nightmare Moon asked her Princess. “I… no. I am sorry, Your Majesty, I need my spellbook for this,” Twilight apologized. The response made Nightmare Moon pace a few circles around the puddle, “Arrrrraaaaghhh!” she growled, this time more in fear than anger. “Your Majesty, we can still track her down using a thing of hers. Or using a dog, we could borrow Winona off Applejack!” Twilight suggested. “I’ll go get the dog, then!” Daybreaker seized the opportunity and darted to the exit. The distinctive sound of the rifle’s bolt being pulled was her only signal to stop. Daybreaker swallowed as she knew that this was her last warning, her sister raised her all remaining Honor Guards, they wouldn’t let her cross the perimeter. "You won't be leaving us any time soon, sister dear," Nightmare Moon half-growled, half-hissed. “Cree!” the familiar voice called for them from the outside. “We have hostiles!” Firestep’s voice arrived shortly after, followed by the familiar booming pops of rifles discharging. Nightmare Moon rushed towards the exit, almost knocking Twilight aside. “Hold your fiiiire!” the Sergeant's voice broke through the gunfire, silencing it entirely. Nightmare Moon galloped out of the cave, following with her eyes in the direction Baron’s hoof pointed her. There stood a blocky figure resembling a pony, Philomena sitting on its head. “Check it,” she ordered. Firestep cautiously trotted forth, keeping his rifle on target. The figure did not move an inch the entire time of his approach. He tapped it with his rifle’s barrel, no response. “One of those blockheads!” he reported back. “Made of solid rock this time.” Nightmare Moon took her turn to approach, keeping her eyes on the golem. It didn’t show any hostility or move in any way until she could almost touch it herself. The mare lifted her brow and tapped the thing on the forehead, scarred with bullet marks. Obeying her touch, the golem returned to life and began to slowly trot away, deeper into the Forest. “Follow it,” the Empress ordered. “Your Majesty, where are we going? This thing could lead us anywhere, we have been marching for an hour already,” Twilight commented anxiously, catching up to her monarch and trotting beside her. “This is one of Sombra’s constructs, Twilight. It is leading us to him.” “King Sombra's, Your Majesty?!” Twilight asked in disbelief. “Here? Why would he help us?” “Later.” Twilight was left to her own guesses once again. Twilight left the Empress’ side again, moving further down the column to find Thorax. Maybe he could shed some light on this confusing situation. “Thorax, right?” Twilight quietly called to him, matching his pace. “Yes, Your Highness.” The changeling threw in a tiny bow, without compromising his trot. “Thorax, what were your orders with Shadow?” Twilight asked him straightly in a hushed tone. “I...Your Highness, I don’t think I can say. Sorry.” Twilight bit her lip. Stupid protocols. “Thorax, Her Majesty told me already about your mother,” Twilight tried to leverage her information. “Please, I need to know! This secrecy already caused enough catastrophes.” Thorax looked puzzled for a second, “Her Majesty… relieved Shadow from her duty. She told me to watch her so that she will stay in safety. I… She is hard to stop when she makes up her mind.” This made things clearer for Twilight, but it raised more questions than it answered. “Then, if she was told to stay out of trouble, what she was doing following Rarity? Shadow disregarding her orders doesn’t make any sense.” “I told her this much, Your Highness. But she just won’t stop! Since Philomena found us in your Castle, Shadow was doing everything she wanted us to do. She said Philomena is Her Majesty’s messenger.” “Wha..?” the last part made Twilight miss a step as she cast a bewildered look at the glowing bird flying over their heads. “Who told you that? Philomena isn’t even at the palace most of the time! She stays with Fluttershy since Princess Celestia was sent to the moon, Philomena didn’t come back to her even after the Princess returned!” “I… don’t know anything more, Your Highness! I am sorry!” Thorax pleaded. “Philomena kept returning to us almost every night ever since Shadow… our mother.” Hearing Thorax swallowing the word told Twilight more than the actual word would have, the young Princess looked at him as compassionately as she could do under the circumstance. Twilight was ashamed of having to touch the wound. “How did Chrysalis find you?” “She chased Shadow to your Castle. Shadow had no choice,” Thorax responded mechanically. “No, Thorax, how did she find you? Did Her Majesty just let your Queen prowl?” “Shadow was… practicing," Thorax obediently began to answer. "She was going out for a few hours on some of the nights, while I stayed behind so that Sir Spike wouldn’t notice. On one night she returned and said she saw our mother in Canterlot. That’s all she told me, I am sorry, Your Highness!” “Thank you, Thorax... It's enough for now.” Twilight felt like she couldn’t take any new information now, her head felt dizzy. What had become of this land?! Wherever she looked, whatever she knew, none of it was just that! Now it turned out that Shadow wasn’t even at her Castle like she said she was! She was running her own missions, openly disobeying Nightmare Moon! The mare Shadow jumps on any whim of! Nightmare Moon let her worst enemy just lurk around Canterlot, King Sombra had made a lair in the Everfree Forest and now suddenly wanted to talk, this… Thorax was walking under her nose together with Shadow for Celestia knows how… no, she didn’t know either. And on top of it all, there was also a vampiric alicorn Princess lurking somewhere around! Even Celestia’s pet bird was running her own schemes now! And Twilight would've never learned about most of this if Her Majesty's composure didn't break up enough for Twilight to get a chance to speak with someone she wasn't meant to talk with. How much of it was real? Was ANY of it real? Who was her friend? Who’s foe? Where did this cocoon of lies and secrets end? And where did it start? ...What was she to do? What could she do? “...Would you let me if I told you what was needed?” A distant response given by a vaguely familiar voice returned Twilight to reality. “What did you do?” Nightmare Moon asked in turn. Twilight peered forward to the head of the procession, trying to pierce the darkness. She could make out Her Majesty’s contours and her glittering mane, but whoever she talked to she still couldn’t see, there was just… darkness. They’d found the King. “Follow me,” Sombra commanded. Twilight could only follow the Empress. Her Majesty followed Sombra to another cave, one of the Guards dared to light a flashlight to see where they were going. The narrow entrance quickly ended in a large opening, the light wandered around the cave before Twilight, catching some parts of the dead King’s smoke; ultimately stopping on a dark red circle adorned with runes on the floor. Twilight felt a lump coming to her throat, ...no, not this. This would be too much. Nightmare Moon angrily hissed somewhere ahead, “How dare-” “Spare me. You of all creatures in the land won’t lecture me. This way she can control her hunger.” Twilight felt her hooves about to give in. The light shone to where the words came from, tearing Her Majesty’s figure out of the darkness. Twilight madly widened her eyes and covered her mouth with her hoof, her whole body shuddering. Their monarch stood over a dead body of a pony… Was this Trixie Lulamoon? Oh, poor Trixie! They were never on good terms… but… no, not like this! “I found her in some ditch on the road,” Sombra began explaining. “I believe she was stabbed by some brigand and left for dead. She served you well before she died, or what was left of her did.” “Where is Luna?!” Nightmare Moon hissed back at him. The king simply drifted away further into the darkness, out of the flashlight’s view. More walking… Luckily, it was barely another few steps. The Flashlight almost immediately found their prize, both of them. Luna sat in the center of another alcove, holding Shadow in her hooves. The changeling wasn’t moving. But even that Twilight still endured. Nightmare Moon approached Luna, her steps uneven and forced. Then it happened, Luna lifted her eyes of Shadow and stared straight at Nightmare. A silent scream. Twilight couldn’t take it anymore, a single look on Luna’s tear-soaked face, imprinted with more pain and guilt than Twilight felt in her entire life, was the last straw. She felt her legs failing her, but she did not feel herself hitting the ground. Her brain mercifully shut down before she could feel anything else.