(The cave, present)
A memory sparked in the mind of the blood-red beast, the creature once known as Anteras the Secondborn, as she stirred from her deep slumber. As the blurred memory slowly came into focus, she began to remember the source of her predicament. She remembered the edict to wipe out all things that were unclean.
(Two days after the erection of Celestia’s barrier)
‘By edict of the Secondborn, the True Queen of Harmonia: This edict regards all beings which are not of alicorn descent, whether they be earthen ponies, pegasi of the sky, unicorns of magic, Kinkus of Zephahnriel, Wolflings of Lusifor, Owllites of Orican, dragons, yaks, griffins, hippogriffs, dragonequi, or Greater Beasts of the Wilds. All creatures not of alicorn descent shall be killed, exterminated, or further obliterated by the hooves of the great alicorn race. As it has been decreed, so shall it be enforced.’
“EVERYPONY RUN!” The screams of the unclean pierced the serenity of the calm midsummer morning. The decree had just been ordered, and the alicorns were cashing in on the blood bath. Blood would flow in the streets like never before. All living Harmonian creatures affected by the edict fled in mad exodus. But the alicorns were already there to intercept them.
A rainbow glow of colors shone from the alicorns’ horns. With a deathly beauty, they executed their devastating spell in tandem. The chests of thousands of ponies, Kinkus, and other such creatures started to glow white. A great cry sounded from these creatures as the white light grew ever brighter. Then…
CRACK!
Their chests ruptured with a mighty boom. The last thing the unclean ones saw was their still-beating hearts floating in the air above them. The hearts of the fallen flew toward the gaping maws of the bloodthirsty alicorns. The clean ones devoured the hearts in seconds. Delicious blood escaped their lips as they descended on the crowd en masse. Blood streamed in twin rivers down the Mane like it never had before. The screams of the defeated etched themselves in the old cobblestone roads.
A great roar was heard over the massacre. Everything stopped at the sound. The alicorns turned in the direction of the interruption, the sound that had ruined their fun. A Kinku of pure darkness growled down upon the alicorns as she absorbed the light of death with her ten tails and eagles’ wings. Her ice-blue eyes burned in hatred and malice for the alicorns that dared to feast upon her progeny. The drumbeats of battle appeared to pound inside her chest as she prepared her claws for the fight. Alicorn blood would mix with the blood of the unclean once she was done.
“The Great Mother is here to save us!” shouted a lone Kinku. A cheer rose from her race as Zepha roared the battle cry of the Great Mother. With a mighty leap, she descended upon the alicorn race. One by one, the horned pegasi fell prey to her mighty claws and teeth. Her speed was unmatched, her incisors tearing into one alicorn after another. Nothing would destroy or harm one of her children! For if they did, they would face the wrath of the Great Mother of the Kinkus!
The alicorns’ spells, though all aimed at the ebony antagonist, missed their mark again and again for, though alicorns may have been fast, their speed could not compare to the speed of the Kinku. And the fastest was Zepha! But, for every alicorn she felled, five more escaped her grasp and rose to fight. Numerous were the alicorns, and there could be only one Mother. She planned to sacrifice herself to save at least a few of her children.
An alicorn’s horn pierced one of her hind legs. She roared in pain and ripped the alicorn’s head clean off its body. She punted the head away from her. Noticing her pain, the alicorns saw their opportunity. They charged at her with their horns. A red light flashed as the alicorns continued to charge a mere two or three paces away from their target. A beast of blood and onyx appeared in the path of the alicorns. He let out a mighty growl, shaking the ground of the battlefield. His red eyes pulsed with rage, and green and purple smoke escaped when he bared his teeth at the offenders. Alicorns began a hasty retreat, but he would not let them escape. Using a deadly combination of teeth, wings, and magic, he decimated the alicorns who were ready to pounce on Zepha.
Laughing, Zepha yelled, “Leave some for me, Sombra! I may be old, but not as old as you!” Sombra smiled despite himself as blood flowed down his muzzle.
“You want a piece of the action?” He laughed as he turned towards his longtime friend. “Ladies first. Let us slaughter these abominations as they slaughtered my Star. Together!”
“Together!” echoed Zepha. “Let’s save the mourning until our vengeance is complete.”
“Agreed. Did you just use a contraction?”
“These are dangerous times.”
With those words, they descended upon the alicorns, ready to avenge their kin. The battle lasted until the stars awoke from their slumber. With no one to raise the moon, the battle was cast into darkness, with only the waning lights of stars and pulses of magic illuminating the night. At long last, the final alicorn fled into the darkness. The battle was finally over, but not without a heavy cost. What once was a city with over a billion inhabitants was now a flood of blood surrounding the surviving hundred souls. Zepha bled from multitudinous wounds; her current form was tall, towering over the tallest building. She grinned with bloodlust as she searched for her next prey. The last remaining non-alicorn inhabitants huddled behind her and Sombra.
“I … think it is over,” she whispered quietly, not wanting to disturb the peace. Sombra just narrowed his eyes.
Crack!
They turned around to find purple glowing crystals emerging from the ground were the last of the souls lay. In a blink of their eyes, the crystals impaled the last hundred souls left in Harmonia.
“NO!” screamed Zepha as she ran toward the remains of her children. Red magic overtook her and dragged her several inches away from the crystals. Sombra wrapped his wings around the Kinku as she mourned the loss of her children. Kinkus, ponies, wolflings, dragons, all were on display in macabre art, bodies slowly dissolving into the crystals.
Laughter rang out among the crystals. A blood-red alicorn, with black veins pulsating purple, emerged. Elation radiated from black eyes as she surveyed the carnage. Green and purple smoke billowed from her eyes, and black smoke scorpions crawled in and out and alongside her body. She chuckled as she looked at the shocked faces of Zepha and Sombra.
“Do you like my present, Sombra? It is to commemorate the death of that thorn in my side, Midnight Star,” she laughed and spun around in a circle. “This has got to be my best work yet! Is it not beautiful?” Her eyes landed on Sombra expectantly.
“Well?”
Sombra sneered in disgust. “It is absolutely disgusting! Positively wretched! Revolting! How on Harmony’s good green world would you expect that I would enjoy such horrors?! Do not ever speak of my mate with such words again!”
Anteras stepped back in surprise. She quickly composed herself, however, and shook her head and chuckled. “I forgot that you are not enlightened like me. I have the Void creature Leo ready for you to absorb, just as I absorbed Scorpio! I would have thought that the death of that idiotic four-hooved trash, which clung ever so close to your side, would open your eyes to see that she was getting in the way of your best interests. But I guess you were blind from the start,” she growled. The green and purple smoke swirled feverishly as her face twisted in anger.
“So it was you who killed my mate and unborn filly!” Sombra released and stepped around the Kinku sitting, distraught, at his side. “I shall rend your entrails from your body and tear apart what remains piece by piece until there is nothing left!”
“Me? Ha! Kill Midnight Star? Oh, I wish! I wish I could have gotten my hooves on that miserable creature. Wait a minute… did you say unborn filly? You had an UNBORN FILLY WITH THAT … THAT THING?! HOW COULD YOU, SOMBRA?! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE MINE!” Anteras’s scream pushed Sombra and Zepha back a few paces. Sombra shook himself loose of the magic-induced stupor which took hold. He turned to find Zepha, the Kinku’s ears tilted back, teeth bared and ready to strike. Before Sombra could do any thing to stop her, Zepha launched herself with a mighty battle cry at Anteras.
“NO!” Sombra cried out in dismay as his only living friend charged toward her inevitable demise. Anteras grinned in bloodlust as she prepared for the oncoming slaughter. Violet crystals shot out of the ground and sped towards the raging Kinku. Right before the crystals touched her, or before Zepha laid a claw on Anteras, Zepha exploded in a cloud of navy glitter. His once proud friend disappeared in a cloud and was reduced to sparkling navy dust. In three days, he had lost three, no, four of the only beings he had ever loved unconditionally.
This was all the alicorns’ fault! Anteras’s fault! And the fault of Celestia and her barrier! Midnight could have made it, were the rules such that only alicorns could not enter, but she fell prey to the barrier, as well. The blood that had been spilled today would forever rest on her shoulders. He would mourn later. Now he would destroy Anteras. But he did not want to taint his soul with the addition of hers. He needed to find some other way to destroy her. Oh, wait. That could work.
Gathering magic so ancient it preceded the world, Sombra the Firstborn stood and allowed his body to become a vessel of living power. Void magic unlike that of any Void creature whom Anteras possessed boiled just under his skin. The violet Void crystals formed at his hooves. Anteras’s creature Scorpio and its brethren were able to summon these crystals, and, by extension, Anteras was able to summon the crystals, as well. But Sombra was the only being in the world capable of creating crystals on his own. The first spell he cast with this magic was a protection used to block Anteras’s magic. Black crystals formed on her horn, keeping her from using her magic. No magic flared in his horn when he created the crystals. The only indication he had used magic was a flash of white light in his eyes.
With a dark chuckle, the black alicorn cast violet-black crystals underneath Anteras’s hooves. Four crystals arose, impaling each leg, one crystal per limb. A fifth gigantic crystal blasted its way through her stomach; bloody entrails, lungs, and two hearts were hung from the tip of the crystal. So wide was this crystal that it stretched her hide as much as the hide would stretch without tearing. But Sombra was not yet finished. He sent another crystal careening into her chin and exiting out the top of her head. Her blood flowed freely, feeding the crystals that caused her such anguish and torture.
Sombra walked up to the pitiful creature that had been the instigator of the nightmares of Harmonia.
He inclined his head to her ear and whispered, “By these crystals, I now know you did not lay a hoof on my Star. However, you manipulated the one who killed her. She will not be pardoned, either. Because of her treachery, the barrier is up. As a last kindness, since you love these crystals so much, you will spend the rest of eternity with them underground. Goodbye, Anteras. I hope your eternity is kinder to you than mine is to me.” At this, he sent her far below the ground. He felt his magic create a chamber and seal the door against her freedom. He took to the sky to find the last remaining life outside the barrier in hopes of saving it.
Ω
ΩMidnightΩ
I have been avoiding Sombra for three days now, ever since Anteras got into my head. Avoiding the alicorn you lived with was not an easy feat, I tell ya. How did Anteras step into my mind, anyway? Alicorn magic had to be the answer, and that was all I would say on that matter. It still haunted my memory…
[Flashback to Midnight’s vision]
I stood in a dark room made all the scarier by black walls. I was supposed to be standing by Sombra’s side at this time, in another place entirely. I had no idea how I arrived in such a room. Hooves clacked on the white tile floor. Anteras stepped out of the shadows like a red jewel glinting amid black velvet. She smiled softly at me as she came closer.
“Hello there, tiny companion,” she said, gently so as not scare me more. “Sorry for all this. I had to borrow you for a while, as I would not want prying ears to hear our conversation. To put it simply, I wanted to tell you something. Do not offer your heart to Sombra. He will merely reject your love like he did mine. For centuries I have been in love with him, only to be cruelly rejected again and again. I am telling you this just to spare you the pain I have gone through and am suffering even now. Your life is far too short to fall in love with an immortal. Go find yourself a better, mortal stallion to love you, and not a bitter shut-in like Sombra.” She said those words, then I found myself returned to Sombra’s side as if nothing had happened.
[Reality]
Ever since Anteras kidnapped my consciousness, I have been considering her words. If Sombra had rejected somepony like Anteras over and over, what chance would I have? None. Zilch. Nada. So apparently, it was best to try not to fall in love with the lovable goof. That would become harder and harder to do when I was constantly in his presence. That was the reason I was avoiding Sombra. And by Harmony was he hard to avoid. But somehow I had managed for the past several days, and now I was hiding under a bed in what I called the pink room.
Bleh… The walls were a soft pink, with shelves filled with pots of roses. The floor had a similarly rosy pink carpet to set off the light pink comforter on the bed. All in all, this was not a bad room, nor a bad hiding space. It made sense to hide here, since Sombra knew my aversion to the color pink and that I would never willingly enter a pink room, but I would certainly avoid this room in the future. He wouldn’t look here, right?
Red magic enveloped me in a warm cocoon. Crap! My hooves flailed as it started to draw me out from under the bed. I scrambled with my magic to dispel it, but nothing worked! I was pulled up, up, upside-down in the air to find a very annoyed black alicorn. Oh, boy, was I in trouble.
“Hi, Sombra, long time no see?” I smiled at the disgruntled male in front of me. His ruby red eyes conveyed an array of emotions, most of which were various hues of annoyance. I guess he didn’t enjoy me avoiding him.
“’Long time no see,’ eh?” he rumbled. “I believe it would have been since you, Star, started running away from me. So, I need the truth. Why?”
“Why what? Why the sky is blue, or why your mane is black with red tips? Or…”
“Stop. Just stop. My question is: Why are you avoiding me?!” His nostrils flared in agitation. Oh… that’s what he was talking about.
“Yeah, about that… um, would you believe that I was busy?” I answered with a cheeky smile even I wouldn’t believe. He was not impressed, of course. Well, it was worth a shot. “Okay, okay, I have been avoiding you because of a code.”
“A what?”
“A code. A code which every mare follows,” I answered with sudden confidence as blood rushed to my head. “If another mare is in love with a stallion, then all other mares should back off.” And now he looked confused.
“Who… what?” he asked. “Wait a minute! What are you talking about?”
“ANTERAS-IS-LOVE-WITH-YOU-AND-I-DON’T-WANT-TO-GET-IN-THE-WAY!” I answered really, really quickly, my eyes closed against his response. I heard a low chuckle instead. I opened my eyes to find Sombra smirking slightly. Why, the little… The alicorn lowered me gently to the bed. I scrambled into a sitting position when his magic receded and my back hit the bed.
“Why are you laughing?” I asked, confusion flooding my senses and probably escaping onto my face. He started laughing harder. Wow, just wow.
“Sorry,” he said, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes, “but I find that hilarious.”
“Why?” I asked in bewilderment.
“Because she is unable to feel love, or any real, positive kind of emotion for that matter. I believe what she is experiencing is obsession. Unfortunately, she can feel that!” He grumbled the last part.
“How is that different?”
“What? How is what different?”
“How is obsession different from love?” I asked. I waited, almost patiently, for him to answer. As far as I could tell, there wasn’t any difference at all. Sombra’s jaw hung open, making his equine face look even longer, and I knew the answer would be a long time coming. “Earth to Sombra? Come in, Sombra! Are you there?” I asked, waving my hoof in his shocked face. He suddenly shook his head and fluttered his eyes.
“What do you mean, ‘What is the difference between Love and Obsession?!’ You honestly don’t know?” he asked, still clearly surprised at my apparent stupidity.
“I asked you, didn’t I? So…”
Sombra sat down with a huff, then put his hoof on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. He said, “Midnight, obsession is not love, and love is not obsession. They are two totally different things. The simplest way to put it is that love is an active, continuous, reciprocated choice for good involving another person, while obsession is a delusion by one party that the other party holds love for them. You can…”
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
“Hold on! I’M COMING! HOLD YOUR HORSES! Don’t move from this spot, Midnight. We will continue this conversation when I get back!” He held me in place with his expression as he rushed out the door. Now what? I supposed I might as well find out who was at the door.
I meandered out of the room and into the endless hallway. Walking toward the front door, I heard voices making their way down the hall. I started to run in hopes of catching the pony at the door. Curiosity killed the cat and all that. Finally making it to the door, I saw a blue pegasus with bright yellow eyes bowing to Sombra. But his wings were… Oh, my sweet Harmony, that pegasus had bat wings! A genuine night pony! Wow, I had to talk to him right away!
I tried to race after the night pony, but red magic prevented me catching him before he took off. “And where do you think you are going, Miss Star?” the caster of the red magic asked as he dragged me back inside. Grrr… Why must he do that?
“I was going to talk to the night pony,” I whined. I really wanted to meet one. It was on my list of things I wanted to do before I died. And Sombra had to go and ruin my one chance. I started to pout, and the dang stallion burst into a laughing fit. I never would be able to tolerate his laughing at my pouting. Stupid alicorn didn’t even know he was supposed to cave in and let me meet the night pony. What a dunce.
“You may speak with some night ponies on the way. We will be taking a trip to look for my mother,’ he stated as he dumped me on his bed. I started to do a dance on top of the covers. Sombra just shook his head at my antics, but I was so excited because I was going on an adventure! “Oh! Before we leave, I need you to memorize this spell.”
“Oh, a spell?” I inquired. How exciting! This was going to be a lot of fun. “What is it? What is it?” I chanted and jumped up and down on the bed.
“Hold,” Sombra commanded. Like a wolfling pup, I obeyed. “Good. Now breathe. Are you done hyperventilating? Good. Now here is the spell:
“‘Darkness, become Light,
“’By the power of Her might.
“’Chaos by Mare Harmony bested,
“’Equine free will ne’ermore tested.
“’Cruel Void song which entraps thee,
“’By Her power, be ye free.’”
“So, I have to memorize this before we go? I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely sure that I can.” Disappointment flooded my body at the reality that I needed to memorize such a long stanza before we left. We would be here forever! Sombra laughed yet again. He seemed to enjoy laughing at my woes.
“No, Miss Star, you are going to memorize this spell on the road. Now, without further ado, let us go!”
Wait, where were our bags?