//------------------------------// // To the G.N.L. // Story: Sombra's Midnight Star // by Twilighted Rose //------------------------------// (Present, outside of Sombra’s cave) “Fluttershy, hurry up! We don’t have all day!” Rainbow Dash yelled out to the ever-so-slow yellow pegasus. Dash flapped her wings faster to keep the ice from forming on her feathers as the snow bore down on them. “Hey, Discord, would you tell your girlfriend to hurry up? I don’t want her getting wing-frost. Celestia knows how bad that is.” “Sure thing, Rainbow Dash, but how about this?” Discord proposed. “I will go warm her up, and you will chase these clouds away as you usually do. Okay?” "But these clou… Ah, damn it, he’s gone,” Dash grumbled. She scanned the mountain range to find the weird-looking cave. She couldn’t forget the look of those teeth-like stalagmites and stalactites at its entrance. Dash could have sworn it looked like the gaping mouth of an ancient beast that had died long ago. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been able to study it before Twilight disappeared in a blinding flash of light. That would have been so cool. Exploring ancient ruins and skeletons of old, just like her hero Daring Do. When Dash got back, she was going to tell Yearling all about this adventure. As soon as she found Twilight, of course. After what seemed like hours (but only really took ten minutes), Dash spotted the cave. With a sudden burst of speed, Dash shot towards its mouth. She landed with a resounding CRACK! In the process of her landing, she broke some of the ivory stalactites, causing them to impale the ground in an ear-shattering crash. Dash cringed at the noise she’d caused. “What was that?” Fluttershy asked in distress as she stepped away from the warmth of Discord’s wings. Concern and shock were written all over the yellow pegasus’s face. Dash herself was shocked to find that Discord and Fluttershy had arrived so quickly. “Where did you come from?” Dash shrieked. Discord just laughed, but Fluttershy calmly walked up to her friend and put her hoof on Dash’s shoulder. “Discord teleported us here,” Fluttershy quietly answered. “We just barely got here. Rainbow Dash, are you okay? This must be hard on you, coming back here after everything that has happened. You know, if you want to go back and trade places with Applejack, I would understand. We would all understand. You don’t have to do this, Dash. I’m here for you in either case. You know that, right?” Dash just smiled. “Thanks, Fluttershy, but I need to do this. I need to be the one who finds Twilight and brings her home. I need to face my fear of this place, and I couldn’t think of a better friend to help me than you. Now, let’s go!” Dash turned around and started walking further into the cave. “Wait!” Discord shouted. Dash halted in her tracks and turned to face the draconequus. “What?” “I have to open the barrier,” Discord told the impatient blue pegasus. Dash growled at the delay. “What barrier?” Fluttershy asked in a fearful whisper. She was shaking like a leaf in the wind. One could have said ‘boo’ and caused her to fly away. Fluttershy clearly didn’t want to be in the cave any longer than necessary, and opening a barrier sounded like it would take forever. “That would be the barrier that Princess Celestia erected centuries ago,” Discord answered as he drew the trembling yellow pegasus to his side. “Once we go through it, the barrier will close, and I won’t be able to open it again for three days at the least. The only one who would be able to open it immediately would be Princess Celestia. However, she doesn’t know about this mission. At least I understand that much. Ah, to have the power I once had...” “So, we have three days to save Twilight,” mused Rainbow Dash. “Alright. Let’s do this. Discord, open the barrier.” Discord nodded. With a wave of his claw, a bright, shimmering wall appeared in the middle of the cave. Discord walked over to the wall and with the same claw ripped it from top to bottom. A great wind started to blow, pushing the two pegasi away from the tear. “Hurry! I can’t hold it open for very long!” Discord yelled over the wind. The mares ran, with much difficulty, through the tear. With a great heave, Discord pushed himself through the barrier. Barely. THUD! The barrier closed itself, sealing them off from the rest of Equestria. There was no going back, at least not for three days. Now all they had to do was find Twilight. Discord, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy walked to the opening at the back of the cave. “Wow!” Dash exclaimed. A great valley lay before them, shadowed by clouds of many different colors, and gigantic ruby and diamond crystals sat among a huge variety of green plants which the young pegasi had never seen before. Like a table’s centerpiece, a mountain carved from onyx and marble stood in the middle of the valley. The mountain looked like a great, spiny beast that had curled itself up in the middle of the valley and taken a nap. It had four distinct peaks. Two white, and two black, these spiky peaks ran down the back of the ‘beast’. The ‘head’ of the mountain itself held five white spikes. Two of them stuck out from the sides of the beast’s snout. One spike poked out of the middle of the beast’s forehead, and the other two sat on top of its head. The beast’s mouth was yawning wide, showing its massive teeth. Or maybe it was growling. “That’s our destination,” Discord declared, pointing toward the mountain. With that, he started to fly in its direction. “What? WHAT?!” exclaimed Dash as she scrambled to catch up with Discord. Fluttershy struggled to keep up with the two but lagged behind pretty badly. They finally landed at the mouth of the beast, Fluttershy at the back of the group. Ivory stalactites towered over the travelers who stood at the entrance. Fluttershy squeaked and hid behind Discord at the sound of a rock dropping. “I don’t like this place,” Fluttershy whisper-cried out. “I want to go home. This place is scary.” “We can’t go back yet, Fluttershy,” Dash said. “Besides, I think this place is kinda cool. What do you think, Discord?” “If I were an ancient alicorn wanting to be close to my soulmate,” Discord mused, “this would be the place I would set up as my home. Easy to defend. Close to the barrier. What bothers me is that the barrier is a hundred paces closer to this valley than it had been several months ago. I guess I shall ask Sombra when I see him.” Discord shrugged and started to walk further into the cave. Dash and Fluttershy scrambled to catch up to him. The three entered a cavern-like room with a crystal floor. The walls were an icy blue with shocks of white present here and there. There were also ivory pillars standing alongside the walls. The bottom of each pillar was thick, and the pillars grew narrower toward the tops. Shards of glowing white crystals floated around the room, giving it a fantastical glow. A spiraling marble staircase climbed above ground level at the far end of the room. The stairway led to a balcony, the railings of which held the shapes of the Elements of Harmony: Pinkie Pie’s balloons, Rarity’s diamonds, Applejack’s apples, Fluttershy’s butterflies, Rainbow Dash’s lightning bolt, and Twilight’s stars. Dash marveled at the railing. ‘What does this mean?’ she pondered as she and her companions moved forward. The closer they got to the balcony, the more Dash wanted to simply run away. But the Element of Loyalty would never flee, especially when she was close to finding her friend. No pony left behind. “Hello, Discord,” a deep, rich voice rang out in the cavern, stopping everypony in their tracks. “It has been over a millennium and a half since I last saw you. You really embraced your chaotic form. Really, taking a piece of each of your favorite creatures? Is that the look you are trying to achieve?” Dark laughter rumbled in the crystal floor as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy sought the source of the voice. Discord just smiled. “Well, my boy, living on this rock heap has really messed with my powers. I have been stuck in this form since the barrier went up,” Discord replied. He started to walk toward the stairs. His smile grew broader and more maniacal the closer he got to the stairs. “Why don’tchu come out of the shadows, my somber boy, and I’ll speak with you face to face? Whatcha say?” A maniacal laugh came from Discord’s lips. His body started to blur in vibrant mismatched colors. A snake-like creature with dragon legs came to stand where Discord had been. It bore the head of a dragon, but not any kind of dragon that Dash or Fluttershy had ever seen before. It had a white mane like a lion’s, with brown whiskers floating around its face as if in a strong wind. A vividly purple horn twisted around a vibrant dark green horn. Both of the dragon’s horns sprouted from its temples and angled towards the back of its head. Its snout was framed by a long, white beard and a long, white mustache. Light green scales protected its snout, and ivory dagger-teeth shone through its crazed grin. The light green scales covered most of its body, but some sections were instead covered by either white fur or mismatched feathers. Feathers and spikes in bright, contrasting colors obscured the dragon’s long tail, and onyx claws sprouted from its appendages. Rainbow Dash pushed Fluttershy back, further away from the dangerous creature. “There is the Discord I know!” a black and red alicorn proclaimed as it stepped out from the shadows onto the balcony. “Welcome back, Uncle. It has been a long time, has it not?” The alicorn smiled sharply. The dragon creature just laughed, perfectly matching Discord’s laugh. The new – old? – Discord answered the alicorn. “It has, Sombra. It has.” ΩMidnightΩ We left home in late afternoon when the sun was high, headed south toward Grand Neptune Lake, or the G.N.L. for us lazy ponies. I had heard stories of this lake, stories saying that when a pony stood on its banks and looked out at the horizon, all they could see was endless water. Boats would sail for days without spotting the shore. Beyond the lake was a land rife with all kinds of danger. I had heard that there were even dragons in the land south of the G.N.L.! It was one of the sites that had been sitting on my bucket list for years. I wanted to meet a dragon! Seriously, that would be the real bomb diggity yo (thanks, The Whit Miser, for the new catchphrase). But Mister Grumpy Butt would probably keep me from meeting any dragons. Grrr… “What are you growling about, Little Star?” Mister Grumpy Butt himself asked, turning his head to look back at me. I looked him straight in the eyes and taunted, with every last drop of sarcasm I felt inside, “Why not read my mind and find out?” Sombra roared with laughter, startling the other ponies around us. Chuckling, I looked around, as well. I found surprised and frightened looks on the faces of the ponies walking the streets. Sheepishly, I let my head hang low. I remembered that my relationship with my master was unheard of among the unfortunate bondservants out there, and that my relationship with him would have astounded even me not too long ago. To prove my point, a unicorn walked past us with a fresh gory mess left behind from a recently torn off horn. The blood was still pouring down his navy coat. Both of us gazed mournfully at the sight. “Despicable,” Sombra muttered. He stopped in his tracks. Not looking where I was going, I plowed right smack into his leg. Ouch! What was he made of? Steel? Sombra turned around and teleported, and some of that awful black glitter got into my mouth. As I hacked it out of my lungs, I wondered, where did he…? I found Sombra standing in front of the navy unicorn that had recently passed us on the road. He was staring intently at the poor unicorn’s horn, unfortunately causing the unicorn to tremble in fear. “S-sir, I’m s-s-sorry if I of-ffended you,” stammered the unicorn. “I’ll t-try to w-walk on the other s-side of the r-road next t-t-time.” The poor thing looked like he was about to pee where he stood. Sombra cocked his head to the side and began to speak. “What is your name, young one?” Sombra inquired with his soothing voice. “Riden, S-sir.” “Who did this to you?” Swallowing, Riden turned his head from side to side, shedding more blood all over the ground. He backed up, bumping into me. He looked behind him and mumbled an apology with fear shining brightly in his eyes. Red magic encased him and pulled him slowly toward Sombra. A liquid yellow trail followed the navy unicorn. Sombra set the unicorn down in front of himself and gently wrapped his wing around Riden. “Shh… I am not going to hurt you. You have no need to fear me.” With that, Sombra’s horn flared with magic. The stub that had once been Riden’s horn started to glow red. From that red magic, a new horn started to form. In the next flash of red light, Riden’s head sported a new horn. Shocked, Riden stood there, unsure what to do next. Sombra smiled and walked around the dazed unicorn, admiring his work. Then anger surged in his eyes again. I turned around to find three livid alicorns glaring at me as if I had had something to do with this. “How did that puny little unicorn convince a mighty alicorn to something like that?” asked the brown and tan male on the right. “What an absolutely nauseating sight.” He said all this while fanning himself with a wing which had once belonged to a bright yellow pegasus. “Am I right, Zac’n?” “Pi’ha, I have to agree with you. That was a horrid display,” Zac’n replied with a slight tilt to his head. “Say, Jorno, what shall we do?” “Well, I say we kill the light blue unicorn so that he can find a better pony to serve him. One that will not bother him with such trivial matters.” ΩSombraΩ I did not want Midnight involved in any matter where other Alicorns were concerned, but those three dragged her into danger, and they would be punished. I walked up to my Star and bent my head to her ear, whispering, “I deeply apologize for what you are about to witness.” Having said that, I sauntered up to the three troublemaking alicorns. I teleported Riden far away from danger. Once the important ponies were safe, I decided that enough was quite enough. I was not about to let these three imbeciles touch a hair on my Star’s beautiful mane! I did what any respectable alicorn would do when protecting his mate: I lopped off the blue one’s head with my wing. Jorno, I think it was, would no longer be any threat to my Star. Shock appeared on the faces of the two alicorns standing beside him as the blood sprayed crimson on their once-pristine coats. I grinned at their expressions. I did love it when I could turn the tables on unwanted aggressors. It still boggled my mind that they could think they were invincible one minute and cower the next when they met capable opposition. They held such a flimsy ideology, and they could do absolutely nothing when that ideology was challenged. That superficial pomp-and-circumstance attitude was one of the many reasons I hated alicorns. “Wait! Stop, my Lord, please rethink this!” a voice cut through the crowd, distracting me from my mission. Distracting me temporarily, that is. I pinned the other two beasts down and sought out the voice in the crowd. I found that it was a red and pink alicorn who had called out to me. I suppressed my additional ire at the alicorn’s poor timing. After all, I was clearly in the middle of something! Oh, Harmony’s curse, now she was landing in front of my prey, blocking my vengeance. I growled low in my chest as a warning. “What do you want? I am in a considerable hurry,” I rumbled at the meddler. Seriously, where were these equine trash receptacles coming from? Tailverite? I was never going back there again after this mess. “My Lord Sombra, please forgive these buffoons. They do not have a clue of what they are doing,” the red-pink alicorn implored. “They did not know…” “A’stavera?” my Star asked, moving forward to my side. I tried to hold her back with my wing, but the nimble pony just managed to evade my grasp. I cursed the rotten luck I had found today. “Oh, Midnight! What are you doing… You are with Som… How?” A’stavera finally stuttered in bewilderment. “How do you know each other?” I whispered in my little Star’s ear. I wrapped my wing around her protectively since Midnight clearly would not wait patiently behind me. I knew my Star would be stubborn until the day she died. “She was my old boss. She would have taken my horn if you and Harmony hadn’t saved me. By the way, I never actually thanked you and Harmony for that little miracle. Sombra, thank you. That was a really wonderful thing you two did for me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving my livelihood, for saving my life. Did you know…” “Alright, alright, calm it down a notch. My dear filly, you do not need to monologue your appreciation,” I laughed as I pulled her closer to my side. That was my Star for you. Stubborn, long-winded, and just too precious to be real. Star’s former employer started glaring daggers at my little pony. I really did not like that. Not one bit. I growled back at A’stavera, baring my teeth in the prosses. “Fy un bach i.” When I called my Star by her pet name, pink-red A’stavera’s eyes widened. Good, now she knew I was not messing around. “Would you please stand behind me?” “Why?” Midnight asked, her amethyst eyes shining with a thousand more questions besides the one that left her lips. By Harmony, I could never ignore those curious eyes of hers. I could lose myself in them for days and never want to leave. “Sombra!” “Hm, yes?” I shook myself out my trance. Dang it! I had fallen into yet another Midnight semi-coma. Midnight just giggled and motioned for me to answer her question. Right. “Just humor me for ten minutes, okay? And when I have finished my business, I will explain everything.” She grumbled her grudging assent and pushed my wing out of her way. She stomped angrily to a point ten paces behind me, turned around, and sat down with a “humph,” crossing her forelegs in front of her chest. I laughed as I put a barrier around her. I was going to get an earful after all this was over. Oh well. My winning smile gave way when I turned back to my prey. A’stavera looked like she was going to say something, but I interrupted her. “How I interact with my unicorn is my business. Any pony, alicorn, or other creature who dares to threaten her or harm her will be devoured by me. These three threatened her and scared her, A’stavera, and were going to do more. You were going to take her horn away from her some time ago, were you not? If Harmony had not stepped in, you would have done to her what you have done to countless other innocent unicorns.” The pathetic pink-red beast began to cower. The smell of panic and urine permeated the air, causing the area around us to reek most foully of cowardice. I pinned A’stavera to the ground and decided I would save her for last. I had to make this quick. Time was running out for my quest. But I would not allow these things to exist anymore in this world. I pounced on the gray one first, muffling his screams in the process. The last thing my Star needed to hear was those ugly sounds. She had been through enough trauma as it was. I did not need to exacerbate any posttraumatic stress. I stabbed him in the neck with my horn and ran it down his neck towards his chest. His blood painted the cobblestone path in a fine shade of red. I yanked my horn out of him and, with a jerk from my magic, yanked the twin hearts out of the alicorn’s body. I devoured them quickly. Oh, Harmony, I was going to suffer serious indigestion because of this. With my alicorn speed, I ripped the other two troublemaker alicorns’ hearts out. I stored them in my bag for later consumption. It was a very good thing that Harmony had made these bags leak-proof. It would be a bit of a bother to explain to the captain why my bag was bleeding. I also imagined my Star would not approve of me carrying around the still-beating hearts of my foes. I would not normally store the hearts, but I simply did not have the time to deal with them right then. Finally, I broke A’stavera’s neck with a flick of my magic. When I turned back, Midnight’s mouth was hanging open. Shock and confusion were playing across her eyes. Understandable. Then I saw the emotion I dreaded most. Fear. Fear was prominent in her eyes as she stared at the carnage that I wreaked. I had no regrets from my actions against my Star’s antagonists, except one. My sole regret was that my Star had seen me reap my vengeance. And I hoped earnestly that it would not ruin our relationship. I quite enjoyed our banter, our witty repartees. Her laugh. The way she made me laugh. Her smile. Her everything. Well, crap! Harmony was going to get a kick out of hearing that she had predicted our relationship so accurately. Dang her. Oh well. It did not matter if Midnight feared me at this current moment, did it? All I needed to do was fix this mess. “Midnight,” I said gently as I walked up to her. She looked me in the eyes and promptly fainted. I rushed over to her and managed to catch her before she hit the ground. At least she had not been harmed. I held her close as I surveyed the scene. Now I had a bloody mess to clean up. Just wonderful.