//------------------------------// // The Crystal Port // Story: Sombra's Midnight Star // by Twilighted Rose //------------------------------// The Crystal Port (Present, Sombra’s cave) Sombra froze. He felt somepony bump into him, but he ignored the grumbling while he collected himself. He really needed to stop letting that murderer’s name get to him whenever he heard it said. He sighed and turned around to face the disgruntled ponies. Discord raised his eyebrow. Sombra shot a look at Discord. “Would you care to tell the horrid tales she spewed out about me?” he asked, resigned. Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to answer, but Sombra held up a wing to stop her. “Tsch,” he warned, shaking his head. Rainbow Dash growled. Fluttershy squeaked. Discord laughed. “Never mind me, I do not actually want to hear any of those stories,” Sombra stated as he reached the door to east of the staircase. “I have a hunger headache coming on, and it would only be compounded by having to listen to what your ‘princess’ had to say about me. I need mangos. Mangos…” Drool pooled in his mouth and started to dribble down his muzzle at the thought of mangos. Suddenly, the ponies behind him did not seem to matter so much. With a frame-shattering crack, he wrenched the door open and dashed through the aperture. “Why is it purple?” asked Rainbow Dash. “I’m not the interior designer!” Discord huffed indignantly. “I didn’t ask you, Discord!” “I beg your pardon. I did not believe my answer would be so rebuffed by a pegasus.” “STOP!!!” Screeched the quiet one. “Can we please stop fighting? You two have been at each other’s throats since we started! I’m tired, and I want to find Twilight, and that is not going to happen if you two keep fighting! Discord, I love you, but would you please get along with Rainbow Dash at least until the end of the trip?” Discord mumbled something possibly about unrequited love or something similar but reluctantly agreed. “Dash?” Fluttershy asked. “Fine… What the hell is that?” Ω Dash stopped in her tracks and looked upon a room filled with translucent crystal columns. In all, there were six columns of colored crystal, one each of yellow, pink, green, white, red, and blue. The pillars were astonishingly beautiful except for a haunting visage in the center of each structure. Each crystal held a mare, clearly visible even from across the room. The closest crystal held captive a yellow mare with a dark pink mane who was encased in a bright-yellow crystal. Dash slowly walked further into the room, spying out each of the crystalized mares. One in particular stood out. It wasn’t that she was remarkable in any way. She was a unicorn like the rest of them. No, what made her stand out was that she was holding an alicorn filly. Like Flurry Heart. A Flurry Heart encased in white crystal. The filly was black, with a curly mane of the same color with light blue streaks. Its wings, unfurled, were a black that faded to light blue. The mare, when Rainbow Dash got closer, looked astonishingly like Twilight! However, the colors were wrong. Twilight was purple, while this mare was blue. And her cutie mark was different, too! It was a book with a purple six-pointed star hovering above it. Other than that, she was an exact copy. “What is going on here?” screeched Dash, spinning in a complete circle. She stopped when the black and red alicorn walked up to her. His intense ruby eyes pinned her in place. His eyes shifted to the crystal. Breathing in, he said, “The chamber in which we stand is called a Memorial Sanctum. In ages past, it was the highest honor to be buried in this way. The crystals, you see, are created by alicorn magic. When the alicorns were as numerous as the stars in the sky, ponies and other creatures would seek them out to have their loved ones entombed in the crystals, perfectly preserved and as lively to look at as they were in life.” Sombra took a shaky breath. “The mare whom you see in these crystals is my mate Midnight Star and her later reincarnations. Midnight, in the white crystal, is holding our unborn filly in her arms. They were both murdered in cold blood by your Princess Celestia.” Sombra growled in anguish. “From what little information I was able to gather, Midnight went to Celestia for help at a crucial point in her life, but she only found betrayal. I do not understand Celestia’s thought process or what could compel her to do such a thing. All I could do was send a clone of myself past the barrier she had erected to find Midnight’s reincarnations. However, I only found their bodies and their death memories. I thought I had lost her when I found her sixth life. You see, a soul can only reincarnate for a total of six lives before Void takes the soul to be reborn. This reborn soul is a creator soul, new and without memories of a former life. But my latest clone found Twilight, my mate’s seventh life. It was as if the stars – and Void – had allied and aligned themselves in my favor. I made a plan. It took a few years, but I finally was able to send my magic across the barrier. I took control of a few ponies, just enough to cause some alarm and start an investigation. I sent a thought to Celestia to send Twilight. And it worked.” He caressed the white crystal with his wing. Sadness and fondness crossed his face in a bittersweet nostalgia. “Why do you have her past lives here then?” asked Dash, disgusted. “You have to admit it’s weird to have anyone’s dead body displayed in a room, even if she’s your mate. And what did you do with the twelve ponies that you captured?” “I sent them to a room in Celestia’s castle. They should have been easy to find once I had my Twilight.” He tilted his head to the side. “Did you stop looking for them?” “NO!” yelled Dash. “But… finding them went on the back burner once Twilight disappeared.” “You saw the spell activate?” “Yes! And I nearly died because of that spell! It sent me back to the Crystal Empire in a crater. Because of that spell, thousands died! I was worried that my friend might have died, too.” Tears streamed down Dash’s eyes as she cried out, “And you have her dead bodies stuck in crystals like a morbid sicko!” “Wait you survived the backlash of my teleportation spell?!” Sombra exclaimed. “How?” “Princess Celestia,” answered Fluttershy, “cast a spell that made Rainbow Dash glow under her bandages. When Princess Celestia took them off, Dash was all better as if nothing had happened.” “The Ultimate Healing Spell,” Sombra reasoned. “That explains why you are alive. Did you hear her sing perchance?” “No, I did not,” Fluttershy answered, puzzled. “Should I have?” “It is no small task to perform the Ultimate Healing Spell without singing,” he explained, “but not impossible. Singing this particular spell helps focus your intention and allows for less of a backlash. But the spell is not without its price.” “So what is the price?” asked Fluttershy. “Fluttershy! Don’t encourage him!” shouted Rainbow Dash. She felt frustration bubble up inside her chest as Fluttershy gave the egghead her full attention. They didn’t need this pointless conversation. They needed to find Twilight and get out of this creepy place. He had dead bodies floating in crystals! And each one of the mares looked kind of like Twilight. The yellow one had Twilight’s mane cut, and the one closest to Dash looked almost exactly like her. It was freaking Dash out. “The price,” Sombra said, shaking Dash out of her thoughts, “is for the caster to feel the pain that the intended is going through. For example, my mate Midnight was attacked by two alicorns. They bashed in her head, cracking her skull in the process. They also bit into her leg, ripping meat off to the point that I saw bone. They even broke one of her shoulders! When I cast the spell, I felt every sliver of agony she was going through for as long as that spell needed to heal her. And that was only the first time I used the spell on her. The second time, I had awoken to find three of her legs broken, a horrible gash over her right eye, and burns alongside her body. I do not know what had happened then. She never told me, and when I try to access her memories of that day, I come up against a wall. Except for three events which she would not share, I can access all her memories, even her reincarnations’ memories, and the access makes it all the more frustrating that she kept those events from me.” Dash saw the frustration and hurt in his eyes as he recounted those events. It was clear he wished they had never happened. Pain and unshed tears flashed brightly in his eyes. Dash didn’t want to feel pity for this guy. For all she knew, he could just be a good actor. She still didn’t even know why these ponies were here. But she felt pangs of guilt rise deep within her for her earlier judgments of the alicorn. “Why are these ponies here?” she asked of the black male alicorn, reserving the right to glare at him. “Because I did not want the rampaging alicorns to desecrate my mate’s body as they had destroyed the other ponies in the First Memorial Sanctum.” He returned a stern look. “When I put their horrendous leader underground, with void crystals set to torment her, her followers decided to take revenge on every living creature. I could only save a fraction of the innocents. I may be half god, but I am not infallible, and I was never able to help as many ponies as I would like. I believe that is why Celestia hates me. She assumed that I was a perfect being capable of no wrongs. But I made mistakes and continue to make mistakes. Some of my mistakes had enormous ramifications. For example, after decades of what seemed to be futile work, I decided to quit my job and become a hermit for fifty years. I did not leave my house until a little blue pony came crashing into my life, eating my last mango for the week. Hehe, that was a good time,” he said with a smile. “Well, sleeping here for over three thousand years has awakened quite a hunger. Keep up, or you will get lost. Onward to food!” With that, he left the room. But not before whacking Discord upside the head. “What was that for?!” Discord yelled at the retreating back of Sombra. Sombra looked over his shoulder and stated, “Leave my mate alone. I do not need you reanimating the dead. It was disturbing the last time you tried it, and I do not want to see it again!” “BOO, you’re no fun.” “I heard that!” Ω ΩSombraΩ “LAND! Beautiful land!” Midnight cried out, disembarking and immediately kissing the ground. I stood in place and watched, chuckling to myself. I had a sneaking suspicion that she had a distaste for boat rides. It was quite alright with me; we wouldn’t be sailing again anytime soon. I magically picked up Midnight and deposited her on my back as I started to walk. I had recently found that this was my favorite way to transport Midnight. It made it so much easier to keep track of the wandering mare. As an added bonus, it felt great having that comfortable weight on my back. She started to grumble but shifted around to make herself cozy. “So, where are we going?” Midnight asked, laying her head on top of mine. “You never told me.” “Well, I deeply apologize for not informing you of our destination,” I answered. “I will alert you as soon as I figure out where we are going myself. What I do know is that we must travel south.” “That’s just great. We don’t know where we’re going, but we’re heading south. You stole me from my comfy life eating mangos to travel south,” she grumbled in my mane. “Well, I distinctly remember you saying you wanted to come along,” I reminded her as we walked up to a bread merchant’s stall. “I know where I am heading. South. I just don’t know the precise destination. Oh, I’ll take two, thank you. Besides, I don’t need you getting too used to my mangos. I place special orders for those. Here, Midnight, eat this. Our destination is whichever location is holding Harmony.” I pay for the eclairs and start walking toward the edge of town. Crystal Port was a bustling seaport which was known for crystals and fish. Alicorns came from all over the world just to get their hoofs on these crystals. In fact, I had decided I just might buy one for Midnight before we left. What I loved about this place were the white marble homes with gigantic columns. I also loved seeing the great marble statues and grand fountains which lined the main street. Blue and yellow mosaics dotted the sides of the streets. Crystal Port was the home of art. The best part was that alicorns barely had any control here. It was all run by a conglomerate of earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi. I tried to come here once in a while to get away from Harmonia and its troubles. Besides, Marcov’s grove was nearby. He had the best mangos in the whole earth. I realized my to do list was getting longer by the second. Even though the maps said that Crystal Port was part of Harmonia, it had its own separate governing body and army. And it was hard to become a citizen. I really needed to change that last part. I put it on my other growing to do list, the list of things I needed to change. Ugh… Antares, what had you been doing? Sitting on your butt looking at a mirror all day? She was hardly competent when dealing with governing ponies. Questioning to myself why I had appointed her as my steward, I remembered she was the only one available at the time. By Harmony, I was tired. So tired. “What is this?!” Midnight exclaimed, jarring me out of my thoughts. “It’s so good!” I smiled at her outburst of joy. “Well, fy nghariad bac, it is called an éclair,” I answered. However, as I was talking, I felt her head move around. I shook my head at her antics. “Midnight, are you listening?” Ω ΩMidnightΩ I wasn’t listening. I was too busy looking at the sights and enjoying this chocolate confectionery. Mmm… by Harmony, this was good! I wanted more! Additionally, I wanted to know what this white rock was. It seemed to be everywhere. The buildings were carved from this stuff. Gigantic, ornate columns with elaborate carvings held up triangular roofs. There were statues made of this white rock, too. I saw statues of Harmony, a weird looking reptile, and a cat. The reptile appeared to be an amalgamation of four different reptiles, and I thought I saw a portion of a dog in one of the statues. I would have thought these were separate beings, but I saw a plaque, written in five different languages, including mine, saying “Discord.” On the other hand, the statues of the cat were quite alarming. I couldn’t tell if the strangeness was that the only color on the statue was the purple of the eyes that seemed to follow me everywhere. It could also have been that the cat stuck with one pose in each statue, unlike the others. It simply stood there on its hind legs, a bow in its hand. The bow stretched far beyond its head. “Void” was written on these plaques. This place was far different from my home in Harmonia. I was now far away from the cobblestone streets I used to run on, and far from the white clay and birchwood homes that I was used to. Here on the streets I didn’t feel the cozy claustrophobia that I had felt at home. No, here everything was open. The streets were wide, wide enough for three carriages to fit side by side and still have room for ponies to walk around them comfortably. This was the best pre-birthday present! If I was going to turn twenty-five tomorrow, this was certainly where I wanted to spend the day. I had always enjoyed my birthdays, and traveling, but this was going to be the first birthday I spent without my mom. I was a little sad about that fact, but I could always go and recount my epic tales to her when I got back. That sounded like a good plan. “What did you say?” I asked with a mouth full of éclair. I think I got crumbs in his mane. Oops… I discreetly wiped off what I could. “What are you doing?” “NOTHING!!!” I finally got most of the crumbs out. Phew… “Hmm…” He did not sound convinced. “Hey, Sombra, let me down! I want to explore!” I said as I climbed further up the top of his head to get a better view. I let both of my front hooves hang between his ears as I surveyed the crowded streets. “Get down from there!” he demanded. “You’re hurting me. That’s better. To answer your question, no. You would inevitably find yourself lost, and I would find it difficult to locate you. We don’t have time for that.” “No fair,” I grumped. “If you behave, I’ll let you explore Crystal Port on the way back. How does that sound?” That was a good plan. That is, if I could behave. As if that would ever happen. At least he was giving me some hope of exploring. That was a kindness coming from him. “Hey, Sombra, what is going on with all these statues?” I asked, returning to my original position. “Particularly the cat seems a little strange. And why do its eyes keep following me?” "These statues are made by the gods’ Acolytes,” Sombra answered. “They are here to remind ponies and all other sentient beings who the gods are and to worship them. Now, the cat statue is a poor depiction of Void. Only Harmony, Discord, two other ponies, and I have seen Void in our more-or-less mortal forms and survived. The two other ponies who have seen Void were given the title of Void prophet. These Void prophets became blind after seeing him, and all they could say about his appearance was that Void was a cat.” “Were they wrong?” “No, they were not wrong. Void, when the god decides to come to the mortal plane, dons the appearance of a cat. I don’t know why Void chose that animal specifically, and I prefer not to find out. If I went to the trouble of asking, the god would take something from me again. You can see Void’s true form every time you peer out into the night sky.” “What do you mean?” I didn’t know how I felt about seeing a constellation and possibly intruding upon a god’s privacy. “To put it simply, we’re actually inside of Void,” Sombra started to explain. “This whole galaxy we inhabit, if Void was to be compared to a cat, would be Void’s right paw… and in the left paw, our souls are created.” “Wait a minute. Void is that big?!” I exclaimed. “Yes, and it is indeed quite a sight. Fortunately, such a massive true form can’t actually fit here in the mortal realm. Sometimes, though, the god does come down. A small piece of Void is sent to us in the form of a cat (again, I cannot say why the form of a cat is chosen). Even the cat cannot remain here long because that small piece can corrupt anything and everything around it. For that reason, and possibly because of some introverted tendencies, Void only comes down once in a while to ensure everything is going smoothly and to order me around.” “He bosses you around?” Yeah, that’s the important takeaway, Midnight. Good job. What wonderful priorities you have there. “Yes, and it is quite annoying. Fun fact: Void does not like me, and I do not know why. Maybe the reason is simply that I don’t want to give up Harmony. Or it could be a clash of personalities. Anyway, when Void cannot come down personally, the god sends these cat-like creatures out to collect souls. They come in pairs, one black and one white. The black ones are sweet and gentle, but the white cats are quite aggressive and overly protective of the black cats. If you see a white cat, run away quickly.” “Why?” “Why? The white ones will attack and try to kill you. It doesn’t matter if you were simply passing by and just happened to see one collect a soul. Those white beasts will try to kill you. Now gray cats, which are extremely rare, have both the aspects of the black cats and the white cats. So, they might let you go your merry way, or they might kill you on the spot.” “So, in other words, run like a crazy pony when I see cats. Got it.” I totally didn’t get it. But I trusted Sombra. For an alicorn, he’d shown himself to be incredibly trustworthy. Now, was I ready to tell him about my weird dream from last night? Maybe later. But for now… “What were you eating when we were on the ship?” my curiosity bade me ask. My curiosity knew no bounds. “It looked like some sort of meat… wait, you eat meat? Ewww…” “You eat veggies? Ewww…” Sombra countered. “Unfortunately for you, I can sense the judgment you would cast upon me, and I am not eager to be unjustly convicted. How can you be old enough to find yourself in the workforce but not mature enough to mind your business? How old are you, anyway?” “Twenty-four. I’ll be twenty-five tomorrow.” I pouted. “I was just curious. You didn’t have to be so mean.” “I was not being mean. You know how I…” He stopped talking when he looked at me and saw my smile. “I simply must give you your just deserts for that ploy. How rude to play a joke on me like that. Oh, and happy early birthday. You never told me.” “It was never brought up. And I eagerly await those just deserts. Sound tasty.” “Oh, Midnight. What am I to do with you?”