//------------------------------// // Chapter 20~ // Story: Sombasi, Brother of Sombra // by Pomp-Neigh //------------------------------// Silence takes hold as Luna contemplates Fimbulvetr’s revelation, save for the cries of crystal ponies and roars of the umbrum emanating from the Crystal Empire.  If what he said was to be believed, a windigo was an invaluable ally to her parents. So great was their bond that said windigo even swore to watch over the sisters through minor interventions. Ragnarok… The fall of Olympone… And any other alias held by cultures worldwide. By Luna’s mother’s moon, the world they inhabited was but the result of a cataclysmic event. She would need to delve deeper into this subject at a later date. For now, there were more modern concerns to attend to. “H-how long…” Luna managed but hesitated due to shock. “How long hath thou guided mine sister and me? How many times?” “Not as much as you might suspect. But when I did intervene, it always changed your lives.” Fimbulvetr nodded and hummed in thought. “My first act was to ensure that Starswirl would discover you and your sister. I left you both at the edge of the Everfree Forest and gave Starswirl a reason to investigate a sudden surge of magic power. My power.” Luna was at a loss, her muzzle slowly dropping before she managed to correct herself. “H-he always told us about that… So the magic surge he detected wasn’t from us, but thee…”  The alicorn takes a moment to put the pieces together. And everything Fimbulvetr had said fell in place perfectly. There were absolutely no contradictions.   “But, then…” Luna starts. “Where hath mine sister and I been prior to our discovery?” “To truly understand my answer to that question, I must tell the story of you and your sister. As you know, you were both discovered during Discord’s reign, which followed not too long after the defeat of my brothers and sisters who plagued these lands with the winter to end all winters—fueled by conflict.  Incidentally, I arranged the necessary encounter of Clover the Clever, Smart Cookie, and Private Pansy.” “The three ponies from each tribe who came together when their lords and masters would not…” Luna said in amazement. Fimbulvetr neighs in confirmation. “Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane, and Chancellor Puddinghead were so consumed by their hatred of one another that they failed to realize the danger. Urgency dictated my actions, and I plotted behind the scenes of my brethren, which ultimately led to their downfall…more or less.”   “More or less?” The windigo sighed and shook his head. “Forgive me. Time is of the essence, yet I have fallen victim to my weakness in conversation. Where was I?” Luna was internally disappointed and admittedly annoyed by the shift in topic, especially since it was getting rather interesting for the alicorn. “Thou were retelling mine sister and I’s tale to answer mine question and began to trail off whence speaking of Discord’s reign.” “Ah, yes. I thank you. Now, I shall return to Starswirl."  Luna lowers herself onto her haunches, not daring to interfere.  "Starswirl cunningly hid you two from the Chaos Lord’s sights, and when you both became of age, connected to the celestial bodies, and claimed mastery over the Elements of Harmony, the sisters ventured forth to free these lands.” The windigo chuckles. “And free these lands you both did. Discord’s defeat marked the beginning of your combined rule.”  Luna couldn’t help but inwardly challenge that claim. Combined rule? More like Celestia’s… Unbeknownst to her, Fimbulvetr could sense the bitterness within but feigned ignorance. If all went according to plan, he’d tackle two issues simultaneously. “However,” he began, “before all of that, you were both preserved within the sun and moon like a pair of babes in their cradles.” “By the stars…” Luna mutters as her eyes fall to the snow, still remaining on her haunches. The lunar princess was becoming a frequent companion to stunned silence. Whenever Fimbulvetr spoke, his words would lift a fog that treads on the edges of the alicorn’s perception. Innumerable questions grew with every passing second; it was as if a sentient library was floating before her very eyes. And she so desperately wanted to question her strange guardian - if his tales were to be believed, of course. She would need to tell Celestia about this. However, another part of her wanted to keep this information all for herself. Yes…let’s see how she likes it when something that could benefit them both is selfishly hoarded by- “It is time to make good on your promise, Moon-and-Star,” Fimbulvetr interjects, turning away and facing the distant empire. “Come. There is something I must show you pertaining to Snowdrop.” “A-alright.” The alicorn rises up and onto her hooves, patches of snow falling off from her rear. She was admittedly grateful for this predicament - a dream often meant that one couldn’t actually feel the temperature and other such sensations. Had this conversation transpired in the real world, she’s pretty sure her flank would be numb for the next week or so… And that’s with her resistance to the cold. Many questions would forever haunt her mind. But for now, the alicorn trekked through the snow and followed the windigo toward the sieged empire. The duo traversed through the streets of the Crystal Empire, conflict roaring out all around them, along with crumbling structures that were struck by the monstrous umbrum. There were several instances where Luna had to fight the urge to run to the aid of crystal ponies trapped under rubble or facing the savage wrath of the umbrum. But there was one scenario that haunted her the most. A crystal earth pony stallion had barked for his wife and foals to retreat into their home as he remained outside, equipped with a sword undoubtedly salvaged from a crystal guard. Luna instantly deciphered the stallion’s appearance; he wasn’t a fighter. No, he gave off the aura of a merchant. And he barely lasted for more than a minute as three of the umbrum tore him apart before Luna’s very eyes. It also didn’t help that an umbrum cannot be harmed by physical forms of attack… Swinging an ordinary blade at them was about as effective as trying to cut the sea with a butter knife. But the worst part was what followed the stallion’s downfall. The trio of umbrum then breached into the home, the sounds of furniture and other home decor being thrown around afterward.  The haunting scream of the stallion’s wife echoed from the house, and one of the windows suddenly became bathed by a sudden splash of red, the mare’s voice having been silenced at that very moment.  Luna didn’t even want to think about what might’ve happened to the foals… By the moon, she now realized how horrifying this day was to the crystal ponies. And it made her feel awful for not being in the empire at the time. Sure, both she and her sister were helping Amore in finding the Crystal Heart, but one of them could’ve- No. It was far too late. Nothing could be done now to change what had already occurred, but that guilty feeling of needing - wishing she could do more, was now engraved into the alicorn. “It’s just around here,” Fimbulvetr said, prying Luna out of her recollective thoughts as they began to turn around a corner. And once they did, the lunar mare’s eyes widened from what she saw. There, splayed out motionlessly on the street, was a non-crystal pegasus mare sporting an appearance similar to Snowdrop but heavily wounded. And the pegasus filly herself was crying as she nudged the mare’s form. “Snowdrop…” Luna mutters somberly. She was about to step forth, but Fimbulvetr blocked her path with a ghostly forelimb, prompting her to shoot her gaze at him inquisitively. However, there was a look on his face…one Luna recognized as sadness and regret. ………. “Momma?” Snowdrop continued to shake her mother’s body.  The mother pegasus slowly stirs. “Oh…” “Please get up…” “I-i’m…not sure I can,” the motherly mare tries to lift herself but falls back to the crystal grounds, “sweetheart.” “Y-yes, you c-can.” Snowdrop sobbed. “Get up, please…” Her mother tried once more but fell again before she looked upon her child with weakened features. “Dear, sweet Snowdrop, do you remember the way to the castle?” Snowdrop sniffled. “I guess so…but why do I have to know? You’re going to be with me.” “I’ll be with you, even if you can’t feel me…” “What do you mean if I can’t feel you? I can always feel you.” “Snowdrop, let your heart guide you. Let it be your eyes. It whispers…” ………. “So listen closely…” Fimbulvetr comments in sorrow as if finishing the mare’s words, garnering interest in Luna before she rests her eyes on Snowdrop again. ………. “Mother?” Snowdrop asked but got no response. “Mother?!” The blind filly rests an ear on her mother’s chest. She listened to their heartbeat, which slowed with every passing second, and the parenting pegasus’s head lowered to the ground. An exhale is let loose from the mother’s nostrils, and Snowdrop’s eyes shoot wide open in horrific realization. “No…” she reinforces her efforts in shaking her mother’s frame. “Momma! Please, don’t! P-please don’t leave me alone!” ………. Luna approaches the heart-wrenching scene with ears folded against her head. Fimbulvetr floats past her and, in a shocking display, curls himself around the duo as his head rests in front of the now-deceased pegasus, Snowdrop crying uncontrollably within. The action takes Luna by surprise. “Art thou a guardian of Snowdrop? Akin to what thou hath done with mine sister and me?” “It’s…” Fimbulvetr’s ‘eyes’ fixates on Snowdrop, “so much more than that.”   A glowing light-blue tear escapes from his eyes and travels down his cheeks. “This is my family.” The force of the revelation crashed against Luna, and a wave of realization pulsates throughout her form. At first, the alicorn assumed that the windigo had possessed Snowdrop back in the castle’s corridor in the real world. A mere defenseless filly who fell prey to a savage monstrosity. The depraved works of a wretched fiend, through and through.  But now… “T-thou art…her father…?” Fimbulvetr finally meets Luna’s gaze as Snowdrop continues to wail within the curls of her deceased mother and the windigo’s spectral form.   “Yes… She is my daughter, born from my union with her mother, the beautiful mare beside me…Heimdale Bifrost.”