//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: The Sorrow and the Temptation // by Hustlin Tom //------------------------------// The situation had remained as the guardspony had left it; tense, but nothing unforgivable had occurred yet. Three bat ponies were isolated in a circle being made by a gathering of assorted ponies. The crowd was restless; some expressed it through deep snorts, others through the pawing of their hooves, but what was common among them all was that each and every one of them had their eyes on at least one of the Antrozi in the center of their ring, and each was prepared for anything that the grey furred bat ponies may try. Royal guards had begun to make their way through the crowd, each pushing firmly against the other ponies in the crowd to make their way to the surrounded bat ponies. The bat ponies' heads were slowly turning to gauge each member of the crowd. The three of them remained where they were; running simply wasn’t an option and neither was flying, as there was at least five Pegasi to each of them. They would be torn apart in the sky by such greater numbers if they tried to flee. The Royal Guard encircled the bat ponies and quietly began to shove their way through the now noisy crowd towards the castle courtyard. The crowd, expecting that this was some kind of arrest being made, simply followed the guardsponies toward the courtyard, and the spirits and the voices of the crowd grew wilder and wilder. Storm-Eye and Orpheus trotted onto an elevated stone dais in the courtyard from which the both of them could see the whole of the crowd, the guards, and the Antrozi being brought forth to stand before them on the dais. “Wha’ the bloody ‘ell is goin’ on here?!” Storm-Eye roared, as he glared down at the crowd. The crowd’s cacophonous jabbering instantly silenced. “Does one of yeh fine fillies er gentlecolts wanna explain teh me what’s started thes ruckus? EH?” Nopony spoke, though there were a few nervous coughs. Finally, a mare stepped forward from the masses, and she projected her voice so that all could hear her, “One of those vam-ponies was trying to steal my fruit.” “Es that a fact,” Storm-Eye replied, his glare now turned to the three bat ponies before him. “Do yeh know what Equestrian law says about stealin’, lads?” “It is a lie, sir”, one of them spoke up, to which the crowd roared in denial. “Imprison them!” “You can’t trust them! They’re vam-ponies for Celestia’s sake!” “There’s one right next to that glaring bloke! Imprison him too!” “QUIEEET!” yelled Storm-Eye, and the crowd grudgingly complied. “Word of thes event has been sent to the Royal Sesters, and they will be with us swiftly to determine thes lot’s fate. Untel such time as they deign teh arrive, we’ll sit on our flanks an twiddle our hooves untel they do!” “And what exactly gives you the right to talk to us like this, pegasus?” asked a haughty male unicorn. Storm-Eye flared his wings, and stared down at the unicorn. The ponies surrounding the unicorn backed away, trying to get out of the range of Storm-Eye’s stare. His voice was barely above a whisper as he spoke to the presumptuous unicorn, “You mus’ be new en town, because ahm the Celestial-damned Capten o’ the Guard, and while you are in the walls of thes castle, you answer teh me!” There was a small gust of wind as two large wooden doors opened to the courtyard, and Princess Luna stepped out of the castle, her eyes filled with frustration, and her entire body as tense as steel. The crowd before her remained absolutely still as she processed out to the dais to meet all of her subjects. “Storm-Eye, Orpheus, what is the meaning of this?” she asked. “It is believed that the Antrozi before you are thieves, your Majesty,” Orpheus replied with a bow. Princess Luna looked down to the three terrified bat ponies, and her eyes and voice softened, “What say you to these charges, you three?” “We are not guilty, your Grace. We were seeking asylum here, and we stopped at a fruit stand to buy ourselves some early breakfast. The vendor was going to charge us triple because of our race, and when we refused to pay the amount, she called us thieves!” “Liars!” screamed out the fruit vendor, “Liars and thieves; stealers of children!” The crowd murmured their agreement. The Princess of the Night continued to look down at the accused as she spoke, though her agitation was growing and her voice made it clear that it was, “I can prove your innocence, but only if you trust me and give me consent to enter your mind. Would you allow this?” “Please, your Majesty. Just save us from their ridicule,” the spokespony of the three whispered. “Very well,” Princess Luna said as she placed the tip of her horn to the bat pony’s forehead, and the both of them closed their eyes. The crowd anxiously looked up to the Princess to see what she was doing and what her pronouncement would be. She sifted through the bat pony’s most recent memories and she found that what he had said was true; the vendor had tried to charge the three Antrozi three times the normal amount. Finished with her journey into his mind, Princess Luna took away her horn from the bat pony and projected her voice to the crowd, “These three are innocent, go back to—“. The crowd did not let her finish her sentence as their cries grew in anger and frustration. “You’re known for taking their side. This is a mockery of justice!” “Why don’t you care about us, your real subjects?” “You never look out for our interests!” The Keeper of the Night flared her wings and declared even louder, “I SEEK JUSTICE FOR ALL, NOT JUST THE MANY.” “You are not fit to rule over us!” some unseen pony yelled out from the crowd. The crowd’s vigor died instantly, and the silence that followed was deathly quiet. Storm-Eye drew in his breath with a hiss, “Treason,” he murmured. “You care more for these monsters than us! You don’t deserve your crown!” Somepony else said in the crowd. Slowly, the crowd’s life returned, and the voices continued. “We will seek our own justice!” “Down with this fake Princess! Celestia cares for us!” “Down with the pretender!” “FAUX PRINCESS! FAUX PRINCESS! FAUX PRINCESS!” the crowd roared, and they rushed the dais as one creature to try and seize every pony that stood there. Storm-Eye and Orpheus stood their ground, ready to defend the Princess with their lives. The three Antrozi, driven near mad with fear by the wails of the crowd, took to the skies, but they were intercepted by several Pegasi. Unicorns started to fire spell after spell into the sky without a care in the world what they hit, just so long as they could hit one of those infernal vam-ponies. Orpheus collapsed to the ground and one of the other bat ponies fell from the sky, each succumbing to their ancestral condition. Their eyes rolled back into their heads, and their bodies began to convulse rapidly as they were overcome by the seizure. Princess Luna, barely heard Storm-Eye as he quickly got onto his knees next to his Lieutenant, “Orpheus, lad, wha’s wrong with yah? Get up now, lad, get up!” It was all a blur; things were happening too fast. The crowd had brought the other three Antrozi down, and they were mercilessly stomping their hooves directly down on their captives. Screams filled the air of all kinds; the Antrozi, Pegasi who had been hit by unicorn magic, even some in the crowd who others had believed had been infected with vampirism. It was too much, everything was collapsing into Tartarus. The Princess grabbed her head in the agony of it; tears flowed down her cheeks in great gushes as her ears were filled with screams of agony, terror, and the still continuous chant of ‘FAUX PRINCESS! FAUX PRINCESS!’ Then, she snapped. Her eyes flew open, and the irises were as thin as a dragon’s; her pupils had changed to a glacial blue, frozen like ice. Her astral mane multiplied in size and its waving patterns writhed about viciously, as if they were serpents fleeing a great and enormous fire. Her throat was filled with a growl which traveled upward until it escaped her mouth in an ear-splitting screech. A ferocious dark blue light emanated from her horn and a titanic shockwave blasted forth in all directions. All the ponies in front of her were swept several feet back, knocked into the walls of the courtyard or blasting through the gates which had been left open in the chaos of the crowd. As the ponies picked themselves up, confusion and sense returned to them in equal amount as each realized what had just happened. And then they looked up to the stone dais. What befell their eyes was a great and terrible phantasm, a black nightmare that seemed to have left the realm of dreams to haunt the living, and it saw through each and every one of them with its piercing serpentine eyes. “GET OUT,” it bellowed in its rage, and its mane appeared as violet hellfire, reaching out, it seemed, to devour their very souls. Ponies ran in stark mad terror to get away from it, until all that was left were the injured and the dead. When they were all gone, Princess Luna, returned to her natural form, collapsed in exhaustion and grief, and though she was unconscious to the world, her tears and muffled sobs still rang out for all to hear.