//------------------------------// // Smoldering // Story: Shards of Hatred // by ChaoticHarmony //------------------------------// ---- Shards of Hatred ---- ---- Chapter XI: Smoldering---- She was floating. She was and wasn’t at the same time, suspended in a world of silence and black that was permeated by snippets of sound and light. She turned to catch the glimpse of the distorted face of her former pupil, Twilight Sparkle, pain and hatred filling her eyes until the image dissipated. Another one took its place, a wall of dark blue that was the same color of the night time sky that was soon obliterated by a flash of blinding light. As the afterimages faded from her vision, she found herself greeted by no more of the colors of the outside and instead being forced to look at the wall of black. “Something is wrong.” Celestia’s voice sounded almost foreign in the void that she now floated in. “Am I dead?” Despite Equestria’s perception of alicorns as invincible, they were no more invulnerable than a normal pony to injury. Death was something that Celestia had to fear many times in her life, especially in the years which she and her sister were forced to do battle with the chaotic forces of Discord. She stretched a hoof out towards the blackness, recoiling as a spike of pain stabbed into it when it touched the border of wherever she was. “I suppose I’m still alive, if only just.” “Sister?” The voice was ragged and hoarse. “Sister are you…” A choked sob cut off whatever the pony was about to say. “Yes, Luna, I’m all right.” Celestia’s voice burned with the need to comfort her sister as she spoke. “Please, don’t worry about me.” “Why are you not moving, sister?” Celestia felt a pair of hooves push into her side and rock her back and forth. “Sister? Please move! Please!” Luna’s voice had become filled with anguish as another round of sobs overtook her. “Please, do not be dead. I need you, Tia!” “Luna! I’m fi-“ Celestia stopped herself as Luna’s lips found hers, frantically trying to push air into her lungs. As the air was forced into her body, Celestia felt drops of liquid falling onto her face and soaking into her coat. When the lunar goddess had pulled away, her solar counterpart found herself sputtering. “Luna stop this madness! I’m fine!” “Tia?!” Apparently Celestia’s last phrase managed to enter the world of the living. She slowly opened her eyes and was greeted with the image of a smiling Luna looking down at her. The next thing she saw was a field of dark blue that was dotted with silver stars, the air being crushed from her lungs with the strength of her sister’s hug. “Sister! I was so worried!” “Luna… I didn’t come back… just to have you… crush me to death.” Celestia gasped for air as her hooves frantically scrabbled for purchase against Luna’s hug. Without warning the iron bars around her midsection were pulled away, as was the stifling cloud that was the lunar goddess’s mane. “I’m sorry, sister, I was just so worried about you.” Luna smiled sheepishly at her as she took a few steps back. “After I saw Twilight toss you into the wall, I was afraid that I had lost you.” The smile melted away into an expression of anger and disbelief combined. Celestia looked to where her sister’s gaze had drifted to and shivered as a wave of shock crashed against her upon seeing her most faithful student lying on the ground with a few rivulets of crimson flowing from her head. “Why would she have attacked you? Of all ponies Twilight looked up to you the most.” “It was Sombra’s doing.” Celestia slowly trotted forward, reaching into the saddlebag that was at Twilight’s side and jerked back, breathing in deeply at the pain that stabbed into her hoof. “He corrupted her using a tool of his own being.” “How is that possible, Tia?” Luna shivered and moved to stand next to her older sister. “It gives me great worry to know that one such as he may corrupt without being present.” When Celestia didn’t answer, the midnight-blue alicorn moved closer. “Tia?” “Hush, Luna.” Her sister recoiled and fell silent as Celestia closed her eyes. “Stand back, I am about to attempt to draw out what has brought my dear Twilight so much pain.” After a few moments of banishing all emotions from her mind, she slowly drew in those that she spent the most time suppressing. Anger, hate and envy; all emotions that everypony in Equestria knew and feared. And here I am trying to use them. They all came forth from the very edges of her consciousness and condensed themselves into a green orb of light, an orb that she then seized with her magic and wove into a spell. A burning ball of emerald light surrounded her hoof as she slowly bent down to reach once more into the bag that Twilight had on her side. After a moment of searching, her hoof found the thing that she was looking for. “Here it is.” Even with the dark protection, the stone still burned her to the touch. As soon as she pulled out of the bag, she let the spell dissipate along with the emotions that disgusted her to no end. “Sombra’s tool.” “What is it, sister?” “It is a crystal, filled with the pure hatred and anger that consumed Sombra from when before he was the pony he is now.” Celestia sighed wearily as she looked down at the wickedly glimmering stone. “It would be my Twilight who had the curiosity to take a small part of the crystals that were summoned by Sombra.” “What are we to do with it, Tia?” Despite Luna’s being a mare that has lived her centuries, her voice had become that of a scared filly looking to her older sister for guidance. Celestia reached over with a wing and brushed it reassuringly against Luna before answering. “It must be destroyed.” Celestia looked down at the cursed stone that winked at her from the cobblestones. “But I fear that even if I am able to, Twilight would be destroyed as well.” She bent down to touch her horn onto her student’s head, a flash of golden light being the only sign of her healing spell. “We must take her to the castle.” The sound of hoofsteps moved closer to Celestia as Luna moved closer, worry rushing through every fiber of her being. “What is to be done about her corruption?” “She must destroy the crystal herself.” Celestia lifted her pupil and the crystal in her magical grip, the latter sending threads of pain into her very soul to touch with something as pure as her magic. “To do that, she must cast aside the hatred that runs in her veins. I must ask you to do something, Luna. It might be painful for you to do, but you must do it should there be any hope for Twilight.” Celestia spread her wings and lifted herself into the air, followed swiftly by the lunar princess. “What is it, sister?” “You must teach her to let go of it. Of all the emotions that you’ve held close to your heart once before.” Celestia turned to see Luna with an expression of shock crossing the usually serene face. “Please, Luna, you must.” A few moments of silence hung between them, broken only by the sounds of their wings cutting through the wind. “Okay, sister, I will try.” Rapid Boots pushed past the guards that blocked the iron-wrought gate that decorated the front castle gate, ignoring their shouts and commands for her to stop. No time to stop, I must deliver this message! She barreled through the large, ceremonial doors that served as the entrance into the throne room, skidding to a stop somewhere between the fourth and fifth pair of flanking pillars. As she struggled to recover her breath, Rapid thanked her mother for passing down the family heirloom to her. “Princess Celestia! I’m her-“ She cut herself off when she saw that there was a stallion sitting on the throne, one that she had seen back in the Crystal Empire many times standing next to the Crystal Princess. “Here to see Celestia too?” Shining Armor, captain of the royal guard and a prince to boot, jumped off the raised seat and trotted over to the gasping messenger. “She isn’t here right now. I came here about an hour ago and she only told me that she had to see to some’ urgent business’, whatever that means.” As the stallion drew closer, a glimmer of recognition sparked in his eyes. “Hey, don’t I know you from somewhere?” Rapid gave a shaky salute, wincing to herself when the metal of her boot smacked into her unprotected forehead. “Y-y-yes, Prince Armor. I-I-I am messenger for Princess Cadance, your w-w-wife, sir.” “You have news from Cadance? Is she okay?” Shining Armor moved even closer to the messenger, seeming almost threatening by the time he stopped. “What’s the message she sent?” “I-I-I d-d-don’t think sh-she meant for you to h-hear it, Prince Armor.” She faltered at the stallion’s glare, throwing aside her orders at the sheer avalanche of anger that threatened to topple at the slightest nudge. “But as Celestia isn’t present, I s-s-should tell y-you.” Clearing her throat and taking a deep breath, Rapid Boots braced herself for the inevitable explosion. “The Crystal Empire is shadowed once more.”