//------------------------------// // Chapter 26 - Inferior // Story: The Darkness among the Stars // by Haseo //------------------------------// Chapter 26 Inferior Princess Celestia eyes wandered slowly from the floor to her younger sister. From her lowered position she could only manage to get a look at her from the corner of her eye. Princess Luna didn't look at them, she stared bashfully at the floor next to her. Her ears were neatly pleated against her head, the waving movements of her mane hid her eyes every few seconds. The Princess of the Night noticed the gaze of her sister, and startled, she made a little nervous jump. “I'm sorry, sister. I wasn't enthusiastic at the beginning as well, but we had talked about our options, and this seems to be the most promising plan.” Princess Celestia slowly raised to her full height again. “Tell me why you are taking my sister there? You know that none of you will return. It would be already bad if you are lost again, but why do you have to take my sister from me again? I've lost her for a thousand years already! Please don't take her with you. Don't leave me again...” Both Princesses began to shed tears that silently dropped to the floor. Princess Luna made a rapid dash and caught her sister in a bone-crushing hug. “I won't leave you ever again, Tia. I promise!” Everypony became teary eyed and watched the heartbreaking scene in front of them. Only Soul remained cold and untouched. “You aren't as smart as you think. I need Luna to achieve the salvation of Equestria. The legends are telling that a blood-relative is needed to use the artifact. Luna is my Queen, because she will be the Queen of Equestria when I'm done.” Princess Celestia watched Soul through the mane of her sister. “When she is supposed to be Queen, you have to step down as well. You aren't telling us everything.” Soul raised his eyebrow and slowly made his way out of the room. “When the darkness has fallen, a new ruler will be crowned, a ruler that will have seen the light and felt the darkness.” The door closed behind him and left Princess Celestia astonished behind. Her mouth hung low, Twilight nudged her carefully on the flank. “What is that supposed to mean?” The Princess looked down at her student, her eyes had pulled together to small dots. “Those words… I've heard them before! Star Swirl had told me them after a future vision. We never knew what this could mean... .” The door clicked open again, and the black stallion re-entered the room, followed by a white unicorn, white pegasus, and a pink alicorn. Twilight's face lit up like a little school-filly, as she bounced up and down, before she took off and stormed in their direction. Shining Armor saw his little sister approaching and spread his arms apart to hug her, but the lavender pony shot right past him to embrace Phalanx. His face fell instantly to a sad frown. Princess Cadence nudged him playfully and covered a little giggle, while he had to watch his little sister nuzzle another stallion. Soul cleared his throat and hit the floor as hard as he could to get the attention of anypony. The marble floor was deeply cracked, and single fragments of the marble scattered around the point of impact. “We don't have any time to waste. This could be the last day of freedom and Equestria as you know it.” Pinkie bounced around the still angered stallion and chirped happily. “You are funny. How did you get them here so quickly? Princess Celestia had only spoken one sentence, before you returned.” His eyes widened and his mouth opened slowly. For a second there was silence, until he managed to speak. “This is bad, very bad. That means time is already collapsing. I've been away for at least twenty minutes! We have to begin with the preparations immediately. Miss Rarity? I would like you to remaster my armour as fast as you can. Shining Armor and Princess Cadence will assist you with their crystal magic. Luna, I want you to rest now. Tomorrow awaits us a strenuous journey, we will need all the strength that we can collect. The others are free to do what they want, as long as they don't interfere with the repairs of my or Luna's armour.” The black stallion turned around again and headed for the door once more. “May your dreams be sweet and free of worry. I hope there will be a tomorrow to reunite us again. Good night, my little ponies.” The doors closed once more. Rarity's horn lit up and covered the armours in her magical aura. “I should start. Where can I work?” Princess Cadence laid her hoof upon her shoulder and smiled friendly. “Here you go.” Rarity, Princess Cadence, and Shining Armor disappeared in a pink light. Rainbow Dash’s eyes travelled lazily through the room. “I think I will hit the hay, see you later guys.” Like a cyan blur, she left the room through one of the windows. Twilight rolled her eyes, annoyed, and pushed hot air through her nostrils. “I will go to bed, too. See you in the morning.” With a flash of purple magic the lavender unicorn disappeared. Fluttershy was slightly uncomfortable and flew over to Applejack. “Would you mind if we talk outside for a moment?” The orange farmer nodded briefly and followed Fluttershy out of the Dining Hall onto a large balcony. The only ponies left were the Princesses. Princess Celestia followed the steps of Applejack and Fluttershy. Shen they were finally out of reach, the Princess turned her gaze to her sister. “You should rest now as well, sister. You will need all of your strength to return to me.” The midnight blue mare made a little skip and hugged her sister tight. “Of course my sister. I will.” Princess Luna blinked out of the room with her alicorn magic. The Princess of the Sun remained alone in the room. “I just have to talk to him again... alone.” With this, she at last left the room. Fluttershy and Applejack were only waiting for them to vanish, to speak frankly to each other. Impetuous as ever, the farmer began. “What do ya want to tell meh?” The timid pegasus played with her wavy mane and hid her mouth under it. “I don't want to spoil it, but don't you think that Soul is acting very strange?” Applejack raised carefully her eyebrow and signalized Fluttershy to go on with her demanding hoof movements. Fluttershy's mane barrier slowly lowered. “Uhm, you know... At first he played all nice, but he was very careful, never showing real anger or anything bad. He always was polite and kind towards me. When he had this disagreement with Rainbow, he broke bad and fought her but never actually tried to… uhm… do something really bad to her. His sorrow took the better of him, and he left us. Time had passed, and he returned. Even though it seemed that he was the ultimate evil that wanted to destroy Equestria, he had fought for us against the real threat. His eyes were blinded by the darkness inside of him, but since he and Lunacy were separated, I thought that this bitterness would fade as well. After all, it seems like I was mistaken. Again he raised his voice, this time against the Princess herself. It is like he has a light and a dark side. I don't know how I should handle it.” Applejack's eyes widened further and further while Fluttershy spoke. “Ah didn't really notice until now... Ah think… well, Ah don't know, maybe after what happened to him, he can't really open up to others.” Fluttershy dropped gracefully in absolute silent to the marbled ground. “Sorry, I don't think so. If you don't mind of course.... After you and he had... cuddled on the ground, he had told us almost everything except of his real identity. It was more like he didn't want to get us into trouble by letting us emotionally near to him.” The timid pegasus blushed by the mentioning of the saucy scene that had occurred in front of Twilight's library only a few days before. Applejack sat down while Fluttershy had spoken. “What d’ya mean by not getting us into trouble? He left us, he left me and we are into such big trouble, it couldn't be bigger. Ah still don't understand what ya’re aimin’ at.” Fluttershy hid her face behind her mane again and tried to nibble it. “Please don't be mad at me. I just thought I should tell you. It is obvious that he is lying to us. Not about his past, but he is lying about what he will do to stop the upcoming evil. He tries to act like a bad pony, but in truth, his actions are noble and righteous.” Applejack nodded slightly and raised again to her standing position. “Maybe ya are right, maybe he is hiding something, but maybe he will talk honestly with me. Ah will go and...-” A soft thud sounded behind them as light blue hoof-protectors touched the ground. Princess Luna folded her wings neatly against her marvellous looking body and closed the distance between her and the girls. “I think you should stay for a moment.” The farmer pony was stunned by the unexpected appearance of Princess Luna. “Princess? Why shouldn't Ah go. Ah'm sure he will tell meh.” The Princess of Night shook her head slowly in refusal. “He has to prepare very important things for our journey tomorrow. Absolute concentration is required to fulfil these tasks.” The words of the Princess repeated over and over again in Applejack's head. “These 'important things', what are they exactly?” Princess Luna narrowed her eyes and tilted her head a few inches. “Why so curious?” Applejack stumbled backwards a few steps and blushed slightly. “Ah'm just worried about his well-being. Even with this agreement he and Ah had, Ah still want to be with him, so Ah can't allow anything bad happen to him. Everytime Ah hear him shout or see him hurt, it is like Ah know what he is thinking at that moment. It feels very weird...” She closed her eyes during the conservation and pawed the ground with her hoof. Her eyes slowly opened again when she felt the weight of a hoof on her shoulder. Princess Luna gave her a warm smile and continued to stroke Applejack's mane. “You really got a big share of Harmony's feelings. Don't give up, sooner or later he will learn what you will mean for him. He just doesn’t want to hurt any of them.” Applejack's frown changed to a small smile again. “Do you really think that Ah mean something to him? What? Wait a moment, lets get this straight! Why should he have to hurt us? Princess, please tell meh what he is up to!” Princess Luna realized that she had said far too much. She was in a very serious situation.To Soul, she had promised to keep silence about his intentions. “Well, he didn't want to make any real promises in face of such a dangerous mission- There is a possibility that we won't return.” “Nah, Ah don't think so. It sounded pretty much like he was sure that ya will return, but he was not sure about his fate.” The Princess shot Fluttershy a dark gaze while she withdraw her hoof from Applejack. The timid pegasus fled behind Applejack, she whimpered and squeaked in fear. Fluttershy almost cried. “I'm sorry.” She was only barely audible to Applejack and the Princess, but she gave Applejack new reasons to feed on. “Princess, ya don't have to keep it a secret in before us. We are the Elements of Harmony, who else could ya trust? Ah just want the best for him, and Ah want to know if he is about to do something stupid.” Drips of sweat ran down the face of Princess Luna. She wanted to tell them but was not allowed to. It could mess up the whole plan. “Please don't tell anypony. The reason he isn't sure about his return, is that he may be forced to use another forbidden magic to ensure the salvation of Equestria.” Applejack's and Fluttershy's eyes widened, and they leaned over to the Princess, curious what this magic could be. The Princess of the Night gulped, and her mouth formed three single words. “Disease type magic.” As soon as these words left her mouth they felt an uncomfortable shiver ran over their backs. Princess Luna took off to the air and lit her horn. “I'm sorry, this is everything I can tell you. Now go to sleep!” With a flash of her midnight blue magic Applejack and Fluttershy disappeared from the balcony and found themselves in one of the bedroom chambers. Applejack stomped on the floor, and her hat slid from her head to the ground from the bumps. “Arrgh! Horsefeathers!” Now everything inside the castle had fallen silent. Everything inside, but not at the roof of one of the buildings inside the castle. Soul sat there, his gaze pointed at the stars. He was accompanied by a graceful seeming white alicorn. Almost a full hour had passed before Princess Celestia finally decided that it was time to talk. “You are quite an amazing actor, it is really a shame you didn't get an acting cutie mark.” He didn't turned around, only his eyes changed their target and stared at the Princess from the corner of his eyes. The Princess noticed and smiled weakly. “Just moments before we had such a good talk, and now you are shouting at me? Those don’t go together very well. I believe you are trying to act like the bad-pony.” The black stallion turned around slowly and faced the Princess. “What should I do?” Princess Celestia giggled a little bit, a faint blush darting over her cheeks. “You know, sometimes I think that maybe if we met under different circumstances, if you didn't know me as Helia, then we could have become really good friends.” Soul stared for a few seconds at the Princess before he turned away again. “Maybe.” The white Alicorn closed the distance between them except of a few feet. “You made promises in the Dining Hall. I want one, too.” Soul didn't respond nor did he react in any way. Princess Celestia used this opportunity immediately. “As soon as you return, I want us to start from the beginning, like we've never met before. Do you agree?” A cold wind blew through their manes, the whistling sound rang in their ears, but soon silence turned in for a moment. “I agree.” The massive white and plushy wing stretched around Soul's back and covered him in its warm feathers. Princess Celestia followed his gaze up to the stars. “Now I'm sure you are an actor. You would never agree to forgive me like that, if you didn't know that you wouldn’t return at all.” Soul's eyes widened as he turned his head to face the Princess, but she was still stargazing. The only thing that moved were her lips. “So you act like that because you don't want anypony emotionally close to you. You don't want anypony to suffer because of your disappearance, especially Applejack.” Princess Celestia thought about many possible reactions he could show, but this was the only one she hadn't thought of. Instead of gaining distance between them, he leaned his head against the slightly fluffy chest of the Princess. Despite the fact that he was almost the same size as Luna, he weighed perceptible more than her sister. Before she could have said anything, Soul took the initiative. “Do you remember the first time we physically touched each other? I jumped on your back when I was a little colt. If I remember right, I was playing tag with Star Swirl.” He wasn't looking at the Princess but could feel her head slightly nod. He burst out a massive amount of air through his nostrils and relaxed more. “I will never forget this feeling. It was like a thousand needles would pierce through my hooves. After that day I never ever came close to you again, in fear to get stung again. But now you feel so warm and soft...” The Princess began to giggle uncontrollably, she couldn't suppress the thought of how it would be if Soul and she would go out together. The stallion beneath her smiled, too. But something was odd. He wasn't smiling out of happiness, it was again this wicked and sinister smile. “Under different circumstances we could have been a couple, who knows?...” He slowly raised up again and began to walk past the Princess. She was still laughing and didn't really realize that Soul was about to leave. Before he could light his horn, the voice of the Princess rang through his ears. “You really know how to distract other ponies. No wonder you win so many arguments.” Soul lowered his head and flashed a smile of defeat. “Like I've said before, you're still very attentive, Tia.” Princess Celestia's clopping hoof sounds slowly closed up to him. She halted a pony-length behind him. “I know you are lying. The truth is that you aren't going to Demon's Run for the artifact, you are going there to meet with Lunacy.” Soul's eyes widened in shock, Princess Celestia had guessed right at the first try. Naturally, the Princess noticed his surprise. “So my guesswork was right, Lunacy lived for most of your life in your mind, so of course he knew about this place. But why should Lunacy seek for the artifact?” He turned around and showed Princess Celestia his proud laughter. “Isn't it obvious? When time is falling apart, even he will cease, so he has to repair it before it’s too late. The reason I'm taking Luna, is that somepony has to use the artifact if I'm unable to.” The Princess of the Sun hesitated for a moment, but she needed to have certainty. “Then why don't you take all of us? Together we might defeat Lunacy without bigger trouble.” The black stallion approached the Princess until he stood directly in front of her. She could already feel his breath in her face. “As soon as Luna obtains the artifact, I will send her with my magic back to you. You immediately have to use it. In the meantime I will take down Lunacy and the dark Princesses.” Confusion took hold in the thoughts of the Princess. “You barely could fight them back at the arena. How do you intend to bring them down? Even if you strike them again with your 'Urano Metoria' and kill Radiant Flare and Nightmare Moon, I doubt that you will be able to fight Lunacy afterwards. Unless you intend to kill them all at once, then …” Realisation hit the Princess. How could she have been so blind all the time. “Then you will die along with them... This is why you are acting like this! You know that you have to die if you want to stop them! This is why you won't take others there! But how do you want to do it? This time you can't simply blow them up.” Soul walked even closer to the Princess. His face was now past the Princess's. “Do you remember the books you burned a thousand years ago? The books I wrote that included spells for tactical warfare? I still know every single spell there.” Princess Celestia's eyes widened, she realized which evil Soul is suggesting to use. “You can't use any of these spells! The only thing they are capable of is killing! It would be murder!” The black stallion didn't look up, but the Princess could feel his own mind was torn between good and evil. “I've murdered so many in war! I won't care if they make three more when it would ensure the salvation of Equestria. You should be glad that this knowledge will be lost with my death.” She bit on her lip and hesitated for a moment, but she couldn’t let him do as he pleased like that. “Which spell do you plan to use?” Quick and short was the answer of Soul, as if he wanted to get past this topic as fast as possible. “Disease type magic.” The mouth of the Princess almost fell to the ground. “This is against all rules of ethics, you can't make them sick! Didn't you forget that they are immortal and immune against disease?” Soul completely turned away from the Princess, and a small, sinister laughter rang through the loneliness of the night. “There is a second reason why the final battle will take place in Demon's Run. If I'm right, then immortal creatures will turn mortal there, and so they will be susceptible to disease. As soon as Luna grabs the artifact, I will send her back to you and immediately after that, I will infect them with my virus. It is designed to rewrite the cells of its host and program them to drain magical power to survive. The host will get weaker with every second until each cell in his body is replaced. He won't be able to use magic nor be able move anymore. He wouldn’t even be able to think for himself. The victim will become my minion, only capable of doing what I think of.” Princess Celestia turned away in disgust. “That is sick.” The black stallion didn't speak for a moment, only his horn ignited faintly. “I know…” With a blast of his magic Soul had disappeared and left the former sole ruler of Equestria alone. She looked up into Princess Luna's marvellous night sky and sighed. “Sometimes you have to commit greater sins to pay for others. Sometimes destiny is cruel, unfair. and filled with endless sorrow. I wish that this won't end with more pain and loss.”