- XX -
Two of the front windows of Joe’s diner shattered open, and viscous black smoke poured in, pooling on one end of the dining area. Celestia and Luna faced the threat, shoulder-to-shoulder, their horns glowing with power. They both sent beams of light lancing into the dark miasma, shattering it apart as it tried to coalesce. Inky liquid spattered the floor and nearby tables.
Several of the windows on the right side of the room broke apart as more smoke slammed into the building. Turning to cover the new angle of attack, Luna unleashed blue flashes of energy, pushing away the oncoming blackness and blockading several of the windows with arcane shields. Celestia focused her magic on the front windows still, blasting away stray tendrils that attempted to enter the diner.
Another window to the right shattered, and Luna shouted a warning. Celestia turned quickly, her shields flaring as a thick tentacle of darkness slammed into her defenses. The sheer force of the blow sent her flying backwards, to the left. She was defenestrated through one of the windows on the left side of the diner, skidding to a rolling halt in the cloud of black smoke. Celestia got to her hooves swiftly, her shields flickering as black smoke pressed against it. “Luna!” she cried desperately.
“Celestia!” came the response, but it sounded muffled and distant.
Celestia grimaced, her horn glowing red-hot as she empowered her strongest defenses, and prepared a counter-attack. With a yell, blinding light radiated from Celestia and her eyes burned with the strength of the sun.
“I am Celestia, The Daybringer, Firstborn of the Morning, Daughter of Faust, Diarch of Equestria! I will not fall to the likes of you! Not so easily!”
Celestia unleashed her fury, sending white-hot plasma spiraling around herself. Everywhere it touched the darkness, the shadowy smoke flash-evaporated, leaving only foul-smelling wisps. Her rage burned white hot, frying the area around her to bare rock, leaving nothing but a expanding crater of carbon and glass that exploded out from her with stellar violence.
Celestia knelt in the center of the crater, panting. The smoke had retreated back, wavering in the face of her onslaught. Her horn burned and her mane hung limply around her, waving in an unseen solar wind.
The shadows suddenly rushed inward again, collapsing around her being. She cried out as her defenses began to fail, and tendrils of shadow began to encroach on her being. She lashed out desperately, sending pure arcane fire against the miasma, but to little effect. She was lifted bodily from the ground, drug into the air like a puppet on a string, and dangled by a strong tendril of shadow by her forehooves.
Deep red irises with acid-green corneas stared at her, narrowing with malice. Celestia returned the glare. “Sombra.”
“Celestiaaaa... Its been so long,” oozed a deep voice from all around her.
“What do you want?” asked Celestia.
The shadows rippled and echoed the sound of harsh laughter. “Waaant?”
“Yes. Your spell is holding me captive. You must want something, so tell me what you want with me,” demanded Celestia, trying to remain calm.
“Ahhh. Yesss. What I want... is for you to break. Shatter into a million tiny pieces. You, and your sister, and your student, and the crystal princess.”
Celestia shouted at him, “You want to kill me? Fine. But know that you won’t have as easy a time with the others. They will defeat you.”
Sombra laughed again, the sound echoing eerily. “Who sssaid anything about killing? I said break, and I meant it. You’ve resisted ssso admirably, stoic in the face of your worst nightmares and deepest regrets. You’ve avoided me in your dreams. No longer, though. I have you, and I think I’ll try something new this time.”
Celestia shivered. “What are you going to do.”
“Psychological ssssuffering seemed ineffective. Let’s see how long you last against sssome real pain? I will shatter you, and your mind will become my vessel. I will pour into your essssence and pit you against all you hold dear. I will make you dessstroy all that you worked so hard to create, Princess, and I will laugh.”
Celestia closed her eyes. “I won’t give you the chance. I’ll destroy myself first.”
“You can do nothing to ssstop me!” crowed Sombra.
Dark shadows pressed against Celestia’s body from every side, tendrils curling around her form. She felt incredible pressure begin to build, as though she was sinking to the deepest depths of the ocean, unprotected. Her breath came in smaller and smaller gasps, and her lungs ached. Celestia desperately struggled, her horn igniting again, but a flash of black energy snapped against her horn, canceling her attempted spellcasting.
Her mouth opened in a desperate scream, and then she felt something strange.
The icy-cold sensation of a horseshoe pressing against her face.
The pressure halted, suddenly, and Sombra’s eyes widened. “What?”
WHAM.
Celestia sat bolt upright, her wings flaring open and her hoof shooting to her jaw, cradling it as it ached and throbbed, tears stinging her eyes as pain shot through her muzzle.
She was on the moon again. The shadows were gone, and she was awake. One side of her face stung fiercely. Before her stood the unicorn stallion, her royal guard, in the sharpest stance of attention she’d seen in a hundred years. His eyes were squeezed shut, his ears drooped, and his legs trembled almost imperceptibly. His right hoof was still outstretched, the shod forelimb shaking.
Celestia’s jaw would have dropped open, had it not ached so badly.
Light Stride peeked one orange eye open, and his outstretched hoof shifted into a salute. “P-princess... I'm so sorry.”
Celestia threw her hooves around his neck and grasped him into a desperate embrace, her chest heaving as she shook. Light Stride stood completely still, his training having never prepared him for a hug from his Princess.