Chapter 5: Better to Light One Candle
---{Dilan Shier}
I looked to the left. A stoic gaze stared at me from that direction. I looked to the right. A slightly less intense, but equally serious stare came from that direction as well. One sweat drop hung against my head and refused to trickle down. I closed my eyes and sighed.
If there was one thing that these vampire ponies knew how to do, it was how to make a guy feel awkward. Or… were they technically making a girl feel awkward? I didn’t even know anymore. Either way, the tension in the air was making lunchtime an uncomfortable time.
They told me that Princess Luna sent them to watch me and to not take their eyes off of me, I remembered, I didn’t think they meant that so literally.
Did I mention how creepy it was to have two guys staring at me? Well, it was flipping creepy being stared at by these two men with their piercing golden eyes. Not to mention, my growling stomach wasn’t helping to lighten the mood. I needed something to break this tension.
I cleared my throat. “So, how are the wife and kids?”
I could have sworn the vampire on the left had jumped out of his skin. Though, the mental image was immediately replaced with him resuming his glare. The vampire on the right produced a slightly less dramatic visual picture, simply tilting his head in confusion.
“I don’t have a wife… or kids,” he said after a pause.
Well, my joke was an epic fail, I thought while rolling my eyes, Pan-flipping-tastic.
I tried for a more pleasant approach. “It wouldn’t do for me to keep calling you ‘you’. What’re your names?”
“You can try all you like, Nightmare Moon,” replied the vampire on the left, “You won’t be getting that kind of information from us.”
“Faith Shield,” answered the vampire on the right.
Faith Shield? I wondered, Like the shield of faith?
The one on the left sputtered. “What are you doing?”
“We’ve got nothing to hide,” commented Faith Shield, “What’s the big deal?”
The unknown named vampire lowered his voice to a whisper, “The big deal? She’s the enemy. You don’t just hand your identity over to enemies.”
“She’s not setting our lands on fire,” Faith Shield whispered back, “If anything, giving her our names would actually prove that we’re better ponies than those that hide in shadows.”
“This isn’t a debate about honor,” the other one pointed out, “This is a safety precaution and you just threw yours away.”
“Kind of like how you threw your standing orders away yesterday?” Faith Shield chuckled.
“It’s not the same thing!” hissed the other.
“You guys do realize I can hear everything you’re saying, right?” I asked out loud.
The nameless vampire returned to his creepy staring position and cleared his throat.
“Be that as it may,” he stated, “my colleague and I will just have to agree to disagree on what we disclose to you.”
“He’s Spirit Sword,” said Faith Shield.
“Faith!” the no longer nameless one yelled.
“What?” asked Faith Shield before saying, “You should wear your name with a sense of pride.”
They proceeded to argue further, but I tuned them out.
Wait. I blinked. That’s his actual name, Spirit Sword? Huh. I guess that kind of makes sense, guys having the names of weapons and armor and girls having names that sound like they belong to foodstuffs. Although, that begs the question: where did names like Celestia, Luna, and Nightmare Moon come from? Those are clearly not food. Heck, the word “Rarity” isn’t exactly limited to something one eats.
My stomach growled again.
Ugh, I can’t think about the nature of names on an empty stomach.
“Excuse me!” I called out to what looked like a dressed-up pony on standby.
“Yes?” she asked in a gentle voice.
“Could I get something like a… rose petal sundae, please?”
“Certainly, Ms. Moon,” she answered before trotting through a doorway that reminded me of a kitchen door in certain restaurants.
Suddenly, I was very confused. I raised an eyebrow and placed a hoof brace just in front of my mouth.
A rose petal sundae? I thought incredulously, Why did I say that? That was literally the first thing that popped into my head. And she just went along with it. Does that mean something like that is an actual thing in this world?
Well, it was too late to take back the order. I figured it was something that had to at least be edible.
If I were to ingest something harmful to my health, would that kill me again? I pondered, As much as I want to try and get back my humanity, there’s no guarantee that a second trip to Hell is the answer.
I sighed as I lowered my hoof back to my side.
I suppose I’ll just have to play it by ear.
“You’re making this a bigger deal than it needs to be,” said Faith Shield.
“I’m giving it the amount of thought that it requires,” countered Spirit Sword.
Maybe when Princess Celestia comes back from her urgent business, I can ask her about other unusual events. Clearly, this world doesn’t get that many people repossessing bodies of its former adversaries. Otherwise, there’d probably be at least one million other guys in my exact, same situation.
“Fine, fine,” Faith Shield conceded, “You can have the last word.”
“I wish you’d give this more seriousness than what you’re giving it now,” said Spirit Sword.
I can see it now: all the big baddies you’ve ever known now under the control of humans without a clue. Man, that would be the worst movie ever. Hmm, actually that could work if it was a comedy. Nah, that would still be pretty bad.
“Here you are, mademoiselle.” The maiden from earlier had returned and she set something down on the table in front of me.
“Oh, thank you,” I complimented.
The forenamed rose petal sundae was a rather pretty sight. At first, the shade of pink made it look like strawberry ice cream. But upon closer inspection, I could see the physical red petals spread throughout like small sheets of chocolate. The ice cream was decorated with a translucent syrup topping, some rainbow sprinkles, and a mint leaf. It was so simple, yet beautiful.
Without even thinking, I had already grabbed the nearby spoon in my mane-hand. The very top bite was where I started.
Was it possible to describe a new, likable taste with proper descriptors in the moment? Here was what I came up with.
“Gah.. la la… ahh… hm.”
Yeah, now that was an expert food critique. But seriously, the flavors just swam in my mouth for an amount of time I couldn’t determine. I could hear myself sighing and I was pretty sure my lips were smiling. For the longest time, though, I couldn’t figure out why.
Sooner than I would have liked, the ice cream creation was no more. I rolled my tongue around the inside of my mouth. But my efforts were in vain. The sweet dream was over.
---{Narrator’s view inside the Crystal Palace}
They knew perfectly well that they couldn’t afford to expend their strength. If they pushed even a little over half of their magical reserves, the cost of the effort could be the very things that they were fighting for. The Crystal Empire, the little ponies within, Cadance… all of it would be wiped out. So in spite of what others would have called common sense, Celestia and Luna held back.
Still, their current foe wasn’t exactly making the right choice look very smart. Dark crystal shards were tossed around the room. Shadowy pillars grew out of various walls whenever one of the royal sisters flew too close to the side. At least three feathers got plucked off Celestia’s right wing before her shield could intercept the pillar behind her.
Luna was having her own problems. Every time she thought she had successfully shielded against a barrage of shards from one side, another wave of pieces came from behind her. In a flash of white light, she teleported to the opposite end of the room, but more jagged crystals were already waiting for her. This cycle of defending and dodging couldn’t last forever.
Something had to give.
One of the sporadically growing pillars eventually drilled hard enough to break through Celestia’s defenses and collide with her cheek. The sudden impact distracted her focus long enough for a ceiling-bound pillar to deliver a downward smack. She lied down on the floor, though not by choice.
Just when Luna thought she had figured out the attack pattern, the crystals changed direction. Her focus of defense was in the wrong direction and she received a full pummeling against her backside. She ended up lying on the floor about eye level with her sister.
---{Dilan Shier}
“Augh!” I yelped.
My back! Where the heck did all of this numb, burning pain come from? I thought that doctor said I was clear. What was all this painful feeling about?
“Uh, hey.” Faith Shield took a break from his bickering. “Is she okay?”
“Don’t change the sub-,” Spirit Sword started before looking at what his partner was staring at. “What is she doing now?”
My wings were cramping up. My spinal column felt so pierced. I didn’t understand at all. This was just so sudden. I would have expected an ice cream headache from eating too fast, but not this kind of pain. Why did I feel like a living pin-cushion?
I sort of remember falling next to the chair I was on, but the room started to wobble around. It kind of reminded me of that one cruise ship I had been on during a collision with a huge wave. The motion of the room was deliberately slow. To make matters worse, my vision was blurring and my eyes were having trouble staying open.
“What’s… happening… to me?” I asked, though I sounded like I was talking into a drinking glass.
---{Narrator, Crystal Palace interior}
Sombra just stood there with a wicked smile. His previous defeat against the princesses was but a fluke. They were too weak to even realize that all they had to do to destroy his power was to kill his host’s body. It was pathetic.
He was about to laugh at their weakness, but a sudden movement made him frown confusion. In a fluid, almost ethereal spin, one of the princesses was back on her feet. There was something… strange about her eyes. They weren’t just white like how a unicorn’s were while casting a powerful spell. They were a tint of white beyond comprehension.
Her older sister also stared in bewilderment.
---{???}
I was… and yet I wasn’t. No, that didn’t describe my circumstance correctly. I was incomplete. A piece of me was missing. My time was limited with this imperfection. I decided that was fine. It was more time than I needed to rid the dark one’s presence from that heart so innocent and pure.
A few previous vessels tried to carry the power that I wielded. None had succeeded in tapping it fully. They weren’t meant to. No life should have had the burden and curse that was mine alone. Sadly, it was too late to limit the holders. However, I could still aid the removal of another foul presence.
Quietly, I stepped in front of the abomination. I leaned my vessel forward and made the mind link. Dreams eventually made way to the subconscious memories… the ones that were locked up… the ones that the dark one thought he could remove simply by existing.
---{Cadance}
This is…
Everything flashed by so quickly. Green fire burned. Shade led to the underground caverns. Hearts ached and feelings were hurt. My first love’s eyes were so vacant and drained.
But then tears watered the garden. My faith in the magic of love led to my ascension. I had so much fun caring for that one foal. And thanks to her, I met the one pony who could reciprocate my passion and true feelings.
Shining Armor.
---{Narrator}
The host body screamed as the light burned the possessive demon Sombra. Waves of blue light spread out in ever-growing spheres. The black and purple crystal shards were wiped clean. Crystal pillars crumbled. Frozen prisoners in the shaded rocks were freed.
Even some of the pain had lifted. Celestia found that she could stand without trouble. She looked on at everything around her before looking at the center of the room. An image of Sombra’s face glazed over in blue light before shattering completely.
Cadance and Luna landed on the floor on their hooves. Luna held a front hoof to her head.
“Princess Luna?” Cadance asked in surprise, “What just happened?”
---{Dilan Shier}
The strange, dream-like visions started to fade. When I came to, I was standing in the dining hall again. The ponies present hadn’t changed at all, but the expressions on the faces of the two vampires did. Spirit Sword looked absolutely pale. I tried to look at Faith Shield, but I was distracted by the sound of trickling water somewhere right behind him.
There was no fountain behind him, so that just confused me even more.
My back no longer hurt, but I held a hoof to my suddenly aching head. Now, that I could probably diagnose as brain freeze.
---{Spirit Sword}
What trickery was this mare of shadows up to? Little more than one minute ago, she was pretending that she was in pain. Next thing I knew, she was shaking with so much mana that my hide crawled. Being in the same room with her actually felt suffocating.
Beyond that, I could not say. As quickly as it began, Nightmare Moon's magical surge ended. Now, she was holding her head in pain. The faint scent of soiled armor came from Faith Shield's direction. But that wasn't what worried me at that moment.
Since when was Nightmare's tail red?
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