Part 19
Betrayal
A soft but annoying buzzing sound awakens Cordial from his slumber. “Grr,” he thinks to himself. “Some pony is climbing up my tower. I’ll have to have a talk with the guards again tomorrow. A good thing I set magical alarms on the stairwell.” And with that thought, Cordial silences his alarm and tries to return to sleep.” Foolish ponies, it’s not like they could ever manage to-” suddenly Cordial’s thoughts are interrupted by a loud crashing gong going off directly above his head, the shock of which causes him to fall out of his bed. “That’s the alarm to my laboratory door! But that’s impossible! No pony could get inside without my key.” Cordial says aloud, as he looks over at his dresser, a dresser with a noticeable absence of key upon it. “By all the Gods of Equestria!” He shouts, as he teleports quickly to the doorway to his laboratory. The door remains steadfastly shut. Pressing his ear up to the surface, Cordial can clearly make out the sounds of movement.
Cordial bangs loudly upon the door. “Whoever is in there, open this door right now!” He shouts.
An unfamiliar voice, muffled by the door, replies “Umm... No.”
“Listen you! Open up this door, and let me in! The contents of that room are extremely dangerous.” Cordial shouts for a second time.
“How dangerous did you say?” the voice inquires.
“EXTREMELY DANGEROUS!” Cordial yells back.
“Excellent!” the voice replies, “that was just the kind if dangerous I was looking for. Say, you wouldn’t be a sport and tell us where the oil lamps are in here? We’re having a devil of a time locating them, it’s rather dark in here you know.”
“Oh. Well, there’s one just to- Hey! Wait a minute.” Cordial interrupts himself, “Are you insane? Why in Equestria do you think I’d help you rob my own laboratory?”
“I don’t." The voice replies evenly, " I’m just distracting you. Ah wait, my companion just found the lights. Must dash, world conquest to plot. Feel free to hang around though, it’ll save time later, when I come to kill you.” And with that the voice stops talking.
“Wait, WHAT? Kill ME?!? I survived an explosion that destroyed an entire island!” Cordial says, banging uselessly on the iron bound wood.
“And yet, you can’t walk through a simple door, tsk tsk.” The voice taunts, before receding again, causing Cordial to seethe with anger.
Inside the now lit room, two hooded figures make their way to the table in it’s center.
“There brother,” one of the figures says, pointing a hoof, “That is the beaker I was telling you about.”
But before the other hooded figure can approach, they are both distracted by a loud crash. They turn to see the figure of Cordial, back lit by the hallway lights, standing in the now open doorway, the door that had been blocking him, crashed to the ground before him.
“HERE’S CORDIAL!” He says, stepping into the lab.
“But how?” The first figure asks in shock. “You said yourself that there was no way through that door without the key.”
“In the first place,” Cordial replies, “I didn’t use the door.” Cordial points a claw toward the outline of the door on the floor. All can clearly see part of the castle walls still attached to the edges. “I simply went through the wall. In the second place, how exactly would you know what I did and didn’t say about this room?” Cordial asks peering intently at the first figure.
“Uh oh my dear, I do believe you let something slip. I suppose it is time for us to come clean then,” the second figure says, removing his hooded cloak with a flourish.
“YOU!” Cordial shouts, pointing an accusatory claw at the now revealed earth pony. “I have NO IDEA who you are!” he finishes, dropping his claw, as he turns his head to one side in confusion. “No really. I’ve never seen you before in my life.”
“Of course not you fool!” the figure replies. “I’m merely another one of your faceless victims. You would have no reason to know who I am, sitting so far above us in your ivory tower!”
Cordial looks about the room. “It’s stone. Granite to be precise.” He says.
“Figure of speech!” The now enraged earth pony says, throwing his cloak onto the floor beneath him in anger. “By all the Gods! I hate you even MORE, now that I’ve met you in person! Listen you fool, you may not know me, but I’m sure even your weak mind will recall who my companion is.”
The pony in question casually removes her hooded cloak and lets it fall to the floor. “Hello my love. Having a bad night?” she asks.
“SNOWBLOSSOM?!? What in the name of Zacherle is going on here. Who is this pony? What are you doing stealing my key, and breaking into my tower?
“Oh Cordial, do you love me?” Snowblossom asks.
“Of course, more than anything.” Cordial replies.
“And do you trust me?” she asks.
“Yes, of course I trust you.” Cordial says looking into her eyes from across the room.
“You see,” she says, looking at the other pony. “So very easy.”
“By the Sky Stallion! I never gave you enough credit my dear. If our goal wasn’t within our grasp, I’d let you string him along for years. What foolish naivete, I’d never thought I’d live to see such a thing... You sir,” he says addressing Cordial, “are a very foolish and gullible pony...dragon... thing.” He says waving a hoof at Cordial. “Hmm, how shall I put this in a way that will cause you the most damage? Let’s start with... ‘SHE NEVER LOVED YOU, YOU FOOL! IT WAS ALL AN ACT!’, yes, that’s a good start.”
Cordial begins to speak, but then pauses. He looks over toward Snowblossom. “No.” He says. “No, he’s not telling the truth. Tell me, tell me he’s lying.”
“Oh my dear Cordial. You love is the purest, most beautiful thing.” She says, her gaze filled with joy. “You have no idea how much I enjoyed feasting upon it!” She says, her once innocent features darkening. “He’s right you know. You ARE foolish, and naive. I’ve been carefully playing with your heart ever since you returned.” She laughs evilly, as she sees the effect her words have on Cordial. “It was so very easy. I’d tug on your heart string, and you’d dance for me like a puppet. You have given me such happiness. But in a way I’m glad it’s over. By all the Gods, the sight of you repulses me. Having to see that hideous visage day after day, forcing myself to smile, and to kiss you.” She shudders to herself. “Ah, but all my torture is finally at an end. For tonight we shall finally have our revenge.
Cordial falls to his knees, his heart breaking in the face of the scorn from the one pony he truly loved. “Revenge?” he says finally. “What have I ever done to you that deserves all of this?” he asks, his tone broken and hurt.
“The fact that you have to ask, only further compounds your sins, you pathetic monster!” Snowblossom sneers. “Look upon my brother for your answer.” She says gesturing at her companion.
For the first time, the pony in questions reveals his other side and flank that he had kept from observation until now. Most of the left side of his body is withered and twisted. Strange growths sprout from his flank, and his rear leg is bent at an odd angle.
“What... what happened to you? Are you saying that I am somehow responsible for this?” Cordial asks in shock.
“Oh yes, my love.” Snowblossom says, treating the last word with disdain. “My brother, and so very many others are all victims of your foolish arrogance. Years ago when you ‘saved’ us all from the forces of chaos your foolish actions unleashed a cataclysm that the world has yet to recover from. Thousands of ponies were left homeless and destitute, forced to start their lives over from nothing!
I had been a serving pony at the palace long before you left. I used to look at you and think you were the most wonderful and handsome pony in all of Equestria. I idolized you. I worshiped you. But then the cataclysm occurred, and I was soon to realize how foolish I had been. My family had been fisher ponies living in Sorraia. After my mother and father passed away, the family business was left to my brother. He worked hard for many years, and before you left on your 'adventure', he had a fleet of six fine boats, going out daily. Under his leadership, business prospered, and he had even met a pony that he was planning to wed. Then your stupid actions went and blew up our entire lives!” she screams. “We didn’t know what happened. Suddenly one day, the sky grew dark, the ocean actually receded, and after that the tidal waves began to make landfall. Whole cities where wiped out. Islands were sank, and new ones emerged. The entire mountain range surrounding Sorraia crumbled down into the valley. And then the ash clouds came, covering the land in chaotic soot.” Snowblossom spares Cordial a look of pure hate, “You destroyed my brother’s life, and didn’t even have the decency to die for it!” she rages.
Her brother takes up the story at this point. “After the tidal waves had receded, we spent months just clearing out the wreckage. Most of my warehouse had been destroyed, but we lashed together enough wood from scavenging to make it livable at least. Miraculously one lone boat of mine survived, despite the wreck of our dock. As soon as I was able, myself and two of my remaining crew set out to sea. We fished all of our old spots, but we never caught a thing. The very currents of the ocean had shifted. We ranged farther and farther, up and down the coast, but our nets never drew more than enough for us to eat ourselves. Before long, with no money coming in from our boat, we were forced to find jobs in the city. But this was no easy thing. Thousands of other ponies were in the same shape that we were. Eventually, we were forced to take the only jobs that were plentiful at the time. “Ash sweepers’. The pay was terrible, the conditions worse. We would be sent in with nothing more than brooms and cloths to cover our muzzles, and be forced to sweep out buildings contaminated with your chaotic ash.”
“And that ash,”Cordial interrupts, ‘that was what caused...”
“My condition?” the bitter pony replies as he resumes his story. “Oh yes. About one in five ponies were affected one way or another. Some grew unicorn horns, or pegasus wings. Some became indescribably beautiful. Some could do magic where they couldn’t before. And then, there were the other ones... the rest of us. The ones that became twisted, and deformed. Oh, you made many, many, monsters over those next few years Cordial.” He says shaking his head sadly. “Some of us, the unlucky ones, tried to use the ash again, on purpose. But once it had made its changes it would not work again. I, and my fellow freaks, were forced to hide ourselves away when not working, to avoid the disdain and ridicule of the unaffected. Sound familiar at all?” he says looking into Cordials eyes.
Cordial lowers his head. “Yes,” he says quietly.
Snowblossom resumes the story. “But then you returned. In all your freakish glory. I had heard that you were back. My prince, my hero. Word had not gotten out yet about where you had been or what had happened to you. When Harmony had called for refreshments that day, I switched places with the other serving pony, just so I could see you again. I had been warned that you had changed, so I though I was prepared for the sight of you again. But how could I be? You weren’t withered. You weren’t deformed. You weren’t even Cordial! You were some patchwork monster speaking with Cordial’s voice. Calmly sitting there, talking with your sister, like nothing in the world had changed. It was like I walked into a nightmare. I left as quickly as I could. I never wanted to see you again. The memories of my handsome prince were all that I had left of you. For weeks I avoided you as much as I could. But around me, the others had actually started to become accustomed to you. Stories had begun to circulate as to where you had gone, and what you had done. Ponies in the castle were treating you as a tragic hero, who had lost his mother and his ponihood to destroy the forces of chaos that would have engulfed our world. Such pretty little lies you spread, my dear.” Snowblossom says with venom. “You and your sister may have fooled the rest of the city, but I knew better. Whatever so called threat that you SAY, you defeated on that island, there was never any proof of it was there? No, you went there and did whatever you did, to destroy an island of chaos, but you botched the job somehow, and ended up destroying your family, and almost yourself.”
“My family?” Cordial says confused.
“Don’t think I didn’t put two and two together. Your mother goes on a ‘sea voyage’, never to return, your father goes missing, without a trace. Then suddenly an island we never heard of before, explodes destroying most of civilization, except here of course, and then suddenly you return from the dead years later looking like something out of a nightmare. You think I can’t see the obvious? I don’t know what your plan was, but I know the results. You destroyed my brother’s life and the lives of hundreds of thousands more! And now you will be made to pay!”
Cordial remains on the floor, their words affecting him deeply. Despite their mistaken assumptions, and the bitter hatred from his former love, he knows that most of what she is saying is true.
“What is it that you want of me?” he asks bitterly.
‘What do we want?” her brother replies, walking up to the table before him. “Why, we’ve already told you that! What we want is REVENGE!” And then he lifts the beaker of raw chaos off of its pedestal.
“No!” You can’t use that!” Cordial says rising from the floor, fear rimming his eyes. “That’s not some diluted bit of chaos in ash, that is chaos in it’s purest form. Literally ANYTHING could happen if you tried to use it!”
“Ah, now there is where I must humbly disagree with you,” The crippled pony says with a manic grin. “You see, I’ve been listening very intently to all the stories my sister has been telling me about you and your magic. “Wish fulfillment’ I believe you once called it? I believe that it is only a matter of maintaining the proper focus, sufficient will, as it were, to achieve one’s desired effect. And if there is one thing that I possess, after all these years of torture, is a keenly focused sense of purpose.” And with that he unstops the beaker, places it to his lips, and drinks down over half the contents.
“No you fool, it’s too unstable!” Cordial yells, But he can only watch in stunned horror at the tableau that manifests before him.
“Yes! I can feel the chaos roiling inside of me!” The crippled pony says in tones of awe. “Grant me my wish! Grant me my desire! Make me the most powerful pony in all of Equestria!” Together both Snowblossom and Cordial watch as a sickly green light envelops the mad pony, infusing his very being. His mane and tale darken to jet black, his body becomes strong and healed, and from his forehead a horn begins to grow. But it is a horn unlike any other, it is wicked and curved, and sharp. And although it is gray at its base to match his coat, as it comes to its tip it becomes ruby red, a true perversion of a unicorn’s nature.
“Brother it worked! You are healed!” Snowblossom says coming up beside him.
“Healed? Oh sister, I am so much more than healed. I can feel myself becoming attuned to the magics of this world. With this horn I shall carve out an empire. I will crush the foolish monarchy that has caused so many of us so much pain and suffering, and rebuild it in my own image! And I Sombra will be King of all I survey!”
"Sombra", Twilight Sparkle whispers in horrified awe.
The now transformed Sombra looks to his sister, seeing the adulation in her eyes, as he passes her the beaker with its remaining chaos. “Drink my sister! You and I shall rule this world, drink for we have much to do!”
“No!” Cordial yells. “Can’t you see the chaos has already affected your mind? You’ve become insane.”
“What?” Sombra pauses in mid speech. “Oh no," he says calmly. "I was always like this. Wasn’t I, sister dear?” he asks of her.
“Since the day he was born.” Snowblossom replies smiling. “Why if I had a bit for every time my brother had wanted to conquer the world...” she says fondly.
“I don’t believe this, you are BOTH crazy!” Cordial says striding forward, reaching for the beaker.
“No! Bad dragon... pony... thing!” Sombra says pointing at Cordial. As he does giant spikes of black crystal shoot forth and impale Cordials arms, slamming him into the wall behind him and pinning him there.
“Well, that’s new.” Sombra says, looking at his hoof. A wicked smile creeps across his face revealing a pair of sharp fangs.
His sister wasting no time, upturns the beaker and drains its remaining contents into herself.
“You foolish, foolish ponies," Cordial says weakly.
“I’m sorry. Did you... Did you just call my sister and I fools?” Sombra asks shooting another spike into Cordial pinning his tail.
“Brother, I can feel something happening!” Snowblossom says from behind him excitedly.
“Just a minute sister, this has to be addressed.” Sombra says without a backward glance. “Now I want to see if I understand you clearly,” Sombra says addressing Cordial as he shoots two more spikes into his body, pinning both of his legs. “We trick you, break into your laboratory, and steal your powers for our own...”
“Brother, it burns, is it supposed to burn? I think something is wrong!” his sister asks in a panicky voice.
“Just a minute Snowblossom, I’m not finished. Now where was I?” Sombra asks himself out loud.
“Stealing my powers?” Cordial says weakly.
“Thank you... and shut up!” Sombra says spiking Cordial in his kneecaps. “Yes, stealing your powers. Oh and let’s not forget my dear sister, who has been twisting you around her hooves ever since your return. Isn’t that right my de- What in the name of the Sky Stallion?!?” Sombra says as he finally turns toward his sister.
“Brother, help me!” Snowblossom says, as the same sickly green glow envelops her as it did her brother moments before.
“Sister you have to focus!” Sombra says desperately. “Focus on your deepest desire! If you don’t...” but his words are lost as the green glow fades revealing his newly transformed sister.
She rises to her hooves. Her wings briefly flutter on her back. Her horn gives off sparks of green magic. Her brother winches in revulsion.
“Sister,” he says cautiously, “you’ve looked… better.”
“Mirror!” she demands and her brother mutely points to a full length one hanging on the wall behind her. She turns and examines herself, saying nothing.
Her once majestic mane is still teal. That much hasn’t changed. But her coat is now a dull flat black. From her forehead a unicorn horn sprouts, but unlike her brother’s, hers is pitted and warped. On her back tattered insectile wings occasionally buzz on their own, and her long slender legs are pitted and filled with holes much like her horn. When she finally speaks, her fangs become apparent, as does her snakelike tongue.
“Brother, this isn’t what I wanted! I’m not an alicorn. I’m a-a...”
“Monster.” Cordial finishes for her.
“Brother!!!” The former Snowblossom wails.
“YOU!” Sombra says turning on Cordial. You will restore my sister! Now!”
“I can’t.” Cordial replies weakly. “No one can. These transformations are permanent. Do you think if I could change her back, that I wouldn’t have already done so to myself?” Snowblossom begins to wail again.
“You are making my sister cry!” Sombra says through clenched teeth. “That... makes... me... ANGRY!” he says forming tiny spikes of crystal and stitching them into Cordials body.
Cordial’s eyes close, and it seems that he has fallen unconscious, but then they open again and he looks up at Sombra. He coughs once, blood falling from his lips. And with an odd sounding voice he says, “and here I thought that I was ugly,” as he grins weakly at Sombra and his sister.
Sombra becomes instantly enraged, his eyes glowing green, and a distinct twitch developing in his left orb. “Do you think this minor setback will alter our plans?”
“Minor setback?” Cordial coughs again, spilling more blood, “she looks like she fell out of an ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down, and that was BEFORE the ugly cart ran her over.”
“Well” an unfamiliar voice inside Cordial’s head thinks to itself, “that one should just about do it.” “What?” Cordial mutters to himself, ”What’s going on?”
The rage that overtakes Sombra is horrible to behold. My sister will NOT be mocked by the likes of YOU, you patchwork dragon!” he roars in fury.
“I shall conquer you all, this will be MY kingdom, and I KING Sombra will rule you all with an iron hoof!” Gesturing toward Cordial, more spikes appear and pierce his body, which now appears to be more crystal than flesh. “Now dear sister, we shall have our revenge. Kill him, and eat his heart! We shall feast upon his flesh and take his powers for our own. Just as the stories say they did upon his wretched island. Once we consume him, we shall become as the very Gods themselves!” Sombra throws back his head and laughs maniacally, as thunder booms outside, heralding the arrival of a storm. Sombra and his now deformed sister begin to approach the captive Cordial, with madness in their eyes.
“Now my love,” The former Snowblossom says, drool forming at the edges of her lips, “I will feast upon your heart as I have feasted upon your love for me. Then I will finally have the power to shed this Chrysalis, and emerge as the beautiful queen that I was always destined to become!”
But Snowblossom and her brother pause in mid step, as they bear witness to what is happening to their captive.
Cordial had finally had enough. Listening to his former love mocking him in this, his lowest moment, helpless before them, was the last push that was needed. Something deep inside Cordial had finally given up. His eyes close once more, as if for the final time...
But then, Cordial opens them once again.
Instantly an aura of black and red energy formed around the body of the chaos lord. His eyes had turned a disturbing shade of blood crimson. He flexed his arms, and the crystals that had been holding him shattered. He pulls his legs loose, and shards of crystal are ejected from his body, shattering to dust. In a matter of seconds, he stood before them completely freed, his wounds quickly sealing closed. Sombra took an involuntary step back. But as his hoof made contact with the floor, Cordial was suddenly in front of him, snout to nose. He had not become any taller, but his presence seemed immense.
“FOOLISH WORM!” Cordial roars, lifting Sombra effortlessly off the floor with one claw. He shakes the mad unicorn like a rag doll while declaiming, “INSIGNIFICANT SPECK! YOU MEASURE YOUR LIFE NOW IN THOUSANDS OF YEARS, BUT I AM MEASURED AGAINST ETERNITY!” Cordial slowly rears back his other arm preparing to punch the hapless Sombra.
Caught completely off guard Sombra can suddenly feel himself being dwarfed, and smothered by the unimaginable power that the chaos lord has unleashed.
But, defiant to the last, Sombra speaks. “Y-you, you cannot do this! I am King Sombra! I will not be defeated by the likes of you! This isn’t the end! I will rule you! I WILL rule you all!”
Cordial shakes him once more, causing his teeth to rattle. “TRIFLING THING! YOU CALL YOURSELF A KING? I CALL MYSELF YOUR MASTER! YOUR LORD! I AM CORDIAL! LORD OF CHAOS!!!”
The ponies in Discord’s sitting room that have magical abilities, cannot help but see the nearly unimaginable forces on the ethereal plane that have been building behind Cordial’s extended arm. Suddenly all of that force is released into just one punch. Near blinding devastation is focused and released into the small area of Cordials fist. To the ponies watching, it appears that Sombra is simply gone... As is the entire section of wall behind him, and as the ponies look into the distance, they can see a trough, displacing the very fabric of space/time extending out to the horizon. Only then does the concussive force of Cordial’s blow catch up with reality, and the explosive sound causes every piece of glass in the castle to shatter and stones to rain down as the ceiling collapses all around them...
But Cordial isn’t finished.
He turns slowly to the wretched form of the pony that until yesterday, he loved more than any being in all of Equestria. His wrath at her betrayal can be felt by every pony watching. He gestures with his claw, and her dazed body rises from the floor and hovers before him.
“AND YOU!” He roars. “DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY BEFORE I METE OUT JUSTICE?”
“Justice?” the battered form of Snowblossom coughs. “What can you possibly know of Justice? You destroyed my life. You destroyed my family’s home. You made my brother into a cripple. I used to think you were this great pony. I adored you, would have done anything for you. But look at you. You destroy everything you touch. You’re a monster. A MONSTER! Kill me. Go ahead. You think I have anything to live for? Just end it.”
“No!” Cordial says. “Just this once. Just for you, I will BE the monster you accuse me of.” Cordial snaps his claw, and Snowblossom is surrounded on all sides by mirrors. “Look at what you have become. What your greed and selfishness has wrought upon you. My eyes see far more than yours are able. You too will have thousands of years to consider your deeds today. Thousands upon thousands of years to regret your actions. But know this, no matter what magics you may learn to disguise yourself, you will always revert to your current form. You will NEVER emerge from your cocoon as a beautiful queen. You will now, and forever remain... A CHRYSALIS!”
Snowblossom throws back her head and wails into the night, as the thunder booms and the rains pour down. Cordial is silent for several seconds, staring at the fallen, would be queen.
“Are you done?” Cordial finally says, his tone bitter, his gaze like ice.
“C-Cordial,” She croaks, “Have merc-”
“Then begone!” Cordial shouts, and with a wave of his claw both the mirrors, and his former love have vanished.
Suddenly Cordial falls to his knees, as the rain pours down upon him, his powers vanishing in an instant. He is oblivious as the castle guards burst into the room. He never sees his sister enter moments later, frantically calling his name. All he can do is look into the puddle forming beneath him on the granite floor. A puddle made from raindrops and the mixed tears of himself, and the only pony he had ever loved. He stares at his reflection in the pooling liquid, replaying her words over and over in his mind. His thoughts returning to the one that hurt him the most, the one that will haunt him throughout the ages... MONSTER.