//------------------------------// // Playing for a Fool // Story: Vengeance // by EquestrianKirin //------------------------------// Time seemed to had stopped for the princess of the sun, both metaphorically and literally, as she was too heartbroken and depressed to even bother to move the sun as night began to draw near. Her emotions were being poured out into her pillow, as she laid there in her bed, sobbing sadly. Though tears stopped flowing from her eyes, the pain still hovered over her head like a raincloud, forced above a pony that deserved her life to be miserable. Celestia didn't bother to speak to the guards outside her bedroom door, no matter how many times they asked her emotional condition. To be blunt, the alicorn princess had a piece of her heart torn due to this event. The strangest and saddest thing was that she didn't knew why. There was absolutely no clues before her "death" occurred to give Celestia at least a hint of insight, which made Celestia more guilty than miserable. The only other creatures that were alongside her were Twilight Sparkle and Spike, whom stayed with her soon after the burial took place as their friends went on towards home. Aside from Luna, Twilight and Spike knew Celestia better than anypony else, practically growing up aside her and all through the past years, so they knew just how she would act to such things. After a few more minutes, and soon after the crying ceased of volume, the baby dragon walked over to Celestia's side, the princess turning to see him while she laid there on her stomach. "Can I get you anything?" Spike asked, as calmly as he could. Though he too was having a rough time with the situation as well. Celestia's hoof raised and petted spike softly on the head. "Some water would be nice..." Celestia said after a bit, her voice sounding winded from the crying earlier. Spike nodded in agreement, and went out Celestia's bedroom door and went off to get her highness some refreshment. Twilight remained in her presence, however, not wanting to leave her unattended in such a predicament as this. Twilight had seen Celestia's share of hardship, but this was a bit big, even for her. Even her banishing her sister wasn't as heart wrenching as now, and they both knew it as well. Twilight laid a reassuring hoof on her shoulder to comfort her, though she knew it'll take more than that to handle this problem. "It's going to be okay, Princess Celestia...I promise..." Twilight assured her former teacher. Celestia turned to the alicorn, face of dried tears, and her eyes still full of sorrow. But Celestia knew that, although it was unexpected and sad, she had to put herself together. It will be okay, in time...though it still hurt, it's not what Luna would of wanted...not even close. Celestia sighed, and managed to get back on her hooves. "You're right...Luna wouldn't want me to lay here, anyway." As if on cue, Spike returned with a glass of water held in his small clawed hands, making sure not to spill any as he walked to her. Celestia turned to the dragon, using her magic to lift the glass from his claws. With a nod of her head, and a quick drink, she began to head out to face the world again...yet she still felt that wretched pain in her, she knew her role as a princess can't be ignored for long, especially now that a princess was lost...again... ~~ "...Such sorrow read on that alicorn's face... Can't take such events, i suppose." The dream realm was, at least soon after Sombra's change to the rainbow empire, became a new regular visit to the evil unicorn. He found the dream realm a slight escape from reality's harsh vertues. Although, such a position Sombra ended up in in such a short amount of time meant he shouldn't stay for long. But, due to the burial that took place sometime before, it gave Sombra a break in order to head back to such a dreamscape. The exact news of Celestia's hardship had gotten to Sombra oddly quickly, but not directly, as Sombra coulda guessed that even Celestia would take the loss pretty hard. Luna was her sister, after all...Although, Sombra wasn't just visiting the dreamscape for some time away from the real world...he had someone to see. It only took a short walk through the sea of bright neon blue stars, but eventually he did find what, or who, he was looking for. in her chained up binds, now her life thread almost diminishing, she simply laid there as Sombra ventured into her view. Strange really, such an alicorn were to keep her soul alive, even after everypony else in the physical world thought such a ruler was long gone... "A pleasure to see me again, Luna?" Sombra asked, mockingly. Luna's condition here wasn't any better than back at home. Although her physical body was dead, Luna would much rather BE dead at this point, the chains keeping her firmly in place onto the floor. Sombra examined the alicorn's state, and it's evident she tried to break herself free, ala the blood dripping down her legs, even after nearly 2 days of being trapped in the place she always spent her nightly work of helping those in dreams. Indeed, ironic, the very place she visited so many times, and she now regretted coming here. All Luna could do was grit her teeth in his presence, too weak to shoot Sombra with any magic by then. "Release me...or so help me...you'll regret it," Luna wheezed, indicating she struggled long and hard to escape the chains before Sombra came back. Sombra gave Luna a toothy smirk. "Regret what exactly? You're chained up in your own dreamworld, and everypony else believes you are dead...Then again, killing you would make things easier." Sombra gave a low chuckle at the last part, thinking on the scene unfolding in his own mind as Luna could only stagger up on her front hooves, glaring at the monster. "Then why don't you kill me? As far as I know, you much rather less merciful than this," Luna groaned. Indeed, it was rather confusing that Sombra, a pony who'd kill anypony without question, was keeping her alive in such a way. Sombra knew she was right, in his past, he didn't even bother with any dialogue, or wasted much time. His last visit to the crystal empire proved such a thing, himself not needing to speak, and just went right for it...but that resulted in his demise...again. Sombra, despite such memories returning, gave Luna a huff. "You aren't wrong, Luna. But, just because I was locked away for 1000 years AND was defeated by your unicorn, doesn't mean i don't learn. I admit, I've made some disastrous missteps on my part, near death at my expense. But i've learned a few things from my last escapade of the crystal empire..." "Like what?" Luna growled. "For example, just charging in and killing your enemies may have a chance to remove the trouble faster. But not every problem can be solve in such a case. Of course, death does comes if you plan it right, but you can't expect it so fast on your attempts. You've got to find strategy, not force...Yes, this is sounding a bit off from a unicorn like myself, but, there's a first time for anything, is there?" Luna just stared at the unicorn, unsure on how to truly react to such a statement. Yes, ponies do learn from pass mistakes, that's just a natural thing, but this much change in so little time seems...unnatural, even for somepony like Sombra. That alone frightened her; how much did Sombra learn from such a passage of time?... "So you've learned how to cheat death, then?" Luna asked, eventually. Sombra turned away from the Alicorn for a moment, and sat down, looking away for a moment before he spoke once more. "Come here." Luna didn't move, nor knew if she even could. After all, her wings and legs were chained down from her bones, and just the slightest yank resulted in sheer pain and even more loss of feel. She was lucky to made it this far, but it was obvious Sombra didn't care for that. Sombra looked back, the purple steam seeping from his eye sockets as he glared back at her. "I said, COME HERE." This time, Luna felt a yank from the chain connecting to her neck, causing her to yelp and choke in pain, forcing her forward. Sombra could hear her blood-filled chokes, as the red liquid started to seep out again from the connection in her throat. Sombra only stopped once Luna was at his side, letting Luna breathe again. The brutal pull was so rough, Luna had to cough out some blood before she could take in even breaths again, and only then did Sombra answer her. His horn glowed in a purple magenta, as a orb began to materialize in front of them both, like a crystal ball. At first, Luna couldn't see anything inside of it, but eventually, the images started to show themselves. "Take a good look, Luna. This will answer that dying question of yours..." Luna had no other choice but to watch. The images that began to play out was the events back at the crystal empire, right towards the end seconds after the crystal heart had been placed back in it's original position. The love started to flow through the crystal ponies, as Sombra, whom was standing on top of a giant dark crystal spire, looked down in anger. The flash of light from the crystal heart's love exploded all around him, his body starting to crack of bright white colors. Sombra gave a anger, blood curdling scream just before his body Dematerialized, along with him dark crystals. His horn flew off out of sight of the crystal empire, and it all mainly seemed as it had been told to her before...but more was shown. The horn that was blown off, landed far off into the tundra ice and snow. The red and black unicorn horn tumbled in the air by the harsh wind before finding it's landing place: a crevice within the ice. The horn flew right in, bounced off the cavern's walls, and landed unharmed on the cavern floor, outta the way of any dangers from the outside...This cavern, although in small amounts, did have more crystals inside of it, as Sombra's dark magic turned the once white crystals, into black dark skeletal daggers...Sombra's green eyes mirrored in the crystals...and the vision ended there. Luna simply stared off into the void of the orb. She couldn't believe what she had seen, among all other things, that was something she didn't expect in the slightest...however, that didn't give her the exact answer she needed. If sombra did remain alive down there, then why until now did he finally show up? Apparently, mind reading was also a new trick Sombra picked up, because he began talking soon after that crossed her mind. "Those crystals did keep me present...but they weren't enough to free me. The magic of love still remained in that empire, and so long as that alicorn was there, the magic would a stayed, and I would a died down there...until..." The orb began showing more images once again, this time it was much more recent. This time, it shown the images of Twilight Sparkle, full fledged Alicorn, fighting off the horrifying Centaur, Tirek. The scene played out her "defeat", as Tirek sucked out what Alicorn magic had ceased to exist in equestrian...The orb, panned over miles back to that same cavern that Sombra remained trapped in. The unicorn had sensed the presence of the Alicorn, and love, had completely vanished...it was now or never. The dark magic, locked up in those crystals, spread out inside, concealing the horn as well. A loud and violent roar was heard, as Sombra, now fully materialized, burst free of his icy tomb in a loud crash of the ice above. His hooves slammed down hard into the snow, as he looked on with an angered glare...Sombra was now free... Only by then, did the orb disappear. Luna was simply speechless, as Sombra began to walk away again. Luna knew Tirek had gone on a rampage before, taking away all pony magi, but she never would a guessed that such an act would bring a diabolical beast from the icy grave. Sombra looked back at Luna, staring at him with a whole new sense of fear edged on her face...and Sombra loved every inch of that fear filled face. "You're scared of me now, Luna?...I'm glad." Sombra suddenly levitated the chains on Luna's wings, causing her to scream in sheer pain and agony, as she was lifted 4 feet off the ground by sombra's magic. The chains moved Luna around like she was a tortured puppet, until she was right in front of Sombra again, Sombra giving her his signature grin. "Stop! It's Hurts!" "Of course it hurts, what else would you expect?" Sombra tossed around Luna some more, the pain rocketing in her again, blood beginning to pour out of Luna's now blood-stained wings. "MAKE IT STOP!" Luna shrieked. Oh how Sombra LOVED to hear his enemies beg for mercy. "I'm sorry, I thought you said I'm not as merciful," sombra reminded, as the chains yanked on her wings again. Sombra watched in simple amusement as Luna struggled in mid air. Sombra then commanded the other chains on her legs to pull hard, Making luna suspended in mid air, legs spread apart by the powerful pulls...then they stopped. Blood was seeping down each chain at this point, Luna's head hanging downward, as Sombra smirked. It hurt so much...Luna looked at Sombra, tears falling down her face...then he did it. With one simple command, each chain on her legs and wings brutally pulled with all their strength, a bloody crack heard from each bone broken inside of her! Luna screamed out in agonizing pain, intensity over her Canterlot voice, as she could no longer feel her hooves and wings anymore. Sombra removed command from the chains, letting Luna drop hard on her side, as a pool of blood surrounded her body, Luna wheezing and crying in pain as Sombra looked down on her with a smile. "Please...K-kill me..." Luna pleaded, as Sombra snorted at her, her blood getting on his hooves. "...No..." "W-what?..." "That would be too easy. I got better plans for you, Luna." Luna could only watch as Sombra began to turn and walk away, his hooves echoing in her ears. But before Sombra could go, he turned back to the moon goddess with a sinister grin. "Oh. And by the way, I bet your wondering how I know about the battle with Tirek...Let's just say that fight scarred Twilight more than you think..." And with that, Sombra disappeared...