//------------------------------// // 15. Escape from the Facet Rule - Part 1 // Story: BPT: A Midnight Stroll through Time // by Wolven5 //------------------------------// It never ceased to enthrall him to observe history speed him by within his little bubble. Drifting aimlessly, days and nights going by and by. He never saw, he glimpsed. He glimpsed what appeared to be the start of a community in the clouds, he glimpsed what looked like the Everfree Forest growing wilder, he glimpsed towns popping up along the east coast. If he could have he would have maintained the magic all the way but as years literally passed him by, Midnight began to grow dizzy and tired, sweating as he expended himself. The struggle to persist was losing and the moment before he gave out, he released the magic just as all light left his world. Groaning, Midnight awoke to what sounded, even to his exhausted mind, like the rattles of chains and multiple hoofsteps. Only when he heard the crack of whips did he jolt to his hooves and found himself in what looked to be an alley. But what was with the buildings, he wondered as he gazed up at them. They were too smooth to be stone or wood and no builder in his right mind would build a structure out of glass. But then he noticed how certain parts of the buildings looked like… Facets…! Midnight suddenly realized where he’d seen architecture like this. But to be sure, he looked towards the alley and saw ponies marching by. Upon getting a better yet equally careful look, he saw they weren’t just ponies. Crystal ponies…! It was heartbreaking. Passing him by was a sorrowful spectacle. Crystal ponies, heavy metal collars around their necks, chaining them all together, their forehooves manacled, their coats had long lost their crystal-y shine, the looks on their faces brought one thing to mind. Hopelessness. Along the streets, watching the crystal ponies like hawks were also crystal ponies but clad in crystalline armor, their appearances reminding Midnight of the Royal Guard. But it was their eyes that disturbed him. These guards’ eyes were green with red pupils, some of them holding whips and lashing them out at the prisoners, telling them to keep moving, to hurry it along, their voices cold, devoid of compassion. Midnight was in a knot of emotion, anger pulling him to do something, his fear pulling him back, when he gasped! I sense something… a presence I haven’t felt since…! He carefully moved away from the opening of the alley and towards a different one, which led to a familiar expanse before a crystal citadel that was darkened into a leak and desolate fortress, crooked, craggly, the skies above an eerie orange and smote by rising columns of smoke that originated from cursed flames that were green at the center but burned purplish-blue. And upon a golden balcony, he saw him as he whispered in horror, “…Master!” He looked exactly as he did when Midnight had first faced him but back then, he’d had Big Macintosh and Thunderlane with him. King Sombra, the Unicorn whose Heart is as Black as Night! His ebony mane flowed around his metal crown, his kingly cape red like blood, his armor gunmetal gray, his eyes tainted with dark magic, green, red, flowing with purplish miasma! His horn smooth and curved, tipped red like a gory spearhead! “What did I just get myself into?!” Midnight whispered fearfully as he kept to the shadows of the alleyway. A million things ran through his mind but one thing was certain – Midnight had to get away from this place. The Sombra of this time could not be allowed to be made aware of Midnight’s existence, for it could send the timeline into a whole `nother direction. Sneaking around proved to be difficult but doable. His time in the Crystal Empire back in the present had left Midnight with a sketchy knowledge of the empire’s layout. Still, it wasn’t easy. There were guards and crystal slaves everywhere, and the more he saw the more his heart hurt. He saw every crystal pony, stallion, mare, and foal, was chained up and a fair number of them were slaving away literally in some mines, loading carts, pulling them like beasts of burden. The guards were unfeeling, ruthlessly harsh, but in the back of his mind Midnight was certain these guards weren’t acting of their own volition. Their eyes showed the taint of dark magic, which gave the impression they were under some kind of dark mind-control. Being a unicorn and lacking the traits of a crystal pony made Midnight an instant target were he to be discovered and he had no illusions of trying to talk his way out of such a problem if it came to that. As he snuck about, he heard a horn reverberate and the guards started shouting, “Alright, back to the stockades, the lot of you!” From his hiding place, Midnight watched as the crystal slaves, all looking exhausted enough to pass out, moping in the directions their overseers herded them. He saw some foals sobbing but trying to keep quiet when a guard came up and pushed them hard, yelling, “Keep moving, you blithering brats!” It took every ounce of self-control to stay his rage and calm his big brother instincts as Midnight seethed angrily. Even if these guards were under King Sombra’s spell, to him harming foals was inexcusable. It shamed him but he turned away from the whimpering cries of the foals and continued sneaking through the city. The more he saw, the more he could not comprehend how the Sombra of this time was the Sombra he had come to know, respect, and adore as his master. The rational side of his mind kept reminding Midnight it was the Whisperer that had driven Sombra to madness but hearing about it and seeing it were totally different. He saw most of the homes had been wrecked, ransacked, and none looked like they’d been lived in for some time. Midnight wasn’t sure how long King Sombra had tyrannized his own empire but it had not been short enough. Even in the present, Sombra avoided his former empire, out of shame and sorrow for what he did to the crystal ponies in his power-craze. He’d asked Sombra if he’d ever go back but Sombra had said nothing, as though he weren’t sure. Still, the look on his face clued Midnight that the most likely answer to his question was no. Still, he was afraid and torn, by his heart telling him to help and his head telling him not to get involved. It was painfully infuriating. I need guidance…