The Point of No Return
For the past two weeks the Grand Master of the Solar Knights, Count Stronghoof of the House Blueblood made it a habit to hang around the castle during early night hours. Using the most advanced illusions he could cast and some borrowed clothing, he disappeared in plain sight. After all very few ponies took notice of a lowly, old servant that polished the golden ornaments and candle holders around the castle.
The thing that made him do this, was his paranoia as someponies would call it. For the past ten months he began seeing a strange change in one of his subordinates. He couldn't quite put his hoof on it, but his experience and gut feeling told him that Somber Blackmane was hiding something from everypony.
And in the past three weeks somepony started playing around with castle guard duty schedules. It was subtle at first but now he could see a pattern. The dark gray unicorn’s name kept showing up on the schedule only on the last shift of the Day Guard. It was nothing special in the beginning, he knew that some of his Knights and the Royal Guards prefered this or that hours. What made him truly suspicious two weeks ago were the rumors flying around the City.
That Blackmane had an affair with Princess Celestia.
Now, while Stronghoof also was a stallion and could appreciate his Lady’s beauty, he knew that she was a symbol and a demigoddess. Therefore in his opinion personal feelings for her should be buried deep within one's heart and never spoken of.
So for the past two weeks he wanted to see what his arguably the most talented Solar Knight was up to during his shifts and after them.
It took him all of four days to come to the conclusion that indeed the rumors were true. What amazed him was how confident Somber looked during the times he saw him walking around the castle, when the dark gray unicorn thought no pony saw him. It bordered on arrogance.
What made him continue his spying after those initial four days, was Somber’s visit to the North Tower. Princess Luna’s own castle within the castle as it were. He could not wait around to see how long his subordinate would be up there, as the Night Guards would grow suspicious. But he always did wait outside the castle walls, hidden in the shadowed alleys of the inner city.
Count Stronghoof knew that his spying was coming to an end when during the last time he followed Somber back home, the dark gray unicorn began glancing around himself more than usual.
But he wanted to give it one more shot tonight, he needed to know what Somber Blackmane was up to.
**********
Tonight’s meeting with Princess Luna went as usual for Somber. After a year of their meetings they lately began delving into Necromancy. A subject that even now, after using and reading about some of the darkest magics he could imagine made his skin crawl and his muzzle take on a look of slight disgust.
But it was a necessary step if he… if they wanted to make progress with removing the strange soul piece stuck to him. It helped that Luna knew of his past and origins, he could share with here important bits of information about the true owner of the soul piece. He finally confirmed without a doubt that he was carrying around with him a small piece of Voldemort.
Luna had theories about how it was possible, but even the Princess of the Night admitted that she had never come across magics that could split a soul. Somber could see that it troubled her greatly. It troubled her to such a degree that she made him swear a magical oath to never share with any being the knowledge about splitting one's soul, that they were currently discovering or rediscovering…
Tonight also, after all the learning there was a time for… frolicking in the dark alicorn’s bed.
When he was leaving the Tower it was almost midnight. The Night Guards noded their heads in respect as Somber passed them. The dark gray unicorn, wearing a black cloak over his golden armor was in no rush tonight.
He and Wind Dancer came to an agreement three days ago. They would continue to be friends with benefits. It was a hard talk for the both of them, but after it both felt better. Thinking about it made Somber sigh with some regret.
“It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved, eh?” Somber muttered quietly to himself. He was walking down one of the main corridors when he passed an old, castle servant. He was polishing one of the great mirrors hanging on the walls. In the corner of his eye, almost too late to catch it, he saw that the old pony was trying to discreetly look at him in the mirror. When the pony noticed that he was caught he quickly focused on his task again.
Somber didn’t stop. He didn't even frown, Luna taught him better than that. However in his mind alarms sounded. It was curious how every night he spent in the Tower, or every evening he spent with Celestia he always came across that particular servant. The castle was rather big after all. The dark gray unicorn noticed him a week ago but didn’t think much about it. Until now…
The night was moonless, as the sky was covered by clouds and it was raining. The street lanterns were glowing with soft yellow light of enchanted crystals.
When he crossed the bridge, Somber found himself on the Grand Square now devoid mostly of ponies. Only those that served in the Temple of the Night or those that worshipped Luna milled around in the rain. He pulled his black cloak’s hood up and speed up a bit. His hooves making the occasional splashing noise when he stepped into a puddle.
When he entered the inner city proper he began looking for a shadowed, narrow alley. However the first few houses looked more like countryside villas, with small walls separating them and their gardens from the rest of the city.
His magical sense told him that a source of magic was following him… a unicorn. Somber had to focus, to filter out the magic emanating from hundreds of other sources around him. But it was doable.
When he was closer to the wall, the houses became smaller and clustered together, creating narrow alleys and inner courtyards. He made a turn right when he spotted the best hiding spot he could find.
He didn't have to wait long in the rain, to hear the slow clopping of hooves on cobblestone. The second that he could see the cloaked pony following him in the entrance to the alley, his emerald magic enveloped the stranger and yanked him roughly toward one of the walls.
A thud and a groan of pain could be heard among the constant pitter-patter of the rain, as his stalker slumped under one of the walls. Not wasting any time and knowing that it was a unicorn, he cast a magic inhibiting spell and conjured some ropes to bind the pony. With his emerald magic Somber pulled down his stalkers hood to see black crystals growing over the other’s horn.
“Who are you, and what do you want?” The dark gray unicorn stood over the slumped unicorn’s form with an angry frown on his muzzle. The answer he got was not what he expected…
“Dark Magic!” The other whispered with horror in his voice as his eyes crossed to look at his horn. “You fool! You will be hanged for this treachery. I’ll see to it personally!”
Panic was the first thing that Somber felt. He didn't know any mind altering magic’s… At least not the kind he would need right now. But it was clear to him that whoever this old castle servant was had to be silenced.
“Then I have no choice…” Somber whispered looking around. He spotted some old wooden boxes and trunks. With a bit of his magic he ripped of a moderately sized piece of wood and concentrated, transfiguring it into iron dagger. Without a thought he plunged it into the others chest.
The old castle servant’s eyes widened and he grunted in pain, then a choked laugh escaped his mouth alongside a small rivulet of blood.
“You’re finished... Somber… Blackmane. You will… die, I was… right.” The air around the pony began to waver and shimmer, as the illusions began to fall. When Somber finally saw the form of the Grand Master of Solar Knights, he took a step back and his eyes widened.
The lifeless eyes of Count Stronghoof stared at the dark gray unicorn. For a time Somber could not grasp the idea of what he actually did.
“Oh, buck me…” When he finally realized that he was standing in the rain staring at a bleeding corpse in a dark alley, he fled.
His first instinctual thought was to leave the city and hide in some small village or in the wilds, but by the time he reached his own house, he realized how stupid it would be. He would be the prime suspect if he run away now. He decided to wait it out, and if he caught wind of trouble, then he would leave.
He just hoped that the body would not be found until the morning, the transfiguration and magic binding spell were small pieces of magic and by morning, his magical signature should be unrecognizable.
*********
It was early morning when he received summons to an emergency meeting with the Princess. In no time he was standing on the throne room with the few dozen other Knights. Whispered conversations could be heard all around, everypony wondering what was going on.
“Hey, Somber, you know what’s going on?” A voice from above asked, and the dark gray unicorn looked up to see a pegasus Knight, Blaze.
“No.”
“Why the grumpy attitude? Didn’t sleep well?” Blaze managed to wedge himself between Somber and some other Knight.
“You could say that.” Somber answered.
At that moment Princess Celestia entered, in her white, shimmering dress. Everypony present quieted instantly and focused on the white alicorn.
“Our Knight’s, We regret to inform you that your Grand Master, Count Stronghoof was found dead in an alley this morning. A dagger was still lodged into his chest.”
The announcement was met with silence, but the mood shifted from uncertainty to anger and disbelief.
“Investigation is in progress, for now we know that it was another unicorn. Capable of Dark Magic.” Celestia said and waited, she didn't have to wait long.
“Then we will never know…”
“Princess Luna will surely protect the scum…”
“Let’s just storm the Temple!”
“And cause a civil war, are you crazy?!”
For a while Princess Celestia seemed content to let everypony present voice, or rather shout their opinions. She was intrigued by the fact that amidst the chaos Somber Blackmane remained calm but refused to meet her gaze.
After almost ten minutes of shouting matches between the Knights they began to calm down. When only whispers could be heard again, Somber finally looked at Celestia.
“Who will lead the Knights now? And will you Princess involve Princess Luna into the investigation?” He asked.
“Who will lead is yet to be decided, as to my sister’s involvement… Yes, We will be asking for her help. Now, Our Knights return to your duties, some of you will shortly be asked to help with the investigation. That is all.” For a moment Celestia seemed to hesitate, then… “Sir Blackmane, please stay.”
For a brief moment the dark gray unicorn panicked, and then calmed himself. He approached the dais on which stood the white marble throne beside which stood Princess Celestia.
“Yes, my Lady?” He asked knowing that they were not alone.
“We have a proposition for you. With the approval of my sister, We want to appoint you as a military representative and ambassador’s assistant in the Crystal Empire.”
Somber blinked. It was one of Luna’s plans if something ever happened that could endanger their secret. They have talked about such situations, but he honestly didn’t expect the dark alicorn to act so quickly.
“With all due respect my Princess, but why now? And why me?” He was honestly curious what made Celestia even agree to Luna’s plan… not that the white alicorn knew true motives behind her dark sister’s behavior.
“The Knights will need a talented leader now that Count Stronghoof is dead. For now anypony with enough administration skills and well connected with the nobility will suffice. But this is a military organisation. Being a noble is not enough.” She paused and gestured with her left wing for him to follow her. So they both began walking towards more private, but still official dining room. “You are truly talented, but you lack the connections. This would be your chance to make some of those connections. We are just offering you a good starting position.”
While he listened, Somber also kept looking at her muzzle, her eyes. He saw that Celestia was somewhat conflicted in the matter, her subtle expressions would be unrecognizable to most other ponies, but not to him. It took him a while to understand why. She didn't want to let him go, at least that was his guess.
“Then you see me as the next, after this one, Grand Master?” Somber asked with a bit of scepticism in his voice.
“Yes, We do.” Celestia answered simply as she sat down at the head of a long table in the official dining room. As if it was a sign, servants walked out of alcoves and hidden entrances to serve some light food for both of them.
For more than a quarter of an hour, both were silent enjoying the breakfast as much as it was possible with the current circumstances.
“How long will my service in the Crystal Empire be?” Somber finally asked.
“Ten years at minimum.” The white alicorn said, with a tinge of sadness in her voice.
Somber almost spat out the wine he was sipping from a golden chalice held in his emerald magic.
“That is… a lot of time.” He said with a slight cough.
“Indeed. If you are agreeing to this, you will be leaving in the next week.”
“Well then, I should prepare and make the most of the time I have left in this city to take care of my private matters.” Somber said standing up and looking at the Princess.
“Then have a good day Sir Blackmane.”
While he was leaving the dining room, both of them knew that they would be seeing each other in the evening. They had to make the most of the time they had left after all.