//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: The Heart of the Sun // by keithsterling //------------------------------// It’s been a year since Prince Somnus Silverlight disappeared from his bed chamber at the Canterlot Royal Palace after a misunderstanding with his mother Princess Celestia Silverlight. Since the incident, his mother has become fully absorbed in her duties as a Princess of Equestria; her remaining two foals know that their mother is a seriously wounded Alicorn. As she put on a confident act in court. In private, she is a broken Alicorn; her spark has left her light purple eyes. Forcing her oldest daughter Princess Aurora Silverlight to step into her mother’s golden horseshoes and rule Equestria as the new Sun Princess is a role she was born to fill. But not this way. Its mid afternoon as a very exhausted Princess Aurora leaves the throne room of the Palace after several tedious court sessions in which numerous parties tried to take advantage of her. They learned very quickly the oldest daughter of Princess Celestia and Prince Justice is a very different ruler from her mother indeed. At that same time, a wounded Celestia lies in her bed in her room looking out the opening leading onto her balcony. “My daughter Aurora really knows how to make a stunning day.” Celestia thought as she caught a glimpse of something dark blue flying by her balcony and landing in the palace garden. “Huh?” Celestia exclaims rolling out of her bed and running onto her balcony. Her heart leaps as she looks over the side of her balcony into the palace garden. Standing on the path that runs through the garden was a light blue little older unicorn stallion with a noticeable crimson red mane and tail. The single light pink colored stripe stood out against the strong red color of his mane. “Huh? Somnus?” Celestia said reluctantly as the unicorn stallion gestures to her with his hoof to join him in the garden. Without a second thought, Celestia quickly floats her horseshoes, collar and tiara to herself and quickly dresses. Once dressed, she takes a running leap off her balcony and glides down into the garden. Once her hooves touch down on the path, the unicorn stallion looks over his shoulder at her and she blinks with surprise. “Somnus! It is you!” Celestia calls her eyes brimming with joy upon seeing her baby back home as she approaches her son; he turns and runs ahead of her toward the exit of the garden. “Somnus! No, don’t run away from me baby!….I have missed you!….don’t leave me again!” Celestia screams as she gives chase after her son toward the exit of the garden. Since the disappearance of her student and nephew Prince Somnus, Princess Luna has been unable to sleep. Her mind swirls with worry and fear. She has taught her nephew much about night magic, both good and bad. If he has truly changed he has become an even bigger threat to Equestria and the ponies her and her sister swore to protect. “I have taught you so much about night magic my dear Somnus. But now those lessons I taught you will come back to haunt me….you have such skill with my night magic. If I didn’t know better, I could have sworn you were my own son. But now I might have to face you as an adversary.” Luna thought looking at a framed picture of her nephew as her train of thought was broken by the shouting in the garden below. She stands up and looks over the side of her balcony into the garden. Running on the path was her sister Celestia who was chasing someone. Luna, reeling with surprise, running ahead of her sister was her nephew Prince Somnus. Like her sister, Luna leaps off her balcony, but stays airborne following right behind Celestia. As she was about to overtake her nephew she struck from all sides by some invisible force. She knocked around the sky like a pinball from one invisible force to the other. Celestia stops to help, but is quickly entranced by her son’s voice to keep chasing him and she does. “Enough!” Luna bellows as she figures out the attack pattern of the invisible force and begins to dodge the attacks, which confuses the adversary. In the confusion Luna was able to activate her sight and the invisible force becomes visible. “That’s a shadow sprite. They look like a cute little ball of fluff with small butterfly like wings and a cute face…but those sprites are far from being friendly….Unless you are a very powerful night magic user you could never control Shadow sprites…Because they don’t like being controlled.” Luna thought as she knew how to deal with the shadow sprites. She charges her horn with a flash spell when it was ready. She releases it into the center of the small group of sprites and sets it off. The bright flash totally obliterates the shadow sprites sending them back into the nightmare world. With that job done, Luna continues in the direction of her sister and her nephew was heading but this time on hoof. Outside the palace garden, the entranced Princess Celestia has finally caught up to her baby Somnus. Tears of joy streak Celestia’s face as she staggers toward her son; her wings out stretched ready to hug him. Unaware that a black crystal dagger waits to be plunge deep into her anguished, heart neutralizing the roadblock to a complete takeover of her son by the Shadow and full access to his night magic. “Sister! Stop! That is not your baby!” Luna shouts as she snaps the entranced Celestia out of the charm spell the Shadow was using to control her. “I am not blind, sister! This my baby!” Celestia shouts back mad that her sister was trying to stop the reuniting with her only son as he rubs the side of his snout up and down her neck slowly setting off her maternal instincts and making her blind to the possibility it could be anyone else. “Whatever that pony is, it’s using your own instincts of being a mother against you, Celestia!” Luna shouts back throwing Celestia into a state of utter confusion as she fights against her own maternal instincts that have started to kick in as the Shadow rubs his cheek against hers. “Sister? Why are you trying to stop me from being happy? My baby is back…” Celestia comments slowly falling under the control of the Shadow again as it begins to weave a more powerful enchantment on Celestia’s mind, using her own maternal instincts against her. “Sister, I am not trying to make you unhappy!….I to want Somnus back more than you think….But that pony is not Somnus!” Luna shouts as Celestia’s collar drops off her neck exposing her chest. A malicious smile forms on the snout of the Shadow as he floats the black crystal dagger up even with Celestia’s chest; in one quick movement he thrusts the dagger forward intending on plunging it deep into Somnus mother’s heart. The black crystal dagger shatters as it impacts on Celestia’s gold collar that is now floating, taking on a life of its own with a dark blue magic aura. A shard of the dagger flies up and catches her cheek, snaps her once again out of the enchantment the Shadow put her under. “What!?” Celestia exclaims leaping backward away from the Shadow as the cut on her cheek promptly heals. The breath catches in her throat as her gold collar surrounded by a dark blue aura floats back around her neck. “You are not my baby!” Celestia yells heartbroken as she regains control of her maternal instincts and the blood drains from her face. With that, she spreads her wings and takes to the sky, leaving a trail of tears leading back to the palace. “You are really a royal pain in the tail, your highness….as this colt thinks.” The Shadow hisses at Luna and returns to his form of a dark blue Alicorn stallion. “Well, I am pleased that I have lived up to what my nephew thinks of me….I think?” Luna vexed knowing when Somnus gets back; she needs to sit him down for a very long talk about what he thinks of her. “Besides that, whatever your plan is for his mother you will not succeed…now that she knows you are around and can take the form of her son.” Luna explains as the shadow rolls his eyes. “With all the tactics and strategies locked in this colt’s mind…I have millions of plans I can use to succeed and retrieve his dear mother…..is that right Auntie?” The shadow comments unaware that he referred to Luna as Auntie, the only name Somnus calls her. An improvised smile forms on Luna’s snout knowing Somnus has not been fully taken over by the shadow, he’s still in there waiting to be saved. That same day, by the Royal Orders of Princess Aurora the Royal Guard Company triples the guards around the Canterlot Royal Palace. Tempering that protection with the Princess’s elite guard unit the Solar Guard are assign to crucial entrance points around the palace. In her mother’s bed chamber pacing back and forth was an armored and nervous Aurora standing watch over her mother Princess Celestia. She calmly sits behind a small table in the center of her room drinking tea and eating her lunch. “Aurora dear, please stop pacing you are beginning to make me nervous.” Celestia said a bit uncomfortable as Aurora’s face grows chalky. “Mother, how can you remain so calm, my brother just tried to kill you!” Aurora’s voice edged with tension as her mother sighs. “First off, that pony that tried to kill me was not your brother. It was a shadow and secondly Luna has told me your brother is still in there waiting to be saved.” Celestia correcting as she points her hoof and gestures with it at Aurora who apologizes for her error. Meanwhile across the way, stationed in one of the empty guest bed chambers overlooking her mother’s bed chamber was Celestia’s youngest daughter Princess Blueberry Swirl Silverlight. Her crimson red mane and tail was tied in a ponytail. Her light blue body was encased in the steel blue colored pony armor and helmet of the Crystal Empire. A small crystal heart brooch hung from the front of it. In the place of her saddle-bags were a quiver and a pony size composite bow. For close-in fighting, a short sword hung from the opposite side of the quiver and bow. Her steel blue colored horseshoes clicked steely on the tile floor of the bed chamber as she walked out onto the balcony to look around and keep watch. As Blueberry reenters the darken bed chamber, a sudden wave of exhaustion washes over her, as her eyelids become too heavy to keep open. Soon she lets loose a yawn and collapses to the ground fast asleep. From a darken corner of the bed chamber, the Shadow appears wearing silvery blue pony armor worn by his aunt when she was Nightmare Moon. His eyes were solid white, a sure sign he gained access to Somnus’s knowledge of his Aunt Luna’s powerful sleep spell. A menacing smile forms on his snout as he realizes that this young unicorn mare is helplessly asleep and he can easily corrupt her. With that thought in mind, he begins to charge up his horn with corrupting magic. As he was about to touch Blueberry’s horn with his to begin the corrupting process, Somnus temporarily regains control of his possessed body from the shadow and stops him by tossing him back with his magic. The loud crash of metal against the tile in the bed chamber wakes Blueberry up from her slumber. “Blueberry! Get out of here…this Shadow wants to corrupt you…your heart is too pure and the process will kill you…..escape little sister, I can’t hold him for long!” Somnus said warning as he fights with the Shadow to allow Blueberry to escape. “Brother! I can’t escape you are blocking my only way out.” Blueberry cries out in a voice raw with terror as she has no way to escape from the bed chamber and the Shadow that wants to corrupt her. “BIG SISTER HELP!” Blueberry screams at the top of her lungs, catching the attention of her oldest sister Aurora who was standing on her mother’s balcony getting some fresh air. She quickly grabs her halberd pole arm with her magic aura and flies up to her little sister’s post. “Blueberry! Little sister! Where are you!?” Aurora calls as she slowly enters the darken bed chamber with a tight magic grip on the center of her pole weapon. Unlike her Aunt and her brother, Aurora didn’t have the advantage of night vision with all the lights off and this room being on the darker side of the palace. It was pitch black inside the room. Her heart pounded in her chest as the only sound that she could make out was the metal clicking of her horseshoes on her hooves as she moved deeper into the room. The only source of light for her was the enduring dark blue glow of her magic aura casted off her horn. The sudden sound of running hoofs in the darkness coming towards her caused her to bring her weapon to the ready position, ready to defend herself from the threat approaching her. From the darkness running toward her with her eyes darting maniacally about, picking objects out of the gloom was her little sister, Princess Blueberry. Her face brightens upon spotting the dark blue glow from her big sister’s horn ahead of her. “Big sister!” Blueberry exclaimed as Aurora rubs her wing feathers against her little sister’s cheek, pleased her little sister is not hurt. “Little sister what is going on? Why did you call for help?” Aurora inquires as her eyes adjust to the darkness inside the room. “Brother’s shadow is here.” Blueberry exclaims as Aurora’s face glazes with shock. “What?” Aurora exclaims as devious laughter fills the room and slowly from the darkness the Shadow appears with a magic grip on a sword. “Oh, how sweet, the big sister has come to save her the little sister.” The Shadow said sarcastically as Aurora uses her wing to push Blueberry behind her and readied her weapon to fight. “I can only guess you are the Shadow that now possesses my brother’s body.” Aurora knowing pointing the cleaver like weapon with a spike on it towards the Shadow in a challenging gesture as the Shadow accepts the challenge. “Huh?” Aurora exclaims as she was surprised by how fast the Shadows moved, but not fast enough as there’s a loud clang when she blocked the sword strike, aimed at her neck with a steel shaft of her halberd. “Oh very good, Princess….you know how to use that weapon.” The Shadow said his eyes narrow with contempt as he pushes her off temporarily staggering her from the force of the push. With her staggered, he follows up the next attack with a hard sword strike that impacted on Aurora’s side armor. She grimaces as she knows she will have a bad bruise on her side after this is over. Aurora swings her halberd in a great horizontal sweep putting her whole body into this powerful strike. Aurora’s eyes blink with incredulity as she hears a loud thud as the blade of her halberd impacts on the magic shield on the Shadow’s flank. A smirk appears on Aurora’s snout as the force of the blow sends the shadow through several pieces of furniture in the room, breaking them. A moment later their mother shrieks in fear as the real Shadow snatches her from her room right under the noses of the royal palace guards and solar guard unit.