//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Three Lives // Story: The Unseen // by Shadow Beast //------------------------------// From the edge of the wasteland grew a shadowy fog as black as night. Verdugo watched it slowly crawl toward the Empire. “King Sombra!” Shadow shouted. “If that monster gets to the Empire, he’ll not only make it inhospitable...” He shivered. “It could destroy everything!” He’s telling the truth! RUN! “Starchy! Squee! Brucie!” Verdugo called out, shocking each of them for a moment. “Do whatever it takes to slow down that smoke cloud!” She turned to the others. “Shadow, Dreary, we’re securing that tower!” “Are you sure this is the best idea?” Dreary asked as the Starchy’s team flew off. “Shadow’s too wounded to do much good over there,” she explained. She turned to the bleeding changeling. “You know any way of stopping that thing?” “The Crystal Heart!” Shadow shouted. “That’ll rally the citizen’s hearts to drive out Sombra’s darkness!” “How the heck do you know all this?” Dreary asked. Shadow shook his head. “It really, really, really hurts to remember, okay?!” “This is one of those moments where we have to take a huge leap of faith, Dreary!” Verdugo warned. She grabbed Shadow’s hoof and leapt off the mountain top, guiding the two of them toward the Empire. They watched the fog chase the three changelings around the wasteland. Their training and youth kept them agile. They dodged the fog’s advances with ease, flying straight up when it tried to surround them. Starchy saw them flying toward the tower. His hooves held firm, as though weighed down. The shadow closed in on him. The howling winds were silent. He couldn't hear his friends. But the voice remained. I hate to do this to someone so-- A deep roar echoed from the blackness. --if anyone needed to die in this mission-- Two flaming eyes appeared in the cloud. A glowing red horn and a deep growl arose from between them. --but I suppose you’ll do fine. Squee was frozen in fear. Brucie, just realizing that something was wrong, flew to his friend’s side. But it was too late. The fog consumed Starchy. “Keep flying!” Dreary yelled at Verdugo. “We have to secure the Empire before--” “I know!” Verdugo yelled, accelerating to a speed that almost pulled Shadow’s last foreleg off. The trio impacted at the foot of the stairs leading into the castle. Verdugo grabbed Shadow by his one and a half shoulders. “Where is the Crystal Heart?!” Shadow shook his head. “I... I...” he stammered. “I know it hurts. Just focus!” “It’s... hidden.” He sighed. “Sombra hid it away where nopony would ever find it.” A tear welled up in his eye. “I don’t know where it is!” Verdugo let go of him. “Alright... alright...” She chuckled nervously. “I’ve been in worse odds...” “He’s gonna kill us all...” “Just gotta stay positive...” “He sucked the happiness out of everypony here. Replaced their love with fear. Had them shackled and mining for precious gems for his own sake.” Verdugo looked around. “Gotta be a clue...” Her mind processed Shadow’s words instead. “No... Gotta stay positive. Gotta keep my chin up.” She looked up. She stopped shaking. “It’s not that easy is it?” “What?” the other two asked almost simultaneously. “Tallest room in the tallest tower?” She scoffed. “He wouldn’t make it that simple, would he?” Shadow chuckled nervously as he lifted his snout up from the ground. “I mean... it’s not like anypony would have been anywhere near here with him around.” “Let’s go.” Verdugo flew straight up from the ground, Dreary following close behind. Shadow kept bleeding on the ground. “You guys go on ahead! Just bring it back here... If it’s up there!” Verdugo nodded, half-listening as her eyes were too focused figuring out how much higher they needed to go. Finally they reached the top of the tower. They landed inside a decorative window, only to find a heart-shaped crystal shining brightly in the center of the room. Verdugo chuckled. “Well, that was easy.” Dreary stepped forward, only to be stopped by Verdugo’s hoof. “Too easy.” She gestured toward the floor. “This has to be a trap.” Dreary looked out toward the wasteland. Brucie was barely evading the fog now. There was no other movement out there. He gulped and turned back to Verdugo. “There’s no time.” He took a deep breath and judged the distance. “I’m gonna smack it toward you. Get it back to Shadow.” Her hoof persisted. “Verdy, please...” Verdugo solemnly nodded and released him. He leapt toward the heart, being careful not to touch the strange floor. He grabbed the artifact with his hooves and flung it toward Verdugo, who caught it with her magic. A smile creased both of their snouts as he flew back to her. The floor shifted into dark crystal spikes and shot up. Verdugo took a step back to make sure Dreary’s remains didn’t land on her hooves. His ashes didn’t even have a moment to touch the ground before a strong winter breeze blew them off into the sky. There was no time to grieve. Verdugo took the Crystal Heart and flew down to Shadow who, weakened from his wounds, lay on the ground near the steps. “Under the castle’s supports!” he yelled to her. “Behind the stairs!” Verdugo went behind the stairs and found a strange altar underneath it. She placed the Heart in the center of it and crystals shot out to support it in its place. Hovering in their grasps, its light beckoned the crystal ponies from their homes. They saw the light. They breathed in the air. Their love had been restored. It coursed through the Crystal Heart. King Sombra didn’t stand a chance. Verdugo was filled with more love than she had ever dreamed of. Shadow got up on four legs, his foreleg miraculously healed from the aura of love and light. The colors of the rainbow shot up from the top of the tower. The crystal ponies cheered as the curse was broken forever. Verdugo looked out at the empty wasteland. She looked up at the tower, ignoring the bright colors. She turned back to Shadow. He just stared at the Crystal Heart. “Have I done it, Executioner?” he asked her in a monotone voice. “We did it, Shadow Beast,” she said, trying to smile. “We stopped Sombra and saved the Empire.” “But is that enough to cleanse my sins?” he asked, turning back but staring through her. “What are you talking about?” “Starchy, Brucie, and Squee...” Verdugo nodded. “They’re dead.” She sighed. “Not yet we aren’t!” Squee laughed. Verdugo turned to find Squee and the rest of his team standing before her. “It got really dark there for a second, didn’t it?” Squee laughed. Brucie shook off the nerves. “It was... something. I’m just glad it’s over!” “Is it really over?” Starchy asked. He cleared his mind to make way for the voice. It was silent. He smiled. “We... we won, didn’t we?! We made it!” “Where’s... where’s Dreary?” Brucie asked Verdugo. Her smile inverted itself. “He... He didn’t make it.” Squee scoffed. “Well, neither did we!” Brucie put a hoof to him. Verdugo continued. “But he got us the Crystal Heart.” She smiled again, doing her best to keep her eye dry. “None of this would’ve been possible without him.” “And Shadow?” Verdugo turned to look at Shadow basking in the light of the Crystal Heart. “A true, happy ending!” he laughed. Blood still dripped from his chest. “You’re uh...” Verdugo chuckled nervously. “You’re still bleeding there. We should really patch that up!” “Nah, it’s fine!” Shadow waved it off. “It’s not my blood.” “What?” Shadow scoffed. “Only wretches bleed!” Verdugo’s patience was gone. “What?!” Shadow chuckled in the light of the Heart. “For a guy without a backbone, I don’t get many chances to say stuff like this so listen carefully: This place, Crystal Empire, is sacred ground. It has enough love to keep that disgusting beast Chrysalis fed forever. Heck, it has enough for her whole den of fetid garbage you call a kingdom!” He laughed. “But this place is pure. It hasn’t fallen to your deceptive and downright evil hooves yet.” He smiled wide. “And thanks to your efforts, Sombra won’t destroy the world, desecrating this paradise in the process!” “Is this treason?” Verdugo growled. “No. This is justice.” Shadow reached out his hoof. “So you can join me in my revolution and survive the end of this disgusting world...” His eyes flared up in bright green. His voice became distorted. “Or. Die. Like. The. Rest.” Verdugo shook her head. “Now I know you didn’t just threaten me, you spineless idiot!” “Oh yes,” a voice all too familiar to Starchy screeched out from the bleeding changeling’s mouth. “Shadow’s submissiveness. Such a wonderful trait!” The voice chuckled. “Lets him right into a little group like yours. Earning your trust just by the merit that you can push him around without consequence.” Shadow nodded. “But not anymore. I got into his head first. I gained his trust. I led you all here, and now I am offering you mercy!” The bleeding changeling held out its hoof again, eyes still flaming green. “Or do you want to stab me with a spear again, murderer?”