Case #11: Luna
Judge Luna
Case #11: Luna
Celestia and fifty unicorns stared up at the crystals surrounding the palace throne room, and the wing around it. Shining Armor swore under his breath. “Nothing,” the white alicorn whispered. “Not even a blemish!” The massive black monstrosity that had sprung out of the ground was unmoved by their combined might. It had turned pink and splotchy in a few spots, but even as they watched they only faded back to black again. “It’s like its rejecting us entirely…” Celestia squinted with her magical radar tucked over her eyes. The gigantic crystals had not filled up with magic and turned to dust as she’d thought. “What’s different about these, then…” she trailed off, caressing their dark auras with her own. Her feathery, psychic touch probed back and forth like surgeons hands and she found something familiar in them. “This feels just like…” she looked startled.
“What is it, Princess?” Shining Armor looked up.
“Now I know where all of Luna’s magic has gone,” Celestia whispered, her eyes softening. “Sombra knew I would be quick on the uptake to break in. He’s using Luna’s magic to power these crystals.”
“He’s what?!” Shining Armor gaped up at her in shock.
“Luna has been wasting away doing her TV show as I suspected. All that magic didn’t just disappear. It was harvested, and now it’s being used to keep us out.” Celestia said, sitting on her haunches slowly. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“Begging your Majesty’s pardon, but aren’t you more powerful than Luna? Can’t you break through, especially with us here to help?” The white stallion asked, frustrated at the lack of progress thus far.
“Luna and I are two sides of the same coin, equal in powers both political and magical,” Celestia said with a patient smile. “Though that is flattering, thank you,” she snickered just a little. “But Luna’s magic is not the only magic in there.”
“Who else is it?” Shining Armor looked up. “Is it Sombra? Is he strong enough to hold back all these ponies, if Luna’s magic is cancelling yours out?” He could only try to fathom such a powerful unicorn. Shining Armor was no small potato when it came to magic. 4500 Magi-jules was enough to blanket a city with a shield and keep out a Changeling Army. How much would it take to keep out an army of war trained unicorns?!
“No, I think not,” Celestia said. More pieces were falling together in front of her, and the picture was simply breath-taking. “It’s everypony’s magic.”
“Everypony’s?” Shining asked, looking up at the palace.
“Everypony that watches TV anyway. All the unicorns.” Celestia almost smiled at the brilliance of it all. “Sombra must have been gathering magic for months, just for this. Luna’s magic to counteract mine, and the magic of the viewers to counteract the royal guard.”
“But civilians aren’t trained in battle magic,” Shining Armor cocked his head.
“No, but tens of thousands of unicorns can easily out-magic a paltry fifty,” Celestia said. “Sombra must’ve invented television and then sold the idea with his power crystals… his plan was much more complex than I thought,” she whispered. “Every unicorn watching TV helped with their own magic, even if they didn’t know it.”
“But that means—” Shining Armor whispered.
“That means there’s no getting inside until Sombra lets us,” Celestia hung her head.
=-=-=-=
Luna’s knees had long given out. Five lashes for unlawful imprisonment of a pony, and then ten more for an attempt on the king’s life (done by the other pony, for whom she’d stood in his stead). She lay there, bleeding and covered with red hot little welts along her back and rump. It was an effort just to breathe.
Sombra dropped the whip next to her, where it disappated into nothing. Turning, he walked regally back up the dais. He flicked a bit of Luna’s silvery alicorn blood from his cheek. “Your punishment has been given. Your crime will be expunged from your record in ninety days,” he said, striking something off of a paper in front of him. “Set her up again, slave, I tire of her rag doll act.”
“Yes M-Master,” Steel Wing toddled forward, and Luna met his eyes a second time when he was setting her up once more. She leaned on him heavily, her muscles screaming in hot pain. She could feel the drip of her blood from her ribs, down her sides, to drip off her under-carriage. The sunken-ness of her eyes was really starting to show. She looked at the golem pony with a mix of interest and bald curiosity. Strange creature, to be living right under her nose. She touched his face just once, but he gave only the mild reaction of pulling away. She watched the strange puppet-pony return to his post by the throne.
There was a long silence. Luna stared up at Sombra, and Sombra down at her. “Commendable,” he said after a moment. “Lesser ponies would be screaming and swearing at me by now. I sent many to their deaths for their defiance. Yet here you remain, level-headed and silent.”
“We are an alicorn,” Luna hissed in pain, trying to find a way to stand that didn’t involve the stretching pain on the many welts decorating her body. “We can bear all the world upon our shoulders.”
Sombra smirked a little, “I know. That’s why I brought you so low before striking. Otherwise you wouldn’t feel the pain. Your ilk can walk through a geyser of lava like dragons, there would have been no point just sauntering into the throne room to declare war on you.” He flipped through the papers in front of him. “Now then, the court recognizes the full cooperation of the accused, despite initial hostility,” he nodded over to Steel Wing. The golem-pony nodded once. “Therefore, sentencing will be lenient for further crimes.”
“What further crimes?” Luna wondered. Had the lashing, on national television, not been enough for him.
“You wrongfully imprisoned a pony, without trial or due process. For that you got lashes.” Sombra said, cocking his head at her. “For attacking the Crystal Empire, MY Crystal Empire, and unseating its ruler? There’s further punishment to be had.” A sadistic smile rose on one side of his mouth. “And its far worse than a whip’s sting, I assure you,”
“You mean to rape me, then?” blurted Luna, going straight to the darkest corners she could imagine.
“Please,” Sombra rolled his eyes. “I am a King, not some one-dimensional villain,” he shuffled through his papers, turning a few pages in the black tome in front of him. Luna surmised it was the Crystal Empire’s legislative dogma… probably written by Sombra himself. “Besides you’re too skinny and tall for me.” He said out of the side of his mouth.
“What?” Luna leaned, having not heard him.
“Ah, here it is,” Sombra arrived at the page he wanted. “’Under the rule of King Sombra, monarch of the Crystal Empire,’” he read aloud, “’The punishment for unseating the Crown of the Empire… is death.’” He flicked his slit-pupil’ed eyes up at her. That wasn't lenient at all! Luna was not surprised, but it didn’t keep the pale and oily look of despair from her face.
The room shuddered again, more firmly this time. Celestia and her forces were giving it their all. But with Luna’s magic and the magic of every unicorn in Equestria that had ever watched TV shielding them, they were not getting in. Sombra checked the ceiling briefly, silent, then seemed satisfied. Everything was holding just fine. Even of the great white bitch rallied all of Canterlot’s unicorns there would still be no getting in. Steel Wing looked from Sombra to Luna, silent as everypony studied the ceiling.
“Dost thou think to emerge alive from this?” Luna said a little haggardly, walking out from behind the defendant’s table. Steel Wing jittered a little, ready to pounce on her if she approached the judge of the court. “Kill me, and all of Equestria will be after your blood.”
“I trounced an empire hardened by the tundra and beset by blizzards. Alone.” Sombra set his law book aside and rose. Slowly, regally, he walked down the stairs. His red cape rippled around his hooves like liquid velvet. “Do you really think bright, sunny, virginal Equestria will be able to stand up to me?” he asked her. “Look into my eyes and say so.”
“Yes,” Luna’s voice quavered a little. She didn’t sound so sure, and in her sorry state it made the lie more obvious. “You are nothing but a terrible legend from centuries ago. Everypony will fight you.”
“And everypony will lose. Again.” Sombra snarled angrily, his brow lowering in his steely resolve. “Seizing power is what I’m good at!” He raised his voice and flung his billowing cape from his back. He turned sideways with a smirk letting Luna, the cameras, and the audience see. On his black-furred flank was a golden, jeweled crown that was broken in half. Luna couldn’t help but stare. It had never really occurred to her what Sombra’s cutie mark might be. ‘Being Evil’ was the easy answer but really, when he’d been a little colt he’d figured this out? How? Under what circumsta--!
“Now then,” Sombra interrupted her thoughts with a frown. “Upon your knees. You stand no taller than a mortal pony now, and you’ll not be any taller when you’re dead.”
“No,” Luna said defiantly. “Not until you let my little ponies go.” She nodded towards the audience and the camera ponies.
“There’s no letting them go,” Sombra threw his head back to laugh. “Equestria is mine now. They’ll be my subjects when you’re dead.”
“Celestia—!”
“Celestia will be no match against your magic and the magic of everypony else in the country, harvested to my use. How do you think I took over the Crystal Empire?” he smirked. “I killed all the royals and harvested their powers, one at a time. Each building on the last until there were none left.” He leaned up, into her face until their muzzles were almost touching. “And with the power of two alicorns under my sway, Equestria is mine.” He put a powerful hoof on her shoulder and, with some strength, forced Luna to her knees before him.
The Princess of the Night looked up at him, defiant tears in her eyes. She would not look away. She would not let him break her will. Her body. Her health. Her country. But not her will. Her Highness stared death in the face. She heard the whir of gathering magic. She saw the flickers and flecks of black gathering to his horn.
Sombra backed up a few steps, charging his horn with all the fury of a goddess and her country combined. His long, bizarre tongue came out to lick at his canines. He grinned at her from under his eyebrows, his outline aglow with dark magicks.
Steel Wing slowly went down the stairs of the dais, standing some paces away in case somepony should try to interfere. He swept his gaze over the audience, watching the ponies hold each other and weep. The camera ponies seemed comatose, able to do little more than stare and point their cameras whenever somepony was talking. The smattering of Lunar Stallions that were still conscious nursed broken bones and concussions. All was well.
“And now, Princess,” Sombra whispered to her, his horn aglow with everything he could give, “Face justice for your crimes.” Rearing up with a triumphant whinny of fury, the black stallion slammed his horn against hers. Black, oily magic leapt forth to engorge her body. Her eyes turned into pinpricks. Her muscles seized up. She could hear herself scream, the pain was too great. The high-pitched whine in her ears sounded like… like a television, when you first turned it on. That little ‘wiiiiiii’ that was in your inner ear before the sound kicked in. She hunched forward while Sombra pressed her down. The cold touch of the marble on her nose was icy and confusing compared to the world-shattering pain that was already scrambling her brain in directions she never knew possible. Tears rained out of her eyes as even her tail lashed wildly about.
Steel Wing watched with a blank face. “Ahhh! Oh gods! OH GODS!” Luna convulsed like a frog wired to a car battery, screaming and tearing at herself in wild, feral agony. Steel Wing looked from the Princess, to Sombra, to the cameras, to the audience, to the fallen Lunar Stallions. “Help me! Help meeee!” the stench of burnt flesh began to get stronger. The golem pony looked at the floor, as though deep in cosmic ponderings. “Mother! Mother-rrrrrr!” Luna bayed, curling into a ball before spasming out to her full length again. “Mother-rrrrr!” Another arc of black magic whipped violently up and down her frame, sending her hooves flying in all directions as she lost complete control of herself. Steel Wing cocked his head, looking at the ceiling. Something was touching his mind, and it wasn’t Sombra. The black stallion had let go of him from the moment to focus everything he had on Luna.
“Die,” Sombra whispered, gritting his teeth in concentration. The alicorn body would not break so easily, even as weak as it was. He had to give it everything he had to make the heart finally give out. “Just die,” he soothed, pressing harder and harder. He placed a powerful hoof on Luna’s shoulder, holding her down as he fried her with her own magic. “It’ll all be over when you die.” Steel Wing blinked a few times.
“Thank you, Steel Wing.”
“Steel Wing, fetch her contract.”
“Steel Wing, aid me.”
“Steel Wing, return to thy post.”
“Wilt thou watch me bathe, Steel Wing?”
“Good work, Steel Wing.”
“Forgive my bailiff, Steel Wing.”
“Steel Wing!”
“Steel… Wing,” the golem with half a face whispered. “Steel Wing.” Suddenly he came back to himself. With all the concussive force of a ground-zero clap of thunder the puppet slammed himself into Sombra with all his might! The death spell misfired, trails of black lightning streaming across the room and blasting columns into ash. Luna flopped limply down like a rag doll. The audience threw themselves under their seats, screaming in terror. Steel Wing carried his master like a hoofball player’s ball, listening to him roar and writhe until they met the black and glassy surface of the wall. The golem kept going. He had no muscles, no pain to stop him from pressing forward. How? Well... ponies say that only diamonds can cut diamonds, and Steel Wing was made of the same stuff. Sombra’s bones began to break as the two of them smashed out of the barrier, into open air! They fell five stories to the courtyard below.
=-=-=-=
“Princess Celestia!” An armored pegasus swooped down from on high. “There’s been a breach! A breach in the courtyard! Two ponies just blasted their way out and fell to the cobble!”
Celestia snapped her wings open, launching herself skyward as her soldiers stampeded in the same direction. “Secure the walkways!” Shining Armor could be heard far below. The white alicorn powered forward, not caring at all who she left behind. She landed hard, at a gallop, afraid of what she might find.
Sombra lay, twisted bones well beyond death, on the cobble. A silent puddle of red grew around him, and he did not move. His crown had slipped from his head, and lay to one side of him amongst the shards of black crystal debris. It was as though he’d been thrown out of a window.
The second figure made Celestia flinch back. He was an ugly, misshapen, crystalized thing. Strips of raw flesh hung from him here and there, and the beads of his eyes were nothing more than black diamond. The stubs of wings on his back bled some sort of grey powder. He was struggling to his hooves, muttering and twitching incoherently.
Ponies suddenly flooded the courtyard as the crystalinne pony found his legs, tottering back and forth. “What is that?!” Somepony shouted at the abomination. “It’s a monster!” Somepony else shouted.
Celestia stared as the strange creature teetered back and forth. She could see the massive cracks in his legs, along his barrel and in his face. Some sort of fleshy shell had been over him, but it was all but gone now. With a mix of pity and revulsion, she watched him try to stand over and over. Bits and chips of his legs kept coming off like so much slate stone. “What are you? Who are you?” she whispered, opening her wings in case it attacked.
It turned slowly, quivering all over with structural weakness. It made clinking sounds all over when it moved, like somepony was grinding glass with a mortar and pestle. “My name is… my name is…” he could speak, but it was broken and craggy. It gave up telling her his name when his front legs snapped off like brittle icicles. He fell forward onto his belly with an audible whimper, shaking like a leaf. “H-Help Luna...ah…” It fell face first, shattering into a million pieces like so much glass. Celestia stared for a long few moments, then quickly took wing.
End of Case #11
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You know what's better than trying to turn a one dimensional, never mentioned again villain into a credible threat? Letting them rot.
Seriously compared to what Sombra was in the show he may as well be an OC here, and I've never been much for OC's getting the best of canon characters
Aww, poor Steel Wing.
Also, wasn't Shining Armor last in the Crystal Empire? (And why didn't I notice this earlier?)
Still, an excellent story by a masterful storyteller!
I want steel wing backkkkkk
Well, here I was, thinking it would take the Spirit Bomb to break away the crystals, but all that was required was a very cranky golem giving its creator a no-holds-barred beatdown. Figures.
Wasn't expecting a Star Wars reference. Well done.
2861791
...
...shit.
*scribbles something to fix it*
Jesus man. Why u do that to woona?!
2861789 So you didn't like it, or....?
2861791 fix'd. Whew...
2861795 the poor guy went to pieces.
2861805 only diamond can cut through diamond.
2861893 because she can TAKE it.
2861918
not the last couple of chapters. The initial concept was fine. Hell, even using Sombra was fine. It was the changes to Sombra's character that I disliked. This as a plan to kill Luna, fine. All the talking to give him a character and all, grating and and really irritating
2861918 I find your lack of faith in Goku... Disturbing...
All kidding aside, the spirit bomb would likely just vaporize the crap out of the diamond. Additionally, in real life, it is possible to get diamond to burn, assuming you have a really hot flame. If all else fails, Goku could always go SS4 and use his Dragon Fist against it. We've all seen what happens when you cross this stream with Superman. The Earth gets destroyed, although, when Goku is involved, it would seem that this is inevitable.
I dislike how you have her cry out in pain. Luna is too bad a$$ for that. I would think she would've said something to the effect of:
"Put a rag in my mouth, I don't want to give you the satisfaction of hearing me scream. There's nothing you can do or say that hasn't already been done to me. I don't have any feelings you can hurt."
Or something like that.
Sombra nooooo!
2861933
Um...What changes? Sombra barely had an appearance in the Crystal Empire episodes, let alone a personality. Really, he's got barely any more cannon info on him than a blind bag pony. Would you rather the last couple chapters had Sombra just growling "SLAVES" and "CRYSTALS" every time he spoke?
2862006 I did that in "Stallions on Strike."
Usually don't see forward slashes in writing.
2861789 Make Sombra a millimeter deeper than one-dimensional in personality, and you've got an OC in a Sombra costume.
2862019
Yes I remembered that a couple seconds after posting.
Still, the point stands. Sombra doesn't really have enough character to be used in a fic WITHOUT adding your own personal touches to him.
2862029 Sorry! I just wanted him to be scary and worth hating!
2862021 whoops, slip of the finger there. Fix'd!
2862051 Oh, no! You didn't make me mad. I was just pointing out how one-dimensional canon Sombra was.
2862044
Well he did conquer the Crystal Empire.
That's really ALL we have to work with.
I figured he would need to be hell'a smart. So this is my interpretation of him.
I saw parallels between this and the end of Star Wars Ep. VI. Intentional, or have all villains who shoot lightening blurred together for me?
2862385 Probably.
I couldn't really lop off Luna's head. That was too quick.
Nor hang her, there's no place to do so.
Stabbing her didn't kill her.
Poisoning/magic harvesting served to make her vulnerable.
So, the rough equivilent of an electric chair had to do.
...which made it look like a Star Wars reference, yeah.
I had a hunch Steel Wing would pull a Dinobot-2.
This was definitely expected. I knew steel wing would bite back sombra in the butt... :P
Aegis, can I compliment you by just saying that you have a talent of turning all characters into badasses, hidden or otherwise?
2863768 Eyuup.
2863617 Eyuup.
2863463 SHHHHH!
2862844 Awakened golems tend to bite the hoof that feeds them.
2864585 Reminds me of the Golem of Prague...
lol, Luna's not hot enough for Sobra to rape.
I know it's not really funny given the circumstances, (or any at all, for that matter) but I can't help but chuckle a little.
The moral of the story: Never give your mindless servants a mind. It will come back to pummel you through a diamond wall.
-
2863463
That's exactly what came to mind.
YES!
I had a gut feeling that "inside guy" would be Steel Wing; although, not how I was expecting it.
Hopefully Luna isn't dead. Celestia's magic will not be of any use, unfortunately.
Awesome...
2862051
I LIKED IT!
For some reason this made me envision Shining Armor as a large potato.
Disappointed you killed a rather good OC. I liked Steel Wing.
2874440 your avatar says otherwise :3
I like this version of Sombra. Granted its WAY too hardcore for the legit cartoon, but the effect is not lost on me.
Also, I think that is the single greatest cutiemark idea for him I've ever heard. The only question left is what killed him? Being tackled into ground 5 stories down, or being driven through a crystal wall? Only the coroners will know... maybe.
5695939
Probably a mix of being shoved through diamonds, falling five stories, and a several tonne diamond golem basically pile driving him from that height.