Chapter 54 - I am King Sombra
Luna came back to the edge of consciousness, between sleep and awake. She wanted desperately to keep dreaming of her beloved human, but it was time to get up and break her fast, so she forced herself up.
She looked around her mostly empty room, missing the days when she would wake up with Jax’ arms around her. That was a nice way to wake up… she wondered if she could convince Jax to give up his beloved house so he could live with her in Canterlot… or maybe she could live with him? Canterlot was but a teleport away. She doubted he would willingly leave the home his friends had restored and furnished for him. She still remembered how happy he had been at the surprise. That had been a good party, though not as good as her ‘welcome to Ponyville’ party had been.
Thinking back on the night before, she was glad Celestia had made her take Moondancer as her secretary. The mare was good at writing down everything of importance, even when she was obviously tired. Her thoughts darkened when she thought about how long they had stayed in that room because of Celestia’s suggestions for laws they had already gone through. They were practically starting over. This would take several years at the rate they were going.
She shook her head lightly, coming back from her musings. She was not meeting with her lawyers today, all she had was night court, and probably the paperwork her sister would throw her way.
Maybe she should visit the royal archives. Maybe there was a way to help Jax without magic, and the answer was somewhere in there? A potion… he could drink potions. Yes, a magical potion could do what a spell could not. Maybe she should visit Zecora?
Jax’ screams flashed through her mind, as he held her tightly in his pain.
…
… Maybe Zecora would be her backup plan. The archives had a section for potion brewing, she could definitely start there.
A knock from the door interrupted her thoughts.
“Just a moment!” She put on her regalia and otherwise made herself presentable, before opening the door with her magic. Behind it stood Moondancer, but what really drew Luna’s eye was the mail bag she held in her magic. She had been expecting a few letters from Ponyville, not an entire bag.
“Good morning Princess.” Moondancer bowed with a big smile. There was a certain cheer in her voice that made Luna curious.
“Good evening Moondancer.” Luna corrected lightly. Moondancer was probably just used to saying good morning to ponies who rose from their slumber. “You seem to be in a good mood.”
Moondancer’s smile grew as she took out a newspaper from behind the bag. Luna took it in her aura.
It was today’s edition of The Canterlot Informant, already open on page three. The title, ‘A SHOW TO REMEMBER’ greeted her tired eyes. The piece was written by Raven Writingdesk, the same pony that had interviewed her and Jax some time ago.
It described her animations of the stars on Moondays, in particular the one last week and the one the day before. Apparently ponies had gathered in the streets… eagerly awaiting her night. Awaiting what she would show them with her stars. According to the piece, they had not been disappointed. Raven went on to interview different ponies, asking them what they thought of the weekly show, and they had told him they loved it….
They loved her night.
… She just stood there, looking at the newspaper. Then she started to chuckle, then that build up to a full blown laughter.
THEY LOVED HER NIGHT!
She laughed so much that tears started falling from her eyes but she did not care.
Normal, everyday ponies had gathered in the streets of Canterlot to await her night. She had waited so long for this, she could not believe it was finally happening.
Luna started prancing around the room excitedly, still in mild shock.
They loved her night. Jax had been right. Her spirit soared high.
Moondancer and the guards she had stationed in front of her still open door looked at her with smiles, and she could not care less how she looked.
After so much time… finally… they could finally appreciate the beauty of her night. Not just a select few, not just the bottom of the barrel.
And it was all thanks to Jax. It was all thanks to her dear, dear human. She could just… just… WHY WAS HE NOT THERE SO SHE COULD HUG HIM?!
Her eyes fell on Moondancer. She would have to do.
“Aaaah!”
***
“Art thou… are you alright?” Luna asked, worried. They were sitting in the dining hall, Celestia almost done with her meal looked on curiously. “I should take you to the infirmary should I not?”
“No, no, I’m alright. Sorry, I just got a bit surprised when you jumped at me like that.” Moondancer blushed.
“There is no need for you to apologize, when it was clearly my fault. I apologize again, Moondancer. Here, have a cup of tea and calm down.” Luna filled a cup with her magic and set it in front of Moondancer. “I just got so excited. It has been a long, long time since ponies streamed out of the safety of their house to watch my stars.” Luna adopted a satisfied smile, despite her worry for Moondancer. She could not keep the smile off her muzzle if she wanted. Celestia smiled from her seat as well, but still remained silent.
“Really, it’s fine Princess. I’m sorry I made you worry, I just… don’t know how to deal with stressful situations. It’s not a big deal that I fainted, honest. And it’s nice to see you so happy.” Moondancer ended with a smile.
“Be that as it may, you should at least relax a bit. Here, have some cake. Stars know my sister does not need it.” Luna cut out a large piece of the three layered cake.
Celestia just rolled her eyes at the jab, but she was still smiling, which was odd. Normally she would defend herself.
“Oh, no I couldn’t. Uhm, I ate before I came to wake you.” Moondancer protested weakly. The cake did look really good, and she was eyeing it with desire clear in her eyes.
“I have found…” Celestia finally said, mirth clear in her voice, “that there is always room for dessert. It is a curse as much as it is a blessing.
“Well, if you don’t mind….” Moondancer finally gave in and took a big bite out of the sugary goodness. She almost moaned in satisfaction.
Luna grinned at Celestia. “So, why the silence sister? And before you say that you just said something, you know that is not what I meant.”
Celestia’s smile widened. “Just wondering whether I should embarrass you in front of Moondancer or wait until she’s gone.”
Luna’s smile disappeared. “Celestia…” she said with a warning tone. Of course it did nothing to discourage the larger mare. It might even have had the opposite effect.
“She’s taking too long!” Celestia jumped up on the table, then jumped straight at her.
Luna suddenly understood perfectly why Moondancer had fainted earlier, as the larger alicorn impacted with her in a bone crushing hug.
“I knew the day would come Lulu! My sweet little Lulu is finally attracting the attention of the masses. Ohh I’m so proud of you!”
“Tiaaa! Not in front of Moondancer!” Luna blushed heavily as she saw Moondancer’s wide-eyed stare. “In fact, not at all! Back off you wide-plotted beast! Away with thee!” She made a weak attempt to distance herself, but the hug just tightened. She would never ever EVER admit it to Celestia, but… she was a little happy at her reaction. It reminded her of days long past when Luna had moved the moon for the first time.
“Now, now, Lulu. Let your big sister enjoy the moment.” She started nuzzling the side of Luna’s head. Luna pretended to accept her fate, while secretly enjoying the attention. At least until Moondancer giggled, reminding her that there were witnesses to the embarrassing moment.
“Alright, alright, you have had your fun, beast.” Luna disentangled herself from her sister’s embrace, trying to get her blush under control. “It is not that big of a deal. Just a little under a hundred ponies that left their homes in the beginning of the night in Canterlot alone, with the specific goal of looking at my stars.” She failed miserably at trying to play it off as nothing. She practically radiated pride, from her smile, to her voice, to her swelled chest. She almost became giddy again, but she did not want her sister to have more ammunition against her in the future, so she controlled herself.
“Clearly no big deal.” Celestia gave her a knowing smile.
Luna ignored her, in favour of looking at Moondancer. “What was in that bag you had with you?”
Moondancer smiled.
***
“All of these are for me?” Luna asked Moondancer back in her room.
“Yes, your highness. Fan letters, if I had to guess, but I’m also pretty sure some of them are also from Ponyville.”
For a brief moment she wondered if Celestia received fan letters, but then shrugged the thought off. Nothing good came from comparing herself to the mare of the sun, not then, and not now. So she had decided, and so it shall be.
‘Be happy with what you have. A whole bag full of letters, just for you.’ She thought to herself, smiling gently. ‘And I never would have received them if not for my dear Jax. Thank the stars he decided to…’ a series of memories flashed through her mind.
The first time she saw him in his nightmare and he had screamed at her to leave him alone.
When she received the letter from Twilight, describing a human.
Her talk with Celestia about leaving the castle to observe and try to befriend him.
Her… stalking him while invisible.
Then, finally revealing herself to him in the hospital room, and his distrust of her… yet giving her a chance to prove him wrong.
Him taking her out to move the stars… him forgiving her for spying on him and calling her his friend for the first time.
His painful screams when he drank that potion… and her determination to stay with him for the duration of his pain.
When he woke up, and could not let go of her.
The happy days that followed.
Her ‘welcome to Ponyville’ party… and their first dance.
His sweet friendship report to her.
His repeated reassurance that he would help her.
Their first kiss, and their sharing of stories about their past.
…
He had been right. He had helped her, and that was even before she released her book.
… Stars above, he had done so much for her. She needed to have him in her book, he deserved as much... and much more.
“Princess? Are you alright?” Moondancer asked with concern in her voice.
She was not crying, but she was close. Tears of happiness almost made it out of her eyes. “Yes, dear Moondancer. I am more than fine. Thank you for caring.” She had so much now. Ponies who cared about her, ponies who cared about her night… and a human who cared for her immensely.
***
“Thank you for meeting with me Fluttershy.” Twilight told the yellow mare in front of her. “I know it’s a bit early, but I’ve been meaning to ask you something and I didn’t have time yesterday.”
“Oh that’s alright, Twilight. You know I always have time for my friends… I just need to feed my other friends in a little while. You… uhm, you want some tea?” Fluttershy replied with a soft voice.
They were sitting in Fluttershy’s cottage in the early hours of the day. “Yes please.” Twilight nodded, tea would be nice. She was a bit uncertain about coming here… that’s why she hadn’t come yesterday, instead busying herself with work that could have waited. It was probably because… she was unsure whether she could handle the answer or not.
But it had to be done. She needed the insight.
“Here you go, Twilight.” Fluttershy set down a cup of tea in front of her. “So what did you want to ask about? Is it something with Owlowiscious? Is he feeling alright?” A hint of worry made its way into her voice.
“No, nothing like that. Owlowiscious is feeling fine.” Twilight gave a nervous laugh. “It’s actually about Jax….” She was uncertain about how to frame the question.
“Oh… what about him? I heard he had fun with Discord and Pinkie yesterday. I hope they didn’t get in trouble… Discord refuses to tell me what they did.” Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Is that why you are here? Oh, I’m sorry if they did something wrong, I’ll get Discord if you want to talk with him-“
“No, no, nothing like that.” She quickly interrupted before Fluttershy could work herself up. “I think Pinkie mentioned that they sealed up some demon or something in Discord’s realm, but I’m unsure how serious she was. You know how she gets when she tells her stories... anyway, I did some research, and I talked with Jax and it turns out… that…” She took a deep breath before she let it out in one go. “He doesn’t need to eat meat to survive.”
Fluttershy looked at her for a couple of more seconds before she blinked. “Oh….”
They looked at each other for at least a minute before Twilight couldn’t take it anymore. “Aren’t you…” she swallowed her initial question, deciding to frame it more neutrally. “How do you feel about that?”
“Oh… uhm… I’m not sure, Twilight. Should I feel a specific way?”
“Well… he… I…” Twilight didn’t know what to say. “If he wanted to, he could not eat meat at all. Doesn’t it… I don’t know… disgust you that he chooses to do so anyway?”
Fluttershy looked at her thoughtfully. “Hmmm… did you know that Discord can eat anything? Anything and everything. He once saved me a trip by eating all the metal cans I had.”
“Uhmm… I don’t understand what that has to do with Jax.”
Fluttershy lowered her gaze. “So, since he can eat anything, should I force him to only eat objects? Should I control that part of his life, even though he enjoys the taste of other things?” She sighed almost inaudibly. “You know I don’t like… death, Twilight. I have learned a long time ago to deal with it so that I could feed my friends properly, but I still don’t like it… yet I would never tell a friend what he can and can’t eat, as long as he doesn’t try to eat my friends, other sapient creatures, or something bad for him. Jax isn’t trying to eat my friends, nor can I imagine that eating meat is unhealthy for an omnivore.”
Twilight felt her heart twitch uncomfortably with guilt. She had had a feeling that Fluttershy would be a voice of reason, just like Moondancer had been. She was sure she could get some support if she asked enough ponies, but she couldn’t ignore what she had learned from her two friends.
In the end, Jax was her friend, and she should accept him… even if a part of his diet made her uneasy.
“Thank you, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy smiled back at her. “You're welcome.”
***
Applejack almost reeled back when she saw Jax. He looked sickly pale, he seemed to be covered with sweat, and there were branches in his mess of a mane. He stood in the doorway to his house and looked at her with unfocused eyes.
Applejack may not believe in personal hygiene as steely as Rarity, but even she knew when things were out of hoof. She was just about to tell him, when he spoke first.
“I know I look like shit, you don’t have to say it.” His voice was raspy.
Weirdly enough he didn’t smell as bad as he looked. He smelled kind of like Zecora, she could even hear something boiling from inside the house. “Alright partner, Ah’ll skip it. Ah was gonna offer breakfast, but Ah can hear ya already have something cookin’.”
He just looked at her in confusion for a while.
…
Or maybe he had spaced out? “You alright?”
He snapped his head down towards her. “What?... anyway, what are we doing today?”
“Well, Ah’m sorry to have to do this after ya’all helped so much on the farm, but we’re still not done with bucking the trees, so if ya don’t mind…”
His green eyes were on her, but again she got the feeling that he spaced out. He finally snapped out of it again, this time by himself. “Mind what?”
“Uhm… helping on the farm, sugarcube.” She was starting to get a bit worried. “Or, if ya’all aren’t feelin’ so well, maybe you can just relax near me. Ah think that would be for the best actually.”
He slowly nodded, before a look of confusion overtook. “What’s that boiling?” He looked back over his shoulder.
“Ah thought it was your breakfast… sugar, should we go to the hospital? Or should I get Twi over here or call Princess Celestia?”
He turned to look at her again with a contemplating look… or was he spacing out for a third time? It was really hard to tell when his eyes were so unfocused.
“No, I’m fine. Just a little trouble sleeping. Let’s go.” He put on the cloak Rarity had made for him, closed the door and started walking towards the farm. He seemed unable to find his balance briefly, but before she could offer some help he was on his way again.
Applejack hurried after him, worry nagging at her.
***
Jax was napping nearby while she bucked trees. Well napping was a grand term, since every time she thought he had fallen asleep, he would open his eyes, sometimes with a jolt. She wasn’t quite sure what to do about it.
On one hoof, she should tell somepony.
On the other, what could be done about it? Not like they could use some fancy magic to make him better, since… the thing with… what was it? Something about him changing the spells. So even if she got Twilight down here… then what?
She sighed. Who thought the lack of magic usin’ could become such a problem.
***
Applejack raised her brow at Jax. He was practically growling at Big Mac, and Big Mac was cowering away from him.
“Now Jax, I know you may not be too fond of Big Mac right now, but that is no way to behave around a dinner table.” She told him. He instantly stopped, but then just looked at her in confusion. It felt wrong, all the way down to her gut. Something was definitely wrong.
“Yeah, why are you behaving like that?” Apple Bloom agreed from beside her. “Zecora said you were rude when you went to visit her as well.”
Jax just gave her a blank look. “Who’s Zecora?” Applejack looked carefully, but she couldn’t see any signs of deceit. He was generally confused.
With that, Applejack decided that enough was enough. She slammed a hoof down on the table and got up. “That’s it! I’m taking you to see Twilight and the girls!”
Jax blinked a few times, but then just nodded. When he tried to stand however, his leg gave way from under him, making him stagger.
“Or… Ah’ll get them over here. Just rest for a while, Ah’ll be right back.” She hurried out of the house and ran towards the castle where Twilight most likely was.
***
He awoke with a jolt at glass shattering. He was standing up, in front of a dark forest. There was something wrong with that, but he couldn’t figure out what. He couldn’t think properly… he was so tired… and his head hurt… why was there a half shattered glass at his feet?
…
Where was he?
…
Who… who was he?
‘Sombra… I am King Sombra.’ It was a soft whisper inside his head. Was it his thought? He was… King Sombra?
He looked down at his hand. No… there was something wrong with that. He couldn’t be king Sombra.
‘I am King Sombra’ He kneeled at the pain that exploded inside his head. Memories of an empire made of crystal, sitting on a throne with ponies bowing to him. There was something foreign about it all, but he couldn’t think what. It hurt too much.
“I am King Sombra.” He said the words out loud, tasting them. They tasted wrong but… who was he, if not King Sombra?
He felt like he should have a cloak on him, but he had nothing but a pair of pants on. It was night, and it was cold… what was he doing here?
‘Go into the forest.’ He thought.
That was a bad idea… the forest was bad.
‘Go into the forest.’ A bit more force behind the thought this time.
He took a tentative step forward, careful to avoid the glass, then another. Something was nagging him about the whole situation… but he didn’t know what to do about it, or even what was going on.
'I am King Sombra.' He told himself, the thought was more gleeful than he felt.
And so, he started walking into the dark forest.
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I am king Sombrero
I came to steal your hats.
Ya got featured m8
7176293 It's just the popular story update box.
img.memecdn.com/shitstorm_o_5964247.jpg
I'm a bit late to this one. Oh well, still just as good.
Putting a new engine in your car will do that to you.
The Luna bit was pretty awesome. You covered quite a bit in this chapter. I'm impressed. Sounds like Sombrero is wearing down his defences.
Also, if there were any errors in this one, I didn't catch them, so congrats to you and your editor.
Also, good luck with your patreon. I think you are good enough, I just don't have any money....
7181061 Hey you can comment again! XD Cool :D
Hehe I thought you might like it, I think I remember you said you liked excited Luna XD
And yes, I did have quite a lot in this chapter, I felt it was about that time, it's just unfortunate that Applejack didn't get much time ^.^
Yes, Sombrero hasn't been idle XD
Yes, that was mostly me XD My editor only found one sentence where she could change something, and nobody has commented any mistakes yet XD
hehe thanks DJ, I'm glad you think so :) yeah, I don't know how expensive it is, but I can imagine it's pretty darn excpensive XD
7182519 Yup. Haha, yes, excited Luna is great.
Yeah, definately more than I wanted or had to spend, but hey. It runs better than it ever has.
Is it bad that I saw a story with a similar idea to what Sombrero did here, and this is the one I like the brainwashing in? Then again, staged Stockholm versus sleep deprived forced suggestion. That last part doesn't read right, but meh. Any way, I was running low on excited Luna levels, now I am about half full. Time to find more excited happy Luna's.
7215312 hard to say whether it's bad or good XD I'm glad you like an aspect of my story so i guess good XD
I'm hoping to have more excited happy Luna in my story but dunno when XD If nowhere else then by the end of it XD
7182519
*giggles* This is what happens when you have an editor who takes the time to explain why something needs an edit. It makes it so you know what to look out for when you're writing future chapters. Helping our authors learn, and hone their craft is part of what we editors do. Aside from catching the stuff you all don't catch yourselves.
7217337 hehe yep, though I still seem to have a problem with commas 'cause Danish commas are way different, and run on sentences ^.^
Oh snap! Fan, meet the shit. Everyone else, take cover.
Not completly sure yet but i think i called it a few chapter's back. Thankfully i waited to get more chapter's before i continued.
YOU FACE JAX! SHADOW LORD OF THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE!
A single "s" won't do. You need SS
7759467 I try to avoid the SS. They always ask too many questions