A Crystal Facade

by bahatumay

Chapter 3

For a while I dabbled in necromancy. Necromancy is, of course, impossible; but that didn’t stop me from trying. Sombra had hidden secret passageways throughout the castle, and invoking the dark magic made them easy to find. I found all kinds of secret things, including books with spells that probably should have remained hidden.

As it turns out, many spells and potions of questionable ethical quality require many, many crystals. Magical crystals that are hard to produce… but grow plentifully under the ground.

It started out as a volunteer program, with generous benefits, of course. Participants would be compensated based on the crystals recovered. I paid good bits for rare and powerful crystals, and a smaller fee by weight of less valuable crystals. Many young ponies just starting out in life and needing a little cash to start their careers signed up right away. After all, I’d suppressed most of their fear, and nopony seemed to mind the risks. I guess fear takes a while to build back up.

I later put a higher reward on crystals said to have healing properties because I found that I could not control my emotions and I could not stop eating. I desired the strangest of foods, and nearly drove the castle cooks mad with my requests and returning food for correction after two bites or so.

Of course, this program somewhat ground to a halt when I realized why my dresses no longer fit. A cowering chambermaid stammered the answer as I tearfully and angrily demanded why she had sewn them so small. It was enough to briefly shock me into sanity again.

I was pregnant.

* * *

“Say that again,” Cadence breathed.

“You- you’re with foal, your highness,” she stammered, still cowering behind her hooves. “You’re likely in your seventh month.”

Cadence looked up at the sky and slowly sank to her haunches. Pregnant. She was pregnant. How was that possible? She thought back to the last time she and Shining Armor had-

Shining…!

She slowly lowered herself to the ground. He’d always wanted foals. She gently, hesitantly, brought a hoof up and touched the side of her stomach. There was a foal in there. His foal.

Cadence laid her head down and wept; but for the first time in a long time, these were tears of joy. Shining had left her a parting gift, and she would take care of it.

* * *

I think… no, I’m certain, that my foals helped keep me sane. I couldn’t care only about myself; I had two others to live for.

Not the thousands of crystal ponies that looked up to me; my foals. Madness, I tell you.

Oh, yes. Foals. I know it’s the mare’s doing and not the stallion’s when multiple foals are born, but I can’t help but think that Shining Armor would have strutted proudly through the castle when he discovered that I was bearing twins.

Of course, due to my natural magics messing with the crystals used for medical instruments, I only learned this during the foaling. But I digress.

They were beautiful. I named them Garnet and Ruby, after their coat colors.

I think most evil starts from good ideas. I mean, I loved my foals. They had saved me, kept me sane. All I wanted was a secure, safe place to raise them.

That wasn’t too much to ask, was it?

* * *

Cadence walked down the hallway, looking at the clipboard. She scowled. “Zirconia?”

“Y- yes, your highness?” the little pink crystal pony squeaked.

“It looks like crystal production is down three percent. Why?”

“W- w- well, your highness, it’s…”

“Unforgivable?” Cadence suggested.

“I- I mean-”

“Unexplainable,” Cadence supplied.

Zirconia clenched her eyes shut. “We’ve had a string of deaths and morale is down,” she blurted quickly.

“I see,” Cadence said coldly.

“If, perhaps, the workers could be given a break…”

Cadence stopped. “A what?”

Zirconia fearfully stepped backwards, but Cadence matched her step for step, not breaking eye contact. “I’m certain I didn’t hear what I just thought I heard, right, Zirconia?”

Zirconia couldn’t even squeak.

“Care to remember what happened to your predecessor? You know how dangerous those caves are, Zirconia. I’d hate for there to be… another accident.”

Zirconia sank to the ground and nodded, too bound by Cadence’s glare to be even able to look away.

“Your highness?”

The spell was broken as Cadence looked up, and Zirconia scampered away as fast as her crystal hooves would take her. “Amber Waves.”

The light blue stallion took a shaky breath. “Y- you wished to see me?”

“Yes, I did.” Cadence hefted the clipboard again and flipped to the second page. “Food production is up one point five percent. Good work.” A small smile crossed Cadence’s face. “Keep it up, and your wife’s nightmares might stop soon.”

Amber Waves dropped to a knee. “Thank you, your highness,” he breathed.

Cadence nodded and continued walking. She lit her horn and pushed open a door, and the sound of chinks quickly intensified.

“Iron Chisel!” she called.

The pony in the front who had been hunched over his work jumped, falling backwards onto the stone floor. He quickly scrambled to his hooves and sprinted to Cadence, falling into a deep bow.

Cadence looked at the clipboard again. “Your production seems to have plateaued,” she observed airily.

“I- it’s harder, Princess--not that we’re complaining, of course--but being required to find our own marble as well as carve it is proving difficul-”

“Or maybe,” Cadence cut him off, “you’re just being lazy. All of you!” she shouted, the last sentence reaching Royal Canterlot Voice levels.

“No, Princess Cadenza-”

“Mi Amore Cadenza,” Cadence corrected coldly.

“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza-”

“If the next words out of your mouth are not ‘we will increase output by at least two percent’, you’ll find yourself out of a job,” Cadence whispered.

Iron Chisel gulped. He knew exactly what those words meant. “T- two percent, your highness,” he whispered even more quietly.

Cadence nodded firmly and left the room, slamming the door behind her.

She continued walking down the hallway and arrived at her treasury. The mare outside at the desk seemed focused on her work; but the way her quill quivered showed that she was keenly aware of the presence of the princess.

“Silver Chain,” Cadence observed.

“Y- your highness,” she whispered.

“Your counts have a discrepancy of twenty five bits and three cents,” Cadence said. “This is the third time you’ve had such an error.”

Silver Chain trembled. “Princess, I-”

Cadence lit her horn and physically threw her out a nearby window, sending glass shards flying everywhere. As if on cue, castle maids emerged from the shadows, brooms and dustpans at the ready.

Cadence watched for a while, then pointed at the maid that seemed to be working the fastest. “You.”

The maid dropped her broom. “M- me?” she asked, raising a shaky hoof and pointing at herself.

“Can you count?”

“Y- yes, of course; but-”

“You’ve been promoted.” She pressed the badge that had fallen to the ground when she’d defenestrated Silver Chain onto her chest. “Congratulations.”

The maid squeaked.

“Oh, chin up,” Cadence said. “You’ve just received a pay raise. And you... you have foals, don't you? A little filly, as I remember?”

“Y- yes, your highness,” she whispered.

“See? Good things happen when you do your job.” With a little smile, Cadence continued down the hall, flipping the pages on her clipboard further. She had other ponies to visit.

* * *

In short, I became Sombra. I think I became worse. I mean, I never took first night privileges or anything, but that’s no comfort. I controlled everything, I ran everything, I basically removed free will from the Empire and quite literally terrorized anypony who tried to stand against me.

They were too young to know, Ruby and Garnet. They never knew. They hadn’t even learned to talk yet before that day arrived.

That fateful day that deliverance came to the Empire in the form of a purple alicorn princess.

* * *

A purple alicorn entered the Crystal Empire. The trains had had their coal rationed, so she had arrived by chariot. As she entered, she stopped. She looked around. Ponies in shackles, chains. Depressed. Dark.

She had seen this all before.

I saw the growing horror in her eyes even from my window. She looked up at the castle and frowned. Her mouth formed a half-asked question, before shaking her head. It had to be a mistake. It had to be. She couldn’t wrap her head around it any other way.

I did feel bad that I had to be the one to break it to her.

She looked up at my window and teleported in. She saw me and lit her horn. “What have you done with Cadence?” she demanded, pawing the ground.

“It’s me, Twilight,” I said, turning to look at her. “It’s me.”

“You’re lying,” Twilight accused. “Cadence wouldn’t do something like this. Cadence wouldn’t defeat a tyrant king only to take his place! Cadence is better than that!”

“I’m really not,” I confessed quietly.

“I’m only going to ask you one more time. Where is she?”

I exhaled, and dropped into a playful position, one that I hadn’t been in in a long time. “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake…”

The light around Twilight’s horn faded. “Cadence?” she whispered. “What’s…? What’s going on?”

“I wish you didn't have to see me like this; but at the same time, I'm so happy to see you.”

“Huh?”

“I know why you’re here. You're here to free me. Free my subjects. Free the crystal ponies. They've certainly been through enough.” As I spoke, I reached out and felt for her anger, trying to raise it up. Unbridled anger always had such nasty consequences.

To my surprise, though, I felt my grip slide right off. She had been shielded somehow. My emotion magic couldn't affect her.

Oddly fitting, I suppose.

“I’ve had foals, Twilight,” I said. “Twins. A little colt named Garnet and a little filly named Ruby.”

“That’s… great?” Twilight said, cocking her head.

“It’s not. Well, it is now. They’ll have you to teach them.”

“Me?” Twilight’s eyes widened in horror as the implications hit her. “No…”

“Teach them, Twilight,” I pleaded. “Teach Ruby and Garnet about the darkness inside them. Teach them how to overcome it. I know you'll figure out how. You’ve always been good at finding the good in ponies. Teach them what I never could learn to do.”

“You will teach them-” Twilight tried.

“I can't teach them!” I howled. “I couldn't even control myself!”

“But-”

“Look what I've done!” I shrieked. “I've become Sombra! No! I've become worse!”

Twilight's breath came in steadily more raggedly. “Cadence, if we try, really try, together I’m sure we can-”

“It’s too late for me, Twilight,” I said bitterly. “I know my fate. I couldn’t escape it. This is how it must be.”

“Cadence, please…”

“I'm sorry, Twilight.”

“Cadence…” Twilight pleaded.

“My name-” I said forcefully, lighting my horn and bringing my rear hoof back and spreading my wings to stabilize myself, “-is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”

Tears streamed down Twilight's face. “Please don’t make me do this,” she whispered.

“This is how it must be,” I repeated in a whisper of my own. “Take care of Ruby and Garnet, please.”

And with that, I fired.

Twilight teleported out of the way, appearing a couple paces to the side of my blast. It continued, splintering the stone door.

“Wha-?”

“It’s for real, Twilight,” I said, firing another blast. She teleported out of the way again, and I exploded my own throne into crystal splinters. “I’m going to kill you if you don’t kill me first.”

“But-!”

“Do what you must, Twilight!” I fired again, destroying one of the pillars.

“Cadence, no!”

“Mi Amore Cadenza!” I corrected her, firing once more. She sidestepped.

I was in despair. I wasn’t thinking straight. But she was calm. That's why she wasn't getting hit.

I needed to switch those emotions.

I fired again and again, rapid fire. Dust exploded from the impacts, and my whole throne room became a smoky, blinding mess.

But when it faded, Twilight still stood strong, protected behind a shield, just like the ones her brother used to make.

I switched tactics. I summoned crystals. Black crystals jutted up from the floor, but Twilight flapped her wings and took flight. She blasted them all down as quickly as I could raise them; and when I tried to raise as many as I could at once, she merely cast a shield and the crystals ground themselves to dust when they tried to breach it.

She was too good. But I knew one way to force her to act: endanger innocents.

I spread my wings and burst through the balcony door, sending wood fragments everywhere. I felt one piece get stuck in my mane, but I ignored it.

I landed on the street. I looked over towards the nearest house. I looked up at Twilight, back at the house, and lit my horn.

She knew what I was going to do. She cast a shield around me, and it formed just a split second before the blast would have turned the house into rubble.

She flew out and landed. We stood a good fifty paces apart.

And then the look in her eyes. It was hauntingly familiar. It wasn't defeat. Was it betrayal?

No. It was anguish. Tears welled up in her eyes. This would hurt her just as much as it would hurt me. She closed her eyes and lit her horn, and I took a shaky, steadying breath. I’d accepted my fate.

I saw the burst of light leave her horn.

And then I knew no more.