55 - To Love and Lose
Emerald Edge shook the stars from her eyes as she sat up from where she was. She tasted blood in her mouth and realized she must have bitten her tongue. She looked around blearily.
The throne room was in absolute bedlam. Tables and chairs had been flung everywhere, and some of them had broken on impact. Emerald herself had been lucky; she had been thrown into a wall tapestry and her armor had absorbed most of the hit. A guard lay next to her, a long splint of wood sticking out of his gambeson, killing him. Emerald muttered a quick thank you to the magic portal, for it had supplied her with armor much stronger than the kind humans could craft. She rose, thankful that she had not skewered herself with Amore, which lay beneath her.
She scooped up her wayward sword, just as she heard groans coming from around her. Her fellow knights must be waking up too.
Though, there seemed to be something wrong. Sir Boercival, who was closest, sat up and there was a strange golden glow coming from inside his helmet. The watery light shone from the eyeholes, giving him an unnatural, spooky air.
“This can’t be good,” Emerald muttered, staggering to her feet. She spied a plume of smoke rising from the ground next to Morn, who was now seemingly in the act of admiring Excalibur’s blade, entranced. The queen and the muses were nowhere to be seen.
Emerald made it a few steps before she fell over again, now noticing a ringing in her ears. The explosion must have knocked a few cogs loose in her head, but there was no time to seek a remedy, or even time to rest and recover. Something had to be done before this all spiralled out of control.
One by one, the Knights of the Round Table got up, each one’s eyes emitting that same golden light. Sir Lionheart, who usually did not wear a helmet, had a blank, stoic expression on his face and stared directly ahead, as if he was in deep thought. The same watery light shone from his eyes.
What is going on? Emerald wondered, glancing uneasily at the other knights. She had used the sword before, but she had never seen an effect like this.
Sir Morn knelt down and retrieved Excalibur’s sheath from the desiccated corpse that used to be Dawn Saber and buckled it to his own belt, letting Clarent’s sheath fall to the ground.
“At last, Canterlot shall have a true king! One who will bring this kingdom into balance,” Sir Morn proclaimed, picking up the fallen crown and placing it on his head. And he did look kingly, with his gleaming armor and golden crown, though the armor had a massive scorched hole across the chest and right arm. It was a shame that the image was ruined by the wreck that the throne room had become, not to mention the smoldering cadaver of the previous king at his feet and the blood all over his face. “Me!”
There was something different about Sir Morn. His eyes seemed to glow an acidic green, and they looked less human than before. It was almost familiar to Emerald, but she couldn’t quite place it.
“M-Morn?” she called out to him, pushing up to her feet. “What… what have you done…? Why?”
“Lady Emerald?” Sir Morn seemed to take a moment to recognize her. “I… I have done it, I have! I have righted the wrongs!” His eyes flashed, green but with a back glow of gold. “King Dawn Saber is king no more!” A delighted grin lit up his bloodstained face, giving him a demented look.
“Morn! What are you saying!?” Emerald stood there in shock, unable to process how everything had gone so wrong so quickly. “What… what in Tartarus did you do!?”
Morn lowered Excalibur and stepped toward Emerald, smiling as though he had just won a million bits. “Do you now see, Emerald? I am king now! We can rule together, right the wrongs that my dastard of a father dared not! I have the power now!”
Emerald’s face had gone chalk-white. “No, no no no no…! This isn’t happening! Morn, stop!”
“My lady, my father is no longer living. But he has a son. An heir to replace him. We can change things. We can bring order to this kingdom. Tis what any man with sense would want.”
“B-But… this isn’t… it isn’t right, Morn, what you have done.”
“A man like him did not deserve kingship. Come, Emerald, be with me. Together you and I can rule this kingdom. You said you would always be by my side, my lady.”
Images began to flash back in Emerald’s mind, memories that she thought she had laid aside. A young Sombra, being cared for by Radiant Hope. The same colt watching the guards drill in the Crystal Empire. That same pony’s sudden onslaught of villainy, ultimately slaying her princess. Her empire under the shadow of the tyrant Sombra. She could not go through this again.
Sir Morn took another few steps toward Emerald, holding out his free hand.
Emerald wanted to take it, to be with Morn, but something in her mind bugged her. Morn wasn’t the same man he was anymore. Something had changed within him, and it wasn’t the fangs or the acidic reptilian eyes.
“Morn, no, this isn’t the way,” she pleaded, trying to reason with him. “Please come off of there. This is not you.”
“No, Emerald.” Morn looked at the golden blade in his hand. “This is me. This is who I was meant to be. I see it now. Come, rule beside me, my lady.”
“I… I…” Emerald was at a loss for words, not sure what else she could say. She could not. This was no way for her to ascend the throne, but usurpation and death. This was not how Morn should have done it either. “Morn, no, stop this.”
“My lady, why do you wish of me to do so?” Morn’s hand remained outstretched. “No, you have said you will always be by my side. Emerald, was that all a lie? Do not tell me tis so.”
Emerald had to make a decision now. She only had two choices, but they were some of the hardest choices she’d ever had to make. She could either join Morn and rule over Canterlot with him or she could try and stop him. She loved him and he meant so much to her, but she knew ruling alongside him now when he was like that, Princess Amore wouldn’t have wanted this of her. But then there was the option of stopping him. She couldn’t bare to harm a single hair on his head. But now, Morn was waiting for her. He was open. If she could get to him, would she be able to end it all before it could really go out of hand? Would she even be willing to sink her blade into his chest?
Emerald weighed her options and while it pained her to do so, she knew it was the right thing to do, even if she was doing it for him.
Tears welled in Emerald’s eyes as she looked up at Morn’s face. It was now or never; she might not have another chance. With Sir Morn’s guard down, she lifted Amore, her knight’s sword and the symbol of her station, and rushed the human.
Morn’s eyes widened in shock as he beheld Emerald’s charge. But although the knight was not ready, Excalibur was. Without conscious thought from its bearer, the golden sword moved faster than Emerald could have guessed, intercepting her two-handed swipe meant for Sir Morn’s unarmored head. There was a scream of metal screeching on metal, then a splintering sound.
Emerald recoiled and fell over, still holding onto the hilt of Amore; the tempered steel blade had shattered an inch above the hilt, leaving a jagged stump on the crossguard.
“My lady, what… why do you try to strike me?” Morn looked so betrayed. “You of all people. Why?”
Emerald lay on the ground, still holding the remains of her sword. She leapt to her feet, but was immediately restrained by Sir Boercival and Sir Gallophad.
“Let me go!” she shouted, struggling and flailing around. However, the knights’ armor prevented her from doing any real damage. “What has happened to you two?”
“They have come to accept my will, my lady.” Sir Morn stepped closer to her, lifting Excalibur’s hilt to his face. The light coming from the other knights had faded, but they still maintained the same stoic expressions. “The sword has power beyond anything Dawn Saber could know. But yet, it did not affect you.”
“Do not continue down this path, Morn. Please!” Emerald looked into his acidic reptilian eyes, hoping to find even a trace of the human she loved. “This is not who you are! This is not what you stand for.”
“This is what I must become, Emerald. You do not see it? Dawn Saber’s rule has led this kingdom down a chaotic path. One of sadness, of ruin. As heir to the throne, I must do what I must to bring order to this kingdom. To this world. You will not see the new light shine on our new world?”
“I… I cannot, Morn.” Emerald looked away disappointedly, a tear falling from her left eye. “This is not what we stand for. I cannot be a part of this…”
“My lady…” The knight lifted a hand to her cheek and brushed it. “You promised me you would always be by my side. If even you cannot keep a promise… To the dungeons with her. There she will remain until I deem it.”
Emerald allowed herself to be dragged out, the world around her collapsing for the second time. She would’ve rathered Morn just end her life right there. There was nothing more for her.
“The new world will begin, Emerald, with or without you,” Morn called after her. “Perhaps time down there will clear your mind and help you see. A new order will rise. One where betrayal and injustice will no longer be a part of. Long live the king! Long live me!”
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Oh noo!!
how could this happen???
First off, missing a c. Second, He's dead?! Who is in charge of Canterlot, then?!
Is that a real word?
Edit: It is!
..............
No, too easy!
...............
Still too easy!
This is an awful turn of events! And I don't know who was in the wrong, the king or Sir Morn. Emerald can fix this, right? She's got to!
..........................
Damn. quite the successful coup d'etat. But, uh. Damn.
That is all
9826601
Couldn' t have said it better myself
Wow. How Em must feel here. Her lover becoming just like Sombra. Due to the machinations of the changelings. Though I think all of this will come crashing down on the two Changelings sisters cause we know that the two separated for a long time for something in the past as shown in Leap and Faith. And perhaps it is due to Morn or what happens to him after this... Considering Morn is not even alive in Leap of Faith...
..Using the artifacts to try and make a new world order under a single central authority figure? I feel like I've seen this one before. Heartbreaking though, the parallels with Sombra. Very clever but man is that tragic. Emerald deserve so much better.