Crystalline: Her Destiny

by Ice Star

Chapter 9: Into the Arctic

Over those four days Sombra and I spent our time mutually avoiding one another since I wasn't sure how to apologize to him, and part of me wasn't sure if I wanted to since he didn't even attempt to talk to me. What he did then, I wasn’t sure, but what I did was simple.

I read, which did nothing to lighten my spirits, even if I did meant it as an earnest attempt.

...

Back in Gildentundra, within Crooked Glacier Manor dwelled a lonely Finola, alone and finely garbed in the expensive raiment her kin would have revered, compared to the mere tales of such things and peasant's clothes that they had witnessed. So miserable was she that she became known as Finola ‘Frail-heart’, a name as broken as she was. She was forgotten for a while until the Lord of the manor, Silver Price, found her to be relevant to his existence.

He needed an heir.

Over the one winter, she was with foal. Finola grew weak and homesick. For how long had she been in this strange land? Why must she be bedecked in these foreign and cumbersome items known as gowns? Eventually, on the twelfth cycle of the winter she gave birth; but not to the heir that Lord Silvedas desired. The foal she produced was neither well-colored nor male, which is what he had wanted. It was a shame that the Lady Finola would never get to see her foal. So weak and homesick, she died as soon as her daughter was born. She was an earth pony like much of the previous generations in Finola's lineage.

The filly had a coat the color of rotten cabbage, squash colored eyes, and a putrid sienna mane in damp curl-like tangles. The midwife turned and examined the filly. She then faced Silvedas - no tears brimmed her eyes, for death in foal-birth was ever so common then, more so than now - and congratulated him on the birth of a healthy daughter.

“What shall her name be?”

The manor's lord stood eyeing the babbling foal with a most unnatural hatred.

“Coppertangle,” he spat, “'Tis the only name fit for a fiend like that.”

The midwife nodded grimly and cast a piteous glance at the filly.

“And what shall we do with the departed?” she said meekly as Silvedas opened the door to leave.

“What we did with the witch eight winter cycles ago!” he bellowed as he exited, slamming the door.

She sighed and eyed the only living being in the room. And so it was in a private cremation, with no burial or rites, that the little Mistress Gildebloode, sole heir of an evil estate, was born anew in the fire of her mother's ashes.

From then on, little lady Copper was locked in one of the manor's old towers. Food was snuck into the tower for her. Nopony ever saw her, but it was said she was dressed in rags and under-groomed, with a mane and tail of curly tangles that were her namesake. Her only companions were the dusty arcane magic tomes used by the Lord Gildebloode's smarter ancestors, but forsaken by him. So it was reading that Mistress Copper did most. She learned the arcane magics, for they required no horn. But her magic was somewhat twisted, centered around perfecting a master curse. All this time forsaken made her grow demonic as she further coddled her hatred. The few servants that saw her thought that it might have been the books that were furtherering something in her.

Coppertangle knew about the outer world, for among the spell-books were the occasional foolish fay tale and history volumes. Distant and far-between servant whispers confirmed why she was sealed away, and the word of her confinement soon reached her own ears when she was able to understand what they said. Rage and resent soon joined her hatred, and these too she nurtured with utmost care. Why should she, a noble lady, be locked away! She deserved fine gems and lacy gowns! Or so her thought went.

Her patience began to crack, winter cycle after winter cycle. By her eighth winter cycle she was furious at the lack of any rescue attempt or anything spoken of within her books. She took everything she had: emotion, arcane knowledge, brews from the toxic chamber molds, a twist of something darker, magic, and she unleashed her master curse. Quantities of dark magic were activated as she emerged from the tower, and she underwent the metamorphosis required to become the entity known as the Northbound Wraith, a puppet of a filly with a powerful ghost of emotions at her control.

Upon her emergence she obliterated all in the manor, with the exception of a visiting courier, who was lucky enough to escape with his life. To her manor-dwelling victims she cried:

Undefeatable am I
Lest evil acquire,
What the vain Lord lacked
And speaketh Great Truth

To this ‘day’ as they are now called, it is said that she, Coppertangle no longer, prowls the land as cold as she onto which she is bound to, heart chillier than both the wind and ice.

Thus ends the legend of Lady Finola Frail-heart of Farreach and the Northbound Wraith.

...

I was mortified by the heartbreak in the tale. Still, I had nothing to do at the moment, which caused my thoughts to wander.

Sombra said that there was a story in here I should read. He never said which one, though.

Maybe I should just flip through until I find something convincing - without asking Sombra of course. It didn’t sound like such a bad plan; the worst outcome would be reading another sad story. I paused a moment before deciding to act upon my actions. It will only be another hour or so until we arrive in the Empire. Home. What harm could reading another old legend do? I doubt all of these are real stories but it doesn’t mean that all of them are fake. Convinced, I flipped to the contents from before. About twenty stories were crammed into this little book but which one would Sombra want me to read? Driving of the Windigos? That one sounds exactly like the Hearth Warming legend, so I'll skip that one. Maybe The Sirens Three? But wasn't that something Twilight told me about? How about The Great Court Rumor?

None of these sounded right. What kind of story would he even want me to read?!

I scanned the list again until I came to Tragedy at Bitter End. That sounded dark and mysterious. Sad too, but…

Sad, dark, and mysterious?

That definitely sounds like my story. Beside, who was more dark and mysterious than Sombra? I bet he's even more bitter than this story even though this has 'bitter' in its name.

This story was completely different from the one about the wraith. The even more serious tone sucked me in, of course this one was it! The plot was pretty simple: An army from the pegasus tribe are sent to kill a legion from the unicorn tribe and a militia from the earth pony tribe because of yet another spat between these three. In the three way battle over a comment made by Princess Platinum, all sides were killed without a single survivor. Their flesh and bones froze into horrid golems of ice. Since these ponies were once alive, they had souls, but these souls mostly faded and just became a minor sustenance for their new undead forms.

Worst of all was that after the battle at Bitter End, a small icebound plain outside of the tribe lands, these monsters became united in a plundering zest. Banding together, they would sweep through any land and steal its most valued force or forces, and if the kingdom didn’t fall on its own, the curse, caused by the brief presence of these ramsackers, would ensure that no matter what it would, to be only a memory never to be brought back again. Never.

I had just begun to close the book, heart bent on protecting the Empire, when everything went wrong.

“Princess Amore!”

What could he want now? Weren't we already enemies? “What is it, Sombra?”

Trying as hard as I could, I concealed the panic suddenly creeping into me that was brought on by his tone.

Wait… why did he have all his gear on? The empire wouldn’t be near for about an hour.

He abruptly slung my saddlebags and gear across my back. Had he completely lost his mind?! I knew he was crazy but this seemed unlike him. “The train is going to crash, something on the tracks, I think. Come on, I'm going to get you out of here. Now jump on this!” he ordered, gesturing to a long äerint slab.

I stood there. “If the train is going to crash we need to evacuate it! There are at least ten other ponies on this train!”

His left eye twitched. “You incorrigible little do-gooder! Do you think I care? No. Do you think that I will do anything about them? No. Will I let you get yourself killed when by stupidly trying to save somepony when my life could be at risk? Absolutely not!”

He lit his horn and laid the board on the floor. Next he levitated me onto the board, to which I loudly protested.

“Hey what are you-”I gasped trying to move, but found my hooves covered in äerint just below the knee.

Sombra abruptly pulled open the door, revealing the freezing landscape outside of the Empire. It was in the middle of a blizzard and the train was at full speed, which caused the snow to blur and be whipped about by ferocious winds.

I gasped. “What stupid thing are you planning-”

“You’ll thank me later,” he grumbled, quickly spinning me around so I was at an angle where I was facing the door perfectly. Wait, what was he- I felt a shove from behind as I was pushed out of the train attached to an äerint slab. I screwed my eyes shut and screamed.

Was I going to die?

An eternity seemed to have passed already, so maybe I was already dead? It did feel quiet, after all. The ice crystals that were whipped around in the blizzard began to sting even more.

Ice crystals?

I don't think it snowed in the afterlife, whether it was Tartarus or Paradise. Although it might snow occasionally in Elysium’s realm of Paradise, I wasn't sure. Maybe all that was just a trick of my mind? Perhaps even the needles of death felt different?

My eyelids crackled and began to water painfully as I wrenched my eyes open and blinked the snow away. A sharp breath caught in my raw, freezing throat, dry from all the screaming, which caused me to cough awkwardly.

I was… gliding, skidding perhaps, over the snow. Powerful winds from the storm both propelled me somewhat and kept me bouncing. I. Wasn't. Dead.

But what about the train? Didn’t Sombra say the tracks might… that the tracks were blocked?

I turned my head around to gaze over my wither carefully. When I looked over to see the train, I noticed it hadn’t gone too far.

Huh, I guess that means my ‘last moment’ was really only a- Sweet Auntie Celestia, what is that!

In the middle of the rail, just ahead, was an enormous earthen rock spire so unlike Sombra’s äerint. From the last cargo car I saw a large shape - a familiar shadow-esque form with large green and red eyes framed in purple smoke - flow out of the compartment. A fiery explosion blinded me, and soon I felt no bumps below.

I still can't believe that he'd let-

Are you alright Princess Amore? Your breathing is very quick, yet shallow. I don't think normal ponies are supposed to do that, chimed a half-earnest, half-sardonic tone in my head.

That wasn’t my voice! I wasn't a stallion! My eyes blinked open in a start. Brusquely, I flung my head in an arc, causing my tricolor mane to swirl through the snow.

Nopony was visible… neither was the permafrost landscape on the Empire's outskirts. I know it's freezing, and it’s in the middle of a snowstorm, but this is getting spooky…

Ugh, you lack-wit. I'M DOWN HERE!

I tilted my head downward. There, below the slab, was Sombra in shadowy form churning up snow. This was just like surfing in Horseshoe Bay. Kind of.

Nevertheless, I was breathless.

It would help if you used your wings, after all I'm only so tangible in this form.

I unfolded my wings a bit, tilted them, and thrust my face into the arctic wind I had become so accustomed to. My misery was going to end soon. A small sigh escaped me.

Where to, Princess?

Jolted out of the reverie, I fixed my eyes on the northern horizon knowing what lay ahead.

“The Crystal Empire. Home.” My home.

It must have been around noon, based on the sun's position, when Sombra and I reached the rocky outskirts of a familiar mountain range. I couldn’t wait to see the Empire, the crystal ponies, and Shiny. Below me, Sombra made a noise I swear was a snort. Can shadows snort?

Soon, the edge of the mountains began to give hints of sloping downward. As we came to an area of the Gemheart Mountains, I closed my eyes and puffed out my chest with pride. Sure Sombra had been here before, but had he ever seen the place looking like this?

“Welcome to the Crystal Empire, Sombra.” I piped.

Well, we were gone for nine or so days, and apparently everything blew up…

Confusion smacked me. What could he possibly mean ‘everything blew up’?

Slowly, I opened my eyes and all wonder turned to bewilderment.

The Empire was in ruins...

Rock spires, like ones from not so long ago, sprouted everywhere. Like surrounding structures the castle was in shambles. Everything had an awful gray tint that was amplified by gloomy brown dust as if the destruction happened recently before the other princesses could arrive. Shining Armor was nowhere in sight which bewildered me. Melancholy crystal ponies were drifting around the remains of the Crystal Heart Plaza.

But the Heart…

It was… gone.

Tears were streaming down my face.

“Too much,” I choked, “this is too much.”

Even Sombra seemed slightly bemused.

“Nooo!” I bawled. “I'll save you, I swear on my princesshood!”

My screaming caught the eye of some of the ponies. When they saw Sombra's shadow-self they began to scream in some kind of chaotic harmony. It was as if their world was ending…

But maybe I could change that. Still attached to my äerint board, I struggled to attempt to free myself through force. Magic. I need magic. I began to light my horn hoping a purifying charm could help break these bonds.

Sombra noticed what I was doing and his eyes began to glow. Äerint now encased my horn. He turned and started to speed away still as his shadow-self. I was still in tow.

I faced him, as best I could from my position.

“We have to stay!” I yelled.

No, trust me just one more time. If I am lying, you shall have my corpse. We need to go now before the Empire decays for good. That is how you can help them... even though I hate this place so much...

He continued to loop around the Empire, cutting in a northwest direction that would lead into the Trottish outskirts. Then into the Arctic, if a pony went far enough.

We sped away and I had no choice to comply, being magically inhibited and physically unable to fly.

My regret gnawed at me.

Comments

[Odd_Sarge]

Wow, uh... shit.

[Ice Star]

9060586
Bad things happened. C:

[RoyalBardofCanterlot]

D-did Sombra just let all those Ponies die?! That was exciting.

[Ice Star]

10263206

D-did Sombra just let all those Ponies die?!

What, are you gonna narc on him?

[Bicyclette]

The filly had a coat the color of rotten cabbage, squash colored eyes, and a putrid sienna mane in damp curl-like tangles.

aww that is such a mean way to describe a baby!

“And what shall we do with the departed?” she said meekly as Silvedas opened the door to leave.

“What we did with the witch eight winter cycles ago!” he bellowed as he exited, slamming the door.

ugh this guy is a real jerk!

To this ‘day’ as they are now called, it is said that she, Coppertangle no longer, prowls the land as cold as she onto which she is bound to, heart chillier than both the wind and ice.

loved this story-within-a-story! feels like one of those things that's supposed to comment on Sombra's journey

That definitely sounds like my story. Beside, who was more dark and mysterious than Sombra? I bet he's even more bitter than this story even though this has 'bitter' in its name.

hehehe yes he is dark and mysterious isn't he

His left eye twitched. “You incorrigible little do-gooder! Do you think I care? No. Do you think that I will do anything about them? No. Will I let you get yourself killed when by stupidly trying to save somepony when my life could be at risk? Absolutely not!”

villain with a heart of gold Sombra is not!

Below me, Sombra made a noise I swear was a snort. Can shadows snort?

if any shadow could it would be Sombra!

Rock spires, like ones from not so long ago, sprouted everywhere. Like surrounding structures the castle was in shambles. Everything had an awful gray tint that was amplified by gloomy brown dust as if the destruction happened recently before the other princesses could arrive. Shining Armor was nowhere in sight which bewildered me. Melancholy crystal ponies were drifting around the remains of the Crystal Heart Plaza.

oof, sounds like they might be too late in getting back to the Crystal Empire! great way to up the stakes in the third act