The Lunar Chalice

by Spirals95

Chapter 29 - Rosseth Reconciled

Chapter 29

The dark, quiet room that served as King Sombra's workshop was kept a secret from everypony in the castle, even Midnight. Tucked away in a hallway that no one ever used, and kept silent with a constant sound barrier charm that had been long forgotten by most magic users, no noise came in, and none came out. Tables of ancient petrified wood, carved deeply with runes and conduits, were bolted up against the walls made from the darkest stone. No natural light was permitted existence in the lair, only the soft blue glow from the magical wires burnt into the floor centuries ago. Along the back wall stood the main workbench, with ornate pillars along its sides carved to look like the horns of rams, and bright glowing orange lights at the tip of each one. A sinister set of brass pipes extended from behind the curved table, a pipe organ styled arrangement of tubes meant to draw arcane energy into the item being constructed. Here, King Sombra stood, his horn glowing furiously with sparks and flame while he completed another one of his many magical tools.

“Now to test this...”

With the new creations kept snugly under his cape, Sombra exited his secret arcane laboratory, and shut the brass doors behind himself. Then, with a flick of his horn, a line of green energy sprayed over it, causing it to disguise itself as part of the castle wall. Pleased that his private workspace had been kept hidden from his slaves and new “allies” alike, the king turned away and walked for his new location. It was nice to have remembered the layout of his ancient home despite his stint as the phantom that haunted the Crystal Empire.

Shadow Breeze was nearly knocked off his hooves when Sombra burst into the room he had been left in nearly an hour ago. The king had promised him a “special assignment” that would make use of his diplomacy education. Of course, this meant the ever-suffering pegasus had been left locked in one of the castle's many chambers with just a cushion to sit on and two small tables in the otherwise empty room. A single circular window sat at the other end of the room, but the glass was heavy and thick, and there was no way to open it for his freedom.

“Hello Shadow Breeze,” said the royal, smirking, “are you ready to give your time in service to my son?”

“I guess,” he answered, feigning a smile for the master of shadows, “Midnight's my friend, I'll help how I can!”

“Very well. I need you to deliver a message to the Crystal Empire for me,” Sombra continued, his green aura reaching into his cape.

Out came two silver neck braces, each crowned with a large green stone with subtle streaks of lime green running throughout. Horizontal-cut rubies lined the sides of the main gemstone, and the back of the necklace remained open to accept the wearer. Sombra levitated one of the braces onto the first of the two little coffee tables in the room, and a narrow bolt of his magic shot from his horn into the main gem stone, causing it to glow. The other necklace was left untouched on the other table.

Sombra made sure to step a little bit further away from the activated collar, “Shadow... ironic isn't it? That you bear that name but are not one of my kind. I should be insulted, but... I can sense that you go by a pet name.”

“How did you know that?” asked the timid stallion, his striped mane soaked in sweat.

“I did not probe your mind, or anything so taxing,” Sombra teased in order to toy with his slave, “it was a matter of considering your talent with my amulet. The Shadow Amulet I created so long ago as a part of an arcane crafting championship... that I won. I'm surprised it ended up in the hooves of such a coward as yourself!”

“Hey, you were the one who lost it,” retorted Shadow Breeze, seeming to overcome his fear slightly, “I just found it and used it for good, instead of whatever horrible things you were doing with it!”

“Ah, then perhaps I should be thanking you for bringing back my lost treasure,” continued the unicorn, “but, I suppose neither case matters. Are you prepared to deliver my message for me?“

Shadow Breeze knew the message was not going to be anything remotely pleasant for the Crystal Empire, but getting out of the valley meant being able to help his friends. So he quickly agreed to the king's task again.

“I'm ready.”

“Good. Now, if you could, please tell me where we are right now?”

Shadow Breeze blinked, “I'm sorry... what?”

The king's eyes glowed orange, “Where we are. Say it. Now.”

“We're in your castle!” came a terrified response.

“No... broader.”

The pegasus got the message, “Oh... we're in the Valley of Shadows someplace northeast of the Crystal Empire.”

As soon as the words escaped his lips, the collar nearby let out a loud chirp, and proceeded to detonate spectacularly, filling the room with heat from the fiery explosion and blasting out the glass window with the loudest shattering noise imaginable. Shadow Breeze screamed and covered himself with his wings, but the blast was enough to knock him over while Sombra remained standing from the weight of his armor. He laughed, and grabbed the other collar with his magic, approaching Shadow Breeze, who cried as he tried to back away from the shadow pony. But with the room being so small, he found himself in a corner, and the other collar was placed around his neck. He felt the evil device click shut around him, an interlocking set of pegs in the magical device prevented it from being removed.

Sombra cast the same activation spell upon the cursed necklace, and the primary gemstone glowed to indicate it was armed.

“There, now my insurance you will not tell Princess Cadance of our location is in place,” he said in a calm, diabolical manner, “do not worry Shadow Breeze, as long as you do not reveal our location, you will not be harmed. Fail to return by sundown or reveal this place, and you'll be nothing but dust in the wind. I promise it.”

Shadow burst into tears and pulled at the bomb with his wings, “If... if I get blown up, Midnight will never forgive you!”

“You're wasting your precious time, Shadow,” hummed Sombra jokingly, “go find Cadance and let the collar deliver its message. I wouldn't want the Crystal Empire to have to find an urn for you on such short notice.”

Stifling further tears, Shadow spread his wings, and jumped through the now-open window, soaring away for the Crystal Empire. Sombra relaxed his grin, well aware that he was in actuality taking a massive gamble by choosing to strap such a cruel device on the pegasus. Fear had always been his weapon and strongest tool, but there was a chance Princess Cadance would figure out what the collar was and disarm it. If she did...

“Well, I suppose we're prepared for the worst anyways,” he said, considering the missile, “but I suppose it is a shame I may end up backstabbing two of my son's friends.”

The ridiculous notion of him being sorry for that made him burst into deep laughter.

“Once you have finished your training and see things my way, Midnight, you won't even need your so-called friends!”

---

“Lighthearted, stop!” cried Rosseth, moving his neck to avoid getting his skull caved in by a stomping hoof.

The furious earth pony mare was still trying to pummel the zebra, “This... is what you get... for using me! And to think I was starting to like you!”

“Wait... what?” the zebra said, before her hoof finally connected with the side of his face, craning his neck, “OOF!”

Rosseth lay still on the floor of the bedroom, the blow having knocked him into submission. The mare over him breathed heavily, the lipstick and makeup on her face starting to run from sweat.

“Ha. Got you,” she said, gratified.

She pulled him up from the floor, still dazed from the heavy hit to his skull, “Come on, get up you idiot. You're nothing without that stupid amulet of yours, are you?”

“Uuuuggh,” gurgled the zebra, with a bit of blood likely in his throat.

Lighthearted grabbed him with her hoof and propped him against the wall. Somehow, despite being smaller than the hybrid, her earth pony strength and Sombra's lack of knowledge about their previous affairs had granted her proper revenge upon Rosseth's face. Now he had an ugly bruise on his head as a reminder of his treachery.

Rosseth started to come to, the image of Lighthearted and her beautiful purple eyes swirling around in front of him. She was still rather angry, and if he could collect his thoughts, he would probably have believed himself a dead stallion.

“Now are you going to help me or what?” she demanded.

He finally managed to pull his thoughts back together, “Help you? With what?”

“You brought back King Sombra, and now you're going to help me send him back to wherever he came from!”

“Oh, like it's that simple,” he answered, annoyed, “I used Princess Luna's prized chalice to bring him back from formlessness. The process cannot be reversed!”

“You're lucky I got to you first, Rosseth,” she said, huffing about and growling, “you're a necromancer now, and you know what the laws say about that.”

“Necromancy? There was clear evidence King Sombra still existed despite what you'd think,” countered the Zebra, rubbing the side of his head with a hoof, “His half-physical form was simply turned into a pure ethereal one. But I was offered his help when I found the horn...”

“Where did you get his horn? What happened?”

Rosseth decided to finish telling the story, “When King Sombra was reported destroyed, I knew that seemed highly unlikely. Your Crystal Heart has enough intelligence to question the ethics of erasing somepony from existence. It left just one piece of him, his horn, and his spirit remained in it, capable of transmission over long distances.”

Lighthearted climbed back up onto the bed, and motioned for him to sit next to her.

“Oh no way,” he answered, grumbling, “you're just going to hit me again.”

“Promise I won't if you finish telling me why you decided to be a jerk,” she offered, returning to her usual self with a smirk.

She ditched the embarrassing paper-thin saddle strapped to her back while waiting for him to climb up onto the soft comforter. Seeing the welt she had left on his striped face made her proud of herself.

“When I was little, Princess Cadance ruined my life by splitting up my parents,” he said plainly, getting tired of telling others over and over again, “which wouldn't have been so awful, it weren't for the fact that I'm a... half breed.”

Lighthearted placed her hoof under his chin, “That would explain the adorable brown patch here. So you're half zebra, half pony?”

“Are you listening to me?” he grumbled, pushing away her hoof, “And yes, my father was a zebra and my mother was a pony. They ended up not getting along, and I was stuck having to choose who to go with. I chose boarding school, visiting maybe once a year.“

His companion raised and eyebrow at the statement, “So Princess Cadance failed to save your parents' marriage and you've brought back King Sombra to deal with her?”

“Yes, and with the second fall of the Crystal Empire, her failure as a princess will be finished,” continued the zebra, brooding, “she does not deserve the love she gets and the power she has with how she made my life miserable.”

For the first time, Ligthearted could see that behind the charm and wit, Rosseth was broken and felt cheated. Surely the foals at his school made fun of him for being “half a pony”, or worse. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat just thinking about it.

“Ross... I'm sorry that the princess couldn't keep your parents together. You have every right to hate her for it,” she said warmly, “But I can tell you aren't happy with the money and power King Sombra gave you. You weren't even happy getting... me.”

The zebra looked into her eyes, still frowning, “What are you saying, Lighthearted?”

“I'm saying revenge on Princess Cadance will not make you any happier either,” the earth pony sighed, “destroying Cadance's life, and everypony else's is not going to make things right for you. Now King Sombra is loose, and he's going to terrorize everypony, including you.”

He questioned her, “And how come you're not afraid of him? The other Crystal Ponies nearly faint at the mention of his name!”

“When King Sombra first took over the Crystal Empire, I took to sabotaging his work whenever I could,” she said, justice in her voice, “I broke his magic toys every chance I got, and stayed hidden from the golem patrol. But since everypony else was chained up and under a curse, I wasn't a known freedom fighter.”

“So you never got caught despite his insane power? It seems he knows things ahead of time,” Rosseth commented, surprised at the waitress's hidden past.

“My guess was, he found my 'attitude'... hot. He, took a lot of us as... prizes.”

“Disgusting.”

Lighthearted nodded sadly, “He even had a favorite, which I helped escape his castle just the day before we all vanished. She never told me her name, but boy was she scared. And pregnant.”

“Can we please not discuss King Sombra's bodily habits?” winced Rosseth, “Why do you think I declined you as a gift? He's an animal and I know it.”

She rubbed the makeup and lipstick off her face, leaving a big purple stain on her hoof, “Then why work for him? Change your mind and let's stop him together!”

His eyes and ears sank, “It... it's too late. He will destroy us if we try. I need to carry through with this and defeat Princess Cadance. Once I have my revenge, we can stop Sombra. But you must understand why I feel the way I do.”

“I do,” Lighthearted said, scooting next to him, their sides coming into contact, “Rosseth, you've never been properly loved. That's why you hate the Princess of Love so much. But really, there is so much to love here. You're smart, you're clever, you can brew potions... you... make me laugh.”

They made eye contact, bodies already touching, and Rosseth felt the warmth from the mare. She had attacked him out of frustration, not hatred. There was something about her that he never felt before, a feeling of acceptance and comfort...

...and the feeling of warm, passionate lips on his.

Without really thinking, the two had kissed, and as soon as it was over, they were left speechless and in shock. Lighthearted had leaned in and gone for it almost as if by instinct.

“I... I shouldn't have done that,” she said, short of breath and jumping from the bed, “come on, we've got to get out of here.”

“Wait!” he said, standing up as well, “Ligthearted, stop!”

She listened, slowly turning around, “Ross I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking.”

“No, Light,” he said, a new pet name for her, “I feel the same way about you. I promised myself I would never grow attached to anypony I met during this mission. But... you're the only individual I've met who ever cared about me. To get angry at me enough to brave King Sombra just to get back at me. I've never felt this way about anyone before”

She was still conflicted, “I... I know, but... we can think about it once we get out of here.”

“Yes, and I'll help you,” he answered, smiling, “but first, let's get you clean.”

Together, they left the messy bedroom to get Lighthearted cleaned up, heading for a known master bathroom where she could wash the makeup and lipstick away. The door to the hot bath was gilded in silver on a white door, and many expensive looking paintings of various ponies and scenery hung in the hallway outside. Two ponies stood near the doorway, a pegasus mare and her almost identical twin sister, both of them with teal coats and light blue manes. Rosseth noticed that their eyes looked almost soulless, quite similar to the description of their earlier captivity under the specter form of Sombra.

The sight of a familiar face cheered them up and put the light of the Crystal Empire back in their eyes, “Aren't you the mare from the courtyard who got grabbed by the king?”

“Yes, it's me, Lighthearted,” she answered, “I'm trying to get a nice hot bath before we come up with plans to stop Sombra..”

“He told us to wait here to see if Prince Midnight wanted a bath this morning,” one of the twins said, “guess he's not coming. Let's go quickly and get that purple color out.”

“I'll wait here then,” said Rosseth jokingly, “as much fun as a communal bubble bath would be.”

Lighthearted took a swat at him again, tapping his tender head bump.

“Ouch! Joking, Light! Enjoy your bath.”

The mare disappeared inside the tiled room, leaving the zebra alone outside. He heard footsteps coming from the down the hallway of the castle, along with the noise of armor moving.

“It's Sombra... and he's going to wonder where his two mares went,” thought the zebroid quickly.

Sure enough, the king turned the corner and found Rosseth having closed the door to the bathroom, acting as if he had just exited. Sombra noticed the welt on his head, and snickered at what he believed to be the cause of the sore.

“What's the matter Rosseth?” he joked, “Looks like things got somewhat rough between you and Lighthearted. Did you send her in to get cleaned up?”

“Indeed my lord,” answered Rosseth, rubbing the spot, “she's quite the firecracker I must admit. I hope you don't mind me borrowing your bath mares to help her get rid of that extra makeup.”

“Not at all, in fact, you should get a bath yourself,” the king suggested, “you'll need all the relaxation you can get, given that you'll be leading the invasion of the Crystal Empire tomorrow.”

“Excuse me?” he asked, surprised.

“Well, I didn't make you commander of my forces to have you sit around,” Sombra explained as if Rosseth were a child, “tomorrow you will march out with the golem army and lead them on an attack to strike at the Crystal Palace. There will be details tonight in the barracks. Don't miss them.”

The king's magic had already probed Rosseth's mind, and he was very aware of Rosseth's desire to betray him for his feelings towards Lighthearted. He could have gone into a rage and ended the zebra right there, but that would likely ruin the bathroom door. Sombra simply refused to see the zebra that resurrected him as anything other than a pawn, one he could order into battle with Cadance's land an expect obedience. He could still sense the deep hatred for the princess inside his heart, and felt it necessary to exploit those feelings for his own gain.

“It is clear you're having second thoughts,” Sombra said dryly, making Rosseth's mane hair curl on end, “do you not wish to see Princess Cadance vanquished for failing you? I thought I was granting you the ultimate honor of taking her and the Crystal Empire down personally.”

“I... I do still hate Cadance,” he muttered, “I just need time to brew more potions for battle.”

“Please, help yourself to Midnight's laboratory in the basement,” answered the king, bowing his head gently, “he will not mind, as he will be in training all day.”

He then raised his head again, revealing his irises to have changed to a blood red, “Just be warned, zebra... I know your every thought, and every move. You belonged to me the moment you poured out Luna's prized chalice, and I will not accept a betrayal.”

Instantly, the zebra felt a tormented voice and pain emerge from his cortex, spreading through his brain like wildfire. Sombra was magically torturing him with a Ghost Voice, faking out the hair cells in his ears with artificial screaming and phantom pain. He felt like dropping to the floor to writhe in agony, but the spell had also locked up the muscles in his legs, leaving him straining for breath while standing up..

“Get out of my head, Sombra!” cried Rosseth, hearing the shrieks of the banshees in his mind.

The shrieking intensified, and Rosseth yelled in pain, “GAAAAH!”

Then, silence. The voice was gone, and Rosseth could move his legs again. First he drew in heavy breaths to replenish his spent supply of air, and cursed Sombra under his breath.

“Want me gone again all you'd like, Rosseth,” Sombra said, “but I am here now, and the only way you'll ever be rid of me is if you bring down the princess. Fulfill your destiny, take your revenge, and you will be a free, happy stallion.”

The red color in his eyes was eerily was replaced with green again, and Sombra walked off without saying another word, leaving Rosseth feeling as if his blood had been turned to red ice. The torment he had just gone through was even worse than the throttling he had suffered from Ignitus. There was no turning back now.

“I'm sorry Lighthearted, but... defeating Cadance is the only way to satisfy him. To satisfy both of us.”

Comments

[Grekoy]

They kiss! Yay!