Ranger
Chapter 111: Shadows
By Wanderer D
"It seems like such small thing," Sunset said, holding the small gem against the light above.
Usually she would be performing tests, sending her magic through it, trying to sense the secrets within it… but right now, all she could do was ponder.
Why had Aria (both of them) insisted that she have it? Was it truly created by blood magic? Was the implication from Aria, that she and her sisters had been… different before they became sirens? Or were they sirens that later on became monsters of legend? Was it true that they had all practiced forbidden magic?
Even though she had been practicing blood magic for a while now, she was, in her own estimation, still an apprentice. Earlier on, the darker, more powerful secrets of it had been tempting, but Celestia's education hadn't been in vain.
And she wasn't stupid either. She had stuck to the very beginning of the book and mastered every single part before moving on to the next. That the lack of a magical field made it take longer wasn't an issue… until now.
Now she had temptation again. Physical, promising, unknown… and old. A wealth of knowledge and power.
She felt (and saw) the approaching human figure, and quickly hid the gem, releasing her spell.
Sunset frowned. "When did I… cast it?"
"And how are you doing today?" Laetitia asked, smiling encouragingly as she took a seat next to Sunset's bed.
"Bored." Sunset sighed, turning her head to look at the stack of books and pads that had been brought to her. Everything from fiction (from Jane), to coding books (from Twilight), to survival guides (from Elena), to old literary classics (Annette), to trashy novels (Laetitia AND Angel). "I've gone through the whole thing."
Laetitia raised an eyebrow. "You're supposed to enjoy your rest, not marathon-read what we brought to keep you distracted."
"It's been a week!"
"Well, yes, you were tossed around like a ragdoll, what did you expect would happen?"
"Magic."
"Nice try, but unfortunately for you—and our ears—Twilight had a lot to say on the dangers of using healing spells on someone with active blood magic without proper training, and her brief writings to the Princesses confirmed these declarations."
"Yes well, I'd rather she tried."
"Not all are desperate enough to attempt field magical medicine in the face of imminent death when there is medical equipment and trained personnel around for the safer approach," Laetitia said.
"Whatever." Sunset sighed resting her head on her pillow and staring straight up. "I'm, just glad she's talking to me again. It was kind of unnerving how… she pushed me away. Even though she still has trouble talking to me. I don't even know what happened."
"I'm sure she will come around," Laetitia said, smiling as she took Sunset's hand in her own. "She's been opening up to counselor Luna." Her smile became a bit strained. "That woman has a… unique take on the process, but I can't argue with the results."
Sunset gave her a knowing look. "You have been avoiding her again, haven't you?"
Laetitia smiled and looked down. "I am that easy to read, yes?"
"Only when you're trying to use me as an excuse to avoid her. What has you so spooked?"
Laetitia's smile faded a little. "There are many things I've come to understand about myself, Sunset… and many things I've come to accept as inevitable… they are very personal, deep feelings and realizations. Not something I wish to bring to light with another like me."
Sunset raised an eyebrow. "She's psychic?"
"Trained in psychology."
"Right."
Laetitia gave Sunset a pout. "You don't believe me?"
"I just think… we're all a bunch of overly-stressed, over-equipped, over-trained specialist one french fry away from becoming a full happy meal."
Laetitia blinked twice, looking down at Sunset in confusion. "A… happy meal?"
Sunset grinned, shrugging. "No clue. It's something that Bradford said a couple of times while we were on travel. He actually said Geist was like that. One french fry away…"
"...from becoming a happy meal," Laetitia finished. "Huh. Must be an old world thing."
"Must be," Sunset agreed. "But it is true. We seem to all be crazy here."
"I must admit it probably takes a little bit of that to survive," Laetitia said. "Geist always said that we'd be deemed lunatics, should the average human ever meet a Templar such as myself. That the psionic gift—and all that came with it—would confuse and scare them, and as such, it was easier for them to project their insecurities at us."
"Huh, sounds like old unicorn traditionalist propaganda," Sunset said, looking at her friend. "Used to be that thousands of years ago, in Equestria, unicorns told each other that they were better that the other races. That their magic made them unique. That their understanding of mysteries beyond the knowledge of mere Earth Ponies or Pegasi was something they would fear and deem a lie.
"Of course, later on, in retrospect, history taught us that Earth Ponies were in turn disdainful of the other two races because they were out of touch with the living world and its cycles. Because unicorns and pegasi were not strong, nor able to take on the whims of nature and persevere."
Sunset smirked. "And of course Pegasi were the same. Earth Ponies were stuck on their ways, unable to change even if the world was collapsing on top of them. Unicorns were too studious, worried with theory and understanding of things that were ultimately inconsequential, while it was they, the noble Pegasi, who bent the sky and wind and seasons to their will."
"I assume that changed?"
"Not completely," Sunset said with a sigh. "There are still unicorns that are full of themselves. I know one of them. Sunset Shimmer. Total bitch. But yeah, for the most part… they understood that not being the same—or even believing the same things—didn't impede their cooperation and tolerance."
"Must be idyllic now."
"There's always something…" Sunset sighed. "A moment when tolerance allows for hatred to grow more powerful, because tolerance is a paradox… and creatures like King Sombra grew more powerful, unimpeded… all because we took toleration to the extreme and let his particular brand of hate and genocidal tendencies go unchecked… so an entire race of ponies was enslaved and eventually lost to time and foul magics, along with their whole kingdom."
Laetitia grimaced. "Ugh. And here I thought I was trying to make you relax!"
"Hey, ancient history is relaxing."
"If you say so."
"This man," another voice asked, making both Laetitia and Sunset turn to look at the entrance to the infirmary, where Annette—another old book under her arm, no doubt for Sunset's further education into French literature—stood looking at them with a haunted look in her eyes. "Sombra. What happened to him?"
"Unicorn," Sunset corrected. "He gathered great power, studied ancient lost dark magics… some of us unicorns can cast similar things but his specific brand…" she shook her head. "He rose an army of enslaved ponies, but my mentor, Celestia, and her sister Luna, fought him until in a clash of magic, the whole Crystal Empire disappeared."
"And Sombra?"
"Destroyed in a flash of Solar Magic, if the stories are true," Sunset said, giving her an odd look. "Why?"
Annette set down the book and sat down on the end of the bed. "After Aria took me back to EXALT, I met three more people she was close with: Her sister Adagio, her sister Sonata… and a man named Sombra, who had brought them together."
Sunset's eyes went wide, her memory flashing to the man that had one of her gems. Her eyes narrowed. He had stolen it. Stolen the magic! "Do you think… he's the Warlock?"
"I do not know," Annette said, "Or at least I can't tell for certain, but one thing is for sure… whoever the Warlock is, it isn't Adagio. And he is the only one from back then who seemed to have that… otherworldly quality that they shared."
"From what I heard… from what I read—" Sunset gulped. "—I hope not. But we'll have to find the Warlock soon."
"Trust me," Laetitia said, somberly looking at the floor, eyes distant and face frowning, as if remembering something unpleasant. "We don't have to worry about that. My people have battled him plenty of times. He's contemplative and takes his time to act. But we learned long ago the one truth about seeking the Warlock."
"And what is that?" Sunset asked.
"He always finds you."
o.0.o End Chapter 111 o.0.o
Well, bleep on a shingle for fun times, and temptations.
This will be interesting if the mediums not already in hand.
Ok, my idé disproven, check.
High propabilaty of Sombra being the Warlock, check.
Sunset is just as avid reader as Twilight, check.
...
What more?
I don't know where this came from but I fear this is a symptom forbidden magic mental corruption.
"she took a sit next to Sunset's bed"
Took a sit hm?
Not gonna lie was playing XCOM2 earlier and the Warlock showed up and one of my first thoughtswhen looking him over was "Huh, you know his hair kinda reminds me of Sombra's". Apparently I'm not the only one to have this thought at some point.
Still I can see the personality parallels. Warlock keep shouting "ELDERS!" Sombra shouts "CRYSTALS!" they're obviously on a similar wavelength.
Still leaves the question of what happened to Adagio open. Wonder how long that plot thread is gonna keep hanging?
Ya know, all this winding down and expository action has me thinking. Just what in Celestia's golden sun happened to Adagio? We know she's not Chosen, so did the Elders kill/mutilate her? Is she in one of the cities? Resistance camp?
8969360
Its a lot of exposition right now. I mean the last handful of chapters have been plot threads and lore stuff essentially .... With no real progression.
Not necessarily bad but it is something to note eh?
So Sombra is potentially the Warlock, but is he the pony or the human version?
Normally pony Sombra, after being defeated during the Crystal war, was sealed in a shadowy state in the frozen tundra until the Empire re-emerged and was defeated again with the Crystal Heart.
Though the events of the return of the Crystal Empire are fairly recent, while the events of the first X-COM have long since past.
"It seems like such small thing"
"It seems like such a small thing"?
"over-trained specialist one french"
"over-trained specialists one french"?
"each other that they were better that the other races"
"each other that they were better than the other races"?
"He rose an army of enslaved ponies"
"He raised an army of enslaved ponies"?
"her memory flashing to the man that had one of her gems"
Her gems? Well, that's not worrying at all...
Really thought he was going to be Terik, seems I was either wrong, or you are pulling one over on us.
Seems what ever is left of Aria is already effecting Sunset. She is casting spells without thinking of it and craving all 'her' magic that was stolen. Not good, not good at all.
8969301
And the even bigger question: does the warlock like stairs.
8969360
I think she was turned into the Codex.
It would be funny and awful If the warlock was Shining Armor.
Well, sombra suits the warlock in personality and apperence.
That's not foreboding at all...
Lord Stairs?!
Awwwwwwwwwww, hell. O_O
8969360
I believe she became the codex, which is why it reacted so strangely (and said "Equestrian") when Sunset encountered it in the underground railway.
Sombra as the Warlock? Equestrian Sombra as the Warlock? That seems bad
An intriguing prospect, though the logistics involved don't make all that much sense. Not that Sunset knows that at the moment.
Also, do I even want to know where Angel got those trashy novels?
8969791
It doesn't seem possible. Not unless something very different happened once the Crystal Empire returned in this timeline.
8969847
I'm thinking it's possible, because magic. I mean, what if he WAS banished like the Sirens 1000 years ago. It may have been unintentional, and more than likely not the same spell, but what if he was, and what remained in the Crystal Empire wasn't Sombra himself, but just kind of a remnant of him?
Would explain why Spike could beat him.
8969847
What was making me think of Equestrian Sombra was this bit:
The description of him as otherworldly in the same way as the sirens.
Agreed that it doesn't seem possible unless events are different, but that may be implied as well:
does some hear a phone ringing?
to be frank sunset, twilight broke your trust and read portions of the journal you specificaly told her not too and in order to manifest her guilt her mind has since began projecting that guilt as anger onto you.
8969491
or maybe in the avatar prototype, who appears when you skulljack the codex.
Got a couple questions... did they look into what was inside the sarcophagus yet? Also, I'm a bit confused, is Laetitia still Laetitia, or is it Luna driving the meat suit?
8970640 Laetitia is still there for now, living by the grace of Luna, until one day she (Laetitia) just goes away.
>-> if you pull the rug out on this Sombra-lock line I’m labeling you as the next mystery-box author.
As good as Sombra being thr Warlock as it is, I'm more excited about Sci-Twi making her grand entrance ever since the Berserker Queen incident.
8970640
If I recall in-game the Sarcophagi implode once the chosen are finally defeated and there's no tech to research them. But on the bright side the Assassin's weapons should be moving through the research labs and most likely are going to our resident blood witch.
8970708 Couldn't they repurpose the sarcophagus and shove Laetitia in it? Or the snek, just to keep her safe. I like the snek.
One gem to rule them all, one gem to find them, one gem to bring them all and in the darkness bind them!
8972479
Bravo! Now we just need a Company of various races from Earth, Equestria, and other places.
...And now that I think about it, that's actually a pretty good description of Team Menace.
This story plagarized Lord of the Rings!
JK, of course.
On ADVENT earth, Warlock find you!
Oh, great. The Warlock in this playthrough has All-Seeing? My Warlock had that, too. Made Reapers damn near useless, which was dangerous on Haven Defense missions because I needed Elena to scout.
I have no doubt we will come across him, and soon ...
specialists
Wait. Waiiiit... There's no way the Crystal Empire was sealed HERE, right?
No way. This just has to be this world's Sombra. ...But if he's otherworldly...
I'm curious.
As soon as hints of Adagio not surving came from Aria, I had thoughts on who the Warlock was. Sombra is an interesting twist, though if it's Equestria Sombra or not remains to be seen.
Noticed a very... curious way of phrasing something.
One of "her" gems?
This will not end well...
Huh
looks like the people guessing he was the Warlock were right
Sombra find his way to there dread into this world. Guess the dreaded King of Shadows get his moment of light of the story after all.
Well, recovery is the most downtime they get in X-Com.
They really need more soldiers, but space is premium on the Avanger and soldiers need to be vetted, trained and seasoned.