Toxic Love

by Silvermyr

4. Twisted Love

Cadance did not know how long she spent in Sombra’s cell that night. It was all a haze of pain, and her first clear memories were of her stumbling up the stairwell with her bathrobe tightly wrapped around her. She had not understood why she had brought it until they were maybe halfway through the hideous ritual. It was because at the end of it she would have a long line of eldritch symbols carved all over her body. An alicorn would not die from it, but it would result in a barrage of impossible questions if anypony saw her like this.

She had gotten up to the bathroom and washed herself. Then she destroyed the bathrobe. She was lucky she did this during the night, when there was nopony around. By tomorrow, her body would have healed the injuries enough to not arouse suspicion. She would still be sore as if she had been through a wrestling match with a minotaur, but that was a small price to pay for an eternity together with Shining Armor.

She crawled into the bed to sleep. Even the soft and light blankets made her sore skin tingle uncomfortably. Still, sleep did find her eventually, and a smile appeared on her face.

Right now she could only be proud of herself. Just like any mare and mother, she would take care of her husband and daughter by any means necessary. It did not matter what Celestia thought about this; she did not understand the bonds of family and love like Cadance did. For that matter, Celestia had been clear that Cadance was not her student, but her equal.

Well then. In that case, she was in her full right to do what she did. Celestia had made Twilight ascend. Cadance was in her full right to give Shining Armor immortality.

And she would. Tomorrow morning he was going to come home from the hospital, and tomorrow night she was going to make her move.

If she was not too exhausted after the welcome she was going to give him, that is…

Her smile became a little wider in her sleep.

---

The frigid air felt even colder this time, biting through her coat and making her shiver slightly. Sombra still did not seem to even feel the cold. ”I sense your stallion has returned to the castle,” Sombra said. ”So I assume you want to learn the procedure to extend his life now?”

”Yes,” Cadance said shortly. ”How long will it take for me to learn?”

”Merely a moment,” Sombra said with a secretive grin. ”I have a… most effective method for teaching.”

”Remember the contract,” Cadance blurted. ”You cannot hurt me.”

”I won’t,” Sombra said bitingly. ”Do you know how to meditate?”

”Yes, in a way,” Cadance said, surprised. ”Or, I have this breathing exercise to calm me and find a type of… zen-place, you could say.”

”I don’t care,” Sombra said. ”As long as you can open your mind and remain controlled, that’s all I need.”

Cadance took a moment to glare at Sombra before she closed her eyes and performed her breathing exercise, calm and slow, again and again. The cold air felt almost pleasant, cool and refreshing in her throat. ”Now, then…” Sombra’s voice echoed in her mind.

Cadance felt like an earthquake had gone of inside her skull. She opened her eyes, stumbled to the floor and choked as she somehow tried to breathe both in and out at the same time. A million words tumbled around in her head, none of them related to anything she had ever known before. Thaumatic field density sevenfold focal point ley-line nexus unicornian Old Ponish Winifred Starcranz' second law of Ætheromancy. It felt like she had endured a lecture in Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns while also being drunk and had somepony shouting random numbers in her ears. Her brain felt mushy, clumsy, as if all this new knowledge Sombra must have implanted in it had messed up everything that was already there. Vorpal crystal netherworld compass ouroboros crest...

She took a deep breath, fought down the gag reflex and practically dived into the new pool of knowledge in an effort to categorize it.

”Let me help with that,” Sombra said. ”Tell me something about the thaumatic field in this room.”

By instinct, Cadance performed a spell.

She did not know what the spell did or how she cast it. If somepony asked how it worked she would not be able to explain. But the answer was there. ”This room has a very strong magic, adhering from both the imprisonment spells that keep you here, but also from geothermal forces that keep the Crystal Empire’s surface warm,” Cadance answered. She put a hoof over her mouth. She had not meant to say anything, because she did not know the answer.

Only… she suddenly did know the answer.

”And how would you extend somepony’s life? Surely you can tell me that?”

She could.

She knew in detail exactly what she had to do. The ritual was complex, but she felt like she had known it since she was born. Only… she did not know why it worked. She had no context at all, it was just like a recipe in a cookbook, she did not know why the different components in the ritual accomplished a life extension, even if she was absolutely sure they did. Her mind felt fractured. She could walk herself through the ritual, but the moment she asked the simplest questions about the theory behind it she hit a brick wall. She had no idea!

I need seven candles, each one set at a tip in a seven-pointed star that shall be drawn underneath the ritual’s focal point, as indicated by the Netherworld Compass, another spell used to locate a Ley-line nexus with great precision. But why do I need candles? What do they do? What happens if I don’t have them? And what is a Ley-line?

She did not know.

”You know the ritual now,” Sombra said. ”Leave me.”

Cadance needed a few moments to process what he had said. Her mind still felt a little rough around the edges. She slowly started to make her way up to the castle proper again. As she did, she ran through her newfound knowledge again.

She should be able to do this tonight. The ritual itself did not take more than three hours, thirty-six minutes and eleven seconds, after all, and she should be able to get the materials she needed from the castle stores.

---

Cadance bit her lip and observed the scene before her. She briefly wondered what anypony would think if they saw this.

She had to perform the ritual in the bedroom. Shining Armor would be asleep, and she did not want to risk waking him up by moving him. The problem was that the bed had not really been factored in when Sombra concocted this ritual, so she had to make some extrapolations.

The focal point was a seven pointed star, each tip made out of a different substance. Cadance did not know what a focal point was, but she did know what coal powder, sulphur, gold dust, crushed crystals, water, salt and mercury was. After having drawn the seven pointed star partially on the bed and partially on the floor, she had performed a spell called ”Netherworld Compass,” which she really had no clue what it had done, but she felt, knew, that it had done exactly what she needed it to do. Then she had lit the candles and enchanted a small piece of crystal. She did not know why, but even in her thoughts she kept referring to it as a vorpal crystal. It now floated gently over the focal point.

”Right,” Cadance said and nodded. Everything was in place. ”Here goes then.” She closed her eyes and hissed in pain. The runes Sombra had etched into her skin started to shine in a strange black light. It was painful, but some treacherous part of her enjoyed it. The sweet taste of power tickled the back of her throat, making her feel… hungry. She felt pure magic surging through her, rippling and pulsing under her coat. It felt wonderful, like she could do whatever she wanted. Any insecurity there might have been left evaporated instantly.

Why had she ever doubted? She had never felt better! This magic was unlike any she had felt before. It was refined and distilled in a way she never thought possible. It was almost like she didn’t want to call it magic at all. This felt like something much more precious than normal magic. The way her entire body felt energized, the way it crackled and sparked around her. The rapturous taste of power! It felt wonderful!

”No!” She thought, shook her head and forced herself to focus on the matter at hand. ”Dark magic corrupts, you know that, Cadance. Remain calm, focus and do what you have to.” She performed her breathing exercise twice to calm down.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Then she corralled the magic coursing through her up towards her horn and began chant a long incantation. Strange words tumbled over her lips, words she had never heard before. She realized the language was some dialect of Old Ponish, but she barely recognized one word in ten. Still, she somehow felt that every word was perfectly pronounced. As she spoke, her horn ached and pounded. The candles flicked over the scene, dousing and relighting themselves to the subtile rhythm in her incantation. With every flicker, the candles seemed to dim slightly, letting the shadows of the room creep closer and closer to Shining Armor’s sleeping form.

The incantation continued on for hours, the runes over her body burning darker and darker until she looked like she had long cracks running all over her coat. The shadows continued to stretch forward towards Shining Armor, like the legs of a large black spider. Ever so slowly they stretched up the sides of his bed, over his sides and up on his chest.

She spoke the last syllable, and the needle-thin tips of shadow converged right over Shining Armor’s heart. She could hear it beating, she could feel the thumps in the air. Stronger and louder his heartbeat became until it sounded like a giant drum.

Thu-Thump.

Thu-Thump.

Thu-Thump!

Thu-Thump!

THU-THUMP!

THU-THUMP!

”What have I done?” Cadance thought faintly as she stared at her beloved stallion. Miraculously he was still asleep in the noise, though his body shook and convulsed with every heartbeat.

THUMP!

With one final pulse, Shining Armor finally laid still as the vorpal crystal above him fractured and broke. The shards gently fell over Shining Armor like a glittering snowfall. The candles all darkened at the same time. The black runes written over her skin faded and the intoxicating feeling of power finally receded. All was quiet.

Cadance stared around in the darkness, feeling like she had just woken up. With shaking legs and wings she stepped towards the bed. ”H-hello? Shining Armor?”

”Hmmm? WHOA!” Shining Armor jolted and sat up in the bed. ”Cadance! I just had the weirdest dream!”

Cadance interrupted him with a powerful hug. ”You’re okay! You’re really okay! I love you! I love you so much!” She hiccuped, laughed and cried all at the same time. She felt Shining Armor put a hoof on her back, right between her wings.

”I love you too, sweetheart.”

"And we'll never have to be apart again. Ever again." Cadance buried her face in Shining Armor's coat. "I love you. I will be yours forever."

Comments

[RoyalBardofCanterlot]

Suspenseful. I like it. "preform" should be "perform."

[Super Ponyman]

"Now the dye is cast... nothing left to do...
Time alone can prove my theory true..."

If anyone gets the reference, then you know what is coming.