• Published 15th Oct 2020
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Duskmaker - I-A-M



Luna seeks her own place in the world, but stepping out of the light of the sun can lead to dark places.

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Chapter 2

The nights in the Crystal Empire were not as cold as Luna had expected, but they were certainly far clearer.

Canterlot, for all its height being mounted along the side of the mighty Canterhorn, was forever illuminated by magelights. Even that faint light pollution dulled the luster of Luna’s night sky, and it was one of the many small and secret resentments she held against the city.

For all of its grandeur, Luna had despised the city of Canterlot from the moment she first set hoof upon it.

Luna had never, and likely would never, voice such things to her sister. Celestia loved her ponies and her city with all her heart. It was a cold, divine love, but it was love all the same. Luna could never hurt her sister in that manner, and so she kept that small resentment to herself.

Truthfully, though, she greatly preferred Crysopolis, or whatever it was the locals now called it.

The dim but gentle illumination of the city was sunken deep into the ancient crystal foundations, and the crystal ponies were perfectly comfortable with the low-light conditions. That gentle luminance combined with the clear, bright star-and-moonlight made everything clear enough that it was easy on the eyes and aesthetically pleasing to the senses.

At least, Luna thought so.

A gentle knock at the door disturbed Luna’s thoughts, drawing her attention away from the night sky and back down to Equus, and the palatial room she’d been given.

“Aunt Luna? May I come in?”

Cadence’s voice was muffled beyond the doors, and Luna sighed quietly as she lit her horn and opened the door.

“This castle is thi— is yours, Cadence, you needn’t ask permission,” Luna said with a wry chuckle as Cadence entered the sitting room of Luna’s suite.

Behind her trailed three figures. The first she recognised; Shining Armor was Celestia’s Captain of the Guard prior to his nuptials, now he was Lord Governor of the Crystal Empire. He wore the crystalline-heart coat of arms of House Cadenza, and a suit of lightweight armor, but no weapon. Beside him was a slightly larger stallion, broad as a bear and twice as stoic, who wore the armor and insignia of a Colonel.

The third stood out only by her dichotomy to the others. She was small, slight, and willowy, with a chartreuse coat, and wearing voluminous and hooded purple robes that sat poorly on her as if they were made for another, larger pony, and a stallion at that.

“Princess,” Shining knelt briefly, per his station, before raising his head and giving her a more familiar and wearier smile. “It’s good to see you again, Luna.”

“Governership suits you, Lord Armor,” Luna said with a chuckle.

“I disagree,” Armor replied with a sigh. “And I’m not even the official ruler.”

“Heavy is the head that bears the crown,” Cadence quoted in a tired voice. “I never really appreciated what it must have been like for Celestia to rule, and I can’t even imagine what you and her had to deal with back when Equestria was still new.”

“It was a different time,” Luna said, waving a hoof dismissively. “Do not compare trials, that is an ill path to trot, and besides, we are neglecting these newcomers.”

“Oh, yes, sorry,” Cadence stepped to the side and gestured to the large stallion. “This is Colonel Sunder, he commands the main body of the Imperial Guard.”

“My deepest apologies, your Highness, for the actions of my men.” Sunder’s voice was a deep, stentorian rumble that Luna found quite pleasant. “My thanks for your intervention. Be assured they will be suitably reprimanded.”

“I should hope so,” Luna said dryly, before turning to the young mare. “And you?”

The mare in the robes almost jumped at being addressed, then scrambled into something approximating a bow which resulted in her knocking her head painfully against the floor.

“Ow— Uhm, s-s-sorry,” she said, and Luna raised an eyebrow. “My n-name is Jadeite S-Spur, Grand Crystal S-Sage, p-pardon my s-stutter, your Highness.”

Luna glanced at Cadence who gave her a weak smile.

“She’s really good at her job, Aunt Luna,” Cadence promised. “The sages have been instrumental in repairing the city and raising the pylons that hedge out the storms.”

“I had thought the Order of the Crystal Sages dissolved,” Luna said, eyeing Jadeite. “My understanding was that King Sombra destroyed your Chanceries and eliminated the practice save for himself and a few choice disciples.”

“He was not as th-thorough as he th-thought,” Jadeite said with a shaky laugh. “Our p-p-practices endured in s-secret, and when we were f-finally f-freed, we re-establish the old w-ways.”

“I was hoping you could work with the sages to recover some of the old texts and secrets of the order,” Cadence said brightly. “The Imperial University’s libraries are barely functional right now, and sages have been doing their best, but most of them are better than twenty generations removed from the original order prior to its dissolution.”

“Even I cannot fathom how much must have been lost in that time,” Luna lamented, shaking her head, and her mane of stars shifted around her like a mantle. “I shall happily extend my hoof to the sages and their good works.”

“You have our d-deepest gratitude, your Highness,” Jadeite said, bowing low once more, and more carefully this time.

“And if you have time,” Shining interjected, “I hoped to ask you a few things about what Sombra may have… left behind.”

Luna raised an eyebrow at that.

“Clarify,” she spoke with quiet authority, and Shining immediately straightened to attention by force of long habit.

“We’ve had reports from Imperial Rangers of shadows and enormous… things… moving about in some of the distant areas of the Empire’s old territories,” Shining said in the short, clipped manner of a guard giving a report. “We’ve kept our distance, and it’s possible they’re just large, local fauna, but…”

“Doubtful,” Luna said darkly. “Sombra reaved this land of most of its natural fauna over the course of two centuries of experimentation with dark magic. Few living creatures were left unsullied by his wicked arts.”

The four ponies shared nervous glances as Luna turned to glare out the window, this time fixing her eyes on the distant horizon that led out to the desolate, blizzard-rocked tundra.

“You really think some of Sombra’s creations could have lasted this long?” Cadence asked quietly.

For a long moment, Luna was quiet, lost in her memories of wars long past. She thought, at times, that she remembered far too much for her liking. The Shadow Wars were by far some of the worst of those memories, even counting the crimes she had committed during the Nightmare Rebellions.

“My sister and I,” Luna began, just as Cadence was about to speak, “have had a very long time to practice our magic and build our repertoire of spells, you know.”

Cadence stared at her Aunt, then coughed quietly, and nodded.

“I know,” She said softly. “Celestia taught me everything I know about magic.”

“And yet, she is not half the magus that I am,” Luna said, and before anypony could argue she continued with: “and she will admit as much herself if you ask.”

That set Cadence back a step. Celestia was considered the premier magical genius in the whole of Equestria. Hearing that she was, by Luna’s description, so far behind the lunar alicorn, was shocking to say the least.

“Celestia’s power comes from a combination of brute force tempered by centuries of diligent practice,” Luna continued. “But she has no talent for the subtle arts. She’s far more comfortable with her arsenal at hoof than a spell.”

“Why are you saying this?” Cadence asked quietly.

“Context, dear niece,” Luna said, finally turning from the window to face her guests. “I am telling you this for context because I need you to understand that while I can make my sister look like a novice with my mastery of magic, King Sombra’s skill and genius makes us both look like buffoons.”

Even with context, they could not possibly know what it was like to go up against him.

Sombra had been terrifying in a way that even Discord hadn’t been because at least Discord had been clearly insane. Discord was the spirit of Disharmony itself, he was the next best thing to a God. Sombra had been born mortal, achieved his masteries as a mortal, and then ascended beyond that limited spectrum on the wings of his genius.

In all of her immortal life, there was no being that Luna could recollect which frightened her more than the mortal stallion called Sombra, and at the same time, no foe for whom she bore greater respect.

“We will aid the sages for the time being,” Luna said, finally breaking her silence as she turned to Shining Armor. “But the moment thy— damnation— your rangers report a sighting of one of these things, I will fly out to meet them.”

“Aunt Luna, are you sure?” Cadence asked worriedly.

“I am,” Luna replied firmly. “If this is merely the mutant offspring of one of Sombra’s horrors, then so much the better. We will organise a hunt and put it out its misery. If it’s one of his original creations, however, then I am the only one save for my sister who might recognise it on sight and be able to identify its abilities and weaknesses.”

Too many memories were lost in the fog when Sombra banished the Crystal Empire beyond the Wall of Sleep, and since it was unlikely that the average Imperial citizens had any knowledge of the abominations that Sombra fielded on his front lines, and a sage was far too valuable a resource to risk on an excursion like this, that left only herself.

Luna knew all too well what she would be looking for and though she did not relish reliving her nightmares of war, a small part of her looked forward to taking the field again.

It would be nice to feel useful again.



A week passed before any news reached the University, and when it did it found Luna in the main library hall of the Imperial University looking over schemata of one of the warded wings.

“These are obnoxious in the extreme,” Luna grumbled as she compared her notes on one of the main sigilic circuits to her latest tests. “I can see why your sages have had no fortune in bypassing them.”

“There m-must be a k-key,” Jadeite said, glowering at the schemata. “We s-simply haven’t found it yet!”

“I doubt it, actually,” Luna remarked as she looked up and rubbed a hoof between her eyes, trying to push away the growing headache. “As unpleasant as this is to suggest, I suspect these wards were intended to be lowered manually.”

Jadeite paled, then groaned and thumped her head against the table they were working at.

You’re j-joking.”

Luna chuckled. She had to admit, she liked Jadeite. Her stutter was charming in its own way once you got used to the fact that any conversation with the sage took a bit longer than normal. With her hood down, she also had to admit the young sage was quite pretty. Her dark olive mane complimented her chartreuse coat nicely, and she possessed a brilliantly analytical mind that made her a pleasure to work with.

“Sadly not,” Luna admitted. “In a way, it’s quite clever, and it’s probably the reason Sombra never bothered breaching or destroying the libraries, it would be too much work.”

“But s-s-surely that would be far too complicated f-for day-to-day use!” Jadeite protested.

Luna shook her head and pushed the schemata of the wards to Jadeite.

“Not necessarily,” Luna said. “Imagine practicing with a puzzle box over and over and over again until you could solve it by muscle memory alone. Likely they had a wardmaster for each wing for whom that was their entire duty, simply opening and closing the doors.”

“That’s m-mad,” Jadeite said weakly. “Are you s-sure?”

“Obviously not,” Luna said, waving a hoof. “But it’s the most likely answer to the current situation. None of these sigils suggest that they’re connected to a total bypass, which would be required if a keystone existed.”

Jadeite let out a defeated groan and slumped against the table.

“It will take m-months just to f-figure out the combination to a s-s-single door!” She grumbled, face-down on the crystal table’s surface.

“And even longer to master the method of opening it!” Luna said with a bright chuckle. “Ah, yes, I’ve missed the old ways.”

“I regret m-my life ch-choices,” Jadeite lamented, then let out a bitter laugh as she sat up. Luna’s bright, bell-tone laughter joined hers a moment later.

This felt good.

Luna felt better than she had in weeks, actually.

Working on magical theorems and puzzles, ancient spellwork, and talking over strategies late into the night with like-minded individuals was something she had missed.

True, there were only a dozen sages currently, and twice that in training. The order’s esoteric arts surrounding the shaping and maintenance of the crystals that made up the Empire wasn’t something that could be learned in a day, or even a decade.

Jadeite was the next best thing to a prodigy and understood the arts of Crystal-shaping better than most. She earned her role as Grand Sage rightfully, and Luna had taken a fond liking to the quirky mare.

“Well, good news though,” Luna said with a grin as she pushed a pile of notes across the table. “I think I’ve managed the calculations for this door, at least.”

“Oh?” Jadeite gathered up the notes and dragged them closer, looking over them with care, and her smile grew larger with each passing moment.

“It will take some time to master the sequence for opening it,” Luna said. “But…”

“No, this is b-brilliant!” Jadeite looked up at Luna with a broad grin. “We’ve got s-something at least!”

Before Luna could reply, a heavy knock rattled the heavy crystal doors to the library which swung open to admit a pair of guards followed by the ursine frame of Colonel Sunder.

“Princess Luna,” he rumbled, kneeling briefly, before straightening as Luna stood from the table.

“Report, Colonel.” Luna gave the order by reflex. A millennium may have passed since her last battle, but for her, it didn’t feel nearly so long ago.

If Sunder minded receiving an order from someone who wasn’t his direct superior, he didn’t show it. Instead, he simply snapped to attention and nodded before starting.

“Imperial Ranger unit twelve sent back a missive reporting one of the entities, along with a brief description, although it’s sparse. We’re putting together a response team—”

“Give me the description first,” Luna cut in. “A response team may be meaningless depending on its contents.”

Sunder bristled for a moment, then calmed and nodded.

“Aye, your Highness,” he said with a low nod. “The entity is roughly twenty klicks beyond the city borders, north by northeast. There’s no actual description of the entity itself, only a mention of an impenetrable shroud of darkness approximately a hundred meters across.”

“Not approximately,” Luna replied grimly. “It will be exactly one hundred meters across, and in all directions.”

“Your Highness?” Sunder raised an eyebrow.

“It’s called an umbral shroud,” Luna said quietly. “And it narrows down the possible nature of the entity far more than you might think. Sombra created dozens of living, or half-living, dreadnoughts meant for various purposes, from breaking formations to breaching walls, but many of them could project a shroud like the one you described in order to prevent my sister and I from accurately destroying them at range.”

“I see,” Sunder said grimly. “So it is one of his, then?”

“Almost certainly,” Luna replied, before turning to Jadeite. “Grand Sage, I’m afraid I must away for the time being, I bid thee good fortune in parsing this puzzle, and look forward to sharing tea again soon.”

“Of c-course,” Jadeite said softly. “Be c-careful, Princess.”

Luna smirked as she stood to her full height and rolled her neck.

“Now where’s the fun in that?”