The Kingdom Of Darkness

by Dragon-In-Black

CH.5. Princess Cadance & Pillar Of Hope

Somnambula was abruptly woken up from her slumber. She opened her eyes and scanned the room, trying to find the offending object that had woken her up from a rather nice dream. That’s when she heard it again.

There was somepony knocking.

“Somnambula, dear?” Meadowbrook asked from the other side of the door while pressing her ear against it, trying to listen. “There’s breakfast waiting for you in the kitchen, are you hungry?”

The pegasus got out of bed and stretched before making her way to the door with a small smile on her lips. When she opened the door, she saw that Meadowbrook was already fully dressed.

“Good morning, Meadowbrook slept well?” Somnambula asked kindly with her smile still on her lips.

“Yes I did,” Meadowbrook shared a smile while observing her friends’ body language. “You seem happy, did you have a nice dream?”

Somnambula would normally be very sad because she always thought about Stygian and… that particular day, but she had a lot of happy memories of him. The memories she had of him together with her, memories that only they shared and no pony else felt special to her.

“Yes, I dreamt of Stygian and I getting married,” Somnambula admitted with a smile. The Pillar of Healing had a kind understanding smile and nudged the pegasus playfully.

“Already thinking about marriage?” She chuckled. “Wow, next I hear you were thinking of foals—”

“Oh, I dreamed about that as well,” Somnambula said with a straight face, stunning the earth pony. “Just joking!” The Pillar of Hope laughed.

Meadowbrook couldn’t help but laugh along with her and felt at ease knowing that this was one of Somnambula’s ‘good’ days where she could laugh, joke and smile without it being fake like she had used daily at one point in her life.

But deep down, Meadowbrook knew that Somnambula would never regain that smile. Not without Stygian.

Suddenly, there was a growling noise and Somnambula blushed.

“You said something about food?” She asked with pink cheeks.

Meadowbrook led her to the kitchen where she saw Spike cook their breakfast while Rockhoof was enjoying his coffee along with Magnus who ate a batch of waffles and cereal. When they noticed Somnambula’s mood, they brightened.

“Morning,” Rockhoof and Magnus spoke together.

“Good morning,” the pegasus replied and looked around for Starswirl. “Where’s Starswirl?”

“He’s still asleep,” Magnus responded. “I talked to him before he went to bed and he admitted that… ever since we disappeared that he started to sleep most of the day away and was barely awake. So he probably won’t wake up for another few hours, if even that.”

The others stared at one another in sadness, feeling bad for their friend. He was usually the one who woke up bright and early, even earlier than Rockhoof so to hear that he had been dealing with the pain in a way they had not anticipated broke their hearts.

“Where’s Mistmane?” Meadowbrooks asked while looking around.

“She’s still asleep. She woke up late at night from a nightmare—couldn’t sleep until a few hours ago,” Rockhoof answered making the others feel saddened. They knew what the nightmare was about.

“Here’s your pancakes Somnambula!” Spike said and placed it on the table and began on another batch.

“Thank you,” she smiled at him and grabbed a fork and began to eat. The other Pillars conversed with one another while waiting for the others to wake up. While enjoying her breakfast, she couldn’t help but think about the dream she had.

It had been wonderful, she was being led by Starswirl down the aisle, all the Pillars and Element Bearers were there, and Stygian waited for her by the end of the aisle. Then, Starswirl would be the one who would wed them and they could kiss in front of all their friends. She would wear a white dress and he would wear a black tuxedo or maybe smoking.

Unknown to her, in the present world she had closed her eyes while having a smile to her lips while holding her fork with a piece of waffle on it.

“Somnambula?” Meadowbrook called. The pegasus suddenly awoke and looked around her and smiled at them.

“Uh, yes?” She asked trying to stifle her embarrassment.

“One of the princesses’ are here to see you, her name is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza,” Magnus replied while motioning for the princess who stood in the doorway. Somnambula noticed her and the princess gave a small smile and a wave.

“Good morning, Cadance,” Spike greeted with a smile.

“Good morning Brave and Glorious!” Was her reply. The Pillars looked confused at what they called the dragon but shrugged it off.

“Can I entice you with some waffles, or is it an urgent need?” he asked while showing the waffles.

“It is not urgent, so I’ll join you for breakfast,” Cadance replied and received a plate of waffles with chocolate sauce. Taking her breakfast gratefully, she sat down and began to enjoy her morning.

“So, you’re the newest princess?” Rockhoof asked curiously while taking a swing of his coffee with Meadowbrook beside him.

“Oh, Twilight is the newest alicorn,” Cadance corrected while taking a sip of the tea that Spike had boiled for her.

“Oh, what type of princess are you then?” Magnus asked bluntly, only to receive a hoof to the head. “OW!”

Cadance giggled at the display. “I’m the princess of Love. I’m sure you know Twilight is the princess of Friendship,” they nodded. They were familiar with this.

Somnambula perked up when she heard what type of princess Cadance was. What was her business with Somnambula? Did she know about the love she had for Stygian? She facepalmed, of course, she knew about that, the Element Bearers had shown the memory of the dream Miss Applejack had.

“I suppose you’re here to learn about the love I have for Stygian?” Somnambula asked out of the blue, stopping the chatter they had with one another, even Spike stopped what he was doing to look at the Pillar of Hope.

Cadance swallowed the waffle she had in her throat. “Yes, that is primarily why I’m here, but we can talk about that in private if you want,”

“It’s okay, It’s not a secret exactly, everypony knows about my love for the unicorn. Everypony knows.” The orange-coated pegasus answered while giving a smile but it wasn’t a large one and looked forced.

“Okay… you sure?” Cadance asked while looking at the pegasus with concern. When it involved matters of the heart, it could be very difficult and can easily cloud emotions which could prevent any creature from doing their daily tasks.

“Yes,” she replied with a nod.

“Okay, how did you meet Stygian?” The princess of love asked while sipping her tea.

The Pillar of Hope blushed and made circles with her hoof. “Well, I meet him for the first time when he came with Starswirl to my home kingdom. He had heard of my deed that saved my homeland and had been astonished by my performance. We talked for hours, it was as if we had known each other our entire lives.” Somnambula smiled fondly, the pink on her cheeks diminishing.

Cadance noticed the look and became invested. “Did you ever do anything together other than stop villains?”

“Hm? Oh, yes we did. We read books together, went for walks, and talked. We had plans of travelling together but that stopped abruptly…” She trailed off and everypony and dragon knew what she was getting at.

“It must have been hard for you all these years,” Cadence soothed as best she could. “Not saying that it was easy for you lot,” she quickly rectified.

“Oh, princess, believe us, it has been the most difficult for Somnambula,” Meadowbrook spoke, Magnus and Rockhoof nodded in agreement. “We were afraid that when Starswirl dodged the spell that Stygian would…”

The kitchen became silent. This was one of the things that was always difficult to talk about. The possibility that Starswirl might get killed by Stygian was constantly on their mind. They didn’t want it to happen, but because of how hurtful their words had been… who is to say that Stygian didn’t gain dark thoughts? Especially now, when he had literal darkness on his side.

Somnambula allowed a tear to escape which was noticed by the Pillar of Healing who walked around the table to comfort her and apologised for her wording but the pegasus shrugged it off.

“Sorry, dear I shouldn’t have spoken that last bit,” she said while hugging the mare from behind.

“No, no, Meadowbrook. You’re right, there was—and still is—a large possibility he will do that.” The others felt uncomfortable and saddened by that admission. “I still remember that hateful look in his eye when the portal was closing…”

Without any pony or dragon noticing, a new pony had stepped inside the kitchen and was looking at the table with a saddened gaze.

“I’m sorry, Somnambula,” the others jumped slightly from the new voice and saw Starswirl standing a few feet away from the kitchen table while looking at them with a few tears. “It is all my fault, I should never have jumped to conclusions, I should have listened to him and heard his side of the story. Maybe then, you could have been together with him and had children and grown old together,”

Magnus looked shocked when he saw the old wizard there. Starswirl had said that he had gotten the habit of sleeping away his life and here he was standing early in the morning. Had he curbed his unusual habit in a single night?

The others were shocked over the fact that the old unicorn was blaming himself for what had happened so long ago. He had no reason to blame himself! They were just as guilty for what happened!

“Starswirl…” Somnambula tried but was interrupted by Magnus.

“Hey, you told me you have a sleeping problem—that you sleep away the day and night, how are you up at this hour?!” Magnus asked, gaining deadpanned looks from everypony and dragon.

Starswirl shook off the question. “I know we all had a hoof in it, but I was the one refusing to listen to him so I hold the most guilt.”

“I don’t think you do,” Meadowbrook replied while soothing the pegasus’ back gently while looking over to Starswirl with a small smile. “I am a healer, we healers take oaths to never refuse healing any creature no matter how evil, good, big or small. We never pick sides—even in wars—but I broke my code, I didn’t listen to Stygian which is essentially, breaking my code—I picked a side,”

They were silent from the admission, but Starswirl didn’t look convinced, if anything, he looked guiltier.

“You just proved it was without a doubt my fault.” He said while looking at the floor. “I convinced you all that he had taken them—which he did—but I never asked him why he did it, and when he tried to explain I told him I didn’t want to hear it. I forced you, unknowingly, to pick a side,”

“It’s not you’re fault, Starswirl, I was the one who loved him, I should have been able to see that he would never do something like that without a reason. I should have told you to be quiet and urged him to speak his mind,” Somnambula spoke while picking at her waffles.

Starswirl was about to retort when Spike asked if he wanted breakfast.

“Starswirl, you want breakfast, there are pancakes or waffles?” Spike asked while showing the old wizard the display.

“Oh, I usually don’t eat breakfast but those waffles look appetizing, thank you, Spike,” he kindly spoke and took a seat.

Cadance shot the dragon a grateful look as well as the others who noticed what he had done.

The breakfast continued without a hitch and the Element Bearers still hadn’t gotten out of bed which wasn’t unusual, but it was a bit suspicious of Applejack. Spike had gone to her room but found a note on the front door that she had left for the farm.

They talked to one another, sharing stories and experiences. It was very pleasant but there was one alicorn that wanted to have a question asked, but she didn’t want to dampen the mood so she tried to suppress it the best she could. However, luck wouldn’t be in her favour because Meadowbrook noticed the look the young alicorn had on her face.

“Is something wrong, princess?” She asked while looking worried. Cadance cursed her bad blank expression.

“It’s nothing to concern yourselves with,” she tried half-heartedly but as expected she was met with protests.

“Nonsense princess, you can tell or ask us anything!” Magnus spoke with confidence that showered over to the other Pillars and dragon who were in the room.

Cadance might regret this. She took a deep breath and waited for the backlash.

“I know I’m not the only pony or dragon that noticed that something was amiss. I will ask you all plainly but you do not have to answer.” She told them firmly and glanced at all of them who sported worried looks. “Is Stygian… the Pony Of Shadows?”

The silence itself was the answer. They all froze and felt their blood turn to ice, par Somnambula who didn’t react. If anything, it looked as though she expected the question. No pony or dragon said anything as they waited for something to happen. But the pony who spoke up surprised them.

“Yes,”

Everypony and dragon turned to Somnambula who played with her food. She didn’t seem fazed by the eyes that landed on her. The pegasus met Cadance's eyes and tried her best to not let out a sob.

“After we… kicked him to the curb, he met some sort of entity that is known as Pony Of Shadows. It is so ancient that it was forgotten by the ponies that it had even existed. Stygian—I don’t know how—met the Pony and became… fussed together. He came back to our castle and… banished us to Limbo,” Somnambula’s explanation wasn’t anything new for the other five Pillars, but for Cadance and Spike who had their suspicions, it relieved them but also terrified them that they were right.

“So I was right, he is Pony Of Shadows… Is that why you shouted that he wasn’t evil?” Spike asked while drinking a cup of tea.

Somnambula nodded. “Indeed. Even if the rest of Equestria see him as a monster, he will always be my Stygian—the unicorn I know and love,”

The others smiled sad smiles as they saw Somnambula have a grin, albeit small, grace her lips. However, just as quickly as it appeared, it vanished.

“Probably the reason why I shouldn’t try to find him,” she answered to every pony’s shock.

“What?!”

“I would only get in the way,” Somnambula argued. “I would allow my emotions to get in the way. What if Stygian’s hatred is so great that he fires a lethal spell at me while I try to talk to him? I would be a hindrance.”

The others lowered their heads and were ready to believe it until there was a chuckle. They turned to Cadance who had suddenly started to laugh uncontrollably, much to their confusion and Somnambula’s irritation. She laughed for a good minute before she managed to calm down.

“Sorry for laughing, I know it isn’t a laughing matter, but I do not believe you’re emotions will be a hindrance, If anything, it will aid you when you confront Stygian,” Cadance spoke and noticed the surprise glimmer in the pegasus’ eyes. “You see, love and hate are two of the strongest emotions imaginable that know no bounds. You have proven to me that your love has no bounds. Stygian may be the Pony Of Shadows and maybe have done some evil things, but you don’t see that, you still see Stygian, the unicorn you love and want to be with. Your love will help you redeem Stygian.”

Somnambula felt something tugging in her heart when she heard that.

“No offence, princess,” Magnus began, drawing attention to himself. “I do believe every word you just said, but how do you expect us to do that when Stygian has an army that will follow his orders to a T? We can not fight against them. During our time in Limbo, a few soldiers of his ended up there and they told us about Stygian’s kingdom.”

“He rules a kingdom?” Cadance asked surprised, and tilted her head.

“Yes, although, we do not know where exactly. The only thing we do know is that the kingdom is made entirely out of darkness,” the Pegasus warrior explained while stretching his wings. “From the conversations, I had with them, they seem to be very strong and resilient, they won’t be knocked out by a simple hoof to the face.”

Spike looked thoughtful at this.

A kingdom made entirely out of darkness…

“Magnus… I must ask this; was King Sombra—the tyrannical ruler of the Crystal Empire—a subject of Stygian’s?” Cadance looked at Spike, mouth agape at the surprising question.

Starswirl looked thoughtful for a second. “There’s a small possibility that he is. King Sombra’s origins have always been shrouded in mystery no pony has ever seen his cutie mark except for one creature allegedly, a mare named Radiant Hope, but other than her no creature else.”

“King Sombra could have come from Stygian’s kingdom and was dumped in the outskirts of the empire to infiltrate it…”

The Pillars’ eyes widened. Had Pony Of Shadows strategically planned an invasion longer than they had imagined? Had Stygian been using King Sombra as a test?

Cadance realised the severity of the situation and began to write a letter to Celestia and Luna. The potential threat had suddenly become a very dangerous threat to the kingdom of Equestria.

Somnambula’s eyes had widened slightly, but she still didn’t look surprised. The lack of reaction was making Meadowbrook worried.

“Why should we be worried? I mean… we hurt him, shouldn’t we allow him to rule? Maybe I can confess my feelings to him…” Somnambula got lost in her thoughts. The others looked at the pegasus in shock.

“What…?” Meadowbrook whispered out while her pupils shrunk to pinpricks. “Somnambula! We cannot allow him to hurt other ponies because of what we did! I have no problems with him hating us and even punishing us, but involving other ponies and creatures that have no idea that we once existed isn’t the answer. They shouldn’t have to be punished for something we did,”

Somnambula didn’t reply. She finished the last of her food and got up from her chair and left the kitchen but stopped by the threshold.

“Maybe, but I wouldn’t mind living in darkness if it meant redeeming myself in his eyes,” with those words spoken, she left for her room.

Author's Note:

Hello everyone, Dragon-In-Black here with another chapter of The Kingdom Of Darkness. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I was meant to get this one out a few days ago, but life got in the way so here it is. I hope you enjoy it.