The Darkness among the Stars

by Haseo

Chapter 27 - Intoxicating Plan

Chapter 27
Intoxicating Plan

Several times the sun and moon had set in what had only passed as moments. Time was getting more out of synch every passing moment. Casual things like boiling water or lighting a fire became dangerous as time got out of control. Almost everypony had assembled in the Dining Hall again, Applejack and her friends, the three Princesses, Shining Armor and Phalanx, the only one that was still missing was Soul.

Rarity helped Princess Luna get into her new armour. The armour hadn’t changed much, it still looked like before besides the renewed pattern and thickened protection layer beneath the actual steel. The damaged or the unusable parts of the armour were removed and replaced with fine crystal plates, created by Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. Like every one of Rarity's crafting pieces, it fit Princess Luna perfectly.

The Princess of the Night visibly enjoyed wearing her old armour again. Though she showed still fear, a weird smile formed on her lips. She didn't know what would happen next, but she was already sure that she would enjoy it.

Princess Luna looked as graceful as ever, but that didn't gave Twilight enough reason to take her eyes off from the armour of Soul. Almost every part had to be replaced, and the armor on the table shined in a brilliant light that was bent by the crystal surface of the armour and enchanted its surroundings in a beautiful multi-coloured light. But that wasn't what bothered Twilight, it was the golden pin that hold the front parts of the armour together. It was crafted from an old golden trinket and purple jewellery. She had witnessed as Soul asked Rarity for a second favour. He wanted the broken remnants of the Element of Magic crafted into the armour. It was formed like the original Elements; the purple gem was neatly placed in the centre. The five tips that were pointing away from the gem each had a free place for another Element. But before Twilight could bother anymore, the door swung open and the old stallion entered the room.

It felt like the cold breath of death itself had entered the room. Everypony began to shiver as he approached his freshly crafted masterpiece of an amour. “Quite shiny for a pony of my attitude, but I like it.”

He lowered his head and eyed the pin carefully. His lips pointed upwards and formed once again this dangerous looking smile. Each part began to levitated while it was wrapped inside Soul's magic. Part for part the armour layered itself around his body. Everything shiny and friendly looking was gone. The armour had stopped to shimmer on top of his dark coat, taking a foggy black-grey shade. The last remaining thing that shimmered was the pin right at his chest.

Except for Princess Luna, the ponies rearranged themselves in front of Soul, waiting for him to speak. Careless, Soul continued to adjust his armour on his body. It took several minutes to get done, and no pony wanted to interrupt him nor to anger him unnecessary. “And what are you waiting for?”

Startled, they took a tiny step back. Princess Celestia was the one to take the first. “Soul, please listen to us! Despite the fact that you might be forced to use this wretched magic, we want to came with you. Together with my sister, we form the rulers of this country. My niece and her husband are the protectors of the Crystal Empire, as well my student and her friends are the Elements of Harmony. What purpose do we have if we aren't able to protect our subjects, families, and friends? We would rather die along with her instead of waiting for her fate. Please let us come with you and fight for our sake!”

The black stallion stared at them with empty eyes. It seemed like something inside his mind has changed since he had spoken to Princess Celestia on the roof the night before.

In this very moment Twilight realized what the spare places around the Element of Magic could mean, but something inside her mind stopped her from yelling out her accusations.

He turned his eyes to Applejack and waved her to him. She followed the call and stopped in front of him, waiting to see what he was up to. Her eyes widened a little bit when Soul parted his front-legs to invite her to a warm hug. His eyes had become warm and welcoming, a total change from only seconds before.

Applejack couldn't resist and made a small jump inside his hooves. Despite the fact that she loved to feel his coat in her face again, something felt wrong. The mouth of the black stallion formed a sentence, she could have never believed that a single sentence would scare her that much. “I'm sorry, but you're mistaken, they aren't the Elements anymore. The circle has been broken.”

A cold chill ran over Applejack's back when Soul's horn ignited in a deeper shade of his usual sapphire coloured magical aura. He hold her tight to his chest, made her immobile. Applejack could feel like something is torn out of her chest, there was no real pain nor the feeling of getting hurt. It was just like something inside your mind was suddenly missing.

Carefully, Soul released Applejack and took a step away from her. Between them levitated a small orange orb shining like the sun itself. Her eyes locked upon the small thing, as well as Soul's. “This is the essence of the Element of Honesty and a part of Harmony's soul. But you have no reason to worry, she will remain to be the Applejack you know, the only difference is that she won't be the bearer of her Element anymore… and her mind won't be possessed by the thought of me anymore.”

Before the audience could respond, Applejack tried to reach for her precious Element, but she could only make one pitiful attempt of a step before she crumbled under her own weight and fell unconsciousness.

The orange orb levitated away from its previous owner and merged with the pin on Soul's chest. It filled one of the empty places, but it seemed to become darker as well.

Rainbow rocketed to the side of her friend and supported her before she could have fully fallen to the ground. Anger was burning in her magenta eyes. “How dare do you do this to her! She would do anything for you! Just because she likes you, it doesn’t mean you can do anything you want with her! I will kick your flank until you forget what your name is!”

Soul tilted his head to the left, his mane falling over his right eye and hiding it completely. The remaining eye pierced through Rainbow's mind like a dagger. “Oh, really?”

Once again his horn ignited in the weird shade of blue, and Rainbow and the others felt a strange tug inside them. At the exact same moment popped other orbs from their chests, bearing the same colours as their Elements. Before they really realized that they had lost their Element, the little orbs levitated over to Soul and merged with the pin as well.

Instead of the usual bright light that surrounded the Elements every time they were activated, a dark pulse leaked out of them.

Princess Celestia didn't want to believe what she had seen. Anger built up inside her, her voice drifting into a much deeper and darker hue. “How dare do you take my Elements away! You have no right to take them! I've worked so hard to regain the control over them! I should have stopped you when I still could!”

Everypony stared at the Solar Princess in shock. Such gruesome words from the usually so calm, collected, and motherly Princess Celestia were rare, almost unimaginable. But instead of starting a fight Soul looked at her like a father would do when his own child had disappointed him. “So time is messing around with you as well.”

The Eyes of Princess Luna widened when she noticed what Soul had mentioned. “Does that mean that my sister is...”

Soul turned to the Princess and looked, almost apologetically. “Yes, she is drifting through her own personality through the ages. Alicorn are supposed to be timeless beings, free of decay and illness, but it seems like the damaged Fabric of Time is altering her timeline, since you are like the world itself, eternal...”

Princess Luna began to cry when she saw, more and more, the image of Helia in front of her instead of her lovely sister Celestia. “But why didn't it affect me, too?”

Soul stepped between the two sisters and blocked the view of the Lunar Princess. “It does, but you haven't much changed through the last centuries. That is one of the reasons I chose you to accompany me.”

Rude and brash, like Rainbow was ever known, she interrupted them. “Wait a second! Lets get this straight. What do you mean with ‘your Elements’ and that you have ‘worked so hard for them’?”

Princess Celestia struggled with her own mind; she knew it was wrong to say so, but it felt so right. Soul took the words from her while Princess Celestia turned her head away. “Everything that she had told you was not entirely right nor was it entirely wrong. The Elements are indeed a charm to bring harmony over the world. The only thing that had changed was the real intention behind them. When Princess Celestia was Helia, she wanted to create the Elements for her own plan. She really wanted to harmonize her enemies but not to befriend them and create peace. In her eyes… harmony was only a weakness. Helia intended to weaken her enemies through Harmony's power, so she could conquest other countries faster and with less losses. After all, she used it only against her own sister to weaken her after I decided the war. And as you can see it worked pretty well for her. Years went by and Celestia understood the real meaning of Harmony. This is what has formed her to the mare she is today.”

A short moment of silence turned in while Twilight felt the similarities of the pin to another artifact. It felt like the Alicorn Amulet that Trixie was wearing back then. This was what had held her back from saying anything, it was the presentiment of what this pin meant. She made a little step forward to face him. “Then why do you take them? Do you intend on using them against Lunacy and the darker Princesses? I doubt that you will be able to use them!”

Soul looked directly into Twilight's purple eyes. It felt quite uncomfortable to her. “No. I can't use them. I've got two reasons why I'm taking them with me. The first one should be rather clear, since Demon's Run is such a dangerous place, and I'm not immortal, I want to protect myself. The second reason is that I don't want any of you to follow.”

Twilight was in her element, finally she could fight with him a battle of logic. “And what will happen if we follow nevertheless?”

Cold and stern he answered. “You’ll die.”

The lavender unicorn's eyes narrowed briefly. “So, your plan is built on the hope that the Elements will protect you and everything working just fine?”

Soul only stood there without any visible change of emotion, he knew for himself how true this was. “Yes. If only a tiny part of the plan goes wrong… Equestria will fall.”

Twilight couldn't take how ridiculous this was. “What about this artifact? Are you sure that it even exists?”

Again the stallion answered coldly. “No.”

Enough was enough, Twilight rapidly closed the distance between her and Soul. To compensate the difference in height she rose on her hind legs and began to press against his throat. “Are you kidding me? You can't be serious! This can't be the only possible plan! Why are you toying around? Do something to stop this madness!”

Soul looked down on the unicorn struggling against his throat. He watched her, not giving a care. “This is the last hope we have. I will tell you every other option, despite the fact that they are even more ridiculous. At first I could possibly reserve the spell if I regain the power of a god. Which means Celestia or Luna has to give up their power or might even have to cease. But I think that even both of them aren’t powerful enough to achieve this, so I won't risk that. A second option is to defeat Lunacy and devour his power… again. Most likely we won't be able to defeat him. The last imaginable possibility is that I gain these power out of nowhere or they surrender. I doubt that any of this will happen. So my plan is the only reasonable option.”

Twilight nearly broke out in tears, she could hardly contain herself. “Then let us help! Even if we can only go until we reach Demon's Run!”

From the most distant corner of the room a timid sounding voice reached their ears. “She is right, even if we have to die in the end. We won't die alone.”

Rarity stepped forth to show her determination. “I agree with Fluttershy. This affects every one of us! We should all fight together until we are able to do so!”

Rainbow Dash left Applejack's side and took off to the air with a back-flip. “Yeah! It's not like you could stop us from doing so anyway.”

Princess Celestia seemed to have found her usual self, little tears streaming out of her eyes. She was touched by the brave words of her favourite subjects and, somehow even, friends. The old stallion wasn't really impressed, but his expression told them that he was acknowledging them at least. “All of you should take a deep breath and calm down a little bit. I was well aware of the possibility that any of you would want to follow, so where do you get the very idea that I couldn't stop you from doing so?”

The Sun Princess took a small step forward until sleepiness kicked in. “What is the meaning of this? What have you done?”

The other ponies struggled, one after another falling to the ground. Only Princess Luna and Soul remained unaffected. With her last energy the Princess managed to look at Soul. A wicked and sinister grin lied on his lips. “When I entered the room, I released a magical replica of the ingredients inside the Ipomoea violacea that I have created. Its a beautiful flower from the family of Solanaceous. Unfortunately it causes extreme drowsiness and hallucinations when consumed in any way.”

He turned to his Princess still grinning. “Luna, we’re taking off, the chariot is already waiting.”

Princess Luna had to witness Soul's action but didn't stop him. She simply turned around and left the room, heading to the waiting chariot. Almost everypony had fallen asleep, only Princess Celestia could remain consciousness a little more. “Why?”

Soul followed Princess Luna as he heard Princess Celestia and looked back briefly. When his head swung back, a single tear had fallen to the ground. Princess Celestia's eyes followed the tear until it dripped on the ground. Her vision began to fade, the last thing she heard was Soul's voice. “I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.”

Finally, everypony in the room had fallen asleep, so Soul and Luna could make their way to the chariot. A feeling of guilt overcome Princess Luna. “Was that really necessary?”

She didn't look back at her former student, she didn't want to see the cruel stare of his. “You have heard them yourself, they would follow us. If nopony interrupts their sleep, then everything will be over when they wake up.”

Princess Luna halted in her path and Soul walked by her. “What is the matter?”

She looked at him, remains of tears still in her eyes. “And what if this was the last time we saw them?”

Soul laid his hoof on Princess Luna's shoulder and looked into her eyes, a small smile was on his lips. “Do you remember the time when I had my first solo mission when I joined the Nightmare Legion? I was so afraid to fail and disappoint you, more than I was afraid to die. You came to my chamber and said that it doesn't matter if I succeed or not. The only thing that mattered was that I return to you alive. You even made me promise. And after all, I came back… back to you. The only thing in my mind while I travelled home was the thought of keeping my promise to you. Now its your turn. Promise me that we will see them again.”

The Princess of the Night threw her hooves around his neck and pulled him into a tight embrace. He could feel her tears flowing down his back. “I promise that we will see them again!”

Slowly Princess Luna withdrew her hooves and gave Soul a short nuzzle on her way back. “Soul, you would have been a really good father. I'm sure now that we will see them again.”

She continued her walk but Soul waited for a short moment. “Thank you. I will make sure at least that you will see them again...”

Princess Luna spun around and puzzled him. “Did you say something?”

Soul closed the distance between them and walked past her. “I didn't say anything. We just have to hurry before they wake up.”

Back down in the Dining Hall were eight ponies, soundly sleeping. The door opened once again, albeit this time very slowly. A white pegasus guard carefully entered the room. “I'm sorry that I'm late. I kind of overslept and...”

He stopped talking when he noticed that everypony was asleep. He looked around and noticed something. The only ponies that were missing were Soul, Princess Luna, and Applejack. Startled by a strange noise, he fell on his back.

Princess Celestia was struggling with her dreams. Something there had to be wrong. Phalanx checked his surroundings, but not a single other pony could be found missing. The sound of a whipping leather lash caught his attention. Through the window he could see a dark chariot pulled by four of Princess Luna's guards leaving the castle. From the distance he could see the shapes of two dark horned ponies and a strange box on the luggage-stacker. Something seemed to be hanging out from the box. It waved in the wind like a mane would do. A blonde mane that was tied together with a red ribbon.