Oracle of the Moon
Celestia uncrossed her eyes and looked up from the blond and gray pegasus she was entertaining. Her sister had inexplicably but specifically invited Ponyville’s mailmare to the palace’s Hearthswarming celebration but had completely ignored the poor thing, leaving the middle-class civil servant adrift in a sea of noble snobbery. The regent of the day had discovered the skittish mare hiding behind one of the six decorative trees that had been erected in the ballroom. The tinkling sound of breaking ornaments had drawn her attention.
At first, Celestia’s company had made the pegasus’ nerves even worse but after several minutes of gentle, albeit one-way, conversation the gray mare began to calm down and forget about the divine nature of company she was keeping. The alicorn had eventually coaxed the mare onto the topic of the royal mail service and was surprised how much different the organizational structure and operating procedures looked from “ground level.” As she cast about looking for her missing sister, Celestia made a mental note to discuss these inefficiencies with her secretary as soon as the holiday was over.
She spotted her previously missing sister alongside her “niece.” Both were muzzle deep in the chocolate fountain, drinking from it as if it were a trough. Her eyebrows suddenly rose at the peculiar display of royal shame she was witnessing. She politely but firmly disengaged herself from the cross-eyed mailmare and worked her way across the crowded ballroom. While her bulk could make such a crossing difficult, her status prompted ponies of all standing to scurry out of her way as best they could. “Very much like the sun breaking through a pastel-tinted bank of clouds,” she thought to herself with a smile. Because of the equine shield between Celestia and her relatives, the other alicorns had no warning of her approach. One moment the two younger goddesses were obliviously guzzling molten chocolate and in the next, they froze in place as they felt the solar goddess bring her presence to bear on them.
Luna was the first to lift her face from the sweet pool. Her face bore a haunted expression that was shockingly incongruous with her chocolate-coated snout. The effect was even worse on Cadance; her vibrant pink coat clashed against the smears of melted, brown solace dripping from her chin. Her eyes, however, were the most disturbing thing to Celestia. They lacked all spark of humor or intellect, resembling those of a prey animal near the end of the hunt. As Celestia took the final few steps towards the guilty pair, the smell of vomit wafted up from her honorary niece. The great white alicorn developed a slightly greenish tinge and swallowed repeatedly before speaking with a tone as heavy as gold. “Where is Twilight and how is this your fault?”
--------------------------------------
Several minutes later and completely unheralded, Celestia entered the guest suite occupied by the depressed Elements of Harmony. A moment afterwards, Luna and Cadance, each dragged by an ear pinched by a golden aura, reluctantly entered the room as well. Only Twilight’s reverence for her goddess and mentor outweighed the leaden mood that had rendered them motionless.
“Princess! You should be downstairs!” Twilight pointlessly objected instead of greeting Celestia.
“And a happy Hearthswarming to you too, Twilight, girls.” the alicorn replied, nodding to her student in particular and the other five ponies in general. The other mares could not help but raise their heads in response to their Princess’ sudden and unexpected appearance.
“But the ball-” Twilight persisted.
“-Is just as incomplete without me as it was without the six of you.”
Twilight’s third response died on her tongue, executed for treason by her monarch's well-trained eyebrow.
“I am given to understand that some ponies have been telling stories, ones that were better left forgotten. Is that true?”
Twilight and her five friends moaned something to the affirmative.
“In that case,” Celestia resumed using her best school-marm demeanor, “Luna and Cadance have something to say to you all.”
“Mumble-grumble sorry mumble.” were the word-like noises the chastised alicorns produced with their brown-stained mouths. The two goddesses winced as the aura gripping their ears brightened.
Celestia sighed deeply after the aura dimmed back to its original brightness. “Try again.”
“We are sorry we ruined your Hearthswarming Eve by telling bad stories,” Luna and Cadance said in unison.
Celestia nodded and her expression softened as she bodily levitated both alicorns to existing gaps among the six friends. “Now, since the two of you have had your fun, I think it is only fair that I have a chance to tell a story and rescue the evening.”
True fear began to show through Luna’s and Cadance’s eyes as the golden glow of the magic aura shifted to their docks, anchoring the pair of them to the stone floor.
Twilight, gaping like a fish out of water at the display before her, was nearly bowled over as the Princess of the Sun, Regent of the Day, her mentor, and second mother winked at her.
“I suppose the best way to begin is the most traditional,” the white alicorn prefaced. “Once upon a time…”
------------------------------------------
A stallion’s forehoof smashed through the inch-thick ice, shattering upwards with a spray that froze instantaneously into snow. Grasping blindly, the limb found the stone edge of the pool. Muscles bulged as purchase was found and a charcoal gray body hauled itself out of the icy water. Exhausted and trembling from thermal shock, the stallion wanted nothing more than to stay prone and catch his breath. He forced himself to ignore the thought as inadvertently suicidal. Trembling with effort, the earth pony regained his footing and shook himself dry like a dog. Ice, already reforming in his black mane jangled and shattered while droplets flung into the air rattled and plinked, frozen solid by the time they reached the stone floor.
Stumbling from dizziness, he squinted his eyes in an attempt to see through the clouds of mist that rose from his body. He could make out a rectangle of deeper dark against the nearly black stone; a way out. Grunting with the effort, he strained to lift his rear-left hoof. With a crack, the ice binding the limb to the floor gave way. The process was repeated with each of his other hooves in turn. When it was once again his rear-left hoof’s turn to lift he came up short. He growled in irritation at having to break free once again. As he strained, his eyes suddenly flared wide, stopping his efforts for a moment. He looked back at his foot, worry mixing with a sudden new dread. Lips pressed tight, he turned back and fixed his eyes on his direction of travel. The tremors rocking his body doubled as a high-pitched squeal emanated from his hoof as he lifted it. Unable to stop himself, he looked back and saw his iron shoe still frozen to the stone floor, with the nails that had affixed it glinting in the starlight as they stood tall and straight. Forcing himself forward, he lost the other three shoes the same way. For once, he was grateful for the numbing cold of the stone beneath his hooves.
“Für die Liebe des Nacht-märr,” he swore using the old earth-pony term for the goddess whose wing of Everfree castle he had entered. As he stepped over the threshold into the next chamber he felt as if he just entered a smithy despite the fact that the temperature here was the same as it was outside, that of a crisp autumn evening. The extreme change in temperature was too much for his abused flesh and he fell to one knee as his vision narrowed to a gray tunnel. He leaned against the smooth black marble of the wall to help him regain his hooves. As he slid upwards, a trail of bright red blood was smeared onto its surface. Each of his flanks bore a bloody and raw patch where his Mark of Destiny had been removed. He focused on his goal, shutting out the pain as he forced his cracked hooves to bear his weight once again.
As he resumed his march he fought to quash the thought that he had to be near the end of this labyrinth. Instead he reminded himself that the whole point of a labyrinth was to confuse the traveler. He had prepared himself as best as anypony could. He had tracked down the centuries-old stories, supposedly from ponies that had survived this trial and claimed their boon from the moon goddess. The pegasi called her Selene, the unicorns named her Luna, his own tribe called her by a title rather than by a simple name. Earth ponies invoked her as Die märr des Nacht. Turning his logical mind back to his journey, he reminded himself that he could very well be near the beginning or the end of the labyrinth. Every petitioner’s tale agreed that the labyrinth within the Lunar wing of the castle made no sense. Either the stones themselves moved or geometry was somehow broken within this divine place. This train of thought did its duty and distracted him from the pain long enough for him to come to yet another chamber of trials.
He fought the very equine instinct to hope that his journey was almost complete. “Hope does not help a stallion,” he reminded himself as he assayed the room he had entered, “effort, determination, and planning do.”
The room must be spherical, he surmised, around him was a perfect and seamless recreation of the night sky. The room held a thin mist, obscuring any details one might see of the stone walls while still allowing the “stars” the shine and glimmer. “Diamonds or sorcery?” he wondered.
The path his legs had followed without thought ended abruptly one step further on. The light mist thickened with depth, eventually obscuring the representations of stars below the horizon as well as whatever fate lay in wait for those who fell. Upon thinking the word “fall” he felt a wave or vertigo wash over him. He carefully sat and closed his eyes a moment, allowing the world to stop spinning. Reopening his eyes, he paused a moment. He glared at the star-field before him, suspicious. Then the stars moved again. His stomach lurched as the world seemed to spin like a failing top. He fell prone while closing his eyes and wrapped his forelimbs around the spur of stone that held him aloft. With a whimper he felt the hidden shards of glass or sharpened stone on the underside of the spur sink into the flesh of his arms. “Of course it wouldn’t be that simple,” he mused ruefully.
Forcing himself to not flinch, pull away, or tighten his grip he concentrated on the simple act of breathing. “There has to be a way,” he said to himself to fight the rising panic. “None of the rooms ever just kill you. You always have some chance.” With another breath to brace himself, he opened his eyes. Immediately, he sought out the north-star the single stationary point in the room. With this visual anchor point he was able to regain his footing. A quick glance to the side almost unmade him but he regained his balance before plummeting to his death. Forcing calm upon himself he saw the riddle hidden in plain sight. One cardinal direction was sacred to each sister. North was the sacred direction of Die Märr des Nacht, while south was sacred to the Lightbringer. With steely eyes he focused on the imobile north star leading his way and stepped from the platform expecting to land on an invisible walkway. Too surprised to scream, he silently plummeted through the mist below.
Sometime later, the stallion awoke. He was so exhausted and battered his body would barely respond to his mental orders. Raising his head caused the muscles in his neck to seize and tremble but he instantly declared the view as worth every moment of suffering. An indigo mare, incongruously larger than a full grown earth-pony stallion and yet still appearing graceful and delicate stood before him. She was draped in the whitest, softest cloth the stallion had ever seen and she wore a golden mask in the shape of a starburst. There were no holes for eyes in the mask but her horn pierced the star’s heart. Her wings fluttered, seemingly in response to the weight of his gaze.
“Du är wundershön.” The words fell from his mouth before he could think to stop them.
The muzzle, visible beneath the golden star, frowned. A moment of shame flared in his heart as he realized he had not spoken in the common tongue, the hybrid language now being called Equestrian, but in the archaic and dying earth-pony language. Making matters worse, he had used the wildly inappropriate familiar pronoun. He hunched in anticipation of the goddess’ justified rebuke.
To his shock, she replied using the same tongue. She spoke with perfect pronunciation, her only accent one of antiquity. “We are not entertaining any offers of marriage at this time.”
The stallion blinked. He hadn’t even considered that possibility. His mind reeled with the potential outcomes but a moment later he dismissed the thought as pure fantasy. Given that she understood his father’s tongue he continued in that language, “I do not come here seeking a wife.”
“Oh,” was the goddess’ reply. “Of course you aren’t, that was silly of me to assume.” Her frown softened into something more complicated as the atmosphere became abruptly awkward.
“Um,” the stallion grasped for any threads with which to sew together a conversation. “Did you want me to?”
“What! No! Of course not! I… guess. That is much more my sister’s kind of thing anyways. She’s always turning down marriage proposals.”
“I have no interest in your sister.” The stallion said these words with an intensity that whipped the goddess’ head around.
“Oh,” the word as she said it was the same as before but the meaning was entirely different. “I, um, don’t hear that very often.”
The stallion continued using words worn smooth with practice, “I have renounced your sister’s rule over me. I have renounced my name and my Mark. I have renounced her light and warmth. I have renounced all my possessions and family. I have endured your labyrinth and prostrate myself before you, the Night-Mare.” As he said this, he shifted his posture from that of a dying animal to that of a bowing supplicant.
The goddess regarded the stallion prostrate before her, “So my sister turned down your request?”
“I never asked her. I came to you, first and only.”
Beneath the mask the goddess’ lips formed a nervous smile. “I… ah, wow. Um… hold on.” She turned around and there was the distinct sound of un-ladylike (and un-divine for that matter) struggling, a clattering noise in the distance, followed by a muttered, “bloody stupid thing.” Luna turned back around, this time without the golden mask obscuring her features.
The stallion met her eyes for a moment that stretched forever. She looked surprisingly young, like a mare just a year or two into adulthood. He marveled at the apparent youth of the ancient and alien being before him. Then, he blinked, the moment ended, and he dropped his eyes to the floor.
“You, um, don’t have to, uh, look down like that if you don’t want to,” Luna prompted nervously.
“I would not presume, my fell mistress. I forgot myself for a moment but I will not dishonor you again.”
“Oh,” she sounded somewhat disappointed. The stallion wondered why and hoped that his momentary impertinence did not ruin his chances for gaining his boon.
“So, what should I call you?” the goddess asked.
“I no longer have a name but you may remedy that with but a word,” was the stallion’s immediate reply.
“So… if I called you, Sunshine Foofykins you would go by that name for the rest of your life?”
The stallion swallowed and let out a strangled, “Yes.”
“Fluffy Cotton Bunny Tail?”
“If you so desire, but I was hoping for something more…you.”
The goddess’ grin had expanded to cover her entire face. “Hmmm, so it would be fine with you if I named you ‘Fluffy’?” she teased.
Trapped between the name “Fluffy” and the act of disagreeing with his declared goddess the stallion gaped like a fish out of water.
“Fine, I’ll have mercy on you,” the goddess giggled like a school-filly, much to the shock and dismay of the stallion before her. After the laugh, however, several pregnant seconds of silence fell on them as the mare suddenly realized that she had no idea what to name the stallion. “Um, how about ‘Shadow’?” she smiled lamely, knowing full well how trite a name it was.
Eager to avoid any of the aforementioned fates, he pounced on the somewhat juvenile name. “I shall wear this name with pride and honor for the rest of my days.”
The goddess raised one corner of her mouth in amusement. “So, um… Shadow. What brings you here?”
He shifted his body so as to expose the bloody patches on his flanks. “I reject the destiny the Morningstar had selected for me. I come to you seeking a new one.”
She inhaled through her teeth at the sight, “Doesn’t that… “
“Yes. A lot.”
“Oh, and you want me to give you a new one?”
Shadow nodded. “For centuries now, the unicorns have dominated the economy of Equestria. Every skilled trade is theirs. They grow rich and fat while the earth ponies sweat and starve.”
“Oh. Don’t you think that has more to do with, well, their horns and their aura’s grip?” Luna replied. She was growing unsettled at the direction the topic was headed.
“So you think it is fair that one tribe alone may craft every fine object and tool, another may control the wind and rain, and the third can… lift heavy things?” His last three words dripped with sarcasm.
“Ah. No, not really but there is more to an earth pony’s gift than just strength,” she stammered.
“Yes, endurance and heart; those were the gifts that allowed me to gain passage through your labyrinth. A fact for which I am quite grateful,” Shadow added.
“But not grateful enough, it seems.” Her smile had faded over this portion of the conversation and was entirely gone by now.
“A Mark, a talent for any skilled trade, would make up the difference between an earth pony’s mouth and a unicorn’s horn,” the stallion countered.
“I suppose, but a Mark to just become as good at something as an un-Marked member of another tribe seems a bit of a waste.”
“Do you not trust us to decide such things ourselves?” He said, sounding a bit offended.
“It isn’t really a matter of trust; the process you are asking for is a bit more complicated than you are making it sound,” she tried to explain.
“Oh?” he replied, sardonically.
“It’s not like I can just create a new destiny out of nothing,” Luna answered.
“I see. Is it because your sister doesn’t allow it?” the stallion asked, forcing his face and tone to remain neutral.
“SHE FORBIDS ME NOTHING!!!” the goddess shouted with sudden venom, driving her hooves downward to punctuate her declaration. The stones beneath her hooves were instantly pulverized into very shiny black sand. Dust fell in tiny streamers from the joints between the stones in the vaulted and currently swaying ceiling.
Shadow’s eyes showed white around their irises as he wondered if he had overplayed this card. “I am sorry I said such a thing. I was mistaken.”
“You are not mistaken, you are simply wrong,” the Mare of Night growled. “I was mistaken for allowing you to pass the trials.”
“Will you still honor my petition for a boon or have I asked for too much? I did not realize such a thing was beyond your power.”
Luna’s teal eyes narrowed, resembling those of a cat about to pounce. “It is not beyond my power foolish mortal. Do not tempt me to destroy you here and now.”
“So what I request is neither beyond your ability nor your authority and yet you refuse me? Why?” Shadow asked with feigned innocence.
The goddess glared at him for several seconds. Eventually she spit out an answer. “To give you a new destiny I must take one from another. Somepony must die to give this to you. Do you still want your new mark knowing this price?”
Shadow smiled a toothy grin, “The only real limit to one’s power is how willing you are to use it. I have no problem with this cost.”
Luna’s eyes narrowed with disgust. “What talent do you ask for?”
“I have been a miner of gems my whole life. My old talent is the same. I wish to be a gem-cutter instead. I want to be able to cut and facet any crystal in creation,” Shadow declared.
Luna closed her eyes and her horn glowed azure. The raw patches of flesh on Shadow’s flanks lit with the same light. As the glow of her aura faded, the goddess opened her eyes. “There,” she spat. “You are now a murderer as well as the finest gem-cutter in the world.”
The stallion eagerly turned to look at his flank but all he saw was red ruin. “Nothing’s there.”
“It will be when the skin grows back,” Luna replied. “I want you gone, now. I will send you away to be rid of you all the faster. To where shall I cast thee, Shadow?”
The stallion took the time for him to stand to think. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go by a variation of the name you chose for me. An translation into one of the unicorn dialects, I think.”
Luna’s voice dripped with hate, “I care not what you call yourself. I’ll only ask one more time before I choose for you: Where will I send you, foul Shadow.”
“The Crystal Empire. And please, call me Sombra.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------
As Celestia finished her tale she looked up to take in her audience’s reaction. The jaws and eyes of all six mortal ponies were open as wide as they could go. The stunned silence was broken by a growling sound to her left. Turning, she saw a look of pure fury on her niece Cadance’s face. Her sister was reciprocating with a look composed of equal parts worry and shame.
“YOU caused that?!?” Cadance bellowed.
“Well, not really. How was I supposed to know what he was going to do with that talent!” Luna attempted to defend herself. “Besides, I was mostly Nightmare Moon by then. I’m barely the same person anymore.”
“You. Killed. Me,” Cadance looked apoplectic.
“Not, YOU you. Just... the OLD you.” Luna wasn’t making much sense to the six friends.
“Um, what the hay are they talking about?” Applejack, the first to recover, asked the room in general.
Celestia turned back to the mortal portion of her audience. “Sombra used his new talent to kill the Crystal Empress, cut her amethyst horn from her body, and attach it to himself. Using her power with his talent he was able to quickly subdue the Empire and enslave the crystal ponies. It took Cadance most of a millennium to reincarnate properly.”
The recitation of crimes wrought against her previous incarnation and homeland proved too much for Cadance’s composure. She belted out a war-cry and flung herself at Luna. The alicorn of night instantly dissolved into shadow and reformed herself outside the window. Flecks of foam graced the edges of Cadance’s normally graceful mouth as the alicorn of love smashed through the window, giving chase to Luna. The two rapidly disappeared into the snowy night sky.
Celestia broke the stunned silence. “Well, that should suffice as their lesson about sharing stories they have no business sharing,” she harumphed, “and on Hearthswarming Eve too.” Standing up from her cushion, Celestia turned her body towards the door. “Come along girls, there’s an ingenious chocolate fountain I’m sure everypony will want to try.” With that, she walked out the door, completely disregarding the scene of shock and devastation she left behind.
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Well that was an interesting origin story for Sombra.
3826419
Tried to do something a little different with it.
3826422
Which is good since pretty much every story is him the unicorn who was an ambitious conqueror that succeeded. A darker take though I did also enjoy the fact of how reaching Luna's court was much more difficult and the image seemed appropriate. Also found him once being an Earth Pony to work well, always thought that the Crystal Empire was more like Earth Pony magic than anything else
Wow. Just Wow. Do none of the alicorns understand what an appropriate story is?
So, in Apoptosis, Celestia was considering killing another to save Twilight. She is almost reaching Nightmare levels of crazy. This story was an intriguing study in cultural norms, and it provided some disturbing backstory for the whole series.
Sombra is evil, yet I understand the logic behind his decisions. That was well written.
3826483
I take that as high praise.
Noooope
3826549 The best villains are the ones who operate on a form of logic normal people can understand. His logic was understandable and reasonable. If I was in Equestria, I would actually agree with his goal of equalizing unicorns and earth ponies. My only disagreement with him would be methods. I LIKE your image of Sombra. He is one of my favorite versions, next to the Sombra from The Code's Apprentice.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I found that actions of
my loveryour sister led to death, albeit temporary of my future foalsitter.Also I supposedly should have took local mailmare with our group in times of Dragon Snoring Crisis.
Sincerely yours, your faithful yet perplexed student Twilight Sparcle.
P.S. Can I take with myself a several barrels of whisky from Royal Cellars?
I can understand Sombra's motive. I do think you've got more of these up your sleeve.
A perfectly Inappropriate story for the occasion, excellent job.
3826647
I don't know why I love running her through the wringer so much. Perhaps its because she breaks in such interesting ways.
3826697
3828099
Thanks! Glad you liked it.
These origin stories are incredibly good! I hope you'll write more of them.
I've been considering writing a collection of possible stories for Equestria's past, just because I love these kinds of tales so much. Good work, Biochi.
3833244
I might, but the more I think about it I'd like to put it in another framing story. I'm thinking Discord, Grogar, and Cryssi sharing some stories.
I was kind of surprised to learn about Sombra's rise to power although it does kind of make sense since he he always had a really weird looking horn. This does bring up the question of what exactly a cutie mark is because Nightmare Moon could apparently steal someponies special talent and than give it to another pony, admittedly this kills the first pony but still being able to manipulate a pony's destiny like that is pretty terrifying. Great story I would really like to learn more about the Titano-verse, ahh that makes me feel just like Twilight.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/11/27/483578__safe_solo_twilight+sparkle_animated_princess+twilight_smile_book_hub+logo_happy_faic.gif
3858553
Thanks!
I felt the same way about Sombra's funky horn, hence the seed for this story. Before I found that hook, I was stuck for quite some time. I wanted the third story to be about an earth-pony but I kept finding myself uninspired by a Chancellor Puddinghead story. After my "Ah ha" moment, it was only a few weeks until I was finished with this third chapter.
In regards to the rest of the Titano-verse, I do plan to get back to Apoptosis eventually. There just might be something involving cutie marks and destiny, etc.
In my headcanon: Luna and Celestia can't create or destroy destinies (or life for that matter) but they can move it around and manipulate it; because gods.
3860733
Hay thanks for responding.
Yeah I assumed that it was impossible to create a destiny out of nothing, however for those ponies who give up their destiny or even lose it because they survived something they shouldn't have, like if Twilight survived getting her horn broken off and lost all her connections to magic, than that pony would be living without a destiny. This kind of reminds me of a Harry Potter fanfiction with a similar premise and now that I think about it Final Destination, the part about killing someone else for their lifetime/destiny.
richferguson.com/video/dancinggirl.gif
I loved this whole thing, but i have to ask...
Am I the only one who pictures Twi eventually realizing what these stories mean, and re-labeling the history section of the library, the historical fanfiction section, until grudgingly seeking out what was omitted, or outright rewritten to cover for said omissions?
Yeah, I figured I was, but like I said, I had to ask.
i really do not like to see http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GratuitousGerman
otherwise, nice story
Of course, if Discord tells a story he will be going out of his way to make it as horrible as possible.
So what would be totally hilarious is that Discord accidentally tells a truly heartwarming story, due to attempting to tell an awful story but having an entirely different moral system and outlook on life than any pony anywhere. I don't quite know what kind of story would work there -- I dunno, maybe a story in which the resolution is that the hero who had an exciting and adventurous life ends up in depressing obscurity, married, with foals -- which, having had plenty of adventures, and being for the most part mortal and knowing that someday their own adventuring days will be over, the girls see as a happily ever after worthy of "d'awwww, that's so sweet", and to Discord, who thinks mortality is horrible, obscurity is horrible, not having an exciting life is horrible, and enforced monogamy is horrible (and doesn't think foals are horrible but has some terrible memories associated with the childhood of his own daughters), it's the most awful ending possible?
(On a completely unrelated note, I have just read all of your stuff, and while obviously 4th season's reveal on the Tree of Harmony made your stuff non-canon, the thought of Three's A Crowd in the context of Cadance being Discord's daughter is even funnier.)
Wow. I loved this story. Biochi, you have earned my upvote, fave and follow from, me. Keep up the good work.
Ah. I see Twilight has recognized the emerging pattern.
I loved that Cadance didn't know the story already and created a grudge on the spot. Oh, the DRAMA!
Why can I only favorite this once?!!?
What utter shite.