Arch of Shadows

Twilight awoke to find herself in the middle of a throne room, very much like the one she was in in the waking world. Screams of terror seemed to shake the very foundations of the room, the open air windows.

Shaking off the sleepiness, she soon came to realize that she was not still in Celestia's throne room.

Alarm bells immediately went off in her head as she tried to rationalize where she was. Ironically enough, those very same alarm bells began literally ringing as some distant bell tower rang with the force of a nation-sized choir.

Perhaps to calm her, Luna's voice quickly rang out, “Remember Princess Sparkle, it is a dream!”

Twilight seemed to calm down at this notion, though she had to look around to see if Luna were anywhere to be seen.

Sure enough, when she spotted a nearby mirror, she saw Luna. Resembling her appearance when she was originally restored by the Elements of Harmony, this young Luna had bright blue hair and a somewhat stocky look to her.

Her dressings were absent, even any regalia, as that symbol of monarchy would not come till much later.

Piecing together at last that she must be playing the part of Luna in this dream, Twilight took another few looks around.

The throne room was very similar in design to the current throne room in Canterlot; however, the regality of a red carpet was changed to a purple carpet, and instead of two thrones, there was a large assembly of cushioned seats, all arranged to face towards one of the double doors in the room.

There were three sets of double doors in total, one at the far end of the room, and two right across from each other on either side of the seats.

Twilight reasoned that this is probably where meetings took place with diplomats, judging by the dull, arched windows. They had no stained glass, but at least they let in ample amounts of daylight.

The sounds of screeching brought Twilight's attention back to the matter at hand; the emotion Luna felt during the time, the confusion and uncertainty, seemed to be a result of the chaos outside.

Twilight presumed that this was the rise of the Empire; though she recalled it being told as being a more orderly transition in the history books.

Accordingly, the old system had been seen as inefficient, so two alicorns seized control and declared a new Empire, with the multi-species state now under their rule.

Obviously there had been resistance to this sudden change in government, but it had been implied that this resistance was mass scale only on day one. This must have been day one.

“Quickly, they cannot be allowed to threaten the Republic!” voices shouted, tearing Twilight from her thoughts again.

This room was, on closer inspection, a mess, as if someone had ransacked it and left in a hurry. Chests of all sorts were open, the floor was worn and scratched, the ceiling looked as if it were going to cave at any minute.

These details were only just now coming to the forefront, despite how important they would seem. “Get away from here you barbarians!” another voice bellowed, sounding much closer than before.

Several bursts of magic and the sound of crunching later, and the room doors farthest from the seating area burst from their hinges.

Startled, Luna instantly turned towards the doors. Rolling in a heap were two young dragons, coming to a stop just before her hooves, followed by the stomping of an angry alicorn.

The signs of dark magic were evident, not just from the ominously glowing eyes, but the entire visage being completely cloaked in a misty black shroud before dissipating to reveal an, at first, familiar sight.

If Twilight did not know any better, she would assume that this was Nightmare Moon, with some masculine features granted for creative effect. However, the cutie mark was not quite right; it bore a shield with a cross of short swords stamped onto a heart.

Additionally, the mane had a more physical look to it, though it still bore the familiar, moonless, starry night look. The body was bulkier and covered from head to toe in metal armor.

No, now that she got a better look at it, Twilight could tell that this could not possibly be Nightmare Moon.

Luna asked in a soft and sweet tone, “What is happening?”

The eyes of the mystery alicorn flashed to midnight blue softened, just enough to see that the pupils seemed rather normal, at least at this moment. The alicorn looked at Luna with some surprise, and then in anger.

“Luna, I gave you a directive,” the alicorn growled, “I told you to stay with your sister and mother.”

“But father!” Luna protested, apparently taking a good guess at what was going on, “I can help with whatever it is! I managed to nudge the moon yesterday...”

“Nightshade's daughters can touch celestial bodies now?” one of the dragons growled, coughing up bits of red essence, “So they were the ones planning a coup, even then!”

“No, that was not it at all!” Luna's father roared with volume rivaling the Canterlot voice, “I do not know who fed you this nonsense, but whoever it is, they are lying!”

“Rubbish!” the dragons spat, “You ponies have been plotting this for a very long time. The republic will not topple like this!”

The Ponīn republic, the predecessor to the Ponīn Empire, had been founded by alicorns, with the intention of stabilizing their world.

It started in the north, not far from where the Crystal Empire stood in modern times, and rapidly expanded to include many of the lands that were now Equestrian territory.

In order to make governing a diverse group of creatures easier, the representative body became consisting of more and more non-pony beings.

By giving them a voice, the Republic was able to hold fast despite its diversity, though the obvious restraints of a group having to agree on things made expansion slower and slower as time went on.

The Empire would eventually rule most of the known world, but first, the less efficient Republic had to be overturned. From that perspective, Twilight rationalized, alicorns taking back the government should not have been that much of a surprise, even for dragons.

After the fall of Zebrage, not much was capable of stopping the Ponī Republic. Many species allied themselves with the fearsome armies, and many more fought against them. Some of the losers were punished with slavery (thankfully now outlawed) or being reduced to livestock.

Obviously, the latter was only for the most heinous fighters, but it was still rather harsh by modern standards, as it stripped an entire species of their sapience and almost immediately domesticated them.

The origin of some cattle were supposedly tied into this, but all of that didn't matter with what was going on here, not to mention that was speculation.

The Republic died today; and the ones to be in charge were alicorns. But something still was not adding up, now that Twilight thought about it.

If she was experiencing this through the perspective of Luna, then that would mean that Luna would have had to been old enough to remember this with some clarity.

But Luna and Celestia traditionally do not appear in history until after ponies migrated south to escape the windigoes, right before the founding of modern Equestria. It really put into perspective just how old Celestia and Luna were.

“General Nightshade!” sounded more voices, shaking Twilight from her contemplation yet again, as what looked to be guards quickly rushed to Luna's father.

They wore rounded helmets with two triangles sticking out of the sides like dunce helmets, the triangles swiveling back and forth with their attentive ears.

Most were clad in some ragtag bits of armor; hardly modern Royal Guard standards, with mostly thick layers of what appeared to be leather.

Out of the five that arrived, only one of them, bearing a tuft of read feathers along the top of the helmet, bore any actual metal armor, still somewhat lacking by modern Canterlot standards.

It seemed clunky, and if nothing else, inconvenient to run around in. However, most notably, were the shortswords that were present on each flank, sheathed and neatly shelved along with the armor.

The fact that they were not drawn suggested that Nightshade was the one who attacked the dragons and sent them flying into the room.

They fervently discussed the situation with their general, the red feather donned one doing much of the talking.

“The entire city is in an uproar; they claim that Kaiser was slain!” frantically shouted the metally armored pony, “The entire Animate is armed to the teeth to defend against some sort of overthrow!”

“I am clearly aware of that Sharp Blade,” Nightshade retorted, never taking his eyes off of the beaten dragons, “Did I not give orders to evacuate all non-combatants?”

“Well yes, we managed to, but your wife and one of your daughters insisted on staying...” Sharp Blade bravely reported, chancing a glance towards Luna, “We of the guard are not alicorns sir, we were not going to get in their way if they insisted on staying.”

“That's fine,” Nightshade assured the soldier, finally looking towards Sharp Blade, “Celestia is old enough to fight, and I am sure Solaria will keep an eye on her.”

Young Luna seemed to be following the conversation just as much as Twilight was now, if not a little harder, in an attempt to fully understand what was going on.

“Accept it already,” a voice echoed through the room, sending chills down everypony's spine save for Nightshade. It was a familiar one; one that Twilight knew with an unpleasant taste in her mouth to belong to only one draconequus.

“Show yourself Discord!” Nightshade angrily shouted, in a manner not unlike Celestia when Discord was first freed from his stone prison.

Discord immediately showed himself, appearing in a poof of smoke between Nightshade and Luna as if he had nothing to fear.

Discord, as a draconequus, bore the head of a pony, and a mismatch of other body parts. His strange physical mystery seemed to add in to his chaotic magic and namesake pastime; even during this time, he apparently was a nuisance.

Twilight felt somewhat bad for thinking of him, now reformed, in such a way, but it was not far from the truth.

He did, after all, attempt to plunge the world into chaos shortly after gaining his freedom, and temporarily broke apart the Element Bearers in order to prevent from being resealed.

Though he ultimately failed due to his own arrogance, and was eventually reformed thanks to the efforts of Fluttershy, that made him no less a danger as far as Twilight was concerned.

There was never any telling what the creature was up to, and his bold arrival suggested that he was not here to play around.

Despite Twilight's reservations, Luna of the time seemed much more eager to directly attack the draconequus physically, breaking into a run to close the already small distance between the two.

However, her legs ceased to move correctly as the floor became ice; skidding, she literally slipped right into the open grasp of Discord, a lion paw covering her mouth and eyes in a single gesture.

Despite this, Twilight could still see what was going on, presumably because Discord was mostly focused on keeping Luna's mouth shut rather than her eyes.

“Tsk tsk tsk, surely you did not think that you could get away with assassinating Kaiser did you Shade?” Discord cackled, “Killing off your own Animate Council brethren, bad form really.”

“Lies!” Nightshade howled, thunder sounding off in the background as he took a single step towards Discord, coming nose to nose with the spirit of disharmony with a charged horn, the aura a dark blue color.

Unfazed and undeterred, Discord stood his ground with a wicked smile, threatening, “Now now, let's not do anything hasty. You wouldn't want to accidentally hurt little moon shaker here would you?”

The guards, having recovered from their initial shock, unsheathed their shortswords in various manners; with four wielding theirs with magic, and the officer taking his between his teeth.

Twilight did not envy the pre-Classical weapon users, though the fact that an Earth Pony was in charge of this small group did finally dawn on her as a bit unusual.

Nightshade blinked, as if weighing quickly the options presented by the problem.

The entire confrontation simmered as he took a step backwards and growled at Discord.

“Put Luna down and we can negotiate like stallions. Harm a single hair on her body, and I promise that it shall be the last thing you do.”

A jolt of fear seemed to go through Discord, only to vanish within the span of two seconds as his grin faded. Had the alicorn intimidated him into backing down?

Twilight guessed that Discord had probably been weighing his options when suddenly a hole burst through the ceiling almost directly above them, apparently having been blasted out with magic.

“Unhand my daughter, or my stallion's wrath will feel like moonlight upon your scorched hide by the time I get through with you!” a very stern voice threatened, a white alicorn descending from the large hole in the ceiling.

This alicorn strongely resembled Celestia, but its mane was a double rainbow in colors, and her cutie mark was a blazing sun with two swords crossed over it.

Its horn was almost as long as her mane, and it was glowing orange in a threatening manner. The white alicorn seemed to fit the description of someone who would be named Solaria, if Twilight had to guess.

What rubble was left to fall as debris harmless speckled itself in the coats of those present on the ground, a confident smile now spreading among the guards.

Discord must have realized that he was now very soon to be surrounded by the future rulers of the Ponī Empire, and his mind was hard at work trying to figure a way out of this.

“The Empire will make you an example for all to see,” the voice sinisterly pointed, “Now unhand my daughter.”

As Discord turned to see the speaker, Twilight could now see clearly what looked to be a young Celestia flying in behind her mother; a distinct shade of pink reigned supreme in her hair, though some blue streaks were beginning to show.

Luna was thrilled at this latest development, and only more fervently attempted to escape Discord's grasp.

Discord kept a tight magical and physical grip on her; after all, up to this point, she had been useful as a bargaining chip of sorts, and losing her now would be quite troublesome.

“I will safely hand over your daughter, but, in exchange, I am to rule your non-native lands for as long as your daughters are not on the throne and you are dead,” Discord threatened, putting a claw particularly around Luna's neck, “And do not think that I would not stoop to desperate measures to get my wishes.”

The dragons, by now having regained their wits, were wise enough to limp out of the way; one missed blast and they would not be seeing the rest of their lives.

Despite some of their legs showing signs of breakage, they hastily shifted away from the epicenter of this standoff as Celestia and Solaria took a step forward.

No one spoke for what seemed like a long while, Nigthshade and Solaria pointing their glowing horns towards Discord, just two pony lengths each from the draconequus, as if taunting him to try anything.

The guards held their breath, and Celestia understandably seemed apprehensive.

Finally, the silence was broken by Nightshade, a grim look on his face.

“We do not negotiate with jesters and fools,” Nightshade coldly spoke, “There will only be two alicorns to rule the throne at any one point, and there will not be a successor bearing fangs and claws, if I have anything to say about it.”

Solaria joined in, jeering, “You know that deep down, you are nothing more than a clown; a clown who enjoys nothing but a good time. Ruling doesn't suite you. Put her down and you can be a redeemable fool."

Discord's face twisted into a very depressed frown; his grip slowly closing in around Luna's throat. He was cornered, and these alicorns knew that at least a part of him had been bluffing. They were betting that his bluff would be their ticket to disarming the draconequus.

The situation looked grim for Discord, and Twilight couldn't help but wonder how Discord intended on getting out of it. With a wide smile, Discord suddenly narrowed his eyes at Shade, gently nicking at Luna's neck with a claw.

“I have a better idea,” Discord snickered, “Let's play a game of hide-and-go-seek. And you are it.”

In a flash, two blasts were loosed in unison, and a grand warping of reality occurred. Twilight recognized this as a teleportation spell, done with just the right kind of timing to make it more dazzling than it needed to be.

However, she couldn't help but ponder if Luna's parents were in their right mind attempting to attack Discord while he held Luna.

Then again, she didn't know what spell exactly they used, so it was fair to say they were probably not going for anything that would harm Luna. Needless to say, when the spell wore off, the shift was from a rather bright room to a dark one.

Blinking, Luna attempted, vainly, to gather her senses when she was dropped atop of something soft. Searching for her captor, she only saw complete darkness, though she could hear the turning of a door handle.

“Oh, almost forgot,” Discord joked through the darkness, snapping his fingers, “Wouldn't want you teleporting away now would we?”

Luna suddenly felt a strange tug, and instinctively reached up to where her horn should be. Twilight did not need vision to guess what Discord had done.

Without her horn, Luna would not be able to teleport; but she was still an alicorn, and as Discord seemingly departed from the room, Twilight contemplated the logic in leaving her alone; but then reminded herself that this was Discord that she was talking about.

His idea of logic baffled even the greatest of tacticians, since Luna did still have wings to fly and hooves to run, if she could just get her bearings.

Silence pervaded for a long time as Luna lay in her position, figuring this was probably a good time to think about her situation. Twilight couldn't help but agree.

From what she had gathered, Luna had been kidnapped by Discord while she was kind of young; Celestia and Luna had parents, and apparently, wherever they were now was where Discord planned on keeping Luna.

When the reality of the situation dawned on her, tears began welling to Luna's eyes. Dark, alone, and suddenly quite chilly, as if a cold breeze had entered the room.

Luna snapped to attention as she realized that the sudden temperature change suggested an inconsistency in the room; there really did have to be a door or crack, or something nearby that she might could go through.

Feeling around with touch and hearing alone, Luna maneuvered her way to the source of the chill; it was about where Discord's voice had vanished, and as Luna put a hoof out in front of her, she felt something oddly smooth. Rubbing it, Luna concluded that it must be some sort of gem; so was she in some sort of cave?

“Honey, I'm hooome!” sang a deep voice, startling Luna and causing her to drop to the floor. Heart racing, the sound of hoofsteps echoed nearer and nearer, before stopping right before the other side of the surface.

“Amore?” the voice called out again, a hint of concern now audible, “I apologize, but I am not in the mood for hide and go seek!”

Suddenly, a bright light shone in at the spot where the smooth gems were at, and Luna was blind sided by it, her eyes having adjusted to the dark in her short time of being in the room.

Covering her face, she waited for her eyes to re-adjust, slowly and somewhat painfully, to the change in lighting.

A pony, tall in stature, stood at the entranceway; she could only see a silhouette, but very quickly the pony called out frantically, “Amore? Amore?!”

The pony quickly ran off, leaving the doorway open. As Luna's eyes adjusted, she noticed that the gems were in fact crystals; in fact, the entire room was made of crystals, from top to bottom.

As if trying to wrap her head around the concept, Luna touched the floor; the clop of her hoof supported her theory that even the floors were made of crystals.

She stuck out her tongue, and just as she considered tasting the walls to make sure it was not some sort of sugar (she had just been kidnapped by Discord after all), a roar that shook the entire room brought her attention back to the matter at hand.

Quickly scampering from the room into the hallway, the young alicorn frantically searched for any sort of familiar landmark. Crystals, large and small, in various colors and shapes, were everywhere.

Not a rug, not a flag, not even a single map; the hallways seemed endless, and even the ceiling lights were made of crystals. Luna made a personal bet that she would go mad before finding her way around this place.

Another shout, along with the sounds of a struggle, continued down one of the hallways. With it being the only defining trait of this hellish maze, Luna carefully trotted in that general direction, ears tuned in to the smallest sound.

The endless hallway seemed to stretch on forever as she turned corners, only to find more hallway greeting her. It was as if the very structure were laughing at her so far futile efforts to gather her bearings.

It took some time, but eventually, the noise was loud enough that Luna projected that she had to be right on top of the source by now.

To her surprise, the floor beneath her suddenly gave way, and in a panic, she began flapping her wings frantically; she managed to get some lift and prevent herself from falling with the rubble.

It was a short way down, merely one room level down, but the crash of the former floor overwhelmed the noise of conflict. Luna unsteadily hovered downwards, to find a large room filled with swords, shields, spears, and armor.

There were also dummy targets, surprisingly made of wood, and even some metallic dumbbells of varying weights printed on them scattered about the room. The remains of that section of the floor were directly below her.

“We must be in the Crystal Empire somewhere,” Twilight finally deduced, “That is the only logical explanation for all of these crystals.” No sooner had she figured that out did one of the walls open up, expulsing a calm looking Discord.

“Hmph, note to self, do not pay the guards,” Discord muttered to himself.

Luna quickly dove for some of the nearby rubble in an attempt to hide; the loud clop of her hooves and the wind from her closing wings were deafening to her. Using the reflective crystals as a sort of guide, Luna could see that Discord seemed quite surprised.

“What happened here?” he inquired to himself, tapping his chin with his lion paw, “I could have sworn that the trapdoor was on the other side of the castle...”

“King Umbra!” shouted a high pitched voice, causing Discord to go rigid, “Queen Amore, where are you?”

Luna chanced a peek with her own eyes to see Discord's reaction; as quickly as he had lost his composure, he seemed to regain it, almost as if this were yet something else that he needed to bluff his way through.

Guards rushed in; however, these ponies were unlike anything Luna (at the time) had ever seen.

Their coats glittered and shone like gems, their very eyes sparkling like clear water from a spring catching sunlight. Despite this flashy appearance, many were garbed head to hoof in metallic armor; only one bore no armor.

This unarmored one allowed Luna to guess that that is what the others looked like underneath their armor; she also presumed that it was a mare who would be out of uniform.

Her stereotype got a reality check as she noticed that out of all of them, this was the one who looked most worried, and most panicked, and had both wings and a horn. The horn, however, resembled that of a rhinocerous' more than a pony's, with a wicked curve, no grooves, and an eerie ruby glow.

Twilight had only encountered one unicorn who had possessed a horn like that, and could presume that this may have been one of his predecessors.

If a mare looked anything like Sombra though, then they had definitely skipped over their reflection in the crystals a few too many times earlier in the day.

“Where are the King and Queen, Discord?” this pony asked, fierce lime green eyes attempting to burn a hole through the draconequus.

“How am I supposed to know Sombra?” Discord replied, “They are probably going to make you a brother or something.” Twilight's mind reeled at the implication of the pony's name, at first dismissing this as a mere coincidence.

“I don't find that funny at all,” Sombra replied with a snarl, “With ice cold tea raining from the sky, and my armor turning to jello, I think there are greater concerns than that to worry about. I am supposed to be wed today!”

“I take it you didn't take too kindly to it?” Discord suggested, looking genuinely disappointed, “I thought about changing it up to something a little less cliché, like cats and dogs into cows and bulls. I figured tea was a better way to go.”

“We don't even like tea,” one of the guards behind Sombra pointed out, “That stuff is Tartarus on its way out.”

“That's because you aren't used to it,” Discord pointed out, “Once you get used to it, your bowels tend to move much less.”

“Enough of the games Discord!” Sombra demanded, his voice cracking almost comically, “Where are they?”

“Why don't you ask the ceiling?” Discord said, gesturing towards the rubble.

All eyes were now on the rubble; Luna realize that she had not chosen the best spot to hide, as now her hiding spot had become the center of attention.

After all, the earlier conflict might have very well been the royals; and she may have inadvertently dropped the floor on top of them!

Dismissing this shortly after it coming to mind, Luna figured that now was as good a time as any to make her appearance. Darting from the rubble, she spread her wings and pointed a hoof in the direction of Discord.

“This is all his fault!”

“What are you doing out here?” Discord inquired, seemingly quite shocked, “I could have sworn I locked the door when I left through it.”

“You actually used the door?” Luna asked, to which both temporarily thought about it for a moment.

Discord then shrugged, and then pointed a claw back at her, “Well, nevermind that now, I am King now, and anyone who says otherwise will face the wrath of my cotton candy maker!”

Luna looked towards Sombra and the guards to gauge their reactions; the guards seemed startled, surprised even, but Sombra looked star struck and just a few moments away from passing out.

His pupils had widened, his mouth hung open, and his wings twitched unpredictably.

“Who is this?” Sombra inquired, taking a step forward. "Is this a real mare, or a fantasy of yours?"

Discord seemed to rack his brain for a moment in pure thought, before a lightbulb appeared over his head as an inspirational cue to an idea.

“Why, yes, yes she is real,” Discord said as he quickly slithered over to Sombra's side, “Sombra, meet the princess of the evening, Luna! Luna, meet Prince Sombra, the last ascended alicorn you will likely ever see.”

Luna now felt a boiling anger at the notion that Discord was trying to draw attention away from the problem at hand by once again playing around.

For Twilight, this at least explained why the Crystal Ponies had an alicorn among them, even if it was still unclear as to how and when it occurred.

However, Sombra seemed entranced, almost hypnotized, as he broke into a wide grin, “Luna... It has a nice ring to it. Nice to meet you, princess.”

“The honor is all hers!” Discord chanted, taking on the dress of a salesman, “For the price of your kingdom and forgiveness for the unfortunate accident of your parents, this princess can be all yours!”

Sombra shook his head, as if trying to snap out of a dream. His eyes seemed to take on an innumerable set of circles extending out from his pupils, giving a hypnotic stare of sorts.

“I don't know... I think I was already kind of royally promised to someone else...” Sombra hesitantly stated. The guards merely stood there with shocked expressions, each wanting to divulge their discomfort with Sombra considering this proposal.

Luna beat them to the buck. "Wait, I am not some prize!” she spat, once again pointing an accusing hoof at Discord, “He is trying to trick you!”

“If you accept, I will even give you back your horn!” Discord offered to Luna while stroking Sombra's mane, “It is a win-win situation for everyone!”

“Not really,” Luna protested, “Not since you might take it away again!”

“My parents are not okay are they,” Sombra said, seemingly breaking from his trance, “I need to... attend to them...”

“They would have wanted you to live happily with your bride to be!” Discord argued, spreading his arms out wide over Sombra's head, “Marriage, children, successors after I undoubtedly get found out... err, pass the crown on! Plus, she is quite the catch isn't she?”

“Sombra, you are stronger than this!” one of the guards finally spoke, the gruff voice attempting to snap sense back into Sombra.

“Your parents already had you betroth. That is why you were ascended in the first place!”

Another question answered, another one created. Who was the bride that required Sombra to be ascended to the most prestigious position of all pony kind?

“They never told you to whom,” Discord grappled, quickly trying to get back on his track, “And besides, this one is right around your age group. Not to mention her stunning curves.”

“That is sick and twisted,” one of the guards hollered, brandishing a sword with one of their hooves, “ She looks hardly old enough for that kind of thing!”

The sword seemed out of place, as it possessed guard-like protrusions on both ends, the point right before the blade and the bottom of the hilt; they were overly large, just large enough to reduce sliding in the hooves.

A design that wouldn't catch on elsewhere for centuries. This guard was on twos, getting ready to take a swing towards Discord.

As he did so, Discord quickly flashed away; in a poof of sweet smelling smoke, he appeared on the other side of the room with Sombra in tow. He literally pushed the stallion on top of Luna, startling both as they tumbled to the floor in a heap.

“This is a very limited time offer that is soon to expire,” Discord bargained very quickly, as the other guards readied their own swords and started to advance on him, “Just feel her soft mane, her firm body, and let's not forget her smell.”

Although initially insulted at the notion that she smelled, Luna shoved the slightly larger stallion from her with what little dignity she had remaining. “When my parents find you Discord...”

“I'll take it!” Sombra shouted in triumph, hazily, and in complete interruption of Luna's threat, “My Empire for a mare!”

Discord smiled, and with a snap of his fingers, Luna was dressed in an overly poofy midnight blue gown and her horn restored to her head. Sombra was now dressed in a false tuxedo T-shirt, a wide grin on his swirling circle eyes.

“Yes!” Discord shouted in triumphant, hardly paying attention as the guards descended on him.

“Hail King Discord,” Sombra said as he rushed up to Luna, “As for you and I, I have the perfect place for us to get ice-cream.”

Luna back-hooved Sombra in the face; while it did not send him sprawling to the ground, it did seem to snap him from his trance. Luna regretted not trying that earlier as Sombra's eyes returned to normal.

“What the crystal...?” he asked as he rubbed his head, “What hit me?”

The guards suddenly went flying through the air, an overly large party cannon being the apparent cause. Discord wielded a string tied to its back, jokingly pointing out, “You just traded your Empire for a pony I wasn't in the position to give.”

Discord snickered, and then dressed himself in kingly regalia, a long and flowing purple toga accompanied by an over-sized crown on his head. A golden scepter with Solaria's head on it appeared in his lion paw, with a scroll gripped tightly in his eagle talon.

“I hereby decree that the reign of Discord shall begin! Prince Sombra, you may kiss your bride to be,” Discord chortled in a mock regal voice, “Oh Luna, your timing could not have been any better had I done it myself!”

Luna frowned, Sombra put on a scowl, and the guards lay scattered in the room with bits of chocolate fudge on them.

Twilight could no longer keep herself from bursting with questions, as the dream came to an abrupt end at this part.

Twilight sat up and looked around the throne room; it was still nighttime, the still shining moon granted that knowledge, and she felt oddly stiff. When she looked at where they all had went down for the night, the reason became somewhat obvious.

Shaking her head groggily, Twilight asked, “What was that?”

“History,” Luna plaintively stated with an arched brow, “Was any of that new to you?”

“Other than you being kidnapped by Discord and what looked to be Sombra being an alicorn, only a little,” Twilight replied as she looked towards Luna, “What was that all about?”

Luna shrugged.

“Celestia knows more about how that happened than me, but long story short, the Ponī Republic allowed for Sombra's ascension upon birth as an agreement between the Crystal Empire and the Republic.

And the only reason Discord got me was because I was much weaker and less experienced than I am now.”

“I get that, but the Sombra being an alicorn?” Twilight reiterated, “There is literally nothing that even suggests that he could have been an alicorn. Why is this suddenly showing up?”

Luna sighed, and then put the underside of her hoof out towards Twilight.

“Well, the Crystal Empire and the Ponī Republic were strong enough to be rivals; it was simply easier to pacify the Crystal Empire and allow Ponī to conquer the rest.

A lack of mention of male alicorns has surprisingly made many stallions think that stallions either cannot be alicorns, or that we do not have the power to ascend stallions to that status.”

Twilight seemed to be only more confused now than she was before, and took to her hooves as she walked towards a circular groove in the floor.

In an unlikely turn of events, she began pacing the very floor that Luna had previously been pacing prior to her arrival, in the same direction as well.

“I just always figured that there were never any real male candidates for alicornship; I figured my brother might have had a shot since he is married to Cadence and all,” Twilight muttered to herself, “But did the experience with Sombra make them wary of it or something?”

“Only relatively recently has Celestia even bothered to ascend any ponies to alicornship,” Luna explained, stepping away from the thrones to try to stop Twilight's pacing, “Descending alicorns is not a pleasant experience for anyone.”

“Wait, what?” Twilight said, stopping in her tracks, “You can be stripped of alicorn status?”

“If it was granted to you, then yes,” Luna answered, “That is a point for another time though. Anymore questions before we continue?”

Twilight seemed to be thinking for a second, before asking, “Well, can you ascend stallions to alicornship?”

“Ask Celestia,” Luna deterred with a wave of her hoof, “Now, I will fetch some cushions to make our slumber a little more restful.”

As Luna strode off, Twilight couldn't help but think about the information she had just been presented with.

It was rather unheard of for ponies to just become alicorns in any fashion other than ascension, not to mention that the origin of Luna and Celestia was almost mythical in nature as far as general knowledge went.

Had they had regular parents who just happened to be alicorns, or indeed was this their way of explaining their own existence in a trumped up version of history?

Either way, the idea that Sombra was an alicorn made a little more sense, if Twilight was willing to believe that male alicorns were scant because of Sombra's evil.

But how could an alicorn be reasonably depicted as a unicorn? Sombra must have been descended to just a regular unicorn; maybe out of spite he took over the Crystal Empire and sought to regain his old power.

Twilight was shaken from her thoughts by the sound of clopping, and Luna placing pillows beneath her sister and Cadence. As humorous as it was to try to see her move the alicorns without disturbing them, it seemed like an unnecessary gesture; they didn't even twitch in response.

As Luna laid two cushions down at their former spots, she commanded, “Now then, let's get back to dreaming. I still have yet to piece together the solution to the dreaming mystery.”

Twilight did not protest, and quickly joined Luna, eager to have some of her questions actually answered.

Once the duo returned to the dream world, they soon found themselves at what looked to be a funeral, Discord style. A large precession of crystal ponies were lined up at the city's center, somberly paying their respects to the previous monarchs.

The rain had been changed to chocolate milk instead of iced tea, the clouds were thread and stringy like bread dough, and the ground was mushy like soaked wheat bread..

None seemed more depressed about this than Sombra; the crystal ponies shot eye daggers whenever they passed by him, and some even snarled.

He paid them no mind, but Luna did. It had only been a day since Discord's rise to the throne, and despite ample resistance, there was only so much one could do against slippery floors and sticky rain.

Not to mention Discord made it very difficult for anyone to land a blow on him; one minute he was a draconequus, and the next, he would be a giant spinning star with sharp edges and a metallic feel.

Luna felt some sympathy for their plight, but reasoned that if Discord kept up what he was doing, then he was going to attract the attention of merchants from home, who would undoubtedly report it to her parents.

And they would come and set him straight; it was clear that Discord did not want a direct confrontation with them.

As the last of the train of ponies, Luna stepped up the crystal caskets, closed and sealed in a symbolic gesture. They didn't have the bodies, or so she was told, so even if she did want to take a peek in, she would likely find an empty casket.

Twilight could hardly believe this to be the truth. Here was Sombra, crying like a foal at the death of his parents instead of trying to find a way to avenge them.

Even Luna seemed incredulous that this was happening.

It was so obvious to her that Discord had done something to them, and merely bluffed that they were under the rubble; the guards had dug out the mess themselves, and found no corpses.

She had been there helping, despite herself, as she was eager to know that she did not want to be the cause of all of this.

Nevertheless, one of the guards had muttered something about a crystal heart, and how it was the monarch's way of defending the city during times of stress.

Why hadn't they used it? These were many questions that Luna felt only Sombra could answer, though first she needed to get his attention.

“Sombra,” Luna quietly stated, not wanting to startle the grieving stallion, “Sombra, are you there?”

He sniffed, his downcast look making his curved horn reflect his sorrow in a darkened tint. Impatiently, Luna barked, “Sombra!”

This snapped his attention, his eyes going from the ground to Luna, tears still streaming. However, they very soon turned from red to lime green, and then back to red again as he glared at her.

“What do you want,” he spat, the malice in his voice quickly getting his anger across.

“I want you to tell me more about the Crystal Heart,” Luna firmly stated, “I have heard that it had the power to repel enemies. Discord certainly counts.”

“The heart was hidden away by my parents,” Sombra curtly replied, still trying to stare a hole through Luna's forehead, “Why do you care?”

“Because I am stuck here,” Luna snapped, flaring her wings and lowering her posture agressively, “I already tried teleporting, but it will not work.”

“That has nothing to do with Discord,” Sombra growled, turning away from Luna, “You are probably just incapable of doing anything but look pretty in your current state.”

Luna's eyes twitched as she contemplated removing Sombra from her list of irritants.

Her temper manifested itself as cyan magic around her horn; she had a serious consideration of doing it until her anger seemed to be snuffed from her like a suppressed flame, and her magic seemed to dissipate back to wherever it came from.

Frustrated, Luna instead stomped her front hooves, demanding, “Something is purposely making it hard for me to do magic. If you know something about it...”

“Tch, save your breath princess,” Sombra hissed as he started to walk away, “You just need some good food, water, and rest and you will be right as rain. Magic takes energy you know.”

Luna's stomach rumbled, as if on cue, and she instantly cringed at the sensation. It was not a new sensation since being here, but she had thought that she had suppressed it.

Considering recent events, she had taken only meager bites of any food offered to her; there was no telling if Discord had tainted them in some way, and sleep evaded her busy mind.

Still, she had only been here a single day. Even regular ponies did not starve in a single day; then again, inexperienced magic users tended to be less efficient with their energy use.

Or maybe temporarily losing her horn had something to do with it. Either way, there was no warping out of here.

Seeing Sombra walk off, Luna sighed in concession. She was not going to make any progress by being abrasive; if anything, her sister should have proven that point.

Even as a newborn foal, when Luna had cried for literally everything and her parents left Celestia in charge of her, Celestia refused to cater to her every foalish want under those circumstances.

The only way she got what she wanted was through being adorable and amiable; a smile here, a giggle there, and even Celestia was enthusiastic to change her bedding and sort her growing mane, and take the blame for whatever mess Luna managed to create.

As much as it pained her, she was going to have to try to appeal to Sombra's better nature. “Wait, Sombra,” Luna cried out as she trotted after him, “I'm sorry!”

Sombra stopped and turned around, his ears swiveling towards her as he looked towards her. He sniffed, then asked, “What are you sorry for?”

“Well, Discord took advantage of you in part because of me,” Luna sheepishly said, lowering her ears and frowning ever so slightly, “It is only fair that I apologize.”

“It's... It's nothing,” Sombra replied as he wiped his face of his tear streaks, “You were just in the wrong place at the right time I guess.” An awkward silence followed, Luna still trying to look as remorseful as possible, even bringing a few tears to her eyes for good effect.

Sombra ate it up like an apple pie, and eventually, though he looked away as if judging whether it was a good idea, suggested, “Let's grab some lunch. We can talk more then.”

Bingo. Luna had to hide her excitement as she slowly raised her ears, as if the proposition were only slowly taking hold.

“I'm half starved,” Luna joked, “I may eat you out of castle and home.”

“I doubt that,” Sombra replied, his ears drooping yet again, “We do have two fewer royals to feast with.”

Luna internally cringed at bringing that back up, but quickly brought on a small smile of her own in an attempt to cheer Sombra up.

“Well, let's eat enough for them and us, hm?” She only hoped that the Queen had a large appetite, as she gingerly followed the still reluctant Sombra back to the castle entrance.

The square where the funeral had been held had cleared out by this point, but Luna could still feel that many sets of eyes were watching her every move.