Long Live The King

by Morpheus Sandman

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, King Sombra, Romance, Twilight Sparkle, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 78523

To restore their family heritage. Pitch and Sabre have one mission in mind. To rehabilitate their forefather. The master of darks arts, Sombra.

To restore their family heritage. Pitch and Sabre have one mission in mind. To rehabilitate their forefather. The master of darks arts, Sombra.

However, they doubt that they only can make him good again as there’s more to him then they hoped. Namely, his first act upon freedom is to ensure the Crystal Empire with fear and kidnap Princess Twilight Sparkle.

While Canterlot watches the Crystal Empire intensively. Surely the famed Princess of Friendship can help Pitch and Sabre reform Sombra?

Published 2014-06-09 11:00:04 UTC
Last updated 2017-04-04 06:05:06 UTC

The Crystal Prison

The Crystal Prison

“Achoo!”

The snowy expanse of the Crystal Mountain was a very cold place to be. A winter’s chill elsewhere in the world was nothing compared to the natural low temperatures of these mountains.

Sabre, a crystal earth pony, visibly shook with every hoofstep. Alongside him, Pitch, a crystal unicorn, also shook from the cold. The falling snow did its best to impede the two ponies as they marched through the thickening snow. Light droplets lazily fell around them and glistened the world in white. The blue sky added a shy tint to the otherwise opalescence landscape. Though the sun radiated a blinding whiteness from somewhere in the sky, it didn’t warm the two ponies but only further emphasised the chilly atmosphere. The two dark coated ponies stood out in the field of ivory like a single orange in a basket of apples. Their fur coats did not help them to keep warm in the slightest.

They trudged on slowly through the snow. Pitch’s brows crested strongly together as he searched the horizon. Mercilessly, the snow didn’t hamper his vision of the surroundings. Though there was scarcely a sight to see.

Pitch breathed a chilly breathe, a short vapour trail trailing from his mouth.

Pitch and Sabre were looking for the seldom spoken of Crystal Prison. It was a place sparsely written about in a few books that were kept in the library at Canterlot. A empire a fair distance away from where the two ponies now walked. A noteworthy book described the Crystal Prison as a place only the royal sisters had the privilege to leave and enter and that it was a fool’s journey to ever want to venture there. It was an area that the most nefarious criminals were sent to to be forgotten.

A different text, an archaeological diary, that had gone through the Crystal Mountains had been the only clue as to how to find the so called secretive prison.

‘It was ever a powerful magic, or a warped sense of nature. Yet I could feel it in my horn. This cavern in front of me was never meant to be found.’

Pitch’s analysis of the archaeologist's journal lead him to firmly believe that they had to lose their way on the mountain. That the only way to find the mysterious prison was to trek on the edge of the unknown and hope to eventually stumble upon the Crystal Prison. A fool’s journey indeed if the idea turned up fruitless.

Pitch, together with Sabre, had prepared lightly for the journey into the mountains. Getting lost would be difficult however; as Pitch frequently ventured around the mountains to study various crops of crystals that the mountain spawned. He had hoped the notion of getting lost was merely going someplace on the mountain he had not been before - but that wasn’t the case. Pitch had a good sense of where he was on the mountain even if he trotted unto never before trotted snow before him. He understood how to get back to familiar territory.

Pitch’s lips cracked as he gently frowned. The snow looked alien to him suddenly. He purposely twisted and turned through the journey hoping to forget where he was. The showering of snow had been a blessing in disguise.

He didn’t know where he was for once in his life. The landscape repeated itself in an ongoing tapestry of blending snow and sky. Pitch glanced down at his faux-leather, soaked, hoof shoes, and hoped silently that he hadn’t dragged along his cousin to die pointlessly.

“P-pitch...?” Sabre’s teeth chattered and he shook from more than just the cold. His usual monotone voice sounded even grimmer than usual. He kept his head aimed at the ground below him so that each warm breath would pass over his neck, giving him a slight, insignificant reprieve from the cold.

Fortunately, the snow was gentle, and Pitch could see dotted on the horizon a single discernible triangular formation. He closed his eyes and made a wish.

“So,” Pitch stopped walking. “We’re finally lost.”

“We are?” Sabre angled his eyes towards Pitch as he hooves stopped crunching the snow, pausing next to him.

“Y-you know Pitch. If this isn’t the place...we’re probably going to...you know?” Melancholy was settling in and making a nice comfy home in Sabre’s mind. It didn’t change the prominence of his monotonous tone however.

They had finished their rations of food and water some time ago. Pitch looked around to study the rest of the horizon and with no civilisation or way of nourishment around for miles; one way or another they would perish in a few days - that was fact.

Sabre’s blunt comment made Pitch’s stomach curl. Pitch coughed. “Yes,” he said simple, already having the idea maul at his mind from time to time.

However, Pitch’s body also ached with a short burst of slight excitement. He knew that the out of place shape in the distance had to be what they were looking for. It just had to be - there was nothing else.

The ponies kept a steady pace together. Sabre walked behind in the holes made by Pitch’s hooves. In a few hours they would know if they had came to a dead end.

They had left the border of the Crystal Empire two months prior. Pitch had excused himself to the Prince making up a story that he was studying the crystals of the mountain. Which would be as per normal for the doctor.

Pitch was the more infamous stallion in certain social circles of the Crystal Empire. He was a practitioner of and foremost expert on dark arts and oftentimes crystal studier. It was a very dangerous and sometimes perilous practise to assume yet had not been strictly forbidden. Unlike other areas throughout the land that had. Instead, it was decreed by the Prince and Princess to only ever be studied by a select few. Ponies wishing to study the unique form of magic had to undergo strict and long interviews and practical demonstrations of their skills. This was to determine whether or not the pony in question had the right knowledge, skills, and attitude to professional and ethically undertake studies and experiments with dark magic.

Pitch was currently the only practitioner that was legally allowed to undertake the study of dark arts.Decrees and words alone didn’t however prevent other ponies from trying their hoof to understand and master the powerful dark magic.

The royal sisters of Equestria, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, decided it was best to allow accepted ponies to study and perform dark magic. ‘Know your enemy by understanding them,’ was the mantra the sisters presented. Precautions were taken to ensure the safety of everyone and risks involved with experimenting in the dark art were heavily tested before any practical activities took place. Practitioners were carefully monitored by guards and had ongoing reviews of their studies.

Pitch was fine with all the red tape as it was his dream to study and undercover the potential and benefits that unexplored dark magic could have for Equestria. In other words; he took to his role with gusto when he finally received a royal doctorate to study his passion within the royal castle of the Crystal Empire. He had held the position of Doctor for the last year and a half.

Sabre of course, was Pitch’s personal crystal earth pony assistant. Any good doctor of magic should have a least one. Sabre was a derisively simple pony. With a plain trouble-free smile that was a little jarring when he spoke. His voice was often monotone, bordering on what could be described as melancholy, a lot of the time. He however enjoyed his role to the fullest to support Pitch, his favourite, albeit, only cousin.

Pitch studied under constant watch, not from fears or suspicions that dark energies would transform him into a nefarious character but for his own protection. He had been royally decreed as a honourable and loyal pony after all. It was so that none of his experiments or studies lead to disastrous situations. Dark arts could often times have its own mind like a savage, untameable creature. It was understood that dark magic could have a destructive or deteriorating effect to both the body and the mind.

Pitch had the very best protection in the Crystal Empire. Prince Shining Armour himself would cast protective shields of the highest calibre around Pitch and Sabre when they were to perform a practical hypothesis with energies pertaining to dark magic.

There was, however, a small secret though; an alternative agenda, to why Pitch and Sabre delved into dark magic...

The soft falling snow never surrendered its paltry assault on the two ponies but thankfully never got any worse. A small enclave waited in front of them. It was by far the strangest entrance the cousins had ever seen.

It was outstandingly simple yet strikingly odd. The singular rocky mass was smooth, almost crystal like, as if it had been cut that way by some creature. Sabre poked his head into the open mouth of the cave. Stairs, built from mud and stone, immediately headed down into the depths of the mountain.

Pitch and Sabre both took the open door invitation welcomingly to get out of the cold without delay. They silently descended deeper into the maw, out of the cold and into the dark.

The place was only slightly less cold than outside. The light from outside bounced and reflected off of crystal sticking out of the earth and ice; illuminating the cave scarcely. The moving bodies caused flickers of shadow in the darkness, emphasised with the echoing of water dripping from stalagmites, was unnerving.

The foreboding sense of things to come which was only increased as the wanderers continued. The stairs were too perfect, the walls too refined. Though very simple, the place had a presentation of hoof-craft and great care taken into its form.

The cousin’s hooves tapped and thudded audibly against the stone and earth of the stairs. Sabre looked around at the bare damp walls, not feeling any warmer for doing so.

“Could this be it?” Sabre verbalised, slowly moving behind his cousin.

“Pray so.” Pitch replied thoughtlessly, creeping along.

The ponies’ mind were on a one way track and neither one of them wanted to die just yet.

Pitch steeled himself as they both arrived on the bottom of the stairs to come across another very plain, strange sight. A very small, tiny, a few hooves tall and careless looking, double door. A pony would have to crawl on their stomach to get through it.

Pitch and Sabre looked at one another quizzically. Pitch shrugged with his eyebrows and took a small breath as his horn began to glow with his own dark blue magical signature. The doors didn’t open inward or outward but resided into the earthen walls instead. His first try to telekinetically open the door had worked.

“Simple enough.” Pitch said skeptically.

Sabre was starting to feel nervous and a bit nauseous from not having any food or water. He swallowed a dry mouthful of nothing and felt like wanting to spit something out. But couldn’t create the saliva to do so.

“Chin up cousin.” Pitch smiled reassuringly. His face then turned serious.“But be careful. Who knows what’s inside.”

They crawled, one by one, underneath the small opening the door had left them, mudding themselves in the process.

Though there were few texts on explaining what dark magic was. There was one particular reference point that each made. There had only been one pony to have purported to have master all that encompassed it.

Sombra, the dark arts master. A unicorn that would be over a thousand years old today. On this pony in particular, there were only a hoof-full of books. All of which were kept in Canterlot. There was nary a scribed letter about him in the Crystal Empire.

His mastery of dark magic was awe-inspiring and frightful to behold. No pony alive knew how he became so fluent, so understanding, and under control of such incredible forces.

Philosophers had written he changed for the worse as his proficiency in dark magic and own magical power grew. That the dark magic had captured his mind and twisted his thoughts. He was the veritable bogey-pony of little filly stories, hidden under the bed so that he could consume fear – and taste it on his tongue.

Pitch and Sabre had a personal interest in Sombra. Their mission into the Crystal Mountains was all about him. They both believed their goal to be a honorable one.

They searched for the aforementioned Crystal Prison, a special sort of prison saved especially for extra special circumstances. Through his search for information on the Crystal Prison Pitch had hypothesised that the prison could be home to only one pony and one pony alone.

The King. That thing. It. Him. King Sombra.

They would find the prison and they would rescue Sombra from the prison hidden within the Crystal Mountain and from freeing him from his imprisonment, they would then rehabilitate him.

If they ever told anypony what that they planned – they would of laughed at the very thought. Sombra wasn’t by any or to anyone’s knowledge – a good pony. Transforming him would be a Celestia level miracle.

Yet the cousins both felt strongly that it was their single mission in life to bring ease to the minds of Equestria by rehabilitating Sombra back to the side of good will and happy thoughts.

He was after all their forefather. His blood ran through their veins. Pitch himself had only discovered this fact after a particular public outcry and later social stigma.

For many it had felt like only yesterday when everything happened.

Sombra once ruled the the Crystal Empire over a thousand years ago. He corrupted the Crystal Heart and fear dissented Equestria. He ruled for a short period up until the royal sisters defeated him by turning him into shadow and banishing him to the ice of the arctic north. He however had the last laugh as he disappeared so too, the Crystal Empire, which he usurped, disappeared, seemingly from existence.

For over a thousand years the empire and the crystal ponies had virtually all been absent from Equestria, believed to have been gone forever.

They were stuck in another plain until one day they resurfaced back into existence a few years ago. With Sombra also reappearing from banishment.

Old painful and tormented memories resurfaced in the minds of the citizens of the Crystal Empire. Remember the suffering Sombra inflicted into their lives during his short-lived reign a millennium ago.

When Sombra reappeared with the Crystal Empire, to the relief and surprise of the citizens, he was swiftly defeated, this time by the pupil of Princess Celestia.

Two new leaders then brought the empire out of the slums and into the light - Princess Mi Amour Candenza and Prince Shining Armour.

However, what was hope and love for the future was a leash to Pitch’s studies. An investigation into stamping out any the dark energies that may have been left lingering behind by Sombra took place quickly after his second banishment. Even ponies from Canterlot had came to assist.

In this investigation the linage of Pitch and Sabre was discovered. In a mess of coming and going information other ponies had also found out about this tidbit of information. In a public outcry for peace and safety the new royal pair saw no choice but to put a short leash and tight guard on what could and couldn’t be done in the studies of dark magic. Particularly, a stringent guard around Pitch and Sabre, if only to appease public opinion and reassure safety concerns.

To finally be free of that leash, to no longer be leered at as a living descendant of Sombra, by rehabilitating Sombra, the family would no longer have to live with eyes watching their every movement. To be the scorn of the empire.

Pitch and Sabre, were in every sense, known to be nice, outstanding ponies with no history of malice and ill intent. This was one of the reasons he was installed by the Princesses of the Crystal Empire and Canterlot as a practitioner of dark arts.

Pitch and Sabre held their breaths as they stood straight.

They both understood what dark magic was and its potential. It was by its nature a destructive and a powerful magical form. It was romanticised by poets as a Pandora’s Box; a unknown but dreamed of almighty power that was lusted for but kept under lock and key and hidden from everyday life. A power that could make a single pony stand out against the crowd. A life force that could make one feel invincible, yet, the possibility of harmful side effects if not probably handled kept the majority away from looking into it.

Yet Sombra; he who was meant to be feared and cowered against, laid bare on the dry hard ground. A shell of his true self which seemed like a joke to how how he was written and spoken of.

The small cavern was a stunning contrast to the the staircase down. There was no space untouched by the various sized shapes and colours of crystals and crystal impersonating grey rocks as they poked out from everywhere. Crystals were bunched up together all over the place. Their own light illuminated the claustrophobic area. The only distinguishable earth that could be spotted was the immediate entrance area where Pitch and Sabre stood and the small area Sombra laid on.

Magical energies made the air muggy and heavy to breath. The crystals seemed to chime faintly.

“Sombra?” Pitch whispered. Sombra’s black hair and grey coat weren’t a very common colour pattern to be born with. What made Sombra really stand out however was his curved horn, its tip sharpened, and red as hot iron.

The pony grunted, as his eyelids tiredly opened up. He laid motionlessly not looking at the new arrivals into the den. He closed his eyes once again. Pitch and Sabre regarded the pony for a moment then looked at one another questioningly.

“Is that really him?” Sabre whispered.

“It must be. Who else would be in such a place?” Pitch said slightly louder.

Pitch begun to think and scanned the small enclosure. Taking the room into his mind he nodded to himself.

A experiment was in order he decided. He drew on his dark magic and summoned its power to envelope his horn in a dark mesh of purple light with a trimming of green. Pitch felt a tug on his horn as the energy faded from his horn. Cracking with sound a nearby a crystal turned to stone.

“Hmm, these crystals draw dark magic.” Pitch eyes narrowed. Looking around the room at the variety of crystals adoring it. One stoned shaped crystal crumbed into dust. He pulled a large one out the ground, spun it in his magically grasp, then placed in within his own saddlebag.

“That’s how he was kept weak the crystals sap magic. But why no guards for the prisoner? Surely he could just get up and walk out, right? The door opened simply by a telekinesis spell.” Pitch said and scratched his chin in thought.

Pitch studied Sombra as he lied in place. No bindings around his hooves, not even a magic ring inhibitor around his horn. How strange. Yet there was one thing that stood out. A shivering twinkle among Sombra’s soot-black coat. An intricate necklace hung around his neck. It was made entirely out of crystals that were dark purple. In such a place, it may of been the enchanted object keeping Sombra in the prison.

Pitch took a tentative step towards the resting pony and pointed his horn to the necklace around his neck. Drawing on a small amount of the dark magic within him he focused the power to the tip of his horn. Again a slight tug at his horn and the energy had faded.

“Hmm. The necklace doesn’t seem to siphon magic though. Though with all these other crystals around it’s hard to tell.”

Pitch studied the necklace. It had no clasp nor did it look like it could be lifted off around Sombra’s head without probable difficulty. Sabre joined Pitch in eyeing off the jewellery. He noticed one of the crystals hiding in the back of his neck fur was blue coloured.

“Maybe we could ask him?” Sabre suggested nonchalantly.

They jumped slightly as Sombra grunted and his eyes wearily opened again. It lasted a whole two seconds before they closed again. Sombra kept utterly and pathetically immobile as if he was trying to imitate a stone statue.

“But then how did he manage to escape from here and appear in the Crystal Empire?” Pitch signed. “There must be some sort of explanation.”

Sabre was starting to feel deflated. The cousins had messed up badly. The Crystal Prison had barely been described at all as no text described its function other than a holding cell. Pitch was dumbstruck that his studies in crystals as a functional property had never revealed something like this. He had never seen any type of crystal take away magically energies all by itself before. It was a new discover yet it troubled him.

Pitch knew thusly, crystals; the ones referred to as containers or vessels, were made almost entirely out of light energy and could be imbued with magical energies from a source. Compared to other magic, dark magic was devoid of any traces of light energy and therefore a complete antithesis to anything crystal. A crystal could only sparsely hold a minimal amount of dark energy before shattering. The ones in the prison were very different.

With licked lips Pitch knew he wasn’t going anywhere else at this moment anyway. He went through the motions of studying his surroundings once more. He pocketed a few smaller crystals into his saddle bag. He then paid attention to using a dynamic range of spells to try and remove the necklace from around Sombra’s neck. It could be broken apart but tendrils of purple light in-between the two broken pieces mended it back together. Trying to teleport the object yielded nothing at all. Sombra remained unmoving.

“It could be enchanted for only the caster to remove?” Sabre suggested.

“Hmm. That would be bad. An enchantment from Princess Celestia or Princess Luna wouldn’t break easily.” Pitch thought out loud.

“We could just...drag him out?” Sabre looked around the small enclosure. He was starting to feel claustrophobic and wanted to leave.

The two ponies took to one side each next to Sombra. Sabre knelt down ready to receive Sombra on his back. Pitch knelt down on the other side. As he went to touch Sombra he suddenly growled aggressively. Only his lips had moved to reveal pointed teeth. Pitch withdrew his hoof a little unsure if it would still remain intact if he touched the slumbering pony again.

Magic wasn’t working. And Sombra wasn’t exactly giving off an aura of helpfulness. Woefully, both ponies were coming to their wits end at how to get Sombra out of the prison.

“Come on now!” Pitch said firmly, reasserted himself.

Pitch was about to try again when Sabre and his ears both swivelled towards the doorway unexpectedly. Quickening hooves slapped against the muddy stairs. The hoof steps got louder as they proceeded down. Pitch rejoined Sabre on Sombra’s side that faced the miniscule doorway.

The cousins watched blankly, air stopping in their throats, as several royal crystal guards assembled quickly in the room. Prince Shining Armour stood at the vanguard.

“Doctor Pitch, Sabre. I am here to escort you back to the Crystal Empire.” He said in an authoritative voice.

Pitch and Sabre shrunk under the unflickering eyes of the Prince. Sombra hadn’t budged from his position. Now it would seem they would be court martialed for attempting to break a criminal from the prison.

The guard's eyes shifted sternly from the two ponies to Sombra as he grunted and his eyes drew open, half-lidded. Their brows quickly tensed into a furrow and they took an offensive stance.

Sombra, the dark arts master, slowly raised and stood on the spot, although he looked groggy. He yawned, a giant maw with razor sharp teeth and serpent like tongue showed off.

“Easy stallions,” Shining commanded firmly as he lowered his body slightly. “There’s no dark magic to worry about while we are in this place.”

Sombra took a weak step forward followed by another. From behind Pitch and Sabre his eyes looked through a crystal that stood at pony height. It reflected Sombra’s image back at him briefly before turning into stone. A large crack burst from the surface causing everyone else to flinch.

Shining Armour drew out his sword, holding it in his magic.

“Sombra!” He warned.

The stone crumbled away, leaving nothing but dust. In the dust a small crystal fell and jumped up and off the ground towards Sombra’s hooves. He picked it up and with eyes closed he pressed it to his chest.

Sombra turned and walked steadily towards Shining Armour. He passed by Pitch and Sabre, his eyes moving slowly across them. They in turn gawked at him. Sombra, in a dazed fashion, stopped almost nose to nose with Shining Armour, who hadn’t flinched from his imposing figure.

Sombra’s lips drew a long, thin, dangerous line as his eyes made no effort to be awake.

He hissed quietly, his red eyes back dropped with a green like venom that sluggishly tried to stare down Shining Armour. The guards’ perspective narrowed on him waiting for the command to apprehend him.

Shining Armour’s perception took in Sombra, looking out at where he may strike.

Sombra slowly and lazily stretched to his full figure, standing a bit taller than Shining Armour, and leered at each and every individual unicorn, pegasus, and earth crystal pony that stood around him.

“Fear me...,” he hissed again. His voice muffled, albeit still not a normal tone level, his eyelids fluttered.

The guards each tensed up as Sombra’s disdained gaze bored into them like swift, stinging sand.

“Fear...ME!” Sombra huffed loudly, bearing his talon like teeth for all to see. A whirl of light spun around his chest causing Shining to jump a step back. He held his horn forward aimed at Sombra.

All was was quiet, save for Sombra’s heavy breathing. Nothing happened and the room barely changed. Sombra’s breathe laboured intensely and he left his jaw to hang open.

One of the guards snorted derisively. What was there to fear after all? Who would fear an obviously weakened unicorn surrounded by crystals that naturalised his dark powers?

Sombra slowly and steadily regained his bearings, as if he had just woken up from a dreary slumber. He coughed disgustingly, flem building up in his mouth. He spat it out. He was started to look more awake and alive now. Once again he eyed each and every stallion in front of him, he saved an especially more focused glare for Shining Armour.

Sombra raised a single right hoof above his head.

“Ready guards!” Shining Armour jumped away from Sombra’s rising hoof. “Global formation and apprehend Sombra,” He ordered.

Before they started to enact their strategy a purple wisp begun to drift from Sombra’s eyes. His hoof fell to pound the ground. “FEAR ME!” Several crystals exploded consecutively
into rocky dust around them.

As soon as the guards rushed a few feet forward they stopped suddenly. Sombra’s voice echoed in the small cavern and rang continually in every pony's mind. The crystals also seemed to bounce, back and forth, and reverberate his tone, chiming a soft accompaniment.

For a moment no one moved, not a width or a breath. Sombra leered once again at each of the guards and finished on Shining Armour. A purple wispy smoke surrounded his eyes.

“Sombra, you have no powers here,” Shining said firmly and with air of unyielding confidence.

Sombra grinned slyly tilting his head to his left side. He chest moved as he chuckled deeply.

Rummaging noises made Shining Armour take his eyes off of Sombra. His companions were looking strangely weary. One was rubbing his head, another looked like he was about to be sick.

“Guards, form up! Now!” Shining barked at them.

But the guards did not move. Sombra’s grin escalated.

“Guards.” Sombra said softly, pointing a hoof at Shining Armour as their eyes locked together.

“Sedate Shining Armour,” Sombra sounded gleefully.

Shining Armour was aghast as he was swiftly rushed to the ground by his companions who each pulled a leg out from under him. Another two guards pressed their hoofs into the back of his armour to keep him down.

Sombra sluggishly advanced forward on Shining Armour. He knelt down and touched the end of Shining’s horn with his own. Shining screamed and groaned as a dark, crackling magic, encapsulating around his horn. Sombra turned away from Shining Armour and moved towards the two aloof ponies in the background.

Sabre watched in awe as pitch black crystals sprouted out along Shining Armour’s chalky-white horn.

“That was the Prince.” Pitch said on reflection.

“Was.” Sombra said apathetically. He looked around the den one last time, his brow creased. “We leave this place now and make for the surface of Crystal Mountain.” There was no tone of command or fear mongering, but rather a soft and gentle like suggestion. The cousins considered one another for brief moment and nodded.

Sombra lead the pack out from underneath the mountain. Pitch and Sabre switching views between the figure in front of them and the ponies that carried and surrounded the now unconscious Prince Shining Armour.

Sombra took a lungful of crisp cold mountain air and exhaled again, grinning satisfactorily. He turned to Pitch and Sabre, “In a way, you have my thanks. What are your names?” he said evenly.

“T-thanks?” Pitch stuttered. He wasn’t expecting a thanks so quickly from Sombra. More so, he didn’t wholly believe that Sombra wouldn’t be confrontational to Pitch’s and Sabre’s rescue of him.

“Uhh, I am Doctor Pitch and this is my assistant Sabre,” he quickly recovered to answer the question.

Sombra nodded as way of greeting to Sabre. “Yes, my thanks. With the prince at my side it makes the next thing a shy more convenient,” Sombra explained to which Pitch and Sabre blinked unexpectedly.

“And why, pray tell did you two come to this cursed place? To break me out?” His communication swayed vividly; condescendingly, his tone darkened with the deepened crease of his brow. The guards stayed positioned behind them at the mouth of the enclave.

Sabre looked at Pitch hopefully. Things seemed well. Sombra was not giving off a total vibe of dark and evil just yet and didn’t seem too interested in corrupting them like he done the empire a millennia ago.

Pitch had a number of questions on his mind that he was eager to ask, such as: What happened down there? Was that dark magic? Why didn’t he say anything to us? Why didn’t he say anything before? He just did that... Instead he cleared his thoughts and steeled himself for his next statement.

“Well you see...” He rubbed his head for a moment before he made eye contact with Sombra. His eyes made Pitch aware of how different he was from Sombra. Those eyes; they looked sick and twisted, red and green. His back hoof shook involuntarily.

Pitch considered whether or not it was wise at this point to reveal that Sabre and he were his grandsons. It was a good idea, he would have to know at some point, he deduced. To show that they were here honestly to help Sombra.

Pitch swallowed nervously, “...You are our forefather. I think we’re about twelfth or thirteenth from your original bloodline...”

“I see.” Sombra said in disbelief, noticing Pitch’s obvious nervousness. He expression changed from hard to soft as he looked at Pitch curiously. “I can...feel, you have some dark magic within you Doctor Pitch,” Sombra stated.

Pitch swallowed nervously again.

Sombra’s horn light up with a light dark mist. It swirled forward till it made a glowing crimson sphere at the end of his horn. He opened his mouth agape and begun to breath in.

The tugging at his horn was indescribable. Pitch felt tired and ragged as magic was pulled out through his horn and into the maw of Sombra’s mouth. Sabre gasped as Pitch fell to the ground and saw that Pitch’s eye had turned a lifeless grey. His crystal pony coat faded.

“Fear not. He will be fine. I need his power for just awhile.” Sombra said as Sabre lifted Pitch’s muzzle out of the snow.

Sabre listened attentively to Sombra. He had sounded strikingly energetic and assertive and almost had a smile on his face.

The situation wasn’t going to plan. Sabre shook his head uneasily as he held his cousin around his haunches worriedly.

Sombra faced away from Pitch and Sabre.

“You no doubt have some questions. Those I will answer later, my sons. But right now we should make haste. I have no doubts that these guards routinely report on their location back to the Crystal Empire. Thus, we head there now.”

Sabre gulped nervously as his eyes twitched to Pitch and to Sombra.

“This wasn’t how it was supposed to go at all,” Sabre muttered.

Sombra’s horn lit up with new life, the dark energies surrounding it cackling with reinvigorated life-force. His body slowly became transparent. His body streamed out from him becoming a formless mass of shadow. Sabre watched shocked.

The shadow engulfed the group of ponies and made its way into the sky.

Sombra headed for the Crystal Empire. Like he had done so similarly not so long ago.

The impenetrable darkness surrounding Sabre dissipated. He shook his head to realign his focus and could see light again. What stood in front of him took his breath away.

They were at the forefront of the Crystal Empire. The crystal archway shone brilliantly in the daylight. Sabre closed his mouth as Sombra begun his march, unannounced, into the empire. The guards surrounding Shining Armour followed closely behind him.

“Pitch, we have to do something.” Sabre nudged Pitch who laid on the ground.

Pitch groaned, not moving.

“Come on.” Sabre said gently and swung Pitch’s leg around his neck and helped his cousin from up off the ground. Pitch leant into Sabre to help steady himself and they slowly made their own way behind the march.

The ominous approach of Sombra didn’t go unnoticed. Every pony felt an unexplainable change in their mood like their shoulders had just become heavier by some burden.

The deeper Sombra went towards the castle of the Crystal Empire the more crystal ponies paused to stare. Disbelief pooled in their minds and nightmares came hauntingly back into their imaginations.

Hooves rushed. Gasps were silent. Doors and shutters closed quickly.

Sombra The King had returned.

As the castle came into sight Sombra took note of the pony who stood at the balcony overlooking the empire. She morosely watched his every step. Princess Cadance visible shook. Tears started to run down her muzzle as she saw her husband being carried within the precession.

The march stopped near the foot of the courtyard stairs that lead to the doors of the castle. Sombra looked up to Cadance his face vacant and unreadable. Cadance went through her mental checklist of keeping calm. Though all she wanted to do was rescue her husband she couldn’t well risk a sudden violent situation if she acted too hastily.

Cadance spread her wings and jumped off the balcony, gliding down to stop a few hoof steps away from Sombra. Two pegasi guards glided down next to her; flanking her on both sides. Sombra grinned. He took in the vision of Cadance slowly, lingering on her horn and wings.

Sombra lifted a hoof to the opposite shoulder and lowered his head. Cadance’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t say anything as she tried to over analyse this action. A mock bow? The real deal?

“The crown on your head is no longer yours to bear,” Sombra spoke calmly, with a toothy grin, as he raised his head and lowered his hoof back down.

A mock bow.

“Sombra.” Cadance spoke as calmly as she could, her nerves starting to betray her. “You have no authority in Equestria to make such a claim.” She said boldly. Her own brand of authority had a strong stern tone.

As Cadance spoke, more and more guards surrounded Sombra and his group. Pegasus landed with a thump and unicorns and earth ponies clicked and clacked in their armour as they took up defensible positions surrounding them.

“None?” He grinned, showing off all his pointed pearl white teeth. “I make my own authority Princess.” He eyed each of the guards at her side.

Sombra acted swiftly. Short beams of light shot out from his horn.

His horn glowed with darkness and the purple mist had begun to seep and swirl around his eyes. A platoon of guards jumped into motion, charging at Sombra.

“Wait!” Cadance yelled.

The guards froze. Cadance was now pinned to the ground. One pegasus guard forced her down with his hoof while the over held his spear to the Princess’s neck. The guards had dreary; bleak, shrunken eye expressions on their faces.

Sombra chuckled. “By your life Princess, do you wish to stop these loyal guards from apprehending me?”

Cadance saw his rouse. She juggling the two options that Sombra wittingly presented her. Her life for his re-capture.

Cadance grimaced from the pressure in her back. She looked past Sombra to the unmoving body of Shining Armour. His chest slowly rising and falling. He was alive. Cadance closed her eyes tightly trying to stop her tears.

As Cadance cried silently it didn’t take long for Sombra to walk right up to her. "Inaction in the best course of action here Princess.” He said solemnly, making the decision for her, as he approached her. He leant his horn down and touched her horn lightly. A crackle of sound and obsidian crystals sprouted from the top of her horn.

Sombra then turned away from her, deciding not go into the castle. It wasn’t the throne he was after. It was only an overzealous chair after all. There was something else. Something more important that needed immediate attention.

None barred his path but pegasi hesitantly floated nearby watching him with intent in their eyes. Sombra paid them no mind.

Sombra slowly made his way around the castle keep to the northern side. He continued to ignore the guards who glared daggers at him. Sombra kept his eyes straight and to himself. Out in front a large structure sheltered the most valuable possession of the empire. Perhaps the most valuable in all the land of Equestria.

The Crystal Heart.

Sombra stood outside the laying structure. He eyes narrowed, staring into the refracting reflections of the blue heart shaped crystal as it rotated midair. His horn glowed, the purple ether that surrounded his eyes whipped about. “

“I will reach out and consume it all, all of it, in fear.” Sombra said and licked the back of his teeth.

A magical light erupted from Sombra’s horn and pasted into the spinning Crystal Heart. The dark light pulsed rapidly and dug into the core of the crystal. Sombra grinned. He twisted the crystal, changed it so and remade it to his liking.

The Crystal Heart slowly stopped turning as Sombra stopped his magical assault on it. There was no movement anywhere.

The crystal jarred slightly.

The crystal jarred slightly again.

Suddenly, it begun to re-spin. The spinning continued to pick up pace, blurring the heart into a spherical shape. The guards nearby watched apprehensively.

Then there was a sound of an explosion. A clear dark sphere spread out from the epicentre of the Crystal Heart. The dome was felt by everypony it passed through, sending shudders through their bodies. The dome stationed itself around the Crystal Empire in a matter of seconds.

A crystal pegasus in royal guard attire floated down right next to Sombra. Sombra grinned at the pony. He could see it in the pony’s eyes. A faint shadow licking the surface of the eyelids. The revered crystal coat was no more. Only a dull, organic, lifeless coat that no longer shined in the light. Sombra bent his head to one side, cracking his neck audibly. His horn aglow, the necklace around his neck expanded to allow itself greater length. He floated a shard of crystal closely to the heart and a vague trail beelined into the heart. The crystal briefly glowed while the heart dimmed. He then pulled the crystal necklace back and returned it to his neck.

He looked back over his shoulder. The first stage of his plan was coming to fruition. To have dominion over the Crystal Empire like he had a millennium ago. Teeth showing, he chuckled darkly.

“This is only the beginning.”

Not Wasting A Moment

Sabre could scarcely believe it. All the crystals pony around him were downcast, downtrodden, and altogether depressing to look at. Their coats no longer shined in the sunlight. He stared disbelievingly at his own coat that had not been spared. Sabre checked on Pitch, still holding his leg around his shoulders, looking at his much poorer condition with a listless glance. This wasn’t how it was meant to go.

Sombra reproached him from around the side of the castle. A red cloak, trimmed in wool materialized on his figure in a haze of billowed black smoke.

Sabre realized he was taking over the Crystal Empire once again.

“Can you hear it? Feel it? The fear in ponies’ hearts?” His voice was no longer sluggish and soft.

Sabre now knew why Sombra was a pony to be feared. His voice alone was drenched with darkness and dripped fright that sunk deep into the endless space of sound. A voice that invoked dread and loathing to all those who heard it.

The purple ether swirled around Sombra’s eyes with a life of its own didn’t look likely to be fading away anytime soon.

“Redecoration can wait for now.” Sombra grinned. “There are other matters that need immediate attention.” He turned his flank to Sabre.

Sombra attention fell onto the unmoved pink alicorn. He grinned as their eyes meet. Sombra trotted up to two guards and held out his hoof to one of them. The guard lifted his up to rest in Sombra’s. Sombra’s horn glowed and a small cloud system revolved around the guards hoof. A large splinter shaped hunk of metal appeared in his hoof.

“Take the former princess to her quarters. Strike the metal pin into the floor. Then await outside the room till further orders.” Sombra said releasing the pegasus’s hoof.

Sombra turned his head back to Sabre.

Sabre nodded slightly; a bit unsurely. He shaked softly, suddenly and woefully unaware and nerve stricken about the situation and what the future had install. No pony around smiled and no one barely made a movement or sound. Everything waited on Sombra.

Sabre felt like he was stuck on the spot in quicksand with no way of getting out.

Sombra turned to the guards that held Shining Armour. “Take him to the castle prison and secure him there. He won’t be a danger with my crystals inhibiting his magic.” He carried himself in a stark contrast from when he was in the Crystal Prison.

It was as if Sombra had transferred how he had been in the prison and transformed the Crystal Empire with it into a doldrums.

The guards looked at Sombra with half lidded eyes. Like they had no life inside them.

“It’s like they have no will of their own. No will to live,” Sabre said to himself.

Sombra turned his eyes to the peninsula. The look of determination in his eyes. In his mind the time to act was now. Nothing could be left to chance. Every possible opposing force to his plan had to be addressed in the right time and manner.

“Doctor Pitch, Sabre?” Sombra looked down his muzzle at Pitch who still had his leg around Sabre.

“Check that the former royal duo that they are well situated in their rooms before you prepare another quarters for an arriving guest. Who will be arriving shortly once I fetch them.”

“...Sombra?” Pitch squeaked turning his head upwards with a worn out expression.

Sombra shook his head. “Tsk, tsk, that will not do. Majesty should suffice Doctor.” A playful tone and noticeable lisp skipped off his tongue from every ‘s’. Sombra had also sounded wearily.

Pitch started to regain his senses, the thrumming in his head from having his magic drained ebbed away slowly. A new more worrying sensation was gifted in his mind as he saw Sombra very much alive and active. He had made a mistake - Sombra wasn’t meant to come back to the Crystal Empire before he had been rehabilitated by him.

Pitch clenched his eyes, hoping this mistake wouldn’t make him regret being a part of Sombra’s escape from his prison.

“You Majesty,” Pitch said slowly, to be certain of the word himself. “You’re going so soon?” Pitch, in his own mind, thought he knew; that no pony, even Princess Celestia herself, would have regained their own powers so quickly after leaving the Crystal Prison.

There was still a shred of hope that Pitch and Sabre could control Sombra in order to help him become rehabilitated. Without worry that Sombra would be non receptive to their efforts and use his dark magic against them.

“Time is of the essence. I can see you’re concerned about me?” Sombra raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Some things cannot wait,” he continued. “I must see to it that I am not brought undone before I’ve begun.”

Sombra looked to the sky. With that, his physical pony form shifted into a dark mist, leaving no identifiable trace of a pony.

Pitch and Sabre watched wide eyed, as the smoke left the grounds of the empire and disappeared into the horizon.

An assault begun on Pitch’s mind. “Sabre?”

Sabre looked at Pitch with concern.

“Have we just doomed Equestria?” Pitch blankly stared into the light pink and white hexagons that patterned the court yard.

Sabre swallowed dryly. “I hope not.” He then smiled at Pitch. “But we started this cousin. Surely there is hope for our forefather. For us even. He must of been a good pony once; we can help him become that again.” Sabre’s confidence returned with a small dose of optimism.

Equestria believed Sombra was an evil creature of fear and hatred. That he wasn’t a pony to be reformed but a living force to be fought against.

Pitch’s voice strained inwardly. “Let us make him right and good again Sabre,” Pitch looked to the direction that Sombra had vanished into. “I will make you good Sombra, to Celestia and Luna, I will make you good again.Timing is everything. Time can change a pony. I know it. He can be a good pony,” he said determinedly.

“Sabre we must try and do what’s best for Sombra.” He said as he looked to the sky. “We have to be his confidence.” He took his leg back from around Sabre.

Sabre made a small acknowledgement.

“We need to be careful,” Pitch pursed his lips. Then shook his head as he regained a semblance of determination, “Not if, but when Sombra regains his powers it’s unlikely we would be able to dissuade him by physical means if he goes back to his evil ways.”

Sabre nodded in agreement.

“We won’t be able to stand in his way if he has his own goals in mind. But, if we are smarter than him maybe we can use his own goals against him and turn him around somehow.”

Sabre smiled.

Pitch smiled back. “Come on, we’ll talk as we walk. We got to find a room for his Majesty’s guest.”

Ponyville.

A quiet town that sat nestled in-between Canterlot and Appleloosa. It boarded on the wild Everfree forest which was keeping to itself today it seemed.

Everything was calm, quiet and collected. Ponies had even stopped staring at the latest addition to the quaint town - the castle. While it certainly stood out as the most bizarre of oddities, an elaborate crystalline treehouse of sorts, it had become an accepted part of Ponyville life nevertheless.

Stranger things had been seen in Ponyville after all; like a rampaging Ursa Minor or a whole town gone mad into wanting to possess a raggedy doll. Or, whatever the Everfree forest decided to throw out at cause trouble for the town. There had even been a day of literal chaos some years ago. Buildings floated about in the sky, cows barked, buffaloes danced ballet; anything that didn’t quite make sense, had happened in Ponyville.

The citizens of Ponyville dutifully went about their own ways, in the absence of strange occurrences, like any other day. Whether it was bucking apples out of the trees at Sweet Apples Acres, tending to the critters around Ponyville, herding the clouds in the sky, making new friends, or going about business as usual; loaning a book out of the castle library, or purchasing a new hat from the local fashionista. It was a peaceful day in Ponyville.

Princess Twilight Sparkle, resident librarian of Ponyville and all-round book lover finished signing out a book. “There.”

“Thank you Twilight.” the fuschia-coloured pony said.

“No at all Cheerilee.” Twilight said sincerely.

“I got to say I really like what you’ve done with the place.” Cheerilee said looking around the large library.

“Thank you. It wasn’t easy finding new books to replace the old ones after the original library got burnt down,” Twilight winced slightly, recalling her former home. “But the girls didn’t mind at all that I took one of the rooms in the castle to make into the new library for Ponyville.”

“Well if you are ever in need of some old educational texts I’d be more than happy to donate them.” Cheerilee smiled encouragingly.

“Really? Wow Cheerilee, thank you.”

“Not at all Princess.” Cheerilee tittered at Twilight’s enthusiasm, dipping her head slightly.

“Cheerilee please. We’ve been friends for years, you know you can just call me Twilight.”

“Oh I know. But it’s hard to think of you anything but a princess now. I mean, you’ve been an alicorn for awhile now, but now you have your own castle.” Cheerilee said astonishingly as she looked around the large library space. “Maybe you should live it up a bit?”

“Well if living it princess style means taking court all hours of the day then count me out.” Twilight chuckled. “I don’t know how Princess Celestia and Luna handle it.” She bit her hoof for a second before releasing it again. “It seems so droll to me at times.”

Twilight’s previous home, a library made inside a large tree, had been destroyed. It had been a few months prior since Tirek, a creature from Tartarus, had made himself known to Equestria and sought to consume all pony magic. Twilight and the fellow Elements of Harmony saw to his downfall in the end. In the aftermath, the magic that helped stop Tirek had also created the new castle that she now took residence in.

Her own personal living quarters could be found following an upstairs within the new library space.

Cheerilee said goodbye and left the library. Twilight returned to opening up parcels which contained more books for the library. She lifted a book out of it’s packaging in both hoofs.

“So much is new again.” Twilight smiled wistfully as she took a whiff of the fresh ink on paper.

A sound of a vase breaking up stairs startled Twilight. Spike was upstairs in their personal living space, tasked to arrange a miniature library from books that survived from the previous library where they had lived.

“Spike? What’s going on up there?” Twilight called out. Already contemplating the demise of one her vases.

“Whoa! Twilight!” Spike called back, sounding desperate.

“Spike?” Twilight dropped the book she held, hearing the urgency in Spike’s tone and rushed up the stairs to the library’s loft.

She opened the door at the top of the stairs.

Twilight ducked immediately as Spike was tossed over her head. A black smoke had ruptured in through the window. It twisted around wildly, knocking around Twilight's vanity desk.

Twilight stared into the abyss of darkness. Her room was rooted in dark hues. Two eyes opened, red irises and green sclera.

“Princess...” Those familiar eyes gleamed.

A talon erupted from the darkness and pinned Twilight to the floor, penetrating but not damaging the surface of the room. Twilight’s horn lit up and she teleported herself out from underneath it.

The eyes were joined in the dark mist by a shadowy head.

Twilight gasped. “Sombra?”

He chuckled. “Princess.” He lisped in greeting.

Twilight shot a stern gaze at Sombra. “How are you even here?”

He laughed. His voice sounded like it was coming from all directions all at once.

“I thought you were gone for good when the Crystal Heart vanquished you back...to wherever it is you were from.”

Sombra chuckled, his tone jumped high and low as he played with the nerves of Twilight. “But now - you - will come with - me!” Sombra’s voice did boom.

The shadow engulfed the room and surrounded its prey that was Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight gasped as darkness engulfed her consciousness and the remaining light faded around her.

Spike raced back up into the room and swiped at the billowing smoke to get a grip on it but was no use as Sombra left through the window he broken through.

“Twilight!” Spike yelled out.

She was gone.

Sombra unceremoniously dumped Twilight in one of the highest towers atop the crystal castle. Twilight was still soundlessly unconscious. Small black crystals made residence on Twilight’s horn.

Sombra slowly slinked out of the cell. A worrying thought on his mind as he glared at the wings on the back of Twilight. He gruffed as the last of his shadow form returned to complete his pony form. He draw in a deep breathe and let it out again.

Sombra gave the wooden cell door a swift kick and locked it behind him with a twist of his magic. After locking the main door to the cell blocks he made his way down the stairs that went to them. He stumbled visibly on the stairs.

Sombra closed his eyes feeling more drained than he would of imagined. With a slow inhale of air and a quick one out he pulled himself up and trudged onwards again. His body warmed and his brow left a bead of sweat on him. He slowly made his way through a corridor.

It had been awhile since Sombra had last seen the castle of the Crystal Empire. It took him a little more than an hour to find the throne room. Two guards, a pegasus and a unicorn, were posted at the entrance way. Sombra pointed to the pegasus.

“Go and find me Doctor Pitch and his assistant and bring them to me.” Sombra said sullenly, not feeling up to being assertive.

These ponies were under his spell from the Crystal Heart anyway. So it wouldn’t matter how he said things as long as it was direct and clear.

The pegasus weepingly responded. “Yes, your Majesty,” He said and trotted off down the hallway.

“Well?” Sombra looked to the unicorn expectantly as one eye twitched annoyedly. The unicorn felt his gaze as if it looked down at him from above, awaiting for the right moment to crush him.

“O-Of course, pardon me your Majesty.” The unicorn stumbled and dropped his spear as his legs tumble about for it. It took longer than it should've but the unicorn did open the throne room door for Sombra.

Sombra passed through the threshold and after hearing the clear closing thud of the door behind him he quickened his stride to the throne. He ascended the dais and threw himself into the cushioned ripe red pillow.

Sombra stretched himself out and took a long laboured breath, wishing he could somehow be fully encompassed by the soft comforting sensation of the pillow. He took notice that his legs were aching and sore. Recollecting his thoughts he opened his eyes to take in the room before him.

Crystals. Crystals everywhere. But these crystals were hollow husks and useless for his purposes. Crystals weren’t the main material that the castle had been made out of either. There was plenty of stone and clay about as well. Crystals had been used preliminary as a lighting agent for the castle, albeit decoration also.

Sombra sulked at the thought that the crystals in the castle were so useless to him. However, only so useless in their current static state. His gaze came back to the throne and it drifted up its long backrest. Sitting aloft was one particular crystal that was not so useless.

No stamina was necessary to unlock the spell that had been sowed within the crystal. Sombra lassoed a dark tendril around the crystal. The tendril rhythmically swam around the prism. He closed his eyes as he navigating the tendrils into the correct positions. The head of the crystal darkened, blackening a sickly colour. Unseen to the naked eye a shadow hummed from inside the crystal.

One hum. The crystals glowed. Two hum. The Crystal Heart glowed. Three hum. They both glowed together. Sombra opened his eyes.The crystal castle was now his own. A grim, dark appearance to what it was but, his own.

Sombra planted himself on the throne; his throne. He grinned at his old masterpiece. He was tentative as he looked around the throne room. It was like the whole room could now speak to him. The walls said they were dark. The floor said it was cold. The ceiling said there was something to fear. Sombra scrunched his eyes closed eagerly.

Sombra touched the necklace on his chest. His breath slowed down and he started to feel relaxed and calm. He thought about the Crystal Heart and it made his spirits warm. As he begun to feel lightweight a small blunt pinprick made itself known to Sombra in the back of his neck.

Sombra rubbed it but it wouldn’t fade.

A knock at the door distracted Sombra from his meditation as the pegasus guard he had sent to find Doctor Pitch and Sabre returned.

“Your Majesty. If I-I may present, Doctor Pitch and his assistant Sabre.” The pegasus showed signs he was jittery of the new look the castle had suddenly taken on. His eyes darted back and forth.

Sombra nodded to the pegasus. The pegasus bowed and trotted out quickly. Next, Pitch and Sabre entered into the throne room and bowed.

“Yes.” Sombra grinned with a hiss or a lisp, lounging lethargically across the throne. “It seems the notion of respecting power isn't lost on ponies today. Which is good to see.”

Pitch and Sabre looked hesitantly at one another. The castle had suddenly taken on an ominous form and it made them a little skittish. Sombra paid them no mind and ordered them to come forward.

“Please report on the tasks I ordered before I left.” He said sternly.

Pitch begun the report. “The Princess…”

“Who is no longer a Princess,” Sombra shook his head, teeth showing.

Pitch hesitated slightly. “The..Cadance. She had been restrained in her room. The Prince…”

“Who is no longer a Prince,” Sombra said somewhat grinning.

Pitch felt like he should of been kicked the moment that had left his mouth. “Shining Armour has been restrained in the castle’s tower cells.”

Sombra nodded.

“Your Majesty, a quarters for your...uhh..guest has been found in the East Wing of the third floor.” Sabre added, counting on the fact it would still be in the same location after the castle had changed.

“Good,” Sombra said. “I am glad to see that my sons are useful to me and it didn’t take any longer than my absence to complete.” He said absentmindedly as his thoughts went to the unicorn that tumbled for the door for him and wondered if he should have punished the hapless guard.

Sombra shook the thought out of his mind. Time was of the essences. There were more urgent matters to address. He tapped a hoof on the throne arm.

Pitch and Sabre tried not to stare at Sombra’s irregular eye colour. Both of them found an edge of the throne to be more interesting.

Sombra chuckled weakly. “You have nothing to fear. For long as you serve me true.”

Sombra walked down from the dais and pasted by the two stallions in a quickened fashion. “We’ve tallied enough though. We must begin to re-organise my empire.” Sombra flourished ‘my empire’.

Pitch and Sabre joined in formation behind Sombra. Outside the throne room Sombra motioned to the guards.

“Guards. Retrieve your captain to meet me at the northern balcony outlooking the empire.”

“Uhh…”

Sombra shot him a glance.

The unicorn shot up like a beanstalk. “I-I-I... s-sorry your M-Majesty, Prince Shining Armour held that position.” The unicorn said hurriedly.

Sombra looked surprised. “Hmm. Yes, well, retrieve the deputy captain then.”

Both guards bowed. “R-right away your majesty.” They chorused and ran off down the hall to find the deputy captain.

Sombra lead the way towards the balcony that overlooked the northern expanse of the empire were important presentations took place from the castle to the empire.

Sombra snorted.

The empire stood majestically in the sunlight, each crystal surface glinting charmingly. Redecorating the empire was of course important. Nothing about the aura of sunshine and happiness of the buildings pleased Sombra. The empire was to his liking now; the grey hues matched his own coat perfectly.

The pinpricks from before continued to needle in one area of his neck teasingly.

Cautious hooves approached from behind the trio. It was the pegasus guard with another unicorn guard. They stood just outside the balcony door..

The pegasus stopped a few hooves away from Sombra.“Your majesty, as requested, presenting the deputy captain,” he said.

Sombra waved him away and the deputy captain took his place.

“Congratulations,” Sombra hissed. “You’ve been promoted.” Sombra said wickedly, his teeth shyly showed.

The unicorn pitifully groaned.

“I hope your memory is sharp captain. It shouldn’t be repeated that I hate repeating myself.” Sombra stood before the newly appointed captain and talked in a serious tone to him. “First order of business captain. Several road blocks are to be set up around the border of the empire. You are to give orders to those guards that they are to keep anypony from leaving or entering the empire.”

The captain nodded non-enthusiastically.

Sombra continued without losing a breath or his eyes wavering from direct contact with the captain. “Secondly. There will be ponies whom have not been as affected by my spell on the Crystal Heart. These ponies will no doubt be trying to leave the empire. They are to be detained and bound appropriately in the detention centre till I can see to them personal. Understood?”

Another nod.

“Thirdly. Inform all leader rank officers to report immediately to the throne room. They are to receive new instructions from their king. Lastly: the castle has guests. See to it that they under guard and those guards are made aware to inform me of any changes in their states.” Sombra said, surprisingly without a grin or sense of malice. He made his orders as stupidly simple as he could think of them.

The new captain nodded one last time and Sombra dismissed him with one last order to report to him once the tasks had been completed.

For Pitch and Sabre it was like watching two statues have a deep and meaningful conversation that they didn’t fully comprehend.

They both watched Sombra giving orders dumbfoundedly like sticks in the mud since they didn’t know their purpose in Sombra’s personal plans.

“Ah...now.” Sombra leered back around. Seeing in the eyes of Pitch that he still held his magical energy. “I will be no longer need to hold onto your energy for any longer Doctor Pitch.”

Sombra’s green eyes glowed and a gas like substance streamed from his mouth then up and down Pitch’s nose and mouth. Pitch’s stomach swirled and he spluttered.

“For now Doctor…” Sombra said working his jaw and idly scratching his neck. “What is your area of expertise?”

Pitch’s stomach tightened. While it might not be a good idea, Pitch decided, truth and honesty were a good standard to adhere by still. “I am Doctor in the studies of dark magic.”

There was a twinkle in Sombra’s eye. He seemed pleased with the answer.

“As a practitioner of magic I take you you also comprehend the abilities of crystals?

Pitch nodded.

“I want you and your assistant to undertake a research project for me.”

Pitch and Sabre’s mood instantly lit up. Research? They could do that!

Sombra gave them a light glare. “But first. What do you know of the Crystal Heart Doctor?”

“I’m afraid I haven’t had the time to study the Crystal Heart in detail. From what I know - any pony born in the proximity of the heart acquires a crystal coat.” Pitch said matter-of-factly.

Sombra wicked sneer marred his face. “It is so much more than that.”

Sombra continued to explain. “The Crystal Heart is to Equestria as like a doe to its mother. Wide-eyed and bushy tailed. So full of hope and promise. But the Crystal Hearts needs a constant figurehead to watch over it, to help it grow and understand the world. This crystal castle is like its mother. A beacon for the heart to reach out into the world to spread its influence.”

“What I need from you Pitch is to keep an eye on the heart for me. Try to channel some of your dark magic into it. Try to understand it intimately.” Sombra rubbed his chin. “I have placed a spell on the heart and want you to study it, analyze it, re-think it, amplify it, better it in every way possible. My attention will be needed elsewhere for some time before I can pursue my own personal interests for the Crystal Heart.”

The sun was beginning to set. A growling echo cut through the conversation like a chime in the wind.

Sabre smiled simple. “You sound hungry your Majesty,” He managed a quick, secretive wink at Pitch. “Shall I escort you to the royal dining room?”

Sombra rubbed his chest. “Yes.” He lisped, sounding and looking unsure of himself. “I suppose that would be best for now.”

Sombra’s state wasn’t lost of Pitch and Sabre. They both smiled at one another. It was time to enact some of their own plans.

“I shall call into the kitchen and have them send in their very best for you your Majesty.” Pitch said cheerfully as he begun to trot off.

“Please, follow me your Majesty.” Sabre said.

Back in the hallway Pitch and Sabre nodded at one another affirmatively. Pitch took off down the hallway first with Sabre and Sombra soon to follow.

Sombra watched Pitch leave with lazy eyes. Sabre noticed again Sombra’s sullied expression stuck on his face.

Sabre softened his own expression so as not to appear to be mocking. “A bit for your thought your Majesty?”

Sombra grunted loudly to scare away his own thoughts. “It’s nothing. Shall we proceed?”

Sabre rolled his eyes.

Sabre lead Sombra through the second floor of the castle towards the south wing where the royal dining hall was. It was only meant to be used by royalty, namely Prince Shining Armour and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. But since they weren’t using it at the moment they probably wouldn’t mind. Hopefully.

The private dining hall was sparse. It was the first time that Sabre had seen it. If anything it looked rather spartan to how he imagined royalty dined. The unassuming room was spacious and held very little but a long, luxurious mahogany dining table that could seat twenty two ponies. At least the walls were covered up with a vibrant red curtain.

Two chairs sat next to each other at the head of the table belonging to the the Prince and Princess; one fabricated with blue cushions and the other pink. The pink chair had heart motifs carved throughout the wood. While the blue one was patterned in shields.

Sombra wordlessly made his way for the head of the table. He eyed both chairs suspiciously before he took hold of one and moved it against the wall. He aligned the pink cushioned chair at the head of the table and sat down.

This raised a curious glance from Sabre. However, little that Sabre knew that back in Sombra’s day newborn colts were clothed in pink where fillies were clothed in blue. Pink was a rather masculine colour.

It was quiet in the hall. Sombra didn’t have anything to say.

“So... it looks like it will be a nice night out.” Sabre commented.

Sombra grunted noncommittally.

Pitch entered from the other doorway at the opposite end of the room. Following him was a drowsy looking chef pushing a food cart.

“The kitchen is still functional.” Pitch said to everyone.

Sombra harrumphed.

“I hope this pleases your Majesty,” the earth pony chief said as she saddled up near Sombra. She then set the items on the food cart on the table in front of Sombra with adept agility.

“What is this?” Sombra glared at the food.

The chef finished putting down the cutlery with the food. “Umm...food, I think.” The chef twitched nervously.

Sombra stared at the chief in lazy disbelief. Pitch peered over to the food setting, aiming to help out the confused chef. He didn’t know much about the finer art of culinary expertise but could make out the basics nonetheless.

“Looks like steamed cabbage, carrots, other vegetables, some sort of juice beverage, perhaps…”

Sombra turned his glare from the food to the chef, magnifying it on the pony. “Do I look like a rabbit?”

The room temperature dropped as eyes were suddenly glued to the spot.

“Uhh...no, your Majesty, I wouldn’t imply.” She said with both forelegs up in shakey surrender.

Sombra turned back to the food in front of him and his stomach grumbled wantingly.

“Nevermind. I’ll give you a culinary book later on. Saving, you haven’t forgotten how to read?” Sombra raised a skeptical eyebrow at the chef.

“Umm, no, I don’t think so.” She squeaked.

Sombra nodded and waved a hoof to dismiss the her. She bowed hesitantly and left the room the way she came. The door closed and that was the starting sound to feast. Sombra’s muzzle dove straight down into the hot soup gurgling it down swiftly.

Pitch and Sabre leant back away from the darting droplets of hot soup.

Pitch and Sabre watched awestruck as Sombra devoured everything in front of him with such zeal that the mess he was made was cringeworthy.

“Your Majesty?” Pitch said with a cutting tone.

He made no reply as he continued to eat like a stallion possessed.

Sabre waved to Pitch to get his attention and then shook his head at him. Thankful that Sombra hadn’t made a remark to Pitch’s rude tone, or hadn’t noticed.

Pitch and Sabre had spoken before their trip to the Crystal Mountain on how they would reform Sombra. Making comments on his personal habits wasn’t on the table at this point. They had to observe, analyse, and describe him, if they were going to successfully reform him.

To improve his personality though, they would have to firstly get to know how he worked - inside and out. With this information they could approach Sombra more easily and hopefully perform his reformation with as less stress and anxiety as possible. For both themselves and Sombra.

Sombra belched, exclaiming his satisfaction towards the meal. He rubbed the the turmoil of the feast out of his muzzle with the table cloth. Pitch cringed again at his show of unrefinement.

Sombra clapped his hooves together calling for attention. “Another.”

“O-k then. I’ll just see to the chef to make some more.” Pitch said and made his way back out to the kitchen.

“Yes. Next time, less salt.” Sombra called out firmly.

A few minutes passed in silence. Sabre thought again of a way to have a productive conversation with Sombra.

Sabre looked around the dining room for anything that could spark a conversation “So this is the castle you had…”

Sombra shot a glance and looked closely at Sabre. “Sabre, come closer.” Sombra cooed, his teeth glinting distractingly from the coating of purple, ethereal colour coming from his eyes.

Sabre nestled up closer to the sitting king noticing his very sharp canine teeth.

“If you have something to say, than out with it. I don’t like ponies who skip around with niceties.”

Sabre lowered his head. “Sorry your Majesty.”

“Now, speak, but be mindful of what you say. Or I might decide to turn your mind into mince.” Sombra said cooly.

Sabre gulped, hoping a direct approach would turn out well. “Do you think it’s a good idea to hold Cadance here against her will?” It felt like the honest, safest subject to talk about.

“Yes.” Sombra said without a grin.

“I don’t think Princess Celestia or Princess Luna would like that.”

Sombra nodded slightly with a smug grin, “I don’t do it to call them to action. The opposite is true. By having one of their own as my prisoner it’ll make them think twice before rushing into things. To avoid a confrontation with the princesses, she will be my trump card.”

“What about Prince Shining Armour?” Sabre asked.

“He is my prisoner.” Sombra said bluntly. “I will not free him if that is what you’re thinking? He will be my leverage over the pink alicorn to behave herself.”

Sabre’s mind went cold. He dared to try and poke a sleeping bear. “Surely there’s a nicer way to going about things as king than imprisoning the former prince and princess?”

The likelihood of that was nil at this point.

“Silence you cur!” Sombra jumped suddenly from his chair and at Sabre, forcing him to his haunches.

“You know not of whom you speak to. The empire is mine to do with as I please.” Sombra sneered.

The smell of steamed cabbage mixed with Sombra’s naturally breath made Sabre’s blood curl.

“I-am-the-King.”

Sabre mind blanked on him.

Feeling he had said his piece to silence Sabre into submission Sombra returned back to his chair with a gruff out of his nostrils.

Pitch returned in moments with the chef again. This time the food cart was heavily ladened with food. He looked at Sabre worryingly, obviously having heard the outrage. Sabre simple smiled with a promise in his eyes to talk later.

Sombra finished off the second meal just as fast as the first..

“Pitch, tell the chef to ensure that the prisoners and Cadance are fed and watered.” Sombra said.

Sombra wiped his muzzle on the table cloth again. His meal finished he got up to return to his throne room. Pitch and Sabre followed on after him not really knowing whether or not they should.

Back the throne room entrance the two guards that Sombra sent on errand were nowhere to be seen. He growled. “Do I have to do everything myself.”

“What’s wrong your Majesty?” Pitch asked.

Sombra shook his head. “This empire will run itself into the ground thanks to the incompetent spell on the Crystal Heart.” Sombra said as he marched grumpily towards the outside of the castle.

Pitch and Sabre peered at one another questioningly before they followed as best they could behind him in a brisk trot.

“I’ll have to do everything myself, for now.” Sombra said as he exited the castle. “Doctor, where I can find those ponies who take charge of the economics and businesses?” He stopped and looked at Pitch expectantly.

“In their shops?” Sabre added too quickly hoping to make amends on his first failure to begin reforming Sombra.

Sombra rubbed his head. “I’m aware of that much.” He spat. “But not them, think top of the hierarchy. Those who help manage and keep this place running.”

“Oh, ah. Those ponies,” Pitch rubbed his chin. “Well, there’s one particular office in the Crystal Empire that I can think of where ponies do that.” Pitch looked around the immediate outlining area of the castle.

“Though everything is different now, right? I wouldn’t know where that building is now.” Sabre said.

“The appearance is the only thing that has changed in the empire, mostly. The empire should be how it usually is.” Sombra also looked around the area. “Only more greyer than usual.”

Sabre tried to wrap his mind around that. The empire was alien to him now. Even if he knew the empire before he worried he might still get lost in this new look. The unwashable image of Sombra’s eye bore down on him making him shudder.

“Right. Well then, follow us your Majesty. I am sure we can find it... eventually.” Pitch said.

Sombra nodded. Though he didn’t want to take more time than necessary it couldn’t be helped. Pitch lead the way off of the castle grounds and into the town.

The night was still young.

Back inside the the castle, in one of the highest towers, Twilight Sparkle stirred. She woke up in her cell with a damp ache all over her body.

“Whoa, what happened to me?” She looked around at her gloomy enclosure. Save for the small space in the wall that provided a window of light there was no other sense of warmth.

Twilight rubbed her leg in realisation. “That’s right. Sombra must have brought me here.”

She tentatively touched her horn. Hard black crystals were keeping her magic subdued. She pondered her options - magic was out but she was still physically able and not bound in her cell.

Twilight trotted over to the cell door and looked through the barred peep hole cut largely into the frame. Two earth ponies guarded the door out in the holding area.

They had the tell tale signs they were under the effect of Sombra’s spell. Their coats didn’t twinkle in the moonlight and their expressions were world-weary.

Twilight must of been unconscious for a good half day. Remembering Sombra had attacked her in the library in the afternoon. Twilight looked about her cell for anything that might help in her escape out of the cell. A wooden plank bound to the wall for a bed and a layer of dust throughout the cell wasn't going to help much.

Twilight sat down and rested her head against the door. There was one thing she could do however. A thing she’d rather not. Something that Princess Celestia had taught her - dark magic.

Twilight steeled herself for the stress she was about to put herself under. She stared determinedly at the cell door. She gritted her teeth and grounded her hooves and focused her magic. Briefly, a smoky mist appeared from her eyes and another around her horn.

Her warm up was done but she was already feeling taxed from the exertion of pushing the magic out from within her.

Twilight gritted her teeth harder, worrying she might split a tooth, and she grounded herself more to the ground; lowering her body slightly to anchor it. The smoky mist waved around her eyes and horn. The black smog around her horn crackled and popped with purple tendrils of energy. The tendrils whipped at the crystal forms on her horn.

Twilight opened her eyes which glowed bright green. She aimed her thoughts at the door wanting nothing more than to break it open to her freedom. With a final loud crack the black crystals broke, smashed to dust, and a bolt of magic slammed against the door. The door broke off its hinges under the immense effort of the magic and sailed across the room.

Twilight sighed.

“Well that worked better than I thought.” Twilight said seeing that the cell door had made perfect ammunition to catapult at the guards.

She touched her horn experimentally. The black crystals were gone. “That’s something I’ll have to ask the Princess about.”

The guards laid unconscious on the uneven stone floor.

“Now then, I’ll just be seeing myself out now…”

“Twily? Is that you?” Another voice said.

Twilight spun about. In the neighbouring cell was none other than her brother, Shining Armour.

“Shining? What are you doing here?” Twilight rushed up to the cell, swiftly heating up the padlock that locked Shining within it with a spark from her horn. The lock deformed and oozed away into hot sludge. As Twilight pushed the door open Shining fell out onto the dusty stone floor.

“Shining? Are you alright?”

He coughed. “I’ve been better little sis.”

Twilight noted his expression of attempting to disarm the truth and facts of the situation with a gentle smile. She supported his weight as she helped him back to four hooves.

“What about Cadance, where is she?” Twilight said, her tone and face laced with concern.

“I’m not sure. I hope she’s safe…,” Shining looked down at the floor disheartenedly.

“Twily, don’t worry about me. You need to get out of here before Sombra finds you,” Shining said.

“I am not leaving my B.B.B.F.F. behind,” Twilight locked a stern gaze at Shining. “Come on we’re getting out of here.”

Twilight opened the main door to the cell block and made her way up the stairs.

Shining wobbled behind her as his insides protested the lack of nourishment. He hadn’t had any food or water since the day before.

Noticing his lagging Twilight snatched up Shining in a levitation spell and placed him across her back.

“It’s fine Twily, I can walk.” Shining said as he bounced in rhythm with Twilight’s walking.

“No, we need to get out of here quickly,” Twilight said as she dashed up the stairs. She peeked out into the hallway to see if the coast was clear.

“Really, I can.” Shining weakly protested.

Twilight ignored him and made a mad dash through the castle hallways. The castle was definitely different now Sombra had taken over, she noted. She hoped that the staircase to the castle fora was still in its central location in the castle.

The crystal castle was silent save for the rabid pace Twilight was making to exit it, her hooves echoing on the stone flooring. Shining Armour jerked back and forth on her back keeping an eagle’s eye watch for any activity.

Twilight found the stairs she was looking for and was thankful there had been no diversions so far. She darted behind a stone column to assess the double door to the courtyard.

“This is it, out those doors and a beeline to the train station and we’ll be home free.” Twilight whispered cheerfully.

Shining shifted on Twilight’s back as the compression of his stomach on her back was getting more uncomfortable.

“You know I could…”

“No. Leave this to me.” Twilight said.

Shining rolled his eyes. When did his little sister become so authoritative and assertive? Every time he saw her she seemed to change; more stronger, more wiser, becoming an alicorn, a princess of Equestria. All these no doubt instilled a sense of responsibility and duty for Twilight.

“I don’t think we’ll have a problem escaping as long as we don’t get spotted.” Twilight said bringing Shining out of his musings. She looked around the large entrance hall and with not a sight or sound she trotted up to the castle doors. She peeked outside. Two unicorns guarded the door for the night.

“There’s two guards there Shining. I don’t know how we’re going to get through this door without alerting them.”

“Let's head to the east wing, there’s a side door there for food deliveries which shouldn’t be guarded. As all food coming in gets checked before hoof.” Shining said.

Twilight nodded an affirmative and strode quickly to the new location.

It was a confusing enigma not to see a soul within the castle; like it had been abandoned. Twilight and Shining were of one mind in this fact. Thankful not to have to resort to diversionary tactics to get by but also perplexed by the absence of other ponies as they entered into the large storage room of the east wing.

“Where is everypony?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t really know. Though I got no doubt it has something to do with Sombra,” Shining said with a steely gaze promising retribution.

“Same. The ponies we’ve seen so far were reminiscent of how they were when the Crystal Empire first appeared,” Twilight said. She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. “This isn't something we can handle of our own - we need to get to Princess Celestia.”

Shining Armour agreed.

Twilight flipped the door latch without effort and the door swung open. Twilight crept out into the moonlight. She breathed a sigh of relief that there was no one else around.

“Ok, straight to the train station then,” Twilight stated.

It was easy to sneak and avoid everyone they spotted on their way towards to train station. They made it out of castle then the empire as quickly as they dared.

“Ow?” Twilight stumbled backwards quickly causing Shining to slip off her back.

In the shadows of the night it was hard to make out the grey transparent film in front of them.

“A shield?” Shining had gotten up slowly and worked out the kinks in his body. He approached and extended a hoof experimentally at the dome. He squinted his eyes as he scrutinised the details of the spell in front of him.

Twilight, with fascination, watched her brother examine the texture of the surface. Shield spells was his special talent and if he could figure out what this spell was they’d have a chance of passing through it.

Shining retracted his hoof and put it back on the ground. He looked upset. “This spell is unusually… I’ve never seen it before. It is still a shield type but it’s energy is weird.” He looked towards Twilight who looked at the faint painterly texture scrupulously.

“It’s been designed to keep something very specific out but I can’t tell what,” Shining said
and without thought charged his magic. His head kicked back as the blue glow around his horn got no further than the first spike of crystal around his horn. He rubbed a hoof tenderly near the base of horn from the headache he just received.

“It’s okay Shining.” Twilight said resting a hoof on his shoulder. “I said I’ll get us out here and that’s a promise.”

Twilight put a small distance between her and the force field. She glowered with power. Her horn forced the magical energies to the top of her horn. A blinding-hot beam shot through the paper thin field. Twilight stared, her plan to make quick work of the barrier to freedom by cutting a slice of the dome out for a pony to get through backfired, as the beam of light had in fact, shot through it.

Shining moved forward.

“No wait!” Twilight wasn’t quick enough to grab her brother before his muzzle touched the potential trap.

Shining Armour strode through barrier as if it wasn’t there.

“Well that was fortunate.” Shining said thoughtlessly as he turned back around to Twilight who was glaring at him. “Whatever it’s meant to keep in or out I think we’ll fine walking through it.”

Twilight nodded and went to meet Shining on the other side. She closed her eyes just before her muzzle touched the field. She felt a pressure on her face trying to hold her back but she persisted and with effort pushed herself through.

Twilight caught herself quickly as she popped out from the field’s grasp on her.

“Did you feel any pressure when going through? Twilight asked. Shining shook his head.

“Thoughts for another time, let's go.” Shining said urgently.

Twilight ran on with Shining behind her and they ran out and into the snow covered night.

One of the not-so-mysterious facts about the Crystal Empire. Its location was so close to the Frozen North that it was always winter. Archways were built with crystals at each cardinal point with which had been enchanted to keep the snow from encroaching into the empire.

Twilight’s first priority was to check if the station still had trains running, though unlikely at this point. She scratched that out on her mental checklist almost immediately seeing it was abandoned.

The night sky was clear and the cold snow on the ground was bearable. Twilight entertained the thought of carrying Shining Armour on her back as she flew through the sky. Though she didn’t want to risk flying and losing her brother to a sudden change in the wind. She also wasn’t confident she could keep afloat with him on her back or in her arms.

Shining Armor looked about the train platform helplessly. A light and fluffy snow begun to fall around them. Twilight signed and gave Shining a weak reassuring grin.

“I guess we’re walking from here,” She said. She jumped off the waiting platform and began a steady pace on the tracks heading out of the Crystal Empire and towards Canterlot.

They hadn't put a hundred feet between them and the station when a shriek suddenly permeated the air. In the distance night sky five pegasus shadows grew closer on their tail.

“Ahh!” Twilight yelled, frustrated that they had been spotted. Even with her alicorn stamina Twilight didn’t believe she could run all the way to Canterlot much less outrun the avian ponies.

She would try anyway.

Shining stopped and was lurching from side to side. “Keep going Twilight.” He said in gasps. “Get to Canterlot and warn the Princesses of Sombra’s return,” He said as he turned his back to face the approaching guards.

“No. I won't leave you Shining.” Twilight joined Shining by his side.

“Twily?”

Twilight smiled confidently at Shining as the the pegasi descended and landed to form a circle around them.

The pegasi looked weary much like the other ponies they had seen before.

“Shining, do you think they still recognize you as their Prince?” Twilight asked.

“Only one way to know for sure…,” Shining said as a pegasus approached them.

“You need to come back. You’re under arrest.” The pegasus didn’t sound sure of himself.

“This is the Prince of the Crystal Empire. Doesn’t he have free-range to go as he pleases?” Twilight asked.

The pegasi looked at one another in a thoughtless state.

The pegasus mumbled in thought. “I…, no, there is no Prince of the Crystal Empire. Only King Sombra.” He shuddered as if a nightmare was invading his thoughts.

Twilight stared disbelievingly at the pegasus’s words.

“Twilight, get ready. I’ll create a diversion so you can get out of here.” Shining whispered to Twilight.

Twilight didn’t have time to object as Shining launched at the pegasus in front of them.

“Go! Twilight, now!”

Twilight’s mind splashed about helplessly. She didn’t want to abandon her brother but he was given her an opportunity to escape. She spun about and ran along the train tracks. Two guards were kept busy with bounding Shining Armour in rope as the three left over pegasi chased down Twilight.

The pegasus flew around her trying to push her over. Each time Twilight teleported out of the way. She squealed with glee as she noticed two pegasi had bumped into one another as she teleported out of their attack path. The other pegasus had swooped down to check on them.

Eyes on the night horizon Twilight felt she could accomplish her escape.

The wind billowed past her and she had to stop. A thick shadow stood out in the night in front of Twilight. The shadow shrunk to form a pony; the pony of fear itself - Sombra.

The night was getting darker as Sombra, Pitch, and Sabre headed for the castle keep.

Pitch and Sabre were now walking on eggshells around Sombra. He had lost his temper repeatedly at ponies as he instructed, and structured, them on their tasks. The oncoming, never-ending, what is that, what does that mean, plagued his thoughts.

His spell was very efficient at controlling other ponies, if tediously requiring precise input.

It was an odd sort of experience for both Pitch and Sabre.

Whatever Sombra had done to the empire he had done so knowingly and it frustrated him to no end. It was like spinning plates. Sombra had to see to each pony and wiggle them to get them spinning again. But in a much more point to point, breaking down, how to, face to face fashion. Sombra had talked to about thirty ponies throughout the last few hours.

Pitch and Sabre were rather impressed with Sombra’s patience with instructing ponies on what it was they should be doing. He was able to delegate one pony to each important factor of economics, from agriculture to welfare. A lot of what was said was lost to Pitch and Sabre however. They did pick up that when Sombra wasn’t sure on something he would order the pony to find a book on it in the library; to instruct themselves then follow through. Yet, he appeared well versed in managing the empire’s needs.

Alas, the heat of his anger forced Pitch and Sabre to keep a few hoof lengths away from him, lest they got burnt. Sombra had obviously had enough of other ponies for one day.

Sombra growled aggressively. “This spell is so tedious!” He shot his head at Pitch. “You; start the research tomorrow,” he barked. Sombra twitched, thinking Pitch was about to ask something. “On-the-spell, on-the-Crystal-Heart,” he splurted out angrily.

Although Sombra’s creased brow had remained all evening it had soften and looked pudgy. “I tire,” he blurted out. “Tomorrow I’ll see to the agriculture and resource management.” Sombra punctuated with a dangle of a hoof in the air.

Sombra rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully and with a downcast gaze as a slight pinprick pain appeared. He closed his eyes and casted a silent spell to send his vision to where the attention wanted him. Sombra’s mind echoed. His brow rehardened.

“You Majesty?” Sabre watched the pained expression on Sombra worriedly.

Sombra flicked his mane. “Go and wait for me in the throne room.” He barked abruptly. “I have something to attend to.”

Sombra’s physical form dissipated quickly into shadow and lurched skyward towards the train station.

“Where are they going now?” Sombra mused with an amused, if tired, smirk.

He hovered above the scene taking place where the former Prince and the purple alicorn were being subdued by the pegasi guards.

Twilight Sparkle was making a run for freedom. Sombra unnoticingly grinned and swept through her. He shifted back into pony form and stood in front of Twilight’s path. He first noticed that the crystals that were meant to inhibit her magic were now gone.

“Sombra!” Twilight shouted. “You won't succeed in your plan to take over Equestria.”

Sombra raised an eyebrow skeptically, his insides twisted slightly. Twilight was designing a spell to knock Sombra unconscious. His eyes narrowed on her as he cast a quick spell of his own. A protective armour materialized from below his jowl and covered his chest entirely. Four metal gauntlets also materialized around his hooves extending up to his knees. A forked crown which mimicked the pointed and curved shape of his horn appeared around his forehead. Sombra sneered at Twilight’s attempted plight. She wouldn’t be able to best him.

Nopony would.

Sombra could see the denial of himself in Twilight’s eyes. Yet the familiar inkling of fear was nowhere to be found. He gruffed and trotted the ground with one hoof signalling Twilight to charge him if she dared.

Twilight took the bait and charged at Sombra with wings extended. She jumped and glided over Sombra to attack him from behind. She cast a powerful magic missile at him.

Sombra hadn’t budged an inch. The magic missile tore through the mirage of the pony.

“Wha-how…?” Twilight stammered. She had been caught off guard and was now open to attack. She jerked her head around looking for the real Sombra desperately. The real Sombra fell straight from above Twilight. She didn’t have time to react and was pushed down to the ground by Sombra’s own weight.

Not wasting a moment, Sombra leant his horn down to touch Twilight’s and reapplied his spell to it. A brief crackle and the obsidian crystals returned to block Twilight from using magic.

Sombra stepped off of her and waited for the guards to approach him. The two pegasi had Shining Armour bound by his legs to prevent him from running and touched up against both of his sides to bar a possible escape.

“Good.” Sombra said grudgingly. Bags under his eyes evidence of his tired state.

He watched as Twilight tried to rise from out of the snow. The application of having her magic inhibited sapped her stamina drastically. Sombra harrumphed and transformed back into mist to head back to the castle; capturing the surrounding ponies in a field of darkness to take with him.

Sombra dumped everyone on the ground. Shining Armour and Twilight Sparkle were back in their cells in the tower.

Sombra saw the broken door to Twilight's cell and looked at it annoyingly. He grumbled and levitated the broken door and cast a spell to repair it back onto its hinges.

Twilight shook off her disorientation from the flight and narrowed her eyes at Sombra. He ignored her and checked on the guards he’d brought with him. Plus two more that were stock still and conscious on the prison entrance.

He grumbled quietly to himself. “You two, report to the captain. The prison posts are to be relieved by unicorns only.”

“Yes, your Majesty.” They bowed and left.

“I am not afraid of you Sombra,” Twilight said defiantly and stood up.

“I see,” Sombra said lazily turning to look at Twilight in her cell. She shuddered slightly.

Twilight leveled her gaze at Sombra. She noticed the unicorn of fear and hate regarded her with a tired look in his eyes but it wasn’t one of sleep deprivation.

He signed. “You know my name but I don’t even know your’s. What is it?” He said firmly.

Twilight blinked. “Twilight Sparkle.”

“Well, Twilight Sparkle. That determination you feel now is only temporary. The Crystal Heart will soon see to it that you under my influence before you realize it.” Sombra was about to lock the door to trap Twilight within.

“Whatever it is your planning - it won't work. My friends, the Princesses; they won't let you hurt any more ponies.”

Twilight’s ears flicked to a sick coughing noise erupting from the cell next to her. “Shining?” Twilight instinctively went straight for her brother not realizing she had just brushed underneath Sombra’s hoof about to close the door. Sombra rolled his eyes.

“My brother’s sick,” Twilight cried out. “You have to let him see a doctor.” She pleaded to Sombra as he appeared in front of the cell door.

Sombra looked at the scene of Twilight holding Shining’s head in her forelegs with little amusement.

“He is my prisoner to do what I see fit with,” Sombra said in a coldly contemptuous tone. “The former prince will stay here till I see right that he needs a doctor.”

“But he may die before then,” Twilight said softly, a stream of tears running away from her eyes.

Sombra rubbed his check woefully to avoid the pitiful eyes of Twilight on him.

A spark struck up in his plan.

This alicorn... would no doubt try to escape again and might even succeed in it. With Cadance held up in her own quarters having an additional alicorn captive would be to his advantage. This one particularly would need to be constantly watched over.

His spell upon the Crystal Heart was good enough to affect most if not all ponies. Yet it wasn’t having its full effect on the alicorns at all. Much like the pink alicorn Cadance, it would need a personal touch. But he determined to enhance the spell so it worked just as well on alicorns.

He wondered how far he could use his black crystals to limit the abilities of the alicorn.

Sombra grinned, deciding on a way that would keep the princess from being a future problem. “I will let your brother go... if you promise to stay here in the castle - and never leave.”

“What?” Twilight turned away from Sombra to look out the opening in the wall. Time was of the essence. The lack of nourishment and hampering of Shining’s magic and physical form; thanks to Sombra netting him in his shadowy form that forced an unnatural form-bending on him, might take its final toll on him at any moment.

Twilight imagined the situation happening in a small space of the night sky. Her eyes moistened.

“Ok, I promise.” She said finally. Rejected from any other hope to save her brother. Only in Sombra’s own desire might it be assured that Shining would turn out to be alright.

“Guards!” Sombra bellowed grabbing Shining around the scruff of his neck and dragging him away from Twilight. She tried to grip onto her brother’s hoof but it slipped out of her grasp too easily, too quickly.

Shining wheezed and coughed. “No. Twilight. I’ll be fine.”

“Take him to a pegasus, whom will take away this unicorn from the empire! Throw him upon Canterlot.” Sombra said and threw him to the ground in front of the guards.

The two guards pulled him out of the prison and out of sight.

“Shining!” Twilight dropped to ground with unwanted tears streaming down her face.

With Shining Armour now out of sight and out of mind Sombra reproached Twilight.

“You didn’t even let me say goodbye. Now I’ll never see him again.” Twilight cried.

Sombra didn’t know what to say instead turned his back on her. The sad eyes of Twilight permitted themselves unwelcomed into his mind. There Twilight would stay in the prison, however long never leaving was.

Sombra rubbed the back of his mane. Twilight was going to be around for awhile. He didn’t want to cause unneeded vexation to the alicorn. He still had a lot to do in the empire.

“I’ll show you to your quarters.” Sombra snapped.

Twilight wiped away her tears. “But I thought I was your prisoner?”

Sombra grunted unsurely, looking away from her. “Did you want to stay here?” He motioned to the cell.

“No...” Twilight said timidly.

“Then follow me,” Sombra barked. He swiftly swung around away from Twilight and left the cell.

Twilight pursed her lips, trepidation setting in her mind. Not seeing any other choice she followed on after Sombra.

The night was in full effect darkening every recess of the castle. Held aloft by a iron holster in the wall Sombra grabbed a wooden torch with in his telekinesis. With a simple spell the larger end of the torch slowly crackled to life as a red flame danced pleasantly.

In the moonlight the crystals made the castle looked like a place of transcendence like walking through a peaceful dream. If there was such a thing as a castle on the moon - this is what it might look like.

Twilight followed Sombra through one corridor, up stairs, and through another corridor, wondering where he was taking her.

Sombra lead Twilight to the East Wing on the third floor of the castle.

“This will be your room.” He said opening up the ornate door.

Twilight didn’t make eye contact with Sombra but guessed he wanted her to enter into the room.

“The castle is your home now. You may go wherever you want here, except the west wing.” Sombra said firmly as Twilight paused inside the room to take in her the new surroundings.

“Why, what’s...?” She looked back to see Sombra’s face.

“I forbid it!” Sombra interrupted with a snarl. Twilight flinched slightly seeing his glossy white teeth, smeared with red from the torch light.

“If you try to escape I’ll lock you back up in the cell.” Sombra growled as he slammed the door behind him.

Twilight’s depression erupted out of its camouflage. She ran and flung herself onto the bed. New tears running down her muzzle and onto the mattress.

“I hope my friends don’t worry when they noticed I am missing,” She cried.

No One Loves Like You Do

Sombra’s nostrils flared hotly. He felt overly hot and needed an escape from his current state. Dealing with the disposed minds of the empire’s subjects had tried his patience to walking on hot coals. He needed to cool off. He marched, blindly noting, he had passed Pitch and Sabre standing still.

Both of them blinked.

“Did you see that? Am I seeing this right Sabre?” Pitch didn’t look at Sabre, instead his eyes were focused on a particular part of the wall in front of him. His eyes didn’t budge but his mind was doing back and forth self-imposed questions.

“The Princess Twilight Sparkle? Is she the guest of Sombra?” Sabre drolled.

“Yes. No. Maybe?” Pitch said and muttered an echo to himself; he had put a hoof to the temple of his forehead.

“Yes yes, and what?” Pitch spluttered, pulling at invisible strings of memory trying to find the one he was looking for.

Sabre watched as Pitch tried to construct a mental image with his hoof wobbling out in front of him. It wasn’t as unusual sight for Sabre to see Pitch in a world of his own. Sabre watched carefully and patiently waited, knowing that Pitch would inevitably find what he was looking for soon enough.

“A, ah.” Pitch’s hoof twirled one last time and nodded in sync with his head. “..princess of what?” He asked turning with a sudden desperate plea in his eye and exasperation in his voice.

“...Friendship?” Sabre drawled slowly. Disbelieving that Pitch, as intelligent as he was, could forget such a tidbit of widely known information.

Pitch gasped, the whites of his eyes fully showing. His expressions was one filled with over-brimming joy.

“Of course! Why, that was announced a few months ago.” Pitch settled on his haunches, resting his head on the top of one hoof as the other supported it.

“Why didn’t I think of it back then? A Princess of Friendship.” Pitch chuckled wistfully. He imagined that his long and laborious time planning out a reform program for Sombra could have been spent better elsewhere if he had just had the forethought to see the princess, of friendship no less. Surely she dealt with such things on a daily basis after all. “We can ask her how we get our grandfather back in the good books.”

Pitch started to trot off with Sabre following closely on his heels.

Pitch took no time in finding the room he had prepared for Sombra’s guest. He quickly knocked on door, one knock after another, and waited to hear a reply.

Pitch knocked again, just in case.

Twilight stirred from her thoughts to the noise from across the room. She didn’t want to be seen in the state she was currently, by complete strangers she predicated. So Twilight raised her head from the pillow, cleared her throat, and said in a raised volume, “Go away.”

Behind the door Pitch blinked and looked to Sabre for any suggestions. He shrugged and Pitch grimaced. He knocked again.

“I said go away!” Twilight said, more annoyance in her tone, eyeing the door.

Pitch continued to grimace as Sabre watched him, waiting for the next idea to present itself. Pitch really wanted to talk to the Princess of Friendship. His hopes, he re-determined, could be solved by the sage insight of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Pitch went for the door handle.

Sabre’s eyes widening and his hoof shot up and lowered Pitch’s hoof without any forethought. Sabre shook his head.

Pitch nodded, agreeing silently with Sabre about his rashness to see the princess.

Plan ‘B’ was quickly formulated in the doctor’s mind. “Excuse me, Princess. This is Doctor Pitch, of crystal and dark magic research in the Crystal Empire and my assistant Sabre. May we come in, please?”

Twilight caught some of what had been said. She furrowed her brow, not wanting to be disturbed. She rested her head against a pillow and signed. She got up from atop of the bed and went to pull the door forth with a telekinetic grab of magic. She squinted as her magic drew back from the black crystals on her horn.

Pitch’s hoof paused mid attempt to knock again as it drew open. Sabre eyed Twilight curiously.

“Well, what do you want?” She grumpily asked, trying to reel in her annoyance but not succeeding.

“Ah, Princess,” Pitch bowed deeply, his chin almost knocking on the floor. Sabre only lowered his head. “We have come to ask for you help in a matter.”

Twilight raised a single eyebrow, with a little bit of impatience and disdain at the doctor’s direct tact at asking for something . She wanted nothing more than to go back to the soft mattress and rest her own worries rather than try to figure out someone else’s at this precise moment.

Twilight nodded her head regardless, “What is it you need help with?” She asked, sounding genuinely interested.

“Sombra - we want your help in rehabilitating him!” Pitch blurted out.

Twilight Sparkle stared, blinked, an eye-twitched, did she just hear that right?

“W-what!”

“Are you crazy? You’re crazy!” Twilight shrieked pointing an accusing hoof at Pitch. She trotted back into her room and begun to pace around the room. “Everypony knows that Sombra is a monster.” She muttered to herself as she tried to give him the benefit of doubt, trying to recall a memory that cast Sombra in a redeemable manner. She stopped in place and tapped her chin and tried to pierce the veil of her mind to find distinct memories of Sombra. “He ponynapped me!” She blurted out. She shot back around and pointed a hoof at both Pitch and Sabre not knowing which one would deserve a good pointing at more.

Twilight fell to her haunches and rubbed her forehead. “I am sorry.” She said, heaving a sigh. “This past afternoon has been trying.” The two ponies present weren’t at fault after all and any arguing at this point was only going to be counterproductive, Twilight knew.

Pitch scratched his chin and tried to show some sympathy. “Yes, well getting ponynapped isn't on my bucket list either.”

Twilight raised her eyebrow, not sensing any real emotion behind Pitch’s tone.

Sabre noticed her annoyed expression towards Pitch. Sabre rolled his hoof in front of himself. “I think what my cousin is trying to say maybe we can help one another here.”

Twilight and Pitch looked at Sabre then back at each other again. Twilight stood back up on her four hooves.

“You two...you're not affected by Sombra’s magic in anyway?” She asked, her eyes squinted, scrutinising the both of them.

“Nope.” Sabre smiled simply. “We are how we’ve always been princess.”

Twilight wasn’t sure if this should be comforting. It seemed like a bit of a joke that somepony would want to rehabilitate Sombra, the menacing pony of fear. She massaged her head.

“And why would you both want to help Sombra? You’re both crystal ponies.” Twilight stated.

Pitch nodded. “Yes...umm,” he grounded the floor with a hoof. “...but... we also a part of his family.”

“What?” Twilight sprung up and landed back on top of the bed. As the bed squeaked in bewilderment of her weight it warped in protest. Twilight quickly lost her footing and plopped onto the soft bed. She wasn’t sure why she did that exactly, it seemed like a safe thing to do in the circumstance of hearing such information. “You’re both related to Sombra, how is that even possible to begin with?”

Both ponies nodded as Twilight gather her legs together more comfortably. Pitch and Sabre eyed one another surreptitiously.

“Which is partly why we wish to help him,” Pitch said. “You see, once other ponies found out our lineage our lives got a little more difficult, restricted, and isolated even.” He tried to explain factually, in short terms. “Our lives over the last few years have been trying for us.” Pitch’s head lowered in thought. “We try not to let it bother us too much but it’s hard.” Pitch’s heard raised again to see Twilight looking at him.

“The how is a little harder to fully comprehend princess….” Pitch begun.

Sabre put a hoof on Pitch’s shoulder. “...and probable best left for another night, least to say, the empire continued to live on even while existing out of this world.”

Twilight listened intently and hummed agreements. Pitch’s restrained speech convinced her that her was trying to hide his pain. It wasn’t hard to imagine that ponies would react within a negative spectrum hearing anything related to Sombra, much less ponies who were related to him through blood. She was also infinitely curious what happened with the crystal ponies when the Crystal Empire banished.

Sabre continued. “What is good for Sombra could be good for us all too princess.”

Twilight pursed her lips and nodded her head. “Hmm, yes. Not having to worry about a evil dark king rampaging Equestria would be a good thing overall and generally a lot nicer than banishing him.”

“If I help him, he may even to let me have my freedom back.” Twilight chuckled weakly.

She got off from the bed and approached Pitch and Sabre.

“Ok. I am going to be here for awhile anyway. So I might as well make the best of it.” Twilight said with a look of determination in her eyes. “I might even learn some friendship lesson from this!” She beamed at the thought.

Pitch and Sombra turned to one another, best leaving any comments left unsaid in the presence of an alicorn. “Thank you princess.” They bowed his head.

Twilight blushed. “That’s alright...and just Twilight is fine.” She said sheepishly. “Oh, my, where are my manners. What are your names?” she asked, her mood heightened considerably.

Pitch and Sabre smiled and told her their names.

Pitch and Sabre spied the new resident; Twilight, waving to them as they left her room and down the corridor.

Pitch felt like dancing on sunshine, he was feeling really good. Having talked to the prin...Twilight, his confidence was renewed that Sabre and he could successfully support Sombra in becoming a better, altogether good pony.

Pitch signed deeply, holding a hoof to his chest. “Am I getting this right Sabre?” Pitch asked.

“The Princess Twilight Sparkle?” Sabre asked for reassurance at the task.

“Who else? Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and Sombra, the soon to be ex-dark King of the Crystal Empire…,”
Sabre’s eyebrows raised questioningly.

“Don’t you see what’s happening? This can work out perfectly for Sombra...it’s perfect. She’s the one, she can bring Sombra back!” Pitch danced on the tips of his hooves excitedly.

Sabre stopped his walking. Pitch noticed a moment later and turned to face Sabre.

“What are you getting at Pitch?” Sabre asked, his monotone voice hiding the fact he was having skeptically thoughts at where Pitch’s own thoughts were leading him towards.

Pitch grinned cooly. He brought up one hoof in front of himself than the other. “Him…,” one hoof moved towards the centre of his chest. “Her…,” the opposite hoof came to almost touch the other, “...alone.” They clopped together. “...together.”

Sabre’s expression relaxed back to expressionless and he trotted past Pitch. “That stinks.”

“Stick in the mud.” Pitch glared at the back of Sabre then trotted quickly up next to him.

“Sorry. But we need, really need, a good plan; not a miracle, a real plan. We’re no matchmakers.” Sabre said, his tone not changing.

Pitch hummed in thought, mild with a disagreeing tone. He and Sabre headed to the lowest floor of the castle where their personal space was, and hopefully would still be, where they conducted their practises in dark magic. Their virtual home away from home.

Meanwhile in the castle Sombra’s shadow stretched high along the walls, the light of the torches warped its form as it flickered in a cooling breeze that flittered through the castle corridors.

He made his way towards the West Wing of the castle. His thoughts went over the activities of the day.

Crystal Heart, checked. Disable current leaders, checked. Reboot base economics for empire stability, checked. Get back at unicorn who foiled trap…

“An alicorn…?” Sombra stopped in his trot. He looked back over his shoulder from where he had came. He imagined his eyes could pierce through the solid rock and crystal materials and to where Twilight Sparkle was. But they couldn’t. He hoof reflectively touched his chest where his necklace hung.

Sombra scrunched his face briefly and continued on before suddenly stopping again. He also recalled passing by Pitch and Sabre without having dismissed them for the night.

“My grandsons…,” he wondered.

His eyes felt dry and tired and he squeezed them tightly shut. Sombra rubbed the temple of his head and sighed. He turned around and back towards the south exit of the castle.

There was one thing that he wanted to put off till it become urgent and didn’t believe it ever would become important. But tiredness was a foreign concept to Sombra. He had spent years with a slumbering body, never moving and spending the majority of time exploring his own mind. Every so often he would try to pierce the veil of his crystal prison to see with his mind’s eye the goings on of the the real world, but the crystals of prison barred his passage.

With legs throbbing Sombra left the castle and headed towards the Crystal Empire library.

Approaching the library front Sombra smiled genuinely appreciating his own improvement on the griffon statues that flanked the staircase up to the library doors.

Not feeling the energy to cast any more spells today he opened up one side of the double doors that served as the main entrance.

The moonlight shined bright and strong, cascading down into the midst of the large interior of the library from a single large circular ceiling window. Beams of moonlight from the surrounding walls of the library also revealed the the space from the arched window frames. A plethora of books greeted any eyes that came into the area. Each wall of shelves homed hundreds if not thousands of books of varying information and knowledge, from fact to fiction.

The library, which would normally be an array of soft blue crystals which formed the structure of the place, were now deep dark blues, purple, and greens, with colours swirling together to make a translucent looking goop that was held in stasis within the crystals. Sombra appreciated his handy work for a moment, smiling with one side of his face.

Sombra appreciated the fine layout of the Crystal Empire’s library. It was spacious, large, and held many books. It was also a rare place to see many other ponies visit. Sombra frowned at this thought.

Amethyst Maresbury, an elderly earth crystal pony and the librarian, appeared from behind a bookshelf.

“Oh…,” she almost gasped, staring and making and almost unbreakable connection with Sombra’s eyes. Their faint purple vapour made her shudder slightly as if they promised to haunt her dreams tonight. In the dark Sombra’s body had melted into the shadows. Only the brief moonlight that caught his face made any suggestion that he was perhaps a pony.

Sombra noticed she carried in one hoof a unique instrument of the Crystal Empire: a crystal torch staff. During the night it wouldn’t be uncommon to see a pony with one. It was a wooden staff with a crystal twisted into the bark at one end. It was a special white-type crystal which could be enhanced to mimic sunlight reflecting off of the moon. It was an eerie and ghostly looking light but it did in a pinch if you didn’t want to walk around in the dark blindly.

The librarian bowed her head to Sombra and came closer to him. As she walked into the moonlight she tapped the end of the staff twice on the ground and the light faded from the crystal.

“M-May I help you y-your majesty?” Amethyst asked, stuttering slightly with a softly gentle spoken voice.

Sombra held the librarian to some regard, as the pursuit of knowledge was a noble undertaken. What the librarian lacked in knowledge she made up for with knowing where to find said knowledge. She was much like a good-natured will-o-the-wisp, guiding lost souls to the safest path to where they wanted to go.

“I am looking for genealogy records….” Sombra said.

“Oh…,” Amethyst nodded her head simple and her eyes squinted.

Sombra took a steady breathe in and out, knowing what he had to do.

“Be still for a moment librarian,” He commanded and brought his razor edge horn down lightly atop of her forehead. Where his magic tendrils danced and galloped along her memories.

“You are the librarian here Amethyst Maresbury, you have been for many years. You know the place of every book and you put every book in its place.” Sombra said firmly and hoped that was enough to kickstart her memories.

“Oh…,” One of her hooves met her lips tentatively as she looked down at Sombra’s hooves. She shivered slightly seeing his front hooves and legs were covered in dark metal gauntlets as if he was prepared in a moments notice for battle. He was in full armament, his neck and chest covered in plate also with a steel crown around his brow.

Sombra could feel her fear well before he saw it in the mare’s eyes. He took another steadying breath as his legs got a little bit sorer. His brow creased, eyes closed, his horn lit up with dark energies as the vapour swishing around his eyes grew denser. Amethyst’s eyes widened apprehensively.

Sombra easily casted his mind from his body and talked directly into Amethyst’s mind. Amethyst could feel her head get sore as her imagination unrestrictedly taunted her with images of Sombra’s menacing and monstrous eyes, unwelcomed and tormenting.

Sombra had opened his mind's eyes inside of Amethyst’s conscious. He repeated to her mind the same thing he had said to her before.

The glow of Sombra’s horn faded and he opened his physical eyes again.

“Oh, yes, of course…,” Amethyst said as she appeared to have forgotten about the previous five seconds. “I remember now. I do work as the librarian here.” She tapped the staff on the ground once and the crystal shone brightly before dimming to a more subdued light.

“Please follow me your majesty.” She led Sombra pasted wall after wall of shelves that held many books. Little spots of bright moonlight reflected off of the crystal materials.

She came to a shorter but much longer shelf that held large heavy tomes and begun searching through the titles printed on the cover or spines of the book. She plucked a large one off of that that lied resting flat on top of the shelf.

Sombra had seen himself to a desk and chair nearby and waited on for the liberian to place the book in front of him.

Amethyst rested the staff against the shelf and picked the large book up into her embrace. She balanced herself on her hind legs and deftly walked over to Sombra and placed the tome in front of him.

Sombra’s didn’t turn to face her as she approached and instead put a hoof onto the cover of the book after it was putted down.

Amethyst coughed.

Sombra turned to face her.

“Well?” She asked softly.

Sombra rolled his eyes, thinking he may have unlocked too much of her memory.

“Thank you.” He said. Also thankful that no one else was around to hear him say it.

Amethyst smiled. “Respect for your elders isn't too hard now is it?” And she walked away, with a bit of skip in her stride, to leave Sombra to read privately. He grumbled as she left him alone and turned back to the book, grinning with though. Sombra knew he didn’t look as old as he did.

Both sides of Sombra’s lips lanced downward. His hoof smoothed out the cover frantically. His eyes focused hotly on each letter design. He didn’t blink and his whole head turned to stone. A single bead of sweat blazed down in between in his eyes, down the side of his muzzle, and alongside his cheek before finally gathering enough weight at the edge of his chin to fall and escape to drip onto the surface of the book. It left a noticeable cool touch along the stone.

Sombra’s chest locked up hard and his breathing almost altogether stopped. He stared bewildered and twitched his head disbelievingly. He didn’t understand, couldn’t comprehend, a single letter or word on the page. He supported his head with one hoof on the table and did little circles to numb an increasing ache inside his head.

“How…have I forgotten?” He said softly.

From the corner of his eye he noticed the elderly mare librarian approach him with a look of motherly concern.

“You look stuck.” She said.

Sombra looked over to the mare. Her face was hard to read.

She came and stood over Sombra’s shoulder to see what he was reading. As she pointed to the word Sombra looked at it. “That word says jee-nee-ol-uh-jee.” She said slowly. “Birth records for the year nine hundred ninety eight.”

Sombra’s expression hardened fast on the word in front of him. He knew what genealogy was; what it meant and such. But this word, these letters, in front of him he couldn’t decipher. He finally rested his head back in defeat his hoof eased on his head. Time in the Crystal Prison had made him forget the written word.

Amethyst saw Sombra’s face tense and teeth glowering in the moonlight for just a moment before they softened and his lips sagged. His foreleg moved and rested over his eyes - a sure sign of defeat from exhaustion.

She guessed at what the problem might have been. “Y-you know your majesty…,” she said softly.

Sombra grumbled unintelligently as he moved his hoof away from the eye facing Amethyst so he could look at her.

“...I could gather some learning material on reading and writing for your majesty, if you like.”

Sombra closed his eye again and breathed out. This couldn’t of happened now, not when there was so much to be done. Though he considered, if he couldn’t read, it was likely that he couldn’t write too, maybe scribble, but definitely nothing that would be considered Equestrian language. Sombra’s mouth parted and teeth gleamed in the moonlight as he got up from the chair.

He lowly growled, passing by Amethyst.

Amethyst sighed exasperatedly and her expression saddened seeing Sombra leave. As she watched him steadily leave a sense of determination came to her and she trotted to him to see him out the door.

As Sombra was about to pass through the threshold he sensed something odd coming from behind him. He turned back around to see Amethyst with a soft expression.

“A little bit of kindness goes a long way your majesty.” She said.

“Hmm?” He grunted in reply.

“When someone does something nice for you you should thank them. It’s the polite thing to do.”
Sombra’s eyes narrowed on her.

Even in-between the darkness of the threshold and the outside Amethyst’s expression lighten up as every bit honest and kindness could.
Sombra’s jaw loosened and he snorted derisively and left the library. He had to catch up to his thoughts which were now ahead of him. The pricking in the back on his neck was fading but now a heavy pressure thudded in his chest.

“I need to move the Crystal Heart,” he muttered.

Sombra ascended the staircase from the central fora of the castle and up another brief staircase and was in the west wing.
Moving along the expansive corridors one door stood out. It was dressed in fine, bright pastel colours, a stark contrast to the rest of the grunge the castle had to offer.

Sombra’s eyes narrowed in thought. He hadn’t been in the best of moods this day and there was a pony behind this door he needed to see to, sooner rather than later. If nothing else but to gloat and let off some steam.

Sombra thrice knocked on the door before he shoved it open. Inside the room was a blast of bright pink and blue hues. A immediate difference from the rest of the newly refurbished castle of dark greys, purples, and greens.

Sombra looked from floor, to the wall, to the ceiling, to the pony on the bed. He smugly grinned at her as she laid across the soft pink frilly sheets. Cuffed around her neck was a chain leading to an anchor point wedged into the centre of the room. It was the only point in the room the remained untouched and was the darkest black.

Sombra looked around impressively before snorting. “You’ve been redecorating.” Addressing the pink alicorn across the room smartly.

“So have you.” Cadance replied solemnly, the golden black chains clinked together as her head moved to face him, her eyes narrowing. The black crystals that were once surrounding her horn were no longer there.

Sombra hummed inspecting the enchanted metal lynch pin imbedded into the floor next to the bed. He followed the short chain briefly along the floor, up to the bed, and onto the snugly fitted peytral around Cadance’s neck. Sombra smiled smugly and looked down his nose at her even as she laid atop of her bed. For an alicorn she was only half the size of Princess Celestia.

“I believe I have the royal sisters to thank for alerting me to you juvenile exercises.” He said rubbing at the back on his neck. “I ask you to stop it.” He growled.

As he stepped further into the room, he grunted and paused, his muscles tensed rigidly. The haze of purple around his eyes flickered agitatedly as the sensation of magic washed over him.

“I imagine the properties of love are not to your liking as fear is?” Cadance unmoving, said cooly.

Sombra focused his sense on the Crystal Heart as he braced against the pressure he was receiving in the room. He rubbed an ethereal hoof over its fractal surface. There was an ward in the way that he had cast himself. Caressing it intimately the field rippled softly at the familiar touch. Sombra hummed to himself, pleased to feel that the heart hadn’t been troubled with, and that the empire was still fresh with his magic. The troubled prickling in his neck had subsided and the heart felt safe within his shadowy presence.

Sombra came back to the room, eyes on Cadance. “Nothing like you could imagine.” He said, his lips barely parting.

Her ears flicked. “Funny, here I thought the Dark One had came to gloat about taking over my empire. Instead, Sombra, the King of Fear, is shying away from a little love magic.” Cadance’s expression softened. “Would sound like a joke now, wouldn’t it? If I didn’t know any better.”

Sombra darkened, regarding her curiously. “Oh?” He cooed.

There was a moment of silence as two unseeable forces silently pressed against one another. Candace’s body sparkled with crystal patches here and there. Sombra’s tail and mane billowed, a slow fog failing from them to the floor. Around him the bright colours begin to flake off of the surface of the room. The bright coloured peeling off the surface and objects around him and floated aimlessly. The flakes leaving behind much duller colours.

“This magic?” Sombra lost focus of Cadance as his eyes circled around the room.

With quick precision Cadance lept from the bed a blinding light shining from her forehead that struck Sombra in the face. He arced across the room. Cadance winced as he impacted the wall loudly and slumped to the ground.

The purple trail of smoke drifted behind where Sombra had left. It caught back up with his eyes and disappeared. He hacked a single couch and his jaw froze open. He felt something heavy form under his necklace. With gritted teeth he shot up on all fours. Like a pony of stilts his legs wobbled sending him towards Cadance. Sombra’s legs backpedaled underneath him. Unable to catch up the rest of his body collapse in a heap on the floor. The storm died down. He eyed Cadance wearily.

She gasped, leaned back, wide eyed with shock.

“What did you do to me?” Sombra spoke through his teeth, slowly trying to rise. “How are you doing this?” He yelled.

“You have the strangest eyes I’ve ever seen.” Cadance looked at him intently.

Sombra red eyes quivered wildly. He wobbled to and fro as he sat up on his haunches.
“They’re rather…”

“Tch.” Sombra blurted hotly, choking back his words. His necklace was beginning to feel warm against his chest.

Cadance watched curiously, waiting a moment for Sombra to calm down. “I was going to say they look empty.”

Sombra breathed out of his mouth, feeling hot all of suddenly. His hoof held against his chest.

“A pony without light in their eyes or in their heart isn't much of a pony. I just reminded you there was a small piece there. Though, I really do wonder how that came to be?”

Sombra stood and his eyes narrowed dangerously. “I won't be manipulated,” he said to the ground.

“What?” Cadance tensed worriedly.

She could see his eyes as his muzzle raised. A strand of blank mane split them apart from one another. Within those eyes, a steely determination, stoic and unmoving.

Sombra bared his teeth, firmly planting his hooves. A heat burned in his chest desperately for release. He hacked up cloud of pink dust and it disappeared just a quick. A slither of purple ether appeared around the edge of his eyes. He felt a throbbing from his chest to his ears.

“Mi Amour Candenza.” Sombra said, pronouncing each syllable slowly and purposefully as she bore her eyes into him. “I am just here to see that the alicorn is comfortable in her humble abode.” He said nonchalantly. “It can be rather busy looking after two after all.” He baited.

Cadance kept a cool demeanour. Sombra grimaced.

“Yes. Even I was interested in that. I could have sworn last I was around that the little pint-sized purple alicorn was a normal unicorn.” He stared down at Cadance. She didn’t say anything.

Sombra rolled his eyes exasperatedly. “Celestia and Luna and I daresay yourself, are strong enough to withstand my brainwashing but I wonder what of this new alicorn? Why, with an alicorn by my side, who knows what I may accomplish? Or even what effect it would have on the Crystal Heart. No doubt you have heard the stories about me?”

Cadance remained unaffected.

Sombra growled at not getting more a reaction but managed a short laugh. “Imagine an alicorn by my side.” He repeated, doubling down on his efforts to get to Candance. He grinned looking at his hoof as he swayed it back and forth. “I might just persuade her to take my side, as queen.” He glared back up at her threateningly.

He watched Cadance tersely. Her head shifted slightly.

“I guess it’s true then. No one loves like you do, King of Shadows.” Cadance unblinkingly stared down at the stallion now.

Sombra’s head snapped back. A single dilated eye staring back at her. “What did you say?” He lowly hissed.

“You heard me.” Her eyes squinted, challenging. Cadance steeled herself. “What did you come here to do? To gloat, to be understood? Fear may be your weapon but love is mine. You can feel the fear inside of ponies just as naturally as any other ponies feels the wind!” She paused, staring. “But I can feel the love. The love inside of everypony.”

“Shut it, Princess of Love.” He growled venomously.

Cadance didn’t like the tone or the suggestion he was making. Though she tried to keep calm and level-headed her brow creased and eyes trained on Sombra. A small twinkle in her eye. She pressed forward herself till the chain held taunt.

“I am the Princess of Love.” Cadance said softly, level eyed with Sombra.

His muzzled twitched. Both set of eyes remained locked together.

Cadance blinked, wetting her dried eyes. She begun to look at her hoof tiresomely, examining each section of the front slowly, twisting her ankle slightly. “Strange, history paints you as somewhat of a strategist, particular to battles of war. But all I see here now is a dumbstruck little colt. Trying childishly to put together his thoughts and arguments about what it is he is doing exactly. If you came here to intimidate me - colour me unimpressed.”

The purple mist engulfed Sombra’s eyes. Quickly the room was spread with thick smokiness. The bed acting like driftwood out at sea. The green eyes of Sombra like a lantern in the night.

“Don’t take me lightly little alicorn!” His voice echoed around her and the room strained from the pressure. “I was easily able to pluck apart the minds of the empire's citizens and put them back together in less than a day.” He barked.

Though Cadance felt unease with the change of environment she watched the unicorn closely. He was dressed imposingly in his armour, cape and crown while a bog-like smoke billowed where his mane and tail would be.

The conversation lulled for a beat.

Sombra licked his lips.

He crinkled his nose. “Love.” He sneered and glared at her pretentiousness. “Don’t pretend you know everything about it. The reason I dislike the word is that it means so much to me, far more than you can understand.”

Cadance remained unblinking. “But I do Sombra. No one loves like you do.” Unmoving, Cadance’s soft gaze pierced through Sombra’s hard protective shadow. His eyes narrowed disgruntled. He turned to leave without having said anything else. His cape billowing after him.

The last thing Cadance said caused Sombra pause. “I do not believe you are the monster you would have others believe you are Sombra. You do not warrant that fear and you do not owe other ponies it.” Then he continued to leave the room.

“I am not afraid of you,” Cadance said just as Sombra was about to pass the threshold. “Not like you are of me.” She leered at the back of his head. “Talk to Twilight Sparkle about friendship sometime. I think you’ll find it helpful.”
Sombra snorted derisively, flicking his tail, and muttered under his breath, “Where were you a thousand years ago?” He slammed the door behind him. The tension and dark clouds slowly swept away.
Cadance let out a heavy sigh.

Sombra made his way back to his own quarters in the west wing. He made a lot of grunts and exercised his lips angrily.

A short thrust forward and the doorway to his private room gave way. He sipped all the air in the room into his lungs and roared.

As soon as the door closed Sombra narrowly stopped himself from crushing to the ground. He breathed slow and heavily, drawing as much air in as possible to his burning lungs.

“That..bah! Alicorn!” He growled, a bead of sweat dripping from his muzzle. He continued to take large breaths, each one shortening and becoming steady again.

Sombra stood back up a cool liquid building at the edge of his eyes along with a faint hint of purple. “She will play her part.”

In the short burst that he wished lasted longer he become spent and weary. He clambered over to a large enough bed that could fit him ten times over. He ducked his under the doona and escaped from the hard floor into the darkness underneath the covers and the softness of the mattress.

He breathed airly then monitored his breathe as he took long breaths in and out of his nostril.

He didn’t remember days being this long.

Below ground, underneath the castle, Pitch and Sabre brewed.

“I’ve never really liked it down here, too quiet.” Sabre drolled.

“Indeedly.” Pitch said absently, removing his saddle bags to place on the large central table with a loud clunk, and moving then to shuffle through a few books on a nearby shelf.

They were now in there so described personal lab, which was more a single room hybrid home with all the amenities, plus lab and kitchen sink. As large as the room was, it was almost filled to the brim, from wall to wall, to all available space in-between, with various objects, knickknacks, personal items, and a scatter of crystals. A comfortable mess of their own making.

Sabre sat away from Pitch at the otherwise empty table which, as table goes, was used for pretty much everything. Curiously he leant over the table and brought the bag to himself.

“No bags on the table.” Sabre said. Though Sabre didn’t pay any attention.

Opening it up he took out the hoof thick crystal that was half the length of his head, just reaching his eye line as he sat it upright on the table.

“So, what are we going to do with this for now.” Sabre asked.

“Hm?” Pitch’s flicked an ear towards Sabre then turned to him when more words weren’t forthcoming. “Ah.” Pitch said unsurely. On three legs, one holding a book, he came back over to the table. He shook he his softly. “I thought we agreed no crystals on the table?” He said. Sabre was always unsure what they had agree to that the table was to be used for.

“I wonder what is better, hindsight or foresight.” Pitch said curtly.

Sabre looked at his reflection in the bluish crystal. “Whichever works best.” He said absentmindedly.

Pitch clicked his tongue and grumbled. He placed the tome he was holding on the table. Smacking his lips and closing his eyes he drew upon his well of magic from within himself. He channelled it to darker aspects, a faint whisper of purple lining the side of his eyes. A purple ether materialised around his horn before it took off and disappeared into the crystal.

“How much do you think it can hold?” Sabre drolled.

“More than I could conjure.” Pitch said. He flicked the book in front of him opened and scratched an itch on his neck.

“Did we have plans for tonight?” Sabre asked.

Pitch hummed, neither an agreeing or disagreeing tone. “Sombra, I mean, his majesty. He asked us to study the Crystal Heart with the spell he put on it.”

He turned the book to face Sabre. A illustration on the Crystal Heart was printed largely on the page, a large box of tiny text on the page next to it.

“Though at the moment I am more curious about the crystals in the prison…” Pitch turned around, looking through the large room, and grabbed a large chalk board at the far end and whisked it in front of him.

Sabre idly tapped the crystal in front of him as Pitch chalked several diagrams and shorthand notes. Sabre knew this already but Pitch obviously had a new idea to show-and-tell him.

Pitch quickly finished boarding what crystal containers were all about. It was more straightforward than how Pitch was presenting it, but he was an academic, so some professionalism and flare had to be shown. To be short, container or vessel crystals, as they were sometimes referred to, were crystals that could hold magical energies. Crystals weren’t particular a rare occurrence in the Crystal Empire, albeit, one could trip over one with every hoof step taken, container crystals were a little more special.

They were crystals that grew throughout the Frozen North. An easy analysis done by a unicorn would be able to tell whether or not a crystal could hold magic in it or not.

“Are we going to be here all night?” Sabre asked as he made his way to the kitchen section of the room. Which had a few books and flasks next to the sink. He managed to fish out the kettle from underneath some large scrolls and set it up to boil water on the small stove next to the sink.

“No, we won't be.” Pitch assured. He looked back at the chalk board. “There’s something that’s been bother me.”

Sabre took his seat again.

“At it’s limit a crystal wont take any more magic in. Forcing more will cause the crystal to shatter, naturally.”

Sabre nodded along with Pitch as he explained.

“Though I’ve never seen a crystal turn grey like what we saw in the prison.” Pitch said.

Sabre remained motionlessly waiting to see what Pitch’s imagination had to spill. “It’s really fascinating - like a whole new thing about crystals that even I have no clue about.” Pitch chuckled.

“But what would make a crystal act so uncharacteristically like that? What magic, what spell?” Pitch’s head circled around looking at the notes he had made on the chalkboard.

“We could always try and drain his magic with the crystal here and see what happens.”

Pitch turned wide-eyed.

Sabre continued despite Pitch’s discomfort.“So far we’re failing on a colossal level with rehabilitating Sombra. At the very least we should try to get him away from the empire. Him being here isn’t healthy for anypony.”

“I mean, looks what he's done to empire much less our lab in less than a day.”

“Uhh, yeah.” Pitch said uneasily, lazily rolling his eyes from one side of his skull to the other. “Doesn’t really look that much different in my opinion.”

Sabre ignored him.“Even with Princess Twilight’s assistance we should have a backup plan to neutralise Sombra’s power if it starts to get too much for us to change him with it. That should be our priority now.”

“We should work with what we got here.” Sabre pressed the crystal to lean on one edge. Letting it go it swung back and forth on the table.

“Then if we can’t rehabilitate Sombra, hmm.”

The crystal tobbled over. Pitch and Sabre looked at it glumly.

The kettle finished boiling with a loud whistling.

Twilight trotted happily into the hallway. Her teacher, Princess Celestia was there.

“Celestia!” She sung.

Twilight didn’t noticed the cold look that Celestia gave her as she pressed her cheek into teacher’s chest.

“So you have returned from the Crystal Empire after failing what I sent you their to achieve?” She said darkly.

Twilight winced under Celestia’s tone.

‘You’ve failed me Twilight.”

Twilight tensed fitfully. It couldn’t be true.

Celestia used one of her large wings and pushed Twilight along the floor away from herself.
Twilight unsure chocked on tears.

“Now you must leave as you are no longer my student.”

“What? Why? But I…tried as hard as I could. I didn’t think that failure mean I could no longer be your student.” Twilight tried to hold her voice firm from shouting and choking.

Celestia’s dismissed Twilight’s presence and turned away from her. The room and Celestia faded, blowing lazily away in a sandy breeze

Twilight found herself in a large empty room with thickset archways through which one could see out into the Crystal Empire. She moved and large darkened crystals ensnared her.

The Crystal Heart was a few steps away from her, just out of her reach. Spike approached the heart, his claws safely kept under his armpits.

“Spike, you must get the Crystal Heart to the crystal ponies.”

Spike nodded, freeing his claws and picking up the heart that was almost as big as him, and leaped away. Just as Spike fell from Twilight’s view the sky darkened and she felt scared. From the stairs Sombra approached with Spike in his magically grasp.

“Oh no, Spike!” Twilight called as he was dropped not close enough that she could pull him towards herself and out of potential danger.

Sombra laughed manically, a swollen serpent tongue lolling out of his mouth. His teeth grew larger and more sharp. Twilight shivered, fresh tears replacing the ones she had just shred. She had failed again.

Sombra’s form turned shadowy at Twilight’s tears. His head remained as it got large enough to fill the room. Twilight had nowhere to run as Sombra opened his mouth to trap Twilight between his teeth.

Twilight woke up with a fright. Her hoof pressed tightly to her chest to keep her lungs in her chest. She looked at the window and found herself wondering what her friend were doing.

(Before) The Line

In the dark of the night Sombra’s ears twitched to a distant disturbance in the room. Grumbling tiredly he lifted his neck for his eyes to find a lone mirror.

Curiously Sombra got off his bed and made his way over to it. It was arched with a single green crystal framing; a continuous solid mass of rock with no blemishes or cuts. A beautiful crystal.

Sombra lifted his hoof to touch the reflective surface of glass. The mirror responded the touch and sound with a watery rippling. The surface crinkled with the ripples.

In the mirror an image formed like looking through water with eyes open at first but then sharpened like the water was being pushed away.

It revealed the empire from a bird’s eye view that dusk. A golden brown to dark purple coloured the sky. It was quiet and unmoving with not a soul stirring in the approaching dark. The crystal structures lit each other and the empire up with the fading sunlight.

From the west a dark ominous cloud was rolling towards the empire. It came from the horizon like a rising star.

Shifting stiffly, the picture changed. In a home two ponies rested side by side, slumbering peacefully, their chests slowly falling and rising with dreamy expressions on their faces.

The only movement was the slow crawl along the carpet as the golden light of day trailed out of the room by the window sill. When it had completely left moonlight flooded in, basking the room in a spongy soft white glow of the moon.

Sombra, in the corner of his eye, saw the moonlight reflect off of a solid dark mass. He hadn’t noticed it there before, situated in the shadow of a dressing drawers, but it stood out now in the coming night. Sombra breathed anxiously seeing the familiar item.

Two large helmets laid discarded on the floor next to one another. Each bore the red fang like insignia coming out of metal opal shaped centerpiece on the helmet. The pot-shaped helmet otherwise was large enough to easily accommodate someone's head inside, with the user’s ears and horn allowing to freely pop out of the container. They aimed towards the two still and quiet bodies.

A green gas snaked out of the the small opening for the eyes. It covered the floor of the room. Slowly building up as outside the room the night got darker. It crested the bed top and the occupants breathed it in. The gaseous substance drew into the bodies with a single inhale. As the room darkened the eyes of the helmets glowed green.

Shifting vividly, the architecture changed from the home to a familiar sight. Inside the Crystal Empire's largest standing watch tower. The safest place to observe the surrounding area. It’s crystal dome ceiling shining down on the rooms central piece, the Crystal Heart. It lonely spun in the room by itself.

The room was open to the air, large arching columns holding the roof up. A green smokey substance wafted and drifted into the room like a slow tide. It spilled across the floor towards its centre where it broke against an invisible barrier. The mist settled calmly.

From outside the sun was continuing to move behind the horizon.

The sun catapulted across the sky and disappeared when Sombra couldn't see it because of the tower roof. Before initial shock set in, instead of plummeting ruthlessly into darkness the world had changed lifeless gray, turning shock into trepidation. The only thing alive was the shimmering blue Crystal Heart that turned heavily with each rotation, trying to keep itself in motion.

While the crystal proceeded, many scars, deep and winding, grew throughout its surface. Sombra watched still, breathing anxiously.

Just as it looked like the deepest crack was about to split the heart the sound of a stiff exhaling of air caught his attention.

Creepy tendrils slowly sprung from the boggy mist, bouncing up and falling down again like boiling water. The several streams launched over the hearts height and fell back down on top of it. The streams stayed where they fell and a fluorescent light glowed at the surface of the mist before being pulled through the tendrils towards the heart. The heart glowed the same ghostly green. The finger like stalks slipped into the cracks filling the crevasses with green light. The mist then settled before altogether fading away.

The heart emitted a special aura, one unseen by ponies except for Sombra. It glowed a dark richness, strong and powerful.

Just in the peripheral of the mirror a white pony approached the Crystal Heart.

Sombra fell into the mirror's surface and quickly found himself in the watch tower. Princess Celestia of the Day Court didn’t pay his appearance any initially mind.

She turned her horn, aglow with sun-blinding light and Sombra braced himself as his pupils shrunk. The light erupted and briefly obscured his view of Celestia till it was nothing more than a blank canvas but not before Sombra saw the heart breaking, chips of the heart falling away.

In the neverending plain of empty nothingness Princess Luna of the Night Court landed. Horn aglow with a swallowing night’s darkness Sombra braced himself as his eyes dilated and all he could see was a canvas of charcoal black.

Sparkling lights flared and crackled throughout the dark like a carnival escapade. Dancing energetically to unheard music that only it could hear. A snapping of rock against rock echoed inside Sombra’s ears making them quiver and his nose wrinkle.

He forcefully blinked the tickling sensation out of his body. Eyes open and back in his room the mirror in front of him reflected the empire from a high hanging cloud. Below, marching in two and down the street, two ponies stepped rhythmically, almost in adjacent unison. They both wore the familiar headpiece and their eyes glowed green.

Down the stretching street two larger than life ponies waited on the two guards. The sister alicorns stood menacingly against the night, auras around their horns. With a single step both sisters cast a spell simultaneously. The helmets on the two small ponies exploded into fine dust.

From there a rainbow light rippled outwards from the two small ponies.

An ear erupting crack split the mirror in half, not sparing the beautiful crystal frame it was laid into.

On the left, ponies ran through the streets of the empire and noiselessly were cheering with a wide variety of lips turned upwards. On the right, ponies dragged the hooves with a solitary unmoving expression on their faces, a look of distance and glassiness to their eyes. Sombra’s hoof laid in the middle of the divided glass.

Sombra felt a pressure underneath his hoof like the two pieces of glass were pulling themselves away from one another. Sombra pressed his hoof down trying to hold them together.

With gritted teeth he stood on his hindlegs trying to assist himself as much as he could while keeping the pieces together. The gap widened.

Snarling Sombra’s horn spoked and a purple flame aura enveloped his ebony horn. Along the edge of the divided surfaces a trickle of magical light emanated. Sombra tried to pull the two purple lights together aided by two hooves.

The two distance lands didn’t move anymore closer to one another and didn’t move any further apart.

The aura of Sombra’s horn touched the room’s ceiling. His eyes burned green with purple smoke. The heightening pressure on Sombra’s back became a comfortable ache. He worried his hooves would slip off of the glass.

However hard he tried and whatever fiery determination his conscious said the two pieces remained not getting any closer. He could feel ghostly movements underneath his hooves but the shattered pieces of the mirror remained in place.

As Sombra tried to carefully stretch his stiff neck the pictures drained of colour. Sombra yelled at the mirror and the hair of his tail and mane billowed like a loose mast in a wild windswept sea.

When the ponies had lost all their colours, now just grey hues, the mirror cracked again suddenly. Hairline fractures, too many to count, decimated the once pristine glass. The sound of thousands of pieces of glass cracking ringed in his ears.

A thrumming from his chest reached from his chest to his head till they synchronised to a dull ache. A pressure he didn’t know he had ignored until just then. It felt as though the pressure was about to burst out of his chest.

Two ponies caught Sombra attention suddenly. They stood in the same room listlessly as Sombra stared in shock.

Pitch and Sabre’s coat were greyed beyond their normal colouration. While they had normally grey fur their bodies didn’t feel as they were entirely there. Sombra noticed that there feet were sunk into the floor.

The mirror begun to disappear below the surface of the room. Panicked with a sense of urgency Sombra tried to pull the mirror out, the faces of ponies frozen in the shattered state still in the mirror. No matter the effort the mirror wouldn’t budge.

Pitch and Sabre followed after the mirror. Pupils shrunk and shaking Sombra leaped to his two grandsons. Stretching his forelegs around each of the necks, trying to keep their heads above water.

They slipped out of his grasp easily.

Alone in the expanse of his empty room there was only Sombra. He stared silently at the floor as his unkempt mane fell over his eyes.

His chest bumped. He sneezed and shook the tickling from his muzzle.

A smokey ghostly pony stood in the room with him, standing pink against the deep cerulean blue to black gradient of the room. The pony walked towards him but made distance like it was running or that the room pushed him towards it. Sombra felt his blood rush.

From the body two wing like appendages lifted out in presentation. When they reached their apex the feathers broke off, drifting in a unfelt wind and disappearing along with the rest of the wing. The ponies indistinguishable head flitted in motion. A horn like paraphernalia grew from its head. It reached an average unicorn length before cleaning breaking off at the base with the skull. It went the way of the wings and disappeared.

Sombra got to his legs and a rush of vertigo took over his senses. He slammed on the ground.

The room brightened. The mysterious ghost stayed looking down at Sombra till it blended into the room.

“Ah!” Sombra pulled back his injured hoof that had just struck the wall behind his head. He was awake effectively and rubbed his hoof as he looked across the room to a nearby mirror. A beautiful, no cuts, green crystal framing, housed a sleek unblemished surface of reflective glass.

Squinting his eyes Sombra put his hoof on his chest and pressed it into his fur. A brief spell casted and he pulled his hoof out in front of him to inspect the small mote of pink that wiggled above his hoof like a worm.

It danced like a ballerina, its tail swirling underneath it as the head curled up and around itself it a rhythmic motion.

He grumbled.

On three legs, the fourth holding the mote, he got out of bed and he called his cape from the standing coat rack. It landed to rest familiarly across his back and around his neck, clasped together with a crystal button.

“Magic mirror in the crystal…” he sung softly as he approached the mirror. He saw himself as if looking from behind.

With his free forehoof he lifted away the back of his mane from his neck and took the little pink mote and put in the back of the necklace. It slipped, as if being sucked through a straw, from his hoof to where a small crystal laid deeply hidden underneath his shaggy fur.

He licked his lips from the dryness of sleep and closed his eyes to form a spell in his mind.

A shimmering light rippled behind the glass. As the wave reached the edge of the crystal frame a clear picture formed on its surface.

The pink alicorn rested on top of the bed, snoozing quietly.

Sombra inspected the alicorn and as he watched her the latent magic surrounded her moved slowly. The cotten appearance and pink hue made Sombra’s breath catch in his throat. Before he could choke on it his lungs ached and he slowly drew the air out and another renewed one in.

Cadance stirred and looked around her room as if being disturbed by a sudden noise. Her gaze slowly drifted upward till her eyes were looking into Sombras. A small smile played on her lips. Cadance shuffled and nestled her legs underneath herself and rested her head on top of them, careful that the chain on the front of the collar didn’t catch underneath herself.

Sombra’s hoof went back the ground.

“Alicorns always surprise.” He muttered, his tail kicked behind him.

He pulled at his necklace but stopped when a jolt of pressure shot through his neck, forgetting to soak the necklace in his dark magic to allow it to stretch freely. A brief spell casted and he was able to control the necklace willingly. He breathed evenly as he looked at the small jagged crystal. His face contorted around the facets of the uneven rock.

He stared not entirely at himself or the dark blue crystal. He stayed still so he was purposely unmoving, letting thoughts and images flicker in his imagination.

Images of ponies came and went through the vacuum of his mind. Thoughts of crystals passed in the moment that were thought up of. An alicorn, then alicorns all, took his attention; white, blue, purple, and pink.

Absentmindedly Sombra lifted his head from looking at crystal to the mirror. In the mirror Twilight laid in her room soundlessly. No expression passed over Sombra as he watched the small alicorn sleep. Her body spasmed and face revealed pain before she burst awake in a silent scream. Sombra remained motionless though he watched her with soft thoughtfulness. Twilight looked from herself to outside the room.

Sombra expelled all his breath at once in a single gruff snort. Looking away from the mirror the image disappeared.

To the other side of the room a cobalt blue curtain hung across one wall of the room. Sombra pulled one side of the curtain across. Revealing one side of a large double door and three simple arched windows. He pulled a window open.

At a snail's pace he trotted over, opened the door, and stood outside in the brisk night air. He went to the railing to look to the northern side of the castle. Past the castle courtyard and within the open space underneath its tower the Crystal Heart was involved in its twirling dance.

A small but genuine smile graced his lips, his brows softened and slightly raised. His shoulder dipped and he closed his eyes to feel his steady breathing and beating chest.

He turned his attention westerly to the rest of the empire. The Frozen North snowed outside the borders unable to pass through the protective arcs that shielded the area.

Lifting his muzzle an inch, just above the rooftops of homes, Sombra gleamed a different magical, more personal, barrier in the dark; the one he had assembled there. It was spotted with splashes of greys.

The sky was unclouded and only a first quarter moon hung in the sky.

He drifted back to the crystal necklace in his hoof.

“It’ll happen, I’ll take care of everything.” He surveyed his empire, announcing to all the empire but really only himself. “This is just the dark before the dawn,” he whispered.

He stepped back inside his room his steps heavy on the stone balcony to the carpet floor. Looking out the window Sombra grumbled ponderously to himself. “The dark before the dawn.” Grunting, her returned to the mattress that promised sleep.

The Line

As the first curtains of light draped out across the land Sombra had launched from out under the comfort of the doona. He pulled his red cape from its stand and his armour materialised on him as he left his room. He immediately marched from the castle and led himself to where the Crystal Heart slowly spun where he had first placed his spell unto it.

The area was ghostly quiet. Sombra watched the ground as the new morning sunlight peeled away the darkness. He scrunched his eyes before squeezing them shut. Ignoring the ominous surroundings his horn lit up with bubbles of purple and green as he picked the Crystal Heart out from it’s orbiting space. He felt the weight of the heart on the tip of his horn and begun to tug it from it’s place. The heart resisted feebly and Sombra easily rested it within his floating field of telekinesis.

It still slowly spun around innocently unaware of Sombra’s small grin. He turned about-face and trotted off, making for the throne room as the next destination to head to.

Within his throne room he charged a beam of magic that aimed at the crystal stationed above his throne. It glowed momentarily and reflected a beam to the floor. It disappeared revealing a spiralling staircase going deeply into the ground.

Sombra pictured in his mind where he wanted to be. His horn shined and he blinked out in a dark light and reappeared again some three thousand steps below, at the base of the stairs.

The bottom of the stairs were dank and eerie, with a single wooden door embedded into the rocky wall. Sombra charged his his horn and ray of purple light harpooned the door. He commanded it to open.

The door opened with a weak cringe. Sombra eyed the other side of the door wearily. A black shiny oil morphed and moved around the framing of the door as if it were a living creature made of ooze. As Sombra stepped through the oil squeezed around him, chilling his coat slightly.

On the other side of the door was another staircase, large and white, ascending higher than the previous had descended.

Sombra looked to the high horizon where the stairs disappeared as he pictured in his mind the very top of this place where he wanted to be. With a quick fling of his horn and another blink, he was there. Six thousand steps high.

His vision skewed and blurred slightly. Once his focus come back he surveyed his surroundings. A small area with a ornate floor and domed roof. The roof was held by several large columns which allowed access to looking outside to the world around. Sombra approached the edge and saw his empire from it’s highest, most inaccessible peak.

He breathed heavily as the Crystal Heart spun silently next to him. The empire was also silent at this time.

He slowly moved the Crystal Heart to the centre of the room. He noted the archaic patterns on the floor were still in place. As he laced the heart in the centre his horn glowed and the room responded with a faint aura of its own.

Sombra stepped in close to the heart and pulled out the necklace hidden within his fur coat. He held it, in hoof, near the heart and watched carefully as the heart repeated its movement without fail. A line of dark purple leaked from the crystal and disappeared on the surface on the crystal. The crystal necklace glowed briefly while the heart dimmed.

Sombra nodded to himself, returning the necklace back around his neck. His closed his eyes while he focused his magic along his horn. A moment passed. The heart took on the hue of his magically signature before the colour faded away.

He opened his eyes to inspect his work. He noted to himself to remember to show Pitch and Sabre how to get here, without issues, and begun back to the castle the same way he came.

Back in the throne room Sombra dispelled the stairwell so the room didn’t have great big hole in it. He turned his head to where Twilight’s room would of been. His normal eyesight still couldn’t penetrate the walls. He grunted.

He trotted out determinedly till he found himself in front of her door. He eyed the door from top to bottom desperately seeking along the ribbed lines of the wood for some answer or question he didn’t know he was looking for.

Sombra shook his head, grumbling, and turned his attention elsewhere where it was more needed. A maid would see to her needs soon enough.

Sombra swept passed the corridors of the castle. Each flap of his adorned cape and click clack of his metal wearing hooves was the only sound that echoed. It was ominously empty, as if all life kept outside a boundary length of him.

Standing in the empty courtyard where he assailed the empire’s former princess Sombra ready himself for another day. He peered up towards the highest peak of the castle. With the assistance of the Crystal Heart at the highest peak of the castle Sombra’s mind crept out and covered the empire. Life began to stir and it awakened.

Twilight Sparkle woke up, feeling sore all over. The bed was fine, soft and pudgy, her muscles protested from the previous days overexertion. Her sleep was hard to find as she wondered what she could do to stop Sombra. His previous attempt to enslave the Crystal empire did not paint him in a grand light.

From the balcony to her room Twilight’s head appeared over the edge of the railing as she rested her head on it, wearily. As she stared over the empire, nostalgic for the time she did so similarly during her time as Celestia’s student in Canterlot, she tentatively felt the black crystals along her horn. She pushed her magic through her horn only for it to stop upon coming into contact with the crystals, it made her head ache.

She grumbled, moving her vision across to the courtyard below her she noticed something rather peculiar. Everything felt still and ghostly quiet, almost as if time had frozen or all the citizens of the empire had gotten up and left during the night prior.

Twilight lifted her head as she caught a green light from her peripheral and she inhaled sharply.

Sombra was down in the courtyard, standing out starkly from the pinkish and white pavement. Channelling what Twilight could tell, squinting at the magic around his horn, was a rather large spell, though she couldn’t decipher what it would do. He cast the spell and she felt the fur on her fetlocks bristle.

More curious was when the spell had stopped and he had started what Twilight figured must've been some sort of morning workout routine. Twilight stared astonishingly.

He rotated his shoulder blades and they poked his cape up and down. He also stretched out one foreleg and the opposite hind leg, switching it around and doing it again, almost like a dance.

Twilight watched bemusedly as Sombra stood on his hind legs and stretched his forelegs up to the sky. She gaped as Sombra yawned. His mouth was a giant maw with sharp white teeth and red viper tongue slinking out. Sombra smacked his dry lips together to moisten them and looked rather tired after his short routine.

Nothing happened for a few minutes. Though, Twilight convinced herself that the moment she looked away she’d miss something. Sombra after all was rather enigmatic pony to her. He wasn’t a pony she had read much on and had only really came to terms of him when the Crystal Empire had first appeared after a thousand years.

Twilight gaze turned as the sound of the gate rattled away with chains and timber. It begun to open, four guards, two to a side, pushed the large door open. Numerous guards trotted in briskly afterwards, towards Sombra.

As they convened, Twilight also noticed something else being walked into the courtyard. Her breathe caught in her mouth and her mind worked uselessly for words to describe what she was seeing.

Single file, one by one, crystal ponies; albeit without the telltale crystal coats, were walked into the courtyard. Each pony wore a large metal yolk. With a rope that wound around from one yolk to the next. Their forehooves were also restricted with metal chained hoofcuffs. Guards were spotted outside the line keeping the ponies on the move. The crystal pony line snaked around the courtyard haphazardly in a single but disorderly pattern. The head of it started at Sombra.

Twilight glared at the back of Sombra’s head, anger building up inside of her. The ponies were made to look like criminals, no, not that, slaves! Twilight’s throat tightened and she wanted to yell.

Sombra felt his chest thump, feeling a pony's eyes on him when he had first came outside. It was angry, he turned to look over his shoulder and gave Twilight a toothy side grin he knew she could see.

Twilight grumbled annoyed, she didn’t feel like she would be in any danger from asking the question.

“What is this exactly?” She murmured to herself, her wings tense on her sides and they flapped agitatedly. She surveyed the numerous ponies tied up and the ponies who were spread out along the line with spears in their grasp.

She admitted she didn’t like just watching as she devised that Sombra was manipulating the guard’s minds with his magic. Twilight lifted herself onto the guardrail and leaped off of the balcony and glided steadily down to the yard. She was prepared to give a good talking to Sombra.

Sombra didn’t need a written invitation to guess who had just landed, with a clip-clop of hooves on stone, a scant few metres behind him.

“I organised this yesterday for this morning,” Sombra stated. “It seems there are still ponies who can resist my magic.” He approached where the line begin and received a low bow from the two pony guards that were there.

“Good work Captain.” Sombra said, a slither of a kind smile on his face.

The captain simply nodded at his approval.

The first pony in line shook like a leaf as Sombra eyes past her over. He came very close to her muzzle, his piercing, terrifying, hypnotic like gaze, capturing all her senses. Sombra’s horn bubbled with dark magic for a brief moment. Twilight watched with a stern yet curious expression.

The ponies eyes faded from a dark blue too a lifeless grey and her body sagged noticeably.

Sombra tilted his head upwards slightly, eyes narrowed. He stretched his neck and shoulders as his energised his horn once again. A large, dark, metal like helmet materialized and encompassed around the mare's head. The small rectangle holes for eyes lite up green. The pony stood up confidently then she had been previously and lifted her hoof to her forehead where the sound of hoof and metal clanked.

Sombra breathed out and nodded to the guard next to her and he unlocked the yolk around the neck. It crashed to the ground, cracking the ground slightly. Another unicorn used their magic to pick up the discarded yolk and move it away.

Twilight watched as the pony trotted away back towards the gate and disappeared from sight. She was curious as what that helmet was and how it seemingly changed the pony underneath it. It didn’t act like the spell he had the rest of the empire under.

Unlike the guard ponies who were docile this spell had an immediately potent effect.

“Next!” Sombra barked.

The captain pulled the line along. Once again Sombra repeated himself. Applying his magic directly.

It didn’t take Twilight long to realize that for the next few hours that this was going to be a wash, rinse, repeat exercise till Sombra tentatively whittled down the line to nothing.

Twilight trotted with heat in her hooves and clenched teeth. Sombra perceived her coming fiercely close to him. He turned, having a smirk ready for her to see. What he didn’t plan on was for Twilight to get right up in his face.

His neck lurched and face backed away from hers and she poked him in his chestplate irrefutable. However, she continued her assault of his personal space.

Sombra juggled his legs trying to right a course away, both from running into the ponies behind him, and from the purple face menace that seemed undeterred to press its muzzle a mere breath or two away from his.

“How could you do this?” She poked, he backed up.

“You’re using that helmet to imprint a more direct control over them, aren’t you?” She pressed her face forward, he leant his all the way back, so as not to feel her breath hitting his face.

“I thought you were evil, but that is just plain cruel.” She poked and pressed her face forward. He found his four limbs and straightened them back up preparing to face Twilight face on. “How far will you go to control others?”

Twilight was so close that Sombra could count her eyelashes. He snarled angrily at the form her actions was taking since he didn’t expect to be caught in surprise with how close she came to his face.

“To think that’s why when we banished you there were ponies about that still believed you were the king, their King! They had the residual influence from that magic still in their mind.” Twilight said angrily, poking the chestplate.

Sombra thought about smacking her arm away and giving her a verbal lashing. He was already weary though, she was alicorn and could potentially be as powerful as Cadance, maybe even more so. A useful mind was hard to come by, much less one that come with potentially latent power.

“They lived in fear of you all that time.” Twilight’s volume tethered off.

Sombra squinted, looking Twilight in the eye. He grumbled.

“Enough.” He said grimly, horn flaring. Golden black chains that glowed ghostly burst out of the ground and latched themselves to the ground and in around Twilight. They snapped and crushed Twilight to the ground.

“What the? Hey!” Twilight fought against her binding, grunting and gritting her teeth. Sombra’s eyes glowed as he looked down at Twilight.

“Very good.”

Sombra stepped away from Twilight ignoring her struggle under the chains. He returned to the task at hoof.

“Hey! Leave those ponies alone!” She yelled.

Twilight tried charging magic through her horn but was stunted by the small black protruding crystals on it. Her teeth gritted at the feedback in her head.

“...And give me back my magic!” She fought against the chains rabidly.

Sombra smirked amusedly at Twilight’s efforts and antics. His eyes glowed, teeth reflecting the green colour, as his terrifying gaze pierced through another ponies soul.

By the time Sombra had gotten through a hoofful more of ponies she was tired and aching from the chains digging into her. If she couldn’t get out physically or magically to stop Sombra she would have to try something else.

“Sombra, you can’t just do this to other ponies,” Twilight pleaded, a tint of aggressiveness behind it. Words and knowledge were Twilight’s best friend; aside from her actually friends. She could win this battle armed with them, hoping to appeal to Sombra’s humanity.

“This isn't what a real king would do to his ponies.” Twilight waited for a response but none came.

“You’re messing with their minds for pony sake! There are laws against this sort of thing. How could you know what you’re doing to them not have irreversible effects?” Twilight said.

Sombra wasn’t forthcoming. His expression hardened.

Twilight struggled against her bindings hoping that over time they would weaken. It was improbably that Sombra could hold this binding spell indefinitely while also doing other repetitive spell casting.

Though the chains had slacken significantly so should could stand up, the spell still persisted so she couldn’t move one hoof in front of the other.

Twilight leaned into her bindings, directing her voice at Sombra’s ear. “Why do things like this? Why not allow ponies to follow under their own autonomy?” Her breathing was heavy.

The words caught Sombra’s ear, yet, he shock his head weakly and continued his proceedings.

Twilight continued to lean into her bindings, thinking of the continual effort it would have on Sombra to keep up his magically effort would eventually slacken enough that should could slip out.

For everypony that Sombra allowed to leave the line with a brand new helmet Twilight kept a mental tally of. Against the hard earth Twilight’s hooves begin to embed themselves.

“Sombra.” Twilight’s voice croaked and she coughed.

Sombra’s ear twitched hearing Twilight had worked her voice hoarse. The guards brought forth one of the final ponies left.

“Unhoof me, cretin! Do you know who I am?”

Sombra’s ears caught onto the angry noise. A new pony was being brought into the courtyard, albeit, rather boisterously. Sombra brow tensed, he’d hoped a pony was not going to act out and make a fuss.

“That’s…” Twilight knew who the mare was, she grimaced awkwardly, both from the pressure the chains caused on her back and then seeing the familiar pony.

Sombra glowered. After the last few hours of not moving he left his spot to see what was causing the mare from joining the line. She sat in protest at the edge of courtyard below the archway entrance, leaning against the taut rope being pulled by the guard.

The blue coated mare was making an effort to chew through the ropes curled around the metal yolk, and kick at any guard that came near. One guard pulled at her mane while another tried to get the rope out of her mouth. She pushed herself forward, her mane coming free of the guard’s mouth. A rear hoof shot out freely as the guard pulling her mane jumped away to avoid a blow to the face.

Sombra chuckled airily. He approached the two guards pony who noticed him and immediately stood away from the irate mare as she pulled at the rope. The final tendon coming apart and separating herself from the length of rope.

The mare puffed and panted and dared a glance to where to guard ponies were now worriedly looking. She also looked a little worried. Running away wasn’t an option as her forehooves were clamped together with metal. She wouldn’t be able to chew through that. She slowly looked to the dark pony.

Sombra harrumphed. The two guard ponies got the idea to flank each side of Trixie and push against her and along towards Sombra. She flinched wildly upon seeing his green and red eyes. She pushed back against the guards trying to rustle herself out from in between them but was locked firm.

Twilight glared. “Don’t do it Sombra!” she yelled out, struggling vainly against her bindings.

They held her head in place as she instinctively struggled to keep her horn away from Sombra’s or at the very least swing her horn hard enough to possibly break his off.

It didn’t matter though as he found the meeting point. It happened quickly.

Trixie trembled as she waited for the magic to take effect. She opened eyes widely when she noticed she felt totally fine, she hoped.

Sombra sneered airily. Trixie gulped, doing a little mental joy dance, she had been unaffected by his spell!

Sombra turned back around to Twilight who was still straining against the chains he had conjured up to hold her in place and out of his face.

“You vex me Twilight Sparkle, you vex me so.” Sombra’s horn faintly glowed, highlighting the greyish bags underneath his eyes for just a moment. The chains around Twilight disappeared. She blinked owlishly. He then turned back, horn aglow, to continue.

“Well that makes two of us.” She shot back with a leer, now free. She ran briskly, steeling her mind, having had seen enough for one day, and stood in front of the blue tired mare.

This lead Sombra to raise an eyebrow at Twilight.

“I’m going to stop what it is you’re doing.” She declared.

Sombra lazily eyed the crystals that adorned horn. Twilight’s anger unaffected Sombra. He turned back around to the guards.

“Continue the search for any more and take those that are left to the detention centre. I’ll continue this another time.” He marched off, not giving anyone a cursory glance. Trixie let out a relieved breath.

As Sombra disappeared behind the closing castle door Sombra regarded Twilight’s action with one curious eye on her and grumbled. Twilight rubbed her tense shoulders.

“Twilight Sparkle?” Trixie sounded astonishingly.

“Trixie.” Twilight said in way of greeting, not meeting her eyes still eyeing the door Sombra had disappeared behind.

“I’m not sure what you’re doing to these ponies Sombra but it stops now.” Twilight levelled her gaze as the door closed with a resounding boom.

“Umm..Trixie, would very much appreciate a hoof here Sparkle.” Trixie waved frantically to get Twilight’s attention.

Twilight failed to notice that Trixie and the last few bound crystal ponies were being escorted out of the yard. Albeit, Trixie was being levitated out by a unicorn.

“Oh, huh...right.” Twilight turned surprised to see Trixie floating off. She rubbed the jagged edge of her horn. She grimaced at the conclusion to try and pull Trixie out of the magical field. She jogged to the Trixie just as she was the last one to leave the yard.

Twilight jumped up and grabbed one of Trixie’s leg and pulled hard against the restraining magic, flapping her wings hard. In hindsight, she really should have checked how much effort she was using. Trixie slammed out of the magic field and onto the ground, getting a mouth full of dirt.

Twilight stood up, brushing dust out of her coat. “Oops, sorry about that Trixie,” She grinned with a squint.

Trixie picked herself unceremoniously off the ground and spat out some dirt. She rubbed her tongue clean before she addressed Twilight.

“Trixie will forgive you this time Sparkle, considering this unorthodox situation.” She looked around the area uncertainly.

Twilight quickly noticed that the guards had kept on going without even noticing that she had apparently rescued Trixie.

“What do you suppose their deal is?” Trixie asked watching as the proceedings walked off.

“I’m afraid this is a first for me. I’ve only had today to study what is it that Sombra is doing to the crystal ponies.” Twilight scratched her chin. “I think the surest, quickest way to find out is straight from the source.” Her hoof found the ground and beat against it as she strode off after Sombra’s shadow.

Trixie stood quickly. “Twilight Sparkle! Don’t leave Trixie alone. Trixie doesn’t know what to do in these situations! Twilight!” She watched Twilight creating distance, her face a strained plead.

Trixie’s hoofcuffs clunked as she pushed them to their maximum allowed distance trying to reach Twilight. She was slower than a snail.

Trixie yelled. “What is the Great and Powerful Trixie to do! Gah!” she stomped. Her head sprung back up. “Wait-a-minute!” Her eyes crossed looking at the tapered cylindrical blue ivory textured appendage in the middle of her forehead. It glowed blue followed by the restrains clicking and sliding off her wrists, the yolk followed, hitting the ground.

“Ha! Bet you couldn’t do that Sparkle!” She scoffed loudly to no one. Twilight had already disappeared while she wasn’t looking. Trixie grimaced remembering her predicament. All alone Trixie looked around seeing not another soul in sight.

“Trixie, exit, stage left.” She announced, theatrically throwing a hoof up to the sky, and galloped off.

Hot on her hooves Twilight galloped to catch up to Sombra. Her hooves echoing through the corridors. She passed by Pitch and Sabre coming out from a hallway. Seeing her distress, Sabre motioned his head, a questioning look at Pitch. He nodded and they briskly trotted after her, his saddlebag bounced along with him.

Charging her horn Twilight grimaced from the magical feedback. She shook it off and shoved the doors to the throne room out of her way with a firm swing of her leg.

“Sombra!” Twilight announced to the throne room. She blanched as she saw a line of ponies leading to the throne. They were similarly dishevelled in appearance as the ponies that she saw in the courtyard. However they were dressed smartly in collars and ties, a few had guard uniforms on.

Sombra walked until he came to the head of it and seated himself softly down on the throne.

Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she trotted alongside the line up towards Sombra. Twilight’s eyes passed over them concernedly. Sombra gave her a cursory glance as she approached. The other ponies stood by, not seemingly aware of the concentrated rage of emotion coming out of Twilight’s eyes that directed to Sombra.

“You’ll have to wait.” Charging his magic, black crystals throngs caught all four of Twilight’s hooves.

“Hey!” She yelped.

Pitch and Sabre stood from the doorway.

“Hmm, methinks we should wait Pitch.” Sabre said.

Sombra motioned with his hoof for the first pony to step forward. The pony stepped forward and stopped almost a noses length away. Sombra titled his muzzle slightly so that his horn touched the forehead of the pony. Both closed their eyes and Sombra’s horn pulsed with purple and green bubbles. Momentarily opening their eyes as like they had just awakened the pony turned and left the room. Passing by the other ponies in the line and Twilight.

“You may be able to stop me from interfering Sombra. But how long do you think Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will let you do this? They’re going to come eventually.”

“I’ve already prepared for their interference.” He said as one pony moved out and another took its place.

“You mean that shield around the empire, pfft. Even my brother and I could get through that. I’m sure the princesses would have no trouble,” Twilight said.

“I didn’t create that shield for you and your brother,” Sombra said, a hint of annoyance behind him.

Twilight scrupulously watched as the pony in question walked by, half lidded eyes, and didn’t pay her any mind. She also curiously noticed Pitch and Sabre by the door as the pony pasted them. She turned her attention back towards Sombra. His expression unchanging and Twilight’s stuck back into a frown. He was a lot more at ease here than in the courtyard.

“Words can be deceptive,” Sombra said simply and he continued another administration.

Twilight closed her eyes angrily, quietly meditating to regain herself. She breathed heavily, experimentally trying to pull her limbs free of the crystals but couldn’t budge them.

Pitch chewed his lips observing the quiet scene; Twilight simmered in her bindings while Sombra took all the time necessary with each individual.

Sabre eyed his cousin curiously along with what he saw. He hummed and left Pitch’s side.

“Where are you off to Sabre?” Pitch asked.

“I’ll be back.” He droned.

Pitch watched him disappear around the corner, an eyebrow raised. He tensed awkwardly, shifted his shoulders and walked over to where Twilight was stationed.

“So...hmm, nice weather we’re having today.” Pitch said with a strained grin.

Twilight deadpanned. She grumbled, “Is there anything you can do about these crystals? They’re kind of squeezing my hooves at the moment.”

Pitch gleamed quickly at Sombra who was preoccupied half a the room away, eyes closed, horn glowing.

Pitch hummed contemplatively, examining the colouration and texture of the short black crystals on Twilight’s horn and the larger ones encasing her legs. His horn lighting up to examine the dark crystals.

“Crystals, dark energy…very dense…” Pitch mumbled quietly. “Another species altogether than what I’ve been able to achieve or seen.”

Twilight tsked audibly. “Anything you can do Doctor?”

Pitch shook his head. “...sorry. I may study dark magic but when it comes to application I’m a bit limited.”

Twilight’s head sunk.

Pitch’s ears flapped towards the entrance. Sabre trotted in, balancing a tray with pitcher and glassware on his back. Pitch watched wordlessly as Sabre pasted him two glasses. They floated in his magic as Sabre poured water into them.

Sabre carefully repositioned the pitcher on the tray so it wouldn’t tip off his back and walked towards Sombra. As he continued with what he was doing Sabre poured a glass of water in his hoof as Sombra’s eyes opened again.

Sombra motioned for the next in line. Pitch waved the glass of water just outside of Sombra’s peripheral. Wordlessly Sombra took the glass in his hoof and placed it to his lips, draining it quickly and licked the top of his lip afterwards.

Twilight gulped, lips parched, she also licked the top of her lips. She turned to Pitch shyly, “So, umm… would you mind Doctor? I’m a little limited myself at the moment.”

“Oh, of course…” Pitch pushed a glass through the air towards Twilight’s waiting lips. She was able to angle to glass with her mouth in order for the water to drain to the back of her throat.

“Thank you.” Twilight said airily.

Relaxation folded from within and Twilight drooped. Cool, life giving water suppressing her steamy mood.

Slowly, the room was empty of ponies lined up for Sombra. His horn lit up and the rocks around Twilight’s hooves crumbled and disappeared.

Sombra’s nostrils flared as he took deep breaths. He swivelled his head slightly, looking bored. He eyed the crystal atop if his throne with a stern gaze. He heard his heartbeat thrum in his ears.

“Watch your step.” He said curtly as he lit his horn up. A beam of magic shot out and hit the large crystal atop the throne.

Twilight and Pitch jumped back quickly as part of the floor disappeared from the room.

“Those stairs…” Twilight muttered, peering down into the darkness that the stairs vanished into. She looked at Sombra. “What are you going to do now?” She asked nervously.

Sombra had turned back around and was considering either ignoring Twilight and going about his way, or indulging her question. He hemmed for a moment while Twilight grumbled.

“Why don’t the three of you come along and I will show you? I believe you’ll find the experience illuminating in a way.” His expressions was hard and gazed down the staircase with tired eyes. His eyes turned up, not quite meeting with Twilight’s, they challenged her to step forth.

Twilight stood shocked for a moment and turned to see Pitch shrug.

Sombra didn’t wait for an answer as he began down the stairs. Sabre followed behind him.

“Hey! Wait up. I’m not letting you out of my sight.” Twilight called as she galloped around from her side to the stairways fringe. Pitch jointly followed behind her.

By the time the trio had finally made it to the bottom Sombra was seated, facing away from them. He looked, bored, at the door in front of him.

Twilight froze. She recalled the door Sombra was staring at the last time she was here. A sense of trepidation and curiosity struck Twilight. The door in of itself was an oddity much like Sombra.

Sombra gazed at the door like he was being hypnotized by it. He turned his head enough to see Twilight, Pitch and Sabre on the edge of his vision. He got up slowly and approached the door, grabbing the ring on the door he pulled it open. Twilight braced herself, with a silent gasp, as the door slammed opened and vortex of wind pulled them all into the darkness.

Darkness.

The familiar shape of a heart, blue, rotated lazily, light glowing with each disembodied laughter that drifted from somewhere. The joyful sounds flitted around the heart until it was a kaleidoscope of laughter.

It slowly faded into the background.

In the darkness light entered. The light took shape of a pony as it trotted happily along. Another light, another pony, trotted past. Bubbles of light drifted, taking the shapes of ponies within the darkness. A chatter of incomprehensible noise rose the more lights joined in. The noise sounded happy and cheerful like a choir of instruments performing a sympathy that gently caressed the ears.

Suddenly, all the light vanished. Somewhere, something cracked, and light sputtered across the ground. Colours danced, merrily cracking away, appearing randomly from all around. A single firework sparked and spun about like it were turning on a wheel. It crackled and fizzed making a chaotic noise, spinning in a crazy pace, blurring all the colours together with its motion. It spun faster and faster and expanded, filling the space, until it popped out of existence again. Confetti flew out and away.

A single small whimper passed by the left ear.

A struggling sniffle passed by the right ear.

A small pony ran along the bottom of the vision. A light shining from behind it distinguishing it. As it slowly ran, not making much traction, fireworks explodes above it, vivid colours igniting the otherwise pitch black sky.

The pony continued to run at a steady pace. Each vivacious colour drawing a pattern that never repeated exactly. From behind the pony, a blue heart materialised, staying behind where the pony had came from. Its milky misty form seemed to respond to its surroundings.

The pony continued to run, now half way across. Displays of fiery blooms trigger shrieks and shrill noises. The heart pulses, sending out a curved line of bright blue. It presses past the fireworks, they backed up slightly, but were otherwise undeterred.

The pony continued to run, two body lengths away from exiting the vision. A beam of light splits the scene from the left. Another light splits the screen from the right. The fireworks trapped above the lines of glowing light. The heart below thrums and echoes.

The fireworks burn impatiently, smacking loudly against the twin lights. Both glow with a correlation of colours of the rainbow. Then burst, covering the area in a brilliant, snowy white blue.

The heart fades. The black silhouetted pony runs off. Light turns to shadow.

The sound of metal scraped against hard rock. An ache somewhere in the head where there wasn’t one before. A burning pain in the shape of a ring on the forehead. A resounding snap echos through empty space, drawing away. A dull ache takes its place.

A brilliant red crystal slowly rotates down from the sky as light bounces off of its surface. It cracks audibly, and part of the bottom of the crystal falls away. The crystal floats drawing the jagged broken edge around to the face. Without anticipation the crystal jabs quickly into the forehead and begins to glow red.

It sinks backwards into watery darkness.

A curving line of light draws into a street, made of a dull glow appears, and pony silhouettes, all a single colourful light from the rainbow, walked around without apprehension or delay. Spots of misty translucent colour shift throughout their shapes.

A pitch black silhouette of a pony enters the streets however, everyone turns, gasp.They all seem to be looking up at the glowing red horn on his head.

The blue heart appears at the end of the street. It’s form slowly diminishing in and out of view.

Yells and screams echo and chase away. The heart pulses to the sound as its form turns cloudy. The angry turns to fear. The heart cracks, almost splitting into two, veins stretched across it.

A darker shade of black begins to envelope around the shadowy pony and its visage begins to slowly fade within the dark but not before the sound of angry yells could be heard. Three trailing smokes of purple burst forth. Green ghostly light opening beside the outer two.

The pony approaches the heart. Small incandescent sparks lance off of the heart, almost invisible.

The pony’s back arched backwards its head and body then curled in of itself into a ball. A purple sphere encased the pony inside. Outside the sphere fireworks crack and spark for short periods. None touched the sphere.

The sphere draws backwards to reveal another purple sphere. The fireworks crackling against it as it continues to shrink away out of sight.

A purple mote jumps from the left. Another joins nearby from the right. Two green eye-like shapes reveal themselves. Another purple mote started to smoke from between the two others. The sound of chains and metal clanked and snapped.

A pony shaped head appears with the motes, looking downward to the ground. Ponies, shimmering into the vision, dimly lit and lopsided; head and tails held low, slowly walked underneath the floating pony head. Between them sound of swaying chains and metal clanked and snapped as they walked slowly by.

The blue heart, shimmering into the vision, just above the single line of ponies. A swirling line of purple swam energetically within it. A smaller rainbow one, circled away, close to the bottom of the heart. Minuscule, electrical fireworks sparked in and around the heart.

A smokiness drifted along the ground. It drew away from the ponies that it wafted off and disappeared when coming into contact with the heart. The rainbow line, dimly glowed a pinkish hue.

Ponies continued to walk underneath the heart. Left to right, ponies appeared and disappeared.

A burst of light struck from the left side, cutting a line between the floating pony heart and the heart. Another light burst from the right, cutting a line between the heart and the ponies below it.

Two ponies made of light come into vision from the sides. Standing twice the size as the ponies next to them, their wings outstretched and horns pointed towards the heart. Lancing light spiralled from their horns towards the heart. From within their shapes light pushes outward and against the dark, taking over the scene, as it moved in on the heart.

A shield of purple blocked them from hitting the heart. The heart hummed erratically. A circular ring of blue expanded off of the heart then collapsed towards the dark pony. Tendrils strike off the pony latching onto the ponies and onto the heart. As the light pushes in the sphere towards the heart the beating sounds rapidly builds to into an eerie ebbing and flowing noise.

The sphere burst wildly outward, in a flash of speed everything was gone. Only the two large ponies were left in a display of light.

They slowly faded away, unmoved, and the scene darkened

Twilight breathed evenly, much like Pitch and Sabre were doing. Each one eyed the now closed door that Sombra was glaring at. None of them had moved from their spots as if that had been frozen statues.

“Anyone get that number on that wagon…” Sabre rubbed the side of his head.

Pitch gritted his teeth, shaking his head.

“So,” Twilight licked her dry lips, mulling over in her mind what she had just witnessed. “What the hay was that? I don’t get it…” She grumbled, shaking her head as she lifted it up. She squinted at the back of Sombra’s head, small trails of smokey purple drifted lazily from the side of his head. “That shadowy pony, that was you. I’m guessing since the horn was red and had a purple magic signature around it, much like yours?

Sombra didn’t turn around to regard Twilight’s glare, or the minor look of concern that Pitch and Sabre gave them both.

Twilight smacked her lips together. “You saw an opportunity...in whatever that mess of coloured fireworks was... to take control of the Crystal Empire...till the Princesses stopped you.” She blurted out angrily with a added snarl.

“Follow me and I will show you my secrets.” Sombra said firmly, he showed his profile, a bright green eye standing out in the dark. Glaring back at the door his horn glowed purple and the door slammed open. This time there was no sudden wind that pulled them in. A glossy, tar like substance filled the threshold of the door. The trio watched apprehensively as Sombra stepped through the slick, substance that morphed around his body.

Twilight watched with mild curiosity at how the membrane of the material seemed to opened up and around each part Sombra’s body. She gulped and stepped towards the portal, closing her eyes as she pressed on through the liquid.

“I guess we follow too?” Sabre said to Pitch.

Pitch hummed not really equating that himself and Sabre with what was happening between Sombra and Twilight. He nodded his head momentarily.

“Hmm, yes, come on Sabre. Awkwardness aside, Sombra seems to want us around for this. Come on.” Pitch crept forward followed by Sabre.

On the other side Sabre found Pitch staring, wide eyed, at the splendour of a colossal pearl essence staircase that raised towards the sky.

“Wow.” Sabre said simply.

Sombra, back turned to them, was waiting at the edge of the staircase. Sabre joined the three of them after having his visual fill of the staircase. The trio waited on Sombra to move.

“Closer.” Sombra growled softly over his shoulder.

Unsure, and looking at each other questioningly they took a step forward together.

“Closer.” Sombra said wearily, his tone lightening.

Another step forward.

Sombra snorted, his horn shined brightly and they blinked out of existence and transported them to the top of the spiral stairs.

Pitch’s eyes rotated in his head, never having a part of or performed such a spell himself. He shock the disorientation out and rubbed his skull, groaning all the while.

A curtain of light raced across his face. “What? That’s the Crystal Heart?” Pitch said in disbelief.

“It is.” Sombra said as he approached to stand next to the heart.

Twilight expressed a frown. “What did you want to show, Sombra?” she said strictly.

Sombra grunted. “I only want for you to understand Twilight what it is I’m trying to achieve here.” A small smirk played on his face. “That memory that I revealed to you was obviously too much for you to comprehend it’s meaning.”

“I can too comprehend it.” Twilight said in a quiet huff.

Sombra sighed. “I don’t entirely trust you Twilight Sparkle.” He said firmly. “I don’t like to be too detailed when revealing my own memories to others.”

“Uh?” Twilight said softly.

“However...your concern for the crystal ponies is encouraging.” Sombra hummed contemplatively. He closed his eyes for a moment and looked calm. He opened them and they locked onto the heart intently, whimsically moving as if watching the light move around the heart.

His horn glowed, the armour around his neck and legs and crown around his head puffed into smoke and drifted into the sky. Horn still glowing, his magic grasped a necklace made of small crystals, was picked out of his fur.

Twilight, Pitch, and Sabre watched apprehensively.

He held the crystal up to one eye, carefully rotating it. He slowly brought it down towards the heart, holding it firmly. The crystal lept from his magic to the heart then pressed it into the surface slightly. Sombra quickly got a hold of the crystal with both his magic and hooves and pulled it back and threw his whole body away from the heart. His looked at the heart feverishly as the crystal glowed weakly.

Ears perked and bodies shifted uncomfortably as the room creaked like a ship out at sea and darkened like a flickering candle flame at night. Twilight jerked, her head whiplashed around the room. She turned back to Sombra. In his hoof the small crystal cracked and exploded in a small display of glittering dust. He brushed the remaining particles out of his hoof.

Twilight stood uneasily as if just finding her breathe again. “That was...magical...” She said slowly trying to find her words, the sense of foreboding leaving the room, “...And it felt...it’s making me feel like something is crawling up my spine!” She whimpered, tears filling in the corner of her eyes.

Pitch and Sabre sagged noticeably.

“What was that?” She yelled.

“A surprising turn of events.” Sombra drew out a long breath, patting the fur of his chest feeling the bumps of the remaining necklace along his hoof. He looked at the heart with sceptical eyes.

“You're fortunate.” Sombra’s horn lit up, looking at the heart uncertainly. “Most can not feel the magic around them so strongly. It may be because you're an alicorn that you can feel it.” Sombra hummed as he circled around the heart. The Crystal Heart glowed similar to Sombra’s magic. “You might understand a bit better now.” He went silent for a while as he inspected the heart.

He nodded, satisfied with his analysis, Sombra turned to face Twilight, seeing her tremble slightly, his hoof traced the necklace back under his fur and held it on his chest for moment.

“That necklace…” Pitch eyed Sombra’s chest, where a single, small crystal stood out against his soot-dark fur.

“Beautiful isn't it?” Sombra held the necklace out in his hoof, looking down at it.

“What is that necklace Sombra and what did you do with it to the Crystal Heart?” Twilight demanded.

A moment passed by as Sombra gaze bore through crystal necklace like a drill. Twilight waited awkwardly as Sombra stared at the necklace. “It’s why we’re all here.”

Twilight tensed.

Sombra’s chest thrummed.

“I shall speak plainly.” He sat down. “Sit awhile and listen.” Sabre and Pitch shrugged and followed suite but Twilight stayed standing. They listened with rapt attention as Sombra talked. His eyes closed as if telling a story.

“A thousand odd years ago an abomination attacked the Crystal Empire. Nopony was able to defeat it; as if it were impervious to any attempts to stop it, magic or otherwise. As turmoil and heartache spread I decided upon myself to leave the empire to discover a way to defeat it.”

Sombra stopped to roll his tongue in his mouth.

“By the time I came back the alicorn sisters had either already banished or chased the monster away; somehow remembering that the Crystal Empire was also a part of Equestria.” He said dismissively. “Yet they left again without thinking about the Crystal Heart. Only one of the most important artifacts of Equestria, mind. As the heart is connected to crystal ponies so too are they connected to it. The light within protects the empire and that light spreads throughout Equestria.”

“The monster attack did not just hurt the crystal ponies, it left a lasting impression within them. The seeds of a new threat grew in their souls, and chaos spread quickly in the empire aided by the Crystal Heart. For some reason I didn’t know at the time the Crystal Heart didn’t affect me. Everypony conspired that I had done something to the heart. Madness was rampant. With the new power I had acquired I could feel the Crystal Heart; it’s desperate cry drifted in the latent magic of the air.”

“I went to the heart and I saw - and I saw!” Sombra swallowed. “What chaos magic was really like for the first time. It stained the whole heart and was being absorbed by the crystal ponies. It felt so strong that if it was unleashed all at once it may have destroyed Equestria, driving ponies insane. I thought I could counter the corruption of chaos with my own dark magic. Drowning the madness in darkness.”

“So I devoured all the magic from the heart leaving it with only darkness behind, blinding ponies; shielding them from the chaos.”

Sombra’s eyes opened and stared at the floor in a lost daze. His magically eyes wavering.

“I knew I had to get rid of the magic quickly our lose myself to the chaotic influence and it corrupting the land. Thus, I used the heart to draw out the energy from me to everypony else in the land; a large part dark energy with a slither of chaos. To harmlessly vanish the magic.”

Sombra smacked his lips together and grumbled for a moment.

“Every day the chaos was trying to escape from the darkness. The heart saturated the empire and further lands in fear and strengthened the darkness so there was no light it could escape to.”

Sombra lifted his heads to stare at Twilight. She said nothing, intently listening and he continued.

“Fear safeguarded ponies from plummeted into the depths of insanity caused by the erratic energy. By controlling the ponies through fear I could control the chaos and was slowly able to ebb the flow of energy. It was brilliant, it was working.”

Sombra voice raised. “Yes, Equestria was suffering but it was the only way to stop if from causing irreversible damage!”

“Better to lose your senses to fear, temporarily, than to lose you mind forever to insanity. “

“When the sisters came to blast me halfway across the land. The Crystal Heart stepped in to protect Equestria from their light, stranding me in the Crystal Prison and vanquishing the empire to another plane.”

Silence sung so loudly dust could be heard frolicking in the current on the minuscule wind that swept through the room.

“So.” Twilight asked tentatively. Breathlessly examining the crystal necklace around Sombra’s neck. “The chaotic energy that was once a part of you is now in that necklace? So why no just keep it there?” She had seated down like everyone else as he talked.

Sombra’s head lowered further. “Chaos was never meant to be contained in these crystals forever. Eventually they’ll wear and when it gets free it will do as chaos does. It’ll try to take over every creature it comes into contact with and eventually would.” He hummed, pawing at his chest fur where the necklace laid underneath. “The only creature in existence that could perhaps control it is the one that created it in the first place, that abomination.” he growled, resting his hoof back on the ground.

Twilight blinked, eyeing Sombra’s head. “That’s a lot to take in.” she finally said. “There’s also a lot of high claims. Things that can’t be proven or disproved.” She looked away in thought.

“So, what are you going to do now? Will you try and stop me?” Sombra hummed, his head tilted up to see Twilight’s.

“Huh?”

“Will you try to save the ponies yourself, like the sisters. Will you try to push back the darkness and shadow with light.” He grunted. “Unless you have amazing proficiency in love spells your magic will only fan the fires of chaotic energy.”

Twilight cheeks brightened, squirming to her feet. “Hahah, oh no, I’m not the pony to ask about that sort of thing. But if Cadance was here; she knows a thing or two about those sort of spells. But you know there’s always trying the power of friendship.” She chuckled forcefully.

Sombra brow raised.

Twilight squirmed.

Sombra’s brow remained raised.

“You know. Loyalty, laughter, honesty, kindness, generosity, magic! Even chaos can be overcome with the magic of friendship?”

Sombra smirked. “What ideal cynical nonsense.”

“What?” Twilight shrieked. Everypony’s ears folded back.

Sombra’s expression hardened into a scowl. “Didn’t you listen?” He spat. “Only in darkness can the shadow be swallowed so that the light may be saved.”

Sombra’s eyes glazed over in the immediate silence. “Fight fire with fire.” He said glumly. “That is how you defeat chaos incarnate.”

“Twilight, I don’t think his majesty would know about that. He was in the prison when that avenue of magic was discovered.” Pitch said standing back up on all fours.

“What are you saying?” Twilight asked softly, confusion in her tone. Realization came to her. “He doesn’t know about the power of friendship?” She asked, eyes widening.

“That’s it!” Twilight beamed, a bright smile one her face moving from Pitch to Sombra. “I just need to teach you about the magic of friendship and then you can use that instead on you dark powers on the Crystal Heart then everypony will be happy. Chaos is gone, friendship wins the day. Ha-ha!” Twilight said. She pranced back and forth making grand sweeping motions with her forehooves finishing up steadily on her four legs.

Twilight showed her teeth to Sombra. “All I need from you is to get rid of these crystal things from my horn.” She said pointing to said horn.

Sombra looked up and away. “No.”

Twilight’s paused, face falling. “Huh? What! Why not?” She gruffed.

Sombra got up from the ground, sighing. “I will not risk the chaos from getting out of hoof. It is under control at the moment. Adding in other variables might change that. I will not allow that to happen.” He trotted past Twilight.

She sagged dejectedly. Her chest expanded back and forth tensely, her eyes squinted wearily. Her thoughts continued as they started to wane. She took a short breath and steeled her words. “Ok. I can accept that you don’t trust me. I’ve given you no reason to. But understand I can’t trust what it is you're doing here either Sombra. Ponies are suffering and are unhappy and it sounds like to me that that will continue for awhile yet. Even if you promised what you’re doing in the will end good and well... I can’t stand by and watch ponies suffer like that.”

Sombra looked back, his muzzle lowered, his bleak eyes glowing.

Twilight tensed but schooled her expression turning back to Sombra, all eyes on him. A question was a the tip of Twilight’s tongue but she swallowed it back for a later time. “You trusted me enough to show us that...memory. Will you trust me enough to show you friendship at least?” she said.

Sombra stilled, his expression stoic and unwavering. “I will not hear of it this day. The motion has been set and I will not change the course.” His eyes turned into tiny daggers that pierced Twilight. “Do not get in my way.”

Twilight flinched away from Sombra and she got caught on the other two standing ponies in the room. She cleared her throat.

“What do you two think? The Crystal Empire is your home.”

Sombra head swivelled to them as well.

Pitch and Sabre nervously eyes one another, their tails and ears twitched nervously. Pitch scratched the back of his head and Sabre hoof idly kicked back and forth at the ground. It was silent.

“It doesn’t matter what anypony thinks.” Sombra announced to the room.

Twilight’s head snapped to Sombra. A growl bubbled quietly at the back of her throat. With a final glance to Pitch and Sabre, Sombra trotted off down the stairs.

“Hey!” Twilight called out.

“I need to rest. We can talk again at another time.” Sombra disappeared down the stairs.

Sabre trotted over over to Twilight and rested a hoof on her back. She sobered slightly. Pitch joined next to him. His hoof whirled around.

“So, think we can get a lift back?”

Back in the throne room, through the windows, light of the setting sun scattered over the three ponies arriving back. Sombra acknowledged the ponies behind him. “Don’t forgo dinner after the sun sets. I will be expecting you all. Perhaps we’ll talk more then.”

Twilight’s eyes scrunched up as Sombra waited for confirmation. She turned her nose up haughtily. She had a look of determination and she firmly trotted by Sombra and out of the throne room. Pitch watched as they exited the throne room, separated and went in opposite directions.

“What do you suppose that was?” Pitch asked.

“It can’t bode well for their relationship.” Sabre said.

A single beat passed and Pitch tapped his hoof. “I think there’s more important things to worry about cousin. That has all been…,” his lips pursed. “Certainly something.” He deflated.

Sabre hoof rested reassuringly on Pitch’s shoulder. “Things are looking kind of grim,” Pitch said.

Sombra sulked off as his slowly moved along the corridor. He grumbled, shaking his head softly. He lifted his head, sparking his horn to life. He body stilled while he shaped away at a spell. The spell connected him to the Crystal Heart and to the heart he laid in it a new order. Rest.

Looking out to coming the night sky, the moon slowly made its way to it’s peak as the sun descended.

At the other side of the castle Pitch and Sabre knocked on Twilight’s bedroom door in tandem.

“It’s Doctor Pitch here.”

“And his cousin in arms, Sabre.” Sabre droned.

The door opened lethargically. “Hi guys,” She said softly.

The cousins winced as she trotted back into the room. They stepped in, unsure of themselves, with Twilight’s back to them as she looked across the room through the window, the light of the day waning.

“What he does to other ponies isn't right. He’s just too stubborn to look for another solution.” Twilight sighed.

She turned and settled down on her haunches. “So...what do you guys think?” She asked.

Pitch hummed egregiously. “I am a doctor of dark arts and crystal studies...Though, admittedly, the depth of my dark arts study is limited by the restrains of social stigma that it can affect ponies minds adversely.” He added quickly.

“I couldn’t theorise the long exposure that dark magic would have on Sombra’s state of mind. The crystal ponies are more or less laid bare. Though he is somewhat lucid from what I can tell - he seems determined not to change his plan.”

Twilight curiously looked back at him, her muzzle dipped.

Pitch shifted uncomfortable from leg to leg. “We originally weren’t going to bring him to the empire...but, that didn’t work out as we assumed. We were sort of hoping we and, then you, could help him here. Now I’m not so sure.”

“It’s hard to know what is to be believed. The situation is too big for any one pony to handle. If chaos magic ultimately corrupts who’s to say he’s not under its influence. That’s not taking into factor what dark magic might be doing to him.” Twilight said.

Silently for a moment Pitch and Sabre shuffled. Pitch held out a large crystal from his saddle bag for Twilight to gaze at.

“As long as it doesn’t shatter we could potentially seal his powers in a crystal. Then take him back to the prison. We can try again to rehabilitate him there.” Pitch said.

Twilight rubbed her shoulder. “He’s not exactly your everyday pony.” She grumbled. “I’m doubtful one crystal would be enough much less he’d come quietly. Any other day unicorn would become docile after having their magic depleted.” Twilight said.

She massaged her temple, grumbling loudly, sighing. “I never thought all of this talk of magic to give me a headache. There’s too many fractured questions that he hasn’t answered…chaotic magic, light, dark...he’s got no clue about the magic of friendship.” She shook her head.

Twilight shuffled, sighing wearily, relaxing her wearily muscles. “He seems confident in what he’s talking about though. But he’s giving us nothing but to only trust what he’s doing. For all I know it’s just one big cover up for something more dangerous to Equestria. He doesn’t exactly have a shining track record.” She said.

She examined the crystal, pointing a hoof. “It’d be less suspiciously it you kept that crystal with you Doctor. You always seem to have a saddlebag on.” She smiled crookedly. “That and Sombra seems to want to keep a close eye on me,” She said glumly.

“I know very little about dark magic,” She added. “I might be able to create enchantments for this crystal so it wouldn't shatter from the energy overload. But without access to my own magic I can’t really do much.”

Pitch’s horn lit up, rendered in a light blue. “I may be able to provide some assistance there.”

Twilight’s mouth formed an a small ‘o’ and she smiled. Nodding, “Given the chance we may just be able stop him.” Twilight bit her lip in thought. “We’ll do it...tonight.”

Pitch flinched. “What? Are you sure?”

“Yes, this magic is dangerous and it needs to be contained another way so that it stops hurting others. If this situation draws out too long the rest of Equestria will be a part of Sombra’s plot and then to darkness and whatever end game he has up his sleeve.” Twilight said.

Everyone took a moment to calm there hooves and their individual thoughts settled.

“What about - you will still be at dinner, I presume?” Pitch said, his tone wavering.

“No, I won’t be going to dinner.” Twilight shook her head.

Pitch paused and gurgled, “B-but.”

She interrupted. “I’ll help you to use your own magic to make a crystal that’s stable enough to house Sombra’s energy.” Twilight said as she took it, in hoof, from Pitch. She held the crystal up into the light of the moon that was beginning to reveal itself in the sky.

Sabre guided himself out.

“I’ll see to the king. Pitch will help with you with the crystal” Sabre droned.

Pitch stared, teeth clenched, watching Sabre leave. “I hope this bodes well.”

Into The Dark Of The Night

It was apparent that if Triumphant Roar and his small group were going to rescue a empire full of little ponies they would need every available space available on the train to house those said ponies. Thus, everything that wasn’t essentially to the running of the train was thrown out, seats and all. Only one set of seats had been kept in the train, for some reason or another.

Four ponies spectated apprehensively from their seats, one dragon holding on to the back of one, as another two ponies in the train cart verbally jousted. The seated four were rather thankful, they at least being the only ones who were able to have somewhere comfortable to ride while travelling, as the rest of the train was bare bones empty. That didn’t, however, stop them from expressing their disdain at their mutual friend who hovered overhead who hadn’t acquired a seat.

“Magic, shmagic, I say.” Rainbow Dash declared, hooves crossed, showing as much disinterest in Roar’s explanation of the plan to rescue the crystal ponies and avoid Sombra’s dark magic.

“This is for everyone’s benefit Lady Dash. Entering the Crystal Empire will be dangerous and filled with magic that can affect you.” Roar said calmly.

Rainbow rolled her hoof in front of herself. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll deal with that when or if it happens.”

Rarity tsked. “If what the captain has to say is true about dark magic we should be very careful Rainbow Dash.”

“Yeah yeah. I just don’t get the whole magic thing. Impassive mood-altering persuasion,” she air-quoted. “The hay is that suppose to mean?” Rainbow said.

Roar tired, having just explained the procedures for rescue operation for the second time since the train left from Canterlot. “You looked confused or maybe that’s just your normal face.” Roar said.

Rainbow turned to glare at Roar. Fluttershy wilted in her seat next to Pinkie Pie. Pinkie crept in-between the two ponies.

“Think of it like this Dashie. Magic is magic! Think of a rainbow until you get a rainbow.” Pinkie said.

Rainbow started at her dumbfounded. “Hmm, I suppose that makes more sense.”

Roar rolled his eyes and made his leave of the cart.

“No Shining Armour.” Rainbow retorted, flicking her mane.

“Simmer down Rainbow. This isn't thar sorta situation you go just runnin’ into.” Applejack said.

Rarity agreed.

“Oh! Snow. Do you think we’re nearly there?” Fluttershy said. Drawing everyone’s attention she whimpered and concealed herself behind her long curtain like pink mane.

The train carts door opened and a mare in guard uniform slipped in and approached the group.

“We’ll be arriving to the Crystal Empire shortly. Captain Roar has asked that you all remain inside the train until the station is cleared.”

“Thank you dear.” Rarity said. The guard nodded and left the cart.

Fluttershy peered through the window. Half of the moon was clear in the sky. Composing itself like a beacon beaming over the Crystal Empire.

The cart swayed as the train wheels started to screech to a halt.

The Element Bearers were given the ok to exit the train. One by one they got and stretched their aching limbs. They checked their saddlebags out and adjusted their scarfs.

Rainbow noticed two ponies were seated on the chilly wooden platform against the small station building, two helmets lying nearby. One of Roar’s guards were keeping an eye on them.

Applejack flinched. “Hey, they going to be alright? They lookin’ out of it of sorts.” She said to one of the nearby guards standing by.

Rarity looked at them with concern.

Rainbow landed in front of them and waved her hoof back and forth. “Looks like the lights are on but nopony's home.”

“Rainbow stop that.” Fluttershy said, gently pushing Rainbow’s hoof down.

“We’re moving out!” Roar bellowed from across the platform.

Spike tapped Fluttershy on the shoulder from where he was sitting on her. “We should follow too.”

Applejack adjusted her stetson and nodded. “Let's go.”

The group followed behind Roar who lead the way. Throughout the dark snowy landscape guards were positioned as waypoints and pointed the way to the next pony. Though not heavily snowing the night made it challenging to see further ahead. The empire was clearly ahead of them.

They trotted briskly from one guard to the next across the tundra from the train station to where they could see two arching crystal pillars which made one of four weather wards around the empire.

“What are waiting for now?” Rainbow whined.

“Checking the ward, like the captain fella explained on the trip over?” Applejack threw Rainbow a pointed look.

A unicorn came over to Roar and shook his head.

Roar turned to the group. “The entrance is being guarded, so we’re heading around it for now. Follow me.” Roar said as he made to turn and walk again. The unicorn had ran off again to inform the others.

Coming up to the shield that encompassed the empire the small group came up to another unicorn who was in deep concentration.

“How’s it look?” Roar asked.

Turning their attention to the captain she shrugged her shoulders.

Roar scrutinised the paper thin grey palette in front of him that composed the shield around the empire.

A rustling of shifting snow and leafy greens caught everyone’s attention. They turned to spot a blue pony creep out from behind a bush and began to run.

“Hey you there be careful!” Roar called out.

“Huh?” The blue unicorn said.

Everyone cringed awkwardly.

“Ooh, that doesn’t hurt does it, sugarcube?” Applejack asked, turning away with one eye firmly closed in case of disaster.

Trixie looked back at her flank. Noticing the slight discolouration from her front half and rear half she freaked out and jumped and fell into the snow.

Rainbow Dash glared from the shield to Trixie and then finally to Pinkie Pie who waved at her from the other side of the dome.

“Hey, it’s totally safe to go through.” Pinkie cheered.

Rainbow looked the odd mismatch of shifting grey goop in front of her and nonchalantly glided through it.

“Didn’t feel a thing.” She chuckled.

Applejack chuckled at the duo’s antics before turning her attention to Trixie. “Trixie, are you alright, sugarcube?”

She harrumphed. “Trixie’s fine. If you’ll excuse her now Trixie will be off.” She said, brushing herself off.

“Hold it.” Roar said stepping in front of Trixie who shrunk back under his larger figure, his piercing eyes on her. “You don’t look like you’re under the effect of the heart.”

Trixie guffawed. “No. The Great and Powerful Trixie was too good for it.” She said with flare.

Everyone sort of stared at her from that.

Trixie coughed and saw the expectant look that they were giving her. “Trixie is not going back there, she just got out!” She said.

“We could use an extra hoof to help ponies out to the train station.” Fluttershy said to her.

“There’s a train?” Trixie said.

Applejack’s ears flipped back. “Come on Trixie!” Applejack said. “We wouldn’t be asking if we couldn’t use an extra set of hooves.”

Trixie considered it for a moment as everyone waited with a few disgruntled expressions. “Fine, Trixie shall help,” she said, avoiding looking at anyone and she walked passed everyone.

“Captain Roar and his group will be taking care of helping the ponies with the ghastly headwear while we go door to door and get ponies to leave their homes for the train.” Rarity explained, skipping through the shield tentatively.

Trixie gulped passing through the magical field and joining alongside the group now being lead towards the centre of the empire by Pinkie and Rainbow.

Into the empire, crystal buildings nestled in clean lines left, right and centre.

“Ooh, so quiet. Do you think somepony is about to yell surprise like it’s a surprise party just for us?” Pinkie said.

Rainbow laughed.

Roar turned to them. “You all know what you’re doing. My group will handle the guards and ensure safe passage across the tundra.”

The mares and dragon nodded to the captain before his group quickly left them.

“Lets split up here. Trixie and Fluttershy with Spike, Rainbow and Pinkie, and Applejack and myself. Everyone has their signal for trouble?” Rarity asked,

Rarity's horn ignited, showing her cutie mark in the night sky. Fluttershy and Rainbow produced a flashlight from their saddlebags and it similarly showed their cutie mark in the sky.

“Aww. I didn’t bring my flashy-doohickey with me.” Pinkie said. Her mane deflated.

Rainbow laughed. “Don’t worry about it, here.” She passed her flashlight to her.

Pinkie caught the flashlight in the curl of her puffy mane. She oohed and cheered.

“First one to get a hundred ponies to the station wins.” Rainbow said.

“Ooh, what’s the prize?” Pinkie asked.

“Being awesome!” Rainbow said pumping her hoof.

Pinkie bounced energetically. “Hoo-yeah! Awesome!”

Applejack chuckled. “They’re like a couple fillies in a candy store.”

Rarity tittered behind her hoof. “Yes, and one works at that store.”

“Follow us Trixie. I know the safest place that we’re sure to be able to convince ponies without too much difficulty to come with us to the train station.” Fluttershy smiled warmly.

“Very well, lead the way.” Trixie said rolling her eyes.

With that said she followed alongside Fluttershy and Spike. They hiked out ready to help the citizens of the Crystal Empire.

In the Crystal Castle Sombra dewed while he paced the room back and forth. A roaring fire crackled behind him in the hearth of dark dining room.

“Where is she?” Sombra said, snapping at Sabre.

He flinched and said. “Umm...well...you see, that is well, a point of perspective, your Majesty.” Sabre then laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Get to the point!” Sombra demanded.

Sabre braced himself for what he felt was going to came, his eyes feeling as though they had shrunk to blind him for the actions that were about to take place. “She’s not coming.”

“WHAT!” Sombra bellowed. The room shaked from the volume of his outrage a few paintings tipped askew while vases bobbed jarringly along the fireplace mantelpiece.

Sombra tore from his position and flung himself out of the dining room and in the direction of Twilight’s bedroom. Sabre hurriedly followed out after him, trying his best to keep up.

Sombra came to Twilight’s door and raised a hoof to bang on it forcefully.

“I thought I asked you to come to dinner!” He yelled after a few powerful hits to the door.

“I am not hungry,” Twilight rebuked clearly from behind the door.

“It was not a suggestion!” he barked.

“I don’t care!” Twilight retorted.

Sabre finally managed to catch up to see Sombra glaring at the door to Twilight’s room. He slowed his pace wearly expanded and deflated his chest before approaching Sombra.

“Your Majesty?” Sabre said, trying hard not the choke on his hard breathing.

“You see what she’s like?” Sombra spun around to Sabre, trying hard to get his anger under control by keeping his teeth clamped together.

Sabre took a fast breath in and out finally collecting himself. “Try being nicer your Majesty, ask her politely.”

Sombra’s face tightened up as he turned back to face the adversity barrier in front of him, “I would very much appreciate it, if you would join me for dinner.”

“No thank you.” Twilight immediately replied.

Sombra pointed an accusing hoof at the door, raising both eyebrows at Sabre in mock surprise.

“Gently your majesty.” Sabre suggested moving both his fore hooves slowly in gestural in front of himself, almost as if trying to change the drift of a raging wind in the opposite direction.

Sombra clamped his teeth together again, trying his best to think gentle and polite. “It would give me great pleasure,” He alarmingly forced a large grin on his face that unsettled Sabre. “...To see you this evening for dinner Princess.” Sombra finished.

“I am not coming.”

Sombra was on fire at another denial of his request. His blood boiled like lava veins between harden rocks.

“Fine! Then starve!” He yelled as loud as he could at the door making it shake and creak. If a door could feel fear this old door would tremble.

He turned back to address Sabre, “If she doesn’t eat with me then she doesn’t eat at all.” Sombra punctuated by cutting the air in front of him with his hoof. He trotted briskly down the hallway.

Sabre let out a long, laboured breath.

“Oh dear...”

Behind the door Twilight let out of sigh of relief. Pitch gulped, perspiring.

“We’re almost done here.” She said, monitoring Pitch’s progress with enchanting the crystal floating in his magic.

“Connect both latency points and we’ll be close to finished.” Twilight said.

“Ok.” Pitch said focusing on the magical paradigm and connecting the two tiny sprites with a line of magic. They disappeared together on the surface of the crystal.

Twilight caught the crystal as Pitch heaved exhausted.

“Excellent.” Twilight said as she placed the crystal in Pitch’s saddlebag and secured the belt in the buckle.

“Now we’re set.”

Outside the room Pitch saw his cousin in an exemplary state that he was similarly experience.

“Come on, we’re going to find Sombra now and put end end to this.” Twilight said as she trotted by Sabre.

Pitch motioned his head to which Sabre breathed a deep sigh and picked himself up from the floor and followed behind Twilight.

They made their way through the long hallways of the castle. On their way to the dining room a flash a pink shot across a intersecting hallway. Twilight ran to the intersection and found herself looking into the throne room.

“Cadance?” Twilight gasped. She ran up to her, her hooves barely touching the floor.

“Oh, careful Twilight.” Cadance said sticking her hoof out. The ground before Twilight had given way to to reveal a dark descending staircase.

Twilight grimaced as she changed her course around the stairwell towards Cadance.

“What are you doing here? I mean, yeah, you’re here because it’s your empire but what are you doing here?” Twilight asked after hugging Cadance.

“Twilight, it’s good to see you, though the circumstance could probably be better.” Cadance said.

Pitch and Sabre walked into the throne and up to the two alicorns.

“Ah, Doctor Pitch and his assistant Sabre?” Cadance said as they approached. She was a little surprised to see two vaguely familiar faces that appeared to be not under the ill effect of the Crystal Heart.

“I haven’t just being sitting on my flank all this time. I’ve been keeping a close eye on the Crystal Heart.” Cadance said to Twilight.

“Come with me, we have to be quick. I’ve found a way to stop Sombra.” Cadance said as she rushed to the beginning of the stairs and started to trot down.

“Wait Cadance, we can’t come with you now. We’ve got something important we need to do first.” Twilight said and she mumbled, “because, uhh, we’re going to stop Sombra too.” It sounded more like a question than a statement.

Cadance paused and was silent for a moment. “Yes. Then we can help rehabilitate him once we’ve stopped him from ruining Equestria. Sounds easier enough.”

The mood in the room was optimistic.

“I helped Pitch here to enchant a crystal to block Sombra’s use of magic. I was originally thinking we could drain his magic reserves with it...but who knows how much he would realistically have. So stopping his magic seemed the more simpler and obvious choice.” Twilight said pointing at the saddlebag strapped to Pitch’s side.

Cadance thought on this and sighed. “Great minds think alike,” she said. “I’m going to supercharge the Crystal Heart with my magic. This should break the hold that Sombra’s dark magic has on them.”

“Is that...will that work?” Twilight said.

Cadance smiled, trotting back over to Twilight.

“"No one loves the crystal ponies, like the Princess of Love." Cadance said gentle smiling a winning grin. She tapped her horn on the black crystal that surrounded Twilight’s horn. The shiny rock crumbled away harmlessly. Cadance rubbed her cheek against Twilight’s as she returned back to the stairs.

“We’ll have to catch up for tea sometime when this is over.” Cadance said, going down to stairwell.

Twilight nodded and turned back to Pitch and Sabre when Cadance left her sight.

“Come on, we got a empire to save.” Twilight said, leading them out.

Sombra’s cape strained against his neck as he made his way back to the dining room.

He trotted to the dining table and pulled back the chair at the head of it. He dropped into the the pink cushions and his mass eased down into the chair.

“Maid! Chef!” He yelled. After a moment of silence he grumbled and got up and pushed opened the door to the kitchen.

Not a pony or sound stirred and all the tools and kitchenware were away or turned off, all clean and unused. Sombra closed his eyes and sent his thoughts upwards to the watch tower.

As he touched the Crystal Heart his eyes shot open and to the ceiling.

“Somethings changed.” He rushed out the room to find the nearest window.

He looked outside. The moonlight bounced off the crystals around the empire and illuminated it.The telltale sign of his spell in the night sky was still there. His breathing pitched. He looked around the structures.

“What is this?” He saw a pastel blue pegasus carrying another, more greyer, crystal pony in its arms, zipping down a main lane.

Sombra’s jaw hung tensely. More movement caught his eyes and he saw a small group of guards which were certainly not his own. As he hadn’t given any orders for patrols himself.

“Celestia’s royal guards are here?” Sombra said softly. Realisation dawning on him.

“Why didn’t the heart tell me?” Sombra teeth clenched accursedly. His form burst into smoke and rushed through the halls of the castle at break neck speeds, making his way through the throne room, down the stairs, through the door, and back up another spiralling staircase.

The smoke struck hard onto the marble floor. Sombra leaped out from the puddle on the ground. The puddle peeled from the floor finishing up with his tail.

“What are you doing?” Sombra yelled. He lowered himself close to the ground ready to pounce.

Cadance didn’t move from her position in front of the Crystal Heart. From the tip of her horn a small trail of pink smoke left.

“Helping.” She said firmly as the trail of light disappeared.

“You’re meddling in things you don’t understand. You’re going to ruin everything!” Sombra boomed, his ears twitched.

Cadance turned to face Sombra and lowered herself defensively. “You’re the one who doesn’t understand Sombra. I thought you may have reconsider what you’re doing when I gave you that emotional boost.”

Sombra’s lip quivered and he simmered quietly.

Cadance eased her body. “Can you feel it Sombra? The love in ponies hearts?”

Sombra growled, his chin almost touching the floor. “I cannot,” he said softly.

Cadance hummed contemplatively.

A crack reverberating around the room causing the two ponies ears to flick. A jagged cut formed on the outside of the Crystal Heart.

“What? No! What happened…?” Cadance stared at the heart in disbelief.

Sombra continued to simmer till he reached boiling point. “Just like the sisters.”

Cadance reacted in surprise, casting a barrier as Sombra struck out at her.

“Hey. Do you see that?” Pinkie Pie asked.

Rainbow Dash saluted to one of the guards and they took the small group of ponies from Pinkie and her. Rainbow looked up to the sky were the snow freely fell towards them.

“Isn’t the snow meant to be on the outside of the empire?” She asked.

“I know, right, and that other dark thingie is not there as well.” Pinkie pointed to the sky.

Rainbow lifted off with a beat of her wings with a concerned expression on her face. “Come on Pinks. We need to get the crystal ponies out yesterday. Before this snow does any trouble.”

“Roger dodger!” Pinkie chirped and they both ran back into the empire.

Rainbow raced on ahead and paused momentarily when she came across Rarity and Applejack.

“Come now, this way darlings.” Rarity sung, proudly leading a line of droopy crystal ponies. Applejack at the tail end was also encouraging them along in their despondent states.

“Wouldn’t you rather be somewhere nice and warm like, like Canterlot?” Applejack grinned. She wasn’t confident in her own conviction. She noticed Rainbow Dash flying towards them.

“Hey Applejack. Might want to hustle those crystal ponies. Something’s up and the snow is coming. I don’t think anypony wants to be here if it starts to get heavy,” Rainbow said as she stopped.

“Yeah, noticed.” Applejack looked on ahead seeing the snow drift lazily towards her. She tugged at her scarf.

Rainbow nodded. “I’m going to see if I can find Twilight.”

Before Applejack could suggest otherwise Rainbow had bolted off towards the castle.

Rainbow Dash darted straight towards the castle and elevated her body upwards towards the castle highest peak so she get the best view of the area. Surprised, Rainbow saw Cadance within the tower next to the Crystal Heart. Rainbow smiled triumphantly as she made a beeline towards her.

Cadance leant her horn on the Crystal Heart as it slowly glittered. She pulled away as the last remnant of her magic dropped from her horn and on the Crystal Heart. It stopped spinning for a moment then restarting again.

As Rainbow closed in on the tower she gasped and put on more speed as another pony entered the tower. The red-horned pony could be none other than Sombra.

“The crystal ponies are mine!” Sombra roared.

Rainbow Dash adjusted her sprint and aimed herself at Sombra. Just as she was about to impact him he dissipated into fog and went straight through him.

Sombra headbutted Cadance away from the heart and held it in between both hooves appraising it anxiously.

“No,” He said, voice trembling.

Turning Cadance was being helped to her feet by Rainbow.

“Come on Princess, let’s get out of here.” Rainbow said scooping one leg around her front two and taking off. She spread her wings and ran towards the sky.

“Wait, Rainbow!” Cadance urged as Rainbow dived out of the tower.

Sombra glowered. “This isn't happening.” He forgot about the retreating ponies as he examined the Crystal Heart further.

In the heart there was a single glowing mote of radiant light. A worm like thing orbited it.

Sombra’s mane swept behind him as he ran over to the tower’s edge. Cadance and Rainbow were gliding close to the ground. They made their way towards the station while it snowed quietly. Sombra growled at the snow.

Sombra growl deepened as his focused his spirit to disperse and become like air. His shadowy form plummeted from the tower and landed in the yard below where he took up his physical form again.

He grunted and was about to run until he heard the cracking of a wooden door open nearby.

“What are you two doing?” Sombra demanded, angry in his voice.

“Oh, your majesty?” Pitch squeaked almost having stepped outside, shooing Twilight whom was standing behind him and Sabre.

“You may want consider staying indoors for the moment.” Sombra said, tone turning more calmer. “‘Less you want to get caught up in what happens next.” He said before running off.

Pitch and Sabre watched as Sombra made tracks out the gate. Twilight stepped outside into the yard with them.

“We found him.” Sabre said.

“Let’s follow.” Twilight said.

Rainbow slapped the tips of her wings together to stop her momentum. She let go off Cadance so she could be on the ground. They watched curiously as a pony in the distance trotted towards them. Rainbow squinted her eyes and lifted a hoof to block out some of the snow.

“Who’s that?” She said.

Through the snow the pony’s hazy outline began to sharpen. Trotting through the snow, cape drifting slowly, Sombra made his way towards Rainbow. He then sprinted towards them.

Rainbow’s eyes narrowed and she pumped her wings to dash towards him. Her wings kicked back and lifted what snow was on the ground and blowing it up and into Sombra’s face.

Sombra, shaking the snow loose from his mane, paid her no mind as he muscled by her; his shoulder pushing her easily out of his way. He had his sights set on Cadance.

Just as Sombra believed he was going to capture Cadance another pony had jumped into his way - stopped in front of Cadance.

Sombra growled animalistically and launched himself fiercely towards the stallion. At the top of his arch Roar turned his back to Sombra, cocking both legs preparing to trigger them at the right moment to propel Sombra back.

With a clicking of bones Roar’s legs connected to Sombra’s barrel and he flew back over towards Rainbow.

“Hey red, dark and gruesome. Where’s Twilight? Give up my friend now!” Rainbow said to Sombra’s face. Emphasizing her point by beating one hoof into the other.

Satisfied with the distance, Roar, and much to Cadance’s discomfort, lifted her onto his back and hastened after the hoofprints in the snow towards the station.

Rainbow was glad to see the princess getting away and glared from her position just above Sombra. “That’s one Princess down. Now where’s the other?” She said to him.

Sombra’s eyes glowed dimly, ignoring the ache in his chest. He pulled away from the ground to his feet. He growled fiercely, teeth showing, a head space away from Rainbow’s.

Rainbow’s attention was caught in his eyes. She started to feel woozy and forced herself to close her eyes.

She shook her head, averting her face. “Oh no, no mind games with me buddy! I’m onto you.”

Rainbow lurched forwards, striking Sombra square on the shoulder. She backed off shaking her hoof with the other whilst blowing on it. “Ow, ow, ow. You’re way tense, you need to relax.”

Letting the mild ache in her hoof go Rainbow flew away from him. Sombra watched her go. There was a moment of silence between the two as they considered one another.

“If you don’t want talk, fine. We’ll do this the hard way.” Rainbow u-turned in the sky and speed towards Sombra.

Sombra narrowly missed being impact with the plucky pegasus by evaporating into smoke. He could feel the inside of his body reverberating an agitated sensation.

“There!” Rainbow spotted Sombra reform back into himself. She changed her course back around to centre on him again. She speed through him once more.

Rainbow skidded into the snow and pivoted back around to where Sombra rematerializing as himself. He glared at her through slitted eyes.

“That’s it, stay right there so I can squish you!” Rainbow stomped the ground twice and catapulted towards Sombra at break-neck speeds.

As before, Rainbow went through his misty black form another time. She dexterously pivoted her body around. Readying to catch him when he remade himself. She dived with her hooves straight out towards the smog. Again, she went straight through it.

Sombra’s true form emerged as the smoke seemed to snap to his body and disappear.

“Hey, come on, what gives? You can’t be doing that all the time! Fight me!” Demanded Rainbow Dash showing no less braver from when she started at Sombra. She stood on her hind legs and jabbed the air.

He smirked at her, the chill biting his tongue. Sombra turned to face Rainbow head on, lowering his stance. Rainbow had a small grin on her face as she followed suite, relishing in the adrenaline coursing through her. The snow breezed back and forth around them. Sombra took off first, kicking a large hole in the snow. Rainbow leaned forward, putting in all her might to charging, forehooves outstretched, at him.

A sharp snap, like lightning cracked, echoed. Sombra’s horn glowed a ghostly red. Rainbow was a few feet away from him, panting heavily. Their strikes had left a small oval of cleared snow.

Rainbow Dash didn’t hear the desperate voices that called out to her. She could only make out odd blotches of colours on the ground below her before falling into a heap on the ground.

Pinkie emerged and jumped down just next to Rainbow’s head. Applejack also appeared and stood in front of them to guard them from Sombra if he decided to make a move on her passed out friend.

As if a call had been sent out, Rarity, Fluttershy with Spike and Trixie also emerged from the surrounding buildings, joining next to Applejack.

Trixie flinched a few steps backwards when Sombra observed her.

“So that thar’s the Sombra fella?” Applejack’s ear flicked back towards Trixie.

Trixie hummed meekly.

Applejack tapped her hoof digging through a thin layer of soft snow to find a solid platform to brace herself on.

“He don’t look so tough. That was just a lucky shot with Rainbow. Let's see if’n you can handle an earth pony.” Applejack grinned eagerly.

Sombra gave her little regard.

The voice of yet another pony and sound of rushing more hoofsteps approached the group and caused everyone to look their way.

“Wait!” Twilight called out.

Twilight rushed out in front of her friends. The aura of Sombra’s eyes grew denser.

“Twilight!” Her friends cheered as they attached themselves to her where they could in a shared hug.

“Hi, long time no see.” Twilight smiled at her friends holding her. She then turned to Rainbow on the ground. “How’s Rainbow doing there?”

“Uhh…” Fluttershy began.

“Uhh...I’m fine.” Rainbow finished as she got up from the ground holding a hoof groggily to her head. “Anypony catch the number on that wagon?”

Fluttershy pulled out a bandaid and applied it to the top of Rainbow’s muzzle.

Sombra eyes turned into pinpricks as a jolly laughter joined the gossiping ponies. Across from the two groups facing one another a large serpentine formed sagged lazily on top of a house's roof.

“The gang’s back together again!” Discord said jovially. Popcorn spilled from the bucket as he leaned back to continue his uproar while munching on the buttery treat.

“Discord!” The larger group chorused.

“Ladies!” he threw his arms out openingly. “Are we reconsidering that hug right now are we?”

“What are you doing here?” Twilight shouted to him from the street.

“Well, my dear friend Twilight…” Discord started to say before a mass of congealed smoke rammed into his face.

He fell from his perch on the building and landed into the snow below. He picked himself up and brushed small patches of snow off his shoulders.

“How rude.” He said turning his face up at Sombra as his physical form reappeared.

“As I was saying before being interrupted.” Discord pointedly looked at Sombra then towards Twilight’s group. “I just couldn't help myself! My draq-sense(™) were tingling and I had to just come and check out what was going to happen here for myself.”

Sombra’s hoof gripped his necklace in a shaky grasp as the rest of him tensed.

Discord waiting patiently by, his arms folded behind his back and a large smile on his face. His talon arm unfolded back out and pointed to the snowy night sky. “That little number around the empire was just for me now, wasn’t it? A very clever piece of magic if I do say so myself.” His arm folded back again while still facing Twilight. “But the only way you could of done any of that is that you have something that belongs to me.”

Discord lion paw flipped out from behind his back and radiated with light and picked Sombra up from around his barrel. Sombra drifted over to him.

Sombra struggled desperately trying to pull back. “Great tartarus! Back abomination!” He yelled.

“Who me? Why, you’re too kind.” Discord said.

Twilight’s face lit up from Sombra to Discord. She kept an eye on both characters.

“Discord, what are you doing here?” Twilight asked.

Discord ignored the question instead holding Sombra in the magically grasp of his paw his other taloned limb precisely dipped into Sombra’s fur to pull back out a crystal necklace.

Discord’s lips pursed. “Ooh, what’s that there?” He asked cooing.

“My. Now isn't this an old sock.” Discord said with lidded eyes. He cupped a collection of the crystals in his taloned appendage to inspect them.

“Oh my.” Discord voiced deepened. “Heh, that’s quite the trinket you have there.” He gaze, half-lidded, shifted from the necklace to Sombra eyes. “Mr. Almighty King himself if I do recall correctly.”

Discord pulled at the necklace, it digging into the back of Sombra’s neck. Sombra yelled as his horn glowed and he burst into smoke.

Discord coughed, spluttered, and spat. “Ew, hope I didn’t accidentally ingest any of him.” He said brushing away trails of the dark smoke from himself.

“Hmm, if you want to play with it then by all means. I mean, I can’t do anything with it.” Discord said with a dismissive tone as he dusted his fur with a brush, ensuring he was free from Sombra particles.

Sombra’s stance lowered to the ground staring up at the tall creature.

Discord tsked and explained as if it were a matter of fact. His limbs moved animatedly as he talked. “I said I can’t do anything with it. Chaos magic you know. Tends to do it’s own thing once it’s off its leash to be all the chaos it can be, you know. A pity really, all that energy could of been useful. I’ll let you hold onto for now old boy, maybe you’ll do something interesting with it, hmm yes?”

As the ponies squarely focused on the draconequus two other ponies waiting nearby. Across the street, between two buildings, they were crouched quietly waiting and trying not to deviate their attention from their target. Pitch shuffled closely next to Sabre.

“Do you think Sombra is distracted enough?” Pitch whispered.

Sabre simple nodded.

Both ponies watched closely as Sombra yelled at the ponies and draconequus.

“Okay, wish me luck cousin.” Pitch said and sprinted out with the crystal floating next to him

Sombra stared at the draconequus before sputtering. “What...you…? You’re the reason this is happening! You can’t even undo what you’ve done?” Sombra voiced raised as he talked.

Discord raised both his shoulders before he turned to Twilight’s voice.

“Discord.” Twilight said, her tone warning.

Sombra’s ear flicked and he bent his neck awkwardly as he caught the flying crystal in his magical grasp and wrenched it out of Pitch’s. A bead of sweat permeated Sombra’s brow as he turned his head to Pitch.

“Now, add another problem - even you two are against me.” Sombra said.

“What? No.” Twilight said. She stepped forward away from her group.

Sombra’s horn sparked and Sabre was dragged out from the other side of the street surrounded by Sombra’s magical signature.

“Huh?” Sombra’s eyes widened. Feeling a heavy tug on the crystal in his magic field.

With a moment of distraction Twilight jumped into the air using her weight to take hold of the crystal and push it towards Sombra’s horn.

“Don’t do it!” Sombra’s eye opened widely not able to hold Twilight back.

The crystal flicked and twirled out his magical field and was pierced by Sombra’s red horn. Pitch flinched when the crystal loudly snapped around it.

Sombra balked. “Betrayers, traitors, everywhere!” His teeth showed and he tried to remove the crystal with a hoof that was half way embedded down his horn.

He changed his attention from the crystal to Twilight. Twilight gulped. Sombra glared.

Rainbow snorted trying to conceal her laughter. The crystal on his horn on display and looked amusing to her.

Applejack and Rarity flanked opposite sides next to Twilight.

“The crystal ponies are safe now Sombra.” Applejack said.

“Yes, I suggest you turn tail and leave while we clean up this further mess of yours.” Rarity said.

“Yes, but what about the Crystal Heart?” Sombra said, snarling back at them.

Sombra’s throat rumbled with a low growl. Looking for the fear in the eyes of the ponies around him: Twilight, Pitch and Sabre. He didn’t bother looking at the abomination of creature parts that had taken an invisible seat nearby.

Sombra turned his mind to the Crystal Heart trying to make out a great detail that was growing. Ponies, or more important, a magical presence, was leaving the Crystal Empire. Sombra focused on his breathing, small wispy breaths puffed from his nose, as his felt the heart shifting.

“Did you do this? All of you?” He said, his lips bent in angry.

A pair of shades appeared over Discord’s eyes. “Oh, this going to be good.” He said, reclining back in the air and kicking one leg over the other.

Realization dawned over Sombra, the crystal around his horn had severed the intimate connection he had with the Crystal Heart. It was alone a top of the tower with nothing to mitigate the magic throughout the empire.

“No.” Sombra said.

Everyone’s attention followed where Discord was looking - the castle’s watch tower. Like a lighthouse a blinding burst of light showered out from the tower.

Away from the empire Cadance stood on the train platform with glistening eyes.

Discord turned his attention raptly to Sombra. Sombra also turned to Discord.

“Now what is going to happen to you I wonder?” Discord chuckled softly, taking a slurp out a drink container that just appeared.

Sombra jerked as The crystal necklace around him sparked. Jagged laces of lightning whipped forth from around his neck. He tried to hold back the energy from escaping the unstable shards of crystal by holding his hoof up against the streams. Trying to press them back into the crystal necklace. Though they just drifted past them unheeded.

“Did you plan this?” Sombra said, grabbing uselessly at another lance of light.

“I just make it up as I go along.” Discord said and sucked on the straw.

Sombra stared upwardly towards the castle’s watch tower.

“The heart?” Twilight said softly, her shoulders sagged sadly for some reason, a small trail of water combing through her cheek.

“The heart.” Sombra said angrily. He turned.

“Damn you abomination, to tartarus with you all. Now you’ve gone and done it, you’ve shattered the Crystal Heart.” Sombra spat.

“Oops.” Discord said. He wasn’t really sure how he was meant to feel in these one off situations.

“What happened?” Fluttershy asked to Discord.

Discord scratched his chin and hummed. “I would have a guess at hmm, too much of a good thing can be bad? I’m not sure on the details, the balance of things hasn’t ever really been my spiel.”

“That darn alicorn overloaded the heart with magic in wasn’t ready for!” Sombra yelled. “The heart was fine with dark magic inside it, but then that darn alicorn had to go and introduce light into it.” His face contorted. “...And then you cut me off from the heart!” He tapped the crystal around his horn hard. “Do you understand the consequences for doing so? They do not mix well together, light and chaotic energy!” He continued to blurt out.

“You think you know but you don’t. You’re trying to help, but you can’t. You think you know the way but it leads to real ruin.”

Sombra’s breathing repeatedly shuddered. He lurched back away from the spikes of magic. A rip and tear appeared in the sky.

Discord floated over. Clicking his talons together a large zipper appeared over the gateway and then drew over the opening.

“You need to be more careful with such things. Who knows what’ll happen.” Discord chided.

“I don’t need this from you abomination!” Sombra snarled.

Everyone stepped back from the electrified pony.

“Discord what’s happening?” Twilight yelled.

Discord thought about it for a moment and rubbed the top of talons under his chin.

Sombra’s eye twitched and a crystal snapped sharply into a dusty sprinkling of glittering light. His body shuddered. The fur on Twilight’s back stood on end and Sombra’s head sprung backwards. Nothing but green ether spilling from his eyes.

The tendrils of magic that spiked and rattled around Sombra curled into itself in a knot above him. The light launched into the sky leaving Sombra bear.

“Not what I would've done but I suppose then I’m in the professional league.” Discord said watching the sky with a bored expression.

Everyone else's silent attention was back on Sombra, his eyes deep with a full green mist. He faced the sky and with burst of magic from his horn the crystal trapped on it shattered apart. He breathed through clenched teeth, not blinking.

Twilight’s mane blew around her face. Her friends looked around anxious.

“Uh, I don’t how to tell you guys this but the weather's looks like is about to turn any second now.” Rainbow eyed the increasing size and density of the snow that was falling from the clouds.

“Doesn’t look like the only thing that’s taking and turn for the worst.” Rarity said, preparing to run.

Sombra’s mane was unkempt and his fur jagged; his eyes glowed green. His nose in the air took a large sniff. His mane and tail appeared larger than him. His defining pony form phased in and out from body to shadow.

“Get out.” Sombra said, a predatory gleam across his lips.

The groups didn’t move.

“I said get out! Get out of my home!” He reared up onto his back legs, kicking his forelegs at them.

“Now!” He boomed.

With a click of his talon Discord vanished from his spot.

Tears ran down Twilight’s face. “Let's go!” She said and everyone ran.

Sombra’s lips twitched uncontrollably as he tried to focus his vision on the heart. He couldn’t see it but something within him told him it was broken into millions of tiny pieces.

A snow storm pelted blindly against Twilight's side hard and fast, quickly building a layer of snow thick enough that they had to force their way through it.

“Where’s the train, we should be able to seek cover there until the storm dies down at least.” Twilight tried in vain to block out the snow hitting her face. She ensured to keep her wings firmly against her body so they didn’t unbalance her in the wind.

Twilight squinted, trying to make out the forms of friends in the storm.

“Hey, girls?” She yelled.

A pony walked into her.

“Trixie?”

“Ah-huh, Sparkle!” Trixie stepped back. “Trixie can not see a hoof in front of herself. What’s going on here? It was fine until just a moment ago!” She said loudly.

“Are we there yet?” Pitch asked around Trixie’s tail. Behind him Sabre was similarly holding Pitch’s tail in his mouth.

“I’m not sure. We’ll figure it out once we’re out this storm. Here take my tail.” Twilight said, turning to smack Trixie in the face with her tail. Trixie gritted her teeth around the fine hairs.

The pony train pushed on.

The storm stopped and the small group looked around wildly blinking.

“What the?” Twilight paused her advance as the storm stopped with not a flake in the sky.

They found themselves in small clearing surrounded by trees heavy with snow. A gurgling rumble echoed around them. A set of blue, sapphire like eyes opened in the snow.

“Tundra wolves!” Pitch gasped dropping Trixie’s tail and suddenly running past Sabre. With Pitch’s tail in his mouth Sabre was pulled along after him.

“Quick into the trees.” Pitched called out. He and Sabre quickly scaled up the closest tree with expert precision and speed.

Trixie was fast behind them and scrambled at the tree base. Her head turned and she gasped as she saw twins eyes ahead of Twilight coming forward to reveal a towering wolf that almost blended in with the snow itself.

“Oh joy, an alpha.” Pitch sarcastically said nervously his horn lighting up to yank Trixie up from the ground to his branch.

“Twilight?” Sabre said, pointing her out to Trixie and Pitch.

Twilight stood still, wings expanded out instinctively to enlarge her presence to be intimidating. She hadn’t been quick enough to get up a tree as the wolves cornered her in a circle.

“Sparkle, here!” Trixie called out as she snapped off a branch of the tree and threw it down to her. Twilight however wasn’t paying enough attention to catch the branch as it landed in the snow next to her. She wasn’t paying any more attention of the large wolf a few metres in front of her. She was caught in the predator’s hungry eyes.

Just as the the alpha wolf was about to leap at Twilight a large blur of darkness drilled the fierce creature aside. Tumbling onto top of it Sombra stood snarling down at the wolf. Twilight blinked.

The other wolves turned from the small pony to help their leader. Wolf after wolf jumped at the stallion and pushed him off of the large alpha with their paws and heads running into him.

A stray few however had their attention on Twilight. Another group kept a steady guard watching the three ponies in the tree together.

Twilight ran off as fast as she dared without exhausting herself immediately. A howl in the distance made Twilight turn her head suddenly. She could hear fast and approaching movement throughout the woods surrounding her. Suddenly the large alpha wolf jumped out in front of her, blocking her path.

Twilight turned to run the other way but was again blocked by another few, smaller tundra wolves, each snarly hungrily at her. She screamed and headed to the side of them, into the thicket of the forest. Branches clawed and tried to pull her back from her advance. The wolves were behind her now, but the larger one was nowhere to be seen. Twilight didn’t like that, it boded grim.

As Twilight made a break through the forest she was about to past by the large girth of a impressive tree. The giant wolf made itself known to her then. The wolf snapped at her legs forcing her to back up and into the tree. She was surrounded now as the tundra wolves all came to surround her at the base of the tree. Each one was catching their breath and savouring the meal to come.

Twilight let her magic pull a loose branch from the tree. Planning to wield the wooden branch loosely in her telekinetic group like a makeshift sword to defend herself against the wolves.

One wolf saw a chance as the branch levitated down towards the pony and jumped at her. However a smooth flowing movement cracked the branch across the face of the wolf. Frantically, Twilight swung the branch in front of her to create some distance between herself and the wolves. They slowly snuck in on her as her mind started to race with growing panic.

The wolves knew it was time to attack. Three leapt at her, one by one. Twilight managed to swat the first away from her in mid-air with her branch. The second however managed to sink its teeth into the branch and forcefully pulled her to the ground. The third latched its teeth just onto the rear of her tail.

The wolf tugged her down to the ground stretching the pony out and into a position of vulnerability - the large tundra wolf decided the hunt was at end. It quickly jumped out, mouth wide and seeking the soft flesh of the pony's neck – a ensured meal.

Just as Twilight thought her demise upon her. A loud whoosh came into the foray and threw the leading wolf out into forest. The dark shadowy presence quickly shrank in on itself to materialized a very pony-like creature. Twilight eye’s were wide with shock and disbelief, it was Sombra. He quickly took the wolf at the front of the branch with his magic. Using as much strength as he could to quickly levitate it and haul it back out at the other wolves.

The wolf gnawing and mashing at Twilight’s tail, quickly trained his concentration onto Sombra and jumped to re-clasped it jaws around another more fleshy object. The unbreakable stone like teeth quickly easily pierced the back of Sombra. He growled as he swung himself around stoutly and threw off the eager creature from his back.

It was now or never. All the smaller wolves charged at the strong pony to bring him down quickly. Two dove and shoved him into the ground as the others quickly moved in to snap at him. With a loud roar he kicked out to knock away the wolves. He then reached out with magic to drag the two offending wolves away from his face. He hurled them back at their comrades. The wolves reformed in front of Sombra and he stood protectively in front of Twilight as she laid there still in shock. A loud mashing of trees and snow presenting the large alpha wolf coming back into the attack. It raced out, jumping over it’s lesser kind and charged savagely at Sombra.

The wolf ran chest first into Sombra, to knock him to the ground. Purposefully, Sombra grabbed a hold of the wolves shoulders as he geared towards the ground. Pressing one rear leg into its chest he heaved with all his might to launch the wolf over his shoulders. The alpha wolf smashed up against a tree, rattling the snow from the branches.

Sombra’s horn sparked like a match and trail of flame blazed across the snow. The wolves howled desperately and scattered away in fearful fright of the blaze. A howl from one of them signalled a retreat from this hunt and they speed away. The alpha saw the magical fire and also chased after its comrades.

Trixie, Pitch, and Sabre came to Twilight and picked her up out the snow.

Everyone stared at the irregular mass that was Sombra. His form diminishing back to normal. His breath shuddered from exhaustion and cold.

Sombra breathed heavily as he watched warily as the tundra wolves ran away. Twilight still couldn’t believe her eyes. Sombra had rescued her. He lidded eyes meet hers for a brief moment just as he grunted and pasted out into the snow.

The others shared expressions of concern looking over Twilight as she stared out into the forest.

“This is no good.” Pitch said looking around the trees. “If I’m not mistaken, we’re at the foot of the Crystal Mountain.” He said and hummed. “We’ve somehow been turned around during the storm. It’ll take us a while to get back across towards the station.”

Twilight quizzically looked at him, remembering to breath.

“We’re on the other side of where the train station would be?” Trixie said.

Twilight nodded her head. “If that’s the case...we’re heading back to the castle then.”

Trixie gawked at her wanting clearly to be away from all the bad situations the Crystal Empire had caused her. Trixie reevaluated her priorities watching Twilight struggle to pick up Sombra.

“What are you doing?” Trixie said, in slight disbelief.

“I’m not leaving him here like this.” Twilight said.

“Help me.” Twilight motioned for Pitch and Sabre. She then began to hoist him onto their backs. Trixie came over and helped pick him up and over the two stallions.

“Got him?” Twilight asked.

Pitch and Sabre nodded.

“Alright, together now, right and then left.” Pitch instructed verbally till he and Sabre had a smooth forward momentum pattern working together. They made their way out of the forest and unto the empty tundra towards the crystal castle. The night sky filled with a few stray white clouds.

Magic In Magic Out

The snow had settled in a slow drifting daze in front of Trixie’s eyes as she inspected halfheartedly outside the kingdom's borders for any activities. She sighed. The storm had cleared up and left a low lying bog. It was like they were in a eerie floating castle in the beautifully quiet night sky.

Trixie turned around only to grimace at the display taking place in the lounge room. She wondered idly why she had came back with them and not opted to travel to the train station by herself. She remembered the long trek to the castle had worn her out considerably.

To one side of the room Pitch and Sabre were nervously standing behind a couch. To the other side Sombra sat in a chair. Sitting close to him Twilight twisted water out of a cloth and into a pan. A small fire crackled behind her. Sombra’s mouth was open as his tongue inched towards his foreleg.

Twilight eyes meet him strangely. “Sombra, that’s not how you clean a wound,” Twilight said giving a stern look. She directed the wash cloth to his would.

Sombra pulled his leg away above his head and as far away from the cloth as possible. His tongue slid back into his mouth, snorting softly. Twilight followed after his leg and with a few swift moves manage to corner Sombra’s leg onto the chair’s arm. She pressed the hot cloth to his wound.

He roared unexpectedly with Twilight’s mane flying back from the force. Pitch and Sabre dived under the couch. Trixie’s ears turned back as they stung from the ringing.

“Ah! That hurts!” Sombra yelled.

“Oh really, what a pony.” Trixie said rolling her eyes.

Sombra grunted while Twilight regarded Trixie with an abolishing expression which would feel in place on a parent disciplining their child.

Trixie coughed weakly. “Heh, sorry,” she muttered. Deeming if she was to continue to survive then moving behind the couch with Pitch and Sabre would be the safest place to be. They shared her sentiment.

“It wouldn’t hurt so badly if you didn’t move so much.” Twilight said to Sombra.

“Well I wouldn’t have got hurt if you hadn’t meddled in my affairs and broken the Crystal Heart.” Sombra said back pushing his muzzle inches in front of hers.

Twilight fell silent and her face knitted together in quiet contemplation. She didn’t flinch as his red eyes remained unmoving and bore into hers.

“And I wouldn’t have had to resort to that if you let ponies help you.” Twilight said firmly, crossing her forehooves.

They didn’t shout but the tension in the room made Trixie, Pitch and Sabre a shuddering huddle under the couch, wondering at what point their ears would stop ringing and when everyone would just start to get along.

Sombra raised a hoof to object. His jaw opened but no rebuttal came from it.

“Now, try to stay still. This may hurt a little,” Twilight said firmly.

She dabbed the wound softly before applying the whole cloth over it. Sombra’s face retorted from the boiling sensation that exploded in his leg all the way up to his shoulder.

“There.” Twilight said as she continued to knead the cloth slowly back and forth.

Sombra didn’t reply and looked away. He snorted louder this time focusing on the wall made of crystal. He didn’t feel like looking at anypony at this time.

Twilight soaked the cloth in the boiled water, squeezing out the excess and returned to cleaning his wound. Three jagged lines hid under his long fur on his lower leg.

“I forgot to mention - thank you for saving my life.” Twilight said softy.

Sombra fortunately held back a grumbled response. He didn’t want to make any sounds to any ponies at this time. Twilight looked from her work to the one the side of his face. His eye flicked back quickly to the wall. She sat the wet cloth to one side and picked up another to tie around his wound.

“You’re welcome.” Sombra said clearly.

Three sighs of relief came from the couch and they relaxed.

Despite her reservations Twilight felt like asking. “What happened back there?” she asked softly while paying attention to the large wound. Sombra looked passed Twilight who tilted her head into his line of sight. He wasn’t looking menacing.

“Can you feel any latent magic around you?” He asked.

“Now that I think about it, no I can’t.” Twilight said after of moment of consideration, realization followed quickly afterwards. “What! Where in Equestria are we?”

Twilight had forgone using her magic since exhausting herself during the encounter with the wolves. Three pairs of ears perked and they crept out from underneath the couch to a more comfortable, and social norm, positions on top of it. Twilight tried to ignite her horn but nothing came to.

“No. We’re no longer in Equestria. We’re in the heart dimension. Where there is no magic.” Sombra said watching Twilight’s futile efforts. She tapped her horn to ensure it was still there.

“We’re inside the Crystal Heart?” Trixie gawked. She turned to Pitch and Sabre as if for confirmation. Though they looked equally awestruck.

“The same thing happened to the crystal ponies after the sisters defeated me. Though this is the first time I’ve been here.” Sombra explained.

Twilight looked to the two crystal ponies on the couch wordlessly.

“So, how do we get out?” Twilight asked Sombra.

“The Crystal Heart would have to be restored,” he said.

“W-what...wouldn’t that mean then…” Trixie stuttered shooting chance gazes at Pitch and Sabre. They didn’t notice as they paid attention to Sombra.

“It took a thousand years for a doldrum kingdom of docile, apathetic ponies to restore the heart. With five ponies with varying emotions,” Sombra looked to be thinking. “It’ll take much longer.”

The following enduring silence was thick enough it could be cut with a knife. The only noise was the crackle, snap, and pop from the fireplace.

“Though it’s probably better to stay here for now. The fallout that’s Equestria is going through won't be a pleasant one.” Sombra said absentmindedly turning to lean his head on his good hoof.

This perked everyone’s attention. “What do you mean?” Twilight frowned.

Instead of answering Sombra took the necklace off that was hidden underneath his shaggy coat and held it out towards Twilight. The crystals around his necklace were clear and transparent.

“They’re empty. The destruction of the heart and the release of its energy broke the containers.” Sombra said.

“Then the magic inside them...is gone?” Pitch said.

“If ever I was to lose control - the chaotic magic would take over. While I was still consciously able to do so I channelled the energy of the crystals towards the weather. The Frozen North weather has always been somewhat unpredictable. I’d hope that the chaotic energy would seize the chance to make it even more uncertain. Equestria is probable experience an ice age at this time.” Sombra said.

Twilight’s head cocked to the side slightly.

“You knowingly did that?” She asked.

Sombra grunted. “With that much chaotic energy inside of me, it would control me, and nothing would stop it from using me to control the Crystal Heart to strengthen its power. To which end would mean the ruin and torment of Equestria. At least this way, unleashed and unable to use the heart ponies have a chance to defend themselves against it.”

The fire gentle crackled in the hearth. Sabre noticed that one crystal was different from the rest; a faint bluish tint to it.

“What’s with that one?” Sabre asked.

Sombra rolled his shoulders. “A little hope, joy and...” he said shifting in the chair looking at the crystal tentatively. “...Love is in this one. With this I planned to kickstart the heart after filtrating the chaos. Though now, restoring the heart on this level, here,” he barely looked around the room. “It's barely anything on the scale that’s required to make much of a difference.” Sombra said voice low.

“No,” he breathed. “In order to restore the Crystal Heart now it’s going to need a lot more hope, joy and love than what is in this crystal.” He said gloomily.

Twilight saw Trixie in a different state of mind from the two stallions sitting next to her. Trixie’s jaw loosened her cheeks tinted red. Twilight observed Sombra as he relaxed in the chair. He sat there in front of her, looking to one side away from the other three. With an almost carefree smile his body slouched in the chair. He was either in deep contemplation or just blank, Twilight considered. Sombra slowly tilted his hoof and the necklace fell and hit the floor.

“It’s useless now,” he said, slumping in the chair and further rested his chin in the fur of his chest.

Twilight didn’t like his showy disinterest in the matter. Pitch and Sabre looked at him with concern. Trixie wondered how she had got dragged into this mess.

Twilight bent forward and picked the necklace up off of the floor. It was like it had been pre-offered to her the way Sombra had dumped it in between them. The crystals tapped against one another in Twilight’s grasp. There was a moment of peace in Twilight’s analytical mind, breathing in and out, and she smiled.

“Well there’s only one thing for it.” Twilight announced. “We’re going to restore the Crystal Heart - together!” She said, all eyes turned to her.

“Excuse me, if I don’t leap for joy,” Sombra said, his breathe pushing his hairy chest fur out of the way of his mouth.

“You implied it yourself. I’m not going to sit around and wait for this to all blow over by itself.” Twilight said pushing herself up as she stretched her cramped back legs. She considered the necklace in one hoof and pulled it over her head and passed her smaller muzzle. Sombra watched her go.

“It’s been a day. I’m going to rest.” Twilight sighed aiming for the door out of the room.

Trixie took that as a chance to leave the room and followed Twilight. At the door Twilight turned around.

“Pitch, Sabre, try to keep Sombra from being a grump.” Twilight said before leaving.

Sombra snorted and his fur annoyingly tickled his nose enough that he straightened up back on the chair and he rested his head on his hoof again.

“You majesty…” Pitch wondered quietly, worried.

“We should give him a moment.” Sabre said, patting Pitch’s shoulder reassuringly.

Sabre waited easily relaxing on the couch while Pitch contemplated the situation they were now in. The tails of fire in the hearth swayed back and forth unawares. After what he felt was long enough Pitch hopped off the couch and Sabre followed. Sombra growled softly. Pitch and Sabre stood in front of his chair and blocked his view of the dancing fire.

“Excuse us, your majesty, may we bend your ear for a moment?” Pitch asked. “Have you thought that both of you getting closer together could help heal the heart?”

“Of course I have.” Sombra growled slowly and unmoving. His shoulders shook with quick flinch and he slammed the chair arm with a hoof aggravatedly which made Pitch and Sabre also flinch.

Sombra smarted and looked sullened and he went quiet. “Forgive me.”

The cousin’s tensions eased.

Sombra was lost in thought. “What a fascinating mare...if a bit funny.” He said softly.

“Ah, so you’ve noticed.” Pitch’s face brightened and raised his eyebrows, grinning cheekily. Sombra brow flinched forgetting how close the ponies were.

“You fall in love with her and she with you, the heart is made whole again and we’ll be free in no time.” Pitch said.

Sombra glared at him abolishing at his what he said his eyes though Pitch didn’t notice.

Sabre guessed at what had not been said. “It’s not that easy. These things take time.” Sabre said tapping his shoulder for his attention. Pitch sagged.

“Do you think there’s a chance…” he caught a glimpse of his shadow across the wall in the flickering fireplace. Sombra grunted. “And look at me.” He launched out of the chair and touched his curved red horn and laughed. “A mare like that could never learn to care for me.”

Sabre quietly approached and squeezed Sombra’s shoulder reassuringly. “You are more than what you seem Sombra.” Sabre said. “We know so,” nodding his head back towards Pitch. “...and we haven’t known you for all that long really.”

“I don’t know.” Sombra averted his eyes. “How would I even in approach her?”

Sabre, with a glint in his eye, turned to Pitch who then slapped his hooves together officiously.

“Well…” Pitch tapped his hooves contemplatively then approached on Sombra’s other side. “Straightened up for one. Slouching is neither healthy nor visually attractive. Be a gentlecolt - smile and be presentable. Don’t forget a smile is both welcoming and attractive. A smile shows you like her company. Everyone loves a smile.”

Sombra stared glumly.

“Let's see the smile.” Sabre asked encouragingly waving a hoof around his own face that showed a simple carefree smile.

Sombra pulled his lips apart to show a month full of teeth. They grimaced. He pulled them back.

Sabre pretended to scratch his chin while talking under his voice. “Needs work,” he deadpanned.

“Yes, you don’t want to frighten the poor mare.” Pitch said out loud. Sombra grunted while Sabre shook his head.

Pitch continued unabated. “Try to impress her with your rigour wit or your more prudent strategicness.”

Sombra nodded along.

Sabre shook his head at Pitch. “Be gentle like looking after a baby ewe,” he added.

Sombra’s switched to Sabre with a brow raised thoughtfully.

“Showering her with confidence,” Pitch said.

Sombra turned back to Pitch with a look of confusion.

Sabre tapped Pitch’s shoulder. “But be genuinely sincere,” Sabre added.

Sombra growled as his ears flicked back.

“And above all. Don’t try to control everything yourself! Ask for help!” The cousins both said together.

Sombra yelled. Pitch and Sabre were left awkwardly as Sombra made to leave the room.

Before Sombra left he adjusted his skewed cape properly back across his back. “You two look famished you should see if eating food is a requirement of this world. Then rest for the night as well. It has been a day.” Sombra said glumly as he trotted out of the lounge room.

“Ah, was it something I said?” Pitch asked worriedly.

“Hmm probable,” Sabre droned.

“You’re both still here, good,” Trixie said as she came back into the room and over to them.

“Is there anywhere in this world where Trixie can eat something? She’s completely famished.” She asked. Her stomach had queued a hungry grumble and sounded loudly at that perfect moment. Trixie ahammed politely.

“Now, where is the kitchen?” She asked.

“It’s a good thing we’re heading there right now then.” Pitch said.

They took Trixie to the castle kitchen where Pitch and Sabre scampered about looking for what food items were available. Pantry and cupboards were stocked full of kitchenware.

“I think they’re starting to like one another.” Pitch said excitedly slapping a cupboard of teacups closed.

“Huh? Sparkle and that brute? They’re barely even friends.” Trixie scoffed in astonishment. She watched as they festively moved about the kitchen liked they owned the place.

“She’s right. She only dressed his wound after all.” Sabre drolled as he passed fruits out of the pantry and onto a plate.

“But she was gentle and kind and the look in his eyes…” Pitch said excitedly, dreamily looking away.

Sabre patted his shoulder to calm his excitement. “You always get way too excited about things.”

Pitch turned his head. “No I don’t.”

Trixie’s raised her brow. “What are you two up to?”

They both stopped their search and paid attention to Trixie.

“Two powerful unicorns, well, one an alicorn - together? They could heal the heart so much more than we all could alone.” Pitch said.

“Quicker would be nice. Trixie doesn’t find it appealing for her to spend all her youthful beauty here without others to admire it.” Trixie said.

“Excellent. We agree then,” Pitch’s teeth showed off.

“Trixie will help but only to leave here. She will help Sparkle but she won’t have anything to do with that thing,” She said cautiously.

Sabre nodded. “If you could it’ll speed things up. We’ll attend to Sombra,” He said.

Sabre placed a large platter of fruits on the table. Trixie salivated hungrily. She took an apple and bite into it.

Where Sombra was being drawn away to he wasn’t quite sure. Walls and walls passed him by as he watched his hooves carry him through the dimly lit castle. Sombra swayed on his hooves as he stopped in front of the Crystal Heart. Sombra lifted his head slowly looking through the heart as it slowly twirled in it’s place in the watch tower.

It was whole but it didn’t quite look like the original Crystal Heart, a hint of yellow glowed around it. Glittering light fell in spirals from the heart like sand gently falling to the floor, gathering for a moment before vanishing.

Sombra’s head jerked. His eyes felt dried so he turned his head back to his hooves to watch the beads of sand jump across the floor and past him before disappearing.

While he watched the mesmerizing flow with interest a faint pinkish mote jumped from the heart and landed on the floor. The mote danced back and forth, almost excitedly, Sombra thought, noticing it immediately.

Sombra offered the front of his hoof to the small entity and it jumped onto it. He brought his leg up and the mote continued to bounce up and down. Sombra just stared not even bothering wondering if it was going to do anything else. It’s energetic movement was enough entertainment to keep him from clearly making any of his own thoughts.

“Is this on?” A wispy voice said.

“Ah...it’s you?” Sombra said dully concluding it could be only one pony.

“Ah, is that you Sombra?” Cadance asked desperately.

“Yes.”

“It sounds as though you are taking this fairly hard,” the mote said. The small pinkish creature turned into a smooth gelatin like pony with no defining features.

“Kingdom in ruin. Heart destroyed. Equestria is now iced over I imagine. Sure, I’m taking it well,” Sombra said. The pony mote, sans wings and horn, was quiet for a moment.

“I’m really sorry. I messed up…” The pony’s head wilted.

“Maybe we all did.” Sombra said.

“Yeah…” Cadance said softly.

“How is the heart?” Sombra asked.

“Broken - it’s not great...but it could be a lot worse too. I’m not sure what I can do this side of things. I came back to watch over the shards of the heart while it recovered from the damage.” Cadance said, not missing a beat.

“How is that exactly?” Sombra asked after a hard moment had passed. Though he was curious what had transpired after the Crystal Heart transported him inside of it he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the truth.

“The storm of chaos made it all the way to Canterlot before being stopped by the princesses.” The little pony made of light flickered and the voice garbled.

Sombra’s face screwed up tighter than the cork of a wine bottle. Angry vitality warmed his blood as he held back a bigger growl. His face softened when saw the flow of sand ripple across the floor and that cooled his mind moderately.

Sombra growled low. “The abomination? What is that doing?”

“I’m not so sure. I think Discord is considering helping out.” Cadance said.

Sombra snorted derisively.

“I’m guessing that Twilight and the others are with you?” Cadance asked

“Yes, they are here.”

“I wanted to talk more to you Sombra,” Cadance said urgently. “Heart to heart. I can only project myself like this for a short while though.” She said softly. “The Crystal Heart can not be fixed this side; it’s not responding to any of my attempts. It needs to be done where you are now.”

Sombra was aware of this. Sombra wilted under the heart’s glow, focusing on his breathing and the specks of light that bounced along the floor.

“Both yourself and Twilight are powerful magic users. The magic that lies deep within you, combined, I believe could restore the heart more sooner. All you need to do is work together and believe in the light and love within you. Only when you truly care can it the Crystal heart be restored. You need to care for others for more than just a means to an end.”

Sombra contemplated his past, looking at the faux Crystal Heart in front of him. The suffering he had caused others was all meant to protect the heart. He had partitioned some part of himself off, long ago, from caring about the hurt that others went through for his scheme. Now however, with chaotic rampant, there were limited options left. Some of the sandy light meet his hooves but he didn’t feel anything there.

“Who could ever care for a beast?” Sombra said gloomily. He had never considered what others thought of him until he reflected on his past doings.

“They can be your friends, if you want them to be. No pony is without love or care in this world. You don’t have to be a super pony and handle this all by yourself. I’m positive they can prove that to you.” Cadance said confidently.

Sombra felt like lying down, his chest heavy with concern. The pink pony mote faded away. Sombra was left with his thoughts for the remainder of the night. The longest night he ever experienced.

Snow Day

In the heart dimension the morning broke like it would normally if it were Equestria. The only thing missing was the morning song of the birds.

“So why are we outside again?” Trixie asked, trotting alongside Twilight, her hooves crunching in and out of the snow. She looked up at the pale blue morning sky.

“Outside is less gloomy,” Twilight explained. “Being in the natural world environment is good for the body, good for the soul.” Twilight explained confidently as if she had read it from a book. She closed her eyes to appreciate and breath in the still surroundings. A deep breath caused her to choke and cough. She patted her chest to clear away the fit.

“What are we doing Sparkle?” Trixie shook her head and grumbled agitatedly.

“Increasing our friendship potential.” Twilight cheered, turning to face Trixie. “Hope and joy are needed to restore the Crystal Heart. So!” She emphasized enthusiastically. “I know we’ve had our differences in the past but right now we need to be a lot more hopeful and joyful towards one another. Emotions shared are emotions doubled!” Twilight said, she then gasped. “Or maybe even tripled! I never considered studying of how magic is tied into our emotions and, being in the Crystal Empire, how those affect the Crystal Heart,” She rambled on.

“Right.” Trixie interjected as Twilight stopped to breathed. Trixie shuffled in the snow a little weary of her excitement for whatever she had planned.

“So what are you hopes Trixie?” Twilight asked expectantly with large pleading eyes.

Trixie was stunned for a moment having just been put on the spot. The smile of Twilight’s face seemed genuine even if a there was a screw loose somewhere.

“I hope to make it out this alive.” Trixie deadpanned.

“Good, striving to survive. A very hopeful attribute.” Twilight said and without missing a beat asked. “What’s your most joyful memory?”

A hoof meet Trixie’s lips and she contemplated this. “Well, it was possible the time Trixie received her cutie mark.”

“Ah, a classical joyful moment.” Twilight nodded.

Trixie was becoming more wary of Twilight’s unflinching happy dial.

“Go on.” Twilight said.

Yet Trixie was quite happy to reveal in herself. “Well uh...it was like a moment in time when everything made sense. Trixie knew her purpose in life, what direction she would take. The path opened up and laid bare before her. To bring wonderment to little fillies and colts was my destiny.” Trixie said, her explanatory tone building up with excitement as she talked about herself.

Twilight’s smile got bigger. She pulled the crystal necklace away from her neck to see if it had changed in any manner. She frowned scrupulously at it. The crystal didn’t look much different than before. She shook it experimentally while her ear flicked over it. Maybe it sounded different?

“Sparkle it’s not a toy!” Trixie said worriedly. As though Twilight might accidentally break it and with it Trixie’s hope of potentially getting back home sooner rather than later.

“Hmm, maybe we’re not doing this right,” Twilight said staring at the crystal thoughtfully. “I’ll ask Doctor Pitch, he knows about crystals,” Twilight called out suddenly.

Twilight rushed off and kicked a layer of snow across Trixie’s hooves. Trixie grumbled as the cool sensation of snow engulfed her legs. She picked up the snow into a ball and threw it at Twilight’s head.

“Hey careful, the snow is still cold here.” Trixie said.

The snowy projectile impacted the back of Twilight’s head.

“Hey, what was that for?” Twilight called over her shoulder as she brushed out the snow from the back of her mane.

“Umm-nah-umm.” Trixie spluttered. “Trixie deemed it necessary to create joy...and stuff.”

The seconds ticked by before Twilight’s face brightened. “That’s brilliant Trixie. A friendly, comradely building exercise like a snow fight is just the thing to build up some positive emotions and experience.”

Twilight leered competitively at Trixie, stamping the ground and readying to take off. The determined expression on Twilight made Trixie backpedaled worriedly.

“W-wait, Twilight! Trixie doesn’t rough house.” Trixie turned her body.

Twilight took off with Trixie turning to run away from the crazy mare.

“Twilight!” Trixie cried. Twilight gleefully chased Trixie across the snowed yard.

Trixie rounded behind one of the few trees spotted around the yard.

“Don’t you dare Twilight Sparkle!” Trixie yelled out.

Twilight chuckled as she scooped a hoof full of snow and flung it towards the tree. It struck Trixie true in the forehead.

“One point for team Sparkle.” Twilight cheered with a hoof pump.

“W-what. We’re keeping score. Well fine!” Trixie grumbled, following Twilight’s suite and scooping up a small snowball of her own. She threw her leg back and took careful aim at Twilight’s face.

“Dodge this. Trixie’s Snowball Special!” Trixie’s snowball catapulted and arced straight across Twilight’s head.

“You gotta do better than that Trixie if you want to beat me.” Twilight said cheerfully and ran for Trixie. Trixie muttered incoherently and ran around the tree with Twilight hot on her tail.

From the castle Pitch and Sabre exited to the garden patio. They stopped to rest on the porch stone railing, looking out with amusement to where Twilight and Trixie were having youthful tomfoolery.

“Well I can taste it and feel it in my stomach,” Sabre said and took another crisp bite of his apple. The cousins had discovered in the kitchen that the taking of food, followed by the eating of said food, would in turn make said food reappear where they took it from.

“She’s really enthusiastic, huh?” Sabre said. The gleeful expression of Twilight and the horror of Trixie’s as she was pummelled by another snowball to the side of the face made Sabre grin.

“What’s eating you?” Sabre asked while Pitch stared off into the distance.

“It’s just, the trouble we’ve caused.” Pitch said after a moment. Sabre took another bite of his apple.

“It’s bad, yeah.” Sabre drolled. “But it could be worse.” He showed a small smile.

“How?” Pitch said angrily, not to Sabre, but at the situation.

“Could be snowing.” Sabre said, taking another bite of his apple. Pitch looked up to the clear morning sky.

“It’s no worse than the situation we were in before. If anything I’d say it was an improvement.” Sabre said.

Pitch gave him an incredulous look before his ears flicked back over towards the castle.The sound of hoof steps on stone made them turn to Sombra approaching them. He joined them with his hooves crossed over the railing. He saw the two mares running out on the patio. If Pitch and Sabre had to guess, by the bags under his eyes, he hadn’t slept that night.

“So, nice day today.” Sombra said, hoping he sounded normal.

“Uh, yes, your majesty. Nice day it is. Today.” Pitch said with a forced grin. He turned to Sabre who pushed his shoulder and made small twitching nods at Sombra.

“What?” Pitch said raspily to Sabre in a hushed tone.

“Talk to him,” Sabre said and continued to press his shoulder lightly.

Pitch shook his head before his attention went back to Sombra. “What are your plans today your majesty?” Pitch asked.

They heard the low throaty grumble of Sombra thinking out loud. “I have one. You two should join them over their in their game.”

Processing new information Pitch’s ears stood on ends. “Huh?” He replied.

“I’m still in the same situation as before. The Crystal Heart needs to be restored. Last night, I did some thinking…”

Pitch leant in closer as Sabre almost fell over him to get closer himself. Sombra watched them wearily and leant away from their overbearing, childlike expectancy.

“I’m willing to give friendship a try.” Sombra said.

Pitch and Sabre smiled before chuckling. “Then we will be with you to that end.” Pitch said.

Sombra nodded to them and rested a hoof on his bandaged wound.

“This is the first time anypony has gone to such lengths to help me.” Sombra said. “I haven’t felt like this for a long time,” He gingerly ran a hoof over his bandaged leg.

“Hmm you should do something special for her.” Pitch suggested with a eyebrow raised hopefully.

“Huh, who?” Sombra asked quickly.

“Twilight.” Sabre added.

“You need to show her you not out of touch with the social norms.” Pitch said.

Sabre flicked his tail at him.

“I-I mean, gratitude. Show your gratitude by graciously accepting Twilight’s help with the heart and then do something special for her in return.” Pitch said.

“But what?” Sombra asked.

Pitch and Sabre shared a look of amazed bewilderment. Their expressions turned happy and amused at the thought of being helpful to Sombra.

“There’s the usual, flowers, chocolates, cupcakes, muffins…” Pitch said, listing things off as he thought.

Sabre pressed his hoof into Pitch’s shoulder. “No, no…” Sabre said. “...It has to be something special, something that captures her interest.”

“But I don’t really know anything about her.” Sombra realised.

Pitch and Sabre winced as they looked at one another then over the yard towards the blue unicorn, Trixie who admirable yelled away as Twilight chased her. She was prancing away from Twilight as she occasionally scooped up some snow to wildly throw, miss, and run away again.

“Sabre.” Pitch said with a sense of command.

“On it.” Sabre saluted and walked off.

He made good time in approaching the two unicorns as their frivolities ended as Trixie flopped to the ground.

“I won.” Twilight said proudly.

Trixie snorted. “Cheated more likely. How’s a pony meant to keep up with an alicorn?”

“I’m not sure. But I was having fun.” Twilight laughed.

“Well, Trixie wasn’t.” She said getting up and limped past Twilight. Trixie grunted with pain as she hopped over to a nearby bench, swiping away the snow before sitting down. She rubbed her sore leg and looked to Sabre as he stopped in front of them.

“Trixie? Could perchance my cousin and I request a mare’s assistance in the kitchen?” Sabre asked hopefully not sounding too strained. He sounded much the same as he always did.

Trixie harrumphed then her hoof bent to her chest for her theatrics to ensue. “Can you not tell that Trixie is exhausted. She is not all the pony she could be right now.” She looked up to Sabre with haunting eyes.

Sabre’s expression remained unchanged.

She sighed and gave in. “Trixie’s job is never done. Fine she shall help but she expects recompense.” She stood back up easily and followed Sabre.

With no one else noticing Sabre gave a oddly surreptitious wink to Sombra which he wasn’t sure how to react to. Twilight noticed the two ponies out on the porch and made her way over to them as Trixie and Sabre left her.

“Where are they going?” Twilight asked from below on the patio as she continued up the small flight of stairs and onto the porch.

“Diner preparations.” Sombra said, giving Twilight his best smile as she rounded near him. It had the unintended effect of making Twilight flinch a little seeing his canine teeth.

“All three of them? Now?” Twilight said watching as Pitch disappeared around the corner of the castle after the other two.

“Umm, yes. For posterity I’m sure.” Sombra said.

Twilight looked at him oddly and joined Sombra on the railing with her hooves crossed.

Sombra rubbed his neck before resting.“This is hard for me to say,” Sombra’s mouth was closed as he licked his teeth anxiously. Twilight twisted her head to him and he turned to meet her. He didn’t look Twilight directly in the eye.

“I wanted to apologise for this happening. I never intended for all this to drag out so long. By ignoring the crystal ponies to try and fix the heart I put them in danger.”

Twilight stood for a while, looking into Sombra’s eyes as they meet.

“What?” Sombra asked, turning his head away from her stare.

“Just wow. I don’t know - I don’t think you need to apologise to me Sombra.” Twilight said before she added. “Though you did kidnap me and are holding me as a prisoner.”

“That too.” Sombra said softly.

“I feel as though it’s me that should be apologising. If it weren’t for me, we probably wouldn't be in this predicament we’re in now.” Twilight avoided looking him directly in the eyes.

“I don’t think what you did was the best. Nor ignoring those who wanted to help...even if the princesses were a little more forward with their help.” Twilight mumbled that last part then sighed. “We might as well be in another world now due to my mistake. I didn’t think about what my action would have on the heart when I rushed to help the crystal ponies.” She turned to face Sombra. “Nor did I ask the one pony who probably knew what would happen. Add another mistake. We’ve both made hills into mountains.” Twilight said.

“Big ones.” Sombra said, a small smile on his lips.

“Yeah.”

After a lull in the conversation they looked out into the patio together looking at the still snow, the quiet trees, and the rather ambivalent environment. Twilight turned back to meet Sombra.

“So. Would you like some help?” Twilight asked.

Sombra paused to breath.

“I am willing,” he said determinedly. “Do you want help?”

Twilight paused to breath.

“I don’t want to be here any longer then needed. If I can help, then I will,” she said.

“You’re hopeful.” Sombra commented on Twilight’s confident tone.

“I’m like to think I am overly optimistic.” Twilight said. Sombra chuckled at that.

“Besides, this place is really eerie. Have you noticed there’s no little creatures around. You’d think there’d be a bird or squirrel scampering about in the yard. It’s like something out of a horror or mystery novel.” Twilight observed.

Sombra slowly inspected the place. He worried unsurely about what he was going to do now. Or how he was going to go about it exactly.

Sombra saw the dark coat of Pitch against the snow as his head poked out from around the corner. He held up a book and pointed at it. Sombra grumbled internally.

“I want to show you something....” Sombra almost um-ed and ah-ed as he dragged the last word out. He pushed off of the railing and headed back into the castle.

“Something?” Twilight mimicked him, following shortly after him.

“Something... special,” Sombra finished, hoping that would be enough till he could figure out what that something was.

“Oh, what is it?”

“It’s a surprise.” Sombra said hiding his wit.

Twilight looked at him skeptically. Sombra lead the way through the castle hallway and corridors. It didn’t take too long for him to find the red and golden hall runner that would lead him to his desired destination on the north part of the castle. They came to a slow stop at the doorway. Twilight looked up the banner that hung above it.

Sombra was about to open the doors when he had an idea and turned to Twilight. “You have to close your eyes for it.” He said.

Twilight looked at him disbelievingly. “I don’t get it.”

“It’s a surprise. It’s meant to be unexpected.” Sombra grinned.

Twilight closed her eyes. Sombra’s waved his hoof in front of Twilight, looking for any noticeable reaction. Pleased, he quietly opened the door then took one of Twilight’s hooves in his and gently tugged her forward into the shadowy library.

“Not yet.” Sombra said seeing after seeing Twilight’s mouth twitch. “Stay here for just a moment.”

Sombra’s tiptoed eagerly across the library. The long curtains drapes were pulled aside with little effort. Each pull of the curtain a new light shined. As he opened up the curtains to let the sunlight in he lifted away the dark interior of the library. Twilight instinctively moved her head towards the light that warmed her face. Sombra pulled each curtain open to its fullest and covered the room in warmly inviting sunlight.

“Can I open them now?” Twilight said, sensing Sombra coming back.

“Yes. Open your eyes.”

So Twilight opened her eyes and they lit up like stars at night. Twilight's gaze swept across the library taking in the pleasant visual of knowledge with a small half smile all the while.

The library was a large open room. Every conceivable wall shelved books. The outer walls extended so high that they were divided into three levels with spiralling stairs joining them together. The tiles of the floor were smoothed to a shine. Hearths spotted around the room with sitting areas and mantelpieces decorated the library. The most impressive display of two manticores statues on the second level of the inner walls, staring across at one another. Flat crystal discs on swivelable daises bounced the light around the room.

Twilight short giggles turned into outright laughter. She wiped the happy tears out of her eyes. Seeing Sombra’s confusion she said.

“I’m getting the impression you have a thing for stairs.” Twilight said, a small smile played on her lips teasingly.

Sombra looked at her flatly.

“Heh, sorry. I’ve been here before. It’s still amazing as ever. I’ve never seen so many books in one place before, not even Canterlot’s royal library is this impressive.” Twilight said spinning around the room.

Sombra stood awkwardly looking everywhere but Twilight.

“So, no other catch, no plans within plans or cryptic speeches?” Twilight stopped spinning.

“Not this time,” Sombra said and sagged, looking at the floor. He relaxed when he looked back to see Twilight’s smile. “If we’re to be here awhile you should know you can come here whenever you want.”

Twilight smiled. “Thank you for showing me the library. Honestly, with the changed looked to the kingdom I imagined the layout would of changed as well.”

Sombra shook his head with a light chuckle. “That wouldn’t of been economically viable, much less have any practical use to have changed anything.”

“Then why change it at all?” Twilight asked.

“Increase the gloom, increase the dank, dark emotions for the heart.” Sombra said playfully.

Twilight nodded. “Well I guess while we’re stuck here. Would you like to read together?” Twilight said trotted over to a nearby bookshelf. She screed top to bottom, left to right, of the bookshelf and picked out a few books of interest.

As Twilight’s hooves heaved with books Sombra walked over and held out his hoof. Wordlessly she passed half of what she held to him.

“It’ll be warmer in the sitting lounge.” Sombra said and Twilight agreed. While a amazing library in of itself the space leant itself to be rather chilly.

They trotted back, Sombra keeping up with Twilight’s eager steps.

Sombra passed several logs into the fireplace and on the ashes of the previous night. He grabbed a hoof full of twigs and branches from the wooden bin next the the fireplace and threw them in. From the mantelpiece he grabbed a piece of flint and a metal scraping tool to strike the fire. It took three strikes against the flint and that was enough for it to get it started. Sombra blew on the fire steadily till he was satisfied it would take.

Twilight had laid down on the rug and waited as Sombra settled down opposite her.

“So, I picked out a few interesting titles here that you might be interested in.” Twilight said. Six books were turned so Sombra could read the covers.

He openly glared at them, forcing the words on the covers to deciphered themselves for him. When he felt his eyes drying he slid one book away from Twilight.

“Oh-ho-ho, no. You don’t want to read that one!” Twilight said briskly, the purple of her cheeks flushed red. She quickly slid the book back and into her embrace. Sombra was not only lost for how to read but what to say.

“That one’s more for me than anyone else.” She turned to look at her wings resting at her sides.

Sombra took the book next to the one that Twilight now held protectively. He cracked open the book and pretended to be reading. The jumbled symbols making no sense to him, cursing his long time stuck in the prison.

Twilight didn’t so much pick up the discomfort from Sombra’s expression but was able to tell when someone wasn’t in the throes of reading. Though seeing somepony like Sombra, who seemed to be having trouble reading, was strange for Twilight. Surely he could read, she wondered.

“Are you ok Sombra? You look troubled.” Twilight asked, peeking up at him from her book.

“Fine,” Sombra said.

“Doesn’t sound fine to me,” Twilight said looking across at Sombra who willed himself not to look up from the pages.

She steadily got up from her place on the rug and rounded up next to Sombra, a few inches away from touching sides. Sombra didn’t turn from looking inside the book.

Twilight waited patiently.

“Twilight…” Sombra said shyly. “Could you...teach...me?”

“The great strategist never learned to read?” Twilight asked, a bit teasingly with some real talk.

“That was a long time ago now.” Sombra said sadly.

Twilight quickly amended herself, not expecting that answer and hummed, finding that interesting.

“I could teach you if you like.” Twilight said softly not sure if prison life for Sombra was a tender subject or not and would be inadvertently brought up.

Sombra softened his shoulders. “I’d appreciate that.” He said, turning to face her.

“I was able to teach a baby dragon to read when I was eight. I’m sure I can handle you.” Twilight said encouragingly.

A few hours spent and Twilight made a course for Sombra to identify letter forms. Hoping, that, deep in the recesses of his mind, he’d be able to pick up what he had lost. They had gone through the whole alphabet.

“You’re doing fairly well after only after a few hours,” Twilight said. “I don’t think you're totally unable to read. You just need some refreshing in that department.”

“Hm, remember which was S and Z face will take some time.” Sombra said.

“Shapely S and ziggy Z.” Twilight punctuated animatedly.

Sombra gave her a new look.

“Something from my friend Pinkie; it means amazing, apparently - but also talks too much and tends to be abnormally strange.” Twilight said with a wily smile.

“Your friend sounds abnormally strange.” Sombra grinned. He got up to poke the fire with the iron poker hanging under the mantlepiece.

“That’s Pinkie to a T.” Twilight said.

“That’s an old phrase I didn’t believe I’d ever hear.” Sombra said after he chuckled. He came back over and settled back down next to Twilight.

She giggled. “Yes, the strangeness of Pinkie can be infectious at times. Even in this dimension.” Twilight’s eyes opened and she looked around the room energetically.

“What is it?”

“I was just thinking, Pinkie has a knack for always showing up at the most unexpected times.” Twilight’s eyes squinted scrupulously.

“There is a chance there are other ponies here.” Sombra contemplated. “If she or any other pony didn’t make it out of the hearts radius when it transported ponies here.” Sombra stood back up again. “I should go look.”

Twilight stood up next to him. “I’ll give a hoof. We should get the others to lend one as well.”

To that end Sombra and Twilight ended up in the royal dining room. Sombra was about to head through the kitchen door when Trixie burst out in front of him.

“How rude. Trixie was only trying to lend a hoof.” She muttered before noticed that other ponies were in the room with her.

“Oh...hi?” Trixie said weakly.

Pitch saw Sombra through the open door and came to the threshold. “Five minutes your majesty. If you all would like to take a seat.” His look warned Trixie. “We shall serve just after that.”

Sombra grunted and with a nod went to the head of the table. Twilight trotted to the lower end. Trixie waited and watched. Twilight pointed to the seat next to her. Trixie nodded her thanks and sat down a little more weary that she was about to dine with a princess and a king. Albeit, Twilight’s princesshood hadn’t been an issue before.

“I think this is right by royal precedence. This being their home and us as guests.” Twilight said to Trixie.

Pitch rolled out a trolley with bowls on top. Sabre went to stand behind the chair next to the Sombra. Pitch ahammed and pointed to the seat next to Trixie. Before Sabre moved Sombra said there was no need.

He smiled good-naturedly. “I’ve never known much of seating precedence. So seat wherever you like.”

Pitch served as host and rolled the trolley from one end to the other, first serving the lower end and came back to the other to do the same.

“You got kicked out of the kitchen over oats?” Twilight tried not to grin.

Trixie bit her tongue as Sabre tried not to laugh.

“Honey and cinnamon oats.” Sabre chimed in monotonously.

Twilight shook her head. The cutlery on the table bounced as Sombra’s head buried into the soft and warm honeyed oats. Trixie dropped her spoon and gawked before snickered behind her hoof.

Pitch coughed to get Sombra’s attention. Sombra drenched muzzle appeared above the bowl. Pitch looked at him pleadingly. Sombra followed his gaze down to a silver spoon left unattended next to the bowl.

Sombra blinked at the foreign object in front of him. From the way he handled the spoon one would think he never handle one before. Taking it crudely in one hoof he dug out a full spoon of oats. He lifted the spoon above his lowered head and let the contents slip off of it into his mouth.

Pitch rolled his eyes shaking his head disdainfully. He turned to Sabre and the other three unicorns turned to the earth pony at the table for sagely advice and saving grace.

He calmly brought up his hooves next to his bowl and waited for everyone else to follow suit. Sabre gently moved in so that the bowl was pressed gently into his fetlocks and brought it up off the table. Everyone followed. Sabre leant his head tilting his hooves to slurp the oats with minimal noise and mess. The unicorns followed his actions just after him.

Following the diner they gathered together outside the castle courtyard. Where they would head out and look for other ponies that may be around.

“Pitch and Sabre you can help them scout the kingdom. We’ll meet back at the gate here as the sun sets.” Sombra said. He turned tail, his cape flapping in the air, and walked off.

Twilight and Pitch headed away from the gate with Trixie and Sabre heading off in another direction.

“We should mark a perimetre so we don’t go over where we’ve already been,” Pitch suggested.

“We should also start outside and work our way inwards, that way we finish at the gate without having to walk all the way back.” Twilight said.

They nodded their arguments as they trotted along.

“So how are you and your cousin holding up?” Twilight asked.

“Sabre can handle almost any situation that comes his way. His acceptable of change. He’s a very easy going. With the flow sort of pony.” Pitch said.

“And yourself?” Twilight asked.

Pitch sighed. “If you’re asking - I don’t regret being associated with helping with Sombra’s plans. Sabre and I knew what we were getting into. I only regret we’re not strong enough to fulfil the means in a more proper way.” He sighed louder. “That’s something we’re going to have to carry the rest of our lives.”

Twilight placed a hoof on Pitch’s shoulder. “He is an intimidating pony at first, mean and coarse.” Twilight tittered at the memory. “And a little unrefined.” She talked seriously again. “Considering what’s happening here and in Equestria, he’s in a situation where he’s unsure of himself.” She hummed. “We all sort of are.”

“Add to the fact he’s probably not used to be around others,” Twilight's face winced. “But we also need to show him that it’s not just because of the Crystal Heart that we’re doing this.” Twilight said.

“He’s going to need somepony he can trust and confide in. You and Sabre have been with him the longest. I’m sure with enough time he’ll open up to you both a lot more.” Twilight said.

“We’ll be there for each other.” Pitch smiled determinedly. Twilight agreed.

Sabre and Trixie trotted silently. It wasn’t long since they departed the others that Trixie eyed him angrily and harrumphed.

“You’re strange.” Sabre drolled.

“Says you!” Trixie said hotly.

Across the kingdom Sombra marched determinedly in and out of every building, home, and orifice he could find. He searched in basements, cupboards, attics, and alleyways, but didn’t sense any other pony all the while.

The sun was to setting as Sombra made his way back to the courtyard.

He came to an intersection of roads, an opened gathering area where a fountain was. It wasn’t functioning however. Three sculptures stood up on their hind legs, with one leg thrusted upwards as the other tucked in for counterbalance, their backs facing one another, and heads held back. It was a vaguely interesting sculpture of three ponies. They looked like they might have been dancing together.

Across the road behind the statues was a clothes store. Mannequins stood in the window with winter cloaks draped on them. Sombra almost turned away till he spotted to one side one of the cloak was of purple. Sombra tolerated the cold more than most but the others would need time to adjust. He stepped into the store and took the cloaks, laying them over his back to carry. He left quickly back to the gate.

Trixie and Sabre were the first back to the gate and watched out for the others return. Trixie eyed Sombra wearily as he approached them. He took the top most cloak and held it out to her. She looked from the cloak to Sombra unsurely.

“It’s a winter cloak. Take it.” He said. So she did. He passed another to Sabre. Twilight and Pitch approached.

“How did you go. Find anything?” Twilight asked.

“No.” Trixie harrumphed swinging the cloak around her withers and trotted off towards the castle.

Twilight questioned Sabre with a raised brow. She worried for Trixie. He scratched his chin and shrugged.

Sombra came up to Twilight with a dark purple coat lined in white ewe wool.

“Is that for me? Thank you, it’s beautiful.” Twilight said. Her hoof brushed his as she took it from him. Sombra smiled gently and finished passing out the cloaks with Pitch as the last recipient.

“We can try again when there’s more light. There’s still a whole kingdom left to search.” Sombra said.

“I’ll prepare some diner.” Sabre said where everyone unwittingly followed him back when he went to the castle.

As a professional assistant Sabre was used to serving simple meals to Pitch late into the night as he enraptured himself in his studies. The increase in mouths didn’t worry him. A quick and easy vegetable stew and fruit side dish was tonight’s main course.

All five ponies huddled at one end of the table at both sides of Sombra. A fire crackled to one side of the room. Their cloaks removed as the fire warmed them. There was a faintest depressing air after failing the task for the day.

“We have to speed this up somehow. We need to search the rest of the kingdom as quickly as possible. The more ponies that can help the quicker the heart can be restored.” Twilight said.

“Agreed.” Sombra nodded.

No one else said anything. Trixie twirled a spoon in her bowl.

The glum expressions wasn’t missed by Twilight so she said. “Come on everypony. Cheer up. We’ve barely started. Have some hope.”

Trixie’s jaw worked around. “How do we do that?” She said with listless sarcasm.

“We renew it.” She stated confidently. “If my research on friendship is any indication then a level of hope can be achieved by setting effective goals and then achieving them. Bodies can catch feelings as easily as fire catches. If we renew the fire of hope in own hearts that warmth can spread to each other.”

“Like a sponge soaking up water?” Sabre said.

“Yeah, like that.” Twilight said.

“Sounds...easy enough Trixie supposes.” Trixie said slowly. “Yes, Trixie’s supposes a sponge will came in handy to soak up the big pile of snow Equestria is buried under,” She said slumping back in her seat.

The change in mood shifted everyone awkwardly.

Sombra tried to put some of their fears at ease seeing their downtrodden gaze after Trixie’s remark. “From what I’ve been told Equestria isn't in a total state of disrepair,” he said.

“How do you know?” Twilight asked, ears turned towards him.

“I spoke with Cadenza.” Sombra said.

“You spoke with Cadance?” Twilight asked.

“Yes. She was able to project herself through the heart.” Sombra paraphrased partly what he and Cadance had talked about to the table.

“Wow, that’s amazing when you think about it,” Twilight gushed bringing a hoof to her lips in thought. “We’re stuck inside the Crystal Heart yet communications from outside can still get to us.”

“For the moment it seems.” Sombra said.

“Do you think we can try to communicate with her again?” Twilight asked.

“No.” Sombra said sternly. “We should leave the heart be.”

Twilight considered that would probably be best. The remaining dinner time went by in companionable silence. After everyone had departed their own way after dinner though Twilight’s thoughts came back to her.

“I wonder.” Twilight’s fetlock rubbed under her chin. “If Cadance can project herself into this dimension she might even be able to send some magic to help us out as well.” Twilight hummed. She trotted off to head to the throne room. The stairwell into the abyss was already opened. She grumbled looking down it and the anticipating trek down.

At the end of the stairs in the small dark area Twilight was meet with a single wooden door which awaited to the next, much longer staircase.She placed her hoof to the door handle. It quickly slammed open and the dark void inside took all her senses away from her.

When they returned she was back home in Ponyville. She looked around in confusion.

Outside a rumbling could be heard. The room quaked and items leapt up off the floor, tables, and shelves. Twilight ran for the window and looked out.

Bulging with muscular red arms, solid obsidian chest and ashen coat body a large centaur stood above the treeline. In between his two horns that curved upward from the side of his head, a blazing ball of fire burnt brightly. He threw the ball towards her.

Panicked Twilight tried to cast a teleportation and was almost not quick enough. Her eyes squinted and she swiftly tried to recollect her sensed. She noted the creature in front of her and took a fevered glance behind her. Her home was destroyed behind her.

Before her mind could contemplate a giant hoof stomped near her causing her to take notice.

“Once I have your magic. This world is mine little alicorn.”

The large fist snatched her from the ground. He squeezed her tight as she struggled to break free. Twilight desperately tried not to scream. The centaur Tirek opened his mouth. Twilight gasped trying to pull herself of his giant grip.

Twilight’s horn forced forward and she screamed as her her magic was sucked out and into the gigantic centaur's maw from it. Twilight struggled with great effort to regain control and tried not to scream.

“Somepony...help!” Twilight screamed out.

She opened her bleary eyes to shadows and panicked. Worried that she was going to pass out. Just as centaur's mouth was closing, draining the final bit of her magic, a red cloak pulled across her face.

Twilight gasped finding herself in the embrace of Sombra. His cape pulled from him and mostly around Twilight. He held her with his head close to hers. Twilight’s breathe shuddered as she recollected herself and Sombra opened his eyes.

“So real…” She choked steadying herself with her head against Sombra’s feeling like her magic had really been drained by the experience.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking you would go to the heart by yourself.” Sombra said.

Twilight was about to talk but Sombra beat her to the answer. “Everything that was a part of the Crystal Empire is also replicated here at the time when the heart took it.”

“So right now Cadance would be…” Twilight said, smacking her dried lips together.

“She’d be sitting outside in the Frozen North.” Sombra said, watching Twilight’s expression carefully.

“I’m…” she shuddered and tears streamed down her face.

Sombra hummed a unknown calming diddy.

Twilight chuckled feeling the soft vibration against her forehead. “Are you humming?”

Sombra grunted affirmatively. Twilight leaned her head back up and Sombra’s cape fall from her back. She rubbed the tears off of her cheeks.

“If you want to see to the heart I’ll have to open the door.” Sombra said.

Twilight smiled shyly, still feeling a layer of wetness on her lower eyelids. When Sombra’s hoof touched the door it slammed open. The luminescence of the crystal above shifted in tonal colours. The jet-black mesh moved and shifted in front of them.

Seeing Twilight frown Sombra said. “This is merrily a cosmetic thing, to intimidate those not brave enough to step through it.”

The chill of the substance Twilight still found unsettling as they stepped through it.

As they ascended the pearlescent staircase of the watch tower Sombra and Twilight walked up side by side.

“Know that any trap that I’ve made is only a fleeting visual, like a dream. It can not physically harm you.” Sombra said.

“It felt real. I swear I could even really hear what was being said. I remember it so well, as if it actually happened,” Twilight said, her eyes drifted around the steps in front of her.

“Admittedly, one of my better spells.” Sombra said. “I am rather protective of the Crystal Heart after all.”

Twilight nodded warily at that fact and they continued their trek upwards.

Twilight gasped as they emerged from the top of the spiralling stairwell. “The heart is whole?” The heart still emanated with an sand hourglass like quality to it. She lifted her hoof up to avoid any of the straying particles from touching her.

“It’s not the real heart and it’s not whole, not yet.” Sombra shook his head tiredly.

No sooner that they had arrived a pink dot jumped out of the Crystal Heart. It landed on the floor and was there for a brief moment before Sombra picked it up.

“Sombra!” Cadance called urgently.

“Cadance?” Twilight said.

“Twilight? It’s good to hear from you and not much later.” Cadance said and the sphere transfigured into a basic pony shape, albeit no tail and mane.

“What’s wrong Cadance?” Twilight asked.

“It’s Celestia and Luna.” She said and stopped before she said despairingly. “They’re not going to be able to hold back the storm of chaos.”

“W-What? How long?” Twilight said.

“A fortnight to a month at the most.” Cadance said. “They have a plan but they haven’t mentioned what...”

The pink pony mote crumbled away.

“Cadance!” Twilight said.

Sombra’s hoof dropped back the floor as his eyes drooped.

Twilight sagged. “What can we do?”

“Hope,” he said and turned to leave. “Come.”

Twilight followed not wanting to be left alone and trotted with no whimsy in her steps. The walk back to the throne room was long, hard, and quiet. Sombra stepped closely to Twilight sensing her discomfort and pressed his side to Twilight’s. She looked back down the stairs into it’s dark crevasse.

“I’m sorry…” Twilight whispered.

“Don’t be. This is not all your fault.” Sombra interjected. “Come. The heart and Equestria will keep for another night.”

Sombra walked ahead, Twilight to his flank, and matched his speed to hers. He lead her to the sitting lounge. Twilight sat easily down on the rug in front of the hearth and Sombra started a fire. As it began to burn he went over to a nearby table that was settled by various kitchen items. He poured a pitcher of water into a rustic kettle, marred black on the bottom. He grabbed the fire poker under the mantlepiece and use it to move the kettle onto the small flames.

“The others will have to be told about that door as well.” Twilight said.

“Pitch and Sabre are aware it. Only the show pony doesn’t know.” Sombra said.

“Trixie,” Twilight said and sniffled, with a gentle yet somehow reprimanding smile. “Her name is Trixie. How did you she was a show pony.”

Sombra grunted as half of his lips pulled up. He twirled hoof in front of him and then flicked his head back with it in a theatrically over-the-top way.

Twilight giggled. “Yes, that sort of gives it a way.”

Two faces watched eagerly from outside the room.

“Do you think it’s working Sabre?” Pitch said. He didn’t see Sabre shrug.

“What are you two doing.” Trixie hushly said, seeing the sly position the two ponies were in at the door. She poked her head in the doorway as well.

Sombra brought over a book and opened it up. One half Twilight took and Sombra held the other as they read together. Twilight doing most of the reading and helping Sombra to do so.

“What’s up with them?” Trixie whispered coarsely.

“Blossoming love,” Sabre drolled.

Trixie snickered. The three ponies bolted against the wall as Sombra and Twilight turned their way. Sabre kicked Pitch lightly in the fetlocks and motioned him down the hallway. Trixie followed after the two.

“The innate magic of an alicorn and the considerable power of Sombra, a match made in Tartarus it may seem. Though I believe he can be benevolent where the heart is concerned.” Pitch said.

“It’s probable the only thing he’s benevolent about.” Trixie said stoutly.

“Trixie that’s mean.” Sabre said.

Trixie flustered. “W-well...he’s more mean.” She bawled and then walked off.

Pitch grimaced. “Can’t blame here at this point.” he whispered. “She’s working through it but Sombra still has wrongs he’s to answer to.”

“She’s may even jealous of Sombra and Twilight getting closer.” Sabre began walking again. “Or she might have feelings for me but is not sure how to go about admitting it.” Sabre drolled.

“Ah-huh. What?” Pitch said evenly then laughed. “So now I’m playing matchmaker for two ponies? When did this happen?”

“It must be my natural charm.” Sabre droned.

A Little Change

They got back from a week of searching the Crystal Empire feeling particularly exhausted. The days felt long and stretched out during the search for other ponies. Each day the search was mixed up between the small group going out solo or together in pairs. In particular, Twilight and Sombra spent the previous couple of days scouring through the empire together. Ending each day together with reading in the sitting lounge they had become familiar with. During this time they were left alone by the others.

Trixie spent the time with one the cousins or Twilight, admitting she didn’t feel at ease with Sombra due to his abnormal non-pony canine incisors.

They worked together searching throughout the empire for others. Covering everywhere methodically thanks to the input of Twilight and Pitch. When most of the empire had been scouted for other life they once again returned to the castle courtyard.

At the end of the seventh day Sabre and Trixie finished at the castle gate where Twilight and Pitch waited for them.

“That was a bust.” Trixie said pulling her hood off and sighed. “Now what do we do?”

Sabre shrugged.

“Well, we’ve achieved our goal of searching the empire. So we know that we’re the only ones here.” Twilight said, shrugging and her expression downcasted. Her seemingly ever present smile strained.

“Great.” Trixie said, tossing her mane and walked away in a huff. Twilight watched her go and sighed.

“She’s fine, just anxious to leave this place I think.” Sabre said and followed after her.

“Maybe we all need some time to ourselves.” Twilight commented to Pitch.

“Some reprieve from the week would be good.” He sighed and rubbed his cranium then also made to leave.

Twilight breathed in deeply and out again. She trotting across the courtyard stone till her hooves met the cool grass of the castle’s patio. She saw that a pond in the garden was frozen over. It had been a while since she had let herself have some fun. She pulled her hood over her head. She remedied her lack of fun by going out onto the pond and letting the kick of her back hoof sail her across the ice. In was relaxing in a way to be moving forward with little effort and having a cool breeze in her face.

Sombra was the last to arrive at the gate, having opted to solo the last day by himself. He spotted the distant purple form of Twilight in the garden.

Sombra paused at the edge of the frozen pond. He watched as Twilight move easily over the ice. He smiled and put his hoof on the surface of the pond to immediately regret it. His leg flew out from underneath him and the momentum forced him across the ice towards Twilight.

Twilight winced and skated up to him as he got up on shaky legs.

“Sorry we didn’t wait for you. I just wanted a moment to myself from all the searching we’ve been doing.” Twilight said. Hood pulled back.

“Oh, uh.” Sombra looked around for an escape.

“It’s alright I don’t mind the company.” Twilight said. “I still can’t get over how kind of eerie it is when you realise there’s no other animals around, not a bird or squirrel. Ponyville is always bustling.” She reminisced.

Sombra was paying more attention to his legs and tried to force the rest of his body to try to do want he wanted but to no avail, he was going to fall down. Twilight tried to hide a smile.

“It’s harder than it looks.” Sombra said grumpily trying to lift himself back up again.

Twilight nodded. “My friend Pinkie taught me. I’ll teach you if you like.” She said skimming in a small circle.

“Okay.” Sombra murmured still focusing on his legs.

“Here take my hooves and I’ll help you steady yourself on the ice.”

Sombra hooves meet Twilight’s as they shifted slowly against the ice. Sombra’s back legs however left the ground and he fell onto his stomach. Twilight winced. She bent her leg for him to hold onto.

Sombra tried to balance up, he felt his legs slipping again and he threw his legs around the nearest high object to stop himself hitting the hard ice again. Twilight, being the nearest object, was grabbed around the neck, but because she was also a pony with bendable limbs, his weight pulled her down with him and onto his chest.

Twilight laughed. “Good one.”

She picked herself up. “Let's try that one again. With less falling.” She amended.

Sombra got up this time and managed to correct his legs from slipping away from himself. Also managed to steady himself with Twilight’s foreleg.

“Good, good.” Twilight tutted.

She kicked her back hoof on the ice and drifted backwards with Sombra coming with her. Sombra tested the ice himself with a kick on the ice and they both slowly moved across the ice together.

“Good you’re getting the hang of it.” Twilight encouraged as they made a round of the pound slowly but surely.

Now familiar with it Sombra tested all four of his own hooves on the frozen pond and skated around it. He kicked his back hoof for momentum.

“Now see if you can copy me.” Twilight said. “One, two, three. One, two, three.” She said as she skated across the pond making sure to exaggerated her movements so Sombra could see them. He watched closely. Twilight motioned him to try it out.

Twilight watched critically and prepared to intervene with advice if needed. Sombra grinned as he circled around her on one back and one forehoof.

“Now you’re just showing off.” Twilight said good-naturedly.

“Now the apprentice is the master.” Sombra said with a toothy grin. Twilight shook her with a small smile. Sombra expression fell from his face as he looked off to the side and down to his hoof still moving along the ice. As he swept passed Twilight he slipped on the ice again.

“That’s what you get for trying to show off before you're ready.” Twilight said. She wrapped her hoof around his and pulled him up off of the ground.

Sombra was still looking staring as his hoof.

“Sombra?” Twilight asked as she let him go.

Sombra meet her eyes quietly. “Ah, it’s nothing.” His mouth was opened narrowly. He shook his mane and stared at Twilight not saying anything.

A small blush on her cheeks and Twilight looked at the garden bridge that arched above the pond. “Aah...hmm.”

Sombra flustered as well before he grunted and skated away, hearing Twilight titter as he did so.

Through a castle window Pitch had watched the last few moments between Sombra and Twilight. “Hmm, tonight might be the night.”

“What are two doing?” Sombra asked as he was ushered through the corridor by Pitch and Sabre one night.

“A night of food and fun.” Pitch said with a smile.

“Dancing.” Sabre added.

“Dancing?” Sombra turned to Sabre who used his head to push him into the bathroom.

Sombra stopped. A bath had been drawn and was noticeable smoking.

“Ok, ok. I’m up, I’m up.” Sombra said and Sabre’s headbutting stopped. Sombra stepped up the lip of the bathtub and threw himself over into it. A wave of hot water splashed out and over the two crystal ponies.

Pitch spluttered and pulled his wet mane out of his face. Sabre pulled a cord at the back of the bathtub and more water sprayed out from the shower head and all over Sombra.

With a scrubbing brush Sabre helped Sombra to reach those hard to reach places. He scrubbed vivaciously across Sombra’s back.

Sombra grunted and grumbled as Sabre made quick work, splashing and spraying water and bubbles everywhere.

“Ah, tonight is the night.” Pitch preened.

Sombra was about to move before Sabre dumped a bucket of water to get the suds out of his fur.

“We don’t have time to dawdle. Every day that passes is a bad day for Equestria.” Pitch talked to himself.

Sombra stepped out of the tub dripping water. He shook himself from his head to his tail. His mane and tail stuck out every which way. Pitch brushed the offended water off his face.

“You confess your love. And pomf, crystal heart restored.” Pitch said.

Sombra sat down at the vanity desk not especially listening to the doctor. Pitch grabbed a towel nearby and started drying him off while Sabre worked with his mane.

Sombra hummed thoughtfully.

Pitch finished towelling off Sombra’s tail as Sabre finished combing Sombra’s mane with a flourishing downstroke. Pitch had a look of concern on his face.

“You care for her don’t you?” Pitch asked.

Sombra’s ear flicked. “Yes I...more than anything.” Sombra said

“Well, then you must tell her.” Pitch said.

Sabre stepped back from his work for Pitch to examine it.

“Hm, you look so…” Pitch mumbled.

“I look foolish.” Sombra said flatly at his reflection. His mane was as straight and flat then he had ever seen, one side covering up half of his face. His mane covered him like a fresh shiny coat of black paint.

“Not quite what we’re looking for.” Pitch looked meaningfully to Sabre to which he smiled halfheartedly and re-attacked the bed of hair and combed it back away from hiding Sombra’s face.

With a few careful snips at the back of his hair, Sombra was done. His mane and tail finished off with a small red bow to keep his mane out of his face. The colour matched his cape.

Sabre presented Sombra’s crown tiara. Sombra picked it up to consider it before placing it down on the desk in front of him.

“I didn’t know you could style a mane Trixie.” Twilight said, watching Trixie’s expert administration.

“Trixie’s has many skills she employs as a travelling magician.” Trixie said flicking a part of Twilight’s mane across her face.

“It’s just another dinner together...right? Then a dance. It’s for the Crystal Heart, as friends do.” Twilight smiled strained.

The smile wasn’t lost on Trixie who amused in it. “Of course Sparkle.” Trixie said theatrically, twirling the mane comb in the air. “Friendship is magic after all.”

“Yes, friendship. Very magically.” Twilight said robotically with a deadpanned expression.

Trixie placed the comb down and admired her work. She clapped her hooves together.

“You will be dining downstairs tonight.” Trixie reminded her.

Twilight took the crystal necklace lying in wait on the desk.

“You’re wearing that?” Trixie asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s a nice necklace. I like the way it looks.” Twilight said tapping one of the crystals to make it sway across her chest.

“Trixie shall see you in the dining room in a bit then.” Trixie sauntered off.

“Oh...ok.” Twilight said. She expected that Trixie was going to go with her, or at least dress up with her.

She made her way quickly across the foyer stairwell to where she would find Pitch and Sabre. Trixie knocked lightly from outside drawing Pitch’s attention. “Sparkle awaits.” She whispered out loud and chuckled excitedly. She ran off to prepare herself.

Sombra stepped out into foyer stairwell. Twilight stood on the other side not hiding her smile.

She wore a simple strapless dress that hugged just behind her withers. The top part of the dress was done up in a small elegant tie. The end of her dress was a lighter blue sheer chiffon that covered her flank and almost touched the ground and ended in ruffles with only her fetlocks showing through it while the rest was under the secondary layer of the blue dress. A small dark blue corsage tied the waist of the dress together.

He wore his familiar red cape. His mane and tail pulled together neatly and organised, without a strand out of place, with a red bowtie. He wore a white ruffle shirt with gold-tone buttons at the center front. The collar of the shirt snuggled fitted around half his neck. A wide, golden buckled, waist belt kept the shirt from dangling loosely.

Sombra rolled his eyes playfully and together they walked down their side of the staircase and meet in the middle. They hooked hooves together and walked the rest of the way like that.

Entering the much larger public dining hall of the castle’s ground floor they shared a conspiring look. Sombra politely pulled Twilight’s chair out.

“Thank you.” She said with a dainty curtsy.

Twilight still had a small giddy smile on her face. Sombra shrugged. It was found rather amusing that they sat a much smaller, more intimate table, a small candelabra was lit on one side, and a vase with a red rose in it on the other, and two crystal champagne flutes on their sides.. Their view not obstructing to one another. A fire crackled in the nearby hearth.

Trixie was not long behind them wearing a smart dark blue dinner jacket with a satin black colour and matching bowtie that seemed to shine. She shook her head to herself seeing as the two ponies paid her presence no comment. She coughed to get their attention.

“May Trixie,” She paused to twirl a hoof to herself. “Proudly present,” She paused again the emphasis. “Your dinner,” Trixie twirled her hoof outwardly and and bowed out of the way as the door opened up. A trolley lead both Pitch and Sabre, dark red suits and bowties matching Trixie’s, as they escorting them to Sombra and Twilight respectively.

“They’re going all out tonight.” Twilight said as they left. He hummed in agreeance.

Sombra took a moment to admire Trixie’s showmareship. He took longer to admire Twilight’s mane in a bun with two locks of hair pulled in front of ears and curled around her cheeks.

Trixie waited eagerly as Pitch and Sabre stood by the door after setting the table. Sombra and Twilight waited.

“Bon appétit.” Trixie said with a flourishing gesture and followed Pitch and Sabre out.

Just as Sabre had shown them originally Sombra and Twilight lifted their plates with their hooves. They brought them up together mutual goodwill while smiling.

Twilight finished and dabbed her mouth with a napkin without undoing it. Placing it back Twilight stepped out of her chair. Sombra noticed her move and watched her come up to him nervously. She took one of his hooves and lead him out of the dining room.

One leg hooked with the other and Sombra and Twilight walked to the adjacent ballroom. Three other ponies skipped stealthily behind them.

Sombra and Twilight walked out into the empty ballroom. Twilight glanced to the mural that stretch across the whole of the roof. A flock of pegasus among the clouds looked over them.

Trixie found an old sonophone and pushed the needle on the vinyl record. Pitch and Sabre joined next to her to watch from the side of the room. Music filled the hall and Twilight began to sway as it surrounded them. The empty ballroom beckoned.

Sombra felt a little hesitant to dance, not to mention, where to place his hooves. Twilight helped and took one of his hooves and placed in on her shoulder. When she stood on her legs Sombra followed. She than placed Sombra’s remaining hoof on her waist. Her remaining forehoof resting gently on his opposite shoulder.

She lead him and he followed. The occasionally hoof overstepped and landing near or on her hoof.

“Sorry, are you ok?” Sombra asked.

“It’s ok. Didn’t hurt.” Twilight said through clenched teeth.

“I’ve not danced, ever.” Sombra said.

“Something to add to the list of things to teach you then.” Twilight said. “Listen to the music and follow the rhythm with me. One, two three, one, two, three.”

Twilight nodded her head to the rhythm of the music and let it guide her movements. They slowly waltzed and progressed around the room in time with the music. Sombra smiled as he got the hang of it. Twilight rested her head on Sombra’s shoulder. He smiled softly.

The record finished with soft buzz and clicked off. Sombra held Twilight’s hoof with his.

“Next time I will be better.” Sombra said.

Twilight smiled cheekily which Sombra meet with his own nervous one.

“Promise,” he said.

Sombra lead Twilight outside to the ballroom deck. Sabre motioned to Pitch and Trixie to follow him, to give the two some privacy.

Sombra and Twilight on a protruding bench from a garden wall. A small garden of flowers encircled them. The night was quiet and calm.

Twilight shoulders shifted and she sighed quietly.

“What’s wrong?” Sombra asked concerned noticing the tension in her expression.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Twilight said and played with the curl of her mane.

Sombra watched her subverted gaze. “You miss your friends.”

Her head raised up. “Yes, I do.” She resigned.

“Would you like to see them?” Sombra asked.

Her expression opened. “...How?” She asked when Sombra wasn’t forthcoming.

Sombra took her hoof and they got up. “Follow me.”

Sombra lead her to the west wing of the castle to where his room was. Twilight was surprised to see the inky blue room so spartan. The windows provided the only light to the room.

Twilight drew to a large crystal mirror that stood out in the room. Sombra placed a hoof on the mirror and its surface rippled in response.

“If Cadance can project herself here through the heart than that should mean that this mirror is still connected to Equestria.” Sombra said.

“It can show you anything you want to see.” He said stepping out of the way.

Twilight stepped in front of the mirror and looked over it in fascination.

“I want to see my brother, please.” She felt odd talking to her herself in the mirror.

The mirror responded. In the glass surface her brother Shining Armour stood, looking as though he was shouting out orders as a rampant snow storm beat around him. Ponies rushed to and fro in front of him as the purple scarf her worn beat around him wildly. His drew up to his face and his face contorted in a way that Twilight knew he was in pain. Shining slumped down in the snow as he rubbed his shoulders. He tried to stand again and his legs buckled underneath him. The storm of chaos beat around him furiously.

“What is this?” Twilight said slightly mesmerised but the faint rippling of the surface.

“A storm that nopony would of been ready for.” Sombra replied glumly.

“Shining...I need to help him.” Twilight said woefully.

“Then…” Sombra said, feeling a slight pain in his chest. “I will help to send you back.”

Twilight looked at him awestruck and her tension faded moderately. “You would do that for me? That would mean, you’re letting me go?”

“If it is within my power to do so, I will. You will be free of your promise and free of this place.” Sombra said, cupping the side of Twilight’s face and she rested into it.

Twilight straightened suddenly. “But the heart!”

“Will heal with time.” Sombra said evenly trying to calm her. “With or without pony intervention.”

Sombra looked away from Twilight to the night sky out his window and come to a decision. “The others can go too, if they so desire. There is no reason any of you should stay here in this timeless place away from your friends and family. ” Sombra said hiding his crestfallen expression.

“Thank you.” Twilight said. She felt Sombra would need some time to himself so she trotted off to tell Trixie the news.

In the hallway Twilight brushed passed Pitch who smiled at her. Sabre noticed the tense look on her face as she went by.

“Well done your majesty. I knew you had in you. Do all go well?” Pitch called with a smile coming into the bedroom. Now out of his suit.

“I let her go.” Sombra said passing by them and paused. “Now it’s your choice, do you wish to stay or leave?” Sombra asked.

Pitch’s mouth worked uselessly in shock for a moment. “...but the heart, a-and you can do that?”

“I hope to do so.” Sombra said.

Sabre nodded. “We’ll, stay of course.”

Pitch was left for words. Sombra, Pitch and Sabre travelled the small journey to the tower and waited at the Crystal Heart for Twilight and Trixie.

Trixie looked to Pitch and Sabre who shared together a sorrowful expression.

Sombra held one hoof against the heart and tried to piece his mind through it to the other side. There was a trickling river of magic energy within the heart that he could feel tug on his horn.

The tip of his pointed horn glowed with a weak purple aura. The audience watched curious, expectant, and hopeful. It was slow and arduous as there was only a slither of magic connected the two dimensions. Sombra felt his senses opening up to a new sensation but was pulled back by a startled scream.

Sombra turned an annoying glance at Trixie who looked about ready to run.

“What the?” Twilight gasped.

Sombra returned to the heart. He stepped back as a glowing limb swung around making a grabbing motion. It slinked back into the heart.

Sombra approached the heart and squinted at it. The limb popped back out again, moved, and found Sombra cheeks which it patted. It stretched out and and grabbed Sombra around his neck and pulled him towards the heart.

Another limb came through the Crystal Heart and grabbed Sombra and in a bright light Sombra’s head disappeared into the heart. Pitch and Sabre scrambled to pull Sombra away but were instead dragged along with him with a flash of light from the heart.

“What is wrong with this situation Sparkle?” Trixie said exasperatedly with panic.

Twilight remained calm, if surprised momentarily, and drifted over to where Sombra stood.

“Careful.” Trixie said softly making a vain attempt to stop her from going near the heart.

The two appendages came back and grabbed Twilight like they had the previous victim. Trixie acted and leapt to grab onto Twilight. A bright blinding light forced them to protect their eyes. They were pulled into the vacuum of light and reality warped around them.

Home

“Anypony catch the number on that wagon?” Sombra said, grunting while he stretched his back.

Groans replied around him. A blinding blizzard raged in the dark against a bubble of pink with an odd tinkling sound. In the centre of the domed shield, Cadance was on her stomach with her forelegs encircling the shattered remains of the Crystal Heart. While free of snow the area was freshly muddy and stained her coat with brown earth. Her horn glowed a baby blue.

Cadance looked tired. Sombra crossed his eyes to look at his horn and it glowed softly with a thought. A darken shield surrounded them. Cadance breathed easily as she let her own shield down. She sat upright on unsteady legs, shivering, looking haggard with bags under her eyes. She blinked in confusion see the formal dress Twilight was wearing.

Sombra looked concerned. “Why did you bring us back?”

“Thank the stars,” Cadance muttered as she recollected her thoughts. “I had to get you all back,” She said with steady breathing, pain evident in her voice as she tried to stand. Trixie and Sabre tentatively tried to steady her slow rise. Trixie grimaced at the cool sensation of mud against her side.

Sombra glared at Cadance. “Why?”

Cadance said urgently. “The chaos storm can’t be held back. Celestia and Luna allowed me time to recover you all. But I could only get you if you were close the heart - we must leave right now!”

Her horn glowed and the pieces of the heart were scooped up off of the ground and floated next to her.

“We got to go now!” Cadance said.

Cadance was about to run before Twilight blocked her off.

“I don’t get it. What did the princesses decide to do?” Twilight asked.

Trixie and Sabre gave them some room. Cadance sighed deeply.

“Honestly, I’m not sure it’ll even work. But if it does, all magic will be gone from the area, including the chaotic,” She said regarding Twilight with serious expression. “It’s a weapon that neutralises magic. Cuts it out completely, evaporates it, leaving nothing behind,” Cadance’s lip pursed. “I imagine the Crystal Heart’s magic would have been affected as well.”

Everyone was silent imagining what that would mean for them stuck in the heart dimension. Sombra didn’t say anything instead looked out up at the sky. He couldn’t see much passed the snow storm and darkness. He could see a small shining light breaking in and out of the darkness.

“What? How could the princesses just do that?” Trixie muttered darkly.

Twilight shook her head sadly. Sombra fell to the back of the group where Pitch and Sabre were keeping quiet.

“Pitch, Sabre. I have one final order as your king I would like you to undertake,” Sombra said with a look of determination.

“But your majesty…” Pitch urged, feeling desperate.

“Don’t let anypony follow me. Take everypony away from here as fast as ponyly possible,” Sombra motioned to the others ahead of them.

Twilight overheard his talking and uneasily approached him.

“What are you thinking Sombra?” Twilight asked trotting over to them with concerned. The others also wore confused expressions. Sombra whisked Twilight up in a quick embrace. His cape catching on his hoof and getting pulled over Twilight’s withers. He pulled away quickly with the cape dragged off her withers. Twilight was left speechless.

“This is precious to me.” Sombra looked at the crystal necklace surrounding Twilight's neck.

“Your necklace?” Twilight grabbed it.

Sombra meet her hoof with his own and gently pushed the necklace down.

“Keep it. So that you’ll have something to remember me by.”

Twilight’s cheeks hurt as she tried to force her lips anywhere but down; where they wanted desperately to go.

Sombra noticed in the night sky a white hot light flickering alive, burning like starlight.

“It’s coming fast.” Sombra said solemnly and stepped away from everyone.

Cadance summoned a pink shield around them as Sombra’s stepped outside. His physical form slowly faded becoming like dense smoke. He seemed to vanish in the dark. Twilight watched him go with a sting in her eyes and ache in her jaw.

Sombra’s jump was weightless as if no restriction like gravity existed. Sombra tailed it into the sky as fast as he could. The tail of the fog squirmed behind him in the wild wind while his vanguard pierced through the barrage of snow. Faster and higher he climbed stretching all his thoughts to get as high and as far away from everything and everyone as possible. He left a roar of air in his wake.

Sombra broke a large density of clouds, breaking them apart as he came through. The air got colder still as he went. He didn’t slow down to catch his breath. He gritted and pushed himself to ignore the pain and exhaustion in his body. His brain begun to throb in his skull like someone had taken a jackhammer to it and was mercilessly trying to reduce it to rubble and dust.

His control on his form was beginning to waver as he felt his tail beginning to drag and pull behind him like the hairs were about be torn out with the velocity he was going. He could feel ice forming on his face. He came to the zenith of his ascension. His energy strained.

Sombra slowly let go, his physically form taking shape. He wasn’t quite outside the stratosphere of the planet but breathing was incredible hard. The night of the sky started to shift to the darkness of space. He took short gathering breathes as his body began to slow its vertical climb.

His horn glowed with a dark virtuoso of magic, building up and gathering into a radiating cone of purple light. It shined and it pulsed as it sent out a lure.

A gigantic spear shaped star appeared suddenly and shot straight for him. Sombra didn’t flinch.

“I am super pony.”

From the tundra, throughout the storm, Twilight could barely see the the mass of smoke that was Sombra as he ascended into the cloud-blocked sky. She strained her neck to see over her shoulder as she ran. She marginally managed to spot something strike and then disappear beyond the clouds.

Twilight winced sadly. She turned her focus back to running. She spotted a shooting star in the sky making white contrails behind it. Her eyes stung and stomach clenched tightly. The moonlight glinted off of the tip of the spear’s blade as it lurched skyward following the shortest trajectory towards its intended target; towards the tip of the smoke trail that was Sombra. It slid through clouds and the air soundlessly.

The blackness of the night sky went brilliant white.

The group froze in their tracks and turned and watched as the brilliant white sky darkened, turning back into night once more. The storm stopped moving around them. The sweeping wind calmed. The heavy snow shrivelled up as the last of the snow settled. The pink bubble popped.

Twilight gasped, her neck tightened and she choked. She coughed and sobbed, falling to her stomach to the cold snow beneath herself.

Trixie watched as the sky quickly faded to normal, no clouds in sight. She looked to the trembling Twilight whose body rocked feverishly with sobs. She wanted to comfort her friend immediately to tell her it’d be alright. But that would be a lie. There was no way Sombra, a beast of darkness, could escape such an encompassing light.

“No, Sombra...please. I didn’t get to say goodbye.” Twilight said with sadness, gripping the necklace like it was a life support. Trixie was quickly next to her. She rested her into Twilight’s.

Cadance shook her head sadly. “Let’s go home.” She pulled Twilight up off the ground. Twilight’s body rested into Cadance’s. Trixie on the other side. Pitch and Sabre followed with sad wordlessness.

The crystal necklace twinkled with fading starlight.

Fresh morning light came in through the window to Twilight’s bedroom. On her dresser the crystal necklace rested next to her crown. The later which rarely moved from. A small blue mote glittered within the crystal while a strand of pink strayed about the container.

Twilight woke and shifted slightly in her bed. The blanket spilled off of her as she got out lazily and sat on the edge of it. It wouldn’t be too long till her friends started to show up. She saw her appearance in the dresser mirror. She had bags under her eyes and messy bed hair.

She grumbled lightly as she hopped off the bed and went straight to the dresser to straighten out her mane. She spared a glance at the necklace as she placed the hairbrush on the dresser. She heard the birds chirping outside her window and sighed. She ideally wondered how long she had overslept then intended.

She made her way to the kitchen to prepare herself breakfast. Her castle home was ominously quiet till Spike came into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. He sprung to her.

“Twilight?” Spike said with surprise and rushed over to her and hugged her leg. Twilight smiled genuinely. Spiked squeezed then released her leg.

“I was going to make you breakfast,” He said downcast.

“It’s ok.” Twilight said and rustled the spines on his head. Spike grumbled at that. Twilight smiled.

Spike sighed in mock-defeat. He went to where he could find some food for himself, namely, gems. He pulled out a bowl of gems from the fridge. He scooted a chair up next to the table and turned to Twilight as she joined him there.

Spike was quiet while he chewed a sapphire before swallowing the final piece.

“Everypony shouldn't be too far away,” he said. “Everypony was really worried. Me too. I’m just glad you’re back and alright.”

Twilight reached over to him and rubbed their heads together. They ate in comfortable silence after that.

Afterwards, they made their way to a lounge room within the castle. They were surprised to find that Rainbow Dash was there. Lost to the world reading a book surrounded by a littered land of cushions that made a neat circle.

Twilight and Spike shared a grin. Spike quietly tip toed across and sat next to Rainbow.

“So whatcha reading Rainbow?” Spike asked.

The book slammed shut and was shoved underneath her cushion.

“Ah what? Nothing. I wasn’t reading. You only saw...air.” Rainbow said flustering.

Twilight hid a smirk. “How long have you been here?” she asked.

“Only all night.” Rainbow said nonchalantly and stood up to stretch her wings.

At Twilight’s inquisitive look Rainbow added. “Hey. I couldn’t sleep. We’ve all been missing you for the last month.”

“It wasn’t like everyday one of us was saying, ‘where’s Twilight? If Twilight was here she’d have this all check-listed and organised and whatever.’ ” Rainbow said. “Mare. That storm was crazy. Crazy bad and not in a good way. Ponies everywhere!”

“I don’t think we have to worry about the storm anymore,” Twilight said quietly.

“Yeah! You were lucky to be stuck in the Crystal Heart during it.” Rainbow said in a cheery mood.

Twilight went over to her friend as she talked, carefully stepping across the lumpy cushions, and hugged her.

At Twilight’s dismal expression Rainbow added. “Cadance filled us in on a few things last night after you went to hit the hay.”

Rainbow squeezed her back before letting go. “You ok Twilight?”

“Yeah somewhat. It’s just been a long night.” Twilight said.

Rainbow said nothing. Another voice filled the room from the doorway as it came in.

“Good to see ya up an’ at ‘em, sugarcube,” Applejack greeted followed by a hug.

“I owe Rainbow for coming all the way out to find us,” Twilight said.

“Nothin’ to it but to do it. When the storm cleared up it was a piece of cake.” Rainbow brushed off.

“Everypony in Canterlot saw that star thingamajig spring from the mountain and bee line towards the north,” Applejack said. “Dun think the princesses themselves could stop Rainbow when she puts her mind to something.”

“Oh, you guys,” She waved her hoof at them then shrugged. “Eh, I wasn’t doing anything important at the time.” Rainbow said nonchalantly as she sat back down next to Spike.

Applejack chuckled. “I don’t think those ponies underneath that cloud full of snow you were hustling would agree when you used it as a kick off stand.”

Rainbow had enough dignity to look embarrassed. They shared a light laugh at her expense.

“Oh hey look, it’s the others,” Rainbow said, trying to act non-reclusive by pointing them out.

Rarity and Fluttershy walked into the room. Pinkie Pie meanwhile bounced and hopped over them to land on a cushion on the other side of Rainbow Dash. She circled around the pillow to show she had claimed that spot. She then attached herself around Rainbow’s neck. Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“Welcome back to reality Twilight! We hope you enjoy your stay.” Pinkie said with a large smile.

Twilight left the stage of cushions to greet the newcomers with a quick embrace.

Twilight was quickly confronted by Rarity fawning over her. “Oh Twilight...” her lips pursed in thought. “I think a spa appointment is overdue for you, darlin’.”

“She doesn’t that look all that bad, considering.” Fluttershy said softly.

Everyone settled into a spot among the cushions. Rarity and Fluttershy settled down to either side of Twilight across from Rainbow. Applejack sat between Rarity and Spike. Pinkie meanwhile detached from Rainbow and laid out across the cushions, belly up.

“Thanks for understanding about last night girls. I did really want to talk to you all then but I was just too exhausted. Even though we made most of the distance by flying chariot thanks to Rainbow.” Twilight said, smiling appreciatively at the mare. Rainbow waved her off.

“How have things been in Canterlot while I was gone?” Twilight asked.

“Talk about gettin’ into a pickle. Took us near a week to get the crystal ponies back to Canterlot what with the storm and all. Then to get them near settled, hoo-wee. That was an even longer week!” Applejack started.

“Oh, all those poor animals were so frightened by the storm.” Fluttershy said.

“Yes I believe we all were run ragged unfortunately,” Rarity said. “I still don’t think I can feel my poor hooves.” She looked at them to ensure that they were still there.

Everyone laughed which made Rarity harrumphed.

“Well I had a blast keeping everypony's hap-hap-happy going!” Pinkie said as she squirmed among the cushions. “All those parties…so much cocoa and marshmallows,” she liked her lips and sighed happily.

Rainbow shook her head and turned to Twilight. “Yeah, you were away for like a month. But we were able to keep everything in order here without you. Everything's more or less in order now or, ya know, will be.” She shrugged.

“Yar brother was sure lookin’ much better yesterday when he saw both yourself and Cadance arrive in Ponyville. I’d say, likely, ‘cause thar back together again after bein’ away from each other so long,” Applejack said with a toothy grin.

“That’s good to hear.” Twilight said. Genuinely happy to hear it.

They chatted amicably together. Twilight happily smiled along with everyone but didn’t feel as though she was altogether there. She shied away from adding her own experience before and during the chaos storm. She didn’t feel up to talking about it as the whole time a pony kept leaping to her forefront of her mind.

Until the topic was brought up when Rainbow Dash said.

“Did you see the size of his fangs? Do you think he could even be classified as a pony?”

“Heheh, I bet he could bust open a whole watermelon with those chompers.” Pinkie said.

Twilight looked away from her friends to the floor. Her mind played back to last time she saw the stallion. The conversation died down and there was an awkward shuffling. Rarity looked to her friend’s faces.

“There’s no easy way for it - I’ll do it then.” She announced. “How are you Twilight? Spending all the time with that monster must of been troubling by yourself. We are here for you whenever you need us.”

Twilight looked back up to Rarity. “He’s not a monster.” Her disapproving tone made everyone stare at her disbelievingly. Fluttershy flinched and hide behind her hair sensing an aura of discomfort around her.

“He’s my friend. He may look intimidating, yes. He’s done some questionable things, surely. But...” she petered off feeling irate and not understanding why. She calmed down quickly with a short breathing exercise. “He cared for the crystal ponies and for the heart. He protected them.”

She got up stiffly and left the room. Her friends didn’t make a noise. Only the door clicked behind her as Twilight left.

Twilight trotted away from her friends and down the hallway, with no destination in mind.

“Sparkle?”

She turned to where she heard the voice, secretly hoping it wasn’t one of friends coming after her.

“Trixie?” Twilight said with a slight sigh of relief.

A temporary guest in the castle Trixie was in the hallways dressed like her normal showmare self. She wore her purple star patterned, conical wide brimmed hat and cape.

“There you are,” she said, covering the remaining distance between them. “This castle of yours is far too big. How it remains clean Trixie will never know.” Trixie said looking at the crystal walled interior with disdain.

Trixie caught the disquieting appearance of Twilight. “Are you ok Twilight?” she asked, her high flaunting tone nowhere to be found.

“Oh!” Twilight caught herself realising she was looking droopy. “I’m fine, just...eh.”

Trixie cooed wanting to comfort her but didn’t know what to do.

“Trixie thought it proper to say her thanks and goodbye before she left.” Trixie said cautiously.

Twilight’s brow raised and lips trembled slightly.

Trixie quietly added. “Trixie is making her exit but she will be back. All this has exhausted her and she is looking forward to taking some time off somewhere. Preferably with hot water and plenty of relaxation options.” Trixie before she said. “And you should too.”

Twilight chuckled weakly. “You're always welcome here Trixie, remember that and don’t be a stranger.” Twilight went in to hug Trixie and she welcomingly recuperated it.

“Trixie shall be off. She has to see a mare about a wagon. She have no idea what’s happened to her’s.” She muttered afterwards. “Probably stuck in the other dimension for a thousand years.”

Twilight laughed. “Good luck with that. Where did Pitch and Sabre go last night?”

“Those stallions are with your brother and Cadance. Something about crystals and hearts and some such other.” Trixie said.

“I better see them before they decide to leave for Canterlot then.” Twilight sagged dejectedly at the thought.

“Thanks Trixie.” Twilight said. Trixie nodded and left. Twilight sighed.

Twilight went around the castle until she found them in one of the many guest rooms. The door was already opened and she knocked on the frame to get Cadance’s attention as she flitted about the room, lost in thought.

Cadance saw through Twilight’s weak smile and went to hug her.

“I hope you weren’t thinking we’d leave without saying goodbye first.” Cadance said.

“No, just worried.” Twilight said.

Cadance squeezed her friend gently. “A little less of that Twilight. Once I’ve helped the crystal ponies settle in Canterlot and show that their princess is ok I’ll come to visit, ok?”

“Sure.” Twilight smiled simply.

“Twily!” Shining Armour called happily, coming into the room and trotting briskly over to his little sister. Pitch and Sabre followed behind him. The siblings embraced and some the tension Twilight carried melted away.

“It’s good to see you again B.B.B.F.F.” Twilight smiled.

Shining’s expression turned around. “Cadance and I can’t stay long little sis. I’m sorry. We need to get to Canterlot and help our crystal ponies.”

“I understand,” she said.

“Myself and Sabre will be joining them today when they leave as well.” Pitch said. “There’s plenty to do if we want to restore the Crystal Heart and restore it’s magic.”

“I know,” Twilight said.

Sabre hugged Twilight. “It’s ok. We’ll meet again.”

Pitch also decided to follow up after Sabre before turning to leave.

“Shall we.” Cadance said. They all nodded.

Twilight showed them out of the castle and watched as Cadance, Shining Armour, Pitch, and Sabre made there way across Ponyville to the train station.

Twilight felt like distancing herself from her friends and everything in general. She crept steadily back to her room. She sighed as she looked around it, unsure of what to do with herself. She settled for sitting on her bed.

A rattling sound caught her attention. She looks to see the the crystal necklace on her dresser as it dropped to the floor and started to move towards the window, rolling awkwardly. It seemingly was being pulled along by the only crystal with a remaining blue tint to it. The necklace jumped up on the sill and started tapping against the glass.

Twilight beamed and opened the window to release it. She pushed it open gently, cool breeze drifting in. Twilight watched as the necklace jumped and landed in the grass below. In and out of the grass the necklace jumped. The sunlight catching on it’s smooth crystal surface. It twinkled every time it jumped out of the grass.

Twilight rested on her legs on the window sill and watched it go, until she couldn’t see the twinkle no more.

Twilight said softly so no one could hear. “I won't forget you.”

When Love is Enough

One morning in the castle library Twilight was sorting through and organising books into steadily growing towers of literary. Her ear flicked when she heard a loud burp. She saw a flash of green light from behind one of the shelves. Spike jogged from around it and gave Twilight the rolled up scroll he had received through his dragon fire.

The unbroken pink heart seal indicated that the scroll was from Cadance. Twilight broke it open and read it curiously. Her consciousness turned to confusion before she finished reading it.

“What what?” Twilight gaped looking at the unfolded scroll floating before here.

Spike watched apprehensively as Twilight scanned the letter again and once more for good measure. The letter fell back and Spike caught it. Twilight fermented on what the letter held. Spike stared at her worriedly.

“The Crystal Empire has returned!” She yelled almost falling back onto her haunches.

Spike flinched. Twilight jumped into action, grabbing stacks of paper from under the desk and slamming them onto it. A draw slid open and several quills greeted the glint in Twilight’s eyes. She pulled one out and swished the red feather back and forth experimentally. The quill meet the paper and she begun to write.

“Dear Princess Cadance...”

Together Twilight and Cadance rendezvoused through letters throughout the morning. They drew up a plan to revitalize the Crystal Empire and the Crystal Heart. In the most fitting way possible - a Crystal Festival.

In one of the several letters Cadance explained what had transpired. One morning Pitch and Sabre had discovered Sombra’s crystal necklace among the pieces of the heart. Upon close inspection they discovered within the crystal there was a small strand of magic. Magic that was from the Crystal Heart, a small repository of love.

With her alicorn power of love, Cadance, and a few magical spells provided by Pitch, aided with the necklace as a catalyst - she was able to make the Crystal Heart whole.

Though admittedly, she and Pitch had mildly panicked when the heart spiralled out of control and shot into the sky. Sabre was able to settled them with the idea that the heart was returning to it’s home in the Frozen North. Which it had.

They had made a trip out their and for the Crystal Empire. Cadance and Shining Armour were overjoyed to discover that the empire had returned. However, the heart lacked any power of its own and needed replenishing through the aid of the crystal ponies.

By the time she was done writing to Cadance Twilight begun to ink letters to new recipients. She personalised the ones for her friends and duplicated one letter to send to the masses of Ponyville. Twilight and her friends among many others of Equestria were invited to come to the Crystal Empire and celebrate it’s second reemergence, and hopefully it’s last.

As Twilight’s was absorbed in her task; diligently duplicated her writing from one parchment to another with a spell. Spike went away to acquire a bag for them all to be delivered to the post office.

From the flurrying of moving parchment to the dashing through hallways Twilight Sparkle hurriedly speed.

“Late, late, we’re going to be late! Spike!” Twilight echoed as she ran out of the castle and down the steps. Spike was doing his best to keep up her longer four-legged stride with his two shorter legs.

“Right behind you!” He called out.

He puffed evenly as he jogged on after her, a backpack securely around his small frame that was fit to bursting. Similarly, two saddlebags were with Twilight. She galloped across Ponyville to the train station. No one in sight in the early morning day.

Twilight finally stopped as she centred herself on the train platform for optimum viewing capabilities.

“Good, we’re here first. Checklist?” Twilight called over her shoulder. She looked back to see Spike heaving his backpack up onto the platform followed by himself.

He took one large gulp of air and manage to recollect himself with zeal. He pulled out of of his bag a scroll and quill before waddling over to Twilight.

“R-ready!”

“Original letter?”

“Check.”

“Correspondence pertaining to said letter?”

“Check.”

“All invitations to the Crystal Empire have been sent out to our friends and Ponyville?”

“Checked last night and checked!”

“Ok. And we’ve got some record stuff and plans for helping set up the festivities for the impromptu Crystal Festival happening this evening?”

“Yep, checked.”

Twilight sat back on her haunches and looked out across the empty platform from both ends. Not a tumbleweed in sight.

“Where is anypony?” Twilight huffed. “The train get’s here in a few hours. We need to check over everything before we leave.” She grumbled.

“Even the crystal ponies at Canterlot won't be leaving till early noon. It’d be rather pointless to get there before them.” Spike shrugged. “It’s not like it’s a fair after all.”

“I know, I know,” Twilight muttered. “I just want everything to go perfect is all.”

“You also wanted to make sure you were the first here before anypony to organise everything,” Spike reminded her. “Nopony was going to be here this early. Except maybe Applejack.” He pointed a claw back where Applejack and her brother were approaching the station.

“Hmm, you’re right. Maybe I should go over to Canterlot and help them there. You and the girls can manage Ponyville right?” Twilight said.

“Twilight, relax. I’m sure the princesses can handle it themselves.”

“You’re right Spike. Sorry. It just...the Crystal Empire reappearing again so soon wasn’t something I was expecting.” Twilight’s ears folded down.

“Or anypony else for that matter.” Spike said.

The sound of wooden cart wheels neared. Applejack and Big MacIntosh pulled in next to the station. They were both strapped into a cart laden with apples under a blue tarp.

“Good morning Applejack and Big Mac.” Twilight called. “Good to see you’re up already.”

“Apple's rise with the sun!” Applejack beamed, tilting her hat back. “Or thar’ abouts,” she chuckled.

Twilight pointed to the checklist Spike held. “Applejack, presented and accounted for.” She said to him.

“..and checked.” Spike said with a flurried mark on the scroll. Applejack rolled her eyes.

“Good to see ya’ll a bit more your chipper self.” Applejack said.

Before Twilight could reply a pink face burst out from underneath the tarp. A few apples toppled out with it.

“I’m exciting too!” Pinkie yelled.

“Pinkie get outta thar.” Applejack abolished.

Pinkie collapsed out of the cart tub and next to Applejack. Applejack winced and helped her back up straight.

“We only got one more cart a comin’. Since imma guessin’ Canterlot won't be letting the crystal ponies go back home empty-hoofed.”

“No, I doubt there’s going to be any shortage of food when we get there.” Twilight said.

Rarity was the next to show just before Applejack and Big MacIntosh were about to leave.

“Packin’ light Rarity?” Applejack giggled as they crossed paths.

“Oh ha ha.” Rarity deadpanned as she deposited several small to medium sized bags on the platform. “This is light for me.”

“Thanks for coming so early to help out Rarity.” Twilight said.

“Of course, darlin’. How could I have ever said no. This is a momentous occasion.” Rarity beamed, her long eyelashes fluttering. “The Crystal Empire back from the shackles of another dimension freed from its dark past once more.” Her theatrics reminded Twilight of a blue unicorn.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew overhead and landed by Twilight. “It’s looks like all of Ponyville is going to be coming. Ponyville is going to be a ghost town when we all get going. Even Applejack’s Granny Smith is coming to the empire.”

“It took me a moment but I managed to convince Angel Bunny and the other critters to perhaps watch out over Ponyville while we’re all gone.” Fluttershy said.

“Thanks for coming to help out girls.” Twilight said.

The morning steadily progressed and the station began to buzz with locals. Twilight watched the progress of foodstuff and equipment load towards the back of the train as locals filtered in from Ponyville and towards the front of the train.

“Passengers to the front, anythings that qualifies as gear can go to the back,” Spike called out officiated ponies left and right.

The train left minutes before noon. An outcome Twilight was pleased with. It would take them another few hours to reach the Frozen North.

A clear blue sky meet Twilight and her group entering the Frozen North. After Twilight had got off the train she looked over the tundra. She followed the large path of cleared snow till her eyes meet the crystal castle standing majestically in the distance.

“Wow, it really is back.” Fluttershy said softly, joining Twilight in her reverie.

“It couldn’t of happen on a nicer day.” Rarity commented blissfully.

As Rarity and Fluttershy traded whimsical critiques Shining Armour soon arrived on the train platform. He wore a red uniform with a blue sash crossing his chest, denoting his place among the guard. He cheerfully greeted Twilight.

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve seen the north so...clear.” Twilight commented.

“It’s a blessing in disguise, for sure. The crystal ponies were able to move back into the empire with relative ease. Cadance is there helping ponies to set up the festival. But mostly just to reassure them, since there’s not all that much to set up.” Shining said.

Twilight and Shining watched as ponies busied themselves. Applejack and Spike helped ponies unload crates and carts from the back of the train. Shining smiled reassuringly. With little fussing bags of supplies were loaded onto ponies backs while others were strapped into carts.

“You and Cadance have done really well. Thank you so much for this Twily,” Shining said and added. “I believe Princess Celestia and Luna will also be arriving later on.”

Twilight nuzzled his cheeks with her own.

“It’ll be good to see them again after so long.” she said.

“I’ll lend a hoof here. You can go find Cadance at the crystal tower, if you like.” Shining Armour said.

“I know the place.” Twilight nodded.

As Twilight made her trek towards the empire crystal ponies greeted her along the way. She smiled at their jubilant expressions. A few thanked her before heading towards the train station to help out where they could.

The streets of the empire were alive with a warmly spirit. Food stalls and activities were being set up by various groups of ponies. Colts and fillies ran through the streets happy to be back home. Families returned to their homes and expressed content amazement to find in the place they had left them.

Twilight came into view of the area where the heart of the empire was kept. Underneath the impressive vaulting dome there was Cadance. She wore her royal regal of gold shoes, petryl and small crown that sat in her mane. She was calm and collected as she talked to a small group of gathered ponies.

Next to her the Crystal Heart sat at the centre of a pedestal; lifeless and dull. In the wedged edge of the heart a certain crystal necklace laid. The bluish crystal was close to resembling the other translucence pieces of the necklace.

Cadance watched as Twilight slowed her approach as her attention drifted over and stopped on the Crystal Heart. Cadance excused herself from her groups and closed the distance between Twilight.

“How did you manage to fix the heart so quickly?” Twilight asked softly.

“It wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. That necklace held a bit of old magic that belonged to the Crystal Heart. With a bit of unicorn ingenuity,” her head nodded towards Pitch where he and Sabre stumbled with various crystals on a nearby table. Sabre waved slowly to them.

“I was able to use the energy inside of it give the heart it’s shape again, but not its power. It still needs a lot of magic to be fully restored though but I’m sure we can do it,” Cadance said.

“Did you need any help here?” Twilight asked hopefully.

“Everything has been going along really well so far. I’d say that ponies are just happy to be home.” Cadance said with a small smile. “You’ve outdone yourself this time in regards to organisation Twilight,” She said as her hoof stretched out in front of her. “The festival is practically setting itself up without much need for my input. You’re welcome to stay with me of course, just in case.”

Twilight smiled at that and stayed with Cadance to help coordinate the effort of organising the festival. There was very little for Twilight to do as she was only there now to help if problems arose.

Twilight was sated just to watch as ponies bustled. Pegasus fluttered around to and fro, earth ponies energetically moved, unicorns vibrantly rushed. The energy through the empire made the heart lightly glow.

In no time Shining Armour and Twilight’s friends had gathered around them. There was also a small gathering of ponies outside the tower. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna arrived with good timing.

“It won't be long now. Ponies are starting to gather for the opening,” Shining smiled.

“I did a quick fly around. Everything is looking pretty much done,” Rainbow said.

“Good, then we should begin the opening ceremony,” Twilight said.

Cadance agreed and together with her husband approached towards the gathered crowd. The remaining princesses stood close by Cadance and Twilight’s friends stood behind them. Cadance's horn glowed pink to amplify her voice.

“I am happy to see you all here. Crystal ponies and fellow Equestria citizens alike. It has a been a trying time but you all have done an amazing job. You all should be very proud.”

There was a murmuring of agreement and hoof clopping.

“Today, though roughly thrown together at last minute,” A few laughed softly. “I welcome you to the Crystal Festival.” Over the boom of cheering she continued. “May your hope and joy power the Crystal Heart so that everypony throughout Equestria knows that feeling within their own heart. May the heart guard, guide and inspire you.” A brief pause. “I announce the Crystal Festival, open!”

Without trepidation everyone dipped their head. Light pooled around the feet of the ponies and covered the streets made with crystals. Their emotion made the empire bright and they merged together underneath everyone’s body.

At the centre of it all the Crystal Heart was suspended between two crystals spirals. The bottom filled with glowing energy till it got the top of the tip. The energy drew into the Crystal Heart and the light slowly began to fade. Jitters crept up on ponies as the the heart remained unmoved.

“Come on, you can do it!” Twilight said fiercely.

Everyone held hope in their mind.

The Crystal Heart jolted alive and spun intensely. A pulse went out, refilling the streets with light. As it passed thought everyone it’s touch turned their coats into shimmering crystals.

Everyone rejoiced and the heart glowed. From the top of the tower an aurora of resounding colour spread over the kingdom and across the skies of Equestria filling ponies with joy.

The Crystal Empire began to bustle and bubble with lively excitement. Some ponies ran off to participate in activities. Visitors admired their new, albeit temporary, crystal appearance. Others were happy enough to chat amongst themselves and rejoice over the restoration of the Crystal Heart and the return of the their home from the heart dimension. Many wished to thank the princesses for making it possible.

It took a while till the flood of ponies to drift away from the opening ceremony but eventually there weren’t as many ponies surrounding the heart. Twilight Sparkle stayed at the empire’s centre and watched the magical artifact known as the Crystal Heart as it beamed and radiated a glorious soaking light. It’s illumination drew attention throughout the evening.

“Beautiful, yes?” Pitch said. He and Sabre flanked one side of Twilight.

There was as much as excitement during the festival as there was in setting it up.

Twilight smiled a brightly lite smile. The brightness of the Crystal Heart danced, glowing with new vigour. The coats of crystal ponies glittered. Her friends, whose coats were also crystallized, were around mingling amongst themselves and a few other faces. She sipped at her dainty crystal cup which she had acquired from Cadance before she left to socialise. She sighed finding it empty. Twilight was in a genuinely more happier mood than what she had been the previous month. Her own mind betrayed her with images of the past. She was tired from the long festive day. Though it was hard to feel sad when an aurora of joy radiated down from the sky.

“It’s amazing what you’ve two done in so little time.” Twilight said. The two crystal ponies shared a knowing smile.

“We didn’t do it alone though.” Pitch said sharing in the bright glow of the heart.

“Together.” Sabre added in his monotonous tone.

Pitch reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a crystal necklace. He carefully cradled it in one hoof.

“Imagine our surprise when we came upon this one morning jumping amongst the shards of the heart. The magic that was in this crystal was what really helped the heart in the end. As it was originally from the heart.” He reached out with it towards Twilight.

“Cadance mentioned that in her letters.” Twilight said and took the necklace looking at it longingly. All the crystal looked the same but wonderful as they twinkled in the faded sunlight and growing moonlight.

Twilight blinked as a smug looking pony approached them.

“Trixie!” Twilight called both surprised and jubilant to see her. Trixie’s coat was also crystallized.

“Sparkle, Pitch,” One of her brows rose, “...Sabre. Trixie didn’t think she’d see you again till the next world disaster event.” Trixie said expressing an blasé attitude.

At Twilight’s unsure expression Trixie added. “Trixie jokes, of course.”

Trixie shook her hoof in an over the top fashion. “She had to come here to collect her wagon herself. She can’t do her show without it after all. She is also here to double as a distraction.” Trixie wore a look that Twilight wasn’t sure how to describe.

Trixie had looked passed Twilight. Twilight’s head followed and she saw a dark pony approach her. Trixie took the glass in Twilight’s hoof easily and made her exit alongside Pitch and Sabre. She passed the pony and smacked him on the shoulder.

“That’s for making her cry,” She grinned. Sombra meet that with his own.

Twilight smiled but blushed in embarrassment when she realised she was underdressed. Behind Sombra three familiar faces smiled warmly, watching. Sabre nodded to Pitch and Trixie and they made their way into the crowd together.

Sombra wore the blue suit handsomely. He head dipped slightly and he held out a crystallized hoof. Twilight took it as they both stood together on their hind legs in support of one another. Twilight was almost stunned speechless, trapped in thought and disbelief till she found her words.

“Y-you come back? I-I was worried.” Twilight said, forgetting her embarrassment as small tears emerged in the corner of her eyes.

“The heart wouldn’t let me go so easily,” Sombra grinned.

They swayed in time to music that drifted around them. They travelled in a familiar waltz with the sound circling around the Crystal Heart.

“I did promise you a proper dance after all,” Sombra said softly.

“What about our reading lessons?” Twilight asked softly, not moving to clear the water from her eyes.

“We could do that next week.” Sombra smiled warmly.

Twilight’s smile brightened. Sombra’s eyes were a deep pool of red. The same as the stallion’s horn. Horn darker than a ripe strawberry. Twilight’s eyes swirled with purple endearment. They shifted between hot and cool as they emitted a sense of wonder.

“It’s a date.”

They closed the dance together and shared a kiss. The Crystal Heart continued to sparkle throughout the night.

Hope/Fear And Other Afflictions Of The Mind

If the Crystal Empire was the heart of Equestria than Canterlot would be its mind. Built into the mountainside the royal sisters ruled from Canterlot Castle from the highest peak. They served Equestrians benevolently and as princesses strived to perform their duty to teach ponies and lead them to betterment. In this regard, no one ruled better than Princess Celestia. Her sister, Princess Luna, would be a close second, if not her equal.

Celestia had sent for Luna to see her out on the balcony that overlooked the royal castle gardens.

“Sister?” Princess Luna, sovereign of the Moon and curator of the night came out of the castle and onto the balcony. Together, the alicorns had previously just finished the Sun and Moon movements for the final time that day. The Sun had been sent on its path of descending from the sky and the Moon was beginning to shyly peek over the mountain view, colouring the land in golden hues. Fireflies, glowed yellow light, could be spotted fluttering throughout the garden; probable seeking a fellow comrade to have a conversation with.

Celestia was deep in thought as she scanned the letter in front of her. Sensing her sister’s approach Celestia turned and levitated the letter over to Luna to read.

Luna read and was immediately mimicking her sister’s concerned expression. The letter was dishevelled and hastily written but evident the letter was from Spike about Twilight Sparkle having been abducted.

A frown creased Luna’s forehead. “We cannot allow a day to go by while Sombra gathers his strength.” She announced rolling the parchment back up with her magic.

Princess Celestia, sovereign of the Sun and curator of the day, said with an air of peace and humility. “Sister, come with me. I want your insight on something.” She pasted Luna’s side and trotted back inside the keep

Curiously, Luna follower her sister as they walked slowly to the highest tower of the Canterlot castle that served as an observation deck. Here they could view each town and village in Equestria.

Luna felt anxious for the whole walk there.

Celestia nodded to the large telescope stationed on the balcony. Luna walked over and spied into the viewing piece.

Celestia waited for a moment before asking. “What do you think?”

Luna pursed her lips. “Peculiar, at best.” She turned one of the many nozzles of the telescope to refocus the view. “I don’t think I’ve seen such a large one like this before. Not since Cadance’s and Shining Armour’s wedding day.”

The telescope was aimed to the north. To the north was the Crystal Empire. In the golden hue of the twilight night, clear as clean water, a greyish dome stood out around the empire.

“Some form of containment field. To keep things in and others out. Much like Prince Shining Armour’s own shield,” Celestia explained.

Luna shook her head. “I can not guess as to what a monster like Sombra is planning at this time. Only that whatever the end is, it will do no good for Equestria.”

Celestia nodded silently. “But still it is strange,” She paused for a moment gathering her thoughts. “With Sombra’s power and ability to influence the Crystal Heart he could easily turn Equestria into a state of fear and panic.”

Luna hummed. “Perhaps the shielding is a faust, a distraction? During his long time banishment maybe he has forgotten how to influence the Crystal Heart?”

“That would be hoping for too much, I feel. If Twilight’s report on the situation is to be believed. When Sombra reappeared with the Crystal Empire he still had a fair amount of aptitude to manipulating crystals with his dark magic. Thus I am certain he still can influence the power of Crystal Heart.

“The situation is different from the first time we faced him. I believe he’s fortifying his defences and preparing for whatever plan he has in mind before enacted it.” Celestia predicated.

“You’re right.” Luna nodded and flapped her wings and perched on the railings ready to accelerate towards the Crystal Empire with fierce determination in her eyes. Her horn rippled with a nightly glow, barding appearing around her frontal half as dark as the night. A larger than pony sized scythe heavily fell onto the railing, balanced against Luna’s wing.

“What are we waiting for sister? Let us end this tonight!” Luna said exasperatedly noticing Celestia had not moved an inch to join her. Luna could see inscribed on her sister’s face an air of caution and concern. Luna too the large weapon, the head facing against her flank, under her wing and stepped down from the railings and stood to face her sister.

“I don’t understand. Why don’t we just don’t go face him directly. We can not leave the citizens of the Crystal Empire to torment.” She said with hint of sadness and desperation in her voice.

Celestia’s body sagged. She shook her head. “We cannot risk unknowingly walking into one of his traps either.”

Luna raised a brow skeptically and said in a rampant, grave concern. “The longer we wait is not a great plan either. What of the subjects of the Crystal Empire? We can not leave them to be bound to Sombra and be his playthings. He will be weak now. No feeble unicorn conjured trap could hold us. Even for Sombra’s ability, it will merely be another troublesome obstacle to overcome.” She finished, cutting the air in front of herself with a hoof.

Celestia regarded her sister’s words, her eyes closed and head slowly waving back and forth. “It’s true. His imprisonment among the crystals of the Crystal Prison would of kept leaching his magic.” She paused, looking towards the sky. “He is unlike any unicorn I’ve ever seen...do you remember? Luna, the time we faced Sombra to bring an end to his spree of fear and hatred?”

“How could I forget.” Luna said fiercely.

The millennium old event danced about in the two sister’s minds. What stood out in the memory was the lifeless, forlorn gaze of their subjects under the guise of Sombra’s influence. Sombra’s hold over the Crystal Heart disrupted the harmony of the land. Instead of peace and unity alive in the hearts of ponies instead fear and hatred boiled.

“It was a trying time for everypony.” Celestia gazed seriously to the north. “Sombra may be weak against us both physically and magically but against normal ponies - he can easily still harm them.” Two brights stars emerged in the darkening sky. Each one twinkled in Celestia’s eyes beckoning to see things unclouded by shadow.

“Then what should we do?” Luna asked having quickly composed herself from her own dark memories.

“We hold onto hope Luna.” Celestia turned to Luna, smiling in her warm demeanor that comforted against the dark clouds of doubt and lifted spirits like they were a loose feather in the wind. “Twilight Sparkle has bested Sombra and his traps once already, nary a pony suffered. I have faith that she can do so again.”

Luna looked sullenly. “So, we do nothing. Place all our bits on Twilight and hope for the best?”

Celestia took two steps forward and rubbed her cheek against her sister’s. “No. Against Sombra we must be ready with all options available. Come morning I shall ask the attendance of all the heads of the royal guard. Our first priority is the rescue of the crystal ponies within Sombra’s grasp. Without them Sombra has nopony to feed emotions to the heart.” She said seriously.

Celestia started back inside to the castle keep, her mood lifted slightly. “But first we should meet our guests. Twilight’s friends should be arriving soon.” She smiled knowingly what her sister’s reaction would be.

“Then we shall meet and greet them with post-haste and good cheer.” Luna beamed. That thought pushed aside the worrying ones. She was always excited to mingle with friends. Celestia smiled amusingly.

They meet with Twilight’s comrades in the royal throne room. At this time of the night Luna’s own night guard had taken over from Celestia’s day guard. As the castle darkened fireflies came inside to mingle together in the lanterns scored throughout the castle. Where there were no firefly homes, oil lamps burnt throughout the night. The throne room was empty of everyone else save for the royal sisters. Until three ponies and a dragon; Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike the dragon, entered into the room after Celestia bade the guards to let them in.

“My little ponies, welcome. I hope you trip was uneventful and comfortable?” Celestia asked.

“Oh, of course your royal highnesses. Most comfortable and not so uneventful…,” The unicorn, Rarity, said bowing extravagantly to the royalty. She still managed to give Rainbow Dash a quick stink eye from this position.

“What?” Rainbow Dash said dispassionately. The pegasus had hovered into the room and remained midair. The raucous event of Rainbow Dash seeing how fast she could dash from one end of the train to the other still fresh in Rarity’s mind and windswept mane. She did it as a warm up for facing Sombra.

“...but we are here now.” Rarity finished as she stood back up.

Luna noticed the presession was lacking to what she was expecting. “Where is the rest of the usual following?”

Speaking up, the yellow pegasus, Fluttershy, said. “Oh, umm. Applejack is in Appleloosa for a farming convention. Pinkie Pie went with her for support.”

“No matter. You are here to discuss Twilight’s recent abduction.” Luna talked on.

Four heads nodded.

“Some of us decided it would be best to seek your advice on the current situation.” Rarity said passing accusing eyes over to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow's eyes fluttered to look at the far more interesting ceiling.

“Princess Celestia what are we going to do? Twilight’s been pony-napped by Sombra!” Spike burst hysterically, jumping onto Celestia’s leg. He looked up at her pleadingly, little pools of tears on the edges of his eyes threatening to break free and pour out at any moment.

Celestia brought her other hoof around Spike’s shoulder and nuzzled him.

“Your worry is not unfounded Spike.” Celestia said. She picked Spike up off her leg and placed him back in front of her. “It wouldn’t be right to ask you, as friends of Twilight, not to worry.”

Celestia looked at the ponies and dragon. “But unfortunately I must ask you this; to do something more difficult…”

Everyone held their breath unabated.

“...to do nothing.”

Everyone gasped and stared in disbelief. Luna eyed her sister curiously.

“As a master of mind manipulation, risking an Element of Harmony to him would be a dangerous situation to find ourselves in. Which is why Twilight is among our initial priority.”

Rainbow, Rarity and Spike were about to interject but Celestia cut them off with a sweep of her hoof. She explained herself. “At this moment the Crystal Empire is inaccessible. Sombra has established a magically shield, no doubt making it so nopony can enter or leave the domain of the empire. He has essentially put himself into a corner. One which we can watch him and be ready for when he does makes his move. This ideal situation Luna and I plan on making the best of... ”

“What? Wait! No way. We can’t just bird watch someone as dangerous as Sombra,” Rainbow Dash was ready to unleash some pent-up energy. She flapped her wings audibly to keep herself in mid-air and at eye level to Princess Celestia.

“Oh. B-But what about those poor ponies trapped there? I bet they’re just miserable having to live with Sombra watching their every move.” Fluttershy said.

“This is truly awful. How can we possibly help save Twilight if we don’t do anything to help her?” Rarity said.

“The Princess may be right…,” everyone turned to see Spike. He had already came across a problem in his anxious mind-worrying state on the train ride over. “We don’t even know Sombra, what he’s like, what he’s not like. How are we meant to face a pony who’s said to be fear itself?”

A twinkle of a star lit up in Luna’s eyes. “But we do.”

The two princesses of Equestria stood stoic and unmoving. Their audiences’ eyes widened in sudden realisation.

“We know what he’s like and what his biggest weakness is.” Luna smugly grinned, post-triumphant confidence in her voice. “Sombra is a perfectionist - unable to let others take control of certain matters. He always has a hoof in everything and keeps himself constantly busy. With his return he’ll be unavoidably busy establishing his own sense of order in the Crystal Empire before he tries anything extravagant. This will give us ample time to find a way past his shield to rescue Twilight and bring her back to us. Once she is back and safe can we focus on extraditing Sombra.”

This new information caught the friends by surprise.

“How will even rescue the crystal ponies though? They don’t really have that get up and go spirit with Sombra in there heads.” Spike asked.

Princess Luna hummed. “This is where the Crystal Heart comes into play and a major failing on Sombra’s part. His spell, I would say, is flawed. When he first appeared in Equestria his spell was truly devastating, covering the whole land and causing ponies to fear. But the outcome had not gone fully to plan as Sombra had wished.”

Celestia continued. “While, true, Sombra become more powerful with each new pony ensured in terror. The psychological effect of the spell on ponies isn't what he had originally planned. Equestrian’s walked about as in a daze; husks of their former selves - fearful and confused as to what their purpose was or how to function normally. Only from a outside prompt would these ponies attempt to do anything at all.”

Rainbow Dash’s face was all scrunched up processing exactly what was being said. “So, like, they’re a puppet pony, or something?”

“That would be an apt description.” Luna nodded.

“Many smaller towns and villages fell into disrepair. The pegasus controlled weather was also a large problem. Unattended rain clouds flooded some parts of the land. Crops withered…” Celestia’s train of thought down memory lane stopped her abruptly, her chin drooped, almost touching her collar bone.

Luna stepped closer to her sisters and lifted Celestia’s chin with her own muzzle and smiled gently at her. Celestia’s small frown wound back up to her usually soft smile.

“So Sombra plus Crystal Heart equals bad times for everypony.” Rainbow Dash surmised, flapping her wings heavily in mid-air. Her anxiousness still wanted her to take some action immediately rather than wait around for something to happen.

Some of that action seeking anxiousness had washed onto Rarity as well. “Surely we can be of some use here Princesses? Twilight is our friend.”

Celestia regained the little composure she’d lost. “Our priority is the safety of the ponies in the Crystal empire, Twilight included. Just like in it’s original state the Crystal Heart is powered by the ponies around it. With them out of the picture the effect of Sombra’s spell will be significantly reduced to almost nothing. I feel this matter can be handle appropriately by the Canterlot royal guard.”

The friends of Twilight Sparkle wore concerned expressions for her. Celestia took a moment for herself to regard the matter. Sombra had abducted Twilight Sparkle but the reason for that was unknown. With no word from either Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armour it was likely they were being held prisoner to prevent them from taking action against him. Celestia surmised it had something to do with Twilight’s part in restoring the Crystal Empire. Revenge maybe?

Celestia didn’t want to think of the nightmares and brainwashing Sombra could curse Twilight with; but the negative thought came to bear terrible images all too easy. Like a painting that never dried, cold to the touch, and seemed to sweat perspiration; the image of Sombra dominating Equestria was more frightful than Celestia could imagine.

Yet there was still that glimmer of hope. “I have faith that Twilight is strong enough to handle herself, even against Sombra at his best. This is why I don’t wish for too many ponies to get involved. It is a mission that requires a few and to use stealth and incognito to our advantage.” Celestia spoke out loud.

“Swift like the eagle capturing its prey.” Luna grinned.

The room visibly relaxed but still an inkling of concern hanged by a thread. Sure, Twilight Sparkle; Princess of Friendship, went toe to toe with the powerful Tirek from Tartarus but this wasn’t a question of raw physical strength or magical prowess.

This was King Sombra. Wherever he walked he was backed by the illusions of fear. Supposedly in the darker days Sombra had plans within plans; tactful and cunning as they were deceptive. His mastery of the dark arts, brainwashing and control of emotions of other ponies had been unheard before, or even after, his time. There wasn’t a creature alive that hadn’t been affected. Thankful or not, the true depth of his deception never came to fruition. The Princesses saw to that.

The moment Celestia took to wonder her thoughts passed silently. When it didn’t look likely she would continue, Luna said. “Sombra is weak at this time. The best course of action is to free who we can from the Crystal Empire before he is strong enough to channel his spell to cover the whole of Equestria.”

Celestia was brought out of her reverie and stared at her sister. “Luna…,” She said in a weary tone.

“Today, Celestia and I will call to action the heads of the royal guard.” Luna didn’t hear her sister and talked over her. “If you wish to join the expedition I am sure the Elements of Harmony are welcomed to do so.” She shot a steely glance at her sister. To which she simply nodded, conceding to the fact even if she told Twilight’s friends not to go to Crystal Empire they would disobey even a order from the princess to rescue their dear friend.

Celestia sighed. “Very well, if you four would like to assist in this mission, I will allow it.” She then looked sternly at them. “But avoid Sombra. He is not a pony to be taken lightly.”

Rainbow Dash pumped the air with a hoof, seemingly unconcerned. She was happy and energised that there was going to be some action, even it was tomorrow. “Alright! I can’t wait to see the look on Sombra’s face when we kidnap back Twilight and the crystal ponies right under his nose.”

“W-we’re not kidnapping Twilight though, are we?” Fluttershy stuttered.

“No, of course no dear.” Rarity smiled to her.

Fluttershy was always so kind and caring that the thought of kidnapping back Twilight probable sounded like a rough way to go about it.

“We’re going to rescue her from that brute and see her home safe and sound.”

“Yeah! Then we can sock that creep right in the nose with the elements.” Rainbow Dash said showing off her haymaker.

Fluttershy squeaked, ducking the wild hoof. Even thinking about Sombra was scary enough but to face him directly, in real life, that was even more scary.

“What are you talking about Rainbow Dash?” Spike asked, standing alongside Fluttershy as he patted her mane reassuringly. “You guys don’t have the Elements of Harmony anymore, right? And that thing where you all went rainbowfied against Tirek was a one off thing, wasn’t it?”

Rainbow stared off into space as she landed next to Rarity, pondering this thought. They had had always had the Elements, magically artifacts, as a means of opposing anarchy and danger. But with the most powerful artifacts in the land embedded in a tree; the Tree of Harmony, it was highly unlikely that they would be able to use them again.

“We may not have the Elements but we have each other and if we have each other to rely on there’s nothing we can’t do.” Rarity said determinedly. She turned to see Rainbow nod firmly in agreement. “Just don’t forget to be on your guard Rainbow.” Rarity’s tone changed. “Remember Twilight told us about that door that showed you your greatest fear?”

“Traps smaps I say.” Rainbow Dash instantly rebutted returning to her mid air hovering. “Anything that boozo can unleash I’ll just dash circles around it.” She shrugged.

“And what if he can do what somepony like Discord can do, hmm? And magic away your wings with a snap of his claws? You’ll dash right to the ground.” Rarity retorted hotly.

Rainbow Dash deflated a little and glided back down to solid ground folding her wings at her sides. She hadn’t thought of that. She wouldn’t be much use to her friends if she couldn’t use her wings and speed to her advantage.

The lull in conversation was broken with a large pop and prismatic display of colours. Discord, Lord of Chaos appeared.

“You called?”

Rainbow Dash had already dived and ducked behind Fluttershy from what she would say was a large explosion of fireworks ready to singe her hair. Gasps reverberated around the throne room. Fluttershy’s expression had lightened up happily to see Discord once again.

“Discord?” Celestia looked bewildered.

“Celestia.” Discord said matter of factly.

“Discord!” Luna said disapprovingly.

“Luna?” Discord said mocking shame.

“Discord!” Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Spike gasped.

“Girls!” Discord said cheerfully. Opening his arms welcomingly to them.

“You’re back!” Fluttershy cheered, jumping up and gliding into Discord’s embrace.

“...oh and Spike, of course.” Discord said pointing a talon at the pint-sized dragon as he held Fluttershy with his lion-pawed appendage.

“Silent!” Luna quaked. Secretly nursing a beginning headache.

Fluttershy slipped down silently off of Discord seeing Princess Luna looked angry.

“I’m sorry dear, what was that?” Discord said as he plucked two large pink cotton candy buds out of his ears.

“Hey! Watch where you're appearing out of nowhere, mister! And no, I didn’t call.” Rainbow Dash said, flying up to Discord’s eye level and poked him in the snout.

Discord scrunched his nose and clicked his talons. Rainbow Dash collapsed to the ground; her wings nowhere in sight. She quickly realized the absent feeling and sensation of new skin where her wings would be on her shoulders.

“Hey! Give those back.” Rainbow Dash shook an angry hoof at Discord.

“What do we owe the pleasure?” Rarity couldn’t hide the showing sound of disdain in her voice.

“Why I am surprised. A friend in need is a friend in deed.” Discord clicked his talon and Rarity immediately stood with a large poofy dress on. The colour selection alone was a fashion crime, causing her to spring into a faint. Luckily, Spike was there to catch her before the floor did.

“See now the fashion conscious one has a brand new dress to meet the Princesses.” Discord stood triumphantly. “What a friend I am,” he waggled his bushy white eyebrows to no one in particular.

“Discord!” Fluttershy yelled, which was at a normal speaking level for most ponies. “Stop that and give back Rainbow’s wings.”

Discord grumbled, deflating at Fluttershy for telling him off. “Oh, alright Fluttershy.” He clicked his talons to reverse the effects he put into play.

Rainbow Dash hugged one of her wings joyfully.

Rarity regained her leggings with the help of Spike and tried to wash away the insult to her eyes and memory. She regained her poise with a slight clearing of her throat.

“You know we’re here to resolve how to save Twilight,” Spike stated to Discord.

“O-ho Twilight! Of course!” Discord burst out giddily. “Like I said: Twilight’s most recent abduction would suggest she needs a friend right now. Who better than me to gallantly save the young princess?” Discord smiled smugly. Rarity and Rainbow scoffed. He lifted his goat leg to rest across his lizard leg and began to levitate between the two groups of ponies. He relaxed in this position with his arms behind his head.

“Discord.” Luna stepped forward away from her sister’s side. “This is no trifling matter. Sombra is a formidable opponent; cunning as he is strong.”

“Ooh, pish posh Princess.” Discord mocked. “Just let me check my calendar…,” a pair of glasses appeared on the end of his snout and he made a calendar out of thin air. “Why yes, I do seem to be free at the moment to lend a claw, if I so happen to want to, that is.”

“Well, less you can magic Twilight out of the Crystal Empire, I’m not holding my breath.” Rainbow Dash jeered.

“Say no more.” Discord’s glasses and calendar popped out of existence hence they came. He readied his body’s position to click his talon. He clicked them. But nothing happened.

“Hmm. Let me try the other one.” He clicked his paw instead. With nothing happening again he checked all the sides of his talon and paw examining them for flaws. When they didn’t reveal anything new to him he pulled them off his wrists to look inside of them.

“While we are grateful for the unexpected help from you Discord - the Crystal Empire is protected by a shield. As it seems now, nothing can get in, and nothing can get out; magic or otherwise.” Celestia said.

“Hmpt. What a party pooper,” Discord limbs rejoined the rest of him and he resigned himself to relaxing back, floating in mid-air.

“Well that was a bust.” Rainbow Dash said, hoping that help from the draconequus would resolve the issue of Twilight’s abduction immediately. “Now what?”

Celestia noted out of the corner of her eye that the sun had truly set and nighttime was taking place.

“I suggest you all rest up for now. There will be a long day to have tomorrow if you all decide to leave.” Celestia said.

Each pony agreed and emptied the throne room. All except one.

“Hey! But I just got here.” The room was silent save for Discord’s own mutterings.

In Celestia’s private room she sat penning in a notice to her royal aide to clear her non-urgent items from the schedule for tomorrow and make time for a meeting with the royals guards. She scribed it quickly and sent it on its way in a glimmer of her golden magic.

“Sister?” Three short taps knocked at her door.

“Come in.”

Luna walked sorely into the room. Her face a clear expressions of concern. She sought Celestia’s gaze expressing a question to her silently. Celestia’s eyes wandered for a moment and she gave Luna an answer by nodding.

Celestia got up from her desk and Luna stepped forward and embraced her sister.

“Sombra is no normal unicorn,” Luna stated.

“He is a monster,” Celestia said quietly.

Luna looked at her sister’s face witnessing a moist shine in her eyes. “Is this why you gave me that look before? You don’t wish for the bearers of the Elements of Harmony to go up against him?”

Celestia sighed. “I do not wish that upon any pony Lulu.” She withdraw from Luna’s embrace to stare intently at a crystal that stood stationed to one side of her desk. Luna could tell her sister had got into a depressed state. She decided she would stay with her for a long as it took to get her out of it.

“The ponies will be saved. This time Sombra will be cast off this plane. For good.”

Luna stared at her sister’s severe expression. She didn’t know what to say to her and tried to will her thoughts to change Celestia’s despondent state.

“I still have it, you know.” Celestia said abruptly, through closed eyes

“A fallen star?” Luna said in a hushed tone.

Celestia opened her eyes again her pupils dilated.

“W-why?” She knew exactly what Celestia was hinting at.

“We never got the chance to see if it would work.” Celestia said grimly. “I hope we still won’t have to resort to using it. But...with the Elements of Harmony gone and the Crystal Heart in our enemy’s hand...”

Luna shook her head. “We will not have to. We didn’t before and we will not now.” She stepped forward trying to pull Celestia’s attention away from the crystal.

“Those dark days are behind us sister. Come morning when our ponies wake we will prepare them for what is to come if and when we can not prevent the Monster’s spell from infecting the land .” Luna made contact with Celestia’s eyes, though she didn’t look her way, and tried to reassure her older sibling with a steady and unwavering expression.

Celestia’s breath was heavy as she stared at the unmoving crystal. Luna pursed her lips, undecided of what to say next. She instead roped her forelegs around her sister's neck to hug her gently.

“Yet...it is strange.” Celestia said, still staring at the crystal.

“‘Tia?” Luna watched the side of Celestia’s face.

“That thing. He could shroud Equestria in a state of unrest and unhappiness with the help of the Crystal Heart in a single moment. Yet...we’ve never been able discern why he wishes for such a dreadful thing.”

“Because he is a monster.”

Celestia shuddered. It was a unique feat to corrupt the Crystal Heart. She felt assured that Sombra could, at any time, his will wanting, to unleash his curse throughout Equestria. While she was relieved that that terrible event had not suddenly occurred she felt apprehensive that at any moment that terrible event would happen.

Celestia’s expression dropped to a tired state. Noticing this Luna stepped back down to four hooves and went to draw back the sheets of Celestia bed.

“Rest Tia.” Luna asked nicely. “I shall guard the night and wake you if anything changes.” She left to leave her sister to get some much needed sleep.

Come morning.

It was good to have Spike around when it came to Canterlot. Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy had been a bit stuck as to where they were going to stay for night. Luckily, Spike had organised everything and was able to procure rooms in the castle where important guests would usually stay.

The castle attendants of course recognised Spike and were happy to help the little dragon out.

Rarity was an early riser. She sat at a vanity desk brushing her mane. She sat the brush down and sighed. She recalled Spike bursting into her boutique the previous day panting heavily. She had swiftly gathered together Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and recounted the details that Spike had told her to them.

Rarity sifted through her small carry bag one more time that she managed to snag up with her in the rush to get the train from Ponyville to Canterlot.

She pushed aside her mascara pen and skin foundation.

A train that would leave from Ponyville station to Canterlot was scheduled to leave promptly after hearing about Twilight’s kidnapping from Spike. There was of course, no time to lose; Twilight’s life could be at stake. Though Rarity still felt a pang of regret for not being able to gather more essential items to upkeep her appearance. She at least still had the basics. Lip balm, skin moisturizer, skin foundation, 3-1 clear coat products, facial cleanser, eye makeup remover, mascara pen and sunscreen; and the all-important, never leave home without, anti-aging night cream. Every bag in her home had a small bottle of it, so she never forgot it.

Rarity calmly breathed in and out, putting her own worries away about herself and focused on the reason she was here. She lightly tapped her mane, bouncing it in her hoof; it still held its glamour and curved shape. Rarity smiled, that would have to do. She left her room to go see Fluttershy who she knew was also an early riser.

As Rarity left her room she heard someone grunting from across the hallway.

“One, two...one, two.”

“Rainbow Dash, is that you darling?” Rarity asked to the door.

The door burst open, inwardly. The smell of sweat extended an assault onto Rarity’s nostrils.

“Pah! Rainbow...you smell.” She said, quickly protecting her sinuses by holding a hoof over her nose.

“Well duh, I’ve been working out.” Rainbow said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She flapped her wings. “Got to get these babies warmed up and ready to rescue some crystal ponies, you know.”

Rarity winced as Rainbow’s sweat propelled past her face from the beat of her wings.

“I was just going to see Fluttershy to remind her that we should meet the Princess sometime this afternoon to see when would be the most appropriate time to venture to the Crystal Empire.”

“What for? It’s not like we need permission to put a hoof outside the front door.”

“No. But this is a matter that concerns the whole of Equestria Rainbow. I doubt you or many other ponies know how to get through a magical shield. We need to make sure that if and when we get there we can actually get into the empire.” Rarity explained, almost sternly. Much to Rainbow’s chagrin.

Rarity proceeded over to Fluttershy’s neighbouring door. She knocked. She turned and raised a questioning glance at Rainbow Dash.

“Are you going to bathe?” She asked.

“What for?”

Rarity rolled her eyes.

Fluttershy had been awake most of the morning. She laid in bed staring up at the ceiling. Her nervousness of having to go to the Crystal Empire, now a visage of nightmares, kept her mind alert.

“Don’t be such a scaredy-cat Fluttershy. We can do this. For Twilight’s sake.” She encouraged herself. Her body jerked unexpectedly. A sudden knock at the door caused her to squeak and retreat under the bed’s blanket.

“Oh!” Fluttershy realized it was just someone at the door and felt a bit silly.

“Just a moment.” She called as she got out of bed to open the door.

Rarity and Rainbow Dash came into the bedroom.

“Good morning, dear. I am glad to see you are awake.”

“I didn’t sleep very well last night.” Fluttershy said in her usual quiet voice, looking crestfallen.

Having had many conversations with Fluttershy in the past Rarity could clearly make out what Fluttershy had said. “Dear, you are not still worrying are you?”

“A little, yes.” Fluttershy said, looking upward from the floor.

Rainbow exclaimed a noise of disbelief. “Pft.” She spatted. “Come on Fluttershy.” She grabbed Fluttershy by the shoulders and straightened out her posture; hovering almost at eye-level.

“Who’s going to hoof-it to mister tall, dark and gruesome?” Rainbow winked at her encouragingly.

“Umm…” Fluttershy was confused as to the who, or what, Rainbow was suddenly referring to but made a guess that it was probable Sombra. “...the Princesses?”

Rainbow dashed put a hoof to her forehead. “I suppose, but that’s not who I was getting at.” She made a repeating pointing motion at Fluttershy, Rarity, and herself.

“Oh? We are?” Fluttershy asked, unsurely.

“You beat we are! He won't know his back hooves from his front once I whizz on into the empire and save all the crystal ponies.” Rainbow boasted. “Then we get Applejack and Pinkie, find Twilight, and go all friendship is magic on his sorry flank.”

Rainbow Dash landed back to the ground and extended a hoof in a arc in front of herself. “I can see it now. Crowds cheering. A hero’s praise. My stunt of rescuing the crystal ponies so fast and so awesome it will be reported all across Equestria.”

Rarity rolled her eyes, shook her head, and smiled at the back of Rainbow as she described her dream of joining the Wonderbolts; Equestria’s exclusive aerial acrobatic team. Fluttershy also giggled warmly at this, her worries subsiding to Rainbow’s antics.

“So, what should we do for the morning?” Fluttershy asked Rarity, since Rainbow Dash was off in another world; hoping one day her future world would be her today world.

“We don’t have much in the way of supplies or the like. So we should ask Spike if he could help us find what we need to travel out to the Crystal Empire, before we find the Princess again.”

Rainbow spun around to the duo and hovered closer to them. “Then what are waiting for? Let's do it.”

Rarity lifted her hoof, to pause Rainbow. “First, bath. I do not wish to be seen by important ponies with you looking like you just participating in a rodeo.”

As Rarity talked she walked out of the room with Rainbow Dash following along. She stopped at the door to Rainbow’s room and motioned for her to go inside.

Rainbow slowly flapped her wings and they pushed her along into the bedroom and into the room’s en suite.

With Rainbow Dash taken care of and Fluttershy getting herself ready for the morning Rarity went to see if Spike would join her out in Canterlot to get supplies for their journey.

Elsewhere in one of the furthest ends of the castle Princess Celestia and Princess Luna awaited for the remaining heads of the royal guard to attend the meeting for the morning. Though Luna was feeling tired having been awake for over a day she didn’t show any outward signs of fatigue.

The dank room was small and spotless of any furniture. A spartan room where guards were briefed with their daily tasks. It’s only defining feature was a large hearth that roared a hearty life into the room and a podium for holding papers. It was usual routine for the guards to meet here first thing in the morning. This morning however was a bit out of the ordinary. The Princesses had ordered a wakeup call and attendance of all the heads of the guard. They came willingly and excitedly for whatever their rulers wanted to announce.

Earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns, stood shoulder to shoulder, gathered around the Princesses. Only slight murmurs of curious theories shifted from pony to pony as to why the meeting had been called.

Celestia and Luna was happy to see everypony was in attendance. Luna raised her hoof to signal silence from the ranks. The murmurs died off and Princess Celestia addressed them.

“My little ponies, good morning. Thank you for promptly attending this morning. I am sure you are all aware this a matter of great importance.” Celestia said.

She paused momentarily, furrowing her brow unintentionally. “King Sombra has returned to the Crystal Empire.”

Eyes lite up in all directions, some wide, some winced, others a mixture of both, flames from the hearth in all their eyes. Yet no one said anything. Celestia was pleased with that. The heads of the guard knew of the urgent importance when the Princesses called them all together like this. This wasn’t a small matter.

“He has already usurped the throne in the Crystal Empire and has made the crystal ponies prisoners in their own empire. The Crystal Empire is now considered a threat to the whole of Equestria while King Sombra controls it.” Celestia said.

“This is a situation where no resource shall be spared.” Luna stated. “The guards’ priority is the rescue of our fellow ponies.” Luna addressed one pony directly. “Captain Roar, will be leading steed in this mission. Celestia and I will speak to you of the finer details afterwards.” She nodded in the direction of the pony mentioned.

He nodded silently.

Celestia and Luna then recounted the effect of what the Crystal Heart could do to ponies to their audience and the importance of avoiding it along with Sombra himself. With the objective outlined Celestia opened the room for discussion.

“What can we do against the mad spell on the Crystal Heart?” One voice asked.

“Thankfully not all ponies are subjected to these effects. Ponies with stronger minds are able to withstand its effects for greater periods. In the Crystal Empire these are ponies he coerces to help control those affected by his spell.” Luna replied.

“No wait. Wouldn’t it be true then that Sombra himself actually fears? We could use that fear against him somehow.” Another suggested.

“It’s unfortunately more complex than that.” Celestia explained. “Through his mastery of dark magic Sombra has truly become the embodiment of fear. As such I don’t believe he has any the effects that fear would invoke on a normal pony.”

“A pony who doesn’t fear? H-How are we meant to fight that?” A voice stuttered.

“Like any other!” One said boisterously.

“I don’t get it? Why don’t we just go kick his flank while he’s all non-powerful and such.” Another said out loud.

“Sombra is to be avoided at all cost while he has the advantage of using the Crystal Heart to corrupt other ponies’ minds when they are too close to it.” Luna said.

“Do you think that maybe, we could just ask Sombra really nicely if he could let the Princesses and Prince go?” Another suggestion, searching every other ponies eyes for approval.

“Unlikely.” Luna said. “No. Sombra’s current intentions while unclear. He no doubts hold the Crystal Empire and its citizens captive to erect a fortification for himself.”

The guards stood stoic and rigid for most part of the discussion. Celestia and Luna did their best to alleviate any fears and draw attention back to the objective. The discussions eventually ended with a few murmurs still around the room.

“Captain Triumphant Roar. If we could speak to you for a moment.” Celestia asked while other ponies shuffled about.

Both Princesses left the small room, the guards allowing them a path through, with the Captain.

He was brave and bold soul who stood strong for justice and taking necessary action. He took to the role as Captain of the royal guard, like a duck to water, after replacing Shining Armour when he left to permanently live at the Crystal Empire to be with his wife. The Princesses were very grateful to have an earth pony such as the Captain. A first after a long line of unicorns in the key role. He was both reliable and capable. Not to mention, besides his outstanding ability, stood out from the crowd; his impressive blazing auburn mane and an impression of lion head, mouth opened in a roar, as a cutie mark.

The Princesses lead the way to the captain’s office. Roar closed the door behind him. Luna was quick to materialize a large stack of parchment. She had written the necessary details of the mission throughout the night and presented it to Roar.

“A reconnaissance team will be the first move made to resolve the issue of passing through the shield that blocks entrance to the empire.” Luna stated.

Roar took his place behind his desk and leafed through the parchment curiously. It was about a hoof deep. “It’s all here?” He asked, placing a hoof on the stack.

“Yes.” Luna replied. “Speed is of the essence Captain. Before days ends that shield is to be made passable or at best obsolete. Understood?”

“Understood Princess.” Roar nodded calmly and without expression.

Celestia regarded Roar’s demeanor. He rarely questioned the Princesses and had a determined attitude and passion to getting things done. She felt confident that he would follow the plan to the letter.

Triumphant Roar, much like Shining Armour before him, had been privileged to hear out the ideal of the Princesses. As to the whys and hows they themselves lead the ponies of Equestria. The royal sisters confided in Roar that they were teachers. That the way to continued peace and happiness for the students; their ponies, was to learn by doing. It wasn’t that they were cruel or wanted to play a joke on them. Ponies had to learn to grow by themselves. Nurturing someone could have the opposite effect desired if they were smothered by it. The sisters were teachers and this is how they wanted ponies to learn.

“I bid you good morning Captain.” Luna announcing in her usual brief and to the point regal manner. She left to go rest for the day.

“I shall see you later tonight Luna.” Celestia bade her sister farewell as she left the office.

The morning progressed smoothly and Celestia hoped it continued to do so. Her next task was to issue a statement through a delegate to the citizens of Canterlot, who would sooner or later learn of the situation in the Crystal Empire. She left Triumphant Roar’s office for him to go over the mission statement in peace.

Celestia made her way to the throne room. Along the way her royal aide, Raven, joined alongside her.

“The discussion with the guard went five minutes over schedule.” She stated dryly, her eyes not leaving a piece of parchment floating ahead of herself.

“Yes, there were numerous comments that needed addressing by myself and Luna.” Celestia replied.

“The delegate for royal statements to the public has been waiting in the throne room for you Princess.” Raven said.

Celestia smiled warmly. Schedules were amazing, a true artistic practise. She was vastly impressed that her royal scheduler, Kibitz; as was his name, had managed to reorganised and organised today so swiftly. Celestia had once managed without schedules. Court hearings went on for hours at a time, if not, the whole day. Then there would be odd gaps in the day where nothing happened at all in her royal duties. Schedules kept the momentum of ruling under control and always moving along smoothly. It wasn’t comprehensible to go back to a time without a schedule. Schedules were amazing after all, a true artistic practise.

“Very well, I shall see to that now.”

Imagining a pony, cold and alone, in the winterscape of of the Crystal Empire wasn’t a common conjured imagine for most. A Prince of Equestria in such a situation even less so.

Shining Armour coughed and shivered in the snow.

After the guard’s had escorted him out of his own empire he was left on the train tracks where it would be considered the border for the Crystal Empire’s domain and Canterlot. Determined to get back inside the castle and rescue his wife and sister he trudged back. The snow he was digging up was a lot thicker now. Probable from a flash snow storm. Shining eventually made it to the dome and rested his hoof on it. A solid shield. On the inside and on the out. Shining was exhausted, his magic blocked off by black crystals.

Shining drooped against the shield. There was no way he could get through it in his current state. He turned his weary eyes to the train tracks that faded into the distant night.

He knew where he had to go to. He flexed his shoulders, took in a shuddering cold breath and exhaled vapor and begun the long trek to Canterlot.

Shining Armour travelled the whole night without stopping, testimony to his royal guard training at Canterlot. Late morning broke as he drew long laboured breaths as he entered past the Canterlot drawbridge and under the guarded walls. A sickly cool liquid was dripping off his muzzle from his nostril.

Two royal pegasus guards glided down to inspect the newcomer. Upon closer inspection they recognized their former captain of the guard even under his dishevelled appearance.

“Captain?”

Shining Armour now knew what is was like to be a sack of potatoes. A single sack of potatoes surrounded by fruit and vegetables; an abstract, out of place. His ragged appearance drew attention from other ponies as he pursued the straightest line to Canterlot castle; walking straight on by the guards that greeted him.

Truthfully the guards had never seen their former captain with such a elsewhere gaze. Whatever was wrong was something serious. They decided to give themselves the permission to escort Shining Armour to wherever he was going, flanking closely behind him, and in case he passed out. He looked like he had travelled all the way through the tangled Everfree forest at night.

Every guard Shining passed recognised him and felt the ambiance of a stallion on a mission. Shining’s vision blurred and warped but his legs knew where they were going.

The guards stationed outside the throne room for the hearing court noticed the odd unannounced appearance of Prince Shining Armour coming towards them. The guards didn’t reprimand him as he passed his way by other ponies in line, waiting to be heard, and walked between them and begun opening up the double door with both forelegs.

The hearing sessions fell silent as the doors slowly creaked open and the musky smell of body odour and earth entered in.

Celestia was about to demand an answer to the uninvited intrusion till she saw Shining Armour’s face that had entered. She turned to her royal duty aide. “Raven could you please post-phone today’s hearings.”

Raven made a note with her quill on parchment. “Of course Princess.”

Celestia descended the dais and approached the slowly approaching Shining Armour.

As Celestia went to her new matter Raven announced to the room. “The day court hearing by Princess Celestia has been declared postponed. If you have an urgent matter please feel free to seek the official delegation officer in charge. If anypony requires assistance in their matter I can help you out where possible.”

As Raven repeated formalities and information on correct form filling Celestia and Shining Armour ducked out of the throne room by the private exit and entrance so as not to upset the other ponies waiting to be heard. They would be slightly upset, of course. Raven was the best when it came to handling things like this though.

As the throne room begun to slowly clear with mutters and grunts Raven joined Celestia and Shining Armour.

“Raven could I get you to seek out the castle doctor, please. I believe the Prince here will require some medical hospitalities.” Celestia requested.

Raven looked up and down at the Prince, very slowly. To her, the Prince of the Crystal Empire looked like a rugged, ragged, bear-fighting, volcano-surviving, stallion of a stallion! Wow. She hid behind her parchment as her cheeks inflamed.

“Y-yes, of course Princess.” Raven stuttered.

Celestia watched with a knowing smile as Raven trot quickly down the hallway. “Ah to be young.” She mused.

Shining cough and spluttered, a fresh rope of liquid hanging from his muzzle. Celestia smiled warmly and levitated a handkerchief to dab away the mess. Celestia’s brow raised. Dabbing wasn’t working. She squeezed the handkerchief around Shining’s muzzle and roughly pulled out the offended mucus.

“‘ankyou.” Shining mumbled.

Celestia shook her head wistfully. She then noticed how much mucus Shining had had on him. Her handkerchief no longer felt like her own. She was going to selflessly gift it to Shining Armour, but he had no where to place it. So she flicked her horn and summoned it out of existence; probable somewhere to be thoroughly cleaned.

Celestia quickly regained her regal composure to address Shining. “I must apologise Shining Armour. I did not believe even a pony of your talent could have broken through Sombra’s shield.”

He shook his head sorely. “You know of Sombra’s return then?”

She nodded.

Shining continued. “I didn’t break out Princess, well sort of, but he let me go…”

Celestia’s eyes widened slightly in disbelief and curiosity.

“...on the condition that Twilight stayed.” Shining felt weak and depressed. He slowly made his way to a couch placed outside the private entrance to the throne room.

“Tell me what you’ve seen Shining Armour.” Celestia’s tone turned stoney and serious. As if anything she could attain from Shining Armour about Sombra was of utmost value.

Shining Armour’s tone dulled more and croaked slightly. “Similarly to the last time; when the Crystal Empire reappeared and Sombra too. Instead this time…,” he swallowed dryly, “I know it was him that has caused the crystal ponies to lose their crystal coats, along with their sense of self. To be replaced with fear and confusion, a mind set ready to be manipulated.” He stared across the way at the meeting point of the floor and wall.

The dark things Shining Armour said weren’t lost on the environment around him. The whole room seemed to bend in and on itself and darkened gradually, like a twisted mad dream.

Celestia brought her neck down to brush her cheek against Shining’s cool fur. He blinked starry-eyed as if by a comforting touch brought him out of a nightmare. Celestia raised her neck back up and smiled reassuringly down at Shining Armour.

A weight was lifted from Shining Armour’s shoulders. He trusted the princess explicitly.

At this time Raven had returned with a doctor and nurse.

“Go with the doctor Shining Armour and get some rest.” Celestia cooed.

He nodded weakly. The doctor and nurse dipped their heads respectively to the princess before leaving with Shining.

As they left her sight Celestia turned to Raven. “Clear the schedule for the rest of the day Raven, please.”

“Princess?” Though not unheard of. The Princess Of The Day clearing her schedule threw a spanner in the works that Raven would have to see to. Not to mention it was annoying to have a whole well thought out and planned day thrown out the window.

“I won't be available for the rest of the afternoon. I have some a personal matter to attend to.”

Personal matters usual meant things that the public need not know about. As the Princess left Raven scrolled a big X over her parchment and sighed.

The morning had progressed quite smoothly for Rarity, she believed. Supplies had been gathered with the helpful guidance of Spike and Rainbow Dash didn’t complain on and off again about the time it was taking to get back to the castle. She only complained periodically.

“Come on Rares. Are we done yet?” Rainbow whined.

Spike scratched his cheek with the ink point of his quill. Marking a blot of black on his scales.

“Well lets see…,” Spike double checked the to-get list Rarity had penned. “Food. Check. Camping equipment, all checked. Water. Check. Clothing for a perilous trek through horrible icky, wet, cold snow...uhh, check. I think we’re done Rainbow.”

“Are you sure Spike? I can’t help but think we may have forgotten something.” Rarity exclaimed looking at the cart tied to Rainbow Dash scrupulously.

Though a small sized cart the supplies that had been gathered made a small mountainous peak of objects and other things. Rainbow sighed in boredom.

“Well if Spike says we got everything on your list, that’s good enough for me.” Rainbow said.

“One can never be too sure.” Rarity said, still examining each edge, shape, and line of the objects in the cart.

“We still have the rest of the day Rarity. We can drop this off at the castle and see if we have everything.” Fluttershy said encouragingly.

Rarity agreed and Rainbow and Spike rejoiced, raising their respected limps with a woo and yeah.

Spike lead the way back through the castle to a private storage room where Rainbow could unload all their belongings for the trip.

“You two go if you like.” Rarity said. “I’ll look over everything here and see if we have all that we’ll need for the trip.”

“I can help if you like.” Spike beamed at Rarity.

Rarity tittered behind her hoof at Spike enthusiasm. “Of course, Spike, thank you, darling.”

“Cool. Awesome. I am out of here then to grab a bite to eat then.” Rainbow Dash said. “Want to come with Fluttershy?”

“Ok.” Fluttershy said simple. “If you’re sure you’ll be alright Rarity.”

“Thank you Fluttershy. With Spike assisting me we should have this all under control.” Rarity reassured her.

So Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy left Rarity and Spike to take care of organising the gear.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy made their way to leave the castle. As they were about to head out the main entrance they spotted the odd sight of Shining Armour. Looking like a beat-up sack of potatoes. His white coat was a mess with tufts of fur sticking out and stains of dirt and grass throughout.

“Hey, isn't that Twilight’s brother or something?” Rainbow asked.

Fluttershy followed Rainbow’s eyesight and noticed the doctors and nurses with him.

“Oh my, he looks like he’s in really bad shape.”

“Yeah...” Rainbow scratched her chin. “...like he just escaped a evil king. Come on Fluttershy, let's go see him.” Rainbow took off into a flight pattern straight for Shining Armour.

The doctor and nurse escorting Shining saw a rocketing pegasus suddenly rearing towards them and braced themselves for impact. Rainbow Dash halted mid-air straight in front of their faces. The kick back of her wings blowing back the mane and tails. The nurse looked like she was about to pass out.

Rainbow landed in front of Shining Armour. “You’re Twilight’s brother, right?”

“‘ou ‘r Ra’nbow Dash?” He drawled and snorted, drawing back a long string of snot escaping his nose. Not only did he look like a wreckage he sounded sickly too.

Fluttershy trotted up next to Rainbow. “Rainbow Dash.” She said sternly.

Rainbow was brought out of her stupor and noticed she had completely blanked out the doctor and nurse. She scratched the floor with a hoof timidly. “Sorry about that.”

“Would the Prince like me to call the guards on them?” The doctor asked.

“What?” Rainbow shouted.

“Nuu ‘eed.” Shining said.

“If you’re sure but we must get you looked at right away. You may be on four hooves now Prince but honestly you don’t look fit for two.” The doctor stated. The nurse gawked at her superior, stunned he talked so boldly to a Prince.

“As ‘ou say doctor. P’eas lead the way.” Shining didn’t object. He did really want to lie down for a bit after the night he had had.

Outside the castle gate a hospital carriage waited. The doctor and nurse watched over Shining as he got in first. The nurse apologised that there would be no room for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy but said they could visit the hospital when they had settled the Prince into a hospital bed.

Rainbow Dash stared sternly as the carriage pulled away from the castle gate.

“I am sure Twilight’s brother will be alright at the Canterlot hospital. We should visit him when he’s feeling better.” Fluttershy said.

Rainbow didn’t say anything and looked like she was lost in thought.

“Are you okay Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah…” She begun, her voice wavering slightly. “It’s just, Shining Armour is, or was, the Captain of the royal guard here in Canterlot. He was even the one that casted and held the spell that shielded Canterlot from the changeling invasion. You remember?” Rainbow’s thoughts went to dark places. She regarded the captain as the linchpin of strength of Canterlot. His worse for wear appearance didn’t bode well if it was that monster’s doing.

Fluttershy rested a reassuring hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Even though it’s hard not to worry about her. I bet Twilight is doing fine. She really does well in difficult situations.”

Rainbow Dash grinned mock smugly. “Hey, when did you become so confident.”

Fluttershy tapped Rainbow’s shoulder playfully. They laughed briefly.

“We should get something to eat. We got to meet the Princess later.” Fluttershy said.

Rainbow agreed and they continued on their previous plan to find some food.

Night approached Canterlot as Rainbow and Fluttershy rejoined the rest of their group in the castle. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna finished talking to Captain Roar.

“You are sure of your mission then?” Luna asked.

“Crystal.” Roar nodded with a cheeky grin.

Luna regarded the captain unsurely.

“You all have made the decision to go to the Crystal Empire then?” Luna asked, noticing each pony with backpacks on. Everyone nodded.

“Very well then. You shall accompany the captain and his small team to the tundra and assist in his mission.”

“Alright!” Rainbow cheered.

Roar led the ponies and dragon away to the train station.

“Good luck.” Celestia spurred on as they left.

At the train station the quad that was Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Spike waiting on the train station platform as numerous other ponies bustled to and fro from the train.

Captain Roar stood amongst the noise overseeing the movement of everyone. The sound of rapidly approaching wagon wheels caught his attention.

A thick dust sprayed over the station platform. As the dust settled down the newly arrived pink earth pony on top of the wagon shouted out.

“Hi girls!” She gleefully shouted.

“Slow down filly!” Applejack grumbled as she stood up from the wagon’s tub. She spotted her stetson outside the wagon. As she climbed and dropped off from the wagon to retrieve it the
two robust stallions, who had been pulling the wagon, plummeted down also.

“Sheesh, I don’t think you needed to push ‘em that hard sugarcube.” Applejack said as she dusted her hat off before placing it on her head.

“But we needed to get here super-duper quick, my left eyelid told me so.” She said pointedly.

Applejack grumbled. “Hmm.” She noticed the eyes on them. “Oh, hey girls. What’s, uhh, happenin’?” She chuckled weakly.

Rainbow was the first to get over her initially shock. “Did you guys just come from Appleloosa by wagon?”

Applejack turned and winced at the stallions that had be shanghaied by Pinkie Pie.

“Something like that.” Pinkie said nonchalantly after prancing off the wagon.

“So, I guess the gang’s back together?” Fluttershy asked timidly.

Pinkie gasped. “That coulda been my line!”

Rarity interrupted everyone with polite cough, “As wonderful as it is to see you both I believe we are being waited on.”

Everyone turned to see the train ready with Roar waiting stoically by one of the train carts, looking unperturbed.

“To answer when, we are leaving now.” Roar said.

Rarity turned back to Applejack. “You can reveal to us the who and how on the train, yes?”

Applejack nodded. “Can do, and ya’ll can fill us in with the what and where?” She smiled good naturedly.

One of the train windows rolled open loudly to draw attention to it. “Yeah, and somepony can explain why there’s no cake anywhere on this train!” Pinkie yelled.

Captain Triumphant Roar’s small team had boarded the train. Their destination set for the Crystal Empire. Captain Roar was the last to board the train. His head jerked to look behind him, swearing he heard the beating of wings. He shrugged it off predicting it was a pegasus or something flying overhead.