A Princess in Time

SEVEN YEARS AFTER THE FALL OF THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE

A warm spring sun shone gently down on the untended fields outside the Crystal Empire's city and gleamed from the helmets and spearpoints of a hundred thousand soldiers. The hooves of Equestria's army crushed down the overgrown crops and the dead crops alike as they advanced toward the hemisphere which surrounded the city. It was a dull, unreflective gray, shot through with black tendrils which writhed across the surface like the shadows of alien birds.

Princesses Celestia and Luna exchanged a glance. They were in the vanguard of their army, both their horns blazing brightly enough to outshine the sun. Luna signaled to a lavishly robed unicorn. "Wizard! The protection of the army falls to you now." The wizard bowed and turned to pass the signal on to his legion of unicorns, hundreds strong. As one, their horns lit, casting sharp shadows on faces pinched with concentration.

Celestia and Luna allowed their magic to fade out, cautiously gauging their feelings. Satisfied that they remained shielded from the torrent of magical fear flowing out from behind the Empire's shield, Celestia nodded. "So far, so good. Now, Sister, let us smash this accursed shield at long last."

It had taken years of study for the princesses and their wizards to understand the nature of the shield. It was a new use of time magic, unlike anything they had read of or experienced. But at last, they had unraveled it: the bubble around the city wasn't a shield, but rather the limit of a zone of slowed time. The city inside was moving more slowly than the world outside, and any living thing which tried to cross into that zone was torn apart cell by cell as the different timestreams acted on them at different rates.

Much research and many failures followed as the best minds in Equestria struggled to devise a way to end or defeat the spell from outside the bubble. Years had passed as the waves of fear spread across Equestria and beyond. The effects could be reversed by strong unicorns, but only temporarily. The princesses needed to end it at its source, which they knew full well could only be the Crystal Heart. And with that knowledge came the sure understanding that for the Crystal Heart to be used as a weapon, something terrible had to have happened to their sister Thauma.

The princesses' eyes were hard as they assembled their respective parts of the spell which would crack the bubble. Their magic waxed and waned, merged and split, and touched the surface of the bubble almost tenderly. After several minutes, Celestia grunted a command and both princesses leaned forward as though throwing their weight behind the spell. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, but then the black tendrils began disappearing, at first singly and then by the dozens and hundreds, until the bubble was purely gray. The princesses bore down, their horns growing brighter and ever brighter, until there was a scream like tearing metal and in the space between one breath and the next, the bubble was gone and the Crystal Empire lay exposed to the sky for the first time in years. Only then did the princesses let the spell end, panting as though they'd run miles.

A powerfully-built pegasus clad all in golden armor flew above them and spun in the air to face the army. She raised her spear, letting the sun-and-moon banner of Equestria affixed to its shaft catch the breeze and unfurl. "FORWARD!" she thundered. The command was repeated by lieutenants and then by sergeants, spreading throughout the ranks of the army in waves. The army's van stepped into motion, marching forward into the enemy city.

Scarcely a week later, the army of Equestria had besieged the palace. Opposition in the city had been scattered and unorganized, and most of the city's population proved to be civilians who neither aided nor opposed the Equestrians, but only stared at them with hollow eyes.

Day after day, the princesses had received reports containing what little information the shattered populace could be coaxed to give the soldiers. It was through those reports that they learned that their enemy was the former court wizard Sombra, and also learned what had become of their sister. She had led a surprise attack on the usurper, but according to eyewitnesses, Sombra had expected the attack and had had his own forces lying in wait. Thauma's small army had been destroyed to the last fighter, and finally Sombra had publicly executed Thauma in the middle of the city's stadium before the eyes of the entire citizenry. That had gutted what resistance remained in the city, and Sombra had been free to focus on causing terror in his subjects.

The princesses had stayed up all night together with a cask of wine after reading that report.

The siege of the palace had been easy enough to make the generals itchy. After losing half a division to a sudden blast of magic from the palace, the princesses had arrayed their wizards five deep around its perimeter. They had successfully stopped several other such attacks, and finally the blasts of magic had stopped, and there had been no further signs of resistance from the palace for three days.

Inside the command tent positioned behind the siege lines, Luna banged her hoof on the table, scattering maps and field reports across its rough surface, including a drawing of the palace's blackened and twisted exterior, so different from the beautiful structure it had been. "We must take the fight to Sombra!"

Celestia's wings flicked, but she gave no other sign of reaction. "You are not wrong, Luna. But I fear we will sacrifice many of our soldiers in the doing."

The pegasus general put her hoof atop the golden helmet on the table in front of her. "We are ready to make that sacrifice, my princesses. The safety of Equestria is at stake. For what other reason did we become soldiers?"

Celestia frowned, but nodded slowly. "It pains me, but I will accept your counsel. General Skyblaze, issue the orders. We attack at dawn."

The next morning, Celestia and Luna rose into the air with five hundred picked pegasi and winged their way toward the highest tower, where Thauma had kept her magical laboratory and library. Below them, the wizards battered open the palace gates and the infantry swarmed through. The clash and scream of battle rose above the wind. Celestia turned her attention away from it and hurried toward the tower.

A dozen explosions around the rim of the tower filled it with dust and shrapnel. Pegasi dove through the clouds, looking around for foes even as they skidded to a stop on the polished floor of the laboratory. The princesses followed, horns still fading from punching through the tower wall.

Standing on a pedestal at the center of the room was the unicorn who could only be Sombra. His eyes and horn blazed an eerie red, pulsing in time with a gem set in an amulet around his neck. A pegasus behind him launched toward him, spear at the ready. The gem pulsed and the pegasus became an empty suit of armor surrounding a fine mist of blood.

Luna stamped a hoof. "Halt, all of you! We shall deal with him!"

Sombra smiled. "Will you? Your dear sister was the strongest of you, and she could not best me. What hope do you have?"

Celestia and Luna exchanged a glance, and their horns blazed, one light, one dark. The pegasi backed away as flashes and sparks filled the room, magic meeting magic faster than the eye could follow. The sparks flared for one hour, then two, creeping ever closer to Sombra's sweaty coat. The sounds of combat climbed the tower toward them, Equestrian battle cries sounding again and again as they swept the palace clean of opposition. The pegasi closed in behind the magic, spears held ready. Sombra's red eyes were rimmed with white as he watched them approach.

Finally, Luna cried out in triumph as an invisible blow knocked the amulet from around Sombra's neck, silencing the red glow of his magic. "You are beaten, traitor! Surrender now and you might yet live."

Sombra sagged to his knees. His eyes fell closed, but his teeth showed in a grin. "You know nothing of defeat." Celestia started in alarm and pulled a shield over the two of them just as Sombra's eyes popped open again, glowing an evil green which trailed from the corners like fire. Wings of shadow flared from his shoulders with a shockwave that sent the pegasi thudding into the walls. "The amulet was a crutch, and I have transcended it. Your moment of defeat is nigh, princesses." The wings folded around him and he was gone.

Luna growled. "Where?" But even as she spoke the word, a wave of diseased magic set their horns to aching. She gritted her teeth. "The throne room?"

Celestia nodded agreement, and they flung themselves out into the air, wings folded, falling toward the roof of the throne room. Twin explosions made holes for them, and they went to a hover just inside.

Sombra sat on the throne, his dark wings spread across the breadth of the throne room. His horn glowed green and his eyes mocked them.

"We must stop that spell, whatever it is," hissed Luna.

"Oh, what's wrong?" taunted Sombra. "Giving up already? At least your sister put up a fight. Then I killed her, of course, so it didn't do her much good, but still, I appreciated the effort." His grin widened as Celestia snarled at him.

"Sister!" cried Luna, as Celestia dove toward Sombra, horn outstretched.

Sombra laughed and struck at Celestia with a lance of green fire, but his laugh cut short when he hit only air and the flash of light marking Celestia's teleportation. He attacked again as she reappeared, but she teleported again just as quickly. The throne room was illuminated with a silver glow as more and more teleportation flashes appeared.

Sombra's eyes widened in surprise. He sucked in a breath, then gurgled and choked. Celestia slowly withdrew her horn from his chest. She watched dispassionately as bright red blood bubbled out of him. He collapsed out of the throne and spilled down the steps, his horn trailing green fire all the way. When he rolled to a stop, he laughed, then coughed, then laughed more.

Luna landed beside her. "That was well done, Sister."

Sombra managed to speak. "Wrong. The spell is complete, and I will survive without this mortal shell. When my empire returns to the world, Equestria will fall. You have lost utterly." The blood coating his teeth made his grin red. His horn glowed intensely and a wave of power spread from the tip, traveling through the princesses and on through the wall and out into the world. In its wake, the palace disappeared, inch by inch and wall by wall, until moments later, the entire Equestrian army, living, wounded, and dead, found themselves standing in an empty plain where the Crystal Empire had been.

General Skyblaze circled down to land by them. Her posture was controlled, but her eyes betrayed confusion. "Princess Celestia, Princess Luna... where are we?"

Luna's eyebrows shot up. "This is the Crystal Empire."

"Pardon me, Princess, but what is that?"

She favored Skyblaze with a withering glare. "Naturally, it is..." She turned wide eyes on Celestia. "I can't remember, Sister!"

Celestia shook her head. "Nor can I. We came to do battle because our sister's Crystal Empire had fallen to someone named Sombra and was a threat to Equestria."

Luna lowered her head. "Our sister, yes."

Skyblaze was nodding. "I recall the battle, at least. But I've no idea who we were fighting."

Celestia continued, abstractly, "The Crystal Heart... it is something powerful and dangerous, and the Empire will return someday." She shook her head, frowning. "We have to assume Sombra did this to our memories and stole the Empire away. The sheer power needed for such a feat is worrying."

Luna muttered, "That is a mild phrasing."

"We must keep watch and stand ready, for as long as it takes."