Chapters Pinkie's Party had went once again deep into the night. Given the occasion it was no surprise: King Sombra, the feared and hated tyrant of the Crystal Empire was finally dead, the Crystal Ponies free of his dark influence and terror. Honestly, it was more a surprise the party still ended before dawn, but that could be explained with the exhausted state everypony was in.
Still, there was one mare who was still awake, despite being completely exhausted herself. It was a butter colored pegasus, with blue eyes and three butterflies as a cutie mark. Everypony thought she was one of the visitor's to the Crystal Empire. And if things would go after the mare, it would stay this way.
She was on her way towards the cemetery of the empire. Compared to the rest of the crystal empire, this place obviously hadn't been taken care of in a long while and that's saying something, considering everything is made of crystal. Oh, everything was still recognizable, but the plants at the graves were all dead, the graves themselves dirty and some of them were even broken. The mare sighed sadly. There had been no time for taking care of the graves, neither during Sombra's reign, nor as of now. She hoped the place would be restored soon, even though everypony probably just wanted to completely forget about the past.
The pegasus in question stopped in front of a grave. It didn't look any different from the other graves, a simple crystal tombstone, a name and date were written on it, although the letters were a little outdated to say the least.
"Hi mom." the mare spoke softly. "I'm really sorry it's been so long since I last visited, but...you know probably better than me what dad did to the empire." She sighed once again. "I'm just glad I now have the opportunity to see you again, though...not for long. The others would be worried if they see that I'm missing. I'm sorry."
For the next couple of minutes she just looked at the stone in front of her.
"There's so much I want to tell you, but I...I just don't know where to start. Maybe I should tell you how I have been and what I am doing. Well, I've become an animal caretaker in a small town called Ponyville. I've made lots of new animal friends. Oh, Angel is still around, though he didn't want to come. He's become really grumpy, ever since...you know." she trailed off, looking to the ground. A tiny tear fell to the ground. Rubbing her eye, she looked back at the tombstone.
"I'm sorry. I promised you to be strong. But...it's harder than I thought." she choked down a sob.
"Dad...he died today. I....I know he was...bad. Evil. A...monster. H-he's responsible y-y-you died *sob*. B-but *sniff*, but...I-I miss him mom! He did all those bad things, but he was a great father! H-h-HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FEEL?! I KNOW WHAT HE DID, BETTER THAN ANYPONY ELSE! HE DESERVED TO DIE FOR EVERYTHING...everything..." The pegasus broke down, crying her eyes out on the ruined grave. Centuries of burying down emotions came to the surface all at once. The mare cried and cried and soon enough Celestia began raising the sun. Seeing this, the pegasus wiped the tears away and tried to calm herself down.
"I need to go or the others will notice that I've been gone. I don't know if I'll be able to visit again. I...I'll try. Goodbye...mom."
She was about to fly back where she came from, when she stopped in her tracks and looked back at her mother's tombstone. "That's right. There is something I wanted to tell you. You see I...I am the Element of Kindness now." She giggled. "I know. Dad would...*sigh* he would probably have one of his fits. I definitely need to go now. Goodbye mom. Oh and please do visit dad in Tartarus. And greet Ceberus from me. I haven't been able to play with him as of late. So much happened. I can't wait to tell you."
With those final words, Fluttershy finally took off towards the crystal palace.
"Sombra had a daughter?!" Shining Armor exclaimed, as he and Celestia were sitting together in the dining room. The two were already awake and alone, since they were pretty much used to early mornings.
"Yes, however, she disappeared shortly before Luna and I confronted Sombra. I only heard rumors of her until then. She was kind of an infamous celebrity, even outside the Crystal Empire. It was said that she was even crueler than her father. A single look into her eyes was supposed to destroy a pony's soul. She was supposed to have tamed the darkest monsters of Tartarus and she would try to make other ponies "play" with her "pets". Her favorite one was supposed to be something so evil and so monstrous, just saying its name was supposed to bring doom upon you." Celestia shook her head. "It's hard to say which of the stories were real and which were made up. After the Crystal Empire disappeared, nopony has ever heard anything about Sombra's daughter."
"Hmm. Maybe we can find out what happened to her, if we inspect the castle." Shining suggested. "We could even ask the crystal ponies, although I don't think they'd like to be reminded of her, considering how they reacted to Sombra. Also Princess, I'd like to keep Twilight and her friends out of this. They've been through enough already and considering that Sombra's daughter is already dead- actually, what is her name?"
Celestia needed to think about this for a while. "Oh jeez. It's been so long...ah yes, now I remember. Her name was Umbra. She was also known as the Silent Death and Dark Butterfly. I'd love to know the story behind the last one."
"Dark Butterfly? That doesn't sound all that terrifying. It sounds more like something a filly would come up for a little stage show." Shining deadpanned at the thought of ponies shivering at the silly name.
Author's Note
Nghn, wanted to make it longer, but that's all I could muster.
Just another kitten
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed, surprised to see her mentor sitting with her brother at the dining table.
"Twilight Sparkle" the two gave each other a quick hug "I'm so glad to see that you're alright." Celestia said, smiling down at her student. "I'm very proud of all of you. Especially Spike."
"You're...proud of me? But princess! I failed. I didn't manage to defeat Sombra on my own, I needed to ask my friends for help."
Celestia chuckled. "And that's exactly it."
"Huh?"
"Twilight, I wanted to see if you could go against my orders, when the situation calls for it. I'm anything but perfect, my faithful student. You should already know this by now."
Twilight for her part looked up at her mentor and wasn't really sure what to be more mortified for: the fact that Trollestia had been at it again or the fact that her mentor told her to disregard the image of the perfect sun princess the unicorn had in her head. She didn't get very far with that train of thought, as her friends minus Fluttershy entered the dining hall. They all immediately bowed towards the sun deity, who told them to rise and join her at the table.
"Isn't Fluttershy joining us today? And where is Spike?" Celestia asked.
"I'm terribly sorry princess, but the poor dear did not sleep very well last night." Rarity explained. "She said she had a little too many sugary treats."
"About Spike, he's also asleep, though more due to exhaustion." Twilight explained.
Celestia chuckled. "I see. Well, I guess we should let them have their rests. In any event, I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay in the Crystal Empire."
"Oh, I can't wait to see the more artistic side of the empire." Rarity exclaimed.
"Ah for one wanna try ta make some cake out of those crystal berries." Applejack said, before stuffing a slice of bread down her throat.
"I'll definitely check out the library. Imagine all those old tomes, forgotten magic, history, just waiting to be rediscovered." Twilight happily proclaimed.
"Eh, don't really have anything I wanna do." Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Although I might as well show the crystal ponies how a modern air show looks like."
"I'm sure they will appreciate it." Celestia smiled.
Shining Armor at this moment stood up from the table. "I think I'm going to look after Cadance. We'll have a lot to do in the near future."
"See you later BBBFF!" Twilight waved her hoof.
"Later L-" Shining Armor didn't get any further, because just then a crystal pony guard came running into the room, completely out of breath.
"Your....highness...there...."
"Calm down soldier. Take a deep breath and tell me what is going on." Shining told the guard.
The soldier followed the prince's advice and took a few seconds to catch his breath. "Your highness, there's a monster attacking the city!"
"What?!"
"Where!?"
"On the southern entrance."
"Show me!"
The five Elements, Celestia, Shining Armor and a contingent of guards arrived a few minutes later at the scene. Crystal Ponies were running away from what seemed to be an over-sized and really muscular panther. It was double as long as Celestia and as wide as four of her standing next to each other. It had the same smokey eyes as Sombra, it's shining black claws had a red tint to them and some weird tendrils were growing out of the back of the beast. The ends of the tendrils were glowing in a white light.
"Stand back Twilight." Celestia extended her leg towards the front of her student. The eyes of the beast focused on the white alicorn and it snarled at her, getting ready to fight. The ponies wisely took a few steps back in order to give their princess space to fight.
She and the beast were facing each other, no one making the first move. Everything became silent and you could almost literally feel the tension building up.
...
Celestia stomped with her hoof.
...
The beast bent down a little more.
...
*squeak*
The beast's as well as Celestia's perked up at the squeaking noise.
*squeak* *squeak* *squeak*
The beast looked around, searching for the source of the noise. Some of the ponies got distracted as well. Celestia, seeing her chance, was about to strike, when the cat like beast rolled on its back and stuck its tongue out like a dog. Following it's gaze, she found Fluttershy hovering in the air with a ball inside her mouth. She chewed on the thing, releasing yet more squeak-sounds. The beast adorably waved one of its paws up, almost begging to get the ball.
Fluttershy however put both of her hooves on her hips and gestured with her head towards Celestia. The beast then got up, causing the sun princess to tense up, only to then look in surprise as the beast walked up to Celestia with its head lowered. The alicorn didn't do anything, even when the beast exposed it's neck, which in the wild is a sign of obedience.
Celestia and pretty much everypony else just stared at the thing, which a few minutes ago was growling and snarling at everything, destroying a few benches and other things that actually weren't made of crystals.
Satisfied, Fluttershy tossed the ball to the ground, as to which the cat-beast immediately jumped on and happily started playing with it, as if it was just a small kitty. Everypony at this point just stared at Fluttershy, jaws on the ground, all the while the shy mare landed next to the over-sized cat.
"Now, what did we learn today about scaring others?" Fluttershy asked, causing the beast to whimper.
"There, there." Fluttershy petted its head. "You just made a poor decision. It happens to everypony."
"Shy" Rainbow Dash finally spoke up, stepping a little forward. "I know you very well. We've been friends since flight camp, I know you're really good with animals, like the best animal caretaker there has ever been. But...just how the BUCK did you know how to calm THAT thing down?!" Rainbow pointed at the cat like thing, which teared up. Fluttershy was quickly there to wrap her forelegs around the beast.
"There, there, I'm sure she didn't mean to offend you." Fluttershy assured, before turning to her childhood friend. "Rainbow Dash, please be a bit more sensible."
"Uh...sorry? Still Shy...how?"
Shadows of the present past
Fluttershy didn't provide any immediate answers, instead she asked everypony to follow her to one of the corridors. This one was filled with paintings hanging from each side of the wall, mostly showing King Sombra. However, at the end of the hallway right above some huge double doors. Twilight took the liberty of opening the doors with her magic. Inside were a lot of paintings, covered in dusty white sheets.
"I'll say, the maids certainly didn't do a good job, keeping this place clean of dust." Rarity stated, sneezing because of a few particles.
"So what's in here Flutters?" Applejack asked, ignoring Rarity's question.
Fluttershy answered by pulling of one of the sheets and reveal the painting in the middle of the room. A few of the ponies awed, as they saw a beautiful scenery in the Crystal Gardens. There under an orange tree was a crystal pegasus, playing with various animals. From a black cat, a few dogs, birds and even a butterfly sitting on top of her mane, a lot of animals were present in the picture. Around the pegasus, some toys were on the ground. The dog played with a stick, a cat had a ball in her claws, a bird held what seemed to be a glass ball, squirrels were carrying plush versions of mice.
At first it looked like an ordinary picture with a few flaws in it. But when taking a closer look the ponies could see something strange. The bird's eyes were red dots, the cat had some tentacle thingies growing out of its back, the dogs turned out to be not normal dogs, but young hellhounds as Celestia realized, the squirrels had sharp teeth and the eyes of the pegasus had the same sick color as those of King Sombra.
"That's...it's....I dunno, weird?" Twilight tried, after inspecting the painting carefully. "I mean you have this beautiful scenery, but then the artist added those strange details."
"Strange indeed darling. Those animals and the pony clearly ruin the overall picture. Why aren't there normal animals instead of those things? And the pony. Who is this supposed to be anyway?" the fashionista asked.
Celestia, Cadance and Shining Armor looked at each other, knowing full well that they could not hide the truth about Sombra's daughter anymore.
"Hey Fluttershy. How did you find this place anyway?" Pinkie asked, looking under one of the white covers.
"I...er...got lost a little, after we arrived. And I happened to carry the ball with me. I must have accidentally packed it in my luggage. And when I saw the poor kitty, I knew it must miss his or her owner. Whoever the owner is." Fluttershy looked at the painting.
"Guess we're lucky you're around. But" AJ cleared her throat "ya gotta admit, this ain't no kitten out there."
"Oh Applejack. Sometimes it's what lies under the mask."
"Well said, my little pony." Celestia nodded.
Back in the throne room, Celestia took a sip from her tea, watching the Element of Kindess slowly scratching the chin of the large creature. Ignoring the weirdness of the situation, she began her explanation.
"You see, Sombra wasn't the only one who was a master of using the dark arts. Over a thousand years ago, he had a daughter."
"A daughter?!" Everypony exclaimed.
"Does this mean it isn't over?" Twilight asked.
"I...can't say for sure." Celestia took another sip and put the cup aside. "You see, Sombra's daughter disappeared around the time Luna and me defeated the dark king. Personally, none of us never met her daughter and only heard rumors about her abilities of taming monsters from Tartarus and letting them "play" with the populance of the city."
"Sounds like an evil version of Fluttershy." Spike commented as bluntly as always.
"So, we have to deal with her now?"
"We don't know." Cadance spoke up. "After the fall of her father, she has never been spotted. Maybe she died as the city fell for the first time, maybe she escaped and went to Tartarus to live with the creatures she so loves."
"The fact is, we don't know." Shining Armor took over. "And as long as there's no proof of her even being still alive, we think it would be best for you to go back to Ponyville."
"What?! But we can help!" Twilight and Rainbow Dash shouted at the same time.
"Yeah, we're not quitters!" Rainbow shouted.
"Ya take the words straight outta mah mouth." AJ stated.
Celestia couldn't help, but smile. "We appreciate your eagerness, but you have done for Equestria already more than enough. You clearly deserve a break and as of now, we don't even know if a threat really exists. Be assured that we call for you, IF the elements are needed, but until then, you deserve to go home and return to your normal lives."
While everypony wanted to protest, nopony would even dream of even going against a suggestion of the princess of the sun, unless the situation really asked for it. So in the end, everypony nodded reluctantly, minus Fluttershy, who had a very question to ask.
"Uh...so, your highness. Do you mind,if I keep him?"
Outside in the woods near the crystal empire, various monsters gathered in the darkest part of the forest. No words were exchanged, but there was no need for this, for there was only one reason they would gather like this: their mistress had finally returned. They could smell her scent, although it was going away. It didn't matter. If they hurry, they would be able to follow their mistress towards a new home. As if on an invisible signal, all of them began to move at once through the wilds of Equestria, avoiding settlements to the best of their ability, but still trying to stay close to the scent.
Author's Note
I wonder when I should reveal Shy's true nature.
Friendship Games was awesome by the way.