Silnce and calm, that was a strage thing for Autumn these days. Sure she had been with the tribe for a long time but even then had she never felt truly safe, even if she had tried to convince herself otherwise. But this feeling in her chest was true peace, the feeling of being safe once again with someplace that would protect her against the dark things in the world. The pregnant mare had been woken up by the birds tweeting a sweet tune outside her window, something that had brought a smile on her face. She got up and looked at the town from her bedroom window and smiled at the sight of a few children playing on the streets. Ever since they had built the library that had became the most used place for the children to gather during the day. She had talked with some of the other mares about opening up a school for all the children. Even if they were hidden from the world they would still have to learn how to read and write. Of course that would require rebuilding parts of the library and that would require moving on magical wards and the wall surrouding the town but it would be worth it in the end. She kept poundering over this as she felt the child kick again, something that made her smile. She knew that it wasn't long now until the child was gonna be born, considering just how bloated belly looked. The mare giggled at the thought of having a little one to look after. She had watched and learned from the other mares in town about raising children and she already knew her little one would make great friends with the other children his or her age.

Autumn was brought out of her fantasies and thoughts as there was a knock at her door and she got out of bed. She moved rather quickly for a mare heavy with child but she just assumed that everything good was the childs doing these days, it was her little light in the darkness. She opened the door and was meet by Razor and Zap.

"Hi boys, come on in" She said and moved out of the way, noting she had sounded just like her mother whenever she had adressed the colts in their neighborhood.

"Hi Autumn, we're here to install that magic energy source thing the schematics talked about. It have been working so far with keeping the streets lit up at night so why not install it into the houses" Zap said and Razor looked at her walls before humming.

"If we tear down that wall and get all the crystals and gold wires through the ground we will have an easier way to connect all the different houses to one power supply" Razor said and Zap nodded in agreement.

Autumn was confused, sure she had seen the schematics but she had never understood what exactly what machines they were showing. Of course that meant she would most likely understand what Razor and Zap was doing right now but she could always ask and see if she could at least convince them to not tear down her house for a very old invention.

"Could you explain what this machine will do exactly? I understand that it can light up the streets but I can't understand how it is powerful enough to light up all houses and buildings in the town, there are over two hundred of them" She said and Razor turned to her and pulled out a schmatic he had copied from the book.

"This simple piece of paper contains a revolutionary concept and idea. One large crystal located in the center of a city or town will be surrounded by enchanted silver, something thought impossible considering silver drains magic, that sucks up the natural magic in the air and then it's stored in the crystal. From there the crystal will be hooked up to as many gold vires that you need and those will be lead out to the different here buildings in the town. Then the golden vires are conected to slightly smaller crystals in the houses and from there will gold vires lead from the crystals to glass chambers with gems in them. The gems will glow from the magic and in doing so will create light. We are also planning on adding a kill switch to the magical flow for diffrent lights whenever you would not be using it" Razor told her and Autumn's brain tried to handle all the information.

So they could supply the entire town with light even after the sun had gone down? And it wouldn't require torches that could possibly set a house or the crops on fire? It would most likely also provide more light than a normal torch, which made her wonder why Celestia had kept this away from all the ponies in Euqestria. Was her lust for control and power so great that she would make the ponies and the other races dependent on the sun? Considering all the things Celestia had done against her and so many others it was most likely that she had made them all dependent on her sun. Autumn growled slightly before calming down, she could throw something in anger later.

"Well, I guess I'll go and see what the town is doing this morning while you work, but if I come back and find my house to be a large hole in the ground I'm not gonna be happy" She said and Razor nodded while Zap groaned.

"It happened once! I didn't know that rocks would explode if you used them to store magic!" He said and Autumn giggled at him, the explosion had took out a part of the wall.

"Yeah yeah, just be done by tonight" She said and waved them goodbye as she left her house in her care, something most would go against after Zap blowed up a small rock that still somehow took out a part of the wall keeping them safe from the woodland creatures.

Autumn walked through the town and looked upon the many houses that they had managed to fit into the land that had been chosen for their home. She was still impressed by the eight stone pillars that stood at every enetry point into the towm. They had runes carved over them that glowed a bright green, seemingly pulling power straight out of the air. If she remebered correctly they cloaked the town from above and from the ground, rune magic was truly facinating. She had actually been given a book on it by Zicra but so far she had only manage to memorize a very simple rune the created a flouting ball of light. However it only lasted a few seconds which meant it wasn't a very powerful light source. Yet she had seen zebras from the other tribes use a much brighter version in their rituals, meaning it could most likely be used to blind someone temporarily or light up a dark area to get the layouts of things if you were in a hurry. The blue maned mare kept walking and she bumped into a few children that were playing with flouting gem attached to a string. They appoligised and ran off laughing, Autumn smiling at them as they ran towards the town hall. The town hall were more of a meeting hub as the little market they had were placed outside it. She knew that Zicra had sent out more messages with the help of the scouts they now had and they had brought with them dark mages and other zebras that had been looking for a safe place to live. They had all been happily supprised when they had seen the actual town and seen how many lived there. Becuase of so many joinng the town with different books, plants and crops they had built out a large portion of the woods to have place for the ever growing crops and other things they were sowing. Autumn looked at one mare giving a smaller colt a coin with a sword on one side and a merge between the old zebra nations flag and the crystal empires flag. When Zicra had showed Autumn the new currency she had cried a bit, seeing her friends honor all that had been lost. The coins were called trids, a name that meant nothing for Autumn but it was apparently named after the ancient word for king, trid. She guessed Zicra had wanted to declare the coins better than bits and that was his way to do it, by naming them king of coins.

She soon stood in front of the town hall and she walked inside. greeted by the sounds of zebras and ponies discussing their ever growing town and it's inhabitants. The blue maned mare walked to the large doors leading into the war room and opened them without resistence from the guards standing at either side of the great gate, they knew she had full access to every building in town. The pregnant mare was met by the sight of Zicra and the other tribe leaders talking, or perhaps arguing politly, about what to do with the ever constant flow of dark mages and zebras that were comming to the town.

"If we take in more of them then it's a higher chance Celestia will discover where they are all going! It would mean she would find the town and tear it into shreds!" The purple maned leader for the Zecor tribe yelled and Zicra looked at the world map on the table in concentration.

"We can still make the town bigger, possibly the size of a small city, which means we can take in more ponies and zebras" He said and the leader for the Orgamia tribe rolled her eyes.

"You didn't respond to my fellow leaders argument, we just can't take in more ponies or zebras, it would mean we would be in more danger than we already are in to begin with" The pink maned zebra mare said and the leader of the Ignis tribe sighed.

"We can't leave them out there to die, we would be no better than Celestia if we did so" The green maned zebra stallion said and the leader for the Hilyah tribe spotted Autumn.

"We have company from shadow bearer" The blue striped zebra stallion said and they all turned to Autumn who walked up to stand next to Zicra.

"Shadow bearer" was a nickname she had earned among most of the other zebras since they joined the town. It had just kind of became her name after they found out who was the father for the child. She didn't hate the nickname yet it spoke of memories she'd rather not relive.

"I decided to see how much the plans were proggressing but from what I hear it isn't going to well?" She said and Zicra nodded

"The more we take in the more suddenly disappear from Celestia's watch. Soon she would grow suspicious and send trained mages into the woods to see if they would be able to sense something. The pillars keeping our city hidden away emit a large summ of magic that is easily detecable if someone would be close enough. Meaning if we make the town to big it will be found must quicker than normally" He said and Autumn nodded.

"Well you could always build underground? I know it isn't a great solution but it could work" She said and the other three leaders quietly discussed with each other.

"It could work but it would be time consuming and possibly put the inhabitants on the surface in danger along with the earth dwellers if we dug out to much of the land the town rests on" The leader of the Orgamia tribe said and Zicra poundered over their options.

"We'll let the ponies and zebras here in Frigidum decide, they'll vote and we go from there" He said and the other leaders nodded in agreement before leaving the room.

Autumn looked at the pink striped zebra and he looked out the window, clearly in thought. She didn't wanna bother him and she walked over to the war table, looking over the different things writen on the map. The current cities standing was marked out with Frigidum being rather close to the new capital, Canterlot. Of course Celestia was still miles away but she could still find them if they were unlucky. With the threat of being found clinging to her mind she looked through the different statics the leaders had so far. The most zebras and dark mages had fled from the north, seeing how it was the most hit during this great "cleansing" of the land. They had still recived a great number from the south yet it did pale in comparison of the northen newcomers. So far there was thought to be maybe a thoudsand others on the way, that was a number so big Celestia would have no problem detecting it. The blue maned mare looked out at the town, and sure they could make it a city. But a city was so much harder to hide. However another thought climbed it's way out of the depths of her mind, if there was thousands of dark mages in Euqestria did that mean that those who didn't arrive in Frigidum had been burned alive?.. That was thousands of innocents.. Dead for just their magic.. She shook of the thoughts, they couldn't have killed so many in such short time, it was impossible. Somewhat comforted of the happier thoughts she turned to Zicra, he was undoubtedly thinking the same things as her.

"Autumn, do you think we will survive this? That this town or perhaps city will last long enough to give shelter?" He asked her suddenly and she paused for a moment, thinking.

"I think we will survive. Sure we will perhaps always have to hide but I'd rather be safe in hiding with my child then out there, free but always in danger" She responded and Zicra nodded.

"I hope you're right, because if this place fell that would mean the emnd of all dark magic in Euqestria and perhaps later, the world.." The zebra stallion said and walked up to the window so he could look down upon those living in his city.

"They are safe thanks to us and we will keep them safe, no matter what" Autumn said with a smile and Zicra nodded.

"No matter what.." He mumbled and looked at her before looking away.

"I'll head back and see if Zap and Razor have finished their invention, I'll talk to later" Autumn said and walked out from the war room.

Zicra's POV

Zicra didn't respond when she left the room, his eyes glued to the inhabitants of Frigidum. How was he gonna help them all? Sure they could make the town larger but in the end that could attract atention. He sighed and walked back to the table loking over what they had discussed before Autumn had walked into the room. So far the paper had loose ideas on it, all of them was supposed to be kept away so far away from Autumn as possible for now. He didn't like keeping secrets from her but the ideas for her child's use in their defense were all from good to horrific. He and the other leaders knew that her child would most likely hold powerful abilties not found in the mortal realm. These abilties would be great to use in battle yet they all knew Autumn wouldn't like the idea of them training her child like a soldier. Zicra didn't like the idea himself, hoping there was some other way to increase the city's defenses. But the more he thought about it the more he realized that this child was their ace against Celestia. Not many had known about Autumn's and Sombra's relationship, the only reason he knew about it was because the chief had left out a couple of letters from Sombra. Zicra knew that a half demon fighting alongside them would suprise and shook Celestia. She would never see it coming. Yet if they wanted the child to fight Celestia they would had to train it from a young age. The pink striped zebra stallion didn't want to ruin the childhood of Autumn's child but if that was what he needed to do for everyone's safety, including the child's, then he would do it.

"May you forgive us one day for having your destiny decided for you little one.. But I will protect those I call family, no matter what" He said and with a sigh he left the room to catch some sleep, the weight of leadership and possible future decisions following him.

Autumn's POV

Autumn walked down the street and smiled at the children once again playing with those floating gems, she had to get one for her little one when she or her were born. Feeling the urge to buy one right now in case the child was gonna be born earlier than expected. She had been told by the different tribe healers that the child could either be born in twenty years or tweny minutes depending on what legend you belived about demons. Becuase of this Autumn didn't leave her house that often, ready to call for assistance if she suddenly felt the child wanting to come out into the world. Snapping out of her thoughts as always she walked up to a stand were a mare were handing out the floating gems in different colours to children that paid her one trid. Autumn walked up to her and grabbed a coin pouch from her saddle bag, giving the mare a trid.

"What colour should the gem be?" The mare asked her and Autumn thought about it for a second.

"Red, a deep red" She said and the mare nodded handing her the gem.

"They are very special, by charging them with magic you can not only make them float but also make them record little songs or things you want your child to hear!" The gem selling mare said with a smile.

"This will be perfect, thank you" Autumn said and walked off with the gem floating behind her as she held the string with her mouth.

When she arrived at her houses the place was a mess, Zap and Razor had installed all the small gems and the gold vires but they still hadn't fixed her wall of floor where they had pulled through one large gold cable that connected to all the gold strings. It almost looked like they were disecting her house.

"I see you have cleaned up after yourselves" She said with a smirk as she found the two stallions sitting on two chairs drinking tea.

"You should call us geniuses from now on, you can have light whenever you want whenever it's day or night" Zap said and Razor took a sip from his tea.

"We'll clean up the mess and fix your house, we have to fix three others today if we wanna keep to our schedule" Razor said and got up, walking over to her floor to out back the planks they had moved out of the way.

As Autumn watched them work she hit a small metal button on the wall and a white gem inside a glass jar like thing lit up. So it did work, good to know they hadn't lied about this invention. She almost thought they were just testing out how angry they would get the owners of the different houses by tearing it apart and stuffing it full with gold. Soon the two stallions had finished the floor and started with the wall, or rather walls as she realized they had torn apart those upstairs too. The pregant mare gave them some water as they worked and she walked up to her bedroom, laying down on the bed to rest. She picked out the floating gem and tied the string to the table next to the bed.

"We're soon done Autumn!" Zap yelled and Razor walked up and down the stairs with planks to fix the wall.

"Ok.." She mumbled suddenly feeling nauseous and she felt the child kick, making her groan out. That had been a hard one.

"You ok Autumn?" Razor asked her as she suddenly felt something wet splash against her hind legs, making her eyes shoot open.

"It's the child! Get the healers, it's the child.." She moaned out in pain and Razor rushed into the room, yeling to Zap to get everyone that could help.

"You're gonna be ok Autumn, just focus and wait a little on the healers" The bulky stallion said and Autumn groaned.

"The child doesn't want to wait!" She yelled and laid on her back as Razor looked out the window to see Zap coming back with Zicra and the healers.

"They are here Autumn" Razor said as the healers burts into the room and Zicra walked up to her side.

"I heard you're finally becoming a mom" He said with a small smile and Autumn laughed slightly before groaning again.

"You need to push miss Wheat!" One of the female healers said and Autumn did as told, holding Zicra's hoof in a iron grip.

"Good! I can already see the head! Keep pushing" The same healer said and warm towels along with runes used to heal possible injuries were brought out.

"It hurts so damn much!" The blue maned mare yelled and squezzed Zicra's hoof even tighther, making the stallion hiss in pain.

"Just keep pushing!" The same female healer said and with a final push Autumn suddenly felt so much calmer and lighter.

She could hear the screams of a foal and she healers speaking things to each other before her green eyes were suddenly met by the large yellow ones of a crying foal. She was slowly given the crying infant that slowly calmed down in her grasp. The child cooed and giggled at her, it's small hoof slowly touching her snout. Autumn started to slowly cry in happiness and she put down the child next to her so she could get a good look at her beloved baby.

"It's a boy" Zicra said with a smile and Autumn slowly and carfully lifted on the baby colt's head.

His eyes were yellow as she had seen before but what she hadn't seen was tiny purple wisps coming off from the sides of his eyes while where there should have been white in his eyes there was green. This was truly Sombra's AND Malum's son.. She shuddered first but the uncomfortable feeling disapered as the child snuggled into her side. This child had none of the demon in his soul. The next thing she spotted was tiny curved red horn on the colt's head, poking through a dark gray mane. His coat were light gray with two black and red dragon wings resting on his back. Finally he had a cute short dark gray tail that reminded her off a beard. The child looked like an alicorn that had walked through a poratl leading to the demon realm.

"He's beautiful.." Autumn said and the colt looked at her and gigled again, for her it was the most beautiful sound in the world.

"What will you name the child?" Zicra asked her and Autumn thought long and hard until she finally answered.

"He is the little light in my life.. Always keeping me safe from the monsters in the shadows. His first name will be Lux, Luxri because of his title as prince" Autumn stated, Zicra writing it down on a paper remebering to add the royal ri to his name.

"His middle name or names?" Zicra asked her and Autumn answered him immediately.

"Mortem, from Sombra's middle name and Malum.. from the father that gave him his abilities" She said and the colt giggled again.

"And what will his last name be?" Zicra asked her and Autumn smiled.

"He is a Tenebris, through and through" She said and Zicra looked at the paper in his hoof.

"From this day on your child will be known as Luxri Mortem Malum Tenebris, the prince of the crystal empire and the bearer of the dark blood" Zicra said and was supprised as the healers bowed for the child before leaving the room.

"I guess he does deserve that" The pink striped zebra stallion said and bowed along with Zap and Razor.

Autumn looked at the zebras bowing for her son and she felt weird. Luxri hadn't done anything yet, he wasn't a hero or a god. Why were they bowing? To show respect for the next crystal king? She asumed they held her child in high regard considering his bloodline but it still felt.. to formal. She shrugged it off, she had to get used to see ponies bowing for her child, he was royalty after all, something that held high status all over Euqestria.

"We'll have a healer in the house to assist you if it's needed, so help is always nearby" Zicra said and smiled at Luxri.

"Thank you Zicra, but could I please be left alomne with my son? I need sleep and so does he" She said and hugged the foal to her side, he was already half sleeping.

"Of course, and congratulations for getting a son. I see a great future for him here in Frigidum" The leader of the dark frost tribe said and walked out the door, heading down the stairs with Zap and Razor following him.

Autumn just smiled at her baby and kissed his cheek before slowly falling asleep herself, the once terrible nightmares were now replaced with happy dreams that made her smile stick to her face through the night.

Zicra's POV

Zicra wore a grim expression on his face as the other tribe leaders gathered in the war room. He had hoped they would wait maybe a week before summoning everyone for a meeting about Luxri yet they had called for him the second they had heard the child were born. They must have planned some things without him as he saw them erase something from a piece of paper as he entered the room.

"I assume all of you know the specifics about the child? I noted down his appearance and what abilities we know the child to have so far" Zicra said and the other tribe leaders nodded, looking over the description and rough sketch of Luxri they had been given.

"So far everything is going as we planned, yet I fear that the child might not have grown enough to fight Celestia in sixteen years, we need to wait at least twenty years before even considering having this half demon battling the guardian of light" The leader of the Orgamia tribe said and Zicra muttered.

"We had not agreed on anything yet Serah" He said to the mare and she rolled her eyes.

"We all know this kid will be our secret weapon, why even try to hide the fact that he will be our key to defeat Celestia? He will be trained and when the day comes he will battle the queen of the sun. Yet that day won't be in sixteen years as Draigh here suggested" Serah said and looked at the Zecor tribe leader.

"If he does truly hold the power of the void we will use it, and when he is old enough to be called a stallion we will march to the gates of Canterlot and tear those doors from their hinges!" Draigh yelled and the leader of the Hilyah tribe used a spell to close the stallions lips, how he had cast the spell without a rune or horn was up debate but the stallion requsted silence.

"I will teach the young warrior about magic alongside his mother, if you want him being able to kill an alicorn then he needs to know as much about the mystical arts as Starswirl himself" The blue striped zebra stallion said and leader of the ignis tribe sighed.

"I will teach him about the arts in smithing along with the two stallions installing those shining gems in all the houses. However I think mine and Salijah's leassons will have to merge at some point considering how closely related the two arts are to each other" The green maned zebra stallion said and looked to Salijah for conferation about mixing the two classes of magic and smithing, the other stallion just nodded.

"Well you do that Ridrak and I will teach him about strategy, something he will need if you're planning for him to lead an army" Zicra said and the leader of the Ignis tribe nodded in response.

"I'll teach him about the ways of the sword. By the time I'm done with him he will be able to kill any creature on this planet" Draigh said and they all looked at the different things they would have to teach the prince, writing it down on different papers.

"Let's hope Shadow mother will understand that this will help her son" Saliyah said and Zicra nodded slowly.

"If she doesn't we will haav to take Luxri from her by force.. And I don't want that" The pink striped zebra stallion said and the leaders of the Ignis tribe and Hilyah agreed while the other two leaders didn't seem to care about the possible chance of having to steal Autumn's child.

"Forgive me Autumn.. But I will do anything to protect my family, even if it hurts them.." Zicra whispered as the other leaders discussed thir comming tasks, rain slowly starting to hit the great window in the war room.

Autumn's POV

Autumn woke up slowly looking at the rain, smiling as the child next to her nuzzled her chest. She gently pulled Lux closer and kissed the baby's head. The pure love she felt for this child was unlike anything she had ever felt before, not even her love for Sombra had felt like this. The mare smiled and looked at Lux as he opened his large innocent eyes and giggled at her. Autumn picked him up and set him down by her stomach, letting him feed. When the child was done she gently tapped on his back until hr burped. She smiled and put him down next to her as she looked out the window, something felt wrong.. Autumn knew that it most likely was her imagination but the same second Lux was born she had felt like someone was watching her, like someone were planning something. The blue maned mare was snapped out of her thoughts as Lux placed his fore hooves on her chest and looked at her with what the mare only could see as worry.

"Mommy is fine, don't you worry little one" Autumn said and nuzzled the chil to which he giggled and cuddled close, looking like a ball of fur.

"I won't let anything bad happen to you, I promise" She said and smiled at her child, the rain hitting the window harder and harder as the storm started to gain stregth, the calm and quiet had finally been broken.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading, I know there are many grammer misstakes and I will edit my chapters when I reach chapter ten. Anyway I hope you give me some feedback on tjhe chapter so I can become a better writer. But as I said thank you for reading