Materials Group Lab, Tribute
Cloud Runner

By now I think I can safely say that most ponies don’t get to go see entirely alien planets. Most ponies don’t go off on adventures with the stated goal of restoring an otherwise long-dead monarch to life. And most ponies certainly don’t get unusual opportunities like the ones I’ve been given on what feels like a semi-regular basis. So here I am, sitting in a rather bland laboratory on some alien world watching as a reformed tyrant was finishing assembling a large assortment of brown-colored crystals into the shape of the princess that he had deposed centuries ago…

And instead of feeling excited, I’ve adopted a far more somber view of the whole debacle. Part of that stemmed from the confusion I had over my encounter with the rebel in the core room. Something that sounded a hell of a lot like Dusk disintegrated the poor bastard, yet Dusk is sitting on the other side of the lab talking to the Senator. Meanwhile all I’ve been doing to distract my mind is trying to clean up my armor, having hopped out of the suit to do so. Lucky for me all I had to do was clean the accrued dirt and glacial crud out of the armor joints. And that’s essentially what I’ve been struggling with for the past two hours… Suffice to say glacial silt isn’t readily removed from wherever it gets stuck.

“So… Cloud, was it?” I turned around and noticed that the Senator and Dusk had meandered over to join me.

I nodded and turned away from my armor to face the Senator. “Unless I’m mistaken that is what’s written on my birth certificate.”

“See, that’s what bugs me.” Del Rio replied. “What you call ‘equish’ and we call ‘english’ are entirely identical. How the hell does that happen?”

I just shrugged. “No idea. Is it really a problem though?”

“Well no… But for two completely different sapient species to have an identical language system? That still boggles my mind!”

While I haven’t thought of it before, the Senator brings up a good point. “Maybe it’s just some astronomical coincidence?” I suggested.

Dusk simply chuckled. “That would be one hell of a coincidence, don’t you think?”

“What can I say? We live in a weird universe.”

“We certainly do.” Sombra said from the other side of the lab. “Now if you three are done we’re going to get started.”

I finally realized that Sombra had finished reassembling the pieces of Princess Amore while I was talking semantics with the Senator. There was a definite yellow tinge to the brown mass of crystals, something I hadn’t entirely expected. “Is there a reason that she looks like that?” I asked.

“You mean the shine?” Sombra asked. “It’s the preservative aspect to the original Umbran spell. That’s probably the only thing that gives this a chance of working…”

“Come again?” Dusk asked.

Sombra sighed. “I’ve feared for some time that shattering the Princess after she was crystallized would’ve disbursed the preservative aspect of the original crystallizing spell. In fact this spell was originally designed to preserve umbran soldiers in a sort of suspended animation until such a time that they were needed.”

“And it makes a good prison…” I observed.

Sombra nodded. “That was my original line of thinking. Suffice to say shattering Amore and scattering her fragments to all corners of Equis was done on impulse…”

“And just how old are you again?” Del Rio asked, obviously curious.

“Old enough to know when I’ve made a terrible mistake…” Sombra retorted. His horn flashed for a brief moment and the cracks between the individual fragments of Amore’s body flashed in turn, revealing a fully intact statue of the old Princess. “And with luck I’ll prove that I’m wise enough to fix them as well.”

Dusk simply patted Del Rio’s shoulder. “If it helps, this is the end of a nearly millenia-year old saga. Now come on, let’s give Sombra some room.”

Dusk led us out of the lab and into an adjacent observation room where the rest of our group was waiting. Sitting at a desk next to the window as Doctor Halsey, surrounded by three small tablets. Two had readings streaming across them while she was taking down copious notes on the third. “This is amazing…” I heard her mutter.

“What’s so amazing about it Doctor?” Del Rio asked.

“Just… Just the data!” Halsey exclaimed. “None of what Sombra is doing so far as his magic is concerned correlates with any previously recorded scientific data. What we’re seeing is something entirely new to us. Honestly I haven’t been this excited since I was in college!”

Other than my armor on the far side of the lab, it was empty bar Sombra and the frozen form of Princess Amore. “Are you all ready?” Rang the former ruler’s voice over the intercom.

“As ready as we’ll ever be.” Dusk replied.

Through the window I could see Sombra nod as he turned back to Amore. His horn flared once, and the statue began to glow. Slowly that glowing began to part in walls of yellow light, as brown crystal gave way to tattered clothing and light pink fur. Everything began to move faster as more of those ‘walls’ began furling outward from random spots across Amore’s form. With only few spots of crystal left, the glow engulfing the Princess pulses, and the remaining fragments shattered and fell to the platform as particles of grey dust.

“Princess?” Sombra asked. “Can you hear me?”

Immediately Amore’s eyes flew open and her horn lit up in a pale blue glow. Sombra was engulfed by that same color as he was lifted off the ground and tossed right at the observation room window.

I reacted fast and threw myself over Halsey, shielding her from the splinters and pieces as they exploded inward away from Sombra’s point of entry. “Sombra!” The Princess roared out in the lab. “Where have you taken me!?”

I got off of Halsey and turned to face the old ruler, who was busy rubbing the back of his head as he pushed himself away from the wall. “Shit…” He groaned.

Radiant quickly knelt down next to Sombra and helped him back to his feet, all the while out in the lab we could hear the sounds of equipment breaking and machines being thrown around in rage. “I told you she’d probably be pissed.”

Sombra made his way to the window and steadied himself against the back Halsey’s chair. “Good to see you again Your Majesty. Have you lost weight?”

“What the fuck is he doing?” Del Rio whispered into my ear.

I shrugged and glanced over at Sky. “You’ve known Sombra longer-” I was interrupted as Sombra started glowing again and was wrenched back out into the lab. “-so what the hell is he doing?”

“Improvising.” Sky retorted as she pulled out her revolver. “Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do.”

I could only watch as Sky hopped through the window, all while the Spartans lining the back of the observation room watched the whole debacle unfold. “Are you four just going to stand there?” I asked.

Frank offered a shrug. “Obvious domestic disputes are a bit above my pay grade.”

I rolled my eyes and vaulted over the window sill. And just what did I jump into? Try Sky holding Amore at gunpoint while the aforementioned Princess was choking Sombra against the side of what was likely the only piece of equipment that was bolted to the floor. I heard another set of boots hit the ground behind me, followed by Dusk’s audible sigh. “Really guys? Can we all stop trying to kill each other for five minutes and try talking instead?”

Amore heard Dusk and dropped Sombra at once, immediately turning her attention to the night-sky colored stallion. “You…”

“This isn’t where you call me an insolent fool for interrupting, is it?”

Amore glanced over at Sombra and shook her head. “Not at all.” As she seemed to study Dusk’s face, her expression hardened. “We’re… We’re not in the Crystal Empire anymore, are we?”

Dusk stepped forward and shook his head. “We’re actually on another planet. The locals call it Tribute.”

Amore nodded. “And how long-”

“Just over a millenia.” Dusk said, figuring out what Amore was trying to ask rather quickly. “Don’t worry, it’s all still there. But I seriously doubt that the current royal family will be all that willing to give you the throne back.”

Amore nodded once more and I noticed that her expression began to shift, showing signs of what appeared to be sadness as he turned to help Sombra back to his feet. “You restored me?”

“I’ve spent every waking minute since being freed of the Umbran influence tracking down the pieces that I broke you into.” Sombra replied, as me waved his hand at Sky, before wheeling around and motioning to Radiant. “I did have some help, of course.”

Radiant bowed her head as she joined what was likely a slowly-growing group. “Your Majesty.”

Sky simply stood in place and nodded. “I’m Sky by the way.”

Amore looked around at the assembled ponies, and I noticed a tear stream down her right cheek. “But why? Why go through all the trouble for me?”

Sombra placed his hand on the Princess’ shoulder, looking a bit broken up himself. “I can’t speak for anyone else… But it was the right thing to do.”

Amore simply whipped around and wrapped Sombra in a tight hug. “Thank you…”

We were all silent for a few minutes while Amore and Sombra managed to compose themselves. That silence was finally interrupted when Senator Del Rio joined us. “Look, I like a heart wrenching reunion as much as the next guy, but shouldn’t the lot of you be doing something?”

It took a moment to get what Del Rio was referring to. Amore’s clothing was a mess, covered in tears and magically induced burns. And through all of those observations I noticed something rather important…

But Amore must’ve realized what Del Rio was getting at as she stepped away from Sombra and looked down at her garb. “Sombra, your friend said we’re another planet…”

“We are.” Sombra replied, a blush now starting to show through his dark fur.

She nodded and looked at the Senator, a rather embarrassed grin crossing the Princess’ muzzle. “You wouldn’t happen to know a good tailor, would you?”

Author's Note

Well this one was a bit shorter... But jumping into the next scene felt better if separated into a different chapter. As such we'll get into prophecies and whatnot in the next chapter.

In the meantime, anyone got questions? Like what you're seeing so far? Hell, maybe have some gripes? There's a comment section and the Mirrorverse Codex. Read and comment away, because I want to hear from you fellow denizens of this corner of the internet. Until next time gang!
-Striker