Harmony, Chaos, and Shadows

Twilight woke up the next morning, one look at her room along with the book on her nightstand and she knew the events of last night did happen. Her life had changed and she was just going to have to cope with it somehow. She got out of bed and headed downstairs for breakfast.

Well here we go.

She made it down and entered the kitchen. Her mother was making breakfast while her dad sat at the table reading the paper. Night Light noticed her enter. “Morning Twilight, sleep well?”

Twilight took a seat at the table. “Yes.”

“So Twilight you have any plans for today?” said Velvet.

“Not really. I was just going to stay in and read.”

“But you do that all the time, live a little.”

“Your mother’s right. You need to step away from your books every once in a while and go out to do something, maybe find a nice stallion to bring home.”

Twilight blushed a little. “Daaad,” she said looking embarrassed.

“Just a thought.”

“I’ll try to keep it in mind.”

After breakfast Twilight went back to her room and started reading about herself. It took well into the evening but she managed to finish it and now had a better understanding of her new life and the important details she needed to know. Afterwards she hid the book so her parents wouldn’t find it and turned in for the night.

The next today came and Twilight got up, ate breakfast, grabbed her saddlebag, and went out the door. Today was Saturday and according to the book she had day classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. On the weekends she would work a few hours at the University’s library, but since she’s a student its volunteer work. Fortunately Twilight had scholarships that covered a good chuck of her tuition so she didn’t need the money. She made it to the grounds and went inside. Since she was the princess’s student Twilight never went to college and was impressed with the campus. She made it to the library and spotted the head librarian Dewey Decimal at the front desk. He noticed her walking up.

“Twilight, good to see you.”

“Good to see you to. Need help with anything at the moment?”

“Yes actually.” He pointed to a cart of books off to the side. “Those are returns that need to be reshelved, would you mind…”

“Not at all.”

A few weeks had passed and for the most part Twilight had adjusted to her new life. Although she did miss Spike terribly, but at least there was a chance she could become friends with Sunset and the others. She worked at the library and attended her classes although most were on subjects she had already learned such as Advance Magical Theory, so she wasn’t learning a whole lot of new information. It may not have been as good as her old unicorn life was but it was still good. It was late and Twilight was about to get into bed when she heard a pop from behind her. She turned and saw Discord had appeared.

“Hello Twilight, how are you?”

“Umm fine.”

“Good, good. Anyhoo its time for you to fulfill your end of our bargain. Let’s go.”

“You still haven’t told me what it is you want. Wait…go? Do you know what time it is? Where would we go at this hour?”

“Oh everything will be explained when we get there. Now we have a meeting to attend.” Discord snapped his talons and suddenly they were somewhere in the frozen north just outside of a cave.

“Discord what in Tartarus are we doing out here in the middle of nowhere?!”

“Hello Twilight.” Twilight looked into the cave and saw a figure approaching. When they came into full view she gasped for it was King Sombra standing at the entrance.

“Tell me Twilight do you happen to know what todays date is?”

“I…wait, todays the day before I was sent to the Crystal Empire.”

“Exactly.” Discord put his paw on her back and sild her up closer to Sombra. “Here you go Sombra, one bride to be as promised.”

“WHAT?! I didn’t agree to that!”

“Actually you did,” he said as he waved the contract around.

“I-I don’t understand what’s happening.”

“Then allow me to explain. You see Twilight before I came to you Sombra and I worked out a deal of our own. Of course he wanted his empire back but what he really wanted was for you to be at his side. Now I could have easily accomplished that but he preferred it if I didn’t alter your mind in any way to make you more agreeable to this proposition. This made things a bit more complicated so I spied on you to see if there was anything I could use to entice you with. Finally the opportunity I’d been waiting for arrived when you wished you were a unicorn again.”

“I won’t do it, you can’t-”

“Make you. Actually I can. Sombra may prefer it if you stayed the same but if you don’t fulfill your contractual obligation and prove to be too troublesome I’ll have to make you more cooperative. Oh and Twilight you can’t tell anypony about these circumstances or deals. If you begin to talk or write about the subject you’ll be unable to get the words out. Well I suppose this is as good a time as any to take my leave. Sombra you know how to contact me if she gives you any problems, auf wiedersehen.”

In a flash Discord disappeared. It was just Twilight and Sombra now. Sombra began to step forward and Twilight started to back up. She was just about to run when Sombra used his magic to hold her in place for the moment.

“Now Twilight you need to listen closely.”

“No, I don’t care what deals were made. I’m not going to let you control me.”

Sombra let out a chuckle. “Oh Twilight you misunderstand. You’ll be my wife, a queen, an equal, not a slave. You’re free to make your own decisions.” Sombra released his hold on her.

“Then I’m leaving.”

“By all means go ahead. But the fact of the matter is I will retake the Crystal Empire tomorrow and your brother, sister in-law, and former friends are going to be there. And I don’t know if I’ll be able to guarantee their wellbeing.”

“You won’t win. Sunset Shimmer will find the Crystal Heart just as I did.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Sunset may be talented but she’s no you. I doubt she’ll even discover the secret chamber under the throne room and if she does then there’s no way she’ll make it passed the fear door. Even you needed help from your little dragon companion to snap out of its hold on you.” Twilight opened her mouth to speak but stopped, he was right. “Now you can either go your own way or agree to uphold your end of the bargain and I’ll guarantee the others will be safe.”

Twilight tilted her head down in defeat. “Okay I’ll marry you.”

“Then follow me.” Sombra headed further into the cave with Twilight right behind him. They made it to a chamber that had a bed made from hay with a blanket. “Well it’s late and we should turn in for the night.”

He removed his armor and regalia, then got under the covers and patted the spot next to him. Twilight gave a faint blush. “You want me to sleep with you.”

Sombra gave a snicker. “Oh that can wait until after we’re married, I just want a warm body to lie next to.” Twilight’s blush deepened. “Best you should get used to the idea seeing as we’re going to be sharing a bed from this point forward.”

Twilight went over and got under the covers facing away from him. Sombra cuddled up close and wrapped his foreleg around her. Even though this was making her skin crawl Twilight managed to fall asleep hoping to wake up from whatever dream or nightmare this was in the morning.