Harmony, Chaos, and Shadows

The next day Twilight woke up and saw she was still in the same cave as yesterday. She rolled over and saw Sombra already up, donning his armor. He looked over and noticed her.

“Good you’re awake. I left food out for you for when you get hungry. I’m going out. The empire will have returned by now and your brother along with his wife should be almost there if not there already. I’ll come back for you later when my victory is near so don’t go anywhere.”

“I don’t understand. Why didn’t you try to get there before them?”

“When the Crystal Empire first returned and I broke free of my imprisonment I was too weak to get there before they shut me out. Now there’s no rush seeing as I’ll win anyway. Besides once everypony gets there I’ll have more bargaining chips to work with when negotiating with Celestia and Luna.”

“Tell me Sombra, what does Discord want from you?”

“I don’t know actually. I made the same blind agreement you did. The only difference is I specified things he couldn’t ask of me.” He then turned to shadow and disappeared.

Hours passed by, luckily Sombra had left some books so she could pass the time reading. Although usually therapeutic it did her little good as she wondered if she’d ever come to terms with her current situation. Sombra returned and brought her to an area a little ways away from the empire.

“You see the shield flickering Twilight. It’s only moments away from failing completely. Stay here for the moment. When the empire is completely covered in black crystal come find me in the dungeon.” Sombra left and all Twilight could do was wait. Inside the empire the Crystal Ponies were beginning to panic after they discovered the Crystal Heart at the fair was a fake and Applejack’s reassurances weren’t helping. Cadence's magic finally gave out and the shield fell, Sombra made his way in. He appeared behind the others on the balcony and they quickly took notice. Sombra used his magic to grow crystals on Cadence and Rarity’s horn. Rainbow Dash charged him but a quick stun spell and she stopped in her tracks. “Now then you all can get through this ordeal a lot quicker if you follow me to the dungeon, or I can drag you all there myself. Which would you prefer?”

“You may have beaten us for now but you won’t win in the end!” said Shining.

“Prefer to do things the hard way I see, very well.” Sombra used his magic to pick them all up and walked them to the dungeon. After he dropped them off he went to the throne room and found the hidden chamber was open. He went down and found Sunset Shimmer staring at the open fear door with dark magic and tears in her eyes. He cut off her magic before closing the door snapping her out of her trance and she looked at him. “It appears you’ve failed Miss Shimmer.” Sombra grabbed her in his magic and took her to the dungeon as well.

The city was completely covered in black crystal now so Twilight went in. The streets were empty as the Crystal Ponies were too scared to leave their homes after Sombra’s return. Twilight made it to the dungeon and went in, starting to hear voices the further she got. Everypony was in one large cell with Sombra standing outside of it.

“You can’t keep us here forever!” said Dash.

“Nor do I plan to. You’ll all be released when the princesses and I reach an agreement.” Sombra then noticed Twilight approaching. “Ah there you are my dear. Don’t be shy come say hello.”

Twilight came into their view which surprised everypony. “Twilight…how?” said Shining.

Twilight turned her head away not being able to look at them. “I’m sorry I…” she said in a quiet tone.

“Don’t worry Twilight it’ll be alright, we’ll get out of this.”

“You don’t seem to understand. Twilight’s not a prisoner, she’s my bride.”

The others were in a stunned silence for a moment. “No, that can't be...Twilight?”

“I...” Twilight couldn't take it anymore. She ran off and found a secluded place to have a cry.

“Alright back to business. Miss Dash I hear you're pretty fast.”

“What of it.”

“I need you to do something for me.”

“Go fuck yourself!”

Sombra opened the cell, pulled Rainbow out with his magic, closed the door, and then produced a scroll. “All I need is for you to deliver this to Celestia, now go.”

Dash looked at the others. “Don't worry I'll comeback for you, I promise.”

She took the scroll and bolted. “Now if the rest of you will excuse me I have some business to take care of and then a wedding to attend.”

“BASTERD! What did you do to my sister?!”

“Absolutely nothing, she made her choice.”

“When I get my hooves on you I'll-”

“Careful now Shining. I'd hate to have to kill my soon to be brother in-law.” Sombra walked away laughing.

“This doesn't make any sense. Twilight would never be involved with somepony like him, right?” said Cadence.

“I reckon I’m mighty confused as well. Didn’t the princess say this Sombra guy was imprisoned for like a thousand years or somethin’? How’d they even meet?”

“I don’t know darling but we can figure that out later. Right now we should focus on our current predicament.”

Rainbow Dash flew as fast as her wings could take her. It was a long fly but she made it back to Canterlot and went into the castle. Celestia and Luna were having dinner when Dash burst into the room, slid to a stop after landing on the table, and tried to catch her breath.

“Rainbow Dash? What’s wrong?” said Celestia. It took Dash a moment to speak.

“Its bad princess, Sombra took over the Crystal Empire and captured us. He released me and said to give you this.” Rainbow held out the scroll and Celestia took it in her magic and began to read it.

Dear Celestia,

If you want your niece and the others safely returned to you then you and your sister need only meet my demands. You will grant me dominion over the northern territories, sign a treaty, and give me the Element of Magic. We’ll meet tomorrow at the empire’s train station around noon, and don’t keep me waiting.

Luna read it over as well. “The fiend, he shall pay for this!”

“Easy Luna, we can’t do anything rash. We’ll have to comply for the moment.”

“Sister you can’t seriously be considering giving him what he wants.”

“We have no choice. Sombra holds all the cards right now and there’s no telling what he’ll do to them if we try anything. I’ll start making preparations for our departure.”

“That’s not all princess. You remember Shining’s sister Twilight right?”

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“She was there as well and apparently she’s Sombra’s bride.”

Celestia and Luna looked perplexed for a moment. “I’m sorry I don’t know if I heard you right. Did you say Twilight was Sombra’s bride?” Rainbow nodded yes. “How is that possible?” said Celestia.

“This does seem rather peculiar. Was he not imprisoned for as long as we though he would be and if so how did they meet?”

“I don’t know but the guy seemed to know about us. If you ask me she probably tipped him off about our arrival ahead of time. He tried to attack us not long after we got there.”

“We can discuss this later. Right now we need to get Cadence, Sunset, and the others back here safe.”

Twilight and Sombra were in the throne room finalizing the marriage. “Twilight Sparkle I hereby take you as my wife and crown you Queen of the Crystal Empire.” He opened a box next to him and pulled out a cape like his along with a crown which had a slot in the shape of the Element of Magic. He placed them on her, kissed the bride, and the ceremony was complete. As soon as Sombra wasn’t looking she wiped her mouth. “Well this has been quite an eventful day, the first of many I’m sure but it’s getting late. We should retire for the evening. The princesses will be here tomorrow to get Cadence, Shining, and the element bearers assuming they meet my demands that is. So it’d be best if we were well rested for the meeting.”

“You already made contact with them?”

“Yes I sent Rainbow Dash to deliver my terms.”

“And I suppose part of those demands includes the Element of Magic seeing as there is a slot for it in my crown.”

“Well it is rightfully yours after all.”

“Not in this timeline.”

“Oh Twilight you’ll come around eventually.” Sombra surrounded them in shadows and they reappeared in their bed chamber. He then began removing his armor and regalia. “Are you ready to consummate the marriage?”

Twilight blushed and decided she needed to put her hoof down. “I may be your wife but I’m not doing anything sexual!”

He let out a sigh. “Very well if you want to take things slow I can abide by that. Now let’s go to bed.”

Sombra got under the covers. Twilight removed her regalia and did the same. Again he cuddled up close to her and even though the idea of her sharing a bed with him still made her skin crawl a little she would have to deal with it. At least she wouldn’t have to worry about him trying anything, she hoped.