Julius Sombra

The pony that Luna and Celestia's forces had rescued from the wrath of me and my father found herself lying face up on her back, looking up at the ceilings that hung over the room she was in. She then turned to find Luna standing on the right side of her bed and I could only imagine that her emotions at that moment were of both relief that she was free from our wrath and fear of what would happen if we came looking for her.

"You have no reason to fear, fair one," whispered Luna, gently stroking the mare's hair with her silver horseshoe. "Whatever has befallen the Crystal Empire will not come to you as long as you are here."

"Oh, bless you," gasped the mare, her eyes widened with fright and her voice filled with panic. "Sombra, he was going to kill me…"

"Calm down, calm down," interjected Luna, laying the injured mare back on to the bed. "You've been injured and I must not let you risk yourself anymore harm."

But, the mare that had escaped was without a doubt was worried and didn't care at all of staying in bed.

"I don't care!" the mare cried, feeling the pain in her body. "It was only a matter of time before he took over. Him and his demon of a son. They took my family when they refused to swear their allegiance to Sombra. I've got to get back and…"

However, the mare became emotional with grief and worry and began sobbing uncontrollably. Almost immediately, Luna was feeling anger build up inside of her. Anger for the chaos that my father and I had orchestrated.

"Who knows what that monster will do to my family?" she sobbed as Luna bent down to comfort the mare. "He killed Amore! He killed the Crystal Princess for his own gain and now he will kill my family!"

Luna felt her stomach sink upon hearing that Amore was killed. Up until that moment, she had no idea that we had killed Amore, only Celestia. But, that all changed with this confession and any raw emotion that would be displayed would all have to be restrained as long as she remained with the injured mare.

"The bloody bastard," Luna muttered under her breath. "He's overthrown Amore and now rules the Empire by force. No wonder this fair child is wrought with fright."

At that moment, several doctors came into the room and applied several bandages and gave several intravenous medications into her system.

"If you can answer me," said Luna. "What is Sombra and his son doing now?"

"They are forcing ponies to either pledge their loyalty to them," cried the mare in a panicked and pained voice due to the needles being placed into her. "Or die as traitors. My family refused and…"

"Where did they take your family?" asked Luna.

"I don't know," answered the mare. "They said to a ravine along the roads leading to the Crystal Empire. There, they would be killed in what way, I don't know."

…

At that moment, two of Celestia's guards came into the room, holding what appeared to be a spy that worked for my father. The mare turned to the captured spy and screamed in a loud voice.

"WHERE IS MY FAMILY, YOU DOG?! WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?!"

"Calm yourself, young mare," cried Luna. "Let me talk to this dog myself."

"We caught him trying to escape into the Everfree Forest," said the guard. "We were following your sister's orders to capture any pony with suspicion of Amore's supposed death. He was walking along the road, supposedly towards Canterlot with news that Sombra was planning to acquire Canterlot as his own."

Luna looked at the spy and using her magic, violently tore off the helmet from the spy's head and threw it to the ground.

"Who killed Princess Amore?" she hissed and when Luna didn't get a respond, she took her front right hoof and struck the spy across the face. "Speak or else!"

"I know who killed Princess Amore," the spy laughed. "But, you will never capture him for he is in the safety of his father, our beloved King Julius Sombra I."

"His son did this?" remarked Luna, scowling at the captured spy. "Then he will pay dearly for all that has happened, both Sombra and young Julius."

Luna then noticed something hanging from the spy's saddlebag and snatched it away from the spy. Opening it, she dumped out several essentials and then saw what caught her attention: a scroll bearing instructions from me on ordering some of my father's warriors to launch an attack on Canterlot.

"What is he planning to do?" asked Luna, icily. "Tell me right now!"

"His highness, King Sombra," answered the spy. "Well, he has 200 of his bravest warriors hiding in a secluded area and from there, one of his highness' bravest generals will lead a charge that will make Canterlot become a part of our leader's conquest…"

"ENOUGH!" barked Luna, hitting the spy across the face with her horseshoe. "You've said quite enough! Sergeant?"

"Yes, Princess Luna," answered the sergeant.

"Throw this spy into the dungeons at once and then notify General Sandstar to lead 100 forces to the Canterlot roads and neutralize any threat against the Capitol. Is that understood? And let my sister know of this development at once."

Saluting Luna, the guards took the spy away leaving Luna alone with the mare.

"You didn't ask him if he knew where my family is," cried the mare. "Are they still alive or dead? I want an answer, Princess Luna!"

"I don't have an answer and even if I did ask him," she sighed, walking back towards the mare. "He probably wouldn't have an answer for us. But, you must remember that there are plenty of families in the Crystal Empire that have been broken because of Sombra's actions."

"And we all want to know if they are alive or dead, including my own! You must do something to try and save everypony, Princess! You and your sister have powers that are greater than…"

"We are just as fallible as anypony," interrupted Luna. "And we can't solve every problem in Equestria. This will take time, young mare and I know its hard to hear, but that's how it is going to be."

The mare reluctantly had no other choice but to abide what Luna had just told her and all she could do, like all those who had avoided death was wait, wait for answers, wait for news of ponies being dead or alive, the list was endless.

…

Sighing heavily, the mare fell asleep and Luna left the room along with the doctors who had been tending to her. Once she got downstairs to the throne room, Celestia was already waiting for Luna to arrive.

"Murderous monster," she seethed, angrily as Luna walked in. "How dare he kill Amore?"

"You heard what was happening, sister?" asked Luna.

"Yes, Luna," answered Celestia, furiously pacing back and forth in fury. "I heard what Sombra was planning to do, make Canterlot a part of his vile and twisted empire. Well, I won't have it, Luna! 200 of our respective forces are going to the roads leading to Canterlot and any threat will be thwarted! I swear on my life that no more blood will be shed for his ambitions! I swear it, no more!"

I could assure you that Luna had seen Celestia angry before, but nothing like this. In fact, both my father and Celestia probably had the same level of anger between them.

"I'm going to raise the sun now," she remarked.

"But, it's not even time yet," protested Luna.

"As long as I raise the sun," retorted Celestia, giving her younger sister a cold glare as she walked out of the throne room. "I decide what time the sun will rise and if it means destroying a plan to kill more innocent ponies, then so be it!"

…

Going up to the top of the castle, Celestia activated her magic and raised the sun over Canterlot castle and down below, our warriors were along the roads waiting for the moment to move, which by then, had already past.

"Something is wrong," said a warrior. "We were told to attack at dawn, but the sun is already rising."

"But not now," replied the commander. "The sun isn't due to come up for another two hours! Something is wrong!"

Just then, the commander heard a loud scream and saw one of our warriors fall dead. But before he or any of his forces could respond with an attack, Celestia and Luna's combined forces overpowered our warriors and in 18 exact minutes, the ambush was over. Almost all of our forces were wiped out completely. Of course, my father was not happy.

"What do you mean that they were wiped out?" my father yelled to his messenger.

"Not one is found alive," replied the messenger. "And those were alive were captured and brought to the Royal Sisters' castle to be put to death."

"Unless they are trying to copy what we did to the Crystal Ponies," he growled, ferociously kicking down a water jug in frustration. "The fools! Well, we will kill them too!"

"Kill them?" I asked.

"With the Royal sisters out of the way," my father explained to me. "All of Equestria will bow down to me, Julius! I need to find a way to lure them here without their protection of guards. Let us tell them that we will come to terms using our prisoners as leverage, those we haven't killed yet."

"But father, are you sure?" I wondered, thinking of why my father would do such a thing as to lure Equestria's monarchs to his newly conquered kingdom. He didn't say anything but gave me a cold stare as if to say that I needed to go along with him.

"Why not?" he asked and began drafting up a message for the messenger to bring the Princesses to us. "Take this to the Princesses and then, we make our move upon their arrival."

Little did I know that this ploy would backfire greatly…