------------------ 1200 years ago, Castle of the Two Sisters ------------------

Forty years had passed since Starswhirl the Bearded, the Arch-mages, and Luna and I banished Tirek to Tartarus, and ten years had passed since we sealed Discord with the aid of the Elements of Harmony. During that time we were very concerned about the reports our scouts delivered concerning the state of the Crystal Empire and its usurper: King Sombra.

Even worse than the news of the usurper’s victory over the Crystal Empire was the fact that he apparently slayed Princess Amore, who had been a dear friend of ours, through the use of a type of magic unheard of at the time: Dark Crystal Magic.

As we were administering decisions and judgements during our kingdom’s open court, we received an unusual petitioner who wore rags made of … animals? He stood in a bipedal fashion, and at a closer look his attire looked more like skin-armor from beasts slain at his claw … if claws were soft.

His head was covered in a skin and metal helmet—which on closer look, looked like an metal acorn, point side up, with thick skin flaps covering the back of the neck and the sides of his head, as if they were flesh cushions for the metal covering—which he didn’t remove at once … .

He stood before us, looking at us in the eyes, and we could see genuine sadness in his own eyes.

At the time, I didn’t know what he was, or what gender—until he spoke, kneeling before us in an unusual fashion, removing his helmet in one fluid motion.

It looked knightly … if Minotaurs and Diamond Dogs were not such barbarians.

“Greetings to you, Rulers of the Sun and Moon.” He stated, eyes half closed, looking at our schynbalds rather than our faces.

After looking at one another, my sister answered his greeting in the Canterlot Voice.

“Greetings to thee as well, strang'r. What mann'r of creature art thee? We has't nev'r seen of aught resembling thy kind in our timeth on this w'rld.”

Unlike most petitioners, he was unmoved by the Royal Canterlot Voice (R.C.V.), which drew my attention to look at him closer—only to be close to fainting at the amount of pure, raw, dark magic, barely contained in his apparently weather-worn frame.

Our petitioner was Evil to its core … he reminded me a lot of that enclave of necromancers which were mysteriously slain within our borders with a burst of dark magic.

‘This creature is unbelievably dangerous.’

‘And his power … his strength alone is making all those black magic users we have received reports of look like foals. Perhaps he is related to King Sombra … ?’

But before I could say anything to my sister, much less the guard, he replied calmly.

“My kind is unknown in this world, your highness—for I am known as a Man—and this world is not my birthplace.”

Shaken by this strange reveal, which drew several mutterings of “Madness”, “Coystrill”, and “How dareth that gent cometh malt-worm to petition our Highnesses” by guards, nobles and commoners alike, I replied as calmly as possible “What is the reasoneth of thy petitioning, despite not being a pony?”

Without rising, he answered with very well-contained emotion, judging by the way his fore-claws shook in their place.

“Several years ago, my son went missing and all his friends that went with him had their minds wiped clean—they were left like newborns much to their parent’s anguish.” He closed his eyes and swallowed as he continued, “A few years ago, I felt a surge of magic that allowed me to track him down, but I lost his trail just as quickly, for I have not felt his power since.”

At this point, he raised his head to look us in the eyes.

“I found his chaotic magic emanating from this land, only for it to be cut off in a blink.”

I felt my sister’s wrath from where I was seating, and I have to say, to my shame, that I felt the same. Sadly, the hopeful tone that he garnered with his last description and petition went over our heads, as we knew that this stranger before us was incredibly powerful.

“He looked like a mismatched creature assembled from the parts of many different creatures. Do you know where I can find him, so I can take him home with me and find out what happened to him all those years ago?”

Never taking my eyes off of him, I rose from my throne along with my sister, as she declared “We knoweth of one such creature, one Discord did attack our subjects, and f'rc'd our hooves into sealing that ruffian in stone f'r ages to cometh.”

At the moment we saw in his weird face contort into a look of surprise … and pain? right before he mouthed with a questioning look on his face, “Discord?”

‘Must have been my imagination.’

As my sister spoke, so did I.

“Now answ'r, knave. What business hast a creature of darkness masqu'rading as a w'rrying fath'r in our kingdom!?”

His eyes squinted, and as I was expecting him to attack us like an assassin, his face went cold, and all emotions were shut, as if closing a safe.

Shocked from what I just perceived of him, I thought ‘That isn’t normal for fellow living beings to do.’

“I am The Warden of the Dark, and I cannot help being what I am. My business I have already declared, and you have answered me. I will find a way to rescue him from himself—and you—if needs be. May you have a nice—”

As twin corkscrews of magic power shot from our horns, I noticed how he didn’t attempt to evade our spell casting even though our spells were only meant to restrain him. … Though it didn’t matter as our spells fizzled shortly before striking this Adept of darkness as a magic completely different from our own literally destroyed them on contact with his defenses.

“… I do not feel welcome here.” The Warden stated calmly as he simply stood up … and gave us a look—one we normally had reserved to villains, before adding to his parting: “And as I was saying: may you have a nice session, and help the petitioners that truly need it.”

In a short moment, just as the guards and ourselves were preparing to trap him, he vanished as if engulfed in white fire on the spot.

And that was where I saw it.

A matrix of magic dissolving into mist, yet the drawing in its middle spoke everything … an absurd sword with two crossed blades at its middle.

I recognized it … and trembled inwardly, as we had tampered with a place that had the same sigil placed in its middle. … Of course this was before Discord and Sombra rose as menaces to Equestria and her citizens … perhaps even before ponykind arrived into this land … .

“The Gates of Tartarus,” Celestia commented before completing her narration as she took her teacup and gave its contents a sip, only opening her eyes as everypony present were staring at her in awe.

“Princess Celestia, weren’t the Gates of Tartarus made by ponies as a prison for the worst kind of enemies? The ones that were unwilling to change for the better?” Shining Armor asked with an eyebrow raised, yet the way both his fur and mane were standing on edge betrayed his inner emotions.

“Princess? Did you say he called his kind ‘Man?’” Twilight asked her fellow princess in surprise at around the same time, mane frizzing off in random directions while Twilight Velvet fretted over her, trying to comb her hair back. “As far as I know, from the world in the mirror, ‘man’ is another term for ‘human’ … and humans aren’t supposed to have magic—especially not one as powerful as the one you described!”

“Princess? Why was his magic symbol thingie plastered at the Gates? It doesn’t make sense!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, flapping around the free space above them in the library in circles.

Luna answered this time to her question, “Rainbow Dash, at the time we were called to serve as rulers of Equestria, we were informed by scouts of a place full of magic that had an incredibly dense power output … and discovered a sealing spell in place, which had such a powerful mana output, that most of our unicorn guards came down with terrible mana poisoning, and few of us had the fortitude to approach the seal at all—and only the strongest of our Court and ourselves managed to approach the devastating seal, with heavy thaumaturgical protection protecting our bodies from the density of the mana in place.”

Luna took a long drink from her cup of coffee, before continuing her part, “So, we went in with the wisest of the magic users of our era, and sought whatever was being concealed in order to discover the purpose for its concealment and determine whether its existence was malign or benign regarding Equestria and her inhabitants.”

“As we stood before it, studying the spellweave and glyph-work I began to understand its purpose. … It was crafted to let objects in … but not to allow them to escape,” Celestia replied after a moment’s thought. “At the time, I knew it was important to find out what was inside, so as my sister narrated to you earlier; we gathered our strongest and wisest amongst our subjects, and thus, between my sister, Starswhirl, Clover and several other court-mages as well as myself, we dispelled the sealing magics placed upon the gates of Tartarus with great effort and dedication—thus breaking the spell which allowed the gates their one-way nature—but that also brought upon us all the risks which such a dispelling spellcasting might bring.”

Celestia sighed tiredly, before finishing her recount of events of a bygone time, “That’s why we knew where to banish Tirek when he showed up and threatened our kingdom—however, there was one detail we missed.”

“That’s why Cerberus keeps watch, isn’t it? Nopony was able to recreate or repair the seal that made it an ideal prison,” Fluttershy muttered quietly as she hugged a pillow tightly to her chest.

Celestia nodded before adding, “Yes, Fluttershy … that is why we have Cerberus guarding the gates of Tartarus . … However, we know from our explorations and scryings inside that place that Tartarus is layered, and when Tirek imprisoned us within Tartarus, we remained in the outer layers—the most superficial grottos that exist in that prison.”

“We believe, to this day, that if Tartarus were to be compared to a castle, the gate which we forced open would be equivalent to the city gates, way outside of the castle itself,” Luna interjected as she sipped from a cup of tea she had magicked, without anyone noticing, from the nearby table fitted with tea and pastries.

“As we explored this place, we could feel the evil emanating from the very air, the stones, it was … everywhere.” Celestia continued, shuddering at the memories her story was evoking from the depths of her heart, “It felt like being submerged in miasma from a swamp, sticking all over your spirit and your body … with the ever-present feeling of malice towards all of us, and against all living beings that exist outside Tartarus.” Celestia went silent for few minutes, her eyes going dull for what felt like an eternity.

As the ponies gathered started to look at one another nervously, Celestia came back from whatever dark corner her mind had led her to, and continued, “What was worse was the fact that the … presence inside that place started to actually play with our minds, showing us horrible things—”

“Night Watch!? What are you doing!?” Star Swirl yelled in rage at a fellow unicorn that was strangling Clover the Clever, as the other expedition members rushed into the chamber, hooves clacking on the strange stone floors.

“She’s murdered my wife and kids! She must pay for that!” Night Watch yelled, eyes burning with hate as he used his magic to choke to death his victim … until he was struck, repeatedly, with sleep spells from the unicorns and alicorns present.

He collapsed after the twelfth shot, releasing Clover as she coughed and fought for breath, while the witnesses looked with deep concern at the unicorn who fought against the forced sleep spell placed upon him … while Night Watch remained unconscious.

There was only one thought on everypony present at the moment.

‘Why was he accusing her of murdering his family, when he was a single-stallion?’

As everypony looked at Celestia with true horror in their eyes, as a response to that recounting of past events … .

Luna looked thoughtful, and with a nod of wilting determination … ears folding back onto her head, she looked sadly at all the ponies present, and said, “Sister? Everypony? Now that that bad memory has been brought to my mind … I am ashamed to confess that the … thing trapped inside Tartarus did something to me, as it kept feeding me ideas and visions—many of them regarding my qualifications as a ruler, as an equine … “ Luna sniffed out as tears started to appear on her eyes, “questioning even my value as a mare at that time, which drove me to strain myself in proving that-that monster wrong—only to see all my efforts to fall flat, while my little ponies approached my sister, leaving me alone … abandoned by those for whom I wished health and happiness for.”

Luna’s tears started to flow at this point, her voice cracking in grief as she was hugged by Celestia, Twilight, Cadance, Fluttershy, and even the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Constant reminders of my failures, of how I’d never measure up to my sister … of how I wasn’t needed, or wanted—that nopony would care if I even died!” Luna wailed as the ponies cuddling her kept caressing her fur in an attempt to calm the princess.

“What made this worse, was the fact that it was true!!” Luna broke down, as Celestia looked at her with a hoof placed over her mouth and her tears streaming from the corner of her eyes, not believing what she was hearing being told.

Celestia didn’t waste time, and snapped at her sister, “Lulu! While I did raise the Moon, I couldn’t even hope to fulfill all of your duties! I could never match the peace and tranquility you gave your nights; the peace and tranquility which made our subjects feel safe enough to fall asleep during the night! I could never match your artistry with the constellations or how you painted the celestial tapestry in the sparkle of a myriad of stars! I couldn’t even watch over their dreams, Lulu! My tenure alone was of suffering for our ponies … and myself, sister, as there was nopony to help us rest or guard and watch over us and protect us from our nightmares as the night was intended for.”

“Si-sister!?” Luna asked, tears and snot now running free as she looked at her sister with the look of someone in desperate need for hope.

“That monster! Lulu, don’t you realize!? It did do something to you! After your return, haven’t you noticed how ponies behave around you!? How instead of cringing and running away like they used to after our return from that damned place, they actually welcomed you!?” Celestia stated with determination at her younger sister, who was looking back at her with deep relief and tears of joy—ignoring her tears and snot on her face and snout—all the while, the ponies gathered around Luna who didn’t jump to thoughtlessly comfort her, looked at the exchange between the two sisters with interest.

“The-then you mean?” Luna asked, her voice slightly more composed as her dark memories were slowly cuddled to death by the ponies surrounding her.

“The monster locked inside Tartarus planted the seed for the Nightmare in you, Lulu …” Celestia spat with venom in her voice, “and left the means for it to bloom over time with the dark thoughts it planted upon you. … How could I have been so blind, Luna? … That only now have I fully realized that truth—that none of us left unscathed from that dark place.” Celestia finished before lowering her ears, adding, “thankfully, what seeds were planted in me died after … an event which happened later which I had gone through, an event which I will tell you of when the time comes.”

It was then that Luna realized the pile of ponies cuddling her, and she hugged back with a big smile on her face.

Some time passed by as Luna just hugged the ponies next to her, being quiet all the time … until with a gentle smile she dislodged herself—begrudgingly—from her cuddle pile, and went to wash herself in the bathroom.

After a few minutes, a red-eyed but relaxed Luna came back with her face refreshed, and continued where Celestia left, while she went to refill her cup of tea. “Thank you, my friends … I really needed to get that off of my chest,” Luna said to the ponies that now smiled back at her, sipping contentedly from her refilled teacup before saying, “While at that accursed place, there was one thing that surprised us greatly … it was the complexity of the spells within that put to shame the ones at the main entrance, verily … the spellcrafting inside the depths of Tartarus made the two at the main entrance appear as though it were scrawled by a foal.”

Twilight twitched her ears at that comment. “Really, Luna? What purpose did those spells serve inside Tartarus?”

Celestia sighed again, sipping from her cup as she pondered how to reply … .

“They were wards … and seals, and wards over seals, and seals warding even more seals—with an absurd level of intricacy and magic requirements, that we couldn’t even hope to meet.” Luna replied dryly, to everyone’s shock. “Furthermore, we were incapable of discerning the function of perhaps nine-tenths of just one sealing spell, which spoke clearly ‘do not release under any circumstance’ to everyone there at the time. The rest, well … They all bore his sigil: The Dark Sword, as we came to call it.”

“Twilight, all we know about Tartarus is that it is a prison for unspeakable horrors … judging by the quality of the magic involved to contain them, as well as their influence in attacking us despite the seal’s arrangements—and we broke the main gate in curiosity,” Celestia added, ears splayed back as she looked at the bottom of her teacup. “Ever since, I have kept close watch of it, until Cerberus escaped some time ago—”

“And Tirek managed to escape,” Applejack interjected for the first time, her face a thoughtful one—a rare sight for the down-to-earth pony farmer.

Celestia simply nodded. “He, just as the three of us, was locked in the equivalent of the corridor, rather than one of the prisons that Tartarus possesses.” She breathed in softly as she added, “that’s why Cerberus being distracted is such an issue. We don’t really have the keys to administrate Tartarus at all.”

At this moment, after a long, embarrassing silence, Twilight Velvet asked the question to Celestia, “Princess, forgive me if I find the claim of evil from that creature sketchy at best, but wouldn’t it have made more sense for him to … you know, release all the monsters in Tartarus, if all the spells involved have his sigil?” Twilight Velvet persisted, focusing on Celestia’s face, “After all, if what he said is true, Discord is his son—hard to believe, really—or there is another draconequus in Equus, and he used his magical senses to try and find him … only to find out about Discord instead.”

Both Celestia and Luna’s eyes widened at the implications of this statement.

“How old is this creature? What is its purpose? Why can a non-pony wield dark magic on a scale which terrified even you, an alicorn connected with the sun itself?” Velvet finished asking, only add at the end “However, I have the suspicion that then wasn’t the last time you two met, correct?”

After some silence, Luna replied to Velvet.

“We know it is evil, for it left in its wake a trail of corpses, specially of mares and foals, and of guards posted on the towns that tried to stop him at the time of his passing.”

Celestia looked with uncertainty in her eyes at Luna, then made the comment, “however, we lost track of this creature once it left the Equestrian borders, towards the Griffon lands and beyond for centuries.”

Celestia breathed in and exhaled a few times—only for her to continue her story.

“The next time we saw his sigil was when we fought Sombra.”

------------------ 1199 years ago, Crystal Empire -------------------

My sister and I were geared in our battle armor, each one of us wielding a weapon in our magic kinesis.

Luna’s weapon of choice was a large axe with a hammerback she had dubbed ‘Gibbous Demise’, a weapon large enough to guarantee either to cleave or completely shatter whatever crossed her path.

The weapon which I chose to learn to use at the time was a massive morning-star I had baptised as ‘Burning Wrath’, due to the size of its head, filled with very thick spikes long enough to pierce even the thickest of armors. Its circumference was about the size of the barrel of a stout Earth Pony.

Neither spellcraft nor the physical weapons which we wielded were working well against our opponent.

A single unicorn overflowing with dark magic who called himself king, and the murderer of one of our dearest friends.

One who wasn’t even wearing armor, but only a cloak of black ermine with a red velvet lining and a crown full of dark crystals, all of them crackling with power along with his warped red, curved horn.

His eyes were glowing with both power and malice against us, though he simply smiled smugly at our efforts at harming him.

“Your reigneth ends the present day, Sombra! F'r Am're, the crystal ponies, and f’r justice!” I roared in my Royal Canterlot Voice, unleashing several magical blasts against my opponent, just as he made crystal spires rise to block them from reaching him.

“Once thee falleth, I shall expandeth southwards.” Sombra stated back calmly in answer, materializing dark crystals and shooting them against me and Luna while we were being pushed back by him.

“Sist'r, we can’t approacheth closeth enow to subdue that ruffian!” Luna complained as she prepared a magical shield, which cracked severely after an impact provided by a crystal spire, one of many which Sombra shot towards us as he slowly walked in our direction.

The smug face he wore just made things worse.

“What about the oth'rs!? Has't those gents did succeed in their mission!?” I asked while blasting several beams of searing magic in our adversary’s direction—only to see how he grew a crystal spire that reflected the blast at an angle—and into the horizon outside the city.

Luna scrunched her muzzle in effort, her horn lighting briefly before she gave a gasp, eyes opening wide as she answered “They has't been routed …”

I shuddered at the sad news, and saw how our adversary grew a crystal panel that started to glow … as he muttered an unusual enchantment—causing the power showing in both his eyes and crown to flare and crackle from the strain.

As we got ready to attack him, we were stopped by a feeling of dread unlike any other in our entire lifetime.

Even our ordeal with Discord the first time seemed juvenile when compared with this struggle for our survival against a powerful adversary, who had learned powerful dark arts and that was actually cunning.

“Ponilkes Itaima Gon Shathga Derdresi Cthul Gend Gylgamoth … Knight of shadow, from ancient slumb'r, the bloody glyph did carve in crystal and flesh, taketh mine own off'ring and obeyeth mine own will … Cha’tturga Ilnnazamire sson Medayda Pegalsa!” Sombra roared with a flair of his forehoof, as the glow took the shape of that same sword with two blades crossing in its middle—only for a shadowy creature to leap out of it after a large ball of magic focused in its middle.

As it consolidated, it looked like … one of our pegasus guards!? Only without a helmet.

Or a head to go along with it. The rest of the armor was devoid of a pony wearing it.

The armor seemed odd, even by Sombra’s standards. Black metal with dark crystals growing along the frame, cloth covered joints and chainmail looking as if filled with a living body, its design brought only one thing to mind: ruthlessness.

“Headless h'rse knight, hunteth and killeth the blue one. The white one is mineth,” Sombra stated coldly as the apparition stood to attention, wings deploying several oversized blades attached to the wing-covers as it started to flap—and successfully float—with each wingbeat.

From the hoof-boots the apparition wore, dark magical claws appeared; and in place of a tail a chain whip full of black crystal shards extended with the metal links jingling softly. Groaning in a manner bone-chilling, it launched towards Luna, whom barely had time to use her axe to defend herself as the apparition slashed at her with its forehooves while in mid-air at an unnatural speed.

Sombra, without taking his eyes from me, smirked as he started to form a sword made of dark crystal straight from the floor.

I rushed him, mace swinging to break him, when I felt terror and turned aside suddenly.

Thank heavens I did that, as I saw how my mace was cut off from the middle, a large chunk missing from the head itself, and Sombra’s sword was smoking as was his magic-encased horn.

“I desire that ye realizeth that this is an exercise in futility, Celestia. I shall alloweth thee liveth as a slave if ye peacefully surrender and throweth thy weapon apart from ye and I and removeth thine armor do-”

I cut him off by throwing my chopped mace at him while raising to the sky, earning the sound of a loud “gong” coming from his face, right as I went looking desperately for Luna, all this while avoiding Sombra’s retaliatory strikes with all my speed and agility I could muster.

There was no way I was risking him getting close to either of us with a sword that sharp. I could only hope that the apparition fighting Luna didn’t have as much on its side.

That was when I felt a sharp pain in my barrel.

Looking down while in flight, I saw a large crystal protruding from a metal plate that covered me—but that wasn’t what made me worry.

I started seeing how the crystal itself was corrupting the armor’s enchantments slowly, causing it to degrade from gold to a chalky appearance, graying over its edges.

At Twilight’s stunned expression, Celestia replied: “Yes, my dear Twilight. That was the same crystal that I used to show you a magical projection of the Crystal Empire.” Closing her eyes for a moment, she reflected loudly, “I am still stumped as to how that crystal could do that, to be honest.”

She smiled at the ponies gathered, and continued her narrative … .

The pain it brought on me, however, seemed to remain constant, so that was one worry less. At least it wasn’t poisonous.

As I moved, the light coming from the city-wide shield on top of us started to dim, and I saw a massive cloud of darkness, with eyes glowing green and purple showing in them looming over us.

‘We has't to moveth festinate, 'r we’re going to loseth.’

Moving quickly, I located my sister as she struggled against the apparition, whom was slowly gaining on her.

Rushing silently, I prayed that the plan I hastily made wouldn’t be my undoing.

Zeroing on the monster, I used a tactic normally used by griffons to deal with other griffons or pegasi in a permanent fashion—by surprise.

Freefalling, I slammed the armored fiend with my back hooves in the middle of what could be thought as his back, metal and crystal shattering on the powerful impact, the blades on the wings falling out of place as it fell to its demise, where it shattered once it impacted with the ground.

Sadly, this only solved the lesser of two evils.

Turning to Luna, I saw how her armor was severely damaged, cuts gouged deep into the metal, blood trickling out of the injuries.

One particularly large gash seemed to be caused by the wing-blades of the apparition rather than the claws.

More superficial scratches seemed the work of that tail-whip.

“Sist'r, art thee well?” I asked as I turned to face the black cloud that was looming closer towards us.

“Couldst beest bett'r, specially aft'r we dealeth with that ruffian.” Luna replied somberly as she rose with me above the towering spires of the Crystal Empire to face our adversary with our last resort.

With a nod towards one another, we prepared another spell, much more complex in size and magnitude as the cloud of blackness rose, several sparkling lights appearing like stars in the dark of night.

That moment was when we realized what Sombra was doing—only to feel the ravages of several thousand shards hitting us like hail, some embedding into our flesh as we tried our best to focus on the spell while protecting our faces from the onslaught.

As we were finishing the preparations for the banishment spell to send him to Tartarus with some gemstones embedded with the power of our Elements of Harmony crafted into our helms, he materialized, floating on some massive geode that defied all our knowledge of reality, sword at his grip and a confident smile on his face.

Thankfully his hubris cost him a defeat—but it was all for naught.

“Princess Celestia? What happened then?” Rarity asked in the middle of the story, the rest too invested to actually interrupt.

Celestia’s face turned grim, and said … .

“Sister! Something’s not right! The spell malfunctioned!” Luna screamed as we saw the spell hit true at our adversary, turning him into a cloud of darkness again—only for him to be sealed inside a glacier far off the Empire.

That, however, made some reaction in the Empire itself, as it started to glow—The Dark Sword appearing in its midst—as if the city itself were a magical matrix, the palace right at the middle of the crossed blades.

It flashed, and started to disappear from reality—and sapping our memories from the place itself in the process.

All the time the two of us felt the leaching of what Sombra had done.

“A city-wide spell? Isn’t that like what Shiny did back at the wedding, or what I did when we were protecting the Empire from Sombra?” Cadance asked, eyes quite open from the sudden revelation of her inheritance.

Luna and Celestia shook their heads … right before Luna snorted as she continued her exposition.

“Nay, niece; this spell seemed amplified by the city itself—as if it were some sort of conditional curse laid by Sombra imbedded into the city’s foundations, only it affected reality itself. We don’t know to this day how he achieved it—but we were certain at the time that the one that called itself Warden had a heavy hoof involved in this.”

Celestia piped in tandem.

“All I’m certain is that we fought Sombra, and banished him, only for him to use magic—of the same kind as that of this Warden—to seal the Crystal Empire with him, sealing all memories of that place. That’s why, Twilight, it was a surprising boon that the crystal he shot at me had some sort of connection to the city itself—as if it were a part that resonated beyond reality.”

Fluttershy said softly as she gripped her pillow really hard “Then we were very lucky that Sombra lost his mind … He would have crushed us if he had fought us like he did with you.”

All her friends turned to meet her sight, causing her to squeak and cover herself with the pillow from the stares.

“Fluttershy …” Rainbow started, only to be interrupted by Twilight’s sudden comment.

“No, she is right, girls. From what I could gather from the story, it seems that this power that Sombra got his hooves on amplified his natural strength to a level equal or superior to that of alicorns. I cannot imagine what could have happened had Spike not being there to help us.” With this, she dragged her little brother-son-friend and gave him a generous hug and nuzzle, causing him to eep from the surprise assault of affection.

“Yes … that’s why we sought to discourage the pursuit of Dark Magic—it not only does continued study and practice of the forbidden arts cause serious damage to the mind, but also appeared to change its wielders’ desires to become unfettered along with the increase in power.” Celestia answered, and added “It was luck indeed that Sombra increased his Dark Magic output, turning him a screeching fool at the exchange of power to escape the glacier and the magic spell sealing him. That’s why I could send you, Twilight, Shining, Cadance … In his smoky state he seemed to lose his cunning, and sustaining both shapes caused his mind to slow down considerably—if not for that, we would have been in dire straits all that time ago.”

Everyone that had been present when Sombra appeared gulped, knowing they had avoided the crossbow bolt by a hair’s breath.

Cadance then voiced her question to the older princesses, “Aunties, would you say that moving an entire city through time, and erasing all memories of it is achievable with Harmony magic at all?”

Luna and Celestia looked at one another—as if waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Luna answered, “Nay, niece. All magic coming from Harmony follows rules. And this Dark Magic … seems to bend them or break them—that’s why my sister said that the Warden could modify reality.”

“That-that’s impossible! You’re almost speaking as if this ‘Warden’ is a god, if he’s capable of such things!” Night Light replied, eyes wide, and both fur and mane standing up—shock clearly visible to all involved.

No one noticed the nervous fidgeting of Starlight Glimmer as the observations regarding the power of The Dark Sword were discussed.

At that moment, Celestia closed her eyes sorrowfully, replying “I wish it were otherwise. I still have to narrate my last encounter with the Warden … the reason why my sister said I fought him and lived.”

------------------ 705 years ago, City of Manehatten ----------------

Three hundred years have passed since I was forced to banish my sister to the Moon with the Elements of Harmony, which ceased to answer to me after that act.

‘How did she learn dark magic?’ I thought to myself in cold anger as I watched my troops gather at the seaport, climbing the ramps leading to the vessels ready for our departure. Five thousand strong were gathered at the Port of Manehatten, after months of ship-crafting to house the army, plus supplies being gathered to last us for a siege.

‘Who corrupted my younger sister?’

My anger was hot and restless, like an active volcano as I watched the proceedings with a neutral face, wearing full-chainmail enchanted armor and a reforged ‘Burning Wrath’ at my side.

‘This time,’ I thought to myself, a sense of grimness flowing out of my anger, ‘I will find you and defeat you, Warden. To seal your poison away from the world, so nopony gets hurt by it ever again.’

‘The spells I crafted for dealing with you will be more than enough a match—and all my soldiers that can muster have them. The armor we all are wearing will parry your accursed dark magic, my heavy mace and our military might will be your undoing—for it will channel the power of the Sun itself towards its target.’

My face displayed my usual calm and unperturbed face as I thought in the end, ‘I will avenge the Crystal Ponies, and everypony who died at your claws, and my sister … . I will not rest until you are trapped in Tartarus for eternity if you’re lucky to survive our encounter.’

I was brought out of my reverie by Commander Thunder Clap, as she saluted as crisply as possible for a fully-armored pegasus mare.

“Your Highness, we’re ready to leave at your command.”

I simply nodded slightly, as she barked orders while I made my way to one of the ships.

According to the scouts and the intelligence gathered at the time, I knew that the Warden was currently residing inside a city-state called Cairn Niall, where all its residents were either serving him willingly, or embraced his dark arts.

This place was located at the top of a mountain, deep into griffon territory, yet outside the rule of the griffon king at the time.

It was a place where several species gathered under one dark banner.

While making our way through the mountains, I was approached by Commander Thunder Clap, a Cloudsdale stallion with experience at the lands outside our borders, and Arch-Mage Stardust Rain, a Canterlotian unicorn mare who graduated with honors from the Thaumaturgical War School, both of whom had a request concerning my safety in the oncoming campaign.

“Princess Celestia, it … is of concern to us that your emotions concerning this beast affects your judgment and fighting prowess adversely.” Thunder Clap said softly, almost like handling with unusual care an observation that might earn her a demotion if not received positively by its recipient.

“Your Highness, most of the High Command has noticed your … change in demeanor ever since the scouts reported on the finding of the Warden. We can’t lose you—our country depends upon you more than ever!” Stardust Rain asked me with a begging tone in her voice as she pleaded with me.

“Which is why they asked us if you would concede to remain with the Strategists and other members of High Command so we can watch the … proceedings from afar. Best not to get emotionally involved when our lives are on the line with a powerful adversary.” Thunder Clap said with uncertainty … and a bit of fear on his voice at my response.

“To add to that, Princess: while all of us are wearing enchanted armor and weapons gracefully enhanced under your direction, we still don’t know how strong this monster really is—after all, it eluded capture in its tenure inside Equestrian borders. And never once a witness saw him openly using his power.” Stardust Rain stated as she eyed me, trying to gouge my reception of their request.

“If there is any consolation, your Highness, is the fact that we will be striking first with the Hurricane’s 1st Elite Pegasi Corps at the place where he was last seen and have the element of surprise in our favor.” Thunder Clap said before adding, “Better to catch him by surprise and either slay or disable him instead of facing against him face to face as in honorable combat and so face a fully prepared adversary wielder of powerful magics.”

My first instinct was to tell them I was fine, and going to meet him regardless as the troops cleansed that city of his evil—but they had a point.

‘What would happen if the worst actually came true? What would happen, if my little ponies were left without their ruler?’

It irked me, but I found solace on the fact that the Warden bled just like any other creature. That fortunate luck was what allowed me to partially track him, and send scouts and spies to locate his exact location.

I sighed as I answered to their anxious selves “I will heed thy advice, Commander … Archmage. I will remain far removed from the field of war with Command while the campaign is performed.”

At that moment, I could see them visibly relaxing from my answer.

‘I must steel myself for what is coming—and hope we aren’t too late to purge that darkness from the inhabitants of that city.’

“I didn’t know it at the time, but this campaign would take a turn to the worse in the most dramatic way imaginable.” Celestia finished briefly as she rested while sipping from a fresh brew of mint tea—eyeing a cupcake that was in the middle of the table lying close by—horn lighting up.

“Why do you say that, Princess?” Applejack inquired with an raised eyebrow at the fidgeting the old mare was showing as she took a bite from said cupcake.

Celestia swallowed the bite she took and looked at her with a downcast expression.

“Because I was fooled into doing something I still now regret.”

This was met with confusion on their faces as she continued her story.

“It involved the slaughter of three thousand innocents … and I was played like a fiddle to cause it by selfish parties due to my desires of retribution.”

‘It took a day,’ I thought somberly as I saw the smoke coming out from the fortress. ‘And all was for naught.’

The Warden wasn’t in the city, according to the latest report—but the nascent cult was totally routed.

My heart felt very heavy for some reason, as if I had committed a serious sin while the cheers of victory resounded throughout the Command tent were like buzzing of gnats in my ears.

So, I would have to try again to locate him with that blood stain that still remained—and yet … .

‘If he was residing there, up to the point where some ponies had actually seen him—informing the Guard when travelling back to Equestria, why wasn’t he here then?’

‘Did he grew suspicious at the trickling out of Equestrian ponies out of the city?’

‘Did he leave all those people to their own fate, knowing fully well I was coming to battle him?’

I was wrong—wrong on so many levels, that my hubris blinded me to another possibility … .

One I was warned out by none other than the Warden himself while we were making our retreat in the plains at the base of the mountain, several hours of marching back into friendly Griffon lands.

His voice boomed all over the plains, making me and all the soldiers turn in confusion, trying to locate the source.

“Ruler of the Sun, I left your country, and your treacherous kind to your own devices … and yet you come here and murdered three thousand innocent souls that were just trying to live their lives? All just to get me?”

Panic started to rise from the ranks, as the officers tried to instill order back into the ranks.

“You wanted me … Congratulations, you’ve found me.” The Warden’s voice boomed grimly, lowering several octaves as a massive light showed up in the sky.

I turned my head to see what was outshining my sun, and my heart sank in terror at the sight.

The magical matrix of The Dark Blade was shining brightly above my army—and here this brought me panic—an unknown type of magic was gathering at an abnormal rate within its confines.

Before I could do anything—I saw several stars shining within the matrix—and one word boomed in the field … with a voice so devoid of emotion and several octaves lower than the first statement that it resembled growling from a manticore.

“Judgement.”

And with that word, columns of burning light started to shower upon my soldiers.

I readied a spell to shield my troops—casting it and creating a massive shield to protect them.

This spell had Sombra himself in mind, and was powered by my connection to the sun—knowing dark magic could be dispelled with light-based spells.

It was mere luck that a thousand strong were outside the range of that spell—myself and the High Command at the head, along with four hundred pegasi strong, three hundred earth pony strong and two hundred eighty eight unicorns strong for the remaining strength. Otherwise we would have shared the fate of everypony else that was at our rear.

There was a fatal flaw to my shielding spell … It protected against dark magic, but nothing said it could protect against either harmony-fueled or light-based spells.

I realized that in a gut-wrenching fashion, the moment the columns of light broke through my carefully planned and tested spell and watched in horrified terror as the spell which he had cast literally blasted through armor, spell, and flesh as if a magic blast cleanly vaporized a piece of paper in its path.

The raw might of the magic beams showering upon the battlefield … overpowering any security I had on my spellcrafting, to contain and deviate his magic—breaking my presumptions concerning the safety the armor I helped make.

To make things even worse, the wails of the dying soon filled the air, as the hail of light left a myriad of emotions emanating from the caster.

Rage.

Wrath.

Sorrow.

Regret.

Failure.

Pure, unadulterated hatred—both against us and himself.

The Warden growled, his growl resonating in the entire field.

I couldn’t even move, everything inside me was quivering—a good grace I had gone to the latrine an hour ago, otherwise I believe I would have had suffered a different kind of humiliation to add to this disaster in progress.

I started shivering as I got to the part I feared most in both my story and the reactions from the ponies present.

Daring to open my eyes, I explored the faces of my audience, and saw confusion, which will be cleared up soon enough, disgust, which was totally understandable, and fear from Twilight as she watched me, eyes wide and watering, ears splayed on her head.

It took Luna’s wing hugging me gently to get out of my silence.

Nuzzling me gently, she whispered into my ear: “It’s alright … we’re with you. Please go on with your recounting of the last time you encountered the Warden of the Dark.”

I nodded shakily as I continued my tale.

One second, I am seeing the brutally gored ground filled with the remains of four out of five thousand ponies in different levels of harm—and pieces missing.

In all my time I had never witnessed such brutality in the field—even my stint with Chrysalis and the battle with the dragons didn’t lead to this kind of slaughter.

The next second that came after the first, I was greeted by the sight of the one responsible for the slaughter—unarmored, weaponless, and a face that seemed utterly disconnected from the sense of terror emanating from him.

His eyes fixed on mine at the distance.

“I sought to heal … to build bridges with your people … and all I got was backstabbing, treachery, and sorrow,” His voice boomed on the field, no emotions transferred into the voice like before.

“Your ponies killed my patients … and I sought reprisal against the ones that killed them—all because I didn’t care for your so-called Arcanotherapy.”

He stretched his foreleg, claw at the ready as if grasping air—

—Only to slowly gather something akin to gold dust at its reach.

Flowing faster and faster, what seemed like a trickling turned into a torrent, coalescing into the shape of—

—Of … of a mace that dwarfed mine, more fitting for an ogre or troll than a creature so scrawny-looking, judging by the way the mace at the top jutted three blunt edges almost as thick as the main body of the mace—where it was studded with very thick spikes that had the same distance as the blunt sections jutting out.

He grasped the handle with one hand, raising the massive weight and pointing it our way. He said grimly to us, voice rumbling our bones, “None of you will escape after what you’ve done—and yes, I don’t care what happens to the skies.”

I started gathering as much magic as I could from my connection to the sun in panic as I watched how he started walking the destroyed ground—and swung the mace downwards, finishing up a soldier nearby him with a loud crunch of both metal and flesh.

I could distantly hear orders from the military leaders as several of our troops launched towards him to slow him down—

—And a few were obliterated in return, the moment they strayed too close.

I started to gouge his raw strength from the way that mace literally turned those four pegasi soldiers into a spray of red mush and metal—

“Princess Celestia … the way you’re describing him sounds a lot like a clichéd and overpowered character from a Power Ponies comic book … the ones hated because they are too overpowered.” Spike piped in, taking advantage of a momentary break in Celestia’s narrative.

She tried her best, and nearly succeeded at hiding her annoyance towards the interruption of a very “harrowing” experience as she asked him back “What manner of character are you describing, Spike?”

Spike flinched, eyes widening in response in realization as he quickly answered “just thinking about some ponies saying that the villainous Laughlin was an overpowered, clichéd, Stallion Stu villain, princess.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow towards him, and saw how the poor drake started to sweat drops under her unflinching sight.

From annoyance came a sense of mischief, as she answered “I wish I had dealt with this Laughlin rather than the Warden, Spike.”

Spike’s expression changed, as well as a few of the mares twitched their ears as he timidly asked “Really?”

She smiled at him, and winked while saying “I think his madness-inducing gas would have been preferable to what the Warden did then, to be honest.”

And before him or his friends asked any more awkward questions concerning some of her most choice readings concerning the Power Ponies, she continued telling her tale.

My ultimate spell, one that I haven’t had the chance nor will to use so far in my life—taught to me by none other than Star Swirl the Bearded himself—one that would channel the light, heat and power of the sun and focus it in a small area was already being cast while the soldiers attempted to attack the Warden with spears, swords, and an entire volley of arrows.
I couldn’t understand why wasn’t he evading, allowing himself to be injured until I saw him snap into attention—

—And said the words “Raging Ache”.

If before I thought he was mighty, then he left me speechless.

I saw how whenever he cried those words, an unknown power flowed through his weapon, reducing to mist anypony caught at the point of a swing. Not even the metal was spared from the strike.

I better not think about how when he used it groundwards, the earth shook as his latest victim was made one with the soil.

My soldiers started to retreat at a quick pace as he simply started to slowly walk—just like Sombra did all those years ago—swinging his mace at the dying, finishing them off mercilessly.

“Princess! We are being routed by that monster!” One of the officers yelled while the Warden just slowly came our way—and started casting spells that always materialized that magical matrix, striking down several of the dying soldiers too far away from him to strike personally.

It always was a collection of orbs of light that went to hit and end whomever they struck.

‘Sweet Equus, he really meant his words.’

Noticing how the remains of my troops were behind me, I felt the bright light on my horn raising in a column above the mid-day sun—all the while the Warden unconcerned with my action, focused on slaying the ones that could at one time be saved from their wounds.

‘Is he really that certain of victory … or his hatred blinded him to notice?’

I roared, as I called forth in my Royal Canterlot Voice, “Burning Justice, Light of Retribution, Solar Flare!”

Immediately afterwards it all became white—an innate part of the spell preventing the heat of the sun from scorching all living things outside its perimeter.

Celestia stood still, her breathing labored as she seemed lost in memory.

“Princess … did the spell actually work? Did you … finish him?” Twilight asked in a very low squeak.

The old ruler’s mind snapped back into reality after hearing her friend’s question, and replied, voice wavering—almost cracking up.

“The spell … did its work. As for finishing him off … ”

The cheers of victory from my soldiers started to wane as the light cleared—and the Warden was still standing, parts of him burned, all clothing he was wearing beforehand reduced to ashes along with the bolts that had until a moment ago been jutting out of him. The waves of heat were contained inside that area, reducing all that was within its perimeter to ash—except for him.

A bright aura started to shimmer in his hand as he pressed it on himself—and all his bad burns, missing flesh and hair started to restore itself while inside the magic kiln’s aftereffects.

My hope died, as I felt myself drained of my magic after that finishing spell, panting loudly with my eyes wide open, looking in impotence how he literally mended himself with several applications of, what I now realized, was a very potent healing spell.

‘At least he felt that.’ I thought to myself with a grim smile as he turned our way again—and started making an incantation himself in retaliation, not moving from the heat that would have killed any living being.

Panic overpowering me and my sense of appearance as I started to feel a spell similar to his “Judgement”, I ordered loudly, “Retreat! Retreat before he finishes that spell! Make haste!”

I started to retreat with my remaining troops, until the Warden’s voice boomed once again in the field.

“Dark End.”

The overwhelming aura of raw dark magic threw me and a few unicorns that were close to me to the ground, as the earth itself shook.

Turning to see what just happened, I saw a very large sphere of darkness encasing the rest of my fleeing army, all of whom attempted in vain to breach the sphere.

A sphere that at close looked like having scripts of unknown origin—and the cursed Dark Sword spinning right in the middle.

The sphere collapsed in itself, silencing the crying soldiers in a burst of shadows—and leaving only mangled corpses behind—as if minotaur explosives had done the slaughter.

“Princess, we must leave now!” One of the unicorns close to me exclaimed while trying to lift me from the ground, which I was grateful—I felt myself almost void of anything.

Well, empty except one reality looming over us at a distance.

‘We are going to die.’

Inside me, a flame burst into a burst similar to how the sun came to be, and I readied my mace and stood resolute.

‘I will not let him have victory! We will live!’

“Gather the survivors, I’ll try to teleport us into Griffonstone!” I barked while watching our slayer as he slowly made his way towards us, massive mace at hand.

‘I can only hope I have enough magic left in me to teleport us into safety.’

Then it hit me—how he started to walk towards us slowly, deliberately so—and saw him panting lightly.

He was tired, but as his wounds healed even without his magic, I noticed his panting getting less frequent—too quickly to my frayed nerves.

“Princess … We are rea—” The pony mage I recognized as Archmage Stardust Rain started saying—but got interrupted by the sound of glass shattering.

‘Oh no—he broke through the shielding spell already,’ I thought to myself as I started to fire bursts of magic at him.

They all hit true.

And some strange wave emanated from him after each hit—almost as if soaking the damage and making it something else.

‘If he’s fast, why is he allowing himself to be hit like that? Could it be—Oh buck.’

What I was doing to harm him was in fact serving him well, even if I didn’t know the reason behind—so I started to ready the teleportation spell.

Sadly, any plan—no matter how careful, how well-planned, how brilliant it is—normally fails miserably in contact with the enemy.

One moment he was far away, heavy mace at hand—

—The other he was already within striking distance, swinging his mace at me directly.

I felt the hit—but it was cushioned somewhat.

But by then both the pain and the impact threw me into unconsciousness in a matter of minutes.

Celestia stopped her narration, closing her eyes as she took a breath in and turned to see her audience.

From the faces of confusion one rose from the rest and asked the question in everypony’s mind:

“Princess Celestia, I know this is a first-pony story but how in Tartarus you didn’t end up as mush!?” Twilight Sparkle asked loudly, mane smoking already—frazzled and with one of her eyes twitching—incomprehension and panic showing in her rapid breathing.

“My dear Twilight, I was barely conscious after he swung that mace at me, but I have a theory about how I managed to survive—me alone of five thousand equestrian soldiers.” Celestia replied to her former student sadly, before taking in a few deep breaths—as if steeling herself for what she was going to say.

This failed, though, as Celestia started tearing up, before saying, “Last I remember before blacking out was something hanging from his mace. With that in mind, I believe Archmage Stardust … tried her best to shield me with both her strongest shield and her own body—judging from how I found my armor later, bent with plenty of my bones broken, grimed with blood not my own—and what I think was her corpse hanging from the spikes in his mace.”

Twilight’s face instantly shut down from her panic into a painful expression already too familiar to her younger years—when she felt she had failed her miserably in meeting her standards.

“Princess … I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

Celestia shushed her gently.

“No harm done, my dear friend. As to how I ended up in Manehatten … I think the remaining unicorns joined their strength and teleported me to safety.” At this point her face turned sad, “Only one returned, with a message—and a curse.”

At the shocked faces of everypony present she simply said “Yes, it is way worse than what you’re imagining at this moment.”

I was tended by the best arcanotherapists in Canterlot along with several medical ponies that were masters in their craft, as soon as word got out that our army was completely routed, with me being the only survivor.

Sad to say, even though they were able to mostly mend the damage I had suffered against the Warden, I was informed that the physical trauma was too great and that I wouldn’t be able to fight like before ever again.

The shattered bones in between my left shoulder, left ribs closest to the shoulder, and my foreleg would make certain of that.

As I recovered consciousness after a couple of days of treatment, I retook my post—all while thinking what to do next considering what he had said.

‘Did I really sent all those soldiers into a fool’s errand? Was I truly responsible for the slaughter of innocents, as he claimed?’

I made the choice in my mind—to find out how much of the reports were true.

But, my plans were considerably derailed when a loud flash momentarily blinded all of us present at the throne room, me making out the Dark Sword as it vanished into thin air—and one of the archmage soldiers that managed to teleport me to safety, a Unicorn mare that looked as if she had seen death itself burst out of a cloud of white flames, falling to the ground.

However, she looked fine—as if she hadn’t seen battle for the last week.

That thought got derailed when she woke up, and looked at me—terror filling every fiber of her being.

“Princess Celestia! I bring a message from him!” She said, the tone of her voice not matching her face.

Being wary, I waved the Unicorn to speak, in order to think what to do later.

At this point the Unicorn started to weep, saying “no … please … ” and in a sudden fashion, with eyes closed as if in great pain started giving her message.

The message’s content and voice didn’t match the mare vocalizing it, judging by her begging not to.

“If I find out about you leaving your country to wage war, or find armed ponies from your Guard outside of your borders …” This voice was sounding in tandem with the mare’s sobbing, raising eyebrows from everyone present.

The voice delivering the message lowered a few octaves at this point. “Take heed, for I will drive you and your kind to extinction if you challenge me again.”

“Pray you never see my face again, for the day that you do, it will be the last thing you see before you die.”

At that precise moment, the mare started crying out loudly in pain, writhing on the floor—until the Dark Sword showed in her body and caused her physical body to burst open due to a large surge of raw magic—a death curse worse than all I had known so far.

I didn’t see the real spell coming until it hit me—

All the ponies started looking at one another cautiously, until Celestia finally finished her tale.

“He somehow used a living pony as a carrier of a spell—a curse—that went towards me the moment I used my magic to stop it. Ever since I have felt weakness, and thus I have been waiting for you to mature and grow, Twilight.”

The young princess turned to see her mentor, whom was smiling kindly at her.

“You saved my sister from the Nightmare, stopped and eventually helped to redeem Discord, and defeated Tirek. You will be a wise ruler along with Luna when the time is right.”

Eyes widening, Twilight asked “then you mean …”

Celestia nodded.

“I hope you can understand the nature of the spell sapping my strength ever since that event came to pass. But that is not what is important right now.” She rose from her cushion, and added, “We must make certain he does not get his wish first.”

After everyone either slept in their chambers or returned to their homes, Luna approached her sister cautiously, nuzzling her gently to let her know she was there.

As for Celestia … .

She was drooping slightly, empty teacup in front of her, eyes heavy and an mournful expression.

“Sister, Twilight is asleep already. Will you keep me company as I watch over her?”

Celestia rose silently and nuzzled her sister back without saying a word.

Only as they approached Twilight’s chamber, she finally said “Could things have gone better if we hadn’t attacked him when he showed to us?”

Luna snorted.

“Nay, sister. If we had let that wretch do as he pleased, he would have tried to corrupt others with his dark magic.”

Celestia only continued, her face grim and the spark inside her slowly dampening down.

“I can only hope Twilight can survive after all this. I do owe it to her, after all.”

Luna said nothing as they entered.

“Lulu … there is one thing I didn’t have time to share. Would you hear me out?”

Luna nodded, stopping at the doorway to turn her attention to her sister.

Celestia’s voice cracked.

“I found out … the reports concerning Cairn Niall were false.” Celestia started to weep softly, as Luna placed her wing over her. “I was used … and gained an enemy for all my efforts!”

The slow, soft weeping of the solar princess would be heard by only one dark blue alicorn as she comforted her sister, a pensive look on her face … while all the other ponies inside the castle were either too far away or already asleep to actually hear what was happening at that time.

Friendship Castle, Ponyville. 1:12 a.m.

The morning of the third day.

In the silence that ruled, the snores of several ponies could be heard in their rooms.

On one, Spike cuddled a stuffed doll suspiciously similar to a certain unicorn, breathing slowly—the picture of being at peace.

In other room, Shining Armor and Cadance were cuddling—with Flurry Heart in her crib, well tucked in—and all content with sleep.

Starlight Glimmer fared no worse, as she snored quietly in her bedchamber, dreaming of hopeful things to prevent the nightmare that loomed upon them.

In Twilight’s chamber, Celestia slept quietly along with her former student—who had a content face like the previous day, as if no bad dream could go through the defenses crafted by a very attentive Princess Luna, who looked out of the window in quiet—pondering the deceit that her sister was subjected to.

All in the name of greed.

However, unknown to Luna’s attention—there was action within Twilight’s dream.

The purple alicorn snorted quietly as she resumed her rest.

‘Where am I?’ Twilight asked inwardly as she saw herself being back again at her room—no Celestia or Luna in sight.

Shrugging after recognizing her own room, she started to move towards the door—only for it to open before her, and a familiar pony looking at her with a gentle smile and shining eyes.

She immediately noticed that, while she retained her colors, she was looking odd … .

She looked like an Earth Pony, instead of an Unicorn like last time.

Her violet eyes shone brightly as she silently greeted her with a slight nod.

The second surprise that Twilight got was a very simple one: the cutie-mark of this mysterious mare was clear for view as she approached her.

It was a tree made of glass, roots exposed and branches looming naked above—all within a matrix made of glass.

The dream-mare just smiled at her as she nuzzled her in greeting, while Twilight tried to make sense of what she was now living within a dream.

Wordlessly, the dream-mare nudged her to follow, and started to calmly walk back from where she entered, only turning to meet Twilight’s eyes with a raised eyebrow and a small grin.

Twilight followed, and her entire environment changed the moment she crossed the doorway—ending up in a room curiously similar to the Stained Glass Corridor back at Canterlot, where all the significant events of Equestrian history were left for everypony to see.

Her guide was nowhere to be seen, as she noticed something really important about the stained glasses that were adorning this corridor.

All the scenes displayed were not of Princess Celestia, Luna, or even her own adventures.

This … This was something else entirely.

As the sound of her hooves resonated within the room, Twilight started to see the scenes portrayed in each stained glass.

She looked up, and watched the first scene unfold in the stained glass before her.

In it, there were three … monstrosities that were looming over the land, where ponies of all races, minotaurs, griffons, sheep, cows, dragons and even changelings and an assortment of other species were cringing under their stare.

The first monstrosity, the one on the top left—which looked like a black mass slightly resembling a hydra, with wings and horns like a dragon with several heads. The image around its third seemed broken harshly—the sun and moon present at the same time, snow and sand intertwined, and there seemed to be constantly raining upon the lower half … where drought and floods were present at the same time.

The monster at the middle was radically different from the first.

It resembled a massive spider, and it was portrayed eating a pony, a tree, and the light of the sun. The image at its lower third was something she never thought she would see—shadows, phantoms, or wraiths—in the shape of ponies, attacking ponies and other sapient beings, all of which were running in terror from them.

The third abomination was as different as the first two, it resembled a pony skeleton with carvings in its bones, strings attached to corpses and demons alike, all of which were attacking other beings—all its surroundings looking filthy, as if the filth from a catacomb accompanied it.

At the bottom of the window, as if serving as a counterpoint, there was the Tree of Harmony—its light failing to turn them away.

Hoofsteps sounding too loud in the silent room, Twilight shivered as she turned her sight from that stained glass scene into the next—which showed a wildly different image.

In it, an alicorn pony wielding with his wings a sword shining like a rainbow and a shield was locked in deadly battle with the third of the monsters, the lower image showing the pony—a stallion by the way he looked—rising sword and shield over the slain body of the death lord.

At that moment Twilight paid closer attention to the stallion.

His coat was a light brown, mane slightly darker and with two strands standing as if they were antennae, and his eyes were honey-colored as he stared at the front.

His shield and cutie mark, however … .

‘Oh sweet Equus! Is that the Dark Sword!?’

She couldn’t make heads or tails of this.

‘Who was this stallion!?’

‘Why does nopony knows this story!?’

‘What happened here!?’

‘Why is he bearing that abominable sigil on his shield like a crest!? Why does he have it as his cutie-mark!?’

As her mane started to fizzle, she turned to see the next stained glass scene—where the same alicorn along with a coral-coated earth pony mare were actually portrayed in the process of crafting a world from the remains of that pony-lich—its own soul locked within a magical matrix bearing the same sigil, looking deader than originally portrayed.

She squinted, and saw magic flowing outwards from the soul of the monster—feeding the magic that kept him locked in a magical cage.

‘Oh Celestia, that alicorn cursed that monster … .’

Twilight remembered immediately her mentor’s lesson concerning curses, and how they worked.

‘Remember, Twilight … a spell that feeds off the magic of a pony to keep itself working will make removing it almost impossible, since there is always a constant supply of magic power to ensure its longevity. That is why they are banned—they can drive a pony to—’

“—Die from lack of magic in their bodies.” Twilight finished that sentence with trepidation.

‘But this … this is way much worse than a normal curse. He used this monster’s soul to feed its prison!’

Horrified at the implications involved with this alicorn’s decisions concerning dealing with the monstrosity portrayed at the beginning, she moved on—with her eyebrow twitching frequently.

The new stained glass she came across portrayed a similar battle scene—only this time it was against the draconic hydra beast.

‘Oh sweet maker … why is this scene giving me a headache!’ She screamed inwards, as she felt the scene several times worse than what she lived through when invited at Discord’s World of Chaos for a cup of tea.

‘To this day I cannot look at chinchillas the same way … .’

The scene felt as if time itself disjointed, and the weather varied from summer to winter without warning—the surroundings shifting constantly at the background of the scene.

At its lower half, however—the alicorn seemed to be doing something entirely different.

Frowning as he looked at the hydra, his sword was shown as impaled in the beast’s heart, and Twilight could see a shade made of smoke coming out of the beasts’ dissolving body and entering him—the shade’s expression being one of absolute terror at what was happening to it.

‘How … why … what’

At that moment, she stopped looking at the scenes, panting loudly—her heart working overtime, weakness overcoming her resolve to delve deeper into this bizarre story being told through the glass panes.

Hooves numbing, sweating profusely as she tried desperately to breathe the way Cadance taught her—and failing due to her sense of lack of control.

At this point, she felt a warm presence hugging her … .

Comforting her in silence.

Turning to see who was hugging her, she saw her acquaintance from before simply hugging her, caressing her mane with a hoof—

Twilight started to tear up.

‘Only my mom knows how to do that.’

She sighed in relief, as she relaxed under the loving nuzzle of her dream-friend.

As she regained control of herself after what felt like forever, Twilight smiled at her companion.

“Thank you …”

The mare simply smiled, and nudged her with her head to continue looking at the stained glasses dotting the walls of the corridor.

Inhaling sharply, the young alicorn rose herself with a determined expression—and started walking towards the next stained glass.

In it, she saw this scene unfolding … .

The same alicorn fighting the spider-monster with the same sword and shield, the shadow creatures attacking him from all sides—and at the lower end of the glass, the spider-monster and its shadows were trapped within some crystal caverns by the alicorn knight by using the same magic he used to bind the pony-lich—almost reminding her of the Crystal Empire’s crystal mines that she had explored with her big brother after the stressful events leading to her niece’s Crystalling.

As she moved on, she paid attention to the stained glass presented before her.

In it, the alicorn was fighting a group of bipedal wolves wearing armor—those wolves in the process of using … .

‘Is that … is that dark magic?’

In that same scene, the Tree of Harmony was behind him—as if he were fighting to preserve it from the dark magicians and warriors.

The lower part of the stained glass showed a particularly gruesome ending … .

The image depicted the wolves’ bodies piled up, their shades being sealed within the woods’ foundation's—a magical seal in the process of being made by the same alicorn.

At that moment, Twilight realized something unusual.

‘Why none of the stained glasses show him using his horn when casting?’

With this thought in mind, and curiosity gaining the better of her, she moved on to the next stained window, where she gasped at the sight.

In it, the alicorn knight was leaving his sword buried to the hilt—exactly where the Harmony Box had appeared a few years ago—and placing six stones in the branches of the tree with his wings.

Six very familiar and powerful stones.

‘Sweet Equus, how did he—what in the name of—when did this happen!?’

At the lower part of the glass, however, the scene was different.

The alicorn stallion looked like making a seal linked to the Tree itself—as if it fed from the Tree itself … and his own power.

And from it, the power seemed to divert to three different directions – the Tree apparently shining brightly in response.

Twilight started to turn to look at the other glasses, but found herself back into the corridor leading to her library.

‘Could it be … that this Warden took away this alicorn’s power to himself? If he did … what happened to this stallion? Is he—could he be still alive after all this time?’

As she walked quietly, other thoughts crossed her mind.

‘How long ago did this happen? Who is this stallion serving Harmony? Why do I find his power so unsettling?’

‘More to the point … what happened to him? Why has nopony ever heard of him?’

Her internal musings were cut short, as she entered the library and saw the same dream-mare reading a book—this time its cover was golden rather than the previous one’s red—with the same sigil on its cover.

‘I wonder if she’ll let me read that one as well—judging how the previous one worked.’ Twilight thought with glee, momentarily distracted from her thoughts.

After all, learning new magic was what filled her with the most excitement.

Right behind spending time with her friends and family, that is—she corrected herself as she approached her companion.

Friendship Castle, Ponyville. 4:48 a.m.

Twilight felt like she had just spent an eternity watching the spell-work the dream-mare she now dubbed ‘Coral Tree’ rather than ‘Dream-Mare’, while watching how all the ponies summoned by the previous spell provided worked—providing energy in a vast amount, lifting some of the burden from the four alicorns and the five Element Bearers.

And yet the intent was clear in its design.

‘This spell is spectacular,’ thought Twilight to herself, as she processed what was being done, and then reading the tome over and over again.

‘This will not only summon a hero to help us … it will summon a hero that knows the same brand of magic that the Warden wields! He can even tell me his story! An alicorn born before there was an Equestria!’ She finished her thoughts with internal glee, as she devoured the contents of the spell-book under the amused face of Coral Tree.

‘Uh … Wait a second … ’

She turned to meet the face of Coral Tree.

“Miss … I am right at reading this point? That the Tree of Harmony itself must participate in the spell? As another pony?”

Coral simply nodded.

Twilight squeaked at the implications drawn by that calm nod.

“Is he … is he that powerful?” She asked, voice squeaking and quivering.

Coral nodded emphatically.

‘Oh.’

Twilight scrunched up in thought.

‘On one hoof, I don’t think it wise to summon somepony perhaps stronger than Discord without any assurances about his character … . Then on the other hoof—where is he, then? Why is this spell required to call him to us? Is he dead, or banished, or imprisoned, or—?’

She couldn’t finish her line of anxious thought, as Coral simply got close to her and started to hug her gently but firmly, brushing her muzzle over Twilight’s mane.

‘I guess I must have faith … .’

The nuzzling got only more intense … and only the tapping of a hoof brought her out of her self-made shell of anxiety.

“Uh, what … ?” Twilight asked sheepishly at Coral, whom was simply tapping her hoof on the book, then pointing at a clock nearby.

It showed 4:55 a.m.

“Okay … I’ll memorize this spell, and ask Celestia and Luna to review it together—” Twilight was interrupted by the sudden, hoof-stamp that resounded on the ground.

Coral was shaking her head emphatically, pointing at the book, then at the clock with her forehoof.

Twilight gulped at the possible meaning of this action.

“You mean … there is no time left?”

Coral’s face turned serious, as she snorted, nodding slightly.

“Oh no …”

Twilight started reading the grimoire … only to wince at the very specific requirements this summoning spell demanded.

Specifically, the events involving time—

—And the passing of night into day.

Focusing with all her might, she started to eat the book, familiarizing with the intricacies involved in its casting—and previous preparation.

After like what felt forever, she sighed in relief.

‘The worst part is the casting itself … ’

Author's Note

Hello, dear readers,

Here is the second chapter of The Equestrian Vagrant, in its full edited glory. I hope it enhances the previous version - and I certainly hope that you enjoy this better version.

Please do comment on it once you've read it, I'll welcome your commentary.

May you have a nice evening.