The spark of Redemption part 2: Journey into the soul worldby Audio-internetedChaptersA royal birthHigh Tower strikes firstA beautiful hellDying without deathSombra isn't goldA royal birth"Hey honey, I heard you would be late. The attacks are all over the news, please be careful. Also try to be back home by tomorrow, Dusk and Lavender are getting anxious, they want to see their father again. You should see their little sad faces. Please be careful, be safe. Make it home ok, I love you." To: Lenon Sky From: Cloud Flower Date: January 5, 1993 The figure standing in the dark room read the letter in agony, it was short, but meant everything to him. Once he was done he placed the letter back into the envelop from witch it came from, and rested it on the table he was sitting by. 22 years later, it still haunts him. The door behind him creaked open, another stallion walked in. "Excuse me sir, but we have the Captain in custody." There was a brief silence within the room. "Thank you Lieutenant, I will be there shortly." --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- Seven months, one week, and nine days since the Crystal Empire attack. Things in Equestria had gotten peaceful once again. The warm sunny days had returned. The birds sung their songs in the forests, colts and filly's were packing their bags for school, and their parents kissing them goodbye and walking to work. The shops and stores in Canterlot were busy as ever, the happiness that seemed to escape the population had finally seemed to return, (for most ponies at least). That happiness was about to get a lot better. It was sunny with one or two clouds in the sky in Ponyville. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack all were sitting at a table eating their lunch at their local restaurant. Princess Twilight on the other hoof, was not with them. She wasn't in Ponyville at all. Twilight along with Celestia were working together at Canterlot on a classified and secret project they weren't willing to give the slightest clue about it to anypony at all. "Uuuuhhhh, I wish Twilight would just tell us what is so important that she needs to be gone for so long." Rainbow Dash sat there eating at sandwich with a glass of water. "Oh my dear Rainbow Dash, it is princess business, not of our concern." Rarity tried to tell her that it wasn't a big deal, but Rainbow Dash still wasn't buying it. "She's been gone before Rainbow Dash, she is of course, an alicorn princess." Fluttershy's voice was very low toned and quiet. "Fluttershy is right suga'cub, I'm sure Twilight is very safe in the hooves of Celestia and Luna." Applejack walked over towards Rainbow Dash on put her hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. '"Thats wasn't the case last time, remember what happened on her wedding, her first wedding." Rainbow thought back to when Chrysalis crashed Twilight's wedding just before the Crystal Empire incident happened. "Well, Rainbow does have a point. But the real wedding was awsome!!!!!! I't was like it happened just last week. Twilight and Flash married, and kissed in front of all of us." Pinkie Pie was jumping out of her seat. "Maybe thats because it was just last week Pinkie, remember?" Rainbow was getting a little annoyed by Pinkie, which wasn't unusual. "Well what ever is going on, it must be something big." Fluttershy's voice raised a little, to a slightly below average tone. "Oh come on girls, we just need to..................." "Excuse me, I'm looking for the unicorn who goes by the name, Rarity." A messenger appeared almost out of nowhere, carrying a message for Rarity. "I'm Rarity, have you got a message for me?" She rose from her seat and walked towards the messenger, who was a skinny brown Earth pony with glasses. "A message from Princess Celestia in Canterlot." He pulled out an envelop from the saddle bag he was carrying and gave it to Rarity. "Thank you darling." Rarity turned around back towards the others, who were just as curious as her about the message. The messenger then turned and left. "A message from the Princess herself, lets see if she has anything about Twilight." The others crowded around Rarity to read the message. This is what it said: To: Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash From: Princess Twilight Sparkle "My dear friends, I can't tell you how sorry I am for being away from Ponyville for this long, but I really can't tell you why. I plan on returning very soon as my business with Celestia in Canterlot is just about done. Flash is here in Canterlot with me, we are staying at the castle, but I am writing this letter for a different reason. As you all know and are aware of, Princess Luna is pregnant, and has started to experience contractions, and we believe she will give birth within the next two days. Celestia and myself would love it if you five would come and see the newborn baby. Princess Cadance and Shining Armor will also be present, along with other royalty. There will be a large crowd, so I suggest leaving sooner rather than later. Thanks!!!!! --Love Twilight Sparkle! "Oh my gosh, a royal birth, this is so EXCITING!!!!! We will throw a giant party at the castle!" Pinkie was yet again jumping out of her seat, but this time more than usual. "I wonder what Luna will call the baby." "I hope it's a Filly." "I think it will be a colt." "Colt or filly, I just know it will be a beautifully gorgeous baby!" --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- The train ride to Canterlot only lasted ten minutes. It was a short train ride, Rainbow Dash wanted to fly, but figure she should just take the train. Once they arrived at Canterlot they were astonished by the number of ponies at the train station. So many were wanting to enter the city. The security guards were completely overwhelmed, they were sweating like farmers out on a hot day. "My gosh! Look at these crowds!" Rarity put her hoof against her mouth in astonishment, she had never seen bigger crowds. "I guess the news of Luna's baby had spread throughout the world." "More like throughout the universe. Look! Dragons to!" Rainbow Dash looked closely as she saw more than just Ponies, but Dragons as well. The five ponies were able to skip the long lines with special passes Twilight had sent them through the mail, and it wasn't long before they were in the city. The news was everywhere, signs were painted saying 'Don't miss it! Alicorn birth closing in!' Rarity was checking out one newspaper stand that had something on the cover that caught her eye. 'Luna giving birth, but who's the Father? 'Who's the Father?' 'Who's the Father?' 'Who's the Father' was everywhere. Literally no pony knew who the father was. Some hypothesized that Shining Armor was the Father. Which is of course ridiculous, but it was a theory. "Oh my, look at this girls." Rarity picked up the magazine from the ground, while signaling the others that she found something promising. "Wow, Shining Armor? Twilight's big brother? Thats fucking stupid! He's married for Celestia's sake!" Rainbow Dash didn't take that theory very well at all. "Rainbow Dash! Watch your language! This isn't Ponyville remember?" Fluttershy hatted it when Ponies used foul language, she preferred the politer and nicer way of speaking. "I wonder who the father really is though, I mean we all knew Luna was pregnant, but I didn't ever think about that." Rarity thought to herself, her thought was broken when a hoof touched her shoulder. "Thats are great question Rarity." Twilight appeared into their eyesight. "Oh Twilight my darling! How wonderful this is!" Rarity hugged Twilight with affection, soon the others got in for a big group hug. "It's good to see you again suga'cube." "It's been so long Twilight." "Who is the father Twilight? It can't be Shining Armor, can it?" "I a-sure you my friends that the father is most certainly not Shining Armor, please come with me. It wont take long for the crowds to realize i'm here." Twilight lead them to the castle medical wing, where Luna was. "Ok so, where is Luna?" Applejack was the first to ask that question. "Luna is resting in room A on the second floor." Twilight responded instantly. "How much longer till she gives birth?" Fluttershy was the first to ask that question. "Actually, she already has, she just gave birth not twenty minutes ago, to a beautiful alicorn Filly." Twilight stopped at the room Luna was in. The door was closed and locked with a 'do not disturb' sign on it. "I knew it! I knew it would be a filly!" Pinkie Pie was excited that her guess was the right one. "Good guess Pinkie, now I must warn you, Luna is a bit depleted. The baby is calm now, so lets try to be quiet and calm ourselves." Twilight finally opened the door. Inside their was Luna, laying on a hospital bed wrapped in a blanket that reached just under her front legs. Celestia and Cadance were standing next to each other beside Luna's bed. Their was a nurse in the room, running down a checklist on a keyboard she was holding. Shining Armor was there to, he was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room. "Twilight, good to see you found all of your friends. Leave us please." Celestia wanted some privacy and ordered the nurse to leave, she did without hesitation. The nurse closed the door on her way out, all of Twilight's friends were in the room. Luna was half asleep, her eyes were droopy, she was obviously exhausted. "Luna is pretty beaten down. She and Celestia were up all night." Cadance walked towards Twilight. As the group of mares walked closer and closer to Luna they were getting a glimpse of the new born princess. She was wrapped in towels. Resting on Luna's chest. Her head and horn were laying in peace as the young filly slept on the warmth of her mother. Luna's eyes cracked open slowly. The filly was Dark blue, with beautiful sparkling light purple eyes. She had a small black spot on her chest, and on her left front hoof. "Isn't she just gorgeous." Rarity almost cried at the beauty of the baby. "Whats her name?" Applejack asked. "Moonlight. Princess Moonlight, daughter of the night." Luna finally spoke. She rose her head from her pillow and leaned her neck on the head of the bed. With the baby still asleep on her chest. --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- Four hours since the birth of Moonlight, the press and community of Canterlot was just informed of the baby's birth. Luna and her baby were escorted out of the medical wing and back into the castle. Celestia, Twilight, Cadance and the others were right behind her. They walked back to Luna's private room that has already been redesigned to support to ponies, one immortal, the other newborn. Celestia signaled her guards to wait. "Now, the community knows of the baby's birth, so its probably chaos outside. Cadance I would like you and Twilight to address them. I must speak with Luna alone for a minute." "Um, Princess Celestia. If you don't mind me asking, who in the hay is the father?" Applejack asked Celestia in a very low and quiet tone. "Well my dear Applejack, i'm glade you asked that, you'll find out eventually." Celestia gave Applejack her answer then turned around and continued to walk with Luna and the baby. The others were then of, just leaving Celestia, Luna, and the baby alone walking. Luna of course was holding the baby. "Um, your highness, just a word." A royal guard appeared and tapped Celestia's shoulder, and bowing in respect. "Ah, Sergeant, what news do you have for me." Celestia assumed it was good news, unfortunately that wasn't the case. "Well um." The guard whispered in her ear. "Captain Shield and his entire squad are missing in the northeastern regions, we have rescue teams out there now." "Oh, I see. Well I can't attend to that this minute, but I will help once i'm done." Celestia was a little concerned, Captain Royal Shield was her best soldier. He was a war hero at the Crystal Empire attack and was recognized for it, but Celestia knew she had to talk to Luna first. She had some huge news for Luna, that was completely classified. The guard bowed again in respect and turn tailed and was off. Luna had made it to her room, Celestia entered behind her. She closed the door and locked it. Luna rested Moonlight on her baby bed and kissed her on the forehead, she was still asleep. "What do you need to talk to me about Tia?" Luna stroked Moonlight's mane, Luna was giving her all the comfort Luna could possible give her baby. "Twilight and I found a way." "Found a way? Were? I'm afraid I don......" Luna was cut short. "We think we found a way to travel into the soul world." "Really. After all this time you two have finally found a way." Luna was happy Celestia found a way. They could now rescue the poor trapped souls stuck within the stone, but more importantly to Luna, rescue Sombra." --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "Mission report, January 5th, 1993. Captain Royal Shield, of the 101st infantry division, Bravo company, Celestia's royal guard, first class murdered, working for first class murderers. My name is Lenon Sky, I am your host tonight, and you are my guest." Royal Shield was completely chained to a brick wall, he had no movement. His face was bruised, he had a black eye. Blood was leaking form his nose and mouth, he had been beaten, harshly. "You have been recognized for your help in saving the Crystal Empire. Like that counts as being a hero." "What do you want you bastard! What have you done with my soldiers!" Lenon was walking side to side within the brick room. A door lay on one side, and their were four bat pony stallions with spears guarding. They had red bat wing symbols on their foreheads. "Oh your 'soldiers' are dead, and soon you will be to, but first we have some questions. First, where is the soul stone, does Celestia have it?" "You'll never get it you pathetic piece of amphibian shit!" "I'll take that as a yes she does have it, and I am sure that its resting in protection on level 13B in the detention hall in the castle?" "What? How do you know?" Lenon knew exactly where the stone was, which surprised Royal Shield in a bad and concerned way. "Do you ponies think we were fools?! The High Tower reign will come again, this time it will not disappoint." "High Tower is dead, that evil gang was going to destroy everything peaceful about Equestria, so we destroyed it!" "My family was killed, January 5th, 1993, by your squad. Do you remember? How your 'soldiers' killed our community in cold blood, for no reason!" "We thought you were High Tower gang members!" Royal Shield remembered that mission. "Did you think my wife and children were High Tower to? You pathetic colorful mare bangers think you're the strongest and best? The bat ponies will have their revenge, High Tower will have its revenger, but more importantly, I will have my revenger!" Lenon then pulled an axe from the ground using his front right hoof, ready for Royal Shields untimely end. "You, will never rule Equestria." Those were the only words Royal Shield came up with. "You're right. I WILL CLEANSE IT!!!." Lenon then smashed the axe right into Royal Shields neck, killing him instantly. "The reign of Lenon Sky, begins now." Said the High Tower gang members in the room in unison. Author's Note -Part two has come!!!!! -Again make sure you read the Spark of Redemption before you read this, I will provide you with a link or you can just search for it. -THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! High Tower strikes first"You, you, promised. You told me." "Told you what? What did I tell you Luna?" Sombra stood just beyond the Crystal Empire city limits. "You promised me that your actions would bring us together forever." Luna stood just behind him. "Yes, and thats what i'm doing. When I successfully take the Crystal Empire, we will rule Equestria as King and Queen. We will rule with eternal love and power, and we will destroy all those who oppose us!" Sombra stood in pride, he had thought that what he was about to do would would bring him and Luna together, but when he turned around and faced Luna, he saw only horror and fear in her eyes. "No Sombra you can't, you promised me you would stop." "No, I promised I would bring us together." "Thats not what you're doing, you're tearing me apart!" "A small price to pay I suppose." Sombra turned back around, there was silence for a split moment. "I know how much you have suffered, but I promise you attacking the Crystal Empire will make it worse!" Luna walked up beside him and put her hoof on his shoulder. "No, I know our destiny. Who has the power to stop me Luna? Who would dare?" "I would dare. I love you Sombra, i'm so so sorry you choose this. I also know you wont hurt me, but don't think for one second that I wont hurt you if you go in there." "I'm doing this for you, I wont fail you my love." Sombra was ready. "I know." --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 months later "Whats the baby's name!?" "Who's the father!?" "What is Celestia's secret project for!?" "Is it a boy or a girl!?" "Please, please, everypony! One at a time! We will answer any questions we can!" Cadance and Twilight stood up in front of a large crowd of eager, excited, and curious news reporters. Each one of them had a small notebook and pen to write down everything the princess's said, everything. "Yes you first. Blue unicorn, go." Cadance pointed to the first reporter she saw, a blue unicorn stallion. "Is the baby a filly or colt?" "The baby is a alicorn filly we suspect to have the immortal trait like her mother does, although we are not sure yet. We are also unaware of the power this foal posses, for all we know it could be an incredible amount." Twilight took point. "You, red mare pegasus." Twilight pointed to another reporter "Who's the father?" Cadance and Twilight looked at each other for a moment, they had to choose their words carefully. "The father and Celestia's secret project will remain classified until we decide to disclose that information. One more question." Cadance pointed towards a purple mare unicorn. "Yes, why is the father's identity classified?" "Because its classified! No more questions about the father! Come Twilight, we are done." Cadance and Twilight walked back inside the castle, the reporters were still trying to get their attention behind them. --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- Luna carried her small, sleeping baby and rested laid her in a baby crib. Moonlight cuddle up against the pillow of her small soft bed. Luna levitated a blanket around her, warming Moonlight as she slept. Luna then gave her a warm kiss on her forehead, turned, and closed the door to the room. "It truly is a beautiful filly Luna. Even though he was a dark king, I would say Sombra did a fine job." Celestia sat on the edge of Luna's bed. "Yes he did, even though he double crossed me, and attacked the Crystal Empire......twice, I still believe he is a great pony. I just wish he was her to see Moonlight." "Well, if Twilight and I are correct, that may just yet happen." Celestia got up from the bed and walked towards Luna. "Tell me, how can we do it." Luna got curious. Moonlight was taken care of, for now. Now her mind drifted to another matter, rescuing Sombra. "No Luna, how can we do it. Twilight and I have found a way into the soul world, but you're not coming." This of course got Luna's attention. "Wait, what? Why?" Luna didn't raise her voice very high, not wanting to wake her new born sleeping baby. "Luna you have a huge job to do, taking care of Moonlight. If this plan fails, we could be stuck forever in the soul world, and she has already lost a father. Loosing a mother would be very bad." Luna calmed down, lowering her head. "Yes, I know. I didn't think I would allow myself to go. I need to stay with Moonlight, but I do want to know. How can we enter the soul world, and who is going?" "As of right now myself, Twilight, her husband Flash Sentry, private Nightcore of the night guard, and Lilly Tulip." "Lilly Tulip? Why her?" "She says she wants to save the ponies who didn't make it through the Crystal Empire attack with Chrysalis, saying she must because she did survive. It is obvious to us though she wants to save Brave Heart, if he is even in the soul world." "Brave Heart? Her husband?" "Yes." "So, how are you going in?" "Twilight and I created a spell that when casted on the stone itself, could create a hole through its almost impenetrabel magic wall. Then if the stone will accept our presence, which it should saying I created the stone, we would enter a reality were the natural laws of life, don't matter. A never ending void of suffering." "And if it fails? If the stone doesn't accept your presence?" Luna was considering all the possibly terrible outcomes, which there were tons. "Since the stone only answers to Sombra, because he disarmed Chrysalis, there is a chance it might not accept our presence. If the stone feels threatened by our presence, we will be destroyed instantly." "Well, that sounds dramatic. I'm kinda glad i'm not going now." "Very funny Luna." The conversation continued until a weak and high pitched cry surrounded the room. Apparently Moonlight had awaken, without the presence of her mother. "Oh yeah, baby. Well, good luck sister." Luna turned around. "We probably wont be going in until tomorrow. we must prepare more." Luna opened Moonlight's door to comfort her crying baby. Celestia meanwhile, turned the opposite direction and left Luna's bedroom, to the presence of two royal guards outside the room, guarding. "Shhhhh, it's ok. Mommy is here." Luna picked up her baby and held her close, she was still crying, her small tears running down Luna's chest. Luna gave her another kiss on the forehead. "I promise, I will always be here when daddy can't, always." --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- Wack!!! "Ah, fucking mosquitos!" "Private Stone Break! Silence! Fall in line!" "Yes sergeant!" The private continued walking through the brush. It was thick, his light gray color was dirty. Not to mention it was humid, very very humid. Apparently searching through the thick jungle brush was harder than the entire search team had thought. Two days since Captain Royal Shields sudden disappearance, including his entire squad which made up of twelve other royal guards. Searches had gone on for hours straight, with multiple different squads searching their asses of, with no luck. Not until this squad found the first lead anypony had found. Small tracks not left by a guard. The tracks got deeper and deeper as the squad of ponies walked further down the narrow mud path. The tension was building as the mysterious tracks continued. They could tell it wasn't their tracks. Their armor on their hooves would make much larger and deeper holes in the mud. The tracks continued until they lead them to a small open field, where they saw in horror. The leftovers of the High Tower gang. Twelve bodies laid on the ground. All their hooves were nailed to the forest dirt. Each on of their bodies was pale, as white as the clouds. All of their blood was either spilled on the ground, or high tower used the blood to write words on their bodies. Each body had different writings on their stomachs. One body had 'Unicorn shit' written on his stomach. The body next to that one had 'Pretty Mare humper' written on it. The one next to that had 'Son of a hore' written on it. Each one of the bodies had a terrible hate message written on its stomach, written in their own blood. The guards watched in horror. They had never seen such terrible gore and hate in their lives, and this is after the second Crystal Empire attack. The guards called in for back up. They set up a perimeter and called in for investigators as well. Nailed to a tree was a white sign, with a red bat wing symbol written in blood on it. "I know that symbol." One of the privates recognized it. "You know this symbol private? Tell me, tell me everything you know!" "It's, it's the um." He thought for a moment, the words were on the tip of his tongue. "It's the High Tower terror group symbol." The Sergeant's eyes widened in shock. "We must hurry this info to princess Celestia! Fast!" All hell broke loose. --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "Are you sure about this Lilly? We could be destroyed immediately if we do this." The group all turned their heads toward Lilly, she seemed to be the Pony in the group not really meant for a journey like this. "Twilight, with all do respect, I may not be fighter, but I got fight. Because of this I feel like I must try to help." Flash walked up next to Twilight. "Lilly, we all already know you only agreed to come because Brave Heart might be in there." Nightcore walked up from behind Lilly, she was soon surrounded. "It's ok guys, if he is in there, then it gives me more rights to go in with all of you." "Your bravery will never be forgotten Lilly, your passion to save your husband proves you love him very much, and I admire that a lot." Celestia entered the room, Luna was pushing a baby carriage behind Celestia. The room the rescue team was in was odd shaped. They were deep inside the dungeon blocks underneath the Canterlot castle. In the center of the room rested the soul stone, laying on a stone mount. Nightcore and Flash were both carrying two saddle bags, while Lilly and Twilight only carried one smaller saddle bag. They were filled to the brink of supplies and tools to prepare for the dozens of different bad outcomes to arrive. Some of those outcomes no tool could fix though. "Flash Sentry, Private Nightcore, Lilly Tulip, and Princess Twilight Sparkle. I thank you for risking your lives for this journey. Our bravery could save thousands of lost souls. Or, it could destroy us all. But the price of freedom is high, and its a price i'm willing to pay. If this works, I will never rest in the hell until every single soul is free of its hellish gates. If necessary I will do it alone, if necessary I will do it alone for years, but i'm willing to bet I wont." Celestia took point. Only Celestia and Twilight knew the spell, after casting it, Celestia then would only have a split second of time to teleport all of them through the stones magical outer wall before the opening closes, and they are destroyed by the magic barrier. "Sister, I wish you luck, I wish all of you luck." Luna, pushing Moonlight in a baby cradle was still standing behind them. "Luna, I promise if this goes right I will return with Sombra." Celestia turned. "How will I know if you all are dead? Not saying you will die of course." Celestia pulled a bottle out of Twilight's saddle bag, it had green smoke within it. "Luna, the green smoke represents our souls, if they are lost, the smoke will turn red. If we manage to make it in, it will turn gold and green. But as long as there is green, there is hope." Celestia gave the boddle to Luna, Luna handled it with care, not wanting to drop it of course, that would be bad. "Be safe, all of you. The world would never be the same if all of you never return." "That is why we are not going." Luna turned her head to see Cadance and Shining Armor walk in. "Good luck sis. Flash, I trusted you to marry Twilight, but now you must protect her." "Oh Shining, I can take care of myself." Twilight reassured Shining Armor that she would be ok. "Ok fine, but don't get to comfortable with my little sister, you know what I mean!" Shining pointed towards Flash who had his head tilted back. "Ok sweetie, thats enough." Cadance stopped this before it escalated. "Shining Armor and I will take over here until you guys return." "If they return." Shining Armor lowered his head a bit, he was a little worried they wouldn't make it. "They will return Shining, I'm sure of it." Luna however, was confident they would return. "Yeeuu hehe!!!" Moonlight was playing with her stuffed animal toy, laying in the baby carriage behind Luna. "Hey cutie, when I return, we will play all day, promise!" Twilight said her goodbyes to the baby. "Are you sure this green smoke thing will work Celestia?" Luna was still unsure. "Yes, I promise it will....I hope. Alright everypony, say your last goodbyes. We must go now." Celestia turned around and faced the stone, she walked towards it until it was merely inches away from her face. Nightcore, Flash, Twilight and Lilly were right behind. "Twilight, get ready, remember, just how we practiced. You will cast the spell and I will teleport us through the opening." "Yes princess, got it." Twilight turned to Shining and Cadance."Shining, if we die, I trust you to tell mom and dad, and you also must explain this to my friends, I fell they all wont understand what this risk is for." "We will Twilight, and you will survive, you have to." "Ok Twilight, on the count of three!" All five of them going in huddled close in one group, that made it easier for Celestia to teleport them through the opening once Twilight casted the spell. "One!" "Two!" Celestia and Twilight both raised their horns, they were ready. Luna, Cadance, and Shining Armor took this moment in, for this could be the last time they ever see them. "Three! Go twilight now!" A beautiful hell"Are they dead?" Shining said. "I um, I don't know. The smoke hasn't changed colors yet." "What did she say the color would be if they made it?" Cadance walked up beside Luna. "Celestia said it would turn from green to gold and green." "Are they still living???!!!" Shining couldn't take it anymore, he was literally banging his head on the ground. "Shining shut it! Your going to startle Moonlight." Cadance tried calming him down. Luna didn't move on the other hoof. Her eyes were still glued on the small glass vile, its green smoke was streaming from side to side like on the campfire at camp. About thirty more seconds past by before the dark green smoke was challenged for space by a new invader, a metallic shiny gold. "They made it!" Everypony in the room sighed in relief, even the guards standing by the door! One would say even Moonlight was relieved in her own baby ways. "Thank Celestia! Literally!" Shining practically fell to the ground in relief, Cadance tried to help him up by kissing his forehead. "You know Shiny, for being captain of the royal guard you do have one soft heart." Cadance giggled for a second. “So I guess we just wait until they return.” Luna turned towards her baby. Moonlight was starting to drift asleep. “So, if they went in there to save the thousands of lost souls, wouldn’t they be returning with like thousands of bat ponies?” Can we even support them? I mean, they haven’t been in Canterlot for at least 500 years, and that’s not including the ponies who were destroyed at the Crystal Empire.” Cadance said, she was thinking ahead. “Well, actually, I didn’t really think about that until now.” Luna thought for a moment. They would need to prepare for the thousands of ponies to come out, if Celestia and the others succeed, who knows what lays within the magical walls of the soul stone. “We will have to think of something. Until then, we do have a entire nation to run.” “And you have a baby to take are of Luna.” All three of them soon turned their attention towards Moonlight, who was now asleep in her carriage behind Luna. Luna, Cadance, and Shining all got closer until they were a foot away from Moonlight. “She really is a beautiful filly Luna. Who knew the infamous and powerful king Sombra could produce such an beautiful foal.” Cadance nudged Luna, Luna was still looking at Moonlight, stroking her mane. “I just wish he was here.” Luna tilted her head down, in thought. Most mares who give birth are overwhelmed, not just with the nights with no sleep, and the mushy pees everywhere, but the comfortable warmth and joy of a new born pony. But with Luna it was different, the complete opposite almost. Moonlight has been way easier to take care of than Luna had thought. She slept through the nights like a rock, she eats with no fuss, and she hardly had any bad diaper accidents, although they still happened from time to time. Luna was not overwhelmed at all, Moonlight was easy to take care of for a newborn foal, but without Sombra. It was almost like part of Moonlight was never born, and a part of Moonlight’s joy as well. “You know, Sombra is actually a very Kind hearted pony. He as extraordinary gifts and a warm heart. But his twisted and painful life drove him down a dark path. I swore to him and to Moonlight, that I would do anything I could to get him back on track, and I did. Because of him I am alive, Moonlight is not some puppet student of Chrysalis’, and thousands of lives are saved. So I felt like I have down my part.” Luna backed away from Moonlight a little bit. “So Luna, how did you and Sombra even get together? It’s not like a princess and a Dark evil king could suddenly fall in love, and have a baby in one night. Although I’m sure some couples of tried.” You can’t blame Shining Armor’s curiosity, Luna had not disclosed that story yet. “Well my dear Shining Armor, It’s a long story, but a story I’m willing to tell you. Once I get Moonlight to bed of course. --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ooooooohhhhhhh, my head." Twilight rubbed her soar aching skull. "Well, that could've been worse." Flash offered her a hoof up. "On your hoofs Twi." "Flash, I fell dizzy." Twilight struggled to stand up straight, which concerned Flash. "It looks like you got hit pretty hard, lets get settled and see how bad it is." Nightcore appeared behind Flash. "Where is Celestia? How could we loose a pony that tall." "And uhh, L-lilly." They realized they were missing two important ponies, Celestia and Lilly were nowhere to be found. "Where are we? What is this place?." Nightcore looked around. "Is, is this the soul world?" "I-I don't k-know if this is m-my head but speaking f-for me but, its beautiful." Twilight looked around. All three of them stood on a small field surrounded by what looked like a forest, except it was different. The tree leaves all illuminated a beautiful light purple and bright yellow color. The small ponds that were placed here and there within the trees were filled with what looked like crystal clear water. It was so clear you could see the tiny grains of dirt on the rocks on the bottom of the ponds. The sky was a beautiful sunset orange color. The grass was a vibrant dark blue, and the tree trucks were not brown like in the real world, but instead a dark orange color, but all three of them realized something was missing, there was not one wild creature to be found. It was quiet, almost like the dungeons underneath Canterlot. "This doesn't look so bad to me." "Celestia described it as hell, but this? This is not so bad." "Uh, boys. Still don't feel so great." Twilight still sat on the ground behind them, still holding her head in agony. "Oh ya, forgot. Nightcore, try to find the first aid kit for Twilight." "Its, um. Its in my bag." Twilight pulled out a red bag with a big white cross on its front, with zippers on its side and on top. "We need to take a look around for ponies. Celestia said there could be thousands in here." Nightcore looked out into the forest, it laid just about fifty feet from where he stood. "How much food do we have?" Flash asked while treating Twilights head. "About three weeks worth. Thank Celestia for these unlimited storage bags, literally." Nightcore shuffled through the various supplies in a moderately sized saddle bag. The magic making the bag hold an unlimited amount of anything. "Well Twily, it looks like you have a servere concussion, just by judging by your symptoms." "H-how do we treat it?" "Well, the only thing we can do is just wait it out. I can give you some pain medication, unless you know a spell that could treat this." Flash sipped the medical kit back up, accidentally spilling out some bandaids in the process. "W-well, let me try. I might know something." Twilights horn illuminated a bright purple color, she tried her best, but it was too painful. "Don’t hurt yourself honey, you just need to wait it out." "I-I always did really like you calling me that." They both smiled and blushed, before the embraced each other in a warm tight hug, leaving Nightcore alone. "Uh-um, please save it for the honeymoon, what should we do." Twilight and Flash broke the hug. "Well, I think Twilights in too much pain to walk right now, and the best way the save our resources is by staying here." "I-if we m-made it, Celestia and L-Lilly should be here to." "Well, Celestia and Lilly don't have any food, so they would need to hurry and find us." NIghtcore looked around again. "We could have a look around, but stay in this area." "C-Celestia said the S-soul world is n-not very b-big." Twilight Struggled to talk, she could barely she straight. --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "Princess? Princess Celestia? Are you ok?" Lilly nudged Celestia a little, trying to get her to wake up. "Oh Lilly Tulip, Celestia is just fine, and yes i'm ok. Just a little um, knocked out." Celestia stood up, she wasn't hurt. "Twilight, Flash, and Nightcore aren't here." Lilly looked behind her. "I was affraid of this, but told myself it wouldn't happen." "What? What happened Celestia? Where are they?" "Well, when I teleported us through the spell must have we-bounded and split our group in half. Sending one half one place and the other another place. The only thing we can do now is try to find the others." "We have no food. Nightcore had it all when he came in." "Then we will need to hurry while we still have strength." Celestia turned. They both were standing in the middle of the forest. Same trees, same colors, but no field like the others were in. "If what I feared came to truth, then the others should be together, I just hope they aren't hurt. That wasn't what I call a smooth landing." "You know, being an earth pony and all, I think you did a pretty good." This got Celestia to smile a little. "You know Celestia, you described this place as hell. I think this is the most beautiful place I have ever seen." Lilly looked around. "Don't let that trick you Lilly. It may look beautiful, but just give it time, this places inner demon will show itself eventually.” "Indeed it will." A dark figure appeared behind them, it was a bat pony. He was covered in scars. His left eye was scared. There was a scar on his forehead, his hoof, both of his front legs, and three on his chest. Although he had many scars he was surprisingly clean. No dirt was noticeable on his black fur coat. He was big to, very very very strong and muscular. "Princess Celestia." His voice was dark and scary. "Its only been five hundred years." He scowled at her and Lilly, they both got nervous. --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hey honey, I heard you would be late. The attacks are all over the news, please be careful. Also try to be back home by tomorrow, Dusk and Lavender are getting anxious, they want to see their father again. You should see their little sad faces. Please be careful, be safe. Make it home ok, I love you." To: Lenon Sky From: Cloud Flower Date: January 5, 1993 Lenon folded the letter back up again and placed it back in its original envelop and set it on the table. It was dark in the room, which was how he preferred it. He liked his place completely black, because he thinks the dark hides his scares, but nothing could hide his emotional scare from the past. What happened, was what had happened, and the worse part was he couldn't change that if his life depended on it. "How is he?" A whispering voice from outside the cracked door soared through the dark and quiet room. Lenon could hear it, but he didn't care, or did he? Outside the door stood two High Tower stallion Bat ponies. They were both tall and muscular ponies with red bat wing markings on their foreheads. "He's still reading that old letter." The second guard responded, he could see through the crack of the door. "That one from his dead wife?" "Hey! Keep it down! He's touchy about that stuff, and if he catches us, well who knows how much trouble we could be in." "Actually not that much." Lenon opened the door, they both instantly stood at attention. "Uh, we are very sorry sir, we wont bring it up again any more, we promise." Only one on the two had the courage to speak. "Don't worry you should know." Lenon pulled out the letter, showing it to them. "January 5th, 1993 was the day my wife sent me this letter, just two days later she was murdered by Celestia's wonderful royal guards." Lenon rolled his eyes in sarcasm while saying that part. "But you know there is one good thing that happen to me that night I saw their bodies in my old house that I built!" He got closer to the two members, they both backed away in fear, they could see his pain in his heart, but more importantly. His anger within his eyes has he got closer and closer. "What is that s-sir?" One of them said while struggling to even stand up straight. "Celestia will pay for that moment, as Royal Shield did, and any creature else in this filthy place who reminds me about that night! Will also pay!" He got closer, both members backed up until they were stopped and trapped by the back wall. "You two reminded me, so I guess its only fair if you PAY TO!!!" Lenon then pulled out two ten inch knives and stabbed both of the gang members right in the chest. They both gaged in pain as blood rushed down from the chest down their front legs and onto the ground. Then they both fell to the ground as well, dead. Author's Note I apologize for taking so long to finish this chapter. I have just been so dang busy! I promise I won’t take this long next time, but I guess we will just have to wait and see!!!!!!!!!! Dying without death"I can't believe i'm saying this but, Celestia it is good to see you again." Celestia and Lilly followed the huge scarred bat pony through the colorful forest. "I guess 500 years in the soul world has just softened you heart, General Strongarm." Celestia remembered exactly who he was, General Strongarm was the second in command of the bat pony resistance force in the bat pony civil war, which ended in negotiations centuries ago. "Not General, not anymore. Here we are just outcasts, looking for any possible escape from this hell." His voice was dark and threatening, but he had no intention of harming Lilly, nor Celestia. "You said 'we'? As in there are others?" Lilly barely had the courage to speak out towards such a evil looking pony. Of course Brave Heart was a bat pony, and Lilly loved him very much, but Strongarm was an ENTIRE different pony. "1,876 to be exact. All of us are Bat ponies, all stallion. We are here." The three of them stopped dead in their tracks in the forest. In front of them was a field, on the field was a town, about the size of Ponyille but a bit bigger. In that town was where they all lived, for almost 500 years. These bat ponies lived amongst each other, seeking for hope. "Come, let us go in." They all walked in, watched by curious eyes, which made Celestia and Lilly a little nervous. "So, you built all this?" Lilly asked, looking around as they entered the village. "When your here for 500 years, its not so bad. We are cursed in this world, never to die, only to suffer." They stopped in the town center, which was just a circle surrounded by small wood houses. Bat ponies, mostly stallions got up to take a glimpse at the new comers. Some of them gritted their teeth in anger at Celestia. Some of them looked at Lilly in a seductive way, for some of them had not seen a mare in centuries. Other looked at them with hope, for they thought Celestia and the mysterious red haired mare would be their ticket out of this place. "Let us sit down by the fire Celestia, we have much to discuss." Strongarm pointed to a bond fire at the dead center of the town, some bat ponies were sitting by it, others were digging in the dirt with their hooves, some even were eating the dirt! Which made Celestia and Lilly gag. "Get used to it, they are new comers. They are not used to the feeling of starvation." Strongarm sat on one of the stumps, Celestia and Lilly sat together next to him. "You said newcomers, how new?" Celestia knew these 'newcomers' could be from the Crystal Empire. "Um, about a couple months ago. A large number of ponies were found. Some of them left in their own group, while others stayed. The ones that stayed were mostly bat ponies. The ones that left, left in a group that was lead by some tall grey unicorn." "Oh! You're talking about King Sombra! Aren't you!" Lilly recognized the description, it fit Sombra perfectly. "Which way did they go?" Celestia asked Strongarm. "East, I think." Strongarm replied. "Um, when you said feeling of starvation, what did you mean?" Lilly's question made them all frown, even Celestia. they both didn't know what he meant. "You don't know, do you? Not even you Celestia?" Strongarm looked at both of them, they both shook their heads. "Very well, it will hit you hard. This world is a curse, not a death sentence. It is impossible to die in this world. Most feeling is gone." Strongarm got up, he walked towards Lilly, which made her nervous. "Food turns to ash in our mouths, as does water. We feel nothing, not the wind on our faces, nor the splash of water." Strongarm got closer to Lilly, which made her even more nervous. "Nor the warmth of a beautiful mares flesh." He got closer and stuck his left front arm off, reaching for Lilly's chest. He touched her chest in one spot, he closed his eyes to imagine what it felt like. The warmth of her chest was so desirable, but he felt nothing, just cold. "You are a beautiful mare, are you sure you don't want to stay? Having a mare around could help us. Us, ponies who only can feel pain, but we can fell something else, would you like to know?" He got closer to her, his hoof still touching Lilly's chest, she gulped. "U-um, n-no thanks." These were the only words she could come up with. Lilly then looked around and saw that a dozen of bat ponies now had all their attention on her. They were all looking at her in a way which made Lilly feel, uncomfortable. "Are you sure? We are really friendly, especially on the inside." He got even closer to her, Lilly backed away a little. Strongarm still had his hoof on her chest. Strongarm tilted his head down and nibbled on Lilly's ear a little, which made Celestia frown, Lilly then pushed him away a little. "U-um, a very flattering offer, but i-i'm married." Lilly then pushed his hoof off of her and she walked towards Celestia and sat right next to her, which was where she felt the safest. Still, she caught wandering eyes everywhere, every direction she looked. She would look one way and see five or six bat ponies looking directly at her, and another six another direction. At home Lilly would always catch a couple wandering eyes, usually whenever she was in public. She was the popular mare in school, mostly because she was the mare most stallions had a crush on, but she never cared for them. Not until she had meet Brave Heart. Strongarm backed away and sat down back where he was earlier. "You have some courage Lilly, you're more than just a pretty mare." "Once again, very flattering, but i'm marr..........." She was cut off by Strongarm. "Yes, you are married. To the Captain of the Night guard, captain Brave Heart." Strongarm said, meanwhile Celestia was in some deep thought this entire time, not paying much attention to what was going on. "You've seen him? He's here?! Please you must tell me!" Lilly jumped out of her seat. "Calm down young mare, calm down. He was in the group that left." Strongarm said. Celestia finally spoke."General, if we are going to find and save everypony here, we will need your help." Strongarm got back up, this time walking towards the fire. He thought for a second, silence filled the air before he spoke, looking at the fire with hate, and anger. "I don't like you. You were greedy, and blind. Blind to see the pure beauty in other creatures. You took our souls in a hell we could not escape from. I had a family in the real world that is now dead, mortal unlike our stolen souls." Celestia and Lilly got nervous, they could both see his anger, and his broken heart. A few more second of silence came before Strongarm spoke again. "But I hate this place more, what do you need." --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "How are you feeling?" "A-a little better. I think I can walk now." Twilight was rubbing her head, it still hurt pretty bad, just not as mush now. "Hey guys, whats up with our food?" Nightcore was holding a protein nut bar, he had take a bite out of it already. "Whats wrong with it?" Flash turned his attention to Nightcore, who was standing right behind him. "It, taste like ash. Literally, here look." Nightcore lifted the nut bar up and took another bite. He gagged in response and spit out nothing but ash. Food literally turned to ash in his mouth. Flash then got up and opened the supply bag and pulled out an apple from Sweet Apple Acres. Again, he gagged and spat out nothing but ash. "Try the water Night." Nightcore then pulled out a water bottle and took a sip. Again, gagging and spat out ash. "Oh my sweet Celestia." Flash turned towards Twilight who was sitting on a rock. "We can't eat or drink in this world." Both of the stallions looked at the mare princess. They both knew that Twilight was no fool, she knew her stuff. Flash knew that especially. "Wont we starve? Celestia said we can't die in this world." "We can only suffer." All three of them suddenly jumped as a fourth voice joined in the conversation. They all tuned around to see the captain of the Night Guard Brave Heart himself, who just came from literally nowhere and stunned them all! "Holy shit!! You came out of nowhere!" Nightcore knew Brave personally, so meeting him again was kinda personal. "I'm glad to see the three of you came to rescue us." Brave walked closer, Twilight then got on her hooves, still holding her head. "How did you know we have come too save you?" Twilight asked. "Its easy your highness. Those who were forced to come here didn't have a chance to pack useless food that simple turns into ash when we eat it." "Yeah? What is up with that?" Flash pulled out some food. He took a bite, once again turning to ash in his mouth. "Its a curse. We can only suffer in this world, we cannot die. We can starve to death, but cannot die. We can collapse of exhaustion, but cannot stay collapsed. Some ponies here have been in this hell for centuries, they are used to it. But we, including the other newcomers, are still unaccuainted with the terrible feeling. Its not so bad for me right now, but at first it was a huge shock, and very painful." "That is why we plan to leave with all the others before that happens." Twilight said. "Man Brave, it is so good to see you. OH! Lilly will be jumping out of her skin when she finds you!" Flash said. "Lilly is here!? How far is she? Where is she?" Brave Heart's head lifted a little, after his wife was mentioned. "Calm down Captain." Twilight walked towards him, he settled down a little. "She and Celestia are not with us, but in this world. You must help us save these stollen souls." "Of course your highness. Come, the others will be happy to see you. Oh! And I probably should mention, seeing the leader of our group, might be a shock." "Why?" Flash didn't understand, as didn't Twilight nor Nightcore. "Because our leader is King Sombra himself, come this way. Just follow me." Their ears perked up, but they followed, leaving most of their supplies. --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "What? Thats it?" Shining asked wanting more. "What do you mean thats it. I told you the hole story, and you are still not impressed?!" Luna said while she was trying her best to entertain Moonlight with her baby toys. They were only three toys Moonlight would play with. A grey unicorn stuffed animal, a green bear stuffed animal, and a tooth brush. Yeah, you're not high, you read that correctly. Once when Luna was in the bathroom brushing her mane she left the door cracked. Luna thought Moonlight was still asleep but actually she was crawling on the floor, attracted to the voice of her mother. Moonlight then opened one of the cabinet doors in the bathroom and pulled out a toothbrush that had not been used before, she played with that thing for hours. Which was the only reason Luna allowed her to keep it. "I don't know about you Shining, but i'm satisfied." Princess Cadance got up and kissed Shining on his forehead. "Uh, I guess I am being a little nosey, this is personal stuff." "Yes Shining, I would say you are being pretty nosey." "Excuse me your highness'. Please pardon me of this interruption, but we must speak with one of you, we have a dire emergency." A royal guard knocked and opened the door slightly, peeking his head inside. They all got concerned. "Yes I will be out shortly." Cadance said. "No, we need you now. With all do respect, we cannot delay. This is a dire emergency." The royal guard pleaded for one of them to come with him now. "Are we being threatened?" Luna asked laying Moonlight on her bed, Moonlight still couldn't walk nor use her wings very well at all. "No, we are being attacked. I must speak with princess Celestia." All three of them got serious looks on their muzzles. They also remembered that most guards still didn't know about Celestia and her journey into the soul world. Only one or two high ranking officers who were instructed not to tell anypony, on their honor. "Cadance, please. I know what you're going to say, but I most do this. This seems pretty bad, a matter worthy of the attention of an immortal alicorn." Cadance frowned a little, she didn't like the idea of Luna working, after all Luna had to raise a baby filly. She thought about it for a second, and realized how important this matter really was, she didn't appose Luna, and nodded her head, yes. "Very well then. I will watch Moonlight. Just be careful." "I'm going with Luna, this seems........." Shining was interrupted by Luna. "So sorry Shining Armor, but you will also stay and watch Moonlight. Help out your overwhelmed wife." This made Shining smirk a little, he then turned to Cadance, who as also looking at him. "Oh Luna, what a great idea!" Cadance said being sarcastic, she winked a few times at Shining Armor. "Uh, why did I have to marry a princess." Shining dropped his head to the ground. "Because you love me and you know it." Cadance said. --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "So, what is so darn important that you most bug us like this. You do realize I am trying to raise a child, and not to......." Luna was cut off by the guard. "High Tower has returned." This was all the guard said as they both walked down the royal Canterlot castle hallways together, passing rooms and stained glass windows on their right and left. "High Tower. The bat pony prejudice gang? I thought it was destroyed. Of course this was before I returned to Equestria as Nightmare Moon." They both stopped and faced each other in the middle of the hallway. "Yes, it seems it has returned, and we now have confirmation on the name of the gang leader, Lenon Sky." The guard handed Luna classified files in an envelope, they were trying to keep their voices down. "According to the database, Lenon Sky lived in a village just north of modern day Ponyville. The town was under heavy military operations due to High Tower gang attacks in the area. At that time, the gang was flourishing, and almost was large enough to............." He was then cut off by Luna. "To declare war. It would have been a civil war. One that could have been deadly beyond deadly." "Correct your highness. The records also say that it was Captain Royal Shield's division who set the armed campaign of the town. In the fight, Lenon's entire family was killed, his wife, daughter and son. He blamed the deaths on Celestia." "Royal Shield has gone missing." Luna said. "Captain Royal Shield is dead, along with his entire squad that was patrolling the area not that long ago. We found their bodies dismantled and nailed to the ground." The guard handed Luna another envelope, this one had photos of the crime scene in the forest. "Some expletive language was written on their corpses', the messages were written in their own blood." Luna looked at the photos for a moment before speaking. "Princess Celestia will no be available to help us. I do not know when she shall return. Princess Twilight and Prince Sentry will also not be able to help. It will be up to me, anything else to declare?" Luna looked at the solider directly in the eyes. "Yes, a symbol was painted in what appeared to be red paint on a sign at the crime scene." This got Luna's attention. "What symbol?" "Red bat wings." Sombra isn't gold"Hey honey, I heard you would be late. The attacks are all over the news, please be careful. Also try to be back home by tomorrow, Dusk and Lavender are getting anxious, they want to see their father again. You should see their little sad faces. Please be careful, be safe. Make it home ok, I love you." To: Lenon Sky From: Cloud Flower Date: January 5, 1993 --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "How much further Brave?" "Not that much further, our camp is just over this hill." Brave lead the group of ponies through the beautifully colored forest. The multi-colored leaves were shining as rays of light hit them. Flash was helping Twilight walk through the forest, she still had bad concussion. "Now, you said king Sombra was the leader?" Nightcore asked. "Well yes, we all considered him to be our leader. He is obviously the most powerful and oldest pony amongst us." Brave stopped walking and turned towards Nightcore, they then all stopped walking. "Yeah, he is the most powerful. That is what concerns me Brave. Remember, at the Crystal Empire? Who was it that ultimately started that in the first place? Sombra himself." Flash was concerned, he knew Moonlight was Sombra's daughter, but he still didn't trust him. "No Flash, princess Luna loved him, he saved her. You need to get over that." Twilight believed what Luna had told them all back at Canterlot after the Crystal Empire, she trusted Sombra, but only a little. "You should listen to your wife, he has done nothing but help us, now we should hurry." They continued walking. Five minutes later they found themselves over the hill, everypony thought there would be a small camp full of ponies, but their was nothing instead. "Oh shit." Brave Heart said to himself, he had gone the wrong way, again. "Brave? You said it was this way." "I got turned around, this place is like a maze, and it doesn't help the fact that I haven't eaten anything for weeks. I'm a little dizzy." "I thought you said the shock didn't effect you as much." Twilight asked, they were all kind of irritated, they were promised shelter and got nothing. "Well, it still effects all of us, no matter what. Only the ponies who have been here for centuries have truly overcome the effects. You must forgive me." All three of them looked at each other in silence. They were all hungry, but couldn't eat. Twilight, Flash and Nightcore all knew that if they didn't complete this mission soon, they would go into the same shock Brave Heart did, and they knew it was terrible. "Its o-ok." Said Twilight, this made Brave smile a little. "Lets just um, um well? I don't know what to do." "What about magic, will a spell find the camp?" Nightcore asked. "No no no, magic doesn't work in this world." "How many times have you done this?" Flash said. "Guys." Twilight said in a low voice, no pony heard her. "Have you got lost before?" Nightcore said. "Guys." Twilight said in a higher pitched voice, still they didn't hear her, Flash and Nightcore were bombarding Brave Heart with questions as Brave struggled to answer. "Come on, you have been here for weeks, how could you get lost?" Flash asked. "You seriously don't know where the hell, in hell we are?" Nightcore said. "Guys?" "Not at all?" Nightcore said again. "Would you two shut up about the questions!!!!!! I got lost thats it, good bye, the end, or any other FUCKING end you can think of!!!" Brave Heart said, 100% annoyed by Flash's and Nightcore's questions. "GGGUUUYYYSSS!!!!!! Listen already!" Twilight didn't want to scream, her head was in some serious pain, but it was obviously the only way to get their attention. "Oh sorry Twilight, what is it?" Flash asked, Twilight smirked at him, which gave Flash a nervous look. "Look, down there." Twilight pointed her hoof down towards the forest edge, standing their was a strange and unusual figure. "Its King Sombra!" Nightcore pointed his hoof to. "No Nightcore, King Sombra isn't gold." They all paused for a second. King Sombra isn't gold, is he? "Brave, do you know this strange figure?" Twilight asked. "Well, it looks like Sombra, but Sombra isn't gold." The strange figure standing about fifty feet below them down the hill was a strange fluorescent figure. His, or 'it's' body was gold, a shiny gold fluorescent color. You could see through his body, yet it looked completely alike Sombra himself. They all looked in confusion, was it Sombra? Or was it not? Well, Sombra isn't fluorescent gold, Sombra also doesn't just appear out of thin air, magic does not work in this world. "Who are you?" Brave Heart asked first, he stepped forward about a foot. The gold figure did not answer, instead he pointed his hoof upwards, directly at the sun which was setting in the distance. He held hat hoof for half a minute, which just confused the others even more. Then the gold figure pointed the same hoof directly Northwest into the colorful forest, then retracted that hoof back and touched his chest with it, he did this process three times before Brave Heart knew what the figure was trying to tell them. "Uh, its pointing towards the camp! This is the southeastern hill! I remember now." Brave faced that direction. "It must be Sombra then." Twilight said. Then the fluorescent unicorn walked Northwest, the rest soon followed. The unicorn was very majestic, even to Twilight, who was a powerful unicorn and knew a lot about magic. The gold fluorescent unicorn walked in a perfect manor, never fumbling or tripping over any hidden rocks or roots. It walked in a slow image, but maintained a fast walking speed, but was still easy to keep up with. It's horn was curved, exactly like Sombra's horn was curved. Its face, body, mane, and tail all looked almost exactly like Sombra's did, it was strange. It also was not dark magic, which made Twilight curious, and dumbfounded, and above all else, exhilarated. How could Sombra pull this off? He still mainly used dark magic, didn't he? Twilight just assumed this was Sombra's doing since the figure looked exactly like him, but, Twilight saw something else while walking behind it with the others in the forest. Its mane, and tail, sparkled and waved with the wind. Its movement was so majestic, and peaceful. It was how Luna walked, Twilight was almost positive this was Sombra's doing. "Its leading us to the camp guys." --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "Um, Celestia?" "Yes what is it Lilly." Celestia leaned her head down towards Lilly's muzzle so she could hear her better. "Well, these bat ponies have been making me feel a little uncomfortable, it just seems like my rump is getting more attention than I would like." Lilly looked back to the other bat ponies that were following them through the forest, once again, Lilly caught wandering eyes, lots of them. "Oh I see. Come on Lilly, it cant be that bad. I almost never see that kind of attention towards me back at home." Celestia tried to reassure her that it wasn't a big deal, at least to Celestia. "Thats not helping. I mean, were trusting these ponies that declared war on you and obviously haven't seen a mare in some centuries, i'm just afraid that, w-well you know, um?" Lilly tried her best to find the correct words, but failed, making Celestis smirk a little. "Just stay next to me then, don't go wondering off with them." Celestia calmed her down, and Lilly followed Celestia closely as instructed. "How much further General Strongarm." Celestia shouted to Strongarm who was leading the group. "Good timing Celestia, were here." The group of travelers came to a small camp the housed the survivors of the Crystal Empire attack, they were in hideous condition. Some of them, were scrapping the dirt with their hooves, some were eating the dirt. It was obvious the shock of hunger was still setting in, and if Celestia didn't find a way out of this place soon, it would hit her as well. All of the ponies in the camp looked at Celestia with excitement, they had been saved, or thats what they thought at least. They started whispering. "Its Celestia!" "She's come to save us!" "Do they have any, f-food?" The ranting continued, until Celestia thought of the one unicorn Strongarm told her was here, Sombra himself. "General Strongarm, were is he?" Celestia and Lilly turned towards Strongarm. "Who?" "You know who." Lilly was getting annoyed. "Sombra should be in the main tent, the big one in the very center of the camp." Strongarm lifted his hood towards the main tent which was obviously larger than all the other tents, they started walking towards it. "These poor ponies look terrible Celestia." Lilly said. "Yes I know, it breaks my heart. My subjects, trapped in this hell." "My father all ways told me that no matter what, bad things can always get worse." "You are very smart Lilly, i'm glad you came. Why don't you go looking for Brave Heart?" Celestia put her hoof on Lilly's shoulder, Lilly thought about her offer. "Well, I think the best place to start is were Sombra is." Celestia smiled and they continued to walk towards the tent, all the while, more and more ponies got their attention. They soon made it to the main tent, the entrance was nothing more than a flap, Celestia raised the flap high so she could walk in, trying to make it negotiate her tall stature, Lilly was close behind, then Strongarm, the rest stayed outside. In the tent was a table with six chairs around it, and it was empty, except the furthest chair. That is where Sombra sat, looking down at a map. It took a second for him to realize their presence, but he guessed it soon enough. He looked up, then his red eyes widened in surprise, he rose from the table and got up, looking directly at Celestia. Lilly gulped, Strongarm stood behind Celestia. Celestia wasn't nervous, she didn't expect Sombra to attack her, but it was still possible. "Celestia." Thats it, thats all Sombra could say, he started to walk around the table towards her. He walked closer until he was just a foot from her muzzle, still looking right at her eyes. "The dark King comes to me again, but this time not for mercy." Celestia said, she was testing him, trying to see if he still has dark intentions. "I never came to you for mercy, just to plead." Sombra said, the moment got more intense. "Plead for mercy? Or something else." Celestia said back in response, Lilly gulped again, she took a step back. Celestia and Sombra didn't move a muscle, both their eyes darted at each other. "No, for death." After this, no words were spoken for a full minute, then Celestia broke the silence. "You know, it is good to see you again." --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "It brought us back." Brave Heart turned his attention back towards the fluorescent golden figure. "This was Sombra's doing for sure, it has got to be." They all looked at the camp then back at the gold figure. Ten seconds later the golden fluorescent figure turned the opposite direction and started walking into the forest away from the camp. "What is it doing?" "I don't know." Then, the figure tuned back around towards Twilight and the others and pointed its hoof up at the sun, again. "It keeps pointing at the sun." "Its trying to tell us something." Twilight said, then the figure once again turned around away from them and walked into thin air, disappearing into nothing, leaving the others confused. "It just, disappeared, into nothing." "Did it die?" "All that matters is it brought us to the camp." The all turned their attention to the camp of survivors, and walked in. "Its the princess of friendship!" "its true." "The've come to save us!" "These ponies look horrible." As the they waked deeper into the camp more and more eyes caught their attention. "Another alicorn uh?" Strongarm got in front of them, blocking their way. "Wow." Flash said, making Twilight smirk. "Who are you?" Nightcore asked. "Strongarm, get out of our way. I must speak with Sombra." Brave Heart stepped up to him, he was not as big as Strongarm, but still didn't fear him. "Sombra is inside, along with Celestia." "Celestia is here!" Twilight spoke out loud, getting even more attention from other ponies. "How long has she been here?" Nightcore asked. "That doesn't matter. Celestia and Sombra have already meet, and this other earth pony. Redhead, good looking rump, friend of Celestia's, Lilly or something? Something like that." "Lilly Tulip?" Brave got his attention very quickly.
A royal birth"Hey honey, I heard you would be late. The attacks are all over the news, please be careful. Also try to be back home by tomorrow, Dusk and Lavender are getting anxious, they want to see their father again. You should see their little sad faces. Please be careful, be safe. Make it home ok, I love you." To: Lenon Sky From: Cloud Flower Date: January 5, 1993 The figure standing in the dark room read the letter in agony, it was short, but meant everything to him. Once he was done he placed the letter back into the envelop from witch it came from, and rested it on the table he was sitting by. 22 years later, it still haunts him. The door behind him creaked open, another stallion walked in. "Excuse me sir, but we have the Captain in custody." There was a brief silence within the room. "Thank you Lieutenant, I will be there shortly." --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- Seven months, one week, and nine days since the Crystal Empire attack. Things in Equestria had gotten peaceful once again. The warm sunny days had returned. The birds sung their songs in the forests, colts and filly's were packing their bags for school, and their parents kissing them goodbye and walking to work. The shops and stores in Canterlot were busy as ever, the happiness that seemed to escape the population had finally seemed to return, (for most ponies at least). That happiness was about to get a lot better. It was sunny with one or two clouds in the sky in Ponyville. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack all were sitting at a table eating their lunch at their local restaurant. Princess Twilight on the other hoof, was not with them. She wasn't in Ponyville at all. Twilight along with Celestia were working together at Canterlot on a classified and secret project they weren't willing to give the slightest clue about it to anypony at all. "Uuuuhhhh, I wish Twilight would just tell us what is so important that she needs to be gone for so long." Rainbow Dash sat there eating at sandwich with a glass of water. "Oh my dear Rainbow Dash, it is princess business, not of our concern." Rarity tried to tell her that it wasn't a big deal, but Rainbow Dash still wasn't buying it. "She's been gone before Rainbow Dash, she is of course, an alicorn princess." Fluttershy's voice was very low toned and quiet. "Fluttershy is right suga'cub, I'm sure Twilight is very safe in the hooves of Celestia and Luna." Applejack walked over towards Rainbow Dash on put her hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. '"Thats wasn't the case last time, remember what happened on her wedding, her first wedding." Rainbow thought back to when Chrysalis crashed Twilight's wedding just before the Crystal Empire incident happened. "Well, Rainbow does have a point. But the real wedding was awsome!!!!!! I't was like it happened just last week. Twilight and Flash married, and kissed in front of all of us." Pinkie Pie was jumping out of her seat. "Maybe thats because it was just last week Pinkie, remember?" Rainbow was getting a little annoyed by Pinkie, which wasn't unusual. "Well what ever is going on, it must be something big." Fluttershy's voice raised a little, to a slightly below average tone. "Oh come on girls, we just need to..................." "Excuse me, I'm looking for the unicorn who goes by the name, Rarity." A messenger appeared almost out of nowhere, carrying a message for Rarity. "I'm Rarity, have you got a message for me?" She rose from her seat and walked towards the messenger, who was a skinny brown Earth pony with glasses. "A message from Princess Celestia in Canterlot." He pulled out an envelop from the saddle bag he was carrying and gave it to Rarity. "Thank you darling." Rarity turned around back towards the others, who were just as curious as her about the message. The messenger then turned and left. "A message from the Princess herself, lets see if she has anything about Twilight." The others crowded around Rarity to read the message. This is what it said: To: Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash From: Princess Twilight Sparkle "My dear friends, I can't tell you how sorry I am for being away from Ponyville for this long, but I really can't tell you why. I plan on returning very soon as my business with Celestia in Canterlot is just about done. Flash is here in Canterlot with me, we are staying at the castle, but I am writing this letter for a different reason. As you all know and are aware of, Princess Luna is pregnant, and has started to experience contractions, and we believe she will give birth within the next two days. Celestia and myself would love it if you five would come and see the newborn baby. Princess Cadance and Shining Armor will also be present, along with other royalty. There will be a large crowd, so I suggest leaving sooner rather than later. Thanks!!!!! --Love Twilight Sparkle! "Oh my gosh, a royal birth, this is so EXCITING!!!!! We will throw a giant party at the castle!" Pinkie was yet again jumping out of her seat, but this time more than usual. "I wonder what Luna will call the baby." "I hope it's a Filly." "I think it will be a colt." "Colt or filly, I just know it will be a beautifully gorgeous baby!" --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- The train ride to Canterlot only lasted ten minutes. It was a short train ride, Rainbow Dash wanted to fly, but figure she should just take the train. Once they arrived at Canterlot they were astonished by the number of ponies at the train station. So many were wanting to enter the city. The security guards were completely overwhelmed, they were sweating like farmers out on a hot day. "My gosh! Look at these crowds!" Rarity put her hoof against her mouth in astonishment, she had never seen bigger crowds. "I guess the news of Luna's baby had spread throughout the world." "More like throughout the universe. Look! Dragons to!" Rainbow Dash looked closely as she saw more than just Ponies, but Dragons as well. The five ponies were able to skip the long lines with special passes Twilight had sent them through the mail, and it wasn't long before they were in the city. The news was everywhere, signs were painted saying 'Don't miss it! Alicorn birth closing in!' Rarity was checking out one newspaper stand that had something on the cover that caught her eye. 'Luna giving birth, but who's the Father? 'Who's the Father?' 'Who's the Father?' 'Who's the Father' was everywhere. Literally no pony knew who the father was. Some hypothesized that Shining Armor was the Father. Which is of course ridiculous, but it was a theory. "Oh my, look at this girls." Rarity picked up the magazine from the ground, while signaling the others that she found something promising. "Wow, Shining Armor? Twilight's big brother? Thats fucking stupid! He's married for Celestia's sake!" Rainbow Dash didn't take that theory very well at all. "Rainbow Dash! Watch your language! This isn't Ponyville remember?" Fluttershy hatted it when Ponies used foul language, she preferred the politer and nicer way of speaking. "I wonder who the father really is though, I mean we all knew Luna was pregnant, but I didn't ever think about that." Rarity thought to herself, her thought was broken when a hoof touched her shoulder. "Thats are great question Rarity." Twilight appeared into their eyesight. "Oh Twilight my darling! How wonderful this is!" Rarity hugged Twilight with affection, soon the others got in for a big group hug. "It's good to see you again suga'cube." "It's been so long Twilight." "Who is the father Twilight? It can't be Shining Armor, can it?" "I a-sure you my friends that the father is most certainly not Shining Armor, please come with me. It wont take long for the crowds to realize i'm here." Twilight lead them to the castle medical wing, where Luna was. "Ok so, where is Luna?" Applejack was the first to ask that question. "Luna is resting in room A on the second floor." Twilight responded instantly. "How much longer till she gives birth?" Fluttershy was the first to ask that question. "Actually, she already has, she just gave birth not twenty minutes ago, to a beautiful alicorn Filly." Twilight stopped at the room Luna was in. The door was closed and locked with a 'do not disturb' sign on it. "I knew it! I knew it would be a filly!" Pinkie Pie was excited that her guess was the right one. "Good guess Pinkie, now I must warn you, Luna is a bit depleted. The baby is calm now, so lets try to be quiet and calm ourselves." Twilight finally opened the door. Inside their was Luna, laying on a hospital bed wrapped in a blanket that reached just under her front legs. Celestia and Cadance were standing next to each other beside Luna's bed. Their was a nurse in the room, running down a checklist on a keyboard she was holding. Shining Armor was there to, he was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room. "Twilight, good to see you found all of your friends. Leave us please." Celestia wanted some privacy and ordered the nurse to leave, she did without hesitation. The nurse closed the door on her way out, all of Twilight's friends were in the room. Luna was half asleep, her eyes were droopy, she was obviously exhausted. "Luna is pretty beaten down. She and Celestia were up all night." Cadance walked towards Twilight. As the group of mares walked closer and closer to Luna they were getting a glimpse of the new born princess. She was wrapped in towels. Resting on Luna's chest. Her head and horn were laying in peace as the young filly slept on the warmth of her mother. Luna's eyes cracked open slowly. The filly was Dark blue, with beautiful sparkling light purple eyes. She had a small black spot on her chest, and on her left front hoof. "Isn't she just gorgeous." Rarity almost cried at the beauty of the baby. "Whats her name?" Applejack asked. "Moonlight. Princess Moonlight, daughter of the night." Luna finally spoke. She rose her head from her pillow and leaned her neck on the head of the bed. With the baby still asleep on her chest. --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- Four hours since the birth of Moonlight, the press and community of Canterlot was just informed of the baby's birth. Luna and her baby were escorted out of the medical wing and back into the castle. Celestia, Twilight, Cadance and the others were right behind her. They walked back to Luna's private room that has already been redesigned to support to ponies, one immortal, the other newborn. Celestia signaled her guards to wait. "Now, the community knows of the baby's birth, so its probably chaos outside. Cadance I would like you and Twilight to address them. I must speak with Luna alone for a minute." "Um, Princess Celestia. If you don't mind me asking, who in the hay is the father?" Applejack asked Celestia in a very low and quiet tone. "Well my dear Applejack, i'm glade you asked that, you'll find out eventually." Celestia gave Applejack her answer then turned around and continued to walk with Luna and the baby. The others were then of, just leaving Celestia, Luna, and the baby alone walking. Luna of course was holding the baby. "Um, your highness, just a word." A royal guard appeared and tapped Celestia's shoulder, and bowing in respect. "Ah, Sergeant, what news do you have for me." Celestia assumed it was good news, unfortunately that wasn't the case. "Well um." The guard whispered in her ear. "Captain Shield and his entire squad are missing in the northeastern regions, we have rescue teams out there now." "Oh, I see. Well I can't attend to that this minute, but I will help once i'm done." Celestia was a little concerned, Captain Royal Shield was her best soldier. He was a war hero at the Crystal Empire attack and was recognized for it, but Celestia knew she had to talk to Luna first. She had some huge news for Luna, that was completely classified. The guard bowed again in respect and turn tailed and was off. Luna had made it to her room, Celestia entered behind her. She closed the door and locked it. Luna rested Moonlight on her baby bed and kissed her on the forehead, she was still asleep. "What do you need to talk to me about Tia?" Luna stroked Moonlight's mane, Luna was giving her all the comfort Luna could possible give her baby. "Twilight and I found a way." "Found a way? Were? I'm afraid I don......" Luna was cut short. "We think we found a way to travel into the soul world." "Really. After all this time you two have finally found a way." Luna was happy Celestia found a way. They could now rescue the poor trapped souls stuck within the stone, but more importantly to Luna, rescue Sombra." --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "Mission report, January 5th, 1993. Captain Royal Shield, of the 101st infantry division, Bravo company, Celestia's royal guard, first class murdered, working for first class murderers. My name is Lenon Sky, I am your host tonight, and you are my guest." Royal Shield was completely chained to a brick wall, he had no movement. His face was bruised, he had a black eye. Blood was leaking form his nose and mouth, he had been beaten, harshly. "You have been recognized for your help in saving the Crystal Empire. Like that counts as being a hero." "What do you want you bastard! What have you done with my soldiers!" Lenon was walking side to side within the brick room. A door lay on one side, and their were four bat pony stallions with spears guarding. They had red bat wing symbols on their foreheads. "Oh your 'soldiers' are dead, and soon you will be to, but first we have some questions. First, where is the soul stone, does Celestia have it?" "You'll never get it you pathetic piece of amphibian shit!" "I'll take that as a yes she does have it, and I am sure that its resting in protection on level 13B in the detention hall in the castle?" "What? How do you know?" Lenon knew exactly where the stone was, which surprised Royal Shield in a bad and concerned way. "Do you ponies think we were fools?! The High Tower reign will come again, this time it will not disappoint." "High Tower is dead, that evil gang was going to destroy everything peaceful about Equestria, so we destroyed it!" "My family was killed, January 5th, 1993, by your squad. Do you remember? How your 'soldiers' killed our community in cold blood, for no reason!" "We thought you were High Tower gang members!" Royal Shield remembered that mission. "Did you think my wife and children were High Tower to? You pathetic colorful mare bangers think you're the strongest and best? The bat ponies will have their revenge, High Tower will have its revenger, but more importantly, I will have my revenger!" Lenon then pulled an axe from the ground using his front right hoof, ready for Royal Shields untimely end. "You, will never rule Equestria." Those were the only words Royal Shield came up with. "You're right. I WILL CLEANSE IT!!!." Lenon then smashed the axe right into Royal Shields neck, killing him instantly. "The reign of Lenon Sky, begins now." Said the High Tower gang members in the room in unison. Author's Note -Part two has come!!!!! -Again make sure you read the Spark of Redemption before you read this, I will provide you with a link or you can just search for it. -THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
High Tower strikes first"You, you, promised. You told me." "Told you what? What did I tell you Luna?" Sombra stood just beyond the Crystal Empire city limits. "You promised me that your actions would bring us together forever." Luna stood just behind him. "Yes, and thats what i'm doing. When I successfully take the Crystal Empire, we will rule Equestria as King and Queen. We will rule with eternal love and power, and we will destroy all those who oppose us!" Sombra stood in pride, he had thought that what he was about to do would would bring him and Luna together, but when he turned around and faced Luna, he saw only horror and fear in her eyes. "No Sombra you can't, you promised me you would stop." "No, I promised I would bring us together." "Thats not what you're doing, you're tearing me apart!" "A small price to pay I suppose." Sombra turned back around, there was silence for a split moment. "I know how much you have suffered, but I promise you attacking the Crystal Empire will make it worse!" Luna walked up beside him and put her hoof on his shoulder. "No, I know our destiny. Who has the power to stop me Luna? Who would dare?" "I would dare. I love you Sombra, i'm so so sorry you choose this. I also know you wont hurt me, but don't think for one second that I wont hurt you if you go in there." "I'm doing this for you, I wont fail you my love." Sombra was ready. "I know." --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 months later "Whats the baby's name!?" "Who's the father!?" "What is Celestia's secret project for!?" "Is it a boy or a girl!?" "Please, please, everypony! One at a time! We will answer any questions we can!" Cadance and Twilight stood up in front of a large crowd of eager, excited, and curious news reporters. Each one of them had a small notebook and pen to write down everything the princess's said, everything. "Yes you first. Blue unicorn, go." Cadance pointed to the first reporter she saw, a blue unicorn stallion. "Is the baby a filly or colt?" "The baby is a alicorn filly we suspect to have the immortal trait like her mother does, although we are not sure yet. We are also unaware of the power this foal posses, for all we know it could be an incredible amount." Twilight took point. "You, red mare pegasus." Twilight pointed to another reporter "Who's the father?" Cadance and Twilight looked at each other for a moment, they had to choose their words carefully. "The father and Celestia's secret project will remain classified until we decide to disclose that information. One more question." Cadance pointed towards a purple mare unicorn. "Yes, why is the father's identity classified?" "Because its classified! No more questions about the father! Come Twilight, we are done." Cadance and Twilight walked back inside the castle, the reporters were still trying to get their attention behind them. --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- Luna carried her small, sleeping baby and rested laid her in a baby crib. Moonlight cuddle up against the pillow of her small soft bed. Luna levitated a blanket around her, warming Moonlight as she slept. Luna then gave her a warm kiss on her forehead, turned, and closed the door to the room. "It truly is a beautiful filly Luna. Even though he was a dark king, I would say Sombra did a fine job." Celestia sat on the edge of Luna's bed. "Yes he did, even though he double crossed me, and attacked the Crystal Empire......twice, I still believe he is a great pony. I just wish he was her to see Moonlight." "Well, if Twilight and I are correct, that may just yet happen." Celestia got up from the bed and walked towards Luna. "Tell me, how can we do it." Luna got curious. Moonlight was taken care of, for now. Now her mind drifted to another matter, rescuing Sombra. "No Luna, how can we do it. Twilight and I have found a way into the soul world, but you're not coming." This of course got Luna's attention. "Wait, what? Why?" Luna didn't raise her voice very high, not wanting to wake her new born sleeping baby. "Luna you have a huge job to do, taking care of Moonlight. If this plan fails, we could be stuck forever in the soul world, and she has already lost a father. Loosing a mother would be very bad." Luna calmed down, lowering her head. "Yes, I know. I didn't think I would allow myself to go. I need to stay with Moonlight, but I do want to know. How can we enter the soul world, and who is going?" "As of right now myself, Twilight, her husband Flash Sentry, private Nightcore of the night guard, and Lilly Tulip." "Lilly Tulip? Why her?" "She says she wants to save the ponies who didn't make it through the Crystal Empire attack with Chrysalis, saying she must because she did survive. It is obvious to us though she wants to save Brave Heart, if he is even in the soul world." "Brave Heart? Her husband?" "Yes." "So, how are you going in?" "Twilight and I created a spell that when casted on the stone itself, could create a hole through its almost impenetrabel magic wall. Then if the stone will accept our presence, which it should saying I created the stone, we would enter a reality were the natural laws of life, don't matter. A never ending void of suffering." "And if it fails? If the stone doesn't accept your presence?" Luna was considering all the possibly terrible outcomes, which there were tons. "Since the stone only answers to Sombra, because he disarmed Chrysalis, there is a chance it might not accept our presence. If the stone feels threatened by our presence, we will be destroyed instantly." "Well, that sounds dramatic. I'm kinda glad i'm not going now." "Very funny Luna." The conversation continued until a weak and high pitched cry surrounded the room. Apparently Moonlight had awaken, without the presence of her mother. "Oh yeah, baby. Well, good luck sister." Luna turned around. "We probably wont be going in until tomorrow. we must prepare more." Luna opened Moonlight's door to comfort her crying baby. Celestia meanwhile, turned the opposite direction and left Luna's bedroom, to the presence of two royal guards outside the room, guarding. "Shhhhh, it's ok. Mommy is here." Luna picked up her baby and held her close, she was still crying, her small tears running down Luna's chest. Luna gave her another kiss on the forehead. "I promise, I will always be here when daddy can't, always." --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- Wack!!! "Ah, fucking mosquitos!" "Private Stone Break! Silence! Fall in line!" "Yes sergeant!" The private continued walking through the brush. It was thick, his light gray color was dirty. Not to mention it was humid, very very humid. Apparently searching through the thick jungle brush was harder than the entire search team had thought. Two days since Captain Royal Shields sudden disappearance, including his entire squad which made up of twelve other royal guards. Searches had gone on for hours straight, with multiple different squads searching their asses of, with no luck. Not until this squad found the first lead anypony had found. Small tracks not left by a guard. The tracks got deeper and deeper as the squad of ponies walked further down the narrow mud path. The tension was building as the mysterious tracks continued. They could tell it wasn't their tracks. Their armor on their hooves would make much larger and deeper holes in the mud. The tracks continued until they lead them to a small open field, where they saw in horror. The leftovers of the High Tower gang. Twelve bodies laid on the ground. All their hooves were nailed to the forest dirt. Each on of their bodies was pale, as white as the clouds. All of their blood was either spilled on the ground, or high tower used the blood to write words on their bodies. Each body had different writings on their stomachs. One body had 'Unicorn shit' written on his stomach. The body next to that one had 'Pretty Mare humper' written on it. The one next to that had 'Son of a hore' written on it. Each one of the bodies had a terrible hate message written on its stomach, written in their own blood. The guards watched in horror. They had never seen such terrible gore and hate in their lives, and this is after the second Crystal Empire attack. The guards called in for back up. They set up a perimeter and called in for investigators as well. Nailed to a tree was a white sign, with a red bat wing symbol written in blood on it. "I know that symbol." One of the privates recognized it. "You know this symbol private? Tell me, tell me everything you know!" "It's, it's the um." He thought for a moment, the words were on the tip of his tongue. "It's the High Tower terror group symbol." The Sergeant's eyes widened in shock. "We must hurry this info to princess Celestia! Fast!" All hell broke loose. --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "Are you sure about this Lilly? We could be destroyed immediately if we do this." The group all turned their heads toward Lilly, she seemed to be the Pony in the group not really meant for a journey like this. "Twilight, with all do respect, I may not be fighter, but I got fight. Because of this I feel like I must try to help." Flash walked up next to Twilight. "Lilly, we all already know you only agreed to come because Brave Heart might be in there." Nightcore walked up from behind Lilly, she was soon surrounded. "It's ok guys, if he is in there, then it gives me more rights to go in with all of you." "Your bravery will never be forgotten Lilly, your passion to save your husband proves you love him very much, and I admire that a lot." Celestia entered the room, Luna was pushing a baby carriage behind Celestia. The room the rescue team was in was odd shaped. They were deep inside the dungeon blocks underneath the Canterlot castle. In the center of the room rested the soul stone, laying on a stone mount. Nightcore and Flash were both carrying two saddle bags, while Lilly and Twilight only carried one smaller saddle bag. They were filled to the brink of supplies and tools to prepare for the dozens of different bad outcomes to arrive. Some of those outcomes no tool could fix though. "Flash Sentry, Private Nightcore, Lilly Tulip, and Princess Twilight Sparkle. I thank you for risking your lives for this journey. Our bravery could save thousands of lost souls. Or, it could destroy us all. But the price of freedom is high, and its a price i'm willing to pay. If this works, I will never rest in the hell until every single soul is free of its hellish gates. If necessary I will do it alone, if necessary I will do it alone for years, but i'm willing to bet I wont." Celestia took point. Only Celestia and Twilight knew the spell, after casting it, Celestia then would only have a split second of time to teleport all of them through the stones magical outer wall before the opening closes, and they are destroyed by the magic barrier. "Sister, I wish you luck, I wish all of you luck." Luna, pushing Moonlight in a baby cradle was still standing behind them. "Luna, I promise if this goes right I will return with Sombra." Celestia turned. "How will I know if you all are dead? Not saying you will die of course." Celestia pulled a bottle out of Twilight's saddle bag, it had green smoke within it. "Luna, the green smoke represents our souls, if they are lost, the smoke will turn red. If we manage to make it in, it will turn gold and green. But as long as there is green, there is hope." Celestia gave the boddle to Luna, Luna handled it with care, not wanting to drop it of course, that would be bad. "Be safe, all of you. The world would never be the same if all of you never return." "That is why we are not going." Luna turned her head to see Cadance and Shining Armor walk in. "Good luck sis. Flash, I trusted you to marry Twilight, but now you must protect her." "Oh Shining, I can take care of myself." Twilight reassured Shining Armor that she would be ok. "Ok fine, but don't get to comfortable with my little sister, you know what I mean!" Shining pointed towards Flash who had his head tilted back. "Ok sweetie, thats enough." Cadance stopped this before it escalated. "Shining Armor and I will take over here until you guys return." "If they return." Shining Armor lowered his head a bit, he was a little worried they wouldn't make it. "They will return Shining, I'm sure of it." Luna however, was confident they would return. "Yeeuu hehe!!!" Moonlight was playing with her stuffed animal toy, laying in the baby carriage behind Luna. "Hey cutie, when I return, we will play all day, promise!" Twilight said her goodbyes to the baby. "Are you sure this green smoke thing will work Celestia?" Luna was still unsure. "Yes, I promise it will....I hope. Alright everypony, say your last goodbyes. We must go now." Celestia turned around and faced the stone, she walked towards it until it was merely inches away from her face. Nightcore, Flash, Twilight and Lilly were right behind. "Twilight, get ready, remember, just how we practiced. You will cast the spell and I will teleport us through the opening." "Yes princess, got it." Twilight turned to Shining and Cadance."Shining, if we die, I trust you to tell mom and dad, and you also must explain this to my friends, I fell they all wont understand what this risk is for." "We will Twilight, and you will survive, you have to." "Ok Twilight, on the count of three!" All five of them going in huddled close in one group, that made it easier for Celestia to teleport them through the opening once Twilight casted the spell. "One!" "Two!" Celestia and Twilight both raised their horns, they were ready. Luna, Cadance, and Shining Armor took this moment in, for this could be the last time they ever see them. "Three! Go twilight now!"
A beautiful hell"Are they dead?" Shining said. "I um, I don't know. The smoke hasn't changed colors yet." "What did she say the color would be if they made it?" Cadance walked up beside Luna. "Celestia said it would turn from green to gold and green." "Are they still living???!!!" Shining couldn't take it anymore, he was literally banging his head on the ground. "Shining shut it! Your going to startle Moonlight." Cadance tried calming him down. Luna didn't move on the other hoof. Her eyes were still glued on the small glass vile, its green smoke was streaming from side to side like on the campfire at camp. About thirty more seconds past by before the dark green smoke was challenged for space by a new invader, a metallic shiny gold. "They made it!" Everypony in the room sighed in relief, even the guards standing by the door! One would say even Moonlight was relieved in her own baby ways. "Thank Celestia! Literally!" Shining practically fell to the ground in relief, Cadance tried to help him up by kissing his forehead. "You know Shiny, for being captain of the royal guard you do have one soft heart." Cadance giggled for a second. “So I guess we just wait until they return.” Luna turned towards her baby. Moonlight was starting to drift asleep. “So, if they went in there to save the thousands of lost souls, wouldn’t they be returning with like thousands of bat ponies?” Can we even support them? I mean, they haven’t been in Canterlot for at least 500 years, and that’s not including the ponies who were destroyed at the Crystal Empire.” Cadance said, she was thinking ahead. “Well, actually, I didn’t really think about that until now.” Luna thought for a moment. They would need to prepare for the thousands of ponies to come out, if Celestia and the others succeed, who knows what lays within the magical walls of the soul stone. “We will have to think of something. Until then, we do have a entire nation to run.” “And you have a baby to take are of Luna.” All three of them soon turned their attention towards Moonlight, who was now asleep in her carriage behind Luna. Luna, Cadance, and Shining all got closer until they were a foot away from Moonlight. “She really is a beautiful filly Luna. Who knew the infamous and powerful king Sombra could produce such an beautiful foal.” Cadance nudged Luna, Luna was still looking at Moonlight, stroking her mane. “I just wish he was here.” Luna tilted her head down, in thought. Most mares who give birth are overwhelmed, not just with the nights with no sleep, and the mushy pees everywhere, but the comfortable warmth and joy of a new born pony. But with Luna it was different, the complete opposite almost. Moonlight has been way easier to take care of than Luna had thought. She slept through the nights like a rock, she eats with no fuss, and she hardly had any bad diaper accidents, although they still happened from time to time. Luna was not overwhelmed at all, Moonlight was easy to take care of for a newborn foal, but without Sombra. It was almost like part of Moonlight was never born, and a part of Moonlight’s joy as well. “You know, Sombra is actually a very Kind hearted pony. He as extraordinary gifts and a warm heart. But his twisted and painful life drove him down a dark path. I swore to him and to Moonlight, that I would do anything I could to get him back on track, and I did. Because of him I am alive, Moonlight is not some puppet student of Chrysalis’, and thousands of lives are saved. So I felt like I have down my part.” Luna backed away from Moonlight a little bit. “So Luna, how did you and Sombra even get together? It’s not like a princess and a Dark evil king could suddenly fall in love, and have a baby in one night. Although I’m sure some couples of tried.” You can’t blame Shining Armor’s curiosity, Luna had not disclosed that story yet. “Well my dear Shining Armor, It’s a long story, but a story I’m willing to tell you. Once I get Moonlight to bed of course. --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ooooooohhhhhhh, my head." Twilight rubbed her soar aching skull. "Well, that could've been worse." Flash offered her a hoof up. "On your hoofs Twi." "Flash, I fell dizzy." Twilight struggled to stand up straight, which concerned Flash. "It looks like you got hit pretty hard, lets get settled and see how bad it is." Nightcore appeared behind Flash. "Where is Celestia? How could we loose a pony that tall." "And uhh, L-lilly." They realized they were missing two important ponies, Celestia and Lilly were nowhere to be found. "Where are we? What is this place?." Nightcore looked around. "Is, is this the soul world?" "I-I don't k-know if this is m-my head but speaking f-for me but, its beautiful." Twilight looked around. All three of them stood on a small field surrounded by what looked like a forest, except it was different. The tree leaves all illuminated a beautiful light purple and bright yellow color. The small ponds that were placed here and there within the trees were filled with what looked like crystal clear water. It was so clear you could see the tiny grains of dirt on the rocks on the bottom of the ponds. The sky was a beautiful sunset orange color. The grass was a vibrant dark blue, and the tree trucks were not brown like in the real world, but instead a dark orange color, but all three of them realized something was missing, there was not one wild creature to be found. It was quiet, almost like the dungeons underneath Canterlot. "This doesn't look so bad to me." "Celestia described it as hell, but this? This is not so bad." "Uh, boys. Still don't feel so great." Twilight still sat on the ground behind them, still holding her head in agony. "Oh ya, forgot. Nightcore, try to find the first aid kit for Twilight." "Its, um. Its in my bag." Twilight pulled out a red bag with a big white cross on its front, with zippers on its side and on top. "We need to take a look around for ponies. Celestia said there could be thousands in here." Nightcore looked out into the forest, it laid just about fifty feet from where he stood. "How much food do we have?" Flash asked while treating Twilights head. "About three weeks worth. Thank Celestia for these unlimited storage bags, literally." Nightcore shuffled through the various supplies in a moderately sized saddle bag. The magic making the bag hold an unlimited amount of anything. "Well Twily, it looks like you have a servere concussion, just by judging by your symptoms." "H-how do we treat it?" "Well, the only thing we can do is just wait it out. I can give you some pain medication, unless you know a spell that could treat this." Flash sipped the medical kit back up, accidentally spilling out some bandaids in the process. "W-well, let me try. I might know something." Twilights horn illuminated a bright purple color, she tried her best, but it was too painful. "Don’t hurt yourself honey, you just need to wait it out." "I-I always did really like you calling me that." They both smiled and blushed, before the embraced each other in a warm tight hug, leaving Nightcore alone. "Uh-um, please save it for the honeymoon, what should we do." Twilight and Flash broke the hug. "Well, I think Twilights in too much pain to walk right now, and the best way the save our resources is by staying here." "I-if we m-made it, Celestia and L-Lilly should be here to." "Well, Celestia and Lilly don't have any food, so they would need to hurry and find us." NIghtcore looked around again. "We could have a look around, but stay in this area." "C-Celestia said the S-soul world is n-not very b-big." Twilight Struggled to talk, she could barely she straight. --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "Princess? Princess Celestia? Are you ok?" Lilly nudged Celestia a little, trying to get her to wake up. "Oh Lilly Tulip, Celestia is just fine, and yes i'm ok. Just a little um, knocked out." Celestia stood up, she wasn't hurt. "Twilight, Flash, and Nightcore aren't here." Lilly looked behind her. "I was affraid of this, but told myself it wouldn't happen." "What? What happened Celestia? Where are they?" "Well, when I teleported us through the spell must have we-bounded and split our group in half. Sending one half one place and the other another place. The only thing we can do now is try to find the others." "We have no food. Nightcore had it all when he came in." "Then we will need to hurry while we still have strength." Celestia turned. They both were standing in the middle of the forest. Same trees, same colors, but no field like the others were in. "If what I feared came to truth, then the others should be together, I just hope they aren't hurt. That wasn't what I call a smooth landing." "You know, being an earth pony and all, I think you did a pretty good." This got Celestia to smile a little. "You know Celestia, you described this place as hell. I think this is the most beautiful place I have ever seen." Lilly looked around. "Don't let that trick you Lilly. It may look beautiful, but just give it time, this places inner demon will show itself eventually.” "Indeed it will." A dark figure appeared behind them, it was a bat pony. He was covered in scars. His left eye was scared. There was a scar on his forehead, his hoof, both of his front legs, and three on his chest. Although he had many scars he was surprisingly clean. No dirt was noticeable on his black fur coat. He was big to, very very very strong and muscular. "Princess Celestia." His voice was dark and scary. "Its only been five hundred years." He scowled at her and Lilly, they both got nervous. --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hey honey, I heard you would be late. The attacks are all over the news, please be careful. Also try to be back home by tomorrow, Dusk and Lavender are getting anxious, they want to see their father again. You should see their little sad faces. Please be careful, be safe. Make it home ok, I love you." To: Lenon Sky From: Cloud Flower Date: January 5, 1993 Lenon folded the letter back up again and placed it back in its original envelop and set it on the table. It was dark in the room, which was how he preferred it. He liked his place completely black, because he thinks the dark hides his scares, but nothing could hide his emotional scare from the past. What happened, was what had happened, and the worse part was he couldn't change that if his life depended on it. "How is he?" A whispering voice from outside the cracked door soared through the dark and quiet room. Lenon could hear it, but he didn't care, or did he? Outside the door stood two High Tower stallion Bat ponies. They were both tall and muscular ponies with red bat wing markings on their foreheads. "He's still reading that old letter." The second guard responded, he could see through the crack of the door. "That one from his dead wife?" "Hey! Keep it down! He's touchy about that stuff, and if he catches us, well who knows how much trouble we could be in." "Actually not that much." Lenon opened the door, they both instantly stood at attention. "Uh, we are very sorry sir, we wont bring it up again any more, we promise." Only one on the two had the courage to speak. "Don't worry you should know." Lenon pulled out the letter, showing it to them. "January 5th, 1993 was the day my wife sent me this letter, just two days later she was murdered by Celestia's wonderful royal guards." Lenon rolled his eyes in sarcasm while saying that part. "But you know there is one good thing that happen to me that night I saw their bodies in my old house that I built!" He got closer to the two members, they both backed away in fear, they could see his pain in his heart, but more importantly. His anger within his eyes has he got closer and closer. "What is that s-sir?" One of them said while struggling to even stand up straight. "Celestia will pay for that moment, as Royal Shield did, and any creature else in this filthy place who reminds me about that night! Will also pay!" He got closer, both members backed up until they were stopped and trapped by the back wall. "You two reminded me, so I guess its only fair if you PAY TO!!!" Lenon then pulled out two ten inch knives and stabbed both of the gang members right in the chest. They both gaged in pain as blood rushed down from the chest down their front legs and onto the ground. Then they both fell to the ground as well, dead. Author's Note I apologize for taking so long to finish this chapter. I have just been so dang busy! I promise I won’t take this long next time, but I guess we will just have to wait and see!!!!!!!!!!
Dying without death"I can't believe i'm saying this but, Celestia it is good to see you again." Celestia and Lilly followed the huge scarred bat pony through the colorful forest. "I guess 500 years in the soul world has just softened you heart, General Strongarm." Celestia remembered exactly who he was, General Strongarm was the second in command of the bat pony resistance force in the bat pony civil war, which ended in negotiations centuries ago. "Not General, not anymore. Here we are just outcasts, looking for any possible escape from this hell." His voice was dark and threatening, but he had no intention of harming Lilly, nor Celestia. "You said 'we'? As in there are others?" Lilly barely had the courage to speak out towards such a evil looking pony. Of course Brave Heart was a bat pony, and Lilly loved him very much, but Strongarm was an ENTIRE different pony. "1,876 to be exact. All of us are Bat ponies, all stallion. We are here." The three of them stopped dead in their tracks in the forest. In front of them was a field, on the field was a town, about the size of Ponyille but a bit bigger. In that town was where they all lived, for almost 500 years. These bat ponies lived amongst each other, seeking for hope. "Come, let us go in." They all walked in, watched by curious eyes, which made Celestia and Lilly a little nervous. "So, you built all this?" Lilly asked, looking around as they entered the village. "When your here for 500 years, its not so bad. We are cursed in this world, never to die, only to suffer." They stopped in the town center, which was just a circle surrounded by small wood houses. Bat ponies, mostly stallions got up to take a glimpse at the new comers. Some of them gritted their teeth in anger at Celestia. Some of them looked at Lilly in a seductive way, for some of them had not seen a mare in centuries. Other looked at them with hope, for they thought Celestia and the mysterious red haired mare would be their ticket out of this place. "Let us sit down by the fire Celestia, we have much to discuss." Strongarm pointed to a bond fire at the dead center of the town, some bat ponies were sitting by it, others were digging in the dirt with their hooves, some even were eating the dirt! Which made Celestia and Lilly gag. "Get used to it, they are new comers. They are not used to the feeling of starvation." Strongarm sat on one of the stumps, Celestia and Lilly sat together next to him. "You said newcomers, how new?" Celestia knew these 'newcomers' could be from the Crystal Empire. "Um, about a couple months ago. A large number of ponies were found. Some of them left in their own group, while others stayed. The ones that stayed were mostly bat ponies. The ones that left, left in a group that was lead by some tall grey unicorn." "Oh! You're talking about King Sombra! Aren't you!" Lilly recognized the description, it fit Sombra perfectly. "Which way did they go?" Celestia asked Strongarm. "East, I think." Strongarm replied. "Um, when you said feeling of starvation, what did you mean?" Lilly's question made them all frown, even Celestia. they both didn't know what he meant. "You don't know, do you? Not even you Celestia?" Strongarm looked at both of them, they both shook their heads. "Very well, it will hit you hard. This world is a curse, not a death sentence. It is impossible to die in this world. Most feeling is gone." Strongarm got up, he walked towards Lilly, which made her nervous. "Food turns to ash in our mouths, as does water. We feel nothing, not the wind on our faces, nor the splash of water." Strongarm got closer to Lilly, which made her even more nervous. "Nor the warmth of a beautiful mares flesh." He got closer and stuck his left front arm off, reaching for Lilly's chest. He touched her chest in one spot, he closed his eyes to imagine what it felt like. The warmth of her chest was so desirable, but he felt nothing, just cold. "You are a beautiful mare, are you sure you don't want to stay? Having a mare around could help us. Us, ponies who only can feel pain, but we can fell something else, would you like to know?" He got closer to her, his hoof still touching Lilly's chest, she gulped. "U-um, n-no thanks." These were the only words she could come up with. Lilly then looked around and saw that a dozen of bat ponies now had all their attention on her. They were all looking at her in a way which made Lilly feel, uncomfortable. "Are you sure? We are really friendly, especially on the inside." He got even closer to her, Lilly backed away a little. Strongarm still had his hoof on her chest. Strongarm tilted his head down and nibbled on Lilly's ear a little, which made Celestia frown, Lilly then pushed him away a little. "U-um, a very flattering offer, but i-i'm married." Lilly then pushed his hoof off of her and she walked towards Celestia and sat right next to her, which was where she felt the safest. Still, she caught wandering eyes everywhere, every direction she looked. She would look one way and see five or six bat ponies looking directly at her, and another six another direction. At home Lilly would always catch a couple wandering eyes, usually whenever she was in public. She was the popular mare in school, mostly because she was the mare most stallions had a crush on, but she never cared for them. Not until she had meet Brave Heart. Strongarm backed away and sat down back where he was earlier. "You have some courage Lilly, you're more than just a pretty mare." "Once again, very flattering, but i'm marr..........." She was cut off by Strongarm. "Yes, you are married. To the Captain of the Night guard, captain Brave Heart." Strongarm said, meanwhile Celestia was in some deep thought this entire time, not paying much attention to what was going on. "You've seen him? He's here?! Please you must tell me!" Lilly jumped out of her seat. "Calm down young mare, calm down. He was in the group that left." Strongarm said. Celestia finally spoke."General, if we are going to find and save everypony here, we will need your help." Strongarm got back up, this time walking towards the fire. He thought for a second, silence filled the air before he spoke, looking at the fire with hate, and anger. "I don't like you. You were greedy, and blind. Blind to see the pure beauty in other creatures. You took our souls in a hell we could not escape from. I had a family in the real world that is now dead, mortal unlike our stolen souls." Celestia and Lilly got nervous, they could both see his anger, and his broken heart. A few more second of silence came before Strongarm spoke again. "But I hate this place more, what do you need." --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "How are you feeling?" "A-a little better. I think I can walk now." Twilight was rubbing her head, it still hurt pretty bad, just not as mush now. "Hey guys, whats up with our food?" Nightcore was holding a protein nut bar, he had take a bite out of it already. "Whats wrong with it?" Flash turned his attention to Nightcore, who was standing right behind him. "It, taste like ash. Literally, here look." Nightcore lifted the nut bar up and took another bite. He gagged in response and spit out nothing but ash. Food literally turned to ash in his mouth. Flash then got up and opened the supply bag and pulled out an apple from Sweet Apple Acres. Again, he gagged and spat out nothing but ash. "Try the water Night." Nightcore then pulled out a water bottle and took a sip. Again, gagging and spat out ash. "Oh my sweet Celestia." Flash turned towards Twilight who was sitting on a rock. "We can't eat or drink in this world." Both of the stallions looked at the mare princess. They both knew that Twilight was no fool, she knew her stuff. Flash knew that especially. "Wont we starve? Celestia said we can't die in this world." "We can only suffer." All three of them suddenly jumped as a fourth voice joined in the conversation. They all tuned around to see the captain of the Night Guard Brave Heart himself, who just came from literally nowhere and stunned them all! "Holy shit!! You came out of nowhere!" Nightcore knew Brave personally, so meeting him again was kinda personal. "I'm glad to see the three of you came to rescue us." Brave walked closer, Twilight then got on her hooves, still holding her head. "How did you know we have come too save you?" Twilight asked. "Its easy your highness. Those who were forced to come here didn't have a chance to pack useless food that simple turns into ash when we eat it." "Yeah? What is up with that?" Flash pulled out some food. He took a bite, once again turning to ash in his mouth. "Its a curse. We can only suffer in this world, we cannot die. We can starve to death, but cannot die. We can collapse of exhaustion, but cannot stay collapsed. Some ponies here have been in this hell for centuries, they are used to it. But we, including the other newcomers, are still unaccuainted with the terrible feeling. Its not so bad for me right now, but at first it was a huge shock, and very painful." "That is why we plan to leave with all the others before that happens." Twilight said. "Man Brave, it is so good to see you. OH! Lilly will be jumping out of her skin when she finds you!" Flash said. "Lilly is here!? How far is she? Where is she?" Brave Heart's head lifted a little, after his wife was mentioned. "Calm down Captain." Twilight walked towards him, he settled down a little. "She and Celestia are not with us, but in this world. You must help us save these stollen souls." "Of course your highness. Come, the others will be happy to see you. Oh! And I probably should mention, seeing the leader of our group, might be a shock." "Why?" Flash didn't understand, as didn't Twilight nor Nightcore. "Because our leader is King Sombra himself, come this way. Just follow me." Their ears perked up, but they followed, leaving most of their supplies. --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "What? Thats it?" Shining asked wanting more. "What do you mean thats it. I told you the hole story, and you are still not impressed?!" Luna said while she was trying her best to entertain Moonlight with her baby toys. They were only three toys Moonlight would play with. A grey unicorn stuffed animal, a green bear stuffed animal, and a tooth brush. Yeah, you're not high, you read that correctly. Once when Luna was in the bathroom brushing her mane she left the door cracked. Luna thought Moonlight was still asleep but actually she was crawling on the floor, attracted to the voice of her mother. Moonlight then opened one of the cabinet doors in the bathroom and pulled out a toothbrush that had not been used before, she played with that thing for hours. Which was the only reason Luna allowed her to keep it. "I don't know about you Shining, but i'm satisfied." Princess Cadance got up and kissed Shining on his forehead. "Uh, I guess I am being a little nosey, this is personal stuff." "Yes Shining, I would say you are being pretty nosey." "Excuse me your highness'. Please pardon me of this interruption, but we must speak with one of you, we have a dire emergency." A royal guard knocked and opened the door slightly, peeking his head inside. They all got concerned. "Yes I will be out shortly." Cadance said. "No, we need you now. With all do respect, we cannot delay. This is a dire emergency." The royal guard pleaded for one of them to come with him now. "Are we being threatened?" Luna asked laying Moonlight on her bed, Moonlight still couldn't walk nor use her wings very well at all. "No, we are being attacked. I must speak with princess Celestia." All three of them got serious looks on their muzzles. They also remembered that most guards still didn't know about Celestia and her journey into the soul world. Only one or two high ranking officers who were instructed not to tell anypony, on their honor. "Cadance, please. I know what you're going to say, but I most do this. This seems pretty bad, a matter worthy of the attention of an immortal alicorn." Cadance frowned a little, she didn't like the idea of Luna working, after all Luna had to raise a baby filly. She thought about it for a second, and realized how important this matter really was, she didn't appose Luna, and nodded her head, yes. "Very well then. I will watch Moonlight. Just be careful." "I'm going with Luna, this seems........." Shining was interrupted by Luna. "So sorry Shining Armor, but you will also stay and watch Moonlight. Help out your overwhelmed wife." This made Shining smirk a little, he then turned to Cadance, who as also looking at him. "Oh Luna, what a great idea!" Cadance said being sarcastic, she winked a few times at Shining Armor. "Uh, why did I have to marry a princess." Shining dropped his head to the ground. "Because you love me and you know it." Cadance said. --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "So, what is so darn important that you most bug us like this. You do realize I am trying to raise a child, and not to......." Luna was cut off by the guard. "High Tower has returned." This was all the guard said as they both walked down the royal Canterlot castle hallways together, passing rooms and stained glass windows on their right and left. "High Tower. The bat pony prejudice gang? I thought it was destroyed. Of course this was before I returned to Equestria as Nightmare Moon." They both stopped and faced each other in the middle of the hallway. "Yes, it seems it has returned, and we now have confirmation on the name of the gang leader, Lenon Sky." The guard handed Luna classified files in an envelope, they were trying to keep their voices down. "According to the database, Lenon Sky lived in a village just north of modern day Ponyville. The town was under heavy military operations due to High Tower gang attacks in the area. At that time, the gang was flourishing, and almost was large enough to............." He was then cut off by Luna. "To declare war. It would have been a civil war. One that could have been deadly beyond deadly." "Correct your highness. The records also say that it was Captain Royal Shield's division who set the armed campaign of the town. In the fight, Lenon's entire family was killed, his wife, daughter and son. He blamed the deaths on Celestia." "Royal Shield has gone missing." Luna said. "Captain Royal Shield is dead, along with his entire squad that was patrolling the area not that long ago. We found their bodies dismantled and nailed to the ground." The guard handed Luna another envelope, this one had photos of the crime scene in the forest. "Some expletive language was written on their corpses', the messages were written in their own blood." Luna looked at the photos for a moment before speaking. "Princess Celestia will no be available to help us. I do not know when she shall return. Princess Twilight and Prince Sentry will also not be able to help. It will be up to me, anything else to declare?" Luna looked at the solider directly in the eyes. "Yes, a symbol was painted in what appeared to be red paint on a sign at the crime scene." This got Luna's attention. "What symbol?" "Red bat wings."
Sombra isn't gold"Hey honey, I heard you would be late. The attacks are all over the news, please be careful. Also try to be back home by tomorrow, Dusk and Lavender are getting anxious, they want to see their father again. You should see their little sad faces. Please be careful, be safe. Make it home ok, I love you." To: Lenon Sky From: Cloud Flower Date: January 5, 1993 --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "How much further Brave?" "Not that much further, our camp is just over this hill." Brave lead the group of ponies through the beautifully colored forest. The multi-colored leaves were shining as rays of light hit them. Flash was helping Twilight walk through the forest, she still had bad concussion. "Now, you said king Sombra was the leader?" Nightcore asked. "Well yes, we all considered him to be our leader. He is obviously the most powerful and oldest pony amongst us." Brave stopped walking and turned towards Nightcore, they then all stopped walking. "Yeah, he is the most powerful. That is what concerns me Brave. Remember, at the Crystal Empire? Who was it that ultimately started that in the first place? Sombra himself." Flash was concerned, he knew Moonlight was Sombra's daughter, but he still didn't trust him. "No Flash, princess Luna loved him, he saved her. You need to get over that." Twilight believed what Luna had told them all back at Canterlot after the Crystal Empire, she trusted Sombra, but only a little. "You should listen to your wife, he has done nothing but help us, now we should hurry." They continued walking. Five minutes later they found themselves over the hill, everypony thought there would be a small camp full of ponies, but their was nothing instead. "Oh shit." Brave Heart said to himself, he had gone the wrong way, again. "Brave? You said it was this way." "I got turned around, this place is like a maze, and it doesn't help the fact that I haven't eaten anything for weeks. I'm a little dizzy." "I thought you said the shock didn't effect you as much." Twilight asked, they were all kind of irritated, they were promised shelter and got nothing. "Well, it still effects all of us, no matter what. Only the ponies who have been here for centuries have truly overcome the effects. You must forgive me." All three of them looked at each other in silence. They were all hungry, but couldn't eat. Twilight, Flash and Nightcore all knew that if they didn't complete this mission soon, they would go into the same shock Brave Heart did, and they knew it was terrible. "Its o-ok." Said Twilight, this made Brave smile a little. "Lets just um, um well? I don't know what to do." "What about magic, will a spell find the camp?" Nightcore asked. "No no no, magic doesn't work in this world." "How many times have you done this?" Flash said. "Guys." Twilight said in a low voice, no pony heard her. "Have you got lost before?" Nightcore said. "Guys." Twilight said in a higher pitched voice, still they didn't hear her, Flash and Nightcore were bombarding Brave Heart with questions as Brave struggled to answer. "Come on, you have been here for weeks, how could you get lost?" Flash asked. "You seriously don't know where the hell, in hell we are?" Nightcore said. "Guys?" "Not at all?" Nightcore said again. "Would you two shut up about the questions!!!!!! I got lost thats it, good bye, the end, or any other FUCKING end you can think of!!!" Brave Heart said, 100% annoyed by Flash's and Nightcore's questions. "GGGUUUYYYSSS!!!!!! Listen already!" Twilight didn't want to scream, her head was in some serious pain, but it was obviously the only way to get their attention. "Oh sorry Twilight, what is it?" Flash asked, Twilight smirked at him, which gave Flash a nervous look. "Look, down there." Twilight pointed her hoof down towards the forest edge, standing their was a strange and unusual figure. "Its King Sombra!" Nightcore pointed his hoof to. "No Nightcore, King Sombra isn't gold." They all paused for a second. King Sombra isn't gold, is he? "Brave, do you know this strange figure?" Twilight asked. "Well, it looks like Sombra, but Sombra isn't gold." The strange figure standing about fifty feet below them down the hill was a strange fluorescent figure. His, or 'it's' body was gold, a shiny gold fluorescent color. You could see through his body, yet it looked completely alike Sombra himself. They all looked in confusion, was it Sombra? Or was it not? Well, Sombra isn't fluorescent gold, Sombra also doesn't just appear out of thin air, magic does not work in this world. "Who are you?" Brave Heart asked first, he stepped forward about a foot. The gold figure did not answer, instead he pointed his hoof upwards, directly at the sun which was setting in the distance. He held hat hoof for half a minute, which just confused the others even more. Then the gold figure pointed the same hoof directly Northwest into the colorful forest, then retracted that hoof back and touched his chest with it, he did this process three times before Brave Heart knew what the figure was trying to tell them. "Uh, its pointing towards the camp! This is the southeastern hill! I remember now." Brave faced that direction. "It must be Sombra then." Twilight said. Then the fluorescent unicorn walked Northwest, the rest soon followed. The unicorn was very majestic, even to Twilight, who was a powerful unicorn and knew a lot about magic. The gold fluorescent unicorn walked in a perfect manor, never fumbling or tripping over any hidden rocks or roots. It walked in a slow image, but maintained a fast walking speed, but was still easy to keep up with. It's horn was curved, exactly like Sombra's horn was curved. Its face, body, mane, and tail all looked almost exactly like Sombra's did, it was strange. It also was not dark magic, which made Twilight curious, and dumbfounded, and above all else, exhilarated. How could Sombra pull this off? He still mainly used dark magic, didn't he? Twilight just assumed this was Sombra's doing since the figure looked exactly like him, but, Twilight saw something else while walking behind it with the others in the forest. Its mane, and tail, sparkled and waved with the wind. Its movement was so majestic, and peaceful. It was how Luna walked, Twilight was almost positive this was Sombra's doing. "Its leading us to the camp guys." --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "Um, Celestia?" "Yes what is it Lilly." Celestia leaned her head down towards Lilly's muzzle so she could hear her better. "Well, these bat ponies have been making me feel a little uncomfortable, it just seems like my rump is getting more attention than I would like." Lilly looked back to the other bat ponies that were following them through the forest, once again, Lilly caught wandering eyes, lots of them. "Oh I see. Come on Lilly, it cant be that bad. I almost never see that kind of attention towards me back at home." Celestia tried to reassure her that it wasn't a big deal, at least to Celestia. "Thats not helping. I mean, were trusting these ponies that declared war on you and obviously haven't seen a mare in some centuries, i'm just afraid that, w-well you know, um?" Lilly tried her best to find the correct words, but failed, making Celestis smirk a little. "Just stay next to me then, don't go wondering off with them." Celestia calmed her down, and Lilly followed Celestia closely as instructed. "How much further General Strongarm." Celestia shouted to Strongarm who was leading the group. "Good timing Celestia, were here." The group of travelers came to a small camp the housed the survivors of the Crystal Empire attack, they were in hideous condition. Some of them, were scrapping the dirt with their hooves, some were eating the dirt. It was obvious the shock of hunger was still setting in, and if Celestia didn't find a way out of this place soon, it would hit her as well. All of the ponies in the camp looked at Celestia with excitement, they had been saved, or thats what they thought at least. They started whispering. "Its Celestia!" "She's come to save us!" "Do they have any, f-food?" The ranting continued, until Celestia thought of the one unicorn Strongarm told her was here, Sombra himself. "General Strongarm, were is he?" Celestia and Lilly turned towards Strongarm. "Who?" "You know who." Lilly was getting annoyed. "Sombra should be in the main tent, the big one in the very center of the camp." Strongarm lifted his hood towards the main tent which was obviously larger than all the other tents, they started walking towards it. "These poor ponies look terrible Celestia." Lilly said. "Yes I know, it breaks my heart. My subjects, trapped in this hell." "My father all ways told me that no matter what, bad things can always get worse." "You are very smart Lilly, i'm glad you came. Why don't you go looking for Brave Heart?" Celestia put her hoof on Lilly's shoulder, Lilly thought about her offer. "Well, I think the best place to start is were Sombra is." Celestia smiled and they continued to walk towards the tent, all the while, more and more ponies got their attention. They soon made it to the main tent, the entrance was nothing more than a flap, Celestia raised the flap high so she could walk in, trying to make it negotiate her tall stature, Lilly was close behind, then Strongarm, the rest stayed outside. In the tent was a table with six chairs around it, and it was empty, except the furthest chair. That is where Sombra sat, looking down at a map. It took a second for him to realize their presence, but he guessed it soon enough. He looked up, then his red eyes widened in surprise, he rose from the table and got up, looking directly at Celestia. Lilly gulped, Strongarm stood behind Celestia. Celestia wasn't nervous, she didn't expect Sombra to attack her, but it was still possible. "Celestia." Thats it, thats all Sombra could say, he started to walk around the table towards her. He walked closer until he was just a foot from her muzzle, still looking right at her eyes. "The dark King comes to me again, but this time not for mercy." Celestia said, she was testing him, trying to see if he still has dark intentions. "I never came to you for mercy, just to plead." Sombra said, the moment got more intense. "Plead for mercy? Or something else." Celestia said back in response, Lilly gulped again, she took a step back. Celestia and Sombra didn't move a muscle, both their eyes darted at each other. "No, for death." After this, no words were spoken for a full minute, then Celestia broke the silence. "You know, it is good to see you again." --------------------------------------------------------------------❇❇❇❇❇------------------------------------------------------------------- "It brought us back." Brave Heart turned his attention back towards the fluorescent golden figure. "This was Sombra's doing for sure, it has got to be." They all looked at the camp then back at the gold figure. Ten seconds later the golden fluorescent figure turned the opposite direction and started walking into the forest away from the camp. "What is it doing?" "I don't know." Then, the figure tuned back around towards Twilight and the others and pointed its hoof up at the sun, again. "It keeps pointing at the sun." "Its trying to tell us something." Twilight said, then the figure once again turned around away from them and walked into thin air, disappearing into nothing, leaving the others confused. "It just, disappeared, into nothing." "Did it die?" "All that matters is it brought us to the camp." The all turned their attention to the camp of survivors, and walked in. "Its the princess of friendship!" "its true." "The've come to save us!" "These ponies look horrible." As the they waked deeper into the camp more and more eyes caught their attention. "Another alicorn uh?" Strongarm got in front of them, blocking their way. "Wow." Flash said, making Twilight smirk. "Who are you?" Nightcore asked. "Strongarm, get out of our way. I must speak with Sombra." Brave Heart stepped up to him, he was not as big as Strongarm, but still didn't fear him. "Sombra is inside, along with Celestia." "Celestia is here!" Twilight spoke out loud, getting even more attention from other ponies. "How long has she been here?" Nightcore asked. "That doesn't matter. Celestia and Sombra have already meet, and this other earth pony. Redhead, good looking rump, friend of Celestia's, Lilly or something? Something like that." "Lilly Tulip?" Brave got his attention very quickly.
