Author's Note

I didn't intend this chapter to be too long, but hope you guys enjoy nonetheless!

Chapter 11

As Celestia flew to the Crystal empire, she couldn't help but think about the stallion at the castle. It is true that Moonshadow had been gone for a while, but did that mean he had truly changed? Then again, why else would he have returned from Limbo?

Those thoughts soon left her head, however, as she arrived at the Crystal Empire - or what was left of it. The entire empire was covered in dark spikes, causing many structures to have fallen. The sky was completely orange, with gray clouds covering the sun. Flying over the castle, Celestia could see many Crystal Ponies, their magic faded once more, in chains and mining the spikes that rose from the ground.

Lowering towards the castle door, she looked out over the courtyard. The Crystal Heart was no longer there - no surprise - but in its place were two cages, and in the cages were...

"Cadance! Shining!"

"Celestia? What are you doing here?" Cadance groaned, rubbing her head as she rose.

"I'm here to help you regain control of your empire.'

"No, Celestia!" Shining Armor cried, going to the edge of the cage to face the Sun Princess. "If Sombra finds out you're here, he'd have your head immediately! You need to leave, now!"

"Shining's right, Celestia," Cadance agreed. "The only thing Sombra's been talking about was getting revenge. If you want to protect us, go back to Canterlot. It's safer for you there."

"Not without you two," Celestia stated, charging her horn "Stand back."

When the two royal ponies did so, they noticed that Celestia's horn was beginning to have a purplish glow to it. Suddenly, her eyes flew open, expelling shadows and she blasted the cages, shattering them without setting off an alarm.

"How..How did you learn to do that?" Shining asked, looking somewhat horrified by what he just saw.

"It was an old trick I picked up," Celestia smirked, then turned away. "We must hurry. We need to leave before - "

"I WAS WONDERING WHEN YOU WERE GOING TO SHOW UP, CELESTIA..."

The Sun Princess turned to see the evil Shadhavar that took over the Crystal Empire. He looked the same from the last encounter, except now his eyes were now brimming with hate and rage.

"Sombra," Celestia stated. "We meet again."

"KING SOMBRA, PRINCESS," The Shadhavar growled. "AND NOW IT'S TIME I DEFEATED YOU, ONCE AND FOR ALL."

He laughed, lowering his horn as it began to charge with power.

Celestia began preparing a force field to protect herself, but before she could, two beams of energy - one pink, one blue - shot towards Sombra. Snarling, he dove into the shadows and created two black pillars, then resurfaced and shattered them, sending the shards towards the three impostors.

Together, they created a force field, but still the shards broke through. As they fell under the attack, Sombra shot beams of dark energy towards them , but thankfully the trio dodged it in time.

"Shining, you need to go warn Twilight and her friends!" Cadance cried.

"No way am I leaving without you, Cadance!" The stallion cried, wincing for just thinking that.

"Cadance is right!" Celestia insisted. "You can get there faster. When you get there, warn the Elements of Harmony, then tell my sister and Moonshadow. Now - "

Suddenly, she gasped and covered her mouth, paling as she looked at Sombra. The Shadhavar had frozen in shock, not expecting to hear that name after so long.

IT.. I-IT CAN'T BE...BUT HOW...? The Shadhavar thought in his head, paling at the sound of the name - the one thing that gave him nightmares when he slept.

"Wait, who's Moonshadow?" Cadance asked.

"There's no time! Now GO!!!" Celestia ordered.

"NO!!!" Sombra cried, but Shining was already gone. The Shadow-Pony looked at the two alicorns before him with a fresh wave of rage, but he couldn't hide the fear he had started feeling in his heart. "YOU THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE METEOR IS BACK, YOU CAN DEFEAT ME? I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY!!!"

King Sombra charged, horn glowing, and Celestia and Cadance met him head-on, ready for a fight.