A new Beginning !?...

A letter was sent to Canterlot, asking for help since Queen Crystal died, Sombra didn't know what to do.

Celestia reunited her forces, including her sister and her guards. Celestia then decided to trot to the Crystal Empire.

But they were late... late to save the empire...

Sombra or better King Sombra has changed, he couldn't support the pain that his followers were causing to him. 'You're not a ruler.'; 'King, pff. You should be a farmer pony instead.'; 'We don't even know, how the Queen chose you to be her king?';

Those words were repeating themselves in his mind, he couldn't snap them out. 'Punish them, Sombra. They fear you. You're the King of Fears.' he thought. 'They will respect you. Don't feel sorry for them, they don't deserve your mercy. Punish them.'

Sombra let out a loud laugh and the whole bedroom became dark. There he was in his realm, he just needed to force their followers to respect him.

Suddenly the guards rushed inside the room.

"Sir. We heard you laughing. Is everything alright?" one of them asked.

"YES, EVERYTHING IS IN ORDER," he said. "PERISH. BOW BEFORE KING SOMBRA."

Out of nowhere a dark magic wrapped his guards and turned them into dark ponies. "YOU WILL DO WHAT I SAY." he said. "PUNISH THOSE WHO ARE AGAINST MY RULES. ENSLAVE THEM. MAKE THEM SUFFER."

His 'new' guards nodded and let him alone in his bedroom. "I'M SORRY CRYSTAL, BUT THIS IS THE ONLY WAY," he said while looking towards the starry night.

All of what he heard next were cries and screams, as his guards captured all of those who were against his type of ruling.

In their way towards the Cyrstal Empire, one of Celestia scouts approached her and said.

"My princess. There're wounded ponies around here." he said while bowing to her.

"Show me the way, my little one." Celestia said.

He nodded and trotted towards his destination.

When they arrived, at least five ponies were wounded, but they're wearing armor it's impossible for them to be attacked by some furious creatures.

"What happened here? They are wearing armor, not even Timberwolves or Manticores would dare to attack them." Celestia said.

"It appears, that they were attacked by some kind of pony." Luna said. "I could feel some strange magic all over their bodies."

"Oh well." Celestia said. "Guards, take these ponies to our infirmary in Canterlot."

"But who will protect you if something bad happens." one of her guards said.

"Shadow Night magic is powerful enough to protect us. You could trust him, he will protect us." Luna said.

One of the wounded ponies woke up and trembled when saw new ponies.

"Leave us alone. We told you that we're didn't do nothing"

"What." Celestia said "We won't hurt you or your friends. What happen to you?" she asked.

"We were walking peacefully." he said. "Wait. You're alive." he said while pointing towards Shadow Night.

"What. Of course, I'm alive." he said. "Why are you asking?"

"Shadow Blade crew told us that you're dead."

"So you're shadow ponies, we thought that they're dead." Celestia said.

"We were leaving in a little village when we got attack by, darkly armored ponies." he said. "Their magic was powerful than ours. We had to flee, but due to our recent battle and our wounds we couldn't walk so far."

"Alright. Now, relax you're safe." she said.

"Why are you helping us? We're shadow ponies." he asked

"If you don't realize."Celestia said. "He's one of you." she explained while pointing towards Shadow Night. "He saved us. So it's fair enough that we save you don't you think?"

He nodded.

Celestia guards carried the wounded ponies towards Canterlot.

"Let's us proceed." Celestia said.

They resumed their trotting.

As they trotted, the Crystal Empire was showing up on the horizon. The distance between them and the Crystal Empire was closing.

But, something wasn't right... A strange shadow was floating around the Empire.

"What is happening here?" Celestia asked.

"Look, sister. The darkly armored ponies that those ponies told us about. They are there" she said while pointing towards those ponies.

"Watch out, princesses the strange shadow is coming towards us." he said. "Stay behind..."

Suddenly the strange shadow floated around them and dragged them to a deep sleep.

--Celestia worst fear--
'Where am I?' she asked.

She was surrounded by counselors ponies, she was in her palace and in front of her was her father.

"You failed me, Celestia." he said.

"What? I...I..."

"Your recent decision made me lost my daughter, your sister." he said

"I didn't do nothing. I...I..." she said.

"I'm sorry my dear, but I will have to take off your alicorn powers. You failed me. YOU FAILED ME."

--Shadow Night worst fear--
"Celestia. You wanted to talk to me." he said.

"You betrayed us." she said. "YO...YOU...YOU USED YOUR IMMORTALITY ABILITY TO ACCOMPLISH YOUR OBJECTIVE, WASN'T IT?" she asked.

"What are you talking about? I..."

"YOU KILLED LUNA. YOU KILLED HER. SHE WAS JUST TRYING TO HELP YOU. AND YOU---YOU" she said. "NO MATTER. I WILL SEND YOU TO TARTARUS. CREATURES LIKE YOU WON'T LIVE HERE WITH US."

He felt his body being teleported towards his Tartarus cell, it's chains wrapped against his body. He was dragged inside of his cell while begging for her to forgive him. She just flew away not even care to look behind.

'This is a dream. I would never attack her or hurt her like that. This is Sombra's power. I had to wake up, wake up.'

He opened his eyes to realized that, they're surrounded by a shadow cloud. He had to try to wake the princesses before it was too late.

--Luna worst fear--
Shadow Night was bleeding in her hooves.

"Wake up, you've to wake up." she begged.

"Luna, just get out of here. She is after you. Just leave---"

Suddenly, Celestia appeared in front of her.

"I'm sorry Luna, but his betrayal. He had to be punished for it." she said.

"No. I... I... won't allow you. He protected us all over this years. You. Stay. Away. From. Him."

"Luna. If you stand against my decision, I'll punish you too." she said.

"Stay away." she said while shooting a magical beam against her.

Her magical beam made Celestia disappeared.

Shadow Night was trying to wake up them. He trotted towards Celestia.

"No, dad. Please, I..." Celestia said.

He shacked Celestia body, that made her wake up.

"It's ok, Celestia. It was just a dream." he said.

She nodded and rubbed her eyes. "How much did you hear?" she asked.

"Nothing." he answered

He spotted Luna body and decided to walk her up.

"Stay away..." she said.

He saw her horn igniting up and send a magical beam towards his eye.

He cried in pain. "Luna, wake up. You're dreaming." he shacked her body.

She waked up and breathing heavily. When she looked at him she saw a bloody scar in his eye.

"What happened to your eye?" she asked.

"You were dreaming and you ended up shooting a beam towards my eye." he said.

"I'm sorry, I..." she said while small tears formed on her eyes. "I didn't mean to".

"I understand. You were dreaming, it wasn't on purpose" he said while giving her a small hug.

Celestia looked over them. "How did you know that was a dream?" she asked

"This is the power of a Umbrum. I mean Sombra power. How did I know? Well..." he answered. "I got a book that explains that."

"So this is Sombra true power." she said.

"I'm afraid that you're right." he said. "We need to proceed with caution, we don't know what we will face, upon entering the empire."

She nodded.

Suddenly the dark cloud that was surrounding them disappeared.

"Let's go we need to stop this madness." Celestia said.

At the Crystal Empire.

When they arrived at the Crystal Empire, they noticed that everything was peaceful, the streets, the houses, everything.

"What's going on here?" Celestia asked.

They decided to proceed a little further when something stopped their tracks.

"Is he enslaving them?" Celestia asked.

"I'm afraid you're right. Chains around their necks, everypony entangled. He's enslaving them for sure." Luna said

"And look. Those are the ponies that surely attack that crew." Shadow Night said while pointing towards the darkly armored ponies.

"We need to stop him, but how?" Celestia asked.

"Let's try to sneak into the castle." Shadow Night said.

"And how would we do that?" she asked

He charged up his horn and made themselves invisible.

"Anything else, my princess." he said.

"That's perfect, let's go." Celestia said.

They trotted towards the Crystal Palace, passing through the guards.

Inside the Crystal Palace.

They decide to explore for some information about this.

"I'll take a look in the library. You could look in someplace else." Shadow Night said.

They nodded and they trotted in different directions.

After sometime Shadow Night arrived at Crystal Library. He started to look for some information about something.

He looked and looked, until he found a, what he could tell looked like a diary.

"Dear diary." he read the title. "From Crystal. Who's Crystal?" he asked.

'Dear diary,

Today my brother and I went to a garden, we spent the entire day there talking about anything that came to our minds. He is too kind and gentle to me. Why, why can't I tell you how---

Your author, Crystal.
'

"Crystal is the queen." he said

'Dear diary,

Today I was caught stealing from the merchants, my father decided to punish me, whip strikes on my body. Please, give me the strength to hang that punishment.

Your author, Crystal.
'

"Oh." he said

'Dear diary,

Today I told my brother, how I feel for him and he accepted it. I was so happy. But that happiness vanished when I saw that my father killed him, because of his treason. He had saved me, I would save him too if I wasn't so weak. He promised me that my father won't hurt me anymore, but he forgot that he could be punished because of his actions. Brother, what I would give to be with you again? But, this happiness I'll find it again when I get my 30th birthday.

Your author, Crystal
'

"So they spent the night together. I didn't know. But her 30th birthday. I don't know how old she was. Maybe around my age. I'm 30 right now. " he said. "I know what killed her, her 30th birthday. She put a curse on her. She would die at the age of 30". "There's another page here. Let me see if there's something more."

'Dear diary,

I'm near my 30th birthday, soon I'll meet Shieldmore again. I created a heart made of crystal so Sombra could use it to send any threat to Crystal Empire away. It's store in my secret place, that nopony knows, not even Sombra. Oh, I forget to tell you that recently I got a prince and I decided to marry him to fulfill the prophecy.

Your author, Crystal
'

"Where it could be, this secret place?" he asked. "Her brother grave, that's it. It was her special place. If I might not be wrong a heart. Surely it will be on her brother grave." he said while closing the diary.

He used his magic to teleport the princess to him.

"I've found something." he said. "The queen created a weapon that could banish every threat away from Crystal Empire."

"Where it is?" Celestia asked.

"If I might be correct, a special place to her, maybe her brother grave. I read her diary and found that they were inseparable, they spent every moment together. So if my mind is correct there will be the place to look for it." he continued."Oh, and she said she would die on her 30th birthday but she is an alicorn. They're immortal right, even if they give up their alicorn powers."

"You might be wrong in one point. We age like normal ponies, but we had an alicorn age. That's the age that determined how old we, psychology, are." she said when she noticed that he looked at her with a confused expression, she repeated. "Basically, I have 38 years as a pony and 3.8 years as an alicorn." she explained. "Did you get it?"

He nodded. "Let's look for that crystal heart."

They nodded and teleported themselves near the cemetery.

Near the cemetery.

Celestia used her magic to open the door. They stepped towards Shieldmore grave, trying to find that heart. Until...

"I found it." Luna said. "Here, here. It had a shape of a heart, but it's stone." she said while pointing to a heart-shaped stone.

She leaned forward to grab it. When she grabbed it, the stone shined and became a crystal. They looked shocked at that piece.

"Could we use it to banish, Sombra?" she asked.

"We could try." Shadow Night said. "In the diary was to banish any threat, and he's a threat to Crystal Empire." he said. "Even he's my nephew, I can't allow him to do this to anypony." he said. "Let's use it against him."

They nodded and trotted towards the castle.

When they finally arrived above the castle balcony they called.

"Sombra, your realm of slavery and madness. Has come to an end." Celestia said.

"BETRAYERS. WE WERE SUPPOSED TO HELP EACH OTHER." he said. "GET THEM." he ordered.

His guards lept forward, trying to capture them but were stopped by Shadow Night magic. "Sombra, you're not a bad pony. Control it. You can control it, focus." he said.

"I CAN'T. THEY DON'T RESPECT ME, THIS WAS THE ONLY WAY." he said.

"You gave me no choice Sombra." Celestia said. "Luna, let's use our magic to empower this thingy" she said while pointing towards the crystal heart.

She nodded and charged up his horn. Shadow Night created a shield around them so anything won't stop their magic.

"NO. NO. NNNNNNNOOOOO." he said while saw the magical beam coming towards his body. "MAKE IT DISAPPEAR."

With a bright explosion Sombra was sent away, but with a price of course. Before the beam touched him he made a curse to the entire Empire.

When everything became more 'natural', they looked around and saw that something was missing.

"Where's the Empire?" Celestia asked. "Did we banish it?"

"I don't know." Luna said. "We're supposed to free those ponies not to send them away."

"It was his curse." Shadow Night said.

"WHAT?" Both Luna and Celestia asked.

"He's an umbrum pony, they had a special ability to simulate your worst fears. And the ability to create curses. His curse was 'Making the entire Empire vanish'"

"How much time it will be missing?" Celestia asked.

"I don't know. Maybe one thousand years or even more." he said. "You did the right thing, my princesses. We couldn't save them, they're cursed. He cursed them. I should've told you about the Umbrum powers." he said while lowering his head.

"It's ok." Luna said. "At least, he won't be bothering us."

"Let us return home." Celestia said. "We're needed in Canterlot."

They nodded and trotted towards Canterlot.

With Sombra defeat, peace had returned to Equestria once again. But, one of our main characters will be affected by a dark power... a power, that will change the whole story...