One longer explanation later, at Donut Joe’s

“I can not believe this,” Rainbow Dash said, looking at the individuals that Celestia had referred to as the Warriors of Light. “So, to recap, some dead unicorn from a thousand years ago enslaved an entire nation. Then, when he died, he did some crazy voodoo with the help of these beings called Ascians, somehow making the nation vanish.”

“Yep,” Lucia nodded, taking a bite of a glazed donut.

“A-and now, i-its back, but this magic t-turned those poor ponies into mindless servants, and th-they’re prayers brought him b-back to life.” Fluttershy said. Hearing everything that Celestia had told them had scared her half to death.

“Not back to life,” Shinji corrected, holding his hand up to draw attention his way. “Primals, to simplify it, are exaggerations or fantastical cognition of, say, a person, god, or mythical being.”

“And Celestia wants us to fight this thing?” Spike asked. “How are we supposed to fight something this powerful?”

“Sweet mother Hydaelyn,” Darling swore. “Were you even listening to what your “princess” was telling you? I can at least deal with using the incorrect title, but how stupid are you to not even listen?”

“It’s not that we weren’t listening Darling, darling,” Rarity said. She couldn’t help but giggle as she said those words. “Darling darling. Don’t think that’s ever happened before.”

“Her point is, while this might be normal to you, this is not normal to us,” Twilight explained. “We have no idea what to expect, what to do, or how to do it. I mean, even if we managed to find Sombra…”

“That is why Celestia is asking us to give you some basic training in how to deal with primals, and why Matthia is currently meeting with Captain Armor” Lucia reminded them. “Combat, strategy, anything else that might be necessary. Though truth be told I’m still not quite sure how she expects you to be safe around it.”

“Oh oh,” Pinkie called out, raising her hoof. “Perhaps it has something to do with the Elements of Harmony!”

“Elements of… what?” Darling asked, completely done with everything that had happened since she arrived.

The day had been a whirlpool of emotions for the Warrior of Light, and ever since arriving in this world she’s been feeling closer and closer to the edge. Everything about it, and that wasn’t mentioning the fact it’s citizens were every little girl's dream present, was backwards and horribly done. It wasn’t just her, though, Matthia had been upset at the one thing he had been hoping would be easy: Equestria’s military. Patrolling soldiers spent more time chatting than actually doing their job, training was extremely lenient, and as far as he could tell the only ones actually in prime condition were the Captain himself and Celestia’s personal soldiers. Three soldiers, three reasonably decent soldiers, among a nation of incompetent securities.

That wasn’t even getting into the citizens, oh crystals the sheltering Celestia was doing to these people. It had started when she learned that Twilight never knew about the Crystal Empire’s existence, or Sombra’s for that matter. It wasn’t just her though, none of these so called “element bearers”, or citizens that she asked on the streets, knew about Sombra either. A piece of history, one that led to such great travesty, and no one knew about it.

It was Ishgard, but with less dragons, a thousand tons of incompetence, and a leader who Darling was pretty sure had no idea what she was doing.

“Look, we can explain these elements of harmony later,” She said. “Since I got pulled into this mess, the most sensible person I have met is the one who told me about it. She managed to enter our base, which is in an enemy nation’s territory by the way, without tuning to the aetheryte,” Her eyes fell on Fluttershy, who was cowering at the fury in the girl’s eyes. “We aren’t saying it, but none of us are impressed with a nation who, from what I here, has been dealing with trouble every damn day for the best one and a half years!”

“Oh yeah, well we didn’t have anything to worry about until then,” Rainbow stated. “And besides, who are you to speak for your friends. All you’ve done is complain!”

“Actually, Rainbow, I think we should listen,” Twilight said. “Being unwilling to look at things from another angle, to say everything is fine when we really have no idea, didn’t that almost cause the Changelings to take over?” The pegasus opened her mouth to respond, but was forced shut by Rarity’s magic. “Typically I would be against siding with the being who looks like they’re looking for a fight but… we almost lost to Discord too. We need to listen to them, at least for now.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth, Twilight,” Applejack replied. “If it wasn’t for Celestia’s letters, we would have lost to Discord. If it wasn’t for Shining and Cadence, we would have lost to the Changelings. What happens when something stronger than that comes along?”

“Can rely on an ex machina all the time!” Pinkie shouted.

“Then perhaps it would be a good idea to break off into groups? Start the training?” Lucia recommended. “We can’t leave Sombra waiting, but we also can’t leave you unprepared. In otherwords, Rarity, you’re with me.”

Rarity watched, words caught in her mouth as the Miqo’te up and left the donut shop. She looked to the rest, seeing them starting to break off into their own groups. With a sigh, she got off her seat, and made towards the door.

“Some folks are just too single minded these days.”

Meanwhile, at the Castle

“...Therefore, a direct assault on the city using these trains would prove futile,” Matthia told Shining Armor. The two were alone in the closest equivalent to a war room Shining could find, with a map of Equestria in front of them. “Sombra may be a primal, but he won’t be any less stupid. These trains are about as stationary as an airship from what you’ve told me. He will have troops waiting at the station. Speaking of which, if you didn’t know of the Crystal Empire why-”

“We have allies farther north in Yakyakistan,” Shining Armor replied, “Though due to the neverend storm that has plagued the region for so many years we have been unable to finish the train route. Along with that, the weather is too treturous for us to use airships.”

“That would explain why the city has no need for walls,” Matthia said, smiling. “This goddess, whoever she may be, was smart. Who needs fortifications when the weather alone could dismayed your enemies? Clever.”

“With that in mind, it would take too long for our forces to march into the city,” Shining summarized. “Even if we were lucky too not already be tampered by this primal, he would have ample time to prepare and ready his forces. That and my forces are ill-equipped to deal with such conditions.”

“We can focus on that once we have a proper route into the city,” Matthia said. “No reason to prepare an army for an operation we have no idea how to launch.”

Matthia, despite everything problem that he had with Equestrian military, had found a companion in arms with the Equestria captain. Shining Armor proved to be a smart, kind, and strategic fellow, and he was willing to do all he could in order to keep his home and wife safe. Any questions the former had about Equestria the latter would answer immediately, showing a tolerance and patience Matthia had long ago surmised was the Garlean Empire's greatest weakness. That, he released, was Equestria’s greatest weapon: the ability to adapt without open combat.

Though there was always a situation he could find that the military could have done better in, Equetria hadn’t been forged with blood. It was a country formed by the union of three tribes who hated each other, but each lacked a skill the other had. So, when the paranormal forces known as windigo’s nearly froze the continent, a companionship finally struck between three of its leaders. Then, when the Alicorn’s came to inherit the throne, the newly formed nation marched and joined the continent together in a show of joy and companionship, not blood and oppression. Matthia had to admit that it was something to be admired, and with how powerful these alicorns like Celestia and Luna were (when the latter wasn’t stuck as a Miqo’te that is) it showed why they were so lack on military. No need for harsh training when the one you are trying to protect can defend themselves so easily.

Matthia had expected, hearing those things, that Shining would not see the reason as to why improving the military would be necessary, but he was wrong. Shining had taken the time to explain to the eorzean the attempted Changeling invasion at his wedding. His wife, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, had unknowingly been replaced by the invading leader and thrown into the Canterlot mines unknown to him or anyone else. He, himself, almost became the unwilling eternal servant of said leader if it wasn’t for his wife’s love breaking Queen Chrysalis’ hold. The fear of something like that possibly happening again stuck with him, and he was about to make sure his forces were never as unprepared now as they were then.

“Typically, because of that necessary aether boost from the crystals, a primal would be bound to a relatively small area. Sombra, due to the mass amount of crystals that have summoned him, can go much farther from the empire, is far less restricted by that,” Matthia explained. “However, this isn’t the first case where we’ve had something like this happen in Eorzea. Leviathan had the entire eastern eorzean ocean, which I theorized was due to water being it’s natural element. Sombra isn’t the exact same, but the fact he can move around so freely makes him a bigger threat than the actual army at his beck and call.”

“So we can’t do anything to his forces unless we take down Sombra first, but they will come to aid him as soon as we engage him” Shining summed, earning a nod from Matthia. Suddenly, his eyes went wide. “But if we separated into two units, one focusing on each target.”

“Exactly,” Matthia replied, his smile so wide it was starting to hurt. After a second, he had to relax his mouth muscles. “We only need a party of eight to take on Sombra. That will be my group, though sadly we are two short at the moment. However, I’m sure a quick trip back to Eorzea and visit to our “matriarch” can net us the two we need.”

“It would be nice,” Shining said, nodding. “Though... I am worried for my sister.”

“Why are you so worried?” Matthia asks. “From what I gathered, she is basically your worlds version of the Warrior of Light? Am I wrong?”

“No, your not but…” Shining looked around, making sure that Twilight wasn’t listening. “Twilight isn’t one to take to violence well. She’s the kind of mare who would always try to look for the light at the end of the tunnel, no matter if it exists or not. If Sombra knows that…”

Matthia sighed, knowing exactly where Shining was going with it all. He also had a sister, one who loved him very much, but loathed the adventurer’s life. When she had heard he was leaving home, she was scared that he would die not because of his curiosity, but because he wanted to fight like Corinne did. That was twenty-seven years ago, before the Garlean Empire stormed Doma and brought it under their heels. Seeing Equestria, in this state, reminded him of this days where he felt nothing could go wrong. It was for her life now that he joined Tales, believing one day they would lead Doma to freedom, and he would finally get an answer to if his sister still lived.

“I can’t offer she won’t get injured, but I can tell you one thing,” Matthia tells Shining. The captain looked to the strategist's eyes, seeing an odd fury in them that not many normally saw. “We called ourselves the Tales of Eorzea not because we want to go down in history, but because we would fight the battles that shall keep history alive. Our motto is “play your part and share the love of Eorzea”, and if we all play our parts right, your sister will be safe. I swear on this, not just as one among their ranks,” Matthia smiled, the fury sparking even brighter. “But as someone who has worried the same thing before.”

Author's Note

Sorry about skipping the meeting in the throne room, but I felt like writing it would basically be just restating what Luna already explained back in chapter two.

Anyways, like, comment, and give me feedback. Everything you tell me can improve the story.