The New Problem

Luster Dawn looked at Sombra from the cage she was in. Her horn was covered in crystals as was the Princess', neither of them could use their magic to escape. Sombra had won this battle. The shadow pony laughed at the two of them and he sipped a drink from a glass that he levitated near his mouth. "Tell me, did the two of you really think you were going to win against me. Without the Elements of Harmony, the Crystal Heart, or Twilight's friends... you didn't stand a chance," he taunted.

"Just you wait, Cadance and Shining Armor are going to free Flurry Heart from you and they'll come here to free us and we'll stop you!" Luster snapped back, trying to be brave.

"I'm afraid none of them will be coming to your rescue and for that fact, neither will I, Luster Dawn. King Sombra is going to give me back my old life, my family. All I have to do is work for him and help him take over this world," said Moonlight's voice as she paraded the rulers of the Crystal Empire through the throne room to see Sombra.

"Excellent, you're far more agreeable and reliable than that cursed little Princess," the shadow pony said with a cruel smile.

"You won't get away with this!" Cadance threatened.

"I already have," Sombra retorted.

With a magical blast, dark crystals grew over the horns of the rulers of the Crystal Empire and guards put them in cages. With no one to oppose him, Sombra smiled, he had finally won after all of these years and the many different attempts. He now ruled over Equestria and would soon turn his eyes towards the Crystal Empire. Once the Crystal Heart was under his control, there would be no one in the entire world that could stop him.

Moonlight Gleam walked over to the cages and smiled sadistically, none of them ever expected this from her. She had been a bit of a jerk in the past, but to allow herself to be taken over by Sombra? This was too far, even for her. Luster Dawn had to know the answer to the question that was on everyone's mind, "Why did you do it?" she asked, hurt by this turn of events.

"I had everything taken away from me by one person, I would be willing to do anything to get it back. When my king showed me the future that I could have, I jumped at the opportunity to join his cause. What happens to any of you is of no consequence to me," the investigator pointed out bluntly.

She turned around to face the pony on the throne, "My liege, considering these ponies are incapable of using their magic, may I take a squad of guards and escort these rebels to the dungeon?" she requested.

"They are of no use to me for the moment. It'll be an excellent place to keep them so that I could gloat about my accomplishments as they can only watch and do nothing!" Sombra gloated.

Moonlight left the throne room for a moment and arrived with armed guards. The ponies that weren't under Sombra's control were let out of their cages and were surrounded by the guards. The dark blue unicorn shot them each a glare, "If you try to escape, you will be stopped by any means necessary," she threatened.

None of them tried to resist and she led them into the dungeon, locking each of them in their respective cells. She finished up with the last one when a familiar voice called out to her, "This is pathetic, Moonlight. For someone who has dedicated her entire life to stopping me, you sure chose to walk down my path."

The investigator walked over to a particular cell, inside of it was a vampony. An aberration. "Hahaha, my king has already done the work that I wanted to do for me! You're captured here and now you'll be easy to eliminate. Begone guards, I don't want anyone interfering with this," she stated.

The guards nodded and left the dungeon. Moonlight lit up her horn and unlocked the cell door. She grabbed it with her hoof and grabbed a spear in her magic. She was going to make this as quick as possible. She wanted her revenge, she wanted Sunrise to pay the ultimate price for what he had done to her and his father and now, no one was here to stop her. She opened up the door to the cell and was immediately blasted back by dark magic. Her spear snapped as it hit the stone wall of the dungeon.

"No matter what he promised you, you forgot one thing. I'm more powerful than you are, Moonlight," the vampony taunted.

"Well then, if that's the case. My liege, I need more power!" Moonlight called out.

Dark magic swirled around Moonlight who sadistically smiled. It started to enter her and demonic wings burst from her back as her dark blue coat turned jet black. Her mane and tail turned pure white and she roared as she launched herself at her enemy.

Sunrise was able to catch her and throw her into the cell. He tried to lock her into it, but a magical blast was able to launch the door into the wall and him with it. The door clanged as it hit the stone floor as the newly corrupted investigator screamed in rage, "I will make you pay for everything you took from me! And I will ensure that you pay for it slowly!" she threatened.

The vampony stood back up and stared at his opponent. The two of them stared each other down for a full minute before they tried to blast each other with dark magic. Moonlight however with the new power increase was able to best Sunrise, who smiled and absorbed the spell, his features slowly becoming more vampiric. "I forgot you can do that, I guess I'll have to engage you at close range then!" the corrupted unicorn yelled.

She quickly closed the gap but was unfamiliar with how to fight as a pony, she tried to punch her opponent, only to find herself being bucked against the far wall. "It's very rare that life grants me an opportunity such as this one. I both get to tell you the truth and make you suffer. Sombra isn't going to be able to give you your old life back. Your new director? That Filthy Rich guy? You're nothing but a disposable pawn to him. You'll never be able to be the woman you want to be ever again! He doesn't care if you capture me or if I get rid of you, you'll never be free!" Sunrise called out to her.

Moonlight stood up, part of her knew that what Sunrise was saying as true, but this confused her for a moment. Why was he trying to reach to her other than to make her suffer. "Why are you telling me this instead of continuing our fight?" she asked.

"You're just as disposable to Sombra as you were to Filthy Rich. He doesn't care about anyone other than himself. All ponies to him are pawns. He defied me and locked me up in this dungeon when I brought him back to get revenge on the Princess. He'll dispose of you just as easily when your usefulness comes to an end," the vampony said with a smirk on his face.

Moonlight held her head and started to grunt in pain. She knew that what Sunrise was saying was true and some part of her was trying to get out, trying to break the hold that the shadow pony had on her. "Get out of my head!" she screamed.

Sunrise smiled at this, but was soon decked in the face by the corrupted unicorn. "I don't care if you were right, I still don't like you and it unbelievably ticks me off that I need you at the moment," the investigator pointed out.

She walked to the cells of the other ponies, unlocking and opening them one by one. The ponies didn't question this, but were alarmed that the green glow in her eyes was replaced by an inky blackness. "Can you get rid of the crystals on their horns, we will need their magic if we're going to defeat Sombra," she asked.

Sunrise walked to Luster Dawn and placed his hoof on her horn. He wanted to feed on her magic, but he knew that he would need them to stop Sombra. He could feel the desire for revenge from Moonlight, but he himself wanted his own revenge against that shadow pony. He concentrated and absorbed the magic that created the crystals on the unicorn's horn, causing them to vanish. "I've taken none of your magic from you," he pointed out.

"Why should we make you more powerful?" Twilight asked, knowing the danger of this.

"I want one pony to suffer, I don't care about anyone else so long as they don't get in my way. At the moment, our goals align. We both want to stop Sombra, the enemy of your enemy is your friend as the saying goes and I have no reason to betray you," the vampony replied calmly.

The rest of the ponies allowed him to get rid of the crystals that were preventing them from using their magic. Sunrise nodded at Moonlight, who looked up the stairs and started to lead the group back towards the throne room. The guards oddly didn't try to stop them, almost as if Sombra had some sort of plan. She wasn't foolish enough to believe that her fighting his control off went unnoticed.

The seven ponies marched into the throne room, Sombra immediately met them with an attack at Moonlight. Sunrise stepped into the way and absorbed the attack with a smile on his face. "Your highness, perhaps you should've realized that I'm a vampire. I feed off magic and I have to admit, yours doesn't taste at all that good and as loathe as I am to admit it, I need her to enact my revenge on you," he taunted.

"Your revenge, what revenge do you think you're going to get?" Sombra asked.

Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes and the power of the two other alicorns, her brother and her student started to enter her. The shadow pony realized what was going to happen and fired another magical blast, this one to disrupt the charging of the attack. The investigator in return fired one of her own to intercept his attack. She then fired one at the ground near him to kick up dust and she rushed him.

He wasn't aware of her position when she tackled him to the ground and encased the two of them in a barrier. "You're going nowhere, Sombra," she said chillingly.

"You'll be eliminated by the beam as well!" the shadow pony warned.

"That's a price I'm willing to pay. You deceived me, lied to me about getting my family and my old life back. You took over Equestria, you took over the minds of thousands of innocents. If I have to perish so that you may receive the punishment you deserve? Then so be it," she stated coldly.

Sombra tried to turn into his shadow form, but it didn't help him escape. He then tried to open a shadow portal only to find himself being punched in the head by a hoof. Twilight finished charging and fired the beam at the two of them and Moonlight lowered the barrier to allow it to hit both of them. The two were lost in a rainbow light and Sunrise took this opportunity to make his escape while everyone was drained and distracted.

The five remaining ponies looked at the scene, worried. When the light faded, two unicorns lay on the ground. One of them was a charcoal gray color, the other was dark blue. The dark blue unicorn opened her eyes and looked at the other unicorn before her, "What... we're alive?" she asked.

Luster rushed over and hugged her and Twilight walked over to them. "Sombra was returned to his normal form so that he may finally answer for his crimes and have a chance at redemption. As for you, Moonlight, you were one of his victims. I've known that you harbored a strong hatred in your heart, but it took real courage to push that aside for the greater good," she said to the investigator.

Moonlight nodded as she looked around for Sunrise. However, he was nowhere to be seen. She expected him to have gone back into hiding again. "We will do everything we can to find him and we will bring him to justice to answer for his crimes, Moonlight. But you need to focus on healing your own wounds. Luster and I will help you to the best of our abilities, but for now, we need to get these ponies back to where they came from. Hopefully you'll start opening up soon now that you've seen how good it feels to work together with others," the Princess assured her.

"Thank you, but if you don't mind. All I want to do is sleep, it's been a very long day," the investigator replied shortly before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

Luster lifted the other unicorn up and carried her to a guest room, placing her on a bed and tucking her in. As she left the room, she looked back at her. Moonlight wasn't the same pony she was when they first met and she hoped that the investigator would finally start to truly lower her walls to allow others in so that they could help her heal. However, she was needed to assist her teacher with the task of helping ponies get back home. She closed the door and left the tired unicorn to rest.