Salvation | Rebirth

When winter came, things usually settled down in Equestria. The country prepared to breathe a collective sigh of relief as the business of the year made way for the relaxation of the holidays. Winter was a time of remembrance, a time where one thought back to the history of the ponykind and what it took to get where they were now, what trials and tribulations ponies had gone through to carve their place in the unforgiving world. It was a time of unity and yet it was also a time where chaos and uncertainty was remembered. Of course, no one who was around during the foundation of Equestria was still alive, yet pony memories were long, and history taught harsh lessons. They now knew that they could not survive if divided and fighting between each other, and each winter was a reminder of that.

Princess Luna was more than ready for things to slow down. She would have spent her time at the Royal Orphanage, making sure every foal was taken care of, to remind them all that even though they might not be on good terms with their biological parents, they now had a family of their own choosing, and such a thing was to be treasured. She would have recounted various stories of her life to drive the point home as well. Perhaps she would bake pastries for everyone as well, to show her love and care to each and every single orphan under her wing.

She had plans to spend her time with Wild, seeing how well he progressed mentally, and teach him more magic. He was an attentive student, one who showed true interest in the subject, and it was a joy to watch him learn. Magic did not come to him like it did to those with talent for it, but he was diligent and willful, putting time and effort into it without complaint. First, of course, were simple spells that he could use day to day, mostly those which made daily chores a non-issue. For example, a spell made dirt slide off, leaving whatever the spell was applied on perfectly clean no matter what it was. Another was a spell that animated a broom or a mop, which would then proceed to clean the floors by itself. In truth, it seemed like Wild was excited by such spells most of all, for they showed him that magic could be a part of everyday life and make it simpler and easier, leaving him with more time to pursue things of interest.

However, as many plans seemingly got, Luna’s plan to progress Wild’s magical studies was interrupted by the unfortunate realities of life. Namely, that the world continued on without any consideration shown to the people that inhabited it.

This year had proven to be far more troublesome than the usual. There was the return of Discord, which had been dealt with and had not resulted in much damage beyond what was expected. Then there was the Changeling Invasion, which carried vast and long-lasting ramifications for the relationship between ponies and changelings, as well as the entire existence of changelings within Equestria. That was a large mess in itself, one that was, slowly yet sure, being solved and settled. Changelings were being integrated into Equestrian society, even if there were many, many hitches along the way. Some of the more bloodthirsty kinds of people that called for oppression in retaliation to the invasion were, thankfully, mostly dealt with. Nothing as permanent as death - though it would be a lie to say that Luna did not wish death on some of them. Physical branding, even enslavement of changelings was brought up. While it had not resulted in much more than awful words, it still required investigation and observation. If those people ever crossed a line, Luna would make her wrath known.

Princess Celestia ruled for so long alone because she knew when to appease in order to quieten unrest, especially that among those rich and powerful who sought more wealth and control. They were always pushing, always nudging, always trying to slip something, and Princess Celestia had to do her best to stay vigilant and also, sometimes, to let them get what they wanted. However, with Luna’s return, more of the outrageous demands and requests could now be ignored, including those that, no doubt, would introduce more trouble than benefit. It was akin to pulling weeds, however - as one proposal was squashed, another would eventually appear and would need to be dealt with.

In Luna’s opinion, some people needed a healthy dose of a rear kick to the face. Not healthy for them, of course, but certainly healthy for everyone else. However, her temper was kept in check by Celestia’s trained calm. Both of them, of course, felt fury and anger, but without a doubt it was Celestia who was the better at preventing it from spilling when unneeded.

More trouble was yet in the future. The return of the Crystal Empire was entirely unforeseen, although, in hindsight, it was somewhat obvious. It appeared the Elements of Harmony’s effects were not permanent, and so threats previously thought of as dealt with were coming back one the effects waned. First was, of course, Nightmare Moon. It was always known that she would return once one thousand years passed, yet Princess Celestia assumed it was only because she didn’t want to banish Luna forever. Now, however, it appeared like the Elements had a roughly estimated lifetime on their effect - one thousand years, give or take a couple of centuries. Or, at the very least, present evidence indicated that to be the case.

The princesses first became aware of something strange happening when they felt a surge of dark magic coming from the north. It was like a sudden pulse, an echo of a scream, and then in faded like smoke in the air. Next, they were alerted to the Crystal Empire’s return when one of the guard outposts in the north reported on it, and everything clicked into place. In a flurry of activity, things were set in motion - first, the Royal Guard was mobilized, preparing for a possible fight. Then, when none immediately came, the Disaster Assistance and Relief Office was alerted. Princess Cadance was sent to the Crystal Empire alongside them, and Princess Luna came with to see the state of it with her own eyes.

Luna remembered that fateful day of the fight well. The memory had dulled in time like glass not cleaned of dust, yet it remained in her mind. There were no negotiations planned - Equestria did not parlay with monsters. Perhaps it was a mistake, and the relative inexperience and youth of both Celestia and Luna prevented them from foreseeing the trouble that was to come. If they stopped to think, to listen, to find more information instead of jumping straight into a fight, then perhaps the Crystal Empire would not have been doomed to disappear with Sombra’s defeat.

However, the past was set in stone, and Luna now realized it and accepted it as a fact of life. She and her sister did what they thought best at the time, and they turned out to be wrong. It was the consequences of their choices that they had to deal with now.

Sombra was a unicorn without a talent mark, somehow too tall for his body, as if someone stretched him. It would resemble a growth spurt were it not so oddly, indescribably wrong. His appearance was remarkable in how dull it was, black and dark-gray. And yet, there was color in his eyes - crimson irises looked like they had replaced something else, and the green glow of the sclera was a sure sign of dark magic usage alongside purplish smoke coming from the edges of his eyelids. Those eyes seemed to shine with malice and madness, filled with rage and hate and loathing. Had his gaze had power of its own, Celestia and Luna would have turned to a rotting mess of flesh and bone within seconds, and to ash within minutes. There was no holding back - whatever person Sombra was before dark magic consumed his desires and fears, he was gone, and nothing remained of what his friend, the one who came to Celestia and Luna to warn them of him, told that there was. There was no kindness behind those eyes and no empathy. Perhaps, theoretically, it was possible for Celestia and Luna to bring Sombra back, for he had not been wielding dark magic for very long. However, they came looking for a fight, willingly blind to any other possibility.

They had fought him then, his magic a dark tide of wrongness, the air smelling like ancient dust and old rot and bone-deep cold. He moved awkwardly, some odd mix of shuffling and jumping and trotting. His movements were imprecise and staggered, yet there was power behind them, and his hits struck true. His magic almost seemed to have a mind of its own, and he wore it like ill-fitting yet functional armor. Celestia and Luna were powerful as well, held more skill besides, and yet Sombra fought them on even ground, not ceding and yet not gaining either. Luna remembered her anger at the seemingly impossible fact that he was not losing.

“They are all mine!” he roared, and his voice would have been awkward and young if not for the vitriol it possessed, “My slaves, my cryssstal slaves!” he laughed then, a broken and vile kind of thing, no joy to be found in it. Even the memory of it sent unpleasant shivers down Luna’s spine.

He weaved around the attacks, slippery in a way that seemed impossible, and the air rung with power when he struck out and hit the shields that he could not break.

“I will break you, and you will be mine!” he shouted. One would expect to see dark hunger in his eyes, to see him eye them like a particularly delicious prize, glare both lustful and hateful, and yet none of that was present. It was true that his gaze was filled with hate, but it seemed more like a part of the fight than anything deeper. His desire to own them was genuine, however, and neither Celestia nor Luna were willing to submit. The only thing they heard was that he was an enslaver, and Equestria would always be happy to show that slavers would only see one fate - death.

Princess Luna shook off her memories as she stood on a hill overlooking the Crystal Empire, a steady stream of ponies entering it and already distributing aid. The Crystal Empire had re-emerged in almost exactly the same state as it was when it last stood, and while there was still food, the stocks had been already almost completely depleted. There were signs of Sombra’s rampage when he took over the city: roads turned into a mess of shards, buildings destroyed and collapsed and burnt, and odd-looking black-brown statues of crystals that held the forms of the resistance Sombra had crushed, each with an expression of horror on their faces frozen and stuck. There were even more same-colored shards scattered around, and now they were being collected with the hopes of putting the ponies that they were back together. With time and effort, every single victim of Sombra’s would be brought back, that much was the hope.

The Crystal Castle stood tall and imposing, yet it was also scarred and broken, almost a corpse. It was once the seat of power, but now it looked akin to a broken bone sticking out of a body. A tower was toppled over, cracked and shattered, and there were odd black crystal outgrowths, reminding Luna of tumors, that marred the walls nearly everywhere one could see. The castle was once a sight of beauty, and now it was a foul-feeling ruin.

Most defining characteristic of post-Sombra Crystal Empire was the dullness, as if colors were leeched off. Ponies, buildings, flowers, grass, all of it. Even the snow that had gathered at the edges seemed to be the color of ash. None of this was at all like the vibrant life-filled Crystal Empire Luna remembered.

The denizens of the Empire more shuffled than walked, their heads down. Their wandering were seemingly endless as they tried to pick up the broken pieces of their lives, hoping against all to put them back together somehow. When questioned, none of them could clearly recall Sombra’s rule, yet there was one stark impression of a memory, one that left them shivering as they whispered of it - deep fear, pain, and all-consuming helplessness.

Sombra, King of Monsters - the title given him by all his former slaves - was nowhere to be found despite signs of his past actions and the lingering oppressive air over the entirety of the Crystal Empire. Luna sincerely hoped he had managed to die during the many centuries of his banishment into the ice, but she was far from certain of it. She had survived on the moon, and it didn’t seem like the Elements of Harmony ever allowed death to happen. Sombra was likely still out there somewhere, though hopefully trapped and imprisoned. Neither Luna nor anyone else could afford to go looking for him at the moment - the Crystal Empire needed to be secured first. It would take weeks or months to restore the infrastructure to an acceptable degree, and it would take years for it to recover most of the way. The mental scars and the memories, they would become part of Crystal Empire’s history and life.

“I’ve never seen a place so full of...” Princess Cadance said, “Fear. Or despair. What happened here?”

“We do not know,” Princess Luna said, “But we will find out, and we will help everyone we can.”