Sombra's Bat

It is five minutes to ten, and I am buzzing with excitement at the prospect of the Royal Announcement that is mere minutes away. Ordinarily, Sombra and I would have a speech written for us, but we have decided to keep everything a secret up until the moment that we tell everypony.

I sit in front of a half-written scroll, unsure as to what I should say to the crowds of ponies gathering in the streets. I know what Sombra is going to say, but he sums up everything that comes to mind in a few phrases. He really is skilled at being a leader, even if he is incredibly harsh at times. This harshness is never directed at me, however. In his eyes, I am the most sparkling gem in the Crystal Empire. Maybe. He's not really into Equestrian literature.

I hear him walk into the room. "Ugh, I have no idea what to say," I tell him.

"To be honest, neither do I. Usually I tell them what they want to hear, but I feel like this needs to be from the heart. From somewhere very deep down, in my horseshoes."

I snort with laughter. "Good to know it's still there."

"Most ponies wouldn't know. My heart has always been kept safe for a few ponies. All of those ponies are long gone... Except you, of course."

"Awww. Quiet though, or everypony will work out what we're going to say. It's supposed to be a surprise, remember?"

"Alas, I forgot. I have never been good at keeping secrets."

"Who are you, and what have you done with King Sombra? You have plenty of secrets. Your dark magic is more powerful than Celestia's light magic. You learned the secret of becoming one of the Umbrum. Nopony has ever seen the cutie mark that adorns your flank. Not even me."

“And what if I were to offer you an opportunity to unravel that mystery?” he asks slyly.

I suddenly realise the connotations of what he is saying. Rather than panicking, though, I smirk, "I think you’ll find that I would rather wait a little longer before you give me any of that talk, Your Majesty."

"Fine, that was a bit on the nasty side. Don’t worry, my sweet little bat, I wasn't planning on it. However, I am planning on making the announcement on time, and we have two minutes left. Would you like to put on that ring?"

I look at the box that contains the engagement present.

"Yes," I say, opening the box and slipping it onto my front left hoof. It fits perfectly, and I admire how well it complements my blue-grey fur. "Wow, amazing fit. How did you know which size to get?"

"It is enchanted to fit the wearer. I am glad that you like it. Now, I believe that there is a crowd of ponies outside to address. Oh, forget writing that speech, we can make up something half believable."

We leave the room together, head to the throne room and wait patiently to be called onto the balcony. Some random guard is outside, talking to the ponies. I hear the words, "And now I will hand you over to the great King Sombra and his top Royal Guard, Moonlight Shade!" It reminds me of when I stayed in Canterlot Castle, a couple of months ago now.

The doors are thrown open, and we both walk forwards, into the view of those thousands of ponies. The Crystal Empire is actually bigger than I first perceived it to be, but it is still dwarfed by Equestria. I smile at the crowds, and wait for Sombra to start speaking.

"Today," he says just loud enough for the wind to carry the sound, "Moonlight Amethyst Shade and I have called you here so that we can announce to all of you the news of our engagement."

To my surprise, the crowd is happy and actually cheers. This is probably because they know me as the mare who nudges Sombra in the right direction so that he can make the best decisions for everypony. I notice something strange happen as they all continue to cheer: a single piece of crystal in the castle's structure shines red for just a moment. It fills me with fear. What if destroying the Crystal Heart was not enough? What if Sombra's life could still be on the line? However, this piece of red crystal gives me a little idea. What is it that I always hear from the foals when I visit the schools?

"There are still many plans to be made for the ceremony, but I think that, to celebrate the changing of traditions in the Crystal Empire, there will be a Festival of Colour to show how we all stick together as a community through the changing times. This event will mainly be for the young colts and fillies, to show them that our true colours shine from the inside, regardless of the appearances of ourselves, other ponies or our town."

Sombra looks impressed. "Such caprice. Nice surprise though. You are one impressive mare, Moonlight. I would never have thought of something like that."

"I am only outshone by you," I answer. I rest my head on his shoulder and lean against him. I say to the crowd, "Foals of the Crystal Empire, when I next visit your schools, I want to hear lots of ideas for the Festival of Colour!" I watch a group of foals dance with glee. Something tells me that Sombra would be a lot more strict without a marefriend, which makes me all the more proud to be his.

"That is all that we have to say," Sombra tells everypony. "However, you do not have to go back to work or school today. Have the day off to celebrate and spend time with your friends and families. Life will resume as normal tomorrow."

As we trot inside, I say to Sombra, "Am I making you a better pony?"

"You truly are. I never would have been this kind without you. I was even nice to one of the guards this morning. Unfortunately, I could never tell Celestia that. She'd think she was hallucinating."

I laugh loudly, and a couple of guards give us curious looks. I pretend to be angry and snarl, "What are you looking at? Are a mare and stallion not allowed to enjoy their time together?"

"Spend all the time that you want together. We're just enjoying the fact that our King is a lot happier than usual. Often, he seems rather angry, but I think you are a good influence on him."

"I can be angry more often if you want," Sombra interjects, a frown on his face. The guards look as though they are about to burst with the giggles that they are struggling to contain.

"Sweetheart, I think they like it when you're nice," I laugh.

"Maybe they do, but I like being intimidating. It makes me feel like I'm in charge."

"You can be nice some of the time. Just remind me not to get too sappy with our subjects, I'd hate to turn into a Celestia, where you just give everypony what they want to shut them up. Talking of our good friend Sunbutt, I know how we can write that letter, Sombra."

"You mean the one we are going to write about the situation with the Crystal Empire, where we guilt-trip her and convince her not to declare war on us?"

"Precisely," I answer.

The guards look shocked, but Sombra brushes off their concerns. "Please, don't worry, you are far better than Equestria's guards. At some point Moonlight here needs to tell you about their recent royal wedding that got gatecrashed by a few changelings. Now, beautiful fiancee, tell me what you think we should write."

"First, Sunbutt needs a letter, but then I think we need to start writing out some invitations too."

The final product of our loathing for Celestia smiles at us, and I am so proud of how much effort we have put in. Even though we are beginning to lose our ghastly reputations, I am happy that everypony knows that we are engaged. Said engagement is a crucial part of the letter, for it allows us to guilt-trip, blackmail and humiliate Celestia all in one go.

"Would you like to read the final thing?" says Sombra, handing the pieces of paper to me. He knows that I have been longing to read it all afternoon. My eyes scan over the pages, and my smile grows wide.

Dear Princess Celestia,

We are writing to you regarding the string of letters you have sent us about our new roles as leaders of the Crystal Empire.

We understand that you are extremely unwilling to let us continue our reign, as it would show you in a bad light if you did not try to protect your ponies. However, we would like to tell you that the members of the public here in the Crystal Empire are enjoying their lives. They say that we seem much better rulers together, and we agree, so we have decided to announce to everypony that we are officially engaged. We would like to invite you to the wedding, but we genuinely fear that you may try to use the occasion to overthrow us, as a certain Queen of the Changelings tried to do at the wedding of Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armour.

Of course, it is not that we expect you to follow in the hoofsteps of the vile Queen Chrysalis, except that is exactly what we expect you to do. You were willing to let your subjects kill a pony without even a trial, so who knows where the end to your cruelty is? You have proven yourself to be a violent mare, throwing your subjects into battle without even the tools to defend themselves with. We are talking about the Element Bearers, who you are supposedly so protective of, the ones whose lives you feared for, only to find them returning unharmed. Oh, the sweet hypocrisy, and we were the only ones to notice.

Now, give our best regards to Luna, for she is the better sister for seeing things our way. Also, if you happen to see any Changeling hives around, please tell Chryssie that she and her family are invited to the wedding if they fancy a meal, as long as they all leave when asked and do not try to take the place of the Crystal Empire residents. We would hate to repeat your mistakes.

Yours not sincerely,
King Sombra and Commander Moonlight Shade
Crystal Empire.

"The other one?" I ask, grinning from ear to ear.

The other letter floats over to me, and I smirk.

Dear Queen Chrysalis of the Changeling Kingdom,

We would like to invite you and your extended family to the royal wedding of King Sombra and Commander Moonlight Shade of the Crystal Empire. We do not have a definite date, because we need a reply in order to make provisions for you all to come. We also invite you, Queen Chrysalis, to talk in the hope that we can form a political alliance, if only to spite our enemy, the wicked Celestia, who we are glad to say will NOT be invited.

Please RSVP as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely,
King Sombra and Commander Moonlight Shade
Crystal Empire.

"Pfft. When Celestia and our good Queen Chryssie realise how much effort we have put into these. Chrysalis, I expect her to be surprised. Hell, she might even be able to taste our joy. Sunbutt, though..."

"I hope she can see the humour in it. However, she will most likely be miffed - at the very least. Are you sure that you want to send these? It could increase the chances of Equestria declaring war on us."

"They're going to anyway, Sombra. We might as well have some fun before they do. Guards?"

A guard opens the door to the tower room. "Yes, miss?"

"Am I called miss?!" I growl.

He gulps. "Er, no."

"What am I called?"

"I was unsure how you would like to be addressed and whether you engagement changed anything."

"Call me Captain of the Royal Guard, Commander Moonlight Shade. After the wedding, I will be Queen Moonlight. Understood?"

"Yes, Commander. What can I do for you?"

I roll up the scrolls using dark magic. "The letter with the green ribbon is for Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings. The one with the black ribbon is to be sent to Canterlot Castle."

"Yes, Commander." He holds the scrolls between his teeth and leaves.

The room goes quiet for a moment. "A bit for you thoughts?" Sombra asks.

"You said earlier that your heart was kept safe for a few ponies. Who were those before me? Not that I'm jealous - as far as I'm aware, you haven't had a girlfriend since before my trip to the moon."

"Well, my last sweetheart was one Radiant Hope. She was everything that I loved about the Empire condensed into one pony. I wanted to rule, and she did too. However, I had a thirst for knowledge and magical power, and the monarch at the time, Amoré, distrusted me and banished me. Hope abandoned me for the Gifted School for Unicorns, and I developed a hatred for her and Amoré strong enough to cast dark magic with."

"Which led to you becoming an Umbrum."

"Yes, indeed. Hope watched it all unfold from Canterlot. She struggled to choose whether to help me or not, but in the end she chose not to. Her loss."

"Talking of the Umbrum, how does a pony change?"

"Well, dark magic becomes easier to cast than light magic. Also, Umbrum look a lot like the windigos of old."

"Can you show me?"

Sombra's horn is surrounded by shadows that travel down his body and engulf him. Once he is completely covered, I see a glowing deep purple form inside that looks similar to a pony but is clearly not. He looks a lot more sinister, more dangerous.

"What do you think?" Sombra asks.

"That... is amazing. Now how do I-"

I hear approaching hoofsteps outside the room and say to him, "Somepony's coming!" He changes back remarkably quickly, and just in time. A guard enters the room - hmm, I should teach him to knock - and announces, "We have a visitor."