Sombra leads me through the castle after breakfast to find the mirror, and we take it down to the dining room again. I am curious to see how it works. It stands on its own on the table, reflecting the darkness of the room. I have adjusted to the black crystal of the castle, but Sombra says that one day it may shine in a whole rainbow of colours if the mirror gives us the answers we need.

"Right, first we need to test it. Show me the corridor outside my bedroom right now," he tells it. Our reflections disappear, replaced with a view of the aforementioned corridor. "Now show me Moonlight Shade at the moment." Our reflections appear again. "It still works, then. Show me Celestia right now."

I watch as the throne room of Canterlot Castle appears. Celestia is writing a letter. A guard who I recognise as Shining Armour asks, "Do you think the others in the Crystal Empire are safe?"

"Of course they are safe. The Umbrum and the vampire are more of a nuisance than a threat. Their own guards were dropping like flies before the new communications system was destroyed. Your sister and her friends have the Elements of Harmony as well. Equestria is in good hooves."

I want to smash the mirror. Celestia uses that kind of language?! It turns out that my mistrust in her was qualified from the beginning when I first joined the Royal Guard, although I'm sure she wasn't this horrible back then. Mind, she's had a thousand years to turn sour.

"And what about the papers? They haven't been quiet since this whole issue started, and it's only going to get worse over time."

"The papers? Do you think there is much that they can do? I can pass new laws to tell them what they can and can't report on if it comes to that. Do not fret, Shining. I am the ruler of Equestria, and it is my duty to look after the ponies."

"Co-ruler," Luna corrects as she glides into the room. Thank goodness. "In my opinion, if they are only a nuisance they should be left alone to get on with it, sister, and I object to the censorship of the newspapers. They should be allowed to say what they want. We can dismiss any unsatisfactory stories as fake news and know that we will be believed. Those who are most powerful are not often questioned on such matters."

"You are right, Lulu. The ponies of Equestria believe me. Shining Armour, have no concerns. I will make sure that this war is won, so you and Cadance get your own kingdom to rule together and are both safe." She gives a warm smile that is twisted and full of lies. "You can go back home and look after her now, while she gets over this illness."

"What is this monstrosity ruling our neighbouring country?" I ask Sombra once Luna and Shining Armour leave the room in the mirror.

"It is called a Sunbutt Gigantus Maximus. It has a large rump, a high opinion of itself and a long nose to make regular ponies look far smaller than it when it looks down at them. It tells many lies and cares for nopony but itself, constantly attempting to make itself seem superior to even its equals."

"So Cadance is ill. Do you think she caught the flu?"

"I think she caught Sunbutt-itis. A Sunbutt Gigantus Maximus may resort to lethal methods in order to prove its worth, even when family is involved."

"You think she was poisoned."

"A Sunbutt Gigantus Maximus's character alone is toxic. She may have cooked something disgusting to upset her fellow alicorn's stomach? Wait, something is happening in the mirror."

Luna is back in the room. Celestia does not even look at her when the younger alicorn calls her older sister's name.

"What is it, Lulu?" the eldest sighs. "Your whining over silly whims has become annoying lately. Please let me get on with my work as long as Sombra isn't about to storm into Canterlot."

"Would it not be a good idea to talk to Prince Rutherford and the yaks about this business with the Crystal Empire? We are to the south of your enemy, and the yaks are to the north." I notice that Luna said that we were Celestia's enemy and not hers.

"Why should I? They won't give me anything of use, and have no magic."

"You are friends with Queen Novo of the Hippogriffs, who have little magic in them."

"I would not call it friends, and Hippogriffs are better than the rest of the horrible lot of creatures I could befriend. I would rather them than the yaks who throw tantrums whenever I speak to them."

"I wonder why," Luna grunts, barely audible. Speaking a little louder, she asks, "So what is wrong with our adopted niece Cadance?"

"Doctors have found traces of a dark magic spell. Sombra has cursed her. Such a monster should not exist in the first place. Why do you think he wishes to hurt the ponies so? Even the most mundane earth ponies do not deserve what he has brought upon the Crystal Empire. I have worked so hard to look after them, and after a thousand years I think my ponies deserve better treatment from him."

I give Sombra a questioning look, and he answers, "Cadance would be dead by now if I had cursed her. The dark magic spell that is affecting her has been cast far more recently, most likely by the Sunbutt Gigantus Maximus herself."

"I doubt it is really that bad," says Luna. Honestly, both of them are so deceptive that I have trouble working out if Luna wants to help us and if Celestia hasn't been foalnapped and replaced by somepony else. "He is only a small trial. Forget I said anything about the yaks. If you do not want to side with them, that is your choice. Sister, have you worked out how to communicate with the Element Bearers?"

"I would never scare them by trying to use a telepathy spell, but I feel that it might be the only way unless I am to travel there myself. I may have to, but I wish to wait to see if there is a surrender first. Let them see the effects of being cut off from the rest of the world before I act."

"That is cruelty."

"I am liberating them from cruelty, sister."

"Let me remind you that Sombra and Moonlight said the same thing about you."

"The filthy Umbrum and the vampire tell a lot of lies. Stop bothering me with such nonsense, Lulu. I will find a way of sorting this out in time." With exasperation, she teleports out of the throne room, and the mirror fades until our reflections show again.

"Ok," I say, "How in Tartarus does Luna put up with that every single day?! This is the worst kind of bullying. We need to do something to help her out before she loses it."

"I never knew that she had such an issue with non-magic creatures and non-unicorns who use magic. The thing is, you'd think that non-magic creatures having magic would make her happy, but apparently magic only belongs to unicorns."

"I know. I want to help Luna, but there's nothing we can do when we are surrounded. You said you would give them two days to leave, ending tomorrow. What's your plan?"

"Give them a good old scare. They won't like it if they have to run around in the dark. My shadow form blocks all light."

"That's not a very permanent solution. We need to drive them back properly, but they've split off into groups so it's harder to attack them. If we divide the Crystal Guards and the Changeling Guards into groups, they're actually weaker. What do we do, because I want us to be safe."

"I have just remembered something that may or may not be of use. There's an old story about a unicorn who helped raise the sun and a pegasus who controlled the wind. Each was trying to see if they could take a travelling earth pony's coat. The pegasus wanted to use the wind to blow it away, but the wind was so cold that the earth pony wrapped it around himself tighter. Then the unicorn made the sun really warm so that it was too hot for the earth pony to wear the coat and took it off. Obviously this was made up to ensure the message of unicorns having ultimate power was spread, but the point is that persuasion gets ponies to do things far easier than force. Instead of pushing them away from the Empire, they could be led away."

"I see your point. How to lead them away, though? Do we ask Luna to pull some strings and call them back, or do we ask Chryssie for a favour? Neither option sounds like it will work. The changelings won't want to get involved and disguise themselves, but Luna is unlikely to be able to do anything, judging by what we have seen in this pretty little mirror."

"Perhaps we will have to use a variety of methods all at once. I was making notes while that little conversation was going on, and I am sure that we will be able to do something with all of this." He holds up two rolls of parchment, each one entirely filled with his writing. If Celestia knew, she would be fuming right now. "We know that the newspapers have already caught on to the fact that something is amiss, and the extent of Sunbutt's twisted opinions. It wouldn't take much to upset the whole of Equestria. A few leaked documents and the whole country would be marching on her doorstep demanding for her to change or step down."

"It won't work like that. She won't allow it. She'll calm down any rebellions before they occur. She has a point, everypony believes the lies that drop out of her mouth whenever she opens it without even considering if there is another possibility, let alone questioning her."

"I am hopeful."

"Hope? Hope? Seriously? You're one to preach and not practise. Tell me where there is an ounce of hope in this Celestia-forsaken world," I laugh. "I don't believe in hope, because it's just another lie. I believe in accepting that there are battles to be fought in life and they are already decided before they start, depending on what the two opponents choose to do and how well they plan. Hope isn't planning, it's blind faith that everything will always work out."

He says nothing and turns away, his expression turning bitter.

"Hey, I wasn't insulting you. Cheer up, or the little ray of sunshine will be even meaner than usual."

"Some lies need to be believed. I believe in hope, mercy, justice, forgiveness. I need those things to get through."

"That's never made sense to me."

"Perhaps it is because you have never walked in my horseshoes before. Amoré's final words to me haunt me and remind me of how badly I have failed. Hope is the only thing that blocks them out. They have long faded into history, and are not even recorded in the history books, but echo through time and my mind all the same."

My ears prick up. I know what I have to do.

"No. You wouldn't."

"Sombra-"

"Asking that mirror for the answers would be like you using the mind control spell on me."

"The difference is I'm using it to help you."

"No. You forced me to draw a line, so why can I not do the same?"

"You can, but I have to know."

"Why?!"

"Because I care for you, and this is getting in the way of your happiness. If we can deal with this, we can deal with Celestia too."

He glares at me, then sighs, "Go on then."

"Mirror, show me Princess Amoré on the night that she died," I blurt out.

A cream unicorn with a slightly curled pink and blue mane appears in the glass reflection of the mirror. She wears unique ice blue jewellery with a matching crown, and her cutie mark - barely visible in the gloom - is of a snowflake. As well as her jewellery, she has a black crystal shackle around her hoof, with a long chain that is connected to the stone wall. She casts various spells but is unable to escape from the room she is trapped in.

Sombra waltzes in, looking exactly as he does now but without the benevolence that has changed him since. The two unicorns in the mirror exchange some small talk, mainly along the lines of Amoré pleading him to let her go and asking if the crystal ponies are safe and well, with a "You won't get away with this," thrown in somewhere.

Sombra asks Amoré to tell him why he didn't trust her and why he made Radiant Hope distrust him. She does not answer. He raises his voice, and is struck with a spell all of a sudden. Amoré breaks the chain attached to her shackle, but the black crystals still hinder her when she attempts to run. Sombra cuts her off before she leaves the room, and they begin to fire spells at each other. Amoré shouts something about how she always knew that Sombra would turn into this and that he had been a hopeless case from the start, which only angers him further. Each of the spells looks highly dangerous, with some of them creating cracks in the walls and breaking the bars of the cell. Eventually, she ends up cornered and with a huge black crystal growing around her horn. He tries to use mind control, but she resists and whispers something to him that I do not quite hear. The result is Sombra giving an unintelligible shout and a huge magical blast, before the mirror fades to show the real Sombra quietly shedding tears by my side.

Author's Note

I got the inspiration for the Scrying Mirror from various cultures and beliefs across the world, but mainly from this story:

TSecrets of the Past

• MLP: FiM
• Dark
• Drama

After waking up in a jail cell within the Crystal Empire, Twilight finds herself powerless and the prisoner of King Sombra. However, this supposed villain holds secrets about the past that she never knew about.

• Violence
• Gore
• Death
• Alt. Universe
• Twilight
• Celestia
• OC
• King Sombra

CoJoThom98 · 21k words  ·  50  1 · 1.6k views

I highly recommend it to you all, even though it isn't complete.