Sombra's Bat

Nothing happens for about a week after we send the letter to Celestia. Of course she doesn't reply. She hates us, and she's probably trying to improve the security at Tartarus. Imagine her surprise when she discovers that two prisoners are missing, only to learn that one of them has been gone for a good long while. Cozy warms up to me over the next week, and she begins to adjust to her new life. We spend a day decorating her bedroom - my old room, since I've decided to stay in that guest suite for the time being - and we even have a game of chess. Naturally, she slaughters me within ten moves, and when I ask for a rematch she does the same.

"Check. Mate."

"I know, I know," I say. "And you think that you've lost your touch?"

"Well, you certainly have. When all this Sunbutt rubbish blows over I'm going to challenge Luna, and say that the winner gets to rule Equestria."

"She'll never allow that."

"Oh, a little filly like me can be very convincing when I want to be. Amoré had no idea I was working for Sombra, and neither did the Two Sisters for a good long while."

Then, one day, or rather, night, Sombra and I are called to another dream. We're understandably annoyed, and that is amplified about a thousand times when we realise whose dreams we're interfering with. Both of the Royal Sisters are there, along with Cozy, Chrysalis and Rutherford. We appear to be in one of the various reception rooms of Canterlot Castle.

"Is everypony here?" Celestia groans. I resist the temptation to attack her. It's only a dream, but she would still feel the pain if I decided to do something.

"Yes, sister. I believe that everypony who has been roped into this mess is here," answers Luna. She didn't mention whose fault it was.

"Right, Lulu. I presume all of our guests know why they are here."

"Why?" I say just for the sake of annoying Celestia further.

She facehoofs, which is quite a sight to behold. "We are here because you and Sombra decided it would be funny to start a coup of the Crystal Empire, actually succeeded with your ridiculous task, allied with other enemies of Equestria, own dangerous and illegal magical artefacts, practise dark magic and as recently as last week raided Tartarus to free two of its inmates. That reminds me, Tirek isn't here."

"Celestia, we do not agree on much," sighs Chrysalis, "but one thing we do agree on is how ridiculous that centaur is. According to Cozy Glow, he saw his opportunity when Cerberus went for his walk around Equestria a while ago."

"Yuppers," the filly confirms.

"Fine. You only freed one of the prisoners of Tartarus, but you failed to notify me until just a moment ago that another was missing. That's another mess I will have to clean up before my little ponies are hurt."

Sombra guffaws, and I try not to do so myself.

"Sombra, Moonlight, take something seriously for once. I am losing my patience. You asked me to stop sending letters and messengers, so I allotted some time in my schedule to speak to you. Speak."

Sombra manages to compose himself. "I will admit now that I often do things that are completely senseless, but what is even more senseless is this war that you've started, Celestia. I don't want much from you. All I want is for you to leave myself, Moonlight, the Crystal Empire and our allies alone."

"No."

"What do you want in return, then?" I question her.

"In an ideal world, I would like you to return Cozy Glow-"

"Nuh-uh," the aforementioned says, hovering next to my head. She pulls a pair of sunglasses over her eyes and crosses her forelegs.

Celestia glowers at her, then continues, "Return the prisoner, stop encouraging other nations to get involved, leave the Crystal Empire and give yourselves up so that you can own up to your mistakes."

"That is in an ideal world, sister," Luna reminds her. "You can come to a compromise, correct?"

"Yes."

Chrysalis suggests, "What if I remove myself and my family from the equation? What if we were to continue living in our existing hive, but agree that if the Crystal Empire gets into trouble, I cannot send my troops to battle?"

"I cannot trust you to keep that agreement, because changelings can disguise themselves as any other creature. Plus, you would find some other way of giving the Crystal Empire assistance."

Chrysalis mutters something under her breath. She was probably relying on Celestia being gullible enough to forget that. "And the yaks?"

Everypony looks at Rutherford for the first time. "Yaks want to help Crystal Empire, but yaks also want to keep peace. Yaks do what is necessary. If yaks have to stop trade and not get crystal berries from Crystal Empire, yaks will have to eat something else. Yaks will survive."

The yaks are strong, and brilliant allies, but I realise that those are the wisest words Rutherford has ever said to me. I nod to him. "We would be willing to make that compromise. Is that enough, Celestia?"

"Not quite. I need you to agree that if you continue trading with other nations, then you cannot ask them to attack Equestria."

"Fair enough." If they do anything on their own, well, we didn't ask them to.

"And what about me?" asks Cozy.

"Tia, I for one think that if Cozy Glow is to return to Equestria, she should not be sent to Tartarus or any other prison," Luna states, glancing at the filly. "I am sure that she has served a long enough sentence for everything she has done. Surely she can be integrated into society once more?"

"I'm not going back to Tartarus, that's for sure."

"Well," Celestia says slowly, considering the possible options. "It depends whether you can be trusted."

"Really, I'd like to stay in the Crystal Empire. Back when Sombra was first doing his stuff in the Crystal Empire, I didn't really understand it all. I sorta do now, and I don't like everything he's done, but he's like family to me. Same goes for Moonlight. Even if family does terrible stuff, you still want to be with them and support them. I'll go to Equestria if I have to, but I'd still like to talk to them every now and again. Please, Princesses?"

"What is it that you do not like about Sombra?"

The question is designed to make her tell Celestia something about us by accident to scupper the deal. She looks over her shoulder uncertainly, first at me, then Sombra. I can tell that she's making everything up as she goes along, but I doubt Celestia has the experience in Dreamwalking to recognise this. "Well, you probably know that he used to do the whole mind control thingy. I was never a fan of that, but Moonlight convinced him to stop. Everypony gets to do their own thing now. It's just like Equestria. Other than that, the only thing I can say they need to improve on is their chess playing skills."

"Right. So you would be willing to return to Equestria as long as you could speak to him and Moonlight every once in a while?"

"Yuppers."

"We can make an agreement."

"So this means that once Cozy Glow goes back to Equestria and we stop trading with the yaks, we don't have to continue fighting?" I clarify.

"Well, possibly," says Celestia, not answering my question. I watch Luna shift uncomfortably, and I look at her, cocking my head to one side. Luna shakes her head. Chrysalis looks displeased as well.

Sombra steps forward to speak. "Celestia, you are in a dream with three experienced Dreamwalkers and a changeling, four of the best individuals at recognising emotions and whether somepony is telling the truth or not. Now, you are in this situation, surrounded by living lie detectors, and you just told the most blatant and obvious lie if I ever heard one. You clearly aren't happy with the agreement that we have already made. What else is it that you want?"

"Free the Solar Guard currently in your custody."

"And?"

"Stop using dark magic."

"You have used the term Umbrum yourself when talking about me. You know that I am unable to meet your demands. I am not about to bore you with the entire story, but Moonlight is likely too far into her studies with me to stop. Be realistic."

"It is the awkward pony that makes the world turn, and I want as few compromises as possible so that my subjects are kept safe. Are you sure that Moonlight has reached the so-called point of no return?"

"That is," I trail off, "classified information."

The golden blast of magic would have taken my ear off if we were not in a dream. I scowl, "I assume you want to continue fighting, then. Are you really going to continue a war just because of some beliefs dating back to before the three pony tribes were united? The whole reason the windigos didn't freeze everypony to death is because the ponies decided to look past what made them different and just get along with each other. If you can't accept the fact that non-unicorn ponies can use magic, I really don't know why you are an alicorn representing all three of the pony tribes. That's ridiculous."

"Sister, Moonlight has a-"

"No, Lulu. I tried to negotiate with them, but I am not happy with the circumstances."

Luna holds out a hoof towards us. There is desperation on her face and in the tone of her voice. "You want to make them sacrifice everything and won't give up anything yourself. I would be willing to forget any of this happened and let our neighbours get on with it."

"I know what you want, Lulu, you want peace. I want peace too, but I don't want everypony using dark magic. It corrupts ponies."

"What if Sombra and I use it for good, to make the world a better place rather than using it for the sake of gaining power?" I beg.

No answer, but I can tell roughly what she means. She never wanted to make a deal with us if she thought I would keep using dark magic.

"Luna, please. You understand what we're going through. Tell Celestia that this is pointless. We don't want any more casualties. We just want to get on with our lives."

Luna rushes over to me, and places each of her front hoofs on my shoulders gently. She crouches in front of me and lowers her head, so I know she means no harm. "Moonlight, shh. I know that we have been good friends for a very long time, and I want to help you to move on from everything that's happened. She won't listen, though. I know her better than anypony else. You can lead the horse to water, but you cannot make her drink. Farewell for now, Moonlight."

"But-"

"I cannot stay here. My sister and I need to talk. I will try my best to get back in contact with you, but I need to leave for now. Remember, I am never far away." She stands, and leaves the dream with her elder sister.

I look around at the remaining creatures in the dream room. Chrysalis is baring her fangs at the place where Celestia was stood; Rutherford stomps on the ground, shaking the floor; and Cozy flutters around the room, but always staying close to Sombra. He... is angry. He shows no emotion on his face, but his feelings are bubbling quietly below the surface. He has that calm, quiet anger where you can never quite tell what he really thinks, and that scares me much more than when he displays his emotions and his power because you have no idea how he may act.

"Rutherford, Chrysalis," he says quietly, "I still want to work with you both. Cozy, Moonlight, I am going to dedicate all of my spare time to teaching you dark magic. I am unsure whether we should teach the Crystal Guards anything. Chrysalis, how experienced are your hive at using spells in combat?"

"Fairly good. They don't use dark magic, but their knowledge of light magic is extensive. Some of the best will be able to teach the others."

The dream begins to dissolve, and I realise that we are about to wake up. Sombra tells everypony, "We are not going to let her get away with this. She is going to fail, and we are going to teach her a lesson. I will speak to you all when I have a plan."

I open my eyes, and I can feel Celestia staring into my soul through her cursed sun. The warm rays it sends through the window are not comforting.

Princess Celestia's POV

"Tia, that was unreasonable," Lulu says.

"It may have been, but there is little point in being reasonable when dealing with unreasonable ponies," I counter.

"Maybe if you had let me deal with them-"

"And risk you talking to her again?"

"Do you not trust me? Your own sister?"

"Not with her driving a wedge between us. She cannot change, Lulu."

"I don't want her to, but I want to spend time with her nonetheless. She is a wonderful pony. Please, Tia."

"Are you Luna or Nightmare Moon?"

The question makes her freeze. "What do you mean?"

"Are you my sister or a traitor? If you are my sister, then you won't speak to her again. If you are the traitor, you will leave Equestria at dawn."

"I'll be here in the morning," she grumbles.

"Good, because I need your help. She is even stronger than I originally thought. You taught her too well, Lulu, and we need to rectify that before anypony else is killed."

"Or before you lose the throne."

"What did you say?!"

"Or before you lose the throne. I know what you are worried about, and you had the perfect opportunity to stop all that. But you did things your way. I can only try to help you, sister, but if you refuse to listen that is not my problem. Just don't come running to me when everything goes wrong." She teleports out of the throne room. I follow suit, and find myself in a secret turret room. I stand in front of a small mirror that is attached to the wall. I know what I have to say, but I can't. Let the dust settle first, Celestia.

I look at the mirror one last time, then leave the room and don't look back.