The two of them stand there like that for a moment, and I piece the puzzle together. The mare is Radiant Hope. I have no idea how I didn't figure that out sooner, but at least I know what in Equestria is happening now. There's a small knot of jealousy in my stomach, but I try not to think about it and enjoy the moment.

Sombra pulls out of the hug and cries, "Oh, how I've missed you, Hope. You have no idea how much has happened since the two of us parted ways. It has been a literal nightmare at times."

"I know how crazy this world is, and I want you to tell me every little thing that I've missed. I am... a little disappointed that another mare stole your heart, but what can I say? I wasn't there and Moonlight was. By the way, Moonlight," she says to me with a smug smile on her face, "how did you manage to find Sombra's heart? Surely you know it's very deep down, in his horseshoes."

Chrysalis mouths at me, "I don't want to get involved."

I teleport all of us - except Chrysalis, of course - outside. "When he and the Crystal Empire returned, he went on a little tour of the dream realm looking for those whom he thought he could convince to help him. Then he found me, and he convinced me, but decided not to use dark magic to do so. We became friends, and all of a sudden friends became a bit too casual a word to describe the connection between us. Then, I had to make a choice between him and the good of Equestria. Me, being the crazy fool, chose him, but most ponies don't know that really my intention was to choose both."

"Dark magic?" she questions him. "Sombra, you've been nasty. What did you turn to dark magic for?"

"After Amoré taught us, I found myself using it quite a lot. Long story short, it turned me into an Umbrum."

"It takes quite a lot of strong emotions for that to happen." She closes her eyes and exhales deeply. "That was partly my fault, wasn't it?"

"Hope, relax. It is fine. I'm just glad to have my friend back."

"Well, there's that. I'm here again." She smiles again. "So, tell me exactly how much has changed. I know that you are friends with the changelings now, so what else has happened?"

I explain, "You might have noticed that it's a lot darker around here. That's probably my doing. The Crystal Heart would most likely prevent all that, but-" I pause, and give Sombra a look. What do I say to her?

No secrets, no spies, no pain and no lies.

"Something... happened to the Heart," I tell her.

"My guess is that it's either missing or destroyed. Not the best thing to do, but the temperature isn't too bad so I'm guessing you have cast spells to keep the storm clouds at bay. I know the Crystal Heart is the best way of bringing more colour to the Crystal Empire, but you should do something about the colour scheme around here. The black crystals could make some shimmering reds and greens and blues really stand out. Then again, would it go with the sky? Brown isn't really a nice colour, but never mind."

"We are going to sort that out at some point, but there are some more important issues to deal with," Sombra tells her.

"Oh?"

"As you might have guessed, we are currently at war with Equestria. Well, not all of it, only Celestia, but since she's in charge-"

"I get the point, Sombra. You and her don't see eye to eye. To be honest, I'm having trouble wrapping my head around it. My childhood friend goes from being the perfect colt to a mad power-hungry monster, no offence, and then the next time I see him he's almost back to normal, except he's a leader and he's matured quite a lot. I thought you would be the last stallion to settle down with a marefriend."

I take the opportunity to poke fun at Sombra. "Well, if you think about the time scale compared to the other foals you grew up with, he was the last stallion."

He frowns at me, and both Cozy Glow and Radiant Hope start laughing.

"Moonlight, Hope, Cozy, you aren't beginning to team up against me, are you?"

"Of course we are! Us three fillies have to stick together," Cozy replies.

"This is deeply unsettling. It feels unsettling to have two old friends and a new marefriend all together at one time."

"Well, Sombra, we always said that the three of us would be weird together," Hope says. She looks at me. "He and I were at the same orphanage and we were ostracised by the other foals. They were always calling us names and we found a bit of refuge in each other. Then, later on, Cozy joined our ranks."

"This is news to me," I tell her. "Sombra, you never told me you grew up in an orphanage."

"Perhaps I was slightly embarrassed, since you always seemed to have such a close-knit family."

I facehoof. Cozy and Hope roll their eyes.

"What?! You had a loving mother and father, and I didn't!"

"I also recently found out that the mare who cared for me in my early years was not my biological mother, Sombra. I have a philosophy about family. There's three types: the family you're related to by blood, the family who raise you, and the family you choose. Sometimes they are the same, and sometimes not. We're all part of your chosen family. Each of us has played a part in making you who you are, and I'm pretty sure none of us would want it any other way."

"Moonlight, that is not even poetic, it's just cheesy."

Cozy giggles, "He's right."

I shake my head. "I tried."

"So, who is your mother?" Hope asks me.

"I don't know where you've been over the last thousand years, or even how you survived, but you might still know the story. I am the fabled Daughter of the Night, child of Princess Luna. For those thousand years in which Celestia had been enjoying peace and keeping her large rump planted firmly on her throne, I was with Luna - well, really it was Nightmare Moon - up in space."

"Wow, so my friend Sombra has married into royalty then."

"Yes. Now the only problem is that we're not officially married. If we have a wedding now, Aunt Celestia's going to try and ruin it."

Sombra looks mortified. "I will be related by marriage to that thing?!"

"At least you aren't actually related to her." I turn back to Hope. "So, where have you been whilst Sombra's been in Limbo and I've been on the moon?"

"Sombra isn't the only Umbrum in the world. I found a few others. One in particular took care of me, and made sure I wouldn't age. I'm still, well, a regular pony, but I've wondered for a while if I should change."

"Moonlight has," Cozy informs her, "and I've been thinking about it. Sombra worked out that anypony can use dark magic, not just the ponies who use regular magic, and I've been getting lessons, just in case old Sunbutt decides to do something mean."

"Sunbutt. I'm assuming that's your endearing nickname for Celestia. Well, I decided that she wasn't great either. I couldn't concentrate on studying after she-" She stops and glances at Sombra. "You know, after the Crystal Empire disappeared."

We reach the castle and lead her up to the lounge. Sombra, Cozy and Hope all occupy one sofa, and I make my way into an armchair, a little annoyed. There's no point in denying it: I feel left out. Yes, these three all knew each other before the Crystal Empire disappeared, but Sombra returned, she wasn't here and I was, so why is she trying to get so close to him again all of a sudden? What right does she have? She's not the one engaged to him! I find myself wondering what Sombra will do if she decides to stick around, and jealous thoughts swirl around in my head.

"Moonlight? Did you hear me?"

"Oh," I say. "Sorry, no."

"I was asking how long you and Sombra had known each other."

"Many months now." Not long at all compared to a thousand years.

"Did you always know that you would become partners?"

I don't know why she cares, but answer anyway. "I didn't. In fact, when Sombra first started visiting me in the dream realm, I half hated him and was half terrified of him. Then he explained to me why he had done all this." I gesture to the dark, uninviting decor. "Another thing he told me is that he wanted to change his ways but couldn't. I've lived with Nightmare Moon, so I know how he felt."

"After that," Sombra continues, "she decided she was fine with me being around."

"Hey, it didn't happen like that. You were trying to persuade me to trust you, and I was unsure what to do. Then I discovered your sense of humour and found that you weren't all bad. Anyways, Sombra and I became friends, I came here to help him, he took his place on the throne as King of the Crystal Empire, and then he decided he wanted a queen."

"There were also hiccups where I messed up. I tried a little too hard to convince her to visit me."

"My village nearly kicked me out, and you came up with a cheesy saying to try and cover up your mistake. Something about wanting a good friend again after so long."

"Well, now you have your good friend again," says Hope.

"Friends," I correct her.

"Well, friends and marefriend."

Correct, Radiant Hope. Marefriend who wants to actually sit next to her stallion.

Moonlight, Hope's downfall is that she's childish some of the time. I would say there is a ninety percent chance that she has no idea you feel this way. Come over here, though, and I'm sure she'll make a space for you.

I get up out of my seat and trot over to them, and proceed to mess up Sombra's mane.

"What do you think you are doing?" he questions me, trying to bat my hooves away. I cast a spell and it moves in a nonexistent breeze, growing to about twice its usual length. "I'm not an alicorn, you know."

"Well, you should be," Hope tells him. "Both of you should." She turns to Cozy. "I can imagine you as an alicorn too, but something tells me they don't let you make all the rules."

"Nope. They occasionally say that I'm the Princess of the Crystal Empire, but I'm not given special treatment at all. Where's all the crystal berry pie when I need it?!"

We all laugh, and finally Hope shuffles to one side, allowing me to sit between her and Sombra. She looks at the two of us. "You two are very close. And where was I? I feel like an intruder."

"You're not the only one," I say without thinking.

All eyes turn to me.

"I don't know. You three have known each other for so much longer than I have."

Hope looks horrified. "Oh, Moonlight, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine," I mutter, trying to brush off her concerns.

"No, it's not, or you wouldn't have said anything. Look, my cutie mark is in healing, and I hate seeing others when they're hurt or hurting them by accident. Please, don't feel left out. I'm the unlucky one who hasn't been with Sombra through all of this."

"I'm not hurt, or at least, I shouldn't be. Pretend I said nothing."

"I can't now. You said it, and when I find problems I want to fix them."

Sombra is annoyed. "And where do I stand in all of this?! Moonlight, Hope wants to help us. Hope, Moonlight is probably just tired."

"I'm not tired, and I'm thinking clearly, and I can see this mare who's been messing around with pixies for a thousand years pop up out of nowhere and want to spend as much time as she can with my partner."

"Moonlight, Sombra and I were never more than friends - were we, Sombra?"

"Well, we might have been, had you not run off to Canterlot so quickly and abandoned me when I needed you the most. I can see why Moonlight is annoyed with you. Talk about causing unnecessary pain."

"I didn't know you were going to turn into an Umbrum and try to rule the kingdom with an iron hoof now, did I?!"

"I was angry. You left me behind to go to magic school, Amoré openly hated me for no reason, Cozy had her own problems to deal with and I was more alone than ever. I didn't know what I was supposed to do, and I was angry at the world."

"Gee, considering you grown-ups are supposed to be friends, I think you need to do a little less arguing and a little more being friendly!" Cozy shouts, interrupting the argument. "I exist! I'm part of the equation! Yes, I might have my own problems that are nothing to do with you, but all of your problems are mine too! And the one thing I'm not going to do is let you lot bicker over something pointless like this. I'd rather go back to Tartarus."

Hope looks down at the ground. "Cozy's right."

I feel my own anger fading, but still, why is Radiant Hope even here? What does she want from us?

"Moonlight, remember that one time when you said we were like a patchwork quilt?" Cozy asks me.

"I - I think so." Cozy was trying to work out where she fitted in the pecking order. Really, she still is.

"Well, I want all three of you to think of it this way. If you don't have all the knitted squares, the quilt isn't complete. Each of us probably feels like the extra square in one way or another - I do, since I'm the only foal around here and I tend to be ignored by all of you - but really, if one of us wasn't here, we wouldn't have a whole blanket. And even now, it isn't complete, not really. You can always add more squares, and as long as you knit them together properly, the patchwork quilt won't fall apart, and it will be bigger and better than before."

I am a fool. Radiant Hope is here to add another few squares to our patchwork quilt. She's a good pony, and I was worried for no reason. She reminds me of Wishbone. Another pony I need to apologise to, because I don't think before I act. Stupid stupid me.

"I'm sorry, Hope. Maybe I am tired," I say.

"Nopony can blame you. If Celestia's sending Solar Guards here she must really have it in for you. We'll have to find some way of dealing with this, where ponies won't get hurt as much."

"We will discuss battle tactics in the morning," Sombra tells us firmly. "Hope, where would you like to stay?"

"Somewhere comfortable. Are there any guest bedrooms?"

"There are two suites available. Moonlight's in the other one. She can show you how to get there."

You can, and you will, ok?

I wasn't going to say no.

"Sure. Follow me."

We trot in silence through the quiet corridors, and Hope settles into one of the guest suites. I return to my own bed and crawl under the covers. As I sink into a deep sleep, I realise there's a little more hope in our lives and our quest to find peace and happiness.

Hope is real. You just have to work hard and look in the right places.

Author's Note

Bonus: Writing Hope - Parts 1 and 2

It's been a while since I first wrote these, but they were absolute monsters to write at the time. I knew from the start that I wanted to introduce Radiant Hope at some point, because the story of Sombra feels incomplete without her, but I wasn't sure at first how to incorporate her... Or how Moonlight would react to her sudden appearance, either. I knew there would be a clash of some sort, but it took me a while to work out that it would be because all four of these characters feel isolated for one reason or another. A wonderful PMV helped me; the lyrics were about Luna being the "spare" Princess, and
that influenced me quite a lot. Here's the link to the animation "Spare" if you're interested.

Something I felt was important was that Moonlight had to learn something from Radiant Hope that could help her fix her friendship with Wishbone. However, it wasn't really Hope who taught her a valuable lesson. Cozy Glow said something that made Moonlight realise that Wishbone was still an important part of her life. Cozy mentioned the patchwork quilt, which was the analogy Moonlight used back in Innocent and Guilt - Part 2 because Cozy was unsure how she felt to be part of a family again. I decided to bring the patchwork quilt back because each of the characters was left out in some way, like the circles of a Venn diagram. They're interlocked, but there's some that are closer and more connected than others. Something that I really love in stories is when an event that happened in an earlier chapter is mentioned again later on, or you have quotes that are used at many points in the story. This is just one of the ones that I am going to use.

One of the most important elements that I felt needed to be included in these chapters is the abolition of Moonlight's old, pessimistic philosophy on hope. Remember, she's had her life shattered on several occasions. She hasn't had it easy. Old Sunbutt's been gunning for her from day one. Celestia's attempts to be nice in the early chapters were a last-ditch effort to stop Moonlight from causing trouble, though I doubt that's happening now.

That's all for these two chapters. As I've said before, I have been hinting at something big in these last few chapters that will be revealed soon. All I'm saying is that Moonlight, Sombra and the others are going to need all the hope and luck they can get.

~ Angel