Sombasi, brother of Sombra

Chapters

Chapter 1 - The Crystal Public Library
Chapter 2 - The Crystal Empire Orphanage
Chapter 3 - The Queen Of The Crystal Empire
Chapter 4 - Truths and Omens
Chapter 5 - The Royal Castle and The Statue of Legend
Chapter 6 - Mequus Kombat
Chapter 7 - End Of One Tale, Start Of Another.
Chapter 8 - Princess Shiori Shattershield Mi Amore
Chapter 9 - A plot and a Crystal Heart
Chapter 10 - The Planemeld Pt: 1
Chapter 12 - The Planemeld Pt: 3
Chapter 11 - The Planemeld Pt: 2

Chapter 1 - The Crystal Public Library

**The Crystal Empire, many years ago before Sombra’s Conquest**

The Crystal Empire, a city comprised entirely of crystals and beautiful spire formations. These crystals are heavily involved in the everyday lives of its inhabitants: The crystal ponies. These ponies would take this form not only due to the city they lived in but also so it could enable them to empower a powerful artifact stored deep within the royal castle, The Crystal Heart. This artifact possesses incredible powers enabling the kingdom to repel dark forces that threaten it. It enacts a strong barrier to protect the empires denizens from the elements, sometimes it can even send out a powerful beam of light. On rare occasions though it’s believed it can even preserve the life of a hero, a pony it judges worthy to protect and preserve to allow them to fight again in the future while being hidden away. How long this pony remains in the artifacts protection and is hidden varies. It could be hours?, days?, months?, years?.

Our story starts off with two young stallion unicorn brothers who are making their way hastily to the empires local library: Sombra and Sombasi. Both are twins who are very identical the only difference being height, the older sibling Sombra being taller then his younger brother Sombasi. Both have black manes with a dark grey furred body while also sporting red pupils in their eyes their horns are also noticeably curved compared to other unicorns. The brothers are a bit different compared to most other unicorns in the empire, their origins remain quite the mystery.

The two brothers are at a full sprint through the streets of The Crystal Empire with Sombra in the lead while Sombasi is falling behind but is managing to keep himself alongside sombras stomach region. Sombra turns his head to the left as his left eye looks to Sombasi. “Step with haste dear brother, we must get to the library before other ponies form a line for its opening!”, this causes Sombasi’s ears perk up and looks to his brother before responding.

“With all due respect brother, THIS IS WHY I SAID YOU SHOULD’VE SLEPT MUCH EARLIER LAST NIGHT INSTEAD OF STUDYING FOR MOST OF THE NIGHT!”, Sombasi releases an annoyed snort while narrowing his eyes before sighing with closed eyes while leaning his head down a bit, chuckling to himself, then opens his eyes and raises his head again before he takes on a happier expression. Sombra laughs while shooting his head forward again.

“Details, details, dear brother. Besides we can still make it in time regardless of my carelessness. Even a bit sleep deprived I shall not allow anyone else to get to the good books before the great sombra hahaha.”, Sombra raises his head upward as he laughs in a satisfied yet confident manner.

“You mean the same ~~great Sombra~~ who still needs his younger brother to wake him out of bed?”, Sombasi retorts with a smirk while his eyes squint and his head tilts up a bit to emphasize his teasing gesture before he returns to a more neutral state. “Besides what kinds of books are you trying to see anyway?.”, Sombra keeps his head forward before answering Sombasi’s question.

“All shall be revealed soon brother, now come on!.”

The two brothers now arrive outside The Crystal Public Library catching their breaths but take notice as ponies have already started to form up into a line to gain access to the library much to Sombra’s annoyance. Regardless, the brothers take their spots in line before an annoyed Sombra finally breaks the silence with a heavy sigh. “We’ve arrived a bit late brother... I wanted to be first in line to get my hands on those magical books or even possible scrolls perhaps even Crystal Empire history before anypony else”, these words catch Sombasi by surprise as the reasoning for Sombra wanting to come here was a bit unexpected.

“Wait, w-what?!”, Sombasi yells before catching his tone and lowering it. “You want to get into the library to learn even more magic? History I understand but brother you’re already one of the most gifted unicorns in the empire hay I’d go so far as to say you are the most gifted unicorn of our generation.” Sombasi then looks down to the floor with a saddened expression followed by a sigh with closed eyes. “Not like the same could be said about me.”, Sombra, now realizing his brothers distress lifts Sombasi’s head via his chin with his right hoof.

“Brother... Heed me, do not listen to those who doubt your talents for you are simply a late bloomer.” Sombra assures his brother as he lowers his hoof while Sombasi keeps his gaze onto Sombra albeit with his sad expression still present. “You are my brother, the brother who I intend to mold to perfection and eventually many will see you as my equal. No one shall doubt neither of our power. This I swear to you.” Sombra adjusts his stance into a more confident stature as he stares at Sombasi with a smile. Sombasi was moved by his brothers words as his expression slowly turns into a happy one.

“Thank you bro-”, before Sombasi could finish he was cut off by a mare crystal unicorn pony who stood before the crowd and line of ponies about to make her announcement. Her name is Bubble Maresbury, also referred to as Miss. Maresbury. This mare had curled blue hair while her body was a beautiful pink color along with eyes that matched the color of her mane. Her family ran the public library for generations and will continue to do so for many more to come. She looked the part of a librarian to absolute perfection complete even with glasses and what appears to be a clipboard not to mention her attire practically screamed “I work here”. She was the spitting image of your typical librarian who even ran the library in question. Miss Maresbury took a deep breath with closed eyes before opening them and looking onward towards the crowd of ponies.

“Good morning everypony, The Crystal Public Library is now officially opened!” she declared as she rears up on her hind legs and shoots her front legs into the air in a celebratory fashion. An applaud in the form of stomping hooves engulfed the area as many were excited to enter including our pair of brothers. After a little while of celebration Bubble Maresbury motions for the crowd to please settle down before she begins to speak again.

“Now then, we all know how this works but a friendly reminder can’t hurt for those who are new. I see many of you have already started to form a line? Most excellent!”, she claps her hooves as she sits on her flank before returning to a neutral stance. “I will take everypony at the front desk and punch you in one by one and should you rent a book your name will be jotted down and you will be expected to return the book. Let me be very clear about that everypony, DO. NOT. STEAL. MY. BOOKS!”, her words sent a cold chill down everyponies spine while also making them sweat nervously including Sombra and Sombasi. Miss Maresbury regained her composer before she continues. “Knowledge should be shared not hoarded and I will not abide anyone stealing them which, in case you didn’t realize it, is punishable by prosecution and yes you can possibly be thrown in jail for a few days for it. Lastly, should you be doing reading while in the library I ask that you please remain quiet and be considerate to others. Welcome to the Crystal Library!”.

The ponies begin to enter the library while Miss Maresburry took her place behind a registration desk positioned perfectly in front of the entrance accompanied by one other librarian to assist with punching each pony in. After some time Sombra and Sombasi are now nearing the front desk with only two more ponies in front of them ready to punch in. Something was bothering Sombasi regarding Sombra’s reason for coming here, after pondering about it he states his concerns.

“I still can’t get over the fact that you came here to learn more about magic brother I mean shouldn’t we go to say a local well known mage or a guild of sorts? What about school? And as I illustrated earlier you already know most types of magic for our age.” Sombra pauses for a second before answering Sombasi’s question.

“No brother, I have already exhausted every resource available at school. As for seeking help from anypony I simply must decline.” Sombra raises his left hoof high into the air before he continues. “I, Sombra, shall learn all of my magic and increase my powers all on my own without the assistance of anypony else.” Sombra lowers his hoof while gaining a look of confidence. “It’s a matter of pride dear brother.” Sombasi couldn’t help but to roll his eyes granted he does respect Sombras prideful will to learn without anypony else to help him but he does wish his brother would put that pride aside which was very strong for a colt. Sombra puts a hoof to his chin to think, then, a sudden realization came upon him “well, there is another option but...”, Sombasi quickly took note of his brother’s hesitance and curiosity got the better of Sombasi causing him to inquire about Sombra’s realization.

“What is it brother? What other option?”, for a brief moment Sombra had a sad expression on his face before regaining his composure and turning to Sombasi.

“The Royal Library...which I doubt I could gain access to for obvious reasons.” The two brothers then thought internally and realize the harsh truth that stood in Sombra’s way of ever hoping to see The Royal Library up in The Crystal Castle.

-Neither of us are royalty, let alone nobles....- Both sighed in defeat.

Despite everything Sombasi still felt the need to urge his brother to proceed with caution as their parental figures often told them that a pony must never trot ahead without any precautions when learning about magic. Sombasi readied himself before getting his brother’s attention. “Sombra, as much as I have faith in your abilities I urge you to take caution.”, Sombasi raises his left hoof and places it onto Sombra’s right shoulder. “I don’t want to lose my brother to any sort of accident.”, Sombra’s expression went from disappointment to one of happiness upon hearing his brother’s words before bursting out into laughter.

“Hahahahaha!, relax dear brother.”, Sombra’s laughs disappears before he continues. “Don’t you know the expression the adults have nowadays?”, Sombra clears his throat and raises his left hoof into the air while taking in a breath. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained!”, Sombra got a few more laughs after his statement all the while Sombasi rolls his eyes before chuckling himself. Sombra lowers his hoof, a smile still present on his face as he looked onto his brother. “That said, I appreciate your worry and council dear brother.”, Sombra raises his hoof and pets Sombasi on his head which causes Sombasi to smile with one of his eyes closed. “That’s why when I inevitably become the future ruler of this great empire I intend to have you as my right hoof pony, I expect you to continue to watch my back even then.” Sombra shoots Sombasi a wink and a smile.

“Hehe, of course your majesty.” Sombasi lowers his front legs in a kneeling gesture, this causes the ponies around them to giggle a bit. “I will always be there when you need me brother. Like I always said, you are the bridge that will one day lead this empire to greatness and I shall be a pillar that supports it.” The two brothers hug into an embrace and after the pony in front of them is finished being punched in it’s now their turn. Miss Maresbury takes notice of the duo approaching her.

“Oh?, isn’t this a pleasant surprise.” Miss Maresbury said as she fixes her glasses. “If it isn’t the most gifted colt crystal unicorn in the empire, Sombra and hello to you too Sombasi. It’s the weekend you know? I’m surprised you two are here and not out doing young stallion stuff instead of coming to a library.” Miss Maresbury giggles a bit after that last part of her statement. Sombra was the first to answer her as he waved a hoof greetingly.

“Good morning Miss Maresbury, I’ve come to look at any magic based books and any possible tomes along with any possible history books regarding the empires history.” Sombasi quickly replied shortly after while also waving his hoof in a welcoming matter although he did have a sudden smirk appear just before answering.

“Greetings Miss Maresbury, I’m mostly just here to accompany my brother really.” Sombasi’s smirk grew even more “That and he nearly overslept hahaha.” Sombra shot his brother a look that could easily be translated into, “Seriously?”. Miss Maresbury laughed at this before turning to Sombra, a bit of her laughter still remained.

“Ohoho, always eager to learn eh Sombra dearie?. As for you Sombasi, I must say that Sombra is quite lucky to have such an amazingly loyal brother like you even if your magic isn’t as comparable. You’ll find all of our books and scrolls on magic in section M, for obvious reasons, isles 12-25. You’ll also find many history books over at section H. Do remember though that we urge you to take caution should you choose to practice any spells you may learn here, I mean it.”, Miss Maresbury narrows her eyes shooting the brothers with a freightening stare. Suddenly that cold sensation from earlier went up Sombra and Sombasi’s spines as they nod in understanding, Miss Maresbury was quite the assertive mare. Sombasi knew that Miss Maresbury didn’t mean any harm by that statement regarding his magic but he still kind of cringed from it. His magic was no where near his brothers yet but he didn’t want to be seen as a weaker unicorn either. The last thing he wanted was for ponies to pity Sombra for having a brother with lesser magic by unicorn standards which for Sombasi’s age he sadly was, it didn’t help he already has been ridiculed for it by the other ponies at school. A fair amount of crystal unicorns take having a decent amount of magic quite seriously in the empire especially when it comes time to powering the crystal heart against threats. He’s hoping that his brother is right and he’s simply a late bloomer though it does bother him somewhat.

After being punched in the brothers head to the section Miss Maresbury indicated. Sombra and Sombasi immediately get to work and as Sombra reads through books and scrolls sombasi continues to grab or return more as they progress taking time to study alongside Sombra. Sombra can be heard grunting in disappointment as he’s already familiar with some of the spells or simply finds them inadequate, not like the adults would just leave powerful spells lying around but he was still hopeful. All the while, Sombasi reads through them taking some notes. Sadly, a group of three mare ponies similar to their age spots them... Sombasi can feel it, the ridicule is coming for he recognizes these ponies all of whom are bullies from school. The trio were comprised of two crystal earth ponies and a crystal unicorn who stuck out the most. Her name is Kiera Limestone, a female unicorn who has made it a habit of belittling Sombasi while often flirting with Sombra. She has a pink and white mane with a white furred body along with green pupils in her eyes. Kiera Limestone was the first to step forward much to Sombasis discomfort.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Sombra and....that failure.”, she points her right hoof at Sombasi with a small bit of snickering, the other bullies also laugh at Sombasi all while Sombasi tries his best to ignore them. Kiera then turns back to Sombra with an almost flirtatious gaze “So Sombra, what say you ditch that embarrassing brother of yours and join us for a berry smoothie? We’re gonna hit up the nearby restaurant, you and I can get to know eachother.” Kiera shoots Sombra a wink along with a smile.

“I’m not interested at the moment”, Sombra boldly said before raising his head to look at Kiera “as you can see my brother and I have plans already and we are still quite full from todays breakfast.” Sombra’s eyes then narrow as he glares at Kiera Limestone “Also, my brother is not a failure so don’t you dare mock him in my presence.” A simple “Tsk” comes from Kiera before she responds to Sombra.

“Uuuugh, stop defending him already Sombra. You know it, I know it, even everyone at school knows how much of a weak crystal unicorn your brother is. He failed the teleportation spell exam at school twice.... A simple teleportation spell.”, Kiera lets out a bit of laughter before continuing. “Not to mention we only needed to teleport from a starting line to ten feet away. He barely made it to 5 before his magic gave in.”, Kiera then begins to burst out into a fit of laughter. Sombasi feels incredibly grateful for Sombras words, Sombra has always defended his brother from bullies like Kiera but today would be different. Sombasi was tired of it, he wouldn’t rely on his brother anymore and today he’d stand his ground. Turning to Kiera he unleashes his pent up rant pointing a hoof at her.

“You know what Kiera? How about you go bother somepony else and go shove your smoothies where Celestia’s sun can’t even shine.” Sombasi stands up and makes his way around the table he and his brother were set up at “Also, I find it funny how you try to vie for my brothers affections”, Kiera is shocked by this and gasps while her face begins to cringe up with embarrassment while her cheeks go red which soon turns into a menacing glare in an effort to silence Sombasi before he speaks any further. Sombasi now stands before her “Oh?, surprised that I know about that?” Sombasi retorted before continuing his rant with a drawn out “Pleeeeaaassseee, as if he’d go with a horrible mare like you...you might be voted as the most beautiful mare at school...”, Sombasi says as he sits on his flank while raising both of his front hoofs to form quotations in a sarcastic manner. “But you’re the ugliest mare I’ve ever seen thanks to your rotten heart!”, Sombra, the bullies and Kiera all have shocked expressions for none of them expected Sombasi to lash out like that. Sombra in particular couldn’t help but have pride building up for his brother however Kiera was about to explode from rage. The other bullies backing up for they knew what was coming although they laughed at it.

”HOW DARE YOU YOU WEAKLING!”, Kiera screamed at the top of her lungs catching the attention of some bystanders in the library. Kiera took a couple steps closer as her horn starts to glow with a pink aura as her voice is filled with distain “You know something Sombasi, I would’ve just teased you a bit then left for my smoothie but you know what!?” Kiera aimed her horn at Sombasi readying a lesser lightning spell. It’s not meant to kill of course but it will definately hurt. Sombra quickly stood to protect Sombasi but Sombasi stood in front of him ready to face her.

“I’ve put up with bullies like you for long enough Kiera!, go ahead and fire it!” Sombasi taunted the enraged mare. Kiera unleashed her fury into the lesser lightning spell but moments before it made impact a green magic shield blocked her attack. Kiera huffed in frustration as she shot her head towards Sombra as if to scold him.

“Sombra! Let your brother grow a horn for once and stop prote-” Kiera was cut off instantly and her eyes shot wide open and her pupils were dilated along with the bullies, even Sombra for that matter. Everypony assumed Sombra ignited a magic shield to protect his brother but it wasn’t Sombra at all, it was Sombasi. There Sombasi stood with utmost confidence and not even a scratch on him before further taunting Kiera.

“Surprised Kiera? Did you really think I wouldn’t pick up a thing or two from my brother? I might not be the most gifted crystal unicorn of our youth in the empire but I will not dishonor my brother! I will defend myself!”, Kiera regained her composer and angrily prepared another spell but before things could get too heated the librarian, Miss Maresbury, heard the commotion and intervened just in time. Casting her blue aura over both Sombasi and Kiera she pulled them apart and halted their actions.

”THAT. IS. ENOUGH!.” Miss. Maresbury angrily shouted before regaining some of her composer and points her right hoof to the two colts. “How dare you fight inside of this library a place meant for studying knowledge!. Both of you will be forbidden from attending this library for the rest of the week and consider your passes revoked until I see fit to restore them even after the week is up. And before I hear any ”Miss Maresbury they started it...”, she says while raising her left hoof to form a single quotation.“I don’t care, you both are to blame!. Remove yourselves at once younglings and you bet Lunas stars I’ll be contacting your parents and guardians.” The librarian releases them from her aura allowing them to take their leave. Kiera Limestone still glared at Sombasi before releasing an angry snort looking away from him and turning her gaze to Miss Maresbury.

“Fine, I was about to leave anyway.”, she motions for the two earth pony bullies to follow her with her right hoof. “Come girls, let’s leave this weak unicorn before he infects us with “I’m-weak-tinnitus”. Kiera and the otherbullies leave for their smoothies thus exiting the library. Sombasi was still filled with frustration and grunted in anger as he look towards Sombra.

“Forgive me brother.... I’ll wait for you outside the library so you can fini-”, Before he could finish his sentence Sombra hugged his brother with a face full of joy much to Sombasi’s surprise. Immensely proud Sombra backs away from Sombasi releasing his grip momentarily.

“Brother that was amazing! Hahahahaha. You’ve been holding out on me dear brother you defended yourself masterfully and you performed that shield spell exactly how I taught you. I might not be our real father, whoever that is, but by Celestia you made me soo proud and filled with pride!”, this statement causes Sombasi to blush while holding the back of his head embarrassingly with a small chuckle.

“Hehe, it was nothing really brother.” Sombasi replied but Sombra couldn’t believe what his brother just said, this had to be corrected.

“Nothing!?, brother you just made Kiera Limestone eat her own hoof with a remarkably timed shield spell and to make things even better you did it in front of everypony in the library. After today I doubt many ponies will be mocking you after this display.”, Sombra grabs Sombasi’s front left leg with his right hoof and raises it high and given Sombra’s somewhat higher height he lifts a bit of Sombasi’s body as well. “From this day forward I, Sombra, declare that my brothers time is nigh. His power shall soon grow to rival my own!.” Sombra proclaims at the top of his lungs while Sombasi is deeply flattered. Miss Maresbury was still present her gaze still upon them, she clears her throat with a simple.

”Ahem”, this gets the attention of both brothers. Miss Maresbury leaned into them though noticeably more towards Sombra before speaking. “Sombra, no yelling in the library and as for you Sombasi”, she turns her gaze towards Sombasi and points her right hoof at him. “I believe I said you and Miss Kiera were to remove yourselves immediately?”, Sombra quickly intervened.

“It’s fine Miss Maresbury, I shall escort my brother out and take my leave as well. We’ve had enough for today I suppose, thank you very much for helping my brother and for resolving that issue.” Sombra bows his head in gratitude. Sombasi spoke up moments after with a saddened expression, he at first staggers but regains his speech.

“Y-yes Miss Maresbury, thank you very much and although I will take my punishment I truly am sorry for the commotion I caused...”, Sombasi lowers his head while also letting out a whisper “even if it was her fault...”, Miss Maresbury stares at Sombasi for a moment before Sombra starts to escort him and his brother out, she follows them but something seems to be on her mind as she sympathetically looks at Sombasi.

The trio are now outside of the library and the brothers begin to walk away Sombasi’s head being noticeably lower to the ground but before they got too far Miss Maresbury trotted over to Sombasi and spoke to him one on one, Sombra was ahead of Sombasi and takes notice of this but decides to wait figuring she’d want to only speak to Sombasi.
Miss maresbury Raises Sombasi’s head with her right hoof and while Sombasi’s eyes looked away from her at first he met her gaze, this caused her to start speaking.
“Sombasi dear, before you go let me just say” Miss Maresbury leans in closer and whispers “well done, that was quite the show you displayed. So much for the whole weak crystal unicorn eh?” Maresbury starts to giggle. Sombasi’s expression started to brighten up a bit upon hearing her motivation.

“Thanks a lot Miss Maresbury, it means a lot to me...granted...being called a weak crystal unicorn isn’t exactly incorrect.” Sombasi says hesitantly as he lowers his head. He hated to admit it but he does see some truth in it. Miss Maresbury instantly lifts Sombasi’s head with her right hoof and plants it back down before she retorted looking Sombasi straight into his eyes with a combination of a gentle yet motherly tone.

“Now you stop that right now my little pony, you will become a great crystal unicorn equally as great as your brother. Don’t let the words of others restrain you I mean just look at what happened earlier?.”, this causes Sombasi to narrow his eyes at the thought and memory of Kiera and the bullies mocking him while Miss Maresbury continues. “Now, I don’t condone violence but I do understand when a stallion or mare have to defend themselves and you impressed many of the ponies who were there including your brother, even if some of them won’t admit it.” Sombasi is noticeably starting to lighten up with a smile beginning to form. Miss Maresbury looks over to sombra in the distance before returning her gaze to Sombasi “Speaking of, you’d better get going he seems to be waiting patiently for you.” Sombasi glances back to a patiently waiting Sombra before turning back to Miss Maresbury who promptly pets Sombasi on his head with her left hoof “Keep your chin up dearie and hang in there.” Sombasi nodded his head with a smile and ran to reunite with his brother, Miss Maresbury chuckled to herself watching the two walk off into the distance before saying: “I suspect great things will come to you Sombasi, I’ve got quite the hunch...and they always come true.” Miss Maresbury returns to the library while Sombasi and Sombra continue onward to their home, The Crystal Empire orphanage.

(To be continued in chapter 2- The Crystal Empire orphanage.)

Author's Note

Forgive me for a lack of pictures to enhance the story I'm not very gifted when it comes to drawing in general haha, that said I am practicing the craft and will hopefully be able to post them alongside the story as it progresses. I am also open to seeing any fanart any of you might be inspired to make and if you are a youtuber and find my story enjoyable enough, you do have my permission to make a video on this series so long as you simply credit me of course. This is my very first story one that I have been mapping out for a long time, here goes nothing!. See you in CHAPTER 2.

Chapter 2 - The Crystal Empire Orphanage

**Later in the afternoon, after the events of the library**

Having left the library Sombra and Sombasi reached a fairly well kept building, The Crystal Empire Orphanage. It was nearly reminiscent to a large mansion since The queen of the empire made it one of her ambitions to ensure that the orphans would have a well kept home much to her own sadness, it tore her from the inside to know that such children existed in her empire. She radiated a love and care for her subjects that could even rival Celestia. Sombra and Sombasi have never known their true parents and when they try to pester the guardians here if they knew anything about them they often got the same answer, “we sadly never found or met them”. Sombra opens the door and proceeds through while keeping it open with his right hind leg to allow Sombasi to enter. The two hope that Miss Maresbury hasn’t made good on her promise to contact their guardians in the orphanage. The orphanage can sometimes be chaotic with the other kids running amok with the caretakers keeping them at bay and attending to their needs. Even in these times of peace there still seems to be some orphans popping up here and there in the empire although Sombasi and Sombra are a very particular case.

“Ok, if we just stay low and don’t mention anything that happened at the library we-”, Sombra was cut off as a rather large unicorn stallion steps out from one of the doorways and finishes Sombra’s sentence for him, he has a black mane with an orange furred body with black pupils in his eyes. His name is Starburst raindrop, he’s unlike most ponies in the empire for the fact that he isn’t actually from there. He’s not a native crystal pony as he was born in Canterlot before he decided to move to the empire at the request of Celestia. Celestia was soo impressed with the work he and his wife, Starfire Raindrop, had done she sent them to the empire to assist the Queen. Considering that every child in their old orphanage was adopted or went on to live fulfilling lives back in Canterlot the orphanage wasn’t in use and this was the perfect way for them to continue with their expertise.

“You mean when your brother caused quite the commotion and got into a fight with Kiera Limestone?”, Sombra and Sombasi became very nervous as their father figure had knowledge they hoped would be kept secret. “Miss Maresbury already informed your mother and I.”, Starburst turned his gaze over to Sombasi who hesitantly looks upon the stallions gaze. “What were you thinking Sombasi? We’ve never seen you lash out verbally the way you did, I know it can be frustrating but you shouldn’t lower yourself to the levels of somepony like her. Now what did your mother and I tell you about bullying?”, Sombasi took a deep breath and sighed before answering his father figures question.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”, Sombasi says as he looks down and braces himself for any punishment the stallion would see fit. Starburst nods at Sombasi’s response.

“Exactly son, although there is an exception in this case.”, this immediately catches Sombasi’s attention, Sombasi lifts his head and meets the stallions gaze before asking:

“An exception? What do you mean?”, Suddenly Starburst Raindrop picks up Sombasi with his orange aura and hugs him in a loving embrace.

“You defended yourself well against that minor lightning spell son! As far as I’m concerned Kiera was the one in the wrong the moment she shot that minor lightning spell at you. Even though you shouldn’t have retorted you were right to defend yourself, you will still be punished but not too badly son. I’m proud of you.”, Starburst then continues his laughing while still hugging Sombasi causing the colt to blush and form a very large smile. Sombra speaks up and reassures his brother.

“That’s exactly what I told him as well, you see brother? I told you everything would be fine.”, as the trio continue with their laughter a sound of clopping hooves were drawing near the trio as Starfire Raindrop joins the conversation. Starfire is a beautiful unicorn mare sporting a white mane with a mixed milky and red furred body along with red pupils in her eyes similar in color to the red on her body. Much like her husband she isn’t from the crystal Empire originally and thus isn’t considered an actual crystal pony. Granted, living in the empire automatically turned even non native crystal ponies into said forms the moment they enter the empire by means of the crystal heart. As Starburst is the father figure to all within the orphanage Starfire is the mother to all the children in the orphanage. Upon seeing the trios antics Starfire put her right hoof onto Starburst who still had Sombasi in his grasp.

“Now, now, husband we can’t be too laid back with this. I’m still upset this has transpired for I don’t want any harm to come to any of the children regardless. That said though...”, Starburst puts Sombasi back onto the floor as Starfire approaches Sombasi and nuzzles him. “I’m just happy you’re okay.”, Sombasi blushes as he leans into his mothers nuzzling and replies with a simple.

“Hehe, T-thanks mom.”, Starfire then turns her attention to Sombra.

“Sombra, have you learned anything from the library? Any luck?”, admittedly Sombra was still disappointed from his visit to the library, he sighs with closed eyes before meeting his mothers gaze.

“Not much luck sadly, most of it were already familiar to me or I simply found it not worth the effort.”, Sombra pauses for a second before he continues, Starfire listening contently to her sons concerns. “I know for sure there’s more knowledge of the empire not to mention magical tomes and powerful spells it’s just...I’m at a loss of where to find them. Aside from The Royal Library of course...”, Starfire smiled with a hint of a giggle for she had something of interest to tell Sombra.

“Actually son, aside from checking on your brother I joined your conversation because I have exciting news for the both of you and I think this will interest you most Sombra.”, this got the attention of not only the brothers but also her husband as well.

“What?”, they all said in unison with their ears perked up which causes Starfire to chuckle a bit before she continued.

“As it turns out The Queen herself will be taking a stroll around the empire and it just so happens she wants to stop by here at the orphanage to check up on all the children. I could persuade her to teach a certain two sons of mine along with possible access to the royal library up in the castle, hmmm I wonder who those two could be?.”, Starfire raises her right hoof to her chin pretending to think about it in a playful yet sarcastic manner. Upon hearing this Sombasi, the other children and even the other caretakers all react in excitement. Many of them were doing celebratory dances and cheers however it was Sombra in particular whos excitement dwarfed everyone else.

”W-WHAT?!”, Sombra yelled as he used his green aura to lift himself into the air. “Her majesty is coming here and you’d be willing to do that for us?!”, Starfire responds with a nod followed by laughter at her sons excitement. Sombra’s eyes were nearly filled with stars as if Luna herself stuffed them into his eye sockets along with a very large smile that nearly consumed his entire face. “This is fantastic news mother, if you truly could persuade her into letting me study the library at the castle that’d be a dream come true!”, Sombra exclaims as he shoots both of his front legs into the air over his head. Sombra then levitates back to the ground and runs into his mother hugging her into a loving embrace. “Thank you very much for this mother!.”, meanwhile, Sombasi is very happy for his brother trotting over to Sombra and their mother figure as Sombasi puts his left hoof onto Sombra’s back.

“That’s awesome Sombra!, this is exactly what you’ve been hoping for brother.”, Sombasi takes his hoof off of Sombra, who’s still hugging their mother, before thinking aloud with a hoof to his chin. “Maybe the Queen could also get a teacher to help me hone my skills, this is amazing!”, Starburst Raindrop laughs and with a large smile, he tries to settle down everyponies excitement with a gesture of his left hoof.

“Hahaha, now let’s all relax for a seco-”, before Starburst could finish the sudden sound of trumpets go off outside the orphanage before Royal crystal Guards open the doors and take formation as two guards remain by the entrance while the others take up various spots along The Orphanage.

After the trumpets quiet down one of The Royal Guard makes an announcement.

“Hear ye, hear ye, presenting her royal majesty Queen Valerica Sera Mi Amore!”.

(To be continued in Chapter 3 - Queen of the Crystal Empire)

Author's Note

And that was Chapter two ladies and gents, it's a bit shorter compared to chapter one but it serves as a set up for the next chapter <3. see you all in chapter three!.

Chapter 3 - The Queen Of The Crystal Empire

Shock and awe, that was the best way to describe the silence the orphanage found itself in as a beautiful crystal pegasus mare adorned in magnificent royal attire entered the building. She had a light purple mane with stripes of white along with a hint of pink while her body was a dark pink color and her tail matched the color of her mane all the while her wings matched the color of her body however the tip of her feathers were a vibrant white color. The guards all stood stoically as if ready to pounce on anypony who tried to attack her, this may be an orphanage but they were trained to keep an eye out for any danger no matter where the queen was as is expected of royal guardsman. Queen Valerica Sera Mi Amore walked with a very vibrant aura one that immediately puts all eyes on her some of her subjects often find it hard to tell if it’s due to her beauty or her being a queen, many of them surrender to the fact....it’s probably both. Everypony in the orphanage, stallions, mares and colts alike, immediately regained their composer and took a bow to honor her presence.

“Please rise my beloved subjects there’s no need to be so formal.”, Queen Valerica motions with her right hoof before resting it back onto the orphanage’s floor, beaming a vibrant smile as she walks further into the building. “I may be queen but I want you all to simply consider me as a normal visitor today.”, Valerica chuckles playfully before looking around at the crowd of ponies who stood before her. “How is everypony today? I hope you’ve been faring well”, she then lift’s her right hoof and points to various colts before her. “And as for you dear children I certainly hope you’ve been sparing your caretakers your chaotic wrath.”, she ends her statement with an amused giggle.

As everypony begins to rise all of the colts and young mares immediately run up to Valerica and begin to hug her while also complimenting her and bombarding her with various questions. This causes the caretakers to giggle amongst themselves while some let out a simple “Dawwwwwww”, some of caretakers are even tempted to hug her themselves though they struggle to restrain the urge. The royal guards, despite understanding the intentions of the children, stare menacingly at the colts watching their every move and while it might sound cruel they are simply doing their duties after all danger can come in many forms as the changelings have proven time and time again. After escaping the loving children Queen Valerica spots Starfire and Starburst Raindrop along with a certain pair of brothers and calls out to them.

“Starfire!, Starburst!, oh how I’ve missed you two!. The children here are looking amazing and well mannered might I add hehehe, thank Celestia for recommending you two!.”, Valerica trots over to the Raindrop couple, recognizing who it was calling out to them the couple also trot over to her along the way and they all embrace each other in a trio of hugs and laughter.

“We’ve missed you soo much Valerica”, the couple says at the same time in perfect unison. As the Raindrop couple converse with Valerica, Sombra and Sombasi stare with eyes wide open, their pupils dilated, mouth agape and are at a complete loss for words as their parents just casually greeted the queen and chat with her as if she wasn’t a queen at all...as if she was just another pony in the empire. Unbeknownst to them that’s actually how the queen likes it. Taking notice of the two colts the queen turns to them.

“Hello there my lovelies, you two must be the young stallions Starfire and Starburst often tell me about. Quite a handsome pair of youngsters if I do say so myself.”, Valerica smiles and winks after her statement before she starts giggling. Blushing at the compliment Sombasi put his right hoof over his head with a chuckle.

“Hehe, thank you your majesty.”, Sombasi replies as Sombra kneels before The Queen before addressing her.

“Good evening your majesty, it’s a pleasure to have you before us.”

“Eeeeeek! You two are simply adorable!”, a very excited Valerica says before she begins to do a very particular song/dance.

“Sunshine, sunshine,
Ladybugs awake,
Clap your hooves,
And do a little shake.”

“Sunshine, sunshine”, Valerica has two of her hooves on the floor particularly her front right leg and her hind left leg while the other two are lifted and she repeats this a couple of times while switching them around. “Ladybugs awake”, Moments before this part of the song she lowers both of her front legs and her head to the floor while doing a peek a boo gesture before she then gets on her flanks. “Clap your hooves”, sadly she didn’t have a partner for this portion of the song/dance so she did it to the air in front of her as if some invisible pony were present. “And do a little shake”, she turns sideways before she shakes her flank a couple of times.

The Queen becomes very flustered as she realizes she just did her families dance, which has been taught and passed down in her family for generations, out of habit. The entire orphanage goes silent for a brief moment, their eyes wide open, before everypony erupts to loud laughter. Even some of the royal guards couldn’t help but to release a small snicker before they caught themselves and tried to return to their stoic expressions. Many of the colts began to mimic her dance as some took partners to reenact the spectacle while others imitated her without a partner present as she did moments before. Sombra just stared on with his jaw dropped while Sombasi was laughing his flank off. The Raindrop couple were nearly in tears as Starfire Raindrop regains her composer realizing she didn’t introduce Sombra and Sombasi to Valerica.

“Oh, forgive my manners Queen Valerica”, Starfire says as she trots over to the brothers while holding her right hoof over them. “These colts are two of the many we have here in the orphanage...”, Starfire moves her hoof over to Sombra. “The taller stallion is Sombra”, Starfire then moves her hoof to Sombasi. “While the shorter stallion is Sombasi. Boys, this is Queen Valerica although I’m sure you already knew that.”, Starfire giggles and returns back to her husbands side.

“Aww yes”, The Queen replies with a hoof to her chin before setting it down again. “Sombra’s talents have reached even my ears thanks to some talk amongst some of my guards and even the other ponies around the empire. You seem to be quite gifted.”, Valerica shoots Sombra a smile causing him to blush she then turns to Sombasi pointing her left hoof at him. “As for you Sombasi, a certain librarian informed me that you were the pony who caused quite the commotion earlier today when I visited the public library.”, This makes Sombasi’s eyes shoot wide open while he sweats nervously and begins to stagger his words.

“Y-ou he-ard abo-ut th-at?”, Sombasi barely regains his composer before he sighs in defeat and lowers his head in shame. “Forgive me your majesty I’ve...dishonored this orphanage and my parents with my actions.”, His words surprised Valerica, she didn’t expect a colt to be so...humble. Valerica uses her left hoof to lift Sombasi’s head to meet her gaze before she councils him.

“Now, now, little one...there’s no need to be overdramatic.”, she removes her hoof from Sombasi’s chin before she continues. “You are a very kind soul Sombasi and quite humble too even more so than some of the nobles I deal with on a daily basis.”, Valerica puts her right hoof behind her head on that last statement while looking away almost annoyingly before regaining a pleasant expression and looks back to Sombasi. “Listen my little pony, when one makes a mistake the best thing they can do is to learn from it and never try to repeat it. Everypony messes up now and again no matter who they are including me hay even the royal sisters in Canterlot are no exception. Mistakes are inevitable, learning from them is necessary, thus is one of the many trials of life. Remember these words well young Sombasi.” An applaud in the form of stomping hooves and ponies who sat on their flanks to clap their hooves together can be heard as the queens words could be heard by everypony around her including Starbust and Starfire while Sombra rolls his eyes before chuckling. Valerica’s words hit home for Sombasi as he smiles and nods happily along with his eyes becoming almost misty as if he wanted to cry but held it back.

“Thank you very much your majesty”, Sombasi then kneels and rises again. Queen Valerica nuzzles Sombasi before moving back and puts her left hoof onto his head and pats it.

“Tis the duty of a Queen to see to the needs of her subjects my dear, including comforting them through their own uncertainties.”, suddenly, Starburst Raindrop recalls what his wife said in their earlier conversation before Valerica’s arrival about asking Valerica if Sombra could see The Royal Library along with Sombasi mentioning a possible magical tutor.

“Oh that reminds me!.” Starburst yells in realization as he walks towards the queen and his two sons coming to a stop near them. “Sombra, Sombasi, isn’t there something you two would like to ask the queen regarding a certain royal library and a possible magical tutor?.”, This causes both of the brothers ears to shoot straight up as they both trot up to Valerica which causes both Starfire and Starburst to giggle. Sombasi allows Sombra to take the lead and ask his question.

“Your majesty, forgive me if I sound too forward or out of turn but would it be ok if I could take a look at the royal library? In addition to learning more about magic I also would love to learn more about The Crystal Empires history along with Equestria if it won’t be any trouble to you?. They teach us well at school and the public library is quite adequate but I can’t help but feel the royal library holds further knowledge.”, Valerica ponders on this before answering.

“Weellll, normally I’d be hesitant to allow many into the royal library outside of royalty for you must understand there are some books and tomes that possess important revelations and I don’t want anyone to abuse them.”, Sombra’s ears began to slowly drop to the sides of his head and he internally thought the answer would most assuredly be a no. “That said though”, The Queen interrupts his inner thoughts which also shoots Sombra’s ears back up in anticipation. Valerica points a hoof over to the Raindrop couple. “I owe your loving guardians a great debt for what they do here at the orphanage. Celestia informed me of their amazing work back in Canterlot and having seen it first hoof I can definitely agree.”, This causes both Starfire and Starburst to blush, Starburst in particular puts his left hoof behind his head. “Therefore, I shall leave it up to them but on one condition dear Sombra”, Valerica lifts a hoof in front of Sombra to emphasize the conditions she will purpose. “Should your guardians give their permission I will only allow you to learn from specific materials. Not all of it will be available to you, I hope you can understand.”, Sombra was admittedly disappointed by this but he also knew he’d never get another chance, he complies.

“Yes your Majesty, I understand completely.”

“Excellent!”, The Queen said most excitedly before turning her gaze to Sombasi. “Now then, Sombasi, I understand you’d like a magical tutor yes?”, without hesitation Sombasi quickly responded although he did have a hint of sadness for what he was about to say.

“Yes your majesty, my magic isn’t as...exceptional as Sombra’s not to mention I’m fairly below average compared to other unicorns of our age in the empire but...”, Sombasi was suddenly filled with determination and planted his left hoof with confidence. “I want to be better, I want to learn more, I want to stand proudly by my brother as we accomplish many great things in the future in service of The Crystal Empire!” Starfire and Starburst both were filled with pride and were proud of Sombasi’s proclamation, Sombra chuckled with a smile forming on his face knowing how loyal his brother is to him. Queen Valerica looked upon Sombasi with a smile and patted Sombasi on his head with her right hoof, she says to herself internally:

“-What a pure hearted child-”, Valerica giggled before pointing a hoof towards Sombasi. “Oh I’ve got just the teacher in mind for you Sombasi, let’s just say I have a favor I can cash in.”, Valerica winks at Sombasi before turning to the Raindrop couple. “So dear friends, do these fine colts have your permission?”, Starburst motions for his wife to answer before leaning into her and kisses her on her right cheek which causes her to giggle before answering Valerica:

“Very well, they have our permission Queen Valerica.” Getting Starfires answer, Valerica lets out a very excited and enthusiastic declaration.

“Then let it be so!”, the group continues to chat and enjoy each others company as time goes on.

Luna’s moon is now beginning to rise although The Raindrop Couple, The Queen and The Brothers seem to not have noticed yet. The other kids of The Orphanage have already began to head to their rooms and some of the caretakers are beginning to take their leaves. One also can’t help but respect The Royal Guardsponies as they stood firm throughout the entire ordeal maintaining order both inside and outside The Orphanage. The Queen gasps in embarrassment as she looks out a window nearby finally realizing what has happened.

“Oh sweet Celestia look at the time!, guards.”, this causes all of the guards in the building to attention ears perked up and eyes focused as Valerica begins to give out orders. “You two by the door will remain here with me while the rest of you go on outside and rendezvous with the guards stationed outside. I’ll follow shortly I just need a second.”, immediately and without hesitation the guards yell in unison:

“Yes your majesty, it shall be done!”, as they all salute with raised hooves. As per her order the two guards who were stationed at the entrance remained as all the others began to head outside. The Queen then gave the Raindrop couple a certain look, a look that only they could understand. The Queen had something urgent on her mind and only they could hear it. Starfire is quick to act and turns to Sombra and Sombasi.

“Ok boys, it’s time for you both to wash up and head to your rooms. Your father and I need to speak with the queen for....accommodations.”, Sombra and Sombasi took notice of their mothers words, specifically it was the way she said “accommodations” as if it was used for something else. The two shrugged it off though and proceeded to the washrooms. Queen Valerica then motioned for the two guards who stood behind to follow her before asking the Raindrop couple:

“Is there someplace we could speak in private, preferably any rooms here with soundproof walls?”, Starfire and Starburst had a good feeling of what Valerica wanted to speak of, they motioned for her and her guards to follow. They reached the Raindrop couples bedroom, the couple made sure to install soundproof walls so the children of the orphanage didn’t accidently hear any of their “night activities”, the Raindrops were a young couple after all by unicorn standards at least and do plan on having biological children of their own soon. Before entering their bedroom Valerica ordered her guards to remain at the door to keep watch, the trio then take their seats on two couches the Raindrop couple have placed in their room as well as a rectangular table which sat in the center. The Raindrop couple sat on one couch as the Queen sat on the other facing each other perfectly. The Queen speaks first:

“Let me start by saying I’m soo proud of the two of you, you’ve done wonders for the orphans here and I couldn’t be any more grateful.”, Valerica bows her head in a grateful manner before a small amount of hesitation took over her as she tries to find a way to put into words what has been on her mind. “Now... In regards to Sombra and Sombasi please forgive me for acting like this was the first time I’ve met them, we all know the truth... I trust you two know where I’m going with this?”, this made Starfire nervously grab her husbands right hoof while he leans in to comfort her, Starfire responds though her words have a hint of fear to them.

“Y-yes Valerica... We have a good idea...”

(to be continued in Chapter 4 - Truths and Omens.)

Chapter 4 - Truths and Omens

Queen Valerica nodded her head and patiently waited for Starfire to begin. As Starfire Raindrop regained her confidence she looked over to her husband Starburst Raindrop, putting a hoof onto his shoulder. “Dear, how about you allow me to start things off with her majesty while you grab some drinks from the kitchen.”, Starfire looks over to Valerica. “Any preferences Vale?, we have soo many different varieties of juices here thanks to the children however my husband and I do keep some wine as well.”, Starfire then realizes she left out a very important detail. “Oh and yes, we hide it from the children”, the trio begin to laugh at that last statement while The Queen raises a hoof to her chin in thought.

“Oh I’d usually go for wine but it’s getting late so could I trouble you for some Orange Juice?”, Starburst Raindrop nods happily before turning his head to his wife.

“I’ll take the same dear.”, she informs him. After getting his orders Starburst leaves the room and informs the guards outside that he’ll return with some drinks and if either of them would be interested to which they both ask for grape juice.

“Now then Valerica...”, Starfire begins although she does swallow a lump in her throat causing her to pause momentarily, what they were about to discuss was a very sensitive topic to Starfire. “Sombra and Sombasi are doing amazingly well, I honestly couldn’t be prouder of either of those fine young stallions and I’m soo grateful you left them in our care.”, Starfire says with a very large smile on her face however her smile slowly faded as her expression changes to one of worry and hesitation for what was coming next. “However, I’m afraid of how they’ll react if they knew about their...true origins...of what they truly are.” Queen Valerica sympathetically looked upon her friend before taking a breath and lets out a sigh.

“Starfire, I too fear how those two will react once they find out that they...”, The Queen could also feel the hesitation that plagued Starfire while her eyes shut halfway her lips almost quivering. “That... They...” Valerica finally closed her eyes maintaining a sad yet concerned look before finally answering. “That they are the children of the immortal ponies of darkness, those who herald from The Planes Of Absolute Darkness...The Umbrum”

The room went silent as the two mares sat quietly before Starfire began to have tears run down her face, her words begin to sob as her tears flowed. “Th-ey are n-ot evil Valerica, my sweet boys...”, Starfire sniffs. “...would never become anything like those horrible monsters that The Empire faced alongside Princess Celestia and Princess Luna all those years ago during the events of The Planemeld”, Starfire begins to shake her head from side to side as her tears still continue to flow like a river dropping from both of her cheeks. “....they won’t.....they won’t....they simply won’t.”, Queen Valerica moved over to Starfire to comfort her, using her left hoof to hold onto Starfire’s right hoof while also draping her left wing around Starfire into a loving embrace. Valerica uses her magic, her horn glowing with a dark purple aura, to levitate over a box of tissues that was placed near the Raindrop couples bed on a nightstand while also bringing over a small trash can that was placed next to what appeared to be Starfires beauty station complete with a mirror and all of her make up. Starfire thanked Valerica and blew her nose into a napkin before discarding it into the trash can.

“Starfire, sweetie, I’m not saying that they are evil nor do I hope they become evil.”, Valerica says with love and sympathy as she rubs Starfires back before she continues. “I simply want to talk to you and your husband about how we’re going to reveal the truth to them.”, Valerica hesitates but she must make her point to her friend even if it hurts her. “Only time will reveal how strong your sons will be and how they will handle the truth however in the event that one...”, Valerica swallows some spit out of nervousness praying that her words won’t enrage her long time filly-hood friend. “...or even both of them become...corrupted...we must do what is necessary to not only protect The Empire but all of Equestria as well.”, Valerica sighs and leans her head against Starfires right shoulder. “Thinking about what happened during The Planemeld terrifies me greatly Starfire.”, both Valerica and Starfire could feel each other shaking pressing closer to aid the other. “Nopony should ever have to see let alone face such horrors.”

“I...I know Valerica...I know it’s just”, Starfire Raindrop looks to Valerica tears beginning to form again in her eyes. “I love those two soo much, I love all of my children here but those two will have a much harder life then anypony else me and my husband have ever raised.”, before the conversation could go on a knock is suddenly heard prompting the Queen to say:

“Come in!”, the door opens thanks to one of the two guards who were stationed outside the room, noticeably holding a glass of grape juice for each of them as Starburst Raindrop enters the room then the guards closes the door behind him. Starburst had a tray with three glasses of orange juice which he kept levitated with his magic before setting the tray onto the table centered between the couches the trio have been sitting on. Despite his absence Starburst knew what had happened since he was gone, he could sense that both Valerica and Starfire were distraught and for one reason, one reason only, the origins of the two colts he would see as his beloved sons. Valerica took it upon herself to move back onto the other couch before kissing Starfire on her head and allow Starburst to quickly come to comfort his wife. Starfire leaned into her husbands loving embrace stuffing her face into his chest before Starburst asked Valerica what he had already suspected even while he was in the kitchen.

“So Valerica, have you two found a solution? Do you have any plans on how we can reveal this...information... To our sons safely?”, Valerica wished to Luna’s stars that she had a way to do it and guarantee that the outcome would be preferable not to mention sparing the two ponies before her but she knew of only one way, it was the best way in her mind.

“I do have a suggestion Starburst although it’ll put a lot of pressure on you both.”, The Queen says as Starfire raises her head from her husbands chest and knew exactly what Valerica wanted to say.

“It’s us...we have to do it”, Starfire responded while still holding onto her husbands left hoof.

“Yes, I agree full heartedly.”, Valerica responded as she looked upon her best friend and her friends lover. “You two are what I’d like to call a foundation of sorts. Sombra and Sombasi love you two whole heartedly and my hope is that they will keep a clear head as you reveal the truth to them simply because it’s you, the parents who love them no matter what. You two will have to comfort them, nurture them, and most importantly you must never stop loving them. Not that you needed me to tell you that of course.”, Valerica finishes with a smile. Starfire meets her friends gaze before smiling as well.

“You’re right Valerica, if anypony else were to tell them it might go wrong but if it were me and my husband I know my boys will understand.”, Starfire began to take upon herself a very confident look she also became filled with determination before jumping onto her hooves nearly bouncing off of the couch. “Give me some time Valerica to set something up but I promise you...”, Starfire trots over to the other couch hugging Valerica into an embrace while pushing her right cheek against Valerica’s left cheek which Valerica welcomes happily. “...all of The Crystal Empire, no, all of Equestria will know that my sons will become invaluable and I’ll watch with pride as they grow into weapons of righteousness”, both Queen Valerica and Starfire Raindrop chuckle happily, Starburst Raindrop comes over from the couch he was planted on and joins them in their embrace.

“Phew, I’m honestly a bit drowzy. Thank you very much for the juice by the way it was very satisfying.”, The Queen says as she licks her lips while rubbing her stomach before she gets onto her legs and stretches all four with various poses while also extending her wings to their maximum length, she was grateful the couples room was fairly large. “I think we can call it a night wouldn’t you two agree?.”, Starfire and starburst nodded in agreement. Starfire turns to her husband.

“Dear could you take the empty glasses to the kitchen as I walk Valerica out with her guards?. Oh and speaking of the guards I’m sure they’ll be finished with their glass too.”, Starburst looked to his wife and nodded.

“Anything for you my sweet Raindrop.”, the couple kiss each other on the lips before Starburst takes his leave with a tray full of empty glasses while also gathering empty glasses from the two guards both of whom gratefully nodded to Starburst. Meanwhile, Valerica couldn’t help but envy the couple before her, she let out a sigh that was filled with a hint of sadness.

“If only you were here, my dear Olstrom Shattershield”.

Valerica, The Royal Crystal Guard, and Starfire were now outside in front of The Orphanage. The two friends gave each other one last hug before the queen began to take her leave along with her guards but as she drew a short distance away Starfire couldn’t help but run after her friend, there was a question that lingered on Starfire’s mind and she wanted to get it off her chest. “Valerica, wait!”, Starfire yells as she got closer.

“Oh?, what’s wrong Starfire?”, replied Valerica motioning for her guards to let Starfire approach.

“14 years ago, after the combined forces of Canterlot and The Crystal Empire stopped The Planemeld...” Starfire pauses remembering that horrible event. “...when you and The Royal Sisters found Sombra and Sombasi as new born fillies... What made you give them to me and my husband here at the Orphanage?. Not that I’m ungrateful of course but why did you do it?. Celestia was pretty neutral while Luna proposed a rather...extreme option, but why di-” Starfire was cuf off as Queen Valerica put a hoof to Starfires muzzle before she answered:

“Simple Starfire, it’s because it was you who taught me a valuable lesson which...” Valerica paused with a blush starting to form along with a smile. “...a lesson that brought me and my late husband Olstrom Shattershield together, don’t you remember?”

“W-wait, you don’t mean?”, Starfire’s eyes shot wide open with realization. Queen Valerica nodded with her blush and smile still present.

“As you know my husband was one of the last pureblooded wild horses, although the word wild was pretty offensive to him, whos blood hasn’t yet been crossbred with that of a pony much like my daughter Princess Shiori Shattershield Mi Amore and many other ponies of our time.”, The Queen took a breath before she continued. “In the beginning, Olstrom and I had to keep our love a secret for a long while. It got to the point that despite our love we feared the worst would happen should we be discovered by Olstrom’s herd or even my fellow ponies here at The Empire back when the union of both species were heavily frowned upon. I was a princess...he acted as a sentry horse for his herd... But we knew the repercussions would be...terrifying.” The Queen paused and was noticeably sad about this before she continued. “Therefore, I turned to a certain fillyhood friend of mine who told me something that I’d never forget. It gave me and Olstrom the courage to show our love to the world and we didn’t care one bit if anypony complained. So what if a pony and a wild horse joined together in union?, that was our choice to make.”, then, both Valerica and Starfire began to recite the words that got The Queen through those hard times, the words that Starfire told her many years ago, the same words that the Queen is sure will help Sombasi and Sombra as they apply here too.

“The circumstances of ones birth are irrelevant, it’s what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.”, The Queen gave Starfire a wink before leaving with her guards while shouting back with a hoof in the air.

“Don’t forget to bring Sombasi and Sombra by the castle tomorrow, I did make them a promise”, leaving behind a shocked Starfire Raindrop in front of the Orphanage Starfire fell back onto her flank while a tear fell out of her eye causing her to wipe it in turn.

“Yes, that’s right...by Celestia that is soo right how could I have forgotten that?”, Starfire smiles as she watches her friend and the guards disappear in the distance. She then heads back into the Orphanage to join her husband in their bedroom. Before getting into bed with her husband who was already fast asleep Starburst raindrop turns towards her bedroom window which positioned to the far right side of the bed sporting a very perfect view of the upper part of The Crystal Castle. Starfire sighs, closes her eyes, and forms a smile as she says. “Thank you, Valerica.”

(To be continued in Chapter 5 - The Crystal Castle and the statue of legend)

Chapter 5 - The Royal Castle and The Statue of Legend

Celestia’s beloved star began to rise above The Crystal Empire its rays enlightening every street to every crystalline structure while scaring off any of the darkness that still lingered from Luna’s night. One of the rays of the sun beamed through a window that was place not too far from Sombra’s bed kissing his face thus causing him to awake with a bit of an annoyed grunt. Suddenly, Sombra was overtaken by a sudden urge of excitement before he kicked off his covers and shot out of bed. Today was going to be a big day for him and his brother however upon looking at his sleeping brother who’s bed was positioned just opposite of Sombra’s a mischievous smile began to form on Sombra’s face as he slowly crept to the right side of Sombasi’s bed, Sombasi’s face was exposed from a lack of bed covering. Sombra’s horn began to glow.

“So dear brother...”, Sombra chuckles before he continues, a smirk still present. “...yesterday you woke me up by means of blowing a horn if I’m not mistaken?.”, Sombra says sarcastically with a hoof to his chin. Sombra moves even closer and now stands before Sombasi’s face which was perched just at the edge of Sombasi’s bed. Sombra temporarily moves his gaze over to a nearby wooden closet which was positioned not too far from the entrance to the room, using his magic he opens the doors to said closet revealing a bucket full of water. Sombra planned this, he filled the bucket last night before he and his brother fell asleep. The bucket of water begins to float over to the brothers as Sombra positions it perfectly over sombasi’s head. “And now dear brother...”, Sombra chuckles as he leans in closer to his still asleep brother and whispers: “Vengeance is mine.”, Sombra backs away as the aura that had once surrounded his horn dissipates this in turn causes the aura that held the bucket to do the same. Seconds after, a loud [SPLASH] engulfs the room.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaggghh!”, a now drenched Sombasi yells as he panics, his chest noticeably inhaling and exhaling rapidly. “W-what was that!?”, Sombasi then sees his brother who was on the floor laughing while pointing his right hoof at Sombasi. “YOU!”, Sombasi screamed pointing his left hoof at his brother. “You fiend of a brother!, what was that for?.”, this catches Sombra by surprise as his laughter begins to calm down before he gets back onto all fours.

“Really dear brother?, did you forget what you did to me yesterday morning?.”, Sombra replies as he points his right hoof to the very same blow horn that happened to be sitting on the very same closet Sombra retrieved the bucket of water from.

“But, but that was-”, Sombasi stopped himself as realization came to him, Sombasi hated to admit it but his brother did have justification even though Sombasi did hope Sombra wouldn’t seek retribution. Sombasi sighs in defeat before he chuckles a bit with a smile. “...ok brother, I guess I deserved that.” The two brothers begin to laugh amongst themselves. Sombasi then turns back to his bed which was now absolutely wet from Sombra’s prank. “You could’ve at least sparred my bed though.”, Suddenly the pair could hear a clopping of hooves nearing the outside of their bedroom door which soons opens after.

“Boys it’s time for-”, Starfire Raindrop paused as she glanced over to a still drenched Sombasi and a somewhat still laughing Sombra but the moment she saw Sombasi’s bed and its current condition there was a flinch in her left eye. “-I just washed those sheets.-”, she said internally before chuckling as she looks back to her two sons. “Do I even want to know?.”, she says as the trio begin to laugh together.

After the incident in the bedroom Sombra and Sombasi now sit at a large table in the dining room accompanied by the other orphans within the orphanage. there was an assortment of silverware which sat nicely on a folded napkin before them along with a single plate, one for every pony with some extras stacked in the middle of the table. The doors to the room begin to open revealing The Raindrop Couple along with the other caretakers who had trays of food with some while others had trays of various juices and water. The children begin to clap their hooves together while some also begin to lick their lips in anticipation. The adults place the food and drinks onto the tables carefully these ranged from freshly made bread to salads, pancakes, eggs along with four bottles of maple syrup. The sound of clanking silverware and satisfied moans could be heard throughout the dining room as the colts eat to their hearts content and the adults watch with prideful smiles. Sombra and Sombasi were the first to finish their plates as the two leave their seats along with their dishes and begin to walk towards the exit of the dining room making their way to the kitchen. Upon entering the kitchen they are greeted by Starburst Raindrop who stopped washing some dishes momentarily and turns to his sons.

“Good morning boys, enjoyed your breakfast?.”, starburst asks with a smile.

“Satisfactory as always father.”, Sombra says with closed eyes and a smile.

“Now I know how Princess Celestia felt when she ate all that cake During Sombra’s birthday party here at The Orphanage.”, Sombasi says as he starts to laugh a little. This also got Starburst and Sombra to laugh before Starburst regains himself before replying.

“Good to hear sons now be sure to be ready to leave soon, your mother will be taking you both to The Crystal Castle. I know you’re both very excited about it.”, Starburst winks at them before turning back to the dishes in the sink and continues washing them. Sombra and Sombasi nod before they run to the washrooms and prepare to leave for the castle.

Sombra, Sombasi, and their mother figure Starfire Raindrop are now making their way towards the castle while also greeting various ponies along the way. Upon reaching a large gate covered in beautiful decorative crystals which no doubt acted as an entrance into the front courtyard of the castle. They are spotted by two stationed guardsponies. One guard was a crystal pegasus stallion while the other was a crystal earthpony mare.

“Halt, state your business.”, the pegasus guard asks as Starfire replies while Sombra and Sombasi understood the situation and remained silent to allow their mother to take care of the proceedings.

“Good morning everypony, my name is Starfire Raindrop.”, Starfire then moves aside to introduce her sons. “These are my sons Sombra and Sombasi, her majesty has allowed us to see her today.”, the guards ears perk up instantly upon hearing the trios names.

“Aww lady starfire, The Queen has informed us of you and your sons arrival. Please forgive us and step forward.”, the pegasus guard motions for his earthpony partner to open the gate. “You’ll find her majesty through the castle doors at the end of the courtyard.”

“No worries at all, I understand your duties completely.”, Starfire, Sombra and Sombasi all smile as they begin to proceed through however the earthpony guard who had opened the gate stuck out her left hoof to get Starfire’s attention before removing her helmet. Starfire gasps in surprise as the guard is revealed to be one of the ponies she and her husband had brought up in their orphanage back in Canterlot: Harley Sentry. Harley has an orange mane with a blue body while her tail matched the color of her mane and her pupils were a light blue color in her eyes. Harley moved to The Crystal Empire after Princess Celestia decided to station her and a few other guardsponies from Canterlot here after the events of The Planemeld. Harley was very happy though, it allowed her to see her mother and father figures more often as they had moved to The Crystal Empire’s orphanage some time before Harley became stationed there.

“It’s good to see you again, mom.”, Harley says as she bows to her mother figure with a blush on her face. The two wanted to run into each other with a hug but they understood that Harley has her duties as a guard to focus on. Starfire nods happily before responding.

“It’s good to see you too, my beautiful baby girl.”, Starfire winks and smiles. This surprises both Sombra and Sombasi as they now know they have a sibling sister among the guards. They might not be related by blood but the bond was indeed there, they nod to her before following their mother.

“Awww, that’s just precious. Looks like there’s a chink in that armor of yours huh Sentry?.”, the pegasus guard teases as Harley narrows her eyes at him in annoyance.

“Oh be quiet and get back to formation.”, she retorted although a blush began to form on her face again.

“As you command.”, the pegasus guard kneels his head and brings it back up before he continues while holding his right hoof up to form a quotation while smirking. “My beautiful baby girl.”

Starfire, Sombra and Sombasi are now nearing the doors to enter the castle however they couldn’t help but to admire the beautiful scenery. Beautiful crystal like tiles formed most of the paths not to mention the one they were trotting on along with the formation of spires reaching into the air which were connected to the path . Well kept green grass covered the landscape and a number of groomed bushes some of which had roses and flowers in bloom dotted the area. Just before the entrance stood a statue of a stallion. The trio thought it was an earthpony at first however they couldn’t help but notice how large this stallion was. Typically when a pony is honored by a statue, or any being for that matter, the craftsponies always make a life sized model of the individual and upon closer inspection they all gasped in realization. This was not an earthpony, it was a horse, Olstrom Shattershield. Sombra, Sombasi and Starfire began to read the text that was at the base of the statue.

“In loving memory of, Olstrom Shattershield.
Beloved husband and father.
One of the last pureblooded horses.
Hero of The Planemeld.”

Olstrom was said to have a black mane with a dark red furred body, his tail matched the color of his mane as his pupils were also black in his eyes. Horses were often two to four times the size of a pony, the only type of pony who could rival them in size and stature were alicorns. Horses had no magic but their bodies were much thicker than a ponies almost as if they had natural armor although not entirely impenetrable. Horses could run at speeds that could leave modern earthponies to shame thanks to their larger statures and strong legs. As for their strength pureblooded horses did posses something that was unique to them, something that not even ponies had possessed and would often mistake for magic: Physical Amplification. A horse can amplify his or her own strength by double which they used to protect themselves, their thick hides also increase in durability as well making them walking juggernauts when in combat however the drawback is that their stamina is sapped as the fight goes on so many horses use this technique to hopefully settle fights quickly.

“Woah...Olstrom was huge!”, Sombasi yells, his eyes were wide open in shock. Sombra analyzes the statue before speaking his findings.

“By my calculations brother I’d say he’d have a slight height advantage even over Princess Celestia in fact Celestia’s ears, when perked up, would reach his upper jaw if the two were to stand side by side. Not including her wings and horn of course.”, Starfire nodded before she answered the two colts.

“You’re absolutely right Sombra.”, Starfire’s words caught the attention of the two brothers. “He was indeed quite the presence to behold, a true horse through and through. When I first met him I was intimidated by his size alone before I realized how much of a gentle giant he was.”, Starfire giggles before she continues. “Valerica was a princess at the time but boy did she have the worlds biggest crush on this horse although I couldn’t blame her.”, Starfire winked at them before she continued. “He’d turn every mares gaze whenever he walked through The Crystal Empire or even Canterlot when his herd, at the time, would come to visit every so often although they’d sometimes get glares from ponies but at least no fighting broke out.”, Starfire then began to take on a sad expression. “At least...until things didn’t go well during a certain visit to Canterlot, a very important visit might I add”, this made Sombra speak up in response.

“What do you mean mother?.”

“Well, Olstrom and his herd came to Canterlot a long time ago for a peace meeting. They were to meet with Princess Valerica alongside Princess Celestia and Princess Luna within the Canterlot Marketplace.”, Starfire looked away from the brothers and glanced at both the statue and the castle before returning her gaze to her sons. “You see sons, Olstrom and Valerica were already meeting in secret by this time and this would be the day they could reveal themselves.”, Starfire took a deep breath before she continued, her saddened expression still present. “Everything was going soo well but then... An assassination attempt was made. Let’s just say not everypony was happy about this meeting because of petty things like race discrimination which drove a rift between ponies and horses but Olstrom’s herd was willing to put those aside and seek peaceful endeavors.”, Sombra and Sombasi let out a gasp of surprise before Starfire continued. “The target was the lead bull of Olstrom’s herd. His name was Leonidus Shattershield, Olstrom’s father.”, Leonidus looked exactly like Olstrom, no doubt where Olstrom gets his looks from, but with one major difference Leonidus had a white mane and tail unlike Olstrom's black. the two brothers now had their gaze locked onto their mother ears perked up as they contently listened to her story. “What happened next was a disaster.”, Starfire sighs before she recalls the events of that day.

**Flashback: Canterlot market place, 1 year before The Planemeld Event**

A hooded stallion earthpony with a dagger held in his right hoof tried to stab Leonidus in an attempt to kill him. Leonidus Shattershield’s thick hide was able to repel the dagger that the hooded earth pony held in their hoof, the assailant should’ve researched their target a bit further, in a panic the assassin used a smoke bomb before disappearing into the smoke. Although he was unharmed Leonidus was infuriated as he shouts:

“Is this how ponies show peace?!”, Leonidus shouts as he turns to a trio of Princesses, Luna, Celestia and Valerica all holding a shocked expression. Celestia tries to defuse the situation.

“Lord Leonidus, we are as shocked as thou are.”, Celestia’s heartbeat began to race, she knew this wasn’t going to end well and had to think quickly. She tries to regain her composer. “That such a foul deed was ever attempted on your life disgu-”, before she could finish Leonidus slammed his right front leg into the earth causing everything within the area to shake, merchant shops and various booths were in disarray as shop owners tried to save their wares even ponies were beginning to topple over who happened to be near Leonidus at the point of impact. Leonidus also left a small crater where his hoof had impacted. Celestia was terrified, Luna read the situation like a book and was ready to defend her sister, Valerica could only stare on in horror letting out a quiet:

“No, no no no no...”, Valerica and Olstrom wanted to use this day to reveal their love to every pony and horse in attendance. This simply would not come to pass.

“I don’t want to hear your excuses you traitorous devils!.”, Leonidus roars and begins to walk towards Celestia but as he steps the earth around him begins to shake and every hoof he steps with leaves a small crater behind where they once stood. “I agreed to this meeting because I thought my son was right, he spoke words of wisdom.”, Leonidus points his right hoof to Olstrom who, much like his secret lover Valerica, was stunned with shock. “He convinced me that peace with you ponies would be a great benefactor for our diminishing race but I see now that I was right!”, Leonidus began to slowly build up from a trot to an almost full sprint aimed directly at Celestia, the other horses behind him could be heard doing neighs of war. They were ready to follow their leader into battle, Luna jumps in front of her sister to protect her.

“Thou shall not harm our sister, wretched bahemoth!”, Luna said in her Canterlot voice but just before Leonidus could make impact another large figure forced itself between them, Olstrom Shattershield. The two behemoths clashed into each other and if one were to look closely a force of wind would be present just as they made contact with eachother. This force pushed both horses back, Leonidus and Olstrom leaving small craters between them as their hooves were planted into the earth while they were both forced back.

“What are you doing son?!, you’d better have a damn good explanation for this. Why stand against your own father!?”, Leonidus yelled as he neighed in frustration.

“Because this was a misunderstanding, a mistake father!”, Olstrom yells in reply.

“Oh you’re right about that son!”, Leonidus replies as he takes a step forward. Said step making yet another small crater. “It was a mistake to have listened to you!, why would you ever expect-”, suddenly, Leonidus came to a shocking realization and formed a shocked expression before he bared his teeth in anguish once again and a very angered face took form. “Why were you soo adamant about making peace with ponies anyway?, come to think of it you are the only horse in the herd who tried to arrange this.”, Leonidus now stood before Olstrom. “You’re aligned with them aren’t you?!”, Olstrom looked back to the princesses more specifically Valerica. He shot her a gaze that only they understood before Olstrom looked back to his enraged father.

“My loyalty is always with you father, never question that.”, Olstrom says looking his father into the eye. “But I also will fight for what’s right as you yourself have taught me, I stand before you to defend not only The Royal Sisters and every pony here who you wouldn’t spare your wrath to.”, Olstrom looks back to Valerica before returning to his father. “But to also protect the most important mare in my life.”, Valerica, who was now holding a blush on her face, walks to Olstrom’s side before speaking.

“Lord Leonidus, I love your son with all of my heart. He is the stallion who I want to be with, the stallion whos foal I want to bare and make you a grandfather.”, Valerica leans her body against Olstrom her head resting against Olstrom’s upper portion of his front left leg but just beneath the base of olstrom’s left shoulder given the height difference between a horse and a pony on average. “And, if you’re willing sir, I’d like for a chance to call you father as well when I take your sons hoof in marriage.”, these words shocked every being in attendance horse, pony and a certain two alicorns alike. Olstrom looks down to his lover with a smile and she looks up to him all the same before they both look to Leonidus. Leonidus’s eyes were shut but he still had an angered expression on his face, Celestia came up besides the young couple happy to know that peace could still be an option.

“Look to these two beautiful souls Leonidus, they are living proof that horses and ponies can come together as-”, yet another hoof slammed into the ground causing yet another tremor thus cutting Celestia off from her statement as anger built up inside of Leonidus, the stallion horse boldly and bluntly looked towards Celestia with a deep and hateful:

”No.”, this caused Celestia and Valerica’s ears to drop to their sides, Valerica nearly shed a tear as her proposition was shot down by her lovers father. Olstrom stepped forward bracing himself for he knew what was coming. “I do not except any of this!”, Leonidus reared up neighing angrily.

“Then I challenge you father!”, Olstrom said as he grit his teeth with narrowed eyes and points his right hoof to his father before invoking an ancient horse phrase. “In accordance to our kinds traditions and with our ancestors as our witness along with these horses present here.”, Olstrom says as he points to the horses behind Leonidus with his right hoof as he confidently stands before his father. “I invoke, Mequus Kombat!”

(To be continued in Chapter 6 - Mequus Kombat)

Chapter 6 - Mequus Kombat

In ancient Equus times, when a stallion horse challenges the rule/orders of the lead bull or when a lead bull tries to take another bulls herd they can invoke the right of Mequus Kombat. This is a one on one challenge, no other horses are allowed to interfere thus the spirits of old horses long since pass shall punish the interlopers. There are only two ways to decide a winner: Death or Submission.

The option of death was very straightforward however it’s also the option most horse stallions and bulls chose, horses are very prideful and would sooner die rather then submit. Sadly, this is also one of the reasons why the species began to slowly but surely die off not to mention as the number of stallion horses began to drop due to these conflicts mare horses began to form bonds with stallion ponies which lead to crossbreeding. Ironically, this further lowered the numbers of pureblooded horses in general simply because pony DNA seemed to be more dominant in such cases, the foal would always resemble or take after the pony parent in question while losing the height and mass of the horse parent regardless. For instance, if a pegasus pony mare bred with a horse stallion the foal will always be a pegasus pony even though they are by all rights half horse as well.

The option of submission on the other hoof might’ve saved the lives of many horse stallions should they have chosen it but it was sadly the lesser option, if only they realized their prideful nature would be their downfall. Essentially, when a horse stallion submits they revoke their right to a herd for life and it will show via an immovable brand in the shape of a glowing red horseshoe that the victorious bull will bestow upon them on their flank, it would look similar to a ponies cutie mark however it doesn’t represent a “promising destiny”, no, it represents their disgrace. In addition, the submissive stallion must also follow one last command from the victorious bull, this command cannot be to self harm the stallion in question such as making them end their own life but it can be absolutely anything else the bull sees fit.

“No!, please don’t do this Olstrom!.”, a teary eyed Valerica cries out loud while her wings begin to flap. Luna and Celestia were absolutely shocked, they’ve heard of the Mequus Kombat tradition among horses but to see it for themselves?. Valerica continues her pleading. “Please reconsider my love, there must be another way?!.”

“I am sorry sweet Valerica, but this is something only we horses can understand.”, Olstrom replies before he looks to his father. “Isn’t that right, father?.”, Leonidus was much like the royal sisters in terms of their reactions. He could never fathom that his own son would challenge him to their most sacred tradition, all for a pony mare nonetheless. Leonidus soon regains his composer while also having a very annoyed expression.

“You dare challenge me my son?, do you not realize what will happen to you?.”

“Of course I know father, it’s yet another lesson you yourself taught me.”, Olstrom replied without hesitation.

“Very well my son, I accept your challenge.”, Leonidus proclaims as he rears up and stomps back down. Upon hearing those words the other horses behind Leonidus begin to stomp their hooves in unison almost sounding like war drums. Valerica begins to shake as tears begin to flow down her cheeks as she tries one final plead for Olstrom to reconsider.

“No please, I... I can’t take this Olstrom I can’t lose you especially not now!.”, Valerica’s words begin to stutter accompanied with some sobs even her wings extend to full length as she makes a very interesting announcement: “Because I am with child!”, every pony and horse were shocked upon hearing this, the horses in particular were so shocked they even stopped their stomping war drums. Luna and Celestia stared with disbelief however a clopping of hooves could be heard nearing them all as the audience of ponies depart for a milky red unicorn mare.

“I’m so happy for you Valerica, this is most wonderful news!.”, Starfire Raindrop yells out as she reaches Valerica, the two hugging into an embrace. Celestia breaks out of her dumbfounded state as she walks over to Valerica Luna following as well.

“Congratulations my dear friend!”, Celestia says as she drapes her right wing over Valerica even taking her right hoof to rub Valerica’s stomach region.

“Indeed, tis would call for a grand celebration were it not for our current predicament.” Luna says in her canterlot voice along with her right hoof raised. Olstrom’s eyes were wide open, his face in a shocked expression as he looked upon his lover and her friends before it slowly turns into an expression of happiness. Olstrom then turns back to his father.

“Father, our battle will still commence however I ask you for one final request not just as a member of this herd, but as your son.”, Olstrom couldn’t help but to look at his father with pleading eyes as he said those words. Leonidus simply stared at his son for a few moments as if he was in thought, pondering on the words his son had just told him before he sighs deeply and replies:

“Go tend to her, I will wait for you outside of Canterlot on the open fields just beyond the walls.”, Leonidus says as he turns back to the herd and motions for them to move out. Olstrom ran to his lover and held her into an embrace, he lowered his body so she could be on eye level with him. Celestia, Luna and Starfire took a few steps back to give the couple some space.

“Please Olstrom, please don’t leave me alone to raise this foal as a single mother.”, Valerica says with tears still dropping like a river. “I want us both to be there when it takes its first steps, I want us both to be there when our child spreads their wings and flies into the skies, I want us both-”, Valerica was silenced as Olstrom kissed her on her lips before parting.

“All the more reason for me to win this fight my beloved.”, Olstrom stands back up to his full height while his wife looks up still watching him, Olstrom turns to Celestia, Luna and Starfire. “Your majesties, Starfire, if I fail to return please...”, Olstrom pauses for a moment before taking in a breath with a side of worry. “Please help my Valerica with raising this child, please be good aunts and role models for my unborn foal and teach them well. Teach the foal not the ways of a horse, I honestly don’t want that for my child. “, Olstrom looks down to his wife who was cuddling the side of his right front leg with a smile before looking back to the trio of mares. " Teach them the ways of a loving pony, just like all of you, just like the foals beautiful mother.”, Olstrom says as he bows before the three mares before him. Starfire is the first to react as she runs into him and hugs him while rising onto her hind legs.

“I promise you Olstrom, I will be there for Valerica should the worst happen. Your child will have my full support. My orphanage in The Crystal Empire will always be open for them both and I don’t care if Vale already has a whole castle!”, Olstrom smiles upon hearing these words and puts his left hoof around Starfire Raindrop to embrace the hug, Valerica also joins in thus the trio become one. Celestia and Luna approach the group with smiles of their own.

“My sister and I will also help in teaching the foal with how to handle royal duties, and how to deal with nobles.”, Celestia says with a nervous chuckle on that last part before she and Luna begin to laugh. Luna regains herself and lifts her right hoof into the air while also raising her head.

”And I shall teach thy child the great Canterlot voice!”, Luna declared using the very same tone in question. Everyone starts to laugh although some of them have to regain their composer from Luna’s proclamation, the Canterlot voice is quite deafening from being close to its user. After a few moments in a final embrace Olstrom and Valerica part from eachother.

“Please come back to me, to us.”, Valerica pleads looking up to her now proud to be a father horse stallion as she rubs her stomach region with her left front hoof. Olstrom leans in to give her one final pec on the lips.

“I will do everything in my power to ensure that happens.”, Olstrom says confidently as he lifts his head and turns around to take his leave. As he begins to trot away he stops and turns to Valerica. There was something he needed to do before he left to confront his father, he calls out to his lover. “Valerica!, should the foal be born a young stallion you are free to name our legacy anything you please. I will accept it wholeheartedly. But, should the foal be a mare I wish for you to name her: Shiori Shattershield Mi Amore.”, Olstrom declared before he ran off at a full sprint out of Canterlot and out onto the open fields where his father and the herd waited for him.

The winds began to kiss two stallion horses as well as a beaming sun to enlighten both of their manes on a large open field filled entirely with blades of grass, the grass itself came in a mixture of two colors: Green and Brown. The green live grass overpowered the deceased brown ferns yet they blended together to make a most wonderful picture. Leonidus and Olstrom stared each other down from a distance neither saying a word, no words were needed anyway, the father and son duo understood each other perfectly. They could read the other like an open book. The rest of the herd remained in the distance serving as an audience for the battle that was about to commence. Ponies in the distance could be seen watching on the walls of Canterlot, just over the entrance. Celestia, Luna, Starfire and Valerica watched from here as well, the perfect vantage point.

VIDEO TO HOPEFULLY HELP ENHANCE YOUR READING EXPERIENCE. IGNORE IF YOU DON’T FEEL IT’S NECCESSARY.

Olstrom and Leonidus began to walk closer from their respective sides of the large field. Both pause momentarily before Leonidus calls out to his son. “Last chance Olstrom, stand down!.” Olstrom responded with a simple:

“No!”, this response enraged Leonidus who rears back.

“So be it!”, Leonidus yells as he starts to run at full sprint.

Olstrom built himself up from a trot to a full on sprint to match his fathers, as he ran towards Leonidus memories began to flash in his mind before him as if time went slow just for a moment, he saw when he was a younger colt walking alongside his father both with smiles on their faces, he saw when he first met Valerica and the two fell over heels for each other, he saw when he and Valerica revealed themselves to Starfire Raindrop who then promised to keep their love a secret. Finally, he remembered the loving embrace with his lover who was carrying their unborn foal. His eyes opened again moments before he collided with his father a smile beginning to form on his face.

[BOOM]

A large shockwave engulfed the two stallion horses and the area as particles of grass flew up into the air as the sound of neighs echoed across the land, these began to sound less like a neigh of a horse and more of an enraged dragon how these two stallions managed that was a mystery to every pony and horse in attendance. Olstrom and Leonidus reared up onto their hind legs and thrusted themselves forward slamming their chest into each other while, at the same time, their heads collided. Both snarling their teeth with narrowed eyes and they repeated this process multiple times, they’d rear back then slam into each other.

[BOOM]

Every time the two titans clashed a shockwave was sent out the force strong enough to shake the nearby trees causing leaves and branches to fall off. The bystanders inside of Canterlot weren’t spared either for every time the duo would clash they’d hear what to them sounded like the forces of nature were at war. The other horses watched on as they waited for the victor, they’ve seen fights like this before so it wasn’t anything new to them. The ponies on the other hoof who were watching on the wall had their eyes wide open and mouths agape as they watched the spectacle, two horses fighting was not something they’d see often. It was about as rare as watching two Alicorns duke it out. Some ponies were beginning to feel frightened hoping the two titans would keep their battle far away from Canterlot or at the very least not get any closer. Celestia could only watch with a neutral stare with a mix of worry while also ordering her guards to be at the ready. Luna was almost as flabbergasted as the ponies around her all the while Starfire Raindrop and Valerica were holding each other, Valerica whispering quiet prayers.

[BOOM] [BOOM] [BOOM] [BOOM]

Neither father or son would relent they kept pushing against each other rearing up on their hind legs then slamming their chest into each other however just as Leonidus was about to slam himself back into Olstrom with another chest slam Olstrom side stepped much to Leonidus’s surprise, Olstrom then kicked his father with his right hind leg hitting Leonidus into the side of his stomach region with enough force to send his father flying back a few feet however Leonidus was able to catch himself. Digging into the earth with all of his legs Leonidus began to form a crater as he was pushed back before coming to a full stop. Leonidus couldn’t help but feel proud of his sons handiwork letting out a prideful:

“Not bad!”, before charging towards his son again. “But you’ll need more then that boy!”, Leonidus yelled as he sprints to Olstrom. Moments before he reached Olstrom the former assumed Leonidus would do another chest ram. “Two can play that game!”, tricking his son Leonidus turns around and bucks Olstrom away.

“Guagh!”, Olstrom painfully yelled as he was sent flying backwards. Sadly, unlike his father he couldn’t catch himself and toppled down to the floor his body skiing across the field leaving a trail of dirt behind. Leonidus began to walk towards his downed son stepping in the dirt trail his sons body left behind.

“You were a fool to challenge me my son.”, Leonidus confidently said as he treaded towards his son each step leaving small craters like he did back in Canterlot. “And all of this for what?!, some pony mare?!”, Leonidus said in disgust as he now stood over his son but just before Leonidus could do anything further Olstrom roared:

“Yes!”, suddenly, Olstrom grabbed dirt with his right hoof and flew it right into Leonidus’s face and as a result his eyes became blinded as specs of dirt forced them shut.

“Raaaaaaaaa!”, Leonidus roared with sounds of enraged neighing.

“Some mare?!”, Olstrom shouted as he got back up, reared onto his hind legs and slammed into his father with his chest sending the former back.

”SOME MARE?!”, Olstrom roared as he walked up to his father who was still dazed and blinded.

”SHE’S EVERYTHING TO ME!”, Olstrom lifted his right hoof and smacked it across his fathers face just to the side of his lower jaw causing Leonidus to let out spit combined with blood. ”SHE OFFERED YOU PEACE!”, another swipe was lashed out onto Leonidus’s face only this time it was with Olstrom’s left hoof. ”AND. YOU. HURT. HER!”, Olstrom turned around and put all of his strength into his buck hitting Leonidus right into his chest.

[QUABOOM]

Leonidus was sent skyward and towards the other horses, his body finally reached fell to the earth only for the ground to give way and create a large crater about two horses deep. Olstrom entered the crater and stood over his father who laid motionless. Olstrom kept his focus in case his father tried anything like he did, Olstrom believed his father would never submit and it pained him more then anything else. Tears began to flow down his cheeks as he reared up ready to finish the battle. “F-forgive me father, I love you.”

END OF VIDEO, IF YOU CHOSE TO PLAY IT.

“S...subm...ission.”, Leonidus weakly said almost as if it took all of his strength to do so, his body badly bruised and scratches present which still had blood flowing out with a face that was swollen from the hoof beating his son gave him. What stood out most was the large purple horseshoe shaped bruise that laid on Leonidus’s chest. Olstrom stopped immediately while he was reared up on his hind legs, got back onto all fours and took on a face of absolute surprise and shock.

“W-what?, you... Submit?.”, Olstrom said wearily as he couldn’t fathom what he just heard. He has never seen or heard of a horse, at least in his lifetime, who ever took the submission option. Yet, there his father was.

“I... Submit, my son.”, Leonidus was still struggling but not as hard as he did the last sentence. “Mequus Kombat... Has been concluded.” Olstrom was now looking upon his father with a look of absolute sympathy. Leonidus gritted his teeth as he lifted his head in pain. “What... Is your final...order?.”, Olstroms tears nearly resurfaced before he managed to hold them back in time. The other horses joined the duo to hear Olstrom’s decision.

**Back in the Canterlot Marketplace, moments before Olstroms turning point**

Celestia and Luna had moved all pony bystanders off of the Canterlot walls and back into the marketplace for everyponies safety during the climax of the battle moments before Olstrom threw the hooffull of dirt into Leonidus’s eyes so nopony present knows of the fights end result. Various ponies began to express their concerns as Celestia and Luna stood among them trying to provide comfort. Starfire and Valerica were nearby sitting on a flight of stairs that lead up to a guard tower, both holding onto each other in comfort Valerica noticeably having tears coming down her face. The concerns of various ponies echoed throughout the marketplace.

“What’s going on out there, are they still fighting?”

“Mommy I’m scared.”

“That’s how horses fight?!, it’s barbaric!.”

“Please protect us princess Celestia and Luna!”

Celestia and Luna devised a plan to split up, one sister taking one side of the crowd as the other sister comforted the other half. Celestia had a young earth pony foal run up to her begging Celestia to lift the foal into her forelegs. “P-princess Celestia, will the monsters get us?.”, the foal asks with tears running down their face.

“Fret not my little pony, I will not allow any harm to come to any of you.”, Celestia says as she hugs the foal into an embrace. The earth pony foals mother came soon after and retrieved her child thanking Celestia for comforting her.

Some time has passed and the crowd was beginning to calm down as the sonic boom like forces clashing against each other seemed to have stopped. Celestia took this time to send out a scout to see what has happened. Celestia prayed the worst hasn’t happened to Olstrom, the last thing she wanted was to tell her friend she’d be a lone mother. Celestia looked around for any pegasus royal guards and turned to a pegasus mare guardspony who was tending to the needs of some of the ponies. “Pegasus Guardspony, atteeeeention!.”, Celestia might not have looked it but she could be quite assertive when the situation called for it. The mare pegasus guard instantly stopped what she was doing and ran up to Celestia with her ears perked up and eyes forward, wings folded.

“Yes your majesty?!.”

“What’s your name pegasus?.”, Celestia asked while spreading her wings confidently.

“Lyra ma’am, Lyra Hothoof reporting for duty.”, Lyra says as she salutes with her right hoof while also spreading her wings momentarily before folding them up again. Lyra Hothoof has a white furred body along with white wings much like celestia however Lyra’s greatest features were a rainbow colored mane and tail along with orange pupils in her eyes. The rainbow colored mane and tail was genetic in her family and it has successfully been passed down from generation to generation. All of this wrapped in royal guard armor.

“I want you and two of the best pegasi you know to scout the battlegrounds out on the fields, report to me or my sister immediately should you find anything. Do not engage should the fighting still be present.”, Celestia declared a small bit of her canterlot voice leaking out.

“Yes your majesty, it shall be done!”, Lyra replied with a salute using her right hoof before she spreads her wings and takes flight. Lyra flew a short distance away before spotting two more armored pegasi who were stationed on the wall overlooking the market using armor identical to Lyra's. “Look alive ladies you’re both coming with me, orders straight from Celestia.”, the two pegasi mares instantly come to attention and face Lyra. “I’ll give you both the short version my fellow birdies: Three birds, two horses, one scope. Got it?!”

“Affirmative!.”, both pegasi salute using their left hooves. The three pegasi take flight in the direction of the field, Celestia smiles as she sees this before she takes on a saddened expression.

“Please be alive Olstrom.”, Celestia whispered with a hopeful tone.

(To be continued in Chapter 7 - End of one tale, start of another)

Chapter 7 - End Of One Tale, Start Of Another.

**Back in the present, The Crystal Empire Castle Courtyard**

“Wow, that’s amazing!”, yelled Sombasi.

“Horses were truly powerful creatures in their own right, the fact that they could perform such feats without magic and just raw strength alone is most impressive.”, Sombra says as he looks back to Olstrom Shattershield’s statue before looking back to his mother. Sombasi then puts a hoof to his chin in thought.

“So, did they ever find Olstrom after his battle with his father?.”, Sombasi asks curiously. This caused sombra to chuckle as he turns to his brother.

“Well of course they found him dear brother, mother mentioned that an event called The Planemeld happened one year after Olstrom’s battle with his father and Olstrom was present there.”, this caused Sombasi to facehoove embarrassingly which caused both Sombra and Starfire Raindrop to laugh a bit. “The mystery now is how they found him as I’m sure mother was getting to before you interrupted her story.”, Sombra says while looking back to their mother figure.

“Oh hehe, sorry about that mom.”, Sombasi says with an embarrassed look with his left hoof behind his head.

“It’s ok dear, now where was I again?.”, Starfire says as she puts a hoof to her chin in thought. “Aw yes!, the three pegasi mares who Celestia sent to scout out the battlefield.”

**Flashback: Return to the past, after Celestia orders three pegasi mares to scout out the aftermath of Olstrom and Leonidus’s battle.**

The flapping of wings can be heard as three pegasus mares fly over the gates of Canterlot on route to the battlefield the two horse stallions choose for an arena. They all fly in a V formation with Lyra in the lead as all mares stick their front legs forwards while in flight.

“Hey Hothoof , you got any intel?.”, one of the pegasi asked the rainbow maned pegasus.

“Same as you gals sadly, as we all know we got a couple of horses fighting out there.”, Lyra answered, she then turns to both of her new allies. “Never seen you two before, you ladies new?.”, Lyra then looks to the pegasus who just spoke to her. “How do you know my name by the way?, don’t think I ever introduced myself to you before.”

“Name’s Skyline Shy, nice to meet ya. Your family is well known for their rainbow colored manes back at the factory over at cloudsdale so I figured you had to be one of them, I used to work there myself.”, Skyline Shy answered while winking her eye at the revelation she used to work at the factory before becoming a guardspony. Skyline shy has an orange mane and tail with a pink furred body along with blue pupils in her eyes.

“Woah awesome!”, Lyra answers excitingly before she turns her head to the other pegasus. “What about you?.”

“Harpy fairweather, nice to meet you two. Like Shy said I also figured you were a Hothoof thanks to that tail and mane.”, Harpy replies beaming a smile and waving her right hoof to both mares before pointing it forward again. Harpy fairweather has a dark pink mane and tail along with a light pink furred body, her pupils are dark green.

“Well then, when we’re done here what say we all have a friendly race over Canterlot?.”, Lyra asks with a smirk looking at the two mares.

“You’re on!.”, the two mares reply in unison as the three continue onward towards the fields.

After some time, three sets of hooves from a trio of pegasi mares landed onto a field that served as the aftermath for the battle that had taken place there earlier. The terrain became completely devastated and uneven as hill mounds of dirt were formed where grass once stood from an obvious struggle along with a few craters in various spots of the area. One pair of craters in particular looked as if two beings dug their hooves into the earth and tried to push against each other so hard it sent both of them back. They all let out a unified: “Woah.”, the trios eyes shoot wide open their mouths agape.

‘’What the hay, this was a horse fight?!”, Lyra questions with a shocked tone and expression.

“No kidding, it looks more like Princesses Celestia and Luna had a disagreement and just shot a bunch of magic all over the place.”, Harpy Fairweather replied her expression matching Lyra’s.

“That’s what makes it even s-scarier, horses can’t use magic.”, Skyline Shy says with a hint of fear in her tone. “They did all of this with just their brute strength.”, Lyra and Harpy continued to stare on in disbelief. Lyra regains her composer before she speaks again.

“Ok ladies that’s enough site seeing, I know it looks bad but we’ve got to find at least one of those horses. Here’s the gameplan...”, Lyra looks to Harpy and points her left hoof towards the pegasus, this gets Harpy’s attention causing her ears perk up. “Harpy, you and I will continue on by air maybe we can find those horses if we keep flying down the open plains.”, Lyra then looks towards a small forest which stood between the area the mares were standing and Canterlot which also had a road that cut straight through to Canterlot, she points to the forest with her right hoof then turns to Skyline Shy who also readies herself for her orders. “Shy, there’s a forest just between canterlot and this spot right there.”, Skyline Shy looks towards the forest indicated by Lyra’s hoof. “It’s possible that somepo- er, I mean, somehorse could be in there injured but we can’t afford to fly over it with such poor visibility thanks to the trees. You’re gonna have to hoof it for a bit, use that road as a starting point if you need to. Let’s move ladies!.”, their orders given the trio split up into two teams, Lyra and Harpy fly off to search over the fields as Skyline flies over to the road and walks along said road towards Canterlot.

Skyline Shy has been trotting down the forest road at a slow pace hoping to see any signs of life, specifically anything that indicates a horse has been here. As she trots along the road she begins to see what looks like a large dark red figure slowly walking down the road towards Canterlot.

“Um, hello there!.”, she yells out which catches the large figures attention as the entity turns its head to face her direction. The being has its head lowered while walking with an obvious limp, its front left leg stayed lifted as it used the other legs remaining to move. As Skyline Shy got closer the being is revealed to be Olstrom Shattershield who raises his head to his full height as he stands on his three legs. “If it’s ok with you I’d like to help yoooooooouuuuuuuuu-”, Skyline was cut off with shock and dragged her words as she truly comprehends how massive the horse was. She thought she’d get used to it being around Celestia for a while but Olstrom had a height that even slightly dwarfed Celestia’s stature. “Dear Celestia you’re big...”, Skyline Shy said as her eyes widen and her mouth goes agape. She quickly regains her composer as she walks up to Olstrom. “I’m here on behalf of the Princesses, want me to get you some help? Where are the other horses?.”, Skyline asks as she puts a hoof onto Olstrom’s right leg, Olstrom was noticeably breathing hard along with a few grunts of pain. He tries his best to reply to the concerned mare pegasus.

“H...horses gone, p...please hel-”, before Olstrom could finish he blacked out and fell unconscious, his large frame tipped over although fortunately not towards Skyline Shy and a sudden crash could be heard as his body falls upon the earth.

“No no no no, this isn’t good!.”, Skyline shy begins to panic fearing the worst however she shortly regains her composer and spreads her wings. “Come on Shy this stallion needs you!, gotta get help, gotta get help. Yes, I need to fly back to Canterlot right away.”, in an instant Skyline took flight and headed towards Canterlot thinking aloud to herself. “Hang in there big guy.”

A considerable amount of time has passed and Luna’s moon is beginning to rise as the moonlight drapes over all of Canterlot while stars begin to take various shapes in the skies. Within the Canterlot castle, in the lunar wing and tower, Luna’s bedroom balcony had the perfect view of all of Canterlot and makes the perfect vantage point for her to fulfill her duties. The Alicorn Princess’s horn was aglow as the moon moved across the sky until it found its place amongst the heavens.

“There we are, tis a find night for us all.”, Luna says as her horn stops glowing, her work is done. However, she then takes a saddened expression soon after. “If only ponies took a moment to appreciate my night.”, she says with a saddened sigh before a voice calls out to her.

“Luna, are you ok out there?!”, a concerned Princess Valerica asks. Luna regains her composer upon hearing Valerica’s words however, for the most briefest of moments and unknown even to the Princess of The Night her pupils became slit much like the eyes of a reptile. Her words of ponies not appreciating her night seemed to have effected her far more then she thought. Shaking off her troubles she answered her pregnant friend.

“We are fine dear valerica.”, Luna lied in response. “We often just get lost in thought as we raise the moon, thou pay it no heed.”, Luna says with a forced smile. Valerica could sense something was wrong with Luna but didn’t want to pry. The pregnant mare layed upon Luna’s bed while a large dark red figure figure laid on the floor right beside Valerica’s side of the bed in question. “How is he?”, Luna asked with worry.

“So far so good I’d say, he hasn’t woken yet ever since that pegasus guard found him. I believe her name was Skyline Shy if I’m not mistaken.” Valerica looked down to her lover, putting a hoof to his back. “And I couldn’t ask for anything better.”, Valerica continues to caress Olstrom’s back before she leans down to kiss it.

“We still couldn’t believe what we all witnessed today.”, Luna says with a face of disbelief. “Neither we or our sister has ever seen horse combat before and that felt like two forces of nature constantly collided with each other. Perhaps when thou lover awakes he-”, Luna was cut off as Olstrom began to move his head and a tired moan left his muzzle, his eyes slowly began to open as he lifts his head slowly.

“Where am I?.”, Olstrom asks as he regains his consciousness.

“You are safe my love, safe and home with us right where you belong”, Valerica says as she rises onto her flanks on Luna’s bed and rubs her stomach. This caused Olstrom to get onto his legs quickly reaching to his full height allowing him to look down into his lovers eyes to which he then lowers his head a bit and leans in.

“Valerica, are you ok?, is the foal fine?, how did-”, Olstrom was silenced as Valerica put her hoof to Olstrom’s muzzle.

“We are fine Olstrom, nothing happened to us at all. I was simply scared for your life but you’re here now and we can be a family again.”, Valerica says as she cuddles her muzzle against Olstrom’s before she pulls away. “What happened out there dearest? Is your father...”, Valerica stops as she waits for Olstroms response, she didn’t want to say that word less it brings her lover even more sadness.

“No, he is not dead Valerica.”, Olstrom then turns to Luna. “Luna, I mean no disrespect and i know these are your quarters but could we have your room to ourselves for now?.” Olstrom asks the night princess.

“Tis no bother friends, we must watch over the night anyway so we’ll take our leave.”, Luna replies.

“It’s a beautiful night by the way Luna, very beautiful indeed.”, Valerica says with a big smile, her words making the night princess smile and her ears perk up.

“Thank you dear Valerica, we appreciate thou compliment for our night.” Luna returns to the balcony before she flies off into the night sky. “-At least somepony does-”
Luna comments internally.

Valerica and Olstrom are locked into an embrace both wishing they could stay like that, Valerica then parted from Olstrom as she bring up her inquiry from earlier. “What happened to your father Olstrom?”, Olstrom sighed before he answered his lover.

“After I defeated my father I was allowed to give him one final order as the per the rules of Mequus Kombat, to put it simply my love.”, Olstrom raised up to his full height as he walked towards the entrance to Luna’s balcony and glanced of into the distance, Valerica still remained on Luna’s bed as she listened contently. “I am no longer a member of the herd Valerica, as the triumphant stallion I ordered my father to continue to lead the herd until another stallion built the courage to challenge his rule.”, Valerica let out a gasp of surprise as she got off the bed and trotted over to Olstrom’s side.

“What?!, but Olstrom it’s your home...your birthplace was with that herd.”, Valerica says as she cuddles the upper portion of Olstrom’s right front leg. Olstrom turns to his wife and leans down to meet her eyes.

“No Valerica, you two are my home now.”, Olstrom cuddles his lover, who is now on the verge of tears upon hearing his words, with his muzzle before he leans towards her stomach region and rubs it. “Have you found out what out foals gender will be?”, asks a very curious Olstrom. This causes Valerica to giggle a bit before she answers.

“Not yet sadly, I was planning to check on that with you after we revealed our love to your father... I was also going to announce my pregnancy soon after that is until all the chaos ensued.”, Valerica replies as the couple pause for a moment to recall the events of today.

“That’s all behind us now my beloved, now we look to the future.”, Olstrom says as he walks in front of Valerica and looks down upon her. Valerica looks up to Olstrom with a confused stare.

“Dear what are you-”, her words were cut off as Olstrom lowered himself to meet her eyes.

“Princess Valerica Sera Mi Amore, would you do me the honors of becoming my eternal mate till death do us part?.”, Olstrom says before he puts a hoof to his chin with a chuckle. “Then again I’d follow you into the after life so the whole death do us part thing wouldn’t really-”, now it was Olstrom who was cut off as a teary eyed Valerica rears up on her hind legs to hug Olstrom into a loving embrace.

“Yes!, my answer is a definite yes!.”, Valericas tears began to flow before she coninued. “Please make me your bride my beloved stallion.”, Olstrom had a huge blush on his face before the two lean into a passionate kiss that lasted for as long as their breaths would allow possible before the two parted again. Olstrom ended it with a simple:

“Then let it be so.”

**End of flashback**

**Present time, Crystal Empire Castle Courtyard**

“And that my sons is how Olstrom Shattershield became a part of pony society, and of course how he came to call The Crystal Empire his home after he married Valerica. Maybe next time I’ll tell you the rest of his story with The Planemeld Event.”, Starfire Raindrop says as the sound of applauds in the form of clapping hooves from her sons reaches her ears. “Thank you, thank you you’re too kind boys.”, Starfire bows imitating the actions of a showpony however the trio are soon confused when they could still hear clapping even after her sons had stopped.

“Wohooooo!, that was amazing Aunt Starfire. You told a part of dads story to perfection hehehe”, a mysterious voice says with some giggling.

“Wait, who said that?.”, a confused Sombasi asked only for the trio to look up onto Olstroms statue to find a young pegasus mare perched onto Olstrom’s statues shoulder region. Starfire immediately recognizes the giggling pegasus as she calls out to the individual.

“Why hello there Shiori dearie!.”

(To be continued in Chapter 8 - Princess Shiori Shattershield Mi Amore)

Chapter 8 - Princess Shiori Shattershield Mi Amore

Princess Shiori flew down from her perch and landed before the trio, Shiori is almost the spitting image of her mother sporting a purple mane with white stripes along with a hint of pink stripes in the mix. Her body and wings are dark purple however unlike her mother who has a vibrant white color at the tips of each of her feathers Shiori on the other hoof has black tipped feathers aligned beautifully along her wings. Finally, Shiori’s tail is also what makes her unique compared to her mother sporting a pitch black tail similar in color to the tips of her wing feathers. A shade of color she undoubtly got from her father Olstrom.

“I’m doing amazing Aunt Starfire, thanks for asking hehe.”, Shiori giggles before she runs into Starfire holding her into a loving embrace. Soon the pair of pegasi part from each other as Shiori turns to her fathers statue. “Dad was pretty amazing, if I do say so myself.”, Shiori says as she beams a smile confidently with closed eyes. The pegasus princess then turns to Sombra and Sombasi whos eyes were still locked onto her with surprise. “Um, Aunt Starfire why are they staring at me?. I mean I know I’m pretty but still hehehe.”, Shiori teases the pair of brothers with a giggle. Sombra and Sombasi were still a bit surprised and stared on to the princess and if one were to look close enough one could see patches of red forming on both brothers cheeks. Sombra is the first to recover as he lifts a hoof to fix his mane and takes on a confident yet charming look before he walks up to Shiori.

“Good morning Princess Shiori.”, Sombra grabs Shiori’s left hoof with his right hoof. “May I say that you are looking rather dashing today dear princess.”, Sombra then kisses Shiori’s hoof and lets it go.

“Hehehe, quite the charmer aren’t you. It’s nice to meet you Sombra, Aunt Starfire has told me lots about you not to mention some of the guards as well.”, The princess complimented with a giggle. This noticeably caused Sombra’s smile to widen a bit more now believing his chances were very high.

“Then what say you and I head-”, Sombra was silenced by a hoof from Shiori moments before she then waved the same hoof in front of her in a left to right motion.

“But you’re not my type, sorry. Let’s be friends though ok?!.”, Shiori says as she beams a large smile and opens her eyes wide with stars forming in them. Sombra’s jaw dropped to the floor and his eyes widen with shock.

“Y...yes, j-just friends.”, he hated to admit it but his pride was crushed, Sombra had hoped that his reputation would be of interest to the princess to boost his chances but his advances were instantly shot down. Meanwhile, Sombasi still hasn’t recovered from his current state and Starfire looked on to the trio before her as she sits onto her flanks and brings her hooves together before moving them near her left cheek before she lets out a loving sigh.

“Awww, young love.”, Starfire says as she continues to stare onto the trio with a blush forming onto both of her cheeks. Shiori turns away from sombra and sees Sombasi who still hasn’t regained his composer. This prompts Shiori to fly over to Sombasi to greet him with a smile.

“Hey there, you must be Sombasi right?!”, a star filled Shiori asks the still quivering Sombasi.

“I...well I um...it’s.”, Sombasi was at a complete loss for words as the beautiful pegasus mare stood before him, this caused both Sombra and Starfire to chuckle a bit.

“Ooooh, a shy type huh?, I didn’t expect that. I figured you’d be like your brother.”, Shiori says as she grabs Sombasi’s left hoof and lifts it into the air. Shiori then pretends to be Sombasi as she acts out a proper greeting.

“Hello princess, I’m Sombasi”, she says with a deeper tone trying to imitate Sombasi.

“Nice to meet you Sombasi, you might be pretty shy around me but that doesn’t mean I don’t like you.”, now acting as herself Shiori shakes Sombasi’s hoof which was being held by her own throughout the entire act before she ends her act with giggling. Shiori then smirks as she lowers her body and performs a certain dance.

“Sunshine, sunshine,
Ladybugs awake,
Clap your hooves,
And do a little shake.”

Sombasi still stares with his mouth dropped and eyes wide open along with a blush present on his cheeks. Sombra looked on as he commented to himself internally with narrowed eyes and a small hint of jealousy.

”-She didn’t call him a friend, she didn’t even do that rather charming dance to me either!-”, a clopping of hooves could be heard as Starfire Raindrop approached them accompanied with some of Starfire’s chuckling.

“Ok love birds that’s enough for now, let’s get inside to meet her Majesty.”, Starfire turns to Shiori. “Shiori dear could you fly ahead to give your mother a heads up for us?.”

“You got it Aunt Starfire.”, Shiori says with a salute before she flies off towards the top of the Crystal Castle presumably headed for Valerica’s room. Starfire then motions for her sons to follow. Sombra then comes to Sombasi’s side as he leans into his brother who was still in a paralyzed state.

“That, was a shameful display brother.”, Sombra says with a smirk as he nudges Sombasi’s right front leg. This finally knocks Sombasi out of his trance.

“B-be quiet brother!”, an embarrassed Sombasi retorts which causes Sombra to laugh a little. The brothers continue to follow their mother before Sombasi looks to his brother with a smirk of his own. “Well, at least I wasn’t friend zoned.”, a wide grin was present on Sombasi along with half closed eyes, Sombra looked to his brother with an annoyed grunt before the trio continue on into the castle.

Starfire, Sombra and Sombasi now find themselves within The Crystal Castles main hallway which lead to the throne room. Many pictures of past rulers and family photos adorned the walls in every direction along with decorative potted plants that were held up on pedestals or mounted to the walls aside the pictures. Guards stood stoically in various stations among the hallway as other guards patrolled the halls walking back and forward a certain distance sometimes meeting the gaze of another guard who patrolled another hallway, the two would nod to each other before returning to their assigned duties. The mother and sons soon reach a pair of large double doors adorned in beautiful crystal attire almost similar to the design that was present on the outside gate. Two guards spotted the trio as they whisper amongst themselves before one of the guardsponies opens the door.

“Aww lady Starfire, The Queen is expecting you and your party. Please head right in.”, Starfire and her sons nod with gratitude as the trio enter the throne room.

The throne room was without a doubt the most attractive room throughout not only the castle but possibly the entire empire as well, various guards were stationed along either side of the room while two more stood in front of Queen Valerica and Princess Shiori who sat proudly upon their thrones, Shiori in particular was waving her right hoof to the trio excitedly as if she hadn’t just seen them not too long ago. Queen Valerica spread her wings before addressing Starfire, Sombra and Sombasi.

“Welcome my friends, I am pleased to have you all here today.” Valerica declared.

“Greetings Queen Valerica and Princess Shiori.”, Starfire replies as she and her sons take a bow before she continues. “My sons and I are here to accept and make arrangements for what we spoke of back in the Orphanage.”

“Indeed dear friend, let us get straight to it then.”, Valerica clapped her hooves twice, this prompted one of the guards near the throne room’s double doors to open them revealing a certain librarian mare, Miss Bubble Maresbury, AKA Miss Maresbury.

“Good morning everypony!.”, Miss Maresbury says as she happily trots over to the trio to join them. “Nice to see you again boys and hello to you too Starfire.” the librarian greets with her right hoof waving to the mother and sons trio.

“Hello Miss maresbury.”, the trio said in unison as Sombra walks closer to the librarian.

“I presume you will be showing me around The Royal library Miss Maresbury?.”, Sombra questions as he puts a hoof to his chin. “What about The Public Library? Did you leave it to somepony else?.”

“That’s correct Sombra, the other librarians can handle things without me for a time.”, the librarian then turns to Valerica and Shiori and bows before she speaks. “Your majesty, your highness, I am ready to perform my duties when you are.”, Miss Maresbury beams a smile after she finishes her statement.

“Excellent Miss Maresbury, please take Sombra to The Royal Library immediately. Certain reading material have been left behind in the library as well as some spells that are perfectly suited to your current abilities. The guards have already removed other material and stored them away in a different location.”, Valerica proclaims, she then turns to Sombra. “You remember our agreement yes?.”

“Yes your majesty, not all material will be available to me as per our agreement.”, Sombra replies however he was still disappointed about this but shrugged it off. Sombra and Miss Maresbury immediately take their leave as a guardspony escorts them out.

“Now then Sombasi, about that teacher of yours.”, The Queen says as she suddenly forms a smirk, Shiori was noticeably giggling as if she knew her mothers plan. “I’d introduce this individual myself but why ruin the surprise.” suddenly, one of the guardsponies in front of Valerica stepped forward only for blue mist to overtake them revealing a certain dark blue Alicorn mare with a mane that resembles the night sky which magically managed to flow even with the absence of wind. She bears a crescent moon cutie mark along with a patch of black on her flank.

“Greetings Sombasi, we are thy princess of the night and Co-ruler of Equestria.”, Luna greeted as Sombasi’s eyes widened, his pupils becoming dilated, along with his mouth going agape. “And as of this moment forward, thou shall become our most faithful student.”, Luna declares with her canterlot voice which causes everyone in the room to tense up a bit.

“P-princess Luna?!, you’re going to be my teacher?!.”, Sombasi screams his shocked expression still present. “Whaaaaaaaaaat?!”, Starfire is also shocked as even she wasn’t expecting one of the Royal sisters to be here letting out a surprised gasp and a hoof to her mouth.

“Oh my goodness, hello Princess Luna!”.

“Greetings dear Starfire, tis good to see thou once again.” Luna then turns to a still paralyzed Sombasi. “We are as charmed as thou, we’ve longed to have a student much like our dear sister has in the past but haven’t met anypony that met our standards.”, Luna replies however this time she managed to contain her Canterlot voice, for now. Sombasi’s ears perked up upon luna’s mention of standards. “Until now.”, Luna declares as she looks upon Sombasi.

“I’m a bit confused Prin-”, Sombasi replied before he was silenced as Luna instantly appears in front of him and puts a hoof to his muzzle.

“Thou shall call us master from now on, just as we once called our master Starswirl The Bearded.”, Luna corrects Sombasi. In truth, Luna didn’t have to call Starswirl master but did so simply because that was her way of showing her affection. Starswirl was more then just a teacher to Luna and Celestia, at times the pair saw him as a father figure and their best friend. Sombasi regained his composer shortly after.

“Yes master, I thank you for your willingness to teach me but... What do you mean by standards?.”, Sombasi looked down with a sad sigh. “There’s nothing special about me Princess.”, Queen Valerica, Princess Shiori, Starfire Raindrop and even Luna all had sympathetic looks upon hearing his words. Little did Sombasi know there’s a secret about him and Sombra that is playing a large role as to why Luna agreed to be his teacher.

“Thou speaks lightly of thyself far too harshly my student, you have an affinity for dark magic much like myself.”, Luna says in a sympathetic tone, she is noticeably being very careful with her words as she doesn’t want to reveal the truth and cause chaos that even Discord would envy despite being in stone. Sombasi’s ears perk up upon hearing Luna’s words.

“Dark magic?, but master isn’t that magic considered... Evil?.”, Sombasi says as his ears lower to the sides of his head.

“Thou misunderstands my dear student, dark magic is simply the ability to manipulate the darkness to help achieve thy goals but you can even protect thyself and others. It is not evil, it is a weapon like any other type of magic. What thou are thinking of is forbidden magic, those who take the lives of the innocents through force or magic that plays with the deceased such as Necromancy, a foul practice that Grogar himself ever so indulged in.” Luna says with disgust at the mention of Grogar’s actions.

“But wouldn’t other ponies fear me with such magic?.”, Sombasi asks with a worried tone. “If they see a pony wielding darkness they’d automatically fear it and flee to the light... I understand what you told me master it’s just, I don’t want to be seen as a monster.”, Sombasi says before he sighs in defeat. Luna was taken a back from his words, truth be told she was happy that Sombasi seemed to have a good heart especially since Luna, Valerica and starfire know what Sombasi and Sombra truely are. An Umbrum. Starfire and Valerica also couldn’t help but to smile as well upon hearing Sombasi’s words. Princess Shiori was beginning to take a liking to this more talkative side of Sombasi.

“That is why I have chosen thou my faithful student, thou possesses a kind heart and we know that thy will command the darkness for the greater good no matter what other ponies call you.”, Luna commends as she puts her right hoof onto her Umbrum students right shoulder. “Just as we do Sombasi. Our subjects may fear us but we choose to defend them from the shadows.”, Luna says as she winks to him. However, Luna didn’t want to show it but she was actually sad for how some ponies feared her not to mention the darkness of her night yet they openly enjoy Celestia’s presence and the light of day. She internally says to herself ”-even if our actions go unnoticed-”

“Magnificent!, our business is concluded here.”, Queen Valerica announces with a clap of her hooves as she turns to Princess Shiori. “Daughter, could you escort Sombasi and Starfire outside the throne room for a moment and take them to the dining room? I’d like to discuss some things with Princess Luna.”

“Sure thing mom!”, Shiori says gleefully as she spreads her wings and flies right next to Sombasi’s side which causes him to blush and Starfire to giggle. Valerica notices this and narrows her eyes while thinking internally.

”-He seems nice enough-”

Sombasi, Princess Shiori and Starfire are now outside of the throne room its doors shutting behind them thanks to the guards. The trio begin to walk down the hallway towards the Dining room.

“I can’t believe Princess Luna is gonna be teaching you Sombasi, you must be very special to have warranted her attention.”, Shiori says looking Sombasi straight into his eyes. Sombasi didn’t want to make the same mistake he did outside in front of Olstrom’s statue so he regains his composer.

“Sorry about earlier Princess Shiori, I didn’t properly introduce myself since I was... Paralyzed.”, Sombasi says while putting his right hoof behind his head in nervousness. Shiori suddenly had a smirk beginning to form on her face as she leans into Sombasi. Starfire watches the duo holding back her laughter.

“Because I’m so preeeeeeeety?.”, Shiori teased the now flabbergasted Umbrum as she leans back giggling.

“W-well you see uh, Sombra casted a paralyzing spell on me moments before you showed up and...ehehe.”, Sombasi says embarrassingly before he gives up his made up tale. He realizes that she was watching them throughout Starfires’s tale but kept herself hidden until the stories conclusion. Shiori then took on a mischievous smile and prepares to perform an act.

“You don’t think I’m... Pretty?.”, Shiori says with a fake saddened face as she pretends to have tears forming up in her eyes. This is all an act of course as she knows Sombasi doesn’t feel that way. She turns and begins to walk away from the umbrum and his mother figure however a smile began to form on her face as she whispered. “3... 2...1”.

“NO THAT’S NOT TRUE I THINK YOU’RE GORGEOUS!.”, Sombasi yelled as he tried his best not to hurt her feelings. He then put his right hoof to his muzzle as his head went red.
“Oh boy...”, he whispered in a combination of worry and embarrassment. Shiori instantly turned around and ran up to Sombasi and stopped right in front of him, Starfire continues to giggle in the background.

“See?, that wasn’t hard now was it. I like it better when you’re being honest and confident.”, Shiori then bows to Sombasi in a gratitude before she rises. “Thank you very much for the compliment fine gentlecolt.”, she shoots a still fully blushed Sombasi a wink. Suddeny, a sense of realization came upon her. “Oh hoof!, my instructors gonna kill me I’m supposed to head up to my room for my studies.”, Shiori spreads her wings and flaps into the air as she yells out to Sombasi and Starfire. “I’ll see you too later, bye!”, Sombasi simply raised his right hoof and stared with a blush on his cheeks as the princess flew away however Starfire couldn’t help but notice Shiori was mostly looking at Sombasi as she gave them her goodbyes. Starfire looked to her son with a smile.

“I think you left quite an impression on her son.”, Starfire teases with a wink.

“Mom!”, Sombasi replies embarrassingly before the two start to laugh and open the doors to the dining room.

It’s now midday and Celestia’s sun is at its absolute highest. Luna and Queen Valerica looked out of a window inside of Valericas room, the two moving there after Sombasi and Starfire were escorted to the dining room by Shiori.

“So, what do you think about him?”, Valerica asked Luna. “You sure you’re up to this Luna?, we can find him another teacher hay I’m sure your sis-”

“Our sister cannot hope to teach him like we can.”, Luna interrupted. “Sister does not understand the darkness and the powers that come with it, she is the princess of the sun and light. Sombasi is an Umbrum, he and his brother are the very incarnations of darkness itself. The darkness is our area of expertise.”, Luna declared rather bluntly. “Tis is why we are Sombasi’s best choice over any other to become thy teacher.” Valerica couldn’t help but to accept Luna’s words, Luna is the Princess of the darkness that is brought with the night and the moon therefore if anypony would have any amount of understanding when it comes to an Umbrum it was most assuredly her.

“Alright then Luna, if you think you can handle it I trust you.”, Valerica replied with a smile before she takes on a worried expression. “Just please don’t allow Sombasi to lose himself, the last thing we need is another Planemeld Event.”

“Thou have nothing to fear dear friend, as we told Sombasi in thy throne room we will teach him to control darkness along with some conventional spells and wield it for good not evil.”, Luna assures with a smile. “Now then, shall we tend to our quarry in the dining room?. I shall teleport us there immediately.”

“Oh please do Luna, it would certainly make my day hehe.”, Valerica giggles as the two disappear after a spell is casted by Luna.

Sombra looks out of The Royal Library window to take in the view before he returns to a book Miss Maresbury had given him before she left the room. He has been gathering various knowledge while also learning some very useful spells from some of the scrolls Queen Valerica had left for him, one spell in particular was Crystal Manipulation. He was quite fond of this and he felt he’d be using this often. As time goes on he notices that Miss Maresbury hasn’t been seen for nearly half an hour, he’s beginning to ponder if he should look for her however as if some deity were listening to his thoughts Miss Maresbury opened the door to the library.

“Forgive me for being gone for a while dear Sombra.” Miss Maresbury says while holding a book wrapped in a brown leather bag designed perfectly for pony use.

“It’s fine Miss Mares but what is that you have there?,” Sombra says as he points a hoof to the mysterious book.

“This is a very special book for you dear Sombra, my personal favorite actually.”, Miss Maresbury then walks to the table Sombra was sitting at and places the covered book in front of him. “Keep this to yourself ok, even I will pretend as if this never happened. I see many great things coming from you Sombra and it’d be a shame if somepony found out about this and stopped your growth.” Miss Maresbury shoots Sombra a wink. Sombra thought about it for a moment before he answered.

“My lips are sealed Miss Mares.”, Sombra says as he uses his left hoof to metaphorically zip his lips. Sombra wants to learn any amount of magic possible and will eagerly do so no matter what. No harm in keeping one little lie he figured.

“Excellent Sombra, now I have to get going but do enjoy the book. Oh, and don’t forget to join everypony in the Dining Room.”, Miss Maresbury says before she opens the library’s entrance but before exiting she looks back to Sombra. “Remember dear, only you may know of that books existence. Nopony else.”. She says as she closes the door. Sombra looks down to the mysterious book before he begins to unwrap it putting the leather bag aside. Before Sombra could read the book a note was present, he picked up the note and began to read its contents.

“The truth shall be revealed to you upon reading this tome, seek me out should you ever decide to abandon this lie you and that brother of yours have been living. Don’t worry, I’ll find you should you feel ready to do so. I expect you to do what’s best for us both and I hope you won’t report this to the others.

-Your possible ally, Q.C.”

“This pony or whatever they are only just met me and they think I’d trust a thing they’d say?, Sombra is no fool.”, Sombra says annoyingly as he crumples up the note and throws it into the nearby trash can that was positioned near his table. The Umbrum then looked down upon the book that stood before him as curiosity got the better of him. He reads the books title. “Grogar’s Grimoire.”, Sombra says as he flips to the very first page of Grogar’s Grimoire however some of the pages were noticeably torn out. The mysterious being who wrote that note made sure he’d see this particular Chapter. He reads aloud the very first page he sees.

“Warning: To anypony or creature that follows in my footsteps be warned before you read this Chapter. In this chapter I, Grogar, shall speak of a being that even I am right to fear. I have encountered many a foe, including that human... That damned Megan Williams, yet this entity dwarfs them all. A being that the gods themselves banished at the beginning of this worlds creation. Do not ask how I obtained this knowledge. You have been warned my potential student or a future fool.

Chapter 93 - The Umbrum Queen and the Goddess Of Darkness: Nocturnal.”

Miss Maresbury walks down the hallway and turns to the restrooms, specifically the mares restroom, and enters. She looks around and upon realizing no other pony was present she walks to a wall located right next to the very last stall before her horn ignites causing the wall to fade away only to reveal yet another Miss Maresbury who was tied up and unconscious . Suddenly, green flames ignited Miss Maresbury only to reveal a large insect pony whose legs had various holes in them along with a dangerously curved horn, she had a pair of fangs that stuck out from her muzzle along with green eyes and black pupils that could become slitted. Her wings and tail were practically see through much like a traditional insects.

“Time to wake up, pathetic pony”, the being said as her eyes begin to glow with a green light upon which Miss Maresbury regains her consciousness.

“W...where am I-”, Miss Maresbury’s eyes shot wide open upon seeing the being before her. “Chrysalis!, help!, somepony help me!.”, Maresbury’s calls for help only made Chrysalis laugh.

“Aww yes music to my ears, do keep going though nopony can hear you scream thanks to my magic. Not even that princess of the night Luna.”, Chrysalis says casually before she takes on a face of anger and grits her teeth. “And it’s Queen Chrysalis foolish pony!.”, Queen Chrysalis says with a hateful tone.

“Please, don’t hurt me... I, I have colts at home.”, Miss Maresbury pleaded tears coming out of her eyes.

“Silence worm, I’m not going to kill you. After all, me and my subjects can’t feed off of a dead host.”, Chrysalis says with a chuckle. “Besides, you did help me so I think I’ll spare you regardless.“

“Help you?!, why I’d never!.”, Miss Maresbury retorted.

“Oh but that’s where you’re wrong, it was you I disguised myself as to reach my target. My mission is now complete, I just hope that he’ll make the right decision.”, Chrysalis says as she looks behind her.

“Wait, when I entered the restroom you were that mare?, you knocked me unconsious!.”, Miss Maresbury then began to think before she made a shocking realization. “Sombra?!, your target is Sombra?. You leave that young stallion alone, he’s done nothing wrong to you!.”, Miss Maresbury screams as she attempts to defend Sombra.

“It’s not about what he did to me, oh no, it’s about what he can do for me and my Hive. He is the key to ensuring that my children can feed for the rest of eternity!.”

“Why?, why did you pick him?, why can’t you just leave him alone?.”, Miss Maresbury pleads.

“Why am I even wasting my time with you?.”, Queen Chrysalis questions with annoyance. “Now, I can’t have you running off to warn anypony so I’ll be taking your memories. None of this ever happened, at least for you”, the changeling queen then thinks to herself for a moment. “Now then, I believe it was memory manipulation chapter 87 in Grogar’s Gremoire?.” her horn begins to glow as she aims it at Miss Maresbury. “Hold still, my little pony.”

(To be continued in Chapter 9 - A Plot and a Crystal Heart.)

Chapter 9 - A plot and a Crystal Heart

A mare unicorn pony lies unconscious on The Crystal Castle hallway floors just in front of the restrooms, Miss Maresbury. The clopping of hooves can be heard coming around the corner as one of the crystal guards spots the unconscious Librarian as they do their patrol.

“Hey, are you okay?!”, the guardspony yells before they run to Miss Maresbury’s aid, the guard uses their left hoof to nudge Maresbury awake. “Hey come on, stay with me now.”, the guard’s attempts were rewarded as the mare began to come to.

“Ugh, where am I?”, Miss Maresbury asked.

“You’re on the Crystal Castles floor ma’am, are you ok?. Here, let me help you up.”, the guard says as they lean their body against Miss Maresbury’s acting as support to get the mare onto her feet. “Do you remember anything ma’am?.”, the guard asks with concern. Miss Maresbury begins to rub her head.

“Sweet Celestia my head, the last thing I remembered was leaving Sombra to use the restroom then I think I might’ve blacked out.” Maresbury says as she continues to rub her temple.

“Oh dear, are you ok?”, another guard says as they happen to be leaving the mares restroom.

“She was already unconscious when I found her.”, the guard who discovered the mare replies.

“I think I’m ok now, I guess I worked harder in the library than I thought.”, Maresbury replied nervously as she puts her right hoof behind her head. The guard who just left the restroom then turns to the guard who discovered Maresbury.

“You there, escort Miss Maresbury to an infirmary.”, they ordered.

“Yes, right away!.”, the guard then turns to Miss Maresbury. “Miss Maresbury, could you come with me please.”, the guard who found the librarian asks.

“I appreciate it dearie, it might be a good idea to get checked up. Thank you both very much, Sombra will be ok in the library for a bit longer.”, the librarian says as both she and the guard who found her nods before taking their leave. The guard who had lust left the restroom starts to walk down the hallway in the opposite direction as a flash of green energy becomes present in their pupils for a moment.

Luna, Starfire, Valerica and Sombasi are all eating in the dining room for lunch. The room is remarkably large big enough to throw a banquet if the mood ever struck Valerica. The Queen had ordered some of the chefs to prepare this lunch for the group as they continue their conversation regarding Sombasi being taught by Luna. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were laid before the group along with various beverages that each pony had requested when the chefs took their orders.

“We shall agree to teach Sombasi on the two conditions, the first is that his lessons must take place within our night.”, Luna declares with her right hoof in the air.

“I’d be fine with that but what about school?.” Starfire raindrop asks with concern.

“Fret not Starfire for we have assigned a tutor from Ponyville, who will be arriving to Canterlot later today, and has agreed to teach Sombasi academics as we teach our student magic. Tis would be far more effective for us to teach him under the beautiful blanket of our night stars and beloved moon.”, Luna answers.

“Wait, are you willing to travel to The Empire every night just to teach him?.”, Starfire asks with a hoof to her chin.

“That is our second condition dear Starfire, our student shall come to Canterlot with us.”, The night Princess decreed.

“Oh ok, just be sure to have him back by-”, Starfire says moments before she is cut off from a hoof that Luna had raised to interrupt her.

“Thou misunderstands, our student would be staying in Canterlot with us until we feel thy son are ready to return to thy loving presence. It would be thou visiting him not the other way around dear friend.”, Luna bluntly declares. Starfire began to feel a bit nervous at the thought of one of her sons leaving her for a while however she did understand that it comes with age and she’d have to deal with this one day. Plus, she knew this is what Sombasi wanted a chance to become stronger for the greater good. Both The Princess Of The Night and Starfire Raindrop turn to Sombasi who was taking everything in and listening contently. Starfire speaks to her son.

“Sombasi, is this what you want son?.”, Starfire asks her son, the mother figure then takes on a saddened expression. “I’m not gonna lie son, your father and I would miss you greatly not to mention your brother.”, Strafire takes a breath as a smile and a happier expression takes form on her face. “That said, you are a young stallion who will have to shape your own destiny one day, do you accept this offer son?.”, Sombasi pondered on this for a few moments however he began to form a smile and took on a rather confident look.

“I’m glad that you offered to teach me Princess Luna and I’m grateful to you, to everypony here but I thi-’‘. Sombasi was cut off as the doors to the dining room began to open along with the clopping of hooves. This caused everypony in the room to perk up their ears and turn to the entrance.

“Hello everypony, my apologies for being late.”, Sombra says with a smile along with a slight bow, he also happens to have a leather brown bag wrapped around his neck. “How are your accommodations going brother?.”

“Brother!, I’m glad you could make it!.”, Sombasi yells with a wave of his right hoof, the other ponies do the same to welcome Sombra.

“Thou shall be happy to know that we will teach thy brother of proper use of magic, he was about to give us an answer before thy made an entrance.”, Luna replies as to Sombra’s inquiry.

“That’s fantastic brother!.”, Sombra says with excitement before he then narrows his eyes with a hint of worry. “Why do you look conflicted?, you wanted a teacher brother and you got the royal princess of the night. Isn’t this satisfactory to you?.”

“Of course it is brother, it’s just the conditions that comes with it that has me conflicted.”, Sombasi replies as his ears drop to the sides of his head.

“What conditions?.”, Sombra asked curiously.

“I... Have to leave The Empire and move to Canterlot in order to truly become Princess Luna’s student.”, Sombasi sighs as he lowers his head, this causes Sombra to put a hoof to his chin in thought. Moments later Sombra snaps to a realization.

“I think I know what troubles you dear brother.”, Sombra’s words gets the attention of everypony in the room. “You fear that I’ll be offended if you leave to achieve your goal don’t you?.”, Sombra’s words made everypony, aside from Sombasi, take upon their faces expressions that could best be described as Oooh. Sombra chuckles a bit before he continues. “Fear not brother, for I know that you seek to improve your power to support me and our future... Endeavors.”, Sombra formed a smirk for a very brief moment upon saying those words, everypony present brushed it off as Sombra being supportful. “Go forth brother, get stronger, and together we will achieve many things. For The Empire of course.”, Sombra’s words causes everypony in the room to form a smile including Sombasi.

“Aw yes, of course!, thou are wise for thy age Sombra.”, Luna excitedly replies with her right hoof in the air as she turns to Sombasi. “If that is truly thy troubles thou shall be happy to know thy sibling approves. So what say ye student?.”, Sombasi couldn’t help but laugh a little at Luna already calling him her student, he technically wasn’t. Sombasi then looks to his brother who nods to him before looking back to Luna.

“Ok then, I’ll do it!.”, Sombasi says with a large smile, everypony begins to clap their hooves for him including Sombra. Luna’s reaction dwarfed them all thanks to her Canterlot voice.

”Most wonderous news my student!.”, Luna exclaims happily as she gets off of her seat and trots over to Sombasi and hugs him. “Thou shall become our greatest prodigy!. Oh we can’t wait to tell our sister.”, the princess of the night is noticeably becoming giddy as she hops in place a few times with a smile. “We shall give thou some time to gather thy effects and meet with us back home. We shall return to Canterlot immediately to prepare thy room in our tower, we shall send words to thee. There’s much for us to do!.”, Luna proclaims as she spreads her wings, lights her horn and disappears seconds later. Her excitement causes everypony to laugh a little before Queen Valerica recovers and speaks.

“I guess we can all say that went well.”, Valerica comments before she starts to giggle. “With that, everything is set. This meeting is adjourned for today.”, everypony gets out of their seats upon Valerica’s announcement, Starfire raindrop heads over to Sombasi.

“I’m so happy and proud of you son.”, Starfire says as she leans in to nuzzle Sombasi. “You’re the student of a royal princess now son!, and Princess Luna no less!. I’ve heard of Celestia taking in students from time to time but Luna?, I never would’ve thought. You may very well be the first student of the princess of the moon which... Might explain why she was so excited.”, the mother figure says as she starts to giggle. Queen Valerica looks to Sombra with a curious expression.

“Sombra, come to think of it why haven’t you ever considered asking for a teacher?.”, Queen Valerica asks.

“I’m not interested, I alone shall improve my power and learn various magic.”, Sombra replied rather bluntly.

“Brother doesn’t mean to offend Queen Valerica, it’s just how he is.”, Sombasi says with a nervous chuckle, Starfire nodding with agreement along with a smile.

“Meh, I can respect that. Now then, how about I show you all something just as cool as my husband’s statue outside?.”, Queen Valerica says with a smile. This instantly gets the attention of the trio before her, Starfire Raindrop in particular seemed to know what Valerica was referring to.

“Wait, Vale... You don’t mean?.”, Starfire questions.

“Oh yes my friend. Follow me everypony.”, The Queen gestures for the group to follow as they all leave the dining room and heads down the hallway greeting various guards.

The group of ponies now stand before a pair of very large double doors similar in mass and design to the doors of the Throne Room however there was one difference, purple magical runes could be seen pulsating and flickering off of the door. It was also guarded by four guardsponies two on either side of the entrance who all bow to the group and Queen Valerica. Valerica then turns to the group and addresses them similar to that of a tour guide.

“Behind these doors lies The Crystal Empire’s greatest treasure and our most powerful artifact, it protects us from the elements and has saved us time and time again including from The Planemeld.”, Valerica then turns to the double door. “Only those with my bloodline or our blessing can open these doors not to mention interact with the artifact within.”, after completing her explanation she taps her lit horn against the doors, this prompts the various runes to begin to fade as purple mist dissipates into the air. “Now, I’d recommend you all cover your eyes everypony.”, following her orders the group all shields their eyes, the guardsponies included, as Valerica opens the doors. An absolutely blinding light leaks from the room as the doors opens almost as if the sun itself was stuffed in the room by Celestia herself.

“Ok everypony, you can open your eyes now.”, Valerica says with a smile. The group opens their eyes only for Sombasi to drop his jaw with amazement, Sombra just stared on with a neutral expression however a small grin appeared briefly. Starfire smiled on as she sees both of her sons excitement, there before them floated a heart shaped object which floated in-between a crystalline stalagmite and stalactite. Valerica sticks out her right hoof to the floating object as she faces the group. “Behold everypony, The Crystal Heart!”

(To be continued in Chapter 10 - The Planemeld Pt: 1)

Author's Note

This chapter was a bit short compared to the last but no worries, this one serves as set up for the next. :pinkiehappy:

Chapter 10 - The Planemeld Pt: 1

The Crystal Heart, a heart shaped crystalline object that now floated and noticeably rotated before the two brothers just between a crystalline stalagmite and stalactite, their mother and Queen Valerica are a short distance behind them as they stand before the artifact. Starfire looked on with admiration but having seen the object many times before her reaction wasn’t as grand as her two sons for this was their first time seeing it in person. Sombra and Sombasi have never seen the heart shaped artifact before in their life only ever hearing about it through stories and look upon the artifact with their mouths agape and eyes wide open. Sombra is the first to regain his composer.

“My word, it radiates soo much magical energy I could almost taste it.”

“I know right?, it’s simply amazing!”, Sombasi yells in reply, Sombra then turns to The Queen and raises his right hoof.

“Your majesty, is it true that this object is what protects The Empire from the elements just outside of the empire’s districts and city?.”, Valerica’s ears perk up at Sombra’s question and takes a deep breath before she replies.

“That’s correct Sombra, The Crystal Heart defends The Empire from the chilling weather of the far north by casting a protective barrier while also providing us with a more pleasant environment, the barrier can also keep out dark forces and enemies of the royal families choosing. This artifact is powered by the love of all of my dear subjects, that love comes in various forms as well for example when a baby foal is born in the empire they are brought before the Crystal Heart, along with the foals parents of course, as well as a pony the parents trust who shall play the role of a crystaller. Many ponies from The Empire also attend as well to show their respects and even provide some of their own love as well. Together, everypony channels their love into the heart thus empowering it to protect us even further.”, Queen Valerica then takes a breath before she puts her right hoof to her chin in thought, this also gets the attention of everypony present. “There is a legend however about The Crystal Heart however I’ve yet to see it for myself, in fact assuming no history books were lost I’m fairly certain it hasn’t happened yet as far as I know.”

“What’s the legend?.”, Sombasi questions with curiosity.

“Take this with a grain of salt my dears, as it is a legend, but apparently it can save the life of a hero it deems worthy by means of preserving them and protecting them. How exactly it goes about this is still unknown.”, Queen Valerica answers. Upon hearing her explanation, Sombra takes on a rather mischievous expression and thinks to himself internally:

“-I’ll be sure to remember that when I rule this empire.-”, nopony else sees his current expression as he quickly hides it with a neutral expression. Meanwhile, Sombasi puts a hoof onto his chin in thought.

“Your majesty, there is something that has been puzzling me ever since we saw Olstrom Shattershields statue outside.”, Sombasi’s question immediately gets the attention of every pony in the room. “This Planemeld event, you mentioned it earlier as you explained The Crystal Hearts abilities not to mention it was one of Olstrom’s titles written onto his statue. What exactly is this event and why haven’t I or even Sombra heard of it?.”, Sombasi’s question makes Starfire Raindrop and Queen Valerica’s eyes shoot wide open with their mouths agape. Sombra sees their reaction and takes mental note of this as he turns his head away then pats his brown leather bag, with Grogar’s Gremoire hidden inside, with his right hoof and narrowed eyes in thought.

“-so they did try to hide this from us-”, Sombra comments internally with an annoyed yet angered expression before he hides it with another neutral expression. Starfire Raindrop and Queen Valerica look to each other for a moment before they both nod, Valerica then takes a deep breath and looks to the brothers before her.

“Please understand boys, we only hid this event from you and prayed you’d never ask about it only because we wanted to protect you both. I ordered everypony in the empire to keep those events from any foals who were born at the time and for everypony else to never speak of those events.”, Velerica then sighs before she continues. “To be honest, the moment I heard you two were looking at my late husbands statue your mother and I figured this was coming. I honestly didn’t take that into consideration when I agreed to let you both come here.”, Queen Valerica then turns to the guards present and motions for them to leave. “Ok everypony, I suggest you all sit onto your flanks. This, is gonna be a long story. It all began 14 years ago...

**Flashback: 14 years ago, The Crystal Empire Castle: Throne Room.**

“Celestia!, Luna!, it’s so good to see you both!.”, Queen Valerica shouts as she greets the alicorn sisters from her throne.

“It is good to see you dear friend.”, Celestia says as she bows before Valerica, Luna follows her sisters lead and bows as well.

“We are happy to see thou dear Valerica.”, Luna says with a small and a bit of her Canterlot voice leaking out. “Now then, where is our little-”, suddenly, Luna is cut off from a rapid clopping of hooves as an individual runs into the throne room, a one year old filly, Princess Shiori Shattershield Mi Amore. The young filly runs into Luna’s right front leg which prompts Luna to pick her up with her magic. Celestia turns to look at the filly as well with a smile.

“Awnty lulu, Awnty Celeshia, I mished you shoo much.”, Shiori says as she tries her best to pronounce her aunts names, this makes Celestia, Luna and Valerica giggle a bit as Celestia leans in to nuzzle the filly along with Luna trapping her in an embrace of cuddles.

“I missed you too my dear, you also did a very good job pronouncing your Aunt Lulu’s name.”, Celestia finishes with a giggle which earns her an annoyed look from Luna.

“Dear niece, we urge thee to never get as plump as our sister.”, Luna retorts, this actually gets Shiori to laugh a little along with Valerica who tried to hide her laughter with a hoof to her mouth. Celestia’s mouth drops agape with wide eyes before she narrows them with a blush and looks to Luna.

“Why I never!, I’ll have you know that despite my love for cake, which are very delicious, I am not at all plump as you so rudely put it!.”, Celestia proclaims with a stomp of her left hoof and an annoyed look.

“Oh please sister, there’s a reason Discord referred to you as ‘sun butt’ before we defeated him and no we are sure he didn’t mean it as a compliment to thee.”, Luna replies with a smirk which causes Celestia to release an annoyed snort. After a little bit of ‘Sun Butt’ teasing Luna sets Shiori down to the floor who immediately runs to her mother, trotting up the short stairs that lead to the throne Valerica sat upon.

“Mommy!.”, Shiori exclaims as she hops into her mothers embrace.

“Good morning baby, did you sleep well?.”, Valerica asks with a motherly tone that could put even Celestia to shame.

“Yesh momma, pappa woke me up bephore he went to work.”, Shiori answers with a bit of giggling. Valerica then kisses Shiori on her forehead just between her eyes.

“That’s excellent sweetie, your father works very hard to keep us safe. Did you make sure to give daddy your love so you can support him as he works?.”, Valerica asks the smiling filly.

“Yesh mamma, I gave papa all of my love to make him shtronger!, so he can beat any monshters!.”, Shiori answers as she lifts her font hooves into the air in a V formation although she still struggles to pronounce her words correctly.

“Very good daughter, I’m so proud of you.”, Valerica compliments as she nuzzles Shiori in a loving embrace. Luna and Celestia looked upon them with smiles all the while some of the maids and guards in the background let out a:

‘Dawwwww’, Luna walks up to Valerica and raises a hoof before she speaks.

“Speaking of thy Childs father where is he?, shall he be accompanying us for our discussions?.”, Luna questions. Valerica pulls away from nuzzling Shiori and looks to Luna.

“My husband Olstrom is currently outside of the barrier with some of the crystal guard at the moment, there’s been reports of what we assume to be a brand new subspecies of Timberwolves who adapted to the colder climate. We began to call them: Glacierwolves.”, Valerica’s words instantly gets the attention of Celestia and Luna.

“What?!, but that can’t be!.”, Celestia responds with absolute surprise. “We always thought the Timberwolves would exist exclusively to The Everfree Forest?. Even if they weren’t we always figured they’d prefer a forest for obvious reasons, but a snowy arctic environment?. How could some manage to not only travel to the north but also adapt to it?.”, Celestia’s barrage of questions made the three ponies of royalty lost in thought before Queen Valerica responds with her answer.

“I have a theory Celestia, although it does leave a plot hole as to how they arrived to the north. Essentially, just as Timberwolves use their magic to form their body structure and comprise themselves entirely of branches, leaves and sometimes even various rocks this subspecies uses ice glaciers and large ice formations along with snow to form various parts of their body. We surmise that the large ice portions they get from the glaciers of the north plays as the main parts of their bodies this being their legs, head, stomach regions, their teeth and their claws. The snow itself on the other hoof makes up their tails and what one could consider to be their fur as it fills out the rest of their bodies.”, Queen Valerica then shudders for a moment, Shiori still hugging her mother which does help to ease Valerica’s freight. “Then there’s those eyes... Celestia, Luna, if you think the eyes of a Timberwolf is a sight to be feared let me tell you dear friends. The eyes of a Glacierwolf practically looks into your soul, they inhabit a black eye socket and their ‘pupils’ is an orb of blue energy that leaks out of the eye sockets. But that’s not even the worst part dear friends, these Glacierwolves are twice the size of a Timberwolf and might be more difficult to destroy.”, Luna and Celestia’s eyes shot wide with shock, Luna regains her composer as she herself asks her own series of questions.

“T-twice the size!?”, Luna exclaims and turns to her sister. “Sister, we must suggest that we keep an eye on the Timberwolf populace within the everfree forest despite how difficult the task. Who knows what other subspecies of these wolves we may encounter in the future.

“Indeed Luna, they’ve already become acclimated to the north here in The Empire but who’s to say there aren’t Firewolves in the Dragonlands or even Waterwolves along our coasts. Oh, this worries me sister... I never imagined they’d be able to adapt like this.”, Celestia then turns back to Valerica. “Queen Valerica, if I may request a copy of any of your findings for me to review back in Canterlot I’d be most grateful.”

“Of course dear friend, I actually have my advisor Mane Neigh-marco working on that as we speak.”, Valerica replies. Suddenly the doors to the throne room opened revealing the aforementioned unicorn stallion advisor. Mane Neigh-marco has a white furred body along with a black mane and tail, his eyes are brown while his horn is noticeably curved at the edge similar to Sombra and Sombasi’s horns.

“Good morning your Majesty.”, Mane Neigh says with a bow as he then looks towards Celestia and Luna. “And your highnesses.”, the advisor then looks back to The Queen. “I have the copies of my findings regarding the Glacierwolves with me as we speak, they will be ready for the royal sisters to review whenever they feel the time is ready.”, Mane Neigh then floats the books and scrolls over to Celestia with his magic, she in turn takes them within her golden aura.

“I am most grateful royal advisor Mane Neigh-Marco.”, Celestia says with a nod.

“I live to serve a better Equestria your highness.”, Mane Neigh replies. Luna is noticeably looking at Mane Neigh with narrowed eyes, she has never liked Mane Neigh-Marco ever since Valerica first appointed him as her advisor some time ago. Granted, Luna does this with most advisors back in Canterlot.

“Greetings.”, Luna plainfully and boldly says. This causes Celestia to roll her eyes at her sisters actions, Mane neigh walks towards The Queen to converse with her regarding the Glacierwolves. Celestia leans into Luna and whispers to her sister with concern for her actions.

“Come now sister, must you do this with every advisor we ever meet?, you’ll need to find one yourself soon too you know which will never happen if you act this way.”

“Tch, like we need an advisor sister. The only one we will allow to ever advise us is you, nopony else.”, Luna retorts. Celestia is noticeably annoyed by this but is happy to know her sister trusts her more then others. Queen Valerica listens to her advisor as she glances outside of her window that was placed to the far right side of the throne room in the perfect position for those who sat on the throne to look upon parts of the empire. Valerica’s expression becomes one of concern as she thinks to herself internally, Shiori still being present sitting between her mothers front legs.

“-Please be alright dear Olstrom-”

On the outskirts of The Crystal Empire, just beyond the barrier, the land is covered in snow but fortunately the weather remains calm despite the fact the sky is covered with grey clouds. A large darks red horse adorned in crystal guard armor specifically designed for him accompanied by a squadron of guards plow their way through the snow heading towards the train station positioned not too far from The Empire. One of the guards call out to the husband of Valerica, their king: Olstrom Shattershield.

“King Olstrom, may I ask what the mission is today sire?.”, one of the guards asks. Olstrom Shattershield pauses and turns back to the guard which causes all of the other guards to halt.

“We’ve received reports that a new subspecies of the well known Timberwolf now stalks these parts, ponies have been attacked as they tried to make their way to The Empire and while there have been cases of injury we are fortunate that no fatalities have happened so far, that we know of. We’re lucky that most ponies who come here traveled in small groups at the very least so they were able to fight it off for a bit. Were you not briefed on this guardspony?.”, Olstrom questions the guard. The other guards look at the guard in question with confusion.

“Ehehe, I overslept for the briefing sire.”, the guard says as he shuffles his front legs nervously, Olstrom and some of the other guards rolled their eyes.

“It’s fine, just make sure you keep an eye out for that Glacierwolf. Same goes for all of you guardsponies, we all have a duty to uphold so let’s move out.”, Olstrom says with authority.

“Yes your majesty!.”, All the guards say with a salute as the squadron continues onward.

Olstrom and his guards are now reaching the midpoint of their travel, halfway to the train station. Suddenly, a snow storm begins to build up around them however this one wasn’t by any means natural. The storm only effected the area around them and It seemed to be trying to keep them centered in the eye of the storm in which they stood, as if controlled by a being.

“Circle formation, I want eyes in every direction!.”, Olstrom commands getting all of his guards together as he realizes what the entity is trying to achieve, hoping to split up a few guards in a panic which thankfully Olstrom has taught them all to keep a leveled head in these situations. Suddenly, he and his guards can hear the loudest howl Olstrom has ever heard in his life even as he traveled with his herd years ago but this one had a certain tone to it, a demonic tone as if it came straight from a frozen Tartarus.

[Awooooooooooooooooooooo]

Once the howling began Olstrom’s worst fear came to life as he then realized this Glacierwolf wasn’t alone, more howling followed after the first, that was a call meant for a pack. The reports only mentioned witnesses seeing one wolf, Olstrom realized that was probably a scout for this pack who were now surrounding the king and his guards. The horse and guardsponies could barely make out the large wolf figures who hid themselves within the magical snowstorm around them however what sent a chill down all of their spines was the many pairs of glowing dark blue ‘eyes’ that watched their every move almost daring Olstrom or his guards to make a mistake. Olstrom couldn’t bare to have anyponies life on his hooves, if any one of his guards died here he’d never forgive himself. To Olstrom’s credit a king earns even more respect when he fights alongside those who’ve sworn to protect him. With that in mind The King shouts his orders.

“Listen up, stay in formation and don’t you dare follow me. I’m going to force my way through this storm, if my assumption is correct this isn’t your traditional storm but more of a barrier trying to keep us in disguised as one. Once I defeat these Harmony forsaken monstrosities the barrier should fall.”, one of the guardsponies tried to reason with their king.

“Sire!, forgive me but we could never allow you to head out there on your own!.”

“That is a direct order from your king!, once I get the barrier down you are all welcomed to join me but for now stay put.”, Olstrom proclaims, the king then looks to the snow storm disguised barrier. “Besides, none of you have my durability even with your armor. If any of you tried to follow me you’d harm yourselves further.”, all of the guardsponies still wanted to assist Olstrom but realized he was right. They’d be easy pickings for the Glacierwolves should they harm themselves trying to get through.

Olstrom readied himself by rearing up and stomping the ground letting out neighs of battle. Suddenly, all of the many pairs of dark blue ‘eyes’ hidden within the storm focused onto the horse and if one were to look closely they could see the frozen fangs of the pack of predators. The horse king charged towards the barrier with the force of a freight train and upon making impact blue energy began to sizzle out of control. The guardsponies could only watch in awe at the spectacle before them, Olstrom continued to push against the barrier and while it did put up quite the fight the barrier began to crack where Olstrom pushed against. Olstrom let out one final roar as he reinforced his efforts, a sudden crackling of blue energy erupted around Olstrom and as a reward for his efforts he was able to plow through the barrier making a hole into into the make shift snowstorm. As he was about to call out to his guardsponies to follow him the hole he made instantly repaired itself as it absorbed the surrounding snow. The kings suspicions were correct, the wolves had indeed casted a wall-cylinder shaped barrier that made those who were trapped within it believe they were suddenly kept within a snowstorm. Olstrom turned his head and was now met with the very same foes that tried to prey on him and his guards, four large Glacierwolves all of whom were just as tall as Olstrom now stood before the king. The wolves began to circle Olstrom as they let out various growls and barks trying to intimidate their prey, Olstrom stood firm and readied all of his senses his ears shot into multiple directions not allowing any of his foes to flank him while he focused his sights on the two wolves that would pass in front of him. He slowly rotated his body clockwise as his enemies continued to circle around him, one of the Glacierwolves that was positioned behind Olstrom tried their luck but the horse kings ears twitched upon hearing the kicked up snow as the wolf ran towards its prey. Olstrom positioned his flank to the wolf and let loose a powerful buck.

[THWOOOM]

A painful wolf yelp could be heard seconds after the powerful buck made contact but instead of sending his foe skywards the force of Olstrom’s hind kick decapitated the Glacierwolf’s head as an eruption of snow spread throughout the area. The other wolves maintained a safe distance as the attacking wolfs body went limp and skid across the snow before coming to a stop.

“-One down, three to go-”, Olstrom thought internally however his thoughts were interrupted as a chilling wind of blue energy flew around the decapitated wolfs body, the snow ice shards around the wolf began to be sucked into where the wolfs head region once was as Olstrom watched with shock. First came a neck, then a set of wolf ears, dark blue orbs were once again present where the wolfs eye would be and finally the mouth of the wolf was remade all of its frozen teeth now snarled at the horse before the recovered wolf let out another howl.

[Awooooooooo]

The other wolves now regained their confidence as their fallen ally rejoined their formation and circled Olstrom once again. Biting, kicking, yelps and neighs of pain could be heard as time went on. Olstrom noticeably had various claw marks on his body as the wolves continued their assault taking turns to try and take down the horse king, every time Olstrom would decapitate a wolf it would regenerate itself moments later and it didn’t help that the entire area was covered in snow. Then, a sudden realization came to Olstrom and a sudden smirk formed on his muzzle.

“Wait, the snow. I might not have magic but...”, the horse king says as he reared up onto his hind legs ready to put all of his strength into his plan. “Never underestimate the strength of a horse you abominations!.”, Olstrom slammed into the earth with all of his might sending a tremor throughout the area which sent all four of the Glacierwolves skywards with yelps of pain, the guardsponies that were trapped inside of the barrier weren’t sparred either as they too began to lose their footing but fortunately they weren’t tossed into the barrier by mistake. The snow that had once sat comfortably onto the land was thrown away from the force of the impact, now the landscape around Olstrom was a rock solid foundation with not a shred of snow left. “Let’s see you regenerate now, face me!.”

A stallion Pegasus guardspony was flying along the edge of the barrier that protected The Crystal Empire when suddenly he could see the ground bellow him begin to shake, rocks and trees began to shift. Olstrom’s tremor didn’t just effect his surrounding area as the tremors traveled to the outskirts of the empire within the barrier.

“Whoa, what the hay was that?.”, the Pegasus uttered as he then leaves the barrier to hopefully find the cause. In the distance he could see what looked like some sort of snow storm mixed with a barrier, his eyes widened as a sudden realization dawned on him. “Wait, the king is out there!. That thing doesn’t look right at all, I need to report to her majesty asap and get help!.”, the pegasus screamed before he raced towards the castle.

“Heh, good thing you guys aren’t too bright.”, Olstrom says as the wolves try to surround him again despite the lack of snow within Olstrom’s vicinity, the horse king now just needed for his foes to get confident again and as if Harmony herself was listening two of the wolves in front of Olstrom sprung their attack. Olstrom quickly reared up and slammed onto both of the wolves heads, each of his front legs planted right onto the head of each wolf thus decapitating them. He quickly then bucks behind him as he anticipated the other two wolves would attack from his flank the force shattered both wolves instantly on impact, unfortunately for Olstrom now the area was covered from the snow and ice shards of the temporarily deceased Glacierwolves which he did not take into account. Before Olstrom could take any further action four blue energy spheres began to float out of the snow from the wolves before they all combined into a much larger sphere. Olstrom’s eyes shot wide open as the snow and ice particles from the deceased wolves began to take shape around this sphere. Now standing before Olstrom was a very Large Glacierwolf, practically three times Olstroms size who towered over the horse king before letting out a mighty howl that nearly rang Olstroms ears.

[AWOOOOOOOO]

“Oh horse radd-”, before the horse king could finish a swipe from the large Glacierwolf sent him flying some distance away and he skids across the land. Olstrom slowly gets back up all the while the giant wolf slowly walks towards him with drool leaking from its maw but upon making contact with the ground the drool instantly froze the landscape around them. Now Olstrom was back to square one and to make things worse he was now metaphorically and literally standing on thin ice. Olstrom now realizes he has to use his species trump card, Strength Amplification. Suddenly, Olstrom let out a loud and drawn out horse neigh which momentarily stuns the giant Glacierwolf. The horse kings veins began to become exposed just under his skin and his muscles begin to flex with noticeable veins of their own. His pupils disappears as his eyes glow with red energy.

“Strength Amplification!.”, Olstrom roared before he charges towards his foe, the landscape around him shook and his hooves left behind small craters with every step he took. The Glacierwolf also sprints towards its foe and suddenly two freight trains are on course to ramming into each other.

[BOOM]

The heads of the two bahemoths were now locked as the two tried to push the other back, despite the Glacierwolfs height and size advantage Olstrom matched his strength equally. Olstrom pulls his head away for a second, the wolf takes the opportunity and tries to attack with a bite but Olstrom dodges only to head butt the wolf from below its lower jaw sending the wolfs head upward. The wolf quickly recovers as it once again swipes at Olstrom but fortunately Olstrom’s durability is enough to endure the swipe however the force of the attack does push the horse king back a short distance. Now the two combatants stare at each other from a short distance as they both circle the other until finally the wolf lunges forward and manages to snap onto Olstrom’s front fight leg. This caused Olstrom to wince in pain before he is lifted by the Glacierwolf and thrown into the air over its shoulder but the wolf wasn’t done yet as it used its tail to smack into the horse king thus adding even more damage to its strike.

“Guagh!.”, Olstrom cries out in pain as the wolfs tail makes impact sending the horse into the snowy fields nearby. Olstrom’s durability could endure it but the force of the Glacierwolfs combo still did its job as Olstrom is dazed and on the floor. To make matters worst, his Strength Amplification ability is sapping away his stamina thus is the drawback of using this technique. “Celestia damn it, I can’t beat it fast enough. I’m drawing this fight out too much.”, A fatigued Olstrom says as he comes up with one final attempt. “I’ll have to put all of my remaining strength into one last attack and hope it’ll be enough, this will consume what’s left of my technique but it’s my best shot.”, Olstrom gets back onto his feet all the while the Glacierwolf begins to charge at its prey with its teeth bared. Moments before the wolf gets near Olstrom, the horse king quickly turns and bucks the wolf with all of his might said buck possibly being the strongest he’s ever had to use.

[THWOOOM]

Olstrom’s attack creates a shockwave that engulfs the Glacierwolf practically tearing the wolf apart sending pieces of it into various directions as snow and ice particles litter the area. Olstrom collapses from fatigue, his eye pupils return as the red energy dissipates and his bodies veins retreat as his body tries to relax itself.

“P-please tell me that was enough.”, Olstrom weakly muttered, sadly his plead was only temporarily answered before the Glacierwolf once again began to take form however before the wolf could become whole a beam of golden fire scorched the bahemoth practically melting it instantly, the blue energy orb seemed to have sizzled out of existence within the beam before it dissipated. The barrier that surrounded Olstrom’s guard disappears allowing them to tend to their king.

“Looks like we made it just in time my friend.”, Celestia says with her horn still glowing as Luna, Queen Valerica, and many of the Crystal Guard they brought along with them immediately go to Ostrom’s side who only had his head risen as the rest of his body was laid out.

“I told you not to be so reckless you foolish stallion!.”, an enraged Queen Valerica screams with tears on her face. “Do you have any idea how worried I was when a pegasus guard came to us and told me about your predicament?!.”, Valerica gently smacked Olstrom on his head with her right hoof before she runs into the downed stallion with a hug as she wraps her wings around him along with her two front legs, her tears still dripping down her face. “Please don’t do that again, please.”, Olstrom smiled happily as he embraced his wife.

“Forgive us if this is out of term but we must say, thou have fought valiantly Sir Olstrom.”, Luna says as she bows before him, Olstrom looks towards Luna with his smile still present.

“Thank you Luna.”, Olstrom replies as he then turns to Celestia. “And thank you for the ‘suppressive fire’ my friend, it’s a good thing you excel at fire magic lady sun butt.” the horse king says with a smirk.

“It’s no probl- wait what did you call me!?.”, Celestia says with an annoyed expression forming on her face upon comprehending the kings words. This causes every pony and horse to laugh although Celestia did have to admit it was funny. Celestia sighed and chuckled before she leans down. “Let’s get you back to The Empire my friend.”, soon everypony helps Olstrom back to his legs as they all travel back to The Empire.

Meanwhile, deep down in The Crystal Castle’s basement where they store various wines along with other produce a certain royal advisor is making his way towards the very end of said basement, Mane Neigh-Marco who was effortlessly making his way through the darkness without any light present. Mane Neigh knew he wasn’t alone as the advisor looks around the basement before he clears his throat and begins to speak.

“I know you’re there, come on out changeling”, suddenly, a pair of green eyes opened with slit pupils like that of a reptile. The large figure stepped out of its hiding place, they were hiding behind a rack of wine and approached the advisor. “Just get out here Chrysalis, you know I’m a disguised Umbrum right?, I can see you bright as day in the darkness.”

“Alright, alright, no need to spoil my fun Mane Neigh.”, Queen Chrysalis replies with an amused tone. “Is everything prepared for the plan?.”

“Indeed, those Glacierwolves proved to be quite the distraction. Thank you for supplying those by the way.”, Mane Neigh replied with large grin.

“Easy as can be really, just an angered pack of Glacierwolves here and a well placed portal there. Well, that portal might’ve just so happened to lead them to the outskirts of The Empire but I digress. So, what now?.” Queen Chrysalis questions.

“The runes have already been placed around the vicinity of The Crystal Heart, the fools don’t even realize that the pillars of the room have them stuffed within them. They’ll be quite surprised when I activate those runes and The Crystal Heart is no longer able to function, for their use at least.”, Mane Neigh cackles to himself before he continues. “The runes will absorb its strength and with it I can open the gates to The Planes Of Absolute Darkness, my goddess Nocturnal shall rise again!.”

“Speaking of Nocturnal you’d better not forget our bargain Mane Neigh, I want to enslave a good portion of these ponies to feed my hive.” Queen Chrysalis proclaims with authority.

“And you shall receive your reward without question, my Goddess awards those who support her very handsomely. In fact I have a surprise for you.”, Mane Neigh replies as he moves over to a nearby crate and with his right hind leg kicks it open only for a particular helmet perfectly designed for ponies to roll out.

“With this, all ponies will bend to your will Chrysalis. My goddess bestowed her powers upon this and designed it for your use. I have many stored throughout The Empire as well, the only thing your children will need to do is slip these onto everyponies head.”, Mane Neigh says with a mischievous smile. Chrysalis looked on with her eyes wide open before she begins to laugh manically.

“Mwahahahaha, Excellent!, as queen of the changelings I decree that you and your Nocturnal have our full support to achieve this planemeld you speak of.” Chrysalys decrees with joy. Mane Neigh then floats over one of the wine bottles that were stored on a rack along with two glass cups. He pops the wine bottle open and hands a glass to Chrysalis.

“I’m hoping you can consume wine because I’d like to drink to our future endeavors.”

(To be continued in Chapter 11 - The Planemeld Pt: 2)

Chapter 12 - The Planemeld Pt: 3

The Crystal Empire became a warzone as changelings and ponies fought on the streets and in the air, royal guard pegasi along with the support of civilian pagasi battled in the skies kicking and ramming various changelings. Ground based forces like earth ponies and unicorns blasted and kicked their way through their enemies, unicorns unleashing their powerful magics to literally zap away some changelings while earth ponies on the other hoof sent changelings skyward with their amazing strength and powerful bucks. Of course, it goes without saying that the Changelings were also having victories of their own some taking the forms of various ponies to infiltrate ranks and cause distrust amongst the populace. However, the Changelings are using a tactic that absolutely horrifies most ponies in the empire. They are forcing ponies to wear some sort of helmet built specifically for ponies which then takes control of their minds and turns them against their fellow ponies. Slowly but surely, a legion comprised of changelings and mind controlled ponies began to stomp through the empire. Throughout all of this chaos a certain maid from the castle sneaks her way through all of it, Diamond Crumbles.

“Oh please dear Celestia don’t let me be discovered, if I can just make it to the library I think I could get my Barings together.”, Diamond says as she continues to sneak throughout the empire by going through ruined buildings and taking back alleyways. Suddenly, Diamond can hear a commotion just as she turns the corner of the alleyway and spots a certain rainbow maned Pegasus guardspony who is locked in combat with two changelings, Lyra Hothoof. Lyra manages to dodge one changeling by hopping into the air and bucks it away into a nearby structure before she then turns to the last remaining changeling for a one on one fight. The fight lasts for moments both on the ground and the air until Lyra finally manages to grab onto the changeling and slams it right into the floor before dragging it up against a nearby wall and proceeds to interrogate her captive with her right hoof to its neck.

“All right ugly, tell me why you and the rest of your bug friends are attacking us and what the hay is up with those helmets you lot have been forcing ponies to wear?. Tell me!.” Lyra demands with her narrowed eyes and gritted teeth. However, Lyra is too focused on her current captive only to not realize that the second changeling she defeated earlier had regained their consciousness and is now about to attack her flank. The Changeling flies at her with rapid speed and is about to assassinate Lyra only for an energy beam to swat the changeling away. Diamond Crumbles reveals herself while letting out a snuff of annoyance along with an Enlighted horn.

“First you lot gang up on a beautiful lady then you cowardly try to attack her from behind?, you brutes got what you deserve! Hmpf.”, Diamond says as she trots over to Lyra who then looks back and notices Diamond and the now, once again, unconscious changeling.

“Woah, thanks for the assist. You’re one awesome maid you know that?.”, Lyra compliments while still holding her captive changeling at bay.

“Why thank you darling but I simply couldn’t sit idly by and watch you get teamed up on by these disgusting brutes.”, Diamond replies with a disgusted tone. Lyra nods with gratitude before she then turns back to her captive.

“Don’t think I forgot about you punk, give me some answers!.”, Lyra demanded although sadly her words meant nothing to the changeling. Lyra then hits the changeling with her other hoof. “Give. Me. Answers!”, she hits the changeling once after every word. The Changeling finally gives in after letting out a:

“GAUGH!... Fine, fine, you worthless pony. Not like it’ll do you any good, the helmets allow us to control all of you who wear it and we planned this invasion for quite some time now. You all will feed The Hive forever! Haha-”, the Changeling suddenly was silenced as a hoof punched it right across its face thus knocking it out. Surprisingly, the hoof didn’t belong to Lyra but instead it came from Diamond.

“I’ve heard just about enough out of you fiend!.”, Diamond says as she removes her right hoof away from the now unconscious Changeling. Lyra looked onto the maid with shock before she chuckles to herself.

“I like you already haha, what’s your name?.” Lyra questions.

“Diamond Crumbles, but we don’t have any time for that we need to hurry and find The King. The Queen and The Princess are both in danger!. Oh it was awful, I saw the royal advisor walking down the hallway with the princess on his back but then he threw the poor princess away and hurt the poor dear but what was most mysterious about it is that he transformed into some sort of evil black being but it wasn’t a Changeling. He then picked up the princess and ran down the hallway towards The Queen, oh you simply must believe me darling.”, Diamond pleads as she then has a sense of guilt take over her. “I know I should’ve done something but what could I do?, I had to get more help, I had to-”, Diamond was cut off as Lyra put a hoof to the maids muzzle.

“That’s enough, you did what you could Miss Diamonds but now you and I are gonna go for a little flight. Name’s Lyra Hothoof by the way.”, Lyra says with a wink before she promptly grabs the maid and throws her onto her back.

“A flight? But where are we gonna go?.”, Diamond questions with concern.

“The Crystal Empire needs some serious allies in this fight and I know just the two royal sisters in Canterlot to help us.”, Lyra says as she takes off with Diamond Crumbles on her back.

“But what about The Queen and Princess Shiori?, shouldn’t we send help for them?.”, Diamond asks as she holds onto Lyra by putting both of her front legs around the base of Lyra’s neck.

“If we can get help from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna we’ll not only save The Queen and The Princess but the whole empire as well. Now hold on tight, we’re about to leave the barrier and lucky for us the weather isn’t too bad right now just a bit chilly.”, Lyra says as she and Diamond Crumbles leave the barrier and flies off towards Canterlot.

Meanwhile, King Olstrom Shattershield and various of his guardsponies along with some citizens have set up a barricade outside of a certain orphanage and are using it as a command center of sorts. All of the foals, colts, and various ponies they have saved along the way are all being placed here as they try to fight off the invasion.

“Unicorns!, casts a barrier around The Orphanage and protect every pony inside!. I don’t want a single changeling near them, fight everypony!. Hold them back!.”, Olstrom orders as he kicks a changeling away who tried to flank him. The doors to the orphanage opens up revealing Starburst Raindrop, the unicorn stallion then runs over to Olstrom’s side.

“Your majesty, my wife Starfire and I have secured all of the colts and foals along with those who are unable to fight within the orphanage. We have our staff protecting them as well should any changeling manage to get inside.”, Starburst exclaims.

“Excellent Starburst, my apologies for using your orphanage as our base of operations my friend but I-”, Olstrom is cut off as Starburst raises a hoof and interrupts him.

“Nonsense your majesty, if it helps to protect The Empire then our orphanage is more then available to help everypony. We can hold out until Queen Valerica can use The Crystal Heart.”, Starburst says with a hoof raised over his chest. Olstrom nods in response with a smile before he turns to look at the castle.

“Please be safe my dear wife and child.”

Just outside of the crystal empire castle various guardsponies from pegasi to unicorns and earthponies are still fighting off numerous changelings and even mind controlled ponies, much to their surprise. Some guards can even be heard yelling:

“Why are we fighting against our own?!, they’re not even changelings in disguise!.”

“It’s got to be those helmets, I’ve heard reports of the enemy forcing ponies to wear them!.”

“What?!, how’d they even get such a thing?. I’ve never heard of- hey look out!.”, before the guardspony could warn their fellow guard a changeling managed to slip a mind controlling helmet onto them. To everyponies shock the guard now turned on them bearing their weapons against their former allies. The clashing of swords, the explosions of magic, and even the grunts of pain continues as the fight for the empire rages on.

Within the Crystal Hearts Chambers Queen Valerica is moments away from powering up the artifact thanks to her love and the love of her subjects who have been giving it to the heart despite the battle that is waging on outside. Valerica’s two earthpony guards remain by her side ready to protect her at any cost. Suddenly, a dark force rams against the doors of the chambers which instantly gets the attention of Valerica and her guards. The two guards begin to approach the doors only for them to be flung open the force of which knocks them both back only to reveal a certain advisor turned Umbrum, Mane Neigh-Marco. The former advisor walks past the two unconscious guards as he approaches Valerica.

“Who are you?, leave this place at once!.”, Valerica questions as she tries to focus on powering the crystal heart. She still doesn’t know of Mane Neighs true identity but the Umbrum soon rectifies that.

“Oh come now Valerica, don’t you recognize me?. And here I thought after all these years of service to you and your pathetic empire that we were best friends. I used to baby sit for you when that abomination of a daughter of yours was born, I was your ring bearer at your wretched wedding which made me want to gag.”, Mane Neigh says as he chuckles to himself with a smirk. Valericas hearts broke in that very moment as her eyes widen in shock.

“Mane Neigh-Marco?!, b-but why?. How could you... You monster!.”, Valerica yells with tears beginning to form in her eyes. “We were friends ever since we were fillies, what have I ever done to wrong you?.”, Valerica asks with tears now freely falling down her face.

“Oh?, well Celestia be damned I must’ve skipped over that part in the real Mane Neigh-Marcos dead, cold, decaying memories.” Mane Neigh then puts a hoof over his mouth. “Oops, did I reveal that to you? Oh well.”, Mane Neigh-Marco says as he shrugs it off. “That’s right Valerica, I killed the real Mane Neigh-Marco on your wedding day actually. He was soo pathetic, trying to say how you’ll one day discover my identity and stop me. He tried to put on a brave face that was until I tore him apart piece by piece, his screams were almost like that of a foals it made me laugh at him the whole time until he drew his last breath.”, Mane Neigh mocked before he began to laugh maniacally. Valerica was in absolute tears and even began to sob upon hearing this, to learn that her best friend was brutally murdered and replaced by this... thing , this was even more unforgivable then the actions of a changeling who would often leave the pony they replaced alive. Valerica regained her composer and took on an angered expression.

“You will be punished harshly for this you fiend, so by what name do I call you now?. Tell me who and what you really are?!”, Valerica demanded.

“For the sake of your tiny brain let’s just stick with Mane Neigh-Marco, plus I love using it to taunt you haha. As for what I am, I am an Umbrum!.”, Mane Neigh says as he poses confidently while also emitting a dark aura from his body. “It is my destiny to bring my Goddess her true desires, all of Equus itself will belong to her!.”, Valerica’s eyes shot wide upon hearing this revelation.

“An Umbrum? B-but that can’t be, legends say you were all banished along with-.”, Velarica was cut off as she managed to put the pieces together, this goddess of his in particular. “No, you don’t mean... Nocturnal?!.”, a clapping of hooves could be heard as Mane Neigh celebrates Valerica’s realization.

“Oh I just love the way you ponies and your puny little minds work. Not all of us were banished alongside my goddess all those years ago, some of us remained in the shadows waiting for the perfect moment to strike back. Now, by using the crystal heart I will open a gateway to my home realm and with it my goddess, Nocturnal, shall claim all of you ponies. I will enjoy strapping you and your people into chains as we drag you all to the Realm of Absolute Darkness!.”, Mane Neigh insults as he begins to laugh once again.

“You won’t succeed Mane Neigh, you are a fool to have revealed yourself now you heartless Umbrum.”, Valerica says as a sudden humming sound emits from The Crystal Heart. “The Crystal Heart is now properly powered thanks to the love of me and my people, I shall cast you out along with every changeling-”

“Oh but you won’t Valerica, I have the means to ensure that you do exactly what I say.”, Mane Neigh interrupts as a ball of shadows begins to construct itself, the ball then takes on the form of a cage. Within this cage is an unconscious filly, Princess Shiori Shattershield. The Umbrum holds his left front hoof out towards the cage. “Do as I command or this poor little princess takes an early retirement.”, the cage of shadows noticeably grew smaller as if it had intended to crush its current occupant.

“No!.”, Queen Valerica pleaded with tears coming out of her eyes again. “I’ll do anything you want, anything at all just please... Leave my baby girl out of this.” Valerica begs as she stops flowing her love energy into the crystal heart and steps away from the artifact. Suddenly, one of the two unconscious guards comes to and gets back up. Valerica sees this and a bit of hope comes to her as she plans internally: ”-Perfect, if I can keep Mane Neigh-Marco’s gaze locked onto me perhaps the guard can-”, Valerica’s internal thoughts were literally cut off and her eyes then widen in shock and fear once more. Her hopes became crushed as the awakened guard had done the unthinkable, at the sound of a sudden splatter of blood she realizes the awoken guard has impaled the second guard who was still unconscious thus killing that guard instantly. The awoken guard then stands right next to Mane Neigh-Marco only for green flames to consume the guards body thus revealing a certain changeling ruler: Queen Chrysalis. Valerica was now in complete despair as all of her hopes were killed alongside that unconscious guardponies life, she couldn’t help but to whisper to herself: “H-have you forsaken me Harmony?...”

“Oh poor Valerica, I bet you were hoping I was one of your pathetic guards didn’t you?. You must be so disappointed.”, Queen Chrysalis mocks before she laughs at Valerica’s misfortune. “You were probably planning something with your little false sense of hope weren’t you?, oh and sorry about killing that other guard can’t have any interlopers now can we?.” Chrysalis taunts as she then walks right next to Valerica, looking right into Valericas distraught expression. “Now, be a good little pony and do what my ally commands. Don’t fret my dear, you are providing a great service to my hive as well you know. My children will feed off of you and your people forever!.”

“Now now Chrysalis, I enjoy tormenting them as much as you do but we simply must- GAUGH”, before Mane Neigh could finish his words a beam of dark blue energy hits him right on the side of his head sending him aloft into the nearby wall. As a result, the shadow cage that had entrapped Princess Shiori fades away as the young unconscious filly falls to the floor. Queen Chrysalis’s eyes shot wide open as she roars:

“Who’s there?!, show yourself- GAUGH” Chrysalis was also silenced and sent back into another wall as a beam of golden energy strikes her right on her chest.

“It would seem we have arrived not too late my sister.”

“Indeed, these Cretans shall pay for what thou have wrought upon our dear friend.”

The royal sisters of Canterlot have arrived.

(To be continued in Chapter 13 - The Planemeld Finale.)

Author's Note

For those who are curious about Sombasi: Brother Of Sombra, I had to put this on hiatus due to breaking my laptop which sadly had all of my chapters saved on it. :fluttercry:
Take it from me, never drink your coffee right next to your laptop where it's in a perfect position for your elbow to knock it over... and spill all over said laptop.
I'll be returning to that story once Terraria and my upcoming Ark stories are complete.

Chapter 11 - The Planemeld Pt: 2

Two days have passed since Olstrom Shattershield’s fight with the Glacierwolves, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have long since left for Canterlot. It’s a beautiful morning in The Crystal Empire as Celestia’s sun enlightens every crystalline structure along with giving warm kisses to every living being, granted, it’s actually an illusion made from The Crystal Heart as it provides The Empire with a more favorable environment compared to the frozen north just outside the barrier. Within The Crystal Castle’s Throne Room Queen Valerica is attending to her morning duties accompanied by her royal advisor Mane Neigh-Marco. Queen Valerica notices a sudden change in orders regarding cases of wine and brings up the issue to her advisor.

“Mane Neigh, it would seem we’ve been having some rather odd orders of wine. Do you know anything about this?.”

“Aww yes your majesty, do understand that I hate to ruin surprises but just know that King Olstrom has quite the event planned for you.”, Mane Neigh answers before taking a bow however as his face is looking towards the floor a mischievous smile forms from cheek to cheek. He then raises his head to face Valerica once again, his mischievous smirk now gone.

“Hehe, that husband of mine can be quite the charmer. It’s a wonder how we don’t have multiple foals at this point, very well Mane Neigh I thank you for clearing that up and I look forward to my husbands surprise.”, Valerica compliments with a giggle and a smile. Valerica has known Mane Neigh ever since they were both fillies and grew up together as inseparable best friends, surely she could trust in her best friend turned royal advisor. Suddenly, the doors to the throne room open up as King Olstrom shattershield along with a familiar rainbow maned pegasus guardspony, Lyra Hothoof and a one year old filly by the name of Princess Shiori Shattershield Mi Amore enters the throne room. The guards who were positioned by the throne room doors salute the two royals and their fellow guardspony moments before they close the doors. Shiori begins to run over to her mother with a large smile as Olstrom continues to walk towards the throne with a prideful smile of his own, Lyra chuckling at the fillies young energetic greetings.

“Good morning momma, morning uncle Mane Neigh.”, Shiori says as she hugs Mane Neighs front right leg and jumps into her mothers embrace.

“Good morning your highness, pleasure to have you here today.”, Mane Neigh compliments.

“Good morning baby, I trust the breakfast I had the chefs leave for you and your father was satisfactory?.”, Valerica asks with a bit of laughter.

“It was so good mom, especially the pancakes!.”, Shiori answers while throwing her front hooves into the air. Valerica then turns her gaze to her husband who nodded in approval while also rubbing his stomach with his front left hoof. Suddenly, a low rumble could be heard causing every pony and horse to turn towards Lyra Hothoof.

“Ehehe, sorry about that. I kind of only had a granola bar since I woke up late this morning and almost missed my shift... Truth be told the bar wasn’t enough.”, Lyra says nervously with her right hoof behind her head. Her stomachs actions prompts every pony and horse in attendance to erupt into laughter.

It’s now noon as Celestia’s sun remains firm within the heavens, suddenly, clouds begin to form stealing the warm star away from The Empire as they block out the sun. Queen Valerica, King Olstrom, and Lyra Hothoof still remain in the throne room discussing various topics and concerns regarding The Empire all the while Princess Shiori and Mane Neigh-Marco are outside in the courtyard. Princess Shiori runs around various bushes while giggling and laughing cheerfully all the while Mane Neigh sits on a nearby bench observing the filly from a distance. Suddenly, a voice enters Mane Neighs psyche which gets his attention instantly.

“The plan is in motion Mane Neigh, my children are in position along with those special helmets you’ve hidden throughout the empire and I have already casted the clouds spell that have blocked out the sun as I’m sure you can see for yourself.”, the voice says which causes Mane Neigh to look up to the sky.

“Aww what lovely weather we are having today, perfect for a changeling invasion. Well done, Queen Chrysalis.”, Mane Neigh replies with a smirk before he returns his gaze back to Princess Shiori. “You are the key to my goddess’s plan, you pathetic little wretch.”

Meanwhile, The Crystal Castle Throne Room is filled with laughter and various discussions from guards, maids, along with a certain king and queen. Valerica and Olstrom continue to discuss today’s proceedings as Lyra Hothoof steps towards a window before she notices the darkened sky which moments ago she could’ve sworn it was a sunny day. The rainbow maned pegasus then turns to Queen Valerica and King Olstrom.

“Hey your majesties, is The Crystal Heart giving us a cloudy forecast today?. It just seems, weird.” Lyra’s words causes both of the royals to stop instantly as they then move over to Lyra’s position by the window to see the Pegasus’s concern for themselves.

“This is indeed most unusu-”, Olstrom says moments before he cuts himself off and his eyes widen in shock along with Lyra and Valerica as they all spot in the distance a swarm of bug like equine shaped beings along with hearing the approaching sound of wings flapping at incredible speeds. “Changelings!, guards get to your stations and prepare for battle!.”, Olstrom proclaims as every guard in The Throne Room heads out to confront the oncoming foes. Queen Valerica snaps out of her shocked gaze as she looks to Olstrom.

“Olstrom, our baby girl is outside in the courtyard!.”, Valerica exclaims before she then turns to Lyra. “Lyra, I need you to fly as fast as you can and retrieve my daughter along with Mane Neigh-Marco out in the courtyard, bring them to The Crystal Heart Chamber.”

“Yes your majesty!.”, Lyra responds with a salute before she flies out of the throne room via an opened window. Olstrom turns to his wife after he gives his orders to a few guardsponies.

“My love, you must tend to the heart. I shall tend to our subjects within the empire but you must activate the heart and send the changelings away!.”, Olstrom proclaims as he runs out of the throne room along with various guardsponies.

Immediately, Valerica also leaves the throne room along with two earth pony guards and heads down a series of hallways passing a few guards who are making their way outside along with some panicked maids and butlers who Valerica then orders to take shelter and hide away. Soon, Valerica reaches the enchanted doors of the crystal hearts chambers upon which she immediately places a hoof to the door thus removing the seal and allowing her access. A bright light causes her to shield her eyes with her right wing for a moment as she opens the doors to the chamber, she opens her eyes again along with forming a smile on her face as she looks upon the very object that has protected her and her ancestor’s beloved empire for many generations. Valerica approaches the heart and sighs with relief before saying: “Hello again, Harmony.”

Outside flying over The Courtyard a rainbow maned Pegasus is searching for two specific individuals, Lyra Hothoof. Her hunt is soon rewarded as she spots Mane Neigh-Marco being pinned down by a changeling while a terrified Princess Shiori takes shelter behind a bush although she’s also peeking out of said bush watching Mane Neigh trying to fight off his foe. Lyra is quick to take action as she swoops down and kicks the changeling off of Mane Neigh with amazing force sending the equine insect tumbling away and crashing into a nearby wall the force of which knocks the changeling unconscious.

“Thanks for the save Lyra.”, Mane Neigh says as he tries to get up, Lyra running over to assist him.

“No problem old timer, where’s princess Shiori?.”, Lyra questions however she then feels a hoof patting her right hind leg. The rainbow maned Pegasus then looks back to see a teary eyed Princess Shiori who left her hiding spot to join them.

“I-I’m so scared, where’s momma?. Why are there monsters attacking us?.” Shiori questions with some sniffling and sobs. Lyra’s heart melted at the sight which prompted her to put a wing around Shiori and nuzzle her left cheek.

“I need you to be a strong girl now princess, your uncle Mane Neigh is going to take you to your mother ok?.”, Lyra says to which Shiori nods understandably to. Lyra then turns to Mane Neigh as she spreads her wings. “Mane Neigh, I need you to take The Princess to her majesty. You can find her in The Crystal Hearts chambers, go quickly!.”, Lyra orders as she takes off and flies towards the city. Mane Neigh then turns to Shiori and lift’s her with his magic placing her onto his back.

“Come little one, we must make haste!.”, Mane Neigh says to which Shiori nods in response. As the two make their way through the castle doors and down a few hallways Mane Neigh suddenly stops and looks around for any remaining guards most of whom have already left to assist in fighting off the Changelings. He then uses his magic to float Shiori off of his back and levitates her in front of him. He stares at the filly with a look of absolute hatred and distain, Shiori is a bit confused and questions him.

“U-uncle Mane Neigh, what are you-”, before Shiori could finish her inquiry Mane Neigh crudely tosses her away which causes her to slide down the hallway floors a bit as she lets out a painful yelp.

Shiori tries to regain her composer while still lying on the floor and looks up towards the approaching royal advisor. Her eyes widen in horror as the stallion she once thought was her uncle figure became one of the most terrifying beings she had ever faced even more so then the insect equines just outside of the castle. Mane Neighs form began to shift as a shroud of darkness shredded his old form revealing a pitch black stallion whose main and tail were fluttering with a wave of darkness along with a curved horn on its head. The edge of the beings curved horn was crimson red, its eye balls was white, their eyes are green and their pupils were red. The being standing before Shiori now was none other then an Umbrum, Mane Neigh-Marco’s true identity. The now former advisor looked down upon the now trembling Shiori and chuckled a bit before he points his horn to her.

“Say hello to the real me, my dear niece.”, Mane Neigh says sarcastically with a large grin present. “Let’s go see mommy now, shall we?.”, Mane Neigh questions sarcastically and with his horn still pointed towards the young filly the now revealed Umbrum casts a spell which instantly puts her unconscious. He picks up Shiori before making his way towards The Crystal Hearts chambers. Unbeknownst to Mane Neigh, one of the maids that Valerica had ordered to take refuge as she made her way to The Crystal Heart was listening to the whole situation with a hoof to her mouth, she could even see everything from just around the corner of the hallway and upon hearing the Umbrum run off the maid peeks around the corner only to find them gone. The maids name is Diamond Crumbles, she is a light pink furred unicorn along with a mane and tail that has noticeable stripes of light purple and dark purple colors. Her eyes are light blue while her pupils are black.

“This is horrible, how dare that brute harm such a sweet filly. It’s truly unfit treatment for a lady.”, the maid then puts a hoof to her chin in thought. “I have to get help but everypony is fighting off the changelings outside and within the city. Oh, think Diamond Crumbles, think.” suddenly, Diamond Crumble gasps as an idea comes to her mind. “I’ve got it, King Olstrom should still be in the city helping everypony and if I can find him he can save The Princess and The Queen.”, Diamond dances in place enthusiastically before she then compliments herself pretending as if someone else was with her.

“Oh Diamond you are simply a genius.”

“Why thank you darling.”

Diamond then giggles a bit before she runs down the hallways, out of the castle, and into the warring city.

(To be continued in Chapter 12 - The Planemeld Pt: 3)