Memories and emotions

Luna had run aimlessly. The only thing she was interested in was getting away from everyone because she didn't like being seen crying. Without realizing it, she ended up in the highest room of the castle, where there was a balcony from which most of the enormous crystal city could be seen. However, what caught Luna's attention the most was the statue there, that of Queen Amore.

Upon seeing the statue of whoever was her guardian during her first years of life, Luna forgot her anger and sadness. Staring at a face she hadn't seen in over a thousand years.

“Luna…” Radiant Hope, who had finally caught up with Luna, suddenly said from the door. “I'm sorry that Sombra provoked you into saying that about you and Celestia.” Hope said, embarrassed.

"Don't worry. I think… deep down, I wanted to say it.” Luna responded with a small, sad smile. “I couldn't bear to keep that weight inside me anymore… That's the problem when you hide the truth; it's still a deception, just like a lie.” Luna added, narrowing her eyes. Then she looked at Hope and sighed tiredly. “I know Sombra doesn't hide things because he's evil, but… He wants to carry the weight of everyone's problems, just like Celestia.”

"Yes... I think that since they were young, they have both felt the responsibility to protect their kingdoms and their subjects at all costs, and that includes their little sisters." Hope said, approaching Luna. Then Hope smiled and hugged her tenderly. “I missed you, Luna.”

“I missed you too, Hope.” Luna smiled, hugging her dear friend.

For several minutes both mares simply stood hugging each other in complete silence. As if they wanted that hug to make up for the hugs they hadn't given each other in a thousand years. Finally, after several minutes, Hope opened her eyes and looked up.

“So… She is Queen Amore.” Hope muttered, staring at the statue of the alicorn, which for so many years she simply called 'Guardian of the Empire'. “So… She… She is…” For several seconds, Hope tried to finish her sentence, but she felt like she was having a hard time speaking. Until finally, she could say it. "My mother…"

"Yes, that's right." Luna responded, also looking at the statue. “I don't know what Sombra is hiding, but… I guess it has to do with the fact that you can't remember her.” Luna added, with a thoughtful look.

“Yes, I have a long pending talk with 'Mister Know-it-all'.” Hope said, speaking seriously and then making a mocking face as she imitated Sombra's elegant voice and attitude.

“Pfft! Yes… Just like my little sister 'Miss Perfection'.” Luna added, raising her head to imitate an elegant pose that Celestia always did in her youth.

Then both friends began to laugh as they remembered the old nicknames they gave to their siblings. Nicknames that only they knew and that they had not used in hundreds of years. They both continued sharing many of the anecdotes they had had the times they had met for so many years, always laughing when they remembered.

“I like this… Stop thinking about all our worries and fears, to just… laugh for a while.” Hope finally said, sitting next to Luna. Resting her head on her friend's lap while she was lying on her back. Then, Hope put on a more serious look and spoke, looking up at the ceiling. “I have a lot of questions in my head right now, but… There is something that I think is more important than my past, and that is…” At that moment, Hope fell silent for a moment and pointed towards the statue that was in front of her. "…the future."

Luna tilted her head a little to see where he was pointing and then looked at the ceiling again, with a small smile.

“Yes… I thought you would notice. I had my suspicions too.” Luna responded, still looking at the ceiling. Thinking about something that had been on her mind since she had returned from her banishment and that now, seeing Hope, she remembered again...

Later that night, the door to the Guardian of the Empire's hall slowly opened, making way for Sombra, who timidly entered there. Walking in, he was surprised to see Luna there, with Hope lying next to her, sleeping. Looking at them closely, Sombra saw that Hope had fallen asleep with a sweet smile, which surprised him, since he thought his sister would be angry after what happened at dinner.

“She fell asleep while singing.” Luna whispered, glancing seriously at Sombra. Stroking the crystal pony's mane.

“She's always like that. She would rather smile than get angry with others.” Sombra smiled. Then he looked up and looked at Luna seriously. “I came here because I was looking for you. I think… There are many things we have to talk about.”

Luna simply nodded and carefully placed Radiant Hope in a comfortable position for her to continue sleeping. Meanwhile, Sombra made a blanket appear, which he levitated over Hope and Luna adjusted to snuggle her well.

Sombra and Luna silently left the room, carefully closing the door on their way out. As soon as the door closed, Radiant Hope slowly opened her eyes with a serious and worried look.

Sombra guided Luna to the throne room. There, Sombra looked at the throne but didn’t sit on it. He simply lowered his head and put on a sad look.

“I'm sorry for what happened at the dinner. It wasn’t right the way I reacted.” Sombra said, sincerely apologizing. However, for Luna, there were more important things to discuss that night.

“Why doesn’t Hope remember her mother?” Luna asked seriously, getting straight to the point.

Sombra was silent for a few seconds. He knew that he could no longer hide the truth and even if it was dangerous, he must begin to reveal the secrets of the Empire little by little.

“Hope is very connected to the Crystal Heart, much more than anypony.” Sombra finally responded with a sad look. “Her moods directly affect the magic of the Crystal Heart, and therefore, the stability of this kingdom. That has been true since her birth, and I… have made sure that it remains that way.” Sombra added, as he remembered the past.

At that moment, without Sombra and Luna realizing it, from the other side of the great hall, in the outer hallway, three groups of figures arrived from different directions. From the left hallway Dusk and his friends came walking silently; From the central hallway, Shining and Cadance arrived, walking just as silently; and down the hallway to the right, Radiant Hope, who was coming down from the Guardian's room.

Everyone faced each other and almost screamed in surprise when they saw each other, so they all quickly covered their mouths. Then, all of them heard how at the back of the great hall, where the throne was, the voices of Sombra and Luna could be heard. At that moment, everyone looked at each other and nodded, forming a single group to pay attention and listen hidden from there to what Sombra and Luna were talking about. Everyone needed to hear it, they wanted to know what was hidden behind the mystery of the Crystal Empire.

Meanwhile, next to the throne, Sombra thought that, like Luna, he also remembered very well the day they met. That day, Luna had gone to play with Radiant Hope, instead, he stood with Celestia by the door to his mother's room. That changed everything...

'Sombra Flashback.'

For the first time, the reformed Crystal Empire had received visitors: Star Swirl and the two alicorn princesses. The three of them had gathered in Queen Amore's room and there, she had introduced them to her children: Radiant Hope and Sombra. Then, the Queen had asked the alicorn princesses to play outside with their children, while she chatted with Star Swirl for a moment.

"Let's play! Let's play!" Hope shouted excitedly down the hallway, while pulling Luna to accompany her to her room.

Unlike Luna, Celestia stood behind the door of the room. She pressed her ear to the door and waited patiently until she heard Star Swirl and the Queen's voices begin to speak.

At that time, Celestia was a young mare who in a few years could already be considered an adult. For the same reason, she already understood when something strange happened, and several things that Star Swirl and the Queen had said in the room seemed very suspicious to her. She also wanted answers, and for the same reason, she slowly opened the door to listen to what was being said in that room.

In her concern about not being discovered, Celestia didn’t notice that the little colt Sombra was watching her attentively, as if he had been spellbound watching her for a few seconds. Then, the little gray colt was also filled with curiosity, and without Celestia noticing, he also approached the door, staying under Celestia's head.

“I have some theories, but I prefer you to tell me yourself. How did you rebuild this kingdom as it was before? And those ponies... Why was their fur made of crystal? They… Are they alive?” Star Swirl asked, questions that were answered only with Amore's silence.

“Do you remember the 'memory mirrors'?” Amore finally asked, looking at Star Swirl with a serious look. Then the magician's eyes opened while his agile mind began to piece together the puzzle of what was happening. “Those magic mirrors not only kept my memories, there were dozens of those mirrors in the houses of the city... Many were broken, but many others survived the attack on the city. With them, I was able to rebuild the city, creating a replica of-”

“They are memories…” Star Swirl interrupted almost in shock. Understanding what happened. “Those ponies are memories! You... You replicated them from the memories that were stored in the mirror crystals! But… How!?" Star Swirl shouted, amazed and scared at the same time.

“The Crystal Heart gave them life. Those ponies are made of crystal, but they are exact copies of the ponies that lived here before they died.” Amore responded, with an effort in her voice, as she found it difficult to speak. “I… I used all my magic to create an artifact that could turn my wish into reality, revive my kingdom. But all my magic wasn't enough, so the spell took a lot of my life force as well. That is the Crystal Heart, it… it will be the one who protects this new kingdom now.”

Star Swirl began to pace restlessly around the room, walking in circles while his mind worked a mile a second.

“All these years, studying about immortality, it all led to this…” Star Swirl muttered. Pausing for a second to look at the weak alicorn queen, seeing her with fear, but also admiration, at achieving such a magical miracle. She had created life from memories locked in crystals! No one had ever done such a thing! And possibly, no one else would ever have the power, knowledge, or skill to do such a feat again.

“I spent years improving the 'crystallization' process. But even with my magic, I couldn't get it to work.” Amore continued speaking, with a tired look. “It was then that I thought, that the trauma of death could be preventing the crystal ponies from reviving as they were before. So I had to erase the memories of their deaths. As I did so, I realized that it was not only that trauma that prevented the spell from being completed, but that this magic worked better if I hid all the feelings and memories that affected the ponies in a negative way. Fear, shame, confusion, trepidation, sadness, loneliness, all those feelings prevented the essence of the ponies from wanting to come back to life, but by hiding them, I finally did it.”

“You… You're lobotomizing the souls of those ponies…” Star Swirl muttered in horror.

"No! I'm not deleting them, I'm just hiding them. It's like they forgot something bad that happened, that's all.” Amore responded scared. “At night, bad memories are kept in the Crystal Heart, there bad feelings are removed, and in the day they return as clean memories to the ponies.”

“But… There will come a time when the Crystal Heart will collapse.” Star Swirl said. Leaving aside his moral debate for a moment, to analyze everything scientifically.

“I have already thought of a way to remedy it.” Amore said with a small smile, as she had also come to the same conclusion. “Every once in a while, we will have to do something to fill the Crystal Heart with happy memories, so that it compensates for the dark feelings it stores.”

Star Swirl was silent for a moment, as he continued analyzing everything Amore told him. All that magic was fascinating, but it was something totally new, bordering on ethical. For the same reason, he thought about all the shortcomings that that magic could have.

“The barrier… That's why the barrier! Even you don't have unlimited magic.” Star Swirl said with fear. “Your spell and the magic of the Crystal Heart only work within the barrier. Do you want to keep a city isolated from the world for all eternity!?”

“These crystal ponies will only be the first generation.” Amore responded with a loving smile. “With each generation, new ponies will naturally become infused with the magic of the real world. Dozens of generations will pass until finally, the newborns are born with real life, without a hint of the magic of crystallization that gave life to their ancestors. And thus, finally the barrier can be released.”

"It's... It's crazy!" Star Swirl shouted almost in shock. “That will take hundreds, no… Thousands of years!”

“That's why I borrowed some of your notes on temporal magic.” Amore responded smiling. “Not only is this place isolated from Equestria, time runs differently here. An hour in Equestria will be days here, and just like the barrier that will decrease until it disappears, time will also slowly normalize until it equals the time of the outside world.”

At that moment, at the door of the room, Celestia touched her chest in fear, partly understanding the complexity of what Star Swirl and the queen were talking about. As she did so, her hoof collided with an unexpected spy that she had not noticed.

"What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be listening to these things.” Celestia said, scolding the gray colt with her gaze.

“Y-You neither…” Sombra responded timidly. An answer that surprised Celestia, and made her smile. Amused to see how clever that cute little colt was.

“Why did you follow me? I thought you went to play with Luna and your little sister.” Celestia said, crouching down for a moment to take a closer look at the gray colt so that he could see her eyes. Noting that they seemed to have an unusual glow to them.

“I… I can see the souls of others…” Sombra responded, leaving Celestia stunned. “E-Everyone has bright white souls, some more than others. B-But yours... It's a very bright one. Very pretty…” Sombra added, blushing and slightly looking away.

“Can you see souls?” Celestia asked confused. Then, she remembered how Luna sometimes said she saw fairies coming out of sleeping ponies. So Celestia simply smiled in amusement, thinking that the colt had a lot of imagination. Then, she was distracted when the little colt pulled a little on her mane to get her to look at him again.

“W-When I grow up, I… I will give you a ring and marry you.” The shy gray colt said, looking at Celestia with his cheeks blushed, but with determination in his eyes. For her part, Celestia was surprised and put on a tender smile.

“Maybe when you're older.” Celestia smiled amused. She was touched by the tender unicorn colt, while having fun thinking that her first love proposal was made by a young colt.

Finally, Celestia was distracted again when she heard Star Swirl's voice rise in pitch.

"Enough!" Star Swirl suddenly shouted in frustration, seeing that the cunning Amore had apparent answers to all of his questions. “This is all experimental magic, you can't guarantee that everything will work as you plan! What… What happens if the Crystal Heart fails!?”

“I'll make sure it doesn't… If I'm going to be immortal, it'll at least be good for this.” Amore smiled, while Star Swirl only had a look of horror when he saw that Amore had put a chain on herself that tied her there and was slowly killing her. “Anyway, I wasn't planning on leaving here again. Here I have everything I need, I have my foals, and within this plane, I can prevent the alicorn magic from attracting the attention of any other monster. Thus, I’ll also be able to reunite with my little princesses... Hundreds of years will pass, until finally the Crystal Heart absorbs all my magic, and then, it will be the same happiness of the ponies that live here that will cleanse and recharge the Crystal Heart… Dear Star Swirl, I created the perfect shelter, this new Crystal Empire will be perfect!”

“This is crazy, it's just a fantasy! There is no such thing as perfection, you always have to pay a price, always!” Star Swirl said frustrated. At that moment, the magician stopped his incessant walk and looked seriously at the alicorn. “Does the Crystal Heart also protect you on this plane from the alicorn's curse? Did you pay the price or will the crystal ponies down there pay it? What will happen to Radiant Hope and Sombra? They will never be able to get out of here either!”

“N-No! I… I think it won’t be like that.” Amore responded, for the first time, with an unsure voice. “They were born by me, not from the magic of the Crystal Heart. Their fur is not made of crystal, they will be able to go out into the world, I'm sure!”

The moment Amore screamed in fear, both she and Star Swirl tensed as they felt a strange magical disturbance around them.

"What was that?" Star Swirl asked worriedly, looking around as he wasn't sure where that disturbance had come from.

“It's the barrier… I must perfect it! It's not ready yet!" Amore said very scared. Then she realized something and looked up at the door. Causing Celestia and Sombra to retreat just in time before the Queen saw them. “Perhaps it is that the barrier cannot support the three alicorns of us being gathered together after all… Ancient magic is very powerful, more than my own magic alone.” Then Amore looked very scared at Star Swirl and begged him. “Go away. You should leave right now.”

Understanding that what Amore was asking of him, more than a favor, was an order, Star Swirl hurried out of the room, taking Celestia with him and quickly looking for Luna to leave there. Even if it wasn't an order from the Queen, Star Swirl would have done it anyway, because, just as the Queen said, if the barrier had shaken because the three alicorns were gathered together, they should separate and distance themselves as soon as possible, before another catastrophe happened.

As Star Swirl and the princesses left, Sombra and Hope watched them leave from the castle balcony. Once they disappeared behind the barrier, they both ran to see their mother in the room. There, they were both surprised to see their mother standing. Thin and so skeletal that it was almost a miracle she was standing. The queen's look was one of deep fear.

“It was a mistake, it was a mistake… I must close the Empire again. I must protect them all.” Amore muttered with a paranoid look, as she used what little magic she still had left to shut down the Empire again.

That meant that the Great Northern Storm was once again blocking and isolating that great city from the world. Being far from the reach of any living being that would like to go there. And it would continue like this for many, many years...

After the Crystal Empire was isolated again, it grew and flourished, away from the world's gaze. There, Sombra and Radiant Hope grew up happy as siblings, accompanied by the warm kisses and hugs of their mother. They soon stopped being foals, although everyone continued to treat them as such, mainly because despite being young ponies, they still did not have their cutie marks. Something that their mother always stressed to them not to worry, that even the princesses took a long time to get theirs, and that one day, they would get them too.

Just as Amore predicted, of the almost fifteen initial crystal ponies that existed in the Empire, the second generation was soon born. A generation that was born with their coats uncrystallized but with their shiny eyes and manes, characteristic of the original ponies that lived in the Crystal Empire.

While they were living their childhood with the first generations, Sombra and Hope always saw them as they walked the streets of the city. After all, the castle was very boring for a pair of young ponies like them, who had not long ago been just foals. When they went to the city, they soon realized that, despite being siblings, for some reason, the inhabitants of the city treated them very differently.

When Radiant Hope approached them, the crystal ponies all smiled at her and treated her with affection, seeing how adorable she was. Instead, for some reason, when the crystal ponies saw Sombra approaching, they tried to evade him or just greeted him with an awkward smile. Not even the crystal ponies themselves knew why; it was just a strange unexplained sensation they felt when seeing the young Sombra. That may have bothered Sombra at first, but the truth was that he himself also preferred to avoid dealing with the crystal ponies. When he saw them, he always remembered those dark 'fairies' that came out of them. Furthermore, as he told Celestia, Sombra's eyes had a special talent for seeing beyond the apparent, managing to see part of the souls of living beings. And even if that was a gift, in a place like the Crystal Empire, that could be a very terrifying thing to experience.

“You don't have to be afraid of them.” Radiant Hope said to her dear brother, when she saw him move away from certain crystal ponies.

“I… I don't know if they are alive or not.” Sombra said trembling. Looking at Hope and seeing her always white and bright soul, and then seeing the older crystal ponies, seeing diffuse and transparent souls, as if they were just ghosts. “Their souls are rare.”

"Uh? Can you see souls?” Radiant Hope asked in surprise.

“Hope, I already told you.” Sombra responded, slightly scared. “I've told you several times.”

"Of course not! I would remember if you had told me that something scared you.” Hope replied with a pouty face. “Anyway, if it scares you that much, we should tell mom.”

That day, both siblings had to go to the Queen's room to find her, since Amore never left her room anymore. The once powerful alicorn queen could barely move and spent her days lying down, completely exhausted in body and soul.

“I don't see the things that Sombra sees, but I have noticed that the crystal ponies act very strange sometimes.” Hope said while talking to her mother. "The other day I accidentally broke a vase at Coral's house, and she didn't get angry or anything... I mean, I know they treat me differently because I'm a princess, but it was like... If she couldn't even react."

“It’s the magic of this kingdom. The Crystal Heart keeps everyone happy.” Amore responded smiling, who always avoided talking about the 'particularities' of her kingdom, so as not to worry her children.

“And what about what Sombra sees? He says some ponies have a fuzzy soul.” Hope asked, worried. Looking next to her brother, who just remained silent, ashamed to talk about the things he saw with his mother, because no one but Hope believed he saw souls.

“It's nothing to worry about.” Amore responded without giving it much importance. Bringing her children closer to her bed to caress them. “I'm sure that by tomorrow, you'll forget about it.”

The next day, Sombra and Hope got up as usual and played in the castle. There, Sombra was eager to go on the mission they had planned the day before, to go around the town and find out which ponies had bright souls and which had transparent souls. However, Sombra was surprised to hear that Hope didn't remember anything about that conversation. It was not the first time that Sombra realized that Hope forgot many of the things they talked about, mainly when he or she talked about the things that scared him or her. That worried the young unicorn, who immediately went to ask his mother what was happening with his sister.

Upon listening to Sombra's story, Amore understood that Sombra was not affected by the same things as Hope, while at the same time, she understood that her son already knew more things than he should, and inevitably, he would slowly learn the truth about that kingdom.

“Hope forgets her worries, her fears, all her bad memories. Just like it happens to the other ponies in the kingdom.” Amore finally responded, after Sombra told her his concerns. “Since Hope is not a crystal pony, it only affects her memories, but her feelings are still intact. That's something I had already realized. What I didn't know was that it didn't affect you at all.” Slowly stretching out her hoof, Amore caressed her son's face and smiled tenderly. “You shouldn't say anything to Radiant Hope, she will be happier that way. You must ensure that she is happy, like everyone in this kingdom. That… That is the duty of a ruler. Even if you must bear the fear and problems of others, you must sacrifice yourself so that others can be happy.”

Feeling the warm touch of his mother's thin and almost dying hoof, Sombra closed his eyes and hugged it while it caressed his face.

“I understand mom… I'll take care of Hope. I promise." Sombra responded.

The days passed and everyone in the Empire prepared to celebrate the kingdom's anniversary. A celebration that had started as something small, with the first fifteen founding ponies, but after the families grew, the celebration slowly became bigger, until that year, they decided to make it an official party, celebrating the great 'Crystal Faire' for the first year. Everyone thinking that this was just another party, not knowing that they were really protecting the empire, by charging the Crystal Heart with happiness.

Radiant Hope and Sombra had gone to the first celebrations, even though Sombra didn't really like getting close to the other crystal ponies. For this reason, Sombra always thought that the discomfort he felt was normal when he forced himself to attend those parties in his mother's name. However, as the years went by, Sombra realized that every time that date came, he felt worse, feeling dizzy, fatigued, and even in pain.

That year of the first official Crystal Faire was much worse. Sombra felt very sick, with a lot of pain throughout his body. Not even the few doctors who were in the Empire at that time knew the reason for the young prince's pain. Finally, Amore asked for Sombra to be taken to her room, but she was not able to calm his pain either. Amore barely had magic to illuminate her horn a little. There was little she could do to try to heal something she didn't understand. However, she had a theory. She had seen how this happened to Sombra only on that date, so it was evident that it must be related to the Crystal Faire and the recharging of the Crystal Heart.

"I'm sorry, my son. You just have to endure it for today… Just one day a year!” Amore cried, kissing Sombra's forehead as he writhed in pain on Amore's bed. "If I had the magic, I would transfer your pain to me, but I can't... This is necessary; I can no longer recharge the Crystal Heart with my magic alone. The happiness of the kingdom's ponies is necessary, and without the festival, it will never be recharged.". Amore continued speaking while watching her son suffer with pain in his body. Then she moved her weak body and hugged her dear little son tightly. “This is my punishment for breaking the alicorn curse!? Seeing my son suffer without being able to do anything!?” Amore cried, feeling completely helpless.

Fortunately, the day after the festival, Sombra woke up as always, without any pain in his body, which filled Amore and Hope with joy. However, soon the three realized that this would become a family ritual.

Year after year, Sombra suffered again from those pains just on the date that the Crystal Faire was held, and every year, Amore had her son taken to her room to take care of him and hug him. Radiant Hope also joined this situation, who loved attending the faire festivities, but she loved her brother more, and from that year on, she never attended the Crystal Faire again, to accompany her mother and brother.

Every year without fail, Sombra suffered those attacks of pain, and every year, they became stronger and stronger, and Amore noticed it. The experienced and wise alicorn knew that the curse that attacked Sombra was progressive, and it was only a matter of years until his body could no longer support it and Sombra would die.

For his part, Sombra had heard from his mother about the alicorn curse, and thought that perhaps that was a way of nature telling his mother that she could not break the laws of nature. Even so, Sombra struggled to bear that pain, because deep down, he was grateful that this was happening to him and not to his sister. That gave Sombra the strength to endure each year, telling himself that he must endure, because if he didn't, the curse could fall on Hope.

Finally, Amore understood that there was no other way out than to take a risk and ask for help. So after many years isolated from the world, Amore opened the barrier again, because if there was someone who could find the solution to his problem, it was an old friend.

Several weeks before the next Crystal Faire, Amore opened the Empire to the world and contacted Star Swirl, who responded immediately. However, as time moved differently in the Empire, it took Star Swirl that same amount of time to be able to appear in the Empire, arriving just on the day of the Crystal Faire. Once there, the wizard was surprised to see how much the Empire and its population had grown in that time. Although it was more than two decades in the Crystal Empire, in the real world only a few years had passed. On that journey of Star Swirl, from the entrance of the Empire to the castle, Star Swirl's astute eye noticed many other things, many that surprised and frightened him at the same time.

Arriving at the castle, the next thing that surprised Star Swirl was seeing the royal family of the kingdom, seeing in amazement how much Sombra and Radiant Hope had grown, until they were already adult ponies. However, his biggest surprise came when he saw Amore, seeing her much more deteriorated than the last time he had seen her. It almost seemed as if it were a miracle that she was still alive.

As it was the day of the Crystal Faire, Sombra was already lying next to his mother, writhing in pain while his mother tried to hug him on one side, and Radiant Hope held him lovingly on the other. With the arrival of Star Swirl, Amore asked Hope to wait outside, since she had to discuss things with Star Swirl that she should not hear, and if she could, she would have also prevented Sombra from being there to listen, but in their state, neither Sombra nor she could move anywhere else.

Unfortunately for Sombra, the pain was such that he was barely able to notice the wizard's presence, and even when he saw him, he was not sure if Star Swirl was really there or if it was just part of his delusions due to the fever and pain he felt. So he only managed to hear part of the conversation, before fainting from the pain.

“There are more ponies here with crystallized skin… Are you reviving them all once they die!?” Star Swirl asked scared. Asking a question that had been on his mind since he arrived and that he could no longer contain.

“I didn't plan it like that. It’s the Crystal Heart itself who revives them once they die.” Amore responded with a sad look. “When a pony descended from another crystal pony dies, the Crystal Heart crystallizes their bodies, and creates a copy of who they were in life, with only their happy memories.” For a moment she was silent and then looked sadly at the wizard. “Sombra, Hope and I are outside of that resurrection cycle, but I believe the Crystal Heart follows my wishes from when I created it. It just wants no one to die and everyone to be happy.”

Seeing Amore's sad look and seeing that this was not planned, Star Swirl gave a big sigh and held his head.

“Truly, it is incredible… You created a paradise on earth, without pain, without death.” Star Swirl said dumbfounded, for what to him, it was probably the greatest magical miracle in history.

"Not everything is perfect." Amore said, with a dejected look, beginning to cry. “Keeping those umbrums, those dark feelings within the Crystal Heart, is taking a price. I think they want to take a life in exchange for keeping the lives of everyone else… And in my arrogance, my son is paying the price.”

At that point Sombra's consciousness faded for a moment, his pain was too much and he could no longer pay attention to what his mother and Star Swirl were talking about, hearing some screams and cries that he could not understand. It was only when he heard the door open that Sombra regained some consciousness and remembered where he was. Then, he was able to open his eyes in pain and saw that Star Swirl was at the door, ready to leave. But first, the magician turned and spoke one last time to Amore.

“I will return to Celestia and Luna. I know it’s risky, but they are the only ones who could save you two.” Star Swirl said seriously. Using his teleportation to leave as quickly as possible, as he knew that time was against him.

For his part, upon hearing that he would see Celestia again, a strange peace was generated in Sombra's chest, despite the unbearable pain he felt at that moment. Then, Sombra fell unconscious, feeling that his body was breaking into pieces, but with the small glimmer of hope that he would see the beautiful Celestia again.

"NOOOO!" A piercing scream partially woke Sombra from his faint. However, the pain was such that he could barely see what was in front of him. In fact, everything looked very hazy and dark.

Before Sombra, there was a strange creature, a being that seemed to be made of smoke, with large red eyes. In front of that terrifying shadow was his mother, who could barely stand. She cried non-stop as she looked in panic at the fearsome creature before her.

“Do you want a life? Take me, take me! Let my little Sombra come back!” Amore screamed in terror, stepping forward to sacrifice herself.

“No… Mom, no!” Sombra shouted. But his body was so sore that he couldn't even move.

Losing the last of his strength, the last thing Sombra heard was the evil laugh of that dark being, then darkness.

After losing consciousness, Sombra was finally able to feel something, a warm sensation that ran through his entire body. His senses slowly came back to him.

“Don't leave me Sombra… Please stay with me.” A female voice that Sombra's dazed mind still couldn't recognize said.

"Mom…?" Sombra murmured, as he slowly regained consciousness and opened his eyes. When his vision cleared, he saw that the one standing in front of him was not his mother, but Radiant Hope.

At that moment, Sombra realized that his entire body was surrounded by Hope's magic, while his sister used her magic, she had her eyes closed from the effort, and even more shocking, she had a cutie mark! Whatever magic Radiant Hope had used had unlocked her potential to obtain her cutie mark, which was a golden caduceus, a universal symbol of healing.

Hearing Sombra speak, Hope opened her eyes in surprise. She stopped using her magic, and then she ran to hug her brother.

"Sombra!" Hope shouted, smiling, her eyes swollen from crying.

“Hope? W-What happened…?” Sombra asked confused. While Hope's only response was to start crying uncontrollably, squeezing Sombra tightly to hug her.

Slowly the memories of the last thing that happened came back to Sombra's mind and he opened his eyes in horror.

“Hope! Mom and the umbrum! That thing… That thing attacked us! It was going to attack mom!” Sombra screamed in terror, separating himself from Hope so she could look at him and explain what happened.

Hope wasn't able to answer; she just hid her face and started crying even more. A shiver ran down Sombra's spine. Then, he looked behind Radiant Hope and saw his mother's body on the floor, with her eyes closed, completely still. Sombra wanted to ask, but he lost his voice when he opened his mouth. He didn't want an answer to a question that seemed obvious, and his heart tightened as he began to cry.

“She's no longer with us…” Hope cried, finally giving Sombra an answer. While Sombra seemed to be in shock, as if he couldn't believe what had happened, even less so in that perfect kingdom where no one died. “I managed to see it… The umbrum.” Radiant Hope said slowly, looking at her brother with a sad and fearful look. “That shadow attacked mom and then… it disappeared.”

“That creature took advantage of the fact that I was weak… It was coming for me! And mom… She… She sacrificed herself.” Sombra cried, holding his head as he blurredly remembered the last thing he saw before he passed out. Remembering when his mother said that horrible beast came to claim a life, and it did, only she gave hers to save his.

After that day, the lack of Amore's magic became evident. The aurora in the sky of the Empire seemed to be off for days, as if there were a constant cloudy sky. Even the crystal ponies themselves were affected, they continued smiling, but their smiles were sad and their looks dull, as if deep in their hearts they knew that their queen had died. But that was impossible, due to the same magic of the Crystal Heart that prevented bad memories and feelings from being stored in their hearts, there must be another reason.

One of those days, Sombra looked at the city from the castle balcony. He had already spent several days mourning alone, crying secretly. All so that Radiant Hope wouldn't see him in that state. But it was time to move on, and the first thing was to discover what affected the kingdom.

“I don't understand… The Crystal Heart managed to recharge that same day at the Crystal Faire.” Sombra thought uneasily. “It’s not failing, otherwise the magic of crystallization would not continue to work. There is something else... Something is affecting the Crystal Heart in some way.”

“Hi Sombra! Why that frown?” Hope suddenly asked with a smile. Seeing his brother, who was looking out on the balcony. “Come on… Smile for me!” Hope said amused, squeezing her brother's cheeks to force him to smile.

“Yeah, yeah… I'm sorry.” Sombra responded, with a sad smile.

That was exactly the reason why Sombra was secretly crying. Unlike him, Hope was partially affected by the Crystal Heart. Just as his mother told him one day, her bad memories were also hidden in the Crystal Heart. For the same reason, she couldn’t remember their mother's death. In fact, Sombra had taken care of that, locking her mother's room, saying that she wanted to be alone because she was very sick.

While Sombra remembered that, he looked at Hope for a moment, and instantly, he was scared to see that his sister was crying. Radiant Hope had started seeing the town's crystal ponies, and for no reason, she just started crying, though she didn't know why.

"Sombra... What's wrong with me?" Hope asked surprised, touching her tears without understanding why they were there. “I feel like my chest hurts and… and I can't stop crying… What is happening to me!?” Hope asked, starting to get scared.

The grief that was overwhelming Sombra took over him, and he simply hugged his dear sister tightly. As he did so, Sombra's eyes widened in surprise as he understood what was happening.

“Radiant Hope's memories are also hidden in the Crystal Heart, but not her feelings or the trauma of that day. After all, she's not a crystal pony, she's a normal pony like mom and me.” Sombra thought, remembering that detail. "Now that mom is gone, the one who should be most connected to the Crystal Heart must be Hope... For some reason, her feelings are being transmitted through the Crystal Heart... But why only her feelings and not anyone else's?” Sombra thought confused.

“Sombra, is something wrong?” Hope asked as she hugged her brother. Feeling that from one moment to the next Sombra had become tense.

“I-It's nothing… Just trust me. I promise you everything will be okay.” Sombra said lovingly, giving her a small kiss on the forehead. Then he started to use his magic on Hope.

Not for nothing, Sombra was the son of the powerful Queen Amore. And although mental spells were not easy, at that age, already an adult, Sombra had the skill of any high-level wizard in the Kingdom of Equestria. For this reason, Sombra determined to completely erase a memory from Hope's mind, to completely erase what happened that day. It didn't matter if the Crystal Heart had already erased the bad from that memory, Sombra needed to erase everything that day, everything that Radiant Hope felt that day, including happy moments, as if that day in Hope's life had never existed.

“I will always protect you, Hope. To you and to the kingdom of mother… to OUR kingdom.” Sombra said as his magic took effect and Hope fell into a deep sleep.

The following days, Sombra checked daily the status of the Crystal Heart, that of the crystal ponies, and especially, the emotional state of Radiant Hope. Day after day, the mood of the crystal ponies and Hope seemed to remain just as low, as did the dark sky of the kingdom. This was something Sombra expected, as he knew that Hope's wounded heart would take a while to heal, and it wouldn't happen overnight. Therefore, he was glad after a few weeks to see that the Crystal Heart slowly began to shine brighter, while Hope's spontaneous cries began to become less and the smiles on the crystal ponies' faces slowly returned to looking more normal.

The months passed, and the situation got better and better. Thus, by the next Crystal Faire, everything seemed to have returned to normal. The crystal ponies laughed happily, the Crystal Heart recharged normally, the skies once again had the beautiful aurora illuminating them, and above all, Hope was once again the happy and smiling pony she had always been.

Despite everything, there was something that did change for the better since that first Crystal Faire, after Amore's death. For the first time in his life, Sombra was able to witness a Crystal Faire without suffering from the severe pain he always felt on that date. Thus, he was able to enjoy delicious crystal corn with Hope for the first time and even play the famous crystal flugelhorns. Many traditions that the crystal ponies had that they only did on that specific day of the year.

“Hey, what's going on there?” Hope suddenly asked as she walked through the fair alongside Sombra. Seeing that there were several ponies gathered in front of a statue.

As they approached, Sombra tensed when he discovered that it was a statue of his mother. A statue that the crystal ponies had made years ago and that they always took to the center of the square on those dates. Something Sombra was unaware of, since he had never been to a Crystal Faire before.

“Oh, Princess! And… my King…” A crystal pony said as he saw both siblings approach. Getting nervous for no reason when he sees Sombra approaching. “We had this statue and… we're not sure what it represents.

"King? Why do they call you King? And why don't they remember Mom?” Radiant Hope asked worriedly, looking at Sombra. Who, for his part, froze, seeing that the crystal ponies had completely forgotten Queen Amore.

“This is the effect that the Crystal Heart caused after our mother's death? Why didn't I realize it before!?” Sombra thought worried. Glancing at Hope and realizing that he was taking too long to answer. “The last thing I need now is for Hope to start asking questions. I need to divert attention.”

“O-Our mother wants me to start taking over the duties of governing due to her illness.” Sombra answered slowly, with a calm smile to hide his true nervousness. "So that there is no confusion about who the king is, she asked that from now on, we only call her 'The Guardian of the Empire.'"

"Uh…! Why do you never say anything to me!?” Hope claimed, making a pouty face as she believed that her mother and brother were keeping a secret from each other. So she pretended to be upset for a second, but then looked at Sombra and smiled. "It's a joke! Hehe… Congratulations! I think that 'King Sombra' sounds very good on you.” Hope smiled as smiling as ever, hugging her brother. “I don't want to rule or anything, so I'm fine with remaining just a princess.”

“That's good, hehe… Yeah… That's okay.” Sombra smiled with a sad smile. Hating himself for having to lie to his tender sister. Then he looked at the statue of his mother and then looked at the crystal pony that had asked them the question in the beginning. “That is the statue of the Guardian of the Empire, never forget it! She is the one we must thank for being here today. She... She is the most wonderful pony that ever existed in this world. The only Queen of this Empire.” Sombra responded with a shaky smile as his eyes became moist.

It would have been easier for him to deny his mother's existence and erase her from history when Hope didn't realize it, for the sake of his own kingdom. However, he couldn't. His mother had given so much for the ponies of that kingdom, for Hope, for him, that Sombra couldn't simply deny that she existed. Maybe the crystal ponies could remember her in their own way, even if it was with another name.

After Sombra's words, everyone looked in amazement at the statue of that winged unicorn. While Sombra, for the first time that day, felt a small discomfort in his chest, thinking it was due to the anguish of having to lie about his mother's legacy. Without even imagining that that discomfort was the cycle of pain that he would suffer forever on that date, because it had not disappeared, the cycle had simply restarted.

'End of flashback.'

“At first, the magic of the Crystal Heart only hid from Hope the pain and sorrow of seeing our mother die.” Sombra said to Luna, after telling his long story. “However, many years later, the Crystal Heart finally ended up completely erasing her memories of mom as well.” Sombra added, looking away for some reason.

After answering Luna's questions, which Sombra answered with complete sincerity, Luna was perplexed. She didn’t know at all the origin of the Crystal Empire, nor was she aware of what had happened in the Empire between her first visit and the next time she and Celestia visited it. In fact, the times she returned to the Empire, Luna never saw Queen Amore, believing what Sombra said about her being sick. The few times she questioned that, Celestia told her that she shouldn't worry... Did Celestia know that since then too!? Why did they hide it from her too!?

Away from the center of the hall, behind the main door, Dusk Shine and the others were also stunned. Crystal ponies weren't real!? Were they just memories!? What were the umbrums!? While everyone was stunned by those revelations, only one of the ponies there reacted.

Radiant Hope was trembling as if her body had been frozen. She took a frightened step back and only then did Cadance react to seeing her. As she did so, she was scared when she saw Hope's face. She was terrified, her eyes filled with tears, almost on the verge of fainting.

“Hope-” Cadance said worriedly, noticing the terror the kind purple unicorn felt.

Before Cadance could touch her, Radiant Hope quickly turned around and fled from there at full speed.

“Hope, wait!” Cadance shouted, chasing after Radiant Hope. Worried about the unicorn's mental state.

For their part, Dusk and the others saw the scene, but did not know how to react. They simply stood still, still trying to digest 'the truth' behind the Crystal Empire. Meanwhile, in the center of the room, Luna and Sombra continued talking after a long silence.

“This is our kingdom, my mother's, Hope's, and my kingdom.” Sombra said, resting his head on his hoof worriedly. “That's why others can't know this. Not until I manage to save the Empire.”

“Save it from what?” Luna asked, still stunned with the new information she had received.

“The magic of the Crystal Heart is not enough to support the Empire completely becoming part of the outside world again.” Sombra said very worried. “The barrier that the Queen placed over the Empire is soon to disappear. It was predicted that by that time, the Crystal Heart would be strong enough to withstand the transition, but what my mother did not count on was her sudden death. If the barrier disappears right now, the Crystal Heart will not support it, and the Empire will die along with all its inhabitants.”

With that last revelation, Luna looked terrified, noticing the seriousness of the situation. Then she looked at Sombra and realized the great weight he carried. Now she understood why he couldn't ask its inhabitants for help, but even so, he had someone very important by his side whom he should have trusted.

“You should have told Hope the truth… Once her heart healed, she would understand and could have helped you find a solution all this time.”

"You don’t get it. Hope is too tied to the Crystal Heart.” Sombra answered sadly. “She needs to stay happy no matter what. The happiness of the ponies of the kingdom depends on her happiness.”

While Sombra and Luna finished talking, at the top of the castle, Radiant Hope ran down the stairs, feeling like she was running out of air, her heart so tight that she felt like it would explode at any moment. Then she reached the Guardian's Hall and ran to the balcony, finally running out of nowhere to run as she collided with the railing.

In the stillness of the night, Radiant Hope looked up with her eyes trembling and her mouth open, unable to express a sound. Her whole life had been a lie! The crystal ponies were born by magic! Sombra had played with her mind! Everyone's memories were erased, including her! So much so that she couldn't even remember her mother's name, she couldn't even remember her face!!

“AAAHHHHH!!” Radiant Hope shouted, filled with rage, grief, and fear. So many accumulated feelings that she seemed to have repressed for years and that now, for the first time, she was releasing. Feeling such great pain that she believed she would die, feeling betrayed by the being she loved most in the world, her brother.

As Radiant Hope cried, Cadance finally reached the balcony. From behind, she saw how the unicorn was crying her eyes out, which caused even Cadance to start crying, feeling with her ability the pain that Hope felt in her heart at that moment.

“It’s normal for me to feel the feelings of others when they are very intense.” Cadance thought worriedly, touching her chest with her hoof. “But… Why do I feel so intense now?”

At that same moment, beneath the Crystal Castle, the Crystal Heart began to spin rapidly as it turned completely black. Then, hundreds of shadows began to be expelled from it. Shadows that took shape and spread throughout the city.

After a long night, Dusk and his friends got up to go to the dining room. None of them had slept well that night. After seeing that Luna and Sombra were preparing to leave the room, Shining, Dusk and their friends hurried to flee, so that they would not know that they had been eavesdropping. They still had many questions, but first they needed to digest everything they had discovered about the Crystal Empire.

As they walked through the hallways that morning, Dusk almost ran into the walls a couple of times, both out of fatigue and because his mind was distracted. He had stayed awake all night, amazed and scared by the magic created in that place, while his head continued to fill with questions. They already knew the origin of the Crystal Empire, but there were still hundreds of years of history that remained unknown to him, and he needed to know them to solve all the mysteries of that place.

Upon arriving at the dining room, Dusk and his friends saw that the only ones there were Cadance, Luna and Sombra, all three with sad and uncomfortable looks. As if they had been there a long time ago and none of the three had spoken to the other, just maintaining an awkward silence between the three of them.

“Oh… I'm glad you're joining us for lunch.” Sombra said politely when he saw Dusk and his friends arrive. Forcing a smile, despite how sad he felt at that moment.

Dusk just bowed his head gently and approached the table, sitting next to Cadance.

“Did you get any sleep last night?” Dusk asked, noticing that Cadance also had a tired look. Besides, she had been the only one who hadn't gone back to sleep in the guest room.

"Only a little. I accompanied Hope all night.” Cadance responded with a sad smile. “She just hugged me all night until she fell asleep. And even in her sleep, I could feel how hurt her heart was.”

“Hope doesn't want to leave her room… And she doesn't want to see or talk to anyone either.” Sombra added, looking at Luna and then sadly lowering his head. “Especially me.”

“She needs to calm her heart before talking to you.” Cadance said, looking seriously at Sombra. “You both have a lot to talk about.” Cadance added, while Sombra simply nodded, closing his eyes in sorrow and frustration.

At that moment, Shining Armor finally arrived as well, walking very quickly, with a worried look. He had been the first to get up that morning, as soon as it dawned, like a good soldier. However, he had gone somewhere else before going to the dining room, because, in addition to all the mysteries that were in the Crystal Empire, there was something that had been bothering him since he arrived and that he wanted to try to solve on his own.

“I think something strange is going on out there.” Shining said worriedly, quickly approaching Cadance and Sombra. “I went to see the guards first thing in the morning. I wanted to see if they were at least on guard and not just sleeping. However, they seemed to be acting strange. As soon as I arrived, several of them looked at me as if they were about to cry, others looked at me with disgust for no reason, one of them even started screaming in fear.”

“Crying?” Sombra asked surprised. Then he lowered his head with a thoughtful look and then opened his eyes in fear. "That can not be!" Sombra said scared, jumping up and teleporting instantly, disappearing from there.

Everyone was surprised by the king's sudden reaction and looked at each other, trying to find an explanation. For his part, Dusk believed he understood what Sombra suspected and also quickly got up and ran to leave the room. While the others, seeing Dusk's reaction, hurried to follow him.

Dusk Shine quickly descended the stairs until he reached the central square of the castle, where the Crystal Heart and the guards were. Right there was Sombra, who had just stood there stunned, looking straight ahead. Dusk approached him and looked in the same direction that the king was looking, to see what was worrying him.

In front of Dusk and Sombra, were the castle guards, and just like Shining Armor said, they were all acting very strange. Some had scared looks, others were arguing angrily among themselves, others were crying their eyes out, it was like seeing a spectacle of different emotions gathered in the same place.

Looking a little further, Dusk could also see that on the streets of the city there were several crystal ponies having the same difficulties. Some even screamed hysterically, grabbing their manes as they seemed to panic. It seemed that nothing remained of the happy smiles that those ponies always maintained. When looking at those ponies in the distance, Dusk could see another very strange thing, so much so that he had to rub his eyes to make sure he had seen correctly. For a second, he thought he saw some kind of shadows jumping from within the bodies of the ponies, jumping from one pony to another. Shadows almost imperceptible to the eye, due to how transparent they were.

“Those… Are those the repressed emotions of ponies?” Dusk asked, with a scared look.

“Umbrums…” Sombra murmured with a terrified look, still watching the shadows that attacked the ponies of his kingdom.

At that moment, Sombra suddenly crouched down and began to grunt in pain. Causing Dusk and the others to approach him worried.

“Hngh…! I… I'm fine…” Sombra said with effort. Gritting his teeth and containing his pain. “We must stop those umbrums…”

With Sombra's words, the others looked towards the streets of the kingdom, noticing that more and more ponies were running out of control from their houses. Hundreds of ponies, maybe thousands. All reacting violently to new emotions. With the number of ponies there were, Dusk and his friends had more opportunities to see those ghosts called umbrums that passed through the bodies of the crystal ponies, and like the number of ponies present there, they were thousands, perhaps more than the enormous amount of ponies that were there. That was not a simple attack, it was an invasion!

“We have to stop the big ones… Hngh…! To… To the three biggest ones.” Sombra murmured, beginning to sweat, while feeling so much pain that he almost fainted. “Anger, fear and sadness… Those… Hngh…! Those are the three most dangerous.” Sombra added, again crouching down due to the pain he felt.

“Sombra, what's wrong with you?” Luna asked worried.

“This… This affects me more than anyone…” Sombra said, getting up with effort, putting on a worried look. “Hope's emotions are unstable, but still… the Crystal Heart must have contained the umbrums… That means the Crystal Heart is weaker than I thought, Hngh…!” Sombra added, groaning in pain just as he finished his sentence. Causing Cadance and Luna to hold him worriedly, seeing how much he was suffering.

“We can try to stop those ghost beasts, but I don't know how we can fix the Crystal Heart.” Luna said, looking at Cadance worried. Seeing that Sombra was too tired to continue talking. “It is a magical item created with ancient magic. Only Queen Amore could repair it.”

“The Crystal Faire! Sombra said that it recharged the Crystal Heart’s energy every year.” Cadance responded. “It was supposed to be today. We must get it done without delay!”

“But… How are we going to be able to hold a fair if the ponies are in that condition?” Dusk asked worried. Looking at the fearful ponies that were running through the streets in terror.

At that moment, Sombra came to his senses, and with great effort he stood up on his own again, separating himself from the two alicorns. His breathing was labored, and it seemed like he could barely open his eyes, but even so, his willpower was greater than his pain.

“I have to make sure Hope is okay… Please stop this.” Sombra said, gritting his teeth as he felt his body burning from the inside. Then he activated his teleportation magic and disappeared from there.

After Sombra disappeared, Dusk and the others stared at each other with scared looks. They were still not sure what to do because, before their eyes, they had an entire kingdom with thousands of ponies fighting against ghost creatures that made their feelings explode, causing them to lose their minds.

Without them realizing it, a shadow emerged from the body of one of the guards and rushed towards Dusk's group. Coming out of the crystal pony's body, the shadow took on a shape similar to that of a pony, only with a more ethereal shape, as if it were made of smoke. Furthermore, its face was hideous, with a large mouth full of fangs and terrifying glowing white eyes. That creature galloped at full speed and rushed towards Cadance.

Seeing the attack, Dusk managed to react in fear and used his magic to attack the umbrum, but his lightning went through it as if it were just smoke. For its part, the dark creature managed to jump straight towards Cadance's chest, to enter her body, but a bright beam of light saved Cadance at the last second, causing the creature to turn into simple formless smoke. Turning around, Cadance saw with relief that the one who had saved her had been her beloved husband, who had a serious look while his horn was still releasing a little magical smoke after launching that lightning bolt.

“When I first saw those creatures, Sombra said they were materialized emotions.” Shining said, looking at Dusk and then at the others. “If they are negative emotions, the magic will only work if-”

“If we think about positive emotions…” Dusk completed the sentence. Thinking about how scared he felt seeing the creature attack Cadance, and that's why it didn't work.

"That's right. We must use our magic while channeling some positive emotion, such as joy, or love.” Shining added, looking lovingly at his wife. Who also looked back at him smiling.

“I don't think I can think of anything positive when seeing those horrible creatures.” Rarity said worriedly, as she hugged a trembling Fluttershy. Looking scared as if in the distance, the umbrums continued attacking the crystal ponies.

“Yeah, and not all of us have horns.” Rainbow Dash added, shrugging.

“Besides, there are too many of them.” Luna added, also worried. “It will take us hours, maybe days, to clean the entire city.”

“Sombra said we should focus on the three most dangerous ones. Hopefully, if we stop those, we can stop them all.” Shining responded with a serious look. Feeling like a captain, giving orders to his team. “Luna, Cadance and I will split up and look for those three umbrums in the city. As for Spike and his friends, it’s best that they go to the city square and prepare everything for the Crystal Faire.”

“The Crystal Faire?” Applejack asked confused.

"As far as we know, it's the only thing that will recharge the Crystal Heart once the crystal ponies are free of the umbrums." Shining responded with a confident look, even though inside he was not as sure as he appeared. “I think it is the best option we have to cover all flanks… Hurry! We don’t have time." Shining added, ordering everyone with his gaze to leave for their missions.

Without having a better plan, all the mares nodded and followed Shining's orders. While Shining, after seeing that the mares and Spike left, turned to see the remains of the smoke that had remained from the umbrum that he vaporized. It seemed that this smoke didn’t fade away, and instead, it only drifted away from there.

'By the way, I didn't destroy them. I only held them for a moment...' Were the words Sombra said when he and Sombra were inside the Crystal Heart. Seeing that, after Sombra's attacks, the umbrum were slowly recovering.

“If the Crystal Heart could no longer contain those creatures, and they are also immortal, I don't know how we’ll win this battle in the end…” Shining thought worriedly.

“Uh… Shining, what do I do?” Dusk, who was the only one who had not been assigned a task, suddenly asked. "You forgot me?" Dusk asked, a little sad.

“Of course I didn’t forget about you.” Shining smiled amused, holding Dusk's shoulder. Then, Shining radically changed his expression and put on a very serious look. “In fact… I want to entrust you with what may be the most difficult mission of all.” Shining added with slight concern. He was about to send his brother on a task that not even he himself was sure if it would be real or not, but if his suspicions were true, Dusk would be about to face one of the most difficult challenges of his life.

While Cadance, Luna and the other girls ran towards the city, Luna led Dusk's friends towards the central plaza, where she remembered that she had once visited the Crystal Faire, hundreds of years ago.

“When the Crystal Empire reopened, Celestia and I visited Sombra and Hope many times.” Luna said, once everyone arrived at the central plaza. “She always invited me to the Crystal Faire, but I was never able to go with her.” Luna added with a sad look, remembering that on that date, Sombra always got sick.

"Wait a second! The story that Sombra told was the events that occurred before the Crystal Empire was reopened for the second time.” Luna thought with a surprised and confused look. Sorting in her mind the events she had experienced in the Crystal Empire. “Does that mean that Sombra later suffered from his illness again? The one that always happened when the Crystal Faire was held... Is that why he was feeling bad again? Your illness hasn't disappeared!?” Luna thought scared.

“So… How do you hold a Crystal Faire?” Pinkie Pie asked, breaking Luna out of her thoughts. Then, the pink pony took out a thousand items brought out almost by magic. “Balloons? Piñatas? Flags? Clowns?” Pinkie Pie asked, while she took out balloons, a piñata, several flags, and put on a clown hat after throwing talcum powder on her face and leaving her face completely white.

"Yes… something like that." Luna responded, always surprised at how quickly her pink friend could make jokes, although she wasn't sure if this was the right time. Then Luna used her magic and made six scrolls appear. “This is what I remember being done at the Crystal Faire. The quickest thing will be for you to also divide up to complete it as soon as possible. But be careful, the umbrums can attack you at any time.”

After that, Luna and Cadance rushed to fulfill their mission to locate the largest and most dangerous umbrums. While Dusk's friends also divided up to look for the different materials they would need to start the Crystal Faire. Going Rainbow Dash with Fluttershy, Spike with Rarity, and Applejack with Pinkie Pie.

It didn't take long for the two pegasi in the group to find what they needed. After consulting with a guard who couldn't stop crying, they learned that the guards' armor and weapons were stored in a warehouse near the central plaza. So, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy brought a pair of armor and a pair of spears to the jousting match, as crystal ponies used to do there. However, while both pegasi were carrying the found materials, they didn’t notice that a large shadow was crawling along the ground, slowly mixing with their own shadows.

Upon reaching the central square, both pegasi deviated towards the farthest part of it, where there was a small jousting ring in front of some small stands for the public. A place that seemed to have been abandoned for many years.

“You go to the other side of the track and put on the armor.” Rainbow Dash said smiling, amused at how well the palace guards armor looked on her. “We should practice a little before showing it to the other ponies at the festival.” Rainbow Dash added, holding her spear and admiring it.

"Uh!? D-Do you want me to participate in the joust against you!?” Fluttershy asked very scared.

“Of course, you don't see anyone else here, right?” Rainbow Dash responded with a shrug. Then, a fleeting reddish glow flashed in her eyes, and the blue pegasus grew more moody. “Really, do you always have to ask those stupid questions?”

Fluttershy was surprised by her friend's bad mood and simply lowered her head in shame, took the armor and the spear, and began to go towards the other end of the track.

“I… I would have preferred to do something nicer. Like a small petting zoo with animals from the Crystal Empire or something…” Fluttershy murmured with great sadness. Until her shadow suddenly darkened and a red glow also briefly shone in her eyes.

"Uh? Did you say something?" Rainbow Dash asked annoyed. Believing that her friend was murmuring something ugly against her. Starting to feel more and more irritated with Fluttershy for some reason.

When she was about to reach the other end of the track, Fluttershy stopped, turned around and looked angrily at her friend.

“I said I'd rather make a petting zoo than help you in your silly joust!” Fluttershy shouted, very angry. “Or is it that apart from being grumpy, you are also deaf!?” Fluttershy yelled, feeling herself getting angrier and angrier with every second.

"Oh yeah? You always cry about everything! Why don’t you come say that to my face, Flutter-cry!?” Rainbow Dash yelled angrily.

Then, Fluttershy quickly put on the armor she was carrying and pointed the spear at Rainbow Dash.

“You… That's just what I was thinking of doing! Rainbow Trash!!” Fluttershy shouted, full of fury.

With the angriest looks that both pegasi had ever given in their lives, with their eyes glowing red, both pegasi began to run in each other's direction. Both fiercely pointing their spears at each other, ready to pierce that hateful pony that was in front of them. Nothing remained of the friendship between the two friends, both were blinded by an inexplicable anger and only wanted to destroy and hurt who they hated at that moment.

“GAAHHH!!” Both pegasi shouted furiously when they were almost about to collide and hit each other with their spears. Just as a blue aura covered their bodies and stopped them in their tracks.

“Fluttershy! Rainbow Dash! What do you think you are doing?” Luna shouted, who had arrived there and used her magic just at the last second. Looking worriedly at Dusk's friends.

"Let me go! I’m going to tear every last hair out of that crying little girl’s fake tail!” Rainbow Dash shouted furiously, struggling in the air as Luna levitated her. "That's right! I know you wear tail extensions!”

“I want to see you try, tomboy mare.” Fluttershy shouted, just as furious. Both fighting in the air, without being able to touch each other due to the alicorn's magic.

At that moment Luna felt a cold on her back. When she turned around, she saw that behind her there was a kind of enormous ghost pony, almost the same size as she was. That was an umbrum, with a body made of reddish-black smoke, wings similar to those of a moth, and chilling, empty white eyes that seemed like they would suck the soul at any second.

Luna tried to attack the umbrum, but she couldn't move. Seeing those ghostly eyes directly, her entire body trembled as her emotions began to go out of control. Her shadow had already been touched by the umbrum and was already being affected by it. Then, the ghostly and dark being slowly approached a motionless Luna, and passed through her like a great screen of smoke. As it did so, Luna's eyes glowed red and her feelings went crazy for 'Rabia', the umbrum of anger, one of the most dangerous there was. After the umbrum passed through her, Luna's vision blurred as her heart raced.

“This isn’t real… It’s not real… Calm down!” Luna shouted, closing her eyes.

Luna's mind was filled with images of her past, specifically, reliving her time as Nightmare Moon. The time she first transformed, the sadness she felt every night being alone, and how that sadness quickly turned into rage. When she terrified the ponies by invoking eternal night, the irrational hatred she felt against her sister that forced her to fight her, the fury at being locked in an even more infinite loneliness for more than a thousand years. In her mind, she heard the evil laugh that her evil counterpart had, whenever she enjoyed hurting someone.

“It was what I deserved… That anger… it was me. But that wasn’t all I was!” Luna shouted, having an internal struggle that she had had many times in those last few months, since she had returned to Equestria. "My anger took control of me, I can't deny it... But there was also a part of me that was terrified, crying inside..." Luna added, shedding a couple of tears.

Anger was trying to control Luna's heart, someone who had already been controlled by anger once. However, Luna no longer allowed herself to be controlled so easily... Every time anger tried to touch her heart, Luna vividly remembered in her mind the faces of the ponies she had terrified, mainly, her sister's face and her sad look when she saw what she had become that time. That made her heart fill with strength, with the conviction that she would not make the mistakes of the past again.

“I… I will never let myself be controlled by my dark feelings again!” Luna shouted with determination. Managing to get rid of the anger that was trying to take over her heart. “Never… Huff… Never again…” Luna muttered, feeling exhausted after expelling that dark being that was trying to fill her with anger again.

As she breathed a sigh of relief, Luna touched her chest and closed her eyes. In her mind, Nightmare Moon's distant, evil laugh could still be heard. Anger had not taken over her, mainly because the umbrum tried to focus that anger on others. That umbrum had missed the target, Luna did feel a lot of anger inside, but who Luna hated the most... was herself. That led her to wonder, what would have happened if the umbrum had attacked with that objective?

“Still… There's some of ‘her’ left in me…” Luna murmured, closing her eyes in pain. Unable to stop listening to Nightmare Moon's evil laugh, as if she couldn't escape her.

With Luna's scream, the shadow that surrounded them vanished, gradually shrinking around them. Luna breathed to calm down and stop thinking about unnecessary things at that moment, and slowly looked around, with her breathing still labored, due to the mental effort of facing that dark being. Then Luna saw Dusk's two friends and helped them get up, since they seemed to be very dizzy.

“What… What happened?” Fluttershy asked, very dizzy.

“I think… we got into a fight.” Rainbow Dash responded. Shaking her head to try and clear her mind. “Wow, Fluttershy! I didn’t know you could be so cruel when you got angry.” Rainbow Dash added, scratching her head.

“Oh! Oh no!!" Fluttershy screamed in terror, covering her mouth. On the verge of tears remembering what happened. "I'm sorry! I… I…”

“Hey, calm down. It wasn't us, it was that thing that got inside us. I... I also said very cruel things. I'm sorry." Rainbow Dash said with a tender smile, pointing behind her. Rushing to touch her dear friend's shoulder to calm her down. Then, she remembered something and started laughing. “'Rainbow Trash' … Hahaha! I had never heard that before, hahaha!” The blue pegasus laughed, amused to see that that cruel nickname came from the mind of the kindest pony in the world. Which filled her with laughter.

Seeing her friend laughing, Fluttershy wiped away her tears and also put on a shy smile. Infected with the laughter of the blue pegasus. While Luna, who was attentive to the entire scene, looked at where Rainbow Dash had pointed. Then, Luna walked over there and saw that there was 'something' else lying on the ground. A being that made Luna open her eyes with great surprise.

In another sector of the central square, Rarity had quickly set up a tent with her magic, to which Spike arrived with a large bale of straw, gathered from the surroundings of the same square.

“So… Do you want to make decorations with straw?” Spike asked uncertainly. Throwing the gathered bale of straw next to Rarity's tent.

“It's called basketry, darling.” Rarity responded, taking several straws from the bundle, while also taking some shiny ribbons that she had obtained on her own.

Rarity's magic shined as she quickly moved her hooves to gather everything that levitated. In a few seconds, Rarity had created a shiny and beautiful wicker basket. Spike, meanwhile, watched in wonder at how skilled his beloved Rarity was with crafts.

Not far from them, a huge being with an equine body made of slightly yellow shadows and terrifying white eyes, looked at them both on the lookout, rode at full speed, and sank into the ground, generating a large shadow, expanding below of Rarity and Spike, clinging to their own shadows.

“Luna's scroll said that before, in the Crystal Empire, they made many of these beautiful crafts.” Rarity added, looking at every detail of the basket she had just made. Deciding to add a small extra blue bow on one of its sides. “I hope the design is similar to what they made at that time.”

“Beautiful…” Spike smiled dumbly, looking at Rarity. Then he noticed his stupid face and quickly corrected himself. "T-The basket! It's very beautiful, hehe…” Spike added, smiling sheepishly. Averting his gaze, feeling his heart race as he became more and more embarrassed.

“No… What if the ponies don't like it? W-What if everyone thinks my crafts are ugly!?” Rarity said, slowly going from worry to fear. At the same time a fleeting yellow shadow passed in front of his eyes.

"Don't worry... E-Everything will be fine." Spike said, trying to calm Rarity down. Realizing that he too was starting to shake, seeing that Rarity didn't seem to be paying attention to him.

“This won't work... It won't work. It’ll all be my fault.” Rarity said terrified. Crouching down and starting to shake. Imagining all the ponies in city and her friends, despising her. “Everyone will see that I am a fraud. Everyone will say they hate what I do… After all, they have never trusted me.” Rarity murmured, trembling with fear. Fear of failure and being excluded.

“No… I… I'll be with you…” Spike muttered, fighting the irrational fear he was beginning to feel. But it was too late, the umbrum 'Tremor', representation of fear, had already nestled in their minds, and as Spike spoke, in his mind he saw that Rarity was further and further away than she really was. That's how Spike felt, absolutely alone despite trying to get closer to Rarity. “Don't walk away... Don't leave me alone... I don't want to be alone!” Spike screamed in terror, covering his eyes as he felt like he was falling into an endless abyss.

In Spike's mind, no matter how much he screamed, neither Dusk, nor Rarity, nor Ember, nor Celestia, no one was coming to his aid. Like a dragon alone in a pony town, everyone had abandoned him, and although deep down he knew that this was not real, the fear had grown to such a degree that Spike couldn't think of anything else, and he couldn't stop shaking.

“Spike! Wake up!" Shining Armor suddenly said, grabbing Spike by the shoulders to make him react and stop shaking.

Shining had arrived there after tracking a large shadow that headed towards the central plaza, and when he got there, he was scared to see Rarity and Spike lying on the ground, both shivering as if they were freezing from the cold, but it wasn't cold what they felt, but fear, what made them react like that. Around them, there was a large shadow, which seemed to be slowly engulfing them. Despite everything, Shining Armor ran over the shadow, scared to see little Spike convulsing with fear.

In that instant, Shining felt a chill run down his spine. Instantly, he recognized that sensation, because he had felt it when he was inside the Crystal Heart. Something, or rather, someone, was filling his heart with horrible feelings.

"They can't react... They're already dead... You failed... You failed like you always do..." Shining's own voice said in his mind.

“It's not me… This is not my voice…” Shining shouted, shaking his head. At the same time, the great shadow he stepped on rose and engulfed him in a great dome, filling him with fear.

Shining's mind began to be attacked as the umbrum searched for his greatest fears. In that instant, the umbrum made Shining relive the attack he suffered at his wedding, all that fear came to him and began to fill his mind with images. Thus, Shining could see himself defeated, totally helpless while Cadance fought with all her power against Chrysalis. No matter how much Shining screamed, he couldn't move or do anything. That was his greatest fear, not being able to defend the one he loved and becoming only a hindrance.

Fear began to fill Shining's heart as the umbrum filled his mind with the image of Cadance fighting, about to be defeated, while he remained motionless. No matter that he was one of the strongest unicorns in the kingdom, he would never stop being just a unicorn. It could never compare to the magic of an alicorn, he could never be strong enough to protect his wife! In his mind, he always had that fear, and even more so with everything that had happened in the last few years. And as fear filled Shining, not only did Chrysalis appear to attack Cadance, Nightmare Moon, Discord, and even huge dragons also appeared, all attacking her while she fought alone to defend him.

Shining's breathing was labored, he was about to panic seeing that there was nothing he could do, until a small spark inside him renewed his hope, a spark with the particular shape of his own cutie mark... and that of his brother.

“No… You were all defeated… You were all defeated by my brother and his friends!” Shining shouted, struggling to get to his feet in his mind, to approach Cadance and be at her side. “Dusk is just a unicorn, just like me, but he has grown and become much stronger than I could ever imagine.” Shining shouted, filling his heart with courage to drive away all the fear that surrounded him. “If he can defend Equestria, I will too! I’ll become stronger and defend my family, I’ll be at the side of my wife and my brother to defend this kingdom from any danger, without any fear!”

Having defeated that fear, the darkness in Shining's mind disappeared, showing him an image of him next to Cadance. Instead of surrendering, the umbrum attacked Shining's fears from another side this time.

"We did it! We defeated them!” Shining said, not realizing that he was still in an illusion. However, his smile quickly faded when he saw that Cadance wasn't looking at him. She just kept looking ahead with a sad smile.

In that illusion, now they were both in the castle. Suddenly, Shining was distracted by hearing the laughter of some foals. Turning around, Shining was surprised to see several foals similar to him and Cadance running towards him to hug them. Then they all jumped up to hug Shining, who automatically crouched down and stretched out his hooves to hug them, but as soon as the foals touched him, they turned into dust, and simply disappeared.

Shining was terrified when he saw that image, then he turned to look at Cadance, and saw that she simply continued with a sad smile, with the difference that now she couldn't stop crying. At that moment Shining's heart tightened, understanding what was happening.

This was another kind of fear, one that he hid deep in his heart. It was the fear of knowing that he would never be able to be a father with Cadance, they would never be able to have a foal. That fear did not make Shining tremble, but instead, it hurt him more to know that it was a secret that he kept in his heart and that it was real, a fear generated by the fact of not seeing a future with his wife like the one they had both always dreamed of.

“This fear is real, but it is one I know how to combat.” Shining said standing up, knowing that somewhere the umbrum was listening to him. Then he hugged illusion Cadance and smiled. “This is the path we choose, and no fear is strong enough to keep away the happiness that being together gives us. That is enough for me."

Slowly the illusion finally faded, and as it did, the pristine laughter of a baby distracted Shining just as the illusion faded completely.

“That laugh… Was it part of the illusion?” Shining thought, confused for a second. Without knowing why, but having the certainty that that beautiful laugh of that baby was too beautiful to come from an illusion, and also, having the strange feeling... that he would hear it again someday.

Back in the real world, Shining breathed tiredly and quickly approached Rarity and Spike, being happy to see that they were both breathing and slowly regaining consciousness. Then, Shining heard something else that caught his attention, the sound of something squirming near him. Looking in that direction, his eyes widened in surprise as he saw a strange being.

While Shining was stunned by what he saw, not far away the sound of several hooves approaching was heard, dozens of ponies were heading in his direction.

Applejack was somewhere else in the city's large central square. There, the country mare stood with a confused look, eating some berries she had gathered from some wild bushes in the city. Her mission was to create traditional fritters from the Crystal Empire, the only problem was that she didn’t have any recipe nor did she know what the traditional fritters of that kingdom were like.

“I could try to make a berry pie… Wait! I don't even have an oven!” Applejack thought frustratedly, not knowing what to do with all the berries she had gathered.

Applejack looked behind her and picked up a strange crystal trumpet that Pinkie Pie had found by chance with her always strange pinkie-sense. The ever-unpredictable pink pony handed the crystal flugelhorn to Applejack, telling her to take over the music if she didn't return in time, and after that, Pinkie Pie simply ran away and disappeared.

“Well, if I can't even cook a traditional cake, much less am I going to be able to play an instrument that I don't even know the name of…” Applejack said, thinking out loud sadly. Without realizing that behind her, a dark being similar to a pony, with a terrifying bluish face, was stalking her and approaching her. Applejack's eyes glowed blue for an instant.

Without realizing why, Applejack's frustration grew more and more, causing the mare to feel increasingly sad, feeling useless for not knowing how to help. Applejack sat up and ran her hoof over her eyes, feeling herself start to cry. She knew that crying because she felt worthless was silly, but she couldn't control herself. The tears did not stop coming and Applejack's breathing began to become more and more agitated, beginning to relive the saddest moments of her life.

“No... What's wrong with me?” Applejack murmured, scared for a second, but even fear no longer fit into her mind. She was being influenced by the umbrum 'Lacrima', completely filling her with sadness and misery.

The first thing that came to Applejack's mind was something recent, her breakup with Dusk. Those first days she spent regretting breaking off their engagement, crying every night as she remembered that they would no longer be together nor would she feel his hugs.

Applejack fought her own memories, shaking her head to try to clear her mind. Then she hugged herself to try to calm her crying, but that was worse. Instead of feeling her own hooves, Applejack vividly felt in her fur the last time her mom and dad hugged her. That was too much for the orange mare, who began to cry as if all the feelings of loss had built up and exploded inside her.

“Don’t worry… I'm with you.” A female voice said in front of Applejack. A voice that she had a hard time recognizing because of how blurry her vision was, due to tears. “P-Princess Cadance?” Applejack stammered awkwardly, finally recognizing the pink alicorn. Who had run up to her and was now hugging her.

As Cadance hugged Applejack, she looked up and saw the hideous equine-like creature standing behind Applejack, touching its ghostly hooves to the orange mare's back. Cadance knew that it would have been safer to attack that creature from afar as soon as she saw it there, but seeing Applejack crying broke her heart and she immediately ran to restrain her, feeling the terrible pain that Applejack felt in her heart.

Cadance illuminated her horn and struck a bolt of lightning into the umbrum, but the beam of light only passed through it, as Cadance's emotions were already being affected at that precise moment. The alicorn closed her eyes to try to concentrate, trying to close her heart as she felt something external invade her. Forcing herself not to succumb to those external feelings, Cadance left her mind unprotected, which gave space to the instinct of the umbrum to search the deepest recesses of her memories, to show her all her saddest moments, since the first one she had in her life.

A memory flashed in Cadance's mind that she didn't know she had. She was just a baby and she didn't know what was happening around her, she only knew that in front of her there was a beautiful mare that just a few moments before was singing to her with love, but now, she was silent and no longer radiated any feelings. She was too young to know what death was, but since she was born, she had the ability to feel the hearts of others, and she knew that that mare who had loved her so much, no longer inhabited that immobile body... The first cry of Cadance's life arose from being that baby, and the Cadance of the present could not stop crying when remembering that blurry but intense image from her past.

'Don’t worry... I'm with you.' They were the first and last words Cadance's mother had said before she died. Words that were forever recorded in the pink alicorn's unconscious.

“Don’t worry… I'm with you.” A third mare's voice said as she hugged Cadance and Applejack. Repeating the same words that Cadance had also unconsciously said to reassure Applejack.

Feeling a strange warmth that combated the uncontrollable crying she felt, Cadance was able to open her eyes a little and finally distinguish who was hugging her. It was Radiant Hope, who was also crying profusely, also affected by the umbrum present there.

“You… Why are you crying?” Cadance asked awkwardly, slowly feeling less sad, as Hope cried beside her.

“We both cried for the same thing…” Hope answered without stopping crying, but this time, smiling serenely as she did so. “But in my case, it’s a sadness that also comes with joy.”

Without understanding Hope's response, Cadance was surprised to see that the shadow around her finally faded, and finally, she could stop crying and feel that extreme sadness inside her. Cadance then quickly turned around to look at Applejack, to see if she was okay too.

“I-I'm fine…” Applejack responded with a small nervous smile, wiping away her tears. “Or… I think I’ll be in a few minutes.” She added after trying to stand up, but instead, she decided to sit a little longer, to calm down completely.

“You will be fine… Crying is a means to release emotions, and sadness is part of life.” Hope said smiling while still crying. "We can't just deny it and hide it; that will only hurt us... Yes... It's good to remember..."

Looking carefully at Radiant Hope, Cadance realized that unlike her and Applejack, Hope couldn't stop crying, despite smiling. Staring at her, Hope noticed Cadance's gaze and gave a small smile.

Before Cadance could ask anything else, she noticed that behind Hope, approaching there, was a large group of crystal ponies, and to Cadance's absolute surprise, all of them were crying, although their expressions were serene. Also with them were Shining Armor, Spike, and Dusk's other friends, with the exception of Pinkie Pie. However, what amazed Cadance the most, were two small pony-like beings walking in front, no bigger than a filly. Those two beings seemed to be made of smoke, similar to the terrifying umbrums they had seen attacking the town, but their faces were much more similar to those of a pony. Childish faces, in which one yellow one seemed to be very afraid, and the other reddish one had an annoyed look.

“Those…Those beings…” Cadance murmured slowly, as she looked at those two beings. With a look of great astonishment.

“Those are the umbrums we were looking for.” Hope answered from behind Cadance.

Turning around, Cadance saw that while she was distracted, Hope had gone after her and taken another of those ghostly filly-like creatures with her. The only difference about this third creature was that it was bluish in color and didn’t stop crying, looking at Cadance with large, tender eyes.

"I don’t understand." Cadance said surprised, and very confused. “W-What is that creature?”

“It's the umbrum that attacked you and Applejack.” Hope replied, guiding the timid ghostly filly to follow her.

“Why does it have that shape now?” Cadance asked, guiding Applejack so they both followed Hope. Who was heading towards where everyone else was gathered. “I saw it before, and it looked… much scarier.”

“That's what sadness, anger and fear do... They transform into something unrecognizable.” Hope responded with a sad smile. “These creatures absorbed all those bad feelings for years until they turned them into monsters. Now, those feelings are gone and they are back to how they were before.”

Arriving with everyone, Applejack saw the faces of the crystal ponies, and for the first time, she thought she saw normal ponies there. They all had different expressions, confusion, sadness, fear, annoyance... They were no longer just empty smiles without being able to express more feelings.

“I was afraid that we couldn't destroy the umbrums, since I couldn't in the Crystal Heart.” Shining Armor said, approaching Cadance to stand at her side. “When I attacked the umbrum of fear, I saw that it only reduced its size, it didn’t disappear. It was there that Hope came with me and found the solution.” Shining added, looking at Cadance and then at Radiant Hope.

“Yesterday, Sombra said that the Crystal Heart kept and hid the bad memories and feelings of the ponies in the city.” Hope said with a sad smile. “Therefore, I thought that the only way to stop the umbrums was for the ponies of the city to have their feelings again. Thus, the umbrums could not grow.”

At that moment, Cadance remembered when she came out of the illusion and saw Hope and the rest of the crystal ponies crying. That was the effect of absorbing their sadness back into themselves. Then, Cadance looked at the three ghostly fillies that stood there, understanding that they were what remained of the sadness, anger and fear that the Crystal Heart had hidden for years. All the other 'umbrums', which were nothing more than bad feelings, had returned to their origin, to the crystal ponies who had lived those experiences.

“But… What about these three umbrums? Why haven't they disappeared?” Cadance asked confused. Seeing the three ghostly fillies, who were no longer scary at all. In fact, now that Cadance had a good look at them, the eyes of those creatures were identical to those of someone present there. Which led Cadance to look at Hope in surprise.

“Did you notice it? These umbrums are mine. They represent the memories of my fears, sorrows and anger.” Hope said with a sad smile. “I was not born like the crystal ponies, I was born as a unicorn. That's why the Crystal Heart only partially affected me... My unicorn magic must have created these beings from my hidden memories. They absorbed the dark feelings of the crystal ponies, until they transformed into those horrible creatures.”

Radiant Hope crouched down to face those three ghostly fillies, who also turned to look at her carefully. Then she smiled, moving her hand toward them, and hugged them.

“No matter how hard it is, I want to be complete.” Hope said smiling, as her horn lit up and the ghostly fillies did too. “I want to tremble when I feel weak, I want to scream when I feel helpless, I want to cry when something hurts. I want to remember those bad moments, to value more the happy moments of my life. I want… to remember what my life was like, with sweet and sour.”

With Hope's final words, the three dark creatures smiled peacefully and vanished, entering Hope's body. The crystal unicorn remained shining for a few seconds with her eyes closed, under the attentive gaze of Cadance and the others. Finally, Hope slowly opened her eyes and hid her face with her hooves, remaining completely silent.

Cadance, who was next to Radiant Hope, could feel what Hope's heart was feeling at that moment. Thousands of feelings of sadness, fear and anger that the beautiful unicorn had not felt in centuries. Still, Hope's heart was strong and she simply remained still, enduring that great emotional pressure caused by hundreds of forgotten memories, because she knew that was part of her being.

After a few minutes, Hope's heart finally calmed down and she raised her head. Showing that she had tears in her eyes, but still, she had a strong and serene look.

"It's done." Radiant Hope said, with a small smile, to reassure everyone around her.

“She is definitely the daughter of a powerful alicorn.” Cadance thought, sighing in relief. Astonished by the emotional strength that that mare showed, despite the hurricane of emotions that her heart had just felt.

“So… The problem is already solved?” Spike asked, raising an eyebrow insecurity.

Radiant Hope calmly looked at the dragon in silence and then subtly raised her gaze to look at the crystal ponies standing behind Spike and his friends. There was a large crowd of crystal ponies who had arrived called by the eldest of their families. Right in the front row were several of the founders of that enormous empire, among whom was Coral herself, who had been the first to welcome Dusk and his friends.

All those crystal ponies had followed Hope when she left the castle and called them with her. All of them had endured, like her, having the saddest memories of their lives again, with the exception that unlike Hope, they also recovered their feelings and were able to act like normal ponies again. All of them cried, raged, and trembled as they returned to feelings they hadn't felt in centuries, and yet all of them looked back at Radiant Hope and nodded with serene smiles, all knowing that there was still something important left to do.

Radiant Hope smiled as she saw the smiles filled with real feelings from the ponies in her town, and she smiled as well.

“What's left to do now, my dear Spike…” Hope said, approaching Spike and giving him a tender smile. “It's having the best Crystal Faire the Crystal Empire has ever had!!” Hope added with a huge, big smile, full of happiness.

Behind Spike and his friends, all the crystal ponies shouted full of happiness, knowing that this was an important day in the Crystal Empire, the most important celebration for them, and this year, it was extra special, after feeling again truly happy and complete.

The crystal ponies quickly ran everywhere, ready to dress in their best outfits and help with the preparations for the big fair. For their part, Spike and his friends stared in amazement at all the crystal ponies, seeing how fast they moved.

"Hehe! It’s centuries of practice.” Hope smiled, seeing the mares looking at the speed of the crystal ponies in amazement. Then Hope put on a more serious look and smiled tenderly. “It’s important that we hold the Crystal Faire as soon as possible, for the good of all. Therefore, I would like you to help us with the different stands, just as you had planned to do.”

"It's true!" Cadance suddenly said, remembering something important. “The Crystal Heart still needs to recharge with happiness so that the barrier doesn’t fall. It’s important for the entire city to show their happiness, especially after the wave of repressed emotions they received.”

Understanding what Hope and Cadance were asking, Spike and the mares moved quickly as well. All ready to return to their positions and finally begin the long-awaited Crystal Faire. The only one who didn't seem to move fast was Shining Armor. Before following Cadance and the others, he remembered something important and turned to see the Crystal Castle, not far away.

"I hope I'm wrong... But I think this isn't over yet..." Shining thought worriedly. Thinking about his brother Dusk and the task he had given him.

End of chapter 37

Author's Note

Many thanks to 'Silveranon' for his great help

PS: So you can see that I'm pretty organized, I decided to make a nice timeline, which serves as a guide for me to locate events.

Obviously I can't put everything I've already organized here, since it would be too many spoilers, but it will help you get your bearings a bit. Especially with these Crystal Empire chapters, in which I have to go from the present to the past several times.
I want to keep updating this timeline and adding more events, but for now, these are the main ones that have appeared in the story, plus a few that could be spoilers but I don't think they are, since they are canon events and you know that they will be mentioned at some point

Timeline