Fire and Shadows

Moonlight's POV

Before my eyes, Luna is engulfed in a bright white light. Within the orb, her silhouette changes, her wings becoming bat-like, her entire body becoming taller and stronger, her teeth forming fangs. When the light vanishes, her coat is a deep blue-black, her ethereal mane is blue and seemingly full of stars, and her pupils have turned into thin pinpricks. Nightmare Moon is back, and I am fearful for what is about to come.

Celestia, however, just laughs. "Luna, really? You know this doesn't work."

"I have to try, sister," Nightmare growls.

"You don't. You can listen to me, and I won't hurt you."

"Then leave Moonlight alone."

The two begin to fight, pacing back and forth, never taking to the air, but using a variety of spells against each other. Dangerous spells, things that can cause minor explosions, set anything on fire, cause major wounds and a lot of pain, spells that ricochet until they hit their target or a well-positioned magical shield. But Celestia uses a spell I don't recognise that makes Nightmare gasp in pain and fall to the floor. She saunters up to Nightmare whilst holding the Elements of Harmony in her magic. Before I can blink, Nightmare disappears and a bolt of rainbow lightning shoots up from the ground, travelling towards the moon fast enough to cause a Sonic Rainboom. I scream, but nopony can hear me.

Celestia turns to me next, and I prepare for the inevitable. She's wearing a necklace with a large ruby embedded in it, and for a moment I am mesmerised by the way it glows and how the hues shift from a deep reddish-pink to blood red to sunset orange before I pull my eyes away from it and focus on her. Rather than using the Elements, she says two Old Ponish words, and red lightning zigzags towards me-

"Snap out of it, Moonlight!" somepony says in the distance.

I look around the darkened room. A blanket of shadow magic blocks out the wisps of light trying to sneak past the curtains. The strong crystal walls bring a sense of comfort, and relief washes over me when I remember that nothing can get to me here. A unicorn stallion wearing silver and black armour and a red cloak is sitting next to me, looking down at me, his red eyes wide and filled with concern.

"Thanks," I say as I pull myself into a sitting position. "But I'm fine."

He raises his eyebrows. "Fine? You were shouting in your sleep. You were terrified. You and I both know that that is not fine. I, King Sombra, demand that you tell me the truth immediately before I get upset."

I grin. "And what if I say no?"

"Let me warn you: King Sombra shows mercy to nopony," he tells me sternly. His corneas are glowing green and giving off that purple mist that everypony associates with the most evil dark magic spells. "I can read your mind, find all of your worst fears, and use them against you. I can use spells whose names the ponies of Equestria fear to even speak. Or I can just use my own strength. One way or another I will find out the answer, so I'll give you another chance to tell me." He smiles, showing off those long pearly white fangs of his. Maybe others would find it intimidating, but I can tell that it's all an act, and smile back.

"Not going to work, Sombra. I know your tricks too well."

"My name is King Sombra, thank you very much. Do you want to do this the easy way, or the hard way?"

"The hard way."

"That's it. You asked for it." He leans forwards and kisses me. He's not going to hurt me at all, he just wants to mess around. "Now, what happened?"

"Just a bad dream."

He rolls his eyes. "I guessed that much. Since you aren't giving me any straight answers, I might as well find out what happened for myself." He casts a spell that makes me shiver for moment, but I know he's only trying to help. After a moment he says quietly, "I can see why that would make you scream. Why do you worry about things like that?"

"It's Sunbutt, only one of the most powerful ponies on the planet and a literal goddess. And she hates me. I have to worry."

He runs a hoof through my mane. "You don't, my queen. You have me. And if that is somehow not enough, you have friends. So stop worrying, get downstairs and have some breakfast."

"I'm not a morning pony."

"Up. Now. Make yourself look presentable, because Queen Chrysalis is visiting later. And make it quick, I'm hungry."

Sighing, I run a comb through my mane and place my silver tiara on the top of my head. I'm still not used to wearing it, but apparently I'm the Queen and I look extra 'posh' and 'regal' with it on. I don't really care about those things, but Sombra insists.

We trot down to the dining room, where we are greeted by several smiling faces: Radiant Hope, Wishbone Willow and Cozy Glow. Cozy, the demon, is hovering above Wishbone with a cream pie in her hooves.

"Ah ah ah, Cozy," I say.

"Gee, ruin all the fun, you do," she groans before turning around and lowering herself into her chair. The cream pie comes soaring over the back of the chair and straight for me. I catch it with my magic before it hits my face, and roll my eyes as I take a seat at the dining table.

"Hey, Moonlight, we've got something for you," Hope giggles as she slides a newspaper across the table for me to see. I read the article on the front page and soon I find myself grinning from ear to ear.

Equestrian Times

Saturday 18th June 2019

Outrage at Canterlot Castle as "traitor" Moonlight Shade weds Sombra

The Daughter of the Night is a curious little creature. For centuries she has been a threat, hiding from ponykind with Nightmare Moon, biding her time for a takeover bid. Now she has surfaced, and Canterlot Castle has confirmed that there is "no going back" for her. According to our sources, she has fully embraced her life in the Crystal Empire - and become its new queen.

The news was confirmed last night by Princess Celestia's aide Raven Inkwell that the Princess had received a letter about the shocking turn of events. The letter was written in Neighspherean language by the Daughter of the Night herself and stated that she and the Crystal Empire's tyrant king Sombra had the "full support" of their subjects. However, Princess Celestia herself said that she doubted the truth of that statement.

"Oh my goodness. This is comedy gold. Where did you get it from?"

Wish explains, "There was a note with it. It said, 'Enjoy this, and know that when I arrive in the Crystal Empire I'm on your side.' There was no name, but it had a drawing of a bat pony stallion at the bottom. He had a moustache and a ton of scars on his ears and face."

"Sounds like somepony has a secret admirer," Cozy giggles, much to Sombra's annoyance.

"Never say that in front of a mare's husband, Cozy," he warns.

"Why not? It's hilarious!"

"Cleanse thy tongue of thy sin with a fine bar of soap, or thou shalt find thyself in the deep pits of the Crystal Empire dungeons." I say in Old Ponish.

"Alright, alright, I'll stop." She holds her tiny hooves in the air in surrender. "But gee, some ponies don't know how to take a joke. Worry about more important things like-"

"Post!" declares a guard as he gallops into the room, whilst another holds a parcel in his mouth.

"That," Cozy finishes, grinning.

I roll my eyes and lean over the table, reaching for a piece of toast, a butter knife and a pot of crystal berry jam. I cover the toast in jam and take a bite. The sharp sweet taste reminds me that I'm awake and that there's still a war between the Crystal Empire and Equestria. I groan when the parcel is placed on the table between myself and Sombra: it has the seal of the Royal Sisters on the top.

I cast a spell to find out what is inside, but I don't find much. "Two letters - one from Luna, the other from Sunbutt - oh, and there's something else inside. I think Luna's sent a wedding gift to us, Sombra."

"Open it, then."

I cast a spell and remove the wax seal. It turns out there are two letters inside. I remove both of them, but there is something still in the cardboard box. I turn it upside down and a beautiful gold necklace slides out and lands on the table. It has a large glowing ruby on the front of it, maybe a fire ruby. Out of the corner of my eye I watch as Sombra reaches over the table slightly to pick it up.

Celestia turns to me next, and I prepare for the inevitable. She's wearing a necklace with a large ruby embedded in it, and for a moment I am mesmerised by the way it glows and how the hues shift from a deep reddish-pink to blood red to sunset orange before I pull my eyes away from it and focus on her. Rather than using the Elements, she says two Old Ponish words, and red lightning zigzags towards me-

"Sombra, NO!"

There's a flash of light, and the next thing I know I'm on the floor and oh, who decided to make the entire castle out of crystals?!

"King Sombra? Queen Moonlight?"

I lift my head and nod at the guard calling our names. "I'm ok, don't worry." I scramble to my hooves and sprint across the room to where Sombra landed. "Sombra, are you ok?" I ask. No response. "Sombra?"

"Owww," he says. "I'm fine, but be a bit more careful next time."

I furrow my brow. "Be more careful? You were the one who touched the necklace!"

"I didn't."

"What the Tartarus do you mean? You touched the necklace and it made all that light appear and the next thing I knew I was on the floor!"

"Gee, listen to him," says Cozy from the other side of the table.

"Nopony did, Moonlight," Wish confirms.

"Then what knocked us all out of our seats and halfway across the floor?"

Hope and Cozy get up off the floor and trot over to us, and the looks on their faces tell me everything.

"What? You think I did this?!"

"My love," Sombra says.

I look down at him.

"Regular light magic is very easy for ponies to control. Dark magic is mostly instinctual. You probably have no recollection of this, but you just sent out a huge pulse of magic and it sent all of us flying across the room."

"But - but the necklace, it's - it's cursed! It was in my dream last night! Celestia - she was wearing it! She-"

"And that," he interrupts, "is why you're supposed to tell me about your nightmares."

I fall backwards onto my haunches as the realisation dawns on me. I did this. Not Celestia. Me. I could have severely injured somepony, or worse, Sombra or somepony else could have touched the necklace and then who knows what would have happened?

"Oh my Celestia," I breathe, swallowing back the tears. "I shouldn't have done that. I should have said something or-"

"Eh, it's fine," Cozy answers. "It's Sunbutt we should be blaming here. If she didn't send that necklace, I'll eat the ribbons in my mane. So stop worrying about horse crap and read those letters."

"Language," I tell her.

"And the annoying Moonlight we all know and love is back."

Everypony gets back up and the guards call some servants to help clean up the mess of spilt plates of food and cups of tea. Hope and Wishbone do some basic checks on all of us to make sure we haven't got concussions or something, but everypony seems to be fine. My tiara escaped unharmed also, which is a relief. Somepony fetches a small wooden box with DANGEROUS written on the lid and sides and Sombra carefully uses his magic to place the necklace inside.

"Moonlight was right," he says afterwards. "If anypony had touched it, it would have stopped their heart immediately. Thank goodness everypony's fine. Just, maybe don't use so much magic next time."

Wishbone checks the letters just to make sure that there isn't any sort of enchantments on them, then passes the one with Celestia's hoofwriting to me. Despite knowing that it can't physically hurt me, I'm cautious when I open the envelope and draw out the two slips of paper from within.

Dear Sombra and Moonlight,

I heard the news that the two of you are now husband and wife, but I am not writing to congratulate you on that. Unfortunately, that has been overshadowed by other issues, such as the relations between the Crystal Empire and Equestria.

You may notice that I am not addressing you by your titles. I wish to speak to you on a more personal level. Don't think about 'your' kingdom for a moment, because this is not about them. This is not about my own country, either. I am writing to you about the two of you and myself.

Power is a strange thing, and it appears you are both driven by it, never satisfied by what you are given and always taking more. Enslaving the Crystal Empire was not enough and you had to travel to Equestria to free criminals from Tartarus and use mind control on my subjects. My niece Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was even touched by a powerful dark magic curse and only just pulled through, and there are few individuals who could ans would have done such a thing. I am not blaming you directly, but it is suspicious.

The point is, the two of you have hurt me. I am not sure whether or not you intended to from the beginning, but you have succeeded in causing a great amount of pain. Power can do that to anycreature, and you chose to take power for the wrong reasons.

So take it. See what it does. It feels amazing in the beginning, but there will always be something missing: true friendship, where the other pony is not under the influence of mind control or doing exactly as you say; where there are more reasons to love a pony than infatuation.

Take the Crystal Empire and the power I have granted you, but know that it is not what you are looking for, and that using it for the wrong reasons can have severe consequences. Remember, this is about more than who is in charge of what territories. This is personal.

Yours,
Celestia.

I slam a hoof down on the table. "That absolute monster!" I screech. My wings flare outwards and I pant, my heart beating much faster than usual as dark magic courses through my veins. I can feel that odd purple mist forming around my eyes in a cloud of magic and hot tears. If I saw her now, I don't know what I would do, but I want to show her what pain really is.

Everypony in the room stares at me with shock and concern. Wish approaches me tentatively. "Moonlight, it's-"

"Next pony to say that it's all fine can go to Tartarus," I spit at her. "Celestia, she... She tried... She was going to..." I can't actually say the dreaded words.

"Listen, Moonlight, we understand." But she doesn't. None of them do. Sombra, maybe. But nopony else.

"You don't, Wish. You don't have a special somepony."

She reels back like I've hit her in the face. "That's per-"

"For Tartarus' sake, don't say that. Celestia said that, and you saw what she did with that necklace."

"Moonlight, you're worrying over nothing. I'm not trying to hurt you. None of us have even seen what's in that letter-"

I can't stand it a moment longer. "Silence," I say. The room goes dark as I use my magic to draw all the shadows in the room towards me, and make a wall around myself to block out the sights and sounds of everypony in the room trying to comfort me when they don't understand.

A hoof rests on my shoulder, and I look up at Sombra, in his Umbrum form. "Calm down," he says. "Nothing actually happened. Don't let your emotions consume you like I did."

I look into those red eyes, and my anger fades. He's probably just as shocked as I am, but not showing it. The wall of darkness around us disintegrates, and I look down at the floor, trying to avoid everypony's gaze.

"I'm sorry," is all I manage to say.

Sombra smiles warmly. "Apology accepted. Celestia just attempted to assassinate the two of us there, so your anger isn't unjustified. Now we have to dispose of this horrible necklace, and then we write back to her."

I shake my head.

"No? Is there something wrong with that?"

"Plenty," I tell him flatly. "Writing letters doesn't scare her. We need to try something else."

"And your suggestion is?"

I walk over to the table and glance at the newspaper. "Staying in the shadows is all well and good, but keeping a low profile doesn't scare her either."

"I see. Just be careful, Moonlight."

"Uh, hello?" says Cozy. "What are you on about?"

"Propaganda," I answer. "Sensationalism. Give ponies something to attach themselves to, and they won't let go. If somepony wrote a letter saying that they were going to visit the Crystal Empire, they're probably not the only one. If there's ponies in Equestria who agree with us, we can work with that. Reveal the truth, shatter the facade Celestia's put up around herself, turn her into a laughing stock, a fool. She's already told us that we can't go back and she's not going to give us a second chance, so why should we be nice to her? This is the only way forward now. That, and sending more guards to the border, because if Celestia's willing to do something like this, she'll have more guards on the way. Does anypony have any suggestions?"

There is pure golden silence and I love every second of it.

"Good," I say. "May the war of the newspapers begin."