Fire and Shadows

We travel back to the Crystal Castle after a while, along with Hanzal. Both stallions seem in much better spirits than earlier, which is a relief. I love seeing other ponies when they’re happy, and when the two of them are able to laugh and joke and smile it fills me up with joy inside.

When we reach the castle, surprise surprise, we bump into Wishbone, who gives me a look that translates roughly to ‘never run off like that again or I’ll convince your husband to lock you in the dungeon.’ This causes Hanzal and I to burst into laughter simultaneously, while Skywalker gives a quiet and tired chuckle.

“Moonlight, nopony knew where you were!” she cries, hugging me.

“Cozy did,” I answer back. “And so did these two. And Swift.”

“Sombra and I were panicking.”

“Oops. But surely Cozy told you about it?”

“King Sombra had to threaten to read her diary before she told us.”

I smirk, “What would she even write about in her diary?”

Wishbone does a perfect impression of the demon filly. “Gee, everypony, chill out! We’re alive, aren’t we?” It’s shocking how similar they sound. I didn’t even know that she could do that.

Or maybe she can’t. Rather, she can lip-sync, and Cozy is almost small enough to hide behind her. Almost. But that baby blue mane with the trademark oversized yellow bow gives her away.

The devil reveals herself from behind Wishbone, hovering next to her with her tiny wings beating furiously at her sides.

“Gosh, those Elements of Harmony ponies don’t half know how to complain,” she says. “Whilst I was running around trying to distract Wishbone earlier, I happened to whizz past their cells to hear them say something about wanting to talk. Oh, and they had this really stupid idea of how to escape. Told them it wouldn’t work, and I told some of the palace guards about their rubbishy plan too, but hey ho, they might be dumb enough to try.”

“The Bearers wanted to talk to us?” Skywalker asks. “That’s, uh… Convenient.”

All of us turn to him in confusion.

“It might not be a bad idea to have a conversation with them.” He comments. “However, I think we should discuss this with His Majesty first.”

“Ok,” I tell him. I focus on my magic, trying to work out where he might be and whether I can speak to him. Sombra? It’s me, Moonlight. Skywalker’s brain apparently works at a million miles an hour, and at the same time as talking to him about his illness he’s been thinking about other stuff too.

Myself, Swift Lightning and Radiant Hope are in the lounge, he responds. If you can make your way here, I am confident that as a group we can listen to his ideas, and remind ourselves that a key component of keeping each other safe is communication, my love.

Uh, we’ll be there in a minute.

Do not ignore me, Moonlight.

I do the opposite of what he says and tell the others that he’s waiting for us. We trot inside and up the stairs, talking a bit about everything and nothing. Cozy almost lost a game of chess to one of the palace guards who was off-duty. Wishbone’s been to-ing and fro-ing between the hospital and the castle, juggling multiple jobs at once. Apparently there is a letter from Sunbutt that nopony has dared to open - or perhaps Sombra wanted me to be there to watch my reaction. Who knows.

We reach the lounge. Hope is occupying an armchair and Swift is sitting on one sofa, whilst Sombra is relaxing on the other. I sit down next to him and we kiss as a way of greeting each other. Cozy tries to shove the two of us away from each other and squeezes herself in between us. The others settle down on other seats around the room and we all make ourselves comfortable.

“Now, as much as I wish this was merely a social gathering, I noticed that somepony wrote on The To-Do List Of Certain Doom that we need to have some sort of meeting.”

“Gee, I thought making that list was a good thing. But no, just go mess around like you always do, make fun of my hard work. And you think I’m the one who needs to grow up?” Cozy grumbles.

I roll my eyes and say, “I don’t think we’re all on the same page here, so I thought we should clear up some of the confusion.”

“Soooo… who’s going first?”

For reasons unknown, everypony turns to Skywalker.

“Now that you're making the decision for me, I've got half a mind to say no,” he grins. “But I should talk about the idea that occurred to me a while ago.” Why do I have the feeling he rhymed on purpose?

“And that is?” Cozy wonders.

“Before you complain about this,” he warns us, “I was thinking of going to pay a visit to those seven one day, perhaps give them something good to eat and talk about some stuff. You know, like a… uh… civilised chat.”

Cozy raises an eyebrow. “You mean, with the Element Bearers?”

“Yes.” He looks at Hanzal. “It's time for everyone to know the truth about… you know, those stolen documents, and I think that they should know first.”

Sombra, Cozy, Wishbone, Hanzal and I all raise our voices to protest, but he holds up a hoof to silence us. “Hold on. There is a method to my madness. I think it might be the key to convincing them to… keep an open mind. They already know that I won't lie to them, so they will listen.”

Sombra tells him, “I'm reluctant to allow prisoners to walk around the castle and the Crystal Empire. If they decide to start some sort of protest or attempt to escape-”

“I don’t mean to offend you, but where will they go?” Skywalker interrupts. “I’m asking you, Your Majesty, where will they go in the middle of a bucking blizzard that’s going on outside, being weakened for not having received the daily food that they deserve, and also having an entire army both inside and outside of the city? Where?” he demands. The look in his eye is fierce and full of determination. If he were in charge, then he probably would have dealt with the issue completely differently to the way that Sombra and I have, and probably treated the Element Bearers differently, but what were we supposed to do when they stormed into the castle intending to use their Elements on us?

Sombra takes a moment to process this, then nods in agreement. “You raise an interesting point. However, the two unicorns will have their magic bound and they will be accompanied by a group of guards at all times.”

“I doubt they’ll be as dumb as going to do anything stupid, Your Majesty,” the bat pony replies. “Yet, I agree on having to keep an eye on them.”

“Are all of us gonna be there?” Swift inquires. “Cause Ah'm kinda torn about this one. Ah don't wanna scare 'em outta their skin, but Ah think all of us got summat ter contribute, mahself included.”

Hanzal looks at Swift and smirks. “I might be going insane, but I actually agree with you.”

“Ah dunno if tha's fer better or worse,” Swift quips. “Kinda used ter disagreein' with yeh.”

“Well, does anypony disagree with the idea of messing with their heads later today?” Cozy suggests. “Gets it out of the way, doesn't it? Or do you need a few days to prepare a soliloquy?” She adds cheekily, “You know, they're more likely to listen if you sing rather than just talk to them-”

“Never in a thousand trips to the moon,” I say. “I can't sing and it annoys me when ponies burst into song for no reason.”

“Same here.” Skywalker joins.

“Aww, Muuuum, Skyyy-”

“We’re not singing, Cozy,” I tell her firmly.

She crosses her forelegs and grumbles in defeat, but the fact that she has a huge grin on her face tells me immediately that she’s just messing with me.

Skywalker clears his throat and we all turn to him, waiting expectantly for his opinion.

“I honestly wasn’t expecting that each of you agreed to talking with the Bearers this quickly,” he admits. He coughs a few times, and has to take a minute to compose himself afterwards. Apparently he notices me biting my lip. Whilst he doesn’t give me any cues, I know that everything he divulged earlier is between only the two of us at the moment.

“However, if everyone is in agreement… I see no reason why not to do it today, whilst there isn’t an army of Solar Guards to concern ourselves with.”

“Sure.” I jump up out of my seat. “Should somepony go and break the news to them, or should we leave it as a surprise?”

Everypony looks at each other. Somehow all of us are able to share our ideas without speaking or reading minds. Except for Skywalker.

He sighs, “I’ll go get them something to eat, at least for this occasion.” Then, he turns to Hanzal. “Oh, and Hanz?”

“Yeah?” the pegasus asks.

“Can you do me the favour of bringing the documents?”

“Of course.”

“Thanks. I’d do it myself, but I have to work out how best to prepare my family’s lasagne.” He looks up. “And I’d suggest that anyone else wishing to speak to the Bearers thinks about this carefully as well. I wouldn’t like to see any of you treating each other disrespectfully.”

This confuses me for a moment. Wouldn’t we be more likely to treat them badly? But then I realise that the comment is directed at a few particular ponies, not the entire group: Swift, Hanzal, and maybe Cozy since she’s a little monster.

“...And I mean all of you,” the bat pony concludes.

I raise an eyebrow at him, but he only shakes his head in response. Probably he means that I should try to control my temper around those six mares and their dragon friend, but I still don’t see why he said ‘each other’ instead of ‘the Bearers’.

Then it dawns on me that Skywalker likes to treat everypony equally, and this is just an extension of that. I haven’t been able to treat the Element Bearers as equals since I met them - they were always the enemy from the start - but that might just be because of Luna. This time, when I speak to them, I’ll try to hold back from insulting them and treating them like dirt, but if they’re horrible to me first I won’t be so kind.

We all agree on a time to meet up ready to speak to the Bearers, then go our separate ways for the afternoon.

I have very little to do, so I take advantage of the free time to have a nice long nap. I have a pleasant dream about talking to Luna; not about the war or Celestia, just silly insignificant things. Different outfits that we like. Gossip from the streets of Canterlot. Manestyles and make-up. All the things that I don’t usually have the time to think about. Upon waking I feel oddly refreshed, as if it’s a new morning in spring.

I spend a moment or two deciding whether or not to put on my crown, then decide against it. I don’t exactly want to be rude to the Element Bearers. I want to talk to them sensibly, convince them to at least listen to me for once.

Everypony meets in the dungeon, a little way away from the cells where the seven of them are being held. The only pony who isn’t present is Hanzal, but I’m told that he is waiting upstairs and keeping an eye on those top-secret documents about Celestia.

We make our way to the cells, and I mentally prepare myself for the nonsense that I’m about to face. As we approach, I hear them talking to each other, then one of them happens to see us and says, “Oh Celestia, it’s them.” Ah, Twilight.

Cozy tries to walk ahead of the rest of us, but Skywalker tells her to stop. Apparently he already has a plan in his head for how he would like things to happen. Cozy sighs and allows him to step forwards and stand in front of the cells.

“Good evening, all of you,” says the Colonel. “Hope you had a decent meal today.”

“Ah’m assumin’ it was you who decided to do that fer us?” asks Applejack, gesturing to an empty plate next to her. “Thanks. It was good.”

He smiles at her in appreciation. “No need to thank me, it was the least I could do. Now, I would like to let you know that we’ve come here, not to make fun of you, but to talk with you…” He looks at Cozy in particular. “As politely as possible.”

“Oh, really?” Twilight snorts. “Well, maybe when you release us I’ll take you more seriously.”

“Miss Sparkle,” the stallion begins, “I would like you to-” A cough suddenly interrupts him for a moment. “...to understand that you’re prisoners of war. Each of you are here for crimes committed to our nation... However, I assure you, Ma’am, that I’m doing my best to avoid having you suffer from injustices.”

He nods at me, and I walk over, casting the spell to open their cells. I look at each of them in turn. Applejack is cautious but able to talk to us; Twilight, ever defiant and in support of Celestia; Rainbow Dash regarding me with a mixture of wariness and doubt; Rarity is just as defiant as Twilight, daring to turn her nose up in the air; Fluttershy looks like a startled rabbit; Pinkie Pie seemingly unfazed; and Spike the dragon completely unsure what to do.

“Before you ask,” I say, interrupting Twilight from attempting to talk, “we have a little something for the seven of you.”

“Oh yeah?” Rainbow says curiously. “Anything good?”

“Time away from the same four walls, and a chance to talk to us.”

Rainbow looks back at the rest of her friends, a little hesitant but smiling still. “Well, it’s not like we have anything better to do, so…”

“Okie-dokie!” chirrups Pinkie.

“Ah’m goin’ along,” Applejack tells her friends decisively. “An’ Twilight, Fluttershy, Rares, give ‘em a chance. Ah’ll be there ter tell you if they’re talkin’ rubbish an’ make sure they don’t mess with us.”

“Well, since you’re going, I suppose I should join you,” Rarity sighs. She smiles at Fluttershy, who returns the gesture and nods in agreement.

Twilight, however, crosses her forelegs defensively. “Well, the rest of you can go, but they aren’t going to be any different from the last few times that we’ve tried to talk to them.”

“Oh, trust me,” replies Skywalker. “If anything like that happens, I can just kick them out.”

“Really?”

He grins. “Probably not, but it won’t just be you and the King and Queen, if that’s any comfort.”

Spike the dragon rests a claw on Twilight’s shoulder, and she turns to him, waiting for an answer.

“Twilight, we should go with them. Everypony else is going to be there. What’s stopping you?”

“...I don’t know, Spike. I don’t know.”

Cozy trots over, an odd sort of smile on her face. She stands in front of Twilight and Spike’s cell, and I notice that she’s carrying two rings for unicorns’ horns to stop them from using magic, presumably one for Twilight and one for Rarity.

When she reaches the right cell, she tilts her head to one side and says, “Well, you’ve got nothing to lose, Sparkle.” She holds out a hoof for the mare. “Gee, nopony's saying anything about mind control or forcing you to help us, so what's the issue?”

“I… fine.” Twilight has finally given in. At long last, progress.

Skywalker makes sure that the two unicorns in the group put on the rings properly and the seven of them finally leave their cells, some of them more confidently and willingly than others. Fluttershy has to be coaxed out by Rainbow and Pinkie, and Rarity seems a little distrustful. I notice Wishbone and Twilight exchanging dirty looks from the moment they spot each other, but shake my head at Wish and she stops.

“So now what?” Rainbow says.

“If you may accompany me,” the Colonel gestures. “I would appreciate it very much.”

He turns towards the rest of us, and the group follows him. I wait for all of them to walk ahead of me and stay slightly behind them, just so that I can keep an eye on them. We walk in silence up the flights of stairs and down the corridors, past palace guards and servants, to the dining room.

What surprises me when we arrive, however, is seeing Hanzal sitting at the table with a large wooden box in front of him, and a mare helping him sort through various pieces of parchment and scrolls, all of them faded and yellowed with age: Starlight Glimmer.

Starlight and I hug each other on sight, completely forgetting about acting professionally around the Element Bearers. I can’t see their reactions, but they're probably a bit surprised by this.

All of us sit down around the table, and Sombra clears his throat, calling for everypony’s attention. We all turn to face him, and he begins to speak.

“Good evening, everypony. I am sure that our guests are wondering why they have been summoned here, but first of all I should introduce those of you who are unfamiliar to the Element Bearers.” He nods at each pony in turn as he says their names. “Tonight we are joined by Colonel Skywalker of the Crystal Army, his second-in-command, Captain Hanzal, Lieutenant Swift Lightning, my good friend Radiant Hope, and a good friend of Queen Moonlight, Starlight Glimmer.” Since they already know who Wishbone is, there’s no need to mention her, and she seems happy watching from a distance at the far end of the table.

“Gee, you’re forgetting somepony,” Cozy cuts across him, much to everypony’s amusement.

“Surely you are famous enough for your ridiculous antics and knack for causing trouble without me giving you a grand introduction?”

“Well, those seven over there, in case you haven’t realised, have been hanging around downstairs for a while, and this is the first time they’ve ever spoken to me.” She rolls her eyes. “Anywho, I am Princess Cozy Glow, the adopted daughter of King Sombra and Queen Moonlight, cause of the majority of petty disruptions in the Crystal Castle and master of the art of chess. There we are, we should all know who everypony is now.”

“Thank you, Cozy.” Sombra takes a moment to think about what to say next, then looks directly at the Element Bearers.

“Earlier today my friends and family here had a short discussion about current affairs and the relationship between the Crystal Empire and Equestria. It has been decided that the seven of you should be… enlightened somewhat on the reasons for our choices. Now, I don’t mean the usual stories about dear Celestia using the Elements of Harmony a bit too liberally in her youth. There is more to the story that even I haven’t been told about. You are fortunate enough to be among the first ponies to hear this.”

Sombra nods in Skywalker’s direction, and the bat pony coughs a few times before speaking.

“I wouldn’t exactly call them ‘fortunate’, Your Majesty-” He clears his throat. “but yeah, each and… every one of you here are the first to hear about the secret we’ve been keeping for these last few years.” He takes one scroll and stares hard at it with his one eye before looking at Sombra. “Aloud?”

“Aloud, please,” my husband answers. “Just to make things quicker.”

With his magic, the bat pony unrolls the first of what are vast amounts of classified documents - waiting to be finally revealed.

I wait for the first words, but nothing comes from Skywalker. His gaze remains fixed on the ancient text before him, reading it carefully with a look impossible to imitate. Seriousness, sadness, and insecurity are some of the words that could describe the stallion's prolonged silence.

Then, before I get his attention, the Colonel takes a deep breath as he closes his eye; later, he reopens it for once...

"Executive Order of the Royal Prime Minister, Onyx Justice, No. 5... Upon permission granted by Her Majesty, Princess Celestia Faust, the-" His voice is interrupted.

I watch him carefully and notice how he struggles to release the remaining words that document has kept in secret for so long.

"...the deliberated ‘search and capture’ of all members belonging to the self-proclaimed Lunar Rebel Army remnants is... a-authorised." He stops reading for an instant. "Signed and ratified on August 23rd, 1025."

“Rebels?” Twilight asks. “They would've been working for Nightmare Moon, though-” She gives me an accusatory glare.

“I was not involved in this,” I correct her. “And please don't say anything horrible about Luna.”

“Well, the thing I don't understand is why everypony is so worried about this when they were breaking the law. Anypony who does that has to expect some kind of punishment, don't they?”

“And what sort of punishment would you give ponies who were supposedly a part of the rebel group that helped Nightmare Moon?” Hanzal wonders.

“Well, I, um, I… I'd want to know if they were guilty or not first, and if they were then they'd probably have to spend a long time in prison. But not a prison like the one my friends and I have been kept in. Better food, better rooms and some chances for them to actually rebuild their lives once they're allowed out.”

“And what sort of punishment do you think they were given?”

“Well, I know that punishment used to be much harsher back then-”

“Golly, Sparkle. I thought you were Celestia's best student. But apparently at her school, you're only taught how to use your magic properly and not how to use your brain.”

Everypony stares at the speaker, flabbergasted. Whilst she is known for being a little devil, the insult came so suddenly and I can tell that it has caused a lot of damage that I now need to control and clear up.

“Cozy,” I scold her.

The demon filly shrugs at me almost placidly, and gestures in the air with her hooves as she speaks. “What, Mum? It's true. She knows that Sombra and the Crystal Empire disappeared into Sunbutt-knows-where for ages, and that you were hanging around on the moon for a thousand years, and that the Crystal Empire was banished even before that happened to you. Meaning both you and Sombra - no offence - are really old, and there won't be any fancy-schmancy ultra-modern prison building with everything Sparkle could ever dream of because it doesn't exist yet. So, somepony tell me, why is she so busy complaining if she knows why we do things the way we do them?”

Twilight opens her mouth to speak, but no sound leaves, and the rest of us remain silent; none of us have an argument that could actually work against the demon child’s infallible logic.

“Point proven. Rant over. You can continue.” Cozy gives me a satisfied smirk and leans backwards in her chair.

Twilight seems slightly stunned for a moment, and has to collect her thoughts. “Um. Well. As I was saying, it was a lot harsher back then, so, um, probably they had extended time in prison and had to pay heavy fines, but-”

“That ain't even the beginning of what happened to them,” Skywalker stops her mid-sentence. “They probably would've given anything for something as lenient as that.”

“Then what did happen to them?” Spike wonders. Fluttershy nods in agreement with Spike, signalling for Skywalker to continue.

The Colonel remains silent as an answer, then looks at the shy one with a serious, yet sad look. “...It depended on the role they played.” He finally responds. “Once they were captured, each member of the… militia received a punishment from Celestia’s government.”

“Like what?” Twilight questions.

“...The leaders and main figures were all publicly executed as an…” His eye looks down at the glass of water in front of him. “As an example of what would happen to those who dared to challenge the monarchy. After them, the rest were treated differently…” Then, an aura of his magic surrounds another document, which is levitated towards him. “Some were ‘luckier’ than others, only receiving small retaliation in exchange for cooperation.”

“An'... An' the unlucky ones?” Applejack dares to ask.

“Very diverse as well,” the bat pony responds. “But it always was inside the sphere of… bad endings.”

The room falls silent. I don't know what is worse: knowing what happened to the ringleaders, or not being told exactly what happened to the rest.

“Oh Celestia, I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that,” Wishbone mutters.

“Nonsense,” Twilight whispers. “What a load of absolute nonsense. Celestia wouldn't do that. Never.” She raises her voice. “I’ve never seen her act cruelly towards anypony. She wouldn’t do this. She just wouldn’t.”

“Well, to give you an idea of what she would do…” Skywalker nods at Swift. “Do you mind if I tell Miss Sparkle here about our… story?”

“Ah don't see any reason why yeh can't,” Swift answers.

“Ok. Miss Sparkle, how old were you in 2008?”

“I was eight.”

“Meaning that neither Celestia nor your beloved brother would’ve told you about-” he coughs. “About me, or my other friends from the Royal Guard leaving. To give you a… a little idea of how cruel she can be…” He gestures to Swift. “Swift and a few others, including my own sister, were the ones given the unpleasant task of finding and executing me.”

“Who woulda known it'd be so hard?” Swift says jokingly.

“Mm-hmm,” Hanzal agrees, smirking. “You had one job, and you bucked it up.”

“Ah sure did.”

Wishbone interjects, “Business now, joking around later. Please, this is serious, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all.”

“Sorry, Wishbone.” Hanzal apologises. “Alright, Sky, carry on.”

“Thankfully it worked out in our favour, and having Swift here in the Crystal Empire has been… a welcome change from what I was used to,” Skywalker continues. “However, and as they say, nothing comes without a cost. Orphaned foals, parents losing their children, cousins finding themselves alone, friends suffering others’ sins… and siblings being torn apart forever.”

Those final words resonate deeply with me, even if I have always been an only child. That bond is something I never had, but to have it taken away must be a thousand times worse.

Applejack looks at Sky for a few long hard seconds, then at each of her friends in turn. “T-they ain't lying. All of this they're tellin' us is... true. The Princess never actually lied to us, Ah don't think, but she didn't tell us the truth either.”

Twilight’s look is incredulous. “No. I don’t believe any of this. She can’t be hiding all this, I need-”

A document thrown almost carelessly at the unicorn cuts across her voice. She immediately glares at Skywalker, who doesn’t have the document he was previously levitating with his magical aura. I notice this and eye the scroll now in front of Celestia’s ex-top student.

“See the official seal of Canterlot right at the top?” Hanzal asks her.

“I-”

“If you don’t believe any of us,” the Colonel deadpans, “then you’ll surely believe your own mentor’s words.”

Each of the six Element Bearers - and Spike too - take turns to look at the scroll. Deathly pale looks settle across their faces as they read.

“Royal Order No. 227... signed and ratified by Sunbutt herself.” Skywalker tells without even reading the paper. Perhaps he’s memorised it, but I can’t know for certain. “The Great and Powerful country of ours has been constantly at risk of falling into the hooves of spies and traitors countless times, some even coming from the most unexpected spheres of influence. Therefore, I - Princess Celestia Faust - hereby order the creation of a chain of counterintelligence and capturing key targets-” A cough interrupts him. “A-among these, those who are catalogued as traitors of the country must be captured and taken to Canterlot Castle's dungeons to be executed immediately; this order will be carried out in any of the aristocracy, high ranking officers, members of the nobility, and even royalty itself."

“...No exceptions allowed.” I hear Rarity whisper.

“Signed... and ratified on February 3rd, 1943.”

I think about what this means for me. Celestia probably never had any intention of letting me off the hook. At the beginning of this war, she probably kept asking me to return to Canterlot so she could get rid of me permanently.

I already knew that she never wanted Sombra to have a second chance, and that it’s a miracle that she was so lenient on Luna - although maybe she couldn’t do anything, since Luna’s an alicorn. Discord, being made of chaos itself, can’t actually die, which is why she didn’t do anything to him; plus, she probably knew that he could be ‘reformed’. As for Chrysalis… well, if she had been captured after the Canterlot invasion at the royal wedding...

“Twilight,” Rainbow says slowly. “I- I- I'm not about to turn my back on any of my friends and just switch sides like that... but this is exactly the sort of thing that all of us usually try to stop happening.”

“It's - it's horrible,” Fluttershy exclaims. She is still as quiet as ever, but the shock and anger in her shaky voice is noticeable.

An ironic laugh escapes from Skywalker’s mouth, accompanied by a small cough. “And this isn’t even the worst one. Far from it.”

“Well - well why did you even have these in the first place?!” Twilight snaps at him. “Top secret files? Why did you have them?”

“Swift's fault,” Hanzal answers simply.

“Huh?” Swift puzzles. “But Ah didn't have nothin’ ter do with all of yeh at the time!”

“I remember being with Sky and you bragging about your status in the Royal Guard giving you access to the restricted section of the Canterlot Archives. You also said something along the lines of it only being worthwhile visiting if we could actually read.”

Swift stutters, “You - Ah - fine, that does sound like summat Ah woulda said to yeh at the time. But let me tell all of yeh: Ah had no clue any of this was down there.”

“Nopony would be in the Royal Guard if everypony knew. In fact, Celestia wouldn't even be on the throne if the rest of the public knew about this.”

“And whilst we're here,” I add, “there's an even more recent example of what Celestia can do. Something that happened less than a month ago. Starlight?”

The mare, who has been silent the entire time, clears her throat, and stares straight at Twilight. The latter shifts uncomfortably in her seat, sensing Starlight’s anger and sorrow.

“I founded a village a few years ago,” Starlight says eventually. “A village where ponies could live and be treated equally. I did everything in my power to try and help them, and when I made mistakes I owned up to them and did what I could to fix things. I tried to bring a group of neglected ponies some sense of peace and harmony.

“But do you know what Celestia did when she found out about my mistakes, and the fact that King Sombra and Queen Moonlight happened to visit there once? The wonderful Princess who supposedly cares for everypony in Equestria and wants them to flourish?”

Twilight is unable to answer, frozen by that look of fury in Starlight’s cold blue eyes.

“She sent a group of Solar Guards there and the place was burned to the ground.”

The seven Element Bearers gasp, and I feel the memories flooding back all too vividly. The gruesome injuries, the stench of sudden disbelief, of extreme fear, of utter hopelessness at the situation. I try to focus on the here and now, but it’s hard.

Starlight continues, tears welling up in her eyes, “I lost a lot of friends in that fire. Too many. Mares, stallions, foals with every chance of success ahead of them.”

Twilight turns to me. “Why were you there? Why did you visit Equestria?”

“We were trying to travel to the Griffish Empire,” Sombra explains calmly. “Unfortunately, we were a little waylaid, and we had to turn back. Starlight was hospitable and offered us a place to stay. We were there for one night only.” It wasn’t in that exact order, but that’s pretty much what happened.

“And as far as guests go, they were pretty well-behaved,” Starlight adds. “And they more than returned the favour by rescuing everypony who survived the fire. If they hadn't come to help us… there probably wouldn't have been any survivors at all.”

“My oh my,” Rarity cries, turning to me and Sombra. “I never realised that you could be so… generous.”

“It was the right thing to do, and Starlight's a friend. Why wouldn't we help her out?” I say.

Twilight opens her mouth to comment, yet she’s interrupted.

“We also risked a lot there, you know.” Skywalker intervenes, then takes a sip from the glass of water in front of him. “Several of the troops under my command were… killed.” He looks down, slightly disappointed in himself. “And then…” He gestures to the scar in the neck. “I almost got murdered by an arrow right in the throat.”

“Wow,” Rainbow marvels. “And considering how many scrapes you've already been in, that was lucky.”

“Lucky?” The stallion questions without looking at the pegasus. “Ma’am, I would be lucky if my soldiers never died.”

“I… I didn't mean it like that. Sorry.” Her face falls slightly.

He nods. “It’s okay… no need to worry.” He coughs a few times and stares at a seemingly blank spot on the wall, frowning slightly. “I don't want to hold a grudge over what you thought was a harmless comment. I have... too many other things to worry about. Life feels just too short at times, huh?”

The room falls silent and I suddenly notice that the usually talkative Element Bearer has not said a word throughout the entire conversation. Pinkie Pie seems to be in a world of her own, staring into space. Her ears are flattened against her head, her smile that normally brightens the room is missing, and even her frizzy mane seems to be drooping. For some reason, I feel some sort of moral duty to check on her.

I stand up and walk over to her, giving her a sincere smile. “Hey, Pinkie Pie? Are you ok?”

She seems a little surprised that I’m asking about her, but manages to give me a broken answer. “I, uh… well, the thing is… I'm used to s-smiles and laughter a-and making p-ponies happy, and this is all very, uh… unhappy. And those poor foals…”

“By the time we arrived it was,” I gulp at the memory of that dead filly I happened to see as I arrived at the cave where everypony was hiding, “too late to do anything about it. But if I'd had a chance I would've helped all of them in a heartbeat.”

“Or so you say,” Twilight cuts across me.

Oh no. Twilight is being Twilight again, and I can’t stand it. If I don’t do something now, I’ll be going round in circles and arguing with her all night. “Hanzal, Swift, do me a favour and show Twilight Sparkle the way back to her cell.”

“What?!”

I don’t even look at her as I talk, but gesture in the air with my hooves. “I use dark magic, and I know a thing or two about being blinded by emotions. You're being so petty right now and not even bothering to listen to me just because you can't stand us criticising your princess.”

“It's not that-”

“Then what is it?” I challenge her. “I'm trying to be nice to you, and everypony here has been polite as well. We've allowed you out of your cell and told you the truth, Twilight.”

“Only to try and earn our trust, but I know it's all just mind games, deception and half-truths. There's got to be more going on, reasons why Celestia did what she did-”

“To have ponies killed?! There's no excuse.” My hoof lands on the table with some force as I shout at her.

“And have either you or King Sombra ever done something like that? I already know that the traitors you call your Royal Guards have been involved in killing ponies, but what about you?”

I look at Sombra, and the world around us seems to freeze for a moment. It's just me and just him. To tell or not to tell? Do we hide the truth, as Celestia has done for so long? Or reveal all and let the Element Bearers form their own opinions of us, knowing that this could all backfire in our faces?

There is no point in lying or avoiding the question. Young Applejack knows when somepony isn’t being honest. She will only warn the others and all of this effort will be for nothing.

If you say so, Sombra. But be careful what you say.

“I did,” Sombra concedes, lowering his head and closing his eyes once time begins to move forwards again. “Once. It is a mistake that has haunted me ever since.” His gaze turns cold and hard when he opens his beautiful red eyes again. “A mistake that you would have made without a second thought only months ago. And before you give me any of that nonsense about it being different, it truly isn’t.”

“Reading my mind isn’t going to earn my trust, Sombra.”

“I apologise. But Twilight Sparkle, I want you to consider everything that we have discussed this evening.” He looks at all of the Element Bearers in turn. “I think all of you should take the time to determine where your loyalties lie. To clarify, I do not expect them to lie with us at all at this present stage, but all of you must decide whether those loyalties lie with each other, or Celestia.

“Earlier today I actually received a letter from her, demanding your immediate release, and declaring that an army will arrive at the Crystal Empire within a week. If you were back in Equestria, would you fight with that army? And if so, is that for your own beliefs, or for Celestia? That is what I would like you to contemplate until a decision has been made concerning your futures.”

“Well, there goes all our hope of leaving this place,” Rarity grumbles under her breath.

“Maybe not, Miss Rarity. As I said, we have yet to discuss it.”

“I’m assuming that we will be staying here until I hear otherwise.” Cold, direct and to the point.

“Understandable. Now, I bid you all a good night, and I will ensure that the decision on your futures is made swiftly.” He stands up, signalling for everypony else to do the same.

Many of us make our own way outside of the dining room, towards wherever we please - except for the Bearers. Nonetheless, I realise somepony’s missing. I turn back at the table, my eyes catch Hanzal and Skywalker still sitting next to each other, enjoying their last glass of water in silence.

As Hanzal finishes his, the pegasus gets up from his chair and looks at his friend.

“I’ll be going now, Sky,” he tells. “Wanna come?”

The old stallion declines the invitation calmly. “I’m good, thanks. You're gonna visit Lucky, I presume?”

The green pony nods in response. “Yeah, got to check on her before I go to sleep.”

“I swear, that filly is practically your daughter.” The bat pony jokes, making me giggle. “...Tell her I said hi, okay?”

The young one nods and proceeds to hug his mentor, who reciprocates the gestures with no doubts. Then, wishes him a good night and trots towards me; as Hanzal reaches where I stand, he slows his pace until being next to me. His eyes take turns between me and Skywalker, only for him to end up smiling and gesturing at his friend.

I take this as a permission to go talk to the Colonel and, as the pegasus trots away once again, I approach him.

“Oh, hey, Your Majes-.” His sentence sees itself half-way interrupted by a pretty surprising cough that also takes me off guard. “Mannaggia la Marosca… Sorry for that.”

“Oh no, don’t worry, Skywa-”

“Just…” he interferes. “Call me Sky, to make it short.”

I nod at him. “Ok, Sky.” After a moment of silence, he stands up and walks next to me, but stops when being by my side. His head turns at me and half-smiles…

“Would ya like a walk, my lady?”

The question, or better said, proposition, takes me by surprise. I blink a few times as my mind processes his words, then a chuckle from the Colonel takes me out of my trance and I deadpan at him immediately. Of course, this was a joke. Thank goodness Sombra didn’t hear that, or I don’t know what would’ve happened.

“Ha, ha, very funny.” I say, not amused at all. “You should go to bed before you end up failing the comedy test.”

“No, I don’t think I will.” He replies tiredly, only for him to take off his beret and look at it with an odd look on his face, perhaps nostalgia. “When a recruit, I was called ‘Joker’ as some kind of derision about my dull comedy back then… I ended up adopting the nickname, you know, I actually liked it.”

I raise an eyebrow at his strange story. “Why are you telling me this?” I dare to wonder.

He smiles ironically. “I don’t know,” he shrugs casually. “Sometimes I’m the wisest being you’ll ever meet, others… I’m just as dumb as an oyster.”

I hold a giggle that almost takes me off guard. And he notices, joining in the laughter that finally escapes from my mouth.

We stay like this for several seconds, laughing and enjoying each other’s company, until a very severe cough takes the bat pony off guard and forces him to cover his mouth with a hoof; I instantly look at him a little worried, with his cough still going for a few seconds.

As he recomposes himself, I put a hoof on his shoulder in a way to show my support for him in this situation. Sky’s face draws a grateful smile at my act, nodding in appreciation before proceeding to walk towards the door; however, he stops and looks back at me, gesturing with his hoof if I’m going to accompany him.

I roll my eyes while a smile appears on my face and walk to his side.

As I reach the stallion, a question arises in my head. “So, where first, Colonel?”

“Well,” he says. “I guess we could take advantage of the weather.”