A while later, I ask Sombra about the possibility of giving Thunder free rein in the Crystal Empire. He doesn’t give me a straight answer, though, which tells me that something’s a little off.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I ask him.

“Something doesn’t feel quite right. I can sense magic in the air, different to what we are used to. Something that should not be in the Crystal Empire.”

“It’s probably just our new guests,” I say offhandedly.

He shakes his head. “No, I could sense their magic earlier. This is different. We need to be cautious until we know what it is.”

“How do you even tell?”

“Close your eyes, focus on your breathing, and channel your magic into the ground. It works in a similar way to echolocation, I think.”

I do as he says, and he’s right. I can sense his magic, as well as Skywalker’s, Hope’s and Wishbone’s; the regular magic of the Crystal Empire; and, beyond the spell that keeps out the storm clouds, something else. There’s almost a smell in the air as I focus on this new magic: the stench of something wrong.

“What could it be?”

“Anything from Celestia to a dragon heading here to eat our castle,” he jokes. “There is probably nothing to worry about. It might even be the rest of that group of ponies that our new guests mentioned. Relax, my queen.” He wraps a foreleg around me, and I lean into him.

“If you say so.”

I hear hoofsteps, and turn around to see Wish smiling at us. “There’s a new bat pony in town,” she says cheerfully.

“I know. Did you speak to him, then?”

“I did. He’s like you - he grew up in Hollow Shades.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that.” I hesitate. “Talking of bat ponies, does everypony in the Everfree Forest still hate me?” I briefly remember the first days and weeks after I returned from the moon, the staring and the whispers; then the day with the posters and the protests when everypony found out about Sombra.

“They’re mostly oblivious to everything that’s happened over the last few months. I was the last pony to give them any news, and that was about three weeks ago now. You know how it is, being cut off from everypony else. Apparently news about the Crystal Empire returning had been circulating for a couple of weeks before we found out,” she laughs.

“Oh, really?” Sombra asks her, a hint of amusement in his voice. “Surely you have some connection to the outside world?”

Wish shakes her head. “When Moonlight and Nightmare Moon returned, everypony in the Everfree Village thought Celestia had overslept.”

“You would think that Celestia would try to do something to keep these ponies up to date on what is happening in the world.”

“Sir, have you even met her?” Skywalker questions him. When I turn around to face him, I notice he is no longer wearing his eyepatch, and for a moment look at the long scar reaching from his eyebrow to his cheek, and the space where his right eye used to be. He walks out onto the balcony, Hanzal just behind him.

“Admittedly, I have only spoken to her on a few occasions.” He grins. “On all of those occasions, I took great delight in trying to upset her in whatever I could. Especially the first time I met her. She claims to be one of the greatest magic users of all time, but her skills in combat could use a lot of work.”

“Well, I used to be part of the Inner Circle, the highest ranked Royal Guards. Hanzal was on his way to joining, one of the best up-and-coming Solar Guards I’ve ever met.”

“Then, of course, we up-and-left,” Hanzal adds.

My ears prick up. “The Inner Circle? You wouldn’t happen to know an earth pony with a red coat and blue mane, and a cutie mark of a golden spear?”

“Oh, we know him alright.” A dark expression falls across Skywalker’s face. “What’s more, he can be considered the King of Arrogance, if you ask me.”

I bite back a laugh. “I thought so too, but if it helps any he’s stopped calling every bat pony he sees a vampire.”

“Heh. Yeah… I’m not buying that, Ma’am.”

“He’s in the dungeon at the moment, but he’s eligible for parole and maybe even citizenship in the Crystal Empire.”

Skywalker looks at me in disbelief for a moment, though seems to realize the truth in my words and glances at the ground.

“Parole? And citizenship?!” he grumbles. “I… He... We... Ugh. Dammit, Celestia.”

“He told me the truth about Luna being my mother.”

“Oh, did he?” says Hanzal. “I doubt he managed to know about that without overhearing stuff and messing around in other ponies’ business.”

The comment ever so slightly gets on my nerves, and my ears twitch a little. “I don’t care where he heard it, because he told me the truth, which is a lot more than Celestia’s ever done for me.”

“Still, it’s not right to let such an eavesdropping Solar Guard like him to just... walk around the Crystal Empire as if it were his bucking house.”

“Hanzal?” Wish asks before I can respond. She holds up a hoof to stop me and mouths, let me handle this. I nod, and she takes a few steps towards him.

“Yes?”

“Should I remind you that you were also a Solar Guard once, and that both Moonlight and King Sombra are the ones in charge here? Upsetting them might not be the best idea in the world. Besides, I trust Moonlight’s judgement. If she was able to recognise that King Sombra wasn’t the crazed dark-magic-wielding tyrant we all thought he was, then I think she’s pretty good at judging characters.”

“But-”

“And should I remind you we have the right to speak, lady?” Skywalker cuts, then looks at me. “Excuse us both for our attitude, Your Majesty, but please understand that we have had our own share of bad luck as well… and much of this involves… him.”

“Tch-” Wishbone stutters. “Are you really giving him that much credit for screwing with your life? From what Moonlight told me, they can’t even do anything to hurt anypony.”

He lets out an ironic laugh. “Most of them. Though you can also get a second side of the same coin... Every so often a well-trained Solar Guard who goes above and beyond the rest of them shows up and lands in the top ranks. If you end up on the wrong side of them…” He closes his eye. “It can end up bucking your life.”

Wish holds back a retort, a look of genuine concern settling over her face as she realises the meaning of his words. “What happened?”

He says nothing, but Sombra gives me a nod. He tries to use a simple telepathy spell to read Skywalker’s thoughts, but suddenly gasps in pain and lifts a hoof to his head. As this happens, I immediately glance at Skywalker, who looks at both of us before turning his head away.

“If you’re going to use mind magic on me,” he says quietly, “I might as well leave the Crystal Empire now.”

“What are you on about?” Hanzal questions his friend.

“We’re leaving.”

“You’re not saying we bucking wasted this trip, are you?”

“It seems so. I can deal with a lot of nonsense, but I have a right to my own thoughts. Or is everything they say about the two of you wrong?” He casts a scathing look in our direction.

“Go, then,” Sombra answers. “Leave. Go back to your life in the woods, or Celestia, even. We were trying to help.”

“Perhaps you were, but reading everyone’s mind at each opportunity doesn’t give a good impression, does it?”

Sombra tilts his head to the side. I can sense his thoughts, and he’s not happy. I can’t blame him, either. We can’t help these ponies if they don’t want to work with us. Everything here is done on our terms. Or rather, Sombra’s. I just give him the occasional nudge in the right direction.

“So, you think this is a bad impression?” he asks slowly, walking towards Skywalker and Hanzal. “This is me trying my hardest to be nice. However, if it is not enough for you, I can propose something slightly different.” He stops in front of Skywalker. “How about, let’s say, the mind control spell? Extended periods of time in the dungeons? Being forced to work in the Crystal Empire’s mines? Does that sound better than having your own house and a comfortable bed in a city with clean water and fresh food?”

Skywalker remains in silence for a few seconds before letting out a sigh, although his cold gaze remains. “Do you really think I’m making all this effort for me?”

“I am not trying to suggest that you are. However, I have been in your position before, and I know I prefer staying in the Crystal Empire to freezing caves in the mountains.”

He nods. “Gotta say, you got a point there, Your Majesty… But, I also want to know one thing.”

“Oh?”

“You have… any idea of how betrayal feels? When most, to not say all, those you believed in for so long… suddenly stab you in the back - metaphoric and literally?”

Sombra gives a curt nod. "Yes. My teacher, my best friend, and the closest thing I had to a family, all stolen from me in the space of a few months."

"And what if I were to use magic to access those memories without your permission?" He asks again.

I glance at Sombra, and bury a small amount of guilt. It was months ago now, but I still did that to him when really I shouldn't, just because I was trying to help.

"I know how it feels,” he says.

Skywalker stops looking at us and remains crestfallen. “Then you can understand why I’m being so defensive with the matter of equality and privacy.” He observes the two of us and says. “I promise, no secret of ours will be left unknown to you… but we need time.”

“That’s ok,” I tell him. “Take as long as you need.”

The ex-Lunar Guard shows a grateful smile and nods. “Thank you, Your Majesty. I’m relieved that my… my faith in you... wasn’t misplaced after all. Now, if you’ll excuse us, me and Hanzal need to get our people here.” Then, both he and his friend bow before walking away.

Once they are both inside, I ask Sombra, “What happened?”

“Do you mean, why was I in so much pain all of a sudden?”

I nod.

“There are certain… defences a pony can set up to stop others from reading their minds and entering their dreams, through the use of magic or potions. They are usually quite dangerous and are very uncommon. Not to mention that the majority of them are highly illegal and could get you a one-way ticket to Tartarus. He was able to sense that I was reading his mind, so he used his thoughts as a weapon, almost.” He rubs the side of his head. “It feels like I fell head-first into a crystal berry bush. No, worse than that.”

“Is it as bad as bashing your head on the floor in the castle?”

“Not far off, but I will survive, my love. It isn’t as bad as the headache Celestia has given us over the last few months.”

“I suppose. But did you find out anything important before he did that to you?”

“Thunder and another guard in the Inner Circle found out that Skywalker and a group of other ponies were leaving the Royal Guard, and gave them up to Celestia. They were given the task of tracking the group to capture them.”

“Who was the other pony?” Wish asks.

“He wouldn’t let me find out that much, but we can assume it was somepony close to him.”

I say to him, “And what are we going to do?”

“Speak to the pony behind it, of course.”

Author's Note

Everypony reading this must now go and follow both Bronie312 and Bronycommander for their services to this fictional universe. Seriously.

Bronie312, you're an awesome proofreader, editor and idea generator. I was suffering from crippling writer's block, and now we've got nearly a month's worth of chapters finished. And Bronycommander, you've given me a whole new perspective on the Slice of Life moments in this story. There's so much to build on that I don't know whether I can fit it all into 50 chapters. (Yes, this story's going to have 50 chapters too, if at all possible.) So give yourselves a pat on the back, you two. I can't thank you enough.

A round of applause for two of the best proofreaders on Fimfiction! 👏👏👏

~ Angel