Sombra entered the dark room, looking at Cadance who lay sleeping, he wrinkled his nose in disgust. The princess's ears twitched at the sound of hoofbeats, her eyes widened. Cadance startled squeezing Crystal's heart tightly. This time Sombra would not have Cristal's heart again, not without a fight first. Love had to be stronger than the evil of that.... Tyrant...

"Radiant has told you too much, you silly mare." Sombra blustered, frowning. Cadance rolled her eyes, not knowing what to say.

"Maybe she has a soft heart, unlike you. " Cadance attacked.

Cadance came to think that Sombra would be offended, but on the contrary, he smiled and approached the princess. "I won't deny it, Radiant has a very pure heart, no doubt she would make a great empress..." Sombra looked sideways at Cadance, when she finished uttering such words.

Cadance pursed her lips, Sombra wanted to make her annoyed. And she wasn't going to give him that favor. " Let go of me, you don't need me. What do you want to do with me? Kill me? DO IT!!! Dare!" Cadance challenged, getting up from the ground.

Sombra wisely kept silent, sat down and waited for the princess's agitated breathing to calm down. Cadance tried to breathe in and out, sat up and hugged Crystal's heart like a teddy bear.

"I have never killed anyone, princess, I have only condemned. My hooves have not spilled blood, even if I thought of doing it, I didn't dare" the king informed, Cadance looked at him shocked, he really had never killed anyone? All the terrifying tales Celestia told about Sombra were not real?

'Heart as dark as night...'

"Then why did you enslave the crystal ponies?" asked Cadance, looking at the usurper king, Sombra frowned at her question.

"Why do you think I'll tell you?"

Cadance was silent, his chest tightened in embarrassment.

Sombra noticing the princess's discomfort opened her mouth. "I've come to free you only to attend a dinner party, do you fancy the idea?". Sombra smiled mischievously.

Cadance's eyes remained fixed on the king's. "A dinner? I will not dine with you!" the princess shrieked.

The Umbrum frowned, touching his armor to his chest. " Not with me, I could very well make it clear that it is mutual."

Cadance squeezed Crystal's heart, watching as Sombra released her, at last.... She was free! Cadance spread her wings, ignoring Sombra's complaint, she flew hugging Cristal's heart. She smiled and shrieked with happiness, the sunlight hit her face, she had to reach the light.... She could not let the darkness embrace her.

Cadance fell to the ground, a dark mist embraced her tightly. She felt someone growling in her face, she screamed wanting to get away from the creature. She embraced Cristal's heart, opening her eyes to find herself in the middle of the Darkness. Cadance shoved Sombra aside, as he gave her a grunt of annoyance. "Princess idiot! How dare you want to run away?! ".

Cadance stood still in the face of the accusing glances she was given all around her, her hooves slipped on the table. The princess was not shy, but in this case Cadance felt the shyness for the first time, the gazes were intent on her, as if they wanted to burn her with just a glance. The princess had her chin up, looking at the stallion, sitting looking at her expressionlessly. Cadance was offended at his earlier comment, 'idiot' how dare he insult her?

Cadance turned her eyes towards Radiant, the unicorn was sitting next to King Sombra, she didn't look entirely comfortable. The castle's dining table was very large and long, Sombra's family didn't seem very happy in front of the princess of love.

Cadance had many questions on her mind. Who were those creatures? Umbrums? Were they ponies of a different breed? Why were they so frightening? How did they know about the Empire? There were so many questions.

And there was one question that tortured Cadance; who was Princess Amore?

Cadance was sitting in the middle of the table, in front of her there were Umbrums looking at her intently, if looks could kill....

Sombra was sitting at one end of the table, and at the other end was the queen, Queen Rabia.

The food came in, Cadance's eyes widened like saucers as she watched those ponies bring the food, they... They were...mesmerized by dark magic. Cadance's teeth clenched in rage.

The princess kept her fury to herself, but shared a look with Sombra, an unfriendly one. Radiant stirred uncomfortably in her place, the poor unicorn knew what had caused her confession.

Cadance swallowed saliva as she stirred in her seat, she felt the nudge that came from the Umbrum to her right, Cadance squealed and moved to the side.

"You shouldn't be here" the Umbrum whispered to her, as the room began to murmur, she gave Cadance a chance to answer her. "I wish I wasn't here, for your information."

The Umbrum raised one of her misty eyebrows. "The king is only being merciful, but sooner or later only traces of you will remain."

Those words echoed in Cadance's mind over and over again, even hours went by and Cadance was still in that bubble. Never before had words had such an impact on her, fear coursed through her veins.

Fear.

Fear...

Destroyed...

Why was she still standing? Why was she still being held? Cadance's eyes were guided to her plate. All that food didn't look appetizing to her, not even the water. The Umbrum on her right gave her a smile, Cadance turned her each to another direction, until her sight caught the queen, Rabia. The queen gave her a smile with a sharp look, looked at her eyes, red, and then quickly looked away.

The dinner was silent, sometimes the Umbrums shared words, but then silence reigned again. The stares never ceased, as sharp and cold as an ice cube.

"Who are the naive ones who saved the Empire?" the youngest Umbrum suddenly asked, she seemed after all to have a shred of innocence.

"I didn't get a good look at their faces, Grudge" replied Sombra, shrugging his shoulders. He glanced sideways at Radiant.

Cadance swallowed saliva. Stares rested on her, wanting an answer. The princess was never going to rat out Twilight or Spike, ever. They wanted information, Cadance was going to give it to them.

"I was able to reach the Heart, no one else did." Cadance replied, she shivered in place as all eyes fell on her. If the earth could swallow alicorns....

Cadance looked up at Sombra in surprise, a smiling corner of her mouth rested on the king's lips. "How strange, I thought I saw more mares? I even got to see a dragon?"

He was teasing.

Cadance had again fallen into an unchained trap.

They all knew the story, they didn't need to ask. They just wanted to see if the princess was telling the truth.

Cadance arrived at her room feeling sick, she lay down on her stomach, not caring how dark the room was. The princess hated still being held, not knowing what was going on in the Empire. If Sombra was still in this place...was the Empire free of his clutches? But there was still her family, Cadance wanted to know more about those creatures.

King Sombra seemed to be a unicorn, with too much thirst for revenge. But he was still a unicorn? Were there other species? The griffins, the dragons, the ponies? Cadance didn't know what else to say.

Cadance let out a cry of despair.

She grabbed her pillow and began to let out all her screams of rage, the ones she could never release. The princess had never experienced such pain, it wasn't pain from an external wound, it was internal. She wiped away her tears and began to feel an internal force telling her: get up.

Cadance would have to flee.

She had to know about the Crystal Empire, her Empire.

The duty left to her by Celestia a few years ago, Cadance's responsibility now was that Empire. And now... She wasn't there to save him from the curse, maybe even she wouldn't save herself from the Umbrums.

Cadance's hooves slid gently down, she stood on the ground on her tiptoes, she mustn't make some kind of noise if she wanted to run away. She opened the door trying not to let it squeak. Her wings stuck to her sides, if she flew there would probably be a strange flapping sound. He walked down the dark hallway. She had heard when Twilight defeated Nightmare Moon in the Two Sisters castle, and now, Cadance was in the castle.

She recognized it because of the flags. Why would Sombra choose this castle? Didn't the Umbrums have one of their own?

Cadance made the crystal heart appear at her side, she had kept it in a bag under her protection. She looked at it, the heart glittering in her hooves. She hugged the crystal heart as if it were Twilight, she missed her half-sister, she even missed Celestia...

"You shouldn't be in the hallway at this hour, princess of my Empire" a voice exclaimed, it came from the shadows. Suddenly red eyes manifested. Cadance startled, hugging the crystal heart.

She frowned. "It's not your Empire, Sombra."

The tyrant king took a few steps forward, a mischievous look on his face. "But it will be, tomorrow the Empire will be mine, again. And guess what princess, you won't be able to do anything about it."

Cadance's eyes grew wide as she let out an exclamation of horror that made Sombra smile. "No..."

"Yes... As I was saying, who should I start with?" Cadance looked at the King in confusion, he frowned at her. "Maybe with Celestia? No, her annoying sister would be a better choice..." the princess interrupted the king.

"Annoying?! You're the annoying one here!" replied Cadance, she took a few steps forward, almost touching Sombra's muzzle. "Don't you dare do anything to my family."

Sombra grinned. "Try me."

Cadance couldn't contain himself, he let go of Crystal's heart and lunged towards Sombra, they both fell through the floor, it seemed to be a comedy. They rolled as Sombra kicked Cadance's stomach, she momentarily bit his ear on impulse. The two separated, standing up and looking at each other in a threatening manner.

Sombra's magic began to bubble in a threatening manner. Cadance was not far behind, she prepared to attack the tyrant.

"Princess, princess" purred Sombra, circling around Cadance, she flinched.

Sombra turned into a shadow, and there Cadance's lead fell to the ground. She looked around, searching for the tyrant who had hidden somewhere in the Darkness. The princess hurried to take the heart, sat down in a corner and kept silent.

"Why am I still here, Sombra. What are your plans?" asked Cadance, once she calmed down.

Maybe if he talked calmly with Sombra without fighting they could come to an agreement. Radiant had confessed to him that Sombra wasn't evil, though Cadance didn't even want to check if it was true.

Hours seemed to have passed, until Sombra took a few steps forward. For the first time Cadance saw something in his eyes...an emotion that the princess could not decipher.

"You think I'm happy about this? You think this is what I always wanted?" he commented, Cadance shook her head in confusion. Sombra sat on the ground, looking at the princess with annoyance. "You remind me of Amore, quite a bit. But there's something... That sets you two apart, I couldn't say what.

Cadance was getting it, the information that Sombra had just revealed to her was what Cadance was looking for. That this Amore came out in the conversation, so she could talk about her.

"Regarding... Amore, who was she? You said you knew her..." the princess murmured, trust was in short supply, surely there would never be trust.

Sombra looked at her, frowning. Her lips were set in a thin earnest. "I won't tell you anything, princess." grumbled the king.

Cadance pouted her face. She hugged the heart, somewhat emotionally. "Why do you keep me? You said yourself that tomorrow you would usurp the Empire. Can't you release me?" chuckled Cadance, it pained her to say such words, they seemed to be pleas.

Sombra smiled, his armor glowed for a few seconds until he got close enough to Cadance to make her flinch. "Because if I release you, who will keep the heart alive?

Sombra's words echoed in Cadance's mind.

"What...? Aren't you supposed to want to finish him off?! You are an incomprehensible tyrant!" shrieked Cadance, her sanity seemingly gone. She touched her head, she longed for the light.

Sombra looked at her expressionlessly. "Princess, it seems that said princess did not give you adequate information." replied Sombra, walking off into the shadows.

The princess of love arched an eyebrow. "What are you trying to say?"

Sombra smiled. "I have enough years to know that you are lying, princess, even experience. I am the king of fear, I fly your fears, I can smell how you fear Celestia will reject you..."

Cadance looked at him closely, her eyes began to crystallize. "It's not true...It's not true!" shrieked Cadance, raising her voice.

Sombra let out a devilish laugh. "Of course it is! Don't you see? You're terrified!"

Cadance began to sob. She didn't want to, she didn't want to show herself so weak before the usurper..... But so many weeks of repressing emotions came to torment her.

"You are... You're..." the words couldn't come out.

Sombra's laughter ceased, she was silent for a long time. Cadance was struck by that silence, she raised her face to his and looked at his serious face.

"It's not your destiny."

"What?"

Sombra sat on the ground, looking at the princess. "They say that if you look into the crystal heart it reveals your destiny. Have you looked at it, princess?"

Cadance shook her head slowly. She pulled away from the heart and brought it to her face. She looked at the crystal heart for a long time, until a light began to visualize.

She saw darkness, she saw caves, and she saw herself locked in. Forever and ever... She was locked in a cave, it seemed to be Canterlot. A figure walked up to her and lifted her chin, the figure transformed into Cadance. She felt her face begin to heat up from the tears. The scenes were cut off, Cadance found herself enveloped in a darkness of Sombra.

"Give him back to me!"

Sombra attacked the heart and threw it to the side. He seemed to be having fun, wasn't he too old for those kinds of games? Was he bothering Cadance? The princess shook her face and the scenes flashed through her mind, they were so.... Real... Maybe Sombra wasn't lying.

Maybe Celestia was condemning her.

Maybe it wasn't Celestia...

Once again green eyes flashed through her mind. "Why are you telling me now about what the heart does? What's your plan!" shouted Cadance, watching as Sombra stopped at her game.

The king gave her a sidelong glance, frowned and resumed his defiant stance. His armor glowed, the princess's eyes narrowed from the blast of light.

"It maybe... That I regret some of the actions" she commented, looking off somewhere, the eye contact was quite uncomfortable.

Suddenly Cadance's laughter echoed throughout the hallway, her mood changing quickly, to what led her to improve from the days she had spent locked up. Sombra grunted. "You, repent?! That's the funniest thing I've ever heard! Even Pinkie Pie's jokes aren't that funny to me!".

Cadance's laughter didn't infect Sombra, on the contrary, it actually made him angry. " ENOUGH!!!!".

Cadance suddenly stopped his mirth, he shrank like a puppy. Sombra transformed into a shadow and disappeared from Cadance's sight, the princess remained still shocked on the ground. At her side was the heart, she hugged it and put it to her chest.

Maybe Sombra wasn't so evil after all, maybe he had his intentions in every action he did. Maybe Sombra did let Cadance go.

For that night the princess fled.

Author's Note

Oh, Cadance really pissed off Sombra!

Did he really let her go?

We'll see in the next chapter!