On the trip, Princess Amore was in resounding silence. At times, Cadance wondered if that unicorn was comfortable with the new princess of the Empire. The doubts came. Princess Amore led Cadance to a part of the Everfree Forest, the princess' mouth went dry, a fear ran down her back. Cadance steeled herself and walked through the darkness.

The crystal glowed. "Cadance, do you believe in soul mates?"

Cadance stopped abruptly her walk, her eyes roamed to nothingness. "Soul mates...?

"Yes, you're the princess of love, you're supposed to know." Cadance's silence answered Amore's question, Cadance knew nothing about soul mates. "It doesn't matter, I should have guessed. It's been a long time since they've talked about soul mates. They say that some circumstances the two couples are good in soul, but in other cases it is said that one of the souls is evil, how atrocious, right? To be the soul mate of an evil stallion. "

"What are you trying to say?" Cadance rambled.

Suddenly, the trees began to turn into devilish creatures. They had claws and pointed teeth. The princess tried to flee by flapping her wings, but a root grabbed one of her hooves and flung toward another tree. The ruby shot off into the darkness.

"No!"

Cadance tried to emit a blast, but the tree began to squeeze him. The princess's head began to ache. It seemed that the tree had... Dark magic?!

Maybe Sombra didn't let her off that easy.

Cadance began to sleepwalk, until her body fell to the side. Completely asleep. Her dream was strange, she was sitting on her throne, waking up from a dream.

All this time she had been dreaming?

The princess burst out laughing, all this time she had been dreaming! She walked around the throne room looking for a familiar presence. "Shining Armor?" shouted Cadance, her voice echoing off the walls.

Why was the place empty? Why was the Empire empty? Cadance peered intently in the window.... Was she in the past?

Why... Why were Celestia and Luna fighting against Sombra? The princess let out a shriek and quickly left the castle, the three royal beings seemed not to notice the princess, until the evil king smiled at her.

"Come here, queen, why don't you greet the former monarchs?" suggested Sombra, Cadance wandered between the three, totally confused. The king's voice sounded different, it sounded more laden with evil, more.... Darker.

"Traitor." spat Luna, unafraid to speak her words. Celestia instructed her not to lose control.

A hole was made in Cadance's heart, a noticeable confusion crushed into her face. "Traitor...?"

"Yes, Cadance. You have betrayed everyone, even Twilight. Have you forgotten already?" Celestia's voice only warned that she hated Cadance, the princess of love shuddered.

Sombra growled and launched a blast of dark magic at Luna. "Stop!" shrieked Cadance.

The princess of love lunged towards Sombra, King Umbrum shoved Cadance looking at her angrily. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I..., I have no idea." Cadance ducked her gaze to the ground, as a few tears spilled from her eyes.

The scenario changed, now Cadance was in some sort of memory place. The princess opened her eyes seeing how there were memories that had never happened.

"Queen of Shadows..."

"Queen of Shadows..."

"Queen of Shadows..."

That voice, it seemed to be the voice of...Shining Armor? The poor unicorn was cornered in a corner of the place, Cadance approached him with a frown.

"Oh, Shining Armor, are you okay?" asked Cadance, seeing his friend's somewhat green eyes.

He looked at her, but it was no ordinary look, he seemed to be at a loss. "Cadance..., how could you?" he whispered, stopping and ducking his gaze. He started to take steps towards Cadance, the princess started to back away. "Shining, stop..." she expressed, fearfully. A smirking corner of a smile was glimpsed on the stallion's lips. "How could you...?" he repeated, Cadance continued to back away. "Do what?" she asked, he looked at her, and lunged. "HOW COULD YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH HIM?!".

Cadance screamed, she took off running all over the place, trying to get away from the different Shining Armor.

"Cadance?" a voice was heard to ask.

The princess kept running.

"Cadance, wake up."

The princess opened her eyes, found herself lying on the ground. Smooth, spongy and comfortable. She was on a bed. Cadance couldn't recognize the place he was in, it seemed to be made of wood, and it maintained a warm atmosphere. She stood up a little and saw that there was a fireplace giving heat, she swallowed saliva. She pressed her temple as her ear twitched, there were hoofbeats. The princess covered herself with the sheets as she saw through the shadows of the cloth to the figure.

"Are you awake, princess? I won't hurt you, I brought some firewood, if you feel like it I'll also make you some hot chocolate" clarified a voice, it seemed to be male, but there was something in that voice... Very peculiar.

Is there such a thing as a chaotic voice?

The princess uncovered herself, looking at the figure. It had legs of different races, as well as wings. It was tall and had a bear hand, while the other... was different. What was this creature?

"Who are you? What are you?" whispered Cadance, looking at him.

"Uhmm, how interesting. I find this unusual! You don't know me?!" the stranger looked with one eye close to Cadance watching as she denied. "I am the god of chaos! Discord! I find it rude of you to not know me and me to know you."

Cadance gulped. "I suppose I owe you an apology? Discord." the princess replied.

A gasp of horror left her lips as Discord flicked his fingers and shifted the fireplace, a portrait of him with a rather dashing mustache appeared.

Discord suddenly had a ballerina costume on. "How did you find me, where's the ruby?" asked Cadance, getting out of bed.

Discord shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Oh, and how I found you is a very, very, very long story."

Cadance's brows furrowed. "You must be kidding, if I was only asleep for a little while!

Discord wiggled his fingers again and they both appeared on the roof sitting in armchairs, Discord had a cup of tea in his hands." Are you sure?"

Cadance bit her lip, that individual made her hesitate. "I don't know." she mumbled, she looked at the cup of tea in her hands. "You... When I woke up you said you'd give me a chocolaty..."

Discord jumped in the air. "To chaos! I simply wanted you to wake up, do I have a kind face?" Discord looked offended, Cadance rolled his eyes.

"Why..." when Cadance went to ask, Discord interrupted her.

"I'm sure the Elements of Harmony are hiding over here, and so when I saw you I said, Oh, a princess! And that's when I got an idea. You, dear cloying darling, will be of help to me!" announced Discord, sipping his tea daintily.

"I?!, I will not be your accomplice in mischief!" Cadance frowned. "You said Elements of Harmony...?"

Discord narrowed his eyes. "Yes, that's what I said, insolent." Cadance rolled his eyes at Discord's final comment. "I won't tell you anything, princess. Other than I remembered that I already have an accomplice, far away from here."

"Oh yeah, and who's that?" spat Cadance.

Discord looked thoughtful. "Star...no, that wasn't her name, Luna..., not that one either. Uhm, what could it be?" smiled Discord.

Cadance gritted his teeth. "Is it Sombra, Rabia?"

Discord frowned. "I don't know those friends of yours." he replied, a few seconds passed, until Discord put a spotlight on his head with a snap. "Wait, did you say Shadow? Well of course I know him! Is that tyrant from the Empire shiny? Ah, of course he is.

"Yes..." Cadance murmured, a little quizzical. "I don't understand your motives in rescuing me, Discord, but I thank you. I may wonder if you saw any rubies..."

"Oh!" Cadance startled at Discord's sudden cry, the individual snapped his fingers and they were both standing on top of a snowy mountain." I remembered the name of my accomplice, it's: Sunset Shimmer. Does it ring a bell? I named her about the Elements of Harmony, but according to her she already knew it because Celestia, yes the princess, had told her when she was her pupil. I'm so bored of being here! I am Discord, the great god of chaos! Oh, what's wrong with you, princess?"

Discord stopped talking as Cadance began to squirm in place. " I... I don't understand what you're talking about, Elements of Harmony? What are they?"

Discord flew around Cadance, with a devilish grin. "I see a certain pony didn't tell you the truth..."

"What?"

Discord hummed, snapped his fingers, and scenes appeared before both of their eyes. It was Twilight, with her friends, all facing Luna's dark side, Twilight had a crown while her friends necklaces. All with their Cutie Mark figures, all levitated as a powerful rainbow impacted Luna.

"See?" said Discord, at her side. "The little unicorn told you how she defeated Nightmare Moon?"

Cadance was in shock." I never knew how she was defeated...I knew it was Twilight and her friends but...I never knew about the elements."

Discord laughed." Oh, poor princess. I would never want to be in your shoes, 'the princess who never knows anything' or rather 'the forgotten princess'. Do you like nicknames?"

Cadance's emotions suddenly formed dark, a small line of anger crossed her chest." No..."

Cadance walked through the snow, a little annoyed. She turned to see Discord's smile. "If you don't mind, could you take me back to the forest?" he asked, dryly. Discord smiled even wider and snapped his fingers.

Cadance walked through the trees of the forest as Discord slowly walked away. His plan... It had gone perfectly. "Now that the element of love is getting twisted, I'll finally get my hands on the other elements."

Discord noticed a red light glowing near a bush, he took the ruby in his hands as he shattered it. The princess of love had truly believed Amore was there, and all this time it was only Discord's illusion. Except for the book, the information was real, except for the teleportation of consciousness to the ruby, Amore was destroyed... Not quite.

But now, that a hint of Sombra's dark magic inhabited Cadance thanks to Discord, the princess was going to be the puppet of the god of chaos. "Maybe Sunset Shimmer will never find out about this, oh, who cares!" exclaimed Discord, scratching his chin.

He watched the princess from afar, this time, Discord was sure she would be the perfect puppet. He was going to use Cadance to conquer Equestria. Getting Sombra's magic was difficult, he had to follow Radiant Hope for a while so that she would unknowingly lead him to the Umbrum kingdom. Then Discord acted, he stole Rabia's most precious item, her crown. No, the crown at all, the ruby.

Holding the ruby in his hands, he let it be found by the princess of love, and once she activated the darkness in him; making him speak. The dark magic of the ruby now inhabits Cadance.

Discord burst out laughing. "I'm a genius!".

Meanwhile, Cadance continued to search for the ruby, as that shriek in his ear made its presence known. But this time, something else accompanied it, his heart ached. "Something's wrong..." he whispered, as he felt the anger in his veins.

Cadance felt bad knowing that Twilight didn't tell him about the Elements of Harmony, she also felt bad knowing that she had failed the Empire. She would not make it in time.

Cadance was startled, she fell to the side when she saw her lock of hair. She had jet-colored locks all over her hair. Where violet locks once dwelled, they were now jet.

She ran, in an impulsive act, spread her wings and began to fly swiftly toward Canterlot. She ignored the ruby, ignored Discord. Cadance was not at all well, she felt anger in her veins, and her hair.... It was turning jet. All of her mane. Her wings ached as she swooped with force and speed, her eyes closed as she continued in the direction of Canterlot.

Destroyed...

Cadance spotted Canterlot, without thinking about it, she headed for the castle. The guards stopped her, Cadance's breathing was agitated, she saw how the guards looked at her as if she was a threat. "Do not be alarmed! It's me, Princess Cadance! I've come for an emergency, I need to see Celestia right now."

The guards looked at each other. "Princess Celestia is not available... "said one of them.

"Then Luna, I need to see her. "

The guards denied. "Princess, haven't you heard?" said the one who had spoken earlier.

Cadance frowned. "Of what? What's the matter? Say something already!" she shrieked, seeing that the place was empty, the throne.... It was empty.

The princess's eyes roamed the walls, where paintings of ancient victories once dwelled, now only windows inhabited.

"King Sombra has won, princess."

No... No... No...Cadance's thoughts echoed in denial. It couldn't be true, he hadn't won. Sombra... He had won...

"What? How? What happened?" he asked, trying to remain calm.

"It happened a few days ago, he king Sombra usurped the Crystal Empire, and in doing so, he got the crystal heart in his hooves."

No, Cadance had the crystal heart.... "And the heart?!" she shrieked when she saw that he didn't have it. She... Where had she left it? What was going on?

The guard continued. "The Sombra King's power grew, princess. He has defeated the Elements of Harmony and the princesses, we have kept Canterlot safe, but we fear he will come soon."

"He did not defeat me." stated Cadance, remembering her days in that hell. She turned to stare at the royal guards, she remembered Twilight.... And Shining Armor." He won, but not Canterlot. I will lead them, I owe it to the Empire I lost."

The guards nodded and passed through the threshold. Cadance collapsed on the floor, sobbing for his entire family. "What am I to be...? I've never been a monarch."

Managing the Empire was difficult. Perhaps Canterlot would be easier. But the least believable thing was that Sombra had won.

The battle was lost, but what about the war?

Author's Note

Oh, no. How confusing! Wasn't Cadance supposed to have the Crystal Heart?

Sombra won? So soon?

It really wasn't Amore? Discord is here to usurp Equestria? Sunset Shimmer working with Discord?

See you next time!