Our Empire of Darkness

by That One Strange Fellow

Rating: mature
Tags: Violence, Princess Celestia, Sex, Twilight Sparkle, Profanity, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Death, Alternate Universe, Romance, Princess Luna, Drama, Trixie, King Sombra, Adventure
Length: 50799

Twilight Sparkle is in the decisive moments before failing her biggest test to date when she’s whisked away by King Sombra. Now alone with the evil king, she tries her best to escape back to her friends. There’s only one problem: Sombra’s not evil.

The Elements of Harmony and the royal couple were seconds away from victory. King Sombra had entered the city, he was making his approach toward- Wait. Where is he going?

Trapped with the most evil pony to have ever lived, Twilight must survive the mad king with only Princess Luna and King Sombra to keep her company. Unfortunately, the king opens up to her when she least expects it, giving her thoughts pause.

Now realizing they all may be wrong about the king, Twilight must decide what she will do. Will she assist King Sombra in carrying out his noble, if questionable, goals? Or will she return to her old life in blissful ignorance?

Extra tags: Sunset Shimmer, Rarity, Spike, Cadence, Flurry Heart (later), Original Character

Got featured publishing weekend 13/01/23 to at least 17/01/23. If there was ever proof that having a picture for a story improves ratings, this is it. I spent maybe five minutes grabbing it off Derpibooru.

Published 2023-01-13 22:50:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-04-01 16:13:15 UTC

Chapter 1: Time Moves Slowly

“Somepony around here must know something!” Twilight said as she and her trusty assistant walked to the next house on the street. Everything so far had been a bust. Not a single household or passerby they encountered had any information related to the Crystal Empire or King Sombra. It was a complete mystery what happened to the empire so long ago or what they used to defend themselves.

“I’m sure they’re just scared.” Spike tried reassuring her, not convinced himself. After knocking on the next door, Twilight took a quick look around. They were in the northern section of the Crystal Empire along one of the side streets. The entire city was a marvel to behold, with houses all at least two stories tall made of the same crystals as everything else in the empire. The streets themselves reflected some of the light illuminated on them, the lamp-posts providing ample visibility for the night whenever it fell upon the city.

Everything from the curtains to the shrubs to the streets were gorgeous. It wasn’t what Twilight expected after being under the rule of the tyrannical King Sombra, but perhaps Princesses Celestia and Luna reversed the damage the monster had done before the empire disappeared.

The door opening returned Twilight’s attention to the homeowner, a light blue mare with a purple mane who glanced between the two with baggy eyes. Like all the other crystal ponies, her mane and coat lacked the sparkle that was expected of them.

“Hello there!” Twilight donned a huge smile, hoping to boost the mare’s solemn mood. “I’m Twilight Sparkle! You wouldn’t happen to know anything about what the Crystal Empire was like before its disappearance, would you?” She asked, hoping to perk up the mare’s memory for how much of a long-shot it was.

“I’m sorry. I can’t remember anything about what things were like.” She shook her head, Twilight’s smile falling.

“Are you sure? Absolutely sure?”

“I’m sorry. I wish I could help you. But I... can’t seem to remember anything before King Sombra came to power.” She thought for a second. “And I can only remember bits and pieces afterwards, but nothing that would help.”

Twilight raised a brow. That was new. She briefly leaned down to whisper her thoughts to Spike. “King Sombra’s spell must be why their coats aren’t... crystally, and why they can’t remember anything.”

“Have we really been gone a thousand years?” The mare asked.

“Yes.”

“It feels like it was only yesterday when my husband and I were talking about starting our family...” she said, the corners of her mouth turning up as if she wanted to smile.

“If you think of anything, even the smallest thing...” Twilight gave one last reassuring smile back.

“Of course.” She nodded, closing the door behind her.

Spike hopped down the steps and began walking away. “Well, that was a total bust.”

“Hmm... Maybe not.” Twilight considered as she followed him, trotting down the steps to catch up. “Maybe the others are having better luck.”

The light blue barrier of magic that separated his rightful domain from himself was an aggravation. Who were they to deny him his place on the throne? For over a thousand years, they kept him locked away.

And after a thousand years, they still denied him his rightful seat! The foolish sisters of the south hadn’t learned a single thing. They still were enemies, enemies which needed to be eliminated for him to fulfill his destiny.

Sombra moved around in the snowy wastes outside the empire’s shield, keeping close to the direct path to and from the unusual mechanical transport system. It was a modern invention he would have to familiarize himself with later, perhaps even improve with the use of crystals and magic. However, until he could heal his form, none of it would matter.

His attention returned to the shield as it dropped from the top down, turning up his grin. As it dropped to the ground, he gazed upon his glorious empire once more, a mere fraction of the size he had planned for it. Those old maps needed to be brought out from storage once his home was secure, but for now there was the matter of his body to correct.

His shadowy form glided across the wastes toward the city, anticipating stepping a hoof onto its grassy fields once more. Before he could reach those fields, the light blue barrier reformed. Sombra attempted to charge himself over the barrier, getting close before he had to halt in place to prevent impacting it head on. His horn got inside before the barrier raised high enough for the ‘light’ magic to cut off the tip. He growled as he backed off, cursing himself for not moving sooner to enter.

It wouldn’t matter in the end. As long as he resumed his legitimate seat on the throne, all would work out. They couldn’t keep him out forever. His subjects needed him, and he wouldn’t let them down.

“Of course!” Twilight exclaimed, realizing the solution as she stood in the throne room of the Crystal Spire.

Spike wobbled on his feet one last time from when he ran into Twilight, rubbing his head. “Argh. What? Did you find it?”

“No. Because this isn’t King Sombra’s castle.” Twilight said, checking the rest of the chamber. Other than the city map above her, the main throne room lacked decoration. Would the king forgo artistry and valuables? She didn’t think so.

Spike stood up and walked next to her as she stared up at the throne. “Isn’t this where he lived when he was in power?”

“It is. But it didn’t look like this.” She spread her hooves to prepare for what she was about to do. Her horn aimed at the crystal at the top of the throne, concentrating until sweat began rolling down her forehead. An attempt at making a distinct form of magic without training was trickier than utilizing raw magic, but she knew it had to be done.

As she grimaced with the strain, focusing all the hate she could into her magic and holding it in her horn as she infused them together to make the illegal energy. And as the dark magic gathered, she felt the push-back from her mind, begging her to let it go, but she continued to channel. Purple splotches of dark magic formed around her horn, her eyes generating purple wisps from the monumental effort.

With enough in her horn to cause a headache, she fired it into the crystal at the top of the throne, letting go of the forbidden magic. The crystal at the top of the throne projected an unnatural shadow over the floor in front of the throne, revealing a massive staircase into the magic-formed depths. She expected more backlash from the dark magic, instead everything going back to normal after a short time.

Perhaps it causes long-lasting damage? She mused as she trotted over to the now revealed staircase that led deep below. It was unusually crystalline, much like the rest of the castle. Lights along the edges of the staircase provided lighting all the way to the bottom, which she judged was at least a hundred poni below.

“Woah. When did you learn to do that?” Spike asked in amazement.

“That was a little trick Celestia taught me.” She said with pride, walking into the stairway and only making it a few steps before turning back to Spike. “You stay here.”

“Huh, if you insist.” He shrugged his shoulders, standing at the top while Twilight descended the spiral staircase. As she made her way, she noted the occasional banner and painting on the walls. While the banners were of the Crystal Empire or related, the paintings were another story. The black maned gray stallion with sideburns was depicted in the majority, donned in a red cloak covering his shoulders down to the thighs and a metal peytral on the front to hold it in place.

She tore herself from her thoughts when Spike called down from the top: “Can you see what’s down there yet?”

“I don’t know what this is, but it looks like a museum.” She called back up, checking the nearest painting. It showed Sombra speaking to a group of angry ponies, the crystal guards standing by but otherwise out of the way. The king held his previous image in the paintings as calm and collected compared to the... were they miners? Twilight couldn’t tell what they were, but it looked like the union disputes she had read about from Manehattan. “Spike, can you see outside?”

While she continued to examine the professional artistry of the painting, her faithful assistant checked the outdoors before returning to the top. “It’s not good! Cadance’s magic must be fading faster than before!”

“Can you come down?” She asked before continuing her own trek into the depths. It was bizarre. Did King Sombra force the crystal ponies to make these paintings for him? What kind of twisted idea of his rule did he have? As she walked, Spike came running down next to her.

“Hey, this isn’t so bad.” He said, checking the paintings while they descended.

“This is...” What was it? It didn’t look right. Celestia said King Sombra had a ‘heart as black as night’, but this depicted nothing negative. He looked like a responsible ruler who cared about the citizens. Of course there would be nothing negative! He would want to give himself the impression that he was a good ruler! She thought with the roll of her eyes.

They continued for another few minutes before reaching the bottom, another peculiar sight greeting them. Several tables were setup around the center of the stairwell, with many stacks of papers, diagrams, and models on them, a single door leading elsewhere.

“Uhh, what’s all this?” Spike asked, jogging up to the table and taking a piece of paper from it. It was a bunch of magical mumbo-jumbo to him, but might mean something to Twilight.

Twilight moved up to the table and examined the small models and their associated notes. She checked the two stairway models, one of which being a different scale based on the size of the stairs. From the look of one, it was the current stairwell they were in, but there was a second white one. She read over the notes until she got to the sheets on the door that he had made to access the other stairwell.

‘Dark magic for fears, light magic for entry, raw magic ineffective’ was the general gist of it. She trotted up to the door and tried opening it with her regular magic, but it sped away from her around the stairwell base. “Oh, that’s why it’s ineffective.” She took a deep breath before channeling the other form of magic. Creation of light magic was like dark magic, only involving love instead of hate, which made it easier for her as she thought of her friends, family, and Spike to generate it.

The magic arced from her horn into the top of the door; it opening on its own to reveal a white room beyond. Both creatures stepped forward into the room, Twilight giving a sigh. “He must really like stairs.”

Both climbed the endless stairs, hoping that Cadance could hold out a short time longer.

The agents of the southern tyrants believe they can hold me back from destiny? Sombra laughed in his shadowy form, having regrown his false horn. Using such magic to achieve immortality was unthinkable a thousand years ago, yet he had done so without corruption. If the ‘regal sisters’ truly believed themselves righteous, there would be no redeeming them. They would deny all ponies except themselves transcendence through magic, a selfish crime unforgivable in his eyes.

After he used his regrown horn to manipulate the dissolved energies of his old horn into a dark mana crystal, it was only a matter of time until he reached the Crystal Spire and ended this fraudulent coup. Over the next hour, he manipulated the crystal to cast darkness onto preexisting crystal objects, the hatred within weakening the light magic of the barrier. It was an unfortunate scare for his subjects, but they would come to understand his reasons for filling his love-filled empire with hatred this one time.

Further did his reach move into the city, more regular crystal corrupting as the shadows creeped closer. The barrier was getting weaker and weaker with each passing minute, his power growing as his influence extended closer to the prize he had kept secret since the betrayal.

He was so close. He felt its love, its gentle aura of hope. One day, all would look upon this moment as a footnote, a last desperate attempt by the tyrants of Equestria to deny the truth of ponies.

As the field dropped, the alarm set-off at the top of the Crystal Spire. They had found it! His horn sparked to life, sending a signal through his dark crystals to the spire, hopefully trapping the agent within the warded circle with the Crystal Heart.

Then he remembered what he was doing before his banishment, wincing. He had left the wards as they were when the two sisters approached his empire with their army, far too strong to survive. Whoever they were inside would perish before he reached them to deactivate the trap. They would suffocate inside.

Was an enemy pawn’s permanent removal worth delaying destiny? He could always come back. Perhaps gaining information on the modern day would be beneficial in the long run, a strategic retreat to regain more strength. His enemies would prepare, although he doubted they would know what specifically to do. Not that there was much they could do.

Perhaps the pawn may break from their conditioning to join his side. The truth could set them free.

Twilight looked around her dark prison in panic, only small streams of light being let through the cracks. Her attempt to teleport out only resulted in her being sent right back inside and hitting her head on the wall. She moved to the crack closest to where she had heard Spike speak. A simple peek through the opening and she saw him holding his claws under his armpits, dancing away from dark magic crystals which sprouted from the floor, the Crystal Heart laying on the ground next to him.

“You can move, just not toward me!” she yelled out to him, muttering under her breath: “How could I have been so foolish? I was just so eager to get it! Then when I saw what was going outside, I–“

“You have to get out of there, Twilight!” Spike called to her from his position near the archways, standing only a few steps away from the breathtaking view of the city she wouldn’t be able to take in until after King Sombra couldn’t threaten the empire. “You have to be the one who brings the heart to Princess Cadance! If you don’t, you’ll fail Celestia’s test!”

“King Sombra is already attacking the empire. He could reach the Crystal Ponies at any moment... reach Princess Cadance, my brother, my friends.” She shook her head. “There may not be enough time for me to find a way to escape.” The surrounding crystals thickened. She spared a single glance back to see they were encroaching toward her from the other side of the circle, above being completely covered. As she turned back to the crack in the crystal, she resolved herself to the only solution. “You have to be the one to bring the Crystal Heart to the fair!”

“Me? But Twilight–“

“Go!” she shouted back, staring at him with one eye that peeked between the crystals.

“But–“

“Gooo!” she called out again, the crystals fully encompassing her, plunging her world into darkness. Laying against the ground, all she could hope for was that Spike would succeed. Her horn attempted to spark to life, the dark magic counteracting her spells directly and disallowing anything other than the brief flashes of the interior.

The crystals were getting closer each second. With each flash, she could see them growing larger and closer. On her most recent flash, it was right in front of her face. She kept her eyes shut and brought her entire body to the ground, praying to Celestia that they didn’t start growing beneath her. Over the course of the next minute, she felt them wrap over-top of her body, holding her in place. Her breathing got more labored, as though the air was dwindling in the prison.

“P-Please, Spike. Hurry.” she whispered to the void. Soon enough, there wasn’t even enough air to breathe, her eyes fluttering shut. Her last thoughts weren’t of the test, they were of her friends and family. She had made a mistake, one that would hurt those she loved more than anything. Another few seconds later, even those disappeared, her mind going blank.

The moment the field fell, he launched himself into the city with haste, several of his subjects running from the shadow that moved along the ground toward the spire, screaming as they scurried their way toward the Crystal Heart. There wasn’t time to waste. Every second was invaluable. He aimed for the dark crystals which sprouted up the spire, preparing the spell he would need to make it in time.

Upon reaching the growth, he unleashed the spell; the crystals growing upwards at a sped up pace toward the top of the spire with him atop them. A quick look to the Crystal Heart revealed the agent had sacrificed themself to release it, carried by another smaller bipedal dragon that ejected flames toward any additional outcropping of dark crystal.

It spotted his rapid encroachment and slipped; the heart falling into the city. It pained the king to see it so close yet so far, but there would be time for reunions later. The creature jumped after it as the king arrived at the top, seeing the entire warded circle consumed by dark crystals. While he couldn’t use light magic in his current form, he could shatter crystals easily enough.

The tendrils made short work smashing through the crystal, finding the form of the purple unicorn agent he encountered as they had arrived from the transportation station. A quick check over her body showed her breathing had indeed stopped.

Grabbing her into his shadowy tendrils, he carried her out of the warded circle and to the edge of the spire’s peak. There wouldn’t be time to resuscitate her here. They would activate the heart and his form would dispel. Rapidly moving down the spire with the unconscious unicorn in his grasp, he used the dark crystals to amplify his speed. He reached the bottom as the new alicorn princess landed, her eyes filled with the same hatred he held toward her. Rushing northward, he used the crystalline city streets to further increase his speed.

When the light shone from the very streets themselves, filled with the love of his subjects, he dashed out of the city bounds, traveling into the northern plains covered with snow. He kept pushing on. He refused to die today. As the heart began activating far behind, he had reached the hills to the north, out of the danger zone, but kept moving past them. It wasn’t until he surpassed his own curse did he stop.

As one last measure, he focused on the purple unicorn. His magic wrapped around her heart, moving it to get it pumping again. She soon enough would awake, but he needed her unconscious until they reached their destination. A quick sleep spell would work, one he cast on her form as soon as the thought came to him. The first natural heart beat came as the spire unleashed a burst of light magic across the valley.

Sombra felt his body and soul punctured by the light, sending pain through every fiber of his being, but the distance was indeed enough to prevent complete dissolution. He took one last look at the empire’s light; the aurora spreading out from the spire he called home for decades. The fields lacked the strife of struggle, peaceful, an example of what he wished upon the rest of Equus. “I shall return, my subjects. I shall free you.” He resolved to himself, grabbing the unicorn in his shadows before moving toward the mountains away from home.

The fair was in full swing with the defeat of the evil king, crystal ponies celebrating with crystal corn. Many of the braver ones signed up for jousting, and a few of the more musically inclined ponies picked up their flugelhorns to provide musical entertainment. Compared to only ten minutes prior, it was like a completely different city.

The Elements of Harmony and Spike gathered with Princess Cadance and Shining Armor in the throne room, minus two, who went to retrieve Twilight from the top of the spire.

“Please tell me this is permanent.” Rarity beamed in wonder at her reflection in the mirror that several crystal ponies provided as a thank you. “It is absolutely gorgeous! I look positively regal, don’t you think?”

“Hehe, ya sure do.” Applejack replied, readjusting her stetson. All was not well, as was what Princess Cadance wished to discuss, but everything seemed to be fine for the time being.

As the confused and concerned Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew back into the hall, Pinkie played her flugelhorn while wearing a jester’s outfit, one she was more than happy to have kept wearing throughout the entire fair.

Cadance raised a brow at their expressions as they landed. “Is something wrong? Where’s Twilight?”

“We couldn’t find her anywhere!” Rainbow exclaimed. “There were a ton of stairs, but I checked every single one and she wasn’t there!”

“What about the other stairs beneath us?” Spike asked. “Did you check those?”

“I couldn’t get in! The door at the bottom led to a wall!”

“What other stairs?” Shining asked Spike.

“Twilight used her magic on that crystal at the top of the throne and a bunch of stairs revealed themselves right here.” He stomped his foot on the floor in front of the throne.

Cadance got down from the throne and looked up at the crystal in question, casting her magic on it. She saw it glow brightly, but that was about it. “Do you know what she did?” She turned back to Spike.

“It was dark magic, or something.” He shrugged.

“I... don’t know how to do that.” Cadance admitted. “I’ll write to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Maybe they know how?”

“Well, we need to get her out of there before she starves.” Shining thought a bit more before moving to the center of the floor. He charged his horn and unleashed a beam of energy into the crystal. After a few seconds of no effect, he halted it and scrunched his brows toward Cadance. “A little help?”

“You probably can’t get in that way. If it requires dark magic, it may be an activated space.” She sighed, rubbing her head.

“Um, what did you want to talk to us about?” Fluttershy asked from her reassembled group of friends at the center of the room.

“King Sombra escaped.” Cadance said with annoyance, sitting back down on the throne. “I don’t know why he didn’t try claiming the Crystal Heart, but he isn’t defeated yet. Whatever he’s planning, we need to put an end to it or he will only return stronger.”

While the others asked questions about the king, Spike scratched his head. The king had traveled straight up the spire toward him. He was so close to grabbing the Crystal Heart but didn’t. He didn’t chase him or the heart; the king didn’t even try. Then he runs away? None of it made sense.

Going for the top of the spire where he and Twilight were. Disregarded the Crystal Heart. Ran away. Twilight’s missing...

...

TWILIGHT’S MISSING!

“HE FOALNAPPED TWILIGHT!?” Spike’s screech interrupted the questions from the other elements. Each of them began thinking it through, going through the same thought process Spike did, their faces forming into terror at the idea.

“No. No, why would he even do that?” Shining asked. “What reason would he have to foalnap Twilight? He’s a power-hungry monster Tartarus-bent on enslaving all of Equestria for Celestia’s sake!”

Cadance rubbed her eyes as she considered it. It made no sense! King Sombra had climbed the spire to get the Crystal Heart... Right? Why would he foalnap Twilight when he could have taken back the artifact?

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Rainbow flew into the air, determined and angry. “We’ve got to save her!”

“Hold on now! We don’t even know where he’s takin’ her.” Applejack objected. “We can’t just go wanderin’ north aimlessly.”

“While I hate to agree, Applejack’s right.” Rarity chimed in. “He could be taking her anywhere.”

“Oh, I hope she’s alright!” Fluttershy added.

“I’ll send a letter to Princess Celestia requesting the Royal Guard be mobilized to comb the north.” Cadance turned to her husband. “If you will accept such a drastic measure.”

“I’ll do anything to save Twily.” He stated, his anger rising as it all sunk in. “That monster will regret the day he messed with my family!”

It had been almost two days of traversing the northern weather. Snow swirled around Sombra as he floated onward, the pony in his grip insulated from the worst of it. There was only one more set of hills before everything calmed down.

The trees had returned, a welcome sight from the seemingly endless wastes past Mount Everhoof. His old prison had been in those wastes, far enough away from his home to give the tyrants time to secure the city.

As he crossed over the last hills between two mountains, the snow and wind let up. His smile turned up at the ocean between northern Equinia and the old home of ponykind, a tranquil barrier separating two frozen lands. Moving into the forests between him and his destination, the old pathways from a thousand years prior revealed themselves by the unbroken crystals that denoted them. There used to be a town this far north, filled with ponies who stood watch over the most heinous criminals ever seen in the empire.

He floated into the remains of the village, trees and other vegetation having taken hold where once there was civilization. Sombra traveled through the town, making haste to the large rock and crystal structure built into a hill. He entered and broke the doors leading further into the complex, picking up the keys left in the security office to make his way even deeper.

The deeper he went, the darker it became. Soon enough, there was no more light, only the eerie darkness of the maximum security wing. Unlocking one door, he entered and moved the skeletal remains from the room out into the hall. He took a few moments to memorize the directions to this chamber, ensuring he wouldn’t get lost while he made a few more trips. Sombra placed the unconscious pony onto the bed that was still in decent condition, pulling the blanket over her before applying dark mana crystals to her horn and locking the door to the cell.

Upon his return to the surface, he checked on the rest of the town. It was well and truly abandoned. While some preserved jars remained in the cupboards of a few residents, they must have taken most when they stopped receiving supplies from the ‘south’. Fortunately, there were potatoes. Lots of potatoes. An entire section of the town had potatoes growing all over it, being concentrated in the former backyard of one particular resident.

He grabbed what prepared food he could from the houses and ferried them back to the prison before moving back up into the frozen hills. He ferried over two ponies worth of snow back into the town, placing it in an old bathtub close to the prison. While he waited for it to melt, he traveled into the woods and gathered burnable materials of tinder and needles.

He wouldn’t let his prisoner suffer or die without excellent reason, no matter what they were guilty of.

Chapter 2: Shadows

Sluggishly reopening her eyes, only the darkness greeted her, not a shred of light able to be made from the blackness. Was she dead? With every breath shook, shivers running along her body as she clutched the blanket over her. No, she wasn’t dead, but she would be in the freezing cold. Echos bounced from the hall outside, an eerie drone giving her no sign of where she was or who brought her here.

Thinking back to her last memories, she was in the Crystal Empire on an assignment. She knocked the Crystal Heart out of the dark magic trap, told Spike to take it to Cadance... Did they fail? Is this what King Sombra’s prisons were like? Were her friends captured, too?

“H-Hel–“ She coughed a bit, her throat dry and cracked. If there was anypony around, they weren’t making any noise or sign they were alive. The air smelled like frozen stale rock, indistinct from anywhere else.

After a few minutes, the sound of something or somepony bounced down the hall, a metal gate squeaking open before being closed. Her horn tried to ignite, only glowing at the base before dissipating. Twilight shut her eyes, her face scrunching up with the horrible realization. They lost. King Sombra had won, and now she was in one of his prisons, going to die alone or be enslaved.

The pony got closer from the droning that forced her fur to stand up, but without a way to see, it was pointless to try. She heard a bunch of... wood (?) fall to the ground in front of her cell, the light tapping of glass following afterward. The pony shifted the pieces of timber before several stony impacts made her reopen her eyes. It sounded like they were–

The purple and green glow of dark magic sparked the fire to life, revealing who it was. Her ears fell at the sight of the shadowy monster, its green and purple eyes focused on the task at hoof. Tendrils extended from its body to cradle a bowl, another opening a jar. The slushy substance within dropped into the bowl with a little help from gravity, the shadow holding it over the flame to heat it. While it heated the mush, the monster grabbed a small cup and held it over as well.

Twilight stayed stock still, staring at it as it boiled the water and warmed the slop. Satisfied with the temperature, it removed them and turned, its eyes finding hers. As hers widened, his softened.

“You’re awake?” There was a stern but gentle voice that echoed through the hallways, a whisper passing underneath every word. When she didn’t answer, it placed the bowl into the small slot on the door that allowed her to grab it, placing the cup of water just within the bars. “You must be thirsty. This will help rebuild your endurance.”

“W-What are you?” She asked, voice weak, pulling the blanket tighter against her body to trap what little warmth she could. The heat from the fire was nice, calling her to drift to its warmth, but she wasn’t so sure about what that thing was.

“This form is only temporary.” They burst into a cruel and boisterous laugh that echoed through the halls. “Do not worry for now. You need to regain your strength.”

She dared to take the cover off of her to move closer to the bars as the shadow creature watched her from at the edge of the fire. Twilight grabbed the water, giving her a sip, her body gulping the rest down her throat as she realized how thirsty she was. Her mouth let out a sigh of relief, her hooves grabbing the bowl for her to stare at the liquid mush.

She sat close to the bars to warm up while she slurped the sour concoction, hoping that they didn’t make it of anything she would find objectionable.

“How is it?” The shadow monster asked.

“F-Fine.” she said while placing the bowl back in the feeding slot before grabbing the blanket from her bed and moving up against the bars so she could keep warm. The creature reminded her of the form of King Sombra when he chased them while they went from the train station to the empire, but that wouldn’t make any sense. It seemed they were at least trying to be nice, and he would have let her starve or done something else to break her spirits.

“That is good. I was concerned it would be foul after over a thousand years.” The creature’s shadows kept moving without purpose, as though the individual tendrils had a mind of their own. “Are you feeling better?”

Twilight only nodded to his question. Whoever this creature was, they seemed to play ‘good cop.’ The question remained: What happened to her friends? Were they inside the same prison, all alone, like she was?

“That is good.” They said, staring down at the fire in contemplation. Both sat in the warm glow of the flames for several minutes, the shadow creature adding another few twigs from the pile next to them.

Clearing her throat more, Twilight coughed a few more times. The water was helping, and the mushy food was taking effect. Over the minutes, she felt her strength returning to her, the numb tingling in her hooves evaporating. “W-What was that stuff you fed me?”

“Beats, I think.” The creature chuckled, turning back to her. “I’m not too sure. The residents didn’t label the jars in that cupboard.”

“W-Where am I?” She followed-up, looking to get at least a bit of information. Any bit would help to get back to her friends.

“North of Mount Everhoof.” They answered, returning to the fire. “This was an old town I made to hold the worst prisoners imaginable. It’s a shame to see it abandoned.” The eyes lowered toward the flame. “Some didn’t make it out.”

“W-Who are you?” Twilight needed to know. They couldn’t have been them. No, the king would be far more malicious, torturing her and... She didn’t want to think about him doing that to her. It still sounded like–

“I was called King Sombra long ago, and one day I will be again.”

Her heart pounded at the revelation she was mere pony lengths away from the evil king himself. But why was he here? Was he looking to interrogate her? She could only dread what that might entail, causing her to curl up more in her blanket.

“You probably heard many things about me from the southern tyrants. A lot of falsehoods meant to discredit who I am and what I stand for. They would do anything to prevent the fulfillment of my destiny. Whatever they said, whatever they believed me to be, they are wrong.”

“You enslaved the entire Crystal Empire!” Twilight snapped back. “You’re a monster!”

The shadow monster poked at the fire with a stick before wedging it inside the coals. “So that’s the lie? That I enslaved my subjects?”

“How do I know you aren’t lying to me?!” She squinted at the shadowy beast. “You’re a power-hungry tyrant, looking out for nopony but yourself!”

“Power-hungry...” They gave another chuckle at the two words. “Perhaps I am. If power means I can usher in a golden age for all ponies, then I will gladly seek it out. I may be a monster to some, but I always will do what I believe is best for my subjects.”

Twilight scowled into the flames, her mind going into overdrive to think of a way out. Was Sombra going to be the only one to see her? If she truly was stuck with only him, then it would be hopeless. The only solution would be to wait until the rescue.

Both sat in silence for hours, the king tending to the fire with pieces of wood they had brought with him. Was there nothing better to do for him? Why was he bothering to sit with her? Then an idea floated into her mind, one that picked up steam as she re-contextualized what little she has experienced. He didn’t win.

“What happened in the Crystal Empire?” Twilight asked, his eyes returning from the fire to hers. “I-I mean, what happened recently?”

The king was silent for a few moments, turning back to the flames in thought. “I wouldn’t let a pony die because of my mistake. You may have been my enemy, but even enemies don’t deserve to expire in such a way.”

“Y-You saved me?” She furrowed her brow in confusion. Was it all an elaborate lie? Was he trying to soften her up to his perspective? But why? Did he know who she was? No, that was impossible. He returned only a few days ago, and wouldn’t have had time or the ability to access information about the modern day.

“There will be time to reclaim my domain.” They poked at the fire, throwing the last pieces of dried bark into the flames. “I would not let such a mistake taint my reputation, even if it was dismissible in the grand scheme of things.”

“And foalnapping me won’t?” Her face only became more confused. Wasn’t this the most cruel and tyrannical ruler since Emperor Grogar? Was this an act to lower her defenses? Or was he telling the truth? If he was...

Were Celestia and Luna wrong about him?

“It is easier to justify imprisoning an enemy than it is to kill them.” He took a moment to himself, leaving her to stew on the answers. “I’m afraid I must be going. Preparations for my return will not happen on their own. I’ll be back in an hour or two with more firewood and water. Farewell for now.” They moved away, but not before Twilight called out to them:

“Wait! I didn’t even tell you my name!” The king turned back, although only their eyes in the darkness signified it. With her throat swallowing her anxiety, she smiled a crooked grin. “I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

“See you again soon, Twilight Sparkle.” He said as he returned to the shadows.

The royal chariot descended upon the Crystal Empire, two dozen following behind and flying over to the northern border. The lead landed near to where the Crystal Heart made its gentle rotations while another two touched down nearby. Both regal sisters dismounted, entering the spire with their guards where they encountered Captain Shining Armor waiting for them.

“Your majesties.” The prince gave a curt bow. “Please, this way.”

The captain led them toward the throne chamber, both of them scanning the surrounding halls. It was far nicer than either expected, to be honest. But it may have been a stylistic choice for the former king or the quick work of enthusiastic crystal ponies. Shining Armor pushed open the doors to the room, revealing those standing by for the princesses. The Elements of Harmony and Spike were waiting for them, perking up with their entrance. Atop the throne was Cadance, looking haggard from the time spent awake now that the energy boost from the Crystal Heart left her.

“Princess Celestia!” The other elements rushed up to her, bowing their heads low.

“Nice to see I’m remembered.” Luna said under her breath, Celestia frowning at her.

“Aunt Celestia! Aunt Luna!” Cadance left the throne, making her way over without haste. Before she could speak, a yawn cutting off her next words. “I’m so sorry. I wanted to talk to you before–“ Another yawn. “But I really should go to bed.”

“Rest, Cadance. You’ve done more than enough for today.” Celestia placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “We’ll take it from here.”

The pink princess left the room with Shining Armor following behind, Celestia taking the throne. They waited a few minutes for the captain to return before beginning the meeting, the seven ponies and dragon assembling at the base.

“King Sombra escaping complicates things.” Celestia said to those gathered. “If he is behind Twilight’s disappearance, I don’t hold much hope we will find her in time.”

The elements gasped, Spike being the one to voice his thoughts. “How can you say that?! S-She has to be fine!”

“You don’t know the king like my sister and I do.” Luna interjected from the closest position to the throne. “He’s a cruel, vindictive pony with no restraint. If Twilight is with him, I’m afraid that finding her will be near impossible.”

“I don’t want to give up on my student.” Celestia said with regret, one that turned the despair of her pupil’s friends up another notch. “But it is unlikely we will find her in the frozen wastelands. Hundreds of ponies disappeared from the empire during his rule, with not even a hint as to where they had gone. I believe we should focus our efforts on counteracting King Sombra and preventing his return.”

“With the Elements of Harmony rendered inert, we need another solution.” Luna continued. “The king is an expert in almost every known form of magic, including several my sister and I only heard of. Attempting to defeat him with nothing less than brute strength won’t work. He is a persuasive smooth-talking liar, a tactician and strategist surpassing even myself, more adept at magic than Star Swirl the Bearded. And worst of all is that he is unrestrained by moral and ethical concerns.”

The others were still silent, each mulling over the prospect of never seeing their friend or family member again. Celestia frowned at the sight, knowing the anguish they must be working through. “I’m sorry, but it is simply the truth. The best we can do is make sure nopony else suffers from his cruelty.”

“B-But what if we can find Twilight?” Applejack spoke. “What if she is fine?”

“Then we’ll worry about that when the time comes.” Luna nodded.

“Captain, would you please organize a militia to form a new Crystal Guard?” Celestia turned to Shining Armor. “While we have brought several hundred of our own guards, there’s no telling how many we will need to delay his approach. We must make use of every resource available to ensure he does not succeed.”

He nodded with care, thinking it over. “I’ll... get on it.” He cantered off, desiring a task that could distract him from the emotions plaguing him. Once gone, Celestia turned to the other elements.

“I would like all of you to assist with setting up the guard positions in the northern city. I will send messengers to collect you when Luna and I have found a solution.”

The others trudged off, Spike taking one last depressed glance to both princesses before leaving himself. Luna closed the throne room doors and locked them, hopefully ensuring nopony would interrupt.

“Are you certain we can’t find her, my sister?”

“Not for certain.” Celestia sat back on the throne, staring to the ceiling and the map painted to it. It possessed a mural of the entire city, the different segments color-coded and marked. “You know as well as I do that all our spies never made it home. If he had captured and killed them, I fear that is what will happen to Twilight.”

“May I suggest something?” Luna cleared her throat. “I can search for Twilight’s dreams to determine her location, if she isn’t stuck in a living nightmare.”

“Please do. If there’s even a chance she’s alive, I want to know.”

“Doesn’t matter to me. You failed the test, Twilight!” Celestia turned toward the unicorn, a disappointed frown on her face. They both stood in a royal memorial hall, stained glass windows to either side, depicting various events over the years. Beneath them was the crimson carpet which ran the length of the hall between the sets of doors, and flower baskets at the top of each pillar. It was a truly regal sight for a hallway, one of the three in the castle which possessed such features.

“I don’t understand! The test?” Twilight asked with worry, trotting up to her mentor.

“Not only will you not move on to the next level of your studies, you won’t continue your studies at all!” Celestia pushed Twilight aside with her wing.

“I...” Twilight’s eyes watered, lips quivering. “You didn’t say anything about no longer being your student if I failed?”

The alicorn princess faded away from the world, the outside turning from day to night. The window depicting the Crystal Empire falling to Sombra disappeared with a flash that blinded Twilight for a few moments, Luna flying from it to land next to her.

“Twilight Sparkle!” Luna hugged her close, petting her mane. “Thank the stars you’re alright!”

“Princess Luna?” Twilight wiped her eyes, pushing the lunar princess back to look around the now blurring hall. “I-Is this–”

“Yes. It is a mere nightmare.” She nodded to the unicorn, looking around the darkened hall for something specific. “Do you know where you are?”

“I’m in...” Twilight stopped and reconsidered her words. She would have said Canterlot, but the idea it was a nightmare forced her back into the mindset that here is not the same as where she is in reality. “I’m up north, past Mount Everhoof. There’s a town - I think - with a prison! King Sombra brought me there.”

Luna brought a hoof to her chin in thought. “I would need to check the old maps. Perhaps it’s charted.”

“Luna, King Sombra doesn’t seem like the pony I was told about.” Twilight said, getting Luna to scrunch up her brows at her.

“King Sombra is a masterful liar and will seek to manipulate you to suit his ends. Anything he says is up for debate. Do not trust the words of one who would seek your enslavement, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight nodded, re-contextualizing his apparent acts of kindness. “Alright. Please come get me as soon as you can. I’ll see if I can break out on my own, but I can’t use my magic.”

The world rippled around them, Luna floating upwards. “We shall find you, Twilight Sparkle. Staaayyy strooooong!”

Luna floated into the window as everything crashed down around her.

Twilight woke up startled, breathing a few times in the chilly air, her body shivering. Sombra was back, floating next to the fire like usual.

“A nightmare?” He asked.

“N-No, nothing like that.” Twilight stayed quiet for a minute, feeling the cold creep in on her. With a great sigh against her comforting fabric, she got off her bed to sit next to the bars as close as possible to the fire’s warmth.

“Hungry?”

“Not right now.” She said in reply. As she sat, her throat begged for something more. “Umm, can I actually have some water?”

“Of course.” The shadow floated off into the darkness, returning a few minutes later with a cup. He held it above the fire until it steamed, at which point they passed it through the bars.

While Twilight drank, another concern became clear. She turned around and examined the shadowy cell she now called her temporary home. Other than the bed, there was also a chair, an empty bookshelf, and a toilet. After she finished with her cup, she passed it back through, pausing her next ask before forcing out the words.

“Can–“ She cringed at the thought. “Can I have some privacy? I need to, umm...”

“Oh.” They floated away from the fire. “Of course. I’ll be back in a few minutes. I must gather more tinder material.”

“Thanks.” she said under her breath, waiting a few more seconds before heading into the shiver-inducing darkened parts of her cell. Twilight sat on the toilet, holding her head in her hooves and taking deep breaths, not sure if she was being watched. It was humiliating, having to ask for permission like a foal. Last time she had to go, he had been away, giving a little privacy for her business without resorting to asking him.

Why did he stick around so much, anyway? The only question he had asked her that wasn’t related to her current feelings was what the ‘metal mount’ was she arrived in. It didn’t hurt to tell him it was called a train. Did he not care who she was or why she was fighting against him?

Finishing her business, she reached for wipes, sighing at the realization that there were none. She did her best to wiggle the last few drops into the toilet before flushing, sending the bodily waste into a pit beneath her. With nothing more to do, she made her way back to the bars, staring out at the fire. Not like there was anything better to do being trapped inside a freezing, lifeless cell. This would be her life from now until she was released, either by herself or by being rescued. Assuming they were going to rescue her.

As he said, he returned a few minutes later, dropping several dozen logs, bundles of twigs, and bark sheets at the edge of the light the fire provided. “Here, this is for you.” A tendril pushed another blanket through the bars. “It can get quite cold without the heating crystals working.”

Twilight took the blanket and wrapped it around herself, mumbling: “Thank you.”

There they sat, both staring at the fire without a word. Twilight sighed, thinking of how much her friends were missing her. At least now they would know she’s alright, and she probably would receive visits each night from Princess Luna just to make sure it stayed that way.

“Were those other ponies with you your companions?” The shadow asked, adding another piece of firewood to the fire.

“Mostly. My brother...” She didn’t know if she should tell him. He would use everything she said to manipulate her, if he really was like what Luna had said.

“Not on grand terms with him?” The king asked, his eyes still focused on the flames that licked into the open air.

“I-It’s not that. I...” She let out a sigh into her blankets. “Sorry.”

“What is the apology for?” His eyes shifted back up to meet her own, the orange reflecting against hers.

“I don’t know if I can trust you.”

“Fair enough.” He turned back to the source of warmth and light. “I never had siblings. I don’t know what it is like between two of similar blood to vie for the affections of their parents.”

Twilight shifted in her blanket. “Oh...” She didn’t know what to say to that. It sounded like the truth. It was so inconsequential, mundane. Why would he need to lie about it? “What about your parents?”

The king sat a moment longer before answering. “They were wonderful. I may not have been expected, but they loved me with all their hearts and would have been proud of who I became.”

“And what was your foalhood like?” Twilight kept pressing. Maybe the king would be a bit more specific. Something to show that he was trying to manipulate her. A sob-story or something to try getting her to pity him, then play the ‘woe is me’ card?

“Plenty of friends to keep me busy.” A light chuckle escaped the wispy shadows. “Radiant Hope was my best friend for the longest time, but...” His voice became quieter, his prisoner tilting her head. “She would have been happy to know what I would do.”

Clearing her throat: “What happened to her?”

“Old age.” The king said with a deep regret in his voice, her attention now peaking. “I begged her to keep going, but she felt it was her time to go. I would not force her to do what she didn’t want. When you live as long as I have, you see all those from your youth fade. I spent four hundred years getting over her passing.” He paused again, again only deepening the confusion. “Still haven’t even after another thousand.”

“Wow.” Twilight said to herself in a whisper, snuggling tighter into her blanket. “I-I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. She wished to let her soul pass beyond the veil. I didn’t. I’m happy that she passed on her own terms without regrets. If we had to go through that moment a second time, we both would have chosen our current paths. Such is life. All my foalhood friends passed on, yet I chose to live forever. There weren’t many I could call my friends after becoming king. My duties came first.”

“Did you know Star Swirl?” She asked.

“Yes, for a time. Star Swirl the Bearded encountered me on one of his northward-ly trips with his companions.” Sombra turned back to her. “Him and I didn’t really get along.”

“Why not?”

“He believed certain forms of magic to be ‘evil’, that they should not be touched or studied. I disagreed with that notion. I proved the superiority of my beliefs by overthrowing the puppet on the throne after spending centuries of study into the forbidden magics. My subjects received unparalleled prosperity, and as a punishment for over forty years of benevolent rulership, the princesses banished me.”

“D-Did you cast a curse on the empire to make it disappear?” She had to ask. If he will be honest about his crimes, there may be hope of reforming him. “Did you wipe your fellow pony’s memories?”

“Yes, on both accounts. I couldn’t let it fall into the hooves of the southern tyrants. All information to secure the empire I needed to remove in case they tried to do anything to counter my rule from within. All texts edited or destroyed related to the Crystal Heart or the Crystal Fair.” Sombra let out a small chortle. “Clearly, I missed some.”

“But wouldn’t that only harm the crystal ponies?” She frowned. “They wouldn’t know how to perform the Crystal Fair to fill them with light and love.”

He stayed silent for a moment. “I kept a few books locked away in my personal library with the entire history of our traditions. If the empire were to have fallen, I could return the lost knowledge. Our traditions could be restored with what I preserved in that archive. But they don’t need the heart to be filled with love. They always had it within themselves.”

“Huh.” Twilight stared at the eyes, the green and purple seeming to grow softer. Did he... No, it was all a lie. It had to be! Luna and Celestia were adamant. He’s trying to manipulate her.

R-Right?

Chapter 3: Ponyville Blues

With all that she had to deal with, the days blurred into an incomprehensible mess. At any given moment, a dozen things raced through her mind, most being longer plans that sometimes went decades into the future. It was normal as far as Celestia went. The question of which duties were reasonable for her sister to take on was her most recent sticking point worth pondering. While Luna wasn’t inexperienced with administration, her effectiveness and tact was... questionable.

Their mom always wanted them to rule side-by-side. It was the plan she left in her journal and it was what Celestia had tried to foster with her little sister. Despite her efforts, Luna was always more interested in being an autocrat who ruled without consulting others, taking after their father in that regard. In a time of absolutism, it wasn’t so bad.

But nowadays...

“Princess?” The mare seeking her audience tore Celestia from her thoughts.

“Hmm? Oh, can you please repeat that, Countess Luscious?” She sat up on her throne, focusing her complete attention on the noble that stood at the base.

She launched back into her long-winded explanation of what happened at a gathering with several other nobles. The complaint wasn’t new. Neither was the end request.

“Therefore, I formally request Prince Blueblood be publicly chastised for his behavior. It is completely unacceptable for royalty to engage in such crude acts!”

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention, countess. I’ll be sure to confront him regarding his behavior. I understand why it is upsetting and agree that it is unacceptable. That being said, I don’t believe that humiliating him in public is justified unless he continues to act in such a manner.”

“Thank you, your majesty.” The noble gave a slight bow. “I don’t wish to exclude him from our weekly get-together on account of something like this, but I will if he keeps harassing my friends.”

“Understandable.” Celestia nodded, returning a mother’s smile back to the mare before asking: “Was there anything else you needed?”

“Not at this moment, your highness. You have my thanks for addressing this issue.” She gave a deep bow before turning and heading back down the throne chamber to leave.

Celestia sat back as she watched the mare, holding the smile until the door at the other end closed. With her unamused frown returning, she slumped back on her throne, rubbing her head.

“Do you need some willow bark tea, your majesty?” Raven asked from where she stood to the side of the throne.

“No, I’ll be fine. I only need a minute.”

Every day felt the same. Nobles with inane requests, short-sighted or greedy businessponies desiring her to overturn loans being turned down by the central bank, Blueblood making an ass of himself, or other minor business that was far beneath royal intervention. It was rare to see somepony with something proper to consider.

The doors at the other end burst open, with a small group of guards charging up to bow before her throne. “Your highness! Ponyville has raised a distress beacon!”

“Hmm... Do you know what it is about?” She got up from her throne, stretching her legs. “Raven, please tell those waiting for an audience that the day court is delayed.”

“Our scout is making their way over as we speak.” The guards fell in line around her as they entered the halls. One guard hurried off to get the chariot guards while they made their way onto the platform. Celestia sat down on the windswept chariot at the back of the castle when the pegasi guards rushed out to hook themselves up to the harnesses. This will be a pleasant change of pace.

The guards set off without delay. Within twenty minutes they were passing over Ponyville and she could see the pink problem they were having. The chariot descended in front of the library, the remaining four elements of harmony bursting out with their resident dragon. “Princess Celestia!” They called out, gathering around her as she stepped down from the chariot, several Pinkies bouncing past them saying ‘Fun!’ in repetition.

“I think I have an idea what this is about.” Celestia provided a smile between the five, stepping through the group to enter the library. Her search into the books on old Everfree Forest legends turned up the one she was looking for rather quick. “Can you all please round up the Pinkie Pies into town hall? I believe I know how to determine which is the real one.”

“Anythin’ you need princess! We don’t wanna lose another friend of ours.” Applejack led the rest outside while Celestia reread the spell and made a few modifications.

“Princess?” Spike grabbed at her tail, getting her to turn back to him. “H-How do you know which is the real Pinkie?”

“I can tell who are bearers of the Elements of Harmony, Spike.” Her confident smile perked up his own certainty. “Can you check around town for any Pinkie Pies that may be hiding?”

“Of course! Anything you need!” He ran out, her thoughts returning to the spell. With as good of a modification as she could make on short notice, she put the book back into its proper place and she left from the library. Twilight would have been able to deduce a similar measure if she was around, which may have led to an uncomfortable discussion about one of her closest friends. Gratefully, that talk wouldn’t need to happen yet.

The royal guards brought with her gathered around the front of town hall to make sure no Pinkies escaped, Celestia proceeding to stand atop the stage to watch them get brought in. She cast a spell from her horn to see the soul-signatures of the Pinkies, trying to find the right one.

After about half-an-hour, most of the Pinkies rushed inside followed by the Apple Family that had herded them up, the pink fakes all hopping around saying the same word they had been the entire time. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash each flew in with a Pinkie of their own, Rarity entering with two in her magic to add to the pile.

“Welcome Pinkie Pies!” Celestia raised her voice to royal levels to drown them out, grabbing the mob’s attention. “I’m sure you are all wondering why you are here. Please have a seat and we will begin the show shortly!”

The Pinkies all sat around and giggled with each other while Celestia looked over the crowd. The elements gathered beside her, hoping that they would find their real friend. One Pinkie was anything but excited, the one Pinkie with the largest chaotic energy signature of them all, standing out like a sore hoof.

“I will need a volunteer from the crowd!” Celestia said to the room at large, being swamped by ‘Pick me!’s and raised hooves. “Ah! We have a volunteer!” She floated the real Pinkie from the crowd and up onto the stage, setting her down next to her. “Now we may begin!”

Her horn grew brighter as she charged the spell, the fake Pinkies having no clue what was about to happen. All clones targeted. Now all that’s needed is the magic. A few clones became confused about what was happening while they sat and the light bathed over them, but they didn’t realize it soon enough before beams of light contacted every clone at once.

The Pinkies were all reduced to yellow wisps that flowed from the town hall. When the smoke cleared and light eased, there was only the Pinkie on the stage remaining.

“Wowie, princess! How d’ya know who was the real Pinkie?” Applejack asked while the other three elements hugged their saved friend.

“Let’s just say a princess has her secrets.” She winked, stepping up to the real Pinkie Pie. “Do you have something you would like to tell me?”

“Yeah, hehe.” She rubbed the back of her head with a shy smile. “Dear Princess Celestia...”

Another day, another fire to stare at.

It was getting more bearable with the extra blankets King Sombra had given her from around the prison. Some had holes, some stained, but most were in good condition despite a thousand years sitting idle. Her seat had turned into more of a laying spot with how many there were. Whenever the king left, she took the opportunity to use the toilet, sob, or open the blankets to get more of the fire’s fleeting warmth.

Right now, however, he was floating where he always did. It had been several days of waiting with only Luna and Sombra to keep her company. The king had tried asking her several questions about the politics of Equestria, ones she refused to elaborate on, even if she didn’t have only the slightest clue. He was fishing for something from her, that much was certain.

“You must have met Princesses Celestia and Luna, correct?” He asked as sudden as usual, snapping her from attention away from her absent thoughts.

She shuffled in her blankets. “A little.”

“I knew them when they were still foals when I returned from my studies to plan out what I sought to accomplish. I met with their mother and father to discuss my plans. That is when I first met them.” He let out a chuckle at the old memories. “You should have heard what Luna used to be called back in those days. She had a hard time pronouncing her ‘L’s, so she pronounced her name ‘Woona’.”

A tiny smile crossed Twilight’s face. “Sounds like they were like any other pony else once upon a time.”

The king fell back into silence, poking at the fire with a stick. “It’s sometimes hard to imagine that your opponents used to be innocent. A hardened soldier may have once played instruments for their class and cried when they got a scrape on their leg. At some point, the violent world caught up with them. As it catches up with us all.”

“What was that point for you?” Her voice lowered to above the crackle of the fire.

“Radiant’s death. I had been studying all manner of magic before then, but when she passed, the weight of my choice became overwhelming. My parents had passed decades before, and I never saw my extended family outside of the fairs. Nothing held me back from leaving the city in pursuit of something else.”

“Why did you return?”

“Why?” He let out a small laugh, turning to her. “I met somepony who made their own rules. I wanted to make my own, and to give others that same opportunity.”

Twilight shuffled in her blankets, averting his gaze. “So what got you interested in magic in the first place?”

“I saw somepony use it to make fireworks. It’s not a very interesting story. My family was attending the Crystal Fair. They stood up on a stage and started firing off bursts of magic into the air. I didn’t realize who they were at the time, not that it mattered in the end. What about you? What are you interested in besides serving the princessdom?”

She bit her tongue, deciding the truth wouldn’t hurt. “I’m interested in magic, too. I saw Celestia at the Summer Sun Celebration one time with my parents and was interested in it ever since.”

“She is a remarkable mare.” She almost missed his chuckles between the crackles of the fire. If she had heard right, it sounded like he had a closer relationship with Celestia than he was letting on. What the details of that relationship were, she didn’t know.

Twilight cleared her throat to get his attention again. “So you really knew Star Swirl? Did you two get into a fight over the magic you used?”

“Never a fight. However, we had many arguments. He was still furious at me for my takeover of the Crystal Empire, but never attempted to remove me from my throne. He really did take after his father. Perhaps more than he realized.”

“My mom always said that my brother took after our uncle and that I took after Celestia.” She let out a giggle before stopping with a sharp drop of her face, her eyes widening as she realized she had screwed up.

“So you do know Celestia more than as a princess.” Twilight averted her gaze from his, shutting up and snuggling into her blankets. Sombra kept his eyes on her even as she shrunk back. “There is no need to hide your complicity. I already know that you have some relation with her. She was never one to keep a distance from her potential agents, which is how they ended up getting caught most of the time.”

She kept her mouth shut, waiting until he turned and left her. With a breath of relief, she cursed herself for slipping up.

I need to be more careful.

The report in Celestia’s magic seemed almost ludicrous. A giant dome over Ponyville? The Alicorn Amulet? A stage magician turned despot? Only Ponyville could produce something like that.

“Princess?” Fluttershy shifted on her hooves at the base of the throne. “What are we going to do?”

“Do not worry, Fluttershy. Luna and I will handle this.” She floated the report down to Raven before getting up from the throne, walking past the concerned pegasus to lead her deeper into the castle. “This isn’t the first time we’ve dealt with magic on this caliber. This ‘Alicorn Amulet’ is no match for a true alicorn, let alone two.”

The princess led the mare into the castle spires, down to the one emblazoned in silver with Luna’s cutie mark. The amount of stairs that had to be climbed to reach the top was always why she flew over to the balcony. Her sister’s isolation left much to be desired, both personal and professional, the two entering the hallway with only two Lunar Guards standing at attention in front of the door.

Celestia strode over and nodded to them, the one on the right unlocking the chamber to let her in. They couldn’t stop her if they wanted, but formalities are formalities. On pushing open her door, the pitch black interior of her sister’s room met her, illuminated by only the light streaming in from the dim hall. The princess motioned her hoof for Fluttershy to stay, igniting her horn and switching on the lights.

Pillows flew at her from the bed, stopped in her magic field to float back over to the grumpy alicorn. “I’m sorry, sister. There is a situation in Ponyville I need you for.”

“Go get your Solar Guards, I’m sleeping.” Luna said into her pillow, her sister floating the regalia from the dresser to hover next to the bed. Her frowning, baggy-eyed sister raised her head, letting out a sigh before climbing down and pulling them on. “Ponyville?”

“Fluttershy is outside waiting for us. The pony responsible for disturbing your rest is an old rival of Twilight, one who has taken to using artifacts they do not understand.”

“This better end in them in the dungeon. Disturbing the sleep of a princess should be a criminal offense.”

Celestia let the remark pass along with Luna, the two leaving into the hall to collect the pegasus mare. Their travels took them to the chariot platform where one was prepared while she was dealing with the disgruntled moon. Their trip passed in silence, Luna spending the time to try waking up. Dark clouds had formed at the top of the dome, no doubt dark magic buildup from the artifact’s abuse.

They landed next to the dome, Luna taking a deep breath and cracking her neck. “Should we signal we’re here?”

“I think this will go faster if we skip straight to the spell.”

“Um, t-the spell?” Fluttershy glanced between the two, both ignoring her.

“Seems overkill for a single artifact.”

“It’s the Alicorn Amulet, Luna.”

The muzzle of the lunar princess scrunched up, her horn igniting along with Celestia’s, the tips touching. Both closed their eyes and focused, Fluttershy feeling the wind wrapping around the two. The now white light kept growing, the mare needing to cover her eyes from the brightness.

In a single burst, a shot impacted the dome and spread across it, cracking the magical glass until it hit the top. A flash of light accompanied the shattering of the barrier, magic bouncing into the town as both regal sisters took deep breaths.

“Now let’s go get the amulet.” Celestia said, taking the first steps, the other two following behind. Their trek took them into the town with banners of red and black displayed images of stars or a unicorn in a hat rearing onto their hind-legs. What few ponies that saw them pointed them in the right direction, toward where a crowd had gathered at the market.

In the middle of the crowd, wheezing on the ground, was the blue unicorn responsible for all the mayhem. “Not as impressive as I was expecting, to be honest.” Luna said as Celestia stepped forward and knelt down. The unicorn turned their teary and hateful eyes on the princess, reaching behind her neck to peel off the amulet with a squeal and sigh of relief. The regal sister took it into her magic and brought it back over to Luna who applied a warded sphere around it.

“Does anypony know where the local guard is?” Celestia asked around, several ponies pointing off toward the barracks. While Luna left back to the chariot and Fluttershy to reunite with her friends, she carried the burned unicorn to the home that served its function, entering inside to see that Sergeant Idle Patrol was lounging back in the jail cell. “Sergeant, we have a prisoner for you to hold until they’re transferred to Canterlot. I think you’ll find some satisfaction in this.”

She dropped Trixie in front of the cell doors, opening them up for him to leave and drag her in onto a bed, grabbing the suppressant ring Celestia floated over to attach to the unicorn’s horn. “That looks like a nasty burn.”

“The castle doctor will tend to her when she’s thrown into the dungeon.” She stood before the mare, their nose having scrunched up as tears rolled down their cheeks. The unicorn wasn’t so high and mighty with second-degree burns on her neck and chest, laying atop a standard-issue royal guard cot. The interrogation could wait. There was no rush to find out where she got the Alicorn Amulet from or why she used it.

The Princess of the Sun turned and strode from the home back to where the chariot was waiting, her sister having taken her seat to fiddle with the wards containing the amulet. After taking her own seat, the guards set off back for Canterlot.

“Tell me how this got loose in the world. We had it secure when... well, when THAT happened.” Luna leaned back, taking the sphere into hooves as her sister’s face scrunched up.

“All that matters is that it is now returned to our possession.”

“Perhaps. But this could have ended much worse if it had gotten into the hooves of somepony more competent.”

“And now it never will. It should go into Canterhorn Vault for the foreseeable future.“

Luna bit on her response, returning to stare at the amulet that once was blue and white, now red and black. What happened to it? Did the magic within corrupt at some point? How did Celestia lose something so powerful?

There must be an answer, and she won’t stop asking until Tia tells her the truth.

More crackles broke up the silence as a log split open, the king shoving another into an open area on the side. Twilight’s eyes stayed on the flames licking into the open air, taking a breath in of the light amount of smoke that drifted her way. Every sensation she could get helped to keep her mind on task. The tallies on the wall were approaching the two weeks mark, and yet the interrogations remained light.

“And this ‘train’ carriage... Is it powered by magic?”

“Coal and water. A little magic is used to clean the air that comes from the engines.” Twilight took a deep breath. Luna said they were still looking for the king’s old maps. She promised her they would come rescue her from his manipulation attempts. Two weeks in prison, mane greasy and hooves only clean by virtue of the water he brought for her.

“I see a possible application of crystal-based prisms to induce the heating effect. What turns the wheels of the engine?”

“It uses the water to turn the wheels. I don’t know how.”

The king returned to his silence. In truth, she knew how the wheels turned, but keeping specifics from Sombra would make it more difficult to replicate. He already made the guess that the coal was being used to heat the water with only her mention of both materials. Would he know if–

“Steam pushes components within, I would assume. These components turn the wheels, which lay on those metal tracks to reduce friction from terrain. I’ve seen it implemented before on smaller scales, however, application remained limited by our imaginations. The components elude me. However, it shouldn’t be impossible to figure out how they did it.” Twilight held her sheets tighter. One small piece and he already gets it. “I am curious about the rest of the world. Is Pegasopolis still floating?”

“It hasn’t been called that in a long time. It’s... Yes, it’s still floating.”

“I do marvel at the ingenuity of the pegasi. Despite not knowing the specifics of the technology or horns to use magic directly, their enchanters still created crude copies of the hurricane drives. I can only imagine what advancements they made to the weather core interface in my absence.”

Weather core? Hurricane drives? Crude copies of these ‘drives’? What was he going on about? She knew Cloudsdale used magic crystals to move the city as a unit, and the weather factory was anything but a single core component.

“I-If you don’t mind me asking...” She cleared her throat. “W-What’s the ‘weather core’?”

“Ah. They must keep it a secret.” He poked at the flames with a stick. “It is what they use to control local weather patterns. I saw it once during my tour of Equestria. It should look like a massive crystal matrix, if you’ve seen it. Incredible piece of technology, that is. It is what makes the stratofortress so deadly.”

“Strato... fortress?”

“Yes? Did they demilitarize it?” His eyes turned to her, Twilight flicking hers away. What is he talking about? Cloudsdale hasn’t been militarized since Equestria’s founding... Or at least that’s what she thought from her education. Was it still armored back in those days? Wait, how would they armor clouds? Now that she thought of it, the old parts of the city contained far more metal structures, EUP soldiers, and... unusual glowing parts.

“H-How many ponies lived in, um, Pegasopolis when you were around?”

“I would guess a hundred-thousand. I knew there were plans to construct a second stratofortress to defend the west coast while the citadel patrolled around Canterlot. There must be a second cloud citadel you’ve heard of. It wouldn’t take a thousand years to make.”

Las Pegasus. An old city like Cloudsdale, founded when the former cloud city anchored to the mountains near the town of Applewood. But a fortress? No, the history books...

Were the history books wrong? Was the truth closer to what Sombra was saying? A hundred-thousand pegasi could live in the core of Cloudsdale, with the other million or so in the more cloudy parts. But how could ancient Equestria make an advanced crystal matrix? No, he had to be lying about that.

“I suppose not.” His comment snapped her from her thoughts, returning to the real world. “If it crashed or landed at some point, I can see why they wouldn’t mention it. They never could get the hurricane drives exact, not without the necessary mana reserves.”

Twilight kept quiet, hoping he would end this line of discussion to move on to–

“These trains could make connecting the empire much easier. Logistics were always a severe issue with waging war, requiring the use of local resources if it couldn’t be sourced from within our own territory. Centralizing most of the population in the city proved to be both an advantage and a disadvantage. We could grow all agricultural supplies for the two million citizens within the immediate fields around the capital, no need to defend non-vital civilian centers. Although, it came at the cost of not having the local populace assist with military operations. Trains could certainly change that when I return.”

“T-Two million? I-I saw the city was large, but that large?”

“Canterlot is near half the size and surely there are a million living there by now, are there not?”

“I-I guess so, yeah. I just wasn’t expecting for that many to be fed from only the city area.”

“One day we will fill the fields around the capital with farms, then with artisans and citizens. It may take centuries to reach that point, however. And I wish to decentralize the city into the nearby hills to reduce the congestion of infrastructure. Some may even want to return to their old towns to see how they’ve changed in the millennia.”

“And you’d let them?”

“Of course. We can address the issues of old with new technology. We could even setup a network of crystal-based communication devices across the north to provide real-time updates of the situation elsewhere in the empire. I’ll need to update the maps I have in the library near my room, of course, but I feel it would be beneficial in the long-term.”

He’d let them... But... No, it had to be a lie. He had to be lying! There’s no way he wasn’t! If the princesses are so certain of his true nature, there must be something he’s hiding!

And it’s only a matter of time before she figures out what it is.

“The stairwells don’t have any signatures.”

“I found something in one of the hallways.” Luna strode the rest of the way down the hall toward her sister. The crystal walls of the palace made hiding secrets very easy for a skilled mage. Hay, even an amateur mage could get it done if they knew how.

“A secret room?”

“From the looks of it, yes.” She led Celestia back in the other direction. “I also checked on his prisoner. Twilight said there is a library near Sombra’s bedroom. He apparently keeps maps in there. However, we should be careful.”

“Quite right.” The two proceeded back down the seemingly endless stairs. It was one thing that never changed about ‘King’ Sombra. The stairs...

Luna and her got to the third floor and scanned either side of the hall leading to the bedroom with their magic. If he hid something, it would have to be masterful to be–

“Found it!” Celestia said, Luna looking across the way to her sister casting the revealing wards around the area. “That was easier than I thought.”

A quick look down the hall showed it was at the other end of the hall from the royal suite. Nearby the bedroom...

“It could be a–“ Celestia cut her sister off by casting magic onto the wards and revealing the doorway before scanning it.

“No. Not a trap.” She opened it and entered, Luna taking her time to follow behind. It was an activated space from the magic signatures it gave off as she kept her horn at the ready. Her sister, meanwhile, was scanning every shelf and taking select books to check. “Ah ha! A blueprint of the castle!” She brought the larger-than-normal book over to a table to flip through it. “Looks like that room upstairs is marked as a storage room, and... that’s it.”

“That’s it?”

“He made two changes to the original designs.” Celestia tapped her hoof on the text, Luna coming over and doing her own scan. The design of the Crystal Spire was exact to what they mapped, except with the extra library and the storage room.

She hummed as she scanned her eyes around the library, going over to one shelf and checking the titles. Organized by category, then alphabetical. Her hoof trailed the crystal shelves until she arrived at thaumaturgy, taking a small ream of papers wedged between two books. A spell to...

“I... what?” Celestia stood at her words, moving over to check it, her grin growing.

“He must be overconfident in his abilities if he was willing to keep this here.” She grabbed the copied spell and took it with her to the doorway while Luna looked around the room. Half of the books were in Old Ponish, maybe a tenth in Ponish, a hoofful in Old Griffish, and the rest in... Old Script. She didn’t know Old Script, or Old Griffish. How many languages did he speak? There was at least one written in Batongue and two written in Ancient Ponish.

Luna followed her sister, making their way back up the stairs via their wings. Much faster to fly up than it is down, and soon enough they arrived at the area where the door was, down the hall from a window and a few other storage rooms. Celestia read over the spell one last time before casting it onto the barren section of the wall, stepping forward to phase through it. Luna followed behind into...

“Sweet Primiria...” Celestia held her hoof over her mouth, both taking in what they had just walked into. The map was exact, except for the fact it was a magical artifacts storage room with hundreds of different powerful artifacts on par with the Alicorn Amulet or stronger. But her sister’s eyes were on the other end of the room, and soon hers were too.

A tube with wards etched into the glass lay at the end of their gaze. And more important than anything else in the room, the yellow mold within.

“There’s a third alicorn in Equestria now?”

Twilight returned her eyes to the shadows and malevolent eyes, tonguing her cheek to figure out if she wanted to answer that question. He must have seen Cadance. He’d find out about her anyway, so answering honestly wouldn’t hurt.

“Princess Cadance.”

“Uh, huh. And this Princess Cadance was born an alicorn?”

“I... can an alicorn be born?”

“How do you think Celestia and Luna were made?” He let out a light chuckle at the confusion on her face. “The first, at least according to the old legend, was born to two ordinary ponies. A very rare combination of genetics and magic to produce something purer than any other. They age as slow as a star. They’ll live far longer than I will, or any of us. I sometimes try to understand what it would be like to see everyone and everything you love crumble around you.”

“D-Do you know how long?”

Sombra stayed silent for a few moments. “Longer than you or I. Millions, if not billions of years at least. Us modern ponies haven’t been around longer than two million. It’s hard to say how long they last when they don’t show signs of aging or decay.”

“And how would you know this?” She narrowed her eyes at him, searching for that one piece. It was week three of her imprisonment, week three of being lied to by him. Luna had the maps now. It was only a matter of waiting for them to arrive to find and free her.

“You hear a great many things when you travel to distant corners of the world. The overgrown ruined cities of southern Zebrica, the artificial terrain and great walls in eastern Griffonia, the ancient fortress-monasteries of Centauria. It all points to a single conclusion: There were once far more alicorns alive. I don’t know precisely how many, but at least a hundred-thousand based on the oldest of records I’ve been able to read.”

‘Records.’ Nopony would believe his fantastical tales without hard evidence. If these cities, walls, and fortresses existed, it should be easy to prove. Go and check them... The Bulwark of Boreas. A wall two hundred poni in height, separating Central Griffonia from the east. It was real, as far as she knew, and was something that baffled scholars from the books she read on the ‘Wonders of the World.’

Now that she thought hard, five more of the wonders were also strange. Arimaspi, the Great Pyramid of the Magnificent Miraliup, Borealum’s Citadel, the Senatorial Congregational in northern Zebrica, and Mount Aris. The only one that didn’t fit was Mount Everhoo–

“Do you know this ‘Princess Cadance’ well?” And here Sombra is to extract relevant information from her. Twilight let out a sigh into her blanket, hoping he would take her silence as a no. At first, it seemed to work, until he spoke again. “I saw her with your brother as I made my approach. He must hold an important position to be accompanying a Princess of Equestria.”

“He’s a guard.” She let out a grumble into her blankets, cuddling into their embrace even harder. Her hooves felt numb from how hard she gripped them. If he knew they were a couple, he would know she was a valuable hostage.

“Ah. Any other siblings or only him?”

“No, he’s...” She shut her eyes and scrunched up her muzzle. Stupid! Tell him nothing!

Sombra kept quiet, waiting until she reopened her eyes. “Is it so bad to have a friendly chat?”

“Y-You’re not g-going to break me.” She snarled at the floating green and purple, keeping her eyes on his before returning them to the flames.

“If you don’t want to talk about your family, that is alright.” He said after a minute. “As I told you before, I never had siblings to play with. When I met Radiant Hope, we got along like brother and sister. We played together, pulled small pranks. She would attend my flute recitals and patch up my legs whenever I got scuffed. Healing magic was her specialty. It’s what she got her cutie mark in after healing my broken leg one time. She was always there for me, no matter how much of a fool I behaved like.”

He paused a moment, eyes staying on the flames. “And I’d be there for her. I helped her when she had a bad breakup with her special somepony of the year, I would play my flute for her enjoyment, give her somepony to vent to about work and the stresses of her life, and in the end, I was there when she passed. Without her, the world seems darker.”

Twilight flicked her eyes to his, seeing them keeping away. “Y-Yeah. S-Sounds like she was a wonderful pony.”

“The best in the whole empire.” His lowered voice brought the smallest twinge to Twilight’s gut. He was a monster, yes, but...

He wasn’t one once upon a time. Once he played like a normal foal, had friends, parents... “W-What about your mom and dad?”

“They tried their hardest to give me a good education. My mother passed away when I was a young adult, my father four decades later. I was the only thing keeping the old stallion going by the end. He didn’t want to die and leave me behind. His only foal, and the one that changed his life forever. ‘My son, when you’re king of this city, I want a grand statue of me built where our house is. Promise me you’ll give me my last wish, and to visit me and your mom’s plot every few years.’ ‘Anything for you, dad. Anything for you.’ He’d go into a coma later that night and never wake up.”

There the feeling was again. He used to be a good pony. What changed? How did he go from being... How... She took a breath in of the fire, shutting her eyes. It had to be a lie. A sob story meant to bring her to his side. He may have once been innocent, but the violent world caught up to him and turned him into a monster.

She wouldn’t let him break her.

Author's Note

Have a Tuesday special! One last chapter before the end of January!

Chapter 4: Chances

With another scratch notched into the wall, Twilight returned to her sitting position next to the bars. The schedule helped keep track of the days, along with the comings and goings of the warden. Wake up, mark the day it roughly was, sit at the bars for breakfast, do exercises to keep her muscles in shape, sit at bars for lunch, review knowledge from books she read, sit at bars for dinner, do another round of exercise, think of her friends and family until she fell asleep. Rinse, repeat.

Oddly, Sombra had taken up the jars with him last night before bed. There were only two remaining, but she hoped it wouldn’t mark the end of her meals. The fire outside her cell was smoldering, providing very little light for her gloomy situation. Twilight thought of her friends, keeping her memories of them alive and the determination to see them again. The crystals on her horn wouldn’t break, her cell bars were too strong to buck down, and she was constantly checked on by the king.

He had asked her about everything at this point. Modern technology, magic, the Equestrian government, geopolitics, her personal life, desires, beliefs... Some of his questions she answered truthfully, as there was no getting around it. He knew Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were in charge of Equestria, and he knew of Cadance, if not her name. It didn’t hurt to tell him those small bits of information. But with the jars gone and his lateness this morning, she could only assume this was the end of the line.

As the bars down the hall creaked open, Twilight took one last look at the tallies she had made. Thirty-seven days. Princess Luna stopped by her dreams every few nights to ask more about what Twilight knew and to make sure she was still alive, something that seemed to perplex the lunar princess. Luna had told her about her friends and what they were getting up to in Ponyville. Apparently, Trixie had attempted to enslave Ponyville using a powerful artifact seeking revenge on Twilight but was defeated by the regal sisters.

King Sombra’s eyes came into view as he floated next to the campfire, examining her. “So this is how it’s going to be?” Twilight asked, her head against the bars. “Good cop is over and it’s time for bad cop?”

“You still don’t trust me.” He moved toward the bars, his eyes and horn closer to her than ever before. “I see now that you never will.”

“You’re right. I’ll never trust you.” She flicked her eyes up into his, turning back down at her lightly illuminated blankets.

The king backed away from the bars as a tendril extended to the door of the cell with keys jingling at the end. Twilight backed up as he unlocked the cell and opened the door wide open. “I’ve gotten what I wanted from you.” He said, eyes focused into hers even as she prepared herself to die or lose control of her own body. “I have no use to keep you prisoner.”

“Then get it over with.” Twilight kept staring at him, her teary vision focused into his own. A tendril extended to her horn from the shadows, wrapping around it and...

Flakes of black crystal dropped from her horn as her eyes went wide.

“There we go.” He moved his tendril back. “I can show you to the surface. It’s a little warmer up there.”

Her trembling hoof picked up one of the broken crystals, turning it. For the first time in over a month, she lit up her horn and illuminated the surrounding space. “I-I don’t understand.” She looked back up into the king’s eyes. “You’re letting me go?”

“What could you possibly tell them they wouldn’t already know or would matter?” He rhetorically asked. “I know you’ve been speaking with Luna this entire time. Come, it will be nice for you to get some fresh air.”

She exited her cell, following the shadows through the hallways of the lower complex and up a flight of stairs. Her heart pounded and her mind was still processing what was happening. Was this some elaborate trap? At the end of another stairwell, she could see natural light for the first time since fainting in the Crystal Empire, her breathing getting shallower. What is going on?!

Twilight entered the upstairs hallway, dousing her horn and looking around the hall. Sombra kept floating toward another open set of bars while she stood there, the light from the small windows on the corner of the opposite hall bathing it in a gentle northerly blue, vines having creeped in from the outdoors.

Sombra turned around to look back at her. “Is something wrong?”

“N-No.” Twilight shook her head, mind still adjusting to the change of scenery. She loitered behind him as she followed him through the different hallways. It really was a prison. She saw rooms the guards used to either side, making their way through the reception area and out into an overgrown town. Stepping down the steps of the prison, Twilight took a deep breath of the cool air. Her ears twitched at the sounds of waves, wind blowing against her fur. Her eyes shut on their own, and she couldn’t help but shed a tear at how nice it felt to be free from that cell.

The shadow creature that was King Sombra turned around once he reached a house across the street. “I collected a few things while I kept you here. They should help you on your way back home.”

Finally opening her eyes, Twilight didn’t even know what to say. It was too good to be true. “I don’t understand.” She said, her voice much weaker than she intended.

“You probably wish to see you friends again, do you not?” He questioned from where he floated.

“Why are you letting me go?” She asked, her thoughts having been ground to dust and blown away. Every time Princess Luna saw her, she assured her with an absolute certainty that King Sombra was manipulating her. That she would be rescued by them long before the king ever even considered letting her go. That this king, the evil and tyrannical King Sombra, would do anything to get what he wanted and crush anypony in his way.

“I told you, I have no use for you.” He floated closer, Twilight backing up onto the steps of the prison. King Sombra halted, seeing her fear and confusion. “You didn’t expect to live, did you?”

“No, this has to be a trap.” Twilight shook her head, backing up into the prison reception area. “You want me going back to... to do something! You cursed me, didn’t you?!” Her shouts sent tears away from her cheeks, her breaths uneven and hateful gaze focused against her former captor.

“Twilight Sparkle, I did no such thing.” He moved to the doorway but no further, floating there, his eyes communicating slight concern. “I’m sorry if you believed you would die, but that’s not who I am. I wouldn’t kill you unless you were a serious threat where I didn’t have another reasonable option.”

“I... I...” Twilight fell onto her haunches, tears rolling down her face as all she was told came crashing down. It was impossible! He was pure evil! He had to be! He had to be...

The shadow monster moved forward into the reception area and floated ahead of her. “You are free, Twilight Sparkle. Do not worry, I will not seek harm upon you.”

“Y-You have to be...” She let loose a choked cry, blubbering toward the floor. “Y-You h-have to...”

Sombra remained silent as she worked through all the emotions. He knew what she was going through, as it had been a common reaction for those he sent for rehabilitation. They believed something so strong that there was no other choice, and when they were shown that it was wrong, they couldn’t even begin to comprehend it. The regal sisters were extremely talented at converting agents to their perspective, as skilled as himself.

“Y-You...” Twilight finally entered the next stage. “YOU’RE A MONSTER!” Her screams ricocheted around the prison entrance, finally snapping her head from the floor. “YOU KEEP ME LOCKED AWAY FOR A MONTH WITH ONLY... Only...” Her tears returned, her choking on them as they cut her off.

He stayed silent, letting her work it through herself. Eventually, it would reach the end, and she would understand, like all the others did.

“W-Why?” she asked herself more than him. “Why d-did you keep me...” She sighed, her rapid breathing ending that wagon of thought. “Y-You have n-no more need for me...”

“No. I don’t.” He said, affirming her attempts at acceptance.

“B-But...” She took a few deep breaths. “I-I can go home?”

“Yes. I have prepared several things for you to take with you. It will be an arduous journey back through the arctic wastes.”

“I can go home...” Her eyes were still wide, although they took on another quality as she tapped at the floor tiles. “I...”

“Yes, you can go home.”

She sat there, thinking everything through. It was so much. The singular idea she had been fighting against all month resurfaced, her heart pounding away at the realization, but her mind coming to accept it. She was wrong. So. Very. Wrong.

“O-Okay.” She got up onto her hooves and followed him outside toward the house in front of the prison. Vines wrapped around the two decorative pillars in front of the home, the door rotted away so much that King Sombra had removed it and set it aside. Stepping into the home, Twilight saw moss having grown over much of the floor, the furniture rotted or broken. A bookshelf had a few remaining books that were beyond reading due to water damage from the holey ceiling and upper floor, and the other rooms were as ruined as the main room.

Sombra pointed with a tendril toward a small pile of items. Both jars of preserved food were there, along with several dozen potatoes wrapped in a haphazardly sown together sack. Rope was coiled up next to it with a metal hook on the end, a pair of improvised saddlebags laying to the side. A winter coat was draped over the chair, along with boots and a scarf. It was everything she needed to get back home.

“Travel through the mountain pass away from the ocean and continue south-east or south-west as long as you can. Eventually you’ll reach a mountain range. Pass through those mountains and continue. If you see Mount Everhoof, use the front path to show you the direction you should head. Continue south until you see civilization or the Crystal Empire.” Sombra said to her as she examined the supplies. “Did you catch all of that?”

“Y-Yeah.” She turned up to him, her frown still present. “Thank you.”

“You are welcome, Twilight Sparkle.” He floated toward the door, halting when Twilight shouted back:

“Wait!” He turned back to her, waiting on her follow-up. “I-I, umm...” she cursed herself on the inside. “C-Can you stick around for a few days? I-I’m not ready to go yet.”

His eyes tilted. “Now I am not understanding. Do you not wish to return home?”

“I-I’m just not ready.” Twilight rubbed her foreleg, looking up at him with a nervous smile and sweet eyes. “I-If you would be alright with it, that is.”

“I guess I could stay another day or two.” He answered, righting his eyes back to how they were. “I’ll be at the potato grove if you need me. Feel free to have a look around town. Nopony will mind.”

Twilight nodded in understanding as he floated from the door. Her heart was going wild as she turned back to her supplies. She sat down on the chair and put on the boots, her mind going over the motions of what she asked. He wasn’t a bad pony. He just needed a friend. She was certain her friends would understand her taking a few more days away to reform a villain.

“Where the hay were you?” Applejack narrowed her eyes on Twilight, getting her to shift on her hooves.

“I-I was helping King Sombra. He isn’t a bad pony.” Twilight defended even as her five friends and number one assistant stared her down.

Rarity let out a scoff. “Don’t be ridiculous, darling! He can’t be reformed!”

“Yeah! He probably cast some curse on you.” Rainbow narrowed her eyes at the purple unicorn as she took a step back from her friends.

“I am very disappointed in you, Twilight.” Celestia spoke from behind, causing Twilight to spin around to the disapproving glares of both regal sisters. “First you fail your test, and now you betray Equestria.”

“I-I’m not...” Twilight’s words were cut off as a sob came from deep within her throat, trying to wrap her emotions around the idea that she would ever consider such a thing.

“Perhaps she can learn her lesson somewhere better suited to handling traitors.” Luna suggested, her angry glare focused on Twilight. “There’s no place in Equestria for traitors like her, but there is in Tartarus!”

Twilight took another step back and fell to the ground, looking around. The darkened spires of the prison surrounded her, chains on her neck and legs, which kept her from moving too far from the center of her cell.

“P-Please listen to me!” she called out, tears dropping from her face onto the ashy rock as she searched for anything, anypony, who would listen. There she wept. She lost her friends and the respect of her mentor. Her family didn’t even want to see her. She was alone and friendless, with not even Spike to comfort her.

It was over.

“Twilight Sparkle?” Luna’s concerned voice tore her from her thoughts. Looking up, she saw the princess descend from above, landing next to her.

“P-Princess Luna! P-Please forgive m-me!” She pleaded, trying to crawl toward her but getting shackled by the chains.

Luna lit her horn and fired off blasts which disintegrated the chains around Twilight. “This is a most peculiar nightmare.” She mused, walking over to Twilight to give her a hug. “Do not worry, you have nothing to be sorry for.”

“B-But...” Twilight choked on her words, cluing into something. “W-Wait... Nightmare?”

“Indeed.” Luna released the hug and sat next to her. “What is it that has you so worried?”

She took a few breaths before looking at Luna to answer: “I-I’m staying with King Sombra for a few more days.”

“I don’t believe you have much of a choice.” Luna raised a brow, confused at the proclamation.

“I’m free. He released me today. He’s not a bad pony. And I’m not going to let him go without a friend for any longer.”

Luna’s expression hardened, her seriousness on full display. “Twilight, we have spoken about this many times. It’s all a lie. He’s trying to manipulate you into siding with him. Can you not see that this is all a ploy to make you receptive to his true goals?”

“He’s not a bad pony!” Twilight snapped, taking Luna aback and deepening the concern. “He’s not a bad pony.” She took a few deep breaths to get her emotions under control. “He cares about his subjects and even his enemies. We don’t need to be foes.”

“How do you know that is the case? How do you know he was being truthful about what he said?”

“Because he hasn’t lied to me.” She stared at the ground in front of her hooves. “He could have tried lying at any point and didn’t. He told me where I am, why he captured me, what he hoped to learn from me, everything. Why would he lie about his foalhood when it was so cheerful? Why would he give me supplies to make my way back home?”

“To make you believe he is good.” Luna stressed as the dream field began to distort, the unicorn’s agitation increasing. “It’s all a tactic to make you believe he isn’t how he actually is. Make no mistake, this is all part of a plan to turn you to his side.”

Twilight took a few breaths. “Or maybe you’re wrong about him.”

“Pardon?” Luna straightened up.

“You heard me. Maybe you’re wrong about him. Why do you say he’s such a bad pony, anyway? He’s been nothing but kind and respectful to me. He saved my life and made sure I was reasonably comfortable in my cell. Why shouldn’t I believe he is being truthful? The crystal ponies seemed to only remember positive things from before their disappearance, and the Crystal Empire seemed to be filled with happy ponies before we came.”

“Twilight, he would conquer every pony under his dark grip. It may have looked happy, but he ruled by fear.” Luna reached out a hoof to touch Twilight’s shoulder. “What happened to those hundreds of ponies who disappeared without a trace? How did he ensure his rule remained stable with such minimal delegation? I do. I know what he did, what he really is. On the outside, he may seem kind, but he has a heart corrupted by darkness.”

“Then what did he do?” Twilight turned up with a resolute defiance in her eyes. “What did he do that made you so unwilling to believe he’s a good pony?”

Luna winced. “He had an organization which operated in the shadows. They would snatch ponies away in the middle of the night, sometimes entire families. Nopony would hear what happened to them. The crystal ponies were too afraid to speak out lest they disappear. Both my sister and I have seen him enslave the minds of innocent ponies using dark magic. He has produced abominations using necromancy and blood magic without a single shred of regret. You must trust us, Twilight Sparkle. His heart is irredeemable, and nothing will change that.”

With one last sniffle, Twilight ground her teeth together, her anger rising toward the princess. “Get out of my dreams.”

“Do you understand? We know you believe he can be redeemed, but we’ve tried, and it only resulted in more deception. What he is, who he became, cannot be changed. Even if his acts of kindness are genuine, it’s not representative of his beliefs. Please don’t make the mistake of believing he can reform his ways.”

Twilight’s back straightened, jaw clenching as she stared off into the murky distance. “And just what does he believe?”

“He believes only magic users deserve power. You must understand this would cause rifts between the types of ponies. Only unicorns would have authority in his Crystal Empire, the rest serving as slaves to their whims. The strife would–”

Luna got cut off by Twilight slapping her hoof away and standing up, turning from her. “Get out! I don’t want more of your lies about what he is! I’m staying to reform him, and if you can’t accept it, then leave!”

The princess stood and took one last look over Twilight. The emotions in the ambient field were clear enough to understand was going on, and she knew that there wouldn’t be a way to help Twilight while she was still in the manipulative hooves of the king. Her wings sent her into the false air and away from the dreamscape. She knew what had to be done.

Shining Armor held onto Cadance as she leaned her head against his shoulder, both still reeling with the news. Both regal sisters stood staring out the window of the meeting room, both whispering to one another. It wouldn’t be long before the last ponies arrived and they could begin the meeting.

“It must be done this way.” Celestia said firm to her sister.

“I know, but I still believe it to be the best option.”

“If you can think of a better one which doesn’t involve such a sacrifice, then voice it, but I believe this will have to suffice.”

“I’ll try, my sister.” Luna turned back to Cadance and Shining Armor, both still working through their emotions. She walked over to the table to take her seat, spending the time going over what she had learned about where Twilight was located. With the added information about the coastline from Twilight’s memories, it narrowed down where she had been taken to a single town far past the arctic wastes.

There they all stayed, their positions absolute as they each ruminated on what they were going to do. Celestia’s plans for Twilight were ruined, the Elements of Harmony rendered ineffective without the Element Bearer of Magic. Luna herself considered how far gone Twilight was going to be. Every push she tried making toward the mare would only solidify her condition unless she was removed from King Sombra. Then, of course, there was the king himself to deal with. Now with possibly the most powerful unicorn in Equestria on his side, there was no telling what he would do.

About an hour later, the guards at the door pushed them open to allow entry for the six other attendees. They all took their seats at the table as Celestia came over to stand with her head held high, face devoid of any sign of good news. “I’m glad you could all come. There has been a development regarding Twilight Sparkle.”

“Is she alright?” Applejack asked from where she was seated between Rarity and Rainbow Dash.

“Did you find her?” Pinkie perked up, lifting herself on the table, excited as ever. “I already got the welcome home party allllll lined up!”

“Yes, and no.” Luna coughed. “We found out where she is being kept.”

A few of the elements breathed sighs of relief. “So, when’s she gonna be back?” Rainbow Dash asked, rubbing her foreleg as Luna cringed and Celestia’s eye twitched.

“That’s what we wanted to discuss with you.” Celestia continued. “She isn’t. At least not on her own will.”

All six exchanged confused and concerned looks, Spike vocalizing: “What? What do you mean not on her own will?”

Luna cleared her throat. “She has Stockhoof Syndrome, I’m afraid.”

Fluttershy covered her mouth while the other elements looked even more confused. “I’m so terribly sorry, but what is that, your majesties?” Rarity asked. “Is it some sort of illness?”

Sighing, Celestia answered: “She’s grown attached to King Sombra and believes he can be redeemed.” The Elements of Harmony gasped, Rainbow Dash being the first:

“Is it some evil, dark magic? When do we bust out the elements to blast him to pieces to free Twilight?” She asked with the utmost determination.

“The Elements of Harmony won’t work without the Element of Magic.” Celestia shook her head. “But no, we don’t believe this is dark magic.”

“When I was in her dreams, I could tell she wasn’t under any magical influence.” Luna continued. “This is purely psychological. She believes his seeming acts of kindness toward her are genuine and isn’t willing to see the real reason behind them. Unfortunately, the only way to save Twilight is by separating her from Sombra’s corrupting influence. We must retrieve her and bring her back for counseling if she is to return to a somewhat ordinary life.”

“This is why we called you here.” Celestia straightened up. “We want you six to travel north to find Twilight Sparkle and bring her back home. What I ask of you won’t be easy. There are many dangers that far north, but I wouldn’t ask it if I believed it wasn’t necessary. King Sombra won’t take kindly to your retrieval of her, so take the utmost caution. I can only hope that your friendship is stronger than his corruption.”

Each of the elements looked at each other, nodding in agreement. Even though Fluttershy was terrified, she sat straighter, knowing her friend’s life depended on it. The other five with the absolute confidence that this was what they needed to do.

“You can count on us, princess.” Spike saluted. He would do anything to save Twilight after she sacrificed herself to save the Crystal Empire. She trusted him with the Crystal Heart, to complete her test.

He would not let her down.

Twilight walked through the old town, taking in the fresh air. It really was nice to be free from her cell. Today, the sun appeared between the clouds, warming her face as she strolled. On one side was a small park that had been reclaimed by nature, trees and bushes covering what was once a playground where foals had played.

This far north, she didn’t expect the weather to be pleasant, but it was pretty decent. Above freezing, and not uncomfortable even without her boots on. As she walked through the rows of houses and small stores, her heart did ache to see her friends again. To see Ponyville again.

To her left, her mood turned up a bit at the sight of the only other pony-like thing in probably over a hundred kiloponi. She trotted over to where the shadow form of King Sombra was checking different potatoes, keeping her eyes on the tendrils working. It truly was fascinating to watch, if you can get over the fact that he was enraptured by dark magic.

“What are you doing?” She asked, his eyes swiveling back to look at her.

“Checking the quality of the potatoes.” He answered, picking one from the upper vines to hold out in front of her. “I’ve never seen them grow like this. Is this new?”

“A little.” She walked up next to him to examine the other above-ground potatoes that grew. It seemed to be a mutated potato plant that learned to grow upward, carrying nutrients through the stem to the upper layers. The potatoes on those upper parts of the plant were smaller than the ones likely below the surface, several roots wrapping around the potatoes as they grew to prevent them from falling to the ground.

“Hmm...” Sombra moved around to the side of the building, following the strange plant and checking more of the tubers. Following, Twilight examined the plant, recalling everything she knew of botany.

“Do you know a lot about plants?” She asked after a minute of them both scanning their only food source.

“Plenty, but usually it is in relation to magic.” He said, plucking another tuber from the vines. “I studied a variety of topics to learn what limitations there were to certain forms of magic. Nature magic still eludes me in some ways, but I can succeed at restoring a burnt forest back to its former beauty.”

“So, you really know several types of magic?” She reached up and rotated a tuber, finding a rotten spot and plucking it to drop to the soil.

“Over a dozen categories and a hundred disciplines.” He continued around the next corner, Twilight following him. As she turned the corner, she came face to face with the king, his eyes staring into her own. “Are you following me?”

She gave a nervous laugh, taking a few steps back. “Hehe, I, um, don’t really have anything to do. Thought maybe you would like some company.”

“I’ve spent entire years of my life in isolation. I do not require the presence of another.” Sombra turned back to examining the vines that wrapped around the house.

“Don’t you ever feel lonely?” She frowned, watching him do his work.

“Yes, but it helps my ability to cast my emotions.”

“What sort of emotions?” She moved closer, but kept a poni away from him in case he turned on her again.

“Despair, anger...” He stopped his progress for a second. “Fear. Every emotion can be used to great effect if you know how. Some would be crippled by their feelings, but if you can understand how to utilize them to their most effective limit, then it makes it much easier to handle.”

“What about positive emotions like compassion, empathy, and love?”

He turned toward her. “I’ve used all three in my work. As I said, all emotions are valuable. It’s more a matter of which you make use of that determines what you can do. Compassion, empathy, and love don’t win wars.”

Twilight bit her lip as he moved into the backyard next door, trotting after him and asking: “What if you cared deeply about those you fought for? That way, they can be used to empower yourself.”

“I love my citizens. I care about their struggles.” He replied while examining the small field of potato plants that engulfed the backyard. “I’ve tried that, but it didn’t have the strength. Why do you think I’m where I am now? I took a gamble and lost. What I had been taught turned out to be correct, like always.”

Clearing her throat, Twilight smiled back at him: “What if you had friends you cared deeply about? Would that be better?”

He faced her again, mulling it over for several seconds. “Twilight Sparkle, are you saying you wish to be my friend?”

“I mean, if you would be better off and we didn’t need to fight, absolutely.” She nodded. “You’re not a bad pony. I don’t know what you did to get Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to dislike you so much, but I can see there’s good in you.”

“Hmm...” He thought, moving forward toward her, dipping his ethereal head to be near hers. “How about enslaving an entire city of theirs to end a conflict before anypony got hurt because they refused to fight on the open fields? Or evacuating ponies from their tyranny in the middle of the night?”

“That...” Twilight facehoofed. “That explains what Princess Luna was talking about.”

“Neither could see the bigger picture.” Sombra returned to his examinations.

“While I don’t agree with what you did, I can see that you never intended to bring them harm.” She replied, stepping into the potato field. “You were trying to stop more ponies from being hurt.”

“Perhaps.” He gave a brief chuckle. “Or perhaps it was so that my soon-to-be subjects could see I’m not like the southern tyrants. That quick war resulted in thousands dead, mostly soldiers and the rest being my own citizens. They had no qualms about fighting through towns and conscripting civilians. But I knew that if I stooped down to their level, I would replace one tyrant with another. What good is it to fight a war if nothing changes?”

Twilight smiled, walking over with caution to where he was examining a large potato plant. The thing was taller than her, strange enough. “I guess I was wrong about you.”

“How so?” He turned back.

“You’re not just not a bad pony.” She reached out a hoof, one of his tendrils extending to make contact. It felt cold, sending shivers up her leg and down her spine. “You’re a good pony deep down. And I’ll be your friend. If it takes months, I’ll convince my friends to give you a chance. I’m sure they’ll understand once I explain it to them.”

“I won’t hold out hope.” He gave another laugh, one Twilight still cringed at given how much he sounded like an evil villain, returning to her smile as he faced her again. “But I still appreciate the help.”

“And then we’ll have a huuuge welcome home party with streamers and cider and balloons! *Gasp*, and we’ll invite everypony in town! Do any of you know where her parents live? They must come!”

“Pinkie, darling, please focus.” Rarity winced at her friend currently covered head-to-hoof in fluffy layers. Around the small table outside, the elements checked the map over one last time to make sure they understood it. They would be traveling into unknown territory, with a map of questionable quality. The last settlement along the way was at Mount Everhoof, where they could find a few ponies living around the base on the far side. Then came the wastelands, where they had to keep moving.

“I say we stop at this here hill, then walk the rest in the mornin’. No point arrivin’ in the middle of the night.” Applejack pointed her hoof along the last stretch of the route. Both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash exchanged glances at one another before one of them spoke.

“But isn’t that where the frost-spiders live?” Rainbow Dash tapped the marker on the hills. “And aren’t they super aggressive?”

“That’s why I’m hopin’ Fluttershy can help us. If the critters are anythin’ like those back home, she’ll be able to get us into their cave for one night.”

To the side of where the five mares and baby dragon did their planning, Shining Armor and Luna sat waiting for them to set off. “They shouldn’t take any chances. Beyond Mount Everhoof isn’t like Equestria or Griffonia. There’s no room for assuming the best from any creature.” Luna said, snapping Shining Armor from his thoughts.

“Have you been that far north?”

“Once. Only once.” She took a deep breath, shivering at the memories. “Equestria is home. It will always remain our home as long as we keep the darkness at bay.”

“Must have been quite something to see the unexplored.” He turned his head to check on how the barricades were faring. At the ready, not lounging around, effective for once. The new Crystal Guard still had a long way to go. They were willing to learn, and had the endurance expected of earth ponies, but lacked all experience in defensive warfare and guard duty. Sombra didn’t seem to leave any regulars behind when the city fell. Odd, but not surprising.

“Not unexplored. Ponykind came from that way, traveled the distance to settle our nation. It is a land of many secrets and dangers. I can only hope they don’t find one of them along the way.”

“You mean the Windigos?” He turned his head back to her, seeing the wincing, how it pained her.

“Worse than the Windigos. They may be able to hurt nations, but they are one small piece of a greater picture stretching back our complete history. For their sake, we can only pray that the wounds of the past lay frozen.”

“Alright! That settles it!” Applejack rolled up the map and stuffed it into Fluttershy’s bag, those that wandered off returning to her. “Let’s get goin’! Twilight is in danger and needs us!”

The six travelers set off, the two watching them walk the path north toward the Crystal Mountains on their own. “Much worse.” She turned and took flight, staring down at the city passing below. How many lies did it take to keep Equestria afloat? How much of their history was willing to be forgotten to ensure nopony tried to poke where they shouldn’t?

She flew in through one of the upper windows to a higher layer of the tower into a hallway, opening the closest door before closing it behind her. Sombra’s hidden storage room, filled with shelves upon shelves of artifacts and oddities from over his decades of ruling. Luna checked out some objects as she went down them, wondering about the full potential of them in their custody. A skull of a unicorn with a single glowing eye, a pendant with spikes pointed inward at the pony wearing it, a spiky mace enchanted for some strange reason, a glass orb that inverts the view that passes through it. Okay, that last one might not be magical.

“Lulu, I don’t understand it.” Celestia said from the desk at the far end, checking out the one device that mattered most to them. “He didn’t want this getting out, that’s for certain, but why contain it like this?”

Luna stopped at the bench, eyeing the glass box with a yellow mold coating the entire inside. Runes were engraved into the crystal-glass, pulsing with energy to keep what was within contained. They both knew what it was. It was something they had to deal with once, and only once, in their shared rulership together. A foal digging a hole with their friends stumbles on a glass jar of purple and red, opens it and wipes out nearly two thousand lives, including their entire village. Nopony would want to believe that the organism still lives, not after they scorched three forests to the ground and vaporized the soil to make sure it was gone.

“Perhaps he wanted to keep it to examine at another date without it degrading or evolving.” She took her seat to eye the box. The fungus had been trapped in temporal stasis, unable to change into one of its worse forms. It was the single most devastating threat in the history of Equestria, able to wipe out all life on the planet if it touched an ocean without appropriate regional enchantments. While the Crystal Heart could sustain such enchantments over most of Equestria, how to implement them safely was far beyond either of the sisters.

“Well, he should have made it easier to open.” She pushed it aside with her magic, pulling forward a bunch of stones formed into a ball of rocks. “At least a tenth of these could work should he return, if we can figure out how they work.”

Celestia attempted to separate the stones with her magic, both seeing the distortion through a crack within before she gave up and let them slam back together with a ripple passing through the air. “I told you we should have just killed him when we had the chance.”

“He didn’t deserve to die, not if he could be convinced he was wrong.”

“He’s a threat to every pony living in Equestria and beyond! Look at all this!” She motioned her hoof to the room. “What sick, broken pony would make such devastating and cruel devices and enchantments?”

“Sinabeak.”

“She kept them to herself, in her personal study, not letting them loose in the world! If the Alicorn Amulet got into the possession of somepony with worse intentions, we would’ve had a full-blown crisis on our hooves!”

“Remind me again how the Alicorn Amulet got loose?” She narrowed her eyes at her sister. “I thought you had that guard wearing it.”

“W-Well, yes, but we thought they were getting corrupted by it. We had to do something!” Celestia returned to the next item, an amulet with a single golden ring on the end. “And how was I supposed to know he wasn’t corrupted? The risk was too great.”

“What do you want to do with all this?” She motioned her hoof back at the items. “Take them to our lab in Canterlot?”

“No. Here will be fine for most. Nopony knows this room exists, let alone how to access it. I would like to take these four, though.”

Luna looked at the last item, a pearled necklace with a single red bead. While she wanted to study the items, trapping the Crystal Heart was her primary priority. If Cadance knew she was sitting on the most powerful weapon in all of Equestria and a cataclysmic stockpile of magic-based weaponry, she would never let them live it down. Not even King Sombra could make something as powerful as the Crystal Heart.

Which begged the question asked since they were first introduced to Sinabeak after their mother disappeared: Who, or what, could?

Chapter 5: Trials

Snow filled the sight ahead of them to the horizon, a sight getting far too common. While the rare hill would break up the snowy plains, the white remained the most prevalent. The worst part was that this wasn’t the ‘arctic wasteland,’ this was only a preview of what would come.

“Pinkie Pie, can you please stop wandering off?” Rarity spoke from behind the two leading the group, Rainbow Dash and Applejack both focusing on getting to their resting point in the tundra to the north before settling in for the night.

“But the snow is soooo deep!” Their friend jumped ahead, sinking into the snow that covered to their muzzles. “Hey, there’s ice under here!”

“Yes?” Fluttershy flew forward to help her from the drop, both leads stopping.

It was a pit. Pinkie had sunk two ponies down into the ground, the last two of their group stopping on the other side of Applejack to stare down at their pink and yellow friends.

“One sec.” Rainbow flew up, circling above before returning. “Okay, it’s the same height. Probably just a deeper spot.”

Applejack slid down into the rut to push through the fluffy, air-filled snow. Something seemed wrong about this far north. Not only did the snow feel lighter, but it would sometimes float back into the air, as if returning to the clouds above. They could hear the distant sounds of roars or whistles no matter how far they traveled, an eerie ambiance that consumed their ears whenever Pinkie wasn’t going on about building a hundred snow forts.

The dim light provided by the glow-stick strapped to her vest illuminated something hard to her left, passing by what looked to be a tusk. How would creatures survive in this temperature, with nearly no vegetation?

“Oh dear.” Fluttershy commented from behind, the sound of Rarity sighing telling both leaders what it was about.

“Fluttershy, it’s prob’ly sleepin’. Leave it alone.” Applejack turned around and squinted down the dim tunnel. Flutters couldn’t exactly be seen since they took a slight turn, but the shadows moving from behind the corner showed she had stopped and was doing something.

Fluttershy cleared the snow from more of the creature before putting her ear to it. “Um...”

“Don’t tell me it’s dead.” Rainbow facehoofed.

“N-No. It’s...” She breathed shallow, the rest getting the gist. “O-Oh no...”

“We... should get goin’.” Applejack kept pushing, finding more tusks sticking out, including one right in their path. It attached to what looked to be a helmet. Then she pushed further until there was a bony leg that stuck from the ground, the others staying quiet as they traversed not a den... but a graveyard. A skull or fifteen, legs, broken spears and swords, for hundreds of poni did they travel without an end in sight to the ancient carnage.

“W-What happened here?” Rainbow asked as quietly as she could. “W-Why didn’t Celestia and Luna tell us about this?”

“I’ve never seen anythin’ like it. There must be thousands of ponies buried here.” Applejack stopped as she pushed through a snow wall, a curved tunnel running further down with more half-decayed corpses plainly visible by the dim light. “Rarity, you studied the northern history, what happened?”

“I-I never read anything like this.” She got to the chamber Applejack was now walking, her and Spike following it down.

Applejack took a turn to the right to continue their forward progress, pushing through more of the airy snow until she hit another chamber, this time giving them a good view of one pony, its face shriveled up and gray, wearing armor emblazoned with a pegasus on the front and lined in leather. Its dead eyes stared at them as they passed through to keep going. Spike took one look at it as he passed, a chill running through his body as the eyes followed him.

“I-I think we’re n-not alone here.” He jogged up to huddle close to Rarity, Fluttershy ahead having stayed quiet up to this point, trembling in her own silence.

“What do you mean?” Applejack asked while pushing into another, this time showing a pony with yellow armor and a sun and moon based cutie mark on their chest with a spear through the neck of another that had a unicorn emblazoned on them. They filed into the chamber, the rest seeing the eyes track them, mouths shutting up.

They kept traveling, finding six more chambers with varying levels of undead before another stretch where they lessened, and then finally, the upward slope. Once Applejack pushed from the top, she breathed a sigh of relief, the others soon following. Ahead of them was a single tree accompanied by rocky hills. On the last push through, they all gathered on the marker tree with ribbons hanging from the branches, taking a breather.

“W-What was that?! Why is there a g-graveyard of undead ponies north of the Crystal Empire?!” Rainbow pointed back the way they came, Pinkie moving next to her to bring her into a shaking hug. “W-Why wouldn’t that be something we would be told?!”

“I-I don’t know when or h-how long they’ve been sitting there.” Rarity took her seat, taking several deep breaths while the rest came to terms with what they witnessed.

“H-How many ponies are here?” Applejack got back to her hooves and looked over the snowy plain they were going under. Where they started under the snow was no longer in sight. “I-I don’t think it’s just t-thousands.”

“I-I heard that one.” Fluttershy curled up against Rarity, shivering. “T-They felt... s-sorry.”

“I-I don’t want to know what they are sorry for.” Rarity wrapped her forelegs around Fluttershy. “D-Did they say anything else?”

“N-No. Only that they were s-sorry.”

Spike rubbed his claws together for warmth, taking another look over the field. Was this Sombra’s doing? How many ponies fought in that battle? Applejack was right, it wasn’t a few thousand. It could have been over ten-thousand or a hundred-thousand, all now frozen half-dead, forgotten. He added it to his list of things to talk to Celestia about when they got back.

He walked over to Rarity and the others under the tree; the fashionista ripping a cloth she had brought to add another ribbon to the massive pine. Hundreds of ribbons were left hanging, hundreds of those who traveled the same path. No, none of them would forget the soldiers.

Not anymore.

Twilight floated the wooden logs with her back from the forest, traveling the stony path that led to the harbor. Why King Sombra wanted wood, she didn’t know. Upon arriving at the pile of other logs, she put them down and doused her magic to catch her breath. Her nearest friend returned with more rocks to add to a pile next to the bits of metal he had been gathering. She guessed he would make a furnace to reforge the metal, although the purpose escaped her.

“You are quite strong with magic.” He moved past her, picking up one log in his tendrils to move to the holders on the dock. “Who taught you?”

“Princess Celestia. I attended her school and studied under her for years.” Twilight bit her lip as she watched his tendrils move along the wood, carving symbols into the bark. “What are you writing?”

“I’m enchanting.”

“Wait, you can do that?!” She flicked her eyes between the glowing eyes and wood. “B-But don’t you require special materials to enchant with?”

“No? It’s easier with magically charged substances, but it’s unnecessary.” He turned the log over to continue his work.

“I-I was always was taught that only objects that are permeable like fabric, or already had a charge, could be enchanted directly.” She moved to his other side as he worked his way down the log, examining the thaumaturgic sigils. “I don’t recognize these.”

“How could you not? This has been standard for nearly a millennium.” His eyes turned up to hers, both catching on. “They got rid of the old text, didn’t they?”

“There are several books on enchanting, and none of them contain these as far as I am aware.” She returned to checking out what he was doing. It was masterful, beyond what she had read. While pure thaumaturgy was outside her area of expertise, the structure of the system should have remained the same. It should have, but not this.

“Hmm...” He returned to carving. “I will need your help. I require you to use light magic on this log when I’m finished. Do not worry, I’m marking it to direct it where it needs to go.”

“What are you using this for?”

“To make a fire of several hundreds of degrees that will last the next few days. The furnace needs to be finished before then, however.”

“W-What needs that sort of temperature?” Her question was answered by him pointing a tendril at the chunk of crystal that laid next to the scrap metal. “Oh...”

“Didn’t Tia teach you anything useful?”

“I-I know useful things! Like, I can teleport! Most ponies don’t know how to do that!”

He stopped his carving to turn back to her; the mare shrinking away with ears against her head. “S-Sorry.”

“No need to apologize. It seems knowledge has declined since I last walked.” He moved forward, Twilight backing up a step and him halting. “Do tell me, have you heard of Arch-Enchantress Sinabeak of Yoriff?”

“I-I heard of her, um, kinda...” Twilight rubbed the back of her mane. “She was a historical figure who... I think she enchanted for the royal guard?”

“She did more than that.” He looked to the sky, her gaze following to see a break in the clouds. “She helped build Canterlot, inspired generations of ponies and griffons to study magic, and could press down the scales of politics across four continents by who she traded with. And she was a beautiful friend. Did she pass?”

“I-I’m sorry, there was a short conflict a few decades ago after she, um, went mad.” Twilight gulped back the feeling in her throat. “S-She was that important?”

He stayed silent a few more moments, turning back to his work. “To those who ruled, yes. Entire kingdoms rose or fell by her word. Her texts were the basis of enchanting work since before I was born. Every court of enchanters in the known world looked to her lessons for guidance.” Another pause, one that got Twilight to step forward. “She will be missed.”

“I-I’m sorry. You two must have been close.”

“She knew what it was like to feel true freedom. She may have never innovated from where she was taught, but it was her transcription of those lessons to the developed world that gave many a chance to look past their constraints. I presume I envied how satisfied she was with her little fiefdom and wanted something I could be satisfied with.”

“Where she was taught?”

Sombra halted, turning back to her. “The lands to our south are filled with many secrets. Even those who know don’t want to acknowledge them. The Equestria you see was built on the foundations of another society that came before, one that has left whispers in places unspoken and deep scars across continents. For every pony alive today, there is a mountain of corpses of those who fought battles and waged wars. It is a comforting lie to believe the old stories of Queen Faustinia and her leadership, from the Chillrend Mountains beyond this ocean to where you now call home. A comforting lie that hides many ugly truths along the way.”

Twilight blinked several times as he returned to his work, flipping the log to continue carving. Lies? The Chillrend Mountains? That name, Chillrend... Magic? No, no references there except some frost-related spells. Geology or geography? Nothing to suggest otherwise. Biology?

...

“Wait, the Chillrend Mountains are where the Chillrend Blight is from, isn’t it?”

“It’s where it started, yes. It was named after them.”

“I’ve never heard of the Chillrend Mountains before. The old texts say that the illness predates Equestria, and that it came from our old homeland.”

He stayed silent, letting her fill it in.

“Wait! Our old homeland is across an ocean?!”

“You’ve found a truth the sisters wouldn’t tell others. Where did you think ponies came from?”

“I-I thought they came from the arctic wastelands!” She paced across the dock. “Every textbook says that those frozen wastelands are the old tribes’ ancestral home, and that the Windigos sleep under the ice waiting for the day ponies divide to reemerge.”

“That second half is correct.”

“The Windigos are real?!”

Sombra stayed silent, finishing the final touches before turning back to her. “You have much to learn. Perhaps you can break the lies when you return home. However, I won’t hold my breath for such a resolution.”

“I-I can’t believe I never considered that we could have come from across an ocean! Why would that be something Celestia would want to hide?”

“Not Celestia. Faustinia, and Nightflame. The first rulers of Equestria, its founders, and its greatest liars.” He turned the log again, going down the length, then back before continuing to flip. After examining the full surface, he moved away from the dock to assemble the stones and clay into a furnace, the purple unicorn following along. “Why did you really wish to stay? You seem to miss those left behind. I am a stranger to you, one you had believed was going to kill you only days ago. I understand you want to be my friend, but that doesn’t mean you must trail my every movement.”

Twilight blushed, backing away from him to give him some space. “Sorry?”

“Again, why?”

“I-I thought that... I, you know, didn’t want you to be alone.”

“Is it only that? I told you, I am used to the loneliness. I know you don’t want to fight against me, but you may do so in the company of those you care for.”

“I care about you!”

He turned back to her, a deeper blush flooding her face as she turned away and cleared her throat. “Twilight Sparkle. You can go home. I will win the battle for the empire on my own. You don’t need to make such a sacrifice by assisting me. I am an enemy of your nation. I will not hesitate to kill if I must, and you have a life waiting for you back home with friends and family who already do care about you. You may feel you care about me, but I know when I return for my conquest that will change.”

“W-What if I help you?” She covered her eyes with her foreleg to suppress the gritting of her teeth, taking a breath before turning back to the quizzical tilt of his eyes.

“Pardon? Are you suggesting treason against your own nation?”

“I-I mean, what if I help you recover? N-Not take over. I didn’t mean that.”

“We shall see. If you truly wish to help, can you search the town for anymore metal I missed?”

“You can count on me!” She straightened up and trotted away, biting her lip.

What the hay am I doing?! Get it together, Twilight! Make him see that there’s a better path than conquest! One step at a time!

Here it was.

The six stood on a hill down the path from the great Mount Everhoof, a sight only depicted in pictures with the same clouds wrapping around its layers, suspended in place. Their next stop was on the other side, at one cottage at the base. Spike proceeded down the hill first, followed by the others. None were thrilled with the trek so far. Two days of hiking through a wilderness lacking in civilization entirely or through hazardous territory that threatened them at every turn. The animals were getting harder for Fluttershy to talk to, the winds stronger and colder, the roots more twisted, and the traces of civilization more depressing.

But they were almost there. One last path to the traces of civilization before two straight days of arctic waste traversal.

“So, I was thinking, we should totally make friends with the locals at Mount Everhoof while we stay over! And then when we come back with Twilight, we can introduce her to them too! It’ll be like an early welcome home!”

“Pinkie, we’re only staying the night.” Rainbow flew up, checking the forest ahead before returning. “Ugh. Look out everypony, more ruins ahead.”

“I must say, all these ruins are completely ruining the mood.” Rarity said, Fluttershy leaning against her.

“Ohhh, I know. I don’t think I can see another skeleton without fainting.”

“What I want to know is why we never hear about this part of Equestria.” She stopped a moment to pull her boot on tighter before following along. “We’ve heard of Mount Everhoof, true, but what of the history of this region? It clearly wasn’t uninhabited, and if we find one more graveyard, we’ll be out of hooves to count them on.”

“I don’t like that we’re bein’ sent up here in the dark, either. But would the princess lie to us about this? Maybe she didn’t know either. This is on the edge of Equestria, and it’s not like we receive much news from the southern parts of the country, either.” Applejack halted as they came to another rut dug into the path by a stream, hopping over and walking over to the set of burnt down homes. No skeletons this time, and they gratefully had been more or less reclaimed by nature, with vines crawling up the pillars and rough stone walls. Still, there were graves to the side of the structures, eroded beyond recognition.

Their trek took them another two hours before arriving at a cottage in half-decent repair, a small farm around it in the forested parts to grow mushrooms. Another thirty minutes and they arrived at a set of three homes, including the ‘inn’ they were told about, with the crescent moon on the sign hanging from the wall next to the door. Rainbow knocked as soon as she reached it, the owner yelling out from one window for them to enter.

Each entered inside the cottage to take in the surroundings. It was... moon-themed. Banners of dark blue symbolizing three objects of focus were common, a set of rusted swords hung on the open wall, a shrine with a crescent necklace laid on a piece of velvet cloth... “Is that a banner of Nightmare Moon?” Fluttershy glanced to the others that were too tired to care.

The owner walked from their room, an elderly thestral mare dressed in black robes lined in dark blue. “My, oh my! Visitors! Please, relax, travelers! Luna’s hospitality is yours!”

“Thank you, miss.” Applejack shook hooves with the mare, casting a brief glance to the others, who meandered straight for the table to collapse on. “We’ve been travelin’ for days now. It’ll be nice to sleep in a bed before the long trek.”

“You must be exhausted. Few would travel to the Great Divider on hoof.” She walked over to the other five, them turning to their host’s gentle smile. “We have two rooms with two beds each. I can take another in my room, but I’m afraid one will have to share with another.”

“We got sleeping bags.” Rainbow patted the gear Pinkie had dropped onto the floor next to her. “No worries.”

The mare nodded again, heading back to her room while they all took the time to let their hooves rest. Rarity examined the tapestries on the walls while the rest took the moments to let go the past two days. Her eyes moved along not only the ‘Lunar Trinity’ banners, but the one of the old queen’s cutie mark next to another, representing day and night as two equal halves. The tattered edges and careful patchwork showed its age. A thousand years, perhaps? Was the second cutie mark the regal sister’s father? And what of the Windigo banner against the wall with two...

Two alicorns. Her eyes moved down to the stallion who was without a doubt an alicorn, next to the classical depiction of Queen Faustinia with her white coat and fiery red mane, both donned in gilded armor if the yellow thread was intentional. In all of pony history, there were only said to have been four alicorns. The three currently living and the old queen. Perhaps the history told wasn’t all that honest.

Intentional or not.

“Yes, you are doing it correctly. Apply pressure down the length to secure it in place.”

Sweat dripped from her forehead as she focused on securing the metal band along the side of the boat partially completed in the makeshift dry-dock. The spikes fitted through the notches with significant effort, both sides curling in sync to ensure one didn’t triumph over the other.

“Now pull them together and merge both ends to the structure through the hole.”

She did as asked, merging them together with a quick spell before taking a deep breath, dousing her magic, Twilight sitting down while the headache came about from overuse. The shadowy King Sombra moved up his vessel and continued the work of securing a steel band along the top of the wooden hull.

“H-How did you learn to make a boat?” She stared up at the top of the structure until the shadow eyes peeked above her.

“I understood the physics at work, general concepts of seafaring, and followed the designs of others. I had to construct a boat to return to Equestria after I completed my studies. Slavers aren’t reliable, and nopony that far out would want to leave through the magic field around the continent except the suicidal or greedy.”

“Continent? A-Are the Chillrend Mountains still inhabited?”

Sombra stayed silent, pondering his answer. She tilted her head at his silence, about to say something when he answered her: “Yes, they should still be inhabited. That is not where my final destination is, however. The world as you know it, Equinia, Griffonia, the Dry Rivers, Zebrica, and the Hivelands, are only five of sixteen inhabited continents. Well, sixteen continents that at least once held intelligent creatures.”

“Woah. I-I never- I mean, I was always taught there were only the five. And, well, some don’t consider the ‘Dry Rivers’ as a continent at all.” His eyes disappeared over the edge again, the mare taking a glance at the horizon. The sun was about to set if its position meant anything. Their current latitude was still a mystery, but if it was anything like northern Equestria, it should only be an hour or two before sunset. “D-Do you need me to help with anything else?”

“Can you gather tinder and reignite the fire? I would much rather not work at night. We will have time to put this together. There is no rush.”

She got back onto her hooves and proceeded through the town. No matter how comfortable she tried making her temporary home, the knowledge that it was a piece of history long forgotten, with ponies long gone, kept her mood somber. How much of Equestria’s history was she not told? A distant homeland, Windigos, sixteen continents... Actually, how did Sombra know this information? Where was he going if not the old homeland?

After gathering a pile of fallen needles and tinder from the empty forests, another thought came to mind. Where were the animals? She had seen the rare squirrel or chipmunk, but not in the same frequency as back home. Oh, was he- Yikes. He was hunting them all for the sails, isn’t he? Her question went without a concrete answer as she returned to their new ‘home’ next to the docks.

Geez, Twilight, you’re talking like you’ve moved in with him. Get it together! Her grumbling went with no external commentary as she started arranging the fire to be lit. He needed a friend. That’s the entire point of staying to chat with him. Even so, she couldn’t deny being curious what else he knew. The Crystal Empire was ancient according to the texts, once a valuable part of Equestria. If he was centuries old, as he said, and he was born in the empire, it must have gone back to the days of the old queen at least.

But the more she thought about it, there was a serious gap in proof of the pre-Equestrian era. What proof was there other than the old stories? Did the dreaded ‘Emperor Grogar’ exist? Gusty the Great could have been a conglomeration of several ponies rather than a single individual. And the founding still left a question of when Queen Faustinia became queen. She ruled for about two thousand years... maybe. Equestria is a little over three thousand. Simple math says that the one and only queen ruled since the beginning.

Then there was the other can of worms: the regal sisters themselves. Any amount of thought put into it only dragged up more questions. Would Celestia and Luna know about the old homeland? Did Star Swirl encourage them to move the celestial bodies to become alicorns? What about their father? Why is he unnamed in the books? A unicorn dad of the old unicorn royalty being dad to two more unicorns that - by sheer happenstance - became alicorns? Was it deeper than that?

The snap of a twig in her magic startled her from the thoughts with a yelp. Focus, Twilight! You’re overthinking this!

Her magic lit the fire to warm her up. She laid on the cot they had brought up for her, stretching out to receive its warmth. No, things couldn’t be that complicated. Maybe the old homeland was across the ocean and contained secrets, maybe were there sixteen inhabited continents with fantastical unknown creatures. But some grand conspiracy to hide the past stretching back three thousand years? Oh, please. Nopony could hide something big for that long without curious archeologists seeking it out.

Shadows moved across from her, Sombra grabbing several of the whittled branches he had left indoors to bring back out with him. And what if she accused him of lying? They weren’t on the greatest terms for such an accusation. It could break their burgeoning friendship. She could lose him and have to return empty-hooved. While the others would be disappointed, it was that sinking feeling inside her that told her why she was staying.

He was a friend. A... complicated one, who may or may not be trying to manipulate her, but he cared about her. He wouldn’t have carried the cot up and given her the extra blankets if he didn’t.

Yes. He was a good pony deep down.

He only needed more time.

Winds whipped over the snow covered treetops, the howling drowning out all other noises of potential predators for the six creatures pushing through the snowfall. Applejack squinted at the clearing up ahead, knowing it would be the last they see of trees for two full days. Their food supplies were holding according to the plan, but if there wasn’t something to eat on the other side of the wasteland, they would be in for several miserable days waiting on the icebreaker ship.

Beside her, with her wings covered fully, Rainbow Dash pushed forward with as much determination as herself. There would be no flying in the perpetual winter of the arctic plains, no scouting ahead, and no isolating oneself from the group.

“Tell me again why we couldn’t just have a ride fly us to them?” Rarity complained from behind as Applejack and Rainbow pushed through the last of the trees to the field of snow stretching out to the horizon.

“Oh, oh, I know!” Pinkie hopped forward into the snow. “IIIIiiiiiiit’s the Windigos!”

“The creatures we don’t even know are real?” Spike pushed out to stand next to the other two, Rarity and Fluttershy stepping out on the other side.

The howling winds didn’t seem to letup, the clouds darkening the terrain further ahead. “Rarity, Fluttershy. It’s time for those parkas.” Applejack turned to the two that removed their saddlebags, taking out the thick fur and hide. They had already put on their boots and leggings before the snow got too deep, but this would be the last time they would have freedom until they got to their first rest site.

Fluttershy pulled on the parka over her, shivering at the idea. Animals died to give her this. Cute, cuddly bears that now kept them warm, Rainbow Dash opening one of her bags to pass the goggles and scarfs to each of them. Applejack looked over the trek ahead on the map, memorizing every single land-form ahead to make sure they arrived at the cave on time. If the historian was correct, it would drop to negative eight-eight at the deepest point they would get into wastes on the morning of the third day.

“Alright, y’all! I want to remind ya to not overdo yourselves. We can’t stop till we get to our cave. No runnin’ ahead, no jumpin’ around, and no takin’ off your gear!” She strapped on the goggles, wrapping her scarf to cover the rest of her. Each of her friends looked the same, except for Spike. A breath on her scarf activated the magic wards made into their gear, warming them up as they took the first steps to where no pony was ever to return.

Each of them were clipped to at least one other as they pushed forward. There would be no stopping until they rested. Whether it was day or night didn’t matter. As they pushed further, the darker it became and the louder the winds howled. The warmth kept dropping with every step, every breath through the scarf getting colder. The past two days had been leading up to this. It was faster to travel by hoof for six days than to travel the ten by boat through the ice sheets.

And the further they trekked, the more eerie the surroundings became. They arrived at the first landmark, a stone pillar now covered in a lump of snow. Then the hills that once held green forests, now encased under ice. Their glow sticks and compass kept them on track through the darkness. There would be no stopping.

We’re coming, Twilight.

Chapter 6: Unshaken

None of them could see even a hoof in front of their goggles, shoving through the snow that went to their chins, traveling in as straight of a line as they could manage. Nopony knew how long it had been of trekking other than it felt like the day had passed to night, then back to the morning of a new one. At the front of the pack, Applejack had the distinct displeasure of clearing the way for the rest, being guided by Rainbow Dash’s compass by the tug of the bungee line if she wandered too far off the course.

There was only one more stop they needed to rest at before their target was in sight. From the back of the group, Rarity and Spike kept an ear out for would-be predators, the rest keeping in formation as they pushed in single-file. From her leading position, Applejack felt the terrain beginning to shift, motioning the group to a slight rightward angle to move along the edge of what she believed to be the hill they would be resting.

Despite their hooves being beyond exhausted, they had to keep pushing for a while longer. The hill evened out eventually, AJ again taking them along its side, pressing down on something that gave way. The blizzard made it impossible to tell them to stop, Rainbow Dash colliding into her to send her another step forward.

The ground gave way, Applejack tumbling only a short distance into the cave before the line caught her. Rainbow entered after her, clutching at the icy outcroppings to work her way down, taking one of her spare glow sticks to crack, throwing it further into the cave.

A single ice-coated spider the size of a pony laid curled up a short distance away, whatever eyes it had a bleached white.

Fluttershy made her way down next, unhooking herself to make the approach to the creature. While the blizzard howled from the outside, Applejack and Rainbow Dash could hear her speaking to them.

“It’s okay, Mr.Frost Spider. We don’t mean any harm.” She approached closer, lowering herself to appear less threatening. The beast didn’t move, its eyes on them, unblinking and still. Fluttershy swallowed before reaching out a hoof, touching its front icicle protrusion. The beast flinched back, hissing as the pegasus backed up a bit. “See? We’re not that bad.”

It stopped its hissing, going silent and still, legs now pierced into the glacial walls around it. Rainbow got a sinking feeling as Fluttershy unveiled her face of the scarf and goggles, smiling at the creature with what would ordinarily tame bears. The spider didn’t move, didn’t blink, only stare, and that put her hoof onto her own hooks to make sure it tried nothing it would regret.

And as Flutters reached out her hoof, it pounced.

In an instant, she unleashed a blood-chilling scream. Rainbow unhooked herself to bolt at the beast, turning and kicking it off her screeching friend, it’s hisses coming accompanied by more further down the tunnel. “We gotta go!” Rainbow grabbed Fluttershy’s goggles and scarf to toss the Applejack, checking...

Crimson blood leaked from the whimpering Fluttershy’s leg as she laid curled up, shaking visibly even through the layers of clothes and the bags on her back. “Damn!” Rainbow grabbed her friend and bolted for the entrance. With the quick work of four hooves from the two, they set Fluttershy up with her gear before physically tossing her up the slope for Pinkie to grab, the mare pulling the rest of the way as Rainbow re-hooked herself and followed.

She and Applejack made quick work up the jagged ice wall, taking a moment to hook Fluttershy to the rope line before Rainbow went to her side to support her. “We’ve gotta go, Fluttershy! Move!”

She choked out a sob as she limped forward, Applejack once more passing the others to take the lead, moving toward the other set of hills that the map had showed. It was far out of their way, but there wasn’t a choice if all the spiders were like that.

“W-We’ve got a problem!” Spike’s faint voice pierced the blizzard howls, the darkness brightening up a moment as green fire spouted from their accompanying dragon.

“Dagnabbit!” Applejack turned her head back, seeing Spike shoot a second spout of flames, briefly illuminating another two frost spiders creeping from behind them. She turned her gaze back forward, scrunching up her muzzle.

It was going to be a long walk...

Ropes of vine connected the various pieces of the assembly, purple magic tying the last knots in the hide sails. Stitches crisscrossed the different pelts used in the making of the wind-catchers. While there was only the mainsail and two side sails, Sombra had produced an extra set from the animals he had been killing the past month, her thoughts about the notable absences being unintentionally answered. She knew Fluttershy would disapprove of the slaughter of so many creatures, but there wasn’t much else to use in the area. They were reserving the blankets for the trip, the prison bed covers weren’t strong enough, and everything else was too thin or infested.

The sun was getting low on the horizon, casting shadows over her work. Behind her, Sombra climbed aboard to move another set of supplies into their vessel. The effort he put into making sure she was comfortable on the trip was admirable, almost gentlecoltly. While she would like to sleep above the deck, being away from the chill-rending winds was her priority.

Heh. Chillrend-ing.

“Twilight Sparkle? Are you about finished securing the sail?”

“About done.” She licked the inside of her teeth, giving one last pull on each of the knots. “And done!”

“You’ve been a wonderful helper on the project. Thought I’d get something for you.” She turned to see him holding a board of some sort. It was smooth wood, burnt in a checkered pattern, with a wooden box on top. Twilight took it into her magic and sat down, opening the lid to her own smile growing.

“Y-You really didn’t have to. I was only helping a friend.” She closed it up and set it aside, staring at the green and purple that punctuated the darkness she had grown familiar with.

“Friends do give gifts, do they not?”

“Well, yes, but this must have taken you...” Her eyes lowered down to the board, the remark passing with her next word. “T-Thanks.”

“It is not a problem. I’ve started the fire, if you would like to retire for the night.”

She nodded back at him, getting up onto her hooves to get picked up in his tendrils and brought back to the dock. While teleporting would have worked fine, she found a novelty in the sudden chill of his shadows running up her spine. The two made their way to the nearest house, entering to a fire burning bright and illuminating the ruined living area around them, Twilight crawling up into her cot and wrapping the blankets to surround herself.

All the king did was sit and stare at the fire. It had been over forty days, maybe getting close to fifty. Two months spent with only the ‘evil’ and ‘tyrannical’ King Sombra, being ‘manipulated’ into believing he was kinder than how he really was. Then breaking free from her delusions.

Freedom... That’s what he spoke of. That he found somepony who made their own rules, who experienced true freedom. How far could she go with her magic? Could she taste the same freedom he did? What cost would she be willing to pay?

“Um, S-Sombra? Can I ask you something personal?”

“Depends on the matter.” His eyes turned up to find hers still focused on the flames.

“H-How did you become a shadow creature?”

He stayed silent for a few moments. “An unfortunate necessity of my work. The spell was far more complicated than I can reasonably describe without showing you. It took much of my training and years of study to perform. When it was over, the Crystal Empire, my glorious city, was made only mine. If you knew what I did, it may have seemed reckless, but it had to be done. For the safety of my subjects, I needed greater power than I had on my own. The consequence was it forced me to become an umbra.”

“Are there more of your kind? I-I mean, are there more of these umbras?”

“A few dozen, perhaps. You will see at least one more if you choose to sail with me. I won’t lie. It will be a hard journey filled with many dangers.”

“I’ve faced down danger before.” She straightened up her neck, providing a confident smile to the eyes that still stared her down.

“Don’t underestimate what you do not know. Is a timber wolf one of those major threats you’ve faced?”

“Of course! Ponyville is right next to the Everfree Forest. It’s rare, but I’ve seen a few and shielded one away from the town.”

“Think of what could make a timber wolf. Now think of the power such an entity wields when they can control two dozen of them in perfect synchronization. That creature, the entity controlling them, is afraid of the foes we will encounter if we’re unlucky. It’s not a matter of one timber wolf, it’s a matter of two-hundred undead skeletons charging you down with the support of a millennia-old necromancer. It’s the ancient vampire wandering the land with their thralls for more slaves to steal the souls from. It’s the fungus that eats away all living matter to make more of itself, turning you into a mindless husk or trapping you for years in crippling pain. Equinia is not like other continents. Equinia is far more peaceful.”

Twilight swallowed back the sudden dryness in her throat. Worse than... The entity that can make timber wolves? “B-But aren’t timber wolves r-runaway nature magic?”

“They are directed, focused agents of creatures deep below the ground, natural masters of nature magic. They control forests, swamps, kelp fields, jungles, and are ruthless isolationists. Never underestimate the hostile entities beyond your sight. The ursa roam mountains free and uncaring, lethal toxins pollute the fields and forests, unstable magic produces unpredictable arcane spawn or mutate the very life around it into twisted parodies. Or in the worst cases, open portals to let in malevolent entities from Tartarus or worse. Equestria may be a land of peace and prosperity, but it is by far the exception to the rule.”

She lowered herself back into her blankets. How dangerous could the wider world be? Sombra makes it sound as if he was traveling to some unspeakable land of horrors. Unless he is traveling to a land of unspeakable horrors. Are the Chillrend Mountains like that? Wait, no. More questions!

“Y-You said your final destination isn’t in our old homeland? If not, where is it?”

“A continent shielded from those disallowed to see it. It is the second largest continent in the named world, home to the most powerful and skilled magic users in all of pony history, and where I once called home. It is the first and last places one is free to pursue their own life without chains, an anarchic wasteland of the damned. Or an opportunity for salvation and enlightenment. There was where I found my freedom. I will always look back on my training with fondness, but it wasn’t where I wanted to continue my life. I would prove myself to my future mentors and find my own path forward under their tutelage. A trail I wish to show others toward.”

“H-How is it possible to hide an entire continent?” Twilight gulped.

“Magic and technology. It is the last continent where the old empire’s advancements can still be produced. And where I must go to restore myself back to full strength.”

“A-And, um, i-is it possible for me to learn about this magic and technology too?” She put on her sweetest smile, his eyes searching hers.

The king remained silent, his horn bubbling with dark magic as she kept her eyes focused on him. “If you are willing, yes. Lesson one: Cast light from your horn.”

Twilight focused on the beginner’s spell that’s taught to all unicorns, her eyes widening as it never came. Her hoof moved up to touch her horn even as he doused his. She tried again, it not coming. “W-What did you do?!”

“Look under you.”

Her head peeked beneath her cot, seeing a dark crystal with flowing lines of purple along it had grown directly underneath her and spread onto the base of her bed like vines through wooden beams. “H-How did you–“

“Cast the spell without you sensing it? In as simple a manner as you casting light from your horn.” The shadows moved over to go under her cot, the crystals breaking apart to be taken into his tendrils. “Watch.” He released the shards into the flames, changing the fire to a deep blue as the temperature dropped straight to freezing and frost began forming around it. “Each discipline of magic can be mixed with any of the others to produce a wide range of results, including the contradictory. By casting, rituals, enchantments, alchemy, belief, and knowledge, your soul can make use of the world to achieve the apparent impossible.”

His horn lit up, the dark blue turning to a bright blue that sent a wave of heat around them before it died back down to the orange and red it was before. All Twilight did was stare at the green eyes and purple wisps, trying to understand how shallow her understanding of magic was. Why didn’t any of the textbooks talk about combining magic types in a single spell? Why is the field of casting so far ahead of rituals, enchantments, and alchemy, but still an entire league behind what Sombra knows? How can believing something cast magic? Is it an aura that exists around every pony already? Seen but not felt?

Dismissed as ‘background noise?’

“I-I... don’t know what to say.”

Sombra let out a chuckle, breaking into his dark laugh to fill the nighttime sky. She cracked up a bit with her own giggle to add to it. Star Swirl came the closest to Sombra in terms of pure skill. He must have known some of what the king was talking about. Something to check out when she gets back home.

“You humor me, Twilight Sparkle.” A piece of bark floated from next to him as she scrambled back on her cot, staring at it as it floated up next to her. There was no field around it, her breathing shallow as she stared at the tree-skin being moved with nothing. “Ignite your horn.” She gulped as it lit up, casting a spell to observe magic flow. Several thaumaturgic tendrils extended direct from Sombra’s form, unseen but still real. “Magic needs not a horn on one’s head to manifest. That isn’t something they teach, now is it?”

“I...” The words failed to come to her open mouth, her hoof reaching out to grab the piece of bark, feeling its gentle weight as his magic ceased to hold it. Her gaze shifted back up to his eyes. “C-Can you t-teach me? I-I want to learn h-how to cast magic like you do.”

“Hmm...” He picked up a stick and floated in dirt from outside, laying it on the floor to draw ritual markings. “Yes. You must come with me on my journey, however. It could take months before we return. You won’t see your friends or speak to others except me until we reach our destination. Is the sacrifice worth it? If so, cast raw mana into the sigils.”

He floated the stick to the fire to throw in. Twilight took a deep breath in, fighting back the emotions. For days, she had been deliberating on traveling with him. Days spent going over her doubts and fears. Wait, was this the trap Celestia and Luna were worried about? What did the symbols mean? They were like the ones used by Sombra on the log. It could be a trick if he was manipulating her.

But if he wasn’t...

Green never seemed to look as pleasant as now. The six stopped at the first trees not coated by snow to take off their travel parkas and check what they had left. They ate through all the food the night before, their canteens now empty and stomachs growling. The cave they crashed in didn’t provide any comfort or safety, Applejack having only gotten about an hour of rest last night.

Celestia was right. This far north wasn’t like Equestria. The ice spiders were feral, chasing them back into the wastes to try another nearby hill that, gratefully, had an empty, frozen cave to sleep in. Fluttershy was the most distraught of them all, having cried herself to sleep the night before as the poison worked its way from the bite wound on her leg. A bloodied scarf donated by Rainbow Dash now kept the blood from flowing out. A band-aid solution until they picked them up in a few days’ time.

Why would somepony live this far north? From the looks of the terrain, grass would be scarce, and berries were nonexistent. What crops could they grow here? What sorts of animals did this land have?

Still, they made it. They could only hope Twilight was still kicking or the journey would have been for nothing.

“I’m going to check out the town from above.” Rainbow Dash took flight, leaving Rarity to her work.

Their unicorn friend unwrapped the scarf from around the foreleg, taking a peek at it. “Most of the bleeding has stopped. It’s not looking pretty around the edges, though.”

“Let me see.” Applejack walked over and peeked in, wincing at the green bits around the wound. “We’ll need to cut some of that out if it keeps gettin’ worse.”

“W-What if we, uh, burned it?” Spike asked, shuffling on his feet, both medically aware friends glancing at one another. Un-holstering the knife from the side of her bag, Applejack passed it to Rarity who floated it into the area.

“Sorry, Flutters. This is gonna hurt.”

The mare bit her scarf, whimpering as the knife began carving the infected edge from her body, pus forming and being wiped away by the other edge of the knife. Applejack motioned Spike over, the dragon standing back until Applejack removed the cut out flesh by hoof and Rarity moved away. The farm pony lowered Fluttershy’s pant leg, motioning her head forward. He gulped as he stepped up, seeing the bleeding wound surrounded by veins and blacked bits, covered in either blood or a yellowish-green fluid.

With a deep breath in, he blew his flames into the opening, Fluttershy’s scream muffled by the scarf, tears dripping down her face to soak into the fabric. Applejack used her scarf to cover the cauterized wound, sitting back and taking a deep breath. “Fluttershy? Do you need a few?”

The pegasus nodded her head, Rarity throwing the strips into a nearby bush before going over to where Pinkie was sitting, the mare having covered her eyes. The farm mare took a tree and closed her eyes, resting from the trek through the wasteland. When they saw their friend, it would be all worth it. After a few minutes of waiting, Rainbow Dash descended on them, landing next to Fluttershy. “It bad?”

“It’s better now.” AJ leaned forward from the tree she and Spike had claimed. “See Twi?”

“She’s at the dock on the far side. Didn’t see Sombra, but it looks like he’s been using her to build a boat.”

Fluttershy spat the scarf from her mouth, straightening up determined. “L-Let’s g-go get her.”

Rainbow helped her friend up from the ground, staying at her side as they began the rest of the trek down the hills. Crystal stones marked the paths leading into the town. However, they stayed along the outskirts until they got to the coast. What buildings they passed were overgrown in vines and moss, made of either stone, crystal, or only a pile of metal bits that survived from the formerly wooden homes.

When they started walking near to the shoreline, they took one street to move into the town, each keeping an eye out for the king. While they had the six elements on them just in case, if he attacked before they could get Twilight on their side, there would be no stopping him.

Around the corner on the next street, they spotted Twilight levitating several metal boxes onto the boat that bobbed with the light waves. Applejack halted the others, taking a moment to whisper back to them.

“Alright. Rarity, remember the stories?”

“Of course, darling.”

“Rainbow, you wanna do one last look above?”

“On it!” She bolted up into the sky.

“Pinkie, ya got the letters?”

“Y-Yup!”

“Alright. Now we just need Rainbow Dash and we can get goin’.” She took another glance around the corner, their unicorn friend being none-the-wiser about their presence. If she was mind-controlled, they had the elements to break it. If she was being manipulated, they had the stories. And if she was genuine, they had the letters to show how much she was being missed by her friends and family.

It was everything they needed, and as Rainbow swooped down to land next to them, they set out as six. The unicorn turned their way, shock crossing her face as she looked at them for the first time in almost two months. Rarity chewed her inner lip, somewhat envying Twilight for losing weight while out here, even if it was because she was being starved.

“G-Girls?! Spike?!” Twilight galloped toward them, bringing her little brother into a bone-crushing hug as the other five gathered around. “I-I’ve missed you so much! What are you six doing here?” She turned her eyes up onto the others, the nervousness on them pricking at her own joy to put her on edge.

“Twi, remember what happened last autumn?” Applejack stepped forward, Twilight nodding.

“My brother’s wedding was attacked by changelings and Queen Chrysalis. I’m not mind-controlled, by the way.” She let out a giggle, stepping over to Fluttershy. “What happened? Are you feeling alright?”

“I-I’m fine, Twilight. A-Are you?”

“Yeah?” She tilted her head, looking to the other five that seemed to still be expecting something. “What’s wrong?”

“Twilight. We need to get you out of here and back home.” Rainbow flew up, taking a quick check around before descending. “King Sombra hasn’t been telling you the truth.”

She straightened up, marching over to her other friend. “And what is the truth?”

“That he’s evil!”

Rarity sighed, rubbing her forehead. “Twilight, darling, Celestia and Luna told us what he did. He killed the old ruler of the Crystal Empire in cold blood, enslaved ponies to do his bidding in mines, and has performed ghastly experiments on other creatures. He’s not as nice as he may seem, and it might appear that way right now, but he will show you his true colors when he returns to take the Crystal Empire.”

Their friend winced a bit, looking around at the others. “W-Well, I don’t know if any of that is true. M-Maybe the experiment part, but I don’t think he’d use slaves for labor and murder his opposition.”

“Twi. I know you want to believe the best in him. I know you want to redeem him, but there’s no fixin’ a rotten apple.” Applejack took a breath in as Pinkie moved forward.

“T-Twilight, we brought some letters from home for you.” She reached into her bags to take out a bundle of envelopes, passing them to their friend who stared at them.

“T-Thanks...”

“It’s time to go home.” Spike put his claw on her shoulder, Twilight still staring blankly at the letters.

The silence persisted, the nervousness of the six getting worse with every passing moment. They were in the middle of the street. Easy to spot down either direction, and easy to close the distance. If Sombra saw them...

“No.” Twilight said, breaking their quiet. “I-I’m not going home. Not yet.”

“UGH!” Rainbow plopped on her rear, rubbing her eyes. “Why not?! We came all the way up here to see you!”

“A-And I appreciate you doing so, but there’s something else I need to do before I come back. I’m making progress on King Sombra and I can make him see a better way than conquest. Believe me, I’d love to go back home with all of you, but there’s something wrong that I need to get to the bottom of. I’m sorry you came all this way only to give me my mail. But I’m happy to see you before Sombra and I go across the ocean.”

“Across the ocean? You aren’t seriously going to travel with him, are you?” Rarity let out a scoff, rolling her eyes as the others tried to think of another way.

“What’s across that there ocean that isn’t at home?” Applejack asked with uncertainty.

“Answers. Celestia and Luna are liars. The world is much larger than we know, with history we’ve been misled about.” She moved over to Spike, kneeling down. “I-I’d love for you six to come along, but I don’t think Sombra will let you onboard.”

“Twilight. P-Please don’t go with him.” Fluttershy’s voice was near total faintness. Rainbow took one glance back to spot King Sombra moving the last boxes onto the boat as if he was in a rush.

“I’m sorry, I can’t. I promise, I’ll be back before you know it.” Twilight noticed the lack of attentiveness of her friends and turned around to see Sombra unhitch the boat, adjusting the sails and pushing his tendrils against the dock to send him off. She bolted forward, the others calling out after her.

“No! Don’t go!” “W-We miss you, Twilight!” “Don’t you dare get on that boat!”

Rainbow flew in front of her, tackling her friend to the ground. “You’re not leaving with him!”

“Get off!” Twilight lit her horn and shoved the pegasus from her, getting back to her hooves as Fluttershy landed ahead.

“Please stop!” Her tearful eyes sent a numbness from Twilight’s throat to tail, magic shoving Fluttershy aside to continue galloping. A light blue glow surrounded her body, briefly lifting her before her magic broke it, hooves hitting the ground running.

Or they would have if a pony didn’t grab onto her back leg and trip her over. Twilight flipped over to see Pinkie having been the culprit, the party pony giving a shy smile to her glaring eyes before letting go, her friend rolling back over to jump to her hooves. A bungee line landed over her head not a second later and briefly choked her before her magic cut it.

“Darn it, Twi!” Applejack called from behind, the sound of hooves getting closer.

As Twilight got onto the dock and the hoofsteps were a second from tackling her into the water, she lit her horn and teleported the remaining distance to the boat, crashing onto the deck face-first. “Ow!”

“TWILIGHT!” Rainbow and Fluttershy came flying over, the unicorn putting up a purple shield.

“I Pinkie Promise, I’ll come home in one piece! I left a note in the house near the dock! Please read it and understand why I have to do this!” she called back to them, both pegasi hovering in place, watching the boat move further and further away. Twilight held the shield until it started straining her, seeing that they weren’t following. Her heart ached to see them so close, yet so far. She forgot the mail in the rush too, leaving her to only wonder what has been going on while she was away.

“They are a caring sort. Perhaps too indoctrinated to see the wider truth.”

“S-Sombra. A-Am I making a mistake?” She turned around to face the shadows directing the rudder with the wheel they made.

“Want me to turn around so you can spend more time with them?” His eyes bobbed in the shadows, her heart stumbling as she stared at him.

“N-No. I-It’s fine. We need to get to the Chillrend Mountains, a-and they need to go back home.”

“Very well.” His eyes moved to gaze at the stuff he tossed aboard. “Would you like to get setup below the deck?”

“Y-Yeah. And thank you for offering to turn back.”

He let loose his maniacal laughter, Twilight giggling along with him. Eventually, he calmed down, staring her down.

“What else are friends for, Twilight?”

“I-I can’t believe it.” Applejack got out of the frigid water, pulling herself back onto the deck to stare off at the boat that kept getting smaller with every passing second.

The two pegasi returned, Fluttershy landing at the end of the dock to fall to her haunches, tearing up. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash landed next to AJ further down, staring off at the same ship. Pinkie burst out crying behind them to get comforted by Rarity and Spike, none knowing what to say.

“S-She said she left a note around here.” Rainbow cleared her throat, turning away and looking at the ruined town. “Hey, uh, how are we going to feed ourselves? Doesn’t look like there’s much grass and I doubt there’s a garden in there.”

“S-She left a note?” Rarity asked as she and the remaining two approached, receiving an affirmative nod from her chromatic-maned friend. “Pinkie? Would you–”

“YES!” Pinkie snapped out of her tears and ran off for the buildings, Spike following behind.

Applejack got up and walked to the furnace along the coast and sat down, heating her body in its warmth while the others did their own tasks. Luna wasn’t messing around when she said Twilight would resist. What was Sombra going to do to her? She would be gone weeks or months, with only him to provide her company. But there was time to grieve later. For now, they needed to get the essentials in order. Food, water, and somewhere to–

“Hey! Check this out!” Rainbow called from above, Applejack turning and galloping into the town toward her friend’s voice, seeing... “It’s like it’s some freaky monster!”

Potatoes. Lots of potatoes all over a house, growing on vines. “Well, I’ll be...”

“I know! This is what Twilight must have been eating!” She descended into the backyard, Applejack moving around to see the small field worth of crops.

“Heh.” She cracked a grin, her friend providing a smile her own. “I guess we won’t go hungry?”

Author's Note

Credits to Nebbie for the chase sequence idea.

Chapter 7: Gusty of Galdon

What words she had caught in her throat, gaze focused on the mountains ahead of her. They dwarfed the Crystal Mountains and Unicorn Range, at least half the peaks taller than Mount Canterhorn and the rest on par. Along the face toward them, jagged rocks protected the coasts, waves of sub-zero water crashing into the spikes and dispersing into a foamy mist to join the veil of fog over the rest of the ocean.

“We’re almost at Galdon.” Twilight blinked a few times before turning back to Sombra who had his eyes focused on navigating the inconsistent waves. After the first seven times throwing up overboard, the bobs and crests got manageable. How did they travel the oceans with wooden ships? Icebergs were a constant hazard, and she heard the fish gnawing at the underside of the boat, making a breach one night that they had to repair.

And what of the city? Was it as impressive? Sombra said he’d tell her more once they arrived, yet her impatience kept her shifting on her hooves, eyes scanning the mountains for signs of civilization.

“Twilight?” She turned her entire body toward him, the king letting out a short laugh before returning to his steering. “Nevermind. It seems you’re preoccupied.”

“H-How come Queen Faustinia wanted to hide where we came from?” She walked over to grab the improvised side railing on the boat, keeping her balance as she stood next to him. Ahead there was a structure built into the mountain, made of solid- was it concrete? The pier jutted from the massive carved dock area, as smooth as the sidewalks in Canterlot with worn details along the edges. She could make out a yellow in the second-story window of the structure and vines creeping down it, the entrance long since rotted away.

“You’ll see why soon enough.” He angled the boat, coming up beside the dock. “Hook us up!”

Twilight did as asked and threw the vine rope to latch onto a metal docking peg, Sombra grabbing the saddlebags and taking them with him onto the surface, his companion lighting her horn and teleporting next to him. There was a sizable area between the front of the dock and the building, rusted bits of metal scattered and moss having grown over large segments. It was a mesh of green and gray coated in the light fog that seemed to coat the ocean, dispersing the further away from the water it got.

“Word of warning: Do not touch any fungi. I would rather you not get the Chillrend Blight and dying if I can prevent it. The worst colors are green, blue, red, and purple. If you see a glowing green, stay as far from it as you can. That one emits spores.” He floated down the pier followed by Twilight, the mare grabbing the saddlebags they prepared earlier that morning, leading Twilight to the building to let her light her horn and peek inside. Yellow covered much of the walls, a small blue patch along the doorway across what looked to be an old office based on the lumps of decayed wood in certain areas.

“T-That’s the Chillrend Blight? I thought it was worse.”

“It is normally, but it’s suppressed here. Still causes issues when it comes into contact with intelligent creatures, which is what makes it so deadly.” He turned and led her down the massive dock. Dozens of piers stretched out to make a full harbor, what looked to be a rusted metal boat partially sunk a ways down. “It doesn’t have a cure, and guaranteed lethal. Plus, it would reactivate with a new host and spread itself. Heavens above if it turns red and purple.”

“I-Is it naturally occurring here?”

“It’s an alien parasite from my understanding.”

“An... alien parasite? Like from another planet?!” She stopped in place, him turning his eyes back to her.

“You really need a textbook to tell you all this. I don’t know if it’s alien in that sense, only that they referred to it as an alien parasite. Given the old empire, it wouldn’t surprise me if it came from another world. Although where that world would be, I do not know.” He motioned one of his shadow tendrils for her to follow, taking her into a pathway carved into the side of the mountain, supported by pillars of stone and a rock railing.

“W-What was that about the old empire?” She asked as they started making their way around, her eyes widening at the first sighting of the buildings. A gargantuan dockyard was to her right now, tucked against the mountain lip of the bay, with a partial skeleton of a massive metal ship as large as the great iron vessels of the Equestrian navy. No... “T-That ship... C-Could it survive a thousand years?”

“It could survive ten-thousand.”

Her eyes ran over the skeleton, seeing how the vines curled up around it, yet there was no rust. The structure beyond was made of a type of stone she never had seen before, tinted red further down before transitioning into a white near the top, a tower of stone and metal protruding from the roof for a half-dozen stories. It looked damaged from the bent pieces and missing chunks, but it couldn’t have been...

As they came around the rest of the corner, she laid her eyes on the abandoned metropolis. More structures with varying tints showed themselves at the other end of the great bay they entered, the castle towering above the rest of the city. Each structure she saw had at least three stories, some going as high as ten with a curved architecture unseen in classical depictions, a grand statue of an alicorn in the center of the bay pointing their hoof outward while leaning on the spear with their other, a bubbling sense of affection spreading in Twilight’s stomach.

“Gusty of Galdon. Princess of the old empire, one of the great saviors of ponykind.”

“S-She was an alicorn?”

“Like her family likely was, yes. Believe me when I say that statue is a work of art. Wish I could have met her. I heard she was one of the greatest minds in the world.”

“I-I can only... G-Gusty. A-As in Gusty the Great?”

His eyes turned toward her. If he could express himself, it would have likely been smug satisfaction. “The same. The one who defeated Emperor Grogar with an army of two million ponies, who faced him down personally and separated the bell from his collar, to end him with his own weapon. A legendary story. Perhaps one for another time.”

Her mouth dropped open. “T-Two million ponies?! H-How?! How could so many ponies fight in a single battle?!”

“This continent once held nearly fifty million, before the Windigos came, at least.” He turned and continued forward, his tag-along appreciating the statue and the city. It was magnificent, a project that would have taken modern Equestria decades of dedicated effort. A work of art made reality on par with Canterlot. Why would they- Oh, right, the Windigos.

“H-How many Windigos are there?”

“From what I understand, four or five remaining. There used to be much more, but war has a way of reducing their numbers. I know for a fact one is still here in the Chillrend Mountains, and three more are trapped in the Great Wastes of Equinia.”

After fifteen minutes of traveling the mountains along the edge of the bay, they exited out onto a street that ran along the waterfront, walking down the paved cobblestones of white and gray, broken up by moss between them. Her eyes focused on the three-story structures with damaged windows and broken doors. Abandoned like everywhere else. Why wouldn’t ponies live in this city? It must have had room for at least a million ponies in relative comfort, with a fortress that could see who-knows how far.

“Princess Faustinia and Prince Nightflame used to live in that citadel.” He motioned a tendril at the towering castle two hundred poni high, a pyramid-like structure at the center surrounded by towers of white stone, disrupted by the occasional window or series of windows. “The royals from a long forgotten age. They kept a convincing facade, although it didn’t stop many from knowing the truth.”

“A-And what is the truth?”

“That Nightflame was an equal to Faustinia, with wings and a horn just like hers. An alicorn prince whose influence was equivalent to his wife’s. From what I saw in Equestria, it is only a reality known far in the north or deep in the south for the common ponies.”

“D-Do you have proof?”

He let out a deep laugh, taking her along the harbor. What looked to be a grand park was to her left, a boulevard beneath her hooves cleared of any objects beyond the occasional bits of metal and moss. Sombra led her down a road into the park, passing the sharp pine trees that now grew all around. Once they reached a set of statues, the king ignited his horn to tear the vines from them to reveal two alicorns standing together, the stallion with his head atop the mare’s. A dryness spread in Twilight’s throat as she stared at the stallion. He seemed... too familiar. Like a distant relative she knew from when she was a filly.

“I would like you to tell me something, Twilight Sparkle. Is your family of a noble lineage?” He looked to her, Twilight’s throat getting drier.

“Y-Yes? M-My mom’s side. House Sparkle.” She gave him a nervous smile, her body preparing for the bombshell.

“Prince Nightflame Sparkle is your ancestor. One whose lineage has been nobility since long before the modern incarnation of Equestria came to be.” He turned back to the statue. “The couple loved one another as much as they did their daughters and Equestria. Together, night and day were two equals. The queen who raised the sun, the king who raised the moon.”

Her mouth dropped open. “THEY WHAT?!”

“Something Luna hated to admit and Celestia refused to give truth to.” He continued to float along, Twilight taking one last scan of the statue before following him further into the park.

“B-But how?!”

“The same way the regal sisters do it: their cutie marks. I remember meeting the two a few years before my return. They had come looking to produce an enchanted clock capable of automating the process. Where they keep the clock, I wouldn’t know, only that it works.”

“S-So–”

“No, the sisters aren’t necessary for day and night to happen. They derived their authority from their gifts, true, but they are fools if they think they understand what their parents were like. Faustinia was a fiery force to be reckoned with, a mare one didn’t want to play games against, or heavens forbid making an enemy of. Nightflame, a leader who could convince a fervent tribalist to marry a pony of another type and conceive two dozen foals with them. Together, they were unstoppable. As the sun and moon are in the sky.”

“I-I...” Twilight’s mouth stayed open as she followed, unable to vocalize her thoughts. While the sun and moon moved through the sky naturally, they couldn’t... No, it wasn’t possible! “The horizon isn’t enchanted?!”

“No? It’s not magical. That would require a ridiculous amount of magic to even produce the illusion of.” He gave another laugh, leading her deeper into the city streets. The buildings only got taller as they went, approaching six stories high when the castle loomed over them. A million... No, at least TWO million could live in this city. It was a Crystal Empire sized metropolis, except even more impressive than the already jaw dropping beauty of the old city.

“S-So C-Cloudsdale came from h-here?”

“Is that Pegasopolis?” He asked, Twilight humming in agreement. “Yes. It came from here along with Thestrialis. I doubt you’ve heard of the city. It was in southern Equestria patrolling Arimaspi.”

“T-There’s a second one?” Her ears fell back on her head, hooves stopping in place. He floated forward a bit more before turning back to her dejected expression.

“They really don’t tell you anything, do they? Please tell me the four tribes are still holding strong.”

“F-Four...?”

“They must have turned against their night brethren.” He hummed, floating up to her to lean down to stare into her eyes. “Thestrals are a legitimate tribe of ponies, as much as the pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies. Or at least they were when I was around.”

She blinked a few times, gulping. While she didn’t exactly like thestrals because of their... reputation, if she was wrong about everything else, why wouldn’t that be another one to add to the pile? It was impossible to deny there was something wrong about modern history.

“I-Is the F-Founding of Equestria still true? T-That the Windigos separated the pony kinds and forced us to flee our homeland?”

“No.” He let out another chuckle, turning and moving back down the street. “Ponies haven’t had severe tribal conflicts in thousands of years, long before Equestria was made. The Windigos forced the surviving population to flee from here, that is true, but it was a war between two massive kingdoms that attracted them.”

He paused for a moment, stopping in place to turn back to her. “Archon Star Swirl the Bearded, the regent for Princess Platinum, approached the other major leaders about fully using the ships still in the docks. The five settled on an evacuation plan and contacted Queen Frostbite, preparing before making a push to free the trapped refugees from the mountains. They took to the seas north of us where they found Equinia and traveled to the Great Divider, founding the queendom around Mount Everhoof.”

“S-So...” She wobbled on her hooves, falling onto her rump. It... made a lot more sense now. It was an entire history forgotten, of wars waged and secrets buried. Cloudsdale - Pegasopolis - was a relic of their history. Star Swirl wasn’t only a wizard, but a regent for the unicorns...

“T-The thestrals... Q-Queen Frostbite was their ruler?”

“Their most powerful ruler, yes.”

“W-What about the other three? C-Clover the Clever, Smart Cookie, and Private Pansy?”

“Clover the Clever... She was the apprentice of Star Swirl, from my understanding, one who served as a close advisor to Faustinia and Nightflame. Chancellor Smart Cookie was the first Archon of Equestria, and Private Pansy was a war hero, the one who slayed a Windigo on their own, the champion who founded the Royal Guard.”

“I... Shit...” Her goofy grin turned up, letting out a giggle that turned into an open laughter, her body tumbling onto its side as she tried to get used to the numbness coursing through her.

He floated over and settled next to her, reaching out a tendril. “We can rest at the edge of the city. I know this is hard to accept. The history books were rewritten by the time I went to school, so I had to find this out on my own. I understand the feeling.”

“T-Thanks.” She accepted his help back up, both moving forward once more.

Luna slammed shut another book to float the next into her vision. Thousands of spells, hundreds of authors, three-thousand years of history preserved, and not a single one on what the Crystal Heart even is. An artifact of immeasurable power, far stronger than the Elements of Harmony, weaker than the Fire of Friendship, yet an enigma to even the most informed ponies in the entire world.

What would Sinabeak have said about it? She might have been able to decipher it, assuming Princess Amore didn’t host her during that breakaway phase. Although...

“Tia.” Luna lowered her book, her sister across the rotating heart, closing her own book. A full privacy curtain had been setup on the sides of the spire, guards patrolling around them to ensure their experiments went without interruption. “What happened to Sinabeak?”

Her older sister took a deep breath, setting down the book and looking to the ground. “She went mad. I had to kill her.”

“A mage as talented as her doesn’t ‘go mad’ without some indication how.”

“I don’t know. She wrote her notes in Old Script and encrypted with some sort of cipher. It... was gradual.” Celestia picked up the one book the Crystal Empire had on Sinabeak’s work, flipping through it. “Believe me, if there was another choice, I would have taken it. About fifty years before the Yoriff Conflict, she reached out to say she’s distancing herself from enchanting affairs. Ten more later, she started getting harder to contact before cutting ties. When she attacked Starfield, it was a stab in the back.”

“You really don’t know why?” Luna’s ears fell back, her sister glaring at the crystal pavement.

“No. She didn’t have any magic by the end. I... S-She was so weak, and I killed her.” Her face scrunched up, now returning her eyes to her sister. “I did what I thought was for the best. If I had known she had lost her magic, I would have kept her imprisoned. But it was a valuable lesson in fortifying the defenses of the colony. Maybe it could have gone a different way.” She let out a deep sigh, eyes trailing back to the books. “I wish I could have saved her.”

The other regal sister swallowed the lump in her throat, returning to the books. Spells on the usage of artifacts and... No. She can’t forget the loss of one of their last ancient friends. Who was there left? Discord...!

“Tia! What about Discord?”

“What do you mean ‘What about Discord’? He’s sealed in stone.” Celestia moved her gaze back to her sister.

“I know he is, but what if we can make use of his power? You know he isn’t irredeemable. Is there a way we could... reform him?”

Her sister thought a few moments, picking up several of the texts into her golden magic to levitate around her, flipping through them. “We would require the Elements of Harmony for it to work, but yes. And I did come across a spell I believe can modify the Element of Magic. However, it is... lossy. I will need Cadance and Shining Armor to help me with the activation of the artifact, and will need to spend some time getting to know the five bearers if they’ve failed their mission.”

“Wait, we can use the elements against Sombra!” Luna facehoofed. “We can trap the heart and then use the elements against him when he tries to seize it. It doesn’t require us to know what it does in order to set up a barrier around it.”

“That... is a great idea, actually.” Celestia rubbed her chin, humming to her herself before shrugging a hoof. “And if all else fails, a reformed Discord could immobilize Sombra.”

“I believe I already have the spell in mind, too!” She picked up her books and move around to the other side, reaching out a hoof. “I’ll need Cadance’s help. If you would like, you can return to Canterlot to begin planning the reformation of Discord. I’ll continue looking for methods to defeat Sombra, but Equestria needs one of us to be there.”

Celestia took one last look through her books before relenting, accepting her sister’s help up from the ground. “Are you certain you don’t require me?”

“Between our niece and myself, it shouldn’t be a worry!”

“Alright.” She cast a smile to her little sister, seeing that giddy excitement she always got when she was the one to get something right. “When you return for the Summer Sun Celebration, we can talk about having more duties moved to your office. Sound like a plan?”

“Of course!” The lunar princess picked up the rest of the books in her blue glow, providing her sister with one last hug. “You’ll see me again before you know it!”

“I’m certain I will.” Celestia gave a short giggle, hugging back.

Yes, it was a good idea. Reform Discord, use the Elements of Harmony to finish King Sombra once he tripped the trap, give Luna more responsibilities. If there was one good thing to come out of Twilight’s foalnapping, restoring her little sister’s confidence would be it.

If there was one bad thing to come out of her ‘foalnapping,’ it was the weather. Twilight huddled as close to the fire without burning herself, trying to get every bit of heat she could. Sombra stayed nearby in the darkness, his eyes being visible for her at all times. Despite being tucked away from the frigid winds that blew over the walls, the temperature was still well below freezing. How could ponies survive in weather this harsh? This unforgiving?

Or was it the doing of the Windigos?

“S-Sombra.” His eyes snapped to attention at her word, a small smile coming to her face. “Was the Chillrend Mountains always like this?”

“Before my time, I would guess not. The temperature wouldn’t have been much better than this, although certain areas got far colder than others. Deserts went from a warm heat to freezing, swamps froze over, forests... wouldn’t have changed much.” He let out a chuckle, the smile on his companion growing ever so much.

“How do you know all this? I-I understand if you don’t want to tell me, but it’s going to be hard to convince other ponies without some sort of evidence.”

His eyes stayed on her, eventually moving forward so she could see his tendrils within the fire’s light. “Like I mentioned in Equinia, I received formal education. It wasn’t simply on magic, but history and technology as well. Consider it like an extended education for foals, except lasting centuries and involving advanced concepts and entire millennia worth of historical knowledge. My teachers were some of the best. Together, they taught me the truths of the world and how to discover more. They directed me to seek knowledge on my own, to write reports back to them, and to never accept that the world is immutable.”

“So you had more than one teacher?” She tilted her head, a chuckle escaping from the shadows.

“Twilight, you must understand by now that there are ancients far older than Celestia and Luna, much older than even Faustinia. When you have all the time in the world, you find things to do. Those with the will to see through a problem will eventually solve it.”

She blinked a few times, taking a breath of the warm fire air in. “S-So, how do they know all they do?”

“Millennia upon millennia. Masters of every discipline, at the forefront of magic and technology on a terrifying scale.”

A silence settled between them, a smile slowly coming to her face as she thought of something. “D-Do you think they’d be willing to teach me?”

Her crooked grin back to him faltered as he stared back, Sombra letting it sit for several moments. “You believe that teleportation is ‘advanced.’ I was taught day one of being enslaved that teleportation is foal’s play when every metal cage is enchanted to electrocute those that try.”

“E-Enslaved? You were...” She cut off the thought as he raised a tendril.

“Two weeks. I had been there long enough to get the idea of what they expected of me and branded before I broke free to keep my journey on the move. That was the first time, at least. The subsequent times were much shorter until I intentionally got myself caught to infiltrate on the fourth. That lasted about five months before I got what I wanted and broke out.”

“You...” Her muzzle scrunched up. “W-What were you looking for?”

“The soul of a certain individual at the camp. I required it for a tracking enchantment.”

“A-And it took you five months to collect?”

“It took me five months to get transferred into the same pen as them. It took two days to collect and break out, and another six months to shake the slavers from my trail. Stories like mine are ordinary as far as the land went.”

Twilight stayed silent, moving her eyes to flames. He... was enslaved. The near-invincible, dangerous, and ‘vile’ king was branded as a slave and had to go on the run for his life. He really wasn’t joking about the land being harsh. Again, assuming it was truthful.

And the only way to find out would be to stick by him.

“S-So you got interested in magic because of fireworks?”

“What else? With a foal who couldn’t even cast light from their horn seeing colorful explosions made with that same magic, what would you expect?” He let out a quiet laughter, the grin on his friend growing with every second. Would he lie to her? A cheerful foalhood, seemingly honest answers, and personal struggles he dismisses out of hoof. It was nothing that somepony looking to get pity or sympathy would say.

“Do you regret leaving the Crystal Empire? You said you were gone for centuries, but did you leave anypony behind?”

He stayed silent for several seconds, pondering the answer. “I left a friend or two. Seeing the city’s light one last time hurt the most. It was a piece of my life I would never return to. The innocence. It is that innocence I would like for others to experience for the rest of their days. Despite my heart aching to turn away from my home, I knew I had to set out on my own journey. If I never left, I never would have come to believe in a greater cause than only my personal gain. The elderly stallion that turned away from their old life would become Sombra, a king-in-waiting.”

“You didn’t always believe what you did?”

“No. I was relatively young, selfish, and only looking forward to making others bend to my will. Other ponies couldn’t understand, or so I thought. I believed that my destiny would come by proving magic as supreme, to institute a rule of mages. The methods and result shifted as I trained under my new tutors. My soon-to-be principal instructor taught me that while the world is varying shades of gray, there is a path forward that would be brighter than any other. I would request a transfer from my instructor at the time to study light and harmony under them.”

Twilight stared at the eyes, trying to think of what she could say to that. It made sense. All the doubts she had disappeared with the knowledge of his scholarship. He was powerful and ambitious, true, but cared about his subjects, like a harmonic monarch. Except there was something still that bothered her since the day they set off, something Rarity told her.

“I-I hope you don’t mind me asking, but, um, did you kill the old princess of the empire?”

He took a moment to stay quiet, eyes moving to the flames. “It wasn’t a peaceful takeover. Many lives were lost on both sides to take the Crystal Spire from their grip.” He floated up another piece of wood to toss onto the fire. “They were all buried in the Imperial Memory Gardens, including Princess Amore. Despite being my enemy, she still had family who cared. They all did.”

Her eyes shifted back to their light source. It was true. He killed his opposition. “W-What about the mines? D-Did you use slave labor?”

“I used undead labor. They were ponies that had agreed ahead of time to serve in the mines until no longer needed. They couldn’t feel what they went through, nor did they even understand what was happening. I made sure their minds were wiped and families paid for their relative’s sacrifice.”

“A-A-And what about experiments? D-Did you... N-Never-mind.” She let out a sigh. “Sorry.”

“What prompted this line of questioning? Has Luna been visiting you in your sleep again?”

She flicked her eyes to his a moment before returning to the flames. “M-My friend told me about what Celestia and Luna thought you did. I guess... I guess they didn’t have the full picture.”

“No, they didn’t. I can only hope we can change their mind together.”

Twilight cracked a smile, tingles spreading through her before she closed her eyes and settled in. Yes, he was a good pony.

And she would be there for him, like he would be for her.

By this point, it seemed every step she took through the woods was its own trek, her companion able to float along for hours without rest. The weather was shuttering levels of cold, yet the sparse animals and massive pines seemed to not notice. Her horn brimmed with latent magic energy, as though the entire continent was enchanted from the rocks to the critters, the forest a mixture of light snow, the green pine needles, and the orange planet matter laid on the ground beneath her hooves.

That was at least one good thing about the forest: it was soft. Not in the sense of distance, hills, or even creatures, but in terms of the physical softness she stepped upon. Ever since leaving Galdon, her mind had been swarming with questions. Every abandoned village or town another that added to that pile.

Exactly how advanced was ancient Equestria? The technology was pre-industrial, but further ahead than Faustinian Era archeology suggested. Great windmills, with hundreds of steel gears in perfect condition even after thousands of years, dotted old farms across the land, farm tools made of magic alloys commonplace, every town a dedicated magic lodge, be it enchanting, alchemy, or wizardry. Then there was the question of the occasional grand castle they discovered of the white metal-rock that they made Galdon of. It seemed the entire continent was littered with reminders of the past.

“S-Sombra?” She cleared her throat, another blast of wind passing overhead to send chills through her body. “C-Can we rest for a minute or two?”

He let out a groan, halting in place and turning back. “It’s not safe here, Twilight. We can rest in the next village we find.”

“But we haven’t seen a single dangerous creature since arriving.”

He paused, turning back to leading her forward. “In ancient Equestria, before the Windigos arrived, they dealt with all manner of wild manifestations. Golems, spirits, the mutated and deranged, real runaway nature magic that formed nests that could eat towns whole if given the chance. Once the Windigos came, that changed little. Last time I was here, I nearly lost my life to the Chillrend Blight, ambushed when traveling in the open, attacked at night by bats the size of ponies, and faced a major void spawn on my own. This isn’t a continent one wants to live on without overwhelming superiority.”

“S-So when the Windigos came, they made it worse?”

“They made it different. When they were active, yes, it was much worse than–“ He stopped speaking, halting in place and motioning his tendrils for her to get down. She did as instructed, Sombra moving forward a bit more before turning back, motioning her ahead. Twilight followed him as he kept up his slow pace forward, his eyes moving around him to look in different directions.

It felt like everything was getting colder as she walked, hooves now shaking as she tried not to–

Sombra snapped his gaze back, pushing Twilight to the ground before sparking his magic alight, raising four dark crystals around them. “Now you get to see what the ponies of old fought against.”

“W-What’s...” Her teeth chattered as the temperature dropped again, winds howling above. Sombra’s crystals glowed red, heating her back up as they transferred their energy into his horn. A beast flew overhead, crashing into the trees a short distance away, a creature made of ice in the shape of a pegasus twice as large as herself rising from the indentation it made, turning its glowing blue eyes toward them.

The temperature sharply rose, all four crystals shattering into shards that dissolved away, a single blast of fire magic searing Twilight’s fur before impacting the beast and erupting the woods into flames. Sombra now moved forward into the flames as they flickered out, the half-melted creature howling before the king grabbed around their neck with his tendrils, snapping their head from body. The corpse stumbled backward as the king cast flames onto the head, melting it further.

Once the body collapsed, he let up, throwing the remains of the head as far as he could. His strength was impressive, getting above the trees from what Twilight could see. Not surprising given he could carry logs with relative ease.

His eyes turned back to her, the purple wisps trailing further from the green, which had now started to glow. “Do you understand now?”

“W-What was t-that?” She stood back up, the king floating over to check her over. “I-It looked l-like a pony but...”

“A snow-pony, as they were called. A somewhat misleading name considering how dangerous they are. They can drop the ambient temperature to negative eighty and direct temperature to near negative hundred-fifty. They have the strength of a manticore, the magic of pony, and the temperature of a winter titan.”

“W-What’s a w-winter titan?” Twilight gulped, trying not to think of what that could be.

“Something that could kill both of us as easy as an ursa major could.” He took a quick look around. “There are many dark secrets hidden from known history. The danger is only one of them. It is best we keep moving.”

Author's Note

Cut down on the content. Is it still a problem?

Chapter 8: Nowhere

Crouched low, awaiting the prize, horn at the ready and body tense. As she laid in the underbrush, only one thing passed through her mind.

I’m not good at this. Twilight slanted her mouth, staring at the bait she and Sombra had made together. While the king was off no doubt bagging his fiftieth catch, she had yet to claim a single one. And it’s not like there weren’t critters around. The six-toed squirrels knew how to hide in the grand pines that made up the forests, rarely showing themselves to would be predators. All she needed was to capture one in her magic...

With a great sigh, she stood and went over to the bait, picking it up and sniffing it. Sombra assured her that the rancid odor would attract the squirrels. Did they use too much? Why isn’t it working?

“Twilight?” She jumped, turning to see Sombra floating nearby, his tendrils moving without aim or direction like normal. “I think we need to move spots.”

“I... A-Am I doing it wrong?” She looked to the lump of muddy stuff, scrunching up her nose.

“You’re in plain sight of them. A hunter waits at a distance, not in the bush right next to where their trap lay.” He gave a quick chuckle as he floated over. “Don’t feel bad about it. I couldn’t catch any either.”

“Is it the bait?” She took the ball into her hoof, holding it up to him.

He hummed to himself as he grabbed it with a tendril, throwing it into the air, where it was immediately snatched by a squirrel jumping between the trees as a blur. “No, it’s not the bait. They’re too smart for traditional hunting.”

“Ugh!” She rolled her eyes, walking past him to where she kept her bags weighed down by a shield spell, grabbing them to put on. The shadows moved past her, taking her deeper into the woods. “How far to the town?”

“Over the next hill. I checked it out while waiting on my traps. It looks to be clear, but there’s always a chance for that to change.”

While they trekked in pursuit of their next destination, Twilight stretched her legs from her failed ambush attempt. She wanted that cloak before sunset. The cold was worse than winter back home, sending chills to her bones with the passing winds. They also were getting close enough to the ‘exclusion zone’ to feel the latent magic in the soil, and to see what it did to the creatures. That was the second reason for the cloak. The creatures all evolved to resist the intense magical field wafting from afar.

From where they were two days ago, changes were minimal, only being noted by a brief period of galloping across the fields filled with grass-crawling parasites and a drastic increase in the number of stones compared to orange plant matter. The trees were still thirty times taller than her, the animals still keeping their distance or looking to make her food, and the weather still numbing-levels of cold.

The only good thing was that the berries from certain bushes were edible, supplementing her dwindling potato supplies. Once she and Sombra got to the top of the hill, she looked out over the trees, wondering how many grew where there were once roads. She followed her guide down the hill, getting onto the cobblestones interrupted by a tree past the first building, the king bringing her around it into the overgrown village of stone.

Her eyes glazed along the occasional building they passed between the trees. He wasn’t joking about the fifty million remark. It seemed villages were strewn everywhere she looked, making the travel at least a little more bearable. The last city turned out to be from day two. The further they got from Galdon, the less connected the settlements. At least the castles stuck around until day four, with today being absent from the short distance they trekked.

“Sombra?” She cleared her throat, him stopping to turn his eyes back to her. “C-Can we stop to rest? I-I need something to eat, and maybe to, um, warm up.”

He took a moment before letting out a sigh. “Very well. I’ll continue hunting. Don’t wander too far from the village. I’ll be back as soon as I catch one of the critters.”

“T-Thank you.” She provided him a gentle smile before he left, leaving her to walk to the nearest tree to plop down next to. Twilight stretched out her hind-legs with a wince, feeling her muscles complaining about how much she put them through so far. To feel the caress of a shower was all she wanted, to experience its warmth and blissful flow. Gosh, it was at the two-month anniversary of being foalnapped, wasn’t it?

Despite her complaining aches, she stood back up to go collect some stones and wood, leaving the shaded town into the darkened woods. Her magic picked up what twigs she could, grabbing a nice bundle of dead needles to serve as kindling. Before she could finish her collection, she spotted a curious sight. A squirrel in the open, gnawing at a hardened nut. They looked... young, maybe maturing.

With a deep breath in, she scrunched up her muzzle and set down her fire-starters, grabbing the squirrel in her magic and dragging it to her. It clawed at the ground to hold itself in place, Twilight growling under her breath as she walked over. It took serious effort on her part to keep it in her grip, the very hide of the creature pulsing with its own magical energies to make hers falter if she didn’t keep a watchful eye on it. With the critter still frantically trying to escape, she did what she had to.

Her magic wrapped around its neck and snapped it.

The sound sent a wave of nausea through her, eyes watering up and a lump forming in her throat as she looked at the now deceased creature. Now came the question she had been putting off: Was it necessary? She wanted that cloak for the nights; she wanted to be protected from the elements. What would Fluttershy say? What would she think of her?

“T-Twilight?”

Her heart jumped, eyes bolting from the creature to see the pegasus mere pony-lengths away, her eyes wide, staring down her friend. “F-Fluttershy?” Twilight stepped back, her friend tilting their head.

“H-How could you?” Water formed at the corners of her eyes, lip quivering ever so much.

“I-I’m sorry, I... Um...” Twilight took another step back, her friend walking forward up to the critter’s corpse as the world began blurring. And as quick as it started, it came to an end with a bolt of magic piercing straight through Fluttershy with a spray of red blood splattering against the trees. It took a few deep breaths before she saw the illusion fade, a creature being leftover that only vaguely looked like a pony, with a smooth hide and distorted features of a face and wings, writhing on the ground.

“Twilight!” Sombra rushed over, getting over the wheezing creature to pick up and start crushing with the cracks of bone picking up in Twilight’s ears to bring back that lump in her throat.

“S-Sombra?” She fell to her rump, feeling the nausea and light head receding as time went on. What was she... Oh, right, the squirrel, and... the thing? “W-What is that?”

“It’s a mimic. Were you thinking of somepony?” He dropped the body to the ground before moving over to the squirrel, picking it up with a tendril to bring over.

“I-I was thinking of Fluttershy. She, um, she t-takes care of animals and...”

“Ah.” He picked up the mimic’s corpse, moving over to her. “Looks like we’ve gotten lucky. I have another catch back where we left off. Don’t think too hard about what it said. It was manipulating your emotions to make you see and hear what you wanted to.”

“I-I killed an innocent creature.” Her gaze went to the empty eyes of the squirrel. “I-I killed it.”

“Yes... You did.” He lowered the bodies to the ground, reaching out a tendril for her. “Twilight, don’t think too much about it. If it wasn’t you, it would have been a predator native to these parts. Possibly even that mimic.”

“B-But it l-looked so young.” She sniffled, his eyes now lowering, waiting until she turned up to them.

“This land isn’t Equestria. Do as they do in Galdon, not Canterlot. I’m certain your friend would accept the sacrifice if it meant we put the body to good use.”

Twilight closed her eyes and took a breath, feeling the sadness fade into an anxiety that burned inside her chest. “Y-Yeah. You’re right, like always.”

“Not always.” He gave a chuckle, her eyes opening to see his tendril still outstretched. “Want to help me with the cloak?”

With a breath in, she grabbed his hoof to accept his help from the ground. “Y-Yeah, okay. B-But only after I get the fire going.”

Glowing spheres dropped without aim or direction, Luna drifting further to try finding the one that she wanted to check on tonight. Her sister was making remarkable progress on getting everything set up for using the Elements of Harmony against Sombra, testing it by freeing Discord and subsequently having him reformed through the hard work of Fluttershy. While he couldn’t be trusted with the defense of the Crystal Empire, his help would be appreciated in other small assignments in the meantime.

“Ah!” Her smile grew, body floating for the dream of the purple unicorn, entering to a peculiar scene of Twilight having a picnic in an open daytime field with Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, and Sombra, all four of them wearing party hats on their heads, or floating on a tendril for the king. She really was buying into the act he put up.

“Then Pinkie started singing about giggling at the ghosties and they just POOF!” Twilight spread her forelegs in a dramatic flourish. “Gone!”

He broke into his familiar laughter, Luna’s smile ticking up ever so much before she blinked back to reality, remembering why she was there. With the ignition of her horn, night fell on the field, the three illusions fading away as Twilight looked around, spotting Luna descending from the moon.

“Luna? W-What are you doing here?” She stood up, walking over to the lunar princess.

“I’m here to hear you out. You seem to truly believe Sombra is acting genuine, and I want to know why you believe so.” She had a seat on the new picnic blanket, opening the basket to take out a bottle of wine, one she could only dream of having again. An ancient vintage from old Equestria, carried over by her mother and father on the long voyage. The real bottle was still sitting empty in her room, waiting to be experimented on to find a way to refill it.

“Oh, um, thanks?” Twilight sat down across from her, taking her glass and getting it filled before taking her first sip. “This is...” Her smile turned up. “This is awesome!”

“It’s from our old homeland. My father explained it came from his favorite producer, aged in an enchanted bottle and purified with magic. You do know about my father, don’t you?”

The single memory surfacing answered the question, her heart beating a little harder at the memory of... what was it? There were two that mixed, one of a statue, and one of the pony themself sitting across a memory-warped desk. Unusual, but perhaps she had seen his picture somewhere and put a scene together from her subconscious.

“Yes, Sombra showed me a statue of your dad. H-He was an alicorn, not a unicorn.” She narrowed her eyes. “Why the lie about him being a unicorn royal?”

“He despised the alicorn divinity narrative. He kept behind the scenes for the two thousand years he co-led Equestria for the good of the realm. I can only assume he didn’t want to disrupt the work of my mother.” Luna took her first sip, hoping the honesty would get through to her host. Another memory surfaced, this one now causing her back to straighten. A magnificent statue of an alicorn pointing away from Galdon. “Twilight, do you know who Gusty the Great was?”

“An alicorn.” She nodded, licking the inside of her teeth as she considered her words, memories now closing off to Luna. “You’re trying to read my mind, aren’t you?”

“Oh? What makes you think that?” She took another careful sip, feeling the field distorting from the agitation. Perhaps I overstepped...

“Because you wouldn’t ask it out of the blue. Gusty the Great had only a few stories about her, ones taught to foals or curious artifacts for historians. You wouldn’t know unless you’re reading my memory of the statue.” Twilight took a moment to pause. “Why are you really here?”

“To understand your perspective. You said in your note you hoped your friends would see through the lies my sister and I have told. Exactly what lies are you referring to? About our father? About our old homeland?”

“All of it, and what you seem to think Sombra is.” She pointed her hoof at the mare. “You don’t want to give him a chance! Everything he’s said has been honest and his kindness more than enough! He even gave me a chessboard as a gift!”

Luna stayed quiet for a few seconds, thinking about how to consider his acts. It was in line with him at a personal level, true; he wasn’t a monster in that way. “Twilight, don’t mistake the small acts as being indicative of the principles he holds. Yes, his kindness may be genuine, but what he seeks to accomplish and how he seeks to accomplish it aren’t reflected in how he acts with others.”

“So you do know he’s not a monster, and you still say he is!” She threw up her hooves. “What can I do to convince you?”

“It’s not what you can do, but what he can do. If he is genuine with his kindness, I would like to see something that requires effort to pull off. I can’t think of something at the moment, but I will tell you when it comes to me.” She sniffed the vapor wafting from the wine, her smile reforming. It was as she remembered, from the bitterness to the sweetness. An artifact of an age long gone, much like Sombra. Or herself.

“So you’re here to get my perspective?”

“I’m here to listen.”

“Fine.” Twilight grabbed her glass, taking another few sips, tapping on the crystal. “He’s told me a lot of things. About you, about Celestia. And your parents. Even if he was lying about some of it, it’s too detailed to all be lies. He’s at least a little honest with me, and I can see he really isn’t all that bad beneath the surface.”

“Still having doubts?”

“A little. But if he’s correct, if he’s telling me the truth, I’ll make my decision as soon as we get to the fort. That should have all the proof I need to know he’s being honest.”

Luna tilted her head. “Fort?”

“Fort Chillrend?”

The princess froze up, straightening herself. “You and him... are going to Fort Chillrend? Do you even know what dangers lie in the way of you? How dangerous of a place it is?”

“From the snow-pony and mimic we encountered, I’d say very.” She took another sip, eyes remaining firm on Luna. After finishing her glass, Twilight put it down onto the blanket and let out a sigh. “Why can’t you just tell everypony the truth? The Chillrend Mountains were our homeland. It may have a lot of secrets, but are they worth keeping? Is it worth all the lies?”

“Twilight, you need to understand it is a necessity for the sake of Equestria.” She fought against her next words, face twitching at the idea. “While I disagree about hiding the truth of the early years of Equestria, nopony can know of the Chillrend Mountains as anything other than some distant, uninhabited continent. If the truth got out, if other ponies knew of Gusty the Great and my dad... it could destroy the foundation of what we have built. Alicorns have to remain in charge of Equestria, else the tribalist conflicts would resume.”

A tinge of emotion sent a wave of anxiety coursing through her body, the field rippling. “Liar. You both won’t give up even a sliver of power.” A scowl twitched onto Twilight’s face, voice raising in response. “Don’t think he hasn’t told me about the little secrets. You don’t need to move the moon, Celestia doesn’t need to raise the sun, and nopony needs you to survive. The tribes haven’t even fought in millennia! I don’t care where your narrative came from about the pony kinds fighting, but it’s all lies! Thestrals used to be a legitimate tribe, then you both screwed that up! Want to know what Sombra told me? That Queen Frostbite led the thestrals to Equestria with the rest, that they built a stratofortress on their own, hay, he was the one to tell me about what a stratofortress even is!”

“Twilight, don’t take this the wrong way, but--“

“Get out! You think you can keep me in the dark, but I won’t have it!” She stood up onto her hooves, the edges of the dream dissolving away, Luna looking around. There were only seconds left. She needed to get one last word in.

“I will be back, Twilight Sparkle. We can talk another time, but know we wouldn’t lie unless we thought it--“ The rest of the dream imploded, startling Luna awake to take deep breaths. The crystal doors at the other end of the throne room opened, one of her guards poking their head in.

“Your highness? Is everything alright?”

Luna let out a deep sigh. “Yes. Everything’s fine, lieutenant.” With a dismissive wave of her hoof, they left the princess sat atop the throne. Her eyes moved to the map of the Crystal Empire on the ceiling, cataloguing all that she learned. Twilight knew too much at this point. If they couldn’t convince her it was all lies, she needed to know not to tell anypony else. And then there was the news of them traveling to Fort Chillrend...

Celestia needed to know, and with the ignition of her horn, Luna searched the dream realm for that one bright sphere.

Every day they trekked only made the sinking feeling get worse. Night had fallen an hour prior, the winds above at a calm unheard of in the entire time she’s been on the continent, and land illuminated from a distant magical rift causing auroras above them. Other than the stop to make a cloak, the past week had been constant travel. Twilight didn’t know if Fluttershy would ever forgive her for what she did. After leaving them at the dock, after leaving the wounded yellow pegasus hanging in midair, the murder of an animal by her own magic might be enough to cause a fight on its own.

As usual, Sombra was ahead of her, no doubt scanning for anymore dangers in their way. Every day there was at least one incident of a dangerous entity they needed to avoid, but today would be the last with the comfort of the forest. The floating shadows moved into an open field ahead, stopping in place for Twilight to step up next to them. Rusted walls of iron and stone laid in front, made by the inhabitants of old Equestria rather than the old empire. And beyond...

Sombra moved forward once more, leading them both to the wall and along to an overgrown area that provided them with plenty of cover. “We’re here.” He said with finality, turning back to her. She tried her best to put on a smile, but given how exhausted she was, it turned out pretty halfhearted. “I’ll go get the firewood for tonight. Please rest. You’ve had it worse than I have.”

“I-I’m not going to let you do all that work.” She let out a giggle, dropping her saddlebags and going off among the trees. Twilight collected a small pile of sticks and stones from under the great pines, taking her time with the collection. How many days of travel has it been? Two by sea, four if you count the first and last days, six by land, and there was still another one or two ahead before some rest. Maybe.

As she returned with her pile, Sombra returned with the larger pieces of wood, taking her supplies to begin the assembly. While she waited, Twilight gathered a pile of leaves from the ground, making herself a soft area to lie. The fire sparked to life with the bubbling of Sombra’s magic; the king drifting to his usual spot opposite her. Twilight opened her mouth to ask him if he wanted to come closer, ultimately closing it when she remembered how cold he was in his current form.

“Sombra?” she asked, taking a breath in as the fire picked up, warming her. “Luna visited me again in my dreams.”

“Oh? And was she still trying to convince you to turn against me, or was it a social call?” He gave a quiet chuckle, Twilight’s frown ticking up ever so much.

“She said she wanted to hear me out, but it didn’t really seem like she did.”

“She still see’s me as the enemy, doesn’t she?” Twilight nodded. “Well, that isn’t surprising.”

“W-Why can’t she see you’re not a bad pony? What could you have done to make her hate you so much?”

The king’s eyes turned toward the ground, his silence punctuating his next words. “She doesn’t hate me, only Celestia does.”

“But why?” She tried again. “What did you do?”

“A lot. If it wasn’t taking the empire after the disappearance of their parents, it was not helping during the collapse following Star Swirl’s disappearance. I killed a trusted vassal of theirs, seized land they claimed as their own, knew too much about the real world, and was almost ready to enact my plans when they had enough. I would guess the last straw was convincing the mountain thestrals to join my side. Luna sent a few angry dreams my way before I blocked her out. That is when they mobilized for war.”

“Yeah, I-I guess I can see why they did what they did, but they seem to believe you’re a monster.”

“Heh. A monster. We’re all monsters in hiding. Be they too young to develop malice or the ones who bury it under their own kindness, it doesn’t change what we are.”

She stared into the flames, her mind at work. There must be something more. “Did you and her get along back then?”

“In a small way. We found common ground in our nightly interests. She’s a masterful wizard, only lacking the strength to enact her own dreams. In many ways, she took after her father.” He let out a short laugh, shifting toward the flames to dip a tendril in, bringing it up covered in reddened crystals. “Ever had rock candy?”

“I... w-when I was younger?” She tilted her head, the king breaking the rock from his tendril to toss over for her to catch in her magic. She sniffed it over before taking a bite, tasting the sugary goodness that was genuine rock candy. Her smile turned up as she indulged herself, finishing the first crystal to grin up at him. “You could have told me you could have made this, ya know?”

“It’s not very healthy. Lacks nutrition, causes stomach pains when unprocessed like that.” He moved back to his original spot. “Prince Nightflame taught me that spell. He loved dipping his hoof into fire to pull out the candy for foals. With all the magic he had, capable of fighting in battles against hundreds of foes and shifting the very tides to his whim, he loved to use it to bring joy to others.”

“You looked up to him, didn’t you?”

“I did. Despite having the skills of a master, he didn’t see it as anything special. For all the foals he awed with his fireworks and magic tricks, he assured them they too can do what he does if they work hard enough. That is what he told me at the fair. Guess that was something else Luna and I had in common. We both admired him.”

“S-So how did he, um, die? T-The regal sisters were young adults when it happened, so--“

“They weren’t.” She blinked a few times, his eyes turning from the flames to hers. “Celestia was barely considered an adult at the time of her coronation, and Luna was still a filly. Didn’t even have her cutie mark at the time their mother disappeared. Star Swirl served as the true ruler of Equestria in those days. Neither had the maturity, let alone the strength to rule.”

“Luna... w-was a filly? When her parents died?” Twilight’s eyes widened. “H-How old was, um, Celestia? Was she...?”

“Luna was six when Nightflame disappeared, nine when their mother vanished. Celestia is only eight years older than her sister, so she would have been on the cusp of early adulthood for her father and a young mare when her mother disappeared. Next time you speak to them, ask them about what their first forty years were like. You’ll find they have wildly different answers.”

“T-That... e-explains a lot, actually. Luna... well, she kinda went evil.” She gave him a shy smile even as his eyes titled. “She turned into a pony called Nightmare Moon a little over a thousand years ago, and was, um, banished to the moon. For a thousand years.”

“Huh.”

One word. Twilight’s eyebrows scrunched together, trying to make sense of it. Why only a ‘huh’? Did he... “W-Were you friends with her?”

“As close as two foreign rulers could be. I was centuries older than her, true, but she always had a spirit more reminiscent of her mother. As I said, we found common ground to bond over. She loved Equestria. I loved the Crystal Empire. Her heart was down south, while mine remained rotating under the spire. That was something we never could reconcile.” He threw in another piece of wood. “Better get some rest. Tomorrow will be a hard journey.”

“Y-Yeah. Okay.” Twilight laid against her pile, closing her eyes to let the warmth wash over her. Would Luna tell her the truth even if she confronted her with what Sombra said? He... He was friends with her. That was proof there was something else missing. Why did Luna seem so certain he was a monster? Did she believe the lies?

Did she know they were lies?

Not a word had been exchanged so far between her and her guide except for the initial instructions: ‘follow my trail and don’t look into the pools of magic.’ In Equestria, a magical waste spillage would be considered a major emergency, an industrial accident that would get ponies arrested, assuming it was one of the hoofful of corporations that dealt in raw magical energies. But here... it was everywhere. No living organisms except lichen existed in the wastelands surrounding Fort Chillrend, the environment being too hostile except for the hardiest of life.

Twilight kept her mouth shut and teeth gritted as they want, focused on the back of Sombra’s shadows. The very air crackled with latent magical energy, seeping through her flesh to induce twitches of her muscles and waves of strange sensation in the rest. Her mind had trouble focusing, eyesight blurring, and auditory hallucinations already plaguing her every step of the way. They couldn’t rest until they get the wall.

“Twilight?” Sombra stopped, turning back to her, the mare almost colliding into his eyes before stopping herself and taking a shaking step back. “I need you to watch where you’re stepping now. There’s no path forward that is easy. Avoid staring into the puddles.”

“Y-Yeah. I-I understand.” She nodded, her eye twitching from another stream of magical energy passing through her. The king continued forward, her eyes moving to the tainted soil. With the first puddles she came across, she took extreme care in avoiding, stepping around them and averting her eyes whenever they felt tempted to look into it. The sheer amount of magical energy would exhaust the Elements of Harmony to try cleaning. No trees, no animals, not even grass. Only the rocks and gray dirt, overlooked by a distant set of mountains.

She stepped around the next puddle, her eyes flicking to see her reflection within. It was warped and... Her mind fogged over, leg stumbling on a patch of dirt. She reached out her right leg to break her fall; it landing directly into–

“KEEEYA!”

Twilight let loose a blood-curdling scream as she recoiled backward, Sombra turning and rushing up to her, grabbing her other foreleg before it could touch the affected one. “Don’t touch it!” His tendrils swiped over her leg and horn bubbling, only drawing out more whimpers from her as he removed the material from the boiling flesh. “Take deep breaths and close your eyes. One in.” She breathed in. “Count to five. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Breath out.”

The breath out was accompanied by the tears forming in her eyes, the first trailing down her cheek. It seared straight into her body, lighting every nerve from her foreleg to her spine into full panic. His cold tendrils moved over her, the ones touching the leg hurting the worst as it exacerbated the agony.

“It... doesn’t look good.” She opened her blurry vision to see his eyes staring down at it. “We will need to find medical supplies at the fort. Did you look into a puddle?”

“I-It w-was just a m-moment.” She forced from her teeth, them clenched down tight enough to draw supplemental pain to detract from her suffering. Her body shook, stomach turning over itself, and not a single piece not being impacted by twitching shocks that crossed her without reason.

“That’s all it can take. What did you see?”

“I-I s-saw my reflection. I-It looked...” She tried taking another breath, one of his tendrils going around her back to straighten her up before her eyes shut and body lurched forward. Her entire meal from the morning spewed from her mouth onto the soil, the tendril on her back rubbing in circles.

“Take your time. A few minutes won’t hurt.” He resumed prodding at the leg he held away from her, the mare letting out a sob before another wave of stomach acid seared her throat and ejected onto the ground. Her eyes opened up to see red mixed in with her vomit, breathing shallow as she tried fighting the fog in her mind.

“W-Wha...”

“Twilight Sparkle.” He lifted her dazed gaze to look into his eyes. “Listen to me. It will work out, alright? I know it might seem like everything isnf sa bldgfur ridfguut ndsyfw.” A twisting vine moved into her vision to open her eyelids wider, the noises blurring together as the shadows split and merged.

Twilight. Listen to me. It will work out. His voice broadcast into her mind. What you may be seeing isn’t real. The pollution got into your bloodstream and is impacting every organ in your body, including your brain. I know it might seem all-consuming, but it will improve. I will carry you to a clearer spot for you to get some rest. Now sleep.

The orbs once more passed by around her, Luna floating off to a more distant section where Twilight was likely to still be. The unicorn wasn’t making it easy, that much was for certain. Still, if Twilight is going to the fort, she may reveal information that even Celestia refuses to give voice to. The old empire was... advanced, but the true scope still eluded her.

The princess hummed to herself in thought. Giving a little history between her and Sombra might help rebuild that trust. It would at least let her guard down to get additional details.

As she reached out for the sphere, her hoof shot back, eyes widening. Extreme energies radiated from the sphere. Wild magic. She cast a spell over herself before hopping in, landing in a twisted and rotting forest that distorted with the dreamer’s fracturing mental state. The sky was a mixture of red and purple clouds that sparked and folded in on themselves, roots of the trees surrounding her distorting and dissolving at their own will.

Luna took flight to try finding Twilight, finding the unicorn surrounded by spirits, shaking and crying as they picked at her flesh, her body cut open with a surgeon’s touch to dissect her live. She descended and unleashed a blast of magic to dispel the energy away, moving to Twilight and ‘healing’ her back to health before grabbing her to hold. The mare shook and cried into her imaginary fur, eventually opening her tear-filled eyes and looking up to see the worry on the princess’ face. “L-Luna?”

“Twilight. What happened? This...” She cringed at the thought. THIS wasn’t something Sombra would do. He knew how horrible wild energy was, and it wouldn’t make sense to afflict her with something this horrendous. It was stinging at her soul with every moment she spent inside the dreamscape, trying to latch onto her like it was to Twilight.

“I-I t-tripped into a p-puddle.” She took shaky, shallow breaths against the dark blue fur before continuing. “S-Sombra is h-helping. W-We’re stopping r-right now so I c-can rest.”

“You tripped... w-where? When?”

“A-An hour ago? Maybe?” She sniffled, body still shivering, but the field relaxing with Luna’s magic diffusing into it. It took everything she had to keep both the magic at bay and to calm the unicorn.

“Where did it touch, Twilight?”

“M-My leg. I-It... I-I can’t f-feel it except for the p-pain.”

“Your leg...” Luna closed her eyes and took a breath of the non-existent air in. “T-That’s good. Yes. Very good.”

“W-Why are you h-here?”

The princess reopened her eyes to stare into Twilight’s. “I was going to check up on you, but it seems our talk will have to happen another time. You need to rest. Don’t worry about your leg. No point adding stress to the pain.” She rubbed her hoof along Twilight’s cheek. “I-I can stay for a bit to keep things calm, but talking will be too much. You need sleep.”

“H-He hasn’t t-told me what is going t-to happen to me. W-What... W-Will I die?”

“Not if he...” She let out a sigh. “Y-Your leg will probably have to be amputated. I’m sorry, Twilight. He can tell you more. He has more experience than I do with wild magic.”

Her small smile brought out a faint one from Twilight, Luna collapsing the dream so she can work on soothing the mind without distraction. The energies were raw, unfiltered by any logic or reason. As she kept the field calm, the sinking feeling that Twilight wouldn’t make it weighed her down. It was at least in her deep tissues if it reached her brain.

She could only hope Sombra was genuine and would do whatever it took to keep her alive.

The searing pain shook her awake from her sleep, a groan escaping her mouth before she had the time to open her eyes. “Twilight?” Sombra asked from nearby. “You’re awake?”

“I-I t-think so.” Her heavy eyelids opened to see...

They shot open at the sight. Towering above them at least a hundred poni, made of pure darkened metal, a wall with indentations stretched to the sky. “A-Are we...”

“I carried you to the fort. You needed to rest, and I didn’t believe letting you walk through the terrain was a good idea.” A tendril floated in front of her vision. “See me?”

“Y-Yeah. Black, and, um, shadowy?”

“Correct.” Two cold tendrils moved underneath her, assisting to get her sat up. She looked out over the wasteland one last time, seeing it didn’t really improve even at the walls. Still no green, still ponds worth of raw magical energy scattered about. “How are you feeling?”

“I-I...” Her eyes moved to the leather sling her leg was in around her neck. “W-Where did you...?”

“Your cloak made a sacrifice.” He broke into laughter, her cracking up a bit. “We’re almost at our first real stop. Beyond this wall is some of the last accessible technology of the old empire, protected against the explosions which devastated the continent. What you’ll see is... well, I’ll just show you.”

His tendrils picked up her saddlebags to strap to her back once more, before moving underneath her and taking her into his blackness. The king activated a series of runes scattered around them, a dark crystal extending from beneath to push him up. Twilight stared at the receding ground, breath being taken away by how high they rose. Not a hundred poni...

Sombra moved on his own to launch them the rest of the way as the crystal below shattered, his tendrils moving along the near ninety degree surface until he came over the top, setting her down on the metal platform. Twilight got up onto her shaking hooves and moved to the edge, looking back down at where they came from, a mere dot compared to their height. AT LEAST four hundred poni high.

And as she turned around, her eyes widened in absolute shock.

Chapter 9: Damned

For kiloponi on end, from the grand walls she stood atop to the gargantuan mountains across the metropolis, ruined buildings at minimum a dozen stories tall towered into the air or leaned against their own kind. Between their upper levels were bridges to produce an interconnected network between those living among the skies, casting shadows over the magnificent boulevards capable of holding marches of ponies.

High above them, a magical vortex of blue and green bathed the city in its light, illuminating where the mountains shadowed, providing an eerie serenity to the dilapidated metropolis. But what stole her breath more than anything was the spire to her front-right, where the maelstrom originated, several kiloponi away yet still dwarfing even the tallest of buildings. It coated the entire mountain side in its strange rocky metal, producing a massive symbol of a winged-horned horseshoe - one wing being leathery while the other feathered - along the edge of the mountain and overlooking the fort.

“Fort Chillrend. The capital of the Chillrend Mountains.”

She looked to Sombra, the shadow monster staring off at the sight. “H-Have you b-been here before?”

“Once. Only once. Any scavengers would have their hearts stopped if they knew of how much valuable archaeotech was within this installation. What you’re seeing is only the surface, in a literal sense.”

“I-I c-can’t believe they built all this.” Her eyes glazed across the buildings, picking out the larger ones reminiscent of the castle in Galdon, with spires rising in a circle surrounding a grand central pyramid, although these lacked the color of the other in the old capital. No, that wasn’t a capital. This is a capital!

“Once upon a time, millions lived here.” Sombra motioned her close, his tendrils wrapping around her before he launched himself into the air, falling until he got close to a building, gripping onto the window ledges before resuming a controlled descent to the ground. “It was the fourth most populous city in the old empire from what I read. Families, soldiers, researchers, industrial workers, all of them born, worked, and died within its walls and beneath its streets. This is a fortress of legend, and one forgotten.”

Once they reached the pavement of the barracks complex, Sombra letting her down and leading her across the ruined fields disrupted only by huge abstract metal statues pointed into the air and the rare middling structure. Lines divided the concrete occasionally, sealed but still noticeable, although purpose escaped Twilight. The buildings surrounding the field towered at least five stories high, even the massive sculptures... wait, was it...

“W-What is that?” She stopped to point at the THING she was seeing. It had an elongated barrel like a cannon, except with other metal pieces making up the structure and vines draping from it. The barrel was over fifty poni in length from the large metallic sphere it originated from, pointed to above the wall. Actually, all the statues seemed to be of the same kind, aimed over the wall.

The king inspected it before shrugging a tendril. “I would hazard it is a weapon of some sort. I do not know what they could have used it for, but it looks like a super-heavy artillery battery.”

“W-What’s an ‘artillery battery’?” She asked as they resumed their walk.

“It forces material great distances. Typically, explosives.” He motioned a tendril back at the cannon, her eyes picking up the briefest movement of something in the window of one surrounding structure. “That must be for continental defense. Probably hasn’t seen use since the empire fell.”

“A-And how–”

“GET DOWN!” He raised shields around them, bolts of energy making impact a second later. “To the buildings, now!”

Twilight got up onto her three good legs and tried rushing with him providing shield support, making their way toward the nearest one story building, entering inside what looked to be... a bathroom? Stalls and sinks at least covered the two sides.

“W-What was that?!” she panted out, Sombra checking from the door to their shelter.

“Undead soldiers. Emperor Grogar’s leftovers.” He moved a tendril along the entryway to freeze water vapor into sigils against it before moving to where she was against the wall, waiting. “We don’t have the magic to face them as a group. Those bolts of energy carry enough impact to tear a pony in half.”

She gulped back the dryness in her already dry throat, watching the door with her friend. How many were there? It looked like at least a dozen shots impacted the shield in the fifteen seconds they were outside. There had to be a small squad of undead unicorns.

His tendrils began making more sigils around them, his horn bubbling as a dark red barrier erected to cover their spot against the wall. “When I rush out, follow as quick as possible. We need to get the rest of the way before they can regroup.”

“H-How many a-are there?”

“Two.”

“T-Two? B-But it looked like there w-was more than that.” She swallowed, eyes going to the door he was staring at. What did the sigils he wrote mean? It was clearly some sort of trap, but it didn’t tell her what it did. Not that she could see much through the blurry shield right now.

The moment the door opened a crack, a flash of light forced her eyes shut as the entire building rocked. In the four seconds she sat readjusting, Sombra dropped the barrier and rushed forward, heat spreading over her body. Only when she reopened did she see what he did. The room was on fire, except for a single path to the exit. Her legs took her up and to where Sombra was floating just outside, him putting up another shield as more bolts made impact. A crispy corpse laid across the field, flames flicking into the air from it as it crawled along the ground.

The king moved at her pace toward the structures; the shield faltering with each blast as she rushed as quick as she could on three legs. By the time she reached them, Sombra’s shield shattered from the onslaught of bolts coming, him pointing a tendril down the damaged, dusty hallway while he continued to check the entrance. “Go!”

Twilight rushed down the hall with him following behind, her eyes checking around the corner before she shot her head back, a bolt searing her facial fur and making impact with the other corner of their hall, melting the metal for a second before it re-solidified. “W-We h-have a problem!”

He floated into the open air of between them and the ancient soldiers, erecting a wall of dark crystals in the undead’s direction. Twilight headed down the other way with him until they got to a set of stairs down, him pointing for her to go. She descended into the depths as fast as she could, lighting her horn to see where she was stepping. The building was all metal, from the walls, to the floors, to the dysfunctional ceiling lights, with only the vaguest tinting of a dark green in this area.

As she got to the bottom, she looked off down the hall as far as she could, Sombra leading her to a door to open, ushering her inside. She entered what appeared to be an office, with desks, chairs, and some sort of machine on the tabletops. In fact, there were several machines of different sorts on the desk, although their purpose eluded her. That was another question to ask: how advanced was the old empire?

“Over here.” He said with a low voice, Twilight walking toward it until she could see his eyes and tendrils, him pointing under one desk. “Crawl under and douse your horn. We’ll need to wait them out.”

“H-How long do w-we need to stay here?” She did as instructed, plunging the world into darkness while she laid on the cold metal floor.

“A few hours, minimum. They are less active at night. They can sense where I am and where magic is being cast so you must stay quiet and under this desk until I return. I’m going to scout our route from the compound and be back for you.”

“A-Alright. P-Please hurry.”

“I promise. I will.” He moved off, the door opening a moment before closing, leaving her to stew in the senseless void of the room. As she waited, Twilight closed her eyes to try getting a little more sleep to soothe her pulsating leg.

Three years ago plus a day, her return signaled a new era for Equestria. At the time, she believed it would be her time to succeed over her sister, to take the sole position of princess. To reverse the roles of day and night. Now, on the longest day of the year, it was she who lowered the moon willingly.

Celestia never understood the jealousy, the anger. Praise to her was clear, with three-quarters of the ponies of Equestria paying their respects from day to day. What few gave thanks for the night remained shunned. Luna took a breath in through her nose, huffing it back out. The thestrals... what was she to do to help them? She wasn’t a lawyer versed in the modern legal framework. Celestia recommended caution, but that only delayed justice for her bats.

The fields and hills of Equestria passed below, the two thestral guards doing their due diligence to get her back to Canterlot as soon as possible, carrying her on her private chariot. Three years was a drop in the ocean compared to a millennium trapped on the moon with only her dream-walking to keep her busy. Three years that seemed to pass so fast.

The chariot made its final descent to the platform at the edge of Canterlot Castle, bathed in the gentle pale blue of her moon. They came to a gradual halt, at which point she took a breath in before sighing it out. She had been living three years at this new castle. What was wrong with the old one? Why did Tia have to remove that piece of their history, too? Even their personal castle in the Everfree Forest was ruined and forgotten.

The princess dismounted onto the platform, looking at the moon getting close to the horizon. It was all a lie. It...

The sun rose suddenly, her eyebrows moving together with at the sight of both celestial objects now in the sky. It was too early for it to rise. Celestia knew that. With the ignition of her horn, she lowered the moon below the horizon, resolving to get an answer for the early sunrise as she took flight, making her way up the side of the castle to the balcony of her sister.

“Tia?” Luna called out as she landed, opening to the emptiness of the room. Her mouth slanted, hooves taking her to the opposite doors to open them, seeing both guards still standing stoic turn to her. “Where is my sister?”

“We didn’t see her return to her room, your highness.” The first stallion answered.

“What do you mean you didn’t see her? Where else would she sleep?” She walked out into the hall, facing both of the guards.

“That’s not our job to know, your majesty.” The second guard responded.

Luna hummed to herself, turning and walking down the hall. An early sunrise... That was unnecessary. The celebration planning committee wouldn’t be waking up for another hour at least, same with most other ponies. Was this some sort of prank?

As she got into the lower hallway to their chambers, she saw two guards looking at a hole in the palace floor, one of them saying something to the other as she approached.

“You go then.”

“What if there’s some monster under there? You know the freaky stuff the princesses get up to in their lab.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s probably just a tunnel worm.”

“That’s still dangerous!”

“As much as a baby timber wolf!”

“Guards?” Both jolted, straightening up and turning toward her to stand at attention. “Do either of you know where my sister is?”

“N-No, your majesty! We, uh...”

“W-We were distracted by this hole.” The other pointed at it, Luna looking down into it and casting a light inside. It seemed to curve away from the city, toward the edge of the platform that sat Canterlot. Whatever it was, it could break the wards covering the underside of the castle. But could it undermine the city?

“Please assemble a few pegasi for me in the throne room.” She slanted her mouth, eyes still focused down the hole. Her ear twitched as the guards turned to gallop off down the hall. The hole was pretty big. Too big for a tunnel worm. But big enough for–

She bolted into the air, turning to see a second hole had been made behind her, black vines creeping out to slam into the spot she formerly was. “Begone, rot!” She lit her horn, a bulb on the plant opening to disrupt her magic to grab a hold of herself. Her hoof shot up to punt her own horn, getting a wince out of her but freeing her from her own grip to fly off down the hall.

“GUARDS!” she called out, two unicorns bursting from one of the nearby rooms. “Have the castle locked down immediately! We have intruders attempting to tunnel beneath us!”

“Yes, your highness!” One saluted, rushing in either direction as Luna flew to a window and outside, making her way over the edge of the platform and down the grand curved support structure. The vines were trying to retract along the side of the support from where they pierced further up, giving some sense of relief. At least the structure wasn’t compromised, only the castle segment.

Still, it sent her on edge, several horns blaring from the castle above as she wondered. What are they? Where did they come from? Did it intend to capture her?

And are they responsible for Celestia’s disappearance?

“Twilight. Wake up.”

The mare shivered as she reopened her eye to see the purple glow from Sombra’s horn. Her muscles felt heavy, leg still pounding her nerves and–

“Achoo!” she sneezed, taking a breath down her dry throat that only felt worse than before. “S-Sombra?”

“It is night. We need to get to the underground bunker network before daybreak. How are you feeling?”

“I-I’m fine.” She got up onto her hooves, feeling how weak her other foreleg now felt, a wave of nausea washing over her. “O-Okay, maybe not that f-fine.”

“You will feel better in the open air.” His tendrils went around her barrel to assist her from under the desk, her entire body trembling with the aches coursing through it. Only a few hours must have passed, yet it seemed the infection was...

Infection. “S-Sombra. W-What’s going to h-happen to my leg?”

“Come.” He motioned her forth, Twilight igniting her horn and following him from the room and up the stairs they originally came down. The crystals he erected were now gone, only denoted by a singe around the walls and floor.

“W-Where are the...?”

“Sleeping. All undead fall back on their biology when without a master. They must have gone to the barracks complexes around the area, so I don’t believe we will have a problem as long as we don’t shout.”

The king led her down the halls until they exited the damaged doorway, entering a courtyard with a gate disrupting the stone walls. She tried her best to wake up as he led her over and out onto the paved streets, now remembering where she was with the massive buildings around them. Her eyes graced the upper layers of the structures, seeing some broken windows with vines creeping down, the towers curving the further up they got. “S-So this is Fort Chillrend?”

“Correct. The spire is Chillrend itself, the headquarters of the old military.” He motioned a tendril to the surrounding buildings. “The city is the fortress.”

Her eyes moved to the lines on the sidewalks and streets. Military headquarters...? “A-Are those defenses?”

“You would also be correct.” He stopped, igniting his horn to lift one from the ground. It moved aside the top to one side to make a stone barricade large enough for a pony to duck under. The king slid it back in, the cover returning to its place over-top as if nothing was wrong. “From the design specifications I read about the city, they trained every citizen from birth to defend in case of attack, including how to deploy the barricades.”

“Trained from birth? Seems a bit... excessive.”

“It must have had some benefit given the city is still relatively intact.”

“I-I guess.” She slanted her mouth, continuing to limp behind the king down the street, eventually reaching one road around the palace-like structures. Sombra looked either way before going left. “Hey, um, s-so what’s going to happen with my leg?”

His shadows let out a mixture of a sigh and a groan. “If we can find medical supplies, I’ll see if I can save it. If not, I’m sorry, but it will need to be amputated. There’s no getting around a magic-induced infection of this severity. In the next twenty-four hours, you will begin receiving hallucinations. In the next forty-eight, you will lose touch with reality. Within five days, without anymore treatment, it will kill you.”

“O-Oh...” Her ears fell back on her head, the king stopping to turn his eyes back to her.

“I’m sorry, Twilight. It’s the best I have at the moment, but I promise, I will look for that medicine to save your leg.”

He turned back to leading her, Twilight’s muzzle scrunching up as she stared at the pavement of the street. A strange emotion wafted over her, a mix of anger and resigned acceptance. It numbed her three hooves she could feel, creating a tense heat in her very core and drawing tears to her eyes. If she had never followed him, this wouldn’t have happened. It was her fault, and she could only blame herself for her stupid mistake. Yet he was still with her, still promising to try.

They came to another major intersection, Sombra continuing left in the spire’s direction with his unicorn tag-along. No, it wasn’t hopeless yet. And there was no point crying over a maybe when she can deal with the now.

With a deep breath in: “S-So what else do you know a-about this fort?”

“A lot.” He halted, her stepping up next to him. The tower loomed off in the distance, a cloud-piercing spire shadowing the landscape and city. “Emperor Grogar once called that tower his home. After meeting defeat on the field of battle, he retreated to the safety of his residence within. According to the legend, Gusty the Great led a team of the best operatives across all the united tribes to infiltrate ahead of time, ambushing him in the halls. The rest is only rumor, but it is suspected she disconnected the bell from his collar to use it to absorb his soul.

With his soul destroyed and body no more, the reign of darkness he had been issuing for thousands of years came to an end. We were free, but irreparably hurt. Entire generations sacrificed their lives in the longest war of our history. Our past was lost, our culture a distant memory, our technology forgotten. It is more a tragedy than a victory.”

Twilight blinked a few times, turning her eyes away from the tower to the ground before returning them to the king staring off into the distance. “T-The old empire was forgotten too, wasn’t it?”

“We had a land filled with horrors and only a few million ponies scattered across the mountains. It would take thousands of years to reclaim the mainland, and in that time, what memory there was of the united empire faded to nothing.”

“How advanced w-was this empire? I-I didn’t recognize some machines back in the room.”

“Very.” He floated forward again, her following along. “You have seen more than what most others would ever behold, but it goes much deeper. The old empire conquered our world and constructed structures to last until time immemorial. Cities of metallic stone, and of crystal.”

“T-They built the Crystal Empire?”

“The spire was. Much of the outer city was built during my reign, and the closer you get to the castle, the older it gets. The materials aren’t very advanced to work with, only the spire’s core is a remnant of the old empire. That, and the Crystal Heart.”

“T-Then how could this empire fall? If they could make all this...” She stopped to motion a hoof around to the buildings. “How could they?”

Sombra floated forward a bit more. “This is a land of many dark secrets. I can only hope we don’t encounter one of them, for both our sake.”

The armored chariots descended upon Ponyville, Luna’s personal chariot landing at the library surrounded in the thorny black vines. As she stepped down, she swung her sword to cut through the vines, reducing the area around the contact to only ash. More moved in from around her, Luna shifting the blade in her blue glow to chop them before they tried again, one of her guards pounding on the door as she looked around.

The town was engulfed in the vines, with ponies screaming and hunkering down to weather the damage. As one vine nearby sprouted a blossom, its chaos magic met the enchantments placed on her armor, the sword floating over to reduce the vine to a crispy pile with a stroke.

A yellow pegasus rushed from an alleyway, galloping past the princess to hide behind her. “P-Princess Luna? W-What are you doing here?”

“It appears you have a gardening problem.” Her mouth went lopsided, taking another swing at a vine creeping up from the ground, the door opening to Ponyville’s resident dragon.

“Princess Luna! Thank Celestia you’re here! We need your help!” He ran out and grabbed her hoof, pulling her inside the library, followed shortly after by Fluttershy. Alongside Spike were both Applejack and Rarity, the latter of which searching through a small pile of books.

Does anypony ever not give her praise? Luna’s internal grumbling went with no external commentary as she looked over the hopeful smiles of the four. “My sister has the unfortunate displeasure of being missing during this crisis. Given the severity, I was hoping to receive your assistance in discovering where these vines are coming from.”

“They’re comin’ from the Everfree!” Applejack pointed off toward one wall as the door opened to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, them joining the gathering. “We were really hopin’ Rarity had some spell to help out, but not from the sounds of it.”

“Princess, my, whatever are you using to be able to use your horn without these ghastly plants messing with your magic?” Rarity asked, fluttering her eyes.

“My armor has enchantments to prevent any such worries.” She tapped her front-plate with a hoof. “Spike, please retrieve the Elements of Harmony.”

“On it!” He saluted before running off to the stairs, Rainbow Dash scratching her head.

“Hey, uh, I don’t mean to be the bearer of bad news, but how are we supposed to use them without Twilight?”

Luna’s smile grew, her horn igniting to open the saddlebag slung onto her back, taking out the crown. “My sister left me a gift. My guards will assist with the activation in a similar manner as with Discord. We need only to find the source of this invasion and retrieve Celestia.”

“Sounds like a plan, princess!” Applejack added as Spike returned from upstairs with a jewel-encrusted box, opening it up to the five other elements. Each put on their respective amulet, Luna placing the crown atop her head and leading them outside to where her guards had gathered. Along with the four lunar guards were two solar guards and two regular royal guards, all of which watching for the vines creeping closer for the four unicorns among them to project fire magic onto.

“C-Can I come?” Spike asked from the door, Luna giving him a quick smile.

“Of course. Please feel free to burn any that get close.”

“Awesome!” He ran out to beside Rarity as they set out as a team, following the thorny tendrils toward the Everfree forest, keeping one on their left to ensure they didn’t lose track of where they came from. The two solar guards traveled ahead of the group, the four pegasi covering the sides while the last two took the rear. Luna kept her eyes moving along the black vine, not letting its direction mislead where it was coming from.

As they came to a fork in the road, she hummed to herself. The vine broke free from the ground at the turn, showing no indication of the direction where it came from. While there were other vines that crept through the underbrush, nearly all broke free from the soil to curl in a chaotic fashion. As she deliberated, her eyes picked up the movement in the woods.

“Princess, I think we’re not alone.” Rainbow Dash jumped into a defensive stance, the first vines shooting free from the underbrush, catching them by surprise. The tendrils wrapped around her legs to try pulling Luna, another dozen more vines creeping their way in at a moderate pace. With a swing of her white metal sword, the vines turned to ash, Spike and the four unicorns projecting flames onto the rest to shrivel them until they retreated.

The next wave sent two dozen vines straight for her, sword slashing at the plants while it knocked the other ponies over from the assault. The orange glow of the sword only got brighter with every plant she vaporized, increasing the temperature it radiated and dissolving them faster with every swing. Her unicorn guards got to their hooves to add their own fire to the surrounding area, projecting flames into the woods to set them alight.

“I-Isn’t it a really super bad idea to burn down a forest?” Pinkie asked as she and her friends got back to their hooves, vines now retreating into the bushes away from the group.

“It won’t last.” Luna pointed the solar guard down the right path, them moving ahead while she fell in behind. “Believe me when I say those flames won’t make it past the fork.”

“B-But what a-about the critters? Won’t they lose their homes?” Fluttershy spoke up.

“They can find new ones.”

“O-Oh my.”

Their travels through the darkened forest continued into a new pitch black section where the light of the sword outshone the sunlight, letting it guide them further into the area. It was the perfect place for an ambush. Her ears stayed at the ready, listening for anything.

And as the first twigs snapped, Luna swung the sword to cleave through the timber wolf that made the first move, bisecting pieces of wood that made it up as the next made impact with a shield erected by the royal guards at the rear, yet another pouncing. The wolf knocked one pegasi over, tumbling into the elements to knock them to the ground, his hoof coming down on the head to dislocate the chunks of wood making its jaw.

The following wolf leapt from the woods ahead, being peppered in shots from the solar guards to light it ablaze and send it bolting off into the woods. Two more jumped in quick succession to distract the pegasi guards while a third used the opportunity to jump at one of the rear unicorns. Their jaws plunged into the guard’s hind-leg, them letting out a scream as they toppled over, his companion swinging around to send a blast of magic into the timber wolf’s face. Half the head blew off, sending the wolf tumbling back, which is when Luna’s sword fell upon it to burst it into a brief purple flame before collapsing to ash below.

“How bad is it?” Luna walked over to the guards at the back, one checking the other’s bleeding opening that started forming a pool beneath them.

“Bad, your highness.” He lit his horn, washing it over the area. “Looks deep.”

“Hmm...” She turned toward the others. “Corporal!” Two of the guards turned to her, Luna pointing her hoof at the solar guard to motion them over. “Cauterize the wound.”

Pinkie covered her eyes as the other elements looked away, the guard screeching into the forest as flames burnt them in several spots, each one bringing another scream to add. Fluttershy covered her ears, Spike holding onto Rarity as they listened to their agony, trying to forget. Luna proceeded to two of the pegasi while it was happening. “Take them to the hospital for treatment. We must end this crisis today.”

“Of course, your highness!” They saluted, marching back to where their fellow guard was to pick them up, the solar guard falling into formation at the side. While the two pegasi took flight, the rest of the group pushed forward. The darkness eventually was broken by the breaks in the treetops, letting them move out next to a swamp to travel in parallel to. The trail twisted alongside the waters of the forest, moving them along a path the elements now recognized.

Black vines burst from the ground less as they proceeded, the direction they headed being distinct. Their trek finally arrived at an opening looking out over the old castle, vines creeping up from the ravine to spread out into the forest. Luna squinted down to the cave at the underside of the castle, now knowing what this was about.

“So, uh, how we gettin’ down there?” Applejack asked, readjusting her stetson as they each took in the sight.

“The stairs.” Luna turned to their right to walk over to the steps leading into the ravine, others following behind. “Before you see what is within the cave, I must tell you the truth. The Elements of Harmony, the gemstones, came from a tree my sister and I found while searching for a way to defeat Discord the first time. If these vines have killed the tree, I fear for Equestria.”

The group stepped up to the cave and entered, seeing a crystalline tree marked with a star in the center and the regal sister’s cutie marks on the trunk. The black tendrils enveloped the dark crystal branches of the tree with globs of thick green sap dangling from them, a bundle of thorny vines to one side.

Luna raised her sword into the air, cutting at the tendrils strangling the tree, more only growing over as she chopped away, eventually backing off. “Hmm...” She gave a thoughtful pout, looking to the spots on the tree before turning back to see several of her companions shrug.

“Princess?” Applejack stepped forward. “How can we help?”

“I don’t know. That’s the problem.” She turned back to the branches. What could be done? The sword was ineffective, magic would risk harming the tree itself, the elements unable to be activated without their four unicorns... “We have the give the elements back to the tree.”

“Woah, woah, woah! Then how are we supposed to protect Equestria?” Rainbow Dash interrupted, the others looking to Luna.

“We can come back and retrieve them if we need to, but they need to be returned to the tree for now.” She lit her horn, taking the crown from her head to float in front of her. The star was meant for Twilight to wield. This element was hers, not Luna’s, nor Celestia’s. But some sacrifices had to be made for the good of Equestria. She looked to the others, them nodding in agreement before Luna applied her magic around each element.

They unclipped from their amulets with only a light tug, being taken in her grip to float to each branch. As they touched to their places, a light shone as their power unveiled. But it was only when the star was placed in the center did the tree ignite, unleashing a blinding light as it took all six element’s magic, unleashing it into the vines and open air. The black vines dissolved from the outside inward, returning to the tree where they then were eliminated in their entirety.

The bundle of tendrils dissolved as the tree’s light lessened, revealing Celestia, the princess taking a breath of the open air as she laid her eyes on her sister.

“Luna?”

“Who else?” She walked forward, bringing her elder sibling into a hug. “It’s great to have you back.”

“I...” She looked past to the five, receiving shy waves from each before she took a glance at the tree and elements above. “Thank you.”

“I know. If there had been another choice, I would have taken it.” Luna released from the hug to move forward with Celestia, the two halting in front of the five ponies and dragon.

“I must thank you all again for proving yourselves to Equestria. I know relinquishing the elements must have been difficult, and I know this journey was one you would rather have taken with Twilight, but I can assure you: She will return, and I promise, the Elements of Harmony will be made whole again.”

As Celestia finished, the tree sparked alight, all eight turning back to it. A stream of magic passed from the center into her cutie mark, followed shortly after by lighting Luna’s. What smile she had fell. If Twilight had been here, perhaps it would have continued its journey. But it paled in comparison to the ramifications. Equestria would be vulnerable without the elements to protect it.

But it is more vulnerable without her prized pupil.

Day and night seemed to be an illusory concept when bathed in the glow of a powerful magical rift within the solace of a ruined citadel. Twilight let out a sigh as Sombra halted, the king looking around before proceeding into a structure with her following close behind. Within the night they had been traveling, her leg had gone from throbbing pain to something more akin to a nausea-inducing ache.

Sombra led her down the halls before reaching a broken door, leading her inside and down the stairs into the depths. Was this going to be another dud?

“Ah!” He exclaimed from ahead, turning his eyes back to her. “We’ve found another!”

“A-And it’s not collapsed?”

He hummed a bit before floating further, looking down both directions before taking her left. The metal halls had become a common sight for her, with nothing better to do than limp on her three legs and examine the ruins of the city. Machines were everywhere. There were the ones she saw at first in the military compound, a computer in function from what Sombra had explained, but then there were the others that didn’t have an analog to modern Equestria, doing anything from washing towels to being some sort of sentient defense system.

The king turned the next corner and proceeded down another set of stairs with her, further into the depths, lit only by her horn. When they got to the bottom, she saw a sealed vault door with a flat panel next to it, the small display glowing giving her somber mood an upbeat.

Sombra floated to the panel and swiped his tendril along it. What he was doing was a mystery to her, like usual. Every sign, every damaged poster, even the half-machine, half-book tablets on the shelves, were written in a language she didn’t recognize. It wasn’t Old Ponish; it wasn’t even Ancient Ponish. It was... something else.

With a hiss, the vault mechanisms readjusted before moving itself back and sliding aside, Sombra motioning her forth into the lit halls. To see artificial light gave a wave of relief over her, horn dousing to rest while Sombra used the panel on the inside to re-seal the door. The off-white metal lit up fully was far more calming than she would have realized. No more undead, less walking, more exploring.

“We’re here.” He turned to the unicorn standing staring off down the hall, her breaths taken with extra care. “Twilight?”

“Y-Yeah?” She blinked back to reality, providing a shy smile back to him. The world felt so fuzzy, eyesight taking notice of the smallest details that made no sense.

“How are you feeling?” He floated over, shifting his gaze down. When she only plopped to her rear to modulate what little breathing she had, his tendrils extended to open the wrapping surrounding her disabled leg. “Not good?”

“I-I’m still feeling sick.” She closed her eyes, nose scrunching up at the smell. When she reopened them, they went to her useless leg. Purple and blue lumps spread out along the burn, pulsating with raw mana, and no amount of trying to direct it to flex causing any reaction.

“It’s...” He let it rest, redoing the wrap. “It’s best not to think about. Are you seeing or hearing anything that makes little sense?”

“S-Sombra... I-I’m scared.” Her eyes teared up, still focused on the now wrapped part of her leg.

He moved a tendril to raise her gaze to his eyes, staring into hers. “Fear is natural, but don’t let it rule you. I know it looks like your leg can’t be saved, but the medicine in this complex is leagues more complicated than can be reasonably described. We will find some and try to save it.”

“I-I...” She closed her eyes to focus on her breathing. Nothing gave her any comfort. From the rumbling and roiling of her stomach to the aches plaguing every other part of her, to the shallow knowledge of her own worldview that has only been reinforced the past two months. All she wanted to do was go to bed. And to snuggle up with somepony.

It’s when the first sob came did his cold tendrils moved around her back to rub in small circles. But she wasn’t alone. And as the next sob escaped her throat, did she hear his voice.

“I promise, you’ll live, Twilight. I will not give up on you.”

Her shaking breaths only continued as she sat and brooded about where she was. So far from home, surrounded by danger and in constant pain. It was too much. All of it. Sombra’s dialog about the old world, her own personal observations of the ruins, the homes left abandoned...

“Y-You were r-right.” She choked out, taking another moment before reopening her blurry eyes to look to his own. “T-There are dark s-secrets everywhere here.”

He kept silent, continuing to rub her back. While she waited for the most recent round of tears to finish flowing, her quivering lip remained focused on the floor, and senses on the coolness currently stroking her. He’d be there for her. Why wouldn’t he? He’s always been here for her...

Twilight got back onto her three hooves, keeping her fourth in the sling as she started walking down the hall. The first room they came to was a security office of some sort, the chair knocked over and ash spread across the ground. While she wanted to ask about the lack of skeletons, the journey took the energy right out of her. Sombra floated ahead to check rooms, opening the door to one and entering, her following into what looked to be a barracks. A half-dozen beds were lined down the hall with nightstands and storage trunks each, even more ash piled around the floor.

More posters were on the walls, including strange types of ponies she had never seen. One was like a unicorn, their mane wispy and horn short as they stretched provocatively, tail barely covering the explicit bits. The next was a common sight in the rest of the city: a propaganda poster depicting the three tribes, thestrals, and colorful zebras marching together with something written above it. Then there was the pinup calendar on the far wall with a wet earth pony stallion flexing.

As for the remaining room, the storage chests had all been opened at some point, not helped by Sombra rummaging around them as he looked for something only he knows.

“Twilight?” He turned his eyes back to her. “You can lie down and get some rest. I’m going to map the area to determine where we need to go next and to, I hope, find medicine to help take the edge off for you. Would you like me to turn off the light?”

“Y-Yeah.” She crawled up onto the bed, an unintentional moan escaping her mouth. Her body melted into the mattress and smooth blanket, unable to build up the strength to get up and pull it over her. It only got a chuckle out of him, two tendrils grabbing the sheet on the neighboring cot to throw over her.

“I’ll be back soon. Sleep well, Twilight.” He moved from her fading vision, the lights turning off as she closed her heavy eyelids.

And within seconds, darkness overtook her.