Hope is Never Lost.

-Twilight Sparkle-

“Hey Twi, I’m back” Dash announced, flying closer so she was visible from inside the cave. Twilight’s horn illuminated, followed by the unicorn stepping into a defensive pose.

“Say the password!” Twilight demanded, her voice colder than ice. Dash sighed with annoyance.

“Harmonia” Rainbow spoke, followed by Twilight calming down and taking a seat. “Is that truly necessary Twi?” Rainbow wondered before moving her muzzle to her saddlebag and beginning to pull the contents out from the pockets.

It tells me you’re not a changeling.

As Rainbow emptied the saddlebag the contents which fell out mostly were the same as last time, food. However a few things caught Twilight’s attention: two books and a piece of paper crumpled up. “You got books?” Twilight asked the obvious, rushing forward and grabbing the two with her magic, quickly reading the titles and finding one to be about Daring Do and the other about Magical Theory. Twilight squealed like a little filly with joy at the second books title, tossing the first to the ground lightly; followed by her trotting to the entrance of the cave to read in the light of day.

“Yeah, but before you get your egg headed.... uh.... not sure where I was going with that, but you should look at this first” Rainbow pointed out, followed by kicking the crumpled up piece of paper to Twilight who uncrumpled it with her magic and saw in big black letters the title reading: Note From the Queen.

What is Chrysalis’ scheme this time? Twilight wondered before proceeding to read the poster.

“This is outrageous!” Twilight exclaimed, receiving a short chuckle from Dash who was in the process of removing her saddlebag.

“Not so much, a large chunk of the population is actually giving hints as to where Luna is” Rainbow explained, finally getting her saddlebag off her back.

“They what? Don’t they know that Chrysalis is lying to them and will simply kill them the second she has Luna!”

“Nope, many are placing full trust into the changelings” Rainbow explained before biting into an apple currently on the ground.

“Idiots” Twilight growled distastefully. How can the ponies of Equestria be so blind? “Any news of Luna?”

“No, since these posters everypony has locked up and won’t tell me anything” Rainbow responded, followed by another bite of the apple.

“How are the ponies doing?” Twilight wondered, this causing Rainbow to pause for a moment before continuing to chew.

“Not good, a family of ponies were mourning the loss of a foal in the town I went to; a changeling had wanted to feed on its emotions and when the mother fought against it...” Rainbow paused for a moment. “Well... it bit it, and injected its venom....”

Twilight sighed sadly and closed her eyes, followed by a small shake of her head, knowing a foal could not live from changeling venom.

“There was news however that Sombra found a few Lunar scouts who eventually told him that Luna was in the north” Rainbow said, this causing Twilight’s ears to perk up.

“Then we must head north!” declared Twilight, trotting back over and beginning to stuff their supplies back into the saddlebag. Rainbow sighed with annoyance.

“Twi, I just got back, can’t we go tomorrow?”

“No time to lose Rainbow, if Luna is in the north she won’t be there for long!”

“Damn, I should have waited eh?”

“If you were expecting some nappy time, yep” Twilight responded before lifting the saddlebag with her magic and beginning to put it on herself.

-King Sombra-

“Y-your t-tea my king” a crystal pony spoke, stuttering with fear while in the presence of the dark unicorn king. Sombra held his gaze on the crystal city before him and the chained crystal ponies currently hauling crystals out of the mines beneath his palace. I can sense her.

The crystal pony stood there, not sure of what to do. “I thought you said you had my tea” Sombra spoke, causing the crystal pony to realize her mistake. Quickly she used her magic to lift the cup to the dark king who took a drink. Her power is stronger than I remember, no matter however, she will serve as a perfect slave. Sombra finished the tea before his slave patted his muzzle with a napkin and then turned to leave. “Did I tell you to leave my presence?” Sombra questioned, turning his head slightly to look at the green crystal mare before him.

She froze like a block of ice, her next step not even reaching the black crystal floor. “N-no your majesty, I-I apologize!” the mare blurted out, her heart beating faster by the second.

“Apologize? you do not ‘apologize’ to your master, I do not want your pathetic apologies!” Sombra growled, rising to his hooves and turning around so he faced the crystal pony.

“I-I’m s-sorry my k-king!” cried the mare, tears visible on her features which brought a smile to the dark kings muzzle.

“Leave my presence” Sombra commanded simply, turning his attention back to his empire and seating himself down once more.

“Yes your majesty!” blurted the crystal slave, backing out of the room quickly before turning and galloping down the hall. Sombra smiled and chuckled lightly to himself. It was not that he was angry, he simply loved the fear his slaves felt. Some ponies loved wine, some collected wine; Sombra did as well, however his favorite hobby was causing fear. What Sombra wanted the most during his rule were two things. One: he wanted Princess Luna and two: he wanted to break her. Break her moral, break her mind, break her hopes and of course, enslave her. Chrysalis had agreed that once she was done with the night princess Sombra would be gifted with her and would be allowed to do as he wished and he had many plans, many many plans on what he would do to get his revenge for his banishment.

He rose to his hooves and trotted to a set of twin doors leading outside which he opened with his magic. Upon stepping outside he grinned at the hundreds of slaves working below him, his self-made soldiers whipping them when necessary. Sombra’s guards and soldiers were not ponies, they were what he liked to call golems. Golems were made out of dark crystals and stood on only two legs instead of four. They wielded swords and shields and were, much to his pleasure, very hard to destroy.

A few brave slaves cast their gazes up to their king, who immediately returned their gazes with a blood chilling one, causing them to revert their gaze back to the ground and continuing to do their job. Sombra chuckled once more. Weak, thats all they are and ever shall be.

-Princess Luna-

If I was her, I could stop this all so easily. Luna sighed sadly as she walked across the snowy plane of the icy north, away from her soldiers and her guards. Luna, since Canterlot’s fall had always needed time to herself during the night, this usually allowed her to clear her thoughts and keep her soldiers alive, tonight however it was not working. Eternal Night the thought was a common one. Ponies naturally could survive in the cold for a certain amount of time, changelings could as well however not very long. If she brought upon the night for an entire week in Equestria it would mean certain death for Chrysalis and her changelings if they did not leave Equestria; however in doing this it would also mean the deaths of many innocent ponies and she would never allow that. Chrysalis may have killed hundreds of ponies but Luna would never do so to the innocent. The four years the changelings had been in command may have taken her home, her belongings, her subjects, her life and even her sister but it would never take her will nor her beliefs.

Her hoof stepped on something hard, not soft. She paused for a moment and looked down to find a shape buried beneath the snow. A quick blast of magic sent the air down to the ground, blowing the snow away from the object and revealing the corpse of a griffin. Luna’s ears flattened onto her head and she sighed sadly. “Your a long way from home..... I’m sorry” She apologized to the dead griffin. She guessed it had been frozen when it died, leaving its body unaffected by decomposition.

By its build she could tell it was male and by the trauma to the head she guessed one of Sombra’s golems had killed it upon his return. “May your roar be mighty, your wings quick and your legs strong. May your ancestors honor you and your loved ones not forget you, rest in peace and watch over your loved ones” Luna said silently, her eyes closed before her horn illuminated and sent a ball of fire to the corpse, igniting it and quickly beginning to burn it to ash. It was believed that if a griffon's body was not burned the griffon’s soul would never go to the afterlife, causing it to be forever doomed to roam on the same plane of the living. Luna did not believe in that but that did not mean this griffon did not. Luna turned and started her return to where her soldiers were, leaving the griffon's body to burn in bright orange flames, its ashes floating into the sky above.

As Luna proceeded, she kept thinking. I don’t know what to do....everything I do ends with the deaths of my subjects.... if it was Tia.... I need to stop thinking ‘what if’, it is me, not Tia.... no matter how much I wish differently I am the one who needs to steer us to victory, for my sister and my subjects.....

If I could attack Canterlot and hit it hard enough.....

No no, that is a stupid thought, you’ve seen it yourself Luna, thousands and thousands of changelings will attack at once and then you will lose.... besides where am I going to get an army?

The smell of burning flesh hit Luna’s snout and she sighed. Darn, the griffons corpse smells awful.

That thought caused her to begin conjuring up an idea, a brilliant idea. She began to gallop before spreading her wings and beginning to fly through the air, intent on making it back to her followers as quickly as possible.

“General wake up!” Luna shouted with her Canterlot voice which caused General Lance to kick and scream in surprise before falling out of his bed. “We ha.... I have it! I know what we must do! But first we must find Twilight Sparkle!”

“Right your majesty, what are my orders?” wondered General Lance, crossing his hoof across his forehead.

“Send a spy south to find Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash ASAP, we don’t have a moment to lose!” Luna ordered happily, her attitude picking up to a point it had not been for four years. Thank Equestria I got it!.