Dear Diary,

A human, and two very strange ponies were walking in a forest… I wonder if that is how a joke about all of this would go…

It was getting late into the afternoon. I couldn’t tell how fair we had walked or even if we were still heading in the same direction. I could only blindly trust that Zecora had been able to keep us on course

On second thought, perhaps describing my trust in her as “blind” was unfair to the striped lady. Twilight trusted her and I trusted Twilight. Zecora had proven her loyalty to the Princess beyond a reasonable doubt, and that she was not in league with the Changelings. I assumed, with one of their kind on the throne in Canterlot, that the Changelings were the ones directing the guards we encountered at Twilight’s home. I didn’t like that I couldn’t prove that, but it was the only safe assumption to be made. And based on that assumption, Zecora helping us didn’t make sense if she was with the Changelings.

Then again, a voice said in the back of my mind. “Celestia” informing us that there were Changelings about didn’t make any sense either. Ugh, I wanted that part of me to shut its fucking hole for a while. I didn’t want to distrust Zecora right now. We were reliant on her being on our side. But I had to admit that, in light of the seemingly irrational actions the Changelings in the past, that this was a distinct possibility. We were out alone in the wilderness, which made us easy prey.

No, I told the voice. It was forgetting something: Zecora had cured me of the Changeling poison. That made absolutely no sense if she was a Changeling or a Changeling thrall. Is that so? It asked back. You almost died, and you don’t know potion-making enough to judge how well she did it. Perhaps she made a cure she knew wouldn’t work to force you into cardiac arrest. She said each cure had to be tailored to each individual, but it was Twilight’s magic that saved you after all.

I felt numbness spread from my stomach: I didn’t have anything to say to that. No counter argument. I didn’t want to believe it was true, but there was no way for me to prove it wasn’t so. In truth, if the cure was meant to kill me, this could be a way to salvage the assassination attempt.

“Are you alright?” Twilight asked me. She and Zecora looked at me from a small distance; I must have stopped walking at some point and not even realized it. I nodded in return and said something about feeling light-headed for a moment and ran to catch up with them. In a way it was true, it was a blow to my confidence in the striped lady. Was there a fiend of the worst sort behind the helpful hermit’s face? I also had to contend with the very real possibility of some of these thoughts not being entirely mine. I hadn’t seen or heard from Molly that I knew of, but would it be impossible for the projection to blend into my subconscious and sow distrust?

“Maybe we should stop and rest?” Twilight asked Zecora, who just gave her a half-hearted nod in return. Looking at her, I saw that her eyes had trouble keeping focus and remained almost half closed most of the time. I asked if she had slept at all since she found us in the forest and she shook her head.

“I could not take time to address my own tire, my lest I leave us exposed to the changeling’s ire.”

“Well you won’t be able to stay alert if you can’t stay awake.” I pointed out. “So take a nap now, for my sake.”

Even if it was hypothetically possible that she was a Changeling, that didn’t stop me from being concerned for her. I didn’t even realize I had made a rhyme until she let out a small chuckle and shook her head at me. She did, however, look around. Moments later, we were headed in a new direction. It led to a small, largely enclosed, clearing.

We didn’t enter it, in case there were unfriendly eyes in the skies, but sat down by a tree on its border, just out of sight. Looking around, I was impressed with the choice of location. The trees were plentiful enough to keep us hidden from anyone who was more than a few feet away, and from here we could keep an eye on the sky above. Now all we had to do was make sure we didn’t make any noise.

Zecora curled up by the tree, having given Twilight her satchel. “Wake me up when you think I’ve slept long enough. Making up for lost time is going to be tough. If we tarry too long here, we risk losing all we hold dear.”

We understood that perfectly and simply replied with a nod. I was starting to feel a bit tired myself; something about knowing that the next few hours would be spent silently waiting for our guide to get some well-deserved rest made my body feel tired. I expected Twilight felt the same, the way she yawned at me. But there was nothing we should do about it.

**

Twilight and I glanced at our surroundings, occasionally looking at one another as the time crept by. Zecora slept without making any noise, save for the faint sound of her breathing. As she lived in the forest, I suspected that she slept lightly, making conversation between Twilight and myself impossible. I wasn’t even sure there was anything I wanted to talk about at the time.

If I had to be honest, what I really wanted to do was to curl up with Twilight and cuddle until we fell asleep. I looked at her and gave her a smile. She blushed and smiled back. We hadn’t had time to be alone after I had spewed out my confession earlier. It was such a crude way to put it, but it really was the most accurate. I diverted my eyes to Zecora. I hadn’t given some eloquent delivery about my feelings. Twilight didn’t seem to mind though. She had seemed rather happy to hear it.

Looking at Twilight again, I saw that she had pulled down her shirt and was pushing her breasts together. Immediately I felt blood rush south of the navel. She had to stop using her hands to tease me so she could cover her mouth to stifle her laughter I gave her an exaggerated look that said, “OMG, what are you doing!?” in response, giggling a bit to myself.

“Now that I’ve had some rest, I’ll be able to assist you with my skills at their best.” Zecora yawned and sat up, giving me a quick wink. I assumed she was referring to what I had said before she went to sleep. I nodded. She probably would be. “Now, you two should get some sleep, we have far to go for the forest is deep.”

“We really shouldn’t…” Twilight said, hesitantly. I nodded. We needed to keep moving, not to lie down.

“I have to prepare us a meal; using that time to rest seems like a good deal.”

Twilight and I looked to one another. She did have a point: if we were to stay here for a little while anyway, might as well get comfortable. Zecora stood up, offering us the spot she had chosen. It was softer than where we had been sitting. I lay down first, followed by Twilight who partially lay on top of me, resting her head against my chest. Careful to avoid the horn, I planted a kiss on her forehead before I let my head rest against the grass.

**

I had recreated the image of my dream to that of Sombra’s balcony to the best of my memory. I seemed to have a moment before he, or Luna, would appear. But only moments, as the figure of Sombra started to materialize at my side. He raised an eyebrow at his current surroundings.

“Greetings, Dream Host,” he said. “I assume you want me to stick around for a little while tonight? As beautiful as the Crystal Empire can be, its scenery does get dull after a while. I’m sure you’d have better things to look at if you were free to control the environments of your dreams.”

“Yes. I was hoping you’d tell me more about the Shards.”

We looked at one another for a time, before he smiled. The scenery changed to the Crystal throne room, where another Sombra was looking at a heart made out of a soft blue crystal. It radiated its own light. “Of course. You can hardly aid me return to life without knowing anything about the tool for the job. And while I think the ritual is something we’ll have to go over later, I can share more of my story with you. Don’t worry, it is connected.”

“What’s that?” I pointed to the glowing heart. I didn’t mention that I had yet to make a decision on whether to seek his aid or not.

“The Crystal Heart; possibly the most powerful artifact in the known world. No one knows where it came from. It has always been part of the Empire’s capital. The history of how it came to be there was lost already in my time. Even more interesting, my people seem to be connected to it somehow.”

“Connected how?”

“Not quite sure,” another person was added to the scene. Unlike Sombra, her skin and hair was crystalline in appearance, as if she was a carved out masterpiece. However, she moved as naturally as any other person I had seen. “But I’m sure you can understand the suspicion. All those born in the Empire have an appearance like that. I did too, once, before I shed my mortality.”

The second person disappeared again, leaving only me and the two Sombras. The one crafted by the dream started to gets a similar gleam in its appearance and the red faded from the tip of his horn. He grew shorter, until he barely stood taller than I did. Then a man entered. He had a long white beard and wore a blue, unadorned robe.

“The Empire’s court mage and I spent many years studying the Heart. He seemed to welcome the chance to finally do so. My people had always revered it with zeal. Trying to tap into its power was considered blasphemy. I, however, did not care, for if I succeeded, and I knew I would, the opinions of mere mortals would no longer matter to me. The whole of the Empire could have risen up against me and it would’ve mattered for naught as long as I held the Heart.”

“And Luna and her sister?”

“Yes, the spike in the road. The festering cut in my hand. I feared that sooner or later, the Alicorns and their great power would come for me. Long did I try to hold off the inevitable through diplomacy, even as I would not swear allegiance. Doing so would endanger the secrecy of my plans, mean having ambassadors and governors running around the place to keep me in line. But it could only last for so long. So I had to focus on many aspects of mortality at once. I knew that should I attain immortality, there would still be the problem of returning to this world. I assumed, quite correctly, that I would restore myself in time, much like the Alicorn, but I wanted a way to hasten the process. That is where the Shards come into the picture.”

The crystalline Sombra disappeared and was replaced with Luna and Celestia. On pedestals around the room there was crystals of the same color as the Heart, looking like they had been chipped of it. Two of the pedestals were empty. The Heart itself, however, was untouched.

“Do you like the style I made them in? I got a sense of drama as I designed them,” he smiled at me, but grew serious. “What I had not counted on was how fast Celestia was able to gain insight into my research. I had thought the Shard’s significance to be safe from her, at least for a time. Perhaps she only suspected, or wanted to be sure, but what happened was disaster. She removed the Shards and hunted down the two I had given to those still loyal to me, and then lost them. So I had to rely on my immortality alone to return. It worked, obviously, but it took a thousand years.”

“And how would I go about finding one of the Shards if they are lost?”

“Hmm, I suppose you didn’t pick it up when you activated it. Which means that it is likely in the hands of whoever came after you to the scene. Ugh, to think the unworthy has a hold of such an artifact is shameful. I designed them to stay between the real world and dreams when not active. Who knows where they would have ended up once Celestia lost track of them? You best bet is where this ambush happened.”

“That’s not going to be possible.”

“Pity. In that case, I suppose I am wasting my time with you. You said Celestia’s guards ambushed you? In that case, I’d try breaking into the Canterlot Royal Vault.”

“So, you can’t help me locate another one?”

“No. In my death, I have a hard time keeping track of what transpires. Even now, when you’ve returned my consciousness, I can only see so much. And there are long stretches of complete darkness. We’ll see each other again.” With that Sombra vanished.

“Luna,” I spoke, hoping she would hear me. Nothing happened. “Cer’Lola…?”

The Night Princess manifested in a flash of blue. “How’d you learn my old name? Actually, I think I know. The Betrayer mentioned it. Right?” I nodded. “Hmm, no harm done, I suppose. What did you call me for?”

“I- I don’t know what to do…” I began. “Between the capture of Twilight’s friends, a Changeling being in charge of the Canterlot soldiers and not even having the tools for bringing Sombra back should everything else fail, I just don’t know what to do.”

“I wish I could offer more assistance, I truly do, but nature has to take its course for me. It will be a long time before I can walk the world again. I can only offer guidance.”

“And I’d take anything you have! We need help, but we don’t know where to get it.”

“The Crystal Empire.”

“What?”

“I am certain that Cadence’s mind is still her own, though she has remained secluded even in her sleep, unwilling to engage with me. She has been such for months already. She was never quite the same after her wedding. That’s when the Changelings first attacked.”

“So how can you tell her mind is her own?”

“Because I reached out to Cadence’s mind: The subject’s physical location matters not to me. I can see far enough to tell she knows you are headed for her city.”

“Then, how could it be that you didn’t know Celestia was an imposter?”

“Because Celestia learned to block me out a long time ago. Had she not, Nightmare Moon would’ve driven her to insanity. I think nothing of Celestia blocking my entrance to her dreams. It is to be expected.”

“So our best chance is to continue to the Crystal Empire.” Luna nodded.

“You’re waking up.”

**

“Slept well?” Twilight moved off me and got to her feet. I shook my head. I didn’t even feel more rested than I had before we went to bed, but I did feel more comfortable in our plan, knowing that Luna had reached the same conclusion as Twilight an Zecora about where we ought to go. “Yeah, me neither. I spoke to Luna.”

“So did I. She said that the Crystal Empire was our best bet.”

“And that Cadence’s mind was still her own.”

“And I spoke to Sombra,” I added. “He showed me the thing we need should we want to bring him back. A blue crystal, looking like it was cut from the Crystal Heart. He showed it to me,” I added the last line as she raised an eyebrow.

Zecora spoke up. “The Shadow King must remain dead; we’re better of finding other ways instead.”

“If there are other ways…” I mumbled to myself. With Cadence free of the Changeling influence, there might be hope, but I wasn’t overly confident. Sombra struck me as ruthless and cunning. Whether that was a good or a bad thing depended on if we still had a common enemy in the changelings. After we dealt with them, If we managed to deal with them, was another story.

Zecora handed each of us flask full of a light green substance that seemed to be thicker than syrup. It didn’t look appealing but luckily it was nearly tasteless. Both Twilight and I had just accepted it and drank without question.

“Come on,” Twilight was the first to finish and get to her feet. Then she froze, “Wait, did you hear that?”

“What?” I asked the question as it was answered to me: The flapping of wings.