"And that was when the guards arrived?"

Ironwood chuckled, then nodded at the emperor's question. It had been the work of half an hour to explain, both to Celestia and Luna, as well as to the new emperor, what all had transpired this evening. Admittedly, a lot more was going on than just his explanation of events: Nopony's daughter was being treated by both Celestia and the nurse who had introduced herself as Tender Loving Care. The poor girl was still unwell, due to having been partially drained by the touch of those blasted wights. Thankfully, under the care of both a princess and an obviously skilled nurse, she was already looking a lot better.

"Yes, that's true," he said, as he continued the tale. "We'd not tried to escape before then, given that any sudden moves might have drawn the wight's attention back to us. However, with a large squadron of guards suddenly arriving, drawn by the sound of the battle, Nopony, Golden Grace, and I had agreed that the risk was worth it, and we took off with the family in tow. It was obvious that the guards were winning, and with their leader too busy with this 'Ruggiero' character, there was no one to direct any of the wights after us."

Emperor Pandinus Imperator The First, Ruler of the Crystal Empire And All Who Doth Dwell Within, nodded and said, "I suspected as much. I doubt that the arrival of that squadron of guards was by chance. There's been a lot of strangeness going on tonight." Looking the earth pony over, the changeling added, "In a little while, we'll need to discuss your fate, Ironwood, but for now, I would ask that you be patient: You've done the crown and your fellow ponies a service, and trust me when I say, I will not forget that."

Rubbing the death mark on his cheek, Ironwood said, "Your highness, take all the time you need. I'm not in any rush to go anywhere." Obviously, since the mark burned on his cheek meant that he could be killed on sight, were he seen by anypony outside this room...

And all because he'd slept with a lord's wife, and when discovered, said lord needed a patsy for the murder of said wife.
--------------------------------

Pan looked over at Pen Stroke. The chancellor had, upon the party's arrival, been given the book that Ironwood had been carrying. Pen had immediately begun reading the book while listening to the tale of the party's escape and subsequent arrival at the palace. Pan had watched the chancellor out of the corner of his eye as the tale unfolded, and could not help but notice that Pen's expression had turned increasingly grim as he went through the book. Obviously, whatever was in that book was bad news.

Clearing his throat to gain the chancellor's attention, Pan asked, "Just how bad is it, Pen?"

Pen Stroke, still pale and weak from his bout of illness, looked grim enough to be given a scythe and a black robe. After a moment, the chancellor stated, "It is bad, milord. If even half of what this says is true, this... Circle has at its disposal resources sufficient to make them a powerful adversary." Turning a few pages back in the book, he said, "During the Black Feather War, Lady Midnight Black was responsible for the 'disposal' of the corpses of the aggressors. The griffon kingdoms wanted nother to do with the traitors, so their remains were to be burned and the ashes scattered to the winds." At the emperor's surprised look, the chancellor added, "There was a very real concern, given the use of dark magicks by the Black Feathers, that the corpses, if buried, might one day rise and seek revenge. Thus, incineration seemed the safest bet. Lady Midnight Black had, as part of her duties, sought out and retrieved every single portion of every last corpse, and instead of burning them, had them secretly transported here, where she made that fear a reality. Every Black Feather soldier who died on the battle field is now a wight... all ten thousand of them."

Pan's jaw dropped. Ten thousand of those things? The emperor swallowed and asked, "And... just how large an army does the Crystal Empire have?" Pan had a suspicion that the army in question would not be big enough.

He was right. Pen sighed, looked up at the ceiling, then said, "At this moment, the Crystal Empire's army consists of perhaps one thousand ponies. That would include every raw cadet, every reservist who could stand on four hooves, see lightning, and hear thunder. Maybe a third of them have any real combat experience to speak of. While we could conscript able bodied adults, the most we could reasonably expect to add is another three thousand ponies to that number, the overwhelming majority of which have no real combat experience." With a grim chuckle, Pen Stroke added, "Again, the isolated and peaceful nature of the Crystal Empire works against us: Our city has very real limitations regarding how many ponies can live here at one time, and how many can be allowed to serve as part of the guard. Food, water, equipment, that all requires ponies dedicated to specific roles. For each pony in the guard, we need at least five ponies at work elsewhere to ensure that said soldier will be equipped and provisioned properly. Worse, without training and real combat experience, the majority of our soldiers can hardly expect to be able to fight against veteran soldiers, especially undead ones. The living dead, however, have no such restrictions: They do not eat, nor drink, and are already well-equipped. Worse, they can remain in suspended animation until awakened, at which point they'll be just as deadly as they were before they died, if not more so. Meanwhile, our veterans from the Black Feather War have aged and lost some of their edge. The situation is dire, milord."

After a moment's thought, Pan said, "So if we were to destroy the wights before they were roused from their suspended state, that would cut down their numbers, right?"

The chancellor's eyes widened, and he asked, "A preemptive attack?"

Sombra, from his viewpoint in the mirror, admitted, "Clever. When awakened, the wights would be a deadly force, but until then, they're just magical corpses. It takes time, effort, and power to rouse them from their graves, and a lot of focus to keep them in thrall. Until the Circle makes its move, they won't dare raise their forces for fear of tipping their hoof, and wasting energy they could use elsewhere, so we have a narrow window of opportunity... provided we know where the 'bodies' are buried."

Pen Stroke, after a moment, said, "Scarlet Wake did not know where all of the wights were kept, but he knew where the three largest deposits of stored wights would be. Seven thousand five hundred wights in total are accounted for, and he believed that Midnight Black kept the remaining wights on her own estate."

After a moment's thought, the emperor said, "Good. We can make our first move tomorrow. We'll do it in the light of day, where we can move with impunity, while the Circle is much more restricted." At the surprised looks that Sombra, Luna, and Pen Stroke gave him, the changeling chuckled and said, "The creation of wights is a crime, punishable by death, and it is the responsibility, neigh, duty of every law-abiding pony to eradicate such abominations where ever they may be. We're the good guys, they're the bad guys. Tomorrow, we'll strike those three deposits simultaneously, so that the Circle won't have time to react, and can't try and awaken the wights beforehoof. As Sombra said, they can't risk awakening the wights until they're ready to strike. If anypony asks how we found out about them, we'll just say that we're acting on an anonymous tip stating that wights were in the city. No mention of the Circle, or conspiracies against the crown, just the emperor doing his duty to protect his citizens."

Chuckling, Luna admitted, "A good plan, and a good start." Her expression turning grim, she added, "But I suspect that military might is not the only problem we face?"

Nodding, Pen Stroke said, "Indeed. Several members of the Circle are powerful practitioners of prohibited magics. While not as powerful as..." The chancellor paused, looked briefly at the mirror housing Sombra's image, then continued, "...some individuals I could name, there are a great many more of them, at least thirty that Scarlet Wake knew of, perhaps more."

Pan considered that for a moment, then said, "On that topic, something is bugging me... no pun intended."

Chuckling, Luna asked, "What?"

"Well," Pan began, trying to put his thoughts into words, "They have an army of undead warriors, ten thousand strong, not to mention powerful wizards of their own. Plus, there's the abundance of wealth at their disposal. The Circle has all of this on their side..." The emperor looked over at Sombra and said, "And yet one unicorn had the entire lot of them so subdued that they were unwilling to even risk the appearance of challenging him for control. Why?"

"Asides from the fact that confronting me risked revealing their criminal activities at a time when the princesses were expected to arrive any day," Sombra said with a wry grin, "I'd imagine that its for one very simple reason: They were as divided as the rest of the nobility. Even the 'good' nobles tend to be prone to petty bickering amongst themselves and jockeying for position. This 'Circle' is likely even more prone to such behavior. While there is no doubt some form of leadership within their ranks, it is unlikely that anypony within would be willing to risk any one member becoming too strong, too influential. The fact that the leader of any successful revolt from the nobility would become king worked just as effectively against them as they did everypony else." With a chuckle, he added, "In addition, I had not done anything that might have, even on accident, revealed their criminal activities to the world at large. You, meanwhile, have demonstrated a willingness to turn the world upside down and shake it until the villains fall out. The Circle will gladly tolerate a tyrant who rules with whips and chains. A kind ruler who seeks to undo the wicked... not so much."

With a chuckle, Pan asked, "And the fact that you were more powerful than all of them put together probably helped as well?"

Snorting, Sombra said, "No matter how powerful I was, I was one, and they were many. Yes, I was powerful, but in a straight up battle with Celestia or Luna at their best, or against the assembled ponies of the empire, I would have lost. I relied, not so much on strength, per se, as I did the appearance of strength. Yes, I was certainly powerful, but I still had to sleep sometime. However, with a combination of fear spells, memory blocking spells, and an overall appearance of invulnerability made me seem less like a pony and more like some elemental power that no mortal could ever defeat alone. With that image as a shield, I could run roughshod over my subjects, yet still sleep soundly in my bed each night."

The appearance of strength. That gave Pan an idea....

"The fact that you murdered the royal family probably helped keep them subdued, as well," Pen Stroke said, more than a little angry.

Looking a little abashed, Sombra admitted, "Not so much murdered as... banished."

His eyes widening, Pan asked, "What? The true king and queen are still alive?"

"Yes and no," Sombra admitted. "I used a spell to send them forward in time. You might want to have your descendants keep an eye out for them: The king, queen, and the rest of the legitimate heirs will probably start popping up in a thousand years or so..."

Pen Stroke, flabbergasted, tried to say something, but could only get out a strangled, "Why?"

Surprisingly, Sombra blushed and said, "Well... look, I've done some awful stuff, I won't deny it, but there were a few things I wasn't ready to do. Killing defenseless colts or fillies in front of their parents, or killing parents in front of their offspring, was too much, even for me. I just sent them off, and made it look like I'd killed them." At the shocked looks by the assembled ponies in the room, Sombra said, "I only needed them out of the way. In a thousand years, I expected I would either be dead or ruling the world, so if at that point they wanted the Crystal Empire back, they could have it."

Closing his mouth with a click, Pen admitted, "Fair enough..."

Pan, lost in thought, began, "Tell me something, Sombra..." Clearing his throat, and keeping his tone perfectly neutral, the emperor continued, "Your body is expected to repair itself in one thousand years time. Is there anything that could be done to bring you back sooner?"

Sombra, his expression equally neutral, answered, "Maybe. How soon would you want me back?"

A smile slowly crossing his face as a wonderful, horrible, perfect plan began to form in his mind, Pan asked, "How soon is now?"