Sombra stared over the edge of the chariot blankly as they soared across the masses of farmland and forests that made up Equestria. Every so often they would pass by a small town, the ponies down below looking like worker ants slaving away for some greater good when in reality they were merely just going about their day-to-day lives. Hazel had tried to start up a conversation between the two multiple times, but was always quickly shut down by Sombra’s depressingly negative attitude.

“Hey Sombra, what’s it like being the son of one of Equestria’s rulers?” she asked, hoping to direct his attention away from his moping around. He had to think about his reply; he couldn’t exactly compare it to any other pony since he didn’t actually know any other pony his age, aside from Hazel.

“Quiet.” Hazel, thinking she was being shut out again huffed and looked out to her side of the chariot. She could feel the encroaching cold, telling her they were headed north, but her further vision was obscured by a mountain range. “I suppose it’s boring… I pass the time learning fun new spells, but I can’t remember how to cast any without the books. Probably for the best though, I did set fire to my room once…”

“How do you cast magic anyway? I’ve thought about what it’d be like for a while, but I guess I can’t really understand how you’d do it without, y’know, being able to.”

“You just have to concentrate really hard… At least I do. It’s kind of like moving a foreleg but not really?” He shrugged. “I guess it’d be the same if you tried to explain to me how to fly.”

“I can’t…” she muttered quietly, expression dampening slightly. “I can’t fly… Not yet at least. I’ve been trying, but I can never get the right technique.”

“I’m sorry, I-“

“It’s okay, I’m sure I’ll get it eventually!” Hazel brightened up instantly. “Besides, I’ll need it if I want to join the Night Guard like the rest of my family. It’s every batpony’s goal to be in the Night Guard, and every batpony IS in the Night Guard, like one big awesome family.” They passed over the mountain range and instantly the world around them dropped several degrees in temperature, causing the two foals to shudder violently.

Below them passed a frozen wasteland, the white expanse stretching as far as their eyes could see in almost every direction, the exception being a circular patch of green ahead of them with a large crystalline spire in the center. From their height they could see the pattern of the roads – a snowflake of glowing blue streets with buildings dotted along the edges, spreading out the closer they were to the edges until they stopped altogether a hundred metres away from the ring of snow.

As the chariot passed over the borders of the Crystal Empire there was a shimmering aura and suddenly the two foals were able to relax their unknowingly tensed up muscles. The Empire was perfect, from temperature to scenery; even the coats of the ponies below seemed to sparkle in the warm light. Their descent shed yet more light on the subject – these ponies were made of crystals! Or at least, they looked like it. The pair was gawking at the revelation for a while after they had landed, barely registering the new presence that stood before them.

“Welcome to the Crystal Empire, Prince Sombra and Hazel Skies.” The speaker was a rather regal looking crystalline unicorn mare, one who rivalled the height of Sombra’s own mother and whose coat seemed to shine just a tad brighter than the other crystal ponies. Beside her was a stallion wearing a red cape with a speckled fur trim, a silver collar that covered the length of his neck and his chest and silver hoofguards that extended up to his knees. While she had a friendly, approachable feeling surrounding her, the stallion seemed cold, not cruel but distant, the seriousness he held on thorough display.

“This is Luna’s child?” the king said bluntly. “I suppose we must wait and see if he follows her not only in name, but spirit. I will be in my study, dear, this empire doesn’t run itself.” With a flick of his cape he turned away and headed back to the base of the crystal spire, disappearing behind an oaken door set in one of the legs. The abrupt notion snapped the foals out of their daze and put a sad smile on the mare’s face.

“I am truly sorry about him, I fear that the stress of everything weighs down on him far too much. If only he joined me when I spend time with our subjects he might be a tad friendlier.” She shook her head and turned back to the foals. “I am Queen Dazzling Gleam, of the Crystal Empire. My husband, King Light Screen, was the stallion you just had the pleasure of meeting. It is a rare occurrence that he gets dragged away from his work, so any break time he has is most welcome, even if it was as short as that.”

She dismissed the royal chariot to do whatever he pleased until he felt ready to return to Equestria, but he merely thanked her and headed off immediately much to her chagrin. She then proceeded to usher the foals towards the castle, however it was a different entrance to the one the king had gone through.

“This is where you will be staying,” she spoke as they wandered through a deceptively long hallway. “It’s no Canterlot but we make do with what we have.” They stopped between two doors which she had opened with her magic revealing large, spacious rooms, complete with four-posted beds that could easily fit more fully grown ponies than you could poke a stick at. “Our room is the next one down on the right, and Crystal’s is on the left.” The two foals exchanged glances with each other before turning to Gleam.

“Who’s Crystal?” They asked in unison, making the mare in the middle laugh.

“Crystal is our daughter. Princess Crystal of the Crystal Empire; nopony would be able to doubt her heritage with a name like that. She would be… I would say that she’s a similar age to the both of you, and she’ll be arriving home from school shortly if you wish to wait.”

“She… Goes to school? Like, ‘school’ school or actual school?” Sombra asked, confused.

“Actual school, Prince Sombra, where every other colt and filly goes. We know of how things would work for you in Canterlot, but we rule slightly differently here so we ask that you play along. The letter from your mother asked us to treat you as equals, regardless of titles, so you and Hazel will be attending the same education as Crystal. Outside of staying in the castle you are but normal ponies here.” Her tone had gradually gotten more serious as she spoke, but quickly went back to the friendly one she started with. “But there’s nothing wrong with escaping the burdens of royalty is there?” Sombra shook his head.

“M-Mum? Wh-Who are these ponies?” The new voice drew the attention of the three ponies in the hall, its owner being a white unicorn filly with a light pink mane. Instantly, Gleam’s face lit up with a gasp of glee before she teleported right beside the new face.

“Crystal sweetie, you remember me telling you about those two ponies who would be staying with us for a while?” Crystal nodded. “Well, here they are! Sombra and Hazel Skies; they’ll be going to school with you!”

“Oh, okay.” She responded half-heartedly as she trotted down the hall, between the two foals and into her room, a faint clicking noise following her closing of the door. Gleam stood where she was left, mouth hanging open slightly at the rude exit from her usually nice daughter.

“I… I’m sorry, she’s not normally like this.” Gleam said before teleporting in front of Crystal’s door. “Crystal, sweetie? Is everything okay? You two go out and have fun, dinner will be in a couple of hours; I need to have a word with my daughter.” She said to the pair loitering in the hallway, and they quickly left the way they came, relatively excited to see what the Crystal Empire had to offer, but also slightly disheartened at the not-so-warm greeting they received from Crystal.

Breakfast the next morning was fairly standard for Sombra, not that it was bad, he was just used to having a similar spread day in, day out. Hazel, on the other hand, was stunned beyond all belief. Her eyes as wide as dinner plates, she ate anything and everything she could possibly stuff into the small stomach of hers to the point where she could barely move, much to the amusement of Dazzling Gleam and Sombra. Crystal was still moping around from the previous afternoon to the point where Gleam even opted to get her husband involved in a pep talk to little avail.

They were following Crystal to the school, though she was walking quite a ways ahead of the pair who were slowed down by the aftermath of Hazel’s voracious appetite. Since Hazel couldn’t focus on anything more than putting one hoof in front of the other, Sombra had to keep an eye out for the speeding filly.

“You mean to say you have that for breakfast EVERY DAY!?” Hazel exhaled with more effort than it seemed worth, followed by a hearty burp which made her cover her mouth with a hoof for a moment.

“Yep. You learn not to stuff yourself eventually, though I know it’s hard not to sometimes.”

“I’ll say! That was sooooo good! All I ever used to have was oats, oats, more oats and if I was good, oats with a splash of honey. There’s only so many oats a pony can eat!” Sombra laughed while Hazel groaned at the thought of eating as they rounded a corner, only to see Crystal surrounded by three larger colts that were probably a good two or three years older than her.

“What’s the matter, ‘princess’? Aren’t ya good enough to get private tutoring?” The largest of the three – and the one right in front of her – said teasingly.

“Go away, Sticks.” She tried to walk past him but he blocked her off, the other two beginning to flank her. In an instant, Sombra and Hazel were pushing their way through the mob to reach Crystal, standing with their backs to her to watch out for the remaining two bullies.

“Aw, the widdle pwincess has her pwecious bodyguards rushing to her aid. Look again colt, bat filly, we’re easily twice your size! What can you hope to do to us?”

“Hazel… Move Crystal away and stay with her…” Hazel turned to him, shock prevalent on her face. “You can be guardy later, this is just something a colt has to do alone.” He flashed a smile at her and, against her better judgement, followed his orders. He was her superior after all, it was her duty to obey him. When she finally emerged from the arena she noticed a small crowd had gathered, presumably of other foals who went to the school, some of whom were cheering for the three older colts while the smaller, quieter ones silently cheered for Sombra even though he was setting himself up for a pummelling.

“Three against one now, kid. Is that stupid royal orphan worth the world of hurt we’re gonna put you through? Huh? Is she? D’you have a crush on her or something?” The colts began to circle Sombra while tossing various taunts and insults his way. He walked in the same direction, eyes trained on the leader of the group.

“Thou hath incurred the wrath of Sombra, foal.” Sombra’s voice darkened and his sclera slowly gained a green tinge – the latter detail going relatively unnoticed by the tormentors. On is third arc around the sun was settled neatly behind his target, casting a shadow that stopped just short of Sombra’s hooves. With a less than friendly grin he stepped onto the patch of darkness, his entire body seemingly becoming absorbed in the ground and disappearing completely. Everypony who was witnessing the fight play out was looking around in a panic, but none more so than the three bullies in the center of the ring of foals.

The shadows of the colts pulled away from their bodies and coagulated in the center of their triangle. One was so blatantly confused as to why he wasn’t casting a shadow to notice the growing form near him, but the other two weren’t so lucky as they stared into the abyss of the darkened smoke. When the third colt finally noticed a pair of eyes opened for each of the spell’s targets. The piercing red eyes, complete with green sclera and purple wisps of flame were only visible to the colts; to the onlookers it just looked like they were staring into a column of black smoke, with the occasional omnipresent voice that would whisper ‘face thine fears’, ‘thou art pitiful’ or something similar.

The effect it had on their eyes, however, was visible to all as they matched those of what they were seeing. They began to panic, breathe heavily and sweat profusely from their visions, the leader even going so far as to accidentally urinate while entranced. That had a mixed reaction among the audience; some of laughter, some of disgust (Hazel being the former and Crystal the latter). Finally after what felt like hours, the column of smoke rose high into the air, stretching itself thin, before it came crashing down to the earth and spreading itself over the floor before fading away, leaving behind a small colt who could only muster enough energy to put a smile on his face before collapsing.

From a balcony high up on the Crystal Spire, King Light Screen witnessed the events play out from the beginning. He made no motion to intervene nor did he show any emotion, his mind too busy to bother with fickle details such as those.

“My my, Sombra. It appears you truly are Luna’s son; I will have to keep a close eye on you from here on in. The prophecy may yet come true for he has the magic to fulfil it, but for your sake colt I wish it doesn’t.” The king’s mutterings had captured the attention of the queen who was just inside.

“Did you say something dear? She called out to him, halting any thought processes he had running.

“Oh you know me, darling, always something to think about in the Crystal Empire. Think nothing of it all, I’m headed for my study.” True to his word he headed inside, only stopping once he reached the door to exit the room his wife was in. “And Sombra’s got in a spot of trouble at school. You might want to check it out.” With that he disappeared down the hallways, leaving a rather distressed queen wondering what to do. In a fret she ran to the balcony and launched herself over the railing, freefalling the multiples stories of the Crystal Spire before vanishing in a flash of light.

Sombra cracked his eyes open, his head pounding as though he’d bashed it against a wall repeatedly before blacking out. The first thing he noticed were two golden, slitted eyes staring at him widely from above, and the frown that accompanied them just below. He weakly raised a hoof and pushed the invading bat pony back a couple of notches to get a better look around the room. There were a number of hoof-drawn pictures dotting the pastel coloured walls along with other various kinds of craft work, tables and chairs scattered everywhere about the room and three other ponies watching him with as much intensity as Haze; was when he woke.

Crystal was one of the ponies, and there was a distinctive change in the way she was looking at him now than there was before; her eyes were almost sparkling – more so than normal. Then there was Queen Gleam who seemed the most frazzled out of all of them, Hazel aside. Her coat was sticking up in places and her mane was untidy as if she’d just gotten out of bed. Finally there was a mare he didn’t recognise but he got a motherly aura from her. Judging by his surroundings, Sombra reasoned that the turquoise mare was most likely a school teacher.

“You idiot, Sombra! How am I meant to be your guard if you’re just gonna go and take care of everything before passing out?” Hazel’s questioned was accentuated with a slap, not too hard, but enough to have her pulled away by Gleam’s magical aura.

“What’d I do?” Sombra tried to sit up but was instantly pushed back down by a pounding presence within his skull. Hazel was released and instantly she resumed her spot by his side again, this time considerably less aggressively but more… worried. Sombra didn’t understand why she had this resonating sadness, but then again he didn’t want to think too much about anything while his head ached like it did.

“There was a group of bullies that always tease me, and they were teasing me when I got to school but then you stepped in and they started teasing you until you disappeared and came back as a giant shadowy blob and then their eyes went all green and they started sweating and I think Sticker pee’d himself and that made everypony laugh and then the smoke went away and you fell over and the bullies were curled up on the ground crying like little fillies who are afraid of the dark and then Ms Tome stepped in and took you and them inside so now they’re in another room still crying and shaking and peeing themselves and you just woke up and that’s about it.” Crystal blurted out in a single breath, her voice rising in pitch the longer she went on. When she had finished her soliloquy she dropped to the floor and started panting. Sombra just stared at her blankly, blinking every so often before turning to one of the adults for clarity.

“What Princess Crystal means to say is that you had dealt with her bully problem with your magic, but now they seem to be stuck in a nightmare without being asleep. I have no idea what spells you know Sombra, or where you learned them, but I must kindly ask if you would lift the curse off my students.” Sombra assumed she was Ms Tome, since she called them her students, but he had no clue about this spell he’d used.

“I… I don’t know how. I don’t remember anything after I stepped in his shadow.” He flopped back on his resting place to stare at the roof and Hazel sat on his stomach, glaring at him relentlessly. “Y-You should ask my mother… She might know.” The suggestion caused Gleam to fidget nervously and Ms Tome to raise an eyebrow curiously.

“Oh? Which street does she live in; you’re new in the Crystal Empire so you must be in the Quartz District.”

“Canterlot…” Gleam said quietly. “His mother lives in Canterlot, in the castle no less.” She turned her attention to Sombra. “Are you sure we have to get her involved? You’re positive that you don’t know what curse you put on the poor colts?”

Ms Tome looked back and forth between the prone colt and the queen curiously. “I get the sense I’m out of the loop in this conversation.”

“My mother is Luna. Princess Luna.” Sombra said nonchalantly, making both Crystal and Ms Tome gasp. The sudden reaction at what seemed to be everypony’s trigger word made Hazel giggle; surely it was obvious when he had a bat pony escorting him around… Unless nopony paid her any mind. That didn’t sit well with her as she fidgeted uncomfortably atop her perch, much to his disdain. Hazel silently vowed to never be overlooked when it came to matters involving Sombra before she spoke up.

“Why are you all scared of Mistress Luna? She doesn’t bite, you know.” She grinned wide enough to reveal her sharp teeth. “She has bat ponies to bite for her, it’d be un-princess-ly otherwise.”

“W-We wouldn’t want to bother her… she must be very busy over in Canterlot.” Sombra waved them off with a hoof.

“She’s always stopped what she’s doing when one of our hoof-maidens has news involving myself. One time when I was a month old when they stopped a strategy meeting just to play with me. But… I’ll try.” He rolled over and made Hazel lose balance and fall off the tables he now knew he was resting on before dropping to his hooves. Instantly he regretted his decision as his stance swayed, only to be supported by his guard before anypony else could rush to the rescue. He silently thanked her as he leaned against her body while being lead towards the next room where the three colts were shuddering violently despite being smothered in blankets. It was true what Ms Tome had said; all of their eyes were open and their sclera was green, however what they failed to mention was the purple smoke that emanated from the edges of their eyes. Since they all gasped as they entered the room that detail must have only developed recently.

He started at the one he knew as Sticks, staring at him and pretending to be deep in thought when in reality he had no idea where to start let alone no way to actually focus with the continual throb of his mind. He sacrificed a bit more stability by holding his hoof up – Hazel now exerting effort in order to keep him upright – and rested it on the afflicted colt’s forehead. Sticks flinched at the touch unconsciously since he seemed to be permanently tense but no matter what Sombra tried he couldn’t figure out how to stop the suffering. He mentally cursed under Celestia’s name and as he did so a bright light filled the room, expanding and intensifying until it vanished completely and revealed a dark blue alicorn. Immediately Crystal, Ms. Tome and Gleam bowed, and Hazel followed suit as soon as she had propped Sombra up against something so he wouldn't fall over. He staggered weakly over to the towering figure and leaned into one of Luna's forelegs, forgetting all about the three semi-conscious colts.

"Rise, we wouldn't want thou to strain thyselves." The dark princess said with a slight grin. She then sat down on the floor and pulled Sombra into a hug which he all too gladly accepted despite his present company. "Our little Shadow, couldst thou provide an explanation as to why we can sense powerful nightmares within this room that has no dreamers?" Sombra froze mid-nuzzle and withdrew into himself. Her tone was gentle and calm, underlined with a hint of concern, but he still couldn't bring himself to providing an explanation. Thankfully (or unthankfully) Crystal had enough of a voice for the six of them so she began running off the list of things that had happened at a speed that would put the Canterlot elite to shame. Luna sat quietly, nodding wherever it seemed appropriate until it reached the part of her arrival and Gleam had cut off Crystal's rambling with a hoof. Luna gave a meaningful look at Sombra which slowly caused him to break down into sobs saying that he was sorry, wouldn't do it again and begging not to be punished.

Hazel took a spot next to Sombra as soon as he'd started crying and was also pulled into Luna's embrace as she wrapped a leathery wing around the colt. When he had finally stopped crying, Luna wordlessly made him look into her eyes as her horn glowed, a wisp of magic drifting between the two and causing Sombra to light up considerably. He leapt out from under the two wings that held him and started channeling his magic, a transparent crystal appearing above the colts' heads. Suddenly the crystal shattered and all of their eyes returned to normal, but since the first thing they saw was Sombra they continued to shudder.

"I did it!" He shouted at nothing in particular, pumping a hoof into the air. He ran back to Luna who simply held out a hoof to stop him and gave him a gentle glare. Somberly he turned back to the colts. "S-Sorry... I... I don't know what happened..." The colts looked between each other, and with several exclamations of 'Freak!' and other choice words they ran out of the building with their tails between their hind legs. Disheartened, Sombra dropped to the floor and tried to suppress his tears. 'I will not cry,' he thought to himself. 'Not in front of everypony'. With a faint quiver in his legs he pulled himself back up, ignoring the sting in his eyes. 'I'll stay strong... I can be strong, like mum and auntie!'