Twilight could not believe a single word she was hearing. Rage boiled just below the surface as she turned to Zecora, eyes blazing. "Do not try and pull one over on me! Do you really expect me to believe that beast gave up a happy life in some long forgotten past to do something good for Equestria?!"

Zecora stared at the seething princess for a few minutes, then replied simply, "Yes."

Twilight wasn't sure whether to explode again, or stand there in frozen shock staring like a buffoon. "I, uh, what?" Option two it is.

Shaking her head and chuckling, Zecora brought out something else from her ingredient dresser. "Perhaps, dear Twilight, a look to the past may bring out the last."

Now more confused than angry, the princess raised an eyebrow at the zebra. "The last of what, Zecora? Zecora?" Instead of answering, the zebra tossed in the powder. Yellow smoke took to the air. It stayed still for a second, then started to swirl, going faster and faster, until it was like a two dimensional tornado. "Second only to the white elixir of before, this smoke will tell you all and more. Come, inhale it now, and to the past you will prowl."

Giving Zecora a funny look, Twilight obliged the alchemist, leaning forward and sticking her nose by the cloud, taking a deep breath. She immediately started to cough, long, wracking coughs that made it hard to breath. "Zecora....what....the..."

Before she could finish the sentence, she slumped to the ground, and found her mind being tossed into the circling mass of yellow smoke.

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Sitting up, Twilight let out a groggy moan and looked around. "Where- where am I?" she asked aloud. The only answer was a weird rolling sound. Looking over, Twilight saw a large cart rolling towards her. She tried to scramble out of the way, but it was too late. She closed her eyes, waiting for impact...it never came. The princess's eyes shot open just in time to see the last of the cart pass through her.

"Ahhhhhh! I'm dead! That crazy zebra killed me!"

"Woo-hoo!"

Extremely startled, Twilight turned to see a young stallion on top of the cart that had passed through her. He was black, with a smoke black mane and tail, both of which had one dark blue streak down the middle, and silver eyes. On his flank was a trio of red crystals.

Going wide-eyed, Twilight's jaw dropped. "Sombra?!" she exclaimed for the second time that night. She could not believe that this care-free stallion was the once-tyranical emperor of the Crystal Empire, as well as the killer of a friend.

A killer who was very close to killing himself as he careened wildly toward a cliff. Acting on instinct, Twilight's horn lit up, but when she tried to cast a spell, nothing happened. "Fuck. In the past. I forgot."

Watching in tense silence, the alicorn waited for the cart to go over the cliff, and the unicorn to meet his doom. Wait a second...

The cart did indeed go over the cliff, but the pegasus spread his wings, gliding safely through the air, much to the jaw-dropped-again shock of Twilight. He's an alicorn in our time?!

While she was watching, she noticed somepony else. He was waiting at the bottom of the cliff, his own red wings folded back over his red orange body. The stranger had yellow eyes the color of a harvest moon. His mane and tail were a dark orange, with only his mane having two yellow streaks the same color of his eyes. His flank was adorned by a moon with an odd blue and orange mixed glow to it.

"See, I told ya I could do it, Moon colt!"

Snapped back into reality, Twilight watched Sombra land besides the red orange one, who stuck out his tongue. "Yeah, yeah, whatever Gemsy. Come on, let's get back. Your favorite should be waiting, oh epic birthday boy."

Chuckling, Sombra, who Twilight was beginning to suspect had a different name back here due to the nickname the other pegasus gave him, nodded. Spreading his wings, he shot back a smug smile. "Race ya, bro."

Before Sombra's brother could reply, the one-day-to-be-emporer shot into the sky with a laugh. "Oh, it is on," the brother yelled at him before taking to the sky in pursuit.

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The scene shifted to nighttime, where a much older-looking Sombra stood facing his brother. "Harvest, don't do this! You're my brother, I can't bear to lose you, especially to that freaky princess! Who knows what sort of things she teaches!"

Glaring, Harvest let out an angry snort. "You're just jealous, Gem. I can't believe you're being so petty as to insult her! I thought you were more mature than this. I guess not!" With a whip of his tail, Harvest Moon left Bloody Gem there wallowing in hurt.

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There was another shift, and now Twilight was on the outskirts of a very familiar forest. To her right was Gem, while Harvest stood to her left, a hard look on his face, just like last time. "What are you doing here?" spat Harvest, his pupils narrow slit.

Sombra had an equally hard expression, his eyes also narrowed as he stared his older brother down. "I came to stop you. Your blind ignorance has put everypony in jeopardy, your loyalty to the Princess has blinded you! If you go in there, you will only bring about more destruction!"

Baring his teeth, Harvest lunged at his brother. Sombra was, fortunately, expecting this, and used his wings to fly back. Using the momentum, Sombra spun through the air before kicking out, hitting his brother square on his forehead. Harvest was sent flying back, away from the forest, where Sombra now stood like a silent guardian, refusing his brother entry. He did not see Harvest, whom he thought he'd managed to knock for a loop, silently pick up a large rock with one of his red wings. By the time he realized what was happening, the rock had already been chucked full force, and he was unconscious.

Twilight watched in horror as Harvest walked over to his brother, fully expecting him to kick the smaller sibling around in his helpless state. Shockingly, however, he reached up a hoof, brushing away a few strands of mane over Sombra's new bleeding head wound. "I'm sorry, Gemsy."

With that, he turned away and trotted into the forest.

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"I knew this would happen. I knew it."

Twilight stared at the decimated and burning landscape before her. Trees were burned to the ground, homes in ruin, and the empire on fire. And in the middle of it all stood Gem, his head and wings hung. Tears were dripping down his face, and it looked like he was trying to hold back his sobs. "She went too far. Now my big brother is gone, replaced by a monster. If only I had tried harder to warn him, to stop him..."

Twilight's heart could not resist breaking at the sight before her. This was just a barely grown up stallion who had no idea what to do. He had lost everything, and now stood alone in a crumbling kingdom.

Walking up to him, she unfolded a wing and wrapped it around him. Or tried to. It passed through him a little.

"Hey, it's ok. Everything will be fine. You just have to be brave and do what you must."

Gem's head snapped up and he turned, gaping at her. "Who are you?!" he asked, his eyes almost as wide as wide as Twilight's.

Taking a step back, Twilight stared in shock. "You can see me?!"

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The sudden shift in scenery startled Twilight, and she stumbled to regain her hoofing. Her mind was still reeling from what happened mere moments ago. "Wha...how..."

She had no more time to contemplate, for a blast of dark magic hit the ground only a few feet from her. The princess's gaze snapped instantly to the two battling ponies. One had shadows surrounding him, the other was wielding some strange device on his neck. Glaring, Gem flew back, something shooting from the neck device and hitting his brother square in the chest. The red orange pegasus fell to the ground as the shadows suddenly dissipated, crying out in pain. "You! What have you done?!" Instead of answering, Gem trotted up to what was once his brother. Reaching up a hoof, he snapped off the yellow horn given to Harvest by the dark magic. Blood gushed from the injury, streaking down Harvest's face, getting in his eyes, mouth, and nose.

It was then that Gem answered his once-brother, a sad but determined expression on his face. "What I had to," he stated softly as the shadows that had once surrounded Red Harvest began to come to him. The black pegasus winced a little, like he was in pain, then steadied himself and declared, "Red Harvest, for your crimes against the Crystal Empire, and the breaking of all your oaths, you are hereby banished to the pits of Boardania!"

The ground shook as the earth opened beneath Harvest, swallowing his screaming form whole before sealing itself back up again. Gem never looked away, wanting to face the consequences of his actions fully.

It took half an hour before he moved, shadows trailing after him.

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Twilight stood in the middle of a throne room, facing towards the throne, upon which sat a cream-colored alicorn with plain purple mane and tail, with eyes the color of the Liobbean sea, which was in griffin territory.

Directly below the throne was Gem, glaring up the princess. "...and so, Princess, Red Harvest is gone for good."

The princess ignored this look and smiled, nodding her head. "Good. Now we can begin the reconstruction of the Empire. It won't hopefully take too long, we can't let the other nations see us like this, heaven forbid."

With each word the monarch said, Gem ground his teeth together. Of course, the princess spotted this at the last second, as Twilight spotted something much more horrifying as she realized what was about to happen.

"Is something wrong, Bloody Gem?"

The stallion muttered something inaudible, and the princess leaned forward to hear better. "What was that?"

As the red crystals on his flank became fully black, shadows converged around him as he screamed, "My name is Sombra!"

With that, the castle exploded, dark magic bursting forth.

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It had been two days since Lily had had the dream. They'd both been preparing themselves for the inevitable, Opal quitting his job, Lily making sure her flowers had enough water to at least grow a little when she was gone.

Now they simply sat, huddled together on the living room couch. Neither spoke, too wrapped up in their own thoughts to try. Finally, after several hours, Lily looked at Opal. "They should have been here by now. Why aren't they here?"

Opal turned his attention to his wife, his face matching the confusion Lily felt inside. "I do not know. Perhaps we got luck-"

"Citizens of the Crystal Empire! Please gather in Diamond Square for an important announcement!"

Both Lily's and Opal's eyes widened at the same time. "You don't think....," Lily started, trailing off. Her husband looked at the door. "Only one way to find out."

Gathering their courage, the couple stepped outside, joining the large crowd of neighbors heading for the Square. High above the quickly-filling space, standing on the balcony where royalty made their announcements to the Empire, stood Princess Cadence, with her husband Shining Armor just behind her.

Gulping, Lily watched all the Crystal ponies gather, murmuring together in excited whispers. A little nervous about all the excitement, Lily turned to Opal. "They don't already know, do they?" Opal gave her a look that revealed he was just as uncertain as her.

"Hey Black Opal, Lily Bloom, you ready for this year's fun?"

Both ponies jumped and turned to face Gleaming Trout, a regular earth pony who lived among the settlers of the Frozen North, and came to the Crystal Empire one or two times a year to trade.

"Uh...what?"

Before anymore intelligent words could be said, Cadence began speaking again. "My loyal subjects, are you all ready for this year's Crystal Fair?!"

Cheering erupted around Lily and Opal, while the two simply stared in slack-jawed relief. "We did get lucky," whispered Opal to his wife.

Spoke too soon.

CRASH!