“I have never viewed one’s memories this way before.” Princess Luna said as she and her monochromatic companion waited for one of Mica’s buried memories to come into focus. “Pray tell, what is it like?”

“Best comparison I can think of is attending a play.” The Lurker, now going by Grey, explained to his navy blue dream guest. “We’ll see how it will unfold but can’t interact with it.”

"Ah, so very similar to a memorial dream." The Alicorn nodded in understanding. "The difference being that we get to choose what act the theater presents."

“Speaking of theater, what’s a show without some refreshments?” Grey said as a small table bearing a bottle and two wine glasses appeared between them.

“You are turning out to be quite the gentlestallion.” She complemented as the pallid host decanted the bottle with evidently practiced ease.

“I’m just being hospitable.” The dark robed stallion said simply as he slid a now full glass to the Nocturnal Princess. “You may have come in uninvited, but you are still a guest in my mind.”

This gave the dream striding mare pause. She never was invited into any of her subject’s dreams; she just popped in unannounced. She only did so to help the dreamer overcome any nightmares they may be having but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she could just as easily spy on them when they are most vulnerable. Luna could practically hear the busy bodies in the cities taking to the streets if they heard that she even had the ability to intrude upon their privacy in such a way. A hoof on her shoulder broke her out of her thoughts.

“I did not mean that as an insult, Princess Luna.” Grey said evenly. “I was just stating facts; you came here with good intentions and I do not fault you for it.”

The Lunar Alicorn’s smile returned.

“Like I said, a gentlestallion.” She said sweetly. “And please, call me Luna.”

“As you wish, Luna.” Grey let a small smile cross his thin lips.

The two sat in silence for an awkward moment as the memory slowly focused after years of being forgotten. Luna eventually decided to take a risk and learn a bit more about what she had witnessed previously between the pale stallion and his bloodthirsty nephew.

"Grey? A question, if I may." She asked politely.

"Ask it." He consented with a nod.

"Your nephew, the crimson stallion." The Lunar Princess hesitated when she saw a frown tug at the corners of his mouth. "Do you know what became of him?"

"He was still alive when I was exiled but knowing him, he died as he lived: loud, angry and in the thick of battle."Grey answered with a sigh before he realized something. "I am surprised you were able to understand us considering our language was far removed from modern Equine."

"It came as a surprise to me as well." Luna admitted as she rubbed a temple with a hoof. "It was taught to me long ago but I have never had to apply it until now."

"May I ask who taught you?" The pale horse inquired. "I may have known them."

"The only equine I considered a mentor was an old unicorn named Starswirl the Bearded." The Princess said. "I could have only learned it form him. Unless..."

"It was the Stars." The dreadful thought crossed her mind. "Our benefactor."

The moment was cut short by Mica’s memory finally focusing. The two put the small mystery on the back burner and settled in. They watched as they were transported to a time that Sombra wanted forgotten.

---

Mica looked down at the hardened crystal shackles that bound her hooves. They were tight enough for the rough edges to dig into her flesh, much like the matching collar around her neck, so as to remind her that they were always there. She and another crystal mare were tethered to the obsidian Crystal Throne as servants to the king. Whether that meant servicing the king with food or their own bodies totally depended on his state of mind that day. This day it was a mix of both. Mica balanced a plate holding a bottle of wine and glasses on her back while her counterpart fed a sprawled out Sombra grapes while he used her ample teats as a pillow. Three more slaves, two mares and a stallion, were performing a show of sexual prowess all for their master's rather evident pleasure.

"So Mica was a member of his harem." Grey inferred. "No wonder she did not want to remember this."

“Bleh!” Luna scrunched up her face as the hated tyrant slowly stroked his length with his magic as the trio performed. “This debauchery makes my gorge rise.”

“Perhaps it’s just a key detail to something bigger.” The monochrome stallion ventured as Sombra suddenly joined the act by using his magic to force a mare to take the stallion deeper than she could stand. “That or Mica was a closet deviant.”

Judging from the lurid expression on the king’s face, the enjoyment he was receiving must have been something special indeed. He enveloped the slave’s entire head in magic and forced her down onto the rest of the now worried stallion. The poor thing made several muffled gargling sounds and tears came to her eyes as she strained to breathe.

“Is it possible to skip this?” A disgusted Luna asked. “Or better yet erase?”

“We might miss something important.” Grey argued.

“Like that mare chocking to death?” The navy mare frowned.

“Point taken.” The pale stallion conceded.

The abyssal shambler skipped forward past the mare blacking out from lack of oxygen and others having to carry her away. He stopped at some point later in the day. Mica was still chained to the throne and the well-endowed pillow mare was now standing idly by. Sombra was studying the pages of an old leather bound book, murmuring something unintelligible beneath his breath.

“Loathsome bastard.” The Alicorn seethed once they had gotten past the debauchery. “His father must be rolling in his grave.”

“Judging from your current expression and the zeal in which you destroyed the block,” The greyscale pony inferred. “I’d say there’s some history between you two.”

Luna shot Grey an icy look. For a brief moment, he swore her eyes turned teal.

“There is.” She admitted with an irritated huff. “It’s a long and sordid tale but the abridged version is that We…I trusted him and he betrayed that trust.”

She sipped on her drink while giving the memory Sombra a death glare that could chill a wendigo. Seeing that his vexed companion was not going to speak further on the subject, the robed stallion returned his attention to the memory. The tyrant was still reading the tome when a knock on the double doors drew his attention.

“Enter.” He commanded.

The door opened and a burly stallion in black crystalline armor trotted in. He bowed to his king before standing at attention.

“Milord, a Princess Luna of Equestria is here to see you.” He reported.

“Oh, joyous day.” The slaver groaned sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. “I could have gone a fortnight without seeing her again.”

“Grey?” The Lunar Alicorn asked evenly. “When does this memory take place?”

“I’m not sure.” He answered truthfully. “I have no context with which to guess. Why do you ask?”

“I think you are about to witness why the Crystal Empire vanished for a thousand years.”Luna took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.

Now thoroughly interested, the Lurker returned his attention to the throne room as the memory version of Princess Luna trotted in. In contrast to her present self’s more revealing apparel, she wore dark cobalt plates of armor over her legs, chest, and neck and a helmet that allowed her starry mane to flow freely. A hush fell over the room as the intimidating Lunar Alicorn approached the throne. The tyrant managed one of his characteristic grins nonetheless.

“Why, 'tis not the lovely Luna.” Sombra said with false flattery. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Thou may dispense with the pleasantries, King Sombra, for this is not a social call.” The armored Alicorn said curtly.

The slaver chuckled humorlessly as Luna came to a stop in the middle of the room, surrounded by his dark-crystal armored guards.

“So why art thou here?” He asked.

The Mistress of the Night locked onto Sombra with cold eyes for a moment before answering.

“We are here to demand thine surrender of the Crystal Throne.” She announced.

Sombra’s smile failed instantly.

“I’m sorry.” He rubbed an ear as if he had misheard her. “What?”

“Celestia is on her way here as we speak.” Luna informed him. “If thou do not abdicate the throne by the time she arrives, we shall take it from thee by force.”

Sombra’s eyes ignited like an infernal furnace. The few guards in the room leveled their weapons at the offending Princess as their king’s fury began to override his sense of civility.

“Thou would have me surrender MY empire to those low born Amores?!” He snarled in ill contained rage. “After everything my forefathers and I have sacrificed to preserve it?! NEVER!”

Luna’s ears and tail twitched irritably but she managed to maintained her composure.

“Sombra, please,” She said, obviously biting back her own indignation. “If there is any trace of the stallion I once knew in there, heed my words. Thou have become the very evil you and thine father swore to guard the crystal ponies against and have perverted the very ideals this empire was built on.”

“So, you and he were…” Grey left the question hanging, not wanting to imply something that might be false.

“Briefly.” A stone faced Luna replied neutrally.

“If not for the empire, then for thine own wellbeing.” The memory version of Luna continued. “Step down and let us guild thee back on the path of harmo-“

“DAMN YOUR HARMONY!” An enraged Sombra interrupted with a crack of lighting from his glowing horn. “This is MY empire! MY throne! MY realm! And damn it all to the Pits if I let that craven Celestia and her ruttish, rump-fed harpy of a sister take it from me!”

In a blind fury, Sombra unleashed a bolt of dark magic that screamed across the room and slammed into the stationary Princess with enough force to scatter the surrounding guards. Luna staggered back from the impact but remained on all fours, her head lowered and breathing heavily as the spell crackled across her armor.

“Sombra just signed his death warrant, didn't he?” The seasoned stallion asked.

“Keep watching.” Luna responded without emotion.

The throne room suddenly grew dark and cold as the armored Princess slowly raised her head. Her eyes were now slitted like a cat’s and glowed a malevolent teal. Her lips peeled back in a ghastly sneer to reveal carnivorous fangs.

“You dare attack Us?” Luna demanded her dark voice dripping with impending murder. "A Princess of Equestria?!"

“I take it this was the world’s first glimpse of Nightmare Moon, correct?” Grey asked without taking his eyes off the emergent evil entity.

“Oh, you know about that.” Luna wilted slightly. ”I am sorry you have to see me like this.”

Where everypony else wisely took a few steps back from the nightmarish sight, Sombra was not so keen to back down from the night’s furious guardian despite all logic dictating that he should.

“I do and thou can suck it-“ His attempt at bravado was cut short.

“HOLD THINE TONGUE, CHURL!” The Alicorn shouted with enough force to send tremors through the floor and deafen all those in the room.

“It has become clear to Us that no amount of diplomacy or politicking will get through your thick skull!” She continued at a less tinnitus causing but still booming volume. “All that remains is for you to watch as We send you and this wretched hive of corruption you dare call a city into oblivion!”

A look of sheer terror crossed Sombra’s features as the dark mistress of the night finished her ultimatum.

“Kill her!” He ordered more out of desperation than anything. “Kill her now!”

Compelled by their oaths of loyalty, the Crystal Guards in the room surrounded the Princess. It was a pointless effort and both of them knew it.

“Stand back you foals!” The livid Luna shouted with a powerful flap of her wings that lifted her off the ground and knocked the hapless guards flat.

The Princess’s horn ignited and after being enveloped in shadows, she vanished from the throne room. In the silence that followed, one of the guards looked to his king.

“Sir?” He asked. “Orders?”

Sombra stared off into space, mumbling beneath his breath as if some great mystery had been revealed to him. Only Mica was close enough to hear him.

“She was right.” The doomed tyrant babbled. “The Lady of the Stars was right. How could I have been so blind?”

“Lady of the Stars?” Grey perked up at the mention the familiar title. “Could it be?”

“Sir!” The guard said louder, bringing Sombra out of his stupor and preventing Grey from asking any questions. “What do we do?”

“Lockdown the city.” Sombra said quickly. “Send out a notice to all providence that we are under siege and bring the Crystal Heart to the shrine atop the donjon.”

The guard bowed and galloped off to do his master’s bidding. Sombra back down on the book he had been reading.

“How did I miss the signs?” He asked himself. "It was her. It was always her."

He stashed the tome beneath his royal cloak and galloped out of the room. After a few minutes, Mica approached her fellow slave who was curled up in a ball and shaking violently in fear. She gently wrapped her hooves around her and whispered for the first time since the memory began.

“Don’t worry. I'm here.” She comforted the trembling mare.

Shouts echoed from outside the palace as the sky grew dark and ominous as if a storm was approaching. There was a loud explosion followed by what sounded like Sombra screaming. The ground then began to shake violently. Mica glanced out a window to see massive fissures opening up in the ice fields surrounding the crystal city.

“I’m scared.” The shivering mare whimpered.

“Me too.” Mica whispered back.

The two hugged each other close as violent tremors shook the very foundations of the palace. The earth split apart like a giant maw as the capital of the Crystal Empire sank beneath the surface, taking all those within with it. Guilty, innocent, honest and deceitful, none were spared. The city disappeared into the dark depths of the world and with a cacophonous crash, the earth closed like a set of jaws over the ancient city, leaving no trace that it ever existed.

The memory ended, leaving the Lurker and Luna back in the recesses of his mind.

---

Not a word was spoken between the two immortals. Grey stroked his beard as he processed the new information while Luna maintained her upright posture. She knew that her enigmatic companion would learn of her darker side sooner or later and was worried that his witnessing it along with the fate of the Crystal Empire would drive him away. After all, it did provide evidence to his earlier assertion that Equestria’s rulers were zealous despots that disposed of those who did not adhere to their standards, even if those were the likes of Sombra. As she waited for the monochromatic stallion to say something, she prepped herself for a debate.

“You condemned an entire city because of one tyrant?” He asked after an uncomfortable period of silence.

The navy Alicorn flattened her ears against her head. Grey’s continued maintenance of a neutral expression confounded her efforts to read his stance on her actions. His tone was not disgusted or accusatory, just curious. It gave her some relief that he had not immediately decried her as a monster but it did make her wonder what type of stallion could witness a tragedy like the fall of the empire and remain nonplussed. Perhaps the decline of his own ruling family had numbed him to such events.

“I know it looks and sounds bad.” She said carefully. “But I assure you, my sister and I are not to blame for the empire’s collapse. Not completely.”

“Well, let’s hear it then.” Grey said whilst gesturing for her to continue.

“Sombra was conducting some sort of channeling spell with the Crystal Heart when my sister and I confronted him.” Luna explained. “When we cast the banishment spell on him, it spread to the Heart through his magic which in turn affected the entire city.”

“So it was an accident?” Grey asked. “That whole ‘into oblivion’ speech was just spoken out of anger?”

“Yes.” Luna confirmed. “I had calmed down by the time I had rendezvous with Celestia. I had no true desire to destroy the city, vile and corrupt though it may have been.”

The void exile nodded, accepting her explanation. Luna furrowed her brow. She was not sure how she felt with the thousand plus years of exile the crystal ponies had to endure being chalked up to something as trivial as an accident.

“Sombra mentioned ‘The Lady of the Stars’.” Grey said suddenly, switching subjects. “I've read that ‘the stars’ aided in your, or rather Nightmare Moon’s, escape. Conspiracy?”

“I think not.” Luna said with a shake of her head. “Sombra’s sanity at that point was questionable at best and I don’t recall anyone aiding in my-uh-Nightmare Moon’s escape.”

“Oh, really?” Grey cocked his head to the side and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

Luna sucked on her teeth as she reconsidered her answer. She did not have the best recollection of the thousand years she spent stuck on a dead rock plotting how to annihilate her own sister and bring about Eternal Night other than the soul crushing loneliness. The former mare in the moon shuddered at the thought. It was worse than the barren void in the dream realm.

“Granted, I was not of sound mind at the time either.” She said slowly. “It is possible that the Nightmare received outside assistance."

"Could this Lady have been your mentor?" The pale horse connected the dots back to their previous topic. "Rather, Nightmare Moon's?"

"It seems that could have been so." Luna looked down at her hooves guiltily. "I am sorry. I wish I could say more but most of what I remember during that dark time was the anger, spite and jealousy."

Grey nodded, satisfied with her answer for now. It was not anything concrete but it seemed that the late tyrant, former usurper and himself had a mutual friend. He filed this gold nugget of information away for later and turned his attention back to Luna.

“One more question.” He said. “How did the Crystal Empire return from the depths of the earth? That looked rather permanent.”

“Banishment spells require maintenance from those who cast it.” Luna said knowingly, relieved that the conversation was moving away from her period of lunacy. “In time, without renewal, they will fail and the imprisoned can escape.”

Grey frowned. He may have not been as well versed in magic as the Alicorn but there was something about her explanation that sounded a little too simple.

“I can see that being the case for an individual or even a small group but Sombra returned along with the city and its populace.” He said. “You said that once the spell expires, the imprisoned has the opportunity to escape, correct? The banished just don't automatically reappear?”

Luna tapped a hoof on her chin as what the stallion was saying began to sink in. She had to admit that she was impressed by the earth pony’s understanding of magic. Then again, she had learned not to take the grounded equines simplicity and straight forwardness for stupidity. Their cleverness could be surprising.

"That is how they work in my experiance, yes." Luna nodded.

“Sombra obviously possessed above average magical ability…” Grey continued on his line of reasoning. “…but could he bring back an entire city, ponies and all, intact?”

The Lunar Alicorn had to think about that one. Most unicorns focused on one or two schools of magic or, in Sparkle’s case, all but the lost and forbidden ones to supplement their natural abilities. Sombra had favored mental domination and a crystalline form of geokinesis. Could he return an entire city to the surface with just that?

“It is possible.” Luna answered. “It would have been quite a feat for him.”

The pale pony trotted over to the last of Mica’s memories before the city’s return.

“Perhaps Mica knows.” He said as he activated the memoire. “She seemed to have been one of his favored whores, excuse me, slaves.”

While Grey had his back to her, Luna studied the strange stallion like he was a puzzle. He had witnessed the tragic fall of the empire and had not so much as blinked. He had also seen a glimpse of her at her worse and showed as much interest as one would in the weather. That either meant that he was a sociopath of the highest order or was truely desensitize him to such matters. She decided the best way to find out was to ask.

“Grey?” She said as she trotted up beside him. “Forgive me for saying so, but you did not seem too fazed by an entire city being swallowed by the earth.”

“I've seen worse.” He said casually with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Oh?” Luna inquired with a cock of her head.

Deciding that showing would be easier than telling, the hidden Lord of Shades tapped the ground with his two pronged staff and a small collection of his own memories surrounded the night Princess. Luna felt the fur on the back of her neck stand on end as she beheld a fresh hell of monsters and cataclysms. Titanic constructs of iron and fire obliterated entire cities as they battled monstrous golems of magic and ice that turned everything around them into a frozen wasteland. A horde of spectral equines descended upon a group of soldiers and eviscerated them without any trace pity or remorse. Multi-limbed abominations tall enough to scrape the sky uprooted entire mountains and hurled them at each other. A gleaming city was buried under a wave of pyroclastic ash, petrifying the residents instantly in a snapshot of their last moment alive. Another city was swallowed by an abyssal maelstrom, sending all those within into the depths of the ocean.

“By the Moon and Stars!” Luna exclaimed.

“Indeed.” Grey concurred flatly as his memories vanished back into the vaults of his mind.

“Were such calamities common?” The navy mare asked wide eyed.

“More often than not.” The dark horse said as he finally got the memory focused and ready for viewing. “Fortunately, brave heroes and heroines rose to challenge these dire perils and most were up to the mark…much like your Element Bearers, now that I think about it.”

“I shudder to think what this world would be like without such noble souls.” Luna sighed in relief as she rejoined Grey before the memory.

Grey bit his lower lip to stop himself from contradicting Luna. In his experience, heroes rarely stayed noble. Some let the spoils of their victories go to their head and became the next set of monsters that new heroes would have to face off against. Others eventually became broken, hollow husks of their former selves, alone and begging for death to release them from their tragic existence. Regardless of which, they all eventually served the Lord of Shades. This vicious cycle seemed to have finally been broken with the rise of Equestria but the Lurker was not willing to bet on it just yet. For all their high ideals of harmony and newfound reliance on magic, they were still only mortals.

The memory started in earnest and Grey and Luna were transported back to the beleaguered Crystal Empire. They were about to witness just what a land without heroes was like.

---

The throne room of the Crystal Empire had seen better days. The once pristine crystal walls were cracked and chunks of the ceiling lay scattered across the floor. The drapes were torn and dirty. The throne Mica was still chained to look like it had not been refurbished in a thousand years. The few Crystal Guards in the room were missing bits of their armor and all of them appeared to be wounded in some way. Without a helmet, one of them looked familiar.

“Isn’t that Carbon Copy?” Grey pointed out the guard in question as he wiped his brow in the surprisingly sweltering heat.

“You’re right!” Luna exclaimed, shocked that one of the Prince-Regent’s finest once served Sombra. “I suppose when one’s memory is blocked, you forget your employment history.”

"I don't anyone would mention that they once worked for a slaver." The pale stallion quipped.

Just then, the late captain’s employer barged into the room with a pair of slaves struggling to carry a large cart of books behind them. The slaver looked worse than his throne room. His regalia was stained and tattered and his normally manic eyes were sunken and dark like he had not had a full night’s sleep in centuries. One of the slaves tripped over a piece of rubble and toppled the cart, sending books and tomes bearing strange symbols and eldritch designs across the floor.

“Ah, so the Black Library does exist.” Grey unknowingly mused aloud.

“The what?” Luna asked.

“Oh, uh…” The Lurker had to think fast. “I read that Sombra kept a collection of forbidden knowledge somewhere in the empire; some of which dated back to the Dark Ages.”

“Ah, yes. That doesn't surprise me.” Luna nodded. “His family line was always interested in the mythical and occult."

“Be careful with those you clumsy clod!” Sombra barked at the unfortunate slave as he retrieved the ancient tomes and put them back in the cart. “These are worth more than your life!”

The slave murmured an apology and went back to carrying the load.

“Set them down there.” The slaver commanded before turning to Mica. “You, open those curtains. Let some light in.”

"Yes, master." The crystal mare murmured as she trotted to one of the large covered windows.

“I see a millennium of banishment has taken it's toll on him.” Luna said with a slight smile, taking a bit of sadistic joy in seeing the hated tyrant in his decrepit state.

“It usually does.” The void escapee said knowingly. “Though it makes me wonder: if you hated him so much, why didn't you kill him?"

“I…” The Princess of the Night trailed off.

Why had she not slain Sombra? He had struck her first and thus she would have been justified. It would have also spared the empire a thousand years of exile and put the Amore family back in power much sooner. Yet, why did she not?

"...I am not sure. Luna answered hesitantly. "Maybe I thought death was too good for him."

"Death is never too good for your enemies." Grey said critically. "Trust me. It will spare you future headaches."

As the Princess mulled over this, Mica bit down on the rough fabric of the curtain and pulled. Outside the window was the Crystal Empire, gutted and in ruins. Wretched ponies milled about the ramshackle shacks that acted as shelters as their ever vigilant task masters watched over them from guard towers and fortifications. In the distance, the city just seemed to end, like the rest of the land had dropped away and what was left now floated above some alien world. Beyond the edge, Mica could just barely see the tops of infernal black stone towers reaching into the air like claws and massive volcanoes that spewed fire and ash into the burning blood red sky along with winged horrors that would occasionally swoop down and attack the ponies unlucky enough to be in the streets. The ash rained back down on them in a cruel parody of the snow they were used to. There was only one place they could be and both the pale and navy ponies knew it well.

“Tartarus!?” They exclaimed in unison.

---

Grey paused the memory and look at Luna. His normally neutral expression was replaced with an accusatory glare. He was clearly not pleased with these developments.

“Looks like the empire made it into oblivion after all.” He said dryly.

“Impossible!” Luna insisted. “The city was sealed away beneath the ice!”

“How deep?” Grey countered. “Deep enough to hit Hell by the looks of it.”

The Alicorn faltered. Had she and Celestia really condemned an entire city to the absolute worst place imaginable? Neither sister used banishment to Tartarus lightly. Only the absolute worse like Tirek were sent there. As bad as Sombra was, the Royal Sisters had agreed to simply seal him beneath the ice; to be forever frozen in time never to stain the north with his evil again. It was only through his actions that the city shared his fate. The look she was getting from Grey told her that he though she had deceived him and that she had better explain herself. The evidence was quite damning, to say the least.

“Grey, I swear on my life that I did not send the Crystal City to Tartarus.” She swore while placing a hoof over her heart.

“What of Celestia?” Grey asked, relenting just slightly. “She exiled her own flesh and blood to the moon, why not an enemy city to Perdition?”

“She would never do such a thing!” Luna defended her sister. “I know her. She does not damn entire populations for the actions of a few.”

“Of course.” The robed stallion rolled his unreflective eyes. “I forgot she prefers petrifying her enemies and putting them on display.”

Luna readied a comeback but it died on her lips. Celestia did keep a rather large collection of statues. Not all of them were stoned foes of Equestria but a fair number of them were. Regardless, the Solar Alicorn did not condemn creatures to the Infernal Prison without care. In the thousands of years they had known each other, they had only sent two complete monsters to Tartarus: Tirek and Corona.

“Perhaps.” The starry maned Princess admitted. “But the fact of the matter is that we did not send this city into oblivion.”

The two locked stares, certainty meeting skepticism. In time, Grey’s expression softened.

“Apologies, Princess Luna.” He said respectfully. “I'm in the wrong.”

“Not out of ignorance.” The Lunar Alicorn said with a thankful nod. “The evidence is rather stacked against us."

“Hmm.” The disguised Lurker stroked his beard as a new theory formed in his head. “If not you or Celestia, then perhaps Nightmare Moon is to blame.”

A curious look from the former usurper herself told him to clarify.

“Could it be possible she altered the nature of your banishment spell subconsciously?" He suggested. "After all, it was she that threatened oblivion on Sombra more so than you.”

Luna scrunched up her nose. She liked to think that she did not lose control of herself until the onset of the Lunar Rebellion but the more she thought of it, the more likely it seemed that her darker half had been working behind the scenes to corrupt her and send Equestria into an abyss of fear and darkness before she even revealed herself to the world. She hated to admit it, but Grey’s theory held water.

“It’s possible.” She said through clenched teeth.

Grey fought the urge to smile. If the Lady of the Stars truly was pulling strings to plunge the world into misery and despair, he would not put it past her to eliminate one puppet with another once the former had served his purpose. An Alicorn was a step up from a unicorn after all. He decided to keep this revelation to himself. No need to out one of his oldest allies just yet.

“Well, pointing hooves won't change the past.” He said, retaking his seat. “How about we see just how Sombra and company escaped from The Pits?”

“Do let’s.” Luna agreed, relived that they had finally moved past the blame game.

---

Casting one last fearful glance at the hellscape outside, Mica returned to her position beside the throne while Sombra read through the collection of texts; searching for something while mumbling under his breath.

“No…lies…I don’t have seven dragon balls…no…no…” The tyrant grumbled in ill-temper.

A knock on the now reinforced doors interrupted the slaver's reading. He growled in impotent rage and shot a murderous glare at the doors.

“What!?” He shouted.

The same Crystal Guard that had announced Luna's arrival slowly poked his head in. Like the rest of his cohorts, he was wore and beaten. Uniquely, he had lost an eye in the interim. Sombra let out an exasperated groan.

“Diamond Cutter, I swear every time you appear, my life gets worse!” He lamented.

“Sorry, sir.” The cycloptic pony said sheepishly. “The centaur is here to see you, again.”

“Oh, fuck me.” Sombra groaned as he buried his face in his hooves.

“I’d rather not.” A dry, malevolent voice said.

A hunched figure wrapped in a ragged cloak pushed his way past the guard and into the room. The poor infernal lighting hid his features but Grey was able to make out an unkempt silver beard and glowing yellow eyes. His hermit-like appearance did little to conceal the aura of malevolence emanating from him.

“Tirek.” Luna sneered in recognition of the figure before she explained for her companion. "A centaur warlock that has threatened Equestria twice over."

“What the blazes do you want?” Sombra asked testily as the few guards with weapons focused their attention on the hooded visitor.

“As much as I loathe your company, Crystal King, an opportunity has arisen that I think will benefit the both of us.” The haggard centaur said as cordially as he could muster.

Sombra rolled his eyes and blew air past his teeth.

“Oh, I’m giddy with anticipation.” He said sarcastically.

“You should be.” The slaver’s visitor said, an edge coming into his voice. “The hell-hound, Cerberus, has abandoned his post.”

Both Sombra and Grey leaned in, giving their full attention to what the hermit had to say.

“It has?” Sombra asked in disbelief. “What, did it smell a bitch in heat or something?”

“Someone may have hopped the gate but that’s beside the point.” The centaur said with a dismissive wave and his bony hands. “The point is that if we are to escape this place, now’s the time.”

Sombra’s malignant eyes brightened hopefully but then went back to their dark state as he realized something.

“Bah! Even without that three-headed dog, we would still need to get past the Brass Gates.” The tyrant said as he slouched magnificently in his throne. “Not to mention the minions of the Silent King.”

“Silent King?” Grey asked Luna, hoping to gain some info on the enigmatic figure.

“Some type of death god venerated before the formation of Equestria.” The Lunar Princess said with a slight shiver. “I encountered one of his cults in the past. While they were trying to sacrifice me, they claimed he was the head of an entire pantheon of dark gods that ruled over the Land of the Dead. Thank the Stars those religions died out.”

Grey nodded in understanding. If what Luna was telling him was true, then either he gained a following after his exile or someone had risen to take his place. He hoped it the former.

“Perhaps this would help.” The yellow-eyed centaur said as he reached inside his cloak and withdrew a small book bound in skin and sinew. “A token from my trip to the Sixth Hell.”

“Fool.” Grey commented as Sombra gestured for Mica to retrieve the ghastly tome. “Never trust a heretic.”

This earned a curious glace from Luna. It was the pale stallion’s turn to explain something.

“The Sixth Hell is full of those who corrupt the truth or try to go against what is held as truth for selfish gains.” He said quickly.

“And you learned that how?” Luna asked, surprise by the earth pony’s claim that Tartarus was ordered in some way.

“Books.” Grey said like it was the most obvious answer in the world which was luckily enough to satisfy the navy Alicorn.

Mica tried to ignore the bloody taste of the book and the look the creepy centaur gave her as she trotted back to her master. Sombra jerked the tome roughly out of her mouth and flipped through a couple of pages.

“Pentagrams…virgin blood…Alicorn milk…grounded draconequus horn… witching hour… these are rituals.” He said, looking back up at the warlock.

“I bookmarked one in the middle that is of particular interest.” The sinister figure said candidly.

Sombra found the dog-eared page and scanned over the nature of the ritual it marked. His mouth fell open.

“Egress.” He whispered. “This can get us out of here.”

“Precisely.” The hunched creature clapped his hands together as if to celebrate Sombra connecting the dots. “With Cerberus distracted, you can complete the ritual and send us back to the surface without that mutt or his master interfering.”

“No.” Sombra said firmly as he snapped the book shut.

The centaur’s air of civility slipped. The air around him crackled with angry red energy at Sombra’s rejection.

“What do you mean ‘no’?” The hermit asked, voice trembling with barely restrained outrage.

“Your plan would only work for the two of us; small scale.” Sombra explained as his own voice grew rough with fury. “I’ve literally been through Hell to get this empire. I’m NOT leaving it behind. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!”

The two villains stared each other down, the tension in the air becoming palpable. Ultimately, the centaur relented, not wishing to alienate his one chance at escaping the Inferno.

“You ponies and your sense of duty.” He grumbled beneath his breath.

“That was quite...noble of Sombra.” Luna said, honestly impressed with the fortitude of the slave driving king.

“A king without a kingdom is hardly a king at all.” The Lord of Shades chimed in.

“How then do you propose we escape along with an entire city?” The half-horse asked as he crossed his thin arms.

Sombra did not answer immediately. Instead, he compared the ritual of egress to some of the things found in his collection of tomes. After a few minutes of study, Sombra’s witch-fire eyes lit up in excitement. He had found a solution.

“The power of Tartarus is what’s keeping us here, yes?” He asked, taking a chance to get back at the hermit for stringing him along with the book.

“As I’m well aware of.” The silver bearded fiend said with an irritated huff.

“Obviously we can’t break that power; it predates both the Moon and the Sun.” Sombra continued, his excitement growing. “But if I'm right, we can weaken it.”

“And how do we do that, slave king?” The centaur uncrossed his arms stroked his beard, interested.

“Simple.” The tyrant jumped off his throne and galloped over to a window and pointed to something outside. “We destroy the Brass Gates.”

“He’s lost his mind!” Luna declared. “Breaching the Gates of Tartarus would doom the entire globe!”

“I don’t think he cares.” Grey said in a cool and collected tone.

“Rather, you destroy the gates.” The increasingly excited Sombra said as he turned to the cloaked centaur. “Do you think you are up to the task?”

The hermit studied the imposing architecture just barely visible from the palace of the floating city. It was a fortress in on itself meant to contain the whole of Tartarus. However, unlike the metaphysical power that kept the wicked shades of the mortal dead in line, the gates were of brass, stone, and iron; a tangible target. They could be destroyed but it would take a lot of power to do so. Power he was not sure he had.

“If I had an Alicorn or two to drain first, I could.” He admitted.

Sombra deflated somewhat but quickly bounced back with a truly insidious idea.

“Would a city’s worth of unicorns suffice?” He offered.

Luna’s jaw hit the floor. She could not believe what she had just heard.

“You really should have killed him.” Grey said flatly.

“It might but the unicorns won’t survive the trip if I drain them.” The yellow-eyed monster said.

“I can make do without them.” The fiendish king waved off his concerns and stepped away from the window.

The centaur gave one last look at the gates before trotting away. Sombra mulled over a few more details before addressing the familiar Crystal Guard.

“Captain Copy?” He ordered. “Get whatever guards you have left and round up every unicorn left in the city. Stallion, mare, filly, colt, guard, or slave. I don’t care. Bring them all to the south promontory.”

“Uh…all of them, sir?” The late captain hesitated for a moment.

“ALL! OF! THEM!” The Crystal King shouted with enough force to rattle the window frames.

The hapless captain saluted repeatedly and motioned for some of his fellow guards to follow him out the door. Once they were gone, Sombra returned his attention to the centaur.

“You should have a clear shot from the south.” He said. “Do us a favor: don’t miss.”

“I won’t.” The hooded one said resolutely. “Do us a favor: don’t screw up the ritual.”

Sombra smiled for the first time since the memory began. It was his characteristic oily politician’s grin.

“Have no fear, my friend.” He said while giving the hermit a friendly pat on the back. “In but a few short minutes, we’ll be back on the surface.”

“I can hardly wait.” The centaur's anticipation was palpable.

The warlock exited the throne room and made his way to the bluff overlooking the Brass Gates. Sombra looked through the book he had given him a few times before he turned around and pointed to Mica and a pair of other slaves.

“You three, come with me.” He ordered with a spark of magic that severed their chains.

The quartet of ponies moved swiftly through the palace. All around them, guards and non-unicorn slaves dragged their magical brethren out of their rooms and garrisons and slapped magic inhibitors on them. Those who fought back were soundly beaten and hog tied to their more subdued ilk. In time, a long line of unicorns formed and was quickly marched out of the palace and into the city. It was clearly a death march and they knew it.

“That explains what happened to the crystal unicorns.” Grey said evenly, solving Mica’s lifelong riddle for her.

Luna remained silent, her face a maelstrom of abject horror and righteous fury as the scene played out before her. She did not know what was worse: the genocide of the crystal unicorns or the complacency show by their fellow equines. It made her stomach churn.

The slaves and their master reached the highest point on the floating island containing the shrine of the Crystal Heart. The ancient artifact glowed with a soft light in contrast to the burning sky around them. Sombra positioned the slaves at three points, like a triangle, as he began etching the complicated runes and glyphs needed to perform the ritual from the flesh bound book. While he was distracted, Mica peeked over the edge of the tower and saw far below the fate of the condemned unicorns. Like lambs to slaughter, they were presented to the centaur who would then seize them by the throat, flick off the magic inhibitor with a thumb like a bottle cap, drain them dry and toss the enfeebled unicorn over his shoulder. With each unicorn drained, the beast grew in size and strength. The hunched and withered hermit transformed into a truly herculean titan of might and magic. By the time the last unicorn was drained, the big red centaur towered over most of the buildings in the city and a miniature sun burned with raw power between his massive black horns.

“I think I could take him.” The abyssal horror quipped half-jokingly.

"This is no laughing matter, Grey." Luna criticized.

A wet gurgling sound brought Mica’s attention away from the colossal centaur and back to Sombra’s ritual. The tyrant had completed the inscriptions and was now performing the proper rites for their escape. With all the gentleness of a caress, Sombra drew a conjured magical blade across the throat of one of the slaves. He chanted in hushed tones as the precious life blood flowed from the unfortunate pony onto the intricate carvings. The slave fell forward, clutching at his slit throat as infernal storm clouds began to swirl around the pinnacle of the tower as heretical magic coursed through the ritual site.

“Blood of the Servile…” The tyrant intoned.

The king moved with uncertainty in his eyes to the next pony. It was clear he only had a tenuous grasp of what he was doing but that was not stopping him; too much was at stake. After double checking the book, he charged up his horn and blasted the slave with a mean looking fireball. The poor soul was immolated immediately. His fur and mane burned away in an instant. His skin charred and the fatty flesh underneath cooked off like meat in a furnace. His screaming only stopped once bone was exposed and the wretch collapsed into a heap of ashes. Sombra scattered the remains over the bloodied runes where they began to glow an ominous red.

“Ashes of the Weak…” Sombra continued shakily.

He turned his attention on Mica. He read over the next part of the ritual and scrunched up his nose. He reread it a few more times before sighing and focusing on the mare. His crimson horn flashed again and a stream of magic slithered toward her like a serpent. The caustic green tendril split into two and coiled around her until she was completely enveloped. A moment later, Mica's vision blurred as indescribable agony wracked her body.

“What mad monster created this ritual?” Luna asked rhetorically as she cringed in her seat.

Mica's screams reached a pitch inaudible to mortal ears as she collapsed in spasms. Tears flowed freely as she futile fought against the tortuous coils. Sombra gathered the little drops and sprinkled them over the sigils, earning another flash of power.

“Tears of the Wretch…” The Crystal King muttered as he mercifully cut the spell tormenting Mica.

Sombra looked over his work one last time before trotting over to the edge and shooting a small flare into the sky, signaling the centaur that he was ready. Struggling to her hooves, Mica was just able to see the massive monster face the distant gates and charge up his magic. Black lightning crackled around him as the orb of power between his horns began sending off miniature flares as power built within. With a mighty roar, the titan unleashed his power in the form of a fiery beam. The lance of stolen power screamed across the hellscape and burrowed into the Brass Gates. Maintaining a steady charge, the centaur fed more magic into his attack as the beam drilled into the center of the fortification. Brass melted, stone cracked, and tremors shook the walls until finally, after a brief moment of soundless tension, the Gates of Tartarus exploded. Bits of the ancient doors flew in all directions. Sombra had to duck a chunk of marble that nearly decapitated him. Far below, the centaur celebrated his monumental victory.

“I DID IT! I am the mightiest sorcerer in the world!” He roared, his power high overriding any trace of his more subdued self. “I am the STRONGEST! Suck it Scorpan, you horse-fucker!”

Sombra nodded approvingly at the ruined entrance before focusing his attention on the Crystal Heart. As the vile mixture of blood, ash, and tears drained into the runes, the sorcerer king channeled the proper spell into the Heart. The crystal turned the same sickening red-green as his eyes and shot a beam of magic straight up into the ash choked air. The shaft of light reached an apex and began spreading out, creating a shimmering transparent sphere around the floating city.

“Will of the Emperor…” Sombra invoked the title he had yet to claim.

At this point, bolts of infernal lightning began striking down on and around the city, as if some unseen deity did not want them to leave. The glowing runes suddenly ignited and added their power to the heart. The blasted hellscape outside the city began to warp and blur as the ritual reached its climax.

“Take us home.” The tyrant finished.

The sphere lurched forward toward the ruined gates but was held fast. The fiery sky was eclipsed by an absolutely massive hand wrapping around the sphere as if it were a mere ball. A second palm came up from below and did the same. The magical ball groaned and cracked as it was crushed beneath the gargantuan hands. Sombra visibly paled as hundreds of angry crimson eyes appeared before the city and scores of voices roared at once in the ear-bleeding Black Tongue of Tartarus.

“Hekatonkheires.” Luna and Grey said in unison as they, along with Sombra, beheld one of the most powerful creatures of the Pits.

Two more mammoth hands clapped around the bubble. With it being compressed on four sides, it would not be long before the shield failed and the entire city was ground to crystalline dust by the behemoth. Sombra looked around frantically, looking for a solution to this latest dilemma. The Crystal Heart was not strong enough to break free of the hundred-handed giant; it needed more power. The slaver looked at the colossal centaur still within his city. He had braced himself between two buildings to ride out the trip and was now looking at the hands slowly but surely closing in. He was the equivalent of the broad side of a barn and a sitting duck.

“I appreciate your assistance, my friend.” The tyrant said with a wide wicked smile. “But your usefulness is at an end.”

Sombra’s horn glowed and a black beam of magic shot from it to the heart. The crystal magnified the spell and sent it screaming toward the centaur. The warlock looked over his wide shoulders just in time to catch the full blast of Sombra’s treachery in the back. He howled in pain as he was lifted into the air, black cracks of lightning dancing across him as the heart withdrew the combined power of the crystal unicorns. He shrank down back to his withered and pitiful state. Once he was a hermit again, the spell surged and drove the fiend along the ground. He skidded across the cracked streets and went of the promontory and would have fallen straight off had he not enough strength left to catch the edge. The centaur held on by one arm, his hooves dangling in the open air with the unforgiving ground far below.

“You’re just digging yourself deeper, Sombra.” Grey said as he shook his head in disappointment.

Imbued with new power, the Crystal Heart unleashed a pulse of energy that wracked the hands of the Hekatonkheires, forcing them to pull back with an angry roar. Freed from the monster’s grip, the shielded city resumed its journey toward the blasted gates. The infernal skyline of Tartarus morphed into a confusing amalgamation of images as the city finally cleared the border of the Inferno and into the unknown darkness beyond. They had done it; they had escaped Hell itself.

“YES!” Sombra cheered wildly. “FREE AT LAST!”

“Don’t celebrate just yet, you bastard.” Luna sneered. "I know how this story ends."

The Princess of the Night's prediction proved correct. As the city traveled through the unknown back to the surface, the Crystal Heart burst into pure white flame, burning away the influence of the tyrant with the collective souls of the sacrificed unicorns. Sombra’s joy turned to dread. The Heart was purifying itself and, by extension, the city of his taint. The relic sent out a radiant pulse of light across the scarred city, causing the obsidian structures to metamorphose into the pristine architecture of the present day empire. The pulse reached the end of the island where the centaur had managed to pull himself over the edge. It caught him just as he got his fore hooves on solid ground and sent him screaming back over the edge and outside the sphere just as the dark underground gave way to lush forest. The cloaked fiend fell through the sphere and disappeared from sight.

“So that’s how he got out.” Luna muttered to herself, much to Grey's curiosity.

With his empire slipping from his control, Sombra rounded on the blazing heart and began casting every spell he knew of in a futile attempt to reverse its effects and rein it back under his control. In the mayhem of magic, the vestiges of the memory block crept into the sides of Mica’s vision. It was at this point that Sombra must have cast the spell that robbed them of their memories in some last minute attempt to cobble together some form of a contingency plan to retain control over the crystal ponies. Desperation overriding whatever sanity he had left, Sombra shot a beam of dark magic directly at the heart of the empire. To his surprise, as the beam connected, white heart-fire surged down beam back at him.

“What?!” Sombra screamed as the flames reached his horn. "NO!!"

The slave driving king was immolated before he could even blink. His entire body, from his fur to his flesh to his bones, burned away until he was but a cloud of jet black smoke. As a coup-de-grace, the ancient artifact blasted the now disembodied tyrant screaming across the city and into the maelstrom outside the protective bubble. He past beyond the barrier just as the city entered the Frozen North. With one last thunderous crash and blinding flash of light, it was over.

Mica, having recovered from the torture she had been subjugated to, slowly peaked out from her vantage above the city. Gone were the dilapidated shacks, guard towers, and black armored Crystal Guards. In their place stood beautiful houses, places of business, and a lot of confused crystal ponies. There was no trace of the tyrant or his machinations. The young mare innocently trotted past the Crystal Heart as it went dormant, it power spent, and fell into the intricate traps Sombra had created decades before. A gentle snow began to fall on the city as its citizens entered a brave new world free from bondage and hellfire.

The memory ended.

“I don’t know about you but I think that’s enough for one night.” The Lurker said to his blue-eyed companion.

With a double tap of his two-pronged staff, they left his host’s memories and returned to the calmer climes of his dreams.

Next Chapter: The Heart of the Matter Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 31 Minutes