Crystalline

by Ice Star

Chapters

• Prologue
• Chapter: 1 Miss Me?
• Chapter 2: Tyrants Make Fashionable Necklaces
• Chapter 3: Snarky Necklaces Go Out Of Style
• Chapter 4: Where is Twilight When You Need Her?
• Chapter 5: Happily Never After
• Chapter 6: A Blast Into Farreach Past
• Chapter 7: Explosions and Invisible Demons
• Chapter 8: As Charming As A Toad
• Chapter 9: Into the Arctic
• Chapter 10: Blizzard Surfing
• Chapter 11: Heart's Desire Leads The Way
• Chapter 12: The Lost Lord-dom
• Chapter 13: Secrets That Slay
• Chapter 14: The Crystal Empress
• Chapter 15: A Friend In The Dark
• Epilogue

Prologue

   The breeze lifted her higher and higher, becoming a wonderful thermal. Barely having to flap her purple tipped wings, she gazed at the sunset to the North.

The Empire was beautiful in the sunset, like a multicolored fantasy.

The pink alicorn soared higher as the thermal rose carrying her to Mt. Topazora, a western peak in the Gemheart Mountains. A small spark gleamed distinctively, drawing her gaze toward for its shimmer had caught her eye.

What was it?

Curious, she altered her course gliding toward the mountain. The quest had begun, even if she did not yet know.

Chapter: 1 Miss Me?

   The pleasant gust had abandoned me and I was left with no choice but to flap my wings. A few seconds earlier, I saw a strange glint over Mt. Topazora. Why? The topaz mines were abandoned due to hazardous conditions; so someone must be there. Or something. What were the possibilities? A stranded ewe? They couldn’t climb that high though. I sighed and kept course. It most likely wasn’t anything interesting. As I had told Twilight, the Crystal Empire was quite predictable. Something, I concluded almost wistfully, with a thud as my hooves skidded on rocks. Walking around, I saw the Unidentified Shimmering Object.

          It was anything but predictable. Or mundane. It was a crystal rose, and a very big one.

   The gigantic crystal rose, at least 20 feet tall, towered above me. It had a crimson blossom with a grey-green stem. Despite its size a mountain ledge cleverly concealed it. The closed bud seemed to be hollow upon inspection. I glanced inside. It almost appeared to have something in it…..

Blue aura danced to life on my horn. I wanted to know what was inside. The flower splintered out of existence; blown to smithereens with the spell. I moved my hoof away from my eyes.

   The flora’s contents floated down unscathed. It was nothing more than a dark crimson cloak. An old fashioned rather plain kind. A wizard's humble attire.  It wasn’t electrifying, thrilling, or even breathtaking. The opposite. Boring. Dull.

What a disappointment.

   Tears streamed down my face. How stupid of me, to think that I might do something interesting-memorable even. I flew back to the palace leaving the silly no-good time-wasting piece of junk to the wind’s mercy.

  Wake up, brush mane, don crown/necklace/shoes, and eat breakfast. Check, check, and check! Perhaps today might be better than last evening.

Just as I was heading out of the Royal Chamber's dining wing to begin the days duties just as a guard rushed over. With his helmet askew and two shoes missing, complete with his panting, Platinum Laurel looked downright ridiculous.

Then he spoke, still gasping. “You are needed immediately in the interrogating room.”

This was bad. We had never used that room yet. It was only meant to be used in certain kinds of emergencies. With no time to spare I teleported us to the correct hall.

No time for delays.

  The room was nothing special.Its exterior was flanked by three guards in a secure yet little used area of the palace. Inside there were four guards in a secure yet little used area of the palace. Inside there were four guards with a table and magic barriers glowing softly on the walls to prevent magical escape. A noise canceling spell blocked out all interior noises.

I entered coolly without revealing my angst. I gazed over at the table where two guards poised over my ‘guest’.

The two guards parted to reveal the interrogatee, face and body hidden with…

A deep crimson cloak.

The same one. I was sure.

Not letting my shock show, I dismissed the guards. “I’ll be fine.”

They nodded and left.

Clearing my throat, I aggressively addressed my guest. This was a sick prank at the very least.

“Take. The. Hood. Off.”

The figures hood was enveloped in magic aura. A familiar grey-red aura. But how was it familiar? I ran my head for a mental search of unicorns who might be visiting. It wasn’t Rarity. Discord maybe? Or anypony I knew…. My mind stopped dead.

It was somepony I knew.

Somepony it was a crime to forget.

Somepony who I never wanted to meet again.

Somepony who should be dead. Blown up even.

I swallowed nervously.

Why?

How?

The hood dropped and in a voice that to me was nothing but unnerving. The alarming voice the not-so-stranger said, in a voice dripping with sarcasm,

“Miss me?”

Chapter 2: Tyrants Make Fashionable Necklaces

  I resisted the urge to scream. It wouldn’t work for I could not disable the spell. I did the calm thing. The collected thing. The cool thing. Celestia help me. I looked him over. Collectedly.

   His eyes were their ‘normal color’; reddish crimson irises, normal, yet not normal for a pony. There was a distinct absence of dark magic eye smoke, and the scleræ were white. Again normal, yet not normal. The pupil was like that of a normal pony in both shape and color, black.

His mane and tail now bore a shaggy and unkempt look. The grotesque crown he formerly flaunted was gone and his voice was now no longer echoey nor evil, merely sarcastic. Same height but his build seemed to be less on the hulky-and-bulky side than before. Had it been an illusion? He still did look threatening though. Slightly underweight but still threatening.

   But how he had obtained the cloak was beyond me. It was not a King’s scarlet robes trimmed in white but a deep blood crimson hooded cloak meant for travel.It was the one I found earlier.

Cadance, get back on track! I snapped in my mind.

“You should be dead,” I finally mustered.

He rolled his eyes. “Life is full of disappointments.”

“You’re a disappointment.” I retorted.

He raised an eyebrow. “Then why were you staring at me that long?”

He did not just go there.

“Is that all you’ve got?” he replied coolly.

I tried a last resort one. “Your family must loathe you!”

He chuckled darkly. “Never met ‘em.”

I whimpered a little louder then I should have. He laughed in a maniacal way.

“I HATE YOU!” I spat through clenched teeth. His remarks were getting to me and that laugh was chilling.

This is not what I had in mind for ‘exciting’.

“I never would have guessed.” Still aloof.

I went red with anger.

“WHY ARE YOU IN MY CASTLE YOU MAGGOT?!”

His eye smoke flared into existence, his scleræ greened and his fangs poked their way into his mouth.A second later they vanished and he decided to speak, almost as if he didn’t care to slay me. Odd.

  “I will not die because part of my original curse is my lifeforce is tied to the Empire's. My curse was simple: if I was threatened or worse the empire would go with me and return with me, as long as it existed I WOULD so as long as it exists so do I in a temporary immortality for about another three months, unfortunately for you.” He smirked, I scowled.

“My brief period of absence was only so I could reform, by breaking the silly flower that was the bait you only secured my comeback.”

“I won’t let you re-enslave the Empire!” I asserted presuming that was his plan.

“That’s not why I’m here!”

“Then why are you?”

Sombra frowned and eyed the floor.

“Because we are the Empire’s only hopes.”

As confused and suspicious as I was I decided to hear him out. After making him promise not to harm the Empire, its allies, rulers, or citizens. His claim was brief but urgent – the Empire would be attacked and he knew how stop it.

“An old evil…needs to be fed. The only meal option for it is the Empire. I have an idea of what it might be but I am not completely sure. But either way not only will I be right and this will occur; mark my words: all my suspects, however unsure I am, have the power to destroy the Empire completely. It will be final and it will happen. We truly are the only options. I have calculated the odds we are the only two who have a good chance of success, for if the Empire is gone….it will take anypony within a few leagues with it. Also, me,I tied my lifeforce to the Empire and outwitted the Two Sisters.”

He paused for a moment.

“Where does Equestria keep its most important records currently?”

“Canterlot Archives…” I said, wondering where this was heading.

“First we will need gear… Then we will break into the Archives.”

“WHAT?!” I cried.

More eye rolls. “There is information within the Archives you need.”

“Wait, let me get this straight… Something in the Arctic threatens the Empire and we need to break into the Archives to get information.”

“Yes,” he replied, “but gear first.”

He drew his hood as we walked out to gather supplies.

I loathed this mysterious plan.

   In the armory which was conveniently empty we found some supplies for our journey. I don't know why but I found Sombra's…taste….odd. Out of all the splendid examples of Pre-Sombra craftsmanship he choose a barely adorned onyx bladed sword with a simple gold hilt and ruby pommel and cross-guard ends. He picked out them plainest brown saddle packs with unsightly (at least in my opinion) onyx fasteners. Then he picked out the most austere iron travelling shoes.

  I on the other hoof traveled more splendidly wearing durable gold shoes and a rosy pink cape with a lusterdust  fur trim and a heart shaped crystal clasp. I added some glossy tan saddle packs which bore a similar clasp. Next I picked out practical items such as freezeproof canteens and bed rolls (or simply anything Sombra forgot to put in his bags).

   Lastly came my weaponry which outshined Sombra's. My small gilded knife with a sea green hilt and pommel matching my cape's. My main weapon was my gorgeous bow, made out of rose quartz with sculpted heart ends and an enchanted gold string. Its arrows were of made of the same stone with deadly heart shaped heads and bore an enchantment of frosty blue fire that sprang to life on my horn whenever they were notched and fired.

  On the train I worked out how to sneak Sombra into Archives undetected. For the past hour or two I had been writing down plans as furiously as a tornado spins. Sombra was currently sitting and dismantling small portions of the train car wall and gazing at it like a fool. How in Equestria was I going to sneak this (currently) useless butt into the most guarded city in Main Equestria?

Plans 1-27 failed to show promise.

“I’m out of ideas!” I shrieked. Sombra snorted and looked up from the window no longer in awe at the concept of a train.

“So…can I give my plan if you’re done rampaging now?”

“Fine.” I snapped scowling.

He began, “If I turn into an äerint necklace I can use a telepathy spell to link my conscious to yours….”

I asked what äerint was, he ignored me and continued; “…I will guide you to the right resources and Archive materials, all we need to do is sneak in somehow…” he trailed off before quickly asking-

“Are the Archives in part of the Canterlot Castle you mentioned?”

“Yes…I think we should go with your plan, none of mine seemed very good.” I had hopefully. Sombra ignored the unintentional praise and a troubled look emerged in his eyes.

“You afraid of Celestia?” I inquired, partly teasing.

“No, Princess….?” He asked voice trailing off once more.

“Oh! You don’t even know my name! How silly of me, I’m Princess Mi Amore Cadenza; or just Cadance to some ponies.”

“Fine, Princess Amore it is.” He responded. “Now, let’s get to work on my brilliant plan.”

His smug expression was just obnoxious.

With a brief contemplating look and a swish of his horn he transformed into a black äerint necklace.

An almost reluctant glance worked its way onto my face as I fastened it around my neck (where normally my tasteful gold necklace resides) and glanced skeptically in the mirror.

This won’t do. I thought wondering how I could make the creepy and smoky crystals look better.

Poof.

A pearl necklace guise appeared over it.

I hate you. My cranky necklace said.

Feelings mutual. I telepathically chirped back.

Chapter 3: Snarky Necklaces Go Out Of Style

  After the train pulled into Canterlot Station, I decided to NOT turn Sombra in and follow along with this crazy plan. I hoped I was making the right choice. Surprisingly he gave no remark. Nopony had noticed the alicorn princess and the necklace (Sombra).  A dash of good luck. Wow. I hurried off to the Archives unnoticed.

What kind of resources will we need? I asked him.

Pre-Equestrian things, including a copy of Arcane Vision's Lore of Yore, Sombra stated.

Whaaat?

The necklace/tyrant gave a sigh inaudible to pony ears.

Arcane Vision was a unicorn scholar known for this find-a-tome spell and legendary accounts of Yore. He lived before Celestia…..

Celestia, what? I queried, surprisingly intrigued. I couldn’t wait to tell Shiny even something Twilight doesn’t know, and this old unicorn scholar would be it.

The necklace gulped a bit nervously as I walked to the archive wing of the castle. Maybe he was worried about guards?

Before…she banished me…Arcane Vision lived before Celestia banished me.

Don’t forget about Princess Luna! I added. She was there too.

He was silent for a moment before replying.

Believe me, he began, I never forget about Luna.

You must really hate her. I mused.

Quickly he added, You misinterpret things. I hate Celestia for more than one reason, whereas I barely know anything about Luna.

Oh…I thought since she helped banish you…never mind.

I pondered this a moment.

But just how old are you then?

Really? He asked, oozing sarcasm mixed with surprise.

Yes.

Another annoyed sigh. Counting my banishment?

Again, yes.

Okay….then I’m 1,123.

Since you seem to know them, could you explain how Celestia and Luna’s aging work?

What is this, an interrogation?!

I giggled softly.

Ugh. Fine.

Come on, tell me!

   Alright, alright, Celestia is literally around 3,437 or so and Luna is anywhere from 300-500 years younger. Celestia would have been about a 3 year old equivalent when Luna was born. True Alicorns age slowly and after they are 18 or older they will stop aging physically and time-wise for eternity and settle down at what I call an ‘equivalent’, which is their eternal age equivalent to a normal pony. They also will never grow any bigger after 18 although maturity and intelligence are a different story. In your case, mortal alicorns never make it past 1,100.

I was astounded. What are Celestia and Luna's ‘equivalents’? How do you know this?

This proves my point, you are interrogating me. No more questions from here until later. He grumbled.

  He muttered some muffled equations to himself. Okay, answer to question one; Luna would be about 19.  Celestia is 32, give or take a year or two. Just so you don't ask take off the 1,100 years and you have my age. Now question two. I will keep this rather…personal…question simple. I have studied magic, Alicorns, history and more. There.

Thanks for the info. I said.

My turn, Princess.

Hmmm?! What was he going to do now?

Behold my questions, pink one, he snickered. You only look to be about 17, how old are you? Who were those peons from, my ah, opening debut?

That was all he wanted to know? Not some arcane secret for more power or how to become a ‘mortal alicorn’?

  Okay…first thing is first I’m 21 not 17. Shining Armor, who’s horn you inlaid with magic blocking crystals is 22, his little sister Twilight Sparkle the purple unicorn is 17 and her friends Rainbow Dash (the blue pegasus), Pinkie Pie (the pink one), Rarity (the white unicorn), and Applejack (the orange earth pony) are also all 17 give or take a few months from each. Fluttershy the yellow pegasus is 18. Spike the dragon-

Don't remind me. He grumbled.

-is 10.

At that moment as I was still walking through the castle to try to find the archive wing, I bumped straight into a pony. That pony was Princess Luna.

Her turquoise eyes went wide with surprise and curiosity.

“What art…you…doing here?” Luna asked somewhat stoically, although I noticed she had a small slip-up, almost saying some archaic term. Sometimes she still did that. At least she had tried to correct her mistake even if it made a mish-mash sentence.

“I’m here to see if there are any good arctic maps… I’m going on a campout.” I said, beaming convincingly.

Right then I noticed my necklace growing hot.

Hiding the pain best I could, I could, I listened to Luna’s reply.

“There are some arctic maps in the Tribe section of the Pre-Equestrian section. Very few arctic maps are recent, depending on how far north you will go.”

She eyed my necklace.

“That pendant… it resembles an old piece of Princess Platinum’s; where did you get it?”

“I made it.”

Not a lie. Woo-hoo honesty!

Luna nodded sagely before speaking.

The necklace was worse now, on the brink of burning my coat off, so I removed it – Much to Sombra’s disagreement due to the string of curses he issued – and shoved it in with my provisions.

“Here,” Luna said, “let me show you to the Tribal section, you seem quite lost.”

“Thank you.” I smiled.

“Why did you remove your necklace?” She inquired.

“Ohh…. I wanted to put it away so I don’t… lose it among the relics.”

She nodded but said nothing else the whole time.

All the while, the necklace still burned and created such a horrible – yet undamaging – heat in my saddlebags.

Luna said a curt good bye and left us in front of a wooden door with two archive guards and a plaque that read:

   The guards nodded and performed an anti-changeling spell, casting it on me before I entered.This kind of spell was 100% effective against changelings in disguise but could easily miss other things.Thus it skipped over Sombra.

  I stepped inside the room cluttered with books, maps, scrolls, relics, and every other kind of knowledge from the time period.

I cast a noise blocking spell on the door as it closed, because unfortunately, I would need Sombra’s help, and not as an extra-crispy-cooking necklace, but as the annoying jerk he is.

Chapter 4: Where is Twilight When You Need Her?

“Couldn’t you just use that book finding spell?” I asked him, a few seconds after he had reverted back to a pony.

“No,” he said, shifting through a few scrolls, “that spell is arcane magic and requires an incantation I don’t know.”

“What is arcane magic and why did you almost burn my neck bare in the corridor?”

He cleared his throat as if to remind me he thought me annoying.

“Arcane Magic is one of the Eleven Factions of pony magic; it was popularized by Starswirl the Bearded. The magic itself dates to a previous era.”

“Secondly, the burning feeling was me… um… making sure Princess Luna didn’t try to penetrate the necklace.”

I nodded, satisfied with those answers although he did seem a little…paranoid. I will try to get more out of him some other time…whenever that might be.

“Sombra, are there any Arcane users still around?”

He looked truly surprised, without a sarcastic look or anything similar. Like annoyance.

“Yes… to my knowledge there are two.”

“Who?”

“Princess Luna is one…”

“…and Celestia the other?” I guessed.

He gave an annoyed sigh.

“No… I am the other.”

  I was too surprised as he had been and went back to browsing old relics and books. Now I knew a pony who knew a lost art.

   Two hours later we had no luck finding Lore of Yore. But the search wasn’t fruitless. I had found a few arctic maps that might prove to be quite helpful.I was flipping through a book titled ‘Clover the Clever’s Extravagant Album of Extraordinary Spells, Endless Charms, Practical Enchantments, and Novice Curses’. I decided to shove it in the saddle bag, along with ‘Þe Witty Pupils Guide to Arcane Magic and Hexes’ by Starswirl the Bearded. I bet Twilight would love this. I also added ‘From Alchemy to Zebraic Tribal Remedies’.

Sombra, being Sombra, decided to butt in.

“Use your magic to activate this potion I found in some boxes!” he said thrusting a purple colored potion under my muzzle with his magic.

I reeled back slightly, “Why?”  

He rolled his eyes again before giving me another lecture. I bet if he rolled them one more time they might fall out. In a comedic manner that is.

“This is an ancient, hard to come by, potion that when activated by even slight amounts of Alicorn or ‘mortal alicorn’ magic; will allow the user to see significant events at random from the past.”

I eyed a book near his hooves. “Is that Lore of Yore?”

“No,” he said “this book contains the spells required to review fixed dates instead of undesired random ones. You will work faster on your own and I already cast the spell to view some of the dates….which I wish the events were listed by name.”

  This translated to: ‘Have fun on your own while I act like the lazy troll that I am.’

  I grudgingly activated the potion and watched as it turned from purple to pearl white. Sombra eyed it greedily and carried it away with his magic before vanishing among the shelves. I headed towards the art section to look among the old tapestries for a copy of the book or any other helpful artifact.  Among the old tapestries was a portrait of a unicorn mare.  I decided to examine it.

Placing it on a table nearby with my magic stirred up quite the amount of dust when the dust settled I go a good look at.

The painting was done on a stone walkway overlooking harsh mountains covered in snow.  The mare in the painting had a slim build like the Duchess of Maretonia but the similarities ended there. This mare seemed shorter and was horribly thin in a sickly way.  Her mane and tail were the color of marigolds while her coat was the color of pale washed out orchids.  She had big pale blue eyes. The mane was worn in curly tresses while her tail was styled in a fancy braid with brass-and ruby braid cinches.  She wore old fashioned attire dominated by a massive ruffled gown. Her gown was as ridiculous as her hat; her gown was red and an unpleasant shade of indigo embroidered with gold and pearls. The ugly dress was trimmed in lace with puffy sleeves, and at the neck were more ruffles, pearls, and a pinkish ruby fastened at the neck. Her hat was conical, a solid gold base rimmed in pearls. The colors were identical to the dress. Her wavy gold forelock swept out from under it, and partly obscured her big blue eyes. At the top of her hat was a large ruby which held three pale silks, an orange, a blue, and a green; in place. She wore leather boots with a lace trim and solid gold soles, unlike any of the current royal adornment which was made from custom metal elements that lacked a cumbersome weight.

  But the belt was the worst part. I imagined it would give Rarity nightmares. The band was solid gold with yet another peal trim. The belt was fastened with an emerald green bow in the center (whose middle was dominated by a rosy ruby) three times the size of Applejack's younger sister.  Curious about the subject I magically flipped the painting over to its left side.

  The ragged canvas was so old that the ink scrawled date had long since faded away completely.  Not willing to give up hope I turned the portrait around to its other edge. The right side of the masterpiece was torn and folded oddly and upon closer inspection stamped with a wax seal, which despite its age had managed to stay together.  Once I broke this seal a small crevice was revealed bearing a dusty, aging book. A gold plaque boasted of its content:

  Pleased with myself I flipped open to where the title page in a factual book would be.  Instead I found a table of contents. I flipped through the page which listed countless old tales. At last I found one that looked interesting at the bottom of was a legend entitled: Lady Finola Frail-heart of Farreach and the Northbound Gaia-corn.

With Sombra absorbed in his potions I decided to read.  

Chapter 5: Happily Never After

   On the Outskirts  of the tribal lands borders, there were two sub-tribes as different as earth and sky. The names of the lands inhabited by these were Gildentundra and Farreach Valley. Gildentundra was an even frostier waste then the Main Realms; its lesser peaks were filled with ruined fortresses, whereas its colossal peaks and frozen-waste ever-frost were abound in ore and few in cave-towns. In the era preceding our Triarchy of Equestria, land governed by the Council; there was said to be no Harmony of any kind in the closed and bickering Tribes. But, alas, the pony who said that is wrong! For there was a fragile peace even then. In the barren lands north there was the valley of Farreach, untouched by snow. This land was lacking in gems, but rich in fertility, peat, and timber. Hidden from the hateful outer world Farreach developed in a manner that made it quite modern compared to elsewhere. This paradise was home to both unicorn and earth pony unlike its divided and distant neighbors. The inhabitants lived in peace while they dwelled in sod-and-peat halls dotted with wildflowers and an unknown concept at the time.

The concept of green.

  Now, I shall remind you the Mother of Modern Magics, Clover the Clever has a green mane. But, at the time of these events before her birth where ‘green’ only existed in the Farreach and the unknown worlds. This is why the world of Farreach, living up its name so Far from Reach, seemed like such a foal's tale when stories of it did leak out, which were few. Thus, it was dismissed as one.

Until…

Until, unbeknownst to all in the Northern Lands that worlds away in Gildentundra this ‘foal's tale’ reached the wrong ears.

But first, Hearth-reader let us spin the tale of Gildentundra; a coarse piece of cloth indeed.    

  The only place in this Lordedom with dwellers was the chief arrondissement of the Gildebloode Clan and their manor, Crooked Glacier.

Crooked Glacier Manor sat on a large ledge of one of the lesser peaks, overshadowed and wedged between a larger one. Below was a gutted quarry, the mines, and other use-less caves which also housed the serfs for there was no mud or even a modest few sticks to build an abode.

The manor however extravagant was not welcoming. It was cold and dim and made out of nothing but stone. Even the furniture was made of thick stone, improved only by small wool cushions and dully dyed tapestries depicting haughty, glaring images of past lords and their court. Due to the lack of timber nothing but a dreadful ash-spewing coal and curious varieties of flint could be; thus staining the tapestries and stone walls black. Even less welcoming was the previously mentioned location.

  The angle at which the manor was placed, wedged in-between two peaks, was poorly chosen for the angle ensured that  the manor-dwellers would feel nothing but itchy soot and cold biting winds that were said to be fiercer then a Windigo's breath. The larger of these mountains was rich in gold ore and when, if ever, the sun poked through the artic blizzards at just the right angle, the surface pockets would gleam with such a harsh light that in the cave-towns and mine-shafts the serfs acquired a repulsive squint.

  Now the current owner of the aforementioned Gildebloode manor with its blackened walls and gemstone mosaics was a unicorn stallion by the name of Lord Silvedas-Vainblade Gildebloode.  Lord Vainblade was a pony with an immense ego.  While this trait is his most prominent others were present  as well, even if some had faded from common knowledge. Although his character has survived this test his  physical description is lost to time. Vainblade, as the name implies was a shallow, vain, self-absorbed, and cruel and among others mostly known for his most noticeable trait: his greed, which was a horrifying unquenchable and unending force refelected well in his attire. He was garbed in the most exaggerated robes and carried the family blade, Frostseeper, only for show. Frostseeper, a jeweled hilted treasure with a blue and gold blade. Its pommel, adorned with the clan symbol - a gem replica of an Artic Goldpath flower - with the depressing appearance of a gilded snowflake was the only light in Gildentundra. His second family heirloom was a sheet of glossy dragon scales tampered into a fine cuirass which was more of a banquet item rather than respectable armour.

  But, despite all his cruelty and petty behaviors he knew one thing: He wouldn’t live forever. He needed a son to inherit the land.

So over this matter he obsessed for he found all the mares in his realms and other neighboring ones ugly and unworthy of his time.

It was then that he heard of the land of Farreach in its fantasy like existence. He wasted no time to prepare a caravan to go scouting in the rumored location. He readied a cartographer, a herald and serfs with provisions to go see this northwestern land for it was unknown if such a fantasy could exist.

This would be ‘happily ever after’ Vainblade thought. Alas, for Gildentundra, for it would be anything but for him, his land, and his bride-to-be.

That was when a blast of magic sent me into the book.

Chapter 6: A Blast Into Farreach Past

I couldn’t believe I was suddenly sucked into the book.

Does this mean I was in a different time period as well, presuming this story is true?

That would be very bad.

What if I could never get out?!

Was I simply shoved into the body of a participant in the story?

Calm down. Just calm down, I told myself.

As I looked around I realized that I was no more than a spectating transparent ghost. A mere observer. Who just so happened to float slightly.

Phew.

I looked around at the frozen landscape. Maybe I should just try to follow the story. It did seem to be the best choice. Over in another direction I saw some ponies. Well, follow the story it is I guess. Nervously I floated towards them. I watched as the thin, dirty, and exhausted group of ponies - who must be the caravan – struggled over the hideous and barren land, I decided on following the story and trotted after them.

  After a few grueling hours for the caravan I watched as we came to an edge of what appeared to be a valley.  Excited, I trotted over to the edge where I could peer over.What I saw astonished me as much as it did the weary travelers coming up from behind me. The valley was a gorgeous green landscape with light forests and rolling wildflower filled plains.I could see sheep and ponies dashing about below among the valley’s forests and other features.The caravan moved into the snow sheltered valley along a naturally cut narrow path. As they lumbered farther into the valley I noticed that what I had took to be a small group of hills was really the town.

   The chills were really sloping sad houses with holes in the tops to let smoke out, along with chimneys made out of a gritty clay and wooden door frames and window frames but surprisingly no doors and flowers on the exterior. In the town the residents who were a mix of earth ponies and unicorns stopped to gawk at the caravan.

  Then I saw that the two soddies in the center were not like the rest. One was very big with small werelights glowing inside and its large chimney poked out in the center.The other was not as large as the first but was bigger than the average hills. It had a large tree growing out of the top the roots entwining the artificial hill. Unlike the other buildings it had a triangle shaped entrance and no chimneys or windows which caused thick-peat-something smoke to leak out.

Two lean and muscular unicorn stallions in what appeared to be bark armor reinforced with dyed wool and vines encasing their shin guards approaching the caravan. When both parties came face-to-face they looked utterly baffled, for the valley dwellers were eyeing the clothes of the caravan who was also doing the same.

The pony I took to be a Gildentundra peasant even started poking anything green and exclaiming: “By the mountains!". The bark-clad ponies were eyeing the caravan before they suddenly parted to reveal the toughest looking unicorn I ever saw, trotting up to this foreign party.

  This newcomer had deep brown eyes and a tannish mane with a blue gray coat, he wore a wool cape and was followed by a thin unicorn mare. She had a white mane and tail combined with rosy streaks and a coat the color of ripe clovers. Following her was a younger graceful looking unicorn mare with blue eyes and a coat the color of orchids. Her mane and tail were the color of marigolds and were woven with blossoms. I presumed that the first two were her parents which did seem to fit, especially since she did have the blue eyes and yellowy mane of the presumed father. She also wore a smaller woolen cape that obscured her cutie mark from view. Unlike her father who's cold eyes meant business her adorable oversized blue eyes had the soft curls of her mane partly covering her face.

D'aww.

  Strangely, although I couldn’t place this mare she did look familiar. Before I could attempt to place her everything began to fade in a whirlwind of blurred colors and I couldn't catch any more glances of the story book ponies. I found myself, slightly disappointed, staring at a strange series of inscriptions.

What-

At that moment Sombra's screaming started.

Why me?

Chapter 7: Explosions and Invisible Demons

  If I hadn’t cast the noise canceling spell everypony in the hall would have heard his shouting.

  I fumbled around since my eyes were still adjusting to the dim light once more. I stumbled through the aisles of antiques. Finally I located Sombra eyes glowing with the pure light of powerful magics and purple smoke flowing out of his eyes and teeth changing into fangs. I was frozen in place not sure what to do. This couldn't be good, but why was he screaming? What was happening? I didn't know how to stop this. If I went to fetch somepony my quest would be over.

  Sombra began to rise shakily from his sitting position and turned to a bookshelf nearby.I watched in confusion. He was talking…but it wasn’t to me. With his eyes still glowing he glared maliciously at a bookshelf.

“YOU SHE-DEMON!” he bellowed.

  What should I do? This was starting to scare me and the…shock was alarming. Was he possessed? Why else would he be screaming at the archaic chemistry journals of Clover the Clever? Was this a sick joke of his?

“'LENE WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU…WHAT ARE YOU?!”  His horn lit up to join his glowing eyes and he backed into a bookshelf and I could only watch in fear as it toppled.

  Sombra was startled and blasted the bookshelf with the magic on his horn, blowing the shelf to bits.

I was still frozen. All…the priceless relics.

Cadance, why are you such a coward?

Tears poked my eyes a bit. Maybe it was true, 'you are your own greatest obstacle'.

“'LARA YOU DEMON!!!” Sombra blasted another bookshelf, unlike the first this one caught fire.

Fire. Burning hot flame in a room filled mostly with wood and paper. My tears were flowing freely now from the smoke and my throat began to feel dry.

I'm scared. Terrified. Petrified!

I'm the worst Princess…frozen in fear.

I cursed myself for still standing. I was going to die! Why couldn’t I move? Why wouldn’t I move? The smoke was overwhelming me.Sombra jerked his head to the side where I could now see his eyes more clearly. I could see through the smoke a bit and his eyes appeared to be…watering. Or was he crying? Was it a trick of my eyes or was it from the smoke being dense?

What happened next I can only wish was fake.

   Sombra's aura began to change into a whitish color matching his glowing eyes. A peculiar kind of compass rose emerged beneath him, piercing through the smoke. Then came weird chanting. At this point I had worked up enough ability to slip Lore of Yore into my saddle pack.

What was this magic? I thought, watching in horror; as helpless as ever.

“Inclusum nune adultum regione,” he began eyes glowing furious white, “et ignis occidere hoste mando tibi ad occidendum Seraph quibius Aurorae finis est…”

I tried to decipher what he was screaming as quickly as possible. That was when I noticed that ‘ignis’ sounded like ‘ignite’. Which means to explode in flames.

Explode.

Explode?

Explode!

Explode?!

He was going to blow up the Archives!

“…arcanum est famulus et omnes dominum tuum…”

Not wanting to become ashes I lept into the compass circle just as flames licked the spot where I was previously standing.

Quickly I tackled him just as he finished the spell: “…in protege.”

“Sweet Elysium take me if Celestia fails to save me.” I muttered.

Which was just when the Archives blew up.

  The only that kept us from plummeting to our death hundreds of stories below was the fact I could fly and was not knocked unconscious at the time.  Unfurling my wings, which was hard with flaming feathers, I grabbed the falling Sombra by the back of his cloak.

  As I swooped back up I saw the full extent of our damage. The 300 story tower was being sustained hurriedly by more unicorns (through magic of course) than I could count. Pegasai were dousing the smoldering ruins with rainclouds. The other Princesses would find out soon, if they hadn’t yet. Guards distinguishable by their armor also rushed to the scene aiding in any way they could with the unicorn troops being the most helpful due to their slightly stronger magic.

I turned around not wanting to look anymore and then I noticed something.Despite the fact that I mostly escaped the flames Sombra’s cloak was singed around the edges.He had no cutie mark.

I was shocked but landed quietly in on alley hoping this may end.We had been in the alley for a few hours. It was a simple stone alley in a quiet part of Canterlot.

“Why don’t you have a cutie mark?” I asked when he came to.

“What is a cutie mark?” he asked. “Do you mean a marking?”

His face contorted into a minor scowl as he turned to inspect the damage of his cloak.

I nodded slowly. “Yes…”

He made series of annoyed mumbles that I could only make a few words out of: “…wasn’t supposed to know…”

Didn’t he know I was right here? Out of the awkwardness I cleared my throat.

He immediately looked up. “What?” he inquired as if I was inconveniencing a schedule of his.

I dragged a hoof on the stones in random patterns. I had a question but should I say it? A stroke of luck occurred as he stared at my hoof before raising his gaze, a mildly disdainful look on his face.

“I suppose you want to know ‘why’, huh?”

He guessed it, slowly I gave a small nod.

He took a deep breath. More lectures? Was he secretly hiding a purple mane?

  “When I first started using dark magic I didn’t have one, dark magic is an irreversible transformation in most cases. Even if I had a symbol when I began it would have taken it from me.  Since you don’t seem to understand much, I might as well explain a bit more. You see, dark magic creates… almost a new personality for you so you exist as two, or three at once. As well, your Princess Celestia,” he said, spitting her name out like it was poison, “knows one or two of the spells but she did not truly go into it like I did.”

There was quiet for a bit.

“Does that satisfy you?”

“Yes,” I whispered, feeling a bit paranoid about the whole 'being in an alley’ thing, “but are you just a jumble of personalities?”

He grumbled for a moment, and sighed. “No, I am Sombra and while I have a different me in the past as you would say, I am NOT just an unstable mess.”

I nodded. “Can we go now?”

He looked around and shrugged.

“But just so you know, we will need some disguises after what happened in the Royal Archives.” I added.

He looked at me blankly, so I told him what happened.

When I finished he slammed his head against a wall.

“Yes we can go. But I can make the disguises?”

Make?

  From behind an alley in Canterlot, two ponies stepped out. One was a white pegasus mare with a green, yellow, and orange mane; her yellow eyes blinked and then another appeared behind her before she drew the hood of her ragged cloak up. Then a typical looking unicorn stallion emerged behind her. He was dark blue with a red and orange mane. Purple eyes gleamed impatiently.

“Come on,” he hissed.

The mare looked up from a puddle. She seemed nervous.

“Uhh... yes, coming.”

She quickly scuttled away much to the annoyance of her blue companion, who adjusted a matching cloak and shifted his aloof yet paranoid gaze over the square.

If one looked closely they might have seen the cloaks shimmer.

As if the garments should have looked different and the ponies who wore them weren’t quite what they seemed.

But expert level illusions are rather rare…aren’t they?

  When we arrived at the Canterlot Train Station I was still in shock over my new look, which flickered closely when I looked at it (nopony else seemed to notice this). This also happened with Sombra: when I looked at him the disguise flickered but when any other pony did there was no reaction, leading me to believe that the disguise was seamless. Or was it that because he made both our disguises we could both somewhat see each other? I wasn’t too sure not being an expert on illusion spells.

Worse, when Sombra and I (still disguised of course) reached the platform where we got off earlier I realized that the train, a speedy passenger engine, that we used to get from the Empire to here…was….

Gone.

In all the ‘drama’ that happened we must have gone off schedule.

Fretting I turned to Sombra, “W-what do we do? Neither of us brought any money and if we try to book a new train we might have to show identification or we might get delayed trying if we don't have to show identification and what if-”

Sombra put his hoof in my mouth to cut me off, left eye twitching slightly.

I guess nervous breakdowns annoyed him or was it the fact his hoof (which did not taste good with those iron shoes on) was in my mouth.

He nodded over to a train that had just pulled up. An overloaded cargo train. An old overloaded cargo train. An old overloaded cargo train that was unbelievably slow. This train would turn what was a four hour to two day trip on a fast passenger train into a month long trek to the Empire, presuming that was where it was going. I looked at the painted logo on one of the crates being loaded on.

Sombra's twitch turned into a smirk. “Looks like we got lucky, now all you need is your royal escort Princess.”

My ‘royal escort’ snuck the both of us onto a train car.

At sword point.

How was this going to play out? I thought as Sombra lit a lantern by the foot of a crate.

As the train pulled away I reluctantly closed the door, shutting out all natural light. As he sulked over to a corner, realization hit me.

I'm on an adventure.

Chapter 8: As Charming As A Toad

  Within the car we were free of the guises Sombra had wrought. We tended to stay away from each other which was suiting since not too much happened in terms of excitement during the first week in the cargo car. This wasn’t to say we had nothing to do. Sombra alternated between many activities. He spent time re-sorting his gear in a suspicious manner.

Who did he think would steal it, me?!

Other things he did were less interesting.  Such as pacing the car on the other side of the boxes and lurking in corners. He seemed to this quite a bit so I assumed he was sleeping. He also did things like spying on the crew in disguise. Occasionally he would curtly update me on their activities.  For example: three had a cold, up one from the previous couple of days.

  Talking and communications of any kind tended to be strained, most likely out of shared suspicion. Sombra further retreated into solitary behaviors primarily stealing the cargo (fresh fruits and cotton cloth). While he did all this I performed less interesting feats.

Namely, I read my book:

  It is here that our tale picks up. As the council took place in the great hall of Farreach; the leader of this clan, Fredrick Ironhoof was listening to an offer that the caravan had proposed. The offer was perfect in mind of Farreachers. Fredrick would have his precious only daughter Finola, lively dryad of a young mare, be sent to the rich land of Gildentundra to marry the wealthy Lord Silvedas. It seemed like a fantasy because the fey tale of Farreach was only a deceptive notion.

At this moment the train lurched and I looked up from Lore of Yore. One of the train's car doors had been opened revealing a star-spangled Western Equestrian sky. A small breeze swept over and chilled me.

Why was the door open? It was freezing!

I bookmarked my page and walked across the car, gripping it in magic so I could slide it closed.

“Don't close it,” mumbled a voice.

Where did that voice come from? Was somepony else here? Was that the wind?

Nervously, I lit my horn and shined it through the dark car. The werelight’s  gleam revealed Sombra sitting mostly obscured by his cloak with a windblown mane.

“How long have you been there?”

The wistful look that was there a moment before faded from his eyes.

“…About eight solar hours and two lunar hours…probably more.”

This was another one of his pony-from-the-past quirks. Calling the twelve hours of daylight solar hours and the twelve hours of night lunar hours.

  “That’s over ten hours…why?”

  Who would spend that much time looking at the heavens? For a moment he looked embarrassed then he shook his head so now, his mane obscured his eyes even more.

“It’s…um…nostalgic in a sense, I guess.”

I cocked my head to the side. Was it me or might he have been acting a bit ‘off’ there?

“Alright then…I'm going to go back to reading, or maybe sleeping.”

He didn’t respond. As I walked back over to my corner, around the load of cargo stacked in the middle, I sat down and picked up the book once more. One glance at the sky blue cover and I felt my eyes began to falter, lids lowering. The pale gold bindings twinkled like fireflies.

‘Sleeeep…..’ They seemed to say.

I left Sombra to his stargazing as the conscious party member. My eyes shut obeying the silent will of a storybook.

Eight more days.

  A sharp eyed pony may have noticed that none of the folk of Farreach appeared to be over their thirty-fifth winter. Ah, but Life here was far from eternal youth, for the fore-stated assumption was true: nopony did live past their thirty-fifth winter. That was tragedy of this paradise. Every mother and father wised that a chance might cometh to send their foals into a hope beyond the endless blizzards and snows of the Niji Toriniku Mountain Range. It was only now that the chance emerged for Fredrick Ironhoof and Lila Cloverheart.

  I wondered as I was reading that morning if, perhaps Sombra was alive then and maybe he knew these ponies, assuming it was history not prose.

Where was he anyway?

  Looking up from my corner, I felt my eyes drift between the loads of cargo towards the corner diagonal of me. A figure covered in burlap sacks and the stupid cloak was curled up there. Based on the breathing he was asleep. I was not foolish enough to try and wake him. What was I going to do, poke him with a stick?

Not happening.

  I resumed reading, awaiting the fairy tale ending or a joyous climax. The book went on to tell how Finola was sent to Gildentundra. She had a tearful farewell and six of her cousins, whose ages ranged from seven through fourteen, were sent to be her respective maids of honor. Then, apparently on the trip four of her cute little cousins froze to death (I admit this part made my eyes tear up a little, sometimes fairy tale characters die but it is normally not the children that do). At least not in almost all Equestrian fairy tales.

  When she arrived at the mansion she was immediately wedded to the unicorn pony, Silvedas. It was described how she had difficulty adjusting to new customs and was slandered for her ‘nymph-like antics’. Later, gold was reported to be stolen. The greedy ponies of the manor blamed Finola’s maids-her two remaining cousins-and had them executed.

Tears flowed down my muzzle. How could a fairy tale be this mean-spirited? Where was Finola being valiant, or an ally coming to her defense?

No more reading for now.  

  I closed the book and walked over to the opposite side of the car. As I peered around the cargo I spotted Mr. Creepy Magic himself staring indifferently at the evening clouds through the open side door. Despite the daylight his hood was drawn, masking his features.

He didn’t turn but I could tell he sensed my approach.

“Ah…hello…’hi’?”

I was quiet. Was he trying out less formal modern greetings?

He cleared his throat. “Princess Amore? I think we are going to be…approaching the Empire soon.” To show this he gestured outside at the landscape: vast marshes not unlike those that surrounded the outskirts of Vanhoover greeted us.

  I blinked in surprise. This was good! “My results must have been off then; we will approach the Empire in four days, not seven.”

Sombra just grunted in reply and I gazed out the train car.

Soon I will be home and Shiny and I will be able to ready the Empire's troops and defeat this foe…but what about Sombra? What will happen to him?

“Princess Amore…?”

I jolted back, shaking my uncurled and slightly bedraggled mane (and tail). “Yes Sombra?”

What could he possibly want right now?

I could hear gulping under his hood.

“Have you ever wondered…if life is just a shoddily made bridge and that one…thing…we want most is at the other end; and we have no magic or wings, or help to get us there?”

“What?!” I stared at him, mouth agape. A bridge? Was he implying travel? Or Celestia forbid, re-conquest? He claimed he would help me!

I stood firm. “No! I will NOT help you re-enslave the empire! You said so yourself, and I hold you to your word, which was that you wouldn’t even try! You also claimed you would HELP ME!”

He stared at me blankly, then a look of what I almost believed was hurt, emerged on his face.

“No…that’s not what…ugh…nevermind. I thought that you of all ponies would understand.”

He left in the form of a teleportation spell.

I stood there standing as the sun set wondering…what could he possibly have that I would understand?

But just as important: Was the real evil in Lore of Yore and might Sombra actually trying to tell me things that are important?

I gazed up at the clouds as the last light of Celestia's sun touched them, their fluffy white appearance no masked by rumbly gray.

Almost black if somepony looked close enough.

Maybe if I had looked close enough Sombra wouldn’t have been so upset. But, once again: how could he possibly have a problem I could solve?

The marshes glared back at me almost in a taunting manner.

I let the coming rain hit me, just as I let my tears hit the floor.

Shivering I wondered who they were for. Me? The Empire? Shiny? The Fairy Tale?

Did it really matter though?

I shuddered slightly both from the sobs that racked me and distant rumbles I felt in the ground, causing the train to whimper with me.

Chapter 9: Into the Arctic

Over those four days Sombra and I spent our time mutually avoiding one another. What he did then I wasn’t sure but what I did was simple.

I read, which did nothing to lighten my spirits.

   Back in Gildentundra, within Crooked Glacier Manor dwelled a lonely Finola, alone and finely garbed in expensive raiment. So miserable was she that she became known as Finola ‘Frail-heart’. A name as broken as she was. She was forgotten for a while until the Lord of the manor, Silvedas, found her to be relevant to his existence.

He needed an heir.

  Over the one winter she was with foal Finola grew weak and homesick. For how long had she been in this strange land? Why must she be bedecked in these foreign and cumbersome items known as gowns? Eventually on the twelfth cycle of the winter she gave birth; but not to the heir that Lord Silvedas desired. The foal she produced was neither well-colored nor male.  It was a shame though that the Lady Finola would never get to see her foal. So weak and home-sick, she died as soon as her daughter, an earth pony like her great-grandmother, was born.

  The filly had a coat the color of rotten cabbage, squash colored eyes, and a putrid sienna mane in damp curl-like tangles. The midwife turned and examined the filly. She then faced Silvedas, no tears brimmed her eyes for death in foal-birth was ever so common then, and congratulated him on the birth of a healthy daughter.

“What shall her name be?” quoth the mare.

Silvedas stood eyeing the babbling foal with an evil hatred.

“Coppertangle,” he spat,“'Tis the only name fit for a fiend like that.”

The midwife nodded grimly and cast a piteous glance at the filly.

“And what shall we do with the departed?” she said meekly as Silvedas opened the door to leave.

“What we did with the witch eight winter cycles ago!” he bellowed as he exited, slamming the door.

  She sighed and eyed the only living being in the room. Softly, she whispered, “I will call you Marlise, little one; Marlise Coppertangle Gildebloode.”

And so it was in a private cremation, with no burial or rites that the little Mistress Gildebloode, sole heir of an evil estate, was born anew in the fire of her mother's ashes.

  From then on Marlise was locked in one of the manor's old towers. Food was snuck into the tower for her. Nopony ever saw her but it was said she was dressed in rags and under-groomed with a mane and tail of curly tangles. Her only companions were the dusty arcane magic tomes used by the Lord Gildebloode's smarter ancestors.  So it was reading that Mistress Marlise did most. She learned the arcane magics for they required no horn. But her magic was somewhat twisted centered around perfecting a master curse. All this time forsaken made her grow demonic as she further coddled her hatred.

   Marlise knew about the outer worlds for among the spell-books were the occasional fay tale and history volumes. Distant and far-between servant whispers confirmed why she was sealed away. Rage and resent soon joined her hatred, and these too she nurtured with utmost care. Why should she, a noble lady be locked away! She deserved fine gems and lacy gowns! Or so her thought went.

   Her patience began to crack winter cycle after winter cycle. By her eighth winter cycle she was furious at no rescue attempt. She took everything she had: emotion, arcane knowledge, wicken abilities, and brews from the toxic chamber molds she unleashed her master curse. Quantities of dark magic were activated as she emerged from the tower, as she underwent the metamorphosis required to become the entity known as the Northbound Gaia-corn.

Upon her emergence she obliterated all in the manor, with the exception of a visiting courier. To her manor-dwelling victims she cried:

  To this ‘day’ as they are now called, it is said she, Marlise no longer, prowls the land as cold as she onto which she is bound to, heart colder than both the wind and ice.

Thus ends the legend of Lady Finola Frail-heart of Farreach and the Northbound Gaia-corn

I was mortified by the heartbreak in the tale. Still, I had nothing to do at the moment which caused my thoughts to wander.

Sombra said that there was a story in here I should read. He never said which one though.

Maybe I should just flip through until I find something convincing, without asking Sombra of course.It didn’t sound like such a bad plan, the worst outcome would be reading another sad story. I paused a moment before deciding to act upon my actions. It will only be another hour or so until we arrive in the Empire. Home. What harm could reading another old legend do? I doubt all of these are real stories but it doesn’t mean that all of them are fake.Convinced I flipped to the contents from before. About twenty stories were crammed into this little book but which one would Sombra want me to read? ‘Driving of the Windigos’? Maybe ‘The Sirens Three’? How about ‘The Great Court Rumor’?

None of these sounded right. What kind of story would he even want me to read?!

I scanned the list again until I came to ‘Tragedy at Bitter End’. That sounded dark and mysterious. Sad too, but…

Sad, Dark, and Mysterious?

That definitely sounds like my story. Beside, who was more dark and mysterious than Sombra?

  This story was completely different from the Gaia-corn one. The serious tone sucked me in, of course this one was it! The plot was pretty simple: An army from the pegasus tribe are sent to kill a legion from the unicorn tribe and a militia from the earth pony tribe. In the three way battle over a comment made by Princess Platinum, all sides were killed without a single survivor. Their flesh and bones froze into horrid golems of ice. Since these ponies were once alive, they had souls, but these souls mostly faded and just became a minor sustainer of their new undead forms.

Worst of all was that after the battle at Bitter End, a small icebound plain outside of the tribe lands, these monsters became united in a plundering zest. Banding together, they would sweep through any land and steal its most valued force (or forces) , if the kingdom didn’t fall on its own the curse, caused by the brief presence of these ram-sackers, would ensure that NO MATTER WHAT it would, to be only a memory never to be brought back again. Never.

I had just begun to close the book, heart bent on protecting the Empire, when everything went wrong.

“Princess Amore!” Sombra screamed.

What could he want now? “What is it, Sombra?”

Trying as hard as I could, I concealed the panic suddenly creeping into me that was brought on by his tone.

Wait…why did he have all his gear on? The empire wouldn’t be near for about an hour.

He abruptly slung my saddlebags and gear across my back. Had he completely lost his mind?! I knew he was crazy but this seemed unlike him.

“The train is going to crash, something on the tracks I think, come on I'm going to get you out of here. Now jump on this!” he ordered gesturing to a long äerint slab in an oval shape.

I stood there. “If the train is going to crash we need to evacuate it! There are at least ten other ponies on this train!”

His left eye twitched. “You incorrigible little do-gooder!”

He lit his horn and laid the board on the floor. Next he levitated me onto the board.

“Hey what are you-”I gasped trying to move, but found my hooves covered in äerint just below the knee.

Sombra slung open the door, revealing the freezing landscape outside of the Empire. It was in the middle of a blizzard and the train was at full speed, which caused the snow to blur.

I gasped. “What stupid thing are you planning-”

“You’ll thank me later,” he grumbled quickly spinning me around so I was at an angle facing the door. I screwed my eyes shut.

I felt a shove from behind as I was pushed out of the train attached to an äerint slab.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHH!!!”

Was I going to die?

An eternity seemed to have passed all ready, so maybe I was already dead? The ice crystals that were whipped around in the blizzard began to sting even more.

Ice crystals?

I don't think it snowed in the afterlife, whether it was Tartarus or Paradise. Although it might snow occasionally in Elysium’s realm. Paradise. Maybe all that was just a trick of my mind? Perhaps even the needles of death felt different?

My eyelids crackled and began to water painfully as I wrenched my eyes open. A sharp breath caught in my raw, freezing throat dry from all the screaming, which caused me to cough awkwardly.

I was…gliding, skidding perhaps, over the snow. Powerful winds from the storm both propelled me somewhat and kept me bouncing.

But what about the train? Didn’t Sombra say the tracks might…that the tracks were blocked?

I turned my head around to gaze over my wither carefully. When I looked over to see the train, I noticed it hadn’t gone too far.

Huh, I guess that means my ‘last moment’ was really only a- Sweet Auntie Celestia what is that!

  In the middle of the rail, just ahead, was an enormous earthen rock spire so unlike Sombra’s äerint. From the last cargo car I saw a large shape- a familiar shadow-esque form with large green and red eyes framed in purple smoke- flow out of the compartment. A fiery explosion blinded me, and soon I felt no bumps below.

Are you alright Princess Amore? Your breathing is very quick, yet shallow. Are normal ponies supposed to do that?

  That wasn’t my voice! My eyes blinked open in a start. Brusquely, I flung my head in an arc causing my tricolor mane to swirl through the snow.

Nopony was visible…neither was the permafrost landscape on the Empire's outskirts. I know it is freezing and it’s in the middle of a snowstorm but this is getting spooky…

Ugh, you lack-wit. I'M DOWN HERE!

I tilted my head downward. There, below the slab, was Sombra in shadowy form churning up snow. This was just like surfing in Horseshoe Bay. Kind of.

Nevertheless, I was breathless.

It would help if you used your wings to glide, after all I'm only so tangible in this form.

I unfolded my wings a bit, tilted them, and thrust my face into the artic wind I had become so accustomed to. My misery was going to end soon. A small sigh escaped me.

Where to, Princess?

Jolted out of the reverie, I fixed my eyes on the northern horizon knowing what lay ahead.

“The Crystal Empire, home.” My home.

  It must have been around noon, based on the sun's position, when Sombra and I reached the rocky outskirts of a familiar mountain range. I couldn’t wait to see the Empire, the crystal ponies, and Shiny. Below me Sombra made a noise I swear was a snort.

  Soon, the edge of the mountains began to give hints of sloping downward. As we came to an area of the Gemheart Mountains I closed my eyes and puffed out my chest with pride. Sure Sombra had been here before but had he ever seen the place looking like this?

“Welcome to the Crystal Empire, Sombra.” I piped.

Well we were gone for nine or so days and apparently everything blew up…

Confusion smacked me. What could he possibly mean ‘everything blew up’?

Slowly, I opened my eyes and all wonder turned to bewilderment.

The Empire was in ruins….

  Rock spires, like ones from not so long ago, sprouted everywhere. Like surrounding structures the castle was in shambles. Everything had an awful gray tint that was amplified by gloomy brown dust as if the destruction happened recently before the other princesses could arrive. Shining Armor was nowhere in sight which bewildered me. Melancholy crystal ponies were drifting around the remains of the Crystal Heart Plaza.

But the Heart….

It was…gone.

Tears were streaming down my face.

“Too much,” I choked “this is too much.”

Even Sombra looked slightly bemused.

“Nooo!” I bawled. “I'll save you, I swear on my princesshood!!!”

My screaming caught the eye of some of the ponies. When they saw Sombra's shadowself they began to scream in some kind of chaotic harmony. It was as if their world was ending…

But maybe I could change that. Still attached to my äerint board I struggled to attempt to free myself through force. Magic. I began to light my horn hoping a purifying charm could help break these bonds.

Sombra noticed what I was doing and his eyes began to glow. Äerint now encased my horn.

He turned and started to speed away still as his shadowself. I was still in tow.

I faced him, as best I could from my position.

“We have to stay!” I yelled

No…trust me, please, we need to go now before the Empire decays for good. That is how you can help them.

He continued to loop around the Empire, cutting in a northwest direction that would lead into the Trottish outskirts. Then into the Arctic, if a pony went far enough.

We sped away and I had no choice to comply, being magically inhibited and physically unable to fly.

My regret gnawed at me.

Chapter 10: Blizzard Surfing

   My kingdom, my subjects, and what of my husband? All appeared lost.

  As I sat uselessly in the cave we had found in our second day of travel. The crystals were gone now, but I could not go back. Not without the Heart. Our first day we spent both Celestia's sunlight and Luna's moonlight travelling to lose any chance of Crystal ponies, Royal Guards, or the Princesses from finding us. Particularly Sombra. I thought it would help the quest to have the Princesses help but Sombra was so intent on freedom and his notion that it had to be us who save the Empire. It was like Twilight's test all over again.

  This wasn’t to say I abandoned the Crystal Empire. My attempts to turn back were unsuccessful since Sombra snatched all my maps obtained from the archives. Even so…if he has an idea on how to save my kingdom, it would be my responsibility to go. Something was calling me to go. I wasn’t entirely sure why but this wasn’t the blood boiling rage I felt toward the ‘Ice Legion’. Somepony, or ponies, needed me.

Sombra looked out at the night sky, completely ignoring the small fire I conjured. With this time to think I wondered what Sombra might be hiding. I was travelling with one of the darkest figures in history and an individual like him probably had at least one secret. With his cloak-and-dagger behavior it seemed like he was withholding something.

Sleep claimed me.

  Trudging through snow and pushing against wind. That was what we did for the next three days, stopping only for necessary actions such as sleep. Eating was performed while we moved along with drinking water from my canteens, although Sombra insisted on taking rear when he needed rehydration. However strange this may be, I let it slide. The lack of talking was starting to bother me though.

“So,” I said while munching on some bread, “do you have any family members?”

“No.”

Didn’t he mention that before?

“Pets?”

“I don’t know what that is.”

Right, he is from the past. Hmm, that gives me an idea.

“Okay…how about a favorite modern technology?”

“That's easy, I like trains.”

What kind of pony was fascinated with trains but had no second thought about family? He was starting to sound like a serial killer.

Sweet Celestia…I knew he was evil but would he…

“Sombra…have you ever killed anypony?” I asked meekly.

He dropped the apple he was eating into the snow. There was an eerie silence as we marched on.

“I suspected somepony might ask that soon, and the answer is ‘yes’. Now no more questions.”

Was he going to kill me?

Nonsense, if he wanted to do that he could have left me on the train.

I was scared out of my flight feathers but decided not to desert. Silence became our friend once more.

Day after day we went on like this until I could no longer stand it.

“SOMBRA!” I declared.

He looked around as if in a daze before an annoyed scowl found its way on his face.

“What is it?”

“We'll never get to the Crystal Heart like this! Can we do the snow gliding trick again? It would be so much faster!”

Sombra's scowl vanished but he didn’t look happy.

“Sure,” he said shrugging.

“WAHOOO!!!” I cried, despite the fact that I was surfing through a blizzard at what must have been midnight. Besides that I was almost, almost, having fun.

A sudden shadow blocked out the stars.

“Did you see that?” I hissed.

Shadow-Sombra only seemed to grunt.

   Suddenly, ice shards bigger than a five-story building swept in from the sky and firmly affixed themselves right in front of us. Sombra and I tried to dodge the obstacle fast enough, but ended up smacking head on into the massive shards. My äerint board splintered and upon impact, Sombra reverted back to normal.Mutually, we understood this was an ambush and drew our weapons. He readied his sword; grasping it in magic and made his use of dark magic prominent: fangs, smoky mane, eye vapor, etc. I notched my rose quartz bow, fumbling slightly with the gilded string.

The shape swooped again causing Sombra to lash out while, I shot an arrow. Illuminated by fire, I saw our opponent as my flaming arrow sped past it.

A large blizzard colored dragon.

Dragon.

My wings, which were concealed under my cloak suddenly seemed frozen.

I couldn’t will them to unfurl.

Help.

The dragon spewed more ice from its maw before it flew away once more, disappearing.

Stunned, Sombra and I backed away from each other hoping to confuse our enemy, as we braced for another attack.

Big mistake.

My heart galloped as the dragon swooped down. It was going to snatch Sombra! Bravely, I unfurled my wings and flew towards it.

Meanwhile, Sombra had shadows swirling around his hooves and a sword ready. He looked as if he would cut out the dragon's heart.

Was he mad?!

Sombra sure didn’t see me but the dragon did.

I screamed as lightning fast talons curled around me. Sombra fired a spell, but it bounced harmlessly off the scales and hit my horn instead, encasing it in familiar magic repressing crystals.

The dragon grinned and flew off with me in its talons. I think the dragon was male.

“PRINCESS AMORE!”

Down below, Sombra looked horrified and panicked. I was out of reach in shadow-form and with äerint.

“DON’T WORRY,” I yelled sobbing above the wind. “I WILL FIND A WAY OUT OF THIS!”

Frightened, I sheltered myself from the weather as much as I could in the dragon's grasp and cried hoping there was some truth to my words.

Chapter 11: Heart's Desire Leads The Way

  I know it sounds surprising but…I fell asleep. When I awoke I was in a cave of sorts. It was open to the weather but still somewhat warm. Outside I glimpsed mountains, but inside I found a few scatted bones, a heap of gold, and an even larger pile composed of knick knacks like one might find in the Archives in Canterlot. The last visual character was a hoard of weapons and armor, rusty beyond use. I still had all of my possessions but my wings were visibly sprained and wouldn’t work. Sombra's accidental curse still encased my horn.

“Ahhh,” a threatening voice purred “I see my guest is awake.”

I turned around to find my captor standing in way of the entrance/exit.

Talk about a sudden appearance.

He was large, very large. Appearance wise he had fiery deep blue eyes and his scales were perfect camouflage in a snowstorm.

I was terrified.

“Guest?” I squeaked. “You mean you won't eat me?”

The thunder-like sound of dragon laughter filled the dwelling.

“No there are plenty of mountain goats for that, I want to know why southern creatures like ponies are in my realm.”

I nodded nervously, afraid to say anything.

“Now,” he began in a darker tone “I, Usagi would like to know who you and your friend are, little stranger.” He stressed the last word and blew frost into the air.

I took a deep breath: “I am Princess Cadance of the Crystal Empire and my traveling…acquaintance, not friend, is Sombra…”

I explained to him my quest, who, why, where, and how, why I needed the Crystal Heart back.

“…and you see Sombra, who knows a lot, okay a questionable amount of mysterious things; says that it must be us two ponies who find the Heart.”

I waited for Usagi to respond.

He burst out laughing. “Quite the good reason to be here little alicorn Princess, but allow me to give you a lesson.”

Was this dragon Twilight in disguise?

  “First, it must be you and this Sombra. That is true. A certain Queen whispered…a prophecy of sorts, that it is not just statistically true that you and your acquaintance are the only ones able to defeat this foe.”

Singular? “You mean ‘foes’, the Ice Legion is many.”

Usagi growled. “Bah! There is your mistake. The ‘Ice Legion’ you speak of is no more than a legend about rusty armor lying in a heap not too far from here. Your real foe is…”

Usagi trailed off abruptly and started to rummage through his trinket hoard.

“…the Gaia-corn,” he whispered.

  But…then that would mean I had it wrong. Gaia-corn, real, Legion, real but not in the story's sense.  He distributed something to me, placing it around my neck. I glanced down. A blue-white chain with a heart shaped pendant of tarnished silver was in the place of the gold necklace I had left at home. The heart though, seemed to be a tool. In its face was an elaborate compass rose and a needle pointing at a bizarre angle.

Usagi noted my perplexed look.

“This is the Heart's Desire, it will guide you to the Northbound Gaia-corn for it is she whom you must vanquish…for good.”

I nodded, grateful for his gift.

“I'VE GOT YOU NOW!” Shouted a voice behind us.

I whirled around to find a haggard Sombra brandishing his sword via mouth.

“Sombra everything is fine.” I said.

He looked confused and transferred his sword into an aura grasp instead of an oral one.

“Are you saying that I wasted three days, getting no sleep only to come here and discover every bloody thing is ‘fine’?!” His left eye twitched.

“More or less,” mumbled Usagi.

“So we are going then?” Sombra asked, eyeing the dragon.

“Yes, now let’s go find the Crystal Heart.”

I nodded my farewell to Usagi.

“WAIT!” I shrieked once Sombra and I made it down the mountain.

“What?” Sombra grumbled, muttering something about ‘how in magic's name can she scream like that’.

I gestured to my horn.

“Oh. Yeah, that.”

He removed the crystals and we continued on our way: westward, according to H.D.

   The setting sun elongated our shadows:  The strong form of a determined fighter followed by the paranoid silhouette of a stargazing rogue. But, as the sun set further it became unclear to me who was who.

Chapter 12: The Lost Lord-dom

   Gildentundra was a nightmare. As soon as we crossed the border into it the fact became obvious. The land was surrounded by many jagged mountains, permafrost bound, and dotted with the frozen remains of mine-towns like those mentioned in Lore of Yore. The lack of soil was noticeable, with bare rocks and drained ore veins being the only substitute. The entire landscape was making me feel nervous.

“How much longer?” asked an irritated Sombra. “If we don’t get to this mansion soon-” He cut himself off and slipped into an irritated growl.

“IF WE DON'T GET TO THIS OLD MANOR SOON I’M GOING TO LOSE IT!!!”

He turned to a nearby piece of rock, and blasted it out of existence, eyes flashing with rage and sides heaving like a madpony. I shied away, trying to steer clear of his temper.

I'd hate to see what happens when he runs out of rocks…

Briefly, I peered at Heart's Desire.

“Sombra-”

“My name isn’t a curse you know.”

“I never said it was.”

“Hah, I find that hard to believe since your actions seem to differ, now what is it you want?”

“I just thought you might want to know that we should find the manor within four days, and, you might want to use your energy for battle. I doubt the Gaia-corn will just surrender the Heart.”

He snorted. “And you, a pink Princess, have been in battle?”

Ignore him.

“I bet you’re just as soft as-”

“AS WHAT?!”

I'm not sure what I expected him to do, but he didn’t react as I thought.  Instead of yelling at me, he smirked.

“So you do bite back.”

Did he just not insult me?

Unsure, I turned to face the road ahead.

  Two days had passed since we entered the tundra's borders. I spent the time keeping my limbs from freezing while Sombra aimlessly read Lore of Yore.

“What could this mean?” he muttered eyeing the last words of the Northbound Gaia-corn.

“Maybe it’s just a moral lesson?” I offered, after all who’s to say that Arcane Vision didn’t take one or two creative liberties with the legend.

After all I still wasn’t sure how much was true.

He frowned and lit his horn, peering at the star-lit sky.

“Maybe.” Sombra replied.

  We had reached it. After following the trail of irregular stone spires and small glowing flowers, we had come to the end of Gildentundra Valley and found the ruins of what could only be Crooked Glacier Manor. As soon as we stepped into the ruinous threshold, Heart's Desire once and respun pointing nowhere and yet pointing everywhere. I wasn’t sure why, maybe it was trying to signal the end of our journey?

Or maybe it’s as scared as I am.

  Nopony, no one, and nothing dwelled inside. This would leave us free to wander.  Since there was no food or visible source of heat Sombra and I carried our gear at all times .We started with adding fortifications, both arcane and physical. If we were to fight, Sombra had reasoned, we will do it from a prepared defensive position. I decided to reinforce the small wing where we stayed, so we didn’t freeze to death. The ruined state of the manor had provided many good materials to work with for physical reinforcements. Only so much can be made out of äerint.

One thing I found (that was still intact) was an old painting that hung crooked on the wall. That in terms of style matched the one I found in the Archives. The wing of the manor was crumbly and burned, but not open air. The painting depicted a normally built plain blue unicorn stallion with a sour orange mane and tail and an even sourer expression. He was garbed in the ugly and elaborate style of the old Unicorn Tribe. When looking at the painting one had the feeling that his eyes followed the viewer. A dented plague below read:

LORD SILVEDAS-VAINBLADE GILDEBLOODE, 73RD LORD OF GILDENTUNDRA

I shuddered and went to continue on my way notice a blank space next to this portrait, implying another had been its neighbor. Most likely the Archive portrait I found Lore of Yore in.

That must have been a portrait of Finola!

Anyway, I left the one-pony gallery and went deeper into the unwelcoming stone carcass, where I found a gut wrenching sight.

The walls of this oversize corridor had been blasted away letting in gritty stone gravel and cold winds, ancient boulders were littered everywhere surrounded by foreboding green haze that danced sluggishly around the immense stones.

But all I saw were the skeletons…

They lay scattered about with bits of frozen finery and rags still embracing their remains. Neither noble nor chimney sweep was spared by the Gaia-corn, no evidence of mare or stallion from the tattered threads. Adults and foals alike, according to the bones. Sudden spots danced ballets in my eyes while my throat was coated in an icy dryness. Irregular heartbeats belonging only to me, screamed of the horror now laying by my hooves.

This is a place barren of love.

I ran, no more than a tri-color streak, and never looked back.

Chapter 13: Secrets That Slay

   We waited. For two and a half days, sustained on or provisions we did nothing but wait or perform menial tasks. Sombra sharpened his sword, over and over while I developed a nervous twitch in my right wing. But now I was especially worried because it would no longer twitch, neither of my wings would now that some of the first signs of frostbite began had set in. Our efforts were not in vain however, it was the half day that our battle had begun.

“SIGHTED!” I shrieked, from one of the constructed towers I was perched in.

We can do this…

“Prepare for battle then, Princess Amore!” Sombra called from below, eyeing the churning force emerging from the lesser peaks.

That was our foe.

I braced myself, heart pounding as he teleported us to a close hill. We would make the first strike.

I wasn’t going to fail my kingdom.

The teleportation mist subsided as we stepped out.

  There she was: coat as brown as rock with a curved sickle horn (like Sombra's) tipped in pale green. Her eyes were no more than mist of dark ivy color in heavily lashed sockets. Perhaps the most fearsome parts happened to be her mane and tail which seemed to be made out of churning clouds of green mist and rock debris. Her hips, legs, feather tips, and neck were bound in harsh ice ornaments with a semi-translucent chain flowing from her necklace. The Gaia-corn was as tall as Celestia, her gaze malicious.

  When she spoke her mouth did not move and her voice had a soulless quality. If one looked carefully they could see the aspect of a ghostly filly wavering under the alicorn façade. The filly, Marlise, was bound in rags and the Crystal Heart was entwined in her mane. She shared the same malicious gaze as her ‘other half’, the only difference is while the Gaia-corn façade had no expression, Marlise had a murderous sneer.

“Come, Princess,” It beckoned.

I brandished my weapon in response. She shifted her gaze to a bristling Sombra.

“Care for a battle, Shadow-Beast?”

His mane and tail gained their animate appearance in an instant. Fangs poked their way into his mouth once more followed by eye miasma and a bright red demon iris and pupil. Thin, spectral armor now hovered around him. He waved his sword and shot the monster a maniacal, violent smile that matched the insane look in his eyes.

“Try me.”

There would be no diplomacy.

  I quickly unfroze my wings the best I could before firing a powerful magic blast from my bow and Sombra was terrifying as he clashed with the Northbound Gaia-corn.  My shots pierced her but her laughter rippled as they hit, implying my efforts did no harm. However, Sombra's barbaric swings cut deeply.

But not deep enough.

A spire of earth shot under me, I dodged and glided to another spot.

My book spilled out of my bags and fell open:

Undefeatable am I…

Trying to be courageous I threw my dagger at her with all the dagger-throwing skill I could muster.

…Lest evil acquire what the…

Which wasn’t much; considering it missed, and sailed over my target. Sombra slashed powerfully with his sword, which at the moment was held in his mouth.

…What the vain Lord lacked…

The Gaia-corn briefly shifted her gaze to me while in combat. Sombra deflected her earthen blow.

I charged, ready to use some of the combat magic I knew but suddenly buckled and snapped backward. A ripping sound unlike any other filled the air followed by a powerful yet incredibly brief rush of burning, wet pain. I looked down, face ashen.

An earthen spire was piercing me at a crooked angle, right through my mid-section.

…and speaketh Great Truth.

  Blood was pouring everywhere pooling in the broken tissue and dripping from my left wing, which had been impaled. I felt exceptionally woozy and squeaked a bit.

This was more…more than I could…I could. Mend.

Sombra whipped his head around and transferred his sword back to a magical grip. His eyes flashed back to normal briefly and widened.

Time seemed to slow down.

‘…and speaketh Great Truth.’

‘…evil…what the vain…lacked…’

‘…an individual like him probably had at least one secret…’

‘…thought that you of all ponies would understand…’

It all made sense.

“SOMBRA,” I screamed despite all the pain. And spots.

I got his attention.

I accept that I will die.

Sweet Elysium…take...Me.…Celestia…failed…save. Me?

Time seemed to speed up once more but only for him and me.

My heart was in my throat…or maybe it was blood.

“She can be killed…truth! Your truth! Your secret! I know. Her? Tell…”

Everything appeared to be clicking back now…including the Gaia-corn.

Her face paled at my words.

The pain began to flip-flop and go away.

Some of the nerves must have been wiped out, or died.

“Sombra…I…no secrets…”

Breathing. It hurt.

I slipped a bit.

Strength was vanishing.

Something long and hard broke unleashing another wave of pain. This caused my wings to go berserk and my legs to twitch and spasm.

My spine.

Tears streamed down my face.

The Gaia-corn. She disarmed Sombra. He didn’t seem to care.

I can only…take…so.

Much.

Was he in a stupor?

More blood leaked out and I screamed. Sombra's chest shook as he turned to the enemy.

I saw him gulp.

Dots danced everywhere.

He took a deep breath and screamed. But there were words in his scream and it was as scared as mine.

“I-I'M IN LOVE-”

A bright light followed and a loud explosion stumbled closely behind it, this cancelled out anything else…

He…

Might…

Have…

Said…

Pain blurred. My organs-

Stopped.

I sunk into the dark.

Chapter 14: The Crystal Empress

Darkness…

Darkness everywhere.

Where was I?

Had Sombra won?

Although the spire was gone and I was still marred there was no pain. I shakily stood up.

“Hellooooooo….”

Nopony answered my call.

A light.

A light appeared about thirty feet in front of me. I went closer. The light seemed to respond and folded and writhed around before expanding to reveal a magnificent door with a Crystal Heart keystone.

I drew in a sharp breath. I was on the adventure of a lifetime.

Who says I can’t have the death of a lifetime?

I think I was bloody ready for what was on the other side.

So I opened it.

I will never forget this moment and what came next.

   An entire rounded crystal chamber, decorated in the Empire's fashion was inside. In the center was a round table, while three doors on the far end read: Paradise, Tartarus, and Empire.

“May we help you?” A regal voice demanded.

Despite my physical state, I whirled around. Nopony was here when I came in.

The table was surrounded by six swirling lights, which settled down and changed into the most magnificent ponies. Five of them were Alicorns: sapphire blue, silver metal, ruby red, emerald green, and peridot yellow. Also amongst them was a young opalescent crystal pony mare.

But these Alicorns, were they made of gems, simply wearing them...or were they...Crystal Alicorns?

How was this possible?

If I was still alive, somepony would have told me that my mouth looked as big as a flugel horn.  One of the alicorns, a tall green female, with a mane and tail that looked like mist tendrils, stood up. Her cutie mark was a wide open stylized gold eye of sorts. Although she was shorter than Celestia, she was taller than Luna. The other Alicorns' manes and tails appeared to be a middle ground of crystal pony and traditional Alicorn manes. This mare leaned more toward the Alicorn half.

She looked down, and reeled away in disgust.

“Your left wing just fell off.”

I pretended not to notice.

The blue mare, whose height surpassed Celestia's, rose. This caused her mane which was mostly piled on her head to sway. Sapphire ornaments jingled.

“Queen Ezmeralda, please seat yourself once more,” she intoned voice noble and superior to the other mare's. She must have been the one who spoke first.

Was this ‘Ezmeralda’ the blue mare's daughter? It certainly felt like that.

She obeyed and sat among the other ponies who stayed silent. Allowing the sapphire pony to continue.

“Greetings Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”

She paused daintily and I glimpsed her cutie mark, a sapphire with familiar tricolor auras pouring out of it as they took on the shape of the object the lights embraced. That object was a Crystal Heart.

The Crystal Heart.

This must be the first Crystal Queen, the one who created the Heart and started the Crystal Fair.

She noted my expression. “I am the former Queen Sapp'ra, Creator of the Heart among other mysteries.”

Former?

But she was an Alicorn…

“What do you mean ‘former’? I thought Alicorns never die or fade. So aren't you supposed to be eternal?”

Sapp’ra pursed her lips.

“Alicorn life as a whole…will reveal itself to you in due time. But in our case? We could not stand eternal life so we cursed ourselves to attach to the Heart. Where did you think its power came from, a ewe running on a wheel?” She chuckled warmly, indicating it was a joke, not an insult.

“Although, in Opal Charm's case-” she nodded towards the crystal pony whose eyes clouded.

“-blood was spilled.”

I quieted down. None of the books in the Crystal Library mentioned an Alicorn ruling before Sombra.

“You must think you are here because you are a dead monarch correct?”

I nodded.

Her gaze nitpicked me for a moment. “Newly dead, to be exact.”

I gazed at my left wing, the once colorful feathers now marred and crimson stained.

“As you can see none of us bear the marks of death, not even Opal.”

That was true.

“Are you saying I will be restored, in appearance? Or that she died painlessly?”

“No. Opal did not die painlessly. Far from it.”

“I still don't understand why I am here. Am I really dead or is this a dream?”

“Yes, you are dead.” She shifted her elegantly lashed eyes over to the other ponies, who inclined their heads as one.

“But you will not stay dead, Crystal Empress.”

I made a choking sound. An Empress? Empresses outrank Queens.

She chuckled in a reassuring way.

“This surprises you, hmm?”

I nodded once more.

“You see,” she gestured to my flank “that your mark, a representation of you and so much more, marks you for this everlasting role.”

I thought it meant that I had a pure heart.

She went on. “You allied with the Empire's sole greatest enemy-”

“Wait, you said I wouldn’t stay dead. Does this mean I will never die? Or see Shiny? Or-“

Ezmeralda cleared her throat implying she would now speak.

“Empress, you have an entire council to guide you and there is still much to learn. You will die one day, alicorns cannot become Alicorns. Even when you die you will gain powers that we do not have in our ‘death’. Although they have their limitations they will include: access to the other Dead Worlds; Paradise and Tartarus, and of course rare visits to the Midgard where you reside. Particular the Empire.”

Opal Charm softly added: “In a sense you are now and forever immortal, beyond the immortality of the soul.”

Slowly I accepted this with a bow of my head.

  When I looked up again the room started to fade, whereas I began to glow like a beacon. I watched in wonder…as my body began to heal and the Crystal Heart's magic did its work, making my coat crystalline and styling my mane into the Ceremonial Headdress, only crystalized.

“Good luck, Empress,” said Sapp’ra smiling.

I blinked once.

When I opened my eyes the Crystal Queen was gone.

Chapter 15: A Friend In The Dark

“You’re alive?!” Sombra exclaimed.

I gracefully straightened my posture and examined the change in settings. We now were in a crater.

“The Gaia-corn…is she dead?”

“Umm…yes,” said Sombra, deciding to look at the ground.

“I’m the Crystal Empress.” I briefly explained some of what happened when I was in the Crystal Heart.

“Huh…so that’s why the Heart was glowing.”

Now to see if what I feared had come true.

“Sombra…I heard what you said…and it…it’s not…”

Sombra looked disgusted.

“NO! It’s not! Why would it be you?!” He made a huffing noise.

I looked at the sky.

“We had best get going, friend.”

Sombra jerked his head around.

“Friend???”

I nodded.

“Yes, you are my friend. You have saved my life on multiple occasions, come to my aid, and most importantly you have saved my kingdom. If Celestia won’t knight you like I would then I will go into saying how you gave up your most-precious-secret-”

“How did you guess that you little-“he grumbled.

“-to save my kingdom and if the Element Bearers and Twilight try anything, they will have to go through me. Okay friend?”

Sombra glared at me, as if trying to detect a lie.

“Knighted?”

“Of course!”

“Hmph.”

I took that grunt as an okay.

    There was silence for a moment as we headed back south.

“Fine,” he muttered out of the blue.

“What?”

He sighed in a slightly annoyed manner.

“I can’t believe I’m even considering this, but I'll tell you…who she is.”

I giggled and scooped up the Heart, cradling it gently in one of my wings. All of my gear with the exception of my now holey cloak had now perished.

“Whisper it, the wind might hear you.”

He frowned, leading me towards the notion he had no sense of humor.

“YOU OWE ME!”

I plucked a gem from the headdress and tossed it to him.

Sombra shoved it in his bags.

“That'll do, Princess.”

He whispered a name in my ear.

My eyes widened. I couldn't believe it...yet in the strangest way I knew his words were true.

“Let me guess, I don’t even have a chance,” he mumbled.

I giggled once more.

“Take it from the Princess of Love: you have a shot and I wish you luck.”

For the first time, I think I saw him smile.

Or was I just hallucinating…

Epilogue

Only Celestia was at Canterlot, Luna was at a meeting in Baltimare.

  It took a lot of explaining to Princess Celestia to clarify why Sombra shouldn’t be banished. She even refused to mention him by name. After she heard me explain everything but the secret Sombra revealed; Celestia explained she would not knight him, after all the role of knight in Equestria comes with significant power. Instead Celestia grudgingly proposed the take-it-or-leave-it offer of making him a realmless duke.

“Like Blueblood?”

“No,” Celestia said calmly “Blueblood has an estate to his name.”

Sombra, who had been reduced to standing behind me, cleared his throat loudly.

“What is it?” Celestia asked tonelessly, contrary to the look in her eyes which resembled burning coals shooting sparks at Sombra.

“Can I leave?”

She raised an eyebrow.

“I can’t just have you wander around the castle, where will you go?”

He snorted a bit.

“How about away from you, O Eternally Irritating One?”

Celestia drew an angry breath but maintained much composure. “Guards, if you please escort this stallion to another room.”

Three days later…

I was nervous.

  Canterlot Hall was filled with well-dressed ponies both intrigued and worried at the same time. Twilight, who was beside Princess Luna on the platform, waved to her friends among the front rows of attendees. I was all decked out as Crystal Princess. I waved to Shining Armor, who unlike our kingdom was not instantly healed with the restoration of the Heart, thus he couldn’t climb the platform. Princess Luna stood off to the far left and looked as nervous as I was. After all, leave it to Celestia to be the only pony comfortable in an immense hall filled with ponies.

  Center stage was Sombra, who was still sporting an overgrown mane and tail along with his singed cloak. The sword that I let him keep was sheathed at his side. Sombra was shooting a downright murderous look at Blueblood, who unfortunately was standing next to me.

  Princess Celestia cleared her throat signaling the beginning of the ceremony.

“I, Princess Celestia of the Two Sisters, do hereby grant the affix of Boundless Duke upon this pony. You may have completed a task of great merit with the aide of the Crystal Princess; but alone you have committed greater, almost overshadowing crimes. Do not think that they will be forgotten. Now, to the oaths.”

We were all quiet as she began yet Celestia's now disdainful gaze still seared, boring down on Sombra, who was only about the same height as Luna, maybe an inch or two shorter.

“Do you, Sombra of NO INHERITANCE OR HERITAGE,” she began eloquently, “swear to uphold the laws of Equestria, its vassals, allies, and states?”

“Yes,” he grumbled, although his tone made it sound like he would have rather said 'maybe'.

In the audience Rarity almost fainted at his lack of formality towards the princess, whereas Celestia seemed to coolly let his curtness slide.

“Do you, Sombra of Unknown Parentage, swear to protect Equestria, her rulers, subjects, allies, vassals, and states; as if they were your own?”

“I do,” Sombra stated “swear to protect Equestria, its rulers, subjects, allies, states, and vassals from harm and-” his gaze met Celestia's.

“-from tyrants.”

The crowds were dismissed and Princess Celestia shot me a we'll-talk-later-look.

I nodded and trotted over to Shiny, whose leg was in a cast. My crystalline coat was still in effect and my thoughts drifted over to Sombra.

  Something told me this wouldn’t be his last adventure, if any pony could change Equestria it was my friend: Sombra, Duke of Nowhere and Nothing.