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.

Next Chapter: Chapter 11: Heart's Desire Leads The Way Estimated time remaining: 19 Minutes