As they approach the border of the Everfree, Midnight's ears twitch towards the forest and she inhales slowly through her nose, the increasingly familiar scents and sounds of the place a welcome change after spending two full nights among Ponyville's constructed streets and houses. Dawn fades into visibility on her right a few seconds later, giggling as she draws her wings to her sides and executes a quick aileron roll above the rapidly thickening canopy. Luna and Lunar Trail watch the two sisters from a short distance behind them, the thestral stallion waiting another minute before speeding up to fly on Midnight's left.

"Beautiful night tonight," Lunar comments, examining the moon and stars populating the perfectly clear sky.

"Mhm," Midnight replies, sparing a glance for the darkened realm above her then returning her gaze to the forest below.

"I wasn't expecting it to be this peaceful, seeing as pegasi don't control the weather here," Lunar continues. "Is Everfree weather normally this calm?"

Midnight shrugs, "Sometimes."

"I've only heard about how chaotic the Everfree is supposed to be – during training all they said was to avoid flying over it at all costs, period. Isn't it difficult to not know what the weather is going to be like even an hour from now?" Lunar asks.

"It's weather," Midnight states bluntly. "As long as it's not incredibly windy or stormy or cold, it doesn't matter what it's like."

Lunar Trail winces internally, "Ah. Right. Makes sense."

No words are spoken for a few minutes, the increasingly awkward silence broken only by the regular sound of air moving over their wings. Gathering his courage, Lunar risks a glance in Midnight's direction, finding her still staring at the trees passing beneath them.

"Your mane and tail look nice," Lunar Trail says in an attempt to rekindle the conversation.

Midnight looks at him uncertainly, "Um… thanks?"

"How do you clean it?" Lunar queries, "Just swipe somepony's shampoo every once in a while?"

"No," Midnight replies, "we make a paste from a few plants."

"Huh, that's kind of neat," Lunar Trail says.

"It's irritating," Midnight grumbles.

"So it gives you a rash or something?" Lunar Trail asks sympathetically, "I had something like that happen once. That was not a pleasant night."

Midnight rolls her eyes, "I mean making it is irritating. So is talking about it."

"Oh," Lunar replies awkwardly.

Looking again at Midnight, his gaze lingers on the pair of fangs poking out from between her lips as she breathes rhythmically through her mouth, his tongue lightly running over his own smaller set of sharpened canines, "If you don't mind me asking, there is something I am a bit curious about. What does blood taste like to you?"

Midnight's wings freeze for an instant at the peak of her upstroke and she quickly glances at Lunar Trail, "What?"

"Well," Lunar Trail says, smiling as Midnight gives her wings a few rapid beats to regain lost altitude, "I thought you'd rather talk about that than the weather, or your hair. I've also been told that thestrals taste fruit juices differently than other types of ponies, so I'm a little curious if vamponies have something similar with blood."

Midnight simply stares at him, her expression inscrutable.

"Soo… ?" Lunar Trail prompts nervously when the silence starts to become uncomfortable once more.

Midnight sighs, glancing at the forest for a moment, "Vampony blood, whether it's my own or somepony else's, is really bitter. Changeling blood is even worse. Otherwise it depends on the pony."

"Is the taste entirely random?" Lunar Trail asks curiously, "Or is each tribe kind of similar?"

Midnight shrugs, "It can be pretty similar sometimes, but mostly it's just random. Some are more filling than others too; I only need a few mouthfuls of the red apple stallion, for example."

Lunar Trail's smile returns, Midnight's first piece of volunteered information beginning to restore his self-confidence, "Do you have a favorite then?"

"Yep," Midnight replies, a mischievous grin spreading across her face. "Luna."

Lunar coughs, his wings momentarily losing sync with each other and throwing him off balance, "But how would – you snuck up to the library while we were sleeping and bit the Princess?!"

"Be at ease," Princess Luna states calmly, closing the gap to fly more closely behind them. "Midnight has done no such thing. I offered her my own blood in the hospital before I called for you."

Lunar Trail looks forward, Luna's explanation not entirely soothing his annoyance at the thought of Midnight biting the princess under his protection, "Oh."

"And it was amazing," Midnight continues dreamily, ignoring the somewhat miffed stallion to her left. "It was like drinking the moon and stars, but also all the blackness between them. I wonder if all alicorns have two flavors."

"Two?" Luna asks quickly, her left ear twitching as she tries to maintain an appearance of idle curiosity.

Midnight nods slowly, still staring off into the distance, "Mhm. I've heard the pink one also has two, but I never tried her. Thought they were just making it up."

Well, that's interesting, Selena comments.

Indeed, Luna replies, her mind beginning to wander after the implications of Midnight's statement. I had suspected they were getting something beyond physical nutrients from feeding, but this certainly confirms that assumption.

Silence again envelopes the trio as they each keep to their own thoughts, though one by one their attention is drawn to Dawn's boredom-fueled and increasingly strange flight patterns.

"So… " Lunar Trail says after a time, his focus drifting from an upside down Dawn back to Midnight, "have you ever had thestral blood?"

Midnight gives him a flat look; however, before she can speak, the leaves of a particularly large oak tree they had passed over mere seconds ago rustle and she looks behind her, eyes widening, "Uh-oh."

Suddenly a shadowy blur slams into Midnight, the translucent and vaguely pony shaped blob of darkness dragging her into the forest below.

"Wait!" Dawn shouts as a second, barely visible shadow wraps around her barrel and pulls her towards the trees as well, "Mmooooommm"

Luna's horn immediately glows to life, encasing her and Lunar Trail in a shell of magic – a third vampony impacting the protective barrier a split second later. The vampony's shadowmagic partially dissipates as he bounces harmlessly off the shield, his wings flapping unevenly for a moment before he once more vanishes from sight, Luna's eyes nevertheless tracking his descent.

Lunar Trail follows Princess Luna's gaze, minutes passing as the pair watch the gently rippling leaves of the trees below them. Glancing at the shield still surrounding them, he slowly sheaths his shortsword, "Uhm… what should we do now, Princess?"

"It would seem that this is something of a family matter," Luna replies delicately, "so we believe it would be best to not intervene for the time being."

Lunar Trail nods, doing his best to hide his relief as he returns to watching the Everfree, "As you say, Princess."

Midnight dislodges her attacker with a kick as they rush towards the ground, flaring her left wing as soon as they separate to flip herself around just in time to land on her hooves, though the layer of moss coating the forest floor fails to offer enough traction to prevent her from skidding into a nearby tree. The other vampony gives her no time to recover, ramming Midnight as she takes a couple dazed steps away from the trunk to knock her on her back. Blinking stars from her eyes, Midnight raises her forelegs to defend herself, baring her fangs as she feels a pair of hooves step on her right wing. Her bravado vanishes as soon as she recognizes the pony next to her however, mouth closing and hooves dropping to her chest as she raises her chin to expose her throat, "H-Hi Dad."

Wisp glares down at his eldest daughter, lowering his head to let his canines lightly touch either side of her windpipe, Midnight holding perfectly still save for the rapid expansion and contraction of her abdomen as she tries to catch her breath.

Wisp's head jerks up as something else crashes through the canopy, Eclipse landing heavily on three hooves with a wriggling Dawn held tightly to her chest by the fourth, "Good, you've got Midnight, now get off her so we can get out of here."

As she speaks, the vampony who had attacked Luna joins the family, Dusk coming to a hovering stop just above the mossy ground before landing with a wince.

"Did you get the alicorn?" Wisps asks.

Dusk shakes his head, rolling his right shoulder uncomfortably, "Shield."

Wisp groans, "OK, then we really need to leave before they-"

"NO!" Dawn shouts, struggling free of Eclipse's hold to stand on her own four hooves.

Wisp's eyes narrow, his irises glowing dimly, "What?"

Dawn backs up a step, ears drooping as she lowers herself to the ground, "The p-princess just wants to talk to us."

Wisp blinks, "What."

"It's true," Midnight adds supportively, "she-"

"Shut up," Wisp says harshly, glaring once more at his still pinned daughter. "You were supposed to help Dawn feed, you had ONE JOB, and instead you both go missing for a night, and then when we go out to look for you we find you, apparently willingly, leading an alicorn right to us! You don't get to speak!"

Eclipse nervously looks up at the leaf obscured sky, "We don't have time for this."

"You're right," Wisp agrees, stepping off of Midnight's wing and spreading his own slightly larger pair.

"Wait," Midnight says, standing and gingerly folding her wings to her sides. "Dawn was telling the truth, they really do just want to talk with us."

Wisp grits his teeth in frustration, "Look, I don't know what lies they told you, but the only reason they'd tolerate your existence is so they could use you to find the rest of us in order to-"

"In order to finish killing us off like they almost did 1000 years ago?" Midnight interrupts.

"…how did you know about that?" Wisp asks quietly.

"Wait, hold on a second, what do you mean 'almost killed us off'?" Dusk demands.

"About 1000 years ago the Equestrians tried to exterminate our entire species," Wisp answers tersely.

Dusk stares at his father, mouth hanging open, "What?! How would – you never – we go into their town about once every couple weeks, why didn't you ever tell us?!"

Eclipse sighs, "Because we didn't want you to grow up terrified of the ponies you depend on to survive."

"And we didn't want to risk any of you being stupid enough to try and get revenge," Wisp adds irritably.

"They do just want to talk though," Midnight says, tenderly rubbing the two hoof-shaped bruises forming on her wing. "They didn't realize we were the ones they were killing back then."

"They didn't know?!" Wisp shouts furiously, "They slaughtered thousands and nearly killed off our entire race, how could they possibly not know?"

"The alicorn gave me her blood," Midnight states simply.

Wisp stares uncomprehendingly at Midnight, her words catching him off guard, "I-I… what?"

Midnight takes a deep breath, "The alicorn, Luna, willingly offered her own blood, which healed the injuries I got from fighting an undead vampony, which is what they thought they were fighting a thousand years ago – they didn't even know we existed until a couple nights ago. And when Dawn and I got separated after I was attacked by the undead vampony, the purple alicorn, Twilight, found her and brought her to where they were keeping me in their hospital. Then last night I helped Luna and Twilight, as well as some of her friends, to take down the undead vampony. And then during the day another alicorn showed up and apologized for at least the fourth time for what they did 1000 years ago, and one of Twilight's friends even offered to let me feed on her."

Midnight's brow creases slightly, "Unn…less she meant 'drink' as in water or something, in which case that's going to be kind of awkward, but regardless." She gestures at her flank, "Drinking Luna's blood also added a moon to my cutie mark."

Wisp stands gaping at Midnight, his eyes slowly traveling from her face to her flank and back again, "An… undead… you can't be serious."

Midnight shrugs, "I don't know about undead, but I do know that he kept moving after I broke his spine, and that his blood smelled… not even just bad, it smelled wrong. I'm not sure how else to describe it. 'Even worse than dried changeling blood' is as close as I can think of."

"And I made friends with some fillies in town who call themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders," Dawn chimes in. "They're going to help me get my cutie mark since none of them have their cutie marks yet either."

"Look, I know how crazy this all sounds," Midnight continues as Wisp shifts his stare back and forth between his two daughters, looking utterly lost, "and it's really complicated, but they say they want to help us to live peacefully with the rest of the ponies in Equestria, and I believe them."

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Eclipse nevertheless says, turning from Midnight to look at Wisp, "but I think we should listen to what their Princess Luna has to say."

"Y-You do?" Wisp stammers.

Eclipse nods reluctantly, "As strange as it seems, nothing they've done so far these these past nights sounds like what they would do if they wanted us all dead. At the very least they would have followed Midnight and Dawn into the forest after us, yet they haven't – and they've definitely had enough time to find us if they had wanted to, given how long we've been standing here talking. Cutie marks don't just change without a reason either, and it would be strange for Midnight's cutie mark to gain a moon after drinking the blood of the Moon Princess if said princess wanted to kill every last vampony in existence."

Wisp closes his eyes for several seconds, slowly inhaling and exhaling as he mulls over Eclipse's words, "That makes… sense… OK. So, we'll talk to the princess. Hear what she has to say."

"Midnight, you, and I will hear what she has to say," Eclipse corrects, shifting her gaze to her son. "Dusk, I want you to take Dawn home and wait for us, just in case. If you don't hear from any of us within an hour, spread word to everypony else and then get as far away from here as possible."

Dusk bobs his head once, turning to move deeper into the Everfree, "Come on, Dawn."

"But-" Dawn tries to protest.

"Dawn," Wisp states clearly, pointing at Dusk, "follow your brother."

Dawn's eyes travel between each of her family members before giving in, lowering her muzzle to stare at the ground as she trails after Dusk.

The others watch them go, Wisp sighing after they've been hidden by the surrounding trees for a few minutes, "Midnight, if you could go tell the alicorn-"

"Luna," Midnight corrects.

Wisp gives her an annoyed look, "Go tell Luna that we will speak with her, but if she wants to talk to us, she can come down here."

Midnight acquiesces with a nod, spreading her wings and jumping towards the leaf-obscured sky.

Lunar tenses within Luna's barrier as something breaks through the treetops, his tail's grip on his sheathed shortsword relaxing when he recognizes the incoming object as Midnight.

Stopping in front of Luna's shield, Midnight taps the hollow, glowing sphere twice, "Huh, neat. Anyway, Luna, I told my parents about everything that happened the last couple nights, and they've agreed to hear you out, so… follow me."

Luna touches the inside of her shield with the tip of her horn, the protective barrier popping like a punctured bubble and for an instant leaving behind a nearly transparent afterimage. Lunar Trail's eyes constantly dart in all directions as they fly after Midnight, Luna pushing aside obstructing leaves and branches with her magic as they descend through the canopy. Reaching the ground a short distance from the location of her previous landing, Midnight trots forward, Luna and Lunar touching down as well and walking more slowly in her wake to allow a respectful distance to form between the vamponies and themselves.

Midnight's parents cautiously watch the approaching alicorn and thestral, eyes tracking their every move and frequently flitting up to Luna's horn. A loud *SNAP* echoes through the trees as Luna steps on a particularly large twig, both parents jumping back with fangs bared and half hidden by shadows before realizing the source of the sound. Lunar Trail reacts in kind, a faint white glow outlining his hooves as he leaps in front of Luna with his shortsword drawn to place himself between her and the vamponies. Midnight freezes mid-step, her gaze focused on Lunar while her ears listen for any motions made by her parents.

"Lunar Trail, stand down," Luna says after a long, tense moment as she slowly pushes the now broken twig to the side and out of her path.

"With all due respect Princess, I think it would be best if I stay where I am," Lunar Trail replies under his breath, eying the still hostile stance of the two unknown vamponies. "At least until we know they aren't going to attack you again."

"I am not asking your opinion on the matter," Luna states, her voice edged with authority. "I am telling you what you shall do. Now."

Lunar Trail flinches at her tone, immediately dropping his defensive posture and backing up to stand just in front of Luna.

"At my side," Luna commands coldly.

Lunar Trail slowly moves to Princess Luna's right side, maintaining his focus on Midnight's parents as best he can while nervously splitting his scrutiny between them and the surrounding trees.

"Sheath your weapon."

Lunar Trail hesitates, meeting his Princess' steely gaze for an instant before quickly sheathing his blade, the weak light surrounding his hooves likewise fading.

"Our apologies," Luna says, managing a mostly sincere smile as she turns her attention to the two somewhat hazy forms opposite her and takes a couple more steps forward, Lunar Trail remaining next to her while she moves. "We had hoped our meeting would not begin on such an… aggressive note. But regardless, I am Luna, and this beside me is my guard, Lunar Trail."

A few seconds pass in silence, Midnight's parents trading an uncertain look before relaxing slightly and releasing their shadowmagic. Midnight lets out a sigh of relief and relaxes as well, taking the opportunity to finish walking over to stand beside her mother who steps forward, mouth twitching in a failed attempt to return Luna's smile, "Hello. I am Eclipse, and this is my mate, Wisp."

Wisp nods jerkily, "Our daughter said that you wanted to talk to us?"

"Indeed," Luna replies, doing her best to appear at ease as she sits calmly on the mossy earth. "I need your help to arrange a meeting with all the vamponies who are living in the Everfree around Ponyville."

Wisp's eyes narrow suspiciously, "Why?"

"I suppose I should have started with that, actually," Luna says smoothly, mentally kicking herself. "We are unsure to what level of detail Midnight has told you about the events of these last nights, but the crux of the matter is that the existence and nature of vamponies is now known to all of Ponyville, and will likely soon be known across all of Equestria. What this means, is that you will no longer be able to remain hidden, since now ponies will know how and where to look for you. And while I completely understand any distrust you have of us, we would very much like to prevent some ponies' inevitable distaste over your unique dietary needs from growing into outright conflict. To that end, we would like to meet with the vamponies who live around Ponyville, so that we may begin working towards some kind of agreement or framework which will ultimately allow your race to live alongside the other tribes in harmony. It is also our hope that whatever understanding we come to can then be applied to any other towns which vamponies live close to."

Worry flickers across Luna face, "And, while I truly do not mean for this to come across as a threat, time is very much of the essence if we are to prevent ponies who do not wish to be fed upon from taking matters into their own hooves."

"I don't see why we need to change in order to accommodate their discomfort," Wisp says tersely. "We have already been living peacefully alongside your kind both before and after you nearly wiped us out. We have been living next to Ponyville for centuries, and nopony in the town has even noticed. You are their leader, why don't you just tell them to get over themselves and let things stay the same as they always have been?"

"You are right, I could do that," Luna answers carefully. "But I won't, because the fact of the matter is that things are different now than they were even just a few nights ago. I do not dispute your right to survive, need for blood included, but your right to survive does not extend to forcing an entire town to submit to your needs. Doing so would likely cause many ponies to simply leave, and if too many leave then you will not be able to survive on whomever remains. Should I then force ponies to stay against their will? And if ponies are forced to stay, or simply unwilling or unable to leave, they could resort to other methods to try and prevent vamponies from feeding on them. Should I then enforce punishments harsh enough to make them unwilling to defend their own homes?"

"I… suppose not," Wisp replies, taken aback.

"If they are so averse to us being here, why should we even stay?" Eclipse asks coolly. "There aren't very many of us; we could easily relocate to live close to some other town that wouldn't know to look for us."

"You could move," Luna admits, "however the changelings living in Ponyville, who were also discovered over the course of the last two nights, knew of a way to figure out which towns vamponies are living by."

"And they told you?" Wisp demands.

"Yes," Luna replies, "and-"

"Backstabbing bugs," Wisp hisses angrily.

"And I'm glad they did," Luna states forcefully, "not because it is my intention to use that knowledge to force your hoof, but because it demonstrates how having vamponies nearby is in fact a good thing. By their account, it is due to your presence that many of the Everfree's predators – well, other predators – are kept at bay. Were you to leave, it is all but certain that Ponyville will come under attack from wild manticores, chupacabras, and the like, and they would be after far more than a little blood."

"It is my hope," Luna continues, "that through talking to and learning about each other, this mutually beneficial relationship can be kept intact despite the change in circumstances."

Eclipse raises an eyebrow, disdain dripping from every syllable, "And yet, despite how nicely you have chosen your words, it still sounds like you are saying we need to entrust our future to you since we can't hide and we can't leave. But just because we don't have any particularly good options doesn't automatically make yours a better one, especially with our history, so why should we trust you or believe a single word you're saying?"

Midnight frowns, "Because-"

"Quiet, Midnight," Wisp says loudly, cutting her off.

Luna swallows, anxiety drying her throat, "Well, I… if what Midnight has told you is not enough, and if you are truly still so skeptical of my intentions as to question every word I speak, then there is very little I can do in this moment to prove to you otherwise."

"I see," Wisp replies, a hint of triumph lacing his voice. "So if we refused to find the others and bring them together to speak with you, what would you do?"

"I-I… " Luna stammers, a cold pit forming in her stomach, "I suppose… there would not be anything left for me to do here, so I would return to Ponyville."

Wisp meets Luna's worried gaze, holding it with his own, "Then that is what we choose. Get out of our forest."

His words strike Luna like a blow, a light ringing in her ears dimming all other sounds as they reverberate around her skull along with two of her own.

I failed.

Midnight's head jerks around to stare at her father in shock, "Wait-"

"Shut up," Wisp interrupts without so much as glancing at her.

"Mom, you can't-" Midnight says in an attempted appeal to her other parent, however a glowing-eyed glare from Eclipse cuts her off.

Luna opens her mouth to speak, however no words come out and she instead bows, finding her voice by the time she raises her head, "If that is what you wish."

Taking a hesitant step backwards, Luna pauses for one last hopeful second before turning and walking away, her ears limply folded down as she stares unseeingly at the moist dirt and moss beneath her hooves. Lunar Trail watches the vamponies for a few more seconds, then turns on his heel to follow in Luna's plodding hoofsteps.

Wisp and Eclipse's tense, angry mood lifts as they watch Luna leave, glancing at each other in surprise once she is entirely out of sight.

"Wait!" Wisp calls out, cantering after the retreating alicorn.

Confusion conquers Luna's face as she sees Wisp, Eclipse, and an equally bewildered Midnight approaching, the trio stopping several feet from her and Lunar Trail.

"You're leaving," Wisp states.

"Of course," Luna replies, "that is what you-"

Luna's eyes widen in realization, warm hope rekindling in her chest as she narrows her eyes suspiciously, "You wanted to see if I would actually leave."

Eclipse nods, the ends of her mouth bending up ever so slightly, "If you were here to hunt us down, you would not have left so easily, and you definitely would not have left us alive once you thought you weren't going to be able to convince us to lead you to any other vamponies."

Luna's face splits into a wide smile, "So you are willing to gather the other vamponies around Ponyville, and to discuss how vamponies and non-vamponies can peacefully coexist?"

"We are," Wisp replies impassively, Luna's happiness not reflected in his own neutral expression. "It will take most of the night, and chances are we won't be able to find everypony, but there is a castle nearby you can wait in while we look. Midnight will lead you and your guard there."

Luna bobs her head gratefully, "Thank you for your understanding. I do know the castle you speak of though, so we can make our own way there. We will wait in what remains of the castle's library, if that is acceptable."

"Wherever you choose to wait is fine," Wisp says with a shrug. "We are familiar enough with its layout to be able to find you."

Wasting no more time, Wisp and Eclipse spread their wings and take off to begin their search, the darkened forest quickly hiding them from view.

Midnight watches her parents leave before turning to Luna and Lunar Trail, "Soo… I… guess that went well. Um… see you later then."

After watching Midnight disappear through the leaves overhead, Princess Luna takes to the sky as well, Lunar Trail diligently maintaining his position at her side as they fly towards Luna's former home, the Princess of the Night humming happily to herself the entire way.

Flameless torches burst to life, their light dwarfing the glow of Celestia's horn to reveal a large, dusty room, its only apparent feature a short, but wide, square pedestal whose top has been ground down into the shape of a bowl. A large group of unicorns slowly drain down the stairs into the room's corner after her, forming a circle in front of the room's entrance as they maintain Sombra's current prison between them.

"Stay where you are," Celestia instructs as she makes her way to the pedestal, walking in a circle around it and giving each of its four corners a tap with her horn.

A rune glows to life upon each touch, giving an ominous hiss as the magic held within them burns through the room's thick layer of dust to leave the dull orange symbols clearly visible. As soon as the fourth rune is lit, more runes begin to glow as well, a column of symbols activating beneath each corner to reach the floor in perfect synchrony with another transit of Celestia around the pedestal. Celestia continues her walking, more runes activating to form increasingly complex layers of enchantments as she spirals further and further outward, the hissing becoming louder and the smell of burnt dust more poignant with each step. Coming to a stop in the now rather cramped corner of the room containing Sombra and her mages, Celestia spreads her wings and takes flight, hovering to a stop halfway between the pedestal and the room's corner.

Her horn glows brighter, and her aura surrounds the blue shield containing the former tyrant, "You may release him now."

A unanimous sigh of relief echoes from the unicorns as their horns wink out, several slumping to the cool stone floor, their exhausted groans mixing with the occasional sneeze from the dust disturbed by their sudden motions. Celestia meanwhile carefully levitates Sombra over to the pedestal, sweat beading on her face and sparks of magic popping from her horn by the time he touches down, the curve of the barrier holding him matching the pedestal's perfectly.

As soon as Sombra is in place, the outermost runes shine increasingly brightly, the room's torches flickering and going out as magical power rapidly spirals inward along the runes until it reaches the pedestal. A brief pause follows once all the runes are charged, the room lit almost entirely by their dangerous glow save for the beacon of Celestia's luminous horn as the air thrums with structured magical energy. Suddenly, an orange haze forms around Sombra's blue prison, the haze solidifying into an orange shield an instant later and shattering the blue one to take its place.

Celestia cries out, her mind blanking from the feedback of her overwhelmed barrier and falling towards the rune-laden floor as her wings falter. A hodgepodge of five auras surround her just before she hits the stone, an equal number of unicorns gritting their teeth as they focus what remains of their magic to lift their princess to safety.

Celestia's legs tremble as her mages lower her to the floor between them, though she manages to remain standing. Four of the unicorns who saved her are less fortuitous however, simultaneously collapsing into sweaty heaps as their legs give out. The fifth unicorn gasps, sitting heavily, but with a concerted effort is able to keep his muzzle from hitting the dusty stone beneath his hooves.

"Princess… Celestia," he gasps out between breaths, "if you… don't mind me asking… what is this place? Who made it?"

"I did… some nine and a half centuries ago," Celestia replies between pants as sweat drips down her body, the ends of her mouth twitching in a faint smile as the thought of what the nobles would think if they saw her like this wandering through her tired mind. "You are Solar Flare, correct?"

"I – y-yes," the stallion stammers. "Um… may I ask why?"

Celestia rubs her eyes and sighs, "After my sister… succumbed to dark forces, I feared that one day I would also fall to the same temptations. And if I fell… there were no other alicorns to deal with me, no others able to wield the Elements of Harmony. So I made this place… by tapping into the ley line running beneath Canterhorn Mountain… which is also why I originally decided to have Canterlot built where it is." She laughs tiredly, "Though you will not find that explanation in any history book."

Forcing her hooves into motion, Celestia turns to face Sombra, wisps of magic flickering along her horn to gather at its tip. After half a minute, Celestia lowers her horn to the closest rune, the luminous symbol absorbing her magic instantly. A split second later the entire runic spiral pulses, sending a shockwave of magic deep into the earth. For another half minute, nothing happens.

Then the runes glow red.

Without any further warning, a massive upswell of magic slams into the runes from below, the spiraling engravings blocking and channeling the power into Sombra's new prison, turning it into a blazing inferno of raw elemental energy. The surge peters out after only a few seconds however, the runes returning to their normal orange glow as if nothing had happened.

Solar Flare sits gaping in awe at the display, afterimages of the runes still visible on the inside of his eyelids as he blinks, "Sweet – uh – you. What was that?!"

The other unicorns, tired as they are, nevertheless look up at Celestia in search of an explanation as well, each of them equally awestruck.

"That," Celestia answers, "was a failsafe, in case even these wards were unable to contain me on their own."

Princess Celestia watches carefully as the brilliantly shining orb at the room's center dims, the elemental maelstrom fading until the barrier appears empty of both magic and evil smoke alike. The resulting void is short lived however, her eyes narrowing in irritation as Sombra's telltale smoke reinstantiates.

"Uselessss… " Sombra goads her, laughing.

"Insolent prick," Celestia mutters to herself.

"But… but h-how is he… ?" Solar Flare stammers, flinching and looking away as Sombra's gaze turns to him.

"Both the natural and magical worlds are governed by unbreakable laws, many of which I would hope you are quite familiar with," Celestia says, stifling a yawn. "The more mundane rules such as the various and sundry thauma-to-matter conversion ratios, for example, all the way up to those governing life itself. For him to survive such an assault, it must be that Sombra has found a way to twist himself around one of these laws in order to anchor himself in this world, regardless of how much magic we throw at him. But that-"

Celestia yawns again, turning to send a baleful look up the waiting flight of stairs, the silken promise of her waiting bedsheets dampened by the looming meeting with Fluttershy's mother when she wakes, "-is a problem for another day. He is not going anywhere for a few centuries at the very least."

"If that is your wish, your highness," Solar Flare replies, sending another nervous glance Sombra's way before trailing Celestia up the stairs, the other unicorns dragging themselves to their hooves to follow in his hoofsteps.

Author's Notes:

The pony~ of shadows~