Lailoken was a gifted pony. Everypony said so. He had gotten his cutie mark at an early age. The oaken staff was a sign that he was meant to join the druids, an ancient order that made its home in the Everfree Forest. While there were always rumors of dark rituals and bloody sacrifices — how else could a pony possibly survive the Everfree other than by appeasing whatever malevolent spirits were native to the place? — most ponies just saw the druids as natural healers, having an unsurpassed mastery of shrubs, herbs, and their uses.

Lailoken was destined to be a druid. It would mean leaving the Crystal Empire, but that was not for a few years yet. The druids did not like taking colts, barely out of foalhood as they saw it, into their ranks. Maturity was an important Druidic characteristic. So Lailoken would remain in the Crystal Empire for a while. That pleased him because, truth be told, he had never been outside the city’s borders before.

But that did not mean he got a free pass. Lailoken was expected to develop his talents. So, he began working at the Crystal Hospital, where he would use his knowledge of herbs to make healing remedies for the sick and injured. And that’s where he met Radiant Hope.

The day had been the most memorable of his life, with the possible exception of the one when he had gotten his cutie mark. He had been working in the potions area when his supervisor had come in.

“Lailoken,” she said. “We’ve got a new volunteer today. I don’t have time to show her around, so can you please do it?”

Lailoken nodded ruefully. Potion-making was a delicate process and he did not want to be torn away from it. That is, until he saw the pony standing next to his supervisor. Her lavender coat seemed to glisten and shine even more than those of most crystal ponies, as did the cool sky-blue of her hair and eyes. At least, what he could see of her eyes, as one was partially obscured by the way her hair hung down over one side of her head. But what he saw was stunning. She was, in short, the most beautiful pony he had ever seen.

“This is Radiant Hope,” said his supervisor. “Miss Hope, this is Lailoken.”

Hope gave him a shy smile. “Nice to meet you,” she said.

“Same,” Lailoken answered. It was all he could answer. Any more and he’d have started drooling. And that would be embarrassing.

“I’ll just leave you to it,” the supervisor said as she made her exit. “Be sure to show her everything that we have here, Lailoken.”

Lailoken nodded. He would be sure to take as much time with Radiant Hope as he possibly could.

“That’s an interesting cutie mark,” Hope said. “What is it?”

“Just got here and you’re already checking out my flank?” Lailoken said. He mentally kicked himself immediately after for how it must have sounded. But Hope laughed. Not a polite laugh either, but she sounded as though she actually thought it was funny.

“Well, yeah,” Lailoken said. “Don’t mean to brag, but I’m in training to become a druid. You know what a druid is?”

“Do I!” Hope responded. “I know all about druids! They’re the ones who commune with fairies!”

Fairies? Fairies? Lailoken had heard quite the druids accused of quite a few outlandish things. But most of them involved constructing large stone circles in alignment with the sun and moon. That and overindulging in cider from time to time. No pony, as far as he knew, had ever gone so far as to say the druids communed with fairies.

Hope’s eyes widened and she seemed ready to burst with excitement. “Do you think you’ll meet any fairies?” she asked.

Lailoken shrugged. “I… Uh, to tell the truth, I’m not really sure what I’ll be doing as a druid. That’s why I’m here, so that I can learn some stuff before I have to go to the Everfree and join them.”

“Wouldn’t that be so cool, if you did, though!” Hope continued, undaunted. “If you could actually meet real, live fairies! Oh, I’d give anything to be able to do that. It would be so exciting!”

“Yeah, exciting,” Lailoken said, not very excited. “But what about your cutie mark? That looks interesting.”

Lailoken mentally kicked himself again for making it sound as though he was checking out Hope’s flank. Which he totally was. But she didn’t need to know that.

“Oh, this?” she said modestly. “It’s not much, I know. I haven’t had it for too long. It means that I’m going to be a healer.”

“A healer, huh? I guess that’s why you ended up volunteering at this place.”

“Yep. I used to just heal ponies around the orphanage, but Ms. Chestnut said I needed to help as many ponies as I could. So I came here.”

It was a simple enough statement. Too simple, as Lailoken learned. Working alongside Hope over the next few weeks, he discovered that she could not only help heal ponies. She could heal anypony of anything. Alone. Without needing a doctor’s assistance and without needing Lailoken’s potions. The days when Hope came to volunteer, Lailoken usually found that he had absolutely no work to do.

Which was just the way he liked it, because it meant he could follow Hope around during her rounds and chat her up. Which she was always happy to reciprocate. Lailoken had never known a pony to be able to talk so much about, well, anything that popped into her head. There were days where he just stood there in silence, listening to her go on and on.

Not that he was complaining. She could go on and on for the next thousand years, and it would be okay with him.

Lailoken was in love.

There was only one problem. Whenever Hope talked, it was not long before another name came up – Sombra. Sombra this and Sombra that. Lailoken had been fine with it at first, since he assumed Sombra must be another girl at the orphanage. That is until he mistakenly responded to one of Hope’s statements by calling Sombra a “she.”

Hope had chuckled. “Sombra isn’t a ‘she,’ silly,” she had said. “He’s a colt!”

A colt? A colt? Lailoken had been in a bad mood for the next week.

Hope had noticed but, bless her heart, she never could tell what had suddenly made him stand-offish. Nor did she let it affect her much. She just kept talking and talking and talking. And Lailoken wasn’t mad at her – well, not per se – so they were soon on the best of terms again.

Except for the fact that a ghost now seemed to hang over them at every meeting. A ghost Hope was completely unaware of, but one whose presence Lailoken felt with increasing discomfort. A ghost named Sombra.

Lailoken had tried to find out more about this Sombra guy. Maybe if Lailoken could discover what Hope saw in him, he could use it to win Hope away. Some other ponies who had once lived at the orphanage also worked at the hospital, and Lailoken was able to grill them for info. In the least obvious way, of course.

“So, you know anything about this Sombra that Radiant Hope is always talking about?” he asked a pegasus from the orphanage one day.

“Why, you want to ask her out and afraid he’ll get jealous?” the pegasus responded.

“Just curious,” Lailoken lied. “Curious, nothing else.”

The pegasus shrugged her wings and went back to what she was doing. “I didn’t interact with them much. Nopony did. We all thought they were a bit weird. She was kinda loopy, but other than that, she was alright, I guess. But Sombra. There was something wrong with him.”

Suddenly, Lailoken was alarmed. “What?”

“I don’t know. Just… just something…. There was something not right, some sort of energy he gave off or something. All of us could sense it. All of us except Hope. But then, they always did seem made for each other.”

Lailoken asked everypony he knew that had lived at, worked at, or ever even been to the orphanage. It was always the same story. Nopony could say what was wrong with Sombra, exactly – other than the fact that he was not a crystal pony and didn’t look much like other types of ponies, either – but they all felt that there had to be something. It was there, even if they couldn’t explain it.

But while Lailoken was digging deeper into that, Hope informed him that she was considering applying for the Royal Academy in Canterlot.

“Do you think I should do it?” she asked.

“Do I?” Lailoken responded.

It was a difficult question. It would probably mean that she would leave the Crystal Empire soon. Maybe she would return someday, maybe not. Lailoken was in no way thrilled by that, even if he had only known Hope for a short time. But, then again, he too would be leaving the Crystal Empire, possibly never to return, in a few years’ time. And he could see the potential that was inside of Radiant Hope. It would be selfish to deny that.

“Of course, you should apply! You have such a talent for healing ponies. You’re one of a kind. You’ll get in, no problem. And can you imagine what it’ll be like to learn from the Royal Sisters themselves? I mean, it’s not as cool as learning from the druids, but still!”
Hope laughed. “That’s what everypony tells me. I guess I should do it, then.”

Then she looked deep into Lailoken’s eyes. Lailoken felt his heart start to race.

“You know,” she said, “I’ve never told this to anypony except Sombra, but I’ve always wanted to be a princess. Ever since I saw myself as one in the Crystal Heart.”

“You saw that in the Crystal Heart?” Lailoken asked, amazed. He had heard the Crystal Heart had that power, but he had never tried it out for himself. After all, he had practically always known he’d be a druid anyway. What did he even need to see?

“In that case, you definitely need to go for it!” he said. “Just think! I’ll be able to tell ponies that I knew a princess before she was famous!”

Hope pulled Lailoken into a giant hug. She was quite powerful and his insides felt like they wanted to scream. But he was enjoying every moment of it.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” she said. “Wait till I tell Sombra that I’m going to do it! I’m going to apply!”

She did apply. And then, not too long after, came the acceptance, and that’s when things really went crazy. Sombra suddenly disappeared. Nopony knew what happened to him, least of all, Hope. Suddenly, as she prepared to make the largest transition she had ever known, her best friend was not there to support her. Into the void stepped Lailoken.

He should have been happier. But he wasn’t. He could tell Hope was not the same pony she had been. She was suddenly quiet and reserved and distracted. Even in healing the sick and injured, the thing which usually seemed to fill her with the most happiness, Hope had her mind elsewhere and often made simple little mistakes that she never would have otherwise.

Lailoken was worried. He decided to talk to Hope about it. Maybe he could figure out what was bothering her and help her feel better. Maybe he could even score some brownie points.

But, of course, he already knew what the problem was; Sombra. Still, he had to ask.

“Is everything okay with you?” he said to Hope as they were finishing their shifts. It was twilight, and the sun’s departure had caused a beautiful red glow to fill the sky. This was in the morning of Celestia and Luna’s reign, before Luna’s fall, when the whole world seemed to shine with promise.

Hope had looked like she wanted to cry. But she would never lie. Lailoken knew that. She would never lie. So whatever she told him now would be the truth.

“It’s… it’s Sombra,” Hope said.

Figures, Lailoken thought.

“It’s just, he’s been gone from the Crystal Empire for so long now, that I’m worried.” Hope sounded far more than just worried.

“He’s a big boy,” Lailoken said. “I’m sure that he’ll be alright. He probably just needs some time alone. Once he’s had enough, he’ll come back.”

“Time alone? How much time does he need? He’s been gone for weeks! And why? The Crystal Empire is his home. He’s never been away from here. I’m afraid for him out there.”

Lailoken got closer to Hope. “I know it’s hard,” he said, “but he has to make his own decisions in life. He’s not your responsibility.”

“But he is!” Hope responded, her voice becoming high and strained. “He is my responsibility! He only has me and I only have him. We’ve always looked out for each other.”

Lailoken put his hoof on her shoulder. “Well, maybe it’s time you had other ponies to look out for you.”

Hope pulled away, oblivious. “Other ponies…. They mean well. They just don’t understand us.”

That was like a dagger in Lailoken’s heart. “Don’t understand you?” he said, a trace of anger in his voice. “What do you mean, we don’t understand you? I understand you, Hope.”

Hope smiled at him wistfully. “You only think you do. You don’t really.”

Lailoken turned his head away so that he could roll his eyes. I really know how to pick ’em, he thought.

“There’s been something wrong with Sombra since the day we went to see the Crystal Heart,” Hope lamented. “That was the day I saw that my destiny was to become a princess. He saw something… something else in the Crystal Heart. I don’t know what it was. He’s never talked about it. But it upset him. He didn’t think I knew he was upset but I knew. And then when I got my acceptance letter, he just disappeared.”

Yep, I really do pick some real winners, Lailoken thought. In hindsight, he probably should have checked the girl’s baggage before falling head over hoofs for her. But it was too late. Whatever Hope had gotten herself into with this Sombra character, Lailoken was certain he could get her out of it. He was a gifted pony, after all. Everypony said so.

“Look, Hope, I don’t know what happened to Sombra,” Lailoken said, subtly moving into her personal space. “I don’t know why he left. But I do know that, if he doesn’t come back, he’s crazy. He’s crazy if he’s going to leave this place when there’s a girl like you here.”

Hope stepped back a few steps. Foiled again. “But you’re going to leave,” she said. “You’re going to join the druids.”

“Well, maybe I could be persuaded not to,” Lailoken said with a furtive smile. “For the right reasons….”

Hope looked both shocked and disbelieving. “But… but it’s your destiny! You can’t turn your back on your destiny!”

Lailoken let out a cocky laugh. “Who says I can’t? Destiny isn’t ever going to be the boss of me!”

Hope did not answer. She seemed deep in thought.

Lailoken had to think fast before he lost her completely and the moment was gone. We are having a moment, right? he wondered.

Putting his hooves to her shoulders, Lailoken looked deep into Hope’s eyes.

“Don’t worry, Hope,” he said. “I’m sure everything is going to turn out alright. Sombra will be fine. You’ll see. He probably be back before you know it.”

“Thank you,” Hope said quietly.

“And, you know,” Lailoken said, leaning his head close to Hope’s, “you don’t have to go through anything alone, just because Sombra’s not around. I’ll always be here for you. You can rely on me.”

Lailoken kissed Hope. Whatever he had dreamt it would be like, it wasn’t. Mostly because Hope tore herself away before anything could really happen.

“Hope?” Lailoken said.

Hope looked back at him, tears streaming from her eyes. “I’m… I’m sorry…. I can’t,” she said.

“Hope, wait!” Lailoken called after her as she galloped away. But it was no use. Hope was gone.

Lailoken kicked a stone with his hoof. “Guess I really messed that one up,” he said.

“I guess you did,” came a voice. A deep, dark voice.

Lailoken looked around but saw no one. “Who said that?” he asked. “I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but it’s not very funny!”

Then he saw, out of the shadows, come a pony as dark as the shadows. This pony was wearing a cloak, but quickly pulled it down to reveal a curved red horn and eyes that glowed a malevolent combination of green, red, and purple.

“You must be Sombra, am I right?” Lailoken said. Great, the boyfriend’s here. Lailoken could probably expect a beating now. He was starting to feel afraid. Whether it was from the prospect of serious injury or just because of the strange dark aura the guy let off (or both), Lailoken didn’t know. But he knew he couldn’t let Sombra see how afraid he was. He would have to put up a brave front.

“I don’t think we’ve ever met,” Lailoken said. “But I feel like I know you. Hope never stops talking about you.”

“You’re going to wish we had never met,” Sombra said quietly.

Before Lailoken knew it, he had been thrown against the nearest crystal wall, with such force that he was certain he had put a dent into it. And, before he had a chance to even process the blow, Sombra’s face was in his.

“How… how do you do that lighting effect with your eyes and your horn?” Lailoken asked. “Is that some new kind of magic?”

“Something like that,” Sombra said with a sneer. “Maybe you’d like to experience it first-hoof.”

“Hey, buddy, easy!” Lailoken said. “I’m a friend of Hope’s. She wouldn’t want you to hurt me, would she? She’s been awfully worried about you–”

“Don’t mention her name!” Sombra snapped as he smashed Lailoken against the wall once more. “You hurt her, just like everypony has hurt her. Just like everypony has hurt us.”

“Hurt her? I didn’t–”

Sombra’s eyes flaired with a dark fire. “I saw you! I saw you forcing yourself upon her!”

“That wasn’t… that wasn’t what it looked like!” Lailoken said in panic. “That shouldn’t have happened. But Hope and I are friends. I would never do anything to hurt her.”

“Yes,” Sombra said, “you never will.”

Before Lailoken could reflect on all the ways he did not like the sound of that statement, Sombra’s horn was firing up with dark energy. Sombra held Lailoken helpless against the wall, almost choking the life out of him. And then, the energy erupted from Sombra’s horn and pierced Lailoken’s head.

And all was fire. Inside Lailoken’s head, all was fire. Nothing made sense. Nothing was rational. Lailoken could not even put together a coherent thought. All that he knew was that he was in pain. Pain so severe that he could not even grasp the outside world anymore. It was all a jumble of sense and emotion and pain. All of his senses were fighting each other for primacy, and the light and the sound and the feeling of the wall behind him, all of it was too painful to endure.

Lailoken did not even register it when he fell to the ground. It was just more pain. But somewhere in the pain, Lailoken heard Sombra’s voice. “No one will ever hurt Hope again.”

How long he lay there, nopony could have told. Especially not Lailoken, his mind torn apart. But slowly – or so it seemed – the chaos and the clutter began to coalesce. The random lights took form, first becoming strange shapes, shapes like Lailoken had never seen before. And then, they became figures. One was Sombra. The other was Princess Amore.

Lailoken could not hear what they were saying. Sound was still too much of a cacophony. But he could see them. He could see Princess Amore trying to calm Sombra and Sombra, furious, refusing to be calmed. He saw Sombra unleash once more the fiendish power of that horn. He saw Amore turned entirely to stone. And then he saw Sombra stomp his hoof. And Amore was no more, shattered into ten-thousand pieces.

“No!” Lailoken howled.

And then it was gone. All that Lailoken saw was the street in front of him. But it had been real. Somewhere in his addled mind, Lailoken knew that it was real. It had been more real than anything he had ever seen with his eyes. And he knew he had to stop it. So, despite the pain, despite the burning that seemed to consume every inch of his being, Lailoken forced himself to crawl. He crawled slowly, painfully, but purposefully. He had to reach the Crystal Palace.

But when he finally arrived, Lailoken’s eyes were met with the very thing he had put all of his broken body and spirit into preventing. Just as he reached the palace, he looked up to see Sombra stamping his hoof and the hideous statue that had once been the beautiful Princess Amore shatter and scatter to every corner of the world. Hot, burning tears streamed down Lailoken’s face. He saw Sombra, standing triumphantly, and he knew that the Crystal Empire had a new lord.

And he saw Hope, standing right beside Sombra. Hope? Hope? Even in his maddened state, she still meant something to Lailoken. Surely, she would fix this. But she did not. She and Sombra seemed to be… talking? After all that Lailoken had just witnessed, that Hope has just witnessed, she still had not given up on Sombra.

And Lailoken knew. He had never really understood Radiant Hope at all.

But then, the world started to change again. Hope was still there, Sombra was still there. The Crystal Empire was still there. But it was not the same. There was Hope, hidden underneath a cloak, stealing the Crystal Heart. There she was, restoring Sombra to full health and power. There were Celestia and Luna, petrified just as Amore had been. There was Sombra, unleashing a horde of dark, demonic creatures onto to poor inhabitants of the Crystal Empire. There was much slaughter and destruction. And then, there was Sombra and there was Hope, sitting on thrones, surrounded by these monsters.

And a voice rang out, “All hail Emperor Sombra and all hail Empress Hope!"

And then, in a flicker, Sombra was gone and Hope was on the throne alone. Again came the voice, "All hail Radiant Hope, the Empress of Equestria!"

Lailoken was so struck by terror and the weight of it all, he did not even realize that he had jumped up and been backing away from the Crystal Palace. But now he ran. He shrieked and he ran. Ran to the very outskirts of the Crystal Empire. Ran into the white vastness beyond.

“I eventually found my way to the Everfree Forest,” said Lailoken. “Some part of me must have remembered the druids, and thought that they could help me. If they could or not, I never found out. They took me in, but they thought my madness was sacred. They though that some spirit of prophecy had possessed me so that it could communicate with them. And so they kept me, tended to me, and all of them came running whenever I began to babble about the things I was seeing in my head. But they never tried to help me. A few hundred years later, the last of the druids passed away and the order became extinct. And I was left alone.”

Hope could only look on. She did not know what to say. What could she say? The only appropriate emotion was horror, horror at what Lailoken had gone through, and horror at her part in it. Finally, she managed a small, “I’m sorry.”

And then, collecting herself somewhat, she added, “How did you survive outside the Crystal Empire for a thousand years?”

“The same way you did, I suppose,” Lailoken said. “The umbrum’s dark magic not only cursed me with madness, cursed me with prophecy, but also cursed me with immortality. Immortality without eternal youth. I kept getting older, but I couldn’t die. At least, not until the day my visions showed me I would die. Today.”

“But what happened?” Hope asked. “In your visions. Maybe if we knew, we could stop it from happening.”

Lailoken closed his eyes and a look of pain crossed his face. “I can’t remember. It’s gone. But, I know that if the visions say it is going to happen, it will happen.”

“You told me once that we don’t have to carry out what destiny plans for us,” Hope said. “That was one of the things which gave me the courage to leave the Royal Academy and go looking for Sombra and his people.”

“I was wrong,” Lailoken said scornfully.

Hope wanted to argue him on this point. But she did not know how. Maybe he was right.

“I spent a thousand years looking for you, Hope,” Lailoken said. “The visions, they showed me that you were out there. But I never could find you. They didn’t actually show me where you were and what had happened to you until after the Siege. So, I came to Seaddle looking for you, and got locked up in that hospital. But, destiny wills out, and you were there. And you didn’t even recognize me!”

“I’m… I’m sorry… but you’ve changed so much!”

“I needed you to heal me, and you didn’t even recognize me!”

“I tried to heal you, but the umbrum magic was too strong! I didn’t realize what I was facing!”

Hope put her hoof on Lailoken’s shoulder. “But now we know. And I want to help you. I know I can’t make up for everything that’s happened to you over the past thousand years, just like nopony can make up for what’s happened to me. But we’re friends, and we can get through this together.”

Lailoken swatted her hoof away. “Don’t you dare touch me!”

“Lailoken….”

“Radiant Hope, what a disgrace you are to your name. I’m sure, wherever your parents are, they must be ashamed to have ever had a daughter.”

Tears burst from Hope’s eyes. Tears of anger. “I know you’re angry at me! I know I probably deserve it! But you don’t have any right to say that! You can’t use that card on me!”

Hope lowered her head and forced herself to stop crying. She could not allow herself that luxury at a time like this. Raising her head, trying and failing to appear calm and serene, she said, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped like that. You’ve been through too much.”

Hope began to approach Lailoken again. “Please, I just want to help.”

Lailoken backed away from Hope as though she was the mad one. “Hope, you’re a monster. You can’t help me.”

“I know I did things that you can never forgive,” Hope said. “But I’m trying to be better now.”

“You can’t,” Lailoken said. “You’re a monster. Maybe you always were, I don’t know. But nothing is ever going to change that. You can try to be better, you can try for redemption. And maybe that’ll make you feel better. But it is not going to change what you are.”

“Lailoken, please….” Hope pleaded quietly.

“Just stay away from me,” Lailoken said. “You just stay as far away from me as you can! Whatever time I have left, I just want to spend it in peace!”

“But where will you go?” Hope asked.

“I don’t know, and I probably shouldn’t be telling you,” Lailoken said. “But maybe I’ll go see the sights, take in a tour of famous places or two. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do after recovering from a thousand-year bought of dark magic-incurred madness? Maybe I’ll stop by the Empress of Equestria and try to clear my head. With how long that ship has been around, I’m sure there are some dark spirits lurking around. I’d fit right in!”

“Lailoken, please just let me try to help,” Hope said.

“You’ve done enough already,” Lailoken said, his voice dripping with contempt. “Everypony who gets close to you ends up badly. I’m not going to let that happen to me anymore. That is one aspect of my destiny, maybe the only one, which I can control.”

Hope wanted to plead more, but there was no appeasing Lailoken. He just turned and walked away. Hope thought about using her teleport spell to appear in front of him, but she knew it would make no difference. His mind was made up. He would not let her save him.

“I’m sorry,” Hope whispered into the chilly gusts of the night wind. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save your life. I’m sorry I couldn’t be the mare you needed me to be.”

The wind picked up, emitting a howl as it tore through the city streets. Hope barely noticed. All she could do was keep her eyes on the place where Lailoken had been.

She wondered, What could he have done with his life if it had not been for me?