The boiler room. Not a very appropriate name, Hope reflected. Maybe it was when there had been boilers here, giant, steamy things that reached ten or so stories in length. But all the boilers were gone. To say that their absence was notable was an understatement.

The pool room, for all its eeriness, had looked like a room, looked like a place ponies had once inhabited. This place did not. It was a cavern, shrouded in darkness. It was impossible, looking up, to see the ceiling. The same could be said for the floor. There were a few catwalks crisscrossing the area, and that was how Hope was managing to get around. But otherwise, the walls just seemed to go up and down forever, appearing from blackness and disappearing back into it, as though they were the very first things to emerge from the void that preceded the beginning of the world.

The walls themselves looked like cavern walls, not ship walls. They were jagged and broken and uneven. Hope thought she could even see some stalagmites and stalactites piercing the darkness here and there. Though, they could have just as easily been debris, or Hope’s imagination. It was impossible to tell. Easier to recognize were the large pipes that, every so often rose up from the darkness, twisting and twirling around the visible area before fading into darkness again. From whence they came, whither they were going, and their ultimate destiny, entirely unknown.

And this place was massive. Even in the darkness, even in the darkness that made every step seem the only thing left in existence, one could not help but feel overwhelmed and tiny due to the vastness. It was more massive than the pool room, more massive than the main hall. More massive, perhaps, that the great, glittering halls that were the pride of Canterlot Castle and the Crystal Palace. Hope had been in those halls. They were like the hives of ants compared to this.

The catwalks kept descending, and the darkness kept moving in. It seemed as though it got heavier as Hope went lower, crowding around her, trying to suffocate her, trying to snuff out the tiny light that came from her horn. That blue light barely even made a difference anymore. Where it had once illuminated the darkness, now it was just a flicker in it.

No wonder the umbrum had chosen this place, Hope reflected. It was just like the Prison of Shadows, for those who felt that the Prison of Shadows was perhaps a little too cheerful and inviting.

Somewhere, Hope reminded herself, somewhere in this darkness were the umbrum. They were aware of her. They were watching her. She knew that. They could strike at any moment. But they didn’t. They were giving no signs of their presence, unless the general atmosphere of gloom and despair was them and not what this room normally gave off. But Hope was pretty sure that it was what this room normally gave off, umbrum in residence or no.

Hope stopped. She had reached a platform, a wide and spacious platform. She could not make out its size, exactly. It was far too dark for that. But the claustrophobic feeling of being on the narrow catwalks had gone. Wherever Hope pointed her light, she could see the girded steel mesh stretching out until darkness reclaimed it.

She took a step. The platform creaked and swayed, as though it was ready to collapse. And if it did, Hope thought, what would become of her? The floor below could be just a few feet or it could be a near-infinite chasm. She could not tell without making the trip herself. But she had the sense that it was not a fall most ponies could survive.

Hope closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. She saw no faces this time. Was it because she was finally doing something to right her mistakes? Or was it just that the knowledge that there were far darker things outside than inside? Indeed, the darkness that came with closing her eyes seemed less than the darkness that came with opening them.

Hope looked upward. She could sense that the umbrum were up there, circling her. There were no visible signs (nor visibility), but after a thousand years – or in spite of them, maybe – Hope felt she could at least know when umbrum where nearby.

“I’m here,” she said. She had said it with as much force and vigor as possible without actually yelling. And yet, it seemed quite and small in that desolate vastness.

And nothing happened. Hope looked around frantically, expecting the umbrum to appear overhead. But they did not. She pointed her light to and fro, making zig-zags and figure-eights in the chilly air. There was nothing.

Hope stopped herself and caught her breath. She forced herself to calm down. It was not easy but it was necessary. Hope stood there, gathering herself, feeling her courage coming back. It had almost returned to her. Just another deep breath was needed. Just another quiet moment when she could close her eyes and refocus her center of gravity.

She never got it. A voice came, quietly, stealthly, seeming to tip-toe over her shoulder, digging upwards through the folds of her mane, and crawling into her ear. “Hope….”

Hope spun around and pointed the light in the direction of the voice. But she saw nothing.

Then, beside her, was another. “Empress….”

She jolted around, but again found nothing. And then, she felt a hoof sliding down her shoulder, and then another stroking her mane.

“Welcome home, Hope….” came the voice. It was barely audible, but Hope recognized it. Invidia.

“I came,” Hope said. “I came like you wanted. Please, show yourselves to me.”

And then, peals of laughter. A massive din of manic cackling was sent ringing and resounding throughout the vastness, magnified by the echoes produced as the sound waves bounced off of pipes and steel. And audible darkness was even worse, it turned out, than silent darkness.

“Hope, a thousand years and you still don’t know us!” Invidia taunted. “How can we show ourselves to you? This place is filled with darkness, and we are the darkness!”

Hope’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve seen your true forms, remember? You may hide in darkness, but you are not it.”

“I suppose you should know,” Invidia (or perhaps it was another) responded. “Being made up of so much darkness yourself.”

The laughter continued. From every direction, Hope felt their cloven hooves, pawing at her, tearing at her, scratching her. She kept turning and turning, but could never make them out. Her light was becoming too weak. She could see nothing beyond her own eyes. And the laughter just kept getting louder.

“What’s the matter, Empress?” an umbra said. “Does the presence of your subjects cause you so much discomfort?”

“After we found this palace, this palace for you,” said another with a mocking laugh. "A palace so much more fitting than the one you destroyed!"

Hope steadied herself. She could not stop them from coming at her, and they knew it. That’s why they were doing this. They knew it would disorient her, confuse her, frighten her. She could not let it. She could not stop them from doing it, but she could stop responding. She could, instead, do what she came here to do.

So, as the hooves continued to run themselves over seemingly every inch of her body, Hope took her deep breath. She closed her eyes. When she opened them, they showed no fear, only resolve.

And a light appeared. At first, it was small, just a spark at the end of Hope’s horn. But it grew. It grew quickly, until it surrounded her, engulfed her in an ocean of blue. And then, the light shot upward, creating a pillar of fire that reached far into the endless darkness above. And from that pillar spread a smoky, swirling vortex. That vortex began to extend itself, covering the surrounding area like a dome. And now, overwhelmed by these waves of blue, the darkness fled. Hope could see around her. She could see the ends of the platform and the length of the walls and the pathways traveled by the various pipes. She could see it all. And she could see the umbrum.

Post tenebras spero lucem.

“What are you doing, Empress?” Invidia said. He was trying to suggest mere annoyance, but Hope caught something else in his voice. Fear.

“I’m making sure you never hurt another pony or take advantage of them like you took advantage of me,” Hope answered.

Invidia flew in close. “But we had a deal.”

“Yes, and I’m going to fulfill my end,” Hope said. “I give up my life and you don’t hurt the ponies I care about. Wasn’t that what we agreed?”

“Now you’re just twisting my words around,” Invidia said. “I could almost admire you for it, if I didn’t hate you so much. Hate....”

Once more, Invidia seemed to pause and hang over that word, as though he was twisting it around in his mind.

“Or maybe you fear me,” Hope said. “But isn’t it better for an Empress to be feared rather than loved?”

“Yes….” Invidia said, his voice suggesting the calculations that were going on in his mind. “It shows that maybe we were right to choose you all those years ago. Maybe you were never that innocent girl you pretended to be.”

“I’ve had so much experience not being what I seem that I don’t even know what I actually am anymore,” Hope said. “But I know that I am the pony that will never let you hurt anypony ever again.”

“Oh, but Empress, there’s no need for all this,” Invidia said, his voice sounding deceptively sweet and kind. “I’m sure we can work out some sort of agreement.”

“I am not your Empress and you are not getting out of this.”

“Oh, but Hope, is that any way to talk to an old friend?”

Invidia started to change. It looked as though he gathered all of his darkness, all the smoke and haze, into himself. He looked to be collapsing in on himself. And all of his features, the gaunt, wicked face, the giant fly-like wings, the sharp hooves, were all rearranging themselves, like a giant Rubik’s cube. And when he was done, he had a new form.

Or rather an old form. He was how Hope remembered him. He was once again one of the little pixies that she had fallen in love with so many years ago.

He flew directly into Hope’s face and gave her a warm and winning smile. “Friend Hope, you could never hurt one of us, could you?”

He was slammed to the ground beneath Hope’s hoof. “Nice try,” she said.

But as she did so, she felt something crackle and sputter. She felt a burning sensation on her hoof. Hope looked down. Even as a pixy, Invidia had still been wearing that strange, metallic collar. That is, until Hope had broken it.

Hope looked up at the other umbrum and noticed something strange. They were all wearing those same collars.

The pixy turned into a swirl of smoke. The smoke retook the form of Invidia. He was not so menacing now. Rather, dazed and confused. "Empress...." he muttered. "My Empress...."

"I thought you said that collar showed you were the leader," Hope said. "Why do they have them, too?"

Invidia did not answer. He did not even look like he heard.

"Because, we shall all be leaders of the new Umbric Empire that shall rise when we unleash our brethren," the second umbra said for him.

The other umbra floated beside her. “Can you hurry this up?” she said. “That vortex thing is starting to look really nasty!”

“Well, I don’t see any of you doing anything,” the second snapped. “You want to try and reason with her, go ahead. Otherwise, shut up and leave it to me!”

"You do know what you're doing, don't you?" said another voice from the darkness, quietly enough so that only the umbrum could hear. "You umbrum were always able to play her like a harp. What's changed?"

"She's different!" the umbra protested. "She seems stronger now, smarter."

Fully reformed to his true form, Invidia floated toward Hope.

"Empress, get out of here!" he said.

Hope glared at him. "What? Why?"

"They will... they will hurt you...."

Hope's glare turned to a look of disgust. "And what do you care? You want them to hurt me. You're the one who came up with this in the first place."

Hope looked up to the other umbrum, who were apparently having a conference of some kind. She did not like the looks of it, and felt she should do something to interrupt it. But then Invidia began to speak.

"I could never hurt you," he said. "Not willingly. I love my Empress. I would do anything for her."

Invidia landed in front of Hope and bowed low to the ground. This time, however, it was not a mockery or a parody. It was a genuine bow. Hope's jaw dropped.

"You really don't see the way to break through her defenses, do you?" said the voice to the umbrum.

The umbrum didn't answer.

There was a sigh. "No wonder the crystal ponies were able to imprison you in that dark place of shadows. Evolution gave you all the physical and magical power, but didn't give you any brains. I guess Mother Nature always tries to achieve balance with her creatures. Now there's a proper mother.... But follow my lead. I know how to get to Hope. I know how to destroy her."

The umbrum broke up their conference and began to circle around Hope, getting as close as they could without falling into the range of the pillar of light. They completely ignored Invidia, who had not risen from the ground.

“Hope, what are you doing?” the first umbra cooed. “Don’t you want to save your friends?”

Hope ignored him.

“She can’t save her friends,” the second umbra said playfully. “She’s never been any good at that. Everypony she cares about ends up badly.”

“I wouldn’t want to get close to her!” said the first umbra. “I probably wouldn’t last the week.”

“What do you expect?” said the umbris. “The only thing she’s capable of is causing pain and suffering. Especially to those she considers friends.”

Hope bit her lip. She knew what they were doing and she could not allow them to get to her. Her energy levels were falling. That must mean that the spell was reaching its climax.

The umbris swooped in, his face up against Hope’s, knocking Invidia out of the way and into the darkness. “What do you really think you’re going to achieve? You think you can destroy us and atone somehow for releasing us in the first place? You were always so thick. You can’t undo what you’ve done. You can’t heal the ponies you’ve hurt. You’re utterly useless. But we gave you a way to fix things.”

The other umbrum got closer, circling Hope so closely that she could feel them as they passed.

“You could have saved everypony you cared about,” one of them said.

“You could have saved everypony you failed to save before,” said another.

The umbris leaned in until his muzzle pressed against Hope's. “You could have saved Norneigh."

“What?” he added, as the others stopped circling to glare at him. “Okay, okay, let me correct that…. You could have saved yourself.”

“But most of all….” came a voice from the darkness. “You could have saved me.”

Hope gasped. She could not believe what she was seeing. Out of the darkness stepped her oldest friend. Before her was Sombra.

He looked just as he had after the Siege, when all the darkness had been driven from him. His green eyes, once so filled with anger, looked serene and at peace. No longer misshapen into monstrosity, his tall form looked quite handsome and strong. Underneath his royal cape, though Hope barely registered it, his wings flapped and tried to make themselves comfortable.

The light went out and the pillar disappeared. The vortex dissipated itself through the air and soon, the darkness had reclaimed everything.

But even in the darkness, Hope could make out Sombra’s green eyes. She could make out his features.

“Sombra, is that really you?” she asked.

“Yes, Hope,” he said.

“I thought… I thought I had lost you forever.”

Sombra put a hoof on Hope’s shoulder. He caressed her lovingly. “You almost did. Just now. You almost threw away your last chance to save me.”

“I can’t save you, Sombra,” Hope said, tears beginning to form in her eyes. “It took me far too long to realize that. I can’t save you.”

“Yes, you can,” he said. “I believe in you. You just have to make the right choice.”

“The right choice?”

Sombra leaned in, resting his head on Hope’s shoulder, nuzzling her neck. He whispered into her ear. “You just have to give in, Hope. Just give in and you can save me. I can finally be free. Remember all those things we wanted as foals? I could finally have them.”

“I don’t care about what we wanted as foals,” Hope said, tears streaming from her eyes into Sombra’s mane. “I just want you.”

“Would you do anything for me?” Sombra asked, gently and sweetly.

“Do you even have to ask?” Hope sobbed. “After everything, do you even still have to ask?”

Sombra leaned in, as though he was about to place a kiss on Hope’s lips. “Then just do this for me, Hope. Just close your eyes and give in.”

Hope closed her eyes. “Just give in….” she said.

She leaned in closer. Their lips nearly met. Hope’s lips began to part.

Then, those sky-blue eyes suddenly opened. "Can you just tell me one thing?" Hope asked.

"Anything for you, my dearest," Sombra responded.

"When did you become a pegasus?"

Sombra growled and pulled away from Hope. "Now!" he said. "Do it now!"

The white eyes of the three umbrum glowed even whiter. Before Hope could respond, they all fired pale beams into her body. The pain was immense. Hope could not stand up under it. She collapsed to the ground. She felt tears welling up in her eyes. Not tears of sorrow. Tears of genuine, intense agony.

Sombra lifted up his wrist and pushed aside the metal armament. Beneath it was a metallic band. He pushed a green button.

There was an intense blast of white light, and then Sombra was gone. In his place was him. The yellow pegasus with the red mane. Hope realized, all too late, that her mind had not been playing tricks on her earlier. He was here. Hope knew, though the knowledge came without comfort, that he must have been here all along.

With a sinister smile on his face, he walked over and bent down. He put one hoof under Hope's chin and forced her head up, so that her eyes locked with his.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced," he said. "My name is Roaring Storm."

Hope did not answer. She was in too much pain for that.

"You don't have to tell me who you are," he said. "You're Radiant Hope. I've been waiting so long to get to meet you."

He let go and Hope's head fell to the grating. Roaring Storm was displeased. This was not what he wanted.

With a wave of his wing, he ordered the umbrum off. Except they did not stop. They continued firing their beams into Hope.

As Hope forced her head back up, she saw Roaring Storm sneer. He then pushed a blue button on his wristband.

All the umbrum immediately stopped. They fell to the grating, writhing in anguish and agony.

Roaring Storm pushed the button again. "That's better," he said.

Hope managed to get into a sitting position. It was the best she could do. The pain had not worn off, but she knew she had to keep it from showing as much as possible.

"What, you won't even stand?" Roaring Storm mocked. "I guess, being an Empress and all, you want ponies to come and kowtow as you just sit there."

"I'm not an Empress and I'm not a princess," Hope responded. "I wish ponies would stop saying those things."

Roaring Storm chuckled to himself.

Great! Hope thought. Another pony amused by his own private jokes.

But now she looked at him, looked at this proud pegasus marching around and casting superior glances back at her. And something occurred to her. It was crazy, but perhaps not as crazy as when Hope had asked Cadance about being related to Princess Amore.

"You look like Twilight's friend, Rainbow Dash," Hope said. "Are you related to her?"

Roaring Storm approached. He was maintaining his air of amusement, but Hope could tell that there was something different in him. She had struck a nerve.

"Rainbow Dash is my mother," he said. "Or, she will be, someday."

Hope's mind raced. She gasped. "But that would mean...."

Roaring Storm nodded. "That's right. I'm sure, as a girl from the past, it won't surprise you too much that I'm from the future."

Hope tried to control herself, but she could not. She ended up shaking her head in disbelief.

"Don't be like that, Hope," Roaring Storm said. "After the things you've seen, is time-travel really that difficult to fathom? What do you think your buddy Starlight Glimmer is trying to do? What do you think that spell she wants is for?"

Hope's head was reeling. This was far too much incredible information to take in at once. "How would you know?" she said quietly.

"I've had my eye on her since her little newspaper started talking about Princess Radiant Hope," he said. "Of course, the writing was nothing but foalish nonsense and inane propaganda. The cartoons were quite funny sometimes, though. But my interest was peaked. Luckily, I had already inserted myself into the news bureau where the paper was being covertly printed. It wasn't too hard to figure out which of my colleagues was doing it. So I just created another new identity and reached out. It's amazing what he'll reveal to somepony he thinks is a true believer."

He caressed his wristband. "Of course, this helped. With it, I've been able to keep tabs on you since you fled the Crystal Empire. Though I had to wait for my wings to heal from Sombra's rage before I could put my plan into action."

Hope's eyes grew wide. "The pegasus... that they brought in... with the broken wings that fell from Cloudsdale.... That was you!"

Roaring Storm nodded. "That fall was a tough thing to fake, I'll tell you. But I managed. The only problem with this thing, though, is that there's not enough energy left to change into a unicorn or an earth pony or even a mare. So I'm stuck with male pegasi."

"How? How are you able to change into different ponies?"

Roaring shoved his wrist in Hope's face, giving her an opportunity to get a good look at the band. He was taunting her with it.

"Changeling tech," he said.

"The changelings don't have technology," Hope responded. "They're abilities are natural to their species."

Roaring Storm nodded. "Ah, yes. Well, you are right, there. I'll give you that. But when the Umbric Empire managed to conquer three-fourths of Equestria, burn Canterlot to the ground, and utterly annihilate the princesses, Queen Chrysalis realized that she needed to make some hard choices. Either ally with the umbrum, or with Free Equestria. Given how she had walked out – er, flew out, rather – on you and Sombra the first time you tried unleashing the umbrum, she figured Free Equestria would be the more receptive."

Hope looked down. Her eyes raced back and forth, as though she were reading some invisible writing on the floor.

"The Umbric Empire?" she said in a whisper. "Me and Sombra? But Sombra is lost. Even if he weren't he would never unleash the umbrum again.... Would he?"

Hope was answered by a smack from Roaring Storm's still extended hoof. "You're not paying attention," he said.

Hope looked up at him. "I'm sorry," she said, in a voice which meant she wasn't sorry at all, "I'll try to be more attentive."

Roaring Storm stepped away and began to pace. "She should have taken her chances with the umbrum. You might not know my mother very well, but you've probably already noticed that she's not exactly as forgiving as Twilight Sparkle was. Trust me, years and years of seeing friend after friend torn away from her is only going to make it worse. The Changelings, in their already weakened state, never had a chance."

Roaring Storm paused and shook his head. "At least they died for science. While we were grinding them up, mother had us find out what it was in their biology that allowed them to change and replicate it. It was my idea, actually. So were these collars."

He pointed to the collars of the umbrum, who were waiting patiently for his next order. "I came up with them and designed them. Though I will give mother some credit. It was her idea to start capturing umbrum and forcing them to fight against their own empire."

Hope's eyes grew larger. "So, these aren't... they didn't...."

"No, Hope. They didn't somehow manage to escape when you and Sombra returned the Crystal Heart to it's pedestal. They're from the future, too. Mother so kindly sent them back to me to help in pursuing you."

Hope rose to her hooves. The pain had worn down into soreness and Hope could tolerate it now. She knew a quick healing spell would rid her of that, too. But she still needed to conserve energy. Especially now, when she had no idea what was coming next.

Roaring Storm raised a wing and the umbrum launched their beams. Hope fell back to the ground in pain. After a few moments, he gave the command to stop.

Hope looked up at him. There were tears in her eyes. But there was also anger. "Why are you pursuing me? Why did you take Sombra from me?"

Roaring Storm approached her. "Mother never understood me," he said.

"Huh?"

"She never did. She always wanted me to be something I was not. Like her. She wanted me to be just like her. I always had a gifted mind. I always preferred science, technology, solving problems, that sort of thing. But she could never see it. Not Rainbow Dash, the only pony in living memory to perform a sonic rainboom. Not Rainbow Dash, the greatest Wonderbolt in history. Not Rainbow Dash, former Element of Loyalty. Not Rainbow Dash, General-in-Chief of Free Equestria. No, her son had to be just like her. She made me train and train and train. But what she never understood was that I was not like her. I'm not Rainbow Dash. If anything, I'm the complete reverse."

"What does that have to do with me?"

Roaring Storm got closer. "Because, Radiant Hope, you're the whole reason I'm here. My mother decided I didn't belong in the technology department of our army. She decided that I should be doing something to free Equestria from umbric rule. So, using the tech we developed from Starswirl's old time-spell, she sent me here. She sent me to kill you. That way, the umbrum would never be released a second time."

After a moment, he added, "I do want you to know, Hope, that I am sorry about Sombra. He would have done great things for Equestria had he remained in the timeline. Until his untimely death, of course."

"I don't understand," Hope said quietly. "If Sombra remains good, if he... dies... how could he unleash the umbrum?"

Roaring Storm let out a laugh, a laugh that tore through the darkness like the lightning bolt on his flank. "You haven't figured it out yet, have you?"

Hope did not respond.

Roaring Storm crouched down. Once more, he put his hoof under Hope's chin and forced her to look into his eyes. He smiled, his smile a parody of warmth and affection. He even nodded his head a little. When he spoke, his voice was soft and sweet.

"It's not Sombra who unleashes the umbrum, Hope. It's you."

The yellow pegasus thought he saw a light go out in Radiant Hope's eyes. That lavender crystalline coat also seemed to lose all its luster, just becoming a drab shade of light purple. His smile became toothy and wide.

"After you lose Sombra again, having done so much to save him," he continued, in the same tone, "something snaps in your little brain. You blame all of Equestria for your loss and you unleash the umbrum."

"And... they... destroy... Equestria...." Hope said, her voice a whisper, a whisper that broke with every word that forced its way from her mouth.

"Not just the umbrum. Oh, no, because they never got the chance to do whatever they wanted to do to you. You were ready for them. You developed a new loyalty spell and deployed it just as they were all fleeing that wretched prison of theirs. They were still monsters, but now they were monsters who thought of nothing but fulfilling the will of the new Empress of Equestria, Radiant Hope."

When he said her name, Roaring Storm made sure to go slowly and carefully enunciate every single syllable. It had the desired effect. Radiant Hope practically seemed to die before him. This pony whose chin he held looked like a hollow shell as she stared blankly, not at him, but into darkness.

"They were right about me," she said. "I am a monster."

Roaring Storm nodded. He was enjoying this. With a flick of his wrist, he let go of Hope's chin. Her whole body went flying with it and she landed on her side. Not because he had used any particular force. No, it was merely that there was no resistance left in her to stop it.

Roaring Storm began to walk away. But as he did so, he sensed something surprising. Radiant Hope was getting off the ground. Somehow, someway, she was forcing herself up, forcing herself to her hooves. Sure enough, when he turned around, there she was. And there was resolve in those sky-blue eyes.

"I understand," she said, her voice now firm and sure. "I understand what you have to do."

"Do you?" Roaring Storm asked.

Hope nodded. "I won't resist. I won't run away or try to fight you. Just do it. Just kill me."

Roaring Storm let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. He raised his wing. The three umbrum fired more beams into Hope. She collapsed.

"I don't want to kill you," he said. "I need you. Actually, I'm trying to help you in a way."

Hope felt too weak to even move. But she forced her eyes to look upward, to look at Roaring Storm.

"What do you mean?" she said.

"I want you to just embrace what you truly are. I want you to become what you were always meant to be. The Empress of all monsters."

"But why?" Hope's voice was pleading. "I'll destroy Equestria!"

Roaring Storm shrugged. "A price must always be paid for progress. You see, I've had a lot of time to think while I've been here. And I came to a realization. I hate my mother. I really, really hate my mother. The so-called 'Free Equestria' hasn't been free in years. It's really no better than the umbrum, now. My mother sent me back to stop you. But what if I help you become what you will be?"

Roaring Storm took to the air, fluttering around in excitement. "By the time you unleash the umbrum, Equestria is already ready. For all the damage you do, all the ponies you kill, Equestria can still fight back. Not very well at first, I'll grant you, but it manages. But what if I unleash you now? Think of how much more you will destroy, how many more you will kill. And I'll make sure my mother lives through all of it! All her friends will die, and she'll be able to do nothing about it! All her dreams will burn, and she'll be able to do nothing! Of course, she'll still need to meet my father so I can exist. But then, maybe, without all that glory and prestige, she'll finally be the mother she always should have been. I'll finally have the life I should have had, in whatever corner of this world is left."

"Norneigh," Hope said, her voice low. "The umbrum promised to spare Norneigh."

Roaring Storm shrugged. "I suppose there are worse places to grow up."

He thought for a moment. "Or, just as you're about to unleash the umbrum, I'll kill you and then use Starswirl's spell to go back to my time. Just imagine what a hero I'll be to them then. I'll decide what to do after we've finished here."

Hope put a hoof onto the ground and raised herself as much as she could. Her eyes still carried the same resolve. The umbrum's blasts had not knocked it out of her. "I won't release the umbrum again. I won't help you."

The fiery red trail lit up the darkness. Hope felt herself lifted up into the air. Before she knew it, she had slammed into one of the catwalks hard enough to dent it's railings. She considered herself lucky that her spine was still intact.

Or, perhaps not so lucky, because Roaring Storm was now in her face. "Oh, you will, Hope! You w–"

And then, the yellow pegasus flew away. But for once, he did not fly under his own power. He had been hit by something from out of the pitch-black vastness.

"You do not hurt the Empress!" Invidia said. The shadow wobbled a little and looked around. "Empress?'

Naturally, when Roaring Storm had been sent on his way, there was nopony to hold up Hope. She was in free-fall, hurdling into the endless darkness below.

The night wind seemed to become even chillier. Starlight Glimmer could not remember being so cold, and that included when she had been hiking through those snow-covered mountains not too long ago.

She forced herself forward. The streets of Las Pegasus were filled with locals out for a night on the town and tourists lost in revelry. It was crowded and it was loud. It was the perfect place for Starlight to blend in.

She cradled the scroll beside her chest and thought about her plan. Starlight just had to make it back to the hotel to collect some things and then she could leave Las Pegasus far behind. She would find a new city and a new hideout where she could rewrite the spell in peace. Then she would make her way to Ponyville, to that gaudy eyesore of a castle Twilight Sparkle lived in, and then she would make Twilight pay.

Starlight looked over her shoulder at the night sky in the direction she had come. She was surprised that it was all darkness. She had expected something by now. She was still too close for her comfort – not wanting to teleport away in case Twilight had already arrived with some magic sensors – and should have seen something of the explosion, or at least heard it.

But there had been nothing. Starlight had not given that other spell much notice, but from what she had seen, it should have acted much more quickly than it was. Was something wrong? Was Hope in trouble? Had she failed?

Starlight shook her head. It was none of her business. Not anymore. She had what she wanted. Hope was not her concern.

Then she halted. Through her mind, the words, “We were never friends” echoed. Those had been some of the last words Hope would ever hear from her in this life. The worst part was, they had been a lie.

Starlight looked around her at all the ponies, going about their normal lives. They were completely oblivious to the fact that anything was happening, that they were in danger in any way. But, just a few blocks distant, a pony they had probably never heard of and who they probably wouldn’t like very much if they knew her whole story, a pony who was not of them and meant nothing to them, was trying to save all their lives.

It was brave and it was noble. Starlight had always said Hope and she were not so different. But as Starlight eyed the scroll, she reflected that Hope was different. Hope was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for these ponies. And Starlight wasn’t.

Starlight began to move and picked up her pace. So what? She had more important things to do. Twilight Sparkle was the big enemy here, and had to be taken down. Nopony saw that but Starlight herself. She was saving all these ponies too, in her own way.

Aren’t I? It was a stray thought in Starlight’s mind, and she tried to shake it off.

Starlight was now almost at a gallop, precariously pushing her way around all the other pedestrians. She had to move quickly, she knew. It was pure luck that the princesses hadn’t arrived yet. Starlight knew things would only get more difficult when they did. The whole city might end up in lockdown. And Starlight Glimmer wanted to deal with as little of that as she could mortally manage.

Too bad that time-travel spell needs so much work, she thought, or else I could fix all this right now.

Starlight continued on her way, roughly pushing several other ponies from her path and completely ignoring their angry yells. She could only afford to focus on one thing; getting out of this city.

But then, into her mind came an image of Radiant Hope. Hope, standing there, so serene, so accepting of her fate, and trying to talk sense into Starlight. She had done it out of care, out of compassion, out of friendship. She had not wanted Starlight to waste the life she was going to die to give her.

And Starlight had gotten angry and shouted, “We’ve never been friends.” The only lie in her whole life that burned like a fire in the deepest reaches of her heart.

Starlight halted once more and looked back in the direction of the Empress of Equestria. She could not let those be the last words she ever said to Radiant Hope. She could not.

Starlight kicked the sidewalk hard in frustration. I’m really going to kick myself for this, she thought.

Starlight Glimmer turned and galloped back toward the Empress. Back toward the umbrum. Back, though she did not know it, toward the yellow pegasus. But most of all, back toward Radiant Hope.

Hope did not scream. There was not much point to it. There was nopony to save her and she had to at least attempt a dignified exit from life.

But, usually, a scream comes naturally. It is almost a reflex of the body, the last, desperate, gasp of the survival mechanism. So, what did it say, Hope wondered, that she felt no compulsion to scream?

She thought about teleporting. But then, that would waste energy. And she needed energy if she was still going to try and use the spell. But she could not use the spell if she died from the fall. She could try to heal herself, whenever she hit bottom, but if death was instantaneous, she would never get the chance. And when she was so drained already, could she even afford to use up even the tiniest amount of energy?

Thus did the dilemma present itself to Radiant Hope in the few seconds during which she seemed to be falling to an inevitable death. She never got to solve it one way or the other, for she felt herself suddenly lifted up into the air. Hope looked around her. She could not see anything but darkness. She even lit up her horn, but it was no use. That is, until she saw the white eyes.

"I have you, Empress," Invidia said. "I shall not let you fall."

"Why are you doing this for me?" Hope asked. She already knew the answer (though she wished that she did not) but coming up with icebreakers was difficult now that she knew the umbrum's true nature.

"You are my Empress."

"Yes, but it's not who I am now. It's not who I'll be for a few years."

"It does not matter. You have already been my Empress once. You will always be my Empress. You cannot change that."

Hope sighed. "I'm beginning to understand that."

She looked up. There seemed to be light streaming in. For a relative definition of light. It was a testament to the utter blackness in which they were engulfed that the darkness from the floor above was lighter in comparison. Hope wondered where on the upper floor that hole was, and where the small amount of purplish light was coming from.

As if answering her question, Invidia said, "It looks like the pool finally gave way. We umbrum were taking bets on it. I guess that's one more thing I've lost."

"What else have you lost?" Hope said.

"Many things," Invidia responded. "I have lost my freedom. I have lost my ability to serve my Empress. I have lost my dignity and my self-respect. I have lost my fellow umbrum. All because of that pegasus."

"Tell me," Hope said, "if the other umbrum's collars were destroyed like I destroyed yours, would they obey me instead of Roaring Storm?"

"Of course," Invidia said. "You are our Empress. We must be loyal to you."

Hope nodded. "I am sorry for what I did to you. Er... what I will do? Even with everything you are, nopony should be able to cast a spell that forces you to be loyal."

"Do not be sorry, Empress," Invidia responded. "We umbrum do not deserve your pity. Not after what we did to you and Sombra."

"I'm sorry, all the same."

There was silence between them as Invidia soared through the empty spaces of the boiler room.

Then, Hope spoke. "But I think we should find Roaring Storm and the other umbrum. They should be back at the platform by now."

"But I can get you out of here. I can get you to safety."

Hope was firm. "No. This ends now."

She felt Invidia's ghostly forelegs as they carried her. They tensed up, slightly. Invidia seemed to just hover for a moment, as though he could not make up his mind. But then, dutifully, he turned back and slowly flew Hope down to the platform.

When they arrived, Roaring Storm and the other umbrum where already waiting. The yellow pegasus had recovered well from being hit by an umbrum and was now just standing there with a smug grin on his face.

"I knew your pet wouldn't let you fall," he said as Hope found her footing on the grating. "And I knew you couldn't leave while we're still here."

"This ends now," Hope repeated. "It's time."

"I agree completely," Roaring Storm said. "Let's finish with our arrangement."

"What arrangement? I'm not going to help you!"

Roaring Storm trotted forward until he and Hope were nose to nose. "Oh, but you are, Hope. You are going to become what you are meant to be."

Invidia made to restrain Roaring Storm, but Hope raised a hoof to call him off.

"See, Hope, you're already getting used to command," Roaring Storm said. "Just embrace it. This is your destiny. You can't fight it. It is going to happen sooner or later."

"I know," Hope said quietly.

Roaring Storm put his wing around Hope's shoulder. "You know you can't save anypony. They'll all die anyway."

"I know."

"You'll be the cause of their deaths, whether you like it or not. You're the doom of Equestria. Whatever happens, you're just going to keep hurting ponies. Anypony who gets close to you is going to suffer."

"I know."

"You were born to be a monster, Hope."

"I know."

Roaring Storm leaned his face in, to where his and Hope's were practically making contact. "So, do we have a deal?"

"No."

"No? No? You dare say no to me?"

Hope suddenly felt a pain in her shoulder. She looked to see that blood was trickling down, from a wound that had just been opened by the feathers of Roaring Storm's wing. The wing was vibrating.

"You won't kill me," Hope said. "That would ruin your plan."

Roaring Storm suddenly pulled his wing away and put some distance between himself and Radiant Hope.

"Fine," he said. "You don't want to embrace your darkness, then fine. But before you say no completely, let me sweeten the pot."

He pointed to his wristband. "I can still bring him back, you know. I can still bring back Sombra. He's not dead. He's just been pulled outside of time. With enough temporal energy, such as that which you get from the spell upstairs, I could bring him back. No time would have passed at all for him since the day I took him. He would be just as you last saw him, safe and free and odiously good. The price would just be you. Isn't that a fair trade?'

"Starlight Glimmer already has the spell," Hope responded. "She's left with it. You'll never be able to use it."

Roaring Storm laughed. "Like it would be that hard for me to find her and take that spell away? You know I could, if I wanted to, get that spell from her at any moment. Just like I could have, at any moment, taken it from its case upstairs or from the Royal Library. So don't worry about that. If you give yourself up, if you become the Empress of the Umbrum, I swear to you that I will restore Sombra. And you can trust me. I always keep my word. I may break a lot of things, but never my word."

Roaring Storm could tell immediately that he had struck a cord. Hope looked down to her hooves in shame. She then looked to Invidia and to the three other umbrum in turn. She shook her head, not to say 'no' but to hold back all the emotions that were trying to burst from inside of her. Then she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. Two large streams of tears managed to force their way past her eyelids and splashed down her face.

"You promise that you'll save Sombra?"

Roaring Storm nodded. "I'll even send him to live in.... Where did the umbrum promise you? Norneigh? I'll even send him to live happily in Norneigh."

"And my friends. You'll keep them safe?"

"If that's what it takes to get you to agree."

"And you're sure that I'll lose to my darkness eventually?"

"Hope, you're nothing but darkness."

Hope's eyes opened. "Then, I've made my decision."

"Excellent," Roaring Storm said. "Then just come over here. The umbrum have some work to do on you."

"I won't do it," Hope said.

She finally wiped the smug grin off of the pegasus' face. "You won't?"

Hope shook her head. "No. As much as I miss Sombra, I know that the way he is now, he'd never want me to trade Equestria for him. He'd never want me to trade my friends for him. And he'd certainly never want me to trade myself for him."

Hope wiped her tears away. "I love Sombra. Because of that, I've done some terrible things. And because of that, I made a vow that I would never let another pony die because of me. And because of that, I can never agree to what you want."

Roaring Storm sneered. "Your logical chains are very impressive. But they just hide the fact that you're too obstinate for your own good." He rose his wing. "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way."

The umbrum launched their beams into Hope. Invidia rushed to intervene.

"Stop him!" Roaring Storm ordered. "One of you, stop him! We'll manage with only two, though it'll take longer."

One umbra broke away and began to engage Invidia. Given Invidia's weakened state, it was not long before she gained the upper hoof.

Hope collapsed. Every part of her burned. But not like the earlier beams had burned. No, this was different. This was deeper. It was deeper than any pain Hope had ever felt.

“Blockhead,” came the umbris' voice. But Hope did not hear it in her ears. It was much closer than that. It was in her mind.

It was practically the only thing Hope could make out. She could not even make sense of her own thoughts anymore. Her senses had seemed to go numb with the blast, but now they returned. They returned, but without coordination. Everything was just a jumble of sensations and pain. Hope could see the darkness, she could hear the silence, she could feel the grating of the metal platform and she could feel the breeze it generated as it swung back and forth. And it all burned.

Hope’s chest heaved uncontrollably. She felt something being torn from her. Something she had never paid much attention to before. She had never even known that she felt it. But now that it was leaving, she felt as though she could not imagine life without it.

Was this the life-force, the life-energy everypony kept talking about? Was this what it felt like to lose it?

But then the draining stopped. Despite what Invidia had told her earlier, they weren't draining the life-force. Hope did not know how she knew this, but she did. The life-force suddenly felt secure. It was the only thing in her body or her mind that still felt secure.

What are you doing to me? It was the one coherent thought Hope could still make.

"Sombra was supposed to be our champion. And then he met you. You ruined everything. You just kept ruining everything," the umbris said.

The umbra joined in, "But there's a power in you, a power even greater than we gave Sombra. As he is now lost to us forever, we need a new leader."

I will never lead you! I am not your Empress!

“We don’t need you, Hope. We just need the power that is inside of you. Your – what do they call it? – your soul is useless to us. It’s the life and the power that we need.”

I’ll never give it to you!

“Oh, stop it! Haven’t you realized yet? This body is not your own. It belongs to us now.”

Hope felt something, a new sensation, even more painful than all that she had just been subjected to. It was darkness, pure darkness. She had felt the darkness inside of her, but it had never felt like this. This was an ooze, a black liquid slowly spreading like poison through her veins. It was conquering every inch of her. It was forcing her out of her own body, confining her. Confining her within herself, in a single point that just kept getting smaller.

Hope must have mentally screamed.

For the umbris responded, “Oh, don’t be so frightened, Hope. You probably think that this is just going to erase you completely. But it won't. You’ll still be with us, Radiant Hope. You’ll always be with us, a prisoner in your own mind, watching as your body and your magic devastate Equestria. You get to watch as, one by one, all your friends are tormented and torn apart. You get to watch what we’ll do to the princesses, to the crystal ponies, to every equine creature in this land. You get to watch as our shadow falls permanently over the world and you get to watch as everything that gets caught beneath it withers and dies away.”

The umbrum ceased. They began to circle around, watching and waiting. Hope seemed completely lifeless. But then, a hoof began to move. It found its footing. Then another did, and then another, and then the last. Slowly, she rose.

Radiant Hope’s eyes opened. The bright crystalline blue was gone. These were green eyes with red pupils, and from them, purple smoke arose and drifted into the darkness.

The umbrum touched down and gave magnificent bows. “Empress….” they said in unison.

Roaring Storm stepped forward. “How do you feel?”

She rolled her head, getting some knots out of the back of her neck. “Powerful,” she said.

“And Hope?”

“She’s still screaming her little heart out. Or whatever it is she has left now that I’ve taken everything.”

“Well, we get our evil Empress one way or another," Roaring Storm said. “Now, are you ready to make this world suffer?"

She smiled, hers the wickedest and most evil smile of all. “Let’s get started.”