2 days later...

The whole cult gathered in the main complex, where their three leaders with Mane Shaker and Pinkamena were in the gigantic long dinning table waiting for everypony to arrive.

It was seven o'clock in the evening and the goodbye dinner was some minutes of being totally ready.
The wooden tables connected to each other were decorated with metal plates made of different materials, from the usual copper to the gold ones reserved to the high ranks and platinum to the leaders and their guests . Jugs, glasses and cups made of crystal glass with more colors than a rainbow, all shining at the lights emitted by the amount of candles distributed around the complex and the tables.

Dark Sigil looked at all the followers sitting in their places and they stopped appearing from the doors and corridors.

"Is everypony here?" She asked loudly with a wide smile. "Seems so. Copper, wanna start?"

"After you, please." He answered back.

"If you say so." Sigil filled her lungs to start her speech and stood up from her chair. "Everypony! Today this feast is to honor once again the presence of Mane Shaker, The Last Sombra, nephew of King Sombra himself, which is sitting on my left. His visit to our cult and the service he has done for us and our town, we all wanna say thank you. Right next to him, his friend Pinkamena Diane Pie, a former psychopath and serial killer changed by Mane himself, also to honor her for her help in his tasks of saving our city. Without her, he couldn't do It for sure."

The public cheered on them while Copper Spear stood up.

"Thanks to him, a big chunk of the hidden crime has died. Our army grew stronger with the new weapons, and we shall use them for justice inspired by Mane's good will to fight for the good cause. Some of our soldiers died during the assault that night, and I also want to dedicate this feast to them and their bravery. And Pinkamena for teaching my soldiers her knife game, showing most of times the weapons don't make the warrior but also their skill and instincts."

The public cheered louder and Inked Quill stood up showing his rare smile.

"Our archives grew stronger thanks to Mane's contribute and studies conducted on him. Even if It was a personal thing, we got to understand even more about King Sombra's powers. In his free time, he taught some of his combat spells to my battle wizards making them stronger and sharing with us that we don't need to always cast spells with our horns but also through our body and It's dangers."

Some of the public started to whisper to each other, mainly the unicorns. But after some moments they cheered again.

"Mane, you have something to say?" Sigil asked.

"I... err..." Mane stood up from his chair and looked nervous all over the faces awaiting his speech of gratitude with big smiles. "I'm not a good public speaker, but I want to express my gratitude to all of you for allowing me to stay with you all. And having this cult in honor of my dead uncle Sombra, even if he was an evil character who tormented this city. I also want to say thank you so much to Dark Sigil, Copper Spear and Inked Quill for helping me out in a job I took here. Another thing I want to say is... don't let your past and origins judge you. I came from a family which name was not expected to be stained forever. Nowadays I'm chased because of that, and I try to clean my name by doing justice to this world by my own hands but the army doesn't tolerate that. But that doesn't stop me from doing the good, as a debt for the ones that died during my uncle's reign of terror. Again, thank you to all of you here, I couldn't do this alone."

Silence.

Suddenly broken by cheers and whistles. Without breaking the happiness, Sigil made the signal for the cooks to bring the food, which filled the main complex with the sweet scent of prepared food. Fried hay, apple pies, fruit salad and other delicious things. To kill the thirst, water and fruit juices for the young ones, leaving the hard ones to the grown ups. Beer mostly, with the occasional wine and for special occasions like those, whiskey, brandy, muscat and other brews. And specially reserved for Mane due to It's alcoholic strength, Crystal Vodka, his favorite.

The cooks and maids finished putting the meals in the tables, taking their places among the crowd. Silence again and Dark Sigil broke It again, by tingling her fork in her crystal glass cup like a bell.

"Everypony! Let's! Eat!" Sigil announced.

"You only have one life, enjoy It at the very best!" Mane added in excitement. "If you're gonna eat in a party, don't use cutlery! Make a mess!" He laughed followed by some others.

Mane went straight away to the Crystal Vodka bottle and poured in a good quantity in his cup. Pinkamena went to the fried hay. Sigil to the vegetable stew along with Copper, while Quill preferred the soup.
Ponies feasting in joy, serving themselves and each other, talking and laughing. A sight to be enjoyed but not alone. Pinkamena asked Mane for a drop of his drink, with obvious hilarious results of her hyperventilating the burning alcohol in her throat.
Sigil and Copper kept talking about something, sharing some laughs while Quill returned his grumpy face and kept eating hissoup.

A feast isn't a feast without entertainment. Later on, some performers started to show up in the middle of the room with torches and flasks. They drank whatever It was, and positioning the torches in front of their mouths, they spitted the liquid upwards creating a flamethrower in front of them. Neither Mane or Pinkamena saw something like that before, making they applaud at the show of the fire breathing performers.
After their number, jugglers showed up with four wooden balls each.

"I can do better than that..." Pinkamena sighed out of boredom.

"Why don't you show us then?" Asked Copper.

Pinkamena stood up and casually went to the kitchen, returning not with three but seven big sharp knives. At first, the cultists started to whisper if it wasn't dangerous, but to had more intensity, she putted a chair in a table and climbed into It. Everypony in the complex could see her maintain the balance, and muffled squeaks of started to come when she threw the first blades in the air.
Everything was going usually well, until she shook her legs as if she was losing control, and everypony in the room screamed in terror when she balanced to her back in one leg, all except Mane.

"Gotcha!" Pinkamena laughed while getting back in a stable position. It was all fake. "A bit of thrill is always cool, don't you think?"

Most of them didn't know if they should be terrified or amazed. Mane was the only one giggling though. Pinkamena returned the knives back and dismounted the apparatus and returned to her place with a provocative smile.

"Well played." Mane whispered to her still giggling.

"I know..." Pinkamena passed her fingers in her hair in a sassy way.

Sigil approached from Mane by leaning to his side, and she was showing a strange smile.

"You truly admire her, don't you?" Sigil whispered.

"Hum... yeah. Why wouldn't I? She's my friend." Mane answered in a low voice.

"Come on, Shaky..." She called him in a cute way . "You do more than admire her."

"What the heck?" Mane blushed. "Get your ideas somewhere else, girl."

"Hihi... alright." Sigil leaned back to her seat giggling even more. "Just tell me when the bachelor party is." She winked in a pervy way.

"S-shut up!" Mane demanded blushing even more.

"Something wrong?" Pinkamena asked puzzled.

"Nothing, I was just... talking to the voices in my head." Mane laughed in discomfort, with Sigil laughing behind him.

A group of kids in their cultist robes approached Mane with jumps and laughs only a young one could enjoy. They stopped by the other side of the table in front of him looking at him with funny looks.

"You want something?" Mane asked them, taking a sip of his drink.

"Can you play with us, Mr. Mane?"

"Alright... let me finish my meal first." Mane sighed with a smile.

The kids kept giggling while he finished, he got up and followed them to the center where he used his magic to lift them up in the air and make them fly all over. The youngsters kept laughing, this time even more when Mane turned his lower body into It's shadow form, grabbing a foal or filly by both arms and fly them around the complex.

"I'm next!" Said a filly.

"No! I'm next, I want to fly too!" Said a foal.

"But you're a pegasus, you can fly." The filly complained.

"I don't know how to yet." The foal answered.

"Enough flying for now." Said Mane, returning his body to normal. "Look at this!"

His horn glowed red while his magic drew a fire bird in the air, flapping It's wings slowly leaving a trail of embers and sparks.

"It's a phoenix!" Said a filly, pointing to the bird made of magic.

"You know what It is?" Mane smiled.

"Princess Celestia has one. She brought her pet phoenix during a visit to the Crystal Empire." Answered a foal.

Mane clearly knew what that beautiful creature was. He remembers It clearly when he was living in Celestia's castle during those years, Philomena was the name.

"Hey! Hey!" Called a foal.

"What is It, kid?" Mane answered.

"I've heard you have an unusual power for a crystal pony." Said the foal.

"HAVE YOU BEEN TAMPERING WITH MY THINGS AGAIN?!" Inked Quill hit the table with a fist, making Copper and Sigil laugh.

"Yes I do, look." Mane transformed his body into crystal in a blink.

The youngsters only answers were "woows".

"What mineral are you?" Asked a filly reluctantly.

"Smoked quartz, obsidian and ruby." Mane answered.

"Your eyes look like emeralds!" Said the same filly.

"You know a lot about minerals, don't you?" Pinkamena approached from them.

"I know some stuff, pretty lady." Said the little girl making Pinka blush a bit.

"I came from a family of miners. Minerals and rocks are their trade, and the Crystal Empire would be a heaven for them, but where they live is also rich in geology interest." Said Diane.

"I'm also interested in rocks and minerals." Said Mane. "I would love to visit your family's place someday."

"I... er... some time maybe..?" Pinkamena seemed worried with that request.

"Something wrong with that?" Mane asked.

"No! Not at all." Pinkamena answered but her expression seemed the opposite.

"Okay..." Mane accepted. "Let's go back to our places, there's still food and tomorrow our trip in a box begins." Mane looked at the group os kids with a smile. "You all behave."

"Yes." Pinkamena answered. "I'm still hungry otherwise."

"Careful with the fried foods, I don't wanna see that cute body of yours ruined." Mane commented.

"What?!" Pinkamena looked at him blushing in surprise.

"Nothing!" Mane answered. "The fuck did I just said?!"