[Brief lag in-between updates, due to my sweet, beautiful Jesus sending me on a quest to meet my destiny. Regardless, I expect Chapter 3 to be posted sometime in late April. Super sorry about that! ]

As a little filly, Twilight is visited by a soft-spoken gray alicorn who introduces himself as King Sombra, ruler of all the Umbrum race. The stallion swiftly earns her trust and charges her with a task that nopony but Twilight could possibly achieve, giving her fifteen years, four months, and eleven days to fulfill it. Then, he commands her not to say a word about their meeting to anypony, and disappears.

Fifteen years later, Twilight is summoned by Princess Celestia, who gives her an overwhelming test: to protect the newly-resurfaced Crystal Empire from an ancient tyrant with a heart as black as night: King Sombra.

Twilight can hardly believe the Princess' words. How can she oppose the stallion who became her very first friend when she was a foal? When the moment comes for the young mare to deliver the Crystal Heart to Cadence, she knows she must make a choice. A choice that will forever alter her destiny — and, also, the course of Equestrian history.

A warm thank you to Maltrazz for kindly pre-reading Chapters 1 and 2 of this story — and for being such an awesome source of inspiration.