Once upon a time, there was no land of Equestria.

Or at least, not yet.

Kingdoms rise and fall, there was something long before Equestria was even thought of.

The land that would become Equestria sat empty of ponykind for years to come. Some told tales of fire, but the details faded.

Of all the different kinds of ponies, only three races were thought to have survived: earth, pegasus, and unicorn. They found a valley and stayed there, their knowledge fading as the older generations were replaced by their offspring. They fought amongst themselves when they weren't succumbing to disease. Magics faded and weakened as did knowledge of all kinds, filled only with prejudice towards the other two factions. The valley in which they lived, where hardly any food would grow, was constantly torn apart by petty feuds as the ponies became prisoners of the frigid climate and their own ignorance. To any outsider they were obviously digging their own grave, especially due to the toll of raising and lowering the sun and moon.

They had long since stopped marking their graves and believed themselves to be alone in a flat and desolate world that never extended beyond that valley when the only creatures in the world that could save them from the miserable existence they lead happened to stumble into the unforgiving maw of that valley.

Two little Alicorn fillies with snow in their manes, overgrown coats, and the newly earned marks they had gained for lowering the sun and raising the moon. Their eyes twinkled like the stars that had failed to shine for so long as they gazed upon this backward land, two children who hadn't known what had happened but in their own ways knew what they saw was wrong.

Who were they? The ponies of the three tribes wondered. Why do they speak so funny?

How can they have both wings and a horn?

We can hardly feed ourselves, they cried, how can you possibly want us to feed these brats?!

Are the even ponies at all? They can't be, they must be monsters!

It was the only way they could come up with to explain the strange mane of the elder, the behaviors that were perceived as improper, and the otherworldly magic the two sisters had. Most of those ponies had considered teleportation to be the most advanced magic, or at least the few who knew what it was.

In the end it was decided that they would be given to the Unicorn Court, so they might figure out what to do with the unwanted 'monsters'. Especially since the unicorns had the closest to what could be called scholars in such a place where knowledge was more precious and scarce than harvests.

So they had the two fillies sit on a cold stone floor before the king as the nobles who held all influence shouted their 'suggestions' from the balconies.

A murder of crows would have been so much friendlier to the cowering children.

"Perhaps, they should be hired out, somepony ought to have these uncivilized and feral bastards know what hard work and discipline are!"

Celestia hugged Luna tighter, if anypony had noticed the younger sister seemed to be a deeper shade of blue as a result.

"It is true! Why just yesterday the blue one had the nerve to smile in public at a complete stranger, I saw the whole thing!"

There were collective gasps.

Luna whimpered. She was almost indigo at this point.

"How old are they?" called out another with a prospective voice, "They might be able to be married off."

Celestia bit the inside of her cheek. How could the king just look on as this happened? Who would let this happen to them! She felt scared, not as scared as Luna probably did, but still frightened enough even if she couldn't let it show for fear of upsetting Luna even more.

A fourth call rang out: "Why hire both of them out when they can be separated, after all two nonsense-uttering beasts such as these are bad enough, but if you're smart enough all you have to do is split them up, since they'll probably develop a much better temperament once they stop speaking and are decent enough to lower their gaze. I'm telling you that they're a bad influence on each other."

When the young noblemare finished her sober speech, there was silence and all gazes turned toward the king who then ordered that whoever spoke step out. There was the sound of hoofsteps as she descended from the balcony and stepped into the light revealing a light magenta coat, haughty stare, and a mouth curved in a permanent look of disgust and a straight pearly pink-white mane that fell out from under a large silk cap with a geometric pattern that matched her ribbon covered gown.

"What is your name?" asked the king as he stared into the mare's royal blue eyes.

"Sweet Heart," she replied.

"Very well, then," the Unicorn king said before summoning a nearby scribe who then wrote out the payment of gold, gems, an titles the Lady Sweet Heart was to be offered. It was then presented to her, and she smiled coldly, or at least attempted to since it came out as a disgusted sneer instead and her eyes were tinged with greed.

The King dismissed Lady Sweet Heart with a wave of his forehoof and summoned two guards outfitted in the Unicorn Tribe's ill-fitting and poorly crafted armor emblazoned with the royal family's coat of arms.

"Separate them," he ordered without even the slightest look in the direction of the sisters as the unicorn guards attempted to pull them away from each other's embrace using magic.

Celestia's frantic calls were drowned out by Luna's wailing as most of the crowd looked on, hardly even a bit of kindness to be seen in any of their eyes, which were averted to a sight the majority of them found to be annoying and nothing more.

All this ceased when one of the guards howled in pain, clutching his unprotected foreleg. "OW! THE BLUE ONE JUST BIT ME!"

Luna scrambled back into her elder sister's forehooves, making a sound much like sobbing but was combined with something like a wailing cough. She wanted to leave! She wanted to go home, anywhere but here was home! At least Philomena was still safe outside! Why weren't they outside?

Young Celestia decided that she had enough, and her horn flared to life with magic she had yet to control as bursts of fire the size of shields flew in all directions, landing on tapestries and the edges of clothing, burning with only half the fury that resided in Celestia.

Ponies started to scream, the few that weren't in a panic hurriedly attempting to put out the flame in a land where water came in ice and snow more then anything else. However, a few pointed in the direction of the two sisters.

Celestia was hugging Luna tighter then she ever had before and rocking her back and forth, whispering that everything was going to be okay because it just had to be okay. Privately, somewhere deep within herself she wanted to bring these ponies home as well, this awful place could hardly ever be the home of any creature.

This wasn't what the ponies were pointing at, instead they gestured to yet another example of the strange and awesome magic of these beings they had so hurriedly dismissed as monsters for their differences: a cloak of the elder's fire had surrounded the huddled forms of both, yet did not burn them.

Suddenly, the doors burst open and a blast of cold air snuffed out all but the protective blanket of fire which came close to glowing just as bright as the fire Celestia's aura had become. There was a brief, heavy silence as the hysteria ceased and a few gusts of wind blew through, ushering in snowflakes and the sound of hoofsteps.

Enter a stallion with deep set eyes that knew only sleepless nights poring over scrolls, a flowing mane, and a mouth that conveyed only agitation and more disgust then Lady Sweet Heart could ever hope to achieve. He was clad in a belled hat and a robe that displayed the night sky as the two sisters remembered it.

He stomped his cloven hooves, muttered something about his loathing of peasants and swept through the hall, his lion-like tail brushing past the fillies who still sat cowering on the floor.

The stallion stared the king straight in the eye and gave a rather annoying, completely unnecessary filibuster about how hard it was to get anywhere when you lived in an even smaller valley so many days away and the stupid filly with the funny-looking mane who worked for you couldn't deliver messages on the subject of strangers on time and something incomprehensible about stupid peasants.

The king sat straighter in his throne and wiped the spittle that the young stallion, who was really hardly more than a recent graduate of childhood in actuality, had sprayed in his face. This egotistical nopony was Starswirl.

That's it, just Starswirl. There wasn't much to him: he was the son of one of the noble families but cut ties as soon he was old enough to forsake them and swindle money from the peasants to establish his own dwelling somewhere in a remote area neither tribe controlled where he would constantly be surrounded by books even he didn't even seem all that interested in. The only reasons the court tolerated him were his noble lines and because he knew more magic than any tribespony combined (which really wasn't much from an outsider's perspective as others would learn).

Celestia sat spellbound staring at his starry cloak. This stranger gave her hope.

Luna peeked out from between some of Celestia's feathers. She heard his speech... something about him didn't seem right...

Starswirl demanded that the magical creatures be given to him so they might be trained properly and teach them some discipline so they might one day conform and embrace the status quo like what was expected of them.

Celestia wasn't quite listening. Magic training? For so long she hoped that somepony would educate her sister and herself, and here was a pony who out of all these nobles, she could guarantee was literate. He also lived away from this awful court!

The court was stunned and once again the balconies were silent, there were nods of agreement. Then the absolute, thing king himself, his royal majesty King Titanium rose from his throne and declared it so.

Even if it meant nothing to these ponies, Celestia who always felt like a princess even after all these years, rose and voiced her own agreement to these deaf ears and numbed minds.

Years later, the sisters had grown apart due to conflict and sadness until the bond they once shared was hardly recognizable as such, they refused communication and interaction. Their paths further alienated them from the other as they went in divergent directions.

Soon Starswirl, now known as Starswirl the Bearded brought another apprentice into the valley, a young colt from a far off land none had ever heard of. His name was Onyx and he was probably the cruelest pony to ever live.

He wanted to return to the land he came from and seek revenge for what he thought were the wrongs done to him, even though this bad egg was the cause of his own misery.

Onyx found a forsaken book of strange magic that did things no other kind of enchantment could, every spell was powerful, often twisted and deadly. From the start the wicked book had ensnared his all too willing mind.

But the greatest power then-thirteen year old Onyx found in the magic book was a spell he discovered years later, when the sisters were gone and Starswirl was out for a while.

The book would let him change his species from a crystal pony whose natural magic was impaired, much to his disgust, to a unicorn.

It was what he always wanted.

With all the magic he could muster, the little megalomaniac cast the great spell and broke the greatest taboo with the dark energy.

He created fully-functioning sapient life.

Onyx created a living, thinking, independent being with a soul.

He got his wish, but at great cost.

Nopony ever saw Starswirl the Bearded after that day.

Nopony ever saw Onyx again, either.

Princess Luna stood alone on a cliff overlooking the Crystal Empire. Harsh winds blew around her, carrying biting flecks of ice and snow she had grown numb to over the course of the past few days. She wore no scarf or cloak, her mouth turned downward in her customary frown. The Alicorn mare's blue coat and flowing mane were overshadowed and blotted out by the storm.

It was only when one looked closely, provided that they had good eyes of course, that through the snow they might catch glimpses of jagged black crystals and the orange skies that marked the days here accompanied by angry black clouds that dumped constant snow on the miserable city, as if the enslaved residents needed yet another reminder of their plight.

It was the perfect atmosphere of hopelessness for a city that might as well be named Agony.

Luna was almost surprised to find out that the nights were clear here, cold but normal compared to the wretched weather of this silent land.

The wind howled even louder.

Well, it wasn't always silent. Only the wind seemed to speak here, and the silent princess lent her ear.

She hardly seemed to breathe. For the past few days she had been under the disguise of a crystal pony stallion who spoke even less then his mute brethren. He faded into the background in all things and lingered only on the fringes as they others suffered in silence under the reign of the tyrant who never appeared except on a stolen balcony, whose nature was even more mysterious then the circumstance.

Luna wouldn't have been able to help even if she wanted to. After that one crystal pony mare escaped this horror, somehow she managed to make it to Equestria, now under the rule of the Two Sisters since all the Tribe's leaders were dead. The mare, Golden Mile, struggled to get past the shadow of Canterhorn Mountain which housed the enchanted city of stone, Canterlote, and stumble into the Everfree Forest right into the new Castle of the Two Sisters where she pleaded, with a raw throat and more ribs than skin as paranoia and fear in her eyes, that the two goddesses previously unaware of the existence and plight of the hidden Crystal Empire use their vast power to save it.

Golden Mile, who made every hoofstep count, was spent. She collapsed in a guards forehooves where she died.

Eight years, that's how long this had been going on.

Celestia, everypony's beloved princess made public decree, after decree of how she and her sister would save this land, and she added, help incorporate them into Equestria.

The public ate it up. Luna's agreement, as with everything else about her was unspoken. Unnoticed.

In the times when Luna and Celestia wandered the world and the Moon Princess still thought of Celestia as her beloved and caring sister, Luna would act as a scout due to her skills and different nature. She was still better at these tasks and in a rare vocalization (and even rarer consideration on the ever-busy Celestia's part) Luna elected herself as to scout the Empire so they might have knowledge about their enemy.

Celestia agreed and a great charm was wrought so not only would Luna be in the guise of a young, washed-out colored stallion, but all her magic, with the exception of that needed to raise and lower the moon, would be sealed within herself with a complex charm few archmages could master due to the sheer power they would have to contain. Her magic would return and the seal would break when Luna was ready to release it.

The princess had spent three weeks here in this tainted place. It was the final day.

Her eyes flickered up to the sky where the muted outlines of mountains stood as somber and stoic as the saddened princess among the snow. Luna felt grounded and trapped as of late.

There was still no sign. Surely, the second half of this counter-revolution would be here soon? It has already been six days since she received the message carried in a sunbeam and seared into a pile of kindling before it returned to ashes. It hadn't taken the young princess that long to arrive.

She waited for hours.

There through the barrages of snowflakes was the hint of radiant white light shining forth and framing the pure white coat of an angelic winged being. Princess Celestia entered from that light, her horn aglow with golden aura and her mane and tail rushes of vibrant and bright color. Her expression was stern as she surveyed her dismal surroundings. When her hooves touched the mountains’ surface the heat of her magic dissolved the snow.

Celestia held a tattered sheath in the grip of her magic, and without so much as a glance in her sister's direction she tossed the object towards Luna and looked out at the city before them, magenta eyes brimming with concern for all the ponies trapped under the reign of such a foe.

Luna's own magic caught the sheath and withdrew a familiar sword of plain silver. She slipped the correct loop on the sheath's harness over her head. It was nice to have something familiar.

"I take it that this was just in case?" Luna asked, her voice low. During her time in disguise Luna had temporarily adopted the singular pronouns and smoother language used by the Crystalline Citizens.

Celestia didn't answer her question. "What hast thou learned of the tyrant?"

Upon their joint coronations as Princesses of Equestria, Celestia and Luna had both combined their constant usage of the majestic plural with the common language used by Equestrians. Very rarely did they ever revert to any other speech.

"Not much," Luna confessed, "He never appeared, all I know of him is that he is mad, bloodthirsty, and sadistic with a nature that cannot be predicted. It is said that the wind's howl is nothing more than an effect of his crazed and constant laughter, yet from what I do know about him it is that he appears to have no control over the weather. The constant storms seem to be a result of something else."

Celestia displayed no visible reaction but merely uttered, "We see," obviously disappointed with what she considered to be a lack of adequate knowledge on her sister's part.

There was a brief pause between the strangers that had once been family, yet only Luna noted this.

"What will we do then, Celestia?" She hadn't called her Tia in many years.

Another stretch of silence followed until Celestia spoke, and when she did it was closer to the language variant the sister's shared in the earliest days of their youth.

"The castle will be stormed, regardless of what little knowledge our sister managed to collect. This tyrant may be in power but he is just one mere mortal in the face of two goddesses delivering righteous judgement. We may lack a fully formulated strategy and knowledge of his strange his usual magic but he shall fall despite these shortcomings. We pray that you understand this, Luna. The cruelty that goes under the name of King Sombra will fall because there is no good in him. He is the opposite end of ourselves on the scale, the perfect measurement of the two absolutes. He is completely corrupt, he gets no forgiveness or mercy for he deserves none. Evil is what lurks in the darkness and refuses, nay, denies the inevitable right that is the light very much like that of our sun, if not exactly so. In the name of Equestria We, Celestia vow that the innocents will be freed and see the sun once more."

Celestia finished this speech with a grand flourish of her hoof as her gaze towards the tainted city never once ceased. She thought only of the kindness that would be given to these oppressed souls when they discovered the charity Equestria would offer them.

Luna stood aghast as her own gaze met the contemplative Celestia, who did not notice. How could somepony who had once been so dear to her say, no think, such a thing?! There was no honesty in those words. Would she really continue to align herself with those that disgraced and shunned Luna and made her blood boil?

The snow stirred one last time as the two Alicorns took off into the skies, their powerful wings dwarfing the effects of the storm and headed towards the malicious and twisted crystal edifice that loomed in what was once a great city.

Princess Celestia had few thoughts as the cold air hit her face and her lashes batted away from the snow. The few that she did were visions of success, and the smiling faces of crystal ponies, their eyes tinged with joyous tears. Perhaps they would sing ballads, really anything that would get rid of this unbearable silence would be wondrous. After all, she was Celestia, Princess of Equestria, Goddess of the Sun, and immortal champion of ponykind.

Goddess...

Immortal...

After centuries of innocence she finally knew their real meaning: duty.

Her sister's thoughts were much different as her forehooves brushed up against clouds and her mighty wings captured the shape of the air and triumphing over the unruly northern winds.

Who is it they would to end today and what will they use as their justifications?

This was the first real threat they will face alone and there was so much mystery surrounding him.

King Sombra, that was his name.

What was he like? Was he wrathful, greedy, or something else? Was this the path he chose or was it one that he strayed to?

Does he know regret?

What does he think about? Does this king see himself as the villain he is made out to be? Can he comprehend what he has done?

Was he made into this? How did he come to where he is today?

She took a quick, sharp breath as not to disrupt the silence. It was only now that she didn't mind it.

Luna flapped her wings harder. She wanted to know who this pony was, he couldn't be just another face.

The castle came into view. It was a depressing and overwhelming structure, every surface armored with thick layers of smoke-gray crystals that bore no signs of gloss or luster and hid whatever the original shape was. The top was a closed and deadly-looking crown of thorns nopony could hope to bypass.

What has happened her... 'tis positively awful, thought Celestia with a rise of burning anger.

Luna found herself unable to look away. It looks like more of a prison then the rest of the Empire, she observed.

As they soared closer the sisters discovered the gold-wrought balcony. When compared to the rest of the castle it appeared to be relatively unchanged.

What does it look like under all of this? Luna thought.

They were close enough now that Celestia had folded her wings and prepared to land. Luna was a few lengths behind her.

As soon as she landed, Celestia recoiled in pain as an unnatural red and purple flame scorched her foreleg, leaving bleeding and blistered skin in its wake.

Her jaw clenched, and her horn lit up with the same gold aura as before. It smoothed over the marred flesh until it was repaired, even if the coat would take a while to grow back. It wasn't worth worrying about at the moment, she had a much bigger task on her hooves.

Princess Luna hovered nearby. She lit her own horn up with her natural turquoise magic, dissatisfied at the resulting amount, she charged her horn up with even more, enough to overwhelm any mortal creature and cause portions of the glow to change to white, them same color in which her eyes now glowed, although their hue was much purer as a result of the sheer power.

The younger goddess let the blast fly in the form of a many-forked bolt of lightning. This hit the balcony and caused it to shake and the white outlines of runes that were laid there at an earlier time. The spell caused the runes to glow so intensely Celestia averted her eyes and shield them with her wing as they burst in short puffs of smoke leaving only the golden surface they thought they had seen.

Celestia's jaw clenched tighter, behind her wing. She had counted on there being traps deeper into the castle, of course. But not pre-laid ones and with the amount smoke that was released... the newer the spell the less smoke her sister's spell would produce.

Luna blinked and made no effort to control the expression of shock she had. She read the spell's results right as well, this surprise was only a few days old. Unlike her sister, she was more willing to tolerate a change in plans that were made beforehoof.

Celestia uncovered her face, revealing a composed expression that contrasted against her sister's currently open display of emotion.

Luna's eyes followed the last bit of smoke. Her eyes now looked into the chilling and silent archway that led from the balcony into the prison that this king dwelled in.

She knew exactly what this meant.

It means he is waiting for us, she thought, it meant he knew somepony was coming.

To say the castle was unwelcoming would not suffice. There were no sounds other than the sisters themselves and the unwavering and eerie pressure of the silence that kept them mute with the sheer sense of fear its presence carried.

It, too knew the were here.

There was hardly any light on the inside except for a few flickering orbs of the same fire that scorched Celestia. It did not crackle or spark and was quite poor at its job but perhaps that is what was intended. The only excuse of real light came from outside from fractured and broken beams that barely made it past the dense layer of clouds.

They were lucky enough to be able to see in front of their own hooves. Luna blinked once. She could see at least nine lengths of her leg down the brightest hall, where what were once windows were buried least under the chilling grey crystals.

Celestia shifted slightly, watching their crooked shadows quiver. "This place is repugnant," she whispered with as much disgust as her words indicated.

For another moment in this silent waste they did not move from the throne room where its stolen throne sat emptier and colder then the air itself as it was smothered under curtains of darkness.

There was no tyrant in sight.

No hoofprints either, only empty halls that extended before them enticing nopony to go deeper into what Celestia found to be a lair befitting the wretched monster that lived here. What could one mortal unicorn possibly do to two immortals except fall before them?

Celestia cleared her throat and Luna's eyes widened at the sound which seemed to echo forever. They shouldn't be making so much noise... it didn't feel right, especially since they could use this silence to their advantage.

"There are two of us," Celestia began not caring to speak quietly even though her eyes shifted through the halls where a foul creature hid, "and only one of him."

She ended just as simply as she started and looked down at Luna, who knew exactly what her sister was suggesting it didn't sound like such a good idea to her...

"We will be splitting up so it will be easier to track down and slay the abomination that sees fit to walk among fine animals such as ponies and kill them so wantonly, corrupting nature in the process."

Luna merely nodded, but didn't look at her sister, only watching as Celestia strode off towards a hallway on the left. It was a bit difficult to make out any defining features of her sister as the curtain of shadows rolled over her and the last color of her pastel mane vanished.

Luna was alone, and that was alright.

She didn't need to light her horn since her vision in such places was beyond her sister's.

There were three hallways that remained:

The first was short and turned off what appeared to be the same direction Celestia had gone. The next was twisted with especially jagged crystals that looked like needles.

Last, was a hallway with the same crooked crystals although they were not needle-like but instead cracked, broken, and grown together to form a crumbling barrier to a path where no light shines. It looked like whoever made it it didn't care to do so properly.

It also looked like whoever went down that path, however long ago, did not wish to be found.

And so Luna choose the hallway she believed would lead to the entity she knew little of.

King Sombra.

Celestia's hooves struck the crystal floors in perfect rhythm as she marched through the once-grand halls in search of where the tyrant could be hiding now that the throne room had been discovered empty.

The faint glow of her horn guided her onward but she knew not where she was heading.

This monster would meet his fate, she could be sure of that but where would she meet him?

Her mind was not focused on the time, but the possibility of what he could do with it. The King had set a trap for them. He had known, but how?

So far she had encountered nothing at all... unless he was watching her...

She came to a halt and looked around just to be sure she wasn't being trailed.

Every bit of this castle looked the same to her: tainted.

This place was stolen from the mortal ponies that resided in the malicious shadow of the once-light castle.

The ponies here were happy once and he took that form them.

Worst of all he had done the unforgivable: he had killed without reason and hurt those that could not protect themselves.

He had stolen the most precious gift a creature could have: their own life.

Celestia scowled. With the new, yet slow-growing renaissance under her reign schools of old magics and other kinds of knowledge were being rediscovered and crafted anew, and even if these mortals - along with the Two Royal Sisters - had no definite idea of all they had lost, they did know what could be.

One of those things that could be was much worse, the possibility alone was enough to spark outrage in Celestia.

Magic life.

Nopony knew how to create it, thank goodness, but it changed nothing. Magic life was the idea that somepony could create an entire flesh and blood creature out of magic, and unlike a phantom-like construct it would be an independent being with a soul.

Celestia shuddered every time she thought of it.

It was the perfect word to describe this, which wasn't life or magic at all. It would be beyond a monster: a demon, who forever and always would remain utterly heartless.

And it would hurt every animal it found, much like this tyrant.

Thankfully, it was only a possibility.

She looked around again and tried to ignore the bothersome cold air.

"How can anypony live here?," she whispered, teeth chattering.

"They don't, actually. I kill them."

Celestia snapped to attention, the light on her horn growing until she saw the tyrant king at the other end of the high-ceilinged hall, shadows highlighting the unnatural purple smoke pouring from his eyes and broad white smile.

She stared at him, her enemy.

What kind of magic was that?!

He stepped into the light as if pining for a dramatic reveal. All his attire was over the top, as if a greedy little child were trying to figure out what royalty looked like, with a helmet-like crown and a ridiculously styled mane that hid his ears. There was also the matter of his horn: it was curved and was tipped in red. No pony had a horn like that.

Even in the ever-dim light Celestia was able to catch a brief glimpse of what looked like dark circles from lack of sleep under that smoke. Had he been fretting about their arrival? How long had he known?!

"It's very nice of you to stop by," he began, talking to her as if they were old friends even though she knew she had never met him before, although she did note that he spoke unlike any royal she had ever known: without a single hint of formality in his tone, "and I'm sure you don't remember me, but that doesn't matter since I get to kill you anyway. After all, life is so boring without, somepony suffering and then preferably dying afterwards, you know the usual."

He acted like he knew her but didn't know she was immortal? And the way he spoke sure did sound familiar but he wasn't anypony she knew, and he didn't look familiar either. Celestia made it her business to remember important ponies and he was far from important.

She wouldn't need to tell him she was immortal, or anything else. He could die and she could not, and that was all that mattered.

Celestia wanted to see blood and the king wanted to see the same. How wonderful it was to meet such an agreeable foe.

The King dodged a blast of light that was fired from Celestia's horn with ease and the corridor turned battleground was alight before darkness resumed.

Another ball of light and rich flames of pure gold headed in the direction of the king with his power hungry gaze and sadistic smile. It hit the castle instead, fragments of the strange crystal rained down below.

Celestia was confused. She'd wiped out the castle of their parents when rebuilding with much less force and now this crystal only crumbles?! This crystal which seems to come from nowhere, be controlled so easily, and covers everything somehow attempted to defy its nature by resisting the power of a goddess!

"Do you want to know how I got my new name?" he asked quite casually which contrasted with his chilling voice. The King did not even wait a single second for the princess to answer him. "I stole it."

Thief.

"Nopony would fear me if I used my given name. I had a new start, and I needed a new name with it. Sombra, it didn't used to mean anything but now it has the same meaning as-"

Her grim expression twitched. How dare he try to make idle chat as if he were fit to even live in the same world as her.

"MURDERER!" she screeched, the Royal Voice echoing throughout the length of the corridor.

The King saw this, smiled wider and she saw his teeth shift into fangs. "Why yes, I am! I enjoy it very much, since it pays so well."

He teleported farther down the hall until all Celestia could see were those glowing eyes of his and the glint of that smile.

She hated that smile almost as much as one who took lives as cheerfully as he did.

He didn't deserve to live any longer, or to have lived in the first place, although it was a little late for that, and he most definitely did not deserve an extended fight.

From here on out, things would be very brief as she purged the king from the world. Once again the empire of crystal would be free.

Celestia's eyes were shining even brighter than her horn, a furious white glow obscuring the irises and pupil. The edges of her mane no longer waved recognizably but were like a roaring fire. Steam emitted from the ground she stood on and each color of her mane was tinted with a gold sheen.

The room around them was no longer blanketed in shadows but was consumed by an orb of orange-gold light, that was Celestia's magic.

Magic so strong it physically manifested as an excess of her godly powers and was causing the dark-hued crystals to be flaked away.

Oh, had this been any other mortal's domain...

Celestia charged after him, bounding down the halls with long, quick strides running faster and faster. She didn't know that she was using more magic than she should.

Every step the wrathful princess took left hoofprints melted in the outer layer of dark crystal. She was chasing him now, and the king disappeared further into the darkness, never once coming in contact with Celestia's lethal light. Her magic highlighted the difference in this particular hall: unlike the last one it was lined with many doors, many of which were currently burned into oblivion.

Through this veil she made out the silhouette of the king vanishing behind the next inevitable victim of her divine power.

Her justice.

The room was not spared either. It didn't matter that the original door wasn't going to fit one of Celestia's height, the door along with its frame didn't exist anymore, having come in contact with the epicenter of the distant-hearted princesses' magic.

It would have been a spacious reception room under the reign of the previous monarch, whoever they were. There were other doors leading to neighboring rooms and a closest. Tables and chairs as personal as cold, and meaningless as stone weathered beyond any hope of individuality sat unmoved and covered in dust.

On the table in the middle of the room - a long smooth opaque slab of crystal that was really more on of a monolith - the armor-clad hoof of the Enemy rested on the surface.

There was only the roar of the magic which wouldn't be able to sustain itself for longer.

A fireball flew from her horn, whistling through the air with the same anger that resided in the caster. It sailed past the king's broad and toothy smile that was only so when others were in pain, the fireball screamed with its golden fury for it was about to make contact with the face of that grinning tyrant and end him.

The gray monolith came up, as did the dust in great waves. It was turned into a shield by one who had even less heart than the inanimate object. It was there that the fireball landed, ripping apart the cold and abandoned furniture until chunks of scorched crystal were sent flying and the tyrant dodged, to her frustration escaping without a scratch.

The remains of the table clattered to the ground, which only intensified the returning silence.

Celestia made her next move quickly, leaping over the ruins between them her focus only on the way to secure freedom for the crystal ponies. She stretched out one forehoof as she prepared to land gracefully as always. Her magic still burned for a mere second longer and then before her eyes it flickered out, stunning her so Celestia misstepped and fell.

The king saw this and in that same instance a door was flung open, she hit her head once and looked back, in a daze.

There wasn't anything behind the door. No room of any kind.

Only a wall.

She would have turned to look away. She didn't, or rather she couldn't. The gray gem at the top of the door's frame shot out a blast of magic she knew was the king's and that was all she knew.

It had her mind.

The king withdrew a wicked-edged knife from under his cloak. An odd sound unbefitting of the image of a warlike tyrant this heartless individual had created: a foalish giggle.

Celestia sat staring at the wall with a blank look in her eyes, which were now green-tinted with purple smoke streaming from them. She couldn't do anything.

He didn't know she was immortal and that the wound would not kill her.

However, it would hurt more than most could comprehend.

It would still hurt her and all the king ever wanted was to hurt others.

He knew her, as well. It wouldn't matter if she didn't remember him - he didn't care, perhaps she would soon enough.

The king's magic held the knife to her throat.

For a brief moment his smile faltered. No, he couldn't start with slitting her throat. That would end everything too easily. It would be no fun, there wouldn't be any screaming even when she did regain consciousness.

If she was still alive...

He ran the knife - which was really more of a small saw, with the serrated blade and all - down to her wings. This blade could cut through bone.

Her wings would be an excellent place to start.

She sat, unflinching. There was only a faint look of terror in her eyes, but that too was distant.

The door would keep her mind far away for a long time. She wouldn't realize what was happening until it was too late.

He didn't realize what was happening until the knife fell to the floor with a modest clatter, and he fell with it, the dark energy vanishing from his eyes.

He hated this.

It rarely happened but he still hated it.

More accurately, he hated him.

Luna's horn did not flicker, for she had cast no light. It would have been a foolish choice to consider such a decision in the first place. She did not fumble, for she could still see clearly.

The atmosphere was not a pleasant one. The moon princess did not mind the cold or dim surroundings but this castle was a rare exception. It was drained of all warmth, if she could not see the ground beneath her, she could have sworn that the floor was ice under her bare hooves.

Bare.

It was not a fit word to describe this place, the only thing bare here was her hooves since her regalia was back in the Everfree Forest since it served no purpose here. Yet still, this castle which made her want to hold her breath so not to dispel the heavy silence, was not bare. It felt too heavy with everything - too smothering, too sad, and wholly uncomfortable.

Luna exhaled slightly and watched her breath form fog. It really freezing in here, and so desolate. The air was still but not stale. Even somepony as solitary her couldn't stand to be here long.

Could anypony, really? It was not only as silent as a grave, but if what she had to go off of was true, then it was one for some.

She kept walking, although she wondered how long she had been creeping through these halls while trying to avoid and scrapes that would be the result of coming in contact with the many splintered crystals that poked out of every wall which for the most part were barren of anything else. Every now and then she came across the remains of a tapestry, what was left of its frame broken and askew and the few traces of fabric that did remain were charred beyond recognition.

It saddened her to see this, since she knew all to well what it was like to see one’s home destroyed.

Sadness aside, Luna couldn't help but feel nervous in this prison.

That's exactly what it was: a prison. Did this king realize he was most likely digging his own grave? How could he stand being stuck here for so long?

Was he really so heartless that he couldn't feel the poison of this place?

The princess looked up. The hallway was ending soon, there was something else at the end, she could see the start of a larger room.

She also saw something else: a flicker of a light, a white tinge in a colored blur.

Somepony had started up a spell of some kind.

Somepony that wasn't her sister.

Luna ducked behind a cluster of crystal, and inched along the walls as carefully as possible. It was harder than it sounds, due to the unnatural crystals poking out in random places which created a jagged maze of an obstacle course for her to navigate. She didn't want to risk using magic right now in the case of there being an enchantment triggered by such an action.

Luckily for her, she found a cluster of crystals near the entryway to what she could now see was a rotunda, which of course, was covered in rough layers of the same dull gray crystals on which she was poised behind. Unlike any rotunda she knew, there was now light shining down from above, nor were there any windows that escaped the crystal. She could glimpse two balconies that remained intact. They could prove to be useful later. They were unbearably cold when her coat brushed up against them. Luna shivered and folded her wings closer to her body.

Now she heard the faintest echo of hoofsteps. The king - Luna figured it was safe to refer to the sound's owner as such since nopony else would be in the castle and the fire matched that on the balcony - was wearing some kind of metal shoes, perhaps even a full suit of armor, not that it would matter.

Judging by the way he walks, from what I can hear, he either has not encountered Celestia yet or has escaped her without injury, while that proves to be unlikely it is not worth dwelling on.

The hoofsteps grew closer, and she could safely say that her foe was somewhere under where a skylight might have been, and thus safe to target.

She unfolded her wings and darted out from where she had been waiting. There definitely was a pony standing unmoving in the middle of the floor. He was unusual looking enough but she wasn't close enough to make out all of his features.

Luna's horn charged with blue magic and while the edges of her sister's aura often burned with a flame-like appearance, Luna's sparked with lightning, growing bright enough to illuminate half of the rotunda so she could see the blurs of color that were her and the king in the crystalline surface.

A metal clad forehoof reached out and grabbed Luna, whose mind was only set on coordinating her attack. He was quick for someone so heavily garbed in a scarlet robe and the armor he wore.

The spell died, although her shock was clear on her face.

She was forced to skid to a stop as he grabbed her roughly and pulled her close enough to make direct contact with his crimson gaze.

"I do hope you realize I can sense magic rendering any act of stealth you even attempt utterly useless against me."

Everything was black and white. Celestia knew this. Everypony should know this.

At least this place knew that, one beautiful irrefutable law. It was unbreakable.

Black and white. Nothing else.

Absolutes.

Perfection.

This place radiated that. The entirety of this room, if it was a room at all, was a bright white and bore no texture.

Whatever power that managed this world decided to render Celestia herself like a drawing: black outlining white.

Some might be afraid of this, looking at their own form and find it changed so. Celestia was not one of those sorts. She felt at peace, everything here was so pristine and uncorrupted.

The sun princess walked on, and soon she began to see trees, houses, and even ponies rendered as she was.

Black and white.

They saw her and smiled, and she dipped her head. These ponies recognized her as the ruler of this perfect and unchanging world where everything was exactly as it was meant to be in the bizarre and chilling presentation of a paper and ink and with a flat and foal-like ideology.

Her subjects spoke happily, in pleasant tones even if the language was not one she knew, her heart told her otherwise and basked in what must be their praise. She was the princess Celestia, who brought them to the land that was now Equestria and raises the sun. She was their light, their guide, she was-

Celestia paused, her little ponies were afraid, their birdsong like language now reduced to nervous chattering. The pointed towards the horizon, their hooves shaking in fear and their eyes wide. Celestia's heart skipped, what monster would dare to hurt her little ponies, the sweet mortals who loved her so dearly?

They ran in the direction of the sun princess' shadow, a gorgeous shade of ebony that would guard them from all they feared.

Celestia, on the other hoof lit her horn with blinding aura - now snow white instead of gold - and strode towards the monster that would dare hurt these mortal souls.

Celestia laid her eyes on the greatest horror she could fathom in this once-blessed realm.

There was a long shadow, tar-hued with speckles of-

No.

No, it couldn't be, not here, not in this paradise.

So she went on, every hoof treading lightly for fear of what could be in the center. If, and only if that was what she saw then Celestia must be facing some great evil that rivaled anything known by to the creatures of this world.

She came to the center, everything growing darker so even her magic felt like no more than a firefly's glow.

In the center stood a pony, shorter than the mare of the sun. The shadow she cast was no longer of the the purest jet, but was riddled with the color of the shadow pony's coat.

Celestia kept telling herself it wasn't true.

It couldn't be, this world didn't have such a thing.

No world did!

It couldn't exist!

The shorter mare tilted up her head and stared the black-and-white Celesta straight in the eyes.

Every inch of her was gray, and her mane and tail shone with silver tones.

"Hello, Sister," Luna said. Her expression was somber and fierce as always, yet the awful darkness did not conceal it from Celestia, who had yet to see her sister look so aggressive.

"Do you know why We are here?" asked the moon princess.

"As always, you are here to-"

"No," interrupted her sister's level voice. "We are here to tell you two things. Do you know what they are? What will your precious little shadow say?"

"We have no need of your nonsensical ramblings, were We not preoccupied with something important?"

Luna did not flinch at her sister's words, if she heard them at all. "The first is rather simple, We think its brevity will resonate with you."

"Why do you ruin this world?" Celestia, too, did not care to listen, and in doing so furthered the gap between the two of them even if she only spoke with a mere shade now. "You do not fit in with the rules, Luna. They are there and you must obey them! Black and white, Luna, it is high time you realized you are one or the other! Let your true color show! There is no inbetween, it does not exist! If you never pick, you will never belong."

"You are always alone, even if you think not, and one day you really will be so," hissed Luna.

How dare her sister be so insolent! So wrong! It disgusted Celestia and she felt her emotions burn as they did on rare occasions and it was on those occasions, every few hundred years or so, where she could no longer control herself.

The last time this happened was really not so long ago, and they fought.

"YOU LIE! LUNA, YOU ALWAYS LIE! YOU ARE JUST JEALOUS, AND YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN! YOU HAVE ALWAYS ENVIED ME BECAUSE YOU BELONG NOWHERE!"

The Royal Voice faded and she stared, panting and feral at her unwavering sister. She watched as the gray impossibility melted like snow in her sun, slowly dripping away until there was nothing: no scenery, no mortals, truly nothing but the princess in her void of absolutes.

She was alone.

How much time passed? She did not know, but it felt like an eternity.

North. Before the tribes. A marsh. Tears.

Alone.

Ashes.

She had dedicated her life to her sister. She became everything to her.

Mother. Father. Cousin. Aunt. Uncle. Sister.

Alone.

Lost. Cold. Travels. Clover. Meadow. Lies.

Alone.

Discord. Friend. Help. Trickster. Crush. Left.

Alone.

How did she not realize that she needed herself? The tribes showed her that. She couldn't have her sister consume her.

Her sister who still thought they were coming back.

Alone.

Always.

No.

No, no, no! She ran and tried to find somepony, anypony. She couldn't be-

Alone, it echoed back.

She never wanted to be-

Alone!

She gave up. On them, they meant nothing to her now. She gave up on her sister, her once-so precious little sister who could not, would not be her life.

The white began to hurt her eyes, she ran in a daze, so frantic with her mouth open but no sound coming out. She needed someone!

They were gone! All was gone! She had to-

-establish a court.

-surround herself with ponies.

-always stay busy, she enjoyed her duties anyway.

-tell nopony.

-make friends, oh so many friends.

-there can't be any reminders. Luna is a reminder. Ignore Luna, she is not your life. She is your sister.

A reminder, no she couldn't be reminded.

She had to forget. She destroyed the old castle so she could forget. She forgot Discord, she was forgetting what came before the travels. It was so hard to forget with Luna. She could never, never, ever hurt Luna.

But with Luna around she can't forget them.

They are evil, she is good. Lumina and Noctus are wrong, she is right.

She was breathing hard, there were so many tears. Celestia couldn't stop crying.

"The second..."

Celestia gasped, loudly. A voice! A glorious heavenly, voice!

"The second thing We have to tell you..."

It was not a voice she wanted to hear, it came from nowhere.

"...is that they will find you. Celestia you are haunted. Would you like to meet your ghosts? It is inevitable."

Celestia almost choked. Marring her beautiful snow-pure landscape were two parallel trickles of gray. They were shadows that kept growing into the long-lost shapes of an Alicorn mare and stallion.

She tried to unfold her wings and fly away but only felt paralyzed. Celestia was blinded by tears, and overwhelmed with fear.

Truth. Lies. Black. White. Forget. Remember. Haunt. Peace. Right. Wrong. Night. Day. Light. Dark. Travel. Home. Together. Alone. Gone. Present. Good. Evil. Celestia. Luna.

This time Celestia really did scream.

Luna stared at Sombra, her eyes were wide with shock. Ordinary ponies could not sense magic, neither could Alicorns. Only magic itself could do what he just said and if it weren't for how collected he seemed Luna could swear he was lying.

He had clearly been ready even though what he had described was impossible. She teleported away from him and up to a balcony.

She was still going to fight him, she had to. What did she know about this pony? Clearly, everything she might have 'learned' from here so-called time here was likely to be proven false very quickly, or at least was very likely to.

So what did she know about him? First, she had noticed his horn: it was unlike that of any creature she had seen before, but why?

Nopony had this kind of horn...

Nopony had his magic...

So she would test him.

She knew, a few things. Each floated through her mind.

He was dangerous. He was strong. He was cruel.

He was smart.

It was enough. She charged her horn with brilliant turquoise flecked with sparks of icy blue lightning.

She whirled around and fired, the bolt soaring to the ground below and exploding.

The crystal was damaged, a hole was blasted in the center, the edges ripped apart without mercy and melting.

It really only was a shallow hole compared to the godly power in that lightning.

Luna could see that he was standing a few feet away from where she struck, unharmed.

He was quick.

It was also only one strike of a spell that was as easy for her as blinking.

Luna's horn was bright once more and she flew down from the balcony. She was the faster flier compared to her sister, having long since mastered many tight maneuvers and plummets Celestia was unable to.

She skidded to a halt on the part of the floor that still remained intact and another volley of lightning shot in Sombra's direction. He did not move from his spot and when the magic came close enough he let it strike him only for Luna to watch his form disintegrate to shadow and her spell to hit the wall below with a loud crack.

Her horn charged again. His facial expression did not change from an irritated scowl. This time she teleported towards him, the silver sword she carried now unsheathed.

"Why?"

He blinked and stared at the Alicorn mare, her sword brandished and ready to strike if needed. Was she really going to pause to talk to him of all things?

She was like her sister - an immortal goddess - and the memories said her name was Selene. She was the younger one and that was it, even if the two mares had grown since then.

She didn't matter. She was immortal and powerful but that wasn't important because she wasn't him and therefore she didn't matter.

He saw her eyes.

She was miserable.

She was trapped.

He's trapped too.

Eight years of screaming in the darkness that his head is splitting and he doesn't want to do this and seeing everything. He wanted to leave before the two of them showed up. Eight years ago, a single set of hooves in the snow leading into the mountains.

He was hard to kill, but not impossible like her. If he were anypony else, Sombra would have died already either because of overall weakness or due to the fact that he was probably the only pony who even knew what an Alicorn was.

And she had asked why. There was no need to question what it pertained to.

Sombra had never been given a choice. He was used as a weapon to further another's greed and if he weren't in his own body he wouldn't even recognize himself anymore even though he knew he never changed.

Even today Sombra was not given a choice because today - which might as well be the day of his funeral were he not matched for this mare.

He didn't answer, instead Sombra fired up magic of his own.

Luna's cheek was marked with burns in an instant.

"Perhaps it's so I can do that on a normal basis?" Sombra deadpanned.

A wall of crystals sprouted up to block another bolt of lightning. Unlike the last few, this one had shattered when contact was made.

The princess's eyes shown with focused determination, along with bits of temper and the ever-present melancholy that lurked in them.

Sombra fought back, and while it was true that Sombra was a worthy opponent Luna hoped she would never have to say that to his face. His magic was not only unusual but his handling of it was superb considering he could have been a barbarian who wielded more weapons than brains.

Luna flew up from the ground, floor now riddled with holes, and landed on a balcony. Her stance balanced and ready to change at a moment's notice and was not her sister's showy poise but perhaps if she were facing off against a more flattered opponent they would undoubtedly confess her regality and how imposing she looked: the fierce and bright bolt of a storm, she was nopony's radiant light.

Luna's horn glowed brightly with her latest spell. She scanned all that was below, looking for her sword, since it would prove much more efficient in close combat which she excelled at. She didn't have to worry about the burns on her cheek since they were able to be healed with a faint flicker of light.

Except her sword was no longer at her side.

When she was fighting... well, it seems that she had dropped it.

It was at his side now, having been retrieved from its brief rest on the dim floor. It floated in his magic, but not the strange kind he had used before. This one's aura was the same hue as his eyes.

"Does this sword have a name?" He asked.

She didn't answer at first.

"DOES IT?!" He snapped.

She flinched slightly. How could he lose his temper so quickly? "Y-Yes."

From the balcony she could see him sneer. "Well, I have to say that this sword deserves more of a name than you do. Your so-called sister must love you very much if she bothers to name her miserable brat of a shadow."

Luna, he is just trying to make you angry...

"Isn't that right?"

It should not be working...

"You're not very good at maintaining a straight face, are you?"

"You have no idea how good my straight face is," she mumbled through gritted teeth.

"It doesn't matter if you don't talk at all, your expression says everything."

Of course, this would be the one time a pony notices her: to berate her. And not just any pony but a heartless tyrant with a voice like a cave's echo. That couldn't be natural since it seemed to suit a foal's image of evil rather than something that could stand before her.

Just ignore him...

The magic Luna still held on her horn was starting to cloak her form, a white glow making it's way into her eyes and clouding her vision.

"So tell me one thing goddess, who I have so excellently angered, why did this happen? Why? I know that some of you had the ability to receive visions so maybe you can tell me why did any of this have to happen to me? If you're worth anything, you'll answer me."

Luna did not listen to a single word, she was bristling with energy and her entire body was covered with a sheen of magic and her eyes fully a-glow. She was too angry to hear. She wasn't listening.

There was a blast of light and a the sound of thunder rumbling, she dived from the balcony in a fierce plummet, the aura flowing behind her like a comet.

Sombra held up the sword as if to block the strike of a weak opponent's blade, not a divine being's wrath.

He didn't move but his horn was not bearing the plain crimson aura as before, nor were his eyes the crimson and iris and black pupil of a pony's that they had been moments before.

Sombra was mortal, and this was a death wish.

Sombra was also very, very crazy and he played by no rules but his own. Death was like a pony to him: it existed and was obviously as real as he was but not as important.

At the last moment he swiftly dodged the Alicorn in a manner that was not befitting of the royal warrior he appeared to be.

He side-stepped the charge quicker then anticipated.

And that was just what he wanted.

She was the emotional one, the fighter of the two. All he had to do was make her feel any strong emotion, then wait for her to doubt herself and try to hold back so the next step - where he triggered her hostile reaction would cause her judgement to blur and her feelings to get the better of her. Now he simply cast the spell he had been planning since he was out of her way. The dark aura flew from the caster, a pulsing mess of angry opaque colors bearing the likeness of smoke that then engulfed the moon goddess completely, just as Sombra skidded to a halt from his side-step.

Luna shrieked.

When the spell's aftermath - a thin layer of mist - cleared both were able to see the extent of Luna's injuries.

While Sombra knew exactly what was going happen if his movement succeeded, Luna was barely holding back her expression of wide-eyed frightened disbelief.

Across her wings and withers were newly-sprouted clusters of the dark colored crystal which had no doubt been forced onto the castle walls by Sombra himself. Each cluster was embedded in her skin, so she could barely even limp which would have yielded no results. A thin sheen of blood made its way through the broken skin at points, the blasphemous crystalline parasites bearing the glistening drops with a grim silence, punctuated only with a pained gasp on Luna's part.

Her wings had taken most of the damage, making flight impossible. At some points entire areas of pierced flesh were shredded and crimson-soaked feathers were tangled due to having been caught so awkwardly in the enchanted snare.

Magic, too was not a possibility. Her horn was not spared.

She was a caged bird if there ever was one.

Her gaze, panicked as well as feral, met the straight-faced and unwavering expression of Sombra. She found no empathy in his gaze, nor did she expect to yet Luna also noticed that he did not appear to take any satisfaction in his actions.

Sombra shifted the grip of the sword still in the grasp of his magic and tilted it so a small portion of the right side of his face was reflected in the clean surface.

"What is your name?"

"L-Luna," she stammered. How strange is was that he seemed to read her so well yet didn't even know her name.

Sombra's gaze did not leave his reflection. "I have a question for you, Luna," he stated simply. Even though they were only a few strides away from each other his voice held the distant almost apathetic disdain of somepony lost in thought. Only her name was said with emotion, although Luna was unsure why his tone was so contemptuous with somepony he barely knew.

"It seems that you and your precious, shining sister have come a long way and just to see me!"

She scowled, but inclined her head in the slightest of nods.

"Well, Luna tell me this-"

She was becoming tired of his mocking tone, what could possibly be so important? "Tell me what?"

He still refused to tear his gaze away but Luna could see his eyes narrow and that kept her quiet.

"Well, Luna I only wanted to inquire if you felt like a hero yet. After all, I'm simply the worst aren't I?"

His purposely light tone only added to the biting, cruel weight of his words, and for Luna that did it. She stared at the floor and wished that she was invisible, or that her wings were free. This was just too much. He could think, he knew what she thought, or at least what her sister so desperately wanted to think of him. Luna did not loathe this stallion but she did not think kindly of him either.

The pain in her wings flared up again. She despised this crippling magic.

For one brief moment, Sombra's gaze was not focused on the sword.

Luna hadn't seen it before, but she saw the traces now. They weren't obvious enough unless you were close enough to him and right now Luna had the misfortune of being within a foot of Sombra, but at least she was off to his side which wasn't close enough for her to dread.

They were both walking down the horribly extensive and crooked halls of the crystal palace, which thanks to Sombra's reign and magic were no longer recognizable. Sombra was really the only one who was walking as well, if you could call storming through every corridor and muttering something undecipherable to Luna, who was behind him having no choice to limp along due to the nature of her injuries and the inability to use any means to escape.

It also did not help that he could use magic as well as the sword he still happened to retain to regularly threaten her. It didn't matter that she was immortal, if he slit her throat like he said he would and she didn't have the magic to heal herself or somepony who could the results would still be disastrous.

Suffice to say, things were not in Luna's favor.

Or at least, it had seemed like that would be the case until Luna noticed the air around him, shimmering faintly. He didn't notice she had seen.

It was magic, of course.

But what for?

All Luna knew was that it was some kind of shield, invisible unless one were observant enough to notice light bend a certain way, which would create a small flicker of light in the air around him, hardly brighter than a reflection in glass.

It rippled once and was gone.

It was a spell alright, and was probably one she could break even in this state.

So what exactly was this shield keeping out? He already had the fighting skill and armor to keep most wounds from being inflicted on him. Yet he was also smart enough to think of things, such as a trap, in advance. Did he anticipate even advanced magical attacks like the ones any well-versed magician or somepony like herself could inflict?

No matter what, she couldn't shake the feeling that he somehow knew her... this didn't feel like their first meeting... of all the ponies she had known in her life - which wasn't many - she swore she knew of somepony who sought what this Sombra had.

Luna held back a sigh and looked at the ever-irritated Sombra out of the corner of her eyes. She could only see his right side, and she was a few steps behind him but not enough for any significant move to be made.

Luna frowned slightly, she had to keep putting off the assumption - or gut feeling, it didn't matter what she called it - that she knew him from somewhere. It wasn't helping her solve the problem at hoof.

He was Sombra and she did not know him until it was proven otherwise.

He was also glaring at her.

"Don't think that anypony else has tried. I know exactly what you're thinking and it will fail. You aren't the first to spot the spell, but unfortunately you'll be the only one of the few that have to live."

She only blinked in response.

"I suppose I'm just lucky you're not the talkative sort."

Luna didn't respond, and they kept walking. Luna was careful to stay on his right side since he had threatened to her with the sword otherwise. She was close enough to hear whatever he was muttering under his breath. It was about Celestia.

Somepony, as he put it, already encountered her.

Luna's mind whirled with thought. Celestia had fought somepony else? Who could it be? Did they have the same kind of magic as Sombra?

She had to find her sister, and soon but first she had to escape this and get her magic back.

Her hoof found her horn and futily pawed at the crystals that were now attached to it. She bit her lip and tried to stop her eyes from watering. Magic; it wasn't just a mere skill to her but something that ran deep in every part of her being. The only one who could remove these crystals...

"Oh, stop it will you? Surely you don't want to see me angry, which your obnoxious behavior will surely result in," Sombra spat without looking at her, "I'm surprised you and your sister, as ridiculous as you are have gotten anywhere with the lack of knowledge in regards of magic that you display."

Sombra stopped walking and whirled around faster than the confused princess could react, a silver blade of a sword that was once hers jammed under her throat hard enough that it hurt to gulp. The crimson glow encircling it illuminated the king's disgusted sneer as if to highlight the ever-present traces of temper he displayed.

"I would have hoped that you of all who walk upon this land realize that emotion and focus can influence magic, it isn't some dead force you can order at whim, forcing it to do whatever the caster desires for the sake of their morbid curiosities. Magic is very alive, no matter the incarnation. You can weave it and order it to do something, but you work with it if you use it at all."

Luna stared straight at Sombra. Never before had she heard magic described so well, despite the heavy layers of resentment in his tone.

"Magic wants to be free, and if you don't treat it as such it might even turn on you by waiting desperately for you to make one mistake and when you do it won't forgive you. You won't break the spell because you can't break me. Nopony has, although you bet that they have all tried before. Their failure was inevitable, I'm not a puppet that you can swap out. If you think a knife will end me or a poison can go undetected you are wrong. Do you think I won't notice a pony entering this castle? Well guess what? Once again you are wrong. I'm well aware of every attempt of harm you will attempt against me, even if I still can barely find a single room in this damned place."

He kept going on and Luna kept staring. He's lost it.

"I can and will anticipate every violent action you think up. I'm watching very carefully-"

"You do not sleep," Luna interjected, in a attempt to tie everything together.

The dark circles she could see under his eyes... not knowing where to go... he seemed to be focused only on self-preservation and his own twisted welfare... lost in thought that manifests in the form of long comments and speeches. Perhaps she could even chalk his abnormal anger and violence up to such a condition. But if he didn't sleep for eight years he'd have to figure out a loophole to stay alive... such as sustaining himself on his own magic, perhaps? He would also need to keep any negative effects to his mind at bay - which is what the shield was for.

She watched as anger shone in Sombra's eyes, after all he was clearly not one who took kindly to be interrupted.

Everything seemed to be in slow motion to Luna, she could feel everything fit together in her mind and because of it a small part of her somewhere deep inside was beaming with satisfaction.

Luna could still use her hooves, even if it hurt to stretch them because of the crystals that were still embedded in her skin.

He looked as if he was about to hit her but instead tried to drive the sword's point into her throat. She pushed the blade away and stumbled to the side as swiftly as possible under the present disability.

Sombra himself said he could predict any attempt to wound him, that he anticipated every kind of cruelty. The paranoid look that hung in his eyes behind misery, anger, and his insanity spoke clearly of this. So clearly in fact, that Luna was sure she could have noticed - perhaps at a later time - this even if he had lied to her. His speech could say anything but the rest of him couldn't back up those words. In doing so, he revealed the perfect way for such anypony observant and crazy enough to reverse the effects of his impressive spell.

All of this gave Luna what was possibly the most insane plan she had to this date, and will ever have.

She grabbed Sombra and before he could figure out what was going on she kissed him.

After a few seconds she pushed the horribly confused Sombra away. He was definitely not focused on his spell, and Luna reached up to her horn. It was free, as was the rest of her form. Sure, her coat was still marked with wounds and her wings still needed healing but it all paled in comparison to the fact that she was-

Gone. Luna ran down the halls so fast she might as well have been healed already. She had to find Celestia. Even if she didn't have her magic like Luna did now they could still come up with a new plan. Her sword was at her side once again, instead of aimed at her own neck.

Luna's horn sparked to life, a thread of magic as faint and delicate as gossamer floating through the halls, flickering as it went, its path was fragmented as it tried to find the familiar magical signature of Celestia.

Meanwhile, Sombra was exactly where Luna left him. He was sitting down with an expression of pure terror on his face and a stare too vivid to ever be considered glassy eyed. Eight years of hallucinations and terrifying madness were ready to descend on his mind now that the bubble keeping them at bay was gone.

Sombra screamed and screamed, the spell woven to make his voice sound so unnaturally sinister dispelled as well due to strain.

Luna found Celestia near the ruins of some kind of furniture, many corridors down where Luna had been.

Being in this castle felt smothering, especially in this room, where pinpricks traveled throughout her body with each step. Why was she just sitting there...?

Why did that door lead nowhere?

Luna walked toward Celestia and stared into her eyes. They were just like the king's but with a distant look in them as if Celestia had experienced years of torment just by sitting here.

She placed a hoof on her sister's wither. Her white coat was streaked with a cold sweat.

"Celestia?" she called softly.

Her sister remained silent. Luna sighed with relief, this behavior was not of her own accord. She was glad that she had at least checked that. So what could be causing this? Luna looked around.

A door that went nowhere. It was as cold and barren as everything else in this castle... except that it didn't look like any of the other doors in the castle, and why would somepony like Sombra attach a frame to a wall like this for no reason? He wouldn't.

Celestia was staring at the empty doorframe and looking at the gray wall. There was something about the door that was doing this to her and it involved the king's magic. But how did it work?

Luna's hoof tapped for a moment before she was jolted out of thought by the crystal at the top. That must be where the magic was coming from!

Sombra could use the crystals to cast spells of their own after all, and enchanting crystals wasn't an unknown concept just one that wasn't nearly as advanced as Sombra's spells.

Now that Luna knew how to disable the door, she channeled as much magic into her horn as possible until the entire room could barely contain the glow as it was bathed in waves of blue.

She then fired it at the crystal, covering her ears at the whistling and unearthly bloodcurdling howl that sounded throughout the room at its destruction.

It was too much to bear, she gritted her teeth and shut her eyes. Why wouldn't it stop?

Luna didn't see the curl of smoke, green and purple in color, escape from the shards and float towards Celestia.

Drawn to everything it knew about her. Every vision, weakness, fear and memory. It slipped into her heart, the only place where it could nurture the seeds of darkness that may sprout, and there it would wait, completely undetected.

Celestia blinked and clutched her head. "Luna what was that awful noise?"

If he can make it through everything he sees right now he might still have a chance.

The hallways are dark, and they move constantly, shifting around him like an enchanted maze of horror. Or maybe it's just an effect of his disoriented stumbling.

The walls were crystal, even when he arrived that did not change like everything else had.

The walls were mirrors, each showing distorted portions of something around him, including Sombra himself.

Sombra blinked and rubbed his eyes, his head was spinning.

There were two Alicorns... he remembered them... sisters, right? Yes, they were two sisters. He needed to concentrate. They were the wards of Starswirl the Bearded, he knew that much.

What were their names again? He never got the correct name of the older one but the younger one... ugh, what hall was he in again?

Wait, she was the one the that dispelled the shield! Sombra's jaw tensed with rage.

That one.

Part of his mind cleared and he recalled being near the throne room. He heard hoofsteps coming from that direction as well.

"Celestia!" called a familiar voice. Sombra was still coherent enough to hear the echoing voice of the mare called Luna.

Slowly he could feel a bit more focus creeping back through the fever dream-like visions dancing in his eyes and clouding his mind. He needed to go there, where the sisters were.

This time it's personal.

Celestia turned to follow her sister, rubbing her head from the lingering headache. She saw something in that door...

What had it been?

Gray. She had seen evil, hadn't she?

No, not what. She had seen no what, but there was a faint recollection of who.

She had seen Luna there...

Celestia was promptly pulled from her wandering thoughts by Luna calling her name. They were back in the throne room now.

"Celestia do you have any plan or should I come up with one...?" Luna asked, her voice trailing off and gradually becoming quieter with each word. She was still using the speech of a mortal, but Celestia knew that would change once they got back to the Everfree Forest, after all Luna wasn't one to give up such a habit.

Celestia's ears then pricked at a faint sound... hoofsteps belonging to neither her or her sister as she gazed at the false throne before them, her face twisted in disgust.

A real monarch sat there once...

Her eyes found a hallway, where from across the room Luna's hoof pointed at King Sombra, whose gait was much like a drunken, fatigued stumble. He glowered at Luna, who stood stoically in Celestia's shadow. Or maybe it was just a shadow, since all were shadows in this castle.

Sombra didn't know the exact spell these two would use, but even in his delirium he knew he couldn't fight - a shield like that was not cast in an instant after all. But he wouldn't lose either. There were still many spells and enchantments he had wrought into this castle.

He could barely stand as it was but Sombra saw Luna and the other mare, Celestia, light their horns in unison.

Through the blindfold of hallucinations he stared at the blue mare with infinite loathing. She would be his greatest enemy.

Sombra blinked.

A part of him wanted to smile at what they didn't know.

But he was Sombra, and Sombra didn't smile.

Their eyes were glowing now.

The moon shone down on the vast expanses of Northern land, not a structure for miles only glistening snow that shimmered in the dim starlight since there were no clouds to obscure it. The red clouds had long since cleared, and Luna had just raised the moon only minutes before.

Despite that, every second felt like an eternity and the world held its breath.

It was too quiet, the silence heavy as the cold wind whipped up small flurries to travel up the rolling hills.

The tall forms of two Alicorn mares looked out onto this land. Celestia did not move, she didn't seem to breathe either. In her eyes the remains of tears were present.

He really was more powerful than they had thought. To make an entire city and even a few nearby mountains disappear like that... it had to have been something that was laid out before they arrived. She wasn't really sure.

It was even more desolate than the castle had been.

The wails of the wind were dull in her ear, which still heard their panicked screams in the castle. Celestia had tried, with every bit of magic she had left, but it was all in vain. She was drained from having to fight the king and then, with the aide of Luna, tear apart his living form and bend into a living shadow they then sealed into a pocket dimension ripped and anchored into the ice where they stood now.

After that task, which only exhausted her magic further, the sisters stumbled. It felt like some force had tilted the castle.

It happened again, this time Celestia had been ready to panic as her entire world momentarily went black. Luna's did too and it felt like they were both hurtled across the room. When they had opened their eyes, both of their heart racing Celestia and Luna had found themselves an entire level below the one with the throne room.

Luna noticed that when it happened again, they dropped another level. Then three.

The king was gone, defeated by them both so what was happening? He hadn't placed a spell on either of them.

Before it could occur again, Luna had rushed over to an exposed window and broken it with a bolt of lightning. All around them, they could see what was happening. The houses and other structures bordering the city were gone as were the farmlands and even the ponies. From there everything else was fading before their eyes.

They watched as the castle flickered around them like it were a vision, instead of a solid structure. The stomachs of both sisters churned but at least they stayed on the same floor this time.

In the present moment, Celestia inhaled once, sharply. She thought of all the ponies that had vanished with this place. It would be foolish to pretend that she hadn't heard at least one scream as the tortured residents were pulled into a dimension of their own, once more under the king's lock and key even if he wasn't with them.

Celestia had tried to save them, standing in that hallway and using the only magic she had left to try to piece everything because she could fix this. She could fix everything. Tears had run down her face as her heart was wrenched and she over exerted herself doing everything to save somepony. Her magic was thoroughly diminished and even felt sealed - probably from so much use. She yelled and screamed until her throat felt raw for Luna to stay.

She still recalled Luna on the verge of flying out the remains of the window, her own hooves and pasterns bleeding from the glass shards she stood upon. Luna, with terror in her tone, and an urgent look in her eyes. She begged Celestia to leave, King Sombra had been powerful enough to do this. Maybe the spell was set up over the course of years but he still managed to do so and couldn't she understand how much of a match he had been for them? They had lost, as awful it had been, but these spells do not last forever. Yet if they stayed for much longer, they would be gone as well.

Celestia had refused to listen and Luna took advantage of her sister's desperation and exhaustion both physical and magical to drag Celestia from the ruined place kicking and screaming like a heartbroken child.

She wouldn't forget what Luna had done.

The sun princess took one last look at the empty plane before turning to fly away. Luna would join her soon enough but by this point Celestia didn't care if she didn't. Celestia believed that Luna had sacrificed the opportunity to save so many... was it even possible to forgive an action that she considered so selfish?

Luna remained for quite a while after her sister left. Perhaps she would catch up when Celestia was thinking straight.

The princess of the night reached up and put a hoof to her throat. Celestia and all of Equestria felt more like a heavy collar attached to worldly chains than anything else.

Snow swirled around her but she did not shiver. Everypony in that castle was colder than the snow and ice could ever be.

The ponies here would haunt Celestia for a long time, that is true. It wasn't that Luna did not care for them, she just wasn't sure that was the greatest mystery of the Crystal Empire.

A long time ago as a young filly Luna had dreamed of that fire although the eyes were different.

She had a feeling she would be seeing a lot more of that magic, whatever it was, at some time.

'Do you feel like a hero yet?'

Famous last words, Sombra, Luna thought before she took to the skies as well, only stopping to toss what was once her sword on the ground.

All that was left behind were the broken shards of a silver sword, resting in the snow. In Celestia's desperate attempt to resist Luna's removal of her from the castle it had been cracked beyond the possibility of repair, leaving it as a brittle stick of a once proud weapon.

For over a thousand years, they would sit undisturbed.

Author's Notes:

Continue onto the main series by clicking here.
Read about Clover the Clever here.
More of Sombra and Onyx's backstory.
Stories about Celestia and Luna before they found the tribes.

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Chapter title derived from this song.
Story title derived from this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ