The amaroks closed in on Twilight, their tusk-like fangs shimmering like sabers and slick with viscous saliva. She backed away from the overgrown wolves as they advanced, their numbers multiplying until thousands of yellow eyes glowed ominously in the snowfall. Her horn refused to work and her hooves were literally frozen to the ground, ice creeping up her legs and swallowing her body up to her neck. No matter how hard she moved, the ice refused to budge. The legion of amaroks advanced, snarling and biting as they leapt at their prey. This...can't be the end! I can't die here!

"Twilight..." A soft voice called out, as gentle and tender as a midafternoon breeze. She looked and realized that the amaroks all lay dead around her as a gray stallion stood triumphantly atop one corpse, his black mane billowing in the breeze. Her body no longer frozen, Twilight took several steps to meet the stallion, whose eyes bore into her soul in a way she couldn't begin to describe. It was if a fire was ignited in her chest, a fire that threatened to consume her from the inside out and yet filled her with a gentle warmth. "Hello my beloved. I'm so happy you're safe."

"Sombra? You...you saved me."

The umbrum smiled, an expression so genuinely tender and pure that she couldn't help but mirror it. "Of course I did. I couldn't let anything happen to you. You're my future queen, my wife-to-be. You're mine, now and forever, just as I am yours." He placed a hoof over her heart, a gesture that would've earned him a slap if it'd been any other stallion. But he wasn't just any stallion. He was hers.

A blinding light pierced Twilight's vision, making her wince lest she lose her eyes to its brilliance. When it died down, she opened her eyes to behold a dark blue alicorn, her mane a swirling vista of dark blue nothingness and stars befitting the Princess of the Night. "Princess Luna?"

The alicorn bowed her head. "Greetings Twilight. Forgive my tardiness. King Sombra had found a way to block my magic and thus prevented me from entering thine dreams sooner. Are you alright?"

Twilight's response was to tackle Luna in a tight embrace, which the princess, though initially stunned, soon happily returned. "I'm so happy you're here! There's so much to tell you! How is everypony? Are they alright?"

"Everypony is healthy although your absence hath left them all hurting in one way or another. But enough of that. How hath Sombra been treating you? He hasn't harmed you in any way, has he?"

It saddened Twilight deeply to think that her friends and family were all in pain because of her but was relieved that they were all otherwise okay. "No, in fact, he's treated me quite nicely. He lets me explore the Crystal Empire, he gives me gifts and dines with me almost every night. He even grew crystal flowers in his garden just for me." Her mind drifted to the last thing that she remembered which was, regrettably, the wolf attack in the snow. "He saved my life."

"Ah, so that is what your dream was about. What happened exactly?"

And so, Twilight recounted the events that led to her little expedition, only omitting what she specifically saw in Sombra's memory crystal, as she felt that it was something that she didn't have the right to share. She detailed being lost in the snow and the subsequent wolf attack, how frightened she was and her relief when Sombra arrived. "The last thing that I remember is being carried inside the castle and I think...I think Sombra was crying. He was holding me and even called me, 'Sweetheart.' I didn't know he could be so...soft."

Princess Luna didn't believe Twilight to be a liar nor to misread situations given her intelligence but found it extremely difficult to believe that King Sombra, the ruthless conqueror and dark magician, would go out of his way to save anypony else or shed tears for them. "The Shadow King is many things but soft and gentle he is not. Still..." She left her thought hanging and arrived at a new question: "Tell me, are you...attracted to Sombra?" She'd seen Twilight's dream; she just wanted a confirmation from her friend's lips.

Twilight had not expected this question at all. "I...think so. Before I arrived to perform the exchange, I may've had a dream about him. A sexual one." A heavy blush covered her cheeks. "But the strangest thing is that in the dream, I was wearing this crystal tiara that was pink and violet. A couple of days ago, Sombra gave me a tiara that looked exactly like it and he even claimed that he got the idea from a dream. I never told him about my dream so how could he have created something like that?"

Luna stared silently at Twilight, her normally stoic face registering shock. "Could it be...?" She whispered and then shook her head. "That's not possible! You and him? And yet..." She turned away deep in thought, unsure of what to believe given her own personal experience with the umbrum. And yet, he wasn't always a monster. He was a noble stallion and maybe, just maybe he's still in there somewhere. "Twilight, I have to go now but I promise to return if I can."

"Princess Luna, wait! Where are you going?!"

"Hopefully, to get some answers."

In his dream, Sombra was kneeling among a pile of broken and twisted amarok corpses as the blizzard raged around him. In his arms lay a bloodied unicorn barely clinging to life, her breath slow and ragged as her lungs fought for air. "Twilight? Please, you have to live. I-I saved you. Please, you must live!" A gently hoof caressed his hard cheek and he ultimately lost the battle to keep his tears from flowing down his face. "Don't do this!" This is my fault. I promised to keep her safe. I failed.

"Don't be sorry," Twilight rasped, her violet eyes glimmering in the light. "You came for me. That's all that matters."

"No, it's not! You matter! You've always mattered! Damn it, can't you see that I...?" Sombra stopped, suddenly aware of another presence as a faint glow appeared in his peripheral. Letting Dream Twilight sink into the snow, he stood up and gritted his teeth. "Luna. It's been a long time."

The alicorn princess stepped forward. "Indeed it has, Sombra."

Sombra whirled around to face the newcomer. "You should know to stay out of my head, witch!"

"Why Twilight?"

"I don't understand."

Luna took another tentative step closer. "Out of all of the atrocities in your life, out of all of the pain inflicted upon you and by you, why does your nightmare focus on Twilight's fate? Why does this one mare concern you so?"

Sombra exhaled heavily out of his nostrils. "She doesn't. I do not have feelings for Twilight Sparkle."

"I never said that you did," Luna stated, somewhat surprised by this slip-up. "Do you?"

"No, I do not! It's impossible! I can't feel anything for anypony else, not compassion, not pride and certainly not love. You know what happened to me or rather, who happened to me."

"Sombra...what happened between you and Celestia was a long time ago. You can't let your past dictate your future. If you allow your heart to be closed off then when love does come back into your life, there'll be no way for it to enter."

She had to jump back slightly as Sombra appeared right in her face. "Nopony...could ever love...an umbrum. Even if I had feelings for Twilight, would it matter? She's her and I'm...well, look at me! An angel could never be with a demon." He stepped away from Luna and sank to the ground with her back to her, silently bemoaning his nature and cursing the day he was spawned.

"Sombra?"

"What now?"

"Have you dreamt about Twilight before? Not a nightmare but a real dream?"

The umbrum stared down at the snow, feeling a warmth fill his chest as he recalled the phantasm he'd experienced in what now felt like centuries ago. "I was with Twilight in the Crystal Castle. She was wearing this violet and pink tiara and this...sky-blue dress. She came to me, called me, 'Sweetheart.' Why? What does that have to do with anything?"

"No reason. Fare thee well, Emperor of Darkness," Luna called out as she ascended towards the heavens. "Remember, keep your heart open and then, only then, will love be able to find its way in."

Sombra's eyes flew open and he found himself once more on the cot in the castle's main foyer, his forearms wrapped around Twilight, who slept peacefully beside him. He checked her face and found that, mercifully, the color had returned to her cheeks and she was no longer the frigid little ice block he'd found outside. Carefully sliding out of bed, he quietly placed his armor back on and donned his crown, feeling completely bare without its weight on his head. Aren't I forgetting something? He turned to Twilight and found that he'd failed to do his nightly ritual. With a flash of his horn, small black crystals grew on the crown of Twilight's skull and around her horn, preventing nosy Luna from slithering her way into the unicorn's dreams. Then, without a clue as to why he did it, Sombra kissed Twilight's forehead and slid his hoof through her mane. "Rest well, my beloved. My innamorata."

Back in the waking world, Luna awoke with a gasp. Invigorated with the new information, she threw the covers off of herself and charged into Celestia's bedroom, startling her sister so much that she knocked over the inkwell situated on her writing desk. "Luna? Are you alright? You look unwell."

"Celestia, it's Twilight. I was finally able to enter her dreams as well as King Sombra's." Taking a deep breath, Luna then stated one of the most incredulous things that had ever been uttered in Equestrian history: "Celestia...I think they're soul mates."

Author's Notes:

DUM DUM DUM!

Well, the pieces are starting to fall quite interestingly into place, aren't they?

It was certainly fascinating to see how much Sombra's and Twilight's dreams about the same situation could contrast so much.