**Author's Notes** Okay so in this chapter we are going to deviate from the canon story quite a bit. I will be directly pulling on content from the FIM comics but I am going to entirely change how events took place so that it better bits along with my story. Credits cited below of course.**

The Heart of Pleasure
By Haunter Rayne
Chapter 35 - A Past That's Not to Be

In the conference room of the Crystal Empire Castle, all of the ponies present now sat with stunned looks on their faces. Pinkie was the first to respond by stretching her hooves out like a deflating balloon. “Noooooo, not him again! We already defeated him!”

Applejack looked around to the nervous faces on Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash before asking, “Really, Twi? Sombra? Are you sure?”

Celestia gave a very regal expression to Applejack before asking, “Oh? Do you suddenly doubt the power of my visions, dear friend?”

Neighing accidentally, Applejack quickly pulled her hat off of her head. “No ma'am, of course not!”

“Well I'm starting to!” Rainbow Dash blurted out. “We defeated Sombra already and there's no way he could ever come back! Don't you remember?! Twilight found the Crystal Heart, Spike brought it down where Cadence could put it where it's supposed to go at the base of the tower, we all changed into Crystal Ponies for a little while, Sombra shattered into little pieces that got blasted away along with his horn, and then… Ooohhhh, that's it isn't it? His horn. I'm betting no pony ever thought to go find it and that's how he revived some how.”

There were several disapproving glances to Dash's outburst but Twilight just ignored all that saying, “Yes of course we remember, Rainbow. And we don't know how exactly he might be revived or if that is even what is happening at all.”

Celestia quickly followed by saying, “I assure you that what I see in my visions are always the truth. But the visions themselves tend to be rather short lived. I only get a single perspective of the events being shown to me. I cannot look around, ask questions, or find out what has taken place either before or after.”

Now a nervous Fluttershy took it upon herself to be brave and ask, “Oohh so what DID you see?” Upon being asked this Celestia looked down to the table in front of her as if saddened. “Eep! Or you know, if you'd rather not tell us… that's fine too.” Fluttershy whimpered not having expected the grave expression that Celestia now showed.

The alicorn raised a hoof before saying, “Worry not, it is not you who vexes me so sweet Fluttershy. I shall tell you all exactly what I witnessed and we may discuss together what, if anything, is to be done about the situation.” Feeling confused as to why they might decide to not do something about King Sombra's return, they all listened carefully as Celestia took a slow steady breath. “As I lay dreaming of things sweet and fair hearted, my fanciful dreams were suddenly clouded by a sea of black wings. The flutter of black feathers pushed the delightful thoughts from my mind and instead brought me to a vision of none other than King Sombra.”

Instinctively Shining Armor placed his hooves tightly around Cadence. “Not to worry, we've defeated him before and this time-”

“Darling, wait please.” She chastised him gently. “Let her finish. We don't know all of the details yet.” Settling down but still looking serious he nodded for Celestia to continue.

Nodding back Celestia went on. “Looking back on it now there was something odd about how he looked. Try as I might, I do not recall seeing any part of him other than his face. The rest of him seemed marred in his billowy dark magic.”

It was now Applejack who spoke softly and asked, “So what was he doing?”

Celestia gave a deep huff as if discussing this was starting to upset her. “He looked… he looked to be in pain. Or otherwise upset to a serious degree. In the vision he seemed to be in some sort of rage. He was screaming and gnashing out angrily. He seemed as if he was yelling at somepony else, yet I could not see who from the angle of the vision.” She lowered her head and in a softer tone said, “He seemed so distraught... potentially helpless even."

During all of this, Twilight was sitting in her chair silently and not commenting at all. It was Rainbow Dash who spoke next but in a much more reserved tone than her outburst before. “Um, Celestia? Correct me if I'm wrong but Sombra is still a bad guy right?”

Celestia chuckled and then nodded with her head still lowered. “Yes Dash… Sombra is, and will always be, a bad guy.”

“Well thennnn… why do you look so sad?” Dash asked and now everyone looked on with concern on their faces.

They could see that emotion was welling up within the princess. The mighty ruler of Equestria now looked weak and for some reason guilty. “Tell me… all of you. Who is King Sombra to you?” Celestia asked this knowing full well what would be said.

“A vicious tyrant!” Shining Armor was quick to yell out.

“A down right stinker who would enslave ya as soon as look at ya.” Applejack added.

Fluttershy looked around before saying, “He did turn all of the Crystal Empire into a slave army for himself. And that just isn't very nice no matter how you look at it.”

Pinkie Pie was next as she loudly exclaimed, “He is a total warmonger! And you know what you NEVVVER hear about anypony having during war? Cake! And if Sombra doesn't like cake then he HAS to be evil!”

But then everypony looked over noticing that Rainbow Dash was keeping silent. Her and Twilight just seemed to be scrutinizing each other carefully. Rubbing her chin while thinking the light blue pegasus finally said, “Well… we know a bunch of stuff about what he did. But to be honest I don't really anything about him. Like the pony himself.”

At this, Twilight suddenly smiled at her. "That's exactly right Rainbow Dash."

Continuing on Dash added, “When we all brought the Pillars back from where they were trapped we each were excited to take up arms against the Pony of Shadows. But Starlight was convinced that talking to him was worth the chance and it turns out that little Stygian isn't such a bad guy.” At this moment Dash blushed a bit from the proud look that Twilight was giving her. “Eh heh, anyways, I'll bet that Sombra also didn't start out to be evil. Celestia, why don't you tell us who is Sombra to you?”

She had smiled at that sentiment momentarily, but as Celestia spoke she still looked very grievous. “The Sombra that you know was once a young little unicorn who needed help. Help that he never received. And in its place, a feeling of betrayal is what helped to mold him into the monster that he became.” She adjusted her seat and then attempted to wipe her eyes. “Although, I do not believe that his backstory is quite what you were asking Rainbow Dash. Sombra to me, in another life you could say, was very different than the fiend you all have come to know.”

“Princess…” Finally it was Twilight’s turn to break her silence. “You trusted me with your story after I returned from first using the Celestial Mirror. You can trust them. No pony here is going to judge you. And your secrets I promise will not leave this room.”

Cadence then inquired curiously. “The Celestial Mirror? You mean the one that Sunset Shimmer traveled through?”

"Yes, that is the one I was referring to. But that isn't exactly the only mirror of it's kind.” Twilight pointed out.

Celestia then picked up from there. “Long ago there was another mirror that was found. It was only a few years after my sister had become Nightmare Moon that Starswirl happened upon the strange artifact. It was quickly discovered that the mirror could lead to other worlds. But not just one. This mirror could be changed to lead to a seemingly infinite number of different places. We explored hundreds of alternate universes. Some dangerous and some beautiful. Eventually we found a world very similar to our own. There were ponies, there was an Equestria, and there was him. Another Sombra… and he was my miracle.” She said with a heartfelt tone in her voice.

“WHAT?!” Cried every other pony except for Twilight who was already aware of the story.

Instantly the purple alicorn tried to calm the others down. “Please, please! It's not what you think! In this other world Sombra was good. He was a kind king who looked after his subjects much like Celestia does for us here! It was NOT the same Sombra that we know. Try to remember that.”

“I'm sorry Twily, but this… this is a lot to take in.” Shining Armor stated while somewhat fumbling over his words.

Even Cadence seemed to have to catch her breath before asking, “But Celestia… you and I have grown very close since I took over the Crystal Empire. And even after we defeated Sombra you never mentioned this to me before. Why has this not come up until now?”

Celestia was quick to respond but her voice was shaky as she nervously stated, “I just...couldn't. This is the finest example of my youth's folly. It's recklessness. And I had put every pony in danger. I'm so ashamed.” She said before looking down to the floor.

But not a moment later she saw Cadence reach over to lift her chin and then hug her tightly. “I would very much like to hear the tale. If you would share it with us?” Every other face in the room smiled hopefully.

While none of the others knew what had once happened, they could all tell this story did not end with a happy ending. Celestia gave a heavy sigh as she looked up to her friends with puffy eyes. “I will tell you. I can only hope that you don't think less of me because of it.”

So began a short explanation of how Starswirl and a much younger Celestia traveled together to see a beautiful version of Equestria that was both the same and different at the same time. She skipped a few of the minor details but it didn't take long to explain that Sombra had taken a personal interest in showing the two of them around. “It was actually some teasing from Starswirl that first led Sombra to comment favorably of me.” Celestia told them. She blushed through her teary eyes as she laughed. “I was so nervous that I accidentally spit my drink right in his face.”

“Ooooooooh!” Pinkie cheered to which Twilight quickly reprimanded her.

Cadence then commented, “Seeing what little I have of the dreaded Sombra from our land, I find it difficult to see him as a handsome stallion or anyone to be so nervous about. I take it that this other Sombra must have been quite charming then?”

Celestia nodded and the group was happy to see that she was starting to not look as glum anymore. “I suppose in hindsight he was just as taken with me from the very beginning. Oh but of course I was a fool naive mare.” She chuckled as she continued to reminisce. “He knew just how to charm me. He escorted me all around his Canterlot. He showed me the wonders of science they had developed in their land. He even introduced me to their world's Luna. Needless to say that with my own sister being trapped in the moon, this gesture was particularly nice on his part.”

Again Pinkie gave a comical outburst. “And then luuuuv started to bloom?!”

Celestia frowned at first but then smiled and nodded. “Oh how we danced and danced together until I lost track of the days. While the Luna of their world kept Starswirl entertained with answers to every question he could ask... Sombra and I were left alone to only grow closer. After each time I returned to our world... my every thought was of nothing but to rush back by his side. After that, anytime Starswirl talked about going back I insisted on accompanying him. And then... I started going through the mirror without him. He didn't find out for the longest time. I felt so guilty.”

Having already known where this story was leading Twilight asked, “As you had told to me last time, when did you first notice that the worlds were becoming connected?” Now everypony looked curious as to what that had meant.

“It was Starswirl that did. The more we traveled through the mirror, the more we noticed parallel changes. Little things... Cooks deciding to make the same dish on the same day, Starswirl would borrow a book from Sombra and another book here would go missing. Things like that. We promised to be more careful. We only traveled through the mirror a few times a year. We stopped bringing anything back."

Celestia had to stop for a moment, feelingthe weight of old anxieties weighing upon her again. Once more it was Twilight who prodded, simply attempting to help proceed the princess's story forward. "But despite you two being cateful..."

"I started going through the mirror behind his back. I was young and didn't think 'just one more visit here and there' would do any harm.” That was when her tone had become somber once more. “He never forgave me after he found out. Our friendship was never the same. I should have listened to him and stopped seeing Sombra. But I couldn't. It was after our last moonlit kiss… That visit was so short but so magical. We promised, that always... oh well, it doesn't matter now. It was such a long time ago.” Celestia wiped her eyes again before continuing on. “When I returned to our world, Starswirl was waiting and he was furious. I had only the excuses of a love struck mare and no real answers for his much wiser questions. Starswirl used his magic to seal the mirror so that I could never return. I didn't even get to say goodbye.”

Now every pony looked speechless. For a third time Pinkie made an outburst screaming, “WHAAAT?! That's it?! That can't be it! What was that about a moonlit kiss?! That's soooooooo romantic! Please don't tell me that is how it ended!”

“Pinkie calm down!” Twilight yelled, losing her temper a little bit and using her magic to pull Pinkie’s butt back into its seat. Applejack noticed that Twilight's yelling had caused Rayne to stir a bit but after looking him over he still seemed to be asleep.

Celestia winked to Pinkie before saying, “Like a stubborn foal I didn't believe we were brought together only for fate to separate us. After all, Starswirl isn't the only one who knows a lot about magic. I toiled for weeks, or it may have been months. But eventually I found a way to break through.” Pinkie looked like she was about to cheer but everyone stopped to give her a glare and she settled for a soundless cry of excitement instead. Celestia continued as she took a more serious tone to her tale now. “I only wanted to say goodbye. But not being able to leave well enough alone almost cost me dearly. Upon my final visit barrier between the worlds had started to break down. I caused a rift a that nearly shattered our two worlds together.”

Now everypony knew why Celestia had looked so guilty before. Twilight noticed that Celestia looked like her heart was breaking all over again. “With your permission, I can take it from here if you would like?” Celestia seemed that she was going to hesitate but after thinking it over she nodded and Twilight then looked to the rest of the group. “To put a big fiasco of tragedy and chaos simply… it was discovered that Celestia's influence into their world is what was causing the damage. And right when everything between our two universes was about to collapse, Sombra had the idea that maybe mirroring something from our world would restore the balance.” Instantly Celestia turned away because she did not want to look anypony in the eye at this part.

“What happened Twi?” Applejack asked gently, being able to tell that this was the point of contention for the story.

With a stiff upper lip Twilight braced herself and told them, “Their good King Sombra used his magic to soak up the evil from within his world. He pulled it all together and then turned it back onto himself.” Now they all gasped, Fluttershy in particular at hearing about such drastic measures being taken. “He had been told about long ago when our Sombra turned evil and enslaved the Crystal Empire. Their Sombra thought that if he turned himself evil, that it might restore the balance between our worlds.”

“And did it work?” Gasped a now very nervous Fluttershy.

Celestia's heart broken voice spoke up saying, “Yes, it did.” The group now gave a saddened sigh realizing that meant everypony had been saved but that Celestia had inevitably been cut off from Sombra as well. “The last sight that I ever had of my dear Sombra was of him turned dark after sacrificing himself for the good of both our lands. After that I was pulled back to my own world but found that the commotion of our universes merging had damaged the mirror on our side.”

"Oh, no!" Fluttershy gasped sorrowfully.

Celestia used her magic to create a little viewing bubble above the table. In it they saw a rose that had been dried and preserved with two items hanging from it. One was a set of tags, one of which simply said ‘Always' upon it. The other hanging item seemed to be something thin and jagged held by a chain. “This is a rose that he gave me when we promised our love for one another on that final night. And there you see hanging the last piece of the mirror that had caused all this tragedy.” Suddenly the bubble dispersed causing the image to vanish. “I keep this in a private garden for myself back in Canterlot. It is now nothing more than a keepsake for me of days long since passed.”

Rainbow Dash noticed that Rayne kicked a hoof in his sleep but otherwise didn't stir. The light blue pegasus now spoke up saying, “Wow, that is so crazy but also kind of awesome. I'm really sorry that you had to fall in love and then be separated from each other. But Celestia, what does this have to do with the vision you had last night?”

Suddenly Applejack planted her hoof firmly down upon the table. “Dashy you dunderhead! Don't you get it?”

Twilight was next to respond saying, “Celestia doesn't know which Sombra it is that she had a vision about.”

“Ooohhhhh.” Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie all said in unison with each other.

Shining Armor scratched at his head in frustration. “Okay now wait a minute. So you're telling me that somewhere, maybe in our world or maybe not, there is a Sombra who could potentially be nothing but a head. And who last night was very angry at something that somepony else was doing… and that's what you had a dream about?”

Celestia paused for a brief moment to recant what he had just asked her before simply stating, “Yes.”

“That's it! I quit!” He shouted as he stood up from his seat.

“Shining Armor!” Both Cadence and Twilight yelled to him in surprise.

“What?! No! This is crazy!” He shouted back as he began pacing the room. “I don't know what to do with information like this! Is there an evil return of Sombra on the rise or not?! Does somepony have to help Sombra instead? How do we know if… ERG! This is way too complicated for me to deal with! I'm here to support you all and I will help with whatever it is that needs helping with. But until you figure out what that is, I am going to stay focused on rescuing our missing friends. That at least is something that I know how to do!” With that he stormed off away from the conference table toward the door.

Or at least he meant to until the door suddenly burst open and a flying foal shot into his arms as if from a canon. “Gah, heh he!” Flurry Heart chuckled as she hugged Shining's chest.

Her father was knocked halfway off his hooves but when he looked down to see his little girl's expression couldn't help but change to a happy smile. “Hi there sweetie, what are you doing here?"

Just then, two castle guards came running down the hall both huffing from being completely out of breath. “Oh good, you've got her sir.” One panted. Then the other said, “We're sorry sir. We don't know what happened. We were playing with her and everything was fine. Then she looked up like she noticed something and became very upset. She bolted straight here despite our best efforts to corral her.”

Cadence was quickly on her hooves and stepping over to say, “No please, it's perfectly fine. I think we might have reached a stopping point anyways. Also, a view of my daughter is a welcome sight right now after all that has been discussed.” She reached down to pick up the baby alicorn and nuzzled her softly while saying, “What are you doing here, huh cutie? Did you sense that your papa was upset and come all the way here to help him?”

“Whoa, seriously?” Shining Armor asked, feeling amazed by their daughter's capabilities.

“I think so.” Cadence agree as she hugged their little foal who was cooing and giggling cutely.

“Oooooohhh!” Flurry Heart suddenly gave a loud and excited yell as she looked passed her mother's shoulder toward the table of other ponies. Out of all the wise leaders, brave fighters, and powerful magic users in the room, Flurry was the first soul to notice Rayne's blue eye peeking out from beneath his mane.

Rayne lay there feeling like a sack of bricks as he slowly began to wake. Every muscle of his body seemed resistant to his commands to move. Even as his eyes opened his sight seemed to fail him as the room blurred in his unfocused vision. “oOohh, my head…” He mumbled, stiffly applying pressure from his shoulders to lift himself. “Why does it hurt? And what, what is making such adorable noises while I'm sleeping?” Rayne found that he actually did feel quite ill and quickly covered his horn with a hoof while trying to use his new healing magic to steady himself.

Before he could though, “Rayne!” Both Applejack and Rainbow shouted excitedly once the dark stallion started to rise.

Clearly being startled he gave a wince and Fluttershy was quick to admonish the other girls. “Easy you two, remember he is just walking up. Nopony likes to be shouted at in the morning.”

Rayne rubbed his eyes and then gave a stretch. “I recognize those voices... Well hello there girls. This is quite a surprise to wake to. What brings you three… four… wait…” Rayne gave a look of confusion as found himself sitting at a table in front of four of the mane six. Blinking wildly he realized that he did not recognize the room that he was in. "Wait, where am I? How did I..." Any grogginess that had still been within him was immediately replaced by adrenaline as the sight before him caused fear to rapidly coarse through his veins. Looking over the rest of the room he saw that not just Cadence but also Celestia was there and staring directly at him. Not being able to stop himself, the stallion jumped back in fright so hard he accidentally knocked the couch backwards and over himself.

"RAYNE!" Several of the nearby ponies shouted to him in concerned.

Not having missed that there were also two guard ponies in the room as well as Shining Armor, Rayne peaked back over the couch and softly asked, "What's going on here? Where am I?"

In a flash Rainbow flew over to hover above him. "Hey, hey! You're safe! Everything's okay!"

Stepping around the side of the couch Applejack placed a hoof on his shoulder and said, "Easy there now, you shouldn't over do it. You weren't well when we found you."

"Found me?" Rayne asked, still not understanding what was going on. He remembered the previous night and his hunting after Sombra. But he had no recollection as to what had happened after making his way back out of the castle. His eyes darted nervously from face to face as everyone continued to stare at him. His mind raced trying to get a grasp on the situation. "What the hell is going on?! How did I get stuck in a room with the leaders of Equestria? Do they already know what I've done?!"

"Um, is everything alright?" Celestia asked, sounding a little awkward from the frightened behavior of the stallion.

"No... it isn't." Twilight said while climbing out of her chair.

Pinkie was next to speak as she grabbed a hold of her hooves and started rocking in her seat. "Ummm, maybe it's because Rayne isn't used to being around royalty or being inside castles? I have to admit, if I weren't already friends with all of you and I woke up in a strange place with three Princesses, two guards, a guard captain, AND no idea how I got there... I'd be worried that I might have done something and not remember."

Author's Notes:

Reference material pulled from IDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic issues 18 and 19. The material pulled from the comic as well as the idea for this love story goes entirely to the credit of those artists, writers and producers. I add this parody of their tale to my story to honor the brilliant work of fiction they created because I loved reading it so much.

Also, dum de dum dum! Is Rayne in trouble? Earlier he tried avoiding Mayor Mare and now he freaks out at the sight of the princesses. Especially Celestia. It sounds like a certain stallion might have a fear of authority figures.