For about ten seconds, nothing happens. Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic, sister of Shining Armour and student of Celestia, just stares at me, and I stare back. Then, she breaks the silence, and I remember just how much I loathe her.

"Oh! Aren't you the mare who was friends with Nightmare Moon? Hey, sorry about what happened a year ago. I heard that Princess Luna was less than nice to you afterwards. That was my bad. But what brings you to the Crystal Empire? Are you trying to protect it from King Sombra?"

I yank the sacred book out of her grasp. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you why I am here."

"Tell me, because I might be able to help you out." She takes the book back and sets it on a nearby table.

"Fine. I am trying to figure out two things. The first is how to get Sombra to show his nice side more often. The second is how to get everypony to see his nice side and accept him into society."

A mare with a baby pink coat and a darker pink mane bounces down the aisle. "Oh, you're being silly. Surely somepony like you who's been hanging around with villains for ages can realise that Sombra's just a bully! There is no nice side to somepony like him!"

"Lo and behold, the age old problem of stereotypes. I knew that you wouldn't believe me." I throw my hooves into the air, just like Sombra did when we were trying to figure out a way of getting the ponies to like him. "Nopony believes me, because all they see is him and his dark magic. Why not just sit down and talk to him? I thought that Equestria was a nation built on peace and friendship."

"Is there another way of doing this?" Twilight asks dubiously. "If there really were another way, then I am certain that Princess Celestia would attempt to talk to Sombra. In my opinion, what you are trying is futile. He will never change. We just have to figure out some way of keeping him out of the Empire permanently."

"Say he isn't the one who needs to change," I suggest.

"Have you seen my brother's horn, covered in dark crystals? He can't use his magic now. I don't think that there is any way of stopping Sombra from being evil. I hate to be so cold, but I don't want you to end up where he is now."

I do not reply. Instead, I leaf through the book, titled The Historic Traditions of the Crystal Fair. It has nothing about Sombra within its pages, only about somepony called the Crystal Princess, Amoré. Supposedly, she created a crystal heart powered by the love and light from the residents of the Empire, that would power a protection spell. The Crystal Fair was an annual event to rejuvenate that power. Unsurprisingly, Twilight takes one look at the book and cries, "GIRLS! IT'S HERE! I KNOW HOW TO PROTECT THE EMPIRE!" I fly out the library so fast I am surprised that I don't perform a Sonic Rainboom.

I travel back to the castle and tell a guard to show me where my room is. I am escorted to a huge bedroom and luxurious en suite that are both far too pristine in comparison to my dilapidated hut in the Everfree. When I spoke to the Princesses, before the train journey, I lied. My home was still standing defiantly, and had not yet been destroyed. By now, it could have been knocked down or burned. I can't see myself returning anyway. I would rather be with Sombra, travelling through the Frozen North, away from the discrimination of civilisation.

I am called to dinner an hour later. The other ponies - Princess Cadance, Prince Shining Armour, Twilight Sparkle and her silly friends - will be eating breakfast, while all I wish for right now is the wonderful stew cooked in the Lunar Barracks at Canterlot Castle. I politely decline to join the others.

"Sorry. Princess Cadance insists," the Earth Pony guard says.

"She can insist all she likes, but in this country I have free will, and I refuse to attend," I answer back.

The guard grabs me by the mane, and I shriek as he pulls me out of my room and slams the door so that I cannot scuttle to safety. The screaming alerts the other guards in the area and they rush to help.

"I don't want to go!" I tell the guard who is still trying to tug me away, faking tears. "Please! Tell him to stop!"

The guard finally lets go of me and shifts uncomfortably. "The Princess says that Moonlight has to join them. Says she has to tell her something important. The vampire answered back."

I gasp at the name "vampire." Bat ponies are the one group of ponies discriminated against the most, mainly for our unusual looks and nocturnal habits. The guards are usually the ones arresting ponies for anti-social behaviour in public, so I am shocked that they would use such names themselves. However, he has merely given me an advantage, not to say a chance to get him sacked. I am not easily upset by name calling or the supposed high class ponies being rude, but a guard of all ponies causing the trouble? I refuse to let him go unshamed.

I complain to the group of guards, "That's rude! How would you like it if I called you a mud pony? Or if I went around calling every Pegasus I met an airhead? I would get arrested! If that is how the best guards in Equestria treat an innocent mare, I shall have to make a complaint to the Captain of the Royal Guard himself!" I turn my nose up at him and look away.

"Fine," he snarls at me. "Go to the dining hall and tell the Captain. I'll be watching you, vampire."

I fly all the way to the dining room, furious at the day's outrageous turn of events. Sombra would never let his guards do that! I admit that I dislike the idea of him using dark magic to control them, but I still think that it is better than allowing them to break the laws that they are supposed to uphold. I will have to talk to him and get a second opinion, but I have a feeling that somepony has told Wishbone to keep an eye on my dreams, so that has likely gone out of the window.

Curse you, Celestia. Maybe Nightmare Moon and I really should have knocked your sun out of the sky. Just you wait until Sombra and I have taken over the Empire and got those guards under control, and then you can kiss our flanks for all we care. I will get him in, whether through force or just waiting for your niece's protection spell to wear out. He is coming and I will help him until the Crystal Empire is his.

We will be unbeatable.