It was no exaggeration to say that The Crystal Empire was in disarray.
The Crystal Fair could only put the crystal ponies' minds at ease for so long before they would start asking questions.
Questions that at this moment, Rainbow Dash knew she could not tell.
"Oh, yeah! That Crystal Heart that is super important to you and is the source of your safety, the one we said we found and are currently protecting? That heart? Yeah, We don't actually have it!" As if she could say something like that!
"Fluttershy! Any answer from the Yaks on why the Barrier is down?" Rainbow Dash asked as she looked at the sky, the sky blue barrier that surrounded the Empire having disappeared minutes prior, letting the cold of the tundra outside rush in.
"They said they're working on it," Fluttershy told her best friend as she rubbed her wings against her body for warmth.
"Well, they need to work faster! We still need to buy Twilight more time." Rainbow Dash complained as a chill ran up her back, her nose twitching, expecting a sneeze that didn't come, "What even are they doing in there?" She turned to look at the door leading into the castle, wondering what the yaks were doing.
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"Do not worry Shining Armor!" Prince Rutherford said loudly as he watched over the Yak's keeping Princess Mi Amore Cadenza awake and functional.
Well, as functional as someone who's been awake for several days straight could be.
"I'm her husband, it's my job to worry!" Shining Armor cried as he walked circles across the room they were keeping Cadance in, his eyes flickering every once in a while to his wife, watching her struggling to keep her eyes open as his hooves dug trenches in the carpet.
"There is no need worry! Yak hospitality is best there is! Princess Friend Cadance will be fine!" Rutherford said loudly, his words doing little to assuage Shining Armor's worry as a small crowd of Yakyakistani hoofmaidens took care of Cadance, feeding her specially prepared food and drink to keep her awake for as long as possible.
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As the Yaks and Ponies in the Empire tried to keep things running smoothly, a separate problem was making itself known below the castle.
Twilight Sparkle was running out of breath. Her body was covered in sweat as she walked up another dozen steps, she was still feeling the injuries she should have gotten from falling down the stairs, and the image of Sombra on that stained glass mural was still fresh in her mind.
She was getting tired, and these stairs just didn't seem to end.
Walking behind her, his breath also running tired, Spike spoke up.
"What if this is just more of his magic?" He said as he tiredly pulled himself up another step, his legs begging him to take a break, "He makes a door that leads to your worst nightmare, what about a staircase that goes on forever?"
Hearing his words, Twilight looked down to see how far she'd walked, the ground several stories below her at this point. And then, she looked up to check how far more she needed to climb, only to notice no end to the towering staircase she was climbing.
And as she looked up, she noticed a peculiar little design on the bottom of the stairs above her.
"Hold on to me," she told Spike as she grabbed him in her magic and placed him on her back, her horn glowing a bright pink.
"Eh?" Spike managed to tiredly voice as Twilight's body started levitating, his claws quickly moving to grab hold of her sides.
And with a burst of almost blinding pink light, they were falling.
"Wooooaaahhh!!!" Twilight yelled as she fell upwards, reversing the localized gravity around her in order to slide on the smooth underside of the stairs as if they were a ramp.
The ceiling still wasn't in sight, but at least it was faster than climbing.
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In the street beneath the crystal castle, more and more ponies were gathering around the podium were the Crystal Heart was supposed to stand, their approach to the false heart was stalled by a hard-working Earth Pony.
"Applejack!" Said Earth Pony quickly turned to look at whomever was calling out to her, watching one of her best friends coming over with a look of worry on her face.
"I have run out of crafting materials for the arts and crafts stand!" Rarity whispered loudly to her friend, "I had to make a hat out of three pieces of hay and a drinking straw! I made it work of course, but I can't keep this up! These ponies want to see the heart and I can't keep stalling!"
"I know, but Twilight said-"
"AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" A scream ran out nearby, a group of ponies running over to join the crown converging around the Crystal Heart statue.
"I don't think she said that... Twilight doesn't scream like that either," Pinkie Pie spoke up, "Her screams are more like GYAAAAAAAHHH!"
Ignoring their friend, Applejack and Rarity turned to look at what caused the ponies to scream, only to pause as they watched a wave of black mist approach their location, corrupting any crystals in its path.
"What is that thing?!" Rarity yelled as she took a step back in fear of the approaching wave of darkness, a pair of red eyes shining out from the mist.
Unfortunately, that step backward caused her back to hit the statue they were trying so hard to keep hidden.
"Woahwoahwait-" Applejack quickly tried to catch the statue from falling over, the cloth they kept it hidden under slipped away as the false Crystal Heart fell to the ground, shattering into hundreds of shards.
"AHAHAHAHA!!!" The Mist rose above them, an uproarious laughter echoed from it as the dark mist seemed to solidify into the body of a Unicorn.
"Foolish Ponies!" The Unicorn yelled, his eyes peering over each and every pony in his sight, "Did you really think you could keep me out of my own Kingdom?!"
"It's Sombra!" A crystal pony screamed.
And then the chaos erupted.
"EVERYPONY RUN!!!" Someone yelled before the crowd started to scream and run in a blind panic, trampling one another and pushing each other to the ground in an attempt to get as far away from the tyrant as they could.
"Ahaha! Yes! Panic! Flee! It will only make your punishment all the more enjo-" Whatever Sombra was about to say was cut off as a streak of golden light impacted him from the side before disappearing from view, taking the King away from the crowd.
Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie all turned to look at where the Streak went, watching the building it hit collapse, Sombra's voice rising in the distance as the golden streak dragged him farther and farther away.
And then the wind rushed past them.
"Woah... That was fast..." Pinkie Pie said as her hair flew to the side, slapping into her face and burying her head like a mask of pink fluff.
"Uh-huh..." Applejack said, her leg holding on to her hat to make sure it didn't fly off.
"Just what was that?" Rarity asked, her hair disheveled and windswept.
----------------------------------------
Starlight Glimmer walked down the street with a pep in her step, her horn glowing as she grabbed a large bag of popcorn, ready to watch her boss laugh like a loon as he got punched in the face.
-------------------------------------------
Sombra glared intently at the Unicorn that dragged him to the opposite edge of the Empire from where he came in from, his body refusing to transform back into mist as the bright golden glow from the white Unicorn held him in place.
"Let..." Sombra managed to bite out as his back slammed into another crystal wall, "GO OF ME!" He yelled loudly, his horn glowing with dark magic as he shot at the Unicorn, forcing him to let go and dodge lest he be hit with the spell.
The moment his body was let go of, Sombra turned into mist and oriented himself in the air before forming on the ground a few meters away from the Unicorn.
"So you really are taking me up on my offer?" Sombra scoffed at the sight of the Unicorn, his head encased in a golden mask, his legs wrapped in chains, "Do you really wish to learn what happened so badly?!"
Sombra readied a spell in his horn, his eyes glowing with malevolent energy as darkness bubbled in his stare.
"Not really, no."
Only for the spell to fizzle out at the response he was not expecting.
"Huh?" And that momentary pause of magic was all the time needed for the Unicorn to appear before him, a single step taking him forward several meters before his hoof connected with Sombra's face.
Sombra expected the hoof to pass through him, for his body to turn to mist the moment the other unicorn made contact, only for his body to remain solid, the punch throwing him to the floor.
As his body fell, he quickly turned to mist and reoriented himself, following it by immediately firing a beam of magic at the ground before him, erecting a wall of dark crystals between him and his assailant.
"Just who do you think you are?!" Sombra yelled, his horn already glowing in preparation for his next spell.
"Did you not hear me before? I knew you were an asshole but I didn't know you had a hearing impairment," His assailant's voice echoed around him, projecting as if coming from all directions simultaneously, "I am Prince Blueblood Platinum."
"Oh..." Sombra smiled at the hearing of that name, "I knew a Platinum once, you know?" His horn fired at the wall of crystals, the crystals acting as a mirror to split his magic like a prism and spread it out along the surroundings, creating more and more spires of dark crystal, "And he taught me a valuable lesson..."
Sombra quickly turned his body into mist and flew upward, avoiding the explosion of crystal shards that shot at his previous location, the wall he created having burst open and scattered at high speeds, his eyes focusing on the Unicorn draped in golden chains below him, his golden mask's devil-like horns glowing with a bright blue light in conjuncture with his natural horn.
"HOUSE PLATINUM IS RULED BY LIES!" Sombra yelled, his magic shooting out of his semi-tangible horn in a pillar of dark magic, intending to crush the white Unicorn beneath him under the weight of his magic. A confident smile spread across his face as he watched the pillar of darkness swallow the unicorn.
"You know... Aspen said those exact same words." Sombra's smirk froze as he turned to look behind him.
Sitting on the crystals he created as if he were relaxing on a bench, Prince Blueblood Platinum stood unharmed.
"Before you spoke them, I was content to just beat you up and then disintegrate you under the heat of an exploding solar system, not really caring that much. But now?" Blueblood's body shimmered before disappearing from view, only to immediately reappear before Sombra's face, "Now I know you know something that I want to know about. So you're going to tell me everything you know." Sombra felt his body solidify, falling down to the ground as his magic stopped working, only for a golden rope to wrap around his torso and hold him aloft.
No, it wasn't a rope. It was a tail.
"Plunderseed!" Sombra's mind spit as he tried to pull the golden vine off of him, feeling the plant-like matter slowly grow and extend as it continued wrapping around his body, holding his legs in place, keeping him dangling from the air.
Sombra prepared to bite his lips and draw upon the magic in his blood in an attempt to tear the offending vine off of him.
"So let us start in the beginning..." Sombra watched as the world around him shifted, the vine around his body disappearing, the crystals and snow that danced around him replaced with red and brown leaves, the buildings of colorful quartz replaced with thick wooden logs, the dark and cold sky above replaced with a canopy of red leaves beneath a blue and cloudy sky.
Sombra felt the plunderseed vines disappearing as he fell onto a wooden chair, sitting at the head of a long wooden table, filled with plenty of different food and drink. And on the other side of the long table, dressed in a pinstripe blue and white suit, sat Prince Blueblood Platinum, pouring himself a cup of whisky from a bottle that levitated beside him.
As he sat at that table in the middle of the woods, staring at the unicorn sitting across him, Sombra knew that the only way he could escape his current predicament was to wait for the fear and despair of his arrival to spread across the Crystal Ponies outside, their negativity boosting his magic enough to tear the Plunderseed off of himself and beat the Platinum Prince.
"Heh... A fine illusion this is," Sombra complimented the white unicorn, "It almost feels real."
"Thank you," Blueblood said politely, a slice of Black Forest gateau levitating onto a plate beside him, a small spoon joining it on the plate in front of the Prince, "Would you like to eat something before we begin? The food here has no nutritional value, being an illusion and all, but I assure you that the taste is as real as it gets." His voice was no longer projecting from around him, the golden mask and chains that wrapped around his physical body were gone from this illusion of an autumn forest clearing.
And with the idea of buying time, Sombra decided to play along.
"I would love something to bite." As the words left his mouth, a plate of cakes and cookies appeared before him, a teapot levitated above a small cup beside him, pouring down a clear brown liquid with a gentle floral aroma for him to enjoy.
"Here, and please, enjoy this feast." Blueblood gave him a polite smile from across the long table, "After all... This will be your last meal."
------------------------------------------
"Sombra's back!"
"The Crystal Heart is gone!"
"We're doomed!"
Panic and fear spread through the streets of the Crystal Empire, some were running to their houses and boarding the windows, others were kneeling on the ground and rubbing their hooves in prayer, hoping for this living nightmare of theirs to end.
Foals and Fillies were crying in the legs of their mothers, as others cried for answers, hoping for a princess that was long dead to save them from their tyrant.
Shadows spread along the ground as Sombra's crystals spread like a corrupting tumor, growing over other crystals and transforming them into a dark reflection of themselves, the shadows spreading farther along the ground as more and more crystals emerged from the darkness.
Those crystals brought fear, and that fear gave Sombra power, with more fear, more crystals emerged from the shadows, creating a cycle of terror that slowly fueled the tyrant's plan of escape.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Empire, inside a wall of dark crystals, an illusion covered the place. A bubble of magic that changed the world inside its borders to fit with the spell.
From an outside look, it would seem like a blue marble, a bubble that housed a pair of stallions, who were trapped inside the false reality that took place inside the bubble.
And yet, if someone were to walk into the bubble, they would behold a sight of wonder.
Even as the Crystals on the ground around it started to close in on the bubble, like lichen spreading on the branches of a tree, preparing to pierce the bubble and save their master.
-------------------------------------------
"I did it for love." Sombra said calmly as he took a sip of his tea, "All of it, every single part of it, I did for love." He looked at the unicorn that sat across him.
"Doesn't look very lovely," Blueblood pointed out, "So your explanation better be good."
"Of course," Sombra smiled calmly as he set the cup down on the table, "Before we begin my tale, you're going to need some context." Sombra took a deep breath, closing his eyes to enjoy the soft autumn breeze, the smell of the forest around him, and the aroma of the tea on his tongue.
None of it was real, he knew that, but he was still allowed to enjoy it.
"Long ago, the land of Equestria was inhabited by a great sage." Sombra began, "That sage lived one with nature, his understanding of the natural order of the world was so grand he could create life out of anything you could think of. He could be attributed to the source of many wonderful creatures that you see in the world today, from the Cockatrice to the Manticore, from the Chimera to even the Plunderseed that you keep as a pet, this great Sage was a bringer of life."
Blueblood quietly sat across the table, listening intently to the story Sombra was telling.
"But this sage was not the sole being living in Equestria at the time. His work on keeping the cycle of nature spinning was assisted by two other species." Sombra placed his elbow on the table, his head dropping to rest on his hoof as he stared into Blueblood's eyes, "The Deer helped raise forests and spread the plants across the land, and the Umbrum helped tear them down, turning the dying plants and creatures into fertilizer, bringing new life back into the never-ending cycle."
"Growth and Decomposition," Blueblood said, getting a nod from Sombra.
"Precisely. Under the sage's guidance, Equestria could have been considered a natural paradise." Sombra said, "And then everything changed when the ponies arrived."
"They were in an invasive species, coming in from the cold north where they destroyed their land with conflict and strife, bringing with them the freezing winds of the Windigo." Sombra scowled as he spoke, "At first, the Sage tried to let them coexist in the land, become a natural part of the cycle, yet they could not do so. They saw his power as a threat to their rule, and so they took it away from him, the source of his magic was stolen by a Unicorn that the ponies deemed a hero, and without his power, the sage was little more than a regular Ibex. Without his magic, he aged and died, no longer able to keep watch of the natural order."
"Cute history lesson, but do get to your point," Blueblood urged Sombra to continue.
"I am getting there, have patience." Sombra rolled his eyes, momentarily pausing to see the red leaves on the trees sway in an imaginary wind.
"Following the sage's death, the Deer secluded themselves in the Everfree Forest, ignoring the natural order of the land they helped build being destroyed and taken away by the Ponies. And then, the Ponies turned their eyes to the last of the Sage's allies, the Umbrum." Sombra's eyes returned to stare into Blueblood's own, trying to get a read on the Platinum Prince.
"They saw the decay they caused and deemed them evil, banishing them to the frozen north where they came from, sealing them in a magical prison beneath the ruins of what was once a great pony kingdom, now buried in ice and snow following the arrival of the Windigos." Sombra continued talking, "There, the Umbrum brewed for centuries, cursing the ponies and the world, waiting for the opportunity for them to escape."
"Look, if you're just going to be talking about nothing, We can end this here. I have no issues with that." Blueblood said as he took a bite of his cake, pouring more whiskey into his cup.
"I told you to be patient, Platinum, good context is crucial to any retelling of events," Sombra growled before he schooled his expression, calming himself down. With the Plunderseed around his body, he couldn't feel how close his crystals were, so he had to keep buying time.
"As I was saying, the Umbrum were imprisoned beneath the ruins of the abandoned kingdom of the ponies, the one they left behind when they traveled to Equestria. But, not all ponies traveled south, those that remained and adapted to the cold managed to create a relic that would amplify their love and banish the Windigos from their land. That, Blueblood Platinum, was the moment the Crystal Empire was born." Sombra paused as he felt a flicker of magic in the back of his mind, "But we can continue this talk later~" Sombra smirked as a shriek of pain sounded around him, the illusion shattering like a glass window, the forest falling apart to reveal the dark crystal walls that surrounded the two Unicorns.
On the floor beside him, a golden Plunderseed rolled on the ground, her tail cut off by a sharp spike of crystal.
Across from him, once more in his golden regalia, Prince Blueblood stood unmoving, his faceless mask staring at Sombra as if he were waiting for the tyrant to try something.
"Do not worry, Comet, it will grow back." Blueblood's voice projected from around him once more, "On the other hand, I think it is time to teach you what happens when you get on my bad side..."
"Oh? And how will you do so? Without your little Plunderseed, you cannot even touch me!" Sombra shouted, his voice bouncing on the crystal walls around him.
"You're right, without Clover's web or Comet's power, I can't touch you." Blueblood's horn glowed with power as he levitated the squirming spider plant closer to him, a wisp of blue magic drifting out from his horn and into the Plunderseed, causing her squirming to calm as she entered a slumber, "Your body will just turn to Mist as soon as any harm reaches you..."
Sombra scowled as he saw the prince's shoulders start to bounce as if laughing in silence.
"At least, that's what I would have said had I not dragged you here with Mercury!" Blueblood's voice projected loudly, his horn shining bright as the yet uncorrupted crystals he stood on burst out of the ground, forming the shape of a Centaur's torso, a pair of arms extending from the crystal shoulders of the torso as blue fire burned through the cracks in the crystals like veins, holding the crystals together like glue, as a blue illusory tail erupted from below the floating torso, ending in a crystal spike, the flames that held the torso traveling down the false tail and into the spike at its end.
"PLUTO!" Blueblood yelled as a burning blue skull of a snake formed on top of the torso, a pair of horns growing through the top of the skull as the flames formed the crown of a cobra.
"Because I get it now!" Blueblood yelled, the crystal statue levitating on its false tail beside him, "You need to actively turn your body into mist! You can't dodge something you can't react to!"
"...What are you getting at?" Sombra growled, his horn bubbling with dark magic as purple smoke wafted from his eyes, the crystals around him growing sharper, more crystals spreading from his magic across the Crystal Empire as his magic was once more freed to actively be cast under his control.
"That you're a fucking dipshit!" Blueblood roared with laughter, "Look down!"
"Wha-" Sombra turned to look down, his eyes widening as he watched the tail of the Plunderseed wrap around his leg, the golden vine elongating across the ground before ending in the clawed hands of the statue beside the prince.
"Asteroid!" Blueblood yelled, the vine wrapping tightly around Sombra's leg shone with golden light as his body refused to turn to mist.
"PLUTO!!!" The statue roared as he lifted his arms, the vine dragging along with it as Sombra was pulled into the air by his leg.
"YOU BASTARD!" Sombra screamed, a beam of magic escaping his horn as he fired at Blueblood, his eyes widening in rage as he saw the beam pass harmlessly through his body, the unicorn prince disappearing as the illusion of his body faded away.
"Plu-" Sombra felt his body gain momentum, the vine around his leg refusing to budge as the statue kept swinging him around, "-TO!!!"
With a mighty swing, Sombra found himself sailing through the air, his magic erecting barriers against his skin as quickly as he could before his face hit the ground, only to bounce back up as the swing continued to drag him through the Crystal Empire's quiet streets, the vine continuing to grow and elongate, refusing to let go of him no matter how far he was swung.
"This spell can wrap around the moon!" He heard Blueblood's voice echo around him, the prince refusing to show himself, "You will not be getting out of my range!"
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"Woooah Hahaha!" Sliding up on the sloping underside of the stairs, Twilight Sparkle cheered in excitement as the wind brushed against her face, her little brother holding on to her back for dear life as the duo kept speeding up the stairs.
"I actually studied gravity spells thinking it might be on my test!" Twilight told Spike, her horn glowing pink as she kept the spell going, "Turns out, I was prepared for this!"
It wasn't long before the stairs reached their end, the duo finding themselves on top of the tallest spire of the castle, with Twilight quickly disabling the gravity spell to stop the two from falling into the sky.
Looking around, Twilight and Spike took a moment to appreciate the view of what they looked for as it levitated before them.
"The Crystal Heart..." Spike whispered as he looked upon the relic of the Empire. It was a brilliant blue crystal in the shape of a heart, even he could feel the magic and love emanating from the magical relic.
Twilight took a step towards the magic, only to pause and look down at the Empire below, a frown forming on her face as she saw the sight.
Crystals of dark magic were growing around the empire, Ponies were gathering below the castle hoping for answers, at the edges she could see the green grass of the empire be buried by the snow of the tundra, and far away, in a corner of the city away from all others, she saw him.
Crystals and beams of darkness grew rapidly around him as his body was swung around from a long golden rope. Each blast of his magic caused the crystals that were already spreading around the empire to quake and grow larger and sharper, overtaking the houses and parks of the Crystal Empire.
He was clearly fighting somepony, but Twilight knew that all it did was buy her more time.
She clapped her hooves on to her cheeks, forcing herself to focus as she turned to the Crystal Heart.
And as she took a step forward, to reach out to the relic and take it, the ground below her shook.
"What?!" An alarm blared in her ears, the circle that kept the Heart floating turned grey and dark, walls of crystals bursting from the floor to trap Twilight inside, the Crystal Heart having fallen outside of the cage of darkness and out of her reach.
"Twilight!" Spike exclaimed in shock as he saw his sister get trapped behind the crystal cage.
"The Heart!" Twilight shouted, "Spike, where is it? Did you see where it fell?"
"It's here!" Spike said as he tried to get closer to his sister, small crystals growing from the floor like spears ready to impale any who tried to step over them, "It fell over here when you got caught!"
Twilight watched her brother try and walk through the growing maze of spikes, "Don't move!" She shouted as she saw his foot about to step on a sharp crystal protrusion, "You can move just not towards me," Spike quickly listened to his sister as he moved back, closer to the stairs they came from.
Twilight tried to teleport out of the cage, but the moment her body left the cage a rush of dark magic caught her and teleported her back into the cage, her face slamming into the crystal wall around her.
"How could I be so foolish?" Twilight asked as she rubbed her face, "I was so eager to get it, and when I saw what was going on outside, I..."
"You have to get out of there, Twilight!" Spike tried to urge his sister, "You have to be the one to bring the Crystal Heart to Princess Cadance." Spike took a step back as a dark crystal beside his foot grew upwards, almost impaling him in the process, "If you don't, you'll fail Celestia's test!"
Twilight turned to look through a crack in the cage, watching the land outside get overrun by the dark crystals, "King Sombra is already attacking the Empire-"
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"STOP THIS! FOOLISH PLATINUM!!!" Sombra roared in rage as his body slammed against a crystal spire, shattering the crystals and raining the shard down onto his face.
"MAKE ME!!!" Blueblood's invisible form roared back, his voice echoing all around the tyrant as Pluto continued swinging him around as if he were a wrecking ball.
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"-He could reach the Crystal Ponies at any moment..." Twilight said with worry, "Reach Princess Cadance, my brother, my friends..."
---------------------------------------------
Sombra roared as a crystal spike emerged from the ground, impaling the statue that swung him around and spreading his darkness onto the crystals that made up his body. With a yell of effort, he forced the now corrupted Pluto to shatter, letting go of him as he fell to the ground, the Plunderseed vine still wrapped around his leg, refusing to budge.
"No matter!" He yelled as he cut the offending vine, leaving it as little more than a bracelet around his back leg, he might not be able to turn to mist, but at least he was no longer being used as a tool for demolition.
"MARS!" Blueblood's voice echoed around him once more, and Sombra quickly erected a wall of crystals between him and a spinning beam of magic, the magic acting as a propellant that fired a spinning crystal at Sombra.
"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Sombra roared, his horn releasing a blast of magic, disabling any illusions in his vicinity, "THERE YOU ARE!" And with a yell of effort, Sombra tossed a crystal the size of a carriage at the golden-chained Prince.
As he watched the crystal fly at his target, he picked himself up in his magic, his body flying away as he started to create distance.
"Rupture~" The Prince's voice echoed as the crystal projectile split apart, his body passing harmlessly through the middle as the crystal broke apart mid-flight, before shattering into glass powder behind him, "Mars~" A small rock lifted before him, quickly starting to spin in his magic before it fired toward Sombra's retreating form, drilling through the many crystal projectiles he threw at the prince.
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"There might not be enough time for me to find a way to escape..." Twilight told herself as she watched the dark crystals spread across the land before an idea reached her mind as she turned to look at her brother.
"You need to be the one to bring the Crystal Heart to the fair."
-------------------------------------------------
"Stop chasing me!" Sombra roared as he fired more and more crystals at the Prince, watching as they helplessly split and shattered in midair before they could even make contact with his assailant.
"Stop running away and face your execution like a man!" Blueblood yelled, his body surrounded in bright golden light before he dashed towards Sombra, a whisper of "Mercury~" echoing on the winds as he appeared in front of the tyrant, catching him in a clothesline and dropping him onto the ground at the edge of the Empire, snow and ice beginning to fall upon the two stallions as they stood at the end of where the grass grew.
"You...!" Sombra roared as he fired a beam of magic at the prince, smirking as he watched him side-step it.
"You missed..." Blueblood said as his horn started glowing, ready to end the fight.
"No, I didn't~" Sombra smirked, "I wasn't aiming at you~"
Blueblood quickly turned around to find a crystal the size of a two-story house fall towards him, preparing to crush him under its weight.
"Rupture~" Blueblood said and the crystal shattered, cracks forming and tearing away as he magically pulled the crystal apart from the inside before it could reach him, splitting it and shattering it into tiny shards and dust.
"I GOT YOU!" Sombra yelled as the second the crystal shattered, another crystal burst from the ground and stabbed into Blueblood's left hind leg, drawing blood for the first time before it was quickly torn out and shattered before it could stab deeper.
As he watched the blood flow from the gaping wound on his opponent's calve, Sombra wasted no time in firing up his specialty.
"HAHAHA! NOW LET US SEE WHAT YOU TRULY FEAR!!!"
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"You called for me, Princess Celestia?" Stepping into her room, Prince Blueblood watched the Princess stare at a piece of paper with a frown on her face.
"Close the door and sit." Celestia did not look up from the paper, her brows knitting as the frown on her face deepened.
"Is something the matter? I assure you that I have-"
"What is your name?" Celestia interrupted him, her eyes rising from the paper to look into his own.
"Blueblood... Celestia, is something the matter?"
"Your full name?" Celestia ignored him as she asked again.
"Blueblood Platinum, but-"
"And there lies the problem, Blueblood." Celestia sighed as she lowered the paper she was reading on to the table, "That is not your name."
"...Oh, I see, This is a late April Fools' joke, Although I do not see where the joke is, you did manage to scare me for a moment, I thought something serious was happening, Haha~" Blueblood laughed Celestia's behavior off.
But Celestia wasn't laughing.
"You are not a Platinum." She said bluntly, her words spearing through Blueblood's mask of laughter, getting his full attention.
"What do you mean? Of course I am, That's why you took me in." Blueblood told her.
"And it seems," Celestia slid the paper she was reading over to him, "That I was wrong."
"What?" Blueblood read over the paper, his face twisting into a scowl before he even got a quarter through, "And you believe this crap?" Blueblood looked back at Celestia.
"Language."
"Of course I'm a Platinum, You know more about that than some random researchers. They obviously have an agenda here, you can't fall for this." Blueblood felt his emotions rise as he considered what was going on, "They're scammers! You can't fall for any of this, you know I'm right!"
Celestia merely let out a tired sigh as she looked away from Blueblood.
"I cannot allow you to remain in the castle..." Celestia told him, refusing to meet his gaze, "All the property and items that you have owned with the authority and money that was given to you as a Platinum will be revoked and taken as Crown Property," She said as if reading from a teleprompter.
"WHAT?!" Blueblood shot to his feet, the chair he sat on dropping to the floor behind him, "But you took me in as a child! I didn't have anything! Everything I have right now is thanks to you!" He reminded her, his eyes widening as the implications made themselves known, "If you do this, I'll have nothing!"
"...I'm sorry, Mister Blueblood, but there is nothing I can do about this." Celestia refused to meet his gaze, "But do not worry, we have brought someone you know to take care of your properties in your stead."
Blueblood felt his blood freeze as another pony entered the room, a unicorn with a light orange coat and a mane of red and yellow.
"Hello, Blue~" The mare told him as she leaned against the door, watching him with a smirk on her face.
"..." Blueblood stared at the mare as if trying to decipher where he knew her from, only to suddenly recognize the mare before him, "...Sunset Shimmer..." He growled before he turned back to look at Celestia, "You can't be serious! She betrayed you! She took your trust and threw it away! I didn't! I didn't betray anything! You can't give it to her! You can't do this to me!" He yelled at her.
"I am sorry..." Celestia refused to meet Blueblood's eyes as a pair of guards walked in and started dragging him away.
"NO! Look at me! Don't you dare avert your gaze from me!" Blueblood screamed at Celestia as he pushed against the guards pulling him away, his voice rising as he glared at Celestia.
"Don't worry Blue~" Blueblood growled as Sunset Shimmer leaned against him, a smirk on her face, "I'll take good care of the BBF, or should I say SSF now that I'm one of the richest ponies in the world? Haha!"
"YOU BITCH!" Blueblood yelled as he punched her in the face, throwing the mare and the guards away from him as he ran to Celestia's desk, "LOOK AT ME! DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE AVERT YOUR GAZE WHEN YOU'RE DOING THIS!!!" He screamed at her as more and more guards piled into the room, grabbing onto him and dragging him away.
"LOOK AT ME!!!" And not once did Celestia meet his gaze.
As he was dragged through the corridors of the castle, the staff refused to meet his gaze, turning away as if he was merely trash being thrown out by a janitor.
As he was dragged through the throne room, he spotted a few ponies he recognized.
"Raven! Starlight! Tell them that this is a misunderstanding!" He called out to them, only to frown as Raven Inkwell turned away.
"I'm sorry Blueblood. With you no longer being a Prince, My probation is over." Starlight said sadly, a pair of guards walking over and placing her in cuffs, "I hope you'll visit though," She tried to smile at him as she was dragged away into a different corridor.
"Luna!" Blueblood turned to the last pony in the throne room, "Please! Don't let her do this to me!" He cried, begging the one person in Equestria he ever begged to, hoping she would be able to do something.
"..." Luna met his eyes, a frown on her face, before she turned away, refusing to look at him.
"...LOOK AT ME!!!" Blueblood roared at her, his horn bursting with light as he threw the guards off of him, "DON'T AVERT YOUR GAZE FROM THIS!!!"
But it was of no use. More and more guards started dragging him out, his magic refusing to fight against the small army of ponies that dragged him off the castle grounds, before tossing him out into the streets as if he were nothing more than a pile of garbage.
-------------------------------------------------
Sombra smiled as he watched the nightmare take place in front of his very eyes, the despair born of betrayal feeling like a five-star buffet as he felt his magic spike in power.
As he devoured the dark emotions of the Prince, he felt the despair in the air slowly shift into a different emotion.
And as he watched the tail and mane of the Prince burst into a pillar of blue flames, he knew what the emotion was.
Rage.
And like a crystal ball shattering on the ground, the world transformed in a burst of shattering crystal as the illusion changed.
"AAAAAAHHH!!!!"
Sombra watched with eyes wide as the previously clean and orderly Canterlot Castle fell to ruins, the walls collapsed and the floor dotted with holes, blue flames burning all around the castle, signs of a battle that went unseen.
And in the middle of the ruined throneroom, Sombra watched Prince Blueblood, his hair a burning blue fire, and his body covered in blood, both his own and of others, as he picked up an orange unicorn mare by the back of the head before slamming her face down into the marble floor, blood splattering out from every slam of her head, a yell of rage escaping the prince's mouth at every slam.
"AAAAH!" Another slam, "AAAAH!" And another, "AAAAH!"
The Prince's eyes were blank, as if in a trance of anger, as if not knowing he was massacring what were previously his own coworkers and friends.
Watching the sight, Sombra licked his lips, his body a cloud of mist, slowly approaching the Prince.
----------------------------------------------
"You know... We are not so different, You and I..." Sombra told the prince, the illusion changing once more, turning the image of the burning castle into the feast in the middle of the woods that the Prince created previously.
Blueblood was breathing heavily, his body was covered in sweat, glaring at Sombra from across the table.
"I too, was not always the king you see before you." Sombra spoke, picking up the cup of tea that sat before him, "You remember the Umbrum I spoke about, yes?"
"...Fuck you," Blueblood said as he breathed heavily, leaning back on his chair.
"I'll take that as a yes." Sombra smirked at the sight of the Prince, "The Umbrum, as you remember, were imprisoned beneath what would become the Crystal Empire, jailed for centuries before they hatched a plan." Sombra slid over a plate of fruit to the disheveled prince, "The Prison that held them only allowed Umbrum to exist inside while it was closed, and so they took a young Umbrum child and forced his body to undergo a transformation into a being that was not an Umbrum. The magic of the seal detected a being that was not an Umbrum inside the prison, and spit him out. A young Unicorn Foal. Into the cold and hard tundra outside." Sombra took a sip of his floral tea, a soft smile on his face.
"..." Blueblood stared at the King, waiting for him to continue.
"It was there, outside in the cold and freezing tundra, that I died," Sombra said simply, his eyes meeting the Prince's own, measuring his reaction.
"...Kill yourself," Blueblood told him.
Sombra rolled his eyes, "It was then, that she found me."
"Amore?"
"Oh? So you were paying attention after all~" Sombra smirked.
"Fuck off."
"Yes, it was Princess Amore." Sombra shuddered, it was as if the thought of her was enough to scare someone like him, "She looked down upon the corpse of a young unicorn, and said 'This is no place for a little unicorn to die'," Sombra took a deep breath as if he was trying to go through a traumatic experience, "And then I was dead no more." Sombra said, "It was then that I understood something about Princess Amore, something that I am sure only those who could see the skeletons in her closet could understand, something the populace ignored from their minds in their blissful harmony."
"Princess Amore could not tell a Lie," Sombra told him, his eyes meeting Blueblood's own as he tried to convey the seriousness of those words.
"As I told you before, Magic comes in many different shapes and forms, from the corrupting negativity of Dark Magic, to the Harmony of Unicorn Magic." Sombra continued, "Princess Amore was... to call her a pony would feel wrong... She was a being whose very core was so connected with Harmony as a concept, that she could only be described as the Perfect Being." Sombra kept going, "She did not hate, she loved everything, she did not lie, and every word she spoke was truth..."
"She was terrifying." Sombra whispered, "Her connection with Harmony was so strong, the very world changed to fit her description." He shuddered, "She said that it was no place for a little unicorn to die, and I was no longer dying. I once saw her tell a deer that was part of a visiting royal entourage that his coat did not look good on him, he was later found in one of the guest rooms dead, having ripped his own skin off, having written the words ugly and shame on the walls with his own blood...
Pure and Harmonic, she wields love to shrive clean the hearts of all... There is nothing more terrifying."
"I look past her horrific nature, out of my own hatred for the Umbrum who abandoned me, I looked the other way for too long. And then it was too late..." Sombra let out a shuddering breath, his eyes leaving the prince to look down at the cup of tea before him.
"I told you I did it for love. I was not lying when I said so."
Blueblood stared at the now Somber tyrant, waiting for him to continue.
"Her name was Radiant Hope, and she was the love of my life~" Sombra said wistfully, the tea in his hooves shimmering, revealing an image reflected on its surface.
Sombra's horn shone with a weak amber-colored aura, an illusion of the pony appearing for the prince to see.
It was a unicorn mare, her coat and mane glistening like crystals. Her coat was purple and her hair was a pale blue, her cutie mark was of caduceus, and her eyes...
"You remind me of her... Somewhat..." Sombra whispered as he stared into the illusion's eyes, seeing in them the same arctic blue as the prince's.
He let out a sigh, seeming to age ten years in a single second, "We loved each other... One day, she was invited to study in Canterlot... Starswirl the Bearded figured she would be a good example of a Princess..." Sombra's eyes did not leave the illusion, "She turned him down. Her fate, her destiny, a future she always dreamed of having, she turned it down just so she wouldn't need to leave me," He smiled weakly, a single tear rolling down his eye, transforming into a black crystal halfway down his face before dropping into his tea, turning the aromatic liquid into a murky brown sludge.
"It wasn't long after that she got sick, the doctors could not figure out what was wrong with her. Hope could cure almost any disease, she could fix any injury, and yet, as she lay in that hospital bed, she could not do anything." Sombra closed his eyes as he continued talking, the illusion fading away.
Blueblood stared at the King in silence, finding it hard to believe that the person who sat before him, who spoke of his life over a thousand years ago, was the same person he punched in the face repeatedly for twenty minutes just an hour earlier.
"And without options, I did the last thing I could think of to save my love." Sombra spoke with a shuddering breath, "I went to Princess Amore, and asked for help."
"Something went wrong, didn't it?" Blueblood quietly asked.
Sombra released a tired sigh, "When Princess Amore stood over the Hospital Bed, she spoke those horrible words..." he shuddered just remembering them, "'Radiant Hope is not Sick' she said, and as I turned to look at the bed, I expected to find her there, healthy as a horse, instead I found..."
"...She was dead?" Blueblood gently asked.
"...She was gone. There was no pony on that hospital bed." Sombra frowned as he remembered that event, "I turned to Amore, to ask what the meaning of this was, to know where my Radiant Hope went. And then she said those words... those five cursed words... 'There is no Radiant Hope'..." Sombra's body shook, his mane flowing in an invisible wind, the leaves on the trees around the illusory clearing shook and rustled.
"She took her from me!" Sombra slammed his hoof on the table, the teacup falling off the table to the ground below, "I swore that I will take her down, that no pony would have to see their loved one disappear from the world in front of their very eyes because of the words of a demon!" Sombra stood up from the chair, placing both front hooves on the table as he spoke louder, "I left the Empire and traveled to the Everfree forest, where I met with the deer who was in charge of the entourage that caused that grizzly sight."
"Gaia Everfree..." Blueblood noted, and Sombra nodded.
"She helped teach me about Harmony, about different forms of magic, about the history of the Crystal Empire itself, and there was another..." Sombra locked eyes with Blueblood, "A Prince of Platinum, just like you."
"Together," Sombra continued, his voice rising in volume until he was all but shouting, "We formed a plan to take down Amore! To save the people of the Empire from her vile power! And I succeeded! I avenged my Hope! And I was banished for it!" Sombra slammed his hooves on the table, breaking it in the process.
"Join me! Blueblood Platinum! And together, we could save this world!" Sombra raised a leg to point at the prince, the table splitting in two, parting the path between the two unicorns.
"..." Blueblood stared at the hoof outstretched to him.
"It was a Prince of Platinum that taught me dark magic," Sombra told him, "And now, I can teach the same to a Platinum of my own... Become my Student, Blueblood, and stand by my side."
Blueblood stood up from the chair he sat on and started slowly making his way across the forest clearing, through the path that formed with the breaking of the long wooden table.
"With your talent and my knowledge, no pony would ever be able to stand in our way." Sombra smiled as he watched Blueblood make his way, his hoof shaking slightly, inviting the prince to grab hold of it.
Blueblood stopped in front of Sombra, staring down at the outstretched hoof.
He took a deep breath as he looked up, staring into the brilliant scarlet eyes of the King of the Crystal Empire.
"..." Blueblood closed his eyes for a moment, "You know, Your story was heart-pounding, a real tragedy, and I'm sure there are many ponies who would love to take you up on this offer after hearing your story..."
"But I saw what you did once you took to the throne..." He continued, "There are no Unicorns or Pegasi in the Empire, the library of the castle is burnt, a quarter of the City is filled with empty houses and broken ruins, and you hid away the one thing keeping the subjects safe from the freezing tundra."
"So, In regards to your offer, all I have to say is this..." Blueblood took a deep breath as he watched Sombra's face twist into a scowl.
"Forcing the Alignment~"
------------------------------------------
Spike held the Crystal Heart close to himself as he started to climb down the towering spikes of dark crystals that sprouted along the castle's main spire, using them as improvised steps, moving as fast as he could to escape as the roof exploded with rapidly growing spires of sharp crystal.
Down below, Applejack and Rarity continued trying to manage the panicking crowd.
"Now don't y'all worry your pretty little crystal heads, the real Crystal Heart will be here any second!" Applejack told the crowd below as she and her friends stood on a balcony of the castle.
"I don't know if they believe you~" Rarity whispered to Applejack.
"I don't know if I believe me~"
-----------------------------------
"Sol~ Mercury~ Venus~"
Sombra roared with anger as he moved to punch Blueblood across the face, only to find that his body refused to move, his magic refused to listen to his command either.
"Terra~ Mars~ Asteroid~"
Sombra watched as the illusion he created was overtaken by the Prince's magic, the world tearing away like wallpaper, revealing the unending sea of stars in the night sky.
The Sunburned brightly behind him, its heat searing at his flesh.
"Why can't I move?!" Sombra yelled, feeling the skin on his back burn as the sun's rays roasted him.
Mercury and Venus appeared behind him, providing little protection from the scorching sun, the earth stood below him, far below him, as if he was floating in space far above the clouds, followed by the appearance of the red planet in front of him, and the ring of space rocks behind followed soon after.
--------------------------------------------
"I'm fine, Shining Armor..." Cadance told her husband, her eyes drooping to a near close as sleep threatened to take her.
"We can only keep her awake for another twenty minutes at most!" A Yak said loudly as she moved around the tired princess, "She'll be sleeping for a few days in a row after this, better get the IV bag ready."
-----------------------------------------
On the spire of the castle, Spike tried to avoid the dark crystals growing out of the walls all around him, threatening to spear him through and break the Heart.
"Hey! Up Here!" He called to his friends below, hoping one of them will notice before he slipped.
"Spike?!" Rarity asked in befuddlement as she looked up, joined by Applejack and Fluttershy, seeing the young dragon climb down the outside of the tower.
"I got the Crystal Heart!" Spike raised the relic above his head to show it to his friends.
---------------------------------------------
"Jupiter~ Saturn~ Uranus~"
Sombra roared, his magic trying to break him free of this false reality he was now stuck in, to no avail.
---------------------------------------------
Around the Empire, the dark crystals shook and sharpened, the speed of their growth increasing as their master ordered them to.
Spike ran down the crystals, his feet hurting from the many small scratches on his scales, and as the crystal he stood on suddenly shook with renewed vigor, Spike fell, letting go of the Crystal Heart in the process.
"Spikey Wikey!" Rarity screamed as she looked away.
Shining Armor watched the scene in silence before an idea popped into his head, one he knew his wife would despise, and so he readied himself to sleep in the metaphorical doghouse before he picked Cadance up on his back.
"Wait! She's not stable enough for this-" The Yak hoofmaiden tried to warn, only to quiet down as Prince Rutherford silently placed a hoof on her shoulder.
Cadance weakly opened her eyes, watching the glinting light of the Crystal Heart, shining like a beacon calling for her to grab it, and she opened her wings.
And as Spike's falling body plummeted closer to a towering spike of dark crystal, ready to impale the baby dragon, Shining Armor lifted his wife in his hooves, and threw her like a javelin.
---------------------------------------------
"Neptune~ Pluto~ Kuiper~"
Sombra glared hatefully at the Unicorn that stood before him, watching the mask and chains of gold around his body shatter and flake away to reveal his disheveled appearance, his left hind leg still bleeding from the crystal he was stabbed with, and his face looking like it wanted nothing more than to take a break.
"You know?" Blueblood asked the King, "Your illusion? It was fine illusion~" He smirked, repeating the King's words back to him, "Really shook me you know, but it was also your biggest mistake." Blueblood shook his head as he grinned, "Placing yours truly into an illusion and not limiting my usage of magic? Really, that's a mistake only a child would make, no true master of illusions would do so!"
Sombra planned on betraying him, even if he agreed to join forces, he would have betrayed him.
Just like that Prince of Platinum betrayed him all those years ago.
"This is a Spell born of a Broken Star~"
And as he stared at the smirk on the prince's face, he did not see Blueblood Platinum.
No, he saw that same exact smirk all those years ago as he watched his entire nation disappear outside of time, on the face of a being whose very core was born of lies.
And as he watched the magic form at the end of the solar system, Sombra prepared to scream his name in curse.
"PALE BLUE DOT"
And as the beam that destroyed the solar system raced toward him, all Sombra could do was curse the name.
"STYGIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!"
And the world was engulfed in burning gold.
---------------------------------------------
Sailing through the air, running on the last of her fumes, Princess Cadance caught Spike the Dragon and the Crystal Heart, feeling its magic rejuvenate her body as it started glowing with brilliant blue light.
"Behold! The Crystal Princess!" A pony down below yelled as they pointed at the Alicorn of Love as she flew down to land in front of the crowd.
Cadance breathed heavily, and Spike held on to her back as the heart levitated in her magic, "The Crystal Heart has returned." Cadance told the crowd around her, "Use the light and love within you to make sure that King Sombra does not!"
The Heart flew out of her magic, and levitated into the center of the Empire, as a pair of magical pillars emerged from the castle above it and the pavement below, holding the Heart in place.
All around the Empire, People bowed, some thankful that this tiring job they took on was finally over, others because the hope of their Empire had returned.
And as their light and love gathered in the Crystal Heart, it spun between the pillars, turning into a brilliant spinning top, as a wave of light emerged from the heart, disintegrating the many dark crystals that grew on the Empire, and gave all the creatures a crystalline makeover.
-------------------------------------------
Shining Armor smiled brightly as the dark crystal that grew on his horn disappeared, allowing him to once again use magic.
---------------------------------------------
Twilight Sparkle breathed a sigh of relief as the cage of dark crystals that surrounded her disintegrated from the wave of love, watching her coat and mane shimmer like gems, her hair having magically been styled differently thanks to the Crystal Heart's mystical powers.
----------------------------------------------------
All around the Crystal Empire, people cheered as their love lit up the world around them, banishing the darkness away.
--------------------------------------------
In Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia smiled as she watched an aurora of magical light emerge from beyond the mountains of the far north, clearing away the darkening clouds and spreading positivity even in her own kingdom.
---------------------------------------------
Prince Blueblood Platinum dropped his illusion, watching as the wave of positivty flung Sombra's horn far away, the only piece of his body that survived.
He ignored the crystalline hue of his body, or the fact that his mane was now slicked back, nor how the injury on his calf was healed over.
With a glow of his horn, a pack of cigarettes appeared in front of him, the prince silently took out a cigarette and placed it in his mouth, his horn firing a tiny beam of magic to light the stick before he teleported the pack away.
"Star light, Star Bright," He said out loud as he took a drag of his cigarette, the snow that covered the area he stood in was gone, and the prince now found himself in the midst of a field of vibrant green grass, "First Star I see tonight," He turned to look at the towering Crystal Castle in the distance, "I wish I may, I wish I might," He took the cigarette out of his mouth and let the smoke blow out of his mouth, "Have the wish I wish tonight..." he let out a tired sigh.
"Smoking is bad for you, you know?" He said out loud before turning his head to look beside him, smirking as he watched the air shimmer and waver, revealing the crystalline figure of his bodyguard.
"How long did you know I was there?" Starlight Glimmer asked, a paper bag of popcorn levitating beside her.
"Since Sombra tried to crush me with a giant crystal~" Blueblood shrugged as he levitated the cigarette in front of himself, "You want a smoke?"
"No thanks," Starlight told him with a soft smile, her mane styled in a braid thanks to the Crystal Heart's magic, "You know, this new hairstyle? You should keep it, it looks good on you, Slicked back and all that shows off more of your face."
"I'll consider it~" Blueblood shrugged as he put the cigarette back in his mouth, "Let's go back to the castle, I think there's a party going on."
"There probably is," Starlight smiled as she followed behind her best friend.
"Oh, and Starlight?"
"Yes, Blueblood?"
"Thanks for not interfering in my fight, I haven't felt this freeing since... The Everfree fiasco, I think."
"The Everfree Fiasco?" Starlight repeated in question.
"Eh, I'll tell you about it later~" Blueblood waved her off, "Anyway, I'm feeling a Sangria, you want some?"
"What's a Sangria?"
"Ohoho, I'm glad you asked!"
Starlight Glimmer smiled gently as she spent the rest of her walk back to the castle listening to her best friend explain to her the intricacies of making an alcoholic drink she never heard of before.
At least he was having fun.