//------------------------------//
// Chapter 21 
// Story: Hot Heads, Cold Hearts and Nerves of Steel 
// by Trinary 
//------------------------------//

Rainbow Dash picked herself up and looked around the room she had just tumbled into. At the other end of the room perched upon a large dais was an immense throne of black crystal. Upon it sat King Sombra. He looked impassively down at the Rainbow Dash, red pupils gleaming, and glowing with a menacing green. His armor glistened and blended in with his grey coat, and his black mane and tail writhing as though they had a life of their own.
 
“YOU!” Rainbow Dash was up off the ground in a flash and hurtled toward Sombra. The ghastly figure didn’t so much as twitch as Rainbow’s outstretched hoof reached forward and passed through his head, impacting hard against the throne. Rainbow yelped and pulled her hoof back, cradling it. “What the hay?” To her surprise, Sombra’s body flickered and shifted like black smoke. “…What are you?!”
 
The smoke circled around Rainbow Dash, enveloping her. Frantically she started beating her wings and lashing out with her forelegs, trying to dissipate it. Soon her vision blurred and all she could see was inky blackness as everything else fell away. She fought desperately for breath, only to find that she was not being suffocated.
 
Fighting down her momentary panic, she looked around. The blackness soon parted to reveal that she was in an entirely new place. Rainbow Dash found herself standing in another throne room, this one made of ancient, almost crumbling dark stone. Utterly lost, Rainbow started to look around. The walls were drab and the view from the few windows was equally bleak. The entire city seemed to be made of darkened, decrepit stone spires and towers. If a dragon burned the place down, all it would do would make the place look better.
 
Rainbow Dash almost missed the lone mirror hanging on the wall, coated as it was with dust and cobwebs. She reached out a hoof…only to stare in horror as she realized that it wasn’t hers. Instead of cyan blue fur, it was coated with a dark, ugly, gray color and the hoof was covered by some sort of royal-looking shoe. Like what Celestia wore, only drab and gray like everything else around here.
 
Frantically, Rainbow started scrubbing the dirt and grime off the mirror. When she was finished, she took a step back and gaped at the view in horror. Staring back at her was a handsome, dark gray coated unicorn with a pitch black mane and tail. It was, Rainbow realized with a start, a younger less-smoky version of Sombra.
 
“What the feathering buck?!” Rainbow shouted right before her hoof smashed into the mirror, shattering it and sending broken shards of glasses to the floor. As if seeing herself as Sombra were the trigger, Rainbow found her head suddenly being filled with thoughts that weren’t her own. She somehow knew things…like she was in Tambelon and she was its ruler. No, Sombra ruled Tambelon. Why did she think that she…?
 
Rainbow groaned, holding her head with her hooves…or, whoever’s hooves she was borrowing. It was so confusing. It was like being hungover and then having to listen to Twilight’s last lecture on Magical Trans-whatchamacallit. Mortification? Modification? Why was it so hard to think?! She could only guess that Sombra’s smoke had seeped into her head and was messing with her or something. The stuff she was seeing and feeling had to be coming from him.
 
Alien thoughts and feelings filled her head. And they were unpleasant: feelings of vanity, supreme arrogance, a casual bigotry for non-unicorns and those not of her—Sombra’s!—class and an utter disdain for anypony else. It was petty, snotty, vain and incredibly against all things cool.
 
Rainbow briefly thought of some of the more obnoxious Canterlot aristocrats she’d known, like Prince Blueblood, then shook her head. Blueblood might be a royal pain and full of himself, but at least Blueblood wasn’t this puffed up or bigoted. She wanted to gag, filled with utter loathing. Dash felt unclean simply having these thoughts in her head, regardless of whether they came from her or from Sombra.
 
If Sombra was trying to tell Rainbow Dash something about himself, it didn’t seem like he was trying to paint a pretty picture of himself. Seriously, how could someone this snooty and hoity-toity ever become a menace to anyone beyond his servants?
 
As if in answer, the scene before Rainbow Dash vanished. She now found herself standing by an altar, in the middle of a wedding ceremony! Next to her was a lovely crystal pony mare with a cream colored coat and a pink mane. Rainbow knew—without quite knowing how she knew—that this was the ruler of the crystal ponies. She—dangit, Sombra!—was marrying her largely for political reasons. The crystal ponies’ expertise with crystals and gems would refurbish and enrich the dilapidated city of Tambelon and give it a new lease on life. Glancing through the window outside, showed that the process was already well under way. The Crystal Empire was starting to take shape; replacing the thin, dark, wicked-looking stone towers of Tambelon with beautiful spires and houses of bright, multicolored crystals.
 
The crystal princess smiled and leaned in, her lips drawing closer to her own. Rainbow’s mind let out a shriek as she found her body—was she in Sombra’s body or was he in her head? Graah!—leaning in to kiss her. The fact that the crystal princess looked a lot like Cadance did NOT help! Rainbow’s mind railed. Lemme out of here, lemme out of here, lemme--
 
There was another flash and a change of scene. Dash winced, hoping it wasn’t about to drop her in on the honeymoon. But no, Rainbow found herself staring through a window. The princess, looking disheveled and exhausted, held a tiny infant close to her, clearly having just given birth. Rainbow felt a twinge of pride from Sombra and, to her surprise, even affection for his wife and daughter. How did he go from this to becoming the dark king of the north?
 
Again, the answer revealed itself to her. She, or rather, Sombra, sat idly flipping through a book. A spark of interest flared through her as she read a second called ‘On Crystals and Power Amplification.’ Ambition surged through her as Sombra began beckoning servants over, demanding them to summon the most knowledgeable unicorn sorcerers and crystal pony experts to the castle.
 
A series of flashes showed Sombra—no, they showed Rainbow Dash, or was she Sombra?—and several crystal ponies slaving over books and potions, over forges and spells. Soon whatever they were doing was completed and she held aloft his prize. What they had wrought was a small red gem affixed to a triangular bit of dark gray metal, topped with a pair of gray and red wings and a stylized unicorn’s head. Rainbow Dash instantly was flooded with knowledge of what this was: the Alicorn Amulet. With this, she would know power beyond that of any unicorn since King Platinum and the Six High Princesses gave up their power to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. With this…she could be a king.
 
Rainbow grit her teeth. No, Sombra would be king! This was Sombra’s doing; these were his memories! But she was seeing everything from his point of view. She felt like she was drowning in it—and it only grew worse after he started wearing the Alicorn Amulet. Bitterness and anger started to grow within him, marked by a pronounced cruelty and lust for power.
 
The next few memories reflected that. Rainbow Dash found herself challenging other, more effete, unicorn nobles to magic duels … only to use the power of the Amulet to utterly flatten them. She watched with growing horror as Sombra went from victory to victory, at first merely gloating over his victories … to using increasingly cruel and powerful magic to injure and torment his opponents, finding newer and more horrible ways to fight. No matter how much Rainbow wanted it to stop she could do nothing but watch. It felt like she was the one doing all these terrible things.
 
But that wasn’t enough. Dash felt Sombra begin to tire of these petty cruelties and his mind turned to the greater workings of magic and power. Slowly, the power of the Alicorn Amulet caused him to feel ever more remote and distant from the concerns, morals and limitations of lesser ponies. Rainbow saw him bully, bribe or trick other nobles into lining up behind him, claiming that he sought to restore the old unicorn monarchy. But she felt Sombra’s disdain for them even as he used them to achieve his own ends. The plots and concerns of nobles and aristocrats felt too small for her. Why forge a dynasty, when godhood lay in her reach?
 
Dangit! She meant Sombra’s reach! She was about to scream when she found herself distracted by a new shift in scenes. She was in a brightly colored room, a nursery she guessed by the stuffed toys and crib. A quick look out the window confirmed that they were still in the Crystal Empire, located in one of the upper rooms of the castle.
 
Then she saw Sombra’s wife, the princess of the crystal ponies. She walked by the crib where her infant daughter slept, her smile benevolent and kind. With her cream and pink coloring she looked so much like Cadance. But whatever affection she once felt for her wife and child was now gone. They were merely pawns to be used. And now, one of them had outlived their usefulness. They were a loose end that needed tying up.
 
Rainbow appeared in the doorway, her eyes radiating malice and grinning wickedly. Silent as a ghost, she followed her wife outside onto the balcony. Creeping up behind her, she suddenly grabbed her with magic and threw her off the tower!
 
Dash’s eyes shot open! “NO!” She called out in her own voice. Shaking her head, she bonked it against the wall. “Get! Out!” Not feeling anything from Somba, Rainbow raced forward and dived off the tower, her wings snapping open. She darted down, hooves outstretched as she tried to grab hold of the falling pony. “C’mon … closer … closer—” 

Just when she was within reach, Rainbow grabbed at the princess—only to barely miss! For Rainbow Dash, the pony who lived for speed, the fastest pony alive, everything seemed to crawl by at a snail’s pace. The princess’ wide, panic-stricken eyes seemed to meet hers. Seeing their softness, their gentle violet color—Rainbow was reminded so much of… 

“Cadance! NO!”
 
The princess fell. There wasn’t enough time to catch her or to pull up and save herself. Cursing herself for her weakness, Rainbow Dash closed her eyes a second before the impact. The next thing she knew, she was standing back at the top of the tower, looking down at Sombra’s hoofwork. His presence was back in full flower, icy cold and satisfied at his work.
 
Rainbow shivered. She felt a transformation had taken place. From a vain, callow princeling, Sombra had turned into a monster. She couldn’t stand to have him in her head—or vice versa—for an instant longer. Get OUT! She shrieked, not knowing if she was thinking it or saying it aloud. She didn’t care either way.
 
She felt sick to her core. This … this thing, this monster, had just tossed his own wife out the window like so much garbage. The look on her face as she fell--Dash knew she wouldn’t be able to get that image out of her mind for a long time. The look of horror, of dread, of--of betrayal. That’s what it was.

Dash couldn’t wrap her mind around it. How could anypony just, turn on somepony they cared about? Not just that, but his own wife and the mother of his child for pony’s sake! It was completely alien to her. She thought back briefly to when Nightmare Moon had thrown her friends off the edge of the ruined palace in the Everfree, taunting Rainbow to choose which of her friends she would save and which she would let hit the ground. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t abandon any of them. But not only had Sombra abandoned her, he freaking pushed his wife over the edge!
 
She started to feel his thoughts intrude in on hers again as she felt his own smugness, his rationales and thoughts about what he had just done. Murderer! she screamed inside her head, trying to keep her consciousness separate from his. She didn’t even want to be in the same city as this guy, much less have him in her head and using her body to re-enact his life story!

Reality shifted again as Rainbow Dash found herself, as Sombra, kneeling before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. “We are most sorry to hear of the tragic passing of Princess Glisten.” Celestia spoke regally, but gently. “Know that you have our deepest sympathies, for you and your young daughter. If there is anything that can be done, you have but to ask.”
 
“Your Highness is most gracious.” Rainbow bowed low, speaking in a voice that wasn’t her own. She wanted to tell Celestia, warn her, ask her for help--but this had all already happened. She couldn’t change anything. “I would ask that I and my daughter be allowed to remain awhile in Canterlot. I feel I cannot return to my kingdom just yet. The pain … is simply too great.”
 
“Of course.” Celestia nodded. “As long as you are with us, you and your daughter will be shown every courtesy. We hope that in some small way, we may help to heal thy broken heart.”
 
Rainbow Dash felt the smirk that crossed her/Sombra’s face as she replied. “I have every confidence that my stay here will be most … rewarding.” The young pegasus wanted for nothing more than to get Sombra out of her so she could plant her hoof up his smoky plot.
 
Reality cut away again. Some time had passed as Rainbow saw Sombra’s filly—Cadance’s ancestor—was happily running through the Palace gardens, chasing a butterfly. Slowly following behind her was king gruesome himself and Princess Celestia.
 
“You have a most magnificent garden.” Sombra complemented while not even looking at the garden.
 
Celestia smiled and dipped her head. “Thank you. It pleases us to see your daughter enjoying it so. We had feared—I had feared that the death of her mother would have been too much for one as young as her to bear.”
 
Rainbow felt Sombra’s taking note of Celestia dropping her use of the royal ‘we.’ He took it as a sign that his attempts to win her over were succeeding. “She is young … and children are often more resilient than given credit for.” Rainbow said in Sombra’s voice, her eyes sliding over to Celestia. “With your love for foals, and your obvious skill with them, I must admit some surprise that you have not started a family of your own.” Internally, Dash was gagging. She was hitting on Princess Celestia! Ewww!!

“I like to think that all of ponykind is my family, and every foal my child.” While majorly corny and extremely sappy, from Rainbow Dash’s view, she knew that Celestia meant every word of it. But from Sombra, Rainbow only felt disgust. Recovering quickly, he tossed out, via Rainbow, another attempt. “A noble sentiment but, if you do not mind my saying, spoken by one who has not yet experienced the joys of parenthood.”
 
What a load of horseapples, Rainbow fumed. If Sombra’s little trip down memory lane had been evidence of anything, it is that he didn’t give a rusty horseshoe about anypony but himself. Whatever part of him had cared for others had died a long time ago. “It is a pity that I doubt my daughter will recall her mother in coming years. No child should be without a mother.”
 
Of all the--! What was that word her grandmother liked to use? Oh yeah, chutzpah. Rainbow would’ve traded everything she owned for one chance to get her hooves around Sombra’s smug, lying, murderous throat…especially once he wasn’t using her throat to say this horseapples!
 
Sombra dipped his head to Celestia. “I can think of nopony better suited—or more deserving—of motherhood than you.”

“You flatter me,” Celestia said diplomatically. “But ponies—above all parents—cannot be swapped around and replaced with the ease of filling a vacant position. It is a tragedy that Princess Glisten cannot be there for Resonata. If you should fall in love again then it is my hope that your daughter and bride would form a bond of love suitable for mother and child. I wish you success in locating a pony you truly care for … and not simply seek out another mare out of the desire to fill the role of mother to Resonata – or any other role you may have in mind.” Celestia dipped her head politely and walked ahead, shepherding Sombra’s daughter off to some other part of the gardens.
 
As soon as the Princess was out of sight, Sombra grit his teeth together in frustration. Dash felt nothing but happiness at the turn of events. Hah! I knew Celestia would never go for a butt-ugly creep like you. Loser.
 
She felt Sombra’s unhappiness at Celestia’s stubbornness—by which he meant her taste and her ability to spot a fake from a mile off. But Rainbow felt Sombra’s mind shift gears, away from Princess Celestia…and to Princess Luna. Oh you evil son of a— Rainbow started to swear when time seemed to lurch ahead again. It was night and she was standing on a balcony overlooking the castle grounds. Princess Luna stood as she looked sadly out at the darkened lights of the dwellings near the palace.

 It didn’t take much to see the Princess’ obvious depression and loneliness. It was practically palpable. And Rainbow Dash wasn’t the only one who noticed.
 
“Princess Luna?” Sombra bowed as he walked out onto the balcony. After waiting for the Princess of the Night to turn to him, he went on. “Forgive me, I did not wish to intrude. I’ll just leave you…alone.” He made as if to start to walk away, albeit very slowly.
 
Luna flinched. “Nay, wait. I would welcome some company just now.”
 
“As you wish, Your Highness.” Sombra dipped his head politely as he joined her on the balcony. “A truly marvelous evening.”
 
“We are pleased that you noticed.” A tiny smile crossed Luna’s muzzle.
 
“Indeed, such a pity that so few truly take the time to appreciate it, don’t you agree?” Sombra asked, not quite rhetorically. “So many spend their time basking in the radiant if somewhat garish sunlight of your sister, that they often overlook your supple, subtle, starlight and moonlight.” Okay, so now Rainbow was hitting on the former (or was that future?) freaking Nightmare Moon with Sombra calling the shots. There was not enough industrial grade brain bleach in the world to make herself feel clean again.
 
But she could tell that Luna was caught off guard by the all-too rare compliment. She seemed furtive, unsure of herself. Rainbow felt Sombra’s sinister confidence, like a predator moving in for the kill.
 
Luna smiled weakly. “We are grateful for your appreciation, at least.” 
 
“Many are the wonders and treasures of the night,” Sombra agreed before leaning in to gently whisper in her ear. “But none so great as its Princess, I think.”  Luna’s eyes snapped open as she reared herself up.
 
“Y-you forget yourself!” Luna tried to sound authoritative but her blush betrayed her.
 
Rainbow felt Sombra’s satisfaction at how easily he could fluster and manipulate Luna. “My extreme apologies, Princess.” Sombra bowed low. “Please, allow me to make it up to you…”
 
Dash groaned to herself where nopony could hear it as Sombra treated Luna to dinners, nights under the stars and appeared at royal events as her companion.
 
As intelligent and wise as Luna was, Sombra was cunning and manipulate enough to know which buttons to push to make her sadness and isolation (apparent even back then) all the more overwhelming. Every compliment to her work was framed to emphasize how few ponies cared for or appreciated it. Every whisper about her beauty contained a backhoofed remark about how everypony loved her sister more…and that only he, Sombra, put her first. Every heaping of praise upon the work of the Royal Sisters highlighted a supposed imbalance of power between Celestia and Luna. It was insidious.
 
Rainbow Dash knew she was not what you’d call the most emotionally aware of ponies. She knew ponies considered her impulsive and inconsiderate--and she was, a lot of the time. But even she could tell that she was watching something horrible being born: she was seeing the seeds of Nightmare Moon being, if not planted, then at least being nurtured.
 
The brash pegasus felt sick and deeply bothered. She had seen Sombra go from a shallow, self-absorbed egotist to a monster of hate and rage, and was watching Luna go from a sad, lonely pony into a bitter mare of darkness. Rainbow shivered. If it could happen to them, could it happen to Princess Celestia? Her friends? Or even, her too?
 
There was a reason Rainbow Dash wasn’t fond of introspective moments: spending too much time examining who you are prevents you from moving forward, which is what Rainbow was all about. To her, overthinking was equivalent to paralysis. And right now, she felt like she couldn’t get this crud out of her head so she could think about how to stop Sombra.
 
Instead, she just watched helplessly as Sombra manipulated the younger royal sister. Princess Luna, not quite as wise as her sister and feeling oh so lonely...was all too eager to find company in the comfort of a pony who claimed to love her and her night and that nopony else did. Rainbow Dash looked on in horror and disgust as Sombra began accompanying Luna everywhere. They were always in public together, chatting and laughing. Sombra and Luna were pretty much attached at the hip.
 
Luna cherished Sombra’s companionship, overlooked as she was by those who would sooner look to her sister. The time he spent with her was very rewarding. Information, knowledge, magics, and power beyond reckoning, the very secrets of the alicorns, all these Luna shared with Sombra, freely.
 
And Sombra, in turn, whispered ideas in Luna’s ear, about how things would be different if Luna was afforded the power and love given to Celestia. But all this did not go unnoticed. Some time a few months after Sombra first started working over Luna, he stepped outside only to find himself confronted by Celestia.
 
“Ah, Princess Celestia!” Rainbow bowed low. “Might I be of service?”
   
“You may.” Celestia frowned. Rainbow Dash recognized that look. The last time she’d seen it she’d gotten a two hour lecture about how telling the royal guards that the princess was under attack and having them burst in on her when she was in the shower was not funny. Only this look was even more serious. Celestia’s nostrils trembled. “Stay away from my sister.”

Sombra pretended to look confused. “Majesty?”
 
“You heard me.” Celestia tossed her head. “Get thyself gone from my castle and my city. And do not talk to my sister again.”
 
Rainbow drew herself up. “I would think that would be Princess Luna’s decision. After all, she is co-ruler of Equestria, equal to you … is she not?”
 
Celestia flared her wings out. “Do not attempt to dissemble with me. I’m aware of your attempts to turn my sister against me.”
 
“I am merely awakening her to certain … inequities in your rule.” Against her will, Rainbow found herself smirking.
 
“I will not bandy words with a traitor and tyrant.” She narrowed her eyes. “You have delved into dark magic and engage in acts of unspeakable cruelty and treason. I give you this one chance to leave Canterlot and mend your ways. Otherwise…”
 
Rainbow threw back her head and laughed. “Your threats do not frighten me.” Her hoof reached up to tap the amulet clasped at her throat. “I am now the most powerful equine in the world! And you—you have seen your last sunrise.” A cruel grin crossed Rainbow’s face as Sombra spoke through her.
 
Celestia’s face was unperturbed. “So be it. One shall stand, one shall fall.” Celestia raised her head high and took a stance. She was as Rainbow Dash had never seen her before, great and terrible in her splendor and power.
 
“So be it! You must tire of life, to throw it away so recklessly.” Sombra’s voice spat back.
 
“I would say the same to you, Sombra.” Celestia’s voice was steady, unphased by Sombra’s threats.
 
“Foolish old nag. With my new powers I shall crush you beneath my hoof!” Despite not having a horn of her own, Rainbow still felt a tingle as Sombra charged his up. She struck first, with a powerful bolt of sickly green magic lancing out at Celestia. The princess batted it away effortlessly with her wing before retaliating with a golden beam that knocked Rainbow off her hooves.
 
But Rainbow rallied quickly, scrambling back up. Instead of another direct attack, she allowed Sombra’s magic to flow through her entire body. She rushed Celestia, shoulder-checking her through the wall.
 
Rainbow felt a rush of adrenaline and a flash of pride … quickly overwhelmed by a sudden sense of horror and dread. She was fighting Princess Celestia! And she was liking it! Or Sombra was making her like it—or was she just feeling Sombra liking it or—Graah! Get out of my head!
 
Princess Celestia was not down long. She burst through the wall and, grabbing Rainbow around the barrel, took them both through the outer wall and into the palace courtyard. Rainbow guessed that Celestia wanted to make sure that there wouldn’t be any innocent bystanders. Of course, that thought came a while after Dash’s more immediate thought of Oh buck, this is gonna hurt…she closed her eyes as she got intimate with the ground. AAAGH! That one hurt! She screamed in her head. No, nonono think about something else. Your memories not his! Dash found herself thinking of the time Princess Celestia tried taking her to the opera … actually, she found herself briefly thinking that getting slammed into the ground was less painful. Seriously, what was the attraction of fat ponies in brass undergarments singing about rivers while the orchestra tried to drown them out—sadly not in said river.
 
Still, Rainbow did manage to distract herself momentarily from the remembered pain Sombra and his flat-out disturbing thoughts about just what he would do to Celestia as revenge. He got up as if being hurled through a solid stone wall and plummeting fifty feet down into the crash ground was an everyday occurrence. Celestia was also back on her hooves and they were both ready for round two.
 
Sombra unleashed all sorts of dark and fell magicks against Celestia: spells to boil her blood, drain her magic, to drain all the water from her body, to age her into a withered old crone, and things even more horrible. But, Rainbow realized with glee and Sombra with dismay, that there was no spell in his arsenal that was a match for an alicorn in battle.
 
That was when Rainbow—SOMBRA!—switched up tactics. She reared up on her hindlegs and tossed her head back. It was an archaic challenge between two unicorns—horn fighting. She charged forward and met Celestia’s horn with a resounding CLACK!
Horn fencing or jousting was a dying art. Or, that’s what Shining Armor had told Rainbow Dash when she found him fighting a training dummy with a plunger for a horn—something she had teased him about, before affixing the plunger to his rump with superglue right before he was due to go on duty.
 
But that was (is?) a long time from now. Horn fencing was still alive and Sombra and Celestia were masters of it. Both their horns were radiating with power, sending sizzling sparks in all directions with every impact. As odd as it was for Rainbow to be acting out Sombra’s memories—including fighting her own mentor!—she was now fighting with a body part she didn’t even have, which upped the scale on her weird-o-meter a couple of points.
 
Rainbow felt more than saw her eyes flash with energy as the Alicorn Amulet grew brighter and brighter. She lashed out with her hooves, nearly clipping Celestia’s eye. It almost immediately began to bruise and Sombra pressed the advantage. While she couldn’t kill Celestia with a single spell, she could wrack up quite a bit of damage through concussive blasts of energy and magic. Technically cheating for a horn fencing duel but … who cares?
 
Soon the white of Celestia’s coat was broken up by patches of singed fur and bruised flesh. A trickle of blood ran down from a cut above her right eye, forcing her to close it. But Rainbow found that Sombra was not having such an easy time of it himself. Those long, elegantly thin legs of Celestia could actually pack quite a wallop!
 
Rainbow winced as one blow connected, sending her flying—without use of wings—across the courtyard, digging a furrow in the dirt when she landed. “Wench, I'll use your horn as a tooth pick!” Dash roared as her mag-his magic built up to attack. Grunting, she got back up and retaliated with a barrage of blasts from her horn. Celestia responded with her own attacks and soon the entire courtyard was ablaze with green and golden blasts of energy.
 
Dust and smoke rose from the impacts, obscuring much of the courtyard. Sombra looked around, trying to spot Celestia after she stopped firing. It was all but impossible to spot her. Rainbow felt her head turn just in time to see Celestia’s pure swan white wings gracefully cut a swath through the smoke and charged at her. The Alicorn Amulet aided Sombra in a magic duel, but he forgot that there was more to Princess Celestia than a long horn and fancy magic. Sombra reared, trying to ward her off with his flailing hooves just as Celestia spun around and bucked with her hindlegs.

"ARRRGH!" Dash roared as the royal hooves came in contact with her—SOMBRA’S! (damn this was weird!)—family jewels. Sombra cringed in agony and, memory or no, Rainbow winced breathlessly in pain. Quickly Celestia struck out again taking the wanna-be King's legs out from under him. As she rolled over, Celestia slapped Sombra’s muzzle sharply with her wings.
 
"A lucky shot," Sombra wheezed as he got back up, still cringing slightly. From the corner of her own mind that was watching Sombra act this out with her body, Rainbow snorted contemptuously. Lucky her flank. That was Krav Pega. Cloud Kicker called that move the "Date Ender." Ohmygosh OhmyGosh! Rainbow’s mind raced. The Princess could fight hoof to hoof! The pain felt real, but Dash still swelled with pride for Celestia. Sombra backed off enough to catch his breath. Dash felt none of Sombra's pain, or his rage that moment. Just pride in her Princess.
 
Sombra twisted Rainbow’s mouth into a sneer as he spat in the dirt. “Witch! You fight like a mud-pony instead of a goddess!” The twinge between his (her?) haunches made his voice seem hollow. “Some clever tricks shall not save you!”
 
“On the contrary,” Celestia retorted. “My instructor would be … ashamed,” she gasped “Had that landed properly you would not be retreating,” she growled. “Though if the world is kind, you will have no further heirs for a while.”
 
Was … was that trash talk?! Dash's mind reeled in shock. Celestia—Princess Celestia?!—was trash talking in a hoof fight?! Dash tried to commit this to memory, intending to bring it up later. She had never been prouder of her teacher.
 
Sombra didn’t let his rather embarrassing dispatching slow him for long as the fight was rejoined. When Dash could spare a minute to wonder where the heck the guards were, she noticed the golden shield that kept the courtyard—and the still battling Sombra and Celestia—cordoned off. She guessed Celestia didn’t want any innocent bystanders, even though keeping up a shield spell of that size and strength was undoubtedly drawing her attention and energy away from her own personal defense against Sombra. That was Celestia to a ‘t,’ protecting others at the expense of her own safety.
 
So of course, Sombra tried to take advantage of that. He unleashed several bolts of magic against the shield, forcing Celestia to focus and reinforce it. Then when she was distracted, he attacked Celestia directly.
 
But despite all his augmented power, despite all his dirty tricks and cheap shots, he was losing. Rainbow Dash could feel his fear and desperation as it finally dawned on him that no amulet, no matter how much it increased his strength, could change the fact that he was a unicorn, but Princess Celestia was an alicorn.
 
Sombra had blundered, and blundered badly. He began to realize that he wasn’t going to walk away from this, not unless he dramatically changed the rules of this engagement. Fortunately, he spied a blur out of the corner of his eye that gave him the opportunity to do just that.
 
Falling to her knees, Rainbow prostrated herself before Celestia. “I beg your forgiveness! Please, whatever it is I have done to upset your majesty, please give me pardon! I beg of you!”
 
Celestia wasn’t buying it. “The time for supplication and false apologies has passed.” She lowered her head, her horn glowing. “Sombra of Tambelon, I hearby—”
 
“NO!” The princess was surprised when she found herself tackled and restrained by her own sister. “Don’t hurt him!”
 
“Luna?!” Celestia struggled to stay upright and to free herself. “What are you doing?!”

“Sister, please! I love him!” Luna begged, throwing up her wings to block Sombra from Celestia’s view.
 
If looks could kill, Sombra would have been struck dead, buried, dug up, resurrected, had his face flattened into mush, had the mush set on fire and then buried again. Celestia snorted, her rainbow-tinted mane flickering until it looked like a flame. “He does not love you Luna—he is merely using you so he can seize the throne for himself!”
 
“That’s not true!” Luna protested heatedly.
 
Celestia tried rearing up to look over Luna’s head to keep an eye on Sombra, but Luna wouldn’t let her. “He uses dark magic and has entered into pacts with windigos! He murdered his own wife!”
 
“NEIGH!” Luna protested hoarsely. “Y-you are merely jealous that for once somepony loves me instead of fawning over you!”
 
“Sister, I have never lied to you before—listen to me now! He’s—” Whatever she was about to say was lost as a blast from Sombra’s horn slid underneath Luna’s wing and grazed her side as it went on to strike Celestia’s dead-on in the chest.
 
Luna looked down it horror at the smoke rising from the blackened, charred hole in her sister’s chest, burnt flesh visible beneath. Celestia opened her mouth but no sound came out. She tried to say something to Luna but the words would not form. She sank to her knees and then toppled over on her side.
 
“TIA!” Luna cried, throwing her hooves around her sister’s neck and lifting up her head. Rainbow felt horror burning inside her. It was if a sudden icy chill had worked its way up her spine and into her mind. She screamed and railed inside the confines of her own head, even as she knew that she could do nothing.
 
Sombra walked over and gently put a hoof on Luna’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry, my dearest Luna…” he whispered softly. “She gave me no choice. Her bitterness and jealousy towards what we shared was twisting her mind.” He nuzzled Luna’s mane. “But now we can be together…we can—” A sharp sudden smack to the face had never felt so good to Rainbow Dash as it did just then. Sombra’s mind raged as his (borrowed) head snapped back at the force of Luna’s blow.
 
“WRETCH!” Luna bellowed, her eyes glowing white.
 
“… I tried.” Sombra shrugged before quickly building up a magical charge in his horn and using it to blast Luna away before she could react. Luna ended up sprawled on the ground several feet away. After that, he didn’t spare her another second’s thought. Instead he made his way over to Celestia, who was feebly attempting to make her way over to her sister. Rainbow could only seethe as Sombra kicked Celestia’s side. “I have waited a long time for this … it’s over Celestia.”
 
The fallen ruler strained and struggled to lift her head up so she could look Sombra in the eye. “Hrrn...hn…” She panted as she began to focus, her long horn flickering as she attempted to summon her magic. Sombra sneered arrogantly—only to pale when Celestia’s horn began to glow a solid, shiny gold that only grew brighter and brighter until it became like a miniature sun. A prickling along the back of his neck alerted to him to a simultaneous build up from Luna’s own horn.
 
“—NEVER!” Celestia cried as her magic lanced out her horn and struck Sombra dead-on as Luna struck him from behind. Sombra and Rainbow screamed as one as the magics merged. She felt what he had felt a thousand years ago: his entire body shifting and distorting as he felt himself being pulled apart, molecule by molecule and being squeezed through dimensions to another place, a Realm of Darkness.
 
The memory cut out sharply and Rainbow Dash gasped, falling to crystalline floor back in Sombra’s throne room. Her face was beaded with cold sweat as she tried to push Sombra’s memories and lingering thoughts out of her mind.
 
She felt Sombra being pulled out of this reality and dragging the Crystal Empire and its ponies along with him, drawing what sustenance that he could from them in order to stay alive, after a fashion. If it wasn’t for the Alicorn Amulet and its connection to the Crystal Empire, Sombra would not have survived at all. As it is, he lingered on as a shade … barely alive.
 
But even from his new place, Dash could feel him still watching developments in Equestria with satisfaction. Even if he had failed to topple Celestia or co-opt Luna, he still succeeded in driving a wedge between the royal sisters and tainting the populace's view of Luna, who had been seen in Sombra's presence often enough before his downfall for the two to be linked in the public’s mind. And Luna felt more alone than ever...leading her down the road to becoming Nightmare Moon The glee he felt at Luna’s fall and transformation into Nightmare Moon, thanks in part to his own machinations, was palpable.
 
How he eagerly awaited her return a thousand years later so that she could take care of Princess Celestia for him. The spell keeping Sombra trapped in the Realm of Darkness weakened when Celestia had been forced to merge herself with the sun when the Nightmare returned. Then, once Nightmare Moon had weakened herself in the process, Sombra would return from his exile and dispatch her. Then Rainbow Dash felt his frustration when that plan was thwarted—by Rainbow herself and her friends.
 
On top of everything else, she knew what he was doing. All of it. How he had lost a thousand years to the Realm of Darkness, leaving him as the parasitic shade that she had seen (and experienced) for herself. Having lost a thousand years, he would need a thousand years back to merely restore himself to his former strength. The crystal ponies were already his thralls and were unusable, so that’s why he took the foals. He was going to take a decade from each of the hundred or so foals to restore him to his former strength and life.
 
Then, once the foals were at their prime, he would steal not their youth, but their very life essence. Sombra had learned from his past failure: an amulet does not make a unicorn a match for an alicorn. And he heeded the old wisdom, if you can’t beat them, join them.
 
Cutie Marks were a reflection of a pony’s soul, their destiny. Destiny is a powerful force. But there are other forces, even more powerful. Ponies without Cutie Marks are full of limitless potential energy—the potential to be anything, do anything. By draining the essence of such ponies, Sombra would acquire that same limitless, untapped potential energy. And as for the foals who did have cutie marks, Sombra would end up acquiring those talents and abilities for himself. Either way, he’d gain. And age-advanced foals would have the unique attributes of being without Cutie Marks while still being in their physical prime.
 
He would drain them until there was nothing left of them…and Sombra would become an alicorn. Rainbow snarled as she climbed to her hooves and glared at the vile king. “So why show me all of this? So I’ll be so scared of an ancient fart like you that I’ll just give up and let you get away with this? Dream on!”

Dead silence greeted her, the only sound she heard was her own panting for breath. She started to wonder if King Sombra could even talk at all when a grinding noise from above stole her attention. A large obelisk of crystal descended from the ceiling, halting about half way between the floor and the roof. Sombra’s curved, red-stained horn began to glow as the crystal pulsed with magic energy. That’s when it hit Rainbow Dash. This was why he had taken the time to show her everything. 

It had already begun … and there wasn’t anything Rainbow Dash could do to stop it.