The following morning the light awoke Sombra. He woke up wondering if the conquest was just a dream or if it was reality. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes to find himself in the royal sleeping chambers of his dark tower. It was then he realized that his conquest was indeed reality. He got out of bed and headed out to the balcony to see what was going on.
The sky was a putrid brown, the crystal ponies were hiding in their houses and all the crystals had turned black. Sombra said to himself, "Oh how beautiful victory is!"
Chrysalis walked up to his side and said, "Yes, victory is beautiful. This was a team effort. Neither side could have done it without the other."
Sombra naturally realized this and told her that without her and her changeling army, that this would not have happened. Sombra felt a growl within him and said to Chrysalis, "As much as I love admiring the beautiful scenery, I am hungry, let's have some breakfast."
Chrysalis nodded and said, "Yes, let's do. I am hungry as well but I believe that our armies need to join us. Without them, this would have never happened.."
Sombra agreed with the queen. They proceeded to round up their armies and took them to the dining hall. There they had a massive breakfast which consisted of eggs, bacon, toast, sausage, toast, oats and wheat. "To our leaders, King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis!" shouted General Dark Night
"Here here! To our leaders!" shouted their soldiers
For the first time in her entire life, Chrysalis blushed in amazement as both armies were honoring her. She had never even been fully honored by her own army, much less any other army.
"Wow," said a flattered Chrysalis "I have never been honored like that before. Sombra, how does it feel when your soldiers honor you like that?" asked Chrysalis
King Sombra looked stunned that she had never been honored that way before. He then said, "Well, I don't know. This is the first time I have ever been honored by my soldiers as well. Well this is the first conquest we have ever done, so naturally there has never been any reason for them to do so."
After breakfast Sombra asked what her plans were, Chrysalis replied, "Well we really need to return home to our realm to rest and I know that we will need more changelings than just 100 to launch our next attack."
"You're right, and also it will be far easier to get to Ponyville from the south than it is from the north. You will be far less likely to be spotted that way." said King Sombra
Chrysalis nodded and said, "What will also help is that I am going to take the form of Princess Twilight Sparkle before I leave. I will avoid detection much better that way as well."
"You always have excellent plans Chrysalis" replied Sombra
"Well I must get going now." said Chrysalis, "Thunder Rage, Lightning Wasp, Green Haze, it is time for us to get going. Come on my changelings, time for us to head home." shouted Chrysalis
Sombra watched his ally and her army disappear over the horizon as he started to wonder what he should do as far as what to do about the crystal ponies.
A couple days pass and Applejack and Big Macintosh are applebucking through their orchards. Applejack sees an unfamiliar pony walking through the other side of the orchard. Her and Big Macintosh run in the direction of this pony. "You get out of our orchard this minute." shouted Applejack
The pony collapses to the ground as Applejack and Big Macintosh get over to where he is. They find a pony with a dull blue coat, a yellow mane and tail and a yellow bow and arrow cutie mark. They can tell that he has been through a lot of trauma and terror. Applejack asked the pony, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
The pony replies, "My name is Accurate Aim and I escaped from the Crystal Empire and his wrath. I do not mean you any harm. I have been running for nearly three days and I just can't run anymore."
"Wait a minute. You said you 'escape his wrath?" Are you talking about Shining Armor? He would never harm anypony!"
Accurate Aim got a sad look on his face and said, "No, it is King Sombra I am running from. The royal couple up there has been taken prisoner and the crystal heart has been eaten by King Sombra and this half pony half insect hybrid thing that calls herself Chrysalis."
"Oh boy, this is not good." said Applejack "We need to get some food and water in you and then we need to get to Canterlot at once."
Applejack knew that Twilight was having a long meeting with the mayor that day so she thought it would be best if she took Accurate Aim to Canterlot herself. She knew that Princess Celestia had to be informed of this at once. They took Accurate Aim to their barn and got him some apples and water. He was starving and ate the apples quickly. After about an hour he looked better and had more strength.
"Are you feeling any better?" asked Applejack
"Yes I do feel better. Thank you so much, You are a life saver. What is your name by the way?" asked Accurate Aim
"My name's Applejack and this here is my brother, Big Macintosh." replied Applejack
Accurate Aim thanked both of them by name and then asked when they were going to notify the princess of what has happened.
Applejack said, "We need to get to the train station right away. There is a train leaving for Canterlot in around 20 minutes."
The two headed to the train station and got there just in time to catch the train. The ride to Canterlot seemed to take forever in Applejack's mind, as this is an emergency. Accurate Aim was just happy to be alive but the ride seemed to take a long time in his mind as well.
Applejack and Accurate Aim got off the train and headed towards the castle. They were greeted by two members of the royal guard. "Who comes here and what do you want?" said one of the guards
"Hi, I'm Applejack and this is Accurate Aim. We really need to speak to the princess. Accurate Aim is a crystal pony who escaped the empire after King Sombra took it over." replied Applejack
When the guards heard that they let them into the castle and escorted them to the throne room, where both Celestia and Luna were eating lunch. They were greeted by the princesses as soon as they got there.
"Why hello Applejack!" said Celestia "What brings you here and why aren't your friends with you?"
Applejack said, "This is an emergency princess. This here is Accurate Aim, he is a crystal pony who fled the Crystal Empire and he has something he needs to tell you two."
"What do you have to tell us?" asked Princess Luna
Accurate Aim told them the entire story of what happened. "Well everything was fine up until it was time to power the crystal heart. We tried twice to get it going but it would not work. Then five o'clock hit on the 23rd and the sky started flashing a putrid brown color. Suddenly these dark colored creatures that look like a cross between a pony and an insect came flying into the empire while Sombra and a bunch of dark unicorns came through as well. What was Shining Armor turned into one of those creatures and he went by the name of Captain Green Haze."
Celestia interrupted him and said, "What? King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis joined forces and brought down the Crystal Empire? I thought Sombra was dead and Chrysalis was flung into oblivion."
"Apparently not big sister." said Luna "I told you had a bad feeling about things but you wouldn't listen to me."
Accurate Aim then said, "They have also coated the royal couple in some sort of green ooze and they ate the crystal heart."
A stunned Celestia stood up quickly and shouted, "They ate the crystal heart? This is bad, very, very bad."
Applejack ran up to the princesses and asked, "What does that mean? I didn't even know that crystals could be eaten."
Princess Luna walked up to her and said, "King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis are not your normal beings. They can digest things that ponies can not. Accurate Aim, do you know what they did with Princess Cadence and Shining Armor?"
Accurate Aim told them that he saw them take them into the castle and overheard something about putting them into a cocoon before he fled into the arctic. He said, "That is all I know. I am sorry I don't know more. I was just afraid for my life and didn't want to wind up being bound in chains again."
"That is ok." said Celestia "That is understandable and I am glad you were able to escape. Applejack, do you know what Twilight is up to today?"
"She left the library early today. She said something about having a long meeting with the mayor on learning how to govern." replied Applejack
Celestia then said, we must get in touch with her immediately. She then wrote a message that read, "Princess Twilight, there is a huge emergency. The Crystal Empire has fallen to King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis. Applejack is already here but I need you and the rest of your friends to get here as soon as possible. Sincerely, Princess Celestia." She then sent the message. Unfortunately Spike was at home taking a seven hour bubble bath and Twilight was at the mayor's office.
Spike was in the tub when "belch" he coughs up a letter from the princess. It lands in the water and sinks to the bottom. He pulled the letter out of the water but it simply fell apart. Spike said to himself, "Oh it must not have been anything important."
Applejack said, "I hope Spike is with her so she can get here as soon as possible."
"You and me too." said Celestia
In her southern realm Queen Chrysalis was standing on her balcony looking to the north, getting ready for her flight. Her trusted general, Iron Sheath walked up to her and said, "Where are you headed off to?"
Chrysalis looked at him with a scowl and said, "I am heading to Ponyville to brainwash Princess Twilight Sparkle." Chrysalis suddenly transformed herself into Twilight and continued, "I am going to brainwash her and get her to betray Celestia and join our side. How do I look?"
"You look wonderful my queen. You be careful and don't let them spot and catch you." said Iron Sheath
"Don't worry, with me looking like this, this will be a piece of cake!: said Chrysalis