It had been three years since that kiss, and a lot had happened. Princess Celestia’s relationship with Sunfire had been growing extremely strong. Sunfire's love had shined through. Within the three years, she and he had become so close, so much so that he had found his way into her bed.
Meanwhile, Princess Luna visited the Crystal Empire every time she was free. This did prove to be a problem since Celestia still had not seen Sombra's face. Every time she would show up, he was busy. But when Luna showed up, he always had time for her. In the end, Celestia was still simply happy that Luna had found somepony, just as she had.
It seemed both princesses had found happiness. However, that would soon change……
******
“Sunfire, Sunfire, wake up.”
Sunfire woke up upon hearing a voice. He looked to his left to see Celestia was still asleep. He wondered where the voice come from.
He got up quietly, got his clothes on and walked over to the window. He looked over New Shangri-La, taking in the cool air as he tried to clear his head. Once he was done, he looked back at Celestia's bed. He never imagined things would one day lead--
“Well, well, well,” said an unknown voice. Sunfire jumped at this, mostly because this was not the voice he had been hearing lately at all. He turned quickly to the window, where the voice came from, only to see the figure of a charcoal stallion.
Upon looking closer, Sunfire realized this figure was some sort of alicorn, seeing his black wings and red horn. “Who are you?” Sunfire questioned.
“I am King Sombra and you are Blood Diamond’s spy.”
Sunfire’s eyes widened at this. “What are you talking about?”
“My master had told me that Blood Diamond had a spy around the princesses. Little did I realize that Celestia's new squeeze was the spy.”
“What gives you the right to make such an accusation?!” Sunfire was angered by Sombra’s words.
Sombra raised his finger to his mouth. “Shhh, you don’t want to wake Celestia.” At this Sunfire looked to her. Luckily, she was still asleep. The king held his hand outward and continued. “But how about we go somewhere more private?” He snapped his fingers and both of them disappeared in a teleport.
Moments later they appeared in the Crystal Tower where the Crystal Heart was being held. Sunfire jumped back as they landed. He took a stance and summoned his throwing shield and sword, assuming the king wanted a fight. “How dare you accuse me of working with Blood Diamond! He is one of the princesses greatest enemies.”
Sombra smiled as he summoned his scythe. “Yes he is one of their greatest enemies, but why is that?” he questioned as he took his own stance. “Is it possibly because he sided with King Emerald Teal and Redsting when they overthrew Celestia and Luna's father, Helios Quartz? Or how about the fact he stood by and did nothing while Redsting devoured Helios behind Emerald Teal’s back?”
“You act like you know so much about the past,” Sunfire threw his round shield like a boomerang.
“I know the truth because I am the one who killed Redsting,” Sombra knocked back the shield with his scythe.
Sunfire caught his shield as it flew back and then charged right at the king. “How? That was over a thousand years ago. It was before the changeling invasion over the empire. It was even before Discord's reign.”
“Of course, I’m much older than I look. Did you forget so quickly what I am?” Sombra showed his black wings as they clashed.
“So you're a dark alicorn. I thought they were extinct, like um--”
“Umbrums,” Sombra interrupted as he knocked him back.
Sunfire managed to catch himself as he fell back. “I was told the one who defeated Redsting was a simple stallion.” He charged at him again.
“Well, I was more than a simple stallion, especially to Luna.” Sombra stopped his attack.
“So the legends were true. You and her were together.”
They continued to clash as they talked.
“She and I are back together. And now nothing will separate us. Not death, not the Devil, and certainly not Celestia!”
“You really think you can stand between three thousand years of sisterhood.”
“I will.” Sombra knocked him back once more. “Though it seems you have a similar plan.” he smiled as he saw something in Sunfire’s eyes.
“What?!” Sunfire was taken aback by this. “I would never stand between them!”
“Oh not you, him.” Sombra held his left hand toward the Crystal Heart as it began to glow. Soon it flew from its spot into his hand. He held it forward, aiming it right at Sunfire. As Sunfire charged forward one final time, he was stopped as the light of the Crystal Heart engulfed him.
The glowing stopped and Sunfire fell to the ground, out cold. Sombra walked forward, as he looked upon the Crystal Heart. “Show me, Crystal Heart. Show me how much devotion he has, and to whom.” It showed a split image. “Hmm, this is rare. Very rare. He is devoted to two beings. Very interesting.”
Sombra waved his hand over Sunfire. Sunfire and his weapons disappeared. As he disappeared, the king sensed somepony else watching. “I suspect you are here about our plans, father.”
He turned and saw the shadowy figure reveal himself to be a tall, dark blue goat. “Of course, my son. You now know the truth now. Now we can continue uninterrupted. Though are you sure Luna will willingly help us?”
“Yes, all she desires right now is happiness.”
The goat smiled and turned away from him, “Remember our deal is not complete until all this land suffers one thousand years of darkness.” Afterward he faded.
“Of course, Emperor Grogar.”
After all that, Sombra thought he would take a rest. He sent his scythe away and then flew down to his bedroom. Once there he saw Luna over by the mirror, brushing her mane. He smiled as he walked over and ambushed her with a kiss. She was taken by this.
“Where have you been, Sombra?”
“I had a few errands to run. And how are you?”
“Well. I just got done dreamwalking.”
“Oh,” he mused as he rubbed her shoulders.
“Though I was able to check on most of the dreams, the one I still can't get into is Selena Moondie,” Luna continued. Suddenly Sombra was stopped at that name, though Luna hadn’t noticed. “I mean, I get that she is the head of your league of assassins, A.N.T.I. It just I feel very uneasy around her.”
Sombra was slightly saddened by this. “You know I want you two to get along well.”
“I know, since she is the Head Assassin, she is the closest to you of them.”
“And by that right, my life is in her hands. Soon your life as well.”
“I know,” she timidly frowned. Selena Moondie was a mystery to her, yet she felt in her heart she wasn’t. But why? She knew little to nothing about her, not even her real name. “Enough thinking for tonight, my love.” She quickly got up and ambushed him with a kiss in turn as she slowly yanked at his clothes. Sombra followed by grabbing at her blouse, as the two moved to the bed.
******
Thousands of miles away, Sunfire woke up on the floor. He looked around quickly. Realizing that he was back in Celestia’s room, he sighed with relief.
However, that was short lived as he felt an unbearable pain in his head. He crawled in silent agony over to a hidden door in the room. The door led to Celestia’s vault.
He used a special spell to get through the door. He quickly crawled his way to the vault. Once inside, he crawled close to a glowing chest as his holy amulet began to glow as well. Soon the pain and the glowing stopped. Sunfire rose up as the pain went away. He bowed to the chest, as it gave its commands to him.
As it finished, he answered, “Of course my lord.”
******
<1,000 years later>
Starlight continued to rest on a cushion she had found in the spot she was hiding in. She had not figured out what to do next. Her plan was originally to go back and stop the rainboom. In doing so, it would ensure that Twilight and her friends would never be a problem.
Being stuck in this timeline was hindering her plans. What was she going to do now? She kept trying to think of something to do, when suddenly everything told her to move. She jumped out the way as a bone knife stabbed into the cushion.
“Damn, I missed,”
Starlight span around at that voice, trying to find where it came from. “Who are you? Where are you?” she question.
“Who am I does not matter. What does matter is why I’m here. And I’m here to kill you.” Without warning he dropped down, slicing at her back with another bone knife as he landed on the cushion. She quickly turned around and jumped back away from him as he picked up his other bone knife.
It was too dark to see what he looked like, so she ran for it. Ignoring the cut on her back, she made her way down the alley until she reached an opening. Up ahead she saw a crowd of ponies. She didn’t know where the enemy was, so she jumped into the crowd, hoping he would lose sight of her.
However this was not going to stop him. He charged, knives forward into the crowd, taking down a few ponies along the way. The crowd screamed as the bodies fell. Starlight quickly saw her cover was running out. Looking for something to fight with, she used her magic to pull over a metal pole.
“Oh want to play hardball.” He held his arm out and grabbed one of the bystanders as they ran. He knocked the pony down and proceeded to pulled at the pony’s arm. “Sorry, I need to borrow this.” Starlight looked in horror as the assassin ripped off the pony’s arm like it was nothing. “Thank you,” he gave no emotions as the blood splattered on his face.
Starlight quickly realized that this assassin was going to fight with a severed arm. “Well shit, you’re just all kinds of crazy.”
“You know my ex-marefriend tells me that every time we break up.”
Starlight charged at him, swinging with the metal pole. He used the severed arm like a nunchuck, as he wrapped it around the pole and twisted it out of her hand. Afterward he spun the pole around his body and then punched it in her face. This knocked her to the ground, hard.
“You know little mare, I was not suppose to be spotted,” he walked over. “The plan was to kill you or bring you to my employer.” He got to her as she was getting up, kicking her hard in the gut. He grabbed her by the throat and lifting her into the air. At this range she was able to get a look at him.
His coat was like a rotting white, and his mane was dark green. He wore a bright neon yellow-sleeved cape and hood and a pair black pants. His chest was bare of everything but two straps over his chest. He seemed to have several bone knives lining the inside of his sleeved cape. The strangest choices of his clothing were the white handkerchief over his mouth and his gloves - the left one was red and the right one was blue.
“Nice eyes,” she joked at his unusual reptilian-like eyes devoid of all color.
“Why, thank you. They were a gift from my twisted creator.”
“What are you saying, that you’re a--” her voice was cut off as he squeezed her throat.
As he slowly choked her, Realta appeared on a nearby building. It seemed that he was too late. He raised his hand to reverse time, but then something caught his eye. There was something unusual about Starlight, but he couldn’t quite place it. Soon he dropped his hand. “Let fate play this one out.”
Back down with the assassin, he pulled Starlight closer until their eyes were locked on each other. “Well, this is where it ends. STOP.”
Realta’s eyes widened. The assassin had used the Glare, in particular, the light magic version, which creates a bubble of time around the target, to bend as the user saw fit as long as they are within direct eyes contact. However Realta’s eyes were not widening at this, it was over the fact that the master spell was not affecting her.
The assassin’s own eyes widened as he realized that she was not trapped. “How? That's impossible. Nopony is immune to the Glare, nopony but--” he stopped himself as he saw something in her eyes. At that moment he let go of her throat and dropped her to the ground.
Starlight took deep breaths as she felt air returning to her lungs. She looked back at him with confusion, “What? Huh? You were going to kill me, then you stopped?”
He looked up to the sky. “Head to Onager. It lies between the Everfree Forest and Canterlot. From there you enter the city of Canterlot. That is where the other time traveler will be. Go as fast as you can. NOW!” hearing his voice get louder, she quickly made a run for it. She didn’t have time to question it. After she was far enough away, he fakely smiled. “Well, this is an interesting development. You are certainly an unusual mare and I now know why. Indeed there is much more to you than meets the eye.”
Realta looked down from where he was, looking at the assassin. “So what are you going to do now, Cult Race?”
At that Cult Race lifted his hand to his handkerchief. He pulled it down to reveal his mandibles. “I say, that no matter what she is, the hunt must continue.”
******
An hour later, the night guard arrived at one of the stops the zebras from Zebrica would be. Soon they saw a group of five making their way to them. The group consisted of four zebras in black hooded robes and a tall being in a heavy, red-hooded robe.
“We are here to escort you,” said one of the guards.
One zebra walked forward and spoke in a very heavy jamaican accent. “Why? What is wrong?”
“A drug lord named Zeb Zecobra is after you. I believe you may have heard of him.”
The zebra smiled and step right to the group of guards. “Why of course I‘ve heard of him,” he lifted his hand up and blew strange dust into their faces. Afterward he pulled his hood to reveal himself to actually be Zeb.
The guards pulled up their weapons for attack when without warning their eyes burned. Suddenly seizures filled them as they fell to the ground. Zeb walked over them, impressed with how easily his newest potion worked. He turned and bowed to the being in the red hood as he walked over. “Everything is going according to the plan, Emperor.”
“Well of course it is. Let’s just hope that Cassandra is done with her part now that morning has arrived.” Grogar looked to rising of the Sun.
******