Dear Cadance,
After Luna has failed to return, I have grown more worried by the day knowing that my sister has impulsively run away. I have written to both you and Twilight of these woes, but now I have even more reason to fear for her safety. This is due to some recent developments.
I have recovered evidence suggesting that Luna could be in danger, wherever she may be. An investigation has yielded that she left aboard the airship known as the Sky Scraper before I was even aware of her being missing. You know as well as I that she retreats when upset - even if it can only worsen her distress. Cadance, I worry about her as much as I worry about every soul in our kingdom. She is in need of the same protection as our ponies: protection from herself and from isolation.
But now, I'm afraid that she might need protection from another as well. At the scene of the Sky Scraper's disappearance, there were two traces of aura instead of one. The second remained unidentified until a blade happened to be recovered form a foray into the Everfree Forest by Twilight's marefriend. I'm sure you'll be very familiar with the blade: it was the one you 'gifted' to the tyrant king from the Crystal Empire, and it was his aura that was identified as the second presence.
It also seems that the tyrant king made his presence at the Pantheon's meeting, an event that he should have had no access to. This means that somepony had to have let him in, and I can only imagine for what nefarious purposes. I'm curious to how he ended up there, and if you can offer any information on that or anything else regarding the cruel dictator so that my dear sister might be returned to me and the kingdom that loves her.
You have spent months at a time around him and might be able to offer some insight to the flaws that no doubt rack his vice-ridden mind. What is his weakness and how can it be used against him? I'm already aware that he has a certain guile to him, and was able to trick you into thinking that he was a reformed individual so that you were able to convince me to grant him a title, as meaningless as it was. I'm sure his pride is still quite inflated over such a thing.
This same wickedness has also enabled the monster to trick my sister into following him Tartarus knows where. They've truly disappeared without a trace, and the only thing resembling solace that I have is the lowering and rising of her moon in the sky each night. Other than that, I feel as lost as Luna must feel right now. She must be terrified, knowing that she is at the mercy of a pony so dark, twisted, and heartless - a being unfamiliar with any concept of even the slightest mercy or affection.
Can you even begin to fathom the harm he wishes to bring to those in his way, and to somepony like Luna who has so little light to guide her from the dark? What cruelties does he wish to inflict upon such a broken mare and my dear sister? Cadance, I do not blame you for trusting him - he's a psychopath who will do what he must to hurt others - I only blame myself for not killing him when I had the chance. I have spent thousands of years combating evil and keeping the ponies I vowed to protect and serve from it, but there has been no peace in knowing that King Sombra survived his banishment and the magic of the Crystal Heart.
The world needs the night. Equestria needs their princess. Luna needs me.
This is why I've chosen to send Twilight and Rarity along the eastern coast of the northern and southern continents, starting from the airship docks in Manehatten. There, they will search for any traces of my sister, while I investigate the underground happenings in Equestria for any clues that might remain, with the help of Discord. After all, Equestria still needs one princess to hold it together, and a light to grace their lives and extinguish their problems.
As the highest ranking princess left in Equestria, I must exercise my power as I haven't for centuries. I command you, not only as the highest authority left, but beseech you as your aunt to take up the parallel journey on the western coasts and look over the route I have drawn up and enclosed for you. You have also been clearance to access the motorized airships in Vanhoover's airship docks. I have three available choices for you to take on your journey.
Times like these often reveal the bond between ruler and subjects, and how as leaders we must carry those we rule. To allow them their own steps is like allowing a young foal to jump into thorns, and a downright despicable course of action. I am thankful to have instructed you and Twilight otherwise, and I trust that you know the Empire will be in good hooves while you are gone.
Please write back as soon as you can,
Your Auntie Celestia
...
Dear Auntie Celestia,
An adventure this soon? Of course, I'll undertake it to help find Auntie Luna, and entrust the Empire to you and centuries of wisdom. Still, I have to ask are you one hundred percent sure she was kidnapped? While I did spend a lot of time around Sombra (and he technically kidnapped me on our first meeting after his resurrection, it was out of his self-interest, but he wasn't malicious in the sense you describe), he wanted to save the Empire to save himself, and he needed me to do it, so I wasn't mistreated or anything like what you observed.
Still, I learned so little about him. He's independent and manipulative, as well as secretive and wicked smart. He came up with plans quickly, and altered them on the spot to fit his needs. I always had a hard time telling if he lied or not in most of our conversations. He's certainly pragmatic, but he doesn't overlook detail. No intentional praise to him, but he's certainly a match for you.
Other than that, I don't know much about him. I don't know why his name is Sombra. He never mentioned what his parents were like. I imagine he didn't have any. I don't know how he took the Empire's throne, or about his dark magic, and whenever I asked him questions he often just told me to shut up.
He does like to read. I know that much. He really doesn't like to talk ,and he is often very quiet in a way that made me not want to pressure him, since I'm pretty sure he thought I was stupid. Oh, I guess I can add that stupidity seems to make him angry. I know that.
I don't know where he lives or if he lives anywhere at all. I can't exactly picture him renting a flat anywhere. Do you think he's the sort to dwell in, like, a two room apartment surviving off the broth of innocent instant noodles and the energy produced from directing his freakily intense judgemental glares at fellow tenants?
I'm not entirely sure if his parents gave him the name 'Sombra' too. Is that even supposed to mean anything? I dunno.
I do have to ask, why to you keep calling him the tyrant king? He doesn't really rule anything any more. The Empire belongs to Shiny and I, so wouldn't it be more fitting to call him Sombra? Just Sombra? Even if it wasn't his actual name, it's what he calls himself. He did sometimes refer to himself as the Right-Honourable Lord Sombra, but I never found any records of unicorn nobility in the Empire at all. Or much of any nobility, for that matter. They barely have any gentry at all, or at least they didn't have any until I took the throne. It really was just the royal family and the Crystalline subjects, so he might not even have been that good at magic if he was able to control a kingdom that had only a ruler to dispose of. That's what the records say.
Sincerely,
Cadance
P.S. I like the Pink Sunset best. It certainly looks a lot easier to fly than the other two. It's been a while since I've been in an airship, so maybe I should get my hooves on a manual or something. Is there any book called 'How to Fly An Airship for Princesses'?
...
Dear Cadance,
I'm afraid I know of no such book that would be suitable for you, and not on such short notice. It also appears that records here in Canterlot reveal that the permit you were granted for flying airships has expired eight years ago. When our situations are more stable, and these journeys are over, perhaps we can discuss that.
Shining Armor's military training has included learning how to fly an airship. He has a licenses and is one of the best pilots I have seen since they began to roam the skies. As I've written before, I'm sure you won't mind if the Empire is under the care of myself and the remaining Elements for a while.
I'm sure that you tell the truth when you say you know so little of such a creature who is closer to an object and deserves no name. Like a sword, he slashes through ponies without a care of who is hurt. He knows nothing but how to spread pain. You are innocent of his darker nature, the one beyond a despicable recluse who shuns the company of others, except to relish in their pain, and break the fair laws set to protect others. I'm thankful that he hasn't hurt you, but worry constantly what he could do to somepony like Luna.
While I take no offense to your words, I'll have you know that 'Sombra' as you plainly call this mindless ravager is no match for one who protects all, loves freely, has little in the way of ego, and upholds good as I do.
May you bring Luna home, and if not you, may Twilight.
Your Auntie Celestia
...
Dear Cadance,
I apologize for not writing to you, there has been a lot happening lately. As you have no doubt been able to tell, I have been able to get the letter-sending pocket dimension working again. Though, this came at the cost of terminating whatever letters were inside. I'm sorry for this, but it had to be done. I no longer have Sombra to send my letters to you, and I'm afraid that he won't be able to read any more of yours. He's been missing.
Some time ago on the Sky Scraper's deck, Sombra made a wild confession and claimed that he loved me. I... I ran away as soon as he said it, and the next morning he was simply gone in a storm that made it impossible for me to track him. I have had no word of him since then, but continue to travel on the course that was planned. The navigation system that Sombra and I built still works, but I could always try to fly this without any aid, as long as that would take. You have no need to worry about me but there is still the matter of Sombra.
...I don't think I'll see him again. He would have left the ship with teleportation - which I would have been able to track - or something else. It appears to have been the latter, which leaves him wandering the world, alone and distraught.
I had asked what he thought of me, because I thought it would be a good question to see if he wanted to be my friend or not and I needed to know his honest opinion of me. At that point, he could have seen me as anything, right? A friend, a burden... there were so many possibilities.
But out of all of them - as your letters to him reveal - he was infatuated with me before he even met me for this journey, and while I had no idea, you certainly did. Your seemingly innocent question of if I found Sombra cute was just a trick, no? While you were so kind to me and sharing friendship advice, behind my back you wrote advice to Sombra to court me!
How am I supposed to feel about this? Even I do not know! You said Sombra would love to have me as a friend, as an equal, but instead Sombra just wants to covet the hardest-to-get princess doesn't he? Am I to be some trophy to him in his mind, and does he see me as some foul outlet for lust who he may ogle as he pleases? Has that been what he has revealed to you? Do you not realize how terrible such treatment is to a pony, or how the prospect of such treatment is terrifying to me? Why did you encourage him? Why didn't you tell anypony that though he may have seemed so friendly and genuine in his own way, his ambitions were just that of a smitten noble that refused to grow up, or something much more dreadful and physical?
I demand you send me his replies to your letters, so I can make more sense of what was exchanged between you two, provided you did not burn them. After that, I want you tell me everything you know about him so I can deal with him appropriately if I ever see him again, not as enemies but not as friends either.
I no longer believe my trust can be placed in you, or anypony at all, for that matter. I wanted him to be my friend and wished for your advice, only for you to work in secret to help him court me and lead to this disaster. I desired Sombra as a friend, hoping he would be unique and somepony I could consider a companion, only for him to reveal he was just as delusional as any other noble seeking higher status through courtship and stallion who sets his eyes on the curves of a mare's form.
You even called him uncle, as if he was already wed to me! What is the meaning of all this, if there is one I cannot see?
-L
...
Dear Auntie Luna,
Oh gods.
It went that bad? Luna, I'm so sorry. He was getting desperate... but oh gods... I'm really sorry it went like that, and that you found out because of our silly letters. This is hard to process for me too. Please trust me though. It's nothing like what you think. I'm enclosing some of his responses with this letter in a nice big envelope, but not all of them, okay? As the apparent Princess of Letters, I want him to have some privacy too, because he'll behead me if I don't allow him that. He sent me nine letters, but I'm going to omit the sixth one for his sake because he has threatened to kill me for this stuff. You won't need the first, since it was just us establishing contact, so I'll remove that one too.
If you need any help with anything, just send me another letter. However I'm begging you to read this one until the end.
Sombra, even though you most likely know him more than I will, is nothing like any of the snobby nobles from that day and age. He's not a creep, either. What little he writes about you reveals that, and I've seen if for myself.
When we traveled up north to Gildentundra, he barely said anything to me because neither of us trusted one another. On the train ride we took there, he asked me what I wanted most in the world while opening up just a little bit about how he views things.
After everything that's happened between him and I, it was pretty clear to me that what he wants most in the world is for you to love him.
The version of the story I told Auntie Celestia left out a lot of important parts about how he and I acted, but I did tell her a few lies about the end.
I know that you know that we had a riddle we had to solve, but I'll write it again here for you:
Undefeatable am I
Lest evil acquire,
What the vain Lord lacked
And speaketh Great TruthThe answer turned out to be 'love' and the supposed 'evil' turned out to be Sombra. Now this is where the story differs from what you've been told: instead of the Crystal Heart activating at my death in order to resurrect me, the Heart activated at Sombra's confession which undid a seal on the Heart - from it being hidden away - and enabled me to travel inside it.
Only the purest kinds of love can power the Heart, just as the worst sorts of things can taint it, and if it weren't for Sombra's love I'd be really, truly dead. Ouch.
After that, I asked him who it was that he loved, I didn't catch their name since at the time I was busy dying.
He told me it was you.
Now, I certainly don't know everything about him, but one thing that has always stuck out in my mind was that even though he claimed to barely know you, he said that he never forgot about you. Minutes after saying that, we bumped into you in the halls of Canterlot Castle with him disguised as a necklace.
The necklace - Sombra - started burning as soon as we started talking. I've witnessed a lot of the strange magic Sombra has done, and have needed to do plenty of research on some of it. The reason that burning occurred was because of a flaw in the spell Sombra used. To keep this letter short: it turns out that Sombra forgot to remove some equine aspects from the necklace form and was blushing. But as a necklace he had no way to control heat, and since necklaces weren't supposed to blush it hurt me. Another ouch.
I can't imagine Sombra blushing at all, and if he could it's probably only a little bit and barely noticeable. I can't imagine him crying either, but I certainly can't imagine him blushing. Can you?
Sombra has never told me why he loves you or when he fell in love with you - and I've never asked - but I can tell you that his love is as genuine as he appeared to you. He doesn't lie much, so there was no fake behavior or act he would have put on for you. In fact, if I know anything about ponies and weird demons who eat too much pizza, it's that you have probably seen the most of him because I'm not sure what secrets he would ever keep from you. He's very closed-hearted, and about as affectionate as those spooky crystals of his, but I'm sure he's opened up to you about something.
He's not somepony who would ever be free with his love and is very quiet and observant when he wants to be, just like you, Auntie Luna. Any love he does give is certainly going to be in bulk.
As for a list of everything I know about Sombra? Not much, probably. He even signs his letters to me as 'Sombra the Enigma'. I don't know why, either. He just started doing it one day. Do you know anything about that?
I was the one who started calling him uncle as well, he just accepted it.
Sincerely,
Less Than Best Niece
P.S. I don't think Auntie Celestia trusts me entirely when I wrote a while ago to her saying I had no knowledge of Sombra and what was going on. You may not know it, so I'll let you know now: Celestia has known that you're gone and is sending out Twilight and Rarity to search the east coast (I wasn't able to obtain their exact route, sorry) and Shiny and I to search the west. Shiny is with me because of both my agreement and Auntie's orders, so you won't be hearing from me for a while. I'm waiting for us to be out of the borders of Prance before I tell him what's been going on, since it's still a little too close to Equestria for comfort.
P.P.S I'm in one of those big clunky airships that's blimp-like and really fast. Whee! I forget what they're supposed to be called but Shiny accepts me calling it the whirlygig. It's name is Pink Sunset.
...
Dear Cadance,
He writes that he loves me. He wrote all those things to you, and it's all so upsetting to me. Is that the right word? Upsetting? I feel as if it should be, but I'm not sure what I should feel after reading these letters. Sombra... somehow, even though I don't know him... he knew something about me and cared for me. He tried to keep me from making mistakes, didn't he?
This is all so much...
If I had known earlier, I know that my reaction would have been just as violent, if not more so. I would have been brash, I would have been scared, and my words would have hurt him. I wouldn't have known anything about how he felt.
Sombra is amazing when it comes to observing others. He knew this. He gently tried to push me away without hurting either of us, and it didn't work. Now that I know, I remember one or two times where he was going to tell me.
How uncomfortable I must have made him, and now he's not even here for me to apologize to. It's the first few days all over again, but now I know what was going through his mind. That's comforting.
Even in his letters, he never looses his sense of charm, and you are right. He did care about me. He acts like he's known me forever and I'm not sure why or how but I think that maybe, just maybe if I try harder I can put this whole matter behind me and continue on my quest.
I wish you luck in your own matters,
Luna
...
Dearest Cousin Celestia,
I pray that you realize the 'dearest' is merely a formality that I do not wish to maintain for this matter. As you are the more reasonable of you and Luna I write to you requesting that you no longer send your sister or your pawns to my realm. My subjects are free to travel to your kingdom as they please, but your ponies are to refrain from entering my borders as much as possible. I've already had the gate near Styx used twice. First, by Luna and the demon she kept with her, an insolent beast of a fellow, and most recently by the demigod princess, Twilight Sparkle and her unicorn companion.
This occurred just as I was ready to move my court to Tiberia. They spoke a desperate nonsense that has left me with an unshakable irritation since their departure. Why did they appear oblivious to Luna's departure when her leave-taking isn't exactly news to you. I thought that you would have taught your purple disciple to manage the whereabouts of her superiors.
I know that this is one of your usual elaborate pranks, isn't it? What reason would you have to send these two ponies to me claiming that Luna just up and vanished, dragging a demon with her on a pointless quest that caused her to seek out me for information - as if I would tell her what darkness I have seen - only to leave with nothing at all. We both know she doesn't lie, and I observed that she must have told you based on an exchange between her and the monster that followed her.
All that aside, cousin, what is your voice on the matter? Why is your former student bothering to come all the way here to tell me this. Something that doesn't add up with what's been happening.
You shouldn't be too worried about your sister. She's brash and reckless but she's too stubborn to let anything perish - but also too stubborn to listen to others, alas. You may be almost as foolish as her, but you're still the only family I have left, and the only one of you two that ever came close to growing up. We may not agree on much of anything or be in the same room at meetings for too long, and yes, 'cousin' may be just a polite title among us rather than an affectionate truth but we still share the same world. I don't know exactly what happened to you two, somehow managed to survive a world more ravaged by the Collapse than mine was.
We only learn about each other's pasts and presents through the brief pages of history books, and I can't say I've ever loathed that. I've lived a long time without your influence and without any family at all. I don't think you consider me to be the only relative you have left, Luna excepted, somewhere in your heart.
And I can't say I regret this either. Truly, I do think of you as Princess Celestia instead of Cousin Tia, and Luna is but grown version of an annoying tyke from way back when. Now the only thing we have in common is that we both lost the same world and those who lived in it. 'Parents' are but something to glance over in records for me, two faces and a flood of memories I have no feeling towards, except a vague annoyance at something I cannot place - something they did, I imagine. I don't think I'll ever know.
I know not how I learned to be a father to the children I've had with consorts over the centuries, except that my knowledge as a ruler must have lent some wisdom to that department when I saw them at all. Aquastria is and has always been my priority since I was young. I was the heir apparent, and I rose to the crown with no challenges that hindered your paths. 'Family', a concept I put no emotion towards. is a footnote at best, and oftentimes an inconvenience. It interferes with ruling a country and managing the important things in life: duty. I'm surprised to say, my estranged younger cousin, that you seem to have an inkling of knowledge on the subject. It instills a peculiar sense of pride in me.
Speaking of cousins, do you remember those even older than I? They feel like strangers from - as mortal ponies falsely say 'another life' - now. Terra, Fauna, and Flora, how long they've been gone! The order I remember them in is hardly their birth order, but I suppose it matters not, since so few remember them. It is now that I ponder that were I of the equivalent of a fourteen year old mortal or older, as they were, I would have answered the call to war too. You and Luna would have, as well, if you two had been anywhere near that age time. I'm certain we all would have perished by the dark powers that claimed all the others of our kind, too. What difference could you, I, and Luna make as children, regardless of the talent of our species?
Instead of that, we beheld the stagnant waters and new forests grown from ash-ridden soil with our own eyes.
Now it seems that such a thing could happen again, and with our numbers reduced to just your batty sister, you, Elysium, Stolas, and I, it appears we'll have so little fighting chance with just six gods, not nearly as many mortals as there lived in the previous age, and a few toy rocks you call the Elements of Harmony.
So what is the joke behind Luna's latest adventure?
H.R.H. King Neptune of Aquastria, Son of Pontus and Corah
...
Dear Neptune,
There is no joke. I have not played the prank of a foal on you, and you have rebuked any effort of friendship and cheer I have extended in the past. Luna has been missing for months, and I have been desperately searching for her. What joke could there be in that? Only recently did I learn that she was in the company of another - an enemy to us both.
Was Luna okay? Did she look well? Was she under the influence of dark magic?! Did she appear hurt? Why didn't you detain her? Where was she heading? Was she controlling King Sombra well? I know she mustn't have been thinking clearly - that much is clear to me - but did she appear coherent? Why was she talking to King Sombra? Is she using him for something? Did he promise her knowledge or power?
Neptune what have you done, letting her get away like that? You didn't even offer any advice or hints to Twilight and Rarity! You do know where Luna went, don't you?
Luna has been gone for months, Neptune. Months. I have had no word from her, no reports, nothing. All I know is that she may be on this 'quest' - as you have so grandly dubbed her fool's errand - against her will. I do not believe she would stay this far away from her home of her own free will. She's been in a fragile state lately, as you know. I do believe that you remember our discussion of what she did to herself using a bastardization of magic - a construct of sorts that bordered on created life - called the Tantabus. She isn't right in her head and I worry for her each moment she isn't here.
She is my only family, Neptune. While managing the land one rules is important for those like you, Luna, and I, families and consorts are not to be so low in priority as you hold them. All the good ponies of Equestria are like my own children. There is are oaths that dubs me 'Matron of Equestria' because of the bond I have with my ponies.
I may never have had a proper consort, crowned and sitting beside, me or foals of my own, but I will not let you ridicule me and my beliefs in your snide ways because of it.
As for plans to defend the proud land I rule - there are a few I have in mind. One I favor involves apprehending Luna and the outlaw that she is in leagues with. The punishment for detaining royalty in such a manner would usually be death, but he is - by error - an immortal and his power, however dark and vile is considerable. I knew what he was before he sacrificed what little mind he possessed for the power to hurt others as he wished. This instinct that disregards the precious gift of life is still within him - he is but a living weapon with no knowledge of empathy, no true conscious and has not even acknowledged the crimes that he has committed.
Our numbers may not be what they used to be, but whatever force destroyed what was and silenced so many voices is nothing but the purest of evil. If there is anything that those who accept the way of this world will learn it is that only the purest good can win against the other side of the scale.
Thus it is only fitting that the weapon in the shape of a pony that succumbed to such hideous impurity be used as such in order to save those who deserve to live peaceful lives free of such strife that ponies like him cause. He hurt those who could not defend themselves so it is only fitting that he be used to protect them after rejecting every attempt to improve himself as much as he can. King Sombra still continues his old behavior and refuses any kind of reformation or justice which I have so generously offered despite the enormity of his crimes.
Twilight and Rarity will still adhere to the route chosen for them by me. I request that you send them any information regarding your meeting with Luna so they might learn what they will be dealing with. I can enclose a copy of where they travel - and will do so - and any rest stops I have marked. Send your most faithful messenger, as I will not have this information fall into the wrong hooves.
Sincerely,
Celestia
...
Dear Discord,
I appreciate the bouquet of flowers and seashells from Las Pegasus, although the post card flew away - which I didn't exactly appreciate - as soon as I glanced at the pleasant scene painted on it.
How goes your search through Equestria? I'm afraid that there isn't much more of Equestria to search other than the southern desert that we wandered when we were young. If you wish, you may linger in Canterlot if you have nowhere to be.
Without Luna, I have little reason to smile, but I know that you will be able to help me laugh again.
Still, I worry. Do you think she's hurt?
-Tia
...
Here's a postcard that won't fly away (which is boring - I thought you would enjoy the express mail).
I don't think even a nut like this Sombra could hurt that girl - she's spooky when she wants to be and much too wily to be caught by what you claim to be nothing more than a mad king without style - and no sense of true anarchy. A brutal dictator? Please, that amount of authority is the exact opposite of proper chaos. Luna will be fine in the end.
Believe me, I'll be sure to linger in Canterlot after I pick up a few more souvenirs from these odd little cities of yours.
-D