“So, you found this in an underground ruin?” Twilight asked, looking over the stone book in her hooves.
“It was more like an ancient temple than a ruin!” Rainbow exclaimed, excited to finally learn what it is they found. “An awesome-looking temple! In an underground chamber of glowing crystals!”
Starlight took a look at the book, and then over at the pegasus. “Luminescent crystals? What color were they?”
Pinkie Pie cartwheeled into a hoof-stand overtop of Twilight. “Blue, a kinda glowy blue.”
Twilight ran her hoof along the edges of the stone book, rereading its title to herself, “A Breath of Wind and Fire”. It puzzled her, the illustration on the front giving no clear indication of what it could be about. Just before she could open the cover, Rainbow zoomed over to Applejack.
“Beat THAT, AJ.” She said confidently.
Applejack chuckled. “Oh, trust me partner, ah plan to.” She pushed past the cocky pegasus and sat down on the seat next to Twilight. “You want amazin’? Rarity and ah found a gorge in the Sand Sea, and deep down inside, we met that there Sphinx from the legend of Somnambula.”
Rainbow felt her jaw practically fall down to the cart floor. She then shook her head wildly. “No way!” She denied the claim, zipping up to the earth pony in the blink of an eye. “Liar! You’re just saying that cause you know Pinkie and I found something cooler than you!”
AJ scoffed. “Ah ain’t lyin’, ah’m the Element of Honesty, ah don’t lie.”
“It’s true, Rainbow Dash.” Rarity confirmed, lifting up her hoof in a courteous manner. “The Sphinx told us she’d been resting in that hidden chamber for over 700 years!”
Twilight put down the book, looking back over at Applejack. “You mean you two met the actual Sphinx? What happened? What did she tell you?”
“We tried askin’ bout Stormclaw, but ah guess he’s got some magic protectin’ him or somethin’.” AJ continued. “After that, she started goin’ on bout some dragon that lived a long time ago called Gelder.”
Shadow’s ears perked up upon hearing the name once again. Flutterhsy took notice to how the shadow pony spun around on his seat, his hooves dangling over the back of the booth as he began listening much more intently.
Twilight tilted her head. “Well, what about it?”
Rarity swished her mane to the other side. “Apparently the Sphinx was alive during the event that scattered the first races, the one Celestia claimed Shadow to be a part of. She said Gelder was a black dragon that lived on the Mountain of Equestria when the land was still called Alarei.”
“A black dragon?” Starlight asked, trying to piece together why this was so important to the Sphinx in the first place.
Twilight was right there with her. “What about this dragon was so interesting that she brought him up for?”
“She said he led the griffons and the dragons east after somethin’ called The Cataclysm happened.” Applejack resumed, shaking her head. “Ah couldn’t make any sense of it though, ah don’t even remember how the subject came up.”
There was a pause, one where everypony tried to make sense of all this. In the absence of a response, Spike spoke up. “Well, let’s give that one a rest so I can tell you what Thorax and Ember found.” Despite the topic being avoided, Twilight actually welcomed the respite in order to gather her thoughts together. Maybe Spike had something to say that was a little more… calming. “Thorax took Starlight and I to some ruins in the far west, ruins that turned out to be Princess Platinum’s castle!”
Well… so much for calming.
“WHAT?!” Twilight shouted, grabbing hold of Spike with her magic and sending him soaring over to her, where she caught him in her hooves. “You found Princess Platinum’s castle ruins?! It’s confirmed that ponies migrated to Equestria from the west?!”
“Yup.” Spike said with a hint of satisfaction. “And not only that…” He looked to Starlight, wanting her to have the glory of saying it.
She smirked in reply. “Inside, we found Clover the Clever’s hidden library.”
Twilight’s eyes lit up like you wouldn’t believe, a sparkling glow filling them as she emitted a giddy, school-filly noise. She jumped up from her seat and hopped around like Pinkie.
Without looking, Spike backed up beside Rainbow, a victorious grin on his face as he held out his claw, again, not even needing to look at her. The cyan pegasus held out a pouch of 10 bits in a similar fashion, dropping it into the dragon’s claw.
Twilight hopped over to Starlight. “What condition is it in?! Are any of the books salvageable?!”
“Clover cast a preservation spell on it before leaving for Equestria,” Starlight told the princess, giving her a nod. “Everything in it is perfectly preserved.”
“Ohmygosh-ohmygosh-ohmygosh-ohmygosh!” The purple alicorn repeated over and over, struggling now to keep her excitement further contained. “Clover the Clever’s personal collection of books and scrolls?! In perfect condition?!”
Starfall’s face lit up in a smile as he watched how ecstatic Twilight had become. Behind Starswirl, Clover the Clever was Twilight’s idol, and a major source of her inspiration. Her role in the tale of Hearth’s Warming is one of her more well-known contributions to pony-kind, but she had done so much more than that, and now Twilight was going to learn even more.
“Oooh, I hope we can go visit it soon.” Twilight said, her hooves antsy as she trotted in place.
Starlight smiled even wider, laughing lightly. “You will, but wait till you hear about-”
“Hey look, we’re here!” Pinkie announced, looking out the window as the train passed through the gate and into Canterlot Station.
Twilight looked to Starlight. “You can tell me all about it in a bit, let’s all get to the throne room; Princess Celestia’s letter sounded urgent.” Starlight let out a sigh, but then nodded. Everypony disembarked the train, headed for the castle.
Cadence and Shining Armor both stood at the foot of the stairs to the throne while Luna sat upon hers. Discord was floating over Luna’s head, wearing her patience thin by using puppet strings to try and mimic the flowing effect of her mane.
The doors to the chamber opened, everypony from Ponyville trotting in and gaining the attention of everyone else present.
“Oh joy, we’re all here,” Discord huffed. “Maybe now we can get this over with.”
Shining glanced up at him, confused. Before he or Cadence could respond, Twilight galloped up to them. “Cadence, did you get my letter?” she immediately asked.
“I did, and I wanted to talk to you about it.” Cadence began to say.
“Such things will have to wait,” Luna interrupted them, her face stern as she continued to watch the doors. “We currently have a more pressing matter to attend to.”
The doors to the chamber opened again, drawing everypony’s attention once more. Celestia’s horn was alight with its glow, using her magic to open the doors herself. By her side walked the tyrant king himself, the dark unicorn, Sombra.
Shining Armor immediately stepped in between the menace and his wife, his horn lighting up as his brow furrowed. Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow, Rarity, and Starlight all had a similar reaction, gasping lightly. Twilight and Fluttershy, despite having known this had to be coming, only watched with worried eyes, having wondered if Celestia would be able to find him.
“What the hay is he doing here?!” Rainbow snapped, lowering herself closer to the ground as she growled at the unicorn king.
“Be calm, Rainbow Dash.” Celestia said to her, holding up her hoof. “I have summoned all of you to hear what I have to say… and what Sombra will tell you himself.” As he had been told, Sombra walked a step behind Celestia as the two approached the cautious group of ponies awaiting them. Upon reaching them, there was a recoil from the dark unicorn. Although he was quite calm and collected, his foreboding presence had not lessened in the slightest.
Celestia looked to him expectantly. He looked at them all, recognizing almost all of them, save for the new unicorn and the dark pony who looked a little like him. “Your princess and I have come to an understanding.” His voice was still deep and intimidating. “Stormclaw is a threat to us all, and so I shall you lend my power to stop him.”
“Why in Equestria should we trust you?” Shining spoke sharply. “After everything you’ve done, give me one reason why we shouldn’t just defeat you now.”
Sombra allowed a deep, suppressed laugh to haunt the air. “You couldn’t even if you tried, young prince.” This warranted a growl from Shining, Sombra’s eyes brightening. “Let me make something perfectly clear; I am not doing this for any of you. So do not pretend to believe that I will attempt to win over your trust, I care not for it.” With that, Sombra looked away, having no intention to indulge in their glares anymore.
Cadence looked from him to the alicorn beside him. “Celestia?”
The princess looked at them all with a level of sincerity. “I am not asking everypony here to trust Sombra, I am asking you all to trust me. We must find Chrysalis and Stormclaw by any means necessary. We must find them and stop whatever it is they’re planning before it is too late.”
All of this time, Spike had been hiding on Starfall’s back. The royal guard watched the tyrant king with wary eyes, gauging what to think of all this. He had heard about what Sombra had done, but it hardly held merit in terms of this level of trust. As the princess asked, however, Starfall trusted Celestia to know what was right.
Cadence stepped out from behind her husband who still looked ready to defend her. Shining went to grab hold of her, but she shook her head, stopping him. She approached Sombra, who slowly turned his gaze from the wall over to her. She stopped just in front of him, meeting his stare best she could. He could tell she was still frightened of him, but that same trust in Celestia burned deeper in her eyes than her fear of him. “And after this is done? What then?”
Sombra’s eyes gave nothing away. They remained completely unchanged by her question of morality. He looked over at Celestia, who knew what he wanted to ask, nodding to him. He turned back to Cadence. “Celestia tells me you are hosting a festival in the Crystal Empire soon. I should very much like to attend.”
“You didn’t answer my question.” Cadence said without delay.
“Perhaps I shall give you my answer there.” He replied, joining in on this joust of wordplay.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Rainbow chimed in. “We aren’t seriously letting him back in the Crystal Empire after everything he’s done there, are we?”
Celestia looked to them all with a somewhat troubled expression. “It was a condition of his that he would be permitted to return to the empire.”
Cadence turned back to Sombra. “Return as king?”
Sombra had remained unmoved, awaiting her response to his own request. Celestia took this time to answer her. “As a lord. My condition was for him to remain here in Canterlot with myself and Luna.”
The dark unicorn gave her little time to reply. “So, am I or am I not invited to your little celebration?”
Shining watched his wife with growing worry. The princess had a thousand-and-one thoughts coursing through her head; scenarios of what he could do to them if he were allowed to return. The effect he might have upon the crystal ponies, and even the Crystal Heart. As she contemplated this, her trust in Celestia held fast, circling her back to that one answer.
“Very well then…” She said softly, and in a quaint voice. “Lord Sombra, Shining Armor and I cordially invite you to the Grand Festival of the Crystal Empire.”
Bowing his head only slightly, his eyes intensified for but a moment with his reply. “I accept.”
Celestia sighed in relief, beyond grateful that this blew over so quickly. Rainbow stood there with a bewildered look on her face, glancing around at her friends as they held a similar reaction. Although Starlight was now more hip to the idea of reforming villains, she too was a bit skeptical about all of this. She knew she was going to have to have a little chat with this, Lord Sombra, when she got the chance.
Twilight approached him, the newly appointed lord looking over at her. “What can you tell us about Stormclaw’s intentions?”
“That, Twilight, would be best told to you by another.” Celestia answered her, walking to her fellow princess. “There is somepony waiting for both you and Starlight in the Canterlot Archives.”
Starlight was snapped back to attention at hearing her name. “Me?”
Celestia nodded. “Yes, he awaits you both. Go on, we shall be here for when you return.”
Twilight and Starlight both looked at one another, and then back to the white alicorn, nodding in return. The two mares trotted over towards the door.
Starfall moved to follow them, but Celestia unfurled her wing in his path, halting him. “It is best they go alone, besides,” She said with a warm smile. “I have yet to welcome you back, my dear Starfall.”
“As have I.” Luna continued, walking over to his side opposite of her sister. “You kept us quite worried, you know?”
Starfall bowed his head to them both. “My apologies, princesses. I saw no other way.”
“What you did was extraordinarily brave, Starfall.” Celestia said to him, taking a moment to bow her head to him.
Luna did the same. “We would say you have our eternal gratitude… but in truth, you have already had it for quite some time.”
Starfall only managed a small blush at the gesture by both royal sisters, hardly able to respond outside of offering a most humble smile. Celestia looked him over for a brief moment. “Have you fully recovered?”
“Almost.” He replied, spreading his wings only to fold them up on his back again. “Still sore, but I am more than capable of continuing to perform my duties for Twilight.”
“That, I am glad to hear.” Celestia said, truly happy to see him up and spritely again. Their time together as a princess and her personal guard had made them more like close friends than anything else. She then turned and looked to Shadow, who turned his attention to her the moment he noticed her gaze.
“So, you are the one Stormclaw is so interested in?” Sombra said to the shadow pony, surprising him as the unicorn appeared to have come out of nowhere.
Shadow was quick to look at him, their eyes meeting with a strange familiarity. “It would seem I am.”
Sombra examined him for another moment before meeting his gaze once again. “Whatever he intends to do, it involves you. Perhaps it would be best if you stayed here where it is safe.”
“You met him, Sombra.” Shadow responded, shaking his head. “You know better than most that there is nowhere safe from him.”
After taking another moment to process this, Sombra nodded. “Yes, I suppose that is correct.” There was a strangeness in between them as they looked at one another, it only grew the longer they locked eyes. “You impressed me that night at the gala. That was dark magic, was it not?”
“No, not dark magic, my magic.” Shadow corrected him.
Sombra nodded once more. “Of course, forgive my assumptions; power has always fascinated me, but there is something about yours that fascinates me even more.”
Shadow held his stare. “Maybe when all of this is over, we can teach each other a few things?”
Sombra muffled a deep chuckle. “Perhaps.” With that, he turned and walked away from the shadow pony.
Fluttershy was quick to reach Shadow’s side. “Are you okay?” She asked, hoping he wasn’t too freaked out by the dark unicorn that it was triggering anything inside him.
Surprisingly enough, the ripples of reactions inside of Shadow weren’t serious enough to freak him out like they had before. He couldn’t quite ignore them, but their power over him was still very minimal. “I’m fine.” He replied, smiling. “He’s not as bad as I thought he’d be.”
Opening the door to the Canterlot Archives, Twilight and Starlight walked inside, Starlight using her magic to close the door behind them. The royal guards pointed the way for them, leading them to the Starswirl the Bearded wing of the archives.
Twilight hadn’t been here in a long while, there were very few occasions nowadays for her to go off looking through the books and scrolls of the archives. All of the recent visits to Canterlot had been marked by dire circumstance, giving her very little time to herself.
“So, Starlight,” Twilight began to say, looking over at her. “What was it you were going to tell me on the train?”
Starlight looked at her and tilted her head in reply. “Aren’t we looking for somepony?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk while we’re trying to find them, right?” the princess asked, offering a smile.
“Well…” Starlight replied, looking away a bit. “Ember came across this place in the west, she brought Spike and I there-”
“Twilight, Starlight, so good to see you two again.” Both mares stopped and faced forward, big smiles soon to cover their faces. Starswirl the Bearded stood at the center of the aisles, a few books levitating in the air around him. He glanced around for a moment before returning his gaze to them. “I am quite flattered the princesses constructed an entire wing of the archives in my honor.”
“You’re back from your adventure!” Twilight exclaimed, prancing over to her idol. “Where all did you go? How do you like Equestria now?”
Starswirl chuckled a little. “I went to a great many places during my travels, and I’ve seen many more things I would never have expected to see. Dragons behaving around ponies? Changelings who no longer feed off of others? You have accomplished more than I ever would’ve thought possible.”
Twilight’s face lit up in awe of the unicorn complementing her on her achievements. Though, she knew she had to correct the wizard. “Well, I can’t take too much credit for the changelings, that’s Starlight’s accomplishment.”
Starlight blushed a little, especially when Starswirl bowed his head to her. “It would seem I have much to learn about the world, and it is quite exciting.” He said, nodding to her.
“Celestia said you wished to speak with us?” Starlight asked, hoping not to sound evasive.
“Indeed,” Starswirl replied. He turned and called out, “Stygian, they have come.”
The small, darker unicorn stepped out from one of the rows, walking to Starswirl’s side. “Hello again, princess. And you as well, Starlight.”
“Aha, so that’s why you said you had to come here.” Twilight said, having wondered why he was so eager to leave the Crystal Empire.
“Stygian and I have spent the last few day or so here looking through what knowledge has amassed during our disappearance from the world.” Starswirl answered for him. “I myself have been here for a while now. I had hoped one of my unfinished spells was stored here, but it would seem it was lost during the passing of time.”
Starlight’s interest was triggered. “Oh? Which spell?”
Starswirl’s expression grew a bit more studious. “It was a spell in progress, one that would allow somepony to look far back into time and discover truths without altering the time line.”
Starlight immediately felt her interest die in a frightful flare. Twilight tilted her head, thinking back. “Hey… what about that time spell you-” She stopped when Starlight shot her an extremely fragile, “oops” look. Twilight then shook her head, wanting it to be something else. “Oh Starlight, you didn’t.”
She sighed, looking to Starswirl and Stygian, who were confused by this reaction. “I… umm… found that spell of yours a little while ago.”
Starswirl raised an eye brow. “Oh?”
“I may have, kinda, sorta, possibly, maybe altered it into a time-warp spell instead of a time-sight spell…” She said in a frail, embarrassed voice. “Aaaand changed it so it would affect time.” The following silence was so unbearable, it would make any normal bystander shiver in awkwardness.
“And where is this spell now?” Starswirl asked of her.
Twilight was able to answer that one for her. “It was lost in the time portal after I convinced Starlight, you know, not to affect time and totally ruin the present.”
Stygian looked at Starswirl, with the same expression that was returned to him. The wizard turned back to the two mares. “I see… during this time you two spent in the time portal, were you ever able to see how your actions affected the present?”
Both Twilight and Starlight nodded, only this time, Starlight knew it was her turn to speak. “I wasn’t there for all of them… only one, and it was terrible…”
Stygian pondered for a moment. “Perhaps they have already seen what you wanted to show them, Starswirl.”
Starswirl nodded. “Indeed, you may be right.”
Twilight looked confused. “Show us what?”
Starswirl used his magic to lift a scroll from atop the table beside them over in between them. “I have successfully managed to rewrite my spell, the way it was supposed to work.” The scroll opened, the spell looking quite similar to the one Starlight had used. “Stygian was able to help me add another line onto it, one that allows us to look into different versions of the future.”
Twilight and Starlight looked at one another briefly before facing forward again. “Why do you want us to look at it?” Twilight asked.
“You shall see why.” Starswirl replied, levitating it to them.
Twilight used her own magic to grab hold of it, lifting it so that she and Starlight could both see the text. After taking a moment, the princess activated the spell, creating a similar effect that Starlight’s variation of the spell had. A portal was opened, only this time, it appeared from the scroll itself, immediately grabbing the two mares and engulfing their vision.
Everything was so blurry at first. Twilight, still holding onto Starlight with her hoof, managed to stand, helping her friend up as well. As their vision cleared, they were both met with a familiar sight.
A windy, desolate land as far as the eye could see. The silhouette of hills were dim behind the veil of dust that blew with the haunting wind. On the horizon, there was a very faint, weak crimson glow, one that was barely visible, despite there being nothing else to see. The winds rose high through the air and blew violently, keeping the manes of both mares lifted. All of Equestria was cloaked in ash and dust, a broken world, kept in perpetual desolation.
“Twilight…” Starlight said quietly, her eyes widening and her mouth open in disbelief.
Twilight looked around, trying to understand. “This… this is what we saw…” She stopped, turning back to her friend. “B-but I don’t understand, we fixed the past, you and I, we fixed it together.”
Starlight tried thinking this through, but the mere sight of the world around her… seeing it all again… it was everything she remembered it being and worse. So much worse now that she had so much else she loved in Equestria.
“The spell…” She said softly, making Twilight halt. Starlight looked to her. “Starswirl said Stygian helped him alter the spell… this…” The two of them looked out at the dark world around them. “…this is what…”
Twilight couldn’t piece together what she meant until she remembered what Celestia had told them; about everypony coming together to stop…
“This is what will happen if Stormclaw wins…” Twilight finished for Starlight, her ears going flat to her head. “If my friends and I had never met, no pony would’ve been here to stop Stormclaw… that’s why we saw this, Starlight… in the end, it all became this…”
Starlight shook her head slowly. “No… no, it can’t be… how could he do something like this, Twilight? We were able to defeat him ourselves, this couldn’t possibly be his doing.”
Twilight still didn’t make eye contact with her friend, having gone silent. “No, not Stormclaw…” She replied, finally looking at Starlight, whose eyes widened when she realized it as well. “This must be what Shadow saw that night… this is why he ran away from us. Stormclaw isn’t the one that does this… Shadow is.”
The howling wind filled all silences between them. Equestria was gone, erased, razed from the world, now fallen into darkness. This was when Starlight felt it.
Glancing up into the sky, she felt her entire body tremble. The mural… the one in the Caverns of Maretania, the one of a world under the looming shadow above it. The eyes… those purple, glowing eyes…
Both mares felt the presence of something watching them, filling their eyes with fear as they spun around, glancing every which way to find what was looking at them. It was a ghostly sense, as if something was drawing closer to them. The loud wind and blowing dust made visibility bad enough already, and the two stood in fright of whatever this was.
“Cast the spell!” Starlight said quickly. “Get us out of here!”
Twilight fumbled with the scroll, but upon opening it, the text faded and the paper disintegrated into shadowy, burnt pieces, blowing apart in the strong winds.
The presence drew closer, the two of them feeling their very cores shiver as everything became cold. They turned in unison to meet the sight of a shadow moving their way, but only had a fraction of a second to see it before their vision went dark once again.
Twilight stood with her eyes covered, breathing heavily as she and Starlight both leaned against one another in protection. There was a pause, the cold inside them having disappeared as everything was lighter around them.
“It’s alright, Twilight.” She heard Starswirl’s voice. She and Starlight both lowered their hooves to find themselves back in the archives, in front of him and Stygian again. “It was a look into the future, it wasn’t real.”
Although the cold was now gone, Twilight still trembled lightly. “It felt real…”
Starswirl nodded. “I know… what you saw, it is what will come to pass if the black dragon’s dark plan prevails.”
Starlight glanced down at their hooves, only now noticing that the scroll was gone. “The scroll… where did it-”
“It disappeared.” Stygian replied. “Each time the spell is used to show the future, it is destroyed.”
“Starswirl,” Twilight said, looking to him with fearful eyes. “What can be done to stop this? We can’t find Stormclaw, or Chrysalis. If they are the cause of that alternate future, we cannot rest, we must find them and stop them.”
Starswirl shook his head. “It is not that simple, Twilight, you above all should know that. Set upon this path, you have been unable to find them by means of searching. The question we need to ask is not how to find Stormclaw; the question is how to best prepare for him when he comes.”
Stygian was able to clarify. “If we spend our time searching for the black dragon instead of preparing for him, when he does come, nothing will have changed. We need to focus on changing what he’s coming for.”
“You mean Shadow?” Starlight asked, hoping she got this right in her head now.
Stygian nodded. “There is a reason Shadow and I were able to connect the way we did in the Crystal Empire. If I had changed my ways in the past, and not succumb to the darkness, all of Equestria would’ve been spared the suffering I caused it. I believe Shadow is at that same stage. Stormclaw is coming for him, he must need him to cause that future. If we can change whatever it is inside of Shadow now, Stormclaw will be unable to cause this catastrophe.”
He was right… Twilight knew he was right. It was never about finding Stormclaw, it was about the darkness Shadow knew was inside of him. “I understand now.” She said, spurred on by this new development. “We should get back to the others.”
Sombra sat apart from the others while they spoke to one another about the royal guard and everything that had happened since he’d been in his coma. Sombra himself was impressed when he discovered the pegasus had survived the black dragon’s monstrous attack. It impressed him far more, however, that the young stallion flew in its path to protect his princess.
He remembered a time when he had that kind of devotion to his own princess… perhaps he still did, somewhere deep down. It would feel alien to him now, being as he still wanted the Crystal Empire to himself. He wanted Celestia and the Crystal Empire, when in reality he knew he could only pick one or the other. If what the alicorn princess told him was the truth… then the last time he made that choice, he picked the wrong one.
In a bizarre, unpredictable instant, Sombra’s vision was cursed with the sight of an upside-down, pink pony mere inches from his face. The tyrant king could never be frightened by a surprise or sudden circumstance. This pink one, however, made him recoil slightly.
“I’m Pinkie Pie.” She said happily, testing the waters with the chance of making a new friend.
The unicorn lord was completely derailed by her outgoing personality; it made no sense to him why she would behave this way to somepony such as himself. “Charmed.” He replied with a dull voice.
Pinkie flipped over in front of him, deciding to continue based on his reaction. “This is usually the part where I ask what your name is, but I already know what your name is, which puts me in a bit of a pickle, you know? Of course you know, I mean, why wouldn’t you know, right? So I decided to come on over and introduce myself because introducing yourself is something ponies always do when they meet each other for the first time, even though we kinda already met. Well, did we already meet? We kinda already met cause I saw you in the Crystal Empire, you know, back when you tried to take it over and everything? You probably wouldn’t remember me, so my name’s Pinkie Pie… oops, *snort* I already said that, didn’t I? I don’t usually get nervous when I’m talking to new ponies, I LOVE talking to new ponies, but I kinda got the feeling you wouldn’t want to talk. I have a friend who’s not much for talking, his name is Cranky Doodle, and he’s a donkey! Bet you never would’ve guessed that one, huh? So anyway, I wanted to come on over and say hi, cause I know I always feel better when somepony takes the time to say hello, you know?”
Sombra continued to watch as the pink mare carried on, thinking to himself, “How in Equestria are words still coming out?”
“Like Rainbow Dash, she’s the blue pegasus over there. I’m picking up some subtle vibes that she doesn’t quite like you yet, but she’ll come around, cause everypony deserves a chance. I remember this one time I made a friend with someone who just appeared outside of Sweet Apple Acres out of the blue! At first I thought he was weird cause he walked on two legs and was wearing a red suit, but then I realized I like weird things! So after a little getting to know one another, we went off and had a blast! His name was funny too, so I nicknamed him Pool, he didn’t mind, he actually thought it was really cool! Oh, and then there’s that time-”
“Pinkie?” Celestia said, halting her from continuing her story. “Could I speak with Sombra for a moment?”
“Abso-tuta-lutely, princess!” She replied, hopping back over towards the others. “I’ll tell you the rest of the story later!” She called back to the dark unicorn.
Sombra watched the pink mouthpiece hop off and turned to Celestia. “I don’t understand what just happened…” he said, still trying to make sense of the one called Pinkie Pie.
Celestia offered a small smile. “Nopony does, you’ll get used to it.”
Sombra shook his head for a brief moment, hoping to forget that bizarre encounter. He looked over at the others, who subtly looked his way from time to time. “Have you come to tell me not to harm Princess Twilight and her friends?”
Celestia’s expression became much more serious. “If I needed to ask you such a thing, you wouldn’t be standing here.”
With a small nod, Sombra shifted his head from side to side, as if considering that. “Fair point.”
“I wanted to ask you how you felt about them.” Celestia continued.
“Does how I feel about them matter?” He asked, his voice now broad.
Celestia was not amused in the slightest. “If you are going to be allowed to stay here, you have to be willing to change. I have told you nothing but the truth, the faults of your past are upon you, not anypony else. Either you will try to adapt to this new world, or you have no place at my side.”
Sombra took a moment before looking away from her. “I can’t tell if the pink one annoys or humors me.”
“Pinkie Pie. Go on.” Celestia commanded.
“The blue pegasus is rash, but unlike the others, she holds my gaze, so at least she’s brave.” Sombra continued.
“Rainbow Dash, hers should be easy for you to remember.” The princess corrected him.
“Humph,” He responded in a huff. “I have yet to meet with them, do not ask me for my thoughts now; they are almost solely derived from our first encounter. Especially that little, purple dragon.”
Celestia lifted her chin, the two of them locking eyes. “Then you will take the time to speak with them at the festival.”
Sombra sighed. “Unrelenting as ever, I see.”
The door to the chamber swung open, Twilight, Starlight, Starswirl, and Stygian trotting in towards everypony. All eyes turned to them, the manner in which they entered suggesting at something important.
“Cadence,” Twilight said immediately. “The letter I sent you about Shadow, I need to know if there’s anything you can do to help.”
Cadence took a moment before taking a deep breath. “There is one thing I can think of…” She turned to Shadow, walking over his way a few steps. “Shadow? I know being near the Crystal Heart helped you keep whatever it is inside of you at bay, so perhaps there is something we can do.”
Shadow looked anxious to hear it. “I’ll do anything.”
Cadence looked back at Shining Armor, the two having talked it over already. Receiving a nod from her husband, she turned back to Shadow. “Shining and I would like you to become the newest citizen of the Crystal Empire.”
The response to this was shock, a sort of surprising shock that was difficult to really hold together. Shadow had heard about how ponies become citizens of the Crystal Empire… but could he really…
“Whatever darkness is inside of you, Twilight tells me it weakens when in proximity to the empire, more specifically, the Crystal Heart itself.” She continued. “And so I believe if you became a part of the empire, you would never again feel the torment you have in the past.”
Twilight looked back and forth between Cadence and Shining Armor. “Do you really think that would work? Could the Crystal Heart really be the answer to all of this?”
Cadence nodded. “I have hope that it will.” She looked back to the shadow pony, who remained in relative shock at the offer. “It would be an honor to have you with us.”
A thousand excited, joyous thoughts exploded into Shadow’s mind. That sounded like it could work, it felt like it could work… what if it could? He would finally be free of all of it… but at the same time… one, single doubt lingered in his mind.
Shadow turned his head and looked at Fluttershy, who waited for his answer to the princess. Her eyes were glassy, shimmering even as she listened for his reply. That one thought grew stronger because of this look she gave him. But then the haunting vision came to mind… what he saw through the darkness… what he saw would happen if he…
“The honor would be mine.” Shadow replied, having turned back to Cadence.
Most everypony in the throne room cheered at this new turn of events, crowding Shadow and congratulating him while he looked around at them all, smiling. Fluttershy cracked a smile, but that same doubt in Shadow’s mind lingered in hers as well.
“So it is decided then,” Celestia announced to them. “The festival is in two days’ time, and the premiere event shall be your Crystalling Ceremony, Shadow.”