After the two immortal princesses finished their breakfast and completed a few of their important morning duties Luna decided that it would be best to take her leave and head out to search for the unicorn king that she was determined to assist.
Celestia on the other hand still wasn't too sure if this was safe or not, but she also didn't want to try and convince Luna not to help Sombra because last time she tried that it did not work out in the elder sisters favour, but perhaps if she could keep Luna around a bit longer she'd reconsider and everything would go back to normal.
Celestia walked up to Luna as the princess of the night headed to the main door of the castle "you know Luna, it may be wiser to wait till the night, so you can talk to Sombra within the dreamscape" Celestia suggested.
Luna turned to her elder sister, practically glaring at her "we discussed this sister! I'm leaving to help Sombra and you aren't going to change that! Do you think I would wait till it is most convenient for me to assist someone! Would you do that if your student Twilight needed assistance or any citizen for that matter! This is my job so allow me to do it! "
With that Luna stormed out of the Castle and celestia was left there completely shocked and very disappointed in herself, what Luna was saying was correct, she wouldn't turn her back on one of her citizens who needed her assistance and she wouldn't wait till it was convenient for herself to help them either, she'd drop whatever she was doing and make sure they get the help they needed.
But this at the same time was king Sombra, a cruel and evil tyrant, she wouldn't even consider helping someone like that, so why would Luna.
Celestia pondered this question for a bit till all of a sudden her thoughts were cut off by a sudden explosion of smoke in front of her "OHH THE DRAMA IS REAL NOW" a very familiar voice came from the smoke as none other than Discord stepped out rubbing his beard "to think I'd get to see a princess argument that didn't involve me oh goody!" the draconequus squeezed excitedly but at the same time it was clear that he was just attempting to mock the princess.
Celestia gave him a dry look and Discord stopped "oh fine fine, jeez I hate that look from you Celestia so boring" Discord moaned in a bored tone.
Celestia then thought of an idea "Discord, why do you think that Luna is so determined to help Sombra?"
Discord paused at the unexpected question "me?" he asked genuinely not expecting Celestia to turn to him of all ponies "why would you ask me? You are her sister after all"
Celestia nodded "yes I know, but at the same time and please don't take this offensively in anyway but you have shown many times that you can indeed manipulate both my sister and I, so I'd imagine that you understand pretty well how we feel and how we think, so can you think of anything that could explain why Luna is so determined" Celestia asked looking up at Discord a hint of desperation in her eyes.
Discord noticed this and perhaps that maybe he should take this question seriously and actually give some sort of straight forward answer instead of making this big complicated riddle that no one can understand. The draconequus tapped his chin with his lion paw "hmmm, let me think let me think, perhaps it's because she's been in a similar situation before" Discord considered.
Celestias eyes widened slightly a look of disbelief on her face "you mean.. When she was Nightmare moon?" Celestia asked the memories of when she banished her sister to the moon rushing back to her.
Discord waved his hands dramatically "WOAH WOAH, it's just a possibility! I'm not saying anything for certa-"
Celestia teared up "no... Discord, that, has to be it... Luna understands the feeling of hatred, she experienced it for herself, she understands that one isn't just born evil! She believes that if someone can become evil they can return to normal!" Celestia then began to cry, her tears falling to the red rug that went from the entrance to her throne "how'd I not see this! This is all my fault! I didn't help her when she was feeling left behind! I didn't help her when she was transformed into nightmare moon! FOR GOD SAKES DISCORD I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THE ELEMENTS WOULD TURN HER BACK TO NORMAL WHEN TWILIGHT AND HER FRIENDS USED THEM ON HE-"
Discord covered Celestias mouth" That's enough Celestia snap out of it already! "he snapped giving her a serious expression" quit feeling sad about what has happened and think about what will happen! For now stay out of your sister's way, now that that's out of the way" Discord clicked his fingers and a checkers board appeared in front of the two "CELESTIA I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL"
Celestia giggled and smiled at the draconequus "alright Discord, I accepted your challenge" and with that the two began peacefully playing with each other. While Celestia was still worried she was also glad to have Discord around to sort of balance her out a bit and help her think in a less protective manner.
Luna made it out of canterlot and decided that the first place she should go is the crystal empire, that is where Sombra last was before his demise after all, it would make sense for him to be around their somewhere, when Luna used a teleportation spell to quickly appear within the crystal empire she decided to use her horn to try and detect any strange energy around the area, once she did it didn't take too long for her to sense the feeling of dark magic.
As she followed it she was stopped multiple times by ponies who were curious on why she was there, she would have preferred just teleporting directly to Sombra however during to not knowing his exact location this would not work. As she feared however it didn't take too long for her presence to attract the attention of the princess of the crystal empire, princess Cadence who flew down to greet the princess of the night "Princess Luna, what a surprise.. But why are you hear? No disrespect princess, it's just unexpected"
Luna nodded, she wanted to think of some sort of excuse that she could use without mentioning Sombra "oh you see while I was in the dream scape I felt a strange presence, like something in the night was calling to me, I decided to come and investigate, I have a feeling it may be a pony who needs help with their nightmares" Luna replied, she didn't want to make some lie in fear that could cause for some problematic inconsistencies with her explanations.
Cadence nodded "oh I see, well I'll leave you to your work, you have far more knowledge about the dreamworld than I do after all" Cadence admitted.
Luna nodded and smiled with relief "thank you, but please remember Cadence, just because you don't understand the dreamscape doesn't make you any less of a princess, each of us have our own purpose, after all I doubt I could fill your shoes with your job"
Cadence smiled back with delight and nodded "thank you Luna! I appreciate you saying that a lot!" Cadence thanked, she couldn't help but sometimes feel out of place, kind of in the way Twilight did, so those words of encouragement always helped the princess of love believe what she was doing was indeed important.
With that Luna continued on her way, reaching a forest not too far outside of the crystal empire. The princess of the night examined the area until she discovered purple dark energy coming from a dark cave, Luna knew that this had to be him. She hesitated for a moment before entering and once she did, she discovered a beaten and tired unicorn king, he looked like he hadn't achieved a healthy sleep for a long time with bags under his eyes, on top of that he had many scars lining his body. This really just gave Luna more questions and made it more clear that she had to help Sombra... No matter what.