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// Chapter 2. A Decision is Made 
// Story: The New Crystal Empire 
// by MoonlightEclipsed 
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Silence hung heavy between both sisters as they slowly stepped out of the magical dome, teleporting to the base tent. Once there, a new set of magical barriers were set up, this time soundproof ones to ensure no one outside would hear what they needed to discuss. Two cups of tea were quickly made by Celestia, who handed one to Luna as they sat down in front of each other. Both alicorns were lost in their thoughts, each wondering different things and occasionally sipping the tea from their cups, not daring to look at the other in case the thoughts were plainly read in their faces.

Finally, Celestia stood up and walked towards the table that had a map open with the positions of each part of their army and marked what territory they still had control over and what was currently in Sombra’s control. She began moving figures around while murmuring under her breath, as if trying to find the best place to put the figures back.

Luna, on the other hand, turned her attention towards a small window in the tent, silently watching the snowflakes fall as the snow storm outside calmed down and gave way to a soft flurry of snow. Her thoughts were all over the place, but seemed to always come back to one point: Sombra’s last option for a treaty. Compared to the other two, the last one was by far the best, but the price to pay for it was quite big and the consequences for it at a near future were unknown.

“Luna? Do you think you can come and look at this? I think maybe by placing some extra soldiers we can stop for some time the advance and maybe use the snow to our advantage” Celestia called out, focused on the map and waiting for an answer from her sister. When she receives none, she turns around, looking towards her little sister “Luna? Did you hear me?” Again, no answer. Shaking her head, Celestia walks over and nudges her sister gently, effectively catching her attention. “Lulu? Are you alright?” Her tone showed her concern clearly, it wasn’t normal in her sister to be so quiet or distracted.

Luna allows a small smile to grace her lips in apology, trying to push her thoughts to the back of her mind, trying to keep them in order. “Yes, sorry Tia. I was just... lost in thought. What did you want me to see?” She just wanted to reassure her sister she was fine, and hopefully move the topic away from her, or else her mind might ally with her mouth, and make her say just what she had been thinking

“Luna, something is clearly bothering you. Please, tell me what it is.” Celestia leaned down to nuzzle her sister “I lost you for a thousand years for not listening to what you had to say, or even noticing how you felt. I refuse to make those mistakes again.” This was enough to crack Luna’s shield as she leaned forward into the nuzzle, returning it with a sigh, knowing she was right. “I was thinking about the options Sombra gave for a treaty, the third one won’t leave my mind. It would at least bring peace sister but…”

“No, Luna. We sadly can’t do much with those options as we would be giving in to what Sombra wants, stepping right into his game. We will find another way, maybe a new strategy or new spells, but we will make it out of this war for our citizens sake” Her mind had turned down all the options by now, believing none could make things better and their next best choice was to think up a new strategy to fight. “Come look at this, maybe together we will finally come up with a winning movement”

With one last nuzzle, Celestia stood up and walked back towards the strategy map, soon after joined by her sister. Luna had stayed silent, but her mind kept wandering back to her decision. Her sister clearly wouldn’t support it, and she would most likely earn her anger for some time. But if it meant their citizens and those in the Crystal Empire were safe, then she would do it.

They both went over new movements during the day, briefly updating their generals on how the meeting had gone, but they kept the details of the treaty to themselves. There was no need to worry them even more than they were already, their job was to keep order in the army and make sure spirits stayed as high as possible. When it was time for them to lower the sun and raise the moon, Luna’s belly felt in knots, knowing soon enough they would have to meet up with Sombra and she would have to face her sister with the decision she had made.

Once the time arrived, they both teleported to the meeting place, quickly setting up the needed magical barriers for the meeting. Just in time, Sombra walked closer and entered the dome, greeting them with his signature smirk and eerie calm. “Ladies, it’s nice to see you again. Tell me then, which option will you agree to?”

Celestia was the first to speak up, standing tall and proud while looking down neutrally at Sombra. She wouldn’t walk into his games and put at risk the safety of all their citizens. “We won’t- “ but she was quickly interrupted by Luna, who saw this as her only chance “we won’t delay this any longer… I… I will accept your third condition and stay here in the Crystal Empire in exchange for the end of the war.” Luna said this while keeping her head down, hoping to avoid eye contact with her sister, she couldn’t help but wince when hearing her sister shout.

“WHAT?! Luna, you can’t do this!” Celestia was in shock, had she heard right? Her little sister was giving in to this tyrant? No, it couldn’t be, this had to be some sick type of joke from her, she used to be tied to the element of Laughter after all. Sombra, meanwhile, just watched the scene with an amused smirk, seeming to be enjoying this too much. “See Celestia? It was this easy to stop the war. You will like it here dearest Luna, and I’ll keep my end of the treaty.”

Luna sighed, knowing beforehand that something like this would happen, yet also knowing it was their best chance at avoiding a massive bloodbath without the Elements of Harmony (They were no longer tied to her and Celestia, so they couldn’t use them to stop Sombra, nor had they found the new bearers.). “You will free Mi Amore Cadenza and Shinning Armor first, next all the ponies in your army. I will come stay here after tying up some affairs in Canterlot.”

“Very well, you can come and free those two. I expect you come back within a week, wouldn’t want to use the army again to force you to keep that promise, would we?” Sombra hadn’t even changed his expression, his smirk was still ever present while turning around and beginning to walk back towards the castle “I will show you where they are, come”. Luna risked one last look at Celestia, who was still in shock before following Sombra out of the magical dome and through the thick snow path that would lead them towards the limits of the crystal Empire and into the castle itself.

Once they reached the castle, Sombra opened the door with his magic for her, he leads her towards the dungeon. To his credit, he kept silent throughout the small journey, which she appreciated as her mind had enough to deal with right now to even try being civil with him. Silently, he lit the torch that would illuminate the cell that held Cadenza and Shining armor. A second after the light filled the room and they were able to see, he motioned for her to go to them.

Carefully, she approached the door, still on alert for if this was any sort of trap for him to capture her also, but nothing happened. “Cadenza? Captain Armor? Are you alright?”. She heard quick movement, followed by a pink figure standing up shakily and running over to the cell door. “Aunt Luna! Oh, thank Faust you’re here. Can you get us out? What happened?”. Luna briefly looked back at Sombra, who nodded and waved his hoof as if to tell her to go ahead and open the cell if she wanted. Then, he turned around and went back upstairs, leaving the door to the dungeons open for when Luna was done talking to the two ponies.

“It’s alright Cadenza, the war is over. I’m going to get you out and we’ll return to Canterlot, so you are looked over by the doctors. Celestia will be happy to see you for sure.“ The moment she opened the door, she was enveloped in a brief hug by her niece before she went back inside and helped Shinning Armor come out. “The war is over? But how? Sombra couldn’t be defeated without the Crystal Heart or the Elements of Harmony. Aunt Luna what happened?” She could feel something was off, as Luna instead of looking happy or relieved when telling her about the war, looked sad, almost guilty. As though she was keeping something from her. “Cadence, I don’t think it’s the right time to ask. Let’s trust Princess Luna and get out of here.” Shining Armor was barely able to stand up on his own, and it was obvious the time in the dungeons hadn’t treated him very well unlike Cadence, who looked slightly better. Luna was glad for his intervention, as she didn’t want to tell Cadence that she had agreed to marry Sombra and stay here in exchange for everyone’s freedom. “He’s right, we must have a doctor look over you two as soon as possible. Come on, lets head out before a snowstorm decides to fall on us”

And with this, she turned and began leading them out of the dungeons and through the castle. Doing her best to keep her head held high with the little pride she had left. Leading them out into the snow, they found Celestia waiting for them outside of the magical dome. Celestia hugged Cadence upon seeing her telling her and Shining Armor how happy she was to see they were alright. With Luna’s help, they teleported back towards the base camp, quickly sending for a doctor and Twilight Sparkle. Who was sure to have missed her brother more than anyone else. During all of this, no words were exchanged between the sisters. They both had too much on their mind to process.