Chapter 36
“Celestia!”
The Princess of the Sun opened her soft eyes sleepily, surrounded by the pitch blackness of the night. Only she wasn't in her bed, rather, she was surrounded by a dark void that she floated in without use of her powerful wings. Around her, were many mysterious gray colored doors that drifted in arcing patterns, the voices of many of her subjects coming from behind them. She couldn't possibly pick them all out by name, but the voice that had woken her up was all too familiar.
Flipping over in the swirling, ghostly void, Celestia came face to face with her sister, albeit upside down in the aether between dreams.
“What's going on, Luna? Why have you brought us here?” she asked curiously, righting herself in the colorful abyss.
“It's urgent, I promise,” Luna declared, her horn glowing as she prepared her magic, “there is a dream that we need to enter together.”
Celestia felt more than concerned, which was justified given the current circumstances. It had been a long time since Luna had last invited her to show her the realm of dreams and anything that lay inside of it.
“Have you finally gotten through to Midnight Blaze or Techorse?” she demanded to know, “They've been cut off from you ever since all of this started.”
Luna shook her head, “Something even more unusual. Allow me to show you.”
With that, the Princess of the Moon cast a wave of energy that filled the area, changing the scenery from the nothingness to a comfortable room that matched one of the hallways in Canterlot's castle. Rows of doors lined the walls, each one representing the entrance to one of dreams of the ponies living throughout Equestria. Or at the very least, this was Luna's current chosen metaphor for the portals to the realm of sleep for the sake of getting Celestia out of the void.
“I do not remember this hallway,” she admitted, following her sister closely, “wasn't your dream selection spell a library before, with books to open for each of our subject's dreams?”
“I decided to make a change for my own amusement,” Luna sarcastically responded, rolling her eyes, “now if you observe, you will notice the door ahead with a red mist coming from beneath its frame.”
The door to their right was indeed spilling out some kind of crimson fog, making it eerily stick out from the rest of the doorways.
“I like the emphasis,” Celestia said, giggling, “very dramatic.”
“I'm not making the haze.”
That changed her sister's attitude right away, and a frown swept over the sun raiser's face, “Oh... well, that red smoke can't possibly be good. Who's dream is that?”
Luna stopped them in front of the door, hesitant to push it open with her hoof. She looked up into her sister's big eyes, and answered,
“Sombra's.”
“WHAT?!”
Luna took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “It would seem that Sombra has been, as Techorse might put it... 'jamming' my dreamwalking so that I cannot enter his or any of our friends' dreams to offer them help. I have good reason to believe he has picked up magical abilities quite like my own somehow. Perhaps it is how he was able to manipulate Midnight Blaze in the first place!”
“If Sombra can dreamwalk... he could gain enough power to haunt every pony in Equestria!” Celestia gasped, her wings unfolding.
“Yes,” Princess Luna nodded mournfully, “it isn't enough for that monster to control ponies during the day. He must also terrorize them at night as well, which is why he's learned the skill. But that still does not answer why his door is open this evening. My only thought is... he is expecting us.”
“It's clearly a trap,” her sister warned, returning her broad wingspan to her barrel, “Sombra is trying to ruin our ability to help the Crystal Empire survive his army's attack.”
“That would be the simplest explanation, but when have we known Sombra to take the simplest option in any circumstance?” Luna questioned, looking back at the wooden door, “He intends to manipulate us into giving him information he can use to win. If anything were to go wrong, I would be able to get us both to safety... his dreamwalking powers are still too underdeveloped to fight us.”
“So why should we even enter and face him?” asked Celestia, raising an eyebrow, “Can't we just go back to resting?”
“I need to know how he knew about my chalice, and was able to return,” she answered, a very serious tone in her voice, “he had influence over others despite having been eradicated by the Crystal Heart. As soon as I know how he was able to control Rosseth from beyond the grave, we will leave. I only ask that you help me keep him busy, Celestia. This information could help answer a few questions about the recent happenings in Equestria.”
Knowing what she meant, Celestia said nothing further and agreed with a reluctant smile. Luna understood her sister's reluctance and turned to face the doorway entirely. It swung open by her command, and the two alicorns entered, unsure what they were going to face on the other side.
They stepped out into a garden bathed in a golden sunset, the late afternoon reds and oranges pouring over every inch of the surrounding terrain. Celestia looked back, and felt startled when she saw that the doorway had vanished without a sound or puff of smoke. She returned her focus back to the interior of Sombra's dream, and felt a sense of peace that was rather odd for the king's personality. Beautiful tile lay all over the ground in a rectangular mosaic to stand on while enjoying the plants. There were also imposing columns of marble that stretched to the sky, and running water from an open fountain poured out into a river that ran around the left flank of the display. The botanic choices Sombra had made for his dream were rather nice, with many exotic flowers and small trees that completed the peaceful atmosphere. Behind it lay a copy of the castle the king of shadows was currently residing in, only made out of the purest white alabaster stone, which reflected the evening sunlight against it in a way that impressed the princesses, although they would never admit it if asked.
“For Sombra, this is rather... serene,” Celestia sighed, “I would have expected something much scarier.”
“Do not let your guard down,” warned her sister, “this is part of his plan.”
“You lack trust, Luna,” Sombra responded, walking to meet them in the garden, coming up a marble pathway that led to the mosaic, “do you not like what I've done with my own dream?”
Celestia noticed that Sombra had taken on a form of a more harmless stallion, his original look far before he became involved with dark magic. Gray coat, handsome and strong build, a normal horn, and black mane hair that flowed behind him. Even his cape was a more modest red fabric that waved behind him. But most noticeably of all, his emerald green eyes lacked the hatred and anguish both of the princesses had come to know, and he had increased his physical size to match their own statures.
“During this entire ordeal, you've kept your dreams blocked off,” Luna growled, refusing to buy into his “act” of looking normal, “not to mention your threats against the Crystal Empire, and your unspeakablecruelty to Shadow Breeze!”
“Hmm...”
Sombra drew his eyes off of Luna's raging expression and made contact with Celestia's, reading her expression and feelings. He felt it weird that despite the apparent death of Shadow in front of the Crystal Empire, Celestia wasn't quite upset enough. Even one of her subjects suffering was enough to make the princess fly into a defensive mode fitting a protective mother. Yet the ivory mare stood without so much as a disapproving frown. That was all the info Sombra needed to draw his next conclusion.
“Shadow Breeze lives,” he chuckled, making Celestia hold her breath out of surprise, “Techorse and Flaming Ivory will be happy to know their friend is still around for them to enjoy. But I'll be keeping that important piece of knowledge to myself, they're weak with that loss in their hearts.”
Celestia gritted her teeth, her face twitching in anger, “You... you monster. You tell them he's alive at once!”
“If I do that, I can't control them,” Sombra answered, tilting his head, “you're just as stupid as your subjects, expecting me to comply with that request.”
Princess Celestia lost her temper, and screamed at Sombra while swinging her head down to engage him. Her horn emitted a lethal ray of solar magic into the king's chest, piercing through him immediately and frying a perfectly round hole through his body. Smoke drifted from the top of Celestia's horn, who was quite winded from her attack.
“Please keep in mind we're in a dream,” Sombra grunted, looking down at the fresh gap where his ribs ought to be, “there's no point in trying to use violence here.”
The hole healed up rapidly without scar tissue or pain, regenerating from the laser.
Luna felt far more intimidated by the display, “That severe of an attack should have woken him up!”
Sombra continued to lay into Celestia, stepping up to the angry princess and placing a hoof on her cheek. Luna watched on, and felt that her legs had been locked into place like she was glued to the floor. She realized in horror that Sombra had been in control of the situation the moment they had entered the dream, and Celestia letting him touch her face was very much scripted by the king.
“How could he be so powerful here?!” Luna questioned mentally, struggling to do anything but watch Sombra play with them.
She had thought at first that Sombra had started to touch Celestia out of disrespect and teasing. But in a gross moment of misguided affection, Luna watched Sombra's expression turn starry and subdued. His green eyes were staring deep into Celestia's, and the princess was mesmerized by how intently he was looking at her.
“Oh Celestia,” he said softly, continuing to rub her face gently, “despite your shortcomings, I find it hard to be angry with you. Such beauty and grace behind all that power and might.”
“Flattering others will not get you far,” returned the princess, wishing she could rip his hoof off.
“Oh but I mean it,” Sombra answered, shaking his head, “That flowing mane, your eyes and slender form? I would have been happy to have called you my lover back in the day. But you chose to see me as a monster.”
Celestia felt her face go hot, “Us? A couple? You're making me sick.”
Sombra finally pulled his hoof away, “It didn't have to be like this at all. You could have taken my side all those years ago.”
“You... you murdered their leadership,” Luna managed to say, her magic finally letting her pierce through the paralysis while Sombra was distracted, “we had every reason to fight back, and so did the Crystal Ponies!”
“Their 'leadership' destroyed my home, and who knows how many Shadow Ponies!” Sombra snapped, turning to Luna quickly and spitting in her face, “If you want to count transgressions, let's start with that! It was a fair trade of blood, and the right thing to do!”
“Your concept of what's fair and the right thing to do is flawed beyond belief,” Celestia countered, trying to break free as well from the passive curse inside the dream.
Sombra stopped, going silent and losing his aura of rage. He walked away from the princesses for a second, hanging his head to give himself a little time to think.
“Is it?” he asked sincerely without turning around again, “I deserve better than this.”
“It's arrogant to ask that even if it's rhetorical,” Luna said, “your belief that you are entitled to the Crystal Ponies as slaves because of what happened to the Shadow Pony nation is cruel. You do not deserve anything!”
Sombra thought for a moment and then sighed, “There is something I need to show you. Perhaps then you will understand.”
A heavy gale started to surge through the garden, tearing up tiles and uprooting the plants in a maelstrom generated by King Sombra's twisted mind. The scenery was disappearing, but the setting sun remained in place. Celestia and Luna felt themselves move as the castle shrank away from sight, they still could not move, but Sombra was free to walk up to them and stand between them as a third observer to the event. Soon the Crystal Empire came into view, but something was very wrong. Fires had broken out all along the city, the palace was a dark shade of red and black, with chunks missing from it due to some kind of explosive damage. Flying above the scene and looking down, the princesses remembered all too well what Sombra was showing them.
The king looked at their startled expressions blankly, “I see you recall this moment. The moment you decided to destroy me.”
With no say in the matter, the sisters were dragged downward at a steep angle as if crashing, flying through the smoke and haze that drifted from the destroyed kingdom and phasing through the wall of the Crystal Palace's remains. When they landed on the floor, they noticed that they were ghostly and spectral, mere observers to the events unfolding.
The inside of the Crystal Palace was a sickly ruby red in color, with dark iron torches hanging from the walls and ceilings, a stark contrast from the more beautiful castle he called home in the Valley of Shadows. Celestia recognized the area as the castle's throne room where Cadance would sit, a long red carpet led up to the giant silver chair, now twisted from the influence of dark magic. Huge glass pipes filled with magma had been installed throughout the room, another one of the king's twisted inventions having changed the architecture.
“Look at the monster on the throne,” Celestia said, beating him to the first word, “that is what you became, and what we had to destroy. Even your current form is tolerable over that... soulless void.”
Listening to her “opinion”, Sombra had to admit that he hardly recognized himself on the throne. His past self was nearly pitch black in coat color, with purple and green eyes glowing from inside his heavy imperial armor. Two sharp fangs poked from the top of his jaw, and purple arcs of energy arced from his curved horn pulsing with demonic power. Explosions rocked the building, forcing the dark lord to stand up and growl at his misfortune.
“Such is the life of a true ruler,” past Sombra said, dark and deep words echoing throughout the empty hallways as dust fluttered down from the ceiling, “a kingdom taken from him by those who want justice... but do not understand it. The mission statement of Equestria.”
Another blast rocked the palace as an Equestria cannonball struck a gun emplacement on the outside, vaporizing the automated turret and smashing in the wall. Sombra shook his head, of course the Equestrians weren't going to charge the weapons and risk themselves. They'd much prefer to sit outside the range of his defenses and slowly bomb his hexthrowers and cannons into powder. It was easy for the cowardly royal guard to be at the edges of his Empire and beat down any of his golems that left the cover of the buildings. But this meant that none of the Crystal Ponies were being rescued, and he still had his slaves.
“All they know to do is destroy things they do not understand,” the king sighed, thinking of his enemy as mere children, “those two alicorns have much to learn about the real world, and uncle Starswirl is no longer around to protect them. No matter what happens today, even if I should fall... they will pay for their arrogance in thinking I'm a monster.”
Into the hallway ran a swarm of golems, the older model Sombra had built many years ago. Barely a walking suit of knight armor with a cannon for a left arm, the prototypes still dedicated their loyalty to their king, and methodically entered the room in such a way that they formed a perfect line from wall to wall, blocking Sombra off. The massive iron doors that led to the throne room shuddered.
BOOM
“Every issue, every question of morality is all or nothing for those two. They think in terms of night and day....”
Each machine raised his weapon at the doorway, preparing to fire. Sombra stood up from his throne, and threw away the red robe on his back to prepare himself for the attack. A wicked smile crept across his face, displaying his fangs for all to see.
“...and that's exactly how I need them to think.”
Another heavy blast rocked the castle, and the great iron doors came down with a loud clang, prompting the golems to open fire into the doorway. Beams of energy shot forth from their guns, penetrating the dust and debris scattered by the multi-ton entrance coming down suddenly. A lightning fast streak of white entered the room, Celestia clad in gold armor unknown to her modern day subjects. The suit covered the first half of her legs and her hooves, ornate panels of body armor protected her barrel, and a gold tiara that covered the top half of her face kept her mane, now bound in a long ponytail on her head to prevent its waving from getting in the way.
“Did my armor really look that silly?” Celestia whispered to herself.
The golems tried to focus their fire on the sun princess, shots bouncing off the armor and a magical barrier she had placed between herself and the machines. Luna entered above her sibling, wings spread through her own silver copy of the “silly” royal armor, and she cast a bright blue beam of piercing energy down at the war golems below. It cut through them lengthwise in one sweeping motion, severing their insides and spilling them all over the floor in a heap of melting scrap metal. She landed next to her sister, proud of herself for eliminating the squad in one shot.
“Impressive!” past King Sombra said, stepping forward off his throne, “Very impressive indeed, Celestia. You and your sister have been trained well!”
“THINEREIGN OF TERROR ENDS HERE SOMBRA!” Luna boomed in her royal Canterlot voice, “WE WILL SEE IT CRUSHED BENEATH EQUESTRIA'S MIGHT!”
“I see. Have you come to kill me?” asked the king.
“It is within our royal duties to end the reigns of tyrants such as you,” Celestia said in a voice much more calm than Luna's, “you were warned to release the citizens of this realm. Being deaf to their horror and pain has warranted your demise.”
The king's eyes narrowed, “We will see who falls today, princesses...”
“Did we really talk like this?” Luna said, cringing on the inside.
“I must admit, it is a little... off-putting,” modern Sombra agreed.
They were interrupted by their former beings starting their duel. King Sombra initiated the battle by summoning a burning sword of shadow and flame, the conjured object swung just inches from Celestia's neck. She managed to dodge the blow, and returned fire with a scalding ball of solar plasma shot from her horn. Blocking with the edge of his blade, the projectile was bounced into a nearby lava tube, which ruptured it and began to fill the throne room with the boiling rock. Spreading their wings and taking off, the two princesses ascended, leaving Sombra to contend with his own flooding room. But Sombra dropped his blade down into the floor beneath him, and rapidly cut a hole through the floor to escape the glowing rock.
Giving chase, Luna and Celestia flew into the hole after him, entering the inner sanctum of the palace. It was a dark room, with a massive column in the center that stretched up into the ceiling, a glowing red dark energy crystal rotating to provide energy for the palace. Carved stone lined the walls of this “engine room”, and an occasional beam of light exited the power core and struck the carvings to send energy to where it was needed in the castle.
“We need to knock out his power source!” Celestia said, “But let's stop Sombra's attacks first!”
Sombra had dismissed his sword, and launched bolts of shadow energy at Celestia, hoping to knock her out of the air. She skillfully rolled to avoid the attacks before countering with a magical whip made of white energy, the chain snaking from her horn in an attempt to grab Sombra's leg. To her shock, the king allowed it to wrap around his front hoof before he pulled on it hard. The force was so sudden from his movement, that Celestia failed to fly backwards enough to stop the chain from dragging her down instead. Sombra's dark magic had given him great strength, and Celestia found herself being pulled into the walls of the spire, her armor crunching and shattering against the red stone, which crumbled from Celestia's body being rammed into it. Her chain disappeared, and the injured alicorn peeled off of the wall and fell to the floor, flopping on her side.
“Celestia!” Luna cried, diving down to help, “No!”
Sombra waited patiently for Luna to check on her sister's health, smiling without even a hint of hatred on his face. The princess was permitted to examine her sister as long as she needed to by the king's “grace”.
“You liar,” modern Luna grumbled as she watched the show, “you shot at me the entire time.”
“Patience.”
Past Luna shook past Celestia with her hooves, hoping to get her up, when she turned around and saw a thousand floating shadow daggers pointed right at them. Gasping, she charged her horn quickly and teleported them both out of the way just as the dark knives sunk deep into the floor and walls. Luna fired off another solid ray at Sombra, the same one used to destroy his golems. Turning into a black mist, the king easily absorbed the attack, but it had rendered him unable to attack.
“Celestia, you MUST awaken!” Luna cried, continuing to shake her sister, “I need you!”
She heard a whistling noise behind herself, finding a ball of shadow coming right at her. Too tired to teleport again, she could only brace for impact as Sombra's next spell hit her. It didn't seem to do much, bouncing rather gently off of the front of her silver armor plating. Opening her eyes, the Princess of the Moon had a closer look at the sphere of shadow magic. To her horror, there was a lit, burning fuse sticking out of the top.
BLAM
The shadow bomb detonated, tossing the alicorn up and away from from her sister and ruining her armor plating. She hit the floor hard, and rolled a few feet before coming to a rest right in front of Sombra, horn smoking from his clever attack. The bloody red of his glowing eyes and sinister expression led the princess to believe that she would soon be finished off, and she hung her head in preparation for the end. A bright red laser shot from the core behind them and over their heads, entering the carved stone closest to them with a loud hum of deadly energy.
But Sombra had other plans for her, “Rise, Princess Luna. Your willingness to save your sister has satisfied my wrath. Let's talk like true ponies, and stop this foolish duel.“
Luna couldn't believe what she was hearing, but she stood up on her own four legs and allowed the king to continue.
“What meanest you by this?”
“I find it... curious that you would risk your life to save Celestia,” he said slowly, “after all she does to make sure your name never sees the light of day.”
“What?” muttered Luna, avoiding eye contact.
“Oh... but I know so much about you,” Sombra continued, smiling, “the little sister. The princess Equestria lets rot in her tower while her older sibling gets all the glory for Equestria's success. Equestria's farms produce the most food this world has ever seen, and yet they thank only the day for the growth of their crops. Not the night. But I know better, those farmers would not be able to conduct their duties without their rest. Something only you provide.”
Luna held her tongue, but her face clearly twitched with pent up anger and jealousy.
“If you had killed me with that magic of yours, Luna, do you really think that Equestria would celebrate you as a hero?” past Sombra asked, stepping up to the disgruntled princess, “Or do you think the royal guard would credit Celestia with all your bravery and hard work?”
“I would prefer to avoid discussion of this,” the silver-clad princess grumbled.
“It's not a discussion. I am telling you the truth,” Sombra responded, “even your birthday is forgotten at times. I know what it's like... for others to fail to acknowledge one's being. It hurts, deeply.”
“Are you finished yet!?” Luna cried, trying to ignore what she felt was true.
“Luna, I am only trying to...” Sombra tried to continue, before a beam of hot white plasma surged into his chest and carved a deep hole into him.
A rasping breath of air came from his punctured lungs, and purple liquid poured from his mouth. The king gurgled, stumbling backwards. Celestia had come to, and took his moment of conversation with Luna to mean a free shot at his heart. Sombra thought he was feeling his life force slip away from the hit, but when he looked back at the core of the Crystal Palace, the wicked crystal he had replaced the Heart with... he knew things weren't over quite yet. In fact, he could feel the Dark Magic in his body start to take over where his physical body was failing, the power more than making up for his lack of a working physical heart. He began to slowly walk backwards, the hole patching itself up slowly.
“Sombra, it's over,” Celestia said, grunting from a damaged rib as she shakily stood up, “the Crystal Ponies will be free, and you will be forgotten.”
Sombra felt magic course through his remaining veins, filling him with energy. His flesh began to feel as if it wasn't there, and black mist seeped from his body. Powerful energy was taking over his very mind and spirit, slowly turning him spectral. But he continued to back up towards the crystal core, the sisters giving pursuit. It brought him joy to see that Luna was looking away from Celestia, her sister's eyes locked firmly on him instead. Her horn started to accumulate magic energy for another shot, this one to finish him off for good.
Sombra focused only on floating backwards, his hooves having turned to shadow. From the look on Luna's face and the feelings he could sense in her heart.
“I will finish you,” Celestia boomed, “the Crystal Empire will be liberated, and glory will be brought to my land!”
“YOUR land?!” Luna yelled, having snapped.
She stepped in front of her sister and blocked her shot at the wounded king, “Celestia, I grow tired of this! I am an equal partner in your endeavors!”
Celestia knew she had made a mistake, but tried to push past her, “Luna, this is not a time to be arguing, we must stop him!”
“And now you say WE? Only when you need me for some task?!” she answered, trying not to scream.
Sombra, still backing up, felt his body touch the base of the stony column that held the core up while the sisters continued to bicker. The seed had been planted. Now, to take away their victory.
There was a dark flash, and the two sisters stopped arguing, only to see the king rising up into the air by the force of his Dark Magic. A loud, demonic voice came from his throat,
“You've failed! Although you end my rule today, the Crystal Ponies will NEVER BE FREE! I bring a curse upon this Empire, to remain hidden for a thousand years!”
Turning fully into a spectral form of shadow energy, Sombra cackled and rammed himself into the giant crystal. It roared to life as it combined with its master, expanding in size and spinning rapidly, firing off beams of energy everywhere.
“What... what's happening!?” Luna cried, dodging a beam narrowly.
A ball of darkness started to grow from the center of the crystal, consuming everything in its path like a black hole. Celestia's eyes grew wide, and she began to gallop for the hole in the ceiling of the room.
“Run Luna!” she said, “Don't let it touch you!”
The two alicorns took flight and escaped the Crystal Palace, which was consumed by the rapidly expanding ball of nothingness. With horror and anxiety, they could only watch as the ball overtook the buildings of the empire. Flying back to their troops, they escaped the event horizon of the curse and landed outside the limits.
“What happened?” demanded their general of that day and age.
“Sombra has cursed the Crystal Empire by unleashing all of his Dark Magic,” Celestia announced gravely.
The army could do nothing but watch as the sphere stopped growing. But then, as if by a miracle, the dark color of the sphere lightened enough so that they could see inside. Miraculously, the dark magic repaired all the damage they had done, fixing every building in the Empire and restoring the Crystal Palace to its original structure and shape.
“Time magic,” Luna gasped, “Sombra... you couldn't...”
Then, with a sharp report that echoed eerily throughout the frozen land, the bubble glowed white with pure energy, and vanished without a trace. The entirety of the Crystal Empire had vanished, a victim of Sombra's wrath and hatred.
“By the ancestors,” the general said in awe, taking off his helmet, “how...”
Celestia and Luna could only stare at the massive ring in the snow that marked the borders of the former Crystal Empire. It was as if the city had never been there in the first place.
“Why was Sombra able to complete his curse?” the general demanded to know.
Looking at the two princesses, the stallion saw the conflict between them, and shook his head, “Oh no. Princess Luna, what did you do? Was this your fault?!”
Luna felt her mouth fall open, hurt and guilt spreading over her expression. She felt tears come to her eyes, but she couldn't express in words how she felt about the verbal daggers the general had just thrown at her.
“General Strongbarrel, that's enough,” Celestia warned, “we need to get your stallions and mares home now. What has been done, has been done.”
“And we're supposed to just go home knowing the Crystal Ponies all perished?” the general shouted, spit flying from his mouth.
“The Crystal Ponies are not dead. They have been sent back in time to the beginning of Sombra's takeover, when their homes were intact, but they were in chains,” Celestia explained, “in a thousand years, they will return. I know it.”
Celestia looked out over the snow and frost, “Come Luna, it's time to go home.”
But when she looked back, her sister was gone, having likely flown away. She could hear whispers between the soldiers, who had agreed with their general's opinion as to who had caused the Crystal Empire to be lost. Celestia thought carefully about what she had chosen to say to her sister, and felt a growing gap between the two of them. But being a princess and having a duty to her ponies, she elected to ignore the feeling once more as she had always done.
Sombra in the present day chose to end his presentation at this point, and the image of the snowy scene faded away to nothing, leaving the three ponies floating in the dream void. Celestia and Luna were free to move again, but did not immediately attack Sombra.
“I fail to see how this proves you deserve the Crystal Empire,” Luna responded, “it is very true that you succeeded at seducing me to the path of evil, Sombra. But Celestia and I are sisters once more, united in the protection of Equestria.”
Celestia gave her sister a well-deserved warm hug, “I love you so much, Luna.”
“I love you too, my sister,” she responded, “family forever.”
“If anything, King Sombra, I want to thank you for reminding me of how far we've come,” Celestia continued through her embrace, “you've lifted our spirits and shown us just how important it is to not let pride and hatred get in the way of what's important.”
“And that is exactly why I'm right,” Sombra answered proudly.
The princesses craned their necks and leaned in on him, “What?”
Sombra took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and then explained with a calm voice, “You understand how important family is. My family was destroyed by the Crystal Ponies. I did everything I did in the past out of vengeance for that cruel act against me... against the ones I loved. Perhaps in the past I was selfish, taking the Crystal Empire for myself out of greed more than hatred...”
Celestia and Luna listened carefully, feeling his pain.
“But now I have a true son, Midnight Blaze, who will one day succeed me on the throne,” he continued proudly, “he is the future of the Shadow Ponies. Now all I do is for family, not myself.”
“Sombra, your logic is full of holes,” Celestia explained, “it's still unjust to enslave the Crystal Ponies. Just because you are doing it for the family you love doesn't make it right.”
“Nor is Midnight Blaze actually your son!” Luna added.
He turned away from them, “Then I suppose you will never understand. You must not see the hurt I’ve suffered. You must not feel pain for your own doings.”
“We see your hurt,” Princess Luna said, “but you will not let go of the past. We have let go, and because of that, we are able to move on. Here you are a thousand years later, and still desiring rule over the Crystal Ponies.”
“And there is still pain in my heart from what I had to do to Luna,” said the other princess, tears in her eyes, “but... that pain is a good thing. It reminds me that my actions have consequences, and that I must make each decision carefully. As a princess...”
She looked over to Luna, “And as a sister.”
King Sombra turned around again, and plants and tile flew back into view as they returned to the garden.
“I suppose you can lead princesses to water...” he said rather cheerfully.
“We do not want to repeat the past,” Luna cautioned him, holding out a hoof, “please, King Sombra. Even Discord found peace. Come with us, and be free from this!”
Sombra responded with a laugh, “There will be no repeat of the past. We will never see each other in this battle. There will be no curse that plunges the Crystal Empire into hiding again. No more foolish displays of grandeur. Only a fast and painless military coup, and a new, more caring warden over the Crystal Ponies while they serve out their sentence to the Shadow Pony nation. I wlll bring peace with this victory!”
“A victory on Techorse's back,” Celestia said sternly, “he will feel responsible for the rest of his life for all the ponies who suffer.”
He looked into Celestia's eyes, “I promise, Princess of the Sun, that not one Crystal Pony will die tomorrow. Things have changed.”
“But much has stayed the same,” she answered softly, frowning at him, “it is a shame, Sombra. Perhaps there would have been a way for the Crystal Ponies to forgive you.”
Sombra gave back a weak smile, “You truly are beautiful, Celestia. Do not forget that.”
The atmosphere around the princesses faded away into nothing, and they woke up suddenly in their adjacent beds. Celestia's horn was vibrating with sparks of magic, bringing up the sun at the proper time as always whether she wanted to or not.
After a few moments of staring at each other, Luna smiled triumphantly, “Thank you for sitting through that again, sister. I've figured out exactly how Sombra was able to communicate with Midnight.”
“What was his secret?”
“Sombra's Dark Magic is so strong, that he is, you might say... 'preserved' in the realm of dreams,” Princess Luna explained, “when he was destroyed, he saved himself by becoming a being of dream magic, and that was enough to travel in the minds of Rosseth and Midnight.”
“Sombra became a being made of pure dream magic?” Celestia asked curiously, “But Luna, I asked you about the possibility of that just a few months ago. You told me it was impossible.”
Princess Luna realized what she had hinted, and looked around the room in a guilty manner, her ears dropping, “Well I... did say that I suppose. But maybe Sombra is craftier than I thought.”
Celestia felt her sister, the expert in dream magic, actually did know and had lied earlier. But it didn't matter why she might have wanted to keep the truth about Sombra, or dream magic, a secret. They had a battle to win, and an Empire to save.
“He is very crafty, but we're still going to stop him, right?” she winked, “As family.”
Luna perked up again, “Yes, Celestia! As family!”
Getting out of their beds, they started their day with another warm hug, thankful to be together.