Crystal Ponies run in terror as Sunburst and Sombra fight rages across the Empire. Sunburst lands behind a fallen wall as Sombra searches for him.
"This is going nowhere," Sunburst said, looking around, "If this keeps up I don't know what will happen to my body. Wait, this is my body, so my memory is much stronger than his. So why was Amber leaf the first pony I meet here? I thought it would have been Starlight or even one of the princess." Sunburst looks to see Sombra blasting away a building. "She must have been somepony important to him. After all, he got furious when I was talking to her. I need to find her."
"There you are!" Sombra said blasting at Sunburst location only for him to protect himself with a shield and then flying away with his magic. "Get back here you coward!" Sombra gives chase to Sunburst blasting him with magic. Sombra causes crystals trying to trap Sunburst, but he would always get away, "You are only delaying the inevitable Sunburst!"
They soon found themselves heading towards one of the many houses in the Empire. But for some reason, as Sunburst entered it, Sombra stopped at the doorstep. There was nothing different from this house from any of the others around it. But for Sombra...
"This place," he slides a hoof down the side of the door frame, "It feels-" He shakes his head in annoyance, "It doesn't matter!" Sombra charges inside looking for Sunburst. He is in here somewhere — all he has to find him.
Meanwhile somewhere in the Everfree,
"Melody will you wait for a second?!" Crystine said as she chases the filly,
Melody doesn't stop but keeps on pushing forward, "No!"
"Enough!" Crystine uses her magic to drag Melody back to her right before a plant was going to eat her. Melody stares in fear as she is face to face with an angry Crystine. "Why do you want to see Sombra so badly!?"
Melody knows it only a matter of time before they find out. Not to mention that Crystine is her only friend. She has to know. "It's because he's..."
"Hold it!" A voice said nearby. Both mares turn to face a squad of Changeling guards. "By order of King Thorax, I place the both of you under arrest for aiding the escape of Sombra and for crimes against Equestria."
Crystine puts Melody behind her as she stares down the guard. "Or what? You think that we are going to come along quietly?"
The guards look at each other, not expecting her to say that before they look at her again. "Would you believe me if I said yes?"
Crystine shakes her head before she looks back at Melody. "Melody do you know the rest of the way there?"
"Yes. Why?"
Crystine looks her head in a battle stance facing the guards. "I am going to buy you some time to get to him. If these Changelings get to him before we do then Sombra is finished."
Melody looks worried at her friend's actions. "Are you sure you can handle this?"
"Oh, I am sure. Now get going!" Melody then leaves them behind and runs to the castle deep within the forest.
The guards look at Crystine humorously as they begin to surround her. "What makes you so sure that you can take us all on Mare?"
Crystine puts on an evil smirk and closes her eyes once Melody was out of sight and let a green fire cover her body. "Because I raised you all from an egg that is why," Chrysalis said, returning to her original form before she begins her counter strike.
Meanwhile, back in the Mindscape.
"Come out Pony and fight like a stallion," Sombra said, sending some of the furniture flying to the wall. As Sombra continues to roam in the house, that strange feeling he got earlier is getting stronger, giving him a headache.
Sunburst looks at Sombra from the fallen coach. 'I think I am on to something here.' Sunburst thought to himself light his horn to cast a spell.
Sombra notices that everything around him has repaired itself and sees a small colt sitting on the couch nervously. A foal that he knows all too well. "What is going on? It is me." Sombra said, looking at the colt. The only difference between the two was the colors of their eyes, Sombra's eyes being red while the colts are green, and the red horn tip on Sombra horn.
"Hay, Sombra." A voice said behind Sombra before a small filly enters the room carrying some cookies. "I found some cookies." The filly said, sitting next to him and giving him one, which the small Sombra took and wolfed it. The older Sombra looks that the two in awe as he remembers this day. The little filly shakes her head as she watches this. "They took your lunch again, didn't they?"
The young Sombra swallow his mouth full before he answered. "Well, can I do? They are much bigger and stronger than me. I can't fight them." He said, looking down at the floor.
"And you call yourself a colt." The filly said, punching him in the arm. "I thought that colts are supposed to be tough and fight against anypony that gets in their way."
Sombra rubs his arm and looks away from the filly. "Well, not this colt. I can't even use magic even though I am a unicorn." He said, tapping his horn.
"Well, that means that you are a late bloomer just like your cutie mark. I bet once you get your cutie mark, you are going to become a mighty stallion."
The young Sombra blushed at her statement and looked away. "Now you are just saying things to make me feel better Amber."
Amber then hugs Sombra, "Well oh, course I mean it. After all, what are friends are for?"
The two ponies disappear, leaving the room to the way it was earlier. "I remember this place now," Sombra said, looking around. "This is the home of my dear friend Amber Leaf. A sweet mare she was." He said with a smile before it was replaced with a frown. "Until she wasn't." Sombra then blasts magic at Sunburst, causing him to come out of hiding. "You think making me remember her is going to stop me from defeating you!"
"No. But as a pony who believes in friendship. I am going to find out who she is to you. And save you."
Melody runs inside the Castle of the two sisters and stops to catch her breath. "I can't stop now. Not when I am so close. I have to find him." Melody saw some glowing from coming from a room. Moving closers, she can see that a mirror has crystals coming from its sides. She approaches it and touches it only for it to hum. "It is some portal. He must be in there!" Melody then backs up and gets into a sprint position facing the mirror. "I am not strong enough to open it only my own, but that doesn't mean I am going to give up." She then sprints at the mirror only for her to face plant on it and slide off it to the floor. "I honestly thought that it would work." She looks backs with determination in her eyes. "But I am not giving up."
"Now you are just talking nonsense," Sombra said, charging at Sunburst and pushing him through a wall then throwing him to the floor. "I am the King of the Crystal Empire. The most powerful Ruler that ever lived in these lands. I don't need..." Sombra stopped when he sees Two familiar ponies on a couch in front of him. It was him and Amber, but they are much older now.
"You know you didn't have to do that Sombra. I had it under control." Amber Leaf said finish tying a bandage on Sombra head.
"And you wanted me to do what? Just sit there and not stop them from attacking you? You are my best friend, Amber." Sombra moves away from Amber to look out the window. "And one day, I will find a way to stop ponies from hurting each other."
"So you want to make a utopia in these lands," Amber said, moving next to Sombra. "That is not possible, Sombra. Our ruler is good, but even she can't fix everything. Not to mention we are still having problems with the neighboring lands of Equestria on a peace treaty. Just imagine what could happen if our kingdom were to combine together and work as one." She then pulls Sombra face to face her's. "It may not become a utopia, but it would be close to one."
Sombra pulls away from her and walks back to the coach. "We don't need help from outsides to deal with our problems, Amber. We can deal with it ourselves."
Amber looks at Sombra with worry. "You know it doesn't hurt to ask for help every once and a while Sombra."
"Only the weak ask for help, And I will be the one who they ask for help."
Amber sits next to him. "Sombra I worried about you. Ever since you came back from the guards training camp, you have changed." She puts a hoof on his. "Whatever happened to the shy stallion that I grow up with?"
Sombra looks at her hoof but could not look at her. "He learned that sometimes you have to fight for what you want."
"Fighting isn't always the answer Sombra."
"I will like to see you say that again, when you are helpless in front of an enemy without no mercy." With that, the two ponies fade away, leaving the present Sombra in rage.
"Stop with these Mind games Sunburst! They are just getting annoying!"
"You can't deny at one point in your life you had a dear friend! And her name was Amber Leaf."
"DON'T SAY HER NAME! YOU ARE NOT ALLOW TO SAY HER NAME!"