//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2. Different memories. 
// Story: Their shared history 
// by Askre 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 2
 
Princess Cadance stared at the decorative stained-glass window that depicted Princess Amore, the last ruler of the Crystal Empire before King Sombra. The alicorn raised a hoof to gently touch the image of the pale vermillion colored unicorn, her long mane in gradient raspberry to cobalt blue. On her head was a blue crown. A golden heart was on her forehead held up by a blue band, a similar but bigger heart was on her chest, held up by bands in the same color that went around her neck and barrel. On the raised hoof of the former ruler, the smallest heart was fastened on a smaller band encircling her gaskin.

Sombra’s words lay heavily on the princess as she stared at the picture of the long-gone ruler. She didn’t want to believe them, wanted them just to be a sick game of his, trying to get into her head. Yet Cadance wasn’t sure. She had seen this window many times by now and never could shake the feeling that there was something familiar was about the mare depicted there.

What Celestia and Luna could tell her about Amore was that she had been a very kind and loving ruler and the Crystal Ponies had adored her. What they couldn’t tell her was how she had been lost. Unfortunately, around the time King Sombra took over, Discord was already beginning to cause havoc in Equestria.

It had started small. The chaos spirit had seemingly been testing the waters, but it had kept the Celestial Princesses busy. Then he had fully taken over and at almost the same time Sombra had suddenly risen as the ruler of the Crystal Empire. Cadance wondered if Sombra had been aware of the trouble in Equestria, thus timed his take over to match. By the time the sisters managed to defeat Discord, a very long time had also passed in the empire, long enough for Sombra to have completely destroyed the records of his rise to power and a good chunk of the history of the Crystal Ponies.

Cadance sighed and slowly dropped her hoof down. What if the king was telling the truth? What if that mare in the window was her mother? Why had she then been taken to the distant future to be raised by earth ponies before she ascended and was taken in by Celestia? This trip to Tartarus had really just raised more questions.

And why no mention of her marriage to Commander Hurricane? The princess frowned. Surely Celestia and Luna would remember that. They had met the Commander and the other founders of Equestria. Starswirl the Bearded himself had been their teacher and he had also been the teacher of Clover the Clever.

“Something troubles you?” a voice addressed her from behind. Cadance glanced over, never changing her solemn expression as she regarded the midnight blue alicorn standing there.

“Luna,” Cadance turned towards her aunt. “What brings you to the Crystal Empire?”

“Celestia told me that you and Shining Armor had gone to Tartarus to interrogate King Sombra,” the Moon Princess said and walked closer. She looked at the window, especially the image of Princess Amore. “I take it the fiend told you something you didn’t want to hear.”

“Did you know?” Cadance just asked, she did her best to hide her emotions right now. She needed to know if things had been kept away from her. She refused to jump to conclusions, refused to let the king’s words affect her.

“Celestia didn’t, I suspected when I returned from my own exile.” Luna walked closer, still not taking her eyes of the image. “We had no way to confirm it. We had never seen Amore’s child. By the time she was born, we were busy with Discord and you know how that ended up.”

“What about Commander Hurricane?” the Love Princess asked, her gaze slowly returning to the window.

“Would it have mattered if you knew they were married? It would not have confirmed anything. All we knew was that he was lost along with the Crystal Empire and Princess Amore when King Sombra took over,” Luna told Cadance and looked at her. “Had Celestia known, she would have told you. All she knew was that she met an unusual pegasus filly who suddenly ascended to alicornhood because she defeated a magically powerful foe using her very strong love.”

Cadance didn’t respond and was starting to suspect why Luna had come to the Crystal Empire. When Shining Armor and she had returned from Tartarus, Princess Celestia has asked them how it went, noting how upset the love princess looked. Cadance hadn’t really spoken much to her aunt, just told her that Sombra was a monster who deserved far worse than to be locked up in Tartarus. Shining had then explained the gist of what the King had revealed to them.  She looked at Luna, surprising the Lunar Princess by smiling a little.

“I don’t blame Celestia at all, Aunt Luna,” Cadance told her, her smile dropping a bit. “The Crystal Empire had already faded out of the memory of most ponies when my foster parents found me. How could she suspect that a foal found a thousand years later would be Amore’s daughter?”

“Well, so much for the grand speech I’ve been playing in my head,” Luna pretended to huff, but then smiled herself when hearing Cadance softly chuckle. “I take it your anger is then directed at your mother’s murderer?”

“I was hoping it wasn’t true, just him trying to get into my head. But considering how much knowledge of the Crystal Empire was lost… a lot of the things he said did match up with what we had already discovered. There were just details missing and we thought we might as well see if he cared to fill them in,” Cadance became solemn again and looked at the window. “And I guess part of me just didn’t want to hear those details. Not from him, at least.”

“If we had known, we probably wouldn’t have tried to negotiate with him first to let go of the Crystal Empire,” Luna confessed and shook her head. “But Celestia hoped, she had always hoped that the prince she once knew was still in there and would listen to her.”

“Frankly, I have never understood matters of romance,” the Moon Princess muttered and returned her attention to the stained glass. “It always just seems to get in the way and complicate matters more than need be.”

“She was in love with him?” Cadance frowned a little, recalling the Sun Princess telling her that once she had been smitten by Sombra, but she never outright said love.

“After our visit to the Dark Pony Empire a long time ago, she wouldn’t stop talking about him,” Luna grunted in annoyance, but then shrugged. “Ah well, we were both young back then. Although now I think she just wishes for her friend back, though she has not told me that directly.”

Cadance nodded and started to walk away from the window. It was located in a particular room in the castle, meant as a memorial to the lost princess. There were a few items on display, including the history book Twilight had found in the library, and Amore’s blue crown.

“Alright, I am a little annoyed I was never told, but like I said I know it was not Celestia’s fault. I can’t expect her to look at me and instantly think ‘Oh Amore’s lost daughter.’. You two probably thought I was dead and gone along with the empire,” she said as she stopped by the display of the crown. Luna took a moment to give the window another look before following her niece.

“We did. We hated missing the crystalling. If we only had… then maybe,” Luna sighed as she examined the crown regretfully. “Celestia would have recognized Sombra instantly… hmm, it is curious that his arrival in the Crystal Empire coincides with Discord’s arrival in Equestria.”

“You don’t think they were working together?” Cadance scowled and turned to the other princess.

“What? Me working with King Smokey? How absolutely absurd!” a voice protested. The two princesses turned around, only to see the misshapen form of the chaos spirit in the stained-glass window. He looked insulted.

“Eavesdropping again, Discord?” Luna snorted and her eyes narrowed a little. Cadance just rolled her eyes. She somehow was not surprised.

“Well not directly. I just heard that little Cadance finally got to hear about her dear late mother.” The spirit dropped his insulted expression and gave a toothy grin. He slithered to the image of Princess Amore, placing his eagle arm around her and patted the late ruler with his lion paw on the head.

The princesses exchanged unimpressed glances, then walked back over to the window. Discord seldom showed himself without one reason or another, even if those reasons didn’t always make sense. Both were mildly curious as to why he had decided to pop up.

“So King Sombra was telling the truth?” Cadance inquired, scowling a bit. She still found it hard to believe.

“That you are the product of the wonderful union between Princess Amore and Commander Hurricane?” Discord asked in turn as he crossed his mismatch arms on the back of Amore, watching the two living princesses with an amused smirk. “Yes, that is true.”

“Care to explain then why your reign of chaos coincided with his tyrannical rule?” Luna asked sharply.

“Ugh, you’re starting to sound so much like your sister,” Discord groaned and let his lion arm hang down as he placed the eagle talons under his cheeks. He glanced at the princesses who still just watched him, waiting for an answer to the question.

Rolling his mitch-match eyes, the spirit suddenly stretched forward until his front half actually exited the window while keeping the back half hanging over Amore’s back. He peered down at the two alicorns, a smirk crossing his lips.

“King Sombra’s memories are all jumbled after his long exile and being blown to pieces. He told you the truth as he remembers it, but he didn’t tell you everything,” the spirit revealed and let his back half come out of the window. Now he stood in front of the princesses, crossing his arms across his chest.

“He told me enough, I think. Why are you evading Luna’s question?” Cadance was starting to wonder if it was even possible to get a straight answer from the chaos spirit.

“Because you are not asking the right pony.” Discord started floating and shifted to be horizontal in the air in front of them as he shrugged his shoulders.

Before either princess could inquire further, the spirit waved them goodbye and disappeared in a flash. The two alicorns exchanged uncertain glances, both thinking the same thing. What was the spirit up to and why was he taking an interest in this?

“Perhaps another trip to Tartarus is in order,” Luna commented dryly. Cadance groaned in disgust.

“Please don’t tell me I have to listen to that horrible monster again,” she eyed skywards almost in desperation.

“You will not be alone, dear niece. I shall come with you,” Luna reached to pat her on the back gently. “And I think I can get that fiend to talk more properly. Or at least try.”

Cadance sighed in surrender. What had started as a simple historical inquiry had become far more personal for her tastes. With one last glance at the window, the princess slowly nodded and walked with Luna out of the room.

As soon as the two Princesses had exited the room, Discord’s head peeked up from the corner of the stained-glass window. He waited a moment to make sure the two alicorns had in fact departed and that no one else was around. Then he stretched out until he was in front of Princess Amore again. He placed his eagle arm around her neck.

“She’s a good kid. You would be really proud of her,” he told the image with a gentle smile. “But her battle is not with me, it’s with King Smokey. I just had to put her back on the right track.” he then muttered and left the window, floating in a sitting position with both claw and paw under her cheek. “Couldn’t be letting them get distracted because my selfish desire to have chaotic fun prevented Celestia and Luna to be there and help.”

“Eh, what can I say? I’ve changed. I still have fun, but now I have fun with friends,” he glanced at the image again, grinning wide as he gestured away with a paw and leaned back, resting his eagle arm on the very air.

“Oh come on, don’t look at me like that,” Discord grunted and looked away crossing his arms in a huff. “I was selfish back then. When I heard that the Lost son of Queen Rabia was traversing towards Crystal Empire, still grief-stricken and mad over the loss of the Dark Pony Empire, I figured he would distract you. It was a golden opportunity to start sowing a little chaos in Equestria.”

“Okay, okay it was a lot of chaos,” he groaned in this one-sided conversation with the silent image.

“But I never intended for anyone to die,” the spirit hung his head before disappearing in a flash.





King Sombra growled and slowly opened his eyes when constant banging on the cage bar roused him from his slumber. The Dark Pony peered as he made out legs, one set dark blue and the other pink. Then slowly he glanced upwards, staring at the serious faces of Luna and Cadance. The Moon Princess was pulling her hoof back, having been the one to rattle his cage.

“Two visits in two days? I’m starting to…” Sombra started to sit up, then it fully registered with his brain who it were standing there. “Oh hello, Princess Luna.”

“We have more questions for you, Sombra,” the Lunar Princess stated.

“And I suppose you think I’ll answer them,” the king grunted, tempted to turn around to lay down with his back turned to them. However, he figured they would just walk to the other side of the cage. “I already told Princess Cadance a story yesterday.”

“We are not here for stories, we are here for answers,” Luna snorted. “Specifically how fortuitous it was for you that Discord was causing trouble in Equestria when you ascended to the throne.”

“What, you think that childish spirit and I were working together?” Sombra’s brow rose and then he started laughing.

“I fail to see what is so amusing,” Luna frowned, but she didn’t get an answer just then as the king had to take a moment to compose himself again.

“If you knew anything about me and my empire, you would know that we Dark Ponies hate Discord. Do you think Equestria was the only place he’s tried to invade? He’s tried it everywhere for quite a while. A long time ago, well before I left the empire, he came to us. Mother took particular pleasure showing him how explosive dark magic is when interacting with his chaos magic,” King Sombra growled, sneering a little bit. “I was rather glad to give him the same treatment when he tried to spread his reach to the Crystal Empire. He was actually stunned that I had taken over it already. He thought Amore was still ruling and thought I would manage to cause some disturbance but the Crystal Heart would keep me at bay.”

“No, I had no idea Discord was south in Equestria. I was actually expecting your sister and you Luna to come swooping in. Imagine my surprise when that annoying spirit showed up instead,” the king muttered and rolled his eyes.

“Sombra,” Cadance finally spoke up, staring hard at the Dark King. “Discord told us that you haven’t told us everything. Is there anything more you would like to share.”

“Not particularly, not to you. I’ve told you how I came to power and how I… wait a minute…” Sombra started to frown, something was not right. His memories were still not quite in order. Things appeared now a little different. “No that can’t be right.”

“What?” Luna exchanged a glance with Cadance. The king looked downright confused now.

“He wasn’t there… blue box… no this isn’t…” Sombra started to rub his head and cringed as if he was in pain. “What? I don’t have a son.”

Luna arched her brow, Cadance looked confused. The king was now just muttering to himself and looked downright lost as if he was trying to piece together memories he didn’t even recognize.

“What’s going on?” Princess Cadance eyed her aunt.

There was no response from the Lunar Princess. Her expression had turned graver as she watched the distressed Dark Pony. Sombra’s face grew darker and he suddenly lay down and said nothing more, just cast his eyes downward with a hard scowl.

“Is your son named Temor?” Luna asked out of the blue, looking as if she had an idea of what was going on.

“I have no son, by that name or any other,” Sombra growled still not looking up. “That was another…”

“Another you, from another world,” the princess nodded her head and looked at the perplexed Love Princess.

“A few months ago, when Sombra was still at large, I entered the dream of Private Iceland, the pony he’s so long tormented. He had a very startling experience; he had been pulled to the threshold of the dream world and the spirit world. He had an encounter with a different Sombra,” Luna explained to her. “That Sombra had a son, Temor.”

“What?” was all Cadance could really say in utter confusion.

“The spirit world is a very confusing place, it doesn’t just exist in this world, it just exists. Spirits can anchor themselves to the reality they once belonged in, but they still see things the living don’t,” the Moon Princess told her and looked at Sombra. “Sometimes they see how things were different, they see all the possible streams of the timeline.”

“I have a feeling Sombra, that in your time as a spirit, you saw all the possible realities you could exist in and that your memories have a few moments that do not belong to you,” Luna returned her attention to the silent Dark Pony.

“What are you saying?” Cadance asked, not quite sure what this was all about.

“Discord was correct, yes King Sombra told you what he remembers, but not everything he actually knows. What he remembers from back then is not necessarily what happened as he thinks happened,” her aunt told her, still keeping her eyes on the king. “Isn’t that right, Sombra?”

“Commander Hurricane was already dead.” The king looked up, the scowl had disappeared and now he just looked thoughtful. “Yes, when I came to the Crystal Empire, Princess Amore was still mourning him. I arrived shortly after the funeral.”

“Is that correct?” the Love Princess asked and looked at Luna, her eyes growing wider when seeing her aunt nod.

“Celestia and I attended the funeral of Commander Hurricane. When we departed, we did not know that would be the last we would see of Princess Amore. She had not given birth to her child. We intended to visit when that happened, but then Discord showed up,” Luna sighed sadly.

“Did you kill my mother?” Cadance turned to the king, scowling hard, she was resisting the urge to slam him again at the cage bars.

“That I can’t tell you,” Sombra said and laid his head back down. “I have memories but I am no longer sure they are mine.”
 
End chapter 2