In one of the many moving train car's sat a orange coat stallion with his nose in a book, his blue eyes reading through what appeared to be a history book of the Crystal Empire. "Fascinating..." He said to himself, So engrossed into the history book that he didn't even notice some ponies were trying to make small talk with him. It soon got to the point that he hadn't realized that the train had stopped and didn't look away from his readings until the conductor announced they were leaving for "Ponyville."
Sunburst had finally looked up from his book and the words started to process in his head. "Huh, what, I thought we were heading for the Crystal Empire?" Confused, he looked out the train window, seeing a crystal castle. Staring at the structure a moment longer before it finally clicked, making him get on his hooves and run towards the exit, slipping the book he was reading into the bag on his back. As he ran, he saw the conductor closing the exit door. "Wait! Don't close it-" As the door was closed, Sunburst had ran into the door at full speed, making him fall onto the floor and his glassed come off his face. "Yet." The conductor starred at the stallion with a surprised look and opened the door back up, gesturing for him to go.
So Sunburst did, getting up and placing his glasses back on his face with magic before getting off the train as he chuckled awkwardly to the conductor. He whispered "Sorry" to the train pony but they just rolled their eyes and shut the door. He sighed and left the train station, heading to go see the crystal heart. From what he read about it, it's an extremely old relic that protects the Crystal Empire, but there's another fact about it that made him want to visit it first.
Walking from the station to the castle was quite the experience, Sunburst was just in awe from sight of almost everything being made of crystal. While the architecture was amazing on its own, now it was time for the center piece. "The crystal heart..." Sunburst said in amazement. "I can't believe I'm seeing it in person. Its been around for over a millennia and it's in perfect condition, should it really be out in the open like this." The stallion inspected every inch of the heart.
"Of course it is." He turned around to see a pink alicorn, standing in front of him with a beautiful flowing mane.
"Y-your princess Cadance." Not sure how to address the princess and act, he just bowed. "Your Highness." Surprised by his actions, she chuckled.
"There's no need for that, just call me Cadance."
Sunburst stood back up and readjusted his glasses, wearing an awkward smile again. "Oh, right, hehe." The stallion turned back to the heart. "So your Hig-I mean, princess Cadance, you said that the heart should be out like this. Why?" While he was still formal towards her, she didn't mind it and answered his question.
"Well you see, the Crystal heart is the embodiment of the crystal ponies positive emotions, serving as our guardian and monument of being freed from their tyrant king." He nodded, this information confirming the history behind it and why it would be out in the open.
"I read that the heart has the power to show the reflection of someone's future, is that true?"
"It does, though it would be much more believable if you see it for yourself." The princess gestured to go ahead and look, and look he did. Sunburst's reflection wasn't much different from his present self, the only difference being the grown out beard. It was normal until a pair of glowing green eyes opened up behind his reflection, making him look behind himself only see the princess. So he looked back at the crystal heart and only saw the eyes, this time making him fall back and scream. This caught Cadance's attention as she went to his side. "What happened, what did you see?"
"I-I don't know, everything was fine and then a pair of glowing eyes opened up. So I thought someone was pulling some kind of joke and when I looked to see who it was, no one was there and when I looked back, all I could see were those eyes." Sunburst was hyperventilating, not understanding what just happened. Was that his future, was he gonna turn evil. His rampant thoughts were soon calmed by the princess of love.
"Calm down, take deep breaths." She started to inhale and exhale, showing him what to do. And he listened, copying the princess.
When Sunburst was back on his feet and calm, Cadance asked him again what he saw. "I saw a pair of glowing eyes. What does this mean princess, am I gonna turn evil someday." Before he could start freaking out again, she took another deep breath with him.
"No, I don't think your gonna turn evil but even if you were, you can still change your future." He nodded at what she said, feeling more reassured than before. Then Cadance was curious about the eyes. "What color were they." Sunburst was confused by the question.
"Color of what?" A moment passed before he finally caught on. "Oh, you mean the eyes. They were red and was glowing green, why do you ask?"
"Just curious, why don't you head home and rest." She suggested
"Yah, I guess I should. It was a long train ride here, it was a nice meeting you princess." Sunburst waved bye to Cadance and she did the same. When he was out of sight, she rushed into her castle, looking frantically for her husband. Finally, finding him patrolling one of the hallways.
"Shining Armor!" She called out to, catching his attention.
"Cadance, What's wrong, are we under attack?" She shook her head. "Then what is it?"
"It's Sombra." This caught him off guard and worried him.
"What, Sombra's back, but how?"
"No, but I have a feeling his return is soon."
This worried Shining armor even more. "Do you know how?"
Cadance nodded this time. "A pony came by to look at their reflection in the crystal heart and saw Sombra's eyes. Its possible he might be the cause of King Sombra's return, but its also possible that he'll be his first victim."
"Then we'll do everything we can to stop it..."