As the smallest, most insignificant snowflake in Terra’s history fell to the ground on a cold winter morning, a rainbow-colored blur caught it in sky blue feathers that soared through the air.
Ponyville, a small rural town that was coated in a blanket of snow, was quiet in the early hours of the morning as the night sky crawled away. Sunlight rose from beyond the horizon, bathing the town in its warmth as hints of a colorful rainbow raced ahead of the light’s touch.
Snow that had settled comfortably on top of roofs was swept away by the swift pegasus that soared over them.
A direct path was the most boring route any pegasus could take, and the restless mare with a rainbow mane was no different. Weaving between any obstacles she could find or imagine, turning down narrow alleys and gliding under low-hanging shop signs as she flew to one of the few buildings that wasn’t coated in a thin layer of snow.
Standing alone in a sea of white on a small green island was a towering tree that dwarfed the buildings that she had flown by earlier. It held several windows in the fake green leaves that decorated the tall building, and carried a sign over the entrance that proudly displayed its name. The Golden Oaks Library, a small alchemy tower that had been converted into a library years before the pegasus was born, glistened with several enchantments that prevented the renovated fake tree from being coated in snow, something that some ponies had frowned upon for obvious reasons.
Everypony loved winter, but there was always a hint of dread when it came to cleaning up the season, something that the mare inside the tower wouldn’t need to worry about herself.
Moving past any idle thoughts that wasted her time, the blue coated mare knocked on the door of the tall library, bouncing on the frogs of her hooves as she waited for the resident librarian to answer.
The area around the door felt warmer than a fireplace, allowing the rainbow maned mare outside to feel more comfortable as the snow that clung to her coat began to melt away. It certainly made waiting more bearable as the mare waited upwards of five minutes, knocking a bit louder the second time, until the door finally drew open to reveal a lavender unicorn on the other side.
The purple two toned mane on her head was disheveled, and a pair of reading glasses hung off the tip of her nose as the bleary eyes behind them looked up at the uninvited pegasus.
“Dash?” The mare weakly asked, readjusting her glasses as she levitated a cup of coffee next to her side.
“Hey Twi, you ready to head out today?” Rainbow Dash asked, stepping past the librarian as she shook off the water that stuck to her feathers and coat.
“Rainbow Dash, the train doesn’t leave for Canterlot until three o’clock, in the afternoon,” Twilight emphasized, shooting a scathing look at the clock that prominently displayed the time as five in the morning.
“There’s a demon in an Empire that was literally lost to time. How could I not get up early for this?” Rainbow Dash asked, hoping on the couch as Twilight slumped into her own chair.
“Not.. Not demon,” she yawned. “Not yet, at least. Need to make sure it’s right so Celstia, Celestia,” Twilight slurred, her head dipping a few inches as her magic unceremoniously dropped the hot cup of coffee.
The sound of porcelain shattering against hard oak was more than enough to wake up the sleep deprived unicorn as she looked over at her mess.
“Buck!” The librarian exclaimed.
Using her magic, Twilight gathered the broken cup and used the welcome mat to wipe up the coffee.
“Geez Twilight, you okay?”
“It’s five in the morning, Rainbow. The only ponies that are okay at this time are Princess Celestia, and apparently you. Don’t you usually sleep in on most days?”
"Like I said, 'Demon, lost Empire, epic adventure.' Hard to catch any sleep when something like this happens. I mean, the last time we needed to do anything awesome like this was Princess Cadence's wedding! I've been bored out of my skull for three months just waiting for the next big disaster!"
"... Most ponies don't hope for bad things to happen to themselves, you know that, right?"
“Not my fault they can’t handle a little adventure,” Rainbow Dash shrugged, earning a dismissive eye-roll from Twilight as she stepped away to fetch a new cup of coffee.
With nothing more to do as she waited for Twilight, Rainbow Dash’s eyes wandered the unusually messy library. Twilight was unshakably anal about her organization system, something that had turned a few of the younger ponies away from attempting to borrow books in the past. But at the moment, the library was completely disorganized. Towers of books held sheets of paper that stuck out of their sides like branches, and the tables set up for visitors to read had been drowned in a pile of books that varied in size and subject.
Several black stains marred the few throw pillows and cushions that had been set aside for ponies who wanted to sit inside. Empty plates and glasses covered the few places that were free of the paper bricks that belonged on the shelves, which appeared to be mostly bare since the entire stock was strung about the room.
Letting loose an impressed whistle, Rainbow’s gaze trailed to the table in front of her, scanning over the chicken scratch that passed for Twilight’s hoof-writing. There were a few words she could pick out of the tangled string of ink, like “Skeletor, Crystal Empire, and Sombrero” but everything else was completely illegible to anypony except Twilight.
Rainbow Dash lazily flipped a few pages of one of the open tomes, passing by famous demons in Equestria’s history. She was only able to read a little bit about a purple slime called “The Smooze” before Twilight came back with a fresh cup of coffee in her magical field.
“Geez Twi, you really wrecked this place, huh?”
Twilight glanced at the mess in boredom for only a moment before her eyes suddenly grew wide. In several colorful flashes, piles of books and other papers were carried off in her telekinesis, or teleported back to the shelves they belonged in. Rainbow Dash had to shield her eyes with a wing at the dozens of flashes that tried to blind her, staring at her eyelids behind a curtain of feathers for close to three minutes until the sound of teleportation spells finally stopped.
The admirable mess returned to its normally boring and pristine condition as Twilight sagged in her seat, clearly struggling against a pair of tired eyelids as she melted into the cushions.
“Wow,” was all Rainbow Dash could say as Twilight released an exhausted yawn.
“Sorry about the mess. Was already awake double checking the supplies and makin’ sure everythin’ was fine but I,” she trailed off, her head bobbing slightly before a firm shake chased off any hints of tiredness.
“You should really think of getting somepony to help you around the library one of these days. Like an assistant, or something,” the pegasus suggested.
“You sound like Luna, but not sexy,” Twilight tiredly groaned, causing her friend’s smile to awkwardly rise a few inches.
It had come as a great shock to the other Element Bearers when the nerdy shut-in had announced her ‘courtship’ with the returned princess a week after Eris was resealed in stone. While everypony was more than happy for their nerdy friend, Rainbow Dash had noticed a few oddities about Princess Luna, like how possessive she was of Twilight. She was also a very big supporter of PDA whenever Twilight and the others were alone in the Canterlot Castle.
Rainbow Dash and the others still supported them, but there was occasionally a nagging voice in the back of Rainbow’s mind that made her want to intervene at times when Luna would come to Ponyville in a disguise or suddenly create an excuse that called the Bearers to Canterlot.
Keeping her thoughts to herself, Rainbow tried to think of a new topic that could break the stiff silence between herself and the nearly sleeping mare. Luckily for her, she didn’t have to wait long for a doorbell to suddenly ring and call their attention to the door.
“… I don’t have a doorbell,” Twilight observed.
Another ring at the door seemed to disagree with Twilight’s assertions, causing Rainbow Dash to toss her a look that bled with subtle worry and intense curiosity. Hesitantly, Twilight nudged the door open with her magic as her aura wrapped around Rainbow Dash, likely preparing a shield spell in case of… Whatever a non-existent doorbell would imply.
Their unease was put to rest as a bright pink earth pony mare jumped into the room as soon as the door unlocked, allowing Twilight’s magic to die out as she let herself in.
“Whooooooo’s ready for a road trip?” The pink earth pony asked, bouncing with unbridled joy as she galloped to her favorite seat in the library, which happened to be a pile of miscellaneous throw pillows and seat cushions. “Cause I am! I’m just so excited to spend a week with my best friends flying to a new place where we can meet tons of ponies and we can take pictures and—”
“Pinkie, what are you doing up so early?” Twilight tiredly asked, dragging an entire pot out of her kitchen with a spell as she haphazardly tried to fill an already full cup. Luckily, the party pony of Ponyville was quick to stop Twilight and she nudged the coffee pot away.
“I was getting ready to head out later today and I was going over everything I packed. I’m pretty sure I have all the essentials. A bludgeon, a baseball bat, a spare baseball bat, a set of knives, a rubber chicken, bow and arrows, a towel that I can soak in alcohol, and my party cannon, of course,” Pinkie Pie listed off earning a pair of odd looks from her friends.
The party cannon made sense considering Pinkie Pie, but everything else was exceptionally violent for the friendly mare. It was almost like watching a kitten lovingly nuzzle a sack of knives.
“And uh… Why?” Rainbow Dash attempted to ask.
“Duh, for getting rid of Sombra, silly,” she explained. “See, my great great great great great great, lotsa greats grandparents left the Empire a year before Sombra took over, and then my lotsa great grandparents on my mom’s side escaped, and then then I was born. And now, I get to actually go there and see where my relatives lived. Like my great-great-great-great-great-great-great—great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandma Inky Bye, and her daughter Stinky Eye, and her daughter Dinky Die, and her son Blinky Lie, and his daughter Kinky Tie, though we don’t talk about her a lot, and—”
“Wait, wait, wait. You’re part crystal pony?” Twilight asked.
“Yup. Why else do you think I grew up on a rock farm, silly?”
“… You grew up on a rock farm?”
Nodding her head, Pinkie bounded over to the seat next to Rainbow Dash on the couch as she spoke. “Yep, it’s pretty hard for anypony except crystal ponies to grow crystals, and our farm is one of the closest places to the Crystal Empire. I got to learn a lot about our ancestors, especially about the music. Did you know that they have double belled flugelhorns? Du-bel bellllllled. I’ve always wanted to go there, and now I get to go and beat up the meanie king who hurt my great-great-great-great-”
“Isn’t Sombra, ya know, dead?” Rainbow Dash asked, eliciting a slightly unnerving giggle from her pink friend.
“Better safe than sorry~,” she sung sweetly.
“Wow. I… I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this,” Twilight observed.
“I don’t like hating ponies, or anycreature really, except for Zecora but that was because Snips and Snails were being really big jerks and then Diamond Tiara convinced everypony that Zecora threatened her and—”
“Pinkie, we already know. We were there, remember?” The lavender librarian interrupted.
“I know, but I really like talking about all the fun things we’ve done, even if they’re not really fun but every lump of coal can be a diamond, except for some types of coal but I don’t know that much about coal since Limestone was usually the one who always got books about coal for Hearths Warming while I got books about rose quartz because my mom wanted me to keep the name Rose Quartz but when I got my Cutcinnera I wanted to be called Pinkie Pie because my coat is pink and my big sister has the last name Pie after our lotsa greats grandma Kylime and—”
Pinkie continued to ramble, her story falling on deaf ears as the other two elected to tune her out as she paced around the library. There used to be a time where Twilight and Rainbow Dash would try and follow along with her words, but Pinkie was a mare who enjoyed talking at others a lot, which made sense considering how much she had to listen to others. She would always love to bend her own ear for somepony else, and she would take immense pleasure in talking to the ether to just spew words into the void that others left.
“—But because Apple Cinnamon liked his fiancé’s half-sister, Surprise Party, there was a huge family feud that ended in tragedy when, oh wait,” she stopped, pulling out a doorbell from her mane and ringing it. “Twilight, somepony is at your door.”
“Wait, you kept a door—” Twilight’s words were cut off by a series of melodious knocks at the door, causing her to sigh as she unlocked the door for her next uninvited guest.
“Good Morning Darling,” the new visitor called out.
She was a white coated mare with a purple overcoat that matched her neatly brushed mane. Her horn was slightly more curved than an average unicorn’s, a fact that the pristine mare had taken great pride in when boasting about her ancestors lives in the Empire. While there weren’t any pureblooded Ruva’s left, there were a few unicorns who carried hints of their heritage.
“Hiya Rarity,” Pinkie Pie waved enthusiastically.
“Oh, you’re both here too? Wait, I wasn’t wrong about the time, was I?” Rarity worryingly asked.
“No Rarity, we leave for the Ponyville Express to Canterlot at three o’clock. Ten hours from now,” Twilight tiredly seethed, sipping at her coffee to get a few precious moments of waking thoughts.
“Well of course, but I wanted to start today early. I could hardly sit still knowing where we’re going, after all.
“The Empire has only ever been a myth, a stunning kingdom of gemstones that reach the stars, dazzling emerald roads that gleam in the sun’s light, romantic sights that would make Prance look like a tourist trap. Poets would cry themselves to sleep looking for ways to describe it! And we’re going there! Oooh, I just can’t wait!” She cheered, hopping on her hooves in barely suppressed glee was Twilight rolled her eyes.
“Rarity, the Empire has been gone for over a thousand years. I don’t think it’s going to be as luxurious as you imagine.”
“Posh, darling, I’m sure even after all these years, nothing could ruin the beauty of—”
“You know there’s no indoor plumbing in the Empire, right?” Twilight interrupted, earning her the sweet sound of stunned silence as Rarity’s mouth froze open.
“Well, I do now… So, what brings you two to the library so early?”
“Adventure/Revenge,” the two mares said simultaneously. Rarity spared Pinkie Pie the odd look that others would have normally given at that response, only asking a question with a single word while wearing a knowing smile. “Sombra?”
“Yup!”
“Give him one for me too, would you dear?” Rarity asked, earning a mock salute from the party planner as she giggled behind her other hoof.
“So, what are you doing here, Rarity?”
“Well, like I said, I could hardly stand still and do nothing after waking up so early. And, I was certain that Twilight would have worked herself into a tizzy, worrying about every little minute detail and driving herself up the wall, so I stopped by to see if I could help distract her. I must say though, you seem oddly calm right now. Weren’t you practically pulling your mane out yesterday making sure I packed all of our winter apparel and re-enchanted them?”
“Freaked out already for close to a week, too tired to care,” Twilight reported in an unenthused voice as she lazily sipped her mug.
“Oh dear, we’re not bothering you, are we? I can leave if you want to get some rest, darling,” Rarity offered.
Twilight waved her hoof dismissively. “No, I’ll just sleep in the sleeper car later. Besides, I,” she stifled a yawn. “I wanted to make sure everypony understands what we’re supposed to do and the precautions we need to take. I don’t want anything to go wrong,” Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but feel like that was mostly aimed at her. “As far as we know, Sombra’s gone, so no revenge, and this isn’t an adventure, it’s an investigation. We find out as much as we can about Skeletor, judge him accordingly, and write to Princess Celestia.”
“And we’re taking the Elements of Harmony because?” Rainbow Dash asked, rolling her hoof to signal Twilight to explain.
“Because it’s a safety precaution. If he really is evil and we don’t have any other options, then we’ll use the Elements. If we don’t have to, then Princess Celestia will probably send some guards to apprehend him and take him to Tartarus.”
“I heard he turned Sombra into a piñata, so he’s already in my top everycreature list!” Pinkie Pie chimed in.
“But he’s like, an actual demon,” Rainbow Dash argued. “Try naming one good demon! I dare you,” she challenged.
“Scorpan,” Rarity answered easily. “The demon who helped Equestria defeat Tirek. Oh, there are also quite a few wonderful stories of dashing demons acting against their nature and swooping a delicate damsel into their tender claws, stealing a tender kiss with their gleaming jaws, holding the heroine in their strong forelegs as they whisper a sweet loving melody~. Ah, truly romantic.”
“… Remind me to never borrow a book from you,” Rainbow Dash bluntly replied, hopping out of her seat as Rarity huffed. “I still say he’s probably evil.”
“It’s a possibility, but it’s not definitive yet,” Twilight remarked as Rainbow Dash trotted into the kitchen. Grabbing her own mug, Rainbow came back in to the main room to pour herself a cup of coffee, rejoining them as Twilight flipped through one of her notebooks.
After taking her seat on the couch next to Pinkie Pie and Rarity, Twilight turned the book to the trio, thankfully not expecting them to translate the sloppy hoof writing on the pages. “Another thing we have to keep an ear out is for something called a ‘Human’. Skeletor claims that there’s one in Canterlot and that he’s one of them, so we’ll need to find out if Human is a class of demon or if it’s something else entirely.
“Remember, we’re there to help and to investigate. Any questions?”
“I have one, darling,” Rarity said with a raised hoof. “Are we only going to stay for three weeks or is it possible that we’ll need to extend our time there? I just want to make sure so I can send a letter to my parents about watching Sweetie Belle.”
“And I can’t stay away from Sugar Cube Corner for too long. I’m already going to miss three parties,” Pinkie Pie added on.
“We’ll try to only stay for three weeks, but anything could happen. We’ll just have to remain optimistic and hope for the best.”
“Cool. So, we go, we help, and we send that bonehead packing, sounds like a plan to me,” Rainbow Dash stated, causing Twilight to groan into her hooves.
“Did you not listen to a word I said?” Twilight muttered.
“I did, relax. We’ll go, help, see if he’s evil or whatever,” Rainbow replied with a heavy emphasis on each word. “And we’ll play it by ear after that. I promise not to go in Elements blazing or look for a fight.”
The look Twilight gave her told Rainbow Dash that she barely believed a word that she said.
“I’m sure we’ll all be on our best behavior, dear,” Rarity assured, placing a hoof on Twilight’s withers as she went on. “I’d like to believe that we all have some level of tact. And if not, I could always give a few helpful pointers on being a gentlemare.”
There was a subtle threatening air to her words as she plucked a book off one of the shelves. It was a thick book that made the dictionary look like a short novel, decorated in golden trimming and bathed in different pink hues. Rainbow Dash had only seen that book twice before. The first was when she stupidly asked Rarity for help to get a date with a stallion. The second time was her nightmares the evening after her “lesson”.
Dropping any hint of her casual joking attitude, Rainbow Dash sat upright with a perfect posture and gave a quick nod, silently promising to not step out of line for fear of facing that dreaded tome once more.
“Perfect. Now, let’s go over the supplies we’re bringing,” Twilight said, pulling out a checklist from one of the draws and grabbing a quill from the shelf.
Sighing, Rainbow Dash sank a bit deeper into the couch as she made herself more comfortable. She couldn’t help but wonder why things were always so boring before they got exciting. Stealing a glance at the clock, Rainbow Dash silently lamented barging into Twilight’s house at the crack of dawn.
The monstrosity that was the night sky slithered around the globe, dragging a canvas of stars behind the moon as the sun began to rise next to it.
Sunlight fell on the land like a tidal wave, refusing to give back an inch of the land it claimed as it rose higher.
Standing from her balcony, Princess Luna watched as the last traces of her constellations hid from the fearful eyes of the public. Eris’ twisted joke had turned the object of their fear into an actual monster, a cosmic creature that would swim around the planet to bring forth the darkness that many ponies openly feared. It gave the ponies of Equestria more reasons to fear their useless princess.
She watched with a bored gaze as the Night Guard left their posts to be replaced by the Day Guard. Their obnoxiously bright golden armor glistened in the embrace of the morning, shining like jewels that decorated the castle walls and gates. Her own guards, meanwhile, stuck to the shadows like glue in their dark colored vests and uniforms, working with full efficiency without any want or expectations of praise.
Just like her, the Night Guards would always be considered the “other”, something less than their counterparts in the day. The nobles and commoners would say good morning with bright eyes and good night with meaningless mutters. During Day Court, the nobles and commoners would be fighting over a place in line to speak with her sister, while Night Court was quieter then a graveyard in winter. It was clear to anypony who the favored princess was.
It didn’t matter what Princess Luna did, nothing mattered, they would all look up to one princess and one alone. How could it even be considered a diarchy when one of them was clearly the preferred princess? Canterlot was a genuine jewel with a glaring smudge that any noble could point at; their “other” Princess.
After letting that bitter thought haunt her for a few minutes, Princess Luna left her balcony, trudging into her room with a dejected frown as she sealed the doors behind her. She didn’t know why she kept looking at something she hated, watching a disgusting trick that pretended to be the night crawl around the globe.
Pushing past her thoughts about the grim monstrosity that mascaraed as her unused canvas, Princess Luna rung a bell to summon the maids to clean her quarters as she left. A pair of Day Guards trotted at her side, working more as a symbol than a line of defense. Her true guardians hung overhead, unseen, unheard, and unthanked by anypony except herself.
The two decorations standing behind her were exactable in their jobs, but she couldn’t claim that they were her guards. They were just a pair of her sister’s guards that had been donated to her as a subtle warning to any pony or creature that sought to do her harm. Still, not many creatures could actually harm an alicorn, and those that could would never cower in fear at a pair of unicorns in gaudy golden armor.
She still appreciated their company to some degree, but a part of her knew that they were simply following orders from Princess Celestia. Their obedience and supposed love towards Luna wasn’t born from genuine emotions, it was simply another task that they were given by her sister.
Her thoughts didn’t weigh on her for long as she met one of the few ponies that she knew cared for her in the dining hall. An eye sore to the public, but a close friend and confidant behind closed doors, her “nephew” Prince Blueblood.
She took a seat at at the side of the table across form him, exchanging a pleasant greeting with him as her sister’s guards stood by the door and her own servants hugged the ceiling.
“Good morning your majesty, it’s lovely to see you as always.”
“Greetings to thee as well, Prince Blueblood. How hast thou been?” She asked in turn.
The prince looked over at the guards for only a moment before choosing to respond. With a practiced ease, he slipped into his suffocating mask and wore an obnoxiously smug smile that had revolted Luna when she first met him.
“I wish I could say they were better. That boar, Shining Armor, has requested my presence because he can’t do his job well enough. He sent me a letter weeks ago, moaning about how ‘hard’ it is. I warned Aunt Tia about letting that commoner marry Princess Mi Amore Credenza, but do you think Aunty ever listens? No, of course not. I offered a few flimsy words in my letter back, but it seems he wants me to actually go there. Can you believe that?” He moaned, putting on a performance that had managed to trick those that didn’t know his true nature.
Looking back on it, she was surprised that she had fallen for his boorish act for even a second when she first met him. It was too over-the-top for it to be genuine, like an antagonist ripped from the pages of a terrible novel. Though, nopony had even bothered to question Luna’s own mask and fake “Shakes Spear” way of speaking in public, so perhaps the ponies in the modern day weren’t as quick witted as they once were.
While it was easy to see through his mask, for Luna at least, it was a bit of a challenge for her to always decode his words.
Apparently, Shining Armor needed help from Blueblood, and the prince replied with some advice that wasn’t as helpful as Blueblood thought it was. He had also said that the guard needed to acclimate more to politics before marrying Cadence, but Celestia had assured them all that he would have plenty of time to do that after getting married. Nopony had predicted that the Empire, Cadence’s birthright and by extension Shining’s new responsibility, would appear less than a year after their wedding.
“Thou should consider it an honor to be invited to such a place. The Empire was always a wondrous set of kingdoms, full of majestic sights that would inspire poets to write plays about its elegance.”
“I’d rather visit it after those two have cleaned it up. Although, Aunt Tia said that they have a wonderful metal crafter in the Empire that uses a rare ore. I was thinking of buying some nice jewelry if Aunt Tia allows me to go there.”
Right, her sister had mentioned a new metal that was named after theft, ironic that the secrets of the new metal would be stolen from the demon.
Luna suppressed a shudder as her mind wandered to that creature. She had only braved to catch a glimpse at the illustration once, and she had been horrified by the eyeless creature that stared back at her. Cadence’s latest correspondence regarding the creature left a worrying impression on the lunar princess. She actively praised him in some ways and displayed actual thoughts of sympathy for deceiving the demon, not even realizing that the creature had already successfully deceived her in turn.
“T-truly? Then will thou accompany Twilight and the others as well?” Luna asked, shoving past those worries to speak about them in private later. The guards escorting her knew of the Empire, but nopony aside from a select few had been told about the monster that guarded the throne when Cadence arrived.
“Possibly. I doubt I’d have anything to talk about with them. But rest assured, your majesty, Twilight and her commoner friends will be perfectly fine. They’ve bested bandits, changelings, dragons, and goddesses alike. I doubt even King Sombra would stand a chance against the Elements,” Blueblood reassured her.
The fact that he didn’t mention Nightmare Moon or demons in their list of achievements didn’t go unnoticed by the princess. A sweetly bitter smile came to her muzzle as she searched for a new topic.
“Thank thee, dear nephew. And pray tell, hath there been any news of the device that keeps me at the wall of the Empire’s Dream Realm?”
“No. Since the portable prototype was broken, we’ll need to send a replacement with the doctors and miscellaneous ‘others’. I’ll speak with Aunt Tia later to see if everything is going as planned, but you know how she is in the mornings these days,” Blueblood stated, rolling a hoof in air as a maid placed Luna’s breakfast in front of her.
The two fake royals in the dining hall likely wouldn’t see Celestia for another hour or so, taking full advantage of Eris’ curse to sleep in for a few scant minutes.
Princess Luna would have done anything to get the same rest that her sister had. Being the defender of dreams wasn’t a task that she enjoyed. She saw darker things then any creature, immortal or otherwise, should ever have to witness. Most of those memories were wiped away thanks to a simple spell, one that she had reused with practiced ease since her return.
But, there were some memories she could never forget, moments that she held onto as a reminder of her failures, like the memory of standing in the Dream Realm only an hour ago.
She could hear ponies cry out for help on the other side, mares and stallions severed from her realm by Sombra’s wicked magic. The Empire was so close in her realm, a fraction of the distance that separated it from Canterlot in the waking world. But Sombra, the monster that killed her young cousin, had used a dark enchantment to keep her away from their minds. She couldn’t console them or banish their nightmares, all she could do was ignore their desperate cries as she helped the ponies of Equestria.
Their haunting wails still echoed in her mind as she silently ate her breakfast. Blueblood, being far too perceptive in other’s emotions, cleared his throat to gain her attention.
“Aunty, I bought some delicious jasmine tea earlier this week. Perhaps we could enjoy some in my study after breakfast. I’d love to hear your thoughts on if I should invest into their business,” he said.
It was a silent invitation, a chance to drop their masks and cut though the typical doublespeak that filled her ears when Nobility spoke with her. She couldn’t help but smile as she accepted his offer.
“I think I would enjoy that, my dear nephew.”
Unbeknownst to the rulers of Equestria and their champions of Harmony, there was another kingdom coveting the Empire’s resources.
Far beyond the southern boarders of Equestria, past the gapping gorge that burrowed to the depths of Tartarus, and beyond a sea of burning sand that scorched any who would dare tread it, laid a kingdom of stone that hugged the edge of the continent.
Monsters lurked in the caverns that made up their grotesque Empire, a realm of pain and suffering where prisoners were kept in blissful dreams, unknowingly feeding hordes of hungry creatures called Changelings.
To an outsider, these lands were treacherous and bleak, with little room for hope to dwell in their minds as they unknowingly marched into a monster’s den. And for Thorax, the traitor who had abandoned the Hive during the Siege of Canterlot, it was a home that didn’t welcome him.
He sat in the center of an opulent room of gold and riches, encased in a vicarious jell that bound his limbs. The towering torches blinded the imprisoned changeling, glistening off of the golden walls and glistening diamonds that surrounded the many portraits of his queen.
As for his majesty, she sat atop a dark throne of obsidian, framed by velvet cushions that kept her from blending into the throne. It had been sometime since he had seen his queen, and the passing days had clearly taken their toll on her.
The crooked horn that jutted out of her head seemed more fragile than normal, like a withering branch on a tree that would snap off with a gentle breeze. Her once lustrous mane had become strained and withered, handing like the loose threads of a spider’s web. The most noticeable feature however, aside from her much thinner frame and limbs, were the hollow eye sockets that held a pair of greedy eyes.
Desperation, anger, and lustful hunger flashed in her gaze as she looked down at her subject, wearing a crooked smile that abandoned what little warmth it used to carry. A haunting desperation laced her words as she spoke, an almost animalistic hunger escaping with each breath.
“Traitor, my guards told me that you have something very interesting to share with me,” she learned forward, swatting at her fangs with a dry tongue. “Is it true? Has the Empire returned?”