Crystal Empire (around the time of season 1)
It has been about a thousand years since the birth of one Princess Twilight Sparkle, daughter of Queen Nightmare Moon and King Sombra. During that time, she had had some glorious times learning how to master and control the power of Dark Magic and many wonderful times with her parents. She was trained in combat magic by her father and defensive magic by her mother.
While most of the time was great, there were also many bad times in the empire. Some of these times included an attack by the Zebra Nation; which was quickly won by the Empire’s highly trained Shadow Guard. Another one of the bad times, and probably the most important, was that the Empire’s greatest ally and supporter, The Griffon Kingdom, almost broke the separate kingdom’s term agreements to side with Equestria so they were able to get much needed supplies neither they or the Crystal Empire had access to.
With some very harsh and loud negotiations between the two nations, it was settled that the griffons may have open trade with Equestria as long as they were to never become allies. After the negotiations were over, Nightmare Moon excused herself from the group to go spend time with her daughter, leaving Sombra to escort the Griffon Ambassadors to the palace gates.
It didn’t take Nightmare Moon very long to find her daughter; mainly because she pretty much knew where Twilight would be at that particular time. As she was walking towards the palace library, she couldn’t help but think that she was forgetting something rather important but couldn’t remember what it was. She knew it was something extremely important because it had something to do with her family.
She continued on her way still trying to figure out what was so important about today. When she came to the library doors a few minutes later, she opened them with a quick flick of magic. Upon the doors opening, she immediately found her daughter too engrossed in her book and facing the other way to notice the doors being opened.
Seeing her daughter like that brought a big smile to her face. That grin eventually turned into a look of surprise when she finally remembered what today was. It was her daughter’s birthday, and her and her husband had completely forgot.
Closing her eyes and lighting her horn just a bit, she opened up a psychic link with Sombra and said, ‘Remember when we woke up, but couldn’t remember what was so important about today?’
Sombra was taken aback by the question but quickly responded, ‘Yes I remember. Did you just figure out what was so important?’
‘Yes, as a matter-of-fact I did. It is our daughter’s birthday today. What can we do to remedy this problem as fast as possible?’ Nightmare said, sounding like she was about to break down into sobs.
Sombra took some time to think about the question, and immediately thought of a solution. ‘You know how Twilight likes the heavy black metal music, right?’
‘Yes, what about it?’ Nightmare said with a hint of confusion in her voice.
‘Well, you know how she wanted us to take her to see the band Dimmu Borgir a few days ago. If I recall correctly, they are still in the kingdom getting some rest before their next concert somewhere else,’ Sombra said, with a smile on his face. ‘I also happen to know where they are staying and can have a guard ask if they will do a show for Twilight’s birthday. Maybe have the castle staff take the day off for a palace wide celebration.’
Nightmare Moon gave the proposition some thought, but couldn’t come up with any retorts to the idea. ‘I think it is a wonderful idea. Also make sure to get as many builders as possible to build a stage so the band can perform on. While you do that, I’ll make sure Twilight doesn’t find out about our plan and keep her busy.’
‘Sounds good to me. Let’s get this done as quickly as possible. To make sure it gets done fast, I will personally go ask the band if they would be willing to do it, with a fair pay,’ Sombra said, ending the conversation.
With that out of the way, Nightmare Moon quietly made her way over to her daughter. With a small smirk, she put her hooves over her daughters eyes and asked, “Guess who?”
Twilight was startled, but immediately started laughing and answered the question. “Hey mom, how are you doing this morning?”
“Oh pretty well. I just thought I’d come down her to wish my gorgeous daughter a happy birthday. I also wanted to tell you that your father is away making sure everything is going perfectly for your present,” Nightmare Moon said, doing her best not to spoil the surprise for her daughter.
Twilight couldn’t help herself but start asking, “What is it? What is it? What is it?”
Nightmare gave a small chuckle and calmly answered, “I can’t tell you because it is a surprise. You don’t want to ruin a surprise do you, sweetheart?”
Twilight gave a defeated sigh and said, “No, you’re right. Sorry for trying to spoil the surprise.”
“It’s OK dear,” Nightmare Moon said, giving her daughter a tight hug.
“I do have one question,” Twilight said, breaking out of the embrace.
“And what is it?” Nightmare Moon asked, tilting her head to the side curiously.
“Is my gift something that I would absolutely love?” Twilight asked, fluttering her wings in excitement.
Nightmare Moon gave her daughter a smile and said, “Maybe.”
On the other side of the kingdom
Sombra had just arrived at the hotel room that the band Dimmu Borgir was staying at while in the Crystal Empire. He composed himself and made sure everything was in order before knocking. He didn’t have to wait very long before the door opened to reveal a griffon with odd coloring.
Unlike most griffons who had mostly brown feathers, this griffon had gray and black feathers. He was also quite a bit taller than most griffons, big enough to the point of intimidating Nightmare Moon herself. Sombra took a peak around the griffon at the door and noticed that the other griffons in the room also had the same feather coloring.
The griffon looked down to see who had knocked on the door, and upon noticing The King of the Empire, immediately went into a bow. After rising from the bow, the griffon asked, “To what do we owe this visit from the king of the empire?”
Giving the griffon a friendly smile to the griffon, Sombra asked, “May I come in and explain myself to the entire band, I am kind of in a hurry.”
The griffon politely moved to the side to allow Sombra space to enter. “Please do come in. We were just relaxing before we have to leave for our next show.”
“That’s actually why I am here today. You see, today is my daughter’s birthday and she is a huge fan of you,” Sombra started to explain, taking a seat in the chair offered to him.
“Well, we are happy to know that a member of the royal family is a fan of us. If I may ask though, is that all you came by to tell us?” the griffon sitting at the far end of the couch closest to Sombra asked.
“No. The reason I have come here is because I would like you to perform a concert for my daughter today. I will even make sure you are all paid for any inconvenience this may have on your tour schedule, along with a normal concert pay,” Sombra said, getting straight to the point.
After Sombra finished explaining his proposition, the band gave each other looks of contemplation. On one claw, they get to play for the daughter of King Sombra and get paid for any inconvenience and a normal concert pay. On the other claw, doing this will create major drawbacks for the rest of their tour. After a moment of thinking it through, they finally gave each other a nod of approval.
The griffon from before was the one who gave the response, “We would be honored to perform for your daughter. Just give a few minutes to let our manager, orchestra and choir know that we are performing another show today and we will be there. Where is the stage going to be located so we know where to set up?”
“The stage should be finished being built by the time you get there and will be in the castle courtyard,” Sombra told getting up and walking for the door. “Thank you for doing this, you don’t know how much you’re making my daughter happy right now.” After finishing his statement, he left for his home and spend some much needed time with his daughter.
Back at the palace
Twilight and her mother were roaming the halls enjoying the time they spent together. As they were walking, they didn’t realize that someone was sneaking up on them from behind before it was too late. The black figure pounced and grabbed Twilight from behind, pulling her into a fierce hug.
Twilight was wrapped up tight, but laughing while being hugged by her father. “Dad, what was that for?”
“That was a surprise hug for my little girl, also me and your mother have a wonderful surprise for you,” her father said letting go of his daughter.
“Is it about my birthday present? Cause if it is, I can’t wait anymore the suspense is driving me crazy inside my brain trying to figure out what it is,” Twilight said, not afraid to show how excited she was becoming.
Sombra gave Nightmare Moon a sideways glance as if to say ‘Should we tell?’ After receiving a nod from her, he turned back to his daughter and responded, “It actually is about your present. Would you like to know what it is.”
Twilight nodded her head yes, too excited to actually speak at that moment.
Nightmare Moon just giggled at her daughter’s excitement and decided to take it from there. “You remember how you wanted us to take you to see that band a few days ago?” Twilight nodded in response. “Well, your father went and talked to them while you and I spent the day together.”
Twilight’s expression went from excited to full on ecstatic at what she was hearing. She was stuck between asking where they were going with this, or just listening to what they had to say. Thinking about it for a short while, she just decided to listen.
Getting no response from their daughter, Sombra decided to finish what they were saying. “The reason I went over there and talked to them was to ask a favor of them. That favor was plain and simple, have them perform a concert for your birthday and give the castle staff the day off.”
If Twilight wasn’t flying with joy before, she was now. “Are you serious? Dimmu Borgir is going to perform just for my birthday. This is the greatest thing ever. Thank you so much you guys. You are the best parents ever.”
“If you want to see them, we better hurry to the courtyard. They’re probably done setting everything up,” Sombra said, doing his best to calm his daughter down.
Palace courtyard
After arriving at the palace court yard and going straight to the front of the stage, Twilight was waiting for the band to start playing. It didn’t take long for the orchestra and choir to get started. While the orchestra and choir where doing their thing, Dimmu Borgir was making sure that they had everything together. Right before the choir finished the beginning of the concert, the band came on stage and into position.Right when the choir finished, the lead guitar got straight to work on the first song of the concert. Twilight didn’t have to even take guess at what song was being played first, because it was by far her favorite song. While the vocalist was singing, she was also singing in time with him.
‘With defiance and resistance
I burn the bridges and their names
Will I ever comprehend
My own spells and games?’
There was a slight pause in vocals, but picked up after about thirty seconds of instrumental.
'Let me have my world
Let me have my slaves
They all do wonders for me
So I can’t leave things be
Let me have my world
As I am too blind to see
When I lay in bed at night
Wishing well
When I pray for recovery
Feeling hell
Suffocating in my own filth
With no fresh air to inhale
With defiance and resistance
I burn the bridges and their names
Will I ever comprehend
My own spells and games?
Born treacherous
Born treacherous
Born treacherous
Let me have my world
Let me have my slaves
Let me have my world
Let me have my slaves
They all do wonders for me
So I can’t leave things be
Let me have my world
As I am too blind to see
Born treacherous
Born treacherous
Born treacherous’
As the song ended everypony was cheering for more, even the King and Queen. The rest of the concert went on like this for the rest of the time. They even asked that the princess and her parents come up on stage so they could give her something that they rarely did. What they did was so shocking, not even Twilight had a logical explanation for it.
One by one, each member of the band came up to her, bowed in respect, wished her a happy birthday and gave her two things. The first thing they gave her was a feather straight from the top of their head. The second thing they gave her was, either something off of their instrument or some sort of prop that was used in the concert.
After it was all done and the band was packing everything up, Twilights parents led her to their private dining hall for a very special dinner. When they arrived, they noticed that the table was already set and the food was waiting to be eaten.