Princess Celestia stood in a large library/den of sorts, her eyes closed in contemplation. She sat on her bed cushion, facing her cackling fireplace, the night sky moonless tonight.
In her castle in Everfree, the place did not quite feel the same anymore. The past few days had been quite trying, not just on Celestia's body, but also on her mind.
Both her co-ruler and sub-head of the military had to be compensated for or outright replaced, respectively.
Barely a day and a half had passed since she had to banish her sister to the moon; hardly two days since Sombra cursed the Crystal Empire and had to be banished to the far north, and already Celestia missed them both for various reasons.
The amount of work that Luna put into the night sky was so overwhelming for the inexperienced nightscaper that Celestia hardly bothered to show the moon's facing tonight. The stars even were largely absent; to say the least, it was a very dark night.
Of course, seeing the lunar landscape would remind her of what she had to do to her only sister, and that she may not seen her true self for at least several hundred years, maybe more. She needed a little bit more time before being faced with that on a nightly basis.
Most of the ponies were vaguely aware that something had happened to Luna, but the guards knew the fully that the night princess had been banished to the moon. Ironic, some would call it, that she would be imprisoned in the same cell that she had moved countless nights beforehand.
Then there was the issue with Sombra.
Explaining the disappearance of one of the most decorated officers in the military had been a chore, as he had been a very well respected and looked up to Guard member.
She only professed to the public that a conspiracy surrounding Sombra attempting to instigate a war with the Crystal Empire, and he just so happened to vanish along with it without a trace in the process.
Speculation and conjectures that Celestia had a hoof in it hardly waited till after her speech and proclamation of a new Captain of the Guard, though none at the time had been bold enough to shout it at her.
Fortunately for them that none had the audacity to call her out right then and there.
At the time she had not been in the mood for wild stories of her being the one attempting a coup against her sister, and getting rid of the old Captain for his loyalties to both princesses.
The former was backwards and the latter questionable considering the circumstances.
Greeting other bold ponies on the moon would have kept Luna busy for a few days had even one had enough nerve to proclaim it to her face in front of her subjects.
In hindsight, it would have been a kind gesture to send Luna a few companions to talk with, as there was no telling how long she would be stuck on the moon. The Elements of Harmony and banishment spells tended not to have exact time stamps to go by.
Now, the second any of her subjects began to suspect that she was in a punishing mood, ponies left and right would either start trying to worship her in order to avoid joining the list of the banished, or perform slander and liable by calling her a tyrant in an attempt to instigate a rebellion.
The latter knew full well that she could not banish or imprison them for lies alone without confirming a tightening grip on the relatively free society, confirmation of which would start a cycle of suppression that would lead even the reasonable ponies to reject the "sun tyrant".
Tyrant rang rather nicely compared to what the guards muttered when they thought she could not hear them. Sompony had even made a statue with Celestia standing proudly over the Equestrian flag, with an inscription reading: "My way, or the Lunar way."
The statue lasted only five minutes once Celestia beheld it with her own eyes. It had taken her four minutes just to garner what kind of reaction was appropriate for a princess to take.
Burn it? Smash it? Eat it in a display of feigned insanity just to scare her subjects?
Luna would have been amused by the last one, but Celestia eventually went with options one and two, smashing the stone propaganda to pieces and melting it down with her magic.
She would have poured it over the guards' heads, as she knew they were the ones behind its creation, but reigned in her emotions just before tipping the cauldron over the sides of the castle walls.
It would take centuries to repair public relations, and even longer if Celestia lost both morality and self-restraint.
And yet, when Celestia finally got some time to think, she found some strange messages had been delivered straight to her chambers here in the castle.
The only way they could have gotten there was through direct teleportation, and after briefly inspecting the contents of the letters, Celestia determined that they were indeed just letters, and not laced with poisons, toxins, or inappropriate followers' idea of fan art.
Only one pony other than herself knew the combination to that magical inbox of sorts, and would send reports that may hold some value.
Celestia finally re-opened her eyes, having thought over the past few days' events and looked towards her desk. It was a simple desk made of wood, today the resting place of the few pages of parchment that had arrived.
They were unrolled and crisp, but as of yet, Celestia had not poured over them with a detective's sort of scrutiny. Perhaps she feared what she would find, or worse, what she would not find.
Well, she would screen them, and if they presented any new information, she would be the one to determine whether it was worth telling the public about or not.
Shaking her head, mane stubbornly flowing in the wind as if her head had not moved at all, Celestia walked over to the desk, staring at page one.
Among the many articles that had vanished after Sombra had been sealed, a few notes that he had written on dark magic and on his last assignment remained missing. Her first suspicion had been that Sombra had sent these here in his haste to get rid of incriminating evidence.
A quick skim over the first page revealed that, contrary to her earlier belief, these were both far too few to be the entire collection and far too focused on the Crystal Empire to be completely related to dark magic and its uses.
Sombra must have recorded some of the events surrounding his mission, and sent them here prior to his banishment.
Hope welled within Celestia, as it seemed that she might finally get some answers, or at least, some closure as to what really happened. Maybe Luna and Sombra had overestimated dark magic and had been possessed.
That could be forgiven very easily, albeit, they would both have to go through the unpredictable cycling of the Elements of Harmony just to be on the safe side.
With renewed vigor, Celestia dove into the top piece of parchment, beginning her investigation.
Entry 354
I wonder if Starswirl the Bearded ever bothered to count every time he recorded something down. Anyways, today, as I watch the crystal ponies miserably trot off to their daily labors, in chains of course, I have come to a realization.
In a world filled with magic, magic powered by emotions, in my studies of dark magic, I conclude that there are two very powerful emotions. Love, and hatred, both of which may one day lead to the other.
When I first came here, these ponies were so carefree, I could hardly have called them a threat to Equestria.
Then, I realized that they were happy without the direct rule of Luna and Celestia. With their ability to project emotional waves throughout all the land, they could influence the very mindset of Equestria without lifting a single spear towards her.
The crystal heart is the key to this great power (and weapon), and their princess, an earth pony mare named Amore leads them defiantly against the conquests of Equestria.
I cannot describe my mission here too much, as Luna strictly made me promise to secrecy, but one day I plan on giving these notes to Shade as a guide for her work in magic.
I'm glad she did not inherit my horn type, though I would not have minded had her brother, Umbra, taken on a more unicorn lineage.
I married an earth pony, so sure I should have expected it after seeing a unicorn daughter, but father-son talks might be a little awkward.
Moving on, their love fueled the power of the crystal heart; it will do me no good to attempt to use dark magic directly against it. I need to neutralize their ability to use it, or else I will never be able to complete my mission in time.
Whoops, I guess I kind of gave something more away. Oh well, I'm sure Luna won't mind. By the time anyone gets this, the mission will be complete.
Celestia implores that I send her my latest report on dark magic, and I think I may include this entry. I know from war that hatred is powerful; can you believe that the griffins seriously believe that they could stand against the two sisters?
I admit, it was a noble gesture for them to go out fighting, but their nation has lost quite the numbers attempting to overthrow Celestia and Luna, as have the dragons.
The two by themselves are quite powerful, and sparingly intervene directly in fights. But if they do, then you might as well kiss your tail good-bye if you oppose them.
The griffins, reluctantly, have left the continentn for good as a soverign power, and the dragons have settled for their lot on the world stage.
The Crystal Empire threatened war if Equestria continued to expand towards it. I once would have laughed at the notion, but I have seen their Crystal Guards.
Cheerful lot, but make no mistake, they know how to fight; I have seen them in action against Ursa minors and majors. A conventional conflict with them will not be a piece of cake without the princesses.
Unlike with the griffins, however, Celestia cannot afford to further irritate the residents, as their emotions reflect onto Equestria, as previously noted.
As long as they remain defiant, resistance movements will continue to spread like a wildfire. As long as these ponies have any sort of will to live under slavery than the royal sisters... Well, then there can never be true peace in Equetsria.
I need to break their will. I only have three of seven days left; I will have to use dark magic en masse.
Celestia sighed as she finished with that piece of parchment; levitating it into the air, she did a quick run through before hurling it into the fireplace. Already she could tell that what she sought would probably not be within these pages.
Sombra had, for the most part slipped in details of what he was actually doing there, almost as if he expected the letter to be skimmed in some sort of screening process.
Celestia had missed it in her skimming, but she had high doubts that if he felt that Luna would read this without checking every word for dangerous information.
This must have been written prior to any sort of conflict between the two, the likes of which Celestia reasoned Sombra would touch up on at some point. Or so she hoped. She carried on reading, taking a seat at her desk, not knowing what next would come to light here.
Entry 356
The Nightmare Moon spell is a dreadful, but useful, kind of magic! With Luna's help, I cast the nightmare vision spell on the entire Crystal Empire, from the capital to the very fringes of the Unicorn Range.
Their fear is almost empowering, as most of them cannot fathom their worst fears coming to life before their eyes. Such illusionary torture is drastic, but I see use for it. I will need to incorporate it into the defense of the Crystal Heart once I get some spare time.
Oh yes, that's right! The Heart has been more receptive to my dark magic lately. Well, I can at least levitate it; stripping it of its source of power, the residence, means that that is taken care of as far as threats go.
Strong positive emotion flares it up though, so I had best not think of my family while around it.
Strange thing is, I was able to keep my family out of mind until I neared that Heart. It bucked my heart like an apple tree bucker, causing some unresolved feelings to surface. Some feelings that otherwise would be better left unstated.
Violet Gladis, guh, I really wish I could change that last name, but alas, my own surname is not much better, and shall not be mentioned here. The Heart is definitely a bit of light magic.
Now, hear me out before you go scoffing, Shade. If fear and hatred fuel dark magic, then love and hope may fuel light magic.
Friendship evokes so many of these emotions; fear of losing friends, hope that they may be alright, love for the bonds forged, and hatred for anything that dares stand against it.
It is far fetched, but I bet the Elements could be used by a single pony if they were able to master the light and the dark aspects of friendship. Then again, I doubt anyone other than Celestia and Luna both, together, could even wield the Elements to such capacity.
Celestia paused here and chuckled to herself. Thank Equestria Sombra was not always correct, or else her fight with her sister would have went very differently.
Truly, the Elements were the primary way of defeating Luna without doing serious bodily harm; though, imprisoning her inside the moon could not be good for her sanity.
Then it hit her. Sombra had directly commented to Shade, his daughter. So she was the expected audience here? It seemed strange to Celestia, but at least he had touched up again on the Crystal Heart.
It was a powerful relic, and in the wrong hooves, could be a more devastating weapon than the Elements of Harmony, if in the least because it required a less specific connection of sorts in order to make it work.
Celestia looked around the chamber, eyeful of any flicker, anything that might alert her to another presence in the room. Sombra now seemed to be more boldly lacing his report with what was going on, and the last thing she needed was for some pony to enter her chamber and catch even a glimpse of these letters.
She had enough conspiracy theories to last her a millennium. Once satisfied with her few minute scan, Celestia resumed reading.
Understanding emotions is key to controlling the Crystal Heart and its warriors. When they are dominated by fear, the Heart is inaccessible to them; give them a reason to continue going on, just a mere spark of hope, and the Heart will spring to life and empower them.
I am quite fearful that when Celesstia and Luna arrive to overthrow me, air quotes I emphasize, the ponies might be so overjoyed that I might be destroyed in the process.
Thankfully Celestia and Luna will wield the tools of my downfall; I am confident that they will make a spectacular show for the ponies while allowing me the chance to slip more or less unscathed and homebound.
Why I am bothering to write this when, in all honesty, secrecy is the only way this is all going to work?
Well, just as a precaution, as while I trust Celestia, I have reasons to be wary of Luna's intentions.
Do not get me wrong, she permits my sometimes inappropriate dreams of the Royal Sisters, and she was the master of the ceremony during my wedding, but I have reason to suspect that she has ulterior motives for being so genuinely interested in a quiet coup.
Her personal hoofwork in Amore's assassination has a bloody arrow or two to attest that she is willing to kill in order to see that I succeed.
Normally I would be pleased to be working with someone so dedicated, but when she fired those arrows through the nighttime balcony doors of the castle, she almost shot right through the mounted mare, straight through my forehead.
I will not go into details of why I had a mare mounting me in the princess' bedroom, but I think your mother will understand that it was for the sake of the mission.
Had I not laid back in time, I might would have joined Amore in Tartarus, if such a place exists for ponies like her. Sweet, kind of naiive for a ruler (Luna and Celestia are my comparisons) and very skilled in the art of seduction and lovemaking love in general.
Deceiving her tested my morality and relative chastity (ha, how silly that latter thought is now that I think about it) but the job got done. I lured her into a vulnerable position, facing away from her assassin's point of attack, and far more focused on yours truly than the open night air.
I still have suspicions that the second arrow may have been meant for me, as double tapping an earth mare is normally not necessary when you shoot an arrow through her chest. I hope you will not have to know exactly what I mean by that anytime soon.
What am I worried about though? Luna is Celestia's younger sister; I should not worry so much. She knows as well as I do now that in order to control this Empire, you must have a pony who is emotionally intelligent, sympathetic, and quite loving in order for all to prosper.
And in order for Equestria to control this Empire, that pony must be Equestrian in loyalty and nationality.
I am playing the opposite role and, while the crystal mines are busier than ever, the inhabitants are hardly frolicking. Some of them have even tried escaping; it wasn't in the mission directives as to what I was supposed to do about that, so I decided that it was better to just keep them in the city.
My black crystals, as the agents of my projection, terrify them right back into their place.
Celestia and Luna will swoop in and play the heroes, the ponies will worship the very ground they walk on, and all will be well.
Celestia pondered the information set before her, bringing her hooves gently onto the table. Her head resting on the parchment, she could sniff the various types of ink used in the writing.
Clearly Sombra had a draft or two of this, and likely added to this after the events foretold, as there was no way all of that could have occurred in the same day.
Then again, Sombra did both knock up his wife and lead the Guard in a successful invasion of Trottabama on the same day, so it would not be too far fetched. Still, Celestia had her doubts that he connived Amore and sent the crystal ponies to work in the mines on the same day.
A sharp rap at the door alerted the princess to a visitor. Ears standing on end, the princes was on her hooves before her head could finish preparing a scorch spell, potent enough to reduce even armored combatants to ash in as little as four seconds.
"Who goes there?"
The voice that came out the other end was gruff, but at least was the familiar voice of her newest Captain of the Guard. His name escaped the princess in a her fight-flight state of mind though.
“Princess, the Court is requesting your presence...” The captain did not sound like he actually wanted to be the one to deliver the message, but responsibilities had apparently fallen onto him. Likely lost in a casting of lots.
“Tell them that Court will not reconvene for two more days!”
Celestia tried not to raise her voice to the level of shouting, but this matter with the letters took utmost priority, and the walls lightly shook from her volume.
She managed to lower her voice before continuing, not wanting to send the guard scurrying to tell the nobles that they were all next in line.
“If any of them protest, see them out of the castle. At the point of a spear if you must.”
“As you wish,” the captain replied, likely doing a salute behind the double doors. He knew better than to press the princess when she was not even in the mood to hold Court. Hoof steps could be heard as the guard departed to do his ruler's bidding.
Celestia waited for the guard to leave before returning to her reading, still hotwired to attack anything that moved.
It was clear from these letters that Luna had been plotting behind her back even then, and may have even attempted to kill her Captain while he was undercover.
Not only that, but the whole Nightmare Moon transformation may not have been a spur of the moment thing, and might truly had been Luna's way of asserting herself over Celestia.
Celestia also suspected that the Crystal Heart may had been a part of her plan to set the world into a state of eternal night. Celestia needed to be sure before making such accusations in the history books.
Entry 359
Today is the day! As the sun rises, the unfortunate subjects of this Empire come close to liberation! I worry about nothing, as all I can think about is returning home to Violet, Shade, and Umbra.
I miss them dearly, but at least after this, I'll be retiring. My pension plus some self-lend out should be enough for me to hold up my end of the monetary bargain, even when Violet's jewelry shop is running slowly.
At high noon, this mission will finally come to a conclusion. I think I will bring the foals here once the princesses set up their regents of choice. I have a curse ready should I be betrayed, but I do not think I will need to use it.
Luna said that all I needed to do was go out on my balcony, look over my subjects, and appear as menacing as possible.
She strictly told me not to move from the balcony though, no matter what flashing lights might suggest otherwise. I mean, wouldn't it make sense for the battle to take place outside the view of the subjects?
I mean, they do need to buy that Celestia and Luna are liberating them from a tyrant, not switching from Equestrian martial to civil law. These ponies are emotionally driven half the time, but they are not stupid.
Details, details, all of them! I tried to contact Celestia as to inquire as to who will be replacing me, but for whatever reason, my letters have been sent right back to me.
I am perturbed, but I have faith that she is merely busy, The culmination of my studies, from the very first note that I made when I first started practicing dark magic, I had planned on sending to her as a retirement gift. Ha, me giving her a gift for my own retirement.
I think Violet may appreciate them a little more though, as I am sure that Celestia already knows everything about dark magic, and just wanted me to uncover it for myself.
Starswirl once composed that wisdom and cunning go hoof in hoof. Celestia is very hard to read when she puts her mind to it.
Alarm bells immediately went off as Celestia began to conclude where the rest of the pages were. If Sombra had granted them to his wife before his banishment, then extensive, first hoof knowledge of dark magic and this incident was still out there.
Casting that parchment into the flame, Celestia frowned as she thought about the rejection of Sombra's letters. Luna had warned her that he might try to capture her in some sort of powerful magic if she were to read anything composed by him.
Believing her sister at the time and thanking her for the warning, she had sent Sombra's letters right back to him, unopened, giving the appearance of outright rejection.
Now she regretted that move, as now she had to find where the remainder of this account had been sent. No matter what, that information had to be limited to those under her watchful eye.
Celestia's muscles tensed preparing to teleport, when she noticed a final page of parchment.
Frowning, she contemplated on whether to read it or not. Oddly enough, Celestia could notice slight scorch marks within the print, indicating that Sombra had used magic to inscribe the words. This had likely been his latest, and last, entry.
It may have been the last minute thoughts and feelings of the stallion before he was banished to the icy north as a shadow.
A slight amount of guilt caused her to relent from preemptive burning action, and she decided to read the last entry.
Final Entry
These are my last thoughts, as I stare down reality. The two sisters have me cornered; I was not taught to retreat unless out of tactical necessity, and there is nowhere in the entire palace that I can flee to, so there is no tact to retreat at this point.
They must want to cut loose any remaining ends that could point to their involvement.
Celestia, however, is acting far too well, as if she genuinely does not know the plan at all. And Luna has done nothing to remind her that I am not actually the enemy, not that I can recall.
I may have been betrayed, but for what reason? Did she really want me out of the picture so badly? I did my duties well; no pony even looked at Celestia funny without my knowledge, much less try to harm her.
Even when on occasion I guarded Luna hardly any pony got past me, though Luna is a bit more brash than Celestia and would pick a fight if she thought any of her subjects had it out for her.
Made her easier to fight with, but not easier to guard. Out of all of this, I hardly told my family about this; my name will go down in history as the tyrant who enslaved the Crystal Empire.
What a fate... I hope Violet will teach the kids differently, and remind them of the times that we had. I hope they dont' go after them, I could not bear the thought. If Luna thinks that she will get her hooves on the Crystal Heart, then she has got another thing coming.
I curse this blasted Empire, to vanish from this world till I can return, claim the Heart, clear my name, and take vengeance upon my backstabbing rulers.
They will be the victor's today; I can feel my body giving way to their combined magic, my very spirit crying for me to defend myself. I believe they are banishing me, rather than outright killing me. Strange, I feel I should fight against this somehow.
But that would be pointless; I cannot take on two alicorns. I must pool the remainder of my strength into making this empire disappear and composing this, all in one magical act. Ha, Shade would appreciate that humor in fact.
Farewell, Violet, our honeymoon will have to be postponed... again... Foals, there is a very long road ahead of you and Violet, but I just want you all to know that I love you.
Celestia tore herself away from this last entry, crumpled it up, and threw it into the fire. Sombra had been too good at his job, and Luna had been too eager to undermine Equestria's official stance towards the Crystal Empire.
But it seemed as if she had good intentions, and so did Sombra. At least, in some shape or fashion.
But Sombra's family would not see it that way; she could not afford for such a scheme to be leaked to the general public, lest she further damage public relations, and perhaps even international ones as well.
The truth, or what could be passed off as the truth if Celestia took these letters into account, could not ever be revealed in full.
Those last letters, especially that very last one, held information far too sensitive to be left unburnt.
There was little more incriminating than those messages in their entirety, and if Sombra indeed sent anything regarding this “mission” to Shade, then she, her sibling, and her mother were prime targets for damage control by this point.
There was only one solution to this problem that both benefited Equestria and honored Sombra's sacrifice at the same time. Celestia had no doubt that Violet would resist with teeth bared, but it would do the pony no good to try to defy the princess.
Celestia lit her horn up, cast a final look at the fireplace, and then vanished in a brilliant yellow flash from her den.