//------------------------------// // Nightmare Moon // Story: Sombra's Mission // by Strythio //------------------------------// The crystal pony guard walked in, not yet noticing the princess laying dead at the bedside. “Princess, I know you did not want to be disturbed, but I heard screaming…” The moment that the stallion's face widened in surprise at seeing the the body, Sombra leapt from his place. Wrapping his forearms around the pony’s neck, Sombra pulled back into a stranglehold, wrenching the stallion from his rear hooves. He backed himself to a wall, not wanting to give the guard the opportunity of forcing him back into it later in an attempt at freeing himself. After this Sombra forced his quarry to his rear, with the unfortunate construction of a pony's hind legs doing the rest of the work of keeping the earth pony from escaping via movement. The guard's arms flailed pointless in the air, desperately trying to grasp or at least graze Sombra’s head. Even if the pony could see his attacker clearly enough to strike, Sombra had his horn at the ready. He would have just ended it already with a magical blast, but he did not want to risk metaphorically lighting up the room like a lantern in the dead darkness of the night. Any creature capable of sensing magic would pick up lethal usage, and that would draw undesired attention to the current situation. When the gurgling pony finally stopped moving, Sombra tightened his already noose-like grip for a few moments, as to make sure that he was not faking it. Sombra held the pony so tightly that he could feel the fading heartbeat ticking away, strength going from a gallop to a crawl within a few minutes of this. After what felt like an eternity of waiting, the stallion went fully limp, and movement in the neck seemed to cease entirely. Sombra threw the pony aside, dropping him dead atop of his monarch. He had not intended on incurring such an unnecessary loss, but frankly, had the pony shouted for help, things would have gotten very sticky, very fast. Of course, adding anther pony to the pile did not help his cause if yet another guard, or worse a patrol, happened upon the room. Sombra knew that he was a dead pony if he was found with these two. After he gathered his wits and stood to his hooves, he gallopped from the room with the intent on getting to the crystal heart before getting found out. Using magic, he closed the door behind him, hoping that a polite guard would knock and buy him some more time, if any were to seek entry into the room. Sombra turned the corner just in time to see a few crystal guards calmly walking in his direction. The guards seemed perplexed that Sombra looked as if he were about ready to run a marathon. The bloody hoofprints, the presence of which only now became apparent to Sombra, added alarm to the mix. Sombra fled in the complete opposite direction as the guards, which caused them to cry out for Sombra to stop and explain himself. A waste of breath, for the adrenaline pumped stallion practically flew down the hallway. His target now had to be the Crystal Heart; with it, he could at least bargain. Otherwise, he would be vastly outnumbered, unless Luna and her forces broke cover and supported him, neither of which Sombra desired to deeply entrust. Day Two: Long Live the King! Approximately midnight Sombra had ran for his life before. From griffins, dragons, phoenixes, and even Celestia, though the last had mostly been in jest. Also, again except for the last, the stallion had never been forced to push himself beyond his ordinary limits. It did not help that he had hardly had a wink of sleep since arriving nearly twelve hours ago, and though Sombra had stayed up for much longer, the need for physical endurance began to take a bit of a toll on his mind. His muscles ached, his breathing rough and scratchy, the endless maze of the castle making it more and more difficult to find his way around. Hardly could Sombra recall the correct route, having to put effort into the most basic of spells only going to show just how little he was actually still running on. Sombra wished that he had jumped from the balcony, as at least he would have had his bearings. Sombra turned yet another corner to find a gaping hole in the floor. It was not at all inconspicuous, and if he did not know any better, he could assume that someone had purposely made that hole in the floor. He stopped to to collect his breath and consider whether it would be wise to go randomly leaping into holes in the floor. Sombra heard shouts coming from the hallway he had just left from; his brief respite already had come to an end. At least his brain functioned enough to choose to look before leaping, and the sight below was a most pleasant surprise. Directly below him was the Crystal Heart, floating with all of its glory, and providing the only source of light in the space that the hole led to. Oddly enough, the Heart floated completely alone, with no guards apparent from this view. Sombra leapt into the hole, landing on his hooves directly next to the still floating Heart. As Celestia once scolded him, if a pony does not find what they seek sooner or later, it was not meant to be. No sooner had he landed with a loud clop did something stir in the room. Ears trained for any signs of life, Sombra picked up on the faint breathing of a dying animal and the scraping of armor on the floor. It was unpleasant to the ears, but Sombra had to be sure that the animal truly was dying. He had had enough surprises for one day. It was still very dark, since the glow of the Heart was the only source of illumination. Stepping to the side as to keep his shadow from being cast on the area of suspicion, Sombra found a midnight blue shape laying on the far side of the space, it slowly crawled towards the Heart. The bright blue eyes stood out significantly, the only sign that the changeling truly was not in disguise, though the point of disguising as another changeling seemed trivial with the matter at hand. This of course was not exactly good news, as if the changelings had been discovered, then that meant that the crystal guard already was on to everything else as well. Sombra needed to know why this changeling was out of disguise; maybe as an aside he would figure out why he looked and sounded like some beast preparing to silently, and with utmost dignity, pass into the next world. “Changeling!” Sombra whispered with a slight hiss afterwards, “What happened? Why are you not in disguise?” The changeling looked up at Sombra with fearful blue eyes. It merely mouthed a word before finally succumbing to whatever had forced it to the ground in the first place. Gone like the wind, an expression that had so many times described the ponies associated with Sombra's dubious quests of conquest and subjugation. “Stop Sombra!” Sombra whirled around to see that the guards had encircled the Heart, and had arrived from the very same hole that Sombra had jumped down. Sombra turned his body around, conveniently covering the changeling corpse, lest that only further incriminate him due to proximity. “Stay back!” Sombra warned, horn glowing an ominous red, “Things will get very ugly if I have to use this.” The guards looked baffled for a moment before one of them yawned very widely. Before long, all four of the guards dropped like dead to the floor, snoring away as if they had grown just that bored from Sombra’s threats. Sombra could only revel in his fortune for a moment before a starry maned mare appeared from the shadows. Taking the heart in her magic, Luna smiled triumphantly, her eyes sparkling from the reflection of the blue crystal gem. “Alright Sombra, now time to move on to the next phase of my plan. Come here.” Sombra looked only once back at the changeling before rushing up to Luna. Although tempted to pass out, Sombra wanted to first inquire as to what exactly was going on, as there were still too many questions left unanswered. “Any chance that you will explain anything that just happened?” Luna lightly laughed, then replied, “Not right now. Cast dark magic on the Heart.” Of course, the two sisters had to have some irritable trait in common with each other. Sombra shook his head, not feeling up to a fight for information. “I have already tried, dark magic does not work on this relic.” “Just do it.” Luna was gentle but firm in this, her eyes becoming steely with having to re-issue her command. Sombra relented, and channeled dark magic to his horn. He then fired it at the Heart. Contrary to what happened earlier, his magic began swirling around the heart until it completely encased it in a strange fog. The fog dissipated when Luna’s magic entered the mix. Luna’s eyes flashed white, and the Heart let loose a bright burst that near blinded Sombra, causing him to shield his eyes with his hooves for protection. "Oh, and just as a warning, you might feel some side effects..." Luna's voice trailed on as if she were flying farther and farther away down a wide, circular tunnel. Sombra's vision, or lack thereof, did little to ease a growing panic as his body seemed to move on its own, independent of his will, his very soul even. Astral projection was one thing, but Sombra had never quite experienced a sensation like this before, even in his dreams. Sombra regained sight without re-opening his eyes a few minutes later, his body seemingly restored to his controlling mind. He was in some strange world, where he was surrounded by stars, moons, and suns of different sizes and shapes. It was like being tossed out into space, except galaxies vibrantly depicted events very unfamiliar with the stallion. Upon the facing of the brightest moon shone Luna’s cutie mark; a crescent moon against a black background. A voice rang out, as if chanting some spell. It sounded somewhat like Luna's Canterlot voice, but it alternated between sentences into Nightmare Moon's. “All hail King Sombra! With his rise to your throne, all hope is surely lost. Only the crystal princess can save you, her arrival shall be heralded by the sight of the crystal heart upon her flank. Till then, slaves you shall be, your lives like a book of history; written by the victors of this day. Your night begins now!” Sombra’s mind began slipping from his control, events playing in his head that were slightly different than what had transpired: Some sort of spell, he and Luna together casting it, the magic streaming throughout the Crystal Empire. When the lights began to fade and Sombra could feel his eyelids yet again, he re-opened them. He was back in the dark underreaches of the Crystal Palace; he was on the floor, likely having fallen unconscious at some point. The crystal heart floated above Luna, who grinned from ear to ear, her eyes glazed over in a strange lust that reminded Sombra of Celestia on his return trip from Trottabama. In public, she had very much scolded Sombra for his over-zealous actions, but in private, she seemed somewhat pleased at the thought of re-shaping an entire culture to fit Equestrian ideals. Or at least, Equestrian domestic peace ideals. They shared very similiar ideals already when it came down to war. Sombra came back from his reminiscence with a groggy rise to his hooves, his body weighed by some unseen force that worked alongside gravity to make his movements difficult. “Nightmare Moon spell huh…” Sombra murmured, surprised that he did not speak with much more power, “Kind of drastic, huh?” As far as he knew of, the spell itself had cast all of the ponies into that same dream-like stance, and he doubted they had yet to be freed from it. “Their worst nightmare; there is only one pony to cure them of that.” Luna’s smiled sinisterly, her hooves coming together in a devious rubbing motion, “You may write of what you recall up to this point. I and Celestia will ‘dethrone’ you and take the Heart. Understood?” Sombra nodded fervently, finally getting some clear indication of an end game. “Understood. My slaves will, in the meantime, make sure of themselves and work the crystal mines.” “We do not want to inherit a broke state, after all.” Luna walked up and gently tapped Sombra on the head. Sombra felt odd, almost ethereal. Luna whispered straight into his left ear, “Let them never see the light of day save for the last day. Let them only bask in the glory of the moon. Once all is set, my plan will be complete, and you will finally get to rest.” Sombra smiled, a warmth filling his chest like little else. Rest? He presumed home, with his family, but at this thought, something tickled Sombra’s horn. It was not Luna, and it was not the air; it was magic. Sombra felt an odd slip of conscious, as if some demon sought to possess him. Right as it took hold on his mind, a sharp, acute pain pierced his mind. Though Sombra wanted to howl out in confusion and pain, the only sound that came out was a dull and wretched groan. His heart ached, his legs lost all strength, and Sombra collapsed back to the ground. His mind again drifted, but this time, it felt more like he was falling asleep than being forced into a mental pocket world. Sombra snapped awake, as if the previous moment had been naught but a dream. Much to his surprise, he was back in the crystal throne room. It was dark outside, and on a table to his right were a few rolled up letters, each labelled: “To Celestia”. It was his hoofwriting, but the stallion had a hard time recalling if and when he had even written them. Using his magic, Sombra cast aside all other concerns and focused on the pieces of parchment, levitating them before him. They read like a story-book, describing events that seemed in line with his mission, and some of his basic findings with dark magic. A few edits here and there with a conveniently placed pen, and Sombra could agree that they were ready to be sent off to Celestia. They did not give too much information, but just enough to at least hint at many of the events that had already taken place, according to his earlier fantasy that is. No sooner did he attempt to do so did the letters come straight back to him. Sombra seemed baffled by this, and had been intent on resending them when the throne room doors creaked open. Stepping in was a mare, though if Sombra did not know any better, he would have assumed her an Equestrian earth pony by her lack of a crystal coat. Did he know better? Sombra felt that he did, as he was in the Crystal Empire, and there should have been no reason for Equestrians to be here while he still reigned. The mare held her head low, as if frightened to even look him in the eye. Her flat and descended brown mane practically covered her face. Her ribcage could be seen poking from her sides, and her wobbly steps suggested fatigue. Of course, for some reason he could not pinpoint, Sombra hardly cared. Normally he would at least wondered if he had been responsible in some fashion, but the obvious answer cast even that concern aside like paper in the wind. The pony stopped just a few feet from him and the throne that he sat upon, shaking like a leaf in the wind. “Status report,” Sombra demanded in a harsh tone, as if ordering one of his more disobedient privates around. Despite context, Sombra could assume that this mare had caused him some issues in the past, or perhpaps was already on thin ice as it was. The mare quietly spoke something, but hardly able to hear it, Sombra leaned forward with a frown. Fear was one thing, but incoherence was another. “Speak up mare, or your castle slave position will be terminated. You do not want to become a mine slave again, do you?” He raised his brow, as if with a wave of his hoof the matter would be done with. The mines must not be a very pleasant place to be, Sombra concluded, for that threat caused the pony to speak up with a new vigor masked by her appearance. “The mines are at full operation my lord. The shackles and chains are making things a bit slow, but so many crystals have been mined, we have become the envy of the financial world. You also have a letter from Equestria.” Perhaps an explanation for why his letters were being rejected rested in the letter, Sombra mused. Noticing that the pony brought no bags, Sombra found it curious as to where the letter was held. “Well, where is the letter?” Sombra channeled magic to his horn menacingly. The pony squeaked, fell to the ground, and covered her head with her hooves. Now they were shaking even more, now like a naked foal in the everlasting winter of the far north, every bone making some resounding noise. This would have been amusing had it not been for the fact that his letter from Equestria was still being withheld from him. “Well, spit it out!” Sombra was on the verge of yelling, getting to his hooves, “Where is the letter?” The mare regurgitated the contents of her stomach, and then fled towards the relative safety of the throne room doors. Sombra raised crystals to block her path, inspecting the puke. If nothing but food bits and water were in it, then the crystal mines would be a blessing compared to what he had in mind as punishment. Spying the magical ring of a letter case, Sombra raised the case from the thin broth, surprised at how much of it so easily slid off the canister, and unscrewed the cap. A neatly folded letter emerged, wrapped in his magic the stamp of Celestia's cutie mark upon it. He had not meant for her to literally spit it out; this of course angered him, and he felt justified to demote her the only way he could. “You have earned yourself a place in the mines for this insult; if you are not in the chain gang by the time I finish reading this letter, you will beg me for death when I ravage and burn your form in green fire.” The moment that the crystals blocking her path retracted, the pony fled, sobbing uncontrollably. Sombra blinked, taking into account the words that had just left his mouth. Ravage and burn with green fire? Making a reference to that city's razing disturbed him, but if he were to make the ponies desire rule by the royal sisters, such punishments seemed rather fitting. Of course, why she offered no sort of resistance also seemed off. But then again, Luna's magical torments had already shown themselves to transcend the physical, to a place much harder to fortify. No wonder the dragons and griffins preferred to fight at night and rest in the day, for the night most likely terrified them like nothing else in the world. “Hm, the Nightmare Moon spell is dreadful if these ponies are this terrified of me.” Sombra chuckled to himself, taking an odd pleasure in the thought. Tragic really, but from the parchment, he could tell that this was all a part of the plan. Sombra fully unfurled the parchment, and began reading the contents.. Congratulations Sombra! There is only one day left. I almost felt bad shoving this down that poor mare’s throat... Sombra blinked, a mental image of Luna cramming the letter down somepony’s throat. That had to be painful, or at least uncomfortable to say the least, and would explain the discomfort that the pony had upon walking in. Under different circumstances, a mending of her punishment would have to have been in order. Sombra continued reading in earnest. I have dealt with all of the traitors in my court, and before long, Celestia will marvel at my abilities! Now then, tomorrow will be a staged fight on the balcony. You will stand there and look all intimidating. I and Celestia will arrive, liberate the ponies, and then wipe their memory of you. So, live it up a little, as once you get back home you will have to be under the radar for awhile. Sombra titled his head whilst he burned the letter, confusion riddled on his face. If they stripped the crystal ponies of their knowledge, then why would he need to remain under the radar? No one back home was aware of what he was doing, other than Luna’s guard, at least not that he was aware of. Sombra then looked to the rejected parchments again, and paced the floor in front of the throne. Celestia had not accepted his letters; his cover story back home might not be very good at all. Or worse yet, Celestia had yet to be "informed" and did not want any evidence in her castle suggesting to the contrary. “Well then, I know the perfect place to send these then,” Sombra mused, “Violet will definitely want to have some idea of what I am up to. Shade will just have to serve as a proxy.” The king stopped and looked towards the parchment, intending on using his magic to send them off to his daughter. Before he could proceed, the floor beneath him gave way, sending the stallion plummeting down a particularly long flight of stairs. It had been unexpected and seemingly without cause, and the enshrouding darkness made it difficult for Sombra to tell what was up and what was down. For a few moments Sombra was helpless to the disorienting wrath of gravity. Finally, by some grace, the pony slipped from the stairs and into the dark abyss, granting just enough time in one direction for the unicorn to light his horn and get a bearing on his directions. Levitating himself just inches before coming into contact with the ground, Sombra righted himself. He first looked up, to see roughly how far he had fallen. The light above hardly shone down to the bottom, but its presence at least gave him judge that he had gotten lucky to fall off the stairs when he had, or else he would have been in for a long, bumpy fall. He then looked around, there was only one question on his lips to ask the unseen observer he no doubt would mock him for his undignified descent. “Where am I… This place looks familiar.” Seeing a wooden door with a crystal above it, Sombra recalled that this led to the hidden room with the Crystal Heart. Of course, it made sense that he would place the heart back in that spot, as the crystal ponies had no pegasi to ascend the heights to that room, nor would they be brave enough to go through all of this just to find it.. When Sombra went to open the door with his dark magic, the door opened on it own accord, as if it had been waiting for him. Despite knowing that was not quite how it was supposed to work, Sombra trotted through anyway. The door slammed shut behind him and vanished, as if it was never there. Rather than a spiraling staircases, Sombra beheld a sight that caught him completely off guard. Somehow, this door had led him not just back to Canterlot, but to the two story cottage that he called home. Cobblestone steps led up to it, and similar cottages dotted the landscape. Clearly it was nighttime, but this constant location shifting kept up the suspicion that Luna's spell might still be affecting him in some ways. “That was fast,” Sombra commented, noting the quick time progress, “I had best not get too comfortable.” This had the workings of illusion all over it, but the feel of the stones, the cold breeze, and the moonless night seemed all too real. Looking up, Sombra found that not a star shone in the sky either. A streak of lightning flashed across the sky, with thunder announcing the presence of an overhead thunderstorm. Well that explained one phenomenon at least. Looking behind him, Sombra noted that any sort of wall was also gone; if this were an illusion, the castor was doing a very good job. Then again, Luna had already shown her prowess with smoke and mirrors, particularly in the realm of dreams. That did not excuse the detail that there clearly seemed to be a message in all of this, one that Sombra needed to pick out and decipher if he was to escape any time soon. Trotting up to his home, the stallion cautiously opened the front door, peering in with curious eyes. It was dark and quiet. No candles were lit, the few windows let in no special light. It was almost morbid, the kind of deathly quiet that made one think of a battlefield after the previous day of carnage and waste had long ended. “Violet?” Sombra called out to his wife and stepped inside. Using his horn as a light source, the stallion traversed through the living room, climbing up the stairs in an attempt to find out if anyone was home. The home had very little amenities, the downstairs only consisting of a small den and a kitchen of sorts. Sombra chuckled in recollection of one of his previous discussions with his wife. It had been when they first bought the place, having saved up funds from his... exploits, abroad. Celestia awarded handsomely when the situation merited it, and politics so allowed. He wanted a cellar to store wine and cider; Violet had been violently against it, instead opting for extra bedrooms on the second floor in case of guests. Seeing as there were three bedrooms upstairs, the victor had been his bride. A creaking noise coming from Shade’s bedroom alerted the stallion to a presence. Once on the second floor, he could see three doors, two of which next to each other, the third attached to a different wall. The children's bedroom and the master bedroom; the brief hallway did not have a single candle lit either, and all three room doors were closed, as if not meant to be re-opened anytime soon. Using some force, Sombra forced open Shade's door and used his horn to light the dark room. Empty of all furniture, it hardly looked like a room in usage. The creaking continued unabated, the source being a constantly moving window frame. Putting that on his to-do list for fixing, Sombra departed from the empty room, turning around to come face to face with Violet. How she had managed to sneak up on him would have mattered far more had Sombra attacked out of instinct, but the familiar lavender scenet that accompanied her once again simmered his fire. Violet was a purple earth mare with azure eyes and a dark blue mane that accented her visual expression perfectly. Her eyes were searing with anger. This did not make any sense, as Sombra would have expected his wife to at least be pleased with his return. “Violet, is there something the matter?” “Oh, nothing.” Violet turned from him with a huff. “Other than my never-around husband coming home unannounced like a stalker in the night.” Oddly specific description, Sombra felt that there had to be a greater reason for her displeasure. Return from his mission meant that such a thing would not be the case any longer. “Violet, a week was the max, not the absolute…” Violet threw her tail into his face, brushing his defense off as if it were a horsefly. She stomped downstairs, and though Sombra had been subtly aroused by the stinging gesture, the meaning of the gesture was far from flirtatious. Sombra stormed down after her, his anger beginning to boil with her blatant refusal to tell him the problem. “Violet, I have been through quite the bit in the past few hours, days, I am not even sure which anymore. I would really like if we can skip any sort of foreplay in any oncoming discussion regarding my last mission.” Violet stopped right before coming to the front door. She only turned her head once Sombra reached the base of the stairs. “I am leaving, Sombra. You can keep the house, the store, and the property, but I am taking the foals. They need a father, not a soldier at the beck and call of gravity bending mares.” For the record, Sombra wanted to point out, the princesses could do far more than manipulate gravity. However, that was not a point worth arguing right now. His wife had just threatened to leave him, and for what reason other than past absences corrected with the completion of this mission? “I am gone for a few days instead of a few months and this is the sudden turn in reception? I was not expecting a welcome home party, but threats of divorce?” “Actually captain, the threat is quite the reality.” That voice, with an unusually cocky attitude to it, grinded the very bones that allowed Sombra to hear. Sombra used magic to open the front door, only to see Thunder with two foals, the stallion grinning from ear to ear. Shade and Umbra were happily standing next to him until they saw their father angrily glaring at their companion. Violet flitted her eyes romantically at Thunder, and then re-addressed Sombra in a condescending tone. “Do not worry, I am sure princess Celestia will keep you company while you think about what you did to drive us to this.” In a few seconds, all of the pretext registered. This had to be some sort of nightmare. There was no way that Violet would just up and leave him like this, not just for a few days! Sombra could not accept that, not without a fight. Everything had stopped making sense ten minutes ago, but now Sombra truly felt that the world had gone discord on him. Just before Violet could move another inch, angry tears began to stream down Sombra’s face, a snarl replacing cordial conversation. “Is this… Is this what I think it is?” Thunder, that bold yellow armored guard, grinned from ear to ear before snidely remarking, “Yeah. I may not pull rank like you do, but I know what is actually important—“ No stallion would have finished that sentence in the presence of a dark magic user. Before Sombra could contain himself, he had loosed a blast of dark magic at the Pegasus, sending him sprawling backwards into the street. Tossing aside any bodies that got in his way, the enraged stallion strode over to his dazed rival, green fire just the tip of the iceberg for what he planned. Ravage and burning with green fire came to mind, and so his horn readied to dole out the second part of his punishment. Before Sombra could finish what he had started, a flash of lighting overtook his vision. His entire body became numb, and an intense heat severed any remote comfort that he might have had. Though he could see it, Sombra did not feel his body hit the ground, nor did he hear the closer than life thunder that would have blown out his hearing anyways. Crippled by this, Sombra could only watch while Thunder rose to his hooves. Violet rushed to his side with a look of concern; He did not hear their conversation, but he did see their nuzzling, their obvious signs of affection in front of him. His wife had left him for not just some other stallion, not a mare, but another member of the guard! His horn did not accept his offering of magic; truly the unicorn could only live in some sort of tormentous state of mind. He angrily watched his wife and mate kiss one of his own subordinates. Defeated, crushed, Sombra began to weep, a sob coming from his lips. His hearing restored itself just in time to hear Thunder’s off base comment. “Oh how the mighty have fallen. He shed not a tear in Trottabama.” Regaining his strength, presumably having been previously struck by a lightning bolt of sorts, Sombra staggered to his hooves, only for Thunder to mockingly laugh to his face. He channels magic to his horn, rage and killer intent building up into a furious build, only to fizz out. Sombra collapsed again, numbness settled in more permanently, and the mocking laughter of his former subordinate while he walked his wife and foals out of view. Miserably, Sombra vowed vengeance, but deep down felt that it was impossible in his current state. A strange warm began warming his back, and some hoof seemed to be stroking his hair. Another hoof seemed to be feeling around his sides. Better late than never; it seemed as if Luna had finally found it high time to end this mad nightmare of his. “There there Sombra, it is just a nightmare,” Luna softly cooed, “I am here to help you through this.” Once again his senses seemed restored, and his body revitalized, to the point where Sombra could have leapt up if he so chose. Just as his eyes began to retain what water he still had left in his body, he felt Luna's reach get dangerously close to a particular region. This caused Sombra to cough and tense up in order to catch her attention. “Um, Luna?” “Too much physical contact?” Luna stopped reaching, though she did not stop stroking Sombra's mane. “Yes. Remember Celestia's nickname during the last Captain's time?” “...I thought you liked it.” Intruding on his dream fantasies was one thing, but assuming that he would enjoy being violated by either princess after experiencing such heartbreak as a result of such intrusion seemed far-fetched. If Sombra did not know any better, which he doubted he truly did, he would assume that Luna just wanted to see what she could get away with without Sombra protesting. Rebound did not quite work that way, at least not for him. “If you are using me as a sample for how to treat the crystal ponies, I say that if you go with that, you will get a nickname of your own of that caliber. Maybe Philuna.” Luna released Sombra upon hearing this, resulting the dream faded into a strange bit of blackness, with only Sombra and Luna remaining. They were back underneath the palace, the crystal guards and the changeling strangely absent. No indication suggested that he was still in a dream-like state, but there was also no guarantee that he was safe either from that realm. Sombra fully stood up, wiping away at some of the secretions that had accumulated on his face. As a precautionary measure, he took a few steps away from the oddly confused Luna. “Hm, maybe you are right. I just figured a warm embrace…” Sombra shook his head. “Yeah, comforting is one thing. Stroking is another.” Luna looked offended, insulted really, at the implications of the statement. “How dare you assume that I would stroke you in any sort of way! Your mind wandered farther than my hooves.” Oh, so his earlier statements had not been as clear as he thought they had been. Sombra did not seem convinced, especially since in some sense, Luna had been inside his mind at this point. He wiped away his remaining tears, though his heart still ached a little from the scene before Luna’s interruption. “So that is your worst fear huh,” Luna mused, looking Sombra up and down, “I have to admit, your reputation does not quite match you as well as I would have thought. Crying over some mare leaving you?” “You would not understand.” Sombra turned away from Luna, posture flat and loose, the mocking laughter ringing in his ears, “That hit so close to home. I did not expect the spell to work that well.” Luna laughed, almost in a mocking tone of her own. “What were you expecting, some undead ponies from your campaign coming to consume your flesh?” Sombra shivered, finding the undead battle more inviting than Violet’s angry decision. So this is how Luna had whittled down the Crystal Empire; no wonder those ponies were so afraid of her dream presence. Now that he thought about it, Sombra realized that he truly had no idea how much of that had been an illusion. “How much of that had been a part of the dream?” “All of it.” Luna did not move to meet Sombra, so instead he had to turn to face her stoic expression. “However, it is a preview of what is necessary. Dark magic will enshrine the very terror and morbid dread that will allow you to tyrannically rule these ponies.” “Until you and Celestia swoop in and save the day?” Sombra eyed Luna suspiciously, some part of him dreading the idea of having to fight Celestia. “Do not worry, we are just going to stage it. You will have to lay low for awhile so that your respective identities can be rightfully separated from each other. Brainwashing works best when association is kept away for a month or two.” “That could have been avoided had I worn a disguise of some sort.” Luna rolled her eyes, though she did not seem to disagree with the comment. It was then that Sombra noticed that the atmosphere of the Empire had shifted; rather than festive and frantic, it seemed darker, more morbid. The crystals all around them began to take a darker and more sinister look, jagged edges and teeth-like protrusions Sombra found this to be oddly empowering, and grinned upon realization that he had returned to reality. Or, better yet, his hope that he had returned to reality. “It is good to be an Equestrian. You and Celestia both do not play around.” Luna snickered, and waved the Crystal Heart over her head. “No, no we do not. Hail King Sombra.” Sombra smiled and puffed out his chest proudly, or at least a feint of pride. In truth, he had quite the concern with adding yet another infamous takeover to his record. "Now then, I will be taking the Heart back to Equestria," Luna suggested, turning as if to fly away, "I will be returning shortly..." Sombra used his magic to levitate the heart from Luna, the alicorn apparently not expecting him to resist this. "I think it is a good idea to leave it here; if the Heart were to show up in Equestria, that might ruin your plan." Luna turned back around to Sombra, scowling somewhat at the thought of herself ruining her own plan. For a moment, Sombra backed away again, the heart floating between him and the upset alicorn, as if that would do him any good were she to strike at this moment. "Get some rest," she concluded, turning away from him again, "I will come to claim the heart when I and Celestia arrive to put you out of their misery. Be a dear and do not lose it." Luna rocketed off into the night sky, leaving behind a trail of glitter in her wake. Sombra sighed, his entire body finally feeling the weight of what he would have to do next.