Luna and Death, the latter carrying a still unconscious Despair, slowed their pace after making sure that they were no longer within earshot of Celestia. The male Alicorn looked over at his female counterpart rather thoughtfully. I wonder why I got so flustered? the former Nephillim thought to himself, confused as to why and how, when Samael and Lillith couldn't even make him blink, some white pony with pink hair and a big fat sun on her butt made him run out of the room like a madman, just barely remembering his former mount.
Death, luckily, was able to catch himself staring at Luna for longer than deemed necessary, and averted his gaze to the hallway before she noticed. After walking down the halls of the castle for a while, Death finally broke the silence.
"So...," he began, remembering the Solar Diarch's plan for her sister and the 'Mad King', as he liked to call him now, "how serious is this stallion's crush on you?"
Luna looked at Death with a confused expression, "What dost thou mean?"
"Sombra," the Pale Alicorn answered, "thou hast implied that he has been stricken by thee, as it were, wouldst thou like to tell me why?"
The Lunar Diarch then nodded her head in understanding. "Very well, I shall answer thee as to the best of my understanding. But first, I believe that thine guard would like to be informed as well."
Death gave her a confused look, before remembering that he was still holding Despair in his magic. The male Alicorn blushed at his negligence and immediately released the flow of his magic, causing the Earth Pony he was carrying to drop unceremoniously to the marble floor.
The former mount shot straight up with his eyes wide. "Who-what-where-why-?" Despair asked, before he turned to see a pale Alicorn with the biggest shit-eating grin he's ever seen, as well as a dark blue Alicorn trying, and failing, to suppress her own laughter.
The former Phantom Steed stood up and gave the two Alicorns a deadpan stare. "Seriously?"
"Seriously," Death confirmed, before turning to Luna, "now, I believe you were going to tell us."
"Oh, yes," the Night Princess responded, her face taking on a more thoughtful look, "It all started but a few months ago, when a courier barged into the middle of our court, claiming to have a message for me. Wondering who in all of Equestria would write to me, I promptly took the letter and read it in my room later that night.
"It turned out that it was from the newly crowned ruler of the Crystal Empire, Sombra, and he wrote to me, complimenting my beauty and such, leading to his request to become the queen of the Crystal Empire, so that we may rule. I, of course, heard about his coup from the spies that my sister sent, and was quite appalled that he had the audacity to ask for my hoof in marriage, and immediately wrote a letter to him, declining the offer and requesting that he burn in Tartarus with Tirek for all eternity-"
Death raised his eyebrows at the mention of this 'Tirek', but chose not to interrupt the princess.
"-for all that I care, but the letters still kept coming! each one with offers of love, gold, subjects to rule, but what I find the most disgusting about that pony," Luna spat out the last word as if it tasted bitter on her tongue, "was that he also claimed that our children would have his power and my beauty."
Death could already tell that it was a wise decision to not suggest accompanying Luna to the negotiations, because he honestly had no clue what he was going to do if he ever saw the Mad King. The former Nephillim looked over at Despair to see the Earth Pony's undivided attention.
"So," Despair asked, "what gave your big sister the idea to use you?"
"Well," Luna responded, "it was actually after a Noble by the name of Redblood returned from a six month undercover excursion without the consent of Celestia or myself, as we had all of our spies quickly escape the Empire after Sombra had taken over, and ordered that none of our subjects were to go near that place until we could kick him off the throne. He saved three Crystal Ponies-"
"Wait, 'Crystal Ponies'?" Death asked, confusion written in his expression.
"Crystal Ponies are a Sub-Tribe of Earth Pony," the Princess of the Night explained, "what separates them is that, while Earth Ponies look like any other pony in Equestria, save for their lack of horns or wings, Crystal Ponies' coats appear translucent when within the perimeters of the Crystal Empire, making them look like living crystal, hence the name. Their coats reflect their personality as well, for example, if they are outside the perimeter of the Crystal Heart, a very powerful artifact of theirs, then their coats will closely resemble any other ponies', with the exception of it being brighter and their manes and tails will look well kept if they're in a positive mood.
"But, if they're depressed or scared, then their manes' and tails' will droop, and their coats will become duller than a normal ponies'."
Death, while appreciative of the clarification, didn't need a biology report.
"In any event," Luna stated, getting back on the main focus, "Redblood saved a mare named Rose Quartz, as well as her two foals, Obsidian and Aquamarine, from being punished by Sombra and escaped the Crystal Empire with promises of freedom for the other citizens. When Redblood returned, he shared all the intelligence he gathered, as well as Rose Quartz' hoof in marriage, since her husband was executed a week prior for openly supporting both my sister and I, and she happily accepted, without knowledge of his Noble rank, until we granted him his new title as 'Prince'.
"Celestia and I agreed that this... this... 'Monster' is too nice a word."
"How about the 'Mad King'?", Despair offered helpfully.
"Why, thank thee," Luna answered, before continuing, " getting back on track, we both agreed that Sombra must be stopped. Of course, one does not simply single-hoofedly conquer, and enslave, an entire empire without knowledge of negotiations and war tactics. That was when I brought up Sombra's little love letters, and my sister came up with the idea that we could use his obsession against him in negotiations."
Despair and Death both nodded at this, their curiosity sated for the time being. The Princess of the Night noticed that they had reached their destinations. The door leading to Luna's bedchambers were made from the purest ebony, with a platinum full moon in the middle, while the guest one was simple obsidian. She then turned to address the two newcomers.
"This is where I bid thee a good night, for I must continue on brushing up on negotiation tactics for my summit."
Both ponies nodded while Death was starting to feel the events of the night start to catch up to him, stifling a yawn before replying. "Very well then, we shall not keep thee waiting," he then turned to the door and bid Luna goodnight before both he and his former steed went to turn in for the night.
***
Unbeknownst to all those in the castle, a shadow was watching the entire lecture that Luna had given Death. The shadow felt nothing but burning hatred towards the latter for looking at HIS mare like that, but not as much as he had towards Celestia for brainwashing his love into thinking that she hated him, when it was obvious that the two were meant to be together till the end of time.
The shadow then smiled, showing four vampiric fangs much similar to the Alicorn stallion.
"So, that foal believes that she can keep us apart?," he asked in a deep voice to no one in particular, "then I will just make sure that my beloved Luna can see that we were meant to be together, her as my Crystal Queen."
And with that, Sombra vanished, his two glowing green eyes the last to disappear.