When they had gone back to the room to sleep for the rest of night, Fluttershy found out she couldn’t sleep like the rest of her sisters. No doubt they were able to sleep peacefully knowing they had found love in their life. But she hadn’t, or rather she hadn’t been able to express it. Maybe once more suitors come, she would be able to call him and tell him then. Then a horrible thought occurred to her. What if he got caught? Would Mother put him back in that dark, cold, stone prison? She would never see him again! That was it; she couldn’t put it off any longer. She had to see him now.
She quietly slipped out of her bed and fluttered over to the balcony window. She did a quick glance back making sure her sisters wouldn’t wake up. She unlocked it and heard a snort coming from Rainbow Dash. She slowly opened the window door, went out on the balcony, and closed the door behind her. The gardens were just below the balcony. She started flying into the trees and finding a safe area to meet with him.
“Discord…” she started whispering, “Discord…” When he still hadn’t come, Fluttershy knew then she was forced to call out, maybe even louder if he was asleep, but this couldn’t wait. She needed to talk to him, “Discord!” Her whispers started growing, “Discord!” And then, she took a deep breath and finally shouted out, “DISCORD!” She covered her mouth and looked around to make sure that no pony heard that, but luckily, the creature she had called for came.
He was wearing a nightshirt with a matching cap and had a sleep mask over his eyes; he took it off, revealing his tired eyes, “Fluttershy? What in the world?! Do you know what time it is?!” he summoned up an alarm clock to show her the time before he made it disappear.
“I know, and I’m sorry, but I couldn’t sleep…”
“Why not?” he took off his cap and nightshirt as he sat next to her in concern, “Did you have a bad dream?”
“No… I couldn’t sleep at all…”
“How come?”
“Well I…” she was almost in tears and she wrapped herself around him tightly, not wanting to let go, and cried into his neck.
Discord was surprised by this strange development and asked in panic, “Fluttershy? Sweetheart? Did someone hurt you?! Because if they did, they will pay dearly!” he snarled.
“No… no…” she said between sobs, “Just hold on tight to me…”
“Well… alright… if you say so… not sure what good it will do, though…” he said as he rubbed her back, touching strands of her pink hair.
“Plenty…” she softly answered as she felt herself calming down in his strong arms. They reminded her of another pair of strong arms that held on to her when she was little and vulnerable. She remembered a thunderstorm happening one night that was so intense she got so scared and ran, but she was stopped by some pony. She looked up to see a pair of gentle green eyes looking at her. She heard the thunder again, but she was safe knowing she had her father there the whole time, protecting her from harm. King Sombra would always do that for his ponies and family. But now that he was gone, she needed someone else who could keep her safe and loved.
She knew then that Discord could do just for her and didn’t want to risk losing him when she had already lost her father.
“Discord?”
“Yes, my dear Fluttershy?” he had her facing him.
“I can’t ask you to put your life on the line for us.”
“What?”
“I was inconsiderate to forget what would happen if you got caught…”
“Oh,” he scoffed, “Like anyone could catch me. You have nothing to worry about…” he patted her head.
“I’m serious!” she moved away from him, “My parents caught you once, didn’t they?! So it could happen again!”
“That was a fluke, I assure you!” he mumbled, “How Celestia did it, I don’t know…”
“I was selfish to think about myself when I should have been thinking about you! I don’t want to lose you!”
His eyes widened to her statement, “What…?”
“I can’t lose you… not now… not ever…” she nuzzled her head under his chin.
He was agape of how this was happening. He finally has her… His one true love. He had her facing him once more, “Now you listen to me, Fluttershy, I rather be stone again than to lose you… Without you, I would be in stone still… but if something were to happen to you, I would gladly give up my life to be a statue… For I cannot live without you… If I never knew you… If I never felt this love… I would have no inkling of how precious life can be… If I never held you… I would never have a clue… How at last I’d find in you… The missing part of me… In this world so full of fear, full of rage and lies… I can see the truth so clear… In your eyes… So dry your eyes… And I’m so grateful to you… I’d have lived my whole life through… Lost forever… If I never knew you…
She wiped away tears and sang, “I thought our love would be so beautiful… Somehow we’d make the whole world bright… I never knew that fear and hate could be so strong… All they’d leave us were these whispers in the night… But still my heart is saying we were right… For if I never knew you…”
“There’s no moment I regret…”
“If I never knew this love…”
“Since the moment that we met…”
“I would have no inkling of…”
“If our time has gone too fast…”
“How precious life can be…”
“I’ve lived at last…” he kissed her head and in turn, she kissed his cheek, “And I’m so grateful to you… I’d have lived my whole life through… Empty as the sky…”
“Never knowing why…”
Both sang, “Lost forever… If I never knew you…” they went into a tight embrace as they passionately kissed.
Once they broke away, he said, “Oh, Fluttershy… you don’t know how happy this makes me…”
“Me, too…” then she slightly frowned, “But what am I going to tell my sisters?”
“Well, you don’t have to tell them anything. It’ll be our secret and ours alone…”
“But they had admitted to me about their own loves. I feel I should do the same, since we made a pact not to keep secrets from each other in a time like this.”
“But you know they’re just going to say I put a spell on you making you think you fell in love with me.”
“I know… I want to tell them, but at the same time, they might force me away from you…”
“They wouldn’t dare! I’ll show them a thing or two if they pull something like that!”
She took hold of his paw and held it to her face, “I don’t want either one of you getting hurt…”
“I don’t know what else to say, Fluttershy. Either you tell them or don’t tell them. It’s as simple as that…”
“And yet, why does it feel it isn’t…” she took a deep breath, “I’m going to do it.”
His raised his eyebrow in surprise, “You are going to tell them?”
“Yes… And I won’t care what they’ll say… You and I were meant to be…”
A smile spread across his face when she said that and took her chin to kiss her sweet lips.
She did a small giggle before pressing her lips to his as they felt so wonderful.
“Who would have ever thought a beast like me could have a beauty like you…?”
“You are not a beast… I know stallions who act more of a beast than you do… They look handsome, but they are unfeeling to those who need kindness.”
“Talking about your Cousin Blueblood?”
“Quite. Luckily, I won’t have to worry about him as a suitor anymore.” Then, she gave out a yawn.
“Tired?”
“Very…” her eyes started drooping.
“Well, you did summon me at three o’ clock in the morning!” he chuckled, “But I’m glad you did, so let me help you get back to your room.”
“How?”
“By teleporting you, of course.”
“Then we best say our goodbyes until we see each other again.”
He nodded and took her hoof to kiss it, but instead, she wrapped her hooves around his neck and fully kissed him. He was surprised, but gave in.
She slowly moved away him, smiling and saying, “Good night…”
He returned her smile and whispered, “Good night…” He snapped his fingers and she was gone in a flash.
She found herself back in her own bed of her and her sisters’ room. She felt content knowing she could finally sleep like the rest of her sisters. She closed her eyes and all thoughts went to her very special some-draconequus.
While her daughters slept, Celestia walked to a long forgotten room of the castle that she once shared with her husband. She kept it locked so the servants wouldn’t go in to clean it. She didn’t want it clean, as she wanted to leave it as it was to keep the memory of her love fresh.
Using her magic, she unlocked the door and saw before her a room she loved so much with the love of her life. But after years of neglect, it was dusty and full of cobwebs. She went to a nightstand close to the bed, opened a hidden drawer, and magically took out a small jeweled box. She opened the lid of the box and it played a lovely tune while two golden figures that resembled her and King Sombra were moving in a circle. She hummed to the tune as memories came to her of when she first met her beloved.
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were sitting side by side on their thrones of the castle they resided in. Luna suddenly gave out a yawn asking, “Really, Sister, must we both go this royal summit? Surely, you could go by yourself to represent the both of us?”
Celestia just smiled and replied, “Star Swirl thinks it’s best we both attend to show we both take Equestrian matters seriously and I believe it would be good for the both of us to find allies within other members of royalty. We could help each other out if something were to happen to any one of our kingdoms.”
The dark blue alicorn sighed in defeat, “Yes… I suppose you’re right… I shall find a common ally if it is necessary.”
“Thank you, Luna… and frankly, I don’t think it would be much fun without you, anyway.”
“Quite right!” she cheered. The sisters giggled as they descended from their thrones and moved out of the castle where two golden chariots awaited to escort them to Canterlot.
King Sombra sat on top of his throne as the visiting royalty came in to greet him, as it was protocol for when a royal summit was to take place and a royal was hosting the meeting, the other royals would be respectful of them and their kingdom.
Princess Platinum of the Unicorns had finished giving her bows and so did Princess Amore of the Crystal Empire. Then, once the Sultan of Saddle Arabia had done his greeting, the herald then announced in the next visiting royalty.
“Presenting their highnesses, Princesses Celestia and Luna!”
Sombra smiled as he saw the regal sisters walking in with their flowing manes. He heard the legends of the two sisters as protectors of Equestria. Now he could see why: they were alicorns, the most powerful of Equestria’s ponies, including him. He bet the young dark haired one was Princess Luna while the tall, beautiful one was Princess Celestia. Their cutie marks also helped him figure out who was who.
Celestia and Luna bowed before him while he bowed in return.
Celestia said, “Your Highness.”
“Princesses.” he said.
“May I be first thank you for hosting this important summit.”
“It was my pleasure and honor, my lady.”
Celestia could feel her cheeks going pink when he called her that. He was indeed very handsome with those dazzling emerald-colored eyes of his.
He saw the spark in her sweet light violet eyes. She was the most gorgeous creature he had ever seen. Then, he cleared his throat, knowing he had to be getting back to the business at hoof and to not be distracted by such beauty.
“Well, since now that we’re all here, we should begin at once.”
“Agreed.” said Celestia.
In mere moments, the delegates of nobility were sitting around a large conference table were already delivering progress reports of how their kingdoms are doing. Celestia was especially interested in King Sombra taking care of the capital. He did such a fine job taking care of his ponies and keeping everything in order.
When it was time to deliver her report, Sombra was amazed of how she and her sister could live in the Everfree Forest with little or no danger, keep the surrounding areas safe from harm, and raise and lower the sun and moon, which never gave them trouble.
Once she had finished, Sombra then proclaimed, “Well, it is great hearing that every one of Equestira’s neighboring kingdoms are peaceful and prosperous, so this summit is hereby within adjo-“
“Pardon me, my king,” Celestia interrupted, “but there are some issues that need addressing before we go.”
“Oh?” he raised his brow and then he smirked, “Would you care to share with us what’s missing?” He was practically challenging her.
She smirked back, “It would be my pleasure.” She started compiling a list.
“Well, that’s all well said and done, but have you considered…” he kept on talking to her while the other royals looked back and forth between the banter.
Celestia and Sombra were going one on one with each other, forgetting all about every other pony in the room. It wasn’t until Luna flew above them and raised her voice, echoing out, “Enough! Since you two cannot agree on the meeting ending, I recommend that we spend an extra day to make sure everything is settled!”
The royals nodded while still shaken by Luna’s booming voice.
Both Sombra and Celestia felt embarrassed at that point and quickly composed themselves with Sombra saying, “Very well. I shall have my guards escort each of you to your rooms for the night.” He nodded to some guards nearby and they started leading the way. Celestia and Luna were about to the follow until Sombra stopped them with his hoof and said.
“If the princesses will allow it, I shall be more than happy to escort you myself to the room.”
Celestia’s eyes gleamed at the offer and calmly responsed, “We are most gracious, Your Grace.”
“Most gracious.” Luna repeated.
“I can tell we are going get along just fine…” he smiled, “And let me apologize for my inconsideration of missing something in the meeting.”
“It is I who should apologize… I had interrupted you at the last second just when you were about to end it. That was poor conduct on my part.”
“No kidding…” scoffed Luna for only her sister to hear.
“But you had a right to,” he insisted. “You are the guest, so it is my duty to serve you.”
“But one should not take advantage of the host, especially if that host is a king…”
Luna rolled her eyes, thinking, They’re doing it again…
Then he suggested, “Shall we call it even? I think we were both at fault where our fellow royals are concerned, since we never gave them a chance to speak.”
“I agree…” she smiled brightly at him.
He returned her smile before turning to the other sister, “You know, I must thank you, Princess Luna.”
“Thank me? How?”
“You reminded us what was really important right now and actually, by staying an extra day, you’ll get to be part of the Grand Galloping Gala. That is, of course, if you would like to come. And that invitation is offered to you as well, Princess…” He faced the beautiful Celestia before him.
Celestia asked her, “Well, Luna? Shall we? It would be a wonderful way to end the royal summit.”
“Hmm…” the night princess was deep in thought and finally said, “Eh, why not? It could be fun!”
“Excellent! Once the others have gone, you shall be my guests of honor!”
“Thank you, Sombra…” Celestia had said and then caught herself, “I mean, Your Majesty…”
“Please, you can call me Sombra.” he took hold of her hoof and she found herself feeling at ease. He said to Luna, “That is offered to you as well, Princess Luna.”
“I shall call you by your name as long as you call me by my name Luna, as my sister does.” She figured that would make him happy.
It did as he asked the white alicorn, “So I take it you are Celestia to Luna?”
“I am… and you can use it, too…”
He kept smiling until he stopped at a two way door and opened them, “This shall be your room.” He revealed a large bedchamber with just two beds and the floor was shining with a large circle tile with little plain circles inside it. “I must take my leave, but I will see you both for dinner tonight?”
“We will. Thank you again…” Celestia told him, giving off a loving stare.
He returned the stare and quickly found a vase in the hallway full of roses. He magically took one and gave it to her.
She was surprised, but overjoyed at the same time.
“Until then…” he kissed her hoof and slowly turned to go. She slowly closed the door and faced a taunting sister.
“Why don’t you two just get married already?! Ooh! I could even perform the ceremony!”
“Luna! We’ve only known each other for a day!”
“But you obviously got it bad and from the way you two were acting, you two might as well be married!”
“Oh, Luna!” But nevertheless, her sister was right. She had fallen in love in with Sombra from the moment she first saw him.
When dinnertime came around, Celestia and Luna were seated next to Sombra. As she drank from her cup, she heard Luna and him talking about her and when he complimented her, it caused her to spit out her drink on him. The other royals that were close to them were agape, as was Luna. Celestia stood frozen in horror and was about to apologize when he started laughing. She laughed along with him, leaving the others speechless.
The next day, they managed to finish the meeting much sooner than they thought, probably because Sombra and Celestia wanted it over with so they could finally speak to each other again. When their fellow royals said their farewells, Sombra went to go finish preparations for the Gala that night. When Celestia and Luna retired to their guest room, Luna helped her sister to look good for the unicorn king she was interested in.
The night went better than Sombra could imagine. First, he saw the mare of his dreams on top the stairs looking more beautiful than she had in the last couple of days and he escorted her into the ballroom. Then, in the midst of the Gala, while they were watching his subjects dancing, he bowed to her as to gesture to ask for her to dance with him. She accepted as they moved to the middle of the floor, took each other’s hoof, and moved in a circle, dancing beautifully while keeping their eyes only on each other. Much later, they were in the gardens over by the roses. They touched horns and in mere seconds, they had their first kiss…
When she had to raise the sun the next morning, it was hard for them to say goodbye, but they promised they would write to each other. As the months had passed, they longed to see each other again. That day finally came when Star Swirl needed help keeping the changelings at bay because they were trying to get into Equestria’s borders. Luna thought it was best she’d stay behind in case the changelings were to overwhelm them. Since Sombra was their closest ally to help them, Celestia set off with him to keep the changelings out of Equestria.
It was no surprise that during the mission, they had a chance to bond more and fell more in love with each other. In fact, just the day before facing the Changeling Queen to win the battle, Sombra had told her he loved her and would do anything to keep her safe.
Celestia admitted to him that she also loved him and hoped that once they would win against the changelings, they would be together forever. After a long hard battle against the queen, they had triumphed. Sombra knew then he had to ask the question while peace was still standing. Celestia had happily accepted his proposal and within a few months, they wedded with Luna performing the ceremony.
Then on a joyful day, while Celestia was raising the dawn, they had a daughter. They called her Fluttershy. As time went on, they had more daughters to love and to cherish: Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and finally, their last born, Twilight Sparkle. They were the happiest royal family that ponies knew of. But that was all going to change one day…
Celestia and Sombra went between their castle homes every other month with their fillies. That month, they were staying over at the Castle of the Two Sisters. The family was outside in the courtyard. Luna was playing with Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow. Sombra was playing with Pinkie and Twilight, while Celestia was comforting Fluttershy.
Twilight was being tackled by Sombra and giggled as she was thrown into the air by him, but from the view, she saw a huge dark cloud coming and gasped. Sombra caught her as he saw the same thing and gave a scowl. A loud cackle filled the air as shadowy figures, which Celestia and Luna had recognized as Nightmare Forces, shrouded over the castle.
Sombra shouted to the girls, “GO!”
The girls screamed and ran to their aunt and mother as Sombra blasted a protective shield, but it was no use because the Forces were still coming. He yelled back to them, “I’ll hold them off while you run!” He ran into the castle.
“Sombra! NO!” Celestia screamed and she turned to Luna, “Get the girls out of here!”
“But what about you?!”
“I’ll be fine! Just get the girls to safety!” She flew into the castle.
Sombra kept blasting away, but he was growing weak. He was cornered by the Nightmares until a blast came out of nowhere and the dark forces moved away from him. He looked up to see his beloved wife.
“Are you alright?!” she landed to his side.
“I am now…” he smirked.
“You…” she gave him a playful smile as she touched his cheek and then they touched horns, but their sweet moment was short-lived when they heard the cackle again and turned to see the Nightmare Forces revealing an old enemy.
“Chrysalis!” Celestia cried.
The Changeling Queen did a chuckle, “Oh, did you really think I would forget that you kept me from conquering Equestria? Hardly… Shortly after my defeat, I was on the verge of another plan to take the country when the Nightmares approached me, telling me we had a common enemy. Apparently, it seems that you stopped them long before they could corrupt your sister to the dark side…”
Celestia shot a blast of light, which Chrysalis countered. Her magic was now stronger because of the Nightmares. Celestia’s magic was moved back to her horn and it overwhelmed her as she fell to the ground.
“Celestia!!” Sombra rushed to her aid, holding on to her.
“And now, Celestia…” Chrysalis said, “By the powers given to me by the Nightmare Forces… I shall place a curse on you!” Her horn glowed, performing the spell and was ready to zap.
“NOOOO!!” Sombra jumped in front of his love and fully took the curse placed upon him.
“Sombra!!” his wife hollered out as she saw the transformation occurring to him.
His horn started to get curved and turned to a red color. His coat was black to his usual grey and his mane a jet black and was flowing like a fire. He even grew fangs and when he opened his eyes, they were no longer the soft emeralds she always saw, but red with a glowing green in place of his whites.
“No…” she whispered in despair.
“ARRGH!” Chrysalis screeched, “That curse was meant to be for you! Well, at least you get to suffer now that your husband is a monster!”
The word echoed through his head and he turned to face Celestia. Seeing the terror in her eyes, he knew then he had to go. With a release of purple smoke, he disappeared and Celestia screamed out, “No! Sombra! Come back!” she started crying.
“You may have won this round, Celestia, but rest assured, we will be back! At least we have a consolation prize!”
“What do you mean?!” the alicorn queen demanded.
The Changeling Queen gave out another chuckle, “Since your husband got struck, I now have a signature on your daughters… They carry part of his blood, so… when they fall in love, I’ll be able to track them down and can place the same curse on them as your husband has… Now, isn’t that swell…?” she grinned evilly.
Celestia bared her teeth and released a mighty sunray. It managed to hit a couple of Nightmares, but not all of them as the rest started to knock down the castle to make their escape. Chrysalis shouted, “We’ll be back! And when we do, everything you have ever loved will be gone!” she cackled and was gone with the Forces right as the castle rumbled and crumbled. Celestia teleported herself to where her daughters and sister were at.
The girls were whimpering and Luna wished she could consult them, but she worried also. Her sister and Sombra should’ve been here by now. Suddenly, her sister came in a bright light and immediately, questions were raised. But she saw the pain in her sister’s eyes and Celestia finally said that Sombra was gone. Tears came pouring out from the little ones as they sobbed. Luna found that she was also shedding tears. It wasn’t until they got back to Canterlot and the girls were sleeping that Celestia told her the whole story.
They knew then that the girls would be traumatized by this experience and it would be wise if they altered the girls’ memories, having them only remembering the good memories of their father and that they would forget all about Celestia and Luna’s old castle, as it would only cause pain for them…
Celestia looked around the room again as she kept holding onto the music box, silently crying. She kept muttering, “I’m so sorry, Sombra… I’m so sorry… And I’m so sorry to you, my darlings… We wanted you to find love just as we did… but now, it can never be… To force you into a loveless marriage has been the hardest thing since I had to let your father go… But if that is the only way to protect you, then I’m afraid so… Oh, I wish you were here…” she looked at the golden figure of Sombra.
Meanwhile in the ruins of the Sisters’ castle, a figure with red and green glowing eyes took out a similar music box and looked at the golden figure of Celestia. He said as he shed a single tear, “I miss you… My sweet Celestia…”