“Mares and gentlecolts.” said Celestia as she began to spread her wings out, standing in front of Shining Armor and Cadance. “We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. Their love has brought us here today to celebrate the holy union of these two ponies.”
Shining Armor and Cadance looked at each other with huge smiles as Celestia asked Spike to bring the rings. Then, as Celestia spoke, “I now pronounce you...”
“Garbage and filth!” said a vile, malicious voice. “After all, its the union of a worthless stallion and the despicable Princess of Love!”
Everypony in the room turned their heads to the middle of the aisle as a dark shadow on the floor began to take shape into a dark, grinning stallion. Then the stallion's horn began to shine as it then shot out several dark fireballs at Cadance and Shining. Shining quickly jumped in front of Cadance and raised a magic shield.
“Cadance, watch out!” he yelled as he shield appeared, only for it break instantly from the fireball hitting it. Shining then went flying over Cadance and slammed into a wall. “Shining!” yelled Cadance as she tried to run to him, only to get hit by a fireball as well. “Augh!”
“HAHAHAHAHA!” laughed the stallion. “Oh this is perfect!”
BLAM!
A shot of magic slammed the stallion as he got knocked back a little. He then shook the blow off and grinned at the pony who shot the magic at him. “My my Celestia...seems you've gotten a bit more ruthless over the years. I like it!”
“Sombra...” said Celestia with anger tinging in her voice. She could feel the power Sombra wielded now. 'The Element of Darkness...somehow, he absorbed it...' she thought as her mouth slowly opened again. “Why are you here?!”
“Oh Celestia...” said Sombra as he began to pat off the dust on his legs. “You of all ponies should know why I'm here. You also know you shouldn't try to fight me right now unless you want all these so-called innocent ponies here to be in serious trouble.” Sombra's horn began to shine as he gave several glares at the ponies in the room.
“Don't try my patience Sombra...especially since you're attacking a wedding right now.” Celestia then gave signals to her guards, who then began to escort the other ponies out of the room.
“Oh please, you already know the reason why I attacked the Princess of Love.”
Celestia then scoffed as she began to reply. “She's destined to become the ruler of the Crystal Empire...that's something you don't want, am I correct?”
“Yes. I also sealed her husband's magic as well. You must admit Celestia, things are looking up for me.” Sombra gave a huge grin as a dark aura began to cover his entire body. Celestia's horn began to shine again as she prepared to attack. She soon saw Sunset Shimmer and Trixie standing right by her, ready to attack Sombra as well. “Okay you two...Sombra is no ordinary unicorn. Get ready for anything.”
“Of course princess.” “Trixie is ready.”
“Sorry, but I'm not in a mood for a fight, even though I feel like I have a chance of winning right now...” Sombra then cricked his neck as he slowly turned into a shadow again. “That and the Princess of the Moon isn't here and I don't want to fight her as well. All I'm here for is one simple thing.”
“What could you possibly want?!”
“I am here to declare war.”
“WAR?!
Sombra gave another vile grin. “Oh yes. Not long from now, I will descend onto the Crystal Empire and claim the Crystal Heart. There, I will use it to spread my dark influence across all of Equestira.” Sombra's eyes glowed in pleasure as he made his next statement. “Equestria will soon be covered in pure dark crystals. Fear will descend upon all ponykind in Equestria. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
“Trixie's heard enough! Trixie's ready to knock this idiot into next week!”
“I agree.” said Sunset as she cricked her head. The two then shot magic beams across the room only for Sombra to then sink into the floor as a shadow. He gave one last grin and said, “Also, thank that purple pony for me would you? The magic she had in that jewel was incredible! The power it gave me was more than I could ever ask for!”
Celestia's face showed even more fury at his last statement as Sombra's shadow vanished from the room. Trixie tried to follow it, only to see it zoom out the window and quickly soar through Canterlot. “He's so fast, we'll never catch him!”
“Let him go Trixie.” Celestia said with a sigh.
“Princess Celestia?” asked Sunset with a face filled with concern. “Who was that stallion?”
“That...that was King Sombra...an evil unicorn that me and my sister defeated a very long time ago...”
“King? You mean he's the ruler of that empire he just mentioned?”
“Yes.” Celestia nodded. “He has returned and I fear that he's probably the danger that Harmony was warning Twilight Sparkle about...”
“That's not good...”
“Indeed. In fact, has anypony seen Twilight Sparkle since the wedding ceremony started?!”
Sunset and Trixie looked at each other and then back to Celestia. They both shook their heads. “Um...I don't think so...” “Trixie agrees.”
“Alright, I need you two to go search the castle and find her. I have to call the rest of the guards here and have them fix up this place. I also have to get some guards here to take Shining Armor and Cadance to the infirmary and get my council here.”
“Sure, we can find Twilight for you princess.” Sunset said with a small smile. “Come on Trixie, let's go find her.”
“Ugh...fine.”
The two then scurried out of the room and Celestia then began signaling her guard. Soon, everypony she needed was there, including her sister. Shining Armor and Cadance were taken to the infirmary and Sunset Shimmer and Trixie soon found the pony they were looking for.
“Is that her?” asked Trixie as they approached a dead end. There, Twilight was laying on the floor, battered, bruised and completely unconscious. The two looked at each other as they walked closer to the beaten pony on the floor with shards of a jewel all around her. “Trixie almost feels sorry for her...”
“Yeah...you really need to let that go Trixie...”
“She's a criminal Sunset! How many times does Trixie have to tell you that?!”
“Until you accept that she got pardons for the Rainbooms Trixie...or did you forget that little fact?”
“Shut up. Let's just get her to Princess Celestia.” said Trixie with a groan. Sunset then levitated Twilight onto her back and two turned around, ready to get back to the Princess of the Sun. Soon, they were before her, and they then tried to wake up Twilight in front of Celestia.
“Oh my, Sombra really did a number on her, didn't he?” said Celestia with a concerned face.
“Yeah...” Sunset said as she poked Twilight several times. “Twilight...please wake up...”
“Trixie thinks she's dead.”
“There's air coming out of her nostrils Trixie, she's alive.”
“Then Trixie suggests we put her in the dungeon while we still have a chance.”
“Trixie...”
“Uhh...ohhh....” moaned Twilight as her eyes slowly opened. Her body shook all over as she tried to get up. “Wha...I...what....what happened?”
Sunset and Trixie looked at each other again and then Sunset said. “You might want to sit down Twilight, its quite the story.”
“Yeah, though Trixie's favorite part is the part where you got your flank kicked!”
“Trixie!”
A few minutes later, the four ponies found themselves in Celestia's throne room. There, Celestia levitated a crystal in front of them and put it on the floor. “All right you three, I have something very important to tell you, so I need all three of you to please be quiet for a few minutes.”
“Okay.” Sunset then nodded. The other two nodded as well.
Celestia cleared her throat and began to speak. “The pony that attacked you earlier Twilight is a unicorn called King Sombra. He once ruled the Crystal Empire, where he ruled with a truly dark heart. Me and my sister defeated him centuries ago. In his last moments before being banished and turned to shadow, he unfortunately did one last curse on the empire, causing it to be sealed away for almost a thousand years.. ”
“Almost?”
“Yes. It's been about 998 years now. I originally believed he might return two years from now but that's no longer the case. I believe this may also be an aftereffect from you taking the elements earlier and...harmonizing my sister...”
“Oh...and you think he was the warning Harmony was giving me?”
“Yes.” Celestia then nodded and shot magic into the crystal, showing a hologram of the Crystal Empire. “Now, my knowledge of the Crystal Empire is limited but I do know this. The Crystal Empire is a place filled with a very special magic. If hope and love is filled within the empire, the it is spread throughout all of Equestria.” Celestia's horn then shined into the crystal, showing a radiant, happy light. “However, if fear and hatred is put into the empire...” Celestia's horn began to show a dark aura, in which she blasted magic into the crystal and it showed a ton of dark crystals suddenly appearing in the throne room. The trio quickly stepped back as the crystals crept closer.
BLAM!
A great light shined from Celestia's horn, destroying the crystals. “Now...I have a task for you two.” said Celestia as she then pointed to Sunset and Twilight. “I need you two to go to the empire and stop Sombra.”
The two then looked at each other in slight confusion. “Uh...just the two of us?” asked Twilight. “You said this guy has a whole empire...don't you think an army is in order to take this guy?”
“No.” Celestia then shook her head. “The main key to Sombra's power is fear and hatred. When you two get to the empire, it will be filled with dark crystals everywhere. However, he will need time to gain his full power before he can start raising an army to attack.”
“Wait a minute, he doesn't have an army?!”
“No, only crystal ponies live in the empire. They are all earth ponies and when he gets there, he will not turn them into soldiers. Instead, he will enslave them all.”
“Well, if that's the case, why don't we all go after him right now?!”
Celestia let out a sigh. “I...cannot. Even if the prophecy is...broken...I still cannot go.”
Twilight let out a huge groan. “Seriously?! You still believe in that prophecy garbage?!”
“Yes. That and there needs to be at least one alicorn here in Canterlot at all times.”
“Oh...okay. So is there any other prophecy nonsense we should know about then?!”
Sunset then spoke up, “That's enough Twilight.” Sunset then turned to Celestia. “If I had to take a guess, the empire needs an alicorn, doesn't it?!”
“Yes my student. Princess Cadance is destined to be the ruler of the Crystal Empire. As soon as she is in stable condition, she will be heading over there immediately.”
“Ah...well, it is nice that Cadance is coming later...” Twilight said with a smug tone. “Okay, guess we better get going...”
“Wait a second!” yelled Trixie in confusion. “You're just gonna go along with this?! Why?!”
“Um...because I have to?!” said Twilight as one of her eyebrows raised. “That and Harmony was warning me about this guy, so its my job to get rid of him.”
“Didn't you just say prophecies are garbage?” asked Sunset.
“Yeah, they are. But I'm loyal to Harmony, so this situation is fine. That reminds me, how long is the train ride to this empire?”
“Twelve hours.”
“Okay...guess we better get going Sunset.” Twilight then stretched her legs. “Ugh...they still hurt from the blast...but I should be okay...”
Sunset then nodded. “Alright...”
“Hang on!” yelled Trixie again. “Trixie is coming too!”
“Are you sure Trixie?”
“Trixie can't leave you alone with a criminal!”
Sunset and Twilight gave the most monotone looks they could give. Sunset really wanted to facehoof but didn't. She then said, “Fine...you can come Trixie...”
“Ugh...” groaned Twilight. “Hopefully this gets better...thirteen hours from now...”
Fourteen hours from now...
'Cold...its so cold...' thought Twilight as she tried to get out of the snow. As her head popped out of a giant snow pile, she saw that she was on top of a frozen mountain filled with snow and ice. Then she saw the Crystal Empire in the distance, several miles away. “This...this can't be real...” she said to herself. “This...”
“You are alone.” said a voice behind her.
“Wha...who? Who's there?” said Twilight as she barely turned her head. Then her eyes grew in shock as she saw the figure in front of her. “Wha...”
“You are alone.” the figure said again.
“This...this can't be real...” Twilight began to wiggle out of the snow. “How? Just...how did...”
“You are alone.”
“Stop saying that!” Twilight yelled as she pulled another hoof out of the snow. “How is this possible?!”
“You are alone Twilight Sparkle.”
“Why? Why are you here?!” Twilight began to yell as she tried to summon magic into her horn. “And don't say that I'm alone again!”
“I'll say it again, Twilight Sparkle. You are alone.”
“SHUT UP!” screamed Twilight as her horn began to shine, “Why are you here, NIGHTMARE MOON?!”