//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Dark Butterfly 
// by Questionable Brony 
//------------------------------//

Pinkie's Party had went once again deep into the night. Given the occasion it was no surprise: King Sombra, the feared and hated tyrant of the Crystal Empire was finally dead, the Crystal Ponies free of his dark influence and terror. Honestly, it was more a surprise the party still ended before dawn, but that could be explained with the exhausted state everypony was in.

Still, there was one mare who was still awake, despite being completely exhausted herself. It was a butter colored pegasus, with blue eyes and three butterflies as a cutie mark. Everypony thought she was one of the visitor's to the Crystal Empire. And if things would go after the mare, it would stay this way.

She was on her way towards the cemetery of the empire. Compared to the rest of the crystal empire, this place obviously hadn't been taken care of in a long while and that's saying something, considering everything is made of crystal. Oh, everything was still recognizable, but the plants at the graves were all dead, the graves themselves dirty and some of them were even broken. The mare sighed sadly. There had been no time for taking care of the graves, neither during Sombra's reign, nor as of now. She hoped the place would be restored soon, even though everypony probably just wanted to completely forget about the past.

The pegasus in question stopped in front of a grave. It didn't look any different from the other graves, a simple crystal tombstone, a name and date were written on it, although the letters were a little outdated to say the least.

"Hi mom." the mare spoke softly. "I'm really sorry it's been so long since I last visited, but...you know probably better than me what dad did to the empire." She sighed once again. "I'm just glad I now have the opportunity to see you again, though...not for long. The others would be worried if they see that I'm missing. I'm sorry."

For the next couple of minutes she just looked at the stone in front of her.

"There's so much I want to tell you, but I...I just don't know where to start. Maybe I should tell you how I have been and what I am doing. Well, I've become an animal caretaker in a small town called Ponyville. I've made lots of new animal friends. Oh, Angel is still around, though he didn't want to come. He's become really grumpy, ever since...you know." she trailed off, looking to the ground. A tiny tear fell to the ground. Rubbing her eye, she looked back at the tombstone.

"I'm sorry. I promised you to be strong. But...it's harder than I thought." she choked down a sob.

"Dad...he died today. I....I know he was...bad. Evil. A...monster. H-he's responsible y-y-you died *sob*. B-but *sniff*, but...I-I miss him mom! He did all those bad things, but he was a great father! H-h-HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FEEL?! I KNOW WHAT HE DID, BETTER THAN ANYPONY ELSE! HE DESERVED TO DIE FOR EVERYTHING...everything..." The pegasus broke down, crying her eyes out on the ruined grave. Centuries of  burying down emotions came to the surface all at once. The mare cried and cried and soon enough Celestia began raising the sun. Seeing this, the pegasus wiped the tears away and tried to calm herself down.

"I need to go or the others will notice that I've been gone. I don't know if I'll be able to visit again. I...I'll try. Goodbye...mom."

She was about to fly back where she came from, when she stopped in her tracks and looked back at her mother's tombstone. "That's right. There is something I wanted to tell you. You see I...I am the Element of Kindness now." She giggled. "I know. Dad would...*sigh* he would probably have one of his fits. I definitely need to go now. Goodbye mom. Oh and please do visit dad in Tartarus. And greet Ceberus from me. I haven't been able to play with him as of late. So much happened. I can't wait to tell you."

With those final words, Fluttershy finally took off towards the crystal palace.





"Sombra had a daughter?!" Shining Armor exclaimed, as he and Celestia were sitting together in the dining room. The two were already awake and alone, since they were pretty much used to early mornings.

"Yes, however, she disappeared shortly before Luna and I confronted Sombra. I only heard rumors of her until then. She was kind of an infamous celebrity, even outside the Crystal Empire. It was said that she was even crueler than her father. A single look into her eyes was supposed to destroy a pony's soul. She was supposed to have tamed the darkest monsters of Tartarus and she would try to make other ponies "play" with her "pets". Her favorite one was supposed to be something so evil and so monstrous, just saying its name was supposed to bring doom upon you." Celestia shook her head. "It's hard to say which of the stories were real and which were made up. After the Crystal Empire disappeared, nopony has ever heard anything about Sombra's daughter."

"Hmm. Maybe we can find out what happened to her, if we inspect the castle." Shining suggested. "We could even ask the crystal ponies, although I don't think they'd like to be reminded of her, considering how they reacted to Sombra. Also Princess, I'd like to keep Twilight and her friends out of this. They've been through enough already and considering that Sombra's daughter is already dead- actually, what is her name?"

Celestia needed to think about this for a while. "Oh jeez. It's been so long...ah yes, now I remember. Her name was Umbra. She was also known as the Silent Death and Dark Butterfly. I'd love to know the story behind the last one."

"Dark Butterfly? That doesn't sound all that terrifying. It sounds more like something a filly would come up for a little stage show." Shining deadpanned at the thought of ponies shivering at the silly name.