Twilight, Tombstone, and the others reappeared in the throne room of Canterlot Castle.
“Celestia we came as quick as we could,” said Twilight.
“I’d say so.”
“What’s the situation so far?” said Tombstone.
“All we know is that Sombra took over the empire. We should be getting an update from our scouts any time now,” said Luna.
“Well we do have an advantage that Sombra doesn’t know about,” said Twilight.
“We do?” said Celestia.
“We have Tombstone. He actually knew Sombra personally a thousand years ago.”
“He did!?” they all said in unison.
“Oh I knew him alright. When you’re the only two individuals pursuing dark magic you’re bound to run into each other some point. We had a few run-ins, got to know each other a little, and even learned some magic from one another. But we ultimately went our separate ways. We wanted different things, he wanted to rule and enslave Equestria while I wanted to wipe the slate clean and start over.”
“I see.” If he knew Sombra then this is even worse than I thought.
A guard then ran into the room and approached the princesses.
“Your highness I bring news from our scouts. It seems a shield has been put up around the empire’s boarders preventing us from entering.”
“I suppose that it also prevents any kind of magic from passing through it as well. Thank you for the update, you may leave now,” said Luna.
“Yes your highness.”
The guard ran off and the others were left to wonder what their next move should be.
“It seems Sombra has dug in for the long haul and wants us to wait until he is ready for us,” said Celestia.
“We can’t just do nothing, there has to be a way past that shield but how?” said Cadence.
Tombstone just shook his head and while the others were bickering amongst themselves about what to do next he went over to a nearby wall, produced a quill and inkwell and began to draw a large circle. When he finished drawing the symbols and writing the incantations he made a loud noise that caught their attention.
“Now then if you’re all done yapping I have the solution to your problem right here.”
“What is that you drew on the wall?” said Celestia.
“It’s a portal circle. When activated it will open a portal to an area behind the shield of my choosing.”
“That’s impossible, how can your magic get through the shield?”
“I never said it went through it. When it opens it travels outside of our world through space and time and then reappears in our world on the other side of the shield circumventing it.”
“Really?” said Celestia in a sarcastic sort of way. “Well what are those markings you’ve made in it?”
“That is the written form of the language I spoke during are last encounter. It’s called dovahzul.”
“Wait that sounds strangely familiar.”
“It was the ancient language of the dragons, though it died out before your time but you may have of it at some point in your early years. Anyways, let’s get going.” Tombstone touched his hooves to the circle and it lit up. He then backed away as the letters and symbols began to swirl together and a picture of the Crystal Empire appeared when the gateway opened. “I will keep the portal open long enough for us to pass through and then close it, just in case Sombra tries to flee through it later. Is everypony ready to go?” They all nodded. “Very well then, follow me.”
They made their way through and the portal closed behind them. They arrived just outside the city and began moving through the streets. The buildings had turned to black crystal and the crystal ponies were in chains. As they made their way to the palace the crystal ponies were surprised to say the least to see them.
“Look it’s the Princesses!”
“They’ve come to save us!”
The guards patrolling the streets finally spotted them and raised the alarm.
“You go warn the King, the rest of you with me,” barked a guard.
The guards went on the attack and were quickly overwhelmed by the power of the alicrons. With the current threat neutralized they began freeing the crystal ponies from their enslavement and continued to the palace.
King Sombra sat at his throne when a guard come running in.
“Your majesty the Princesses are here in the city!”
“Impossible, there’s no way they could have gotten through the shield I put up.”
“But I have seen them with my own eyes.”
Sombra decided to look for himself. He got up and made his way onto the balcony, to his surprise he indeed saw the Princesses and company making their way to him, freeing his slaves along the way. Sombra turned to shadow, went over the ledge to the ground and went to confront them. He rematerialized in front of them with an angry look on his face and dark magic in his eyes.
“Celestia, how did you get past my barrier?”
Celestia was about to respond when Tombstone stepped in.
“I’ll take things from here. Hello Sombra, it’s been a long time hasn’t it.”
“Wait I remember you.” He then raised an eyebrow. “Tombstone?”
“Good to see you still remember me after all this time.”
“So I assume that you were able to turn yourself into a lich to achieve immortality like you planned to.”
“You are correct.”
“I’d ask you how you’ve been but the better question is what are you doing with them?”
“Let’s just say resent events has caused me to rethink my choices in life, so I’m with them now.”
“Hmm I’m sorry to hear that. I suppose that means you’ll try and stop me then.”
“Right you are, and as a lich you know you can’t kill me.”
“True but I can at least destroy your physical form taking you out of the fight for a few days.”
“That is true isn’t it, well then enough idle chit chat let’s get down to business shall we.”
Tombstone and Sombra both lit their horns and fired off a shot at each other. Dark magic collided and sent a shockwave that had them both reeling. They looked at each other and both turned to shadow and charged forward, deflecting off one another. They circled around and continued to bounce off each other several times. They finally broke off and landed on the ground, Tombstone flared his horn, an undead chimera and manticore burst out of the ground in front of him. They rushed toward Sombra who blasted the manticore killing it and was about to do the same to the chimera but he didn’t notice Tombstone teleport behind him and blasted him in the back. Momentarily distracted, the chimera pounced and landed on top of Sombra who held out his hooves to keep the beast from sinking its jaws into him. Sombra shot it at point blank range killing the chimera and sent it flying. Sombra quickly got up to face Tombstone.
“What’s the matter don’t like my pets? Well you haven’t seen anything yet.” Tombstone’s horn flared again and the ground began to shake. Then an undead dragon emerged from the ground and spewed fire at Sombra who projected a shield around himself. The stream of fire stopped and when the smoke cleared his shield held, then the dragon began pounding and clawing at the shield. The constant barrage was taking its toll on Sombra, the shield broke and so did the one around the Empire as well. He managed to dodge the latest strike. He then turned back into shadow and went straight for the dragon entering the beast through one of its rotted away patches and started to destroy it from the inside out. The dragon fell to the ground, Sombra exited through the mouth and turned back into a pony. “Impressive you’ve gotten stronger since we last met but then again so have I. Qo ruzaak.” A bolt of lightning shot from him right at Sombra, who dodged it.
“How did you?”
“Let’s just say I don’t need a horn to cast spells.” Sombra went on the offensive, horn flaring he ran toward Tombstone who counter charged. But before Sombra could get off a shot Tombstone yelled “Wuld Tusron” and he shot forward ramming into Sombra which sent him flying back. Sombra lay on the ground and appeared to be injured so Tombstone went in for a closer look. Then Sombra turned his head and shot a bright light at Tombstone temporarily blinding him. Sombra saw his opening and cast a fire spell. Tombstone was engulfed in flames, the spell ended and the area around him continued to burn. Sombra felt a smile creep onto his face, but it quickly vanished when a figure emerged. Tombstone walked out of the flames near skeletal with just a few patches of charred flesh clinging to his bones and red pupils were his eyes use to be. “Ouch,” he said nonchalantly. “Alright no more messing around.”
The others were amazed and/or terrified at the spectacle unfolding in front of them, non-more so than Celestia. Then before the fight could go any further she got an idea and decided she was done sitting on the sidelines. Celestia spread her wings and flew straight toward Sombra who just caught sight of her. He turned to face her and right before they collided there was a blinding flash of light, when the others regained their sight Celestia and Sombra were gone.
Celestia and Sombra reappeared on a cliff on one of the Crystal Mountains. Sombra looked like he was ready for another round and was about to attack her.
“Calm yourself Sombra I only wish to speak. I have a proposition for you.”
He was suspicious of her but decided to hear her out.
A proposition? “I’m listening.”
A minute later Celestia reappeared in the Crystal Empire. By this time Tombstone had already turned his body back to normal.
“Tia are you alright? What happened?”
“I’m fine Luna and I’m not sure what happened. All I know is that Sombra managed to escape.”
“But what about the Crystal Heart?” said Cadence.
“I’m afraid Sombra is probably the only one that knows what happened to it, but rest assured we will find him and the heart. It’s only a matter of time. In the meantime let’s head home.”