Umbra's eyes opened as she groaned awake. She was laying on a white bed, in a part of the crystal palace that she can't remember – or never had seen before. She took in her surroundings and her eyes laid on a yellow pegasus, sleeping by the side of the bed. Her pink mane flowed flawlessly on the wrinkled sheets. But the pony doesn't have the crystalline texture that her ponies have and it bothers Umbra on why she's here?
'An Equestrian pony perhaps? Does that mean the Equestrians defeated Sombra?'
Umbra leaned closer to the yellow pegasus and brushed her pink mane.
'If they did, then that means peace had finally come to the Crystal Empire.'
"Huh?", said the yellow pegasus. Umbra retracted her foreleg from the pegasus' mane and put on her smile without showing her fangs of course, she doesn't want to scare the wee pony now, does she?
The yellow pegasus yawned, and looked around with her eyelids half opened. When her eyes caught Umbra awake and smiling at her, her eyes widened and her pupils reduced to the size of pinpricks.
Umbra raised and eyebrow, but kept her smile. "What's wrong young one?" She asked. The yellow pegasus was trembling where she sat, glancing between Umbra and the door; which looks like a mile a way, given the situation. Before she could dashed for the door, she was stopped when Umbra said,
"Are you afraid of me?", the words came out in a hurt tone even if Umbra doesn't show it on her face, "Do I scare you?"
The yellow pegasus sat back onto her chair and stared at the floor. "What is your name?" she asked, sounding more motherly as not to scare the skittish pony.
"Fluttershy..." The yellow pegasus said, with her eyes still glued to the floor. Her voice came like a hush, luckily, Umbra was close enough to comprehend what the mare said.
"Fluttershy, there is no need to feel nervous. I promise I will not harm you." Umbra smiled.
The yellow pegasus still stared at the floor, glancing at the door occasionally. Umbra had to start a conversation with the mare to help her calm down. And now, Umbra's going to try one of her favourite subjects.
"Fluttershy, what do you know about animals and wildlife?"
The yellow pegasus perked.
Twilight, followed by her friends – minus Fluttershy, was headed to the castle's infirmary to check up on Fluttershy and their new guest. Albeit, she was not sure about the latter. This mare, Umbra, had some connection to Sombra and she can't understand what it is.
Twilight frowned.
She doesn't like it, this Umbra is full of mystery. She could be as bad as Sombra – maybe even worse! And that's why she was encased in those black crystals! Maybe Sombra couldn't contain her and locked her away in it! But, Fluttershy is alone with that foal of dark magic! But... maybe she's good and Sombra had to put a stop to her.
With anxiety swelling up her gut, Twilight picked up haste.
In front of the Infirmary doors, Twilight had her hoof on the knob, she twisted it. The door softly creaked as it was pushed ajar as soon as it was opened. From the small gap that the door made, sounds of laughter resonated from the inside. It was Fluttershy's sweet giggles and snorts, but the other one was foreign.
The group exchanged glances, then proceeded to walk into the infirmary.
Time seemed to fly as the two converse with each other. The two shared stories and experiences with different animals. Fluttershy was really fascinated when Umbra had told her how she had a pet Dire-wolf once upon a time. Umbra, though was intrigued on how Fluttershy's pet bunny, Angel, became some sort of an alpha in a herd of different animals. She expected the bear to be the one in charge, but to Angel it was the other way around.
"– and then I scooped up angel from his bath, after I brushed him, his fur came poof! He was as fluffy as a cotton candy!"
The two mares laughed.
"And there was this time too, when –" Fluttershy was interrupted by a cough from behind her, making her jump a little.
"Hello, Fluttershy, I see that our guest is awake?" The newcomer turned to Umbra, "Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle. This are my friends: you've already met Fluttershy,"
Fluttershy nodded.
"Here's Rarity." Twilight pointed at the white unicorn with curly, violet, mane.
"Pleasure to meet you, dear." Umbra nodded.
"Applejack," The orange earth pony with a Stetson sitting atop her head, and a red band tied at the bottom of her yellow mane, tipped her stetson and said,
"Howdy! Pleasures mine."
"Rainbow Dash," The cyan pegasus mare, with rainbow coloured mane, carried herself with pride and glory.
"Hi! I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in all of Equestria." her voice was filled with confident.
"and last but not least, meet Pinkie Pie." The pink pony jumped at the call of her name, her poofy hair bounced as she hopped beside Umbra's bed and shook her hoof feverishly.
"Nice to meet you! I can't wait to throw you a 'Welcome back after so many years of sleeping' party!" The jolly mare's smile was wide and contagious, her eyes were full of glee.
Umbra couldn't help but giggle at the pink pony's antics. She took a deep breath and gave a serene smile, it's time for her to introduce herself to her new acquaintances.
"It is also nice to meet you, everypony." she looked at the pink pony, who was still wearing an ear wide smile, "and I can not wait as well, my little pony."
"Let me introduce myself, I am Princess Umbra of house Nyx, future queen of the Crystal Empire."
There was a bit of silence after Umbra finished introducing herself. The mares before her exchanged glances before one, the fastest flyer in Equestria, spoke.
"What? Princess Cadence is in charge of the Crystal Empire, and not you!" Rainbow Dash said.
"But, my little pony, it is my right and in my blood to rule my people after my brother is put off the throne." Umbra kept her smile, but cocked an eyebrow.
"No!" The pegasus mare tried to lunged at the princess but was stopped by Apple jack ,who anchored her in place with a hoof on the rainbow coloured tail, "We won't let you enslave these ponies just as Sombra did!"
"Calm down, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said, "if she's bad as Sombra then she would have attacked us already – let alone, Fluttershy, who was with her all this time."
"Is something wrong? Is my title no longer recognised by ponies?" Umbra slightly raised her voice, "did the Equestrians turn my empire into a city-state? And your princess as its vassal?"
"No! We're sorry, but we've never heard of you before, the books never mentioned Sombra having a sibling. And it was just recently liberated, and I hadn't been able to read most of the Empire's books. It has been a thousand years so many Equestrians might have not remembered." Twilight said.
Umbra stared at her in shock, eyes wide opened.
'a thousand years?'
"I – is that how long I was... lost?" Umbra stammered.
"Well, yes. The Crystal Empire vanished for a thousand years after Celestia and Luna defeated Sombra."
'So the Royal Pony Sisters really did defeat Sombra, but my wee brother was smart and used a Chrono spell to travel, him and the entire empire, a thousand years into the future. But why am I not recognised by these Equestrians? What did the Sisters do?'
"I would like to be alone please..." Sensing the distress in her voice as she lowered head, Twilight nodded.
"Alright, we understand." Twilight led her friends outside. Closing the doors she turned towards the two crystal guards stationed nearby.
"Guard this door, let nopony in or out without my, princess Cadence's or prince Shining armour's permission."
The two saluted.
That night somewhere in the Crystal Empire
Alone figure stood among it's fellows, wearing cloaks concealing their identities. A deem light, illuminated the centre on where the figure stood.
"The old songs had been sung, Sombra has returned – and as the Prophecy has prophesied – the princess will too. The war for the empire will soon ignite once more! We are the creed whose alliance was sealed by an oath to the princess. The true princess! We will not fail this time, we will protect the empire from the plague of the tyrannical Sombra. For the Empire! For the Heart! For the Princess!"
The shouts of many, echoed through the cavernous place, where they gathered.