It had only been a little more than a year since the Crystal Empire had returned and the Princesses were finally arriving. They had finished some peace treaties in the South and now they had arrived in the North.
They had not heard much from anypony as everypony that had went up there had gone quiet. What was even stranger was the news that Golden Williams and his new wife never showed up. At the same time neither did Blood Diamond, though him not showing up to events was almost commonplace nowadays. He had not been seen much at all since his youngest son died during the changeling invasion, as well as his oldest son going missing on the same day.
******
The two princesses had exited the train just a little after the evening. Princess Luna was wearing an immaculate blue and purple dress. Princess Celestia was wearing a colorful silver dress. Behind them exited their personal guards among the personal guards was Princess Celestia’s student, Sunfire.
As the princesses made their way to the main castle, Sunfire stayed close behind them. Ever since Celestia made him her student, he had felt that he had to return the favor somehow. He was formerly a guard, so the only way he could think of repaying her would be doing whatever he would protect her, in any way.
The princesses had been told that there would be a masquerade ball being held in the main castle. They had heard that a new king had been crowned. This would a good time to meet him. However, it would be hard to know what he would look like with the masks on. Still, they didn't want to be disrespectful.
At the time of the ball, the princesses walked into the ballroom. Celestia wore a yellow phoenix mask, Luna wore a blue wolf mask and Sunfire wore a red falcon mask.
It looked absolutely beautiful inside the ballroom, though everything was in shades of purple and blue and seemed a little off. Luna accidentally let out a little grin at the fact she could blend in so well in this place, which was incredible.
Luna and Celestia went to find somewhere to sit. Sunfire found a table for them and they all sat down at it. They noticed all the dancing around them and considered finding somepony to dance with but halted the thought so they could keep watch for this new king. Soon the dancing came to a halt as the King of the Crystal Empire showed up. As he walked in, the princesses were expecting maybe the new King to be Golden Williams, hoping it wasn’t the conniving Blood Diamond. Though in the end what they were more curious about was what had happened to their uncle, Emerald Teal. Sure, Emerald Teal had served Redsting, but he was still their uncle.
In the end, the new king revealed himself. They were shocked to see what appeared to be a rather tall, charcoal unicorn. He stood just slightly above Luna’s height, which was strange since only a few equines could reach an alicorn’s height and not be an alicorn.
As he walked down the stairs to enter the ballroom, Luna felt she couldn’t take her eyes off him. Even though his face was covered with the mask of a black lion, Luna felt a tinge of familiarity in his eyes.
As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he gestured his hands and many of the ponies there moved out of the way almost automatically. Luna continued to look at him with wide eyes as he walked right toward her and her alone. He reached out his hand. “May I have this dance?”
She rose up and walked with him to the center as everypony went back to dancing. As she and the new King danced, she couldn’t help but feel a strange warmth. It was like she was wrapped up in the most incredible sweater. The two danced slowly around the ballroom. As they did, Luna felt the eyes of everypony else on them. It felt like everypony was watching them. And yet the more she looked into his eyes the safer she felt. They danced and danced for what seemed like hours. Each moment her heart raced faster and faster.
Celestia looked to her sister happily. It was good to see Luna enjoying herself. The same could not be said about Celestia. Sunfire could see it on her face. Sure, she was happy for Luna, but she was sad for herself. Sunfire could not have this. Everything told him to get up. “Princess Celestia.” Celestia looked at him. Her eyes widened as she saw a hand out to her. He straightened himself and continued, “Would you like to dance?”
She looked away for a moment as she felt her heartbeat slow. Sunfire felt at that moment he may have overstepped himself. He was her student, nothing more. Or maybe Celestia just didn’t want to dance, or possibly he offended her. Either way, this was totally uncalled for.
He closed his eyes and went to pull his hand back when his heart jolted upon feeling her soft hand in his. Opening his eyes he saw Celestia with the shyest face. “This may not be proper,” she spoke sweetly.
“But it would be even worse for you not to dance during such a beautiful night.” He smiled.
She looked at him coly. “So the night is better than the day.”
His face went slightly red for a moment. “No, the day is far more beautiful.” At that moment he grabbed his mouth shut, upon realizing he was making himself sound worse.
Celestia let out a small giggle to his words as she pulled him to the dance floor. The two danced for several minutes. It was a nice dance, but soon Celestia heard somepony else giggle. She turned from Sunfire to see Luna giggle at the sight of them. The sight of Celestia and Sunfire dancing was rather strange, considering the fact that she was twice his height. Of course, Sunfire was being awfully nice trying to keep his face from bumping into her plump chest.
Soon the dance came to a close. The two pairs pulled away from each other and took a bow. As everypony stopped, the King looked upon them all and spoke. “I’m sorry for not properly introducing myself. Especially to the lovely Princesses of Equestria. I am King Sombra. It is good to see you all here. I’m very glad to finally meet you and am willing to take any advice from you all during my rule. Now that I have properly introduced myself, I must leave for but a moment,” he noted as he saw a figure in the shadows. Sombra turned and took his leave to a short hallway that led to a turn, then to a balcony far from everypony.
Sunfire soon noticed Luna heading back to the table for a moment. On the table was her purse. She opened it and grabbed out a letter. The very same letter that the shadowy figure that had knocked him out had. After she grabbed the letter, she went to the hallway that led to the balcony.
*******
As Sombra arrived on the balcony, he looked to his left and saw a pair of blood red eyes, as well as the form of the same figure only now it was as if part of the shadows. “I know you are there, father. What intel have you brought me on Blood Diamond?”
A scuffed and distorted voice spoke. “He is a hard one to track. Every time I get close, I find that I’m increasingly so far from him.”
“We must find him now. He is the last link to the remains of that monster.”
“What about the shard that Princess Celestia has?”
“I will deal with that one soon enough. Anything else you want to bug me about?”
“Yes it seems that Celestia and Luna have a s--” suddenly he stopped as he sensed somepony walking over. It was Princess Luna though she hadn’t heard anything. Before he could be seen the mysterious figure vanished.
She got past the turn and saw Sombra leaning onto the balcony rails. As she stepped forward, she removed her mask, at the same time noticed how the Moon was covered in clouds. It was near absolute darkness outside, yet everything was telling her she could leave her guard down with him. She barely knew him and yet…
“You left me this letter. Didn’t you?”
He smiled as she held it up. “Why yes, I did.”
“Why would you?” she questioned. “Tell me what do you know of him? Your letter spoke of things only he would know.”
“I know he is dead, but….” His voice drifted as he turned away from her.
She had to know what he meant. She had to know now. She walked closer and closer to him. She turned him around. “Please tell me, what do you know of my love?” He smiled at her words. On that, she could see something in his eyes that made her heart jolt. “Take off your mask,” she asked kindly. Doing as he was told he removed his mask. Her eyes widened upon whom she saw. “No, it can’t be. After all these years, you are ali--”
He placed his fingers over her lips, silencing her. “No….. I am dead.”
Her eyes filled with tears and her face moved on it’s own.
******
Sunfire walked through the hallway that led to the balcony. He had wondered why Luna had followed the new king. Soon he arrived at the turn, however, he pulled back at the moment. Leaning his head over slightly, his eyes widened upon what he saw. Luna and Sombra were sharing an embrace, kissing.
He did not know what was going on, so he walked back through the hallway quietly. He was very confused as to why they were kissing. But what he should have been concerned about was that the fact he was being watched from the shadows.
******
Meanwhile, a strange looking blood red bird flew far above the Crystal Empire. He landed on a tall tower and watched them in the moonlight. “Enjoy yourself, King Sombra. Soon we will reclaim our empire.”
******
<1,000 years later>
Twilight continued to struggle as she tried to solve the riddle. It confused her greatly. The lines made no sense. She decided to run it through her head once more. ‘What holds you together, yet keeps you separate? What binds your soul, yet if removed, loses your sanity?’ Damn it, what does it mean? She couldn’t figure it out, so she decided to find out some other intel. She looked at Selena Moondie, who was peeling a blood orange. “Selena Moondie? You said that was your name?”
“I said that I threw away my real name. You can call me Selena Moondie, or you can call me by my title.”
“Title?”
“Well each of us has a title. What's yours?”
This confused Twilight even more, but then she realized that Selena Moondie must be trying to get her off topic. "Forget it, Selena Moondie, how long have you been under Grogar?”
“Since I was young.” She finished peeling the blood orange.
“So he is your grandfather?”
“Well, sort of. I really can’t give away too much without ruining the riddle,” at that she ate the blood orange. That seemed to get Twilight something. Selena Moondie did let it slip that the riddle was connected to her connection to Grogar. In the end, it still wasn’t enough.
Suddenly Twilight realized that the blood in her ears stopped dripping. She looked at her shoulder and at the blood on it. That's something it hit her. “It’s blood. The answer is blood?” This still confused her. Was this really the answer? No, this made no sense, what would blood have to do with dark and light magic.
But as Twilight kept thinking, she didn’t notice Selena Moondie smiling, for in the end, Twilight was right. But what was the connection?
******
After a few hours, Selena Moondie brought Twilight in chains to the head of the airship. The headroom was a large dome with a long window that went around the circumference that seemed to be used for observing the outside. There they saw Grogar sitting on another throne at the far end of the room. As they entered, Twilight noticed Grogar was whispering to the spider he had created, though she couldn’t hear what he was saying to it.
Once Grogar was done, he looked up to see them. “Granddaughter, I would like for you to say hello to your new uncle, Bray.” At that, he dropped the spider to the floor. As it hit the floor it transformed into a full-size brown donkey with orange rag clothing.
She looked upon the donkey with a big bright smile as he bowed. “Why hello Uncle Bray.”
After introductions were done, Grogar asked if Twilight had figured out the riddle, to which Selena Moondie nodded a yes. “Very well, undo her chains. I wish to talk to her alone.”
On that, Selena Moondie unhooked the chains and then the two left the room. Twilight was now all alone with the emperor. He stood up from his throne and walked over to a window. Noticing she wasn’t following, he spoke. “Follow.” Suddenly Twilight was pulled over against her will to his side.
Outside was the land of Equestria. “Beautiful isn’t it?” he spoke.
At first, she was confused as to how he had done that, but after a moment she looked outward toward the land. “Yes, it is.” As they looked her mind wandered on where 'F' and Starlight were. If they were okay. However, her thoughts were stopped at his next words.
“There are so many of them out there. So many.”
“So many what?” she looked confusingly at him.
“So many descendants.” Grogar walked away. At this Twilight felt herself being pulled with him. Finally, the two came to a stop at the center of the room. “Push.” Once there, Twilight was pushed a certain distance from him.
“How are you doing this?” she questioned.
“What do you mean?” he questioned with a clever smile.
“I mean the Glare.”
“Glare?” he jokingly questioned.
“Yes, the Glare, a master spell that creates a bubble around the target. It’s clear you’re using the dark magic version, whi--”
“Which allows the user to bend space in the bubble to their command,” he finished her sentence.
“Yes, but I thought such a spell require direct eye contact.” She was so close to getting all the facts and she didn’t even know it.
Grogar held his hand up. “Did you forget already? I am the demigod of darkness and space. They are mine to command as I see fit. I need no spell such as the Glare.” At that, he snapped his fingers and his clothes changed their form, becoming thinner and more lightweight. Afterward, he folded his arms and spoke once more. “Now my granddaughter said you figured out the riddle. So tell me the answer.”
Twilight took a gulp at the possibility of being proven wrong, and then spoke, “It’s blood?”
“And what makes you think that answer?” He smiled greatly at her answer.
“‘What holds you together?’ that’s blood. ‘Yet keeps you separate?’ If somepony cuts you then you separate yourself from them. And finally ‘What binds your soul?’ is obviously just a rewording of the first part. Yet the last part seems to throw everything off.”
“You still sound confused. You’re not wrong.”
“What?!” she looked with more confusion. “That makes no sense. You said ‘yet if removed, loses your sanity.’ Without blood, you would die, not go insane. Plus what does it have to do with dark and light magic--”
“Hit me,” he interrupted. She was taken back by this. “Here is how it’s going to go; you will only have one chance to leave this airship and it is now.”
What was he planning? First, he asked her all these questions, now he offered her a chance to go back to her quest. “What's going on here?” she questioned.
“I want you to attack me with your strongest dark magic spell,” he answered. Her eyes widened. “Once you hit me, both you and I will know certain truths. I will only attack once, meanwhile, you will have as many chances as you like.”
At this Twilight took a stance and charged up her horn with dark magic. ‘He said truths will be revealed,’ she thought to herself as she got ready to attack. As she got ready, Grogar pulled the upper part of his robe down and revealed his overly boney sculpted upper body. After which he took his own stance.
Twilight saw what he was up to. Assuming he was going to possibly throw the attack back at her, she launched a weaken blast of dark magic right at him.
He smiled as the attack came at him. He grabbed it with one hand and then started spinning it around like a whip. After which he took it and pushed it into his other hand. Twilight’s eyes widened as the dark magic fed into his flesh.
“Really? That wasn’t your strongest, was it? Maybe I was wrong about you.”
Twilight continued to look in confusion. Just how did he do that?! This made no sense. She decided to try an even stronger blast. She shot a large blast of dark magic right at him, but he still smiled, as he held his arms outward and the blast fed into his chest. Again she looked in shock. He didn’t have a scratch on him.
“So Twilight, have I given you enough clues?” he smirked. He laughed, and laugh loudly.
She was getting annoyed. “Enough.” Twilight decided no more holding back. She summoned her biggest blast she had ever used. It was so big that the room could barely hold it as the walls shook. She used all she had and launched it directly at him. Grogar didn’t move as the attack moved towards him.
As the spell hit him, his own eyes widened. The blast ripped his body apart. However, Twilight looked on in greater shock as the blast stop moving. Her eyes widened further than ever and her heart practically stopped as she heard his voice. “Well, well, well. I’m impressed. Had this been light magic I might have been slightly concerned.”
“What?” Twilight questioned as she saw the impossible. The dark magic slowly condensed and alter its form as she saw Grogar’s red eyes appear on the surface of the blast. She realized the dark magic was becoming part of him. Soon the blast formed flesh and then a head as it condensed even more. Finally, the blast was no more. It was now completely part of him. He returned back to his original form like the attack never happened.
“You get it now?” he held up his hand, which was still forming. “Dark and light magic is blood. In particular, dark magic is my blood, my flesh. I am dark magic itself. Any and all who use dark magic must make a deal with me. And any and all that make the deal, take my blood into them and become my offspring. As well as their children and their children’s children and children’s children’s children, and so on, and so on.”
He raced forward and grabbed her by the throat with his hand. “Have you figure it out now? Yes, dark magic is my blood. But the answer to the riddle will always be blood. Not the kind that flows through your veins, and not the kind that gives you my impressive power, but the kind that binds all my chosen offspring, that which if removed they would go insane. The blood of family.” He pulled her in close and looked into her eyes. “So hello my newly found granddaughter. Welcome to the past, I hope to see you in the future.” On that, he threw her to the ground.
Twilight got up trembling from the realization. She looked upon her hands in terror as he continued, “You feel it now, don’t you? My blood flowing through your veins. Do not fight it, my grandchild. Accept it, for it has always been there, and it will always be there.”
Twilight backed away from Grogar. But with each step, she could feel her heartbeat getting slower and slower. Her vision weakened. It seemed she had used too much dark magic, too much of his dark blood and she was losing consciousness. She tried to fight it but found herself falling to the ground, out cold.
Selena Moondie walked in after Twilight was out. Grogar had completely returned to his original form and look. She noticed him holding Twilight in the space. “Wow, I saw the battle. You put her through the ringer.”
“Yes, but she did most of the work,” he held his hand to her head. “I’m going to leave her a message about our plans involving Luna.”
“Why trust her with such knowledge?”
“Firstly, because I sense a lot of potential in her. And secondly, I now know who in her family line made the deal.”
“Really, who?”
He opened up a hole in the airship. “Rex Moba. In fact, I am very certain she is the reincarnation of his daughter, Twilily Moonlight.” On that, he dropped her.
As she fell, Selena Moondie watched her and frowned. “Oh damn. And I was beginning to like her.” Once she was gone, Selena Moondie turned back to Grogar.
“Selena Moondie, do you still have some of her blood,” she nodded a yes. “Good, because I want to test Twilight more, with something new. When you are done, contact our friend in Teampaill Na BhFlaitheas. Tell him we will need more time to gather up the remaining bodies he has asked for.”
Grogar suddenly became annoyed. He turned around and spoke aloud. “He’s here.” Selena Moondie’s eyes widened as she quickly took her leave. She knew right away who Grogar was talking about. As soon as she was gone Grogar walked back to his throne and sat down. “Okay, you can show yourself, brother.”
A bright light in the shape of a body appeared in the room. The bright light spoke. “Why hello brother. I’m here for the time travelers.”
“Well of course, what else would you, Realta, the demigod of light and time, want with his own brother?” Grogar openly mocked his brother’s title. “Well, you just missed one. I dropped the mare to the ground.”
This annoyed Realta. Grogar knew very well that time was Realta’s domain, just as space was his, yet he didn’t care. “Why can’t you be more like me?” Realta questioned.
“And what? Stand by and do nothing but watch.”
Realta was taken back by this. “You know very well I do more than watch. What I am talking about is not changing the entire game to suit your desires.”
“Oh but I love a good game of chess. Especially when I hold all the pieces.”
“Enough, I will take over watching these time travelers. And that is final.”
“So be it, I have my own plans,” Grogar shrugged. “Oh, by the way, my soldiers told me that the other one is in more danger since she is being hunted down by your old apprentice.”
“Which one? I’ve had many over the eons.”
Grogar smiled. “The one with the unsensational bloodlust.”
On that Realta disappeared to go find them.
******