Second Cousin
Twilight carefully cut open the package she received, all the while wondering what Cadence sent her. When they had returned home from Canterlot last night, there was a notice on the door explaining that while she was gone she had received a package but because nopony was home they were holding it for her at the post office. Since it was late, she had to wait until morning to pick it up which brings us to the present where the alicorn was opening her new package in the library.
Pushing aside packing peanuts, Twilight lifted out a plain black book with a buckle securing it shut. A journal, Twilight recognized when she took in the book. She also noticed the bookmark near the end but figured it would be best to get to know the owner of this journal first. Settling herself into a chair and requesting snacks from Spike, Twilight started reading.
A Few Days Later
As the girls were setting up the beds in her bedroom according to Luna's specifications, Twilight was tucking Sombra into his bed.
"I don't see why I can't help too." Sombra pouted and Twilight smiled at the adorable expression.
"Don't worry, we've already got everything covered." She assured the colt as she began to wind up his music box. "You just get your rest. Growing colts like you need it."
"So do alicorn adults." Sombra retorted.
"I know, but Luna already has that covered." Twilight said as she tucked him in."Trust me, we'll be fine and this whole matter will be resolved by tomorrow."
"Pinkie Promise?" He asked as the ferrets settled in with him. Twilight nodded.
"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She said, going through the motions. "Now do you want your lullaby or not?"
Sombra quickly nodded and found himself lulled to sleep by a combination of his music box and Twilight's gentle singing voice. Unknown to both, Luna watched the scene from the doorway with a happy smile and a spark of longing in her eyes.
As the morning sun peeked over the horizon, everyone in Twilight's castle yawned and stretched as they emerged from the shared dream they'd just experienced. Twilight gasped.
"Luna did it!" She cried victoriously.
"She sure did!" Applejack agreed. "Only... I'm not sure what she did exactly."
"Luna created the tantabus to punish herself." Twilight began to explain as Spike climbed onto her bed. "The worse she felt, the more power it had. But once she finally forgave herself for what Nightmare Moon did..."
"Poof!" Spike illustrated with a wave of his arms.
"Shhh!" Fluttershy hushed then pointed to where the Lunar Princess in question was resting.
"Huh. Wonder what she's dreaming about now?" Spike pondered in a more hushed tone.
Twilight smiled gently and climbed out of bed. "Probably much better dreams now that the tantabus is no longer there." She said as she lifted a spare blanket and laid it across the mare. All through the shared dream, something nagged at her in the back of her head, but as she tucked Luna in, she finally realized what was nagging her.
"Hey did any of you see Sombra in the shared dream?" She asked and everyone looked at each other with shrugs and a number of denials.
"I don't recall seeing the tyke but we were kind of busy," Rainbow said.
"Dash has a point, but even I was able to note who was or wasn't there." Applejack said then made a suggestion. "Maybe Pinks didn't dream of every pony in Ponyville?"
Pinkie shook her head. "Nope, I distinctly recall Sombry being a part of our ice cream party. He was sharing his salted caramel ice cream with that new filly in town, Lacewing and she was in the dream. Remember she was leading a pack of kaiju to attack to the tantabus. It was awesome and I learned that she loves Neighponese monster radio shows."
"Okay so Lacewing made it into the dream, what about Sombra?" Twilight pondered and Pinkie shrugged.
"I dunno." She said and silence prevailed as Twilight hummed in thought.
"Well, I'll ask Sombra when he wakes up if he remembers the shared dream," Twilight said. "And if he doesn't, I'll bring it up with Luna when she wakes up and we'll go from there."
"Sounds like a plan sugar cube." Applejack approved. "Ah gotta get going to get my chores done and I'm working the stand today. See you, girls, later."
"Yeah, I've got stuff to do too," Rainbow said. "Weather team has a light shower planned tonight so I've got to go help out with that. Hope you and Luna figure out what's going on."
After that, the rest of Twilight's friends dispersed to their various duties and obligations. Fluttershy had animals to take care of, Pinkie Pie had work and Rarity wanted to get down all her inspiration while it was still fresh in her mind. Soon they were all gone, leaving Twilight, Spike, Sombra and a slumbering Luna as the castle's occupants.
"Okay then, who's up for crepes?" Spike asked, breaking Twilight's contemplative silence.
"Sounds delicious Spike," Twilight said and the two left the room to let Luna sleep in peace. "First we should send a letter to Celestia to let her know where Luna is so she doesn't panic."
After sending their letter to Celestia and receiving a reply, Twilight, Spike and Sombra settled down at the table for breakfast. Twilight had already asked Sombra about the shared dream and the colt confirmed her suspicions that he'd somehow escaped Luna's shared dream.
As they started to eat, Twilight opened the journal that she'd been enjoying. It was a bad habit, but sometimes when Twilight found herself engaged in a book, she would bring it with her to meals. During these times she'd place waterproof and stain proof spells on her reading material and keeps it aloft in her magic.
She'd already read most of the journal and felt like she was ready to read the entry Cadence bookmarked for her. When she was done, she lowered her book and turned her gaze to Sombra with an unreadable expression. This explained so much and she was now formulating some theories.
It was almost noon when Luna woke from the most restful sleep she'd had in centuries. Stretching leisurely before getting up, Luna looked outside to gauge the time, she began to worry seeing how late it was. She had left Canterlot without so much as a goodbye to her sister once and after she'd returned, Celestia had been more clingy than before.
Luna suspected it was a result of her sister's guilty conscious and while they had been getting better, she could still freak out if she disappeared without saying anything. Luna could only hope Celestia wasn't too upset as she roamed downstairs in pursuit of food. Entering the dining room, Luna found the only occupant was Twilight.
Looking up from her book upon her entrance, Twilight smiled at Luna. "Morning Princess." She greeted then gestured to the food on the table. "Care for a crepe?"
Luna grinned in delight. "Why thank you Twilight, I would love to." She said then began putting her crepe together. "Unfortunately it will likely have to be to go as I failed to notify my sister I would be gone."
"No need to worry about that," Twilight said with a wave of her hoof. "We already sent a letter to Celestia and she was okay with you being her a little longer. Said it would be a nice breather after what happened though she'd like you to be back by sunset to lower the moon."
"Of course." Luna sighed as she relaxed than the entirety of her sentence and it's implications settled. "I assume that means you told her about what happened then."
"I'm sorry," Twilight said as her ears drooped. "I figured she would need to know why you were here in the first place so I told her. If it means anything, she said to tell you that she is sorry for not noticing your pain and helping out."
"No no, it tis alright." Luna soothed. "Celestia would've found out sooner or later. She'll likely want to talk about it, so I believe that I shall be staying a little longer to gather my thoughts before facing her."
"Still, I feel like I just revealed some sort of huge secret," Twilight said but Luna shook her head firmly.
"No, it's good that you told my sister in this case." She said, savoring her bite of food. "Looking back on it, the tantabus was harmful to more than just my subjects. It was harmful towards myself with no redeeming value. Consider this an impromptu friendship lesson to always do what you can to help a friend when you notice that they are getting into a bad habit that's harmful to them."
"I'll keep that in mind for future reference." There was a long pause as Twilight watched Luna eating until she broke the silence.
"Were you and Celestia really friends with Sombra?" She asked out of the blue and Luna spat her food across the table in surprise.
"How did you find out about that?" She asked as she cleaned up her mess and Twilight lifted the book she had been reading earlier. No, not a book now that Luna got a good look at it.
"Sombra kept a journal from his coronation up until the end." She explained. "This is that journal."
"Ah. I see." Luna said with a sad nod. "I can only assume Cadence was the one to find this and she sent it to you." Twilight nodded in confirmation. "Well, I guess there's no hiding the fact. Sombra was our best friend from the time we met him. Up until...."
"Up until The Darkness, right?" Twilight asked quietly and Luna's head snapped up in shock.
"How do you know that?" She whispered. Twilight didn't say anything, just opened the journal to the last entry and levitated it to Luna to read.
Recently I received a letter from my grandmother warning me about an approaching evil. She called it The Darkness. She didn't know where it came from as it just appeared from nowhere, but she did know that it was powerful and it wanted one thing. To conquer and rule the world. It tried to attack her home, but they beat it back. Barely.
They were only able to drive it away, but not destroy it and now it was heading my way I highly doubt I could stand a chance against it, after all if my grandmother couldn't defeat it then there's no chance I could beat it, so I've found another way to stop it. The Darkness has no body of its own which makes it almost unstoppable but limited in what it can do.
The only way it can enact its plans is to take a body of its own, preferably somepony in a place of power. Like for example the King of an empire. Having a body would make it strong, but will make it vulnerable to harm and ultimately death. So I will let it take my body. I've already made arrangements, I've sent letters to my family and friends to say my last goodbyes and I've sent a letter to Celestia and Luna explaining their part in this plan.
They won't like it, but for my subjects, I hope they can do it. I hope they can destroy The Darkness while it is in my body. Admittedly that means I won't survive, but if it means that my ponies will be safe, I'm willing to make that sacrifice. I also made sure to hide the Crystal Heart and protect it with light magic, the complete opposite of dark magic. They can either use it to destroy me or use it to restore the empire after I'm destroyed. Either way, it'll be at their disposal.
Well since this'll be my last time writing, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to voice my final thoughts. Truth be told, I'm terrified.
However things go, I'm going to die and there's nothing I can do about it. If there were any other way, I would take it because there's so much I want to do. I want to enjoy life, find love and possibly raise a family. I don't regret my choice, but I do wish it wasn't my only choice.
There were little spots on the page that indicated that drops of liquid fell on it and dried and it wasn't too much of a stretch to imagine that Sombra had wept as he wrote the entry. Luna sighed and gently shut the journal.
"Since you've read this much, you deserve to know the rest." She said solemnly. "My sister and I did receive this letter he wrote of, but we refused to do our duty. The thought of killing such a dear friend was abhorrent to us and once we received the letter, we rushed to the Crystal Empire to try and stop it from going so far. But we were too late. The Darkness had already claimed his body and attacked us so we retreated.'
"I'm certain that he expected us to do away with the Darkness right away, but we were young and naive and didn't want to kill him. We spent months pouring over every book in every library we could reach to try and discover a way to separate him from the Darkness and destroy it. During that time, 'Sombra' became known as a tyrant to the crystal ponies."
"I'm sorry." Twilight apologized but Luna shook her head.
"No need to apologize my friend. Eventually, reports of Sombra preparing his army forced our hoof and we confronted him again. But we still couldn't stand the idea of killing somepony so dear to us so instead, we sealed him away. At the time the original plan was to 'store away' the initial threat while we restore the Crystal Empire and find some way to save the real Sombra. Unfortunately, our plan didn't exactly work out."
"The Crystal Empire disappeared." Twilight realized and Luna nodded.
"Exactly." The Princess confirmed. "Not only did the Darkness terrorize the population of the Crystal Empire and prepare his army, but he also cast a spell that made it so that in case he found himself sealed, the empire would be shunted into limbo, somewhere between the folds of our world and the void."
"And you couldn't get them out, could you?" Twilight asked and Luna shook her head.
"Nay, and we put our all into it," Luna said. "The best we could do was anchor it here for a minute at most before it snapped out of this reality and back to limbo."
"That's... that's....whoa," Twilight whispered in awe. "I mean it's not entirely unheard of for powerful spellcasters to banish something to limbo, but never anything bigger than say a trunk or even a full grown stallion, but a whole empire? That's unheard of."
"Indeed, not even I and my sister could manage something of that scale," Luna confessed. "It illustrated just how outclassed we were and it was our first adventure that ended in failure. Not many ponies know this, but at one time we were quite the adventurous fillies. Not unlike you and your friends."
Twilight grinned widely. "Thank you, princess." She said eagerly. "Perhaps sometime you could tell me all about your adventures."
"Of course, I would not mind regaling you with tales of our youth," Luna said with a small puff of her chest. "In any case, at some point during her thousand years on the throne, Celestia reached the conclusion that killing Sombra was our only option. But because of how close we were to him, we couldn't do the deed."
"So you sent me and my friends to the Crystal Empire to finish what you started," Twilight said as she connected the dots. "You purposely didn't give me as much information as you could so that I wouldn't hesitate to deliver the final blow. And you knew that the Crystal Heart was what was needed to fix it."
"More or less," Luna admitted. "We didn't know what became of the Crystal Heart, but knowing Sombra we suspected that he ensured it was hidden and protected. Even with the Darkness' spells, the only thing it could do was lay a trap in the room."
"But wouldn't it have just been easier to send the Crystal Heart to you and Celestia?" Twilight asked but Luna shook her head.
"The relationship between the Crystal Heart and the empire is symbiotic to the point where if the heart were to leave the empire, the consequences would be grave."
"Oh." Was all Twilight could say about that. "So then, why did you decide to bring him back exactly?"
"To give him a second chance." Luna murmured. "Sombra did not deserve his life to be cut short like that and while Celestia couldn't find a way to separate him from the Darkness, she was able to find a way to give him a second chance. We just needed a significantly sized piece of him. Hence the horn we used in the ceremony."
"I guess that makes sense but isn't that necromancy?" Twilight asked but Luna shook her head.
"Not exactly. We brought Sombra back, but not as a lich, zombie or any sort of undead creature." Luna explained. "Matter of fact, there's much more to necromancy than liches and zombies, but that is a subject for another time. In any case, we didn't just bring him back, we gave him second chance at life. We just didn't think it would be that literal."
"And the Darkness?" Twilight asked, mentally noting to ask Luna about necromancy later. Luna scowled.
"Dead and gone, hopefully." She muttered then chomped rather savagely on her crepe.
"And if it wasn't entirely gone?" Twilight asked and Luna looked at her suspiciously.
"That is a rather specific question." The Lunar Princess commented almost casually. "What pray tell brought it on?"
"After we woke up from the shared dream, I realized something." Twilight began. "I never saw Sombra anywhere in the shared dream. Neither did my friends and when Pinkie asked around she found that nopony in town saw him. By all rights, he should've been there, yet he wasn't."
"Interesting." Luna hummed thoughtfully. "While definitely odd, I fail to see how this is connected to the Darkness."
"When I spoke with him, Sombra told me that he has nightmares almost constantly." Twilight informed her. "He didn't mention it because when I sing him to sleep, the nightmares aren't that bad and some nights he dreams of somepony comforting him. I thought that this was strange, to say the least, and after reading this last entry, I've formulated a theory that maybe not all of it is gone. What if some tiny shred was still around and has infected his dream realm?"
Luna's expression darkened. "It is certainly a plausible explanation." She said with a nod. "I recall that the Darkness delighted in bringing fear and pain to anypony. Especially in the form of terrifying nightmares."
Suddenly Luna stood up. "Thank you for the meal, it was quite delicious, but I must go now." Luna thanked Twilight. "I shall look into this matter tonight and inform you of my findings on the morrow."
"Thank you, Princess Luna. I look forward to your reply on the matter." Twilight replied politely and waved goodbye as she left.
The Next Morning
Dear Princess Twilight,
It seems as though your theory was correct. Last night, when I found Sombra's dream, I found incredible resistance against my entrance. Matter of fact, I was completely barred from his dream and was only able to get a glimpse of it before I was ejected. That one glimpse was enough to confirm your theory.
And it seems that even though it is but a small shred, it is powerful enough to deny me access. No matter what I did, I could not enter Sombra's dream fully and even when I managed to squeeze in just a little of myself, I was shunted out. It seems I shall have to take a different approach to this problem and I will inform you when I have something.
Sincerely, Princess Luna.
Almost Two Weeks Later
"Twilight you must help me!"
At the sudden shout, Twilight choked and spat out her orange juice. Rarity instantly leaped into action and began wiping down the mess as Twilight turned to the source of the shout. A very fidgety Lunar Diarch. Noticing the other mares in the room, Luna blinked.
"And thy friends help would be much appreciated." She added and Twilight sighed a bit knowing their breakfast social would have to wait.
"We would love to help with whatever problem needs solving." Rarity spoke for the group. "So what do you need us for?"
"No time to explain here!" Luna shouted then gathered the six mares, one dragon and one colt in her magic. "I shall explain at Canterlot."
And before Twilight could point out the dangers of a mass teleport, they vanished from the castle.
"As grateful as I am for arriving in one piece, a little warning before hoof would've been nice." Twilight groaned as her stomach began to settle. A number of her friends, however, weren't that lucky and found themselves redecorating the hall they landed in (much to their mortification).
"I apologize for my...hastiness, but it is an emergency," Luna said with a blush of embarrassment as her Lunar Guard provided buckets and the maids cleaned the mess.
"No problem your highness." Applejack said with a wave of her hoof as she lifted her head from her bucket. "Just next time, let's go by train or carriage. Ah, am never teleporting again."
"Same here." Rainbow groaned. "Now what was so important that you had to bring us here?"
Instead of answering, Luna glanced at Sombra briefly and while it was quick, Twilight was able to pick up the unspoken message.
"Hey Sombra, why don't you show Spike around the castle?" Twilight suggested and Spike looked at Twilight in confusion.
"Wait for what. But I already-mph." The little dragon's sentence was halted by a hoof on his mouth. Sombra for his part didn't seem to notice.
"Is this adult stuff that I'm not supposed to hear?" He asked and Twilight nodded. "Okay then. Come on Spike, I could show you the gardens and the..."
Once the colt's voice faded away completely, the six recovered mares turned to Luna with questioning looks in their eyes. The Lunar alicorn at first just trotted down the hall with an indication for them to follow and once they caught up, she began explaining.
"You know that I have been working on a way to gain access to Sombra's nightmares, correct?" She started and all six mares nodded. "Well after many unsuccessful attempts and internal debate I reached the conclusion that there was only one way I could find entry into the dream. The tantabus."
"What!?" Dash exclaimed very loudly. "After everything that happened last time, you thought it was a good idea to bring that monster back?!"
"Have a little faith in your princess." Luna chided gently. "It was going to be very different this time, I have made sure of that. This tantabus was created to be strong enough to only enter dreams not create nightmares. Furthermore, I made sure that my dream room was sealed to prevent escape and took great pains to dream of nobody save for Discord."
"Discord?" Fluttershy asked.
"I have never been able to enter Discord's dreams unless he invites me in," Luna explained. "If this tantabus were able to enter his dreams, then I know it would be able to enter Sombra's dreams."
"Ah, that makes sense." Applejack said with a nod. "So I take it something went wrong eh?"
Once again, Luna began to fidget. "I wouldn't necessarily say 'wrong', more like something different happened." She corrected. "Last night, after I made sure that everypony was well, I entered my dream room and found the tantabus was missing."
"And you need us to go find it again," Rainbow said eagerly but a shake of Luna's head stopped her.
"Nay, that is not the problem," Luna said, speeding up her trot. "When I saw the tantabus missing, I panicked and scoured the Dream Realm for it but found no trace of it. When morning came and there was still no sign of the tantabus, I was forced to wake and that was when I found it or rather her."
At this point, the group had reached Luna's chambers and after casting an invisibility spell, Luna eased open the door. There lounging on the floor of her bedroom was a filly. She was clearly different from any filly they had seen, looking more like a cross between a lamb and a filly. Her hooves were black and cloven like a lamb's hooves and she had long skinny legs like lambs and most fillies at a certain age.
Her ears were also longer and more oval shaped than pony ears and her coat was pearl white with a light purple sheen and was longer and curlier that filly coats. Her mane and tail were periwinkle with a darker shade of cornflower blue that was almost indigo and when she looked up from her coloring to reveal silver eyes with black sclera. It was at that point that Luna slammed the door and dropped the invisibility spell. For a moment, the others were stunned by what they had seen.
"So that's the tantabus?" Twilight asked and Luna nodded.
"When I woke up, she was curled up on my bed and when my movements woke her, she promptly called me mommy." Luna finished. "I had the maids get her some paper and crayons and teleported to Ponyville."
"So that's your problem?" Dash asked, disappointed that she wouldn't be fighting a monster. "A filly calling you mommy?"
"You do not understand, it is not so much a filly calling me mommy as it is that she is right," Luna explained nervously as she fidgeted with her hooves. "Essentially speaking, I am her mother. Granted I didn't expect it to turn out like this, but I did create her. She is my child."
"And that's a bad thing?" Fluttershy asked. "Didn't you ever want to have foals?"
"Of course I did," Luna answered. "Ever since I was young I always wanted to marry somepony and have foals. I was quite the flirt back in the days of my youth in fact. But at this point in my life, I do not believe that I am mother material. I fear that I shall do everything wrong and she may end up making the choices I did. So if any of you wouldn't mind taking her in, I could-"
"Horseapples." Applejack interrupted and gave Luna a stern glare. "Now listen up, Ah may not know a lot about parenting but I do know a thing or two about raising kids. When we lost our parents, Applebloom was just a filly so Ah had ta step in ta help Granny raise her and one thing Ah've learned over the years is that a filly always needs her mama and papa. Sisters, brothers, cousins, grandparents, aunts, and uncles are all well and good but none of them could ever replace the love and care of a parent."
"But, I wouldn't know how to raise a child properly," Luna muttered weakly, a little cowed by the farm mare's stern talking. "I never had a mother to show me."
"Neither did I, at least not for long, but I did an okay job with Bloom." Applejack rebutted. "Point is it doesn't matter if ya don't know what your doing or if you've never had somepony ta teach ya, ya still gotta step up and be the mother that filly deserves."
"But what if I lead her down the wrong path? What if she makes the same mistakes I made?!" Luna asked it was clear that AJ's speech was getting to her but she still had doubts.
"Ya won't and she won't." Applejack assured her. "Nopony is perfect, but Ah have no doubt that you'll be a great mother."
"Auntie Applejack is right." A sudden familiar voice made them all jump and turn to the three newcomers. "You'll be a great mommy."
"How long have you been there?" Twilight asked a little nervously. Sombra grinned and shrugged.
"Long enough to know that Luna's a mommy now and that she's nervous." He answered then turned to Luna. "Luna, I know that you'll be a great mommy just like Twilight."
Twilight spluttered in surprise and Luna smiled. "I know she's a good mother. That's why I came to her for help." She said. "But I'm not sure if I could be as good a mother as she is."
Twilight was speechless, plain and simple and was unsure if she was blushing because of the assumption that she was a mother or the fact that they thought she was a great mother. It was at this point that Prince decided to add his own two bits to the pile.
"They are all right auntie." He said, ignoring the dirty looks that were being shot in his direction. "You will be an excellent mother to your child and you shall not be alone in this endeavor. Your sister is here, as am I not to mention some of the palace staff and guards are decent folk."
"Not ta mention us," Applejack added as she shoved the stallion out of the way. "We'll be there with you as well. Now, why don't you go in there and get to know your daughter."
As they started to enter the room, Prince pulled aside Rarity and Applejack. "We need to talk." He said.
The two mares were hesitant at first but after assurances from Sombra, Spike and Twilight, they agreed to hear him out. So they stepped into an empty room to talk in private. While those three were working out their issues, the others were getting to know the new tantabus. After drawing with her for a bit, Sombra finally asked the question that hadn't occurred to anypony.
"So what's your name?" He asked and the filly paused her drawing. Luna also froze in surprise and began to answer.
"Well I didn't really think of names, but I suppose her name would be Tantab-"
"Just Tanta." The filly cut off. "I thought Tantabus was too long and just didn't feel right so I shortened it." The filly's ears then drooped and she looked up at her mother with an unsure look. "That's okay, right?"
"Oh little one, it is more than okay." Luna cried as she scooped her filly up into a hug. "Matter of fact, Tanta is a much better name. It suits you."
The newly Christened Tanta giggled and squealed as Luna poked and tickled her belly. It was to this scene that Rarity, Applejack, and Prince walked in. Smiling at the sweet scene, the three ponies trotted up.
"I take it things went well." Applejack commented and Sombra dashed up to his aunties and older brother.
"Auntie Rarity, auntie Applejack and Prince, I'd like you to meet Tanta." He said, gesturing to the squealing filly. At that moment the colt noticed something that hadn't been there before.
"Why do your cheeks have red hoofprints?" He asked innocently and with some amount of concern. Prince smiled despite the stinging pain in his cheeks.
"Because young Sombra, sometimes when a gentlestallion does something to offend a lady, it is only right to let the mare in question strike him." He explained. "Rest assured that I am now on better terms with your aunts, but after what happened at the Gala it seemed right to let them take a swing at me."
"Oh," Sombra said, not really getting it, but he didn't have much of a chance to ponder when Luna's startled yelp made him turn back to her. Luna was sitting there with a shocked expression on her face as she stared down at her empty hooves while silver sparkles twinkled out of existence. Then with another fresh shower of silver, Tanta reappeared next to her mother. The other ponies stared at her in shock until a certain colt broke the silence.
"That was so cool!" He declared as he ran towards her. "What did you and how did you do it?"
Tanta shrugged. "I don't know exactly. I just know that I wanted to get out of mommy's hooves so I just popped into the Dream Realm."
"You can enter and exit the Dream Realm at will?" Luna asked with a hint of amazement. Tanta only nodded.
"That is so awesome." Sombra gushed eagerly. "Do you think you could enter the Dream Realm with a passenger?"
Not liking where this was going, Luna was about to intervene but was preempted by an equally eager filly. "I don't know, I've never tried it before." With that, she grabbed Sombra's leg and the next instance they both vanished in a shower of silver.
With a sigh, Luna lit up her own horn and also vanished from that plane of reality. She didn't return for almost an hour which gave the remaining ponies time to get to know Prince Blueblood better. When she returned, she had Sombra draped across her back and Tanta looking chastised. Immediately Twilight shot to her hooves and rushed to Luna's side.
"What happened? Is he okay?!" She demanded worriedly. Luna gave her a reassuring smile as she lifted the colt from her back.
"Fret not my friend." She assured her as her blue magic was replaced with raspberry colored magic. "He is merely asleep and will be well after some rest. As for what happened, let's just say Tanta learned a very valuable lesson about the Dream Realm. There is a reason why I don't bring ponies into the Dream Realm willy-nilly. It is a psychic/magical plane that straddles and practically exists outside of reality and that's just the surface. Even I don't understand the Dream Realm, but I do know this. Ponies aren't really built to enter the Dream Realm physically. It puts a strain on their bodies, especially children."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know!" Tanta cried, sounding near tears. "I just wanted to play!"
"It's okay Tanta." Twilight soothed the filly. "I'm not mad at you. You couldn't have possibly known before hoof, but now you know and can better avoid any incidents, right?"
Tanta sniffed and nodded. "Mm-hm, don't worry. I'll be more careful next time."
"Good girl," Twilight said then turned to Luna. "Well this has been great, but we should head home now. I need to get Sombra to his bed and we'd like to finish our breakfast."
"Would you like me to return you home?" Luna asked as her horn began to glow.
"No no, that's quite enough teleportin' for me." Applejack said hurriedly with a shake of her head.
"Same here." Rainbow agreed and the others nodded. "No offense princess, but I think after that, I'd rather take the train back to Ponyville."
"Very well then." Luna conceded as her horn's light dimmed. "Then allow me to arrange for a carriage to get you home much faster than any train."
"No carriage is faster than me, but I'm up for it." Rainbow said.
"Me too." Applejack agreed with a nod. "I'd take flying over teleportation any day."
"As would I" Rarity added to the pile. The other two mares agreed and Twilight nodded as she spoke for them.
"I think that would be a great idea."
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I wonder what Celestia will say about this...
*Reads description*
Nyx: Yay! I have a brother now!
...but in all seriousness, this fic was started back in 2015, and it is only breaking into the Featured Box now? *Adds to the Read Later list*
I love this story. If I may say something.... maybe make Blueblood Sombra's daddy? I know its dumb. him marrying Twilight. just a thought
Also I was thinking Does Sombra have a cutiemark? Will he get his Cutiemark? maybe make it Steampunk since he is good at making things with gears. Just a thought 
*Reads description*
ME: PastSins clone story.
Anyone else wondering if Sombra's presence is going to affect the finale with Starlight Glimmer?
Anyone else wondering if Sombra's presence is going to affect the finale with Starlight Glimmer?
Today is my mothers birthday and on the same day this chapter came
8310541
Awesome! Motherhood is a beautiful thing!
8310166
I wouldn't know if it's a clone or not, I've never read Past Sins. I'm just writing a story that I like and came up with. Fun fact, this story started out when I read the description of another story. The general idea was what if Sombra came back but had amnesia? Things just developed there.
This story is so sweet it is giving me cavities and diabetes.
Excellent. That is all
8314389
Thank you and to you as well
I think they called cousins once removed.
8342075
How's the next chapter coming?
8347893
It's coming along fine. A little slow, but fine.
8310083
While it is an interesting idea with merit, I already have somepony in mind for Twilight's husband\Sombra's father. Prince's role in this story is strictly the older adult brother.
8310062
Now if only Nyx's story would continue... :D
Looking forward to the next chapter here. :)
8416484
Thanks.
8416488
That's just that chapter of the Hearthswarming story I wrote. In the other chapter, there's one last song called Bless Us All. It's from the Muppet Christmas Carol and I just had to include it because it was so nice.
Due to the amount of typos and grammatical errors, I'll be willing to fix these for you if you want?
8434323
Sure if you want. You can send me a PM, but I won't reply for a while because I'm currently at work. I'm only able to reply to you now because it's my lunch break.
8434405
Alright, I have actually already started if you don't mind. I have copied and pasted each chapter into my Microsoft Word 2010 on my computer and have started fixing the typos and grammar mistakes as well as fixed a few sentences. I also want to make sure if it's fine that I remove a few things and replace them? The things that I remove and replace won't be a lot I can assure you and I just want to be sure if it's fine with you because I don't want to make you angry or upset because I hate doing that to people. I'm autistic and I have anxiety disorder just so that you know why I'm asking you all of this. I don't know when I will be finished and I expect it to be from a few weeks to a few months.
8434443
So long as you're not altering the story too much, I'm okay. Coincidentally, I'm autistic myself too.
8434907
Alright, good. Some sentences are just going to be rewritten and I can definitely say that they are so few that it can't change the story. Also good to hear someone also is also autistic along with me on this site.
8435750
Ever heard of Pixel_Spark? She's an author on this site who's autistic too. I would recommend her stuff so go check it out when you can.
8435760
Thanks
8618447
YouTube has an audio drama of it..
And the sequel that's not finished yet
It is on Fimfiction
8619335
I know. Matter of fact until I found DisneyFanatic's Fimfiction account, I thought that was the only way to read the story.
8785728
Ok so what about your story? Is it gonna continue 'cause I was hooked. I'm telling ya up till midnight! Oh and thank you for replying.
8789830
I have actually found some inspiration recently and I do intend to write this story.
8789860
Yay! Thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU!
When will there be a next chapter?
8951041
I don't know but I am working on it. I've just been really busy, tired and uninspired lately.
Any news on the next chapter yet?
9368656
Nothing yet I've been busy with work and the holidays.
This has been a very enjoyable story, I look forward to further chapters
Still very busy?
9451926
Little yeah, why?
945252
I just want to know that’s all
Really great story.
Really like how cute lil sombra is 😊
And it I so wonderful to see Twilight open more and more up to the idea of motherhood, hopefully soon sombra is allowed to call her mother
It's always sad to see great stories not get completed. But I guess that's life, it just happens when you least expect it
Another unexpected happen that Luna had a filly of her own. Sombra the first thing he thought about twilight is his mother and THAT is unexpected. I wonder what comes next? Will Celestia get a child of her own too? Or is Sombra will having a father soon? Coz this is getting interesting
just did a second read through of the story and i really enjoy it, hope that you will pick it up again at somepoint
11444883
I hope so too I've got a couple or so ideas.
11445281
that sounds really good
Good story, would like to know if or when it gets finished though.
11615208
that might be a mystery that never gets solved