Prologue
Celestia sat upon her throne, light shining through the stained glass windows that lined the throne room walls. All was still except for the constant flow of her mane. Her eyes slowly closed to take a breath in and then slowly exhaled. It was quiet, as usual. She could make casual small talk with the guards who stood beside her throne, but it wasn’t always enough. In fact, she was tired… Celestia should be proud though. By herself she managed to send her corrupted sister back to the moon, trap Discord once again inside a concrete shell, and ward off Queen Chrysalis and her changeling minions. Then why did she feel so empty? Like something was missing in her… or Equestria. This feeling would come to her so often that she assumed it was just normal now. She knew she needed to keep strong, for her subjects. They needed her so desperately when times were hard. Any force that threatened them it was her duty to protect and fend off anything that would put the peace of her kingdom in danger. She only wished she didn’t have to do it alone… She was thankful that at least she still had her adopted niece by her side. Cadence would be such a big help, visiting her, assisting her, and even traveling Equestria to look over many of the ponies. Cadence was all she had left of family...
Suddenly, a tingle shot up her wings followed by chills up her spine. She felt it, a disturbance somewhere in land. Her ears perked and her body tensed. She lifted up a hoof to wipe her brow...there was sweat. A guard took notice of the Princess’s strange behavior and turned to her.
“Your highness? Is something troubling you?”
Celestia snapped back to reality and looked around. She could still feel it...tremors and trembles all around. She stood and slowly got down from her throne. The two guards were now very confused but followed slowly behind their princess. Approaching one of the plain windows in the room, she stopped and looked out. She started to feel another force… a much closer one now. Hoof steps were approaching at a rapid pace and that was when Cadence burst through the giant doors.
“Celestia!”
She called out, but stopped when she saw the state of her aunt. She knew then for sure something wasn’t right. Celestia’s wide eyes met Cadence’s and she nodded her head. Cadence slowly came to stand next to Celestia and she too now looked out the window.
“You felt it too…?”
“Yes, auntie. It’s definitely something big.”
Celestia’s eyes focused over the horizon. She thought she could see something… something red. It was only a haze, but noticeable enough for her to see. She lowered herself to Cadence’s height and pointed a wing in the direction of the haze. Cadence squinted her eyes until she finally spotted what Celestia had.
“What is it?”
She asked quietly, feeling the nervous creeps all up her body again.
“I’m not sure… but I have a bad feeling.”
Suddenly the doors burst open again and a guard galloped inside. He was breathing heavily, his eyes full of fear. Approaching Celestia he bowed and tried to catch his breath.
“Your highness…”
Celestia turned to him, knowing exactly what the news was going to be about.
“We just got word from our Northern Equestrian centries. The Crystal Empire… has returned.”
He announced, then his eyes shifted to the marble floor below.
“I fear that this is not the only news you have to give me?”
Celestia asked, readying herself for what would come next. The guard took a breath in and looked into his princess’s eyes.
“It has also brought King Sombra back along with it.”
Celestia could feel her heart drop, but she didn’t let it show. Cadence however began to shake and she looked up at Celestia with worry. Celestia brought a wing down to wrap it around her fearful niece and gave her a soft look. Turning back toward the guard, her gaze stiffened; ready to take charge.
“Here’s what we’ll do. Send our best squadron out to meet Sombra. We will try and negotiate with him. I’ve fought Sombra- I mean, me and Luna did. It wasn’t easy, he attempted to turn the subjects of the Crystal Empire against us and use them as his soldiers. But now...Luna is gone, and I’m out of touch with the Elements of Harmony. If he were to attack again, it would not be easy to defeat him. I know he’s after the Crystal Empire, but we need to make a compromise.”
Her horn began to glow and she summoned a blank scroll in front of her. Levitating a pen, she began to write her requests and orders down.
“Here’s what we’ll do : I will send a squadron of my best soldiers, but we will not attack. We will offer Sombra full control of the Crystal Empire. If he agrees, he is to not set hoof in Equestria. In return, we will open up our trade to him.”
She wrote down her signature on the scroll and rolled it up. She handed it down to the guard and placed it in his hoof. Cadence had a look of worry and stared up at her aunt.
“You mean, you’d just give up the empire? All those ponies who live there… they’d never feel love again.”
Celestia closed her eyes, it hurt to hear her niece sounding so disappointed in her.
“I’m sorry, Cadence. But I cannot lose Equestria. Sombra isn’t like the other foes we’ve battled. His magic is dark and evil. Even me and Luna struggled to defeat him, in the end all we could do was trap him in the Arctic North…”
Cadence still felt there could be another way to save the ponies. But… if Celestia believed they couldn’t do it, then it must be dangerous. She wasn’t alive during the time of Sombra’s reign, so she had no idea what power he held.
“But Celestia, if he chooses to refuse the compromise?”
Celestia looked down at her niece. She could see the fear in the princess’s eyes. A look she never wanted to see… because they both knew what would happen if Sombra didn’t agree to their terms. Celestia held herself high, she would not look weak. Looking to the guard in the room she took a breath in and opened her mouth to speak.
“Tell Sombra : if he refuses our demands. Then Equestria will declare war on the Crystal Empire.”
______________________________________________________________________________
Miles away, lays the Crystal Empire. The once bright and colorful land was now tinted black and red. A castle that was once ruled with love was now ruled with evil. Up above lay a red sky, the clouds were all a ghostly red hue. Under it marched it’s subject’s, their hooves chained knee to knee. Up on a lookout from the tower, a dark figured appeared. Behind him a purple and green fire formed wherever he stepped. His red eyes scanned the empire he had once again conquered and he let out a maniacal laugh.
“I’ve waited thousands of years for this moment to come. And now thanks to the curse I put upon the empire, it has returned weak and fragile. Enough for me to finally take claim over it once more!”
He gazed down at the ponies in chains and he grinned.
“With no love or hope, they didn’t stand a chance. Now I’m King! The Crystal Empire is mine!”
His laugh echoed through the land, and any pony who heard it would surely be filled with fear. Sombra sat down and admired his work; and himself of course. He was filling up with so much power thanks to the empire, almost all of his magic was returning. Which means he would become the most powerful being in the land. So… what was stopping him from conquering all? Oh that’s right… Celestia and Luna would. He growled at the remembrance of his defeat. How could he have been such a fool and let those two princesses beat him? Well, this time he would not let that happen again. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted something. In the distance he spotted troops marching his way, Equestrian troops. He chuckled to himself and his horn began to glow.
“Looks like I won’t be getting a warm welcome.”
Levitating himself, he used his magic to transform himself into a shadow and creep down toward the guards. The troops stopped at the Empire’s gates and awaited for whatever would come. In the blink of an eye Sombra appeared before them, fire encircling himself where he stood. The troops readied their weapons but the commanding officer ordered them to put their weapons down. The white colt slowly approached Sombra, his chest held high to try and seem unphased by the evil king that stood before him.
“My name is Shining Armor. Captain of the Royal Guard. I come with word from our princess, Princess Celestia.”
Sombra raised a brow.
“Oh? Only Celestia? What about her sister. I’m surprised she isn’t joining you this fine evening.”
“Princess Luna is no longer with us.”
Shining Armor told him as he began to remove the scroll from his pouch. Meanwhile, Sombra’s expression changed slightly but he kept still.
“Oh… that’s a shame to hear.”
Shining Armor unraveled the scroll and levitated it towards Sombra.
“These are her requests and demands. If you are to meet them, then there will be no trouble between our lands.”
Sombra took the scroll and began to read over it. The guards all stiffened, awaiting the response from the dark king. Shining Armor stood his ground, keeping a steady breath to try and calm himself down.
There was a chuckle. Then that chuckle turned into a laugh. Then it turned into bursts of laughter. The guard’s eyes shifted from one another as the evil unicorn let out his deep, bellowing, laugh. He finally was able to catch his breath and he rolled up the scroll. He began to slowly levitate it towards Shining.
“Ah, yes. You can tell Celestia that I agree...”
Shining began to levitate the scroll and looked up at Sombra with a glimmer of hope.
“I agree that… you all have no choice but to declare war against me.”
He answered in a deep, bone rattling voice. His horn glew and the scroll burst into flames. The guards began to yell in shock and disbelief. Shining Armor unsheathed his sword and poised it at Sombra.
“You will regret this Sombra…you'll regret ever challenging Equestria with war!”
Sombra grinned a sharp, toothy, smile. This was his chance. Celestia was alone, so she must be weakened. His horn glowed bright red as the ground beneath them began to tremble. Shining’s head darted back and forth, trying to figure out what was going on. Sombra approached him, and looked him dead in the eye.
“No. It is you who will regret ever challenging me, Equestrian.”
Suddenly from the ground shot giant crystals, many of which impaled the troops standing above them. Shining’s eyes widened as he watched the squadron being flung into the air or stabbed by the crystals. Dead bodies fell to the ground below while others twitched violently upon the tips of the jagged rocks. The troops still alive were furious and had their weapons out and ready to fight. Shining Armor turned back to Sombra, breathing heavily with rage.
“For Equestria, we fight!”
He yelled, before charging head first at Sombra followed by the shouts of the small number of troops left behind him. There was no going back : the war had begun.
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OHHHHH FUAK
It's here! The guys at Hasbro sure knew how to keep us busy because this makes for quite some fanfic. Looking forward to more!
Shit just hit the fan! To war, brothers!
So is Blueblood dead? Did Shining not marry Cadance in this 'verse? And what of her (book only) cousins, Leo and Leon? (Won't hold it against you if you don't use them. Their standing in canon is shaky at best.)
this is a great story