What Didn't Happen

by Zeg

Destiny Undone

What Didn't Happen

by Zeg

Chapter XVIII – Destiny Undone

In this place, there was neither light nor actual darkness. Warmth and cold did not exist, and neither did sound and silence. The void was the true definition of nothing. The five senses sensed nothing. His memories were the only thing that kept him company in this otherwise lonely nonexistence.

Sombra’s memories. Memories of a life time long ago, or perhaps it was only moments ago. It was impossible to tell in the void. The weight of eternity seemed to press down all around and yet, the memories were still very vivid, as if the events had happened only moments ago. The battle with the two sisters over the city, and the sting of defeat as they had managed to overpower him. His defiant wail as they sealed him, and inadvertently sealed the entire empire along with him, the only consolation for his loss. He remembered that stinging feeling very well. He held that feeling close and kept it alive, like a candle flame carefully being sheltered from the wind. The day would come when he would use that feeling to rekindle his power. He hated them, hated them for taking what was rightfully his, and that hate would give him power. But not yet. It wasn’t time yet.

His thoughts of vengeance circled like this endlessly, seething, and patiently waiting to be put to action. Waiting for that day to finally come when the seal would break. It would, in the fullness of time. That, he was sure of. It could be in the next moment or the next millennium, but either way, the time would come. And when it did, he would be ready.

Finally, there was something among all of the nothing. A single point there before him that appeared as a speck of light. It was the first of anything that he had sensed since he had been sealed away. He watched it closely as it slowly grew and ate away at the nothingness around it. The first sounds began to make their way to him, something that sounded like stone grinding on stone. A gust of air carrying a few errant snowflakes and a cold chill rushed through the breech and brushed against him. Finally, his patience had been rewarded.

The seal is broken.

He reached toward the breech with his cursed body, long tendril-like appendages of shadow and smoke billowing out toward the gap in the nothingness. His tendrils grasped the frigid stone on the other side, allowing him to pull himself forward. His head, the only part of him even remotely resembling his original form, pushed through the gap and into the world on the other side.

Billowing smoke poured out around him over the snow covered rocks as he exited his prison. His head rose high in the air at the top of his shadowy form, and from his high vantage point he surveyed the frozen world around him. He took notice of the six mares, each of them clad in winter grab standing in the snow drifts just before him, as well as the fact that they each had one of the artifacts that had been used to seal him away.

Those cursed Elements.

He narrowed his glowing green eyes at the group, his anger igniting them with a flash of dark purple flame that began to slowly flicker from the edges. Whether they had purposely freed him or where there to see to his imprisonment once again, he would not allow anyone wearing those things to go unpunished.

Sombra reached out, sending a tendril of shadow snaking along the ground toward the mare at the lead of the group. A unicorn, wearing a violet coat nearly the same shade as her fur. The one wielding Magic. She would be dealt with swiftly, then the others would fall rapidly once their leader had been dispatched.

A shockwave of power coursed back through the shadows as he touched some sort of barrier just in front of the unicorn. Arcs of power shot through Sombra as his shadows momentarily constricted back toward his center. He let out a painful growl, clenching his teeth.

So they wish to fight.

Sombra didn’t want to waste time on a group of meaningless mortals, but they apparently meant to delay his revenge. He could see them frantically calling out to one another, their voices barely carrying on the blizzard winds. Whatever they were plotting, he was sure they wouldn’t be ready for his next little surprise. His shadowy form seeped into the fine cracks in the ground beneath him, slowly finding an unseen path through the earth. While the group before him seemed to be making some sort of attempt at preparing a spell, his reach was inching closer without them knowing. Each one of the Elements began to glow as the mares gathered together, shoulder to shoulder. Sombra only grinned as his throaty chuckle echoed all around them.

...Now...

Sombra reached up through the ground with his shadowy appendages, surrounding the group of mares. They screamed in shock and surprise as each of them were grasped and lifted from the ground, their spell interrupted and the tables turned in only a second. He could feel them struggle against his grip and hear their fear filled screams on the wind. It was laughable that such insignificant beings had thought they stood a chance against him.

A green blast of light shot out from the lead unicorn, hitting Sombra directly in the face. The power of the hit took him by surprise, stunning him for a brief moment. Then he realized... that feeling. That power. It wasn’t just that it was far more powerful than he had expected. No, it was something he knew.

Sombra drew the unicorn up higher into the sky and closer to himself. She began to make an attempt to cast at him again, but before she could gather her concentration he tightened his grip on her, forcing the wind from her lungs. He looked closely at her, and looked into her. She resisted, putting up a formidable wall to keep him out of her mind, but in this struggle she would eventually fail from lack of breath. Eventually, he forced his way past and took a peek at what her darkest fears were. He saw an ancient city besieged by the untamed forest of Everfree. He saw the citizens of the Empire in shackles as they were forced to work the crystal mines. He saw a dust gray alicorn that he knew well, and watched a horror stricken look overtake her as her and everypony around her was twisted into black, insect-like beings.

Chrystallyn!

However it was that she had managed to disguise herself, he had seen through it. The cursed alicorn, Chrystallyn, had come for him seeking revenge, no doubt, but the attempt would be very short lived. As powerful of a being as she may have once been, her twisted form was nothing compared to what her true power once was, evidenced by the fact that she wasn’t able to face him alone. She had defied him once before, and for that he had punished her harshly. Obviously, she was incapable of learning from her mistakes, so he would simply have to crush the life from her withered body. He leaned in close, his own nose and glowing red horn nearly touching hers as he listened to her struggle and gasp against his grasp. She grit her teeth, and as a final act of defiance, she forced one word out weakly.

“Discord.”

The strange word gave Sombra pause. He had expected some sort of retort, not a random, meaningless word.

“Oh! Almost missed my cue!” Sombra’s head quickly snapped right toward the new voice, and he immediately understood. Chrystallyn hadn’t spoken a word, she had called out a name. He knew who and what Discord was, and if the horrifying tales of the Chaos Lord’s power were true, he was in very real danger. However, the garb that the draconequus was wearing had left Sombra in a state of shock. Discord hovered just beside him, dressed in a black maid’s dress laced with white, complete with the white apron, frilly black and white garters around his legs and a giant white bow atop his head. The look was so absurd that Sombra could only stare back at him slackjawed.

Discord tisked and shook one of his talon fingers at Sombra. “Sir, this is a non-smoking zone, so I’m going to have to ask you to stop smoking,” he said as he reached behind himself and produced a cylindrical device from nowhere. Holding the canister under one of his arms, he pointed a long hose that came out of one end at Sombra’s nose, and then flicked a switch on the side of the can with his thumb. The device began to make a loud whirring sound, and Sombra began to feel himself being pulled toward it. He growled at the annoying thing as he tried to lean away but the pull kept increasing, becoming more and more powerful. Soon, parts of his smoky body began to stream into the end of the hose as the noisy device started to suck him in. He tried to pull himself back, releasing his grip on the mares as he focused instead on grasping the earth as hard as he could to brace himself, but the magic that Discord was using on him was far too powerful. Eventually, he lost his grip as he was pulled from the ground, and he watched the world go black as he was pulled inside, his head being the last thing to be sucked in as it made a hollow FOOMP! sound. A single click followed, and then the loud whirring noise died out.

It was like being trapped in the void again, but yet nothing like it at the same time. Sombra felt like his body was numb, unresponsive and crammed into a small restrictive area. His shadowy form had condensed into something more liquefied that sloshed around the inside of the cylinder that held him prisoner. He would have tried to struggle, if it had been at all possible for him to do so. Instead, he could only listen to the metallic echo of voices coming from the outside.

“Were you trying to let him kill us?”

“What ever do you mean? I was simply waiting on my cue!”

“Your cue was when he started strangling us all to death!”

“...That’s funny... I don’t remember you saying that—”

“Just get the amulet!”

“Fine! Fine... can’t have even a little fun with you around.”

The cylinder tipped sideways, sending Sombra sloshing to one end. A metallic scraping sound echoed loudly just before the upright end popped off. Sombra could see Discord peering down at him, a wicked looking grin spreading from ear to ear as he nearly stuck his snout into the canister. And still, despite all his attempts, Sombra was unable to move.

Discord jostled the canister a bit, sloshing Sombra about. As he did so, something began to rattle in the canister as certain things began to solidify from Sombra’s liquefied form. After a few seconds more, Discord began to tip the container over, and he reached his free paw out just underneath as he poured Sombra out. The dark liquid part dribbled between the fingers of Discord’s paw, and began to fill an invisible pony shaped container standing on the ground just underneath. As the canister grew close to being empty, the parts that had solidified began to slide out and fall into Discords paw. Clothing and armor, the regal garb that Sombra had worn before he had taken his shadowy form, were caught in Discord’s grip as the rest of the dark liquid dribbled out of the canister to finish filling in Sombra’s body.

The strange sensation of being poured out of a can and back into a normal equine form had left Sombra feeling incredibly disoriented. He stumbled forward, nearly falling face first in the snow before he plopped down on his haunches. His mind felt like mud, and like something was missing. He clasped a hoof over his forehead at the sudden headache, noticing the lack of a horn that should have been there but not immediately caring. No, something else was missing, something more important.

...The amulet...

Sombra’s eyes opened wide, his head snapping up toward Discord, an action that he quickly regretted when he winced against the throbbing pain in his head at the sudden move. Somehow, Discord had managed to bypass the protections on the amulet that prevented its removal by any other than the one who wore it. Such a thing shouldn’t have been possible. It was a safety measure to keep anypony else who couldn’t handle the dark power from taking it and abusing it.

...abuse...

Sombra lingered on the thought, his mind becoming sharper as the strange muddled feeling slowly lifted. The amulet had always had the potential to be a seriously dangerous tool if in the wrong hooves. He had always known this, but had vowed long ago that he would guard his creation himself, and there had been no better way of doing so than to wear it.

...no...

The veil fully lifted from his mind, and he remembered it all perfectly clear. His thoughts and desires. What he had done. Those acts certainly were not anything he would normally consider, but yet he had done them. Only moments ago he had desired dominance over every other living thing. There was only one possible explanation, now that the source of his extended power had just been removed.

“...It used me,” he whispered to himself. He sat there shivering in the snow, half from the cold and half from the vivid memories of all the wrongs he had inflicted upon his own people. He was only distracted from the haunting memories when one of the metal hoof covers of his regal armor fell into the snow right next to him.

“Hm... junk, junk, more junk,” Discord said as he discarded bits and pieces of Sombra’s regalia from his paw, sending bits of armor flying in different directions and a red cape fluttering into the wind. He stopped when he picked up a black, curved horn that tapered off to a dull grey tip. “Oh, you probably want this back,” Discord said as he placed the base of the horn against Sombra’s forehead. With a quick pop, and another painful wince from Sombra, the horn reconnected with its owner. Discord then continued to sift through the remainder of the items in his paw. “Oh!” he said with a big grin as he placed Sombra’s spiked crown upon his own head. He glanced over toward the mares, waggling his eyebrows at them, but only got confused looks and in one case, a very disapproving glare in response. With a light sigh, he finished sifting through the rest of the bits and pieces in his paw. “Junk, trash, garbage... ah, here we are,” Discord said as he lifted the last item from his paw; a triangular metallic amulet set with red gems. A greenish aura took hold of the amulet, but before it could take it from his grasp, Discord clasped his talons around the amulet’s chain. “Ah ah! Don’t forget our deal,” he said as he waggled a finger toward Chrystallyn. In response, the green aura swiftly yanked the amulet from his grasp, prompting Discord to blow a raspberry in her direction.

Chrystallyn brought the amulet to a hover just before her eyes, gazing at it longingly. She seemed lost in the captivating reddish glow of the amulet’s gems for a moment, and then glanced to the side where her confused companions were watching her. “I suppose there’s no point in keeping the secret any longer,” she said shortly before closing her eyes. A wreath of green flame ignited around her, rising quickly over her body to strip her disguise away. It really was her, in that same twisted form that Sombra remembered inflicting upon her.

There was a chorus of gasps from the group of mares, one of them calling out above the howling wind. “You’re that changelin’ queen!”

“I do have a name,” Chrystallyn said as she slipped out of the violet coat and casually flicked it aside. The coat was quickly caught in a light blue aura before it was lost to the winds. Rarity pulled the coat close, hugging it in one of her forelegs. She timidly looked up toward Chrystallyn, her ears splaying back as she did so.

“Wait,” Rainbow said as she glanced back and forth between Chrystallyn and the rest of her friends. “If she wasn’t Twilight, then where is Twilight?”

“Oh, she’s likely off galavanting around Canterlot with the sisters, if I had to guess,” Chrystallyn said with a casual wave of a hoof. “I lost track of her. But none of that matters now.”

Chrystallyn unclasped the amulet’s chain as she brought it up to her chest. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she fastened the chain and secured the amulet around her neck. She reached a single hoof up, resting it upon the amulet where it laid against her chest as she patiently waited. For a moment, it seemed like nothing was happening, but then she suddenly grit her teeth together tightly as she drew in a hissing breath through them. Her eyes reopened partially, a red glow shining from them. She let out a painful cry as she nearly doubled over on the ground, and a mixture of red and green flames encircled her body. The wild flames flared over and over, the green and the red seeming to battle each other for dominance, until finally a blinding red flare engulfed her and caused everypony else to shield their eyes or look away.

When they looked back, they saw a dust gray alicorn sitting there among a blackened circle on the bare ground. The snow had been melted in the blast radius around her, some of it quickly freezing back into ice when the winds touched it and the rest rising as a steamy mist that quickly vanished on the wind. She breathed heavily from the strain that the power had put on her.

“Chrystallyn,” Sombra said as he weakly made his way toward her. She raised her head at hearing the name, glancing to her side out of one eye at him. He stopped just beside her, looking up to her and to the glowing red amulet hanging around her neck. “You mustn't use the Alicorn Amulet,” he said as he reached out toward her.

The amulet and Chrystallyn’s eyes both flashed with a red glow, and her face quickly contorted with anger. “Who are you to tell me what I can and can not do,” she snarled in his face as she leaned toward him. She brought her forehoof around, striking him across the chest and sending him flying a short distance into a snowbank. “You are nothing,” she said, nearly spitting the words.

Sombra struggled to upright himself where he had landed, holding a hoof over his chest as he drew in a few wheezing breaths. “It will control you!” he yelled back.

“You think my mind is a feeble as yours? Don’t insult me,” Chrystallyn said with a disgusted sneer. She then turned her attention toward the other mares, most of which seemed unsure and fearful at the sudden outburst. But instead of acting out her anger upon them, her expression softened as she bowed her head toward them. “I am grateful for your help, though I’m sure I wouldn’t have gotten it if you had known who I was. Still, thank you for lending me your power, but now I believe I can handle the Elements on my own. I’ll be taking them back.” She slowly lifted her head, her horn igniting with a red glow. The Element of Magic reacted first, the facets of the gem shimmering, and then the other five Elements all began to respond to the call as they did the same. The golden necklaces that held the Elements in place dissolved away, leaving only the loose gems that Chrystallyn collected with her magic. She drew the five Elements up close to her chest, each one of them shrinking down into a small diamond shape before they attached to the amulet, embedding themselves alongside the larger red gem in the center.

“Hey! Give that back!” Rainbow Dash yelled before she rushed toward Chrystallyn. She very nearly reached her target, but was stopped dead in the air by a red aura that grasped her. Chrystallyn stared back with a frown etched on her muzzle, and then with a slight flick of her horn sent Rainbow flying sideways skidding into the snow.

“Rainbow!” A chorus of worried voices called out to her from the remaining mares, who all quickly rushed to her side. Rainbow uprighted herself rather quickly, shaking off the snow that had caught itself in her mane and feathers and spitting what had managed to make its way into her mouth. She almost immediately made an attempt to rush Chrystallyn again, but was swiftly stopped when Applejack reached out and held her back.

“Dash! She’s too much for you,” Applejack said as she struggled to keep her friend under control.

“They were mine to begin with,” Chrystallyn said, drawing their attention toward her. She casually strode toward them, causing the group to instinctively huddle in close to each other. She stopped just before them, her imposing stature towering over them. “I was simply letting you borrow them.”

Pinkie narrowed her eyes, pursing her lips as she dared to take a step away from the group toward Chrystallyn. “Yeah, well, except for the part where you pulled a nasty trick on us and made us think you were our friend so we would help you.” Despite being so much smaller than the alicorn that was looking down upon her, Pinkie held her defiant stance as she glared up disapprovingly.

Chrystallyn meet Pinkie’s glare silently for a time, unmoving other than the aqua strands of her mane and tail freely wiping about in the wind. She finally turned away with a humph. “Fine, be ungrateful. You can all find your own way home. But I am warning you,” she said, pausing as she glanced over her shoulder to the mares. “Do not ever cross me.” She continued on toward where Sombra was shivering alone nearby in the snow, lowering her head down level to his as she neared him. “And as for you...,” she began as her eyes ignited with a red glow.

“Do what you want,” Sombra said as she struggled against his shivering body. “But you know I’m right. You won’t be able to control the amulet, not forever.”

Chrystallyn rose one eyebrow curiously. “I think you underestimate me,” she said as she leaned in even closer to him, narrowing her eyes as she lowered her voice. “As for what I’m going to with you? Well, I thought long and hard about that, and I came up with something perfect. I’m going to do” — she leaned in next to his ear to whisper — “nothing.”

Sombra watched Chrystallyn closely as she leaned back. He had thought for sure that he wouldn’t get off easy with her after what he had done. “Why?” he asked timidly, wondering if maybe she were only toying with him.

“Any sort of punishment I could dream up would only distract you from remembering what you’ve done. And killing you would simply put you out of your misery,” she said as she looked down at him with genuine disgust. She turned and began walking away, raising her voice enough for him to hear as she left. “So enjoy what’s left of your pathetic little life, and all the memories of the lives you crushed under your hooves when you enslaved my nation and cursed my people. I’m sure the nightmares your own mind will create will do a much better job of crushing your soul than I ever could.”

“Oh! Before you leave,” Discord said as he dashed around in front of Chrystallyn. She stopped, giving him a very disinterested look. “I know that resurrecting your long forgotten empire is high on your priority list, but I did do as you asked, and we did have a deal, did we not?” He leaned in, laying his serpent-like body against her side as he hooked one of his arms over her shoulders and gave her a wide grin.

Chrystallyn unfolded her wing, using it to push Discord away as she grasped at one of his ears with her magic at the same time to tug his face away from hers. He complained with a few quick ow’s, proceeding to pout with his bottom lip quivering a bit once she let him go. “And what deal would that be?” she asked.

Discord gave a forced laugh. “Oh, Chrissy, such a kidder. To remove these things, of course!” he said as he pointed a talon at one of the glowing bracers around his wrist.

Chrystallyn slowly blinked as she looked to the binding, and then once again as she looked back to his eyes. “Discord, I am quite literally only steps away from accomplishing everything I ever dreamed of. Why would I want to unleash an unstable element into the wild? You honestly believed I would just free you?”

Discord’s jaw went slack, his bottom lip still quivering as he held his paw and claw each open before him. “But, you... said you would! I thought you ponies were all honorable or something!”

“Did I?” Chrystallyn said as she sat back on her haunches. She tapped a forehoof to her closed lips, giving a thoughtful hum as her eyes glanced back and forth toward the sky. Finally, she shook her head. “Hmm, no, I think you misinterpreted things. I believe I said I would allow you to do whatever you wanted with Equestria. I never did say anything about actually removing the binding spell, did I?”

Discord released a single breath in a quiet puh sound. He stared back, silent as a statue for some time, before he balled his fists up and stomped the ground as he growled angrily. “I knew it! Somehow I knew this was going to happen. I just knew!” he ranted as he smashed the snow beneath his feet.

“Lets be honest with each other here,” Chrystallyn said, grabbing the raving Chaos Lord’s attention. “I knew that given the choice, you wouldn’t help me, and given the chance, you would try to stop me simply for your own amusement, so I’m not leaving the choice up to you. That bothers you, doesn’t it?” she asked. The seething glare she got back in response was the only answer she needed. “Well then, allow me to give you a choice. You can choose to remain powerless for the rest of your eternal existence and see just how far you get with Equestria that way, or you can come with me, and I’ll find a use for you.” She ended her proposition with a curt smile, and then proceed to continue on her way into the distance.

Discord furrowed his brow as he considered the set of options he had been given. He glanced back over toward the group of mares, watching them as they huddled together in the cold, and made only a passing glance toward Sombra before sighing heavily. Taking a few quick jogging steps, he caught up to Chrystallyn to walk along side her. She smiled, looking up toward him as she said, “Good choice.”

---

Sombra was surprised that the remaining five mares wanted anything to do with him. They were wary of him, and understandably so, but the one called Fluttershy had vouched for him for some reason. He hadn’t exactly been at his best when first meeting them, but Fluttershy seemed to be very understanding and forgiving, and the rest were willing to follow her lead for now. In return, he promised to lead them out of the blizzard. It was the least he could do in return for their kindness to somepony like him.

He had been offered the violet velvet coat that Chrystallyn had discarded earlier. He was grateful, but even with the added layer of protection the blizzard’s cold was starting to cut all the way through to his skin, and the rest of the mares didn’t seem to be faring much better than him as they trudged through the snow toward their destination.

Eventually they stopped when they came to a wide open field. “We’ll have to wait here,” Sombra said as he turned toward the rest of the mares.

“Wait here?” Rainbow asked through her chattering teeth. “Are you kidding? There’s nothing around for miles!”

“There will be,” Sombra said as he looked back toward the field. “She’s out there somewhere, trying to break the seal. When she does, we’ll have to be quick, or we could end up stranded outside.”

Rainbow just rolled her eyes in response as she clasped her hoof over the neck of her coat, pulling it up around her chin. The mares huddled closer together, sharing what little warmth they had between them as they waited for something to magically happen while standing there in the middle of no where. The minutes dragged by as they weathered the cold, and their patience began to wear thin.

“Are you sure this is gonna happen?” Applejack finally asked. Sombra no sooner turned to look back to the group than a bright flash of light flooded the field. The glare caused them all to shield their eyes, and quite a few surprised shrieks at the sudden flash escaped them. The glare slowly died down, becoming more of a gentle glow, and the group slowly opened their eyes blinking blearily at the empty field, except now it wasn’t empty at all. Before them stood towering buildings of blue and violet crystals.

“Come now, we haven’t any time to waste,” Sombra said as he galloped down the side of the hill toward the crystal city, with the rest of the mares quickly falling in behind him. As they approached the edge of the city, shimmering lines of light began to skitter along the ground around the city’s edge. Sombra galloped just over the line, skidding to a stop on the other side as he turned toward the mares. “Hurry!” he called out as he waved them over. Applejack crossed the boundary on hoof only slightly behind him. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie both crossed the boundary only a second later, but Rarity and Fluttershy had fallen behind somewhat in the dash down the hill toward the city, and were still a good distance away. A sparkling wall began to take shape between him and the remaining two mares, so Sombra quickly ignited his magic. His dark magic tore a hole in the forming barrier, but it was very quickly growing stronger and was forcing the tear back closed against his power. Wasting no time, Rainbow soared out of the tear into the blizzard winds. She fought hard against the freezing air currents as she looped around toward Rarity and Fluttershy, where she caught them each under one foreleg as she zipped between them. Lifting them both from the ground with her, she frantically flapped her wings as she pushed herself to carry them both to the shrinking tear. They all three fell in through the tear only a couple seconds before Sombra lost control of it, and it snapped shut behind them. Applejack and Pinkie had made an attempt at catching their friends as they fell to the ground, but only ended up at the bottom of a pony pile when their friends crashed into them.

“Is everypony alright?” Sombra asked as he walked up to the groaning pile of mares. Rainbow struggled to untangle herself from the others first, finally falling out of the group and rolling over on the ground. She pushed herself up, panting for breath.

“I... yeah... I’m good,” she said as she shook out her wings. The rest of the mares also managed to untangle themselves from one another afterwards, none being any more injured than a bump or bruise here and there.

Rarity walked up to the crystal-like barrier that now stretched into the sky above the city, placing her hoof against it. It made a quiet tink sound when she did so, appearing much like a solid piece of glass. “Well, I suppose we are out of the cold now,” she said as she looked back toward the group.

“We shouldn’t linger here,” Sombra said as he glanced about. They were near the edge of a wide street made of shining blue crystal. The buildings along the street cast a reflection across it, all the way to the giant crystal spire that towered above the center of the city. Sombra looked instead toward the smaller buildings nearby, and began to make his way toward an alleyway between two of them. “This way,” he said as he called back to the mares.

The group followed him, keeping a brisk pace as they weaved their way between the buildings. “Where is everypony?” Rainbow thought to ask from where she was hovering just above the group. For such a large city, it seemed to be completely deserted.

“Hiding,” Sombra said simply. He continued to lead them through the bends, finally coming to what appeared to be a dead end. He closed his eyes to concentrate, the tip of his horn glowing red briefly as a spark of dark energy skittered across it and leapt from the tip down to the ground. A small, black crystal sprouted from where the spark landed and began to cast a shadow. As the shadow spread, it revealed a set of stairs that descend underground.

Sombra took the first few steps down, stopping to look back to the rest of the group. “Follow me. We have to make our way to the teleportation chamber.” The mares reluctantly began to follow behind him, and as they descended into the dark stairway the entryway closed up behind them, plunging them into pitch black darkness.

“Hey!” Rainbow called out, a frantic edge on her voice. A brief, reddish glow preceded a dark blue spark that arched out to a nearby wall, and then a row of torches ignited in a cascade down the stairway. The torches gave off a dim illumination from a black flame that flickered slower than flames normally should.

“Sorry, I’m having a little trouble,” Sombra said as he rubbed a hoof at one of his temples. He continued on down the walkway, which eventually opened up into a large, dome shaped chamber illuminated by two rows of dark flame torches that encircled the entire area. The stairs continued to descend to the center of the chamber toward a circular platform. Seven other rows of stairs each ended around the platform, all evenly spaced around the center like the spokes of a wheel, each one ascending to a tunnel of its own. Hanging from the ceiling in the giant dome directly over the platform was a large crystal, its countless facets seeming to change hue from blue to violet and back depending on the prospective one was looking at them. And standing in rows and rows between the stairways were dozens of full armor stands and weapon racks.

“What is all this?” Rarity asked as she and the rest of the mares glanced around at the surroundings.

“A staging area,” Sombra said as he prodded one of four pony sized crystals that hovered just along the edge of the platform. The crystal hummed and glowed a faint blue in response. “I was going to use it to invade Canterlot, but the sisters stopped me before I got that far. I hope we can use it to save Canterlot now instead.”

“Sisters?” Applejack asked as she cocked her head to the side.

Sombra stopped where he was about to touch the second crystal, looking back. “Don’t tell me the Royal Sisters have fallen,” he said as his ears splayed back.

“Well, Iduno what you mean by Royal Sisters, but we have had some problems in Equestria just lately. Celestia’s been missin’ ever since Nightmare Moon showed up. That was kinda what we were tryin’ to fix... or so we thought.”

Sombra furrowed his brow. “I haven’t ever heard of this ‘Nightmare Moon’.”

“She’s kinda the Queen of Equestria now,” Applejack said, shrugging.

“I see.” Sombra let out a tired sigh, turning his attention back to the floating crystal. After tapping it, he moved on to the third one, giving it a light tap as well. “I suppose we have no other choice than to appeal to her then. I hope she’ll see to reason.”

“Twilight will help, I’m sure of it,” Rarity said. She got a questioning look from Sombra as he walked toward the final crystal. Rarity quickly glanced to the rest of her friends, and when the rest of them gave her a nod, she continued. “She’s an alicorn princess as well, though that’s not exactly common knowledge.”

Sombra paused, remembering the name from when it had been spoken earlier. “I take it she is the one that Chrystallyn took the form of?” he asked. When the mares nodded back, he gave a thoughtful hum to himself before tapping the final crystal with his hoof. “We should seek her out then. Canterlot must be warned of what has happened here,” he said as he walked to the center of the platform. “Now, I need all of you to stand here,” he said as he pointed to the center.

Once all five of the mares had made their way to the platform, Sombra set the four crystals in motion around the platform by placing his hoof in a small depression at the very center of the floor. The crystals hummed with a higher pitch as they began to spin around the edge, slowly increasing in speed. “Uh, what’s this thing do?” Rainbow asked, her ears splaying back as her wings fidgeted at her sides.

“It’s for long range teleportation,” Sombra said as he glanced up at the large crystal overhead. “It only works if there is a crystal at the destination that can receive the spell, but luckily for us, Canterlot is one of the few locations I know of that has one. Or at least, the caverns below it do.”

“Great, more teleporting,” Rainbow said through a groan as she slumped toward the floor.

Sombra cocked an eyebrow in her direction. “It’s currently our only way of leaving the city, not to mention how quick it will be if it works.”

Applejack gave a quick chuckle in response. “I think it’s more that the last couple of times left her feelin’ kinda queasy.”

“Waitaminute,” Rainbow said. She stalked over to Sombra, nearly shoving her own face into his as he cringed back. “Did you just say ‘if it works’?”

“Well, it will,” Sombra said as he raised a forehoof defensively. He wilted slightly under the intensifying glare that Rainbow was giving him. “To be completely honest I haven’t tested this platform yet, but I’m confident that it will work.”

“Okay, forget this,” Rainbow said as she turned on her heals and lept into the air. She made it as far as the edge of the platform where she was going to sail over the spinning crystals, but was stopped when her face bounced off an invisible barrier. “Ow!” she growled as she clasped her forehooves over her nose, her wings flapping haphazardly as she hovered there in the air. She turned and pointed an accusing hoof back at Sombra as she continued to rub her nose with the other, blinking back the tears building in her eyes. “You let me off this thing!” she demanded.

“Calm down. The barrier is just for safety,” he called back up to her.

His suggestion only seemed to irritate Rainbow further. She sailed back to the center of the platform, landing with a loud clack as she reared back and grasped the collar of Sombra’s coat in her forehooves. She twisted the collar around one hoof as she threatenly shook her other one next to his face. “You let me off this thing right now or I’m—”

The four spinning crystals caused the air to crackle as they discharged the power that they had been building. A bright flash of blue light filled the room for an instant before returning to the dim glow from the dark flame torches, and the spinning crystals began to slow. The platform now stood empty, and all that was left in the chamber were some arcs of arcane energy skittering across the surface of the large crystal overhead.

---

The facets of the large crystal hanging in the crystalline chamber beneath Canterlot began to shimmer as arcs of energy skittered over the surface. A static filled the air beneath it, and then the power was discharged with a blue flash, causing the group to instantly appear. “—gonna... slug you?” Rainbow said, her attention suddenly diverted from her target. She blinked her eyes as she rapidly glanced around the chamber. “What the hay happened to the lights?” she asked.

“I believe it worked. We’re here,” Sombra said. He stood there on his hind legs, his collar still caught in Rainbow’s grip while he shielded his face from her fury with his hoof.

The chamber they had landed in was darker than the one they had just left. The sudden change in light level made it difficult to see at first, but the natural glow from the surrounding crystals was already helping their eyes adjust. Rainbow eventually looked back to Sombra, glancing to his eyes, the coat collar gripped in her hoof, and back before gently letting him down. She uncurled her hoof from the coat collar, even making an effort to smooth the wrinkles from it. However, just when it seemed Sombra was about to relax, she jabbed the tip of her hoof against his chest to grab his attention. “Don’t ever do that again,” she said as she stared him down.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Sombra responded, raising his right hoof to the pledge.

Pinkie wandered a few steps from the group, letting out a whistle that echoed in the chamber. She stopped, clicking the sides of her hooves together as she spun around to look back to Sombra to ask, “So, this is the Under Canterlot?”

“Only one way to find out for sure. We should make our way to the surface, and then find this princess friend of yours.”

“W-wait a minute,” Applejack said. She tapped her forehoof against the brim of her hat, tilting it back slightly as she squinted up at the domed ceiling overhead. “I think the walls are movin’,” she said in a half whisper.

The rest of the group suddenly became very aware of their surroundings. At first, it appeared that Applejack may have only seen an odd angled reflection in the crystals, but then something flew overhead, causing a couple startled shrieks to escape from mares. Buzzing sounds began to fill the air as black figures started circling in the air around them. One by one, the black figures landed all about them. Eerie blue glows blinked from the eyes of the creatures as they surrounded the group.

Sombra recognized the twisted black creatures almost immediately. “What are they doing here?” he said as he huddled together with the rest of the group. In a matter of seconds, the changelings had surrounded them, closing off any possible escape. They appeared far more degenerate than he remembered, seeming to have lost even more of their equinity as time had passed. All except one that the rest made way for.

This one stood out with his fiery orange mane and tail, standing just slightly taller than the rest. The sight of the unique changeling sparked a memory that rushed to the surface of Sombra’s mind. He recalled the moment when he managed to trap Chrystallyn and her personal guard within his curse, the moment the first changelings were created. Sombra grit his teeth, his breath quickening as he relived the brief memory in vivid detail, recalling every sickening sight and blood curdling scream as the curse had twisted their bodies. What bothered him even more was that he recalled how he felt back then. He had enjoyed every second of it.

The image faded from his mind as fast as it had surfaced, leaving him trembling and his body dampened by a cold sweat. He looked up and realized that the changeling had stopped a mere half step from him. “King Sombra,” the changeling said, his voice clearly echoing through the chamber.

“You know me?” Sombra asked, his ears splaying back. He didn’t recognize this changeling, but he wasn’t unlike those that he had personally cursed.

“Every changeling knows who you are,” the changeling responded. He then looked to the other changelings around him, giving a quick nod. Without a word, the rest of the changelings began to move in around them.

“Wait, wait!” Sombra said. Surprisingly, his plea actually caused the changelings to halt for a moment. Maybe if he could stall long enough, he thought, there might be a way out. “Are you not even curious as to why we’re here?”

The changeling glanced up at the large crystal overhead for a few seconds before looking back down. “Very well,” he said as he sat back on his haunches. “I’m listening.”

---

Many days had passed since they had arrived within the cavern. How many, Sombra wasn’t exactly sure since there was no way to tell time, but they had slept a few times since they had arrived, so his best guess was that this was the fourth day since their arrival. The rest of the time he had passed mostly with reading the few books that had been provided, sitting at a flat rock that the group had been using as a makeshift table. When he hadn’t been reading, he had spent the rest of the time just talking with the five mares, swapping stories as he told them of the distant past and they told him of how the world had changed since then.

They had been kept in the main chamber of the cavern, constantly watched over to make sure they didn’t leave. While they had free roam of the area, any of the caves that left the chamber were guarded to prevent them from leaving, and while they had entertained the idea of trying to escape, they were easily outnumbered in the chamber by ten to one, if not worse. So far, they hadn’t come up with any ideas that could possibly prevail against such lopsided odds.

Rainbow Dash swooped down from one of the ledges overhead, landing nearby. She approached the rock table, sitting across from Sombra and Applejack. She folded her forelegs across one another on the table, burying her face in them as she let out a moan. “This is getting really old,” her muffled voice said.

“He did tell us that we wouldn’t find a way out up there,” Applejack said.

“Whatever,” Rainbow grumbled before lifting her head to peer at Applejack and shooting her a look. “At least I’m looking for one.” Applejack stared back, her brows furrowing slightly. For a few tense seconds, the two mares just stared at one another, until Rainbow finally let out a heavy sigh as she plopped her chin back down on her forelegs. “Sorry. It’s just... being cramped in this cave isn’t doing it for me.”

“I hear ya,” Applejack said with nod.

Rainbow tilted her head to the side, glancing toward Sombra. “So where’s what’s-his-name been?” she asked.

“Graphite, I believe,” Sombra said, still focused on reading his book.

“Yeah, him,” Rainbow said as she dismissively waved a hoof in a lazy circle.

A few seconds of silence lingered until Sombra closed the book and looked up toward Rainbow. “Not sure, haven’t seen him since yesterday, and the rest of the changelings aren’t very talkative. But, it looks like their orders haven’t changed. They’ve still been bringing us food at least.” Sombra reached out and put his hoof against a wicker basket sitting in the center of the table, giving it a push toward Rainbow. She pushed herself up with her forelegs, peering over the edge of the basket to look at the collection of apples inside. After considering her options for a moment, she reached inside the basket and fished one out. She breathed on the golden skin, and then polished it with the side of her forehoof before biting into it.

“Do you think they’ll ever let us go?” Sombra’s ears swiveled back to where he had heard Fluttershy’s quiet voice behind him. He turned to the side, leaning against the rock table as he looked to her. She laid on the floor a short distance away, her chin resting on her coat that had been folded into a makeshift pillow.

“Probably,” he said as he put on a smile for her. “So long as the negotiations go well.”

Fluttershy quirked an eyebrow. “Negotiations?” she asked.

“We’re being held for ransom.”

Fluttershy blink-blinked and lifted her head. “They told you that?”

Sombra shook his head. “No, but why else would they keep us here and tend to our needs? They haven’t asked us any questions for days, but we’re obviously still useful to them somehow.”

“So you think ol’ Graphite went to ransom us off?” Applejack asked him, getting a nod in response. “But what would he want for us?”

Given how important this group of mares likely were to Canterlot, there wasn’t much that the changelings couldn’t ask for in exchange. But, what would they ask for? Sombra leaned an elbow against the table, closing his eyes as he ran his hoof tip through his long sideburn. “...I haven’t figured that out yet,” he said through a sigh, turning his head to look out across the cavern.

His eyes slowly wandered along with his thoughts, until his eyes came across a group of changelings nearby. He hadn’t seen so many standing in one area since they had arrived, and they all seemed to be looking toward one of the caves. Applejack took notice as well, and leaned over the table as she looked to the group. “I wonder what all the hubbub’s about,” she said.

“Maybe he’s back,” Sombra said as he pushed himself up from the table. He trotted toward the gathering of changelings, the mares all following just slightly behind him. They all stopped a short distance away, not wanting to press their luck too much by getting too close.

A buzz of conversation hovered around the changelings as they waited at the cave entrance. Their behavior was bizarre, compared to how they had been over the last few days. Most of the changelings had come across as rather emotionless, but now they appeared more like an excited and impatient bunch of foals the way they were chattering back and forth as they crowded around the cave exit.

Something finally appeared from the cave, causing those that were nearest to the exit to move back to make room. Graphite walked out of the shadows of the cave into the cavern, taking a quick glance over the gathered group before he stepped to the side. As he did so, he looked back to the cave, and then she appeared there, stepping into the dim crystal light glow. Chrysalis’s presence caused a sudden hush to fall over the cavern.

“What is she doing here?” Sombra said in a ghostly whisper. It shouldn’t have been possible. She had broken the curse and taken the Crystal Empire back. Why would she be here now, and in that form?

Chrysalis finally noticed him, her eye’s locking with his for a time. She began to walk toward him, slowly. The rest of the changelings made way for her, silently shifting around her as she made her way to him. She stopped a single body length away from him, her face emotionless as she silently stared down at him. The unnerving silence in the chamber caused the hackles on his back to stand on end. Sombra thought that he should try to speak for himself and his five companions, and so he took a shaky breath. However, before he could speak a single word, he was yanked from the ground by a green aura that clasped around his neck. He squirmed and gasped in surprise, uselessly hoofing at the aura that held him dangling there in the air before Chrysalis as she glared at him with her teeth bared.

“Wait!” A single voice called out, echoing in the hollow chamber. Chrysalis glared down to the side toward Fluttershy, who cringed away from the look. “D-don’t hurt him,” she meekly said as she looked back with pleading eyes.

“And why shouldn’t I,” Chrysalis growled as she lowered her head toward Fluttershy, causing the timid mare to cringe even closer to the ground.

“...Chrystallyn...,” Sombra said, drawing Chrysalis’s attention back to him. “I’m the one you want, not her,” he rasped as he struggled to breath in the telekinetic grip.

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes at him as she ground her teeth together. She abruptly cancelled her spell, dropping Sombra unceremoniously in a heap on the floor. He coughed and rubbed a hoof against his throat as he pushed himself up from the rough landing on the rock floor. Before he could fully recover, Chrysalis nearly shovered her face against his, causing him to fall over on his back as she stood over him.

“Don’t... ever call me that,” she hissed in his face. She glared down at him for a short time before lifting her head. “I’m not her. I’ll never be her again.”

“I-I... wait,” Sombra said. It was at that moment that he realized that she did not have the amulet with her. Graphite had told him days earlier about who Chrystallyn really was, a traveler from the future that had replaced her past self. If the one who stood before him now wasn’t the one that had taken the amulet, then that meant.... “You’re not the one who came here from the future, are you?”

“No,” Chrysalis said as she backed away a few steps and sat before him. “But I’m fairly sure that her and I both feel the same about you,” she added, her tone full of venomous hate.

Sombra glanced to his side when he felt somepony there. Applejack was reaching out to him, trying to help him up from the ground. He quickly brushed her touch aside. “Don’t, just leave me,” he said as he pushed himself up. “This doesn’t concern you.”

“The heck it don’t,” Applejack said in protest as she reached a hoof out and rest it on his shoulder. “Our hides would likely be frozen solid right now if you hadn’t helped us out. You didn’t have to help us, but you did, so let us help you out now,” she said as she gave his shoulder a firm squeeze. She then looked up toward Chrysalis, who only looked back with a completely impassive glance. “I get it. I think we all do. He did a lot of bad things, told us all himself. Got himself caught up in stuff he shouldn’t of. I ain’t sayin’ that you should forgive him for all that, but hurtin’ him sure ain’t gonna change what happened.”

“He does regret what happened,” Fluttershy said as she walked up and sat next to Sombra. “Regret is a horrible thing to live with.”

Chrysalis glanced between the mares, and then closed her eyes as she remained quiet for a moment. “It’s time the rest of you leave. Your friend is waiting for you outside,” she finally said as she looked back to them again. Just as it seemed the mares were going to say something else, Chrysalis quickly interjected. “I’ve listened to all I’m going to. Don’t test my patience. Gather your belongings and go,” she said sternly as she pointed toward the cave behind her.

Sombra turned to face the group of mares. “Just go, please. I’ll be fine,” he said.

The looks on their faces said that they didn’t really believe him, but they were left with no choice but to accept it. “Come on, girls,” Applejack finally said as she made her way back to the table. The rest of them followed with her where they gathered their saddlebags and coats. Once they had everything that they had brought with them, they were led out of the chamber by Graphite.

Sombra had watched them go, wondering if he would ever see them again. At the very least, he felt a small sense of comfort that they had been spared from whatever his own fate was to be. “Just so we’re absolutely clear,” Chrysalis started, drawing Sombra’s attention up to where she stood beside him. She held a piercing side glare for a moment longer before lowering her head down level with his. “Use that name with me again, and I’ll gut you. I am Chrysalis, the High Queen of the changeling swarm.” She slowly turned aside to leave. “You lost the right to call me by any other name when you chose to turn your own wife into a monster.”

Sombra hung his head, casting his glance toward his hooves. “If I could undo—”

Chrysalis rounded on her back hooves, slamming her forehooves down on either side of him. “Shutup!” she spat in his face, causing him to cower before her. Her entire body trembled with anger as she bared her teeth at him. She drew in a few heavy hissing breaths of air between her teeth before she finally let out a loud, angry huff. Standing upright and turning herself aside again, she said, “What you’ll do... is you’ll help find a way to stop her.”

Find a way to stop her. Of course she must have been talking about Chrystallyn, but why would she restrain her anger and ask for his help? Sombra pondered Chrysalis’s confusing behavior for a moment, and then he remembered her ability. She knew something. “What have you seen?” he asked cautiously.

Chrysalis sat back on her haunches, furrowing her brow as she closed her eyes and let out a huff. “I haven’t seen anything. I was only told that you would be necessary.”

“...By who?”

Chrysalis slowly opened her eyes, peering down at Sombra with a frown etched on her muzzle. “What does that matter?” she muttered as she turned aside. She took a few steps away, stopping to side glance back toward him. “Get some rest. We set out to the palace in the morning,” she said before continuing on.

---

In the early afternoon hours the day after her friends had been returned to her, Twilight received a summons at her tower. Swift Wing had come to tell her the news. Queen Chrysalis herself had come seeking an audience with the Royal Sisters only hours ago, and had brought Sombra with her. Then, the Royal Sisters had called on Twilight to join them.

She hadn’t been led to the palace throneroom where an audience would normally be held. Instead, Swift Wing had led her to a lesser known area within the palace in the western wings, a place normally reserved for much more private meetings. Usually, the hallway that led to the room was sparsely guarded, but today it had been lined with a couple dozen guards. Behind the double doors at the end of the hallway was a private chamber where Celestia, Luna, and Chrysalis had already spent hours discussing the new threat that they all now faced. When she finally arrived, Twilight had been surprised to find the Royal Sisters sharing a table with Queen Chrysalis, but Celestia had been rather quick to make a clear point that the changelings were not to be seen as enemies to Equestria.

The true enemy now lie in the north, in control of the Crystal Empire. While the Royal Sisters were to handle the broader negotiations with Chrysalis, they had tasked Twilight with devising the details of a covert invasion plan to swiftly dethrone Chrystallyn. Sombra would provide her with as much information as he possibly could to aid her in the task. And, of course, only those who were involved were to be told about the plans.

She accepted, of course, though she had reservations that she kept to herself. Working with the changelings and with Sombra did not set well with her, even though she tried to remind herself that this Equestria wouldn’t necessarily follow the same history that she knew.

After she left the room, she had made her own way to an out of the way office within the palace that was currently guarded by four guards. One of them moved to pull the door open for her as she approached, politely bowing his head to her as she walked by. She gave him a quick smile before steeling herself for her meeting with the oppressive dictator that had managed to conquer an alicorn’s kingdom.

The door quietly closed behind her, and Twilight glanced to her left when she noticed a unicorn lounging there on a pillow near a low table. Graphite turned his head and looked up to her, giving her a quick smile. He was wearing his equine disguise, and also wearing a small pendant around his neck that was giving off a faint red glow.

She couldn’t help but return the smile. “Keeping an eye on him?” she asked, to which he quietly nodded and then looked across the room. Twilight followed his glance, and there at a desk was sitting a soot gray unicorn stallion with a messy mane of black. His slightly curved horn glowed red near the tip as a dark blue aura manipulated a white quill over a parchment. Definitely not the image that Twilight’s mind had conjured up before she had walked into the office, but there he was, the former dictator king of the Crystal Empire, Sombra. “I was a little surprised when I heard he was allowed inside the palace,” Twilight said as she looked back to Graphite.

“Seems my Queen had a very convincing story to tell,” Graphite said as a small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. “He’s harmless, but I’m still responsible for anything he may do... so yes, I’m keeping an eye on him. I did promise you that Canterlot would be safe from him.”

“You know, I can hear you two talking about me,” Sombra said from across the room. He continued to work despite having joined in on the conversation, not lifting his gaze from the parchment that the quill was buzzily scribbling away at. Twilight approached the desk, stopping just on the other side as she peered over the edge at the array of documents that laid scattered about on the surface. Sombra glanced up briefly, stopping his work when he realized who it was that was standing before him. “Ah, you must be the future princess I’ve heard about. Twilight Sparkle, correct?” he asked, to which she nodded in response. “Then you’re the one I should give these to,” he said as his magic took hold of a stack of papers, tapping them against the desk in an attempt to straighten the stack before they floated over toward Twilight.

Twilight took hold of the stack, her magic quickly fanning the pages out before her in a semicircle. She began to skim over the information and diagrams contained within, finding some things that she already knew about the Empire but quite a few details that caught her eye on things she hadn’t known, and that was just at a quick glance. “Wow,” she said as her magic folded the stack of pages back together. “You’ve done all this just today?”

Sombra had already returned to working on the parchment laid out before him. “Quite a few details missing,” he said as he dismissively waved a hoof without lifting his eyes. “I’m doing this all from memory. But, there should be enough there to begin making proper plans.”

“Right,” Twilight said with a heavy sigh as she stared blankly at the stack she held. “Plans.”

Sombra took notice, lifting his quill and his eyes to look across the desk at Twilight. “Things can’t be left as they are,” he said before he reached a hoof over to sift through another scattered stack of documents to his right. His magic took hold of the page that he had been looking for and pulled it from the stack, sending it over to Twilight. She took the page in her magic, resting it on top of the rest that she held. On the page was a detailed schematic of a triangular amulet, with precise dimensions measuring out every component and nearly every last inch of the page filled with details about the magical enchantments that had gone into its design. “My greatest creation, and quite possibly our doom,” Sombra said as he solemnly nodded to the page that Twilight held.

“The Alicorn Amulet,” Twilight said as she ran the tip of her hoof over the page. “So it’s true then. You did create it,” she said as she looked up across the desk.

“Wish I hadn’t,” Sombra muttered. He seemed suddenly interested in the quill clasped in his magic as he twirled it, gazing at it with a blank stare for a moment. He then looked back toward Twilight and quirked an eyebrow as he asked, “You’ve heard of it?”

“Well, if memory serves me right, in the history that I come from it turned up in an old relics shop some time after the Empire returned. There was a unicorn that got her hooves on it for a short time but my friends and I managed to get it away from her.”

“Then you got extremely lucky,” Sombra said as he dipped the quill’s tip in an ink vial. He then turned his attention back to the parchment. “I hope it was dealt with afterwards,” he said without looking up.

“Locked away,” Twilight said in response.

Sombra grunted, his quill slowing for a couple seconds before continuing on. “Hrm, should have destroyed it.” He continued to work for a moment, with the scratching of his quill being the only sound in the office, and then he suddenly stopped. His brow furrowed deeply and then he glanced up to Twilight as his magic pointed the feathered end of the quill to her. “How in the world did it end up in some shop?” he asked.

“We never actually figured that out,” Twilight said with a light shrug. “But, I imagine it was found by somepony after you were defeated, and probably got sold for bits without them knowing what it really was.” Sombra pursed his lips, giving Twilight an incredulous look. “There wasn’t exactly much left after you exploded,” Twilight added.

Sombra’s brow climbed high as his mouth hung slightly agape for a moment. “...Exploded...,” he said slowly, to which Twilight nodded slowly in response. He glanced down to the table top, seeming lost in thought once again as he absently spun the quill in his magic. He finally shrugged his shoulders, letting out a quiet ‘huh’ as he dipped the quill in the ink vial and returned it to the parchment. “I suppose I deserved it,” he muttered under his breath.

Twilight arched her neck, glancing down at the parchment laid out over the desk. It was large enough that it nearly covered half the desk space on its own. “What else are you working on?” she asked as she watched Sombra direct the quill across the surface.

“The maps that you’ll need,” he said as he traced a long line down one side, holding his mouth slightly open as he concentrated on holding the quill steady.

Indeed, the parchment appeared to contain a layout of the crystal city, but with added details depicting underground passageways. “This is all really sudden,” Twilight said as she leaned back. “Just a day ago we still weren’t sure what to do next, and now we’re making invasion plans along side changelings.” Twilight’s ears splayed back as she quickly glanced over her shoulder toward Graphite. “No offense,” she said quickly with a sheepish grin.

“None taken,” he said back though a light chuckle.

“The amulet really is that dangerous, it’s a threat to all,” Sombra said. He paused at the end of a set of parallel lines on the map to quickly fill in a few notes before tracing out another long line from the center. “It may not control her yet, but it’s only a matter of time before it will. It’s very subtle. The darkness pushes your thoughts slightly toward what it wants. You don’t even realize that your own will is being replaced. I never did, not until it was finally taken away from me.” He lifted the quill at the end of the long line, glancing up to Twilight. “And now it is sitting around the neck of one of the most powerful beings that has ever existed. And she has possession of the Elements and the Crystal Heart, as well as the only other being that has ever defeated her on a leash.”

“Not counting yourself?” Twilight asked. When Sombra only averted his gaze, looking instead to the map laid out before him in silence, Twilight said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by that.”

Sombra sighed heavily as his magic dipped the quill in the vial and returned it to the parchment to draw out another line. “I wasn’t exactly myself when I had the amulet... so no, I didn’t count myself. Besides, I only have a fraction of the power I did now without it. There isn’t much I could do against her now.”

Twilight sat there silently for a moment, watching him as he carefully traced out the line. “You make it sound like there’s no hope,” she said quietly.

“Only if we allow her to make the first move,” Sombra said as he completed the line, making a quick note next to it before lifting the quill and looking up to Twilight. “And she will, if we don’t. Sure, it could take years. She could even find a way to hold out against its influence long enough that most wouldn’t see it happen within their lifetime... but eventually, it would use her to take this world, and none would be able to stop her. I can’t imagine that being a future that you want to see.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Twilight said with a sad shake of her head.

“Sorry?” Sombra said as he arched an eyebrow. He spun the quill in his magic, pointing the feathered end toward himself as he said, “I’m the one who created the damned thing.”

“She used my spell to come to this time,” Twilight said, tapping a forehoof against her chest. “This Equestria’s future is in danger now because I allowed her to get here.”

Sombra quietly stared at Twilight, his magic twirling the quill absently just above the desk. He glanced over to the ink vial just long enough for his magic to drop the quill there, and he then folded his forelegs over one another on the edge of the desk as he leaned forward. “If we want to play that game, we could go back much further than that. I stole my wife’s kingdom from her, and then turned her into a creature that was addicted to love, but was so hideous that none would ever love her.”

Twilight felt a chill run down her spine. Sombra’s intense stare made her feel uneasy, but not from any sense of malice. It would have been more accurate to call his gaze remorseful, or even haunted, for lack of anything better to describe it. Her ears fell back as she cautiously said, “I didn’t know that she was your wife.”

Sombra nodded somberly, his gaze slowly drifting away. “Was,” he said as he absently tapped the tip of his forehoof on the desktop, seeming lost in thought. “After a few years of being Canterlot’s ambassador to the Empire we were wed, and I became her consort prince,” he said, giving a feeble smile for a fleeting moment. “That was before my research had gotten far enough to... change things between us.”

With the conversation having unintentionally taken a turn down a dark path, Twilight found herself lost for words for a moment. “Maybe there’s still a chance to make things right,” she said, hoping to find the a silver lining among the cloud of despair that seemed to hang over the room now.

Sombra grimaced, but still remained silent as he remained within his own thoughts for a short while longer. He finally reached out with his magic, plucking the quill from the ink vial and tapping the tip a few times against the edge before bringing it forward to the parchment again. “I think at this point, I’ll be lucky if we can just clean up my mess,” he muttered as he set himself back to working on the map. Without glancing up again, he waved a hoof to Twilight as he said, “I don’t want to keep you. I’ll send the rest when it’s complete.”

Twilight decided to respect Sombra’s wish to be left to his work. She rolled the stack of pages in her magic as she lifted her right wing, brushing the wing tip across the flap of her saddlebag to pull it open. After tucking the pages into the bag, she laid the flap back over as she turned to leave the office. She nodded to Graphite in a silent goodbye as she passed by him, and reached her forehoof out to the door. She paused just as she was about to touch it, glancing back over her shoulder to the desk. Her eyes lingered on Sombra for a time, watching him as he worked. She had heard the regret in his voice as he spoke, and seen it plain as day on his face, but there was something else still there. Determination. He continued to work diligently to find a way to right his wrongs, instead of losing himself among depression and despair.

“Thank you,” Twilight said, causing Sombra to pause and glance over to her. “I’m sure this can’t be easy for you.”

Sombra bowed his head respectfully to her before returning to his work. With that, Twilight tapped her forehoof twice against the door, signaling the guard on the other side to pull it open for her to leave.

---

After leaving the office, Twilight made her way to her next visit. She actually had two reasons to be visiting the palace infirmary, both of which required her to talk with Cadance. She had visited every day, but today was the first day since the anti-venom treatments had begun that Cadance had shown improvement. ‘Leaps and bounds,’ was the phrase that Doctor Heart had used to describe just how well she had improved over the course of the last day, which was definitely welcome news to hear.

She approached room one-zero-nine, quietly peeking her head around the corner into the room. She saw Cadance laying there in the hospital bed, the back propped up so she could more easily focus on the book in her hooves that she was reading. Twilight couldn’t help but smile, and she quietly tapped her hoof against the door frame to get Cadance’s attention.

Cadance glanced to the doorway, her eyes lighting up with happy surprise. “Oh,” she said with a smile. She closed the book in her hooves, pulling the book against her chest with one foreleg as she beaconed to Twilight with the other, saying, “come in.” As Twilight entered the room, Cadance lit her magic as she began to levitate the book over to the table next to her bed. The book wobbled, drifting unsteadily through the air as it slowly made its way over. Twilight began to light her magic to give her a bit of help, but stopped when Cadance held her forehoof out to stop her. “I’ve got it,” she said as she concentrated on moving the book. It bobbled the rest of the way over to the table, finally coming to rest there as Cadance cancelled her spell. “The doctor told me to practice with my magic as much as possible. Said the mental exercise would help me recover faster.”

“I see,” Twilight said as she sat on her haunches next to the bed. “So, how are you feeling now? You definitely look a lot better than you did yesterday.”

“You mean not drooling all over the place?” Cadance said with a joking grin. The two shared a quick giggle. Cadance let out a content sigh before she reached up and scratched her hoof lightly against the bandages wrapped around her neck. “It’s strange. I don’t really remember much of what happened after I got bit. Just bits and pieces. But, I’ll take a soft hospital bed over a rock floor any day,” she said as she padded her hoof against the bed’s mattress at her side.

Twilight’s smile wavered. “I’m sorry I didn’t help you soon enough,” she said.

“Hey, it’s alright,” Cadance said as she reached her foreleg over, laying her fetlock open against the mattress at her side. Twilight reached her’s up, curling her fetlock against Cadance’s. Cadance smiled back with her gentle, loving smile, which proved to be infectious enough to get Twilight to smile again in return. “If what I heard is true, you’ve had your hooves full. A time traveling princess has to think about the big picture first, right?” she said as she gave Twilight a quick wink.

“Eh,” Twilight said through a nervous chuckle. She ran her free forehoof over her mane, stopping to hold it against the back of her neck. “So... you’ve already been told about that, huh?”

“Well, the wings may have given it away too,” Cadance said as her playful smile deepened, showing just the tips of her front teeth. Twilight’s wings fidgeted slightly as she realized that she had forgotten that this was the first time this Cadance had ever seen her with them. “Actually, Moondancer spent a over an hour talking to me after I woke up this morning,” Cadance admitted. “I never knew she was so talkative, and that she could apologize so much. I swear, every few words was an ‘I’m sorry’,” she said as she recalled the conversation. Then, her expression quickly shifted to something much more serious. “But, it does sounds like things are getting pretty serious now,” she said, ending on a light sigh.

Twilight nodded. Cadance was obviously feeling much better, so with her first reason for visiting now taken care of, it was time to move on to business. “Yeah, and we really don’t have a choice. We either try to stop something horrible from happening, or wait for something horrible to happen. But, with any luck I’ll be able to come up with a plan that won’t involve lots of ponies getting hurt. I’ve already got some good ideas, just need to make sure that I can get certain ponies to lend a hoof.”

Cadance smiled again, this time using her trademark ‘knowing’ smile. “And what do you need me to do?” she asked. Twilight wasn’t exactly surprised that Cadance had read her intentions that easily, but still hesitated to ask. “You’re still just like I remember,” Cadance said, giving Twilight’s fetlock a gentle squeeze. “Even after a couple hundred years, you still have a hard time asking for help, don’t you?” Read just like a book, Twilight thought to herself. She had never been able to hide anything from Cadance. She closed her eyes, giving a silent nod in response. Cadance shifted on the bed to lay on her side, reaching her other foreleg over to hold Twilight’s forehoof. Twilight glanced up, and smiled when she saw those gentle eyes looking back at her.

Still, her smile wavered once again. “I just... hate to ask anything of you after what you’ve been through,” Twilight said with a heavy sigh. She struggled with her thoughts, her brow furrowing as she glanced down to where Cadance held her hoof. Cadance patiently waited for Twilight to continue, gently stroking one of her fetlocks over the back of Twilight’s forehoof. Finally, Twilight drew in a deep breath, letting it out slowly to calm her nerves. She drew herself up closer to the bedside, laying both of her forehooves together there with Cadance’s. “I promise that you’ll be out of harms way. You’ve already gone through enough. Your part should actually be the safest.”

“Twilight,” Cadance said soothingly as she reached a hoof up and gently laid it against the side of Twilight’s face. Her touch had the gentlest pull toward her as she guided Twilight to lean her forehead against her own, their horns just ever so lightly touching side by side. They stayed there in this silent gesture of affection that Twilight had shared with her life long friend many times over their lives, quietly enjoying the gentle touch as Cadance’s hooftip traced up and down the side of her face. Finally, after a few moments had passed, Cadance broke the silence by saying, “The only thing I’m afraid of is not being able to help.”

Twilight nodded ever so slightly, and leaned back to see Cadance smiling back to her with that infectious smile once again. It was impossible to not feel uplifted by that smile. Twilight drew in another calming breath, letting it out slowly, and the weight of the world seemed to vanish from her shoulders even if only for a brief moment. “Right then,” she said as she settled herself against the side of the bed. “The Empire is sealed off right now from above ground. There is a way into the city from underneath it, one that Chrystallyn doesn’t know about. Once we’re inside, I’ll need somepony to disable the barrier. So long as it’s up, we won’t be able to evacuate the city.”

Cadance blinked her eyes, letting out a quick, curious hum. “How are we going to evacuate a city that isn’t ours?”

“Well, I still haven’t worked out the exact details,” Twilight said, tilting her head as she glanced off to the side. She lifted a hoof, rubbing the back of it under her chin as she continued, “but, basically, we’re going to put on a little show.”

“So, all you really want me to do is disable the barrier?”

Twilight nodded. “It should be easy for you. I know the Crystal Heart will respond to you, and if the barrier is up, then that means it’s right in the center of the city, so finding it won’t be a problem.”

Another curious hum, and that knowing smile again. Cadance gently padded her hoof against Twilight’s as she said, “Well, sounds to me like you’ve already gotten everything figured out.”

“Well, no, not everything,” Twilight said through a light laugh. So far, she only had a very general outline formulated in her mind on how to handle the ‘invasion’. The devil was in the details, as always, and would take a lot more careful planning. Planning that was going to take time. Planning that she needed to get to very soon. “Anyway, I wish I could stay longer,” she said, her ears dropping slightly.

Cadance gave a knowing nod. “You’ve got a lot to do. I’m sure we’ll be talking again soon anyway.”

“Yeah,” Twilight said as she reached forward, slipping her forelegs gently around Cadance to hold her. Cadance leaned forward into the embrace, resting her chin against the crook of Twilight’s neck while she gently ran a hoof over Twilight’s mane. After a moment of silence, the two slowly parted, and Cadance leaned back onto the bed as Twilight stood and turned a quarter turn toward the doorway. “See you soon,” she said quietly before turning away to make her way to the door.

“Twilight,” Cadance said, causing Twilight to pause just as she was stepping through the doorway. She leaned back, reaching a hoof back and placing it just on the inside of the door frame as she glanced back into the room. “Good luck,” Cadance said, sending Twilight off with another one of her perfectly beautiful smiles.

“Thanks,” Twilight said, remaining at the door for just a moment longer before turning to the hallway. She had always known that she didn’t have to face these challenges alone, but even something as simple as being reminded that her friends were there for her was enough to make the weight of the world’s fate not feel quite so heavy.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Does Chrystallyn sound exactly like Queen Chrysalis?

[Starlight Nova]

“Did I?” Chrystallyn said as she sat back on her haunches. She tapped a forehoof to her closed lips, giving a thoughtful hum as her eyes glanced back and forth toward the sky. Finally, she shook her head. “Hmm, no, I think you misinterpreted things. I believe I said I would allow you to do whatever you wanted with Equestria. I never did say anything about actually removing the binding spell, did I?”

Oh, dude! Somebody just used Discord's own tricks against him! That's gotta hurt his pride. Or impress him. Or both. I'm not quite sure.

[shyguy7829]

It's mysteries time! No, Zeg, no!

Mysteries
The Origins of the Changelings: Chrysalis's true identity is that of the former Everfree and Crystal Empire Queen Chrystallyn.
Timey Wimey: Even though the past has changed, those who are from the future still exist. How could such a paradox happen?
The Missing Spark: Chrysalis manipulated her past self into sacrificing the past Twilight in an attempt to draw out the Element of Magic. The little girl remains trapped with the past Element of Magic within the hive mind. While there might be a way to conjure a body for her, it is highly unlikely that she can be saved.
Chrysalis's Strange Behavior: It turns out that Chrysalis had orchestrated a deal with Celestia to safeguard the Elements in exchange for a place to build a Hive without being ostracized by the public.
Secrets of a Changeling Queen: Chrysalis is attempting to reclaim her former kingdom, the Crystal Empire.
The Truth about the Elements: It turns out that Chrysalis is the true creator of the Elements and Tree of Harmony. Certainly there are things that only she would know about them.
The Chessmaster: Celestia has been guided by the powers of her visions to create all of her plans.
What the Mad God Knows: Discord has proved that he might be aware of Twilight Sparkle from somewhere. Is there anything else that he might shed a light on?
Dual Destinies: Both Twilight Sparkle and Chrysalis have received rather harrowing visions. Have their fates been sealed?
Amplifier Artifact: Twilight has acquired a Celestial Weapon, Dusk. When was it created? What was it doing in the hive mind in the first place?
The Dark Prince(formerly Sombra's Strange Behavior): Revealed to be the creator of the Alicorn Amulet as well as Chrystallyn's ex-husband, his former actions were the result of the Alicorn Amulet's dominating power.

[Zeg]

4078992
As in how she talks or how her voice actually sounds? She defiantly has a similar attitude, but as far as how her voice actually sounds, it would be missing the strange ambiance that Chrysalis's voice has.

4079087
Hehe, yep. I wonder if anyone saw it coming when I set it up a while back. Was back in chapter 13, The Perfect Plan, kinda near the end when Discord and Chrissy were talking with each other.

4079100
Oh, but mysteries are so much fun!

[GreyNoise]

A couple of typos for you to fix:

“You think my mind is a febil as yours?

feeble

I did promised you that Canterlot would be safe from him.

promise

Anyway, really solid chapter, I look forward to the next one.

[kingtiger666]

How ever it was that she had managed to disguise herself, he had seen through it.

However

All accept one that the rest made way for.

except

[VcSaJen]

Chrysalis think she tricked Discord on the long-term? Yeah, in her dreams. One can't simply "control" chaos spirit of the universe. He even planned his imprisonment in stone, who know what he planned or will improvise for Chryssy? "ExactWords" and "PlunderSeeds" will be only beginning.

[BlueNinja]

4079100

What the Mad God Knows: Discord has proved that he might be aware of Twilight Sparkle from somewhere. Is there anything else that he might shed a light on?

If he does know Twi, then it's possible that all Discords are the same Discord. Therefore, he would (hopefully) consider Twilight a friend, since he comes from a future where he was reformed. (Also provides a great excuse to quote Wrath of Khan. )

[The Random Lord]

there going to put on a show

[CCC]

...alright, now FutureChrysalis has made a mistake. She's betrayed Discord.

And, even trapped like he is, his magic bound, there are so, so, so many ways Discord can mess up her life...

[Zeg]

4081018
4082053
Yeah, gotta be careful of all those small details. I wonder if Chrystallyn has forgotten what she said after she first bound him...

“What I did, is I put a binding spell on you. You can only do what I give you permission to do.”

hmm

[khatre]

Shining is hooked up with a fiancee... does this mean ... maby ...
TwiDance?
(assuming that the world does not get changed back to the original storyline, somehow)

[khatre]

Chrissy is acting all high and mighty yet when given a choice she CHOSE to take the life on an innocent filly (little Twily). She acted with a clear head of her own volition.
Sombra? At least he had the excuse that he was being possessed by an evil artifact. Chrissy has no such excuse.

[Nali]

Every update is another delightfully unexpected present, full of surprises to unwrap, and I am more than happy to receive.

[Starlight Nova]

4081018

He even planned his imprisonment in stone,

Uh... You mind proving that?

[VcSaJen]

4101171 If you watched s04e02 and still don't believe it, sorry, can't help you.

[Starlight Nova]

After the Amulet gets removed, does Sombra's voice change? If so, then what does it sound like?

[Zeg]

4120445
It would sound normal.

In the show he didn't really have a lot of speaking lines, so I know there isn't a lot to go off of there. To be honest, I thought he came across as being a fairly lame villain, what with the stereo typical deep voice with an echo and evil Muahahaha! laugh, and he draws out every word he says like he's some sort of pony-snake hybrid or something (but if I only had only a few lines the entire episode, I'd probably draw them out too.. hah! )

In my story, he's actually a fairly intelligent unicorn. He dropped the evil laugh, the voice echo, and the drawn out S's in his speech and started talking like a normal pony after losing the amulet. He'd still sound like the same pony, just without all the 'evil stuff' tacked onto his voice.

[Blankscape]

3/4th's of the way now I guess?

[silvadel]

You know Chrysalis can probably order discord to do things WITH his full power.

What color is Chrystallyn's Mane?

[Zeg]

4147395
It's currently looking like 22 chapters total, so 4 left.

4148123
Ah... well... how the binding spell works isn't really a secret. That spell puts limits what he can do, it doesn't control him, so if asked to blast someone or something with his full power, he could just say.. nah, don't feel like it.

But, being as that's the only way he can use his powers, he's inclined to do so, because the alternative is to be completely powerless. Discord doesn't like being powerless.

As for her mane color, aqua. It's very close to the same as it was when she was a changeling, maybe just a shade lighter.

Take a look at this really cool fan art. I found it just now while trying to look for a 'Chrystallyn before she became Chrysallis' example picture, and this one is surprisingly close to what I imagined happening when she was cursed. Kinda crazy how close it is, if her coat had just been a tad darker it would have been dead on with what I'd imagined.

Guess I'm not the only one who has head cannon thinking that Chrissy wasn't always a love sucking bug queen.

[silvadel]

4149550

Nonono -- What I meant is that if Chrysalis (little Chrysy) happens upon Discord, I am figuring SHE could order him about just like Future Chrysalis(Chrysallyn) which could be bad for FC.

[Zeg]

4149558
Hehehe.

The spell could be controlled through the Elements, or it could be through the caster(s)... or both! I haven't said in the story yet exactly how that part works.

Makes for some interesting possibilities, doesn't it?

[silvadel]

4149602

“What I did, is I put a binding spell on you. You can only do what I give you permission to do.”

Seems most likely to me at least that little chrys could order discord based on that. Of course time travel is a harsh mistress.

[Blankscape]

4149550

I'm also guessing you don't really get this story out there to get more readers? Not to pry or anything, but you write really well and I'm quite surprised this hasn't around a thousand upvotes now. The plot that you've come up with is by far the most creative I've ever read on site, manipulating facts and filling in unknowns in the most naturally plausible sense that things would really have been that way. I'd go as far to say this is on of the best stories of the fandom, solely for the merit of its story and not the hype, and deserves to be in print.

[Zeg]

4150573
Thank you for the very kind words.

I haven't actively tried to push this story out there beyond adding it to The Writers Group. I figured if the story itself is good enough, readers will recommend it to new readers as time goes on, and that actually has happened, which I think is really cool. I think it's done fairly well to attract as many readers as it has, far beyond what I thought it would have when I started it.

When I'm writing, I'm almost constantly asking myself a certain question. Could that have really happened? Even though it is a fictional world where everything can be made up, there still has to be a certain level of believably there or else you break that immersion with the world that the characters live in, so I always try to make my story seem like it's something that really could have happened in their world.

It's a hobby I really enjoy, and I'm happy to get a chance to share the story with others who enjoy reading it.

[Starlight Nova]

What is Chrysallyn's Cutie Mark?

[Zeg]

4194109
A trio of crystals laid out side by side that are all a shade of aqua.

[Starlight Nova]

4194806 I know she's your character and all, but wouldn't it make more sense to give her something Elements of Harmony related?

[Starlight Nova]

Will Rainbow Dash be beating anybody up in this story?

[Zeg]

4198756
Of the original three alicorns, she is the one who has a strong affinity for earth pony magic, and more specifically, her ability to work with crystal and gems. It will probably make more sense why I'm picking her mark to be this when we get to the end, but I can say that I consider gem and crystal magic to be a specialized type of earth pony magic, similar to earth pony rock farming but on a much more powerful and larger scale.

She created the Tree of Harmony, a crystal tree, that the Elements came from. She also created the Crystal Heart, and by proxy, the crystal ponies when its magic eventually changed them.

Her name is also meant to be a play off of the word crystalline.

4198763
Well... probably not going to be any major beatdowns delivered by Rainbow, but that's not to say she won't be in the thick of it. Just about everyone is going to be involved in what's coming up over the next two chapters.

[Laluzi]

Oh wow. This Sombra, the Alicorn Amulet - the way you tied in all of this is brilliant. And Chrysalis versus Chyrstallyn; I can't get over what an amazing world you've crafted here.

[Zeg]

4215513
Thank you for the complements. I've had lots of fun piecing things together in this story.

[notapony]

Sombra was surprised that the remaining five mares wanted anything to do with him. They were weary of him,

You mean 'wary' as in cautious, not 'weary' as in tired.

Anyway, really great so far. Very enjoyable and some good world building around canon facts. Right now we have young Twilight who's not quite dead, but not quite alive. I'm thinking, based on my correct idea that there are TWO elements of magic now, that somehow the little Twilight can be reformed/revived.

With the exception of the probably impending doom from Chrystallyn it seems like the current timeline is actually shaping up better than canon. The Changelings have become a quasi-ally and aren't likely to cause trouble in the future. Sombra has been released from his curse. Luna is now Celestia's equal instead of the perpetual little sister. Even Discord has a legitimate reason to screw over Chrystallyn and become a quasi-ally of the Princesses. All in all, the reasons are piling up for Twilight to stay in the past with her friends. I'm very much looking forward to more from this story.

[Starlight Nova]

Does Chyrstallyn know about Discord's Plunder Seeds?

[Zeg]

4227770
No she doesn't. She wasn't involved when that happened. Other than Discord, Twilight is the only one in this story who would know about them.

[Starlight Nova]

So, basically you have given Discord A Taste of his Own Medicine. I have to say after watching Three's a Crowd it's extremely cathartic.

[ShadowlessNight]

Quick question, will you be writing a sequel to this?

[Zeg]

4286821
Good question! I've already got ideas for side stories set in the same universe as this one. You could consider those to be kinda sequel-ish I guess, since many of them won't make much sense unless you read this story.

A full on 'part 2' sequel may be a possibility, but only if a really good idea for one comes to me.

[Starlight Nova]

Will the new villain who appears in season four appear or at least be mentioned in this story?

[Zeg]

4318953

I have no idea!

Though in all seriousness, the story is pretty much set, I just need to find the time to write the rest of it, and I made no plans to include this mystery villain. And the setting is around the same time as season one, just with an alternate course of historical events. So, something that was going to happen later (like season four) hasn't happened yet, and may not happen at all due to the different history.

[Archy the Hobo]

4319246 I realize this is an older comment but: the events of "Twilight Time" never happened so Cerberus never left Tartarus unguarded so therefore Tirek never escaped. Simple, easy way to write him out of your story.
Edit: or at least the time in which the story is currently in. Future Twilight could still have fought him...

[PiMan]

4535612
You're confusing 'Twilight Time' with 'It's About Time', although you're still right. Cerberus didn't leave his post until late season 2, but we should still be in the equivalent of early season 1 here (temporal manipulations aside)

[ForSpite]

Hah, and the funny thing is that she really could have had it all if she was just willing to go for one less magical super-weapon. But no one can afford to leave her in power with that amulet on her neck.

Oh, they wouldn't have been happy about her being in power after all she's done, but they would have been hesitant to invade.

[Shepard of Peace]

No offense, but you must have binged watched MLP for weeks and maybe taken amounts of hallucinogenic drugs to think of all this. I'm not saying it's bad, but man, this story has twists and turns like a water slide.

[wlam]

I never did say anything about actually removing the binding spell, did I?”

Discord released a single breath in a quiet puh sound. He stared back, silent as a statue for some time, before he balled his fists up and stomped the ground as he growled angrily. “I knew it! Somehow I knew this was going to happen. I just knew!” he ranted as he smashed the snow beneath his feet.

It's honestly really funny to see her do that. Discord is so often played as the unbeatable Villain Sue who's always smug and always in control. Seeing someone beat him at his own game and leave him powerless to do anything but go "oh, this is bullshit" is really, really amusing.

[Tape Deck]

Sombra was Chrysalis's husband? I did not expect that.

(Confusion-Electric Light Orchestra)
Guess it's time for my second ELO song embed. Fittingly, this song deals with both lost love and, well, confusion.