Heartbreak

After Celestia received the response from Luna, Sombra led them down a long passage that she recognised as the hallway to the guest wing from her own castle. He stopped in front of a large wooden door and ushered the four of them inside. The room was decorated with only a few sofas and a coffee table.

"You will sit and wait here for your friends to arrive," he stated. "You can try leaving the room, but it'll be locked, so you won't get anywhere. Celestia, come with me."

Twilight gasped, saying, "We're not letting you take the princess anywhere without us!"

"You'll have to, you don't have any choice in the matter. Come."

Celestia followed him, looking back at the three ponies. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me." After she left the room, Sombra slammed the door shut behind her. Rarity looked at Twilight anxiously as the purple princess sank into one of the sofas.

"What do we do now?"

"We wait. There's nothing we can do."

Without a word, Sombra silently led Celestia through the castle to the grounds of the castle.

"Walk with me," he finally said, gesturing for her to trot up next to him. The two of them walked in silence, and Celestia found herself looking at the scenery, anywhere but at him. The place was in desperate need of somepony with a green hoof to restore it. All the plants were withered and gray, and it looked like there were clumps of paper hanging from the surrounding trees.

Paper… why paper? That was when she noticed something familiar about the path.

With a sinking feeling in her stomach, she stuttered, "Wh-what is this place?"

Sombra chuckled softly. "You recognise it? I thought you would. This is the wishing garden." Celestia sucked in a breath remembering one of their last few moments together. "It's become a bit run-down, I'm afraid. But the wishes are still here," he said, nodding at the paper.

"Do you… still have our wish?" She winced, anticipating an answer that would lead to even more pain.

Instead, he replied, "Of course. It's just not here, I keep it someplace much more special to me." He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I still love you, you know. It's been hard, knowing that even if you were able to cross over, I would still be in this state. Evil. Full of the hatred of both princesses combined. And I know that you are as good as they come. I would think about how I used to be that way, and how simple things used to seem back then, and how complicated things are now."

Celestia replied, "To be completely honest, I let myself hope that I could come back to find you as a good pony. We recently had an adventure with the Sombra of our world, and thanks to his old friend Radiant Hope, he was stripped of his evil energy. I thought that because our worlds require balance, the same thing would happen to you. Luna tried to bring me back to reality, but I wouldn't listen and instead I chose to fix the mirror and recreate the portal between our worlds. And now I come back to disappointment, and more pain, because… I still love you too. I want more than anything for us to be together, but it's…"

"Just not possible," he finished.

"That… wasn't what I was going to say."

"But it's true."

"I suppose it is."

Celestia turned around, and Sombra followed. She blinked back tears and tried to keep the look of acceptance plastered on her face, but he noticed how much it was eating her up inside.

He just chose not to do anything about it, even though he really wanted to.

When he opened the door to let Celestia through, she managed to keep her brave face until he closed the door. Then, she let a single tear fall down her cheek as she stumbled into a sofa in the corner.

"I'm fine," she insisted. But they all knew she wasn't.

Luna tentatively placed a hoof on the glass of the mirror. It wobbled and shimmered like she was touching gelatin.

"Ooh, bouncy!" Pinkie scooted towards the mirror and attempted to copy her with two hooves, and almost fell completely through the portal before Rainbow pulled her back.

"Bouncy, she said, "but it clearly doesn't support your weight."

"Not that it needs to, of course," Luna said. "Do we have everything? Everyone? The Elements?"

"All here," Spike said, patting the large bag he carried on his back.

"Alright, then." Luna forced her hoof all the way through the glass of the mirror. The rest followed quickly.

As soon as they stepped through, their surroundings were a mess of vibrant colors and patterns that gave Luna a headache. But she steadied herself the best she could, given the circumstances, and in a matter of time, the five of them were sprawled outside Canterlot Castle.

Luna gasped at the sight of it. "I don't remember this place looking quite so…"

"Depressing?" Pinkie finished, looking around at the gray walls, ground, sky, everything. Even the ponies' coats and manes took on a grayer hue. "This was actually the way it looked before we came here the first time. You were just delusional from your collision with the old mirror so you didn't remember that part. Only the part when everything was sunny and cheerful because the princesses were restored to their good selves. But since they're evil again, they don't like nice things anymore, so they destroyed everything. Even cake."

Luna nodded. "Right. This is all just a little unexpected."

"Halt!" a voice from behind them shouted. They turned around to see four of Sombra's castle guards, interesting helmets and all. "Intruders! Trespassers! King Sombra will make you pay for-"

Luna rolled her eyes at them. "Stop the theatrics. He asked us to come here. I am Princess Luna, and before you attack," she said, glaring at a stallion who looked like he was just about to attack her, "I am not the nightmare that you ponies have fought. I'm the good version from the Equestria in an alternate universe."

The guard stopped, cleared his throat, and collected himself. "Of course," he said sheepishly. "The King has been expecting you. Come with us."

They exchanged uneasy glances before Luna gulped and headed into the castle, the others trailing behind.

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