Still Evil

"Sombra!" Twilight yelled as the crystals continued to grow, both around her Equestria's beloved princess and Luna's counterpart, who was shrieking with rage. "You said you had this under control, but so far, all you've done is let Princess Celestia down!"

Her angry words stung, but Sombra shook those feelings away and replied calmly, "Just one moment, please." He concentrated on thinking of his plan, blocking out the sounds of Luna screaming at her evil sister to free her.

"Relax, sister, everything will be alright in the end. They're not going to let their Celestia become imprisoned. Before it even covers half of the bubble, I guarantee you, they'll stop the spell and let her out, letting you go free too. And then we'll be able to force the key to the other world out of them."

"You better be right," Luna growled.

Meanwhile, Sombra was still thinking. His mind kept wandering to the what ifs, like "What if I can't figure out a plan in time?" "What if I never see her again?" He forced those thoughts out of his mind. His backup plan would work. It had to. If it didn't…

Sombra ran to the good Luna's side. As he approached, she snapped, "What have you done this time? My sister is in peril because of you!"

"Now isn't the time for that. We're going to release your sister, but we have to do it as soon as possible. After she's freed, capture the other Luna again. I know what I'm doing," he whispered frantically.

"If you don't, you are definitely going to regret it."

"Is that a threat?"

"Sombra, I'm above threats. That's a promise."

He gave her a smile he hoped looked both brave and reassuring, and then hurried off to talk to Twilight. "Stop the process. Now. I have everything under control, I promise."

"Glad you finally have your stuff together. It's about time." Using her magic, Twilight changed the spell. The crystals receded, and the bubbles popped. Good Celestia and evil Luna fell out of their bubbles and collapsed to the ground. Luna started to laugh, but in a matter of seconds, there was another blue bubble around her. She screeched in anger.

Working quickly, Sombra created a red bubble around Celestia and her purple cape. "Now, Twilight!" he yelled, and she cast the spell to begin sealing the two princesses away, who pounded their hooves against the rounded walls of their soon-to-be prison.

"You… you saved me," Celestia said in disbelief, and locked eyes with Sombra.

"Of course I did. I do still love you, after all."

The caged princesses glared at each other. If looks could kill, both of them would be a pile of ash.

"'Everything will be alright,' she says. 'We'll force the key out of them,' she says."

"How was I supposed to know they had a Plan B? They sure didn't last time!"

"Why would you think they wouldn't learn from their mistakes? Thanks to you, we'll be trapped in here for who knows how long!

"It's not just my fault. You're the one who let yourself get captured."

"My gosh! I swear, if we ever get out, I'm going to mmhm mmh mm." The rest of Luna's words were muffled by the crystal as it closed, sealing her inside. The crystal cages free-fell for a few seconds before Celestia and Luna caught their counterparts.

"Now what do we do with them?" Luna asked. Celestia shrugged.

"Well, what do you do with the rest of the villains you defeat?"

"Usually they go to Tartarus, but I'm not sure how the worlds would react to locking these two away in our Equestria. Do you have anything similar here?"

"Yes. I can escort them there after you leave."

As Luna and Sombra discussed the fate of the princesses, Twilight wobbled from exhaustion as she walked to Celestia. "I almost lost you. Again."

"Yes, but you didn't. Good thing Sombra had that backup plan," she added, staring at him with a dreamy look in her eyes.

Twilight's heart broke for the princess. But all she could bring herself to say was, "I think the two of you should work things out before we leave for good. It'll hopefully give you some closure."

"For… good? Right, that… that's for the best."

"Here, maybe I'll take this," Twilight suggested as she magically took the crystal prison Celestia was still carrying. "I'm sorry it has to be this way, Princess." With that, she approached Luna and gestured to Celestia and Sombra. The princess of night understood immediately and marched ahead to give them privacy as the group journeyed back to Canterlot Castle.

"So…" Sombra started, then stopped. He had no idea what to say.

"So," Celestia said. "We're going to have to close the portal for good. Again. And while I'm glad I helped you, I can't keep wandering over here. The path just isn't stable enough."

"Do you think we could… stabilize it? There has to be some way to do that, isn't there?"

Celestia sighed. "If there was, Star Swirl would have found it and used it. He did like his coffee, and for some reason it never tasted the same if it was grown in our Equestria." Sombra laughed, and she continued, "But more than that, he knew what this did to me, and he would do anything to help us. I know he tried so hard to find something that would help, but I guess it just wasn't possible."

"Then stay here."

"What?"

"If we can't use the portal after this, stay here. With me. Rule by my side. I don't…" Sombra swallowed and took a breath. "I don't want to lose you again."

"I don't want to lose you either, but I have responsibilities. I'm a princess. I can't just stay here with you, especially since-"

"I see how it is." He started to walk faster so he didn't have to walk beside her.

Celestia kept his pace. "What do you mean?"

"You were going to say that you can't because I'm a villain."

"No I wasn't. You can't get mad just because you assume what somepony is going to say."

"But I am a villain, Celestia. I don't want to be, but I am. And maybe it's time I changed that."

Celestia almost followed him as he stormed away, but after a few seconds he disappeared in a plume of black smoke. She continued on the path. Luna and Twilight were still far in front with the Mane 6, but they didn't notice Sombra's disappearance. So Celestia followed them, silently cursing herself for making the mistake of letting Sombra believe he needed to change that badly, and for not doing anything about it once he did.

Thanks for reading! Please comment if you have any questions or feedback.