He dreamt of the North again.

Trapped within icy walls and a floor cold to the touch by Celestia and her.

His crown was stripped and his armour gone, only a simple chiton was on his body.

Like before.. before...

A thin, inky smoke swirled within his crystal prison walls and Sombra stared at the figure that had formed from the smoke.

Rabia stared back with glowing, bleached eyes. She was much taller this time, towering over the King, the way Sombra remembered when he first met her.

When he was vulnerable.

She locked eyes with him and titled her head, curious.

"Did you lie to me?" Sombra asked, barely a whisper.

Yet she heard him.

" Sombra, my dear. What is wrong? Why have you come here to see me? Is your work done already?" She said, exactly the same as the first time.

"Did you lie to me?" He said again, louder this time.

A frown appeared on her face."Don't you recognise your own Mother when you see her? I'm the one who brought you into this world."

He bared his teeth. " Tell me the truth."

She bent down like a giant, glaring hatefully into his eyes. "Insolent fool, have you forgotten about us? What they had done to us?  The only truth is they have to repent for what they did to us."

The ice prison shook as with each step she took closer to him. "That is the only truth you have to know."

She gripped his chin as he tried to speak.

"And that is the only truth you shall not forget." She hissed.

The icy walls fell with a vengeance, hail and frost pounced down and devoured them both into the void chasm beneath.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luna watched as Sombra woke from a pool of sweat on a cold floor.

He frowned as he realised the cloth on his face and he reached his hand up to pull it away-

Luna seized his hand, causing him to freeze.

''Who-''

''Don't take it off.'' Luna said, lifting the area of cloth around his ear. ''Rabia can tap into your sight and hearing, right?''

''Princess?'' Sombra replied, recognizing her voice as she tucked the cloth behind his ears and released her grasp.'' Yes but-''

He stopped short.

''What happened?''

She raised a brow.''You do not remember?''

He propped himself up on his elbows as he shook his head. ''My memory does not go beyond our time in the Heart.''

Luna pursed her lips, unsure of what to tell him. She glanced around at the rest of the group that now crowded around them, only for them to shrug and flap their hands to tell her to continue.

"Rabia.."Luna finally said, turning back to him. "She took over your body and...released the Umbrums from the Crystal."

And then she continued from there, the Umbrums swirling high above them, his body slumping to the floor and Rabia nearly getting them both before they could arrive here, safely encapsulated in her magic.

She could see his eyes widened beneath the cloth.

"...What?"

Hope stepped forward and kneeled beside him."Before you react, Sombra, I know how much you want to help your people and so do I. But the person responsible for the whole mess, to begin with, is already long gone. There's no point in this whole war but Rabia still wants it. She won't listen to us. She's too caught up in revenge to care about us. Rabia even corrupted your body to get what she wanted."

She placed her hand on his shoulder. " I was with you when this whole thing started so trust me when I say, we can't trust her like we did a thousand years ago. We can't help her anymore. It isn't the right thing to do."

Sombra stayed still, taking in his first friend's words.

The room fell silent, awaiting his response.

Pinkie held a broken beaker ready to attack as Fluttershy hid behind her and Luna and Hope waited unblinking by his side.

He took off the cloth before Luna could stop him. " It's fine. She can only access me during overwhelming surges in emotions."

He stared at the cloth quietly before he lifted his head, meeting their gazes with a determined gaze." I'll help you."

The whole room breathed in relief.

Hope beamed at him, clasping his hand in excitement.

Luna though, not sure whether to trust him so easily, politely smiled in return.

Not even a thousand years changed Nightmare Moon's mind and yet a few minutes changed his.

She gripped her dress, reminding herself of her magic in case he tried anything.

She spotted the remaining shards of the Heart neatly gathered into a pile by Fluttershy.

She turned back to the King. "The Heart. Rabia destroyed it while in your body. Do you know any way on how to fix it?"

He gazed back at the Heart and stood, offering his hand to Luna who took it and stood with him. "Somewhat, I've been reading through the journals and papers Amore left here. She documented the entire process of creating the Heart. Perhaps if we use the same materials, it could help."

They turned to what remained of the Heart.

He picked up a piece and he flinched, quickly dropping the shard back down, revealing a burnt hand. " There is still magic within the shards. It will not be too hard to repair."

She frowned, about to assist him until she saw the burnt marks disappear as quick as they came.

" No worries." He said, noticing her gaze. " It's gone."

"It was still silly for you to do that." She said, stepping back as she focused her attention back to the Heart." What will you need to fix it ?"

" A piece of pure crystal and Amore's love magic, essentially what the Heart is made up of. " Sombra explained.

" But where are we going to get the crystal from?" Hope asked. " Pure crystals are only found in the outskirts of the Empire."

"That's exactly where we're going to get it," Sombra said. " Or exactly where we've gotten it. In my study, I have a satchel of the crystals."

Hope snapped her fingers. "Of course! From your trips!"

So that's where he went.

"Is that where you've been?" Pinkie asked, finally putting the broken beaker down. " Kinda underwhelming, thought you were out doing your war thing and all."

Sombra let out a laugh. " My apologies for disappointing you then."

Luna smiled at the interaction but it quickly disappeared as she realised what he said earlier. " You wish to go back into the Palace? With Rabia and the Umbrums roaming about?"

" I can blend in with my Umbrum form since Rabia and the rest have not seen me in my shadow form before." He replied. " At the same time, I'll be able to see what she's planning to do so far."

She didn't feel assured. " But it's still very risky, I can always go get reinforcements from Canterlot."

He shook his head. " As little as I know about my kind, what I do know is that the Umbrums are an immortal species and Amore's relic was the only magic capable of causing damage to them. The benefits are greater."

Luna considered him. " Very well then."

She turned to the rest. "While he does that, I'll set up a barrier around the Empire's perimeter to trap them in. I want all of you to stay put. Read through Amore's journals to see how we can fix the Heart."

They nodded their heads, quickly getting to work.

She turned back to him. " Will you be headed off now?"

"Yes."

Something inside of her stirred.

She paused then proceeded to clasp his shoulder. " I know it..it wasn't easy to hear what I told you. Thank you for trusting me."

He widened his eyes at her words, before softening his gaze. " You trusted me enough to bring me here. It's only fair I do the same."

Luna blinked, heat rising to her cheeks as they locked eyes.

He cleared his throat, looking away from her." I-I should go now."

Luna sputtered."Of-of course. Stay safe, Sombra."

He smiled at her. " Thank you, Princess."

His form dissolved to shadow and Luna shot a spell at the barrier, lighting the barrier up and tearing a hole big enough for a person to cross.

Sombra escaped through and Luna followed suit, quickly sealing the hole up as she left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" Did you get it?" Luna asked, opening up a hole for Sombra to pass through.

He held a satchel and opened it, revealing a pile of pure crystals.

" I'm sorry I took so long, I had to be careful." He said, stepping in quietly so as to not wake the rest who were asleep around a small fire that dimly lit the room

She smiled. " No matter, what matters is you're back safe."

He stared at her and she realised what she said.

" And retrieved the crystal without alerting the Umbrums." She quickly added on, averting his gaze as she sealed the barrier once more.

He gave an amused smile and Luna flushed.

" Shall we fix it now?" He said, mercifully sparing her from embarrassment.

"Y-Yes!" She said too quickly, not used to feeling whatever emotions she was feeling right now.

The Princess quickly made her to the table where the Heart was at and Sombra followed behind.

" What did they find out so far?" He asked, gently emptying out his satchel of the crystals onto the table.

" Amore fused her magic with the pureness of the crystals, thus allowing the crystals making up the Heart to not only reflect physical light but emotional light, or in other words, love." She explained as she watched him pick through the crystals.

"What magic did she use?" Sombra asked, bringing a piece of crystal closer to his face to examine it better.

" Magic made from the love she and her subjects had for the Empire."

He placed down the crystal, giving her a look.

She chuckled. " As cliche as that sounds, it is what she wrote in her journals."

He smiled and rolled his eyes before returning to examine the crystals. " I never knew Amore to be such the theatric."

Her laughter died down and she gave him a curious glance. "How...How did you know Amore?"

Sombra froze at the question and fell silent.

So did the room, with only the soft crackle of the firewood to break it.

Luna returned her gaze to the journal, feeling awkward." Never mind, you don't have to-"

"It's fine." He finally replied, face away from hers. "I was only a few moons old then. Hope was teaching me about the Empire's history so she brought me to the Crystal Heart where I met Amore."

She trod carefully."Did she.. knew you were an Umbrum then?"

"Yes, she did." He replied. " She knew it from the moment she met me. Said it herself."

" When was that?"

" When we met for the very last time."

The room stilled.

A mixture of emotions filled the Princess as she glanced at the King.

" When you...you killed her?"

" I..I didn't kill her." He breathed, his body still. "She didn't deserve that."

"Sombra-"

He turned to face her, scarlet eyes alight. " She didn't deserve a quiet death. Not when she knew what I was and didn't tell me. Not when she could have changed me."

He gritted his teeth, fangs showing as his voice dropped to a quiet whisper. "Not when she could have stopped all of this."

The room fell silent again, the fire casting a shadow on both their faces as King and Princess locked eyes for what seemed to be forever.

He turned back to his task, exhaling shakily." I didn't kill her. She's still alive but in stone and parts that I scattered around the North. As much ill as I hold towards her, I was younger then. I couldn't bear to kill a person."

Sombra continued to work as Luna stood nearby, unsure of what to say.

She stepped towards him and gently pulled him towards her.

She hugged him.

Sombra froze, his arms were still raised up and holding a piece of crystal while her arms wrapped around his torso, his warm breath near the side of her neck and her ethereal hair falling near his.

" You...you shouldn't have gone through what you did. You were a child then and to have that kind of weight on your shoulders was not fair." She said softly.

He was still frozen and she could feel his heartbeat pounding against her chest.

" Amore has always had the best intentions but that doesn't always mean she took the best actions." She said, continuing in his silence." I..I know what it's like to be hurt by someone that could have stopped it all. I know how much it hurts."

She pulled away but her arms remained wrapped around his body.

She gazed down, feeling her heartbeat against his chest. " But it can stop hurting. I've learned that."

She turned upwards to face him, his body breathing hard.

She gently brushed his face and gazed into his eyes, earnest.

" So can you."

He gazed back, searching her eyes.

He pulled her back in, his raven hair falling to her shoulders.

Then it was her turn to freeze.

She felt his tears slip down her neck.

He didn't say anything.

But he didn't need to.

She leaned into his chest, letting him do what he did need.

And it was she needed too.

///////////////////////////////////////////

WOAH!!! This chapter was super super Long and praises to you if you made it through these 12 or so pages of my OTP!! I wrote extra long this time because I've been absent for Super long but that's only because this chapter was incredibly difficult to write cos I had to figure out plot stuff and the ending I had in mind! And I felt the plot was really slow at this point so I had to speed things up a little too!

Anyway, happy late holidays and New Years! Hope they were awesome for you and if not, there are still better days to come!! :D

I'm pleased with how this chapter came out so now let me sleep for another 3 months before I update again haha ( JK! )

Thank you for your support and for reading this far and I hope to see you in the next chapter!!! :)