Chapter Twenty Five: Enter the Dragon
Friendship Rainbow Kingdom
Flash Sentry escorted Daring Do into Twilight's room. "Daring!" Rainbow yelled excited.
"Rainbow!" they hugged each other. "So good to see you again." Daring told her friend.
Twilight walks in, "Hi Daring Do!" she greeted. "You're just in time."
"Why'd you call me here?" Daring Do asked.
"I would like you and Rainbow Dash to help me with an experiment."
"Experiment?" they both asked.
"Yes, I recently built a machine that can tell if two or more ponies are related or not."
"What do we have to do?" Rainbow Dash asked. Then a pair of tweezers floated in the air and took a piece of Rainbow's hair, "Ouch!"
The tweezers did the same to Daring Do, "Ow!"
"Why did you do that for?" Rainbow demanded.
"Sorry, I need your hair samples for my experiment to work." Twilight said taking the hair samples to a machine that had a screen. She pressed some buttons and it opened up. Twilight put the hair samples in the machine and it closed. The screen on the machine showed the hair samples put into the machine. Then 'SCANNING' in red words appeared and it started loading.
"Did you say that the machine can determine that two ponies or more are related?" Daring asked.
"Correct. You and Rainbow Dash share some similarities like the pattern on your manes, tails, personalities, and not to mention your eye colors. So it got me thinking: are you two long lost sisters?"
"You're kidding?" Daring asked.
"That would be SO cool!" Rainbow yelled.
"I have also read that two twin Pegasus sisters were separated during a really bad storm at a very young age. One took to the sky and the other traveled the world. And it sounded much like you two but it remains to be proven." Twilight said before the machine beeped and then papers came out. 'MATCH!' in red letters appeared on the screen. Twilight examined the papers carefully and then gasped.
"What's the matter?" Rainbow asked, "And what does MATCH mean?"
"Your DNA sample matches Daring Do's DNA sample. And according to this..... you two ARE sisters!" the two were now at a loss for words. Sombra appeared in the room as a shadow and then normal form. "Hi Sombra!" Twilight greeted.
"Greetings Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. Daring Do I presume?"
"Yes. Nice to meet you your Highness." Daring Do greeted before bowing.
"You may call me Sombra. I have come to tell you that my Dragon Egg is about to hatch."
"Dragon Egg?" Daring Do asked.
"Months ago Sombra started having these visions about an evil dragon coming to the Crystal Empire and he found a Dragon Egg and it was put under his care." Twilight explained.
"Thank you Twilight. I also sense a familiar darkness coming from that egg so there's a chance it might be evil, but I hope we can reform this creature."
"Hey, maybe you can put that in your new book." Rainbow suggested to Daring.
"Good idea, and I'll also write about having a long lost sister."
"That'll be a great story!"
"You and Daring Do are sisters?" Sombra asked.
"Yeah, we just learned about it right before you arrived with Twilight's new invention." Rainbow pointed at the machine.
"Fascinating. You've done a great job Twilight; you've reunited two sisters."
"Thank you Sombra."
"I also take it you're going to spend time and catch up on a lot of things?" Sombra asked the sisters.
"You bet. Rainbow Dash would you like to go traveling with me?"
"You bet I do!" they hugged and they both took off out the window leaving their trail blazes.
"They really ARE sisters." Twilight said with a giggle.
Sombra's Castle
It was in the middle of the night and King Sombra was fast asleep in his bed. The dragon egg began to crack and out came flames! The noise woke Sombra, "What the?!" then he saw a shadow come from the flames. It looked like Sombra, and yet it didn't. The shadow laughed wickedly and that laugh sounded like Sombra when he was evil. "No, it can't be!" then the room blew up with Sombra in it!
The guards came and found the room ruined. They dug through the rubble and found King Sombra. "Your highness! Are you alright?!" They helped Sombra up.
"He's here...." he coughed.
Luna flew through the window the creature shattered, "Sombra, are you alright?!" she began nuzzling him.
"The egg.... it hatched...." Sombra told her, still shocked.
Crystal Empire
By daybreak Luna, Celestia, Shining Armor, Cadance, Discord, The Mane Six, Daring Do, Easter, Flash Sentry, and Isle were in the same room as Sombra, some of his knights and servants. "Why have you called us?" Shining Armor asked.
"It's bad.... even worse than I was ever was...." Sombra replied. "The egg hatched and I finally remembered why I put it under the throne before my defeat...."
"What?!" Isle yelled.
"Why did you put it there?" Shining asked again.
Sombra sighed and said, "Before my defeat I knew that I would be defeated again someday so I created a beast more evil than I was to take my place...." all their eyes opened wide with surprise. "That's right, and with a piece of my mane I was able to create a perfect Dragon clone of myself. His name is Sombragon, and his one and only purpose is to take over the Crystal Empire, eventually the world, and make every living thing remember me. And he will stop at nothing to do so. Please forgive me. If I remembered sooner I would have gotten rid of the egg instead of watching over it...."
"Sombra, it's not your fault." Cadance assured him.
"Losing a memory could happen to anypony or creature." Discord added.
Suddenly Sombra's horn glowed, "I can feel the beast; he is getting closer."
"Is it possible to use the Elements against him?" Twilight asked.
"My clone is very powerful, but if I can weaken him there might be a chance."
Luna approached him, "You're not fighting him alone." she said.
Discord turned to Godzilla form, "Yeah, let us have a piece of the action too!"
"I created this monster so I must stop it even if it means I go down with him. Luna, Discord, everyone, I'm sorry but I won't let any of you fight him!" Discord turned back to normal as Sombra turned to his knights, "Do what you can to protect the citizens of the Crystal Empire...." the knights saluted and then he turned to his servants, "Do what you can to help...." the servants bowed as their king turned into a shadow and left. Luna was going to follow him but Celestia stopped her. Sombra appeared in the center of the Crystal Empire getting everypony's attention. "Listen up!" Sombra yelled. "There is going to be an evil greater than I once was coming here!"
All the crystal ponies talked to each other about it for a moment until one of them asked, "Who is this great evil? Who could be greater than you?"
Sombra looked down, "It's an evil I created when I was evil. Crystal Ponies, I'm sorry. I will do everything in my power to fight him off. Until it is safe to come out you must stay in the Crystal Empire." with that he went to the entrance of the Crystal Empire and looked back at the Princesses on the balcony and nodded. Altogether their horns glowed and a barrier formed around the Crystal Empire locking Sombra out. Sombra's horn glowed, "He's near....." he whispered. Suddenly a cloud of shadows was coming right towards the barrier. This scene reminded many of the Crystal Ponies about what happened that day the evil Sombra came back and begun to panic.
"He led the monster toward us! We're doomed!" a Crystal Pony yelled.
Suddenly a dragon resembling Sombra appeared out of the clouds of shadows. This dragon was a giant; he had Sombra's face except he had a small horn on his nose and three red horns; his scales were as gray as Sombra's coat; he wore a crown and armor just like Sombra's except the armor was spiked; his underbelly was red and black in a pattern; he had wings as red as Sombra's cape with red claws at the top; his spines were red and in pairs, and the bottom of the spines were red and black in in a pattern; the end of his tail had his unicorn tail; and he had razor sharp claws. The dragon saw the barrier and laughed. Then he said, "Foolish mortals! There is nothing you can do to stop me preventing my quest. I have fed on the darkness all over and became strong!" he looks down at Sombra approaching him, "Ah, King Sombra.... you dare challenge me? Me the King of all Monsters?!" he laughed again. "Very foolish choice. You and I are superior; you and I are the masters of darkness; together we can have whatever we want!"
"Don't think you can try to recruit me!" Sombra snapped at his clone.
"Why do you protect these ponies even though many of them have not forgiven you?" Sombragon asked him.
"Because it's right."
The dragon laughed, "Pathetic. Time, love, and friendship has done nothing but made you weak. However, it is not too late to reconsider. Join me, and together we'll be unstoppable."
Sombra shook his head fast and looked up at the dragon with anger in his eyes. His eyes glowed, the purple aura from his eyes were bigger than usual, and his horn powered up, "NEVER! I would rather disappear forever than to hurt those I have grown to love!" with that he turned into his giant shadow form.
"So be it! I have offered you a chance, but you have made a mistake choosing to protect the Crystal Empire and now you will cease to exist! Prepare yourself!" Sombragon yelled, spreading out his wings, getting into battle position, and roaring. The two giants tackled each other and the fight was on.
Friendship Rainbow Kingdom.
The CMC and the CMS arrived at the teleporter that had a picture of the Crystal Empire on it. Spike came in, "Don't think about going to the Crystal Empire!"
"Why not?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Twilight told me not to let anypony into the teleporter until she comes back." Spike told them.
"But why?" Sweetie Belle asked next.
"There is an evil coming to the Crystal Empire that Twilight, Sombra, and the others have to take care of. So until it's taken care of the teleporter is off limits!"
Outside of the Crystal Empire
Neither Sombra and Sombragon were holding back. Sombragon breathed blue fire on Sombra, but he didn't flinch and fired a magic beam from his horn. The dragon used his wings as a shield. Sombra stopped and sent black crystals at the beast, trapping him. The dragon easily broke out of the crystals and breathed fire at Sombra who unleashed a magic beam causing the flame and magic beam to struggle.
Suddenly the CMC, CMS, and Spike came into the room and on to the balcony. "What's going on out there?" Apple Bloom asked Applejack.
"Apple Bloom! I thought I told you to stay put!"
"I know, but we're worried about Sombra and we want to help too."
Twilight looked over at Spike angrily, "I'm sorry, I tried to stop them!" he said.
Twilight sighed, "It can't be helped. Just stay close to us." Sweetie Belle jumped on Rarity's back to get a better look.
She gasped, "Sombra's fighting a dragon!"
Scootaloo got on Rainbow's back before she flew up, "How cool is that?!" Scootaloo yelled.
"Dears, this is no laughing matter." Rarity told them.
Sombra formed shadow claws and was now wrestling with his clone. Their battle went on for a while until Sombragon got the upper claw, lifted Sombra into the air and tossed him at the barrier. The magic on the barrier hurt Sombra as he screamed in pain and the impact caused the barrier to break. Sombra then shrunk back to his normal self breathing heavily. Sombra struggled to get up, "I..... WON'T..... GIVE UP!" his eyes and horn glowed weakly. The two stared each other down. Luna just couldn't watch this anymore and flew off the balcony towards the beast.
"LUNA! DON'T!!!" Celestia yelled. The dragon breathed fire heading straight to Sombra who closed his eyes. Then there was the sound of Luna's scream.
"LUNA!" Celestia and the others yelled.
Sombra opened his eyes and saw Luna on the ground unconscious. "LUNA! NOOOOOOO!!!!" Sombra ran up to her, took her in his arms, and went back to the center of the Crystal Empire. Celestia and the others raised the barrier again and went down there with the others. "Luna...." Sombra began crying as he held Luna close.
Celestia rushed over to them and hugged Luna too, "Oh, Luna!" she cried.
The CMC began to cry as they hugged their sisters. "Is she...." Apple Bloom was about to ask Applejack.
"I don't know...."
Sombra sat down Luna, "Luna, my love...." he couldn't wake her up, "This.... this can't be happening!" with that his horn and eyes glowed brighter and he went into an uncontrollable rage. Everypony watched in horror as shadows began to leave them and enter Sombra who screamed in anguish and began to change in appearance. Sombra began to grow in size; claws grew out of his hooves; his tail got longer; as he grew so did his armor and his cape tore; and he began to look more like a horned lion then a unicorn. As he grew the ponies ran for cover and Celestia took Luna to safety. Sombra stood on his hind legs and laughed wickedly, "There can only be one King Sombra! That will be me!" he yelled in a beastly voice before roaring.
Twilight realized what just happened, "Oh no! Darkness has entered his heart again!"
"Open the barrier!" Sombra ordered, "The Sombragon is mine! Mine! Mine!" The conscious Princesses, seeing that Sombra is still in there, lowered the barrier as Sombra jumped and landed in front of the Sombragon and then raised the barrier again. "Round Two!" Sombra said with a roar.
The dragon laughed, "This will be more fun than I hoped." Sombra, blinded with rage, ran towards his dragon clone and pounced as the dragon breathed fire. The fire had no effect on Sombra and they wrestled on the ground biting and clawing at each other. They used their powers against each other and fought for what seemed like hours. Both the dragon and Sombra eventually got on their knees breathing heavily. Sombragon chuckled, "Congratulations. You, my weaker self, have made me, you're greatest creation, breath hard." the dragon got up and approached Sombra, "But victory will be mine and I shall rule this world as it's king. But this world will be a World of Darkness!" he raised a claw.
Sombra jumped up, screamed, and landed behind Sombragon. He wrapped his arms around the dragon, "So it has come to this!" Sombra yelled, "Twilight, the Elements now!"
The Mane Six, with their Elements of Harmony, flew to the air until Twilight realized something, "Move away first Sombra!"
"NO! I must make sure he doesn't escape! HURRY!" The Mane Six were very hesitant. "NOW!" Sombra yelled again. In tears, the Princesses lowered the barrier and the Mane Six fired their beam at them causing the dragon to roar. "Hold still you impostor! It won't be long now!" Sombra yelled still holding the dragon. When the dragon was starting to turn to stone Sombra jumped out of the way and watched.
"NOOO! I AM SOMBRAGON! I AM THE KING OF MONSTERS! I AM THE ETERNAL DARKNESS!! I AM INVINCIBLE!!! I..... I...... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" the dragon was now a stone statue. Sombra got back up and used the last of his strength to raise a claw and turned the statue into a pile of rubble. Sombra laughed his one last evil laugh before he collapsed, shrunk, and turned back to normal.
"Sombra!" Twilight and the others flew down and carried Sombra back to the center of the Crystal Empire.
Luna regains consciousness and gets up fast, "Sombra!" she looks around. Once she sees Sombra on the ground runs over to him, "Sombra! My Sombra!" She knelt down and lifted Sombra's head. All the ponies gathered around and were stopped by Flash Sentry, the other guards, and Sombra's knights.
"Give them some air!" one of them ordered.
"My Sombra....." Luna sobbed as she spoke. The Princesses, Easter, Shining Armor, the Mane Six, the CMC, the CMS, and Spike walked up to them.
Sombra raised his head, "There's nothing you can do for me..... the darkness.... has taken it's toll.... one last time...." he said weakly. The tip of his tail was turning to stone and was working it's way up slowly.
"Sombra! No!" Luna hugged him crying.
Sombra raised a hoof and dried off her tears and looked at the ponies watching. "Cutie Mark Crusaders and Supporters, come here....." the six approached him. "All my friends, please come here...." the Mane Six, Spike, Discord, Shining Armor, the other Princesses approached him as well. "Thank you..... thank you all.... for showing me the true meaning of friendship and love..... and helping me despite my wicked ways....." half his body was turned to stone.
Twilight, now crying, sat a hoof on his. "Sombra..... you are more than welcome....." was all she said.
"Sombra, I don't understand. What is happening to you?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Children..... I'm afraid my time is coming to an end....."
"NO!"
"But you're immortal!" Apple Bloom cried.
"Even immortals have endings....." Sombra said as the children cried and hugged him and he hugged them back.
"Sombra....." Fluttershy said crying.
"Oh Sombra...." Rarity said before she and the rest of the Mane Six and Spike gathered and hugged Sombra as well.
"Please, don't leave...." Applejack begged.
"My friends..... I'm sorry..... nothing can prevent this.... goodbye...." they all let go and Sombra turned his attention to Shining Armor and the Princesses, "Goodbye..... Celestia..... Isle..... Shining Armor.... and Cadance....." then he looked over to the others, "Goodbye Flash Sentry..... Discord..... Easter..... everyone ....." he took his crown off and gave it to Princess Luna, "Goodbye..... my love..... take this crown so..... I can always be with you....." Luna took the crown in her hooves still crying. "Goodbye..... even when I'm stone I'll never forget you and I'll always love you..... Luna..... and my friends...." with that he turned to stone completely with a tear going down his face. Then Sombra crumbled.
Luna gasped, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" she collapsed on the pieces crying. "Please..... oh please no..... don't leave me....." she sobbed as she spoke. "I love you...."
Discord and Celestia cried and hugged each other. Apple Bloom rubbed against her sister crying, "Sombra..... he's gone?"
Applejack hugged her, "I'm..... I'm afraid so....."
The Crystal Ponies who have not forgiven him felt very guilty. One of them said, "He.... he sacrificed himself..... to save us...." All the Crystal Ponies and their children hugged each other and cried. All of Royal Guards, Sombra's Knights and servants got on their knees with their heads down. Applejack embraced Wild Forrest and Apple Bloom as they cried. Rainbow Dash, Daring Do, wrapped their wings around Scootaloo and each other as they shed tears. Sweetie Belle and Rarity hugged and cried. Fluttershy hugged Rapper Mouth and Polkey Dots as they cried while Easter wrapped an arm across Fluttershy's shoulders crying. Flash Sentry, shedding tears too, wrapped his arms around Twilight Sparkle as she cried on his shoulder. Shining Armor held Cadance in his arms as they too cried. Isle nuzzled against Celestia and Discord. Pinkie Pie hugged Rainbow Dash, Daring Do and Scootaloo crying. Spike hugged Twilight's arm and cried as well. Then they all had flashbacks of the times they spent with Sombra.
In the Crystal Empire the Crystal Heart began to glow and so did the tears everypony and creature were shedding. The tears magically flew through the air entering the stone pieces of Sombra. Then the stone pieces glowed a light blue. Luna saw this and backed up gasping. Everypony and creature watched in awe as the stone pieces flew through the air and began rebuilding themselves. Once Sombra was put back together the stone began to crack. Then there was a flash of light! Once the light went away, Sombra was in the air! Sombra's grey color has changed to sky blue; his black mane has changed to dark blue; his new cape was purple; and his new armor was light blue; his red horn has changed purple; and his face was handsome. He floated back down to the ground and laid there. Luna walked up to him and was going to touch him but he moved and slowly got back up and opens his eyes. He looks at himself for a moment and turns to face Luna. Luna was completely breathless. His eyes sparkled like sapphires as he smiled at her, "Luna, it's me!" his voice has changed as well. He took one of her hooves in his hooves.
Luna's horn glowed as did Sombra's. Luna gasped, "It.... it IS you! Oh Sombra!" they embraced. Their eyes met, and then they kissed. As they kissed all the damage that Sombragon caused corrected themselves. All the ponies cheered and whooped for joy. "Oh Sombra..... I love you so much!" Luna told him.
"I love you too.... now and forever....."
The Mane Six and the children hugged Sombra and Luna. The other Princesses, Spike, Flash Sentry, Easter, Discord, and Shining Armor joined them. "GROUP HUG!" Pinkie Pie yelled.
Once they let go Sombra said to everypony, "I have been reborn a Crystal Pony; I am no longer the creature of shadow and darkness, but I still have authority over darkness. I am now a creature of crystals and light!" with that the crowd cheered again. Then a dark shadow ball appeared and landed before Sombra and Luna. The shadow began to take shape into a colt. The shadow faded and in it's place was a grey colt with a dark red horn, black mane, and black tail. His crown, necklace, and shoes were similar to King Sombra's when he was the creature of darkness except the crown didn't have the rubies, and his cape was purple.
He laid on the ground as if he was sleeping. He opened his eyes, showing his red eye color, and yawned. He looked around afraid, and saw Sombra. "Daddy?" he asked before getting up and approaching him. "Daddy, I.... I just had a horrible nightmare...." he said crying and hugging Sombra's arm.
Sombra smiled and hugged him back, "It's okay..... it's over now...... Umbra....."
"Awe...." many of the ponies said.
Umbra looked up at Luna, "Mommy?"
Luna's eyes teared up a little, "Yes honey, I'm your mommy...." she said hugging both her fiance and new son.
Twilight wiped the tears of her face, "Celestia, you're.... you're an aunt again...." she said happily. "But, how did Sombra and Umbra....."
"I have a theory." Cadance said. "The Crystal Heart saw how Sombra sacrificed himself selflessly. And because of his brave and unselfish sacrifice the Crystal Heart has made him into a Crystal Pony. And I also believe that the Crystal Heart believed that the Sombragon deserves a chance to start his life all over and has made him into a colt. But if it weren't for the Elements of Harmony, every creature's and everypony else's help, it might have not been possible." Cadance picked up Sombra's crown which has turned water blue, the silver turned to light purple, and the rubies changed into sapphire and walked over to Sombra, "I believe this belongs to you, my friend."
Sombra takes the crown and puts it back on his head, "Thank you Cadance."
"This calls for a celebration!" Pinkie Pie yelled, "The Sombra-Saving-the-Crystal-Empire-from-the-Dragon Party!"
A big party was held that day. There was music and dancing; lots and lots of sweets and fruit juice; plenty of party favors and balloons; many games, you name it. The couples were dancing. Cadance, holding her baby, danced with her husband Shining. Eclipse shared a dance with Scorpan as Starlight Glimmer shared her first dance Sir Stonehorn. Some of Sombra's knights and servants who has not found love or friends found them during the party. The CMC and CMS befriended Umbra since he had no Cutie Mark. Apple Bloom taught Wild Forrest how to dance during the party. Rapper Mouth was showing off his rapping and dancing skills. Polkey Dots was balancing on a ball while juggling crystals entertaining some of the ponies. Scootaloo and Sweetie played the games. Rarity helped out with the dresses and costumes with those who had nothing to wear during the party and was being paid. Pinkie Pie was being Pinkie Pie while Applejack was helping out with the food and drinks. Daring Do was signing autographs while her sister Rainbow Dash made a few Sonic Rainbooms. Luna and Sombra, with their new son, embraced. Luna kissed her son's head before she and Sombra kissed again.