//------------------------------//
// Sombra's Study 
// Story: Sunny Knight: a Pony's Tale 
// by TheothersideofSunny968 
//------------------------------//

"This place sure is creepy" Cadence Commented as she and Twilight descended the stairs, looking at the jagged crystals that made up the walls surrounding them. Dark green gems lit their way along the walls, but they barley illuminated the surrounding area, giving life to shifting shadows all around them. "And you traveled down these before, all alone?"

"Well Spike was with me" Twilight said as she bravely continued on downwards towards hopefully what they were looking for.

After what seemed like an eternity to Cadence, she and Twilight finally reach the bottom of the staircase. Before them stood a door, not completely unlike the one Twilight had to get through before to get the Crystal Heart. It appeared similar in hight and design, but this one lacked the dark magic crystal that gave it life and a defensive trap. Noticing this, Twilight smiled and sighed happily. It nearly broke her heart to think that not only had Princess Celestia disowned her as her student, but that she had failed Shinning Armor Cadence, all of the crystal ponies, as well as all of her friends. The purple alicorn shuttered at the thought. She had done her best to just forget about that horrible spell and focus more on her task at hand. Both Cadence and Twilight opened the door together, cautious and prepared for any more traps Sombra might have set. But to their surprise, there were no traps. It was just a room filled with Sombra's personal belongings.  

"I knew Sombra had to have a room like this" Cadence began to say as she cautiously stepped inside. "Every royal normally does."

"Why?" Twilight asked as she fallowed suit behind her sister, looking around at the study like room.  "Don't get me wrong, I've been thing about dedicating a room in the castle to something like this, but it would be just to relax and get away from royal issues."

"That's exactly why, Twilight" Cadence continued to say as she began her search amongst the various items that were around Sombra's study. "Royals need someplace to escape to. Often a place that nopony knows of. Where they don't have to worry about the public eye or even Royal guards."

"But isn't that dangerous?" Twilight said as she examined a bust of King Sombra himself, thinking there might be a switch on it or something that would lead them to even more well kept secrets.

"Sometimes, and this very rarely happens, Royal guards turn on the Royal, either because they belong to some revolution that wishes to overthrow the ruler or because they are under a spell." Cadence began to explain as she pulled a book off a shelf and cracked it open.

"I think I read about some instances like that!" Twilight said with more enthusiasm then the topic called for. "There was one instance where the Royal guards in a pegasus kingdom  turned out to be made up of changelings, and the king and Queen needed to evacuate, so he used a secret door that lead to a room like this, only, he had prepared it with another secret door that would lead them into the waterline. And from there they snuck out of the city for help."

"Exactly why royals have such rooms" Cadence nodded and levitated the book she had opened over to Twilight. "Hey, check this out..."

Twilight put the book she was reading down and looked at the open pages Cadence was presenting to her. There an older photo on the open page, taken several years before fall of the empire. It was a photo of Sombra with his top commanding Royal guards. There where a dozen or so of them, all wearing slightly modified crystal guard Royal armor. Twilight was amazed to see they all looked so proud, and more amazed at how domestic King Sombra looked back then. Well, compared to how Twilight last saw him.

"He looks so... Different..." Twilight exclaimed as she narrowed her eyes on the picture. 

"I was told that Sombra wasn't always evil" Cadence began to explain. "That he once was a respectable ruler. But I'm afraid no pony in the kingdom really knows much more about him. Some of his memory suppressing spell must still be effecting them."

"I thought that when the power of the Crystal Heart was used, that spell broke!" Twilight was taken back by what Cadence had said.

"The Crystal Heart did 'free' them from Sombra's oppressive magic, but I guess being locked away for 1000 years had some longer lasting effects." Cadence reluctantly said, putting another book back on the shelf and trading it for another. "But that's why we're here. To find a way to break the spell completely."

"Hey, Cadence" Twilight called her sister over. "Take a look at this solider..."

As Twilight held the book out, Cadence skimmed the picture again to see what Twilight was trying to show her. Then she noticed it immediately! She can't believe she missed it before. To the right of Sombra, where the most trusted of Royal guards normally stood,  was a knight wearing black armor! The picture was an older black and brown picture, only having such cameras back then, but the armor was defiantly black. But was was more peculiar, the face of the stallion looked as though it had been smudged out. Whoever the pony was, Sombra didn't want anypony recognize them.

"I'll ask around the Royal guard, see if they know anything..." Cadence said, trying to get a better look at the rest of the Royal guards in the picture, so she knew who to ask.

"Cadence" Twilight called out so I don't slightly bothered "please tell me you know how to read this!"

Twilight then levitated another book up to her sister. As cadence looked the book over, a worried look replaced the curious one her face. There were several different text languages in Equestria, even though most ponies spoke the same language. These developed from olden times when the tribes were divided and wanted to keep the information they shared with the other tribes to a minimal amount of just verbal speaking. Even the Crystal Empire had its own language involving rune like symbols. Cadence and Shinning Armor both had learned the language within a few months, with Twilight's help of course. But the odd symbols on the pages before her were gibberish.

"All the other books are like that" Twilight reported as she pulled another book off the shelf, cracked it open, sighed, then placed it in a pile with the other books that all had the same gibberish language. "The only books that don't have those symbols are reference books that are even available in the Crystal Empire library and a fictional novels."

"We'll bring some of these with us to see if somepony can crack the code" Cadence said as she began packing up about twenty or so of the books along with the photo of the Royal guards. "I'm sure somepony will be able to decipher it."

"Would you mind if I try my hoof at it?" Twilight said, doing her best to repress an eager smile. The thought of decoding a lost language thrilled the youngest princess.

Knowing Twilight, Cadence smiled at her sister and nodded. "I was hoping you would ask. With you on the job, I know we'll be able to figure this out."

Twilight then looked amongst the many books that She had stacked into a pile that contained the gibberish language, trying to pick the thickest ones to work with. But something caught the young alicorn's eye. Looking over at Sombra's work desk, Twilight saw a black covered book with the symbol of the Crystal Empire on it. The symbol had a line through it almost as it some one had sliced over it with a knife. Something was drawing Twilight to the book. And before she knew it, the book was in her hooves. Cracking it open, she found the same gibberish language that the other books had, only this book appeared to be only half full. Half of its pages were blank.

"This must be his journal..." Twilight stated, presenting it to Cadence. "Is it ok if I take this one to study?" 

Cadence smiled again at her sister. "Of course, just be careful. Who knows. Sombra might have put a curse on that before he was sealed away."

"Don't worry" Twilight said as she helped Cadence finish packing up the items they were taking back with them. "I'll check the book over before I begin reading it. If there is a curse, I'll find it."

As the two sisters began to ascend the stairs, Cadence being more then glad to leave that dark place behind, Twilight's hoof accidentally kicked a rock over, sending it tumbling down the stairs. The two alicorn sisters paid no mind to it and continued to press upward with their haul from the shadow king's study. Had they paid attention, however, they would have seen the tinny pebble tumble over to something they should have noticed when they first entered the area. Something that stayed out of sight, but had gone unnoticed. Which was surprising since it was bright red, smooth, with a curved point. Completely opposite of the dark colored, geometric area. The item in question was the same thing that the former ruler had upon his head when he was sealed away, when he returned to reclaim his thrown, and had lost when the power of the Crystal Heart shattered him into a million pieces. As Twilight began to cast the spell to seal up the stairway once again, the shadows all around the surrounding area began to pulse and come alive. Swirling around, they began to gather and surround the curved red horn. Once the top entrance was sealed, the shadows began to reconstruct a form that resembled that of a pony without details to its form say for a pair of glowing green eyes and two rows of knife like teeth. The red horn began to reacted then dissipated into shadow, only to be absorbed the the shadow of a pony that stood before it.  Upon the shadow's forehead then regrew a horn, smooth and curved. Moments after it had sprouted, it began to burn red hot, growing darker to lighter from the base to its tip.

"Long live the king...." Sombra's voice echoed through the stairway room. The king has returned.