This story is a sequel to Lost into Shadow

Twilight has failed, or rather, she has succeeded. Her darkness is her power, and together with her husband, Queen Twilight has a new plan for all of Equis. The black castle rises to greater power than has ever been seen before. War is brewing while alliances are forged and others are broken. The days of harmony are dead and gone, and all the world will be forced to mobilize against the might of the Nightmare Hordes. Will they prevail in the faces of Wrath and Despair? Do they have any hope of someday returning to a time of peace and love?
....
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Not a chance, because in Chapter 1, Hope dies.

This story is a sequel to Lost into Shadow

The impossible has happened, through all the pain and darkness, Twilight Sparkle succeeded in her impossible mission...mostly. King Sombra is still plenty rough around the edges, but despite being an old dog he's making an effort to learn new tricks. Where will this new way of life take him? He has absolutely no idea, but with his queen to guide him, what could possibly go wrong?

Twilight had reached her peak, she was at the happiest point in her young life. The day of her coronation as Equestria's newest princess had finally arrived. Then the unthinkable happened, Sombra appears in the throne room alive and well demanding his chance to be reformed by pony society. The unthinkable happens again, when his wish is granted, spearheaded by none other than Princess Twilight herself. Will Sombra's nefarious plans bring her to ruin, or will she succeed against all odds? Only time can tell as it reminds them both that plans have a way of changing all on their own.

Searching for any records King Sombra may have left behind, Twilight learned of the shadowy king's tragic past. However, she also discovered his horn, in which his mind and remaining power were contained. Determined to learn how to use his Dark Magic for Good, Twilight brought Sombra back to Ponyville with her. After all, what could he possibly do as a horn? ...Or will he stay that way?

Edited by Darth Vendar and Myrkur
Inspired by Issue #1 of FIENDship is Magic
Gore tag just to be safe.

Edit 06/15/23: Now in the top 2K stories on the site, by rating! Thank you all!

...have a tendency to go awry in the most unexpected of ways.

When the Crystal Heart's power destroyed King Sombra, all of the Empire rejoiced. Little did they know, they had played right into the ancient tyrant's hooves.

Having over a millennium to plan, Sombra knew that if a pony managed to get past his traps before he could reconquer the Empire, their was little chance of him surviving. So, he let himself be 'killed', in order to get closer to his true goal undetected; the Umbrum trapped beneath the Empire.

Hiding as just his horn, Sombra laid low in the very heart of the Crystal Palace, biding his time, until the entrance to the underground section was opened by the new Crystal Princess and another princess with a purple coat and familiar magic. Recognizing that magic as that of the pony that foiled his most recent efforts, and knowing of only one princess-to-be with a coat that color, Sombra swears to make Radiant Hope pay for moving against him once again.

Using his magic to reach the deepest depths beneath the Empire, Sombra reached the sealed Umbrum undetected, and reformed his body. Having devised a way to free them during his own imprisonment, Sombra began so, fulfilling his goal even without controlling the Empire. Bursting free in a wave of shadow that left no doubt of their return, Sombra gives Cadence a message for Celestia before following his own subjects into the night:

“Give this message to the Two Sisters. Deliver unto me the princess that yet again hindered my efforts to free my people to me within a week, that I might exact my revenge against that traitorous Radiant Hope, or I shall show all of Equestria why the Umbrum were so feared!”

However, when a week passed, and Sombra found out that the princess in question was not Hope, but rather a new princess named Twilight Sparkle, he finds his plans for revenge derailed. Bound by his word, when she offers to go with him to prevent a war, he finds himself with a 'prisoner' against whom he holds little ire.

And as time passes, Sombra begins to see that he and his 'guest' have more in common than he initially thought.

AU as of Chapter 34 of the 'Friendship is Magic' comics.

After an embarrassing confession, Twilight and Sunburst try to explain and rationalize what was said over a cup of tea.

But then they realize that they actually love each other.

During a magic experiment involving the Crystal Heart, an accident caused Sunburst to enter a parallel universe. In this reality, Sunburst is recently engaged to Princess Sparkle. As he works to return home, the situation causes the stallion to consider some of his choices and what he truly values in life.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders have won the right to carry the Ponyville team flag for the Equestria Games! While Scootaloo finds reason to hope that she may one day fly, Diamond Tiara finds reason to fear the inevitable result of her failure, and a member of the Royal Guard and a young princess decide to take an important step in their relationship, and reveal an important secret to one another.

Twilight creates a spell that should allow anypony to experience an amazing 24 hour day in the span of about an hour. She wants to test out a lighter version that should give her a 5 minute experience in a few seconds to make sure the spell is safe. After a successful test, however, she is worried that it might have actually worked better than expected...

The odds of ramming face-first into the same pony twice are high enough, but by the third time you start to question if the universe is doing this on purpose.
Twilight wrestles with how do deal with her rapidly developing crush while said crush helps her find her way around the palace of the Crystal Empire. Feelings are hard, especially when you have zero prior experience with this particular sort.

This is a Flashlight fic, but it was written less as a romance and more as a character study on how Twilight behaves when she's got a crush. Cover art is mine.