"What!? What do you mean he's been sighted that's not possible!" Shining Armor said loudly.
"Well it clearly is or they wouldn't have sent me this!" Cadence said angrily.
"Well have they caught him?"
"I don't think so they would have told me if they did."
"But he literally shattered!"
"I don't know, but I need to go," she said quickly, turning around.
Flurry Heart heard all this and wanted to help.
"Mommy wait!"
"No sweetie I need to go," Cadence said about to leave.
"I'll come with you," Flurry Heart said.
"No, you're too young and this is just for the princesses."
"But...but I am a princess," Flurry Heart said confused.
"In title yes," Cadence said hesitantly not wanting to hurt her daughter's feelings. "But you haven't earned that position yet."
"Earned?" She said tilting her head in confusion.
"Yes, earned," Cadence said knowing she needed to explain this to her daughter before she left. "You see, you may have been born an alicorn and princess, but you have not yet earned the position of a princess. You need to do that before you take on the responsibilities of one. Do you understand?"
Flurry nodded her head in response, even though she was still a little confused.
"Good," her mother said as she began to fly up. "Now I really need to hurry. I'll see you soon." She exclaimed as she waved to her daughter goodbye and took off. She figured that would be quicker than taking the train.
Flurry Heart stared at the ground thinking: how will I earn being an alicorn princess?
"Hey it will be alright they'll find him," her father said trying to comfort her.
But he didn't know that's not what she was worried about, she knew they'd find him. She was worried she'd never be able to prove she can be helpful as a princess.
What can I do? :she thought as she went back to her room.
Cadence almost crashed through the window when she got there, but quickly telaported just in time(like Twilight :-). When she got there all eyes were on her, Twilight's was one of pure fear, Celestia's was one of concern, and Luna's was one of anger, but not towards her.
"Cadence where have you been?!" Twilight exclaimed, running towards her. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, I just got held up. So what's going on?" She asked worriedly.
"Like I said in the letter, King Sombra has been spotted," Celestia said as she pointed to the guard in the room. "One of the guards spotted him on their patrol."
"Are you sure it was him?" Cadence asked the guard.
"I'm certain your highness," the guard said in his deep voice.
"Although," he continued before anyone could interrupt him. "He did look...different."
"Different, what do you mean?"
"I'm not exactly sure," he said slowly. "He looked weak."
"Weak, I wonder what that means?" Cadence said curiously.
"I't means," Celestia said sending the guard to get more of them. "That he's not strong enough to attack and we have time to prepare."
"You're right," Twilight said walking closer to Celestia. "We need to be ready."
"Because while we don't know where he is, he has the advantage," Celestia continued."
"But what I don't understand is why he was seen in Canterlot," Celestia said looking out the window. "Why wasn't he in the Crystal Empire?"
"I'm not sure, but we would have seen him." Cadence said hesitantly. "I think." She mumbled the last part to quietly for anyone to hear her.
"Well we don't have any time to waste." Celestia said no longer looking out the window. "You should go back to the Crystal Empire and put your guards on high alert. I will do the same."
"Of course, I'll let you know if we see anything." Cadence said as she telaported outside and flew away.
"And I let my friends know about this so they can look out for him," Twilight said as she walked out of the room.
Celestia noticed Luna had been silent the whole meeting.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine!" Luna said quickly and probably too loud.
"Are you sure? You don't seem like it."
"I said I'm fine!" Luna said as she started to walk out of the room.
"Oh, I see," Celestia said as she walked towards her sister to face her. "You're scared and upset, just like you were the last time King Sombra returned, and with good reason, but do not worry. What you fear will not happen again."
"I don't know what you're talking about," her sister said unconvincingly. "I do not fear anything of Sombra."
"I know you don't want to admit it, but you do fear what I think, and that's okay." Celestia said as she turned around to leave. "Now I need to go and tell the guards of this new preparation. I'll leave you to your thoughts."
As Celestia left the room Luna thought about what she said. She knew she was right that she did fear something about Sombra and didn't want to admit it, but she didn't know if her sister was right about it not happening, and that's what she feared. That it would happen.
"Oh," she sighed sadly. "What am I going to do?"
Flurry sat alone in her bedroom, worrying about her mom as she played with her toys.
"Hey kiddo mommy's back," Shining Armor said peeking his head out through her door. "Why don't you go say hi?"
"She is!" Flurry squealed very loudly. She ran so fast that she almost crashed into her dad on her way out.
"MOMMY! Your back, so what's going on, are you okay, is everything alright, what's happening?" She asked all at once.
"Whoa sweetie slow down. Yes, I'm fine and...uh...," she stuttered trying to remember everything Flurry had said. "Yes everything is alright.
"Oh, I just remembered," Cadence said suddenly. "You're going to be late for your private lessons with Sunburst.
"Oh right, I forgot," Flurry said.
"That's alright, why don't you go wait in your room and I'll tell you when I'm ready to take you," Cadence said kindly.
"Ok," she said walking to her room.
"Is everything alright?" Shining Armor asked curiously.
"I'm not sure, but Princess Celestia said to put our guards on high alert and let her know if we see anything."
"That makes sense, I'll get right on it."
"Thanks," his wife said as she gave him a hug.
"See you soon," he said as he turned around and left.
Cadence slowly made her way to Flurry's room and knocked. "Flurry, honey are you ready to go?"
"Yep, all set," Flurry said as she tightened her saddle bag.
"Hey mommy do you think my cutie mark will be in magic like Aunt Twilight's?
"It could," Cadence said smiling.
"Have you been reading the new books Sunburst lent you?" Her mother asked curiously.
"Uh...yeah totally. For the most part," she mumbled the last part, but Cadence still heard it.
"For the most part huh?"
"What?" Flurry asked innocently.
"Never mind, it's fine. Just make sure you read them at least a little bit. Now come on let's go, I'll race you!" Cadence said smiling, running out the door.
"Hey that's not fair!" Flurry Heart shouted trying to catch up.
Sombra returned to his cave after collecting some things for a potion. He noticed that the cave was brighter than usual. He looked at the dimly-lit right corner of the cave. There, was a young unicorn colt that was a spitting image of him except his eyes and horn. His eyes are an emerald green and his horn was normal. The young colt was reading and practicing magic while Sombra was away (that's all he really ever did).
Sombra walked towards him and asked, "what are you practicing?"
"Oh hey, sorry I didn't see you there," the colt said nervously. "I'm practicing a teleportation spell," he held up the book smiling, very proud of himself.
But Sombra wasn't smiling or proud, "that's it!" He said angered, "you're just now learning that. You should have already known it."
"I'm sorry," he said weakly. "I'll try harder."
"There is no try. You either take what is yours or you don't. Understood?"
The colt nodded sheepishly.
"Good, now keep practicing and maybe you'll be almost as powerful as me, or as powerful as I used to be and soon will be again."
"I will," the colt said going back to his book. "Father."