//------------------------------//
// 31 - Somber Affairs 
// Story: Prince of Errors 
// by David Silver 
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"Alright, girls, we have a job to do." Twilight thrust a hoof out and was met by her five girlfriends, and a Spike. With a mutual nod of assurance, they rushed off towards the train station. They had a Crystal Empire to save, again.

Sombra had returned, whole, well, and just as creepy as ever.

He hadn't destroyed anything, yet, but they would get there before he caused too much trouble, hopefully.





The prince strode imperiously down the street, crystal ponies shrieking and running away as he came. Of course they would, for he was King Sombra at the moment. He had to play the part, it was just part of things. He could put his own slant on it, but if he veered too powerfully away, he'd be punished for it.

"Subjects," he roared as he marched through the city towards the castle. "Come and greet your king!" He wasn't sure who had need of King Sombra, but it had to be somepony, or he wouldn't be in the form. Announcing his presence felt like the right thing to do, searching for that pony.

Three guards landed in front of them, Flash Sentry at the head of the small formation. "Stop right there!" He said with almost painfully obvious bravado, shaking a little, a spear raised towards the prince. "We won't let you hurt anypony."

The prince felt dark power welling up as he waved dismissively, grabbing the spear in dark magic and flinging it away so powerfully it slammed into the wall of a crystal building and embedded itself there. Thankfully it didn't actually hit anyone on the way. "I don't have time to deal with mewling whelps! Someone has summoned me, and I would know who is so brazen!" He had meant to ask politely who wanted King Sombra. That was polite... for the king.

The other two guards rushed at him in a brave act of defiance. The prince snarled, his eyes flaring as they were tossed aside almost as roughly as the spear had been, their weapons clattering to the ground, separated from them in the sudden shove. He thrust a hoof at the one left, Flash Sentry. "Where is the one that summoned me?!"

Really, he just wanted to find that pony, pat them on the head, and tell them whatever they needed to hear from Sombra. What could a pony want from Sombra? "Tell me and we can avoid... pain." Ack, he had meant that much more nicely than that.

Flash took a half step back, shaking like a leaf. "Your time is over! G-go back where you came from!"

"I will, as soon as I have what I want." He drove a hoof down with a loud thump, glaring at Flash Sentry. "Ugh, nevermind. You're useless." He had no wings, but wanting to go to the castle was enough to make his borrowed body go into motion, floating up on dark mists, his body becoming smoke and mist on the breeze.

"It's him!" came an excited little squeak.





Cadance stepped out onto the balcony with a scowl. Flurry Heart was safely ensconced in the castle, tucked far away.

"Do you see him?" Shining Armor joined  her, looking out over the city. "There!" He thrust a hoof at the dark figure, a cloud with the face of a pony, terrible and sinister. "There he is!"

Sombra appeared to be entering a house. Cadance drew a low gasp, teeth set at the sight of their enemy going to harm one of her citizens. "We have to stop him..." He was already in the city limits, meaning erecting a barrier would do little. "How is he this close?" The Crystal Heart was there, exuding its lovely powers. It should have chased him away.

"I don't know, but we can't just do nothing."

"How close is Twilight and her friends?"

Shining looked over his shoulder at a clock inside the room they had emerged from. "She should be here soon. I can't just watch and wait. You stay here, I'm on the way." He turned to leave, but her hoof went up in front of him.

"Don't be so hasty. I don't want you getting hurt." She kissed one of his twitchy ears. "Please."

"I promised to defend this nation," he replied sternly. "I can't just... do nothing. You know that."

"I'm just asking that you not forget yourself. I want my husband back, in one piece." She lowered her hoof out of the way. "Keep that in mind."

He dipped his head in silent agreement, and charged forward to be the brave warrior of the city and his family.





"Who dares to call me!" boomed the prince, looking around.

There was a crystal colt, bouncing in place with... excitement? They didn't seem to be scared of him at all. "You're here! You're really here!" He was clip-clopping his forehooves rapidly. "Oh wow!"

"Y-yes... I am here..." The prince floated to the ground, starting to reform into a solid shape once more. The youth's exuberance was disarming, even to his gruff Sombra shell. "What is it that you... wanted?"

The colt flashed the biggest smile. "They always told me that if I didn't eat all my veggies and feed the cat every day, King Sombra would come and take me away and here you are!"

Not-Sombra blinked softly, trying to parse that. The foal wanted him to snatch them up and make off with them? "What ridiculousness is this?!" He had meant to ask more gently than that... "Why?"

The colt shrank back a half-step, glancing around nervously. "W-well, you see..."

The door leading from his room burst open. "Why ar--" The words were cut off by a deafening shriek. The mare that had come in on them saw the prince and began wailing with a terror that would not be easily rivaled. And it didn't stop. She just kept screaming like a pot of water left on the stove, whistling away with only the hope that it'd eventually run out of water as any sign that it could some day end.

Not-Sombra shoved a hoof forward, pushing the mare without touching her in a sudden slide across the crystal ground. The door slapped shut in her face, muffling her continued scream. "Is that your mother?"

The foal's ears were pinned down in a futile attempt to keep the sound away. "No! She's a bad mean mare and you're going to take me away from her. C'mon, let's go!"

The prince was increasingly unsure what was going on, but that screaming... He reached for the foal and the colt floated into the air, drifting towards him. "I will expect a full explanation!" he boomed, becoming black smoke and drifting away with the colt securely in his ephemeral grip.





Shining Armor burst through the front door. "I'm here!" he called towards the screaming he could hear, scrambling through the house towards it. "You'd better not be hurting anypony, Sombra. I won't allow it!"

There was a mare at the top of the steps, pointing at a door, still screaming.

"It's alright...." But she was still screaming. "Ma'am?" She did not pause. "Miss?" He reached out and softly shook her. "I'm Shining Armor, remember? I'm here now."

She looked him over even as she screamed, only starting to slow down as she seemed to soak in who she was in front of. "Oh... oh... Shining Armor, thank Celestia! Sombra stole my child!" She pointed at the door more emphatically. "Save him!"

"I'm on the case!" He saluted sharply, as he had learned from his time as a guard, then ran for the door, barreling through it into a perfectly empty room. It wasn't entirely empty. There were plenty of signs that a young colt lived there. Toys and posters that matched the fact were strewn about, but there was no pony present. There was no window open either.

Then again, he had seen Sombra seeping in through the cracks in the window to start. Could he take a foal out the same way? Apparently yes. Shining rushed to the window and threw it open, but there were no shadow kings there, or lost foals. The city was quiet, save for the nervous peeking of ponies just starting to poke their heads out of their homes, looking for much the same thing as he had just done.

"Dang..."





The prince gathered in a cave, spilling out the colt to the rough floor before he became solid once more. "There, we are far away from that infernal noise."

"You did it!" He looked around the cave with wide eyes. "Huh... I thought your place would be more... I dunno... grand? Maybe evil looking, with tons of servants and stuff?"

The prince hiked a brow at the child. "I require answers and you will give them." He snorted, dark magic escaping his nostrils. "Why have you summoned me just to take you away?" Was that kid a few flowers short of a bouquet?

"Ugh, if I have to..."

"You do," stated not-Sombra flatly. "Begin now."

"My real mom and dad went away... a long time ago... That mare isn't them, but she keeps telling me what to do and I hate her!" He stomped down a little hoof with a pout on his face. "I want to join you. Everyone's scared of you. I'll be your right-hoof pony! We'll take over everything and then we can have dessert for breakfast and play arcade games whenever we want!"

The prince softly blinked at the colt. He was summoned to act out a childish power fantasy? He struggled to think of how to get the child back to where it belonged, and get them to stop wanting Sombra, without breaking the veil and being left with a crippling migraine to add to the annoyances of the day. "I will not promise any titles! Is ice cream what you truly desire?"

"Yes please!" The colt bounced up and down with a big smile, apparently entirely happy with the presence of the dread King Sombra and seeing no possible harm in it. "One of those bowls with so many scoops." He waved his hooves wildly, trying to pantomime the incredible sugary snack he saw coming. "You just have to ask for it. They'll give you whatever you want."

"If they know what's good for them..." He still planned to set some bits down, even if the words he said tended towards being rough. "Very well. We will get your iced cream, then you will be happy?"

"Then we get to work!" The colt bounced forward and started to trot for the exit with a silly grin, visions of being Sombra's second bouncing in his mind just as eagerly.





The train came to a soft halt, allowing Twilight and friends to disembark. Spike wasn't wearing his disguise. "In a time like this, I think ponies will be comforted by the presence of--"

"Spike!" came a sharp happy cry. "Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious." An excited hoof waved down from a window and ponies began to emerge from the city in droves despite the group not even reaching the city borders yet. By the time they got there, there was a mob waiting for them, their crystal faces lit up with hope at the presence of one of their greatest heroes.

"You've come to defeat Sombra like last time," assured a mare as if talking herself up as much as Spike. "I kept hoping you'd come."

A stallion nodded softly. "There won't be any problems now. How do you plan to take him down?"

Spike waved at his pony companions. "Let us through, good ponies of the empire. We'll have a cunning plan to set this straight in no time at all."

Ripples of awe and delight spread through the crowd. Surely anything Spike, their glorious hero, came up with would be amazing! They began to part the way, allowing them to proceed as they cheered and called to him, as if he was the only one there actually doing the fighting.

Rainbow rolled her eyes as she followed along. "Yeah, that isn't a little annoying... I helped too you know!"

Applejack lowered her hat a little over her eyes. "Ya helped lie to them, not sure how much of a hero that makes ya really."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "I certainly did more than that, but we're not here to discuss our public image. Let's find Sombra and settle this before anypony gets hurt."





Sombra sat on his haunches in front of an ice cream stand. A bowl was filled with more and more scoops of different colors. "Is this enough," squeaked the stand pony, shaking softly.

"No!" countered the colt, watching it stack higher and higher.

"That is sufficient," grunted the prince. He floated it in fell magic, setting it in front of the colt. "Now eat!" The moment the view was blocked between them, he pulled out his bit pouch and quickly paid the stand-operator, but said nothing, his eyes on his young ward. "If you can even finish half of that, I will be amazed."

"Challenge accepted." With a final clap of hooves, he buried his face in the frozen treat and began eating voraciously with loud snaps and licks.

Rainbow landed with a sudden crash, bit of stone kicked up from the impact of her hooves. "Stop right there, Sombra! We creamed you once, we can do it again!"

He meant to ask where the others were, wondering if Rainbow was alone. What came out was, "You and what army?"

"Awesome!" squeaked the colt, watching them with ice cream stained lips. "Go on, show her a lesson!"

The prince tensed. He had to fight Rainbow or fail in his role as Sombra. "Y-yes, of course. Foolish pegasus! You think you have even a tiny chance against me?!"

Rainbow waved the colt away. "Go on before you get hurt. Alright, Mister Shadow, let's do this." She reared up on her hind legs and danced back and forth, pumping her fore hooves in the air in mock punches. "I'll knock your block right off!"

Rainbow looked far from fearsome in his eyes and he laughed at her cruelly as only Sombra's voice could do justice. "You are not even worth my time!" He had meant to tell her to calm down. That was almost the same, right? He waved her back and suddenly she was propelled, dark magic grabbing her up and tossing her across the street away from them.

"Stop right there!" It was Twilight and Spike, flying in just a little slower than Rainbow had. Twilight was scowling at him, horn glowing brightly. 

The way the prince saw it, she wasn't happy. He glanced at the small colt, who seemed overjoyed at the coming conflict. "Twilight Sparkle..."

"King Sombra," she growled back at him. "I don't know how you got so close to the heart, but we're here to kick you out."

"I fear no heart!" He wasn't actually a creature of shadow, why would it hurt him? "Now I will defeat you; unless you want to just give up?"

Spike blinked at the offer. "What? No. We're ready to kick your back end into next Tuesday!"

He could see Rainbow being helped up by Rarity. They were all arriving, so he had to act quickly. "Feeble ponies. You will make passable slaves in the crystal mines." He made to wave them away, as had worked so well up to then.

Twilight's form was surrounded by a bright sphere of energy that seemed to resist the shove entirely. "Not so fast! We're better prepared."

"Yeah!" Pinkie bounced up towards them, her eyes locked on him as the rest of her bounced up and down eagerly. "You should just give up now."

With a great hiss, he drew up into smoke and fog, darting away from the gathering of ponies that could likely beat him up if they so wanted. "You will regret making an enemy of me!" He had meant to say they weren't enemies, oh well...

Rainbow suddenly zoomed from where she had landed across the street. With a hind hoof out, she flying-kicked the prince, but he was a shadow, and she passed through him like a puffy cloud, soaring right past and landing on a rooftop when she could get her velocity under control.

He tried to think quickly on how to avoid the Mane Six, and Spike. He had to get away from them, and convince that colt to stop needing him... "You can't stop me." You shouldn't need to stop me! With a growl of announce, he swooped down towards Rainbow. "I have this under control. Begone!"

Spike suddenly came between him and Rainbow. "Stop right there!" He gusted out fire at him in a great cone of heat.

The prince expected it to wash past him without effect, but he was wrong. Fire still hurt! He gutterly called out in pain and veered away from the angry dragon, aborting his approach of Rainbow Dash.

"Brave and glorious," laughed Rainbow, taking new flight. "C'mon, we have him on the ropes!"

The prince ducked just inside a small alcove he spotted in what could have been a school. There were no teachers or students present, possibly because of his presence. Still, it was a break.

"You're acting funny."

He swirled around in shadow form to find Pinkie had come up on him out of nowhere. "You haven't said 'Crystals' as much as I remember."

The prince scowled at her, trying to think of a proper response to that. Was she safe to confide in like that? Maybe... maybe not... "I have no interest in that damnable crystal."

"Oh, well that's good." Pinkie bobbed her head with a satisfied expression. "So what do you want?"

Well... maybe?... maybe... "I need to discipline my right-hoof foal," he hissed out, rising into the air. "Stop getting in the way!" He fled the building and Pinkie, fuming silently at how terribly he'd phrased that.





The colt wiped his snout with an arm. "Huh... he should have kicked all your flanks by now."

Fluttershy tilted her head at the foal. "Why would you want that?"

"He's gonna take me away from all the bad stuff."

Fluttershy reached a hoof for him, but he danced away. "What kind of bad stuff?"

Rarity trotted up next to Fluttershy. "Shouldn't we be getting him home?"

"No!"

Fluttershy extended a wing between the foal and Rarity. "Wait, please... Um... would you tell me what the bad things are?"

"I just want someone that cares about me. She has like a dozen colts!" complained the foal, bouncing in place. "I never get to... do anything!"





Twilight soared on powerful wings, Rainbow at her side. They could see King Sombra weaving between buildings and banked down to try to intercept him. Just as he burst out between the two aisles of buildings, Twilight came down in front of him. Rainbow came up from behind, trapping the dread king between them.

"Stop right there," ordered Twilight, a hoof extended. "You've hurt these ponies enough. We won't let you bring any further harm to the ponies of the city."

Ugh. He snorted explosively, dark gloomy magic escaping him. "I just want to educate one stupid little foal!"

Rainbow punched at his shadowy rump. "As if we'd let you torture some little colt! Give it up!"

With a flash of magic, Twilight encased the not-Sombra in a shimmering field of magic. "I have you now."

No! With a mighty roar, the prince surged outwards, dark lightning crackling over his foggy form. The bubble he was in cracked and splintered, Twilight squinting in concentration, trying to contain him.

A bolt of lightning pierced the magic from the inside and he started to rush out of it, a foul vapor through the crack in the glass. "You won't stop me!"

Rainbow rushed up and slammed a cork into the hole made by the lightning, suddenly cutting off Sombra's retreat. Half of him was inside, and half was on the outside. He could feel through both in a confusing blur of sensory input. "Impudent fool," he said twice at once, his world swirling dangerously.

He fled with the half he had control of, the other half struggling against the sphere, but it seemed Twilight could hold him, even constricting it tighter to keep him from bouncing around.

Though they saw a wisp of dark magic fleeing, they focused on the half they had, bringing it back towards the others.

"Did you get him?" Spike joined in their wing. "Oh yeah, there it is." He squinted at the captured form in the ball. "He sure looks smaller than before."





Rarity shook her head slowly. "Poor thing, but they're doing their best, I believe. It's not an... ideal situation, don't get me wrong, I understand that."

"Not ideal?" The foal took a step back. "What does that even mean?"

"We're back," announced Rainbow as all three came in for a landing.

The foal's eyes locked onto the captured small form of the half-a-Sombra. "What... happened?"

Spike gestured  to the captured dark magic. "We captured Sombra. He won't be bothering anyone ever again."

The foal blinked softly at what was his savior. "Oh..." It was then that he noticed who was pointing. "Hey, aren't you that dragon? You beat him up once before, huh?"

"Twice now," proudly reported Spike, putting his hands at his hips and striking a very proud stance.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "With no help at all."

"Wow!" The foal clapped his hooves together sharply. "Maybe I'm just hoping for the wrong person. Can I be your assistant dragon instead? I can eat gems real good, promise!"

"Uhhh..."





Elsewhere, the prince felt his 'self' drawing back together as color fled him. The dark greys and greens and purples became soft shades of grey and he sprawled out over the ground. Somehow, he had completed his duty, and he wasn't suffering a pounding pain in his head, implying he had done it properly.

Why was everything in double though? He tried to shift his focus between the two perceptions, but they were hopelessly muddled, leaving him seeing a lot of basically nothing. He closed his eyes rather than struggle with it, feeling a headache starting to form just from his brain trying to reconcile it.





Pinkie tilted her head up at the bubble. Everyone else had forgotten about it, but at some point Twilight was holding a small version of the prince in there, with his eyes closed. He looked uncomfortable. She moved just under the bubble, which was good as Twilight forgot why she was even holding the bubble up and it popped with a loud cork of a noise.

The prince fell right on Pinkie's back, like a foalish sized passenger. While the other girls spoke with the little colt about his situation at the orphanage, she wandered off with him, keeping an ear trained on him but being quiet until they were around a corner. "Why are you so small and why did Twilight have you in a bubble?"

"Is that you Pinkie?" asked the small prince that still had his eyes closed. "Everything is really confusing right now... I think I'm in two places at the same time."

"Woah, don't do that. It's really dizzying."

"Tell me about it," he agreed with a faint smile. "I'm going to open my eyes a moment..." He cracked open his right eye, seeing both places he was in. "I... think... I'm behind a crystal rock candy store?" He squeezed his eye back shut. "Can you get the two mes back together?"

"I'm on it." Pinkie trotted through the streets as they started to resume normal activity. Sombra had been scared off, as far as people were concerned, done by the valiant action of Spike, Brave and Glorious.

Pinkie tilted to the side, letting the prince on her back slide down and off, bumping into the other prince. The two flowed into each other with a loud sound of a drain unclogging, reforming into one larger pony that blinked open his eyes. "That is much better. Thank you, Pinkie." Without thinking about it, he gave her a hug, and she seemed entirely alright with her reward for helping a friend.