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// Chapter 4 - Mysterious arrival 
// Story: Retirement of a king 
// by Askre 
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Starlight Glimmer entered the map room of Twilight’s castle and spotted the alicorn at the map table, busy writing on a scroll. The unicorn walked over, wondering what was keeping the princess so occupied. For the past several days, Twilight had barely been seen unless when she was attending her duties as the headmare of the school.

“So, Twilight, anything going on I should know about?” Starlight asked once she was standing next to the seat her friend was in. The unicorn raised her brow, there was no response, just the scribbling of the quill.

“Twilight, I’ve decided to become evil again and enslave the entirety of Ponyville,” she said in a deadpan voice, rolling her eyes when there was still no response. Then the mare remembered a trick Applejack had told her about. Glancing at a nearby stack of books on the table, she used her magic to switch two books around.

Twilight almost immediately dropped the scroll and the quill and turned around. Then blinked when seeing her smirking student counselor. The princess sighed when she realized she had zoned out, again.

“Sorry, Starlight. Is something wrong?” Twilight asked and at the same time used her magic to reorder the books.

“That is actually what I was asking not five seconds ago,” Starlight chuckled, then noticed the stacks of papers on the table as well. “You have been busy.”

The princess groaned and sunk in the chair. Starlight was not wrong about that.

“I’m trying to come up with theories of what Sombra might be up to, going over the last few times we encountered him and trying to see if there is a firm pattern I could follow,” Twilight explained and eyed her work on the map table. “But every time I think I’ve come up with a plan, I realize he might have another plan in place as well. This guy was scarily prepared for everything.”

“Ever consider he might just be genuine in giving them a chance to convince him?” Starlight suggested. As much as she was no fan of King Sombra herself, as a former villain, she didn’t think that it was too far fetched.

“Oh no, don’t worry, I’m not going to make the same mistake I did with Discord,” Twilight assured her friend, then her ears lowered a little and she grinned uneasily. “And uh, Trixie.”

Starlight nodded and decided not to comment on that. Water under the bridge, as far she was concerned. Twilight jumped out of the chair, then grabbed up a book from the stack and browsed through it.

“But I also want to try and figure out why...why this outreach? Why now?” the princess asked, not expecting an answer.

Starlight shrugged. She had herself been moderately shocked when Twilight came back to Ponyville a few days ago to tell her and their friends who was now in Fillydelphia, apparently in a self-appointed reform program. Rainbow Dash had of course just immediately suggested they rush over there and blast him with the elements. She relented when she was reminded that those hadn’t worked very well on Queen Rabia, or her son, for that matter- especially if he was ready for them.

All of a sudden the two ponies noticed that the papers on the table were starting to fly off it. They felt a gust of wind and when they looked properly at the table, the mares blinked in shock when seeing a swirling vortex was starting to form on it. It had started small but was growing bigger, throwing the papers and books off it.

“What’s happening?” Twilight shouted out in alarm as the swirling vortex continued to grow larger from the map. She was using her magic to grab the flying objects.

“I don’t know!” Starlight looked just as alarmed. “We have to do something before…”

Something started to form in the vortex. A pony, a large pony, then two smaller shapes that looked like foals. There was a flash of magic and with a loud thud, a large dark gray unicorn landed on top of the map table, followed by two small colts. The vortex dissipated and vanished.

Twilight and Starlight stared stumped at the new arrival. The stallion groaned and was disoriented. His mane, tail and hooves were black and he wore a blue cape with white trims. On his back were two large saddlebags. The colts were a slightly lighter shade of gray than his coat color, but had dirty blonde manes and tails. They whimpered and immediately huddled closer to the adult.

“Uh, hello?” Twilight addressed the stranger. 

He slowly looked at her, his red intent eyes narrowing as if he were trying to make her out. The princess wondered if his vision was blurry after this strange trip.

“W-where are we?” the stallion asked, his ears flickered when hearing whimpering and he glanced down to his side where the colts huddled. “Boys, it’s alright. We’re safe.”

The two mares watched as the stallion’s whole focus went to the foals, reaching down to give them reassuring nuzzles. The one with the blue eyes seemed the most frightened and, in the end, scrambled to curl up between the stallion’s forelegs. The other, who had indigo-colored eyes, seemed to recover more quickly and was content with being where he was, starting to look around warily.

“Well, you are in my castle. I’m Princess Twilight Sparkle and this is my friend, Starlight Glimmer,” Twilight spoke again, prompting the stranger to look at her again, frowning in mild confusion.

“I’m Prince Sombra of the Dark Pony Empire, son of Queen Rabia. I ah…didn’t mean to drop in like that.” He took in the room, not noticing the confusion coming over both Twilight and Starlight.

“D-did you just say, Sombra?” Twilight whispered, not sure if she had heard that right.

“I did. Is there a problem?” Sombra looked at them, his brow rising slightly when seeing the expressions on both mares.

“Ah, just a moment,” Twilight smiled nervously, grabbed Starlight in her magic and pulled the mare with her further away from the table.

“What the heck do you think happened?” the princess whispered sharply to her friend once she thought they were far enough away, her mind still trying to make sense of this.

“I have no idea, it’s like the map summoned another Sombra, but who are the kids?” Starlight kept her eyes on the new arrival.

Prince Sombra was currently getting off the table, the whole time speaking in a soft, reassuring voice to the two colts. Once he was down, he lifted the indigo-eyed one up with magic and put him on the floor. The blue-eyed one seemed still more scared. The stallion had to hold him in one front leg, the little colt refusing to let him go.

“So uh, those your kids?” Starlight decided to ask. 

The larger unicorn looked over, appearing hesitant to answer. “Well, they are my wards, currently,” he responded and started to glance around once more. “Again, I apologize for dropping in like this, I was trying to get them back home.”

“I think we need Princess Celestia for this,” Twilight sighed, wondering what more could happen. One Sombra was bad enough, now there were two of them? If this one was even telling the truth, she couldn’t be sure. She hadn’t forgotten how this one had introduced himself, and there weren’t that many ponies around who had known that version of Sombra.





Princess Celestia entered the map room, having teleported in from Canterlot after receiving the urgent summon from Twilight. She stopped short, her eyes grew a little wider and her jaw dropped a bit. In one corner lay Prince Sombra. Nestled between his forelegs was the little blue-eyed colt looking at a picture book held up for him by the prince. The indigo-eyed colt was climbing on the stallion’s back, clearly enjoying himself.

“It can’t be,” she whispered, looking down at Twilight who had approached with Starlight when seeing who had arrived. “What happened?”

“We are still not sure. Starlight and I were talking when the map table went on a fritz. A vortex opened and those three came out of it,” Twilight explained, eyeing the prince who hadn’t noticed them yet. Judging from her former mentor’s reaction, Celestia had clearly recognized the pony.

The Sun Princess frowned slightly before turning her attention back to the prince, who was looking up. The stallion’s eyes widened when seeing her. He quickly grabbed the colt off his back with his magic and gently put him down. Then he let go of the other one as well, before whispering something to the two boys and rose up.

“Princess Celestia,” he quickly did a short bow. The blue-eyed foal ducked behind one of the stallion’s forelegs when seeing the new stranger and peeked out from behind it. His indigo-eyed brother stood firm, furrowing his little brow.

“Welcome to Equestria, Prince Sombra.” Celestia regained her composure and smiled, approaching them with Twilight and Starlight following, still looking unsure. “What brings you here?”

“I wish I knew,” Sombra said with a deep sigh and glanced down at the foal huddled nervously underneath him. “I left my mother’s court a few weeks ago to try and find a way to return these boys back to their home. We encountered a strange zebra sage who said they could help me. The sage did some incantation over a strange circle and threw some odd powders on it. A vortex formed and before I could do anything, the boys and I were sucked into it and…well, here we are.”

That does not sound like anything I’ve heard Sombra do back when he was a prince, Celestia thought. She glanced at the foals. They seemed to be no older than two years old, though maybe going towards three. “What are the boys' names?”

“Boys, why don’t you tell the nice lady your names,” Prince Sombra addressed the foals gently, smiling warmly at them. Twilight and Starlight looked at him even more confused, his tone of voice was so fatherly and kind, not what they were used to from the Sombra they knew.

“Am Barri,” the indigo-eyed colt declared, puffing his chest a little, sounding very proud. His brother just hid further behind the prince’s leg, looking nervously at the tall white pony in front of them.

“Dat Piat. He shy,” it was up to Barri to introduce his sibling, pointing at him with a little hoof.

No, no that can’t be, Twilight’s eyes widened even more. This caught the attention of both Starlight and Celestia.

“Something wrong, Twilight?” Celestia asked. She had already guessed the boys were using nicknames. It sounded like a toddler speaking a more stunted version of their names.

“Well…I’ve had the privilege of hearing Mirage Rock and Hard Shovel tell many, many stories of their sons. They can go on quite a bit about them and…I happen to know that when they were little, Private was nicknamed Piat and Barricade was called Barri,” Twilight explained, this caught the attention of the prince.

“You know their parents?” he asked hopefully.

“Wait, let’s not jump to any conclusions here.” Celestia looked at the prince. “If I’m guessing right, you are still not quite where you were meant to go or more appropriately when you were meant to go.”

The Sun Princess was not surprised to see the very confused reactions, not only from the prince, but from Twilight and Starlight. A theory was forming in her mind, and though sounding outlandish, Celestia did know there was precedence for it, so she didn’t outright dismiss it.

“Prince Sombra, how did the boys come to be in your care?” she asked first. 

The stallion sighed and glanced down at the colts. “It will sound very absurd, but they quite literally dropped out of thin air right on top of me in my chamber. We first thought someone was making a prank in very poor taste, but then mother detected some very strange magic energies both in my room and around the boys,” he started explaining before returning his attention to Celestia and the other two mares.

“Did your mother approve of you going out to search for their parents?” Celestia asked carefully. She was starting to get a very good idea now that this was not the Prince Sombra she had known. The stallion looked shameful; his ears lowered and he hung his head.

“No…I finally gathered up my courage and snuck out at the dead of night,” he sighed deeply. The prince carefully looked up at Celestia again. “I couldn’t live there anymore…you know how mother was. But I assure you that I was looking for a way to return the boys back to their home, wherever that was.”

The three mares watched mildly stunned as Sombra gazed down at the colts. Barri had gone over to Piat and the two boys were now engaged in a small game of tag between his legs. What stunned them was seeing how lovingly the stallion watched the kids for that brief moment.

“I’ve grown a little attached to them and I wanted to ensure they were returned to their parents safely. They actually gave me the courage to break away from my mother’s court finally,” he said, smiling solemnly, though there was still a hint of regret in his voice.

“Yes, that is commendable,” Celestia nodded. She could just see how the boys fully trusted him by how they undauntingly played around him. She looked at Twilight and Starlight, her expression turning more serious. “I’m afraid this is not the Sombra we know.”

“What!?” Starlight and Twilight cried at the same time.

“I…don’t understand,” Prince Sombra also looked confused at the Sun Princess.

“Prince Sombra, whoever this zebra sage was, they did not send you just to another time, they sent you to another world, similar but different,” Celestia explained and held up a hoof to stop the barrage of questions, most likely from Twilight.

“Remember the mirror that sent you to the human world Twilight? This is almost the same, except in his case he comes from an alternate pony world. You could hear that the circumstances leading to him leaving his mother’s court are quite different from the Sombra we know,” she continued, then pointed at the boys. “And only Private was sent back in time when he was a young colt.”

“Oh my gosh, you’re right,” Twilight blinked, then eyed the map table. “But why has he been sent here?”

“Could you please tell me what you are all talking about!” The mares quickly turned towards the angry voice. Sombra was scowling but it vanished immediately once he had their attention. For a brief moment he cringed as if he had caught himself doing something wrong. Then the prince looked apologetic. “Ah apologies, I… am just very confused right now. None of you are making any sense.”

Jeez, he also apologies a lot, Starlight noted, but remained silent. So far she had nothing to offer to the discussion.

“Am ‘ungry,” a peep from Piat diverted the attention to the boys. The colt was patting one of Sombra’s hooves to get his attention. Behind him stood Barri, also looking at the stallion.

“Right, there should be some rations left in the bag.” Sombra turned to where he had left the saddlebags.

“We could get them some food from the kitchen,” Twilight offered, realizing that perhaps these deep discussions could wait for a little while, especially with the young foals around. 

Sombra stopped and started to look around the room again. “Oh right, of course,” he chuckled weakly. “We’re not in the wilds anymore.”

“You tend to your new guests, Twilight.  I’m going to go and get some expert help to crack this mystery,” Celestia addressed her former student. Starlight offered to walk her out while Twilight took Prince Sombra and the boys to the kitchen.





“You really think they are from an alternate world?” Starlight asked Celestia as they walked to the castle entrance.

“I remember Prince Sombra. This one has conducted himself like the one I remember, but there is still something different about him. Then there are the boys, how they appeared…” Celestia frowned as she considered this. “Also, that short outburst of anger, the Sombra I remember would have been far more sarcastic if he was annoyed, even back when he was a prince.”

Starlight nodded, not having really any better ideas herself. She used her magic to open the castle doors. The two mares stopped short when seeing a brown earth stallion standing right in front of them, looking like he was in a hurry. For a moment Starlight thought this was Time Turner, but then realized this one was wearing a blue vest and was a little taller.

“Doctor Whooves? I was just about…” Celestia was mildly surprised to see the Time Pony standing there.

“Sorry, Princess Celestia, I’m in a hurry, where are they?” Whooves cut her off, but did bow briefly.

“You know something.” the princess frowned, not because the Time Pony had interrupted her, but because she immediately realized why Whooves was here. “Twilight took them to the kitchen.”

“Oh, I hope it’s not too late.” Whooves cringed and rushed past the mares into the castle.

“What is going on?” Starlight blinked. She had no idea who that was. It was clearly not Time Turner.

“That was a Time Pony who knows what’s going on,” Princess Celestia said hurriedly and quickly went after Whooves, forcing the confused unicorn to follow. The two mares ran for the kitchen.  Whooves had disappeared well ahead of them. Starlight almost jumped when there came a very angry voice:

“What is the meaning of this!!?”

They looked into the kitchen and saw Prince Sombra glaring down at Doctor Whooves, whose hourglass cutie mark was glowing and one hoof was also shimmering with magic. The boys were huddled behind the Dark Pony, and Twilight looked unsure what to do where she stood by the stove, having had decided to cook up some pancakes for the boys.

“You don’t understand. I have to send you back quickly or…” Doctor Whooves shrunk back a bit when the large unicorn in front of him sneered and stomped down a hoof, but showed no indication he was about to use magic.

“I will not let one of you arrogant Time Ponies come one step closer to the boys! Whatever magic sent them to me, was one of yours. Your kind has messed with them quite enough!” Prince Sombra snapped.

Well at least Sombra’s distaste for Time Ponies is universal, Princess Celestia thought, but noted Sombra’s words, he thought he was protecting the boys. “Prince Sombra, please, this is a Time Pony you can trust. Let him speak.”

Prince Sombra glared up at Celestia. She almost expected some snort of contempt or something from the dark unicorn, but instead, the prince changed his scowl to a frown before turning back to Whooves.

“Alright, you will explain yourself why you barge in here, attempting to hit me and my wards with time magic,” he growled at him, but was clearly preparing for anything.

“Whooves, he’s had a very confusing experience and still doesn’t fully understand what is going on. Please explain quickly,” Celestia told the Time Pony, who sighed heavily.

“Prince Sombra needs to get back to his world and his time. The zebra sage’s magic was supposed to work. It would send the boys back to their proper time. Somebody messed with both the timeline and the borders that separate our reality from his. If he doesn’t return, it will cause a serious paradox, because it will be him who sends the boys back in time later,” Doctor Whooves very quickly explained. He groaned when confused expressions greeted him all around.

“What!?” Prince Sombra started to scowl again. “Are you insinuating that this is my fault!? I would never rob parents of their children. The very idea!!”

“No, no that’s not what I’m saying…well it kinda is…you will change...like our Sombra, but not quite as bad, yet still…” Whooves realized everybody was looking at him very skeptically, except the boys who still just huddled behind the prince. Sombra finally grabbed them both up with his magic and placed them on his back, speaking to them reassuringly that they were not in trouble. He also backed further away from Whooves.

“You’re not making any sense,” Starlight commented. Suddenly the Time Pony’s cutie-mark stopped glowing as did his hoof.

“Oh no,” Whooves whispered and looked at the prince. “I’m sorry…the window is gone. Your…world is gone.”

Prince Sombra looked thoroughly unimpressed as he glared at Princess Celestia, who still looked somewhat puzzled at the Time Pony.

“Am I going to get an explanation what by the First Queen is going on here!?” the prince snapped as he held up one leg as if trying to shield the colts on his back with it.

“I would very much like one myself now,” Princess Celestia said quietly, still staring at the now very apologetic Time Pony.

End chapter 4