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// Chapter 10 - The Dark Ponies of Canterlot Castle 
// Story: Retirement of a king 
// by Askre 
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“To her Highness, Princess Celestia.

I am heading into deep research into the situation that pulled Prince Sombra and the two boys into our world. I have determined that it was not Starlight Glimmer’s messing about with time that was the cause of the accident. If you could relay that to Princess Twilight Sparkle, it would be really appreciated.

I don’t know how long it will take and right now all I can tell you is that the one who did this is very powerful and very dangerous. He knows who I am. If he finds his way to this world, we are in serious trouble. I must find a way to prevent that from happening.

Take good care of the castaways. This Equestria is now their home. They have nowhere else to go.

I will keep you posted.

With regards.

Doctor Whooves.”

Princess Celestia rolled up the scroll she had just recently received from the Time Pony and put it aside. She couldn’t say she liked what it said and wondered what Whooves had found out. It was not usual for him not to just say it outright. Something had clearly spooked him.

“I need to go and speak with our guests,” she addressed her secretary and rose from her throne.

The alicorn made her way from the throne room and headed to the guest wing. While she was doing so, she thought about how to break this news to the prince.

The Dark Pony seemed to have adjusted alright so far but did focus most of his time just taking care of the two boys. Celestia figured it was at least distracting him from his situation. She had to admit feeling some admiration for how dedicated the stallion was to the colts.

She finally arrived in the room that had been assigned to them, knocked on the door and was invited in. Prince Sombra stood by a small bed that had been put up for the two boys. The prince had told them the colts liked sleeping next to each other. The Dark Pony was currently in the process of draping a blanket over their sleeping forms.

“They are taking a nap. It can take forever just to get Barricade to agree that he needs his sleep,” Prince Sombra whispered with a smile and glanced over to Celestia.

“That is a battle many parents face with their children.” The Sun Princess nodded, then gestured to the door. “Shall we take a walk so we don’t disturb them? The guards can keep an eye on things here.”

Prince Sombra nodded and quietly left the room with Celestia,  who carefully closed the door behind them. The two royals then made their way through the hallways until they reached a balcony that had a view of the gardens of the castle. There they sat down. The prince took in the view. He was still getting used to how colorful Equestria was even if he had been there now for over a week.

“I received a letter from Doctor Whooves. He claims to have found what caused the accident that brought you and your wards here,” Celestia spoke up, having been silent while still thinking how to begin. Prince Sombra looked at her, not sure how to read the princess right now. She looked sad to him.

“I’m afraid he also confirmed that your world was destroyed in the process. You and the boys are stuck here.” 

Celestia’s words stung his heart, the prince dropped his head, looking down at the balcony floor.

“Was it I who caused it?” the Dark Pony whispered, trying to hold back a tear. He felt a hoof gently touch his back.

“No. Whooves said that this was caused by someone very powerful and dangerous. Unfortunately, he didn’t go into details about who,” the princess told him gently. “He also said he’s going into deep research to figure more out about it. That is the trouble with Time Ponies sometime. Even Whooves who is an unconventional Time Pony. They disappear for months on end then suddenly reappear again. These are very mysterious ponies and difficult to figure out.”

“And you told me the Dark Pony Empire in this world is long destroyed…I have nowhere to go.” Prince Sombra looked up, staring into the distance, his heart aching and ears dropped low. “I can’t even return the boys home. If I understood correctly, the ponies here aren’t their parents. Their sons are already full-grown.”

“The boys… they are all I have left of my world,” Prince Sombra whispered and slowly his muzzle twisted into a sneer and he stomped down a hoof in hot fury. “When I find the thing responsible for this…”

Princess Celestia arched her brow, but remained calm. This was quite the show of temper the prince portrayed, yet it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The prince winced and eyed the crack on the balcony floor he had caused.

“My apologies…I shouldn’t be saying that. It’s pointless to look for someone I don’t even know who…besides, if they could destroy a world, what could I do against them.” Prince Sombra looked away, feeling a bit ashamed for his behavior in front of the ruler of Equestria.

“You have nothing to apologize for. It’s understandable you feel anger towards whoever did this,” the princess told him and smiled. “I’m impressed how quickly you reign in your temper.”

“I try. I confess my fuse can be a bit…short.” Prince Sombra carefully and hesitantly glanced back at her, still not overly proud over his conduct.

“Well, we can’t return you and the boys back to your world.” Celestia gazed over the gardens for a moment before looking back at the prince. “But you and the boys are more than welcome to stay here. As members of the court.”

“What?” the prince said, surprised to hear her offer. Part of him wanted to refuse, but then thought back to the two colts. He had constantly worried about traveling with such young children through the wilds, worked his hooves off to keep them as warm and safe as possible with the limited means he had after leaving his mother’s court.

The boys were still so young and didn’t understand at all what had happened to them. Prince Sombra frowned a little in thought. He couldn’t abandon them.

“I said the boys were all I had left now…but the opposite is also true. I’m all they have left. They need stability and not to have to worry when or where they will get their next meal or place to sleep,” the Dark Pony quietly said mostly to himself, but Celestia could hear it. “Very well, I accept your kind offer.”

Again Princess Celestia was impressed how the Dark Pony kept placing the colts first. Even when faced with his king version, he kept trying to protect the children.

“You may not have found their parents, but I think they have found theirs.” Princess Celestia smiled knowingly and started to walk back inside.

“W-what do you mean?” Prince Sombra asked, confused as he followed her.

“Oh, I think deep down, you know, Prince Sombra.” The Sun Princess smiled warmly at him, then watched as a guard came running.

“Excuse the interruption, your Highness, but one of the children has awoken, he’s calling for…” The guard didn’t even get to finish. Prince Sombra was off like a bullet, leaving a somewhat startled guard at the abrupt departure of the stallion and Celestia who just chuckled softly.

The princess kept walking back towards the guest room. The door was open and she could already hear the deep, yet soothing voice of Prince Sombra coming from it.

“Shh, calm down, Private. It’s alright, I’m here. Don’t wake your brother.”

Little Barri must sleep like a rock. Celestia glanced in. Prince Sombra sat on his own bed and in his forelegs he held little Piat, who curled up in the Dark Pony’s embrace.

“Daddy,” the little colt whimpered and rubbed his head against the prince’s chest.

“Bad dream?” Celestia asked. Too bad Luna was asleep right now since it was day, thus she wouldn’t have been available to deal with that.

“Hm? No, Private is just a little sensitive. He doesn’t like losing sight of me.” Prince Sombra looked over as he kept gently rocking the colt in his legs.

Celestia nodded. They had noted that when they first arrived. She walked inside and noticed that Barri was still in fact sleeping, confirming that he did indeed sleep very deep. Looking back at the prince, she saw that Piat was now drifting back to dreamland.

“He really trusts you. He knows you keep him safe,” the Sun Princess said. “How long have they been with you?”

“Ah… let’s see, at my mother’s court probably three, maybe four months,” Prince Sombra had to think hard to fully remember. He allowed Celestia to gently take Piat in her magic and float the sleeping boy back to the bed to rest with his brother. “Then there were the weeks we spent traveling away from the court and me trying to find out where they came from.”

“So, they have been with you for a little while,” the Sun Princess commented while she carefully put the blanket over Piat again.

“Yes, though the first few days they were not too receptive to me, but my sister adored them, kept stealing them away to play with them. Mother did entrust me with their care while we tried to figure out how they got there,” Prince Sombra sighed a little. “I wish I could have kept my promise to them.”

“That was out of your control, Sombra,” Celestia reminded him and sat down closer to the bed. “I also couldn’t help notice what little Piat called you.”

“Um…” Prince Sombra tried to hide his embarrassment. “They have been doing that for a while actually, I haven’t had the…heart to correct them.”

“What are you embarrassed about?” the princess wondered. The prince sighed deeply, having clearly failed to conceal anything from her.

“I don’t want to make it look like I’m replacing their parents…yet…what the Time Pony said…I did exactly what I claimed I would never do. I stole children from their parents,” Prince Sombra whispered, a tear forced its way down his cheek.

“That was a version of you that doesn’t exist yet, and by the looks of it will never exist. And Whooves did say you successfully returned them,” Celestia told him gently.

“But how are we here then? The boys are here, I’m here, it doesn’t make any sense,” Prince Sombra protested, gesturing to the smaller bed containing the sleeping colts.

“The only advice Whooves could give me on that was to try not to think about it.” The Sun Princess did agree that this was a bit confusing, but she couldn’t deny that it had happened. It was staring her right in the face.

Perhaps it would be prudent to look into the research of alternate worlds. We already know of the world Sunset Shimmer now resides in and Prince Sombra is proof that pony versions of such worlds exist. Celestia rubbed her muzzle as she considered this for a moment. Perhaps then they could figure out something that at least made some semblance of sense.

“Perhaps he’s right. Thinking about it won’t solve anything. Won’t change the fact that we’re stuck here,” Prince Sombra sighed in resignation.

Celestia nodded and glanced at a clock on a nearby dresser. The princess realized it was time for her to return to her duties. There was still much to do on her schedule.

“I’m afraid I must go for now. Will you be alright?” She asked as she rose to her hooves.

“I’ll be fine. Thank you again,” Prince Sombra nodded and lay down on the bed.

The princess nodded and started to walk towards the door. Before she exited, the alicorn glanced back. The prince was grabbing up a book from the nightstand, one of several he had been lent from the castle library. Celestia smiled and left the room and started her way back to the throne room.





“I saw my son a few days ago, leaving the castle,” Queen Rabia said, slowly using her limited magic to circle the tea in the cup. She lay on a couch in her chamber, front legs crossed.

“Yes, his own self-appointed reform plan appears to be going well. His custodians reported no complaints,” Twilight told her. It was that time again where she would be instructing Rabia on friendship. She was seated on a chair in front of the Dark Pony.

“I think he saw me.” Rabia raised the cup to drink from it.

“Oh,” the princess could really only say. She wasn’t sure if Sombra actually knew that his mother was going through something similar. She and Cadance did have a plan to make an impromptu check-up visit on their friends in Fillydelphia. They just had to fit it in their schedules.

“Does he know?” the queen asked, eyeing the alicorn.

“It is possible,” Twilight conceded with a shrug. Especially if he saw her.

The Friendship Princess frowned, there was something different about Rabia lately. The queen looked more listless, was often found just staring into the distance. She also spoke more quietly and seemed to struggle with maintaining that stern facade she had often portrayed before.

Asking her about it though was difficult. Rabia would be very evasive or just refuse altogether to respond. Twilight wondered if she should consult a Dark Pony expert since the only two known living Dark Ponies were not exactly very open about themselves. Granted this could have nothing to do with their race, but the alicorn didn’t want to rule out the possibility.

There is still so little known about Dark Ponies, and the only live examples we have are King Sombra and his mother. Twilight took a moment to write down a note to remind herself to speak with Private’s parents, who were after all at the forefront in Dark Pony history.

“So, who is the Dark Pony living in the castle?” Queen Rabia suddenly asked. There was a mild sign of interest in her eyes. “I can faintly feel them sometimes, the pony is just close enough.”

Oh, of course. Dark Ponies can sense each other. Twilight had been a little alarmed when Rabia suddenly asked. The princess wondered for a moment why the queen hadn’t brought this up already, but dismissed it for now as she debated how exactly to explain this.

“There was an incident in my castle. I have already explained about the Tree of Harmony and the map that is inside my castle so I won’t go into that again. Anyway, this is still being investigated by proper experts since time magic was involved,” the alicorn started to carefully tell the queen who listened attentively.

Twilight took a deep breath before explaining the next part, watching carefully how the Dark Pony Queen would react. She told Rabia about the vortex and how it had pulled three ponies to this world from a different one.

“The Dark Pony is a version of your son from that other world,” Twilight then very tentatively revealed who the Dark Pony was. Rabia’s mouth opened slightly, then the queen closed it again, her eyes wide open.

“Unlike your son, he’s not as saturated with dark magic and looks and behaves more like when he was still a prince at your court,” Twilight finished and braced for all kinds of reactions from the queen.

“How was this possible?” Rabia was having a hard time wrapping her brain around this.

“As I said, that is still being investigated. Princess Celestia offered to host him and the boys he came with at the castle.” The princess couldn’t blame Rabia for being confused. Everybody was confused about this event.

“The boys, are they Dark Ponies as well?” the queen then asked and tapped a muzzle with her hooves. “Then again you said they were young, the connection would be weaker.”

“Well, that’s an even more complicated event,” Twilight cringed, dreading to have to go into that. She had skipped it, not feeling it was too important right now.

“More complicated than a vortex pulling three ponies from a different world to this one?” Rabia asked skeptically.

Well, I warned her. Twilight shrugged and proceeded to explain the two boys that were with the prince. Rabia in the end was rubbing her forehead tiredly.

“I am very sorry I asked,” the queen muttered, sounding like she was battling a migraine. She crossed her front legs again after a moment and gazed down to the floor. “I don’t suppose I can meet them?”

“I would have to ask Princess Celestia about that.” Twilight wasn’t sure that was a really good idea. The prince and the king at least shared one familiar background, they had fled their mother’s court, although for different reasons. Chances were the prince was just as afraid of his mother as the king was of Rabia.

“However, I think we can continue working on allowing more Dark Pony descendants to meet you if you wish. I think you are ready for that now,” the princess then added. They hadn’t exactly gotten any more direct requests except that one time, but there was always a chance there were some descendants interested who just didn’t know if it was possible. Rabia’s eyes almost seemed to light up at hearing that.

“I would like that, very much,” she nodded and produced a genuinely happy smile.

The Friendship Princess nodded and started to gather her things. This session was over for now and she had many other things to do, aside from also running a school. Twilight did notice that just the idea of meeting descendants of her people, seemed to have lifted Rabia’s spirit.

Well, it is high time to start testing it more if she is ready to enter society again without going off trying to destroy her enemies, Twilight thought. She bid the queen farewell and trotted out of the chamber.

End chapter 10