Equestria. Pixie Plains. Afternoon.
"An Umbrum?" Recently, Ash, Shining Armor, Cadence and their Pokemon had been met with yet nother surprise today. King Sombra was not a full-on unicorn. He was revealed to be an Umbrum. AKA a Shadow Pony. "Uh...What's that?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. I am a pony of Shadows. A living conical shadow that negates all light from any given source. I found out about this information when coming across a certain red crystal. Only Radiant Hope ever found out about my true species. And I expect her to know of a way to free me from this."
"That explains the shadows, huh," said Ash.
"What crystal?" Cadence questioned, descending from above. "It couldn't have been the Crystal Heart. It's not red and you would've said its name by then."
"That information will only be kept to me." But Sombra refused to share any crucial information regarding this supposed red crystal. "But...consider this a sneak-peak at the Umbrum. You all have minuscule ideas on what they are and what horrors lurk beyond it."
"Gen? Gengar!" Gengar then alerted Ash and the others from above. Supposedly, from how he was pointing in the distance, he had seen something.
"Gengar's found something! Must be her!" Immediately, Ash took off with Pikachu following promptly. Dragonite had descended with Ash jumping on her back. Now he had Dragonite as a ride as the Dragon Pokemon's superior speed could help catch up to whatever Gengar had spotted. Shining Armor hopped onto his Aegislash, taking a ride on him while Cadence used her magic to carry Sylveon, bringing her to the skies.
Once high enough, the rest of the expansive plains were seen by Ash, Pikachu, Sylveon and Shining Armor. It certainly has gotten bigger since last time. Aside from the array of Fairy-Type Pokemon that lived peacefully here, lo and behold, there was indeed something moving. It was faint but it was there.
However, it was odd that in this expansive field, this one figure seemed to be far more discreet than it should be. That certainly raised suspicions and was the catalyst for Gengar alerting them. Sombra took a close look, gazing further at this moving figure.
Speaking of moving figures, two new ones had approached, also floating through the skies. Dragonite turned around to spot the arrival of Queen Chrysalis and Thorax. "Ash! What's going on?!" Thorax asked.
"We saw that beam of Dark Magic shoot into the skies. Is it Ghetsis again?" Chrysalis questioned, believing it to be Ghetsis. Ghetsis and Sombra d share similar colourings to their magic so it was easy to mix them up.
"Everything's fine right now," Ash replied. "That was just Sombra's magic trying to give an alert. We're looking for a pony named Radiant Hope and...It's a long story, now that I think about it."
"That pony right there?" Thorax soon noticed the figure and how swiftly it was moving. Even fast enough to briefly outpace Dragonite and Gengar.
Just then, the figure had promptly turned its head, facing its pursuers. In that instance, they could see a face, albeit briefly. And what they saw was a horn poking out from the top. A cloak had been seen as well. This was certainly leaning into the possibility of it being Radiant Hope.
"We're being looked at..." Ash noticed as Dragonite and Gengar promptly stopped.
"Why did you stop?! Pursue her!" Sombra ordered Ash.
"Hold on. Take a look." Ash pointed below, showing that the figure had also stopped. It was still gazing at them with the horn poking out. Everything paused for a moment as Ash wanted to approach this calmly. He looked at Dragonite as they nodded in unison. Dragonite had then descended gently with the figure still standing there. It could tell when someone wasn't being hostile.
Cadence and the others did the same as gently as they could. Eventually, once at ground level, Ash hopped off of Dragonite, standing only metres away from this figure. But with the sun moving, the shadows were no longer beaming on this mysterious individual. The individual observed the area for a bit as a brief staredown had been made. Only one question came through.
"You. Are you Radiant Hope?" Sombra asked, waiting for the answer.
And he got his answer. The individual stepped forward once, removing the cloak and hood and dropping it on the ground. After stepping into the light, the full appearance had been discovered. Sombra then looked there with his face having a slightly aghast expression. The pony he was searching for was here.
Radiant Hope.
"Sombra...It is you." Radiant Hope spoke to Sombra for the first time in years. She stepped forward, approaching Sombra's shadow. Due to this calming approach, there was no need for a long chase. Sometimes, discoveries such as this are short and simple. But what comes next was the vital part of it all.
The moment Radiant Hope stepped forward, Sombra's eyes flared as he had some leftover magic to use. And that magic was used to hold Radiant Hope, covering her in Sombra's dark magic as she was lifted off the ground. "You...!"
"Ugh!" Radiant Hope graned with her body twitching. Clearly, Sombra was not happy with her, especially with how she was the pony to inform Celestia and Luna about his dark presence.
"Hey! Sombra!" Ash shouted upon seeing Sombra's action.
"Pika!"
"Sombra...I can see that you're still upset with me..." Radiant Hope squirmed before using her magic to overpower Sombra's. Since she didn't have a limited form, it was easy for Radiant Hope to free herself.
"Upset is an understatement!" Sombra growled as he had already run out of magic to use, making him powerless at the moment. But he still had the strength to move forward, getting close to Radiant Hope. More than that, with just a bit of effort, he could use his Fear Maic once more. His eyes flashed for a few seconds, showing how weak he was as they met with Radiant Hope's eyes.
Soon, Radiant Hope, much like many, had been caught in a fear projection by Sombra. Only this time, Sombra decided to join the projection, wanting a personal talk with Radiant Hope.
"The Fear Spell...S-Sombra...!" Radiant Hope put her hoof on her head, feeling the spell being active. Radiant HOpe was aware of this spell as she could resist it. Just slightly. "Please, you don't understand."
"I understand completely. You were my best friend in the world and on the day I found out that my life was a lie, you abandoned me." He spoke to her in the Fear Projection as the location was a dark room. Mainly, the room where Radiant Hope used to live in before departing after Sombra's defeat. "Then, you brought the two sisters to vanquish me."
"It's not that simple, Sombra. I didn't know what you were. I didn't know what Princess Amore had done. "What the Crystal Empire had done." She brought up another princess while trying to reason with Sombra. "But I learned a lot in the time I've been gone. And...I was hoping to make things right one day. And now that we've met each other again out in these plains, I have that chance."
"Make things right? Preposterous! What can you do exactly?" Sombra leaned in, getting up close and personal in Radiant Hope's face. "Look at me! I have only made it this far due to my accidental possession of Ash Ketchum! It took a year for me to even resurface as a shadow! It may be a decade before I grow strong enough to be free."
"So you say.." Radiant Hope lowered her head as there were zero fears from this spell coming her way. If anything, this interaction with Sombra was the only personal thing to exist within the projection. "I may know of a spell that can do something."
"What?" Sombra's curiosity had been caught. Now he needed to do.
"Hold on. This is going to hurt." Radiant Hope then took a strong stance before covering her horn in an orange aura. Her signature magical colour. Her eyes then erupted an orange flash of light that illuminated her body. And in that flash of light, Radiant Hope had unleashed a striking ray in Sombra's direction, hitting his shadowy body.
"GAH!" Sombra cried out as the magical aura completely smitten him, causing him to feel unusual pain like never before. He was then surrounded by a black and purple orb of estranged energy "T-The pain!" He screamed some more with the orb turning red afterwards, still keeping the black highlights.
Ash could feel this. Since he and Sombra were connected now, he felt a shock. However, it was only brief and momentarily. This whole time, he and his friends had seen Sombra putting Radiant Hope in another fear trance, but it quickly ended once they saw magic come out of Sombra's body. Even when in that projection, Radiant Hope could still use magic on the outside.
Radiant Hope broke the Fear Projection, returning to reality. Upon doing so, she took a deep breath before dropping to the ground, exhausted from how much power that took. Ash then felt another shock. This time it was bigger.
"W-What's going...?!" Ash gasped as he and Sombra then twitched. That same orange glow returned to cover them.
"Ash!" Cadence and the others cried out before facing Radiant Hope. They recognized this glow as her magic as she had just recently used it on Sombra. "What did you?!"
"Pikapi?!"
Afterwards, the light faded away as Ash's silhouette could be seen sitting on the ground afterwards. Thankfully, it wasn't too painful and didn't cause major harm. But it almost knocked the wind out of Ash, that's for sure. Everyone took a gander, seeing Ash still in one piece as they were relieved.
But, that magic from Radiant Hope had a purpose. Once the dust settled, something had happened to Sombra. Ash, after taking a few deep breaths, turned his head to realize that Sombra wasn't floating next to him as always. Instead, this time, he was standing next to him.
Sombra was in a full pony body, standing on all fours with his usual stature. But without regalia. Soon, all of them noticed, witnessing Sombra in this physical form instead of a spiritual one.
"Well...How do you feel?" Radiant Hope asked.
"Amazing...You actually did it..." Sombra was equally stunned as much as everyone else. The one individual to seemingly grant him his wish was his old best friend. He then smirked before knowing what this all meant. To Sombra, this meant that his resurgence and imminent reign had been revived.
Overjoyed, he then started cackling maniacally, stomping his hooves on the ground as it was satisfying to him to feel the surface of the world once more. "Yes! YES! This is perfect! A perfect return!"
"Do you have any idea what you have just done...?!" Cadence growled at Radiant Hope, reasonably aggravated that she would do such a thing. However, there was something amiss.
"Not quite..." Radiant Hope shook her head as there was a catch to this. "Sombra. You're not fully free."
"What...?" His joy quickly faded away by Radiant Hope's words. Disappointment had never been this visible to him before as he swivelled with his jaw open.
"You and Ash Ketchum are still connected. You can still return to your Umbral form, but, your magic is still limited. This spell was only meant to try and give you some chance of having a physical body." She explained, crushing Sombra's hopes.
"I-Impossible...I'm not fully free...This can't be." Sombra uttered as Cadence and Shining Armor felt as if a massive issue had been avoided there. "You got my expectations up, Hope. I thought for a moment that you could grant my freedom!" He erupted at her.
"I did what I could okay? I'm grateful that I got my chance to try something. I was hoping that you'd at least see that there was some hope. Especially with how hard I've been working." Hope lowered her eyes, wanting Sombra to feel proud of her achievement, but that wasn't the case.
"Tch." Sombra only scoffed, not giving that acknowledgement. Despite having this form, for the time being, he wished to revert to his shadow form. And he did so, becoming a body of dark smoke with only his head being revealed as he floated next to Ash, facing away from his old friend.
"I am so confused right now," Thorax spoke as he and Chrysalis were certainly out of the loop for this one. They were trying to keep up with this.
"Sorry. I should've introduced myself. My name is Radiant Hope. But you can call me Hope for short." Hopefully introduced herself, bowing promptly. "You were all looking for me, weren't you?"
"Yeah. Mostly Sombra." Ash replied.
"Princess Celestia thought you were lost forever, Hope." Cadence chimed in. "What happened? And where did you go after all these years."
"Right. There should be answers to all of this, shouldn't there? Truth is, I can't give them to you." She apologized. "Neither to you as well, Ash Ketchum. I know about your fame after getting around."
"You can't? Why not?" Shining Armor asked. "You've been away from Princess Celestia for so long. You could at least tell her."
"I can tell her. But I'm afraid all of you can't pass it on." She shook her head as they looked at each other, confused. "You see...for these past years, I've been too busy. Focused on one thing. To help Sombra. Mainly with the Umbrum more than anything. It's taken me so long to make any progress. And all of that has been botched by the crossing over of these worlds."
"But you're telling us why you left for so long right now." Thorax pointed out. "Why didn't you say so in the first place? I mean, I still don't know what's going on but..."
"I haven't revealed what I truly meant by that. So I guess I should come clean. If I was going to help Sombra, I needed to get rid well...famous figures such as yourself. "Just then, her tone had changed. But not too drastically from her usual gentle manner. However, the words she spewed out shocked them. It sounded like a threat.
"Say what now?" said Ash.
"Pikachu?"
"It was my fault. The first time, I couldn't let Princess Celestia and Luna hurt Sombra again. He's my best friend." Hope closed her eyes with Sombra only slightly taking a peek, not fully facing her. "I can't let it happen again now that I've got this chance. I have to try and keep him happy with what he yearns for. Is what I would do, but with everything that's happened so far, that's no longer the case."
"I'm getting kinda lost here..." Shining Armor shrugged.
"You aren't going to like this then...I wanted to help Sombra take over the Crystal Empire again."
"You WHAT?!" Naturally, Cadence and Shining Armor were the most shocked about this. Ash was less surprised while Chrysalis and Thorax remained neutral on this.
"I was. But Sombra somehow returned fully. I suspect it was because of the Rift. I was too late to approach there and do anything, plus, the attack of Eternatus, the invasion and so much only slowed it all down."
"Are you saying that you would've done it at any time if you had the right chance?!" Upset at this revelation, Shining Armor stormed in Radiant Hope's direction.
"Yes." She was honest about it, shocking Cadence and Shining Armor even further. "Even now, I'd try. But that's because I want to support Sombra, even if it means the conquering of my home. But it's the only way I can help. I should've been there for him from the start."
"I can't believe what I'm hearing...That's the only way you can think of helping him?" Cadence shook her head, flabbergasted at Radiant Hope's choices. Radiant Hope only looked away, rubbing her hooves with a pouting face. "Cadence was greatly disappointed in her. "I don't know what Celestia would say or do afterwards if this was found out."
"I'm sorry." Then, tears formed up in her eyes as she backed away slowly. "I don't know know what else to do. Please forgive me." Afterwards, Radiant Hope had galloped away, running from the scene. Shining Armor and Cadence stood there contemplating things.
But as they stood there, Ash decided to follow her. "Ash. Where are you going?" Cadence asked.
"I'm going after her."
"It's best to just call it quits." Shining Armor shook his head. "Seems like she's made up her mind and finding her didn't lead to much. I was hoping to bring her back to Princess Celestia as a reunion but..."
"We can't support how she would help against the fall of the Crystal Empire if given the chance," said Cadence. "You understand, right?"
"Yeah, I gotcha." Ash understood completely. "But still...her heart was in the right place. Leaving her now with all of that just won't be right. I'll be right." He went after her either way, choosing to help Radiant Hope. Cadence would try and go after him, only to stop immediately.
"Oh, Ash...Your kindness can be stellar and overwhelming a lot of the time..." Cadence could only sigh, allowing Ash to go after her. They would stand there for a while with Chrysalis and Thorax being there for them.
Ash followed the trail of Radiant Hope, catching up to her already. Sombra could only look at Ash, curious about something that was on his mind. "Answer me this, Ash Ketchum. Why is it that you continue to do this?"
"Do what?"
"Here I thought you would only assist your friends and nothing more. But ever since I informed you of Radiant Hope, you were willing to try and find her for me. And right now, you are even on the verge of helping her now. Why is that? What drives you to help others?"
"Do I need a reason to help someone in need?" Ash gave a clear and short answer. The same answer he gave to Mewtwo years ago. Ash's sense of helping others was always prominent no matter what. "I don't care who it is, I can't just sit or stand by. Not ever."
"Helping for no reason? You are always far stood odd for me. But, I suppose, in a way, I have some respect for you. I do despite you still."
"Feeling's mutual." Ash grinned, taking that as a compliment despite Sombra still having a burning hatred for him. "But what about you and Hope? Even after all she said and tried to do..."
"Ah, yes. What do I think?" Sombra closed his eyes pondering for a moment. Mainly pondering about the past. "Back then, even before I knew was an Umbrum. All before my conquest, Hope was there, being an orphan and living amongst other orphans in the orphanage. I was among one of those orphans before I knew about my mother. As much as it pains me to say this...but you already heard our conversation prior to this, we were friends. Best friends. Completely inseparable."
"Pika..."
"My, we did everything together. Childhood innocence at its peak. But that all changed when I looked into the Crystal Heart with her. Her future was being a princess and mine was turning out to be the form that you know as of today."
"Yeah..." Ash nodded in response. "You ended up going with what the heart showed you. It couldn't be avoided?"
"Not at all. The heart's projections are absolute. I at first hoped to put them out of my mind. Hope was there to try and help me, even when I had a terrible illness. At least, that's what I believed. It was no illness. Every year, this feeling only worsened, until one day, the Umbrum inside of me was finally coming out. Much happened afterwards Do you remember the red crystal I mentioned?"
"The one where you found your mother. Yeah, I remember." Ash stood by a pile of rocks, sitting next to it with his partner. "I guess that's when you found out about what you were."
"More than that. Once Hope received a letter that she would be a princess soon, I knew my fate was sealed. I never told her what I saw within the Crystal Heart. I ran. Until I found the crystal. That was when I discovered that I was an Umbrum, a race of Shadow Ponies imprisoned in the ground. Right below the Crystal Empire after their attack on the Empire centuries before."
"And then?"
"I accepted my fate. But not before taking out my anger on Princess Amore, the previous ruler of the Crystal Empire before my reign. How I had such disdain for her. She had kept this truth from me for so long. I struck her down afterwards." Sombra smirked. "Accepting my destiny was almost a satisfying feeling."
"Pika?!"
"And after doing so, that was when I began my reign, and the events you would come to know transpired. But...even after Hope went to the princesses, even after these thousands of years, I am in shock that she would still try and assist me even when she betrayed me. Why is that? I don't understand." Sombra found it hard to contemplate Hope's reasoning for still trying to help him to this day.
"That's what friends do, right?" But Ash had the answer to that difficult reason. "It's not too hard to get. There's always gonna be someone for you out there. Even if it's just your one and only friend."
"That is your answer? Friendship again?" Sombra grew tired of hearing about frienship.
"What else would it be?" He chuckled. "It's either that or family. Having a friend by your side is a neat feeling. Especially one that's always gonna try and help you. I know my friends are always there. Right, buddy?"
"Pikachu!" Pikachu giggled, hopping onto Ash's shoulder.
"Ash Ketchum is right." Just then, arriving at the scene instead of continuing to run away was Radiant Hope. She revealed herself from being behind a pile of rocks.
"Hope? Did you hear all of that?" Sombra questioned.
"I did. Everything. And I have something to confess. Look at me, Sombra. Don't you see anything off with me?" Radiant Hope then stood still, hoping that Sombra would notice an oddity. Sombra took an intensive look, searching for anything bizarre.
That was when it kicked in. Something was amiss. Sombra's destiny had been sealed once he looked into the Crystal Heart. However, Hope's destiny, which was to be a princess, was missing something crucial. The alicorn physiology. "You...Where are your wings? And you have stayed the same height after all these years. What is this?"
"That's because I never went with my destiny. I saw myself as a princess, but I never became one. After what happened, I left my training at Canterlot to try and help you. To find you."
"You defied the Crystal Heart...You never became a princess because of me?" Sombra was reasonably taken aback by this. A set destiny had been denied. Something he never expected. He took a moment to take it all in before choosing to appear out into his physical form.
Ash stood back, allowing them to have their moment. Sombra wanted to get up close for this. "That's right. I'm only around because I still have some alicorn physiology inside of me. I'm essentially on the verge of becoming one."
"Hope." Sombra stopped right in front of her, deciding to take a deep breath before lowering his head to her. Something that he never does usually to anyone due to his high and mighty sense of himself. "I'm so sorry. Even minutes ago, I wanted to hurt you for turning on me. I never dreamed I'd rob you of your destiny."
"Sombra, you're a fool." A saddened Radiant Hope closed her eyes, growling for a bit. "You didn't rob me of anything. I had made my choice between my destiny and you. I chose you." She vigorously pointed her hoof at him. "Forget all this jabber about destiny. I never believed in it! You're the only thing I've ever believed in."
"I..."
"I need to be elsewhere right now." Radiant Hope turned around. "Good luck with your physical form. Ash Ketchum. Please continue to look after him."
"Hm." Ash nodded. He would do just that as he's already been doing.
"Where are you going now?! Even after reuniting you would leave now?" Sombra roared.
"I have to be somewhere else, Sombra. I want to continue helping you. But We'll meet again." Radiant Hope then left the area in general via the use of the Teleportation Spell. Now, she couldn't be tracked as she had dematerialized out of thin air, going somewhere else.
As for Sombra, he felt distraught at the moment. All he could do now was return to his shadow form and float next to Ash as always. Ash had taken all of this after letting them have their moment.
"Boy. What do you think about destiny?" Sombra asked.
"When I started my Pokemon Journey, I always thought it was my destiny to become a Pokemon Master. But that wasn't it. I had to forge my own destiny. And I'm still on that path to making it real."
"A fine answer." Sombra was satisfied with that reply. "It irritates me how much you know how to answer. Let me be for a while before I choose to emerge as my physical form. I have a lot to think about."
"Yeah. I hear ya." Ash would let Sombra rest and think for a while as he and Pikachu returned to Cadence and the others. Speaking of Cadence's group, they were mostly thinking of what to do with Radiant Hope. Mainly Cadence and Shining Armor. Not so much Chrysalis or Thorax.
When they saw Ash and Pikachu returning, they wondered if Radiant Hope was with them. But she wasn't. Ash had a few things to explain. Sombra clearly wasn't in the mood for doing so.
This wouldn't be the end, however. As Radiant Hope said, they will meet again. But Sombra had to wonder if the outcome would be better on their second meeting and what the future would hold as the journey continues.
Chapter 692 End.