Edit for those who clicked this on the 2nd of February there is no new chapter today. I miss clicked the edit button and the site apparently allows posting completely blank chapters.
(Author Note: This isn't a comedy chapter)
Deep in the snowy tundra, far outside the newly re-found Crystal Empire. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and her Husband Shining armor slowly made their way through ever increasing torrent of snow.
"Cadance, could you please tell me again why we're out here freezing our flanks off?" Asked the only partially frozen Shining Armor through his scarf and chattering teeth.
Cadance let out a sigh "I can still feel traces of Sombra's magic, meaning part of him is still out there. We have to find it as quickly as possible or he might be threat to someone else."
"Well that makes sense I guess." Shining mumbled to himself as he thought about how power Sombra had been "Now how about you answer my other question. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both claim to know almost nothing about the Crystal Kingdom and yet you lived with Princess Celestia for most of your life."
"Your point?" Cadance asked flatly
Shining was taken aback by his Wife's sudden shift in mode.
"Well if you didn't know about the Crystal Empire and the Princesses didn't either. Why did the Crystal Ponies call you their "Crystal Princess" and suddenly start acting like they knew you?"
"They did" Cadance once again answered flatly
"How could they possibly know you if they disappeared almost a thousand years ago?" Asked the confused Prince
"Not now" Cadance answered "We're here; we have to start looking it could be anything, clothing, jewellery, part of a hor-"
"Found him!" Shining interrupted
Cadance was sure her Husband had been attempting to make a joke. There was no possible way he had found what they were looking for so quickly, when they didn't even know what it was. However as Cadance made her way to Shining she was stunned by what she saw.
Partially buried in the snow wasn't just a piece of Sombra, but instead the Pony himself.
"So what do we do now? A part of Sombra I can destroy, but we can't just kill him. Besides, he looks different" Shining asked as he poked the shivering grey Unicorn.
"We have to get him somewhere warm." Cadance blurted out panic thick in her voice.
Before Shining had a chance to ask his wife what was going. He found himself quickly wrapped in an aura of Blue energy and with a flash the three ponies were out of the snowy wastes and inside Royal chambers of the Crystal tower. Two confused cleaning ponies stared in confusion at the sudden appearance of their Princess.
"You two!" Cadance commanded as she picked herself off the ground. "Bring me warm food and any blankets you can find."
The two cleaning Ponies quickly bolted out of the door in search of the requested items. With another flare of her horn the enormous fire place erupted to life.
"What’s with the sudden urgency Cadance?" Shining asked as his wife pulled the semi-conscious pony closer to the fire. "This is the pony that enslaved the Empire, He deserves little help."
"No he's not" Cadance answered flatly as she placed blanket on the shivering unicorn.
"He's no what?" asked the confused Stallion
"He's not the pony who enslaved the Kingdom. Just look at him, he's smaller, his eyes aren't glowing and his mane isn't ethereal anymore. He's back to normal again."
"Back to normal?" Shining's confusion only continued to grow. "Cadance you have to tell me what's going on. How do you know Sombra?"
"Very well my love." Cadance began with a sigh "I was planning to tell you all this once everything settled down. But it seems like the fates have other things planned." She finished as she moved back towards her husband. "First off, there's something you need to know. Before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna took me in, I used to live here with my mother and father, the Crystal rulers."
"So you really are the Crystal Princess?"
"Yes, but there will be time for those questions later."
Roughly One Thousand Years ago
"Hey Mommy, Daddy, look at the picture I made!" Shouted the enthusiastic pink filly as held the hoof painting up to her parents faces. "It's me and you and Auntie Luna and Celestia in front of the Crystal heart."
Queen Crystal let out a laugh "That's very good sweetie." she said as she watched her daughters smile grow. "Cadance sweetie, you have to go play for a bit longer. All these ponies here came a long way to talk with Daddy and me and we have to help them all."
The little filly turned to see the large line of ponies that had gathered to see her parents. At the front of the line was a pony she had never met before, covered in dirt and a sword strapped to his back.
"Hi mister!" the filly shouted excitedly "Can I help you? I'm a Princess you know."
The stallion gave a laugh at the filly in front of him "Maybe you can, have you seen any monsters around here? Someone told me there was a Manticore near the Crystal kingdom."
"What's a Manticore?" Cadance asked her curiosity growing.
"It's nothing you should worry about, just a little rodent problem I came to help with."
"Well that's okay, maybe Mommy or Daddy knows where the big rat is. I'll see you later mister, have a good day." With that Cadance jumped off her mother's lap and trotted back to her little throne and chair where she continued to paint.
"I apologize for my excitable daughter." King Crystal apologized as he stared at the filly happily drawing at the other end of the room.
"It's no problem my Lord, she's just a filly." Answered the Knight "So as I was telling our young Princess, I've heard reports that there were a pack of Manticores coming close to the Farmlands. I came to offer my assistance in whatever needs to be done." The Knight finished with a bow.
"That's good to hear, with all the talk of "Demons", having monsters getting close to the Kingdom wouldn't help anyone. My personal Adviser Sombra shall be returning shortly, he'll be able to assist you further."
As the Knight made his way out of the line, the large stone doors were blown from their place. The crowd quickly scattered in terror as the smoke began to dissipate.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Roared the King as he took his place by the guards. "Who dares attack the Crystal Kingdom?!"
The guards and King drew their weapons as they waited for the cloud to fully dissipate and reveal the unseen threat.
"Sombra?!" Stuttered the confused King as the attacker was finally revealed "What's gotten into you?!" King Crystal continued to stare at his Adviser. He wasn't himself, eyes a sickly green glow. His horn bent, and his magic tainted.
"What have you done to my Friend?" Growled the King.
"Crystals" Hissed the new creature as he took a step towards the defenders.
"Hey Mr.Sombra!" Shouted the Filly "Why'd you break the door? Did you come here to play with me today?"
Before the King could fully comprehend the arrival of his daughter, the creature locked his sight on the new arrival a wicked grin on his face.
"Crystals" He growled as he fired a spell at the filly Princess.
However, the spell never found its Target as someone else stepped in front of the attack. The Knight let out a single grunt as he fell to the ground his heart stopped in a single attack.
"Mister are you okay?" Cadance asked the Knight "asleep" on the floor. "Come on Mister, Mr. Sombra is only playing... if you don't get off the floor you'll get dirty."
Cadance was cut off as her father darted in front of her. "Run" shouted the king as he prepared for the fight.
The filly looked around in confusion as her father and the guards began attacking her friend. She didn't know why the guards kept falling down or why they wouldn't get back up.
"Cadance I said run!" her father shouted
This time she didn't wait or ask any questions. She just ran as quickly as she could. Every time she thought she had found a safe place it would last long before shouting would began again, quickly followed by silence. Finally Cadance had reached the safest place she knew off, her parent's room.
However the safety and silence of the her parents room were quickly quashed by the sound of approaching hoofsteps
"Daddy?" whimpered the Princess.
There was no response, only the sounds of hoofsteps growing louder.
"Mommy?"
Still no response, however the bedroom doors began to open revealing the still smiling Sombra.
"Crystals" He growled again as he continued to approach the terrified Princess.
"Mr. Sombra why are you being so mean? Where are Mommy and Daddy?" Cadance asked as Sombra stopped in front of her.
"Crystals" He repeated as he his horn began to light up.
Cadance closed her eyes and hoped that Sombra would go away. After a few seconds of silence Cadance began to open her eyes.
"I'm sorry." Whimpered Sombra half his face twisted into a sadistic grin. The other have a look of pure sorrow as tears poured from only one eye. "I'm so sorry." The next thing the filly remembered was waking up crying beneath the wing of her Aunt.
Back in the Present
"I'm so sorry" Shining armor apologized as he hugged his wife.
"It was a long time ago, and the thing responsible for it is dead. I don't know why it used Sombra or why it wanted the Crystal Kingdom. I think it just wanted power and that was the quickest way."
"So that's why you didn't tell me anything about it when he first showed up."
Cadance and Shining sat in a semi-awkward silence as they stared into the fire.
"Crystal?" came a muffled mumble from the pile of blankets.
Cadance and Shining Armor quickly moved towards Sombra
"Hello Sombra, it's good to see you're safe." Cadance finished with a smile.
"Cadance?" Answered the broken stallion "Cadance safe?"
"Yes, I'm safe, you saved me."
"King safe?" Sombra asked a faint look of fear on his face.
"Yes Sombra, you saved them too, you made sure the Monster didn't hurt anyone."
Some gave a soft smile before drifting back into unconsciousness.
"Why'd you lie to him?" Shining asked as he stared at the grey Unicorn.
"Because out of everyone in Equestria he doesn't ever need to know what happened that day. If he's able to recover at all from what's he's been through in the past thousand years. I think knowing what happened that day alone would be enough to completely break him." Cadance answered as she continued to scan his mind.
She cringed as she made sure to remove all traces of that day from the unconscious stallions mind. However the more she explored the more her fears were confirmed. Sombra's mind was twisted and disoriented, blackness filled many of the voids and the thousand years he was gone was completely inaccessible. Cadance couldn't help but worry as to what would be left of the Sombra she used to know when he finally awoke.
"Well those ponies should be back soon with some food." Shining said cheerfully
"Oh... Yeah" answered Cadance as she snapped out of her trance. "Yeah food."
"We should probably send a letter to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna; I'd think they'd like to know about the recent change of events." Shining said as he unrolled a scroll.
"Tell them we'll be heading back to Canterlot afternoon. You should also tell them to prepare a room for a new guest."
"Huh?" Stammered Shining "Shouldn't we spend some more time here? This is your Kingdom after all"
"We won't be gone for long, but Sombra can't stay here. There's too many bad memories for both of us. The Crystal Kingdom needs us to help them get going again. However Sombra has a chance to try and get something new started. Auntie Celestia and Auntie Luna both knew him before the incident, so they can at least help him adjust and try to recover.
"Do you really think sending him to that Mad House is a good idea?" Shining asked flatly
Cadance let a small grin spread across her face "I'll have to add that to the letter "Shinning thinks Canterlot Castle is a madhouse"
Shining raised an eye brow "With respect to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, name one current "ruler" that you could consider completely sane."
Cadance paused as she thought about her answer "Nightmare, I'm going to say Nightmare is pretty sane." Cadance gave a small chuckle "Sure they're all possibly insane, but you know as well as I, that they're the perfect ponies to help him."
"Yeah, Princess Celestia's always happy to have new guests. I guess she'll be even happier if they knew an old friend was coming back as well." Shining responded as he nuzzled his wife
"Don't worry Shining, What's the worst that could possibly happen?"