//------------------------------//
// The Stage Is Set 
// Story: Kiss of the Dark 
// by Soothing Stone 
//------------------------------//

Twilight Sparkle. Celestia's faithful student, now and forever. And she was gone with the wind. But if Celestia had anything to say about it, she wouldn't be gone for long.

She thought of nothing but the purple alicorn on the ride to Ponyville. She watched as Luna raised the moon above her head, fulfilling her nightly duty. At least there was some sense of normalcy that night.

Spike was sitting in the carriage with her, going back and forth between crying and panicking throughout the ride. He nibbled on the claws on his fingers, trying his best not to have a mental breakdown in front of the princess.

"Stay calm, Spike, it will all be OK," he said to himself. "Celestia knows something is wrong. She will fix it, and Twilight will come home. She won't go to jail for the rest of her life..."

Celestia wished she could say something to Spike, but she didn't speak a word in the end. There was no telling where this trail would end. Maybe Twilight really was guilty. Celestia couldn't tell at that point in time.

When they spotted Twilight's house from the clouds, she noticed that the place was lit from top to bottom. She could make out a few bodies through the windows, though she couldn't make out their features just yet. But she had a few ideas....

-----

"What do you mean, Spike got a letter?" Rainbow Dash snapped. "I don't see any letter that's from her today."

"He took the letter with him to Canterlot, sugar cube," Applejack explained. "But I heard what I heard. Twilight's on the run and they don't know where she is."

"But if it's true that she did all those horrible things to those poor Guards, we may never see her again!" Pinkie Pie pointed out. "She must be running for her life, thinking Celestia's going to imprison her or worse..."

"We don't know that!" Dash replied. "We don't know if it was an accident, or if she's taking the fall for somepony! We've got to find her right now!"

"But don't you think Celestia hasn't considered that?" Rarity answered. "She has a whole army of stallions at her disposal. And this is her dear student we are talking about! Surely she will do everything in her power to ensure that Twilight is brought home safe and sound!"

In the midst of the arguing back and forth, a simple cry punctuated the air. At first, nobody could hear it. Pinkie Pie turned around and tried to find the pony crying. It came from Twilight's bed, and its head poked out of the blankets.

She walked up the steps and came to the side of the bed. Her hoof patted the pony's head softly, doing whatever she could to comfort her.

"I'm here for you," said Pinkie. "Twilight will be back soon when she realizes that Celestia will always take her in!"

The pony's head emerged from the blanket. Her cheek fur was completely drenched in tears.

"But is it true that there's four dead Guards in Canterlot?" asked Fluttershy.

Pinkie frowned, and slowly nodded her head. "That's what she told Spike in the letter. I'm really sorry..."

"So even if she's innocent and it was just an accident, there's still four dead ponies, and their parents must be heartbroken..."

More and more tears came down her face, and she buried her face in the pillow. Pinkie came over and draped her front limbs over Fluttershy's shoulders.. Anything to comfort her friend would help.

Eventually, Fluttershy's cries grew so loud that everypony in the room noticed it. They dropped the argument in the middle, and surrounded Fluttershy in the bed. Rarity pressed a hoof on the yellow pegasus' forehead and felt the signs of a fever on her skin.

"Poor Shy," she moaned. "She's not taking this very well."

"None of us are," Applejack pointed out. "But there's no sense in mourning now. We have to keep our heads up if we're going to get out of this."

At that moment, the front door opened up. All five ponies turned to see who was coming in.

Their spirits soared when Spike walked inside. It almost gave them the slimmest of hopes that Twilight was back with him. But his grim face suggested it was not the face.

Instead, Celestia was the princess that came in that door. Their hearts sank where they stood, and it was only going to get worse from here.

As soon as Celestia was inside, Rainbow Dash flew up out of the bed and came in the princess' face.

"Tell me that Spike was wrong," she begged. "Tell me that there aren't really four dead Guards, and Twilight's just taking an extended break over in Canterlot. Please, you're the only pony to make it right."

Celestia shook her head. "I really did write that letter to Spike. I'm sorry to tell you all of this, but we believe Twilight is on the run for murdering those Guards."

Rainbow's wings stopped flapping, and she lowered herself down to the ground. Her head drooped down to the floor, and she was utterly defeated in spirit.

For the rest of them, it only proved to dampen their hopes for Twilight. Fluttershy gripped the pillow and poured even more tears into the case, and Pinkie Pie held onto her tightly to stop it. But she had tears of her own that she tried to withhold. Rarity nearly fainted to hear that her worst fears had come true, and Applejack brought her hat over her chest.

"It can't be true, it just can't be..."

"I know it's hard to believe," Celestia stated. "But I'm going to save her in time. There is something I came here for. Spike, bring out the book you mentioned to me in Canterlot."

"How's a book going to help us?" Dash complained.

"You'll see for yourself."

Spike went over to the study desk, where the book on dark magic still rested. He struggled to pick up the heavy collection of pages, but Celestia picked it up with her own magic before he tripped over himself to bring it to her.

She examined the book's cover for its title and flipped through all the pages, from the front cover to the back. As she read over it, she shook her head at the sight.

"Spike, tell me something. How did she obtain this book again?"

"Forest Mist gave it to her. He said it was a long lost book that he recovered from a ruined library in the forest."

"And he was the one who was dating Twilight before she disappeared, right?"

"Right."

That could be what she was hiding from me. Maybe she had her own reservations about his character.

The rest of the Elements of Harmony looked at each other in confusion, even Fluttershy of all ponies.

"You mean she was dating and she never told me?" Rarity shrieked. "I could have helped her out with restaurant reservations...oh dear me. I feel so ashamed for getting carried away like that..."

"I forgive you," Celestia said. "Spike, has she been practicing from this book in the past few weeks?"

"Yeah. She thought it was a really fun book to read, and we've been holding target practices out in Ponyville."

"And have there been moments where she has lost control over herself, and left a trail of destruction in that period?"

Spike blinked. "You have no idea! She destroyed the entire range that one time, and she caused a whole tree to tip over in the park."

"It's just as I feared..."

She shut the book and threw it to the middle of the room, right in front of Applejack. The Earth Pony jumped back and the book just barely avoided her.

They all had no idea what was bothering Celestia, as she turned away from them. She stomped her hoof on the ground and caused the floor around Spike to rumble. He fell back on his tail, surprised to see her so angry.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid..." she complained. "He played her like a violin..."

"Who played her?" Dash asked. "What are you even talking about?"

Celestia came to face them, and gave the group the grimmest look she had ever given another pony in this century.

"I think I know who was the pony that did it."

They brought themselves closer to her. "Yes?"

"Based on everything I have collected from this book and Spike's answers, I believe that King Sombra has returned to Equestria, and he's the one behind all of this."

"WHAT?" they questioned in unison.

"How in the hay do you know it's Sombra?" Applejack questioned. "Twilight killed him back in the Crystal Empire with that big ol' explosion."

"But there's enough evidence around us to prove that he has returned. Do you want to hear my explanation or not?"

They nodded. They wanted to know as soon as they could.

"It all started a little over a thousand years ago, at the peak of Starswirl the Bearded's time on Equestria. There is no account of his final days, and that was by my doing. Nopony needed to know how he went out, and information was easier to withhold from the general public back then.

"He discovered the field of dark magic one day, and much like he did in all of his life, he grew curious about this new field of magic. All of his time for three months went into writing this book."

She brought the book up to her face to illustrate.

"A thousand copies were transcribed at my request, and there would have been more copies printed had things ended differently. But one day, he came to my throne room with a request. I said that there were few things I would refuse to a unicorn that had altered the study of magic as sweepingly as he did.

"But I saw something in his soul that day. His eyes were green and purple mist came out of his eyes. I asked if it was an effect of a spell, and he spoke to me with a voice that was not his own. He said to me, 'You could say that.'

"Then he tried to kill me where I stood, using the dark spells he had learned. He moved with the soul of somepony else, and the Starswirl I knew was gone. I had no choice but to put him down, much to my regret. He was the only pony that could come close to Twilight's raw ability.

"Luna and I investigated what happened to him to warrant this kind of behavior. And that's when we found out something about this book."

She flipped to a certain page, the one that talked about the mind of dark magic.

"We soon learned that the mind of dark magic, as he put it, was not what he made it out to be. He imagined it as an animal that needed to be tamed, and could be tamed with enough practice. But it wasn't anything like that at all. Instead, it turned out that the mind of dark magic was King Sombra himself.

"When you open yourself up to dark magic, you open yourself up to his influences. And eventually, Starswirl the Bearded had practiced it long enough that he opened the door to allow Sombra to control his mind whole.

"And before Starswirl's mind was gone, he would occasionally lose control over his body and destroy everything around him, just like Twilight has done. And given what happened in that garden, it was strangely similar to any room that Starswirl had destroyed in her wake.

"And everything that Spike has seen Twilight do is just like those occasions when Sombra controlled Starswirl. Everything points at the theory that Sombra has returned, and he has chosen Twilight to be his victim."

The air was sucked out of the room. One could hear a pin drop, it was so quiet. Every jaw was dropped to the ground.

"But...but why her?" Pinkie finally asked.

"Have you not learned from the time when Discord broke your spirits? If one Element of Harmony is broken, all of the Elements are useless. You need all six of them to work, and he most likely had chosen her because she is an alicorn as well. If he can bring an alicorn to work for him, he stands a better chance of defeating me."

They could barely say anything. Even Applejack, the most logical pony in the group that was not named Twilight, could barely believe what was happening in front of her. It felt like their world was destroyed before their eyes, and they had lost their friend forever.

And then it got worse.

Somepony knocked on the door. "Princess Celestia, open up! An urgent message for Her Majesty!"

Celestia opened the door, and another Royal Guard pegasus waited for her at the doorstep.

"Go on."

"We have found the location of Princess Twilight Sparkle. She is in the mountains at the north border inside a castle we have never seen before. She is alive and well, but she is with King Sombra. He has returned and seems to be acting as a king. He killed almost everypony in the North Side Team just a few hours ago. Only one has survived and made it back to us, and he says that Twilight is working with him!"

Celestia's eyes widened. It was much worse than she ever dreamed.

Rainbow Dash huffed and stomped the ground like a bull. She flapped her wings and almost flew out the doorway, but Applejack grabbed her hind quarters before she took off. The blue pegasus tried to get the farmgirl off of her legs, but Applejack was far too strong for that.

"Whoa, nelly!" Applejack stopped her. "You're not gettin' out there right now! We need a plan before we go and pick a fight!"

"Forget it!" Rainbow snapped. "I'm knocking some sense back into that egghead! And you're not going to stop me!"

"Applejack is right, Rainbow Dash," Celestia stated. "I understand your concern, but if Twilight has become so corrupted that she's working with Sombra, there is no stopping her with force. And I'm afraid that you cannot help me in this case."

"You can't possibly expect us to stand back and wait, while that disgusting Sombra character does who knows what with our dear Twilight!" Rarity shot back. "We can use the Elements of Harmony on her after all! That will do some good, right?"

"You need all six ponies to use them again, Rarity. And as much as it pains me to say this, you five joined together still won't stand a chance against Sombra and Twilight. It's far too risky, and I can ensure that he will use Twilight against you in any case. This is my fight and my fight alone. But this will end tomorrow, I can tell you that. We know where they are now."

Fluttershy came forward, her tears not as strong as they were before. In fact, she almost seemed kind of angry.

"Promise that you'll stop that no good Sombra," she demanded. "And promise that you'll bring Twilight back home without a scratch."

"I promise you that Sombra will be stopped and Twilight will be back home, Fluttershy. I promise all of you that."

That was exactly what they needed to hear. Their spirits were getting back up, relieved to hear that something would be done about this.

But Applejack approached the princess alone. Her hat still rested on her chest.

"But this is King Sombra. We almost didn't stop him with everything we had. Are you sure you don't need help?"

"I will have some sort of help at the castle, actually."

"Beg your pardon? You just said that we couldn't help you out one bit. So who's this help of yours?"

"Somepony that's faced Sombra before. She'll know better than anypony what we need to do to stop him for good."

-----

Back at Canterlot, the search parties continued to sweep over the town. Every street had a Guard on it, not one stone left unturned, and they combed through the city day and night.

Princess Luna watched over them from her watchtower, observing the surroundings from the telescope. She brought the lens over the train station, and kept an eye on all the ponies going in and out of the arriving train. Nothing to note with the characters out there.

Then something came over the horizon, arriving in from Ponyville. She brought the scope over to its direction, and recognized the figure as her beloved sister Celestia. And it appeared that she was coming right for the watchtower.

Luna took a few steps back to make room for Celestia. The sun princess descended down to the steps, and her face was just as dark as Luna's.

"Have the Guards told you about Twilight's location yet?"

"Indeed," Luna responded. "And she's with King Sombra. I did not foresee his return. It seemed like he was dead after your student took care of him."

"That's what I thought as well, but the Guards tell a different story. I was hoping he would never come back to life."

"Are you scared, sister? It appears that even mentioning him strikes a nerve inside you."

"Of course I'm scared. You know as well as I do what he's capable of doing. I don't want to lose another unicorn of mine to him again. If we don't stop him, not only will Twilight be lost under his shadow, but all of Equestria as well. The fate of the world is on our shoulders."

"Nopony would blame you if this proves to be difficult. You love her as a mother would. It would be painful to see a daughter run astray as she has done."

"I understand what you're saying. But I can't let my emotions get in the way when it comes to Sombra. He knows how much she means to me, and given his past, he'll use her as a weapon. Do you understand what I mean?"

"That must have been the reason why you never wanted him to return. You were afraid you would have to bury another one of your students because of him."

"You're right...you're right..."

"So when will we strike at his castle? We have their location marked on our maps."

"Early in the afternoon tomorrow, when the conditions are at their warmest. We will bring a unit with us to ensure there is no interference in our battles. He has his own Shadow Guard after all."

"That's not a bad strategy to go under. I only hope for your sake that she is not too far gone like Starswirl was when you realized what was going on. It took you two hundred years to get past his death, if what they've told me is true."

"I don't want to talk about it, sister. That might sound rude, but what's done is done. All I care about is making things right at this current age. And Twilight will not be another Starswirl. This time, the story ends with Sombra's death. I will ensure he's dead now and forever by my hoof."