Chapter 2: The Confrontation
A weakened King Sombra slowly opened his eyes, his senses were working at full speed and his conscious was then regained. The first thing he noticed was the room. He was supposed to be at the Crystal Castle! He saw that the carpets were different; there were stained glass windows, especially the one with the Crystal Ponies in it. In fact, the more he looked around the room, the more he realised this wasn't the Castle at all. He hadn't been in any other castle before. What is this place? The king thought and why was he brought here? Sombra must find out.
After a few blinks, he saw the alicorn mare he just met, talking extremely close to his face and spoke in a suprisingly cheerful tone;
"Whoosh, he blinked! Whoosh, he blinked and boom! He's back in the room. Had a good sleep, Sombra? No need to thank me, you're quite welcome." said Harmony Spark, who helped the grey stallion up to his hooves.
King Sombra anxiously observed the castle room, and saw four other alicorns standing before him. He immediately recognised Princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadance and also was perplexed at Twilight Sparkle; the purple mare with a blue, pink and purple mane, the pony that defeated him a year ago as he tried to take back the Crystal Empire once again, had actually gained princesshood. King Sombra then stared in confusion.
"I know, this castle is brilliant, ain't it? In fact, this castle gets even better every time I visit. Is it the floor, or the stained glass windows? And is the castle's windows ALL stained glass windows and-?" Harmony Spark commented then was interrupted by King Sombra's anger.
"What is going on? Why aren't we in the Crystal Castle?!" he shouted in rage.
"Ha-ha! You really thought that I was THAT gullible? I knew that you had the eyes set on the Crystal Empire the moment I resurrected you, so I quickly injected you with chloroform so I can take you to Canterlot, without you trying to kill everypony. Besides, you wouldn't be a good stallion if you dictated an empire, murdered a princess, gained the energy of the Crystal Heart and sent the Crystal Ponies in an endless path of depression, wouldn't you? " Harmony explained, with a proud smile. This further angered Sombra.
"You conniving, treacherous fool! I was THIS CLOSE to rule the Empire once again, I waited a 1000 damn years to achieve this moment. My whole life was about to change if I stepped hoof in that place! But you… You had the nerve to blind me and trick me into your ridiculous plan! But not THIS time. NO pony will stop me now and no pony makes a fool out of me!" Sombra yelled and he was about to blast the mare with his dark magic, bubbling and flickering in energy.
Luna, Cadance and Twilight Sparkle were about to interfere, but Celestia calmly stopped them in their tracks. She knew Harmony was in control of this situation. She knew Harmony was one step ahead of Sombra.
As the king charged at her, Harmony then quickly reaches her mind. Her magic inside her imagination then constructed a weapon, a sword, made of crystals and Harmony visualized the sword into life. As the other princesses watched in concern, Harmony then quickly dodged Sombra, her horn glowed a bright purple as her magic power turned her imagined weapon from her mind into life. She quickly slashed the unicorn king across the chest with the mystical blade, grabbed him and threw him to the floor. As blood smeared across the castle floor, Sombra looked up astonished. It never came to his head that this princess had an incredible strength. He never knew that her mind power and her magic power were connected. He knew she had magical power, yes, but not this kind. He saw Harmony Spark, as she pulled a stern look and responded to the wounded stallion.
"If YOU have the nerve to attack me or ANY of my subjects, you'll get a one-way train-ticket to Tartarus. Now do yourself a favour; shut up and listen to Celestia and NEVER use that filthy magic again. Understand?" said Harmony in an icy, still tone. She then used her magic to clean up the blood upon the floors and fixed the blood wound on the king's chest.
King Sombra smirked at this mare's determination and grit. As nopony questioned his authority or even stood up to him, it almost seemed like a joke to him. He may be amazed by Harmony's extraordinary power, especially for an alicorn, he knew for a true fact that she'll fall, she must have a weakness. And if there's a weakness, he can use it to his advantage. But Sombra won't go ahead of himself, he can play along. For now.
"My, your courage amazes me, Harmony. The strength of your mind and your magical ability is very powerful. Very well, since you're the one who 'revived' me, I'll obey your command and listen to what you and 'Princess Celestia' has to say." said King Sombra as he arrogantly smiled. He then stood up and faced the princesses.
Princess Celestia was offended by Sombra's words, but she stayed calm and collected;
"King Sombra, as you already know, Princess Harmony Spark has revived you from the highest peaks of the Crystal Mountains." said Celestia to the grey stallion.
"I know, you obviously sent her there." King Sombra replied. "Now I think about it, why did you want to bring me back anyway? That's not like you, Celestia. Bringing a fearless and so-called 'evil' king up from the dead because he 'terrorized' an empire? Is it Cadance? Is she too pathetic a leader to perform a simple duty as ruling-"He insulted, before being interrupted.
"BE QUIET!" Twilight Sparkle growled, not taking any more of Sombra's cruelty.
"Twilight, I'm not offending anypony, I'm merely asking a question." He replied innocently.
"Well, Celestia can ANSWER your question, if you just be quiet." Twilight retorted.
"Thank you, Twilight. King Sombra, as confusing this may be; I only gave PERMISSION for Harmony to revive you. It was all Harmony's idea."
"What?! Why?" King Sombra exclaimed as he looked at Harmony, as she smiled awkwardly. For once, he stopped in his words and began to listen.
"Harmony sent a letter to me yesterday, suggesting that she found a way of reforming you. Harmony has quite well-known in her home town for seeing the goodness in everypony, no matter how evil or corrupted they are. She even befriended the Bat Ponies, who used to live in the Everfree Forest. Now, thanks to her, they are welcomed members of society. And I knew she can use her good nature and willpower to help reform you, Sombra. So I decided to provide her the whereabouts of your remains in the Crystal Mountains and allowed her to revive you."
Sombra was speechless. He had no idea that this whole idea was from this white mare that stood before him, he couldn't figure it out. Why is this happening? Why did it happen to him? Sombra's mind was swimming in thought. He was about to protest but the more princesses talked, the more he understood what's going on. Princess Cadance now began to talk to the stallion.
" King Sombra, since you are now becoming a member of society, there are a set of rules you must follow. Firstly, you MUST follow everything Harmony says. She will teach everything on how to become a citizen. Secondly, you must treat everypony with respect and kindness. It will be hard, but it's the right thing to do. And finally, you will no longer be allowed to enter the Crystal Empire UNTIL you are a fully-certified citizen. If you even think about sneaking into the Empire, the forcefield will annihilate any evil that comes across and don't think on using dark magic because the force field is resistant to any evil magic."
The rules Cadance explained turned Sombra's feelings from stunned curiosity into burning fury. How dare the princesses think HE should be reformed! A member of society? Him? The omnipotent and noble King Sombra? No, he thought, he can't just be normal stallion with useless life. He was destined for greatness, he knew he would be a glorious ruler and they think that he should be good enough to be nothing more than a servant, obeying to their command? No, he won't let these so-called "rulers" puppet him on his way of life. He wouldn't let them. As he began to form his dark magic, Cadance continued to talk.
"And by the way, Sombra, there are some things that you need to return to me." She added, looking at his armour and his horned crown. "You're not a King anymore."
End of Chapter 2