One thousand years, wasting away in the darkness of his prison. One thousand years desiring just a glimpse of what his family had been up to. One thousand years plotting his vengeance against the mares who wronged him so.
His prison opened for the first time since those thousand years began; it was as if a clock had chimed, the timing was perfect. Sombra had lost track of time anyways, it having felt like a few hundred years since his most unfortunate encounter with fate. But now that he was free, he could feel the curse being lifted from the Empire.
And that meant that it was his time to put his plan into action. Still a large shadow, Sombra rushed towards that abominable place, knowing full well that the ponies would be expecting his imminent return. Time was of the essence, and even in the swirling winterland of the far reaches of the North, he journeyed for what felt like days before finding the first signs of the castle. The castle had been restored to its old state, and the crystal ponies were all still in their restraints.
Good, that meant that Equestria was not aware yet. Before he could surge his form into the city, a large double layered bubble shield was erected over the city. Despite his best efforts, he could neither puncture nor phase the shield, its power clearly held by two formidable magic users. indeed, though he could only hardly see them, he could see the two users below.
One was an alicorn, having both wings and a horn. The other was a mere unicorn. They spotted him and hurried along, removing the bonds of the crystal ponies below.
No matter.
He backed off, unable to to break through. Whether he liked it or not, these new occupants were not going to just allow him into the shield. He would have to bide his time; it was only a matter of time before he got an opportunity. Plus, until they found the crystal heart, there was no need to be too wary of them. Without it, there was no way that he could be taken down unless Celestia and Luna came to confront him.
So he would prod at the barrier here and there, even as it became opaque and prevented him from viewing the Empire. For several days this would continue, fruitless as it seemed that both ponies combined could hold the barrier up for an undefined amount of time.
Not to mention the nagging fear that Celestia or Luna might show up and prematurely put an end to his plans.
On a particular day, the fourth day, Sombra did not immediately go to the barrier. Instead, he held back, a snowstorm obscuring his sight of the city temporarily. In contemplation, he wondered why his body had yet to return to normal yet. He still could not speak either, or at least outside of his head.
His current fascination was with a strange road of sorts, which had two metal rails with wooden planks. He had not seen it be used, but somehow it kept from being completely snowed over in the weather. It was then that a strange carriage ran along it, dropping off some ponies and a dragon at what appeared to be a station of sorts.
How weird, none of them had armor, sword, or shield. They clearly were not here to fight him then. They were, however, greeted by the white stallion from earlier, who had apparently abandoned his place as shield bearer and left it up to the alicorn. Spotting his chance to weaken the opposition, Sombra slowly, but surely, began to approach the group.
His intent on surprising them was spoiled by the howling wind; reading more into it than perhaps they would have had it not been for the stallion, the group turned just in time to see him towering above them. They all fled for their lives, as if they could outrun him. Sombra pursued, using his shadowy form to his advantage, spreading his mass out just enough so that he could cover more ground.
Just as he was about to overtake them, the stallion turned to face him. As that was his target, Sombra stopped and assessed what sort of magic the unicorn might attempt to use on him. A stun spell most likely, as it was a universal attack taught for self-defense purposes. The beam that he fired might have been more dangerous than that, but Sombra did not intend on finding out. He easily dodged, and descended upon the unicorn, engulfing him in his darkness.
Now in the pony's mind, Sombra searched around for an avatar of sorts. If he was going to get inside the stallion's head, he might as well cut out the suspense and lower his only form of defense here.
He did not have to wander far, as the stallion's avatar appeared in the center of the dark conscious, a single spotlight illuminating the defiant unicorn. Under different circumstances, Sombra would have formally challenged the unicorn.
“Where are you?” The stallion lowered his stance as if to pounce on the threat that he could not yet see.
Sombra responded by appearing in front of him, re-imagining his own body so as to give the opposition some sort of idea of what he was fighting.
The pony was not impressed as Sombra's form finished shaping, his extended canines and wickedly curved horn not at all deterring him. He had likely seen comparable foes in the real world. “So you are the unicorn who cursed the Empire!” the stallion charged up his horn again, this time aiming it towards Sombra's face. “What do you want with it?”
Sombra smiled, and for just a moment, he saw a flicker of doubt in the unicorn's eyes. It quickly turned to steely resolve as he fired off his magical beam again. Sombra once again dodged, though this time he had to jump out of the way instead of simply slinking to the side. The advantage to his pony form, however, was that he could fight back more traditionally.
Firing off his own red beam, Sombra aimed it for the stallion's chest, only for the stallion to erect a blue shield in defense, which stopped the beam from going all the way through with ease.
Keeping up the blast, Sombra stepped ever closer, pouring more and more magic into the shortening distance. The unicorn grimaced, and seemed to strain under the effort. The shield, however did not waver as a result.
Once within striking distance, Sombra raised his forehooves and stomped them into the shield. Combined with his magical blast, the shield at last shattered; rather than retreat, the unicorn charged forward, apparently intent on running him through with his horn.
Desperate times indeed, for just as Sombra's hooves touched the ground, he titled his head forward just enough to meet the unicorn's blow, horn to horn.
Now in a tussling match with their heads, the two stallions staggered; Sombra was surprised that he was being pushed back by the unicorn. He had expected to easily overpower the opposing stallion, but there was more muscle behind that frame than Sombra had taken into account. Realizing that he was going to lose a match of physical prowess in his weakened state, Sombra snickered, and then looked his opponent in the eye.
“What is a unicorn who can not use magic?”
The unicorn, much to his pleasure, actually narrowed his eyes and snarled in response.
Oh well, Sombra would just have to finish his own joke. “A zerocorn.”
Laughing at his terrible own joke, Sombra channeled dark magic into his horn before surging it into his opponent's horn. Dark crystals began to manifest, and once Sombra finished his spell, the other unicorn's pushing became weaker.
Whether temporary or not, Sombra took advantage of this moment to push his quarry to his back. Before he could right himself, Sombra stomped two hooves to his stomach, knocking the breath from him.
With a wicked smile that had terrified an entire Empire of ponies, Sombra began to prepare the final spell. The unicorn struggled to get his hind legs to Sombra's belly so that he could throw him off, but Sombra would have none of it; he bound the entire lower half with dark tendrils.
He had him at his mercy now. Horn charged, Sombra fired a beam straight between the eyes of the stallion. Instantly he convulsed, as if struck by some lethal force, before relaxing, a confused look on his face.
“Wha...?” Was the only fragment of a word that the stallion could get out before his eye glazed over.
With just this intent, Sombra delved into the mind of his victim, intent on uncovering everything that he could about how Equestria had changed. Well, to be truthful, he could care less on how the kingdom had changed; he was more interested in how Celestia had painted him out to be.
In this memory, Sombra could see that it had gone back to a point before the pony came to the Empire. The climate was warmer, the bed he was resting on ruffled and undone, and that pink alicorn perched on the other side of the bed. In her magical grip was a short piece of paper, presumably a letter based on how it was folded.
"Shining Armor, you and Cadance are to report to the Crystal Empire immediately," the pink alicorn read, her eyes scanning a letter, "The honeymoon is over."
"Damn," Shining cursed, "Did she really say that?"
Cadance presented the letter, as if a simple 'yes' would not have sufficed. "Neighagra Falls has been nice, spending it with you."
The two ponies nuzzled each other, much to Sombra's external gag. He was not here to see a love story unfold between newly weds. He had literally been there and done that long before this stallion was even conceived.
"Wait, where is this Crystal Empire?" Shining asked, confused as he brought the letter back up.
Cadance brought the envelope that had likely contained the letter up, bringing out a map with a large red circle on it. "My guess is that it is where the red circle is."
"This letter seems kind of short," Shining pointed out, "I mean, normally Celestia gives her guards a little more information. I am Captain and you're princess, so you would think she would give us all the details."
"Ah, forgot something," Cadance noted, digging through the envelope with her magic, producing another letter. After scanning it, she concluded with a sheepish smile, "I probably should have read this one first. It gives a full briefing."
Shining laid his head onto his pillow, a sigh escaping him. "Well, it looks longer, so I guess-"
"Oh no you don't." Cadance playfully lifted her husband's head from his pillow with a sheepish gaze. "I know this morning was rough on you after last night, but she did say immediately."
"Alright." Shining reluctantly got out of bed and began getting prepared. Whatever happened last night, it had led to a sluggish excuse for a captain of the guard, or so Sombra reasoned. Uninterested in this preparation sequence though, Sombra focused in on the stallion's hearing as the letter being read aloud.
The following information is to be considered classified. With the threat of banishment, this letter is only for the eyes of Princess mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armour.
I am sorry to interrupt your honeymoon Cadance, but the Crystal Empire has returned to Equestria. As I already mentioned in lectures past, the return of this kingdom is pivotal to your role here in Equestria. I need you and Shining Armor to defend it from King Sombra. In case Shining is unaware, King Sombra is the black-hearted unicorn who took over the Empire nearly a thousand years ago. Make no mention of his status in Canterlot, nor bring up Gladis.
Cadance giggled, perhaps because she had inadvertently told him anyways. Shining seemed rather confused by this. "What does Gladis have to do with anything? Doesn't that mean sword? And Sombra used to be in Canterlot?"
"Things were different back then," Cadance explained, "Even now there are not many places with a dominate unicorn population. If Sombra did come from Equestria, then he probably had roots in Canterlot."
No, that could not be it. That was really it? No Trottabama reference for once? Not even a mention that he had been a predecessor to this stallion's position? Sombra was in disbelief.
"Anyways, we have no time to lose. Sombra could already be on his way there." Shining finished wrapping a scarf around his neck
Well, to be technical, they had arrived just in the nick of time; even with all of this delaying that they were doing. It seemed that they were preparing to leave, and since that was all the information that Celestia seemed to have packaged into the letter, that meant that this was the extent of what he could gather regarding his absence.
Now having all that he needed, he released the stallion to the bubble shield. With Shining Armor's inability to use that bubble shield spell himself, now all Sombra needed to do was be patient. Clearing his name would be difficult since it seemed that most were unaware even of his affiliations with the Guard, but at least treason was not on the list to be cleared. All he would need to do is find his records of the events, which he had safely stowed with Violet.
Sombra grimaced, realizing one major flaw in his plan. As Celesstia had stated implicitly when she had banished him, it had been nearly a thousand years since he had last done anything in Equestria. Even if the enchantment on the pages kept them from decaying, it was unlikely that Violet would have been able to hide them for very long, especially since Celestia at least would have sought out his record of dark magic.
One thousand years of planning, only to find that a key part of his plan was missing. He needed the Crystal Heart now more than ever; even if his name remained tarnished, he could at least still play the part. He could still get his vengeance and carry on with the plan.
He didn't have to become a hero instead of a villain. His wife and foals were now long dead, and any descendents would have a distorted view to be unchanged by any heroic deeds to be claimed. There was nothing left now but to finish what he had started.
As uninviting as that was, Sombra had his mind made up. King Sombra had one last act in the play. He would either win and plunge Equestria into instability and chaos. Or he would finally get his permanent retirement.
Either way, his drawn out play had finally come to its final act.