//------------------------------//
// 88. I, Sombra #3 (Author SI in King Sombra's Body) 
// Story: Short Shorts 
// by Coranth 
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I couldn't remember anything of my trip through Canterlot. 

One moment I was outside the City; the next I was standing before the two Princesses of Equestria, terrified and shaking, as Luna thundered, "SOMBRA! HOW HAST THOU RETURNED? WHY HAST THOU COMETH HERE TO OUR FAIR CITY?" As she made to shout again again, however, Celestia raised a demure hoof for silence as they awaited my reply. 

Slowly, carefully, hesitantly - in full view of them and their spear-wielding guards - as I wept silently, tears streaming down my new face I stripped myself of my - Sombra's - regalia. Off came my crown, my cloak, and the armor I wore and when I was furclad before the dumbfounded Princesses I clumsily folded the cloak, placing armor and crown atop it.

As the guards looked on - stumbling upon alien hooves - I carried the tainted regalia to them and then dropped it at their hooves. Then, I backed up and slowly knelt before them in a bow so deep my horn touched the floor; and thereafter I slowly lay down, and rolled onto my side. Then, the alicorn sisters gasped as I rolled into my back, baring myself before them in the ultimate gesture of submission. I did not voice them, but by my actions my thoughts were clear. 'Do as you will...'

It was Celestia who rose first. As she came down from the Solar Throne to circle around me, mystified, I stayed perfectly still. She sniffed me here and there, nudged me gently to see whether I was faking anything--all the while her oh-so-vey-long horn was inches above me. She could have bisected me with that horn and - with the way I was feeling right now - I would have let her... At last, with the softest of embarrassed coughs into a gilded hoof, the white alicorn mare gently said, "The real King Sombra would never have bared himself before us. Please, rise my, my" - she wondered whether those were the correct words before she finished her sentence - "my Little Pony and tell us who you are."

Slowly - very slowly - so as not to provoke the guards (I knew Celestia wouldn't order them to attack me, not now, but I was taking no chances), I got to my feet and stood to face the Sisters again. Then, inhaling a soft breath I spoke, for the first time since I'd gotten here. "I AM NOT--" Immediately, I halted, wide-eyed, and clapped a hoof over my muzzle. 

'Adun's Merciful Grace!' I thought. Had that rumbling, basso growl been my voice? Luna softly tittered with laughter, holding a hoof over her muzzle as yet more tears fell from my eyes; even my voice was terrifying to match my new form! Crumpling to the ground, I broke and wept, my body shaking with my anguished sobs. Time passed - I'm not sure how much - and soon, to my wonder, I felt a feathered blanket being draped over me. 'No, not a feathered blanket; the feathers of a... of a...' Opening my eyes I found that Celestia was with me, lying beside me on the floor, one of her beautiful, white wings draped over me. Fresh tears fell from my eyes - tears of happiness this time - as the Princess of the Sun nuzzled me and softly touched noses with me. "It's alright, my Little Pony, please continue. Can you tell me who you are, and why you have King Sombra's form?"

Struggling to wipe my eyes and nose - inhaling a shaky breath - I made to speak, to whisper this time--but as I did Luna stepped forward. "SISTER!" she boomed. "TRUSTETH NOT THIS--" Even as she spoke, however, Celestia moved her to silence with the sternest of glares... and yet the gentlest of rebukes. "Luna," she stated softly, "inside voice, please!" Chastised, the Moon Princess gasped softly, then complied, face twisting into the grumpiest, surliest though most adorable pout! Once Luna was quietened, Celestia sighed - perhaps with relief - and then returned her attention to me. "Now," she said, gently, "please, continue..."

I did, making sure to whisper this time. "I am not King Sombra, Princess, despite the fact that I look like him. I am someone else, given his pony form. My name is David Boucher, and I come from... a place very far away from here; a tropical jungle-world, called Aiur. This... whole mess... began when I simply fell asleep last night, only to awaken here, in this form..." I... I was desperate; thus I told them everything. Everything. Full Disclosure with no NDA. The whole kitt n' kaboodle. The Full Monty. Everything. Needless to say, by the time my tale was done - many, many glasses of water later - the mares' jaws were on the floor and showed no signs of being noticed or closing any time soon!