//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Sombra's Return: A Looming Storm Within A Horn // by LoneUnicornWriter //------------------------------// Chapter Two Sombra opened his eyes to the royal bedroom. Cadence slept sound right at his side. Now to begin phase one of my great return. Nothing in all of Equestria will be able to stop me again. Sombra being the new host of Shining Armor’s body, got off of the bed and moved towards the door. He looked back at Cadence who was still in the bed still sleeping away in her little dreams. Sombra turned away from her; then dispersed into a shadow and slipped through the space in the closed door. Sombra walked down the first hall leading to the throne room. Two guards stood facing each other at the end of the hall. Once he got in between them, he stopped and looked at both the guards with a kind smile. “You guards make me proud knowing that you both are doing a great job guarding this area of the castle.” “Yes, sir. We give our best loyal services to protecting our rulers,” one soldier responded. The other simply nodded in agreement. “Very well. Very well,” 'Sombra' turned to the ground as the soldiers eyed each other. They showed concern with the sudden change in his voice. He sounded like a completely different stallion. “...Umm, sir?” One guard spoke. Sombra watched as the dark sludge slowly made its way to the hooves of both the soldiers. “Yes?” he responded looking up from the ground. “You don’t sound..like you,” one guard spoke. “Are you alright?” said the other. “Oh I’m fine,” Sombra turned his face to one guard, “but soon you won’t be.” “W-What do you mean?” the guard said. Before he could say another word, he looked down at his hooves and watched as the dark sludge was slowly making its way up his body. The guards quickly looked back into the eyes of what they thought was Shining Armor. The guards were in terror as the dark sludge had made its way to their mouths. The last moments of light they had seen was the sight of Shining’s Armor eyes emanating a light blue mist. “Shhh... just let it all in,” Sombra said, taking in a nice breath and exhaling with ease. “That’s right my warriors. Breathe.” The guards fell to the floor as the darkness began morphing them. They struggled as best they could to fight it, but it was no use. The darkness once inside them had broke down both their strength and will. When they had no energy left, the darkness completed its task by converting them over into soldiers of darkness, loyal only to the orders of King Sombra. Both guards began growling away like wild animals. Sombra was pleased to see them both acting as noble as his previous Dark Guards. “Welcome back, my precious crystals.” Sombra said as he devilishly grinned at them both. The guards stood up straight, “All hail, Lord Sombra.” They said in a lifeless tone. “Now I want you both to get me more soldiers of this castle. I want to expand my legion, and it isn’t going to happen with just having you two now is it.” “You’re wish is our command, my lord.” Both of the guards galloped down the halls spreading their darkness over the other crystal guards turning them into soldiers for Sombra’s mighty legion. He smiled and walked around the corner to the second hall as he heard the yells of other crystal guards being morphed into his Knights of The Darkness. There’s not a better sound than the sounds of victory and redemption, Sombra thought as he looked as the guards rose up from the floor growling and foaming with The Darkness. They all stood at attention as he walked down the second and made a right turn onto the third hall leading to the throne room. He looked up and down the third hall only to find that his Darkness had found its way into every guard in the castle. He kept his smile as he slowly walked down the hall, I must’ve forgotten how fast they could spread my spell. Now all I need to do is get to the throne room. Sombra was nearing the end of the hall when he saw one of his soldiers propel backwards into a wall. His smiled faded away as he turned onto the final hall. He watched at a yellow pegasus stallion stallion holding one of his loyal soldiers in a headlock. The rest of the legion began growling as they stood in pack behind their great leader. Sombra then raised his hoof and all the growls went silent. He looked calmly into the eyes of the stallion, “Have you come against the ruler of this place as well?” “My loyalty lies only to the royal rulers of this castle,” the stallion said as he slammed the morphed guard onto the ground. He looked into the sinister eyes of what he thought to be Shining Armor. “But I am one of them,” Sombra replied with smile. “No, no you’re not,” the yellow stallion stepped back nodding his head from side to side, “you can’t be.” “Yes I am young colt. I was ruler of this empire hundreds of years before you were even born,” Sombra had an evil grin stretched out to both sides of his face. The growling of his soldiers came alive again, and the yellow stallion also heard it from behind. The stallion turned and watched as a battalion of guards lined up and pointed their spears straight him. “I’m just simply taking back what was mine from the start. Finish him,” Sombra ordered his guards as he continued on down to the middle of the hallway. The stallion was held up by the guards. He tried his best to break free, but the guards had more strength than he could ever have mustered up in that moment to break free. “When the princesses know of what you’ve done, you’ll be sorry!” He yelled to Sombra. “Oh no young colt. None of them will. And when they do, it will be too late,” Sombra laughed on while he opened the doors to the throne room. When he entered the room, he watched up at the ceiling and then down to the walls on all sides. His attention then came down to the purple crystal above the throne and then the thoughts started coming to his mind. “Yes, I remember how it used to look all too well. However, it will need a few changes just to have a new look.” His teeth began showing through his smile, “Yes, it has been so long since I’ve been here. So long since I’ve felt the inside of my own home.” He passed his hoof along the red carpet, “It’s good to be back.” A dark green aura came around his horn, and he zapped the giant purple crystal over the throne which had the opened up the passageway in the middle of the room. He walked all the way down the spiraling staircase to the dark enchanted door. Every step he took reminded him of how long it took for him to travel down when not using his powers. He turned and looked over the edge. Looking down at what seemed like a flight of stairs which lead into a bottomless pit. Sombra walked over to the edge and thought. If I take the steps all the way down, the night will be over and my mission will be truly lost forever. He jumped off the edge of the stairs and morphed into a shapeless shadow. The shadow crashed onto the grounds below, and Sombra formed back into Shining Armor’s body. It took a few minutes to come back whole as he wasn’t in his own body which was used to the morphing process. Cannot wait to regain my own body back. But one step at a time. Sombra shifted his gaze over to the door and walked towards it. His horn glowed dark blue as he used his magic to hold the grip of the door handle; just as he was about to pull it open the door quickly moved along the wall behind him. What nonsense is the door playing with me now? I have my plans to take care off, he turned around and looked at the door. ...Is this some trick that the royals created to stop me from entering? The memory suddenly came to his mind about the door, “...now I remember how to open it. Being outside from ones home is quite dangerous, I couldn’t even remember my own trap.” The light blue mist around Sombra’s eyes had expanded in length and size as dark green bolts began sparking around the horn. He fired his magic at the crystal on top the door, and it had opened to him. The light was extremely bright and caused him to put a hoof in front of his eyes. Sombra, not wanting to waste any more time, pushed onward into the light. The more steps he took, the more brighter it became. It then came to a point where the light had faded, and Sombra was able to see his forelegs. He drop his hoof and began looking around to what was only the color white stretching out for my miles. He turned around and looked up at the castle which had a stairwell leading all the way up to a black door on top. “Yes, this was what the Princess and her little pet used to get to the top. But now, I will destroy every stair, so that no unicorn earth pony or pegasi can reach the Crystal Heart,” Sombra said as he started to run on up the stairs.