Of Shadow, and Sunshine
Chapter one
The Darkness, and the Light
A lone stallion walked down the streets of the Manehatten suburb, as he had everyday since he had moved there. The neighborhood had, in fact, been wary of this strange new unicorn when he had moved into the abandoned house. The townsponies had more recently warmed up to him as they had begun to see that he meant them no harm. The house he had chosen out of all the houses in the area had somewhat of a history to it. Unicorns had always been the owners of the house, and every last one had been driven insane within two days of their arrival. They had been chased from the town (and in extreme cases killed by a mob made up of townsfolk) only to die later of self inflicted wounds.
The unicorn smiled as he recalled their warnings. For they had only confirmed to him that he needed to have that particular house. There was so much fear surrounding it. The fools had been feeding his power without even noticing it. Of course, that was in decline now and he would need to find some way to instill fear in them once more soon. When he did they would all feed him again. His power would be restored, then he could once again attempt to take back HIS Crystal Empire. Though, what he would do to inspire fear in this many ponies while still keeping the secret that he was...well alive would be very diffierent.
Then, the playground full of young, innocent fillies and colts came into view. Laughing and playing as they frolicked unaware of the close proximity of one of the most evil unicorns in Equestria’s long history. Had anypony been looking, they would have said that Mr. Somber’s smile was almost…...predatory.
“Mom I’m heading to school!”
“Okay, my little Sunshine! Oh! And don’t forget that I won’t be able to come pick you up today, since I am re-starting my medical courses at the Canterlot Academy. You will be staying with Mr. Somber for the next couple of weeks! And maybe if you ask nicely, he will teach you some magic! “ said Angel Wing to her young daughter. Angel was a very good mother, she honestly didn’t want to leave her twelve year old daughter in the care of the big, muscular, handsome unicorn...
Angel Wing blushed and shook her head to clear that train of thought. She knew Mr. Somber hadn’t been interested in her that way, yet she couldn’t stop from admiring him. It was probably due to him being a stallion, not solely interested in rutting her, yet, she couldn’t help but be reminded that he was also a powerful unicorn (with an abnormally large amout of physical strength) and he had offered to look after Sunshine while they had been talking. She had told him everything from her pregnancy, to her coltfriend ‘leaving’, to her putting off what her Cutiemark demanded from her. This was her destiny after all, there was no fighting it. And she had finlly found a way to make it work, Mr. Somber was single, moderately wealthy, and had free time that could be used to watch her daughter. And he was lonely, though she was reasonably certain he would never admit it. She saw this as a way to make everypony happy, though she had NO idea if he was qualified to watch over her daughter, Angel Wing was willing to take the chance.
He was being very kind to them and that was what mattered. And the other parents were starting to take notice as well, wondering if he would take care of their children. It wouldn’t be very long before he found himself swamped by their offers, if the gossip held true.
“Okay mom! I love you, bye!” and with those words, Sunshine left her home hoping that today would be a great day for her.
Sunshine trotted to school happy as can be, knowing that because of Mr. Somber’s offer to take care of her. Mommy was EXTREMELY happy and could do the thing that made her the most happy… besides her special filly. Sunshine giggled and continued on to her school. If she was really lucky then Mr. Somber would teach her to protect ponies with her magic like he had when the mean griffon lady had shown up and beat up that poor pegasus mare. He had beat up the griffoness, AND he had made the griffoness say sorry. And now the big mean griffoness was his FRIEND and she lived in his HOUSE! (needless to say Sunshine was enamored with him)
And so she went along her way to school. Over joyed that her mom was happy, and that she would get to spend a whole week with her new hero. And little did the young filly know, that it would be a week that would change her life forever. Though when she was done with her newest adventure, she hoped that she would have made a new friend.
Mr. Somber couldn’t believe his luck! All he had done was beat the crap out of an annoying griffon, and be *shudders* nice to a few ponies. Pity a mare in a dreadful position between loving her child and her own destiny, offer to help, and now they all wanted him to take care of their children! He chuckled slightly at the inability of his fellow ponies to be able to accurately judge character. They were honestly quite gullible and that was working in his favor. All he had to do was ensure that Gilda didn’t screw this up. Then, after he tormented and tortured the children for awhile, he could leave and retake his empire.
Of course he would find ways to torment the children that would not expose him, perhaps scary stories? As for the torture, he could make the stories come to life perhaps… but he would figure them out at a later date, he had a few ideas involving nightmares that he wanted to try on the filly that would be staying with him. And when she woke up from them, there he would be waiting to comfort her, affirming her trust.
And her love, which is what you really want...
And there was that annoying voice that had shown up after the crystal heart had blown him to smithereens, it sounded rather like that stupid pink alicorn and was always berating his ideas for conquest, and fear creation.
You know I am right and yes, most of your ideas suck.
Little wooden puppet pony gets a homeless, happy-go-lucky, quiet, bug and I get you? The bug never criticized the puppet like this. Not fair in the slightest. Mr. Somber thought venomously.
The voice laughed, "I am not your conscience you dolt. But nevermind me, what are you going to do, hmm? Make a nice little filly pee her bed, which you will have to clean by the way. And then comfort her? Right, because-"
" Nopony asked you for your opinion, weird voice thing. You don’t know the first thing about fear."
" Sure I do. You were feeling it just a bit ago, when you thought about that pegasus mare."
"Shut up.", Sombra thought irritably, as he attempted to tune out the now VERY annoying voice.
Face it Sombra, you have changed now. Just let the rest of the change take place. You will be happier. tuning out the voice was apparently working, as it was now too quiet to hear.
nothing has changed, and I refuse to let it. When Sombra heard nothing more he mentally pumped his hoof and continued his walk…
Maybe I can talk to Angel Wing before she leaves…to discuss how to take care of her daughter of course.
The only answer to his thought was a very quiet chuckle in the back of his mind.
As Sombra/Mr. Somber trotted towards the home of the mare whose child he would be caring for, a group of ponies arrived in Canterlot to speak with princess Celestia herself, though these ponies had been called to do this before so it wasn’t that big of a deal. Though one mildly repressed and somewhat OCD alicorn thought differently.
“Princess, what is it this time? Do we have to wage war against the Griffons? Or is Chrysalis coming back again? DID MY PARENTS TURN EVIL AND I MUST SMITE THEM?! AM I GOING TO ALICORN KINDERGARTEN?!?!”
“See, told you she would freak out.”
“Hush Dash,” Rarity said as she booped the pegasus on the nose with a hoof.
“Actually Twilight isn’t completely off base,” Celestia said to the group, “though she isn’t going to any sort of kindergarten. My sister and I have felt a surge of dark magic in Equestria recently, and the signature of the dark magic is very familiar. It is our fear that King Sombra has returned.”
“WHAT?” the group shouted in unison.
“But wasn’t he destroyed?” Applejack asked.
Before the princess had time to respond Rainbow spoke, “Yeah! We all saw him get blown to smithereens by the Crystal Heart!”
“That is the problem Dash,” Celestia responded, “The crystal heart cannot be used to destroy ANYTHING. It is powered by love after all, it only removed a threat temporarily and most likely attempted to “fix” it.”
Twilight sat down on the floor with an audible thump.
“But Sombra isn’t immor-”
“Yes, he is Twilight,” Celestia replied calmly, “While he isn’t shadow and darkness ponified, I am afraid that he is in fact immortal, and VERY powerful. Powerful to the point that we cannot pinpoint the location of the magic used when he regenerated. Powerful enough, so Luna and I had to use the elements against him, and not fight him directly. And he did survive for a thousand years with very little of his magic.”
“But his horn was the only part…”Twilight gasped as she realized what this meant. “Do not worry Celestia we will find him, and we will-”
“Inform me when you do. Sombra will most likely be somewhere ponies won’t recognize him, and far from the Crystal Heart as well.”
“Don’t worry Princess, you can count on us,” Rainbow affirmed as she snapped her wing out in a salute.
"I certainly hope so Rainbow Dash, I most certainly hope so..."
“We will not engage him, unless he is threatening other ponies. If he is, you will be able to find us quickly, I will make sure of it,” Twilight said hoping to mollify the Princess. In reality however Twilight’s words only filled her with dread.
“Already packed I see.”
“GAH!” Angel Wing screamed as she whipped herself around. (and whipped the pony behind her with her tail)
“Ow,” Mr. Somber said as he rubbed his snoot with a fetlock, “I didn’t mean to scare you, I am sorry.”
" Now I wish I had though."
“Huh? OH! Oh I am soo sorry Mr.-
“Please dispense with the formalities, please just call me Somber,” Somber said with a smile.(he was sure his disguise was holding up well, due to the lack of screaming that comes from seeing a pony with fangs)
“O-okay Somber, I will make sure to do that in the future,” Angel Wing replied with a smile, her voice trembled slightly. He has a very nice smile, she thought as her eyes closed halfway.
Ummm… am I misreading that or are those bedroom eyes? Somber thought as his ears flicked about nervously.
“Good then I can call you Angel right?” he said showing confidence once more. And here you said you weren’t attracted to her.................Dammit…you are back? At least form yourself in the picture of a bug so I can see you when you speak and make fun of you?
“So why did you drop by? Are you here to see me off? Or is this because you have changed your mind..?”
“Oh no! I haven’t changed my mind, I actually just came by to see if there are anything I should know about little Sunshine before you go, like allergies and things of that nature. I don’t want to hurt her by accident after all.” I will be hurting her on purpose anyway
I am going to give you a headache if you keep doing that. Somber ignored the voice and kept wishing for it to look like a bug.
“Nope Sunshine doesn’t have any allergies, but, she is kind of naive. And the fillies and colts at her school pick on her a lot, so be prepared for some tears,” Angel Wing said as her features contorted with guilt at leaving her only foal alone for a week.
“Maybe I shouldn-” she began before being cut off by Somber.
“Oh no you don’t you are going to Canterlot to finish being educated on being a emergency medical services filly and that’s that!” Somber said as he picked Angel Wing and her bags up in his magic.
“Oh! Oh no wait! That tickles hehehe!! *snort* p-p-please stop!” I just snorted, didn’t I? Oh kill me now...
That snort was kinda cute. Wasn’t it Sombra?
“Now you go and do what your Cutiemark is telling you to do and I will watch your daughter. I insist, and if it turns out that I am in over my head, Gilda will help. I know you are all afraid of her, but in truth she was ill and needed a friend.”
And by ill you mean, utterly high AND drunk AND depressed because her best/only friend blew her off for a bunch of ponies she met earlier in the year, right?
If you don’t be quiet I am going to get drunk and YOU will have to deal with the hangover as well.
........
Better
“Okay Somber and please tell my little girl I love her.”
“I will, now get going, you brutish pegasus” Somber said with a playful grin.
“Onlyifyougoonadatewithme!” the clearly distraught pegasus mare yelled.
“Yes! Fine! A date! Now go before you are late for the first part of your class!”
Angel Wing swooped low and kissed him full on the mouth, before flying away leaving the former tyrant king of the Crystal Empire stunned wondering what had just happened.
'You agreed to going on a date with her simpleton, and no I will never let you live it down,' said the now pony shaped voice in his head with a smile.
“Well Gilda will have a drinking buddy tonight it seems.”
......Meanie.