//------------------------------//
// 81 - Long Live the King 
// Story: Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat 
// by David Silver 
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Sombra met eyes with Cadance, staring into and through her. "Look at you, Pink Princess. Is this truly what deserves to rule this empire?"

Cadance's ears lowered, but her gaze didn't falter. "We're not here to discuss my merit as a princess. This is about you, and the umbrum. Do you know how to free them?"

He snorted, black mist seeping from his nose and mouth. "My, how the situation has reversed. Now I stand before a new pony princess, but it is they who wish to aid my people." He turned from her suddenly. "Follow me. You will regret your folly, but if you insist..."

His sudden change of mind caught the others by surprise, but they didn't question it. They followed after him as he led them to an ornate and heavy looking door. He raised a hoof and trailed it along the surface of the door. "This is it. Beyond this is the physical place the umbrum are stored."

Dark stepped forward with a scowl. "Then throw it open and let them go!"

Radiant bobbed her head. "Why haven't you already?"

Sombra took a step away and gestured to it. "Go ahead."

Dark glanced between Sombra and the door before stepping up and grabbing the edge of the door, trying to heave it open, but it wouldn't budge. Cadance's magic took hold of it, and Shining's a moment later, but despite the effort of all three of them, the door remained solid and unmoving.

Sombra smiled without warmth. "It isn't that simple..." His eyes fixed on Dark Pass. "Tell me, I've been... curious. Are our people kind, or mean spirited?"

Dark shrank at the words. "I... We're in a lot of pain, trapped as we are." He raised his hooves. "We... I did some very unkind things, and planned on many more." His head hung then. "I'm sorry."

Sombra let out a soft breath as if in relief. "At least I am not the only monster."

Radiant looked confused. "The umbrum I met were all very nice."

Sombra reached out and poked her on the nose. "They used you, just as they used me. Just as they sent me to a place where I would be hurt and ravaged, until I was angry enough to act as their agent properly."

Dark's ears lifted. "What? No! That wasn't the idea!"

"And yet, that is what happened." He frowned at Dark. "Maybe we would be better served with the door shut."

Dark trembled, maw opening and closing as if air couldn't pass it.

Shining Armor stepped forward. "Let's not be so hasty. I know you're in a bad place, Sombra, but you're not alone." He offered a hoof as Cadance had. "You don't have to be alone."

Darkness exploded from Sombra in all directions. "You're a pony. You know nothing of the umbrum but the barest scratch of the surface! We were..." The darkness withdrew, a melancholy note entered his voice. "We're made to be monsters."

Radiant slowly set a hoof on Sombra's side. "You don't have to be."

Dark smiled his jagged smile. "I won't be, not anymore. We don't have to be monsters, neither of us."

Cadance stepped up beside Dark and raised a hoof, just to swing it over his withers, embracing the malformed pony. "This bitter hatred has lived on long enough. Let's defeat our true enemy." Dark went a ruddy red in his cheeks, stiffly accepting the touch.

"True enemy?" Sombra's eyes narrowed as he looked between the ponies and umbrum arranged to change his mind. "True..." He brought down a hoof with a loud clop. "Why did she sit back and just watch this happen? Explain this to me."

Radiant tilted her head. "Who?"

"Amore..." His voice trembled with a growl of poorly-concealed fury.

Cadance looked baffled. "What did she do?"

Sombra licked over his snout as he rose and took slow, measured, steps towards Cadance and Dark. "She knew, from the start near as I can tell. She knew there was an umbrum in her city, and she knew he suffered terrible pain every Crystal Faire, and she did nothing. She just watched. She watched as a colt was punished for being what he was." His mouth opened to a feral smile. "She was just as shocked when he was old enough to lash back." His eyes fixed on Cadance. "You look like her..."

Radiant swallowed heavily. "She knew... the whole time?!"

Sombra whipped around to face Radiant Hope. "She said so, without a hint of remorse in her voice! Is that what the 'kindness' of ponies is? For all the crystal ponies cried and whimpered, my reign was honest and fair. All were treated equally."

Shining rolled his eyes, speaking in barely a mumble, "equally terrible..."

Cadance moved between Shining and Sombra. "I can't speak for her. She's gone, but we're here." She put a hoof at her own chest. "We want to do what's right. Don't you? Sombra, your friend." She gestured with the same hoof to Radiant. "She believes in you, completely. I'm willing to give a chance. Will you take this chance? You can stop being a monster."

Sombra shuddered powerfully, looking to Radiant. "And if I become like that?" He pointed at Dark. "Will you still be my friend then?"

Radiant scowled at him. "Stupid stallion! I... I love you for more than that. You were always the odd-looking pony, but I was an odd pony too... I don't care what you look like." She spread her forehooves slowly. "We're friends... I'm sorry I let you down, please... please forgive me."

Sombra suddenly raised a brow. "Where is the one that dared to lock arms in mental combat with me prior? I would have thought he would be here." He sat on his haunches. "Regardless, what are you offering? That I never be King again, that I simply walk away, tail between my legs?"

Dark perked up. "No. There are better answers than that."

"Such as?"

Dark put a hoof at his chest. "You know this world better than most of us. We... We need someone to guide us. The umbrum need a king, to speak plainly, and you could be that."





Elsewhere, Silver held a sobbing Night Watch. The tears had come from nowhere, coloring a quiet time of scribbling and reading. "What's wrong? I'm here..."

"I don't even know!" cried Night between her cries. "Being pregnant sucks." She punched him in the side with a firm hoof. "Why'd you make me pregnant in the first place?" She started to sob between each lash. "Take it back!"

Silver couldn't take that back, so he just held her, and hugged her. "No matter how bad you feel, I'll always love you."

Her lashes faded, and the two collapsed onto the bed, clutching to one another as her episode drifted past, leaving her sniffling a little, but held tightly and warmly by her husband. She nuzzled into his check and neck. "Stupid stallion"





Luna licked over her snout, glancing up towards where Sombra had awoken. She could feel his powerful presence, and it was with every fibre of restraint she had that she did not storm the room and attack him right away.

She took a slow breath, tapping the ground. "Niece, I hope you handle this well. He is not a pony to be trifled with..."

She rose to her hooves, spread her wings, and launched out the window. Things were coming to a head, and all at once, as they tended to do. Her call for Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends had not gone unanswered.

As she flew over the city, she could see the train coming into the station, likely bearing them all. She landed beside the train, wings folding up. "Princess Twilight Sparkle." Her eyes were set on the second-newest princess of the land, emerging from that train. "You have arrived just in time."

"Princess Luna." Twilight dipped her head as her friends followed her to the station. "We came as quickly as we could. Is everything alright?"

"For the moment." Luna glanced back at the castle. "They may not remain that way. I would have you at my side. Do not panic, but Sombra has returned."

Her and her friends' eyes widened at once. Applejack stepped forward. "Ya mean King Sombra? Ah thought we done whooped that varmint?"

"The same. He is whole and restored." Luna sighed softly. "He is more powerful than last you saw him, by far."

Rarity pointed up at the castle. "Then we simply mustn't delay. Lead the way."

Luna did just that. With several members of their party unable to take flight, she walked instead. As they did, Fluttershy came up alongside her. "Is he on the way?"

"He is already here."

Fluttershy's eyes widened anew and she shrank back. "W-where?"

Pinkie looked more confused. "Maybe we should be running then?"

Twilight nodded in agreement. "Why aren't we galloping at full speed if he's already here?"

Luna smiled thinly. "I spoke at length with Princess Cadance, and she demanded I give her a chance to handle the situation on her own. She is currently engaged with Former-King Sombra, along with several others. If all goes according to her plan, then your trip will result in nothing more than an excuse to see her and spend some time with your brother."

Applejack tipped her hat forward slightly. "And if it don't?"

"Then we have a fight ahead of us that I'm uncertain we can win, but we cannot afford to lose."

With a more grim resolution, the band approached the castle. The guards in front seemed to have no idea what brought them together as a whole, but neither Luna nor Cadance's sister in law were barred, nor her friends. They stepped past the guards and approached the old throne room, open as it was to the yawning pit below and its winding stairs.

Twilight quirked a smile. "Oh, hello there. I remember you." She hopped down to the first set of stairs and began walking down. "They look different now. I suppose being taller does that."





Unaware of the approach of backup, Cadance met Sombra's gaze. "I want to do what Amore perhaps should have done long ago."

Sombra's hackled raised and he looked ready to battle. "Ready to face me?"

Cadance gave a gentle smile. "I meant being there for you. This has gone on quite long enough, for you, and your people. Help me understand. According to legend and story, your people are monsters, but is that entirely based on appearance?"

Dark cringed at the words. "Our written history is all but destroyed... We... It comes naturally to us to use guile to get what we want, to subvert." He rubbed his forehooves together. "I'm not painting a flattering picture of us."

Radiant shook her head. "Why do they all look like pixies in there?" She gestured at the door. "You don't look..." She pointed at his bulbous wings. "Actually, those do look sort of like pixie wings..."

He looked back at them, then returned to her. "That is still a lie, one easily seen through with a touch of love magic."

Sombra scowled. "What if it isn't a lie?"