From Darkness To Light

by Pixel_Spark

Adjustment & Accepting

Valance drifted awake the next morning, aware of a warm bed under him and blankets surrounding him. He blinked, sitting up drowsily. Where was he-?

His memories returned in sharp, urgent flashes that made his head pound. He'd come here in his possessed form- seeking vengeance and power.

He looked down at himself, but there was no denying that he was back to normal. Red coat, leaf green mane and subtle autumnal shades in his wings. His cutie mark was also back to its former self, its shape showing his earthy connections, with a leaf at its centre.

“How is this even possible?” he whispered softly as he checked himself over. The last thing that he recalled was-

The curtain was flung back, interrupting his recollections and he tensed up, expecting to see Nightmare Justice on the other side of the fabric somehow, but instead he seen;

“-Aura Blossom?!” he stared in utter shock as his mind registered the presence of his wife, whom he had thought long gone. He'd spent so long mourning her, yet here she was…

“You're real?” he croaked “I'm not just dreaming?”

She looked at him, finally awake and lucid, and all but threw herself into his embrace. The warm weight of her body near knocked the wind out of Valance, but it proved that this was no illusion. He'd dreamt about her night after night...

For several minutes they didn’t say a single word, just revelled in the fact they were together at long last. Through all the pain and loss, by some unknown miracle, they’d been reunited.

“My sweet Blossom. Oh, how I have missed you.” he whispered in her ear as he finally got his voice back.

“My dear Valance-” she sniffled “I can't believe we're finally together again after so long, I had almost given up hope. But you don't need to be sad, for you’re safe now-”

“But the darkness?” he pulled back to search her expression for the bad news he feared deep down. That this was just temporary, that that monster was still inside him, merely biding its time. But she just shook her head firmly.

“It's gone my love, eradicated.” she said, teary-eyed, as she seen his face “it cannot come back!”

Valance absorbed this bombshell, his head whirling. Was he truly free-? He felt a dampness on his cheeks and heard the splash of something hitting the bedcovers. Raising a hoof to his face, he realised he was crying. Aura was right, he realised, when he searched inside himself, he couldn't sense Nightmare's despair and fury hammering at his soul. He was HIM again!

“How did you do it?” he asked in a whisper as he got his head together.

“I didn’t, at least not alone anyway.” She beamed happily through her own tears “Celestia, Luna and there was another too! His name is Sombra, I think..”

“Sombra?” Valance blinked, wracking his brain, but the name didn’t ring any bells “I'm afraid to say I’ve never heard that name before.”

Even as he spoke however, his neck tingled sharply as if triggered by the very mention of that name. He rubbed a hoof at the spot of the strange sensation, starting slightly upon feeling something cold locked around his neck. It felt like a collar.

“W-what is this thing?” he blurted as he panicked silently, was this how they were suppressing his dark self? Didn’t they realise it wouldn’t hold such fury-?

Before he could have a full-scale meltdown, Aura Blossom clasped his hooves in hers and made soft, soothing noises.

“It's OK, that’s what took the darkness away, love. It had to make contact with you in order to work and I'm sure we can remove it, I don’t think it's active any more. He said it was how he saved you, after fighting your nightmare side to near total victory all by himself.”

“He? Wait a moment, is this STILL the same guy-” Valance stopped as another memory crept to the forefront of his mind with the more he learned. In this memory he seen flashes of an almost demonic-looking shadow, wings spread wide, glowing green eyes and purple light flowing around him.

He shivered, murmuring “just what was that creature?!”

“What was what?” Aura Blossom asked, frowning gently. She listened patiently as Valance explained the vision in all its hazy glory. She tallied it with what she'd seen and nodded.

“I see, that must have been at the time when he had finally caught up to you. We almost lost you in the snow, for Justice was making you flee far from us when he realised we could potentially defeat him. But that pony, he caught up to you and took away the darkness.”

After more silent musing, Valance figured that what Aura meant was that another had now taken on his darkness in his stead. But what had happened to his rescuer if that was the case?!

He asked this of Aura Blossom, who shook her head with a wry smile.

“Nopony has seen him since we brought you back. He wandered off into the castle to give your sisters and I some space and nopony's been able to locate him since. It is likely he is asleep somewhere, Celestia told me he is very secretive.”

“Are Celestia and Luna alright? I didn't hurt them, did I?” Valance asked, heart floating anew as Aura Blossom smiled once more.

“They’re fine, my love. You gave us quite the run-around out there, but it's all over now, I promise. Celestia is asleep, but I think Luna is still up.”

Valance nodded and got slowly to his hooves with her help, for while he was feeling much less wobbly then he'd expected to be, his limbs weren't up to speed. He could also sense that he now had more magic reserves than the facts of the situation said he should. Aura anticipated him worrying and answered the questioning look sent her way.

“Your sisters gave you their magic so you wouldn’t feel so worn out when you woke up.” Aura said “as too did I, so you should feel more or less back to normal very soon. But even so, you do need to take it easy, just walk slowly for now. We have lots of time to catch up.”

Valance nodded, draping a wing over her back as they walked around the spacious medical room. As the minutes ticked by, he steadily felt more confident in his body. The more he stretched the long-dormant muscles, the more grounded his body grew, becoming steadier on his hooves until he felt sure he could walk unaided.

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The doctor came in just as they were wrapping up and was pleased to see the patient looking bright-eyed and alert after his condition the previous night. He did some standard tests to check his reflexes, vision and closed by repeating Aura's advice about taking it easy.

With all that out of the way, Valance anxiously asked the doctor if he and Aura might leave to go see his sisters?

Recalling just how anxious the Princesses had been over their brother's recovery last night, the doctor nodded quickly. Aura Blossom promised she'd look after Valance and he bowed as they left, before sitting down at his desk to fill in the patients records. What a night it had been! Strange new arrivals and secrets abound. Then, there was the matter of the report on Sombra's injuries, courtesy of the night guard. He felt a jab of guilt that he hadn’t noticed the future King's disappearance, his task was to assist the royals after all…

Had Sombra known it'd be best if he left the family to reunite alone? He was extraordinarily perceptive...

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The duo headed upstairs to the tower right away. Aura Blossom knocked on the door, then nudged it open and was immediately greeted by a fidgety blue-eyed Alicorn, her flowy blue mane filling the doorway like it was a portal to the stars.

“Luna!” Valance cried and Luna squealed in relief, hooves reaching out to grab him. She pulled him through the doorway, hugging and squeezing him tightly.

“Luna...lungs..!” Valance protested at last and Aura Blossom giggled in amusement as her sister-in-law finally let him go. The Moon Princess' eyes were filled with a delighted sparkle, cheeks flushed with happiness.

“We have missed you so so so SO much!” Luna declared, tears welling up now.

“I've missed you too, my sweet sister- Ah, don’t cry Luna!” Valance hugged her as he spotted the tears spilling over “I’m sorry you had to worry. I'll make it up to you-”

“Thou art here and thou art safe. That is all we needeth to know!” Luna said firmly, hugging him again and planting a loving kiss on his cheek “we have you back and that's all that matters. That counts for both of you, dear sister-in-law!”

As she spoke, she used her magic to pull Aura into the hug as well. They stayed in a happy cuddle-huddle a minute, each having so much they wanted to say and ask, their voices overlapping in excitement. At last, Luna let them go and moved back so they could close the door behind them.

“What happened to me?” valance asked. Although he had so many other questions, but this was the top one. “The last I recall is a big pony and purple magic- Oh-sweet-merciful-you-he's-real.” he bleated this last bit in a rush, eyes widening as he spotted something he honestly still believed was a hallucination.

“Hm?” Luna blinked, following his panicked gaze. Valance was staring over at Sombra, who was curled up in a ball at the far side of the rooftop tower room. At some point, the blankets had slipped off his wings, most likely from all the tossing and turning he'd been doing. She had had to set a spell around the windows of the tower just to ensure he did not outright roll off of it!

Valance's eyes moved from the sizeable pair of flying appendages, up to that unusual horn and finally along to his mane. No doubt about it, this was the same pony from his vision. Here in the morning light, he seemed a far cry from the blaze of light and magic that’d bested Valance's evil nature.

“He's an Alicorn?” he asked nopony in particular, wondering if there had there been many since his disappearance? Now that he thought about it, it made sense as to how this pony had been flying yet surrounded by magic at the same time.

Without realising it, he was creeping closer and closer as he ran all these thoughts through his mind. Before he could stop himself or really think about it, he was reaching out a hoof to actually touch this apparition. He was warm, solid, REAL.

As soon as his hoof brushed Sombra's back, the pony was jolted awake from his thin veil of slumber and Valance back-pedalled with a yelp when Sombra's wings snapped out, flapping agitatedly a moment. The abrupt movement flung the blanket up into the air, whereupon it landed with a soft fwumpf, over poor Valance's head.

“No, I don’t think wearing pants on our heads is a suitable excuse for a national holiday, Shining Armor!” the dazed Alicorn blurted as he squinted at an imaginary piece of paper.

Luna stuffed a hoof in her mouth, but it was too late to muffle it and her amused sniggering caught Sombra's ears. He looked over, seeing both her and Aura biting their lips, trying not to laugh and failing spectacularly.

Sombra glowered dozily as they giggled at him, lowering the wings back down.

“Very funny, Luna.” he grumbled to the moon mare, who poked her tongue out at him smugly. Then what he took to be a blanket ghost suddenly moved right next to him.

Wait- blanket ghost?!

Sombra’s whole body went tense, ears twitching as the blanket ghost finally shrugged its cover off and he realised who it really was.

Valance wrestled the blanket off himself and came face to face with the mystery Alicorn from his visions. He was a sturdily built pony, with a smoky grey coat and flowing black mane contrasting with sharp red eyes. He didn't realise he was staring until the pony moved his ears, disrupting Valance's slack-jawed gawking.

Sombra's gaze settled on this new face a moment, then moved to Valance's neck. Valance wondered if this pony was a bit strange, until he realised Sombra was looking at the collar he still wore.

“This is yours, isn’t it?” Valance asked, finding his voice at last “you were the one I seen in my visions.”

“This is Sombra.” Luna stepped up beside her brother “and yes, he is the one who erased your nightmare half, with the aid of that jewel.”

Sombra closed his eyes, swirling purple magic flowing around his horn. Valance watched the band unlock and float over to the stallion. Sombra opened his eyes, the green glow and purple tint highlighting his eyes. He lifted his left foreleg and the band shone brightly as it wrapped around it.

When the glow faded, the band was back to what was undoubtedly its normal everyday appearance, snugly fitted to the pony’s leg as if nothing had happened, as if it'd never been gone.

“Y-your- you have dark magic?” Valance stated the obvious in slack-jawed disbelief.

“I was born with it, it is all I have ever been.” Sombra explained calmly. Valance backed up on instinct, this guy was pure dark through and through, surely that was impossible!

Sombra felt another jab at witnessing this response, seeing that flash of mild horror he recognised from his youth and he was now reminded of Justice's words. “TRUE royalty.”

“It is alright brother,” Luna assured him, her gaze moving to her sibling and thus missing the momentary flicker of Sombra's expression “Sombra's situation is unique, but safe.”

“But, dark magic-? How in Equestria can you be so used to it?!” Valance was baffled, it had simply never been heard of before, dark magic had been banned for a reason!

Seeing Valance's confusion, Sombra explained how he'd drawn the darkness out of Valance and absorbed it himself, how his magic was easily able to assimilate it and thus use it freely.

“Absorbed, are you crazy? Do you know what that thing was?!” Valance blurted without thinking. Was this pony at risk of becoming a nightmare too, would he turn crazy?

“Relax,” Luna said “he is not capable of becoming what you are imagining. Unlike a normal unicorn, he cannot suffer the burnout that was the side effect of dark magic use. The darkness once within thee has been assimilated, rendered useless. Thou art free.”

Sombra closed his eyes and gearing his magic up so it shone brightly around his horn. He was relieved it had regained a little of its strength after that fight. Valance's jaw dropped even more as he beheld this display of arcane power.

He studied the pony’s eyes as he fumbled for words, seeing the tell-tale glow of dark magic yet also seeing just how completely at-ease Sombra seemed. He had no idea a pony like this existed, or that dark magic could co-exist within a pony's body at ALL.

“Then, that darkness truly IS gone from my heart?” he asked Sombra directly now, seeing as this guy seemed to be telling the truth. The pony nodded wisely, even offering a faintly reassuring smile.

“You need not fear it, I removed every last trace of that enchantment. You are free to resume your life now.” Sombra told him.

This truth finally sunk in for Valance and he realised he owed this pony a great debt indeed. He hastily bowed in respect to the one who'd rescued him, tears in his eyes and Aura followed suit.

“Thank you, for saving my life and reuniting me with my dear Aura and my family. I will forever be grateful to you, sir.” Valance said solemnly. They straightened up and Aura smiled genuinely at Sombra as she wiped away fresh tears of relief.

“Thank you Sombra, for giving me my husband back. I don’t know how you defeated such a darkness, but I am indebted to you for what you have done for me.”

“For us too!” Luna glomp-hugged Sombra “you brought our brother back, we are VERY happy!”

Sombra returned her hug, patting her mane “you are more than welcome, Luna. It is good to see your family whole once more.”

She let him go, nodding and wiping her eyes with a happy squeak of joy as she clapped her hooves together like a giddy filly.

Valance was glad to see Luna being so affectionate, for she'd always been the more reserved one of the two and Celestia the far more outgoing one. He always joked he was floating somewhere in the middle of their orbits.

“We have a favour to ask of you.” Aura looked across at Luna as she spoke, then at Sombra. They’d discussed this as they'd been sat around Valance's bedside last night, after Sombra had kindly wandered off to give them space (and startle the living heck out of the night-shift guard medic).

“It's about our daughter.” she continued nervously and Sombra blinked at the shift in tone. Was he finally going to be let in on their big secret?

“Who?” he hedged asking, half expecting another shake of the head like last time.

Aura hesitated, now was the perfect chance to end this wait, yet she found herself unable to say it, even though she missed her so much.

“You know her well, she is married to your best friend.” Luna gave him a clue when she spotted Aura's case of the fidgets, taking the burden for her in-law.

The bit finally dropped and Sombra just stared for several long moments, processing it. Surely, it couldn’t be?

“It's...it's Cadance?!” Sombra was stunned silly as he tried to disprove it somehow in his head, ears flopping down in total shock, for it seemed so out of left-field. But now that he stared at the two in front of him and really studied them, he could definitely see the resemblance. The mix of manes and styles blending together in his minds eye to form the gentle Princess of love that he'd gotten to know.

“She'll be back tomorrow-” he began with a smile, but Valance shook his head urgently, cutting him off. Sombra fell silent, stomach tightening unpleasantly as he foresaw yet more secrecy.

“You can't tell her about what we have discussed, we beg this of you. To find out so suddenly- we aren't ready to tell her yet. We'd like her to adjust to knowing that Celestia and Luna even HAVE a brother first!”

“I see.” Sombra couldn’t help but think this was a bit unfair on Cadance, but he agreed to keep silent nonetheless. Even as the voice of reason in his head screamed that this was a bad idea.

“We are deeply sorry to put this on you,” Luna said softly “but we need your help, Sombra.”

Sombra's heart twisted at her words, his premonition had come true. They needed him when he could help them, when he could carry their troubles on his broad back. Was that all there was to his becoming an Alicorn?!

But even as this fact pierced a tired and aching heart, he made himself agree anyway, suppressing his true feelings deep down and merely nodding dully.

He felt abruptly tired once again as he added all this together and Valance was alarmed by the other male Alicorn swaying subtly, as if he was about to collapse.

“Sombra?” Luna asked, setting a hoof on his shoulder.

“I'm fine,” Sombra said at last. It came out a bit strained and blunt, so he corrected himself “it's nothing. I'm just hungry, last night used a lot of my magic. If you'll kindly excuse me.”

He respectfully made his exit, trotting hurriedly away down the stairs. As he passed Valance, the other stallion seen the bandages on Sombra’s wings. Coupling that with the bruise on the pony’s face, he assumed the fight to remove the darkness had been a tough one indeed.

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Sombra stumbled downstairs, his mind a total muddle. He felt tired, conflicted and confused, for what real role did he even HAVE in the empire?

“Your majesty! Sir-”

Sombra realised somepony was trying to talk to him and stumbled to a halt, staring blankly.

“Yes?” he said dazedly. The guard frowned up at him, was the stallion feeling alright?

“You're needed in the throne room, sire. It's time for your duties to begin.”

“Oh-” Sombra groaned, rubbing a hoof over his face. In the chaos of last night, he had forgotten all about the fact he was babysitting the empire for the week “Of course, I will head there right away.”

“Are you alright, sire? You look a little peaky, can I get you anything?”

“Yes, coffee. The strongest the kitchen can make, with cinnamon. Thank you.” Sombra said to the guard, smiling gratefully as he spoke. The guard nodded eagerly and trotted away to fulfil this request.

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Sombra did his best not to let it show just how tired he was as he walked the halls, nodding politely to the staff he met on the way. Before entering the throne room, he stopped and summoned a low-level glamour to hide his injuries from last nights fight and set it to be permanent until he disabled it. Best not to cause any alarm, after all, there'd been quite enough of that going on recently.

He duly smiled and did his part, studying everything as carefully as he could, even in his exhausted state. Ponies brought many different issues for him to solve, strange disputes they needed his help with. Their smiles and reverent bowing made him feel conflicted when compared against his argument with Celestia. Had he been wrong to snap at her? She’d looked wounded, but the way she'd fallen silent when he'd asked what her long lost brother had to do with HIS alicornication, it'd cut through him.

She actually appeared at lunchtime, asking to speak privately with him. Sombra set down coffee cup number three and looked wearily over at her.

“Sombra, are you feeling alright?” Celestia asked “the guards told me you were hurt quite prolifically-?” she took in his seemingly flawless appearance with a puzzled frown.

“It is a glamour,” Sombra explained “I didn’t want the citizens to worry, so I hid it via the spell. I have a few bandages here and there, but it looks far worse than it is in reality.”

Celestia nodded, she could see the logic in the decision. The citizens were still coming down from the sky-tear war after all, although panic and unease were lowering day by day.

“Did my sister mention about Cadance's situation?” she asked anxiously, unable to make small talk right then. She needed to ask him something very urgently…

Of course that was why she was here, Sombra sighed softly to himself. She looked tired too, however, there was no doubt this was difficult for her, this was family she was dealing with. He found he couldn’t quite begrudge her fixation and told his own jealousy and fear to butt out for awhile. If he was given the chance to get his foster father back, he knew he'd be as intensely driven as she.

“Yes, she did and your brother too. I understand these things take time, it's just a bit of a shock, that is all. Not even the books I read could have plotted such a twist.”

Celestia smiled faintly “I understand. I made sure Cadance grew up with a foster family that would give her all the love and time she needed and then, when it was time and she had proven her mettle, I gave her a unicorn's magic.”

“Ah yes, she was a pegasus at the start, I do recall her mentioning it at dinner one night when we discussed our upbringings. Aura doubtless has a great many pegasi within her linage and Valance being an Alicorn would make Cadance a natural at magic once she had it, it makes sense.” Sombra nodded. Focusing on something off of the main topic made it easier to cope with the chaos in his head.

“Thank you, Sombra.” Celestia said in relief as she turned to go “I’m sorry, also, this is a lot to ask of you.”

“It is nothing to worry about.” Sombra forced himself to smile as he insisted “I can manage.”

Celestia nodded absently, drifting out of the throne room. Sombra sighed deeply as the door clicked shut behind her, it felt as if the whole conversation could have gone on with the Princess talking to a stuffed toy of him next to a recording device and the result would’ve been the same.

A staff pony came in a few minutes later, asking was he hungry? Sombra shook his head, only asking for yet more coffee.

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Cadance and Shining Armor arrived back at home early the next morning. They were met at the door by Luna, who solemnly asked them to come with her.

They exchanged worried looks, it was rare to see Luna still up this late (for her anyway), but they followed the moon Princess regardless.

Luna led them to the throne room, where Celestia was standing before the throne and two ponies, one wearing a cloak, stood beside her. On the throne sat Sombra, wearing an equally serious expression.

“Sombra-?” Cadance asked, why in Equestria did he look so weary? “What's happened?”

“Cadance-” Celestia spoke, moving forward to hug her and Shining Armor tightly “I have some news.”

“What is it?” Cadance asked, seeing excitement in Celestia's eyes.

“A long time ago, before Nightmare Moon, I suffered another loss. Luna and I both did, we never told anypony, but there are THREE of us.”

“You mean-?” Shining Armor initially looked at Aura, expecting her- but no, she was a unicorn.

“We have a brother.” Luna said and Valance duly removed the cloak.

The returning royal's jaws dropped as they took in a second male Alicorn. Their gazes flicked from him, briefly to Sombra, who hadn’t spoken a word, then back again.

“My name is Valance Eras. Please let me explain.” Valance stepped forward, his eyes settling on Cadance. She'd grown up so much he felt about to cry. Aura was the same, trying so hard to refrain from hugging her daughter. All she could do for now was introduce herself once Cadance had bowed and given her name.

Behind them, sat atop the throne, Sombra glanced away from the gathering ahead of him. Conflicting feelings warred for his attention…

Shining Armor seen him looking unsettled and wondered what was wrong? But he was soon drawn back to those in front of him as Valance held a hoof out to him. He shook it firmly, telling himself to focus.

“This is my husband, Shining Armor.” Cadance was saying. Shining bowed respectfully and learnt the Alicorn's wife’s name was Aura Blossom. She smiled at him, she had a very motherly air about her.

Cadance and Shining Armor sat enthralled as Valance retold the events of the past and those from last night. Cadance looked over at Sombra when she heard the part where he'd helped return Valance to normal with the help of his leg-band. He offered her a reassuring smile and nod before she turned her attention back to Celestia and Luna’s brother. That made him her uncle by way of Celestia adopting her the way she had, was that right?

The tale finally wrapped up and the Prince and Princess were silent, sharing astonished expressions as they absorbed it all.

“I know it's a lot to take in, things have escalated since the burst of power from the wars end.” Celestia stepped back in “it hurried up the clock, as it were.”

“My sisters did not know how to use the elements of harmony the way the new bearers do,” Valance explained, having gotten a low-down on the 6 ponies looking after them now “so all they could do was seal me away and hope for a better future.”

“Same as we were.” Luna added. Valance had been surprised to find out his dear Luna had suffered a breakdown of faith too, notably faith in her own self worth. They’d shared many a story and hug while Sombra was holding court with the citizens of the empire.

“I asked to be sealed alongside my husband so that I could find a way to help in future, if such a chance ever became available.” Aura finished the story off at last.

“Whoa..” Shining Armor whistled “that’s- that's big news! Very pleased to meet you Mr. Valance and you too, Mrs Aura.”

“You're a Prince and Princess too?” Cadance asked and Celestia nodded alongside her brother. Cadance grinned gleefully and clapped her hooves together in joy, she had more family, how wonderful!

There was a sudden knock to interrupt their pondering, the doors opened and a guard cautiously stuck his head round. The way the ponies were stood meant he didn’t spot Valance's wings and assumed nothing was amiss.

“Sorry to interrupt. Your majesty-” he directed this at Sombra “you have visitors at the door. A Miss Shining Sea and her daughter Bright Spark.”

“I will be right there.” Sombra stood up from the throne, wincing as he felt his back ache. He could still feel the impact bruises from the fight, but he kept the glamour spell up, not wanting to complicate things. He'd heal, after all, as he always did.

He took his leave, pausing to give Cadance a hug, share a hoof-bump with Shining Armor and assure them BOTH good-naturedly that he hadn't destroyed the Empire in their absence!

Then he was gone, heading for the front door.

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Sea was glad to see Sombra wasn’t busy and hugged him gently. Even so, she felt him wince and asked was he feeling alright?

“I am fine my star, I just slept badly on my back,” Sombra comforted her “my wings were being a pain.”

“Boop!” Spark was held up by her mother so she could boop her friend as tradition dictated.

Sombra chuckled, feeling some of his burden ease just by seeing them. He nuzzled at Sea's mane, loving the familiar smell of vanilla from her favourite perfume.

“Shall we go have lunch?” he asked suddenly. He had a break for an hour or so and he badly wanted to get out from the castle and the secrets now filling its walls to bursting. It felt like the place was suffocating him somehow, secrets gathering in the corners.

“Yay!” Spark cheered and Sombra asked a guard to deliver a message to the others to notify them, then he left with his marefriend and her daughter, the two ponies he needed more than anything right now. The biggest part of his world…

They went to Spark's “total favouwite” restaurant, which made the little filly super happy. Over the course of the meal she talked about school to her precious Sombra, telling him how fun it was and how she was learning a new game! Sombra was happy to just see them both and talk of school, friends and Sea's day helping out at the bakery near their house. He thought of the ring he'd ordered and felt his heart speed up. He hoped she would say yes..

Shining Sea seen him looking at her, seen how content he looked and blushed giddily. He had such a gentle air about him, yet she couldn’t help the feeling something was wrong, he seemed bogged down by an unknown weight.

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Later, as they walked the streets with Bright Spark bounding ahead out of earshot, Sea asked Sombra if he was feeling alright? Really, truly alright.

“I am fine, my star. There was an attack on the palace last night, that is all.” Sombra said as much as his various promises allowed him, but it didn't feel like enough. He hated having to lie to her, seeing the worry in her face...

“Oh my-! By who, and why?” she asked, her eyes on stalks. Sombra snapped his attention back to the matter at hoof and negotiated the maze of promises to give her an explanation.

“Some pony lost under a rogue spell's influence. We think he tampered with magic he simply could not understand and it thus muddled his mind. He is fine now and there wasn’t that much damage to the palace. Gave us all a right run around however, for it was an unusually elusive spell to pin down, even for me.”

“Goodness me! No wonder you’re tired, that sounds frankly exhausting!” Sea studied his expression worriedly “will you be alright?”

“I will be fine,” he smiled genuinely “just getting to see you and Spark today has made me feel much better.” He moved to kiss her gently as they walked sedately along. Her heart thudded and she nuzzled his cheek after the kiss ended.

“I'm glad I can make you feel better, my shadow,” she said softly “you don’t have to be alone, you have Spark and I.”

“And I will never stop being grateful for that,” Sombra assured her happily. “Thank you both.”

“Mommy! Sombwa!” Spark bounded back, seeing them snuggling “can we go to the park?”

“Hmm, I dunno, should we?” Sea winked at her daughter, then nudged Sombra lightly. “What do you think?”

“Pwease?” Spark grinned, wanting to giggle so badly.

“Hmmm...of course!” Sombra declared grandly and Spark cheered, bounding around them in a circle, beaming, before setting off towards the park.

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Spark met some of her school friends as soon as she got there, following them over to the swings while Sea and Sombra sat with the other parents.

Most of them did double-takes when they seen his majesty and Sombra thought quickly, raising a hoof and insisting they didn’t need to worry about all the bowing and fussing. As far as he was concerned, he was on break!

“It's so good to see them free to play without having to worry about that thing up there, isn’t it?” One father said once introductions had been made for those that hadn’t formally met the Alicorn and they all nodded unanimously.

“I don’t know HOW you fought them as long as you did, your highness!” A mother shuddered.

“Brute force mostly,” Sombra said with a faint smile “later, obscenely fiddly magic spells.”

This gave Shining Sea the mental image of Sombra's spells containing numerous swear words and she smiled at the thought.

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Sombra answered more questions as the kids ran about and played, questions about how he was faring with flying and how his magic had changed since becoming an Alicorn and so on.

Next the talk moved onto how their kids were faring in school and Sombra again seen Shining Sea over the moon with how her daughter was doing in her studies now, after all her worrying before. Spark had finally found her groove and was snuggling into it, happy as she could be!

As much as he hated to go, Sombra eventually had to excuse himself and return to the palace, as it was time for court to resume. Sea walked back with him as far as her house, where she and Spark bid him goodbye.

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“Hey, buddy-” Shining Armor grabbed hold of him as he was about to enter the throne room “what happened? Celestia said you cleared her brother of dark magic? Seriously, I mean-?”

He observed Sombra blink vacantly for a few seconds before answering, but put that down to the Alicorn Shyre pony being as shocked as he was.

Sombra nodded at last “It was a corrupt thing known as a nightmare entity. A sentient spell, they’re a frankly horrific thing that should never have been created. How the cult that caused all this even got a hold of it, I simply dread to think.”

“I had no idea there was already another guy with the whole Alicorn thing going, let alone a natural born like Celestia and Luna.” Shining Armor managed a confused shrug and Sombra smiled faintly as he spoke.

“Neither did I, but it is comforting to know there have been other stallions before me. Celestia and Luna have their brother back and I'm happy for them.”

“Yeah, he seems like a stand up guy. Bit lost, given the time lag, but hay I told him you'd been through the same thing alongside Luna and he seemed to feel better knowing that he's not alone.”

Sombra agreed, he recalled his own confusion on being greeted by such a drastically altered world. He’d felt like he could never belong in it, but how things had changed..

Shining let his friend go shortly after this, wondering if he was unwell, for pony had seemed very quiet. But the dark magic Alicorn was probably just tired from the crazy fighting Celestia had described them all participating in…

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Sombra stretched his wings as he was finally left alone in the throne room once more.

The glamour spell dropped too and he let his wings stand upright for a few moments, feeling them ache and cramp. As he was folding them back down, he seen something big and grey go drifting slowly by. Snagging it in his magic’s hold, he brought it towards him and felt cold.

It was a feather, a big one. He blinked slowly, then raised first one wing than the other, putting two and together and getting the answer; It was one of HIS.

“Oh no..” his throat went dry. Why was such a big and important looking feather loose? Had he dislodged it somehow?

Figuring it was more damage from the fight, he put it aside, both the issue and the feather. The latter he stuffed behind the throne, unsure what else to do with it. Losing a feather wasn't that odd, right?

Still, his whole wing seemed to itch for the rest of the day, missing it’s departed feather.

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That night, as she and her husband snuggled down to bed and drifted asleep, Cadance had a very strange vision. It was fuzzy and vague but she seen a face hovering above hers, a face with familiar mane and eyes- then it was gone, brushed away like grains of sand in the wind.

“No, wait-!” she cried, but it was already fading to naught. She woke up yelling sharply, disturbing Shining Armor into the bargain.

“What’s wrong, honey?” Shining Armor asked blearily, seeing her expression of total confusion.

“I don’t know, I just had a vision..” she whispered, staring wide-eyed at him in the dimness.

“Of what?”

“That’s just it..” Cadance shook her head “I’m not sure. But the colours...they’re to do with Celestia's brother and his wife, I can feel it. I'd swear it was her.”

“You’re probably just getting over the news,” Shining suggested “I’m pretty blind-sided by it myself, never mind how Celestia kept it secret. A lot of ponies seen Nightmare Moon that night, she nearly destroyed the castle, so she couldn’t exactly keep it a secret. But with her brother, only she and Luna seen it...wow, my brain is melting. Poor Celestia and Luna!”

Cadance chuckled and kissed her husband's cheek “you’re right honey, thank you.”

“Any time, my dear Cadie~” Shining smiled as she curled up next to him once more, looking appeased. She soon fell asleep, followed by her husband, curled up in his hold.

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“She's ever so beautiful, isn’t she dear?” Aura said to Valance that same night. He nodded, feeling his heart ache as he flashed back to meeting Cadance. Seeing her wide pink eyes and her elegant wings, hearing her voice, like a lilting melody.

“But we can't tell her about us yet, she has a lot on her plate already.” he said heavily.

Aura nodded sadly, she didn’t want to upset her long-missed daughter's life either. She'd been so proud to see how kind and wise Cadance had grown to be and her husband was a lovely stallion too. That made him her son-in-law…

“Her husband is this “Sombra” pony’s best friend. What if he figures out about Cadance being our child? Sombra is...he's- unusual.” Valance frowned, for how else did you explain a being like Sombra? He was an anomaly.

“I don’t think that he will say anything,” Aura said “I know it's a bit of shock to you and I, dark magic was banned under penalty back in our time. But from what everypony has said, he was born with it and it's connected to an old prophecy from many ages ago. I believe we can trust him.”

“You’re right, he gave me my life back, I should not be so distrustful merely because he is different. Thank you my dear.” he kissed Aura's forehead, making her smile.

They cuddled up together in bed, rejoicing in being alive once more and together. The world was open to them now and they had a lot to catch up on. Equestria had changed so much, they were both pretty swept away by it all.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cadance and Shining Armor took over the royal duties again, giving Sombra a welcome respite from it. From what they could see, he'd done an excellent job as the guards and staff were full of glowing praise. Their only concern had been the copious amounts of coffee that Prince Sombra kept asking for.

“Probably just from nerves.” Shining Armor thought out loud “I know I went on a caffeine binge the first few nights we were here!”

“Yes, and you were almost scaling the walls by the weeks end!” Cadance laughed “I stuck you on decaf for a month!”

“Don’t remind me, bleh!” Shining Armor made a face and gave an exaggerated shudder.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Valance and Aura came by the throne room when things were quieter and were rather surprised to see Cadance and Shining Armor there, but without the dark Alicorn stallion.

“Where- we were looking for Sombra, wasn't he here yesterday?” Aura asked, glancing about as If he was just hiding himself out of her sight.

“Oh, yes, he's taking a break. He was standing in while we were away, for we thought it best he get some practise before the coronation.”

“Coro- wait, he's royalty?” Valance went white. He'd been addressing him so informally the whole time! Aura looked as startled as he was, as he shot a sideways glance at her.

Cadance explained that the Crystal Empire's crazy political policies meant that Sombra was the Empire's official ruler and they’d simply been stand-ins.

“Goodness, there’s quite a history to him isn’t there?” Valance asked.

Cadance nodded “Yes, indeed.”

“I see, do you know where he is by chance?” Valance queried. Cadance said she wasn’t sure and to try asking the royal guard, they’d be the most likely to have seen him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sure enough, the couple were eventually told that Sombra had last been seen heading out into the gardens. They followed the directions out there and as they rounded another corner, they seen the pony's familiar form.

“Excuse us, Sombra?” Aura piped up and Sombra spun to face them, looking startled for a moment, before relaxing as he recognised them.

“Good morning,” he smiled “is everything OK?”

“Yes, we are quite well,” Valance assured him “just getting used to all the new things we have missed. Have you seen these “cupcakes” in the breakfast room?”

“I know what you mean,” Sombra smiled “I was astonished by the food, myself. Ice cream- quite a delight.”

Valance nodded in agreement. The food in this time was much more flavourful then what he recalled from his younger days.

Aura looked at the statue as the boys talked and spotted the same band around its leg as Sombra wore now “who's that?” she asked curiously.

“That is my father, King Cloudspark.” Sombra smiled warmly, looking back up at the statue.

Valance looked from the statue to Sombra, doing a double take, he wasn’t seeing the resemblance.

Seeing his befuddlement, Sombra elaborated “Foster father, that is.”

“I see, so he raised you?”

“In a manner of speaking. I was a colt when I was given a home by him. My real home? Calling it abusive is an understatement.”

Aura winced, seeing the expression on Sombra's face. He didn't seem comfortable discussing it.

“Have you seen Cadance yet?” Sombra asked, to change the subject. The two nodded, exchanging sad-yet-happy looks. Sombra frowned, his doubts from before rising up again.

“It's beautiful to see what a lovely Princess she's become! Celestia said she has an amazing talent for love, it's such a delight!” Aura beamed and Valance nodded in agreement.

“Don't you think she should-” Sombra began.

“Not yet!” Valance cut him off sharply and Sombra blinked, silenced by the speed of his retort. Valance tried again “no, your uh, your majesty...”

He'd almost forgotten about what Cadance had said, that this guy was soon to be crowned the Empire's newest ruler. That by law, he was its King. Why had he not mentioned this to them previously? It seemed an odd thing to hide, the fact that you were a monarch.

Sombra smiled weakly, but just nodded. “If you’re sure that’s the best idea-”

“Yes!” Aura said rapidly.

A little TOO rapidly, Sombra thought personally. He had the feeling, deep down, that this was a very bad idea. His brain was telling him this was NOT the best way to do it. They couldn’t keep hiding it from Cadance like this, the longer that the Princess went without knowing the truth, the harder it'd be when she eventually DID know.

But he didn’t say anything, just nodded to them. His thoughts on the matter had seemingly been shot down by the Princesses, he did not see the point in pushing the matter right now.

The revived couple bid him goodbye for now and continued their tour of the garden. As they left his line of sight, Sombra felt his right wing itch subtly. Glancing around, he seen nopony nearby and dropped the glamour. The bandages had been changed, it'd soon be healed properly. The doctor had said to go easy on his wings until the bites healed, as they had gone pretty deep in places, he was lucky there was no infection.

Sombra watched in dismay as another feather just popped loose with a tiny dart of pain, drifting to land off to the side. He quickly stuffed it behind a potted plant, again making sure nopony had seen. What was going on? Why was he shedding like this and major feathers too?

--It's probably nothing..-- he told himself --just the fight stressing you out. That’s all.--

Convinced once more, he calmed himself and reinstated the glamour again. It was easier not to worry everypony by using it, things were going to be a little shaken up already as it was, what with everypony needing to get used to meeting Celestia and Luna's secret relative.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When he strode inside, he was pleased to see a delivery had come for him from the ring shop. His heart rose for the first time that day as he brought it up to his room, examining the personalised ring. It was stunning and it suited Shining Sea perfectly!

He felt a cramp in his stomach, how was he going to ask her? He began pacing his room, trying to think up the best was to phrase it.

Other then just “Marry me?” that was.

It at least distracted him from the other worry on his mind, as he tried to puzzle out whether a proposal should be in public or in the privacy of ones home?

“I wish miss Rarity was back.” he groaned at last. Romance was the unicorn's speciality after-all, she'd helped with the first date and his outfit for it. She'd be back in about a week, according to the latest letters from Twilight, so he'd just have to wait until then. Unless, that was, he could think up something by himself?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That night, Cadance had a new dream. She was a bodiless form within a white void, surrounded by floating lights, like magic? It felt like a kind of magic, but she didn’t seem to have much awareness or freedom to move.

“I’m sorry...”

The voice was sad, and Cadance couldn't see a body to go with it. It echoed in the fathomless space around her, coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

“I pray we'll meet again.”

“You will.” the second voice that joined in felt familiar to her, but just who was it?

She felt a sense of love from the voices around her, then they faded as the whiteness enveloped her completely.

She woke up with a gasp and a jolt as sunlight streamed in the window, blinding her tired eyes . What had she just seen? WHERE had she just seen....?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She spoke with Shining as they walked down to breakfast.

“Why am I dreaming this now? I don’t understand, but it started ever since Valance and Aura came. Shining, you don’t think..?”

“What is it honey?” Shining Armor asked. Cadance gnawed at her hoof as she tried to word what was going on in her head.

“I think I have some kind of connection to them. Maybe they know how I came to be found in that forest when I was a baby?”

“I..Cadance, this is a big thing to assume. I mean, they were gone for over a thousand years, how could they possibly know you?”

“I know it sounds crazy Shining, but I can feel it!” Cadance begged “I need you to trust me on this!”

“Alright, honey.” Shining Armor kissed her cheek “Let’s...let’s ask Sombra! He met the guy, helped Celestia and Luna fix his magic into the bargain. If there’s anything, he’s bound to know it, right?”

“Okay..let’s go.” Cadance breathed a sigh of relief.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They tried asking Sombra that very afternoon, but the stallion only shook his head sadly when they brought it up.

“I’m afraid I don’t know.” he lied, recalling his promise to Valance and Aura “they didn’t discuss much with me. I think Valance needs time to get used to who and what I am, not to mention waking up after over a thousand and some years.”

Cadance nodded, disappointed in the dead end but willing to let it go.

But Shining Armor seen the way Sombra couldn’t quite meet their eyes and thought back to how quiet Sombra had been when he and Cadie had returned home and met Valance the first time. Was something wrong with him? Was his nose out of joint because of the second male Alicorn?

Cadance fancied she seen Sombra's outline seem to almost shiver and waver for a split second as he bid them goodbye and headed off for his office, but when she blinked it was gone. Maybe she was letting the dreams get to her too much?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That evening at dinner, as Luna persuaded Valance to tell stories of their childhood, Aura noticed Sombra seemed very quiet. Not unresponsive, he told a few lively stories of his upbringing by King Cloudspark, including the whoopee cushion thing, but he seemed strained somehow.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another night meant yet another dream. This time, Cadance could here three voices, indistinct but there, as if travelling through glass. There was a flash of something flowy...a shadow? Then she woke up.

She told this to Shining, how the feeling she was connected to those two was more and more certain now.

Even at breakfast, she felt like Aura was somehow familiar to her, Valance too. Who were they, really? They’d been gone for a long time, they couldn’t possibly know her, that’s what Shining said. Was he right or was there more to this?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“That shadow..” she was still thinking about it as they left, watching Valance and Aura vanish out sight over her shoulder.

“What about the shadow?” Shining asked, trying to remember the details of the latest dream.

“It felt familiar.”

“Well, the only shadow we know personally, is Sombra...” Shining trailed off, surely not-?

“What is it?” Cadance asked.

“Sombra. He's been acting kinda distant since Valance arrived. I thought it was just the fight, but I wonder if your dream means something?”

“You think he knows?” Cadance was grasping at straws now “we have to ask-!”

“Alright, we'll ask him again. Maybe he has his reasons for not telling us if something's wrong.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sombra's heart sank when Cadance and Shining Armor caught up to him in the hallway as he was heading to his office, their eyes full of questions.

He listened with sinking dread as Cadance described what to him sounded like all the warning signs that she was getting closer to the truth.

“I’m sure I know them somehow, these dreams just feel so real, it’s like they’re memories!” Cadance explained almost excitedly.

Sombra's stomach lurched even more. She was recalling sensations from her fillyhood, snatches of the spell that had sent her forward in time to the present era. But he'd promised..

His stomach ached and he winced slightly, shaking his head and repeating what he'd said last time.

“Sombra, please.” Cadance sounded sad now “if you know something-”

“I don’t, I really-” Sombra shook his head “I’m sorry Cadance, I don’t know what to tell you.”

Cadance nodded, head bowed sadly. Shining Armor heard her sniffle quietly and unexpectedly, his frustration and helplessness combined to become anger. His wife was tired, lost, more than a bit scared and his friend was just standing there! He gave Sombra a sharp look.

“Listen buddy, this isn’t fair. If you know what’s going on, Cadance has a right to know!”

Sombra shook his head, looking pained.“I don’t- I can't help you-”

“Can't, or you won't?” Shining snapped back, glaring now.

“Shining Armor-? No, that's not-” Sombra looked upset, but couldn’t say a word more. On the one hoof his promise, but on the other, the ones affected by it most- He shut his eyes, hating himself for this. Shining Armor’s eyes darkened and he stepped back as he seen Sombra's reaction.

“Fine, be that way.” he said and Sombra winced, opening his eyes again. He looked upset, but Shining couldn’t bring himself to feel bad for what he’d said, he was just too angry. How could Sombra do this to him and Cadance after all they'd done together?

He motioned Cadance to go ahead of him down the hall and hesitated only long enough to say quietly to Sombra “I wouldn’t bother coming to the O&O game tonight if I were you.”

A part of him knew it was selfish, but another less rational part of him thought that if he made his friend feel guilty, he’d confess whatever it took to make Cadance feel better.

But he got not further response from the pony. He glanced back one last time as he rounded the hall and seen something drift lightly behind Sombra, was it a plant leaf? But the pony was just stood there, looking unhappy.

--I can’t believe he'd do this, after everything we've done for him.-- the unicorn Prince thought dourly.

“I thought he was my friend.” Shining muttered and Cadance said nothing.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alone in the hall, Sombra turned to go and seen yet another feather lying behind him. He swallowed uneasily, this was going beyond a coincidence or two by now. Hearing hoof-steps approaching, he hurriedly jammed the feather into a vase and took off down the hall at a trot.

The maid did a double take as she wandered by the crystal vase, that was an odd looking leaf-? Curiosity bit and she pulled it out, revealing that it was in fact a feather.

“How odd.” she mused as she turned it over in her hooves, it was a soft grey and very pretty. She tucked it into her apron as a keepsake and continued with her work.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sombra was absent at dinner that night, sending a message to say he felt unwell.

“Is he alright?” Valance asked and Shining could only shrug, saying he hadn’t seen Sombra all day. Cadance hated to see them fight, but she too felt a stab of disappointment in a pony they’d both trusted.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shining Armor did poorly at the O&O game that evening, his simmering fury at Sombra meaning he couldn’t focus for long and made some rookie mistakes, which puzzled his friends a little. They were already a pony short, as Shining had told them Sombra was ill and wasn’t coming to that nights game.

“Is he OK?” One of them had asked, and Shining had forced a smile, saying it was just a stomach bug...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a sleepless night, Sombra finally decided enough was enough. He skipped breakfast, hanging around waiting for Valance and Aura once he was sure Shining Armor and Cadance were gone.

“We need to talk.” he said bluntly. They exchanged puzzled glances, what did he mean by that? He looked serious and honestly rather tired, his body language tense and on edge.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sombra led them to a room where they could chat privately. His whole demeanour was different, he seemed more commanding now, more in charge. As the door shut behind the three of them, he turned to regard them.

“I understand it is hard seeing Cadance again, but I am telling you this has to STOP. She knows.” he gave them a stern look.

“How?” Aura gasped, turning pale.

“It is partial at best, but what she talked of seeing in her dreams corroborates with what you have told ME. Right now, she’s only aware that there exists a link between you and her, as she’s been having visions centering on you these last few nights. I think it's the bond you share as a family that's triggering it. Something that powerful, you cant just pretend it's not there. It's hurting her, not knowing.”

“But.” Valance began and Sombra cut HIM off this time.

“No more buts.” he said firmly “you have to tell her. Now. Or tomorrow at least. She deserves to know and you cant keep denying yourselves your own daughter. I understand you feel bad for having to be absent from her life, but you still have the rest of it to spend with her NOW. Don’t let it slip away.”

“I..” Valance almost got angry, how dare Sombra assume- but then the fight just left him as he realised the other stallion was right.

“You’re right, we want her to know. But how do we tell her?”

“Let me help with that.” Sombra said. “If it's one thing I have learned in my time here now, it is that you can count on your friends. I am aware we do not know each other that well, but I want to ask that you trust me.”

Aura studied him for a long moment, then she nodded.

“Alright.” she whispered and her husband agreed with the idea.

Sombra outlined his plan to the couple and though they were unspeakably nervous, they knew it had to be done.

As they left, Sombra felt an all too recognisable itch in his wing and his heart sank. The feathers had been popping loose from both wings, seemingly at random and increasingly often.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sure enough, when he was alone, he dropped the glamour and stared at the feather as the slightest twitch of his wing made it float freely to his bedroom floor. Well, his replacement bedroom. With his original room burnt to a crisp, he'd been granted a temporary room until the staff could furnish a new one so it looked like the one he'd lost in the attack.

He drifted through the day, wincing at the cold shoulder from his best friend as he seen him at dinner. Celestia and Luna were too distracted by Valance to see it and Aura could not help watching Cadance as much as possible.

--Tomorrow.-- she thought to herself.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Valance noted the bags under Sombra's eyes as he joined them in the room he'd chosen for their reunion.

“Are you feeling alright?” he asked.

“It is nothing, I am just worried about Cadance and Shining Armor. I will be fine.”

The last task was to use a memory spell on Aura Blossom to capture one glimpse of a certain point in time, then he left to put his plan in motion.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shining Armor was caught off guard when Sombra appeared and asked that they follow him. He stared coldly at him, not sure what to think...

“What are you playing at?” Shining said at last, as they silently trekked the halls.

“Shiny!” Cadance frowned, why was he still being so rude? She was a little upset that Sombra wasn’t telling them something, but she'd told herself he had his reasons, right?

“What? I don’t like being lied to!” Shining Armor snapped.

“I am sorry you feel that I betrayed you,” Sombra said sharply “I state sincerely that it was never my intention. I thought I was doing what was best, for I was ASKED to keep silent, but I realised it was making the situation worse, so now I am fixing it.”

Shining Armor fell silent as they stopped outside a door. Sombra surrounded them in a shield bubble, but it was an unusual one. He motioned them to follow him.

“What are you DOING?!” Shining Armor hissed as they walked through the door. Was Sombra losing his marbles, had leaving him in charge been too much for him?

But all arguments fled his body when he seen just who was in the room.

Valance and Aura sat together, with the former petting the latter’s mane soothingly. But that wasn’t what silenced his angry rant, it was what hovered above them that drew his and Cadance’s attention.

It was a snapshot of a baby filly and she was unmistakably the same mare he was now married to. The same tricolour mane, she was only missing the horn. A tiny set of adorable pink wings framed her little body, purple tinging the tips...

“T-that's me,” Cadance stammered. “how-?”

“What do you feel is the answer?” Sombra said softly. Cadance stared at it, at first puzzled by Sombra's cryptic phrasing, then it hit her. The answer was obvious! Her eyes went wide as behind her, Shining once more snapped at Sombra;

“Stop being so vague!!” the unicorn groaned, almost at the end of his tether.

“No, Shiny!” Cadance turned to him, tears in her eyes “I’ve figured it out, by myself. They’re my PARENTS.”

She looked at Sombra, who nodded sagely.

“Whoa...but how?” Shining Armor looked from his wife to Sombra “what’re you two on about? There is a thousand year gap, if not more! You of all ponies know how long that is!” he gave Sombra a funny look.

“They can explain, give them a chance.” Sombra nodded to Valance and Aura.

“Alright.” Shining said, feeling like he was losing his marbles “I’m going to trust you haven’t lost your mind here, and that I haven’t fallen into the wrong universe. Let's talk.”

Sombra smiled and motioned them to stand ahead of him. He stepped out of the shield first, meeting Valance and Aura's eyes.

“Are you ready?” he asked and they nodded, holding hooves, their hearts pounding. What would she think of them? Did she miss them? Would she want to know them?

Sombra stepped aside so he was out of the way. Once he had given them enough space, he closed his eyes and the shield around his two friends peeled away like a curtain.

The light shining in from the windows highlighted Cadance's tricolour mane, her wide innocent eyes and the elegant slope of her muzzle, so much like her mother's.

Cadance took a tiny first step forward as her eyes landed on the two ponies. Shining hung back as Cadance took small, light steps across the sunlit floor.

Aura moved first, stumbling as she closed the distance between herself and her daughter. One hoof trembled as it lifted from the floor, reaching out to Cadance. It hesitated a moment, then gently brushed the pink Alicorn's cheek. Aura's face crumpled into an expression of joy and heartbreaking love as she stood before her child.

Cadance felt tears well up as she felt the loving touch of the pony who was her long-sought-after mother. Her heart was aching so hard that she couldn’t speak, just take in her mothers eyes, mane..everything about her.

Aura could wait no longer and stepped forward in one swift step, wrapping a foreleg around her daughter, holding her close. She felt Cadance's shaking hoof do the same, heard her sob softly. She stroked her daughters mane, whispering her name over and over…

Cadance heard more steps and opened her eyes. Standing behind Aura- no, mother -was Valance. Father…

She held up her other hoof to him now.

His tears fell without restraint and he joined his wife on Cadance's other side, hugging her too. The trio of horns tapped against each other and Shining seen sparks flare brightly for a moment, a blend of colours and magic that belonged together. He felt like blubbering himself, it was so beautiful. Cadance had her family back, after all this time.

The trio sat down, too shaken to stand, but still remaining in the tight embrace. Valance wrapped his other foreleg around his wife, holding his two special girls like he could never let them go again.

While they reunited, Sombra felt about to collapse from relief. It had worked, they'd made the first step, a hug. Hugs were good!

--Time for me to leave.-- he thought. As he made to go, he spotted Shining Armor hovering at the fringes of the meeting, looking a mix of nervous and about to cry from happiness.

--He'll be OK. This is his moment too, he is Cadance's husband after-all…--

Sombra closed his eyes and smiled, before turning and heading soundlessly for the door. Mid step he dropped the glamour and turned to shadow. In the gap between dropping said disguise and going full apparition, a feather came loose, unnoticed. It floated across the floor, landing behind Aura, who didn’t spot it. She was still processing the fact she was holding her daughter again, her precious Cadance.

“That’s why I named you that,” she whispered “Mi Amore Cadenza”, because you truly are my beloved Cadance.”

“Mother...” Cadance hiccuped “I..I don’t know what to say. I’ve wanted to know you both for so long. There’s so much to tell you!”

“And we want to hear every word my sweetheart,” Valance wiped his eyes, then heard a sniff from behind his daughter. He peered round her and chuckled as he spotted Shining Armor hovering nearby, looking very happy for his wife.

Aura seen him too and with a smile, she held out a hoof to him.

Shining Armor walked over, thinking she wanted to shake his hoof. Instead, as soon as she had a grasp on his hoof he found himself pulled into the hug. Shining put a foreleg around his wife, the other around his new mother in law. Cadance giggled as he joined the huddle of faces.

“Shining Armor, meet mom and dad!” she said happily, eyes shining with tears of joy.

“Very nice to meet you both!” Shining Armor stammered “just want to say I absolutely adore your daughter here, I can support her totally and everything-”

“Oh we know that!” Aura winked “Celestia talked about you a LOT. And stop worrying, we can tell you’re a good pony!”

Shining looked about to faint in relief and Cadance chuckled softly, kissing his cheek.

“Don’t be so nervous, Shiny.” she joked.

“Sorry, this is the most unusual way to meet the in-laws if you catch my drift!” Shining joked, still very nervous. Valance caught his eye and gave him a reassuring smile.

“Well, we have plenty of time to get to know each other. Your friend has already prepared to take over for the rest of this week to give us time together uninterrupted!” he announced.

“My frie-Sombra?” Shining Armor blinked. He poked his head out of the cuddle-huddle and glanced about “wasn’t he like, right here?”

The other three popped their heads up and scanned the room as he had. But Sombra was indeed gone.

“When did he leave?” Cadance frowned, she honestly couldn’t recall hearing a thing.

“He is spooky good at that.” Shining shook his head “the guy just knows.”

“Knows what?” Valance asked and Shining shook his head in total confusion.

“He just knows. Stuff! Things! I honestly cant explain how he does it, he just has a knack for doing what’s needed, even if it's weird. Or lands him in medical.”

“He was the one who told us to stop hiding, to tell you. That it was unfair on you to keep it secret,” Valance said to Cadance “this whole time, right from the start, I think he knew that what we were doing wasn’t right. I had the feeling it's been bothering him since we swore him to secrecy.”

This filled in the gaps in what Sombra had said earlier and explained the stallion's weird behaviour. As the picture came into focus in his head, Shining Armor suddenly looked extremely worried, his shoulders going tense.

“What’s the matter?” Cadance asked, although she had a recollection herself and when Shining met her eyes they both shared the same guilty look.

“What’s wrong, dears?” Aura asked, glancing from one to the other.

Shining Armor sighed as he looked over at Aura “what you just said, it all makes sense now. He said he couldn’t tell us when we spoke to him and it pained him to keep silent, now that I think back. We kept asking and he had to keep refusing us. As we were coming here, he said he wanted to make up for all this.”

The Unicorn shook his head, eyes full of regret “I yelled at him, treated my own friend like dirt. I accused him of lying and told him to just leave us alone if he wasn’t going to help us. I didn’t think about how it was hurting him, I was too angry that he knew something and wasn’t telling his friends. But now I realise he was doing it for you two.”

“Yes, we begged him not to say a word,” Valance sighed “and we were wrong. We didn’t just hurt you, we hurt ourselves. He was right all along, but no doubt felt unable to speak up at the start.”

“That’s our Sombra.” Cadance said heavily, the jaunty tone falling flat with the weight of her worry.

“If he still wants us as friends that is, or me anyway.” Shining said “I’m the one who said all those things to him.”

“I didn’t exactly stick up for him either, I think we both need to apologise.” Cadance said to him and Shining nodded.

“Then let’s go find him!” Valance said lightly “we can thank him for his help and you guys can make amends, for I'm sure he wont be mad, he's a good pony. I admit he startled me at first, but like you said, he knows.”

They all chuckled at this.

“We should have that on the coronation banners!” Shining laughed.

“Yes!” Cadance giggled “King Sombra- trust us, he KNOWS!”

They all shared a laugh, wondering if the idea would make Sombra chuckle? He'd always laughed when Shining brought up this famed ability of his.

As they all stood up, Aura spotted the grey feather behind her. Puzzled, she picked it up.

“Did somepony lose a quill?” she asked.

“No, I haven’t-” Cadance looked at it and did a double take “wait, I think that’s Sombra's!”

“Hay yeah-” Shining squinted at it “I’d say you’re right.”

“What’s it doing in here? I could swear this floor was spotless earlier! Peculiar.” Valance shrugged, lost for an explanation.

“He could have lost it as he left?” Cadance guessed “it must have drifted over here and he probably didn’t notice!”

“We can ask if he's alright, let's find him first!” Aura suggested.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I just hope he's not too mad.” Shining said softly as they walked around, looking for the elusive Sombra.

“I'm sure it'll be OK, honey.” Cadance offered, but Shining just sighed again.

“He's never had proper friends before, he was alone most of his life. And I did the same thing his own family did, I turned on him. It's got to have hurt him more than your average pony.”

“What happened to him?” Aura asked.

“It's a long story,” Cadance said “but the gist of it is that he was beaten and mentally abused by his own family for being born with dark magic. The first era he lived in, he was mostly treated like a criminal, with the exception of his foster father.”

Aura nodded “the statue outside, he spoke about him.”

Shining nodded “yeah, he was about the only decent influence that poor pony had. But it was too little too late, Sombra ended up despising the world at large and one day he lost all faith in it and that's what led to him taking over back then. He literally lost his mind to grief!”

“Goodness me, that sounds awful-” Valance began, then they finally spotted a guard up ahead. They asked him where the dark Alicorn was and the guard said he'd seen him heading for the throne room.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As they rounded the next corner, they bumped into Celestia.

“Oh!” she squeaked, then relaxed “goodness me, you scared me!”

Looking at the group, she took in how close Cadance was to her parents and opened her mouth to ask- eyes darting from one to the other, was it-?

“Yes, we finally told her. Or rather, Sombra helped us to do it.” Aura explained.

Celestia teared up in delight and gave them a big smile, then the second half of that sentence sunk in.

“Ah, Sombra!” Celestia winced a little, joy warring with panic “I need to find him, urgently in fact.”

“Us too. What’s wrong?” Shining asked her.

Celestia sighed heavily, staring at the carpet a moment before looking up “I want to convey my apologies.”

“Why, what’d YOU do?” Shining asked, confused by how many of them seemed to owe Sombra their regret.

“When my brother and Aura came back, I put a lot of pressure on Sombra to keep this to himself and to follow my orders. I think I made him feel like he had no choice and no say in any of this.”

She sighed sadly “but it’s not only that, as I think the way I pushed him made him think he didn’t deserve to be an Alicorn. I didn’t realise it until not long ago, for I was too blinded by my own affairs, but I believe he thinks he's just a replacement for you, Valance.”

Celestia looked at her brother, who considered this theory and nodded, it made sense. Through all of this, Sombra was the only one who was an outsider, the only one not related in some way. Yet he'd been asked to carry the biggest burden of all.

“Why is he mad at you?” Celestia finally processed what Shining Armor had said just minutes earlier. So Shining told her the story about how he'd shouted at Sombra and made him feel like the worst friend ever, when the whole time he'd been trying to help everypony without care for himself.

“We all need to talk to him it seems, so let's go together.” Celestia said softly. They all nodded and crept up to the throne room door. They couldn’t hear anything, and they wondered if he was even in there.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A hush fell over them as Celestia nudged the door open a fraction with her muzzle. They poked their heads in, one atop the other in a stack that would've looked pretty silly, had Sombra seen them.

But he WAS in there, albeit very distracted. He stood in front of the throne, sorting through some papers that’d been left atop it.

Cadance was about to suggest they enter, when Sombra gave a funny sort of shiver, looked round at his right wing and frowned.

They watched in concern as a shimmer of magic ran over Sombra's body and he lifted his wings. With the glamour gone, they seen the extent of the damage that the stress had wrought. Several feathers were lost, a couple big primaries and a hoofful of smaller ones. His wings seemed strangely bare, with the assortment of feathers missing, like a bird starving in winter.

As they took this damage in, Sombra flapped the right wing and another tiny feather drifted into the air, looping lazily in the air to finally land atop the paperwork stacked to one side. Sombra closed his eyes, gingerly folding his wings down.

“Why is this happening?” Cadance whispered in horror. Celestia's voice was laden with worry as she spoke;

“I think….I think he's rejecting them.” She whispered.

“Rejecting them?” Shining whispered back to her “how is that even possible?”

“Sombra is- I’ve noticed, after re-reading the doctors notes, that he tends to show signs of distress physically, far more than he does emotionally. That’s why he seemed to look so exhausted during the sky tear war. I also think the loss of weight when he was suffering those nightmares is likely linked to this habit too.”

She took a deep breath “All this stress, coupled with his feelings about his wings, it's causing his body to physically reject them. Feather loss is usually a sign of stress, but this fast- it's the best I can guess.”

“We have to tell him, now.” Cadance said and everypony nodded in unison.

“How on Equestria did this go unseen?” Valance asked and Aura nodded at the oblivious King standing before the throne.

“That was a glamour spell, a very advanced one. He's been disguising it, no doubt to limit concern-”

“That shimmer-!” Cadance realised the connection now. Seeing the confused looks aimed at her, she elaborated “when he walked away from Shining and I, I thought I seen his outline shimmer just slightly. I thought I was going crazy from lack of sleep, but it was his spell malfunctioning, wasn’t it?”

“Seems likely.” Shining sighed, looking in at Sombra “I’m so sorry, buddy.”

Celestia pushed the door open and they began walking towards the throne. Sombra still didn’t react to their presence. He'd gone still as stone in fact, a strange tension pervading his body and they soon seen why.

Images were flickering over the carved crystal of the throne, memories from the fight against Nightmare Justice. They couldn’t hear any sound, but Celestia read the phantoms lips and felt her heart sink even further-

“TRUE royalty?” she whispered and Cadance and Shining looked even more worried.

But as Celestia raised a hoof and opened her mouth to call out, there was a flash of light and Luna appeared, dropping out of the air to land on the throne on all four hooves, wings raised to block Sombra's view.

“STOP!” she cried, her gaze fixed on Sombra. He gave a startled yelp, almost falling over as he stumbled back from the throne. Luna smacked the images on the throne with her back left hoof, making them vanish with a tap of her shoe, then she turned to meet Sombra's eyes.

“We finally worked out why your dreams were so addled, you were using sedatives to try stop them, weren’t you?” she asked.

“I needed some sleep-” Sombra, initially looking about to give in, suddenly felt a surge of anger for the mess he'd become trapped in and raised his voice “and sanity knows I wasn’t getting any these days!! Can you really blame me, Luna?”

Luna was concerned to see the stallion looked on the verge of tears. He had to be so tired...looking closer at him, he was shaking even as he stood there so defiantly.

“No, we do not.” Luna said at last, as she thought about what had been going on “and we are sorry we were a part of the problem, Sombra.”

As Sombra opened his mouth to protest, Celestia spoke up “and so are we.”

Sombra went pale, swinging round to stare at them all.

“W-what?” he stammered, exhaustion and lack of sleep making him struggle to think. Why were they all here? A brief flash of memory brought him back to when that first intervention had occurred and he'd been given the gift of a true friend...

Celestia began walking over towards him, “it's exactly as you think, I want to apologise for everything. I got so lost in my celebrations and plans with my brother that I didn’t see what I was doing to YOU. I never intended to make you feel like you were just a replacement for him. I want to tell you the truth now, about why I so suddenly changed you into an Alicorn.”

Sombra stayed tense, but didn’t make any move towards stopping her. Celestia looked about to cry but still she smiled softly;

“You remember that prophecy about you that Cadance and the girls dug up? One particular line of it?”

Cadance piped up, guessing the line her long-time guardian needed “although given freedom to fly, it will not run away.”

“Exactly,” Celestia said “Even though that line was, up until then, believed to refer to your refusal to abandon us all, for what you’d done in that final battle alone I knew you deserved it. It was that line of the prophecy that popped into my head when I was tasked with supplying enough magic to rebuild your physical form. I thought that I could finally give you a gift to rival what you’d given to all of us.”

Sombra wouldn’t meet her gaze and she thought for a moment that he didn’t believe her. She couldn’t blame him, the circumstances had piled up on him, with all evidence pointing to his status being a mistake in the grand scheme of things.

“I don’t blame you for being angry at me, Sombra. I was so concerned with getting things right this time after the miracle of getting both my brother and my sister-in-law back, that I just didn’t think. I was afraid it'd all crumble around me, so I focused on it and it alone. I didn’t see that if I had just trusted you from the start, you probably would have solved the problem with your own ability.”

“He did,” Valance spoke up “we ran and hid from the truth, but he gave us no choice other than to see what we were denying. Denying both ourselves and our child. Thanks to him, we have our daughter back...”

Luna looked at Cadance, who was tearing up in happiness. She was vastly relieved hear this news.

“There is none finer you could ask to solve such a tangled web than Sombra. We have seen it time and time again. Even when it hurts, he does it anyway.”

Sombra's tired, conflicted glance moved from Celestia, to her brother, then her sister.

“Please don’t reject who you are, Sombra.” Celestia moved towards him and he backed up, still hesitant, until he bumped into Luna, who had stepped down from the throne. She surprised him by hugging him, sniffling.

“You gave us our brother, we really are grateful. We didn’t mean thou to have bad dreams because of us!”

“Luna..” Sombra was shocked by how upset she was “don’t cry!”

Luna let him go and wiped at her eyes “we cannot help it, it saddens us that we didn’t see you felt like we once did. Alone, slighted..”

“You don’t have to deny it,” Celestia said and Sombra turned to look at her “we know we've put you through a lot. You came through for us without a single complaint and we will always be grateful, all of us. You brought our family back together. I’m so sorry Sombra, I hope you can forgive me for my mistakes. Not just me..” She gestured to the other four waiting their turn.

Cadance ran up and hugged the beleaguered King too.

“I'm so sorry Sombra, I should have told you it wasn’t your fault. I didn’t know you were being asked to keep the truth hidden, but I should've known you better, you’ve always done what’s right for us.”

“Me too,” Shining Armor said and Cadance stepped back to let her husband approach the friend he'd argued with.

“Listen bud, I’m sorry. REALLY sorry. I acted like a total bum, making you feel like the bad guy here, when you were only trying to do what was best and what you'd been asked to do. I didn’t think just how awful what I said was, that I turned my back on you when in reality you needed the support more than anything.

It sucked, not having you at the game, the whole group felt your absence. I hope you can forgive me, I don’t wanna lose one of the coolest friends I’ve ever made. Can you forgive me for being a total ass?”

“And..?” Sombra spoke, voice emotionless. Shining faltered a moment, wondering what he'd missed. Then he seen the amused half-smile on Sombra's face.

“And for having my head lodged up an Ogres stinky butt.” he said solemnly. This was a popular phrase the group used when they were acting stupid and a bit pushy in the competitive matches.

“The stinkiest.” Sombra said sagely, then ruined the illusion by snorting loudly in amusement.

Shining was trying hard to to laugh, was he-?

Sombra looked at him, smiling properly now “Official apology accepted, you can relax, before you sprain something.”

Shining realised Sombra was referring to how tense he was and heaved a big sigh of relief, flopping to the carpet in an exaggerated fashion.

“Men.” Cadance giggled.

“Hay!” All three males objected.

“We resemble that remark!” Shining Armor objected and Sombra burst out laughing.

“Resent.” he said.

“I thought you weren’t mad?” Shining looked panicked again.

“No,” Sombra corrected “the word you meant,-”

“OH.” Shining face-hoofed. “Crap!”

Cadance giggled “I love you Shiny, but you are THE goofiest stallion in the world!”

“Yes!” Shining Armor cheered, grinning at his wife as he got up.

Sombra smiled, they were so happy together. Cadance looked so happy to have the secret be out in the open now, Sombra seen her glancing frequently at her parents, as if to reconfirm her joy had not disappeared like a mirage.

“Thank you,”Sombra blinked and turned his head back to see Aura was stood in front of him now, breaking him out of his trance.

“Without your help, we'd still be hiding in our sadness. We didn’t have the courage to do what you did, my daughter and son-in-law are very lucky to have a friend like you. And so are we, if you’ll have us?”

Valance joined her and stuck out a hoof to the Alicorn, which Sombra happily shook.

--It's truly impressive what he's done, he has courage beyond the average pony.-- Valance thought to himself, stepping back once more as Celestia hugged Sombra, her flowy mane almost smothering the stallion.

“Gbblhhh!!” the pony flailed.

“Sorry!” Celestia chuckled, letting him go.

Sombra smiled back, and looked at the faces gathered around him. His best friends and fellow crystal rulers. Celestia and her complete sibling line-up plus sister-in-law. It was quite a big family..

“Not just our family bud,” Shining Armor read his expression “just because its not blood bound doesn’t make it count any less. We'll always be the family you deserved when you were a kid! I think your father would approve of us, don’t you?”

Sombra took in their happy, grateful and kind faces.

“Oh yes,” he laughed freely “he'd LOVE you.”

Happy cheers met this statement, and Luna gave him her now legendary vice-hug, making him squeak.

As she released him, beaming ear to ear, Celestia nodded at Sombra's sparsely feathered wings.

“I can fix them for you, if you'd like. It’ll sting while the feathers grow back but it means you’ll be able to fly again. You shouldn’t have to wait, this wasn’t your fault.”

Sombra felt this chest ache as he was reminded why he'd lost so many feathers to begin with, but he pushed it aside. That was done now...

So he nodded and closed his eyes as Celestia's horn tapped against his. Her magic flooded his senses and was very swiftly followed by light stabbing pains in his wings.

“Ah-!” He flinched slightly as it increased and he could feel the feathers breaking through, but he was determined to hold on. So he clenched his jaw and battled through the pains as they moved from one wing to the next.

Shining Armor sighed in relief as he observed the new feathers grow and develop in seconds, padding the Alicorn's sizeable wingspan.

When the pain faded, Sombra felt light headed and a little bit dazed, but at least his wings didn't hurt any more.

“Give them a test.” Luna advised, so Sombra unfolded them, giving them a gentle flap to test the new feathers.

“Feel back to normal?” Celestia asked and he nodded, which made her smile in genuine relief. She sighed gently as Sombra folded them back down and set a hoof upon his shoulder, speaking softly so only he'd hear.

“Again, I am so sorry that you felt those wings didn’t belong with you. Reality could not be further from the truth, for you have done so many things to warrant such advancement, most notably the fact that you were willing to give everything for the ponies in your empire. Your hard work and diligence more than proves your place as royalty. You're home and we're your royal family.”

Sombra felt the last shreds of resentment fade and he let out a sigh of relief. He'd felt so out of place these last few days.

“You’ll be OK, Sombra.” Celestia said, seeing he still looked apprehensive.

“Indeed!” Luna stuck her face right through her sisters mane to Celestia's alarm and grinned widely at Sombra. He chuckled and booped her nose.

She withdrew from the massive flowing mane as the sun Princess stepped back.

With that heavy weight now off his back, Sombra's stomach gurgled loudly, drawing everypony's attention.

“Sorry.” he coughed “I missed breakfast.”

“Then let’s go eat!” Cadance said brightly, motioning him to join the group. Sombra clambered down from the throne and walked sedately alongside them, blinking as Shining Armor nervously asked if he still wanted to play O&O with him?

“Of course I do.” Sombra assured him “in fact, I have finished that new “boss” you requested me to make. I modelled its powers on my old self, figured it would be amusing to fight the story from the past.”

“Nice!” Shining grinned, that sounded like it'd be exciting! He caught Sombra’s eye, seen he looked genuinely happier now.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The others at the O&O gathering that night were glad to see Sombra back in action. To make sure the matter stayed finished with, Sombra went along with the cover story about him being sick, saying it was just a 24hour bug, he was right as rain!

To Sombra's delight, the new boss he had designed went over extremely well, his knowledge had really come in handy for whipping up a creature of fear and darkness.

“It would seem my former tyrant days have come in handy, never thought I would utter such a phrase.” Sombra chuckled as the game wrapped up for the night and they were discussing the new boss monster.

“That was so cool, the wicked dark magic and-” the pony speaking grinned sheepishly as he remembered Sombra was a dark magic user “sorry man, I didn’t mean to make it sound evil.”

Sombra dismissed the concern with a grin and a shrug.

“It is not the magic, it is the user. That is what I have learned at any rate.”

Shining Armor was relieved to see Sombra so much more at peace with himself in the past. He'd been slowly adjusting to speaking openly about it since about halfway through the war.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Valance and Aura had a lunch date with their daughter and in-law the next day, to start catching up on her life!

Cadance told them about her youth, and her transition to an Alicorn. Shining spoke of his sister, who'd be back soon!

“She's a Princess too, that’s wonderful!” Aura clapped her hooves.

“Cadie used to foal sit for her when she was tiny!” Shining Armor smiled “she was so thrilled when I told her I was marrying her favourite foal-sitter!”

They naturally told the tale of the wedding being hijacked and the ensuing takeover attempt by Queen Chrysalis and the changelings.

“She sounds ghastly!” Valance shuddered.

“That’s one way of putting it!” Shining Armor made a face.

“In the end, love was her undoing.” Cadance explained and her mother smiled proudly, squeezing her daughter's hoof.

They heard the tale about meeting Sombra first time and their eyes widened in surprise.

“We didn’t know how to fix what was wrong back then, that all he wanted was a chance or a friend. We assumed he was too far gone and simply obliterated him. But we were wrong, we later found out that he'd been mistreated by a world that didn’t understand his true talent. He felt he had to become a monster, that it was all he had left since the world couldn’t seem to accept him.”

“He seems so confident now,” Valance said “what was he like when you first, you know, brought him back?”

“Foul-tempered.” Shining Armor chuckled “seriously. He wouldn’t even leave his room and complained when the girls tried to befriend him. Then he met a little filly at the market and I kid you not, she clambered up onto some boxes and tapped him on the nose, stating “Boop!”.”

Cadance smiled “Twilight said he didn’t seem to know what to make of it, a fearless filly approaching a former tyrant like that. But she seen how lonely he was underneath all the ice-cold attitude and was determined to see him smile. After that, it was a gradual process of coaxing him into trusting us. When we realised he was struggling to cope with the strain of that war, we staged an intervention and told him he didn’t have to be alone.”

Shining nodded, recalling that morning “I didn’t understand how he kept refuting the good he'd done, then I wondered was it because he needed somepony to help convince him.”

He described holding out a hoof to Sombra. How the pony had hesitated, looking so unsure, but then he'd reached out.

“He was really that lonely? That’s awful.” Aura said sadly as Cadance nodded.

“He didn’t understand what friendship truly was. He was accustomed to running and hiding in fear of mistreatment and walling himself away emotionally so nopony could hurt him. He'd been bitten once too often to believe us at first, but bit by bit he gradually came out of his armoured shell. The more he relaxed around us, the more he began to talk to the crystal ponies too.”

“And now look at him!” Shining finished “he's happy, the crystal ponies adore him and he's finally found his footing as a ruler!”

Valance nodded, carefully thinking all this through. Sombra had managed to regain everything he so very nearly could’ve lost forever. How did he do it?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That night, he sat out on the balcony, his guilt eating away at him. Every night had been like this. During the day he could suppress these feelings, but alone with his thoughts at night he couldn’t silence them. His mind stewed over and over, all the things he'd done as Nightmare Justice.

Valance could recall trying to kill Sombra, how he'd viewed him as an impostor in his family. He had a feeling it was his words as Justice that had sparked Sombra's doubts about his Alicorn status. He'd seen those images playing across the polished throne, caught a glimpse of his old self. It had really shaken Sombra it seemed, adding to the load he was already dealing with.

He was so tired, he needed to get away. Away from those nightmares and visions, just escape everything…

He snuck out of the palace, giving Luna the slip by hiding in the shadows as he made his way away from the palace. He travelled the empty streets, listening to the ambient night-time sounds around him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Valance felt an itch in his legs as he walked and abruptly took off running as if by going as fast as he could, he could leave it all behind.

He reached a hill at last, sides heaving. He hadn’t run that far since his younger years.

He sat down, closing his eyes. Images raced through his mind of his Nightmare form, the evil he'd done and the hurt he'd caused to his own sisters.

“I know what you are going through.”

The voice came from behind him and Valance shrieked loudly, bumbling round to see-

Sombra?

The Alicorn was standing there, looking calmly over at him. How on Equestria had he caught up to him so fast?

“Your majesty?” he asked.

Sombra gave a shrug “you don’t need to keep calling me that. Drop the formalities.”

This made Valance blink, then he recalled how during the apologies, his sisters and daughter had all called this pony by name.

“Uh..” he cleared his throat “What did you mean by “I know”?”

Sombra smiled at this, walking over and sitting himself on Valance's left. He looked at the empire in the distance with a fondness that words could not express.

“I was in your position too. Spent most of my life believing a monster was the only future I would ever have. Even when I was adopted by King Cloudspark, it was too late, I could not trust the world. One day my bitterness spilled over and I unleashed the darkness in me. My magic was so overpowering and fuelled by such rage that it changed me from a child into my adult form.

As he spoke, he formed hologram memories with his magic, showing Valance his story. The other Alicorn stared as he seen the tyrant Sombra enslaving the crystal ponies, turning on the world with a child’s fury.

“I hurt ponies too and I was not happy to be awoken again by Celestia in the here and now, not at first anyway. I railed against both her and the suppressor I had to wear. I could not stand being deprived of the power I once had, it felt so demeaning. But as time passed, I made the acquaintance of a small fearless filly who seen through my mask and realised I was alone. But even with her, I was reluctant to trust. I kept to myself and refused the girls’ efforts to make me see what I could do and what they could offer.”

“Then what happened?” Valance's eyes were glued to the memories playing on in front of them.

“Eventually, I was becoming dangerously sick from exhaustion, because I wouldn’t accept help. During the crystal plague they were transplanted into the memories of my past via Luna's magic and they seen the abuse, the injuries, all of it. They realised what had turned me into a tyrant and how it could’ve been avoided. Do you know what they did after that? They sat me down and said they weren’t going to sit by and watch me suffer. I asked why and they said because that’s not what friends did. I didn’t understand it, why would they want to be friends with a monster?”

He sighed, recalling those days, the strange new feeling of acquiring friends.

“Most unexpected was Shining Armor. He realised I had never truly had a good friend before, so he offered to teach me. He showed me how to play this board game with him and his friends and how to adjust to the questions they’d ask me. I had never enjoyed myself so much before and the fact they didn’t instantly run away on seeing me was a change from what I had gotten used to in the past. They were more curious then startled, I think, but they accepted me and together with Shining Armor I learned to play their game.”

Valance nodded, seeing how happy Sombra was in those memories. The change was so drastic, from a surly beast to the refined pony sat beside him now.

“Even when I couldn’t cope with my own inheritance, Shining Armor persuaded me to trust him and say yes to taking the crown my foster father had left and I have been trying ever since.”

He trailed off with a wry chuckle. Valance looked at him, speaking up as the memories faded.

“I’m aware my words as Nightmare Justice didn’t help in that regard. I threatened you, tried to kill you, made it seem you were inferior. I can only apologise for that side of me-”

“Don’t worry about it. Like I said, I have been there too, I know what the guilt does. Don’t keep tormenting yourself, for it will do no good.” Sombra said gently.

“How do you do it?” Valance blurted, feeling tears well up suddenly.

“Do what?” Sombra asked softly.

“This, all of it. Get over what you did, forgive the crimes you committed?!”

Sombra sighed softly “it was not an easy route, I had to accept both my blame and my innocence.”

“How do you mean?”

“I blamed everything on me, assumed I was the sole fault, the mistake. But while I did lose control and give in to rage, the torment I endured that pushed me there was not mine to bear. Had I found somepony back then who could’ve helped me see the potential the way the girls have now, things might have been different. But the world just was not ready to leave superstitions comfort blanket behind them, so it turned on me. In turn, I turned on the one pony that had treated me kindly and a letter Luna recovered hinted that he knew I had been in too much misery to accept the chance back then. So he simply wrote a wish that I someday returned in a happier frame of mind.”

His vision blurred at the nostalgia of it “I was so relieved to be given a new physical form after the fight, when I thought I was going to die I realised just how much id gained and did not wish to lose. But I couldn’t stand to see the Empire fall to those shadows so I prepared to bid them farewell. To be alive again after that, it brought no end of happiness. So I know how you’re making yourself feel, but I also know how it can be stopped.”

Valance was silent, dare he hope for the same success?

“Yes, you did do some awful things, this you must accept. You attacked those criminals to within an inch of their lives, but forget not, your grief was what let that dark entity in. It capitalised on your desire for vengeance much like my power focused on my bitterness and wish to punish the world. You were not responsible for that entity taking you over, those cultists deserve that blame.”

“Then I- what is my blame?”

“That is up to you. You were being manipulated by that thing, as it no doubt let you believe it was your idea. I sensed a lot from the power that I absorbed from you that night. That thing was pure malice and it wormed into your heart through the door your grief left open.”

“Then my blame is the thoughts and desires to hurt those that attacked others. To make sure none lost their loved ones the way I had with Aura. And by extension my body which hurt them..”

He felt better for simply admitting it, and carried on before he stopped.

“I terrorised my home, worried my sisters and even fought against them when they tried to help me. I hope they can forgive me-”

“They already have, that’s what family does.” Sombra smiled “even though we have our faults, our families forgive us. That is what my foster father did for me, a lesson I will always treasure. So don’t worry, they accept you with all the mistakes included. They’re just happy you’re back with them, that is the fact that matters most and that you should focus on. It is tough, I know, but you can make it.”

“You have remarkable faith.” Valance commented. Sombra looked at him, a soft smile flickering over his face.

“Now I do, but even then it still falters from time to time. As you well seen when you all confronted me about my wings.” As he spoke, he spread them wide and looking at the newly regenerated feathers more kindly now.

“But, with everypony's help, that doubt passed. Your sisters will do this for you too, just go to them.”

Valance nodded, he felt a little better.

“Do not think you should suffer alone. I made that mistake and learnt better this time around. When I was given my first taste of friendship, it was...startling. I'd never been treated as an equal to anyone, so at first I was wary. But now, I could not imagine my life without them.”

“I look forward to meeting them. Cadance has spoken of her husband's sister and her friends, they sound exemplary.”

Sombra nodded, smiling “they got me to emerge out of my shell and that was not an easy task.”

Valance took a deep breath and let it out. He felt a bit better…

“Let us return to the palace. You must rest.” Sombra said kindly. Valance nodded, joining the other Alicorn as they flew back to the palace. Sombra let them back into the palace without alerting the guards. He bid Valance goodnight and returned to his temporary bedroom.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sombra curled up in bed with a soft sigh, he was feeling back to his usual self for the most part. But he was still a little nervous about one particular thing he'd almost forgotten about amidst the chaos.

Proposing to his marefriend.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, feeling restless and driven by a need to leave the unpleasantness of the previous few days behind and do something to snap himself out of his funk, he flew out of his window. It was just getting towards dawn, had he glanced up at the tower he'd have seen Celestia up there, raising the sun.

But his mind was locked on course and he felt his stomach fluttering nervously as he winged his way towards Shining Sea's house. He touched down outside the front door, then just stood there.

What if she wasn’t up? What if she didn’t want to see him?

Pushing these doubts aside, he knocked very gently on the door. He fidgeted slightly as he waited and after a few seconds he’d just convinced himself to leave, when the door opened. Sea, floating a spatula covered in pancake batter stood in the doorway, blinking wide blue eyes at him.

“Sombra?” she asked.

“Oh, uh- good morning.” Sombra coughed. Sea tilted her head, seeing he looked unusually anxious.

“Come in.” She smiled, seeing relief on his face as she spoke. He followed her inside, where she was just putting pancakes on some plates.

“Can I talk with you a moment?” Sombra asked softly. Sea took in his soft smile, those lovely red eyes and nodded. He kissed her gently and she blushed, heart pounding in her chest. He looked oh-so-gorgeous in the light filtering in through the kitchen windows. She noticed his mane had changed, now she stared at it.

“How did you-?” she reached up to brush his new mane. It felt just like it had when it was a flowing black shadow, soft but substantial.

“It's a long story..” Sombra chuckled “but the short version is that I missed that part of the old me.”

She opened the back door, walking to the bottom of the garden. Spark would be able to see them from her window and it was a nice private area, leafy trees forming a canopy above them.

“What's on your mind?” Sea asked Sombra.

“Am I that obvious?” Sombra chuckled and Sea smiled then nuzzled his nose.

“Just a little,” she teased, winking at him to make him feel better. He smiled and nuzzled her mane. In the pocket of his saddlebag he could feel the weight of what the ring represented.

“My Sea, my star.” he drew back “ever since I woke up here, you and spark have been the brightest lights in my life. You seen past my attempts to shut the world out and you wouldn’t let me. That was when I first realised how much I wanted to stay by your side.”

Sea was touched by the open way Sombra talked. He had fought with his own emotions a lot since his return, so to hear him being so honest made her heart ache in the nicest way.

“Spark is like a daughter to me, she has made me feel like I am part of your family from day one. That is why-”

He opened his saddlebag, floating the box up and holding it out to Sea, opening its lid “I have a question to ask. Will you make my life even more magical by becoming my wife?”

Sea's eyes went wide, heart puttering wildly about her chest. Was he really-? She was, much like that first kiss at the ball, speechless at the love evident in the gesture.

“I know that I must seem awfully forward, that my efforts at courtship are faltering and a little dated but- I love you, my Sea-”

“Sombra.” she said softly, regaining her voice as tears of joy filled her eyes. But his nerves made him ramble on, unheeding. He was focused on the ring, his reflection clear in its polished surface.

“After nearly losing everything, I realised just how important you are-”

“Yes.”

“I-whuh?” Sombra stopped rambling as Sea spoke up with one very clear word. Her hoof gently tilted his muzzle up so he was looking at her.

“Yes, Sombra.” Sea emphasised “of course I’ll marry you!”

Sombra looked so happy he could pop, as she spoke those words and he took the ring from its box. It hung on a gold chain, which he draped around her neck. Sealed beneath the top layer of the box was a matching ring for the future groom.

Sea lifted it from the box with her magic and set it around his neck, then kissed him. She nuzzled up t his chest, feeling his wings wrap around her.

Their kiss came to an end and she nuzzled his cheek, crying from joy.

“Sea?” Sombra looked worried when he seen her tears.

“Don’t worry, I’m not sad,” she smiled happily “I’m celebrating. I have a wonderful stallion who healed the space in my heart. Before you, I felt disconnected from the world, I was living for my daughter, as I promised my husband. But I wasn’t living for myself as much. Then I met you and I started to feel like there was more out there for me.”

“My Sea.” Sombra said softly “I would do whatever it takes to make you feel complete.”

“You already have.” She said tenderly “and I love you for it. Love you so much, Sombra.”

They shared another kiss, the birds filling the air with their singing, a soft breeze ruffling the leaves above them. They parted, lips tingling, their faces flushed with delight.

“When I seen you at the dance, I never dreamed I’d get to be so close to you.” she admitted “i thought I would forever be just the mother of your biggest fan. When you asked me to dance, I couldn’t stop admiring you.”

“Hopefully that means you missed my atrocious dancing then?” Sombra joked. Sea giggled, tapping his chest with one hoof.

“Your dancing? I was worried about mine!”

Their laughter mingled amongst the sounds of nature as they thought back to that night.

“Remember little Spark fair flying across the floor?”

“Oh goodness!” Sea shook her head “I have never laughed so hard then when I seen it. That child is utterly fearless at times and it has come to the fore ever since you and she became friends.”

She looked up at Sombra as another thought occurred to her “she already thinks of you as a surrogate father. She will be delighted when she finds out you’ll soon be her legal one!”

As if drawn by the mere mention of her name, a voice called to them from the doorway.

“Mommy? Sombwa?”

They parted, seeing the little filly standing in the kitchen doorway. The sunlight made her yellow-gold coat shimmer in the sun, she was like a solidified ray of sunshine. Sea held a hoof out to her and Spark bounded across the grass to throw herself at her mother and best friend ever!

“Sombwa, you came to have bwewkfast?” she asked.

“Oh yes, he will be joining us!” Sea winked at Sombra, who nodded with a chuckle.

“First though, little Spark, your mother and I have something to tell you.”

Spark sat back, looking up at the two adults with wide eyes.

“What is?” she asked excitedly.

Sea and Sombra looked at each other, the Alicorn nodding to the unicorn, deferring the right to her.

“Spark, Sombra and I...we're getting married.”

Spark's jaw fell open, eyes going wide as dinner plates.

“That means hell be your-”

“-Daddy!” Spark shrieked in glee, throwing herself at Sombra in the biggest hug she could muster. Sombra chuckled happily, nuzzling the top of her head.

“Daddy, daddy daddy~!” Spark burbled into Sombra's chest as she hugged him as long as she could.

--Cutest. Thing, EVER.-- Sea squee'd silently.

“Daddy?” Spark asked breathlessly as she looked up at Sombra. The stallion scooped her up in one foreleg, so she could “boop” his nose.

“Yes, my little spark. I'll be a part of your family and I could not think of a greater gift in my whole life.”

Spark burst into happy tears, clinging happily to Sombra as she giggled and sobbed. Next, she hugged her mother.

“I'm gwad you found a speciaw somepony, mommy. Sombwa is best, he'll love you and love you!”

“I know,” Sea said, looking at her future husband and Spark's future father “I’m the luckiest mare in the world.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As they ate their breakfast, Spark had another question for Sombra.

“Sombwa, can I tell my friends in show and tell today?”

Sea and Sombra exchanged glances. The papers and everypony else would find out fast enough anyway, why not give the honour to Spark?

They nodded as one and Spark clapped her hooves in glee.

She fetched her camera, taking a picture of her mother and Sombra, their engagement rings clearly in shot and did a happy dance around the kitchen.

“Do you want a lift to school?” Sombra smiled, indicating his wings. Spark's eyes went wide again and she nodded rapidly.

Sombra spoke to Sea for a few minutes, asking if, once he came back, she would come with him to the palace? He wished to announce it to his friends in private first, before the news spread like wildfire from the school.

Sea watched him take off from the front lawn, soaring into the sky with her daughter's delighted laughter fading into the still morning.

“HI!” a voice piped up from beside her and Sea shrieked, back-pedalling and nearly falling over. She stared, wheezing in fright….and it was Motormouth.

“Geez..” Sea put a hoof to her chest, sighing heavily.

“Sorry, you were just standing there, staring at the sky, I couldn’t resist.”

“Well, now you're done giving me a heart attack, what’s up?” Sea chuckled.

“I just wanted to drop off that book I borrowed. I'm on my way to work...” Motormouth handed her a book she'd borrowed a couple of weeks ago “Sooo...why were you standing there staring anyway?”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While Sombra acted as a chauffeur, Valance was gathering his sisters, wife and daughter together.

“I have something that I wish to ask of you all.” he said.

“Thou looketh more at peace. Dost thou feel better?” Luna asked curiously, studying her brother. Valance hugged the lunar mare and nodded.

“I have found a way to make peace with my past, whilst also giving myself a goal for the future.”

“That’s wonderful dad!” Cadance said, and Valances heart cramped in happiness as she called him that. He had such a wonderful daughter…

“So, what's your idea?” Celestia asked, taking a sip of tea.

“Bear with me, this may sound crazy at first.” Valance began, taking a deep breath before launching into it.

His family were duly surprised, but to his immense relief they agreed as one to fully support him. His plan had great honesty and it was clear that he believed this the best way he could atone for the weight he carried.

“We will help thee, all the way.” Luna vowed and the others nodded.

Valance asked that they begin asap, for he’d need to rest awhile before the next phase.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The kids in the school courtyard broke off from their games as a shadow swooped low over them. Looking up, they seen Sombra come in to land, extending his right wing down to the ground as his hooves set down. Bright Spark slalomed down with a delighted squeal, landing on her feet with a grin and a bow. Several fillies nearby applauded the landing and Sombra folded his wing up, chuckling at the scene.

“See you later, little Spark.” he smiled warmly.

“Bye bye Sombwa!” she waved gleefully as he spread his wings and took off with a gust of air, waving to the kids below as he swooped away.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Petalbloom couldn’t help but notice that through all the other students’ show and tell presentations, Spark was grinning ear to ear and fidgeting ceaselessly in her seat. Slightly bemused, she called on the young filly to come to the front of the class before she near exploded with anticipation.

“What are you showing us today?” Petalbloom asked.

“I got a photo I wanna show evewypony. It’s weally super cool!” Spark beamed. The teacher tapped the magical projector, motioning her to place the photo on the plate.

“Tell us, Bright Spark!” she said eagerly, as the fillies enthusiasm infected her quickly.

Spark drew in a deep breath as she bounded up, slapping the photo correct way up, on the projector.

“I’m getting a new daddy!”

The class put this together with the contents of the photo as the image flashed up on the wall. Petalbloom would later class what followed as “the sound of many a jaw dropping.”

The photo showed Sombra and Shining Sea, both smiling proudly with matching engagement rings on chains around their necks.

“Sombwa came for bweakfast this mowning," Spark said to the stunned classroom “we had bweakfast and they told me they were getting mawwied and that Sombwa will be my dad!”

The class burst into cheers of joy, Spark’s friends racing from their desks to congratulate their buddy on her news.

“That is so awesome!” A colt stared at the photo, then at the delighted Spark “his highness is so cool!”

“Wait….does that mean you’ll be a Princess?” one filly asked, a little jealously, she admitted to herself.

“I dunno….” Spark scratched her cheek “I’ll ask Sombwa!”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The others at the palace wondered where Sombra was, as it wasn’t like him to miss breakfast, not with his appetite anyway.

They found out pretty swiftly when the stallion strode leisurely in the dining room door and he wasn’t alone! He’d brought Shining Sea with him.

“Oh!” Cadance did a double take and looked around for the cook “we have an extra guest-”

“It’s OK, we already ate.” Sombra assured her and Shining Sea nodded.

Rarity noticed the secretive way they were acting and her ears perked up.

“Wanna join us anyway?” Rainbow Dash asked, waving a hoof at the empty seats.

Sombra smiled “Of course miss Dash, but first we have some news for you all.”

Rarity was leaning forward in her seat, was he-?

“We're getting married.” Sombra said in a rush, squeezing Sea's hoof to assuage his jangling nerves.

“In 3, 2...1...” Rainbow put her hooves over her ears.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!” Rarity let out the loudest, most delighted squeal anyone had ever heard.

“Right on cue.” Rainbow snickered.

“Yes!" Twilight bounced out of her seat, bounding around the couple chanting “yes! Yes!”. Much like she had when Sombra had been made an Alicorn.

“That. Is. Awesome!” Rainbow swooped over, Pinkie and the others in hot pursuit. More hugs and congratulations followed, with Shining Armor giving his friend a hoofbump and giving a blushing Sea a warm welcoming smile. Cadance outright hugged her, saying how delighted she was!

“Have you told tha little one?” Applejack wiped her eyes and looked across at Sombra.

“Indeed we did. By now she will have told her whole class and I predict it will be front page news by tomorrow morning!” Sea giggled “nothing spreads news like an excitable network of kids.”

“Oh this is just wonderful, darlings!” Rarity clapped her hooves “I have so much to ask, I don't know where to start!”

“Well, I can solve one dilemma, miss Rarity. Would you design the outfits-”

Rarity almost tackle hugged him she was so delighted, nodding as she let him go. It’d be an honour to design for a wedding, just like with Cadance’s…

Sea caught the fashionistas eye and winked, her smile saying she couldn’t wait either!

The newly engaged couple sat themselves down at the table, finding they could indeed cram a few extra waffles in!

As they left the hall, Sombra asked Cadance where Valance and Aura were?

“They’re resting, Valance has a headache and Aura is sitting with him and reading some history books. They’re catching up much like you did.”

Sombra said he hoped Valance would feel better soon...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sea spent the rest of that day at the palace, talking with her fiancé and discussing living arrangements with him, Cadance and Shining Armor.

“It’s entirely up to you, you don’t have to move to the palace...” Sombra began, but Sea smiled.

“It’s so beautiful here, I know Spark would love to have all this space to play in! We'll miss our old home, but this is a new start for all of us and nothing would make me happier than to live with you.”

Sombra looked relieved, and nuzzled her mane. Over his shoulder, Sea spotted Shining Armor pretending to make out with himself while his wife face hoofed in despair.

She couldn’t help it, she giggled into the soft fur of Sombra’s shoulder.

“Whats-?” Sombra blinked at her, then at Shining Armor and Cadance. Shining was looking as innocent as he could, and failing epically. Cadance was red faced from trying to hold the giggles in.

“Please don’t explode miss Cadance,” Sombra joked “we cant have you exploding before we announce this to the empire!”

Cadance erupted into merry giggles, spurred on by Sombra’s parody of both her and Celestia’s words.

Author's Note:

This took a fair while, ive had a lot going on the last few months...loss of sleep, frequent headaches and fatigue to start with. I was also at EQLA, meeting my fellow Sombra fans, which was so much fun! Well worth the ass-numbingly long 11 hour flight...

Comments

[Wysteria]

Awesome chapter! Can't wait for the next one!

And yay for....Pwincess Bwight Spark!!!

[CountessRose]

Yay they are getting MARRIED!!!! Love to see an update for your stories as always.

[First Captain Lunarblade]

Holy crap this took a while to read. Nice long chapters... well to the favorite book we go

It’s a great story so far I can’t wait to see where this goes

[Pixel_Spark]

8601541
Thanks ^_^ I'm delighted you like it!

It's a long-running joke that I can't write a short story...at all. They all end up being massive long projects! :D

[RP422]

Well, this was a delightful way to waste time that I shouldn't be wasting during finals week at college.

You've probably heard this hundreds of times by now, but it would help if you had maybe one or two people do a proofreading pass over the story. Typos and unnecessary exclamation marks were unfortunately common throughout this story's early chapters, and you definitely got better at avoiding them both in the more recent chapters, but they do still slip through occasionally.

Honestly, there were a couple times in the early chapters where the only thing that kept me reading was your chapter length and total word count for the story. I tend to use both of those as rough measures of how much effort someone puts into a story: chapter length for how much detail goes into the moment-to-moment and total length for how well though-out the overall story is. Barring the rare exception *coughTatsuroucough* I've found those to be pretty accurate measures. You passed both with flying colors.

[Doukzor]

8618765
oh
my

Not really

[Super-Brony12]

Oh my gosh! The proposal scene was adorable! I about cracked when Bright Spark called Sombra Daddy. Even though I'm a little late, this was another excellent chapter Pixel!

~ Super-Brony12

[Dxinsider]

YES! I FINISH THE WHOLE STORY!!!!!!!!! that's out right now. I LOVE THIS STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TYTYTY for writing it. I wonder.... will Discord be there as well? ALSO this song reminds me of all that Sombra went through. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYCOA2jQ-XA I can so see him dancing and singing this song, alone in his room. his guards peek in and see him shaking his flank singing it. HE'S STILL STANDING!!!!

[dragonus85]

i found this and put it in my read later folder then finally got around to reading it and it took a while to get caught up but i found it vastly enjoyable. i'm glad i found this. i wait patiently for its continueation.

[Silverstone28001]

I feel like we might be having another universe cross over soon. (Aka Umbrum.)

[Fireheadz506]

That moment a Fiction depicted a main villain better than the actual show....
Makes you really think.

[MLPFann]

I thought that FDTL was going to be updated I guess not aww so sad😥 I really enjoyed reading it you did a great job sure there were some mistakes but who doesn't make mistakes good job you did a great job with the story🤗😥

[Ice Star]

I finally finished this mammoth of a story, and hope to get to the others one day too. I really enjoyed Sombra's heroic redemption antics and the effort he put into making friends. The OCs were a nice addition too, and helped with Sombra's storyline in addition to standing on their own. The colored text and larger spaces made it easier to read the nigh-endless chapters on my computer, but the story's size per chapter and the many very small paragraphs made it difficult to read and bookmark on my phone.

Hopefully the conclusion of this tale and other updates will be just as good.

[All_things_King_SOMBRA]

Ok... I've read this story like five times... it doesn't get old... PLS UPDATE SOON!! I litteraly get pissed off now because no sombra story, or any mlp story I've read compares with this. THERE'S NOTHING I'VE FOUND BETTER OR MORE INTRESTING THAN THIS!!! Again... PLS UPDATE SOON I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF THIS!!!

[All_things_King_SOMBRA]

8702207
I completly agree with you! I also think this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dqN9XsgJaU also describes Sombra's life!

[Coco Candy]

PWINCESS BWIGHT SPARK!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAA, I loved this chapter so much and...
HE PROPOSED! HE DID IT!! mah life is complete.
waaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiit....
gosh dang it this story is on hiatus. DAGNABIT!!!!!! Please update though! I love reading your writing!!!

[Loganic]

10312814
Authors dead. Sorry buddy.

[Hammer-strike]

NO THIS CANT END ON SUCH AN AMAZING CLIFFHANGER I REFUSE

[Silverstone28001]

Please update soon.

[xiwu]

10449846
Did he die of a novel coronavirus?

[Loganic]

11413666
No his account, he hasn’t been on in a year. I hope he didn’t actually die. Turns out he was on after I said that but he hasn’t been for awhile now so it still applies.

[xiwu]

11414022
Unfortunately, five years have passed.Even if he is still alive, he has no ability to continue writing.