The Good King Returning Alive

by Misty Shadow

Remembrance of Darkness

Princess Twilight Sparkle, currently ruling Equestria in a vacationing Princess Celestia and Luna’s absence, was sitting on her throne in Canterlot. She had herself immersed in a book, when suddenly, a guard came bursting in.

“News from northern Equestria!” the guard, a white stallion with dark blue, light blue-striped hair proclaimed. “Um...your Highness?”

The guard took off his helmet out of respect as Twilight responded…

“Yes?”

“I just came to inform you that...IT has returned.”

“The book festival?” Twilight guessed.

“No, HIM!” the guard clarified.

Twilight gasped before saying…

“Hoity-Toity?”

“...Inky Rose.” the guard frustratedly replied.

Twilight gasped again before declaring…

“King Sombra is back, alleging that he’s good now, and both he and his friend are coming here to see me!”

“Well, at least she finally caught on…” the guard mused to himself.

“Just like in Cadance’s letter!” Twilight exclaimed, causing the guard to grunt and put his hoof on his face.

“She’s normally so smart too…” he thought, disgruntled. “...which makes it even more annoying.”

“You should already know of the precautions we must take.” Twilight told the guard. “Station more guards inside the castle outside the throne room. Cadance told me that Sombra doesn’t seem to possess dark magic anymore, but we never know. Remain vigilant, guard.”

“My name is Snow Sentinel.” the irked guard reminded her.

“My apologies, Sentinel.” Twilight apologized.

“...I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.” Snow Sentinel said in his mind as he walked away.

“Oh, and one more thing.” Twilight reminded him before he left. “I know it might be tempting to move guards away from “non-essential” places like the castle library, but even disregarding my contempt for such a classification, my students from the School of Friendship came to visit the library not too long ago. We need guards to keep them safe just in case.”

“Understood.” Snow replied sincerely, taking his leave from the throne room.

“Our new princess may be a little loopy, but I can definitely tell that she cares.” he thought to himself in the hall outside. “She must just be tired. Still, that doesn’t eliminate my cause for concern. How can it be that everything on our record about Sombra is a lie? I would think it to not be so easy for a double to infiltrate past royal forces and fool us all…”

“Is that so?” the hooded gray stallion from Cadance’s palace taunted him from behind, the green-eyed shadow speaking through him being able to read his thoughts.

Snow Sentinel gasped as the same shadow that appeared by Cadance washed over him.

Meanwhile, in the library…

“You want to change into Sombra?!” a bemused Sandbar exclaimed, reacting to a cheerful Ocellus’ proposition. He, Ocellus, Yona, Silverstream, Smolder, and Gallus, were all sitting around a round table at the library, each with their own books.

“Shush!” Ocellus responded, teasing Sandbar by transforming into a librarian, then transforming back.

Sandbar sighed in response, toning down his voice before asking…

“But why? We have no absolute confirmation yet that he’s actually changed. Not to mention that his evil self that supposedly wasn’t him destroyed the Tree of Harmony we held dear.”

“Have you already forgotten that school project of mine?” Ocellus replied, referring to the time she transformed into the evil Sombra. “That’s not what matters to me when I transform. Even if he’s not actually turned good, I want to see his good form in person so I can mimic it properly and get better at what I do. It’s just a disguise, after all.”

“I guess I...kind of get it.” a still puzzled Sandbar said, trying to meet his friend halfway. “You just seem so oddly...upbeat about...becoming somepony evil, even if it’s just pretend.”

“Can anyone truly profess to know what is good or evil?” Ocellus asked. “Yes, we might be good, and Sombra might actually still be evil, but there’s always more to us than just those words.”

“Yet neither the Elements nor the light from our teachers gave him a second chance…” Sandbar said. “Doesn’t that prove that Sombra, or at least this purported doppelganger, was pure evil?”

“Maybe he just wasn’t ready for a second chance yet…” Ocellus proposed. “...kind of like Discord.”

“You got me there…” Sandbar replied in a deadpan tone, recalling Discord’s recent dubious actions. “...you definitely got me there.”

“So are we all going to talk to him?” Ocellus asked him and the rest of her friends.

“If Sandbar in, Yona in!” Yona declared happily.

“Whenever he’s done chatting it up with the princess, I guess.” Smolder answered nonchalantly as something caught Gallus’ eye.

“When is that chat supposed to end exactly?” Gallus asked curiously.

“How am I supposed to know?” Smolder retorted.

“I don’t expect you to,” replied Gallus, “it’s just that I’m pretty sure even Twilight wouldn’t pause an important conversation for a reading intermission...”

“Hey, you never know Twilight!” Silverstream happily exclaimed, not catching on.

“No!” Gallus yelled, slapping his face with his claw. “I meant I’m pretty sure totally not Sombra doesn’t have a good reason to be sneaking around the library!”

He called attention to the hooded gray stallion walking into the library with a mysterious blue book in hoof, pointing his finger at him. The stallion winced in response and fled as the students chased him into the hall.

“How did that griffon sense me?” he thought. “If he felt my aura of darkness, his childhood must have been hell...not that I can relate. I only acquired my powers from this evil I had to absorb fairly recently…”

Earlier, in Twilight’s throne room…

Sombra and Radiant Hope were in the middle of their discussion with the princess, trying to work out a compromise for what could be done in order to clear Sombra’s name of the falsely recorded wrongs.

“Trust me you two,” said Twilight sincerely, “I do want to believe both of you, just as Cadance did. Hope, you’ve always been a good soul. Sombra, I can see that you truly have changed. However, you both lack what is crucial for us to see in order to consider altering official, royal records...hardcore evidence.”

“But we toiled for Princess Amore’s shards!” Hope cried. “Isn’t that proof enough?”

“Alas, no.” Twilight answered. “This is not about you two being good. This is about your imposter theory only being a theory. Before I can officially state that this marauder did what he did masquerading as Sombra, you have to first prove to me that he exists in the first place.”

“Challenge accepted, then.” Sombra said confidently. “I know from personal experience that there’s no rest for the wicked. My double will be back, the only question is when.”

“NOW!”

Twilight, Hope, and Sombra all jumped a bit as they heard that exclamation from outside the throne room, the sound of somepony being brought to the ground after being tackled from both sides following it. Twilight opened the doors of the throne room with her magic for the trio to see that the Student 6 and Snow Sentinel had apprehended the hooded stallion, pinning him to the floor.

“Ha!” Gallus gloated before he looked to his side upon hearing the doors open. “We got you, Som...bra?”

Gallus’ smug demeanor quickly turned to a bemused one once he saw the reformed Sombra standing right beside him.

“But…but…” he stammered, dumbfounded. “If that’s you...then who’s…”

He thrust off the stallion’s hood to reveal that his true identity was…

...another good King Sombra. Only this one had blue streaks in his hair.

“You jest…” a bewildered Hope remarked. “I never doubted Sombra for a second, but I never would’ve thought the proof…”

“...would show up right to your doorstep?” Twilight joked, trying to inject some humor into this awkward moment. “Eh? Eh?”

Groaning ensued as Snow Sentinel chimed in.

“You’re becoming more like Princess Celestia every day, Your Highness.”

“Celestia…” the once hooded Sombra said worriedly. “Where is she? Don’t tell me…”

“She’s still around.” Twilight told him. “I’m merely filling in her horseshoes now that she’s on vacation, planning to pass down her duties to me. That’s all I’ll say for now though, since you’re the one who has some explaining to do. Who are you really? Did you attempt to take over Equestria and frame Sombra for your crimes?”

“Do not be mistaken.” the apprehended figure answered. “It is still I, Sombra. But I am not like the Sombra standing beside you...I am from another world. A mirror world, to be precise. Remember me?”

Twilight gasped.

“But that means…”

“Yes. I am Sombra’s opposite from that world. And it is because of my sacrifice that I am now evil. I hope you know what I have been through thanks to you and that loathsome “lord” of chaos...”

“So Discord called you back and not our world’s Sombra?”

“Correct. I left your world for the world of darkness as to not be a threat before that insect intruded. With his powers, he made me not only appear to be your world’s Sombra, but brainwashed me into believing I actually was him. After you sent me back to the world of shadows, I was freed from his control and remembered everything. And now, I have returned again of my own accord, seeking revenge on that wretch who used me.”

Twilight stared at him sullenly, feeling some sympathy for him.

“I sympathize with what you’ve endured, but revenge won’t solve anything. We’ll request for Discord to come here at once and explain what he’s done. Until then, you will remain here under our watch until we have all the information we need.”

“Ooh, ooh!” Ocellus ebulliently exclaimed. “Can we be the ones to watch Sombra’s opposite? I’d love to perfectly capture this form of him too!”

“This form of him is barely different from his other good form!” Smolder protested.

“To be fair, I’d look more different if I were in my ordinary attire…” Opposite Sombra chimed in.

“See?” Ocellus told an annoyed Smolder. “You know what they say, clothes make the man!”

“I think it would be for the best if we all watched Sombra’s opposite.” Hope interjected.

“Indeed.” Sombra agreed. “I don’t want Discord to be excited by any of our presences and encouraged to lie. Besides, this alternate me has aroused my curiosity.”

“Then it’s settled.” Twilight declared. “Everyone, go to the library. Except you Snow Sentinel, you continue to keep watch outside the throne room just in case Sombra’s opposite tries to slip away again. I trust that won’t happen though, seeing as you and the others just did a great job making sure he didn’t get away the first time.”

“Thank you, my liege.” Snow said with a bow. “Those kids were the real heroes, I was just doing my job.”

“Don’t be so modest.” Twilight remarked. “Ha ha ha…”

Snow squirmed, hoping she wasn’t being sarcastic…

Twilight re-entered her throne room and Snow took his position. Twilight was ready to send out a guard with orders for Discord to appear before her as everyone else walked down the corridor, heading towards the library. Soon, however, Opposite Sombra came to a realization…

“Wait...where’s my book?” he thought to himself, looking back at the floor behind. “Ah, forget it. I don’t even remember now why I had it.”

Snow Sentinel smirked sinisterly, knowing that the book was hidden in his armor, having swiped it while everyone else was distracted by the reveal of Sombra’s double.

“You’ve done well setting up my next scapegoat, my little lambs…” the shadow possessing Snow thought. “I couldn’t have done it without you…REALLY...”

“Grrgh…” Opposite Sombra grunted ominously.

Author's Note:

Consarn it, FIMFiction, this was uploaded on the 20th, not my birthday. :P

I guess my birthday gift to you guys is telling you the plan for this story from here on out. Starting June 5th, there will be a new chapter every Friday until the 19th. Part 5 is the final part, and I have the entire story planned out.

Comments

[Melody Song]

Cool. I can't wait to see what happens.

[PhoenixFlambe]

Crisis on Double Sombraa.