The Good King Returning Alive

by Misty Shadow

Harmony's Sacrifice

Princess Twilight Sparkle had summoned Princess Cadance to her throne room with a teleportation spell after having Snow Sentinel send her a message in advance. The instant Cadance heard that Discord was at her sister-in-law’s castle, giving her a hard time, she immediately dropped everything to come help her out. She had no patience for Discord herself after his actions had caused the citizens of the Empire to lose hope and was fully prepared to teach him a lesson. Though Twilight’s resentment for the Spirit of Chaos was certainly not as strong, her patience had surely worn thin. The two were both giving him a firm, admonishing look.

“Oh my…” Discord said coyly, still futilely trying to defuse the situation with a tongue-in-cheek attitude. “The tension in the air is so thick, you could cut it with a knife! And you two are giving me more than enough edge, ho ho!”

Cadance and Twilight’s expressions were completely unmoved, not humored or concerned in the least for being taunted as “edgy”.

“NO. MORE. GAMES.” they told him bluntly. “We just want the straight truth. Did you tamper with our records in any way, yes or no?”

“...” Discord fell silent for a brief pause, a somber look forming on his face.

He knew for sure now there was no way out of this. He had tried to be as honest with Twilight as possible up until she had asked him this question, the one he had repeatedly dodged. Truthfully, he had not directly done anything to the royal records. However, he was very worried that he had indirectly done something to the royal records. To lie would obviously be wrong, but to tell the truth would mean selling out a friend…he had to improvise…

“I don’t know.” he finally answered, leading Twilight to groan and Cadance to growl. “But I can tell what I do know.”

“SO SPILL IT ALREADY!” Cadance shouted, concerning Twilight.

“Hey, don’t yell at him!” Twilight exclaimed in disapproval.

“I’ll talk to him however I want, mind you!” Cadance chastised her back. “It’s because you’re too soft on troublemakers like him that we’re in this mess in the first place!”

Twilight did not even care for making a rejoinder, stunned by her longtime friend’s uncharacteristic behavior. She wasn’t even the first to act in an off putting way lately.

Nevertheless, Cadance was right to be concerned for their priority, finally getting answers. So she turned to Discord and said…

“Discord, please. For all our sakes, tell us everything you know, and I mean everything. Lying by omission is still lying and we don’t want to have to punish you.”

Discord gulped, seeing how grisly Cadance’s look was becoming, staring him down scornfully as if she wanted to blast him with magic any second…

“I acquiesce…” he replied meekly. “My best knowledge as to what has happened is this. I didn’t mess with your royal documents, but I think something I created may have.”

“Oh, enlighten us…” Cadance said in a sardonic tone.

“That disguise I created for Sombra’s opposite…” he explained. “...I think it’s developed a mind of its own. The shadow that veiled him was actually the spirit of a special Plunder Seed that I planted in a cave below Tartarus. Just a plant that can produce dark crystals, it’s not complex in body or soul...but I think something happened when it came in contact with Sombra’s opposite. The evil Sombra’s opposite absorbed into himself must have fused with the shadow, transforming the plant into something far more menacing…”

“Like...what?” Twilight replied, she and Cadance both looking very perplexed. “Are you insinuating that neither you or Sombra’s opposite are lying and that there’s another evil force at work here that’s playing us all for saps?”

“You catch on quick…” Discord answered.

“Though I’ll remind you that I’m the one who makes the jokes around here…” he thought in response to Twilight’s unintended lame pun.

“Please believe me, since this is no laughing matter. I may have made another grave error, but know that this is bound to happen because of the world’s nature, not just my nature to cause chaos even when I mean to do good. Wherever there is light in this world, there must be darkness. Just as the Tree of Harmony changes forms to adapt to Equestria’s needs, the spirit of the wicked plants that can spell its demise changes forms too. I believe that what that spirit has manifested itself into, the mastermind behind all this distortion, is...the Tree of Chaos!”

Discord lifted up his arms for dramatic effect as he exclaimed that, leading both Cadance and Twilight to give him a deadpan glare of disbelief.

“WHAT. A. CROCK.” Cadance reproached him angrily. “The only grain of truth I could draw out of that gibberish is that you’re guilty of something...and that’s all I need to know...”

Cadance began to charge up magical energy in her horn.

“Th-that’s…!” Discord worriedly exclaimed in thought, remembering the spell Starlight Glimmer used on him to banish him from the School of Friendship.

“Cadance, what are you doing?!” Twilight demanded answers from her. “You can’t just punish him because you feel like it! This is my kingdom, you’re outside of your jurisdiction!”

“So what if I am?” Cadance retorted. “I hate to break it to you, but what this cretin has done is my business too! He put all of Equestria in danger with his stupid Grogar trick, my subjects in the Empire lost hope because of what he did with King Sombra, and worse yet, even assuming the least amount of malice in this stupid trick, he got our confidential information messed with, causing all this unnecessary suffering for everyone! He deserves the full penalty for his deeds!”

“But he can’t help the way he is!” Twilight argued.

“Tell that to Sombra!” Cadance argued back. “How do you think he must feel, having his diary stolen and defaced?!”

“Oh, I can tell you all about that…” Radiant Hope interjected, entering the throne room. “Didn’t mean to eavesdrop, I was on my way here anyway…”

“Please!” Discord begged, turning to Hope. “I need somepony, anypony to stand up for me! I didn’t do anything to Sombra’s journal! It was just a joke I was rolling with! And it was supposed to be funny! Please, trust me!”

“I don’t.” Hope bluntly retorted. “And I’m not sorry. Because you made Sombra cry. You hurt his feelings, and in turn, you hurt mine. That’s all I need to know to know that you’re evil.”

And with that, Discord fell completely silent, falling on his knees and accepting his fate.

“Now, your sins will be paid for...scum.”

With one final rebuke from Cadance, the spell from her horn was shot at him, banishing him from Equestria. Hope had been confident she had done the right thing until she saw a tear roll out of Discord’s eye. Before Discord completely disappeared, she heard a haunting whisper echo through her head…

I don’t blame you...how could anyone have hope for a monster?

Hope felt sick to her stomach, knowing the truth inside. She had become a hypocrite. She always believed in Sombra, even knowing he had hurt others, yet refused to believe in someone who had hurt her and Sombra.

The whole room was silent, for a while. Twilight turned to Cadance, ready to scold her…

“I know you condemn me for acting hastily on my own.” Cadance abruptly spoke, foreseeing Twilight’s criticism. “But I had to. This is the only way to restore hope to my people.”

“...Hope can not be restored by taking an eye for an eye…” Twilight solemnly replied. “Making rash decisions from being ruled by emotion will lead you down the path to destruction. Remember what you have forgotten.”

“Oh, I will.” Cadance jejunely retorted, not taking Twilight seriously. “For this is only the beginning. Now that the bad have been punished, it’s time to reward the good. I hope both of us can at least agree that Hope and Sombra deserve to see Princess Amore again, right?”

“Of course.” Twilight answered in a distrusting tone. “But first, I want to know the plan. How do you intend to do so?”

“It’s rather easy, really.” Cadance explained. “Once word spreads to the Empire that it wasn’t the real King Sombra who assaulted our kingdom and that Discord has been punished, the spirits of the Crystal Ponies should be lifted again, allowing my magic to regain its full power so that I can reform Amore from her shards.”

Both Twilight and Hope had looks of suspicion on their face after hearing that.

“When she puts it like that…” Twilight thought. “It really does sound like she was planning this from the start…”

“Now that I think about it…” Hope thought. “It was just after Sombra and I left her palace that we started getting a premonition that the rabbit hole went deeper than we believed…”

Their skeptical musings were soon interrupted, however…

“I-IT’S A MIRACLE!”

The jubilant cry of Sombra’s opposite self could be heard from the other side of the door before he entered the throne room, now dressed in the normal attire of his blue robe.

“Bless the heavens, I’m FREE of the evil!” the delighted stallion declared before looking around the room. “Hey, wasn’t Discord supposed to be here?”

“Wasn’t Snow Sentinel supposed to be doing his job watching the door, making sure no one can just barge in here?” a frustrated Twilight asked.

“Didn’t you send him to the library to turn in that book?” Hope questioned curiously.

“...” Twilight thought to herself before answering, assessing the situation carefully. “I specifically told him to wait until after we had taken care of things with Discord before doing that…something’s not just up with Cadance, but them too...”

Twilight gave a suspecting glare to Sombra’s opposite, leading him to look hurt in response.

“What’s the matter with you?” he asked in an upset tone. “I expected a much more cheerful reaction to this positive turn of events.”

“Forgive us,” replied Twilight, attempting to maintain diplomacy, “we are indeed happy for you. We’ve all just been through a lot. Just now, we had to make a tough call and we...banished Discord despite having no proof of his guilt.”

“Well, look on the bright side!” Opposite Sombra exclaimed. “If good has returned to me because of your decision, then you must have done the right thing!”

“...I guess you’re right.” Twilight said begrudgingly, deciding to play along.

“Trust me, you’ll definitely have no regrets after Princess Amore returns and restores the Empire’s full glory!” he assured her. “No good comes from a bad mistake!”

“...Is...that what I want to believe?” Hope questioned herself. “But if I really think that...wouldn’t that mean I don’t value how my bond with Sombra grew stronger from us fixing our mistakes together?”

“Enough chit-chat.” Cadance interjected. “What’s done is done, we need to move on. Reprimand my actions as misconduct if you will, Twilight, but please at least give me a chance to redeem myself. Will you teleport us all back to the Crystal Empire?”

“Gladly…” Twilight answered, maintaining caution. “On one condition...Snow Sentinel stays behind.”

“Hmph.” Cadance grunted. “I don’t see why I’d need him to come in the first place. He’s your guard, after all.”

“Indeed he is.” Twilight replied in a familiar, innocent tone.

Snow, having returned to his position, gulped upon overhearing that.

“She really was being sarcastic that time…” he thought defeatedly.

King Sombra passed by him on his way to the throne room, having overcome his bout of sorrow, but maintaining a crestfallen look. Noticing Snow’s similar expression, he decided to console him…

“Accept your fate and move on. Even a fate worse than death is nothing to an indomitable spirit given hope. Believe me, I’m ready...”

“You really have changed…*sniff*” Snow tearfully replied. “I swear on my grave I’ll make this right…*sob*”

“Sombra…” the green-eyed shadow said angrily as he lost his ability to control Snow. “You’ll pay for this…”

Sombra then entered the throne room, knowing what was in store for him after Twilight teleported him and the others to the Empire…

Once they were gone, Snow knew what he had to do. He wiped the tears from his eyes and marched right into the throne room, ready to face full consequences…

“Your Highness, I have a confession to make.” he began. “I-”

“You’ve chosen not to let that thing Discord was talking about control you anymore, haven’t you?” Twilight interrupted him with a revelation he was not expecting as she began charging magic in her horn.

“What…?” Snow responded in disbelief, feeling a warm, magical light wash over him.

Meanwhile, inside the throne room of Cadance’s palace…

“You two have no idea how well you’ve served the Empire by gathering all of Princess Amore’s shards.” Cadance complimented Hope and Sombra in an almost sickly sweet tone as she levitated Amore’s shattered remains with her magic. “You deserve no rewards less than the kind that last for eternity…”

“Thank you so much, you’re too kind!” Hope politely replied.

“Even as I am now, I could never be so kind as you.” Sombra returned the compliment with sincere, but gloomy modesty.

“Are you okay?” Hope asked in concern. “How can you be so blue after how hard we worked to finally see our friend again? This is the rainbow at the end of our journey!”

“I do apologize.” Sombra replied. “My mind is just occupied with thoughts about how our next journey will go...because on this one, we can not go together…”

“...What in the world is going-AAAHHH!” Hope was about to press Sombra for answers before a blinding flash of light signaled what they had all been waiting for. Cadance had used her magic to reconstruct Amore’s body from the pieces and free her from her crystal prison. Standing right before Hope and Sombra was the one they hadn’t seen in over a millennium...Princess Amore.

“The Princess Amore cometh, behold!” Sombra’s opposite declared.

Everyone bowed before Amore. She smiled at them before Cadance proclaimed…

“To the balcony! The Crystal Ponies must be witness to their regent returning in glory!”

They all walked over to the balcony, save Sombra, where some still glum Crystal Ponies below noticed Princess Amore above and gasped.

“The Crystal Princess’ ancestor is back!” they exclaimed.

The word quickly spread and soon, a large crowd of Crystal Ponies surrounded the palace.

“No way!” one of them cried upon seeing Sombra’s opposite. “Is that King Sombra with them too? He’s reformed?!”

“Yes, my subjects!” Amore called out to them. “Thanks to the efforts of Radiant Hope and the now reformed King Sombra, I am now returning to you alive!”

The Crystal Ponies below were absolutely ecstatic, stamping their hooves wildly. Their newfound hope didn’t just give the Crystal Heart more light, it gave the relic more light than it had ever seen in recorded history, causing everyone in the Empire’s coat to glow brighter than ever. Radiant Hope was so content as she looked down below.

“A new beginning has finally come…” she said happily.

*CRACK*

Suddenly, however, she felt her blood run cold as she heard a familiar sound from behind. She fearfully turned her head to see that Sombra had not come to the balcony, not wanting the Crystal Ponies below to see the cracks running through his body. Making her way towards her friend, she saw light emitting from the cracks, then his eyes as he turned to face her, waving goodbye. Immediately, Hope tried to cast a spell to heal him, but it had no effect.

“This can’t be…” a mortified Hope whimpered before shrieking…

“THIS CAN NOT BE!!!!!”

“Calm down!” Amore demanded as she trotted over to them. “I’ve got this!”

“Thank goodness!” Hope cried. “Please, heal him!”

“Of course.” Amore replied, charging up magic in her horn. “I’ll do what I should’ve done from the beginning and make sure that he’s healed...FOREVER.”

“NNNNNOOOOO!!!!!” Hope bellowed in tears.

“You thought you knew King Sombra better than I…” Amore made one last remark as she did what she did next. “But deep inside, he was still...an umbrum…”

Hope felt as if her life was flashing before her eyes as she watched her longtime idol blast her longtime friend with a spell that made him completely disappear, leaving nothing but ashes on the floor. She was reminded of all sorts of things…all the times she had spent with Sombra, everything they endured together growing up, their experience with the umbrum, their endeavor to find Amore’s shards...she remembered what Ocellus told her, what she didn’t want to believe, how she ignored the clear signs of this when Sombra broke down in the hall, and finally, how she neglected to stand up for Discord…

“Because he hurt me and deserved to be hurt back.” a heartbroken Hope reiterated to herself in thought. “Amore hurt Sombra back because of what he did and I despise her now. I’m not just bad...I’m not just a hypocrite...I’m the worst…”

Hope completely broke down on the floor, crying more than she ever had in her life.

“It was all taken from me in an instant…” she said in thought as she wept. “It was all a lie...there really is no-”

Hope stopped herself as she realized that she had forgotten Sombra’s words.

No matter what happens, never lose the hope you gave me…

And so, her next words, she had to say to the idol who betrayed her…

“Why Amore? Please help me understand why you did this evil thing.”

“It was for good.” Amore bluntly replied with a creepy smile. “Not something so simple as revenge. No, this was to rectify my mistake of taking Sombra in, believing he could one day be good. I know now there are good creatures in the world and evil creatures. Ponies are good, the umbrum are evil. He is evil, always will be. And now that he has at least died feeling remorse for his deeds, he may at least rest peacefully with the shadows where he belongs.”

“You fraud…” a repulsed Hope rebuked her. “No one in this world truly knows what is good or evil, yet we all still choose... I saw the good side of the umbrum...they chose to be evil. And Sombra chose to be good! You murdered him knowing that all he wanted was to atone for his wrongs! I hate you! Sombra was right about you all along...YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN BROKEN INSIDE!”

Amore’s smile faded. She almost looked like she was feeling guilty before Cadance and Sombra’s opposite, having moved away from the balcony now, intervened…

“Stop yelling already!” Cadance demanded. “I’m not explaining to the commoners that somepony’s just getting overexcited again!”

“And what are you going to do about it?” Hope talked back. “You’ve already taken everything from me after using my friend and I, then killing him!”

“It wasn’t like that!” Cadance tried to explain. “We just wanted to see Princess Amore again, just like you.”

“Her light truly will carry the world to a new age of peace and hope.” Sombra’s opposite interjected. “We would never have allowed that shadow to manipulate us if we didn’t believe otherwise.”

“Oh, what do you know…” Hope retorted as she turned to Amore and scowled. “You’ll willingly sacrifice a “monster” to help an actual monster for the “greater good”. Despicable, all of you!”

“You’ll be sorry if you don’t cease this juvenile slighting…” Cadance threatened. “We can either send you to a comfortable resting room where you can sleep this off for a night, or we can send you to a dungeon where you can sleep for many moons.”

“I have a better idea!” a still defiant Hope exclaimed. “Why don’t you send me to wherever Sombra is sleeping?!”

“...Hope, please don’t be this way.” Opposite Sombra pleaded. “You have a good life ahead of you so long as you don’t oppose us. If it makes you feel any better, I can be your friend. So long as you’re good, I’ll let you feel like Sombra’s still here with you as long as you want!”

“Not a chance.” Hope bluntly told him off, looking him straight in the eye. “I will never, NOT EVER, live a lie. I refuse to benefit in any way from my friend being killed. Do whatever you want to me. Even in death, I will forever believe in my friend...and I will forever believe that he deserves to return here alive!”

“GGGRRRAAAGGGHHH!” the green-eyed shadow cried furiously, temporarily losing his control of Amore, Cadance, and Opposite Sombra’s minds. “Just you wait, wench! When I’m done with Sombra, YOU’RE NEXT!”

Princess Amore, feeling temporarily sober in thought now, immediately took advantage of the moment to cast a spell that allowed her to speak to Hope inside her mind, similar to how she had spoken to Sombra in his thoughts before. Thus, Hope got to hear the real explanation for why her idol did something so reprehensible…

“Now I understand…” Hope said solemnly. “That’s what you actually did...he manipulated you the same way he manipulated Sombra...so you have a plan...and Sombra is…”

Below the throne room, at the end of the staircase that led to Sombra’s study, a familiar figure cast a spell of dark magic to open the door. Angrily barging in, the green-eyed shadow possessing him told himself…

“I’ve lost all control of Snow Sentinel now, and I no longer have total control over the others. Were it not for the fact that I’ve finally fully absorbed the evil from that loathsome double of yours, I would be in deep trouble right now…”

He then eyed the bookcase from before again, sinisterly smirking as he pulled it back this time…

“Oh, who am I kidding. Now that I have you, there’s no way I’m going to lose…ha ha ha ha ha...FWA HA HA HA HA!”

“Forgive me…” the figure said sadly. “It was never death that was my greatest fear...it was accepting who I really am deep down...a monster…”

Author's Note:

Sorry this is a day late of schedule...I'm sure you all know the story of how FIMFiction abruptly broke. Chapter 5 is already finished though, so see you next week for the finale!

Comments

[Melody Song]

Ahh, that was amazing! Must know what happens!