Long live the king

by Msande

To the victor

To the Victor

"Sooo, now what?" Pinkie Pie looked around nervously as everypony turned to Sombra. He shrugged, and rose from the darkened throne.

"Cadence is cursed, leaving her powerless while she remains in my kingdom. The diamond wall has been erected. And Twilight is bound by her collar. For the time being, my kingdom is secure." Sombra grinned as Twilight noticed her new 'accessory'. The plain black collar refused to budge, despite her laughable efforts to remove it. Regaining his composure, Sombra continued, "Mr. Armor, feel free to send a letter to your esteemed ruler. Needless to say, you've all failed. Oh and mention that collar.” His grin returned, “Ah what I wouldn't give to see the look on her face."

"What about the rest of us?" Asked Pinkie, suddenly appearing in front of him.

"Don't know, don't care.” Sombra deadpanned, “Twilight is bound to me and I want Cadence out of my kingdom as soon as possible, and her husband, if he has any right to that title, will be going with her. As the rest of you have no real value as hostages, I really couldn't care less, go back to bothering ponies wherever you all came from.” He shooed away the Pink Menace away with a quick wave of his hoof. “With the Crystal Ponies back under my hoof, the land will be safe. In the meantime, I shall withdraw to the Royal Library, and start reading up on last..." He brought his hoof to his chin in thought. "Mental note, figure out exactly how long I have been banished for."

"Slave!" At his command, one of the crystal ponies ran in through a side passage, her coat was dull and she was trembling under his gaze. "Don't slack off, I want everypony back to work. I need the fields taken care off, and make sure the cook has my dinner ready by five. Or Else," his glare intensified, knocking the shaking pony to her haunches. She quickly scrabbled back up and bolted back down the passage she came from.

"I can't believe you, treating a fellow pony like that!"

Everypony froze, as all eyes in the room turned to Twilight. “You have got to be one the most cold, heartless ponies I have ever met!” she panted slightly, shocked at her own outburst.
King Sombra glanced down to her, eyes cold and expression unamused. “I would hold your tongue Miss Sparkle. You are not yet occupying space in my dungeon out what little good will I have. It would be wise not to push my limits.” His lips curled into a nasty smirk, “Otherwise I will have you all imprisoned for the next thousand years, if I recall the favorite punishment of your beloved ruler.” With that said, he vanished from sight in a pulse of dark magic. As the pulse blew through the room, Shining Armor's chains disintegrated, as the magic maintaining them dissipated.

"What a meanie pants," Pinkie Pie said, frowning at where he had been standing. Everypony exhaled the breath that they hadn't realized they'd been holding.

"Darling, that is an understatement," Rarity sighed as she walked up to Twilight, grabbing her muzzle in her hooves to inspect her head. "No scars, nothing out of place,” Rarity mumbled as she turned Twilight's head back and forth, “You seem fine, but you were out for almost an hour. Was it a spell?" Rarity released Twilight's face.

"I'm not sure what kind of magic it was, but I do have a nasty head ache, and about five years worth of King Sombra's memories," Twilight attempted to massage away some of the aching pain in her head.
Shining Armor had moved to lie at his wife's side. He looked around at the dejected ponies and rose to his hooves.

“Spike could you send a letter to the princess explaining the situation here," His magic strained as he levitated his unconscious wife onto his back. "I am going to find a proper place for Cadence to rest, she deserves to sleep in an actual bed after all that's happened," He said as he carried her out of the room.

Silence permeated throughout the throne-room. Nopony was really sure what they should be doing next. "Well we can't just leave, not with out you Twilight," AJ shook her head as she glanced over at Twilight. Her friends nodded in agreement.

Twilight looked between all of her friends, noting the concern in each of their eyes. She rose to her hooves, determination showing in her movements."I am going to talk to Sombra, see if i can reason with him." Twilight began to walk towards the exit.

"Now Twi, I don't think that's such a good idea. He seemed pretty mad, I think it's best we leave him alone for now," AJ said, really hoping the bit about being banished for 1000 years was just a bad joke.

"We need to find a solution fast, you all have family and jobs that need to be taken care of. Applejack, without you will Big Mac be able to tend to the orchard all by himself? Fluttershy you need to tend to your animals, Rarity has her shop and little sister, Rainbow Dash has the weather team, and Pinkie Pie, you have the Cakes waiting for you. You can't stay here and give up on your own lives." Twilight kept walking. "We need to sort out this mess, and the best way is to confront him."

"Twilight we can manage having more work for us when we get back, but you getting hurt, or worse... That's not something any of us can handle," AJ's words caused Twilight to stop and look back.

"Yeah, he is so mean. Seriously, he makes Discord look nice. Well Discord did give us chocolate milk rain. Which was really amazing, but Sombra just enslaves ponies, that's not fun at all. How can ponies have fun and parties when they're busy being all slave-y" Pinkie's expression deflated a bit.

"I know but,” Twilight closed her her eyes in concentration, “I saw his memories, and somethings not right. I think I can get him to stand down, maybe talk some sense into him."

"If you say so Twilight, but please be careful, uh, if that's okay with you," Fluttershy whispered.
Giving Fluttershy a nod, Twilight takes a second to compose herself before she gallops out of the room.

"So what now?" asked Pinkie Pie as she looks over at the others.

"Panic?" Fluttershy suggested.

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Twilight walked through the darkened halls of the crystal castle. She glanced quickly into each room she passed by, rapidly growing frustrated with how hard it was to find him. She paused when she spotted one of the dull Crystal Ponies. The room she just entered was well furnished with a red sofa in the center with a simple coffee table to the right. The pony appeared to be pouring a glass of tea, but she couldn't see anypony or anything else of interest.

"Excuse me, but can you tell me were the King is?" Twilight asked, only for the Crystal Pony to drop the tea cup she was holding.

"Ah Miss Sparkle," came a voice from above. Her gaze followed the voice upwards to see a massive spiral of stairs, lining a gigantic pillar that seemed to be made entirely of bookshelves. Twilight felt her jaw drop at the sheer amount of books before her. "Clean that up and leave us," Sombra ordered as the slave shook at the sound of his voice, quickly wiping up the spill and racing out past Twilight.

"How?"

"This? It's a spell of mine, a library entanglement. It allows me to make magical duplicates of books from different libraries all throughout Equestria. A stallion does need a hobby outside of terrorizing the local populace," he said as he pulled a book from the shelf before teleporting down into the red chair. "So, come to yell at me again? Maybe give a speech about the powers of friendship?" He stifled a yawn as he opened a book that Twilight had never seen before.

"Yes, well, no... Sort of?” She shook her head, “I have seen your memories," Twilight said, wondering what he was reading.

The King didn't respond until he'd flipped to the next page. "That old trick?" He only gave her a short glance before returning to his reading. "I have to admit, it was a long shot, but I figured filtering in a few years of memories would stall you. At least long enough for me to win," he made a nonchalant gesture with his hoof. "Wow, they actually managed to form a treaty with the griffons," he said, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"You do realize, what memories you gave me right?" she asked as tentatively as possible.

"Are you going somewhere with this?" he asked flipping another page with a slight scowl.

"That door, it corrupted you somehow didn't it?" Sombra stopped for a second with his eyes glazed over before glancing up at her.

"What door?" he asked before going back to his book.

"The one the Crystal Ponies opened up on you," Twilight cocked her head to the side. Sombra shook his head rapidly as if trying to clear his head.

"I remember. They were going to attack Equestria. I stopped them, and for my loyalty I was banished into the shadows for over a thousand years. That's what I remember!" he shouted as he stood up, tossing his book aside. His eyes literally burning with a massive amount of hatred.

Twilight quickly backed off. Wondering if this was such a good idea after all.

"But in the end it was the best lesson Celestia could teach me, I became stronger, both in magic and mind.” The flames around his eyes waned, “And now even the mare herself is unwilling to confront me," he said with a smile. "I will keep order, even if I have to fight her all over again." he declared when suddenly the castle shook.

"Sombra!" shouted a very familiar, and angry voice. A cruel smile appeared on the King's face.

"Well speak of the devil. Come on then, we shan't keep your good Princess waiting."

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"Sombra you're evil, no good, rotten to the core!" Princess Celestia roared.
Sombra casually walked back into the throne room. Where an extremely irate Princess Celestia was waiting for him.

"Flattery will get you everywhere," Sombra said as Celestia turned to face Sombra and a very nervous Twilight.
Twilight had never seen Celestia this angry.

"Don't toy with me Sombra," Celestia said as she stepped over to Sombra, towering over both him and Twilight.
Twilight felt very small and insignificant, she was almost cowering behind the fellow unicorn. This was not a side of Celestia she was used to seeing.

Sombra stared into the eyes of the enraged goddess, "It's King Sombra, if you please. And you toyed with me first. Suffering through one thousand years of darkness, and then sending your niece to thumb in your own rule over the empire. We both know that the Crystal Ponies were deathly afraid of that," Sombra replied in a casual tone.

"Anything would be better than you remaining on the throne," She hissed lowering her head so she could speak to him face to face.

"And as much as I would love to relinquish control, I will be keeping these crystal ponies in line. With or without your permission, so you can take your princess and your little harmony holders and get out of my castle!" Flames burst from his eyes, causing even the Princess to recoil. She quickly recovered as she stood to her full height.

"Twilight," Celestia looked at her student, beckoning her to follow. Twilight quickly walks around Sombra to get back to her mentor's side.

"I wouldn't recommend that," Sombra said as he returned to his throne in a pulse of dark magic. "Take a look at her neck, Miss Sparkle isn't going anywhere," Sombra gave her a wicked smile.
Celestia looked at twilight's neck, noticing the black collar.

"How? That's...” Celestia's face was a mixture of shock and sadness, “I can't believe you have fallen so far as to be capable of something like that." Celestia's voice was only a bit above a whisper.

"Oh you only have yourself to blame for that one. When you spend a millennia engulfed in dark magic, you learn all sorts of new tricks," he said with a smile. "You really should have seen something like this coming. However I will be keeping my word, the rest are free to go. But how many do you think will want to leave their precious friend?"
Twilight huddled back feeling very much like a small foal between the pair.

"You dare to test my patience," Celestia snapped as she walked past Twilight.

"Oh? Testing? Like the test you sent this child on? This is the fate of an entire kingdom. What kind of pony would call that a test?" Sombra mocked.

Twilight felt her throat tighten.

"You can't touch me with out killing or harming Miss Sparkle in some way. I say you take a military retreat and just walk away," the calm tone returning to his voice.

Celestia looked like she was on the verge of strangling him with her bare hooves, but then she took a deep breath and relaxed her expression. "Fine," Celestia said returning to her normal regal tone. "I wish to speak with my student alone."

"Sure, but Miss Sparkle, be sure not to wander out too far. I don't want this generations best and brightest to have an unfortunate … Accident." Sombra taunted as he walked for the door. “I'll round up those other freeloaders while you have your little heart to heart," he added as he teleported away.

"Celestia, what do I do?" Twilight all but shouted, the few traces of what was left of her composure vanishing. Tears were burning her eyes. "I failed, I am so sorry, I tried really hard. Please don't replace me," she blurted out. Celestia quickly raised a feather to her lips.

"Take a deep breath," Celestia said with as much compassion as she could muster, only to get a hiccup in response. "It seems that I have underestimated my old student. And no you did not fail me, I failed you." Closing her eyes she turned to where Sombra once stood. "I need to do some studying it seems. In the mean time keep on eye on him, try to curb his wraith. Try and see if you can find a way out of that collar. I need you to be careful if he hasn’t told you about it yet, it contains a bit of Black magic that will,” The Princesses paused for a second as she tried to find the right words. “It’ will send a spark of magical energy into you spin, killing you. But it only activates if he dies or you move to far away. Be careful Twilight, and keep Spike close, I'll send you a letter in a weeks time." She instructed as she stood to her full height.

“Spike!” Twilight shouted she hadn’t seen him with the others. She was about to rush away in panic, but a white wing reached out cutting her off.

“He is sleeping in one of the guest bedrooms. Remember keep him close, he is still young and Sombra is a master manipulator, so be careful,” The princess warned

"Right," Twilight lowered her head. "So, why didn't you tell me that Sombra used to be your student?" she asked. The Princess froze for a second.

"Some days I curse your curiosity." The princess closed her eyes to gather her thoughts. "When Luna fell to jealousy she and I were both at fault. Discord was misguided and cruel, but I had no part in his rampage, outside of keeping his statue in my garden. Sombra, was entirely my mistake. I pride myself on being an excellent judge of character. Knowing how far I can push a pony, in order for them to grow. I have had over a thousand Captains throughout my long life. Each as good and kind as the next. I've had considerably less students, but I only once ever failed somepony. I never saw it coming, I never thought he would turn out so rotten. Even now I still wonder where he hid the monster he has become when he was still my student. I never saw it coming," She admitted, her mane losing its normal sheen. "And since then I've made sure to bury all the knowledge about combat and dark magic as deeply as I possibly could. Be careful Twilight, he knows old spells, ones that are solely meant for causing pain and ending life."

"Wait so he knows spells that nopony has seen for a thousand years?" Twilight asked, a slight twinkle in her eye. Celestia frowned at her. "Right, sorry. But wait, if you taught him, and he's so strong, what happened to you back at my brother's wedding?"

"Shining Armor's love gave Queen Chrysalis more power than I had predicted, and using more power would have been dangerous for the ponies that were watching. Luna has not stopped tormenting me on my latest defeat." She admitted turning a bit red.

"You what?" came a voice as the two turned to see Sombra. Twilight noticed his eyes were not burning, his fangs had also vanished. He looked just like he was in his memories. "I can't believe you would get beaten!" he was shouting. As he paused his eyes re-ignited and he frowned, "Err, Not that I care."

Everypony following the crazed King saw Celestia and started talking at once.

"I should have helped but I was,"

"We did our best,"

"I am soooooo sorry,"

"Princess it is my fault I couldn't keep the shield up!"

"I would have helped but he blocked of my magic,"

"Quiet!" Twilight shouted, effectively silencing everypony.

"And then I was multiplied,"

Almost everypony.

Celestia gave a light cough, drawing everypony's attention. "Since our," The Princess looked at the king who was now resting in the throne. "Attempts to clean the city failed, I have been asked to pull you back home."

"I am not leaving with out Twilight," Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves and scowled. Everypony voiced their own agreement.

"This was not a long term mission, and each of you have responsibilities to take care of back in Ponyville."

"Please King Sombra, don't force my friends to leave," Twilight shivered at the thought of being left alone with the mad king.

"I don't care what he thinks, I Am Staying.” Rainbow Dash jumped up from where she was standing, “My job isn't that important, somepony else can take over for a while. And I would be dipped in chocolate before leaving a friend behind!" Rainbow Dash flew right in front of Sombra. "I am I clear?"

"Get out of my face." Sombra growled as he glared back.
Dash quickly lost her confidence and slowly lowered her head, her wings slowing as she dropped to the ground.
Celestia gave a low sigh, "Please," she pleaded, looking at the Sombra. Everypony was now looking at him, but his face remained as unreadable as stone.

"Only two," and with that he vanished as a familiar dark wave of energy pulsed from the throne, washing over it as the once colorful crystal shifted to a purple that was only a shade away from pitch black.

"Celestia there has to be something we can do, I can't stand the idea of Twily staying here with that... Thing," Shining Armor shivered. Cadence didn't say anything her eyes remained downcast.

"My hooves are tied, I would like nothing more than to rid the world of him. But that did not work out too well last time." She admitted. "Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, you two will stay here, and keep an eye on Twilight and Spike. For now the rest of us will head home."

"There must be something we can do," Applejack looked up at the Princess.

"I have some plans, but they will take time. For now a far greater test of your friendship awaits." She said, "Come my little ponies.”

"But why Pinkie Pie?" asked Rarity.

"For one, the rolls of weather pony and assistant baker are easy to temporarily replace. Also neither have any family in Ponyville." Celestia reasoned. "Besides, Loyalty and Laughter are going to be what will carry you through these troubling events," she continued, looking at Twilight. "In the mean time, send me any letters you want Twilight to receive. And let us hope we can keep this crisis from affecting all of Equestria." With a bow of her head and goodbyes all around the Princess lead away the sad group of ponies.

"So what happens next?" asked Rainbow Dash.

Twilight looked at the corrupted throne. She closed her eyes.

"We wait and see."

Comments

[Shino Dogood]

Oh, well whatever. Sorry about the timing, but finals are super stressful and I have literally no time.

[Msande]

1737400
Sorry dude i really should wait since your editing gives the story life, but i just really want to share.
I am a weak man i am ashamed of myself

[Shino Dogood]

It is your story. You can do whatever you want with it. I just know that ponies only tend to read a story once. Sorry again for my lack of speed. For those who don't know, he finished this chapter before I finished editing the second chapter, so it has been a while...