Long live the king

by Msande

Knowledge and plans

A door way to the mind

Dear Twilight

The door raises many concerns and possibilities. Part of me is glad that my former student was not some manipulator who fooled me. Be careful, this door is beyond my knowledge so deal with it in baby steps. I would tell you to leave it alone, but I know how you are, and I am not having much luck. Black magic is not a specialty I am familiar with. However, we have had some recent changes in the north. My fears of the corruption spreading are coming true. If this continues, I fear the consequences.

Your mentor and friend, Celestia

Twilight laid on her back as she stared up at the blackened ceiling. Pinkie Pie and Spike both flanking her as they snuggled into her fur. Dash was resting on a cloud that was floating above them. The group decided to all sleep in the same room for safety's sake but even Pinkie wasn't willing to call it a slumber party.

Shifting into the soft bed, she found it impossible to get comfortable with her two friends nuzzling into her sides. Not that she could sleep if they weren't, her mind was racing and she had no idea were to start. They had nothing on the door, just a memory and she wasn't sure how legit it was, since the King seemed to change his outlook at the drop of a hat.

Entering into it and replicating the memory was as stupid an idea as one could get. However without anyway to safely test the theory, it was a dead end. "Wait, if it's effecting his mind, maybe a more direct approach is needed," she told herself. "If I can get a good scan of his head, maybe I can find what exactly is altering his perspective," she thought. The idea was starting to sound much better as she said it out loud.

Suddenly her stomach grumbled. "Well I don't see me getting much sleep," she grumbled as she teleported out of the bed. She watched as Pinkie and Spike moved and started snuggling each other now that she was missing. "Well glad to see I was so valued," she said with an amused smirk.

Moving out into the hall, Twilight channeled a bit of magic into her horn to light the way. "Where are you?" asked a voice as Twilight felt her ears perk up. "I need to find you." She decided to follow the voice.

Walking into the main throne room, she was momentarily stunned. The room was a full map of Equestria and the Crystal Empire's territory. The maps were full three dimensional and seemed to work similar to Princess Celestia's flash back, only it lacked color. Sombra raised his hoof and the map suddenly spun as he inspected it before him. "Planning an invasion?" Twilight asked as she made her presence known.

"With what army? No, I have my hooves full keeping the Crystal ponies from doing anything stupid. I guess you could say I am hunting," he said with a smile. "As much as I hate the state of things, Celestia has done amazing work in keeping the peace. Not perfect, but nothing rarely is."

"May I ask for what?"

"For anything that is a threat to the well being and survival of ponykind. More specifically Queen Chyrsalis."

"Why? She was beaten, and with the defenses back up, we have nothing to fear of her," Twilight asked.

"Right," Sombra rolled his eyes. "If she lives, she is a threat. Hydras and Diamond Dogs. What has she done to the military? Never before have I been so tempted to just overthrow that woman myself!" he shouted, slamming his hoof on the arm of his throne.

A long silence hung between them as Twilight watched his eyes shift back and forth. The map suddenly vanished as the crystal floated back to the throne. "So what are you doing up so late?" Twilight finally asked.

"Same thing I have been doing since I got my throne back. Updating, and I find it depressing," he admitted.

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"There have been advances in magic, but it's over a thousand years. The royal family - I can't fathom so little advancement in magical studies." His words seemed to stumble as if he couldn't seem to find them. "Why, why so little? I don't feel like I am a thousand years in the future."

"You feel overwhelmed?" Twilight asked, as he nodded his head.

"Well have you got to medical, the arts, or some of the softer things? They have been thriving. Now that i think about it, have you seen a doctor as of late?" Twilight asked.

"Well you're right. But I was never one interested in art, but medical advances?"

"Yeah, that was the prime concern, the average life span of a pony has almost tripled since your time. In fact, for the longest time, that was what Clelestia focused on the most. But have you seen a doctor as of late?" Twilight repeated.

"No, that should be fairly obvious," Sombra said as he locked eyes with her.

"I do have some first aid. If you want, I could do a quick medical scan," Twilight offered as she felt a nervous grin form on her face. Sombra's face hardened, giving nothing away as the two simply stared at each other. He cupped his hooves in front of his mouth as Twilight could feel the hair on her neck starting to stand up. "But if you would rather not, I can't force you," Twilight said in a low voice as she turned to leave.

"I believe a doctor would be a good idea. If you feel you can do something now, I will not turn it away. However I can't let this kindness go on rewarded."

"No thanks, helping others is enough," Twilight said with a smile. His eyes opened a fraction before returning to there half opened state.

"How about a book then?" he asked and Twilight almost jumped at the idea. He must have noticed her spike in interest. "Nothing too dark but I got a feeling this is not something you will find in a library," he said as he levitated a book, tossing it to her feet.

"Basic combat magic?" she read out loud. "Why would I need this? I have my magical blast and it works just fine," she replied, hoping she didn't sound to ungrateful. He simply smiled.

"Should be an interesting read all the same," he relaxed on his throne. "Now then, if you would be so kind, Doc," he said as Twilight approached him.

Her magic formed around him as she checked his body over. Moving quickly, she then made it to her target - a head scan. He tensed up as she started scanning. Then she got to the brain. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"No, nothings wrong, just unusual. How far is your knowledge on the brain?"

"Brain, I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to that."

"There is something off about you're frontal lobe. It controls memory and some ponies believe personality. A large amount black magic has ebbed onto it. What it does, I have no idea," Twilight replied. "Or one heck of a bad attitude" she told herself.

Cutting off her magic, she took a step back. Sombra lowered his head. "That makes sense, my memories have been a bit scattered. Well I am going to head to bed, I need my sleep." And with that he vanished from his throne, leaving Twilight alone.

"I need something. I need a way to study this magic. I can't just use it on my friends." She closed her eyes. She looked at the book. "If I want to solve this problem," she sighed as she flipped open the book.

*******

"No, no, no, no!" Celestia repeated her voice getting louder and louder with each passing second. "I had everything set up, everything was going to work out perfectly. But that damn idiot somehow recovered just enough, just enough to royally buck everything!" she tossed a book at the wall. "Calm down, have some faith. Twilight hasn't let you down yet. If there is still enough of that good pony left. He won't try to corrupt Twilight. I have time," she told herself. "I need something, but Ii can't break my spells or else all the small towns will be in danger. So I need work with the magical reserves that I have. Okay, i need to stop the crystals. They are growing into Equestria and if this keeps up, he will invade, and if he does, Discord will break out. I can't have him break out. I can't handle that many problems at once without something bad happening." She took a deep breath inbetween her panicking. "And worse, my student has rekindled hope in my heart, I can't just banish him again with even the idea of it not being his fault." She fell onto her bed. "Everything would have been fine. I need something," she told herself as she started tapping her hooves on her head. But despite her best efforts, her magical knowledge was not giving her an out.

"Sister, are you still trying to find the easy way out?" asked Luna as she walked into her sisters room. Her horn glowed as she pushed the books to the side to give her some space to walk in the cluttered room.

"My easy way out is hardly easy. But if I can find a way to get that bucking collar of her neck, I can take care of Sombra at my leisure."

"You honestly think he can be redeemed? He took over an entire kingdom, forced them into slavery. And now he is slowly corrupting all of Equestria. Even if it does work, the crystal ponies are not going to just let him go."

"At this point, they would probably be too scared to go after him."

"For how long? Your please-everyone-attitude as of late is going to cause a lot of problems. Not to mention, your hopes for Twilight are washing down the drain every second she is with that mad stallion."

"Twilight is a good mare, and she would never allow herself to be corrupted. Besides, everything has worked out much better than my old style since you got your sanity back. Not to mention, the reason we are in this mess is cause of my lack of empathy in the old days."

"And yet, he lives, just like Discord, the Queen. and every other villain you have let run around. This isn't something you can find a cure-all ending to. You're going to have to face facts. It's your two students or all of Equestria," Luna replied.

"I don't deal in absolutes." Celestia's temper flared up as she glared at her sister. "I will not punish Twilight for my mistakes. I will find a solution because if I didn't, I would be short one sister." Celestia glared as she approached her younger sister. Luna quickly back pedaled. "And my emotions for my students may be boggling my mind, but let us not forget yours on the matter as well," Celestia said as Luna's fear quickly switched to anger.

"Don't you dare bring that up!" Luna spat back. The two were almost pressing their faces into each other.

"Now then, I need to get back to my studies. I may need to pay the Crystal Library a visit. This black magic is starting to worry me."

"What do you mean?" asked Luna.

"Interestingly, Twilight has found a magical artifact in the throne room of the Empire."

"So he is creating new toys, big deal."

"It predates his rule," Celestia said, causing Luna to freeze.

"Impossible," Luna said as she felt her jaw go slack.

"You forget we know very little of the Crystal Empire," Celestia reminded. The two stood in silence, failing to notice that a small orb had floated out of the room.

*********

Twilight woke up with a start. Pinkie and Spike were still sleeping but Dash was no longer in the room. She grabbed the book Sombra had given her and decided to head to the library. She was a few feet down the hall when her stomach started grumbling. "Looks like a change of plans," she told herself. If only she could remember which way the kitchen was.

"And so, they all but forced the date down my throat, could you imagine?" Sombra said as she noticed one of the doors was open, and what smelled like potatoes.

"Your kidding?" Dash said as Twilight walked into a very old looking kitchen.

"Yeah, the royals were big on the idea of their kids being Alicorns so one of the requirements to her rule was she had to date. So she changed the rules once when she got into office. Princess became the highest order and so she didn't have to date anyone." Sombra said as he burst out in laughter.

"I still can't believe you went out on a date with Celestia," Dash said, doing her best to container her laughter. Sombra nodded with an amused smile on his face. The sizzling of hash browns filling the air.

"That is something she left out of the history book," Twilight said as she entered the room. Sombra shrugged his shoulders.

"Doesn't surprise me with the recent history I have been reading. She seems to have created an image of herself. The idea that she was being bossed around by royalty, well it wouldn't sit to well," he said with a huff.

Dash opened her mouth but Twilight shot her a quick look, She frowned but didn't say anything. "What is your grief with Celestia?" Twilight asked.

"Trapping me for over a thousand years in the cold, unforgiving ice. The very fact that I did what I did because I would have died or worse, someone would have just taken my place. The best she could do was send me on a thousand year trip to be some test for another. I think that's reason enough."

"It doesn't work like that not every pony here is out to start a war. By this point, you have probably broken them of that idea," Twilight replied.

"You think it's as simple as that?" Sombra shouted. "I just walk away, knowing the pony with the biggest mouth is going to take over. And what do you think his platform is going to be: hunting me down or going after the kingdom I came from?"

"Ponies don't work that way. There hasn't been a war in over a thousand years!" Twilight retorted. "You're just holding onto power because you can't stand the idea of being without it."

"Thanks to Celestia, but these ponies don't run like that. They predate her rule, just like I do. You saw my memories; do you honestly think this will end without blood shed if I step down?" Sombra shouted

"It doesn't mater what I think but what you think in such a situation," Twilight replied. The room went silent as he glared down at Twilight.

"It's a matter of not having blind faith in other ponies. Surely, everypony you have met shares your belief in the magic of friendship?" he asked. "All it takes," he moved closer, towering over Twilight, "is one charismatic moron and it will be blood." He relaxed his stance. "But maybe you're right. But I am not willing to bet my life and the well being of Equestria on it. And neither should you," he said as he vanished.

Dash and Twilight glanced at each other when suddenly a burning smell hit their noises. "The hash browns!" Dash exclaimed as she quickly took the food of the old black stone.

"I am starting to understand him," Twilight said in a calm voice as Dash tried to scrap the burned food off the pan.

"Really? Well that's cool I guess. But how is that going to help us?" Dash asked as she inspected the food in the pan.

"I have a few idea's but I am not sure how or even if they will work. But best be prepared, time to get something to eat," Twilight said with a calm smile on her face.

"Be careful, Twilight. I really don't want to see you get hurt," Dash said, abandoning her food as she rested a hoof on her shoulder. The real concern hung above them as Twilight smiled.

"I have faith in Celestia's lessons, even if he has lost his," she said. "But I plan to use the safer Idea for now," she said only for Dash to tilt her head to the side in confusion. Twilight remembered the book he had given her. "Well I guess a new spell wouldn't hurt," she thought to herself.

"Well before you all carry on your escape plans, or whatever, could you, um, help with breakfast?" Dash asked. She rubbed the back of her head. "I have no idea how to cook." Twilight smiled a bit as she moved over, letting her magic take over.

Comments

[catoparadox]

Rainbow Dash cooking

http://thesimpsonsforever.tumblr.com/post/10262523877/homer-trying-to-cook-mr-burnss-breakfast