> A Shadow's World > by Invanger > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > 1. Banishment ★ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- She turned me down. Then she banished me. For her sister! Sombra thought as he paced in his new prison. Celestia will pay! Lots of thoughts swarmed through his mind. He stop pacing to look around the cave. It was just a flat, boring ice cave. Lots of ice formations grow from the ground and roof. I was doing fine until Luna was corrupted by something stronger than me! He stomped his hoof in anger, accidently causing a large black crystal grow. He made it dissapear and looked around the cave from where he would be staying for the next millennium. Better explore this wretched place. He thought bitterly as he started walk. The armor on his legs and hooves makes some noise as it hit the ice with each step. The cave was very large and had a semi low ceiling. He saw something move out the corner of his eye and swung his head around to look at it. He didn't see anything, so Sombra stepped closer. As he moved, he noticed there are shadows. And If there are shadows, then there is light. If there is light, then there is a place to get out. For the sun cannot reach down here through the ice. He tried to ignore the shadows and continue to look for what had moved. The only thing he was able to see was his own shadow. He decided to give up on that and go in the opposite direction that the shadows were pointing. He reached the spot that the light seemed to be coming from. A sky light. The ice was just barely thin enough to let light in. "Stupid Celestia" he snarled, his hatred for her clearly showing. He walked away from the light to a wall of the cave that was the darkest. Sombra layed down and wondered why an ice cave? He slowly fell alseep thinking about how he will get revenge on equestria. ***********50 years later************* Sombra wandered around aimlessly, thinking about how to escape yet again. He grew a black crystal let smack into the roof. Sombra growled when he saw that it didn't do much damage. He turned into a shadow and started testing the walls. As he was about to start on the roof, a bright light blinded him. He returned to pony form and hissed at the harsh light. It is soon gone and he opened his eyes to see if he could see what made the light. It was always rather dark in there, so a light that bright really burned his eyes. Most ponies can easily see in that light. Unlike Sombra, who can almost see better in the dark than in broad daylight. What do you expect? A pony who can turn into a shadow enjoying a ton of sudden light? "It was probably Celestia again." he growled to himself, not bothering to be quiet about it either. Celestia seems to just apear in a bright ball of light and make sure the walls and roof are still extremly strong. He didn't hear her calling out to him and began to walk towards where the light had been. His hoofsteps echoed around the room, as usual. "Who's there?" A slightly familar voice calls out. He ignored the voice and continued walking. Sombra decided to give the pony a scare and turned into a shadow. He crept up behind the pony. A mare who has a dark blue body and a few shades lighter blue mane. Her wings and horn are just as dark as her body. He couodn't see her cutiemark because he was directly behind her. He returned to normal form and just stood there, waiting for her to notice him. It seems like she spots him and whips around. "Who art thou and what are We doing here?" She asked. "For starters, you are in my world of being banished to the icy north by Celestia. And I will not tell you my name lest you tell me yours. If you managed to get in here, then you should be able to know who I am." The mare glared at me. "Nightmare Moon." "Okay Nightmare Moon. I am King Sombra. Now tell me why you are here and how you got here." he said with a voice full of authority. "Fine. Banished to the moon by Celestia. We found a portal to some world and after a litlle while, found another portal and it lead here. And We are here because We wanted to see where the portal went." I see another bright flash. "Hide yourself. That is Celestia." Sombra said demandingly. She turned into this thing that looked like her mane and goes to hide. "Sombra!" Celestia yells. He growled. She refuses to say 'King Sombra' just as he refused to say 'Princess Celestia'. He stepped away from where Nightmare Moon had been. "Sombra!" Celestia yelled again. "What!" he yelled back at her. He didn't really need to yell though. He just yelled at her because he felt like it. He walked towards her and saw her under the sky light. He walked foward, but stayed in the shadows. He would not stand next to her willingly. "Sombra, learn how to like this place as you will live eternity inside this frozen cave. You took my sister from me." She said angrily. "Do tell me how." "Ugh. Not long after we defeated you, she grew jealous." Celestia paused for a second. Sombra grew angry at what she said. "She had been acting really different since you were banished here. I tried to reason with her, but you corrupted her." "I do not corrupt ponies. Most of all a so called 'princess'. And, why would I want a sister of you?" he seethed, his anger showing in his stance. He didn't have the need to hide emotions. Celestia grew angry at this. "Because you are an evil, twisted shadow that should return to being a shadow on the wall peremently!" Celestia said. "Oh, and by the way, her new name is Nightmare Moon!" Celestia yelled an left in her bright flash thing. "Did that sorry excuse of a sister leave?" "Yes." He growled, still angered from Celestia. "Find someplace to sleep in here. By the look of the light coming from the sky light, it is almost night." I said and walked to where I normally sleep. He lay down on the ice that has some crystal in it. He had made it by by carving into the wall and growing some crystal, then making that flat. The crystal was so he wouldn't freeze his tail off. He slowly fell into a dreamless sleep. ********Next morning********* Sombra awoke to the sound of hooves. He thought it was his imagination again until he remembered that Nightmare Moon was there. He groaned slightly and stood up. He slowly walk out of the small overhang that he had made. He looked around to see if he can spot Nightmare Moon from here. He glanced at the roof and made a large, sharp black crystal grow rather fast to the ceiling. It crashed into the ice and a shower of ice splinters fell down. It didn't get very far into the ice. He made the crystal disapear and began to wander like the day before. Nightmare Moon spots him and comes over. "What did thou do to be on Celestia's baishing list?" Nightmare asked. "I took the crystal empire from the current crystal pony that was elected to rule. I simply got rid of her and made them my slaves. Surprised that you don't remeber sending me here." He kinda was surprised. She was the one to send both him and the crystal empire into banishment, after all. "We did?" "Yes, your good side did." he said, kinda not wanting to talk very much. "What doth thou do all day?" "Wander, grow crystals, train to retake the crystal empire." he stated flatly. Nightmare walked beside him. He walked over to one of the darkest parts of the cave and turned into a shadow. He tested the walls again. He could have sworn that they were weaker yesterday. He turned back into a pony and started walking around, not knowing what to do. He was suddenly blinded by a bright light, the same light that made Nightmare Moon apear. "Follow Us!" he heard her call and followed her through the portal. It brought them to some sort of forest. "Where did you take me?" he asked with a slight growl. "A world where villians can live without the do-gooders bugging us. Your portal will always be there." she explained. He nodded slightly and made and crystal grow on both sides of the portal. The light it made disapeared as soon as they walked out of it. "This is where both of us can train to take over equestria and the crystal empire. Best part is, we fight each other." Nightmare says with a smirk. He grined evily and prepared to fight her. They wouldn't kill each other because that would be just plain stupid. Both of them wanted to take over different places, so why not help each other grow stronger? *************250 years later*********** He was in his icy cave with Nightmare Moon. She seemed to not want to leave. I don't really like being with other plnies, but it's nice not to be totally stuck in this horrid place alone. Discord managed to visit once. That shall never happen again. Not only had he just randomly apeared, he was beyond annoying. Sombra swore he'll end up killing him sometime. Both Nightmare Moon and Sombra had grown stronger. Celestia stopped coming and just stayed in her stuck up canterlot. Renewing the spell from there. *******************700 years later*************** Nightmare Moon left for who cares what reason. He didn't know why, but didn't care in the slightest bit. He was finally alone in this wretched place. Nightmare Moon had decided to stay. Not hearing a word he said about enjoying not having anypony constantly bugging him. "What to do today." He started thinking about what he should do with his over abundant amount of time. Nothing to do apart from staring at a wall. Everything else is just really boring now. Oh well. His life for the past thousand years has been boring. He got even more bored than he already was. If that's even possible. He stood and just started aimlessly wandering the cave again. He seemed to do that a lot. After half an hour of doing absolutely nothing, he lay down and dozed off. > 2. Steel Ponies ★ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sombra paced across the cave many times. He couldn't sit still because he could just sense that he would be free of this prison. It has been a thousand years since he was banished. His strength, stamina, and dark magic had only grown. He would never return to the weak, young stallion he had once been. He heard something that sounded like the ice was cracking. It grew louder and he turned into shadow. More for protection rather than being hidden. He saw a crack in the ceiling and chuckled rather evily and prepared to be free. The crack grows bigger and many smaller cracks branch out of it. His grin only grew as it gets bigger by the second. Soon it is large enough to easily fit through, even in pony form. He flew out of that place. Nothing had changed since he had been up here last. He looked around, not spotting his empire and growled slightly as he started to go in the direction of where it was. He couldn't seem to find it in this blizzard. He returned to pony form, glad that a milinium in solid ice has prepared him for the cold. And being one of the last steel ponies helps. Our fur turns hard as steel when harsh winds blow. It hardens upon impact. If something sharp was used very skillfully, it can get past the steel fur if it makes contact hard and fast enough. As he walked through the blizzard, he remebered his family and how there was only one other steel unicorn. The other unicorn's horn was normal though. Sombra's horn had been normal a good deal of his life. He found dark magic and it changed everything about him. How he looked, personality, knowledge, and it even changed his voice a little. Before he had come in contact with dark magic, his was horn like every other unicorn's horn. His coat was a few shades lighter and about two shades brown. He wasn't just a steel pony, his mother was a crystal pony. And they are normaly earth ponies as well. Sombra was able grow crystals like the crystal ponies, but didn't have the crystal like coat. Instead he had a steel coat. That is why most steel ponies are grey somewhere. He looked more like a steel pony than a crystal pony. Only thing that said he was part crystal pony was the ability to grow crystals. Before the dark magic, Sombra was friendly and had many friends. His best friend was Midight Fire. He was a dark brown with light grey mane. Like most steel ponies, Midnight and Sombra had been slaves. Once Sombra found the dark magic, he vowed to save them. He may be immortal and everyone he knew is gone, but they are a part of who he once was. "Mabye some steel ponies will let me stay with them." He was not so keen on being with other ponies, but if it means he can grow a little stronger then why not? He turned into a shadow and flew to where some steel ponies had lived. As he got close, he noticed that they look even worse than before he was banished. He turned back into a pony and walked inside the village. He stopped near the middle of the town. Almost none of the ponies outside payed attention to him. He felt something press on the armor that was on his right front leg. He looked down and saw a young colt. "Hey mister. Who are you." Sombra almost said 'King Sombra', but then he thought that the King part would scare them more than needed. "Sombra." he said, trying to hide to snake like lisp that is barely noticeable. "I haven't seen you before." the colt said. "I'm just passing through." "Where are you staying?" he asked another question. "No where right now." Sombra replied absent mindedly. "You can stay with me!" He exclaimed happily and starts walking. Sombra followed him because he hadn't able to find his empire earlier. The colt walked up to a slightly run down house and went in. He invited Sombra in and he followed, glad to be out of the storm. "Mom. I brought a new friend." The colt yelled as he ran to a door. "Who is it now, Midnight Fire?" A female voice called back. Sombra heared hoofsteps and stayed where he was near the door. Even though there isn't even a slight breeze, his mane and tale whip around as if he was standing next to a tornado. A dark grey mare with silver mane come out. "Oh, you must be his new friend. I'm Starcrossed and he is Midnight Fire." "I'm K-... Sombra." "Nice to meet you Sombra. Where do you live? I haven't seen you around here before." that's because I have been banished for a thousand years. "I'm just passing through." "Oh, we have a spare room if you would like to stay." Starcrossed offered "I'm only here tonight. Thank you. Then I have to continue on to The Crystal Empire." Sombra said. "Don't you know that the empire has been gone for a thousand years. Everyone says a pony who called himself King Sombra banished it when he was banished to the far northern ice. Speaking of names, yours is very similar." Starcrossed said. She said something to Midnight Fire and he ran off. "If your wanting to talk about names, where did you get his?" Sombra questioned. He just had to know if they were descendents of his old friend. "Well, somewhere a thousand years ago, there was Midnighg Fire. Who was rumored to be King Sombra's friend. I chose that namd because I am a descendant of him." She answered. Sombra felt like she can be the only one to know about him. "Those rumors are true. He was a good friend." Starcrossed had a look of confusion and shock on her face. "So means... your here... that means... your the King Sombra." She said kinda of excitedly. "Yes, I'm King Sombra. And the empire returned today, just like I have." he confirmed. "Don't tell anyone else about that. They would freak." Starcrossed warned. "Didn't plan to. I came to save all of you from slavery." he said and her face lit up. "This is the last standing village that isn't in slavery. Can you show me how you grow the crystals?" "How did you know I can do that?" Sombra asked, confused on how much information was remembered about him. "Well, it's mainly just this family that still remembers. We passed the story down. Never changed it. It was the first Midnight Fire who did it. He wrote it down. Each generation has rewitten it, not changing the words even the slightest bit. Midnight Fire wrote about you, knowing that you would be forgotten by everyone if he didn't save the memory. I even have the book." she explained. Sombra was surprised that Midnight Fire actually saved all the knowledge he had about him. "Okay." he said, struggleing a little bit to continue to hide his real voice. "You don't have to hide anything in this house." Starcrossed says, haveing noticed his struggling. He nodded and made a small crystal grow. Starcrossed watched, looking happy. "So it is true. You are part crystal pony." She said, mostly to herself. "Yes, and I plan to make them pay for enslaving us." Her face lit up a bit at this, she also had a slight look of confusion. "So... your kinda going against part of what you are?" She asked. He growled slightly and Starcrossed stepped back a little. "They are the kind that enslaved me. I don't care if I am part crystal pony. They have hurt everyone around me." Sombra said, not bothering to hide the snake like lisp. He head a knock on the door behind him. "Go in the kitchen. That is Mist Seeker. He is my brother and I don't kow how well he would take to you being here." Starcrossed said and pionted to the kitchen. Sombra removed all evidence of him being there and went in, his armor making his hoofsteps slightly muffled by the grip on the hoofguards. He heard the door open and a male voice. Starcrossed and the other spoke for a few minutes. Starcrossed came in and said, "Mist Seeker wants to meet you." Sombra nodded slightly and walked out of the room. He saw a light grey stallion, the same color as mist, with blue tinted silver mane. He is slightly taller than most stallions, but Sombra was still taller than him. "Hello King Sombra. My sister tells me that you and the crystal empire, along with all the ponies have returned." Mist Seeker said, glaring slightly at Sombra. Sombra could easily return the glare, but kept an emotionless face. He said nothing and let Mist Seeker say what he wanted. Sombra could tell he didn't like him here at all. "I agreed to let you stay here for the night, but you have stay away from my nephew. I don't want him to be with a dark magic user. Most of all, a crystal pony." He said, his glare a bit stronger. Sombra growled at what he said. "I may be part crystal pony, but I would rather have them enslaved and in the mines." he hissed at the other stallion. Sombra kept his tall stance and glared ever so lightly at him. He didn't feel like making him see fears or anyhing, but Mist Seeker's hatred was enough for now. "Mist Seeker, why don't you go play with you nephew." Starcrossed said, most likely trying to save his tail. It seemed like she didn't want him to anger Sombra much because she is aware of what he could do. Seeker snorts and walks away. "Follow me, I'll show you the room you can stay in." She said and began to walk down a hallway. He followed not far behid her. She opened a door and walked in. "This is the room. If you need anything, I'll be in the kitchen or my room at the end of the hall." She said and left. Sombra closed the door and looked around the room. The bed was on the far wall. There was a small nightstand beside it with a lamp on it. The bed is an old mattress with a patchwork blanket on it. There is a single pillow that is slighlty flat. He was tired and walked over to the bed and lay down. It was by far the most comfortable thing he had been on in a thousand years and quickly fell into a dreamless sleep. > 3. New... Friends? ☆ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sombra awoke to a light blinding him. He looked out the window and saw that Celestia already had the sun high in the sky. He got up and stretched. He hadn't slept that good in a long time. He shot a glare at the sun. It was bright and he liked the dark a lot more than that blinding ball of light. Sombra walked out of the room. The first pony he saw was Midnight Fire. The colt ran up to him and tried to jump onto his back. As he ran, Sombra crouched a little to make it easier for him, even though he would still have to jump kinda high. Sombra was a tall stallion, not much shorter than Celestia. Midnight leapt and almost missed. Sombra lifted him onto his back with magic. He did extremly simple levitation, just about every unicorn can do it. Midnight Fire sat on his back looking happy as Sombra walked to the kitchen, looking for Starcrossed. He saw Mist Seeker out of the corner of his eye behind him and quickly moved to the darkest part of the room. Shadows hide him rather well in both forms. Midnight Fire stayed still and silent on Sombra's back. Mist Seeker passed them without spotting the duo. Sombra came out of the shadow and continued over to the kitchen. He walked in and Starcrossed notices them. "Morning you two!" She said cheerfully. Sombra felt Midnight Fire shift on his back and he crouched so he could jump off. He jumped as far as he could, which is only about two feet. "He wants you to stay. You seem to know what he wanted out there and just now." "Lets just say he is not the first to want to have a ride on my back." Sombra said, remebering his younger sister. "You played with foals before you were banished?" She asked. "Yes. I'll tell you later." he said as he heard hoofsteps approaching. (Unedited from here on out.) I know that Mist Seeker is coming because they and heavier than Midnight Fire's steps. Mist seeker enters with Midnight Fire not far behind. Midnight Fire runs at me again. I lower myself to a height that he can get on without me having to help him. He lands in the middle of my back and I stand. Mist Seeker glares at me, but I just ignore him. "We're going outside!" Midnight Fire anounces. I chuckle slighly and walk out outside. Many ponies are out now because the storm is over. I see a large pile of snow not very far away. I scan it, looking for anything that would harm Midnight Fire underneath the soft, powery snow. Upon seeing nothing, I lift Midnight Fire up with magic and hold him above the snow. He starts squealing in mock terror, laughing as he does. I drop him inside and he screams happily. His scream if muffle because of the snow. I walk to the snow and walk around it. Midnight Fire is trying to dig his way out. I part the snow, making a good sized hole. I see him sitting down in the snow laughing hard. "Can you help me make a snowpony?" He asks once he is done laughing. Without saying anything, I lift him out of the snow and set him down on the ground. He starts to make a ball of snow to make one of the four legs. I decide not to use magic do the same thing. I had done the same thing with my family. I hear a few young voices nearby. Midnight Fire looks up from what he was doing. "Come on guys! Helps us build a snowpony!" Midnight Fire yells to a colt and two fillies. They run over and begin to help. Soon the snowpony is done. "Who are you?" A white filly with very light silver mane asks. "Sombra." "Hi Sombra! I'm Winterflake, he Clouded Storm, and she is Frozen Flare." Winterflake said pointing first to dark grey colt with a few shades lighter mane and then an ice blue filly with a few shades lighter mane that has silver streaks in it. I nod slightly to them. "Winterflake. Frozen Flare. You need to come in." A mare calls not very far away. "Bye Sombra!" They yell as they run to the mare. "Your a unicorn!" Exclaimed Clouded Storm. He must've just noticed. "What kind of magic can you do?" Midnight Fire asks. I think for a second on this. I need to do simple spells that don't require dark magic. "Just a few simple spells." I reply. "Can you show us one?" Clouded Stormed asked. I nod and think about what spell. I can make it look like I use magic to grow crystals. I use a simple levitation spell and stomp one hoof. By have the magic aura, it looks like my magic is doing it and not just being half crystal pony. I finnish the spell and they climb on the small black crystal. Well, small compared to what I normally do. "That was cool!" Both of them exclaim. "Yeah, it was." A female voice says not far from us. I look around to Starcrossed at the door of her house. I see Mist Seeker glaring daggers at me from the window. I just ignore him. He can't harm me, so why care? I glance at the ground to see what time it was. I don't need to see the sun to know what time it is. I haven't seen it for a while and can tell what time of day it is by seeing how bright the light is aroud me. I see Midnight Fire and Clouded Storm jumping of the crystal. I make it disapear, but still hiding the crystal pony part with magic. The two run off to somewhere. I don't really pay attention. "Let me show you around our little village." Starrossed says and starts to trot to who knows where. I trot not far behind her. Some ponies noticed me. They began to talk with their friends most likely about my horn, armor and other stuff that I don't care about. Starcrossed enters a building. I follow her. The building looks like a small caffè. She orders something and motions for me to follow her to a table. She sits down on one side and I'm on the other. "You mentioned that Midnight Fire wasn't the first foal you had played with like that. Who did you play with?" I tried to think of an excuse and realized she needed to know. "My sister was like that." I said. "Wait, you have a sister?!" Starcrossed exclaimed. "Yes, did Fire not save that in your book?" I asked. "No. What was her name?" She asked. "Medianoche Sombra, or Midnight Shadow" "She has your name!" Starcrossed said with surprise. "No, she doesn't. We don't share names, just the last part of our names are the same." I explain to her. "Wait, the last part? Your name is not what everypony thinks it's to be? What is your name?" She asked. "Sombra Oculta, Hidden Shadow. I just kept the original. My family has names all in a different lanuage. My great-grandparents came from another country, other than Equestria or the Empire. We liked to keep using the language as our own and were named in that translation. We were still taught how to speak like everypony else here, just spanish is our main language." "Wow, your family seems complicated. Can you still speak spanish?" "Tan fácil como nunca. Easy as ever." "I'm jut gonna pretend I know what you said." She said, a little uncertian about me speaking a different language. "Go ahead." I don't really care if anypony can understand my primary language. I spot a steel pony unicorn enter the caffè. "Who is she?" I ask. "Oh, she is Star Gazer. The only unicorn steel pony that I know of. She is rather snobbish because she thinks that nopony else is as good as her." Starcrossed said. Star gazer spotted me and is walking over. I stand to let this mare know I won't tolerate anything. She ignores what I do and keeps walking. "Well, well, well. I see somepony wants to pretent he is a unicorn." She sneared. I keep my cool and let her continue. "Why don't you remove that fake and stop trying to be better than me." That's because I am better than you. "What are you a mute? Ha! How pathetic. First you try to fool everyone, then you can't even talk. I shouldn't talk to low life like you." Star Gazer said and turned away. "That is because you don't know who I am." I say, hiding the snake lisp, but not bothering to try to hide the unnaturaly deep voice. "Oh, so you do speak." She said, turning to me once again. "Let's prove that that thing is a fake. Come outside and we will have a magic duel." She said and walked off. I looked at Starcrossed to see what she thinks. "Beat her tail. It would be nice to see her ego beat down a bit." Starcrossed said and stood. I walk outside with Starcrossed not far behind. I see Star gazer standing not far away. "Do a simple levitation spell." She said and levitated some snow. I rolled my eyes and looked at Starcrossed. She understood and I levitated her. Star Gazer looked shocked, but quickly covered it up with a smirk. "So you can levitate. Big deal. Teleport yourself." She said and proved she can do it. I set Starcrossed down and telported us both to right behind Star Gazer. "Hey, where'd he go?" She asked anypony. One pointed to right behind her at me and Star Gazer jumped around. "I can easily perform any extremly simple spells that you can do." I said. Starcrossed got out of the way and stood by all the other ponies that had gathered. She performed a few other spells and I easily matched them. "This is getting boring you know." I said. She ignored me. "Show us what you got." "I'm sure you don't want to see that." I said. She looked at the crowd. "Oh yes. I think we all want to." She said, speaking for the crowd that looked like they were expecting nothing good. I shrug and feel the dark magic flow into me. The white in my eyes are now green and the purple smoke that seems to flow out of them is there. "Now, do you still want to see?" I say, for the firt time in this duel speaking normally. Star gazer looked creeped out. "Yes." She said in a strong voice even though I can sense her fear. My horn shows the dark magic as I make two, kinda small crystal apear. They were small in my opinion. "Good enough?" I ask. "Y-yes." She stutters before running away. I make the crystal disapear and all signs of dark magic gone. Starcrossed runs over. "I knew you could do high level spels, but I didn't kow that you are a dark magic user." She said. "Yes, I've been a dark magic user most of my life." I say as many ponies begin to come close. "Who are?" "What was that?" "Where are you from?" "I'm King Sombra.I use dark magic and you could say I'm from The Crystal Empire!" I answer the three questions I heard the most. I teleport Starcrossed and myself back to house. I teleported us to the inside so we wouldn't be seen. "You beat her! You scared her!" Starcrossed was excited about that. Mist Seeker walked inside with Midnight Fire behind him. Mist Seeker glares at me while Midniht Fire just stands there. "Wow! You are so cool!" He says excitedly. I didn't say anything, just stood tall and out of sight from the windows. I back up a bit to hide in the shadows. I saty there for the rest of the day. Everypony just kept doing what ever they were doing. I don't want to be the center of attention right now. I slowly fall into a dreamless sleep like I always do. Well, I thought I did. -----------------------Sombra's Dream------------------ I was walking around the small village. It seemed like nopony could see me. I see myself and Starcrossed in the window of the small caffè. I walk up to the window and watch as I explained how I knew what Midnight Fire wanted and my name. I see a pony out the corner of my eye and reconize Star Gazer. She was talking to a few of her friends. "Look, there is a new unicorn." One of them said. "I bet he is a fake." Star Gazer said. "You should embaress his sorry flank." Her other friend said. "Yeah, come on girls. We have a weakling to scare." "I just hope he doesn't reconize me." I hear her say to quietly for her friends to hear. I don't know what she is talking about. They go inside and I try to follow, but something hold me back. Suddenly the scene changes to when we were having the duel. It was right before Star Gazer had run away. She looked fearfully at what I was doing. Well, the past me.When she ran, this time I followed. I want to see what she was doing. She runs into a house that I'm asuming is hers. I manage to get in and find her sobbing on her bed. She is holding a picture of two foals. One has super fluffy mane that goes everywhere. I reconize the filly in the picture. She is one of my friends that was named Star Gazer. This mare on the bed is a unicorn and my friend wasn't a unicorn. I notice that the teal mane and tail look almost exactly the same. This Star Gazer just has her mane is a loose braid and her forelock is shorter. My friend had a longer forelock. The more I look at the pisture to the mare, the more I realize that she is still alive. I wonder how she lived a thousand years. "I loved you." Star gazer whispers. I look at the other foal and notice that the colt is me. The room starts to get blurry. I try to focus, but can't. --------------------End of Sombra's dream--------------- My head snapped up. I remeber the dream. I need to see Star gazer. The house is dark and it looks like it is night. I stand up and walk to the door quietly. I open and close it softly. I sigh and begin to walk to Star Gazer's house. Nopony is awake at the hour of night. I reach her house and see a few lights on. I knock on the door. I don't expect anyone to answer though. The door opens and the light from inside blinds me. I hiss lightly at the light. I see Star Gazer standing in the doorway. "What do you want?" She asks a little bitterly. I stand tall and say, "To talk to you." She looks shocked, but invite me in. "When did you get the horn?" I ask her. "I guess I always had it. My mane just covered it." She answers. I nod and look at her. "Sorry for scareing you earlier." I say even though it feels wrong. "King Sombra, how did you become what you are?" "First, you don't need to call me that. Second, I use dark magic. It is so much stronger tha normal magic. Even Celestia couldn't beat me. It was Luna who did." I said to my old friend. "Sorry for being a total jerk earlier. I needed to hide the fact that I knew you once." "Everypony makes mistakes. There is nopony alive who hasn't made a mistake." I said knowingly. "Not the princesses." she said. "Yes, Celestia made a mistake by underestimating me, and not trying help the ponies enjoy Luna's moon. She let them just enjoy her sun. That helped Luna become Nightmare Moon. Whom I knew very well. I'm now assuming that Nightmare Moon is no more and Luna is back." I said, trying get her to realize that nopony is perfect. Celestia lacks purity just like every other pony. "How did you manage to stay alive for a thousand years?" "You've been hidden for a thousand years?!?!" "Yes, now, how are you still alive? Midnight Fire is no more. Starcrossed is his decendant." "Well, I was in the Crystal Empire a few weeks ago. With a few friends. I had heard that you were currently living there and wanted to see you. Well, everypony there was hidding and it seemed like some sort of battle was going on. I didn't pay any attention to it and continued looking for you. I caught a glimpse of you fighting the princesses. I watched the whole thing. It took me a while to realize that the stallion fighting was the same one that escaped slavery and had left to find a better life. Not long after you did something to Princess Celestia, I ran away. Me and my friends quickly gathered and began running away from the empire. One second we were on grass, the next we were on snow in the middle of nowhere. I remebered the village we had been to a few times and moved here. Been here for about... three weeks." Star explained. "There wasn't any sort of delay in your transition from grassy ground to snow?" I ask her. I need to know if the Empire just completly froze in time. "It seemed like a few minutes, but nothing other than that. Why?" She answered. "Well, it seems that the Empire was frozen in time. You must have been in the Empire when I was banished. And because you weren't a resident of the Empire, the curse didn't fully apply to you, but you were still stuck in it. The crystal ponies have just started doing whatever their powerful minds were doing." I said, thinking about how she kept the curse, but came back to the real world a few weeks before anypony did. "Powerful minds? If they were powerful, then you wouldn't have been able to do what you did." "The minds of the crystal ponies are powerful because they are full of fear. Even though I have lost most my connection with the Empire, I can still feel the strong amount of fear they still have." I explain, still mostly lost in thought. "How can you feel their fear. Nopony can feel others fear." Star said. I snapped out of my daze and looked at her like she was a brand new student in school. "Not any normal pony. And incase you didn't notice earlier, I'm not exactly normal. Tell me what was different about me than other unicorns when we had our duel." I told her to list each difference. "Well, your sclaera was no longer white, but a slightly glowing green. You had something purple flowing from your eyes and your horn is red. Not to mention that you have unually dark in color all your life, but now you a little darker and no longer a little brown." Star said, thinking back to when we had the duel. "What have you heard about the Crystal Empire?" I ask her. I kinda want to see how much she knows about the Empire. "It is filled with many crystal ponies, ponies that have crystal like coats and can grow crystal. The Empire has a large castle in the middle of the city and there is some magical item that the Empire loves. A tyrant came and hid that special item and also put all of the crystal ponies into slavery. The tyrant also made the ponies complety lose the crystal coats. And changed the Empire a lot. Tthat is about as much as I know. Do you know more?" She told me all she knew about the Empire. "More than you think." "What do you mean?" She asks me as I begin to circle her. "You got all of it right, but you are still missing some things. The Empire's special item is the Crystal Heart. A magical peice of crystal that the ponies pour their love and hope into each year. Every home is made of crystal, along with the castle in the center. The tyrant you spoke of not only hid the crystal heart, but made so that even he could not get to it. If the tyrant was to stay near it at all times, it would soon destroy him. And the slavery, let's just say the ponies had to do it. If they didn't, they would be given a dose of fear. All the ponies did their work. Only the foals and elderly that couldn't work were free off chains. They lost their crystal coats in a short amount of time. The Empire was no longer bright and colorful, but black crystal replaced every other crystal home. The castle was even changed to black crystal. The tyrant made everything happen." I told her about the change. "How do you know so much about this? It's like you were the tyrants only friend?" She said, a little uncertian about it. "Let's say the tyrant and I are very close." I said. "How did you get the title 'King', Sombra?" "Do you think the tyrant was a real tyrant, or just given the title by Celestia?" I ask her. "Well, I think he didn't do much harm. All he did was make the crystal ponies do some work." She answers, not sure what I'm getting at. "Do you think the crystal ponies were pushed to hard?" "No, you and I were worked a lot harder than that." She answers truthfully. "Good." I say absent mindedly. "Why?" She asks, confused on why it would be good for her to think like that. "Because, I got my title in a very different way. As for being close to the tyrant, there is no tyrant living in the empire right now." "What do you mean?" She asks, clearly confused. I come to a halt right in front of her. "I am the so called 'tyrant'. I took over the Crystal Empire. When you saw me fight Celestia and Luna, I was fighting to keep my kingdom." I say. She looks utterly shocked and backs up a step. "No, your not a tyrant. Your a very friendly stallion. You stand up for those being tortured." She denies. "Deny it all you wish. I now have the power to take over a kingdom like I did a thousand years ago. Besides, those crystal ponies had me as a slave for sometime. After I escaped, one of the ponies there reconized me. He sent our old master the news and our master said to keep me as a slave. The stallion had me working harder than ever in the mines. My old master had also told him my secret. One that even you don't know about. The stallion didn't stop my work. Instead I was pushed harder. It wasn't long until I colasped in the mines. The stallion left me to die. Somepony found me in there, half dead. She took me to her home, not knowing I was a slave. She tried to heal me and get me to forget about the slavery, but I had already made up my mind that crystal ponies were evil. They deserved knowing what it was like to be constantly working harder than anypony can take. I found a book in the library there about dark magic. By taking it, I managed to get rid of the ruler and became king of the Empire. I made them work, but not hard as any of us were." I told her some of my past. I backed up a step. "Now I see why you did what you did, but still, your a careing stallion. And... I don't want to get in your way of getting back to the Empire." She said. As she was speaking, there was a slight pain in my gut. I chose to ignore it, but it quickly grew stronger. I croch down a little and hiss at the large amount of pain. I try my best not to show it, but that didn't work. It slowly started fading. As soon as the pain was gone, I stood back up. Star Gazer had stayed were she was, just watching. "I better be leaving." I say and start walking to the door. "Okay. Bye Sombra." Star said as I left. Once outside, I stated running towards the outskirts of the town. > 4. Trying To Reclaim > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once outside the village, I start treking towards the train station. Never had I thouht I would be so glad that the village is so far from the crystal empire. After about three ours of walking, I create a crystal over hang that will protect me from any wind. I lay down with my pressed against the crystal and fall asleep. ***********morning************ I wake to the sound of the wind howling. I lift my head to look around see that another blizzard has come. I stand up and walk the rest of the way to the train station. No trains are here. Nor ponies. I'll just wait here I've waited a thousand years to be free, a day or two is nothing. I guess I could go see the empire. See how strong the shield is. I turn to shadow and start to head in the direction of the Crystal Empire. I move quickly to get there faster and then return to the station to await to ponies and scare them. I reach the edge of the empire and see that everything that my dark magic had done to the empire is gone. I growl at this. I see a pony walking this way. He stops at the edge of the shield and just stands there. He steps out of the empire and now he notices me. "Sombra." He says with a ton of hatred. I know I can't get in, but he can. He makes an attack at me. I dodge easily and growl at him. I don't plan on doing anything to him yet. He fires another laser at me and I dodge it again. This time, the unicorn stallion starts to run. I let him go and swiftly return to the station. I become a pony again and wait for the help to arrive. A train pulls up and six candy colored ponies get out with a small purple and green colored dragon. The purple mare seems to be a ring leader or something of the little group. When the train leaves, I am a little shocked that these are the ponies Celestia sent. Pathetic. The pink one just seems to be some happy thing. The white one is looking like she would rather be somewhere else. The orange one is jsut standing and the cyan one is flying above all of them. A yellow mare is kinda hiding behind all of them. The dragon is trying to catch some scarves that are flying around in the blizzard. I hear a voice and see that the stallion from earlier comeing. The purple unicorn greets the stallion happily. They say something that I don't care about and start walking to the empire. I follow them in pony form for a bit, then become a shadow and begin to chase them. They don't notice me till I'm rather close. All of them start running and the dragon just stands there stareing at me, frozen in fear. The unicorn stallion grabs him wih magic and starts running. The dragon reacts and runs rather fast to the front of the group. The purple mare throws him on her back and the stallion slides to a stop. He turns to face me and shoots a laser at me. I dodge it and growl slightly. I lunge at him and he prepares another, but I use a spell to block his magic. We are right outside the empire and I throw him in. I become a pony again and watch them. I learned that this spell allows me to see inside, but they can't see outside. Over the next day and a half, the protection spell has flickered, but still strong enough to keep me out. I turn to shadow when I see it flicker weaker than it has. It disapears completly and I rush to get in as the spell is regained. I almost get in and the spell cuts part of my horn off. I raor loudly move back a little. The part off my horn that had been cut off goes into the ground with dark magic. It doesn't tke long for the dark magic to start and work inside the empire. "Yess, crysstal." I hiss. The six ponies that had come are trying to save the empire. What they don't know it I hid the crystal heart. And they won't find it like this. I can't see what they are doing exactly, but I do know they are using brain more than combat skills or even magic. The shield flickers again, but stays intact. I see a black crystal grow. The entry crystals are already black. I don't see the purple one anymore. The purple unicorn is no longer at their thing that I really don't care about. I sense part of my castle return. That means someone knows how to use dark magic! Not good. I can something dark in the throne room from here. I think I know what part was just uncovered. A really long starcase that only lead to a cursed door. By cursing the door a thousand years ago makes it easier to scare the pony down there. I cursed it to where it moves until blasted by dark magic. Then it stays, but shows anyone their worst fear. The door also leads to another eternal starcase that leads to the crystal heart. It will take a while for the pony to reach it. Even my crystal heart. "Crysstal heart." I hiss that has a slight hint of a growl. I turn int a pony and sit down, waiting to see if anything will happen. My dark magic seads in the empire, turning the crystal homes into black crystal. It is speading perfectly. A crystal pony spots this and I feel much fear comeing fro them. It powers me and my horn grows back. I feel a new fear coming from inside the castle. I watch the pony's fear. It is that darn purple unicorn. She find herself in canterlot and in where ever Celestia is in this fear vision. "Twilight Sparkle." Celestia says. I don't really care what else arpart from, "You failed the test. You are no longer my student." That is the best part. She fears failing a test and not being Celestia's student. I chuckle, which sounds closer to a growl than anything. A voice starts calling to twilight. Her vision ends and I can't see or hear what is going on. A new vision is being seen. The first of this kind ever. A dragon's fears. I watch as his fear vision Twilight tells him to leave. "Spike. Leave. I never want to see you again." Twilight says. Spike says something, but i don't listen and the vision ends. I growl. That one was interesting. I feel the door getting shot and turned to a normal door. "Grr." I sit down an wait for something to happen. I spot more houses turning black and a few small crystals growing. I turn into shadow again. I don't knw why. The shield has been flickering a lot. I feel something. It is a pony! Twilight must'vee stepped on the ground four feet around the crystal heart I cursed. I make a wall of crystals gow on the edge of it and crystals start to grow on the outside. The shiel disapears as the magic from the pony is gone. Most the pony can do now is a simple levitation spell. One pony panics and runs. She bumps into the crystals I am inbetween. "Hi Sombra." She says extremly scared and nervious. I see something start moving on one of my black crystals. I reconize Spike and I see he has my crystal heart. "That is mine!" I growl and dive into the ground. I come out of the ground a lot closer to the castle in a crystal. I feel myself change and look at myself in shock for one second before turning my full attention to the crystal and dragon that are now falling. As I'm about to reach them, something pink and purple whizzes by and grabbs them. I see the horrid alicorn. She was flying not far above the crystal ponies and had the Crystal heart in levitation. She also has that wretched dragon on her back. She says something, but I don't hear what. She send the heart to two pillars from the castle and it floats right in the middle of the two points. All the crystal ponies begin to do something. They ae all bowing to the crystal. A blue glow starts to spread on the streets. "What?! No! Stop!" I say with a little growl. Nopony listens and soon all the streets are blue. All the glow flys into the heart and there is a light blue flash. Some of the ponies that weren't born a Crystal pony get a crystal coat. The flash passes me and my body begins to have glowing marks that look like cracks. I roar as the spell imprisons me in my horn. Third ponies POV It has been three years since they defeated King Sombra. Everypony was happy after the newest princess and her friends deafeated Lord Tirek a few months ago. Princess Twilight Sparkle has a small castle and each of her friends have a throne. Everypony knows Princess Cadence started to rule the Crystal Empire after Sombra was killed. Or so they thought. > 5. Reviving Sombra > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rarity' POV I simply love the castle Twilight has. It's so shiny and sparkly. Right now i am making a brand new dress for Princess Cadence. I grab one of the pins from Spike's back and pin part of some light pink fabric to to a light purple base. I am making a dress the same colors as her mane. It is going to be light purple based with light pink on it. All the stitching is going to be the same yellow in her mane. The little seams that don't need to be seen are pink. I plan to have fancy little designs with the yellow thread. "Spike, can you grab the yellow thread on the middle shelf?" "Anything for you Rarity." Spike said as ran to the shelves and tried to get the thread. On the way over, he belched loudly and out of the flame was a letter. Rarity rushed over to see what Princess Celestia wanted. It read; Dear Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity; I have a new task for all of you. Something has been recently found near the Crystal Empire. We need you to revive a pony. Princess Luna and I will be there to help you, Rarity, the first few days. I would like you to do this with little to no help from anypony. We are asking you to revive The King of Shadows and reform him. We need you to reform King Sombra. Sincerely, Princess Celestia I gasp loudly in shock. "What is it?" Spike asks. I hand him the letter. He quickly reads it and looks confused. "Who is King Sombra?" he asks me. I still remeber that tyrant who almost killed Spikey-Wikey. "He is only the highest ranked dark magic user and hates you with every once of his being." I state like it was nothing to worry about. "What did I do to make him hate me so much?" Spike questioned. I don't say anything, thinking of how in Equestria I am going to do this. "Spike, be a dear a fetch Twilight." I say motioning at himself with my right foreleg. He nodds and pulls out the pins in his back. He doesn't feel them now, but he will in a few seconds. He runs outside and I can hear a groan escape from him. I giggle lightly and continue to work on the dress, trying to get rid of the stress about Sombra. I take the fabric pieces to the sewing machine and sew the light pink sash onto it. I add the front sleeves that are purple up at the seam and slowly fades to pink. As I work on the left sleeve, Twilight and Spike enter. The little bell on the door announces the arrival of anypony who enters. "What is it? All Spike said was the Princess sent a letter while he was helping you." Twilight says. I levitate the letter to her and she reads it. "What! Why him? I thought he was dead. The crystal heart killed him." Twilight exclaims to herself as she tries to figure out how he was still alive. "I think his case may be similar to Discord's, only Sombra is trapped in something else. I don't know what. It doesn't say what has been found. Rarity, do you have a quill and paper?" Twilight questions after she explained her theory. "Yes, right here Twilight. Whatever do you need it for?" I return a the questioning to her as I levitate a paper and pen over to her. She grabs it and writes something down, then hands it to Spike. "Can you go put the seal on it and send it to Princess Celestia, then get the others." Twilight tells Spike. He nods and runs off to go do what he was told. "What are you working on?" Twilight asks me when she spots the dress. "A dress for Princess Cadence. I wanted to surprise her with a new dress. Here is what it will look like." I explain and hand her my sketch of what the dress will look like when it's done. "Ooh! Pretty. Cadence will love it!" Twilight exclaims. "Thank you Twilight. I've asked Spike all he says it will be almost as perfect as I am like he always does." I say and begin to sew on a ruffle design that is very similar to the sleaves. I add another ruffle a little below it. I used the yellow thread on some small designs on the ruffles. "Can I help in anyway?" Twilight asks. "Yes, could you get the purple fabric? The one that is a bit darker than what is on the dress right now." I say. Twilight levitates it over and I cut the matiriel that I need from it and set the fabric aside. I hear the bell ring and look to see who came in. Rainbow and Pinkie come in with AJ right behind them. I look out the window and see Spike almost dragging Fluttershy. "What do ya need us for?" Randow asks me or Twilight. Twilight reads the letter aloud. Rainbow looks shocked, AJ shares Rainbow's exprsion, Fluttershy looks like a pony is holding a knife to her throat and Pinkie just looks confused. "Who's King Sombra?" She asks. Twilight rolls her eyes and I just think it's weird how both Pinkie and Spike don't remember who he is. "King Sombra is a pony who tried to take the Crystal Empire again and is the highest ranked dark magic user alive. Spike saved the Crystal Empire with princess Cadence by keeping the crystal heart away from Sombra. Then Sombra exploded along with all of his black crystals." Twilight explained and as soon as she was done talking, Spike beltched. Twilight picked up the letter and read it. "What does it say?" AJ asks her. "It says Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are on their way here with whatever has been found." Twilight said, still looking at the letter. "It also says the will be here in about-" we all see the Princesses outside "Now." Twilight finishes. Celestia is holding a package and so is Luna. Both walk in, the little bell on the door rings as they do. All of us bow down to them, even Twilight. "No need for that right now." Celestia says and all of us stand up. "Princess Celestia, how are we going to revive King Sombra?" Twilight asks Celestia. "For the next few days you do not need to address us like that. And you are stil llinked to the elements of harmony, plus Twilight being an alicorn makes it better. A traveler from the Crystal Empire found King Sombra's horn, the only part of him that wasn't damaged. After a while of studying it, we found that he has a very similar problem that Discord had." Celestia says to all of us. "Did somepony say my name?" Discord says as he apears here. "Nothing more than a pony having a similar banishment that you had." I say to him. "Who have you turned to stone this time?" Discord asks. "Not stone, Discord, into his horn." Luna says to him. Discord, still a little lost, asks, "Who?" "King Sombra." Twilight replies. "However could that be?" Discord won't stop the questions. "I'll tell you how. The crystal heart in the Crystal Empire imprisoned him in his horn by making it look like his body exploded." Rainbow dash says, getting in Discord's face. "Do tell me who this King Sombra is." Discord says boredly, like he knows something. AJ opened her mouth to say something, but Pinkie Pie cut her off. "He is a pony that kows how to grow rocks and tried taking over the Crystal Empire. Do you think he could make me a rock?" Pinkie said, more interested in the black crystal part than anything. "Now why are you talking about him?" Discord adds another question! "Because Rarity is going to reform him." Celestia says. I think everypony has said something to Discord except Fluttershy and Applejack. "I'll go because nopony seems to want me." Discords says with a sad tone. "Oh, don't worry, we still have our picnic later." Fluttershy says to Discord. He smiles and leaves by teleporting to somewhere. "Shall we get started?" Luna asks. "Yes." Celestia says and opens the box she has been carrying. Luna sets hers down on a table and opens it. She pulls out a black ring and levitates it in front of her. Celestia levitates something that looks like Sombra's horn in front of her. "Here is King Sombra's horn. All six of you need to do this. Luna and I are only here to make sure he doesn't cause trouble." Celestia says and places the horn on the ground and we make a circle around it. Twilight begins some sort of spell and all of our chests start to glow. Pinkiw has a blue glow, AJ and orange, so It's not very notice able, Rainbow has a red one, Fluttershy is pink, Twilight has the pinkish purple color. I look at my chest and see that I have purple, then I remember that the colors of our elements gems are glowing. Each glow become a floating light. All of them combind in the pattern of a rainbow and twirl above the horn. Twilight's magic gets strnger and the rainbow shoots at the horn. It wraps around in similar fashion to what it did for all the villians when we defeated them. I notice that there is a strong wind blowing. The rainbow gets lighter and I notice that it is turning white. Twilight adds another part of the spell and the is a great blast that pushes everypony back to the walls. I notice that everything is everwhere. I'll have to fix that. Everypony starts to get up from the blast that had finished the spell. I see King Sombra lying on the floor. He starts to move just we did, only slower. I notice that he somehow still has his cape and armor. All of us are in a circle around him now. Sombra stands up and notices us. He growls at us, but mostly Celestia. He glares at all of except Luna. Huh. Luna teleports the black ring onto his horn and the purple smoke and green are gone from his eyes. "What did you do?" He growls. I notice that his voice is very deep and has a snake like lisp. None of answer because all we know is that we brought him out of his horn. Luna is staring at the ground and Celestia is returning the glare. "A spell that will keep you from useing every once of magic you have except for levitation." Celestia tells him. I almost gasp at this. He can destroy my home! Sombra stays silent, but is glaring daggers at Celestia. If looks could kill, she would be dead. "Is he still here?" Spike asks from where he is hiding. No pony says anything and Spike comes out of hiding. He doesn't see Sombra yet. Sombra spots hima growls loudly. He tries to lunge at Spike, but Celestia blocks him. Sombra snorts and stomps. A black crystal comes out of the ground beside him. "I thought you removed all his magic appart from levitation?" I ask Celestia. "You cannot remove what a crystal pony can do." Sombra growls. "You can weaken it, but not remove." He adds. I gasp loudly. "Your a crystal pony! How can you be grey?" I ask in shock. "Here is a small history lesson, I am not a full crystal pony. I'm half a pony that is rare. A unicorn of this kind is even more rare." Sombra explains. "Steel ponies are only seen in slavery. All the free ones have gone into hiding. Crystal ponies enslaved them the most." Sombra adds. Now I know why he put all those poor crystal ponies slaves. I notice that everypony except Luna left. Celestia pobably went with Twilight. Luna looks almost guilty about something. "I better start cleaning this mess." I say. Luna looks up and understands that I need her to make sure Sombra doesn't destroy my home any further. Sombra snorts and somehow makes the crystal disapear. I wonder how he does that. I lift a sewing machine that had fallen, but thankfully isn't broken. I start lifting all the models and standing them up near the wall. I hang the dresses and clothes back up on hangers and move the thing into a large closet for storage. I start to lift one of the dresses that I started, but haven't finished yet. I see another dress and model get lift. The magic is the same color as Luna's! I look to see a little to my left. "What about Sombra?" I ask her. "He won't do anything." Luna answers. "How can you be so sure?" I ask. "Just trust me." Luna says and I drop the topic. Soon everything is back where is shoud be. "Thank you ever so much for helping me." I say to Luna. "No problem Rarity. Your gonna need the help." She replies. "I don't know how I'm gonna get him to listen once you and Celestia leave." I say, a little worried at what Sombra will do. "I plan to staying longer than Celestia. Everypony looks to her, so she needs to be back in Canterlot soon. I'm not the first pony everypony turns to, so I can stay longer." Luna says like she would rather be here than in Canterlot with her sister. I hear a snort and remeber Sombra.I walk up to him. "Your gonna have to not be so rude." I say to him. "And who gives you the right to tell me wht to do?" Sombra challenges. "Princess Celestia, that's who." I say. "I'm pretty sure that I have never listened to her." Sombra replies. I try to think of something good to say when Luna walks up. "Sombra, stop." She says with authority. "Living in ice is better than this. I'd rather wait another thousand years in ice rather than be here." Sombra growls. I don't know how his growl is so much like an animal. Rather strange. I look at his armor and think about how everyone will see him in that. Not only that, his horn and constantly flowing mane will attract attention to. Not to mention that no pony is that grey and black. "Follow me unless you want to sleep on the floor." I say to Sombra. He grumbles and follows. I have my parents room and spare room. My parents live somehwere else, but like to vist for the weekend sometimes. I lead Sombra to the spare room. "This is your room for now." I say and walk back to Luna. "Where are you staying?" I ask her. "I don't know Celestia never said anything." Luna answers. "You can stay in my parents room. They don't live here, but visit sometimes." I offer. "Yes. I'll stay with you and Sweetie Belle while I'm here." She says, a little happier than she was. I hear hoofsteps and turn to look. What I see is not what I had expected.