> Possession in the Crystal Empire
>  by Askre
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue. Find me.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prologue

“Find me.”

The dark grey Unicorn tossed and turned in his bed. He had an uneasy dream that was filled with nothing but darkness. All around him, nothing but dark. The pony could barely see his hooves in front of him.

“Come.”

A dark voice sounded all around him, deep and ominous but the one who spoke was not visible. Private tried to turn around but saw nothing but dark, nothing greeted his eyes but the oppressive blackness.

“Come. Find me.”

Private just started running, all he could really think of was running now. But with nothing to see there was no telling where he was going or how far. Yet there was this odd feeling that he was being followed, something big, something dark, something evil.

“Come to me.”

Something kept nagging at his head, telling him to stop and turn around. Private struggled against it, other instincts were telling him to just keep running. This was not right; this was not natural.

“Find me.”

The Unicorn grunted and stumbled on his run. He didn’t keep his balance and fell to the ground. For a moment he just lay there breathing heavily, trying to catch his breath. It was then he noticed a glow from behind him, something was approaching and whatever it was gave off an eerie green glow. Slowly the pony turned his head to look back.

Private woke up with a start. His heart was beating rapidly and his entire body was bathed in cold sweat. The Unicorn shuddered and swiftly removed the blanket and dropped down from the bed. It was still night, judging from the clock it would be several hours before Celestia would raise the sun.

The stallion took a deep breath as he tried to calm down. Then he left the bedroom and headed for the bathroom. Once he had finished his business there, he went to the kitchen to have a drink of water. Private filled a glass from the tab and sat down by the kitchen table, not quite feeling like going to bed again just yet.

The pony tried not to think about the nightmare, focused instead on just the glass of water levitated by his magic. The blue aura, same color and his eyes, gave a faint glow that illuminated the kitchen slightly though most of the focus was on his horn and the glass.

Wonder how the girls are doing? He thought, thinking of his roommates who were currently away on a trip. They should be in Los Pegasus by now.

I should go on a trip. It’s the weekend and I got it all off, he mused. He seldom went on trips, in fact the Unicorn blinked in surprise when he realized what he had just thought.

I don’t go on trips, where did that come from? Heck no, I am staying home and just relaxing. Private frowned hard.

He drank from his glass, pondering why the thought of a trip had just so suddenly come to his mind. Sure his roommates were on one, but that didn’t mean he had any desire to go on one. Unless it was visiting his parents in Trottingham, when they were home that is and not away on a dig.

The Crystal Empire is only few hours away on a train. Came up in his mind.

Ookay this is getting creepy, why is part of my mind suddenly trying to get me on a trip and then suggests the Crystal Empire. Private raised an eyebrow.

Private had no inclination to go to the Crystal Empire. Sure it had only suddenly reappeared few months ago and historically speaking it was rather fascinating, but Private just wasn’t in mood for travel. Spontaneous trips just weren’t for him. He shrugged this off and finished his glass of water.

The Unicorn rose up and returned the glass after rinsing and drying it. Then he returned to his bedroom and decided to catch few more hours of sleep, he was a morning person after all though others would probably be surprised at that giving his gruff exterior. Private drifted back to what appeared first as a dreamless sleep.

“Come to me.”

The dark ominous voice whispered. The blackness returned. Something was approaching, something big, really big. The darkness was starting to look more like a smoke. Something was starting to produce out of it, a head.

Private woke up again. He sat up and took a deep breath and slowly let it out. He used his horn to create a light spell to illuminate the room. The stallion looked around but saw nothing out of the ordinary. He was though starting to wonder if his sanity was slowly slipping, that nightmare just felt so vivid and real.

What is going on, he thought and felt a little nervous. The pony couldn’t even recall the last time he had a nightmare.

He allowed the light spell to fizzle out and slowly sunk back down. Private put the blanket over himself again and now just lay on his back and stared up at the ceiling. He was half wondering if he should just stay up, maybe read a book or something.

“Find me.”

Private felt a chill go down his spine. He was not asleep, yet the dark ominous voice was echoing inside his head. The Unicorn looked around again and could have sworn he saw something moving, the shadows were moving.

“Come find me.”

The Unicorn’s eyes widened in shock. He suddenly realized that he recognized that voice. He closed his eyes and now didn’t even have to be asleep to see the smoke and the darkness and the head slowly approaching him. Private gasped in horror, then he screamed.

Slowly Private Iceland opened his eyes. His eyes were glowing green and the irises had turned red. Purple mist poured out of the corner. He stared up at the ceiling looking dazed as if still half asleep.

“Yes my king. I’m coming,” he whispered.

End Prologue

> Chapter 1. You were just a nightmare.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 1

“You have funny ideas for, ‘let’s go out for a walk’ dear,” Shining Armor grunted as the tall white Unicorn trudged through the snow.

“Oh a little walk in the mountains near the empire won’t kill you,” Princess Cadance chuckled where the pink alicorn walked beside her husband.

The royal couple were walking on a path leading up to the mountain closest to the Crystal Empire. It wasn’t the tallest and was only few hours walk away, but it was challenging enough with all the snow. Due to its small size and close proximity, the Crystal Ponies sometimes scaled it themselves for the fun of it.

Shining wasn’t really complaining, he was in fact enjoying the workout. It was just that when Cadance approached him and proposed they went out for a stroll, he had pictured them taking a romantic walk in the park in the city. Maybe stop by the pond, sit there and enjoy each other’s company. They hadn’t really had a lot of time just being together and really enjoying themselves since taking over the reins of the Empire.

Instead his wife had led them right out of the city and it wasn’t until they started to approach Little Crystal, as the mountain was called, that it dawned on him what his wife intended to do. Cadance had wanted to go there for a long time, especially after listening to some of the ponies working in the castle talking about it.

“Come along slow poke, where is all that Royal Guard training?” Cadance teased, she was walking slightly ahead.

“It’s not a good idea to exhaust yourself just before arriving at a mountain, no matter how small it is,” Shining Armor stated with a smile.

“Excuses, excuses,” the princess chuckled and ducked when a bit of snow flew past her, Shining had kicked it up hoping to hit her in the head with it. He grinned at Cadance when she turned to look at him unimpressed.

“My, my, how ever did you become the Captain of the Royal Guard with an aim like that.” She smiled teasingly at him.

“Well you weren’t supposed to duck,” her husband said and pretended to pout.

“Quack, quack,” Cadance responded and that caused them both to burst into snorting giggles.

“I knew it, I married a duck,” Shining Armor sighed and faked a disappointed expression.

“My deepest, darkest secret has been revealed,” his wife bemoaned and then the couple laughed again.

They arrived at the base of the mountain and found quickly the path that went up it. By now it was well marked and the road well-trod. The weather was pretty nice so the couple wouldn’t have been surprised to see other ponies scaling Little Crystal or going down after reaching the peak.

“Have you ever taken the guards out here during training?” Cadance asked as she craned her head to try and see if any other ponies were further up on the path.

“No, but I know some of the guards come here during their off hours,” Shining shrugged and then flashed a toothy grin. “I’ve actually been tempted to take Flash Sentry up Sombra’s Maw.”

“Ugh, why do we still call it that,” Cadence grunted and turned her head westwards. Far in the distance there was a huge mountain, it looked rather dark and ominous and part of the top did seem to form a sharp toothed mouth.

“Because it’s big, scary looking, nearly impossible to climb and the committee for the name change just can’t think of anything more appropriate,” her husband pointed out.

“And you want to take Flash Sentry up there, because?” Cadance glanced at Shining whose eyes narrowed slightly.

“I’ve been hearing rumors that he has a thing for my little sister,” the Unicorn grunted but there was a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Cadance shook her head, realizing that Shining was only joking and would not take Flash Sentry there. Sombra’s Maw was very far away, nearly at the outskirts of the Empire. There was an urban legend among the Crystal Ponies that the spirit of the long gone king haunted its peak and on stormy nights you could hear him howling in rage.

The couple now focused their attention on the much smaller, safer and closer mountain. So far they seemed to be the only ones there at the moment, at least they couldn’t spot anyone else going up or down. They started up the path. From what they had heard from others, a fit pony could scale to the peak in about an hour if he or she kept to the path. A Pegasi could of course just fly to the top in just few minutes.

“Isn’t this wonderful, fresh air, no royal duties, just us and this little mountain,” Cadance counted up and glanced at Shining.

“It is a nice break, honey,” her husband agreed, though he couldn’t help but think of the upcoming review he had to do of the new recruits in few days. He always looked forward to those, reminded him of his first time when he had officially become a guard.

“Heard anything new from Twilight?” the princess asked, she was hoping to schedule a visit to Ponyville sometime in the near future.

“Nothing since last letter, got a telegram from mom though but you already knew that,” Shining told her.

“Oh right, your parents are coming next week. It will be nice to have them for a visit,” Cadance smiled and nodded.

They continued to trudge through the snowy path, chatting about the little things in their daily lives. The upcoming Equestria Games came often into the discussion, Shining was rather proud of the team he had managed set up that would represent the Crystal Empire. Preparations were in full swing and it promised to be quite a spectacle.

Cadence was just happy overall that the empire had been chosen to host the games. It felt like a big warm ‘welcome back from King Sombra’s evil curse’ hug from rest of Equestria. The Crystal Ponies had certainly been ecstatic to be allowed to hold the games. Of course it was thanks to Twilight and her friends’ effort that they actually were allowed to host the games at all, but still.

The couple had now walked for almost an hour and already they were reaching the peak of Little Crystal. Shining Armor felt a little disappointed how easy it was and wondered if he should one day try and climb one of the taller mountains when he had the chance. Cadance didn’t mind, even if it wasn’t a tall mountain she could still see the city she ruled over in the distance.

Shining Armor stretched his legs once they were all the way to the top, the peak was rather flat though there were rocky outcroppings here and there. Most of them were covered in snow. Cadence walked to the edge, staring smiling towards the city. The tall crystal tower in the middle shone in the sun light. Her husband stepped up beside her and together they admired the view.

“That sight never ceases to amaze me,” the Unicorn said, his wife nodded in agreement.

A groan caught their attention. The two ponies looked around but couldn’t see anyone. Shining Armor trotted to nearby rocks and started to look behind them to see if anyone was there. Cadance spread her wings and ascended up to see if she could spot something from the air. Nothing could be spotted on the peak itself, but then she noticed something on a small ledge just over the edge of the cliff.

“Shining, over there,” she called and immediately flew down to the ledge.

The princess descended quickly and landed on the rocky platform. She gasped when seeing a pony lying there unconscious in the snow. It was a Unicorn stallion, roughly the same size as Shining Armor, maybe a bit smaller and didn’t look nearly as fit. He was dark gray with a blonde mane and tail, on his flank was the image of the book and his hooves were dark brown.

“Cadance? What is it?” Shining Armor appeared at the edge of the peak and looked down. He frowned when seeing the unconscious pony his wife was now hurrying towards.

“There is a pony here, he’s alive but knocked or passed out,” Cadance called as she started to check the stallion for vital signs and any injuries. He did have a nasty bump on his head. As she did, the princess didn’t notice her hooves scatter some dark dust that was on a pile close to the Unicorn.

“Is anything broken?” her husband called, he considered teleporting down there but the ledge was small enough as it was with two ponies on it, a third might make it a bit too over crowded.

“I don’t think so, sweet Celestia he’s cold, he must have been out here for a while. We have to get him to a hospital,” she said and grabbed a hold on the pony and with some effort managed to fly him up to the peak.

“I think I can teleport all of us close to the edge of the city. I’ve never had to teleport that far before though,” Cadence said as she laid the unconscious pony on Shining Armor’s back as he offered to serve as temporary stretchers.

“Well it’s either that or walk, I know I can’t teleport that far,” Shining Armor said and shivered a little from the cold emitting from the body on his back.

“Right, here goes nothing,” the princess said and activated her horn, the soft blue light of her magic glowed brighter and then in a flash all three ponies were gone off from the peak.





“What’s happening?” Private Iceland looked frantically around, everything was dark around him. This didn’t feel right, something was horribly, horribly wrong.

“Who is there? Where am I?” The Unicorn could definitely feel a presence; he was not alone.

Private froze as a cruel sounding chuckle started all around him. Then something big began to move all around him, everything was moving like a shadow or even smoke. This was hauntingly familiar, but he just couldn’t place it. The Unicorn was starting to be frightened.

“Hello there, now don’t you look familiar,” a voice addressed him. 

The Unicorn didn’t say anything, just stared in shock. Out of the shadow a head was forming, it was a large head, dark gray and the black shadows seemed to form its mane. From the center of the forehead produced a horn, curved like a blade and colored red. The eyes were glowing green with red irises and from the corners produced dark purple mist. On the muzzle was a malicious grin, showing all the teeth and especially the fangs.

“You?” Private whispered startled. “No… you were just a nightmare”

“Nightmare? Ooh this far worse than any nightmare.” The shadowy creature floated closer, peering his eyes at the frightened pony as if trying to place him. Then he seemed to realize. “Can it be? The young colt is all grown up?”

“This was just a nightmare, when I was six… you were just a nightmare… wasn’t it?” the Unicorn cried, causing the smoke to laugh.

“It is you isn’t it? What was your name again, ah Private Iceland. The little colt I pulled into the past, so it was your sleeper spells that wound up responding to my call,” the creature grinned wide. “I’m glad you remember me still, that you remember King Sombra.”

“You are King Sombra? Weren’t… uh you blown up?” Private cringed and then started to look around. “What is going on?”

“What is going on, little one,” King Sombra purred as his head floated closer. “Is that we are right now sharing your body.”

“Excuse me?” The smaller Unicorn blinked.

“The sleeper spells I put on you a long time ago. They activated up on my unfortunate demise as I returned to claim my empire again. They forced you to seek out my spirit, which I had with foresight bound to my horn in the event of my death. I had prepared you to serve as my temporary host until I am powerful enough to regenerate a new body,” King Sombra chuckled and started to circle Private, trailing black smoke and shadow.

“Wait, wait, wait…” Private sat down and grabbed his head with his hooves and closed his eyes hard. “Y-you’re possessing me?”

“That is one way to look at it, yes,” the king agreed and stopped right in front of the other Unicorn.

“W-what is stopping you from just taking over my body?” Private whispered and hesitantly opened his eyes and looked up at the grinning head in front of him. “Why am I even still alive?”

“I do recall saying you were a temporary host. I can’t take full hold of you, I fear there are limits to what I can do and added to that, I am still weak. I need time to regain my strength,” Sombra told him and suddenly all the smoke and shadows subsided, they seemed to be in a vast tan or brownish gradient space. The king was no longer a floating head, he had assumed his old pony form with cape, crown and armor.

“Do not let that fool you though into some false sense of security,” the king growled and narrowed his eyes on the smaller Unicorn. “You tell anypony of my presence in your mind, I’ll make every day of your life a living hell. I can make your pain be felt both mentally and physically.”

Private gulped and didn’t really dare to do much else but nod. Sombra smiled when seeing that his victim was complying, he raised one hoof and started gently patting him on the head.

“Just be good and obedient and this will be over that much sooner. If necessary, I will tell you what to say and do,” he said and removed his hoof from Private.

“So… where are we?” Private looked around but could see very little, but he could swear he heard faint voices.

“We personally are in your subconscious. It isn’t very active right now because you are right now unconscious up in a mountain near the Crystal Empire. When you found my horn, the possession began almost instantly, but I fear your body couldn’t handle the stress too well and you passed out,” King Sombra said and sat down, seemed mildly bored.

“You can’t tell what’s happening outside?” the smaller Unicorn asked.

“I need your eyes and ears for that, right now both are out,” the dark pony snorted. “So right now, I know as much as you.”

“Great… I’m stuck with this ass…” Private quickly put both front hooves over his mouth. “I was thinking. Why did this come out loud. It’s still coming out loud.”

“I see this is going to be entertaining.” Sombra smirked as he enjoyed watching the other Unicorn panic that his thoughts kept being audible. “We are inside your mind, Private. The place where you do your thinking.”

Private fell silent and dropped his hooves back to the ground. He tried hard not to think but it was not easy, as quiet and reserved as he usually was on the outside, his mind was quite often thinking about a lot of things. Now he had an unwanted guest who could hear and see everything.

“So wait, let me see if I got this right. Years ago, what I thought was just a nightmare… actually happened. I was in cage being blasted by your magic… for days and that was you preparing me just in case you needed a host?” Private frowned, this sounded overly convoluted.

“You’re not the only one I did this too, granted you were the youngest. I do not leave anything to chance. I’ve always been prepared for the slim possibility I was defeated,” Sombra said and shrugged.

“But you were around a thousand years ago,” the Unicorn protested.

“So, I wasn’t killed in my first defeat, merely banished. It was just your unfortunate luck that once I returned I was killed in your time period,” the king smirked at him.

“Yeah… lucky me,” Private grunted, causing the dark pony in front of him to grin wider.






“He’s still unconscious and is running a fever, he probably got sick from lying out there in the snow unprotected,” the nurse explained to the royal couple.

Shining Armor and Cadance were at the hospital where they had brought the unknown Unicorn. The Princess had successfully teleported them to the city and once they had arrived the two hurried with the pony to it. Hospital staff took over once he was brought to the ER, but they waited to hear news of their rescue effort.

“Will he be all right?” Cadance asked with some concern.

“Aside from the fever and the bump on his head, he’s otherwise uninjured. He should be fine in just few days,” the nurse assured her.

“Well, we need to go back to the castle, duty calls,” Shining Armor said. Back in his mind he considered asking one of his guards to go around and ask if they were familiar with the patient. “Have someone let us know when he wakes up.”

“Of course.” The nurse bowed.

The couple left the hospital both deep in thought. There had been no identification on the pony, he wasn’t dressed in anything and he most likely wasn’t a local. It wasn’t unusual a tourist was in trouble when underestimating the harsher landscape outside the Crystal Empire proper, but Little Crystal was considered so nearby and safe that it had so far no records of ponies needing rescue from it.

Cadance wasn’t too worried though, once the pony woke up and could identify himself and explain what he was doing there, that would be that. He would probably be eager to go back home after this ordeal.

When they arrived at the castle, Cadance was immediately pulled away by her secretary who had a long list of ponies that needed to meet her. With his wife now busy, Shining Armor headed off to the guard barracks. He actually had one particular guard in mind for his idea.

It didn’t take long for Shining to find him either. He was one of the few non-crystal pony guards so he stood a little bit out in the recreation room of the barracks. A yellowish orange Pegasus with a blue mane. The white Unicorn approached him where the guard sat and read a book in one corner.

“Guard Flash Sentry!” Shining Armor snapped, causing the Pegasus nearly to jump before he immediately stood up to attention and saluted.

“Yes sir.” Flash somehow managed to hide his nervousness at been approached by the commander of the entire crystal guard, that had to mean something was up.

“I have a mission for you soldier.” Shining held back a chuckle but did ease his hard expression.

A mission for me? Flash really had to restrain himself from gasping in surprise. So far most of his duties had just been standing around the castle or presenting important ponies that were coming to visit. It wasn’t a bad job, but the Pegasus had to admit wishing for something a little more exciting.

“Half an hour ago, Princess Cadance and I rescued a pony from the peak of Little Crystal. He had no form of identification and is currently unconscious at the hospital with a fever. I want you to go to the train station and ask if somepony had seen him arrive here in the Crystal Empire and if they noticed something else about him,” the unicorn explained, he could already see some interest reflect in the guard’s eyes.

“Right away, sir. Uh anything else I need to know?” Flash asked, containing his excitement. This was maybe not an epic battle with some monsters, but it was investigation and that was better than nothing.

“The pony is a Unicorn stallion, dark gray coat, blonde mane and tail and book for a cutie mark, like I said, we do not have a name,” Shining told him.

Flash Sentry nodded and saluted again, assuring his commander that he would do this. When the white unicorn had left, the Pegasus put the book to the side and flew to the armory to dress up. Once he had his guard outfit on, he headed out, allowing himself finally to smile.

It didn’t take Flash very long to arrive at the train station. He ignored the glances he received when landing, the guard was used to this, it wasn’t every day a royal guard came around here in full getup and not escorting the royal couple. 

Flash figured the best place to start was the ticket counter, it had a front view the incoming trains. Surely someone working there would have noticed the mystery pony arrive, of course they didn’t really know when he arrived. Heck, who was to say he had arrived by train?

“Excuse me, does a dark gray pony with a blonde mane and book cutie mark ring any bells?” he asked the mare at the counter. She frowned in thought, before glancing at the another mare sitting next to her and whispered something to her.

“Yeah, it sounds familiar, I think a pony like that arrived with the train yesterday, but we didn’t pay that much attention to him, you might want to talk with the ponies handling the luggage,” she informed him after a short quiet discussion with her co-worker.

“Thanks for your assistance, ma’am.” The guard nodded and trotted over to where the luggage was loaded off and on the train. 

Flash Sentry saw three stallions wearing train station uniforms, clearly waiting for the next train. Flash approached them and they looked over when noticing, all raising their brow when seeing a royal guard.

“Did any of you see a dark gray pony with a book cutie mark come off the train yesterday?” Flash asked, the stallions looked at each other, judging from their expression the description had rung a bell.

“As a matter of fact we did,” the oldest of the stallion remarked, he was bluish colored. “This young stallion with a dirty blond mane and dark gray coat came off the afternoon train.”

“Looked a little strange, didn’t really pay much attention to anypony and just took off immediately from the platform,” the second one, silver in color spoke, shrugging.

“Did you see where he went?” Flash wondered, he frowned when the third stallion answered.

“That’s the oddest thing, he didn’t go to the city, he headed straight out towards Little Crystal.” The ruby red pony scratched the back of his head. “Now that I think about it, it seemed more like he was drawn towards it.”

Okay that’s odd. Flash Sentry rubbed his muzzle with one hoof. “Did you happen to hear name spoken? Did he carry or wear anything?”

“Nope, no name and he didn’t carry anything or wear anything.” The blue pony shook his head.

“Thank you for your assistance, sirs.” Flash took to the air and started to fly back to the city deep in thought. This had been informative but still raised a lot of questions, yes a pony had arrived matching Shining’s description, he had gone straight to Little Crystal like he was drawn there according to one pony and then the royal couple rescued him from the peak in poor condition.

The biggest question is, why did he come all the way to the Crystal Empire to climb that one small little peak.? It isn’t even our main tourist attraction, he wondered as he came in for a landing in front of the hospital.

Prince Shining Armor didn’t tell me to go here, but I have a feeling I want to be there when he wakes up, the Pegasus thought and entered the hospital.

End chapter 1
> Chapter 2. Where am I?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2

Private grunted and lay down. Nothing was happening, it was just him and Sombra in this empty brownish space. Occasionally he could have sworn he heard voices and at one point the Unicorn had felt much warmer and more comfortable.

The king didn’t do much either, just sat there and had his eyes closed, he seemed to be concentrating but Private couldn’t be sure. With a sigh the Unicorn glanced around, this was his mind so shouldn’t he be able to do more than just be bored to tears in an empty space? He glanced at the dark Unicorn again and raised an eyebrow, the cape, crown and armor were gone.

“Weren’t you wearing something?” he asked though not really sure why. Sombra opened one eye to look at him.

“The apparel I am known for, though aesthetically pleasing, does require power I’m better off reserving. I’m already regretting that little show I put on for you earlier when it first registered with your mind that you were not alone,” the dark Unicorn grunted.

“By the way, the Crystal Empire arrived months ago, which means you were defeated months ago. Why did those sleeper spells not kick in until now?” Private wondered, he might as well try and fish out some answers from the spirit while he was there.

“The sleeper spells were already active, they just needed a signal from me to home in on before compelling you to seek me out. It did take me a little while to activate that signal,” Sombra told him and lay down. “Now that I have answered your inquiries, how about you indulge me with some answers.”

“Whatever,” Private grunted, knowing he had little say in the matter.

“How many princesses are there? When I returned there was a new princess protecting the empire from me.” Sombra asked.

“Four, aside from the two sisters, there is Princess Cadance and recently crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Private sighed, he hadn’t actually intended to respond properly to that question, but he had immediately thought the answer and thus it came out audibly.

“Four?” Sombra looked concerned when hearing that. Then he began rubbing his muzzle as if considering something.

“Hey wait a minute, you’re thinking, why can’t I hear it?” Private narrowed his eyes on the unwanted house guest.

“We are inside your mind, not mine, my thoughts are my own,” Sombra sighed and rolled his eyes. “I would have thought that was obvious even for someone of your low intelligence.”

Private grumbled and looked away, forced to concede that point. Suddenly he felt a pull and looked up. He glanced at Sombra who was still mulling over something and ignored his host. Suddenly the unicorn saw he was slowly turning transparent.

“W-what’s going on?” he asked frightened.

“Nothing, you’re waking up,” he heard the faint voice of the dark king say.





Flash Sentry glanced up from his book when hearing the soft groan coming from the bed. The Pegasus put it away and walked over and saw that the Unicorn on the bed was slowly stirring. He quickly pushed the emergency call button that would summon nurse in.

“Hey, I think he’s waking up,” Flash said the moment a sapphire colored Crystal Mare came in.

The nurse immediately went over to the bed to check on the Unicorn, she put a hoof on his forehead and nodded before removing it. Then all she and Flash could really do was wait for the patient to fully regain consciousness.

“Hey there,” she gently addressed the stallion with a warm smile. He stared at her with a confused expression, then his eyes shifted to the guard.

“You have been out for two days now, you had a fever which has broken and the bump on your head has already subsided, though you will probably still feel it for few more days,” the nurse began explaining gently to the gray pony.

“W-where am I?” the Unicorn whispered, he still eyed Flash Sentry.

“Crystal Center Hospital, in the Crystal Empire,” the nurse told him. “You were found two days ago on the peak of Little Crystal, which is a small mountain just outside the city proper.”

“Sir, if it isn’t too much bother, could we have your name? We didn’t find any identification on you.” Flash Sentry stepped forward. Much to his surprise the Unicorn fell silent and after a moment had passed, the guard realized that he wasn’t going to answer.

“Look, I realize this has been quite an ordeal for you, but we need you to tell us your name and where you come from so we can notify your kin or a friend to let them know you are safe,” he said. Still just silence from the bed.

“Why do you not tell them your name, Private?”

“If they know my name, they will track down where I come from. If they track down where I come from, they will find out who my friends and family are. And while YOU are stuck in my head, I’m not letting them come anywhere near me.”

“Ah, I have underestimated you, Private. You do use that mind of yours after all, clever.”

“Wait a minute, why didn’t you know already, you’re inside my head.”

“It seems that while you are conscious, there are parts of your mind I cannot hear without force and right now I am too weak. Enjoy that while it lasts.”

“Up yours.”

“I heard that.”

“I know.”

“I… can’t…. remember my name,” the Unicorn finally said in a low whisper.

“He had a rather nasty bump, temporary amnesia is not unlikely,” the nurse told Flash who had raised his eyebrow at the answer he finally received.

Flash Sentry nodded though he wasn’t quite sure he believed the stallion. Something was off, he just couldn’t say what it was, also the long silence had been far more reminiscent to someone who didn’t want to answer instead of not remembering.

“Well, Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor did want to meet you when you woke up, I better go tell them that you are,” the Pegasus said and turned to leave. The nurse and Private watched him exit the room, before the mare looked at the stallion.

“I’ll alert a doctor that you are awake, one of them will want to tell you how long you’ll be staying here,” she said with a smile and left.

Private Iceland sighed and glanced around, the walls and some of the furniture were made of crystals, but the bed looked like a normal hospital bed. He was currently the only patient in the room, but there was another bed further inside.

“Alright, so you weren’t a nightmare. How long was I actually there?” Private frowned as he decided to question his unwanted house guest a little bit more.

“About seven days passed before you were returned back to your own time,” the dark voice inside his head responded.

“I was there for seven days? Nice,” the Unicorn grunted and eyed the window.

“So why did you send me back and why me?” Private narrowed his eyes when met with nothing but silence.

“No seriously, first you pull me back through time, keep my prisoner for a week where you tormented and tortured me and then just poof, I’m sent back home. My parents had to send me to therapy for a whole year because I was a wreck after this,” the Unicorn growled in frustration.

“Time magic is quite volatile. As I already told you, you were not the only one I pulled from the comfort of their own homes and time, you were one of many I chose to serve as my various contingency plans in case something happened to me,” Sombra finally spoke, sounding mildly annoyed. “Due to the nature of the spell, you were only in my company for a week before you were pulled back to your proper time.”

“Great, so even if I get rid of you, there is somepony else that will just replace me.” Private shuddered to think that others had endured what he did.

“If it makes you feel any better, I wasn’t exactly thrilled that my spell brought me a child. I half expected you to perish before the first day was done,” the spirit said, there was still some irritation in his voice.

“No that does not make me feel any better,” the Unicorn snorted and glanced at the door when it began to open.

A Unicorn walked in, a mare wearing a doctor’s coat. She didn’t have the same crystalline appearance as the nurse and on her flank was a stethoscope. She carried a clipboard and smiled at Private when walking closer and seeing that he was in fact awake.

“You’re not a Crystal Pony,” Private couldn’t help it, he somehow expected all the staff in the hospital to be natives of the empire.

“It’s that obvious?” The doctor chuckled and glanced at her normal light gray coat. “No I’m Doctor Scope, I’m actually from Vanhoover and am part of the crew that’s training the Crystal Ponies in modern medical equipment and medicine, they are a bit behind after all.”

“Makes sense,” the Unicorn grunted.

“So the good news is, your fever has gone down, the bump on your head has subsided. You’re mostly fine otherwise, though I’m told you don’t remember your name?” Scope looked at her clipboard.

“It’s fuzzy,” the stallion muttered.

“I don’t think you’ll be able to go for long on that lie,” Sombra said with a hint of mock in the voice.

“Shut up.” Private couldn’t think of anything else to respond with.

“That’s perfectly understandable, hopefully your name will come back to you soon, we can always try and find your information based on your cutie mark,” Doctor Scope said and gave Private a reassuring smile. The stallion had to really resist hoofing his face.

“It seems your brilliant plan is already falling apart,” the dark king laughed.

“Heh… of course,” Private tried his best to smile too but it was nervous and uncertain.





Shining Armor scowled a bit as he considered the information just given to him by Flash Sentry. Although it wasn’t unusual that someone who suffered head trauma might have memory problems, something didn’t add up based on what little they already did know. He found himself agreeing with Flash’s assessment that this sounded a little suspicious.

The Unicorn hadn’t really had time to do much about the mystery pony at the hospital for the past two days, the stallion had simply hoped when the patient woke up he would tell his name and where he came from and that was that, maybe rest of a little bit before heading home. Flash had taken it up on himself to regularly go to the hospital until that happened.

“Are you sure he simply wasn’t trying to remember his name when he fell silent?” Shining asked the guard, easing his scowl.

“He showed no confusion or any expression that indicated he was struggling with his memory, sir,” Flash Sentry told him and shook his head.

Shining scowled again and rose from his desk. He stepped around it and headed out of his office followed by Flash. The Unicorn wasted little time to head out of the castle and went straight to the hospital. He knew Cadance had wanted to see the patient as well when he woke up, but the stallion knew she was busy right now.

In the hospital Flash took the lead since he knew in what room the mystery pony was in. Shining eased down his scowl, not really wanting to jump to any conclusions, but he was still on his guard. When the two stallions entered the room, the patient was not alone, Doctor Scope was there as well.

“Now we do want to keep you for one more day for observation… oh hello Prince Shining Armor.” Scope bowed briefly when she noticed the white Unicorn who nodded to her with a smile.

Shining Armor turned his attention to the Unicorn that lay on the bed, the dark gray pony looked almost bored and disinterested as he looked back at him. Shining had already noticed two days ago that this pony did not have the physical built of someone who would spontaneously go mountain climbing. 

“As you heard, I’m Prince Shining Armor, I’m husband to Princess Cadance, the ruler of the Crystal Empire,” Shining said as he stepped closer to the bed. “I understand from Flash Sentry here that you are having trouble remembering your name. I take it then that you don’t remember either why you were found on top of Little Crystal?”

“Ruler of the Crystal Empire. Bah!” King Sombra growled with a hateful tone.

Private Iceland was so glad that his unwanted guest didn’t have control of his body, or he might just have accidentally shown what the king was feeling right now. Instead he kept his normal bored expression as he slowly shook his head.

“I will enjoy carving them up with their own horns once I am at full power again,” the dark king continued.

“Will you shut up, unless you want them to realize you are inside of me. I of course don’t mind at all that they know, but I assume you still wish to remain secret,” his host said, that seemed to silence the spirit for now.

“Do you remember where you come from?” Shining asked and started to frown when once again the patient shook his head. “Alright, what do you remember?”

Private could smell a trap, he realized that the white pony was trying to trip him up. It would probably not make any sense that he didn’t remember anything at all. The pony decided to just remain silent, staring back at the prince who narrowed his eyes.

“You are not going to answer my question are you?” Shining Armor was now convinced that this was not a memory loss, the pony was just simply refusing to tell.

“Prince Shining Armor, he was just waking up, it might take a while for his senses to come to him, he is probably just disoriented,” Doctor Scope interjected.

That’s not it at all, the white Unicorn thought, his suspicion just growing more as the gray pony refused to talk.

“This ‘Prince’ Shining Armor is not as dumb as he looks. I fear your ruse is crumbling the longer you stay silent. Allow me to speak through you,” Sombra growled.

“The hell, why should I allow that?” Private did not like that idea at all. Suddenly he started to feel a stinging pain in his head, he struggled to keep a normal expression as he realized what was happening.

“Have you forgotten what I told you? I may be weak but I can still make you feel pain. Let me speak,” the dark unicorn snorted.

“Fine, just keep in mind, I don’t speak as formally as you,” Private grunted and suddenly felt like his entire mind was pulled back, it was like he could only see and hear now. Then the weirdest thing of all began to happen, he started speaking yet it wasn’t him who was speaking even if it was his voice.

“Sorry…” King Sombra said through Private, giving a sigh and hanging his head. “I just don’t want to talk about it right now. It’s… painful for me… I am not comfortable talking with strangers.”

“Little less formal and I don’t speak so audibly,” Private grunted and could hear the spirit sigh in frustration.

“Alright.” Shining Armor arched his brow at the sudden change in attitude, still not quite believing the pony. “Are you certain that we can’t have your name?”

“Maybe it will have come back to me tomorrow,” Sombra suggested, he was about to have Private smile but the body’s owner quickly told him that he would just keep the normal bored expression.

“Prince Shining Armor, unless this pony is under arrest, I am going to have to insist the interrogation be halted until he’s feeling better. We’ll be keeping him here for one more day for observation, so perhaps you could wait with the questions until then,” Doctor Scope spoke up again but now with a more insistent tone and frowned a bit.

Shining Armor slowly nodded, realizing that this wasn’t going anywhere right now and the doctor had a good point. Yet this pony in the bed kept bothering him somehow, his demeanor had definitely changed, he had stubbornly refused to talk and then suddenly began speaking.

“Very well, we’ll speak tomorrow,” Shining said and allowed himself to smile. “Hope you feel better.”

The only response he received was a grunt, it did sound like a thanks but the white stallion couldn’t be sure. He turned around and left the room along with Flash Sentry, once out on the hallway and they had walked well out of earshot of the room, Shining stopped the guard and looked at him.

“He’s hiding something; this just seems too convenient. I want you to have your eyes and ears peeled for reports about missing ponies. He’s been here for two days, somepony somewhere must be missing him by now, if he has anyone that will miss him,” the Unicorn ordered in a low voice. 

“I will do that, sir,” Flash nodded and saluted.

I’m almost tempted to post a guard here as well but Doctor Scope was right, he’s not under arrest and I would need a good reason to be doing that, Shining thought as they resumed walking.

Shining Armor headed back to the castle, wanting to find Cadance and speak with her. Flash Sentry headed for the barracks as he had no more duties for the rest of the day. Shining found the princess in the throne room with her secretary and massive pile of papers.

“Hello honey, Sharp Quill keeping you busy as usual.” The Unicorn nodding to the Crystal Pony as he stepped up to the throne.

“This isn’t being busy; this is drowning in bureaucracy.” The princess looked up, her eyes twitching a little bit. “This pile is just for the opening ceremony for the Equestria Games. Shiny, I could murder a cake right now, get me cake. Now!”

“Ah, right away, ma’am,” Shining Armor held back a chuckle. 

The Unicorn gave Sharp Quill the secretary a sympathetic look before hurrying out of the throne room and headed to the kitchen. He asked the chef for a slice of cake and was lucky enough that the staff had just finished making few. Shining Armor was positive Cadance had picked up the cake habit from Princess Celestia.

Once the slice was acquired, Shining Armor hurried back to the throne room with it. The moment he entered and was close enough to the throne, a light blue magic aura grabbed the plate and it was pulled to the still working princess. Cadance’s mood lifted a bit as she began eating the delicious pastry.

“Thanks, I needed that,” she smiled at her husband who smiled back.

“I noticed,” he said and glanced at the pile of papers.

“We can take a break, princess. This is a mere formality that isn’t due for another week or so,” Sharp Quill pointed out and smiled a little.

“No, no, best get this over with, Aunt Celestia taught me that much,” Princess Cadance chuckled and grabbed her quill again once the plate was empty.

“By the way, our mystery Unicorn woke up at the hospital,” Shining Armor told her now that his wife’s cake needs had been satisfied.

“Oh wonderful to hear, how is he feeling?” Cadance looked at her husband, she had herself been so busy that she had almost forgotten the pony they had rescued from Little Crystal. She raised her brow when seeing Shining frown.

“The doctor at the hospital said he is fine now, but is are keeping him for one more day for observation,” the Unicorn told her, his eyes narrowed a little.

“But?” the princess knew that look on him.

“He is refusing to tell his name, where he is from and what he was doing on top of the mountain. He claims it’s amnesia, but I don’t know, his body language didn’t match somepony that was suffering memory loss, he looked far more like someone who just didn’t want to tell us,” he explained to her.

“What did the doctor say?” Cadance asked.

“The doctor says he might still just be disoriented and seems to believe it is temporary amnesia,” Shining sighed. His wife reached with a hoof and placed it on his back.

“Shining, let’s not jump to conclusions. The doctor could be right; he might still just be disoriented. If he fell off that peak, he was lucky he landed on that little ledge, for all we know he thought he was going to die when that happened. Maybe he’ll be more ready to talk tomorrow,” she told him reassuringly. 

“Yeah, maybe you’re right, I’m being paranoid,” the unicorn shook his head with a chuckle, Cadance leaned forward to kiss him gently on the cheek.

“You are the commanding officer of the entire Crystal Guard, it’s your job to be paranoid,” she teased and smiled when her husband returned the kiss.

“I’ll let you get back to work,” Shining then said and grinned when Cadance glared at the pile of papers.

Shining Armor started to walk away, pushing the mystery pony at the hospital far back into his mind. He had few other duties that needed tending too and then there was the upcoming practice of the Equestria Game team. That gray Unicorn could wait until tomorrow.

End chapter 2
> Chapter 3. Are you in trouble of some sort?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3

“A child? Why would the spell pull a child through?”

“W-where am I? W-who are you?”

“It will just have to do; it will be another two weeks before I can perform the spell again.”

“I-I’m scared.”

“Are you scared child? Good!”

“What are you doing?” Private was seeing images rushing all around him. The most vivid were those looking like they happened in room lit up with red ominous light. There were tables made of black crystal with bottles, books and other strange equipment on them.

Sombra just stood still letting the images wash through, staring at them in silent contemplation. He did seem to focus most on the reddish room and what was happening there. He could be seen in those images, wearing his usual attire and in one he was lifting up a young colt with his regular red magic instead of his dark magic. The boy was Private.

“Mommy…. Daddy… I’m scared…”

Private cringed when hearing the small frightened voice. It was part of memories he had done his best to repress, constantly convincing himself that it had just been a nightmare. Sombra however kept shifting through the images.

“How are you doing this?” Private grimaced when seeing more and more images pass through. 

The colt being thrown into a cage, then at times handled with the dark magic Sombra wielded, forced to drink down some concoction the Dark Unicorn had made and crying himself to sleep every night.

Private hardly could believe that what he had thought was just a nightmare one night, had in reality been seven days of hell in the company of the spirit that now possessed him. He glared at the king who still watched the images go by.

“Why are you watching this and how are you doing this?” he demanded to know, winching when hearing his six-year-old self cry out in fear.

“I’m not doing anything, Private,” Sombra spoke with indifference in his voice. “I’m merely watching you having a nightmare about the time you spent in my company. There are few details there wrong but then again you were only a child and this is a dream”

“MOMMYYYYY!!”

Private woke up with a start, panting and could feel his heart racing. He looked down, shuddering at the memories that had flooded over him. Somehow he wasn’t surprised that current events had brought them all back.

“I almost considered just keeping you. It was fascinating how resilient you were,” Sombra said thoughtfully. “However, the nature of the spell I used to pull you back to my time didn’t allow for it.”

The Unicorn didn’t respond, feeling ill at the thought that he had almost been kept prisoner permanently. He glanced at the window and could see it was day already. Private glanced at the clock and saw it was almost noon, he frowned, it was rare for him to sleep so late into the day.

“Did you have a bad dream?” someone asked him. Private blinked and looked to his left. Princess Cadance sat slightly away from the bed, smiling gently at him.

“When I came, you were still asleep so I decided to wait and see if you would wake up, I didn’t want to disturb you. Though judging by how abruptly you woke up, I’m guessing you had a nightmare?” She rose from her seat and walked closer to the bed.

“Her! She’s the one that snatched the Crystal Heart from the air and that dragon. She is the one that told my slaves to activate it,” Sombra snarled, once again making Private glad that the spirit was not currently in control of the body.

“Uh yeah…” Private confirmed. “You... are Princess Cadance?”

Cadance nodded. She had only recently arrived and actually considered just coming back later, but decided to wait a little bit to see if the pony would wake up before she left. She noted that the Unicorn had assumed a more bored, almost neutral expression now.

“So how are you feeling, still can’t remember your name?” she asked curiously, her brow rose a little when met with nothing but silence.

“Still sticking to that lie, Private?” Sombra didn’t sound too impressed.

“We just want to help you, I’m sure you wish to go back home and back to your family after what you went through,” the princess said gently.

The Alicorn was surprised how silent the Unicorn had become, she was now starting to see what Shining Armor meant. However, she didn’t want to file this yet under suspicious, but the princess couldn’t help but wonder if the pony was in some sort of trouble. No one had seen him between the train station and Little Crystal, so there was no telling what could have happened in that period.

“This is starting to get ridiculous and the longer this goes on the more suspicious they will become,” the spirit growled, Private ignored him.

“Look, my husband told me that you are not comfortable talking with strangers. I can understand that, it can’t be easy for you to just suddenly wake up in hospital far away from home and family,” Cadance told the Unicorn. She of course didn’t know how far away the stallion was a way from his home, but she assumed since he came by a train it was at least some distance away.

“But please tell me, are you in trouble of some sort?” she then asked and hoped he would answer this question, if he was it was within her realm and the princess felt responsibility to offer what assistance she could give.

Private actually raised his eyebrow at that question and was mildly startled how on target she was. Of course he hadn’t really confirmed her question but he had a feeling he had already answered it with his slight change in expression.

“Looks like these pretenders are not easily fooled, I would advise you to answer this question vocally and as truthfully as possible without revealing what kind of trouble you are in,” Sombra said and sounded calmer than before.

“I… guess you could say that.” Private decided that the former king did have a point, but this would probably open up all kind of new questions he either couldn’t answer or didn’t really want to.

Cadance nodded, glad to have that confirmed. That could explain his reluctance to tell his name and where he was from, or even say why he was at the mountain. Now the question was, what kind of trouble was he in? 

“I don’t suppose you can tell me what kind of trouble, I meant it when I said we just want to help,” she wondered and sighed a little when the Unicorn fell silent again.

“Oh that does it, you and I need to establish some rules of conduct.” Sombra growled, losing his calm again.

Private didn’t even have a chance to protest, suddenly a stinging pain tore through his head causing him to cry out in pain. His body tensed and he put his front hooves on his temples as he grimaced in pain. He felt his consciousness being pulled back very hard. With one final cry his body went limp and the stallion didn’t move any more. The only indication he was alive was his steady breathing.

The princess hadn’t stood idle when this happened. At first she was startled when the pony suddenly cried in pain, but then she rushed to push the emergency call button before running to the door.

“Doctor, Nurse, something is wrong!” She called in mild panic.

Doctor Scope and few nurses came running in just as the stallion’s body went limp. They immediately started checking him over, all the while Scope asked Cadance what happened. However, since nothing physically could be seen that indicated what was wrong, the nurses rolled the bed out of the room to have him further examined elsewhere with proper equipment.

“Looks like we’ll be keeping him for a little while longer,” Doctor Scope muttered as she followed the bed out of the room.





“What the hay do you think you’re doing?” Private growled as he landed with a thud in the brownish space. “You don’t think they are going to suspect something after that?”

“Spare me. The theatrics were just so that princess didn’t think you had fallen asleep on her, now at least they are too busy tending to you while you and I have a little talk,” Sombra snapped and sneered where he stood over the smaller pony. This time the Private glared right back at him.

“How in Tartarus were you able to do that anyway, I thought you said you were too weak to do something like this,” Private snorted and slowly rose up, never taking his eyes off the king.

“My strength grows stronger every minute and I never said I could not force you back to sleep and I also told you that I can make you feel pain, both physical and mental. I warned you not to give yourself some false sense of security just because I can’t take complete control of your body,” Sombra snarled, his eyes beginning to glow with rage.

“Well why did you do that? I did what you told me.” Private was now just too angry to really notice that the dark king was furious.

“You keep going silent every time they ask you a question. That does nothing to stop them from suspecting and guessing that something is off. We need to mislead them and the only way to do that is to respond to their questions.” the Dark Unicorn was scowling now and bared his teeth in his anger.

“Well, this is just who I am!” The smaller pony yelled and stomped one hoof down.

“You weren’t wrong when you told the prince that I don’t like talking to strangers. I don’t! I’m a recluse! I hate too much social interactions! I don’t go to malls until late in the evenings to avoid crowds! I. Don’t. Like. TALKING! WITH! OTHER! PONIES!” Private was screaming now.

The brown space was turning wild. It almost looked like the two gray ponies were in middle of a thunderstorm. Private had just had enough and all of his pent up frustration and anger were becoming visible, lightnings started to flash around them as the Unicorn continued to rant:

“You know who I can thank for that!? YOU! Even after a year of therapy I never got over that nightmare you put me through. I became withdrawn, unsociable to a point that other ponies kept telling me parents that I must be wrong in the head or something. I was called weird and not normal. They kept saying that at least my brother came out alright even if I was right there and could hear them!”

“Oh be quiet!” Sombra snarled and raised one hoof and slapped Private so hard in the face that he sent the smaller Unicorn flying. The brown space became normal and his host now lay still further away.

“What on Equestria happened?”

The king frowned and looked up when hearing the audible voices. He realized that Private’s auditory systems were picking up what ponies were saying around him. Sombra sighed and realized that he had made an error.

“He just flew off the bed.”

“He’s bleeding from the mouth, quick get him back to the bed.”

Sombra hoofed his face and growled in frustration. He concentrated his hold on Private’s mind so it would tune out the voices outside. Then with a grunt he glared at where the smaller pony still hadn’t moved.

“Calm yourself, you’ve gotten this far. Can’t take any risks. You have a strangle hold on his mind, which means anything you do to him here will show physically as well,” he muttered to himself.

Suddenly the brown space disappeared and he was standing in the red room with the tables and a cage in one corner. Sombra glanced around, he had been preventing something like this from happening but with all his concentration on forcing Private to sleep and then keeping that hold, the king had let go in other areas.

“My old laboratory, I wonder what they have done to it,” the Dark Unicorn murmured, then he heard a whimper coming from the cage.

King Sombra walked over to it and wasn’t really surprised what he found there. As the Dark Pony was now deep in Private’s memories, his host had changed form to fit it. In the cage was a young colt, about six years old, huddled in one corner.

“We need to establish few things, Private,” Sombra growled and opened the cage, then he pulled the crying boy out with his magic and had him float up to his eye level.

“First of all, I absolutely do not care about you or your issues. Second of all, you have no control, it’s I who am in charge. Third, from now on we mislead them by answering their questions and give them just enough information that ensures they do not suspect you might be possessed,” the king counted, glaring at the frightened colt he held with the magic aura.

Sombra concentrated to grab a more proper hold on the subconscious again and push this memory away. The brown space returned and Private slowly grew back to his full adult size. The king dropped his host to the ground but kept glaring at him.

Private didn’t stand up, just lay where he had landed and looked down at the ground. The anger had all vanished and the Unicorn realized that he really was a prisoner, all appearance of control that he thought he had was just an illusion. He curled up in a ball, sobbing softly and tried his best to ignore Sombra who stepped away and lay down further away.

“I’m going to keep you asleep a little while longer, let them stew on their own what happened. If we are lucky they’ll come up with their own plausible explanation,” the dark king said and rested his head on his legs.





“I can’t even begin to tell how this happened, it was like he was suddenly thrown off the bed and his lip had a cut as if he had been struck and his cheek is starting to swell a little,” Doctor Scope told Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, they were standing outside the room Private now rested in after the examination was done.

“What is going on with that pony?” Shining couldn’t help but ask.

“You think some magic was involved? Maybe he had a magic surge or something,” Cadance wondered, now she was very concerned. This whole thing was starting to be weirder and weirder.

“His horn wasn’t glowing, but I can’t rule anything out right now. He’s otherwise physically fine, we couldn’t find anything wrong with him, he just won’t wake up right now.” The doctor shook her head. “We really need medical records for this stallion, see if he has history of this happening.”

“We are already working on finding out who he is, we’ll be keeping an eye out for news of missing ponies and are trying to track down information based on his cutie mark,” the white Unicorn informed Scope who nodded.

“Keep us posted,” Cadance said, her brow furrowed in worry. It was still on her mind that the stallion had pretty much confirmed that he was in some sort of trouble. What if there were spells on him that enforced his silence?

“Of course.” Scope nodded. “We are going to keep him here for further observation for at least few more days, at least until I have some medical record to go on.”

The royal couple nodded before heading out of the ward and left the hospital. Shining Armor noticed that his wife was deep in thought and had been like that for a while now. 

“You okay?” he asked and reached to nuzzle her gently on the cheek.

“Shiny, that Unicorn, he pretty much confirmed that he was in trouble. When I asked him what kind of trouble, that’s when he was suddenly in pain and fainted. What if there are spells on him or something that force him to be silent?” Cadance looked at him, her frown not easing one bit.

Shining Armor arched his brow. The stallion had to admit that he hadn’t really considered things from that angle, if the mystery Unicorn was in trouble and his silence was being enforced with spells, that would explain a whole lot.

Then it’s all the more reason to find out who he is so we can help him, he thought.

“You didn’t detect any spells on him?” he asked though he wasn’t sure if Cadance had been in a position to do so.

“I didn’t have a chance to check, the hospital staff had him very quickly rolled out for examination and I didn’t think about doing it once they were done.” The Alicorn confirmed what her husband had already figured.

“That’s alright, there is always a chance to do it later.” Shining nodded with a smile. 

Flash Sentry was waiting for them when they arrived at the castle. The Pegasus guard looked anxious and under his wing the corner of a paper could be seen. Once he spotted the royal couple arriving, he hurried over to them.

“I may have some news on our mystery stallion,” he said excitedly after bowing to Cadance and saluting Shining Armor, then he pulled the paper out from under his wing.

“Oh? Go on,” the princess said eagerly, hopeful that at least they would have something to go on now.

“The Fillydelphia police has been sending these telegrams to all police districts in Equestria and all royal guard headquarters. A staff member at the Fillydelphia History Museum filed a missing pony report earlier today on a co-worker.” Flash Sentry gave the telegram to Shining Armor who started to glance over it.

“This co-worker didn’t show up for work yesterday and when he didn’t show up today either and couldn’t find him at his home, they went to the police. Description matches perfectly with the Unicorn at the hospital and he has a book cutie mark,” the guard finished. The telegram was now being read by Cadance.

“Private Iceland, if he’s a civilian that can’t be a military rank, it must be his actual name.” Shining Armor frowned as he thought this new information over.

“Somepony should go to Fillydelphia, tell the police that we have their Unicorn but at the present time we can’t send him back but that he is alright, for the most part and to get some more information on him,” Cadance suggested and gave the telegram back to Flash.

“Flash, you do that. Talk with the staff at the History Museum, the police and even see if you can go to his home and check if he has a neighbor or something that can tell us more about him,” Shining Armor ordered the guard who saluted and immediately took off.

“Well now we at least know a name and that he works in a museum, doesn’t exactly sound like a pony who would get himself into trouble,” Shining said and entered the castle with Cadance.

“True, but we still don’t know that much about him, just name and occupation,” she pointed out.

Shining Armor nodded in agreement. But thoughts about the hospitalized unicorn had to be set aside as Sharp Quill came running to remind them of a meeting that required both of them to attend.

“No rest for the wicked,” Shining chuckled.

“Yes, onward you wicked, wicked stallion,” Cadance joshed. “And it’s, no rest for the weary”

“Hey, I have heard the other one too,” her husband grumbled but was grinning. Both of them laughed and headed for the meeting room.

End chapter 3
> Chapter 4. You’re here about Private?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4

Flash Sentry couldn’t say he was overly impressed when he stepped off the train station platform in Fillydelphia. Compared to things in the Crystal Empire, this city looked so ordinary and plain. The guard had gotten so used to the sparkling buildings and the towering crystal castle that seeing such an ordinary city just didn’t resonate anything with him.

His first stop would be the police station, he needed to inform them that the missing Unicorn was no longer missing. After asking for directions the guard flew off into the city proper. He landed in front of a plain looking brownish brick building that had a sign marked ‘Police Headquarters.’ 

The guard raised an eyebrow, somehow he had expected something a little grander for the peace officers of the city. Shrugging it off the Pegasus walked up the steps to the doors and entered. His eyes were immediately greeted with the sign of the busy lobby, officers in uniform were rushing through and regular ponies waited in line for whatever business they had with police.

Everything came to a halt when Flash entered and just about every pony in the lobby looked at him curiously. It took a moment for him to register why that was, the guard was of course in his armor and he was so used to it that he just never really paid much attention to it anymore. Of course it did stick out quite a bit now that he was in the company of the regular police and civilians.

“Oh great, a Royal Guard? What case do we not need to investigate any further?” a yellow Unicorn officer grunted as he came walking over to Flash Sentry.

Um nice to meet you too? Flash just raised an eyebrow. Shrugging it off he did the customary salute since they were fellow officers of the peace, though he was in the guards and not the police.

“I’m Guard Flash Sentry, I work in the Crystal Empire Royal Guards,” he introduced himself.

“Officer Hard Case, are you going to answer my question?” the Unicorn snorted giving Flash a hard stare. “Is this about the jewelry thefts?”

“Ah, no officer, I’m here about a missing pony report that was filed this morning. Your department sent notices to all police and guard departments in Equestria,” Flash Sentry told him, the officer was starting to annoy him with the attitude.

“What, don’t tell me you found him already,” Hard Case gestured Flash to follow him. “He’s only been missing for like a day or something.”

“Three and half days actually, guess nopony noticed the first two days since it was the weekend,” Flash corrected him. The officer looked at him and indicated for him to go on as they entered an office.

“Just about three and half days ago, the Unicorn Private Iceland was found at the peak of a small mountain called Little Crystal just outside the city by the royal couple. He was brought to the Crystal Center hospital in the Crystal Empire. He was unconscious for two days before waking up yesterday, he’s still being held at the hospital for further observation,” Flash explained to him.

Hard Case listened with hums and nods while going through a file cabinet. He pulled out a file and slapped it on the desk, it was the missing pony report on Private Iceland. Flash Sentry glanced at it but didn’t pick it up until the officer had nodded for him to do so.

“I guess we can close that case then. I suppose you’ll be going to the museum to let them know he’s been found,” the Unicorn grunted.

“I am under orders to do so yes,” Flash Sentry said, he took a note of the address and contact information given, but there wasn’t much else in the files. “What do you know about this Private Iceland?”

“Barely anything, we only started investigating today after all. The staff at the museum say he is a bit of a recluse, lives in the suburbs where he rents a house with two other ponies. That’s about it,” Hard Case responded and accepted the file back from the Pegasus.

A recluse who lives with two other ponies, this pony keeps adding to the mystery without even being here. Flash Sentry frowned a bit as he thought about this new information.

“Thank you for your help, Officer Hard Case,” he thanked the officer. The Unicorn just grumbled something before waving him off.

The guard left the police station not wanting to bother the officer anymore, it did seem that a royal guard presence annoyed him. Flash didn’t know why and it wasn’t important to find out, he had another mystery to unravel. He was really curious why a pony described as a recluse would live with two other ponies.

It didn’t take him long to find the History Museum, again he was rather unimpressed by lack of any flare to it. It was big sure and they even had two statues of Manticores guarding the stairway, but the gray stone building looked just as drab and uninspired as the rest of the city.

Would it kill them to use brighter colors? he thought as he entered the building. He went straight to the counter and greeted the pony behind it.

“I’m Guard Flash Sentry of the Crystal Empire Royal Guard, I’m here about an employee of the museum, Private Iceland,” he then informed her of his business.

“Oh, you’re here about Private?” the amber mare lit up, showing clearly she was familiar with the name. 

“Just second, I’ll go get Dust, she is his supervisor,” she said and hurried off into the museum. Flash Sentry didn’t have to wait long, the counter clerk soon returned with a middle aged blue mare wearing a sea green vest.

“So I’m told you are here with information about Private?” Dust asked curiously but with a hint of worry on her face. “He’s been missing for at least a day now and he never misses a day at work. He even tries to come when he’s sick and should stay in bed.”

“Three and half days by now, ma’am, the royal couple of the Crystal Empire found him on the peak of a small mountain just outside the city and brought him to the hospital,” Flash told her.

“Oh no, is he alright?” the counter clerk asked cringing.

“That is what we are trying to find out, he was out of commission for two days and just woke up yesterday, he was rather uncooperative though when we tried to talk with him,” Flash Sentry said and raised an eyebrow when both mares chuckled.

“That sounds like him alright.” Dust smiled and noticed the confusion on the guard. “Private could out silence some of the statues we have here on display.”

“He doesn’t like to talk, especially with ponies he doesn’t know, he is not terribly social, bit of a grump but a nice pony over all,” the clerk added with a smile.

“Let’s go to my office, we can talk more there,” Dust gestured Flash to follow her, the clerk returned back to the counter.

Flash followed and was intrigued to see that the interior of the museum didn’t quite match the exterior. It had many colorful displays, statues and big signs with historical information. It was a nice change from the city outside and he wasn’t too surprised it was filled with ponies looking around.

They reached Dust’s office and when she sat down behind her desk, Flash began telling her what he already knew, how Private had been found and the past few days. The mare listened with a concerned frown, the Pegasus wondered if something in his explanation didn’t sit right with her.

“The way you describe how he keeps going silent when asked a question, definitely sounds like Private. Granted I don’t know him too well, even if he’s my employee, as we told you he isn’t terribly social and prefers not to talk too much with others,” Dust started and shook her head.

“He isn’t unfriendly though he doesn’t like ponies coming too close to him, his work usually keeps him in the back where he can work in solitude, though he sometimes helps in the front rooms. But I do know this, he isn’t terribly fond of travelling, even during his vacations I happen to know he sticks to the city,” the mare continued and shrugged.

“Then why did we find him in the Crystal Empire?” Flash wondered with a frown.

“That’s a good question, you would have better luck talking with this roommates, Dew Doe and Foxy Stripes. They rent a house out in the suburbs,” Dust told him and pulled out a pen and paper. “I’ll write the address here and directions.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” Flash Sentry nodded, although he did remember the address since reading it at the police station, this gave him directions too.

“Is there anypony else that Private knows, just in case his roommates are not in?” Flash asked curiously as he accepted the paper.

“Well there are his parents, Hard Shovel and Mirage Rock, they are archeologists living in Trottingham, but they are very often out on digs from what little Private has told me about his family, so I’m not sure if they are in. He has a twin brother in Manehattan called Barricade,” Dust answered.

Flash Sentry nodded. He borrowed a pen from the mare and wrote the names and resident cities on the back of the direction paper. Now he at least had a lot of contact information and hopefully the mystery of this Unicorn would be soon solved.

“Right, thank for your help, hopefully we can return Private back to work here soon,” Flash Sentry said and folded up the paper, he put it in the secret compartment on his uniform.

“No problem, can you tell him we at the museum wish him well and hope he returns soon and tell him also to enjoy himself now that he’s actually in the Crystal Empire. He has plenty of vacation days to spare,” Dust chuckled. Flash nodded with a smile before turning to leave.

The mare watched the guard leave before sighing deeply. She glanced to her right, there was a door there leading to a file room, it was slightly ajar and it was rather obvious that someone stood in there and was listening.

“Alright, he came as you said he would. But why couldn’t I tell him that he knew you?” she asked.

The door opened fully, revealing an Earth Pony stallion with an hour glass cutie mark. He was light brown, with a dark brown mane and almost as tall as Private. He looked at Dust with a very grave expression.

“Private is at a very crucial point in his life, he’s finally confronting a terrible moment in his past, a moment that made him the pony that he is today. I can’t interfere, I can’t be involved. This is something he must do alone, as much as I wish to go and help him,” the stallion said with sad sigh.





Flash Sentry landed in front of a house in the suburbs of Fillydelphia. It was a nice little two story house with tiled roof and painted white with brown window frames. It had a front garden and the Pegasus noticed a toy fort in one corner of it and some other outdoor toys.

The guard looked at the address again and noted that he was at the right place. That meant a child must live in this house, either Private was a father or one of his roommates was a parent if not both. He quickly noticed that there was no sign of life, nobody appeared to be home.

The Pegasus entered the garden and went straight to the front door and knocked, there was no answer. He looked around and then towards the neighboring houses. The guard opened his wings and was about to simply leap and glide to one of them, when someone addressed him. A pony had arrived at the fence.

“Hey, are you looking for the residents?” she asked curiously.

“Yes, I’m Flash Sentry, I’m with the Crystal Empire Royal Guard, this is the house where Dew Doe, Foxy Stripes and Private Iceland live?” The Pegasus walked over to the fence, hoping this mare was familiar with them.

“Yes it is, but you won’t find two of them at least. Dew, Foxy and Foxy’s daughter Coal went to Los Pegasus few days ago, they are not expected back for at least two weeks,” the white-gray pony told him. “Private would usually be home but he hasn’t been here for over three days now, I suppose he went somewhere, Celestia knows he never tells anypony anything, except his roommates.”

“I’m Soft Trot by the way, I’m the neighbor over there,” she then introduced herself and gestured to the house Flash been about to fly too.

Great, Los Pegasus is on the other side of Equestria. Manehattan is closer, guess I’m heading to find Private’s brother. Flash cursed his luck.

“Well thank you for your information, it’s actually because of Private that I am here,” the guard then said and told her a little about where Private was.

“Oh my, I hope he’s alright. You could go to Los Pegasus to try and find them, but I don’t know where they are staying, you could always try his brother in Manehattan, but they aren’t very close, his parents are always on the move to dig up old things but they usually live in Trottingham,” Soft Trot informed him. About the only new information for Flash was that Private was not close to his brother.

Well close or not, he’s the closest living relative that’s within a reasonable flight and train distance, Flash Sentry thought.

“Do you know where in Manehattan his brother lives?” the guard asked.

“Somewhere in the Hoofington area, that’s all I really know from talking with Foxy, uh she and Barricade had a brief relationship. Coal is his daughter.” Soft Trot shrugged.

I’m learning more about this Private and his family by asking anypony else than him. Flash sighed a little but did nod at what she told him. He would be flying straight to Manehattan once he had visited the Fillydelphia hospital to see if there were any medical records on Private.

After thanking Soft Trot for the information the guard took to the air and headed back to the city. This time he had to stop and ask for directions to the closest hospital or medical center. Once there he quickly entered and he asked if Private Iceland had any medical records that could be copied and sent to the Crystal Center hospital in the Crystal Empire.

Flash had to be directed to a medical center closer to the suburbs Private lived in, since he had only been admitted to the hospital once, over ten years ago. Apparently, the stallion had been accidentally caught right in the middle of stampeding ponies running in the Fillidelphia Running of the Leaves event. He had not been a participant, just been unlucky enough to enter the road being used for the run just before the hoard of pones came trampling all over him.

At the medical center Flash asked the same and at the hospital. The guard was assured they would send a copy of their records to Crystal Center. Once that was done, Flash Sentry finally took off towards Manehattan, it was close enough that it would be faster for him to fly there than to wait for the next train.

And if I can’t find his brother, I’ll try Trottingham since it’s just a little bit further up north from Manehattan, but then I better head back to the empire and tell Prince Shining Armor what I’ve learned. It will just take too long to travel all the way to Los Pegasus, we’ll just have to see if Private Iceland wants his roommates contacted, Flash thought as he sailed across the sky at top speed.

But I got to say this has been great, going around asking questions, unraveling information, flying between cities to gather more information. Beats standing around all day, not that I don’t appreciate what I do in the guards, but a little excitement now and then doesn’t hurt, he chuckled to himself.

“And hey, even if it all turns out to just be a boring case of that Unicorn just slipping on ice and falling to the ledge and will be going back home tomorrow, I can at least say I got help solve the Little Crystal Mystery,” he announced and stopped flying for a moment to puff out his chest.

There was a moment of silence as it fully dawned on Flash what he had just said. He hoofed his face and blushed with embarrassment.

“Celestia and Luna, that was lame, good thing I’m alone up here,” he muttered and resumed his flight.

After few hours of flying he could see the first tall buildings of Manehattan. This city looked a bit flashier than Fillydelphia with its multiple designs for the skyscrapers and the Mare of Liberty standing guard at the small island just off the harbor.

Flash went in for a landing, not catching as many surprised looks as back in Fillydelphia. Manehattan was quite a bit bigger and thus had both police and royal guard headquarters. So the occasional royal guard visible wasn’t unusual.

The guard found himself a map of the city this time and on it located the Hoofington area. It seemed to be rather deep within it, away from the main tourist areas. Flash wouldn’t be surprised if it was mostly residential buildings.

It didn’t take him long to locate it and the guard frowned when seeing that some of the buildings clearly needed some maintenance. Flash landed on the side walk and immediately drew some attention, apparently a royal guard arriving here was very shocking judging by some of the looks he received.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” Flash addressed the closest pony, a bluish mare. “I’m looking for a pony named Barricade, you wouldn’t happen to know where I can find him?”

Flash arched his brow when the mare’s jaw dropped. He glanced around and saw that some of the nearby ponies were all just as slack jawed as the pony he had addressed. The guard wondered what kind of a pony Barricade was to garner this reaction at the sound of his name.

“I… uh, he should be at his gym, The Barricade, it’s just a few blocks from here,” the mare finally spoke up. “Is uh… is he in trouble?”

“What? No, just need to see him about his brother,” Flash was now really wondering about this Barricade, he could have sworn he saw a hint of disappointment in the mare’s eyes.

The guard took off again and headed in the direction given to him. He quickly spotted The Barricade, it was a long one story building with a flashy sign carrying its name. The Pegasus landed in front of it and immediately entered, cringing a little when the loud music violated his ears.

The moment Flash Sentry was noticed by the pony at the counter and the rest of the ponies exercising in the gym, the music went silent. Everything went silent, everyone was staring at the guard with a mix of shock and even terror. Some ponies, looking rather unsavory actually began backing further into the gym and tried to look as inconspicuous as possible.

Flash definitely took a note of this reaction, he refrained from frowning but he had been in the guards long enough to recognize when criminals felt they had been caught. The Pegasus glanced at few of the ponies and could definitely spot a rough appearance and scars, indicating a tough life. The fact that some of those ponies, who were swelling with muscles, were staring at him nervously, told him that they had done crimes before and had learned it the hard way to fear the royal guards.

Some of these ponies could bowl over me, but they probably are worried that I have a contingency of guards right outside to back me up. They know I’m allowed to use more force than the police. Flash Sentry walked over to the counter, manned by a grayish opal mare.

“I need to see Barricade if he is in,” the guard told her and smiled gently, wanting to show that he was not here for trouble.

It was so silent that the entire gym could hear what he said. All eyes immediately turned to a dark gray Unicorn with a blonde mane and tail, standing by some weight lifting equipment. He looked like a fit version of Private, safe for that his eyes were indigo colored and on his flank was a brick wall. He was the only pony who stared at Flash more curiously than frightened, yet he was wary and hesitated when realizing everyone was now looking at him.

“I’m Barricade,” he said.

End chapter 4
> Chapter 5. He is your brother.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5

Flash Sentry looked at Barricade and started to walk closer, all eyes were back on him watching his every move. The Unicorn didn’t budge but the guard could see a slight worry in his eyes. He recognized this look, it was the look of someone who thought he was in trouble.

“Barricade, I’m Guard Flash Sentry of the Crystal Empire Royal Guard, I’m here to see you about your brother, Private Iceland,” Flash simply told him, hoping this would ease the tension a little bit. This wasn’t his jurisdiction anyway.

“Oh? Ooooh.” Barricade blinked and seemed to ease up a little bit when hearing that. As the guard had hoped some of the ponies started to look more relaxed.

“Let’s talk in my office,” the Unicorn said and turned to walk towards an office door further in the gym. Flash followed and as soon as they were in the office and the door closed, he could hear the music start again, no doubt the ponies now daring to continue their work out.

The guard noted how sparsely furnished the office was, there was a file cabinet and some shelves that contained trophies. On the desk were three picture frames, one was of Barricade with the mare at the counter and the other two were of fillies he didn’t recognize.

“So, dare I ask why a royal guard from the Crystal Empire would come here about my estranged brother?” Barricade asked as he sat down behind the desk.

The word estranged caught Flash’s attention the most and he couldn’t help but wonder what could have happened between the brothers. He quickly shook it off and decided to focus on what was important. So he told Barricade what happened to his brother and where was located.

“Is he alright?” Barricade asked and sounded concerned. “And uh, just so you know he has friends in Fillydelphia who should probably be hearing this first.”

“He’s alright for the most part but he’s being kept at the hospital for observation. As for his friends, they are on a vacation all the way in Los Pegasus, it was shorter to come to you first, I would have tried going to your parents but I was told they are often away on digs,” Flash explained to him.

“Yeah, they are in the San Palomino Desert right now, impossible to reach them,” Barricade muttered and sighed, he seemed to be debating with himself.

“We would really like to know why your brother suddenly arrived in the Crystal Empire. From what his supervisor in Fillydelphia said, he doesn’t like travelling and he hasn’t really cooperated with us when we tried asking him,” Flash told him.

“Yeah, that sounds about right for him, not liking to talk to strangers unless he absolutely has to, though it is odd he would travel anywhere if not doing something for his friends.” The Unicorn frowned heavily and rubbed his muzzle with a hoof. “And if they are in Los Pegasus on a vacation, I can’t see them having sent him to the Crystal Empire.”

“Yeah your brother told us that he wasn’t comfortable talking to strangers.” Flash nodded. Barricade gave him a funny look.

“He told you that he wasn’t comfortable talking to strangers?” The dark gray pony’s frown changed into scowl when Flash confirmed that.

Flash Sentry wondered if something was wrong, Barricade had turned silent and looked uncannily like his brother as he considered what the Pegasus had just told him.

“Let me tell you something about my brother,” the Unicorn then spoke up. “He does not say ‘I don’t want to talk with you’ or say ‘I am not comfortable talking to strangers.’ He just stares and glares at you, if he doesn’t want to talk, he doesn’t talk.”

“Private lives up to the first half of his name, he is really private. I still think it’s a miracle that he actually lives in the same house and two mares and a foal. He hates being touched, he hates ponies coming to close to him, he hates hugs and all kinds of physical contact unless he trusts you and let me tell you, the list of ponies he trusts is in the single digits,” Barricade continued and shook his head.

Flash had to consider this. What Barricade was telling him definitely matched the pony at the Crystal Center hospital for the most part. Now that he thought about it, when he suddenly spoke clearly to Shining Armor it had sounded and looked a little off. 

“Something is wrong if my brother is speaking like that,” the Unicorn concluded.

“Then perhaps you should come to the Crystal Empire with me and talk with him, maybe he will respond better to a familiar face,” Flash suggested.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, last time we met we didn’t part on a very good terms. In fact, I think I’m the last pony in Equestria he wants to meet right now,” Barricade muttered and shook his head.

“He is your brother, I’m sure despite your differences he will appreciate you coming to see him in a time of need,” Flash Sentry pointed out.

“This goes a little deeper than me and him being different and having some minor spat. I don’t want to go into the details with you, no offense, but let’s just say that I royally messed up, crossed a line, probably several lines and they have all but cut contact with me. Even my parents have told me that they rather not speak with me, I don’t blame them,” the Unicorn snorted and didn’t seem likely to budge on this issue.

Flash sighed, already seeing that in some areas Private and Barricade were very alike. Both were very stubborn. He thought back to what he had witnessed when first entering the gym, the ponies falling silent at seeing the guard, some even trying to look inconspicuous. How the mare outside had asked almost hopefully if Barricade was in trouble. 

This gym certainly seemed to him to be harboring criminals or at least ponies who rather not be around law enforcement officers. Even Barricade had stared at Flash at first like someone who was worried that his crimes had finally caught up with him. 

“I’m not going to even pretend to know what happened between the two of you, but I can tell you this, some bridges are worth rebuilding,” Flash Sentry said, Barricade didn’t respond just stared back at him rather unimpressed.

“Your brother lies right now in a hospital in a city he’s never been too, surrounded by nothing but strangers. From what you’ve told me, he certainly can’t be very comfortable right now. Now I could fly all the way to Los Pegasus to look for his roommates or go to the San Palomino Desert to search for his parents but I just don’t have time for that right now, I need to go back to the Crystal Empire to report on what I’ve discovered to my superior,” the Pegasus continued not really caring if the Unicorn was really listening or not, he just felt this needed to be said.

“If you won’t come, will you at least see if you can contact his roommates or your parents and let them know where your brother is. He might be a recluse, but right now I really think he needs to see someone he knows,” he finished and now stared intently at Barricade.

“I’ll think about it,” was the only response that came from the gray pony.

Flash nodded, figuring that was the best he could hope for. He really wondered what had happened between the two brothers, Barricade had sounded concerned about him but yet was reluctant to just go right away to see him.

“Then I thank you for your help and information you supplied to me, I’ll see myself out,” he said and walked to the office door. He heard no protest coming from the Unicorn so the guard left.

Once again ponies halted their workout when seeing the guard, Flash Sentry ignored them and headed straight out of the gym. He didn’t notice that Barricade had followed him and watched from the entrance of his office as the Pegasus left, a thoughtful frown on his face.

Outside Flash took to the air and headed straight to the nearest train station, intending to take the next train to the Crystal Empire. He wasn’t very lucky with the train schedule, the next one wouldn’t be for another hour, with a sigh the Pegasus found a bench to sit down on and wait.

In his mind he went over what he had learned so far. Though it all really just summed up one thing, Private was an anti-social recluse who rather avoid ponies than interact with them. Flash had to agree with Barricade that it was then strange that he suffered to live with two other ponies plus a child. Maybe he wasn’t as reclusive or anti-social as ponies painted him as.

But the main question has not been answered. Flash frowned. Why did he come to the Crystal Empire? I think only he can answer this one, because nopony that knew him knew where he had gone and were surprised that he had gone anywhere.

Flash Sentry was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he paid no attention to a pony sitting down with him on the bench and started reading a newspaper. When the guard noticed he scooted a bit away so there was more room for both of them. Flash glanced at the station clock, another forty-five minutes before the train came. Without really knowing why he glanced to the pony sitting next to him and at the newspaper.

Strange epidemic? Flash frowned when seeing one of the news on the front page, it came with a picture of a sleeping pony on a hospital bed.

Since he had plenty of time, Flash dropped down from the bench and hurried to the nearest newsstand and bought his own copy of the newspaper. The Pegasus sat down and started to read the news bit that caught his attention.

‘Strange epidemic. All over Equestria, ponies fell unconscious Saturday and still haven’t woken up. More on page 14.’ Flash immediately turned to page 14. It had pictures from different kind of hospitals, all with unconscious ponies in bed.

‘No one is sure what happened nor what is ailing these ponies. But it is been confirmed that all of them fell unconscious around Saturday afternoon. Reports were made of them suddenly behaving strangely and then heading towards the nearest mode of transport, most often the local train station. Some made it aboard trains heading to the Crystal Empire while others barely made it through the door of their houses. Doctors can’t find anything physically wrong but further tests are being undertaken,’ he read in the article.

In the afternoon and some were heading to the Crystal Empire, the guard thought this over. They all fall unconscious around the same time Private Iceland has already arrived there.

Must be a coincident, this can’t be connected, besides Private has woken up. Flash shook his head and rolled up the rest of the paper and placed it under his wing. He was going to read the rest while onboard the train.

When Flash Sentry returned to the platform he was surprised to see Barricade sitting there. The Unicorn was grumbling something to himself and didn’t look too happy. The guard looked at the time table and confirmed that this was the platform for the Crystal Empire train. Now very curious the Pegasus approached.

“Well you didn’t think about it for very long,” Flash mentioned, causing Barricade to look sharply at him. The guard was pretty sure barely half an hour had passed since he had been in the Unicorn’s office.

“I’m just making sure he hasn’t managed to almost kill himself or something,” Barricade grunted and glared back to the ground. “Besides it will take forever to find the others and since I know already, I might as well go.”

“Sounds logical enough to me.” The Pegasus shrugged and sat down nearby.

“So anypony you know struck by this epidemic?” Flash asked and brought up the newspaper to show Barricade.

“Nopony in my gan… group no.” Barricade glanced at the newspaper, the guard raised an eyebrow at the correction. Pretty sure the Unicorn was about to say gang.

“But I heard of a couple of ponies in Hoofington who just dropped,” he then added with a careless shrug and looked away.

“Your brother was found unconscious around the time these ponies were ‘dropping’ as you put it, but he’s already woken up while these ones haven’t,” Flash mentioned and returned the paper under his wing.

Ugh, what have you gotten yourself into this time, Private? Barricade thought and shook his head.





Ponyville

“I’m here Doctor Horse, what is it you need help with?” Twilight Sparkle asked the amber Unicorn when she entered the hospital.

“Thank you for coming, Princess, it’s about Berry Punch and the others,” the doctor said and motioned to her to follow him. “As you know she and two other ponies just dropped unexpectedly unconscious few days ago and nothing we did could wake them up. All we could do was keep them here at the hospital under observation.”

“Yes, it’s been happening all over Equestria according to the news.” Twilight nodded remembering when it had happened. 

According to Berry’s daughter, Berry Pinch, her mother had started to act strangely, looking around as if she hearing something. Then suddenly Punch had just started walking away, muttering something she couldn’t hear, Pinch had followed and was surprised to see her head towards the train station. Before she could get there, her mother suddenly just dropped down, two other ponies who had been on their way there as well did the same, the local florist Roseluck and the weather pony Thunderlane. They were all three rushed to the hospital.

The princess frowned when hearing a loud voice as she followed the doctor down the corridor. She didn’t need to wonder for too long what was going on, Doctor Horse was taking her right to the room it was coming from.

“HE’S COMING! HE’S COMING! THE SHADOW RETURNS!”

Twilight winched at the sight. Berry Punch was thrashing around in her bed, screaming at the top of her lungs. Nurse Redheart and Nurse Tenderheart were desperately trying to restrain the pinkish Earth Mare.

“What is going on?” The princess looked at the doctor with bewilderment.

“I don’t know, Princess, this is why I asked you to come. She woke up few hours ago, began screaming at the top of her lungs then fell unconscious again,” he told her and sounded rather desperate. “There is nothing wrong with her physically, but like clockwork, every hour or so she wakes up again and does this.”

“HE WILL CONSUME US ALL! HE HAS FOUND A HOST!” Berry Punch almost landed a kick on Tenderheart who narrowly managed to avoid it. The trashing stopped, Berry’s whole body stiffened before going limp and there was silence in the room.

Twilight dared now to walk closer and examined the unconscious pony with her eyes. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, it was almost as if she was just fast asleep. The alicorn glanced further into the room, on two other beds lay Roseluck and Thunderlane, they hadn’t been disturbed by this at all.

“They haven’t woken up yet?” she looked at the doctor who shook his head.

“Fear has returned.” Suddenly Roseluck’s eyes opened, they shone terror and unlike Berry, she just lay still, staring forward as if mare was afraid to move.

“Fear? What do you mean Rose?” Twilight walked over to her bed, but the bedridden pony didn’t look at her.

“Shadow and fear have returned. The Shadow will consume us all. It will lay our fears bare. A host has been claimed.” She whispered and then her face grimaced and she let out a scream in horror before falling asleep once more.

What is wrong with these ponies? The purple pony frowned heavily and looked at the last pony, Thunderlane was waking up.

“Ehehehe…. hahaha… ahahaha…” the stallion started to laugh hysterically.

“Thunderlane?” Twilight stepped over to his bed, he looked at her with a hideous grin and strange mad glint in his eyes.

“He is coming. He has found a host. He will consume his fears and regain his form. He will cover us all in shadow, drive us mad with fear, make us wild with hate! Hehehe…ahahaha… he will destroy us all. Canterlot will burn. Equestria will burn. IT WILL ALL BURN. AHAHAHA!” the black pony ranted in a mad voice before he as well dropped back down to an unconscious state.

Twilight just stared in shock and was mildly disturbed. It was almost like these ponies were possessed or under some sort of a spell. She looked at the doctor and the nurses who could only watch, just as confused and disturbed as her.

“Continue to observe them and try and see if there is a pattern when they wake up,” the princess told them and glanced uncertainly at the beds. “I’ve got some reading to do and I need to speak with Princess Celestia.”

“We will, Princess Twilight,” Doctor Horse assured her.

End chapter 5
> Chapter 6. Not your brother.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 6

Private groaned softly and slowly opened his eyes. The Unicorn winched a little when feeling mild pain in his left cheek, it didn’t feel right. He raised a hoof to check it and was surprised to find it swollen. He quickly dropped the leg since it still felt tender.

“H-how?” The Unicorn remembered too well when Sombra struck him in his mind, but he hadn’t expected it to be visible on his body. What had the doctors and nurses thought when his cheek just suddenly started swelling?

“A good reminder for you that I can harm you if I so wish,” was the only answer Sombra gave him.

The Unicorn cringed making a mental note to try in the future not to piss off the malevolent spirit king in his head, but then the stallion noticed that he wasn’t alone in the room. All nervousness washed away when he saw what almost looked like a mirror image of him, just different eye color, cutie mark and this pony looked fitter.

Private’s eyes narrowed to slits as he regarded his twin brother sitting a slight distance from the end of the bed. Barricade stared right back, with a smirk on his muzzle.

“What are you doing here?” the bedridden Unicorn growled but then froze as he realized what this meant. Barricade would not be here without someone having told him and the only ones who could tell him shouldn’t have known at all. He didn’t know how they had managed to find out but this meant they probably knew where he was from and who he knew.

“And so your clever ruse as utterly and completely failed,” Sombra remarked with a mocking laughter.

“Dew, Foxy and… Coal are in Los Pegasus and you know mom and dad are digging up that ancient town in San Palomino. I’m the only one they could reach,” Barricade told him and shrugged.

“Look.” The indigo eyed Unicorn sighed slightly and looked down at the floor. “I know when we last met we didn’t exactly part on the best of terms. I know I told you that we should just live our lives separately in our respective cities. I also know you’re right now trying to think of thousands of different ways to tell me to get the hell out.”

Barricade wasn’t too surprised to see Private grumble and glare down. He knew his twin well, even if they weren’t on best of terms, but the Unicorn on the stool had one advantage over the one in the bed, he had better ways with words.

“I’m the last pony in Equestria you want to see, I realize that. But there is something going on here, you would not just spontaneously travel to the Crystal Empire like this. What they have told me of their interactions with you tells me that you are involved in something. Why else would you bullshit that you don’t remember your name and refuse to say where you come from? You would only do that because you’re trying to protect those you love and care about,” Barricade pointed out and his brow sunk in a heavy frown.

“Clever isn’t he? Well I suppose he has the advantage of being your brother and thus knows you. Misleading them might not be as easy as I initially thought with him around,” Sombra murmured.

“Just… tell me what to say,” Private mentally grunted, already relenting to the idea that he better just do what Sombra wanted him to do.

“Seriously Private, what is going on?” Barricade asked although he wasn’t really expecting his brother to respond.

Private waited but for once the inside of his head was silent. Sombra was not saying anything, just watching, the Unicorn could still feel his presence but nothing seemed to be happening. He had expected to be fed lines or at least told what to say right now.

“Um, he asked me a question, I don’t really want to answer him but you made it abundantly clear you want me to answer their questions. I don’t know what to say, are you going to suggest anything?” he asked the silent spirit.

Oh great, now he shuts up. Private glared back at his brother who still waited for an answer. He decided to just go with the fact that the two of them were not on best of terms.

“I have nothing to say to you,” he snorted, keeping the hard glare on Barricade.

“Well right now I’m all you got, well I suppose I could go to Los Pegasus and find Dew and Foxy and tell them where you are. They would probably come running, or go to San Palomino to tell mom and dad.” Barricade shrugged not really bothered by the glare. He was mildly surprised to see how alarmed Private became at that prospect.

“No! They are not coming here,” the bedridden pony protested and sat up.

Okay it’s serious if, Private doesn’t want any of them to come, Barricade thought, he had no plans to go to western Equestria to look for them but he had wanted to test his brother’s reaction to the idea.

Barricade slipped down from the stool and walked closer to the bed, ignoring the apprehensive look coming on his twin. The Unicorn sat right next to it and now peered at Private with a critical eye.

“There is something different about you,” he said and pointed at him with a hoof. “This doesn’t sound right. Why would you be averse to have Foxy and Dew come here to see you? In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t tried to bail out already.”

Private closed his eyes and looked away causing Barricade to sigh and shake his head. Seemed his brother was really going to be stubborn on this. He was prepared to stand up and just leave for now when his twin turned his head back towards him, his eyes opening slowly.

What the…? Barricade blinked when seeing the smile slowly crawl on his brother’s muzzle. It was a sinister looking one.

“My you are indeed a clever one,” Private said, the smile changing into a grin.

“Wait hold on. How did you…? I didn’t allow this, when did you get…? You said you couldn’t take control without my approval,” Private protested deep inside the mind, having realized that in a blink of an eye he was now the observer.

“I lied,” Sombra chuckled cruelly.

“Private?” Barricade asked unsure and was even more so when the Unicorn on the bed slowly shook his head.

Barricade rose up and backed away when his brother’s eyes began to glow green and purple mist began sprouting from the corners. The Unicorn wasn’t sure if he should run and try and alert someone or stay put and figure out what was going on.

“Okay what is going on, Private, what in Tartarus is happening?” he asked and glanced to the door.

“I am borrowing your brother’s body for the time being. However, I rather it remained secret for now, but I can see keeping it secret from you will be rather complicated, so instead I am going to ensure that you remain silent about it,” Sombra chuckled and threw the blanket off Private’s body and jumped out of the bed.

“What?” Barricade blinked but for a second but then scowled. “What did you do to Private?”

“Oh he’s still in here, protesting but unable to do anything about it,” the dark king explained and started to approach. “Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

“Okay this would be more intimidating if this wasn’t coming from the body of my brother,” Barricade snorted and gestured to his twin. “Seriously, that flappy pancake butt can hardly even lift those history books he reads.”

“Oh you should have heard the indignant snort your brother just gave,” Sombra laughed as he continued to walk towards Barricade.

“I’ve insulted him worse, now get out of him!” Barricade growled and started to raise his hoof for a strike but stopped. Wait would I be hurting Private or him.

The hesitation hadn’t escaped the king’s attention who now was right in front of the other Unicorn. He grinned even wider.

“Hesitant to harm you brother are you?” Sombra whispered, he swiftly struck Barricade so hard with the right hoof that it sent him flying to the back of the room.

Ow… Barriacde saw stars as he sunk to the floor after making a loud impact with the wall. He slowly began to rise and stared utterly baffled at his possessed brother.

“What… the… Private is not that strong,” he pointed out. Sombra was approaching with a sadistic grin on the muzzle.

“I’m enhancing the strength to this body,” the dark Unicorn explained.

Barricade grit his teeth and fully rose back to his feet. He really didn’t want to do this but started to power up his horn for a blast. His main thought was to knock Private out and hope it was possible to extract whoever was controlling the body. The Unicorn fired, ignoring the headache he had after hitting his head against the wall. Barricade’s face fell when the blast harmlessly bounced off a dark magical shield enveloping his twin.

“Pathetic,” Sombra snorted when two more desperate blasts from his host’s brother were deflected by the shield.

“Let me guess, you’re enhancing his magic ability as well, because I know Private failed basic magic in school.” Barricade hated to admit he was starting to become a little worried now.

“No this is my own power, though I must channel it through him,” the dark king snorted and suddenly charged.

Oh crap. Barricade had very little time to react as his twin brother was suddenly much faster than he should have been. He managed to save his head another blow but the hit went to his side instead, throwing him back to the wall.

Sombra wasted no time and began hitting and kicking the Unicorn around the floor. Barricade desperately tried to block and fight back, but could do very little except be on the defense. He managed to block a kick which gave him a breathing room to jump back to his legs. Then the stallion ducked a swing from his possessed brother and thought he saw an opening to make his own kick, however it missed its mark as Sombra managed to quickly dive out of the way.

A hard punch to the gut threw Barricade for the third time to the wall, then he was sent with a hard kick across the floor and crashed into the unoccupied bed. Barricade groaned in pain and tried to rise up again but suddenly found himself pinned down by Sombra who stared down at him with a mad grin.

“You honestly… think ponies won’t have heard this racket? Hard to keep this secret if you are attracting so much attention,” Barricade snorted and tried to struggle free.

“But I want them to hear it, I’m just waiting for them to come and witness two brothers fighting, two estranged brothers locked in battle, apparently what you did to your brother was so bad that Private just lost all control over himself and attacked you,” Sombra chuckled and hit Barricade in the face.

“Now you are going to be silent about me, not just because of what I’ve demonstrated what I can do to you using your own brother.” The dark Uncicorn lowered the head down so the muzzle was right next to Barricade’s ear and whispered. “But I can make you watch as I put your brother through the most agonizing pain he’s ever experienced and there will be nothing you can do to stop me.”

“Who in Tartarus are you?” Barricade growled and tried a head-butt, not really concerned anymore that he would hurt his brother, he would apologize later. Sombra raised his head to avoid it.

“Now that would be telling,” the dark king chuckled and waved his hoof at him.

With those words the green glow vanished from Private’s eyes and the malicious grin disappeared. The Unicorn grimaced as he looked down at the beaten and battered form of his twin brother. Sombra had blocked his vision so he had only been able to hear. Now that he could see again he was horrified.

“B-Barricade…” Private was panicking, his breathing accelerating.

Barricade was about to say something but then the door to the room swung open and Flash Sentry and Shining Armor came rushing in along with Doctor Scope and a nurse. The newly arrived ponies gasped at the sight, Private pinning down the bruised and bloodied form of his twin brother.

Shining and Flash immediately rushed over and pulled Private off Barricade. There was no resistance from the Unicorn, he was just staring at his twin in a state of shock and disbelief. Scope and the Nurse went to tend to his brother, but Barricade brushed them off and rose up on his own.

“What happened? I know you said the two of you were estranged but not that there was a risk he would attack you,” Shining Armor asked as he and Flash pulled Private further away. They were hesitant to let go of him in case the Unicorn would charge for his brother again.

Barricade considered his options. He did not know what was inside his brother but he was starting to feel a bit bolder now that he wasn’t alone with him. The Unicorn narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth intending to just say what had happened, but the words in his mouth froze when Private suddenly started to flail and made strange gurgling sounds.

“He’s having a seizure, let him go carefully to the floor!” Doctor Scope quickly ordered them.

Flash and Shining quickly obeyed and as instructed by the doctor stepped away so they wouldn’t obstruct the pony. Scope stepped closer carefully counting and sighed in relief when it stopped very shortly later. She walked over to the now unconscious pony and put him in a recovery position.

“Does your brother have a history with fainting or having seizures?” The doctor looked at Barricade who had watched everything with his jaw nearly scraping the floor.

“No, never,” Barricade whispered, the words spoken by the spirit that possessed his brother were ringing through his head.

“Nurse, why don’t you take Mr. Barricade and have a look at his injuries,” Scope told the nurse who nodded, she managed to lead the Unicorn out of the room without any protests.

“When he wakes up, help me get him back to the bed, this Unicorn is not leaving the hospital until we find out what is happening with him, we can’t rule out magic, but I’m also not ruling out something we have never encountered before.” Scope then turned to the two remaining stallions who both just nodded.





“So care to tell us what happened in there?” Shining Armor asked as he and Flash approached Barricade who was having his injuries patched up.

The gray Unicorn frowned, he just knew the seizure had to have been induced by that spirit thing inside his brother. A small sample of what could be done to him. Then Barricade realized even further what beating him up had meant. If he told them that his brother was possessed, it could sound like a justification to explain why Private attacked him. A farfetched justification considering they already had a more logical, estranged sibling reason.

“I hit a raw nerve with him. I am very good at pissing ponies off without realizing it,” Barricade said without even blinking an eye, quite used to skewing the truth or just outright lying to hide the facts.

“Alright, I can buy that, but he had you pinned down and seemed to be winning that fight,” Flash pointed out, it hadn’t escaped him that when seeing the two brothers together, Barricade was far more muscular than Private.

“What? Is it that surprising that I don’t feel like beating up my brother?” the unicorn snorted with irritation. That was mostly the truth. “His anger at me is rather justified, maybe now that he’s gotten that out of his system we can speak more properly.”

“I see your point.” Shining nodded accepting this explanation. It was clear to him that Barricade hadn’t wanted to injure his brother who was already bound to the hospital and instead just took the hits that he clearly could take. Nothing was broken, just bruises and gashes that would easily heal.

“But you wouldn’t mind telling me, why the two you have such bad blood between you?” the white Unicorn asked curiously.

“Sorry, it’s between me and Private, no offense but I’m not too comfortable discussing it outside the family, especially considering I’ve managed to alienate said family,” Barricade grunted and was finally free from the nurse, pushing her away and stood up.

“No, no, it’s alright, I was just curious, of course it’s just between you and your brother,” Shining nodded and watched the Unicorn walk away, not too surprisingly he headed straight back to Private’s room.

“So you buying any of this?” Flash asked, he had found Barricade’s answers less than satisfactory.

“With what you’ve told me already, I’m not entirely sure. He’s not wrong though, we have no right to pry into their personal business, right now it’s more important that Barricade can help us figure out why his brother arrived here in the Crystal Emprie,” Shining Armor told him.

Meanwhile Barricade had reached his brother’s room again and had entered. Private still appeared unconscious but with what had happened he wasn’t so sure it was the case. The Unicorn approached his brother’s bed and this time sat down right next to it. He frowned when his twin’s eyes opened and a smile came on the muzzle.

“Who is speaking right now?” Barricade growled low.

“Not your brother,” Sombra chuckled and rose up a little. “Enjoyed my little demonstration? That is not the worst I can do to him.”

“I can’t say I did, so what do I need to do to get rid of you,” the sitting pony snorted.

“You? Nothing, at least there is nothing that I require you to do except to remain silent about my presence in your brother’s body,” the dark king said, staring intently at him. “Then again, you never know, I do require some information, like how things are, some more information on the four Princesses, I am about a millennium behind the times.”

Barricade folded his front legs and narrowed his eyes, he really just wanted to tell this spirit to shove it but knew better. He could see though why Private didn’t want his roommates or parents to come here while in this condition.

“I want to speak with Private,” he demanded, Sombra rolled his eyes and closed them, for a moment Private’s body went limp but slowly and groggily the pony woke up again.

Private cringed when seeing Barricade, then he quickly turned around in the bed to face away from him. He was too ashamed to face him now, sure he didn’t like his brother at the moment but having been used to attack him like that had been a little bit too extreme for the Unicorn.

“Private, it’s alright, I’ve been banged up worse than that, granted your uh new roommate puts up a good fight but nothing that I won’t survive,” Barricade tried to reassure his brother.

“What do you want?” his brother muttered just audibly enough for him to hear.

“To know what the hell happened. Why are you possessed? How in Tartarus did you get over here? Who is possessing you?” Barricade asked sharply but kept his tone low.

“Remember that nightmare I had, back when we were six?” Private whispered and slowly sat up but he kept his back towards his brother.

“Uh, no, not really,” his twin shook his head.

“I was a year in therapy because of it,” the hospitalized pony clarified with a sigh.

Barricade had to really think now, recalling vaguely that yes his brother had at one time had a powerful nightmare and it apparently traumatized him so much that he had to go to a therapist about it. He barely remembered much of it himself.

“Anyway… it wasn’t a nightmare. I was pulled into the past and spent seven days as a prisoner to the spirit that’s now in me, when that spirit was still alive. He did that to many ponies, infusing them with spells that would cause them to seek him out once he died. I was the unlucky one that found him,” Private explained still speaking in a very quiet voice even for him.

“And his spirit was here in the Crystal Empire?” Barricade frowned, if he hadn’t already seen the spirit in action he would hardly have believed that story, but his current injuries told him otherwise.

“It indeed was,” Private’s voice became darker and he turned his head to glance at Barricade, a wicked grin on his muzzle.

“Hey I wasn’t done talking with Private, asshole,” Barricade snorted, realizing that the spirit was back in control.

“Oh but that is all the time I’ll give you with him for now,” Sombra chuckled and turned around to face his host’s twin.

“Let me talk with Private!” the other Unicorn snapped with a sneer.

“Oh Barricade, you certainly like to act tough, even when you are not in control of the situation.” The dark king grinned even wider. He leaned forward, so he was almost hanging half out of the bed.

“Must I remind you that with just a right twist, I can send your brother into a coma, I can stop his heart, his breathing, I can make him choke on his own tongue, I can cause him to vomit out his own lungs. I can cause him such excruciating pain that he’ll be begging me for death’s sweet embrace,” Sombra whispered softly and reached with a hoof to pat Barricade gently on the cheek.

Barricade brushed the hoof away, glaring at his possessed sibling. So far he was only hearing words but he had seen the spirit cause his brother to have a seizure. Part of him almost regretted coming here, Private might just have been better off not having to worry about the spirit black mailing family members, even if it was a member he didn’t care much for at the moment.

“Hey, you leave Private alone. I’ve told them nothing, just said I managed to hit a nerve with him and allowed him to beat me up because I didn’t want to hurt him,” Barricade grunted, he narrowed his eyes when Sombra patted him on the head.

“Good boy, keep this up and your brother will just be fine and so will you,” the dark king said and pulled himself back and laid down on the bed.

“They are going to ask me what my brother was doing here, the whole point of me coming here was to find that out,” the sitting Unicorn pointed out.

“Well I suppose you can tell them parts of the truth, just leave out the parts that he’s possessed. I’m sure you’ll come up with something, unless you’re as feeble minded as your brother,” Sombra snorted.

“So my brother told me that you pulled him into the past and put a spell on him and that you did this to other ponies as well. Since Private was the one to find you and not the others, what happens to them?” Barricade asked.

“Well nothing will happen to those that are already dead or those who haven’t been born yet. But of those that are alive in Private’s time period? They should have fallen unconscious and be kept in a dream state for few days,” the dark Unicorn turned to lay on the side to look at his host’s brother. A smug smile came over his muzzle.

“After a few days, they will wake up periodically heralding my eventual return,” Sombra finished and smiled even wider.

Hold on a second, fall unconscious, the epidemic. Barricade blinked as he realized what the spirit was saying sounded awfully familiar, except for the heralding part.

“I see you have everything all planned out,” he snorted and glared at the spirit again.

“Well, except for the two extra princesses,” the dark king grunted and rolled his eyes.

End chapter 6

> Chapter 7. When did you say he woke up?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7

Shining Armor turned swiftly around preparing for the incoming black cloud of smoke. His only thought was to delay that monster if only for few minutes so his sister and her friends could reach the safety of Cadance’s shield. He stared defiantly at the black smoke and shadow, its menacing green and red eyes staring down at him with nothing but malice shining in them.

The unicorn fired a blast but the monster shifted its form away to avoid the shot. The beast then lunged down towards the stallion who grimly lit up his horn again and charged. The two collided and the black smoke immediately enveloped the captain pitching him into blackness.

“Ahhh!” Shining felt something hit him, he tried to fire away but his shot just vanished into the blackness. Then he saw the eyes again, with a frown he tried to shoot again but the eyes moved away. Then blast of magic hit his own horn.

The blast was so forceful that Shining was thrown back, he landed outside the black smoke and could see the city and the blue shield again. The Unicorn looked up and gasped, the beast was heading for him again. Then a voice started to echo all around him.

“Shiny, wake up!”

Shining Armor blinked awake and found himself in bed, he was being gently shook by Cadance who looked down at him with a concerned frown. The Unicorn rose to sit, it was still dark outside, then he realized he was all wet from sweating.

“Are you alright? You were struggling in your sleep,” his wife asked and scooted closer and put both wing and a leg around him.

“I…” Shining wasn’t sure how to respond, he would hardly qualify his dream as a nightmare. It had of course been the memory of his brief battle with King Sombra’s more bestial smoke form but that had never really bothered him before.

“I dreamt when I fought King Sombra, you remember, when Twily and her friends came to help us protect the Empire,” he then simply told her. “Though it wasn’t much of a fight, he disabled my horn very shortly afterwards.”

“That was a while ago, you’ve never said it affected you any,” Cadance said, wondering if something had happened that stirred her husband’s memory.

“It didn’t, seriously, what Chrysalis did to me bothered me far more than that,” Shining chuckled weakly, recalling the nightmares he had the first few days after their wedding. Fortunately, Cadance had helped him work through them. At least Sombra had just plain fought him, though the battle could hardly have been called fair with how quickly the dark king had disabled his horn.

“So why are you having a nightmare about that battle?” his wife asked. “Alright you weren’t struggling like your life depended on it, but you were definitely uncomfortable.”

Shining wished he could answer that question. He really truly was not bothered by that battle however brief it had been. The unicorn had been on duty and with his duty came the chance of losing a fight. Chrysalis had used underhanded tactics and manipulation, attacked his personal life and even had him turn on his own sister.

“And why would you even be dreaming about that, it’s not like King Sombra is back or anything,” Cadance said but not in a serious tone and this time chuckled.

“I don’t know, then again it was a dream, when do they ever make sense when they pop up?” Shining shook his head with a smile. “How about we just go back to bed.”

Cadance couldn’t argue about that, especially since her husband showed no sign of discomfort so this clearly wasn’t bothering him. But then there was a knock on their door, very loud and a hurried voice spoke:

“Princess Cadance, Prince Shining Armor!”

Shining arched his brow, but his wife was already rising up and jumped off the bed. She hurried to the chamber door and opened it slightly. Peeking out she saw one of the castle guards there, he immediately bowed for the princess.

“Pardon me for waking you up, Princess. But Princess Twilight Sparkle has just arrived at the castle, she looked to be in a hurry and told me she needed to see both of you right away,” the guard said hurriedly.

“Shining, your sister is here,” Cadance told her husband who sprang from his bed and hurried over.

“That’s odd, it’s not like her to come unannounced.” Shining Armor frowned and got a little worried, something must have happened.

The royal couple left their bedchamber and followed the guard to the throne room. In there they found Twilight nervously paging back and forth. When the purple alicorn saw them arrive she hurried to them, after a brief greeting hug, she immediately began speaking.

“Sorry I came so unannounced and at this time, but we might have something really serious going on all over Equestria and I have just one question, have any ponies here dropped unconscious and only recently woken up screaming prophetic messages?” she asked in a hurry.

“What? Are you referring to that epidemic we read in the papers?” Cadance asked, recalling the news about ponies dropping down for no apparent reason.

“Yes. The ponies however are waking up, every hour or so. Some scream in terror or cry out cryptic messages, others laugh like lunatics and give what seem like prophetic words, others just lie in quiet terror as they whisper the same. Then they fall asleep again and nothing can wake them, these are some of the things they have been saying.” Twilight produced a scroll from her saddlebag and gave it to Cadance.

The pink alicorn unfurled the paper and began reading. Slowly her expression turned from worried to slight grimace, then she showed the scroll to Shining who scowled when reading what was said there.

“Shadow and fear is coming, Equestria will burn, a host has been found,” he repeated some of the words written. “What does it all mean?”

“We don’t know. All the ponies have it in common that before they fell unconscious, they had all started behaving oddly and then headed off, some made it to trains heading to the Crystal Emprie but when they dropped they were taken off at the next station and put in hospitals there. Some didn’t even make it all the way to any train station,” Twilight explained to them.

“Then Celestia and I realized that none of the reports said ponies here had been doing this, so I flew over here immediately to ask you. Have any ponies here been doing this?” she then asked again.

“No, there have been no reports about it happening here,” Cadance told her sister-in-law.

Twilight sat down, the exhaustion after a long flight finally registering with her. Shining Armor walked over to her and put a comforting hoof on her back, Cadance ordered a nearby guard to have tea brought to the throne room.

“We’re actually in the middle of our own mystery,” Shining told his sister then told her of the stallion he and Cadance had rescued. Twilight listened and then frowned as she heard of their interaction with the stallion.

“When did you say he woke up?” the mare asked and pulled out more papers from her bag, she started to read through them as Shining told her the date. “Hm, no that is the day before…”

“You think this might be related?” her brother asked.

Twilight didn’t respond right away as she poured through the notes she had already made for this strange phenomenon. After speaking with Celestia, the sun princess had given her full charge to investigate it, trusting her to be able to solve it. 

“We did manage to find his brother, but the two of them don’t see eye to eye, so not sure how much he will confide in him,” Shining Armor added.

“I am going to have to talk with that pony myself before I am ready to call these two events related,” Twilight concluded, one thing from the cryptic messages the poor ponies had been shouting was flashing through her mind. ‘A host has been found.’

“You can do that in the morning, let’s have some relaxing tea and then go back to bed,” Cadance said just as the guard returned with the tea.





Private Iceland glared at King Sombra who was now just sitting in the empty brown space with his eyes closed. The Unicorn knew it wouldn’t bother the spirit too much, but he just felt like glaring at him. He had realized by now that the king had so much control over his mind that he could in fact select what his subconscious was seeing when asleep or just plain unconscious.

“I don’t know what your plan is, but so far it seems to me that it’s crumbling just as much as my attempt to not reveal my name,” the unicorn grunted. That prompted Sombra to open his eyes and he glanced at his host with indifference.

“My initial plan did indeed only count on there being two princesses, I could have perhaps adapted it to three, but with four princesses I must reconsider several things. As for my plan crumbling like your pitiful excuse of an idea to conceal your identity, may I remind you that they still do not know that I am in your body and I’ve put your brother on a very short leash that I can choke him with anytime I wish,” the king snorted and closed his eyes again.

“So what is your plan anyway?” Private asked and didn’t care that Sombra sighed in frustration.

“If you hadn’t noticed I’m not exactly in the habit of revealing everything of what I can do and what I intend to do. Suffice to say, all you need to bother yourself with is keeping silent about my presence. However, I will indulge you with this, I am more powerful and more in control of you than I initially led you to believe,” the dark Unicorn growled and narrowed his eyes on the pony.

“Why did you bother with misleading me anyway, it’s not like I had any say in this,” the smaller pony grunted.

“Simply for my amusement. I figured I would relish in the reaction you would give when revealed just how much I was actually in control.” Sombra’s scowl changed into a wicked grin. “I was not wrong.”

Private held his tongue and thoughts since they would be audible. He sighed and dropped his head, not really wanting to banter, if one could call it banter, any more words with the king. The pony lay down trying his best now to ignore the spirit. It took him a second to realize that Sombra was still staring at him. The unicorn glanced up, the red intent eyes of the king were fixed on him.

“I think it’s time I finally boost my power.” A strange smile crawled over the muzzle of the king. His eye whites turned green and from the corners purple mist begin to form. His eyes locked with Private’s who was unable to look away. Sombra rose up and began to approach the Unicorn.

“So Private, I’ve seen one nightmare, the one you claim made you what you are,” Sombra purred softly and as he came closer his smile turned more and more sinister. His black mane and tail were now flowing despite there was no wind.

“But what do you really and truly fear. I can sense apprehension to being compared to your brother, that you hate the fact that you look like him because of his past actions. But what really dwells deep in your mind? What one fear do you refuse to face?” the king whispered.

Private gasped as everything began to shift. The king started to dissolve into black shadow, for a split second only his eyes remained but then even they disappeared. The Unicorn was now alone in the darkness and he started to hear voices.

“Dad, why did you look at those two guys like that. You don’t like them?”

It was Barricade but he sounded younger. An image flashed before Private’s eyes, of him and his brother in the company of a dark tangeloish gray unicorn stallion with a moderate gold mane and tail. They were walking down a street, he and Barricade looked to be around seven or eight.

Private remembered this, they had passed two stallions who were nuzzling each other. His father had shown a very apprehensive look when seeing this but made no comment. It was a very vivid memory for him.

“Shovel, what’s wrong?”

“Ah nothing, Mirage.”

“Hard Shovel, that’s not, nothing is wrong face, that’s something is bugging me face.”

“Ah fine, it just bothers me to see all those colt cuddlers and filly foolers snuggling each other all over town. We don’t need the boys exposed to this!”

Another image, this time Private saw himself in the corridor that lead to the living room. The voices had come from there, his mother and father had been talking and he overheard them. The Unicorn suddenly realized he wasn’t just seeing the images, he was in them, he was seven years old and listening to this.

What he didn’t know was that Sombra also watched as he dug deeper and deeper into his memories, pulling out the pieces that would lead to his worst fear. The king smiled, already feeling the discomfort from the stallion, but he didn’t want just discomfort, he wanted fear and memories could only do so much.

Now why would these memories bother you, the dark king thought. Let’s see, who do you really care for?

An image started to produce of a blue Pegasus mare. Her mane and tail were white with a red stripe like a candy cane. Her cutie mark was a heart with two lightning bolts shooting out of it. Sombra regarded the memory of this pony carefully, finding from Private’s memories that her name was Dew Doe and she was one of his roommates. 

“Ah you care deeply for this mare, but you fear showing real affection to her because you do not want to risk losing her friendship,” the king muttered. “But that is not the fear your previous discomfort was leading too. Why would those remarks made by your father cause you such discomfort?”

He began searching through Private’s memories again, finally finding one where he was in his teens. The pony was sitting alone at a diner, eating a sandwich. Sombra frowned, wondering how this was connected, he was almost prepared to dismiss this when he noticed that the teen was glancing at something, with a hint of admiration. The dark king looked and found to his surprise that Private was stealing a look at a young stallion who was oblivious to this and was in fact leaving the restaurant.

Sombra frowned as he considered this, then saw Private steal another look elsewhere. This time the pony was a mare. The brow on the king rose a bit and now he concentrated on something else, he had to dig deep into his host’s innermost thoughts.

What’s going on? Why do I feel this way? Is it possible to love both?

Wow, he’s cute. No I better not, he would not be interested in a silent grump like me.

She’s amazing… no why bother, nopony would like a recluse.

Dammit brain, stop confusing me like this. It can’t be, can it? Am I really?

I… I can’t tell them… I can’t take the risk… they would hate me… they would never talk to me again…

King Sombra chuckled as he realized what Private’s fear was, the puzzle pieces all falling into place. Now he could conjure up the worst thing imaginable for the stallion, show him in vivid detail what truly terrified him.

Private looked around in confusion, he was adult now but in the living room of his parents’ house in Trottingham. They were standing in front of him, Hard Shovel, the tangeloish Unicorn and Mirage Rock, a bluish gray mare with a dark azure mane and tail. Both looked at him shocked beyond belief.

“What did you say?” Shovel asked sharply, he sounded angry.

“What?” Private looked at his father confused, he hadn’t said anything as far as he knew.

“P-Private, what do you mean, you’re bisexual?” Mirage whispered, she sounded like she was on verge of tears.

WHAT? Her son froze at what she asked about.

“What… I mean…” Private stammered and took a step back, his father put a leg around his mother but was glaring at his son.

I was never going to tell about that. Why would I do that? he shivered a little as he saw his parents react just like he always pictured they would if he ever confessed his secret. As far as the pony knew, no one, not even his roommates knew of this.

“You truly fear your parent’s reaction, don’t you,” King Sombra whispered from the shadows. “You fear they will hate you for what you can’t help.”

“You have seen your father scoff at the idea of ponies of the same gender loving each other, that has driven your fear that your parents will never accept you for who you are,” he continued and inhaled deeply the feeling of fear coming from his host. Already he could feel his power grow as it consumed more of it.

Private either didn’t hear the voice or was ignoring it as he desperately tried to explain himself to his parents. But his father was really angry now, yelling at him, his mother was crying and Private himself was on verge of tears.

“Please… please don’t hate me, I can’t help this. It’s just who I am!” he pleaded, the lump in his throat growing.

“Ah but can they do anything but hate you? You’ve heard your father before, talking down on those so different to him. Not the most understanding of ponies is he?” the dark king continued to whisper.

“Just get out! Get out! At least your brother is not screwed up!” Hard Shovel shouted.

“Oh and added to that, compared to your brother, the one thing you hate the most and now you’re told he’s better than you. You really do fear they would do this too you don’t you,” Sombra murmured feeling intoxicated by the fear and despair coming from Private.

The king chuckled darkly. He could really twist the knife if he wanted to, but he held back. The dark Unicorn didn’t want to drain his host, just get enough fear to boost his powers some more for the time being. He had to be careful, too much and his victim would die.

Finally, Sombra let go and brought them both back to the brown empty space. Private was on the ground sobbing bitterly, not quite recovered from the nightmare the king had conjured up for him. The Dark Pony inhaled more of the fears that still came from the crying stallion, smiling wide and his eyes glowing bit brighter.

“I will drain you, bit by bit, consume all your fears in time but still keep you alive. For I still need your sorry carcass until I am strong enough to recreate my own body, I can only do so much as a spirit after all,” Sombra sat down and regarded his handy work again. With a satisfied smile the dark Unicorn lay down and closed his eyes again, allowing his powers to fully assimilate all the fear it had just consumed.

End chapter 7

> Chapter 8. Ready to see how this could be a lot worse?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 8

“So what’s wrong with him?!” Barricade growled at Doctor Scope.

They were both in Private’s room in the hospital, the Unicorn in question was laying in his bed with eyes open but they just stared vacantly up to the ceiling. No amount of prodding produced any response from him, the only real indication that the pony was in fact still alive was his breathing.

“I don’t know; he seems to have gone catatonic all of the sudden. The nurse that came to check in on him this morning found him in this state,” the mare told him trying to hold back her own frustration, she had to maintain professionalism even if this case was starting to become very, very odd.

“Look, we are going to try few treatments that will hopefully snap him out of this, we can’t guarantee anything at the moment,” she tried to assure Barricade who snorted in irritation.

Oh I think I know what’s wrong with him. The Unicorn stallion gave the bed a glare as he started to suspect the cause.

“I need to check on other patients, but we’ll begin the treatment soon, your brother is going to be all right.” Scope patted Barricade on the back before heading out of the room.

Barricade paid no attention to her departure, he was still glaring at the bed. He narrowed his eyes when Private’s eyes began to blink and then started to move, slowly the Unicorn in the bed looked up with a mildly frustrated expression.

“It seems your brother is having some difficulties recovering from the fears I drained from him,” Sombra remarked rather casually as if this was some minor inconvenience.

“What have you done to him?” Barricade snarled and approached the bed.

“Drained him of some of his fears, he has one that is very potent,” the spirit said with a grin and licked his lips. “It was delicious and fueled my powers quite a bit.”

“You said you weren’t going to harm him if I remained silent!” the other Unicorn snapped, pointing an accusing hoof at his possessed brother.

“And I haven’t, as long as I don’t drain him dry, he will be fine. He’s just having a mild existential crisis right now, he did face a fear he’s always refused to face, buried so deep I had to puzzle it together from various bits of his memories.” Sombra shrugged and lay back down, smiling smugly. He didn’t even react when Barricade hammered his hoof on the support railing of the bed.

“What did you show him?!” Barricade sneered, really wanting to throttle the creature but knew that right now he would only be harming his own brother.

The dark king considered if he should humor his host’s twin and tell him what he had conjured up for Private. Sombra had to admit feeling great deal of amusement at Barricade’s anger and show of protectiveness towards his twin, even if the two were estranged. It could also be additional torment for his host that his detested brother knew of his deepest secret.

“It appears that your brother has a bit of a dual nature. He fancies both the company of mares and stallions but is mortally afraid of his parent’s reaction, fearing greatly that they will not understand this nature of his and will not accept him for it. This is such a potent fear that it is additional factor in his silent demeanor he puts up,” Sombra told him and smirked when seeing Barricade’s angry expression vanish and be replaced with one of confusion.

“Wait, are you telling me Private is bi?” his host’s twin blinked, but now it was the spirit’s turn to be mildly confused.

“Bi? Is that the term used for this?” Sombra asked.

“Bi as in bisexual, swinging for both teams, AC-DC, ambidextrous, you know goes for both stallions and mares,” Barricade counted up though the confusion never left his face, the dark king raised an eyebrow.

“I see, at any rate, that does seem to be what your brother is, so I conjured up a nightmare where he is confronted by his parents after confessing to this nature. Tell me, is he close to his parents?” Sombra wondered.

“Yeah they are pretty tight, Private’s always been a bit of a mama’s boy. Don’t get why he would be scared of how they would react… no wait it could be dad,” Barricade frowned hard as he thought this over.

“Why would you show him this though?” the Unicorn then growled and glared at the spirit who smirked again. “Our parents are bit eccentric sure, but I know they won’t hate him for this.”

“Ah but that is the beauty of fear, it can make you irrational, act more on instincts than rational thought and if potent enough make you believe anything. Just those little things Private has heard his father say during his lifetime has fueled his fear to a point that he is too scared to take the chance,” Sombra chuckled and gestured to Private’s head with a hoof. “Don’t forget, I’m inside here, I see all his memories when I want to. There is very little about your brother I don’t know right now.”

Barricade snorted but didn’t respond further. He just hoped Private would snap out of it so he could speak with him. He wasn’t overly keen on speaking further with the spirit but much to his frustration Sombra didn’t seem to be in any hurry to give control back, then again right now the host was in stupor.

“So, what is it you fear, Barricade?” the dark king asked, looking directly at the other Unicorn.

“Hah! Yeah sure, I’m going tell you that. Why don’t you just go into my mind and puzzle it out!?” Barricade snorted with sarcasm laden to every word. He blinked when his brother’s eyes turned green like they had when the spirit had attacked him, the purple smoke began pouring out.

“As you wish,” Sombra chuckled maliciously and started to slowly rise up in the bed.

Barricade backed away cringing, realizing he had probably opened his mouth a bit too wide. Sombra was about to stare him straight in the eyes but suddenly the spirit halted and glanced towards the door to the room. The dark king frowned, the green glow and the purple smoke disappeared. He lay back down in the bed and Private’s body relaxed, the eyes stared vacantly up to the ceiling once more.

What the? Barricade wondered what had made the spirit retreat, but didn’t have to wait long for an answer, there was a knock and the door opened.

“Hello, I hope we are not disturbing anything,” Cadance said as she, Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle entered the room.

“Uh… no,” Barricade raised an eyebrow. He was even further surprised when Twilight looked at the bed and showed some recognition.

“Wait, is that Private Iceland? I’ve seen him sometimes around Ponyville, I think he’s an uncle to a daughter of a pony I know, he’s always accompanying another filly, Dinky’s sister I think,” the purple Alicorn said.

Ooooh boy. Barricade realized that if the newly arrived purple pony knew that, she probably knew who the father was.

“Yeah... that’s him,” he said hiding his nervousness. “I’m afraid he seems to have gone catatonic, the doctor was going to run few tests.”

“Oh right, sorry Barricade. This is my sister Princess Twilight Sparkle, she is investigating the unconsciousness epidemic for Princess Celestia, she wants to determine if your brother’s situation might be related,” Shining Armor introduced, the mentioning of the Unicorn’s name caused Twilight to look sharply towards him.

“You’re Barricade?” Twilight asked and arched her brow.

Oh crap. Barricade couldn’t help it, usually royalty made him nervous. It was one of the many reasons he seldom went to Canterlot. It was one thing to push around the ponies in Hoofington, he wouldn’t stand a chance mouthing off towards a princess. It was almost the same reason royal guards could cause him to sweat. The police were understaffed and demoralized in his neighborhood. The royal guards were not, just looking at Shining Armor alone, Barricade could tell the white Unicorn could utterly dominate him in battle.

“Something wrong?” Cadance asked, seeing how critically her sister-in-law was regarding the now sweating and smiling nervously dark gray Unicorn.

“It’s not important, but I have heard of Barricade,” Twilight said and turned her attention to Private. “So how long did you say he’s been this way?”

“I uh didn’t, Doctor Scope said the nurses found him like this when checking on him earlier this morning,” Barricade told her and slowly managed to calm himself down, knowing they were here about his brother not him.

Twilight stepped closer to the bed staring curiously at the catatonic Unicorn. She grabbed from her saddle bag some empty papers and a quill and started scribbling something down on it. While she did Doctor Scope and a nurse entered the room. The purple princess greeted them and immediately began asking them various questions about their patient.

“So, why does she think Private and the epidemic is connected?” Barricade whispered to Shining Armor.

“Well you brother all but admitted being in trouble and he did arrive here around the time ponies were falling unconscious and then woke up day before the others began waking up,” Cadance told him, she stood close enough to hear the question.

“Wait what? They are waking up?” Barricade asked confused.

“Yes, but only periodically, shouting strange prophetic messages before falling unconscious again,” Shining told him, he used his magic to borrow the scroll again from Twilight’s saddle bag and showed it to the fellow Unicorn.

“What? They are waking up already? They should have been asleep for quite a bit longer.” Sombra growled, listening quite intently to all the conversations going on in the room from the safety of Private’s body.

“So that’s the fourth Princess, she looks familiar. Ah it’s not important, just another enemy to dispose of. However, this is not good, if they are waking up already it means she is already trying to trace the source and is much closer to it than she actually realizes. The blasted sleeper spells must have deteriorated,” Sombra snorted as he considered his options.

“Wait, you said he just suddenly flew off the bed and his cheek bruised up?” Twilight exclaimed, the suspicions already crawling over her face.

“Damnation!” the dark king sneered as he remembered that incident. He could hear a snicker.





“And what do you find so amusing?” Sombra growled, glaring at Private who was holding his hooves over his mouth trying to conceal his giggles.

“What was that about trying to remain secret?” Private couldn’t help it, it had just snapped him out of it when hearing that the tables had turned a bit on his unwanted house guest.

“Just so you know that’s Princess Twilight Sparkle. I haven’t met her personally but I know some ponies that know her and let me tell you, she’s going to put it all together.” For the first time in a while the Unicorn actually felt like smiling, it faltered a little bit when seeing the spirit stare at him coldly.

“Then I have no choice but to boost my powers even more,” Sombra growled. His eyes turned green and sprouted the purple tendrils once more. The sneer turned into a malicious grin as he locked his gaze on his host.

“Tell me little one, are you ready to face your fears again, intensified tenfold!” he laughed madly.

Private’s smile vanished instantly, replaced with a look of horror. The darkness began to envelope him but he didn’t struggle against it. His eyes had turned green as the spirit’s and he just stared forward. Sombra appeared behind him, smirking maliciously as he bent over closer.

“Ready to see how this could be a lot worse?” the dark king whispered softly, already drinking in the terror coming from his victim.

There was no answer but Sombra expected that. With a cruel chuckle he began conjuring up images to draw out his host’s fears. Rejection from his parents, disowned by them, cast out on the streets. His family all turning against him, even his roommates leaving him. Sombra finally burrowed to the very core of this fear, the lack of acceptance, no one accepting him, being rejected and shunned simply for being who he was.

“You think your seven days spent in my cage is what made you a recluse? Tsk, tsk, I wish I could take full responsibility for breaking you so much. You do not give your fear nearly enough credit,” Sombra murmured, moving his muzzle closer to Private’s ear.

“You do not just fear your parent’s reaction, you fear that no one will accept you, that no one will understand your nature or accept who you are. That is why you keep ponies at an arm’s length isn’t it? That is why you are so silent. You fear if you open up that they will reject what they see. Did not some ponies openly question your mental health when you were younger and witnessed how much quieter you were compared to your more energetic brother?” the dark Unicorn continued to whisper softly into the ear.

“Ponies were always comparing you to your brother, no matter what you did, never seeing what you did, just seeing what your brother did and you didn’t. Why couldn’t you be more like him? The nightmare I caused you has been a handy excuse for you to conceal your true core fear.” Sombra’s malicious grin turned even wider when hearing the whimpering sobs escaping Private’s lips now. He knew that right now Private was experiencing it, ponies judging him, rejecting who he was, not accepting him.

“He’s bleeding from the nose!”

Sombra frowned when hearing the voice from outside and realized that must mean his victim was at a breaking point, almost sucked dry. With a growl he released his hold on Private before it went any further. The pony crumbled and curled up in a ball, whimpering and shivering, with the dark king standing over him.

“I just don’t understand what is going on. We can’t find anything wrong with him.”

“You won’t, at least not physically.”

“What do you mean, Twily?”

“This pony… he’s possessed.”

Sombra narrowed his eyes, seemed Private was right about that purple princess. Ignoring his whimpering host the dark king prepared to take hold on the body once more.





“Possessed?” Shining Armor arched his brow, Cadance shared the same confused look, Scope was frowning. Barricade, however, was cringing, fearing what would happen now, the spirit had been rather insistent on remaining secret.

“Yes, if you carefully consider what you have told me. His sudden change in demeanor, flying off the bed and showing physical injury from it. He’s possessed,” Twilight looked over to the bed. The nurse was cleaning Private’s nose and stopping the bleeding.

“He must be the host that the other ponies have been screaming about,” she frowned and then looked at Barricade. “Did you know?”

Barricade glanced at the body of his brother, wondering if it was safe to confess that he did know. Twilight did seem to have figured it out already. He looked back to the Alicorn and then with a sigh nodded, causing Shining and Cadance to look at him with startled look.

“Who is possessing him?” Twilight asked but before Barricade could response there came a laughter from the bed. The nurse gave a small shriek and jumped back. Private was sitting up, a wolfish grin on his muzzle and a mad glint in his eyes. Everyone backed slowly away from the bed.

“Do not bother, princess. I didn’t tell him,” Sombra said with another laugh. It stopped when Twilight’s horn started glowing and he and the entire bed was encased in a lavender force field bubble. Shining Armor activated his horn as well and reinforced the shield his sister had put up.

“Quaint.” The dark king glanced at the force field unimpressed. “I suppose you think this will able to contain me?”

“It should hold.” Twilight frowned and walked closer to the bubble. “Now who are you and what have you done with all those other ponies and why are they heralding the destruction of Equestria?”

“Just some tiny seeds to spread a little fear and panic.” Sombra smiled and began examining Private’s hoof, then used it to dust off his chest as he glanced back up at the princess. “I do so love when those little ponies of Celestia’s begin running around like poultry that have had their heads removed.”

“Can we get him out of my brother?” Barricade asked feeling a bit more confident now that he was no longer required to keep anything secret. He didn’t like the laughter coming from his possessed twin.

“We will, Barricade, don’t worry,” Cadance assured him and then turned her attention back to the bed.

“You fools think you can separate me so easily from my little slave here? I have owned him since he was but a colt, since I pulled him back to my time and encased him with spells that bound him to me, forced him to seek out my spirit in case I died. Oh I’m afraid I’m no mere apparition that’s gone in uninvited and squatted,” Sombra laughed and his grin changed to a sadistic smirk, he actually began gently caressing Private’s body.

“This poor little boy spent a week with the greatest practitioner of the dark arts a millennium ago without even realizing it, thinking it all but a nightmare that took one night. I confess I had no intention to abduct such a young child, I feared he would perish before I could put all the spells I needed on him. But he was surprisingly resilient, I was so intrigued that I infused small parts of my essence into him,” the dark Unicorn continued, relishing in the looks that were given him.

“I suppose that is why he responded first to my call, why he came first. Others that I pulled back I merely put the usual sleeper spells on, but with this one, I was more thorough. If the spell I used to pull ponies back in time wasn’t so volatile and only gave me a week to work on them, I probably would have just kept the boy.” Sombra shook his head, still with that same smirk plastered on the muzzle.

“Wait, you have been doing this to other ponies as well? But I only know of one time spell and it was created by Starswirl the Bearded and that one only sent you back a week,” Twilight half protested the idea that the spirit could have been doing this at all. 

“So just because you only know of one time spell, that means that no others exist, is that what you’re trying to tell?” Sombra snorted and chortled when seeing the indignant look come on the princess.

“Twilight, we are getting off topic. Alright he’s established that he’s been doing this to many ponies, that explains the epidemic, they must have been the other ponies he pulled back and put spells on. Since they no longer needed to seek him out they fell unconscious.” Cadance put a calming hoof on her sister-in-law.

“Yes, you’re right, we need to know who we are dealing with here, so it’s high time we learn just who you are,” Twilight frowned and glared at the possessed body of Private.

Sombra didn’t look too impressed. He started glancing at the force field, he reached with a hoof to touch it and pulled it back when feeling the magical energy from it tingle him. He smiled as he realized what kind of energy field this was.

“Strong shield, in many cases a very, very good shield,” he complimented and looked at Twilight. “Who taught you this spell.”

“My brother did,” Twilight said with nod and gestured so Shining. “Although it’s rather poor replica of the shield he can produce.”

“Oh stop, Twily, you’re embarrassing me,” Shining Armor joked and grinned a little, he was rather proud of his shield spells.

The dark king grinned wider as he regarded the white unicorn. Remembering him better now, recalling when they had fought briefly out in the snow during his attempt to reclaim his empire. He also knew a rather important fact about the shield. There was just one thing he had to count for before acting as he eyed towards Cadance who so far hadn’t said anything to him, allowing Twilight to speak.

“But haven’t you guessed already who I am? I’ve given you hints and the answer is all around you,” Sombra decided to play difficult, not wanting just yet to reveal who he was.

Twilight raised her eyebrow but then began mulling over what she already knew, trying to piece things together. The pones screamed of shadow and fear, he talked about being from millennia ago, that is thousand years ago and Private had by all appearances been possessed by him in the Crystal Empire.

Sombra in the meantime leaned back in the bed and closed his eyes. He needed to concentrate as now secrecy was not an option. He would only have one shot at this. So the dark king began covertly building up his power, the current shield was a mere inconvenience, the main danger to him was Cadance. The one who had erected the shield that actually could hurt him back when he tried to return from his exile.

Barricade approached the shield, wondering why the spirit had suddenly just laid back as if he was relaxing. He looked at the others, all three were in deep in thought as they tried to riddle out who the spirit was. Doctor Scope and the nurse had vacated the room as their service was not needed for this.

The dark gray Unicorn looked back at the bed and scowled. Purple strands of mist were beginning to pour out from the corners of his brother’s enclosed eyes. He looked sharply back to the royalty in the room.

“Uh guys,” his warning came too late.

The dark king shot open the eyes, they were glowing green and the irises shone like blood red fire. Suddenly with a deep dark bellowing laugh black smoke like shadow shot out from the body and the horn started glowing a sickly green and purple color.

The tendrils crushed into the shield, smashing it in one shot and causing both Twilight and Shining to jump back. But one big and thick shadowy tentacle didn’t stop, it flew through the air and struck Cadance in the head before she could react, sending the pink Alicorn across the room where she smashed into the wall.

“Cadance!” Shining cried and rushed over to his wife, cradling her unconscious form in his front legs. A bone chilling laugh caused him to look up, his ears dropped and the white unicorn cringed at the sight before him.

The shadow smoke pouring out of Private had congregated right above the possessed Unicorn. Parts of it were twisting into a large dark gray pony head and the shadows formed its mane, a red curved horn produced from his forehead and his eyes glowed in sickly green and red. Sombra laughed, enjoying the sight of Twilight shrinking away as she stared up at him in shock, Barricade as well backed off, staring in horror at the creature coming out of his twin.

“King Sombra?” Twilight couldn’t believe it but there it was. The Shadow King had somehow returned. Suddenly all the prophetic messages made much more sense.

End chapter 8

> Chapter 9. We spoke too soon.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 9

“How is this possible? We stopped you. We saw you blow up,” Twilight protested, she was still finding it difficult to accept what she was seeing.

Sombra was about to respond but was distracted by a blast of magic passing through him. The dark king glared to the corner where Shining now stood, having carefully put Cadance back to the floor. The white Unicorn returned the stare and his horn was glowing, ready for another charge.

“Don’t bother little prince, this theatric is merely a projection,” the dark king snorted and the shadows sunk back into Private’s body.

The ponies could only watch as the body started to rise, the blonde mane and tail now had black accents and the horn curved slightly at the edge and had a red tint. Sombra was in full control of Private now, though he hadn’t taken completely over.

“I am still in here and I should point out that any harm done to me is actually just harm to my slave. I am still just a spirit, I have nothing to feel pain with,” the dark king chuckled and smirked mockingly at Shining Armor who still had his horn ready for a blast.

“As for how this is possible? Simple, death is merely an inconvenience for one such as me. My spirit was bound to my horn, I made plans, have you forgotten my traps princess? The ones you undid in search for the Crystal Heart,” Sombra glared at Twilight.

“Oh I remember you now, you’re the one who found the Heart and sent that insufferable dragon to give it to that pretender I’ve knocked out,” the dark Unicorn eyed back towards Shining and Cadance.

“Even I am not so foolish to think that there is never a chance to defeat me. You think I hid the Crystal Heart just to spite these worthless worms out there? I prepared for my possible death, granted it has not quite played out as I had hoped but that is why you make contingency plans,” Sombra snorted and started to glare at every pony in the room. Then he suddenly smiled and chuckled.

“Please excuse me, I did not intend to ramble like that,” he apologized in a mocking tone.

Twilight rose fully to her feet staring defiantly at the possessed pony. She opened her mouth intending speak but then the door to the hospital room swung open. Flash Sentry and few guards rushed inside, they had heard the commotion and knowing that there were three royal ponies in the room had hurried over.

This turned out to be enough of a distraction for Sombra. Suddenly he sprouted shadow and smoke from Private’s body, covering the entire room in darkness, causing mild panic amongst the other ponies This took only a split second and even before the unicorns thought of lightning up their horns for a light spell the darkness was gone and so was the dark Unicorn and Barricade. 

“Where are they?” Twilight shouted and looked between the bed and the spot Barricade had been covering in. Then she saw the open window and rushed to it, but no matter where she looked, nothing could be seen outside.

“Flash Sentry and the rest of you, head out and search for them. Get more guards, search the entire city, you’re looking for two dark gray Unicorns!” Shining Armor ordered immediately, Flash could only salute with a nervous grin before he and the rest of the guards ran out.

Twilight ran over to her brother and helped him take Cadance over to the other bed in the room. Fortunately, the pink Alicorn was already stirring.

“We have to active the Crystal Heart so it sends its magic pulse throughout the empire, that should rip Sombra out of Private Iceland’s body and hopefully remove him for good,” Twilight said with a concerned frown.

“W-what?” Cadance murmured as she finally came too, Shining rubbed his head gently against her.

“I’m afraid we spoke too soon about King Sombra, he’s back,” her husband whispered gently. Then he looked gravely at Twilight.

“To activate the Heart we need all the Crystal Ponies in high spirits so their natural magic infuses it with their love and light if we want the blast to hit the entire empire,” he reminded her.

“Actually I can activate it with my magic, but the blast is then only concentrated around the city,” Cadance pointed out and sat up.

“Then we better hurry and do it while he’s still in the city, because I think King Sombra thought of that,” Twilight said and glanced anxiously towards the window.

Shining Armor helped Cadance off the bed before the three ponies hurried out of the room. They had scarcely left when the shadow under the bed began to stretch out from under it, then it rose up and slowly formed back into possessed form of Private. Barricade emerged as well wrapped tight in shadowy tendrils that also kept his muzzle shut.

Blasted Crystal Heart, I must get out of the city and fast, Sombra thought and then glanced at his other prisoner who was struggling madly at his bonds.

“Although I have your brother, an additional hostage could be useful,” the dark king mused before he dissolved himself back into shadow, dragging Barricade into this form as well. Then he slinked out of the still open window.





“King Sombra certainly picked a perfect time to return,” Twilight grumbled as she, Cadance and Shining Armor rushed to the where the Crystal Heart rested on its dais underneath the castle.

“Don’t worry, we’ll activate the Crystal Heart, there is no way he’ll get out of the city in time,” Shining assured her, the Crystal Castle was just up ahead, they could already see the mystical artifact shine on its raised platform.

“I would still have liked to have the Elements of Harmony as backup,” his sister muttered, remembering when she and her friends had to give them up to heal the Tree of Harmony.

Shining Armor didn’t respond except by nodding. When they finally reached the dais, the siblings were alarmed to see Cadance stumble a bit as the pink princess came to a halt. The stallion rushed over to his wife to support her, allowing her to lean on him.

“Sorry, I still feel a little woozy after that punch Sombra gave me.” She smiled tiredly.

“Can you do the spell?” Twilight asked worriedly.

“I must, can’t let that creep get away with that poor pony or his brother,” Cadance said with determination and rose to stand on her own.

Twilight and Shining held their breaths as the princess of love activated her horn and aimed it straight at the Heart. Crystal Ponies started to gather around having noticed the mad run of the royals earlier and were curious about what they were doing now. Cadance cringed as a headache started to build up in her head as she put all her concentration into the spell that usually came quite naturally for her. The magic fizzled away from her horn and she dropped to one knee, grimacing in pain.

“You must have a concussion, you’re in no shape to be casting that,” Shining told her gently as he helped his wife to stand up again. He looked Twilight who was starting to look a more anxious though she also watched her sister-in-law with sympathy.

“Twilight, do you think you can cast Cadance’s spell?” he asked, knowing well how his sister could often duplicate spells others had cast.

“Oh of course, why didn’t I think of that.” Twilight blinked and immediately turned towards the Heart. She lit up her horn and concentrated, having seen Cadance often enough cast the spell and could remember it well.

Twilight fired a beam of light straight into the heart. It spun on its dais then burst with bright light, sending a bright beam skywards, using the castle like a giant amplifier. The three royals smiled at first but it started to waver when the light began to fade before reaching the summit and then the Heart sent out a weak pulse of magic energy that only reached the first houses surrounding the castle.

“Well, unless Sombra was within a block of the castle, we did not get him,” Twilight groaned, she had been too careful with firing the spell and not put enough power into it.

“Sombra? Did she say Sombra?”

“What, King Sombra?”

The two Alicorns and one Unicorn now first noticed the throng of Crystal Ponies around them, all now looking around nervously and whispering uncertainly. Twilight hoofed her face, the last thing the they needed to hear was that their tyrant had returned even after they had used the Crystal Heart to blow him up.

Cadance looked at Shining Armor briefly before turning her attention to her subjects. Despite her headache, she stepped forward standing tall and assumed again her determined expression.

“Yes, I’m afraid it’s true. King Sombra has returned, he is possessing the pony Shining Armor and I rescued off Little Crystal. He was only revealed today and we are trying to use the Heart to send the same magic pulse that defeated him the last time, hoping to save the pony and his brother before the King flees the city. For he knows he is not safe here with the Crystal Heart protecting us,” she addressed them in a calm gentle voice.

The Crystal Ponies looked at each other, some looked shocked while others were concerned. Then one mare stepped forward with confidence in her face, she knelt down before the dais. The others stared at her in wonder for a moment before one by one all the ponies around started doing the same. The road underneath them began lightning up and the light spread towards the Crystal Heart.

Once again the Heart spun and sent out a bright light that traveled up the castle and towards the summit. Now a powerful magic pulse shot out from the artifact, spreading across the city and making even regular ponies visiting the empire as glittery as the Crystal Ponies. But the pulse stopped just outside the gate, not enough ponies had taken part in the activation to spread it further.

“Yes, that had to have hit him,” Twilight cheered and flapped her wings in excitement.

“I hope you’re right, thanks everypony,” Cadance nodded gratefully to the Crystal Ponies around who had activated the Heart.

“We better join the guards in searching for the Unicorns,” Shining suggested, his wife and sister nodded in agreement. Before they could head off a Crystal Guard came running in a mad dash and pushed his way through the crowd of ponies.

“Your Highnesses,” he bowed before the royal ponies. “I was just coming from the train station, with news.”

Oh no, please don’t tell me… Twilight cringed, she had noticed that the pulse had only covered the city and the train station was outside of it.

“What is it?” Cadance asked with a heavy frown.

“The Friendship Express departed few minutes ago, Flash Sentry and I went to the station just in case the Unicorns would go there. Several Ponies did indeed witness two dark gray Unicorns with blonde manes jump into the train as it departed. Flash flew after it in hopes to intercept it or at least catch up with it at its first stop,” the guard confirmed their fears.

“Oh no, that means King Sombra has escaped,” Twilight gasped.

“Darn it, Flash stands no chance against Sombra alone, find a Pegasus guard to fly after Flash and bring him back, put all guards on high alert. King Sombra might be gone for now, but he’ll definitely be back,” Shining Armor ordered the guard who saluted and rushed off to carry out the orders.

“Everypony, it is important we all remain calm. Remember that the Crystal Heart is still here and will protect us, there is no need for worry,” Cadance addressed the Crystal Ponies who had started to look worried again when hearing that the king had escaped.

“Twilight, you need to go warn Princess Celestia, she and Luna will need to be prepared as well in case Sombra decides to avoid the Crystal Empire.” Shining turned to his sister.

Twilight wanted to protest, wishing to help here but the prophetic messages from the other hospitalized ponies came back to her. Even if Sombra had said it was simply to spread some fear and panic, they did not know what his plans were. Best to put Equestria on high alert.

“I’ll return as quickly as I can,” Twilight said and spread her wings and flew off.

“Should we make another attempt, gather the Crystal Ponies and make an Empire spanning pulse?” Shining Armor wondered and looked at his wife as they made their way into the castle.

“I don’t think enough of them will be in high enough spirits once it spreads out that King Sombra is back, for a blast that big we’ll need all of them,” Cadance spoke in a low voice and shook her head.

“Then there is only one thing to do, we need to capture Sombra while he’s still inside that body and drag him back to the city limits so we can blast him at close range,” Shining said, his wife nodded in agreement.





Sombra peeked out of the luggage car and smiled when seeing the magic pulse come from the center of the city but stop just outside the gate. Glancing upwards he could just make out a lone Pegasus guard trying to catch up with the train, the king chuckled, seemed that his projection spell had worked, making it look like that Private and Barricade had jumped into the train as it departed. In truth he had slipped into it using the shadows, but he had wanted to make sure everyone knew he was onboard this train.

What a marvel this new technology is, he thought and started to admire the train itself. It certainly made his escape easier.

A groan caught is attention and the Dark Pony glanced back. Barricade was coming too, having been rendered unconscious previously by the king so he wouldn’t make too much noise. Sombra walked over and stopped where his other prisoner lay, tied up with shadowy tendrils.

“Ugh… where am I?” Barricade groaned and looked up, then he remembered when seeing his possessed brother standing over him. The horn was still partly curved and the mane and tail still had black streaks in them.

“Where is Private?” the Unicorn asked and glanced down at his bonds. Even if they looked just like some shadowy writhing mass, they felt like ropes.

“He’s still here, being quiet,” Sombra responded and reached with a hoof to tap the temple of the head.

“He’s is good at that,” Barricade muttered and decided to test the tendrils tying him up, they turned out to be too strong for him. He glared up at the king who kept watching him with a mocking smirk. “How is he?”

“All you need to know right now is that he’s still alive, unless you give me a reason to change that,” the Dark Unicorn chuckled and sat down. “You really care for him, don’t you?”

“I may be a selfish jerk who tried to scare him and his friends away from messing around in my business, but if I had to take a magic blast for him, I will,” the other Unicorn snorted. “My family may not think too much of me, but they are still my family.”

Barricade raised an eyebrow when Sombra started to laugh, it actually took the king a minute to compose himself and he had to dry tears from his face. Then he looked back at his tied up prisoner with an almost maniacal grin.

“You are hilarious, Barricade. I should let you know that at this point I have fully accessed all of your brother’s memories and while I had you asleep, I accessed yours as well. I can only say, you have one messed up view how the world should work,” King Sombra shook his head. “And this is coming from me. Who enslaved the Crystal Ponies and cursed them so when I was exiled they were put in a thousand-year stasis and couldn’t remember anything but my rule.”

“You actually think you can have it both ways, the love of your family and at the same time be a gang leader engaging in illegal business that even includes beating up ponies to keep them in line. You want to have normal family life and at the same time behave like you’re some criminal big shot.” Sombra shook his head and rose up.

“And now Mister Big Shot, you’re tied up and have to helplessly watch as somepony far superior to you controls your brother who hates looking in the mirror because he doesn’t just see his face but yours as well,” the king walked back to the door of the car glanced out. He saw that the Pegasus was no longer following the train, either the pony had given up or fallen behind.

“You don’t have love of your family. Your brother showed no appreciation that you came running when hearing he was hospitalized in the empire. He can hear everything I can hear and he showed no positive reaction to it when you expressed concern for him few minutes earlier.” Sombra looked at the passing snowy landscape, he smiled as he recognized where they were.

Using his magic, Sombra lifted Barricade off the floor. Before the Unicorn could even protest he was suddenly flung out of the train and landed harshly in the thick blanket of snow that covered the ground. The king followed shortly, floating in his shadow form before landing by the groaning pony and changed back to Private’s body.

“You’ve deluded yourself into believing that you can make this work. Is it really working? Two of your daughters now hate you and want nothing to do with you anymore, you are holed up in some run down part of a city where you barely manage to make ends meet even if you run that gym and help running that apartment complex for your bedmate’s father. You’re at constant risk that the law enforcement might just finally come around and clean you up, or even better the royal guards get involved. Tell me Barricade, are you really living in the paradise you envisioned for yourself?” King Sombra asked and used his magic to remove the tendrils off Barricade’s legs, the shadows slinked off towards the king, crawled up the legs and returned to the black part of his mane.

Barricade didn’t respond, instead he just slowly rose up feeling a bit dizzy after having been thrown off a train. The pony really didn’t want to answer the question; he didn’t even want to admit it that Sombra was right.

“If you really are a selfish jerk as you put it, if you really want to show everypony that you are this big bad criminal boss, then just go. Follow the train tracks back to the Crystal Empire, it isn’t too far away from here,” Sombra said and started to walk away heading towards the mountains in the distance.

Just go home and forget any of this happened? I’m sure Private will be alright, Barricade thought as he glanced at the train tracks.

I mean… it’s not like he’ll thank me for this or anything. He looked towards where his possessed twin was walking away.

Wait, why is he giving me a choice to follow or not? What was the point in dragging me along here? The Unicorn frowned, looking now between the train tracks and Private Sombra.

He told the princess that he has contingency plans, his previous plan of remaining secret was blown apart and now he’s gone all the way out here and heading towards the mountains. Yeah, Private is not going to be alright… Fine, I messed up in Manehattan, I’m not messing this one up. Barricade turned away from the tracks and hurried after his brother.

“So much for selfish jerk,” Sombra remarked when he saw his host’s brother come running.

“I told you, I’m maybe a jerk but he is still my brother, even if he hates me!” Barricade snapped, glaring at the king. “So where are we going and why?”

“See that mountain there?” the king gestured to a large mountain in the far distance, parts of its peak resembled a toothed mouth. “That’s where we are going. At its summit, there is a cave which I happen to be very familiar with. Long before I took over the Crystal Empire, I had some items stored there, they will assist me for the next phase of my new plan.”

“Your new plan, I take it the old one was to remain secret and do something else?” Barricade grunted.

“I had intended to remain secret for a while longer yes.” Sombra narrowed his eyes. “Lay in wait and gather information before slowly spreading my corruption across Equestria while I regained my power and could regenerate my body. My plans however were made when I only thought there were but two Princesses, as it turned out, there being four made things more complicated.”

“And now?” Barricade wondered, although he wasn’t really expecting a straight answer.

“Now that would be telling,” the king said and glanced at the other Unicorn with a smirk.

That was pretty much what Barricade expected to hear. The spirit seemed to love being vague, only giving so much information but still keeping vital parts to himself. He looked towards the mountain in the distance, this trip was going to take a while, even if Sombra took on shadow form and flew them there.

Deep inside his own head, Private could do little but watch and listen. The king ignored him for the most part now that he was focused on controlling his host’s body. The pony really wanted to tell his brother that the spirit was lying, he had deep down appreciated seeing a familiar face even if it was him. He had really hated hearing Sombra belittle his brother and lie to him about how his family felt about him.

“We don’t hate him! We just wish he would wise up already and grow up. Mom and dad would listen if he genuinely apologized. If he wanted to apologize to Dinky and Coal and their mothers Derpy and Foxy, I would ask them to at least hear his apology.” Private had protested earlier but Sombra had just ignored him.

Private sighed and watched as they reached a road that was only slightly covered in snow, indicating that it was well travelled. Sombra stepped on the road and headed in the direction that lead towards the mountain, Barricade trailing behind.

End chapter 9

> Chapter 10. Oh a city boy.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 10

Barricade could only wonder who in his or her right mind would build an inn on a road that to him was in the middle of nowhere. Yet there it was, a modest looking two story building made out of wood and stone. A sign waving above the door identified the place as “The Crystal Ale.”

Both stallions regarded the building carefully. They could see it was open for business, lights were on and they could see ponies and other creatures inside from the windows. As they approached, they could definitely see that this place was newly built, the wooden beams still looked freshly hewn.

“This establishment was certainly erected after my time,” Sombra remarked and rubbed his muzzle thoughtfully.

“Maybe we can beg for scraps, unless you don’t care that not all of us are dead and need food and drink to continue the whole living thing we do,” Barricade grunted, they had no money, his saddlebag was at the hotel back in the Crystal Empire.

“I do in fact actually care, I still need your brother reasonably alive so I must sustain this body. But we shall not be begging for scraps,” the king said and conjured up two cloaks and threw one to his host’s twin before draping the other one over himself. “Wear this, best we do not draw attention to ourselves, news will soon spread that I have returned if I know the princesses right.”

Barricade grumbled but threw the cloak on before following his possessed twin into the inn. His eyes were met with a familiar atmosphere, reminiscent of the various pubs he frequented in Manehattan. Just in this case it wasn’t just ponies hanging around having a drink and/or eating food.

The inn was bustling with activity; the fireplace was crackling bright to keep the cold winter weather out. All kinds of creatures either sat at their tables or by the bar counter at the back. There were not just Ponies, though Barricade spotted a few, even some Crystal Ponies. There were griffons, minotaurs, elks, even a pack of Crystal Wolves had suffered to come in for a meal. Donkeys and mules also visited this place along with cattle. The Unicorn couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at seeing all these travel worn creatures, this was far more multi-cultural than he was used to. At most he saw the occasional donkey and a mule, sometimes rarely a griffon in Manehattan.

Sombra showed no reaction and paid no heed to the eyes that glanced at the two newly arrived ponies. He immediately headed towards the counter at the back, Barriacde followed, also ignoring the stares, despite the unusual amount of non-ponies, this was an environment he was at home in.

“Welcome to the Crystal Ale!” a voice bellowed cheerfully from behind the bar. Standing there was a huge brown Minotaur wearing a stained apron, he smiled widely towards his newest guests.

“Are you staying the night or just travelling through? Stopping for a bit or eat or something to drink? Maybe both? Maybe all? My establishment is at your service,” he continued.

“We are merely passing through, good innkeeper, but we require a meal and a drink and a reasonably quiet corner to sit and rest our hooves,” Sombra addressed him.

“Of course, of course,” the innkeeper nodded before putting a thumb and an index finger into his mouth and whistled loudly. Almost immediately a young light crimson unicorn mare came rushing from somewhere further inside the inn, she held a tray and a cloth in her magic.

“Spicy, show our new guests to their tables and give them menus,” the innkeeper ordered before looking at the two ponies. “Before you head to your tables, do you wish to order your drinks now?”

“A tankard of your strongest ale will suffice for me,” Sombra requested, causing Barricade to raise an eyebrow.

“Ah… do you have Manehattan Gold?” the Unicorn asked and was mildly relieved to see the minotaur nod. “A jug of that then.”

“Come with me boys, I’m Spicy Hot, I’ll be your server today,” the mare then addressed them, she levitated the tray to the innkeeper who was already making the drink order ready and put them on it. She also grabbed two menus from the bar counter before escorting the two Unicorns further into the inn towards an empty corner table.

“Spicy Hot huh? I definitely agree with the latter part,” Barricade addressed her with a coy smirk and gave waitress a wink as he sat down.

“And what’s your name, handsome?” Spicy asked smiling patiently, clearly used to such comments while placing the drinks on the table.

“My mother called me Barriacde, you can call me the same,” the Unicorn said, he was feeling so at home in the inn that for a brief moment he couldn’t bother worrying that his possessed twin sat on the other end of the table.

“Perhaps I will,” the waitress chuckled and put the menus on the table.

“Before you leave to attend other duties and customers, do you serve meat here?” Sombra asked, he hadn’t been too impressed by Barricade’s blatant flirting.

“Oh yes, I hope that doesn’t bother you, but we serve all diets here, as you can see for yourselves we have a quite a variety of clientele,” Spicy said glancing at the dark king.

“Ah but it does not bother me at all, my dear,” the Dark Unicorn chuckled, smiling darkly and almost eagerly. This caused Barricade to glance at him with a frown and Spicy arched her brow. She looked mildly confused when Sombra grabbed his menu and put it back on her tray.

“I do not require the menu, just give me a generous cut of your finest meat, preferably only lightly grilled,” he said with a low chuckle.

“Wait! WHAT?” Private cried deep inside his body.

Barricade and Spicy both stared at the dark king, mouths agape. The stallion actually paled a little, wondering for a brief fleeting moment that the spirit was just making some sort of a sick joke.

“Ah… I’ll just take a cheese salad dish,” he muttered and put his menu on the tray as well. Although, his appetite was slowly fading.

Spicy just slowly nodded, smiled nervously before disappearing away, leaving the two stallions alone. Sombra casually sipped on his drink as he carefully observed the surrounding area, it took him a moment to realize that Barricade was still staring at him.

“You eat meat?” Barricade whispered, still not believing it.

“Actually my kind is omnivorous, though I personally lean towards meat.” King Sombra shrugged.

“I thought you were a pony,” his host’s brother claimed unsure.

“I am a pony, just not Equestrian pony. I’m a Dark Pony, race now mostly gone from the lands beyond Saddle Arabia,” the dark king snorted.

“And you somehow wound up here?” Barriacade asked, he was still confused about this whole thing.

“I travelled a lot in my younger years and yes did end up in the Crystal Empire.” Again Sombra just shrugged and sipped on his drink.

Barriacde took a tentative sip of his drink, wondering how his brother was reacting to the fact that soon his body would be used to consume meat. Given, ponies kept carnivorous pets like cats and dogs and thus had to feed them correctly, but most just didn’t talk about it, they respected that other creatures of Equestria had to eat meat to survive, but it was still an uncomfortable subject that generally out of respect was never raised.

Great, now that hot waitress probably thinks both of us are lunatics, he then thought and silently grunted. Deep down, due to being in a familiar and almost comfortable environment, he had hoped to score a little. Allow himself to forget for a short while that he was forced to travel with an evil spirit possessing his brother.

The Unicorn drunk from his jug and started to scan the inn, hoping to spot Spicy again, maybe he could salvage the situation. Right now the spirit seemed to be ignoring him and didn’t address him at all. However, the light crimson mare had apparently made herself scarce or was staying out of sight of the corner table.

“So what was it that the princess called you?” Barricade gave up and looked at his possessed twin. The spirit glanced at him and just smiled. “Right, you’re not answering that in a crowded inn, are you?”

“Although no one here would stand a chance against me if they were to try anything, I would prefer to not cause too much noise just yet,” Sombra said quietly. “You remember the name she called me and yes, I am he.”

“Weren’t you blown up or something?” the other Unicorn asked bluntly and couldn’t but smirk a little at the indignant expression now glaring at him.

“A very temporary setback as you can yourself see,” the dark king softly growled and drank from the tankard.

They fell silent when Spicy returned, levitating her tray in front of her. On it was a plate of lightly grilled meat, Barricade did not want to think about where that came from, and a bowl of salad. The stallions were given their orders and the waitress just gave them a nervous smile before walking away.

“You are seriously going to eat that, with Private’s body,” Barricade grimaced as he saw the spirit prepare to cut into the meat with the utensils. “You do realize he does not have the digestive track to handle that.”

“Don’t you dare put that into my mouth. Don’t you dare!!” Private screamed inside his mind but as usual was ignored by King Sombra.

“I’ll use my magic to aid in the digestion,” the Dark Unicorn simply said and put a piece of meat into his mouth and started chewing.

“Ugh… no… don’t let me taste it. BLEH. I NEED TO HURL!” Private gagged but as he was not in control of the body nothing came of it.

Sombra was really enjoying the reaction from both his host and the brother. He intentionally chewed slowly as he cut more of the meat, allowing the juice from it to spill around. Bit of if even escaped his mouth, as it trailed down his lips and muzzle.

Barricade felt sick watching this, it was just so wrong to see what on the surface looked like his brother enjoying a grilled chunk of meat. It didn’t help how slowly the spirit ate, savoring each and every bite he took.

Private must be gagging in there, he thought and slowly eyed his salad. Somehow it just didn’t look very appealing right now. Hesitantly though, the Unicorn tried to eat some of it but just another look at the dark king made him stop.

“Oh sweet Celestia, fine eat that damn meat but can you stop making me sense the taste?!” Private begged in vain, the king paid no attention to him.

“That does it, I’m going to hurl.” Barricade was paling up. He rose quickly from his table and rushed over to the bar counter, where he addressed the innkeeper. “Restroom. Quick!”

“Over there in the back.” The Minotaur glanced at him with mild concerned and pointed in the right direction.

The stallion rushed towards the back, ignoring the Crystal Wolf he bumped harshly into on his way. Fortunately for him the wolf had barely felt it due to his lumbering size and just looked around confused, thinking somebody had been patting him on the back to get his attention.

Barricade barely made it to the restroom, immediately upchucking what he had eaten of the salad and his drink. He groaned softly but felt a little better, especially now that he was out of sight from his possessed brother. He went to the sink and did his best to clean himself up a little, hoping he didn’t stink after this. just to be on the safe side he rinsed his mouth with water several times, dearly wishing for actual mouthwash.

Maybe I should just stay at the bar until that sicko has finished eating, he thought as he stepped out of the restroom to allow the next person to use it. The Unicorn was mildly surprised to be face to face with Spicy as he made his way back.

“Hi, uh Strong Horn wanted me to see if you were alright and ask if you needed anything,” the mare told him with a nervous grin.

“Strong Horn, that the innkeeper?” Barricade wondered and nodded when the receiving an affirmative answer.

“We’ve only recently opened you see and he’s still a little nervous about the reputation. It wasn’t the food or the drink or anything that made you sick?” Spicy asked and tried her best to appear calm.

“No, well technically maybe. It was seeing my traveling cohort eating meat,” the stallion grunted and tried to glare towards the corner table. However, his field of vision was blocked by other patrons of the inn. He then looked at Spicy again and put on his most charming smile.

“I could use a mouthwash or something if you have any,” he said hoping he had at least shown her that he wasn’t some crazy meat eating pony.

“I think we got something in the breakroom, come with me.” The mare gestured for him to follow, she looked a little more relaxed.

“Lead the way, sexy filly,” Barricade murmured and just gave an endearing smile when Spicy glanced back at him, having heard the comment. The stallion changed it to a grin and gave her a wink when immediately noticing that she hadn’t been offended by the remark.

The Unicorn couldn’t see the corner table, but what he didn’t know was that Sombra could see him. He could see the entire inn. Even though the possessed body of Private still sat by the table eating his meal, the dark king had been spreading his essence around the establishment using the shadows. There wasn’t crack or crevice in the building the dark king now didn’t see into.

“Oh typical, he’s ditched me for a mare,” Private grunted who could see everything too since for some reason the dark king was letting him.

“I doubt he will go far, he seems rather eager to be with us as long as I hold your body,” Sombra remarked, not really interested in Barricade’s exploits.

“That’s not what I meant… ah never mind,” the Unicorn sighed and tried his best not to gag as more taste of meat came over him. He sometimes forgot how out of touch the king actually was and not quite up to speed with modern way of speaking. “Why can we see all over the inn?”

“Just a security measure,” the spirit responded without saying much more. Private wondered how much that was true considering how often the king had lied to him.

Sombra continued to eat and anyone who looked towards the possessed pony, would just see a cloaked Unicorn enjoying a rather unusual meal for his kind. However, the dark king was focusing his mind towards the six Crystal Ponies that were in the inn enjoying a meal. The spirit sneered internally as he watched his former slaves looking so happy and content.

My Crystal Slaves, he thought and within Private’s mind narrowed his eyes. They shall be the first example of what awaits those worms.





“Here, it isn’t mouth wash but it should take the aftertaste out of your mouth just as well,” Spicy Hot said and levitated a glass full of liquid to Barricade.

The stallion took it and gulped its content. He immediately realized that this was strong alcohol the moment the burning sensation hit his tongue. But being used to strong drinks, he downed it without much trouble, slamming the glass to the table he sat by.

“Ah, that was good, Mountain Spring?” he asked curiously, Spicy tilted her head looking mildly impressed.

“You know your drinks I see,” she chuckled and sat down by the table as well.

“It’s not my special talent, but I am no stranger to the pubs of Hoofington Manehattan,” Barricade smirked, rather enjoying not being in the spirit’s company right now.

“Oh a city boy, you’re far away from home,” Spicy teased lightly, earning a laugh from the stallion.

“Actually I grew up in Trottingham, I just moved to Manehattan later, set up a nice little gym and also help run an apartment building,” he chuckled, the mare nodded.

“So what are you and your… uh friend doing all the way here?” she wondered, that caused Barricade to hesitate a little. He was pretty sure Sombra would not like it that he told her much and would probably somehow know if he had told her anything.

“Alright, I’ll be straight with you as I can, but please keep this to yourself. My brother is in trouble and I’m sort of forced to travel with that guy for a little while to sort it out. Frankly I wouldn’t mind just being at home right now. Then again I’m rather glad we stopped here, the familiarity of the setting is helping ease my nerves a little,” Barricade told her and gave a little shudder.

“Well that’s the Crystal Ale is for, give weary travelers a home away from home,” Spicy chuckled a bit, she lit up her horn and levitated a flask to them, it contained the drink she had given Barricade earlier. “More?”

“Please.” Barricade grabbed the glass up with his magic and held it up so the mare could pour from the flask.

“So how did a nice looking girl like you end up here? Unless you are from around here, I shouldn’t assume,” he then asked and leaned a little to the side to take a look at her cutie mark, it was not surprisingly a pair of red peppers.

“Eh, no special story behind it. I’m from a small village north of Vanhoover, saw an ad in the paper and applied. I’ve always loved working in the food service and living all the way out here appealed to my adventurous nature,” Spicy shrugged.

“Well since you live here, know anything about a big mountain with a peak that looks like a mouth full of teeth?” the stallion asked as he downed the second drink, Sombra hadn’t elaborated much more about it after telling him where they were headed.

“Oh that’s Sombra’s Maw,” the waitress answered causing Barricade to raise his eyebrow. He could have sworn he also heard an indignant snort. “It’s practically impossible to climb except by expert mountain climbers, usually goats.”

“Sombra’s Maw?” the stallion just couldn’t believe the name, now he could swear there was an irritated growl. Spicy didn’t seem to have heard anything and just nodded.

“It used to be called simply Jaw’s Peak, but after the Crystal Empire returned, we heard that the Crystal Ponies had started referring to it by that name and we all just switched over. There is an urban legend that when the wind blows through the mouth, you can hear the angry howl of the dark king,” the mare told him and grinned a little.

“That’s some legend,” Barricade muttered and was now certain that something or someone was listening in because there was another snort. Don’t tell me the bastard is watching me?

Then he noticed that his glass had been filled again. The Unicorn smirked and figured he knew what was going on. He glanced at Spicy who tried to look rather innocent. Barricade downed the third shot and then peered at the mare with a knowing expression.

“I should warn you that I can drink an entire bottle of this and just end up feeling lightly buzzed,” he said with a chuckle.

“Crud, there went the ‘drunk until passed out and make you think something happened’ plan for the leery comments,” the mare grunted a little. She raised an eyebrow when Barricade started laughing.

“You’re not the first one to try that, let me tell you that, baby,” the Unicorn said after he regained his composure. “But look, if you’re not interested nothing will happen. I’m maybe a jerk but I have some standards. I won’t apologize for the comments, but I won’t try anything.”

“Ugh, well I’m sorry I tried to do this. If I had a bit for every time a leery drunk stallion made a pass at me, I could open my own inn. You were just the sixth guy today and when Strong Horn told me to help you because you appeared to be sick, I thought you were drunk enough that I could get away with it,” Spicy sighed and took a sip from the bottle itself.

“Forget it about it, I’m just glad to be away from that creep I’m travelling with, if only for a little while,” Barricade shrugged and frowned a little when he definitely heard an evil sounding chuckle. Oh now I know he is listening in.





In the inn itself Sombra finished his meal, Private still felt like hurling but as he had no control could only just hope that feeling would go away. The spirit just sat now and by all appearances seemed to be enjoying the rest of his drink.

Nobody paid attention to him and or the two different tables that had three Crystal Ponies each sitting at them, wearing traveling cloaks and winter gear. The six ponies had just moments earlier been chatting happily away, eating their meals and enjoying their drinks.

No notice was taken when one by one a Crystal Pony fell oddly silent and stopped moving. Some started to lean back in their seats while others leaned forward on the table. One even ended up resting her head on it.

Private started to notice though as he like Sombra could still see everything through the shadows. He had just learned earlier that he could ignore it, since the Unicorn wasn’t forced to do it. But now he couldn’t help but spot the six ponies who just seemed to have fallen asleep by their tables and found it odd none of the other patrons or inn staff paid any attention to it.

The Unicorn tried to take a closer look. The closest he could see was the one Crystal Pony whose head now rested on the table. Private managed to peek under the hood and gasped in shock at what he saw.

The Crystal Pony’s face was twisted into expression of horror, the eyes were bloodshot and blood trickled down from her nose and mouth. She didn’t move and wasn’t breathing. Private felt sick as he realized that the mare was dead. The Unicorn looked over at the rest of the five ponies and felt cold as he realized none of them were breathing.

They were all dead.

Underneath the cloak, King Sombra had a shark like grin as he heard Private give a cry of terror. The eyes of his host’s body were green and red and subtly a purple smoke streamed from the corners. The meat hadn’t been the only meal the king had dined on this day.

End chapter 10

> Chapter 11. Where do you think he’ll go?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 11

Flash Sentry entered Shining Armor’s office. He was a little tired after straining to keep up with the train and feeling slightly miffed at having been called back. Still he had obeyed the order and returned to the city, hoping though he could get an explanation for it.

The white Unicorn sat behind his desk and beside it was Cadance, having insisted on being there when Flash returned even if her husband had suggested she go and rest. They both looked at the newly arrived Pegasus, the princess smiled but the prince had a more serious expression.

“Sorry for calling you back from your chase, Flash Sentry, I do commend you on your initiative but I’m afraid that if Sombra had spotted you, we would probably not be talking right now,” Shining Armor said.

“Sombra? As in King Sombra?” Flash gasped when both royals nodded.

“You’re a good guard, but you wouldn’t have stood a chance against him alone. But yes, King Sombra is back, he’s been possessing Private Iceland. That’s why he was so inconsistent in behavior and uncooperative,” Shining explained to him.

That does indeed explain a lot, the guard thought and furrowed his brow.

“We’ve sent telegrams to all the stations that the express stops at and asked them to be on the lookout for two dark gray unicorns that might step off it. That doesn’t rule out that they might jump off the train before it reaches a station though,” Cadance said.

Flash nodded in response, he hoped he would be allowed to help with the search. The Pegasus felt a little bad for the gaff at the hospital that allowed Sombra to escape. It was not his call though.

“We also feel that the parents of the twins should be notified, after all one of their sons is possessed and the other has been taken hostage by the same spirit. They have a right to know what is happening,” Shining Armor pointed out. Flash felt his heart sink a little, it was obvious who he was sending to tell them by how he looked at the guard.

“But sir, they are all the way down in the San Palomino Desert on an archeological dig,” the Pegasus tried to weakly protest.

“According to the Canterlot Science Society, the San Palomino dig is happening two-hour flight away south of Los Pegasus,” the Unicorn informed him and gave him a piece of paper where the location of the dig was.

“Should I try and find the roommates too? They are in Los Pegasus on vacation.” Flash Sentry held back a grumble when seeing that there was no use protesting, he was going west whether he liked it or not.

“If you can find them do that.” Cadance nodded. Flash saluted and left the office, intending to take the next train immediately.

Shining Armor watched him go and once the door shut after the Pegasus the Unicorn looked down and sighed. He glanced up when Cadance put a supporting hoof on his back, the stallion smiled weakly.

“I just keep thinking about everypony that creep could have possibly possessed, this Private was the first to come but somepony else could just as well have arrived first. What if it had been somepony we knew? Then I feel awful for feeling lucky that no one I know had this happening to them, because how must Barricade be feeling seeing his brother like that, how will their parents be feeling knowing their son is being controlled by a vicious tyrant.” Shining shook his head. “I can only imagine how my parents would feel if this was me or Twily.”

“You’re a good compassionate pony, Shiny, one of the many reasons I married you,” Cadance smiled and reached to give him a hug, her husband returned the embrace.

“Speaking of your parents, good thing we remembered to send them a note to postpone the visit until we have this sorted out,” the princess then said once they parted, the stallion nodded in agreement and rose from his desk.

Shining walked over to a wall where on hung a map that showed the entire Crystal Empire and its surrounding area, it even named some of the mountains. Sombra’s Maw was high up in the north western corner almost out of view. Cadance rose up and followed him.

“Right, if Sombra plans to keep close to the Emprie but still out of reach of the Heart’s blast he’ll have to jump the train,” he said, lightning up his horn he grabbed a quill and used it to trace after the line on the map representing the train tracks going west.

“But if he does, where do you think he’ll go?” his wife wondered, north, south or west, there was a lot of area for two ponies to disappear in.

“That is the million-bit question.” Shining Amor sighed as he regarded the map. “If he goes north of the tracks, there are at least three inns he could stop at, Mountain Rest, the Rowdy Crystal Wolf and the most recently opened the Crystal Ale. I mean even if he’s a spirit his hostages need to eat and rest, of course he might not care about that.”

“There are many more places to go if he goes south but that’s because then he would be heading straight into Equestria proper,” Cadance said and rubbed her muzzle thoughtfully. “You know, I have a feeling Sombra would try and avoid going further into Equestria in his current state.”

“Yeah, plus he is probably more focused on the Crystal Empire.” Shining nodded in agreement as he marked on the map where the three inns where, they were well apart from one another. The Crystal Ale was the closest to the tracks and the Rowdy Crystal Wolf was much further northeast. “I should send guards to the three inns and see if the find something or somepony who has seen something.”

“If Sombra even left the train,” the princess sighed a little, hating a bit to only have guess work to go on. All they knew right now was that their enemy had gone with the westbound train.

“Then hopefully they in Vanhoover see something when the train stops there,” Shining told her reassuringly and put the quill away. He looked at his wife and became a little worried when seeing she was rubbing her head and looked to be in mild pain.

“Seriously, Cady, maybe you should lie down for a little while,” he suggested and put a leg around her. “He did hit you pretty hard.”

“He knew who had the spells that work on him, I’m fine, it’s just that bump on my head, still bothers me a little,” the princess smiled and leaned on her head on her husband.

“Yeah, had I known beforehoof that it was Sombra, I would have asked you to strengthen Twily’s shield.” Shining Armor shook his head. “Still can’t believe that jerk can counter it, I mean Chrysalis at least had to drain me for it to crack.”

Cadance tried not to chuckle at the pouting tone in the Unicorn’s voice, knowing hurt pride when hearing it. When they first came to the empire, it had of course been Shining’s first instinct to immediately envelope the city with his shield spell. Seeing Sombra smash it almost immediately afterwards had been a quite a metaphorical punch to his gut. Fortunately, Cadance’s quick thinking of using a similar but the far more exhausting love and light shield spell had kept the Shadow King out before the Crystal Ponies realized he was back.

Then if that hadn’t been bad enough, after Twilight and her friends arrived, Sombra disabled his magic completely. To his credit, Shining had taken all of this in stride and instead focused on supporting Cadance’s effort to maintain her shield.

“Well at least Sombra did it in a stallion to stallion fight,” he would just say if ponies asked.

“Finding Sombra again is one thing though, containing him again is another,” Shining mentioned and glanced back at the map. “This guy plans ahead, we probably need to do so as well.”

“We know he draws his powers from fear and hate, my spells can counter his, so I’ll probably need to do that,” Cadance said, ignoring the concerned look she received from her husband. “I’m sure I’ll be in form again by the time we know where to go look.”

“He has two hostages, one which we can’t get away from him seeing that Sombra is inside of him.” The Unicorn reluctantly pushed his worries about his wife’s condition aside and frowned. “We have a nightmare of a hostage situation; he might put us in a spot where we might have to save Barricade at the cost of Private.”

Shining Armor let go of his wife and went back to his desk. Cadance stayed by the map, still studying it. The Unicorn started to look through the desk for some paper, once he found a blank piece he returned to the map, he grabbed the quill again and started writing the observations the two of them had already made.

“I hate to say this but if we have to take down Private to stop Sombra, we are going to have to do it,” he muttered.

“As an absolute last resort.” Cadance cringed at the thought that they might have to go that far to stop their enemy. Her husband nodded in agreement, not relishing that thought either.

“Maybe Twily will have some ideas when she comes back,” Shining suggested sounding absolutely certain, remembering how her sister had helped last time.





“I have absolutely no idea how we are going to do this,” Twilight complained as she nervously paced back and forth on the train station platform in Canterlot.

She had finished informing the Princesses of the situation about King Sombra’s return. The purple Alicorn was now going to take the next train to the Crystal Empire, she was too tired to fly again or teleport such a vast distance.

“What? It’s just King Sombra, I’m sure we can handle him,” Spike the baby dragon said confidently. He had arrived with the last train from Ponyville after Twilight had sent him a letter, telling him to ask their friends to keep a close eye on the town just in case Sombra made his move there. The young dragon, however, had decided to head to Canterlot on his own to help the princess any way he could.

“Spike, last time we had all the Crystal Ponies to activate the Crystal Heart and him close enough to be blasted with it. Even if that hadn’t worked, we could still have fallen back to Canterlot to get the Elements of Harmony.” Twilight stopped pacing and now stared at her assistant. “We don’t have the Elements of Harmony now, Sombra is smart enough to stay out of reach of the Crystal Heart this time around and he has two ponies in his grasp, one of which he can just kill from the inside if he wants to.”

“Um, good point,” Spike relented, he didn’t want to show his unease. It was though easy to be confident that they would fix this while still so far away from the main problem. The dragon also never liked to admit it but if Cadance hadn’t caught him that fateful day, he would just have plummeted to his doom and the dark king would have caught the Heart.

Twilight groaned and finally sat down. She had also contacted Ponyville Hospital, but there was no visible pattern to the wake ups except that they happened every hour and the ponies always said the same. She was growing more and more convinced that Sombra had been telling the truth that they were just to spread some panic for his amusement.

“So who got possessed, anypony we know?” Spike wondered.

“Not directly no, Derpy and Time Turner know him though. It’s Dinky’s uncle,” Twilight told him.

“Dinky has an uncle?” The dragon knew who Dinky was but hadn’t heard before she had many male relations except her grandfather.

“On her father’s side, he’s sometimes came with Dinky’s half-sister for visits,” Twilight explained and eyed up when hearing a train whistle. “Derpy and Time Turner learned of them during the time they got together and had to settle some matters with Dinky’s father.”

“Ah.” Spike had actually no idea when that happened, though he had noticed the two of them suddenly being together few months ago. Twilight did notice the confusion on her little dragon and thus continued.

“It happened shortly before we got sent to the Crystal Empire the first time. Derpy got a false claim against her to be investigated by her daugther’s father, Barricade. The Fillydelphia social service which handles cases in Ponyville sent two social workers, to do the investigation who happened to be familiar with Barricade as well.” Twilight rose up as the train came to stop in front of them, she and Spike entered and found seats in the car.

“It’s a long story what happened next, Applejack couldn’t tell me all the details about it, but the social workers, Foxy Stripes and Dew Doe, were friends with Barricade’s twin brother Private Iceland and they apparently have a long history with interfering with Barricade. To put it in short, Barricade was doing the false claim to see if they interfered with him again and when they seemed to be doing exactly that, he decided to try and scare them off by surrounding them with few of his thugs and pretend he was going to harm them if they didn’t stop,” the princess finished, Spike arched his brow.

“That sounds overly convoluted and rather stupid,” the baby dragon remarked dryly.

“It certainly wasn’t a smart move on his part, especially since it got Derpy and Time Turner involved in a feud they didn’t need to be a part of. Anyway, they became friends with Private, Foxy and Dew. Foxy had previously been in a relationship with Barricade and they had a daughter named Coal, she sometimes comes to visit her sister Dinky now,” Twilight said as she gave two tickets to the conductor.

Which makes me wonder why Barricade was there at the hospital, maybe he feels sorry for what he did, she mused to herself. He certainly sounded concerned, wanting Sombra out of his brother.





“Are you feeling better?” Sombra asked when Barricade returned to their table.

“As if you care,” Barricade snorted and sat down, glaring at his possessed brother. “How long were you watching?”

“You honestly think for one second that while you are in my company that I trust you well enough to not keep an eye on you?” the Dark Unicorn snorted.

Barricade grunted, grabbed his jug with levitation and drank from it. It wasn’t like anything had happened, despite his reputation in Manehattan, the stallion respected it that Spicy Hot had not been interested. So all they did was share more of the Mountain Spring and talk a bit.

“I suppose no…” Barricade frowned and looked around, he first now noticed how eerily silent it was. He looked at his brother, the eyes were glowing green and purple smoke emitted from the corners.

Why is nopony moving? He thought as he now noticed that just about every patron in the inn sat strangely hunched over their tables. There was no sign of Strong Horn the innkeeper.

“So much delicious fear and hate,” a whispering voice caused him to snap his head back to Sombra, who was smiling devilishly.

“Are they dead?” Barriacade half rose up wanting to inspect the nearest patron who was a big burly minotaur. The Unicorn noticed that his eyes were glowing green as well and he had a horrified expression frozen on his face. To his relief he confirmed the guest to still be alive.

“What are you doing?” He whispered, still keeping an eye on all the other patrons. He could only assume they were in the same state and the minotaur.

“Draining them off their fears and hate,” Sombra answered simply.

“Like you did with Private?” Barricade slowly looked back at him.

“Indeed, your brother is still too weak after last time I drained him and since we are here,” the dark king confirmed with an evil chuckle.

“Strong Horn?”

Barricade quickly looked over to the bar. Spicy Hot had just come out of the break room and was looking behind the counter, indicating where the innkeeper now probably lay in the same state as the rest of his customers. The mare frowned in worry and went there.

Crap. The stallion cringed and looked at King Sombra, except he was no longer in his seat. Barricade eyes bulged out and then he looked back to the counter, seeing his possessed brother appear out of the shadows right behind Spicy.

This hadn’t gone unnoticed by the mare, she jumped when noticing the dark looking Unicorn and turned around to face him. Spicy was unnerved by the strange look he was giving her and the malicious grin on his muzzle. She slowly started to back away as he approached.

“I must say, my dear, that cut of meat you delivered me was quite exquisite, I haven’t had such a meal in a very long time,” Sombra purred softly and licked his lips greedily. “But you want to know what is even tastier?”

“Who in Tartarus are you?” Spicy whispered and found herself cornered at the end of the counter, she started to glance frightened around. She saw Barricade who was debating with himself what he should do.

“Your fear is…” Sombra was cut short when a large bottle of ale was slammed into him. In a desperate move Spicy had grabbed the nearest one with her magic and hammered it on the Unicorn’s head.

Ow, Private is going to be feeling that. Barricade grimaced since this had actually knocked his possessed brother down but clearly not out. Spicy jumped over the counter and made a mad dash for the exit just as the Dark Unicorn was rising up growling in rage.

Sombra leaped over the counter now half in shadow form, clearly intending to head straight after the mare. Barricade sighed, knowing he would be regretting what he was about to do. The Unicorn rushed from his table and tackled the body of his brother down, allowing Spicy to escape out of the inn. The next thing Barricade knew was him being tossed towards the ceiling by the enraged dark king. Then everything went black.

King Sombra growled as he watched the limp body of his host’s brother come crashing back to the floor. He glared to the exit, contemplating if he should try and resume his chase, Spicy would be easily trackable in the snow.

No, I have no time, the fun is over, time to head to the mountain. Sombra turned to the back of the inn and found his way to the backroom. He found a saddle bag and began stashing it with food and other supplies. When he returned, Barricade was coming to.

“You try something like this again, worm, I will make sure your brother suffers badly,” the dark king hissed as he glared down at the disoriented Unicorn.

“Whatever you say, boss,” Barricade said trying to uncross his eyes and shake the dizziness out of his head as he slowly rose up.

Sombra snorted and headed out of the inn with Barricade unsteadily following him. Outside the dark king already spotted the hoof prints from Spicy, noting that she had run off in the eastern direction. The dark king grunted and figured the time he had was now cut even shorter than he liked. With a grunt Sombra started heading northwest.

“Say, what about all the ponies and uh others in the inn?” Barricade asked, remembering in what state the patrons and the innkeeper had been in.

“They will wake up eventually, or if somepony rouses them,” Sombra shrugged, never looking back.

“Now get moving, thanks to you, that mare will have plenty of time to let somepony know about us and it won’t take long for them to figure out where we are going. I intend to get to the mountain by the next day,” the Dark Unicorn then ordered sharply.

Happy to help. Barricade allowed himself to smirk since the dark king wasn’t looking. Although this hadn’t actually been planned, the fact that now ponies would soon know where to look for them and it was thanks to him, gave him some relief. The Unicorn doubted he could delay their trek to the mountain, but at least now help should be on the way.

End chapter 11

> Chapter 12. You want the tent over there.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 12

The San Palomino was not a huge desert, but it still stretched far enough south of Los Pegasus that ponies were generally warned from trekking across it without being suitably prepared. It bordered the Mysterious South and the Arimasti territory where few Equestrians had dared to enter.

The desert was old thus it hadn’t been surprising when what looked like an ancient town was discovered there, though already some of the archeologists on site were starting to downgrade it to a trading post. Possibly Saddle Arabian in origin.

Flash Sentry was rather disappointed at what he saw when he flew over the archeological dig. When he pictured ancient ruins, he pictured big but still crumbling buildings and ancient temples. What he saw now was essentially squared off somewhat flat areas where ponies were busy either digging or carefully dusting off rocks and there were more rocks around that had marks or flags on them. He couldn’t see an ancient town at all.

There were plenty of tents though, clearly for the ponies doing the dig. Lots of supply crates and many carriages filled with even more rocks, though the Pegasus could swear he saw what looked like a broken vase.

The guard got plenty of looks as he landed and some of the ponies around whispered to one another. Flash ignored it and walked straight over to a fellow Pegasus who was working on a row of rocks that rested on a table.

“Excuse me, I’m looking for Mirage Rock and Hard Shovel,” he addressed the pony who had looked up when noticing the approaching guard.

“Oh, you want the tent over there.” The Pegasus didn’t even stop his work, carefully chipping away at the rocks, just pointed in the right direction with his wing.

“Thank you, sir.” Flash nodded, he was half tempted to ask what the pony was working on but knew he was in a hurry. He hadn’t bothered looking for the roommates in Los Pegasus, seeing that the city had so many hotels that it would be a waste of precious time. At least he knew directly where the parents were.

The guard took a swig from his water bottle he had taken with him and approached the tent. He could hear cheerful voices from the inside and as he came closer to the entrance, a black Unicorn filly with a silver gray mane and tail suddenly ran into his path forcing him to stop.

“Woah!” Flash had to back a little, the girl had stopped as well when seeing who she had almost ran into.

“Hi,” she greeted him cheerfully.

“Hello.” The guard smiled and was ready to walk around her, but she got back in his way, displaying her flank to him to show her golden heart cutie mark.

“I just got my cutie mark,” she said beaming with pride and excitement.

“Oh really, congratulations,” Flash Sentry chuckled. The filly started to jump up and down.

“Yes, I got it when in Los Pegasus with mom and Aunt Dew on vacation, I just saw all the ponies who didn’t have food and started to share my cookies with them and then one pony didn’t have a blanket, the nights actually get chilly around here even if it’s really warm during the day. So I ran into a store and got her a blanket and that’s when I got my cutie mark,” the girl told him, whether he actually wished to hear the story or not being irrelevant.

“Talent in compassion, huh that’s not bad.” The Pegasus smiled again, then he realized he recognized the name she had dropped. “Aunt Dew, as in Dew Doe?”

“Yes, you know Aunt Dew?” The filly, Flash guessed was Coal, looked more curiously at him now. “Hey you are a royal guard aren’t you?”

“Yes I am and I’m looking for your mother, your aunt and also Mirage Rock and Hard Shovel,” he told her, causing Coal’s eyes to widen a little in surprise.

“Wow, you are looking for grandma and grandpa too?” She pointed to the tent. “They are in there. Gotta go, want to show everypony my cutie mark.”

Flash Sentry couldn’t help but chuckle again when the Filly darted off and indeed stopped in front of other ponies to show off her golden heart. The guard continued to approach the tent now that his path was no longer obscured.

“I better call Coal in, can’t be good for her to be running around in that blazing heat with a black coat like hers,” he heard a male voice say. A dark tangeloish gray unicorn stallion appeared in the entrance, he wore an old worn Stetson and brown vest and was clearly approaching his elder years.

“Ah hello there, what do we have here?” the unicorn said when seeing Flash Sentry and grinned. “A royal guard? I didn’t think the Princesses were that interested in our little dig, though I wouldn’t be too surprised, they always do seem to be interested in the little things.”

“Ah actually, I come from the Crystal Empire, I’m Guard Flash Sentry…” Flash Sentry couldn’t get further as he was interrupted by the Unicorn.

“Yes, uh just a moment. COAL!” The Unicorn suddenly called when spotting the black filly further off in the camp. “Coal get in here, the sun is high up, you’ll get a heat stroke.”

“Coming grandpa,” the filly shouted and came at top speed and ran straight past the two stallions and into the tent.

“Right as I was saying,” Flash was interrupted again by the stallion who he was now guessing was Hard Shovel, the Unicorn did have a shovel as a cutie mark.

“Come into the tent why don’t you and tell us all about it there, much nicer and cooler than out there in the sun,” Hard Shovel said and pretty much pushed Pegasus into the tent.

Inside in one corner were two camp beds, there were several small tables around filled with rocks and other old looking items. There were crates and containers all over the place. A large crate was being used as a substitute coffee table by three other ponies, two Pegasi Mares and an older Unicorn mare. Coal was now sitting on one of the smaller crates nearby and the Unicorn was giving her a juice box.

“Well ladies, this here is Guard Flash Sentry all the way from the Crystal Empire.” Hard Shovel introduced him to the mares.

“That is my wife, Mirage Rock.” He gestured to the bluish gray Unicorn mare. Before turning to the Pegasi, the maroon one was bit big, stallion sized, her back and muzzle were white, so was her hoof and pastern on her left foreleg and her right hindleg down from the gaskin. The other mare was smaller than Mirage, blue with a white mane and tail, a red stripe ran across her hair giving it a bit of a candy cane appearance.

“Those two lovelies are Foxy Stripes, and Dew Doe, and the little angel over there drinking her juice is Coal,” Hard Shovel finished his introduction. The Pegasi just smiled at the compliments, clearly used to the old stallion.

“It’s very nice to meet you all,” Flash Sentry said and prepared to get right to business. However, Hard Shovel wasn’t quite done as he suddenly chuckled and continued to speak.

“You know, it’s funny to be getting an unannounced visit from a royal guard,” he said giving Flash a friendly nudge. “Mirage and I happen to have twin boys who came out dark gray when they were born. When I saw them for the first time and had in mind how many royal guards are either white or dark gray, I just couldn’t help but say, ‘did we just conceive two new royal guards for Princess Celestia?’”

This is Private’s father? Flash Sentry was starting to wonder if he would ever get a word in. The Pegasi mares just politely chuckled at the story. Mirage however smiled in clear amusement.

“Of course they didn’t become royal guards,” she said clearly intending to continue from where her husband left off. “Our boy Private followed our line of work sort of, he was always so engrossed with history, he works in the Fillydelphia history museum you know. He sometimes does minor work for us too, he is so good at identifying things. Barricade ah… was always more um… wild.”

“It’s actually Private Iceland, but should be Private Ice-Lands with a hyphen, it’s an old Gryphon word for the Frozen North. We changed it to Iceland because we felt three names was a bit too much. But Private usually prefers to only go by his first name,” Hard Shovel clarified.

“Barricade was named such because it took him so long to come out, he was born first you know, we sometimes joked he was barring the way for his brother,” Mirage chuckled.

Flash Sentry was starting to get a little uncomfortable. The older ponies seemed to be capable of chattering on forever about their sons. Fortunately, Dew Doe spotted his discomfort and came to his rescue.

“Mirage, Hard, I do think Flash Sentry came here for a reason so he probably wants to inform us why he came for a visit,” the blue Pegasus addressed them, not sharply but clear enough that the couple stopped and looked at the guard. Coal was giggling, she had witnessed this happen many times with her grandparents.

“Oh right, I’m so sorry, we can blather on can’t we?” Mirage chuckled looking slightly embarrassed.

“Yes thank you, it’s alright,” Flash Sentry assured her before quickly continuing so Hard Shovel couldn’t say anything, fearing the Unicorn stallion would have another story to tell.

“I’m actually here about your sons,” he said, catching everyone’s full attention now.

“Sons, wait both of them?” Hard Shovel looked mildly surprised, he found himself a seat next to Mirage Rock while listening to the guard.

“Yes, I’m afraid I wish I was coming with good news.” Flash Sentry nodded before proceeding to tell them everything. From the time Private was found on Little Crystal to the point the guard was sent to notify them about the situation. 

All five ponies stared at the guard in both shock and alarm. Flash Sentry actually felt a little awful for ruining the previously good mood in the tent. It was clear that the Pegasi mares and Coal had decided to use the opportunity to visit the Unicorn couple since they were in close proximity of Los Pegasus. Granted it had been convenient for him to have them all in the same place, but still it was never fun to drop such grave news on anyone.

“Rest assured, we are doing everything we can to find them again,” Flash told them in a gentle tone. He could see that Coal was becoming very upset, her mother was the quickest to shake off her own shock and went over to her daughter and draped a wing over her in a hug.

“I…” Hard Shovel finally found his voice again. “I don’t suppose we can come over to the empire? I mean there is probably nothing we can do to help with the search but…”

“I’m sure the Royal couple will welcome you, in fact I am pretty sure I was supposed to bring you over,” Flash Sentry assured him, he didn’t recall any order about it but figured that was pretty much implied with the order to go tell them of the situation. Naturally they would want to head straight to the Crystal Empire.

“I have just one question, why weren’t we told sooner?” Dew Doe spoke up, sounding a bit angry. Mirage Rock went over to her almost as if she was ready to hold the younger mare back.

“Miss Doe, Private wasn’t very cooperative with us, it was by pure coincidence that we actually figured out his name and where he lived. We went to Barricade because you and Miss Stripes were in Los Pegasus and their parents were here in San Palomino. We didn’t in fact know he was possessed until yesterday,” Flash carefully explained, maintaining a calm tone in his voice, knowing the mare was just upset and worried about her friend.

“Don’t worry about it, you were just doing your job.” Hard Shovel went up to him and patted him on the back. “Now we better get our gear, tell Dig that she’s in charge and head over with you to the Crystal Empire.”





The mood hadn’t improved too much once aboard the train. They had not spoken a lot on the way to Los Pegasus except quietly with each other, Flash wasn’t one to pry into their private conversations so he didn’t listen in. Back in the city they found the hotel the Pegasi mares and Coal were staying in. The guard and the Unicorns helped them pack before checking out.

Flash still felt a little bad for having had to ruin their vacation, especially since Coal had attained her cutie mark during it and had been so happy and excited. Now the filly looked sad and worried where she sat next to her mother.

“So um… that town you were digging; I have to admit I couldn’t see much of a town,” he said hoping to lighten the mood a little.

“Ah, that is the common misconception so many ponies have with archeology, they just think we are burrowing into still standing cities and grabbing valuable artifacts,” Mirage Rock chuckled.

“Granted, we have sometimes had the opportunity to investigate ruins in more presentable state. But most of the time, for the untrained eye, a hill is just a hill and a sand dune is just unremarkable pile of sand. It takes a lot of digging and careful work to reveal the real treasures. That town, or trade post really, is mostly buried by now in the sand. Our tent was actually in the middle where we believe the center of the post was,” Hard Shovel told him.

“A lot of the rocks you saw were old parts of buildings, trust me when we first came there, most ponies had dismissed this spot as just plain old rock outcroppings,” his wife added in.

Flash nodded, having very little knowledge of archelogy he could only take their words for it. He glanced at the others, Dew Doe just stared out of the window deep in thought. Foxy had a wing around her daughter and seemed to be trying to cheer her up. Then it suddenly occurred to Flash that he hadn’t heard how Coal was related to the Unicorn couple, she had clearly called them her grandparents. Then he recalled the neighbour in Fillydelphia telling who Coal's father was..

“Say ah, I hope I’m not asking a too personal question, but if Coal is your granddaughter, does that mean one of your sons is her father?” he asked mostly to confirm what he had heard, that caused everyone to look at him.

“Yes,” it was Foxy who responded, her tone a bit dry. “I was in a relationship with Barricade. He’s Coal’s father.”

“He was mean to mommy, Uncle Private, Aunt Dew, Aunt Derpy and Uncle Time Turner, I don’t wanna talk with him,” Coal snorted and folded her little legs.

“And you don’t have to,” her mother told her reassuringly, hugging her closer with her wing.

“Yes, I’m aware there is some bitterness with Barricade.” Flash nodded, hoping he hadn’t just made the mood worse.

“Yeah, Barricade always been a bit wild. Followed his own rules, could be so selfish.” Mirage sighed and shook her head.

“Don’t get us wrong, Flash Sentry, if Barricade would just wise up, apologize for his actions and grow up, we would be more tolerant towards him. He’s hurting himself far more than us, he’s chosen to isolate himself with that gang of thugs in Manehattan. Frankly I’m surprised he even went to the Crystal Empire to be with his brother,” Hard Shovel stated with a strangely uncharacteristic frown, he had so far always had a rather mild cheerful expression.

Flash just nodded, already getting the impression that Barricade was a sensitive subject. He looked over to Coal again who seemed more miffed now, clearly going into the subject of her father had not sat well with the filly.

“So you like your Uncle Private?” he asked and smiled a little when the girl brightened up instantly, the guard had clearly hit on the right topic this time around.

“Yes, he is the best. He always takes me out to play or buy ice cream and he even sometimes takes me to Ponyville to meet my sisters Dinky, Tootsie and Sparkler, though Sparkler is getting old so it’s mostly just Dinky and Tootsie,” Coal told him and was now all smiles. Flash decided not to ask about the relations, figuring Barricade had to have been involved in that.

“He doesn’t always like to talk, but he can be funny, like when we have pancakes for breakfast, or when mommy and Aunt Dew try to get him to take a shower finally or brush his mane or last Nightmare Night when he saw Aunt Dew in that nurse costume…” Coal started to count up but it became muffled as Foxy quickly put a hoof over her daughter’s mouth but was desperately trying not to laugh. Dew Doe was blushing hard and used her wings to conceal her face.

The guard had to contain his own chuckles, the grandparents where both smiling and Flash was pretty sure that Hard Shovel looked rather proud at Coal’s ability to ramble on. The filly’s mouth was soon unconcealed but she didn’t seem to have minded much and just giggled and remarked about silly mommy.

“Derpy Hooves is a friend of ours, she like Foxy had been in relationship with Barriacde and had a daughter named Dinky with him. Tootsie and Sparkler are her foster daughters,” Dew Doe clarified the unasked question about the relation Coal had with the Ponyville girls. Flash just nodded his thanks.

“Speaking of, you’re going to have to remember to invite them to your cute-ceañera when we get a chance to hold it,” Foxy reminded her, the filly eagerly nodded.

“Mister Sentry, do you know how my poor boy got possessed by that monster?” Mirage Rock looked at Flash, the discussion of Private had obviously reminded her of the current situation. Flash had of course only minimal information how everything had happened,

“I’m sorry Mrs. Rock, I wish I could tell you how and even the why, but I’m afraid the royal couple will have to tell you, they were present when the possession was made known, I only really saw the aftermath when King Sombra escaped with your sons,” he told her but smiled reassuringly. “But like I said, we are working on getting your sons back and freeing Private from him.”

“We have to show some patience, Mir, I’m sure they will give us the answers when we come there.” Hard Shovel gently put a leg around his wife for support.

“Wait, Royal couple? We are going to see the Princess?” Coal gasped in surprise.

“Princess Cadance yes, she rules the Crystal Empire along with her husband Prince Shining Armor,” Flash Sentry confirmed, Coal’s eyes widened even more at hearing that.

“I’M GONNA SEE A PRINCESS!!” The filly shouted at the top of her lungs before jumping down from the bench and started running across the car, shouting the same line.

Dew Doe, Hard Shovel and Mirage Rock were all chuckling at the girl’s antic, while Foxy was in the process of making her coat color an even darker shade of red. Finally, Dew nudged her playfully.

“Shouldn’t you go collect your daughter?” she asked with a wide grin.

“I’ve never seen that kid in my life,” Foxy grumbled but when Coal made her third pass by them, she reluctantly dropped from the bench and went after her.

“Dare I ask how you fit in this joyful madhouse?” Flash chuckled and looked at Dew Doe. Coal had called her aunt, but it wasn’t uncommon for kids to call adults they knew well uncle or aunt even if they weren’t related so he didn’t want to assume anything.

“I’m Foxy’s sister,” Dew told him with a shrug. The guard had to admit being a little surprised hearing that, considering how different they looked.

Foxy returned carrying Coal on her back, the filly was grinning wide while her mother was just smiling and shaking her head. The girl was unceremoniously dumped to the bench, but Coal just sat right up and stuck her tongue out at her mother who actually returned the favor.

“Haven’t I told you two? It’s rude to stick your tongues out at ponies,” Dew remarked with a stern glance.

“She started it,” Foxy claimed as she sat down, Coal put on her most innocent face as if she had no idea what her mother was talking about.

“Behave you two, we still have a long ride,” the blue Pegasus snorted.

“But at least not a dull one,” Flash Sentry shot in, earning chuckles from the Unicorns, grin from Foxy and Coal and a resigned sigh from Dew Doe.

End Chapter 12

> Chapter 13. It is good to meet you
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 13

“So the Princesses have put everypony on high alert, they are going to be sending guards around Equestria to keep an eye out for trouble and they will of course be on the lookout as well,” Twilight explained to Shining Armor and Cadance, they were in the throne room of the crystal castle. She had just arrived on the train with Spike.

“Right, we have had a word from the stations the Friendship Express stopped at, no signs of two dark gray Unicorns,” her brother said with a heavy frown. “Which means Sombra jumped the train.”

“We’ve already guessed that he wouldn’t stay too far away, I don’t think he’s given up quite yet on regaining the Crystal Empire,” Cadance added.

Twilight nodded, wishing she could have arrived a little sooner but the train from Canterlot had been delayed so it had been roughly in the morning when she and Spike finally came back to the Crystal Empire.

“And when we find them, it will be a matter of containing Sombra, he’s inside somepony else. Like I told Cadance, he could force us to make a really, really bad choice,” Shining said trying not to think too hard about those options.

“Great so you have no idea either how to do that.” Twilight sighed having hoped that his brother and sister-in-law would have come up with something. Her brother tried not to look too embarrassed and decided not to tell her that he had actually been hoping for her to have some ideas.

“What do we know about possessions?” the purple alicorn wondered, berating herself for not having brought any books on the subject. She knew some of the basics but not all the details.

“Not a lot, it’s not like Ponies get possessed every day. I did note one thing,” Shining Armor mentioned as he rubbed his muzzle thoughtfully. “Sombra did not seem to do anything when Private was unconscious.”

“But how do we know he wasn’t unconscious those times when Sombra was in control and talking to us?” Cadance asked.

“No… Shining is on the right track,” Twilight became thoughtful as she went over what she knew about possessions in her mind. “Unless the spirit has taken complete control over the body and purged the other conscious from it, it still relies on the host to be both living and conscious. When in control the spirit just pushes the host back and represses him, but most bodily functions are still tied to the host. That means if we were to knock Private unconscious, Sombra would not be able to do anything.”

“Then that begs the question, why Sombra just hasn’t done that in the first place, that is purging Private out and taken fully over the body.” Shining Armor frowned as he considered this.

“He can’t or he would have done that already. This is our advantage, Sombra can’t take completely over his body and he must not want to risk too much harm on Private, sure he’s caused him plenty of pain already but he’s so far not killed him yet,” Twilight said and sat down so she could clap her hooves excitedly as a plan was starting to form in her mind.

Spike had silently listened the conversation so far, a little bit bored since he couldn’t really add anything to it. The dragon wondered if they would miss him if he snuck out to the kitchen to find something to eat. Then something said caught his attention and started to make him wonder about something.

“Uh, won’t a blast from the Crystal Heart blow up this Private?” he asked, causing the three ponies to all look at him.

“No, no I’m sure it will just separate Sombra from him, right?” Cadance said looking at Shining and then Twilight who was actually considering what her assistant just said.

“I know the Elements of Harmony would do that.” Twilight rubbed her muzzle. “They did something like that with Nightmare Moon when we turned her back to Luna. But the Crystal Heart, it outright shattered Sombra, killing him.”

“The Crystal Heart is the only thing we have that can defeat Sombra, I think he’ll see exorcist spells coming and have defenses for them by now.” Shining Armor cringed and realized that they would have to risk it, even if it meant killing Private.

Great, Sombra may have already forced us to take the worst choice, he thought. 

They were interrupted in their conversation by Flash Sentry who entered the throne room with four adult ponies and a filly. Shining Armor looked at the two Princesses before all three went to meet the newly arrived ponies along with Spike.

“Spike, if those are who I think they are, no mention of what the Crystal Heart might do,” Twilight whispered sharply to the dragon who nodded furiously.

“Your highnesses, I’ve brought Private and Barricade’s parents, Mirage Rock and Hard Shovel, along with Private’s roommates, Dew Doe, Foxy Stripes and her daughter Coal,” the guard announced to the royals as he and the others bowed.

“It is good to meet you. I am terribly sorry for what has happened to your sons, rest assured that we are doing everything in our power to rescue them from King Sombra,” Cadance said once the formalities were over.

“Please, your Highness. Mirage Rock stepped forward with an expression of a very frightened and concerned mother. “How did this happen? Why is my baby possessed by that awful monster?”

“We’ll tell you everything we know already,” Princess Cadance said gently and walked over to her, placing a hoof on her back. “We’ll get them both back, safe.”

Twilight glanced over to Coal who had lost a little of her previous confidence when actually in the presence of not just one but two princesses. She shyly hid close to her mother, staring between the two Alicorns in pure wonder.

“Spike, why don’t you take uh… what’s your name again?” Twilight looked at Coal again after glancing at Spike, smiling warmly.

“Uh…ah… Coal… your uh Highness,” Coal whispered when she realized that the princess was addressing her.

“That’s a pretty name. I’m Princess Twilight Sparkle, or just Twilight is fine. As I was saying, why don’t you go with Spike here to the kitchen, I’m sure he can find you some ice cream,” she suggested, in her mind the young girl didn’t need to hear all the details of how Private was possessed.

Spike didn’t need to be told twice to go to the kitchen as it was still high on his mind. He strutted forward and gestured for Coal to follow him with a friendly smile. After looking at her mother for permission, the filly quickly trotted after him.

Twilight turned her attention back to the others, Cadance and Shining Armor were already filling them in on what they had personally witnessed, including Sombra’s explanation on how the whole process had happened. She could see Hard Shovel and Mirage Rock pale up as they heard about the abduction process.

“W-wait you’re telling me that nightmare was real?!” Mirage Rock asked and was shaking, tears were forming in her eyes. “A-and… my baby was there for seven days?”

Hard pulled his wife in a hug but judging from his own expression he wasn’t doing much better than her. Twilight couldn’t help but feel bad for them, who wants to hear that their child had been abducted for seven whole days without them even knowing about it and then brushed the whole thing off as a nightmare?

Foxy and Dew looked more like they just couldn’t believe it, but then they both approached the Unicorn couple to comfort them. Twilight stepped up to her brother who looked like he was feeling just as bad as her about the whole thing.

“You didn’t mention the part where Sombra said he had considered keeping him, right?” she whispered to the white unicorn.

“No.” Shining quickly shook his head. “I didn’t think that would be a good idea.”

“We should make them as comfortable here as possible while we search for them,” Cadance suggested, using her horn she conjured up a bell and rung it. Soon enough a Crystal Pony entered the throne room.

“Emerald Heart, can you have guest rooms prepared for these four and the little filly that came with them? They are to be guests here at the castle while we search for King Sombra and the ponies he abducted,” the princess requested. The Crystal Pony bowed and immediately headed back out.

“That won’t be necessary, your Highness, I’m sure we can find a hotel or something,” Hard Shovel protested but was waved off by the pink Alicorn.

“I insist, it’s the least we can do while we try and rescue your sons,” she assured him and wouldn’t hear any more protests about this.

“Why don’t we go and have something to eat, I’m sure you’re all hungry after a long train ride,” Twilight Sparkle suggested, there were hesitant nods of agreements from non-royal ponies. She and Cadance started to walk out of the throne room with them, but Shining Armor signaled to Flash Sentry to come to him. He waited to speak until everyone else was out.

“Flash I waited with doing this until you came back. I figured with the prowess for investigation you’ve already shown, you would want to head this,” Shining Armor told him. “There are three inns we need guards to go to and ask if they have seen anything. I also need guards to scour the tracks west of the Crystal Empire to find any signs that ponies jumped off the train. We have it pretty much confirmed that they have jumped off the train before reaching any station,” he instructed the guard. Flash had to restrain himself from gasping in amazement.

He actually waited until I came back; I can take part in the search. Wait no, he said I would head it. The guard was almost ready to jump up and down in glee, but instead he sharply nodded and saluted.

“One more thing.” Shining came closer as if he feared somebody would hear him. In a very low voice he continued. “We may have to resort to extreme measures to stop Sombra. We don’t know if the Crystal Heart will simply throw Sombra out of Private, or kill both of them. As much as it pains me to say it, we must focus on stopping Sombra, if the host must perish in that process… that will have to happen.”

“Sir… I’m sure it won’t come to that.” Flash Sentry was shocked to hear this.

“I hope your right, but not a word about this to his family, especially the filly,” Shining said and became very serious now.

Flash Sentry reluctantly nodded in compliance. He knew that as a guard sometimes worse came to worse and someone died when they were doing their duty, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. Flash had also grown a bit fond of the filly as he watched her play around in the train until it was time to go to sleep. She had undaunted shared her cutie mark story with him and the Pegasus even knew how fond she was of her uncle, who they actually might have to kill to stop a greater enemy.

“Can I make a request sir?” Flash asked. Shining Armor nodded and gestured for him to continue.

“If it comes to that, which I really hope it won’t, I request to be the one to break the news to them,” he said though deep down he wanted to contest the idea not to tell them anything in the first place, but didn’t feel it was his call to make that decision.

“Of course, but as you said, let’s hope it won’t come to that,” the prince said and deep down dearly wished that would be true.





“So you’ve known Princess Twilight all your life?” Coal asked amazed as she dug into the ice cream in her bowl.

“Uh huh, she hatched me out in fact.” Spike nodded and slurped down his own share of ice cream. They were seated in one corner of the kitchen after having been given the desserts by the staff. The two kids hadn’t bothered going to search for better sitting place, wanting to dig into their treats as soon as possible.

“So you’re Dinky’s sister, huh? Now that I think about it, I have seen you in Ponyville before.” The dragon pointed at her with the spoon and then at the golden heart on her flank. “Except you didn’t have that before.”

“Oh yeah.” Coal glanced at her cutie mark, the excitement of having gained it worn off a little as she worried about her uncle. “I got it few days ago in Los Pegasus, I was helping ponies and got it. It just felt to right, mommy always said I had a great compassion.”

“That’s pretty cool.” Spike nodded. “So you’ll be having a cute-ceañera soon, must be excited for that.”

“Yeah, but not before we get Uncle Private back,” Coal said firmly and gulped down more of her ice cream. Spike noted that she made no mention of her father, who, as far as he knew, was in just as much trouble.

“What about your dad?” he ventured to ask, surely she was a little worried for him. Coal fell really silent at the mention of Barricade. She muttered something he didn’t quite hear. “Uh, sorry, I didn’t catch that.”

“I said I don’t care what happens to him,” the filly said, heavy bitterness in her voice and shocking Spike a bit. Coal sniffed and dried a tear away that threatened to come forth.

“He never comes for visits, I always had to visit him and he never comes to any of the school activities I was in, even when I invited him. Never comes to my birthdays, he would send money and gifts but he never comes,” Coal snorted and started to poke hard at her ice cream with her spoon.

“Then he was really, really bad, he threatened mom, Aunt Dew, Uncle Private, Aunt Derpy and Uncle Time Turner, he was really, really scary. I told mom I never want to see him ever again and she told me I didn’t have to if I didn’t want to,” the filly all but snapped and started to down her ice cream again after poking it into mush.

Spike now recalled what Twilight had told him when they had been on their way to the Crystal Empire. The dragon’s opinion of Barricade didn’t improve much when seeing now how much he had hurt his daughter’s feelings with his stupid convoluted plan.

“Why couldn’t that stupid Sombra possess dad… and leave Uncle Private alone,” Coal whimpered but still tried so hard not to cry.

“Now, do you really think that?” Spike asked carefully but gently and scooted closer to put a supporting arm around the filly. “I mean, if you really, really think about it. Do you really want that to happen to your dad?”

Coal stared down at her nearly empty ice cream bowl. She almost wanted to say yes, but it didn’t feel so right now that she really thought about it.

“Yeah your dad acted pretty stupid, I’ve been told what he did… sort of, but we sometimes do stupid stuff without thinking about it, when you still visited your dad, did you have fun with him?” Spike asked hoping to dig up some positivity in relation to Barricade.

“I suppose…” Coal sighed remembering those times she had visited. “He was always nice to me and he did send me gifts on my birthdays. I just wish he had been more of a dad; Uncle Private has been more my dad than him.”

Spike nodded in understanding, he could definitely understand why she would want her father to be more of a father instead of just a distant relation that occasionally sends gifts. Not that he would mind someone sending him gifts.

“Maybe one day he’ll come around,” the dragon suggested, the filly only responded to that with a shrug.

A shadow fell over them and they glanced up. Flash Sentry stood there smiling, he had just arrived and seen the two busy in one corner of the kitchen. Gently he put a hoof on Coal as he intended to address her.

“Hey, just wanted to let you know that I’m heading out to look for your uncle and I’m going to bring him back to you, I promise,” he told her but refrained from mentioning Barricade, recalling how upsetting that particular topic had been to her.

Coal looked at the guard and then rose up, freeing herself from Spike and Flash Sentry’s hoof. She then proceeded to hug the Pegasus, who raised his brow slightly before returning the embrace.

“Bring dad too,” the filly whispered, surprising Flash a bit. “I don’t like him now… but maybe later.”

“I will,” he promised and hugged the girl a little tighter before letting go. Then he saluted her before leaving the kitchen.

The kids returned to their ice cream. Coal was feeling a little better now and wolfed down what remained of her now soupy treat. The two barely noticed when a Crystal Pony entered the kitchen and began addressing the staff.

“We need breakfast dishes for the Royals, including Princess Twilight Sparkle and her companion plus five guests,” the mare ordered, stomping her hoof on the floor. She then walked straight to the corner where Coal and Spike sat.

“Mr. The Dragon, Miss Coal, I am to take you to the dining parlor, if you would follow me,” she instructed them.

Since both were done with their ice cream, they shrugged and rose up. Spike grabbed their bowls and put them on a nearby table before hurrying after the two ponies who were already heading out of the kitchen entrance.

The dining parlor wasn’t too far away and already seated by the table were the Royal couple, Twilight, Coal’s grandparents, Foxy and Dew. The mare who had escorted the kids, stopped by the entrance allowing the filly and dragon to enter before her, she then followed them inside.

Coal immediately headed to her mother and was seated next to her, Spike went over to Twilight where an empty chair waited for him. The Crystal Pony walked over to where Cadance and Shining Armor sat at the end.

“I have brought the children and the staff is preparing the usual breakfast dishes,” she announced and inclined her head in a bow.

“Thank you, Glow Stone.” Cadance smiled and dismissed the servant, who bowed again before leaving.

“So you got ice cream before breakfast,” Foxy joshed with a grin and nudged her daughter who giggled.

“Ice cream is good breakfast.” Coal nodded smartly causing chuckles around the table.

“So Coal, I heard you just got your cutie mark,” Twilight addressed the filly.

Coal blinked when realizing the princess was addressing her again, but she now found more confidence to nod and then stood up in her chair and did her best to show the golden heart. Feeling little braver, she even proceeded to tell how she acquired it, just like she told Flash Sentry.

“We didn’t even have a chance to stop her, she zipped into the store and was out in minutes with a blanket,” Foxy added in with a shrug. “Then one flash later, she had a cutie mark.”

“She’s always been a compassionate little girl, always willing to share and be nice to others,” Hard Shovel chimed in with a small smile. Coal blushed a little at the compliment and sat back down properly in her seat.

Twilight nodded with a smile of her own, she did note that Mirage was rather silent and only gave a halfhearted grin at the current discussion, Dew Doe as well. Foxy and Hard Shovel seemed to be ones trying to keep the humor up in the current situation.

“Having a talent in compassion is not bad, it opens up so many possibilities. I have a friend whose talent is communicating and caring for animals, maybe you have a future now in caring for ponies or doing other work to help the less fortunate, there are so many options to express your compassion.” Twilight figured she might as well keep the discussion on Coal and her newly acquired cutie mark, help distract the others from the current situation while they ate breakfast. Though it would probably be more accurate to call it brunch by this time.

“Maybe you have met her since you visit Ponyville to meet your sister, Dinky. Her name is Fluttershy.” She saw recognition in the filly’s eyes.

“Ooh, ooh, yes. Dinky, Tootsie and I met her in the park once, she was helping ducks with their ducklings. She gave us bread to feed them, she was really nice,” Coal told her.

“I remember that, wasn’t that also the day the three of you decided to ‘paint’ Dinky and Tootsie’s bedroom?” Foxy asked and grinned when her daughter gave her a glare.

“It was Tootsie’s idea,” the filly grumbled and folded her forelegs. There was more snickering around the table at the antics of the girl.

“I do recall Derpy bemoaning something about Dinky and her sisters when she was delivering mail,” Twilight mentioned grinning a little bit.

Servants interrupted the conversation as they came in with the breakfast or brunch. There were waffles, toasts and varied selection of toppings, fruit juice and water selection and there was also a big stack of pancakes and a pitcher of syrup. Spike had no qualms diving right into the food and had to be reprimanded a little by Twilight to show some proper behavior at the table.

Twilight shook her head at the dragon’s antics before helping herself to some of the breakfast items. She decided to go with some toast and a waffle. As she ate she noticed that Dew Doe was staring at the pancakes, lost in thought.

“Something wrong?” the princess asked her, rousing the Pegasus from her stupor.

“Hm? What? No, nothing it’s just…” Dew looked at the pancakes again. “Private loves pancakes.”

“Ah.” Twilight glanced over to her brother and sister-in-law who had also noticed the tone of voice Dew spoke in.

“Excuse me.” Dew Doe rose from the table and hurriedly left the dining parlor.

“Of… course?” Cadance barely had time to respond before the Pegasus was gone.

“I’ll go talk with her.” Foxy stood up and glanced at Coal. “You stay with your grandparents.”

Princess Cadance nodded and watched as the maroon pony left the dining parlor after her sister. There was a bit awkward silence now by the table, Twilight wondered if she had said something wrong, Shining Armor glanced at the older Unicorn couple. Hard Shovel finally spoke up.

“I am not going to be the one to confirm anything, but Dew Doe seem to be rather infatuated with our boy Private and we suspect he is in love with her as well. However, they seem to be having this ‘we are totally not in love with each other, just like each other’s company,’ thing going on,” he explained to the royals.

“Private always has a problem expressing himself. Dew doesn’t seem to want to push him into anything and contents herself with giving him attention, though in some cases it’s whether he likes to have attention or not, he at least appears to tolerate her more than he would tolerate other ponies violating his personal space,” Hard Shovel concluded and poured Coal some juice.

The royal ponies nodded in understanding. Shining Armor was though starting to develop a headache, now it wasn’t just a friend, son and an uncle but possible lover as well that might just be killed. He dearly hoped the Crystal Heart would work as Twilight originally figured it would and just separate Sombra from Private. What worried him the most though was that the dark king could force them to make an awful choice to ensure that Barricade came out of this alive.

If it must be done, I’ll be the one to do it, he thought and returned to his food.

End Chapter 13

> Chapter 14. The King’s spell hasn’t released them yet.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 14

Flash sighed when seeing the snowstorm just outside the city. This was one of the main problems living up in the north, the Pegasi weather service could only control so much of the weather and tended to focus their effort over inhabited areas but let things go unscheduled and uncontrolled further off.

It also didn’t help that the Crystal Ponies were mostly Earth Ponies, Crystal Pegasi and Crystal Unicorns were very rare. So in terms of weather control they had always relied on their ruler to keep it under control and because of that it usually only concentrated around the city.

The few Crystal Pegasi that existed were either in the guards or were still being trained by a team from Cloudsdale to properly control the weather. So unexpected snowstorms like the one raging now were just a fact of life in the Crystal Empire. A fact that was seriously hampering Flash Sentry from sending his guard team to the three inns and investigating the tracks.

Then again this storm could be Sombra’s doing, there are tales he could control the weather, he did rule the Crystal Empire after all, he thought and turned to look at the guards that he had intended to send to two of the furthest inns.

“I suppose we could try and fly above the clouds,” a purplish colored guard suggested.

“You think you could find your way to the Rowdy Crystal Wolf from there?” Flash asked. “Not much ground visibility.”

“I think we’ll manage, besides the storm doesn’t seem to go too far northeast where that place is.” The same guard shrugged.

Flash Sentry nodded and soon enough three guards flew off and didn’t stop ascending until they were high above in the sky before heading northeast. The Pegasus looked at the remaining guards, three already took the hint and flew off using the same tactic but went North this time.

“That leaves us who were going to investigate the train tracks and going to the Crystal Ale,” Flash looked at the last remaining guards, two regular Crystal Ponies, one Unicorn and another Crystal Pegasus.

“If he jumped off the train, then any sign of that are long gone by now,” one of the Crystal Ponies pointed out.

“Then we make our way to the Crystal Ale, Sharp Spear, make a weather shield,” Flash Sentry ordered the Unicorn guard.

Sharp Spear nodded and activated her horn, soon all five guards were surrounded by transparent force field bubble that had a light blue tint. Flash had considered letting the three grounded ponies walk while he and the other Pegasus flew, but figured that for now it was best they all stuck together.

It was mostly on a hunch that he decided to take two more guards than he had sent to the other two inns. If Sombra did jump the train, no matter where on the track he would have landed, he would be closest to the Crystal Ale. The yellow Pegasus wasn’t so sure he would have made it all the way to the other two by now.

The guard was glad he had chosen to take Sharp Spear with them. She was from the Vanhoover area and knew the cold climates of the north very well. She had a good array of spells to help survive wintery conditions. This had made her a rather ideal Unicorn guard in the Crystal Empire.

“We need to take the west road that leads towards Sombra’s Maw and beyond, Strong Horn was no fool building his inn there, all kind of traveler’s trot on that road,” the same Crystal guard and before said with a grunt. “Even back when the King ruled.”

Flash Sentry nodded as he looked at the guard. His name was Bright Spark, he was middle aged and his coat was light blue and his mane and tail were maroon colored. If there was pony in the guards who knew the lands around the empire well it was him, he had served under Princess Amore before King Sombra usurped the throne and he had been forced to serve under the king as well. 

“Alright everypony, let’s move out,” Flash addressed the group and they headed out of the city.

Though they were all of the same rank and Flash Sentry was technically in charge, Bright Spark was put in the lead as he knew the way best even in a blinding blizzard. Sharp Spear’s weather shield held well against the howling wind and drifting snow, the yellow Unicorn mare smirked a little, this was barely a challenge for her. Beside her walked the other Crystal Pony, another mare named Emerald Shine. Flash took the rear along with the Crystal Pegasus, a burly purple pony named Blackberry.

“We are on the road now even if it isn’t too obvious, it’s managed to get covered,” Bright Spark announced.

“How far from here to the Crystal Ale?” Flash asked, they had already been walking for a little while, and even if they didn’t need to heed the weather it was still deep snow they needed to trudge through.

“Oh it’s still quite a bit a way, if memory serves, Strong Horn built it near Sapphire Creek, 10 miles as we trot,” Bright responded with a snort.

Ugh I could travel that so quickly if there was flight weather. Flash sighed and wished they could have taken the train to cut down a bit on the traveling time, but all trains to and from the Crystal Empire were halted while the snow storm raged.

“You don’t think this weather is um Sombra’s doing?” Emerald asked, she sounded uncertain, she was a fairly new recruit to the guards.

“He could control the weather around the Empire when alive, but I couldn’t say if he still has that power while a spirit possessing another pony,” Bright Spark grunted and glanced back. “But I will say I find it odd how concentrated the blizzard is on this area.”

Flash couldn’t disagree with Bright Spark’s assessment, the blizzard seemed to concentrate mostly in the west, exactly in the direction they were going. The five guards could do little but trudge on, at least Sharp Spear’s shield kept them safe.

“I think I see something up ahead near the road,” Bright suddenly shouted. “I think it’s a pony!”

That prompted the guards to rush over, but still being mindful to keep Sharp Spear in the middle so that the shield still blocked out the weather. Once they were closer, Flash could see a light crimson Unicorn mare half buried in the snow, her cutie mark was a pair of peppers. Fortunately, the weather shield could be adjusted to allow ponies to enter so all they had to do to spare the pony further assault from the weather was to walk right over to her.

“Sharp, let that shield radiate a bit of warmth, Blackberry you’re with me, we can use our wings as blankets, one wing under her, one wing over, Emerald, Bright try to rub some life into her,” Flash Sentry ordered as he immediately lay down right next to the pony.

The yellow Pegasus grunted a little when Blackberry rolled the mare onto his outstretched wing, but he could take the strain, they needed to minimize her contact with the snow, she had clearly had too much of it already. Once the burly guard was satisfied that the pony rested on Flash’s wing, he lay down and draped his wing over her. Emerald and Bright went to work to try and wake her up, gently but firmly rubbing their hooves over her to help warm her. Sharp in the meantime concentrated on adding extra energy to her shield so it would radiate a bit of heat inside the protective bubble.

“Any of you know her?” Flash asked the other guards, the Crystal Ponies shook their heads but Sharp Spear looked uncertain.

“I don’t personally know her but I think I’ve seen her before back home around Vanhoover,” she told him. “I think her name is Hot Spice or something, comes from one of the smaller villages near the city.”

“What would she be doing out here, in a blizzard no less,” Emerald wondered and brushed away some of the orange mane covering the mare’s face, the guard could have sworn she heard the pony stirring.

“Ugh…” came finally a soft groan and the crimson pony’s eyes blinked open and she gasped in surprise.

“Shh, it’s alright, you’re safe,” Emerald told her gently and smiled, she and Bright Spark stopped now that she was awake, plus it was starting to get nicely warm inside the bubble.

“The Crystal Ale! Weird meat eating pony! Everypony unconscious!” the crimson mare cried and tried to rise up but felt too weak.

“Calm down, ma’am, you are safe with us, can you tell us what your name is and what happened?” Emerald continued to talk with the same gentle tone as before.

“I-I’m Spicy Hot… I work at the Crystal Ale,” the mare said as she tried to calm down, having noticed that all five ponies wore guard armor she felt quite a bit safer.

“Two strange ponies came to the inn, both wore cloaks, I know one of them was dark gray and I could see a bit of dirty blonde mane when I was talking to him. The other…” Spicy shuddered. “There was something unnatural about him, he ordered meat to eat, even the stallion with him was grossed out by it. Then…everypony was unconscious, their eyes glowing green, and that strange pony suddenly appeared behind me. I think he was going to attack me, I managed to escape. Tried to run back to the city but then the blizzard suddenly hit.”

“Looks like your hunch was correct, Flash,” Bright Spark glanced at the Pegasus. “The King eats meat and he was no doubt also feeding on the fears of the other patrons.”

Flash nodded, however they had a problem. Although Spicy was now awake, she was clearly still weak and affected by her long stay in the snow. Sharp Spear was needed for the weather shield and she could not go into two directions. They would have to take Spicy back and take her to a hospital before proceeding to the inn and investigate.

The Pegasus was about to ask if Spicy could stand, when suddenly the weather died down all around them. Seeing no need for the shield anymore, Sharp dropped it. Flash sighed in relief, this simplified matters greatly but before he could say anything Blackberry rose up.

“Now that the weather is cleared up, get her on my back. I can take her back to the city while the rest of ya head onwards,” he said.

“Are you sure?” Flash asked, waiting patiently while Bright and Emerald helped Spicy to rise up to her shaky hooves. Once she was off his wing the Pegasus stood up.

“Yeah, I think I can manage it fine.” Blackberry nodded.

Spicy obviously couldn’t stand for long, she was already faltering so she was helped onto the back of the large guard. Flash wasn’t sure if this would work, the mare looked too weak hold on and they didn’t have anything to secure her with. But the purple Pegasus took off before anyone could say anything and he seemed to be mindful of the Unicorn he was carrying.

The remaining four guard didn’t waste any time now that the blizzard had died down and increased their speed after the snow covered road. It still took a while and Flash was starting to dread what kind of a scene they would come across at the inn, Spicy’s description had not sounded very promising.

Finally, the inn was in sight. Flash spread out his wings and took off towards it at a greater speed than a gallop through the snow would permit, thus he arrived well ahead of the other guards. He kicked the door open and rushed inside, stopping short when witnessing the room before him.

Everything was still and silent. Creatures and ponies leaned forward in their seats, their heads resting on tops of the tables. Almost everyone’s eyes were glowing green and their faces were disfigured in grimace of pain and fear. Then Flash noticed that two tables had three Crystal Ponies each whose eyes were not glowing. Carefully the Pegasus approached one of tables and cringed when seeing the blood coming out of their noses and mouths. Taking a deep breath, he examined the closest body only to confirm what he was already fearing, the pony was dead.

They are all three dead. He looked over to the other table and didn’t need to go over there to see that the Crystal Ponies were no more as well. Why did he only kill the Crystal Ponies?

The other three guards finally arrived. Flash looked at them and waved them to come over. Bright Spark looked grim as he took in the entire inn, Sharp Spear frowned and Emerald looked around nervously.

“Do you know what is going on?” Flash looked at Bright. “The six Crystal Ponies here are dead, but the others look like they are under a spell.”

“It’s like I said before, the King was feeding on their fears. They are all under his spell of fear, living some of their worst fears in their mind,” Bright Spark growled and stepped over to the other table where the dead ponies rested. “But the Crystal Ponies… it is a message.”

“A message?” Sharp Spear looked over at him, she had approached a table with four Griffons.

“To us, the Crystal Ponies.” Bright Spark sighed and reached out to close the eyes of the dead. “He wants us to think we are not free of him, that he will be back and this is what happens to those who think they are free.”

“But we are free!” Emerald protested and was shaking a bit now as she still looked around, there was fear in her eyes.

“You are, this is a scare tactic and it’s not going to work,” Flash declared, he walked over to the green Crystal Pony and gave her a reassuring pat on the back. “We are going to need help with this, get a cart for the bodies and we might need some strong magical assistance to rouse the patrons from the spell.”

“I don’t suppose shaking them will work,” Sharp Spear wondered and shook the nearest Griffon but nothing happened.

“Usually it should,” Bright walked to another table and shook the Diamond Dog that sat there. “The King must not have wanted them to wake up so easily.”

“I’ll fly back to the city and get more guards to help here and maybe one of the princesses can come and help with waking everypony up, you guys keep an eye on things here,” Flash said and headed outside.

The other guards nodded, Emerald moved over to be closer to Bright Spark, still not feeling too comfortable with the whole situation. Sharp Spear started to walk around the inn, occasionally making another attempt to shake someone but always with the same results, nothing.

“I think I found the innkeeper,” she then called when arriving at the bar counter.

Sharp Spear walked behind it and approached the brown Minotaur lying sprawled on the floor. The Unicorn nudged him with a hoof but like all the others there was no response. She looked up. Bright and Emerald were working on gathering the dead ponies, closing their eyes and covering their faces with the hoods of their cloaks. The mare frowned and wondered if the two Crystal Ponies knew the deceased. They hadn’t mentioned it, both probably wanted to be professional. 

Although she was from the Vanhoover area, Sharp Spear had started in Celestia’s Royal Guards and spent her first years as a guard in Canterlot and was thus still getting to know everyone in the empire. She had transferred when Shining Armor moved to the Crystal Empire. The royals hadn’t been sure in what state the empire guards were in so the prince had requested to be allowed to take some of his old guards with him. Sharp had jumped at the opportunity to serve up north, her weather shields and other spells related to the colder climate were just not serving as well in Canterlot.

“You guys need any help?” she asked, feeling a little out of place. Emerald and Bright were much like most of the Crystal Ponies, from one thousand years in the past. In a blink of an eye they had suddenly been brought to their own future. One day slaves to a tyrannical king, the next they were free once again but living forever with the painful memory of their enslavement.

“We just need a moment, if you don’t mind, Sharpy.” Emerald looked at her and smiled apologetically. She and Bright had been standing by the bodies in silence when the Unicorn addressed them.

“No problem.” Sharp Spear nodded and turned back to the unconscious form of the innkeeper. She walked closer, wondering if she should attempt to move him from this spot.

A brown furred hand suddenly shot up and grabbed her by the throat. The minotaur’s green eyes focused on her and with a growl the innkeeper suddenly rose up, still holding the struggling guard. With a mighty shove he then threw the Unicorn across the inn, landing with a crash on some tables further away, sending still unconscious patrons to the floor.

Bright Spark and Emerald whirled around as this was happening, staring shocked at the Minotaur, his eyes were now completely green and glowing bright. The mare gasped when seeing some of the other patrons beginning to rise up, their eyes just like the innkeeper’s. Then a chill went down their spines when hearing a dark cruel chuckle echoing through the inn.

“I figured some guards would come along and learn what happened here. I hope you like my surprise, I kept it secret from my traveling companions just in case they tried something that would warn about it,” the voice of King Sombra spoke, it sounded strange though, like it was being spoken by many. Then it hit the two Crystal Ponies, the innkeeper, the rising patrons, their mouths were all moving. He was speaking through them.

“Now guards, these poor peons have been driven mad by their fears. They only see the monsters that haunt their minds, do you think you can fight all of them off? They will only think they are defending themselves from what seeks to destroy them,” Sombra explained and laughed before everything went silent.

Bright Spark scowled as he saw the patrons of the inn all turn towards him, Emerald and Sharp Spear who was slowly rising up with a soft groan. 

“They don’t look like they have been driven mad, aside from the green eyes,” Emerald whispered.

“That’s because the King’s spell hasn’t released them yet,” Bright grunted and his eyes narrowed when the green glow seemed to dissipate from the patrons. That’s when the screams began and suddenly every guest of the inn and the innkeeper rushed for the three guards, nothing but fear and madness in their eyes.

End Chapter 14

> Chapter 15. Almost thirty years.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 15
 
“Here we are,” Princess Cadance declared as she, Hard Shovel and Mirage Rock approached a door leading to a room deep down in the lowest levels of the castle.
 
The doorway was sealed up both with magic and a metal lock. It also had a sign warning ponies to stay clear of the door. The two elder Unicorns were surprised to see how barred up it was, considering what the Princess had told them about the room.
 
“We discovered the laboratory after we moved in and defeated King Sombra the first time and made a thorough check of the castle. The Crystal Ponies absolutely refuse to come anywhere near it,” Cadance explained and activated her horn as she began undoing the magic seals.
 
“That is understandable. Suppose they don’t want to come near anything that reminds them of their former dictator,” Hard Shovel nodded.
 
“The poor dears. Can’t imagine how this must have been for them. How long was Sombra in power?” Mirage Rock wondered and glanced around. They were in a long corridor that Cadance had told them led eventually to the old dungeon. It was also sealed off, since they had no plans to use it.
 
“Almost thirty years.” Cadance shook her head sadly. “Celestia and Luna have told me that they would have done something sooner, but Discord used the opportunity to invade Equestria shortly after Sombra usurped the throne so they had to deal with him first.”
 
“That would complicate matters,” Hard commented. Both his wife and Cadance nodded in agreement.
 
“We had plans to have an outside team come and examine this room and the contents, but with the upcoming Equestria Games we just haven’t had time to do it,” the princess explained as she removed the final lock and opened the door.
 
Princess Cadance entered the room and shuddered a little when on cue it was lit up by a reddish glow that seemed to come from the very walls. This was only the second time she entered the laboratory and she was still of the opinion that this was just as bad as the torture chamber they had dismantled down in the dungeon.
 
There were two tables with jars, bottles, various other containers and other strange equipment. A small desk was in one corner and on it rested an old-looking book that was closed. In another there was a cage. Considering how good the conditions were, it was hard to believe that everything in here was actually over one thousand years old.
 
“There must be some sort of an illumination spell in the walls,” Hard Shovel muttered as he hesitantly stepped into the laboratory.
 
“This is actually Crystal Pony magic. They are very good at infusing crystals with light that under certain condition illuminates, like say if a pony is present or touches the crystal,” Cadance explained to him and looked back at the stallion. She noticed that Mirage was hesitating in the doorway, looking nervously inside.
 
Shortly after they had eaten, the two archeologists had approached the princess with a few more questions about their sons. Mirage mentioned that Private had described a red room when talking about his supposed nightmare. Cadance had immediately recognized the description and offered to take the old couple down to it.
 
“Some of this equipment hasn’t been used in hundreds of years and some of this looks like Dark Pony in origin, what do you think, Mir?” Hard Shovel had been glancing around the room before looking towards his wife.
 
Mirage wasn’t really paying attention to anything in the room except the corner with the cage. It was just big enough so that an adult pony could be in there if lying down. Old hay was used to cover the bottom, clearly meant for bedding, there was a bowl for water in there as well.
 
The Unicorn mare walked over to it and gingerly touched the iron barred prison. She looked it over up and down before glancing over at her husband and the princess who watched her mildly concerned.
 
“T-this is where that monster kept him, didn’t he?” Mirage whispered and looked back at the cage. “This is where he kept my baby.”
 
Cadance winched a little when hearing how broken the older mare sounded. She regretted a little to have agreed to bring them here. The Alicorn felt she should have realized that of course it would be difficult for them to enter the very room their child had been kept prisoner so many years ago.
 
Hard Shovel walked over to his wife to comfort her. The princess in the meantime glanced around. When the room was first discovered, no one could say really what had occurred in it. Everyone assumed some sort of experiments had gone on around here. Most of the Crystal Ponies who had been forced to work in the castle during the king’s reign had not been privy to this part of it.
 
Cadence looked back to the old couple when seeing them now approach her. Mirage looked to have calmed down a little bit, but there was still lingering sadness in her eyes. Hard Shovel was putting on a brave face, but the princess could tell that this room bothered him just as much.
 
“Uh, Princess, Mir and I are archeologists and though things here are in more pristine condition than usual, we are qualified to examine it. We could do the examination for you,” the stallion told her.
 
“Are you sure?” Cadance asked. She would love to have this room fully examined and investigated so they could finally just get rid of everything in it, she just wasn’t so sure if the old couple was up for it.
 
“Perfectly, besides it gives us something to do, I mean we are no use in the search and rescue, considering our age and the fact that King Sombra is probably well out of our league,” Hard Shovel assured her. Mirage as well nodded in agreement with her husband.
 
“Very well, then I give you full access to this room. Is there anything you need before you begin?” Cadance wondered, but then noticed that Shining Armor had appeared in the doorway and was trying to catch her attention. She gave him a signal that she would be right with him.
 
“We’re probably going to need things to write down with and probably boxes and things to put things in. I have my magnifying glass here and everything else I need in my vest pockets,” Hard Shovel informed her.
 
Princess Cadance assured him that she would have these things brought down, then she excused herself and walked over to her husband who waited patiently for her by the doorway. He gestured for her to come with him further down the corridor.
 
“Flash Sentry just came in,” he started once they were a bit away from the laboratory. “They found definite signs that King Sombra had been in the Crystal Ale Inn. I’m afraid the bastard killed six Crystal Ponies there and put the rest of the inn patrons under some sort of a spell. Flash took few extra guards with him and a cart to carry the bodies. Twily went with him to see if she could do anything about the spell.”
 
“He killed six ponies?” Cadance cringed, already dreading having to tell the families about it. She was really starting to feel more and more contempt towards the former tyrant.
 
“I’m afraid so yeah, but we are on the right track at least, now we just need to find where he’s headed,” Shining Armor said and put a comforting leg around his wife.
 
“Good, we need to stop that monster before anymore ponies get hurt,” the Alicorn whispered and shook her head. “What about the mare that the guard Blackberry came with. Has she said anything?”
 
“She’s still recovering in the hospital. She had quite a shock so I haven’t really questioned her yet,” he told her as the stallion let go.
 
Cadance nodded and sighed deeply, wishing quietly that no more would die before they could finally stop Sombra. The couple looked towards the door to the old laboratory when hearing what sounded like a cry. With worried frowns they went to the entrance and looked in. Mirage and Hard Shovel were by the book. The elder mare had carefully opened it with her magic and the two were going through it.
 
“Is everything alright?” the princess asked. She could see that Mirage was visibly upset, one hoof over her mouth. The old stallion was gritting his teeth, but they both tried to assume composure when hearing her and glanced towards the royals.
 
“We… this is a journal. It describes when he was pulling ponies back in time,” Hard Shovel said and eyed the book. “We just found the first entry that talks about our son.”
 
Cadance and Shining entered the laboratory and walked over to the old couple. The two elders stepped aside to give them access to the book. The Alicorn frowned when her eyes landed on the page and realized she couldn’t read the script.
 
“I can’t read this language,” she said and looked at them.
 
“Oh, I’m sorry, your highness,” Mirage stepped back to the book. “It’s written in the script of the Dark Ponies.”
 
“Wait, why would Sombra write a journal in that language? I always thought he was a Crystal Unicorn,” Shining Armor tilted his head.
 
“No, King Sombra is a Dark Pony. I suppose it makes sense he would write in his native language,” his wife informed him. She looked at Mirage. “You can read this?”
 
“Oh we have studied the ancient Dark Ponies before, princess. We even got permission from the Saddle Arabians to investigate some of the ruins in their ancient cities in northern Saddle Arabia,” Hard Shovel told her with a small grin. “Heck, it’s thanks to us that the crown jewels of Queen Rabia are now on display in the Saddle Arabian capital. But Mirage here has a gift with ancient language. Give her enough time and she can crack almost any ancient text presented to her.”
 
“I don’t know about that; I would need a sample translation to work with.” Mirage smiled weakly but it dropped when her eyes fell on the journal pages again. With a sigh she started to read:
 


“Immortality still eludes me, so I continue with my backup plan that ensures that in the instance of my death a pony will seek out my spirit, so I may possess it and rest within the confines of its mind until I am strong enough again to regenerate my body. It is an immortality of sorts, but I would prefer just not being able to die.”


 


“I activated the spell once more. This will be the tenth time I pull a pony away from its proper time and place. For some reason though, the spell has brought me a child. A young colt, no older than six winters. His mane and tail are colored a bit like gold, just a little darker and his coat almost matches mine, just bit lighter. He is a unicorn, but shows no skills in magic. I suppose he has not begun learning how to utilize it yet. For a brief moment I almost thought I had acquired a Dark Pony foal, but he spoke some form of Equestrian, so he must be an Equestrian Unicorn, though there is no mark on his flank. He must not have acquired it yet. I have no hope the child will survive the spells I will infuse into him.”


 
Mirage had to stop reading as she was choking up. Cadance reached to put a wing around her, feeling for the poor mare who had to read about her own son in captivity. Hard Shovel stepped closer, intending to take over the reading, but his wife shook her head at him, then she continued:
 


“I am impressed, the child survived the first spells that prepare his body to receive the sleeper spells. It was almost amusing how stubborn he was when refusing to drink the first potion I gave him. I had no time to deal with it, so I simply hypnotized him and had him drink it. He showed no sign of realizing I did that and the potion will help even further to prepare him for the eventual spells.”


 


“I suppose I have underestimated the resilience of children, it is now the third day and the boy still lives. Though he clearly fears me and I often find him weeping in the corner of the cage, he still lives. It is time soon to put the sleeper spells on him. If he survives that process I shall be thoroughly impressed.”


 
Shining noticed that Hard Shovel’s face was darkening, the prince couldn’t say he blamed him. Who would want to hear their child going through something like this and being unable to stop it since it has already happened? Neither stallion said anything though as Mirage continued to read the dreadful journal.
 


“Now it’s the fifth day and the boy survived the preparations and the sleeper spells. Like every other pony I’ve pulled back and will continue to pull back, he is pretty much ready to serve as my host if I ever die in his time period. Yet his resilience continues to fascinate me. It’s a pity that in two days’ time he will be sent back. I almost wish to keep him and see what other spells he would survive being subjected to.”


 


“Then again, he bears a striking dark gray coat, almost Dark Ponyish. I wonder what would happen if I were to draw out some of my essence and put it within him? Usually by this time I leave the pony be, let them settle down before being sent back. It should help convince them when they return that they merely woke up from a nightmare.”


 
“He wanted to keep him?!” Mirage gasped and started to shake. Cadance pulled her closer and started to speak soothingly to the upset mare. Shining somehow managed to show no signs that he and Cadance had actually known that piece of information, but inwardly he was cringing. This time it was Hard Shovel who continued to read.
 


“I gave him the infusion potion, mixed thoroughly with small parts of my essence. He was too young to comprehend what was happening, but I could sense it. That colt has Dark Pony ancestry - my essence joined him seamlessly as if fragments of his ancestors that were within him were welcoming a familiar face. His blood is muddled, mostly Equestrian, but it is there. Dark Pony blood. Now I do wish I could keep the boy. Alas the spell will send him away come the next day.”


 
“The journal then goes on to the next pony he called back with that time spell of his,” Hard sighed and looked at the others, his wife was calming down again.
 
“This was written one thousand years ago. How would he be able to tell Private had Dark Pony ancestry?” Shining wondered and glanced at Hard Shovel when hearing the old stallion clear his throat. The elder Unicorn looked at his wife almost as if he was unsure about something, Mirage nodded.
 
“I probably should add why the Saddle Arabians gave us permission to dig in the old Dark Pony ruins,” Hard said and sighed. “The Saddle Arabians call the fall of the Dark Pony Empire their Greatest Shame. It’s not very well known within Equestria, but the Saddle Arabians and the Dark Ponies were bitter enemies and fought many wars.”
 
“In the propaganda, the Saddle Arabian had the upper hoof. Managing to paint the entire race of the Dark Ponies as evil, dark magic cannibals due to the fact that Dark Ponies eat meat and are naturally inclined to use dark magic, so not many shed tears when the Saddle Arabians finally managed to destroy the empire,” the old stallion continued and glanced at the journal.
 
“What few Dark Ponies survived scattered across the world and some made it here to Equestria where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna welcomed them and allowed them to settle, not worrying what the Saddle Arabians felt about it. In fact they had both been adamantly against their destruction, not believing the entire race was wholly evil.”
 
“As the years passed, the Saddle Arabians realized their error and call this their Great Shame. Today anypony who is descendant of the survivors of the Dark Pony Empire has permission to visit the former homeland of their ancestors,” Hard concluded. Cadance and Shining’s brows had risen high as they listened to the story from the old archeologist.
 
“So, you are a descendant of the Dark Pony refugees who came to Equestria?” the prince asked the old stallion.
 
“Mir and I both are. Although at this point our bloodline crisscrosses with Equestrian Unicorns, Pegasi and even Earth Ponies, Dark Ponies always had this innate magic that allows them to sort of sense once another, it’s subconscious and today almost none of us pay much attention to it. Most of us who are aware of our Dark Pony connection just joke about it.” Hard Shovel shrugged then glanced at the journal. “A pure Dark Pony hasn’t walked this world in over a  millennia. We think King Sombra was the last.”
 
Silence followed afterwards, nobody was really sure what to say. Cadance couldn’t help but wonder if this was one of the reasons King Sombra had been so thorough in destroying records from before his reign. Was it maybe a subconscious desire to be remembered as the last of his race, or maybe there was a darker reason, not wanting anyone to remember it?
 
“How can Sombra be the last of his race? Wasn’t… no wait you said last pure one.” Shining Armor was the first to break the silence.
 
“Yes, the Dark Ponies who escaped to Equestria were commoners, their bloodlines had already been muddled with Saddle Arabians they were friendly with and other pony races. Only the royal line was still pure,” Mirage explained, she closed the journal using her magic, not really wanting to hear another word from it at the moment.
 
“Wait, does that mean Sombra was… is actually royalty?” Cadance found that hard to believe, but the looks on Mirage and Hard Shovel seem to confirm it.
 
“With what we have been learning from the return of the Crystal Empire and King Sombra’s reign, we who are descendants of the refugees think he must be the lost son of Queen Rabia,” the old mare told her.
 
“Dark Pony society was strictly matriarchal, only a mare could assume the throne. The last queen was Ira, Rabia’s eldest daughter, but Rabia had an older son who disappeared well before Ira assumed the throne. Very little was known about him and he sort of faded into legend. But if our suspicions are true and depending on what we discover as the Crystal Ponies give us more information about their past, we do think Sombra may well be that lost son. It is said he sought power for himself, which went completely against Dark Pony traditions,” Hard Shovel added in.
 
“Well we definitely know that King Sombra desired power,” Cadance shook her head and glanced at the journal. “And it sounds like he was doing this to attain immortality of sorts.”
 
“I much rather he continues to stay dead,” Shining Armor grunted. No one disagreed with that statement.
 
“Speaking of, we have had news of Sombra and your sons. They were last seen at a roadside inn in the west. We still don’t know where they are heading, but we should find out soon enough.  Princess Twilight is heading to the inn as we speak,” the princess told the old couple who both nodded their thanks.
 
“How about we leave the journal for now, Mir, and just focus on cataloguing the equipment?”  Hard Shovel gently suggested to his wife who did not protest that idea at all.
 
Cadance and Shining Armor decided to leave the elders to their work, the princess promised to have someone come down with the extra items they had requested before the two royals left the room.
 
End chapter 15
> Chapter 16. It was Sombra’s Maw.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 16
 
Flash Sentry was feeling a little nervous right now. He had figured it would be Cadance that would insist on coming and helping, but no it had to be Twilight. The Pegasus was now responsible for keeping an eye on his commander’s little sister, not that he didn’t think she couldn’t handle herself if it came down to it, but he was a royal guard and his job was to protect the royalty.
 
It didn’t help that someone kept spreading rumors around the garrison that he had a thing for her. He had met her like what, once before? Yes, they kept bumping into each other that time, but how did that translate into him having a thing for her?
 
Just keep calm, this is just another job, Flash thought as they continued to fly westwards to the Crystal Ale. He was lined up beside Twilight Sparkle, while behind them came four Crystal Pegasi, two of which pulled a cart.
 
“It’s strange that rousing them didn’t work, when I got stuck in Sombra’s creepy magic door, Spike calling my name was enough to wake me up. Then when Spike got caught, all I had to do was close the door,” Twilight remarked thoughtfully.
 
“Maybe it was a different kind of spell?” Flash suggested, not really sure if that’s how it even worked. His knowledge of magic was minimal after all.
 
“Oh that might be it, the door seemed to only work on one pony at a time, well one pony and one dragon.” Twilight nodded and gave Flash a small smile. “This might be a similar but still different spell.”
 
Flash just nodded and raised his eyebrow a little when Twilight began rambling more about the possible spells being used. She then started to go into dark magic theory that went straight over his head. The Pegasus glared back when hearing a snicker, two of the guards behind him instantly assumed nonchalant expressions.
 
Great, that’s not going to help the rumors at all is it, he thought and faced forward again. They would soon see the inn, since they were flying and that was a fast way to travel, even if two guards were pulling a cart behind them.
 
Is that smoke? He frowned when he suddenly noticed a dark gray line rising up in the distance.
 
“Then I was surprised that Discord confirmed that chaos magic and dark magic can cancel each other out and…” Twilight stopped abruptly in her ramble when Flash Sentry suddenly shouted, “The inn is on fire! Double time, we need to get there immediately!” The orange yellow Pegasus then increased his speed and so did the four other guards.
 
“Hey wait for me!” Twilight called as she was pretty much left in the dust, still not being the strongest of fliers. Fortunately, she remembered that she could cheat a little and immediately teleported closer to the guards as they were diving right down towards the inn. Smoke was pouring out of it and flickers of flames could be seen.
 
Flash wasted no time barging right into the building to look for survivors. What he saw shocked him to the core. Creatures and Ponies were all screaming madly as they tried claw their way through a force field that was being desperately held together by Sharp Spear in the middle of the inn. She stood over Bright Spark who looked unconscious and bled from a nasty claw wound that something had managed to inflict on him and his armor had not managed to deflect. Emerald Shines stood near Sharp, frantically looking around.
 
“We are free! WE ARE FREE!!” the green crystal pony kept shouting with tears in her eyes. Both standing guards looked battered and bruised, bleeding from cuts on the parts of their bodies the armor didn’t cover.
 
Few creatures and ponies lay unconscious and bleeding around; the guards had clearly managed to fight for a little bit. Someone had kicked the logs in the fireplace out of it and it was from that the fire was spreading.
 
“Flash!” Sharp Spear noticed Flash Sentry and the other crystal guards who had arrived. “I can’t hold this shield up much longer!”
 
“And you won’t have to!” Twilight Sparkle declared as she pushed past the guards when making her way into the building. Already some of the creatures attacking the shield had turned around and prepared to attack them instead. The Princess narrowed her eyes, her horn began glowing bright and suddenly every attacking creature and pony were frozen by her magenta aura.
 
“Flash, the rest of you, get them out of here!” Twilight ordered as she struggled to maintain the spell that kept the mad inn patrons frozen in place.
 
“Sharp, drop the shield,” Flash ordered as he and the rest of the guards rushed over to their injured comrades. They picked up Bright Spark and hurried with him out of the inn along with the two mares.
 
Twilight in the meantime was already trying to feel for the spell that the patrons were under. She had to hurry though, the fire was spreading, plus there were so many frozen under her power that she was straining to keep it that way. The worst part was that this didn’t silence them, they were all still screaming in terror.
 
I… I can’t detect any spell on them, the Alicorn blinked in surprise. She looked at the closest person. It was a young griffon. Twilight gasped when seeing that her eyes weren’t glowing green or red, they were just mad, mad with fear. Their minds are gone. I can’t do anything.
 
“Like my little surprise, Princess?” Twilight looked around when hearing the dark voice of King Sombra. Then she spotted the big brown Minotaur at the back. He was frozen like the rest, but his eyes were the only ones that were green and red.
 
“Sombra! What have you done to them?” She snapped, figuring that the Dark King was speaking through the creature.
 
“Drove them mad with their fears. A trap for any guard pursuing me and I left one last spell in case an Alicorn Princess came along,” King Sombra said and started to laugh. “I’m afraid your magic can’t help them, once the mind itself has been driven mad, there is no easy magical solution.”
 
“You monster!” Twilight gritted her teeth. She was starting to lose hold on the patrons and the smoke and heat from the fire were starting to bother her.
 
“Not just any monster. The King of Monsters!” King Sombra cackled madly. “You have no choice Twilight Sparkle. The only way to save them is the sweet embrace of death, the inn is burning and you’ll never have time to rescue everypony from the fires.”
 
“No! I will stop you and I will save them!” The princess snapped, causing Sombra just to laugh more.
 
“Twilight!” Flash Sentry appeared in the doorway. “Whatever you’re going to do, you better do it now!”
 
“Yes Twilight, try in vain to save them and die in the process, that’s just one less princess for me to deal with,” Sombra snorted and his presence left the Minotaur who resumed screaming in fear.
 
“Flash, you and the guards be ready. I’m going to try and knock as many as I can with a knockout spell then teleport them out. It’s the only way!” Twilight shouted to the Pegasus.
 
“Are you sure?” the guard asked with a frown, there were at least twenty creatures and ponies.
 
“We have no choice. My hold is breaking!” The Princess cried, already some of the creatures were beginning to try and break off the hold.
 
Flash Sentry quickly saluted and hurried back out. Twilight dropped the holding spell, but made sure everyone she had been holding were dropped from a height so they had to rise up again when landing flat on the floor. This gave her the precious seconds she needed to build up her magic and sent a shockwave of it through the inn. The knockout was powerful enough that it took out nearly everybody, only few now remained conscious, but they had been pushed further inside the burning inn.
 
Twilight concentrated again, focusing on everybody that was in the room with her magic. She knew this was going to take a lot out of her, even if she was only going to teleport them a short distance. The Princess activated her teleportation spell and in a flash she and everybody in the inn disappeared outside.
 
The Princess stumbled once she found herself outside the burning inn. What patrons that were still left conscious were quickly dispatched by the ready Pegasi guards. With great effort, Twilight produced enough restraints for all of them, knowing they would still be insane when woken up.
 
“Princess, are you alright?” Flash landed beside her after knocking out the last creature.
 
“I’m fine… just need to catch my breath,” Twilight wheezed and sat down. She looked at all the bodies strewn about on the snow outside the burning building. “We are going to need more carts.”
 
“We’ll send a guard to get more,” Flash assured her and waved one of the Pegasi guards to come over.
 
Twilight nodded. She noticed the three guards that had been left at the inn nearby her. Sharp Spear was calming Emerald down and Bright Spark had woken up, his wound had been mended the best it could be until they could take him back to the city.
 
The inn continued to burn and the wooden parts were starting to fall in. Twilight frowned, had she been a second too late the roof would have caved in on them all. She bet Sombra had expected that to happen.
 
That bastard is pulling no punches. He was after murder and nothing less, she thought, her frown turning into scowl as she watched the pegasi guards restrain the unconscious inn patrons. The deceased Crystal Ponies had all been put in the cart by now.
 
“Princess.” She looked over to the three guards when hearing herself being addressed. It was Bright Spark. He looked about just as tired and ragged as her, then again he had been fighting for his life while Twilight was just exhausted from all the magic she had used in short amount of time. The Alicorn was pretty sure he was feeling worse.
 
“Yes, are you alright? Do you need anything?” she asked, worried that the wounded guard was uncomfortable.
 
“I’m fine, your Highness, thanks. I just wanted to tell you something, when we were being attacked. Strong Horn, the brown minotaur over there, he is owner of the inn. He seemed to become possessed at one time by the King,” he said and started to look graver.
 
“He mocked us and told us that we would serve as an example, but then he said something odd. He said that once the time is right, he would enclose his maw over the pretenders and take back what was his,” Bright Spark told her.
 
Great, near murder and a riddle. What a lovely afternoon this has been, Twilight raised an eyebrow when hearing this. “Thanks for telling me this. What is your name?”
 
“Bright Spark, your Highness,” the guard introduced himself and did a bow where he lay.
 
“Thanks again, Bright Spark, I’m sure we can figure this out so we can stop him,” she assured him with a smile.
 



 
Cadance walked past the dining parlor and noticed the door was open. Looking inside she saw Dew Doe sitting by the table. She seemed deep in thought, one fore hoof rested under her cheek and the other traced an invisible line on the surface. Remembering what Hard Shovel had told them during the brunch, the Princess entered and approached the glum looking Pegasus.
 
“Hi,” she addressed the blue mare and sat down beside her.
 
“Huh? Oh hello, Princess.” Dew blinked when seeing Cadance, she started to make an attempt to bow, but was stopped by the Alicorn.
 
“No need for that and please, just call me Cadance, I don’t think formalities are necessary right now,” the Princess told her and smiled gently. Dew just nodded and looked down at the table again.
 
“Are you alright?” the princess asked carefully, though she could already tell the answer.
 
“I…” Dew sighed. “No… I’m not alright. I’m worried.”
 
“That is understandable.” Cadance said with a sympathetic smile. “I’m told you and Private were good friends.”
 
The way Dew started to fidget and looked more nervous told the Alicorn everything. That Pegasus was in love, this was not just a good friend who was in danger, this was someone she really deeply cared about and was hoping for something more.
 
“How did you and Private first meet?” Cadance asked. She was going to tread this ground carefully.
 
“Oh, Foxy and I trampled over him during the Fillydelphia Running of the Leaves event about uh eleven years ago or so,” Dew looked at Cadance and smiled a little at the memory. “Foxy and I decided to partake in the event and it was about midway of the run when Private by accident entered the road being used. Nopony noticed him in time and we all ran right over him. Foxy did notice though afterwards, stopped me and pointed at where Private lay groaning on the ground. So we quit the run and took him to the hospital where I was working part time while studying sociology,” she started telling the Alicorn.
 
“He was just moving in to Fillydelphia. He had accepted a part time job in the History Museum while he was also in college studying history. He hadn’t found a place to stay in, so Foxy and I, because we felt a little guilty for hospitalizing him, offered to him to stay in the house we were renting. He reluctantly agreed,” Dew finished and resumed tracing an invisible circle on the table.
 
“What is he like? I didn’t get to talk with him for very long. We think Sombra had him pass out for some reason, maybe to silence him, when I was trying to talk with him at the hospital.” Cadance wondered and refrained from saying that it had been a little bit more disturbing how Sombra had forced Private to be silent.
 
“He can come off as a silent grump, but he’s really sweet, gentle and caring. He’s a really great uncle to Coal, if anything he’s been the dad she’s needed in place of her actual dad, Barricade. He does have a thing about ponies coming too close to him or touching him, only those of us who know him well are usually allowed close. He hates crowds and usually prefers solitude,” Dew began counting up and Cadance wasn’t surprised that the Pegasus was smiling more dreamily now.
 
“He has a passion for history and can dig out really obscure facts from various historical periods. One of the few times you can get him to really talk is if you ask him about history, especially Spartacorns and Spartacornia, he can go on for hours about them. Or get him to talk about Commander Hurricane, he actually begged to play him once in a Heart’s Warming Eve play. He was willing to glue fake wings on himself and everything, too,” Dew started to giggle at that last bit.
 
“Well, was he allowed?” Cadance asked grinning a bit at the thought of that silent looking stallion with wings glued on himself.
 
“He was, even tried to conceal his horn with the helmet,” the Pegasus confirmed. “They in fact asked him to play Hurricane again the next year.”
 
Cadance nodded. Although generally the three leaders and their aides were played by the pony race they had originally been, it wasn’t unheard of that parts were played by a different race or even gender. Commander Hurricane and Private Pansy, both stallions historically were often played by mares. Cadance had even seen Princess Platinum being played by a Unicorn colt once.
 
“So how long have you had a thing for him?” the Princess asked casually.
 
“Oh I think it started ever since I helped tend to him at the hospital when we… I… what?” Dew Doe froze as she realized the trap she had not just entered but sprung.
 
“That was eleven years ago wasn’t it, you have been infatuated with the same stallion for all that time?” Cadance was mildly surprised to hear that, she had assumed the love had gradually built, but not that it had been building for that long.
 
“I… uh…” Dew Doe cleared her throat then sighed. “Look, I actually don’t care much for attention from stallions. I mean these obvious jerks who just want to get under my tail if you know what I mean.”
 
“I think most mares don’t care for that, but I catch your drift,” the Princess nodded, not wanting to interrupt too much of her explanation.
 
“My mom is Sky Dive, THE Sky Dive - the former model now hardcore model agent who has a stranglehold on her private life,” the Pegasus continued, causing the Alicorn to raise an eyebrow slightly. “I used to be a filly model and all my life I’ve been told what a pretty little filly I was, then when I grew up everypony kept telling me what a pretty little mare I was. I was constantly told how shapely I was, good looking, symmetrical, that I was a born model. I hated every single minute of it.”
 
“Fortunately my mom, as I said, was Sky Dive. She had a firm rule that if I didn’t want to do anything, she would not push me to do it. She was very supportive when I did not follow her hoofsteps to become a model and instead went into social service,” Dew Doe looked at Cadence now with a grave expression.
 
“My sister, Foxy, suffered a lot because of me. Stallions would use her to get to me, they would pretend to date her, just to get a chance at me. I’ve never dated, even once, nopony I’ve met has wanted me because I’m me, they just wanted that pretty rump. Except Private. Private so far is one of the few stallions I know who has not tried to hit on me and has been nice to me without expecting anything else in return,” the Pegasi sighed and looked down. “He even treats Foxy as a normal pony, not as some obstacle to get to me. He even defended her against his own brother, when Barricade was being too much of a jerk to her.”
 
“Did Barricade do the same as the others, date Foxy to get to you?” Cadance wondered. She noted that Dew blinked a bit as if some realization had come to her.
 
“No he didn’t, he dated Foxy and only Foxy. He showed no interest in me.” Dew Doe frowned. “I can’t believe I can say that Barricade was a better coltfriend to her than some of those other slimeballs she dated.”
 
Princess Cadance nodded at that, Barricade had definitely struck her as somewhat loyal despite his rude mannerism. She thought it was a little sad that due to his behavior he and Foxy had separated. It couldn’t be easy on Coal to have parents that had bad blood between them.
 
“Anyway, what I was trying to say is, it might sound odd to others, but for me, I don’t mind it this way. I can wait for him. He’s well worth the wait,” Dew then finished.
 
Then I guess I’m just going to have to ensure that we get him back for you, the princess thought and hid a smile. She wondered though how Private felt about this and if it was positive like his father suspected, if she shouldn’t try and give them a little nudge. Of course first they needed to do was get the Unicorn away from Sombra.
 
The two mares were interrupted in their talk when Shining Armor came running in. He immediately gestured to Cadance to come with him out of the parlor. The princess excused herself and followed her husband. They stopped a good distance away from the dining room before the Unicorn spoke.
 
“The mare from the inn, she calmed down enough to speak. She told me that one of the stallions, most likely Barricade, had asked her about a mountain with a jaw like peak, she told him it was Sombra’s Maw,” Shining Armor informed Cadance in a hushed voice, not wanting to risk any of their guests, if nearby, to hear.
 
“You think they are going there?” Cadance asked with a worried frown.
 
“That is my guess. Sombra wouldn’t know the name as it is recent and if he told Barricade where they were going he would probably just point him to the mountain.” Her husband nodded.
 
“Then we must head after them as soon as possible, we better wait for Twilight though, I want us to have all the firepower we can get against that fiend,” the princess declared firmly. Shining, seeing that his wife was now in full authority mode, simply saluted before rushing off to make the necessary preparations.
 
Finally, some good news, Cadance thought as she returned to the dining parlor, where she offered Dew to have some tea brought to them. The blue mare readily accepted it.
 
End Chapter 16

> Chapter 17. Now where did my little slave get off to?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 17
 
Barricade grumbled and grunted as he trudged through the snowy woodland. They had been walking for hours now and seemed no closer to the mountain. It was still a fair bit away and despite Sombra’s intention of reaching it the next day, it didn’t appear they would.
 
The Dark Unicorn also seemed to be slowing down. Much earlier, shortly after they had first left the road and headed into the woods, the king had started to produce what looked at first like dark gray smoke out of Private’s horn. As it rose it began heading east the way they had come from. Barricade realized then that it wasn’t smoke, they were clouds. Storm clouds.
 
“I’m attempting to rectify your idiotic stunt and hopefully delaying any pursuit behind us,” was the only thing Sombra had said when Barricade had asked.
 
This, however, seemed to have drained the spirit. He walked slower now and there was hard focus in the eyes as if the Dark King was struggling to concentrate. Barricade wondered also if he had overexerted Private’s body by now. Even magically enhanced, his twin brother could only take so much.
 
Barricade also knew Private generally did not drink alcohol and Sombra had drunk an entire tankard of a really strong drink, then eaten food his brother was just not built to eat. The spirit might be in control of the body, but he was still limited by what this particular one could do and take.
 
“Maybe we should camp soon,” he finally suggested. The sun was starting to set.
 
“As much as I hate to admit it, your suggestion has merit,” Sombra growled, stopped and glanced back. Barricade raised an eyebrow, sweat was pouring down the possessed pony’s forehead. Now the other Unicorn was positive that the spirit was struggling to maintain control.
 
Must have overdone himself, or he overestimated how much Private’s body could handle, Barricade thought.
 
They made camp using the supplies Sombra had stolen from the inn, making two different sleeping spots and a small campfire. Barricade ate some of the food they brought, but the Dark King ignored it. He immediately laid down and paid no more attention to his host’s brother.
 
A few questions popped into Barricade’s head, but he decided to save them for later. The Dark King had laid fully down and was drifting to sleep by all appearances, or maybe it was actually Private who was falling asleep and the spirit just couldn’t control it.
 
With a sigh the Unicorn lay down as well, glancing at the magical force field around them. Sombra had erected it shortly after making camp, stating it was to ensure nobody spotted their fire. Barricade had a feeling it also ensured he didn’t try to sneak off or something like that.
 
Barricade eyed the sleeping form of his possessed brother’s body. He could almost swear the black streaks in the mane and tail had faded a bit and the horn actually looked straighter. The Unicorn narrowed his eyes a little, wondering what was happening inside his twin’s head right now.
 
“Well, let’s hope we get out of this one intact, bro,” he muttered. Using his magic, Barricade grabbed an extra blanket from the saddlebag and draped it over his brother. “Goodnight.”
 



 
Curse this weakling body, Sombra thought as he was forced to partially relinquish his control so it would go to sleep. The Dark King was far from happy. It had taken more power than he had anticipated to bolster up Private’s strength and stamina, even with the added power boost he had acquired from draining the Crystal Ponies and the other inn patrons. On top of that, the storm he conjured up and sent east, to both cover his tracks and delay any pursuers, had really drained him.
 
I never realized how easily your power drains when you are just a spirit. I need my own body, the Dark Unicorn snorted and glanced around the brown empty space.
 
Now where did my little slave get off to? Sombra raised his eyebrow when seeing no sign of his host. The Dark King was aware that Private had receded deep into his own mind after realizing that the spirit had killed the Crystal Ponies, but had ignored it since it suited him just fine.
 
Sombra could feel his host, it was impossible not to, seeing where he was, but there was no clear sign of him. The former tyrant knew Private was not in any of his memories, Sombra had tight watch over them to learn as much as he could of the modern world, since he had been robbed of the opportunity to do so gradually while lying in wait.
 
Hm, there are the memories I can’t actually access. It’s like they are locked away. Who locked them? Private does not have the mental capacity to do so, least of all to keep me out, he thought but was certain that if he couldn’t access them, neither could Private.
 
Then it hit the king, the one thing he really paid no attention to in the Unicorn’s mind. The realm of imagination, his fantasies. Sure many fantasies were conjured up with memories, but they weren’t really memories and Sombra had very little interest in what Private fantasized or dreamt about.
 
The Dark Unicorn concentrated and suddenly found himself in what appeared to be a palace of some sort. The architecture looked familiar, like something he had seen in his travels before he took over the Crystal Empire. It looked ancient and made of white carved stone. Looking forward, Sombra saw that he was standing just in front of a large archway that led to a balcony.
 
On the balcony was a pony in decorative armor. The helmet had blue plumes and was also encircled with what looked like a crown. From the center of the forehead produced a steel horn. What could be seen underneath the silver and gold armor was a dark gray coat and the hoof guards almost concealed dark brown hooves. The pony’s tail was blonde.
 
Sombra didn’t say anything as he was still taking this sight in. The pony hadn’t noticed him, continued to stare forward and began raising one front leg. It was then that the Dark Pony noticed the large crowd of similarly armored ponies outside the palace, overlooked from the balcony. Their armor was just less decorative and looked more practical for battle.
 
Those are Spartacorns. Sombra was mildly surprised to see this. The Spartacorns were long before his time, though he had passed through their ancient lands and seen the ruins. Seemed Private was familiar with them as well. Then the pony started speaking, confirming who it was as the king recognized the voice.
 
“Spartacorns! We have won a great victory today. Let it never be said that just because we have no horns and have no wings that we can’t achieve greatness!” Private Iceland shouted before the large crowd that started to cheer with a thunderous stomp of their hooves on the ground.
 
“We have won the battle and we will win the war, let the forces of the Unicorns and the Pegasi forever fear the name Spartacornia! For this IS SPARTACORNIA!” Private seemed to be living himself quite well into his role, he actually spoke clearly and with confidence. He certainly pleased the crowd as they began chanting the name of the nation.
 
Sombra couldn’t hold it in anymore. He started to laugh and did so loudly. This froze the pony on the balcony and the chanting of the crowd became silent. It was like everything had been put on pause, except Private who slowly looked back and cringed when confirming who was laughing.
 
“I don’t… I can’t even…” Sombra was having a bit of trouble to regain his composure. For him this had been one of the most hilarious sight he’s ever seen.
 
“W-what are you doing here? I… I thought you were busy at that inn slaughtering everypony!” Private cried and looked frantically around as if he was worried anyone else could see this, even if technically speaking it were only him and Sombra there.
 
“Oh we have long since left the inn.” The Dark Unicorn finally managed to cease laughing and stepped out to the balcony, he regarded the frozen crowd below them with a smirk. It seemed Private had figured out how to stop everything if he wasn’t actively participating in it.
 
“A Unicorn masquerading as a Spartacorn? You do know Spartacorns were Earth Ponies and hated Unicorns,” Sombra said as he glanced at Private who still hadn’t dared to move from his spot.
 
“Um… that’s actually a misconception. They just hated certain Unicorn and Pegasi nations. As long as you were not from any of them and respected their customs, they were fine with you,” Private whispered, finding the marble floor of the balcony very fascinating right now.
 
“I see, well I must admit I’ve never studied them, only knew of them.” The Dark King shrugged. He started to examine the armor Private was wearing. “Is this supposed to be… wait, are you actually playing the role of Horsenidas, the Spartacorn King?”
 
“Maybe.” Private’s voice was so low that it was barely audible.
 
“This is your fantasy? Hold on, Private, are you actually fantasizing about being in power? You actually have fantasies about being in charge and ruling over other ponies?” Sombra could feel laughter build up in his throat again, when no response came from his host, the king let out another burst, this time he had to support himself on the stone railing of the balcony.
 
While the king was well on his way to killing himself from laughter, Private just stood there wanting the balcony floor to swallow him up. The Unicorn was turning bright red in embarrassment under his fur.
 
His fascination with Spartacornia and the Spartacorns was well known in his family and anyone who knew him. Private had always admired this ancient Earth Pony nation who had somehow defied all conventions and not relied on Pegasi for weather or Unicorns for their magic. They had preferred the harsher, wilder landscapes where the weather was uncontrolled.
 
“It’s not like I actually want it, it’s just a harmless fantasy,” Private muttered and took of his helmet. His regular horn reappeared the moment he did. The Unicorn then noticed the silence and slowly glanced at the king. Sombra had regained his composure again and smirked down at him.
 
“If it is such a harmless fantasy, then why conceal it?” he asked and grinned wider when Private fell even more silent than usual. “Why are you so uncomfortable being caught fantasizing about ruling a powerful nation?”
 
“Or is there more to this fantasy than just power?” The Dark King wondered and began circling his host. “The Spartacorns were from the mountainous Hippeios region, weren’t they?”
 
“Yes,” Private muttered though strictly speaking he had just thought the answer.
 
“You wouldn’t, due to your dual nature be fascinated with the old concept of Hippeios Love would you?” Sombra stopped right in front of him. How much the smaller Unicorn flinched told the Dark King everything.
 
“Let’s see now, you’re clearly playing Horsenidas, a strong, aggressive Earth Pony. I take it he is your favorite historical figure?” the king wondered and rubbed his muzzle thoughtfully.
 
“Uh no… it’s actually Commander Hurricane,” Private corrected him and hung his head even lower.
 
“A strong, aggressive Pegasus.” The Dark King nodded. Sombra couldn’t say he was very surprised to hear that. He reached with his hoof under Private’s chin and had the Unicorn raise his head to face him. “Almost makes me wonder if there is a strong, aggressive Unicorn somewhere in this fantasy land of yours.”
 
Private gulped but didn’t say anything and somehow managed not to think either. Sombra was now staring at him critically as if he was considering something. Then a devilish smirk crossed the king’s muzzle and he dropped his hoof down.
 
“Tell me, if we were to head into the bedchambers of this fantasy palace of yours, are we going to be finding the blue Pegasus mare waiting for you there? Or maybe a certain Pegasus co-founder of Equestria?” Sombra asked and almost cackled when seeing the nervous, shifting expression Private suddenly had. “Don’t tell me we would find them both?”
 
Private sighed as once more the Dark King was roaring in laughter. He dropped the helmet and started to undress from the armor, no point in wearing it now, he certainly wasn’t going to play out his fantasy with Sombra now actively paying attention to him. The armor rematerialized on him.
 
“Don’t take it off, I admit it looks rather good on you.” Sombra had stopped laughing and had clearly wrestled control over this part of Private’s mind as well. He leaned closer to his host, grinning ear to ear. “So, Private, any Unicorns in your fantasy?”
 
“I… I was always a little bit fascinated with… the stories my parents told me about the lost son of Queen Rabia… if that counts… I was never as much into Dark Pony history like them.” Private took a step back and prepared for another mocking laughter tirade. He raised his brow when seeing the dumbfounded expression coming over King Sombra.
 
The fantasy disappeared, the armor vanished and the two of them were back in the brown space. The Dark King was still staring at Private who was starting to wonder what the heck was going on. Then finally the former tyrant started to laugh but this time he was really laughing. He actually dropped down to the ground, beating his hooves against it as the mad chortles came out of his mouth.
 
“Uh… did I drive him insane or something? More insane?” Private found this much creepier and took another step back away from the writhing mass that was the laughing king.
 
“Why are you laughing like that?” the Unicorn asked uneasily.
 
“You… you are so amusingly dumb.” Finally, Sombra stopped and looked at his host. The king’s grin was almost breaking his muzzle apart. “You don’t have any clue of who the lost son of Queen Rabia is, do you?”
 
“Only vaguely, it’s mostly just legend by now. My parents are researching a possible identification, but they haven’t revealed anything yet. I think they want to surprise me, since they knew I was interested in the legend.” Private couldn’t do much but shrug.
 
“Well, I can certainly confirm that he was strong and aggressive, you certainly have a thing for your stallions being strong and aggressive.” Sombra rose back to his feet, his face still shone nothing but amusement. When the only reaction he got from his host was a raised eyebrow the Dark King shook his head. “You honestly have no idea.”
 
“Well he is called the ‘lost son’ after all,” the smaller Unicorn pointed out.
 
“Bet that was Ira’s idea, my younger sister always was a bit overdramatic,” the Dark King muttered and rolled his eyes.
 
Private would have stopped breathing when hearing this, but since this was happening in his mind all he did was freeze and his eyes opened wide. The way Sombra spoke of the last Queen of the Dark Ponies and what he called her looked and felt too sincere to be some sort of a trick.
 
“No… no it can’t be,” the Unicorn whispered, shocked and now even more scared beyond belief.
 
“Shall I reintroduce myself? Oh very well. Greetings, I’m King Sombra, the eldest son of Queen Rabia of the Dark Pony Empire, elder brother of Queen Ira, the last Queen of the Dark Pony Empire. Oh and apparently according to my sister, the lost son of Queen Rabia since I decided to head out on my own as being a stallion I could not hold any position of power in Dark Pony society.” Sombra put a hoof on his chest and did a flourishing mock bow. He started to snicker when hearing the panicked scream coming now from Private Iceland.
 



 
Private woke up still screaming but was quickly silenced with a snowball being thrown right into his mouth, sending him back down to the blanket he had laid on.
 
“Oh shut up, I don’t care if you eviscerate me for this or whatever sick psycho things you do, but keep it down,” came an annoyed grunt from Barricade.
 
Sputtering Private rose back up and was surprised to find he was in fact awake and in control of his body. He looked around the campsite and saw where his brother was curled up, trying to go back to sleep.
 
“B-barricade?” Private whispered and started to move closer but found himself compelled to sit down again.
 
“Going somewhere? I wasn’t quite finished,” Sombra spoke in his head, reminding the pony that he was still in fact possessed.
 
“Finished doing what?” Private asked, fearing the worst. He cringed when finding himself being compelled to lie back down.
 
“Talking with you of course, come now, back to sleep,” the king commanded and forced Private’s body to go back to sleep.
 



 
Private glanced down at the golden armor he was now wearing again, on his head rested the Spartacornian crown helmet and his regular horn replaced with the steel one. The Unicorn was sitting in a dining parlor of the Spartacornian palace whose balcony he had made a speech on in his fantasy. Near him sat King Sombra, wearing once again his steel crown, armor, hoof guards and red cape.
 
“I had to use images from your fantasy, which I must admit is much richer than I gave you credit for. You have no memories of my palace except the laboratory and right now I need to conserve my powers a bit so it’s limited what I can conjure up,” the Dark King explained casually.
 
“It is rather annoying how limited I am as a spirit, one would think it offered boundless opportunities, I mean I can possess ponies, control their minds to a greater extent than my usual mind control and I can even use my old spells through them. But I drain faster, I’m limited by the physical attributes of the body I possess, it even takes great effort just to control it and use magic at the same time.” The Dark Unicorn shook his head in dismay. Private decided it was best just to politely nod.
 
“Is that why you want to regenerate your own body instead of just taking over mine completely?” the smaller Unicorn then asked uneasily.
 
“Exactly, thought it might sound more practical to just grab yours, it isn’t. I would still be limited by what this body can do. Besides, I can’t take over your body completely and push you out, I have already told you that. Strange as it may sound, a skilled Unicorn in the flesh can be more powerful than a mere spirit. Spirits can be powerhouses, but they are usually very emotional and unstable because of that. Even now I feel drives to act more on my emotions than rational thought,” Sombra sighed, sporting a mildly annoyed look.
 
“Right, right, um so why are we sitting here in Horsenidas’s dining room, dressed up?” Private wondered and glanced around. There was food and drink, but the Unicorn knew it was all imaginary so saw little point in touching it.
 
“You are telling me this isn’t what you have always dreamed of? Being able to sit down and have a casual talk with a historical figure you admire?” the king asked in turn and grinned when his host flinched.
 
Private hated to admit how right Sombra was. He admired King Horsenidas for his strength, bravery and how he had managed to lead the Spartacorns against overwhelming odds. He practically worshipped Commander Hurricane for his role in founding Equestria. Sure the Pegasus had a spotted record in his past but once he overcame his prejudices, all records seemed to point towards a fairly affable yet rough and tough pony who had been ready to defend the newly founded kingdom at every turn.
 
Then there was the lost son of Queen Rabia, a subject that had fascinated him to no end. So far, what little Private knew was just the legends his parents had told him and the Unicorn had waited eagerly for their further research into the subject to be complete. Knowing that the pony currently possessing him was said lost son, had dampened that enthusiasm a bit though.
 
“I would have preferred it happening outside my body,” he muttered and looked down at the table.
 
“I know what you mean, I wish I could actually drink this wine and actually be drinking it,” Sombra grunted and picked up the silver goblet in front of him. “Even when eating at that inn through you it didn’t feel right. Another reason I am very eager to have my own body again.”
 
“You killed those ponies…” Private whispered as he remembered what he had seen at the inn.
 
“I killed slaves, Private. Worthless worms who were deluded enough to think they were free. In a way you are my slave as well, I’ve practically owned you since our first meeting,” the King snorted with contempt, his eyes narrowed on his host who was grumbling a little at being called a slave.
 
“Though perhaps I should be more generous and call you a servant. You have ancestry with Dark Ponies after all even if you are a mixed breed,” he then added and was mildly disappointed that Private showed no surprise to that revelation, just glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. “Oh, you knew that? I was hoping it would be a shocking revelation to you.”
 
“You have access to my memories, surely you’ve seen where my parents explained to Barricade and I about our ancestry,” Private rolled his eyes.
 
“I am not particularly interested in your entire life history, I access the parts that are important, not trivial bits,” Sombra said and shook his head. He didn’t notice the other unicorn raising his eyebrow a little, finding that tidbit actually interesting.
 
“How can you call the Crystal Ponies just worthless worms and slaves?” Private decided to bring the topic back to what had been bothering him the most. The callous attitude Sombra was showing towards his former subjects.
 
“Because the Crystal Ponies are one of the most pathetic creatures I’ve ever put my eyes on. I removed ONE object from them and their very wills crumpled to dust,” the king growled. “They relied on one object to protect them, and they are so idiotic, naive and trusting that they put it on display where anypony could just go, grab and steal it.”
 
“I will give the Equestrians that. They at least ensured that they had rulers that when push came to shove, would step up and protect them or at the very least rescue them. Discord reigned for a long time in Equestria, nearly as long as I ruled the Crystal Empire, but the Princesses at least didn’t just buckle under his chaotic rule. They went out and found what was needed to defeat him,” he continued his tirade. Private could do little but just listen silently.
 
“I have far more respect for the Equestrians than I have for the Crystal Ponies. The Elements of Harmony aren’t just physical objects; they represent an ideal that chooses their bearers. You can steal the physical objects away, but the bearers are still the element and if they believe in themselves, they are no more powerless with or without their element. The Crystal Heart? Remove it, the Crystal Ponies can’t do anything. They panicked so much when it was first stolen away by a dragon they ran crying to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to help them get it back. They had to get outside help to get it back. They always need outside help.” Sombra spat out the last few words.
 
Private wished he could argue back, but found himself unable to really come up with the right words. For a brief moment he wished he actually was Barricade who probably could have shot holes into Sombra’s argument. It seemed the king was aware of this as well.
 
“I know by your silence that you do not agree with me, you really wish you could come with a counter argument to my view. Not so easy to make inspiring speeches when talking with someone real, even if it is just a spirit,” the Dark King chuckled mockingly.
 
King Sombra rose from his seat and walked over to Private who still hung his head and grumbled to the table. The Dark Pony used a hoof once again reach under his host’s chin and lift the head and move it so their eyes met.
 
“I was wrong to be so frustrated by your continuous silence. It has actually been a small blessing; I was rather worried when first possessing you that I would be barraged by constant propaganda about friendship and harmony. I can live with being called a vile monster and all that, but at least you aren’t trying something ludicrous like getting me to see the light and the errors of my ways,” the king said smirking. He let go of Private’s face only to snake his leg around the Unicorn, grinning even wider when seeing how uncomfortable the pony was.
 
“You have in fact been most entertaining and very useful, I really should reward you with something.” Sombra leaned closer in until his muzzle was right next to Private’s ear.
 
“In fact, once I have my body back, maybe I should reward you by having one of your fantasies come true,” he whispered into it, causing Private’s entire body to pale up.
 



 
Private screamed so loud that Barricade jumped nearly his height from his makeshift blanket bed. The Unicorn sat up and glared over to his possessed brother, but all anger at being so abruptly woken again disappeared when seeing his twin curled up and rocking back and forth.
 
“Private?” Barricade noted that his brother’s mane had returned to normal and so had his horn. The fitter pony wondered if this meant he was back in control of the body.
 
“Hey bro, you alright?” He walked over to his twin who still didn’t respond, just kept rocking on his blanket.
 
“You in there. What did you do to him?” Barricade called into his brother’s ear, not really knowing any other way to ask the spirit. To his surprise, black smoke began pouring out of his twin, it congregated above the possessed body and formed the head of King Sombra.
 
“I merely promised to reward him once I have my own body back.” Somehow the king could make a movement using the smoke and shadow that simulated a careless shrug.
 
Barricade didn’t look too impressed by the show, he glanced at his brother who paid no attention to this, though he had stopped rocking. Now the other twin just lay on the blanket in a curled up fetal position.
 
“Enough with the special effects.” Barricade returned his attention to the spirit who was smirking mockingly. “This is the second time a scream has woken me up and now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure it was Private who screamed the first time and not you as I first thought. What the hell are you doing to him?”
 
“I have not caused him any physical pain, Barricade,” King Sombra said, a smoky tendril went down and began gently caressing Private’s mane. “He’s just finally found out that a pony he was fascinated with happens to be me and I promised that I might indulge into his rich fantasy life once I have my body back as a reward for his service.”
 
There was something off to Barricade about how Sombra was caressing Private’s mane and the tone he spoke in. The Unicorn’s eyes narrowed as he realized that the two screams hadn’t been screams of pain, they had been startled, fearful, panicked.
 
“Oh no, don’t you even dare think about it. You are not going to do anything with him, once we are rid of you, you are going to leave both of us alone!” Barricade snapped and glared almost murderously at the spirit.
 
Yet again Sombra was laughing, but this time it was dark, ominous and maniacal. The spirit’s eyes started glowing greener than ever and while still laughing, locked his eyes with Barricade who froze as he found himself unable to look away.
 
“Oh you naive fool. You honestly think that you have any say in how things are processing and how things will be once I return to flesh?” King Sombra’s muzzle had a twisted grin now.
 
“You are merely a tool, Barricade, a rather useless tool I must admit. Your brother has been of a far more of use to me than you. However, I might still be able to use you and now that I have you under my power and I need to boost my energy.” The king’s head floated closer to the petrified pony, never breaking the eye contact.
 
“What is it, you fear, Barricade?” Sombra laughed cruelly as he dug right into Barricade’s deepest and darkest fears with very little resistance.
 
End Chapter 17

> Chapter 18. You’re my shadow?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 18
 
Private blinked awake and the first thing he saw was daylight. The next was a tall, dark gray Unicorn with black mane and tail standing in front of him with his back turned towards the pony.
 
“W-what?” Private half rose up, recognizing Sombra. “H-how? A-are you in a body now?”
 
“Look at your shadow,” was the only thing Sombra said, not even glancing back at him.
 
The Unicorn looked down at his shadow. The light was just right so it actually went towards the Dark King. Private blinked. It went straight under Sombra and connected with him. In fact, the bigger pony didn’t even cast a shadow, he rose out of Private’s.
 
“Y-you’re my shadow?” he asked stunned. Now the king did glance back, flashing his fangs in a smirk. Private wasn’t sure what to think when the black tail reached towards him and actually gently cupped his chin like it was some sort of a fingered limb.
 
“My powers continue to grow; I can now manifest myself like this outside your body. It’s still some time before I can regenerate it and become flesh again, but at last I can do more than mere projections,” Sombra explained and part of the tail formed a tendril that began caressing Private’s right cheek gently.
 
Private shuddered, not understanding why the spirit was being so gentle. Sombra seemed to smile a bit wider when sensing the pony’s discomfort. He withdrew the tail, but not before letting it brush over the muzzle, causing his host to sputter. It had felt like smoke had entered his nostrils.
 
“What are you doing anyway?” Private asked leaned a bit to the side to see what Sombra was blocking the view of. The Unicorn gasped when seeing his brother, his eyes were glowing green and red, but the most shocking was the scowl on his face and that his horn was curved and red.
 
“W-what have you done?” the Unicorn cried and rose up from the blankets. He hurried over to his brother who seemed to take no notice of him, just kept staring forward.
 
“I fed on his fears, then I infused him with some of my powers as I wrestled him under my complete and utter control. I think he’ll make a useful sentry,” King Sombra told him and shrugged.
 
Private looked bewildered between his brother and the spirit. He walked around the hypnotized Unicorn trying to see any sign if Barricade was still there, but his twin just continued to stare forward with a sneer on his face.
 
“Why?” Private glared at Sombra, gritting his teeth.
 
“Soon we shall reach our destination, we are going to need somepony to be on guard for any pursuers and delay them,” the Dark King said and turned his eyes to Private. “Your brother is really scared of the royal guards; did you know that?”
 
“I… I know he’s always been wary of them,” the smaller Unicorn glanced sadly at his brother.
 
“Indeed. I watched his nightmares, I thought at first he just hated them, but no, it’s terror. He fears them greatly, one would think somepony like that would be more law-abiding to avoid attention from what he fears so much,” Sombra remarked and approached Barricade.
 
There was nothing really Private could say that could explain it. Barricade had never told why the royal guard made him so nervous, in fact he knew his twin was also wary around royalty, but the reasons why remained a mystery to the family. Sombra was now walking around his new sentry, admiring his handiwork.
 
“Your brother is certainly a handsome specimen. He really takes care of himself. He only needs a black mane, tail and hooves plus remove the cutie mark and he would be a fine example of the Dark Pony race,” the Dark King remarked and nodded in approval.
 
“Well he’s not,” Private muttered dryly and walked back to the blankets to sit down on them. He noticed that his shadow stretched so it remained under Sombra, no matter where the spirit was standing.
 
“There is some food in the saddlebags that’s more suited for you. You’ll need to eat We still have a long way to go,” the Dark Unicorn said and waved a hoof towards where the saddlebags he had stolen from the inn lay.
 
Private said nothing, just used his magic to float the bags over. He opened one and found that the spirit spoke the truth,. There were some dried fruits, a small package of traveling hay and even some vegetables stashed in one part of it. Seeing food that was far more proper for him and wanting to forget the last meal he technically speaking ate, the Unicorn grabbed some of the hay and vegetables and started to eat.
 
Can you hear me when you’re outside like that? he thought and glanced to where Sombra was still standing by Barricade. Private recalled the king saying this wasn’t a projection.
 
You’re a stupid idiot. He tried again when there was no reaction to the question from the spirit. Wow, he actually can’t hear me when he’s like this.
 
The Unicorn allowed himself to feel little bit relieved when learning this. Finally, his mind was his and nobody else was in it. It probably wouldn’t last. He was pretty sure Sombra could re-enter it whenever he liked.
 
Enjoy it while it lasts, Private thought and continued to eat. He started a little when the spirit suddenly appeared right next to him, fearing that maybe he had been wrong. Sombra showed no sign that he heard him and just sat down uncomfortably close to his host.
 
“Who knows, maybe there is a spell that can draw out the ancestry of ponies, making it more prominent. I might just have to experiment with your brother once I have my own body back. There might be a way to restore the Dark Pony race,” the king mused and rubbed his muzzle thoughtfully.
 
“I-I take it then you’re not letting us go… once this is all over.” Private cringed and felt a little ill when a hoof was put on his back.
 
“Catching on aren’t you? You two are going to be my first servants once I’m back in my own body, your brother will make a good soldier, he certainly has the ability to fight. You however, we’ll have to see.” King Sombra patted the Unicorn gently.
 
Is it just me or is he friendlier than before? Private glanced warily at the spirit, it certainly seemed like the Dark King’s demeanor towards him had changed. Now if only he would get out of my personal space.
 
This would probably be one of the most golden opportunities to get to know about Dark Pony society, if he wasn’t an evil bastard who has pretty much abducted my brother and I in order to do something to retake the Crystal Empire. At least that’s what I’m assuming he’s after. The Unicorn sighed and continued to eat.
 
“Uh… can I ask a question?” Private asked and looked at Sombra when there was no response. He raised his eyebrow when seeing the Dark Unicorn had his eyes closed but was grinning nastily, the purple smoke emitting from the corners also looked thicker and darker.
 
The king was like this for at least a minute before finally opening his eyes, letting out a cruel chuckle. He looked down at Private who wasn’t really sure he wanted to know what was going on, Sombra, however, seemed to be in a sharing mood.
 
“Guards arrived at the inn just now. I sprung the little surprise I had prepared for them,” he said and looked rather self-satisfied as he started to examine his right hoof. The Dark Pony looked at his host again, who was very confused.
 
“You thought I killed everypony in the inn? No, I merely drove the rest mad with their fears and my spell kept them in slumber until guards arrived. I expect the peons are tearing the hapless guards limb from limb by now thinking they are defending themselves against their fears,” King Sombra explained casually. “I also left a spell active so I can look in on what is happening, if I need to.”
 
“Is there anything you don’t plan or prepare for?” Private remarked, not really expecting a straight answer.
 
“You say that as if that is a bad thing. Just look at where it has gotten me - my enemies thought me defeated, yet here I still am preparing once again for my return. You think I don’t know why Princess Celestia didn’t have me blasted the second time with the Elements of Harmony and opted instead of having the Crystal Ponies blow me up with the Crystal Heart?” Sombra said and put a leg around his host, pulling the grunting Unicorn closer to him.
 
“The Elements of Harmony are not a deadly weapon. At worst, it encases you in a stone prison, like Discord, or banishes one, in my case. It is really big on just benevolently dealing with the threat. The Crystal Heart, however, is an outright a deadly weapon that destroys the threat. Celestia knew I would just keep returning if the Elements were used on me and with each return I would have learned from the last encounter. So this time I was killed - only Celestia didn’t know I had a plan for that as well,” the Dark King continued to explain.
 
Let go of me! Private was really starting to get uncomfortable, but still didn’t dare speak it out loud. He also figured the king wouldn’t listen anyway even if he did.
 
“Alright, fine you like to plan,” the Unicorn snorted and tried to slip out of Sombra’s grasp. To his relief the spirit allowed it, but kept staring at him with a smirk.
 
“Finish your food, we’ll be heading off soon,” King Sombra said and gently caressed Private on the cheek with a hoof before rising up and walking over to Barricade.
 
It should be finishing any minute now, the Dark Unicorn thought as he examined the scowling Unicorn up and down. In the meantime, I should check if the guards have been torn to shreds yet.
 
The spirit closed his eyes and activated the spell that allowed him to gain control of Strong Horn the innkeeper. He frowned a little when seeing that the guards were still alive. The yellow mare had erected a shield over herself and the other two to protect them from the onslaught. The stallion was on the ground and was struggling to remain conscious.
 
“Valiant effort guard, but it will be for naught. You can’t hold up this shield forever and when it fails, you shall all perish and serve as an example as to what happens to those who dare oppose me,” he addressed the three guards. They all looked at him and the king reveled in seeing the fright in the green one.
 
Sombra knew though that this meant he was pressed for time. The fact that they had stumbled up on the right inn meant things were progressing faster than he had anticipated. He would have to press on and try and arrive at the mountain this evening, even risk using some of his power to aid in that.
 
“Enjoy your last minutes of living. Know this though - that once the time is right, my maw will close over the pretenders and I will take back what is mine,” he said before releasing his hold on the minotaur.
 
If only that idiot hadn’t let that mare escape. Sombra looked at Barricade who was finally starting to move. Ah, it’s finished.
 
“My lord.” Barricade’s voice sounded hollow as he bowed before the spirit.
 
“Barricade?” Private looked over with a worried frown. “W-why does his voice sound like that?”
 
“He is under my spells. He will obey only me and protect both of us,” the king explained and glanced over to his host.
 
Yeah… sure, bet that really means protecting you, I just get it too because you’re still stuck to me. Private shook his head sadly.
 
Barricade was certainly livelier again. He started to look around almost as if he was surveying the area for danger. Once he was satisfied there was no threat, the Unicorn sat down but clearly remained alert. With a satisfied nod, Sombra walked back over to Private.
 
“Have you finished eating?” he asked his host, who slowly nodded. “Good, clean up this camp and then we will get moving, you will walk this time though without me controlling the body.”
 
Joy, Private thought. He rose up and started to gather up the blankets, rolled them up and placed them in the bags. Once the camp was cleared, Sombra pointed him in the right direction to go in and three ponies set off.
 
As they began walking, Private noticed that the king didn’t really walk, he glided along, always rising out of the shadow of his host. The Unicorn found it a bit uncanny, but then again Sombra was just a spirit right now. He also noticed that his shadow no longer really obeyed where the light was shining on him. It followed the spirit and not the position of the sun.
 
Screw it, never know when I’ll get an opportunity like this again. I’m asking. The Unicorn thought after they had walked for a while and had cleared the woody areas. His brother was in the rear, but Sombra floated along near him.
 
“Can I ask about Dark Ponies?” Private carefully eyed the king who looked at him and smiled.
 
“Of course.” Sombra nodded and sounded interested enough in this topic. Private just hoped he wouldn’t regret it.
 
“Why are you called Dark Ponies? I mean, is it because of the coat, the mane and tail?” he asked.
 
“It’s because of our natural affinity for wielding dark magic. We have what you call normal magic,” Sombra said and his horn glowed red for a brief second. “But other magic I display is so-called dark magic.”
 
Suppose that makes sense, Private nodded. He looked forward and could now see the large mountain rising in the distance. Its ominous, jaw-like peak did not seem very welcoming.
 
“I was considered the most powerful Dark Pony to have ever been born,” the king mused and grinned a bit. “The best that my mother, Queen Rabia, had produced. I was considered a pinnacle of prowess. I represented the best of the best.”
 
And so modest. His host rolled his eyes before adding sarcastically. “I’m sure the mares flocked to you.”
 
“I wish,” Sombra snorted in disdain, much to Private’s surprise. “Mother wouldn’t allow it; no mare was good enough for me, according to her. I had to settle with comfort colts well into my stallionhood when I should have been married off already.”
 
Comfort colts? Private frowned hard. That sounded familiar somehow, he just couldn’t place it right now.
 
“One thing you need to know about Dark Ponies. Stallions held no power, but were considered the protectors of the land. The mares took care of the governing and they chose what stallions to marry. However, it wasn’t unheard of that a stallion took the throne. That happened if the Queen only had sons and no daughters,” the king told him and sighed a bit.
 
“I was Queen Rabia’s only child for a long time. For a while it certainly seemed like I would be taking over after her. I started the studies for it, was groomed with great care. Then when I reached official adulthood at the age of twenty winters, my mother gave birth to a daughter, my sister Ira,” Sombra grunted and hung his head, sounding like this had really irritated him.
 
Private nodded, mostly because this seemed to fit with what he had been told both about the lost son and what he knew of Queen Ira. She had been fairly young for a Dark Pony when she took the throne and many attributed that to being the reason the empire finally fell, because of her inexperience and different attitude than the iron-hoofed rule of her mother.
 
“I was told to help instruct my sister as she grew, since I could transfer what I learned over to her. I suppose I didn’t mind at the time. It wasn’t my place to complain after all. Then I learned I was supposed to marry her to preserve the bloodline.” The Dark Unicorn grimaced at the last sentence. Private looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
 
“You did not want that, I take it?” the Unicorn wondered, almost surprised that Sombra had standards.
 
“I was not overly thrilled at the prospect of marrying my own sister. I should have been married already anyway to some high-ranking mare within the royal family who would be distantly related enough that it wouldn’t have mattered,” the king snorted. “So I left, decided to strike out on my own, grab power somewhere else and learn to increase my skills.”
 
I suppose that’s understandable… ugh I can’t believe I’m having a casual conversation with that twisted maniac, Private frowned again. The word Sombra had mentioned earlier was also still bothering him.
 
“You mentioned ‘comfort colts’.” He decided to risk it and instantly regretted it when hearing the almost sly sounding chortle coming from the Dark King.
 
“Unmarried Dark Pony stallions in high society could not mingle with unmarried mares unless they were related, or the mares were looking for a suitor. So for companionship, service and other needs, they would acquire a young colt, no younger than sixteen winters, but could be older,” Sombra explained and floated even closer to Private, who was unsure what to think of this custom.
 
“They were usually from the lower classes. This raised their status. Once the stallion they served married, they had a chance at a better jobs or even to become knights within the royal guards,” the Dark King continued.
 
I can see how that would then be socially acceptable, if it helped young ponies later in life… Why is he staring at me like that? Private glanced at Sombra and couldn’t help but notice that the king seemed to be watching him with anticipation.
 
All the color nearly drained out of Private’s face as it suddenly hit him. The way the spirit was acting towards him suddenly, his words of how they would have to wait and see what he would use the Unicorn for since his twin would be a soldier.
 
“You don’t want me for… oh please tell me I’m overthinking this,” he whispered and stopped walking.
 
King Sombra halted so he was right next to him. He opened his mouth as if to speak but then frowned suddenly. The king closed his eyes and once again looked to be concentrating, the purple mist becoming darker. Private continued to wait in dread, knowing the previous conversation would resume once the Dark Unicorn was done doing what he was doing.
 
“Princess Twilight fancies herself to be able to save everypony in the inn,” King Sombra grinned wide as he opened his eyes after a little while and returned his attention to his host. “Perhaps there will only be three Princesses to deal with after all.”
 
Private cringed when hearing that. Great just great! At this rate he’s going to get to the mountain, regenerate his body, take over the Crystal Empire and… and… please tell me I’m just being paranoid. He flinched when Sombra raised his hoof and began stroking his mane.
 
“As for your query. I have to admit that if I was still ruling the Crystal Empire, I wouldn’t bother. I paid little attention to the old customs of my race and took any mare I wanted,” the Dark Pony murmured and smiled at the frightened Unicorn.
 
“However, it’s probably going to be a while before I regain my throne and I have to admit feeling some nostalgia towards the old customs when seeing the Spartacorns in your mind.” Sombra moved the hoof to Private’s muzzle and raised his head a bit.
 
“Although you are already a stallion, it wasn’t unusual for the colts to continue to serve their master well into adulthood. It just really depended on when the master eventually married,” he said and let go of the Unicorn who closed his eyes and looked away, shivering where he stood.
 
King Sombra soaked up the fear coming from his host. The added bonus to this was of course the fright Private was portraying, further fueling the Dark Pony’s power. The spirit had toyed with this idea as far back as when he first saw who it was he was possessing. He hadn’t really mentioned it, but Sombra had been ecstatic to learn that he had possessed Private of all the possible ponies he had prepared back in the past.
 
What sealed the deal was witnessing Private’s fantasy. It brought up so many pleasant memories back when he still lived in the royal court of the Dark Pony Empire. He wasn’t going to admit it openly, but his host actually reminded him a bit of one of his last comfort colts. A fairly young one who had been very quiet and shy, but Sombra remembered being able to get him to talk if he found the right topics to speak about.
 
Wonder what happened to him? No doubt slaughtered like the others when the Saddle Arabians invaded. Sombra turned away from Private to look towards the sun, seeing by its position that it was already late.
 
“Enough pleasantries, we have business to attend to. If Princess Twilight was smart, we still have four princesses to contend with and we need to be at the peak before evening,” he declared and looked over to where Barricade stood guard. “Barricade come closer, I’ll need to speed up our journey.”
 
King Sombra waited until his new sentry was right next to him, then the Dark Unicorn transformed himself into smoke and shadow, even his head. He rose high up like a giant column of nothing but darkness, enveloping both Unicorns in it, grabbing them up with shadowy tendrils. Barricade made no sound, but Private yelped as he was unprepared to be so abruptly grabbed.
 
“So the Crystal Ponies believe they can hear my howl through that peak when the wind blows through it? Well, let them hear how I truly sound,” the Dark King growled as he began speeding towards the mountain, dragging the twins along with him.
 
As the king drew nearer, he let out, amplified by his powers, a loud, horrible, beastly howl. It echoed through a large area and from enough distance did seem to be coming from the mountain itself.
 
It certainly seemed so to the ponies back in the Crystal Empire. Many fearful eyes were turned west towards Sombra’s Maw.
 
End chapter 18
> Chapter 19. Then perhaps he is beyond hope.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 19
 
Cadance quickly entered the throne room. She had been in the dining parlor drinking tea with Dew Doe earlier. Foxy had joined them shortly later when one of her guards arrived to inform her that someone very important had just arrived to the castle. The princess hadn’t been expecting this visit, especially considering the current situation.
 
“Aunt Celestia,” she cried when seeing the big white Alicorn princess standing by her throne. Celestia smiled warmly at her adopted niece and the two briefly hugged.
 
“Not that I’m complaining, Aunt Tia, but why have you come?” Cadance asked once the two parted. “Twilight wrote you letters to update you on the situation, didn’t she?”
 
“She did and that is why I have come,” Celestia said and her smiled dropped a little. “Has there been any new development since Spike sent the last letter?”
 
“Only that we believe we know where Sombra is headed. I’m waiting for Twilight before we head off to deal with him and rescue the twin brothers,” the younger princess explained. “Is Aunt Luna coming too?”
 
“No. She is keeping an eye on things in Canterlot in case Sombra tries something further south,” her aunt told her. She raised an eyebrow when Cadance frowned a little. 
 
“Drat, I was hoping all four of us could go and take care of Sombra. I feel we are going to need all the firepower we can get, especially since we don’t have the Elements of Harmony,” Cadance said and wondered if she should try and convince Celestia to summon the Moon Princess.
 
“I think I see what you mean.” Celestia rubbed her muzzle with a thoughtful frown. “Sombra is certainly powerful enough, even as a spirit.”
 
Cadance proceeded to continue to explain the initial plan - how they were hoping to knock Private out to contain Sombra within his body, then take him to the city and give him a blast from the Crystal Heart. Celestia quickly noted though that there was some hesitation in her niece’s voice when speaking of the powerful jewel.
 
“Do you not think that would work? The Crystal Heart should purge or push Sombra out. You yourself have witnessed its power,” the Sun Princess commented. Cadance sighed and started to rub the back of her neck nervously.
 
“We are not sure if the Crystal Heart will do just that. It did outright kill Sombra the last time. What if it does the same with Private Iceland while Sombra is in him?” she said, her expression turning sadder.
 
She has a point. The Crystal Heart always was more of a protective weapon, Celestia thought as she considered this before putting a hoof on Cadance’s shoulder.
 
“I know it will be hard, but continue with the plan as is since we really have no other alternative. I am sure the positive energy of the heart will keep the stallion safe,” she said convincingly. “I trust you and Twilight to do what must be done.”
 
Cadance’s brow rose a little when hearing this. It didn’t sound like her aunt was planning on accompanying them at all. Yet she had come all this way to hear a new status report. The Princess wondered if something else was going on. She decided to just be blunt.
 
“I take it then that you are not coming with me and Twilight when we head out?” she asked and noted immediately a faint hesitation in Celestia.
 
“I am sure you are and Twilight are fully capable of handling this along with Shining Armor. You do have the most powerful spells that can affect Sombra, and Twilight is very good at learning spells on the fly,” the Sun Princess nodded, answering Cadance’s suspicion.
 
Now the pink Alicorn frowned ever so slightly. Many would probably just dismiss this as Celestia delegating duties, that was her right as the co-ruler of Equestria. Some with more unfair mindset might think she was just saddling duties on others she could and should take care of herself.
 
Cadance knew better, though. Celestia had sent Twilight and her friends after Discord because she and Luna were no longer the elements bearers and those were the only things that could defeat him. The Sun Princess had been more than ready to brawl with Queen Chrysalis and merely lost because the changeling ruler had sucked up so much power from Shining Armor.
 
However, she had sent Cadance and Shining Armor first to try and protect the empire from Sombra’s initial assault, then sent Twilight and her friends to help them find a way to protect it, without even bringing the Elements of Harmony with them.
 
The elements would only have re-banished Sombra. Was Celestia hoping we found a more permanent solution for him? Cadance thought for a moment before she looked at Celestia again.
 
“Aunt Tia, what are you afraid of?” she asked and noted once more slight hesitation in her aunt that most ponies would have easily missed.
 
“You and Luna keep seeing through me,” Celestia sighed, realizing there was no point in denying it. Cadance was practically her daughter even if she was merely her adopted niece and thus had the luxury of not keeping the respectful distance from her so many of her subjects did. She didn’t even have the teacher/student relationship like with Twilight that had made the purple Alicorn more reluctant to question the Sun Princess.
 
“It is not quite fear that you are seeing. It’s regret.” The white alicorn looked at the pink one with a grave expression. “Cadence, I panicked back when hearing that the Crystal Empire had returned. My only thought was to protect the Empire at all costs and I knew Sombra would not be caught again in the Elements of Harmony. He is not that arrogant even if he may sound like it. I knew the only hope the Empire had was if the Crystal Heart was found. I hoped if it simply was present that he would retreat.”
 
“I didn’t intend to have him killed.” Celestia bowed her head and let out sad sigh. “My plans had been then to head him off as he retreated and reason with him. I didn’t count on it that he would actually stubbornly press on.”
 
“After Fluttershy successfully brought Discord to our side, I just felt more regret that I practically ordered Sombra killed instead of trying something else.” She raised her head and composed herself a bit. “What King Sombra did was terrible and I know the Crystal Ponies will never be able to forgive him and they shouldn’t have to, yet I feel we could have done better.”
 
“I don’t want to sound like I’m dismissing your feelings, Aunt Tia,” Cadance said, feeling a little conflicted now that she’s heard Celestia’s confession. “But Sombra has already killed six ponies and he isn’t even back in his own body yet.”
 
“Then perhaps he is beyond hope.” Celestia shook her head upon hearing this.
 
They were interrupted when Coal and Spike came tearing into the throne room in a game of tag. When both saw there were adult ponies in there and not just any adults, but two princesses, both tried to halt their run. The filly tripped as she did, somersaulted, landed on her back and skidded across the crystal floor. Spike didn’t fare much better. He swung his arms wildly before the dragon landed on his rump and spun in a circle.
 
“Oh dear, are you two alright?” Princess Celestia asked the two as she and Cadance approached. Spike was already picking himself up, but Coal just lay still on her back, staring wide eyed at the white alicorn standing above her.
 
“You are Princess Celestia,” the filly whispered in awe.
 
“Why, yes I am. And what is your name, little one?” Celestia asked smiling warmly, secretly glad for the momentary distraction.
 
“Coal.” The girls’ voice was barely audible. She didn’t even notice when Spike came running over and helped her get up.
 
“It is nice meet you, Coal,” the Sun Princess said. She wondered if this was a child of one of the staff working for her niece.
 
“Sorry for interrupting, we didn’t think anypony was in here,” Spike apologized with a sheepish grin.
 
“It’s quite alright, Spike, but why don’t you take Coal to the dining parlor? I think her aunt and mother are still there,” Cadance suggested. The dragon saluted and after prodding the still awestruck filly, the two disappeared back out of the throne room.
 
“That was the niece of the stallion who was possessed, as well as being the daughter of his twin brother,” she explained to her aunt. Celestia nodded. “So about what we were talking earlier?”
 
“Is there more to talk about?” Celestia arched her brow, but it was clear Cadance wasn’t quite done yet.
 
“Aunt Tia, I won’t even pretend knowing everything that you do, but so far from what I have seen, Sombra is a heartless monster who barely deserves any pity at all. So I hope you forgive me if I am at a loss why you are so hesitant to engage him, regret or no,” the pink Alicorn had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. “Don’t tell me this is a case of some estranged lover’s story?”
 
Celestia blinked in utter surprise when hearing Cadance’s remark, then burst into a giggle fit. This caused her niece to start laughing as well since now that she thought about it - that last one had been just too absurd. Then of course the Sun Princess let it accidentally slip.
 
“Well, not from lack of trying.” Celestia palmed her face when she realized what she had just said. Cadance’s jaw nearly scraped the floor, causing her aunt to look at her bemused. “What? I was young once.”
 
“Before he was King Sombra, he was Prince Sombra of the Dark Pony Empire and the most eligible bachelor across the world. I was smitten when Luna and I visited the Empire during its heyday. Sadly, it was not meant to be,” the Sun Princess shook her head.
 
“Why?” Cadance couldn’t help but wonder. One would think that being married to one of the rulers of one of the most powerful nations of the world would be quite the prestige.
 
“His mother.” Celestia actually frowned a bit now. “Queen Rabia, for some reason never allowed him to marry. No one was really surprised when Sombra then up and disappeared from her court, no doubt to get out from under her iron hooves. Imagine my surprise though, when he suddenly appeared many years later and brutally conquered the Crystal Empire right at our doorsteps.”
 
“Alright so you weren’t lovers, but you were friends?” Cadance wondered, thinking she might finally have the whole picture. She had to restrain from pumping the air with one leg when her aunt nodded.
 
“For my part, I considered us friends back when he was just a prince. He was actually quite polite and charming back then, very proper and conducted himself well with visiting dignitaries,” Celestia told her before shaking her head sadly. “But King Sombra was definitely NOT Prince Sombra. He changed so much when he took over the Crystal Empire.”
 
So Aunt Celestia is reluctant to go against Sombra because she feels she’s failed a friend? Cadance theorized in her mind. She could see that. The princess had a feeling there was more to it, but there wasn’t really time to grill her aunt about it. Twilight could return at any moment and then it would be soon time to leave.
 
“If you are not coming with us, at least could you stay while we go and keep an eye on the empire in case worse comes to worse?” Cadance asked. She held back a sigh in relief when Celestia nodded.
 
“Of course, that is the other reason I came here,” the Sun Princess said.
 
A distant sound coming from the outside caught their attention. The two princesses looked startled at each other and hurried out to the balcony that looked out towards the city. As they did, they heard the horrible, distant howl coming from the west more clearly. Down in the streets,  ponies were also staring in that direction, many very frightened. That had not been the natural sound of the icy wind of the frozen north.
 
“Somba’s Maw.” Cadance stared towards the distant mountain. King Sombra had made it clear where he was. “This was an invitation to come and do something, wasn’t it?”
 
“Sombra would never advertise his location like this unless yes, he was counting on somepony to come,” Celestia nodded grimly. “This is a trap. Maybe I should come with you.”
 
Cadance just nodded, feeling very glad that that her aunt had changed her mind. That awful howl had clearly been a sign that Sombra was ready and waiting and who knew what awaited them there. This might even be a trump card in their favor. The Dark King probably wouldn’t count on three princesses coming.
 



 
Private landed rather unceremoniously on his face when Sombra reached near the peak of the mountain and dropped the Unicorn twins on a ledge. Barricade landed on all four feet and the first thing he did was look around for danger. The Dark King pulled back all the smoke and shadow and formed himself back into his pony shape standing out of Private’s shadow.
 
“Ah, even if it was ever there in the distance, it’s been quite a while since I was here last,” the king said and stared at a large cave opening in front of the three unicorns.
 
Barricade made no comment, just watched silently. His twin was slowly rising up to his feet, rubbing his sore muzzle after that hard contact with the ground. Private remained silent as well, feeling nervous and afraid, plus not looking too forward to what awaited him in the near future if Sombra actually succeeded.
 
“Barricade, you stand guard here on the ledge. You see anypony approach, shoot to kill,” the Dark Unicorn ordered his sentry. He simply bowed and turned around to face away from the cave, scanning the skies for any movement. He didn’t bother with climbing up since over the ledge was a hundred foot drop straight down.
 
“Private, get into the cave.” Sombra then turned his attention to his host who froze as he realized this meant he would be completely alone with the king. That hadn’t happened since the hospital back in the city.
 
It finally happened. Private Iceland snapped. He just could not do it. Somehow, the presence of his brother had kept him moderately calm. The knowledge that a familiar presence was there had kept the Unicorn somewhat centered. Barricade had forced Sombra to pay attention to him as well. Going inside the cave and thus being completely and utterly alone with the Dark King was just not something the Unicorn wanted at all.
 
“No… no, I can’t…” Private cried and backed away. “Barricade! I don’t want to be alone with him… please…”
 
Barricade showed no sign that he even acknowledged his brother now, but Private didn’t care. Even if his twin was so deeply hypnotized, it was simply reassuring to have him nearby.
 
Sombra watched the whole thing with an amused glint in his eyes and a wide grin. This fearful portrayal of his host was already boosting him and replacing what he had wasted when making that quick travel to the mountain’s peak. The Dark Pony was actually acquiring reserves now. However, the king knew he was pressed for time, so there was no time to enjoy this to the fullest.
 
“Come along, Private,” he said, his tail forming into a shadow-like tentacle that grabbed the smaller Unicorn by the midsection.
 
“NO!” Private cried when feeling the shadow wrap around him and begin dragging him towards the cave.
 
“Barricade! HELP! Don’t let him take me! BARRICADE!! BAARRICAAAADE!!” the Unicorn screamed and tried to claw at the ground with his hooves, but no matter how much he struggled, the pony was mercilessly pulled into the cave after the spirit.
 
On the outside, Barricade still seemed to pay no attention to the desperate screams of his brother. His scowling gaze was fixed on the skies, ready to shoot at anything that remotely looked like trouble. Deep inside the mind however was a very, very angry unicorn, cursing and swearing, but also feeling horrible hearing his brother’s plea for help and being unable to do anything.
 
Oh I am going to rearrange your face for this, Sombra! Barricade growled, wishing he could somehow wrestle back control over his body.
 
Inside the cave Private still desperately struggled against the shadowy tentacle wrapped around his body. Yet no matter how much he wiggled, the black tendril just shifted around to make sure it still had a firm grip on the pony. Sombra ignored the struggle as he was approaching the innermost wall of the cave.
 
“Let us see now, the wards have deteriorated. I suppose that was inevitable after over a  thousand years,” the Dark Pony muttered and his horn started glowing, illuminating the cave and strange runes that started to form on the wall.
 
Sombra floated back a bit as the glow from the runes intensified and then began flickering before dying out. The spirit waited and smiled when an opening began forming. It led to a tunnel that was lit up with crystal-like torches that gave a sickly blue glow.
 
“Well at least some things still work,” he remarked and looked back at his host who still tried to escape the shadow holding him. Sombra shook his head, the amusement of this sight was starting to wear off.
 
“Private, if you are worried something is going to happen, I would like to remind you that I am just a spirit. Until I get my own body again, which is still several weeks away, I’m about as capable of anything as a wooden training dummy,” he retorted. This caused Private to stop and actually look at him confused.
 
“Besides.” The king smiled again and pulled the tentacle away and reformed his tail. “I wouldn’t bother if I didn’t already know that deep down, you’re mildly intrigued.”
 
Private winced and shuddered, hating how well King Sombra seemed to know him. Granted it was because the spirit had been inside his head and had managed to dig up most of his secrets. The pony just wished he could argue back with things the king didn’t know about him. There were probably minor trivial things he wasn’t aware of, but they weren’t going to help in this case.
 
“I will be honest with you, Private, now that we are truly alone together,” Sombra said as he floated back to be near his host. “If I was in my body again, you would probably question if this was the same pony who was possessing you. In fact, as my powers grow and I’m able to be more solid, I feel my old self return. I think more on rational grounds now than emotional ones.”
 
“I’m no fool. I know you have major reservations and are deep in your mind battling the morality that you grew up with. I know that for the time being you are repulsed at the mere thought of being in my company any further,” the king continued. He smirked and leaned closer in, causing Private to try and lean back away. “But I’m already starting to see the cracks in your mind. You’ll give in, eventually,” the Dark King whispered softly into his ear before floating towards the tunnel. “Now come along. We need to prepare for our ‘guests’.”
 
Private took a moment to calm himself down. He really just wanted to bolt out of the cave and back out to the ledge, but realized the king would just grab him if he did. His panic was subsiding, but it still lingered deep inside of him, ready to burst out at a moment’s notice. Sombra’s not so reassuring words that he was cracking and that he would eventually surrender himself to the king had not helped at all.
 
“Private, you can walk on your own or I drag you through. Your choice,” the irritated voice of the spirit snorted when the pony still hadn’t moved.
 
Private held back a sniffle, rose up and with his head held low, started to walk towards the tunnel. Sombra waited until his host was inside before following. His horn glowed and the entrance vanished from sight, leaving just what appeared to be a solid wall.
 
Hopefully this will give them a little puzzle to delay them, the spirit thought as he followed his host through the dimly lit tunnel.
 
End chapter 19
> Chapter 20. I have no doubt there are all kinds of stories about me.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 20
 
The tunnel eventually led to a large cavern. The walls were lined with crystal torches emitting the same blue glow and higher up was another level lit up the same way, but there was no visible way to reach the ledge up there save flying.
 
Private Iceland stopped when he was fully inside and raised his head a little to look around. He was a bit confused, aside from the torches, there was nothing else that indicated anyone had ever come here. Though the pony had to admit, it sort of looked like an old dragon’s cave, minus the dragon.
 
“What in tarnation?” Sombra growled as he appeared behind Private, scowling hard as he looked around. Private eyed back at him wondering what was wrong. The spirit floated past him and looked both confused and angry.
 
“This can’t be, the wards were still up, the spell still locked the entrance. Where is everything!?” the Dark King snarled as he went back and forth in the cave, even sprouting into his smoke form to rise up to the second level, answering how one got up there if one didn’t have wings.
 
“Well, thousand years, that’s enough time for somepony to come and take whatever was supposed to be here,” Private pointed out and jumped back when King Sombra was immediately right in front of him, glowering down at him, his eyes now glowing brightly red and green.
 
“Then perhaps you can explain to me how somepony got past my wards, unlocked the locking spell, took everything out and was so kind as to relock the only entrance!” Sombra snapped at the covering Unicorn.
 
“Thousand years,” Private whispered in a barely audible voice, shaking where he stood. The Dark King looked extremely menacing in the dim, sickly light. “Are you sure that this is still the only entrance? Plenty of creatures can dig.”
 
Sombra leaned his head forward, still looking as if he was ready to rip Private to shreds, causing the other Unicorn to sink all the way down to the floor. The king kept looking at his host like this for a good minute before his scowl eased and the green glow in his eyes subsided.
 
“I concede that is a good theory, the torches are only lit because of my presence and if someone were to dig themselves here from another direction, they would not necessarily set off the wards,” the Dark Unicorn grunted and turned around. His horn glowed and suddenly the torches began emitting brighter light, illuminating the whole cavern more properly.
 
“And there it is.” King Sombra narrowed his eyes when seeing what looked like a small tunnel entrance at the back of the cave, it had been practically invisible in the previously dimmer light. The king floated closer and peered inside, then sent a blast of magic into it to see how far it went.
 
“Seems the tunnel collapsed long ago, so this entrance is useless unless someone digs through solid rock,” he snorted and turned around. The king was scowling again. “But the damage is done.”
 
“D-dare I ask what you were hoping to find here?” Private asked. With the brighter light he could now see some signs that this cave had been used, there were the remains of old tables in one corner and some smashed wood that could have been crates once.
 
“Equipment I stashed here for safekeeping before heading into the Crystal Empire when I first arrived there,” Sombra grumbled and floated over to him. “I had heard about the Crystal Heart and though I felt I could conceal my own magic from its protective field, I was uncertain if I could conceal some of the things I had accumulated on my travels.”
 
“Even back when I was ruling the Crystal Empire I didn’t go and fetch it, because I confirmed that at least some of it would have been affected by the Crystal Heart’s magic. I needed to corrupt it before it was safe to bring it to the empire,” the Dark Pony explained as he sat down next to his host.
 
“This is frustrating. Some of this equipment could have sped up the reconstruction of my body. Worst of all I’ve, lost the amulet. I should have just risked taking it with me!” He rubbed his forehead tiredly in frustration. “Blasted Crystal Heart! I would have smashed it if it hadn’t been so pivotal in keeping the weather at bay as well. Even my magic could only do so much.”
 
Private said nothing, deep down secretly glad that whatever stuff had been here had been taken away. Sounded like it would grant the spirit too much power. He froze when feeling a hoof caressing his mane. He eyed Sombra who now had a thoughtful expression on his face.
 
Seriously, nothing may happen, but I still seriously wish you would stop touching me, the unicorn thought and just tried to think of something else, but all the warning bells in his head were screaming at him that his personal space was being violated.
 
The hoof was removed and he could hear Sombra growl in frustration. Private glanced back at the king who was staring his hoof, his eyes twitching a little.
 
“Get a grip, he’s not Timido!” he could hear the Dark Pony mutter angrily and rose up and floated away.
 
Now Private was really confused. Sombra had so far not had any qualms touching him and making him uncomfortable and even heavily imply what awaited him in the future. The Unicorn wondered if this was what the king meant about some of his old self returning.
 
“W-who or what is Timido?” Private risked asking. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do and the Dark Pony had so far been willing to answer. Sombra had started to go towards the dug up tunnel.
 
“He was my last comfort colt before I left my mother’s court,” the king said and looked back at him. He looked grim. “He wasn’t unlike you - quiet, reserved, didn’t really want to be in my service.”
 
“He was forced to be your…” Private couldn’t really even say the word anymore, the fact that he now knew what Sombra wanted with him made it really uncomfortable to think about.
 
“My mother manipulated his parents into giving him over. She tended to shower me with gifts and servants to keep me placated and in place. This habit of her increased after my sister was born,” the king growled and started to float back. He regarded his host critically, then seemed to realize. “Ah you are confused as to why I pulled my hoof back.”
 
Okay it’s starting to get creepy how well he reads me, even if he’s been inside my head. Private cringed and just watched the spirit approach.
 
“There is nothing ‘creepy’ at all about it, Private,” King Sombra chuckled and partly circled his host, then lowered his head so it was on level with him. “I’m still connected to you; I can hear your thoughts.”
 
Private paled up and stopped breathing for a second in shock. He could really only stare at the now laughing Dark King, who was greatly amused by his reaction.
 
“Honestly, you thought I still couldn’t hear you? I’m still possessing you, I may appear outside your body, but I did warn you a while ago not to give yourself some false sense of security,” the Dark Unicorn smirked. Suddenly Private stood up without any prompts and was dragged in a quick circle before Sombra released his hold and the pony dropped back to the ground.
 
“The sooner you get it into your head, the easier it will be for you, Private,” King Sombra said and floated over to him. Private didn’t look up, just continued to stare at the ground. He closed his eyes when the king started to pat his head. “I own you, I have owned you since you were a little colt, crying yourself to sleep in the corner of the cage in my laboratory.”
 
“As for my comment earlier, I wouldn’t read too much into it, I was distracted in thought,” he then said and turned around. “Enough chatter, since my equipment isn’t here, I’m going to have to improvise how we welcome our ‘guests’.”
 
“Guests?” Private now dared to look up, Sombra had changed into his smoke and shadow form and began rising to the second level of the cavern.
 
“I made a rather spectacular sound when we arrived at the mountain, even amplified it to ensure it was heard. The Princesses know where I am, they will be here within hours in a vain attempt to stop me,” the king explained as he began sweeping his smoke like tendrils at the rocky walls, as he did glowing runes appeared that then seemed to dissolve into the walls.
 
Private didn’t know enough about magic to know what those runes were, but could still easily guess that they were bad news. He sighed and wished he had some way to warn those that were probably coming. The pony was also getting hungry again, the Unicorn looked around and saw to his dismay that they had left the backpacks outside.
 
I wonder if… no wait he can hear me, he quickly suppressed his urge to drop into his regular thinking mode. It was difficult since it was just something he slipped into so easily when left alone to his own devices.
 
“Still trying to be defiant,” a familiar voice sounded right behind him. Private froze when feeling a leg go around him.
 
“You’re no hero, Private. You are simply a pony who works in a museum, who has occasionally stopped your brother from succeeding in engaging in illegal activities, mostly on pure luck alone,” the voice whispered, a muzzle was right next to his ear. “At least now you are serving some purpose, before this the most excitement you could be waiting for was your niece’s birthday.”
 
The Unicorn tried to pull away but was held firmly in the grip of the one-legged hug. Then from the corner of his eyes, he noticed something. Sombra was still up on the second level of the cave, setting up his traps. Private stared confused at the king for a moment before slowly glancing to his right.
 
There was nothing there. Private blinked and looked down, no leg was around him. The pony rose up and started to look around, bewildered. His gaze went back to King Sombra who was paying no heed to him and didn’t seem to have heard anything.
 
Is that what he meant with I’m cracking? Because this feels like I’m cracking, the Unicorn thought.
 
“Am I really this far gone?” Private muttered. He did lose it earlier and was definitely still feeling uncomfortable being alone here with Sombra, spirit or not. He was still trying to mull this over when the Dark King landed in front of him and reassumed his pony form.
 
“This will have to do, too much and I won’t have much energy left if it comes to battle,” the Dark Pony said and glanced down at his host.
 
“Did you and this Timido… uh do it?” Private asked and hoofed his face. Here he was facing possible lifelong enslavement and end of Equestria if the spirit possessing him won and he was asking the king a personal question about him and his former servant.
 
“Do it? Do what exactly? He was a comfort colt; his duties were to engage in various activities with me.” Sombra arched his brow. “That is certainly not the line of questioning I was expecting; most ponies would be trying to fish out what traps I just laid.”
 
“My mind sometimes goes to the gutter and likes to stay there whether I like it or not,” Private grunted only to earn an even more confused look from the Dark King.
 
“What does the sewage system have to do with your state of mind?” Sombra asked and sat down. “If you are interested in learning about the duties of comfort colts, then by all means ask. That is your future job with me anyway.”
 
For a brief moment Private was actually mildly amused that the Dark Pony had not known what the Unicorn was talking about. However, it wasn’t so much that he wanted to know, it was more that he felt he would be better prepared if he really knew what was going to be expected of him. Private didn’t like this possible new career change, but griping and worrying about it weren’t getting him anywhere. On the plus side, if he kept Sombra’s focus on him, he could maybe delay and distract the king while the rescue party was on its way.
 
“I will ask it differently. There is a lot of stigma around the word ‘comfort colt’ and ‘comfort filly’ in Equestria today. History does not paint a pretty picture of this ancient occupation that today is considered deplorable. Is it true that this occupation was very intimate?” Private sat down and actually modified his speech a little to use words Sombra might be more familiar with.
 
“Is sexual intercourse a deplorable word as well? Because if that’s what you are asking, if I mounted Timido, then yes, yes I did. That was one of his duties,” King Sombra answered with devious smirk. “Seriously Private, I would have thought you figured that out back when I confirmed what I wanted with you.”
 
“I figured that out, I just wasn’t sure if you were just toying with me or if you actually… you were doing both weren’t you?” the smaller Unicorn put both front hooves over his face and sighed in frustration.
 
“Why are you so hung up on this, Private? Granted it’s been amusing to see your mind flailing around at the prospect, but at the same time it’s beginning to become a little repetitive,” the king said and his smirk dropped a bit.
 
Because I’m afraid I might like it, Private thought only to remember too late that the spirit could hear his thoughts.
 
“Does this have anything to do with this dual nature of yours that you so desperately hide?” Sombra asked. He rose up and floated closer to his host who felt like sinking into the ground right now.
 
“Alright fine, I don’t care if you don’t want to hear this, but here goes. I have never had sex, I’m a virgin, I’ve never touched a mare or a stallion in a sexual way. In fact, sexual talk makes me uncomfortable. You already know I don’t like to be touched, so you probably already have a pretty good idea how I might feel about being touched in suggestive manner,” Private snorted and folded his arms as he glared down at the floor. “So I can’t really help it to be a little hung up on the prospect that you want me as your fricking sex slave!”
 
“If I wanted you as a slave, I wouldn’t be bothering with seducing you. I would just treat you as any other concubine,” King Sombra said with such a deadpan tone that Private’s scowl dropped and he looked up at him even more confused.
 
“Wait what?” the Unicorn said in utter bafflement.
 
“You thought comfort colts were slaves? Their services are attained voluntarily. Granted Timido wasn’t given much of a choice by my mother, but if you think I went on him against his wishes, you are very mistaken,” Sombra told him and his smirk resumed.
 
“Then again I probably shouldn’t blame you. I have no doubt there are all kinds of stories about me, how I treated the Crystal Ponies and I admit I did have a harem of mares to service me. However,” the Dark Pony rose up and floated closer to his host. “I yes took any mare I wanted, but you would be surprised how many mares, who have to feed their families, are willing if all it takes is one night with their king. Then again I suppose by today’s standard it’s considered no better than if I had just dragged them kicking and screaming into my chamber.”
 
“So you’re telling me, that if I say no, I don’t want to, you will not do it against my will?” Private sounded very skeptical and his suspicions didn’t ease at all when the king just smirked wider.
 
“I don’t think I’ll give you much of an opportunity to say no,” Sombra said slyly and raised his hoof to caress his host’s cheek for a moment before dropping back down.
 
Private decided to try and change the subject. If there was one thing he did agree with King Sombra, this particular one was starting to get a bit repetitive. He started to glance around.  Nothing seemed different, yet the spirit had been quite busy earlier.
 
“I suppose it’s pointless in asking you what you were doing up there and what kind of traps you set,” he remarked and looked at Sombra.
 
“As I've told you before, I’m not in the habit of explaining everything I do,” the king said and grinned deviously. “I’d much rather keep it a surprise.”
 
The smaller Unicorn couldn’t say he was surprised by this response. Yet with how close to the ceiling Sombra had been working, Private wondered if those runes were explosive in nature and were meant to cause a cave in.
 
“You know, I think it is time I subject you to a few inquiries. I’ve been meaning to do so but with how fast things escalated, I just haven’t really had the time,” King Sombra said and his expression turned more serious. Private was mildly surprised that the Dark Pony needed to ask anything, considering how long the king had been inside his mind by now. Then again, the king had said he hadn’t accessed all of it or at least ignored some of it.
 
Private steeled himself, half expecting all kinds of questions he didn’t want to answer or probably didn’t know the real answers to anyway. What he wasn’t prepared for was getting interrogated about not just the political landscape of Equestria, but the lands beyond it as well. The Unicorn was so taken off-guard that he answered most of them automatically.
 
Then Sombra went into technological advancements. He had already noted the train and various other things, but now he wanted further details that he hadn’t bothered fishing out of Private’s mind before. It took Private a good five minutes to realize what the king was doing. He was preparing himself for the modern world. He was making himself ready to be alive again in modern Equestria instead of a thousand years ago.
 
Must be because we have time to kill, the unicorn thought, not caring that the Spirit could hear him and by the looks of it Sombra ignored it and just kept asking this and that about the modern world.
 
The Unicorn decided not to complain too much about this. It worked for him as well. It kept Sombra distracted and focused on him and the things the king was asking about just about anyone who bothered to open a book would know.
 
“The world really has changed,” Sombra frowned and seemed to drop into thought.
 
“It has, seriously,” Private grunted and for a brief moment forgot he was talking to the spirit of the Tyrant of the Crystal Empire.
 
“One hundred years ago we didn’t even have the trains we have today. One thousand years is a really long time. It’s closer to the time when we ponies were not as nice and friendly to each other than today. A thousand years ago, the Princesses didn’t even live in Canterlot and manual labor was generally considered an Earth Pony job. Heck, fifty years ago I wouldn’t have been lying in such a comfy hospital bed. Society radically changes every, oh ten years or so just to give it a generous round up. We are always changing both how we think and do things. Sixty years ago Dirthoof was a socially acceptable term for an Earth Pony farmer, now it’s a racial slur. You can’t go forward in time and expect things to have stayed the same,” he ranted before remembering who he was speaking to. He half expected a snide mocking comment, but only silence came from the king.
 
“If one does not learn from history, one is sure to have to repeat it,” King Sombra finally spoke and frowned even heavier as he rubbed his muzzle thoughtfully.
 
Um, what? Private arched his brow.
 
“I wish I had more time mull this over, but time grows short. It is now only a question of time before the others show up,” Sombra said and rose up to his feet, he was smirking again.
 
Crud, Private realized that distracting the king by talking had failed. However, it was a good bet that Sombra had figured that was going on already. Then again the king suddenly had a look of surprise on him and turned his head to the sealed tunnel entrance just as it exploded.
 
End chapter 20


> Chapter 21. We are walking right into a trap here.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 21
 
In a flash of a teleportation spell three Alicorns, one Pegasus and one Unicorn arrived close to the peak of Sombra’s Maw. Shining Armor was held afloat by a yellow glowing magic bubble operated by Celestia. He had declined a temporary wing spell, claiming they were too fragile, but his sister had a suspicion it was because they looked bit glittery for his taste.
 
Earlier they had formulated their plan - the three Princesses would head to Sombra’s Maw, they would only take Shining Armor and Flash Sentry with them as the team couldn’t be too large. Strictly speaking they weren’t going to take the Pegasus with them, but he insisted as he had promised Coal to bring back her father and uncle and the soldier intended to keep that promise.
 
The plan hadn’t changed much. It was still to contain Sombra within Private and hopefully knock the possessed unicorn out and bring him back to the Crystal Empire to be purged by the Crystal Heart. The main difference was now they had a bigger gun in form of Princess Celestia who also knew better how the Dark King thought and operated.
 
First they needed to approach the peak and that immediately became more difficult than even Celestia had anticipated. The moment the five materialized, beams of magic energy coming from the peak barely missed them. Twilight quickly erected a shield as the next barrage came that was enforced by Cadance since Celestia was busy holding up Shining’s bubble.
 
“It’s coming from a ledge near the peak,” Flash reported, having spotted the source of the magic beams.
 
“I figured Sombra would have some sort of welcome waiting, though not quite that one,” Celestia grunted and gestured for everyone to back up a little. As she had suspected, the attacks stopped. They were either far enough away for the sentry or out of range now.
 
“Flash, do a quick flyby and see what’s preventing us from approaching the peak,” Shining Armor ordered and pointed towards the ledge. He could spot something moving on it, but they were too far away to see clearly who it was.
 
Flash Sentry nodded and prepared to dive down towards the peak, but was halted by Twilight before he went off.
 
“Wait, I’m just going to put a temporary shield spell on you, it won’t work for too long and enough hits will shatter it, so don’t be overconfident,” she warned him as the princess cast the spell.
 
The Pegasus saluted and once the spell was done he dove down towards the peak. As soon as he was closer, the magic attacks began. Flash barely managed to avoid them as he came closer and closer to the ledge. Swerving left and right as he went, he managed to get close enough to see where Barricade stood guard by a cave entrance.
 
Living up to your name aren’t you, Flash thought as he quickly took a turn that would lead him away from the mountain before taking another that would take him back towards the Princesses. The whole time he had to avoid the magic barrage from the Unicorn, who didn’t let up. A few beams did manage to strike the shield covering him before he finally made it back.
 
“It’s Private’s brother, Barricade,” he announced the moment he was back behind the shield Twilight and Cadance had up.
 
“Sombra must have hypnotized him and placed him there as a sentry,” Princess Celestia said and frowned. “We are going to have to immobilize him somehow and free him from the spell.”
 
“Well he is only one. It shouldn’t be too hard for one of us to serve as a distraction while the rest move in,” Cadance pointed out.
 
“True, but we need to do this delicately. Sombra no doubt left booby traps along with the spell that keeps the pony under his control. We also preferably need to do this without Sombra becoming aware of it,” Celestia told her niece.
 
“Would ramming him work?” Shining asked and looked up at the Princesses.
 
“What do you mean, Shiny?” Twilight asked, the mares all arching their brows.
 
“Well, Flash could easily zigzag around, keeping Barricade’s attention on him, then either three of you could just throw me at Barricade. I could pin him down and one of you could undo the spell on him. He should be more than happy to talk with us once he’s out from Sombra’s control,” he explained.
 
“Not as delicate as I would have preferred, but it might be our best shot right now. I can’t undo the spell from this distance. I need to be in direct contact with him,” Celestia said.
 
“Right, Flash Sentry, start distracting him, keep his fire away, but don’t get cocky. Just make sure he doesn’t fire on us,” Shining Armor ordered Flash who saluted and dove back towards the peak, evading the magic beams shooting at him once more.
 
Celestia transferred the bubble holding Shining to Cadance with the words that she needed to prepare for the counter spell that held Barricade in Sombra’s thrall. The Unicorn looked unsure at his wife who was grinning at the prospect that she would be the one to throw him at Barricade.
 
“You have been waiting for a chance to do this haven’t you?” he grunted as Cadance flew off with him to get into a more proper position for the throw.
 
“It’s all done with love, dear,” Cadance said, throwing him an air kiss as she carefully maneuvered closer to the peak without catching Barricade’s attention.
 
While they got into position, Twilight stayed behind with Celestia whose horn was glowing but not really emitting a spell. The purple alicorn watched the Sun Princess, working up the nerve to speak. Even if they were no longer formally a teacher and student, it was difficult to break the habit of having reverence towards the white mare.
 
“What is on your mind, Twilight?” Celestia asked without opening her eyes.
 
“I’m just… uh… well… not that you being here is unappreciated, I’m just wondering why you opted to come with us?” Twilight asked, rubbing her front hooves nervously together, she simultaneously eyed her former teacher and towards Cadance who was almost in position to throw her husband.
 
“Twilight, when I sent you first to deal with Sombra’s return, I knew his spirit would be stuck on fairly simple emotions. A 1,000-year exile in ice couldn’t have done any favors to his mood or emotional stability,” Celestia said and slowly opened her eyes. “I knew you could do it and you did, Sombra was so intent to just swoop in that he really had no time to plan and concoct any new plans or traps, having to rely on his old ones that you successfully bypassed.”
 
“This is different. He’s calmed down, he’s had time to think and when Sombra has time to think,  he becomes a far more dangerous adversary. It’s not that I don’t trust you and Cadance to handle this… but…” The white Alicorn watched as Cadance prepared to toss Shining Armor towards the peak. Twilight did so as well, knowing they would only have a split second time to go down there and free Barricade while he was pinned down.
 
“There is something off about this whole thing, something is not right, it worries me that Sombra advertised so readily his location when in a more fragile spirit state…” Celestia had to stop as Cadance had at that time just tossed Shining Armor straight at their target.
 



 
Oh I hope this was a good idea, Shining Armor thought as he sailed through the air towards his target. He flashed his horn briefly to form a shield around himself, just in case Barricade saw him and started shooting.
 
Flash Sentry, however, was doing a surprisingly good job at keeping the hypnotized pony at bay. He was intent to get him, it seemed. Shining figured if he would live through this, he would give the Pegasus a promotion.
 
No time to dwell on that though. The white stallion allowed himself to roar as he finally slammed into Barricade and the two Unicorns collided with the mountain wall. Unlike his twin brother, the hypnotized pony was actually fit and looked to be able to handle himself in a fight. Shining Armor found that out quickly when he was effortlessly thrown off.
 
Crud. Shining Armor’s shield had broken at the impact and he didn’t really have time to get a new one up as Barricade was already throwing a hoof at him in a punch.
 
The Prince quickly blocked and swiftly stepped aside and attempted a powerful kick. Barricade jumped to avoid it, his eyes glowing brighter green as he reared and tried to slam both front hooves into the white pony.
 
Hmmm, I’m seeing some basic training here, but very basic, Shining Armor thought as he ducked out of the way and responded with a rear kick, that made contact and threw his opponent across the ledge.
 
Barricade quickly recovered and rose back up, but any thoughts of retaliation were quickly dashed as suddenly his entire body was bathed in yellowish light and the stallion rose up from the ground.
 
“That’s enough!” Celestia said in a stern voice as she landed on the ledge, holding the struggling unicorn in her magic. “This is not you my little pony. Reject this darkness that envelops your mind!”
 
Twilight, Cadance and Flash arrived on the ledge close to Shining Armor as the Sun Princess brought Barricade closer with her words and touched his horn with hers. They all watched, holding their breaths, even though they were all sure Celestia could easily free him.
 
“Do not fear. Come back to us, free your mind,” the white Alicorn continued, but this time in a softer, more motherly voice. “Come back into the light, Barricade.”
 
Barricade struggled fiercely at first, but with each word spoken by the Sun Princess his movements slowed down, until finally he just hung in the air, only his horn touching Celestia’s as her magic seemed to be pouring into him. Suddenly he let out a whimper and dark smog began pouring out of him. He would have screamed, but Celestia quickly closed his mouth with magic. Finally the dark gray unicorn hung limp and seemed to have lost consciousness. Gently the Alicorn put him back on the ground.
 
“Not as trapped as I feared, but his mind had deeply receded. Sombra used one of his strongest fears against him to keep control of him,” Celestia murmured.
 
“I wonder what that was,” Twilight said as she and the others approached the two.
 
“That is for him to tell if he wishes,” the Sun Princess said and would go no further into the subject. They now all watched Barricade as he was slowly stirring.
 
“Ugh… when I get my hooves on… aaaaah!!!” Barricade had been slowly opening his eyes but they flew wide open when seeing Flash Sentry and Shining Armor who were both armor clad. He jumped up and backed to the wall, but then he realized that he was not just staring at two royal guards, but three princesses as well.
 
“Um… hi?” he peeped, looking really uncomfortable for a moment, but then he took a deep breath and let it slowly out. “No… no time for this…Private… he’s in that cave with that bastard!”
 
“It will be alright, Barricade. We will get your brother away from him,” Celestia assured the Unicorn who only now realized just which Princess that was. His jaw dropped.
 
“Uh… sure…” Barricade for the first time had trouble with words, but this seemed to calm him down further.
 
“Right, let’s go,” Shining Armor said, figuring it was best not to hang too much on Barricade’s reaction. He had after all just been freed from a powerful hypnotizing spell.
 
“Wait, let me scan for traps,” Twilight called and leaped in front her brother, the memory of the inn still fresh on her mind. Celestia nodded in approval and the rest allowed the purple Alicorn to use her magic on the cave entrance. No traps were detected and they all began to carefully maneuver into the cave.
 
Flash went last inside, noting that Barricade was already looking more confident but still wary. The Pegasus figured he was keeping himself going with the thought of his brother. The guard took one final glance around, frowning a little as he did. He could have sworn they were being watched, but saw nothing and none of the Unicorns nor Alicorns had detected anything unusual.
 
Shrugging it off, he entered the cave and saw that a problem had already arisen. There was no visible way to continue much further. The cavern ended on a wall and nobody was inside. There were only saddlebags.
 
“B-but they went in here!” Barricade protested and went in circles to look around. “I could have sworn…”
 
“You were not wrong,” Celestia said and gently put a hoof on his back both to stop him and to reassure him. “There is a powerful illusion spell here on the wall.”
 
“Oh…” Barricade regained his composure, feeling a bit silly for not having realized that. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been in a company of a powerful Unicorn already for several days, even if it was the ghost of one.
 
Celestia stepped in front of the wall, but stepped back immediately, frowning heavily. Everyone looked at her but no one dared speaking a word since the white Alicorn seemed to be concentrating. It took a minute before the Princess spoke.
 
“Cadance, Twilight, I may need your help with this one,” she whispered and gestured to them to stand on either side of her.
 
“We must combine our magic for this spell and throw it at the wall,” she instructed them.
 
The smaller princesses nodded and took position on either side of Celestia. They all closed their eyes to concentrate, slowly building up the magic in their horns. Then tendrils of the energy emitting from the three powerful ponies slowly began to float towards the wall. Before it reached it, the different colors began intertwining in the center before hitting the stone in front of them.
 
Shining Armor, Flash Sentry and Barricade took a step back as that happened, the light from the magic was getting more intense and the sweat was starting to pour down the Alicorns. Whatever Sombra had put on that wall was clearly meant to keep ponies out.
 
“Brace yourself, this will not just break the spell but the wall as well,” Celestia called as the light of the magic got even brighter.
 
The Alicorn had barely let those words go when there was an explosion. Going mostly on instincts, Shining Armor immediately erected a shield around everybody to protect them from the debris. He didn’t let the shield go until he heard no more stones falling.
 
The air was still thick with dust and they could barely see, but Flash Sentry quickly fixed that using his wings to get most of the dust through the cave entrance. Once there was more visibility they could see that most of the wall now was gone and so was a big portion of a tunnel through it. They could see into another cave that was lit by crystal torches.
 
“Private!” Barricade shouted and rushed into the other cavern before anyone could stop him. The Unicorn was rushing to a still form in the middle of the floor.
 
The others followed quickly, hoping Barricade hadn’t set off any traps. Lying on the floor was Private Iceland, completely still and unconscious. But before his brother could even touch him, Celestia grabbed Barricade with her magic and pulled him back.
 
“Wait, we are walking right into a trap here, Barricade. Don’t forget that your brother is still possessed,” she reminded him sternly.
 
Barricade grunted but nodded, conceding that point. Now the six ponies approached the unconscious one carefully, Shining Armor and Flash Sentry looked warily around not liking the looks of this place at all.
 
“Where is…” Twilight was about to ask but then looked at Private and shook her head. “Of course, he’s in there, isn’t he?”
 
“This is too easy,” Cadance said while looking at the unconscious pony. It almost looked like they were being handed the victory on a silver platter. She and the others froze when there was a dark chuckle all around them.
 
“I must admit, you ponies arrived a little earlier than anticipated, so I needed a moment to compose myself. I figured I might as well give you a puzzle while I got ready,” the dark voice of King Sombra spoke all around them.
 
Up in the ceiling, smoke began to form and in the middle appeared the ghostly head of the unicorn spirit. He grinned maliciously down at ponies beneath him. Then his gaze met Celestia’s who stared right back at him with a hard expression.
 
“Why Celestia, I wasn’t expecting you at all. Come down from your ivory tower to actually do something about me? Not just sending some rag-tag to deal with me this time around? You do see how well that worked last time,” King Sombra chuckled mockingly, causing Twilight, Cadance and Shining Armor to narrow their eyes. Flash Sentry frowned and Barricade scowled hard.
 
“Sombra, I only sent Twilight to the Crystal Empire to protect it from you and prevent you from entering it. I did intend to give you a chance to back off, allow you to end your exile free, albeit without your ill-gotten crown,” Celestia stated calmly. Much to the other’s surprise there was no mocking laughter from Sombra, he actually tilted his head and seemed to be listening.
 
“Indeed, how charitable. I probably shouldn’t have expected any less of you, Princess Celestia,” he finally snorted, though not with contempt. “But I suppose I gave my answer to that proposal already.”
 
“It would seem so. You are still intent on reclaiming the Crystal Empire,” the Sun Princess said. “You realize I can’t allow that, not after what you have been doing since your second return.”
 
“Yes, I’ve been very naughty,” King Sombra chuckled darkly and the smoke began to descend towards the back of the cave to keep distance between him and the rest. There the smoke changed into his Unicorn form. Twilight noticed quickly that Private’s shadow suddenly stretched and connected with the Dark King.
 
He’s still bound to Private. Is this just another projection? She thought and looked at the former king who was glaring at the group.
 
“I should warn you about something, Princess Celestia,” Sombra said as a malicious grin began crossing his muzzle. “I don’t need many days until I can fully recreate my body and become alive again, but don’t think I need my current host for that to happen.”
 
“What do you mean?” Princess Celestia arched her brow.
 
“I’ve been preparing for this for a long time. Private here is just one of many little ponies I’ve prepared to serve as my host. Don’t you remember all those ponies in the hospitals all around Equestria? Each and every one of them could serve as my host,” he continued, the grin turning wider.
 
“I would much prefer to continue to use Private as my host. I’ve grown somewhat attached to him so to speak, but if it comes down to it, I am not above ridding myself of him and just possessing someone else. Maybe someone in a far corner where I can grow in power in peace,  far away from your reach until there is nothing you can do to prevent my return,” King Sombra said, his voice lowering to a whisper.
 
“W-what are you saying?” Twilight didn’t like the sound of this. Suddenly without warning, two dark and sharp looking crystals shot out of the ground and stopped mere inches from skewering Private’s throat, freezing everyone.
 
“What I’m saying is, if Private dies, I simply go to another host. As I’m now powerful enough to control the transfer, I could go anywhere I wish instead of just jumping randomly,” King Sombra chuckled darkly.
 
Suddenly a large rock broke off from the ceiling and landed uncomfortably close to Flash Sentry who jumped back. The ponies looked up and now noticed the entire roof of the cave was shaking. They all looked at King Sombra who was grinning a muzzle-splitting grin.
 
“The entire ceiling is rigged to crash down on top of you as my dark magic has slowly been loosening the rock in it. The trap was triggered by your presence in this cave. You can leave,  but you can’t take Private with you because the crystals will slice his throat if you try to move him and I just go to another host. You can stay and all of you get crushed by the rocks, even Private and I just get transferred to another host,” Sombra explained to the horrified ponies.  “It doesn’t matter to me what you do. Either way, I’ll get time enough to become alive again.”
 
End chapter 21


> Chapter 22. This doesn’t sound right.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 22
 
Private watched unable to speak or make a sound. Everything had happened so fast after the explosion, Sombra had picked him up quickly and thrown him into the hole on the other side of the cave and used some sort of a spell that kept him silent and unable to move. Then using another spell, the Dark King had made a projection of his host in the middle of the room before vanishing.
 
The Unicorn watched as his brother came rushing into the cave and stopped by the illusion, then others came in after Barricade. Private was very surprised to see Princess Celestia among them.
 
I don’t get it; why does he want them to think I’m unconscious over there? He thought as the events continued to transpire before him. He cringed when seeing the sharp crystals almost skewer the throat of the fake version of him.
 
This doesn’t sound right, he was way too interested in me and Barricade due to our Dark Pony heritage to be this willing to harm either of us… that’s why he stuffed me here isn’t it? Private frowned and wondered if he could struggle against the silence spell he was under.
 
Then he noticed something else. A very faint flicker of a torch near the hole produced enough light that his shadow was faintly visible, stretching towards Sombra. Private glanced over to his illusion and saw that the shadow there also stretched to the Dark King. This meant there were two shadows stretching towards him.
 
They are too distracted to notice though, the light is just dim enough that you would really need to pay attention to notice this, he thought and wondered what he could do.
 
“Enjoying the show?” a voice whispered in his ear.
 
Private blinked and tried to look around but all he could do was move his eyes. There was this mysterious familiar voice again, what was it? He could feel a muzzle near his ear again, something was with him in the tunnel. The pony wondered if this cave did in fact contain some monster and here he was helpless to do anything about it and unable to warn the others.
 
“Ah Private, you are so amusing. You are still that little colt in the cage, aren’t you?” the voice continued and the muzzle was removed.
 
What? The Unicorn strained his eyes the best he could to the right, which meant only one eye really saw anything but what it saw made him really question his sanity.
 
It was faint but what he saw were a pair of glowing green and red eyes with slit pupils. Faint traces of purple mist poured from the corners and under them was a grinning muzzle, barely visible. Private could just stare back, even as he heard King Sombra outside speaking to the rescue group, here by all appearances he was staring right at the Dark King in his shadow form.
 
“Questioning your sanity aren’t you?” King Sombra chuckled, his head slowly turned to look out through the hole. “What is going on? How can there be two of me? How can there be two of you? It’s almost like none of this is happening and yet it is.”
 
Private could just stare right now, on the surface this made no sense to him. Then he thought back earlier, when he thought Sombra was speaking to him, even grabbing him and holding him, he had dismissed it when seeing that the king had still been near the ceiling laying his traps, thinking he was just cracking.
 
Yet there it was, right in front of him, relatively speaking. Then he received a further shock, a large body began materializing right next to him. It didn’t take long, barely a second and now suddenly the space in the tunnel was much tighter since King Sombra was much larger than him.
 
Why would he… oh Celestia… the body is warm, Private would have frozen in shock if he wasn’t already unable to move. So far when the spirit had touched him it had felt somewhat cold, clammy, like a dead object was touching him like a wet rope or something.  Then he saw the king’s chest rise and fall slowly as he calmly breathed and watched what was going on outside the tunnel.
 
He’s alive? The Unicorn continued to stare, wondering when this had happened and why they were still even bothering being here if he was now in his own body.
 
“Oh, believe me, Private, I was as surprised as you were. Turns out all the fear and misery I caused at the inn was enough of a boost to speed up my resurrection,” the Dark King murmured and turned his head to look down at the Unicorn.
 
“The spell worked faster than I anticipated and before I knew it, I was pushed out of your body and began drawing breath for the first time in a long while,” Sombra explained, always keeping his voice very low.
 
“This put me in a little bit of a bind. All my current plans relied on me still being a spirit with some of the extra benefits that come with being dead. One day I will be stronger alive, but right now I’m still recovering. You don’t just walk away from being dead in tip top form,” he looked back outside. “It was actually your brother who gave the spell its final push to recreate me. His fears were so strong that even I didn’t anticipate suddenly being pushed out like that. I can tell you, snow does not taste very good and I got quite a mouthful.”
 
Come to think of it… he’s never been inside of me since I woke up at the camp, Private thought. Then what is it that’s outside, some kind of an illusion spell?

“I couldn’t let anypony know that I was now alive again. If it reached Celestia then she would know I was still weak. So I maintained the illusion that I was still a spirit using what little had already managed to build up in me. Fortunately it has been enough so far. The real reason I was rather distressed that there was nothing here was of course that I needed these items to defend myself when your rescue party came. What I’m playing out there is what I had originally planned to do. Now it is merely a distraction while I make my escape,” King Sombra said and looked back at Private who stared back, barely able to believe what he was hearing.
 
“Did you know that the essence of myself that I infused into you all these years ago is still there, still active? It’s been a great help to me actually, I’m right now talking through my illusion self out there to them, but I’m using my parts that are in you to create the illusion,” he said and smirked. Then he closed his eyes and sighed. “Oh Celestia, why are you so preachy?”
 
Private glanced back out of the hole and saw that Celestia was standing firm, her wings spread out as she spoke to what the mare thought was King Sombra. Shining Armor and Twilight had erected a shield that was keeping the falling rocks at bay for now, but their expression indicated that they weren’t sure how long it would hold.
 
“Look at her. Still as radiant and beautiful as ever, wings like that of a swan, white as an unblemished pearl, the ethereal mane of so many hues, but it will never be will it? First because of my mother who could not stomach the idea I wed an Alicorn, even one as powerful as Celestia. Then simply because I’ve burned too many bridges, some that I will not be able to rebuild,” King Sombra said as he opened his eyes and looked out the hole as well.
 
“Who would want to wed the King of Monsters, the Tyrant of the Crystal Empire, the Lord of Fear and Hate, the Shadow Monarch? No, I must stay away from the daylight,” Sombra whispered so low that Private barely heard it. The Dark Unicorn narrowed his eyes. “Get out of there you foolish mare, I don’t want to kill you. It’s only the pretenders I want… oh, but you will protect, won’t you? Your compassion is infuriating.”
 
Private realized that the king was not talking to him at all. He looked between the opening of the hole and Sombra, finding this even more difficult to believe.
 
How does he plan to escape anyway? He said the tunnel we’re in was sealed… wait that’s what he told me, I’ve never seen into it, the unicorn tried to see back but couldn’t, not while he could only move his eyes.
 
“Why did she have to come as well? I only wanted the pretenders to follow us here.” King Sombra rubbed his forehead with one hoof. This movement caused his leg to push against Private, causing the Unicorn to turn a bit. Now he couldn’t see out the hole, but he could see a bit down the tunnel. There was nothing but darkness though, not enough light to see further on. Yet the he had a feeling king hadn’t told him the whole truth about it.
 
I just realized that he is out of my… Private stopped thinking when King Sombra immediately turned his head to look at him.
 
“I can hear you through my essence that’s within you, so don’t get any bright ideas,” he whispered sharply.
 
You could have said that earlier, so now what? the smaller Unicorn grunted.
 
“Would you believe a big chunk of my previous plans are down the drain because Celestia decided to show up,” King Sombra growled low and hoofed his face as if he couldn’t believe he just confessed that.
 
Why? I mean, you practically have her where you want her. Why not just kill her while she is distracted by that illusion, Private thought but then recalled Sombra saying something about not wanting to kill her.
 
“Would you be able to kill that blue mare you fantasize about?” the king asked and glanced down at Private, who would have arched his brow if he could.
 
Wow, you’re serious, Private wasn’t sure how to digest this confirmation, the pony that had been tormenting him for days now, killed and tortured just about everyone on their path to this mountain actually had feelings for Celestia.
 
Sombra turned his head to look back outside. He hated to admit it but he genuinely hadn’t seen this coming. He had expected Cadance and Shining Armor to come, maybe Twilight if she survived the inn, but not Celestia. The king had been positive that she would stay away or at least let others take care of things.
 
I better get out of here before she realizes she is talking to an illusion of me. She won’t be fooled for much longer, he thought. Slowly he started to rise and back down the tunnel. He halted when suddenly a booming voice shouted.
 
“I’m tired of talking with this illusion, Sombra. Show yourself!!” It was Celestia.
 
Not wanting to drop the act just yet, Sombra composed himself and still speaking through the illusion decided to ask: “What makes you think this is an illusion?”
 
Out in the cave Celestia was glaring at the Sombra standing by the cave wall. Above her, Shining and Twilight’s shield was beginning to crack at the constant barrage of rocks. The Sun Princess ignored it, having already guessed they were in less danger than they appeared. The biggest rocks kept falling on the shield where there was no risk they fall on them.
 
“The light may be dim, but I’m seeing two shadows producing from you,” she stated.
 
Sombra looked down and now first noticed the shadow leading towards the hole nearby. Sighing in frustration he hung his head and muttered something inaudible. Then much to everyone’s amazement, save Celestia, he vanished and so did Private Iceland and the crystals threatening to skewer his throat, the rocks also stopped falling.
 
The lights of the crystal torches began illuminating a bit brighter light, revealing faint outlines of a big hole at the end of the cavern. Five of the six ponies blinked when seeing Sombra emerge from it. Twilight raised an eyebrow, the dark king looked more ragged, dirty and unkempt, then she noticed his chest moving in the steady breathing rhythm.
 
He's alive? She looked at Cadance who had noticed the same and come to the same conclusion.
 
“You are good, Celestia. Nothing gets by you, does it?” Sombra spoke, looking at the Sun Princess. Before she could respond they were interrupted by Barricade.
 
“Where is Private you bastard!?” the unicorn growled and probably would have charged if Shining Armor and Flash Sentry hadn’t held him back.
 
“Oh have no fear, Barricade, your brother is here,” Sombra said, his horn began glowing red putting everyone on their guard, but all that happened was Private was dragged out of the hole. The spell keeping him still and silent was lifted and the pony was allowed to stand.
 
“Well so much for our plan,” Cadance muttered, though deep down she was rather glad not having to put it to the test if the Crystal Heart would spare Private or not if possessed by Sombra.
 
“I see you are breathing, Sombra. Things not going quite like you foresaw them?” Celestia asked, being careful not to make any moves just yet, Private was still next to Sombra and seeing that the dark king was alive there was no telling what he would do now that he didn’t need his former host.
 
“Well you know how it goes with magic, especially when it’s never been done before and is not thoroughly tested,” King Sombra responded with a snort.
 
“Since you are alive, you have no further use of your former host,.Why not release him?” the white Alicorn wondered. She had noted that Private didn’t dare move from the spot he stood on next to Sombra.
 
“Ah, but that’s where you are wrong, Celestia,” Sombra chuckled and grabbed Private with one leg and pulled the Unicorn closer to him. “I still have quite a bit of use for Ti… Private.”
 
Celestia raised one eyebrow at the faux pas, Sombra had clearly been about to say another name but had quickly corrected himself. The Dark King tried his best to smile, pretending he hadn’t almost called Private something else.
 
The Sun Princess began thinking back, way back, well over a thousand years to a distant memory when she and her sister had visited the Dark Pony Empire. She remembered meeting Queen Rabia, who fully believed in her own superiority. Then she recalled being presented to Prince Sombra.
 
“Tell me, Prince, who is that young pony who hides behind you?”
 
“Hm? Oh… ah that would be my, well, let’s just say he is my aid. Timido, you can come forth. It is alright. She is a foreign mare, you can address her.”
 
“Timido, interesting name. It’s nice to meet you, I am Princess Celestia and this is my sister, Princess Luna.”
 
Oh no, Princess Celestia realized now what was happening.
 
“Sombra, I’m afraid I must insist that you release him and surrender. You have already lost, your plans have fallen through, there is no place left to run. You’re newly resurrected and thus weak,” she said firmly, wanting to give Sombra one last chance.
 
“No, I don’t think I will. I think I will go back down this tunnel and make my escape. I’m taking Private with me as a hostage to insure you don’t follow me and if you do, you can start preparing his funeral,” Sombra growled, his eyes flashing green for a moment.
 
“You aren’t going anywhere; I’ll bash your head in first!” Barricade snarled and tried to rush forward, but he was tackled down by Shining Armor.
 
“Are you insane or did you not just hear the death threat he gave,” the prince whispered sharply to the enraged Unicorn.
 
Celestia breathed a sigh in relief when Shining Armor contained Barricade. When the dark gray Unicorn had charged, Sombra’s horn had lit up and a string of red magic energy had begun encircling Private’s throat. She would never have been quick enough to save him before his windpipe would have been crushed. Fortunately, the dark king stopped the spell when the twin brother was halted.
 
Too many ponies have already died. I can’t let more die, she thought, but she couldn’t see an opening. Sombra was perhaps weak, but he clearly had enough magic to act on his threat.
 
“Now that the brotherly concern has been displayed, I’m going to bid my farewell. I warn you again, do NOT follow us!” King Sombra growled and started to back down the hole, pulling Private along with him.
 
“Aunt Tia, we can’t let him go,” Cadance whispered to Celestia.
 
“Sombra wait!” Twilight called suddenly and stepped forward, all eyes went to her and Sombra even stopped.
 
“Let him go, take me with you instead. I am a much more valuable hostage anyway,” she offered.
 
“Twilight, what are you doing?” Shining Armor protested, Cadance’s jaw dropped.
 
“I know what I’m doing, I’m…” Twilight stopped when hearing Sombra snort in contempt.
 
“Oh yes, let’s see I’m in a weakened state, no use denying that since Celestia spelled it out, so I should totally trade out my hostage who can do nothing against me with someone that could probably blast me the moment I drop my guard,” the king said and laughed mockingly. “Seriously Twilight Sparkle, you think I’m going to be trading Private for money or something?”
 
“No I…” the purple pony faltered. She had thought the king would jump at the chance of having an Alicorn at his mercy instead.
 
“You see Twilight this is all about the morality. Private is a nopony yes, his life means squat compared to yours or those pretenders or Celestia. But even if he is just a small nopony, you, all of you will go out of your way to ensure his safety. That’s what you moral ponies do, you save lives and it is an agony to you not being able to save somepony from harm. Don’t even try to pretend not to care. That’s not going to fly here. I won’t be fooled by that kind of ruse,” Sombra snorted and took another step down the hole, dragging a whimpering Private with him.
 
“If he dies because you said you didn’t care and did it to stop me, how are you going to explain it to his parents, his friends, his little niece? You can’t. This is why I am taking Private and not you,” he told her. “So I say again, prepare a funeral if you dare follow me.”
 
With that King Sombra disappeared down the tunnel with Private. Twilight hung her head sighing, Celestia walked over to her and patted her reassuringly on the back.
 
“I will give you credit for trying,” the Sun Princess said kindly to her former student. “Sombra was just more pragmatic than you anticipated.”
 
“So now what?” Flash Sentry asked, eyeing the hole.
 
“We allow Sombra a head start before following,” Celestia told him much to everybody’s surprise, but before anyone could say anything she was already raising her hoof to indicate she was not finished.
 
“Don’t worry, I do care and I have no intention on seeing Private Iceland killed. However, as Sombra pointed out, we can take him out when he drops his guard and that is what we need him to do. He needs to think that we are in fact not following him,” she explained to them.
 
“And you, please stay back from now on, we are the back up if the Princesses need us, not the other way around,” Shining Armor snapped at Barricade as he allowed the other Unicorn to rise up.
 
“Yeah, yeah whatever!” Barricade snorted and started to dust off himself as got back up.
 
End chapter 22
> Chapter 23. He was a good friend
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 23
 
Sombra had indeed not been entirely honest about the tunnel. Back when he had shot some magic down it to see how far it went, it hadn’t hit any obstruction. The Dark King knew though that desperation could do many things to the mind of ponies, so he lied about it being collapsed to make sure Private didn’t try bolt down it the moment he realized he was no longer possessed. In the end that lie hadn’t been necessary, like things played out the Unicorn didn’t learn about until it was far too late.
 
This tunnel wasn’t exactly made for two ponies to walk side by side, let alone when one was Sombra’s size and Private wasn’t a small pony, even if he wasn’t the largest either. So the king had his prisoner walk a little bit ahead as they made their way down. He had Private illuminate the way with a faint light spell on his horn. The Dark Pony didn’t want to waste any of his magic right now.
 
They had been walking for a little while when Sombra suddenly realized how silent it was. The king frowned, he had severed his connection to Private to preserve his magic and allow it to build up again so he couldn’t at the moment hear the Unicorn’s thoughts. Usually the Dark Pony didn’t mind silence, he wasn’t exactly a renowned conversationalist. He had just gotten so used to hearing Private, he had forgotten that most of the time it was the prisoner’s thoughts he was hearing.
 
“You really do not talk much, do you?” Sombra remarked as he recalled their stay at the hospital and how Private constantly refused to speak when addressed. The Unicorn didn’t even spare him a glance, just continued to stare straight forward as he walked.
 
“If you said something with your mind, I should tell you I am not connected to you right now. After all these theatrics, I really do need to preserve my powers. I did lose a lot of it when the spell prematurely resurrected me,” the king told him. The only response from the prisoner was a snort that he could have sworn sounded like ‘good.’
 
Ah well, I don’t mind the silence, King Sombra shrugged it off. He glanced back casually, just to see if they were being followed. So far he could see nothing and detect nothing, but the Dark Unicorn wasn’t about to trust that so easily and had a feeling the others would try something eventually.
 
This tunnel must lead to somewhere. If worse comes to worse I will risk magic to transport to somewhere but I need it to build up some more first, he thought. So far nothing remarkable could be seen. They passed old supporting beams many times, clearly indicating that this had been deliberately dug at some point.
 
“You almost called me Timido again,” suddenly Private spoke, catching Sombra off guard as he had figured his prisoner would just remain silent from now on.
 
“If you are hoping for some form of an explanation, you will be waiting a while,” the king grunted when recovering his composure.
 
“You miss him?” Private didn’t sound like he cared much, though Sombra could detect a hint of curiosity in the voice.
 
“Hoping I go on some sort of an emotional rant, Private?” the king snorted and shook his head. Silence resumed, but the questions had brought up all the memories Sombra had of his late servant.
 
I left him with a good life. He was going to be married to that merchant mare, he thought and grit his teeth. Yes, a very good life, only to be slaughtered by the Saddle Arabians.
 
“He was a good friend,” he muttered without elaborating any further. This caused Private to shoot him a glance.
 
“I won’t replace what he brought you,” the Unicorn stated and turned his head back forward.
 
“I’m aware,” Sombra responded and scowled a little in annoyance.
 
Private could clearly hear by his tone that King Sombra’s patience was at an end, so he decided not to push the subject further. He had been rather relieved to learn that Sombra was no longer listening to his mind - finally for real his mind was his own and no one could hear what he was thinking. Of course the king had implied he could reconnect again, but right now, for the first time in a while the Unicorn felt marginally normal again.
 
Still he hated his current predicament. He wasn’t free of Sombra even if the Dark Pony no longer possessed him and by the looks of it was being dragged even further away from rescue.
 
I think he is unhinged; I don’t think he has as much planned as he pretends. Things haven’t been going like he had intended. He got his body sooner than he planned and he’s definitely on edge. A lot of the power he accumulated must have gone into that resurrection spell that apparently worked independently and out of his control, Private mulled over. He paid it no mind that the tunnel just seemed to go on and on, at least it kept them in motion and right now he rather be walking than doing anything else.
 
Seeing Celestia clearly shook him up. Does he fear her? Maybe he does in this much more weakened state. He didn’t seem that concerned about the others. He carefully glanced back at Sombra who kept walking just behind him.
 
“So, since you are alive now, going to burn down Equestria like you heralded?” The Unicorn asked.
 
“Like I told Princess Twilight, those messages were just sent to cause panic and keep the Equestrians on the tip of their hooves. Do I intend to conquer Equestria? That is on my agenda,  but one thing at a time. I need to regain my strength and then I need a place of operation and then I need to properly plan for it. Four Princesses will make it more complicated, so that is a long term project that won’t happen just overnight,” Sombra responded and shrugged slightly as he did.
 
“You could have caved an entire roof of rocks on three of them just a while ago, leaving you with only one princess to content with,” Private pointed out, that caused the king to growl and narrow his eyes.
 
“Fine. I couldn’t kill Celestia any more than you could harm the blue mare that you fancy,” Sombra snapped, though it sounded more like he was irritated at himself than at Private for the statement.
 
“Not killing Celestia is going to make conquering Equestria difficult,” the Unicorn mentioned and had to hold back a grin when he heard the frustrated groan coming from behind him.
 
“I thought you were finally going to be silent!” Sombra snarled, his patience clearly coming to an end.
 
That probably isn’t such a bad idea, Private gulped wondering if he had gone too far. Fortunately, since he didn’t follow up with a comment of his own the king didn’t do anything, satisfied that his prisoner caught on.
 
How long have we been walking anyway? the Unicorn thought. It had been quite a while since Sombra had dragged him into the tunnel and forced him to walk forward.
 
They eventually reached what looked like a cavern. No crystal torches were in this one so the only illumination was from Private’s horn. The Unicorn looked down and cringed, he was at the edge of a ledge and it was quite a drop down to the bottom. The ledge was part of a path that went along the wall to two stone ramps, one led up and the other led down.
 
“Interesting. Looks like this was a mine once,” Sombra said as he stepped up beside Private. “Whoever dug it must have been mining upwards when they struck my cave and couldn’t get any further due to the magic I put in place.”
 
Private could really just nod, now the only question was which direction led out. The Unicorn could just barely make out two tunnel entrances at the bottom and the way up had to lead to something.
 
“Going up is pointless. That would just take us back to the peak,” Sombra muttered and pushed Private into the direction of the ramp that went down.
 
“What if there is no exit?” Private asked, grunting a little at being pushed, but he knew better than to protest and started to walk in that direction with the king right behind him.
 
“We’ll either make one or I’ll have to teleport us,” the Dark Pony answered and glanced back at the entrance they had come through. His prisoner stopped when noticing that the king had halted.
 
Sombra frowned, suspicion going across his face and he started to approach the opening slowly. Private wasn’t sure what to think. He hadn’t heard anything, then again the Dark Unicorn might have sharper senses than him. That was always possible.
 
Something came running out of the tunnel but King Sombra was very quick on the draw. His horn was already glowing red and grabbed the pony that came running through the tunnel by the throat and levitated him above the ledge.
 
“I knew you were stupid, Barricade, but seriously, this is just ridiculous,” the king growled at Barricade who struggled fiercely against the stranglehold Sombra’s magic had on him.
 
“Barricade!” Private shouted, startled when it registered with him what had just happened. He didn’t dare approach as Sombra seemed quite ready to drop his flailing and cursing brother down below.
 
King Sombra ignored Private for now because he clearly heard something more from the tunnel, glaring at it with a sneer. The king immediately turned to his shadow form and still holding Barricade in his grip, he immediately floated away from the ledge and hung above the chasm below just as Shining Armor and Flash Sentry came rushing into the tunnel.
 
“Dammit, Barricade, we told you to stay back!” the white Unicorn shouted when seeing what had happened. Flash said nothing, staring worriedly at King Sombra who had switched to holding the struggling Unicorn with his smoky tendrils.
 
Private cried out when tendrils then shot from the mass of smoke and shadow, grabbed him and pulled him closer to both his brother and Sombra. At that moment the three Princesses arrived, causing the king to scowl even harder than he had before.
 
“Sombra dro…” Twilight had been about to shout when she noticed both the ledge and how far down the bottom was. She quickly clamped her mouth shut before even finishing that sentence.
 
“Yes, that would have been a poor choice of words, Twilight Sparkle,” King Sombra mocked and rose a bit higher with his two prisoners. “On the bright side, I have both brothers now again with me. How alive they will be, will depend on you five.”
 
Sombra was about to say something more when a flash of magic energy passed harmlessly through his smoke formed head. The king sighed and looked at where Barricade was. The pony had stopped struggling but was instead trying to shoot magic at his captor.
 
“I am almost insulted that your strongest magic attack couldn’t actually even phase me,” the king said before his horn lit up and he blasted Barricade’s horn with his own magic. His captive cried out both in pain and rage. When it was over, dark crystals were forming on the unicorn’s horn.
 
“Now then, where were we?” Sombra looked back to the ponies on the ledge. “Oh yes, I was going to tell you five to leave now, and this is the only thing I’ll do to Barricade!”
 
“What the Tartarus is this!” Barricade growled as he tried again and again to shoot magic but it all fizzled out.
 
“Barricade, for once in your life accept it that you lost!” Private snapped where he hung a bit below him. “He’s clearly disabled your magic. Also, we are hundreds of feet above the ground. STOP ANTAGONIZING THE GUY WHO IS HOLDING US!!!”
 
“Cheater!!” Barricade snapped, glaring daggers at King Sombra who was using one smoke tendril to simulate hoofing his face in exasperation.
 
“Sombra, there is still a chance to let them go and give yourself up,” Celestia called, ready now for the possibility of having to make a desperate dive to save either one of the ponies held by the king.
 
When King Sombra snorted in contempt, the Sun Princess knew there really was only one option left to them. She could see that the king was not as strong as he was hoping to portray, however, he did have the hostages.
 
“Cadance, you have the spells that affect him in this form. On my mark, start shooting, especially the parts that is holding up the brothers,” she quietly whispered to Cadance. Then she covertly signaled Flash and Twilight to be ready.
 
“I’ll only say this once,” King Sombra growled and swung both Private and Barricade around to make a point. “Leave or these two will…”
 
The Dark King didn’t get to continue, the moment the twins were in a good position, Celestia gave her signal and Cadance flared up her horn and shot with all her might. Sombra roared in pain as the magic fueled by love and hope tore through his smoke and shadow, both powered by fear and hate. He lost his grip on the brothers who both plunged towards the bottom.
 
“Flash, Twilight!” Celestia then shouted as she spread her wings and dove down the chasm, followed by her former student and the soldier.
 
Twilight and Flash caught Barricade who had been in the highest position when Sombra lost his grip on him. The two immediately headed with the Unicorn towards the ledge, but Barricade suddenly shouted his brother’s name in panic, causing them both to stop and look down.
 
Private, who had been at a lower point was still falling, Celestia had adjusted her speed and both her mane and tail were on fire as she sped to catch the unicorn, but it looked like it would be very close. Then a disaster happened.
 
During this whole time, Cadance and Shining Armor had been engaging an enraged Sombra. The pink Alicorn could keep him at bay with her magic, but even so shadowy tentacles still escaped through and if not for Shining’s shields they would have easily swept the couple off the ledge. The one problem was that Sombra’s shadow tendrils kept smashing Shining’s shields every time they made an impact, so he had to constantly rebuild them.
 
Then Sombra let out a massive rage-filled roar and poured out smoke and shadow in all directions. It narrowly missed, Twilight, Flash and Barricade while Cadance was forced to put up her own shield around herself and Shining Armor that could withstand the onslaught. The one thing this didn’t miss was Celestia as some of the tendrils went even further down into the deep,  striking her just as she was about to grab Private, and threw her off course.
 
Oh no! Celestia barely managed to correct herself and avoid more tentacles, just in time to see that Private was about to hit the ground.
 
In a desperate move she flashed her horn and using a special kind of teleportation spell, switched places with the still falling Unicorn so he would still have some distance to fall. With this extra breathing room, she could now ascend and attempt to catch him from below.
 
Just a little closer, Celestia thought as she prepared to grab Private, only for a shadow tendril to catch her off guard and slam right into the unicorn, sending him to the wall. Oh for the love of…
 
Celestia changed her course and winced when Private made hard contact with wall and was knocked out. However, it did slow him down enough that the Sun Princess finally caught up with him and grabbed him in her magic.
 
The Alicorn looked up at the battle. Cadance and Shining Armor had been joined by Twilight. Celestia couldn’t see Barricade or Flash Sentry but guessed they were keeping away as they would never stand a chance against the enraged Shadow King.
 
Then she looked at the magic bubble she held Private in. She cringed a little when seeing that Private was bleeding from the mouth and by the looks of it, his right front leg had been broken by the hard impact with the wall. He probably had a major whiplash as well and who could tell how many other bones were broken. Celestia did though see that he was breathing and still alive.
 
Don’t worry my little pony, I’m taking you far away from King Sombra, she thought. As the Princess gave King Sombra a glare, she fired up another teleportation spell, this time it was one that took her and Private Iceland straight to the Crystal Empire.
 
Meanwhile above, the battle raged on. Sombra had clearly gone mad from rage as he just kept slamming around with his shadow and smoke hoping, to crush the ponies fighting him. Twilight and Cadance did the best they could, both firing powerful energy beams that cut through the tendrils, causing the king to roar several times in pain.
 
Shining Armor resumed providing the temporary shields even if they really only served for a little while before having to be renewed. Flash Sentry and Barricade watched from the tunnel entrance. The guard was mostly in charge of keeping the dark gray unicorn out of the way since he still insisted on trying to fight.
 
“I think we’re doing it!” Twilight called as she noted that King Sombra was lowering down into the chasm, looking like he was retreating. The two Alicorns were about to continue with their barrage when suddenly the cave was lit up with so bright light that it was as if daylight was pouring into it from invisible holes. Then came the bellowing voice.
 
“KING SOMBRA!!!”
 
Celestia appeared in the epicenter of the light, looking very angry. Her mane and tail were no longer in rainbow like hues - they were fiery like the sun. Even her eyes shone with fire.
 
“You have done quite enough! Surrender now or suffer the consequences!” the Sun Princess bellowed.
 
Twilight, Cadance and Shining Armor blinked, having never seen their sovereign look so angry. By the looks of it, the Sun Princess had finally just had enough of this. The normally calm and patient Princess seemed even more ready for battle than when she had faced Queen Chrysalis. They all carefully looked down at the writhing mass of shadow and smoke that was King Sombra. Slowly his head was reforming in the mist of it as he stared up at Celestia.
 
Even if only a second or two lasted in this staring contest it seemed like it took agonizingly long for those watching before Sombra finally spoke.
 
“Not today, Celestia,” he snorted and suddenly poured himself into one of the entrances at the bottom of the cavern. Just as the last smoke disappeared into the tunnel, Celestia swept in after it.
 
“Okay, that happened,” Flash Sentry remarked as he joined the others at the ledge. Barricade came then and peeked down as well.
 
“Where did they go?” the unicorn wondered.
 
“Better question, should we go after them?” Cadance asked. Her question was answered when Celestia came flying out of the tunnel, looking more her normal self and ascended to the other ponies.
 
“Princess Celestia?” Twilight looked worriedly at her former teacher. The Sun Princess looked sad and disappointed.
 
“I’m afraid Sombra has escaped. There came an intersection in many directions and I was unable to see which one he took. In his shadow form he just blends too well into the darkness and my light wasn’t quick enough to see him,” Celestia said as she landed on the ledge.
 
“Shouldn’t we try and find him?” Twilight asked. “I mean he killed those ponies at the inn, so many others driven mad by him.”
 
“We will work on that, Twilight, don’t worry,” the white Alicorn said and put a hoof on the purple one’s back. “But I recognize these tunnels. They were dug by Diamond Dogs a long time ago and they are a maze. Sombra could hide for months in them and even escape outside before we could ever find him. He is weak now, but in such a dark environment he has an advantage.”
 
“So the bastard gets away, great!” Barricade snorted, then he cringed when a magic aura grabbed him by the horn. He was about to protest but all the yellowish aura from Celestia did was clear off the dark crystals.
 
“I think it’s time. Barricade, you head with us to the Crystal Empire to reunite with your brother. I have brought him to the hospital,” the princess simply said once she was done freeing him from the crystals.
 
Shining Armor had a few choice words in mind to tell the unicorn, but Cadance gave him a signal not to say anything.
 
“You wouldn’t probably be any better if this had been me or Twilight,” she whispered to her husband who reluctantly agreed. The pink princess smiled at Shining and gave him a kiss, just as Celestia for the second time activated a teleportation spell that took them back to the Crystal Empire.
 
End chapter 23


> Chapter 24. I am really free?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 24
 
Private Iceland slowly opened his eyes and the first thing he noticed was a familiar ceiling. Groggily he raised his head and winced when it started pounding, then he saw why he had so much difficulty moving, his right front leg was in a cast and what he could see of his body that wasn’t blanket covered, was covered all over in bandages. He was back in the hospital, though the pony wasn’t sure if it was the same room.
 
Then he saw something curled up next to him on the bed. It was Coal. The filly was fast asleep,  partly covered with his blanket, preventing him from moving his left front leg. The Unicorn stared for a moment at his niece before glancing to his right. On a chair leaned Dew Doe, also asleep and draped in a blanket. He could see out the window that it was still night. To his left was nothing except the sight of an unoccupied hospital bed.
 
Sighing, Private laid his head back down on his pillow, wondering how long he had been out. The last he really could remember was when he was falling down and then everything went black. He had clearly survived the fall somehow, but not without injury.
 
Wow… he’s really not around, he thought. It was a strange feeling, Sombra had been such a constant presence that it was just unreal not having him constantly bothering him one way or another.
 
I am really free? He thought and allowed himself to smile a little. Then the shadows on the ceiling suddenly started to congregate into a black mass. It sprouted green and red eyes with purple mist pouring out of the corners.
 
Private screamed loudly, causing Dew Doe and Coal to jump. The mare was quick though to realize that something was terribly wrong. She scooped bewildered filly off the bed and at the same time pressed the emergency call button. Then she went to try and calm the pony down as he thrashed around on the bed.
 
“Turn on the lights! TURN ON THE LIGHTS!” Private screamed in panic as Dew barely managed to prevent him from slamming his injured front leg into the bed frame. Just then hospital staff came running in and she immediately told one of the nurses to turn on the lights in the room.
 
Once they were on, Private stopped screaming and thrashing around, but kept staring wide-eyed at the ceiling, breathing rapidly. Dew cringed, she could feel his rapid heartbeat. Gently she started to caress his bandage-covered head, being mindful of his injuries.
 
“Sssh...it’s alright, Private. You’re safe now,” she whispered gently.
 
Private said nothing just kept staring at the ceiling. The nurses made sure he hadn’t disturbed any of his injuries before retreating, Dew Doe told them to keep the lights on as they left.
 
“Is Uncle Private okay?” Coal whispered. She now sat on the chair Dew had occupied earlier, looking sad and worried.
 
“Yes sweetheart. He just had a nightmare,” the mare said and turned to look at her for a moment. “Why don’t you go and tell your mom and your grandparents that he’s awake now?”
 
“Okay,” Coal jumped down from the chair and hurried out of the room.
 
When the girl was out of the room the mare returned her attention back to Private. The Unicorn still stared upwards, clearly still frightened. Dew Doe gently reached to move his head so the stallion would look at her.
 
“What’s wrong?” she asked calmly. She wasn’t terrible surprised that Private said nothing, his default nature was silence, even when facing with distress. Still he had screamed and begged for the lights to be turned on. The trick was now to figure out what had caused that, though the Pegasus had a good idea what had happened.
 
“Sombra is not here, Private,” she assured him and continued to gently caress what was visible of his mane. “The Crystal Empire had been checked thoroughly. They even activated the Crystal Heart and Princess Twilight put up wards around the hospital.”
 
Still Private said nothing, but Dew Doe was experienced in dealing with that. She knew the silent, reclusive Unicorn well. The mare could practically tell how he was feeling just by observing the faintest change in his expression. The stallion was somewhat aware of this too. He had realized a long time ago that the blue Pegasus really did seem to know and understand him.
 
“Your mom and dad are here. They just stepped out for a little bit. Foxy is here. She went with them, wanted to stretch her wings,” Dew started to talk, she could see that Private just wanted to keep his mind off the nightmare.
 
“You have been out for a few days and they want to keep you here in the hospital for a little while longer. You have a fractured rib, and a mild skull fracture and as you can see, your right leg is broken.” The mare then explained his injuries and was glad to see that the Unicorn was calming down already.
 
“Barricade?” Private whispered, noting that she hadn’t mentioned his brother.
 
Dew bit her lips as she contemplated the answer. She wasn’t surprised he would inquire about his brother. After all, Barricade had been here with him during the whole incident. Even if she didn’t think highly of Private’s brother, there was no telling what valuable support he had given his twin.
 
“He left for Manehattan shortly after Princess Celestia brought the rescue team back here. I didn’t meet him. He snuck off by the looks of it. It was the guard Flash Sentry who spoke with him before he departed on the train,” she then explained to him. Private just nodded and looked more contemplative.
 
“He kept me… sane,” he mumbled and sighed. “Didn’t matter what was done to him… he kept fighting against him… he tried everything….”
 
“If he hadn’t been there… I don’t know… I don’t think I could have done it… I would have gone insane…” Private closed his eyes, a tear trickling down his cheek.
 
So the jerk does have a heart after all, Dew thought and simply used the feathers on her wing to wipe the tear away. And all it took for him to show it was an ancient spirit of a demon Unicorn from the deepest bowels of Tartarus.
 
The door to the room opened and in walked Mirage Rock and Hard Shovel, followed shortly by Foxy and Coal. Dew Doe backed away to give the parents space to be by the bed as they rushed over. Private grunted a bit as he was grabbed in a hug by his mother, she was fortunately mindful of his injuries. Hard Shovel looked content just being by the bed, but did give his son a smile.
 
“Oh it’s so good to see you’re awake, we were so worried about you,” Mirage said as she gave her son a nuzzle.
 
“Gee, Private, we can’t leave you for few days without you getting yourself into trouble?” Foxy joshed where she watched from the back. Coal was again standing on the chair her aunt had slept on earlier.

Private just gave her a short glance as he was barraged with more motherly affection, Mirage seemed unable right now to let go of him. He didn’t mind, the Unicorn was finally in company of ponies that didn’t expect him to talk and his mom would eventually let go, or his dad would drag her off knowing that his son would need his space. 

Then he remembered what Sombra had shown him, in this very hospital. Private showed nothing outwardly, but inside he was cringing as he glanced at his father. Hard Shovel was saying something about the laboratory the Dark King had kept him in. Private looked at his mother who was telling him they now knew it hadn’t been a nightmare.
 
I can’t… they don’t need to know… it’s not worth the risk… if what he showed me turned out to be true… I… no I won’t take the risk, Private thought and then glanced over to where Coal was, seeing something on her that could divert all topics away.
 
“That can’t be Coal,” Private said and smiled a little. “She doesn’t have a Cutie Mark!”
 
“I too have a Cutie Mark!” Coal shouted indignantly and proceeded to show her flank more clearly. “See!”
 
Private was then subjected to the story of how she had gotten it. He even grabbed her up using his magic and put her back on the bed as she told the tale.
 
“Is Private using my daughter to evade a subject?” Foxy whispered to Dew Doe, pretending to look unimpressed.
 
“Well you know Private, if he can’t out silence the discussion, he has us look at the distraction,” Dew shrugged and chuckled at how well the ploy had worked. His parents had stopped talking about him and what had happened. Now they were all talking about Coal and her cutie mark.
 
“I’ll corner him later and get him to talk about it. Probably best for now that he’s allowed not to think about it,” the blue mare then mentioned and smiled when Coal started reenacting how she had acquired her cutie mark. Others just got the tale, Uncle Private got a stage show.
 



 
Shining Armor stood on the balcony overseeing the empire from the crystal tower. The sun was rising and already some ponies down below were scurrying about. He barely noticed when Cadance arrived next to him.
 
“Looks like it’s going to be a nice day,” she remarked.
 
“Hm? Oh right, yes, yes it looks that way,” the Unicorn said with a nod.
 
Cadence looked at her husband and could clearly see that he was contemplating something. Things were finally settling down when there were no apparent signs that Sombra was trying to come back immediately.
 
“What’s on your mind, dear?” Cadance asked.
 
“The fact that the guy we’ve defeated now two times is still out there, probably preparing to return and we have no idea where he is,” Shining Armor said and looked at his wife. “Have you talked with the families?”
 
“Yes, one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.” The Alicorn sighed sadly. “And the rest from the inn, there is little hope for complete recovery, they barely have minds left.”
 
Shining Armor shook his head. The one bright spot in all of this was that the ponies that had fallen unconscious only to wake up and scream heralding messages every hour, had finally woken up normally, no worse to wear and with no memories of what had happened.

“Do you know what Princess Celestia meant when she said she might have a pony for the job to track down Sombra?” he wondered.
 
Princess Celestia had been very cryptic once they had returned to the Crystal Empire a few days ago. Telling them not to worry about King Sombra, she would have someone look into it and they should just concentrate on continuing to protect the empire. Even Twilight had looked confused.
 
“Not Discord. Remember when we asked Celestia if we could get him involved?” Cadance reminded him, Shining Armor nodded.
 
“Seeing the floor tiles suddenly rearrange themselves into a message saying ‘no way, no how am I coming anywhere near King Smoky’ was… weird,” the Unicorn muttered as he remembered that.
 
“Guess we’ll find out. Speaking of that, we successfully managed to make sure Spike wouldn’t get to see his surprise too soon. I’m impressed by the castle staff keeping their excitement in,” Cadance said and looked towards a spot close to the castle, it had some construction going on, but it was covered for the most part.
 
“So what have you been up to before coming here?” Shining wondered and looked at his wife. Ever since returning the couple had pretty much just dropped back into their regular routine, though the stallion had noticed that his wife sometimes snuck off without any escort.
 
“Oh, this and that,” she responded without elaborating any further. Her husband arched his brow but decided not to pursue the matter, when Cadance wanted to tell him she would.
 
The Love Princess smiled and stared towards the direction the hospital was in. She had actually been hard at work living up to her own talents. She had spoken with Dew Doe several times, suggesting she stay in Private’s room and be ready there when he woke up. She had been very subtle about it and when hearing that the stallion had awakened, had waited for the opportunity when the two of them were alone in the hospital room.
 
Cadance made an excuse to be visiting to seeing how Private was doing, but in truth was there to see how he and Dew interacted. The princess very quickly saw there was something mutual happening there. That halted her from using any actual magic. The Alicorn could see they didn’t need to be reminded of it. They just needed more of a friendly nudge.
 
Shining Armor had been busy as well. He ended up promoting Flash to sergeant and gave him his own squad. The Pegasus had quickly chosen Blackberry, Bright Spark, Sharp Spear and Emerald Shine to be in it.
 
Cadance had been mildly surprised to hear of the promotion because she had always assumed Flash was already a lieutenant. She also asked why Bright Spark wasn’t captain material considering his years of service, but Shining had explained to her that Bright Spark threatened to quit if he was promoted past guard. Seemed he preferred the low rank and didn’t aspire for anything higher.
 
“Hey, did we remember to send mom and dad a message that they can finally come?” Shining Armor was brought out of his thought as he recalled that there had been plans for his parents to visit.
 
“Sharp Quill has taken care of it,” his wife assured him, satisfied with hearing that, Shining and Cadance resumed watching the sun rise, hoping things would remain moderately quiet until the Equestria Games.
 
I do need though to remember to schedule a visit to Twilight, now that the fate of Equestria doesn’t hang in the balance at the moment, the pink Alicorn thought.
 



 
Alone in the office of his gym, Barricade sat and stared at the pictures on the desk. Ever since returning to Manehattan, the Unicorn had almost resembled his brother in silence, spending a lot of his time holed up behind his desk and barely talking to anyone, except in short, rude sentences.
 
Celestia had teleported them to the hospital, but when the Sun Princess had been distracted talking with Twilight, Shining and Cadance, the stallion had quickly snuck off. He made it to the train station before Flash Sentry, who had noticed, caught up with him.
 
“Why are you leaving?”
 
Barricade grabbed the picture with his magic, it was the one of Coal. She was sitting at a table with too big sunglasses and a hat. She was sipping on a milkshake, parts of her muzzle smothered by her drink.
 
“Private’s in the hospital, he’ll be fine there, the others are with him.”
 
The Unicorn sighed, wondering why he kept messing everything up. He really thought he was just doing what he wanted to do, but Sombra had shown him that the stallion was indeed just a small-timer, pretending to live the life he wanted.
 
“I promised your daughter to bring both her uncle and father back.”
 
“Nothing I did even scratched him. I’ve knocked out Earth Ponies with my bare hooves. That guy smeared me around like I was nothing. Took my strongest blast without even blinking,” Barricade muttered and put down the picture.
 
“And you did, I’m just the guy who slept with her mother and happened to help conceive her. Her father and uncle is Private. She’s better off viewing him like that.”
 
“I almost killed him…” Barricade grit his teeth. “Barging in like that, not staying back like they told me too… He almost died.”
 
“He’s not the one she called dad.”
 
Barricade turned the chair to look out the window that was behind him. There wasn’t much view. It faced the wall of the next building. Right now though, the Unicorn didn’t really care. He hadn’t responded to Flash’s remark, just silently stared at him before boarding the train for Manehattan.
 
“I guess my special talent is just being a stubborn asshole,” The pony muttered and slowly dropped his head down. “Best kept in this dingy hole in the neighborhood nopony cares about.”
 
“Just keep creating messes. I messed up things here, I messed up in the Crystal Empire…” Barricade raised his head and scowled. “Oh, stop feeling sorry for yourself. Nopony cares.”
 
Barricade turned his chair to face the desk again just as there was a knock and a big blue Earth Pony with a scar on his face peeked inside.
 
“Hey boss, you okay? Barbell’s been worried about ya,” he said and stepped further inside. “You, uh you keep stayin’ here. I thought you were plannin’ on helpin’ Rain Storm with his new reps.”
 
“I’m coming. Tell the kid to prep himself. He damn well better be warmed up before I come out,” Barricade snorted, not wanting to answer the actual question. Fortunately the blue pony, simply known as Blue, didn’t seem to mind, just nodded and left the office again.
 
“You make sure your Uncle stays out of trouble from now on,” Barricade then addressed the picture of Coal, gently poking it with a hoof before rising up and heading out into the gym proper.
 



 
The mine entrance looked old and abandoned. There were remains of tools scattered around and by the looks of the state of the supporting beams, it was clear it had been a long time since they had been fixed or replaced. There were no signs of the previous owners except some scribbles carved into the rock here and there that said very little except that the one doing the writing had been in the area.
 
Approaching this old gaping hole in the mountains far northeast of Vanhoover were three figures - two ponies wearing winter gear and carrying saddlebags and one old looking Diamond Dog simply wearing tattered rags and an old hood to cover his gray furred body. Even the spiked collar around his neck looked ancient.
 
“There, there it is, Ponies,” the old dog drawled as he pointed towards the entrance and hobbled along on his worn knuckles. “Entrance to old colony and old mine.”
 
“Wow, so the old Diamond Dog settlement in the mountains of the Frozen North really did exist?” one of the ponies, a young stallion with a red coat, spoke.
 
“Yes, yes, long time ago. Was small colony back when Shadow King ruled Shiny Empire. Then Princess Ponies banish Shadow King and Shiny Empire vanish.” The dog nodded eagerly.
 
“Right, the Crystal Empire,” the other pony nodded, a slightly older mare. Her coat was brownish.
 
“Yes, Shiny Empire, many crystals. When gone, old colony started digging, make many tunnels, mine for precious gems to sell. Mines even reach to Jaw’s Peak there,” the Diamond Dog said and pointed to a large mountain far in the east.
 
“Don’t they call it Sombra’s Maw now?” the stallion wondered.
 
“Yes, Shiny Ponies now call it after Shadow King. Say peak howl when wind go through,” their guide responded as he hobbled closer to the mine entrance. A look of nostalgia came over him as he stared at it, as the old canine was remembering a time when this mine was bustling with activity.
 
“Why was it abandoned?” the mare asked and dropped her saddlebag so she could produce a lantern out of it.
 
The Diamond Dog turned around where he stood right in front of the entrance. He looked a bit sadder now, more forlorn. Then he glanced towards Sombra’s maw.
 
“Many years ago, we dug into a cave in Jaw’s Peak, there much magic in it, evil magic. We found items, one dog even found a pretty amulet, black red and silver looking like a winged pony with a horn. He put it on…” the Diamond Dog stopped for a moment, his eyes growing wider. “He became mad, evil, he kill many dogs, tried to take all the gems, it took so many to stop him. So many died. When done no could sustain a colony, we abandon it, sell everything we found, try to bury the amulet far away and hidden. We never come back after that.”
 
“Explore the mines if you like, Ponies, but beware the cave in Jaw’s Peak, it is evil,” the Diamond Dog finally said and look at the ponies with a grave expression.
 
The stallion and the mare had been busy preparing themselves for a cave exploration while the dog talked, when his final warning came they looked up at him, wondering if he was being a little melodramatic. Then out of the mine entrance suddenly came what looked like a black tendril made of shadow. It was really fast. It wrapped itself around the Diamond Dog and snatched him inside in the blink of an eye. The two ponies had barely registered what had happened before it was over. Then there came a terrified scream that was cut short.
 
The two ponies were still frozen in shock, staring at the cave. Then black smoke started pouring out of it. The shadows from the cave entrance began stretching towards them. In the middle, two green and red eyes with purple mist pouring from the corners formed. Under them was a wide, malicious grin. Then it spoke in a dark voice:
 
“From the shadows, I do rise,”
 
The shadows and smoke came closer.
 
“In the darkness, I survive.”
 
Then, dragged out of the mine by a shadowy tentacle, was the limp body of the Diamond Dog.
 
“Hate is my meat; Fear is my wine.”
 
The two ponies just continued to stare as above the eyes a red horn began to form and soon producing out of the shadows came the large head of a Unicorn grinning sadistically at them.
 
“So tell me, my little ones.”
 
Shadow and smoke began slowly surrounding the ponies from all angles, but they barely even noticed as the head continued to approach.
 
“What do you hate, what do you fear?”
 
Shadowy tentacles began snaking up their legs, wrapping around their bodies to keep them in place.
 
“For the Shadow King is hungry.”
 
The head loomed over them now, locking them in its hypnotic gaze.
 
“And you are his next meal.”
 
The End