> The Fourth Chance
>  by James Pwyll
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> The Fourth Chance
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"Pardon me, friend. But is this the former home of Starlight Glimmer?"

Double Diamond didn't recognise the voice when it spoke to him, but it sounded friendly enough and he turned with a smile on his face to greet this newcomer to their little village. However, as soon as he did so, his eyes widened considerably, for this was not just some random pony coming for a visit, but one far more unexpected. "P...Princess Celestia?!" The white stallion fell to his knees, bowing respectfully. "I can't believe you'd come to a place like this! We're honored to have you here!"

Celestia, who had been through many centuries of ponies acting this way towards her, offered a polite smile before silently gesturing to the grovelling pony before her. Double looked to her and, after a moment of hesitation, got back to his hooves, brushing himself off. Celestia glanced around, seeing many a stallion and mare whisper excitedly to one another, no doubt because of her presence here. Yet there was something else to it. It was as if she were scouring the village for somepony in particular. Somepony she had yet to see. And so, when her eyes failed to find what she wanted, she again looked to Double. "I thank you for you kind welcome, Mr Diamond, but I'm actually here to see somepony in particular."

Double nodded, his smile far wider than before. "Oh! Certainly! Just ask and I'll take you right to them!"

Celestia gave a slight bow of her head in thanks for his offer. "It's my understanding that they're rather new here. Would you know of any recent additions to your village?"

And it was with that question that Double's smile faded, but only a little. He clearly didn't want to appear in any way uncomfortable in front of her, but it was obvious to Celestia that this wasn't something he wanted to be talking about. "Um...yes, we did have somepony new. But he's not really the friendliest of types."

Celestia, forever maintaining her poker face, enquired further. "Oh? Do tell."

Double sighed. "He's not bad exactly, but he kinda keeps to himself. Never talks to anypony and mostly just does his chores before staying in his house all day."

Celestia again looked around the immediate area. "Would you care to tell me where I might find him?"

Double, never one to refuse a request from royalty, looked over his shoulder, pointing right down the main street of the town. "You'll find him just out of the other side of the village. Can't miss it."

The Princess gave him a smile of her own. "Thank you. I appreciate it." She watched him give a second bow to her before beginning her walk forward. Double didn't follow, and nor did anypony else, even as she passed them by. Celestia's ears continued to pick up all the usual chatter and gossip that tended to accompany any surprise visit she made to a place, but her focus was squarely on her destination. House after house she passed, and before long she was right where Double had told her about, leaving the furthest end of the village and heading just outside of it. True to Double's word, there was indeed another house out there, though it would have been more accurate to call it a hovel, given the size. Already, the Princess knew he wasn't within, since she could hear sounds coming from around the back. 

Making her way there, she saw him. A unicorn stallion, dark in both fur and mane, his back turned to her. With his magic he was levitating nearby logs onto a large flat stump in front of him, before taking hold of a nearby axe and chopping them in a single swing. Though she'd normally not want to interrupt somepony when they were making firewood for themselves, today was not the day for formalities, and so Celestia took a single step forward and cleared her throat.

Instantly, the stallion stopped mid-swing, and though he did not turn to look at her, he spoke all the same. "I don't get many visitors."

His words were short and to the point, with a relatively deep voice, and one that Celestia knew well already. "I thought at first I might have been imagining things when I sensed you. But it seems my intuition is still as sharp as it used to be."

The stallion still kept his face away from her. "You've come to the wrong place, Miss. I don't know you, and you don't know me."

Celestia's eyes narrowed. "We both know that's not true."

Few would have heard her speaking that coldly, but not this one. Instead, the stallion sighed, swiftly planting his axe right into the next log in-line, before finally turning to face her. The image Celestia now saw was more than a little different from the last time she'd seen him. No armor, no cape, no bright red horn. He was, for all intents and purposes, a regular-looking unicorn stallion, if a bit harsh in his features. And those features made it clear he wasn't happy with this unexpected visit. "So...you found me. I wondered if my presence here would be known to you eventually."

Celestia took a cautious step forward. "There are few places in this nation that I do not keep an eye on, Sombra."

The dark unicorn frowned to her. "So...should I expect your sister to appear out of nowhere to join you in vanquishing me? Or perhaps your beloved apprentice and her friends?"

Slowly, Celestia shook her head. "No...it's just me today."

Sombra raised an eyebrow. "Brave of you. Or foolish, given how things went during my last revival."

The Princess looked him over, her voice betraying her understandable curiosity. "Yes...and how exactly did you revive this time?"

For the first time in all the long years she'd known him, Sombra actually appeared to be at a loss on that one. "That, I cannot say. One moment I am facing down he combined powers of Twilight and her friends. The next...I awake in a place I'd never been." He looked to the side, pointing to some nearby mountains. "Over there, amid the crags and jagged rocks."

Celestia regarded the place, then looked back to him. "I'd have expected you to try your hoof at seizing Equestria again. Not...chopping wood."

Sombra grimaced, looking to his sizeable pile of firewood. "Time...has a way of changing one's perspective."

Celestia looked to him with more than a little incredulity. "Am I to believe that you, upon returning to the world of the living, have simply decided to...retire?"

A moment of pondering that notion led to Sombra giving out a quick chuckle. "An odd prospect, I'll grant you. A unicorn famed the world over for his desire for conquest and subjugation...now choosing to live a life away from everypony and everything." He paused, but only for a moment. "If there is one great teacher in this world, Celestia, it is failure."

Even Celestia couldn't help but smirk to that. "Then I'm sure you must be very well-taught by this point."

Ignoring that, though still frowning to it, Sombra began to explain himself. "In those ancient times, I sought dominion over the Crystal Empire. And though I succeeded, my efforts led you and your sister to me, and thus my downfall was assured." He glanced away. "When I returned, I was felled again, and not even by alicorns this time, but simply by a young dragon and the ponies I once enslaved." His frown deepened. "When a third time I stepped into the fore, I reached further than ever...yet still I was defeated." A long sigh escaped him. "Three strikes...and I am out."

Celestia's face, if only a little, softened to him. "So...you gave up?"

Again, Sombra did not look to her, instead staring at the distance, to the horizon. "A life of conquest and war brought me only to ruin. Dominance earned me naught but enemies. Ambition of rulership was always snatched away from me. Were I to try such a thing for a fourth time...there is no doubt that I would simply meet the same end as before."

His ancient foe considered those words. "Well...I cannot call you wrong, O fallen King."

There was a time Sombra might have raged against such a thinly-veiled insult, but that time was not now, and instead he just sighed again. "A life like this? Away from others. A life of quiet. I'd never considered it. Never wanted it. Yet here I am. Perhaps there is value in this simple life that so many other ponies live. If nothing else, I might not end up in the same dark place."

Silence passed between them, and for a good long while too. Whether Celestia believed what he said or not was hard to say, given how legendarily good she was at hiding her feelings on such matters. Yet as her old foe just stood there, never once showing any signs of aggression or bitterness towards her, there eventually came a moment when the Princess turned, once more looking to the mountains where this stallion had again returned to the world. "Perhaps fate decided you were finally ready to be allowed your freedom."

Sombra snorted. "Fate? I don't believe in it."

Celestia looked down to the ground for a moment. "Perhaps not. But whether through some higher power or simply some fluke of the magical forces of our world, you live again. Yet you seem to have chosen peace instead of war." A quick giggle came to her. "I honestly never would have thought you capable of such a life."

Sombra rolled his eyes. "We are of a kind in that regard." But his face became more steely afterwards. "Though choosing a quiet life will do me little good if I am to spend it in a prison."

Celestia looked to him with seriousness. "Prison? And why do you believe that will be your fate?"

Sombra actually seemed amused by such a question. "Come now, Princess. We both know why you are here. You came to see if I lived again, and if I did, to ensure I could no longer harm Equestria." He looked around. "Now that you've found me, I have no doubt that you'll call in some reinforcement to ensure I am apprehended for my past crimes."

The Princess nodded solemnly. "It is true. Were you still walking your old path, that is indeed what I would have intended. But instead, I find you living by yourself, not wanting to be bothered by anypony. You came here, to a town few even know of, and chose isolation even within a community like this one." She took a deep breath. "You were right, Sombra. You have committed many crimes, and there are likely few who would ever forgive you for them. But it could be said that you have already paid for those crimes with centuries of imprisonment, and even death...twice."

Sombra arched an eyebrow. "For the record, the deaths hurt worse."

Celestia ignored him. "I see not the rampaging beast who needed stopping...but instead a stallion who seeks to live alone. So..." She turned, beginning to walk back to the town proper. "If that is what you wish your life to be, then that is what it shall be."

Sombra looked to her, utterly bewildered. "You...you mean to just leave me here? No fight? Just...just walk away?"

Celestia, keeping her back to him, answered. "Do not mistake me. I have no intention of allowing you free reign. There will always be eyes watching. Peace may be something I'm willing to grant, but that does not make me a fool who will simply trust blindly." Slowly, she looked over her shoulder narrowing her eyes to him. "Should you threaten Equestria again..."

Her tone made it clear that this was not freedom, but a watchful probation, and while Sombra might have once chaffed under such a suggestion, now he simply sighed, giving a single nod. "If those are to be the terms of this new life...then I can accept them."

Again, Celestia nodded. "In that case, I shall take my leave. Farewell Sombra. I wish you well in this new home."

Though it surprised him greatly, Sombra knew she'd meant that, and so stood in silence as she Princess of the Sun continued to walk away. Eventually, he could see her no longer, and so he was once more alone. He preferred the solitude of course, but the meeting had left him with much to ponder. "So...this is life now. Free to live alone. Always watched, with my enemies ready to strike the moment I stray," he said to nopony in particular. As the notion sank in for him, he glanced around, wondering where Celestia might have her eyes here. Were they among the townsfolk? Were there perhaps guards high up in the clouds ready to swoop down at him? Whatever the case, he knew he had nothing to fear. He had no intention of making war again, for he knew well the only fate that road would lead him to. And so, as he sat upon his log-chopping stone, he allowed himself a moment to chortle. "Well...beats being killed at least."
> Another Visit
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"Grow, damn you, grow!" Sombra looked on irritably at the poor excuse for a crop he'd managed to grow for himself. Had anypony wandered by and seen this patch of tilled earth outside of his shack, they'd have been well within their rights to assume that nothing but weeds were growing in it. Despite all the toil he'd put into the endeavour, all that lay in the earth before him caused him nothing except disappointment. Stomping the ground angrily, he reached forward, grabbing the stalk of the closest vegetable and yanking it out of the ground. His eyes narrowed at the shrivelled thing. "All those months and this is all I get for it." He grumbled under his breath, then begrudgingly placed it in his mouth. It had quite a chew to it, and he hated every single moment of it. But with a grumbling stomach he knew he couldn't just stop. So, moving over to his favourite rock, he sat down, the only sound that of his continued chewing. "Better than starving...but only just," he muttered through his teeth.

"I seem to recall a fair grocery store in town, if you were interested," a familiar voice spoke.

Sombra sighed, not bothering to turn and face the newcomer. "I don't want to go there, and they don't want me there either. After your last little check-up on me it got out who I was. There's likely nopony in town they'd want to see less than me." A dry chuckle escaped him. "Heck, I'd even wager they'd be happier seeing that mare who practically brainwashed them over me."

Celestia, walking around so she was in his line of sight, looked to the pitiful stallion who had been her enemy for so many centuries. "If you'd have told me that one day I'd be standing before the mighty King Sombra while he was trying in vain to grow a small patch of vegetables, I'd have called you mad."

For the first time, Sombra gave her his full attention. "Calling them vegetables is being generous, Celestia. But if it means I don't have to talk to anypony, I'll tolerate them."

Celestia frowned. "You don't want company?"

Sombra frowned right back. "I believe I made my position on social interaction abundantly clear the last time we met."

For a time, Celestia said nothing, but after a while her horn ignited and she glanced to the side. Before long Sombra watched as a small table and an unmistakeable chess set was hovered over between them, setting up perfectly upon the dry earth. As graceful as she always was, Celestia sat upon one side, gesturing to the table. "Perhaps you may enjoy a little conversation and activity more than you think?"

Swallowing his meagre meal, Sombra considered that, slowly getting up and taking the time to quickly look around himself. As before, he fully suspected that there were plenty of the Royal Guard out there somewhere, hidden just in case he tried something. But if that was the case then they were well-hidden. Taking a step forward, he looked to the board. "I've never really been one for games."

Celestia eyed him carefully. "No patience for it?"

Sombra, taking a seat himself, shook his head. "Never really cared for the thinking of it. A game like this..." he gestured to the board himself. "It's about strategy. Outthinking your enemy. Me? You know my ways."

Celestia nodded solemnly. "Indeed. Direct. Brute force. Overwhelming power."

For the first time today, Sombra smirked. "Why come up with some intricate plan when I could simply smash what was in my way?"

Celestia, clearly not happy thinking about that kind of thing, made her first move. "Have you tried using it. Your power?"

Sombra made a move himself, shaking his head again. "Didn't see the need. My magic had one purpose and one purpose only in my life. To get me to the top. It's no good for growing crops or anything my new life requires. Using it would...simply bring unwanted attention."

Another move from Celestia. "A wise choice. Besides, in the end your power was always overcome, was it not?"

"Not for lack of trying on my part," Sombra countered.

A moment passed before Celestia made her next move. "I took the liberty of asking around town before coming here. Seeing what you've been up to. Seems you were genuine in your declaration last time. The life of a hermit it is, it would seem."

"Beats death. The Aether was no place to want to go back to, I can assure you. Even you, who have seen the depths of Tartarus itself, would prefer that to the cold abyss that was my destination."

Seeing him move his next piece, Celestia glanced to him warily. "To return from death itself is no small thing, Sombra. And for you it has occurred more than once. Most would be overjoyed, yet in you I feel only emptiness."

"When last I returned, I wanted nothing but my old life, my old conquests. It failed me, as it did so many times before. Part of me wonders if it might have been better for all if my last defeat...was the last this world would ever see of me." He scoffed. "I doubt anypony would complain."

To that, Celestia paused. She didn't make her next move, and was soon deep in thought, which Sombra picked up on immediately. He said nothing, instead waiting for the former ruler of Equestria to finally say what she needed to. "I won't lie to you, Sombra. There are many who think as you do. You enslaved a nation. Twice. You left scars on ponykind the likes of which they'll likely never truly recover from. You destroyed the symbols of all that was good in our world for little more than spite. And all in an effort to take those in this world and grind them down beneath your hooves."

Sombra's look was steely. "So, here ends the façade of the friendly visit then?"

Celestia's own look was her famous poker face as she continued. "Sombra...the number of people from this world's history who are more hatred than you could probably be counted on a single dragon's hand...and still leave claws to spare."

The dark stallion looked away, to the vast and empty horizon that this dusty place had in such abundance. "Guess I'll be remembered, if nothing else."

"For all the wrong reasons," Celestia replied immediately. "You are a symbol of oppression. A being whose image conjures feelings of nothing but fear and dread. By your own hoof, you have made yourself a monster in the eye of all who would ever look upon you...including me."

To that, Sombra looked back to her, his eyes narrowing. "I am what I am, Celestia. We can't all be beloved bringers of sunlight." After a lengthy pause, he moved his next piece. "You sit there, thinking that being a good and admired being is so easy, so simple. When in reality nothing could be further from the truth. I am one whose power and domain is that of the shadows. That of fear. My magic does its work and the ponies around me are faced with that they fear most. Their deepest, darkest, most chilling nightmares. With power such as that, what could I have ever been, save for a villain?"

Celestia's own eyes narrowed in response. "Do you mean to presume that you being the tyrant that you are was the product of circumstance? You could have chosen to refrain from exercising that power. Could have chosen to withhold your...talent. But instead, you used it, willingly. You revelled in it and you took delight in making others writhe before you when surrounded with the fears you so ably control."

Seeing her move a piece of her own, Sombra nodded. "Correct. I did choose. And do you know what I learned from those choices? You know what grand lesson came to me after all my deeds?" Slowly, he leaned forward. "To be evil is easy. Those like you, who walk in the light and strive to be better, you struggle your whole lives with it. Every day is a slog of benevolence and kindness and well-wishes. By my path? It was one of pure freedom. I could do what I wished, whenever I wished, and I never needed to put a single ounce of effort into it. So tell me, Celestia, why would anypony do right when doing wrong comes so much quicker?"

Celestia would have likely looked the epitome of offended at that remark, had she not her famed self-control. "Because it is right."

Amusement came to the thrice-defeated foe before her. "I am under no obligation to live for the sake of others, Princess. Neither are you or anypony else. The notion that there is some higher law, some greater morality that I must be subject to appals me. I will decide my life, not some obscure, hypothetical idea of what is just."

"To live your life selfishly will never end well, either for you or for anypony else." For a moment, all she did was take in her surroundings, this bleak and desolate place even compared to what the nearby village used to be. "Given all you have been through, the many times you have fallen, I'd have thought that would be clear to you by now."

"Point out my downfalls as many times as you like, Celestia. But now, as then, I live for myself. My choice to be here, in exile, is nothing to do with wanting to keep ponies safe from me, or because I feel I deserve penance for my past actions. It is simply to ensure my own existence. Crossing you and your underlings has left me beaten and broken, so if I am to carry on with my life, the solution is to simply stay out of your way. There is no morality or selflessness at play here, I can assure you."

A long sigh escaped the former mare of the sun. "I realise that. Though perhaps I had hoped, in some small way, there had been a change in you, Sombra. I have seen many enemies of Equestria become better than they were. And though you remain among the most notorious of our foes, I had thought there might be some chance the same could be said of you." She shook her head. "But perhaps that was foolish of me. The hopes of a young princess of a thousand years past who clung to ideals long after she should have realised that she should have let them go." When at last she opened her eyes again, her gaze was fixed on him. "Failing to vanquish you, knowing in my heart of hearts that my failure to rid the world of you also condemned the Crystal Empire to a millennia of limbo...it has haunted me. And maybe...that is where this hope has dwelt all this time. That if you could come out of the other side as a good person, it might have made it all, in some small way...worth it."

Sombra smiled, clearly glad to have caused her such difficulty. "No, Celestia. It was not worth it. My deeds cannot be undone. No matter how hard you wish and pray. There is no spell or miracle for you to wash away my actions. And while I am grateful to you to continue to allow me to live, we both know that I will never be the atoner you want me to be." Leaning back slightly, he snickered. "I suppose, in the end, that's a happy ending for me. I live in the knowledge that, though absolute power escaped me forever, I inflicted pain upon my enemies for untold centuries." He shrugged. "A victory."

After a long silence, Celestia nodded. "Yes, it is." Reaching forward, Celestia took one of her pieces and moved it, putting Sombra into what he recognised immediately as a checkmate. "And the only one you will ever know."