Who was I?

Evening at the Crystal Empire, as a carriage entered the city and parked in the town center.

"Good evening crystal ponies of the Crystal Empire, come one and come all to witness the fantastic and amazing magical illusions and tricks one of the one and only GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!!!" yelled the mare as the carriage converted to a stage and pyrotechnics flew out. None of the passing ponies seemed to care or notice.

"THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!!!" yelled the blue unicorn mare again. But once again, nopony notices. Trixie was annoyed. "OH COME ON! What is Trixie? Chopped hay?!"

She just watched as the crystal ponies went about their day. The mare gave a frustrated sigh before going back stage in her carriage. She sat down at her desk and put away her hat and cape. "I should've known that the Crystal Empire was going to be a dud."

Her mind wondered back to that stallion she was with. She couldn't believe it, but her life felt annoyingly empty without him. But ignored that thought. "Forget it Trixie, he's probably with a new mare by now." she sighed.

"Trixie!" hissed a mysterious voice from behind her.

"Huh?!" Trixie immediately turned around, to see no one there. "Hello?". After several minutes, Trixie decided to go back to what she was doing.

"I can see you Trixie!"

Trixie immediately began to turn around. "Don't turn around!" snarled the voice. The blue mare did as told, hoping to play along first to maybe see if she can figure out who this voice belonged to. "Don't look at me." hissed the voice again.

"Trixie demands that you tell me who you are!" snarled the mare, back turned towards the voice.

"I go by so many names Trixie; Yinying, Shadow, Parachai, Zill, Chaya, Ten, Kage...SOMBRA"

"What?!"

"I'm right behind you Trixie, I'm reaching out, I am so close, oh, I can almost touch that sweet sweet rump, so close that I can almost taste it and fu-"

Trixie immediately turned around, but the voice suddenly stopped. It was silent again. "What the buck?!" she exclaimed to herself, confused. She turned around and decided to just move on and start filing her hooves. She looked down only to see a disturbing sight. The word "Shadow" tattooed all over her forelegs repeatedly in different languages. "WHAT THE...?!" she then saw that the tattoos are all over her body. "WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

The mare quickly ran to the sink to try to wash off the writings on her fur and looked at a mirror, Only to find that it was not her reflection at all, but of a dark unicorn stallion with a red curved horn and green eyes with dark smoke coming from them. "NO! It can't be! YOU SHOULD BE DEAD!"

The reflection just laughed.

Trixie screamed.

At Canterlot, Twilight was getting ready to go to bed. She brushed her teeth, brushed her mane and preened her wings. She climbed up to her bed, turned off the light and closed her eyes to sleep.

Suddenly, she felt something big and heavy land on her bed. Twilight quickly woke up and turned on the lights to see Kage on her bed. "Kage?"

Kage quickly regained his focus. "Huh?" looked around to find himself in Twilight's chambers. "I guess it does work."

"What are you doing here?" asked the confused alicorn.

"I need to warn you before it is too late!" he exclaimed.

"I don't understand." Twilight was confused.

"Sombra is back!" Kage explained with desperation. "And he was in my head!"

The mare had trouble accepting that explanation. "A-are you sure?" she stammered.

Just when the stallion was about to confirm what he said, they heard a knock on the door. "Princess Twilight! Luna and Celestia request your presence immediately! It's urgent!" exclaimed Flash Sentry pounding outside the door.

"Be right out!" Twilight yelled back. She turned to the stallion on her bed. "Look, we'll talk about this later, until then, just find a place to hide" she instructed.

"Oh...okay." Kage immediately dove under the bed as Twilight quickly trotted out the door. "Please hurry back." he pleaded to himself, mumbling.

"What's going?!" asked Twilight as ran into Celestia's study. She saw both royal sisters waiting for her.

"It's Sombra." began Luna. "I finally detected his presence."

"Oh really? Where?" said the lavender princess. "Please don't say he's here, I don't want to see an innocent pony like Kage get corrupted by such an evil pony"

"That's the thing." began Celestia, "First, Luna detected him somewhere in downtown Canterlot, then, several minutes later, he's at the Crystal Empire, then, nothing."

"He's probably on to us and intentionally confusing us." suspected Luna.

"And until he makes the first move, I'm ordering that Equestria be on high alert, especially the Crystal Empire." stated Celestia. "I want to be the first pony to know EXACTLY where he is so we can defeat him once and for all!" she turned to Twilight. "And just in case...Twilight, have you learned that spell I tasked for you to learn?"

"The 'Corrupted Magic Detection Spell'?"

"Yes."

"I learned all the basic defense techniques against dark magic just as you asked." Celestia's apprentice answered.

"Good." stated the relieved sun princess. "Just in case Sombra decides to inhabit another innocent pony."

Kage was scared as he hid under Twilight's bed. He was afraid that Twilight would turn on him and that a bunch of guards would come in and take him. Suddenly, the chamber doors opened, but was relieved to see that only one pony came in, it was Twilight.

The stallion climbed out from under the bed. "Tell me...what-"

"Stop right there and don't move!" ordered the alicorn as he interrupted the stallion.

Kage did was told as Twilight's horn glowed. After about a minute, it stopped. "Good...you're clean."

"What?!"

"I used a detection spell and I found some residual corrupted magic in you. But it's source is gone." she explained.

"So?"

"So it means that Sombra USED to be in your head but now has moved on somewhere." Twilight clarified.

"Really?" Kage was relieved.

"Really." she confirmed. "But this is important, I want you to tell me what Sombra is planning on doing, that way we can figure out how to stop him."

"Okay," agreed the stallion. "well, he's planning on getting his revenge on all those who helped destroy him the last time and in the process, ultimately become the rule of not only the Crystal Empire, but of ALL of Equestria."

"Yep, that sounds like him alright." stated the alicorn mare. She is suddenly wrapped in a hug from the stallion.

"Oh thank you for helping me, the though of me being that monster is just too much to bare." he explained with a slight hint of despair in his voice. "So...mind if I sleep here for the night just to be safe?"

Twilight quickly realized that this night just got a little better. "Why...of course, as long as you leave before I wake up, wouldn't want you getting caught."

Kage still held Twilight in a hug. "Of course, I understand."

Unbeknownst to Twilight, but Kage's eyes changed to green and an evil green formed on his face. The old Kage is now a prisoner in this stallion's mind, now replaced by Sombra, and he wants to make Twilight his Queen, who better than Celestia's faithful student and Element of Magic. Also, he now has full control of Trixie, who is now doing his bidding from the Crystal Empire.

Everything is falling into place.