It was a bright sunny day in Vanhoover, as the morning light entered a carriage parked in a small park. Inside, Trixie stirred awake. "Mmm...five more minutes hun." as she turned over on her bed, only to quickly realize something. The mare quickly shot awake and felt around her bed.

He's gone.

Trixie gave a disappointed sigh. "I knew it was too good to be true, oh well."

At the Royal Palace in Canterlot, Twilight, Shining, Celestia and Luna where having breakfast (or in the case of Luna, supper) together in the dinning room.

"Did you sleep well last night Twilight?" asked Princess Celestia.

"Oh yes I did." answered Twilight, it was more of a half-truth, she did sleep well, but it took her almost an hour to calm her restless mind to do so.

Luna gave Twilight a smirk, she knew she wasn't telling the whole truth and that she's very troubled, but decided not to say anything to her sister Celestia. She preferred that Twilight told her instead.

"Anyways, Luna, sister, we're you able to track Sombra's whereabouts?" the sun princess asked her sister.

"Unfortunately, I found no trace of him while scouring the dreams of our subjects." answered Luna with disappointment from her failed mission.

"That means, he has found a way to shield his location." concluded Celestia.

"I suggest we put Canterlot and the Crystal Empire on high alert until Sombra is defeated." proposed Shining.

"No!" sternly rebutted Celestia, "We must do this without setting off the suspicions and panic of our subjects."

A guard trotted into the room and came up to Celestia, he whispered in her ear. "Ah...good." she said. The guard then left.

"Well, good news Twilight, your friends have arrived!" she announced to everyone at the table.

Twilight smiled as she quickly ran out the room to the main foyer of the castle. And sure enough, all five of her friends were there. "GIRLS!!!"

"TWILIGHT!"

They both ran into each other and formed a huge group hug. "Aww...it's been so long! I've missed you all!" exclaimed the purple unicorn to her friends.

"We missed you too Twi." responded Dash.

"What's been going?" asked Twilight to each of her friends.

"We came as soon as we heard that no good villain is back." stated Applejack, ready for a fight.

"Yeah! That meanie is going down!" giggled Pinkie.

"By the way, did you ever find out where he is at the moment?" asked Rarity.

"Nothing yet, but I highly doubt he's close by." answered Twilight with confidence.

The black stallion got off the train and looked up to see a sign reading:

Welcome to Canterlot!
Co-Rulers: HRH Princess Celestia & HRH Princess Luna

"I guess I'm here." mumbled the stallion to himself. "Now to find a place to stay."

The stallion walked along the main street of city, most of the ponies not paying attention to him. Although there were some mares who giggled and winked at him as he passed by.

"I guess Trixie wasn't kidding about my looks." he mumbled under his breath.

He finally reach a building that looked like a great place to temporarily stay; a nice looking boarding house.

"Anyways...every room has a full kitchen and bedroom, there's a single bathroom on each floor and all meals and utilities are free. You just need to pay for rent." explained the boarder, and old stallion, while showing him the room.

"How much is the rent?" asked the black stallion.

"30 bits a month." the old stallion answered. "What's your name by the way?"

"Oh...uh..." the stallion quickly looked around the room, but saw nothing but his shadow. "..uh...Kage...my name is Kage." he answered.

"Kage huh? Well..welcome to the 'Coronation House' family." stated the old stallion. "Dinner is at 6 on the dot, see you there!" he instructed before leaving the black stallion alone.

"I guess my name is Kage now." the stallion mumbled to himself as he looked around his new room.

Celestia and Luna are at Celestia's study, drinking tea together before Luna went to bed.

"This whole situation is killing me sister." stated Celestia.

"Why is that?" asked Luna.

"Out of all the evil I fought, Sombra was the one who brought out the worst in me, I heavily considered killing him right then and there." she admitted to her sister.

"But you made a vow once you took the throne too never kill." Luna stated.

"I know I did! But a pony with as black a heart as him doesn't deserve to live!" exclaimed Celestia.

"But then you'll be as bad as him if you do!"

"You think I don't know that!" Celestia spat. "I should've overthrown him the moment I heard he was enslaving his subjects. But no...I instead decided it was best for the stability of the world to not intervene and hope it went away on its own." she explained. "Why do you think I spent three years secretly channeling funds to send arms to the Crystal Empire to support a slave revolt?"

"I know, but that caused a massive scandal that nearly destroyed your credibility and caused you to briefly consider abdication." stated Luna. That was a dark event of their reign.

"Luckily we managed to save face by going to the Crystal Empire with a massive army and overthrowing Sombra ourselves." mused Celestia.

"Yes we did." agreed Luna as she finished her tea. "Well...it is getting late, must be off to bed, good morning sister." she said, giving Celestia a quick hug before she went to her chambers.

Celestia was alone. She sat down in front of the fireplace and gave a stressed sigh. "I should've killed him the first time, but I just couldn't go back on my vows. But next time we meet Sombra, I will not let my vows get in the way this time."

Author's Note

The next chapter will come out on a Monday.

Hope you enjoyed the first five chapters.

Thank you!