The Shadow King Returns

He was warm and his fur was soft to the touch. Shining could even feel the muscle beneath Sombra's skin, so much power yet he could still be so gentle. Shining shook these thoughts from his head as best he could and returned the hug given to him by the former King of Shadows. Their embrace ended soon after it started, secretly to Shining's dismay.

"I am so grateful for what you have done for me Prince Shining Armor I am forever indebted to you." Sombra was still smiling but it wasn't the elated and fanged smile he had earlier. It was the most sincere smile Shining had ever seen.

His heartbeat began to quicken and he didn't know what to make of this. Why do I feel so nervous? It was just a hug from a very grateful friend. Shining then realized that he had been silent for quite some time.

"Oh no need to feel that way Sombra and didn't I ask you to not use prince when addressing me?"

"Yes you did my friend but please understand how much this means to me I couldn't help myself. I promise to address you as Shining from here on out."

Something seemed off to Shining Armor about the way Sombra was talking. "Did your voice get deeper?"

The low chuckle that followed his question confirmed that Sombra's voice was indeed deeper. "Yes it may seem that way but it is only because I am no longer speaking through weak magic, this is my true voice. Does it unsettle you Shining?" Sombra's smile shifted to a frown that bordered on a pout.

To his credit Sombra was extremely adorable at the moment more so than anypony that masculine had a right to be. But Shining WAS NOT going to let him know that. "No, no it was caught me off guard is all don't worry about it Sombra."

"Are you sure Shining, since I now have a body you seem to be slightly uncomfortable around me. I didn't want to unnerve you."

"Ha! I am the prince of this empire and captain of its guard, it would take take much more to unnerve me. Now lets get out of this room and into my office, it will be more comfortable to wait for Cadence there."

Shining lead the way out of the hidden chamber and took a seat on his chair. Sombra moved another chair over to the opposite side of the desk and took a seat as well.

"So Shining if I recall your plan correctly you said that we will wait here for Cadence and when she arrives you will lead her the secret chamber where I will be waiting to greet her so we can sort this all out."

"Yes that is exactly it." Shining was feeling quite good about his plan since nothing had gone wrong yet.

"So what are we going to do for the few hours we have to wait out?"

This was not a problem but Sombra did have a point. Just sitting around for a few hours was not productive at all. But Shining had something in mind to kill some time.

"Hold on a second Sombra." Shining then trotted over to one of the shelves holding a variety of political literature, but this was not what Shining had in mind as he levitated a small box out from the bottom shelf. He carried it back over to his desk where a puzzled looking Sombra was still seated. Shining then plopped the box down onto the table so the title was facing Sombra.

"Stratego? What is it?"

"I am so glad you asked my obsidian haired friend. It is without a doubt the greatest game ever created in the history of forever. If I teach you how to play we can easily waste a few hours with this in the most fun way possible."

Sombra couldn't help but smile at Shining's enthusiasm. "Alright I'll play but I hope you won't be too angry when you start to lose at your favorite game."

Shining then adopted a cocky smile. "Oh you do not know how deep into the ground you have just dug yourself, I will enjoy mopping the floor with you."

Cadence was slowly trotting down the hall with her usual stack of paperwork for Shining. "Court didn't seem to be as busy as it usually is. Most ponies must have given their suggestions yesterday, Shiny must have been up all night finishing that paperwork. But I know that I don't need to worry about him he's tough and can handle anything that's thrown at him."

As Cadence began to close in on the door to Shining Armor's office she heard what sounded like muffled screaming. What could he be yelling about this time? I hope he isn't still mad about the bucket incident this morning.

When Cadence opened the door she immediately walked in and shut it. The sight before her was shocking to say the least.

"You cheated, that piece was a bomb and you moved it!" Shining yelled as he slammed his hooves on the desk.

"No, that piece was always a two! You're just mad because I won the last game and I just started playing." Sombra crossed his hooves and leaned back in the chair as if to declare how right he was.

"That has nothing to do with it Sombra! I'm just calling you out for cheating!"

"I did not cheat!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

As the two stallions were going on about their game Cadence was still standing at the doorway trying to think of what to do. Alright lets look at the facts. Shiny is playing a board game with King Sombra and they're arguing about the rules. That's pretty normal for any board game. Sombra isn't on an evil rampage, that's good. Something had to happen for both of them to be here so the best thing to do would be to remain calm and simply ask after they've sorted this cheating thing out.

Sombra had enough of the arguing and decided to offer a solution. "Fine how about we just scrap this game and start a new one, that way it's a fresh start."

Shining had to think over his options carefully, either keep yelling or just start a new game. He decided on the latter. " Yeah a fresh start sounds like a good idea."

The two then went about reclaiming and reorganizing  their pieces. Cadence decided it was a good time to make her presence known. "I'm glad the two of you were able to sort that out it seemed like you could have went on for hours like that."

At Cadence's remark Shining nearly jumped out of his skin while Sombra only look surprised. He then turned his attention back to Shining Armor. "Shining I thought you were watching the time while we were playing."

Shining looked back at Sombra slightly ashamed. "I was for a little bit but I guess I got a little too into our game and forgot." Shining turned to Cadence to try and defuse the situation. "Cadence I was going to tell you about this, in a much better way actually, but then this happened and sorry."

Shining put his head down in shame as Sombra got up and walked over to pat him on the back. "Hey it's alright Shining she hasn't tried to blast me yet so that's a bonus."

Cadence was pleasantly surprised at the care in Sombra's voice. He didn't seem to have any malevolence left after the crystal heart blasted him. But She still needed to find out why and how he got here. "So Sombra how is it that you're not dead?"

Sombra looked up at Cadence to address her. "Princess did you really think that a weapon powered by love had the ability to kill somepony?" He made sure to raise an eyebrow to emphasize his point.

"I suppose you're right but I didn't think there was any part of you left."

"My horn and a minutiae part of my magic remained so I couldn't do anything on my own. But Shining Armor here came and rescued me. He really does live up to his name."

Cadence couldn't help but chuckle at Sombra. "So are you, the former King of Shadows, comparing yourself to a fair maiden in need of rescue?"

Sombra couldn't help but turn slightly red at that statement, which made both Cadence and Shining break out into roaring laughter. All he could do was wait for both of them to stop. "Are you both done being foals?"

Shining was the first to reply. "I'm sorry Sombra but as soon as Cadence said that I couldn't help but picture you in a really frilly dress while looking totally pissed about it." After describing it out loud Shining couldn't help but break into another fit of laughter.

"That is quite the image but back to the topic at hoof. So Sombra after Shining rescued you he brought you back here right?"

"Yes and after leaving my horn in his secret chamber he went off to bed and returned with a spell book in the late morning. Which we then used to revive me. Which as you saw lead to may hours of stratego. Shining had a cinematic reveal planned but we lost track of time which bring us up to date."

Cadence nodded in understanding. "Alright so I get the how and now Shining just needs to tell me the why." She turned to Shining who had calmed down from his mental picture of Sombra in a dress.

"Well dear you know how you swamp me with paperwork everyday? Well with that much work I never get much if any sleep at all, which has been really draining me these past few weeks. Then you never let me hire any help so I had the brilliant idea to go find someone with prior experience running the empire. So I went out to look for Sombra and I actually found him."

"So let me see if I understand this, you needed help so badly that you went and revived a past tyrant ruler of the Empire? Not even knowing if he would turn out to be good or not."

"Yes..."

"Shining, how ignorant can you be? Do you know the possible danger that you put everypony in by doing something like this on a whim!?"

Sombra didn't want to see a full scale argument break out so he tried to stop it before it started. "If I may interject Princess Cadence I have extensive knowledge of government and politics from before my change took place. So I am fully able to help Shining in his duties so he can get his rest and be better prepared for anything the Empire needs him for. As you can see the malevolent force that was in control of me before has no control now. So you run no risk in allowing me to help. Please I am asking for only a second chance."

Cadence took Sombra's points to heart as she tried to think this through. After a few minutes of silence she decided. "Fine you can have a second chance but do not waste it. Since it is the only one you will get."

Sombra and Shining were both smiling like idiots after Cadence's approval. "To start off you can both get to work on this stack that I brought along with me." Cadence said as she deposited the mountain of papers on Shining's desk. "Have a good night you two." With that Cadence trotted out of the door and started to make her way back to her room for some relaxation. But she couldn't get her mind off of the two stallions. I can't shake the feeling that something is wrong here. It isn't Shining he seems fine and Sombra seems fine as well. But leaving the two of them together doesn't feel like a good idea. Cadence tried to shake the feeling and continue on to her room.

Back in the office Shining and Sombra were plowing through papers like there was no tomorrow. "Shining since it doesn't seem reasonable to ask for my own office could you get another desk for in here since it is rather hard to manage this mess with limited space."

"Yeah I definitely agree with you I'll see if I can get some of the servants to get one by tomorrow."

"Good, thank you. Also we still need to think about how to introduce me to the public so there isn't widespread fear and panic. I did after all enslave them and banish them for a thousand years, even if that wasn't really me it was still my fault."

"I think the best thing to do is to treat it like it's no big deal, if you stick by me all of the time the servants will see that you're no longer a threat. Then we can make trips out to the public together too so the ponies who don't work in the castle can see you as well."

"I suppose that will work since making an announcement will most likely just cause shock that we don't need."

"See, if we go about this in a relaxed manner it should all work out eventually. Also Sombra do you know how to fight hoof to hoof?"

"Yes, I read some books on it back before the incident. I was able to implement them rather well too. Why do you ask?"

"Tomorrow I was going to do drills with the troops but none of them would be able to keep up with me in a sparing match."

"I see, you want to brush up on your skills as well. I would be happy to help Shining anything for you."

When Shining heard those words he looked up to see Sombra smiling again. It was that sincere smile that screamed out the truth in his words and his eyes were looking directly into Shining's. The red serpent like eyes seemed to be looking into his soul but held no sign of ill intent only genuine happiness.

Sombra went back to work as Shining found himself wearing his own sincere smile, then he went back to his work as well. It was quickly dwindling since he had help this time. As he did so he whispered to himself, "I'm so glad I met you Sombra."

"Did you say something Shining?"

"Nope, nothing at all."

Sombra took only a brief moment to ponder the truth of that statement. "If you say so."

After another half hour all of the paper work was done for the night.

"Finally after so many weeks I can get some real sleep!" Shining exclaimed as he spun his chair in circles.

Sombra was amused by the sight of a large stallion spinning on an office chair. "So Shining where will I be taking up residence for the time being?"

Shining put his hoof to his chin in thought as he continued to spin and Sombra was starting to wonder how he didn't get dizzy.

"Ah, I got it!" Shining said as he continued to spin.

"If you would please share what you 'got' with the rest of the class, I'm sure they would be delighted to hear it."

"Ha ha funny Mr. Sarcasm, but there's a room slightly smaller than the one Cadence and I use right down the hall from us. So we could take a passage there and then in the morning I could wake you up and we would walk to breakfast together."

"I'm slightly worried about the reaction of the servants but as long as I'm with you Shining, I feel safe." Sombra was in fact, extremely worried about the reaction of the servants, yet he didn't want to let fear rule him or his actions ever again.

Shining's face was once again starting to turn red as he thought for the second time that day nothing that masculine had any right to be that adorable. Shining started towards the door to another passage to try to hide his face. "Come on Sombra I need some rest and you should probably get some too."

"Correct you are my friend, I'm right behind you."

When the two made it to Sombra's new room Shining immediately went for the main door so he could return to his own bed. Sombra was looking around and seemed somewhat disappointed.  Shining took notice and decided to ask him about it.

"Sombra is there something wrong with the room?"

"What? No, not at all, it just needs a personal touch I think I'll do some decorating tonight."

"You're not going to sleep at all?"

"I've been asleep for a long time Shining and with this new body I'll be awake for quite some time. You go ahead and sleep."

"Alright if you're sure, goodnight Sombra."

"Goodnight Shining."