Before The Fall

Chapters

Chapter 1: Memory
Chapter 2: Questions
Chapter 3: Dreams

Chapter 1: Memory

Their blades collided and Luna staggered back, a pulsating blue aura wrapped around the sword near her head. She’d unknowingly been retreating towards a corner of the throne room, each of the King’s heavy blows driving her back a step.

The throne room lay empty, the usual tables and chairs shoved against the walls; each weapon clash cutting clearly into the stillness of the night.

King Sombra spat his sword from his mouth to hold in a reddish aura. “You prepared to admit defeat, Princess?” A side of his mouth flipped into a grin, his dark blue eyes never leaving the mare’s.

Luna did her best to hide her own smile. He never went easy on her. She once told him never to do so and from then on he gave her his all. It was one of many things Luna would recall about the stallion, in that small pocket of time between dreaming and awake.

The color of his eyes. His straight gray horn. That wolfish grin of his as they clashed and fought in his vacant throne room. The heavy breathing and the sweat; the close calls when weapons swept too close for comfort.

Sombra’s only downfall was his arrogance, Luna knew. She’d only need wait until the perfect time to strike.

“Too winded for words, my dear?” he asked her, spinning his sword around his mane as he approached. “Battles to the death do not normally stop for rests, but if you ask nicely, I—”

Sombra’s sword shot out of his grasp, ten feet above him. As he glanced up, Luna unfurled her wings and soared to him, one hard kick to the chest sending him to the marble floors with his cape in a mess.

She rested her sword under his chin. His mild surprise disappeared as he smiled at her.

“Well, we can’t all be at our best in the middle of the night. Most ponies tend to sleep at night.” He removed a few bits of dirt from his chest plate, averting Luna’s stare. “So what does the victor have in mind, then? Usurp me and take my throne? I do not believe my citizens would take so kindly to a ruler from another nation.”

Luna released both swords and let them loudly clash to the floor. Removing her helmet, she pressed herself atop him until they were eye to eye. For the first time since their sparring match began, Luna finally loosened, returning the sly smirk.

“Could you barricade the throne room from outsiders, my King?”

Sombra brought a hoof to his chin. “The throne room is supposed to remain open at all times, except in cases of war. Luna, do you dare threaten the King?”

She giggled softly. “Perhaps I do.” She looked up and slid the wooden blank across the entrance doors, then pulled each window cover down. She looked back at her fallen foe. “You shall be made an example of, I regret. A Princess cannot let her peasants believe she would turn soft on account of dealing with a King.”

Luna lowered herself and kissed him on the cheek, then again closer to his lips.

Sombra sighed and rolled his eyes. “Very well, Princess, I shall accept my punishment with grace and poise. I only hope that my citizens can face their King again after learning of his exhausting defeat.” He brought a leg around her head and another behind her back, pulling her overtop of him. They kissed as he rolled her to her side.

When he pulled away from her, that wolfish grin was back on display.

“You’re not really leaving me tomorrow, are you?”

***

Knock-knock-knock.

Luna’s eyes shot open and her thousand year old dream slipped from her vision, the Sombra so close to her before now replaced by a silky pillow wrapped up in her legs. Angrily, she brought it to her muzzle and huffed, for the first time noting the golden rays of sun shining in through her tower windows.

“Is the Princess… awake… yet?” asked her servant outside the door, clearly winded from the many stairs that led to Luna’s private bedroom.

It had taken several years to be given a wing of the castle she could wholly call her own. Most nights, Luna wanted nothing more than silence and peace, away from the rest of the castle’s flux of political matters and all-around drudgery. Dealings better left to her sister.

“Is the Princess—” her servant began again.

“I am up!” she answered, first removing her face from her pillow, ignoring the wet circle where her mouth may or may not have recently kissed it. Taking a quick glance at the sun through the blinds, she asked, “Why am I up?”

“Umm….” her servant hesitated. “Princess Twilight Sparkle is here to see you. She told me you two had arranged to spend some time together this afternoon.”

Luna returned the pillow to her face. Her visit with Twilight had completely slipped her mind.

“Shall I tell her you’re on your way, Princess?”

Luna threw her pillow to the floor and stretched out along the bed. She let her head fall over the side as she eyed up the tiny box at the very center of her desk. To the box’s right sat a half-dozen tomes, and to its left, a helter-skelter bundle of various vials and flasks, some of their labels so yellowed and so old, the writing was nothing more than a smudge.

The rest of Luna slowly joined the rest of her body in slipping off the bed, her face lighting up in a grin.

“Has my latest order arrived?” she asked.

“Yes. Yes, it has. Just this morning. Shall I leave it outside the door, Princess?”

“Please, do,” Luna said with her cheek pressed again the cool stone floor. “And tell Twilight Sparkle I will be joining her soon.”

“Very good, Princess.”

Outside her door, she heard her servant set down her parcel and begin the many steps back to the rest of the castle. Though Celestia had suggested a unicorn for her personal servant, Luna wouldn’t trade her Earth pony assistant for anyone else. If they wanted to ditch the stairs, a unicorn could always teleport right to her. A couple hundred noisy hoofsteps always gave her tower room just the perfect amount of privacy.

Prying herself off the ground, Luna got to her hooves and retrieved the small brown bag outside her door. She placed it at the corner of her desk and pulled from the bag the last item on her list.

She traced a hoof atop the wooden box at the center of her desk, placing a thin blade by its side. Slowly, she opened its lid and fixed her gaze at all the chunks of red bone, some as large as the handle of her blade and some as tiny as a bit of sand. It had taken many a visit to the outskirts of the Crystal Empire to retrieve them all, and she would do it all over again, if need be.

Luna shut the lid. “I will see you tonight. I only hope you come back as the Sombra I remember.”

***

“You seem rather happy today,” Twilight said, as she sipped from her small coffee underneath the shade of the canopy.

Luna smiled and drank from her own cup—a larger one filled to the brim with Canterlot’s café’s strongest brew. It tasted bitter, but she drank it greedily. She’d need all the energy she could get come tonight.

“I feel good, Twilight,” Luna told her. “I have the feeling that things are finally settling into place, or will be rather soon.”

Twilight floated a few bites of her scone to her mouth. “Sorry I had to wake you, but this was really the only time I had to come see you. The girls all want to do different things now that they’re all in the city.”

Luna raised a brow. “All of your friends are in Canterlot?”

“For the week. Or maybe a little longer, depending on Rarity’s bit supply. She tends to buy a lot the first day, then lament about it for the rest of the trip. I’m sure we’ll all find time to get together with you and Celestia at some point.”

“That would be nice.”

Twilight glanced to the side of their table. “I was thinking that even tonight we might spend some time together. I always wondered just how you organized the night sky.”

Luna waved a hoof. “It is not as difficult as one would imagine; more tedious than amusing.”

“I would still be interested, Luna, even if we only spent the night looking at stars. I could bring my astrology kit, too. I told Spike to pack my backup kit, but I always carry an extra one around just in case.”

Luna’s smile faltered as she looked away from her. “Tonight… is not the best night for that. But I am sure we will find another time before you depart from Canterlot.”

Twilight returned to her coffee. “All right.”

Luna hesitated before asking, “Was it Celestia that invited you all here?”

She chewed on her scone. “We had always planned to visit for some time, but it was Celestia who suggested this week.” Twilight’s cheeks reddened. “But I might only be remembering that wrong.”

Luna giggled softly. “You do not need to try to hide why you are here with me now. I am not mad. Rather, I find it sweet. Celestia is only doing what she thinks is best, same as the six of you. I consider you all the very best of friends and am happy you are here.” She paused for a while, scanning the narrow tower on the castle that made up her room. “You know what the anniversary of today is, Twilight?”

“The day that you and Celestia defeated King Sombra.”

Luna nodded. “Yes. Over a thousand years ago and I can still remember most everything.” She turned to her. “I am sorry you and your friends had to deal with the same beast my sister and I had to. Whatever that thing was, was nothing like the Sombra I knew before.”

Twilight leaned across the table. “What was he like? I hope I’m not asking too personal of a question, but I’ve always wanted to know. Most history books remember him as a tyrant and little else.”

Luna gritted her teeth. “That is because they never knew the real King Sombra—the one I grew close to.” She fixed her gaze at the castle again, hovering her coffee close. “When the Crystal Empire was first discovered, I was sent there to learn of its ways and its crystal ponies. Ruling over all was their King—a just and passionate stallion that cared for each one of his citizens.”

Twilight lowered her head to stare at the table.

“I know that seems hard to believe,” Luna continued, “given the monster you saw at the Empire, but the stallion I found there had no curved red horn or venomous eyes to his appearance, nor any fangs to speak of. He was a normal unicorn and nothing more. One that placed the weight of an Empire on his shoulders. Under his rule, he turned a small city into a beautiful kingdom; meeting with citizens every day to fix what needed tending to. He was smart and gifted in magic. He was also sweet and kind, but never afraid of a fight.”

She sighed. “A one week visit soon turned to three months, and by that time Celestia nearly had to drag me back to Canterlot. When I wanted to show her all that I had seen, we found the Crystal Empire had sealed its doors and allowed no one in or out. Those that escaped… told tales of a mad King I did not want to believe.”

Twilight said, “And that’s when you went back to the Empire with Celestia?”

“Yes.”

“How did King Sombra react when you got there?”

“He did not remember who I was, but, truthfully, I could have said the same for him. He might have appeared like Sombra in every way, only I knew that something was wrong. Reflecting on it now, I sometimes wonder if all he needed was our help—to cure what was affecting him. But that Sombra was not about to give us that option.”

“What has befallen you?” she had asked the King on that fateful day.

At that, he laughed so deeply she could feel it in her heart.

“Do you ever think it might’ve all been an act?” Twilight asked quietly. "The three months you spent at the Empire?"

“No. And I never will.”

Twilight finished the rest of her coffee and stood. “I’m glad you told me about him. It’s sad that no one knows what he was actually like. He sounded like the type of stallion that I would like to meet.”

Luna stood and started walking up the street with her.

She thought, Maybe you will.

***

Five piles of brightly colored sand sat on the outskirts of a white chalk circle along the floor. Inside the circle were the items from Luna’s desk, some very old and some created only days prior. Slowly, methodically, Luna set each piece ablaze, giving the small circular room the sharp smell of spices and ash. With a leg, she waved away the smoke and returned to the text by her side.

The words on the pages were hard to understand—even harder to pronounce—but she recited each and every word with a clear and articulate tongue. She’d had more than enough time to practice them in the years since her return.

At the very center of the chalk circle lay the shards of Sombra’s horn. Luna tried not to stare; it only reminded her of the monster with the curved, blood red horn. If his horn does not change, does that mean this was all for naught? She levitated her thin blade to the outskirts of the circle, well within reach.

She extinguished the candles along the walls, leaving the half-dozen on the floor as the only source of light. When the sun descended, Luna took only a minute to place her moon into the sky. Shutting her window, she thought Good enough, and left the night to fend for itself.

Luna sat on the ground before her torchlit items, steadying her breath. A clear vial filled with red liquid hovered over his remains. Carefully, hesitantly, she turned it onto its side and its contents pooled around the horn.

Luna’s blood. Alicorn blood.

Then came the hardest part.

Waiting.

Luna had hardly set the vial down before it began.

As if hit with an electric charge, the shards of Sombra’s horn danced around inside the crimson pool, shaking closer and closer together. When one piece met another, they fused solid with a spark of bright light. Soon every part of his horn had connected together again, and it jittered and twitched amongst the blood.

From it came a wide series of lines, forming the outline of a creature. Each red string pulsated with an unseen heartbeat; more bright sparks helped illuminate the static shape lying on the floor.

Luna stood in front of it and held her blade close.

The thin red strings first doubled and then tripled, crisscrossing and layering until they formed a whole. A coat of gray fur grew from the shape, followed by a wavy black mane and a similar tail. The hooves grew last, then the fine details that made up the remainder of Sombra’s muzzle and mane.

His horn never changed. As curved and red as a dragon’s tooth just after a meal.

The body attached to it remained motionless.

Luna shook her head at the sight. “No. No! Not after everything I have done.”

She buried her hoof in his chest, causing the stallion’s jaw to shoot open and a swirl of ash to escape his lips. When Sombra tried to breathe, he coughed violently to his side. He kept his eyes shut tight.

Luna knelt overtop of him, roughly pinning him in place. “Open your mouth.”

Sombra answered by turning his head and loudly gagging onto the ground.

Luna pressed two hooves to his face and propped open his mouth.

No fangs, she thought calmly. That is favorable.

Next, she touched his horn with her hoof, assuring herself in its solidity. Luna cursed. His curved horn was no prop atop a normal one.

It might mean nothing, she told herself.

It might mean everything, her mind echoed back.

She pinned his head between two hooves again, resting the blade from the floor against his neck. “Open your eyes.”

For a moment, Sombra stopped coughing and simply choked on the dirt covering his tongue.

“Open your eyes,” she repeated.

Sluggishly, he did, squinting at the light from the candles.

Luna felt her eyes water.

The eyes looking back at her were blue, bloodshot around the edges—the eyes of the stallion she’d remembered so long ago.

The mad King her and her sister had vanquished before could hardly string a complete sentence together; usually nothing more than mere whispers and growls, if he could speak at all.

A tear coursed down her cheek. “Say something.”

“Why am I on the floor?” Sombra croaked out.

“Say something else.”

“Why am I so sore?”

“Say something relevant.”

He licked his dry lips. “Why are you overtop of me?”

“Say something more relevant… oh, damn it all.”

Luna found she couldn’t take it any more. As a single tear fell to the ground, so did the blade by his neck. She then pressed into him, making him wince. Holding him tight, she was unable to control herself as she kissed every single part of his face. Sombra received the brunt of her passion in near silence, staring at her with a tired expression of puzzlement and unease.

Eventually, Luna removed herself from him, the taste of ash on her lips.

Sombra coughed again. “That was nice and all, but would you mind telling me who you are, exactly? Or who I am? And why I’m on the floor, covered in dust?”

Luna was at a loss for words.

Not so favorable, she thought.

Chapter 2: Questions

Luna stood in line in Canterlot castle’s lower-level cafeteria, an empty plastic tray levitating in front of her. Her head lightly bobbed from side to side, as if listening to a lively tune only she could hear. She hadn’t slept a single wink since the night before. Most guards and castle staff were more than surprised to glimpse her that peculiar morning, because as far as they’d known, she never stepped hoof in such a place a single time since her return.

Luna slid her cafeteria tray along the kitchen’s silver railing. Wide assortments of breakfast goods were on display behind a thick sneeze guard. She narrowed her eyes at each pile of multicolored mush and various mounds of fruits and vegetables. She held a gentle smile on her lips.

When she scooted up in line, the unicorn mare behind the glass nearly dropped her pair of metal tongs. “Princess Luna?” She seemed to choke on air. “I… uh… didn’t expect to see you here this morning… or ever, actually.”

Luna flashed the mare a grin. “The Princess of the Night enjoys the splendors of breakfast just as much as anyone else. Usually, I find myself too spent after a night of moon moving to get my proper fill of early morning delicacies.”

The mare hovered her tongs close to her head. “Don’t you have servants that bring you your meals?”

Luna nodded. “Yes. But today I decided to venture out and gather my own source of sustenance.” She leaned towards the glass until her nose bumped into it. “Pray tell, kind servant, which of these breakfast items contains the highest level of protein?”

The mare glanced at the various colored globs of gruel. “The oatmeal, I would say. One bowl is supposed to keep a castle guard full of energy and alert until their next break.”

“I see,” Luna said, carefully studying the hill of runny oatmeal. “Would it be good for say, someone in recovery?”

The mare stuck a serving spoon in and filled a bowl up with it. “I’d say it’s good for anyone, Princess. If you want, I can add some raisins and nuts.”

Luna stood up straight and slid her tray towards her. “Your Princess would be most grateful.”

The mare threw on a smattering of extras on top and set the bowl in front of her. When Luna didn’t depart, she awkwardly moved her tongs around her head again. “Anything else, Princess?”

“Yes. Another.”

“Bowl of oatmeal?”

“Yes.” Luna counted in her head. “Five more.”

The mare balked. “Six servings?” She stared at her hooves. “We’re supposed to limit the amount we hand out to the guards and staff. One serving per—”

Luna’s gentle expression hardened as she lowered her head to the counter. “You are not denying your Princess her requested meal, are you?”

The mare gulped. “No, Princess, of course not. I only—”

Luna laughed. “I only kid, young one. I know the rules of this castle as well as anyone. But… if six portions were to somehow appear on my tray, I am sure no one would be the wiser.” She raised her brows. “As a Princess, I am sure I could return the favor to you some time in the future.”

The mare’s eyes opened wide and in less than thirty seconds, Luna stood with a loaded tray partially bending in the middle. To the mare, she nodded her thanks and turned, foregoing the dozens of empty seats along the cafeteria’s long wooden benches.

She heard the mare giggle behind her. “You’re not eating here, Princess?”

Luna turned. “I am afraid not. I have pressing business to attend to.” She glanced at her tray. “Involving oatmeal.”

The mare smiled warmly. “Breakfast for two?”

In an instant, Luna’s face went white. “Who told you such a thing?”

The mare looked at her hooves again. “I was only kidding, Princess.” She hesitated, before adding: “Just a little bit of levity in the morning.”

Luna took a slow breath and smiled at her. “Yes. Of course. Your Princess is well versed in humorous asides. Of course she is.” She paused. “Hahahaha! Yes, very good aside servant, as you were.” She took a step away before turning back. “But for future reference, refrain from telling anymore jokes in my presence. Good bye.”

With her steaming tray, Luna bounded out the room, slamming the doors shut behind her. The mare behind the counter watched her go with a single brow raised. She twirled her tongs around her head again and pondered just who the Princess might’ve been eating with.

***

Luna softly closed the door behind her before entering her tower’s second room. Before resurrecting Sombra, she’d fitted the cozy area with a smaller cot and several thick rugs; a single dusty desk tucked into the corner. Three bronze locks ran alongside the door to Sombra’s room. Using her horn, Luna methodically unlocked each one and left the set of keys on a counter in the outer room.

Sombra was fast asleep on his side, a small hill of blankets covering him. His sharp, red horn clipped the edges of the pillowcase underneath his head.

After learning that Sombra had little knowledge of who she was or even who he was, Luna used her skills in the realm of dreams to place him in a blissful sleep. Most of the night afterwards was spent cleaning all the ashes off the stallion, as well as the mess his resurrection had left on her stone floors.

While cleaning, Luna noted a small scar on Sombra’s upper left shoulder. A scar she had given him by accident on one of their more frequent and frenetic midnight clashes to the death in his old kingdom. “Death” meaning something far, far different to the pair.

Alongside cleaning, she spent most of that time considering just what to say to someone who’d completely forgotten you’d existed at all. Add to that the fact that he was once a murderous tyrant that had been killed for their crimes, it soon became a rather hard to broach subject all together.

Truth would come later. Now came breakfast.

Luna levitated the tray ahead of her into the room, calming herself.

If there comes a question I cannot rightfully answer,then I will delay the query by simply shoving oatmeal down his throat until he cannot speak.

“Hello again,” Sombra said, surprising Luna still standing in the doorway.

Deep in her musings, she must not have noticed him awake and staring at her.

Sombra sat up a bit, grimacing. “I had the oddest dream last night.”

Luna set the tray down on the table next to the bed, then pulled a rickety chair up close. “You do not say? What about?”

Sombra yawned and rubbed at one eye. “You, actually. Weird, considering I’ve known you for all of a few minutes

Luna turned to her side with a smirk. “Yes. How queer. What would be the odds of that?” She set one of the steaming bowls in his lap. “I have brought breakfast for us. Heavy. Hardy. Oatmeal. A lot of it.”

Sombra looked down to his bowl. “All right. I remember oatmeal, at least.” He pointed a hoof to his head. “I realized when I woke up that there was something attached to my head. I’m a unicorn, aren’t I?”

Luna nodded. “Yes. A very gifted one.”

He pointed to her wings. “But no wings, I’ve found. That’s a pity.”

Luna unfurled a wing. “I am an alicorn, gifted with both wings and a horn. There are not many like us, although we have been around for thousands of years.”

Sombra focused his horn to his bowl. “Being a unicorn’s fine enough. Let’s see if I even remember how to use this thing.”

The spoon in his oatmeal raised a single inch before splattering back into the mush.

Sombra sighed and began to try again.

Luna held out a hoof. “Oh, let me help you with that!”

The spoon full of runny oats quickly shot out and forced its way into the back of Sombra’s throat. Sombra gagged on the spoon and yanked it out with both hooves.

He coughed out bits of oatmeal onto the covers. “I’m starting to believe you have a serious problem with personal space.”

Luna’s cheeks flushed. “Whatever do you mean? I was only trying to help.”

Sombra turned from her and awkwardly brought his bowl of oatmeal to his muzzle to eat, even managing not to spill on himself. After he swallowed, he said, “Well, for starters, let’s begin with all these little bits of affection I’ve been receiving since finding myself here.”

Luna took a serving of oatmeal herself and leisurely stirred it with her spoon. “I do not know what you mean. I only kissed you the once.”

Sombra set his empty bowl down. “Nope. Twice, that I know of. Last night and then this morning. I might’ve appeared asleep when you left, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t feel lips around mine.” He smiled at her, clearly amused. “Care to elaborate on this?”

Luna thought for a moment. “Kissing is a traditional greeting in my kingdom. When one enters or leaves a room or greets another, it is always accompanied by a kiss. Same when we are overjoyed.”

Sombra cocked a brow. “With tongue?”

Luna pursed her lips. “I did not make the rules. I only follow them willingly.” She set another bowl in front of him. “Eat. You will need your strength.”

Sombra hesitated. “Before anymore of that, I have a couple of questions for you. The first—and, oddly, most important—being: who am I and why am I here?”

Luna exhaled softly. “Your name is Sombra. And I was the one that brought you here.”

“And you would be?”

“Luna. Princess Luna. And you were once known as King Sombra.”

Sombra nodded. “Only the one name? Seems a little blunt.” His eyes widened as he chewed on something sour. “Princess? You’re not my daughter, are you? Because if that’s the case, we really need to go over this whole kissing situation and have ourselves a serious family discussion.”

Luna shook her head. “No! No, no! Nothing of the sort, I promise you. We are very, very unrelated.”

Sombra exhaled. “Well, that’s a small relief. But I take it by the elaborate design on your floor yesterday that I came back from a very dark place.” He hesitated before asking, “Was I dead?”

“Yes.”

“And how did I meet my end?”

Luna found she couldn’t meet his eyes. “In battle. A great one. The record books are hazy on exactly what happened, but as far as I know, you perished during the battles of war.”

Sombra nodded slowly. “Sounds about right.” He thought. “How long have I been dead?”

“Over a thousand years.”

“So no relatives left?”

“I do not believe you had any to begin with.”

Sombra leaned back on the headboard and whistled. “A thousand years. Technology sure must have advanced since my days.”

Luna giggled. “Not as much as you might have thought.”

He turned to her. “So why did you wait a thousand years before bringing me back?”

Luna smiled thinly. “Like you, I have not been around for most of the last millennia.”

Sombra chuckled deeply. “You weren’t dead, too, were you?”

Luna’s smile faded. “Traveling.”

***

Over the course of the next thirty minutes, Luna convinced Sombra to finish off three more bowls of oatmeal before she’d deemed he’d had enough. When he lifted his pillow with a moan to block the incoming spoonfuls of mush, Luna gave him a break.

With a bit more alertness, Sombra wiped the excess mess off his muzzle and slowly stretched out each leg. Then he yanked off his covers and made to stand.

Luna held a hoof out to him. “Where are you going?”

Sombra stopped with a single leg on the floor. “To visit my subjects, clearly. They must miss their dear old King. I can’t dare keep them waiting any longer.”

Luna put a hoof to her chin. “Whose castle do you think this is?”

Sombra glanced around the room. “Mine?”

“No, Sombra. This is my castle. I share it with my—”

Luna stopped to think. Sombra had lost all memory of his old life as well as the relationship between the two of them. Thus far, she had not lied to him outright—only concealed what truths might cause him pain. She could’ve told him about Celestia then and there, but what harm would it be to have him focus on her and just her for the immediate future? Of course she’d tell him about her sister in time, along with Twilight and all the others.

But when will you tell him who defeated him to begin with? When will you tell him why his horn looks that way or why the history books call him a murderer and a madpony?

“I share this castle with my subjects and servants. This area of the castle is mine and mine alone… and until you are feeling more like yourself, yours too.”

Sombra edged to the side of the bed. “You don’t have a guest room in your castle I could stay in while I rest?”

“I would rather keep a close eye on you while you recover.” She paused. “I have been known to be the overbearing type.”

Sombra snorted. “I could tell by the meet-and-greet kiss.” He got to his hooves and wobbled a bit. “But still, I believe a castle tour is in order. It would be nice to walk around again and smell some less ashy air.”

Luna grimaced. I thought he would spend more time in recovery. I have yet to warn a single soul of his return. How would Equestria react finding King Sombra snacking on pastries in the Canterlot café?

Luna put a hoof to his chest. “I believe more rest is in order, Sombra. A few more days should do.”

“I might have trouble standing, but I’m sure if I leaned against you as we walked, I’d be fine.” Sombra grinned; a bit of his old wolfish nature poking through. “You’re the one with the complete lack of personal boundaries, remember?”

Luna’s blushed. Whether it was from the warmth of her hoof against his chest or the alluring grin he’d just given her, she couldn’t tell. Either way, she enjoyed them both tremendously.

She nodded briskly. “Fine. But only under one condition.” She turned and pointed to a book on her desk—a rather fat one. “If you can bring that book over to me with your horn, I will show you the castle. If you cannot, then you let me decide if and when you are fully recovered and ready to visit my subjects.”

He stared at her. “I only wished to go for a walk, Luna, I don’t understand why—” From her hard-edged expression, he sighed and pointed his head at the book across the room. He bared his teeth and narrowed his eyes. The tip of his horn lit up in the faintest of lights, before the reddish glow cascaded all the way down his horn to his mane. A trickle of sweat dropped from his temple.

Luna watched the book with unease, wishing for nothing to happen at all. When Sombra grunted, the cover of the book became coated in a crimson aura that leisurely pecked at the pages within. After a few attempts, the aura moved to a single corner of the book and rose, finally bringing the book up with it.

Sombra chuckled while Luna swallowed dryly.

The book levitated half-way across the room.

“See, Luna?” Sombra said. “I’m fine. Completely—”

The book fell to the stone floor with a thump, cutting his sentence short. His ears flattened against his head.

“Well, I’ll admit it was a rather heavy book.” He glared at the fallen text like he wanted to tear it to tiny pieces. “But this still has nothing to do with walking around a—”

Smack!

Sombra crumpled to his side on the floor, holding his front leg with a hoof. He exhaled angrily and grimaced.

In an instant, Luna was down on the ground next to him. “Sombra! What happened?”

Sombra rubbed at his pained leg. “My leg just gave out. I don’t know why, but it felt like I’d been kicked. By the gods does that hurt!”

Luna ran a hoof through his mane. He seemed not to notice as he clutched his leg.

“I have heard of such problems before,” she told him. “Once ponies awaken from the black sea of death, their muscles can inflict terrible pain upon them if they do not tread carefully. It seems we have tried to do too much too soon. I will help you back into bed.”

A few minutes later, Sombra was once again on his thin bed, his face nearing a scowl. He crossed both legs over his chest. “I really thought I had that book. I really did, Luna.”

Luna set the book in question in his lap. “Well, now you do. So enjoy. It is a book about Equestrian history, so it should be of much interest to you.”

Sombra flipped through the text. “Why are there pages torn out?”

Luna bit her tongue. “It is a second-hoof copy. I will make sure to get you a better one soon.” She turned and grabbed a saddlebag off the wall, hooking it around her middle. She told him, “I must leave you for a time, Sombra, but I will return soon. Get plenty of rest and read all you like. I will return with more food and drink.”

Sombra flipped to another page with a hoof. “I don’t think I’ll be able to eat again until midnight.”

Luna opened the door to the outer room. “We will see.”

Closing the door behind her, she deftly scooped up the set of keys by the door and slid all three into the locks, spinning the bars across. She set the key ring into one of her bag’s side pockets.

It took close to ten minutes, but eventually, Luna thought she’d collected it all—all the vials, ingredients, roots, books, and bits of ash and dust from last night’s dark ritual. Once gathered, she methodically set them into her bag so nothing would stand out and no glass item would rattle against the next.

As bad as she’d felt about disrupting Sombra’s attempts at magic—slamming the book to the ground with her own invisible burst of energy before shocking his leg with a bolt of electricity—she knew the world wasn’t quite ready for him. Not now. Not yet.

She opened the door to the rest of the castle and sighed tiredly.

She found she had absolutely no idea where the castle threw out its waste.

***

After the door to his room was shut and locked, Sombra rose from his bed and timidly put weight on each leg. When he felt no hints of pain, he trotted to the door and tried pulling on the knob. The door wouldn’t budge.

“Hmm,” he muttered, before searching the rest of the room. Along the wall was a lone stained-glass window, depicting a night sky with hundreds of stars. He’d give it a few more days before breaking it down. Figuring his luck so far, there was a good chance his room was six stories up.

“If only I came back as a pegasus,” he grumbled, before moving to the mirror above the dresser. What we saw made him stop cold.

“Hmm,” he muttered again.

Although he’d seen bits and pieces of himself since waking on the floor, Sombra had yet to view himself in full. Dark coat. Dark mane. Even darker expression. Besides his eyes and horn, he seemed completely devoid of any bright colors.

“I look so moody,” he told his reflection.

He ran a hoof through his mane, mentally reminding himself to search his room for a comb. Then he stuck out his tongue and pulled down his eyelids.

Nothing much of interest there.

What begged to be explored was his horn.

Leaning against the dresser, he used two hooves to try to curve his horn back in the opposite direction. Luna’s horn was straight as could be, so why did his look so curved in comparison? Why so red when not another part of him bared the color at all?

Perhaps he was over-thinking things. Kings were supposed to be different from the rest, were they not?

Sombra fixed his sights on a pillow atop his bed. He’d start small and then work his way up. Already he was irritated. Not being the best at something (even after recently coming back from the dead) still irked him to no end. So if a book was too hard, a pillow would have to do.

A crimson aura wrapped around the pillow and—

Fwwoosh!

—instantly caught on fire.

“Hmm.”

Bemused, Sombra quickly snuffed out the blaze with the bed covers and tossed the torched pillow aside.

He looked at himself in the mirror again. “I think there must be something wrong with my horn.”

Chapter 3: Dreams

Sombra paced around his cramped room from one wall to the next. His mind whirled with a dozen questions and at the time he had scarce answers for any. Only one thing he knew for certain.

He was in a tough spot.

The door to his room was locked. The place he was being held in could be stories above the ground. He came back to the living world confused and unsure, and recently it had been proven to him that his magic wasn’t all it could be. Sure. His limitless knowledge in the magical arts could make their reappearance in a matter of a few days or weeks, but was he prepared to stay put and wait for such a time?

The mare that held him captive was beautiful to be sure, but he knew she was hiding something sinister behind those lavish eyes of hers. Lies. He was being fed them without mercy, same as that morning’s oatmeal. The name Sombra felt right, as did his title as King, so did that mean Luna told the truth when she said she was an alicorn in charge of a castle all her own?

It seemed to fit. Alicorns sounded rare and if Luna really had been around for the past thousand years, it made sense others would easily bend to her rule. So just why was he here? Why had he been brought back to the conscious world, spoon fed, and then locked in a room all alone?

Ransom? Used as some secret weapon against the rest of Equestria? Personal slave to cater to that alicorn’s every whim and desire?

Sombra stopped in the center of the room and smirked. Slave, he thought. Although probably not the kind I’m thinking of.

Bemused, he sat on his bed and put his head on a hoof. Now wasn’t the time to worry. Now was the time to think.

Sombra turned to his side to grab the book Luna had given him before leaving. Perhaps facts could be found in there, if the book he held was an actual history text at all. Forty minutes later, he had a few more facts to play with.

He was King Sombra, ruler of a city known as the Crystal Empire in the Frozen North.
Princess Luna had spent a small amount of time there while he was in charge.
A group of six mares better known as the Elements of Harmony had been saving the day as of late, leaving little for Equestria’s Princesses to deal with.
Luna ruled the land alongside her sister Princess Celestia.

The torn pages left out quite a bit.

Sombra snapped the book shut and stared out into the room. Luna had said she ruled the castle by herself. Did that mean her sister—the one known as Celestia—had a castle all her own? To Sombra that seemed like a waste. Surely there was enough room in an entire castle for two Princesses to cohabitate peacefully. So what had happened to Celestia in the last hooful of years? And why would Luna deny her existence outright, claiming she ruled over everything by herself?

Unless…

Sombra gulped dryly. “Have I been kidnapped by a murderer?”

***

Luna threw the last bit of evidence into the metal bin in the alleyway of the Canterlot business district. After she’d asked seven different members of the castle staff where the garbage bins were located—and after each one insisted they’d dispose of it themselves—she decided someplace far away from the bustling hub to be the best place indeed.

As she dumped out the contents from her bag, she hummed a little tune. Sure, things weren’t going as perfect as could be (her and Sombra’s reunion wasn’t as heated and passionate as she thought it might be), but considering the other alternatives, things could always be worse. For instance, she could’ve pried open his eyes to find the same monster she had to kill some thousand years ago. Or worse, he might’ve tried to repay the favor, striking her down before wreaking havoc on the rest of the populace.

A little bit of forgotten memory was nothing to be worried of. Memories come and go. In time, Sombra’s memories would return. She only had to control which memories she gave to him first.

Luna took a moment to stare at all the broken vials and scattered bits of torched ingredients at the bottom of the bin. It brought back the images of Sombra’s monstrous self. If he changes back, will you kill him again? She nodded in answer to her own question. Truthfully, it was something she could not fully answer until the time came. If it ever did.

“Please stay as you are, Sombra,” she whispered. “Please be my love again, so we may—”

“Princess Luna?”

“—buck,” Luna swore, already knowing who was standing just behind her.

Luna turned to find Twilight Sparkle halfway up the back alley, a shopping bag hooked around a wing. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy stood at the mouth of the alley; Pinkie Pie’s own shopping bag bumping into her side each time she jumped in her spot. Meanwhile, Fluttershy absently kicked at a pebble on the ground.

Luna carefully unfurled her wings to block the garbage bin behind her.

She smiled. Thinly. “Twilight. How wonderful to see you again.”

Twilight tilted her head at the mare. “In a back alley? We came shopping this afternoon and saw you from the street. What are you even doing back here?”

Luna stretched out a leg and yawned. “Stretching my wings, of course.”

Twilight raised a brow. “In front of trash?”

Luna brought her wings back to her sides. “Do you know of a better place to throw out one’s gum?”

Twilight opened her mouth to say more, then held her tongue. Luna took a step towards her and wrapped her in a wing. “Let us move away from this dingy place and I will treat us all to ice cream. Sound like fine merriment to you?”

“Yes!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed from the street. How she heard that last statement is better left unknown.

Twilight walked with her a few steps before turning back. She lifted her head up and sniffed. “It smells like something burning back here. I hope no one threw out something flammable.”

Before she had much chance to react, Twilight trotted to the bin and peered inside. Again she titled her head to the side.

“Nothing’s on fire, thankfully, but it looks like someone tossed away a bunch of ingredients for a spell.” Twilight removed her head from the trash pile and turned to her. “Did you happen to see anyone throw something away while you were here?”

Luna bit her tongue and shook her head.

“Strange,” Twilight said, coming to her again. “Must’ve been some complicated spell—most of those ingredients look as rare as can be.”

Luna wrapped a wing around her and escorted her out the alley. “I am sure it is nothing, Twilight. No one would dare perform any nefarious magic in the heart of Canterlot. If one did, my sister and I would know of it in an instant. That I guarantee.”

Twilight kept her head down in thought. “Well, I’m sure if it’s big enough, we’ll find out about it soon. In my experience, large spells have a tendency to backfire big time. And for the most part, publicly.”

In the warmth of her sister’s sun, Luna found she was cold. For the first time, she hoped with all her heart that Twilight might be wrong about something.

***

After three single-scoop ice creams and a half-gallon of bubble gum ice cream for just Pinkie Pie, Luna returned to her tower room with a lot less enthusiasm than before. Already she could feel the events spiraling out of her control. Even a quick errand as simple as throwing away a bag of supplies had nearly ended everything before they had begun. Add to that the fact that Sombra was already moving around and eager to explore. How much longer could she keep him tucked away before he grew suspicious? Would it be wise to tell him the truth now and face what consequences came?

How does one tell someone they enslaved an entire race and murdered dozens if not hundreds? How does one try to explain that the entire world considers them a beast and a pony better left dead and forgotten? To Luna, the name Nightmare Moon still pained her to hear, but from that pain, she vowed to show others what true redemption could look like. Would Sombra understand better if she explained her own time spent in darkness?

And what would be the opposite of that? Prepare Equestria for King Sombra’s eventual return? Explain to them in full that the murderous tyrant from before was nothing more than a bad dream and now there was nothing left to fear from him?

Perhaps that would’ve been the way to go… if she had a hundred years to convince every pony in the land. But couldn’t she try to convince just one pony that might go on to convince the rest of Equestria?

Luna was deep in thought as she set down her empty saddle bag and undid the locks on Sombra’s door. Tired from activities and lack of sleep, she jolted back when the first thing she saw was Sombra’s smiling face.

“Hello again,” he greeted. “I thought we might talk out here for a change. Sound good?”

Without waiting for a reply, he put a hoof to Luna’s chest and edged himself into the room. Once free of the doorway, he gave the outer room a quick glance before turning back to her.

“We need to talk,” he said calmly, directing her to a chair in the corner.

Luna sat, unnerved, her heart in a flutter. Was it the fact that Sombra wanted to question her that caused her to feel this way? Or was it because it had been so long since he’d touched her in such a strong, forceful manner? As Sombra stood before her, Luna tried to clear her head.

Sombra’s smile dropped. “Who is Princess Celestia?”

Luna blinked a single time and it all fell into place. That damn book.

“She is an alicorn like myself and ruler of the sun,” she told him.

Sombra leaned towards her until his breath was on her face. “And your sister, correct?”

Luna nodded faintly. She’d be caught and she knew it. The idea of pretending to rule alone had been a silly one at best; there had never been a single point in denying such a thing. Although she had a feeling Sombra had no intention of stopping there.

He asked, “Then why didn’t you mention her before? She must live here in the castle, yes?”

She nodded again.

“I would just love to meet her. I’m sure you could arrange something like that.”

“I… could, but I do not think now is the appropriate time, Sombra. There is still much that must be explained. The world has changed a lot since your last life.”

He held a leg out. “Then explain it to me. I’ve got time.”

Luna thought carefully. “Also, Celestia is not in the castle at the present moment. She is actually away on rather important business.”

Sombra chuckled. “Of course she is. Let’s try something else.” He pointed a leg at the door that fed out into the stairwell. “I’m going to go explore your castle, whether you want me to or not. My leg’s been feeling a whole lot better since you left and I doubt my lack of magic has anything to do with my ability to walk.” He flashed her a toothy sneer. “Care to join me, Princess?”

For some time, Luna stared at him. This was a side of Sombra she’d seen sparingly during her stay in his Empire—the face and mild irritation he would direct towards those that deserved it. Citizens of his that hurt or stole from others. Those that made their living off the backs of the weaker and the slow. Ones that outright deserved the King’s wrath.

Now Luna was the one that had to bear it.

She gave him the slightest of nods. “As you wish.”

***

Luna hung her head off the cloud, her eyelids heavy and a steady thrumming in her temples. Hours ago she had done something she wasn’t proud of and didn’t think she’d ever be.

The cool night air felt nice against her skin. Being surrounded by her millions of stars made it all the better, as she twirled a hoof and made them loop across the horizon. The fact that Twilight Sparkle “oohhed” and “awed” each time she did, only added to the peaceful scene.

When Luna had agreed to show Sombra around the castle, she stood up abruptly and looked him square in the eye. “You ready, then?”

One blink from Sombra was all it took to trick him.

One blink and the stallion went from the world of the conscious to the realm of dreams. Neither of them could tell the difference—Sombra especially—but both ponies had arrived in a lifelike dream that had been created only for them.

Was it hard for a being such as her to bring a castle-sized dream to fruition? Not as hard as one would think. What was a chore was the amount of concentration it took to make the castle a living and breathing one, and not just a drafty building made of stone.

They descended the stairs slowly, Sombra taking the lead. Every few steps, he’d look back with a smirk, as if waiting for her to call their small tour off with her latest excuse. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Sombra dropped the smirk and eyed his surroundings wearily.

In the waking world, Luna dragged Sombra back to his room and sealed the door tight. As bad as she felt, she knew it to be necessary. She only hoped her meeting later with Twilight would give her some answers as of how to proceed.

Back in the world of dreams, Luna introduced Sombra to hallways full of guards, spears pointed up and expressions blank. Sombra took his time to admire the craftsmanship on each bit of armor and blade, then thankfully moved on. The creation of the hall and the guards with all of its many pieces was difficult to control. Luna made the smart move by informing Sombra none of the guards were allowed to speak unless spoken to, or unless under duress.

When Sombra politely introduced himself to them, they nodded in unison. To Sombra it must have been enough.

The tour of the dream castle continued by meeting a few members of the staff—servants and a cook, a messenger and a pony that sat behind a desk in the castle’s entryway.

Their tour ended in the throne room. Tall open windows let in a bright blanket of light, warming the large hall. For a time, Sombra studied the painted murals draped along the walls, the epic clashes that Celestia and Luna fought side by side during Equestria’s darker times. One mural in particular Luna chose to erase: the death of King Sombra and the liberation of the Crystal Empire.

“It’s beautiful,” Sombra told her, gazing at every inch of the room. And Luna could tell he meant it.

He traced a hoof along the back of her sister’s throne, the taller of the pair. While it reminded her of his kingly title, it also unnerved her a bit. Was there some hint of longing in his stare?

The last room Luna created was a room that had never existed at all.

She opened the door for him. “And here is the guest’s quarters. If you wish to stay here, you may. You should find it spacious enough, I should think.”

The room she created had been ordinary, but big. A bed. A writing desk. Wide windows with a view. Sombra took a step inside and almost looked bewildered by the gesture. He raised a curious brow. “Really, Luna? No more room next to yours?”

She nodded. “Not unless you still want it.”

Dreams can be fickle things. Their tour started with the sun burning bright in the sky, but ended in darkness and stars, even if it had taken fifteen minutes at most. It had always amazed Luna how much dreamers could lose track of time… or if they could keep track of it at all.

“Well, goodnight, then,” he said, closing the door on her.

She bid him goodnight and shrunk the dream world down to the size of just his bedroom. Inside, Sombra began to pace again, but soon grew too sleepy for the task and retired to his bed. He was out the moment his head hit the pillow.

The next morning, he would wake up again in his tower room, locked out of sight from everyone around. If Luna had no good answers for him then, she doubted he would act as patient as he’d been. With luck, Twilight could offer her some help.

Luna snapped her head up from the cloud.

“I heard Discord’s supposed to be at the party, too,” Twilight told her, eyes wide as she soaked in the sights. “I’m not completely sure who invited him—most likely Fluttershy, just to be nice—but I should let you know ahead of time.”

Luna frowned. “Discord. Goody.”

Twilight tried to add helpfully, “He’s better than he used to be.”

“He used to be trapped in stone. That was when I liked him the best.”

Twilight laughed. Luna hadn’t made the comment in jest.

Luna rubbed at a hoof anxiously. “I might need your advice on something, Twilight. Something rather hard to explain.”

Twilight brightened a bit. “All right. I will if I can.”

Luna found the next words hard to come by. “I may have made a mistake recently. Or have created one by doing something I thought at the time to be right.”

Twilight nodded along. “I think we all do something like that from time to time.”

Luna pursed her lips. Resurrecting a deceased King that could prove to still be a mad tyrant, all in the name of love? Well, maybe Twilight had for all Luna knew. The two of them hadn’t exactly had all the time in the world to trade dirty secrets.

“Remember when Celestia tasked you and your friends with befriending Discord? At the time, you were all apprehensive about such a thing, and from what I recall, only Fluttershy truly believed in his reformation.”

Twilight nodded. “You’re right. Fluttershy was the one that saw Discord reformed, although since then I’ve had a far different outlook on him. I guess at the time—right after we released him from stone—I could only think of him as the Discord that had nearly ruined Ponyville and the relationships with my friends.”

Luna turned to her. “You could only look at him as a villain.”

Reluctantly, Twilight agreed. “In a way, yes. But now I’m happy to call him a friend. He’s still rough around the edges, of course, but if we never tried, then Discord never would’ve found the magic of friendship for himself. I think it’s something that everyone should get a chance of having.”

Luna turned away from her to hide her smile. She was more than happy she’d taken Twilight up on her offer to spend the night together.

“I am happy to hear your thoughts on the subject, Twilight. What I have done is… well, rather complicated, I must say. I have thought about doing it for some time now—years upon years, truthfully—and when the time was just right, I did what I felt I had to do.” She exhaled slowly. “You remember what I told you about my time spent in the Crystal Empire?”

Twilight rolled onto her back to stare above her. “Yes. You met Sombra there, the good one. Is that why you brought him back from the dead?”

She’d said it so casually that Luna thought she must’ve been hearing things.

She felt a bead of sweat drip down her temple. “Come again?”

Twilight held a hoof above her, outlining star patterns. “Is that why you resurrected King Sombra recently? I know that’s what you were trying to hide in that alley today. A little research told me what type of spell those ingredients were for; add to that your frequent visits to the Crystal Empire and what my brother sometimes calls ‘Luna’s four hour marches out into the snow to dig,’ I had a good idea what you might’ve been up to. Although I’ll admit, I’m surprised.”

Luna felt like losing her small dinner over the edge of the cloud, uncaring who it might land on.

“Have you…” Luna began. “Have you told anyone?”

Twilight shook her head. “If you hadn’t seen me tonight, then I might’ve. But I thought speaking with you first would be the best course of action, and I’m glad we had a chance to talk.” She looked at her. “You were going to tell me, right?”

Luna jerked her head up and down. “Yes. Yes, of course. That is all I wanted to do tonight.”

Twilight spun around again to sidle up beside her. “So what was your plan supposed to be? You bring him back and…?”

“We live happily ever after,” Luna answered with a straight face.

“And how do you go about doing that?”

The question made Luna pause. “I have no idea.”

***

Sombra tossed and turned in his thin cot, his covers wrinkled and his face drenched in sweat. He’d gone from one dream to another, or in this case, a dream about a castle full of guards and staff to one about a broken stone building wholly consumed in deep shadows.

Since finding himself there, he’d been running down an endless hallway. The creature chasing him (somehow he knew he was being chased—there was never a second he didn’t know) had remained cloaked in darkness, the only notion they existed at all being the glow from their red and green eyes, a purple vapor trail oozing from the corners.

The creature called to him, again and again. Deep. Gargled. Mad.

“Let me out!” it screamed.

The chase lasted for hours. Eventually Sombra could run no more, crashing against the floor of the never ending hallway and gasping for air. The creature with the haunting eyes went around him, finally giving light to its face.

The creature had been Sombra all along.

It whispered to him, “Wake up and let me out.”