Retirement of a king

by Askre

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Drama, Original Character, King Sombra, Princess Celestia
Length: 46370

King Sombra returns and offers Private and his friends a chance to convince him to retire his ways. Meanwhile, Celestia gets a familiar visitor from an alternate world.

After King Sombra escaped his captivity, he dropped off the radar again and nobody knew where to find him. Meanwhile, his mother has by all appearances started to reform and is allowed limited mobility within Canterlot Castle.

Then suddenly, after many months, the king himself returns and gives Private Iceland and his friends a rather odd offer; convince him to retire from his evil ways. Naturally, everybody is on guard, wondering what Sombra is up to and if he's being genuine about this offer.

Meanwhile, Princess Celestia must also contend with a mysterious accident that has delivered a very familiar pony to her kingdom.

Special disclaimer This story features mild bisexuality topics.

This story is part of The Equestria Tales series

The final story in the "Return of the Dark Ponies" story arc.
Story edited by Hail King Sombra.

Published 2022-02-03 21:20:00 UTC
Last updated 2022-02-13 06:00:03 UTC

Prologue - Queen Rabia

273 days since Queen Rabia’s capture.

“To Her Majesty, Queen Rabia of the Great Dark Pony Empire.

Your majesty, I write you this letter now that I turn eleven years of age. The court intends to hold a nationwide celebration and already the palace is abuzz with preparations. I must confess feeling nervous, and unsure why they wish to celebrate. I am still just a colt, I am an emir in name, but my mother runs the office. I will not take over for seven more years.

How did the Dark Ponies handle such events? Was there ever a time when a regent was required?

On another note, I wish to say how happy I am that your rehabilitation is going well and that you have responded to my letters. It has been over half a year now and your letters and insights have been the highlight of my life.

With regards.

Emir Horsefar.”

288 days since Queen Rabia’s capture.

“To His Eminence, Emir Horsefar of Saddle Arabia.

Dear child, do not be confused by the love and adoration your subjects are showing you. Yes, your mother currently holds the reins due to your young age, but you are the emir and your subjects both know and understand that. I am sure when you do come of age, a much grander celebration will be held. But this clearly shows that they still support your rule.

We have had regencies happen in the empire. Queen Odio the second was merely 14 winters when her mother passed away, so was one of our very few kings, King Oscuro, who only took the throne at five winters. Of course, that happened in the distant past even for me, so I am not too certain of any details of festivities they made during their formative years.

And there is that word again, rehabilitation. Ah well, I suppose if it makes you all feel better to call it that, so be it. I certainly do not have a better word for it, other than exile. I was of course resistant at first to the very idea, but your letters did start to intrigue me eventually.

I will confess though, what with you becoming a little older, as is very clear by your articulate letter, that it was at first under Celestia’s strong urging that I started responding to them. I do apologize for the curtness and short length my first responses were. I also have come to realize I’ve been most unfair to you, your people, and your gender. I was raised in a society that encouraged such views and as I’ve witnessed more of Equestrian society, I have come to realize more and more how wrong those views were.

In many respects these letters have reminded me of my son when we still spoke. To him though I was horrid. I will not burden your young mind with those issues, they are ones I still have to deal with. Rather, you should enjoy still being young and mostly worry-free. Your mother has raised a fine young colt in you. Treasure this loving mare, that is far more than my son or daughter could ever do. I am sure you will reign long as a respected and beloved ruler. Far cry from the old King Mustangfor IV.

With regards.

Queen Rabia.”

303 days since Queen Rabia’s capture.

“To Her Majesty, Queen Rabia of the Great Dark Pony Empire.

Your Majesty, my son told me of your most recent letter and I wanted to convey my thanks for your kind words and encouragement.

I was skeptical at first of his wish to write to you and did not understand why he wanted to do such a thing. Your first reply almost made me want to forbid him from writing any more letters. Yet he insisted and I allowed it. It seems he has proven me thoroughly wrong.

It did truly amaze me that you agreed, in the end, to be rehabilitated. You did not strike me as a mare who would subject herself to something like that. If you pardon my bluntness, you seemed far too proud. But I have been receiving regular reports from the Celestial Sisters and though there were struggles at first, you seem to have come around quite a lot as your latest letter attests.

Tell me, if you do not mind, has there been any news of your son? I understand he is still unaccounted for since he had a hoof in your capture. From what we were told, he was only out of his own imprisonment temporarily.

With regards.

Manemin, Regent to Emir Horsefar of Saddle Arabia.”

318 days since Queen Rabia’s capture.

“To Manemin, Regent to Emir Horsefar of Saddle Arabia.

As one mother to another, I fully understand that you had concerns with your son corresponding to a pony who was once your nation’s greatest enemy. Your fears were quite well-founded. I really resisted these efforts the Celestial Sisters made for weeks. I was rude and condescending in the first few letters to your son, something I now regret.

Yet your son persisted in writing me and the sisters never seemed to give up. If I must confess a small secret, I was approached by a pony who had the records to prove that she was a descendant of the Dark Ponies that had fled to Equestria so long ago. She wanted to meet me and for some reason Celestia allowed it.

I received her while I was still in a prison cell, and she told me what a great honor it was to meet me and how she sincerely celebrated her ancestry and was saddened by the reputation it sometimes still had. It dawned on me that my son and I were truly the last Dark Ponies, the last true representatives of our race. It caused me to reflect on my behavior and how in the end it had cost me both my children and even the empire. I had destroyed everything Odio the First had made because of my selfish behavior. First, I alienated my son to a point he felt compelled to flee the empire and then I had made such a powerful enemy in the sire of my children that he felt compelled to protect our daughter from me, which eventually led to the death of my daughter and the destruction of the empire.

Then, in my madness and grief, when I was brought back to life, I tried to continue a war that had ended a long time ago. If anything, I was living proof that Mustangfor IV was correct in destroying my people.

So I began to come around. My cell is now a private apartment in Canterlot Castle. I am still not allowed to freely move around, but have been granted limited use of magic. I still must attend meetings with Celestia and Luna and even get a ‘friendship’ tutoring from Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship. I must confess I find that title a little absurd.

As for my son, no, there has been no news. I have been unable to give them any insights on what he might do or where he would hide. Sadly I never knew him as he knew me. What I thought I knew has been put into question by myself. All I know is that he’s somewhere out there, no doubt harboring all the resentment and hate towards me that he’s built up.

As a mother, I do miss my children. I was harsh and unforgiving, but I still loved them, even if I never understood that I was just pushing them all away.

I envy you and that loving relationship you have with your son. It is something I will no doubt never experience.

P.S Thank you for convincing Celestia to allow me to attend Ira’s reburial. It was beautiful.

With regards.

Queen Rabia of the Dark Pony Empire.”

Having finished the letter in response to Manemin, Rabia, the former queen put the quill away in a stand. While the ink was still drying, she took the opportunity to glance over it to see if there had been any errors. Once she was sure there were none, the dark pony got an envelope from a drawer of the desk, folded the letter up, put it in and sealed it. Then she grabbed the quill again to write the name of the recipient of the mail.

The queen rose up and placed the envelope on the desk for now. She would ask for it to be delivered later. She walked over to a couch and lay down. From a side table, the mare grabbed a book she had been reading - a history book detailing events she had missed due to having been deceased.

A knock on the door interrupted her reading. Rabia glanced up, then at the nearby clock. With a small sigh, she closed the book and put it back on the table. “Enter.”

The door opened and Twilight Sparkle entered the room. The young princess smiled gently at the former queen, who stared at her with the same stern look Twilight had grown accustomed to over the past few months.

“Time for another instruction on ‘friendship,’ princess?” Rabia remarked, she was growing rather tired of it.

“Well, yes and no, Your Highness, it is our scheduled appointment, but I was thinking of something different today,” Twilight informed her. Ever since Rabia had agreed to the rehabilitation, Princess Celestia had asked ponies to address the queen with the courtesy her old title entailed.

Rabia tilted her head, wondering what Twilight could possibly mean by that. When the princess got seated, it was the first time the queen noticed that the alicorn didn’t have her usual backpack full of materials used to ‘teach’ her.

“Queen Rabia, you resisted this program for a while before coming around. You have come further than most ponies probably expected you to. Most impressive is your regular correspondence with Emir Horsefar. I want to know, what is it that you want?” Twilight asked.

“Interesting question, why bring that up now?” Rabia asked, her brow raising ever so slightly.

“Well, so far you have been doing what we have wanted of you. Then, when a therapist friend of mine asked me what you wanted, I realized I actually couldn’t answer that. We never asked you, so I want to know now, what is it that you want?” the princess clarified to the queen.

Rabia bowed down her head a bit as she thought this question over. She had been absolutely incensed when first approached with this ‘rehabilitation’ program. The queen didn’t think she needed to be rehabilitated at all.

When the days continued to pass and after the visit of the Dark Pony descendant, Rabia’s hidden rage over her situation began dying down. She felt alone and realized she had enjoyed the visit and the brief conversation she had had with that pony. The queen wanted to meet more of them. She was becoming curious about those of her subjects who had escaped the massacre of her race.

Rabia realized then that the princesses were giving her an opening to leave her cell, a slow process up until now, but eventually it would give her more freedom. She thought back to the emir and how she had nearly slaughtered a child, a child ruler younger than even her daughter had been when Ira became queen.

Sure, she had vowed to kill every Saddle Arabian, stallion, mare and foal. But when coming face to face with the emir and briefly seeing the museum in the capital, it dawned on her that she had nearly become just like her most hated enemy, King Mustanfor IV, the last king of Saddle Arabia, who had killed almost every Dark Pony, regardless of age. She hated to admit it, but her own son and the Celestial Sisters had prevented her from making a terrible mistake.

“What I want,” Rabia sighed slightly. “is I want to meet the descendants of my subjects who escaped the destruction of the empire. I want to learn more about them and the life they lead in Equestria… but most of all…”

The Queen fell silent for a moment, her expression hardened a bit. Twilight could see that she was holding back tears, stubbornly refusing to let them come forth.

“I want to see my son again,” she whispered and looked away.

End Prologue

Chapter 1 - The King returns

Foxy Stripes trotted down the stairs with a mighty yawn, the maroon pegasus was the last to awaken this morning. In the kitchen, Dew Doe, Private and her daughter Coal were already up and eating breakfast.

“Moooorning,” Foxy greeted them cheerfully, her white muzzle cracking a grin. The others in the room greeted her back.

Dew Doe glanced at her sister while munching on her daisy sandwich. Private was currently very occupied. The dark gray unicorn was stuffing his face with pancakes. Coal was chomping down on cereal.

“Hiii. How is my niece or nephew doing,” Foxy then promptly addressed Dew Doe’s widening stomach area. This caused Coal to giggle, even Private glanced up before shaking his head and returned to his breakfast.

“Foxy, I know talking to the baby while still in the womb is natural, but come on, that’s my job,” Dew Doe grunted and pushed her grinning sister away.

“Sure, like you didn’t complain about me to Coal while she was still in here.” Foxy stuck her tongue out as she patted her own stomach. This caused her daughter to nearly choke on her breakfast from laughter.

“Shush.” Dew Doe gave her a mock glare, only to receive a wider grin from her sister, who got seated by the kitchen table.

“By the way, the pegasi weather service sent us a summons. Fillydelphia is supposed to supply this year’s water supply for the clouds,” the blue pegasus told her.

“Oooh,” Foxy spread her wings and her grin grew wider. “You think we’ll keep our record?”

“Considering they specifically mentioned you and made a real pleading case that they hoped you would be available to attend, I think they certainly want to try,” Dew chuckled. Neither sister was the speediest flier, but Foxy was pretty strong and if properly motivated could make powerful gusts with her wings.

“I guess you’ll be sitting this one out?” Foxy asked and helped herself to some of the sandwiches on offer while glancing at Dew Doe’s abdomen.

“Oh yes, baby on board does not the best flier make. Besides, you know I get all tangled up in my mane and tail if I try flying in a tornado.” Dew Doe patted her stomach while also referring to her long lush candy cane-colored mane and tail.

“You could cut it shorter,” her sister pointed out. “But good point about the baby.”

“Not happening.” Dew Doe looked aghast at the mere suggestion. Foxy shook her head, chuckling, and started eating her food.

“You could braid them up or tie them in a knot,” Foxy then suggested. “Probably need to do that anyway, when junior pops out.”

“Okay, fine. I’ll join next time Fillydelphia is up,” Dew grumbled, not wanting to admit that her little sister had a good point, rolling her eyes at the victorious smirk coming over Foxy’s face.

Coal giggled at her mother and aunt. This often happened when it was Fillydelphia’s turn to supply Cloudsdale with water. Foxy always seemed to enjoy this challenge. Dew was always more reserved and not one to show off. The black filly also knew that Dew really felt this was Foxy’s time to shine. Her mother seldom got opportunities to show some of her strengths.

“On what plate is he?” Foxy remarked, glancing at Private who was oblivious to the current discussion as he continued eating his pancakes.

“You know I stopped counting a long time ago.” Dew eyed her coltfriend with an amused smile. “It’s not the first though.”

“Of course it isn’t.” Her sister rolled her eyes and her daughter giggled some more. Then Foxy noticed what Dew was actually eating and made a face. “Dew, please don’t tell me that sandwich consists of sour pickles, ketchup and… sweet Celestia, is that licorice?”

“Erm… among other things,” Dew Doe shrugged and continued eating.

“My cravings were not that bad.” Foxy decided to just focus on her own sandwich, which had what she considered far more sensible toppings.

“Nope, they were worse,” her sister teased and just smiled sweetly at the glare she received from the maroon pony.

The four ponies continued to enjoy their breakfast without further words. Foxy mostly wanted to forget what other culinary abominations Dew was eating. Private wisely never commented on them and Coal just found everything too hilarious for words.

They were interrupted when there were three sharp knocks on their front door. Even Private looked up. All of them were a little surprised that someone was knocking at this early hour.

“I’ll get it.” Foxy shrugged and rose up since she was the closest to the kitchen entrance anyway.

Foxy left the kitchen and entered the front hall. She stepped up to the door and opened it. Her eyes widened, her jaw dropped, and the mare screamed. Dew Doe, Private and Coal came rushing out of the kitchen, but all screeched to a halt when seeing who was standing outside.

It was a tall pony - a unicorn that was darker gray than Private, with a red curved horn. His mane and tail were black and flowing with unseen power. Wearing a red cape with white trims, his hooves and chest clad in steel armor and on his head rested a spiky crown. King Sombra smirked down at the shocked and terrified ponies in the house.

“Quite a different reaction than when I was here a few short months ago,” the king remarked with a wry chuckle.

“What are you doing here?” Private finally found the nerve to speak, really wanting to shrink to the ground when the king laid his eyes on him.

“I have decided to offer you all a chance,” King Sombra said as he pushed past a petrified Foxy and walked right in. He didn’t stop in the front hall. The Dark Pony went straight into the living room.

“A chance for what?” Dew Doe looked at Private. Yes, it had been easier almost a year ago to be quite a bit braver around the king. Then he had been depowered and security methods had been in place. Even after he had been granted release from the manacle that constrained his powers, their interaction with him after that had been nearly non-existent, except for Private’s brief visit to Saddle Arabia. But Princess Celestia had also been around to keep the king in check.

This time, however, no such restrictions were in place. The pony who had just invited himself in was full to the brim with his powers and no doubt ready and willing to use them. Sure Celestia had assured them she would be keeping a subtle watch on everything while Sombra was loose, but knowing the king there was a big chance he had managed to slip past the radar.

Yet, nothing came from the living room. Foxy finally recovered from her shock and looked back at the rest. Fear was slowly being replaced with mild confusion and uncertainty. Finally the four ponies, one by one, peeked into the living room, but remained in the front hall. The king was casually glancing around as if this was a completely normal visit.

Private took a deep breath and dared himself to fully enter the room. He stopped though before going too far in. At that moment Sombra turned around to face him, still smirking.

“What chance are you going to give us?” the unicorn asked.

“To convince me,” the king said and sat down. He glanced at the mares and one filly who were still only peeking in. Then he returned his attention to Private. “Convince me that I should stop being your enemy. Do what Discord did.”

“Y-you mean… reform yourself?” Dew asked, confused. Sombra frowned a little at that.

“Hmm, I like the word ‘retired’ better,” the Dark Pony said. “But yes, convince me that I should turn good.”

“Why us?” Foxy just could not understand why this pony would come here for that.

“What? You thought I would go to Twilight and her friends for that? I am still a little bitter about that whole 'blowing me up' incident, though I will grant them that… they had a good reason, I suppose,” King Sombra grunted. He clearly did not want to admit that at all. “And I suppose we worked well enough together when we captured my mother.”

“That does not answer her question.” Private felt a little braver since nothing really was happening. He was still painfully aware that they were utterly powerless to throw Sombra out. Granted they could try and demand it, but he had a strong feeling it would not work.

“Let me put it this way, of all the ponies in Equestria, two of you stand the best chance of convincing me to stop being an enemy. I will accept no others. However, do what you think you must. Alert the princesses of this situation, I do not care. But you are the only ones I’m extending this offer to,” King Sombra responded and smiled.

“He wants to do what!?” Princess Luna all but shouted. Princess Celestia who stood next to her was frowning in concern. Before them in the throne room were Dew Doe and Private Iceland, having just reported who was currently back and in their house in Fillydelphia.

Shortly after King Sombra’s unexpected arrival and very odd offer, the ponies in the house had practically run out and straight to the nearest train station. They were still amazed that Sombra even allowed them to do that. They took no chances - Foxy and Coal went straight to Baltimare where the sisters’ mother, Sky Dive, lived. Dew and Private went to Canterlot.

There the couple had been granted an audience quickly once they had reported their situation. Luna was roused from her sleep so she could listen to the explanation of the two very shaken ponies, who still couldn’t believe they had actually made it this far.

“Hold on a minute,” Princess Celestia said gravely. She summoned two scrolls and a quill, then quickly wrote on both before sending them with magic. “I’ve alerted both Twilight and Cadance of this.”

“What is that fiend planning now?” Luna looked at her sister, her shock changing into a scowl. “After managing to escape after we dealt with his mother, he just suddenly turns on their doorsteps and claims he wants to reform?”

“I wish I knew. We still have his mother in custody and going through her own rehabilitation, so he clearly isn’t fleeing her.” Celestia looked at Private and Dew Doe. “Perhaps we should go and just chase him out of there.”

“I sense a ‘but’ in there.” The Moon Princess narrowed her eyes. Celestia appeared a bit uncertain.

“What if he is being genuine and serious about this offer?” The Sun Princesses couldn’t help but wonder, granted she would never have figured Sombra could even consider doing something like this.

Princess Luna didn’t get a chance to respond, there was a flash of magic and suddenly Twilight Sparkle was in the throne room. In her magic, she held a scroll and the purple alicorn looked about as confused and startled as the rest of them.

“What is this about King Sombra wanting to reform?” Twilight snapped, then looked at Private and Dew Doe and cringed a bit. “I’m sorry, are you all alright? Foxy, Coal, where are they?”

“W-we’re fine. We sent them to mom,” Dew Doe quickly told the Friendship Princess who sighed in relief.

There was another flash of magic as the fourth princess teleported into the throne room. Cadance looked more winded since she had to travel a greater distance than Twilight. Before the angry-looking Love Princess could utter a word, Celestia raised her hoof to stop further commotion.

“Alright, everypony, calm down. Let’s all go sit down so we can discuss this,” she declared sharply. She could already see the mood was rather tense and volatile.

Soon enough, all four princesses, Private and Dew had gathered in a private parlor in the castle. Cadance and Twilight sat next to the unicorn and pegasus, while in front of them were the Celestial Sisters. For a little while, the royal ponies just took a moment to try and calm down the two civilian ones.

“Why now and why them?” Twilight finally asked once the mood had softened a little. Cadance was still scowling a bit, matching Luna’s own expression.

“He said something about only two of us in the house stood any chance of convincing him,” Dew Doe muttered. She was feeling a little better now that there was some distance between them and King Sombra.

“Which two?” Luna eased up on her scowl. She eyed Celestia who had so far offered no further comments.

“Well he no doubt means Private,” Cadance snorted, but then looked at Twilight, unsure. “But who is the second?”

“How about we go and find out,” Celestia finally spoke, glancing at Private and Dew. “Cadance, you and Twilight attend to Dew and Private. Luna and I will go and discuss things with King Sombra.”

“Ugh, I need coffee before I do that,” Luna grumbled and took off to the kitchen.

“Make it a double,” her sister mumbled and trotted off after her, leaving the four remaining ponies alone.

The Celestial Sisters did not waste time with flight to arrive in Fillydelphia. They teleported straight to the front of the house. Both princesses were on guard, with their magic ready as Luna opened the front door. They heard movements in the kitchen.

The alicorns stepped inside the front hall and made their way to the entrance and looked inside. Neither of them could hold back the surprise on their faces when witnessing what was happening. King Sombra was busy washing up dishes, having cleaned up what was left of the breakfast that had been abandoned upon his sudden arrival.

“If I didn’t see it, I wouldn’t believe it,” Luna whispered, never in her life could she picture this pony doing something so mundane.

“Ah, I was expecting you.” Sombra stopped his work and glanced at the two sisters. “No, I’m not quite telling the truth.” He looked around. “I was expecting the other two princesses as well.”

“They are friends with Private and Dew Doe and are doing what friends do,” Celestia said and walked in. “What are you up to now?”

“I do believe I made myself clear to the residents of this house,” the king said and started drying up the dishes and glasses he had just washed.

“Are we to actually believe that you have any intention of reforming?” Luna snorted as she stepped up beside her sister.

“I look at it more as a retirement, but if you must use that terminology, I suppose I can’t stop you,” Sombra sighed, rolling his eyes and finally turned to face them. “But I am serious when I say I’m offering them a chance to convince me that it is something worth doing.”

“We have offered you chances before,” Celestia pointed out.

“Exactly. You have offered.” The Dark Pony frowned and threw the dish towel he had been using to the sink. “And you would probably employ that Friendship Princess of yours to do it, or one of her five friends. Keeping those elements all primed and ready, aiming them at me while doing so. I’m sorry, I’ve been blown up once. I have no intention of being blown up again.”

“So you want ponies who can do absolutely nothing to you, to do it instead?” Celestia didn’t sound too impressed.

“Celestia, if I had wanted to harm those four ponies, I would have done so months ago before any of you could even render any assistance. I wouldn’t have allowed them to go all the way to you to tell you about my offer,” the king growled and narrowed his eyes. “I’m extending this offer to them, and only them.”

“And I suppose you want to keep all your powers intact and unchecked,” Luna said with a heavy frown.

“You did alright with Discord,” Sombra remarked.

“As you said, we had the elements ready and aimed at him,” Celestia pointed out, though she wasn’t sure Sombra was that worried about the elements. They hadn’t turned out to be too useful against him or even his mother. “We will not allow them to accept this without contingencies in place. I’m sorry Sombra, but if you are truly serious about this, you must give us some guarantees. Because this will be your final chance.”

Sombra scowled and sat down, then he lowered his head and raised a hoof to rub his muzzle, clearly thinking this over. The sisters waited and watched, wondering if they had perhaps caught him and already derailed any plans he had.

“Fine then. Do what you must to keep a close watch over this. Consider me on probation,” Sombra offered as he looked up again, easing up his scowl.

“And your powers?” Celestia asked, arching her eyebrow.

“If I use them in a way you find objectionable, feel free to chase me out,” the king told her with a nod.

“You are aware nothing has been agreed to. The final say will be made by the ponies who live here. We will go talk to them, however, they might ask us to remove you instead,” the Solar Princess warned. Sombra just nodded in response.

“Alright, I, uh suppose, he is serious about this. So how would we reform him,” Dew asked, though the idea was still giving her creeps since it meant Sombra would be staying at their house again. All Private could do was shrug. His mind was still reeling.

“Can he even be reformed? He isn’t called the unicorn with a heart as black as night for no reason,” Cadance muttered with a frown. She and Twilight had been spending time now just calming down their two friends. The alicorn looked at her sister-in-law and noticed that Twilight was furrowing her brow in thought.

“Well to be fair, that’s what my friends and I thought about Discord,” Twilight pointed out and looked at the three other ponies. “The only one who even attempted to try it was Fluttershy and… well she did it.”

“How did she do that?” Dew Doe wondered. She was mildly intrigued. Sure, she had read about the reform of Discord in the papers, but never knew any of the details.

“Believe it or not, simply by offering to be his friend. It was a bit of a rocky road until you could say he was fully reformed, but look at Discord now. He even helped with the last changeling invasion. He can be a difficult friend to deal with sometimes, but he’s still a good friend,” the purple alicorn explained.

All eyes turned to Private when he suddenly slapped his own forehead with a hoof and slowly dragged it across his face. The unicorn then sighed in exasperation, clearly something had come to him, but the mares could really only wait until he spoke.

“He even said, do what Discord did,” Private groaned and looked at Dew. “He still looks at me as his friend. That’s why he thinks I can convince him.”

“Some friend he’s been,” Cadance grunted and glanced at Twilight, who nodded in agreement. “But he said two of you.”

“That’s probably Dew Doe, then.” Private looked at the pegasus, who blinked in surprise. “She has a history of helping former criminals go back into society. That was the majority of her work before she opened her own therapy practice a few months ago.”

“So, if he is actually being serious about this, he figures you as his ‘friend’ could convince him to reform and Dew Doe, having a background in assisting former lawbreakers, could help him adjust to modern society?” Twilight counted up then blinked when realizing how much sense that actually made. “He’s willfully putting himself on parole.”

“Probation would probably be a better word for it.” Dew Doe rubbed her forehead tiredly with a hoof, before suddenly groaning in a similar manner as Private did earlier. “Oh, that sneaky son of a…”

“What?” Cadance asked, worried Dew had realized something very bad. The pegasus slowly looked at the Love Princess.

“He knows I like to help and he knows I can barely resist helping ponies. It’s practically been my calling since this appeared,” Dew Doe grunted and pointed at her heart and thunderbolt cutie mark. “His offer can also be viewed as ‘help convince me.’ He didn’t have to say it. The implication was enough.”

“If that’s the case, he’s really done his research…” It was Twilight’s turn to hoof her face. “What am I saying? Of course he did the research. This is King Sombra we’re talking about.”

“So, depending on how things went with Aunt Tia and Luna checking things out, I take it the two of you are going to give it a shot?” Cadance wondered concerned. Then she glanced at Dew Doe. “Even in your condition.”

“Not even out yet and already part of mom’s crazy life,” Dew Doe chuckled weakly and patted her belly, where the unborn foal was developing. Twilight and Cadence smiled before the three mares looked over at Private.

The unicorn sighed deeply, realizing once again it was him who had to make that decision, just like months ago when he agreed to be Sombra’s custodian.

“I’ll only do it if Dew is okay with it,” he mumbled, not really wanting to make that call this time around, especially with Dew expecting their foal.

“Well, with Sombra on the loose, there was always a high chance he would come around to mess up our lives once again. Perhaps if we do succeed in reforming him, he’ll no longer be a plague on our lives,” the pegasus said with a sigh. “A reformed Sombra might just end up agreeing to leave us alone finally.”

“NO!” she then suddenly shouted unprovoked, startling the other three ponies on the couch. “We can’t think like that. If we are doing this, we need to take a page from Fluttershy’s book. Twilight, what exactly did she do by offering to be Discord's friend?”

“Basically she just accepted him as he was, all his quirks, all his crazy powers. I’m reluctant to admit it, but the rest of us were less understanding of that method and did not really trust him to behave… in a small way we were right, but in a very big one Fluttershy was right because in the end Discord valued his new friendship with Fluttershy too much to want to lose it,” Twilight explained to the pegasus.

“And wasn’t that reformation a bit enforced on Discord?” Cadance wondered. Her sister-in-law nodded. “In this case, Sombra is actually volunteering for it, for some reason.”

“Right, I need something to write with,” Dew Doe said, starting a little when Twilight suddenly produced a scroll and a quill. The purple alicorn was grinning.

“Sounds like you want to make a list. You talk, I’ll write,” she offered. The pegasus chuckled and nodded.

“First of all, we need to do what Fluttershy did - just accept Sombra, powers and all. We should treat him like we would treat any other pony living in our house, but we also need to get him to understand how we want to be treated in turn,” Dew Doe started counting up, everything dutifully noted down by Twilight Sparkle.

While they were doing this, Celestia and Luna returned. The Celestial Sisters both arched their brows when seeing Twilight writing and Dew Doe listing up what very much sounded like a reform plan.

“Am I hearing right? You have decided to go ahead with it?” Princess Celestia asked unsure, prompting the others to look at the newly arrived alicorns.

“We’ve decided to at least try, I think,” Private remarked and eyed the blue pegasus next to him. She was nodding with a sheepish smile.

Celestia and Luna gave each other a look before returning to their previous seats, looking now seriously at the four other ponies.

“Very well. Sombra made it clear that his offer is genuine. He’s agreed that we can monitor things and even be ready to intervene if we find anything objectionable,” the Sun Princess explained. “But I want reports, regular reports. Weekly, by you two, Private Iceland and Dew Doe, and only you two. If either of you can’t make it, Luna and I will assume something has happened.”

End chapter 1

Chapter 2 - Settling things

It was with trepidation that Private Iceland and Dew Doe returned home to the suburbs of Fillydelphia. Twilight and Cadance had offered to come with them, but the couple decided they might as well attempt trying this alone.

There was no sound when they entered the house. Glancing at each other for a moment, the two ponies carefully approached the living room and looked in. King Sombra lay on the couch close to the entrance. He had dropped his cape, armor and crown. He was now wearing what looked like a black silk robe with white trims. The Dark Pony was browsing a book.

“I take it since you are not accompanied by the Princesses, their champions, or heavy guards, that you have made a decision,” Sombra addressed them without looking up.

“We have,” Dew Doe responded and walked fully in, followed closely by Private.

Sombra closed the book and put it on a side table, then he turned his head towards them, regarding the couple neutrally. Dew Doe took a deep breath, she would be speaking since Private was not much of a speaker.

“We have decided to accept your offer, however, there will be a few conditions,” she started. The former king just nodded for her to proceed.

“The princesses will be monitoring. Private and I are to report to them weekly on the progress we are making. If either one of us can’t make it to their meeting, they will assume something has happened and will come and deal with it. The ground rules we established when you were staying here last time still apply,” the pegasus counted up.

“Ah yes, I believe they were that I help around the house, our rooms are our private space and, ah right, no inappropriate behavior that makes you uncomfortable,” Sombra responded, then he nodded to the entrance. “You will find I have already cleaned up your morning meal that you left unattended. I put a preservation spell on the leftovers - have no fear, standard harmless spell most unicorns know.”

I don’t, Private thought and expected a mocking remark. The king could, after all, use his powers to access his mind easily.

There was nothing.

“Oh, uh, thank you.” Dew blinked, a little in surprise. She glanced around for a moment, but the living room still looked the same, before turning back to Sombra. “So, I take it you want the same room again?”

“Well, if it’s not occupied already.” Sombra shrugged, then became thoughtful. “Can I make slight alterations?”

“Define slight alterations. This is a rented house,” Dew Doe cringed a little.

“Oh, nothing big. Just make a bed I’m more accustomed to, make the room feel more like my room, as you said last time, decorate it after my tastes,” the king said and patted his horn. “After all, I can do that now.”

“Ah right, just make sure it can be removed without damaging anything. We do have to make sure the house is still in the same condition and when we moved in,” the pegasus told him.

“Have no fear, it will all be perfectly removable.” Sombra nodded.

“Right… so uh, how are you feeling about this so far?” Dew Doe wondered, still raking her brain over how they would go about convincing Sombra to reform.

“Too early to tell. After all, our agreement is just a few minutes old. Don’t worry, I’ll give you ample time to convince me,” the king chuckled. “You still have work to do, I believe. Probably need to notify your families. I have a feeling Foxy Stripes and her daughter are not returning here.”

“Well, Foxy might, but no, Coal will not.” Dew Doe nodded and realized the Dark Pony actually had a point. They had to explain to their family and other friends about the situation.

They started to walk out.

Private hesitated before following. He took another glance at Sombra, who was already turning away, grabbing up the book he had been going through.

What are you really up to? He thought, thinking perhaps Sombra would respond to that.

“I have not linked myself to your mind, Private,” the king said without looking back. “Unless you want me to.”

“No thanks,” Private quickly muttered and hurried now after Dew Doe.

Sombra chuckled silently and went back to the book. After reading for a few minutes, the Dark Pony narrowed his eyes and glared towards the ceiling. Staring at him were a pair of mismatched eyes.

“Sooo, is it too early to invite you to the ‘reformed villains club’, Somby?” a voice addressed him, a toothy grin appeared under the eyes.

“I assume you are part of the security measures the princesses have put in place?” Sombra sighed in exasperation and closed the book.

Out of the ceiling poked the mixed-up head of the Spirit of Chaos. Discord then produced both his arms to shrug casually. “They asked nicely.”

Discord pulled himself out fully and landed on the floor, placing paw and claw on his sides as he regarded the king, still grinning. “I also just had to see it myself. King No-Sense-of-Humor, subjecting himself to this. It’s just hilarious.”

“I have my reasons,” Sombra growled and gave the spirit a glare. “If you were hoping I would reveal those reasons, keep waiting.”

“Oh no, of course not. It would be too much to ask that you would tell anything.” Discord rolled his eyes and floated up to sit in the air. He kept watching the irritated Dark Pony. “You want to know why I accepted my chance?”

“You value your friendship with that timid pegasus too much to risk losing it, everypony in Equestria knows that,” Sombra snorted and returned to his book. His eyes narrowed to a slit when Discord’s face appeared in front of him on the page, looking surprisingly solemn.

“Oh no, that’s not all of it, King Sombra,” the spirit said and did smile slightly. “Sure, I do value it greatly. Fluttershy has shown me so much and how much fun I can have without causing misery to others, even if I sow a little chaos here and there. Moderation, that’s the key.”

Discord’s face disappeared out of the book and the spirit appeared in a miniature version of himself on the armrest of the couch. He leaned now on the book with his lion paw, a very uncharacteristic scowl on his face.

“I think you know it yourself. Deep down, for all the powers you have, for all the attempts you have made to cause trouble, it never changed one thing did it?” the spirit said before disappearing and reappearing on the living room floor in his full size.

“I’m not going to interfere too much, that’s not how I work. My job will be to remove the ponies here out of harm’s way if you turn out not to be sincere. They are friends of Twilight Sparkle who is my friend and she and Fluttershy asked for my assistance. I will do that much for them,” the spirit warned. He didn’t bother trying to sound intimidating, knowing it wouldn’t impress the Dark Pony on the couch too much. Still, he did maintain the frown. “Just keep that in mind, when you figure out why it is I decided to fully accept my chance.”

With that, the Chaos Spirit disappeared in a flash. Sombra just snorted and shook his head, returning to the book while muttering about childish spirits.

“It’s a pegasus, I’m sure of it. It’s already doing somersaults in there,” Dew complained as she returned to Private’s study where she had been talking with him before having to excuse herself.

Private just nodded. He was not going to question anything. He was just happy overall that he was going to be a father. Dew Doe sat down next to him and picked up the list they had been going over. They were still trying to figure out the current unplanned event happening in their house.

“I still don’t understand why now? I mean, sure I guess we already showed him a little bit of a normal life when he was here last time, but that can’t be it,” she said as she scanned the paper.

The unicorn just shrugged. He had a long time ago stopped trying to figure out Sombra. He didn’t want to admit it, but a small part of him was actually glad to have this chance. Maybe this was an opportunity to coax Prince Sombra out. More pragmatic parts of him were grumbling that yet again the king was interfering with his life, probably just to enjoy messing it up.

“Well, he seems the most open to you, so you probably should uh…this is going to sound strange…do most of the talking with him, figure it out,” Dew looked at Private with an innocent smile.

“Sure, I get the easy jobs as usual,” Private grunted, already picturing how well that would go.

“I will be around, I might even throw in a question or two at some point,” the pegasus smiled sweetly. Then she returned to their list. “For my part, I think I’ll be trying to figure him out on a more psychological level. I already have a few ideas and saw quite a bit when his mother was around, but I think once we crack him, we could really do some proper progress.”

“Careful. He is smart and quick to realize what is going on,” Private warned her.

“Yes, yes, so how are you going to sell this to your family?” Dew wondered, looking up.

“Mom and Dad might just ask me to be careful. Barricade is going to go nuts,” the unicorn grunted, already picturing his brother’s angry reaction in his head.

“Yeah, I expect mom to visit soon… if she isn’t already on her way,” the pegasus nodded, wondering how she would convince her mother.

The two ponies were so deep in thought regarding their respective families that they jumped when there was a knock on the study door. It opened, revealing Sombra standing there.

“Um, can we help you?” Dew asked, wondering why she was surprised it was him since they had left him downstairs in the living room. For some reason, the pegasus had almost thought her mother had already arrived.

“Well, a thought occurred to me. You said this house was rented, I have done some more research myself and I understand that means you pay for living here?” the king wondered, causing Dew to momentarily glance at Private before returning her attention back to Sombra.

“Why, yes we do. It’s through a friend of my mom’s. She owns the house, but we pay rent to live here and keep up the house,” Dew Doe explained to him.

“Then I assume correctly that with me living here, I should probably pay rent as well?” Sombra frowned slightly in thought.

“Erm… can you pay?” Private asked. He could not believe the Dark Pony would have a paying job at the moment.

“I have a substantial bank account,” the king told him, raising a hoof in assurance. “All legally obtained.”

“How?” Dew asked suspiciously. Much like the unicorn, she just couldn’t believe Sombra had somehow legally acquired money.

“You never wondered where I have been hiding all this time?” Sombra chuckled a little when all the ponies could do was shrug uncertainly. “Las Pegasus. I made some hefty profit at the various establishments they have on offer for games of chances the first time I was in hiding, then added to that in these past few months.”

“You have been in Las Pegasus this whole time?” Dew’s jaw dropped. Private’s own mouth opened when Sombra nodded to confirm that.

“Just let me know what my part of the rent is and I’ll make sure to pay it on time,” the king told them as he turned to leave, closing the door to the study as he did.

“This whole time, he was in Las Pegasus,” Dew muttered, hanging her head as she shook it tiredly, recalling how long the king had been hiding the first time and now it had also been months without any sign of him the second.

Princess Celestia entered the western wing of Canterlot Castle and approached a door that led to one of the many guest rooms placed in it. The princess raised a hoof and knocked, opening the door with her magic when a voice invited her in.

“Princess Celestia,” Queen Rabia addressed her, laying down on the couch. A teacup floated in front of her in a red magic aura. “I do not believe we have anything scheduled today.”

“No, this has nothing to do with your rehabilitation program,” Celestia told her and entered the room. The queen frowned slightly as she noticed how serious the princess looked, but remained quiet.

“Your son has resurfaced,” the princess told Rabia. Celestia had figured it was best not to wait without telling Rabia about this. It would reach her ears one way or another anyway.

Rabia almost lost the magic grip she had on the teacup. Shaking it slightly, she placed it back on the side table. The queen stared at it for a moment before looking hesitantly back at Celestia.

“W-where is he?” Rabia whispered, the dark unicorn was mildly worried they thought she had something to do with whatever Sombra was doing.

“He has approached the pony he’s hounded in the past and offered him a chance to convince him to reform, or retire, as Sombra put it,” Celestia told Rabia. “He’s staying with Private Iceland and his marefriend down in Fillydelphia.”

“What?” Rabia frowned and sat up on the couch, raking her brain over what her son could possibly be up to with this.

“We are keeping a watch on the situation to see how it develops. But as his mother, I was wondering if you might have any idea if he is being sincere or not?” the princess asked, though she didn’t expect Rabia to be able to tell her anything. Rabia had known Prince Sombra, not King Sombra.

“I couldn’t even begin to tell you anything. The son I thought I knew is not the same as my son is now.” Rabia shook her head and dropped down from the couch. She walked over to a window and gazed out of it for a moment before sighing deeply. Then she looked solemnly at Celestia.

“In so many ways he is just like me, but whether that is a good thing or not remains to be seen. But in other ways, he was so much like his father…” Rabia halted and looked down. “Whether he still retains the qualities of his father is another matter.”

“I know Captain Vago is a sensitive subject for you, but what was he like? I only met him very briefly,” Celestia asked and was not surprised that Raba scowled a little and grit her teeth when the captain’s name was said.

“Soft-hearted fool like all sta…” Rabia caught herself and turned away. “If I must be generous, he was kind and loyal to those he considered his friends and very much adored our children, even if he couldn’t call himself their father.”

Princess Celestia held back any remarks about the slip-up. Rabia was after all still a work in process right now. Usually, if Vago was brought up, the queen would clam up and just mutter very unkind remarks about him. These were probably the most generous words she had ever used about him.

“Did Sombra say anything about me?” Rabia asked and slowly eyed the princess.

“I’m afraid not, you were never brought up. Whether he knows you are going through a similar program he’s voluntarily entered, I don’t know, though he might know soon enough,” Celestia told her. The queen just nodded and sat down, still facing the window.

Celestia figured this was probably enough. Rabia had at least given her some minor insight regarding her son, although whether they applied now remained to be seen. The Solar Princess turned around after bidding the queen goodbye and started to head out.

“I loved him, you know,” she heard Rabia say quietly.

“Excuse me?” Celestia glanced back at the queen.

“Captain Vago. After Sombra left us, I… wanted to do something very few queens of the empire had ever done - marry the father of their children. But before I could propose it, he killed me,” Rabia stared out the window with a stern gaze. “I just failed to see how much he hated me.”

“Rabia, it’s still on offer for you to see a therapist. It might do you good to get some of those things off your chest with a professional,” the princess told her. They had already figured out that Rabia had had some issues that needed resolving that might help with the rehabilitation.

Rabia looked at her sharply and almost shook her head no. So far the queen had absolutely refused these offers, especially so after it was explained to her what this kind of therapy was.

“I’ll consider it,” she said this time instead and returned her attention back to the outside. Celestia nodded and walked out of the room, leaving the queen be for now.

End chapter 2

Chapter 3 - Family meeting

“You are both crazy,” Barricade growled at the two ponies sitting across him. He was sitting at the dining table in his parent’s house in Trottingham.

He had been summoned there for a family meeting. Also there were of course his parents, Mirage Rock and Hard Shovel and his twin brother, Private. Sky Dive, the mother of Foxy and Dew Doe was there as well. The pegasi sisters were seated by the table too. It was towards Dew and Private, Barricade made his remark.

“Barricade, let them talk,” Mirage gently chided her brazen son, though a worried frown was on the old blue-gray mare. “Though I must confess that I am concerned about this as well.”

“I must concur with Mirage, I don’t see how this can end well,” Sky Dive spoke up. She looked about as happy as Barricade. The sky-blue pegasus gave her pregnant daughter a very hard stare.

“Look, we are not expecting miracles,” Dew Doe sighed, though she was partially agreeing with Barricade. “But, Sombra has been an absolute plague on our lives since he possessed Private. This might finally be a real chance to have that stop. Locking him up in Tartarus didn’t work. He managed to snake his way out of that sentence the moment nopony was keeping an eye on him.”

“Then why not just drag his sorry ass to the Crystal Empire and let the Crystal Heart blow him up again? There - problem solved,” Barricade snarled, hammering a hoof on the table. This time his father put a hoof on him and gave his son a stern glance to calm down.

“No thanks, I don’t want to be possessed again,” Private spoke, up causing everyone but Dew and Foxy to look at him in surprise. The unicorn for once sported his more common neutral, half bored expression. He had barely shown it since Sombra had arrived at his house.

“Sombra’s spell that made me a recipient to his spirit for possession is still in here,” he clarified, pointing at his head. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have scanned my head thoroughly and declared that the spell is just too complicated to remove safely. If Sombra dies, he is going right back in here again.”

“There is only one pony who can remove the spell. Sombra. And you think he’s going to remove it at this point in time?” Dew pointed out, having known this information herself.

“Want some salt with that hoof you just ate, Barricade?” Foxy asked with a grin when seeing Barricade’s cringe at this new information.

“Alright, alright, blowing him up isn’t an option,” Barricade grunted.

“Look, we are not here to discuss options for what to do with him. Private and I have already made the commitment. We are going to try, and right now I would rather not find out what Sombra does to ponies who break their agreement with him. We are just here to basically tell you what is happening, not seek advice on what to do,” Dew finally said with a heavy sigh.

Barricade grumbled, but said nothing more. Sky Dive looked at Private’s parents, who still looked concerned. She had though noticed neither of them had voiced anything in protest unlike her and their more brazen son, and the mare wondered why.

“Mirage, Hard. Don’t tell me you are already getting on board with this?” she finally asked, when still nothing came from them.

“Oh, we don’t like the idea at all,” Hard Shovel looked at Sky. The tangelos stallion became more solemn. Mirage put a hoof gently on him.

“Several years ago we would have definitely been against it.” His wife nodded. Barricade looked at his parents with a scowl. He couldn’t believe the only one to agree with him was Sky Dive.

“Now it’s more complicated because…” For once Hard Shovel found it difficult to talk and became a bit embarrassed. “During our own capture by King Sombra, we were forced to learn things about Private that he wasn’t ready for us to learn about. After we were freed, we have had further talks about it with him and well…it’s really not ours to say.”

Private somehow managed to refrain from cringing when all eyes went to him. Dew scooted closer to put a wing around him. Granted under normal circumstances he may not have had any problem confessing this to the ponies sitting down at the table. Barricade, for all his faults, was not exactly known for loose lips and Sky Dive herself was notorious for protecting the private lives of her daughters. Foxy and Dew and his parents were already aware of most of it by now.

“You know the Time Pony, Doctor Whooves? Many years ago, before I was possessed, he took me and Dew on a trip to the past that landed us in the Dark Pony Empire many years before it was destroyed,” Private started, though knowing Whooves was no secret. everybody at the table knew who he was.

“Dew and I met Queen Rabia and she invited us to be guests at our court. There we…I mean I, met Prince Sombra, long before he became King Sombra. I’m bisexual, Sky Dive, and as much as I love your daughter, I am also attracted to stallions, especially a specific type of one,” he continued.

“I’m following so far,” Sky Dive remarked, not too bothered to learn of Private’s orientation. If anything she wanted to pump a foreleg and say she knew it, having long suspected, but now was not the time.

Private didn’t quite continue to talk, instead looked over to where had put a saddlebag on an empty chair. He drew out a small box and opened it, from it he produced a silver necklace with a flat medallion on it, engraved with an image of a unicorn with a curved horn.

“This is not something you find at any jewelry store nowadays. This is a token of affection Dark Ponies gave to those they deeply cared about, be it a stallion or a mare,” Hard Shovel decided to point out. He and his wife were the Dark Pony experts after all.

“We’ve found copper versions, plain old iron and stone versions in digs. Silver means it’s from someone rich or royalty,” Mirage chimed in as well.

“Prince Sombra gave this to me after our visit was over,” Private continued after his parents were done explaining the necklace, causing both Barricade and Sky Dive to look at him stunned. The unicorn sighed. Now came the difficult part. “I was in love with him as much as I’m in love with Dew Doe now. And…I now know the feeling was mostly mutual on his part.”

“What!?” Barricade exclaimed.

“Alright, maybe love isn’t exactly the right word to use from his perspective. Dark Ponies had… uh, what was it called, dad?” Private halted as he realized he wasn’t quite sure how to explain it and looked at Hard Shovel.

“Well in modern terms, the best way to call 'it is friends with benefits'. Dark Ponies, like most creatures back then, had no modern concept of sexual orientation. A Dark Pony was likely to have intimate relationships with either gender throughout their lives, especially with close, trusted friends. You must understand that marriage back then was most of the time for convenience, not love. Plus, they were strictly segregated based on gender. A Dark Pony’s first intimate encounter was more likely to be had with someone of their own gender. Marriages to the opposite gender were for either alliance and/or procreation. Sombra is just as much a product of his time as his mother is,” the old stallion explained.

“Well, that ‘friend’ abducted Private when he was a colt, somehow, possessed him, abducted him, then forced him to be his parole officer. Exactly where is Private benefitting from this ‘friendship’ of his?” Barricade snorted.

“That was King Sombra, not Prince Sombra,” Dew Doe pointed out, receiving a glare from the unicorn.

“And the difference is? Titles aside,” Barricade growled, Sky Dive nodded in agreement.

“Prince Sombra was a kind pony, who raised and taught his sister from infancy, preparing her for the role as a future queen. Treated his servants well and always ensured they would have good futures once they quit his service. He was polite, well-mannered, dutiful and loyal, yet burdened heavily with the strict gender roles of his society and chafing under the iron grip of his mother,” the pegasus explained without missing a beat.

“King Sombra is the result of his race being brutally destroyed, his beloved sister violently butchered, years of mental and physical abuse at the hooves of his mother finally coming crumbling down on top of him. Having absolutely no one around to help to sort out these kinds of issues, which he had plenty of, ended up in him finally lashing out in the worst possible way. I’m not defending what King Sombra did, but knowing what I know now, I can kind of see how all of this would make someone like him finally snap. Considering all the powers he already had, the world got to feel it.”

Private glanced at Dew Doe, mildly amazed. He had no idea Dew had this view of Sombra. Then he realized that his marefriend was already working on creating a psychological profile for Sombra and this is what she had concluded so far.

“Now, please, nopony is expecting anypony to just kiss and make up, forgive and forget. Private and I are doing this because hopefully if we can do this, he will finally leave us alone,” Dew Doe finally stated with a sharp voice, then she immediately got a bit more embarrassed. “But…”

“I knew there was going to be a but.” Foxy shook her head ruefully. She was elbowed by her sister.

“None of us can see the future. Right now it’s easy to have this initial goal of reforming him so we can finally be rid of him. I won’t, however, completely dismiss the idea that things could change along the way. Everything is still on square one, feelings are still tense, we have no idea if anything we say or do will even work,” Dew Doe started to say.

“I already don’t like where this is going,” Barricade muttered and was shushed by his mother.

“I’m just saying we should brace ourselves to the idea that Sombra might stick around, even after he’s reformed. In what manner I cannot say, but keep in mind, we have precedence in the form of Discord,” the pegasus finished.

Things went silent at the table as various ponies pondered what had been said. Barricade rubbed his forehead tiredly, while Sky Dive had become contemplative. Hard Shovel and Mirage Rock, although looking concerned, seemed to almost be accepting of this.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a foal dancing on my bladder.” Dew Doe quickly dropped from her chair and hurried to the bathroom.

“If it makes you feel any better, Barriacde, I won’t let Coal stay there while Sombra is with us. Mom has already agreed to house her, though I'm going to be there to keep an eye on those two,” Foxy finally spoke up.

“Yeah, but my nephew/niece will be there,” Barricade grunted, referring to the unborn foal.

“We will be careful,” Private told him, but gave him an appreciative nod for the concern he was showing.

“I’m almost tempted to be there myself…however, I’m going to trust you all on this. But he better not try anything,” Sky Dive finally relented, she still looked heavy in thought.

“I think we will all be watching this closely, Sky,” Mirage told the pegasus mare with a smile, who just nodded sharply.

A momentary silence fell over the table. The ponies could now hear the rustling of papers coming from beyond the doorway that led straight to the apartment living room. All of them glanced over. Mirage and Hard still had worried frowns, Barricade glared, Private still sported his neutral bored expression and Foxy tilted her head. Sky Dive still seemed to be considering something, rubbing her muzzle thoughtfully.

Everyone finally rose up and headed into the living room. Sitting in there on a couch was King Sombra. The Dark Pony was going through papers, several stacks of them were on the coffee table along with several books.

“I must compliment you, Mister Hard Shovel and Mrs. Mirage Rock,” Sombra said without looking up from the papers. “Your research on the Dark Pony race is very accurate.”

“Thank you,” Mirage responded warily. Although gratifying to hear that from an actual Dark Pony, it was still a bit strange it was from this one.

“Tell me again why you brought him with you?” Barricade eyed his brother, refusing to even look at the king.

Private resisted a temptation to sigh. He couldn’t blame his brother for being resentful. Barricade had suffered just as much as him at the hooves of Sombra.

Initially they weren’t going to bring him along, after all, they were really just going to notify their family what was going on. Then Dew Doe realized it was probably more proper that Sombra be present, or at the very least nearby while they basically talked about him. If he was truly serious about retiring, as he put it, it didn’t seem right to just go somewhere private to do that. They did, after all, have to convince him that it was worth it.

“How did you feel about it - that we were having meetings to talk about you, back in the day?” Private whispered finally.

Barricade scowled harder, yet couldn’t really respond to that. Back when he was still the pariah of the family, he had been well aware that his family was often meeting up to discuss him and his behavior. He never admitted out loud that it did bother him. He had pretended not to care, but it wasn’t how he really felt.

“I do have to make one minor correction,” Sombra spoke, turning the attention of the brothers back to him.

“What correction?” Hard Shovel raised his brow, hiding it well that he was actually mildly intrigued, having always been prepared that some of the research he and his wife did had some errors in them.

“Grand Duchess Espantosa was not my mother’s great-grandaunt. She was the daughter of Grand Duchess Mieto, who was Queen Rabia’s great-grandaunt, making Espantosa my mother’s first cousin, twice removed.” The Dark Pony looked up at the two elderly archeologists.

Private was a little surprised that there was no mock or condensation in the king’s voice. While Sombra waited for the family to finish the meeting, he had been allowed to access the research Mirage and Hard had done on Dark Ponies. Private had almost dreaded it that the former tyrant would be picking apart every little detail and even mocking his parents for even the slightest error.

“Of course Grand Duchess Mieto is also my mother’s cousin further down the line…” Sombra frowned as he glanced back down at the papers. “I can see how trying to piece together my family tree might be a tad confusing.”

“What, you’re telling me your family is all inbr…” Barricade didn’t get further with his mocking statement. Foxy almost immediately put her hoof over his mouth.

“Don’t. Go. There,” the mare whispered sharply between her teeth. Barricade gave her a glare, but then noticed both his parents and Private were glaring at him. Sky Dive was shaking her head, the only one smirking was Sombra.

“Please, let him speak his mind,” the king chuckled. Then the large unicorn sighed and rolled his eyes. “He’s not exactly wrong anyway.”

“We’ll leave family tree discussions be for now,” Sky Dive stated. She eyed Foxy for a moment before looking at Sombra again. “We have finished our talk. We will be watching this play out, closely.”

“Okay, enough with the ‘we will be watching’ spiel, even I’m getting tired of hearing it,” Dew Doe declared as she entered the living room, having finished her business in the bathroom. “Foxy, Private, Sombra, it’s probably time we head back home.”

Sombra watched as the pegasi sisters and Private started to say goodbye to their reluctant family members. His eyes drifted to Dew Doe. He was hiding his surprise that the mare had actually said that to her mother. The king was so used to hearing all kinds of things like what Sky Dive had said, plus other empty threats, that it was really just white noise to him.

Then he noticed Private was talking with his parents, who both kept glancing at the king, unsure. Finally Mirage and Hard turned to face him.

“If you have any other corrections you would like to make, Private has copies of our research. You can go over them and send them to us,” Hard Shovel said, with some hesitation.

Well, I suppose that will give me something to do. Although I already noticed they do not know that much about the Dark Pony connection. That's actually beneficial... Sombra halted his thought and frowned. Why were they suddenly offering him this? “I’ll consider it.”

Finally the pegasi sisters, Private and Sombra were on the streets of Trottingham, heading to the train station to catch the train to Fillydelphia. Foxy and Dew walked in the front with Private behind them. Sombra came last.

The king frowned. The three ponies in front of him were almost suspiciously relaxed. Just two days ago, Private and Dew had been nervously approaching him to agree to his deal with them. He could still vividly remember them tearing out of the house with Coal when he had first arrived.

“Private, what is…never mind. It will take forever to get you to talk without me violating my agreement with Celestia,” Sombra grunted and increased his pace so he now walked beside the pegasi. He didn’t notice Private rolling his eyes at the remark.

“Alright, what is going here,” he addressed Dew Doe and Foxy Stripes.

“What do you mean?” Dew looked up at him. Her sister glanced skeptically at the king.

“You three are acting like it’s just another day for you,” Sombra glared back at Private, who made no comment.

“Shouldn’t it be?” Dew asked, causing the king to snap his head back towards her.

“What, trying to convince an enemy of Equestria to retire is just another everyday thing for you three?” the king asked mockingly. Dew sighed and the ponies halted their walk as she turned to face the king.

“You asked us to convince you to reform… I mean retiring was worth it. I for one am not going to be walking on eggshells around you while we do that. I mean, what’s the point? It’s not like we could stop you if you wanted to do something horrible to us,” the pegasus told him.

“That is true,” Sombra concurred and glanced at Private and Foxy.

“You are just accustomed to everyone being on edge around you, wondering and dreading what you will do next. Don’t let the bored look fool you. Private is currently internally screaming,” Foxy grinned and pointed at Private. Sombra blinked and looked at the smaller unicorn whose expression hadn’t changed at all.

“Have you uh…accessed Private’s mind at all?” Dew asked. Now was the first time Private cringed ever so slightly.

“I have not.” the king frowned and wondered if he should do that. He had been keeping his powers in check. Not just because of previous agreements made. He wanted to see how things played out simply with him being present.

“Yeah, you actually have to be in Private’s head to know what he’s thinking and feeling,” Dew chuckled and gave Private an earnest smile. “I can just look at him.”

“If you think that’s amazing, Barricade can translate some of his grunts that even Dew has found tricker to understand,” Foxy chimed in. Dew shrugged and now Private smiled a little.

Sombra was stumped. This was not playing out as he had expected at all. At first it had, but now, after the family meeting, the ponies were acting normal and even talking to him normally.

“Oh, I think I get it now,” Sombra growled and started to stomp off ahead of them. “Guess it’s your first sad attempt at convincing me.”

The three ponies stared after him. Foxy looked confused and Private had resumed his neutral expression. Dew shook her head with a solemn smile before looking at them.

“Baby steps,” she reminded Foxy and Private, who both nodded in agreement.

End chapter 3

Chapter 5 - More questions than answers

Prince Sombra stared down at the book. Slowly he flipped a page. On the table in front of him were also scrolls and illustrations depicting various events in history. Close by were Princess Celestia and Twilight. Doctor Whooves sat at a more respectful distance.

Starlight had agreed to watch over the boys as things were finally explained to the Dark Pony. It had taken some time though to get Piat to accept to stay put. He hadn't seemed very happy to leave the prince, even if it was for a short while.

“I… change into that?” the prince glanced at an image that showed King Sombra battling Princess Celestia and Luna, shortly before he was banished and the Crystal Empire disappeared.

“Our Sombra did, yes. He’s returned a few times after that…right now though he is in a program that will eventually reform him,” Princess Celestia told him. She decided not to confuse the issue even more with that it was strictly speaking an attempt to convince the king to retire.

The prince looked horrified as he gazed at her for a moment. Slowly he turned to where Whooves sat. The Time Pony still looked very apologetic.

“And you said I would turn out like that?” the prince whispered. Whooves sighed and nodded. The Dark Pony started to tremble. “Why would I do that…I would never…I mean I was just looking for the boys’ home, their parents…”

“Your world and this world are…well were…similar, but still different. You would, yes turn into a similar King Sombra, but…” Whooves bit his lips as he tried to think up the right words. “Your heart was never quite in it?”

“I still don’t understand,” the prince muttered. “How did I send the boys back in time, if they weren’t even born when I did it?”

“Our Sombra did something similar. He was pulling back ponies in time to infuse them with spells so they could serve as hosts for his spirit in case he was defeated. At one point he pulled back a young colt named Private Iceland. You, however, seemed to have pulled back his brother Barricade as well,” Princess Celestia explained, but kept her tone gentle. She could see the prince was having a very hard time accepting this.

“So, it was my fault,” the prince hung his head and sighed sadly. “I ruined their and their parents’ lives.”

“No. You see, as I told you earlier. You succeeded in sending them back to their parents, without them realizing they were ever gone,” Doctor Whooves pointed out. Then he looked down at the map table. “But something happened, something that was not your fault. This map is the key to finding out what happened.”

“You appeared from the map. What could have caused that?” Twilight agreed as she thought back to the incident.

The prince made no reply. He just rose up and walked away until he sat down in front of a wall with his back turned to them. Celestia saw he was still trembling; the princess rose up and walked over to him.

“I can’t believe I turn into a monster like the Saddle Arabians always painted us as,” the Dark Pony whispered when he became aware that the princess had sat down next to him. Tears were forming in his eyes.

“You haven’t turned into that monster, and maybe you never will,” the princess told him reassuringly. The prince looked at her sorrowfully.

“You heard the Time Pony, they can see the future. He said it himself that I would,” he protested and hung his head again.

“He also said that you succeeded in bringing the boys back home, but something prevented that. You are still Prince Sombra right now,” Celestia pointed out.

“Wait, she was the cause of that time havoc we detected a few years back?” Doctor Whooves was heard shouting. Celestia looked back and saw that the Time Pony and Twilight were still examining the map table. Apparently, the Friendship Princess had just finished explaining to him what Starlight had done here before she had become Twilight’s student.

The Sun Princess ignored it for now, focusing instead on the upset Dark Pony next to her. In one way she regretted revealing King Sombra to him. Judging by his reactions, it was clear he had not even reached the stage that caused the king to turn towards darkness. She thought back to the kitchen scene, the prince had been far more concerned about the boys and wanted to protect them. He hadn’t even threatened to use his magic, more ready to just use physical force.

That’s the prince I remember, she smiled a little. It turned sadder when remembering also what Whooves had said. The prince’s world was gone.

Celestia rose up to her hooves and walked back to the table. Whooves and Twilight were talking and figuring out how the map worked into this accident.

“Doctor Whooves, did I hear right that his world is,” Celestia really did not want to say the next bit. “Gone?”

“I’m afraid so, your Highness,” Whooves responded with a sigh. His cutie mark started glowing and the Time Pony frowned and looked forward, almost as if he was listening to something or watching something. His brow arched. “No wait… oh dear.”

“What?” Twilight asked, worried something else was happening. The Time Pony took a deep breath, then glanced at each princess.

“Look, we Time Ponies are hyper aware of not just the time stream, but alternate realities as well. That is how I could feel it when the prince and the boys were brought here and could rush over. While I was rushing over, I traced them back to their world of origin and saw their intended timeline, saw the intended events. Saw the zebra help Sombra get the boys back home, and later events that ended with that Sombra pulling the boys back in time,” he started speaking but more quietly. He really did not want to upset the prince more, even though it was doubtful the Dark Pony was listening right now.

“That Prince Sombra turned out a bit different from King Sombra. Not quite as brutal and not quite as uh, sadistic. Still tyrannical. He did take over his Crystal Empire, but it was like his heart just wasn’t in it; more like he just squatted and forced the Crystal Ponies to serve him. His messing with time magic was more halfhearted, like he was just toying around, bored. When he does the whole pulling ponies back in time, it’s by accident and only once, resulting in the two boys that are now with him. That shakes him out of it. He’s horrified when recognizing the boys and that they recoil in terror of how he looks. He attempts to send them back, messes up and sends them further back in time, to the point when he’s still a prince. Are you following?”

“I think so,” Princess Celestia furrowed her brow as she took this information in. Twilight contemplated this as well, rubbing her muzzle thoughtfully.

“Well to make it short, it’s basically a classic stable time loop. King Sombra takes them back in time, Prince Sombra sends them back home. However, something broke the loop and…” Whooves sighed and looked at the map table. “And breaking that loop, broke his world.”

“Alright, but what did you see just now?” Celestia brought the topic back to Whooves earlier remark.

“It’s the biggest problem with time magic, when the time stream fixes a mess, it’s not always very neat. This is why Prince Sombra and the boys didn’t just cease to exist when the time loop broke. Our timeline and our reality is now his timeline and his reality. He belongs here now,” the Time Pony responded, but this time very carefully, almost as if he had anticipated the stunned and confused reactions of the princesses. “Don’t think too hard about it. You will just get a headache.”

“I think I already have,” Twilight groaned, rubbing her forehead with a grimace. “But how did this happen?”

“This is only a guess, but the way you describe the vortex and what you later told me about what Starlight did, I would say it was a time aftershock from when the time stream was fixing the damage she had been doing to it,” Whooves told her.

“But that happened years ago,” the Friendship Princess protested and quickly glanced around, thankfully Starlight had not entered the room. She was not sure the unicorn could handle the news that she may have caused even further disaster with her actions back then.

“That’s another problem with time magic, sometimes the fixes are instantaneous, other times you won’t notice until a long time afterward, or you already saw it happening sometime in the past and didn’t know that is what was happening. That’s why you sometimes have déjà vu. That’s the time stream correcting something,” Whooves told her and shrugged.

“Look, as much as I hate doing it. I’m going to the Time Pony Council to hear what they have to say about it. Even I can only do so much. Just be thankful I’m not the madcap version of me in the blue box,” he grunted with a shake of his head, causing yet again some confusion from the Princesses.

“Well, I don’t think we are going to be getting a better explanation for now. Very well, you go to the Time Pony Council.” Princess Celestia nodded and looked towards the prince, who still sat further away, facing the wall. “I’ll take care of Prince Sombra and the boys for now.”

“What about our King Sombra? When he hears about this and I’m sure he will…” Twilight asked worriedly.

“Well, he’s in Fillydelphia for now. Let’s hope Private and his friends can convince him to retire,” her former teacher said as she headed back to the prince.

Fillydelphia

Dew Doe peeked into the living room. King Sombra sat on a chair and was reading a book. The pegasus walked in and sat down on the couch opposite of the Dark Pony. She furrowed her brow and started rubbing her muzzle thoughtfully as she regarded him.

“Can I help you?” Sombra asked without looking up from the book.

“I was just thinking.” Dew Doe dropped her hoof and glanced towards the floor for a moment. “Chocolate or strawberries?”

“Excuse me, what?” The Dark Pony lowered the book, he stared at Dew with a mildly confused frown.

“I’m baking a cake.” the pegasus looked back at him and shrugged. “Do you prefer chocolate or strawberries?”

“Is this cake specifically for me or…?” Sombra wondered, still not quite understanding why this was important.

“Not you specifically no. I just felt like baking a cake and Foxy likes chocolate, Private doesn’t care either way, I like strawberries, that leaves you,” Dew Doe told him. “And do I also need to put a disclaimer that this isn’t a half-assed attempt to convince you? You happen to live in this house right now. This is a simple matter of sharing. I’m making a cake and everybody in the house gets cake.”

Sombra gave Dew a funny look. The Dark Pony really had to conceal how absolutely confusing the mare was to him right now. Slowly he raised the book up again. For a moment there was no sound except the shuffling of paper when he turned a page.

“Well, if it matters that much, I prefer chocolate after I learned of its existence,” he finally muttered, still raking his brain over what the Dew was really up to. This couldn’t be that simple in his mind.

“Oooh, chocolate strawberry cake, perfect.” Dew Doe beamed, jumped down from the couch and trotted out of the living room.

The king lowered the book again and stared for a moment after the departing mare. Finally, he put it on the table, scowling as he thought this over.

What is going on here? I told them to convince me that retiring was worth it. Where are the speeches? Where are the lectures on friendship and harmony? The tiring spiel about how their morals are superior to mine. He narrowed his eyes. So far nothing was going as he had pictured in his mind. The king had expected long discussions with them, debates even. So far, none of it was happening. The other three ponies just went on with their lives and he just hung around the house, waiting.

I had had it all planned out. I would listen to their tirade and arguments. Let them run in circles trying to figure it out. The king stepped down from the chair and started pacing around in front of the coffee table. Then I would...

“Hey big dark and spooky, you okay?”

Sombra stopped pacing and glared at the living room entrance. Foxy was peeking her head in. The king narrowed his eyes again, wondering if he should break his agreement with Celestia and invade their minds, pulling out what they were up to.

“Your insults are pathetic,” Sombra snorted and sat back down, still glaring at the mare.

“And your retorts are just as biting, so any reason you were going around in circles?” Foxy grinned a little.

“Foxy, don’t antagonize.” Dew Doe admonished from the kitchen.

“Antagonize? Moi?” Foxy put a hoof on her chest, pretending to be absolutely shocked at the accusation.

“If she calls that antagonizing, I wonder what she called what I was doing,” Sombra commented with a snort. Then he rolled his eyes. “Don’t answer that, I have a long list of ideas of what she would call it.”

“Heard it all, huh?” Foxy trotted into the living room and just sat down on the floor.

“You could say that,” the king grunted and resumed his glare. “So, what do you three hope to accomplish by behaving like everything is perfectly normal?”

“We three? Wasn’t the deal just with Dew and Private? I’m just here for the ride.” Foxy shrugged and glanced back at the living room entrance. “Plus keeping an eye on those two.”

“Alright then, what do they hope to accomplish?” Sombra growled. The temptation to just use his powers was coming back.

Foxy just shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno. Like I said, just here for the ride,” she grinned wide. “Besides, what are you complaining about? It’s not like they are lecturing you about being good. You said you've heard it all, so it’s not like hearing the same old blather of friendship and happiness will convince you if it didn’t before.”

Sombra opened his mouth to respond but the words froze in his mouth when he realized the pegasus had a point. Hadn’t he himself praised Private for not boring him to tears with the kind of spiel he expected from Twilight and her friends?

Foxy stood up and left the living room leaving the king with his thoughts. The mare headed into the kitchen where Dew Doe was busy making the batter for the cake.

“Can I scream already that we have one of Equestria’s biggest enemies living in our house full to the brim with his dark powers,” Foxy whispered sharply, letting go of her calm façade for a moment.

“We have to stay strong, Foxy. If this is going to work, we are just going to have to do the same as Fluttershy did with Discord. Accept him as he is,” Dew whispered back and kept busying herself with the baking. "We are still in the, 'getting used to having him in the house' phase."

“You’re a nervous wreck, aren’t you?” her sister commented while watching the blue pegasus go about the kitchen.

“You should see Private,” Dew muttered and looked around before locating the sugar she needed and picking it up.

“That bad?” Foxy nodded and sighed. “Not sure we really can keep this up.”

“If it works, we eventually don’t have to.” Dew Doe looked at her for a moment with a reassuring smile.

“And if it doesn’t work?” the maroon mare questioned with an uncertain expression.

“I’m…trying not to think about that,” her sister grunted as she rummaged through the fridge for strawberries.

Foxy nodded, then eyed the kitchen entrance when hearing hoof steps. Sombra appeared, halting his approach before he was fully inside. Dew stopped working on the cake and the sisters looked quizzically at the dark pony.

“I was just going to get myself something to drink, then I recalled the last time I was here, we bought a bottle of red wine, but never got a chance to drink it due to mother arriving at the house. I don’t suppose it is still available?” he wondered.

“I had completely forgotten about that,” Dew remarked. She spread her wings to fly up to the upper cupboards in the kitchen, struggling a little due to her extra weight. She rummaged for a bit then pulled out an untouched wine bottle.

“Jeez, that’s been up there all this time?” Foxy was mildly surprised. Then again, neither she nor her sister drank wine that much except on very special occasions and she couldn’t recall Private ever touching alcohol.

Sombra grabbed the bottle from Dew in his magic and opened it. Then he conjured up a crystal wine glass, poured himself some wine and started to sip.

“You’re supposed to let it breathe before drinking it,” Foxy pointed out, receiving an odd glance from the Dark Pony.

“I’m supposed to what now?” The king had no idea what pegasus was on about.

“That may not have applied a thousand years ago, Foxy,” Dew hid a chuckle.

“I take it you didn’t study wine culture while hiding away,” Foxy asked curiously. She tried hard not to laugh at the indignant face that came over the king.

“It’s a drink. Are you telling me ponies have invented a whole culture simply to have a drink?” Sombra rolled his eyes. Finding this topic way too ridiculous he left the kitchen for the living room, taking the wine bottle and glass with him.

“Actually, it was the Abyssinian cats who invented…” Private was walking down the stairs and just caught what Sombra retorted.

“Oh, be silent, Private!” Sombra snapped as he stomped into the living room.

Private arched his brow, trotted over the kitchen entrance and peeked in. Foxy and Dew Doe were barely holding back giggles. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what had just happened.

“Calling him names won’t phase him, but this makes him steam?” Foxy peeped as she tried so hard to keep her laughter down.

“Well, Sombra has a very pragmatic view of the world. I can see why he might find wine traditions to be absurd. Probably just views it as something to drink and be done with it - at best a luxury item.” Private shrugged and noticed that his marefriend stopped silently giggling and looked at him surprised.

“What did you say?” Dew Doe asked. Her sister and coltfriend could almost hear gears clicking into high gear in her head.

“I said, Sombra is pragmatic?” The unicorn was now unsure what to make of this.

Dew Doe suddenly grabbed a glass from a cupboard, filled it to the halfway point with water from the sink and flew out of the kitchen, leaving two unsure ponies behind. Her flight took her straight to the living room, where Sombra had sat down again with the book, the wine bottle and glass resting on a side table next to his chair.

Sombra slowly lowered the book to see the blue pegasus put the glass on the coffee table without taking her eyes off him.

“I am probably going to regret the headache I will get from asking, but what are you doing?” the Dark Pony grunted and put the book aside for now.

“I want to do a small test,” Dew Doe said and pointed at the glass. “Half full or half empty?”

Sombra narrowed his eyes, eyeing the glass for a moment then the pegasus. He was starting to think this whole thing had just been one big mistake.

“Why is that important?” he finally asked wearily. His eyes were starting to tint green.

“Just answer this one question and I won’t bother you for the rest of the day,” Dew Doe offered. The green disappeared from the unicorn’s eyes.

“I fail to see the relevance, it’s a glass with water in it. What does it matter whether it’s half full or half empty? However, if we must be technical, it’s both. Any nitwit could see that,” Sombra snorted, grabbed the book and resumed reading. He didn’t see the stunned look on Dew Doe’s face.

Oh wow, that...that explains so much. Dew Doe silently grabbed the glass and hurried back to the kitchen.

End chapter 5

Chapter 6 - The last night of the week

Private slowly awoke. He heard scribbling. Eyeing the window, he saw that it was still night. He raised his head and saw Dew Doe by the desk in their room writing, illuminated only by a lit candle.

It hadn’t escaped the unicorn that his marefriend had been deep in thought for the rest of the day. She had returned to the kitchen to finish her cake, but after that was done was rather absent-minded. Foxy had later headed to Baltimare to check on Coal and intended to stay the night. King Sombra had spent his time in the living room reading before going to bed.

Private yawned and threw the blanket off him before climbing out of bed. He walked over to the desk and sat down next to the pegasus.

“Sorry if I woke you, just couldn’t sleep. I needed to write a few things down,” Dew Doe explained quietly and glanced at the stallion. She recognized the expression on his face.

“I believe I figured out how he thinks. It was a fairly simple test, but the way he responded to it…so much just suddenly made sense,” Dew answered the unspoken question and continued to write. She glanced at Private again. “Yes, I’m sure.”

“It’s also the way he reacted to the topic of wine culture. You would think someone raised in a royal court and accustomed to luxury would not bat an eye about it, even be intrigued. Not him. It was actually fascinating now that I think about it. Yes, wine was a luxury back in his time, and in some cases is still considered a luxury today, but he just sees it as something to consume. Building traditions around it just seems pointless to him. You said it yourself, he’s pragmatic. Food and drink are necessary to survive and that’s all he sees it as.” She continued, so used to silence from the unicorn that the pegasus didn’t expect any responses.

“I also realized we will need to do our first report tomorrow. Not sure we have made any real process though,” Dew sighed and put down the pen. Then she felt a very familiar feeling and mock glared at her belly. “Oh, don’t you start now.”

Grunting, the pegasus rose up, excused herself and left the room. Dew made her way downstairs, really wishing there was an upstairs bathroom. She stopped for a moment once on the ground floor, thinking she heard a sound from the kitchen. Her bladder, though, was quick to remind her of the urgent business, so ignoring the noise, she hurried to the restroom to take care of it.

When she was done and finished washing, Dew made a beeline for the kitchen. After thinking about it, the mare was sure she had heard something. Peeking in, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Dew furrowed her brow and she instead, went to the living room and looked in, but saw nothing.

Dew Doe turned around to face the stairs and nearly jumped out of her skin. Standing right behind her was King Sombra, staring at her neutrally, but in the darkness, the large unicorn looked very foreboding. The pegasus put a hoof over her rapidly beating heart and got a little uneasy when seeing the king’s eyes flicker green for a moment.

“Your fears are very bland,” Sombra spoke sounding very unimpressed.

“You’re feeding on my fears?” Dew scowled, not liking the sound of that at all.

“Not actively. My powers are tuned to fear and hatred,” Sombra shrugged, but then seemed to consider. “I was not trying to scare you, for the record.”

“Then what were you doing?” the pegasus snorted and would have walked past, but due to Sombra’s size, he blocked the way to the stairs. She would have to wait for him to move.

“I…” Sombra hesitated, almost as if he was embarrassed to admit it. “Came down to get more cake.”

Dew dropped her scowl and now stared quite surprised at the Dark Pony. She couldn’t fathom why he was embarrassed to admit that. She didn’t get a chance to address it as Sombra sneered as if he himself couldn’t believe it, and sunk into the darkness, leaving the confused pegasus alone.

Why would he not like admitting he got the midnight munchies? Oh speaking of, I could really do with a pickle smoothie right now…agh no…it’s time for bed. Dew shook her head, banishing the cravings deep into her mind and went back upstairs. When she got back to the bedroom, Private had fallen asleep on the floor in front of the desk.

“Oh, you sweet goof,” Dew sighed happily and started to approach to wake him and get him to bed, yet she found herself unwilling to do so. He looked so adorable all curled up where he was.

I really shouldn’t, the pegasus glanced back to the entrance. Then again if he’s serious about being Private’s ‘friend.’

Thinking this was a phenomenally bad idea, but lacking alternatives without waking Private up, she headed back out and went to the guest room Sombra occupied. She carefully knocked, wondering if she shouldn’t just wake Private up. It was too late to back out as the door opened and Sombra looked out with a scowl.

“I probably shouldn’t be asking this, but can you move Private to the bed? He fell asleep on the floor in our bedroom,” Dew quickly asked so Sombra didn’t think she was trying to question the Dark Pony about his kitchen raid.

“What is with that unicorn and sleeping on the floor.” Sombra’s demeanor changed almost instantly, sounding exasperated as he immediately walked out and headed to Dew and Private’s room with the pegasus following.

“I have also been meaning to ask about that rug he naps on in the living room,” he grunted and entered the room. Sombra fired up his horn, grabbed Private in a levitating aura and moved him to the bed, even taking his time to drape the blanket over him.

Just one of the many quirks I love about him, Dew thought, deep down amazed the king had done this without any prompt or protest. The pegasus blinked when seeing Sombra was no longer there, then she heard the door to his room close. The dark unicorn had used the shadows again to vanish away. Ah well, I’ll thank him in the morning.

Dew Doe tiptoed closer and snuck onto the bed and curled up under the blanket next to Private. Sighing contentedly, the pegasus was soon asleep.

Somewhere in Canterlot

Doctor Whooves gave a quiet, tired sigh as he entered his apartment. He was exhausted after the meeting with the Time Pony Council. Not from trying to argue with them this time, though. The council had lately been much more cooperative, no doubt after the dressing down they got from all four princesses of Equestria a while back.

But they had been somewhat evasive, almost like they were afraid. They were of course perfectly aware of the situation that had happened in Twilight’s castle and were even more alarmed when Whooves described the vortex. The council also looked extremely relieved when he told them about Prince Sombra, looking as if they had dodged a bullet.

Whooves rubbed his forehead. Dragging some explanations from them had been like pulling teeth. Yet for once he hadn’t needed to bicker with them, more just cajole them - one really good thing came out of this as far he was concerned.

They asked me to investigate this further, no restraints, no looking over my shoulders. The Time Pony walked into the living room and sat down on his chair. He had no pictures on the walls. Aside from the chair, the only other furniture was a couch, coffee table and shelves full of books. He liked things small and compact. He didn’t spend that much time here anyway, so often on one mission or another, either for Princess Celestia or if he could be bothered with them, the Time Pony Council.

Whooves considered going to bed, but the vortex kept popping up into his mind. What was it that he had missed? The Time Pony Council had informed him that Starlight's messing around with time had been contained. So that meant his initial guess had been wrong - yes the vortex had been a time aftershock - but not caused by that.

Of course! Starlight didn’t mess around with alternate realities - it was contained within our own reality. He sat up straight. Closing his eyes, his cutie-mark began to glow as the Time Pony accessed his natural time magic and started to scan the time stream with his mind, trying to see where the aftershock had originated.

Since an alternative reality was affected and some of the pieces effectively merged with ours in a sense, that must mean it did not originate in our world. He furrowed his brow when considering that. That meant he had to do something much more dangerous. He had to scan alternate realities. That was a big problem...there were so many of them. Mind-bogglingly many, even to him.

But perhaps he could narrow the search. A time aftershock would only happen when the time stream had been disrupted and was mending itself and this one had been so massive, it had crashed one world and merged the pieces into another. That had to mean it had been a very big event.

But what could have been so big to cause so much damage? To strand three ponies from not just different times, but a different world in another. Whooves didn’t like this. Whoever did that was not just powerful, but probably very dangerous.

“It can’t have been a coincidence that it was a Sombra who got caught up in this,” he muttered to himself.

Using the time magic, he found the event in the stream where Prince Sombra and the boys dropped onto the map table. He frowned. There was something off in the energies of the vortex, but so far all they did was lead back the leftovers of the world that was destroyed.

He concentrated on the vortex, trying to feel the energy. Whooves gasped when it was as if he lost all control. He saw images of two ponies frozen in crystal in a dark crystalline room...he saw the Crystal Empire looking like it had when King Sombra had ruled it. He saw Princess Celestia hovering in the air above a balcony talking with the tyrant. On the balcony with the evil king was another pony, frozen solid in crystal.

“Wait a minute… that’s me?” Whooves blinked, seeing the frozen yet defiant-looking pony.

“That never happened to me, I was never in the Crystal Empire back when Sombra ruled…” Whooves wrestled back control of the time magic and shut it off. He gasped for breath and had to take a moment to compose himself, taking a few deep breaths.

“It must have been another reality, where I did go to the Crystal Empire for some reason. It’s not the reality of Prince Sombra…” Whooves rubbed his muzzle thoughtfully.

“Yet it seems to be connected to that reality. I felt it. The energies in the vortex match. What happened there was so catastrophic that it sent a time aftershock all the way to here.

“I tried to break a time-lock,” a voice spoke in his mind. Whooves blinked, that voice sounded exactly like his and he could feel strong time magic in it.

Oh no… Whooves sighed, closed his eyes and accessed the time magic again. He saw before him a pony that looked exactly like him, even wearing a similar blue west. This one looked sorrowful and regretful.

“What did you do?” Whooves asked with a disappointed expression. His other self hung his head.

“I was trying to save a friend. I made a colossal mistake. I took my three friends right to the Crystal Empire during the last days of King Sombra's rule. One of them got trapped in a deal with Sombra in order to free the rest of us. I tried to break the lock. Any other time it would have been easy…” the other Time Pony said and slowly looked up at Whooves again.

“I didn’t see it until too late. The Sombra from my world…he had managed to study Time Ponies. He gained access to the time stream, he can influence it…he has time magic…” the other pony started to fade.

Whooves couldn’t say a word. His disappointment was replaced with shock. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened.

“The time lock was…trap…for me...he has…uestria…destroy…” the voice of his other self was breaking up.

“What? What did you say?” Whooves tried to enhance the connection but already the voice was fading. Taking the risk, the Time Pony traced the origin of it, only to be greeted by darkness, then green and red glowing eyes slowly came into view.

“Doctor!” a dark voice spoke up, slowly a row of teeth was forming a vicious grin under the eyes.

Whooves immediately severed the connection and stopped accessing his time magic. For a while he just sat, breathing frantically, eyes still wide and his mouth hanging wide open.

This can’t be good. He gulped. Carefully he activated his time magic again and made sure he stuck to his reality. Then gently the Time Pony tapped his head. “Time Pony Council, I may have already found out what happened.”

Nothing but silence greeted him. Taking a deep breath, he tapped his head again. I’m sending you everything I saw. But if what I’m thinking is correct, our Sombra and that interdimensional castaway are the least of our worries.”

“There is another one out there… somewhere in the multiverse…and if the other me is correct.” Whooves looked down at his front hooves, they were shaking. “If he ever finds our world…”

“Find out more, but be careful.” Finally he heard a voice from the council.

Whooves arched his brow, researching further into this would mean he couldn’t keep an eye on his friends in Fillydelphia. He had wanted to watch the process, hoping they would succeed.

No! I know they will succeed, they don’t need me constantly messing around in their lives and making it more complicated. That’s how Dew and Private got those blasted memory locks enforced on them. The Time Pony’s entire body started to glow. Well, time for a little trip.

In a flash he was gone, but almost immediately returned, stumbling out of the chair and dragging his legs to the bedroom.

“Right after I have some sleep,” he mumbled and yawned wide.

End chapter 6

Chapter 7 - The King and the Prince

Dew, Private and Sombra entered the throne room. Both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sat on their respective thrones. The three newly arrived started to approach, but Sombra couldn’t help but notice the stern stares he was being given by the two alicorns.

“Your Highnesses,” Dew addressed the princesses and bowed, so did Private. “We are here with the first report on King Sombra.”

“Sombra, I want to hear this report from those two uninterrupted,” Celestia stated as she pointed a hoof towards Private and Dew, while still keeping her eyes on the Dark Pony.

“So, I hope you understand when we ask you to wait outside the throne room while we hear the report,” Luna finished. Dew and Private glanced at each other, unsure, before eyeing Sombra, whose only reaction was to raise one eyebrow.

“Fine by me. Not sure why I was dragged along for this,” he snorted and turned around to walk right back outside. The doors to the throne room closed behind him, leaving Dew and Private with the royals.

“Sorry, I thought maybe it was better if he was around while giving our report,” the pegasus apologized.

“No need to apologize. This whole thing has been rather unorthodox,” Celestia assured her with one hoof raised. Now both she and her sister smiled. “Now, please, give us your report.”

Dew Doe took a deep breath, took a moment to consult the papers, glanced at Private for a moment before stepping a little more forward.

“Well, this week could have been much, much worse. Sombra has so far abided by all agreements and we have been attempting to just behave as normal as possible with him around. Kind of just getting used to having him around all the time. He does have an attitude and hasn’t given any indication yet that he’s been convinced to turn good,” Dew Doe started her report.

King Sombra sat in silence in front of the doors leading to the throne room. Occasionally he would shift his weight a little, examine a front hoof and dust off his silk robe. The dark pony ignored the nearby nervous guards, who kept a wary eye on him.

What exactly do they expect to hear from a weekly report, barely much happened this week, he thought and shook his head. Bleh, if it makes them feel safe, I suppose they must be indulged.

Further down the long hallway, he spotted a movement. Sombra frowned slightly and kept watching the spot he had seen it. A foal appeared on a run, went in a circle, then disappeared down a corridor. It was shortly later followed by another. Sombra was tempted to rub his eyes, he could have sworn it was the same foal.

His brows rose higher when seeing now two identical foals come running back and disappear the way they originally come from. What really caught his attention though were the dark grey coats and blonde mane and tails of the children.

There is something hauntingly familiar about them, he thought and rubbed his muzzle with a hoof.

The foals appeared again. They were clearly playing in the hallway. Then a head appeared with a black mane, red eyes, dark gray coat, but the horn was the same color as the coat and straight.

“Boys, do not run in the halls, you might trip on something,” the unknown unicorn spoke in a voice that nearly matched Sombra’s, except didn’t sound as harsh.

The head disappeared the way it came and the foals hurried after the stallion. King Sombra continued to stare, not quite believing what he had just seen, mouth half-open, an unsure scowl on his brow.

The king glanced back at the throne room doors, then returned his attention to where had seen the unicorn and the foals. Slowly he rose, intending to investigate this. The Dark Pony was sure the report would take hours. The princesses probably needed to ask multiple questions.

When he reached the hallway he had seen the unicorn and the foals disappear into, he looked in and saw multiple doors on either side of it. One was only half-closed. A foal peeked out of it.

“Barricade, come get your food,” a voice sounded from the room the door led to. King Sombra blinked, the voice was his, just softer and gentler. The foal disappeared back in.

What by the first queen is going on here? The king frowned and started to approach the door. He could still hear his voice inside, speaking quietly no doubt to the foals.

Sombra didn’t use his magic to open the door, knowing it might be detected,. Instead, he reached out with a hoof to do it. Then he looked inside and the Dark Pony couldn’t believe what he saw.

The room was clearly a parlor of some sort. On a big couch sat the unknown stallion and next to him the two foals. Both colts were munching on sandwiches, a small plate was on a nearby table with more food. The adult pony had two glasses of juice in his magic, apparently ready to give them to the boys when requested.

“Wait, is that a…” the stallion spoke as if he had detected something, then looked at the door right where Sombra now stood in the entrance.

King Sombra, of course, knew what the other unicorn had detected. Being a Dark Pony, he had felt the presence of another of his race. The king’s eyes started to narrow, while the other stallion dropped from the couch and now stood in front of it with a concerned look on his face, shielding the boys from view.

“Stay on the couch,” the unicorn whispered to the boys, but kept his eyes fixed on the king. He also put the two glasses on the table.

“I can’t even remember when I had this little dark magic in me,” King Sombra snorted and walked right in, still staring at the unknown pony. “You only have natural reserves, don’t you?”

“I have never felt any need to…increase it,” the other stallion remarked carefully. Behind him on the couch, the colts huddled together, one looking a little afraid, but the other had a tiny scowl.

“What? Never felt the pull of power?” King Sombra chuckled mockingly. He didn’t get closer, but started to circle the room. As soon as he got a better view of the couch and the boys, the other stallion immediately stepped into the way of his view.

“Can’t say I have,” was the response from the younger unicorn.

“Now, what is Celestia up to? I am seeing how I looked over a thousand years ago, before, well, this.” The king stopped for a moment and gestured to himself.

“I was pulled to this world in some sort of an accident I still do not fully understand. My wards and I are Princess Celestia’s guests while that is being sorted out,” the younger Dark Pony responded. He blinked when Sombra disappeared into the shadows, only to reappear right behind the couch, staring down at the colts.

“Your wards look very familiar,” King Sombra remarked. He made no move as the other stallion swiftly turned around, grabbed the colts in his magic and quickly backed away, placing the startled foals on his back as he did. All the king did was chuckle.

“I take it my reputation already precedes me, judging by your reaction, prince. That’s what you are, aren’t you?” The king walked around the couch. The prince backed away further into the room.

“I have been briefed.” Prince Sombra nodded, glancing at the boys who huddled on his back. The king started laughing.

“Well, I’m glad to hear there have been no outstanding issues and that your family is backing you up,” Princess Celestia said and nodded in satisfaction.

“But I am curious how you plan to convince him, that is the reason he just invited himself into your home after all,” Princess Luna pointed out.

“We are still working on that,” Dew admitted with a sigh and Private nodded.

“I suppose we can’t expect too much happening within one week.” Celestia looked at her sister. Granted other things had happened, but as far the Sun Princess was concerned, it had nothing to do with this particular issue.

“Might as well let Sombra in, see if he has anything to add.” The white alicorn lit up her horn to open the doors to the throne room, expecting to see a bored Dark Pony on the other side. Everyone was shocked to see nothing.

“Where is Sombra?” Luna asked and rose up from her throne, as did her sister.

The two alicorns swiftly spread their wings and flew over to the entrance. Dew and Private hurried after them, but the hallway beyond was empty, save for the two guards.

“Guards, where did Sombra go?” Celestia asked them.

“Uh… he saw your guests, your Highness…” one guard spoke up, but fell silent when seeing the alarm come over both Luna and Celestia who immediately raced off, forcing Dew and Private to run after them.

Celestia and Luna hurried to the parlor. Both knew Prince Sombra would be in and rushed inside just as King Sombra was finishing laughing. The prince stood further inside the room with the two colts on his back.

“King Sombra,” Princess Celestia snapped, using his title so that there was no question who she was addressing. The king glanced at her with an amused smirk.

“Celestia, I see you have a replacement ready in case my retirement plans don’t pan out,” King Sombra chuckled mockingly as he gestured to the prince, who snorted in indignation.

“His arrival was an accident that is still being investigated. It has nothing to do with what you are doing,” Princess Luna stated as she stepped over to stand in front of the prince.

“Two Sombras?!” The attention was diverted to the entrance. Dew and Private had caught up and the pegasus was slapping her own mouth with a hoof, having accidentally cried out loud what she was thinking. Private was looking between the two Dark Ponies, his jaw nearly scraping the ground.

“So much for keeping this under wraps, sister,” Luna whispered and cringed a little. She could only imagine what was going through Private’s mind right now.

“Prince Sombra, I am so sorry, I did not intend for you to meet your other self.” Celestia, however, did not lose her composure, addressing the prince first who remained silent. Then she looked at the king and pointed to the door. “And you, please step outside. This has nothing to do with you.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it.” King Sombra just chuckled and rolled his eyes, however, he complied and used the shadows to vanish and reappear outside in the hallway. Luna then gently managed to coax the two stunned smaller ponies out of the entrance and took them outside.

“Are you alright? Are the boys unharmed?” Celestia quickly turned to the prince, who had let out a sigh of relief once everybody was out of the room.

She didn’t get a response right away. The prince was taking the boys to another couch in the room and putting them down there and took a moment to reassure them, especially Piat. Barri reached to hug his brother, a scowl still on his little face.

“I-I’m fine…he just talked and well, he figured out quickly who I was.” Prince Sombra then turned back to Celestia. The princess frowned in worry as the Dark Pony looked frightened. “No Dark Pony should be that saturated with dark magic.”

“I can only apologize again that you had to meet him. His custodians were here to give their first report on his progress. They didn’t know and brought him with them,” the princess said and watched as the prince turned back to the boys. Piat whimpered and wanted to be held and the Dark Pony obliged him. Barri looked more sure of himself and started to jump around on the couch as if the past minutes hadn’t even happened.

“And then Celestia brought them here to stay as a guest while his sudden arrival is being looked into by the proper experts,” Luna finished her explanation to Dew and Private as they walked along the hallways of Canterlot Castle, King Sombra trailing behind them.

Dew looked unsure at Private. The unicorn still looked stunned. This had certainly been an unusual twist on what had just been a trip to give their first report. The pegasus then glanced back at Sombra, who still looked amused by the whole event.

“The boys are actually younger versions of Private and Barricade?” she whispered and turned back to Luna, who nodded her head in confirmation.

“Celestia and I have been calling them, Piat and Barri to avoid confusion amongst ourselves, since we know the adult versions, though the prince addresses them by their full names,” the Lunar Princess told her.

“You know, if you need any help looking into this,” the king spoke up, causing Luna to glare back at him while the other two ponies glanced more skeptically.

“What? I’m as curious about this as you are. It's not every time you get to meet yourself without the aid of a mirror.” Sombra chuckled at the looks he was being given.

Luna was of half a mind to just outright refuse the offer, not believing for one second it was genuine and he didn’t have some ulterior motive. However, considering the king was now in a reformation program, it might not look too good if she just dismissed him like that.

“We will consider it,” the princess said as they started to step through the gate of the castle.

“Let me guess, don’t call us, we’ll call you,” King Sombra gave the midnight alicorn a knowing smile. Dew shook her head tiredly, Private resisted an urge to roll his eyes.

“Something like that,” Luna retorted, stopped her walk and turned to face the two smaller ponies. “Private, Dew, my sister and I will look forward to your next report and any progress you make.”

Dew just nodded and bowed. So did Private. Sombra just snorted. The three of them continued onwards towards Canterlot city proper to get to the train station. Luna returned to the castle.

King Sombra took a moment to glance back towards the castle. He stopped his walk when spotting something on a balcony of one of the towers. The Dark Pony felt a tinge of dread come over him.

She’s no longer locked up? He thought and had to really struggle to not cringe. He hurried after Dew Doe and Private, who hadn’t noticed he had fallen behind. How did she manage to manipulate herself out of her cell?

On the balcony in question, observing the three departing ponies from a distance, was Queen Rabia, her face expressionless as she watched her son spot her then rush off. The neutral facade broke for a moment, turning into a sad frown. With a deep sigh, the Dark Pony Queen returned inside.

“Sheesh, you are suddenly in a hurry,” Dew Doe called as she and Private hurried after King Sombra, who had unexpectedly overtaken and gone right past them. It was more difficult for the pegasus due to her more pronounced belly.

“What, would you want to hang around a place you know you aren’t welcome?” the Dark Pony snorted, but did slow down his pace a bit.

The two ponies behind him glanced around and did notice that others passing them by were giving the king nervous looks, apparently backing up his claim. Yet Dew wasn’t completely convinced that was the reason. There was something about Sombra’s body language that was different.

“In fact, why take the train? I can easily teleport all of us back to your house. Besides, you shouldn't be walking this much in your condition, Dew Doe,” the king then remarked, trying to sound like he wasn’t in a hurry to get out of Canterlot.

“Private, when has he ever cared if ponies want him around or not?” Dew whispered to her coltfriend. Private’s expression told her everything, the Dark Pony never cared, if anything, he had always found it amusing to overstay his ‘welcome.’ And they weren't buying it that Sombra was concerned about Dew's pregnancy.

“I guess we could teleport…” Dew Doe started and jumped back a little when King Sombra swiftly turned around to face them, looking oddly happy.

“Good, then that’s settled,” he declared, immediately wrapping the two ponies in front of him in shadows and the three of them disappeared.

They reappeared outside their house in Fillydelphia. Sombra didn’t even wait for the door to be unlocked, just sunk into the shadows again and went inside. Dew and Private still stood outside, mildly dazed after the sudden transportation.

“What has gotten into him?” Dew snorted, flailing one leg in agitation, her wings slightly raised. Private could provide no response, yet he couldn’t help but feel that Sombra’s behavior was very familiar.

“Last time I saw him acting like this was when…” Private hesitated and eyed Dew Doe. “His mother was causing trouble.”

“Oh my gosh, you’re right!” The pegasus gasped and placed a hoof over her mouth. “She’s in Canterlot Castle in her own rehabilitation program. Did he spot her? Does he even know that’s what she’s doing?”

“Would it matter if he knew?” Private wondered. Dew looked at him.

“Probably not. He is scared of her. He told me last time that the reason he’s sought so much power was to be stronger than her." The pegasus started towards the door with Private following.

“Let’s let him calm down. I don’t dare imagine what hurricane of emotions he’s experiencing right now,” Dew then said as the two entered the house. Voices from the living room caused them to pause for a moment in confusion, they immediately headed over and peeked in, both were shocked to see Coal sitting on a chair and Foxy was on a couch.

“Hiii, we’re back,” Foxy waved, grinning innocently. Then gestured to her daughter with both front hooves. “She can explain.”

“Whaat!?” Coal gasped in shock at her mother. Foxy just folded her legs and gazed towards the ceiling.

“It was your idea, you get to explain it, kiddo,” the maroon pegasus pretended to snort, though anyone who knew her knew Foxy wasn’t being serious.

“I’ll explain it,” Sky Dive declared as she came from the kitchen with tea, walked past a stunned Dew and Private and entered the living room.

“Grandma to the rescue,” Coal whooped, throwing her front legs into the air.

“Spoilsport,” Foxy grumbled, her daughter giggled and Sky Dive rolled her eyes but was smirking.

End chapter 7

Chapter 8 - The secret of Sky Dive

“I have been in touch with Mirage and Hard since our meeting." Sky Dive started talking, sipping her tea and sat next to Foxy. Private and Dew had relocated to a couch in front of them. "Although we don’t care much for what is happening, we decided to see how the week went. When Foxy came to check on Coal and reported to me that so far nothing serious had happened, we went back to Private’s parents and had another talk.”

“I was also voicing the idea with them that Coal stays with them the next week. I’m afraid a rather big fashion show is being scheduled in Cloudsdale and I have a few models there that I need to keep an eye on. There have been ponies trying to take advantage of them,” the mare snorted. Her daughters just nodded, knowing full well their mother was just as protective of the models she was the agent of as she was to her own daughters.

“Coal then asked why she couldn’t just go home with her mom, if King Sombra wasn’t doing anything. Why shouldn’t she be just as safe?” the mare continued and glanced at her granddaughter.

“How long will it take to reform him, anyway? Why am I supposed to be kicked out until that’s done?” the filly grumbled and folded her front legs in a huff.

“Coal, it’s for your own secur…” Dew fell silent when her mother raised a hoof, indicating she wasn’t done.

“Coal also pointed out that when she was captured, Sombra never really threatened her or her sisters. Only questioned them about the Dark Pony connection. I do wonder where she gets her stubbornness.” Sky Dive eyed Foxy with a knowing smirk, her younger daughter grinned sheepishly.

“Barricade is never going to buy into this,” Dew Doe pointed out, remembering last time when he barged in there and demanded that Coal be taken out of the house. She raised one eyebrow when seeing the look on her mother. “You’ve already talked with him, haven’t you?”

“He wants it known for the record that he is not thrilled by the idea, however, Coal is the one who convinced him,” Sky Dive sipped her tea. All eyes went back to the filly.

“I told him somepony had to keep an eye on you three.” Coal grinned wide, but dropped it quickly when seeing the skeptical look on the adults. “Aaaand promised I would be out of the house at the slightest sign of any trouble.”

“I still can’t believe he agreed to this,” Dew Doe remarked. Barricade could be pretty set in his ways. Private nodded in agreement with her.

“I may also have pointed out that with King Smokey’s powers, it didn’t matter where any of us were. If he wanted to do something to us, he could reach us anywhere, anytime.” Foxy smiled innocently. There were hesitant nods of agreement from the others to that. Then the maroon pegasus glanced around. “Speaking of, where is he?”

“Probably in his room." He disappeared inside ahead of us using the shadows.” Dew glanced at the living room entrance. There was no sign of Sombra. Since the others hadn’t noticed him, he must have just gone all the way to his room using that form.

What is she up to? I would have thought the princesses had shipped her to Saddle Arabia after a trial and left her to rot in their dungeons, or just chucked her into Tartarus. Sombra paced uneasily in his room.

Is mother free though? I’m pretty sure if she saw me, she wouldn’t have wasted any time heading straight for me… Sombra stopped pacing and started rubbing his muzzle in thought. He was calming down after seeing Rabia on the balcony, especially since there was some distance between him and her.

She couldn’t be in a rehabilitation program, can she? Then again, that is something Celestia would attempt to do. I recall the Saddle Arabians wanting something like that, but I dismissed it. Mother would never agree to something like that. Sombra scowled and sat down on the floor. He eyed the closed door for a moment.

Maybe I should cancel everything, just get out of here. If they are set to let her loose, the first thing she’ll do is hunt me down. She’ll have nothing else do to, no empire to run, after all. Sombra started to consider, but then realized that was a phenomenally bad idea. He was not ready to face his mother again. The king hated to admit it, but the only reason he had managed to face her last time was that he had been with Twilight and her friends. They had helped him maintain focus.

Maybe I should just confess what I'm actually doing. But would they want me around if they knew? Would they even come to my aid if my mother was to come to do something? He cringed and for a moment glanced at the shadows as if he expected Rabia to pop out of them any moment.

“She attacked Barricade the last time she was looking for me…she might go after Private next.” Sombra rose to his hooves, old memories from back when he was still in the empire as a prince started to surface. Remembering when he had been showing Private around, neither knowing the two of them would meet several times again.

“No! I will not allow it. She will have to go through me first. I will never see him hurt again..." Sombra froze when there was a soft knock on the door. Okay, calm down. Mother would not just knock politely on a door.

Sombra quickly composed himself, put on a hard look, and walked over to open the door. Standing outside was Dew Doe. She looked apologetic.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, but mom wants to see you,” the pegasus told him.

Well, that is not the mother I was worried about. Sombra hid his relief, yet already felt irritated, remembering the last time he had met Sky Dive in this house.

“I take it she’s thought up some more remarks to send my way?” the king grunted and walked past the pegasus, figuring he might as well get this over with. He walked downstairs, Dew Doe right behind him.

When Sombra entered the living room, he was mildly confused to see Coal there. He was quick to ignore that for the moment and focused instead on the thin, elderly sky-blue pegasus mare.

“Sky Dive,” he addressed the pegasus. “You wished to speak with me? Have something more to say regarding my stay here?”

“Well, aren’t you presumptuous,” Sky Dive rolled her eyes and just calmly sipped from her cup. “But can you blame a mother for being concerned about her children? Then again, you wouldn’t know how that is.”

“Mom!” Dew whispered sharply, before quickly stepping away from Sombra, who was starting to scowl harder. Foxy, Private and Coal looked just as alarmed as the pegasus.

“However, I used to not know that either,” Sky Dive shrugged, seemingly unphased by the murderous glare she was being given by the king. Now her daughters and Private looked at the elder pony a bit startled. Only Coal looked confused, not knowing what her grandmother meant.

“What are you talking about?” Sombra snorted. It bothered him a little how calm and collected Sky Dive was. It had also bothered him when he was here the last time they met. It really infuriated him how with just a few words, this pegasus could get under his skin.

“You think you are the only pony estranged from their parents?” Sky Dive looked at Sombra. The king stopped glaring but remained suspicious.

“Please sit down already. I’m not here to bother you with the usual speeches I know you’re tired of hearing.” The pegasus said and continued to drink her tea as if everything was perfectly normal.

There was silence for a moment. Sombra did sit down, but continued to stare suspiciously at the elder pegasus. Sky Dive then glanced at Coal before giving Foxy a look. The maroon mare blinked, then took to the air, snatched her daughter up and flew out of the living room.

“Hey what’s going on!” Coal protested as she disappeared from the room with her mother.

“Nothing there for young fillies to hear,” Foxy responded in a sing-a-song voice.

King Sombra dropped his scowl as he himself had been a little surprised at this turn of event. He looked at Sky Dive again, who was using one hoof to brush against the coat on her side, bending the fur so the roots could be seen. They had the faintest sign of being a darker shade of blue, more like Dew’s coat color.

“You can just about see it, but my current appearance is not the natural color of my coat. I am actually the same shade of blue as Dew Doe is,” Sky Dive explained. When hearing this, both Private and Dew Doe looked shocked. Both knew this was not something the elderly mare told just anyone.

“Fascinating, I take this is going somewhere?” Sombra dryly remarked, arching his brow when Sky Dive chuckled.

“I have had some time this week to ponder what Dew Doe told me about you. Especially the relationship you had with your mother,” Sky Dive now sighed and looked uncomfortable as if bad memories were surfacing. Sombra remained silent. He wanted to see where this went. Dew Doe went over to her mother and sat down next to her, putting a hoof on her back.

“My mother was a model; she was very popular and well known. To the outside world, she was charming and sweet, she was a role model for so many young fillies.” Sky Dive’s face darkened, and her lips started to twitch. The king tilted his head, now he was interested in hearing where this was going. The elder pegasus took a moment to calm down before continuing, with a shake of her head.

“If only they knew her as I knew her. Controlling and manipulative, she would spread false rumors about other models to get rid of them. She would threaten to quit a shot if it was supposed to be with someone she didn’t like. She would steal jobs from other models, and that’s just how she treated others.” The old mare looked at Sombra.

“She of course wanted her only daughter to follow in her hoofsteps and she made sure of it, whether I wanted it or not. I was forced into shoot after shoot. If the clothes didn’t fit, I was starved until I was thin enough to fit them. If I even made a peep of protest…” Sky Dive halted, her eyes were starting to twitch. Dew Doe draped a wing around her mother. The older pegasus took another moment to calm down and sipped her tea. Then she looked at Sombra neutrally.

“But I suppose you're not interested in hearing some sob story from a pony like me.” She shrugged and reached to give Dew a gentle pat on the cheek and smiled at her daughter.

“No, please, continue.” All eyes went to Sombra. The king showed nothing outwardly but was no longer scowling. Dew glanced surprised at Private, who was just as confused as her.

“Well, if you insist.” Sky Dive shrugged. Dew retracted the wing from her.

“There is not much more to say, though. I was beaten and starved into submission. For the longest time I was more like an automated carnival attraction, just did what mother ordered me to do, fearing anything I said would cause me to be struck or they would withhold my food,” the pegasus continued.

“It was my great-uncle who eventually saved me. Axe never was in the model industry like the rest of my family. He told me that he had tried to save his niece, my mother, from his sister when seeing how she was treating her, but failed. When he saw history was repeating itself, he came determined to save me.” Sky Dive smiled, as did Dew Doe.

“Axe was of course alarmed when I returned to the modeling industry, but I was determined to do it my way, not mother’s way and once my daughters were born, I was determined not to do what my mother did. Considering neither of them are models and doing what they want, I believe I succeeded,” the old mare chuckled.

“What happened to your mother?” Sombra wondered. He almost expected to hear she had taken some sort of revenge.

“Living out her retirement in a home in Cloudsdale, still not understanding why her only daughter never visits or speaks to her,” the old pegasus snorted in contempt.

“Have you ever visited her?” the king asked. Sky Dive had not struck him like a pony who didn’t enjoy rubbing her successes in someone’s face, especially if she disliked them.

“I did once, just to make it clear to her that I wanted nothing to do with her anymore. She honestly still believes what she did to me was for my own good,” the mare shook her head.

Yeah, I know how that feels, the king thought and found it really off-putting he could actually relate to this mare.

“Alright, Sky Dive. I will assure you that both your daughters and granddaughter are perfectly safe from me, as is Private. I am still waiting for them to convince me and I have promised them an ample amount of time to do so.” Sombra rose up and walked out of the living room, heading back upstairs to his room.

The three ponies watched him leave, then the younger ones looked at the older one. Sky Dive had put down the teacup, but still looked just as calm as before.

“I half expected you to tell him that your original name was Golden Crown before changing it,” Dew Doe said, still a little surprised how well this had gone.

“Well, I can’t be sharing all my secrets,” her mother chuckled before looking at the younger mare more solemnly. “I was being serious. I thought over what you told us at our meeting. I still don’t like that this is happening, but I also trust you and Private. If anypony can convince that dark grump to retire as he put it, it will be you two.”

“What? No explosions?” Foxy Stripes and Coal peeked into the living room, the maroon mare remarking on how calm and quiet everything looked.

“You promised me explosions.” Coal pointed an accusing hoof at her mother, giving her a mock glare.

“I promised no such thing,” her mother protested and stuck her tongue out at the filly.

“Then again, those two might just end up running him out of the house,” Sky Dive smirked, causing Dew to giggle and even Private smiled.

“Hey!” both Foxy and Coal shouted, glaring at the other three ponies in the room.

End chapter 8

Chapter 9 - Cracking the Sombra code

Well, here goes nothing, Private thought, and entered the living room. As expected, King Sombra lay on the couch closest to the entrance. The Dark Pony had basically claimed it by now. It was the biggest one in the living room and fit his size the best. The past few days had once again been rather uneventful. Private and Dew were still racking their brains over how to convince the king to retire. They thought they had something now and decided to try it out.

Coal and Foxy had thankfully not chased the king out of the house. The maroon pegasus had though, for the most part, managed to keep her daughter from bothering the king.

Private ignored Sombra for now and went to the rug next to the fireplace, his infamous napping spot. Many visitors had often been confused to see the unicorn almost always there, taking a nap or reading a book. He did use the couches and chairs, occasionally, but that rug was where he often felt most comfortable.

The unicorn lay down on it, making sure he was facing the king. Already everything he intended to say was becoming a jumbled mess in his mind. Private was not sure if anything he said or did would actually work. Then of course he realized he had almost jumped the gun a bit. Dew Doe was supposed to be present as well. She was still upstairs putting down some of what she intended to discuss in writing.

“You really do like lying on the floor, don’t you,” Sombra commented. He had been watching the unicorn enter and lie down on the rug. Private just shrugged, at least this gave him a moment to put his thoughts in order.

“So I take it you had a blast from the past as well, seeing that other me in Canterlot,” the king chuckled as he remembered the prince. It hadn’t escaped him how shocked Private had looked, far more than Dew Doe had been.

“A bit,” Private reluctantly admitted. He had afterward just tried not to think too much about it, taking Princess Celestia’s word on it that this had nothing to do with them. He looked at Sombra more fully. “What about you?”

“It was strange to see this mirror from the past, only having natural reserves of dark magic. Can’t say I cared much for it,” Sombra snorted. He was still going over what could possibly be going on. As far as he was concerned, it couldn’t be a coincidence that this prince appeared at the same time he was here. Still, the idea of another world intrigued him, a world where he hadn't accumulated power.

“So I take it you don’t miss being Prince Sombra,” Private wondered and wasn’t surprised the king laughed.

“I haven’t been Prince Sombra for a very, very long time. King Mustangfor the IV saw to that when he murdered my sister and my entire race.” Sombra shook his head. The smile dropped a bit and he growled something the smaller unicorn couldn’t catch.

“Prince Sombra died that day when he saw what had happened to the empire. The dead bodies of his people laying scattered on the streets to rot, when he saw the broken and battered form of his sister, skewered on a spike in the Saddle Arabian capital.” The king looked away.

“You miss them,” Private wasn’t asking. It was just the way Sombra spoke about the fall of his empire. Then he remembered back when the king took him and Barricade to the remains of it, how Sombra remarked how the streets had been full of living ponies.

“Anyway, why do you always lie on that rug?” Sombra looked at him again. Private tilted his head, wondering if he had hit closer to home than the king cared for.

“I’ve always just liked it. More room to stretch I guess than on a couch. Plus, in winter it’s right next to the fireplace.” Private shrugged, he honestly had no good explanation for his napping spot. There were no underlying reasons for it, he just preferred it over the furniture. He could see why Sombra was confused, though. That pony was of course far more accustomed to luxury.

Their talk was interrupted when Coal came tearing into the living room. The black filly jumped on a stool and stared right at the king. Private frowned, hoping she wasn’t up to something and he wondered where Foxy was. Then he remembered she was in her own room taking a nap. Despite Sombra’s assurances, the unicorn couldn’t help but worry Coal would do or say something that would anger the king.

“I know a good reason you should retire,” Coal declared, pointing at the Dark Pony with one hoof.

“Coal,” Private whispered sharply, this was not something the filly was supposed to get involved in.

“Oh really? Please enlighten me.” Sombra on his part just chuckled, finding this rather amusing.

“No one will try blowing you up or throw you into Tartarus,” Coal grinned triumphantly, clearly feeling this was the best reason of all.

“I will concede that is a point.” Sombra nodded. There was no denying that the filly wasn’t wrong.

Sombra continued to chortle when Private rose up and quickly grabbed his niece in magic and started carrying her out of the living room. Coal was undaunted though, clearly very used to this.

“Ooh, ooh, you could also pursue other interests like, uh music. You like music?” she called as she disappeared through the entrance with her uncle. Sombra laughed louder.

Private took Coal to the kitchen and dropped the filly on a chair, staring very unamused at his innocently grinning niece.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Private asked quietly but sharply. Last time Coal had been thoroughly unimpressed that Sombra would be staying in the house while helping catch Queen Rabia and quite happy to go live with her father while that was going on. Now the filly seemed overeager to help.

“I figured if I threw out some ideas why he should retire, it would maybe help?” Coal shrugged a little.

“You can’t just throw random ideas at him and hope it sticks. Yes, he found it funny now, but this is a very dangerous and unpredictable pony. There is no telling what might eventually set him off,” Private told her and rubbed his forehead tiredly with a hoof. “Look, just let me and Dew handle this. We are the ones he clearly thinks can convince him.”

“Are you sure?” Coal furrowed her brow a little, tilting her head as she stared unsure at her uncle.

“What? Of course, I mean he’s hounded me for years and actually thinks we are still friends and Dew Doe has a history of helping ponies entering society again,” Private explained, not understanding why it was even in question who Sombra was talking about.

“He never said you and Aunt Dew specifically. Mom and I were there too and he just vaguely said that of all the ponies in Equestria two of us stood the best chance of convincing him,” Coal pointed out. She certainly couldn’t recall Sombra saying any names at all.

Private blinked. His brain already going over that first day when King Sombra just appeared on their doorstep and had invited himself right in. His eyes grew wider as he realized his niece was correct, there had been no names mentioned. They just assumed the Dark Pony had to have meant him and Dew Doe. The stallion grabbed the filly again and rushed out of the kitchen and headed up the stairs.

“I can walk you know,” Coal grumbled, but her uncle was in such a hurry that they were already on the second floor before she was dropped back to the floor.

“Dew,” Private rushed over to Dew Doe, who was leaving their room.

“Remember how we just assumed Sombra meant us two when he said only two of us stood a chance of convincing him?” he told the pegasus quickly but quietly, then pointed at their niece who was sitting close to the stairs. “Coal kind of pointed out something, Sombra never actually specifically said us, Foxy and she were there too.”

“Well, it can be safely assumed it…” Dew’s words died out as she thought this over. She looked wide-eyed at Coal, who just shrugged. Foxy was peeking out of her own room, having clearly heard them talking.

“No, it’s not that simple, is it? Not with Sombra. Then which two of us was he talking about?” the pegasus scratched her head, unsure.

“Maybe it has to be Dark Ponies,” Coal said and looked at her mom who glanced at her skeptically.

“But the only ones with Dark Pony ancestry here is Private and…” Dew’s mouth opened wide. “No, it can’t be.”

“You’re not trying to tell me it has to be my daughter?” Foxy asked, thoroughly unimpressed.

“She just tried a few minutes earlier.” Private glanced back at Foxy, causing Coal to grin uneasily as her mother gave her a sharp glare now. “Sombra actually complimented her on making a good point. He seemed very amused by her.”

“I was talking with him earlier while waiting for you to come down and, I got the vibe from him that he misses the Dark Ponies. I actually think he misses being in the company of Dark Ponies.” Private turned back to Dew. His marefriend’s eyes widened in shock. She had not even considered that possibility. Foxy looked stunned, then eyed her daughter, trying to compute that her daughter was on the right track.

“He’s lonely,” Dew whispered and took a few steps past Private to look towards the stairs as if she was trying to see where King Sombra was in the living room. “He longs for the company of fellow Dark Ponies. Since he failed to recreate them, he wants to settle for the next best thing. Being amongst the descendants of the refugees.”

“Whaaa?” Foxy wasn’t sure she understood where her sister was going with this.

“Of course, Dark Ponies were sensitive to each other’s presence, they always knew of one another. Even now Equestrian Dark Pony descendants can tap into it. Maybe Sombra has been having a serious sensory deprivation for years none of us could even begin to understand. He even sensed his mother before coming close to the house and told me she no doubt sensed him as well.” Dew nearly jumped up and down in her giddiness. The pegasus clearly felt she was figuring it out finally. “That must be why he is so calm now and ready to at least attempt it, just by being near Private and Coal must be such a relief for him.”

“I do not like the sound of him getting relief from being near my daughter,” Foxy grunted. Dew Doe shot her a glare.

“Get your mind out of the gutter, sis. You know what I mean,” the blue pegasus shot back before struggling to take to the air and flew down the stairs.

Private immediately hurried after her. Foxy was too late to stop Coal who darted after her aunt and uncle. With a sigh, the maroon mare hurried after them all.

Dew Doe was just sitting down when the rest came running into the living room. Sombra could only watch and wonder what was going on now.

“So, Sombra, how long have you been feeling lonely?” Dew Doe asked, resisting the urge to grin when the Dark Pony looked at her with a scowl.

“What makes you think I am?” he asked in turn. There was hesitation in his voice, but the pegasus noted it wasn’t in a growl, nor was it very threatening.

“Oh please, you abducted Private and his family for the sole purpose of attempting to re-create your own race. Then you come to the one house that happens to have two Dark Pony descendants to give them a chance to convince you to retire. I'm not sure you need that much convincing at all. You just want company.” Dew Doe assumed a more serious, yet kindly face, something she often used in therapy sessions when dealing with difficult patients.

“It must feel good right now doesn’t it, having the presence of other Dark Ponies, even if they are by now only distant descendants. You being a full-blood Dark Pony can constantly feel they are there, that’s probably one of the reasons why you have been so obsessed with Private and his family. Their presence alone has been making you feel better,” the pegasus continued to talk.

Private watched with dread. He knew one thing about Sombra and that he hated it if ponies thought they had him all figured out. The unicorn just waited with bated breath for a mocking remark, sarcastic retort, or worse yet, a growling declaration that Dew Doe had no idea what she was talking about.

“How?” Sombra on the other hand stared stunned at the blue pegasus. He could not believe it. The pegasus had hit on everything. He had hoped to alleviate some of it by allowing the ponies in this house to try and convince him, figuring it didn’t matter if they succeeded or failed.

“Just finally piecing together everything I’ve learned about you up to this point,” Dew Doe smiled, omitting that she had to push aside a lot of resentment she felt for the king to succeed.

“She is a therapist,” Foxy pointed out. Coal nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile Private just continued to stare dumbfounded at the king. This had not been the reaction he expected. Sombra still stared flabbergasted at Dew Doe.

“Mostly though, I can thank Coal,” Dew Doe glanced at her niece, who pointed at herself and mouthed ‘me?’. Sombra eyed the filly skeptically, not sure how she could have possibly assisted.

“So instead of flailing around trying to figure out how we need to convince you, I want instead to ask. What do we need to do to convince you to retire?” The pegasus returned her attention to Sombra. “Because we can list a ton of reasons that make sense to us, but I have a feeling you can just as easily shoot them down because they don’t make sense to you. You just think too differently than us. Foxy, Coal and I are glass half full ponies, Private leans more glass half empty. For you, it’s irrelevant to consider that. You just see that there is content in the glass.”

“I will give you that, Private, you know how to pick your mares,” Sombra remarked, glancing at Private, looking and sounding impressed.

“Actually, it was her who picked me,” Private corrected, causing Dew to drop her therapist's face. The mare now blushed and grinned innocently. Foxy and Coal giggled.

“How very Dark Pony appropriate,” Sombra chuckled and glanced at Dew who blinked. “In our society, it is indeed the mares who choose their suitors.”

“Alright fine." The king gave a frustrated groan and sat up on the couch. He assumed a more neutral expression as he stared again at Dew Doe. If she was that sharp, she would no doubt figure out the rest anyway.

“You don’t actually need to convince me. I had already decided to retire a while ago. After my mother’s unexpected resurrection, the thought of conquest just lost its appeal. Even if I were to conquer all of Equestria, I just know she would somehow be there, ready to…take it all away. I only defeated her because I was allied with my enemies. As I hid away the second time, I found that I felt safer…with them still around, protecting Equestria from threats, like my mother,” the King spoke slowly and there was hesitation in his voice. The other ponies in the room were stunned at the confession.

“And you’re not wrong, Dew Doe. I was lonely. That is why I came here. I…know it’s difficult to believe, but I still view Private as a friend, and…” The Dark Pony trailed off and looked away for a moment.

“I was friends with Prince Sombra,” Private risked pointing this out, shaking off for a moment the shock of hearing the king’s speech.

“Yes…you were,” the king sighed. Without another word, he disappeared into the shadows. The other ponies in the room heard the door to his room open and close.

“Oookay, that happened,” Foxy spoke up, looking at Dew Doe, who was still stunned at hearing what the Dark Pony had just said.

“Wait, he was already retired?” Coal was very confused and not sure what to make of this. “Then what was the point of all of this?”

“Well, if he’s already retired, can we kick him out then?” her mother wondered. She was almost ready to go and do just that.

“No,” Dew Doe looked at her sister. There was almost fire in her eyes. “He’s maybe already ‘retired’ as he likes to put it, but that pony needs help.”

“Oooh boy,” Foxy muttered, knowing that face on the blue pegasus. “Yes I agree, he definitely has issues that need to be sorted, but are we really the right ponies to be doing that?”

They all four looked over to the living room entrance when being addressed. King Sombra stood there, clad now in his usual attire of armor, cape and crown. His expression was still neutral.

“I’ve put the room back to its original form as well as the bed,” he told them.

“Wait, you’re leaving?” Dew Doe questioned, alarmed. Her wings were too tired now to fly, so she got down and hurried the best she could over to the king.

“The terms of the agreement I made with you all never really applied. Since I have revealed you never needed to convince me, I figured I should not overstay my ‘welcome’ here,” Sombra stated and started to turn towards the front door.

“Sombra, wait,” Private spoke up, stopping the Dark Pony as he looked over at the unicorn. The mares and the filly also turned their heads towards him.

“Is it true? Have you really 'retired', as you put it?” the unicorn asked with a small frown.

“I have,” the king nodded his head, he arched his brow when Private narrowed his eyes a little.

“Is it King Sombra who is saying that, or Prince Sombra?” Private then asked. He already could spot a slight hesitation in the king’s body language.

“Both really,” the Dark Pony finally admitted.

“Oh come on,” Coal suddenly groaned. “Uncle Private wants you to stay and is taking forever as usual to say it. Aunt Dew wants to help you. Can we skip this drama already and you just go back and make your room again the way you like it?”

“I don’t know whose kid that is.” Foxy cringed a little, although she did try and scoot her daughter out of view behind her, but Coal just snorted and managed to stay put.

“You want me to stay?” Sombra’s brow rose high. He watched the adult ponies glare for a moment at Coal, then look at him again.

“Look, Sombra, I will be honest. I still have reservations and resentment towards you after what you did to Private and his family. However, if you stay, you will be attending therapy sessions with me,” Dew Doe calmly told the Dark Pony. Foxy had sat down, grabbed Coal up in her legs and held a hoof over her daughter’s mouth. The filly was in giggle fits.

“Please, stay,” Private said. He was almost sure now that this wasn’t the pony anymore who had tormented him. It was one thing that had been bothering him a whole lot during the last week. Sombra had been surprisingly cooperative, behaving far more like he had remembered him back when the unicorn had visited the Dark Pony Empire.

King Sombra glanced at the front door, then at the ponies. Then he nodded and turned back to the stairs. With a flash of his dark magic, he changed back into the silk robe instead of the crown, cape and armor.

“Very well, I accept your proposal, Dew Doe,” the king said as he ascended the stairs.

Private let out a breath he had been holding, Dew turned around and tilted her head. She could have sworn she saw a glow on Private's cutie-mark, but it was gone so quickly that the pegasus figured she had been mistaken. None of the ponies noticed that a similar glow had happened on Coal's golden heart mark just as briefly.

End chapter 9

Chapter 10 - The Dark Ponies of Canterlot Castle

“To her Highness, Princess Celestia.

I am heading into deep research into the situation that pulled Prince Sombra and the two boys into our world. I have determined that it was not Starlight Glimmer’s messing about with time that was the cause of the accident. If you could relay that to Princess Twilight Sparkle, it would be really appreciated.

I don’t know how long it will take and right now all I can tell you is that the one who did this is very powerful and very dangerous. He knows who I am. If he finds his way to this world, we are in serious trouble. I must find a way to prevent that from happening.

Take good care of the castaways. This Equestria is now their home. They have nowhere else to go.

I will keep you posted.

With regards.

Doctor Whooves.”

Princess Celestia rolled up the scroll she had just recently received from the Time Pony and put it aside. She couldn’t say she liked what it said and wondered what Whooves had found out. It was not usual for him not to just say it outright. Something had clearly spooked him.

“I need to go and speak with our guests,” she addressed her secretary and rose from her throne.

The alicorn made her way from the throne room and headed to the guest wing. While she was doing so, she thought about how to break this news to the prince.

The Dark Pony seemed to have adjusted alright so far but did focus most of his time just taking care of the two boys. Celestia figured it was at least distracting him from his situation. She had to admit feeling some admiration for how dedicated the stallion was to the colts.

She finally arrived in the room that had been assigned to them, knocked on the door and was invited in. Prince Sombra stood by a small bed that had been put up for the two boys. The prince had told them the colts liked sleeping next to each other. The Dark Pony was currently in the process of draping a blanket over their sleeping forms.

“They are taking a nap. It can take forever just to get Barricade to agree that he needs his sleep,” Prince Sombra whispered with a smile and glanced over to Celestia.

“That is a battle many parents face with their children.” The Sun Princess nodded, then gestured to the door. “Shall we take a walk so we don’t disturb them? The guards can keep an eye on things here.”

Prince Sombra nodded and quietly left the room with Celestia, who carefully closed the door behind them. The two royals then made their way through the hallways until they reached a balcony that had a view of the gardens of the castle. There they sat down. The prince took in the view. He was still getting used to how colorful Equestria was even if he had been there now for over a week.

“I received a letter from Doctor Whooves. He claims to have found what caused the accident that brought you and your wards here,” Celestia spoke up, having been silent while still thinking how to begin. Prince Sombra looked at her, not sure how to read the princess right now. She looked sad to him.

“I’m afraid he also confirmed that your world was destroyed in the process. You and the boys are stuck here.”

Celestia’s words stung his heart, the prince dropped his head, looking down at the balcony floor.

“Was it I who caused it?” the Dark Pony whispered, trying to hold back a tear. He felt a hoof gently touch his back.

“No. Whooves said that this was caused by someone very powerful and dangerous. Unfortunately, he didn’t go into details about who,” the princess told him gently. “He also said he’s going into deep research to figure more out about it. That is the trouble with Time Ponies sometime. Even Whooves who is an unconventional Time Pony. They disappear for months on end then suddenly reappear again. These are very mysterious ponies and difficult to figure out.”

“And you told me the Dark Pony Empire in this world is long destroyed…I have nowhere to go.” Prince Sombra looked up, staring into the distance, his heart aching and ears dropped low. “I can’t even return the boys home. If I understood correctly, the ponies here aren’t their parents. Their sons are already full-grown.”

“The boys… they are all I have left of my world,” Prince Sombra whispered and slowly his muzzle twisted into a sneer and he stomped down a hoof in hot fury. “When I find the thing responsible for this…”

Princess Celestia arched her brow, but remained calm. This was quite the show of temper the prince portrayed, yet it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The prince winced and eyed the crack on the balcony floor he had caused.

“My apologies…I shouldn’t be saying that. It’s pointless to look for someone I don’t even know who…besides, if they could destroy a world, what could I do against them.” Prince Sombra looked away, feeling a bit ashamed for his behavior in front of the ruler of Equestria.

“You have nothing to apologize for. It’s understandable you feel anger towards whoever did this,” the princess told him and smiled. “I’m impressed how quickly you reign in your temper.”

“I try. I confess my fuse can be a bit…short.” Prince Sombra carefully and hesitantly glanced back at her, still not overly proud over his conduct.

“Well, we can’t return you and the boys back to your world.” Celestia gazed over the gardens for a moment before looking back at the prince. “But you and the boys are more than welcome to stay here. As members of the court.”

“What?” the prince said, surprised to hear her offer. Part of him wanted to refuse, but then thought back to the two colts. He had constantly worried about traveling with such young children through the wilds, worked his hooves off to keep them as warm and safe as possible with the limited means he had after leaving his mother’s court.

The boys were still so young and didn’t understand at all what had happened to them. Prince Sombra frowned a little in thought. He couldn’t abandon them.

“I said the boys were all I had left now…but the opposite is also true. I’m all they have left. They need stability and not to have to worry when or where they will get their next meal or place to sleep,” the Dark Pony quietly said mostly to himself, but Celestia could hear it. “Very well, I accept your kind offer.”

Again Princess Celestia was impressed how the Dark Pony kept placing the colts first. Even when faced with his king version, he kept trying to protect the children.

“You may not have found their parents, but I think they have found theirs.” Princess Celestia smiled knowingly and started to walk back inside.

“W-what do you mean?” Prince Sombra asked, confused as he followed her.

“Oh, I think deep down, you know, Prince Sombra.” The Sun Princess smiled warmly at him, then watched as a guard came running.

“Excuse the interruption, your Highness, but one of the children has awoken, he’s calling for…” The guard didn’t even get to finish. Prince Sombra was off like a bullet, leaving a somewhat startled guard at the abrupt departure of the stallion and Celestia who just chuckled softly.

The princess kept walking back towards the guest room. The door was open and she could already hear the deep, yet soothing voice of Prince Sombra coming from it.

“Shh, calm down, Private. It’s alright, I’m here. Don’t wake your brother.”

Little Barri must sleep like a rock. Celestia glanced in. Prince Sombra sat on his own bed and in his forelegs he held little Piat, who curled up in the Dark Pony’s embrace.

“Daddy,” the little colt whimpered and rubbed his head against the prince’s chest.

“Bad dream?” Celestia asked. Too bad Luna was asleep right now since it was day, thus she wouldn’t have been available to deal with that.

“Hm? No, Private is just a little sensitive. He doesn’t like losing sight of me.” Prince Sombra looked over as he kept gently rocking the colt in his legs.

Celestia nodded. They had noted that when they first arrived. She walked inside and noticed that Barri was still in fact sleeping, confirming that he did indeed sleep very deep. Looking back at the prince, she saw that Piat was now drifting back to dreamland.

“He really trusts you. He knows you keep him safe,” the Sun Princess said. “How long have they been with you?”

“Ah… let’s see, at my mother’s court probably three, maybe four months,” Prince Sombra had to think hard to fully remember. He allowed Celestia to gently take Piat in her magic and float the sleeping boy back to the bed to rest with his brother. “Then there were the weeks we spent traveling away from the court and me trying to find out where they came from.”

“So, they have been with you for a little while,” the Sun Princess commented while she carefully put the blanket over Piat again.

“Yes, though the first few days they were not too receptive to me, but my sister adored them, kept stealing them away to play with them. Mother did entrust me with their care while we tried to figure out how they got there,” Prince Sombra sighed a little. “I wish I could have kept my promise to them.”

“That was out of your control, Sombra,” Celestia reminded him and sat down closer to the bed. “I also couldn’t help notice what little Piat called you.”

“Um…” Prince Sombra tried to hide his embarrassment. “They have been doing that for a while actually, I haven’t had the…heart to correct them.”

“What are you embarrassed about?” the princess wondered. The prince sighed deeply, having clearly failed to conceal anything from her.

“I don’t want to make it look like I’m replacing their parents…yet…what the Time Pony said…I did exactly what I claimed I would never do. I stole children from their parents,” Prince Sombra whispered, a tear forced its way down his cheek.

“That was a version of you that doesn’t exist yet, and by the looks of it will never exist. And Whooves did say you successfully returned them,” Celestia told him gently.

“But how are we here then? The boys are here, I’m here, it doesn’t make any sense,” Prince Sombra protested, gesturing to the smaller bed containing the sleeping colts.

“The only advice Whooves could give me on that was to try not to think about it.” The Sun Princess did agree that this was a bit confusing, but she couldn’t deny that it had happened. It was staring her right in the face.

Perhaps it would be prudent to look into the research of alternate worlds. We already know of the world Sunset Shimmer now resides in and Prince Sombra is proof that pony versions of such worlds exist. Celestia rubbed her muzzle as she considered this for a moment. Perhaps then they could figure out something that at least made some semblance of sense.

“Perhaps he’s right. Thinking about it won’t solve anything. Won’t change the fact that we’re stuck here,” Prince Sombra sighed in resignation.

Celestia nodded and glanced at a clock on a nearby dresser. The princess realized it was time for her to return to her duties. There was still much to do on her schedule.

“I’m afraid I must go for now. Will you be alright?” She asked as she rose to her hooves.

“I’ll be fine. Thank you again,” Prince Sombra nodded and lay down on the bed.

The princess nodded and started to walk towards the door. Before she exited, the alicorn glanced back. The prince was grabbing up a book from the nightstand, one of several he had been lent from the castle library. Celestia smiled and left the room and started her way back to the throne room.

“I saw my son a few days ago, leaving the castle,” Queen Rabia said, slowly using her limited magic to circle the tea in the cup. She lay on a couch in her chamber, front legs crossed.

“Yes, his own self-appointed reform plan appears to be going well. His custodians reported no complaints,” Twilight told her. It was that time again where she would be instructing Rabia on friendship. She was seated on a chair in front of the Dark Pony.

“I think he saw me.” Rabia raised the cup to drink from it.

“Oh,” the princess could really only say. She wasn’t sure if Sombra actually knew that his mother was going through something similar. She and Cadance did have a plan to make an impromptu check-up visit on their friends in Fillydelphia. They just had to fit it in their schedules.

“Does he know?” the queen asked, eyeing the alicorn.

“It is possible,” Twilight conceded with a shrug. Especially if he saw her.

The Friendship Princess frowned, there was something different about Rabia lately. The queen looked more listless, was often found just staring into the distance. She also spoke more quietly and seemed to struggle with maintaining that stern facade she had often portrayed before.

Asking her about it though was difficult. Rabia would be very evasive or just refuse altogether to respond. Twilight wondered if she should consult a Dark Pony expert since the only two known living Dark Ponies were not exactly very open about themselves. Granted this could have nothing to do with their race, but the alicorn didn’t want to rule out the possibility.

There is still so little known about Dark Ponies, and the only live examples we have are King Sombra and his mother. Twilight took a moment to write down a note to remind herself to speak with Private’s parents, who were after all at the forefront in Dark Pony history.

“So, who is the Dark Pony living in the castle?” Queen Rabia suddenly asked. There was a mild sign of interest in her eyes. “I can faintly feel them sometimes, the pony is just close enough.”

Oh, of course. Dark Ponies can sense each other. Twilight had been a little alarmed when Rabia suddenly asked. The princess wondered for a moment why the queen hadn’t brought this up already, but dismissed it for now as she debated how exactly to explain this.

“There was an incident in my castle. I have already explained about the Tree of Harmony and the map that is inside my castle so I won’t go into that again. Anyway, this is still being investigated by proper experts since time magic was involved,” the alicorn started to carefully tell the queen who listened attentively.

Twilight took a deep breath before explaining the next part, watching carefully how the Dark Pony Queen would react. She told Rabia about the vortex and how it had pulled three ponies to this world from a different one.

“The Dark Pony is a version of your son from that other world,” Twilight then very tentatively revealed who the Dark Pony was. Rabia’s mouth opened slightly, then the queen closed it again, her eyes wide open.

“Unlike your son, he’s not as saturated with dark magic and looks and behaves more like when he was still a prince at your court,” Twilight finished and braced for all kinds of reactions from the queen.

“How was this possible?” Rabia was having a hard time wrapping her brain around this.

“As I said, that is still being investigated. Princess Celestia offered to host him and the boys he came with at the castle.” The princess couldn’t blame Rabia for being confused. Everybody was confused about this event.

“The boys, are they Dark Ponies as well?” the queen then asked and tapped a muzzle with her hooves. “Then again you said they were young, the connection would be weaker.”

“Well, that’s an even more complicated event,” Twilight cringed, dreading to have to go into that. She had skipped it, not feeling it was too important right now.

“More complicated than a vortex pulling three ponies from a different world to this one?” Rabia asked skeptically.

Well, I warned her. Twilight shrugged and proceeded to explain the two boys that were with the prince. Rabia in the end was rubbing her forehead tiredly.

“I am very sorry I asked,” the queen muttered, sounding like she was battling a migraine. She crossed her front legs again after a moment and gazed down to the floor. “I don’t suppose I can meet them?”

“I would have to ask Princess Celestia about that.” Twilight wasn’t sure that was a really good idea. The prince and the king at least shared one familiar background, they had fled their mother’s court, although for different reasons. Chances were the prince was just as afraid of his mother as the king was of Rabia.

“However, I think we can continue working on allowing more Dark Pony descendants to meet you if you wish. I think you are ready for that now,” the princess then added. They hadn’t exactly gotten any more direct requests except that one time, but there was always a chance there were some descendants interested who just didn’t know if it was possible. Rabia’s eyes almost seemed to light up at hearing that.

“I would like that, very much,” she nodded and produced a genuinely happy smile.

The Friendship Princess nodded and started to gather her things. This session was over for now and she had many other things to do, aside from also running a school. Twilight did notice that just the idea of meeting descendants of her people, seemed to have lifted Rabia’s spirit.

Well, it is high time to start testing it more if she is ready to enter society again without going off trying to destroy her enemies, Twilight thought. She bid the queen farewell and trotted out of the chamber.

End chapter 10

Chapter 11 - Friendship map glitch

Two princesses landed in front of the white house in Fillydelphia where Private and his friends lived. Cadance took a quick glance around, but could see nothing out of the ordinary. The neighborhood was fairly peaceful. Twilight, in the meantime, approached the door and knocked.

The two alicorns took a step back in surprise when it was King Sombra himself who opened the door. That wasn’t what shocked them, it was what he was wearing. The dark unicorn closed his eyes and groaned slightly when seeing them. Twilight and Cadance meanwhile were trying to comprehend the fact the king had an apron on.

“I’m making…” Sombra opened his eyes a crack, he really didn’t want to finish that sentence. He didn’t need to. Coal came running and poked her head out the door.

“He’s learning how to make apology cookies,” the filly explained to the stunned princesses. She continued with a deadpan expression. “He has a lot to apologize for, but we are starting small.”

“What she said,” the king grunted and gestured to himself with a hoof. “You may proceed now with the mocking laughter.”

“What he means.” Now Dew appeared and proceeded to push Sombra away from the door as well as Coal. “Do please come in.”

Still too surprised for words, the two princesses entered the house. Sombra and Coal disappeared into the kitchen, while Dew led the alicorns to the living room.

“Foxy is with them in the kitchen. Private is at work,” the pegasus assured them and gestured for them to sit down, Cadance and Twilight found themselves soon on a couch while Dew took a chair. “So, surprise inspection? I am still working on the next report.”

“Yes, well, we just wanted to make sure things were actually okay,” Cadance finally found her voice. Unsure, she leaned a bit to the side to stare out at the living room entrance, trying to see to the kitchen. “I take it things are proceeding even better than we expected?”

“Yeah,” Dew smiled a little nervously now. “In fact, we had a bit of an unexpected development.”

“What kind of development?” Twilight wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that.

“Sombra was already retired. We never needed to convince him of anything,” the pegasus very quickly explained, ending with a nervous chuckle.

“Say what!?” Twilight Sparkle shouted. Cadance was again too stunned for words.

“Then why tell you that you needed to convince him? Why that deception?” the Friendship Princess gestured to the general direction of the kitchen.

“Well, strictly speaking, he never really outright lied or said that it was back to business as usual if we failed,” Dew Doe pointed out, granted the implication was sort of there. The pegasus sighed, the princesses waited for her to continue.

“King Sombra came here because he was lonely for Dark Pony company and suffering from sensory deprivation, due to the lack of Dark Ponies around him. The refugee descendants have to concentrate to feel the Dark Pony connection, but Sombra, being a full-blooded one, can always feel it,” Dew started to explain. “It turns out Dark Ponies actually need the presence of others of their kind or they start to eventually feel listless, even depressed and lonely.”

Dew and Cadance looked at Twilight, who gasped after hearing that. But the Friendship Princess gave them a signal she would speak later, right now it was important they hear more about King Sombra right now.

“Okay, I suppose I can buy that. That still doesn’t explain why he felt necessary to pretend he needed to be convinced to retire to be here,” Cadance pointed out.

“And that’s why he’s making apology cookies right now,” Dew chuckled at the odd looks she got from the princesses.

“It’s a thing mom had Foxy and I do when we were little. If we had done something bad, we had to make apology cookies and only the pony or ponies we had to apologize to could eat the cookies. We kind of continued doing that when we got older,” the pegasus told them.

“The nearest I can figure right now is that Sombra did it out of old habits. He knew we wouldn’t just welcome him back with open arms, and so played that trick to invite himself in. I’ve started him on therapy and I figured the easiest step right now was to apologize for that." She then added since she hadn't really answered why King Sombra had played that trick.

Twilight and Cadance glanced at each other unsure before looking at Dew Doe again. The pegasus looked as she usually did, aside from the protruding belly containing her unborn foal. Sombra’s mind control wasn’t exactly subtle, and her eyes weren’t green and glowing.

“Don’t say it out loud, but we are actually reforming him now since the retirement has already happened,” Dew whispered carefully with a weak chuckle.

“Okay, let’s go back to that. When did he retire?” The Love Princess still could barely believe it.

“He admitted to us that after his mother was resurrected and after assisting Twilight and her friends to capturing her, the thought of conquest no longer appealed to him,” Dew Doe told them and then went a little further into what King Sombra had confessed to them.

“Oh my gosh, I had a feeling there was something different about him, but since he disappeared, I could never confirm that,” Twilight gasped and grabbed her muzzle with both front hooves, half-surprised the other half-excited.

“I suppose that is good news, but that doesn’t change the fact he escaped custody. He’ll need to answer for that,” Cadance pointed out, not liking being the downer in this discussion, but felt they had to be realistic, especially if the king was genuine about having renounced his ways.

“That will in fact be a topic on my next report to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” Dew Doe assured her.

“Also, is it a good idea he’s around Private, retired or not?” the Love Princess then asked what was bothering her the most.

“That is where things are complicated,” Dew Doe sighed a little. Judging by the look on her face, this was something that had already been brought up. The pegasus took a moment to consider how to properly say this.

“To give a little context here, Private never really gave up on his brother. Even when Barricade practically destroyed his relationship with his entire family. Sure, Private was angry at him, hated how he was treating the rest of us, but he still wanted the brother he remembered back and was waiting and ready once Barricade finally came around,” Dew began and scratched her head, still a little unsure how to go into this next part.

“Private is still infatuated with the Sombra he met in the Dark Pony Empire. He hates the Sombra who possessed him and abducted his family. As odd as it sounds, he seems to be treating it as the same thing as with his brother. He’s met the good version of the pony before, so feels he can wait for that good version to come back. Am I making any sense?” Dew Doe looked at the princesses unsure.

“I think I get what you mean.” Twilight rubbed her muzzle as she considered what the pegasus just said.

“Private has told me he doesn’t expect anything to happen, but he feels if he can at least get his friend back, it would be something,” Dew Doe told them and had to take a moment to shift her weight a little. She was almost tempted to move to Private's napping spot and lie down there.

“Oh right, he had his memories of meeting Sombra as a prince locked up. Now that they are all opened up again and he’s sorted through them, he’s more ready to give Sombra another chance, especially if he is retired,” Cadance realized. She couldn't help but wonder if that had also played a part in Private accepting to be Sombra's custodian before.

“Which is probably why he’s treating it now more like the situation with Barricade,” Twilight nodded and then blinked as something came to her. “The map.”

“What about it?” her sister-in-law and Dew Doe looked at the Friendship Princess.

“The map is highly sensitive to friendship issues. Just look at the timing. When King Sombra is here pretending to want to be convinced to be retired, it suddenly goes on a fritz, the vortex happens and pulls out Prince Sombra and the colts,” the purple alicorn quickly explained. “What if it was about to signal a friendship problem right here, but at the same time the time aftershock happened, disrupting it?”

“Come to think of it, shortly after we decided King Sombra could stay, even after discovering it was a trick, Private’s cutie-mark seemed to glow for a split second, but I kind of thought I was just seeing things and ignored it,” the pegasus frowned as she thought this over. Twilight’s jaw dropped and Cadance was not feeling much different.

“I think I get what happened. The map was about to signal a friendship problem, knowing Private and Sombra, when he was good, considered each other friends. Clearly, King Sombra pretending to stay here to be convinced to retire was causing an issue, but at the same time the aftershock happens, so instead of signaling Private or even possibly Sombra that they had an issue that needed fixing, the map due to the vortex disrupting it, pulls out a version of Sombra that is still good because that’s the Sombra Private remembers.” Twilight jumped off her seat and started pacing around excitedly.

“Um, sure Twilight,” Cadance could really only say, not sure she fully understood that, and neither did Dew Doe.

“Tell me, are things easier now with Sombra?” the Friendship Princess looked at the pegasus.

“Now that you mention it, yes actually. He still has a bit of an attitude problem, but we are working on that,” Dew Doe confirmed. “And admittingly we were a bit stressed over how to convince Sombra. But it wasn’t really Private who sorted it out…It was Coal.”

Twilight promptly sat down on the couch again, summoning a scroll and a quill. Cadance smiled knowingly at her sister-in-law.

“Tell me exactly what happened,” the smaller princess then requested. Dew Doe eyed Cadence, who just gave her a sympathetic look. The pegasus shrugged and went into more detail on what happened that day.

“So you said you thought you noticed a faint glow on Private’s cutie-mark, but not on Coal?” Twilight asked as she ran over the scroll with her eyes to make sure she got everything.

“If it did we didn’t notice,” Dew Doe responded.

“What are you thinking, Twilight?” Cadance wondered. Her sister-in-law had dropped into thought.

“I think for your next report, Dew Doe, I should be there as well. But first, we need to go to my castle and check on the map and see if it needs to be fixed. That vortex couldn’t have been good for it,” The Friendship Princess responded and looked at a nearby clock. “When is Private coming home from work?”

“Oh, shouldn’t be too long now, maybe half an hour,” Dew glanced at the clock herself and saw it was well into the afternoon.

“Cookies are ready!” Coal announced as she bounced into the living room. After her came Foxy and somewhat reluctantly, King Sombra. The king was holding a tray of cookies, on them was written in red frosting ‘I’m sorry.’

“What’s going on?” Foxy asked when seeing the thoughtful expression on Twilight Sparkle.

Starlight Glimmer turned her head when hearing the doors opening to the map room. She arched her brow when seeing who was walking in behind Twilight and Cadance. Dew Doe, Private Iceland, Foxy Stripes, Coal and finally Sombra. The unicorn wasn't sure what to make of this.

“Um, I got your message to meet you here. What’s going on?” Starlight walked over to the group, glancing warily at King Sombra, who just watched the entire group with a neutral expression.

“Starlight, remember the spell we used to fix the map last time?” Twilight asked her student counselor. Starlight nodded. The princess then proceeded to explain to her what was going on.

“Uh, guess it is a good point that this vortex may have caused some damage,” she could really only say. The unicorn mare then walked with the princess over to the map.

The other ponies could only watch as the two lit up their horns and fired two different colored magic energies at the map table. For a brief moment, the map was revealed, then seemed to glitch for a second before stabilizing. Starlight and Twilight didn’t quit, but continued to pour their energies into it.

Suddenly sparks of energy, similar to the vortex energy shot out of the map and dissipated in the air. Private and Coal blinked when hearing a sound and when they looked at their flanks, their cutie-marks were pulsating and glowing. The others also noticed. Dew and Foxy’s jaws dropped. Sombra just arched his brow. He had no idea what was going on.

On the map, miniature versions of their marks appeared, floating over Fillydelphia. Private stared at it, stunned. Coal tilted her head in confusion. Their actual cutie-marks had stopped glowing. Then the miniature versions of the marks vanished and for a brief moment, theirs started pulsating a glow again.

“Whaaat just happened?” Foxy asked. Most of the ponies shared her confused expression, albeit Sombra looked more skeptical.

“We basically reset the map, so it resummoned Private and Coal for the friendship problem, but since it's already sorted, it signaled that the mission was complete,” Twilight turned around to explain to them with a smile.

“Wait, we were being summoned to solve a friendship problem?” Coal blinked. She recalled hearing something about the map in Twilight’s castle doing that from Dinky.

“You already solved it, Coal. You and Private,” the Friendship Princess told her with a chuckle.

“How?” the filly was even more confused now.

“Of course, Coal was the one who saw that Sombra never specified who he meant that needed to convince him. Private figured out that he was lonely for Dark Pony company,” Dew Doe realized and looked at her niece. “Coal, knowing her uncle so well, knew he was trying to tell Sombra to stay, that it was alright and we wanted to help.”

“What are you all talking about?” Sombra asked. Nothing that had been said made any sense to him.

“The Tree of Harmony fuels this map. It knows Private still sees you as a friend and that you see him as a friend, despite what has happened between you two in the past. By not being honest with him about why you had arrived at his house so suddenly, you were causing an issue. The tree knew what ponies were needed to resolve that issue,” Twilight turned to Sombra and without any reservation gave him a friendly smile. “It knows you are no longer our enemy.”

Good thing I canceled my plans to destroy it a while ago then, Sombra thought, his only outward response the slight raising of one eyebrow.

"Good thing then that Coal convinced mom and me to bring her back," Foxy remarked, then thought it over. "Say how does this work exactly?"

"Generally the map summons those needed for the mission to the castle, then they go to whatever place on the map their cutie mark hovers over," Starlight explained.

"These cutie-marks of yours keep getting more confusing," Sombra grumbled. The other ponies just giggled at his remark. The Dark Pony then glanced back, thinking he heard many hoofsteps.

The doors to the map room suddenly swung open as Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy came barreling in. Most of them looked ready to fight, safe Fluttershy, who looked just more worried.

“It’s okay girls,” Twilight quickly called out to her friends. Clearly they had heard from someone that King Sombra had just arrived in Ponyville. The mares had stopped short when seeing there was no battle going on and everything did look fairly peaceful.

"What the hay is going on?" Applejack asked, glaring suspiciously at the king.

"Yeah, what is he doing here?" Rainbow Dash snorted and pointed a hoof at the Dark Pony.

Sombra sighed and gave Coal a glare, who just grinned right back at him. Then using his magic he summoned the tray with what was left of the cookies and presented them to the confused, newly arrived ponies. They all looked at the tray and then skeptically at the Dark Pony.

“I made…” the king eyed the filly again who just nodded sharply. “Apology cookies.”

End chapter 11

Chapter 12 - A king retires, a prince wonders

There was a long awkward silence as the two Celestial sisters stared at the four ponies in front of them. Dew had just finished the second report and Twilight had explained what she had figured out regarding the friendship map. This time King Sombra had been allowed to be present at the behest of the Friendship Princess. To his credit, the Dark Pony had been silent the entire time.

“I see.” Finally Princess Celestia broke the silence, her eyes drifting to Sombra, who just stared back with a hard expression on his face. “Do you have anything to add, Sombra?”

“That depends,” the king remarked. “On what exactly you want me to add.”

“Perhaps beginning with an explanation as to why you broke out of custody after we captured your mother if you had no intention to cause any further trouble,” Princess Luna snorted and narrowed her eyes.

“It’s not like you needed me anymore.” Sombra shrugged casually. He rolled his eyes when just getting sharp glares from the Celestial Sisters. “I did not want to go back to Tartarus, alright. I didn’t want to risk it.”

“I decided to just step out of the way. After my brief stay with Private and his friends, I got more curious about the modern world and decided to explore it, investigate it. I hadn’t really focused much on that the first time I was in hiding,” the Dark Pony continued before hesitating a little. “I returned… because the longing for the company of my own kind was finally driving me nuts again.”

“As I briefly touched on earlier, we’ve discovered that Dark Ponies really do need the company of their own kind. The connection they feel isn’t just some weird quirk of theirs. It’s actually an empathic connection they are dependent on,” Dew Doe spoke up. “Sombra can alleviate it by being amongst the descendants of the Dark Pony refugees. That’s one of the reasons he was always so hyper-focused on Private, who is descended from two Dark Pony bloodlines.”

“That’s also probably why Private was the pony who got first drawn to Sombra’s horn. It wasn’t just the spells Sombra put in him. It was his Dark Pony ancestry that drew him in as well,” Twilight added in. Private tilted his head curiously. He had never considered that.

The Celestial Sisters listened attentively, then looked at each other. Both were thinking the same thing and nodded to one another. Celestia rose from her throne, as did Luna. The Sun Princess’s expression was still stern as she focused back on King Sombra.

“I want one final assurance before we decide anything,” she spoke. “Sombra, any spells that are still in Private. Undo them.”

King Sombra frowned slightly before nodding and looked at Private who turned towards him. The king’s horn lit up with dark magic and he locked eyes with the unicorn.

‘Apologies, Private, this may sting a bit,’ Sombra addressed Private in his head as the Dark Pony connected with the unicorn’s mind.

‘I’m almost used to that,’ Private responded and grunted out loud when feeling the magic enter his head.

‘I… apologize also that you are almost used to that.’ Private almost forgot the pain when hearing what the Dark Pony said. Once he was free from Sombra’s hold, the unicorn just continued to stare stunned at him. The king meanwhile was turning his grave expression towards the Celestial Sisters.

“Alright, all spells that were still buried within his mind are gone,” Sombra told them.

Celestia and Luna lit up their horns and for a brief moment magic swept over Private Iceland. This time it tickled a little, causing the unicorn to jump, but he managed to refrain from making any sound.

“I hope you understand that we trust you carefully, after all, you did not trust us,” Princess Celestia said and eased her stern expression a bit.

“I would be very disappointed if you did,” Sombra allowed himself to smirk.

“Private Iceland, Dew Doe,” Celestia addressed the two. “I take it the two of you still wish to continue working on Sombra.”

“Yes!” To the surprise of everybody, it was Private who responded as he turned back to the thrones. “That pony who just got rid of the spells, that’s not the pony who put them in me. That’s Prince Sombra.”

“No, Prince Sombra is in the north wing of this castle, if I understand correctly,” Sombra remarked. He chuckled when seeing the unimpressed glare he got from Private.

“You know what I mean,” the unicorn grunted and looked back at the princesses. “Dew Doe has already scheduled therapy sessions for him. He’s retired, but there is still work to do and I want to help my friend.”

“Very well,” Princess Celestia nodded in approval, as did her sister. Both were smiling now. “We still want regular reports on the process, but let’s make it monthly this time.”

“You are after all still on parole, Sombra, even if you took a small break from it,” Luna pointed out when the king arched his brow at Celestia’s words. “And you did return to your assigned home during that parole.”

“I suppose you have a point,” Sombra grumbled and glared at Twilight, who was giggling. “You are not coming over with friendship lessons.”

“No, no, I have my hooves full of that with your mother,” the Friendship Princess assured him.

“I still can’t believe you managed to get her to agree to that,” the king muttered. He had been told now what was being done with Queen Rabia, and the Dark Pony was still having trouble accepting that idea.

“Well, how about we head home? I’m sure the princesses are busy,” Dew Doe suggested. She and Private then bowed before the Celestial sisters. Sombra restrained himself from snorting or rolling his eyes.

“I look forward to your next report in a month,” Princess Celestia reminded them.

There was a small alarm before they departed. When Dew Doe turned around with the others to leave, the pegasus stumbled and looked to be in mild pain. Private was immediately at her side to support her.

“Oof, don’t think I’ll be walking out. That was a mean kick from you down there,” Dew mock glared at her belly, but was smiling.

“You thought I was going to allow you to walk to the train station in your condition? We are teleporting,” Sombra declared sharply, grabbing both smaller ponies in shadowy tendrils before disappearing in an explosion of black smoke.

The three princesses giggled a little. It hadn’t escaped their notice that even the king had looked concerned when seeing Dew Doe stumble. Their attention though was soon turned to a flash of light in front of the thrones. Discord appeared wearing a cap with Sombra’s face on it. His eagle claw was clad in a big foam hand and his lion paw was holding a flag, also with the Dark Pony’s face on it.

“Yay, congratulations King Smo…oh I missed it.” The Chaos Spirit went limp when seeing only the three alicorns. Twilight just shook her head with a smile and the Celestial Sisters just eyed the spirit, bemused.

“Let me guess, you knew the whole time Sombra was already retired?” Twilight asked and flew over to Discord, who was now busy removing his apparel.

“Of course I did, I was just waiting for him to finally admit he was just lonely, like I was,” Discord smirked and floated up to hang in midair.

“Still, thank you, Discord, for keeping an eye on things for us,” Princess Celestia thanked him, then gave him a mocking suspicious look. “You knew where he was in hiding as well, didn’t you?”

“Sure. A note of warning, though, do not play blackjack against him. He counts the cards.” Discord shrugged and grinned cheekily.

“And you didn’t think of telling us where he was?” Luna asked, though the Lunar Princess figured she already knew the answer to that.

“Well, he wasn’t causing any trouble, aside from making a few other high rollers grit their teeth in frustration at the Mareage resort.” Discord gave another careless shrug. “Now if you will excuse me, Fluttershy has invited me to afternoon tea at that delightful café in Ponyville”

The princesses watched the spirit snap his claws and disappear in a flash. Now that they were alone in the throne room, Princess Celestia looked at Twilight mildly concerned.

“Have we had any news on descendants wishing to visit Queen Rabia?” she asked. Learning that Dark Ponies needed others of their kind around had made her worried. She had known of the connection, but not that it was so vital to them.

“We are still working on that.” Twilight shared her concerns. Learning about this from Dew had answered what was wrong with Rabia, why she seemed so eager to meet them, and had even risked asking if she could meet Prince Sombra.

“King Sombra ruled the Crystal Empire for a long time, not knowing of the refugees in Equestria. How did he cope with it back then?” Princess Luna couldn’t help but wonder.

“Only he can answer that. I have a feeling he just powered through it since he probably thought he was the last anyway,” her sister could only guess.

The princesses quickly turned their attention to the throne room doors when they swung open as something came crashing through them. Prince Sombra lay flat on the floor, mildly disoriented. Through the open entrance peeked the two boys and two concerned guards.

“Oh my, is everything alright?” Celestia asked and started walking down from the throne, as did Luna.

“Never underestimate how quickly those two can take a sharp turn,” Prince Sombra spoke at a slightly higher octave as he was still recovering from the knock. He gestured towards the innocently grinning colts. The guards stepped in to help him stand up.

“Ah, play went a little sideways?” Luna chuckled, considering the colt didn’t look frightened and the Dark Pony wasn’t looking frustrated or angry. This wasn’t probably as serious as it may have appeared.

“I was going to take it to the gardens, but they decided to start as soon as I opened the door to our room. I was trying to intercept them,” Prince Sombra admitted and took a moment to rub the sore spot on his head that had hit both the door and the floor. “I hope we didn’t interrupt anything?”

“We were just finishing,” Celestia assured the prince, but then looked at Piat and Barri. “But next time, play runs outside.”

“Yus Princess Celestia. Sowwy,” both colts said in unison, hanging their heads a bit.

“Good, we can’t have your father be crashing into doors like that.” Celestia nodded with a smile. Prince Sombra opened his mouth to protest being called their father, but shut it quickly.

“Now that you have shown how sorry you two are, let’s go outside,” he said instead and herded the two colts out of the throne room. They had barely disappeared from view when the princesses heard the prince shout:

“Barricade! You were just telling the princess you were sorry for running inside!”

“I see life in the castle is turning out livelier with those three around,” Twilight commented as she laughed along with the Celestial Sisters.

“Oh you have no idea,” Princess Celestia had to take a moment to regain control of her breathing.

“Piat has started wishing every guard he passes good night, or ‘night, night’ as he says it when it’s time for bed,” Princess Luna told her.

“Okay, that’s adorable.” Twilight smiled at the mental image of the small colt doing that every night.

“Well, to go briefly back to the topic before we call it good for now. Twilight, you continue looking into the descendants,” Celestia addressed her former student, who nodded and after saying goodbye, trotted out of the throne room.

Queen Rabia glanced at the window when she noticed the light was dimming. She rose up from the couch and peeked outside. From her vantage point, she could just make out Celestia lowering the sun. The Dark Pony wasn’t sure why this had piqued her curiosity. She had seen this routine now for months. Eventually, Luna would stand where her sister stood and would raise the moon.

Turning away, the queen started turning on the lamps in her chamber. She was allowed just enough magic to be able to do so. She then returned to the couch and picked up the newspaper she had been reading.

“The Princesses welcome a new member to the royal court.

Mysteriously arrived from a magical vortex, a pony from another world is stranded here in Equestria along with his two sons. The Celestial Sisters welcomed the castaways first as a guest while this incident is being investigated. Our correspondent within Canterlot Castle has now confirmed that the exotic guest from a different world has now been appointed to the court, though what jobs he will be undertaking has not been determined yet.

More on page…”

Rabia looked up when she felt a nearby presence of a Dark Pony. There was a knock on her door, then a guard looked in.

“Queen Rabia, you have a visitor,” the guard announced.

“Let him in,” the queen requested in a low tone. She didn’t even need to see the visitor to know who it was. The guard stepped away and in the entrance appeared Prince Sombra.

So alike…yet there is something different, Rabia held back a gasp, barely managed to retain her stern expression as she put down the newspaper and rose from the couch. “Please, come in.”

The prince was hesitant as he stepped into the chamber. The door closed behind him and the stallion glanced at it before turning back to face Rabia.

“I take it Princess Celestia approved of my wish to meet you?” the queen asked, scanning the other Dark Pony with critical eyes. Deep inside she was feeling relief at having someone of her kind nearby.

“It was with some hesitation on my part…” the prince admitted and then fell silent, averting his eyes downward. Rabia bit her lips, knowing exactly what he was doing.

“We are not in Dark Pony society…I am not your queen and…not your mother,” Rabia said with some difficulty. It was very hard to just break off what she considered completely normal. “Please, feel free to speak.”

“I was just finishing putting my war…sons to bed when Princess Celestia approached me and told me of your request. I will admit that when I learned of you, I was not overly enthused to see you. She told me it would be my decision,” the prince told her, only giving Rabia a slight glance. Clearly, it wasn’t easy for him to break the norms of their kind either.

Can’t say I blame him, Rabia thought and lay back on the couch. “Then why have you come?”

“I guess in the end I was curious why you wished to see me. Were you hoping to compare me to your son? Or did you just crave the company of someone of our kind?” Prince Sombra grunted, then quickly looked away and seemed ready to dive through the door. He was surprised to hear the queen start laughing.

“Well, if I wanted a comparison, I’m already seeing a very big one. I never got the chance to tell him, but I sometimes enjoyed his snide commentary, even if I had to discipline him for it as he was speaking out of turn. But he never looked ready to dive for cover,” Rabia remarked to the confused prince. The queen sighed deeply.

“You are not wrong. The longing for the company of our kind has been growing stronger. I’ve just about managed to feel your presence in the castle, but that was of course not enough. And I was curious about this other world they say you hail from. Judging by your reactions, you have not been gone long from your mother’s court,” she said and looked towards the window. The moon was now in the sky.

“You have nothing to worry about from me, Prince Sombra. I’ve had a while now to…regret and come to understand that it was my own fault that I lost both my children away from me. I was…I hate admitting that the blue mare was right…I was not a good mother.” Rabia started to reach for the newspaper again with her magic. “If you do not wish to see me, I will accept that.”

The queen unfolded the newspaper and didn’t look up from it when hearing the door open and close. Already she could feel the connection diminish. The mare sniffed and grabbed a tissue from a nearby box to wipe away the tears that were forming in her eyes.

Princess Luna hummed softly as she continued to replace the old lavender on the wall scones with fresh ones. She had been at it for a while now and was on the last hallway of the castle in the north wing. Soon enough the princess would be traversing the dream realm to ensure the citizens of Equestria had no troubled dreams.

The alicorn expected everybody to be asleep by now, aside from the nightguards, so it gave her a pause to see a balcony door open and she could just about see someone standing outside.

She left the flower cart and peeked out. Standing out on the balcony, staring over Canterlot, was Prince Sombra. Curious why he was still up, the alicorn stepped outside, which prompted him to glance over. Luna hesitated, the scowl in the prince’s face was very reminiscent of the king.

“Is there something that troubles you, Prince Sombra?” Luna ventured to ask. Clearly something was bothering him.

“Am I here just to be a replacement? Because I have not fallen yet?” the Prince snorted and turned his head back to have a view of the city.

“What? Why would you think that?” The Lunar Princess walked closer so she stood beside him. The Dark Pony stopped scowling but still had a heavy frown, he sighed.

“I visited Queen Rabia…maybe it was a mistake,” he responded and put a front leg over the balcony railing. He didn't really want to admit that it had been a little disturbing. “It got me thinking. I look like her son before he fell. I look like the prince your sister remembers before he turned. Celestia suddenly asks me to join the court instead of being just a guest. Nobody seems to mind me, even if I share the looks of that…monster of a Dark Pony.”

Prince Sombra didn't add in that the king's words about how he was a replacement had sometimes replayed in his mind. It wasn't though until after meeting Queen Rabia that they were really blaring into his head.

“I take it you saw the evening paper,” Luna asked. The prince rolling his eyes and grunting was all the confirmation she needed. The princess herself had not been overly impressed by how the various newspapers gushed over the exotic foreign prince, a castaway from a different world, who was now staying at Canterlot Castle.

“At least you don’t have a holiday centered around your evil alter ego,” the princess remarked. Although she was very accepting of it now, it had been off-putting to learn of it the first time around.

“Excuse me?” Prince Sombra eyed her again, very confused.

“I was not always just Princess of the Moon,” Luna placed a hoof on her chest. “Behold, in a fit of jealousy over my sister I changed into Nightmare Moon, banished for a thousand years to the moon, and when I returned, I was saved by my sister’s new champions. Then I learned they had Nightmare Moon as the Boogey Mare of Nightmare Night.”

“If I understood this whole mess that got me here, that hadn’t happened yet on my world,” Prince Sombra considered this for a moment. “If it even would have happened. We will never know.”

“That is always possible,” Luna nodded. She didn’t know much about alternate worlds, although she had become aware of them much earlier. “I have to admit, when my sister brought you here and your two sons, I was concerned.”

“Oh?” the Dark Pony was actually surprised to hear that, aside from when he first arrived and his encounter with the king, nobody had shown him anything but hospitality.

“I haven’t spoken about this, but I knew already of an alternate version of Sombra, and for a brief moment, I worried we had him on our doorsteps,” Luna told him.

“The adult version of your son, Private, had a dream a few years ago that actually pulled him dangerously close to the spirit realm. There he encountered a spirit of Sombra who also had a son, also a version of Private he called 'Temor',” she continued to explain and frowned a little.

“And how do you know I am not him or was meant to be him?” the prince wondered.

“It didn’t match. You have two boys and call them by their actual names. He renamed his son and he had only one. For that brief moment we met, I felt he was similar to the Sombra we knew, more similar than I felt about you,” Luna looked at the prince.

“Look, I do not always understand my sister’s decisions, but I do know her and I know she has not given you a home here to replace the prince she once knew and loved. Newspapers also tend to like to exaggerate. I would advise taking anything they say with a grain of salt, especially the gossip columns.” The Lunar Princess noticed the prince’s eyes were growing wide in shock. “Something wrong?”

“S-She loved him?” he whispered and looked as if he had been struck by lightning.

“Oh yes. After our visit to the empire, she would not stop taking about him,” Luna sighed tiredly at the memories. The prince looked away with a mortified expression. “Do not tell me that your feelings were similar to the Celestia you knew?”

“I wanted to give her a necklace…a tradition we Dark Ponies do to show we care for someone… but I was too scared. I thought she wasn’t interested. I was too hot-tempered and mother just kept pushing and pushing…” Sombra looked down.

“Wait, your mother wanted you to wed Celestia, from your world that is?” Luna was shocked to hear this. She had suspected, the one reason nothing had happened between her sister and the now-former king was that Queen Rabia had forbidden it.

“Have the most powerful alicorn in the world as her daughter-in-law? Of course she did,” Prince Sombra eyed Luna again. He arched his brow when seeing the expression on the midnight alicorn. “I take it that was not the case here?”

Oh boy, I can’t wait to see how this ends up playing out, Luna thought after shaking her head to the prince’s question.

“At any rate, rest assured Prince Sombra, we are well aware that you are not King Sombra and you are not here to replace anyone,” she then assured him. “You and your sons are castaways from a distant world that has been destroyed. It would be cruel of us just to cast you out on the streets. However, I am sure my sister would understand if you would eventually wish to go.”

“That’s a problem isn’t it? I have nowhere to go,” Prince Sombra sighed and pulled away from the balcony railing.

Luna watched him head back inside and go in the direction of the chamber he now lived in with the boys. The princess stepped inside and closed the balcony door. As she returned to the flower cart, Luna considered if she should bring at least part of this conversation up with her sister once Celestia awoke the next morning.

Difficult to imagine how he must be feeling right now, she thought and continued her work on replacing the flowers.

End chapter 12

Chapter 13 - A birth of a new life

“If I was intended to fly, I would have been born as a dark pegasus,” Prince Sombra muttered to himself while glancing worriedly over the edge of the carriage.

The Dark Pony looked forward and tried to keep his mind off the fact that two royal guards were pulling said vehicle hundreds of feet above the ground. He could not teleport to his destination, and he knew Princess Celestia would have insisted on accompanying him if she knew where he was going.

I just have to do this. I need to know. And if what they say is true, he should hopefully be willing to answer them. He thought and grimaced a bit, already regretting this trip.

Glad I picked an inconspicuous one when Celestia offered me a carriage for my own use. He took a look at the carriage. It was silvery blue with wing facsimiles on the sides, but it paled in comparison to the royal coach Princess Celestia used. Granted in hindsight, it still looked like something a rich pony would be riding in.

“We are approaching Fillydelphia, your Highness. Beginning to descend,” one of the drivers called to him.

“Alright, just take it slow.” Prince Sombra squeezed his eyes shut. He was not looking forward to this part. It had been bad enough when they had taken off.

Mercifully, the guards did descend slowly and there was just a mild bump when the wheels of the carriage touched the ground. The Dark Pony opened one eye carefully and saw that they had landed on a road. The guards were still moving, but had folded their wings in since the flight was over.

“This is Fillydelphia?” the prince looked around. He saw a lot of houses surrounded by picket fences. Ponies were out and about, some even stopping to glance curiously at the passing carriage.

“The suburbs, sir,” one of the guards told him.

Prince Sombra just nodded. He hadn’t exactly gone out much since his arrival in this world. The carriage finally stopped in front of a white house with a red roof. The Dark Pony took a deep breath and hesitantly stepped off. He could already feel the proximity of the one he wanted to meet.

“I do not know how long I will be here,” the prince addressed the guards who nodded and started to remove their harnesses.

“You may want them to stick around,” a familiar dark voice addressed him, causing the dark unicorn to jump and turn to face the house. On the other side of the fence stood King Sombra, smirking.

“I will be fine,” the prince said between his teeth to the unsure-looking guards, who had been just as startled.

The king just chuckled darkly. “Now, what brings you here? Having another look at what you could have become?” King Sombra asked. Using his magic, he opened the gate and gestured to the prince to walk through.

“No, I have… seen more than enough of that,” Prince Sombra grunted and started to enter, signaling the guards to stay put. “I wish to speak with you.”

“Oh, really now?” The king didn’t sound or look impressed. He stepped away from the fence, rolling his eyes. “I hope you aren’t under some delusion that just because I’m retired, I suddenly want to speak with just anyone about anything. That I’m suddenly nice and friendly.”

King Sombra shook his head when seeing the unsure expression come over the prince. “Oh, you were, weren’t you? I don’t recall being this naïve when I was a prince.”

Alright, this might be harder than I thought. Prince Sombra tried to put on a brave face again. He just couldn’t help but worry about being around this alternate version of himself. The prince could feel the dark magic oozing out of the king. His own dark magic was limited to simple shadow tricks.

“Did you love Princess Celestia?” he asked, managing to frown slightly. The prince didn’t like the smug look coming over the king.

“If you need to ask, I don’t think I need to answer this one,” King Sombra chuckled darkly and started circling the prince. He could sense the fear from this younger version of himself and he had detected the almost defensive tone in the question.

“Did you or did you not love her? It’s a simple question,” Prince Sombra snorted, glaring at the king when the older Dark Pony started to laugh.

“Why? Worried that I care she’s gotten a replacement?” the king smirked and didn’t even flinch when the younger dark unicorn stomped a hoof down in anger.

“I’m not here to replace anything!!” the prince snarled, his mouth twitching in rage. “You think I wanted to come here!? All I wanted to do is return two boys back to their parents! I didn’t ask to be sucked into a vortex to another world! I didn’t ask for my world to be destroyed! Had I known any of this would have happened, I would have stayed in my mother’s court,” Prince Sombra snapped, tempted to bury his hooves into the smug face staring back at him. He growled when the king just yawned.

“Are you done?” King Sombra asked casually and just watched when the prince stomped down a hoof again.

“That’s quite a temper you have there,” the king remarked. “Would have been interesting to see how you would have turned…”

The king quickly changed into his smoke form when the prince came charging. King Sombra parted the smoke, causing the younger Dark Pony to run through, then used a shadowy tendril to trip him so the prince fell tumbling to the grass.

“I will. Never.Turn into. That!” Prince Sombra roared as he rose back to his hooves, glaring daggers at the towering smoke form in front of him. The king’s face formed high above, arching his brow.

“Do you even use your magic? You physically tried to charge a unico…” King Sombra fell silent when a blast of red magic passed harmlessly through his shadowy head. “That answers that.”

The king withdrew the smoke and shadow, forming back his body, staring now almost with pity at the glowering, seething prince, whose horn was now sparking with red magic. Then to his surprise, the younger Dark Pony turned off his horn, took a deep breath, and slowly let it out in an attempt to calm down.

“I did not come here to fight. I just came here to ask a simple question,” the prince then slowly spoke, still simmering a little inside and struggling to maintain composure.

“Ugh fine. Why is that so important to you?” the king asked with an exasperated sigh.

“I need to know… if you loved her… why that didn’t…” Prince Sombra looked away. “Why didn’t that stop you from turning into that?”

“If it is any consolation, it has stopped me from outright killing her.” King Sombra shrugged and tilted his head curiously when the prince looked at him with a worried frown. Then the king suddenly realized. “You are scared to death that you’ll turn out like me, aren’t you?”

“Ever since I first learned of you.” The prince nodded his head. “I was hoping my love for the Celestia I knew was something that would prevent it… but if you loved yours…”

“Please. The reasons I turned out the way I am are very complicated,” the king snorted and waved a front hoof dismissively.

“Complications that we are currently working on. What’s going on here?” The king and the prince turned their attention to the house. Dew Doe stood at the front door. Foxy and Private were peeking out from behind her.

“I apologize for the intrusion. I just wished to… speak with him,” Prince Sombra addressed the ponies, glancing carefully at the king.

“And a lovely chat we had.” King Sombra rolled his eyes and started to approach the house, ignoring the unimpressed stares he got from the smaller ponies.

Prince Sombra sighed and hung his head, wondering now if this had been a mistake. He had hoped it would ease his own worries, but if anything, it had just inflamed them.

“Um, Prince Sombra?” Dew Doe had come fully outside and approached him.

“I understand that you probably have hundreds, if not thousands of questions regarding the Sombra we know, but this really isn’t the best time to drop by unannounced,” the pegasus explained with a sympathetic smile. “He is still kind of a work-in-progress. He’s retired, not reformed.”

“Again, I apologize. I suppose I was hoping that this would just be a simple matter.” The prince eyed the king, who stood now by the front door with Private and Foxy.

“He really frightens me. The concept of him frightens me, even more than living in the same castle with a version of my mother,” he then told Dew Doe quietly.

“Have you met her?” the pegasus wondered.

The prince looked at her with a small frown. He thought back to the only meeting so far with the queen. How quickly he had just left. Thinking back, he realized it hadn’t even been half as unpleasant as meeting his king version. She had even assured him that he didn’t need to worry about her.

“Only once and briefly at that,” Prince Sombra confessed. Even so, meeting her again wasn’t exactly high on his list.

“Well, it’s your call if you want to meet her again. I know now that you Dark Ponies kind of need the company of other Dark Ponies, but I hear she’s doing well in her rehabilitation. Princess Twilight told me they might even try soon to let her have access to all her powers. Give her a trial run,” Dew Doe told him.

Prince Sombra just nodded. He glanced at the king again before turning back to the gate and the waiting carriage. The prince bid Dew Doe goodbye before walking through, closing the gate and climbing aboard the vehicle. As the guards started ascending, the prince looked down and saw the pregnant pegasus stumble. The king and the other ponies were already running to her side as she cried out, “I think someone is ready to come out. Sombra. Hospital! Now!”

"Guards, halt," the prince ordered while still looking down. When the carriage stopped he called, "Is she alright?"

"She'll be fine. Seems it time to pop out a baby," Foxy called to him before she and the rest disappeared in an explosion of black smoke.

Prince Sombra sighed in relief before telling the guards to continue flying back to Canterlot.

The clock seemed to tick agonizingly slowly in the waiting room. Foxy Stripes was gnawing her own front hooves, Coal lay bored on a chair next to her. Sky Dive, Mirage Rock and Hard Shovel pretended to read magazines, but their minds were barely on any article. Barricade was pacing on the floor.

“You would think with all the children you have, Barricade, that you would be used to this,” King Sombra commented. He was the only one who looked calm. For a moment, he picked up a magazine, examining the cover before dropping it back on the table.

“Oh, put a cork in it,” Barricade snorted, only earning a chuckle from the Dark Pony. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“I’m the transport service.” The king shrugged casually. He had been busy collecting the relevant ponies to the waiting room after delivering Dew Doe to the hospital. Sombra ignored the looks he was getting from other ponies also in the room. The news was still slowly spreading that he was no longer an enemy. Something he was still getting used to himself, it was a little strange being out in public and not disguising his appearance as another pony.

“Just ignore him, Barricade,” Hard advised his son.

Barricade grunted and finally sat down. He couldn’t help being a little stressed. The pony had missed the birth of all his children, mostly for selfish reasons. This was the first time the unicorn was present at the birth of a new family member. His brother’s first child with the mare Private had loved for so long.

“So Princess Cadance has insisted on officiating the wedding.” Sky Dive decided they might as well talk about something while they waited.

“She officiated mine.” Barricade nodded, he still found it a little weird that he and his brother could call the ruler of the Crystal Empire a friend.

“Yes, I know I’m not invited,” Sombra remarked when receiving a look from the others. “Especially since it will be in the Crystal Empire and I’m forbidden to set a hoof there.”

“Well, we don’t intend to have it big anyway. Private hates big gatherings,” Mirage said and put down the magazine, finally giving up pretending to read it.

"Can someone explain to me what they meant by it being an open marriage?" Sombra asked. He hadn't been privy to the wedding plans, but he had overheard a few things.

"They don't want to rule out it being turned into a Herd marriage. Granted it would be an unconventional Herd if they add another stallion to it," Hard told the Dark Pony. Sombra looked at him mildly confused.

"Herd? That was an antiquated term even back in my time," the king remarked, then took a moment to consider. "I take it has to do with Private's dual nature?"

"Yes, Dew doesn't want to deny him the opportunity if it comes up," Mirage nodded and smiled a little. "Besides, even if it is an eccentric lifestyle, herds do pop up from time to time. Barricade is in an unofficial one."

"What? Barbell wants someone she can kick me over to when she gets tired of my crap. Goldie then kicks me back when she gets tired of the same," Barricade chuckled when getting a skeptical look from Sombra.

"Private told me once you two were eccentric. I see some of it has rubbed off on your sons," the king smirked and glanced at Hard and Mirage, who did chuckle at the comment.

“How much loooonger?” Coal finally groaned. She was getting tired of waiting.

“Well, you took a while to get out.” Foxy finally calmed down enough to look at her daughter with a smirk on her muzzle.

“Mooooom!” the filly cried and gave her mother a glare. The maroon pegasus just grinned at her.

“Now what was it again you said the first time you saw her, Foxy?” Hard Shovel asked with a smile.

“What, did I just give birth to a lump of coal? Well, guess that’s her name now,” Foxy recalled with an even wider grin. Her daughter groaned.

“I always wondered why you named her that,” Barricade smirked and chuckled when his daughter glared at him as well.

All eyes went to the door when a nurse entered the waiting room. Coal jumped to her hooves, wondering if the long wait was finally over. Barricade rose up thinking the same as the filly.

“The family of Dew Doe and Private Iceland?” the nurse asked, which prompted the rest of the family to rise up. Only Sombra remained seated, knowing he wasn’t included in that.

“If you will follow me,” the nurse turned around and the family immediately followed. Sombra looked around, then shrugged and decided to rise and go with them anyway. Nobody had said he couldn’t.

The group was led to a room with a big window on one wall. Behind the glass was a view of a white room full of cradles with newly born foals peacefully resting. Coal jumped on her mother’s back so she could see better. They could see Private stand by one cradle. He looked a little ragged.

“Oh my gosh!” Foxy’s eyes spotted the foal in the cradle Private was standing by. It was blue, like Dew Doe with a red mane. Tiny wings poked up from its blanket.

“Um hey,” Private addressed them, then carefully put a hoof on the cradle. “Meet Blue Axe.”

Sky Dive’s smile dropped a little in surprise when hearing the second name of the colt, she put a hoof on her chest and started tearing up a little, so touched was the old mare. Mirage placed a hoof gently on her back.

“Congratulations, son. How is Dew?” Hard Shovel asked. He was brimming with pride.

“Sleeping right now,” Private answered, then he looked around and quietly addressed a nearby nurse who nodded in response. The unicorn carefully picked up the sleeping colt in his magic and walked with him closer to the window so the others could see him better.

“He’s so cuuute,” Coal whispered excitedly.

At the back, Sombra watched everything quietly. Nobody had really noticed he had followed and he made no move to change that. The family continued to admire the newest family member and congratulate Private and Dew, even if she wasn’t present. The Dark Pony noticed that despite his ragged look, Private constantly had a small smile on his muzzle.

He really should smile more often, the king thought and sighed silently. He looks so much like Timido when he smiles.

You know perfectly well why he doesn’t smile often enough, Sombra frowned a little. A feeling he had tried to squash during his second time in hiding was starting to surface. Regret. Meeting the prince again hadn't exactly helped. Reminding him of who he used to be.

Who am I to stand here? I don’t deserve it. Instead of celebrating, I was reunited with someone I thought I would never see again. I treated him no better than I treated the Crystal Ponies. I should have remembered him. Sombra turned away intending to walk out.

“Sombra?”

The king glanced back. Everybody was looking at him. Private stared from behind the glass, still holding his sleeping son. The unicorn lifted the colt a little bit.

“Want to say hi?” Private asked curiously.

“Sure, let’s give the kid nightmares when he’s just a few hours old,” Barricade muttered and was elbowed and given a glare by Foxy and Coal. His parents and Sky Dive didn’t look impressed either.

Sombra ignored Barricade and with a slight hesitation, approached the window. He could already feel hints of the Dark Pony ancestry Blue Axe had through his father.

"You have a good-looking son there, Private," Sombra spoke, still staring at the sleeping foal. And I will tear anyone apart if they try harming Timido's newest descendant.

Queen Rabia flipped the page of the book she was reading. The mare reached for a glass on a nearby table with her magic and took a sip of the drink. She lay on a bench in the garden of Canterlot Castle. She was on her first trial period outside and she intended to enjoy the sunny weather.

The manacle restraining her magic was gone. She could feel her powers now surging through her body, but for once the mare felt no desire to use them. Frankly, she was starting to consider where to go and live out in quiet retirement.

Saddle Arabia is out of the question, she thought. Although I wouldn’t mind having a more proper visit to see that museum again.

Crystal Empire? No, I made a rather bad impression on them, no doubt giving them a terrible reminder of my son. Rabia put the glass away and continued to read while still thinking this over. Her eyes bulged out when reading a paragraph in the book.

“That’s where my grandmother’s ‘Inspiration Manifestation’ spell ended up?” she exclaimed in surprise. Then, after reading a bit more, the mare looked absolutely stumped. “The dragon ate it?”

Well, suppose that’s one way to get rid of it. Grandmother was never happy with how that spell turned out. Rabia shook off her surprise and continued to read.

A familiar feeling of a Dark Pony's presence caused her to glance up. It was weak though, and Rabia realized it felt more like when one of the descendants was nearby. She lowered the book and looked around. Down a path, she saw two young colts come running.

Oh, it’s the prince’s sons, Rabia quickly glanced around to try and locate him when she realized the colts were heading straight towards her.

“Hi,” the two colts greeted her happily, almost seeming excited to see her.

Oh, of course, I look like his mother, Rabia realized, mildly alarmed. The queen had been doing her best to avoid the prince and the colts. She hadn’t seen him since the first time he had attempted to visit and the mare was pretty sure Prince Sombra had no interest in meeting again.

“Hello, children,” she addressed them, smiling a little uneasily. How had that alternate version of her treated the boys? All she really knew is that the prince got them while still living in his version of the empire. The colts didn’t seem scared or uncomfortable in her presence.

“We here too,” Barri declared and started darting around in circles, confirming that he thought the Prince’s own mother had somehow appeared here too.

“We run,” Piat informed her.

“So I can see,” Rabia noted and then saw where the prince was now arriving at a gallop, looking just as alarmed as she was.

“Boys, let’s not bother the queen. She’s busy,” Prince Sombra quickly grabbed the two foals up in his magic as soon as he arrived.

“We nut botha,” Barri protested and tried his best to look innocent.

“Sowwy daddy,” Piat looked more apologetic. He and his brother were placed on their adopted father’s back.

“They were not bothering me,” Rabia assured him and started eyeing the book again. “I think they mistook me for your mother.”

“Sorry about that,” the prince muttered and started to turn away, intending to take the colts elsewhere.

“How did she treat them?” The queen glanced back at him and the boys, hiding a smile when the children waved to her.

“She treated them well, even when examining them for the magic traces that were on them,” Prince responded without turning around.

Well, I suppose that’s why they are not scared. Rabia nodded and sighed a little. It had felt strangely nice to see such young children act unafraid of her.

“Sombra, if you ever need someone to watch them while you attend to your court duties,” Rabia offered. The prince glared back at her suspiciously.

“You’re not my son and I’m not setting out to have you replace him. I do not know what kind of mother yours was and I certainly have no intention of trying to take her place. I just want…” the queen looked down sadly. “I just want to help a fellow Dark Pony in exile.”

Oh who am I kidding, if he’s anything like my son, he is not going to accept my help. Rabia returned to her book.

She started a little when Barri suddenly climbed onto the bench she lay on. He was soon joined by his brother. The boys tried peeking at the book she was reading.

“What read?” Piat asked curiously.

“Der no picturs,” Barri frowned in disappointment.

Rabia turned her head and stared, surprised at the prince who was sitting down where he had stood. The stallion wasn’t smiling, but he wasn’t frowning either.

“You have a point about exiles. Your empire and my world are destroyed. I suppose I shouldn’t blame you for wanting to connect with the only other Dark Pony living in the castle, even if he isn’t from this world,” Prince Sombra said quietly as he thought back to what Dew Doe had told him.

“I do not blame you for being wary of me. Had you met me a year ago, you would have every reason to stay far away from me,” Rabia told him, holding the book down to allow the boys to examine it. “My son certainly still does and I do not fault him for that.”

“Maybe one day he will find it in him to forgive you. I don’t hate my mother, but I was wary of her. She could be so domineering.” The prince shook his head.

“Did she ever… strike you?” Rabia asked carefully, half expecting and dreading a positive answer. Prince Sombra looked at her, shocked.

“What? No. Granted she could be cold and sometimes came out as uncaring, but I think deep down she really cared for my sister and me. I think she just didn’t know how to show it,” he told the queen.

She was a better mother than me in comparison, Rabia hid the regret she was feeling now. The mare watched the prince rise to his hooves.

“We can talk later. I was on my way to the local orphanage in Canterlot. Princess Celestia appointed me to tour it, make sure they know it has the full support of the government. Not sure why she insisted on me doing it,” the prince said and glanced at the colts who were still very interested in the book. “I’ll accept your offer to watch them while I go do that.”

“Boys, you stay with your grandmother.” He then promptly turned and started walking away.

“Okay daddy,” both colts cheerfully complied.

“Grandmother!?” Rabia exclaimed, baffled.

“If Princess Celestia insists on me being their father, you get to be their grandmother,” Prince Sombra retorted and looked back with a smirk.

Not how I pictured I would become one. Rabia glanced unsure at the boys who were looking at her expectantly.

“Well, children, this book is called the Friendship Journal,” she addressed the colts. Since they still seemed interested in the book, she may as well tell them about it. “It’s about Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, and her friends writing about what they learned.”

End chapter 13

Epilogue - Meanwhile

Doctor Whooves grunted as the chains around his neck were pulled and he was forced to continue walking through a long corridor made of stone. The guards escorting him wore dark armor he couldn’t quite recognize. He had tried to stop for a short moment to look at the banners that hung on the walls. They had looked familiar. They depicted a silhouette of a unicorn head with a curved horn.

The Time Pony was also a little embarrassed that he had been caught. He was still recharging so to speak, so hadn't been able to just disappear. Traveling to another world was both difficult and more dangerous, far more draining than when he simply time traveled. Whooves had thought this would be easier and safer since this world had appeared to be more similar to the Equestria he knew, but clearly, it was still different.

“Are these chains enchanted?” he asked and glanced at his bonds. There were also chains around his legs. Because they are actually interfering with what little time magic I've managed to recover. Ooh boy, this isn’t good.

There was no response from the guards. Whooves looked around some more, but there wasn’t much else in the hallway, aside from torches that lit up the way.

Okay, not the first time this has happened, just need to explain I am not a spy to whoever owns this fortress, he thought. He had noticed the guards looked Equestrian, but couldn’t be sure since the armor covered their cutie-marks, if they had any.

“Look, this really is just a misunderstanding,” he decided to try his luck with the guards, but the only response he got was a harder pull on his chains, clearly a sign he should be silent. Fine, fine, I’ll talk with your boss instead.

“These banners though.” He tried to look at the banners again. He was positive he had seen them somewhere before.

Finally, they came to a set of large doors. Another set of guards quickly opened them and Whooves was marched through by his escort. It was a large, brightly lit hall. A long red carpet led to a stage and more banners hung from the ceiling.

“Spacious,” Whooves looked around, noting the balconies on the wall. This was clearly a meeting hall of some sorts.

“Now what have you brought me?” a soft voice spoke up. Whooves eyes went forward. In front of the stage stood a tall, dark gray unicorn mare with a black mane. She wore a red cape and on her head rested a silver tiara.

Wait a minute. The Time Pony frowned. That mare looks very familiar, plus she had not been standing there a second ago.

“Your Majesty, we found this pony trespassing near the fortress,” one of the guards addressed the mare and bowed deeply. So did the other guard.

“I wasn’t trespassing,” Whooves protested, then reconsidered. From their point of view, he was. “Well, I didn’t mean to trespass.”

“Oh? Then why are you here?” the mare asked and smiled kindly as she approached.

“Well, I was investigating energies I detected. I thought it was the same energies I was looking into, but I can see now that I was mistaken,” the Time Pony explained and frowned a little. There was something familiar about this, he just couldn’t put his hoof on it.

“What kind of energies? And how have you detected them. I see no devices with you.” The mare was now right in front of him, still smiling that kind smile, her red eyes seemed to shine nothing but love and understanding.

“He had nothing on him. His vest is empty,” the guards told her and showed her the vest Whooves had been wearing but had been removed when he was captured.

“Um,” Whooves realized it would look kind of strange to them that someone who looked like an Earth Pony was investigating anything without any equipment. Even if he was unconventional for his kind, the Time Pony still understood the reason why they generally didn't advertise who they were.

“I’m not quite from around here,” he started to look around, racking his brain how he could talk his way out of this one.

“Oh, I’m sure of that. We are fairly remote,” the mare chuckled and placed a hoof gently on Whooves cheek. “Who are you?”

It suddenly hit Whooves why the mare was so familiar. His eyes widened in shock. Then he heard hoofsteps from the stage. Slowly his eyes drifted towards it. His jaw dropped.

Appearing on the stage, having come from a door behind it, was a unicorn stallion. His mane and tail were dirty blonde, his coat was dark gray and the horn was red and curved. He wore black armor with golden accents. On the chest plate was a purple glowing thunderbolt. On his back was a black cape with white trims.

“Who is that, Ira?” the newly arrived pony growled.

“I am still waiting for him to answer that, nephew,” the mare chuckled and dropped her hoof from Whooves cheek.

Oh no. Whooves couldn’t look away from the unicorn stallion. The blue eyes staring back at him showed nothing but contempt. Oh, I have made a big mistake.

“Well?” The nephew asked sharply. “Queen Ira asked you a question. Are you going to answer?”

Whooves froze when hearing the clang of metal clad hooves approaching from behind him. Ira looked forward and just kept smiling. The unicorn stallion, however, bowed his head in deference.

“You must forgive him, Temor,” a dark voice spoke up and then chuckled cruelly. “His kind are not known for loose lips.”

The Time Pony slowly dared himself to glance back. Standing behind him was an even bigger dark gray unicorn stallion. This one had a black mane, spiky crown and steel armor along with a red cape.

“His kind? What do you mean, Sombra?” Ira tilted her head, a little unsure now.

“Time Ponies,” King Sombra’s smile turned into a wicked grin as he stared at the terrified prisoner.

The End

Chapter 4 - Mysterious arrival

Starlight Glimmer entered the map room of Twilight’s castle and spotted the alicorn at the map table, busy writing on a scroll. The unicorn walked over, wondering what was keeping the princess so occupied. For the past several days, Twilight had barely been seen unless when she was attending her duties as the headmare of the school.

“So, Twilight, anything going on I should know about?” Starlight asked once she was standing next to the seat her friend was in. The unicorn raised her brow, there was no response, just the scribbling of the quill.

“Twilight, I’ve decided to become evil again and enslave the entirety of Ponyville,” she said in a deadpan voice, rolling her eyes when there was still no response. Then the mare remembered a trick Applejack had told her about. Glancing at a nearby stack of books on the table, she used her magic to switch two books around.

Twilight almost immediately dropped the scroll and the quill and turned around. Then blinked when seeing her smirking student counselor. The princess sighed when she realized she had zoned out, again.

“Sorry, Starlight. Is something wrong?” Twilight asked and at the same time used her magic to reorder the books.

“That is actually what I was asking not five seconds ago,” Starlight chuckled, then noticed the stacks of papers on the table as well. “You have been busy.”

The princess groaned and sunk in the chair. Starlight was not wrong about that.

“I’m trying to come up with theories of what Sombra might be up to, going over the last few times we encountered him and trying to see if there is a firm pattern I could follow,” Twilight explained and eyed her work on the map table. “But every time I think I’ve come up with a plan, I realize he might have another plan in place as well. This guy was scarily prepared for everything.”

“Ever consider he might just be genuine in giving them a chance to convince him?” Starlight suggested. As much as she was no fan of King Sombra herself, as a former villain, she didn’t think that it was too far fetched.

“Oh no, don’t worry, I’m not going to make the same mistake I did with Discord,” Twilight assured her friend, then her ears lowered a little and she grinned uneasily. “And uh, Trixie.”

Starlight nodded and decided not to comment on that. Water under the bridge, as far she was concerned. Twilight jumped out of the chair, then grabbed up a book from the stack and browsed through it.

“But I also want to try and figure out why...why this outreach? Why now?” the princess asked, not expecting an answer.

Starlight shrugged. She had herself been moderately shocked when Twilight came back to Ponyville a few days ago to tell her and their friends who was now in Fillydelphia, apparently in a self-appointed reform program. Rainbow Dash had of course just immediately suggested they rush over there and blast him with the elements. She relented when she was reminded that those hadn’t worked very well on Queen Rabia, or her son, for that matter- especially if he was ready for them.

All of a sudden the two ponies noticed that the papers on the table were starting to fly off it. They felt a gust of wind and when they looked properly at the table, the mares blinked in shock when seeing a swirling vortex was starting to form on it. It had started small but was growing bigger, throwing the papers and books off it.

“What’s happening?” Twilight shouted out in alarm as the swirling vortex continued to grow larger from the map. She was using her magic to grab the flying objects.

“I don’t know!” Starlight looked just as alarmed. “We have to do something before…”

Something started to form in the vortex. A pony, a large pony, then two smaller shapes that looked like foals. There was a flash of magic and with a loud thud, a large dark gray unicorn landed on top of the map table, followed by two small colts. The vortex dissipated and vanished.

Twilight and Starlight stared stumped at the new arrival. The stallion groaned and was disoriented. His mane, tail and hooves were black and he wore a blue cape with white trims. On his back were two large saddlebags. The colts were a slightly lighter shade of gray than his coat color, but had dirty blonde manes and tails. They whimpered and immediately huddled closer to the adult.

“Uh, hello?” Twilight addressed the stranger.

He slowly looked at her, his red intent eyes narrowing as if he were trying to make her out. The princess wondered if his vision was blurry after this strange trip.

“W-where are we?” the stallion asked, his ears flickered when hearing whimpering and he glanced down to his side where the colts huddled. “Boys, it’s alright. We’re safe.”

The two mares watched as the stallion’s whole focus went to the foals, reaching down to give them reassuring nuzzles. The one with the blue eyes seemed the most frightened and, in the end, scrambled to curl up between the stallion’s forelegs. The other, who had indigo-colored eyes, seemed to recover more quickly and was content with being where he was, starting to look around warily.

“Well, you are in my castle. I’m Princess Twilight Sparkle and this is my friend, Starlight Glimmer,” Twilight spoke again, prompting the stranger to look at her again, frowning in mild confusion.

“I’m Prince Sombra of the Dark Pony Empire, son of Queen Rabia. I ah…didn’t mean to drop in like that.” He took in the room, not noticing the confusion coming over both Twilight and Starlight.

“D-did you just say, Sombra?” Twilight whispered, not sure if she had heard that right.

“I did. Is there a problem?” Sombra looked at them, his brow rising slightly when seeing the expressions on both mares.

“Ah, just a moment,” Twilight smiled nervously, grabbed Starlight in her magic and pulled the mare with her further away from the table.

“What the heck do you think happened?” the princess whispered sharply to her friend once she thought they were far enough away, her mind still trying to make sense of this.

“I have no idea, it’s like the map summoned another Sombra, but who are the kids?” Starlight kept her eyes on the new arrival.

Prince Sombra was currently getting off the table, the whole time speaking in a soft, reassuring voice to the two colts. Once he was down, he lifted the indigo-eyed one up with magic and put him on the floor. The blue-eyed one seemed still more scared. The stallion had to hold him in one front leg, the little colt refusing to let him go.

“So uh, those your kids?” Starlight decided to ask.

The larger unicorn looked over, appearing hesitant to answer. “Well, they are my wards, currently,” he responded and started to glance around once more. “Again, I apologize for dropping in like this, I was trying to get them back home.”

“I think we need Princess Celestia for this,” Twilight sighed, wondering what more could happen. One Sombra was bad enough, now there were two of them? If this one was even telling the truth, she couldn’t be sure. She hadn’t forgotten how this one had introduced himself, and there weren’t that many ponies around who had known that version of Sombra.

Princess Celestia entered the map room, having teleported in from Canterlot after receiving the urgent summon from Twilight. She stopped short, her eyes grew a little wider and her jaw dropped a bit. In one corner lay Prince Sombra. Nestled between his forelegs was the little blue-eyed colt looking at a picture book held up for him by the prince. The indigo-eyed colt was climbing on the stallion’s back, clearly enjoying himself.

“It can’t be,” she whispered, looking down at Twilight who had approached with Starlight when seeing who had arrived. “What happened?”

“We are still not sure. Starlight and I were talking when the map table went on a fritz. A vortex opened and those three came out of it,” Twilight explained, eyeing the prince who hadn’t noticed them yet. Judging from her former mentor’s reaction, Celestia had clearly recognized the pony.

The Sun Princess frowned slightly before turning her attention back to the prince, who was looking up. The stallion’s eyes widened when seeing her. He quickly grabbed the colt off his back with his magic and gently put him down. Then he let go of the other one as well, before whispering something to the two boys and rose up.

“Princess Celestia,” he quickly did a short bow. The blue-eyed foal ducked behind one of the stallion’s forelegs when seeing the new stranger and peeked out from behind it. His indigo-eyed brother stood firm, furrowing his little brow.

“Welcome to Equestria, Prince Sombra.” Celestia regained her composure and smiled, approaching them with Twilight and Starlight following, still looking unsure. “What brings you here?”

“I wish I knew,” Sombra said with a deep sigh and glanced down at the foal huddled nervously underneath him. “I left my mother’s court a few weeks ago to try and find a way to return these boys back to their home. We encountered a strange zebra sage who said they could help me. The sage did some incantation over a strange circle and threw some odd powders on it. A vortex formed and before I could do anything, the boys and I were sucked into it and…well, here we are.”

That does not sound like anything I’ve heard Sombra do back when he was a prince, Celestia thought. She glanced at the foals. They seemed to be no older than two years old, though maybe going towards three. “What are the boys' names?”

“Boys, why don’t you tell the nice lady your names,” Prince Sombra addressed the foals gently, smiling warmly at them. Twilight and Starlight looked at him even more confused, his tone of voice was so fatherly and kind, not what they were used to from the Sombra they knew.

“Am Barri,” the indigo-eyed colt declared, puffing his chest a little, sounding very proud. His brother just hid further behind the prince’s leg, looking nervously at the tall white pony in front of them.

“Dat Piat. He shy,” it was up to Barri to introduce his sibling, pointing at him with a little hoof.

No, no that can’t be, Twilight’s eyes widened even more. This caught the attention of both Starlight and Celestia.

“Something wrong, Twilight?” Celestia asked. She had already guessed the boys were using nicknames. It sounded like a toddler speaking a more stunted version of their names.

“Well…I’ve had the privilege of hearing Mirage Rock and Hard Shovel tell many, many stories of their sons. They can go on quite a bit about them and…I happen to know that when they were little, Private was nicknamed Piat and Barricade was called Barri,” Twilight explained, this caught the attention of the prince.

“You know their parents?” he asked hopefully.

“Wait, let’s not jump to any conclusions here.” Celestia looked at the prince. “If I’m guessing right, you are still not quite where you were meant to go or more appropriately when you were meant to go.”

The Sun Princess was not surprised to see the very confused reactions, not only from the prince, but from Twilight and Starlight. A theory was forming in her mind, and though sounding outlandish, Celestia did know there was precedence for it, so she didn’t outright dismiss it.

“Prince Sombra, how did the boys come to be in your care?” she asked first.

The stallion sighed and glanced down at the colts. “It will sound very absurd, but they quite literally dropped out of thin air right on top of me in my chamber. We first thought someone was making a prank in very poor taste, but then mother detected some very strange magic energies both in my room and around the boys,” he started explaining before returning his attention to Celestia and the other two mares.

“Did your mother approve of you going out to search for their parents?” Celestia asked carefully. She was starting to get a very good idea now that this was not the Prince Sombra she had known. The stallion looked shameful; his ears lowered and he hung his head.

“No…I finally gathered up my courage and snuck out at the dead of night,” he sighed deeply. The prince carefully looked up at Celestia again. “I couldn’t live there anymore…you know how mother was. But I assure you that I was looking for a way to return the boys back to their home, wherever that was.”

The three mares watched mildly stunned as Sombra gazed down at the colts. Barri had gone over to Piat and the two boys were now engaged in a small game of tag between his legs. What stunned them was seeing how lovingly the stallion watched the kids for that brief moment.

“I’ve grown a little attached to them and I wanted to ensure they were returned to their parents safely. They actually gave me the courage to break away from my mother’s court finally,” he said, smiling solemnly, though there was still a hint of regret in his voice.

“Yes, that is commendable,” Celestia nodded. She could just see how the boys fully trusted him by how they undauntingly played around him. She looked at Twilight and Starlight, her expression turning more serious. “I’m afraid this is not the Sombra we know.”

“What!?” Starlight and Twilight cried at the same time.

“I…don’t understand,” Prince Sombra also looked confused at the Sun Princess.

“Prince Sombra, whoever this zebra sage was, they did not send you just to another time, they sent you to another world, similar but different,” Celestia explained and held up a hoof to stop the barrage of questions, most likely from Twilight.

“Remember the mirror that sent you to the human world Twilight? This is almost the same, except in his case he comes from an alternate pony world. You could hear that the circumstances leading to him leaving his mother’s court are quite different from the Sombra we know,” she continued, then pointed at the boys. “And only Private was sent back in time when he was a young colt.”

“Oh my gosh, you’re right,” Twilight blinked, then eyed the map table. “But why has he been sent here?”

“Could you please tell me what you are all talking about!” The mares quickly turned towards the angry voice. Sombra was scowling but it vanished immediately once he had their attention. For a brief moment he cringed as if he had caught himself doing something wrong. Then the prince looked apologetic. “Ah apologies, I… am just very confused right now. None of you are making any sense.”

Jeez, he also apologies a lot, Starlight noted, but remained silent. So far she had nothing to offer to the discussion.

“Am ‘ungry,” a peep from Piat diverted the attention to the boys. The colt was patting one of Sombra’s hooves to get his attention. Behind him stood Barri, also looking at the stallion.

“Right, there should be some rations left in the bag.” Sombra turned to where he had left the saddlebags.

“We could get them some food from the kitchen,” Twilight offered, realizing that perhaps these deep discussions could wait for a little while, especially with the young foals around.

Sombra stopped and started to look around the room again. “Oh right, of course,” he chuckled weakly. “We’re not in the wilds anymore.”

“You tend to your new guests, Twilight. I’m going to go and get some expert help to crack this mystery,” Celestia addressed her former student. Starlight offered to walk her out while Twilight took Prince Sombra and the boys to the kitchen.

“You really think they are from an alternate world?” Starlight asked Celestia as they walked to the castle entrance.

“I remember Prince Sombra. This one has conducted himself like the one I remember, but there is still something different about him. Then there are the boys, how they appeared…” Celestia frowned as she considered this. “Also, that short outburst of anger, the Sombra I remember would have been far more sarcastic if he was annoyed, even back when he was a prince.”

Starlight nodded, not having really any better ideas herself. She used her magic to open the castle doors. The two mares stopped short when seeing a brown earth stallion standing right in front of them, looking like he was in a hurry. For a moment Starlight thought this was Time Turner, but then realized this one was wearing a blue vest and was a little taller.

“Doctor Whooves? I was just about…” Celestia was mildly surprised to see the Time Pony standing there.

“Sorry, Princess Celestia, I’m in a hurry, where are they?” Whooves cut her off, but did bow briefly.

“You know something.” the princess frowned, not because the Time Pony had interrupted her, but because she immediately realized why Whooves was here. “Twilight took them to the kitchen.”

“Oh, I hope it’s not too late.” Whooves cringed and rushed past the mares into the castle.

“What is going on?” Starlight blinked. She had no idea who that was. It was clearly not Time Turner.

“That was a Time Pony who knows what’s going on,” Princess Celestia said hurriedly and quickly went after Whooves, forcing the confused unicorn to follow. The two mares ran for the kitchen. Whooves had disappeared well ahead of them. Starlight almost jumped when there came a very angry voice:

“What is the meaning of this!!?”

They looked into the kitchen and saw Prince Sombra glaring down at Doctor Whooves, whose hourglass cutie mark was glowing and one hoof was also shimmering with magic. The boys were huddled behind the Dark Pony, and Twilight looked unsure what to do where she stood by the stove, having had decided to cook up some pancakes for the boys.

“You don’t understand. I have to send you back quickly or…” Doctor Whooves shrunk back a bit when the large unicorn in front of him sneered and stomped down a hoof, but showed no indication he was about to use magic.

“I will not let one of you arrogant Time Ponies come one step closer to the boys! Whatever magic sent them to me, was one of yours. Your kind has messed with them quite enough!” Prince Sombra snapped.

Well at least Sombra’s distaste for Time Ponies is universal, Princess Celestia thought, but noted Sombra’s words, he thought he was protecting the boys. “Prince Sombra, please, this is a Time Pony you can trust. Let him speak.”

Prince Sombra glared up at Celestia. She almost expected some snort of contempt or something from the dark unicorn, but instead, the prince changed his scowl to a frown before turning back to Whooves.

“Alright, you will explain yourself why you barge in here, attempting to hit me and my wards with time magic,” he growled at him, but was clearly preparing for anything.

“Whooves, he’s had a very confusing experience and still doesn’t fully understand what is going on. Please explain quickly,” Celestia told the Time Pony, who sighed heavily.

“Prince Sombra needs to get back to his world and his time. The zebra sage’s magic was supposed to work. It would send the boys back to their proper time. Somebody messed with both the timeline and the borders that separate our reality from his. If he doesn’t return, it will cause a serious paradox, because it will be him who sends the boys back in time later,” Doctor Whooves very quickly explained. He groaned when confused expressions greeted him all around.

“What!?” Prince Sombra started to scowl again. “Are you insinuating that this is my fault!? I would never rob parents of their children. The very idea!!”

“No, no that’s not what I’m saying…well it kinda is…you will change...like our Sombra, but not quite as bad, yet still…” Whooves realized everybody was looking at him very skeptically, except the boys who still just huddled behind the prince. Sombra finally grabbed them both up with his magic and placed them on his back, speaking to them reassuringly that they were not in trouble. He also backed further away from Whooves.

“You’re not making any sense,” Starlight commented. Suddenly the Time Pony’s cutie-mark stopped glowing as did his hoof.

“Oh no,” Whooves whispered and looked at the prince. “I’m sorry…the window is gone. Your…world is gone.”

Prince Sombra looked thoroughly unimpressed as he glared at Princess Celestia, who still looked somewhat puzzled at the Time Pony.

“Am I going to get an explanation what by the First Queen is going on here!?” the prince snapped as he held up one leg as if trying to shield the colts on his back with it.

“I would very much like one myself now,” Princess Celestia said quietly, still staring at the now very apologetic Time Pony.

End chapter 4