Everyone was currently situated in Cadence’s throne room as Sunburst finished reading Starswirl’s journal. Having gone over how he and his fellow pillars united together to defeat the Pony of Shadows, a being that wanted to cast the world in darkness, and someone that they once called their friend. Twilight was fangirling as she questioned her former mentor if the journal was from the real wizard, and squealed in delight when it was confirmed.

Sombra scowled in annoyance. How any of her friends found the willpower to tolerate such childishness was beyond him. He had been forced to change his appearance so that no one recognized him when he was within a mile of the kingdom. His coat was now a light gray as was his horn, his mane having a dark blue wave down the middle of black as his tail had the same color scheme. He had kept his red regalia, nearly invoking a penalty on himself after throwing Rainbow Dash across the cave for trying to forcibly take it from him.

He was a king, and he was going to make sure that he at least looked like one while in this horrid form.

“How is it possible that this mare figured out the location of the Crystal Heart when she gushes over a book from some old fossil?” Sombra muttered to himself, ignoring the fact that he was over a thousand years old. Before he could blink, Twilight was in his face with a dark aura around her.

“Don’t you EVER talk about Starswirl like that again! He’s not only a far better and superior pony to you, but he’s also far smarter than you in magic!”

“HA!” Sombra gave a brief laugh before shoving Twilight away. “Oh please, just because I specialize in dark magic doesn’t mean I’m ignorant of other forms of magic that exist. Starswirl the bearded and the pillars may have defeated the Pony of Shadows, but they never returned. If he’s as powerful as you claim he is, then what happened to him?” Sombra asked with an evil smirk, knowing that Twilight couldn’t answer him. The purple princess growled in anger but decided to leave him before turning back to the book in her hooves.

“ANYWAY! If we start researching now, we may be able to find out what happened to them and where they are.” Twilight happily exclaimed, completely forgetting her little spat with Sombra as Sunburst agreed. Celestia and Luna’s horns glowed, alerting them all that they were going to teleport back as opposed to taking the train where a pony could see through Sombra’s disguise due to his recognizable glare. But before they did, Twilight quickly spoke up.

“WAIT!!” Twilight shouted, causing Celestia and Luna to cease their spell. Everyone stared at her as she approached Spike, who suddenly became nervous. Twilight calmed him down with a small smile before she softly spoke. “Spike, you know that I love you very dearly, and that also means I care just as much, which includes your safety.” Spike suddenly grew concerned, not knowing where this was going, but Celestia certainly did. She sighed, knowing what Twilight was about to say, but this wasn’t her place to say anything and she knew that it would be for the better.

“What are you saying Twilight?”

“Spike, I want you to stay here in the Crystal Empire with Shining and Cadence. I talked it over with them before we summoned Sombra, and they agreed.” Twilight explained as she stared into his eyes, seeing all the emotions before settling on disbelief, but acceptance. “I’m really sorry Spike, but you’re far safer here within the barrier from the Crystal Heart than my castle. I don’t want you to see the Dragon Lands either, not until I know you’re mentally prepared for it.” Twilight firmly continued as Spike nodded. He understood what she meant, and knew that she wasn’t being mean either.

“Ye-Yeah, I get it. Honestly, I wouldn’t be much help either, considering I can barely fight Garble much less an adult dragon. But don’t worry, I’ll help Cadance like I do with you. Once I’ve you know, figure out the layout of this place.” Spike joked as the two shared a chuckle. Twilight gave him a tight hug and whispered to him to be safe, and repeated the gesture before they broke away.

Twilight walked back over where Celstia rubbed her back with her win before looking to Luna and nodded. The group gave one final look to the young dragon and rulers before vanishing and reappearing in the Canterlot throne room, where Blueblood sat on the throne and had been trying to order the guards to do his bidding. The guards remained quiet and stood at attention when Celestia walked past them, but she could easily tell how mentally drained they were listening to her nephew’s ramblings.

“Alright Blueblood, your ruling of my subjects is now over.” Celestia calmly said as the prince told her that he, by his own proclamation, was doing an outstanding job serving the country. Even as Celestia was nodding and listening, she gave a glance to Raven who rapidly shook her head and promptly brought out a stack of various forms of documents and paperwork. Celestia internally started crying, she already had enough paperwork and now she needed to clean up whatever mess Blueblood created, hadn’t fixed, or refix whatever he tried to fix. Not wanting to have an outburst, she teleported him to his room as she and Luna took a seat on their thrones.

“Well, since the government hasn’t gone to ruin and Canterlot isn’t in anarchy I suppose Blueblood did a decent job. As for the rest of you, you already know what to do. If we can bring back Starswirl and the Pillars, then we not only have a chance against this dark magic creator but against Acnologia as well.”

“Acnologia?” Sombra asked as he turned to Starlight, who gave him a summary of the events that were recently taking place. Sombra whistled at Acnologia’s carnage, wondering why he possessed such a racial vendetta. The power he must possess to kill everything in the Dragon Lands must’ve been vast, especially if Torch is dead.

Celestia confirmed Spike’s story and urged them all to be quick, not knowing when Acnologia could strike again if he hadn’t already. That had also reminded her that Bon Bon and Tempest Shadow had never checked in, meaning that they hadn’t found him, or they had found him and something happened to them. Regardless, she was going to check in on them once she had finished through her paperwork as those two were more than capable of handling themselves.

Three days had gone by since the group, excluding Sombra, Discord, and Ember, had begun their research to figure out what happened to the pillars. And they found absolutely nothing about what happened to them, even with every reference they had tried. Sombra, like a foal, had been condemned to a room he had been given until he was needed with Starlight making sure that that’s the room he remained in.

However, today he had tagged along with the host of Nightmare Moon to see if the others had something for him so that he could be released from his imprisonment. The two walked into the library to see them all sleep-deprived or already asleep. Rarity and Applejack had tried convincing Twilight to take a break, but she didn’t want to wait any longer before leaving her book as she couldn’t read Starswirl’s horn writing.

Sombra walked up to the book and read the page that Twilight was stuck on. If anything, it was better than being confined to a room where even he had gotten bored from scheming. At the same time, he wondered if he was reading a newborn foal’s horn writing or the horn writing from a powerful wizard.

“How intriguing. It seems as though Starswirl and the other pillars had their last stand against the Pony of Shadows at Ponehenge at the base of Fall Mountain.” Sombra spoke aloud, revealing the text to everyone as Twilight gasped. She slid next to him and demanded to know how he could read it, to which he shoved her away and yawned.

“I’ve had many crystal slave writers, whether it be using wings, hoof, or horn to write things down for me. Naturally, they were so jittery that it was always sloppy, so I had learned to read such horrendous writing before using mind control.” Sombra calmly explained as he basked in their disgusted looks. Now choosing to ignore him, Twilight knew that this was where they needed to go to learn more.

After that, they all went to the base of Fall Mountain, where they found Ponehenge. Twilight and Sunburst were the two that were most intrigued, with the latter finding magical runes that neither he nor Twilight could recognize. Sombra examined them as well, and while he did recognize these runes, they were far older than himself for him to understand fully.

“Starswirl may have been adept in magic like Sparkle worships him to be, but to use runes from the time when I called them ancient is strange.” Sombra questioned himself as he noticed a few more runes written on other pieces of stone. The broken well in the middle had runes written around the entire base, although it had been corroded away with time, making the text unreadable.

Fluttershy soon pointed out that even if everything was cleared away for proper research, they couldn’t figure out what happened here from a thousand years ago. Knowing this, Twilight was a little saddened as she hoped that all her answers would suddenly have a magical answer before placing Starswirl’s journal down.

And sometimes, when you ask a question, the universe will nicely answer that question.

The moment the book was placed onto a stone slab, it started glowing bright blue. Spike pointed it out and backed away from it as it floated and opened up as the pages flipped back and forth. Not long after, a blue vortex appeared, creating a sphere that manifested into Starswirl the bearded.

“St-Starswirl! I’ve long since wanted to meet you. I can’t believe you’re here!” Twilight excitedly said as she ran up and stared at her idol. He, however, didn’t acknowledge her as Sunburst waved his hoof through him.

“I don’t think he’s really here…or any of them.” Sunburst pointed behind the Princess as their eyes widened at seeing the rest of the pillars. They all manifested on different stone slabs as Starswirl made his move by casting a beam of magic at the well.

The well suddenly produces a shadow before growing into a large ball. From the shadow ball, hooves came out as it transformed into a large pony with glowing white eyes and a long curved horn that got lighter as it reached the tip.

“Hahahahaha!! You summon me at your peril Starswirl! Once I’ve defeated all of you, this realm will embrace the darkness, just as I did so long ago.” The Pony of Shadows roared as shadow tendrils shot out of him and ensnared the pillars. The Pony of Shadows laughed as the world started getting darker.

“Drawing me here has only made me stronger. You can never defeat me!”

“We didn’t summon you here to defeat you...” Starswirl started as his magic broke the tendrils. He levitated his book as it glowed a bright white, as a beam traveled from the book to the objects that the other pillars wielded as it freed them from their bindings as well.

“N-No! What do you think you’re doing!?”

“…We came to contain you.” Starswirl finished as they all started floating in the air. The Pony of Shadows found himself unable to move, screaming in defiance as he and the pillars vanished. The objects that the pillars wielded dropped onto their respective stone slabs and vanished.

Starswirl’s journal, however, returned to the slab that Twilight placed it on. They all stared in shock and awe as Starlight explained that the pillars had banished the Pony of Shadows. As to where they all went was unknown, but Twilight was determined to find out.

“A summoning circle, and magical runes that correspond to each pillar.” Sombra muttered to himself, although everyone heard him. “Indeed. Magical power of this magnitude would leave remnants of itself anywhere that it was used. ”

“Regardless of that, bringing the book back here lets us see what happened all those years ago. And it looks like the pillars sacrificed themselves for Equestria.” Twilight solemnly explained before teleporting everyone back to the castle. Unbeknownst to them, something had been watching them from the forest, with the only thing noticeable was a glowing red eye.

“Who would’ve thought that an old book in an antique shop belonged to Starswirl of all ponies.” Starlight commented as she walked by Sunburst to the cutie map room. What Sunburst had thought would have taken years to understand the spell that Starswirl used, Twilight had figured it out within a few hours.

“I know right? But what about you, aside from summoning a familiar, something that no pony has done in centuries, you summoned a phoenix! I didn’t think that was even possible, although your phoenix is pretty unique.” Sunburst complimented as she stared at the top of Starlight’s head, seeing Kuro giving him a quizzical look before eating some of the food Starlight had brought. Starlight nervously chuckled and nodded with a smile, knowing that she had no idea where Kuro came from. He just appeared and decided to stick with her.

The two soon arrived at the room where the Cutie Map was and where everyone else was waiting. The elements of harmony sat on their respective seats, except for Twilight, as Sunburst and Starlight were forced to stand along with Spike. As for Sombra, he created his chair from dark crystals that starkly contrasted the room's bright colors. But that had been ignored as Twilight burst into the room, screaming about the different variations of magic that Starswirl could’ve used to banish the Pony of Shadows.

“And just what’s so great about what he’s done?” Rainbow Dash asked, annoyed at her friend’s inability to explain herself while she was excited about whatever this bearded pony had done. Twilight promptly responded by pushing the book in her face, explaining how the pillars had banished the Pony of Shadows to Limbo. According to Twilight, it was a timeless realm. Through a diorama, she created a ball of magic to represent Starswirl and the other pillars' magic that was used to open a portal between worlds before said magic destroyed her diorama.

They all realized that the pillars had also been banished to Limbo as well, as they wondered how powerful the Pony of Shadows must’ve been if they thought that to be their only option. However, Sombra wondered if he could replicate that power on his own to banish Twilight and her friends once he was done saving Equestria from a genocidal dragon. Even if he couldn’t banish them to limbo, he could still banish them for a thousand years if he was given the opportunity.

“But here’s the best part, I think I can get them all out of limbo.” Twilight proclaimed as Sunburst was shocked. He asked if she truly believed that she could save the greatest ponies in history, and Twilight confidently nodded. Starlight promptly added about her exploits of opening portals, reminding Twilight what nearly happened.

“First of all, you opened portals through time. Time portals and World portals are two separate things. And second, this was Starswirl’s spell, and if he had been here he could have stopped it. Equestria will be far safer with him in it, we have to save him and the others.” Twilight lectured as she missed the flash of sorrow that went across Starlight’s face. Sombra didn’t as he saved that piece of sorrow for later, knowing full well that he could exploit it. Before anyone else could say a word, Starlight shrieked in pain.

The cause of her pain was from Kuro, who had dug his talons into her head. Starlight was going to grab him with her magic and scold him, but his sudden hissing made her stop. Starlight didn’t know what had gotten him so riled up, but he was upset with something and was consequentially taking it out on her. Fluttershy instinctively flew over to the pair and tried calming the phoenix down, realizing that he was angry instead of feeling anxiety over something like she first assumed.

“Okay Kuro, let’s calm down. While I don't know why you’re angry, you're hurting Starlight. I want you to calm down, and release your talons. Can you do that for me please?” Fluttershy calmly spoke as Kuro snapped his head towards her with a glare. Fluttershy gave a kind smile, although it wavered, seeing that Kuro’s eyes were now red. Still, the pegasus kept her calm, brave face as the phoenix continued its dirty look before easing up. Starlight sighed in relief as Kuro flew off her head and out of the room, intending to be by himself. Fluttershy checked on Starlight’s head and was glad to see that she wasn’t bleeding knowing how sharp Kuro’s talons are.

“Kuro must’ve been so angry that he didn’t even tell me what was wrong. But I can’t even think of what could’ve angered him.” Fluttershy commented as Starlight agreed. The unicorn had no idea that Kuro could be this aggressive when angered, and like Fluttershy said, she didn’t know what could’ve set off that anger. And Fluttershy, for peace of mind, decided to keep the change in Kuro’s eye color to herself as she figured that since he was a summoned familiar he was possibly special in that regard. Despite how off-putting that situation became, Applejack got everyone back on track by asking how they were going to get them out in the first place.

“Well, since Sombra said that each of those stones at Ponehenge had runes that corresponded to one of the pillars magic before Starswirl brought it together, we would need to find an artifact that’s related to them. And lucky for us, Starswirl took a lot of notes.” Twilight started to read off the notes that her idol had written, and as she did that, a bright light appeared over the Cutie Map with images of the artifacts that each of the Pillars wielded as they landed in certain places all over Equestria in front of the corresponding bearer of harmony.

“Well, at least we know who gets what. You girls go and get the artifacts while me, Sunburst, Starlight, and Sombra head over to Ponehenge to get everything set up.” Twilight ordered as they all nodded and set out for their task. Sombra remained where he was, examining the map and the regions all over Equestria when he heard Starlight cough next to him.

“Are you going to come? You’re bound by that penalty game or whatever, so you don’t really have a choice.” Starlight remained as Sombra scoffed. Starlight told the others to go on ahead while she dealt with the dark king, and while everyone was worried for her, she assured them that she would be fine. They all reluctantly left the two alone. Sombra’s gaze lingered on the Crystal Empire before snapping over to Starlight, who was glaring at him.

“Listen here, and listen well. You’ve been strangely helpful back at Ponehenge, but even I know you’re still scheming. So you can come willingly, or I will take you by force.” Starlight threatened as she summoned her magic. Sombra stared at her before laughing. He continued this for a solid minute before sighing and giving her an amused smirk.

“Oh please, you couldn’t defeat me even if you went all out.” Sombra spoke down to her as Starlight growled. “Although, I suppose you might stand a chance if you tapped into that dark power you possess.” Starlight froze at Sombra’s knowledge. She had no idea how he could’ve known that, but it was enough to get her not to do anything rash.

“How do you know about that?”

“It’s not that hard for a user of dark magic to sense another vile power. But even so, it raises the question of how Celestia or Luna couldn’t sense it. While it makes sense for Sparkle, it shouldn’t be the case for Equestria’s rulers. Not to mention the room in this castle that oozes dark magic.” Sombra explained as he got off his throne that he shattered into pieces. He walked around the table while eyeing the unicorn, his eyes narrowing before stopping a few meters away from her.

“So, answer the question. What is this dark power? And how…or should I say Who is hiding it? Because I have no problem telling Celestia or Luna about your newfound dark powers.” Sombra asked as Starlight didn’t know what to do. It didn’t matter what she did as Sombra had easy blackmail over her, and if he knew exactly who she was housing within her it would make it worse.

“Hahaha!!! How perceptive Sombra; and here I thought I had hidden Nightmare Moon’s magical power well. Oh well, it would seem that the alicorn is out of the bag!” Discord’s voice echoed throughout the room as the two looked around for him. It wasn’t long until their eyes settled on the map, seeing Discord sitting on the beach of the Sparkling Sea reading a book. He flipped to the next page before looking up and waved at them before snapping his fingers and appearing next to them.

“I just love a good read! Although I do know a few books about places where Sea Kings cause havoc, and another where the afterlife is no longer an option should it be used, they are not my concern. Chaos is chaos after all.” Discord chuckled seeing their faces before floating on his back and continued to read his book. Starlight stared at him as her right eye started twitching, not comprehending what he said before shaking her head.

“Wait a minute! You KNEW that I had Nightmare Moon sealed inside me!?”

“Oh no no no! I've known since you picked up her book from the Dragon Lands! Since then, I’ve purposely hidden her magical signature and let Sombra sense that power, although I’m sure he could’ve figured it out on his own.” Discord revealed as his book suddenly vanished from his hand while chuckling at Starlight’s opened jaw. He closed it before landing on the ground, staring down at her as Sombra spoke.

“So I was right in assuming that there was another force at work. But there’s a reason as to why, correct?”

“Right on my evil pony! You’ve earned the prize…of something in the future.” Discord chuckled seeing Sombra’s bewildered look. Sombra expected literally anything to happen but was more surprised when nothing happened to him. “But yes, there is a reason. And that is because your current power level is… insufficient to fight Acnologia.” Discord suddenly gained some kind of device on his right eye before taking it off and crushing it.

“That’s the exact reason why I went to her! I know what I’m doing makes everything Twilight did for me mean nothing, but sometimes you need to make the choice others wouldn’t.” Starlight boldly replied as Discord gave a small chuckle. He snapped his talons as a small purple glow appeared over Sombra, pulsing a bit darker before it faded away.

“Alright then Sombra, I’ve just somewhat….lifted your penalty game. While you’ll still need to help Earthland and everything, you're no longer bound to all four princesses but instead just to Twilight. And you yourself still can’t harm anyone, friend or family.” Discord suddenly explained as he basked in the shock from Sombra and Starlight. They didn’t know why he did that, and Sombra had no idea that one could overrule someone else’s penalty game.

“Well, I’ve been here long enough and I think some time in Chaosville will do me some good. Oh, and before I go, I wouldn’t tell anyone about this. I would love the chaos but admittedly, Celestia’s nagging would bore me to death. Have a good day, you two.” Discord opened a nonexistent door in the air and left, leaving the two unicorns alone once again. They were confused as to what just happened, which is quite normal when dealing with Discord.

“He knows more than we think. No one just ‘lifts’ or changes the rules of a penalty game, I didn’t even know that was possible.”

“He’s right about one thing though, we can’t let the others know. They find out about Nightmare Moon and your chains nearly taken off they’ll be hell to pay. Let’s just head over to Ponehenge to rescue the pillars and figure out who this dark creator is.” Starlight suggested as she headed for the door. “You wouldn’t happen to know any dark creators, would you?”

“Aside from the father of monsters Grogar, no I don’t. Even so, you don’t live a long life like mine without gaining the instincts to know that we’ll meet this creator soon enough.”

The group of unicorns was waiting at Ponehenge for the others. While Twilight, Starlight, and Sunburst talked about current events, Sombra analyzed the magical runes Starswirl used again. They were very complex, requiring either long years of study or having someone who was a master in the art of magic teach you. Although, even with long years of study, or even a teacher, Sombra knew that it would take even longer practice to use such magic.

“He used a summoning spell to summon the Pony of Shadows before using the runes on the stone pillars to seal him away. But that would require an enormous amount of magical power, leaving Starswirl drained of his magic as they all banished themselves.” Sombra analyzed before he stopped moving. His ears twitched at the small sound of something slithering between the grass and the leaves. He knew it was no snake, as the serpent couldn’t have had a small dark aura to it. Whoever they were, they were hiding their magical presence well, but the small amount of magic they were using gave them away.

Sombra walked around the well, pretending to look at the unreadable runes while he was trying to spot their stalker. But he couldn't find them no matter where he looked, and he was ready to call them out when Applejack appeared with Rockhoof’s shovel. Right after her came Rarity with Mistmane’s flower, then Pinkie Pie and Somnambula’s blindfold, and finally was Fluttershy with Meadowbrook’s mask. Rainbow Dash was still absent, which Sombra chose to comment on.

“The prismatic pegasus that consistently boats about being the fastest in Equestria is the last one here? Seems as though being a pegasus fits her, seeing as she speaks nothing but hot air.” Sombra belittled as he took notice that the dark presence was gone. Against his better judgment, he decided to brush it off as nothing.

“Watch it, buddy!” Rainbow Dash shouted as Flash Magnus’s shield was dropped onto his slab with her being a few meters away from Sombra. “I AM the fastest flier in Equestria! And I can prove it by beating the hell out of you so fast that you’ll never know what happened!” The speedster shouted as everyone, minus Sombra, was shocked at her sudden anger. Yes, she was boastful about her speed and defensive when someone questioned her about it, but this was different.

“Calm down Rainbow Dash! I get that it’s Sombra but he insults everybody when given the chance! Why is this so different?” Twilight questioned as she couldn’t think of a reason for Rainbow Dash to take it this far, even with a villain. The pegasus didn't get a chance to respond as Sombra scoffed before chuckling, prompting the mare to fly up in his face.

“Something funny!?”

“You! If it weren’t for my loss to Luna I’d absolutely allow you to try it, only for you to fail as I clip your wings!” Sombra replied as Rainbow Dash nearly tackled him as Twilight and Applejack managed to restrain via magic and a lasso. The pegasus growled in annoyance at her restraints and grew more angry at Sombra’s smug grin, knowing that she wasn’t going to touch him.

“Calm down Rainbow Dash! That varmint’s getting you worked up on purpose for a reaction and he’s gettin' it! Just let it go! He ain’t worth it!” Applejack yelled as she felt the struggling of her friend dying down, and she released her from the lasso as Twilight released the pegasus from her magic. Twilight was a little surprised that she needed to use a bit more magic than normal to restrain her friend, but she decided to focus on the current situation.

“Anyway, hopefully, they can help us defeat Acnologia once we get the pillars back. He won’t get away with anything he’s done.” Twilight confidently said as the others agreed, but Sombra started to question Acnologia’s power. They continuously spoke about his vast power, but Sombra wondered if they severely underestimated the Dragon King’s unknown power. Naturally, he knew that the Elements of Harmony and the Crystal Heart were powerful magical artifacts that could be used against him, but there were always stronger forms of magic, and it wasn’t as though neither of those artifacts couldn’t be destroyed.

As he thought this, Twilight signaled for Starlight and Sunburst to pour their magic into Starswirl’s book. As they did, it glowed a bright white before connecting to the other artifacts, which had promptly brought back all the pillars from Limbo. The girls saved all of them from being crushed by boulders, with Starswirl coming to his senses and rubbing his head with his hoof.

“W-What happened?” Starswirl asked, mainly for himself, but was surprised when Twilight answered him. His surprise turned to horror upon learning that he and all the other pillars were brought out of Limbo, and even as he begged Twilight to send them all back, he was too late. The sky suddenly darkened as a black cloud came into existence before dropping down into a liquid of tendrils before solidifying and forming a large pony that started cackling.

“Your attempt to imprison me has failed Starswirl!” The Pony of Shadows taunted as the wizard went to summon his magic, but as Sombra knew, he had none. Starswirl once again asked to be sent back to Limbo with the Pony of Shadows, and as Sunburst flipped through the pages of the diary to find that spell, their new enemy decided to ‘help’.

“Allow me to assist.” Tendrils suddenly shot from the Pony of Shadow’s body, piercing the book and the other rocks. He sent balls of magic through each tendril immediately, destroying Ponehenge and effectively the only way to seal him away. “Without the power of Ponehenge, your banishing spell is useless!”

“You’ve studied my writing! Surely you have another plan!?” Starswirl angrily asked Twilight who promptly denied having one. She didn’t know that this would happen, nor did she want it to as she just wanted to do Equestria right by their saving legendary heroes from the past.

“Don’t worry my fellow equines. When I destroy the light and hope of this miserable world and bring forth the foulest shadow creature that your feeble minds cannot even fathom; you won’t be remembering this…or ANYTHING for that matter!” The Pony of Shadows roared before firing a beam of his shadow magic at Starswirl who summoned his magic to defend himself, but was surprised when Twilight protected him and shoved the Shadow pony’s magic back at him.

“ARH! This one is almost as strong as you Starswirl. But even in my weakened state, she cannot overcome the might of shadows.” The Pony of Shadows threatened as he fired another beam of magic that Twilight countered. But this time they briefly stalemated before Twilight found herself being pushed back until Starlight assisted her and forced their opponent back.

The Pony of Shadows growled in annoyance and was going to say something when he noticed Sombra. “YOU! A powerful user of dark magic dares to do nothing to aid someone who would bring ruin to the realm, who would have the same goals as one another!?” He roared in anger before calming down, staring down the dark king before smirking and releasing an amusing chuckle. “Oh, you must forgive me. I was unaware that you had lost a shadow game and are now dealing with its penalties. For a powerful user of magic that is similar to my own to lose a shadow game, I find you quite…pathetic!”

“Mind your tongue less you wish for me to remove it. I’ve won thousands of games, and unless you wish to be banished back to the shadows of which you were born, you’d be wise to tempt me no further.” Sombra growled out as he summoned his magic, ready for a battle when Starswirl stepped in front of him. The wizard didn’t know who Sombra was, and Sombra was very annoyed at his movement, but he would get to him later as he dealt with his old enemy.

“Know this FIEND! We will not rest until you are put back in Limbo!” Starswirl declared as the others gathered around him, fiercely staring down the Pony of Shadows who snarled at the old wizard’s declaration.

“NEVER! Your days of glory under the sun are through Starswirl! My dark power will return, as you and this realm, will bow to THE SHADOW KING!” The Pony of Shadows roared before exploding into the sky, dispersing the dark clouds. Rainbow Dash and Flash Magnus flew up into the clear sky, seeing that their new adversary had vanished.

“Uh, where’d he go? And who’s the Shadow King?” Rainbow Dash asked as they all wondered the same thing. Starswirl told them to disregard the last threat, believing that it was nothing more than a title he had given himself. Before any of them could say a word, Starswirl summoned the small amount of magic that had returned to him and held Sombra in place.

“Release me at once you damned fossil!”

“I think not. Your usage of dark magic has corrupted you beyond saving! And you will be dealt with accordingly.” Starswirl coldly spoke as he went to prepare another spell, but was pulled away from Rockhoof as a dark crystal nearly skewered him. Sombra, now freed from his magical binding, darkly glared at Starswirl as he gathered his magic.

“You cannot hope to defeat someone who rivals both Celestia and Luna in power! Especially for one who has returned from a thousand-year-long imprisonment with hardly any magic to use!” Sombra yelled as he was prepared for another spell when Twilight and Starlight stepped in front of them. They too summoned their magic, making Sombra hesitate, knowing the consequences if he were to attack them. Sombra growled in anger before letting his magic fizzle out as Starlight and Twilight followed suit.

“Aside from him, if we have truly been away for millennia, then my spell worked. Before it was mettled with, and the realm has been at peace.” Starswirl proudly said, side-eyeing Twilight for bringing back the Pony of Shadows. What he wasn’t ever expecting was Pinkie Pie appearing next to him with a book in her hoof.

“Weeelllll!! We did have to save everyone from Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, King Sombra who’ve you met and is currently being forced to help us, and Lord Tirek. And then there was that one time when Starlight nearly destroyed the universe by traveling through time! But that’s in the past.” Pinkie Pie suddenly started listing off all of the villains they faced and defeated, also bringing over Starlight who weakly waved and nervously smiled before being shoved away as the wizard was baffled at the speed she spoke and her absurd energy levels.

“I will…ignore this one. Anyway, the current problem is finding the Pony of Shadows. The realm is vast, and there are many dark places where he could go to regain his power.”

“Sounds like you need a map, and luckily we have one.” Rarity offered as they started to leave. Sombra huffed in annoyance and followed after them before pausing mid-stride, he turned around and looked into the dense forest, thinking that something had just moved through the trees. He continued this stare until he snapped out of it by Meadowbrook.

“Is everything…okay?” Meadowbrook asked, seeing the thousand-yard stare on the dark king’s face. Now, she wasn’t genuinely worried about him, but she at least wanted to make sure that he wasn’t in some trance placed by the Pony of Shadows.

“Yes. Everything is perfectly fine.”

Nothing was fine. Sombra didn’t know who or what was lurking around Ponehenge, but he had a feeling that it was the same creature that he first sensed when they first arrived at the place. But tracking it down would’ve been a waste of energy since he didn’t know what he was looking for. He never brought this up to the others either, not only because they would dismiss him, but because choosing to believe that he was lying wasn’t unwarranted.

Sombra was currently walking around the castle, gathering all sorts of thoughts and dismissing many just as quickly as they came. But nothing truly concerned him, not even the dark presence that simply vanished from Ponehenge as he had a feeling it would soon turn up. Sombra continued his walk around the castle, heading over to the kitchen raid Twilight’s fridge when the representations of harmony, from vastly different generations, were in his way.

“Is there something you need?” Sombra growled out as Twilight ordered him to get ready to head for Hollow Shades. Sombra nodded as he took notice of the Elements of Harmony, deducing that this was their plan for the Pony of Shadows. He gave a brief glance to Starswirl, already seeing the obvious plan of banishing the Pony of Shadows along with himself to Limbo to kill two Pegasus with one crystal spear.

“Where’s Starlight? We need her to come along to help as well.”

“In her private study. She’s trying to test a few new spells before the coming battle.” Sombra explained as Twilight teleported to her student’s study room to retrieve her. Now that he was left alone with the others, he felt Starswirl’s piercing eyes on him as he yawned.

“If you wish to do something, then try it. With her gone, I’m not bound to punishment if I wish to kill you.”

“How impudent! I see no reason as to why you are even needed when the Pony of Shadows is all we are defeating. This ‘Shadow King’ he has mentioned is nothing more than a title for himself as there is no creature with that title or named as such. You would merely use it to deceive us and distract us while you scheme in silence and unsupervised.”

“Oh please! As if I need to use the title of some creature as a distraction. If you needed to choose between saving a town over stopping me and my future plans, you’d save the town. Besides, there is currently another threat you are more concerned about, right?” Sombra replied as Starswirl grit his teeth. He had never dealt with such arrogance before in his life, and what he hated the most was how right Sombra was. Luckily, before things could escalate, Twilight appeared with Starlight with a bright smile on her face as she trotted over to everyone.

“Alright, let’s go stop the Pony of Shadows!” Twilight eagerly explained as everyone agreed, although it wasn’t as joyful as hers from what had just transpired. Even so, they gathered around her and Starswirl and teleported to Hollow Shades where they would face the Pony of Shadows.

The Pony of Shadows, also known as Stygian, manifested in Hollow Shades. He took a look around the abandoned town until his eyes settled on a well at the center. He smirked and made his way towards it, with every step he took changing the land. The land got darker with black clouds blocking out the sun, and with pulses of magic, he uprooted the ground to create jagged mountains with howling winds accompanying them.

“Foolish pillars. You may have the assistance of ponies on par with yourselves, but you couldn’t stop before and you will fail again! And once I’ve summoned him, there will be no force in the entire realm that will be able to stop us!” Stygian cackled as lightning boomed in the sky. He transformed into a shadow and leaped into the well with intentions of summoning another shadow creature, that was, by his own words, “the foulest shadow creature” ever to exist.

However, Stygian himself would soon learn why you should never listen to or trust the voices from the shadows. They are good at hiding whatever may be lurking within it, and sometimes when people reveal the monster that was hidden away by the darkness, they would’ve wished that it remained there and continue to fear the unknown.

The group wandered through Hollow Shades trying to find the Pony of Shadows. Sunburst commented on how the place looked nothing like what he’d read, to which Mistmane replied that it had been warped to their enemy’s twisted desire. As they walked through the abandoned town, Sombra knew that they were being watched, but now he had no idea from where.

“Stygian! Show yourself!” Starswirl called out to his former friend and everyone heard a chuckle. As they all stood next to each other around a well, a shadow buzzsaw started cutting around them as they fell underground. They got to their hooves and noticed a strange mural in front of them. To them, it depicted a four-winged Alicorn with strong magic coming from its horn, although they all ignored it when shadows formed in front of it with the Pony of Shadows' maddening laughter.

He soon formed in front of them as Starswirl cast a barrier around his comrades. Sombra narrowed his eyes as he ignored the shadow pony who spoke to the fossil and focused on the mural. He could see how they assumed it to be an alicorn, but the magical power that was being used resembled shadows to him, and the alicorn looked more like a dragon. What could’ve been four wings were most likely a large shadow over it, but dragons couldn’t use elemental magic, could they?

Sombra suddenly tuned in to hear how Stygian listened to the darkness from the Well of Shades that granted him powers beyond his imagination. Stygian continued by explaining how he combined himself with the shadow to become stronger and cast the entire realm into darkness.

“Well, looks like we found the one Torch was talking about.” Twilight muttered to her friends as they nodded in agreement. Sombra doubted this but chose not to speak as Stygian attacked the barrier before shattering it, prompting everyone else to banish him to Limbo. The shadow struck again, breaking the barrier as the twelve representations of harmony joined together and used the elements of harmony to open the portal to Limbo and started pushing the Pony of Shadows back.

Sombra didn’t lift a hoof to help out, not only because he didn’t want to, but he wasn’t going to risk accidentally banishing himself to a timeless realm knowing that he wouldn’t return. He continued watching from the sidelines as he, Twilight, and Starlight saw the real Stygian trying to escape from the shadow's grasp. As Twilight went to save him, Sombra felt a sudden shift in the air, causing him to raise a brow and decide to take a look around.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and nothing about the cavern changed. Sombra narrowed his eyes and started extending his senses and magic, trying to figure out what was the sudden shift, what had just changed. He looked around until he finally saw runes sketched into the ground. However, he was brought out of his thoughts by hearing Twilight’s, or as he calls her Sparkle, speech to Stygian about friendship alongside Starlight before he was dragged out of the shadow. But as for the shadow itself, he chuckled.

“Fools! It matters not, for you’re already too late! But of course, I do hope you enjoy the new world order!” The shadow cackled before he was banished to Limbo. They all celebrated Stygian’s return from the darkness as Starswirl apologized to him and Twilight, both for separate matters. The wizard then turned to Sombra, who had been looking across the cave with a serious look.

“Well, what is the matter with you? Why are you–”

“So, how long do you intend to hide within the shadows? You can either come out or I drag you out. The choice is yours.” Sombra called out as everyone heard a deep chuckle. They followed Sombra’s gaze to a large shadow that wasn’t natural at the other end of the cave. To their surprise, the entire shadow traveled over to them and paused about halfway from where they stood. Then it began to take shape, condensing itself and building upward as a face was revealed to them while the rest of the bidel creature remained hidden behind shadows.

“A-A human!? Who are you!? And how are you here!?” Twilight demanded to know as she summoned her magic. Starswirl and Starlight followed suit, with no one seeing how hesitant Sombra was before he too summoned his magic

“Me? Hehehe. I…” The human started as he dropped the shadows and fully revealed himself. The human was decently tall, almost Celestia’s height with medium messy black hair, some of which was covering his left eye and another portion put up in a ponytail. He was adorned with a long dark-colored cape with tattered edges; while also wearing a long, dark jacket that appeared to be part of the cape ensemble, with the jacket having a high collar that was opened at the front, revealing a form-fitting, sleeveless black shirt underneath that showed off how muscular he was. The coat’s design had purple inner linings and dark purple feathers on the shoulders and upper arms, and around his wrist were purple arm guards that went to his elbow and split off with white lining around the edge.

He sported loose-fitted dark grey pants that were held together by a black belt and tucked into his knee-high boots that were lined with a white color, much like his arm guards. He wore a sly grin as his red, right-slitted eye seemingly glowed before he spoke.

“...I am Rogue Cheney, the Shadow Dragon Slayer, and the Shadow Dragon King.”

Author's Note

Here's a link to the outfit I used for Rogue in case it's hard to picture. It also credits the original artist as well.
https://www.deviantart.com/celestialrayna/art/Shadow-Dragon-Rogue-926719456