Author's Note

"Hello! 😊 I want to let you know that I am not a native English speaker; I'm using a web translator. If you come across any errors in the stories, whether grammatical or otherwise, I apologize in advance! 🙏"

Chapter 1

An Unexpected Return

It was a day like any other in Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle was in her personal library in the Castle of Friendship, surrounded by books, scrolls, and magical artifacts of all kinds.

She was working on a new experimental spell she had discovered in an ancient book titled Extraordinary Enchantments for the Curious Unicorn.

The spell promised to reveal the true essence of any being, something Twilight, always eager for knowledge, couldn’t resist trying.

“Just a drop of shadow essence, a pinch of stardust, and... done!” Twilight murmured as she waved her horn to cast the spell.

A brilliant flash of light filled the library, followed by a cloud of purple smoke that enveloped everything.

When the smoke dissipated, Twilight found herself coughing, trying to see through the mist.

“Oh no, what went wrong this time?” she complained as she waved a hoof to disperse the smoke.

Looking around, expecting some sort of magical manifestation, she froze when she saw a dark figure sitting at her desk, casually flipping through one of her magic books. His red cape fluttered slightly, and his horn radiated an ominous aura but... somewhat disheveled.

“King Sombra?!” Twilight exclaimed, her eyes filled with disbelief. “But how...?! You were destroyed by the Crystal Heart!”

King Sombra looked up from the book, surprised and clearly confused.

“Me? Destroyed? By the Crystal Heart?” he repeated, frowning. “What are you talking about, Sparkle? Did you fail another one of your experiments?”

Twilight blinked, utterly bewildered.

“What do you mean, what am I talking about? You... What are you talking about? You were defeated a long time ago... you shattered into a thousand pieces.”

King Sombra looked at her as if she were a bit disoriented.

“Well, this is the first I’ve heard of that. I was in my chambers, having a rather pleasant nap, and now... I’m here, in your... castle?” he said, looking around as if evaluating the place for the first time. “And honestly, this doesn’t make much sense.”

Twilight put a hoof to her head, trying to process the situation.

“But... but that’s not possible...” she murmured, her thoughts swirling like leaves in the wind. “There must be some explanation for this. It has to be a mistake with the spell!”

King Sombra watched her for a moment, then sighed as if deciding it wasn’t worth worrying too much about.

“Good luck with that, Sparkle. In the meantime, I’ll be in the library. I’ve heard you have an excellent collection of dark books. Where is the curse section?”

But before he could take another step, Twilight stood guard, her eyes glowing with determination.

“No! You’re not going anywhere until we sort this out! I don’t know how you managed to come back to life, but I’ll defeat you here and now!” she declared, her horn lighting up with magic.

King Sombra raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised by Twilight’s sudden aggressiveness.

“What are you doing, Sparkle?”

“What I have to do!” Twilight fired a magical beam at him, determined to contain him before he could cause any harm.

However, the beam skimmed past King Sombra, who dodged it with an almost casual elegance.

“Really?” King Sombra said, stepping aside to avoid another attack. “Are you going to keep doing this? Celestia didn’t tell me her student was so aggressive.”

Twilight, growing increasingly frustrated as she didn’t understand what he was talking about, kept spouting nonsense. She cast another spell, but King Sombra dodged it again, this time with an unexpectedly agile pirouette.

“Stay still!” Twilight shouted, not realizing how absurd the situation sounded.

King Sombra let out a dry laugh as he dodged another beam that flew past his ear.

“Honestly, Sparkle, is this how you treat your guests, whom, by the way, you summoned yourself? And even more so, the King of the Crystal Empire?” he asked, still clearly confused.

Finally, tired of the situation, King Sombra moved quickly, using his own magic to deflect Twilight’s next attack and then, in a blink, appeared right in front of her, cornering her against the wall.

“Enough,” he ordered, his deep voice now soft, almost whispering.

Twilight was left breathless, her horn still glowing faintly as King Sombra stared at her. His presence was intimidating, but there was something in his eyes—a mix of confusion and... curiosity?

“Listen,” he continued, leaning slightly toward her. “I have no idea what you’re talking about with this Crystal Heart nonsense or what you’re trying to do. But I’m not here to fight... at least, not with you.”

Twilight, still with her heart racing, felt her magic slowly fading. As strange as it was, King Sombra seemed to be telling the truth, or at least seemed as lost as she was. She didn’t sense any malevolent intent; in fact, he seemed more perplexed than she was.

King Sombra took a step back, giving her a bit of space.

“First, let’s calm down. Then we can try to figure out what’s going on here, without any more magical attacks, okay?”

Twilight nodded slowly, still a bit wary but no longer with the urgency to attack.

“Alright... but don’t think I’ll trust you so easily,” she said, her voice trembling. “So... what’s going on? How did you come back? What are you doing here? Is this a trick?”

King Sombra looked at her, still frowning and clearly perplexed. He seemed uncomfortable with the number of questions.

“Girl, I still have no idea what you’re talking about. Are you sure one of your experiments didn’t damage your head?”

Twilight scowled, offended.

“Damage my head?!” she retorted, feeling her anger rising again. “I’m not falling for your evil tricks, Sombra! This is clearly some sort of deception to trap me!”

King Sombra looked at her with a mix of confusion and pity and sighed deeply.

“By the shadow of my cloak, poor pony,” he murmured to himself. “It seems she’s gone crazy. Celestia should consider getting another student... one who doesn’t make up stories about defeats that never happened.”

Twilight glared at him, but deep down, a small doubt began to take root. If King Sombra was acting, he was doing it too well... or did he really know nothing? What happened? Did he lose his memory? Even if he did, it didn’t excuse the crimes he committed against the Crystal Empire. Wait, did he say he was the king of the Empire?

“Did you do something to Princess Cadance again?!” Twilight exclaimed.

“What? Princess Cadance? Who’s that?” he asked, tilting his head a bit, confused.

As they stared at each other, one trying to find answers and the other seeking some sense in the situation, the mystery of how and why they were together began to weigh even more heavily in the air, turning what should have been an ordinary day in Ponyville into the start of a coexistence neither of them could have anticipated.

Suddenly, King Sombra narrowed his eyes and moved closer to Twilight, studying her more closely.

His dark eyes focused on something he hadn’t noticed before: Twilight’s wings, nervously folded at her sides.

“Wait a moment...” he said, almost in a whisper, as he approached even more, enough for Twilight to instinctively back away. “And those?” he pointed with his gaze at her wings. “You didn’t have those the last time we met, did you?”

Twilight, surprised by King Sombra’s sudden attention to her wings, blinked in confusion.

“My wings?” Twilight repeated, still on guard. “No, I didn’t have them... Wait, did you say ‘since the last time we met’?”

“Yes, of course,” replied King Sombra, with a feigned expression of impatience. “We met last week at the annual leaders’ meeting. You were with Celestia and Luna, probably as part of your training... or something. Don’t tell me you also forgot that?”

Twilight looked at him incredulously, her mind struggling to process what she had just heard.

“Annual meeting...?—” she repeated slowly. “That doesn’t make sense! The last time we met was when we... defeated you!”

King Sombra shrugged, as if the conversation was merely a minor inconvenience in his day.

“Well, there you go again. It’s not my problem if you practice your magic, but if you brought me this far, you’re keeping me from doing my duties as sovereign of the Crystal Empire,” he said seriously, dropping the jokes despite being more than confused by the situation.

Twilight looked at him, astonished by the seriousness in his voice.

“Duties as sovereign?” she repeated, with a mix of incredulity and sarcasm. “Please, spare me your delusions. The Crystal Empire was freed and restored a long time ago. You have nothing to do with it now. You won’t be able to rule it even in your wildest dreams.”

King Sombra looked at her intently, clearly confused but trying to maintain his composure.

“Stop joking around, Sparkle,” he said with a tone that tried to be authoritative. “I am the King of the Crystal Empire. Even if it seems like I disagree with your claims, I’m not here to play.”

Twilight let out a dry laugh, crossing her forelegs.

“Oh, sure! The King of the Crystal Empire? Really? Don’t you remember that you were defeated a long time ago by the Crystal Heart? Or do you want to have tea and talk about it?” Twilight said, already fed up. She didn’t know if he was pretending or not.

King Sombra scratched his head, clearly frustrated.

“Look, Sparkle, I don’t know what got into your head with your magic, but I didn’t plan on coming back to a rainbow castle,” he said with a grimace. “I just woke up in the middle of a purple cloud and now I’m here, trying to figure out what the hell happened. And yes, I could use a cup of tea.”

“Do you really think I’ll fall for that? Stop pretending, you’ll never rule Equestria!” Twilight exclaimed, somewhat frustrated.

King Sombra raised an eyebrow, visibly confused but trying to keep his composure.

“Ruling? I have no idea what you’re talking about, Sparkle. I am the King of the Crystal Empire, that’s a fact. And as for this ‘Equestria’”—he stopped, his expression showing uncertainty—“Why do you call it that?”

Twilight looked at him, incredulous.

“What? It’s always been Equestria!”

King Sombra frowned, more bewildered than ever.

“Equestria?” he repeated slowly. “The last time I was aware, it was called Aularis.”

“What?” Twilight asked, even more confused.

“What?” he repeated, equally disoriented.