'That really could've gone better...'

Sombra thought to himself as he carried the two soon-to-be heroes in his magic through town, quickly dodging panicking ponies and infrastructure all the while. He thought that he would at least have the time to introduce himself!

Some ponies...

Well, at least he can continue their conversation at the lighthouse.

The former human turned back to his 'passengers', hoping his currently green eyes won't frighten them too much.

"What's the quickest way to-"

He realized he could only see one pony, and abruptly stopped.

Sunny gave him an awkward smile and shrugged, "Um, she sort of... jumped off near the theater?"

Sombra's eye twitched. He had a feeling this would be an annoyingly common occurrence, for some odd reason.

Letting out another sigh, he gently lowered the earth pony from his magical grasp and turned back into his solid form. Sunny felt the cold sensation on her coat disappear as he did so, and ran a hoof along a foreleg curiously.

"We need to find her. I'm going to assume you know the way?"

She turned back to the armored pony. Now that she could properly listen to him speaking, his surprisingly high voice caught her off-guard. With the way he looked. one would've expected a deep, gravelly voice instead.

Sunny shook her head and stored away those thoughts for later. They needed to find Izzy before she gets in trouble. Assuming she wasn't already in one.

"Right!" she exclaimed. The young mare made quick turn and gestured Sombra to follow her, "This way!"

As the two approached the town's movie theater, they were able to see the energetic mare obliviously trotting into a trap, as her eyes were stuck on the giant prop of a terminator pony. Sombra sniffed in amusement at the sight of it.

Sunny quickly dashed past him, calling out to her, "Izzy! Wait!"

"Huh-" was all the unicorn could utter before she was encased in a metal box, with only her horn poking out of a small port.

Sunny slid to a stop right in front of the trap. Sombra decided to stay hidden, this part was integral into getting Hitch to go after them when they depart to Zephyr Heights.

Sure enough, the sheriff arrived with his deputy in tow, confidently announcing Izzy's capture and attempting to calm down the citizens. The former human felt disheartened at the frightful looks that everypony still bore even after she had been trapped. Just how far has Equestria fallen?

"Still not beyond rescuing...."

He filed away those thoughts for later, no time for wallowing right now.

Sombra transformed back into his gaseous form and prepared to snatch the two right as Sunny hit the release button. In a tide of shadows, Sombra flew by the theater, grasping both Sunny and a freed Izzy while simultaneously causing the crowd to panic once again.

He couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the townsponies getting caught in their own traps as they frantically tried to hide themselves.

The dark unicorn turned back towards the encroaching form of the lighthouse, and felt a spike of uncertainty starting to rise in his mind.

'Now for the finicky part...'

The door to the lighthouse slammed opened as Sombra's smog-like form flooded through. Both Sunny and Izzy were thrown right onto a nearby couch, landing with their bodies upside-down.

Sombra quickly turned back and slammed the door closed with his magic, not forgetting to straighten the picture frame beside it. After taking a moment to take a breather and gather his thoughts, he turned to the dazed ponies on the couch.

He gave them a small smile and sat down in front of them, "Now! I believe it's time for an explanation."

Sunny spun herself and Izzy around right-side-up on their seat before jumping to her hooves, "That... was... AMAZING! I meet two unicorns in one day and get to have a first-hoof experience with magic?! Best. Day. EVER!"

She paused her explosive celebration as a sudden realization dawned on her.

"Wait... no, this bad! Oh what have I done?!"

Izzy, seemingly ignoring the earth pony's personal crisis, trotted over to her fellow unicorn curiously. The young mare got up close to his face—too close for comfort, admittedly—and tapped a hoof on her chin.

"Hm... I don't think I've seen you in Bridlewood before..." she muttered.

Sombra nodded, "Well, that's bec-"

The armored pony was rudely interrupted when Sunny pulled out her notebook, completely disregarding her previous train of thought. Though both unicorns could see a hint of anxiety in her eyes.

"Okay! We can start now! 'One hundred and forty-two questions for a unicorn'!" she took another glance at her guests, "Or, uh, two unicorns, I guess!"

Feeling that humoring her would take up precious time, he trotted up to her with a stern yet also calm look.

"Sunny Starscout-"

Sunny gasped, "So you can read minds!" she gave him an awkward chuckle, "Um, please don't go through too much."

"I can't- well... maybe, but that's besides-"

She continued, ignoring him entirely.

"Next question! Where do you live?"

"Please, you need to lis-"

"Bridlewood!" Izzy answered immediately.

The earth pony gasped again, "I knew it! Do unicorns live in trees? Do they eat pizza? If so what..."

And so she went on, pelting both Sombra and Izzy with a barrage of naive, silly, but oddly endearing questions. While the former human did find said questions amusing, it was only a matter of time before Hitch got there with his megaphone.

He barely got a word out before Sunny shot him another question.

"Could you do that floaty thing with your horn again?"

Sombra rolled his eyes and grunted, but did as instructed. He looked around for any object he could pick up and settled for a can of beans.

The dark unicorn's horn lit up with his crackling magic and enveloped the can. He then proceeded to move it around in the air, levitating it this way and that. A glance at the two other ponies in the room showed them staring at it with clear awe.

"Wow! I never thought it'd look so... bubbly?" Sunny muttered as she cautiously brushed a hoof on the purple aura.

The earth pony then turned to the other unicorn, "Is it different for each unicorn?"

Izzy shook her head, "No, actually. We haven't had magic for a very, veeeery long time." she nodded her head towards Sombra and giggled, "Except for him!"

Sunny tilted her head, "Huh? What do you mean?"

The dark unicorn breathed an audible sigh of relief, "Yes! That's what I've been trying to talk about! Thank you, Izzy."

He straightened his posture and trotted up towards the young mare, his intimidating visage causing her to lean back.

'It's all on the presentation.'

"Sunny Starscout. You, along with four—and later, five—other ponies have been chosen by Harmony itself to return the Magic of Friendship back to Equestria!"

He grabbed a nearby stool with his magic and stood on it, "I myself have been tasked with aiding and guiding you in your quest to reunite the three original tribes of this land, as well as continuing the legacy of the legendary Mane SIx as Equestria's mighty protectors!"

Sombra proudly proclaimed. Mustering all the confidence he would usually only have when talking on the internet.

Izzy clapped her hooves, "Woah! You're saying we're going to be heroes?"

It took her a moment to register everything that he had said.

"Wha- saviors? Harmony? Quest? Legacy? Equestria's mighty protectors?!"

Sombra stepped off the stool and nodded, "Yes. You may or may not have already realized, I am not a part of this era."

Sunny paused in thought. She leveled her gaze towards the dark unicorn, trying to figure out what he meant.

Her eyes widened as she remembered a story her father had once told her. The story of an ancient empire made of crystals, a tyrant ruling over with fearsome dark magic, and his defeat by the teamwork of Twilight Sparkle and her friends. She remembered getting nightmares about him for days.

And her dad's descriptions of the tyrant... it fit the pony standing in front of her to a tee.

Slowly, she backed away from him, a sudden wave of fear washing over her. Izzy looked at her with a confused expression, not realizing the significance of the earth pony's realization.

"You... you're... you're-"

He nodded solemnly, "You know me as King Sombra. Former King Sombra, to be more specific."

Sombra shook his head, "But judging from your reaction, it seems like you haven't heard the entirety of my tale."

The earth pony gulped, she could feel her hooves starting to tremble.

"W-what do you mean?"

Right as he was about to continue, the distinct crackling sound of a megaphone made itself known from outside the lighthouse. It caused Sunny to jump to surprisingly high, knocking over a basket of fruit all the while.

"Sunny Starscout! I know you're in there with those unicorns! Come out with your hooves up and surrender!"

Sombra couldn't hold in it anymore, and smacked his face with both of his hooves out of exasperation.

Clank!

"Ow..."

Sunny quickly gathered herself and ran up to window to take a peek outside. She huffed when she noticed Hitch and Sprout waiting for them outside.

"Uh-oh!" she took a tentative glance at Sombra, "Um... you don't happen to know any sneaky spells, do you?"

The former human coughed into his hoof, "Ah, well-"

"Oh relax you two! I'll go talk to them. I'm sure this was all just a big misunderstanding." Izzy affirmed before stepping out of the front door.

Sunny rushed after her, "No, wait!"

Sombra could only shake his head as he followed the two heroes.

"Harmony and Lauren Faust help me..."

He was just about to exit when he remembered something.

"Oh! Almost forgot!"

After quick trip to the top floor of the lighthouse, he went out in another surge of shadows, swiftly catching up to the two ponies who were now at the edge of the seaside town.

Author's Note

And here's chapter two! One more chapter, and I'll be going back to Fire Horse until an interlude after chapter ten! Writing a story within a story and making it coherent is... surprisingly confusing, but it's fun to find out how to work it all out.

And I apologize if Sombra's chapters seem shorter compared to my other stories, I honestly don't have an explanation as to why it is...

Also! Featured! Again... why do you people like these stories so much?

Anyway, that's all, really. Lots and lots of stories to work on and create!

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"