Thirty minutes later, everyone was in the royal banquet hall.

The banquet hall's room wasn't too big, but it wasn't too small either. A small room with a long, exquisitely decorated oak table in the center. Large pots with various plants stood on the walls between stained-glass windows of various colors, and above them were majestic tapestries. There weren't many chairs at the table, but each one looked pretty nice, a white chair with different golden swirls and a long back. There was a red feather pillow on each chair to soften the slightly hard surface of the seat.

The door to the banquet hall opened, and three Alicorns and one small dragon entered. After entering the banquet hall, the group began to take their seats. Erzit sat down on a chair on the right corner of the table from the exit. Princess Luna sat parallel to Erzit on the left corner of the table. Twilight sat on the second chair next to Luna. Spike sat on the third chair next to Twilight. The chair in the center between Erzit and Luna was meant for Celestia.

Celestia lingered a bit, explaining to the guards what had happened to their colleagues in the throne room. Well, more precisely, I was trying to come up with something like a sunstroke knocked them out or a sudden light made them fall asleep. After asking the guards who arrived to take the wounded to the barracks to rest, Celestia left the throne room, heading to the banquet hall.

After finishing her business in the throne room, Celestia also went to the banquet hall, sitting between Erzit and Luna. Settling herself comfortably, Celestia waved her hoof, beckoning the waiter to ask him to bring them tea. When the waiter, a brown-skinned earth pony with a blue mane and tail, came out of the banquet hall, Celestia breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is everything okay, Sister?" Luna whispered softly. Leaning towards Celestia.

"Yes. Yes, everything is fine. It just doesn't happen often what happened today." Shaking her head, Celestia whispered back, twitching her tail nervously.

"Mr. Erzit, what can you tell us?" Interrupting the whispers of the two sisters, Twilight nervously asked with a tight smile. Putting both hooves together on the table.

"For example?" Raising his right eyebrow, Erzit asked.

"For example, about that book you took from me. With the words that it is evil." Twilight replied less nervously.

"That's right, by the way. I don't recall any secret room in a single book in our old castle." - Luna said quite confidently. However, she was still staring suspiciously at Erzit, even though she was trying to hide it. Celestia just nodded, also wanting to know what kind of room it was with a book she didn't know about.

"Well, that's good." Shrugging his shoulders, Erzit replied, leaning back in his chair, ready to tell the story.

"Where did the room you're talking about come from? I don't know. However, I assume that it was made by those who wanted to hide this book in the hope that it would not be found." Erzit calmly replied with his eyes closed.

"Hide it from whom or what?" Twilight asked, puzzled.

"The Necronomicon. These are books that contain information about dangerous creatures. It's usually just a book with a bunch of obscure information about some mythical creature. However, there are also those in which these very creatures are imprisoned." Erzit spoke casually, still with his eyes closed.

"So you're saying that there was a creature trapped in that book? From the legends?" Twilight asked, tilting her head to the right.

"Yes and no." Erzit replied quickly and simply.

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked in disbelief, raising her left eyebrow.

"This book contained more than just a creature from the legends. It was a ghost that was doomed to eternal torment. Anyone who finds the book will sooner or later succumb to its influence and either go crazy or do something bad to their loved ones following the call of the book." Erzit replied with a wave of his hoof.

Twilight's eyes widened in understanding. And she exclaimed questioningly. - "Y-so this book could make me harm my loved ones!?"

"But why would anyone make such a dangerous item?" Luna asked, pricking up her ears, waiting for an answer.

"Few people understand the sectarians who do this. They usually do this as a sign of sacrifice. Or a sign of respect to one of their own." Erzit replied with a shrug.

"Aww." Luna snorted knowingly, lowering her gaze to the floor.

At that moment, several unicorns entered the banquet hall with tea utensils. They quickly and accurately placed all the tea cups at the right places where the guests were sitting. The unicorn placed the teapot next to Celestia's cup, as she liked to pour tea herself, and not when someone poured it for her. After bowing, all the unicorns quickly left, closing the doors behind them.

Taking the teapot in her magical grip, Celestia began to fill the cups with the wonderful herbal tea one by one. When she had finished filling everyone's cups, she put the kettle back next to her. Nodding that they could continue talking, she smiled and took a sip from her cup.

"And where is this book now?" Twilight took a sip from her cup and asked.

"It's in my library. Under reliable protective spells." Erzit replied casually, taking a sip of tea.

"Do you have your own library?" Twilight exclaimed questioningly.

"Yes, I have my own library with books from all eras of Equestria." Erzit said, chuckling softly.

Twilight's eyes widened with interest. And his tail wagged like an excited puppy's.

"Tvi. Calm down." Spike whispered softly to her.

"Eh? Oh. Yes, I'm sorry." Blushing a little, Twilight apologized, lowering her ears down.

After a minute of silence, Princess Luna jerked, raising her right hoof to say something. “I think it would be interesting if you could talk a little bit about your ponies. I mean, the guards you came with. Who are they?” After taking a few sips of tea, Luna asked.

"I'm glad you're interested in my ponies." Erzit said with a smile, turning to face Luna.

"As I said earlier, they are shadow ponies, or, as you call them in your legends, Umbrums. They were once ordinary Equestria ponies, but later something happened to each of them that brought their problem to my attention. I helped everyone and took them on as my students. Everyone was a good but unhappy pony."

"And why did you decide to help any of them?" Celestia asked calmly.

"That's a good question that I won't be able to answer." Erzit replied calmly, shrugging his shoulders.

"What? Why?" Raising her left eyebrow, Celestia asked in surprise.

"Because I do not know. I just wanted to help those who needed help. In those days, good deeds were rare in those places."

Frowning, Celestia nodded, realizing what he was talking about.

"So that's when I started helping ponies and accepting them as my students. I taught them different things. Pegasus - mastery of weather control and flight. Earth ponies - controlling the magic of the earth and their body. And unicorns - control of their magic and new spells. I taught them everything I'd learned during the years I'd been hiding and traveling around Equestria." Erzit said after taking a sip of tea.

"And how did they become shadow ponies then?" Luna asked.

"Have some patience, Princess Luna. While I was teaching the first students, I also studied various aspects of magic that had been little studied. For example, the dark arts. Of course, I understood that the magic of darkness is very dangerous, but it has several aspects that may be safer or more dangerous. For example, necromancy is more dangerous due to its unpredictability. Or mind magic, which allows you to control the emotions and minds of other ponies. I didn't really delve into the aspects of dark magic, but I was interested in an offshoot of dark magic called Shadow magic. This magic had hardly been studied, and few people knew about it. Abandoning the study of other aspects of dark magic, I set about studying and perfecting shadow magic." Erzit stopped to take a sip of tea.

"Although dark magic is dangerous, I didn't realize that it had different aspects that could be more dangerous. No one had ever heard of shadow magic in particular, and there was no mention of it anywhere except..." Twilight was thinking when she was interrupted by Princess Luna.

"Except for King Sombra. It was the first time we saw shadow magic from him." Luna's ears twitched with understanding as she finished her sentence. Instead of Twilight.

After mentioning his fallen disciple, Erzit involuntarily shuddered, and his eyes began to dart around because of the memories that came flooding back.

"Something happened?" Celestia asked, leaning towards Erzit, seeing how nervous he started to get at the mention of Sombra.

"No. everything is fine." Pulling himself together, Erzit replied.

"Then why did you get so excited at the mention of King Sombra?" Celestia countered his excuse.

"Just mentioning Sombra makes me uncomfortable." Erzit replied with a grimace of uncertainty.

"Hmm. Why?" Luna asked.

"I don't want to talk about it too much. But I'll say something anyway. Sombra was my student. However, he became obsessed with obsessions and immersed himself in the study of dark magic. I had my suspicions that someone had persuaded him to take this path, but I still haven't found any evidence. As a result, he captured the Crystal Empire and plunged it into tyranny." Erzit finished with a sigh.

After a moment of silence, Celestia decided to ask. “If you don't want to talk anymore, we'll...”

At this time, Twilight nervously sipped her tea, thinking about this frank story about the unsuccessful student of Erzit.

"No. It's all good. It was just the first time that my student renounced my teachings. It was a long time ago, so don't bother yourself with memories of it." Erzit replied with a sigh.

"Well, now let's continue what I was telling you." Erzit said with enthusiasm and a smile. It was as if nothing had happened, and he wasn't immersed in unpleasant memories.

"Where was I? Oh, yeah. While studying and developing shadow magic, I discovered that it consumes quite a lot of magical skills. Exactly three times more than any other kind of magic. Each spell can wear down an unprepared unicorn. However, I found a way to use this magic with few restrictions, and I was even able to get this magic to be used by Pegasi and Earth ponies, who can use their natural magic to cast spells. However, even these spell successes could exhaust the user. But later I created a spell or a rite, which, so to speak, added new properties to the control of shadow magic to an ordinary pony."

"Isn't it too dangerous? It seemed to me that such rituals could pervert anyone or drive them crazy." Luna raised her right hoof and said.

"It can drive an unprepared person crazy and plunge them into madness. And maybe it seems like some kind of occult ritual. That's not so. The rite of passage into the Shadow, as I called it, was conducted only on those who had completed my full shadow magic training. And even after that, it would take a long time for the pony to master shadow magic well enough. Only then did I perform a rite that turned the pony into a shadow pony. A shadow pony can use shadow magic with minimal expenditure of its innate natural magical reserves. The only side effects are starvation after intense use of shadow magic and deactivation of the insignia. Yes, this is a rather unpleasant side effect when a pony loses its badge, however, this pony can still use the skills of its badge without having it. It's also a side effect that causes a strange aura that everyone feels. But I created a spell that hides this aura and enchanted all the armor and clothes of my ponies for this spell. One of the useful effects is good control over shadow magic and the disappearing effect of aging. For alicorns like me, there's a side effect of not being able to grow up to look like an adult alicorn." Erzit finished, finishing his cup of tea.

"Well. It's quite interesting." Celestia replied with a smile, pouring a new portion of tea for Erzit.

"Could you show me and teach me a few spells?!" Twilight shouted softly, with a big smile and a twinkle in her eyes.

"I could show you a couple of tricks. But a little later." Erzit replied with a smile.

"Good!" Twilight replied. Wagging his tail in happiness.

Celestia just giggled softly, hiding behind her hoof, seeing Twilight's enthusiasm to learn something new.

"How do you feel about art?" Luna asked with a smirk.

The next few hours passed like clockwork. Luna and Twilight asked a lot of questions to Erzit, and he answered. Luna asked about art and music, and Twilight asked about magic and books. Celestia was silent most of the time, only occasionally answering some general questions or nodding in confirmation of Twilight or Luna's words. When evening finally came and tea was over, Celestia and Luna exchanged glances, as if talking in their minds.

"Erzit, do you have a place to stay for the night?" Celestia asked.

"I'm not in Canterlot, but I can quickly move to my castle. Although I wouldn't mind a place like this in Canterlot." Erzit replied a little surprised, smiling.

"Good then. I'm asking that your room be prepared tomorrow." Celestia said with a smile.

"A. S-thank you, Princess. B-but why? Is this the first time you've seen me?" Erzit asked in surprise.

"Yes, but from the conversations we've had, I've realized that you're a pretty good pony. And even more so, I would not like to see that performance from your shadow guards again." Celestia replied with a soft smile.

"And you also said that you don't like a lot of attention. Therefore, if you have your own room in Canterlot Castle, it will simplify meetings and conversations. Without too much attention." Celestia finished with a little chuckle.

"Well, thank you, Princess." Bowing, Erzit said.

"You don't need that. If we want to become friends, we don't need such a formal gesture." Waving her right hoof, Celestia said.

"Sure." Erzit replied.

"Well, now I have to say goodbye. I'll see you tomorrow." Erzit replied with a smile, disappearing into the shadows.

"Well." Celestia said, turning to the remaining people present with a wide smile.

"How do you like today?"

"It was quite interesting." Luna replied with a smile, wagging his tail.

"It was a little awkward and exciting that there was another Alicorn who had been hiding all this time and suddenly decided to reveal himself. But in general, I agree with Luna." Twilight replied with a slightly strained smile, lowering her ears a little uncertainly.

"I found it a little strange, but overall I was also interested." Spike replied with his arms crossed over his chest.

***

When Erzit appeared in his library, he breathed a sigh of relief. “I didn't think it would be so exciting.” He muttered to himself.

"At least it was better than I expected." Erzit continued with a smile.

"Everything went well." Thane said with a deadpan smile, emerging from the shadows with his guards.

"This is true. You can take the day off until the end of the day." Erzit told Thane's guards.

"Yes, master!" The shadow guards shouted in unison. Disappearing into the shadows.

"Master, you're spoiling them too much." Thane said with a grin.

"Maybe. But you all need some rest." Erzit said with a smile.

"Good. Then I'll go check out what's been going on in our absence." Thane said with a snort, disappearing into the shadows.

"Of course Thane." Erzit said with a sigh.

Sighing again, Erzit stretched his neck and shook his wings, relaxing them.

"Shands, I'm back." Erzit said loudly, looking around.

Half a minute later, the shadows next to the nearest bookshelf began to seethe, and Shands appeared from them with a rather wide smile. “Welcome back, Master.”

Raising his right eyebrow, Erzit noticed a hint of amusement in Shands' tone. “Did something happen? Why are you so happy?” Erzit asked with a predatory smile.

"Nothing like that, Master. However, I would like to ask you a favor." Still smiling, Shands said, twitching his tail nervously.

"Aww. So what?"

"Tomorrow will be a hundred years since Emily became your student and became one of us. I want to have a big party with all the residents of the castle. That's why I want to ask you to set aside tomorrow for this." Shands said happily. His ears pricked up, and his tail waved left and right several times, waiting for an answer.

The momentary silence made Shands even more nervous, waiting for an answer. Shands' tail began to turn from side to side. And Erzit's impassive face gave no idea what he would say to Shands' request. After another minute, Erzit exhaled and a smile appeared on his face. “How can I refuse such a wonderful offer. Have fun all day long.” Erzit replied with a slight chuckle.

"Thank you master." Shands replied.

"Have fun there." Erzit said with a smile. Passing by Shands.

"Don't you want to join us?" Turning to Erzit, Shands asked, raising his right eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, Shands, but no. I have things that have been waiting for a long time." Shaking his head, Erzit replied.

"Very sorry. Others would be happy if their master would join in the fun." Shands said a bit frustrated. Flattening his ears to his head.

"Wait, what's the deal? I don't remember anything like that in the schedule?" Shands exclaimed in surprise.

"You know what I'm talking about, Shands." Erzit said with a grimace.

It took several seconds before Shands began to understand what he was talking about. His eyes widened in understanding. “Is it really today?” Shands exclaimed excitedly.

"Yes, Shands. That's why I won't be able to attend your party." Erzit replied with a slight frown.

"Then maybe we should cancel the party. If the time has come for his release, then we will need.…" Shands was talking excitedly, until Erzit interrupted him by raising his right hoof as a sign for him to calm down and be silent.

"It's okay, Shands. I can handle a naughty student. Let you and the others have fun." Erzit said with a smile.

Shands's gaze darted around the library, searching for a way to object. But having no idea how to object to his Master, he just sighed, lowering his ears. “Good master.”

Coming close to Shands, Erzit put his right hoof on his shoulder. “Don't worry, Shands.”

Shands just nodded. Removing the hoof from his shoulder, Erzit turned around and walked out of the library, nodding to Shands not to worry. “Good luck with those traitors.” Finally, Shands said, disappearing into the shadows.

"Of course, Shands." Erzit said casually as he walked out of the library's open doors.

After leaving the library, Erzit walked casually, looking back at the castle walls, wondering what he should do after Sombra's return. How to properly punish him. How can he force him to admit his mistakes and correct them? And most importantly, how Sombra will react to all this. And what actions Sombra will use when he returns again. “There are so many unanswered questions...” Erzit muttered with a sigh, shaking his head from side to side.

Passing through the next flight, Erzit's hooves shuffled on the purple carpet lying in each corridor. As he passed the next bend again, Erzith noticed the absence of the shadow guards that Thane liked to place everywhere. “It looks like they're already getting ready for the party.” Erzit thought to himself as he walked past the small banquet hall, which was also empty.

Finally, Erzit reached a turn into a long corridor, at the end of which was a single obsidian door. “We need to try.” Erzit said resolutely to himself. Walking briskly towards the door.

When he reached the end of the corridor, Erzit stopped right next to a door with a black handle in the shape of a crescent moon. Sighing, a white magical grip appeared on the handle and began to turn it to the left. A moment later, the door opened, letting the light from the crystal lamps from the hallway into the dark room behind the obsidian door.

A few steps and Erzit was already in the room he called the laboratory for experiments. It was a black obsidian room with torches instead of the usual crystal lamps on the walls of the room. There was an empty space in the center of the room, however, a large protective runic circle was drawn on the floor.
To the right of the door was an Obsidian table with several Obsidian shelves on the wall. There were various notebooks on the table with empty pieces of parchment and an inkwell with a pen next to it. On the shelves, there were several books and piles of scrolls with various emblems and ribbons that prevented them from opening. There was an ordinary wooden table next to the table.
To the left of the door was a small square wooden table with several closed scrolls on it. Several empty flasks stood on the corner of the table. In the center there was a glass dome, under which was painted a runic circle, on which lay a red and gray horn. There were various crystal fragments lying around the dome. However, there was still a small pink crystal next to the flask, which seemed to be trembling in anticipation of its split.

Turning his head left and right, Erzit lit his horn, and the extinguished torches burst into orange flames, illuminating the black room. Turning to the left, Erzit approached the wooden table, placing his left hoof on its surface.

"Well, are you ready?"

"It's a pity that you won't answer me. But I will take silence as a positive response." Smiling, Erzit said, removing a hoof from the table.

The white glow of Erzit's horn enveloped the dome under which Sombra's horn lay. Lifting and removing the dome to the side, Erzit took the horn in his magical grip, from which he began to resist a little.

"Even now you have the strength to fight." Erzit chuckled.

Moving the horn to the center of the room, where a protective magic circle was drawn, Erzit stood at the borders of the circle. Extinguishing his magic, Erzith let Sombra's horn sink to the floor. Becoming more serious, Erzit took a stance, opening his wings to both sides and lowering his head a little lower to point his horn at Sombra's horn. A moment later, a red jet of magic shot out of Erzit's horn, hitting the horn lying on the floor.

It took less than a minute before Erzith silenced the magic of his horn when he saw that Sombra's horn had started to seethe with red and black magic. After removing the magic, Erzith watched as the seething magic grew bigger and bigger. The silhouette of a large gray stallion began to emerge from this seething.
Sombra's body began to form, bringing him searing pain. First, organs and the nervous system were formed, then bones and skin with wool. Gradually, his body began to form from his feet to his head. When the vocal cords finally formed, a loud, furious scream could be heard in the room. The formation of a new body was a rather painful process when the user's body was being formed, gradually rebuilding it piece by piece.

Finally, the formation of the body, along with the screams, ended, and with a deafening thud, a dark gray stallion with a black mane and tail fell to the floor. He was unconscious, but alive and breathing. The stallion's eyes widened in mute disbelief. “Am I alive?” That's all that came into Sombra's foggy head.

If you didn't look closely at his new body, he was almost as Sombre as when he attacked the Crystal Empire. Except he wasn't wearing his trademark armor, crown, and cape. Also, his red curved horn became a regular straight one. And the mane stopped wriggling like smoke in an invisible wind. In addition, his red-scarlet pupils turned ruby-green.

After looking around with his own eyes, he had questions about his location. Sombra did not recognize the place where he was. It was definitely not the Crystal Empire. And certainly not the dungeons of Canterlot. However, something about this place was both familiar and not.

"G-where am I?" Sombra muttered softly.

"You're home. So to speak." A rather familiar voice said. However, Sombra couldn't remember whose voice it was. Turning his head towards the voice, his eyes widened as he realized who it was.

"N-it can't be." Sombra said with surprise in his voice.

"Maybe. Maybe, my dear student. Welcome back." Erzit said with a satisfied smile, looking at the lying stallion…

Author's Note

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Events are starting to gain momentum and there will be more interesting things to come. :)

Don't forget to leave your feedback so that I understand that you like this story and I need to continue it. Thank you in advance.