The next morning...

Even though today was a free day for everyone in the castle, Shands still performed his duties. Today's duties mainly consisted of waking up Erzit and checking on Sombra.

Walking through the spacious and empty corridors, Shands headed for the room of the castle's newest resident. Sombra's room was in the right wing of the castle, right next to the Colosseum and Shands' own room, so he had no trouble getting there. Soon, upon reaching the right corridor, Shands saw the familiar perpetually sleepy pony that was supposed to be guarding Sombra's room.

"Did you decide to make a joke after all?" Shands asked with a grin.

"I couldn't help myself." Wrench replied with a shrug.

"I can see that." Raising his right eyebrow, Shands said, waiting for Wrench to say something.

With a sigh, Wrench turned to face Shands. His mane was combed, but a few hairs were still sticking out. “My sentence is to watch over Sombra until the end of today.” Wrench replied, rolling his eyes.

Shands grinned and shook his head, showing he was disappointed. “I told you your jokes wouldn't get you anywhere.”

In response, Wrench just snorted, looking away.

"Okay. Joking aside." Shands said, taking a couple of steps towards the door of the room.

"How is he?""

"Calmly. I think he just went to bed and that's it." Wrench replied, rolling his eyes again.

"Well, that's good." Said Shands. Pulling the handle with his hoof.

The door opened easily, and Shands stepped through it. Looking around, he didn't see anything strange. “Looks like he didn't go on a rampage.”

Shands said to himself. Taking a couple steps toward the bed, Shands saw Sombra snoring. “Looks like he really is asleep.”

Looking around once more, Shands left the room, closing the door behind him. “If he goes on a sudden rampage. Let me know.” Shands ordered insistently.

Wrench was a bit taken aback by such an order. “Why would he start a rampage?”

"Even though he can't use any powers, he can show cunning and subterfuge. But you know that." Shands finished with a wave of his hoof.

"I know how dangerous he is. Even without his powers. I don't need to be reminded of that so often." Wrench said with a sigh.

"It certainly won't be superfluous." Shands grinned.

"Yeah. Yeah." Wrench replied, rolling his eyes.

"Well. Good luck to you, Wrench. And I still have a lot of things to do." Shands said, turning his back on Wrench.

Wrench only nodded as Shands began to remove himself back down the hallway.

***

As the door closed behind Shends, Sombra's sleeping body shuddered involuntarily.
Dreams are an interesting state of a sleeping being. In this state we see small universes with different events that may have happened or may happen. But dreams can also show us our future and our past. Or what we want and hate the most. Dreams can help us or hurt us. All living things have dreams. Even those who can't dream can dream at least once. Sombra hasn't dreamed in a long time. His time in the glaciers kept him from sleeping or even doing anything. At the time, he was just a shadow of who he was. Now that he was back, he could finally remember and feel what dreams were like. Even if they're bad.

"Why did you do this to us?" An unfamiliar voice asked in the void.

"Why did you do it?" Another voice asked.

"You betrayed everyone who trusted you." A female melodious voice said.

"You killed her. You've killed a lot of good ponies." A hard male voice said.

"Was it worth it?" Said the mare's crying voice.

"It's not too late to stop." Said a gruff voice.

"You were like a son to me!" The mare's cryingvoice echoed in the dark void.

Everything began to clear up. There were only piles of white snow around Sombra. The wind blew his red cloak. He had his silver crown on his head. And he was wearing his infamous armor, covered in dried blood.

Sombra opened his eyes and looked around. There were piles of bloody pony bodies around him.

"Sombra…" A quiet voice sounded from behind.

Looking back, Sombra saw a bloodied pony reaching for his hind hoof.

The scene in front of Sombra's eyes changed. He was now in the throne room of the Crystal Empire. Sitting on the throne, he looked around to understand what was going on. Now he realized that it was a dream. And a strange dream.

Looking into the center of the room, Sombra saw a sad, tall unicorn mare. Six black guards stood around her, pointing spears.

"Why Sombra? Why are you doing this?" Sad, with tears in her eyes, the mare said.

Sombra didn't understand why he was seeing all this. Had his conscience finally woken up? Or it's the actions of someone else. Involuntarily, Sombra's body rose from the throne to say something. “I'm doing what I think is right.”

"No! It's not you! Is this what Erzit taught you? Is this what I taught you?!" The mare was crying and screaming.

"I don't care about that right now."

Lowering her head, the mare began to cry softly. And the black guards were slowly leading this mare towards Sombra. As they approached, a spell began to form on Sombra's curved horn.

In an instant, the scene was replaced by a Crystal City. There were now crowds of crystal ponies around Sombra. And he himself was standing on a platform. Next to him were two crystal ponies, clad in black armor, with green glowing eyes.

Looking around, Sombra realized that he was in the main square of the Crystal City, next to the castle. There were three large roads ahead, flanked by crystal houses. There were hundreds of crystal ponies standing around, staring at him intently.

"What will be the orders, my king." In an empty monotone voice. The black guard who was on Sombra's right asked.

Sombra looked at the guard, but said nothing. Looking around the crowd again, Sombra noticed the familiar figure of his former master in the crowd.
After taking a couple of steps forward, Sombra raised his right hoof. However, before he could say anything, the voice of his former master could be heard in his head.

"You're a fool if you believe that this is all right." A soft voice sounded in Sombra's ears.

The scene shifted to the moment when Sombra was defeated for the first time. In front of him were the Royal Sisters who were defeating him.

"Well, Sombra. Was it worth it? Was it worth those ruined hearts and lives?!" Shouted Celestia angrily, filling her horn with magic along with her sister.

Before the bright light hit Sombra, he could only say one last word. “Luna…”

However, the bright light from the two sisters was dispelled by a dark flash from Sombra's horn. “This is… This is not the end!” He roared. And a dark flash of magic threw the two princesses far beyond the borders of the Crystal Empire.

The flash disappeared, and the last scene appeared before Sombra's eyes, when the Crystal Heart destroyed him. Then there was only darkness…

***

Before entering the room, Shands knocked on it. After a couple of seconds of waiting, hearing no sounds, Shands opened the door to Erzit's room. Poking his head through the crack and looking around, Shands found no sign of his master. Even the bed was empty and made up. “It looks like he woke up on his own.” Shands thought as he closed the door.

The moment Shands closed the door, Erzit appeared behind him. “Hello, Shands.” Shands ears twitched in surprise.

"Greetings, Master." Shands said, turning to face Erzit.

Grinning, Erzit waved his head towards the hallway leading to the place where the party would be held. Shands nodded. The two walked down the corridor towards the main hall where the celebration was to take place.

"How was the preparation?" Erzit asked casually.

"Calmly."

"Emily's not worried?"

"She's worried. She's worried pretty badly." Shands replied with a slight wince.

"I wish I could be there when the festivities begin. But I'll still be there." Erzit replied with a sigh.

Shands turned his head towards Erzite with a questioning look. “You're still coming after all? But don't you have your hands full?”

"There is indeed much to do. However, I cannot afford to miss the centennial celebration of my last student." Erzit replied with a smile.

"Really. She would be very happy."

"But this is a surprise. I'll come around the middle or the end with a gift. So don't tell." Erzit replied, still smiling.

Grinning, Shands nodded in confirmation.

"Good. Now tell me, how's Sombra doing?" Erzit asked more firmly.

"Sleeping. He might even be dreaming." Shands replied casually.

"It's clear. If he wakes up, let me know immediately."

"Sure. I'll let you know if she wakes up."

Skirting the bend, Shands looked around, looking for anyone who might have overheard them. Realizing that no one was there and everyone in the main hall was finishing their preparations, he decided to ask a question he had been wondering for a long time. “Erzit. You still haven't told me how your meeting with the princesses went completely. Thane said you used a scan spell for a moment. What are you so interested in?”

After these words, Erzit stopped. A moment later, he looked around for anyone who might be eavesdropping, and finally turned his head to Shands. “Are you really interested?”

"Yes. I was really interested in this." Shands replied decisively.

"Well, then listen. And don't tell anyone. I'm not sure about my assumptions yet, and I wouldn't want our new guest to know anything about it." Erzit was speaking seriously.

"You know. I won't tell anyone about my master's plans. Especially our new guest." Shands said proudly.

"Good. Then listen. When I scanned all the princesses, I caught one interesting detail. They were all connected. Something definite. It's not just the power of the Alicorns or an emotional connection. It's something else." Erzit paused for a moment, searching for words that Shands could understand. Finally, having figured out how to continue his explanation, he spoke again. "This is something that I can't figure out yet. However, I noticed the effects of memory magic on one of the princesses. And that interested me too. It became very interesting to me what all this means. And that's why I'm going to Canterlot today. Not only because of my new room that Princess Celestia is giving me, but I also want to ask some questions to this same princess."

"Hm. It's really interesting." Shands replied immediately, bringing a hoof to his chin.

"This is true. It seems to me that Princess Celestia is hiding something. Something very interesting." Erzit said thoughtfully.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Shands asked.

"Not yet. However, later, you may have to do something illegal." Erzit was still answering thoughtfully.

"Well, good. I'll be waiting for instructions."

"Yeah. Now I have to go to Canterlot. And I wish you to have a good time with Emily." Smiling, Erzit said, disappearing into the shadows.

"Wait, what?! What do you mean?!" Shands shouted in response to the words of the disappearing Erzit.

When Erzit disappeared into the shadows, Shands cursed, realizing that his master was mocking him by saying such things. “Damn it...” Shands said to himself.

"Well. Okay. I'll find out what he meant later." Shrugging his shoulders in displeasure, Shands continued on his way to the main hall where the party was to take place.

***

It was still dark when Princess Celestia woke up and went out onto her balcony to raise the sun.

Walking back into her room, Celestia stretched, stretching out her stiff muscles. After a short warm up, she walked over to her table where she had left a letter for Cadence. In that letter was a request to send everything known before King Sombra's reign and the Dark King's reign itself. Despite the fact that more than one Crystal Pony doesn't remember anything. And there is no mention in the entire Empire of what went before Sombra's reign. However, old abandoned archives under the Crystal Castle have made it clear that Sombra didn't destroy everything. Quite the opposite, in fact. Sombra collected most of the books and records and hid them under the Crystal Empire.

A month ago, Cadence informed Celestia about finding a dungeon with a bunch of books and scrolls. This place was in the same place where Twilight and Spike had discovered a door that could summon the worst fears of whoever was trying to open it. There was a wall parallel to this door. Somehow, the crystal ponies who were supposed to explore this place saw something strange in the wall. And after breaking down the wall, they found catacombs with dozens of bookshelves. That's why this place is called the Archives. Since all the information regarding the Crystal Empire was collected there.
Despite the discovery, Cadence was in no hurry to publicize it to everyone. All the books relating to Sombra had been hidden from everyone in the same archive on Cadence's orders. The rest of the books were still being moved around by various crystal ponies. Some books were sent to the Crystal Empire's library. Others were destroyed because they were too dangerous. They were books on dark magic, so they were not to be pitied.

Taking a bundle covered with a red ribbon with her magic, Celestia used a spell, and the bundle turned into a cloud of yellow smoke. The message for Cadence has been sent. With a smile, Celestia began to pack up. Namely, she needed to go to the bathroom and comb her multicolored mane.

After taking a shower, Celestia quickly dried herself with her magic and sat down at her snow-white table with a mirror. Taking the comb in her golden magic, she began to carefully comb through strand after strand. Fifteen minutes later, Celestia's mane was perfectly combed and she admired her work in the mirror.

After finishing preening, Celestia put on her regalia, simultaneously looking in the mirror at how they fit on her. At the moment when she was ready to leave, there was a knock on her door.

"Princess Celestia. A pony who calls himself Erzit is waiting for you." The loud male voice of the guard spoke.

Celestia was surprised that he had come so early. She thought he would come in the afternoon or evening, but early in the morning. It was unexpected. “Take him to the waiting room. I'll be there soon.”

Sighing, Celestia stood in her room for a while longer, thinking about the things that awaited her today. Exhaling, she was ready and left her room, heading for the waiting room.

A couple of minutes later, she was already next to the waiting room. There were two royal guards standing next to the door. They respectfully bowed to their princess and kindly opened the door for her to enter. Nodding back at them, she went into the room. Looking around, she saw Erzit sitting on the couch that was in the center of the room.

"Greetings, Princess." Erzit immediately sensed Celestia's approach with his shadow sense. It's quite easy to feel someone who radiates great power without hiding it.

"Greetings to Erzit. I wasn't expecting you so early." Celestia replied with a smile.

Nodding, Erzit moved over so that Celestia could sit next to him. “Princess, you didn't tell me when to come. That's why I came as early as possible.” Erzit replied with a smile.

"Yes, you're right, it's my mistake." Celestia replied as she sat down on the nearby sofa.

Noticing this, Erzit shifted his gaze directly to Celestia. “Don't you trust me?”

"Maybe." Washing off her smile, Celestia replied calmly.

"I understand." Erzit replied calmly.

"It's hard to believe someone you've only recently known. Even in spite of the conversation we had recently. However, I still want to assure you that my thoughts are pure. I don't want to conflict with you in any way, I just want to make friends." Erzit spoke with a hoof to his heart.

"I understand, Erzit. My sister and Twilight believe you. However, I need time to really trust you." Celestia replied with her head down.

"I understand. I will try to make you believe that I don't want anything bad." A moment's silence followed these words. "Listen. You can ask me any question you want. Absolutely any question that proves that I don't want anything bad." Straightening up and getting up from the sofa, Erzit declared.

Raising her head and staring at Erzit, Celestia nodded, accepting such an offer. Good. Then answer my question. Who was Sombra to you?”

The question made Erzit wince. Once again, memories from a thousand years ago flooded into him. "Good." Erzit replied calmly, lighting his horn. Magic flowed throughout the room. Landscapes of the past began to take shape all around. Crystal mountains. Snow storms. The Crystal Empire. And finally, the Sombra.

"Sombra was just another apprentice to me. He was quite clever and resourceful. Kind and brave. When I met him, he was going through the Crystal Guardian Academy. He was going to be a Crystal Guardian." After these words, the magical silhouettes around showed a young Sombra in crystal armor, who was sparring with some other cadet.

"When I first saw him, it seemed to me that he was just an ordinary pretentious stupid stallion. However, after getting to know his backstory better, I began to observe him. Much more." The image changed to a moment where Sombra causes a big flash of magic and demolishes everything around.

"It's kind of like your meeting with Twilight. I saw him lose control of his magic. Using my magic, I nullified his spell. If it wasn't for me, a lot of ponies would have been hurt." The scene changed to another one where Sombra was standing in the throne room of the Crystal Empire, with Princess Amore and Erzit next to him.

"After talking to the Ruler of the Crystal Empire and Sombra himself, I took him on as an apprentice. He mastered everything I showed him well and quickly. He quickly mastered the spells and shadow magic itself. However, before he could complete the initiation ceremony, he disappeared for a week." The image was replaced by a throne room with a bunch of black crystals sticking out from everywhere. And Sombra's bloody smile. In this shot, he was already wearing his armor and cape.

"While I was searching for Sombra all over the Empire and the snowy wastelands. He came back on his own. And he took over the Empire. I could have stopped him, but I didn't have time. If I may say so." The projection was replaced by the last frame, which showed the scene of Sombra's defeat by the two sisters.

"When I wanted to stop him, you and your sister appeared and defeated him. However, he had the last trump card. The empire went into oblivion with him for a thousand years. Then you already know what happened." Erzit finished sadly, extinguishing his horn. The projection disappeared, and there were only Celestia and Erzit in the room again.

"This. It was a sad story." Celestia said with sadness in her voice and her ears drooped.

"Yes. This is true. However, that was a long time ago. And it's been a long time since then." Erzit replied casually.

An awkward silence followed. However, after a minute, Celestia spoke up. “Let me show you where your room is.” Celestia asked, trying to sound casual.

"Come on. But first, I want to ask you something. I hope you don't mind."

"No, not at all. Ask me what you want. I'll try to answer." Celestia said with a smile.

"You know the magic that can manipulate memories. For example, to erase or change them?" Erzit asked, trying to speak as expressively as possible.

For a moment, excitement appeared on Celestia's face, but she quickly hid it. However, Erzit caught it, and this reaction was enough for him. Now he could be sure of what he had originally thought. However, it was still too early to draw conclusions. We need to gather more information and evidence to confirm his theory.

"No." Celestia replied calmly.

"Good then. So what? Shall we go? Where will I live?" Erzit said with a smile as he approached the door.

"Sure." Celestia replied with a smile.

Erzit's question made Celestia nervous. “How did he know? Or no, he didn't find out. He just asked and didn't point out anything. It was a simple question. But still, why would he ask it to me? Well. It looks like I'll deal with that later.” There were a lot of thoughts in Celestia's head. Why and why would Erzit ask such a question. But she had to stop thinking about it, because thinking wouldn't help much about why and why he asked such a question. Later, she would ask him why he was interested in it.

Then Celestia took Erzit to his new room, and she left on royal business. But first she had to have lunch. Besides the fact that she hadn't had lunch yet, talking to Erzit made her even more eager to go out and get something to eat...

Author's Note

This chapter was quite interesting. Especially Sombra's dreams. :)
Oh and yes. The next chapter will be about Sombra. And the way he's having fun…

By the way, don't forget to comment on my story. This will help a lot when new chapters come out.