Chapters So close.
King Sombra had been so close to getting his hooves on the Crystal Heart. It was falling to him when a pink figure swooped in and snatched it away before he was able to reach it. The pink figure had turned out to be that alicorn that had been on the balcony with a couple of other ponies. At the time, King Sombra thought she was too weak to ruin his plan. This proved to be quite the opposite. The white stallion that was with her had thrown her at the falling object, enabling her to grab the heart and fly it down to safety under the castle.
When the Crystal Heart had been put back where it came from, a wave of energy flooded the kingdom. The ponies reverted back to their crystal self and the shops and buildings shined like a crystal, much like the ponies. Finally, the castle glowed once more and shot out another wave of energy. This wave, however, was directed at the King of Evil himself; King Sombra. The King exploded into many pieces when the wave surrounded him.
But it was no use. In just a few moments, he had turned from a feared unicorn into thousands of pieces that sprinkled over the Crystal Empire. Out of all the pieces, his horn managed to escape the explosion intact. The explosion had shot the horn across Equestria like a cannonball being shot out of cannon. It soared across the sky and landed in a place unknown to the ponies; Queen Chrysalis’ Kingdom.
This event went by unnoticed by the ponies below. They believed that they had finally managed to defeat the tyrannical leader that had enslaved them many centuries ago. But they were wrong. You see, when the horn landed in Queen Chrysalis’s Kingdom, it caused some confusion.
Queen Chrysalis’ kingdom was set in a jungle far beyond where anypony knew existed. Deep within the dark jungle lie a great castle which housed a certain queen that many ponies feared ever since an incident that occurred a while back.
She hated that pony with such a passion that nothing would get in her way to get revenge on her for ruining her plan. Her subjects were starving and she couldn’t care for them. She used to have nothing personal against the ponies. But now, she wanted them all to suffer for what they had done.
Queen Chrysalis had been taking a stroll through the town square of her kingdom like she normally did every evening. Unlike Equestria, there was no joy. Most of the changelings were too weak to come outside and enjoy themselves. They needed energy which their queen could not provide for them. Queen Chrysalis felt so bad for not being able to care for them. She didn’t deserve to be their queen.
Anyway, back to her stroll through town. She was just sulking around when a black object fell from the sky to the ground beneath her with a loud clatter following the initial contact with the ground. Queen Chrysalis looked down at the object. It looked a bit like a cornucopia at first, but when she got a closer look she had a horrible realization. It was the horn of a unicorn! Though it could have been an alicorn, but that’s not the point. There was a unicorn horn in front of her without the unicorn part.
I wonder who this could have been. Eh, serves the ponies right for what they did, she thought to herself.
Even though it was a temple, the “castle” was still grand. When it was being built, Queen Chrysalis had made sure it was built to her every whim. And it paid off. The structure was quite beautiful. Its base was a huge mountain. A tower was built into the mountain. Vines crept up the tower though. Actually, vines were growing all over the castle, but it didn’t matter. It was still beautiful. The tower was adorned with many statues and had a room on top. That room served as a library for Queen Chrysalis. What? A changeling queen can read too. To the right of the mountain lay a structure that was also built onto the mountain.
Inside the castle, Queen Chrysalis navigated through the hallways and staircases until she reached her library. There, she sat the horn down on a table and walked in front of the table. There, she concentrated her magic and performed a simple analysis spell on the horn. When the spell was complete, the history of the horn’s coming replayed in Queen Chrysalis’ head. Moving images flashed through and educated her on how the horn came to be.
She understood now. Another pony had tried to take over one of Equestra’s kingdoms and failed doing so, much like Queen Chrysalis had. She immediately understood the unicorn’s position. He had been trying to retake a kingdom he had taken over long ago. Before trying to take over Canterlot, Chrysalis wouldn’t have agreed with taking over a kingdom for no good reason. But hatred filled her heart. She realized that King Sombra could help her in getting revenge on the ponies of Equestria. All she had to do is use the horn’s DNA to clone King Sombra. Luckily, there was a spell for this and it quite easy for her. She was, after all, very skilled in magic. She concentrated once more and performed the spell on the horn and awaited the results.
A flash of light and smoke surrounded the horn, blocking the outside world to see what was happening. Once the smoke had cleared, Queen Chrysalis went to the table and looked down to see what had happened.
“Well, this isn’t exactly what I had in mind, but I think I can make this work”, she said after looking at her creation.
Queen Chrysalis stood over the sleeping foal. Being careful not to wake him from his sleep, he studied him carefully. The small colt resembled its older counterpart closely, but there was an aura of innocence surrounding him, which was unlike the usual aura of evil that was usually felt by anypony who was in his presence. His mane was still black and was a lot like that of a lion’s (A lion is a large cat that comes from the same lands as zebras).
While observing Sombra, Queen Chrysalis accidently bumped into the side of the table and the obvious occurred. Sombra woke up. His eyelids slowly slid upward and immediately revealed the signature glowing eyes of King Sombra. However, these eyes were not full of hatred, but rather, curiosity. He looked up at the changeling queen before him with curiosity glistening in his eyes.
“Mommy?”
Queen Chrysalis was surprised by this. The foal could already speak. She could tell from this that he was a very intelligent pony and would prove quite useful in her plans to take over Equestria. She could almost taste victory. But she was a bit taken back by what he had called her. She guessed it made sense, but she didn’t like it. She had a kingdom to take care of and didn’t have time to be a “Mommy”. But she decided that she would go along with it only because she could use it to her advantage.
“Go to sleep my child. For you have a big day tomorrow”, she whispered sweetly to his ears.
Her words were like that of a lullaby and made Sombra very drowsy. Soon, he closed his eyes and went to sleep. Once she was sure he was asleep, Queen Chrysalis picked up the foal carefully with her telekinesis and kept him close to her chest. She then started to walk over to her room in the castle. While carrying him over, Sombra readjusted himself in his sleep to be comfortable and grabbed onto neck in a self-conscious hug. Queen Chrysalis, admittedly, found this to be quite nice and comfortable. His heartbeat against her chest was relaxing and his body heat kept her warm. She almost kissed his forehead like a real mother would do, but stopped herself.
“C’mon Chrysalis, don’t get soft over a little foal. He is a tyrannical beast whose only purpose is to be a pawn in your plan”.
After a bit of walking, she reached her room and walked in. She set Sombra on her bed off in the corner and stood back a bit. She concentrated her magic and started to perform an age spell on the sleeping Sombra. In order for him to properly help her, she couldn’t have him continue to be a foal. It also would keep her from getting attached to him. Unfortunately (Or fortunately depending on the way you look at it), she was stopped midway. One of her subjects had walked through the door during the spell. She quickly stopped performing the spell and hid Sombra under the covers of her bed.
“Uh...What are you doing here? Don’t you know how to knock”?
A bit surprised, the changeling responded with: “Oh…There is some-“
She interrupted him midsentence and said “Well, tell him to come back later. I’m in the middle of something”.
“He needs to speak with you though. It’s urgent”.
“Fine”, she said finally and sighed as she walked outside of her room with the changeling, leaving Sombra behind underneath the covers. He was asleep though, which meant everything should be fine.
“This better be important”.
After Queen Chrysalis had left, there was a small yawn coming from the Queen’s room. Nopony, of course, heard it. Everypony else was either starving or busy with their jobs. The yawn had come from Sombra who had just woken from his sleep. Sombra was no longer a foal now. Instead, he was now a bit younger than a schoolchild.
With some difficulty, Sombra managed to get himself out from underneath the covers. He looked a bit like a Labrador puppy with a black mane like a lion. He looked around the room and stumbled across the bed which was huge to him. As we “walked”, he tripped over the unevenness of the soft surface beneath him. But he managed to reach the edge of the bed. The floor below was so far away and Sombra cowered away from the edge. But he mustered up some courage and attempted to reach the ground below. This didn’t go too well. He fell off the edge of the bed and landed on a pillow that fell there when Queen Chrysalis hid him under the covers.
He let out a small cry, but nopony could hear him. He felt pain in his leg, but this feeling soon went away when the horn on his head started glowing along with his hurt leg. In just a few moments, his leg was completely healed. This went by unnoticed from Sombra. He was still, technically, a newborn and had no knowledge of any magical abilities he may have. All he noticed was that his leg stopped hurting and that was enough for him.
After recovering from his fall, he walked over to the door. The door impeded him from reaching the outside world. Wanting to escape the strange room he woke up in, he tried pushing the door with his soft back. But it didn’t work. He was too small to even make the door budge. He looked up at the doorknob and found that if he looked at it in a certain way, it would turn. Curious to see what would happen, he kept turning the doorknob until the door opened a bit. Sombra noticed this and took advantage of it. He pushed open the door and walked outside.
The outside world was much different than inside the room he had just been in. Instead of purple, the walls were now stone. The floor was made of the same material as the walls, but a purple rug with red and golden trims lay on the stone floor. Sombra was a bit taken back by this new world, but decided to go exploring.
He walked down some stairs he found and found himself in a room of grand scale. Over in the center of the room was a figure. This creature felt connected to Sombra in a way he didn’t understand. Sombra hid behind a pot near him and watched the creature. She (He assumed it was a she) was speaking with a figure similar to her, but a bit smaller. After a bit more talking, the smaller creature shook hooves with the larger one and left the room through a door at the front of the room.
“BANG!”
Behind Sombra, a changeling went into a room and slammed the door behind him. This sound scared Sombra and caused him to come out from the pot and gallop to the figure in the middle of the room.
“Mommy!” he said sub-consciously as he galloped over to the figure in the center of the room. Once he had reached her, he held on tightly to one of her legs, which had holes in them for some reason.
Queen Chrysalis was surprised to see a small grey colt hugging one of her forelegs. She picked him up with her telekinesis and got a better look at him. She realized that it was King Sombra after observing him.
My spell must have stopped midway when I stopped performing it. Perhaps him as a colt could work too”, she thought to herself.
Going along with being Sombra’s “mommy”, she said “What are you doing here sweetheart? It’s late and you should be sleeping”.
With that, she carried him up to her room and summoned a small bed for Sombra. She tucked him into the bed and wished him a good night.
Queen Chrysalis was tired as well so she climbed into her bed and got under the covers. She turned off the light and went to sleep. In the morning, she was surprised when she woke up to find a small grey colt sleeping close to her side.
Queen Chrysalis had received some very interesting news from the messenger yesterday. It turns out that Princess Celestia was planning on sending the statue of Discord, the god of chaos, to the town of Ponyville. Queen Chrysalis had heard of Ponyville before, but she had never been there before. She did know that Twilight Sparkle lived there along with her friends.
I believe it is time to put Sombra to good use, she thought to herself.
Lying around in bed was not going to help her carry out her plan. Queen Chrysalis slowly got out of the bed, careful not to wake Sombra, who was sleeping in front of her chest. Not that she cared for him at all. No, she was a feared opponent of Equestria and did not care for little colts. With that, she nudged him until he woke up. His eyelids slowly went up and he let out a small yawn. He looked up at Chrysalis wondering why he had been woken.
“Good morning sweetheart.”
Sombra ignored this and laid his head back down on the bed, ready to go back to sleep.
“Come on and get up. You have a big day today” she said as she used her telekinesis to lift him back up. Sombra was unhappy about this, but eventually gave in to his “mother’s” wishes and listened to what she had to say.
“Today, I will be teaching you about all the things you need to know about this world”.
A few weeks have passed since Sombra’s arrival in the Changeling Kingdom. Queen Chrysalis had been teaching Sombra all the things a young colt needs to know such as proper equestrian (This is language that is spoken in Equestria), math, history, science, and some lessons on using magic. For a colt, Sombra was very skilled in magic. He could perform spells that most unicorns couldn’t do until they reach one of the higher levels of magic. Queen Chrysalis assumed that he inherited these abilities from his older self. King Sombra had been a very powerful unicorn who had ruled Equestria once with an iron fist. He was cruel, ruthless, and downright evil. But how could he change so dramatically from an evil tyrant to an innocent colt. It made no sense to Chrysalis, for when she gave him lessons, he was always extremely polite and kind. But he still had the same boldness he had as an adult. He was always eager to answer a question and was extremely proud of himself when he got it right.
But some of his old self remained within him. He occasionally showed a bit of a temper when he got something wrong on a question. He refused to admit he got the answer wrong and yelled at his “mother” when she tried to correct him. But other than that, he was an unusually sweet colt, especially for one who had once been the King of Evil.
Today, Queen Chrysalis received another visit from her messenger. It turns out that Princess Celestia had sent the statue of Discord to Ponyville. She was planning on having some of the ponies there try to reform him. After hearing the news, she thanked the messenger for his time and trotted up to her room. This new piece of information surprised Chrysalis.
Wow Celestia. You really think a couple of random ponies can reform Discord, the god of chaos, she thought to herself with a smirk on her face.
But Chrysalis knew that she couldn’t take any chances. She planned on recruiting Discord for her plan. If the ponies actually did manage to reform Discord, then her plan would be ruined. She had to stop them before it was too late. This is where Sombra comes in. She was going to send him to Ponyville and have him sabotage the attempt to reform Sombra. Queen Chrysalis had tried to invoke hatred toward ponies in Sombra’s heart, but it was no use. He was simply too innocent to actually have hatred for somepony.
Queen Chrysalis walked down the hallway to her room. She opened the door and found Sombra playing with one of her brushes on top of her vanity she kept on the left side of the room. He was trying to brush his wild mane, but it wasn’t working out too well. The brush kept on getting stuck in his hair. She smiled when she saw this and walked over to him. Using her magic, she picked him and set him on her bed. She took the brush and started fixing his hair. This would be the moment she would use to explain her plan to him.
“Sweetheart, we need to talk.”
“Yes mommy?” he said innocently.
“Today will be the last day you will spend with me for a while.”
“Wait, what?” he exclaimed with worry.
“Let me explain. I am sending you to a town called Ponyville so you can do a favor for me.”
She continued to explain her plan to Sombra the best she could. But he wouldn’t listen. He, being a colt, had gotten attached to his “mommy” over the past few weeks, like any normal child would.
“But I want to stay her with you!” he shouted. There were tears forming in his eyes and little droplets were streaming down his face.
“Enough, Sombra. You will do this for me. I know you can. You are a strong and intelligent young colt” she said. In an attempt to calm him, she lied and said: “You mean everything to me and I would never do this if I didn’t know you can.” This didn’t work at all.
“No! I’m staying here with you. I don’t want to go to Ponyville!” He was sobbing by now and was hugging onto Queen Chrysalis’ foreleg. Queen Chrysalis shook him off and set him back on the bed.
“Sombra, stop. You are behaving like a child.”
“But I am a child!” he wailed. “I won’t leave you mommy!”
Queen Chrysalis was down to the last straw. Ignoring his pleas, she started to concentrate. A green aura blanketed her horn and she aimed it at Sombra.
“Mommy! No!” he shouted. “Mom-“
He was cut off midsentence. The spell had already hit him and he was gone. Queen Chrysalis didn’t kill him, of course. All she did was teleport him away to Ponyville. Queen Chrysalis sighed and got into her bed. She was sure that Sombra would come to senses and fulfill his role in her plan. But why did she get a bad feeling about this.
Deciding to ignore this, she shut off her lights and closed her eyes. She reached down to feel Sombra’s silky fur. Even though he had his own bed, he still hopped up onto her bed and slept with her each night. But when she reached down, all she felt was the cold cover of her bed.
In Ponyville, most of the ponies were sleeping. It was late at night and everypony needed their rest in order to get through the next day. Some ponies worked while some played. But all of them needed rest. So it wouldn’t have been a surprise if no one had noticed a flash coming out from the fountain in town square. But surprisingly, there was still one pony that was still up at this late hour. She was sleeping in her cottage when she had a strange urge to go to the town hall, as if somepony had left something for her there. So she left her cottage and walked into town. It was no surprise to the pony (Who was a mare if anypony wanted to know) when she found the place empty. The full moon’s shine reflected off of her soft pink hair and yellow coat. When she reached the town square, she noticed a small light coming out of fountain that had always been there. She was initially frightened by this, but curiosity eventually got the best of her and she approached the fountain. When she looked down into the waters, she expected it to just be the moon shining on a bit somepony had thrown in for a wish. But she was surprised to find a wet colt with a black mane crying in the water. She quickly pulled him out and held him to her chest to keep him warm. He was shivering and soaking wet.
“W-Where’s M-Mommy” he whimpered through his sobs.
“It’s ok. You can stay with me in my cottage until the morning. Then we can find your mommy” she whispered reassuringly.
The small pony nodded his head and the mare held him tight and carried him to her cottage. Once she had gotten to her destination, she quietly opened her front door, making sure not to wake any of her animals. A lot of animals lived with this pony and she cared for each and every one of them. By now, the colt had fallen asleep. The kind pony took him to her bed and tucked him in. She whispered him a good night and went out into her living room. There, she fell asleep on the couch that was there. Curiosity filled Fluttershy’s mind while she slept. (The pony’s name was Fluttershy)
“Knock, Knock.”
Fluttershy awoke to a banging at her front door. She climbed off of her couch and trotted over to a front door to see who was there. When she opened the door, she was greeted by a familiar draconequus standing outside. The bright afternoon sun shined at the back of the visitor, casting a shadow across Fluttershy’s floor in her cottage. She had slept in like she usually did every morning.
“Why, hello Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy immediately recognized the creature at her front of her door and fixed her messy “bed head.” It was extremely rude to have a messy mane when a visitor was at your home, according to Rarity (One of Fluttershy’s close friends).
“Oh, good afternoon Discord. What are you doing here?”
Fluttershy spoke in her signature quiet voice that was famous across Ponyville. Fluttershy couldn’t help it. She was just naturally a timid pony.
“I just wanted to stop bye and say hi to my friend, Fluttershy. I figured you might be curious on how I’m doing in Canterlot.
“Um, Sure.”
With that, Fluttershy gestured for Discord to come in and take a seat in one of her chairs. As Discord walked to her chair, Fluttershy started making some snacks for her animals that were patiently waiting in the room with her and Discord. She also fixed up a salad for Discord. It was around lunchtime and she wasn’t sure if he had eaten yet.
Once she had finished giving the appropriate snacks to each animal, she walked over to Discord and gave him the salad. She than laid down on the couch next to Discord’s chair.
“I hope you like salad.”
“Well, I can’t say it’s my favorite, but I can fix it.”
Discord snapped his fingers together and summoned a mini chocolate rain cloud. He moved it over the bowl of salad and started shaking the bowl. Chocolate rain fell from the cloud and landed on the salad with a flash of smoke for each droplet. Discord then summoned a fork and started eating the bowl, leaving a bowl-shaped salad floating in the air. Once finished, he grabbed it and threw it behind him. The salad exploded, creating a mini fireworks show.
Fluttershy was used to this kind of behavior. When she was reforming him, he did all kind of weird things, even weirder than the salad. But Fluttershy had been the only one who saw through him. She had seen the good side of him, while her friends had refused to give her a chance. Her friendly attitude was the main reason she had been able to change the draconequus’ ways.
Speaking of his reforming, you may be wondering why he needed to be reformed anyway. Why couldn’t they just leave him as a statue where he could cause no trouble? Well, Celestia had said that she had a use for Discord’s magic, but she needed Fluttershy and her friends to make him change his ways. As you probably guessed from the last paragraph, Fluttershy had succeeded in doing this.
Anyway, back to the conversation. Fluttershy was curious what the draconequus had to say.
“So what has Celestia have you do so far?”
“Well, she has been having me to do the most uninteresting things. Celestia’s no fun.”
“Discord”, Fluttershy scolded.
“Calm down Fluttershy. I’m still a perfect little angel.” A golden halo appeared above his head for a few seconds to prove his point.
Fluttershy smiled at this. Even though he was a bit different, Discord had a good sense of humor and when he was living with her, he brought excitement to her usually boring and pretty calm life.
“But that’s not what I came here for” he said.
“What else did you come for?”
“Celestia told me to come down here and ask you and your friends for a favor. She said it was mostly for Twilight, but the rest of you might be interested.”
Fluttershy was curious about what kind of favor their princess wanted them to do. She hoped it wasn’t as scary as her last request. The Crystal Empire had proved to be a very frightening experience for Fluttershy. Even though it had been weeks since the event, she still was scared King Sombra would return. This fear made Discord’s next couple of words leave Fluttershy shaking.
“Celestia has told me to tell you that she has discovered that somepony has performed a reborn spell which is a very powerful spell that only unicorns of the highest level can perform. She is worried that it might be a foe, as the only ponies in Equestria that are powerful enough to perform that spell are her and her sister.”
“But what does she want us to do about it?”
Answering Fluttershy’s question, Discord responded with an answer that nearly made Fluttershy faint.
“Well, I don’t think you are going to like this, but she wants you and your friends to discover who cast the spell and find out why.”
“How are we supposed to do that?”
“How would I know? That’s not my job. Try asking that brainy one who lives in a tree” he replied with a annoyed tone.
“Twilight?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. She probably knows.” he said. “Well, it’s been nice talking with you again Fluttershy, but I’m afraid I need to hit the road. Celestia will have my head if I’m late for her…uh…appointment that she has with me.” To emphasize this, he mocked cutting off his own head with his claws. But he made his head temporarily come off for added effect.
Fluttershy, still paralyzed with fear, took a while to respond to this, but eventually came back to her senses.
“Oh, ok. It was nice seeing you again. Have a nice day.”
Once they were finished talking, Discord exited the cottage through the front door and teleported away with a snap of his claws. Fluttershy waved her hoof good-bye to him as he left. As soon as he was gone, she shut her door and turned around to go fix her couch. As she was fixing the bed, she smiled to a couple of her thoughts.
The couch is not a very comfortable place to sleep. But I couldn’t sleep in my regular bed. You let that colt sleep there last night, remember.
A wave of realization hit Fluttershy like a tidal wave. There was a colt sleeping in her bed. She had completely forgotten about. She quickly, but quietly, trotted up her steps to find the small pony still sleeping in her bed. He was quietly snoring in a cute little way. Fluttershy, relieved, smiled at this. But it was early afternoon and it wasn’t good for a pony to sleep in. She quietly tiphooved over to the bed and nudged him with her nose. It took a bit to wake him up, but his eyelids eventually slid open to reveal glowing eyes with an aura trailing behind them. Fluttershy gasped at this. This colt resembled King Sombra almost perfectly. She hadn’t noticed the eyes in the dark of night, but now it was as clear as day. Somehow, King Sombra had been reborn.
Reborn…The Reborn Spell!
Fluttershy gasped once more as another puzzle piece fit into place. This colt was the result of the reborn spell Celestia was talking about. She had to tell Twilight about this. She quickly picked up Sombra, but stopped when she noticed a difference between him and the King Sombra she knew and feared. His eyes were not giving off any auras of evil. Instead, they gave a look that said: What are you doing? Fluttershy noticed that his cheeks were still stained from his tears. Remembering that she found him crying about his mother when she found him, she realized that his “mother” must have been the pony who had him reborn. But who would do that, but then leave him in a fountain.
After studying him a bit more, he set him back down on the bed and decided to question the young colt.
“Um…How are you feeling?”
Sombra, who had been awfully quiet since she had woken him, finally spoke and answered Fluttershy.
“A bit better, but where’s mommy?”
“That is actually what I wanted to ask you about”, she said sweetly. “Do you remember what your mommy looked like?”
“Of course.” Fluttershy felt dumb for asking such a question. Of course he knew what she looked like. Why wouldn’t he?
“She looks a bit like you, except taller and skinnier and all black. She also has holes in her legs and her horn. She had blue hair and wings. She is very pretty.”
Fluttershy had found the last piece of her puzzle. She immediately recognized the colt’s description of his “mommy”. Queen Chrysalis. The changeling who had posed as an imposter at Twilight’s brother’s wedding. She was an evil monster who had fled when they defeated her at the wedding. Fluttershy needed to visit Twilight desperately to share the information she had just acquired. But how could she tell her about this seemingly innocent colt. Twilight would have her get rid of him.
After some thought, Fluttershy realized that she had no choice but to tell her about everything. She looked at the colt and sighed. She didn’t want to do this, but she had to.
“I think I know somepony who can help you find your mommy.”
Sombra smiled at this. This didn’t help Fluttershy feel better at all. Now she fell even worse about the whole situation.
“Yay!” he exclaimed with joy. “Where is she?” he asked looking around the room.
Fluttershy let out a small chuckle and reached down next to her bed and grabbed her saddlebag. She wrapped it around her back and reached over and picked up Sombra. His small size gave her idea to get him through Ponyville unnoticed.
“I need to hop inside here so I can get you to her safely”, she said, holding her saddlebag open.
“Ok!” and with that, Sombra hopped into the bag with a boldness that surprised Fluttershy. She expected him to not be so cool with the idea of hiding in a bag. But this didn’t matter anyway. All that mattered was getting him to Twilight.
Not wasting any time, she quickly trotted down her stairs, careful not to shake him around too much, and head out the door. She was able to walk down to and through Ponyville without getting any attention. After all, she did look pretty normal. Just a young mare taking a stroll through a town with a saddlebag that definitely didn’t contain the King of Evil who could, potentially, destroy all of Equestria.
After some walking, she eventually reached Twilight’s tree house. She went up to the door and knocked on it. A few moments passed and then the door opening, revealing the unicorn: Twilight Sparkle.
“Hi Fluttershy. What can I do for you?”
“Um…I need to talk to you about something.”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Well…Um…You see…Discord paid me a visit today.”
Fluttershy went on to tell Twilight about everything she had learned, excluding Sombra. Twilight was curious about the matter and started asking questions.
“Wait, who performed such a powerful spell? That kind of spell is reserved for ponies like Princess Celestia or Princess Luna.”
“Well, that’s would I wanted to speak to you about.” Fluttershy opened her saddlebag to this and let Sombra out. He looked up at Twilight and said “Hi!”
“Is that…” Twilight said with worry coming on to her face.
Fluttershy simply nodded her head and started to explain everything. Twilight listened and nodded her head every once in a while to show Fluttershy that she was listening. While she was talking, Sombra walked over to one of Twilight’s bookshelves and pulled out a book and started reading it. Once Fluttershy had finished speaking, Twilight lowered her head and sighed.
“Fluttershy, you do know that we can’t let him stay here. It is too much of a risk that we can’t take. I’m sorry, but we have to tell Celestia about this.”
Fluttershy was upset by this. She didn’t believe that Sombra could do anything that could damage Equestria. He seemed too innocent.
“No! I mean, we can’t. She might hurt him…or worse.” she said.
Just thinking about what could happen to Sombra worried Fluttershy. She didn’t want anything to happen to the colt that had done nothing, so far, wrong. He was a different pony than what he was before.
“I’m sorry Fluttershy, but it is for Equestria’s safety.”
Twilight was done arguing and called down Spike. Spike came down the stairs as quickly as his legs could carry him.
“Yes Twilight?” he said, panting.
“I need to send a letter to Celestia.”
“What should I write about?”
“Tell her we need her presence in Ponyville immediately.”
“Got it” and with that, Spike got started on his letter. Once he finished, he used his fire to send the letter to Canterlot. After a few moments, the ponies heard a noise outside. They galloped outside to see what it was. Once they had gotten outside, they realized that is was Princess Celestia coming down in her chariot. The chariot landed down next to them and stopped moving. Princess Celestia stepped out and greeted with the ponies.
“You request me, Twilight?” she asked. She recognized everypony there except for a young grey colt that was hiding behind Fluttershy.
Twilight explained the situation to Princess Celestia the best that she could and awaited her teacher’s response.
Finally, Princess Celestia responded with “I see. Well, I think you all know what we must do.”
“Bring him into the chariot” she said to her royal guards who had driven the chariot there. The two stallions walked over to Sombra and began to pick him up. They carried him over to the chariot and set him inside.
“No!” Fluttershy cried out, but it was no use. Celestia was already getting into the chariot and Sombra had legcuffs around his legs.
Sniffling, Sombra whimpered “I thought you said you said that you were going to help me find my mommy?”
By now, Fluttershy was crying. “It’s not fair! He hasn’t done anything wrong!” Twilight put one of her forelegs around Fluttershy for support.
Princess Celestia ignored all this and simply said:
“You may visit him tomorrow before his execution.”
Queen Chrysalis was inside her library. The library, as said before, was the highest point in her castle and was the only place she could go to find recluse. She had been watching a crystal ball sitting on a table that was in her room. The crystal ball shined purple all around and gave off an aura of energy. In the center of it was a moving picture of Sombra hiding behind a yellow pony. Queen Chrysalis had wanted to track Sombra’s progress when he was Ponyville. She needed to make sure he was doing what she wanted him to do. So far, he had failed miserably at everything.
First off, he had failed to stop the ponies from reforming Discord. Second, he had let himself get captured by that mare that went by the name of Fluttershy. Finally, he went and told everypony that she was practically the one responsible for his rebirth.
Why did I think he could do this? She thought to herself.
Queen Chrysalis continued to watch the shining ball of crystal. She watched Princess Celestia have Sombra carried to the white chariot. She watched them put Sombra in hoofcuffs. Queen Chrysalis knew why she was doing this. She had, after all, seen the other ponies tell Celestia about how Sombra was there. She was scared by the fact that they knew Chrysalis had done the deed of bringing back the dead king. However she decided she would just be fine because they didn’t know the location of her castle.
She continued to watch the scene unfold. Everything seemed to be doing just fine. Sombra would be taken to the castle dungeon. She could then use magic to have him escape his cell. They would then take over the Castle and, eventually, take over the entire kingdom. This would be a turning point in Queen Chrysalis’ plan to get food for her subjects. Not only could she then use all the love of Canterlot to feed the starving changelings, but owning Canterlot could assist her in taking over all of Equestria. Yes, everything was fine. But it was Celestia’s next words that shocked the changeling queen.
You may visit him tomorrow before his execution.
Queen Chrysalis was very much surprised by these words. Would Celestia really hang a colt? That seemed a bit harsh. But then again, King Sombra had once ruled over Equestria and wasn’t really the nicest stallion around. But this Sombra was different. Queen Chrysalis knew this from experience. It was one of the reasons that Sombra was having trouble carrying out his part in her plan. Queen Chrysalis chuckled a bit from the image of Sombra being hanged. It would be kind of funny to see him like that. But she needed him alive and a hanged Sombra, no matter how hilarious, wouldn’t cut it.
A chariot pulled by two white pegasi with golden armor soared through a cloud filled sky. Inside the chariot sat a majestic white alicorn with a colorful flowing mane. Next to her sat a crying grey colt with hoofcuffs. He had a thick black mane and bright colorful eyes that had color trailing behind them.
The chariot soared through the sky and past the clouds, which looked a lot like giant marshmallows from their position, until they approached a great rocky mountain. On the side of the mountain was a kingdom. Even though he was upset, Sombra’s head picked up at the sight of Canterlot. The kingdom was made up of a great castle with towers all around and a town below. The kingdom looked like it was about to fall off the mountain, but it never did and never will. Princess Celestia had magic supporting the castle below so it wouldn’t fall.
There was a garden right in front of the castle. There were colorful flowers all around with the aroma of spring. This garden also served as a landing pad for the princess’ chariot. Speaking of which, the chariot was coming in now. The sun shined behind the sun goddess’ chariot, casting a shadow on the grassy land below. As it got closer, it made contact with the earth and rolled forward a bit until stopping. The two stallions unhooked themselves and walked over to the side, waiting for their princess’ next request. The princess stepped outside of the chariot and shouted an order to her guards.
“Take him to the dungeon at the gallows! He will wait there until tomorrow.” The white stallions lead the colt off to the dungeons to await his fate.
Just then a dark blue alicorn with a mane that resembled the night sky walked forward. “Hello sister,” Princess Luna said, “I presume your visit to Ponyville went without a problem. What was it that Twilight needed assistance with?”
They began to walk down the corridors of the castle and towards the throne room. “She and her friends discovered the source of the Reborn Spell that was cast recently.”
“Oh? This is good news then. Who cast it and on whom was it preformed?”
Celestia and Luna entered the throne room. It was a spacious hall filled with tapestries and stained glass windows telling the tales of Equestria’s history. She turned and spoke, “Queen Chrysalis used the spell to revive one of the most vile unicorns in existence.”
Luna exclaimed in shock, “Chrysalis? She is the one behind this? And by, the most vile unicorn, you mean…”
“Yes, King Sombra has made his return.” Celestia said in a hardened tone. She noticed the concern on Luna’s face and quickly added, “Do not worry Twilight and her friends had captured him and turned him over to me.”
Luna looked slightly disappointed and muttered, “Oh, okay….”
“Are you alright Luna?” Celestia asked noticing her sisters discomfort.
“No I’m fine, really.” Luna said with a fake grin. What Luna had really wanted to say is, The fate of Equestria is in peril and you don’t tell me till after it is taken care of?! You did the same exact thing when Discord returned and the Changeling! Honestly I feel like you don’t even want my help. Luna and Celestia stared at each other and after an awkward silence she asked, “So can I see Sombra? I haven’t seen him for over a thousand years.”
Celestia glad to have changed the subject quickly answered, “Yeah, I had the guards move him to the dungeon beneath the gallows when we got back.”
The two princesses began their trek through the castle in silence. They made their way past guards and servants all of whom would stop and salute or bow to the royal pair. When they arrived at the gallows Celestia and Luna began a descent down a stone stair way and into an ill-lit hallway. Once they reached the bottom Celestia stepped approached the guard stationed in front of a steel door and asked, “How is the prisoner? He hasn’t caused any problems has he?”
The guard looked up at her as stated in a matter-of-fact tone, “The kid hasn’t made a single sound since we locked him up. I don’t honestly know why we threw a sniveling colt into a top security cell.”
Luna shook her head in shock, “Kid, sniveling colt? Celestia what is that supposed to mean?” Celestia turned her head and admitted, “I forgot to mention one little thing about Sombra’s return.” Celestia reached for the small window on the door and slid it open. Luna peered inside, at first she couldn’t see anything but then her eyes caught sight of a small colt curled up under the cot in the corner. He appeared to be shivering and whimpering in his sleep. Sombra turned over in his sleep and cried out, “Mommy? Where are you mommy?”
Luna turned and faced Celestia, “That is Sombra? ...As in the Terrible Crystal King of the North, the Dark Enslaver of Thousands, and the Murderer of the Multitudes?”
Celestia looked Luna in the eyes and simply said, “Yes that is him.”
Luna in disbelief asked with mounting anger said, “You are honestly going to hang a colt?”
“Yes.”
“In front of hundreds of ponies?”
“Yes, Luna is something wrong?”
Luna’s mind snapped at this question, “Is something wrong? Is Something Wrong? YES SOMETHING IS WRONG!” Celestia and the guard stood in silent shock. Luna kept on ranting, “Since when did we kill children in this nation? Tell me this.”
Celestia who had just regaining her composure, yelled back, “That isn’t a kid that is the Monster King, King Sombra.” The entire dungeon began shaking from the force of two Royal Canterlot Voices colliding. The guard decided at this point it would be best if he took his break now.
Luna reeled at her sister, “Since when did Monster Kings cry in their sleep?”
Celestia once again shouted, “That is Sombra, the same pony who enslaved an entire race of ponies and tried to take over Equestria!”
From inside the cell they heard Sombra’s voice begin to crying out in fear, “Mommy, help me mommy. Where are you, it's dark.” This was then followed by the sound of tiny hooves beating on the inside of the door. Sombra began to shout in terror, “Mommy where are you I’m here where are you?!”
Luna’s anger subsided and became that of pity. She turned and looked Celestia square in the face, “Are you sure that that is Sombra. Listen good and long and tell me you are willing to kill this child.”
Celestia beginning to feel shame muttered, “I … Luna I’m sorry but it is for the good of Equestria.”
Luna now drained said in a flat tone, “Are you honestly going to kill an innocent child for the mistakes of a grown stallion?”
Celestia lowered her head, “But, I….no.”
Luna turned to the steel door and it glowed with an aura like the night sky. Dead bolt throughout the entire door could be heard sliding open. The door swung open and Sombra scampered away and dove back under the bed. Luna stepped into the dull lit cell and softly walked towards the cot where Sombra was hidden. Luna in as soft of a voice as possible called out to him, “Hello you don’t have to be afraid anymore. I won’t hurt you and I’m going to make sure nopony else does.” There was no reply from under the bed. Luna tried again, “My name is Luna you can trust me and I promise that nopony will hurt you now will you come out?”
A small sniff and then a quivering reply came out from under the bed, “Y-you mean it? No more scary ponies will hurt me?” Luna paused for a second and looked at Celestia who was standing in the door way embarrassed about her previous behavior. Luna turned back to Sombra and stated, “Yes nopony will treat you bad anymore.” Sombra asked with more confidence now, “Will I get to see mommy again?” This time Luna less sure of herself said, “It may be awhile before you get to see mommy again but I promise that I’ll try and help you as much as I can.”
Sombra clambered out from under the bed and looked up at her with his tear stained face. It was the first time Luna got a good look at the Colt. Luna was shocked, he was in fact the spitting image of King Sombra just miniaturized. His aura surrounded eyes were blood shot, but they still looked at Luna with a feeling of trust. “Come on lets get out of this scary place,” Luna said in a comforting tone as she gestured towards the door. Sombra looked uneasily at Celestia standing in the door way. Celestia lowered her head, backed away, and murmured, “I’m…sorry, I-I don’t know what I was thinking.” Sombra unsure of Celestia hung close to Luna as they left the cell.
They began climbing the set of stairs out of the dungeon. They stepped out of the doorway and into the bright daylight. Sombra instantly felt better once the sunlight hit him. He began to trot a little bit quicker as he looked around at the grand castle without fear this time. Luna and Celestia trailing behind him began to talk. “What are we going to do with him now?” Celestia inquired. Luna smiled and looked at Celestia, “You know, I always wanted a student of my own and I think Sombra needs a bit of direction with his new chance at life.” Celestia looked from Sombra to Luna and said, “I sure hope you know what you are getting into.”
Author's Note
Hi there I’m Ponynumber14346 (also known as Trent on MLPforums.com)As I stated in the description Blue_Moon wrote the first few chapters of this story. This is the first chapter written by me. I hope you all liked it and continue to follow this story.
Discord was dozing softly on a pink cloud drifting over the castle grounds when he was suddenly shaken awake by two Royal Canterlot Voices exploding into a duet of destruction. He rolled over the edge of the cloud and floated down to the earth’s surface as a guard came bolting out of the dungeon entrance.
Discord looked at the fleeing guard and inquired with a dramatic flourish, “What is that beautifully chaotic melody that has graced my ears?” The guard visibly shaking and in a state of shock, managed to sputter out, “Royal sisters…argument… I’m taking break.” And with that he was off running again.
Discord sat in a state of bliss as (shoud it be and listened to?) he listened to the altercation carry on. After a few minutes of the racket’s beginning it came to an end. Discord bolted up out of his seat and began clapping heartily, “Encore, encore! Bravo, such gusto, such disharmony!” Discord stood in momentary silence waiting for the broken melody to begin again, but when no sound came forth Discord noticed his stomach had grumbled in displeasure. “Ah yes, a song and a meal what more could one want in an afternoon.” He twisted around and departed for the Castle’s kitchen.
As Discord turned the corner into one of the castle’s door, three figures emerged from the dungeons. Sombra trotted ahead of the two princesses, and with wonder began to take in all of his surroundings. Celestia looked at her sister and stated, “I shall return and see your progress with the mentoring of Sombra. Until then I have a letter to send to Twilight and her friends, I think they should know that the execution is off.” Luna stared back at her sister with a little cocky smile, “Yes, I think that would be best right now.”
Celestia spread her elegant white wings and began to fly towards her tower. Luna turned to watch Sombra as he began to follow a pink butterfly around the court yard. She called out to him like a mother would to their own child, “Sombra, come here please.” Sombra quickly galloped over to Luna and smile.
Sombra perked up at the mention of dinner and began running around Luna, asking, “What’s for dinner?” Before Luna could answer he began listing off his favorite foods at one hundred miles per hour, “I like hay, mommy always gave me hay for dinner, but I liked the dandelions that grew in our castle’s yard more. Sometime we had eggs for breakfast, do you like eggs? ‘Cause I do! Oh, and sometime I got candy for dessert.”
Luna listened to the child ramble, as she led him towards a large bathroom. When they arrived she gave an order to a blue unicorn with a soap bar cutie mark, “Miss Shimmer Bright, take him in and give him a good scrubbing. Make sure he is shining when he comes down for dinner.”
Shimmer bowed, “Yes your highness.” The she opened the door with her magic, and gestured to Sombra saying, “Follow me please.” Sombra eyed up the servant questioningly and glanced at Luna. “Go on, you’ll be fine, you’ll see me again at dinner.” Sombra warily walked into the bathroom and was instantly filled with wonder. The room was a calming white marble and was about the size of Chrysalis’ library. In the middle of the room was a massive bath in the floor with a single spire coming out of the center. Sombra watched in awe as the unicorn used her magic to turn the handles on the silver faucets lining the spire. Steaming water and many colored soaps began creating a rising pool of foam. When the bath was full Shimmer lifted Sombra with her magic and placed him in the water.
Sombra suddenly met with the boiling water and began thrashing against her magic hold. He yelled out in pain, “GAH, help! Luna, mommy, somepony! I’m being cooked by a crazy pony!” Shimmer tightened her grip on the colt and pushed him into sizzling water. She used her magic to press a ‘call help’ button on the wall and within seconds two more ponies rushed in. The duo was a silver pegasus stallion with an aqua mane and hair brush cutie mark and the other, a yellow pony with tan hair and a cutie mark shaped like a shampoo bottle.
The stallion flew forward, “What’s the problem?” Shimmer relayed in an authoritative voice, “We got a code Yellow on our hooves here.” The earth pony rushed forward, “Code Yellow? Oh, Celestia! We haven’t had one of those since Blue Blood was a foal.” Shimmer belted out orders while trying to hold Sombra in the tub, “Sleek Shine fly over him and start scrubbing! Honey Scrub administer the soaps!”
Outside of the bathroom a team of guards was strolling past. They heard a voice squeal out, “AH! You got soap in my eyes! Get away from me you monsters!” The cry of anger was met with an aggravated voice, “Stop struggling so much and it won’t happen!” The squeaking voice screeched, “You’re ripping my fur out with that brush!” The guards stopped to listen to the pandemonium. One leaned over to the other and remarked, “I thought Blue Blood took his baths in the northern wing?” The other replied back, “I don’t know if that’s Blue Blood, the squeals are too deep.” The first guard acknowledged that, “Yeah Blue Blood screams like a little filly when Celestia forces him to take a bath.”
Author's Note
This chapter I was trying to go for a more light hearted feeling, because it isn’t like we were subject to an argument about the public execution of a child or anything last chapter. Also I decided to try and bring the word count of each chapter closer to 1,000 because that last one I felt was getting a bit long. Originally this chapter was about 2,000 words long, but I divided it into two shorter chapters instead.
