Hooves clopping on the ground as she ran, Twilight looked left and right for the dark stallion that just escaped her watch. You'd think a tall menacing figure would be easy to spot, but it was like he had just vanished, no pony had even seen him leave Sugarcube corner and it was really starting to irritate her.

"Where in Equestria did Sombra go?" She asked herself as she come to a stop to catch her breath. Again she glanced around the busy town, clearly no pony had seen him lest they'd all have run away by now. It was so bizarre for her. Her mind raced, different scenarios came to mind, most of them bad. She could not allow the old tyrant king to be alone for very long, it was clear he was still not reformed, at least to her. Twilight had not trusted him since he had arrived, but even less now.

Her breathing returning to normal, Twilight did what she always does when in trouble, go to the one pony who could assist her. Her gaze shifted to Canterlot as she devised the best method to get in contact with Princess Celestia. Surely she would know how to find him, and if it came to it, stop whatever he mind do. Meeting her in person would be the best thing to do, having Spike send a letter might get to her faster, but the sun goddess might not be able to aid her from so far away, however with her newly gained wings, she could arrive in Canterlot in just a few minutes. Her wings stretched out, she pressed tremendous force into them for a quick take off and off she was to the castle.

A soft yawn escaping her lips, Fluttershy waves her hoof at bird that passed her by. She had had a very stressful day the day prior and it had kept her up a large bit of the night, but that doesn't change that she had duties to perform of her own. As always, he kept the forest critters fed and she had some patients come earlier that day. She was the sort of 'vet' for Ponyville, and although she didn't really like meeting new people all the time, she oh so enjoyed bringing animals back to health. But the recent secession had left her with a short amount of supplies for remedies.

Another yawn was heard as her yellow hooves began to echo in the forest she was entering. The Everfree forest, though she was terrified of it at first, was now just like her backyard. She had formed a habit of going in and getting some herbs to used, a tip she got from Zecora. The herbs she was in need at this moment happen to the ones that were pretty far into the forest. Not a problem usually, but her lack of sleep was showing as she wobbled slightly with each step she took.

As she walked, she would say hello to a creature here and there, none of animals held aggression towards Fluttershy since she had probably helped them at one point or another, making it a breeze to make trips into the Everfree. As monkey hung from one of it's long fore arms to greet the yellow Pegasus, it's long fangs showed as he smiled. Again Fluttershy stopped to say hi, that monkey being a constant companion when hunting for herbs. She had helped him once and he always come by to say hello when in the vicinity, but as she walked away, the monkey scratched it's head. A soft grunt was heard from him as he watched her go...that was not the usual path she would take when ever she came around.

Fluttershy seemed to have drifted to sleep suddenly, but her legs kept walking, though unstably. She finally woke up when she hit her head against something. After a quick yelp, she looked around her surroundings and realized she had absolutely no idea where she was. She must have walked too far, or at least she thought. The sudden shock waking her up completely, Fluttershy quietly turned one eighty degrees and walked back in a straight line, but after a few minutes, she soon found out she was no where close to her original path. Her sleep walking must have not been very straight. Panic began to rise inside of her, but this wasn't the first time she had gotten lost. Yes, all she had to do was do as always, fly straight up and look around, surely she could still see a distinct land mark form the air.

Leaving her saddle on the ground, Fluttershy look to the air. A quick glance made it clear she had walked quite a long distance, but sure enough, she saw the mountain Canterlot was placed on quite far in the distance.

"Oh dear, how long did I sleep walk for?" Fluttershy asked herself as she gently came down to the ground, but to her surprise, the ground was much softer than she remembered. Blinking a few times, Fluttershy looked down to see she was standing on a strangely illuminating creature of great stature. An Ursa Minor as she would recall who had taken quite an interest in the saddle bag she had left and it's contents. "Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Ursa Minor, that's mine. Could you please give it back?" She asked as she took to the air again, this time to hover in front of the bear like creature.

A grunt was heard as the large creature began to chew on the saddle slightly while laying on the ground, it was a rather hard task for it being so large and the saddle so small, but it was fixated on it.

"No no, I need it, can you please give it back?" Fluttershy asked as she reached for the saddle. She managed to grab on to it, but as if trying to play tug-of-war, the giant creature pulled back on it, a quick yank that managed to throw Fluttershy away on to a tree, and although mostly unscathed, was rather angry with the lack decency from the Ursa Minor.

"Hey! That wasn't very nice Mr! You could have really hurt me." Fluttershy's sudden scold took the Ursa by surprise. "You are much bigger than me, so you have to be very careful not to hurt those around you, or else you end up looking like a mean ol' bully, do you want the other creatures to think you're a bully?" She continued her lecture. By this time, the Ursa was in distraught, probably had never been lectured before and began to weep. Taking notice, Fluttershy flew closer to pet it on the head. "There there, you're not a bad Ursa Minor, you're just not careful and-"

Her words were suddenly interrupted by an ear piercing roar. As Fluttershy cringed at the sound, large poundings were heard as something very large made it's way to their location. The trees soon split to the side as the sheer size of what stood before them was so large everything in it's path was thrashed. The Ursa Minor quickly ran up to the even larger creature of the same kind, it's mother and more so, an Ursa Major.

"Oh, you must be the mom, I'm Fluttershy and-" Again she was interrupted as another roar was heard, the Ursa Major not pleased with her child weeping. "No, it's a misunderstanding I was just trying to..." It was useless to try to explain, before she could even finish the sentence the large creature swung it's claw at her, only barely able to avoid it.

"Oh...oh my.." Fluttershy said as she soon found out this might be just out of her control.

Not too far into the Everfree forest sat Sombra who was at the moment looking at a reflection in a small pound he found. Though he had told Twilight he would go to the library, he ended up simply walking off to this secluded place. He wasn't sure what he was doing, just the night prior he had made up his mind about escaping and wrecking havoc, but now....

"Why did I waste so much of my dark magic on those foals?" He asked his reflection. Unlike normal unicorn magic, the magic he had used to ease the foals to sleep was on a limited supply, so why did he use it? He knew clear well what he was doing and did it anyway. Sombra could not fathom just why. He sighed as he laid down on his stomach, the image of the foal from his memories beginning to come back to him.

"Why won't you just go away?" He asked the image as he closed his eyes. "I don't want to remember you Fetch..."

Luckily for him, however, his mind was soon relieved of anything interior when a loud screeching roar echoed through the forest. The made him stand up quickly as he looked around as to where it was coming from. Trembles spread through the ground as pounding was heard, something huge was on it's way to him, but more than anything, suddenly his dark magic rose as his flames of fear erupted from his eyes. The combustion surprised him as he could feel his power returning, but unsure as to why, though the answer soon came.

Looking up, he saw a yellow Pegasus fly towards the Ponyville, it's speed quite surprising for such a timid mare. Of course Sombra was able to recognize her, Fluttershy had been on his mind for a while, mostly wondering whether to pay her a visit or not to absorb some power, but that was no longer necessary. His power leeching off of her, the earlier mystery was answered as well as the pounding came closer and louder towards him. With a quick jump away, he barely avoided being stomped by a huge creature of which he had never seen before, but it's intentions quite clear.

Slightly interested, Sombra made his way back to town to see it under chaos. A beautiful sight to him no doubt, the huge creature now thrashing about, making a mess of the place. All the citizens ran about trying to protect themselves from it's wrath. A smirk spread across the old king's face as a plan began to brew in his head. With this creature here he could simply stroll around and absorb his dark magic from the masses, but the chaos was so great that he could already feel it from here. Escape was well within his grasp as the possibilities began to come to him. This was just way too perfect for the tyrant king.

Twilight had just made it to the Castle in Canterlot. Her mind was ironically clouded with the devastation Sombra would bring to Equestria. The princess quickly made her way around and as she walked she was constantly greeted by the maids and guards stations in the castle. She did her best to contain her urgency, not wanting make ponies anxious as to why she would be worried. As she finally entered the throne room, her destination, she was greeted by a gentle smile.

"Why hello Twilight, I wasn't expecting to see you so soon." Celestia said as she stood from her throne. Making her way to her ex apprentice, they met halfway.

"Hello Princess Celestia, actually, I have a bit of a problem." She began, suddenly making the conversation a little too serious for Celestia's taste, she wasn't one to like when things went south.

"Is something the matter?"

"It's Ki- Sombra. Sombra escaped from me and Pinkie when we were foal sitting and I'm worried of what he might be doing." This caused the monarch to raise an eyebrow.

"You left Sombra alone while you and Pinkie Foal sat?

"What? No! I mean, the three of us were foalsitting."

"I see, so did you ask Sombra if he wanted to foal sit?" Celestia asked as she tried to get the entire story from her.

"Well no, it was actually Pinkie who sort of forced him, but it wasn't like he didn't like it! He was pretty good with the foals, cradled them and got them to go to sleep so went he suddenly wanted to leave and I told him no but he escaped anyway, it just worries me." Twilight who was speaking rather quickly was quieted when a hoof was place at her shoulder. Again met with a smile she stopped talking so the tall mare could speak.

"So Sombra was more or less forced to foal sit, did it anyway, and well as you say, and when he finally wanted to leave and you denied him that request he escaped? It doesn't really sound like he's at fault here Twilight." Celestia said as she began to defend the ex tyrant.

"But...I still don't trust him alone."

"So that's what this is about? You don't trust that he's going to keep his end of the deal and try to become reformed?" Celestia said as she gestured her friend to walk along side her. The pair made their way out into the hall and they spoke as she stretched heir legs.

"Well of course! How do you expect me to trust a tyrant who ruled with an iron hoof and traumatized an entire empire? How can you trust him so easily is my question."

"Oh Twilight, back when he reappeared in the Crystal Empire I too thought he was a ruthless pony, but as Luna visited his dream during our impasse at a battle, she found that he had a much gentler side of him, one he hid from those around him. I knew it then that he could definitely be reformed."

"That's all well and good, but I still think we should have a back up plan incase of..." Twilight's voice died down as Celestia turned to look at her, however, before neither of them could say another word, a guard ran up to them.

"Princesses! Ponyville is being attacked!"

Twilight gave Celestia a look as they both began to process what was just told to them.

Sombra was at an all you could eat buffet as he walked up the streets of Ponyville. As all the citizens ran past him he breathed in the huge amount of dark magic entering his body. Though he wish to stay longer, he knew that it wouldn't be long before some sort of back up or artillery to arrive, and surely enough, he would be blamed for this. If there was ever a time to retreat, it was now. With his magic at about sixty percent, he was content enough to leave. His red cape blew around as he turned to walk out of town. But there was a rather recognizable scream coming form nearby.

"Sombrie? Sombrie!?" Pinkie cried out as she searched for him. The foals were on her head as she ran around the falling debris. Her tail shaking every so often to indicate a falling object nearby which she was able to avoid. The Ursa Major was dangerously close, not that there was much she could do about that. A single step for the enormous creature was a good jog for any pony. The Ursa lifted it's claw as it was about to trample the pink mare and foals. Her pinkie sense told her it was time to move, but Pumpkin had slipped off of her head and landed on the ground, and though unharmed, was in the area where the claw was about to smash down. Pinkie ran back to get the fallen child and for some reason, called his name.

"SOMBRA!"

As the old king turned around, his eyes opened wide as he saw something entirely different. On the ground laid a crystal pony, the one from his dreams along with her foal who too called out to him

Sombra!

The crystal pony's voice resonated in his head and his cat light pupils thinned even more, the flames in his eyes combusting greatly.

"GET AWAY FROM THEM!" Sombra cried out as he dug his hooves into the ground as his horn glowed black as it bubbled a sickly green and purple color.. Behind him a black crystal sprouted from the dirt, a crystal that grew at a horizontal line which propelled him forward at an unimaginable speed. Before Pinkie even realized it, he was been tossed over Sombra's back as he held Pumpking in his mouth by her nape. The armored stallion gently put them down as his irises faded into the green glow of his eyes, the flames in full throttle. Leaving them behind, he made another black crustal erupt from under him as he propelled up to the Ursa Major's height.

This was a sign of aggression to the creature as it swung it's huge arm at Sombra, an arm that came to a stop when yet another crystal suddenly busted out of the ground to block it, but more so, it wrapped around the Ursa's wrist, locking it in place. From the great height from where he stood, Sombra's vision began to change, almost as if under some sort of illusion. Around him was not a burning Ponyville, but his Crystal Empire under attack by this beast. Seeing his home in such a condition angered him even more than he already was.

"How dare you attack this place?! Do you not know who you're dealing with?! I AM KING SOMBRA, AND THIS IS MY DOMAIN!"

Sombra said as he made even more of his crystals sprout out which he used as blunt objects to attack with. The first crystal hit like an uppercut to the Ursa Major, but the second attack was grabbed with the free arm only to have it trapped as well with the same method. As the creature adjusted it's remaining footing, he could hear the destruction down below. Unwilling to bring any more damage to the place, Sombra mustered up more of his dark magic to sprout dozens of crystal pillars that were used to not just hit the Ursa, but propel it back into the Everfree forest. A loud crash was heard as it landed. It laid still for a second before it struggled to it's feet. It made for it's retreat and Sombra was about to follow suit to continue on the attack , but when the crystal pillar he was standing on moved forward, there was a tug at his cape.

"P-Please don't hurt it anymore!" Fluttershy said as she grabbed Sombra's attention. Seeing the old tyrant in such a state was certainly frightening for her, and it showed as the flames erupted form his eyes further, but she stood her ground. "It was my fault it was mad in the first place. It learned it lesson so please let it go...if you don't mind...please..."

Sombra's irises began fade back as his thoughts become more coherent, finally realizing what he had done, he slowly nodded and made the crystal pillar he stood on shrink until he was back on ground level. As he stood there, in the middle of the destroyed town, every pony peeked out to look at him and eerie silence took hold of the atmosphere. That was, until Sombra was suddenly hit by a purple spell which knocked him off his feet, the magical attack retraining him as if some sort of net, wrapping against his extremities.

"There you are! How there you attack Ponyville!" Twilight says as she flew down, landing near Sombra. At this point the old king thought about using even more of his dark magic to defend himself, but he was almost drained from having dealt with the Ursa Major.

"Wait!" Pinkie called out as she jumped in front of Twilight, her arms stretched apart out to defend him. "He didn't attack Ponyville! Sombrie actually saved us! He pushed back the Ursa Major!" As Pinkie spoke, Pumpkin jumped off her head and also stretched out her arms to mimic Pinkie's gesture. "See? He even saved me and Pumpkin when we were about to get crushed!"

"But I saw him do nothing when the Ursa was attacking!" A voice form the crowd yelled out. Twilight looked at Pinkie for an explanation, but she was left speechless and turned to Sombra for an answer. The stallion thought for a second as he remained stoic on the outside.

"I needed to drain some dark magic from the ponies around here, I was left powerless remember? I could do nothing until I had replenished enough energy to fight." Sombra lied as he did his best to give a reasonable explanation.

"Y-Yeah, I was the one who accidentally brought the Ursa to Ponyville." Fluttershy said as she flew down to defend Sombra.

Whispers and murmurs were heard from the crowd as ponies began to both defend and attack Sombra's actions, however, they were all silenced when they saw a very bright light come down from the sky and land close to Sombra. Celestia's presence gave the entire town a calmed feeling as she stood next to them.

"It sounds like Sombra did all he could with what he had." She said as her horn glowed, releasing him from his restraints, allowing him to stand once more. "Don't you think you might be judging him a little too harshly? Every pony seems to agree that it was the Ursa Major who caused the damage, and that it was Sombra who ultimately pushed it back."

Distraught, Twilight looked down as she fought her urge to restrain Sombra again. "I..I guess you're right..." She finally said after a moment of thinking. As she backed off, Pinkie immediately turned around to hug the old king.

"Oh Sombrie I was so worried!" This shocked Sombra, as he quickly pushed her back.

"Mare! What did I say about hugging me?!" He screamed as his eyes blew up in purple flames.

"Now now Sombra." Celestia said with a small giggle. "You don't want to scare more ponies now do you?"

He did, in fact, want to do just that. But he knew now was not the best time, or anything for that matter. The moment he looked around he pondered why he did what he did, for now he was in a horrible situation, and his only thoughts were that perhaps things could only get worse from here. Sombra glanced around again to see ponies beginning to get close, only proving his worries. None of them were afraid of him...