Chapter nine

The fight to Canterlot takes no time at all, even while carrying Havoc on her back. Cadance reaches Canterlot with the kids early enough so the family can spend the rest of the day together. Considering though that even for royalty, she still has to wait on the train to arrive that is destined for the Crystal Empire. The train ride takes a few hours, the better part of the afternoon as Cadance reaches her home later in the night.

Entering the castle and being greeted by the guards. She wanders about doing her normal night rounds to ensure everything is alright while she was gone. Finally running in to her husband, Shining armor, now giving a few guards final orders for the night.

Twilight’s brother met her while she was young as Twi's foal sitter many years ago. Although shy at first, he eventually worked up the courage to ask her out. As time passed by the two's relationship grew even more and eventually in time they were married. Shining is a pure white unicorn with a blue mane, having lighter blue highlights through them, capping it off with blue hooves. The only thing purer than his coats color on the back drop of a freshly fallen snow in the purity in his heart as a stallion, and as a guard to do his job. He always respectful, and ready to go the distance to make sure the job gets done the first time around, and right. Shining is dependable in every form of the word, whether it’s to the crown as an adult, or even to his wife as her husband. Especially when it comes to family, namely his baby sister, considering for the longest time he was the only true friend she had growing up (there’s a reason he is her BBBFF after all).

“I should have guessed that you’d still be up,” she says sneaking up on him. Shining almost jumps in surprise at meeting his wife again after the only few days she was gone.

“Sweetie!” he gallops up to her and gives her a loving kiss on the lips before holding her for a moment in his fore hooves. “I would have expected you to show up sometime tomorrow morning.”

“Meh…” she shrugs her shoulders, “I caught an early train just in time after taking the kids back to Canterlot from seeing their favorite aunt.”

“You mean that’s not you?” he jokes with her as they walk down the halls.

“Oh you know what I mean,” she playfully shoves him a bit with her hips, “I had to stay long enough though to meet the guard after all.”

Shining almost forgot completely about his sister getting a royal guard for her own. Even though he signed the orders for him to go, Shining can’t even remember the guard’s name. But then again considering he is the captain of the royal guard, in charge of all those under him, and on top of that a prince now. He can forgive himself for it. “By the way, how is she taking the news of having a guard around?”

‘Probably as well as one may expect considering who it is,’ she tells herself without saying anything to him, “oh… you know…” she plays it off with a few waves of her hoof in the air, “It’s a major change to adjust to, but eventually she’ll get used to it.”

Shining Armor knows his wife well enough to know when she’s hiding something. All he has to do is give her a slight glare and an eye brow raise, the same one he would give to a guard who has done something. Cadance starts to feel the sweat coming on her skin, the thought almost of a foal caught with a hoof in the cookie jar almost permeates her mind. She knows that there is no use trying to hide the fact of what she did, all she wonders really though is the reaction that he’ll have after finding out that he just signed the orders to send a guard that Twilight has a crush on, to be living with her.

“Okay fine,” she starts to explain the best way she can without making herself sound like cupid, “the guards name is Flash Sentry. Twilight knew him a few years back when she first met him, sort of, at her first summit as a Princess. It was obvious when I saw how she acted around him, that she felt something for the colt.”

“How did you figure that in such a short time?” he asks stupidly.

Cadance just gives him the ‘are you serious’ look as he remembers. ‘Right… this is Cadance,’ he dodges the bullet, “Never mind… go on.”

“Anyways, I knew that she was forcing these feeling down in to her, and hiding such a thing is always bad. Over the years when she would come by I purposefully would assign him to her in the hopes that they would connect,” she rolls her eyes thinking back to those time when the pair would wind up together in the empire. Flash acting as an assistant to help her during her stay so Twilight could focus on the matters of why she would come to visit if it wasn’t just for fun. “Never the less your sister is quite she shy one as you may guess, and Flash is no different when around her,” she pauses for a moment while she sees her husband start to chuckle, already knowing exactly what she is talking about. “When I came up to Canterlot to see Celestia and Luna though, they told me how they were looking for a guard to help watch over Twilight. All Twily asked was for one to be ‘Dependable, Reliable, and always willing to lend a helping hoof when need be,’ in her words, and on top of that, one she is comfortable around. Seeing how they have acted around each other in the past, he fit. Minus that last bit about being totally ‘comfortable’ around him.”

“That’s Twily for ya,” Shining snickers once more at his sisters’ demise.

Cadance even sharing a bit in the giggle before she continues, “Apart from that, which will pass the more time they spend around one another… hopefully. Flash is rather suitable for the task, and a plus is,” she smiles at the little plan she put together, “he thinks rather highly of her as well.”

The husband starts to shake his head at his sly wife, seeing the eagerness in her eyes for some kind of approval over her actions, while at the same time expecting some sort of rebuttal. “Hmm… I see…" Shining pauses for a second to mull this thought over in his mind, "okay then,” is all he says as he walks off down the hall towards their bedroom, passing her as she stops.

“What?” she gasps, “That’s it?”

He turns around to face her with a grin over his face, “yep.”

“No ‘why would you try and set up my own sister?’, ‘what are you playing matchmaker for?’, or even at least ‘this is my baby sister, she’s too young’. None of that talk what so ever?”

“Eh… I’m tired dear,” Shining brushes it off. In the back of his head the Captain now remembers Flash from the past after his wife repeated his name. Working with him even on a few occasions as needed, and from what he remembers. The guard gets the stamp of approval, in more than once sense. “I may be the older brother, but at the same time I know Twily is growing up. Even more so with being a Princess now. You have a good taste for couples, after all, when Celestia and Discord finally came out about their relationship, I didn’t hear any sort of argument from your end?”

“Luna on the other hoof had quite a lot to say,” Cadance starts to giggle for a moment as she recalls the night after the older regal sister announced her infatuation with the master of chaos, and the subsequent trip to Canterlot Medical Hospital after Luna and Discord had less than stellar words on the matter to be said to each other. “I do have a knack for these things, I mean I got you didn’t I?”

“Exactly,” he says waiting for his wife to get beside him as she uses her wing to pull herself closer in before he continues, “If anypony can see a good pair, then it’s you,” he switches his tone to the more protective sibling, the stern glare getting the point across rather well, “but if he does anything to her that she doesn’t like and she runs back here crying. Flash is going to have a hell of a time trying to keep me from using the entire army to destroy him, and you can quote me on that.”

Cadance just nods in response, knowing full well he’s playing a role that was given to him upon Twilights birth. Giving his a kiss on the cheek before they reach their bed room, “hmm… I don’t think you have to worry about him doing anything to wrong her, and you can quote me on that.”

They get to the door as the guard there salutes them both, and holds the door for them. Cadance steps in, while Shining stops in front of the guard and leans in his ear to give his final order for the night. “Cadance has been gone for the last few days,” he reminds the guard, “and tonight is our usual, special, night,” he says with a wink while the guard nods and gives a final salute.

“No one is to disturb you, understood sir.”

With that the prince closes the door for the night so he and Cadance can get to their… couples activities. Leaving the guard to stand there alone for the time being.

A few minutes pass, and as soon as the guard outside the door starts to hear the giggles, moans, and grunts from inside the royal bedroom. He taps his hoof on the ground three times in a row. Listening to the echo of it bounce off the crystal walls as the sound travels in the dead of night. In a few moments time, a thick black cloud comes from through the open window down the hall, followed by several changelings hovering close by following it. The cloud stops in front of the guard and two glowing eyes appear in side of it before it materializes in to its true form.

Kind Sombra appears in full armor, wearing the new set that Chrysalis gave him, on the ground as he looks both ways down the hall. “The couple has gone to, bed for the night,” the guard says. Changing in to his own form of one of the queens soldiers, “they shouldn’t be out till morning, but I would still hurry.”

“Well-l-l don-n-e,” the king says to him almost in a hiss of a snake while a sly grin comes on his face, adverting his attention to the changelings that have come with him and motions them to follow him further. Considering that he used to rule over the whole kingdom here, finding his way through his old castle is no challenge at all. So while the changelings with him think that he’s lost as they seem to creep down hall after hall aimlessly, the king knows exactly where he’s going.

They reach a central hallway that branches off in to other parts of the castle. Exactly what Sombra was looking for. Only issue is though a few guards in the center doing their rounds as they search for anything out of the ordinary. He draws the new sword from his back ever so slightly as he gestures the ones with him to hold back for a moment as he as his fun. Turning back in to his shadow form he flies above the guards silently, taking them by surprise as he sticks to the shadows of the ceiling. The materialized king uses his weight and speed to his advantage fully. Dropping to the floor, he slices one in half without any effort as the blade cuts cleanly through both metal and flesh equally. The entrails spill over the crystal floor and almost make his is coworkers slide over the blood like ice as it comes from their once comrade, now just two heaps of flesh. The other three guards gain their footing and stand there for a moment dumbfounded at the black unicorn standing in front of them with a lust in his eyes of the most vicious kind before they finally realize who it is in a snap.

“King…King… Sombra!” one screeches, “no, it can’t be?!”

The king starts to laugh as he licks the fresh blood on his blade, ‘she said it was sharp alright’. “You better believe it’s me, the true king has returned.”

“Not for long!” another one of the guards says as he takes a swing at the king attempting to get some sort of distance between he and his friends as the rest of them take a step back, knowing his power.

Although the guard is trained, and brave at that for trying to strike him, it is a foolish thing to do. Sombra has been doing this sort of thing for years, and wasn’t a stallion to allow others to have all the fun in his earlier years. Using his blade to block out the guards, Sombra whips the shield around in an aura of magic from his back as it smashes in to the side of the guards own armor. Forcing him to slide across the slick floor until he finally comes to a stop a few yards away.

Righting himself back up, the courageous guard points to one of his fellow companions near him with a hoof, “quick! Go and get the-”

He doesn’t get another word in as the jagged sword flies through the air as if it was a guillotine, burying itself in to the floor after cutting clean through his neck without problem. The only sound made is the ting of the helmet as it it’s the floor with the head still inside. Bright red blood spurts out of the neck and in the air, while the look on his face remains the same from what he had up until his death as the guard he was pointing to takes off. Sombra is about to go after him, but instead turns his attention to the last guard, who fumbles to take out the battle axe he wields. Step by step the king draws closer and closer to him. Seeing the shaking of the weapon grow as the distance closes evermore.

“My friend is on his way to alert the rest of the guards!” he shouts at his adversary, “you may be strong, but you can’t take all of us. I know you’re not stupid enough to try.”

Sombra shakes his head with a psychotic chuckle as he uses his own magic to lift the guard off the floor by the throat, listening to the gasps as he tries to take in air, “no you’re right… I’m not stupid, but I am boarder line insane.”

The king’s blade whips itself out of the ground and returns to its owner. The only problem being the colt that remains in the way as the blade punctures clean through the metal back plate and out the chest. The serrations on his weapon doing their part and acting like a hook, pulling tissue through the hole and sticking to the blade as he drops the guard to the floor in a puddle of his own fluids. The last thing the guard sees is his coworker, being dragged back to the king by changelings.

Sombra stands there before the guard as he is forced on his knees by the king’s temporary subjects. The guard sees what has happened to the others, knowing full well that there is nothing he can do but perhaps try and reason with him. “What is it you want?” he asks, wondering if there is anything he can do to bargain with. The colt has a mare back at home that he would like to see and a young foal waiting for him. He wasn’t even supposed to have this watch, and took it from a friend so he could go out tonight, being told ‘I owe you dude’ by the friend as he trotted off. “Please… there has to be something that will give you reason to show some compassion?”

Sombra sees the urgency in his eyes and knows there is some motive behind his desperation, “I’m going to guess you have a family back home waiting for you, am I right with this?”

“Y-y-yes…” he stutters, hoping that this may get him somewhere, “A wife, and young daughter.”

The king looks at him as a wicked grin stretches from ear to ear, “well then… I guess they will still get to see you tonight after all,” he says.

The guard’s eyes light up as he thinks he may have just gotten out of a brutal death. However, he could not be so wrong. Sombra grasps his sword in his hooves while spinning around and slices across the guard’s belly. Letting the entails distend out of him and fall to the floor, the guard is in more shock then anything as he is unsure what just happened at first, not even registering in his head fully. Soon enough though, he finds himself let go by the changelings that were holding him and he slumps over to one side on the floor while blood pours out from the mortal wound. Intestines even drape over top of his hooves as he tries to almost hold them there in place. Sombra steps right next to his head, while the hapless guard mutters to him in an attempt to understand.

“…but… I thought?”

“Humph,” Sombra grunts at him, looking up for a moment with just his eyes at one of the changelings followed by a quick wink. In a flash of magic from their trade, the changeling transforms perfectly in to the fallen guard on the floor. “I said your family would get to see you, but who said it would really be you?”

That’s the last thing he hears as his eyes close once more while the fluids drain from him and he dies slowly there on the floor. Sombra taps a hoof and the changelings with him all take the form the other guards there scattered around, “keep your head low and don’t get killed. If you hear of anything new, keep us informed.”

The changelings nod at him in acknowledgement as they pick up the weapons and take what armor they can, acting like they belong where they are as the bodies are disposed of and with the help of some magic the stains from the fluids are removed. Soon following Sombra as he goes about his duty and travels down the halls to an unguarded door. The door itself is as unassuming as one may ever guess, but Sombra knows its true purpose. Running his hoof along the edge of the door way, he hears the locks from behind the door come undone.

This is one of the castles holding rooms for crystals, it’s secured from locks behind the door that can only be unlocked by the magical touch of the right user. Although Shining Armor and Cadance have in fact added themselves to the ponies able to open it, they were unable to remove Sombra from that list. Slowly creaking open, the sight of hundreds of his original crystals brings almost a tear to the tyrant’s eyes, almost. All of them having been around sense he was first the king here, and all of them able to boost his power to new levels.

“Hello my little beauties…” he starts to laugh dastardly, “did you miss me?”

He removes the sack that was under his armor and loads up as many of them as he can in it before securing his precious cargo on his back. Soon afterwards turning to one of the changelings with him in disguise, “I have what I came for, and your queen will be glad to know that she got a few more spies in the empire.” the single changeling nods at him silently as the Sombra’s form changes once more and he takes to the shadows, while the rest of the changelings go about their own task and keep their heads low to the ground.