Luna stood in line in Canterlot castle’s lower-level cafeteria, an empty plastic tray levitating in front of her. Her head lightly bobbed from side to side, as if listening to a lively tune only she could hear. She hadn’t slept a single wink since the night before. Most guards and castle staff were more than surprised to glimpse her that peculiar morning, because as far as they’d known, she never stepped hoof in such a place a single time since her return.

Luna slid her cafeteria tray along the kitchen’s silver railing. Wide assortments of breakfast goods were on display behind a thick sneeze guard. She narrowed her eyes at each pile of multicolored mush and various mounds of fruits and vegetables. She held a gentle smile on her lips.

When she scooted up in line, the unicorn mare behind the glass nearly dropped her pair of metal tongs. “Princess Luna?” She seemed to choke on air. “I… uh… didn’t expect to see you here this morning… or ever, actually.”

Luna flashed the mare a grin. “The Princess of the Night enjoys the splendors of breakfast just as much as anyone else. Usually, I find myself too spent after a night of moon moving to get my proper fill of early morning delicacies.”

The mare hovered her tongs close to her head. “Don’t you have servants that bring you your meals?”

Luna nodded. “Yes. But today I decided to venture out and gather my own source of sustenance.” She leaned towards the glass until her nose bumped into it. “Pray tell, kind servant, which of these breakfast items contains the highest level of protein?”

The mare glanced at the various colored globs of gruel. “The oatmeal, I would say. One bowl is supposed to keep a castle guard full of energy and alert until their next break.”

“I see,” Luna said, carefully studying the hill of runny oatmeal. “Would it be good for say, someone in recovery?”

The mare stuck a serving spoon in and filled a bowl up with it. “I’d say it’s good for anyone, Princess. If you want, I can add some raisins and nuts.”

Luna stood up straight and slid her tray towards her. “Your Princess would be most grateful.”

The mare threw on a smattering of extras on top and set the bowl in front of her. When Luna didn’t depart, she awkwardly moved her tongs around her head again. “Anything else, Princess?”

“Yes. Another.”

“Bowl of oatmeal?”

“Yes.” Luna counted in her head. “Five more.”

The mare balked. “Six servings?” She stared at her hooves. “We’re supposed to limit the amount we hand out to the guards and staff. One serving per—”

Luna’s gentle expression hardened as she lowered her head to the counter. “You are not denying your Princess her requested meal, are you?”

The mare gulped. “No, Princess, of course not. I only—”

Luna laughed. “I only kid, young one. I know the rules of this castle as well as anyone. But… if six portions were to somehow appear on my tray, I am sure no one would be the wiser.” She raised her brows. “As a Princess, I am sure I could return the favor to you some time in the future.”

The mare’s eyes opened wide and in less than thirty seconds, Luna stood with a loaded tray partially bending in the middle. To the mare, she nodded her thanks and turned, foregoing the dozens of empty seats along the cafeteria’s long wooden benches.

She heard the mare giggle behind her. “You’re not eating here, Princess?”

Luna turned. “I am afraid not. I have pressing business to attend to.” She glanced at her tray. “Involving oatmeal.”

The mare smiled warmly. “Breakfast for two?”

In an instant, Luna’s face went white. “Who told you such a thing?”

The mare looked at her hooves again. “I was only kidding, Princess.” She hesitated, before adding: “Just a little bit of levity in the morning.”

Luna took a slow breath and smiled at her. “Yes. Of course. Your Princess is well versed in humorous asides. Of course she is.” She paused. “Hahahaha! Yes, very good aside servant, as you were.” She took a step away before turning back. “But for future reference, refrain from telling anymore jokes in my presence. Good bye.”

With her steaming tray, Luna bounded out the room, slamming the doors shut behind her. The mare behind the counter watched her go with a single brow raised. She twirled her tongs around her head again and pondered just who the Princess might’ve been eating with.

Luna softly closed the door behind her before entering her tower’s second room. Before resurrecting Sombra, she’d fitted the cozy area with a smaller cot and several thick rugs; a single dusty desk tucked into the corner. Three bronze locks ran alongside the door to Sombra’s room. Using her horn, Luna methodically unlocked each one and left the set of keys on a counter in the outer room.

Sombra was fast asleep on his side, a small hill of blankets covering him. His sharp, red horn clipped the edges of the pillowcase underneath his head.

After learning that Sombra had little knowledge of who she was or even who he was, Luna used her skills in the realm of dreams to place him in a blissful sleep. Most of the night afterwards was spent cleaning all the ashes off the stallion, as well as the mess his resurrection had left on her stone floors.

While cleaning, Luna noted a small scar on Sombra’s upper left shoulder. A scar she had given him by accident on one of their more frequent and frenetic midnight clashes to the death in his old kingdom. “Death” meaning something far, far different to the pair.

Alongside cleaning, she spent most of that time considering just what to say to someone who’d completely forgotten you’d existed at all. Add to that the fact that he was once a murderous tyrant that had been killed for their crimes, it soon became a rather hard to broach subject all together.

Truth would come later. Now came breakfast.

Luna levitated the tray ahead of her into the room, calming herself.

If there comes a question I cannot rightfully answer, then I will delay the query by simply shoving oatmeal down his throat until he cannot speak.

“Hello again,” Sombra said, surprising Luna still standing in the doorway.

Deep in her musings, she must not have noticed him awake and staring at her.

Sombra sat up a bit, grimacing. “I had the oddest dream last night.”

Luna set the tray down on the table next to the bed, then pulled a rickety chair up close. “You do not say? What about?”

Sombra yawned and rubbed at one eye. “You, actually. Weird, considering I’ve known you for all of a few minutes

Luna turned to her side with a smirk. “Yes. How queer. What would be the odds of that?” She set one of the steaming bowls in his lap. “I have brought breakfast for us. Heavy. Hardy. Oatmeal. A lot of it.”

Sombra looked down to his bowl. “All right. I remember oatmeal, at least.” He pointed a hoof to his head. “I realized when I woke up that there was something attached to my head. I’m a unicorn, aren’t I?”

Luna nodded. “Yes. A very gifted one.”

He pointed to her wings. “But no wings, I’ve found. That’s a pity.”

Luna unfurled a wing. “I am an alicorn, gifted with both wings and a horn. There are not many like us, although we have been around for thousands of years.”

Sombra focused his horn to his bowl. “Being a unicorn’s fine enough. Let’s see if I even remember how to use this thing.”

The spoon in his oatmeal raised a single inch before splattering back into the mush.

Sombra sighed and began to try again.

Luna held out a hoof. “Oh, let me help you with that!”

The spoon full of runny oats quickly shot out and forced its way into the back of Sombra’s throat. Sombra gagged on the spoon and yanked it out with both hooves.

He coughed out bits of oatmeal onto the covers. “I’m starting to believe you have a serious problem with personal space.”

Luna’s cheeks flushed. “Whatever do you mean? I was only trying to help.”

Sombra turned from her and awkwardly brought his bowl of oatmeal to his muzzle to eat, even managing not to spill on himself. After he swallowed, he said, “Well, for starters, let’s begin with all these little bits of affection I’ve been receiving since finding myself here.”

Luna took a serving of oatmeal herself and leisurely stirred it with her spoon. “I do not know what you mean. I only kissed you the once.”

Sombra set his empty bowl down. “Nope. Twice, that I know of. Last night and then this morning. I might’ve appeared asleep when you left, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t feel lips around mine.” He smiled at her, clearly amused. “Care to elaborate on this?”

Luna thought for a moment. “Kissing is a traditional greeting in my kingdom. When one enters or leaves a room or greets another, it is always accompanied by a kiss. Same when we are overjoyed.”

Sombra cocked a brow. “With tongue?”

Luna pursed her lips. “I did not make the rules. I only follow them willingly.” She set another bowl in front of him. “Eat. You will need your strength.”

Sombra hesitated. “Before anymore of that, I have a couple of questions for you. The first—and, oddly, most important—being: who am I and why am I here?”

Luna exhaled softly. “Your name is Sombra. And I was the one that brought you here.”

“And you would be?”

“Luna. Princess Luna. And you were once known as King Sombra.”

Sombra nodded. “Only the one name? Seems a little blunt.” His eyes widened as he chewed on something sour. “Princess? You’re not my daughter, are you? Because if that’s the case, we really need to go over this whole kissing situation and have ourselves a serious family discussion.”

Luna shook her head. “No! No, no! Nothing of the sort, I promise you. We are very, very unrelated.”

Sombra exhaled. “Well, that’s a small relief. But I take it by the elaborate design on your floor yesterday that I came back from a very dark place.” He hesitated before asking, “Was I dead?”

“Yes.”

“And how did I meet my end?”

Luna found she couldn’t meet his eyes. “In battle. A great one. The record books are hazy on exactly what happened, but as far as I know, you perished during the battles of war.”

Sombra nodded slowly. “Sounds about right.” He thought. “How long have I been dead?”

“Over a thousand years.”

“So no relatives left?”

“I do not believe you had any to begin with.”

Sombra leaned back on the headboard and whistled. “A thousand years. Technology sure must have advanced since my days.”

Luna giggled. “Not as much as you might have thought.”

He turned to her. “So why did you wait a thousand years before bringing me back?”

Luna smiled thinly. “Like you, I have not been around for most of the last millennia.”

Sombra chuckled deeply. “You weren’t dead, too, were you?”

Luna’s smile faded. “Traveling.”

Over the course of the next thirty minutes, Luna convinced Sombra to finish off three more bowls of oatmeal before she’d deemed he’d had enough. When he lifted his pillow with a moan to block the incoming spoonfuls of mush, Luna gave him a break.

With a bit more alertness, Sombra wiped the excess mess off his muzzle and slowly stretched out each leg. Then he yanked off his covers and made to stand.

Luna held a hoof out to him. “Where are you going?”

Sombra stopped with a single leg on the floor. “To visit my subjects, clearly. They must miss their dear old King. I can’t dare keep them waiting any longer.”

Luna put a hoof to her chin. “Whose castle do you think this is?”

Sombra glanced around the room. “Mine?”

“No, Sombra. This is my castle. I share it with my—”

Luna stopped to think. Sombra had lost all memory of his old life as well as the relationship between the two of them. Thus far, she had not lied to him outright—only concealed what truths might cause him pain. She could’ve told him about Celestia then and there, but what harm would it be to have him focus on her and just her for the immediate future? Of course she’d tell him about her sister in time, along with Twilight and all the others.

But when will you tell him who defeated him to begin with? When will you tell him why his horn looks that way or why the history books call him a murderer and a madpony?

“I share this castle with my subjects and servants. This area of the castle is mine and mine alone… and until you are feeling more like yourself, yours too.”

Sombra edged to the side of the bed. “You don’t have a guest room in your castle I could stay in while I rest?”

“I would rather keep a close eye on you while you recover.” She paused. “I have been known to be the overbearing type.”

Sombra snorted. “I could tell by the meet-and-greet kiss.” He got to his hooves and wobbled a bit. “But still, I believe a castle tour is in order. It would be nice to walk around again and smell some less ashy air.”

Luna grimaced. I thought he would spend more time in recovery. I have yet to warn a single soul of his return. How would Equestria react finding King Sombra snacking on pastries in the Canterlot café?

Luna put a hoof to his chest. “I believe more rest is in order, Sombra. A few more days should do.”

“I might have trouble standing, but I’m sure if I leaned against you as we walked, I’d be fine.” Sombra grinned; a bit of his old wolfish nature poking through. “You’re the one with the complete lack of personal boundaries, remember?”

Luna’s blushed. Whether it was from the warmth of her hoof against his chest or the alluring grin he’d just given her, she couldn’t tell. Either way, she enjoyed them both tremendously.

She nodded briskly. “Fine. But only under one condition.” She turned and pointed to a book on her desk—a rather fat one. “If you can bring that book over to me with your horn, I will show you the castle. If you cannot, then you let me decide if and when you are fully recovered and ready to visit my subjects.”

He stared at her. “I only wished to go for a walk, Luna, I don’t understand why—” From her hard-edged expression, he sighed and pointed his head at the book across the room. He bared his teeth and narrowed his eyes. The tip of his horn lit up in the faintest of lights, before the reddish glow cascaded all the way down his horn to his mane. A trickle of sweat dropped from his temple.

Luna watched the book with unease, wishing for nothing to happen at all. When Sombra grunted, the cover of the book became coated in a crimson aura that leisurely pecked at the pages within. After a few attempts, the aura moved to a single corner of the book and rose, finally bringing the book up with it.

Sombra chuckled while Luna swallowed dryly.

The book levitated half-way across the room.

“See, Luna?” Sombra said. “I’m fine. Completely—”

The book fell to the stone floor with a thump, cutting his sentence short. His ears flattened against his head.

“Well, I’ll admit it was a rather heavy book.” He glared at the fallen text like he wanted to tear it to tiny pieces. “But this still has nothing to do with walking around a—”

Smack!

Sombra crumpled to his side on the floor, holding his front leg with a hoof. He exhaled angrily and grimaced.

In an instant, Luna was down on the ground next to him. “Sombra! What happened?”

Sombra rubbed at his pained leg. “My leg just gave out. I don’t know why, but it felt like I’d been kicked. By the gods does that hurt!”

Luna ran a hoof through his mane. He seemed not to notice as he clutched his leg.

“I have heard of such problems before,” she told him. “Once ponies awaken from the black sea of death, their muscles can inflict terrible pain upon them if they do not tread carefully. It seems we have tried to do too much too soon. I will help you back into bed.”

A few minutes later, Sombra was once again on his thin bed, his face nearing a scowl. He crossed both legs over his chest. “I really thought I had that book. I really did, Luna.”

Luna set the book in question in his lap. “Well, now you do. So enjoy. It is a book about Equestrian history, so it should be of much interest to you.”

Sombra flipped through the text. “Why are there pages torn out?”

Luna bit her tongue. “It is a second-hoof copy. I will make sure to get you a better one soon.” She turned and grabbed a saddlebag off the wall, hooking it around her middle. She told him, “I must leave you for a time, Sombra, but I will return soon. Get plenty of rest and read all you like. I will return with more food and drink.”

Sombra flipped to another page with a hoof. “I don’t think I’ll be able to eat again until midnight.”

Luna opened the door to the outer room. “We will see.”

Closing the door behind her, she deftly scooped up the set of keys by the door and slid all three into the locks, spinning the bars across. She set the key ring into one of her bag’s side pockets.

It took close to ten minutes, but eventually, Luna thought she’d collected it all—all the vials, ingredients, roots, books, and bits of ash and dust from last night’s dark ritual. Once gathered, she methodically set them into her bag so nothing would stand out and no glass item would rattle against the next.

As bad as she’d felt about disrupting Sombra’s attempts at magic—slamming the book to the ground with her own invisible burst of energy before shocking his leg with a bolt of electricity—she knew the world wasn’t quite ready for him. Not now. Not yet.

She opened the door to the rest of the castle and sighed tiredly.

She found she had absolutely no idea where the castle threw out its waste.

After the door to his room was shut and locked, Sombra rose from his bed and timidly put weight on each leg. When he felt no hints of pain, he trotted to the door and tried pulling on the knob. The door wouldn’t budge.

“Hmm,” he muttered, before searching the rest of the room. Along the wall was a lone stained-glass window, depicting a night sky with hundreds of stars. He’d give it a few more days before breaking it down. Figuring his luck so far, there was a good chance his room was six stories up.

“If only I came back as a pegasus,” he grumbled, before moving to the mirror above the dresser. What we saw made him stop cold.

“Hmm,” he muttered again.

Although he’d seen bits and pieces of himself since waking on the floor, Sombra had yet to view himself in full. Dark coat. Dark mane. Even darker expression. Besides his eyes and horn, he seemed completely devoid of any bright colors.

“I look so moody,” he told his reflection.

He ran a hoof through his mane, mentally reminding himself to search his room for a comb. Then he stuck out his tongue and pulled down his eyelids.

Nothing much of interest there.

What begged to be explored was his horn.

Leaning against the dresser, he used two hooves to try to curve his horn back in the opposite direction. Luna’s horn was straight as could be, so why did his look so curved in comparison? Why so red when not another part of him bared the color at all?

Perhaps he was over-thinking things. Kings were supposed to be different from the rest, were they not?

Sombra fixed his sights on a pillow atop his bed. He’d start small and then work his way up. Already he was irritated. Not being the best at something (even after recently coming back from the dead) still irked him to no end. So if a book was too hard, a pillow would have to do.

A crimson aura wrapped around the pillow and—

Fwwoosh!

—instantly caught on fire.

“Hmm.”

Bemused, Sombra quickly snuffed out the blaze with the bed covers and tossed the torched pillow aside.

He looked at himself in the mirror again. “I think there must be something wrong with my horn.” Next Chapter: Chapter 3: Dreams Estimated time remaining: 16 Minutes