After her return to Canterlot, Princess Celestia, as she had promised to Twilight, sent a handful of guards to Ponyville to watch over Sombra.

Although she knew that was to ensure the security of everypony, Twilight couldn’t stop thinking that could make Sombra feel they didn’t believe in his change and that could make him return to his evil ways again.

Sombra, in his turn, thought that the presence of the guards was a little inopportune and that it could turn into a little complication to his plans, but that wasn’t something that he couldn’t deal with easily.

In a certain day, Sombra was at the library of the castle when Twilight approached him.

“Good morning, Sombra, I hope you are feeling okay this morning” she said.

“I am pretty well, Princess Twilight” Sombra replied. “Although, I am a little constrained for having all those guards looking at me with a not so friendly look every time I walk through the castle, as if they are waiting for a reason to attack me.

“Yeah, I’m sorry for that” Twilight said. “Princess Celestia, sometimes can be very cautious, mainly when it concerns…”

“Evil and cruel villains like me” Sombra completed.

“Well… after what you did in the past, it’s normal that ponies still don’t accept you” Twilight said. “But you’ve done some progress. I also had my own doubts. I still have them, of course, but you are being able to change my opinion about you.”

“Thank you for the complement, princess” Sombra said, cordially, realizing that his plan to gain Twilight’s trust was working without any problems.

“Oh, and you can call me just Twilight” the young princess said.

“Sure thing… Twilight” Sombra answered.

“Well, now I have to prepare myself to get the train” Twilight said, starting to head towards the exit.

“The train?” Sombra asked. “To where?”

Twilight stopped, hesitating if she should or not tell Sombra where she would go. She turned to him and replied:

“Well… Spike and I are going… to the Crystal Empire. We are going to visit my brother and sister-in-law. I would invite you to come along, but…”

“But due to my great reputation there, it is for the best if I don’t get even close of the empire” Sombra completed.

“Let’s just say that convince the crystal ponies of your change will be a much harder task to do” Twilight said. “We must go slowly. Don’t worry, I am sure one day they will accept you as one of their own.”

“Oh, I don’t have doubts about that” Sombra said. “Having you as a friend and reforming me it is certain that day won’t take too long to come.”

Twilight became a little embarrassed by what Sombra just said, blushing slightly.

“Thank you, Sombra…” she said.

And then she left.

After she left, Sombra dropped his facade and gave an evil laugh, saying then:

“Everything is going according to plan. Princess Twilight is having more confidence in me and that’s very good and, with her and her little pet dragon at the Crystal Empire, I will have more freedom to prepare everything for my great plan.”

Later, Sombra went to say goodbye to Twilight, ensuring her everything would be fine, and then she and Spike went to catch the train. Arriving at the Cristal Empire, they started to address to the Crystal Castle. During the way there, they found some crystal ponies. Although they showed the same enthusiasm for Spike’s presence, due to his status as their great hero, Twilight noticed that they acted a little distant with her. She presumed they heard she was trying to reform Sombra, their former tyrant king, and that didn’t please them at all.

Arriving to the castle and after greeting Shining Armor and Cadance, they started to try to dissuade her in abandoning the idea of reforming Sombra.

“That’s madness, Twilight” Shining said, in the throne room. “Sombra cannot be reformed.”

“Not if we don’t give him any chance, Shining Armor” Twilight said. “I was also tempted in locking him away in a dungeon and let him rot there…”

“Yeah, that’s what you should had done” Shining said.

“But that is not something that a princess of friendship must do” Twilight replied. “My duty is to give the opportunity to others of proving they can change for the better… including Sombra.”

“We understand your position, Twilight” Cadance said. “But we cannot ignore the fact Sombra is not like the other ponies. His heart lost all the light. For more that I hate to say this of a pony, the truth is Sombra is a monster.”

“Cadance, I can’t believe you just said that!” Twilight exclaimed. “I thought you believed that everypony had a good side.”

“This is different, Twilight” Cadance said.

“Twily, we are talking about a pony that enslaved an entire empire just for the pleasure of that and desire for power” Shining said. “It cannot exist any trace of light in him.”

“You’re losing your time” Spike said to Shining and Cadance, while eating a bowl full of gems. “It seems you don’t know Twilight when she puts something in her head.”

“Listen, I know you’re very concerned” Twilight said to Shining and Cadance. “Not just for me, but also for the Crystal Empire and the crystal ponies. But, please, let me deal with Sombra. Just give me a chance to try to change him.”

But they still weren’t very convinced with Twilight’s words. She sighed and added:

“I promise that, if Sombra crosses the line, I’ll take care of him.”

At the Friendship Castle, Sombra sneaked into the thrones room using his smoke form. After that, he started to watch closely the table where the map was. He had a slight suspicion that place was the focus of the magic of that castle. Not just for being where the thrones were, but also for the fact that it was where the magic map appeared to report any friendship problems.

Sombra touched the table and tried to use his magic to find out more about its magic, but something repelled him, leaving a burn on his hoove.

“Impressive…” Sombra said. “To burn me like that, the magic involved must be very pure and powerful. There is no doubt that magic is powerful enough to eradicate me completely. A power like this one must only come from one place: the Three of Harmony. It’s unbelievable how six insignificant ponies have a power like this one by their side. But that is nothing that I cannot deal with.”

It was in that moment that he heard hoofsteps coming in the direction of the thrones room. That made him return to his smoke form and disappear. The door of the thrones room opened and a guard got in with a frowning look. He thought he had heard something there, but he couldn’t see anything there, so he got out.

That night, Twilight e Spike returned to the castle and Sombra went to welcome them.

“So, how did the visit go?” he asked.

“Well, it was… good to see my brother and sister-in-law” Twilight answered.

“Yeah, without the part where they gave you a lecture” Spike said to Twilight, starting to go to his room.

That made Twilight to give him a stare of disapproval.

“I see” Sombra said to Twilight. “They lectured you because you are helping me, right?”

“Let’s just say they have the same opinion as Princess Celestia” Twilight said. “But I am certain they will be able to understand. Well, I think I’m going to bed. I’m tired from the travel.”

And, having said that, she moved away.

After making sure Twilight or anypony else was not around, Sombra smiled and accessed to his magic, turning into his smoke form, and got out of the castle. However, his transformation was witnessed by a pegasus guard who decided to follow him.

Sombra, in his smoke form, headed to the Castle of the Two Sisters, where he knew there was something that could help him with the problem of the magic of the Three of Harmony. Arriving to the library, he assumed his solid form and started walking though the library.

“It must be around here” Sombra said. “Celestia and Luna took it from me when I was still in power and I can feel its presence here.”

It was then that he felt a negative energy calling him. He followed that energy until a wall in the most remote corner of the library. It was coming from behind the wall.

“Really?” Sombra asked. “You could have been more original, dearies.”

Charging his horn with magic, Sombra blew up with the wall and a book simply fell by his hooves. Taking it with a levitation spell, Sombra laughed and said:

“With this book, I’ll be able to put my plan in action. I’ll recover my power fully and my rise will be a certainty. I just have to do one little thing first and Princess Twilight is the key.

“Halt right there!” a voice exclaimed.

Sombra looked by the corned of his eye and saw one of the guards Celestia sent to watch him, the very same who followed him.

“Well, well, well, it seems somepony decided to leave his post” Sombra said.

“My mission is to have you under my watch” the guard said. “And it seems Princess Celestia was right in sending us. Sombra, in the name of the alicorn princesses, you’re under arrest for conspiracy.”

Sombra laughed, while the guard approached, and said, turning to him:

“And it’s an insignificant guard like you who will take me in? Pathetic.”

“Don’t underestimate me!” the guard exclaimed.

And he launched himself against Sombra, but then stopped suddently, as Sombra had stabbed his body with his bare hoof. Sombra saw with delight the guard’s suffering, while he spat blood. The unicorn king took out his hoof full of blood from the guard’s chest and the latter fell on the ground, dead.

“What a shame” Sombra said, while using a spell that cleaned the blood over his hoof. “You should have run when you had the chance. Maybe that way you would still be alive. However, your disappearance would put some suspicion over me. I cannot allow that.”

Opening his book, Sombra searched for something and then he found the right spell.

“This must do the work” he said.

He accessed to his magic and then the guard’s shadow started to involve him and, when it did it completely, the dead body started to move and got up. The hole on the chest caused by Sombra was healed and the hole on the armor was repaired. The eyes opened, shining with some darkness.

“From this moment forward, you’ll be my servant” Sombra said. “You may be useful to me in the future. I count on your servitude.”

The dead guard simply bowed before Sombra.

“Don’t forget that, in order to not catch any attention, you must act like that guard” Sombra said to his new servant.

“As you wish, my king” the guard’s shadow said.

“Perfect, now let’s my great plan to my rise… begin” Sombra said, starting to laugh diabolically.

Next Chapter: Putting the Plan in Motion Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 22 Minutes