"Minster Sombra?"

The unicorn looked up from the ancient tome, and a little filly looked back at him, stubby little horn and fluffy little wings marking her as the newest scion of the realm.

Sombra smiled. "The term is 'Minister,' Cadence. Though you can just call me Sombra."

"Okay." She stared at him, saying nothing more.

He tried to go back to his reading, but those eyes, they seemed to bore into his soul. He reread the same paragraph three times without noticing. Finally, he looked up, and sure enough, there she was. Still staring. He wasn't sure if she'd even blinked.

Still, no sense in being rude. "Can I help you with anything?"

She considered the question, formulating her response with all the grace and dignity expected of an alicorn. Finally, she answered, "Whatcha doin'?"

Ah. Just foalish curiosity. Well, no harm in indulging her a little. "I'm studying magic."

Cadence blinked and frowned. "But you're good at magic."

Sombra nodded. "Yes, but I can always get better."

"I guess…" The filly tilted her head as she considered this. "What kind of magic?"

A chill crawled down Sombra's spine. Completely irrational, of course. It was for all the right reasons; surely even the Empire's youngest princess would be able to see that. "A very special kind of magic. You know about the Crystal Heart?"

Cadence nodded fast enough that she seemed to risk whiplash. "Uh-huh! It keeps us safe from the bad things outside."

"That's right. But it needs everypony in the Empire to be happy to work."

She frowned. "But everypony is happy."

"For now," Sombra noted. "But wouldn't it be a good idea to have something else protecting us? Something we can use when we're sad?"

"I guess…" Cadence's frown deepened. It sounded wrong, but Minster Sombra was a grownup, and he seemed like he knew what he was talking about. "But what?"

Sombra laid a hoof on the codex. "That's what I'm studying. I'm going to take the darkness of all the nasty things out there and turn it against them."

"But… but that's bad magic!" Cadence gasped.

Sombra smiled and ruffled her mane. "Magic isn't good or bad, Princess. Only magicians. I may be using dark magic, but I will use it for good."

"But what if something bad happens?" The filly's eyes were wide with fear.

He laughed at this, long and hearty. "What could possibly go wrong?"

---

This time, Sombra thought to himself, this time he'd be able to do it right. No nonsense. No hesitation. No untimely interference from meddling alicorns. Between his growing crystal platform—oh, he had legs again, how about that—and gravity delivering the Crystal Heart, it would work this time. Nothing could go wrong.

Then a pink blur sped by, and the dragon and the Heart were both out of his reach.

Sombra took in their savior. He glared, snarled, and thought the words his shadow-ravaged throat couldn't produce:

Oh, rub it in, why don't you?

Then he exploded.