Shining Armor yawned as he tried to put on the best commanding officer face while at the same time trying to shake the cobwebs of sleep from his brain in my Equestria Dreamscape.
It was well after midnight and he’d been roused from his sleep by the Senior Officer of the Night Watch. Apparently she had information that she felt couldn’t wait until the morning briefing. Shining had known Captain Snow Gallop since Officers Academy; she was a no nonsense mare not prone to hyperbole or overreacting. If Snow Gallop thought it was serious enough to wake him in the middle of the night then he needed to hear it.
Fortunately some marvelous pony had scrounged up at this hour an iced coffee for him which he desperately needed. Shining took a long sip as he stared at the other 2 ponies besides Snow Gallop that were currently seated in his office. For her part Snow Gallop sat silently with a frown on her face and her eyes fixed on the Captain of the Guard.
Shining had met and spoken with Professor Basalt numerous times since he’d taken charge of the scientific part of the expedition. Basalt was the head of the geology department at Hoofington University. The middle-aged unicorn had written numerous papers, articles, and books on crystalline structures and their interaction with various types of magic. The professor usually had that typical, slightly absent minded, look that Shining Armor associated with academia. However tonight the unicorn had a look of alarm and dread in his eyes.
Shining wasn’t as familiar with the other pony in his office. She was a younger earth pony mare named Limited Edition, and she reminded the Captain of the Guard very much of his little sister Twilight. The desolates borders of Equestria were not Limited Edition’s natural terrain. Those would be the dusty depths of research libraries and the Royal Archives. Still she was doing her best to be a team pony.
The Captain of the Guard took another sip of liquid life and then addressed the ponies in the room. “So Snow. Tonight we apparently had an incident that could not wait until the morning that demanded my immediate attention. What’s up?”
Snow was familiar with Shining Armor’s sometimes cavalier form of leadership. The pale, almost white, blue earth pony spoke. “Sir. About 90 minutes ago, Professor Basalt.” She tilted her head in the direction of the professor. “Was cataloging some final samples from yesterday’s excavations. In the process of examining them he experienced….” She paused “He experienced a most singular and alarming situation. Professor could you please describe again what you encountered.”
Over the next half hour the professor retold what he’d done that had resulted in the encounter. Shining watched him intently but several times his eyes darted over to see how Snow was taking this. The mare’s gaze was also locked onto the professor as well, but at one point her eyes and Shining met. He knew that look.
This is for real and it’s not good.
Finally the professor finished. Shining gulped the last of his coffee and spoke. “And you have no idea who this phantom was? You’ve never seen him before?”
“Um, that’s not surprising sir!” Limited Edition spoke up. “The professor’s area of expertise is geology. Not ancient tyrants and practitioners dark, forbidden arcane magics!”
“But you do?” Shining asked.
The skinny orange earth pony pushed glasses back into place for what seemed like the 500th time since she’d arrived in Shining’s office. She fidgeted for a moment and took a deep breath.
“Yes Captain. Yes I think I do. Based on my research and the records I’ve brought with me from Canterlot I believe….”
She trailed off as she began to rummage through a giant bag of books she’d lugged into Shining’s office for the meeting. For next minute or so there was steady string of verbal comments. “No not that one. No. No, why’d I bring that anyways? That might be useful. No. Oh that will be useful…” The archivist went on and on like this; speaking to nopony in particular. Finally she exclaimed.
“Yes! Yes! This is what I was looking for!” She produced a massive old, battered, leather tome that Shining was positive would make his little sister squeal with delight. Limited Edition deposited the imposing grimoire on Shining’s desk. The captain was certain he heard his desk groan a tiny bit under its weight.
Now in her zone the mare carefully opened the book to a specific page. It was an illustration of a unicorn stallion. A nasty piece of work in Shining eyes. Although done in a very antique and stylized fashion the captain got the gist of it. A giant dark unicorn with a crown of iron and gorget of similar material trampled over the forms of smaller ponies who prostrating in front of him. His great crimson and ermine trimmed cape billowed behind him. From his glowing garnet eyes wisps of violet vapors seemed to emanate. Limited Edition spoke.
“This is the tyrant King Sombra. He was the ruler of the Crystal Empire at the time of the city’s disappearance. Based on the professor’s own encounter tonight I believe this is the phantom that attempted to infiltrate his mind.”
Shining looked confused. “But I thought the Royal Sister destroyed him centuries ago when they battled him?”
Limited Edition shook her head causing the ponytail in her nut brown mane to flop back and forth. “That’s what most ponies believe. I mean even the Royal Sisters might think that. “She pushed her glasses back again.” But what they specifically did was cast him into what they describe themselves as The Void. Today we would refer to it as the Lower Dark Realms, and while most ponies would consider that a death sentence it’s not sure thing. To use a literary trope. We never found the body.”
Shining scowled. “But that was more than a thousand years ago. If nothing old age should’ve gotten him by now.”
Limited Edition started rummaging through her bag of books again. As she did she answered the captain’s question. “Not necessarily sir! Remember time is not constant across all of the numerous planes and realms. Some ponies have speculated that the deeper one descends into the Lower Dark Realms the slower time progresses. Ah! Here’s what I was looking for!”
The mare retrieved a battered notebook and started flipping through it. “Now I am not an expert in trans-realm time anomalies, but I have studied it some. Applying Quartz Mane’s theories of temporal continuity and Star Swirl’s equations for temporal compression. One could encounter a situation like this!” The mare showed the captain a densely packed chart of intersecting lines and math. He stared at it for several seconds. Finally he spoke.
“I have no idea what I’m looking at.”
The mare started to speak again but Shining Armor held up a front hoof. “Limited. It’s almost 3am and I barely made it through trig at the academy. You could try to explain it to me and it’ll dribble out of my ears 10 seconds after you’re done. But what I do understand is that you believe that King Sombra is somehow still alive.”
The mare nodded her head. Shining stared at Night Watch captain. “Snow I want you to start drafting a report immediately. I want to see a draft on my desk by 06:00.” He looked at the archivist. “Limited I need you to write up a letter explaining your concerns. Professor Basalt. You look like you need a good night’s rest, but I need you to give a written account of your experience, and definitely make certain those samples are properly secured and not stored together in the same area! Tomorrow I will magically send this report directly to the Royal Sisters. Canterlot needs to know what has happened here tonight.”

To be continued.