The Problem With Having Limited Options
"Sparkler, you can't be serious!"
Twilight sighed. "Sombra, I'm not going to offer you any advice when it's obvious what the problem is."
Sombra groaned. "It's not obvious! I did nothing wrong!"
"Ya kinda did," Spike commented, "I mean, from where I'm standing, you did mess up."
Sombra spared Spike a sharp look. "Whose side are you on?"
Spike gaze dwindled between Sombra and Twilight. "Twilight's?"
"What?!" Sombra exclaimed, completely bewildered, "What happened to 'leave no bro' behind?!"
Twilight ceased her scowling for a moment. "Never thought I'd hear that sentence leave your mouth." She frowned. "But you do see why it was a bad thing to do what you did, right?"
Sombra frowned at her. "So I stayed at the library to work late. What's the big deal?"
Twilight narrowed her eyes. "The big deal is that this isn't the first time you've done that! You've been working late and leaving Pinkie by herself at the bakery!"
"She has the Cakes to keep her company," Sombra told her, "she shouldn't be lonely."
"That's not the point!" Twilight sighed. "Do you have any idea how many times she comes to me asking to take off hours for your shifts?"
Sombra blinked in surprise. "She does?"
"Yeah," Twilight said curtly, "and she tells me that it's difficult to spend time with you when you're so tired and despondent. What's going on with you?"
Sombra shook his head. "There's nothing going on with me."
"Dude, something's definitely going on with you," Spike said, "like, you've been super quiet and all you do is work. What's up?"
Sombra sighed. "You wouldn't understand. And it's a shame, because you two were my last hope."
Twilight blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You know how I said Pinks was really mad when we got into it?" Sombra asked.
Twilight nodded. "Yeah..."
"Well, turns out, she was madder than I thought, because she ran to Rarity's and Rarity corralled the girls together into a defense against my 'pathetic excuses' and 'weak apologies'."
Twilight gaped at him. "She did that?!"
"Yes, so it would be nice if you--"
"And she didn't invite me?!"
Sombra blinked. "What?"
"Twi, I don't think that's what Sombra was trying to--" Spike tried to say.
"Where are they?" Twilight exclaimed, "Where are those traitors hiding?"
Sombra turned to Spike. "Should I even attempt to reason with her?"
Spike shook his head. "Futility, man. That's all I can say."
"I'll see you later!" Twilight called out over her shoulder, "Spike, come with me!"
"Huh? Why should I--?"
"If you don't, I'll tell Rarity about your nightlight!" Twilight narrowed her eyes icily.
Spike's eyes widened in fear. "You wouldn't dare!"
Sombra rose a brow. "You still use that thing?"
Spike frowned at him. "It survived the library fire, so I kept it!" He sighed. "Sorry, man, but she's got me. You're on your own."
Sombra wanted to protest, but he wasn't granted the chance when Spike and Twilight rushed out of the library and into the castle's hallway. He sighed and shook his head. Perhaps he shouldn't have gotten into that stupid fight in the first place.
* * *
"Sombra!"
Sombra nearly jumped out of his coat. Still somewhat shaken, he looked over at Pinkie. "Yes?
Pinkie frowned. "I've been saying your name for the past five minutes! Weren't you listening?"
Sombra gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry, Pinks. I was just thinking, is all."
Pinkie sighed. "What the heck, Sombra? You've been 'thinking' for a long time!"
"Yes, I know." Sombra sighed. "I'm sorry about that."
Pinkie's gaze softened. "What were you thinking about? Was it something bad?"
Sombra shook his head. "It was... nothing."
Pinkie's eyes widened. "Were you thinking about The Shadow again?"
Sombra flinched. "Pinks, please."
Pinkie gasped. "You were! Sombra, why didn't you say anything?"
Sombra shook his head. "I wasn't thinking about... him, Pinks. I was thinking of something else."
Pinkie sighed. "Sombra, why can't you tell me what it is? If something's bothering you, then you should tell me."
"Nothing's bothering me, Pinks."
Pinkie frowned. "You're a bad liar. And even if you weren't, you know I can tell when somepony's lying to me."
Sombra refrained from commenting on the lack of truth in that statement. "Pinks, I want to tell what's been bothering me. I really do. But, I can't do that right now."
Pinkie let out a groan. "There it is again! Why do you keep shutting me out?"
Sombra frowned at her. "I'm not shutting you out! I just can't tell you or the purpose will have been defeated!"
"What purpose? What're you planning?" Pinkie gave him a hard look. "Why can't you be honest with me? Don't you trust me?"
Sombra's eyes widened. "Of course I trust you. Why would you say such a thing?"
"Because you won't talk to me!" Pinkie sighed raggedly. "All you do is work and you never spend time with me anymore! And when you're not working, you're either zoning out everything or sleeping!"
Sombra winced when he saw Pinkie's eyes water up. "Pinkie..."
"Why won't you talk to me?" The tears in her eyes were falling now. "All I want to know is why you won't talk to me. What's so bad you can't talk to me about it?"
"Pinkie, it's nothing bad." Sombra wasn't used to saying her actual name. It felt foreign on his tongue. "I want to tell you, but I can't right now."
Pinkie shook her head. "That excuse isn't going to work anymore."
"Excuse?" Sombra repeated, "That wasn't a--"
"Yes, it is!" Pinkie interrupted, "That's all you've been doing! You won't tell me what's going on and I'm--" She sighed. "I'm tired of it."
"Pinks, what are you saying?"
Pinkie turned away from him. "I think you should leave."
Sombra froze. "What?"
"Leave." Pinkie's voice was barely above a whisper at this point. "I don't want to hear anymore excuses..."
"Pinks--" Sombra tried to say.
"Leave." Her voice was hard and cold, so unlike what he was used to hearing.
Sombra spared her a soft look. "Pinks, please, I don't want things to be like this between us."
Pinkie was silent for a moment. Sombra almost never pleaded, except when the situation was dire. But, even with that thought, Pinkie still said, "Then you should've thought about that before you shut me out."
Sombra flinched, his ears turning downwards against his head. Finally, after a moment of silence, he left Pinkie and the bakery, not a word to be spoken.
* * *
Sombra sighed as he trotted through the streets of Ponyville, his gaze facing the ground. He couldn't bare to see the gazes of the townsponies, mainly because he was almost certain Rarity had turned every single mare and stallion against him.
'Maybe I shouldn't have gone to her for advice...' Sombra thought, hindsight dawning on him. It was because of that he had gotten an earful from Rarity and all of Pinkie's friends turned against him, Spike included. 'So much for loyalty...'
Speaking of, Sombra couldn't help but look up to the sky in preparation from an aerial attack by none other than Rainbow Dash, who was no doubt seething from the telling of his and Pinkie's argument. Sombra flinched in remembrance of the few occasions Rainbow had managed to attack him and he shuddered as he thought about what were to transpire if she found him.
'I'll just keep a low profile until I find a way to fix this mess I've gotten into,' Sombra told himself, then sighed as he thought, 'sadly, I have no idea how to go about doing that.'
Almost instantaneously, Fluttershy popped into his mind. Surely the Element of Kindness herself would be generous enough to offer insight on how to fix his situation?
"Don't bother, Rarity's already gotten to her," a voice said.
Sombra nearly jumped out of his coat. "Who said that?!"
"Why, I did, dear Sombra!"
Sombra looked around his surroundings and he saw that he was on a pathway that led directly to Fluttershy's cottage. But, before he could question how he had gotten there, he found himself looking into a pair of mismatched red eyes.
"Sweet Tartarus!" Sombra exclaimed, jumping back immediately.
Discord gasped. "Dear Heavens, such language!" He snapped his fingers and he was soon wearing a southern belle outfit, bonnet and all as he closed his eyes and put a lion paw to his head dramatically. "Why, I daresay that I may faint!"
Sombra scowled. "What do you want, Discord? I already have enough chaos going on in my life without you around."
Discord cracked open an eye and put his paw down as he snapped his talons, his outfit dissipating. "Geez, so much for a 'hello'." He grinned. "And, yes, I've heard of your dilemma, dear Sombra!"
Sombra blinked in shock, but he resumed his glare. "Who told you?"
"Why, Fluttershy, of course!" Discord told him, "The dear was talking about it when I caught her at Carousel Boutique!"
Sombra frowned. "Great. Then this trip was a waste, then." He sighed. "Looks like I'm out of options."
"Whatever do you mean?" Discord asked, "Surely you have one friend who is willing to offer insight to help you!"
Sombra shook his head. "Rarity turned the others against me before I had the chance and Sparkler wasn't much help, either. As for Spike, he's got another thing coming if he thinks I'm helping him with his next scheme to win Rarity's affections."
Discord chortled. "Oh, those are always fun to watch! Remember when you tried to give him a mustache and you got one, too?"
Sombra narrowed his eyes. "How do you know about that?"
Discord shrugged. "I'm always interested in the strange situations you manage to get yourself into." He snapped his fingers and created a lawn chair and a bucket of popcorn, the former of which he sat in. "And as for that mustache incident, Pinkie could barely stop laughing from that ridiculous handlebar mustache you put on yourself!"
Sombra growled. "Yes, it was hysterical." He narrowed his eyes. "Now, if that's all you have to say, I have to figure out a way to fix this ridiculous mess I've made."
But, before Sombra managed to take a step in the opposite direction from Discord, the draconequus appeared before him. "Now wait a second! Isn't a bit rude to reject advice when one needs it?"
Sombra arched a brow. "What advice?" His eyes widened. "Oh, no, no, no, no--"
"We can start by talking about my experiences with mares!" Discord said as he booped Sombra on the nose.
"-no, no, no, no, no, no--" Sombra attempted to back away, but Discord wrapped his tail around him and held him tightly.
"It all started when I was a little draconequus, and my mother had just given birth to me," Discord started, sounding nostalgic, "we never got along, me and her. I think that has something to do with my mistrust towards Fluttershy and her friends--"
"--no, no, no, no, no, no, no--" Sombra struggled as Discord picked him up from the ground, but soon found his actions held no effect when Discord continued to walk with Sombra bound in his tail.
"And don't get me started on my sister! Eck, she was such a plot, Eris!" Discord rolled his eyes. He snapped his fingers and soon, his dark mane had grown to a long length, which flipped at the edge effeminately. "'Dizzy, you're such a brat!', 'Dizzy, you're so annoying!', 'Dizzy, you shouldn't like alicorns!'" He snapped his fingers again and his mane reverted to it's original short length. "Blargh! She was such a priss!"
Sombra no longer found it in him to resist against Discord and he laid limp in his tail with a heavy sigh. "Sweet Tartarus, this torture will have no equal..."
* * *
"Then, I was like, 'nuh-uh!, and she was like, 'yuh-huh!'," Discord exclaimed as he continued to walk with Sombra in his tail. "Well, needless to say, it wasn't long after that I ended up encased in my stone prison for the next 1000 years. Then, later on, I was released, wreaked chaos for a little while, was encased again, and released again." He paused. "Hey, you gettin' any of this?"
"Yes, unfortunately," Sombra groaned miserably, "I never knew that a draconequus could still have so many issues with his mother after such a long period of time..."
Discord groaned as he rolled his eyes. "You don't know the half of it!"
Sombra looked up from the ground for the first time since Discord began telling his life story and it was apparent that the male unicorn hadn't gotten any form of rest during Discord's rant, which had gone through the evening and half the night. "Don't I?"
Discord waved a dismissive claw. "Anyway, getting back on track, after I was released, that's when I met dear Fluttershy!" His eyes brightened almost immediately. "She's wonderful, that little Pegasus! She's kind and sweet and just all around, fantastic! Ya know, even though she doesn't like to admit it, she can be assertive, and when she is, ooh!" Discord shuddered with delight. "She can be so chaotic!"
"Alright, you know what?" Sombra asked, though he didn't want an answer, "I'm done."
Discord pulled Sombra up to his face, who was still wrapped up rather snugly. "Done with what? With listening, dear Sombra?"
"Yes," Sombra said exasperatedly, "you've been talking for hours and hours, and all I've done is listen to you whine and complain about what's gone on in your life! Why is it so important that I listen to what you have to say? All it is a bunch of babble!"
Discord was silent for a moment, and for a second, Sombra was frightened that he had angered the Chaos God. But, instead Discord laughed.
"Oh, Sombra!" Discord exclaimed, "It would appear you missed the point of the lesson!"
Sombra blinked in surprise. "What?"
Discord wiped a tear from his eye. "Yes, indeed! The point of you listening to what I had to say wasn't so you could get anything from it for your own benefit!"
"Then what?" Sombra snapped, "Why did you make me listen to your entire life story?"
Discord chuckled. "Because, dear Sombra, that's what mares like in stallions!"
Sombra blinked. "Again, I say, 'what'?"
Discord pulled Sombra to his eye level. "Deary, don't you know that mares like it when their stallions-- or mares, I'm not one to judge-- listen to what they have to say? It makes them feel special! Much more than a stupid gift from any store in all of Equis!"
Sombra glowered at him. "So, you just made me listen to your entire life story to get the point across that I need to listen?"
Discord pointed a lion claw to the sky. "Precisely!"
Sombra let out a growl. "That's the most--" He stopped as his widened to the size of saucers. "--ingenious thing I've ever heard."
Discord snapped his fingers and he appeared in a flashy tuxedo, with dozens of flashing cameras surrounding him as he held a small, gold trophy that looked like him with a plaque that broadcasted "Discord is Best Pony" while he blew kisses to no one in particular.
"Thank you, thank you!" he exclaimed, blowing more kisses, "I'm glad you understand what I did to get this award!"
After getting over the sight he was seeing, Sombra shook his head. "So, are you saying that this is all I need to know?"
Discord stopped mid-kiss, then sighed as he snapped his fingers and everything disappeared. "Geez, you really are an idiot, aren't you?"
Sombra frowned. "What? I understood your lesson on listening, didn't I?"
Discord sighed. "Yeah, well, there's, like, a lot of other stuff you need to know, 'k?"
Sombra scowled at him. "I don't appreciate your Valley Girl talk."
Discord shrugged. "Whatever." He held up a paw. "Listen up--"
"I already know how, thank you very much," Sombra said scathingly.
"--and shut up, because there's still stuff you need to know before you attempt to talk to Pinkie again."
Sombra blinked. "There is?"
"Yes, you dimwit!" Discord rolled his eyes. "First things first, is that 99% of the time, mares are right."
"What?" Sombra blurted out, "What's that got to do with anything?"
"It has everything to do with everything, Sombra! Why do you think we have more female leaders than male leaders? Because male leaders suck! Sure, Shining's alright, but his wife does all the work! Then there's Blueblood, ooh, I hate that guy! And think about how much the Empire sucked when you were around!"
"Hey, watch it," Sombra snapped.
Discord threw his arms in the air. "And even though Tia and Lulu aren't really fond of me, they're still pretty awesome! I mean, look at this place!"
Sombra spared the surrounding area a look. The moon was at it's peak and the land was set aglow with a luminescent light that made everything shine with beauty. Flowers were resting and there nary a sound from the woodland critters that flourished there.
Everything was serene and peaceful.
"Don't you see?" Discord questioned, "If a dude-- like me, for example-- ruled this place, it wouldn't be nearly as nice! There'd probably be more alcohol and strippers!"
"That sounds really sexist," Sombra commented.
"Have you seen some of the stuff Hasbro puts out?" Discord crossed his mismatched arms over his chest. "Face it, man. Even though we don't like to admit it, mares are almost always right about everything."
"Well, this is probably the 1% you were talking about," Sombra told him, "Pinkie shouldn't be upset."
Discord gave him a deadpan expression. "You didn't pay attention to her for weeks on end and you almost never listen to what she has to say. I'd be upset if I was her."
Sombra growled. "You don't get it, do you? No one ever stopped to hear why I've been doing what I've been doing."
"Uh, because you're insensitive and you don't care what anyone has to say, while you're making yourself work to distract yourself from the awful things you've done with your life?"
"No!" Sombra shouted, "That's not why at all!"
Discord arched a brow. "Really? It has nothing to do with the fact that you're a product of a lovesick unicorn and a dark being that feeds of hatred and darkness?"
That was it. Sombra couldn't take it anymore. "Do you want to know why I've been making myself work for the past couple of weeks? Why I've been so tired and exhausted, too much so to pay Pinkie the mind she deserves?"
Discord rose his brows, then snapped his fingers, conjuring up a fainting couch. "I feel as though I'm going to need this."
"Perhaps you will," Sombra said, "I don't know. All I know is that I'm done with everyone telling me what I did when they don't even know the real story."
Sombra sparked his horn alive, which then brought up his red cape.
"What in Tartarus are you doing with that?" Discord questioned, a brow raised in confusion.
Sombra looked up at him. "I gave Pinkie this and it's been laying in her dress up drawer for the past couple of weeks. I realized that she had a bunch hiding places, some of which she didn't even remember having and decided to use one of them myself."
"For your cape?" Discord was genuinely confused by now.
"No," Sombra said firmly, "for this."
He unfolded the cape, which revealed something that made Discord gape in shock. It was a small, velvet box, the contents of which Discord had a really good guess at knowing.
"Oh, Sombra!" Discord gasped as he fell onto the fainting couch, "You rapscallion, you!"
Sombra sighed. "You're the first pony-- well, draconequus, to be more accurate-- I've shown this to."
Discord fanned himself with a paw. "Oh, I think I'm gonna cry! I need tissues! I need tissues!"
"Can't you conjure up items with a snap of your fingers?"
"I'm emotional, I can't handle it!" Discord started sniffling. "I might conjure something else that starts with the letter 'T' or rhymes with tissues!"
"Alright, alright, give me a moment," Sombra said, sparking his horn to life and revealing a small box of tissues.
"Oh, thank you!" Discord took the box and ripped it off the tissues themselves, then used the cardboard to wipe his nose. "I needed that!"
Sombra spared the discarded tissues on the ground a wary look before returning his gaze to Discord. "You aren't going to tell anypony about this, are you?"
Discord waved a paw. "Sombra, I won't tell anyone! Sweet Tartarus, I'm still emotional!" He sniffled again. "You really love her, don't you?"
"Yes, I do." Sombra frowned. "But, I think I ruined things by doing what I did."
"Girl, ya gotta go to her and say, 'Babe, I was wrong'," Discord told him, then attempted to snap his fingers sassily before he let out a loud cry, "I'm too emotional to be sassy!"
Sombra arched a brow in questioning, then opened his mouth to say something, but then decided against it. "Alright, fine. But, how do I go about doing that with Rarity corralling everypony against me?"
Discord jumped into the air, the fainting couch disappearing with a snap of his fingers. He stood up in the air, a lion paw pointed to the sky. "Leave that to me, Sombra!"
"We're not killing Rarity."
"...Alright, time for Plan B!"
* * *
"Can you believe him?" Rarity exclaimed, "I mean, how insensitive can he be?"
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Dude, you've been complaining about Sombra more than Pinkie has. We get it, you're upset about what he did."
Rarity spared her a sharp look. "Because he's been nothing but awful to Pinkie!"
"Well, I wouldn't say awful," Pinkie admitted, "he's just been... distant, is all."
"And working," Twilight added, "a lot. Like, last week, he was asking for all the spare shifts we had and then, today, he didn't even mention them!"
Everyone spared Twilight a long look.
"What?" she asked.
"Sombra stopped asking for shifts?" Pinkie asked, "Why didn't you say anything?!"
Twilight held up her hooves. "No one asked!"
Applejack gave her a deadpan look. "It's 'cause ya were upset about Rarity leavin' ya out, wasn't it?"
"...Maybe."
"Twilight!" Pinkie exclaimed, "I was so upset about him working so much and you didn't even say anything about him stopping?"
"Well, I don't know why!" Twilight shot back, "I mean, so what if he decided to cut down on his work schedule?"
"Is anypony gonna ask why he decided to work so much in the first place?" Fluttershy asked, "I mean, why did he want so much work in the first place?"
"Maybe it was a distraction," Rarity mused aloud, "I mean, the poor thing's been through Tartarus and back, what with the identity crisis and the physical trauma he underwent a couple weeks ago."
Pinkie winced as she recalled the library's destruction and the injuries Sombra sustained because of it. "I forgot all about that..." She paused. "And when I mentioned The Shadow to him, he was..."
"Distant?" Rainbow said, repeating Pinkie's words from earlier.
"Yeah," Pinkie said, "do ya think it has to do with that?"
Twilight nodded. "Maybe. I think he was just trying to get over what had happened on his own time. I don't know why he worked overtime, though."
"Hey, might as well get some bits out of it," Rainbow said, "if you're gonna work, ya gotta earn something, right?"
Everyone nodded and concurred verbally, each looking to each other for confirmation.
"Oh my, gosh!" Pinkie exclaimed, "I gotta go find him!"
"Pinkie, it's the middle of the night," Rarity said, "I don't think he's going to be out at this hour!"
"Think again!" a voice exclaimed.
Everyone jumped as a flash of bright light blinded them briefly and they all covered their eyes.
"Discord?" Fluttershy questioned, "Is that you?"
"Why, yes, deary!" Discord replied, slithering through the air towards her, "It is!"
"What're you doin' here?" Applejack asked with a scowl, "We're kinda in the middle of somethin'."
"Then I hope you don't mind my bringing a guest, then?" Discord said, though his tone didn't ask for an answer.
He unfurled his reptilian tail, which revealed a sour-faced Sombra, who spared Discord a frown. "Next time, we walk."
"Sombry!" Pinkie exclaimed as she leaped onto Discord's tail and into Sombra's embrace. She paused as she looked at him. "Why are you wearing a tux?"
Like she said, Sombra was wearing a full suit, pants included, along with a top hat and a cane in his hooves.
"Don't ask," Sombra groaned, then blinked as he realized she wasn't sad or furious in any way, "Wait, aren't you mad at me?"
Pinkie shook her head. "No, not anymore." She winced when he gave an unbelieving look. "Well, a little, but it'll pass."
"D'aww, love is so cute!" Discord proclaimed, shaping his tail in the shape of a heart, which forced the couple into an intimate embrace, "Looks like we can skip on the musical number!"
"Musical number?" everyone repeated.
Sombra sighed. "Discord had a plan to make me sing and dance until you forgave me. Looks like I can ditch the top hat."
"No way!" Pinkie tapped the top hat on his head. "We can totally match!"
Sombra frowned. "Dammit, that's right, you have a tuxedo, too."
"Ooooooh, I gotta see this!" Discord exclaimed as he snapped his fingers. Almost immediately, Pinkie was decked in a tuxedo of her own, top hat and all.
"Yay!" Pinkie clapped her hooves happily. "Now we match!"
Sombra frowned for a moment, but when he saw the brightness in her smile, he couldn't help but smile in return. "I'm lucky to have you."
"D'awwwwwww," all the girls said, along with Discord.
"Gross," Spike commented.
Sombra spared Spike a sharp look. "Oh, shut up, Traitor."
"For real," Discord added, "all because Sparkler said she'd tell Rarity about your nightlight."
"Oh, don't you start with that 'Sparkler' business!" Twilight exclaimed.
"You swore you'd never tell anyone about that!" Spike whined.
"Wrong," Sombra said flatly, "I said I'd never tell anypony. Discord isn't a pony. Besides, Rarity has known about that nightlight for awhile, now."
"What? Who told?"
"Nopony, dear," Rarity said, a poorly suppressed smile on her face, "you kept it next to you during your naps whenever I was at the library, silly!"
"Oh my, gosh, why me?" Spike groaned.
"You broke the number 1 rule," Pinkie said simply, "'never leave a bro behind'."
Sombra leaned into Pinkie's side. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"
Pinkie returned his lean. "Not today, you haven't."
"I love you more than Discord loves chaos," Sombra told her.
Discord gaped at them both. "Pinkie, you better hold onto this one or I'll take him for myself!"
"I'll let you know if I'm available," Sombra told him before slipping a wink to him, "not that I'd want to be with Pinks around."
"Oh, you!" Discord said with a wave of his paw.
Author's Note
If y'all want to know what Discord's sister looks like, here's a picture and a link:
Lookie here!
I wrote this because it was the winning vote for my 400+ Followers Celebration! (Hallelujah, I hear the angels singing!) I appreciate all your love and support, every single one of yours! I wouldn't be here without y'all!
