Chapters It all started one fateful night, one night that would change everything. Sombra with the power of his horn that was lying in the middle of a forest, after months and possibly over a year of trying, was now able to fully bring his body back into its full state once again. The Crystal empire wasn't on his mind this time, he had attempted and sadly failed, he wasn't foolish enough to go for a third time, though that didn't stop him in trying to be a king again. That thought caused Sombra's eyes to widen "where's my crown?!" He thought aloud as he darted his head around almost violently, that was when he began his search, he checked every bush he could find for 10 miles in every direction, the same with every tree, every hole, every small hill, everything. He then went further in every direction, again and again and again.
He searched for so long that the night went to day and the day went to night as the King slowly became more desperate, he needed his attire, it was so important to him now it would be like losing a leg or two, he finally decided to do something risky, his horn began to glow slightly, he had a magical link to his cape and crown so he knew that link would lead him straight to it, his magic began to expand creating a long line of a soft red line that began from Sombra and ventured into the crystal empire, Sombra waited until the spell was just about to make it to the castle and then let go of the spell, he couldn't just have some glowing line catching everyone's attention and he couldn't say for certain that it didn't already. However one thing that he was sure if was he needed to get into that castle, get his crown and cape and leave to go as far away from this disgusting place as possible.
His plan then got sent into motion, he used his lacking of a uniform to his advantage and forced himself to smile the way normal ponies did, he felt exposed and pathetic, what really didn't help was the fact that even with his convincing smile (that hurt his cheeks immensely) and the fact that no one seemed to put two and two together when it came to his looks (no one even looked at him) he felt as if all eyes were on him, that any screw up could have him locked up in a dungeon forced to do hard labour with nothing more than scraps for sustenance and on top of that multiple torturous lectures by the princess of love herself and if she was cruel enough, actual torture itself.
When Sombra made it near to the castle instead of trying to enter right through the front door he went around to the side where he had planted a trap door that he unlocked with his dark magic, an escape route he had in place that only he or anyone else with dark magic could make visible to the eye. He opened the door and walked in, it was a secluded area of the castle that he kept for himself, no one was aloud to enter, it was a place where he could relax and clear his head...until now. As Sombra looked around he could tell something was wrong, the door that was the main entrance usually had 5 locks on it, now there was just the one key lock, he looked at his book that he had wrote about his past life before becoming king, it was open, on the last page on top of that it wasn't cantered the way he always made sure it was.
It was clear, someone else was in here, possibly more than just one, however there was an upside to this, as whoever found his secluded area must have also found his cape and crown, both hanging off of a rack in the back of the room. Sombra went to retrieve both items but as he took them off the rack an alarm immediately began announcing his presence.
Sombra quickly put on his crown and cape as guards charged into the room, knocking the door down, normally the unicorn King would lecture someone on such behaviour, especially to one of his doors, but this was not the time or the place. Sombra rushed for the escape door he entered through but just as he opened it he was welcomed by multiple armoured ponies with spears along with princess cadence who shot the unicorn a glare so vicious it could challenge the iconic stare of Fluttershy. Sombra attempted to blast them all into oblivion, but nothing happened, his horn merely flickered slightly before returning to normal.
In this brief amount of time Sombra was taken down from behind by the guards that came in earlier and he was subdued, while Cadence at this point seemed more confused than relieved, something had happened to the unicorn King, something that needed an answer as fast as possible.
<*>
A few hours later as Celestia was just about to raise the sun while Luna began stumbling tiredly to the exit of the room in a puff of smoke a letter appeared. Luna took notice of this and stumbled back to her elder sister, passioning herself to peer over Celestias shoulder as she read the note.
Dear princess Celestia and princess Luna.
Something that I had deemed impossible has just proved itself to be true, Sombra is alive! However something is off, he's weak, very weak. On top of that he refuses to speak at all, the only reaction he seems to have is if someone goes too close to his crown or cape that he had taken from the castle. If it isn't too much trouble I must ask that the two of you come here immediately, I don't know if he's just waiting for his magic to come back or if he's genuinely lost it all.
Yours sincerely Princess Cadence.
Immediately after reading the note Luna's eyes snapped awake ones again "sister! We must be on our way immediately! We must prepare ourselves for any challenge that may unfold if Sombra is merely putting on a shameless act!"
Celestia however shook her head slowly before smiling slightly "no Luna" she began in a soft tone as she finished raising the sun "I don't believe we'll be needing anything for battle, let us just be on our way" and with that Celestia's horn began to glow and before Luna could protest in anyway the two of them disappeared from the canterlot castle and immediately summoned themselves into the Crystal Empire.
A few minutes later they were outside an interrogation room looking in at King Sombra, this time it was shining armour who attempted to speak with him at it was clear he was growing rather impatient "Sombra you need to understand that we are not here to throw you in a cell once again, we just need to know what happened and we'll decide what to do with you after that"
Sombra didn't respond, however Celestia noticed that the unicorn kings head slowly began to move and it continued till Sombra was looking directly at the two elder sisters, the glare he gave off almost made Celestia's skin crawl and Luna could not help but be shook either. They couldn't tell if they were looking at a broken unicorn or a unicorn ready to break someone else.
Once shining realised the two sisters were there he stepped out of the room and walked to them "thank goodness you are hear, I asked him anything I could but he refuses to speak, Celestia do you think you could make him comply even a little?" Shining armour asked, looking slightly concerned.
Celestia nodded in return "I'll see what I can do, till then I ask everyone to leave, if he refuses to speak I doubt he'd speak while everyone is hear to listen" Celestia explained. After that Shining armour and Luna left with the few guards that were still around. Celestia looked to Sombra to see he wasn't looking at her anymore, he was once again just staring at the wall.
Celestia slowly walked into the room and despite her arrival, Sombra didn't move. "Hello Sombra" she said in a soft and caring tone "you remember me, don't you?" She asked before taking her seat opposite him. Sombra did not respond.
Celestia looked at his mane, it was dirty and all over the place, same with the rest of his body, dried dirt marks almost made him look less black and more brown at this point "what happened to you Sombra? I doubt you'd let yourself look such a way by choice" Sombra did not respond.
Celestia of course came to the obvious conclusion that wherever he ended up he was captured soon after, though that wasn't the main mystery Celestia wanted an answer to "why did you return to the crystal empire for your crown and cape Sombra?" At this it was almost as if Sombra moved slightly back in his chair, but he did not respond. Celestia then decided to do something she may regret later, she needed to know what Sombra would do if she took his crown. Celestia used a small bit of magic and held onto the crown, suddenly Sombra looked distressed, almost afraid, he immediately put both hooves on his horn to make sure it would not leave his head. However that wasn't enough, Celestia managed to take it off, Sombra was now shaking slightly as he tried using his magic, but with the same result as before and just before Celestia could get the crown onto one of her hooves Sombra leaped onto the table and grabbed the crown off her and placed it back on his head, the glare he gave her was the most serious glare she'd ever seen, there was nothing she could compare it to, not even an enraged beast, Sombra was something else.
Then he sighed before turning his back to her "leave princess, I do not wish to speak with you, or with anyone" he exclaimed with a slight growl in his tone.
Celestia however shook her head "I'm sorry Sombra, but I can't, I need to know what is going on, you can't stay here forev-"
Celestia was quickly cut off by Sombra stomping a hoof on the table "what's going on? What's going on?!" Sombra turned to Celestia again, fully showing his rage "I'll tell you what's wrong Celestia! I ruled this kingdom! I ruled it for centuries! Then after being dead no thanks to your despicable friends everything was taken from me! My crown! My cape! Even an area in the castle I built with my own two hooves for when I needed to be away from everyone that nobody else should ever enter!... I was reborn as a king with no kingdom, I was left with no crown and no cape and if you really want to know why a King looks such a mess the answer is I looked for my crown everywhere! And since I was captured all anyone seems to want to do is take it from me!" Sombra tried to blast her, nothing happened, he tried again, nothing happened, he continued trying getting the same result over and over and over again.
Celestia couldn't help but be sorry for the unicorn King and could almost see a tear in his eye "Sombra....Sombra look at me"
Sombra suddenly charged at the princess of the sun and shouted "IT'S KING SOMBRA TO YOU" Before Sombra could reach her however Celestia suspended him in the air with her magic as Sombra tried doing everything he could to get out of her grasp.
Celestia just sighed before allowing him to descend and he just collapsed on his stomach while on the table, Celestia now realised what was wrong, he wasn't mad cause he failed, or that he was around ponies that caused his death, he was merely upset that he had lost everything and now was clinging to the only things he had left, which were his attire, it seemed as if he kept them more so to remind himself he's King more so to remind everyone else he's King.
Celestia then stood up and lifted Sombra's chin up with her hoof and gave a kind smile "I'm sorry for your loss Sombra and I'm sorry for trying to take your crown, I don't want you to just rot in a cell and you seem to have lost everything you had from your past life, so how about we help each other? "
Sombra just looked a tad annoyed and replied "what's the catch princess? You can't make me believe all will be forgiven and I can just go off and start a new" he growled.
Celestia shook her head, her face becoming more stern "of course not, you've killed too many innocent ponies Sombra, though while I have an idea it is risky but it could work, if you don't mind I'd like to take you somewhere before I explain it to you" she explained before giving him a slight smirk hoping to heighten his interest.
Luckily Sombra couldn't help but be slightly intrigued, that was probably the most interesting thing that he heard all day and so he nodded "ok Celestia~ I'll play along with what you have to say, after all if I don't comply I'll be stuck here and I'd rather die then do that, though if you don't mind I'd like to collect some things before we leave and of course I'm sure you alone don't have the authority alone to allow me to leave " Sombra raised an eyebrow with a smirk, he was interested to see how Celestia would convince the other rulers to let him even step outside the room he was in without being covered in chains.
<*>
"What happened sister?" Luna asked breaking the silence in the room "did he finally speak his mind"
Celestia nodded "yes, he did actually became pretty talkative after a bit of persuasion, he's not planning anything I've gathered that much, but one things for certain he's feeling miserable in there, though I have an idea one that I wish to speak to you all on.....I want to bring Sombra to ponyvill in hopes if reforming him"
"WHAT?!?!" All three ponies shouted in unison and shining armour was quick to follow up on it "you can't be serious! He's Sombra! He deserves to rot for what he's done!"
Cadence darted towards her husband after he made the claim "nobody deserves that Shining, no one, if Celestia has a plan, we should hear her out"
Celestia nodded "from speaking with Sombra I've found that he feels as if he's lost who he once was, his kingdom, his title and so on, so I think the best course of action is to allow Sombra to gain a new outlet on life, he has an opportunity to start a new, we shouldn't waste that by putting him in a cage because of fear of the King Sombra from over a thousand years ago"
Cadence was first to nod in agreement "I see, so you are planning to reform Sombra? Forgive me if I come off as rude for questioning you Celestia but....who could possibly reform Sombra? You said you were bringing him to ponyvill so I doubt you will suggest yourself or Luna, I know Fluttershy managed to reform Discord but...this is Sombra, the difference between them is so vast you don't even need to look at either of them"
Luna then decided to chime in "indeed, Fluttershy is far too soft for someone such as Sombra, rainbow dash lives in the clouds making it impossible for her to be his reformer and-"
Celestia raised a hoof before nodding "forgive me for cutting you off Luna but yes I can see clearly where you are coming from, it's easy to see a problem with any of the girls carrying this burden, however if I told you that a kind gentle pony like Fluttershy would be capable of reforming Discord would you believe me?" Luna seemed ready to interject but decided against it and shook her head "I've given this some thought, reforming Sombra will be a much longer process than reforming Discord and Fluttershy I don't see as the one capable of doing the job. I believe the best way to reform Sombra is to make him feel like he belongs, I would suggest he stay with the apple family in attempts to assure that, though I wouldn't want to hinder Apple Jacks family and make her being one of the elements seem like a burden, so I'm suggesting someone who could potentially connect with Sombra on more than just good and evil, Sombra isn't just a tyrant after all, he's an intelligent pony who has clearly worked hard and studied a lot of magic, does that sound familiar?"
Shining armour then stood up as the pieces began to click "no! Are you suggesting-?!"
"Twilight Sparkle" Celestia finished and then the entire room went completely quite, no one truly seemed to want to agree or interject with the decision that the princess of the sun had come too, but they all needed an answer.
<*>
Sombra was sitting in the interrogation room where Celestia had recently left him, once she left Sombra had begun counting downwards from 180 once he finally made it to 1 he heard the door open, an accomplished grin stretching itself across his face as he glanced over to the door, only for him to go back to his dark lifeless look that he had before Celestia had come once he seen not only Princess Celestia but all the other princesses along with shining armour enter the room. He absolutely loved the glare that shining gave him but of course Sombra didn't react or show any signs of acknowledging him, there was no way he'd give that weakling the satisfaction of believing his stare could ever cause any living creature to feel fear.
Cadence seemed a bit concerned at the fact that Sombra's facial expression had not changed since his long lasted case of silent treatment, however Celestia on the other hand just held a soft smile "King Sombra, I have good news for you" Celestia announced, while the others seemed confused as to why the princess of the sun called him by his title if 'King'
Sombra smirked, letting out a slight chuckle "let me guess, Shining Armour has finally decided to step down?" He asked, the joke clearly angering Shining as he intended, though Celestia sighed and continued.
"No, you are allowed come with my sister and I back to ponyvill and you are allowed take whatever you wish from your room you told me about earlier" she explained and surprisingly gave Sombra a wink which caused him to blush slightly with his eyes widened.
"Uh, um, I see th-thank you" he stuttered, feeling slightly taken aback from the wink, perhaps it was a form of punishment for aggravating Shining Armour, while Sombra felt like he should instead get a reward instead, though he knew if he made the suggestion his chances of leaving would begin to lower, instead he decided to reply calmly "excellent, so should I head to pack my things now? I lost track of time a while ago though I'm assuming it's daylight and you'd like to return to your routine before anything gets out of hand"
Sombra looked up to see everyone even Celestia wide eyed, meanwhile Sombra just turned his head to the side slightly "what? Did I say something wrong?" He asked curiously, clearly bewildered by the looks he was getting.
Luna shook her head slightly to get her mind off of what just happened "forgive us, we did not expect to you to be so considerate of our daily responsibilities" Luna explained to which the others nodded in agreement.
Sombra sighed, as he placed a hoof on his forehead, while in a way he understood their surprise he also felt a bit insulted from their reaction "did you forget I'm a King? I know the struggles of running a kingdom, I understand how important it is to stay on schedule. I may be a tyrant and despise you all but I respect good leadership, so if a leader wishes to return to their kingdom I believe it or not am capable of respecting that." He explained before getting up from the chair "well then, shall we?"
Celestia smiled slightly and nodded "I'm sorry if we came off as rude their Sombra and yes you are right we should be heading off now, though you can take as much time as you wish getting ready" Celestia explained and then Sombra nodded in response before walking out, giving Shining Armour a slight grin as he did so.
As Sombra walked away the same question echoed through everyone's minds..... "Is this really happening?"
Author's Note
Information about this story may be subject to change, anyways I hope you all enjoy this story as I post it I worked very hard in this chapter and I wanted to try and show a different side of Sombra at the beginning of this, anyways if you can please give feedback it's much appreciated 👍🏻
A few minutes later Sombra returned to the princesses with a suitcase he was pulling along with his magic. Surprisingly the case was about the size of Sombra himself though nobody questioned it, after all he was leaving, never coming back and had no idea what to expect in his new life, so he most likely decided to pack everything he could for every possible situation.....which would be everything he had in his room.
Celestia had already contacted Twilight and informed her that she'd be coming over to discuss important matters with her.
"Please princess, I have already said that I understand your hard work, I know that there are priorities to being a ruler and I most certainly shouldn't be one of Luna's, but yes I am indeed ready, shall we?" He asked and Celestia nodded.
"Yes, let us go now" Celestia responded before her horn began to glow softly and the two of them vanished in an explosion of magic.
<*>
Twilight sparkle was currently in the throne room, pacing up and down while thinking about the letter she had recently gotten by her former teacher and fellow princess.
Dear princess Twilight, it appears that I have an unexpected problem that I'd wish to speak to you about in person. I'll be there in a few minutes and I'll give you all the details then, though I need you to promise me that you do not freak out.
From Princess Celestia
Twilight sighed still worried on what this may be, a part of her wanted to believe perhaps Celestia had something amazing planned and didn't want Twilight freaking out in excitement, but that was extremely unlikely, so much so that Twilight saw it as near impossible. Suddenly her trait of thought was interrupted when suddenly a blinding light appear before her. Twilight covered her eyes with a hoof as she turned away, when the light began to fade Twilight looked forward and her eyes immediately widened, it was then Twilight wished she continued covering her eyes.
Standing before the young mare was the king of the shadows who was giving Twilight an extremely intense glare, behind him was Celestia who had a very awkward smile on her face, clearly worried on how this will go "ok Twilight, I think it's time that I explained what is going on"
Twilight listened closely through the entire explanation, meanwhile Sombra went to the side and sat in rainbow dashes throne, she would have normally mentioned that throne belonged to her dear friend, but this was King Sombra, there's no way mentioning who the throne belonged to would make him move. "Well um, Celestia I think I understand why you want to help Sombra but....why exactly did you bring him here to me?" Twilight asked, tilting her head slightly to the side.
At this point Sombra swung around to face them while in the throne "I was wondering that as well, you explained we'd be heading to ponyvill so I assumed that we'd encounter one of your little ponies but why bring me to this inexperienced princess?" Sombra asked while Twilight tried not to snap at the unicorn King.
Celestia then smiled before responding "well I've been thinking and I have come to the conclusion that you Twilight are our best chance in reforming Sombra" Celestia explained in a calm and peaceful tone.
"WHAT?!?!?!" The two Royal ponies shouted in unison, much to Celestia's surprise as she tried to hold back a laugh.
"I know this may sound mad but trust me both of you will benefit from this and Sombra, it's either here or you'll be spending far more time with shining armour in the crystal empire" Celestia winked as Sombra let out a low growl before finally dropping his head in defeat.
"Fine, but know this princess, I'm not one that is swayed easily and no threat is going to change that" he warned and Celestia merely nodded before she disappeared in another blinding light.
Sombra and Twilight then looked blankly at each other, both of them taking in all the information that was just given to them, both of them trying to figure out what their next action should be as if it was the most important think they'd ever do in their entire life, that was when Twilight stepped forward and extended a hoof to the unicorn King "well I think now that we'll be living with each other for a good while we should formally introduce ourselves, my name is Twilight sparkle"
Sombra looked at her a bit confused before shaking her hoof "King Sombra" he replied before they both let go of the others hoof "now then, would you mind giving me a tour, I prefer being able to make a perfect image of my surroundings while exploring it" he explained and Twilight nodded.
"Of course! Just come with me" she responded slightly enthusiastically, mostly to hide her own worries underneath it, as the tour began Sombra was taking in everything in his surroundings p, from the library to the kitchen, mapping out everything from one room to the next, every time they entered a room Sombra would begin exploring it and examining it, after a few times of this Twilight eventually asked "what are you doing? I mean I understand if you want to know where everything is but you could ask me" she explained bit was only met with a blank stare.
"I prefer to look over these things myself, I'm sure you and I can both agree it's easier to remember something if you study it yourself more so then when someone just tells you it" Twilight shrugged, she could definitely see where he was coming from however using that for something as simple as what's in a room seemed a bit like over doing it in her eyes, but he was staying there, he'd be looking through all these areas in anyways many times, if he could memories it like this it saves Twilight from having to answer questions of "where's this" and "where's that"
As they returned to the throne room the two were in complete silence, clearly both still adjusting to this turn of events, that was when something Twilight didn't account for suddenly happened, Sombra spotted Spike as he entered the throne room, the baby dragon that humiliated him after he returned from his banishment, that was when Spike also spotted Sombra and the baby dragon froze from fear as the unicorn King let out a low rumbling growl as he began taking a few steps forward, that wax when Twilight quickly acted and jumped in front of Sombra "that's enough Sombra! Besides you have no magic remember? There's no point in trying to get revenge" Twilight barked as Spike sighed in relief at the mention of Sombra no longer having his magic, something the baby dragon wasn't even going to try and question as to how that happened or why Sombra is here.
Sombra sighed in defeat and glanced away, not looking the princess of friendship in the eye "I suppose you are correct, very well, could you show me to my bed chambers? I feel as if I need time to unwind and think about...everything that's happened today" Sombra explained.
Twilight nodded before walking around him "of course, I understand, Spike we'll talk about this later ok" and with that Twilight and Sombra headed out of the room, leaving Spike with his jaw dropped as he watched the unlikely scene unfold before him.
As Twilight and Sombra headed towards Sombra's room there was complete silence, Twilight didn't feel too comfortable with it while Sombra looked to be absolutely fine "so, um what was life like a thousand years ago?" Twilight asked trying to create a subject they could discuss.
Sombra shrugged slightly "we did not have most of the equipment you have today, many of the machines I saw around your different rooms is far beyond what we ever had" he began "other than that I suppose in some cases we had more war, many ponies did not believe in the magic of friendship that you speak of back then, many outside canterlot saw it as a trick from the royal sisters to join forces with canterlot and hand their power over to the twin alicorns as they were superior to everyone else" he explained, while Twilight just tilted her head slightly and looked at him.
"Did you agree with those ponies? That the Royal sisters were planning something?" She asked as she leaned slightly closer to him, Twilight suddenly jumped from seeing Sombra as the tyrant from a thousand years ago to a source of knowledge of history from view point different from the Royal sisters who could probably tell her stories on the crystal empire that no one else could.
Sombra shook his head before letting out a sigh "no of course not, I had a good idea on how the Royal sisters ruled, they were kind to all and back a thousand years ago had enough problems protecting canterlot and ponyvill, I truly couldn't see them expanding their horizon to that of ruling the entire world, I then decided to prove all those fools wrong" Sombra explained as he held his head up slightly higher as if in pride.
"What did you do exactly?" Twilight asked feeling even more curious now.
"Well it's quite simple, I made piece with the alicorn sisters and the crystal empire and canterlot became close relations from that day on, after that both our kingdoms expanded to far greater heights, we helped each other through war, we traded what would be common to one kingdom but a need for the other to survive, due to this the Crystal empire quickly became the most powerful empire of all and I celebrated this by introducing the empire to the crystal heart. After making piece with the alicorn sisters they thought me more and more about friendship, so that I could teach it to others and they mentioned to me how the power of love is even superior to that, so my instincts led me into creating the crystal heart"
Twilights eyes widened in surprise and her jaw almost dropped from the shock, however she quickly regained herself as they made it to the unicorn kings room and Twilight opened the door and led Sombra inside. The room was well decorated with a large bed that looked like it was made for two, multiple shelves of books, a lamp beside the bed and a mini fridge to the left corner of the room closest to the door. First twilight walked over to the lamp and showed him the switch close to the bulb "just flick this switch and the bulb will come on, it converts the energy inside the lamp into light energy for when it's too dark in the room" Twilight then walked to the fridge and opened it "this is for foods that are meant to stay cold, so you can store them in here if you want to" Twilight then turned to Sombra and smiled "any questions?"
Sombra looked around the room one more time before responding "there is one thing, earlier when you introduced yourself to me you referred to yourself as Twilight Sparkle, why do you not refer to yourself using your title?" He asked curiously.
Twilight sighed as she thought of the right words to use for the explanation "as you probably know I wasn't always a princess, I was a normal unicorn and I don't want my friends to see me as some level above them, I don't want anyone to see me that way" Twilight explained but Sombra still seemed to be waiting, as if he knew there was more and indeed their was, Twilight gulped knowing if she didn't give him the last piece of the puzzle he'd just solve it later, perhaps this would be a chance to connect with him "and.... I don't think I'm worthy of the title, I've only been princess for a year, they've been for over a thousand, I don't even rule ponyvill I'm more of just a symbol of friendship or a figure head, so I feel more comfortable seeing myself as Twilight Sparkle....but please please please don't tell anyone that second part!" She begged and Sombra simply chuckled.
"I think I understand, while I don't feel the same I suppose I can see where you are coming from, you've experienced friendship in ways I have not, so I suppose I can't fully understand, just like how you can't fully understand being a ruler" an idea popped into Sombra's head though he decided to keep it to himself and save it for later "well, thank you, Twilight Sparkle"
Twilight smiled as she began to walk over to the exit of the room "no problem, King Sombra" and with that Twilight exited the room, shutting the door behind her, leaving Sombra to his thoughts.
He waited a few moments before growling in frustration "damn it Celestia! That damned Alicorn has deceived me, played me for a fool!.. No matter, this plan of hers will never work, I just need to find a way to reclaim my magic, I could even channel it over time if I wished. Your plan has far many holes Celestia...this will be my victory" Sombra's eyes slowly began to leak purple myst as a grin crawled along his face "I....will.....not......fail" Sombra chuckled slightly while Twilight now in the throne room had a face filled with worry and concern.
Everything was about to change.
Author's Note
The adventure has now begun, I hope everyone is interested to see what happens next, I'll try posting regularly but please keep in mind that I have school and that gets in the way a lot, anyways hope you enjoyed and leave your suggestions in the comments along with any grammar mistakes 👍
Sombra slowly opened his eyes and began to look around, he noticed he was in a prison and looked down to see chain rapped around his throat, attached to both sides of the cell he was kept in, he then began to hear foot steps coming closer, they were loud and slow, as if whoever was making their way to him wanted the unicorn King to dread this moment as much as possible and for some unknown reason he did.
The mysterious pony revealed themselves to be Princess Celestia, glaring down at the shadow pony "well Sombra, it looks like you truly were a waste of my time, your reformation failed....you failed and so I have decided to make sure you'll never be a problem again and make you feel the pain you pressed onto others, starting with taking away your freedom"
Sombra chuckled slightly before giving the sun princess a venomous glare "interesting, so the line between good and evil has finally become non existent hmm? So am I going to be your new hoof rest? If yes you may want to get Luna one as well, after all she tends to get jealous of you easily, probably cause of your extreme amount of control, will I be added onto the list of your other failures or have you lost count" Sombra scoffed in a smug tone, feeling pleased with himself.
Celestia growled before stomping a hoof "enough! I've been thinking of what to do with you, and I think I know exactly where to start" Celestia used her magic and Sombra felt his horn begin to glow and his eyes widened before he tried holding his crown in his hooves, trying desperately to keep it on his head, however Celestia forced it off and pulled it to the other side of the bars before placing it down "no one who's went against me has succeeded Sombra, this is why!" Suddenly Celestia stomped down on Sombra's horn, smashing it to pieces.
Sombra's eyes widened as he tried to get out of his chains "NOOOO, Damn you Celestia!! Damn you!!" Sombra tried to use his magic, but it didn't work, he tried again, it still didn't work, with every attempt Celestia merely laughed more at her victory.
<*>
Twilight began walking to Sombra's room with a plate of pancakes for breakfast, but she heard something, it was like a mix of sobs and shouts coming from the Kings room, immediately Twilight took action and rushed into the room "Sombra?!" She asked before her eyes widened, Sombra was on his bed, curled up and holding his crown tightly against his head as his horn sparked repeatedly but clearly did not have enough power to do anything "No! Stop! It's all I have left!! Don't take it away from me!!" He pleaded, tossing and turning in his bed.
Twilight quickly rushed to Sombra's side and began to shake him ruffly "Sombra! Sombra please wake up! It's me Twilight!" She pleaded as she continued shaking him, till suddenly Sombra shot up to his feet, eyes wide as he darted around, he looked up to his crown realising it was still there and then noticed Twilight.
Sombra went quiet for a few moments before commenting "my apologies, did I wake you?" He asked before sitting down on his bed with his head down, quickly wiping away and visible tears on his cheeks.
Twilight shook her head before placing the plate of pancakes in front of the unicorn King. The pancakes were in the shape of crystals, one of the few things Twilight was aware Sombra had an interest in "no, not at all, don't worry Sombra, I just came in to give you your breakfast" she explained with a smile, she didn't want to ask what the nightmare was about, they still didn't really know each other after all, but then Twilight realised that Sombra's little to know magic problem hindered him more than she could imagine, Sombra attempted to use his magic to lift the knife and fork, however didn't even manage to get the cutlery an inch off the plate. Twilight felt bad for the stallion, he was a king who could do almost anything, now he couldn't do the simplest of tasks, it must of stung worse than any defeat imaginable "would you like me to help?" Twilight asked before lifting the knife and fork with her magic.
Sombra sighed in annoyance and turned to her "make any childish comments to me and I'll rip your voice box out" Twilights eyes widened and took a moment to shake the image out of her head before hesitantly beginning, she cut off a piece of a pancake and as Sombra opened his mouth she placed it in."hmm, it's ok" he replied. Instead of complaining that he gave an OK to food she remade multiple times to get correctly she decided to continue, feeding him every last bight till it was gone "never speak of this to anyone, not even me, I would rather not think back on it" he ordered and Twilight nodded with a kind smile.
"Don't worry, I don't think I'd be comfortable with others knowing either, so anyway I thought today we could go into town to meet with some of my friends, is that fine with you?" She asked as she placed the knife and fork back down on the plate and handed Sombra a glass of water, which Sombra quickly gulped it down to get away from this process of Twilight feeding him, even though he knew it would not be the last time unless his magic somehow came back.
"I suppose so, I'm not one for being stuck inside all day, though I'm sure you can imagine that I'd draw lots of attention in a hurry, are you sure this is wise" he asked before getting out of bed and brushing and fixing his mane with a hoof.
Twilight responded with a confident nod "I'm sure it will be fine, Discord was allowed do as he wished within reason, I don't see why you shouldn't, besides ponyvill sees something crazy pretty much every week these days, I don't think this will get them two shaken".
<*>
Safe to say Twilight was completely wrong, as soon as the two royals stepped out of the castle all eyes turned to them, more specifically all eyes turned to Sombra, he could practically taste the fear as it radiated off of them, a devilish grin forming on the unicorns face as he found this sight very amusing. After staying frozen in fear for a few more moments all the ponies present immediately started to run, leaving Twilight bewildered "told you~" Sombra mocked before he began walking while Twilight rolled her eyes and began trotting along side the unicorn King.
Suddenly a streak came flying towards them, Twilight only managed to get out of the way just in time as Sombra was tackled to the ground, he looked up to see a blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane growling aggressively at him "so you've come to take over ponyvill huh?! Not on my watch?!" Rainbow Dash was about to strike the unicorn however she was suddenly caught in Twilight's magic and lifted into the air. Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight and pouted in annoyance "Hey Twilight! What gives?! It's Sombra!" She snapped in annoyance.
Twilight had a stern look on her face as she stepped closer to Rainbow Dash before dropping her back down, causing her to land with a slight thud "I know it's Sombra, I'm...well... I'm looking after him I guess you could say. Celestia asked me to try and reform him, that's why he's here and that's why you shouldn't go attacking him immediately" Twilight explained with an annoyed glare.
Rainbow Dash's eyes widened as Sombra stood back up and dusted himself off, before giving the blue Pegasus who seemed to be becoming even more shocked the longer he stood there, he wasn't attacking, he wasn't charging using his magic on her, he didn't even attempt to charge at her "what are you gawking at?" He finally asked with a growl "is it really that hard to understand something simple? I was taken in against my will in order to be 'reformed' by your friend Twilight Sparkle, now if you excuse my I need to try and survive a torturous day filled with a bunch of colourful thick skulled ponies!" And with that Sombra stormed off, not to go to any specific location, he just didn't want Rainbow Dash to continue starring at him as if she was a rabbit in headlights.
Twilight held a hoof to her head and sighed before walking over to Rainbow Dash "look, I want Sombra to at least fit in, he's not like Discord who can find a way to fit in and relax all the time, he hasn't seen anything outside his own empire for over a thousand years, could you please do me a favour and ask for everyone to meet at the castle later, Sombra can't possibly feel like anything but a prisoner if I'm the only one who treats him like a normal pony, so please can you help me out here?" Twilight asked with pleading eyes and a slight smile.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and groaned "...what do you need me to do?" Twilight then whispered something in Rainbow Dashes ear and then rushed off, it was then she realised Sombra managed to get further than she had originally expected.
<*>
Sombra managed to find a relaxing pace to stick with as he explored to largely populated village, however with Sombra's presence the population seemed non existent, everyone he saw simply ran to their homes in fear, while he was with Twilight there was some assurance that perhaps everything was fine, but now there was no one keeping this monster at bay besides a limitation they were all unaware of. Sombra then glanced to the side and saw what appeared to be some kind if a hardware store, due to the thousand year old pony being unaware of modern technology he felt now would be the perfect opportunity to start learning about it and so he walked inside, a small bell above the door making a soft ding as he entered,nsomething else he didn't fully understand and just assumed it was a sort of signal to the workers that a customer has entered or left the establishment, as Sombra looked around he saw many things he had never seen before and couldn't even get his head around, he could guess what everything's purpose was but he couldn't see how they did what they did, he couldn't just take one and proceed to rip it apart to see how it worked, but then Sombra saw something he truly couldn't understand, there was a video projector along with a number of different tapes, at first Sombra assumed this may be a variation of those cameras he saw before where from the box he could understand it took an event out of space time and placed it into a small 2D form however this thing seemed different. On top of that there were the tapes, what were they for, they didn't look like the tape that's made to stick things together and had nothing that would give it that ability, then there was the fact they had strange titles on them, like books but they weren't books, they had no words, and what kind of book would be in a circular shape anyway.
After a few more minutes of inspection King Sombra heard the sound of hooves banging hard and fast against the wooden floor, coming in his direction. Around the corner came Twilight who just managed to stop herself before slamming hard into Sombra, the two were nose to nose and stood rigid too surprised to move. Twilight blushed slightly with embarrassment before stepping back and letting out a deep sigh, until her former demeanour returned "Sombra what are you doing?! You can't just wander off like that, you could and probably have caused a panic all throughout ponyvill!" The friendship princess relaxed before glancing over at what Sombra was originally looking at "wait....what are you doing here? Why would you want to come to a place like this?" She asked curiously.
Sombra pointed to the large number of tapes, his focus still on Twilight "what are these strange circular items for, and what is this weird camera like thing?" He asked not having the right words to fully explain his question since he didn't really understand things such as technology or contraption.
That's when it hit her, Twilight realised that Sombra in this new world wasn't just in an entirely different environment but was also surrounded by things he couldn't begin to understand, after all he didn't even know what a lamp was or how to use it till Twilight demonstrated it to him. "Well those are tapes, they aren't like sticky tape or anything like that, basically those tapes are able to hold multiple pictures inside of them" Twilight then pointed to the tape recorder "while this is similar to a camera instead of taking pictures it projects them using light to create the image on the tape onto the wall, the pictures on these tapes can even be used to give the illusion of the objects actually moving" Twilight explained.
Sombra took in the information for a few moments before responding "I see, so these have the ability to project events of the past without any sort of magical source or output of magic? It simply runs off some sort of enhancements invented by ponies around the world and now these magnificent creations can be distributed across entire nations so that millions of ponies can experience events from the past as if they are taking place right in front of them but as a spectator and not having to get physically involved, not to mention it would make way as a good secondary option for those who don't have the time or the interest in books, how amazing" Sombra exclaimed, this seemed revolutionary to him, while sounding like the norm to everyone else.
Twilight was left almost giddy by this, no one in her entire life has ever given such an amazingly detailed explanation about the utter importance of video and why it's no important until Sombra came around, it was as if he was an utter genius beyond compare, it almost seemed familiar though she couldn't quite put her hoof on as to why it felt so familiar, oh well it will come to her eventually "well, if you'd like, I could show you all the new things ponies have created in the last thousand years during our tour of ponyvill, what do you think?" Twilight asked with a smile.
Sombra seemed pretty surprised by the offer and smirked slightly. It looked evil, but at this same time it didn't feel evil, as if after being a tyrant for so long Sombra never felt genuinely happy about anything besides hurting others, it was very worrying to think about but at the same time this was a sign that she may have a chance of actually becoming friends with the unicorn King, then his response shocked the young mare "my my Sparkle, could it be you are trying to find ways to have more private time? I didn't think you'd be so bold, but of course I would love to be blessed with your knowledge~" Sombra grinned before walking around and standing beside the princess "shall we?~"
Twilight blushed slightly as her eyes widened "wait what?! No no no no no! I just wanted to help is all!" She defended while Sombra just smirked at her, clearly entertained at her attempts to explain herself "I just thought it would be fun you know and once everyone sees you aren't a threat they may relax more you know?" She chuckled slightly, feeling slightly awkward and embarrassed from what just happened.
And with that the two of them walked out and the tour began, Twilight took Sombra all around ponyvill, making many stops at almost every turn and each time Sombra asked "what's that?" There were many different things Twilight thought Sombra in that time, speakers, microphones, fridges, kettles and more, everything seemed so new to hi, he was like a foal trotting around in a new home, it was kind of nice to watch in a way, but also weird, she couldn't get her mind off the fact that this was STILL Sombra and he is STILL dangerous, but at the same time he was so interesting.
"So once I learned the duplication spell I began to study it more and I found that once I released it all the knowledge my copies had gained I did as well, this allowed me to study 10 times as fast, on top of that it allowed me to experiment with mixing spells together to create even more spells, from there I made a book about all the spells I studied and created over time, this allowed me to meet more magicians and learn new things from them too, of course I made sure to keep some things to myself and then...."
Eventually Sombra glanced over at Twilight and noticed the giant grin that was on her face, it was almost concerning "um, Twilight, forgive me but I don't think your face is supposed to morph into.....that" he stated, seeming more confused as to how that kind of a smile is even possible.
Twilight finally realised how wide her grin was and finally had mercy on her jaw as she lowered it, blushing slightly "heheh, sorry, I guess I just never had a conversation like this with anyone before, I mean you know just about everything about magic, it's incredible!" She replied giddily "maybe we can teach each other, you can teach me the last and I can teach you the present and maybe even future spells!" She suggested before raising her hoof "what do you think?" She asked, finally calming down.
Sombra shook her hoof gently and smirked, still looking as evil as usual "at first I despised Celestia for this ridiculous decision, but it seems she's put me with someone that's competent" he joked with his toothy grin.
Twilight's eyes widened slightly, she was annoyed for being labelled as just being 'competent' but maybe this was a good thing, she was getting to know Sombra as more than just a tyrant and Sombra was getting to know her as more than just a pony that helped in his most recent defeat. She knew things would get better.
They will get better, right?
Friendship is challenging
Sombra and Twilight were currently walking back to the castle while eating hayburgers, it took Twilight a good while to convince him to try one but once he did he seemed to actually enjoy it, Twilight was relieved when he continued eating after the first bite, she didn't want to deal with an angry unicorn ranting about being given misinformation on what is considered good food in this era.
Twilight now finally had someone to share her jokes with as well. Her jokes were always science or magic based since that's her specialty, Sombra surprisingly appreciated her sense of humour and even had some jokes of his own. The two laughed together as they entered the throne room, however their loud laughter died down as they noticed Twilights good friends looking at the two book worms wide eyed. There was Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Apple Jack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Starlight Glimmer, they all appeared equally bewildered as the purple alicorn smiled awkwardly "ohhh heheh, good morning everypony, so I asked you all to come here today- thank you Rainbow Dash- because I want to help King Sombra feel at home here in ponyvill and of course that's not going to work if I'm the only one that's trying, so Sombra if there's anything you want to say to us before we get started now would be the best time" Twilight encouraged as she nudged Sombra slightly.
Sombra jolted out of his surprised state, his mind only focused on trying to theories what all of these ponies, along with the dragon he now spotted in the far left hoof corner of the room were going to do with him in attempts of forcing him into their point of view, however since he was getting the opportunity to speak his mind he figured he might as well use it "very well. Just so you all know the only reason you are all alive is because of my new limitations, limitations never last forever, so enjoy your borrowed time while it lasts, I will not be forced into your land of friendship, I will not allow you to brain wash me into doing so, I am King Sombra of the frozen north! Not Celestia's friendship experiment."
The room went quiet after Sombra's speech, his words sending slow shivers down everyone's spines. Twilight slumped down slightly, she thought Sombra may have actually been kind once you got to know him, but now she realised it was all because of his limitations that were most likely to be temporary, it made her wonder if she had made any progress in the first place, or was it Sombra that was turning her towards seeing him as someone who couldn't possibly be evil any more. What was annoying her more by this is Sombra wasn't even trying to hide any of this, it was as if he was relishing in the idea of killing them all like it's the inevitable.
"So anyway Twilight what was your goal by doing this?" Twilight was taken out of her cage of worries and brought into reality as Sombra spoke, the other ponies all appeared to be whispering to each other, most likely voicing their concerns while Starlight seemed very concerned for Twilight. "Uhh, well I was thinking that you could try getting to know everyone here, all friendships start with strangers after all" Twilight smiled strugglingly "so, who wants to start?" She asked.
All the main six stepped back slightly, however it was Starlight who came forward and held her hoof out to the unicorn King "um, hi, I'm Starlight, Starlight Glimmer, look I know you feel mad at....everyone here and honestly I used to too, I tried to end their friendship and make it so it would never happen, and for a time....I succeeded, but in the end, I didn't get any satisfaction from them falling apart, ending someone else's friendship isn't the right way to go for happiness, trust me" Starlight smiled awkwardly hoping her miniature speech would change anything even though it wasn't exactly 100% accurate to true events.
Sombra simply scoffed however "ending friendship is nothing, the fact that your revenge only drove you to end a relationship between ponies shows that clearly you didn't have much hate for any of them, especially compared to me, I'm disappointed" he mocked and Starlight was left stunned.
"Ooooookay, I'll be right back I'm just gonna go and....think for a bit" she said awkwardly before shuffling away out of the room.
Fluttershy shivered slightly before stepping forward slowly, it felt like an eternity until her hoof reached the floor once again "u-um, hi, I'm Fluttershy and uh-" Sombra stomped his hoof on the floor causing Fluttershy to jump from the fright and hid behind Apple Jack, causing Sombra to laugh at her cowardliness.
Twilight growled in and stepped forward "dammit Sombra! At least try and get along with everypony!" She demanded.
Sombra glared at her "why should I listen to you? I've lost enough, practically everything, I have nothing to gain from any of you and nothing to lose from disobeying your orders and commands, I'm a King! Not a puppet!" And with that Sombra was gone and headed up to his room, it was a bit of a challenge to open his door as he was tired and had very little magic even while wide awake, he had to bring himself to attempting to turn the nob with his mouth till suddenly he realised that a purple aura had begun to surround it, he looked over and saw Twilight who looked kind of...sad. Sombra knew she wanted to say something so he let go of the handle, immediately regretting putting his mouth on it in the first place due to the horrible taste that now cursed his tongue.
Twilight sighed before lowering her head slightly "I'm..sorry for what I said before, I wasn't thinking it's just...I thought we were getting along, like passed the whole giving you information thing and actually becoming friends...then just realising that wasn't true and then seeing that you couldn't connect with my other friends it...it just annoys me that nothing seems to work with you! The only thing I can connect with you on is magic and you don't seem to slightest bit ashamed in what you've done and...urgh this is hard!" She ranted before banging her head against the wall.
Sombra stepped forward and stomped a hoof to get her attention causing her to look up at him "you can't change someone in a day, even if I was to become your friend today I'd still be King Sombra and I wouldn't automatically become good. You are one of the ponies responsible for my demise and now my condition, so if I were you I'd be more patient" Sombra advised before stepping into his room after Twilight helped in opening the door.
Twilight smiled feeling like Sombra's words boosted her confidence whether that was intentional or not "thank you Sombra, by the way Pinky wants to know what things you like, she wants to make a welcome party for you, it's something she does for everypony who comes here, any tips for her?" She asked with slightly pleading eyes.
Sombra thought for a moment "I like crystal, and cake, but no large crowds, I would say meat though I have a feeling that's not an option in this day and age" he replied and Twilight nodded before stepping inside and shutting the door.
"By the way I got some puzzles for you" Twilight took a few board games, word searches, cross words and a deck of cards out of a bag she had with her "they should help you during uneventful days, if you need anymore just ask" Twilight then noticed Sombra trying to get at one of the books on his shelf, the books were tightly packed together, too tight for his hoof of teeth to drag them out, Twilight once again assisted in taking out the book and placing it on Sombra's bed "I'll get in an order for another shelf, sorry I guess I didn't account for the space needed for you to get at the books when planning your room" Twilight apologised awkwardly while Sombra just seemed disappointed "Sombra? Are you ok?" She asked before stepping closer to the unicorn King.
Sombra came out of his thoughts and jolted awake again "hmm? What? Oh yes I'm fine, perhaps the long day has gotten to me, I'll probably be in here for the rest of the night" Twilight raised an eyebrow before trotting to the window and pulling the curtains back to reveal the bright blue sky along with the yellow sun, it was still morning, not even the afternoon, Sombra sighed in defeat before sitting on the edge of the bed "I'd prefer not to talk about personal problems now Sparkle, I'm not ready for those events to take place yet...just know that this whole inability to use magic thing has...really begun to bother me" he reluctantly revealed.
Twilight nodded and sat beside him on the bed "I understand, and I hope you get your magic back soon, as long as you don't try to kill everyone that is, heheh, but right now don't you think it would be useful having others willing to help you?" She asked with a smile, she wasn't going to say friend since she knew Sombra right now definitely didn't want any but if she could get him to put up with her friends then that would be a step in the right direction.
Sombra shrugged slightly "I suppose, that's a fair point, alright then" Sombra said as he stood back up "let's go and surprise your friends".
<*>
The mane 7 and spike were still in the throne room talking about if they should really trust Sombra, it didn't take long until it turned into a full blown argument over if he should stay or not.
"I'm telling you guys no matter what Sombra is bad news! He almost trapped me and Twilight in our own fears for eternity!" Spike argued.
"I say we should give him a chance, he may be a tyrant but if we can help Discord I'm sure we can help Sombra" Apple joke argued back, at this stage it didn't feel like each of them were talking to one pony in particular, they were just saying things and replying to others at random.
"You're joking right?" Rainbow Dash asked before flying to Apple Jack to look her face to face "Discord still causes a whole lot of trouble around here and is still practically the same, the only difference being he gets along with us, Sombra is pure evil! How are we supposed to fix that's?! Right Starlight?" Everyone turned to Starlight who was just in the corner of the room with her head down.
She then looked up to everyone and gave a slight smile "I think we should give him a chance... I was thinking about what he said and honestly the more I think about it the more he reminds me of myself, no matter how you look at it I enslaved those ponies and I tried to take away everything they knew while making myself superior cause I kept my cutie mark, when Twilight came to me and tried to convince me that what I was doing was wrong I didn't listen, I didn't believe anything beyond my own ambition mattered even if that doomed all of Equestria and then even after accepting you all as friends I didn't understand how friendship worked and instead of trying to help use I...tried to use you all. So if I got a chance I think it's fair that Sombra gets one as well".
Apple Jack nodded "couldn't of said it better myself, thanks Starlight. I think we should help Sombra as well"
Pinkie finally decided to join in the conversation and began hopping around them "I'll give him cake and candy and marshmallows and then we'll be the best friends ever and have a friendship party!!" Pinkie announced enthusiastically, seeming more excited than worried at King Sombra's arrival.
Suddenly they all heard hoof steps coming down the stairs and looked over to Twilight side by side with King Sombra "attention everypony, while yes just a few minutes ago I did state if I had my magic you'd all be dead, that is true, however as you can all see I do not have any of my magic remaining, so I cannot go against any of you, thus I have decided to go with the more logical step in this predicament and I'll become a....acquaintance of you all" Sombra then turned to Pinkie "I've given Twilight the details of the party you wish to prepare for me, I wish you luck" he explained before realising all eyes of confusion were on him "oh for the love of tarturace what now?" He asked with a growl, he was getting frustrated with everyone gawking at him.
This time it was Rarity who stepped forward to explain "well Darling we just weren't expecting this normality out of you, forgive us but we didn't expect you to be so...calm" she awkwardly spoke as a bit of sweat ran down her cheek, she didn't want to imagine what Sombra may be like when angered.
However surprisingly the unicorn King seemed fine with what she said and simply shrugged "that's completely understandable, I doubt Celestia has ever went into detail about my personality and has most likely only given a bare minimum summary on who I am, which I assume is the reason we are having this meeting, am I right in that assumption Twilight?" Sombra asked.
Twilight nodded and stepped forward to explain to everyone what's going on "I thought we could all sit down and just have a talk and I prepared some food as well, I'll be right back" Twilight walked away to the kitchen leaving Sombra with the mane seven along with Spike.
A few moments of awkward silence later and Twilight came back with multiple bags of food and placed them on the table "while I went to hay burger with Sombra I got more for the rest of you" she also had a chair with her and placed it along with all the thrones "heheh, sorry I don't have one for you Sombra, I hope this will do"
Sombra sat down and groaned slightly "I suppose you couldn't do anymore in the short time frame, thank you Twilight" he replied before he began eating and soon after so did everyone else.
<*>
After a while everyone got comfortable and had a somewhat normal conversation, it mostly had to do with how everything worked in the modern day and the main events that have happened, Chrysiles defeat, Discords reformation, the alliance with the Yaks, everything seemed to be going fine till they mentioned Starswirl the bearded.
Sombra paused "Starswirl?.... So he's back now? That was something I didn't expect."
This got everyone's attention, especially Twilights "wait, did you used to know Starswirl?" She asked with curious eyes as she also leaned slightly forward to the unicorn King while everyone else looked on in curiosity.
Sombra seemed to be slightly nervous by this and began thinking of the right words "um, well yes I...did know him, I knew him well, but I would rather not discuss this now if I'm being honest, that stuff is far in the past" he replied before going back to eating his burger.
Twilight wanted to press the subject further however she figured that if Sombra didn't want to talk about it he wasn't going to and if she were to continue asking he would likely retreat to his room.
<*>
About an hour of talking later and everyone went home, Twilight and Spike waved goodbye to their friends while Sombra just kind of waited behind them, though luckily he didn't seem annoyed in any way, just kind of bored and at this point not really bothered. "Sooo, what did you think? That wasn't so bad.... Right?" she asked hoping for good news.
The unicorn King thought for a moment as he tapped his chin with a hoof, still sitting in the chair he was given earlier by Twilight "I suppose that it wasn't bad, your friends aren't as bad as I originally imagined, I can at least tolerate them" Sombra then stood up and turned his head slightly to look at the small purple dragon standing beside Twilight, as Sombra's eyes landed on him the poor dragon could feel many drops of sweat run down his head "as for you" he began with a slight bit more venom in his voice than usual "I believe that we have some unfinished business" Sombra slowly walked towards the small dragon as he pushed Twilight out of the way with his shoulder, he looked down at Spike with stern eyes.
Spike closed his eyes and shielded himself waiting for the unicorn King to enact his vengeance, however it didn't come, nothing seemed to be happening, Spike eventually unshielded his eyes to find Sombra had extended one hoof out to the baby dragon and was now just looking down on him, his look not giving off any emotion "you have proven that you are a brave dragon, even at a young age you have gone far beyond the bravery any other dragon could ever dream, you stood against me when many would turn and run and for that Spike the dragon, you have my respect" Spike looked in aww up at the unicorn King, meanwhile Twilights jaw hung low in complete shock, she was worried she'd need to give Spike an anti Sombra shield or something to stop him from murdering her young friend.
Spike then took Sombra's hoof and smiled "wow, uh, thanks SombrAA-" apparently Sombra didn't seem to take into account his physical might or Spikes small body as when he was shaking the dragons hand he also shook Spikes entire body.
Twilight laughed warmly as she watched the two, Twilight was a big surprised that it took till now for her to realise the sheer size of Sombra, only a bit smaller than Celestia but taller than Luna, on top of that his muscle far surpassed the likes of shining armour and Big Mac, after coming to this realisation she became far more self conscious while looking up at the unicorn King as he walked over to her "so then Twilight, what now? I assume you have plans of sort?" He asked as he began to circle around the thrones of the Twilights good friends.
Twilight thought for a few moments before responding "well I noticed you were trying to read earlier, what if we read together, it could be fun" Twilight asked, she tried to sound as calm as possible but after every second there was a weird ticking in her mind reminding her 'this is King Sombra!!'
The unicorn King turned to her and smirked, he knew she was still afraid, it was obvious 'ponies, always predictable' he thought to himself, though he didn't see anything wrong with the request, he wanted some familiarity in this new strange world and more than likely books was one of the only things that hadn't changed besides the princesses he hated so very much "as you wish Twilight, I could use some quiet time".
<*>
The two sat their for hours, barely a word, Twilight tried to make conversation, while the unicorn King did respond his responses were swift and couldn't really lead into further discussion, watching Sombra almost reminded Twilight on how she used to be, she secluded herself to focus on her studies, she didn't see friendship as being important in anyway, when ponies tried to connect with her she believed they were merely getting in her way, would she go down the path Sombra did? That path of power?
The day ended as the two of them walked up to Sombra's room, as Twilight opened the door with her magic it was almost like Sombra was trying to find a way to open it without using his mouth, thought that would be near impossible, from the outside at least.
As Sombra trotted inside Twilight spoke "you know, I don't know if you will ever change, I don't know if we'll ever become friends, however I know this, I want to help you and I'll do everything I can to help you and maybe...once I can trust you, I could help you get your magic back" Twilight said warmly, however the look she got in response wasn't what she expected.
Sombra glared at her, angrily, he glared at her, as if attempting to shoot daggers directly into her eyes "don't you dare attempt to manipulate me with your words princess" he growled as hi purple mist expanded slightly and his words echoed throughout the room, maybe even the entire castle "I won't be played into your hands via your words, if anyone will find the catalyst that may return my magic it's me! I will not let you trick me into believing you'd help in bringing my dark magic back!" Sombra's growl became a roar near the end of his outburst, pure rage filled his eyes now as he stared down Twilight, as he spoke he backed up Twilight to the back wall of the room, even without his magic King Sombra was a terrifying sight.
Twilight gulped as her back was against the wall, the look in her eye was genuine fear, she was afraid of the King standing before her, however she couldn't back down, if she backed down now she would be giving up on Celestia's mission for her "no way Sombra, I am not taking this from you! I amn't trying to trick you or manipulate you! I am genuinely trying to help you! If you don't want to change fine! However don't you try and insinuate that I am doing this for my own personal gain!!" With that Twilight walked out of the room, she let out a sigh "....I...I'm sorry" Twilight sniffed slightly "I know you don't want to be here...I know you miss your magic....I know you don't trust me... And I don't know if I trust you but..I want to" with that Twilight left as Sombra looked in disbelief, he then went to bed thinking about what the friendship princess just told him.
<*>
Twilight decided to turn in for the night, however she couldn't seem to get herself to fall asleep, as if the thoughts of her fight with Sombra weighed on her mind, was she really in the wrong? She really didn't know, Sombra never trusted anyone so it would make sense that with the alicorn princess he wouldn't take her word at face value especially since last time they met she caused the unicorn kings demise. She just wished that she could show him why she wasn't the enemy right now, no one was the enemy right now, their goal revolved around helping Sombra not stopping him.
Twilights train of thought was interrupted by a knock on her bedroom door however, Twilight groaned before slumping out of bed and trotting to the door, she figured it was Spike after waking up from a bad dream but when she opened the door she was shocked to see Sombra there instead, looking slightly awkward standing there as if he was standing there for a while wondering if he should knock or not "oh um, hey King Sombra heheh" Twilight greeted awkwardly feeling sweat roll down the side of her face, after her last talk with the unicorn King she couldn't imagine what he was here for now.
Sombra let out a low sigh, as if doing something he wasn't used to doing "I..came to apologise" Twilight was left shocked by this and was about to speak again but was cut off by the unicorn King "I accused you of something that wasn't true, I was under the belief that this was some ploy that princess Celestia set you on in order to manipulate me into becoming a slave to canterlot, however from the way you reacted to my accusations it was clear to me that was never your intention. What I said was completely uncalled for and for that I apologise" Sombra then turned around and began his way back to his room.
Twilight however felt that she couldn't just end it there, Sombra, King Sombra himself came to apologise to her, surely that meant something, some kind of progress, there's no way shed waste it now "wait Sombra!" She called out before rushing over to him "look, I know you don't like it here, I know that you are still the tyrant that took over the crystal empire and...I know that if you had your magic I wouldn't be here...however right now we are here, together and if it takes a year or two or even ten years I want to make sure that by the end of it you can be a free pony, you know that...don't you?" Twilight asked with pleading eyes, she wanted the comfort of Sombra at least knowing she wasn't a threat.
Sombra paused and turned away slightly "I don't know anymore Ms Sparkle, my mind reminds me of the offer I was given by Celestia, but my eyes see the unicorn that caused my demise, however I don't believe you are planning anything against me...you are too innocent for something of that sort..goodnight Twilight"
Twilight watched as the unicorn King marched off, the only words able to come out of her mouth were "..goodnight..Sombra" she whispered before heading back to her room.
Author's Note
Thank you all so much for your comments! They were very fun to read and I enjoyed your thoughts on the story so far, I hope you all continue to enjoy! 👍👍
Sombra was sleeping soundly in bed, his slumber was completely undisturbed, but of course the unicorn King wasn't that lucky so harsh reality decided to kick in as he heard an ear piercing scream from none other than Twilight Sparkle.
Sombra instinctually leaped out of bed and rushed out of the room, barging through the door with his shoulder only to find Spike on the other side of the door, he seemed to just about avoid the now broken door that collapsed to the floor "dragon what is the cause of the ridiculous scream? Are we under attack!?" Sombra asked as his head darted around, though everything seemed to be normal.
Spike's expression changed from stunned to somewhat confused before he responded "wait...I thought you were what caused Twilights screaming?"
The two were cut off as they heard Twilight scream once again "MAKE IT STOP!!!" Twilight pleaded and Sombra immediately rushed towards her room, leaving Spike wondering 'why's Sombra so serious about this? Why'd he care' if anything it almost seemed like he cared more than Spike did.
Sombra burst into the room "what's going on Twilight who's-!!...attacking?" Sombra's frantic panic changed into a dumbfounded stare as he saw a pink canon shooting tons of closed envelopes at a time, after each explosion the canon seemed to jump and thus changed direction, Sombra turned to see Twilight trying to stop the canon however before she got the chance to use her magic she once again had to dart out of the way in order to avoid the dreaded blast of the canon. Sombra from estimating the approximate force and weight of this lethal party machine noticed that where Twilight was going to land next seemed to be exactly where the canon would most likely fire next.
Out of instinct Sombra leapt forward and pushed Twilight out of the way falling on her in the process, the two turned to see the canon aimed directly at the two,mother braised themselves for impact however all that came out were puffs of air, indicating that the canons ammo was finally all gone, the two sighed in relief before the eyes locked with each other's causing Twilight to blush slightly before Sombra eventually got off of her "my apologies, after hearing that scream of yours I assumed that we were under attack by one of many possible attackers" He explained, before going around to inspect the envelopes.
Twilight was about to calmly except the apology till what the unicorn King just said sunk into her mind "wait..one of many attackers?" She asked, while she figured Sombra of course had enemies, he is Sombra after all the way he said it made it sound like it was a theory he had in his mind for a while and to Twilights amazement it actually was.
"Precisely, I made sure to make a list" Sombra explained before walking out of the room, less than a minute later returning with a scroll in his mouth which he unraveled, the scroll extended from one end of the room to the other and yet still it wasn't fully unraveled, there was every name under the sun and beyond, along with possible reasons for the attack and ways to deal with the attacker, Twilight searched through the names till coming across Shining Armour, under the 'reason' category it stated 'because he's an idiot' and under 'process of elimination' it stated 'remind him that he didn't get his wife's permission first' Twilight shot a glare at Sombra who just grinned in response "I'm sure that strategy would work, she clearly holds control on the relationship" he chuckled and Twilight just rolled her eyes.
Twilight then looked at the envelopes, each an everyone was in fact directed at Sombra. Twilight and Sombra each opened different letters and began to read allowed, both of them saying the following.
Dear grumpy pants, sorry about the canon and the many envelopes I just didn't know what kind of card you'd want for your invitation for your super duper important welcome party! So I decided to get you all of them! Please tell me which one is your favourite when you come over for your party at 8:00.
Ps: Hi Twilight!! Sorry for planting my party canon in your room Twilight, I didn't know which room Sombra was staying in and I didn't want to hurt poor spike!
Love Pinkie!
Twilight sighed with relief before slumping against the wall before her eyes burst open and her eyes darted to the clock in the corner of the room it was 7:30! Twilight immediately jumped up "we are going to be late!!" Twilight then picked Sombra up with her magic and began running down the hallway as Sombra struggled from annoyance ordering the "idiotic mare" as he called her to put him down immediately.
Twilight rushed into the kitchen and threw Sombra on one of the chairs, causing it to topple over along with the unicorn on it as well, Sombra got up and sat back down on the chair only to look over and see Spike struggling not to laugh at the unicorn kings entrance "don't test your luck dragon" Sombra warned as suddenly a plate of pancakes fell in front of him on the table along with another in from of Spike Twilight then rushed over and began eating as fast as she could till suddenly she was cut off by the words "you're over reacting" Twilight's head raised up with pancake crumbs littered around her mouth to see Sombra giving her a stern and serious look "you are acting like it is the end of the world, stop over reacting otherwise when everyone gets here you'll look like you belong in an asylum, which if you ask me isn't the best condition for the reformer of a tyrant" Sombra finished his word of advice with a low growl, showing his fangs through clenched teeth, clearly still annoyed by being hurled around via Twilight's magic.
Twilight smiled awkwardly while giggling slightly, mostly out of fear, then she picked out an important point from what Sombra said "wait...THE PARTIES HERE?!?!...wait, how do you know it's here?!" Twilight asked in a mix of curiosity and panic as she paced up and down the kitchen still eating her pancakes.
Sombra couldn't help but chuckle at the scene before him as he held his hoof to his chest out of a sense of pride "well if you actually took into account the pink insects strange nature you would have noticed the PPS on the back of the card, perhaps if you didn't rush everything and instead calmly assets the situation at hand you would notice these details, I hope you don't act like that towards your royal duties Twilight, I would be extremely disappointed" Sombra replied, it was hard to tell if he was mocking her or scolding her, or perhaps even a little bit of both.
Either way Twilight took the points to heart and looked down slightly after just being humbled by the unicorn King, he was most certainly right though, if Twilight had as much duties as Celestia, Luna or Cadence she would definitely crack under the pressure "...you're right, I'm..sorry Sombra, I guess I just wasn't th-"
"Oh you don't need to apologise I don't care enough to listen to you after all" Sombra smirked before trotting over to the sink and rinsing his plate along with Spike's who had left his on the table "as long as you don't hurl me around the place or wake me with a damn scream! Then I'm sure we'll be fine, now if you excuse me I'm going to go and make myself presentable" and with that Sombra stomped out of the room, leaving Spike and Twilight slightly surprised as Twilight made a mental note in her mind 'note to self, Sombra gets grumpy when woken up early'. As Sombra trot away Twilight realised how normal the unicorn King looked without his armour, it was almost weird....actually scratch that it was really really weird.
<*>
Sombra trotted back to his room and walked to the door on the right hand side, he opened it and sighed with relief to find that yes there was a bathroom with a shower. Once Sombra finished having a nice warm shower he turned to his hair brush that was inside one of the cupboard in the bathroom, as he picked up his hair brush he began to contemplate, if things continued going as they were he'd have a massive advantage, he'd just need to continue giving off the illusion that he was slowly progressing till he figured out how to get his magic back, however that could potentially be impossible which really pissed off the King, if only there were guards to annoy, that could take his thoughts off his troubles, it was times like this he felt Shining Armour actually had a purpose in life, though perhaps he could entertain himself with Shining's vastly superior sister, that allowed an idea to spark in the Kings mind, just how would he exact his revenge, if he ever could that is, trap Luna in a nightmare where she must fight nightmare moon for all eternity, leave Cadence to suffer in a world of hate, remind Shining Armour how dumb he is, but then there was Celestia, oh how much she would suffer for daring to attempt to manipulate him, by the hands of her student no less, clearly the princess of the sun has become incompetent at her very very vey very old age while luckily for her kept her beautiful good looks. Sombra shuttered at the thought of Celestia with old age wrinkles, thank tarturace that was impossible.
Sombra then discovered a problem, how was he supposed to brush his mane, the other tasks were doable enough, however this felt impossible, he tried picking up the brush with his hoof however he could not Keith balanced enough to brush his mane properly, then there was the rest of his body that would be even more impossible to brush. Water still dripping from his body Sombra reluctantly left the room, sadly he had a plan which he truly didn't like.
<*>
Twilight was calmly brushing her hair as she hummed softly, while at first the idea of the party taking place at the castle freaked the young alicorn to the bone she decided to take Sombra's advice and rethink the situation, not only did they have a decent length of time but on top of that she wouldn't need to worry about decorating, after all pinkie would do that in anyways, on top of that the pony the party was centred around (aka Sombra) was already there, everything seemed to be perfect, suddenly as if on cue Twilight heard knocking on her door, almost reluctant to open the door in fear that whatever was on the other side would send her into another panic attack, however slowly and carefully she made her way towards the door and found the sight to be absolutely not what she was expecting. Standing before her was the unicorn King completely drenched as if he had just come in from a storm, his face covered from his black mane as water droplets fell to the carpet floor, Twilight looked Sombra up and down slowly, his muscles clearly visible thanks to his now drenched state, Twilight felt all if her body heat flush to her face as she stared at him wide eyed.
Sombra let out a long sigh before mumbling "I need your help.."
While Twilight could have used this as an opportunity for revenge after his insults to her earlier however the unicorn King was already at risk now of getting a cold "of course! Quickly come in" Twilight replied as Sombra trotted inside the room with his head down, this was truly humiliating.
<*>
After a few short minutes this was definitely not humiliating, Sombra was sitting on a chair with his head back as Twilight brushed and dried his mane, her soft touch was so relaxing, he felt as if he could fall asleep, with every soft stroke it felt as if he was in some kind of heaven, how could this made come from the same family as her failure of a brother "I'm sorry I didn't take this into account earlier Sombra, I mean I doubt you really ever needed to use anything but magic to carry things around" and on top of all that her voice was so soothing in his ear, everything was so perf-wait why was he thinking this? Why was he thinking any of this, it was wrong.
As Sombra snapped himself back into reality he replied "agreed, it was indeed very troublesome, though I much prefer being here without my magic than being locked away in the shadows for over a thousand years" Sombra replied while he was going back into his relaxed state more and more by the second.
BOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!
The two Royal ponies immediately leaped up at the sudden large explosion, they both gasped with shock before looking to the exit of the room "are we under attack?! Who is it now?! STATIS REPO-" Sombra cut himself off when he felt a hoof rest on his shoulder and turned to see Twilight smiling at him.
Twilight couldn't help but giggle slightly at Sombra's reaction, it felt like he may actually be a fun pony to be around "relax Sombra, that's just Pinkie, I guess it's eight already" the two turned their heads to the clock in her room and saw it was indeed 8 "here I'll go down and greet everyone while you finish getting ready ok?" Twilight explained before leaving the room.
Sombra just stood there for a few seconds, no one was that calm around him ever, maybe Celestia however Sombra always had the theory that was all an act and that Celestia was some kind of war Lord, however with Twilight her smile and laugh were definitely 100% genuine, it was almost nice to see something other then fear for a change. Sombra got out of his thoughts, deciding not to think of it any further and headed back to his room to finish getting ready, it was his party so he'd most likely be the centre of attention, so he had to be prepared.
<*>
As Twilight went down the halls she heard more and more blasts from the party canon, it sounded like a war was going on in her very castle, Twilight could only smile however as she entered the main room and saw Pinkie setting up the final decorations for the party, cupcakes, cookies, balloons crystals and many more littered the castle in a random but at the same time organised manner, it was quite impressive, Twilight continued to look around and saw the rest of her friends trotting towards her, Rainbow dash, Apple Jack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Starlight, Tempest....wait "TEMPEST?!" Twilight quickly rushed over and hugged her friend tightly who reeled back slightly in surprise "it's so good to see you!!" Twilight gleamed.
Tempest was slightly taken aback from the surprise hug as she lightly brushed Twilight off "it's good to see you as well Twilight, I was near by and Pinkie told me about this party for a new friend of yours, speaking of which, where is he?" Tempest asked as she began to glance around until she spotted the unicorn King who was currently grinning at Tempest. Tempest immediately jumped in front of Twilight and pointed her broken horn at the unicorn King as sparks began to come from her horn "Everyone stay behind me! I'll deal with this monster!" Tempest warned with a growl.
Surprisingly Sombra seemed to be enjoying this with a massive grin as he slowly stepped down the stare case "my my aren't you very jumpy, how's about you use that brain of yours or lack their of to think about what's going on" Sombra mocked seeming to enjoy every second of this.
Tempest had enough of this and was about to fire a full powered blast at the unicorn King, that was until Twilight got between them "Tempest wait! Sombra is....well..he's the friend this is for" Twilight smiled awkwardly as Tempest's jaw dropped from shock.
She looked at Sombra and back to Twilight, then to Sombra and back to Twilight, she did this a few more times before she was about to speak again until she was cut off by Sombra "So now that you know who I am and I know who you are Tempest still party can finally begin" Sombra announced before he picked up a piece of cake and proceeded to eat it before wandering off.
As the party continued Twilight was getting more and more concerned, Tempest and Sombra seemed to settle things with glares from a distance but besides that Sombra was secluding himself from everyone else, sitting in one of the far corners eating cake, sure he seemed fine but he wasn't going to be reformed like this, sure he wasn't too bad but was that due to lack of magic or cause he was actually being reformed, Twilight felt that most likely it was the former and once Sombra got his magic back he'd probably do as he promised and try to kill everyone! There was no way Twilight was going to let that happen and so she marched right over to Sombra who had some cake crumbs on the side of his mouth, he quickly swallowed the slice he was eating and wiped the crumbs off his face with a napkin before turning to Twilight "my my princess I must admit I wasn't expecting this party to be this interesting, I suppose miss pinkie truly has a talent for this besides it just being plastered on her flank" Sombra commented as he glanced around at the decorations, it was good to see that the unicorn King could indeed appreciate a good party, something Twilight would need to add onto her list of 'facts about Sombra'
Twilight giggled softly before nodding in agreement "yes I can definitely agree on that, though I was wondering if you could do me a favour?" Twilight asked slightly shyly as she rubbed her hoof awkwardly.
Sombra's face turned from a curious look into a grin as he leaned forward and whispered into Twilight's ear "if you are asking me if you wanna go off and have some private fun I think we should wait till everyone else leaves, then we can have all the fun you wa-"
Sombra was cut off due to a hoof to the face "ew no! Not even close! Look... I think you should apologise to Tempest, now yes I think she should apologise as well however I think this would be an important part of your reformation if you do this and...if you do...tomorrow we can do....whatever you want" Twilight purposed "as long as you apologise to Tempest, interact kindly with everyone and thank Pinkie once the party is over....deal?" Twilight asked before raising a hoof to Sombra.
The unicorn King pondered the offer for a moment, he didn't really have anything to lose besides having to interact with those of lower status, but if he got to do whatever he wanted the next day that surely tipped the scales into this offer seeming reasonable. Once Sombra had finished weighing out his options he took Twilight's hoof and they shook on agreement, Sombra had a big grin on his face while Twilight looked very nervous, unsure if this was truly a good idea or if she merely just sealed her doom against the unicorn King.
Without a word King Sombra began to walk towards Twilights other friends as Twilight followed close behind. Tempest glared at Sombra as he walked up to them, however the unicorn King just had a wide smirk on his face before bowing his head slightly to her "my apologies for my behaviour earlier and I hope you can forgive me" he apologised, a hint of sarcasm in his tone though for the most part it seemed genuine.
Everyone looked at the two with wide eyes of surprise, Tempest blushed slightly in embarrassment due to all the eyes locked on her, she then let out a deep sigh before responding to the unicorn King "thank you Sombra and..I'm sorry as well for attacking you immediately, I guess I just feared you were coming for Twilight, though Pinkie has told me about what happened and if this helps" Tempest then tapped on her broken horn "I know what it's like for a part of you to be taken away as well"
Tempest smiled and Sombra couldn't help but smile slightly as well, that thought did indeed help him a bit "are you two gonna kiss already? Cause if you are I don't wanna see it" the two unicorns eyes widened and they turned to the source of the sound to see Spike.
The two unicorns began to scold and threaten the baby dragon while everyone else just laughed at the weird turn of events. For the rest of the party however everything seemed to work fine, Sombra interacted with everypony (with as little as possible that is) and there were no further problems, as the party came to a close Sombra decided to complete the next part of his agreement and trotted up to Pinkie who seemed to magically be sucking all the decorations back into her party canon "Ms Pinkie Pie, I would like to thank you for this magnificent celebration of my arrival, I hope to come to more parties in the future, however could you keep it to one card invitation instead of...all of them?"
Pinkie smiled widely at the words of praise and forcefully shook the unicorns kings hoof to the point he could feel his body being lifted slightly off the ground "okey dokey lokey!! Well I should be going now! By everypony!!" With that Pinkie Pie dashed off in an instant while Sombra tried to explain to himself how did she do that?
The party was now over and everyone was taking their leave, meanwhile the pressure of the situation Sombra put himself in was beginning to dawn on him, while yes he got to decide what they did for one day if he didn't play his cards right Twilight may attempt to get revenge on him the day after, it was clear to him now, he needed a plan, fast.
Author's Note
Thanks everyone once again for your support! I hope this chapter was enjoyable! 👍🏻
Later that night after the party the unicorn King, Sombra was currently pacing up and down his room while contemplating his plans for the next day, he had a good opportunity yes, however he couldn't do anything too drastic, he couldn't ask Twilight to assist in any kind of vengeance, she wouldn't do that just because of some deal, on top of that he didn't want to do anything that would cause Twilight to want to get revenge the day after, it didn't matter if he had control for one day if she'd have control the next and the rest of the days, this was ridiculous! King Sombra, thee King Sombra! Was concerned over a little inexperienced princesses!? This was absolutely, what would Equestria think if he saw the unicorn King in this situation, what would Celestia think?... That's when the idea hit him, perhaps what he did wouldn't be to get a reaction from Twilight but....everyone else... Oh this was going to be good.
<*>
Spike after the very long and strange day began getting ready for bed, however as soon as he sat down he heard knocking on his door, the baby dragon grumbled a few words he knew he wasn't allowed say before sluggishly heading towards the door, once he reached the door he saw Sombra who had pen and paper in his mouth that he then dropped on the floor, Spike was too tired to care though, he just wanted to sleep "dragon, I need your assistance with a letter to that damned Celestia.
Spike just sighed and took the pen and paper and began writing as Sombra spoke, he wasn't really paying attention, just unconsciously writing what was asked if him while Sombra watched with a devilish smile, his smile only growing once Spike blew his signature green flame onto the letter and let it release into the sky and drifted off towards canterlot.
<*>
The next day Celestia woke up from a relaxing and peaceful sleep, as she stretched out her long feathery wings she noticed a small note on the mantel piece, she smiled assuming it was from Twilight, Celestia trotted calmly over to the mantel piece and took the letter in her magic and slowly opening it, what was inside however shook her to the core.
Greetings you damned Alicorn
Celestia slowly peeled her eyes away from the letter before her eyes darted back to the letter to read it again and again and again, it took till the 20th time till Celestia accepted that her eyes were not playing an early mourning prank on her, what was before her right now was a note from Sombra about a....date with....Twilight. Celestia slowly left the room with this lingering thought in her mind, this was indeed far beyond what she had expected in terms of the unicorn Kings schemes, damn Sombra, he truly is a genius, though Celestia felt more than just worry weighing on her mind, there was something more she just couldn't fully tell what it was, frustration? But why? Well it didn't matter now Celestia had royal duties to attend to.
<*>
The next mourning after sending his very interesting letter to the alicorn princess Sombra seemed quite pleased with himself, how would Celestia react? How would the world react? So many wonderful questions that may even start a mass panic, after all if Sombra gained another royal title and became King of ponyvill no one would feel safe, this was truly the ultimate scare tactic to let Celestia know that this would not be as easy as a friendship tutorial.
Once Sombra made it to the kitchen he found none other than Twilight Sparkle there, giving him a welcoming smile, it was kind of nice, though Sombra was also interested to find what that would change into later in the day "good morning Sombra!" She greeted "turns out there was some left over cake from yesterday so I thought it would be fun to have for breakfast" she explained before using her magic to push a plate closer to the part of the table Sombra currently sat in, Sombra thanked her for the food and then began to dig in. However there was one more topic Twilight wished to address "so, since you have full control over what happens today I was curious what you'd want to do once we are done breakfast?"
Sombra lifted his head from his food, due to not being able to use a knife and fork properly without his magic. After licking a few crumbs off of his face he responded "I was thinking perhaps we could head to the ever free forest, while yes your little village is....tolerable it is too colourful and and bright for my taste, feels as if it was aimed towards little kids, from what I've seen and heard from the everfree forest however it does indeed sound interesting" he replied, actually seeming intrigued.
While the Everfree forest wasn't exactly a place Twilight felt too comfortable going to it could be a good way to help Sombra feel more comfortable, besides she made a promise and she wasn't going to break it just because she's a bit nervous about the everfree forest, that would be completely ridiculous "sure! I think you'll enjoy it, though just to warn you there isn't really much there" she explained.
Once the two royals finished their cakes Twilight quickly combed Sombra's mane and the two of them left the castle and headed for the everfree forest, as usual no one was used to seeing Sombra around ponyvill and everyone was terrified, however right now it was a mid of fear and confusion due to the happy smile on the princess of Friendships face as she walked beside the now scowling King who was glaring at everyone around him.
Sombra then had an idea, he wanted to get a reaction out of the ponies of ponyvill, perhaps this would be a good opportunity to start enacting that plan, he playfully nudged Twilight with his shoulder causing her to turn and look at him in confusion, when she looked at him she saw his devilish grin smeared across his face, he then leaned in close to Twilight's ear and whispered "come on Sparkle there's nothing wrong with some fun banter, besides if we look like we are getting along perhaps these commoners will learn to lighten up a bit" he explained. As Sombra was talking however he looked around to see all the surprised looks on ponies faces around him, he could see the headlines now 'princess of Friendship falls for monstrous King, all hope is lost!' Oh how fun that would be to watch.
Sombra was then taken out of his trait of thought when he felt something nudging his side, he turned his head to see Twilight giving him a sly smirk before nudging him again with her side and leaning in towards the Kings ear and whispering "sure, why not, but know this my King you can't woo me so easily, catch me if you can!" With that Twilight ran off laughing to herself.
The unicorn King looked at the young princess with wide eyes, before a slight smirk crept onto his face as he began to chase after her, laughing slightly as he did so, it was weird, he was enjoying himself doing something that he truly found to be completely childish, it wasn't worth questioning however as he continued chasing after the young made, manoeuvring himself around multiple ponies as he began to be catching up to Twilight.
Twilight was giggling to herself as she continued running, she then noticed the everfree forest in front of her and came to a stop in front of the large forest, she then turned around to in form Sombra they made it only for the unicorn King to crash into her as he attempted to and failed to stop himself before the collision, the two tumbled downwards together into the everfree forest, only to stop once they banged against a tree which stopped all their rolling momentum causing both their heads to bang off the bark, Sombra winced in pain only to see Twilight above him giving him an awkward smile "heheh...whoops" she joked before breaking into laughter, her head resting against the Kings chest as she continued to laugh "I haven't had that much fun in ages and to think it happened during a reforming session of all things" she gasped through her laughter.
Sombra looked down at the mare in confusion, this was a princess, princesses were regal and focused when in the presence of others, unless of course they were a family member or a friend of sorts that they didn't have to pull a facade with, that realisation caused Sombra to ask something he never thought he would "Twilight, do you consider me a...friend?" He asked, tilting his head slightly.
Twilight glanced up at him before readjusting herself so they were on a more equal level "well, I guess kind of, I mean you are mean sometimes and I don't even want to imagine what things you think about sometimes but...while we are here and I'm reforming you I guess I do see you as a friend...but.." Twilight let out a sigh which made Sombra even more curious "that only worries me more, I-I'm worried if you do get your powers back I'll have to face you and... I don't know if if be prepared to fight you after all this" she explained with a sigh before resting a head on his shoulder "I don't even know why I'm telling you this honestly, I don't even know if you care...just don't tell anyone else ok?! I don't want anyone thinking this is too much for me to handle!" She warned with a slight snort"
Sombra couldn't help but be surprised, though his surprised look turned into a sly smirk "I promise you Twilight, I won't be telling anyone of your uneasiness, since I would have to interact with your friends more than I do when you ask me to, as for the other thing you mentioned, as of now I do indeed care, will I care once I get my magic back? I don't know, will I attack you when I get my magic back? I don't know, do I know if I'll ever get my magic back?....I truly don't know, I don't know anything anymore..whenever I try to use my magic and it doesn't work I lose more and more hope, I've built my life off of power and control...now I have nothing.... Except you" Twilight's face turned to surprise once she heard this however before she could say anything Sombra continued "you've helped me...you did things I couldn't for me...I needed you to look after me and I..hate it, I can't do anything anymore, I'm becoming friendly with someone I despise I...I'm not even me anymore!! I'm a pony with no magic! A King with no Kingdom! I'm a citizen! A pony with a now worthless horn!... I hate it...but..if it wasn't for you Twilight...I would be stuck with nothing but my most hated enemies, I don't hate you as much as everyone else Twilight, when you defeated me I saw it as another defeat by that damned Celestia so...I guess I'm grateful that I'm with you and not someone else... Don't speak of this to anyone!" He warned.
Twilight stared wide eyed at him, taking in everything he just said to her, he actually opened up to her, the evil King Sombra finally seemed to trust Twilight enough to tell her his troubles, it may have been a bit unsettling but it was genuine and that alone made Twilight smile as she hugged Sombra around the waist, while she heard Sombra shouting "unhand me!" She just snuggled close to him and spoke calmly "Sombra..whether you do turn back to your evil ways or not, I am grateful that we got to spend this time together, even if you needed to lose your magic for it to happen and I promise I will do my best to see you as a good friend" she promised with a caring smile.
Sombra sighed "yes well let's move away from all this mushy stuff already, can you please get off me now already?" He asked, though it was more a demand.
Twilight complied before rising to her hoofs and held a hoof out to help the unicorn King "sorry about that, I guess I just sort of got carried away" she chuckled awkwardly as she helped Sombra up before dusting herself off.
Sombra turned his neck slightly, causing a slight pop from his neck "now then, there was something I wanted to discuss with you while we were out here, you mentioned before how you do not see yourself as worthy of your title as princess, so I feel like it is time that we fix that, you are in front of a King after all" Twilight looked at him with slight concern and scepticism "oh do not fear Twilight, I'm not going to tell you to in salve ponies, that isn't your style and I understand times gave changed, now walk with me, I still want to see the everfree forest after all" he explained before he began to walk off, eager to learn Twilight quickly caught up and walked beside him "a ruler when in front of her subjects must be regal, that means a lot more than one would originally think, for example" Sombra turned so that he was in front of Twilight causing her to stop, Sombra lifted her chin up slightly "you must have your chin raised, especially with your smaller stature, you need to be looking down on your subjects" Sombra demonstrated with his head raised slightly, looking down on the princess of friendship "of course from me it seems intimidating, but done differently it can be comforting as well, which brings me to the next point, if you want to be a ruler that helps your subjects be at ease, around you and at ease knowing they'll be ok you have to smile, not too much however, then it looks dis genuine and that's the worst possible thi-" Sombra stopped as he saw Twilight raise a hoof, clearly to ask a question "yes, what is it?" He asked.
"Why do I need to look down on everypony and how exactly is it comforting, also..what if someone's taller than me?" She asked slightly awkwardly.
Sombra began trotting around her "yes that could be a problem, that is why you will grow, you must change your diet, the food that you are eating while delicious will not assist you in gaining height, of course it will happen eventually however since you became an Alicorn at an older age while already fully grown your growth process has had to start again, which will make it take longer, there are ways we can fix this however, starting with your wings" Sombra explained as he placed a hoof on her wing, wings of an alicorn when extended allow the alicorn to look bigger than they truly are, not to mention if you have them tucked up so much you won't be recognised as a princess, if you are not recognised as a princess you'll definitely not be ready to take the mantle, which is also why your royal attire is important, have you seen Celestia without her crown before?" Sombra asked, Twilight thought for a moment before shaking her head "exactly, it is what allows her to represent her nation as a ruler, this is also why height is important" Sombra explained before looming over Twilight, his shadow covering her, she backed away slightly however the King just moved closer once again "height is used to threaten as it insinuates superiority, however if a princess is kind and can stand tall it shows they are ready to protect their people, acting like a normal pony as you attempt to do could be seen as incompetence if in front of the wrong ponies, you will look incompetent and if someone attacks and they can't trust their princess, all hope is lost, so you must stand tall, for their sake and yours, do you understand?"
Twilight was almost lost for words, all of this coming from...from Sombra? She learned so much in just about a minute, more information in such a short time then she'd ever learned from Celestia in ten times that length, while Celestia laid down hints to put her in the right direction Sombra was direct and emphasised the importance of what he was saying, it was pressuring yes, but it had to her! She was a princess ruling a kingdom, she couldn't risk learning from mistakes , she needed to know...now "I understand, please teach me more" she replied, her voice slightly sterner this time and her head raised, she extended her wings out slightly instead of having them plastered tightly to her sides.
Sombra almost looked impressed as he began to circle the young unicorn directing her to move her hooves closer together to emphasise her height that slight bit more "now, smile" he stated, his voice stern, Twilight smiled slightly, her lips slightly parted as she did so and a slight quiver could be noticed in her smile, Sombra shook his head "it's easier if you keep your lips together, don't try showing your teeth while smiling, you'll strain yourself after a while if you keep that up for too long, that will cause something like this" Sombra shoved a hoof into a bad her had rapped around his waist, he seemed to bring it around often these days for collecting souvenirs and other sorts, he took out a newspaper and showed it to Twilight, it was Luna in a picture with orphans outside the orphanage, she had a large scowl plastered across her face "perhaps Luna needs my guidance as much as you do" Sombra joked before he continued walking.
That was when another question popped into Twilight's mind "um Sombra, if you don't mind me asking, where's your cutie mark?" She asked, as soon as she finished her sentence the unicorn stopped mid stride, he placed both hooves back on the floor before turning to Twilight "simple princess, it doesn't exist" with that Sombra continued but Twilight wasn't done "but..what do you mean, you never found your special talent?! Never? But you've done so much, how could yo-"
As Twilight was about to finish her sentence Sombra quickly did a one 180 degree turn and backed Twilight up against a large rock, scowling at her in anger "I had a cutie mark!..but not anymore, I don't want to discuss it, come on, you still need to learn" with that Sombra continued on.
Twilight looked down at her hooves, she raised her head up slightly higher than normal and brought her chest forwards, her wings once again extending slightly outwards as she followed the King, it was hard to take the pose so seriously however when even with Sombra slightly slumped he still clearly towered over Twilight "your next step is to be able to speak clearly to a large number of ponies at once, any ruler must be capable of making a proper speech that everyone, even those still in their homes can hear, this is what your princesses may refer to as A ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE!! " Sombra's words boomed through the air, almost sending Twilight backwards with the force of the sound waves, his words reached all across ponyvill, absolutely everyone heard it "though of course we shouldn't practice that now, otherwise we may cause a mass panic which I'm sure you don't want, though you should make sure you have it for when needed".
The two rulers continued on and as they did Twilight learned far more, how to stand, how to talk but most importantly how to take action.
Twilight growled and stood tall once again "YES I UNDERSTAND!!" She boomed with a Royal canterlot voice "..I understand, not all lives can be saved, I...understand" she sighed.
Sombra appeared to be rather pleased, he then placed a hoof on Twilight's cheek and smirked "there you go, I could feel the anger in your voice, the power that came from it, but words are one thing, actions are another, if you can only speak your enemies can easily go for your tongue, if you were around a thousand years ago and went against me the first thing that would happen to you is you would lose your tongue and your crown, you must show that you have power without those things, I have lost my magic but I still have the physical strength to fight and if I had to I would, you have the magic of a unicorn, the flight of a pegasi and the strength of an earth pony, you must use it, you must master it and you must.not.fail.
Twilight nodded and smiled slightly "thank you Sombra..really, thank you, I needed to hear that, you thought me far more than anyone else and I am extremely grateful, I promise you that whatever needs to be done will be done, for now on in ponyvill every decision will go through me, I will make sure to take action without restrictions" her smile brightend before resting her head against Sombra's chest "must be nice, teaching someone something you don't know if you'll ever get to do again, passing your knowledge onto somepony else, and now I will return the favour by continuing to reform you, by the end of this you not only have your magic but will live in piece, I'll make sure of that...well I don't know about the magic part" Twilight joked with a giggle, surprisingly she managed to get a chuckle out of the unicorn King as well.
The two of them looked towards the sky, it was then they realised they had in fact spent hours out here, not one hour or two, possibly four, maybe even five. Twilight then turned to Sombra, tilting her head slightly "so Sombra, any other plans?" she asked before glancing over to ponyvill.
Sombra thought for a moment before responding "yes actually, I made sure to have plans, I noticed an interesting restaurant while you gave me that tour through ponyvill, would be an interesting change from the norm, wouldn't you agree?" He asked.
Twilight moved closer to him and nodded "I think that sounds lovely, should we head off now then?" She asked.
Sombra chuckled before nodding in response "yes I think that would be best, while the everfree forest is indeed an interesting place I can't help but feeling no matter where we go we might as well be in the same place" he joked as the two of them began heading back to ponyvill while Sombra thought to himself "let the games begin".
<*>
The two of them made it to the restaurant that Sombra mentioned earlier. It wasn't a restaurant that Twilight recognised, Sombra explained to her how it was only built recently, the company who runs it has five star restaurants across Equestria and had recently come to ponyvill due to the small area with a big population, there was one question that was on the tip of her tongue that Twilight felt she had to ask "how do you know all this?! I don't know this stuff!" She asked in shock, this wasn't the same as Sombra having knowledge lost to time or discovering things tat were only in the history books years later, this was something that happened just now in her village and yet Sombra knew...but she didn't.
Sombra couldn't help but laugh at her dumbfounded expression, but he felt like she deserved an explanation "consider it a part of your training Twilight, a ruler must know what us going on at all times, in fact all decisions should be coming through you, you must make sure for now on in ponyvill nothing happens without you knowing, do you understand?" He asked in a stern tone, almost as if he was scolding her.
Twilight nodded in understanding "what about the mayor though? Mare Mayor runs ponyvi-" "simple, she must be toned down, this Mare Mayor could be an advisor of sorts or could simply organise your paper work for you, I know that you don't want solders and workers and such, however you must understand this is about you protecting your people and that means keeping them in check, if you wish I can help organise any needed interviews or advertising, though I don't think too much advertisement will be needed, ponyvill is small after all." Sombra explained "however these changes can be put in place another day, whenever or however you see fit, just know these changes are important, enemies do not and will not stay quiet" he warned her, returning to his stern tone.
Twilight nodded and gulped slightly, all this was so much to take in at once, however Sombra was right, what he said made sense, perhaps she truly did need to step up and take control, though there wasn't much point in dwelling on it now, there was food to be eaten after all.
So they then walked into the restaurant side by side, once they entered they were about to be greeted by the receptionist...until he noticed Sombra and suddenly let out a very girlish scream. Sombra sighed with annoyance and gestured his head to Twilight "t-table for t-two I'm guessing?" The receptionist asked in a shaky tone and Sombra simply nodded in response and so they were then guided to their table and they both sat down, Twilight using her magic to pull out Sombra's chair for him and push it in once he was sat down.
"I'll have the salad" "I'll have the veggie burger" they both said in unison before looking up at each other, both chuckling in unison "you should really bring meat back to this village, you have a forest almost fully surrounding this place after all, very convenient" he commented.
Twilight shook her head "pony's have been kind to animals for many years now Sombra, Fluttershy looks after far too many to pass such a law at this stage, though I suppose perhaps a village vote is in order." She replied and Sombra nodded "though, there is one other thing I wanted to ask you?...did you know Starswirl?" Twilight asked with almost pleading eyes, hoping dearly Sombra wouldn't just try and avoid the question.
Sombra sighed before looking her dead in the eyes "he was my friend, for a time he was the only one that I could have a decent conversation with, I'm sure you've heard by now Starswirl never understood friendship correct?" Twilight nodded "this is a lie, he understood friendship, but later feared to become too close to anyone again, that is the mark I left in his life, no I did not try to murder him, no I did not attack him, no I did not betray him....but I did show him something he will never unsee, something he fears... Starswirl the bearded is the first besides me to see dark magic, dark magic far beyond what you showed in the crystal empire, the dark magic I have feeds off of fear, anger, rage, disparity and much much more, once Starswirl saw what I had become...he ran and I never saw him again, but let me tell you another piece of history, you know the story of Equestria before Alicorns yes?" He asked.
Twilight was taken out of her stunned mind set and nodded "y-yes, Earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns didn't get along, Earth ponies worked for both unicorn and pegasi for good whether and sun rays. Starswirl helped the unicorns raise the sun, however whenever they did they lost their magi-" "Starswirl was not the only one, Celestia was not the first to raise the sun alone and Luna was not the first to raise the moon alone, I was. I King Sombra helped Equestria, I showed them my power and knowledge, however everything I did had high amounts of payment attached to it that many refused, all except Starswirl, I thought him and eventually we thought each other...then Celestia came, she could raise the sun with less strain then I and Starswirl and so he passed on what I thought him...onto Celestia, I refused to teach her however, an Alicorn was nothing to me, Celestia and Luna were nothing but ponies born with gifts to make their lives easier, I scratched and clawed! Meanwhile they waltzed in...I almost ruled Canterlot you know, Starswirl suggested that we could potentially bring all three races together, however Celestia's presence did that in an instant and thus her and Luna ruled meanwhile I left to find bigger things for myself and eventually became the unicorn that I am, the dark tyrant unicorn King Sombra!" He stated, almost as if announcing it to everyone in the restaurant, just then their food came and he quickly left to conversation and went to his meal.
Twilight was shocked by what she heard, how much of what she was told was a lie? How many books told lies? What if Sombra was the one stating the lie? But why would he? He couldn't predict this conversation would occurs, Twilight brought it up not Sombra, he didn't lead into it or anything, there was no way Sombra was lying... Celestia lied.. The history books lied. "Twilight are you ok?" Twilight bounced out of her trait of thought and back to Sombra "you haven't eaten yet, you've just been staring at the wall for a good few minutes now, I understand that must have been a lot to take in but you should eat, that's why we are here after all" Twilight sighed but nodded and the two began to eat.
As the two royals continued eating they heard music being played, they turned to see what seemed to be a ball as multiple couples stood up and began to dance together, an idea sprung into the Kings mind as he turned to Twilight "shall we?" He asked.
Twilights's eyes widened before she began looking around unsure if she just heard someone who sounded like Sombra ask somepony else, however once she turned back to Sombra and saw that he was waiting for an answer she began to stutter "oh, uh, I-I've never be-been good at danci-" "and from what you've told me you were never good at ruling and so I thought you, I can teach you more than just that and if you allow me to teach you this perhaps I will be more open to share with you my knowledg-" "I'm in!" Twilight announced before standing up and carrying Sombra over to the dance floor with her magic.
Once Twilight let what she was getting herself into sink in her face began to turn slightly red, not only because all shocked faces were on the two of them but also the fact that she was about to dance with a unicorn she went from fearing to almost admiring, they went from enemies to at least temporary friends and now this? Everything was going in a direction Twilight didn't expect "soooo, heheh, how do we start?" She asked, breaking the silence.
Sombra chuckled as he took Twilight's hoof in his own "your thirst for knowledge truly does interest me Twilight, I am very impressed, but yes there's no point in just standing around, we'll start with the basics, I will lead, you will follow" with that the two began and as Sombra said he led and Twilight followed, after a few minutes they had a nice calm rhythm going, everything around the two became non existent, there was just Twilight and Sombra. Twilight now feeling far more comfortable leaned in closer to the unicorn King, her head against his chest as they continued. It was peaceful, it was safe, Twilight finally felt at ease with the unicorn King.
Meanwhile Sombra felt proud, proud in himself, oh the fun this was going to bring, he saw the looks on ponies faces, some taking pictures even, he didn't stop them of course, he wanted this, what would happen next? How would the princesses react? That's what Sombra was dying to see.
<*>
After their long day the two began to head home, while they were out they had some glasses of wine and stayed up till late hours of the night and so Twilight was very tired and currently rested on the unicorn Kings back, snuggling against his black mane, he didn't mind, she was light after all, though if she started moving too much then there'd definitely be problems. As Sombra continued on he saw a dark shadow loom over head, he stood his ground to see none other than the princess of the night land before him, a weary look on her face as she glanced from Sombra's fiery eyes to Twilight peacefully asleep on his back and then back to Sombra. After a few moments she spoke "what are you plotting Sombra?" She asked, seeming slightly concerned.
Sombra then began to step forward, as he did so their size difference became more clear, Luna attempted to raise herself higher by raising her wings in a threatening manner however Sombra didn't flinch, instead he trotted straight up to Celestia, his metal armour making clanking sounds with every step that seemingly echoed through Luna's ears, until finally she needed to arch her neck upwards to see into Sombra's eyes who was now looming above her, giving her a mix between a glare and a grin "what do you mean princess, all I did was take your princess for a fun night out, she seemed like she needed it after all" Sombra defended in a smug tone.
Luna quickly backed away, a slight shiver running down her spine as she saw the grin growing on the unicorn Kings face, it absolutely disgusted her "do not take me for a fool Sombra, I read the letter you sent my sister, I know you are attempting to get into her head however that shalt not work, as long as I live you will always be on the losing end, I promise you that!" She warned with a scowl.
Sombra's grin fell, his expression replaced with an annoyed pout "will I now, and how is that going to happen, you aren't exactly helping with my reforming process, all you are doing is reminding me why I despise you and your sister, the both of you are so controlling, when there's an obstacle in my way I break through however with you, you Luna take that obstacle and try to completely change it, brain wash it, make it into something it is not. You did it to Discord and now attempt to do it to me" Sombra glared.
The night princess shook her head however "wrong Sombra, I didn't take part in the decision to reform Discord, I don't agree in the decision to reform you I-" "So much excuses Luna, I am truly disappointed, another thing I despise about you, you're supposed to be equal to Celestia and yet take responsibility for nothing! You are not the princess you claim to be Luna, you are merely a dream therapist"
Luna gasped before growling in anger before allowing magic to slowly build into her horn, however Sombra then turned to his side so Luna could have perfect view of the young princess of friendship on the unicorn Kings back. Luna sighed and retracted her attack "know this Sombra...I refuse to allow you to manipulate any pony...I refuse to let your words sink into me, whatever you are planning...if anything you will fail."
Sombra yawned, basically cutting off Luna's speech before he began to walk around the night princess "that's great Luna, now if you excuse me I'm going ho-" Sombra cut himself off right away "uh, I'm going back to Twilight's castle...good day" and with that he began to trot off and Luna looked a bit surprised, could Sombra actually see Twilight's castle as his home? Just how much progress has she made on that tyrant already? Perhaps there is hope...after all.
<*>
Sombra made it back to the castle, nudging the door open with his head before walking in, he smiled when he felt Twilight nuzzling against him as she keg out a soft yawn. Sombra chuckled before letting out a yawn of his own, it was clear they were both very tired. The unicorn King began to sluggishly trot up the stairs to Twilight's room, he then carefully lay Twilight on the bed before letting out a tired sigh.
Sombra looked over at the door, but then turned back to Twilight and her soft bed "screw it, I'm too tired now" and with that Sombra went under the covers and lay next to the princess of friendship before closing his eyes and slowly drifting off to sleep.
Twilight slowly began to wake up from her peaceful slumber, she felt as if she hadn't slept that well in years, her covers felt so much softer now than ever before as she cuddled up against them even more, that was when the young mare heard a quiet grown, she could tell it wasn't from herself and it didn't really sound like Spike.
Twilight reluctantly opened her eyes slightly to investigate however to her surprise instead of seeing her ordinary purple covers she found herself snuggling against something....grey...and black.. It didn't take Twilight long to realise she wasn't alone as she heard Sombra's quiet and soft snores. Twilight began to wonder how this happened, as she began to retrace yesterday however she realised the last thing she could remember was...drinking with....Sombra.
"AHHH " Twilight gasped as the realisation of what may of happened last night began to dawn on her as she scrambled off of the bed. Surprisingly Sombra didn't awake from the princesses outburst, he seemed to be tired, very tired. Therefore Twilight didn't see any problem in letting him sleep, after all there was a chance nothing happened last night at all and Sombra was quite possibly the only one who could confirm of deconfirm that so getting him annoyed wouldn't be the best idea. Twilight smiled at the sleeping stallion, he seemed like he was perfectly at piece... That piece only lasted a few more moments however as the unicorn King began to twitch, his once calm relaxed body began to toss and turn frantically, his soft snores began to turn into violent growls "no...n-no!" He begged as he continued to lay there completely hopeless.
Twilight quickly rushed to the unicorn Kings side, shaking him lightly in hopes of waking him from what Twilight could only imagine was a terrifying nightmare "Sombra! Sombra please you have to wake up! It's me Twilight! I'm here for you! Please!" She pleaded to the unicorn King, however it didn't seem to work as one of his flaying hooves kicked the young Pegasus away from him. Twilight was now definitely worried, Sombra wouldn't wake up, he wasn't calming down, if anything he was getting worse, it was as if he was trapped, in a nightmare he could never wake up from.
That was when Twilight heard a flash of magic coming from downstairs. The young alicorn had a good idea on who it was, it must of been Celestia, it had to be Celestia, Celestia would know what to do and if Luna was there then surely they could help, Luna does know more about dreams then anyone after all. Twilight took off as fast as could, almost tripping over herself as she rushed to the two princesses.
Luckily for Twilight her assumptions were right, standing before her in the throne room were now the two Royal sisters Celestia and Luna who both seemed confused and concerned at Twilight's frantic nature "Sombra is in trouble! He-he needs help!" Twilight gasped. The two Royal sisters traded looks of worry before nodding to the young alicorn who quickly led them upstairs. Once the two sisters reached the top of the stairs they could hear Sombra's groans of pain coming from Twilight's room, Luna quickly rushed in and went to Sombra's side who was now on the floor instead of on the bed, in Luna's eyes anyone having a nightmare was her responsibility, Sombra was no different. Luna lowered her horn to Sombra's forehead and began to release her dream magic while Celestia held Twilight close for comfort who was currently worried sick for the unicorn King.
<*>
Luna found herself in a dark castle, the walls smeared with blood and the cries and groans of the unicorn King still echoed loud and clear "damn you!" He barked in anger, Luna almost winced at his harsh tone, but this was no time for fear, Sombra needed her help and even though he was a monster no pony deserved to be tortured by their own mind. Luna followed the sound of the unicorn Kings voice, she was growing closer she could tell, however once she made it she was staring at a sight she never ever expected.
A dream manifestation of Celestia and Luna bother stood over a chained and bloody Sombra, only being held up by the chains tightly wrapped around his neck and his front hooves, meanwhile he was forced to kneel before the nightmare Royal sisters who grinned at the helpless King who growled with eyes filled with hatred "BEGONE FOUL BEATS " Luna demanded, blasting the two nightmare princesses out of the Kings mind as the chains also faded away, leaving a now unscratched Sombra standing face to face with the princess of the night "is this what you think of us?" Luna asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.
Sombra turned away from her, letting out another low growl "it isn't what I think, but what I know, I know you and your sister all too well, I know you plan of stripping me of everything I worked for, my title my crown my everything! After all it wouldn't be the first time you tried to wipe me from history, I heard about how you changed the events of what happened before you and your damn sister ruled, Starswirl gets credit but I don't? Probably cause he helped you is that it? He was useful was he? You use and manipulate that's all you ever do! That's why I see you in my dreams like this...the way you truly are."
Luna glanced away slightly, as if trying to shield herself from the barage of hard facts thrown at her "I'm...sorry Sombra...however what you must understand that you spread false accusations about us as well, you claimed that we were dangerous, that we only helped with the sun and the moon out of convenie-" "I'll stop making those claims once I actually hear why it took you so long to help us princess! however until then I am going to wake up now. Leave me..."
<*>
The unicorn King shot awake gasping for air, his head quickly jerked left and right to check his surroundings till he noticed the two sisters, Sombra scrambled to his feet and got into a defensive position, letting out a threatening growl "Twilight, why the hell are they here!" Sombra spat in anger. Twilight backed away slightly in fear at the towering unicorn King in front of her.
Celestia stood guard in front of Twilight, scowling at the unicorn King "if you must know Sombra, I was curious on your progress thus far and decided to come down and see for myself, conveniently if you didn't know normally around this time of year Luna Twilight and I come together for what I guess you could call a sort of princess night, so I thought this would be the perfect chance to also see your improvements...so far I don't see anything"
Sombra growled, raising his frame as he stomped towards Celestia, looking her dead in the eye "let's make this clear princess...I am not! Your test subject! So don't you dare go on about my progess now if you excuse me I'm going to get dressed" Sombra then took his attire and left the room to head to his own, shouldering Celestia as he did so.
Celestia and Luna then turned to Twilight who let out a deep sigh "why didn't you too give me some notice! You know Sombra hates you both! Now he'll be angry all day! Errr" Twilight then slammed her head into her pillow before letting out a deep sigh "why is this so annoying" Twilight sighed, trying to relax herself.
Celestia rested a wing over her young student to comfort her "I know Twilight and I'm sorry..I was just worried about you so I felt like I needed to come down to see how you are doing, he hasn't hurt you has he?" Celestia asked.
Twilight quickly backed away out of Celestia's wing "n-no! Of course not, he's grumpy sure but he also tries to care at least and yes we did actually make progress" Twilight seemed to be getting very frustrated causing a surprised look to come to the faces of the Royal sisters, Twilight then sighed once again "I'm..sorry, I was just so worried.. And then seeing the way Sombra acted and how you two reacted I... I thought you'd see him as a lost cause and...send him away" Twilight gulped slightly, not even wanting to think about the possibility.
Celestia and Luna traded surprised looks, but then Celestia smiled and held Twilight close "I'm so sorry Twilight, I didn't think this would have such an impact on you..though from your reaction it is clear to me that you and Sombra ave made a connection and for that I am definitely proud of you" Celestia said calmly as she smiled warmly.
<*>
After the princesses all relaxed they decided to go downstairs to have breakfast, when they got downstairs however they were surprised to see Sombra already preparing breakfast for everyone, Spike already enjoying his meal "wow you were right! How'd you know when they'd come in down to the second?" Spike said in amazement while eating a cheese and lettuce sandwich.
Sombra smirked as he got a plate of croissants and placed them on the table "oh please, it's very easy to predict patterns in how ponies think once you get used to them, perhaps I can teach you some time, anyways I didn't have much to work with ladies not to mention more time so I simply made 20 sandwiches each, and 20 croissants each, I hope you enjoy and no they're not poisoned, that wasn't an option with Spike here" Sombra chuckled before sitting down and beginning his meal.
The three royals looked wide eyed at all the food on the long table, they were upstairs for 5 minutes after Sombra left Twilight's room...where did he get the time to make all this? The princesses decided to to question this strange phenomenon and just decided it was a secret talent of Sombra's, so they all sat down and enjoyed their meals.
Celestia smiled, clearly enjoying her food "this is truly delicious Sombra, I'm very impressed, so I'm assuming Twilight has been treating you well thus far? You definitely seem to be in good condition" Celestia commented, everything at this point had seemed to relax, helping Twilight feel far better about the situation.
Luna agreed as she wiped her lips with a napkin "agreed, I never knew you had such a talent, perhaps at some point to repay you we can invite you for dinner at canterlot castle at some point" Luna nodded before taking a bight out of another sandwich.
Sombra shrugged slightly before eating a croissant "perhaps, though I kind of feel like that isn't too necessary, mostly due to the fact I'm not sure I'll ever go to Canterlot again, in fact I'm surprised you two have even came to ponyvill, I would have thought you would focus on your own land and yet from what I've heard you two are worshipped here more than Twilight herself, what a shame indeed"
Celestia and Luna went quiet and back to their food, while Twilight began to think about what Sombra said, he was definitely right but it felt like that shouldn't be the way it is...she was princess of ponyvill after all, why were Celestia and Luna still seen as more important in ponyvill then she was, that's not how it's supposed to work.
As Celestia finished her meal she stood up and turned to Sombra "King Sombra, once you are done would you please come outside? I would like to speak with you privately" Celestia asked before leaving the room, that annoyed the unicorn King, she didn't even wait for a response, as if he had no choice but to go talk to her, however he truly couldn't help but wonder what the princess of the sun would want to speak to a tyrant about.
<*>
Once Sombra finished his meal he left the room without a word, no one needed to ask where he was going, they already knew. The unicorn King shouldered the front door open before looking around, eventually he spotted Celestia, who was sitting on top of a hill looking at the bright yellow sun in the sky "my my princess, if I knew you took so much pride in your work I would have took the sun hostage all those years ago" Sombra joked with a chuckle before sitting down beside the alicorn "so, what does the princess of canterlot want to do with me?" Sombra asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.
Celestia smiled and spoke without yet turning to Sombra "I'd like to ask you for a favour Sombra...it's about Twilight, you see, I'm worried about her..I feel like she doesn't fully understand the importance of being a princess, she focuses on her studies but has not even attempted to rule ponyvill. I can't just tell her to start now she'll freak out...but I also can't teach her cause like you said yourself I have responsibilities in Canterlot, you may have been a tyrant but you were a kind ruler once, you inspired your citizens in ways that amazed me and if you do this...I'll begin research into finding how to restore your magic" Celestia took in a deep breath before continuing "I know it's a lot to ask b-" "consider it done" Celestia's eyes widened slightly as she turned to the unicorn King in surprise, he sat up with pride, the light from the sun making him shine like never before "I have already begun teaching her, she'll learn, she'll progress and she'll get better. However in order to do this you must take that damn leash off of her, metaphorically speaking of course, you treat her like your child Celestia, remember she is an equal, not your student anymore, you made that decision the day you gave her her wings". Sombra scolded in a stern tone.
Celestia smiled and nodded before turning back to the sun "yes, perhaps you are right, though there is one more thing we must discuss "Celestia with a burst of magic summoned the letter Sombra had sent her, along with a newspaper with the headline of 'The Tyrant falls for the Princess' "why would you do that Sombra? What are you truly planning?" Celestia scowled, clearly not in the mood for games while Sombra just gave her a wicked smirk "come now Celestia, I already heard the rumours of you and Discord, so I decided why don't I start some rumours of my own and I knew you'd freak out from it of course" Sombra chuckled and Celestia couldn't help but laugh as well.
Celestia managed to calm down and looked up to the blue sky "I don't think you are pure evil Sombra, that's why I made this offer, however...that doesn't mean I amn't..afraid of what could happen, I know I can't just ask you not to hurt Twilight and expect you to comply...however I ask that you help Twilight, I can't bare losing her...not ever"
Sombra looked down as he began to think "fine..the only one I'll allow hurt Twilight will be me, that's the most I will promise" Sombra explained sternly.
Celestia nuzzled Sombra and smiled "I suppose I can take that, thank you so much Sombra, I'm very grateful". Celestia smiled.
Sombra chuckled and smirked as he looked down at the princess of the sun "I hate you Celestia..however after gaining your perspective, I understand you, I am your enemy and you are mine, though perhaps we shouldn't let that hinder our young Twilight and so.....I...offer you my friendship" Sombra reluctantly said "as long as I'm stuck here of course" he made sure to add.
Celestia nodded in agreement "I think I'd like that, very well Sombra, I accept your friendship...even if it turns out to be temporary" Celestia let out a peaceful sigh before the two looked back towards the sun "we should head back inside, the others may worry we have begun a battle of some sort" Celestia giggled.
Sombra laughed "oh if we entertained that sort of idea while I'm in this condition I think you'd have my head on a stick" the two laughed as they began to head back to the castle.
<*>
Before the two headed back into the castle Sombra and Celestia made sure to calm their laughter and turn to a more Royal state of mind, it was Sombra who suggested it, saying he 'didn't want to look like some fool' and so they strolled into the castle with their heads held high, Celestia's wings slightly spread out in Royal fashion. Luna and Twilight seemed rather confused, Celestia was usually the 'casual princess' and now it felt like she was doing a very accurate impression of Luna.
That was until she spoke "oh, hello everypony, so now that we have this chance why don't we all head up stairs, catch up and have fun!" Celestia said enthusiasticly before heading upstairs, a go lucky smile on her face.
Luna and Twilight both turned to Sombra as if looking for an answer on what they were talking about, however Sombra just smirked as he began to walk past them "what can I say, I know how to please a woman~" Sombra chuckled as he began to head upstairs.
Twilight thought for a moment till what Sombra was insinuating stuck with her, leaving an ever lasting mark in her mind "eye! Eye! Eye! Eye!" Luna couldn't help but laugh at the young mares reaction.
The 3 princess sat together on the floor, resting on pillows to keep themselves comfortable, they were all currently gossiping about different things that happened in their respective kingdoms, they all smiled and laughed with each other as they did so.
Meanwhile the unicorn King Sombra sat in the back corner, not finding any humour in any of their discussions and therefore couldn't share in the laughter nor was he in anyway interested in doing so, instead the King was contemplating, mostly on his first move after getting his power back, in front of him were his three greatest threats, without them in the way he would be unstoppable, the crystal heart was limited to the crystal empire so he was safe from that threat and Cadence stood no chance against his dark magic, however he couldn't allow himself to get over confident, that's what curst him before however that wouldn't happen again, he wouldn't make any mistakes, he would be calculating and take down his enemies down with precision. "Hey Sombra come join us".
Sombra shot out from his thoughts and his head quickly jerked around until his eyes landed on the three confused princesses, Twilight being the one who had asked him the question "oh, my apologies, I guess I just went into deep thought, but I suppose I can join in the conversation" with a deep breath Sombra finally decided to trot over to the princesses, Celestia and Twilight, Sombra sat up regally, his posture making him tower over everyone else who were either lying down or louched over, though Sombra had to admit his position wasn't very comfortable, and so he repositioned himself to lying on his stomach.
The three royals decided to make up situation and try and come up with different solutions on how to fix them "ok ok I got one, a new popular trend starts and everyone wants the merchandise that comes from it, one day two ponies begin to fight over wanting to get the last of a particular toy for their children, what do you don't?" Celestia asked.
Everyone began to contemplate on the best cource of action till Sombra cut the silence "get the ponies to grow up and if they can't then ban whatever started the trend, or I suppose you could just arrest the two involved in the assault and use them as an example for what happens to any idiots who go to war over simple merchandise" Sombra responded.
Luna thought for a moment before speaking "out of curiosity, how long would you keep these 'criminals' in custody?" Luna asked.
Sombra shrugged "perhaps around a month, it's not too strict however it's strict enough to send a shiver down anyone's spine if they dare consider to fight for a store item, it's the perfect solution" Sombra explained.
Celestia was a bit surprised "that...makes a lot of sense, I personally would make a public announcement about the issue and how any further action of that sort will be dealth with punishment, though I suppose your suggestion makes sense."
The three ponies continued their conversations, as they continued the unicorn King took part more and more interested in the discussions even making some of his own.
Luna shook her head before explaining "while I did originally agre with that point of view the main point is Discords pranks aren't harming anyone, on top of this he fixes everything once he is done, unlike before his actions do not have long lasting impacts, while yes it may be annoying sometimes however just because he can be an annoyance isn't enough for us to press charges against him, after all he hasn't turned any kingdoms into full on chaos...recently at least" Princess Luna explained with a slight smile "this goes for you as well Sombra, you won't be cooped up in anyway either, unless you went over bored of course" Luna added with a slight chuckle, while Sombra smirked before going to the saddle bag he still brought with him under his cape, took out a piece of paper and took out a pencil and began uncomfortable writing with his mouth.
Celestia looked slightly confused before turning to Twilight "um Twilight, what is Sombra doing? What is he writing about?" Celestia asked, trying to see what the King was writing though his head was in the way.
Twilight couldn't help but giggle slightly "Sombra enjoys taking notes of new things he's learned from this day and age, since it's so much different from a thousand years ago he felt like taking note of everything would be the best way to remember it all" Twilight explained as Sombra finished his note taking, due to having to hold the pencil in his mouth the writing was very messy, however it was still readable for someone with a good eye at least.
Celestia couldn't help but laugh, as confused looks fell on her she decided to explain "oh forgive me, but all the note writing reminded me of Twilight a bit, I just felt it was funny since I chose Twilight to reform you because of how similar the two of you seemed" Sombra and Twilight glanced at each other, blushing slightly "which reminds me, if you don't mind me asking...why was Sombra sleeping in your room Twilight?" Sombra's and Twilight's eyes immediately went wide and their cheeks flushed extremely red.
Twilight immediately went defensive, waving her hoofs in a protective matter "I DON'T KNOW OK, I DRANK TOO MUCH AND HE WAS THERE WHEN I WOKE UP " Twilight shouted all in a few seconds before gasping for air "...do you remember Sombra?" Twilight asked
Sombra gulped slightly, blushing slightly more before turning away "of course I remember! I simply carried you home, put you in bed and was too tired to go to my room so I slept beside you! Nothing else alright!" Celestia and Luna couldn't help but roll on their backs laughing at Sombra's embarrassment.
Sombra was slightly taken aback as he felt too hooves rap around his stomach, he turned around to see Twilight hugging him from behind "thank you Sombra, thank you for looking out for me, I don't know where I'd be if you weren't there to help me" Twilight smiled, snuggling against him.
Sombra was left stunned for a few moments "uhh.umm, n-no problem" Sombra stuttered, clearly taken aback by Twilight's actions, Celestia and Luna were surprised as well, but couldn't help but smile and surprisingly, even though he felt he didn't want to Sombra smiled too.
Celestia stretched out her forelegs and let out a yawn "how's about we all get some cake and coffee hmm? I'll be right back" Celestia got up and then walked out of the room.
Luna looked from Celestia to Luna and back to Celestia before a slight smirk came to the night princesses face "I shall help her" Luna said before getting up and trotting to the door, close behind Celestia.
Twilight lay down beside the unicorn King, still smiling happily, while Sombra got rid of the blush on his face and got comfortable once again "Twilight...I think I..I think I..actually enjoy your company" Sombra spoke with a slight studded of uncertainty.
Twilight smiled and nuzzled Sombra's cheek "thanks Sombra...I enjoy your company as well, I admit, when Celestia brought you here I thought I'd hate it, but, I enjoyed it and I still am, I feel like you've thought me so much and have given me a new perspective on life, on top of that you have actually tried and I feel like you have changed and...I'm glad cause you seem happy with those changes, so I don't feel like I'm forcing you..I don't want to force you into anything, so seeing you be yourself is the greatest thing to me" Twilight yawned before nuzzling closer to the unicorn King.
Sombra smiled and wrapped a hoof around Twilight "I don't know if I feel like this due to having no magic, or if my feelings right now are fully genuine but I..I care about you Twilight and whatever happens I want you to know...I'll never kill you" Sombra promised, suddenly Twilight turned the unicorns face towards her own and kissed him on the lips, Sombra didn't resist, instead he embraced it, they rolled over to Twilight resting on top of Sombra as they continued, enjoying every second of it.
Meanwhile Celestia and Luna were outside the room, with big smirks on their faces "perhaps they'll need a few more minutes, or hours" Luna and Celestia sniggered before trotting away "have fun Sombra" Celestia thought.
Twilight and Sombra easy to imagine had a lot of fun, they had stopped thinking and we're now just enjoying each other's company, Twilight rested her head on Sombra's chest, he was so soft and was only made better by the slow rise and fall of his chest, Sombra chuckled "my my princess, that wasn't something that I was expecting" he joked.
Twilight laughed before wrapping her hooves around the back of his neck "I don't here you complaining you though my King~" Twilight giggled.
Sombra couldn't help but chuckling along "no..no I amn't" he said before kissing her ear causing a thrilling shiver to run down Twilight's back causing her to giggle once again as she wagged her tail from the thrill. The two Royals were having the time of their life in a situation needer of them had predicted, no calculation, no theory, nothing hinted at this thing happening, which in a way made it all that more better, this wasn't about a system with planning or lists or predictability, it was as if it was fate, something that couldn't simple be explained, all it was was..love.
About an hour later the two Royal sisters returned to Twilight's room, when they returned they saw the unicorn King and the the young lavender alicorn curled up together fast asleep. A small grin grey on Celestia's face as she got an idea, she then slowly crept up beside Sombra and whispered into his ear "Soooommmbraaaa" she whispered,struggling not to laugh.
Sombra groaned and turned to the side "ehh, 5 more minutes" he grumbled causing the two Royal sisters to burst out laughing. Sombra slowly woke up and at first was confused till he realised he was asleep on the floor with the young alicorn "ha ha very funny, grow up and get colt friends of your own already" Sombra mocked.
Twilight woke up shortly after the unicorn King, letting out a peaceful yawn, she then noticed Celestia and Luna in the room and her face flushed red before burying her face in Sombra's chest as the rest of them began to laugh. Celestia then took out the plates of cakes that she went to get in the first place along with the cups of coffe "well I got the cakes so what's say we all relax for the rest of the night" they all nodded in agreement before they all relaxed on the floor once again.
<*>
A few hours later everyone turned in for the night. Celestia had went off to bed while Luna had ventured off to the dream realm "well, I guess I'll turn in for the night as well, goodnight Twilight" As Sombra began to walk away he felt a slight tug on his cape.
He turned around and saw Twilight with his cape in her mouth, she blushed slightly in embarrassment before letting go "Sombra I noticed that you seem to have those nightmares when you are sleeping alone, so would you like to stay here instead" Twilight asked, looking away in embarrassment.
Sombra smirked and nuzzled Twilight softly "sure Twilight, after all it wouldn't be the first time~" the two of them couldn't help but laugh as Twilight helped Sombra take off his attire and the two relaxed together after a long day that'll change their lives forever.
However...is Sombra...truly reformed?
Author's Note
Thanks everyone who's supported me so far! Hope you enjoyed this I definitely enjoyed making it, next part things are gonna escalate quickly
