By the Waters of Tranquility
Author's Note
Warning: the following story you are about to read is currently unedited and contains m/m shipping.
By the Waters of Tranquility
Years after the return of the Crystal Empire, the citizens there experienced a golden age that they have not seen before the rise of Sombra. Even when the Empire was put under an icy sleeping spell for a thousand years, they saw through the new rule of Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor peace, prosperity, innovation, and enlightenment. Not only were new technology has gained the curiosity and awe of these ponies, but new ideas of magic theory, philosophy, art, music and a variety of styles of books were introduced to this Northern nation.
It had been years after the successful overthrow of their previous king that for once, these ex-slaves could finally relax. After all, there was a growing economy, freedom of the press and speech, and trade from realms outside of Equestria. They’ve hosted the Equestria Games, have seen the royal couple give birth to a new princess, and it was here that they’ve witnessed a revolution in a way how they see Changelings.
So, imagine to everyone’s surprise that after all these years of relief, that one day a stallion came crawling out of the snow and into the empire’s borders. One that was not only was blearily holding onto life from hypothermia and starvation, not only was it a unicorn whose horn was completely shattered, but it was a recognizable one. A dark, charcoal stallion with piercing eyes and a deep voice that was, without question – Sombra.
Naturally, the response was immediate. The former tyrant was detained and taken to the royal couple in which they placed him in a holding cell until they could figure out what to do with him. Word got out to the Crystal Ponies of his return in which they demanded some sort of justice for the crimes Sombra had committed. At the same time, Cadence and Shining couldn’t help but notice that the ex-king wasn’t the same stallion that they’ve defeated. This Sombra was broken, desperate even, but most important of all that without his horn, he was harmless. He couldn’t inflict any pain upon another pony even if he wanted to. So after some debate, the couple decided that it might be possible to help the dark stallion become a better pony.
Thus, Sombra was moved out from a cell and into a modest room but still put under constant guard. At first, the stallion was silent and cold as winter with everypony that approached him. But as days turned to weeks and into months, bit by bit, the broken unicorn managed to speak a little more towards Cadence and Shining. At first, it was small things such as asking what the weather was like outside or what he should expect his dinner to be like. Soon, the two were able to get whole conversations, but even still, Sombra still preferred the solitary of his room, only asking for paper to write and something to write with. However, they couldn’t help but notice that with all that paper, ink, inkwells, and quills were going in, nothing came out of that room.
“Would you go to bed Shiny?” The prince’s wife said to him one night.
“I can’t stop thinking about it,” Shining said, rubbing his eyes. “What does he need all that paper for?”
“Maybe to make a checklist. Or write down friendship lessons. Or compose sheet music, Shiny, why focus on this when he has made progress?”
Leaning forward in the bed until he sat upright, he replied. “I know you’re right, but at the same time… he already has about two-hundred pieces of paper worth. What would a guy like that need all of that paper for? Unless he’s ready to rewrite the Empire’s constitution, I doubt that would need all of that for an essay on sharing.”
With a groan, Cadence flopped a pillow over. “Here, how about this – tomorrow I’ll distract Sombra for breakfast while you go search his room. If you don’t find anything, I don’t ever want to hear about him writing up a manifesto again, go it?”
Shining kissed the nape of her neck. “I just want to be sure we’re safe. In a way, I actually hope that I’m wrong.”
“Is Sombra out?” Shining Armor asked the two guards who stood before the door of Sombra’s room.
One of them nodded. “Out to have breakfast with Her Highness.”
“So why are you here?” The other guard questioned.
“I need to have a look in his room.” He said. “I think there’s a reason to believe that something odd is going on.”
“What do you mean?” they both asked.
“You know how he always requests for some paper to write?” They nodded. “And yet the cleaning staff tell me that they’ve found nothing in there. Isn’t that a little suspicious? What would he need all that paper for and all of that disappears? So, I need to search the room myself to see if he’s hiding something.”
The two looked at one another before nodding and unlocking the door, letting the prince in. At a glance, it seemed pointless for him to do anything as Sombra still didn’t have much of anything besides a bed with a blanket, a simple desk, a pillow for him to sit and lay his head on, and a trash bin next to the desk. And the only thing on the desk, was a candle, an inkwell, quill and a small stack of paper.
Shining would have easily turned around and left if it wasn’t for the fact that there was a smell in the air. It was smoke. As if something had burned there hours ago in which left that ashy sent. But even as the unicorn prince looked under the bed, between the mattress, the blanket, the pillow, even under the desk, there was none to be found. No hint of a fire. Nothing to suggest that something was burned there until he started to think of where something could be burnt.
The trash bin, as he looked straight down at it seemed a little off. While it was all metal, the bottom of it looked wonky in the light, with a closer look, he found out why – it wasn’t even. So, lighting up his horn, he lifted up what he suspected: a false bottom in which, there within was the source of that burnt sent. He found a stack of that missing paper that was burned. Blackened and signed to the point that whatever was on it, Sombra didn’t want anyone to see what was written on it.
Of course, as he confiscated it, but gingerly lifted out of the trashcan, Shining’s thoughts wondered of all the possible secrets that this contained. Perhaps it was a sort of secret diary. Or a detailed plot to take back the Empire. Perhaps they were drafts for something sinister. But regardless, he had to find out.
“Okay, let’s see what you’re trying to hide.” Shining muttered. After getting his hooves on some forensic books, it turned out that there was a spell to read pages even after they were burned. In his study, the prince lit up his horn to gently lift up the charged manuscript in his aura and watched as he watched the bundle of paper caught burned in reverse. Fire smoked and uncurled the edges first, as a ring formed in which the black ash curled back to its original white. And soon enough, he was able to make out hoofwriting, but what he saw as the flames reversed to the middle, only confused him. For on the cover page of it, there weren’t any mathematical formulas, or drawn out plans, maps or contraptions that an ex-king would need to take over a kingdom. Instead, it was a title.
By the Waters of Lake Tranquility
By Sombra
Shining blinked. He flipped through the pages, at the lines of text, the lengthy paragraphs, the abundance of quotation marks, and the name of chapter headings made him come to the realization of something remarkable about the formal tyrant. What he held in his aura, was a book. Not just any book, it was a novel. A piece of fiction created by one of the most brutal kings in Equestrian history.
Of course, there were some crossing out and revisions of a few words (sometimes entire paragraphs were scratched out) but the Prince could still read it out that this wasn’t a plan for betrayal, but a story. Where it had several pages worth of chapters each. Not what Shining had expected for Sombra to do, but his interest was indeed piqued.
“Why would he burn something that he clearly worked so hard on?” Shining asked himself.
Cadence returned to the royal apartments that afternoon in which she found Shining there. Laying on a bed with stacks of paper being organized. She couldn’t help but noticed that most of them had a singed tint as her husband used his magic to mythology placed them. “I’m going to take a shot in the dark and say that you did found something?”
“It’s… actually kinda fascinating.” Shining replied. “All of this was found in a false bottom in Sombra’s garbage can mostly burned.”
Cadence lit up her own horn to exam one of the piles. “What is it?”
“I think it’s a novel.”
Shining’s pink, alicorn wife blinked. “All of this, from Sombra?”
“Yeah, I can’t believe it either. But just look at all of this. All hoofwritten, and I’m just trying to piece together everything in the right order.”
Cadence turned her attention to the cover page of this manuscript, “‘By the Waters of Lake Tranquility.’ What’s it about?”
Shining shrugged. “I’m kinda skimming over this. As far as I know, there are only three major characters that keep popping. A Gryphon King called Zachariah, and a married couple, a guy named Chevalier and the other Adorável.” He paused as he heard Cadence giggling. “What?”
“Shining,” she said with a smirk, “do you think there’s something funny in what you’ve said?”
He tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
“I think Sombra is having a game of languages here. Chevalier is Prench for ‘Knight,’ a position that you have. And Adorável is a very old word in the Crystal Empire meaning ‘Lovely.’ Call me a conspiracy theorist, but when you put a king, and two couples that are just wordplay on who we are, don’t you think that Sombra writing a thinly veiled book about the three of us?”
Shining paused as he looked out at the spread of pages that lay before him. “If that were true, then it looks like he has plenty to say about us.”
It took a few hours to deduce where every single page of the manuscript went in chronological order, but a coherent form of the book was fully organized. Shining took up the task in reading the book, skimming over to see what it was about. Despite its length in pages, he found that because of all the words that were scratched out and re-edited, it was a shorter story than he’d expected to be.
The manuscript began with the Gryphon King Zachariah fleeing from his kingdom that had descended into chaos. So much so, with the other Griffons revolting, the treasury in tatters, and outside forces beyond his borders was proven to be so great, that he had no choice but to flee. Without an army, servants, supplies or any sense of direction, the King in the story became lost, cold, and starved to the point where he pondered over what went wrong.
Shining scoffed silently at this opening because since this was a loose retelling of what happened to the author, he quickly knew where it all went wrong.
As he continued on, Zachariah found himself across the jagged, wintery mountain range to where he came to a green, fertile valley in which had a small village and a mirror-like lake in the center. It was here, that when the exhausted king drink from its water that he was founded by the two most important Hippogriffs: Adorável the governess of the tiny colony in which the King found himself in; and Chevalier, the husband and top warrior in the valley. Although both of them share their apprehension, they did agree that the ex-king was beaten and in desperate need for help.
From there, Shining could easily pick up where certain events within the story mirrored that to his and his wife’s experience with Sombra. For example, the several weeks in which the dark unicorn refused to speak to anyone was reflected in the manuscript as the griffon’s king being too bitter from the unfortunate circumstances and having overwhelming pride to not associate those that he considered important.
‘Seems a little odd.’ Shining thought. ‘If he has a big, narcissistic ego, then how come Sombra didn’t portray his main character the perfect king? Yet, he’s showing here that he’s brooding and showing faults?’
And when in the story that the Gryphon king surrendered into conversing with them, Shining began to see not only reflections of the conversations and activities they did, but the inner monologue of the main character became more… personal.
“Could I ask you a personal question?” Chevalier asked as he picked up a smooth stone before letting it skip on the water. “It’s just something that has bothered me since you came here.”
“Since I can’t really go anywhere,” the king replied, “ask away.”
For a moment, Chevalier thought over his words carefully before askin ques inquiring: “What was the worst thing you’ve ever done?”
This gave the gryphon pause, where the only thing to speak in that moment were the whispers of the breeze and the murmur of the leaves above them. The hesitation was obvious to the warrior in which the king had n didn’t move awa from looking at the ripples echoing in the water. Before he could say anything, Zacharia spoke up in a hushed tone. “The past is best left to be buried.”
“There is a reason why I ask.” Chevalier said. “In my family, there’s a saying that if you really want to get to know someone, as a friend, you’ll have to understand the bad in order to appreciate the good.”
The gryphon looked at him with a cocked eyebrow. “Do you honestly think we could be friends?” Chevalier gave no replay when he picked up a stick and tossed it into the water. “Alright, I suppose that at least… one of life’s regrets would due.”
He hesitated for a moment before he began. “Remember when I said that the previous rullead royal before me was a crueler left the kingdom behind to me to inherit? That was a lie. I was never of royal blood, I stole it. And did you know what I did, Chevalier? I had to drag the old Queen out into the cold, pluck her feathers to let her freeze. And just before she became an ice sculpture, I sma had her shattered, into tiny pieces before taking the crown in my own hooves claws.”
What astounded Shining about this was that while recalled the conversation, Sombra remained silent whereas here, that terrible confession was on full display. But it didn’t end there.
The Hippogriff warrior stepped back from him in shock. “You didn’t.”
Zachariah snorted. “And what was I supposed to do? Stand by and let a weak ruler run our kingdom to the ground?” He paused as he saw Chevalier’s shoc disturbed expression. “Do not, for one moment think that I’m a monster. That I did this on a whim when the fact of the matter was the kingdom was suffering – I was suffering! Before I came to the throne, I had nothing. No family, no wealth, no loyal friends, no love, no one to turn to when I was confined in poverty, as an outcast that many saw it better if I died in a latrine than have a scrap of happiness.”
“But to murder your quee-”
“Because I saw no other way!” he snapped at him. “I was once benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. You may see me as a monster all you want, but I was never born as such.” With a snarl, Zacharia marched away.
Out of all he read so far, that line was the most hopeful and tragic for Shining. On the one hoof, it showed that Sombra wasn’t born evil, so it was possible to reform him. However, at the same time, it gave a strong clue as to why he became that way.
And so, the Prince read on in which with every act of kindness that happened both in the story, and the real events that reflected it, Shining was beginning to notice a pattern. While his wife’s counterpart was written as the voice of reason, with every chapter, his counterpart was being shown more in a better light. At times, Sombra quoted him in the character of Chevalier, in which between their actual responses, it would cut to a paragraph in which he suspected that there was something else going on with the ex-king.
Then, at one point in the manuscript, there was one particular event that caught his eye. In the story, after a chess game, Zachariah and Chevalier turned to star gazing, just like what he and Sombra ended up doing a month prior. In it, the conversation turned when the ex-king questioned why he and his wife were helping him. As Shining remembered, he gave some reassurance before Sombra got up unexpectedly and walked away. But here, it had a different picture of events.
“It never made sense to me,” Zachariah said, wrapping himself in his wings like a blanket, “you two have no reason to help me. Neither do Nor do you to have pity on me when I have told you about the things I have done to my own subjects. And yet, even now you want to be my friend?”
“Because I never believe that you are hopeless.” Chevalier replied. “We think that deep down, you’re just scared.”
The Gryphon King scoffed. “Oh really? And what, pray tell, am I scared of?”
“Isn’t it obvious? You’re afraid of losing what you could control. If anything, losing your kingdom made that nightmare be made real your whole life has been filled with panic and anxiety of being left forgotten, being helpless, never given a chance to prove yourself worthy. I have learned, through hard experience, that telling you that your anger, envy, and pride was wrong wouldn’t do anything helpful. Instead, I’ve learned that saying ‘You must be scared’ is for me and my wife, the kindest and most effective response to give. I’m telling you this that it’s okay to be weak.” He patted him on the back. “Doing so isn’t a bad thing, it just means that you’re normal.”
Zachariah didn’t know how to respond to something like this. All his life he knew nothing except cruelty and deception. Where he would expect at least a punch to the face or a word that would get under his skin. And yet, beneath that nocturnal canvas canopy with the full moon illuminating the prince warrior’s face, there was no malice, or lies or back-stabbing sarcasm. Hereupon that young face as brilliant as the moon it reflects from, was something divine that he had never seen before. Compassion. Sincerity. Love. Like tasting a new, unfamiliar flavor, such honied words that were offered were genuine. The old gryphon’s heart felt a sudden warmth as he looked into those star-like eyes. Not a burn of hatred, but of something comforting but aching all the same.
The ex-king looked away. “Are you telling me the truth?”
“Why would I lie? I do mean every word of what I said. We do want to help you become someone that was better then who they were before.” He reached out a claw to touch the gryphon’s cheek. He moved his seat closer to him. “I made a promise that we’ll do what we can to help. But I can’t do that if you won’t let me. Please, let me.”
At a sudden brush of Chevalier’s wing, Zachariah felt his face burn with fire as he hid his face even more. He instantly got up and left his side without so much as saying goodbye. While shame stabbed his heart for not only leaving like that but dread too bleed through as he realized with horror, it was happening again. ‘No, please, oh you cruel gods! I cannot be! Not again! Not with him!’
“So, how’s the novel of the century?” Shining was startled out of his reading when Cadence walked into the room.
“Huh?”
“You have been reading that book about five hours now.” She pointed out. “And it’s getting close to dinner, but nopony has seen you for a while.”
“Wait, really?” Shining looked at the clock for the first time since he started reading. It showed that it was past six. “I didn’t realize what time it was.”
“I noticed.” His wife said as she sat next to him. “Did you find anything interesting?”
“Uh… yeah. About that.” Shining blushed. “There’s some good news and weird news.”
Cadence tilted her head. “How weird are we talking? Like Discord weird or something you didn’t notice weird?”
Clearing his throat, the prince responded. “Well, the good news is that, from what I’ve read, there’s a good chance that he can be reformed. Turns out, if this is accurate, the guy had a really rough life and we’re pretty much one of the few ponies to show him kindness.”
“That’s great!” Cadence smiled. “And what’s the other.”
“Uh…” Shining hesitated as he tried to figure out how to put what he found out into words. “Cade, I think I have reason to believe that Sombra… may or may not have feelings for me.”
There was a pause between the couple before Cadence asked. “Define ‘feelings.’”
“As in possibly romantic.” Shining scratched the back of his head. “To be honest, I didn’t think he of all ponies would be attracted to stallions. But it kinda makes things a little more awkward when it happens to be me.”
His wife frowned. “Although, this wouldn’t be the first. I mean, remember Bluey?”
Shining rolled his eyes. “Yes, and I remember losing that bet too. But this time, I don’t get it. I mean, suppose he really does have feelings for me, why hasn’t he just come out and say it?”
“Actually, it does make sense to me.” Her husband asked what she meant. “You’ve got to remember the time period that Sombra was from. It was during a time when Equestria didn’t all have an enlightened view of homosexuality. The Crystal Empire least of all didn’t have that. I mean, if what you found out was true, then all this time he’s been in the closet where the door was locked. Maybe that’s partly why he became the way he did, he was never given a chance to actually be himself.”
Shining sighed. “Cade, what are we going to do?”
“For starters, we’ll have to figure out if he does have feelings for you or not. I guess we could do that over dinner. After all, Sombra has been asking about you.”
For a while, Shining remained silent at the table. Between his wife who was next to their daughter, Sombra was next to him, waiting. He wasn’t exactly sure how to approach such a delicate subject – on the one hoof, if he’s right, it could send the ex-king into a panic. But on the other, if he isn’t, he might risk offending him and lose a good amount of trust. While he was thinking, his ears picked up Sombra clearing his throat.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
“Huh?” Shining looked up. “Uh no. Not really just… I have a lot on my mind is all.”
Sombra tilted his head a little. “How so?”
A glance from his wife later, an idea popped into his head. “Well, just last-minute things. I think that Celestia might ask me to come down to Canterlot soon. Only, I’m not sure if I’m going to be needed or not. If I am, I might have to be gone for a couple of weeks at least.”
It was there that Shining saw from the dark unicorn’s face a look that he’d never notice before. Concern. “Really? Why?”
He shrugged. “It’s not been made clear, but I suspect that it might have to do with diplomatic reasons. Although, knowing my luck, I think there might be a strong chance that I might end up going anyway.”
While his face didn’t move, Shining noticed that Sombra’s eyes told something completely different. It silently showed dread. “Ah,” he said at last as the dark unicorn looked at his plate, “I see.” Shining’s ears picked up that the tone of it wasn’t so much disappointment, but rather subtle loneliness that seemed to be already missing him.
“You okay?”
But just as quickly, he changed his tone. “Yes. Why do you ask?”
“Nothing, it’s just, I’m aware that when I go, you’ll have to stay here with Cadence.”
“Do you know when you’ll be back?”
This got Cadence’s attention.
“I guess it depends on what’s going on.” Shining lied. “For all I know, it could take a few days (if I’m lucky) to several weeks. But either way, these things just take a while.”
Sombra nodded. “I see. The palace wouldn’t be the same when you’re not here.” He muttered.
“What was that?” The Princess asked.
The couple saw the dark unicorn froze as he realized that they heard what he said aloud. “I uh… Excuse me.” He got up from his seat. “I suddenly find myself not hungry.” Before either of them could ask what was wrong, Sombra quickly trotted out of the dining room.
In that very moment, both Cadence and Shining knew – the ex-king has feelings for the prince.
The novel itself only confirmed what Shining had suspected. As he read on, he discovered that the character Zachariah was developing feelings for his counterpart. With every passing chapter, with every encounter with Chevalier became more evident as he described the warmth in his chest, the need to be with him, the warm feeling his chest to the point his descriptions of him were on borderline poetry. And yet, even in Sombra’s fantasy, the ex-King still hasn’t confessed what he feels.
That night, as he and Cadence were lying in bed in the light of a lamp, Shining finally got to the final chapter of the manuscript. Surprisingly, it was the shortest. While he knew that out of all of this, the event shown was purely fictional. But it had to say, left Shining speechless.
Chapter 42: By the Waters of Lake Tranquility
Sitting on a log, Zachariah waited by the mirror-like water. The lake was still and dark, where only the full moon shone its soft light to reflect. Even the trees held still, as if someone had simply painted them there among the still quiet evening. Yet, inside the old Griff’s mind, he played out rehearsed and re-edited his choice of words. But even so, a part of his mind still wonders if telling hi reveling to Chevalier is a wise choice. And it only made worse with the likely possibility of doing something so foolish.
“I got your note.” Zachariah had to catch his breath at the sudden voice of Chevalier who approached him. “Although it never said what you wanted to see me for.” He paused as he noticed that the gryphon still hadn’t turned around to greet him. “Zachariah? Is something the matter?”
]“I…” the old king began, but immediately lost his voice. He patted a sparing spot on the log, gesturing him to sit beside him. “I was hoping we could talk.”
“Well, you have me here, don’t you?”
“Yes but…” He sighed. “I think you might want to sit down for what I have to say.” So, the hippogriff agreed to do so. “I believe it’s time for me to tell you the truth.”
He saw the knight tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
For a long moment, only the silence spoke for both of them until the old king began. “You asked me some time ago if there was anyone that I ever loved.” Chevalier nodded. “Well, I wasn’t honest to you when I said that I never had.”
“Oh?”
“Yes.” He sighed. “For a long time, I grew up thinking that I was beyond not worth being loved. Even when I became king, never have I thought that anyone would want me, even when I wanted them. I had gone through life thinking that I was cursed, that I would fall in love, but the ones that I do will never return such feelings dedication. Until recently, I never found anyone that I could place my trust into saying such things, that I could call them my one, my all. But even so… this too cannot be.”
“Forgive my ignorance,” Chevalier said, “but if you mean that you have found someone that has captured your eye, who is it?” When he didn’t respond, he further asked. “Is it someone I know?”
Zachariah glanced at the claws, those strong, beautiful claws that he wanted to reach out to touch their marble-like smoothness. Yet, he didn’t dare want to ruin this chance. “It is.” He confessed. “One that is close to you… and me.”
For a moment, a look of realization spread across the hippogriff’s face. “Is it Adorável?”
“What?”
“I mean, I understand why you would like her but she is my wi-”
“It’s not her!” The old king snapped. But after taking in a calming breath, he rephrases it a little. “This has nothing to do with her.”
This only made the warrior confused. “But I don’t understand. If you haven’t fallen for Ador, then who?”
Zachariah looked up at him. “Must you force me to say it?”
“Why don’t you just spill can’t you just go ahead and give me a name?”
“Because… it’s not easy for me.”
“Why not?”
Perhaps it was a moment of instinct, or that his heart demanded it – but he reached out to hold the hippogriff’s face and lunged forward. Yet, before he could touch those lips the beak of his beloved, he stopped himself, merely an inch away. He wanted to embrace the warrior with a kiss that he longed for, lusted for even. But he could feel in his claws the tense and shock from the other. Opening his eyes, it only confirmed this as he saw up close within kissing distance the wide-eyed confusion and terror within Chevalier’s sapphire eyes.
For the first time for what felt like centuries, tears emerged from Zachariah’s eyes that he tried to shut tight. “No… Not like this…” He sniffed. “I want you. I l-love… but I know I can’t have you. Not like this.” He buried his shame in the other’s chest. “Forgive me. I can’t…”
“What?” He heard Chevalier’s voice, astounded. “You mean, you’re…”
“I know it’s wrong.” He told him, tears breaking free from his eyes. “I know it’s perverted, but I can’t help it. Even knowing you have a wife and a child, I cannot stop it. Loneliness disappears when you are around. Hearing you speak is listening to music of the gods. Having your kindness is worth more than the treasures I once had. You are in my thoughts, my memories, my personal law that I obey. I don’t know why. Still don’t understand why, but I can’t help but find you other than poetry itself. As life itself. As happiness made flesh. I know deep down you are disgusted by me. But in my eyes, you are a god.”
Neither one knew how long that stillness lasted.
But much to Shining’s confusion, the novel ended right there. He flipped the paper over only to find that it was left blank. “What? That’s it?” He said aloud.
“Hm?” His wife asked.
“It just… stopped. There’s no ending here. I don’t he ever finished it. But…” The prince flopped onto the pillow. “I think I know why.”
“What happened?”
“In the story, his main character got the courage to ask my counterpart, basically broke down in saying that although he does love me, but then before he could write up what my counterpart’s response would be, there’s nothing. I think he tried to burn the book right there.”
“Can I see?” Shining levitated the manuscript over to Cadence in which she read the last few pages. After she read it, her eyes became filled with concern. “Oh my… This is just heartbreaking.”
“But what are we going to do now?”
After giving some thought, the princess placed the manuscript down. “I think you should go and talk to him. He needs to know where you and he stands.”
“Cade, I’ve just read his personal story, one that I think I know why he doesn’t want anypony to read, and you want me to go in there and said tell him that I had invaded his privacy… Wow, I am a douche.”
“Joking aside,” she gave the manuscript back to him, “I do think you need to have a talk to him and tell him the truth.”
Shining saw that there was no point in arguing this, so with a sigh, he got up out of bed and took the manuscript. “I’ll be right back.”
His wife took his hoof. “Take as long as you need to.”
After nuzzling her, he started to make his way out of their bedroom, out of the royal apartments and down towards Sombra’s room – with a confusion of thoughts in his head.
“Where in Tartarus is it!?”
Shining gulped as he heard Sombra’s voice coming from behind his door. Although he had to ignore the questionable look on the guards' faces as he approached, he did feel a stabbing gilt to the heart before he could raise his hoof to knock on it. “Uh, Sombra, I take it you’re still up?”
The door quickly flung open in which revealed the ex-king and a disheveled room with drawers being thrown aside, blanket ripped, and a mattress overthrown. Shining saw anxiety in Sombra’s eyes as he put on a nervous smile.
“O-Oh uh… Prince Shining! I wasn’t-”
“Can we talk?”
Sombra blinked. “At this hour?”
“I think it’s important.” Stepping aside, the dark unicorn let Shining through. “I like what you did to the place.”
He heard a nervous laugh as the door behind him was shut. “I was… just looking for something was…” Sombra’s words quickly died on his lips when his eyes saw what was on the Prince’s back. “What is that?”
With a sigh, Shining lit his horn in which he held up his manuscript. As expected, the ex-king paled when he saw the title of it. “Before you say anything,” Shining said, “yes, I did look through your things. Yes, I read it. Yes, I know your… opinion on me. And yes, I do feel bad for going behind your back on this.”
Even though the prince had expected it, he wasn’t prepared to see something that before that day, he’d never think the likes of Sombra had – the dark unicorn sat on his haunches, afraid.
“What do you want?” He said in a timid, soft voice.
Shining blinked. “Huh?”
“I don’t have anything left. I’m already been defeated. My horn is gone. I have no kingdom, no treasury, no army, no slaves, just… What do you want from me?” The prince couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Sombra was begging. “Do you want me to leave? Be your slave? Have me publicly flogged? What?! Say something! What do you want?! Just… Don’t tell anyone! I’ll tell you my secrets! I’ll give you how to perform my darkest spells! I’ll prostitute myself to the guards, just… please…” Now he slumped over, kowtowing to him. “I’ll do whatever you want, just… please don’t tell…”
For a moment, Shining didn’t have any idea what to do or say. He had found out the old tyrant’s greatest secret, and he was begging for his life. At his hooves, Sombra was sobbing, pleading, offering complete surrender – and Shining didn’t find victory in it. If anything, at such a pitiful sight, it didn’t bring the joy of triumph, but instead, it brought compassion. Silently, carefully, he used his horn to lift the other stallion up and hugged him.
“W-What?” Sombra croaked out between his sobs.
“It’s going to be okay.” He said as he patted him on the back. “You, are going to be okay.”
Pushing himself away from Shining, rubbed the tears away. “I… I don’t understand.”
“Here.” Shining pointed a hoof to the box springs of the bed. “Sit with me.”
The two stallions did, one fighting to keep the tears at bay while his cheeks blushed in crushing embarrassment while the other sat next to him, awkwardly trying to figure out what to say next.
“How?” Sombra asked quietly but refused to look at him in the eye.
“It’s partly why I’m here. To tell you that I’m sorry. You see I was getting suspicious of all the paper you’ve been asking so I… went through your room and founded the remains of your book. It didn’t take me long to figure out what the book was really about…”
“I didn’t want anypony to see that.” The ex-king grumbled. “Especially you…”
“Yeah…” Shining rubbed the back of his head. “I kinda figured that.”
Another awkward pause.
“I know you’re disgusted by me,” Sombra told him.
“Well, I never said that.” This finally got the dark unicorn to look up at him. “To be honest, I’m actually rather flattered.”
“You are?”
“I mean, to be fair, this isn’t the first time that I found out that a guy has developed a crush on me. There were guards, Ogres and Oubliettes players from High School, even Prince Blueblood at one point was in love with me. And here is no different. I mean, if you saw the piles of love notes Cadence and I get on Heart and Hooves day, you’ll find pretty quickly there’s just as many stallions that wrote those letters as the mares, even after we had Flurry. So, I’m pretty much used to be the center of attention. However, the only surprising thing to me is that I never thought that you would be into stallions.”
“It’s a curse, I know…” Sombra moaned. “I’m a sick, incurable pervert.”
“No, you’re not. There’s nothing wrong in being-”
“Don’t twist the facts!” He hissed at Shining. “I know I’m disgusting! On top of the other things that ponies outside of these walls think, the last thing I want to put in their minds is that I am weak.”
“But why write it down here?” The prince pointed out the manuscript.
Sombra sighed into his hooves. “The written word always has kept me sane. That I could live out the kind of life I wanted to have, to reflect on the day and meditate on my thoughts. Since I’m a pervert, what point would there be to pursue my disability if it’s sickening to all? At least on paper, I can dream. No one can take that away. When I have been alone for so long, all I could ever do is dream.”
“Why do you have to?” Shining reached out for his hoof. “Everything has changed in the past thousand years. You don’t need to be afraid anymore.”
When he touched him, Sombra looked down at it, a soft blush graced his face. “Because I know you’ll never be the same way back. Nothing pains me more than to be this close and yet, never be able to share that same connection, that same warmth, or to even thank you enough to not be afraid what is underneath the mask. At the same time, I must accept the fact that I will remain in your eyes a frea-” He tensed as he felt Shining planted a kiss on his cheek.
Sombra, with a hoof to his cheek, slack-jawed, gazed at the smirking prince. “First of all,” Shining said, “if you keep insisting that you’re a freak, it’ll only get you being caught up in this vicious cycle you put yourself through. Secondly, your attraction to stallions isn’t much of a deal breaker anymore. I mean, you’ll be shocked how many of our guards alone are married to the same sex. Some of which my wife and I were there to officiate a few of their weddings. And thirdly, it might come as a shock to you, but I’m not solely into mares either.”
He chuckled as Sombra’s eyes widened. “You’re not?”
“I wouldn’t lie that I had a few crushes here and there, even before I met Cadence, and some of them were males. For me, the reason why I fell in love with Cadence was that of who she was as a pony, not because she was, well, a she.”
The dark unicorn frowned. “Even so, I take it that you don’t feel the same way back.” Shining became quiet. “Oh Celestia, are you?”
“I wouldn’t say ‘yes,’ considering that I just found this out today. But that doesn’t mean that as long as you are on your best behavior, that I may consider you as a… consort of sorts.”
Now Sombra couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “But your wife and child. I have seen how close you are to them. Even if you do… you know, I know that I would end up causing more pain to the ponies that have tried to help me.” The ex-king became confused as the prince laughed. “Am I missing something important?”
“You gotta give us more credit. I mean, my wife is the Princess of Love for a reason. One that accepts love in all its forms. To tell you the truth, both of us (although very rarely) have consorts in which we help mend relationships or just give ponies the love and encouragement to help move on – just so long as we let the other know what is going on. Heck, sometimes we encourage the other to go out with someone. In your case, I don’t think it’s any different. What your novel has told me, you really do need help to accept yourself for who you are. If you let me, I will do just that. I’ll let you love me, but I’ll admit that it’ll take some time on my part to return the favor until you’re ready to move on. That is if your book says is the truth.”
“It did. And I meant every word of it.”
“Speaking of which.” Shining lit his horn to pick up the manuscript. “This, this isn’t half bad. Of course, there’s plenty of grammar issues and there needs to be an actual ending to this. But otherwise, what you have is impressive. Perhaps with a little cleanup, I can pull some strings to get this published.”
“NO!” Sombra shouted in panic, but then caught himself. “I mean… I don’t want it to be published. There’s a reason why I destroyed it, among so many others.”
Now it was Shining’s turn to be surprised. “Others! You mean that you have written other books and you burned them?” He nodded. “How many?”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t helpful to keep count. So even I don’t know. In my experience, those that have written this ended up being burned at the stake. It’s better to burn the evidence before they get the chance to burn you.”
“I say it’s a shame. You’re not that bad of a writer, Sombra. I mean, just think how things would be different if you just stuck to writing books instead.” Getting off the bed, Shining picked up the manuscript. “Grant it, this isn’t completely perfect. But I think after some editing and giving it a proper ending, and I think ponies will read this to probably see you in a new light. I mean, I wouldn’t mind owning a copy.”
“You’re only saying that to make me feel better, are you?” Sombra deadpanned.
“No. I actually mean it. While I can see that it is based on us, this is actually a more engaging read than most romance novels that my wife has read.” This got a chuckle out of the both of them. “Anyway, would you like to have another room? I mean, this place looks more like a disaster area.” After looking around, Sombra nodded. “Let’s move you into a guest room. And I won’t force you, but if you want, I can spend the night with you.”
Shining smirked when the dark unicorn blushed. But within a moment, he composed himself, but his tattle-tale blush remained. “I don’t want to intrude.”
“I doubt it. But yeah, while I think this is still sudden, at least let me take this one step at a time.”
“Shining.” Sombra took hold of the Prince’s hoof and kissed it. “Your wish is my divine law to obey. Your happiness is my goal. Your passions, desires, and wishes are my command. This madness of mine I do not wish to be cured. For all I want is you.”
Now it was Shining’s turn to blush. “Remind me to have Sunburst teach you about poetry, I think you’ll swoon anypony off their hooves with words like that. Still,” he waved a hoof at the door, “shall we turn in for the night.”
The ex-king gave a sly smile. “Very well, Your Majesty. But be careful, depending on what we do, it would only give me inspiration to how my tale will end.”
