Sombra's Bat

I stay in my room for the rest of my day, reading and watching the world go by. Nopony except the poor prisoners saw or heard the argument we had, and they have probably had the event wiped from their memories. Throughout the day he does not try to approach me or apologise. I refuse to eat dinner with him, instead requesting that a servant bring it to me. Sombra has had all of the love and kindness sapped out of him by his transformation into an Umbrum, and I hate the idea of that happening to me. It probably will, but I will try all I can to keep a bit of positivity in my soul, or just try to think my actions and their consequences through.

When I finally fall asleep, I recognise immediately that something is wrong. There is a constant rumbling sound, like thunder. I try to fly around, but I cannot tell which way is up or down. Everything is pitch black and I have no way to find my bearings. I lower myself in the general direction of what I think is the ground very slowly and eventually I land on dry, infertile soil.

"Oh, Moonlight."

I turn around and Sombra is there. He gives me a mocking smile and says, "When we found each other, you were nothing and I wanted to turn you into a queen. I have changed my mind now, you worthless creature. You will always be nothing."

"No," I say to myself. "This isn't real. It is just a dream."

"I am a Dreamwalker, Moonlight. Dark magic works in dreams. I can prove that this is all real if you wish."

"Go on then. Prove it."

His eyes begin to glow, and as his red unicorn horn is engulfed by magic I realise what he is going to do. I jump out of the way and the mind control spell is fired into the abyss. I duck under a second blast and fly around a third. He is relentless, though, and I know that I won't be able to keep it up forever.

He appears behind me, and I turn around only to see him facing me again. I look both ways. There are two of him. One of them gives a maniacal laugh, but the other looks genuinely concerned for me.

"Moonlight, I am sorry," the second hallucination says.

"He is a figment of your imagination. He is the old Sombra. He is nothing, just like you are," the original tries to convince me.

"Don't listen to it! It is just your fear, nothing else. Fear creates dark magic, but those who use dark magic can conquer their fears!"

"Never listen to hope, because it will betray you and leave you with nothing but misery. I learned that the hard way and now you will too."

I curl up into a ball on the floor and cover my head with my hooves. I have no way of telling if one of them is the real Sombra that I know and trust. Would he even come and rescue me from a nightmare? I think he would, but after the argument...

There is a flash of blue light and I am scooped up and lifted into the air. I look up at my saviour and gasp. It is Princess Luna.

"Don't worry, Moonlight. You are safe now." Her voice is soft as silk and has no hint of disappointment or anger, which surprises me. I thought she would have been extremely hurt by my decision to side with Sombra and started lecturing me, but she says nothing as she carries me into the night and lands on a mountain that is illuminated by the full moon now that we are above the terrible darkness. She lowers me to the ground and I get up.

"Luna, why are you-"

She cuts me off. "My duty is to protect those who have nightmares from their worst fears, regardless of political affairs or what Celestia thinks of those whom I help. Despite the little hole you have dug yourself into, I won't to leave you to suffer. Don't fret, Moonlight, I won't say anything more on what is happening in our waking lives."

"What about Sombra? Would you save him from a nightmare?"

"Yes. I have misjudged you both. I can tell that you have had a rather bitter argument, but I also know that this is the first. It is also a very reasonable subject to have a disagreement over. King Sombra, come here, I have some advice for you both."

The real Sombra approaches us. I can feel the regret and sorrow radiating off of him. He cannot look me in the eye, so he must feel a great amount of guilt over the disagreement. "What do you wish to say, Princess Luna?"

"When it comes to ruling a country, it is hard to decide whether to rule with rational thinking or your emotions and feelings. However, if you rule with your heart, your subjects usually need little persuasion to do what you think they should do. Also, when you are a co-ruler, communication is key. Talking things out almost always has a positive result. Do the spectators have any memory of your argument?"

"Admittedly, no," Sombra heaves a sigh. "I looked in their dreams to check. Today has not been one of my best days."

"It's fine, I forgive you, Sombra," I tell him.

He looks at me with curiosity. "Really? I didn't think it would be so soon."

The dream version of him materialises again. I point at it. "This thing here is not the real you. I spent time and effort trying to find the real you, because I could see past the part of you that others called 'evil'. They saw shadows. I saw the light that the shadows obscured."

"Why, thank you." He embraces me and I rest my chin on his shoulder, rubbing my cheek against the grey fur on his neck. It seems that crying in dreams is possible, because I have to wipe my eyes.

"We will get through this together. Things might get tough, but we aren't known to go down without a fight."

"Now, you two. I have something important to say."

We both look at Luna. "Yes?" we question her at the same time.

"I am going to try and convince my sister to go back on her decisions, based on what I have seen here. You are both in fact kind gentle souls, and you have unfortunately seen the worst side of Equestria, and the two of us. When we were foals, back before the three tribes were united, we were unicorns and we were raised to believe that we were superior because we had magic unlike the other tribes. I soon realised that it wasn't the case, but dear sister has remained... stuck in her ways. She has resentment towards non-unicorn ponies who use magic. I have no idea how I am going to change her mind, but know that I am on your side. Also, if anypony from Equestria questions you at any point in this crisis, I was never here."

"Thank you so much, Luna," I whisper.

"Thank you," Sombra adds.

"I must now leave, but I wish the best of luck for both of you." She disappears.

I look at Sombra and ask, "So what do we do now?"

"Presumably, we forget this ever happened. Today I was rather cruel, and cruelty has been my way of dealing with problems for so long that I forgot how to be kind. As I have said before, my heart is buried deep in my hooves." He gives me a sad half-smile.

"I am happy to live with that, because there is still a beautiful heart in there. What should we do about those ponies in the Elite Guard?"

"Hmm, I am going to try thinking the way you do. Take off the mind control spell and ask them what they would do in our horseshoes. Most of them will likely feel some degree of hatred towards us - or at least, towards me - but time and gentle encouragement can heal a great many wounds."

"And Celestia?"

"A lot more time and encouragement, with the help of the Princess of the Moon, should she return. Wait, we stopped calling Celestia Sunbutt! When in Equestria did that happen?!"

We laugh together. He really isn't that bad. It took a good couple of months for us to have a serious argument, but I like the lack of perfection and simplicity. Together we make a stunning pair of diamonds, hiding amongst the pebbles.