Sombra's Bat

How do I respond? What is there to say about something like this? Sombra did what he had to do in order to avoid further conflict, and Princess Amoré had caused him so much misery - and continues to do so now. I lean closer and try to embrace him, to comfort him, but he lashes out and turns away. I don't get why he feels this way. I've never been in his situation before, although I probably will in time's due course. I just want to know why this affects him so deeply so he can move on.

I decide that a telepathy spell is the best route and try to focus on what he is thinking. It is comparable to tuning a radio to a faraway station with a low signal. I have to wait a while to make sense of anything.

Silly Amoré... You should have left when I warned you, before my invasion... I didn't want it to get to that point, but your thorns dig deep and sting... You were friends with Celestia... Met with her, had fun when she visited... No wonder you were so good at inflicting pain... Did Moonlight hear the last words we exchanged? I hope she didn't because those words have haunted me to this day... I cannot let her know. She may have been on the moon with Luna for a thousand years, but her spirit is still too young, too pure...

"Sombra, it's ok," I whisper. "We have a deal, remember? No secrets, no spies, no pain and no lies."

"I don't want to hurt you though," he answers plaintively, like a foal.

"If it was going to make any difference to me whether I got hurt or not, I wouldn't have helped you become the King of the Crystal Empire. Celestia sent me to the moon for a thousand years with Nightmare Moon, who taught me about how cruel the Living Sun really is. Celestia has become much worse over the years, but Luna is now actively trying to help us because she knows what will happen if she doesn't."

"Which is?"

I shake my head. He isn't thinking clearly. "You know this already. We lose this war, I end up in Tartarus, you most likely end up dead."

"You didn't hear the last things Amoré and I said to each other, did you? Just as I was about to cast the spell that would take her life, I had an epiphany. I wondered if there was some way that I could avoid this by getting us to rule together. She said one thing that made me cast the spell without any further hesitation.

"She said that I didn't understand what had to be done to be the ruler of a kingdom. She said it didn't allow you to care about the individuals, only about the whole. She said that as long as the majority were happy, she was happy, and that I would never be happy if I thought that utopia was within my reach. She told me to give up like she had and that my endeavours were hopeless. I shouted at her and told her that she was weak, which fuelled the spell because, as you know, dark magic is fuelled by emotions, and I was furious when she told me that I wouldn't be able to care for everypony. Since then, I have learned that she was right, that you cannot care because you already know what will happen, and I wake up hearing her say the word hopeless over and over again."

"Why does this hurt so much? I mean, I don't want to remind you of this, but you were perfectly fine enslaving an entire empire."

"Out of anger! But there are so many individuals that I have tried to protect over the years. Radiant Hope. Amoré, even. A small abandoned pegasus filly from Equestria whom my family cared for, but got thrown in Tartarus for conspiring with me. Cozy Glow, her name was. She was too young to be thrown in Tartarus really, but I led her down the same path I have led you down, and she got caught. She was considered to be poisoned candyfloss. Innocently sweet on the outside, but unforgiving and cruel when you got to know her flavour, as it were. She's still in there, I think, because the enchantments in Tartarus stop you from dying there. I think she actually wanted to be cruel, but I was only following my ambition to prove Amoré wrong.

"After our conversation last night in the dream realm, even when we were together in that forest, I could hear Princess Amoré and she told me that you and I were going to fail. She said it was written in the stars. Stars always outshine the darkness. I know we're already on a crash course to failing, and she'll be laughing up in the sky waiting for me to say that she was right all along. If there is no hope left, as you say, then we might as well let the inevitable happen. Let the sun's flames engulf us."

"Sombra, your fears are completely irrational, and you know that. The important thing that you have forgotten," I remind him, "is that we are meteors, travelling through the galaxies together, and though we may never outshine the stars, we are never trapped in their orbit either. Who knows, we may end up crashing into a black hole or into a burning ball of hydrogen, but we will continue to travel together regardless of the risks, because that's what you and I do. We stick together, even though the odds are against us."

He grins, and I silently wish for all it's worth that he says something equally as nice back. His next words dash these hopes, but I should know that he's far too quick-witted for my semantics. He answers me, "That is a terrible metaphor. I don't like stellar physics."

"And you just ruined it all. I am useless at trying to comfort you because you have to crack a joke every time I say something meaningful to impress you," I giggle. "I've reminded you why you have to keep fighting, now remind me why I bother to stay by your side."

He leans closer and kisses me. "This is why. And it's why I have to not give in to the Celestia-forsaken nightmares, with a bit of help from the warrior bat mare I know."

"So you're scared of failing because Amoré tried to get inside your head and play mind games before she died. She tried to make you think that we will lose this game no matter how hard we gamble, and that we might as well give up now. I don't believe that. If we gamble, we have a high chance of winning and there's not a whole lot to be lost. This isn't blind faith, or a lie, it is the truth. The only things of any value we have to lose are each other. Nothing else is of any importance."

"Show me how we will win, then."

I concentrate, and a pack of playing cards materialises on the table. "It's like a game of poker. You have to know when to bet and when to wait for the next deal. It seems impossible at first, but you have to learn to recognise the patterns. So far, we haven't been playing the game long enough to recognise the signs Celestia will unwittingly give us, although we will learn what they mean over time. However, I've been playing cards for over a millennium, so I have a few tricks that stop others from recognising the patterns that I use."

"Brilliant analogy."

"So, now I've cheered you up and made you feel a bit more confident in yourself, fancy a game of poker? I know you're supposed to be doing your royal duties, but I'm sure we can play just one game?"

He cannot resist. As we play, we talk about how we will get essentials into the Empire and who we need to contact. Obviously, the more creatures we drag into this, the more risks we are taking, but Celestia has left herself unprotected by trying to surround us. Two can play at all of her games, and the winner is decided before they start. She should have thought about what she was getting into before she put her money on the table.

Princess Celestia's POV

"No," Wishbone Willow pleads. "Anything but this."

"I don't care, vampire," I whisper. "You betrayed me. You helped King Sombra and her. My little ponies haven't returned yet, and you are going to help me get them back, like it or not." I focus all of my anger and a healthy amount of fear on her. "Fall asleep, Wishbone. You will listen to me and only me from now on."