Twilight was taking Sombra on a trip to the Crystal Empire, it had been a month or two since he had started his reformation. Fixing his relations with the crystal ponies was part of that reformation plan. So she, of course, bought two train tickets, first-class, to the Empire. The plan was simple, for him to stay there for a month and make up for his past doing acts of friendship. In fact, Twilight was packing right now, all her literature on friendship and a few personal items. She was going over her packing list for the fourth time as Spike entered her room.
“You ready Twi?” Spike asked. He saw the list in Twilight’s magic and rolled his eyes. “You’ve got to go soon, I'm pretty sure you have it all.”
Twilight put her list down and smiled “I just like to make sure,” She said as she went to get the last thing needed. Sombra. She knocked on his door, he lived in her castle; he didn’t have his own dimension like Discord. So he lived here with her, it was ok. He was quieter than she thought he would be, didn’t bother her too much, and usually worked on the friendship program. His presence had partially grown on her, and to top it all off, he was very smart. He made one of the best research buddies she could ask for. So rooming with him wasn’t as bad as she first thought.
“Princess,” Sombra said as he greeted the alicorn at his door. “Time to leave already?” Sombra was pretty nervous seeing the crystal ponies. In fact, this was something he wasn’t expecting to survive, he would just bring himself back. Then he could bail, maybe live in the snowy wastelands of the empire.
“We have gone over this, it’s Twilight.” She said, “and yes. It is time to go.” Twilight led Sombra down the hallway and to the front door where Spike was waiting. He’d brought the bags down for them.
“See ya,” Spike said, he never had time alone. He was going to do what he always did. Blast his music really loud, dance, sing, and eat junk food.
Sombra followed Twilight through Ponyville. He felt odd doing that now, most creatures just ignored him. At first, he got stares of hatred, of fear. Now, they were at least somewhat used to him. Mostly just ignoring him except for a few-
“Hi, Sombra!” Pinkie Pie yelled from across the street, on her way to Sugar Cube Corner. She waved her hoof furiously at him.
“Hello,” he said calmly. Sombra liked Pinkie quite a lot, he didn’t at first. It was a very rough start, but she grew on him. She reminded him of Discord, his strongest ally, friend, whatever they were now. He watched her bounce down the street with a smile, he’d be lying if he said that she wasn’t interesting. He was so interested that he ran right into Twilight, not having noticed she stopped. “I apologize I got distracted by-”
“Pinkie Pie, happens more than you think. Well, we are here.” Twilight said as she sat down to wait for the train.
Sombra walked around curiously, he was teleported to Ponyville when he got here, so he had no idea where he was. It was a very strange place. It sort of reminded him of the post office. A distant whistle could be heard. What was that? It sounded like it could be a bird, probbb babab babab abbllyyy - that thought was cut off as violent vibrations flowed through the wood of the train station floor. Whatever that whistle was, it certainly was not a bird. It must be a large creature. Sombra turned to see that he was right.
The creature was large, made of metal, towering over him by several feet. It hissed, a loud hiss, smoke pouring from its mouth. A snake, Sombra watched as ponies said goodbyes, some of them tearful. He saw many ponies enter, but none exiting. CARNIVOROUS, he was being sacrificed to a large carnivorous snake. He backed away, slowly. The elements really had him going, with the whole reformation thing. It was most likely a cover-up for ponies to go missing and not return. For fear of the snakes vengeful and mighty wrath.
“Let’s go Sombra,” Twilight said as she pushed him to the train. Why was he looking at it like he was scared? He was never scared.
Sombra pushed his hooves into the wooden floor, with the aid of his magic he stopped Twilight. “I thought you were reforming me, but you were planning this?”
“I am, come on Sombra, this is a part of the reformation program,” Twilight said as she struggled to budge him forward. He was putting up a fight. She pushed, and pushed, and pushed, eventually moving him centimeters forward.
Today was not the day Sombra would die, again. With a hoof and the strength of a stallion who feared having to revive himself from death, Twilight's face was hit pretty hard.
“WHAT THE TARTARUS SOMBRA?” Twilight screeched as she held the side of her muzzle. Blood spilled from her nose and Sombra bolted underneath the station platform. Seconds later Discord appeared.
Discord had heard the call from Sombra, he could summon him if needed. Apparently, he was needed. Sombra said he was about to die. The elements were not all that amused that he and Sombra were friends. Discord did not care, it wasn't that much of a surprise, they’d been through a lot together. Regardless of that Discord laughed heartily at Twilight, “what happened to your muzzle?” He giggled, thinking it to be some sort of prank.
“Sombra punched me!”
“She’s trying to sacrifice me to that...that creature!” Sombra yelled from under the train station. Discord was here, good.
“What creature?” Discord asked as he realized he was not, in fact, being pranked. He looked around for whatever was coming for Sombra but all he saw was Twilight and a train.
Sombra came out from his spot and pointed to the giant metal snake. “That, that carnivorous beast. I saw scores of ponies walk into it but not a single one get off!”
Discord wheezed, snorted, and then snorted some more. “That's a train Sombra,” he said as he struggled to pull himself together. He floated over to Sombra. “And you just sucker-punched little miss friendship in the muzzle.” He laughed, Sombra was going to be in so much trouble. He wondered what the elements would make Sombra do.
Sombra’s eyes widen “you mean… it isn’t going to eat me?”
“No,” Discord wheezed, “Oh my… this is the best day ever.” He snorted some more “I’m going to make fun of you over this forever.”
Sombra looked over to Twilight who was seething with rage “uhhh...I'm sorry. I did think you were attempting to kill me.”
Twilight took a deep breath in “we all make mistakes but this-! Forget the empire you're spending time with Dr. Ponhattan learning about modern times. Now COME, I need to figure out what your punishment is,” Twilight not quite shouted, mumbling the ending to herself. She was taking him straight to the elements. She wasn’t sure what the plan was, but she was sure she was getting some kind of revenge.
Sombra followed behind her, ears folded back. This was a rather large misunderstanding. Hopefully, he wouldn’t end up with a punishment too severe. The laughing of his friend did not help the situation as it seemed to make Twilight even angrier. They entered Twilight’s castle, where Spike was spotted making frozen pizza bites. He sighed, there went his night.
“Sit!” Twilight yelled at Sombra, before leaving to call her friends.
Sombra just did as he was told and sat down in the kitchen where he was left behind, Discord still laughing at him. He just frowned. “I’m so screwed.”
“Come on, you didn’t know.” Discord said between snorts, but Sombra just looked forlorn. Discord frowned a bit too, he didn’t want Sombra to fret. He snapped his fingers and a toy train appeared in his claw. A hook on the end of it, he hung it from Sombra’s horn. “Hissssss.”
Sombra cocked his eyebrow, “what?”
Discord snapped up some more toy trains, stacking them onto Sombra where he could. Without his knowledge, the elements had shown up and were watching him and Sombra. “Hissssss, trainssssssss.”
Sombra made a very faint “pfft,” then his eyes went wide. “That wasn’t a laugh, I sneezed. I’m a nightmarish abomination. I don’t have a sense of humor.”
“That’s the most bullshit sentence I have ever heard.” Discord said as he snapped and turned into half-train half-Discord. He slapped his claws on the ground a bunch of times. “Sombra look, loooooooooooooook. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK!” Discord said as he got more and more annoying. Eventually causing Sombra to look at him.
Discord sported the stupidest face he could and wiggled back and forth. “Hiss hiss am train.”
Sombra wheezed and snorted. “You look so stupid.” He laughed some more.
“I thought you didn’t HAVE a sense of humor.” He said as waddled circles around Sombra. Causing him to laugh even more.
Sombra couldn’t breathe, Discord looked so very stupid. He laughed harder as Discord stopped right in front of him and pulled another stupid face. The elements just stared on in surprise, none of them had even seen Sombra laugh so hard. At first, they thought they were going to have to talk to Discord, get him to stop bothering the poor stallion. It looked like he was actually trying to cheer him up. Maybe the friendship lessons were working, and it wasn't such a bad idea to let them remain friends.
Author's Note
I mentioned this in Flurry Heart but never go into the details. I sort of just gloss over it, tbh it started out as a bit. Then I thought it make a good story so here we are.
