A couple days later…

Discord paced across the cold crystal floor of the castle entrance. He twiddled his claw and paw together, the sound of his single hoof clacking off the walls.

Sombra sat on the crystal floor, trying to take his mind off the cold floor. "Uhg," he grumbled as he got up. "Will you stop pacing?" He asked, making his own crystals on the bottom of his hooves. In an instant, he was granted relief, reducing the horrific sound of Discord’s clacks.

"But we have been here FOOOOREEEVVVERR." Discord whined, falling to his knees, rubbing his muzzle with his paw and claw.

"We have been here for three minutes! Cadence is just getting flurry, she’ll be back soon." Sombra grumbled, shaking his head. "You're more impatient than a gremlin on Hearth’s Warming."

"Come on, aren't you excited? Didn't you have fun last time?" Discord assigned me the task of skating around Sombra on two rubber ducks.

Sombra rolled his eyes again and said, "It wasn't terrible."

"I'm glad, I don't want you two to be miserable." Cadence chimed in, with Flurry sitting in her mane.

"Finally!" Discord flew over so fast that Sombra's mane stood up. He scooped up Flurry, and while she wasn't as chaotic as he'd hoped, he craved that time away from the elements. all but one.

Sombra sighed and grumbled, using his magic to pat down his mane. If he didn't have an errand to run, he would have stayed in the chaos realm.

"Alright, I'll leave you here. If you need me, I'll be tending to my people, and Shining is doing paperwork." Cadence said, she decided that the last time was fast. She didn't want to scare them off, but she had to keep an eye on them. "Then after that, we'll provide you with dinner, " she said. It would give her the perfect excuse to watch them more. They only stayed an hour extra last time.

"Alright then," Discord said as he booped Flurry's nose. She squeaked at him, her hooves flying everywhere.

"Aw, you two have fun now. Bye Flurry, mommy will be back in a bit." She said this as she trotted to the throne, kissing her baby on the forehead.

Discord set off to the kitchen, covering his muzzle with a third claw. "Where's Discord?

"Ahhhheeee," she squeaked back, slapping her hooves against Discord's muzzle.

"Hey, that's right! Let's go cause some trouble and eat all the cookies in the cookie jar."

Flurry squealed again, her wings flapping, as Discord carried her off to the kitchen.

Sombra scoffed and rolled his eyes. He decided to not take part in whatever that was. Turning away, he trotted down the crystal hall and to the throne room.

His hooves echoed off the catalog walls as he approached a line of crystal ponies. Curious, he kept going down the hall. Finding more crystal ponies crammed together

'This must be the line to see Cadence.' Sombra pondered, turning down the corridor to see how far it went.

The walk didn't start out so bad, he was halfway down it before he started hearing murmurs.

Sombra tried to ignore it, but the murders became whispers. If that wasn't enough, the air became dense, and it weighed on him like a sack of bricks. The purple fog that only he could see emitted from the crystal ponies. It crawled across the floor. The whispers intensified, becoming grainy and deep.

'What is he doing here?'

'Is he going to hurt me?'

'What if he takes over again?'

'I wonder if Twilight's efforts worked.'

'I can't be enslaved again, not again.'

'Please don't hurt me, don't hurt us.'

Sombra frowned and tried not to show any pain on his face. He composed himself and walked back down the hall.

'How come they let him walk free?'

'The least the princess could do is banish him from the kingdom."

'I'm so worried, I hope my children never interact with him.'

Sombra steadied his breath, and turned back to the crystal ponies while rolling his eyes. Shaking his head, he walked back down the hallway. Coming off as nonchalant as possible until he rounded a corner.

'I hope he never comes back'

Sombra's hooves skidded across the ground, and he kept running until the voices were replaced by the echoing of his hooves.

He huffed and puffed, enjoying the click of his own hooves. The sound those voices made was like someone using a cheese grater on a chalkboard. One or two weren't bad, but a whole group was terrible. He sighed in relief, aimlessly trotting through the halls.

"Can't do that," he mumbled to himself. His desire wasn't worth the constant hammering in his head.

'Where did it fall? Oh, what am I going to do?'

Sombra rolled his eyes and tuned out the voice, much easier with just one. He wondered what he was going to do for the next four hours. He could go back to Discord, but he had the gremlin. Sombra wondered what Shining did but didn't know where to find him. He resigned himself to walking down the dull street while singing.

"Hi, Sombra!" Ivy waved, and bottles and towels were scattered everywhere.

"I thought you were supposed to clean messes, not make them," Sombra chuckled.

Name chuckled too: "I needed that, my necklace fell off and I can't find it anywhere."

The voice he heard must have been her thoughts. He looked to the floor, and soft pillows of purple drifted across her hooves. "Need a hoof?" He asked, remembering how Twilight said you should offer help. If he didn't, he'd be sent back to school.

"That would be great. It's a small golden flower on a silver chain, and the clasp broke." Ivy said as she took out every towel, unfolding and refolding it.

Sombra scanned the crystal ground to see if it had fallen on it."This will take forever. I have an idea."

His eyes swirled with purple magic, wafting off the familiar green of a tyrant. Everything in that long corridor was five feet off the ground and wrapped in purple.

Down the corridor were a couple of armored suits, some dust bunnies, a couple of sofas, and a small golden necklace wrapped in purple. "Ahha! Gotcha," he said, placing the rest of the object back down.

"I would never have found that...," Ivy said, slack-jawed.

"Let's call it even then; I'm not supposed to use that kind of magic. I won't tell anyone if you don't." Truth be told, he'd get a lecture at worst, but Ivy piqued his interest. Sombra needed to know how far she'd go to get what she wanted.

Ivy reached out to the purple magic, but at the last second, she drew back. It wasn't long ago that she had magic in her head, controlling her every whim.

"Will this magic hurt me?'

Sombra rolled his eyes and dropped the necklace on the floor.

'Is it dangerous for him?'

He snapped his head back at Icy, but her thoughts had already drifted away. He couldn't tell if she meant it if she actually did want to be friends if he wasn't a threat. She could be working for Celestia, Luna, or Twilight, or all three.

"Are you ok?" Ivy asked, tilting her head at Sombra."I won't tell; I mean, I kind of get it. Every time I go back to my parents' house, it's like I'm twelve again. The elements give me that same sort of vibe."

"...I suppose so, yes. It's not a big deal," Sombra said as he turned away.

"Wait- wait," Ivy said, stopping the dark stallion, despite having no plan. "How come the elements don't let you use your magic? They allowed Discord." She asked as she cleaned up her cart. Ivy wanted to get to know him, the stallion behind the tyrant, but he always seemed to dodge her.

"I'm not connected to it like Discord, he is made of magic. I just welded it." It wasn't like that fact wasn't a secret either, he knew all about the disappearing act.

"Unfortunately, I'm an earth pony; otherwise, i'd I ask for lessons."

Sombra frowned, "trust me, it isn't worth the cost. I should be getting back to Discord. I'm sure Cadence will be done any time now."

He turned away, walking down the hall at a brisk trot, to avoid more questions from the maid. At least he knew her deal, sent for information. He should have figured since he refused to tell the elements anything about his past or his magic. Sombra had every intention of keeping it that way, forever.

He sighed as he rounded another corner, passing the line of crystal ponies again. He eventually found himself back where he started.

"Goochi goochi goo." Discord mentioned scratching Flurries' stomach.

She squeed and giggled, putting his claw in her mouth.

"How much longer?"

"In five minutes, stop being such a buzzkill."Discord growled at him, but he wasn't upset for long.

Flurry squealed another time, babbling to Discord and pulling in his claw.

Discord smiled and scratched her again.

Sombra sighed and sat on the floor. It was slightly better than an interrogation, but only slightly.

Author's Note

Sorry, this is so late, my life is really crazy at the moment. I hope my low battery didn't effect thus chapter.

grammar check 11/27