A Tyrant To A King

by ShuTodoroki

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Luna, Comedy, King Sombra, Princess Celestia, Main 6, Discord, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe
Length: 60208

King Sombra is left with an ultimatum from Princess Celestia between reformation and being turned to stone after he's found in the Frozen North, and subsequently imprisoned in Canterlot. His reformer doesn't help things either...

King Sombra isn't totally destroyed by the Mane Six's blast in Canterlot, but he's banished back to the Frozen North and is severely weakened. Determined to take revenge, he's eventually imprisoned by Princess Celestia and has a choice to make: reform himself to use his magic for good, or be turned to stone.

Takes place during Season 9, just after Sombra's defeat. Also assumes you've seen Season 9 so beware of spoilers!

2/18/2023 - This made it to the featured box on the day it was posted I'm SHAKING??? I'm so grateful aaaaa :rainbowkiss:

3/6/2023 - Featured again!!!

Published 2023-02-18 07:50:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-04-26 12:49:15 UTC

Chapter 1: Imprisoned

The Frozen North. That was the first thing King Sombra came to, the wind that almost froze his ears solid deafening to no end. Initially he had no idea what had led him back here to the painfully familiar sight of snow as far as the eye could see, until he remembered what had happened, letting out a snarl as he involuntarily shivered.

Them.

Those six multicolored ponies were like thorns in his side that he couldn't get rid of. All of his victories were cut short because of their damned friendship. If it wasn't for them, well…he would have succeeded in ruling all of Equestria from Canterlot! One moment he was sitting on his rightful throne, the next he was banished back into shadow.

Part of his body still appeared as black smoke as he tried to regenerate, yet was obviously failing in his weakened state. He could barely stand up, no less even try to walk as he silently cursed those who thwarted him twice now. He had destroyed the Tree of Harmony, yet they could still tear him apart?

It couldn't be; it didn't make sense. However, it obviously had to, if he found himself back here. That fossilized ram was right, as much as I hate to admit it. But I refuse… He wasn't going to join forces with those he saw as below him, especially with a filly of all ponies.

He was King Sombra of the Crystal Empire, and he didn't need help! Well, when he was fully regenerated and healed from shadow and at his best, that was true. Not when his red cape was his only protection from the sheer cold, and he could barely walk. Speaking of which, he had fallen into the snow after taking a few steps, making him snarl in frustration from how weak he felt.

No. I'm not just going to keel over and submit like this! With a low growl he forced himself back onto his hooves, knowing that the Crystal Empire must be nearby if he was in the Frozen North. He was going to reclaim what was rightfully his, even if the odds were against him.

Call him insane or delirious from hypothermia, but even if he was moving at a snail's pace in his newly regenerated form, he wasn't going to give up. His tenacity was what earned him the Crystal Empire a thousand years ago, and this was going to be no different. Those six ponies wanted a war? He was going to give them one.

Well, he was going to give them one once he was back at full health, not when it felt like icicles were forming in his nostrils from the freezing cold. He tried to summon some dark crystals to provide himself with some shelter as he stumbled forward, only to find himself unable to.

He cursed his adversaries one more time, knowing he was in his weakened state because of them. A small voice at the back of head told him to maybe try retaking the Crystal Empire when he was in a healthier state, but he quickly shut it down, his pride as strong as ever even if he didn't look very much like a king.

Even when Celestia had lowered the sun after a few hours of mindlessly stumbling in the frozen wasteland that was the Frozen North, his resolve was not broken. Being defeated twice was humiliating, yes, but he would just keep on trying. After all, if Grogar hadn't come to rescue him knowing very well where he was, he supposed he was by himself anyway.

Not that he minded; he didn't need to team up with a queen of vermin, a pathetic centaur, and a filly. They had their own weaknesses that had led to their downfall; as far as he was concerned, Twilight and her friends had just had an unfair advantage by taking him off guard.

With his dark mane flowing despite the harsh conditions, he held his head high, his eyes narrowed as he pushed through when he could see a hazy light in the distance which he assumed was the Crystal Empire, appearing through the blizzard that surrounded it. He was going to retake his throne, and if they tried to stop him again, he'd-

"HALT!"

A blinding light alerted him to the fact that he was not alone in the Frozen North, as he was quickly surrounded by royal guards with their headlamps pointed directly at him. He snarled as he tried to ready a blast of dark magic, only to remember that he was still powerless in his newly regenerated form.

Feeling pathetic without his magic, he didn't say a word as he tried to turn back into shadow in order to retreat, but it was too little, too late. The royal guards seemed to know what he was planning, and one of them punched him in the head hard enough to knock him out, that searing pain the last thing he felt before his world turned dark once again.

"I don't think it's a good idea to keep Sombra incarcerated here, Shining." Princess Cadance mused with a troubled expression, as she stood with her husband, Flurry Heart's room right behind them since they weren't going to take any chances this time as she slept.

Shining Armor nodded his head in agreement, nervously looking down since they were keeping Sombra below the throne room at the moment in a makeshift cage, while they tried to figure out what to do. "Having him in the Crystal Empire, even imprisoned, will cause a panic amongst the people. It might also threaten the hope and love we have here, and Sombra will end up succeeding even if he's weakened!"

"I'm also worried about the safety of Flurry Heart. Sombra got a hold of her so easily not too long ago, and although we have him in a cell that blocks his magic, it'd be better if he wasn't kept in the same empire he wants to take over." Cadance mused with a furrowed brow, until she got an idea.

"Princess Luna should be notified at once, since she will be awake at this time of night." She told her husband, before she opened the door to Flurry Heart's room to look for an empty scroll with a quill.

"You think that they'll imprison him in Canterlot after what he pulled there as well? Though I guess Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are probably more equipped to handle a threat than we are." Shining said in a hushed tone, trying to not wake their baby.

Cadance nodded as she used dim light from her horn to find what she was looking for in a drawer. "Exactly. Besides, they have dungeons down there, which are much more secure than the makeshift cage we have right now. It's also closer to Twilight and her friends, who can fully banish him back into the darkness if need be."

Eventually the Princess of Love found the elusive scroll she needed along with a quill, and quickly wrote down what had happened before sending it off with her horn. Granted, Luna might be in the dream realm so it would take a while for her to reply, but as long as they could get King Sombra out of the Crystal Empire before sunrise, there wouldn't be the feared panic amongst their people.

There was a knock at the door right after that, Shining heading over to answer it as he opened the door. A royal guard was there, bowing in respect before he spoke. "I hope I am not disturbing anything; I wanted to let the both of you know that Sombra is still unconscious, probably weakened from being in the Frozen North for so long. The cage is secure, and we've got four royal guards surrounding it to ensure it stays that way."

Shining nodded in acknowledgement, glad to hear the news. "Thank you, Sentinel Wings. You do remember to keep Sombra's return a secret from the public, right? They've gone through enough, especially since this is the third time now, albeit he's much weaker."

The royal guard nodded briskly, intending to stick to every word of Shining's command. "Of course, sir. The entire royal guard remembers what you said, and we don't plan to make this public information. After all, Sombra currently does not pose a threat to the Empire, so no one has to know."

"Right. You may head back to your post, soldier." Shining dismissed, turning back to his wife once the door was closed again.

"You said 'if need be.' Do you think Princess Celestia will keep him imprisoned, rather than not take any chances and banish him once again? He doesn't seem like the reformable type to me, especially since we've experienced his wrath first hoof!" He shuddered at the memory, not wanting to experience that feeling of helplessness ever again.

Cadance shrugged, not able to speak for what Princess Celestia would decide, especially since the decision to reform Discord was something that she could have never anticipated. "While I agree completely, Shining, only she can answer that. He's more powerful than Tirek and Cozy Glow, so she'll definitely keep him in close proximity rather than all the way in Tartarus. But besides that, I have no idea."

That didn't ease Shining's concerns any further as he glanced at the still sleeping Flurry Heart, before looking back at Cadance. "Well for the sake of Equestria, between banishing him and trying to reform him, I hope she picks the former."

The first thing that hit King Sombra was the pain. The searing, throbbing pain that dominated his head. He most definitely had a concussion of some sort on top of hypothermia, frostbite, and his general weakness from being newly regenerated, but that wasn't his most pressing concern at the moment.

Whoever had dared to punch him in the head was going to be executed first when he took over the Crystal Empire; he was going to make sure of that. His anger was short lived however, as he started to observe his surroundings, his eyes groggily opening. Revenge would have to wait; getting out of his confines was the more important thing to address.

It seemed like he was somewhere underground in a cage, and the crystals he could see in the dim lighting initially made him think he was being kept somewhere underneath the castle of the Crystal Empire, a foolish move given that he could easily turn the hope and love of the Empire into the exact opposite, which was the way that he had risen to power in the first place.

However, he doubted that Princess Cadance and Shining Armor were that stupid. They had been able to run his empire for quite a long time without him, and he had a feeling that they weren't going to put that in jeopardy by keeping him in such close proximity, not when he knew how to turn his domain against them so easily.

So then where was he? He supposed that was the million bit question as he sat on the cold floor of his cell. Not able to find the energy to get up, he tried to send a pulse of dark magic, summoning up all of his resolve that he could, only to find that it immediately died when it hit the bars of his confinement.

So they were smart enough to block my magic, even when I can't do anything. He thought with a snarl, his armor clanking noisily against the metal floor as he shifted a bit, not able to find a way out from what he could see. What he noticed was that although there were crystal walls, the floor looked like rock, something that wasn't characteristic of his empire.

It seemed like he was being kept in a cave, but where in Equestria were there caves if he wasn't in the Crystal Empire? That was when the figurative light bulb went off, as his eyes narrowed. Most likely, he was sent to Princess Celestia, and that only meant one thing.

He was in Canterlot.

Chapter 2: Urgent Summons (Again)

Unbeknownst to anyone else in Equestria, that King Sombra had survived his defeat in Canterlot, Princess Twilight Sparkle sighed in contentment as she prepared some breakfast in her castle as her loyal dragon assistant and close friend, Spike, rubbed his eyes groggily as he entered the kitchen and yawned.

"You're up already, Twilight?" The dragon inquired, rubbing his eyes as he tried to wake up fully.

Twilight smiled at seeing how cute Spike looked when he was still groggy first thing in the morning as she set down a plate she had been holding up with her purple magic. "More like you're up late, Spike. Princess Celestia already raised the sun a few hours ago!"

"Give me a break! After being controlled by Sombra, I needed the extra rest." Spike pouted, glad that he couldn't remember anything that had happened after Sombra invaded Ponyville.

Twilight's cheerful expression faltered a bit at the mention of Sombra, before shaking it off. She and her friends had defeated the tyrant without the Elements of Harmony; it had a happy ending, despite how traumatic the experience was to see the Tree of Harmony destroyed.

"Of course, Spike. I guess I'm just trying to not remember what it was like to see you and Starlight controlled by him, unable to do anything to help. I'm trying to enjoy every moment of peace that we have; after all, there's never a dull moment in Equestria." She explained, before another voice interrupted them.

"You got that right!"

Starlight Glimmer exclaimed, as she joined the trio in the kitchen for breakfast. "It still feels like I was hit in the head yesterday. Dark magic is something that I never want to experience ever again…we are talking about Sombra coming back, right?"

Twilight nodded, with a slightly troubled expression on her face. "We were, but I'd rather not talk about him. We defeated him, and that's all that matters. It was just very difficult to see you both, and realize that we had let our guard down too easily by depending on the Elements. I'd rather relax before I have to prepare for becoming the new ruler of Equestria, you know?"

Starlight nodded, understanding completely what Twilight was talking about. "Yeah, but that won't be for a while! The princesses did say they'd give you more time to prepare, right? Anyway, what's for-"

Suddenly Spike let out a loud belch, a letter from Princess Celestia materializing which shocked both Twilight and Starlight. Twilight quickly grabbed it to read what it said, her eyes going wide as she put it down. "Princess Celestia needs me and my friends in Canterlot at once!"

"Another urgent summons? Weren't you just there?" Spike wondered aloud, Starlight looking concerned while Twilight was obviously stressed, pacing back and forth in the kitchen.

"I don't know what it is this time, but we'd better find the others so we can head to Canterlot at once! Starlight, you'll be okay here, right?" Twilight quickly asked, in a rush as she was almost at the door.

Starlight nodded in reply, waving them towards the door with a hoof. "Of course, Twilight! Hopefully it's nothing too serious."

“I hope so too.” Twilight sighed, before she was past the door with Spike, intent on telling her friends as quickly as possible so they could appear in Canterlot in a timely manner.

“Another urgent summons? It’d better be for something, well, urgent this time. I was in the middle of a really good Daring Do book!” Rainbow Dash huffed, as the Mane Six and Spike made their way as fast as they could to Canterlot.

“I don’t think this is a ‘The Colt Who Cried Wolf’ situation Rainbow, not when it comes to the princesses.” Twilight replied, panting as she ran as fast as she could past Canterlot.

“Two summons in such a short period of time, though. It’s quite bizarre!” Rarity exclaimed, unsure what to think about being called to Canterlot again.

“I’m sure they’d only call us if it was urgent.” Fluttershy said quietly, even though she had been in the middle of feeding her animals.

“Yeah, but I’m wonderin’ what could be goin’ wrong after we defeated Sombra.” Applejack pointed out; she had been under the impression that everything was fine and that Equestria was once again at peace. Unless that wasn’t the case…

“No matter what the reason is, seeing the walls all blurry never gets old! I should run like this all the time!” Pinkie Pie remarked, laughing since she was the only one who saw something funny in this situation.

The rest of the Mane Six and Spike looked at each other before looking back at Pinkie. “Uh, Pinkie, I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’d probably run somepony over in Ponyville.” Rainbow stated, which Pinkie just laughed at.

“Yeah, you’re probably right!” Pinkie replied, as they practically threw open the doors to the Canterlot throne room.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were there, but the expressions on their faces immediately alerted the group that this was not, in fact, a false alarm like last time. Discord was standing off to the side, his expression much less serious as he looked impatient, like he had been waiting for the Mane Six and Spike to show up.

“Finally! You know, I had also received an urgent summons in my realm, and I appeared here right when I got the scroll. Did you seriously run all the way here?” Discord pointed out, holding the scroll in his right hand that looked like a lion’s paw.

Twilight looked embarrassed since although she hated to admit it, Discord had a point. “Huh. I could have teleported everyone here. I didn’t think of that.”

“Forget that. You got an urgent summons too? You didn’t just show up at random like you usually do?” Rainbow questioned incredulously, while Discord looked mock offended as he brought his left claw of an eagle to his chest.

“Well yes, Rainbow, I did! See,” he started, as he materialized a comical looking monocle and started reading from the scroll. “Dear Discord, you are needed urgently at-”

“There is no time for this. Girls, I’m glad you came as quickly as you could. King Sombra has returned.” Celestia stated with a serious expression, causing all of the Mane Six and Spike to gasp while even Discord looked shocked at the news, his mouth agape.

“H-He what!?!” Rarity exclaimed in shock, bringing a hoof to her mouth while Applejack looked confused.

“But I thought we had banished him back into the shadows or whatever. How could he have returned?”

Luna held up a hoof, signifying that she wanted time to explain. “I had received a scroll from Princess Cadance and Shining Armor during the night, which explained that he had been found in the Frozen North. He was severely weakened by your attack, but it seems like he had just been taken off guard before he could turn to shadow to avoid the blast. He’s still in a weakened state, but we have him in a magic-proof cell in the dungeons of Canterlot to be safe.”

“So what are you waiting for? Lock him up in Tartarus so he can’t threaten the Crystal Empire ever again! Obviously, the awesomeness of our friendship isn’t keeping him in the ether, so we gotta do things the old-fashioned way!” Rainbow suggested.

“Unfortunately, my sister and I don’t think Tartarus is strong enough to hold a being like King Sombra. We’re afraid he will find a way to escape since that place is only monitored by Cerberus. Tirek escaped last time when he was powerless, and we cannot let the same thing happen with Sombra, who is much more powerful. Keeping him in Canterlot will ensure that we can monitor him closely.”

“You’re going to imprison him here indefinitely? With all due respect, that doesn’t seem like a very good solution, Princess Celestia. Can’t we turn him to stone like we did Discord?” Twilight pointed out, to the Lord of Chaos’s visible displeasure as he shuddered at the memory.

“Yes, thank you for reminding me of that dreadful time, Twilight. Though I do have to say it’s an effective method of keeping a bad element at bay. After all, it held me for so long, and I’m much more powerful than that would-be tyrant.” He seemed back to his normal self, after looking shell shocked while Luna was explaining what happened.

“Celestia and I did discuss that option, but it will be difficult considering he can at ease turn into shadow to evade any attack thrown at him, and shadow cannot be turned into stone. If he is going to keep coming back, well…” Luna trailed off, looking expectantly at her sister to fully explain what they had decided on.

“Because Sombra is so powerful, and he seems to keep coming back from his banishment, we have decided that it may be more useful to try to reform him to use his magic for good instead of evil. He would be a valuable ally for Equestria if it is possible, but I do understand if you all have reservations about this plan.”

Once again Discord was left speechless along with the rest of the group, unable to believe what they were hearing. They exchanged uneasy gazes, before Twilight spoke. “With all due respect again, Princess Celestia, WHAT!?! I mean, Discord I feel like was only being mischievous. Sombra enslaved his entire empire! He’s about as redeemable as Chrysalis, and we all know she rejected Starlight’s offer!”

“Besides, he just gives off an extremely evil vibe, with the red eyes, dark appearance, dark magic, fangs, basically everything about him is all evilly!” Pinkie remarked, the rest of her friends murmuring in agreement.

“How can dark magic even be used for good?” Spike wondered aloud, since from his understanding all dark magic was evil.

“In a way, Starlight enslaved her own village in which she forced all of their cutie marks to be equal, did she not? I’m not saying I know where to go from there if his reformation is unsuccessful, but I believe that it is worth a try, don’t you? You can always use the magic of friendship within all of you to attempt to turn him into stone.”

“Attempt is the key word there.” Applejack muttered, the rest of her friends not looking very confident in this plan, but they assumed that Princess Celestia probably thought very long and hard about this with Princess Luna. If they weren’t sure that this was the best course of action, they wouldn’t have suggested it, right?

There was silence between the group as they thought over it, but when they figured that there was no other option, they looked to the princesses and nodded. Twilight was the one to speak, her uncertainty clear in her body language, but she put full trust in the princesses.

“If you think trying to reform Sombra is the best course of action, Princess Celestia, I suppose that we’ll do anything that we can to help. That is, if you wanted us to be the ones to try to reform him, like with Discord.”

“Well, given that Sombra is a much different individual from Discord, I wouldn’t make Fluttershy try to make friends with Sombra, even though she’s the element of kindness. The same logic doesn’t apply here for someone who will be much more difficult to reform.” Princess Celestia explained.

“Thank you…” Fluttershy offered weakly, not wanting to interact with Sombra considering the stallion scared her to death.

“We were actually thinking of Discord being the one to try to reform him.” Princess Luna revealed, to deafening silence from the Mane Six, Spike, and especially Discord, who looked like he was about to pass out.

“WHAT!?!”

Chapter 3: Discord the Reformer

Well, this will certainly complicate things. Discord mused, while the rest of the group stared at the two princesses with their mouths agape. They couldn't even comprehend what Princess Luna had said. Discord would be the one to reform Sombra? Even the draconequus looked like he didn't believe it.

"Before you say anything, I believe Sombra may be more receptive to someone that he's familiar with and who used to be a villain, rather than any of the six that recently defeated him. I know him as a very prideful individual, and he would most likely greet any of you with silence if you tried to talk to him." Princess Celestia explained further, addressing the Mane Six.

"And you think Discord would get along any better with Sombra? Did you know him a thousand years ago?" Twilight asked Discord, who had to think a bit as he recalled first hearing about Sombra.

"I knew of him; I wasn't exactly best buddies with him since we never met. I was too busy spreading chaos and disharmony and all of those things." Discord explained, materializing a flying pig to emphasize his point before making it disappear again.

"Besides, although I would love to be Sombra's therapist and help him talk about whatever is causing him to be evil," he continued, materializing glasses and a notepad to look like a psychologist, "I do have to question why I'm a better choice when I helped fight against him as well."

"You're the only practical choice I can think of, and I put full trust in you not joining forces with Sombra or something like that because you've learned your lesson from Tirek. The best thing about reformation is passing that knowledge on to others." Princess Celestia said with a smile, while the others besides Discord still looked hesitant.

"'Practical' ain't exactly a word I'd use to describe Discord…" Applejack opined, honest as ever while Discord rolled his eyes in reply.

"Well, even if we don't wanna admit it, Sombra isn't the type of stallion to like tea parties! Sorry Fluttershy, but I don't think Sombra will value friendship as much to willingly change his ways. He'll be a harder case to crack!" Pinkie remarked.

"Certainly not! Even if your tea parties are simply divine." Rarity told Fluttershy, who blushed in response.

Rainbow was on board with the idea, since the two princesses wouldn't have suggested it if it wasn't a good idea anyway. "I definitely don't want to deal with Sombra. Count me in on this plan! I'd probably lose patience anyway if he did the whole 'tough guy' act."

Twilight was silent for a few moments, deep in thought as she contemplated the idea. Wwll, not like it would matter since her other friends seemed on board, save for Applejack who still looked dubious. "If you think it's a good idea, your highnesses, then I have no qualms with it. Good luck, Discord."

"Why thank you, Twilight! I'm sorry our tea parties will have to be less often, Fluttershy, but rest assured I'll fill you all in with whatever happens between me and Sombra. I'll be prepared for what I assume won't be a warm welcome." Discord replied, materializing comical looking armor to protect himself.

Fluttershy smiled, waving a hoof dismissively. "Oh, I fully understand, Discord. Really, it's fine."

Princess Luna held up a hoof to stifle her chuckle at Discord's antics. "Thank you, Discord. Celestia and I will understand if you aren't able to convince Sombra to use his magic for good, but it's worth a try, as I always say. Oh, and we'd like for you all to keep this news a secret; we don't want Canterlot or anywhere else in Equestria to be in a panic that King Sombra is alive."

"Of course, Princess Luna. We fully understand; after all, if Equestria isn't in any danger, there's no reason for anypony to know." Twilight assured, glancing at her friends before looking back at the princesses. "Is there anything else we need to discuss?"

Princess Celestia shook her head. "No, thank you all for coming once again. I'll show Discord how to get to the dungeons, but the rest of you can leave."

The Mane Six and Spike headed out, murmurs amongst themselves which probably consisted of questioning the logic of having Discord reform Sombra, but as they said before, they'd rather not try to make friends with the stallion who had enslaved their loved ones only a day ago.

With the throne room door closed in front of them, Princess Celestia beckoned Discord over with a hoof as the draconequus snapped his fingers to get rid of the armor, appearing as his normal self. "The dungeons are a bit out of the way; we repurposed them from the caves that existed before." She explained, as Discord nodded.

"Ah, yes, I'm sure I'll know when I hear the indignant yelling from a tyrant who needs to be taken down a couple notches." Discord quipped, chuckling to himself as he lowered his voice to sound like Sombra, turning himself the color of charcoal as he had a plastered on black mane that resembled Sombra's.

"I'm King Sombra, rightful ruler of the Crystal Empire! I can't handle defeat!"

Princess Celestia couldn't help but laugh at that, holding a hoof up to her mouth while Princess Luna laughed aloud. "I wouldn't suggest doing that in front of Sombra; he most likely wouldn't take it very well. He's actually been totally silent, from reports that I've received from royal guards. Perhaps he's in denial that he's finally imprisoned."

"Ah, right, and then anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. See? I'm a trained psychologist already!" Discord remarked back in his normal form, while Princess Celestia looked serious for a moment as she led him out of the throne room, leaving her sister behind to stay on her throne.

"I appreciate the jokes, Discord, but you do understand the importance of the task I've given you, right? Equestria could benefit greatly if Sombra used his magic for good, but if he is adamant on using his magic for evil, we will be left with no choice but to turn him into stone, and even then I'm not convinced that will keep him for long."

Discord sighed, nodding since he didn't like being serious that much. After all, he was the fun-loving Lord of Chaos; that was one thing he had to compromise on when he accepted the magic of friendship and being a good person.

"Yes, I completely understand, Princess Celestia. I'm just trying to get what joy I have left out of my system before I deal with darkness incarnate. He'll probably give me the silent treatment like every edgy villain does."

"If he ever gives you the cold shoulder, just leave him alone for a few days. All ponies, even him, will get lonely." Princess Celestia said with a wink, as she led Discord towards the back of the castle, where a lone staircase to the dungeons resided. "We've never really had a purpose for the converted caves until now. Well, you can take over from here, right? Just fill me in periodically about Sombra's progress, if any."

"Will do." Discord said with a salute, figuring that he'd be able to juggle reforming Sombra and his own little secret which he'd reveal when the time was ready. After all, if he managed to get Sombra on his side…it would just ensure the glorious defeat of the villains in the end, right?

With that, Princess Celestia headed back to the throne room, leaving Discord to stand in front of the staircase. He contemplated how he wanted to approach this, knowing that Sombra would be a tough pony to try and get along with. After all, he didn't really give off a vibe that he wanted to be friends…

Well, you're known for being spontaneous, Discord! You'll think of something, especially with how charismatic you are. Discord told himself, before walking down into the dungeons to see what he was working with.

Sombra was convinced that the silence and lack of contact was slowly driving him insane, his eyes used to the dim lighting by this point as all he could do was stare at the crystal walls of the caverns he was kept in, almost as if they were taunting him with memories of his empire that he couldn't have.

He hadn't even been given the decency of a proper answer when he questioned what his fate was to be, so he just resorted to being quiet as he rested on the metal floor of his cell, not finding it comfortable at all to sleep on but he figured he didn't have much of a choice when there was no way out without his magic.

The royal guards only came with food to keep him alive, but it was a far cry from the luxury he was accustomed to when he was the ruler of the Crystal Empire. They regarded him with harsh glares and silence which he eagerly returned, even if he was harmless in the cage which neutralized his dark magic.

Even without my magic, I will find a way out of this. He told himself, even if it wasn’t the most realistic thing to believe. It was the last thing preserving his sanity; he couldn’t accept that he had been defeated once and for all, and that he was now at the mercy of whatever Princess Celestia wanted to do with him.

Although he had been in captivity for only about a day, it felt longer since he had no sense of time, the same monotonous surroundings always torturing him when he wasn’t sleeping. That was probably what Princess Celestia was up to, wanting him to crack and bend to her will! Well she was sadly mistaken, because he wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of that!

The sound of steps that echoed through the caverns immediately made Sombra stand at alert, his ears perking up as he readied himself for whoever Princess Celestia sent his way, or if it was just another royal guard who refused to talk to him.

Who he didn’t expect to see was the Lord of Chaos himself, as the draconequus walked in and plonked himself next to him without a care in the world for who he was, which sparked a bit of anger within Sombra. “My my, if it isn’t King Sombra of the Crystal Empire! You meet the Lord of Chaos again.”

“If you’re here to gloat, I’m not going to hear it. I will escape somehow, and you’ll be sorry you ever crossed hooves with me! I already defeated you, didn’t I?” Sombra snarled, not interested in making small talk with the draconequus who had dared challenge his takeover of Canterlot.

Discord’s eyes widened as he heard that, chuckling since that was really what the charcoal tyrant thought. He was under the impression that he had singlehoovedly defeated the Lord of Chaos, oh how wrong he was… “That? I purposely pretended to be very hurt so the girls would defeat you on their own.”

Sombra simmered in anger, his eyes glowing red when he heard what Discord said. So his victory over the spirit of chaos was a fake? He could barely contain his rage, turning his back to Discord as he refused to talk to him any further.

“So you’re giving the silent treatment now, hm? So predictable.” Discord mused, holding his eagle claw to his chin as he decided on what to do. How could he bargain with someone so impossibly stubborn… He then snapped his fingers, coming up with an idea. “What if I said there was a way to get out of here?”

That marginally piqued Sombra’s interest, but he was well aware that it could be a trap as well. “Say it, then.” He spat, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Either you reform yourself and get to roam free, or those ponies you hate so much turn you into stone.”

Chapter 4: A King's Pride

Sombra just stared at Discord blankly for a few seconds before snorting scornfully, turning around to not look at his so-called reformer. That wasn’t much of a decision, was it? “Such great options for someone who is a king!” He spat, while Discord shook his head with disdain.

“You really don’t understand that you don’t have much choice in the matter, do you?” Discord crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow since he figured the former king’s pride had to come to an end at some point.

Sombra shot another death glare at the Lord of Chaos, refusing to give the draconequus the luxury of a reply. Even if that didn’t seem like a great option, he’d find a way out. Without his magic. He stood his ground by sitting with his back turned against Discord, his hooves crossed as he looked down upon someone who let themselves be controlled by others.

“I’m going to take that as a yes. Now come on, you should be grateful that Celestia is giving you a second chance! She’s given me, well, multiple!” He snapped into existence a costume which made him look like Princess Celestia, mimicking her voice as he spoke.

“Now Discord, you hid the Elements of Harmony, corrupted the Mane Six when you broke out of stone, and betrayed Equestria for Tirek, but let bygones be bygones, hm?” He turned back to his normal self, irritated when he saw that Sombra still refused to talk to him, even at the mention of Tirek.

“Seriously? You’re not even going to say anything now? You’re going to be turned to stone like I was if you don’t reform yourself for good, you know!” Discord asserted, to dead silence from Sombra. His pride had obviously clouded his sense of self-preservation.

He was just greeted with a defiant “hmph” from Sombra, the only sign of life from him being his dark, shadowy mane flowing like always. Losing his patience, Discord growled as he stormed off, knowing that he now had to think of a coherent plan since Sombra would be harder to crack than he anticipated.

Sombra huffed as he enjoyed his relative peace and quiet once more, simmering over the choice Celestia had given him. He’d rather die with pride than be turned into a statue that the ponies of the future would just ogle at, and being bound by arbitrary morals that got in the way of what he wanted to accomplish wasn’t an option for him either. He refused to accept it.

Moreso, he refused to be reformed by the same draconequus who had dared stand in his way in Canterlot! How the Lord of Chaos could stoop to something so low mystified him, but to be honest he didn’t really care about that at the moment. If Discord was with them, he wasn’t close at all to trusting him enough to carry on a conversation. Who knows what Celestia was up to, bringing the Lord of Chaos to his cell…

Meanwhile, Discord had snapped himself back to his realm, pacing back and forth as he tried to figure out what to do while he sat on the ceiling. Normally, he wouldn’t have a problem with Sombra being turned to stone; after all, he didn’t have any sort of personal connection to him.

However, the fact that Princess Celestia had entrusted him to reform Discord like Fluttershy reformed him was almost poetic in a way, and he felt like it’d hurt his own pride if he couldn’t succeed at winning even the most stubborn stallion in existence over.

C’mon, Discord, it’ll be mighty disappointing if you show up to Princess Celestia empty hoofed. He told himself, as he tried to think like Sombra, raising a lion’s paw to his goatee to stroke it in thought. How do you get through a skull as thick as Sombra’s? Threats obviously didn’t work.

He had already attempted bargaining by telling him how he could be set free, but Sombra was currently blind to reason. Maybe the stubborn stallion just needed time? Hmmm. I’m usually better at thinking up plans that involve Fluttershy. After all, she’s the only pony I know very well.

Moving to one of the windows of his home, he stared aimlessly into the chaotic landscape outside which usually helped him think of things if he was stuck, but nothing was working, much to his frustration. But he couldn’t give up so soon, right? He had only seen Sombra once!

Well, he doubted that there was anyone else that was even remotely suitable for the job, and he supposed that he could just try again tomorrow as he stood up, only to materialize a light bulb over his head as he thought of something.

“Maybe Celestia knew this would be a tough job, and I can ask her for advice like Twilight did.” He said to himself, not exactly liking to be dependent on someone else for guidance, but he was really clueless as to what to do to reform Sombra, at least when the Tyrant of the North was still so bitter about his defeat.

Besides, the sooner he was able to reform Sombra, the sooner he could go back to his “normal” way of life and resume his regular tea parties with Fluttershy that he so eagerly looked forward to. Well, he’d still have them, just less often, which was already bad enough for him.

The first thing next morning he teleported to the doors outside of the throne room in Canterlot, letting himself in when the royal guards recognized who he was, even if they looked a little bit dubious about what Celestia had told them, that Discord was going to visit the throne room more often to provide updates on Sombra’s progress.

He didn’t pay much attention to them though, not when Celestia greeted him happily while Luna smiled from her own throne. “Good morning, Discord! I’m assuming you tried to talk to Sombra yesterday; did it go well?”

“Errr, it was anything but well.” Discord admitted, crossing his arms as he gave a disappointed sigh, though his expression of exhaustion soon turned into one of realization when Princess Celestia didn’t seem at all surprised by the news.

“Hm. I figured he would be too prideful to listen to you so quickly on the first day. Have you tried thinking of anything that could get through to him? Surely Sombra is intelligent enough to see reason; nopony could take over the entire Crystal Empire otherwise.”

Discord nodded eagerly, showing that he really did try to come up with ideas to persuade Sombra to see reason. “Trust me; I straight up told him that he had a choice between being reformed and being turned to stone and he started ignoring me at that point! Anypony who’s sane would take the option that leaves them alive!”

“Well, Sombra isn’t exactly the most sane, as you probably know.” Celestia replied, as she held a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. “Perhaps he needs time by himself. Don’t visit him for a few days.”

Discord raised an eyebrow, unsure how that would make a difference. “Isn’t being left alone what he wants? At least that seemed pretty clear to me when he dared give me the silent treatment.”

“Maybe in the short run, but when left in isolation, ponies will get lonely. They might be more receptive to whatever somepony has to say afterwards, when they see them again.”

Discord still felt hesitant about it, not even sure if Sombra could feel anything but spite, anger, and hatred. That was what he was the embodiment of, right? Though if Celestia thought it was a good idea, he supposed it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try, if he didn’t have any better ideas.

“Well, if you say so. It’s as simple as that? I don’t grace him with my presence for several days and he’ll magically become more receptive to whatever I say?”

“I can’t speak for how Sombra will react, but I would think that he has emotions just like you and I. There’s nothing that I can think of that is truly incapable of feeling loneliness that’s alive.” Celestia explained, while Luna nodded in agreement.

“It’s worth giving a try, at least. We wouldn’t have chosen you to be the one to reform Sombra if we didn’t think that you would be capable.” Luna added, Discord grinning in reply.

“I would like to see Sombra actually carrying on a normal conversation for once! You never really hear him say anything that isn’t about his plans for world domination or how your attempts to stop him are futile.”

Celestia chuckled, knowing what Discord was talking about. “It has been a relatively recent development that Sombra is talking more often; when my sister and I banished him for the first time, he was a stallion of few words.”

“Indeed. We didn’t even know where he had come from. In fact, we still don’t know much about his life before he was the ruler of the Crystal Empire. Perhaps that could be a viable conversation starter, once you see him again.” Luna suggested.

Discord shook his head. “Errr, he doesn’t seem to be the type to open up about his backstory. He probably has a tragic one if he’s that evil, you know? I’ll probably start off with what’s your favorite food, what’s your hobbies, things like that. I’ve learned how to carry on a conversation like a normal draconequus, thanks to Fluttershy.”

“Somehow, I think he would hate small talk more.” Celestia replied with a soft smile. “But whatever you think is best to try to carry on a conversation with Sombra, Discord. Is there anything else you wish to discuss?”

“Nothing else. I’ll see what I can do with Sombra. It won’t be easy, but I hope that your suggestion to leave him alone for a bit will knock some sense into him. Honestly, to still be so stubborn when you’re faced with being turned into a stone statue…” Discord scoffed at the idea, Celestia making a shrugging motion.

“Pride can sometimes cloud one’s judgment to an extent that they’re blind to reason. I look forward to our next meeting, Discord.”

Discord nodded and snapped himself back to his realm after that, looking at an upside down calendar in his house. “With all of this free time, a tea party with Fluttershy sounds like a great idea while I leave Sombra alone…”

Discord hadn’t bothered Sombra for the entirety of the next day which he saw as a blessing, but soon it started to feel a bit suspect when he hadn’t seen the Lord of Chaos the entirety of the day after that either. Initially he thought that Discord had taken the hint that he didn’t want to be bothered and had decided to leave him alone, but he soon realized that didn’t make sense.

He had obviously been tasked by Celestia to reform him, and he doubted that the princess would allow Discord to give up so easily. So why was it he hadn’t seen the draconequus ever since that one meeting when he had given him the silent treatment?

He found it quite odd, which he supposed wasn’t out of the realm of possibility since Discord by definition was an odd and peculiar being, but why would he just give up like that? Discord seemed the type to be tenacious, at least.

Unless…Celestia had ordered Discord to leave him alone for a few days? Yes, the cunning princess probably wanted him to become desperate so that he would definitely carry on a conversation, even if he didn’t want to.

Well he wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction! No, he was King Sombra, rightful ruler of the Crystal Empire, and he wasn’t going to bow to anypony’s whim. If she wanted to make him submit, she would just have to try harder.

Chapter 5: Playing Charades

Five days had passed since Discord had last seen Sombra, and he gave a disappointed sigh as he materialized a watch on his lion’s paw, during his morning tea party with Fluttershy. “My apologies, Fluttershy, but I’ve got to check on Sombra. As I told you, Celestia suggested I leave him alone for a few days, and we’d both agree that five days is more than ‘a few.’”

Fluttershy set her teacup down as they sat in her cottage, a nervous expression crossing her face as she looked at Discord. “Oh, I do hope you’re careful when you see Sombra again, Discord! I’m afraid of what he could do if he’s angry from being left alone…”

“And that’s why I’m trying to reform Sombra and not you, Fluttershy. But not to worry! He’s in a cage that neutralizes his magic, so I doubt that he could do anything against me. Besides, I’m much more powerful than him, so even without the cage I really have no reason to fear him. All bark and no bite.”

Discord paused as he looked thoughtful, his confident demeanor faltering slightly. “Well, even if he poses no threat to me, I still haven’t thought of a cohesive plan to get him to cooperate and, you know, not be turned to stone. It’d truly be a disappointing result for him, me, Celestia, pretty much everyone involved.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure out something, Discord. After all, Princess Celestia wouldn’t have chosen you for the job if you weren’t right for it.” Fluttershy reassured, with a soft smile. “I would try to think of something, but if Sombra is that adamant to refuse help, I’m not sure if there’s any way to get through to him. Did you try giving him food?”

Discord raised an eyebrow at that question. Why would he need to give Sombra food if the tyrant was already provided food and water by the royal guards? Celestia wasn’t cruel and provided for his needs, so why was that his problem?

“The one time I visited him, I didn’t bring any food because Celestia already gives him stuff to eat. The royal guards take turns leaving food for him I think; would giving him something really make him open up, in your opinion?”

Fluttershy obviously wasn’t very confident that it would work, if her hesitance was anything to go by, but she gave a shrug of her shoulders as she started to clear up their set up for their tea party. “Well, I’m not sure if it would work for Sombra, but most ponies would show gratitude, and building trust is always the first step before someone is willing to reveal more about themselves.”

“Huh. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try that, but I highly doubt Sombra will take kindly towards me trying to be his friend. You know, I think he still holds a grudge against me for standing up against him when you all asked me to help fight him.” Discord muttered as he rolled his eyes, before standing up and getting ready to head out the door.

“See you later, Discord!” Fluttershy called after him as he waved goodbye, before appearing in front of the same staircase that led down to the dungeons of Canterlot in an instant with the snap of his fingers.

Well, now or never, Discord. The draconequus told himself, as he started walking down the stairs, slightly curious as to how the charcoal stallion would respond.

Even if Sombra’s only way of knowing the time was the subtle increase of light that came in the caverns with Celestia raising the sun, he could tell that Discord hadn’t visited him again for five days. The former tyrant was a very vigilant person, able to tell since he kept track of the meals that were provided for him since he had nothing better to do.

Not that he cared at all about the draconequus’s well being, he couldn’t help but idly wonder why Discord hadn’t visited him again ever since that first encounter. From what he had gleaned when Discord spoke to him, it seemed like Celestia had given him a mission to reform him, so why did it seem like he had just given up?

Perhaps Celestia has already dismissed him, since he failed to do his job. But then when he gave it more thought as he sat listlessly in his cell, he found that it made no sense. That was after one visit; surely Celestia had more patience than that when she gave someone a task to do.

He highly doubted that Discord took notice of his body language that practically screamed that he wanted to be left alone, since from his limited knowledge of the Lord of Chaos, he didn’t seem to be the type to adhere to what other people wanted.

His musings about why the draconequus could have suddenly disappeared didn’t take up the majority of the time he spent in his cell, but it was certainly one of the things he found more enjoyable than counting the number of crystal shards on the wall opposite him.

It was quite mind numbing, to be by one’s self for so long. The only other ponies he had seen were the royal guards who brought him food to eat, and it was painfully obvious that they were only executing orders when they quickly teleported the plate through the cell bars and then left him be.

Not that he cared about them; far from it. But he had to admit that there was something about interaction with another pony that kept one sane, and he was starting to feel the effects of that when the only being he could interact with was himself. Wait…that was the point of this, wasn’t it?

Yes, he could understand it now, as his eyes narrowed with the realization. Celestia knew he wouldn’t talk, and probably told Discord to leave him alone. She wanted him to break down, and become soft like the rest of them and practically beg for conversation! Unfit for a king like him, who had no need for anyone else.

He convinced himself that he would pay Discord the same amount of attention he did last time: none. He was a resilient stallion who didn’t need anyone interfering with how he wanted to live his life; reformation was something he couldn’t even consider without recoiling in disgust.

When he heard hoofsteps he initially thought it was just another royal guard who had been sent to keep him alive, but when he saw the silhouette of Discord in the dark and damp cavern he gave a defiant huff, truing his back so that’d be the first thing the draconequus saw. He certainly didn’t need Discord’s visits, and the Lord of Chaos would be a fool to think otherwise.

When Discord saw that Sombra was still being stubborn just from his body language he gave an exasperated sigh, slouching over as he stopped just behind the bars of Sombra’s dark magic-proof cell. Seriously? The former tyrant was still so adamant to make a point that even after five days, he remained unchanged? Though he supposed that he should’ve expected no less.

“And here I thought you saw reason, deciding to never come back since I obviously don’t want you here. A shame.” Sombra muttered, still not making eye contact with Discord as he refused to even give the draconequus the pleasure of seeing his face, as his dark flowing mane obscured it from view.

“But where would the fun be in that? You’re a smart stallion, Sombra, you should know that I never see reason in anything.” Discord retorted as he materialized a bunch of grapes in his lion’s paw, temptingly dangling them between the bars of Sombra’s cell. “I got you grapes. I figured you like them since you were eating them on your throne.”

One of Sombra’s ears involuntarily perked up at that, which he mentally cursed since it showed Discord that he was interested, whether he liked it or not. Yet he knew that one wasn’t just nice out of the goodness of their heart; he was astute enough to see through that. “Poison is a very naive way to go.”

“Oh for the love of-!” Discord facepalmed, letting out a long sigh as he ran his lion’s paw down his face. “Look, Sombra, it’s not poisoned. They’re perfectly normal grapes, which by the way is a sacrifice I had to make since they would be much better if they could fly.”

“That is King Sombra to you.” Sombra spat, turning his head to glare at Discord, who looked unfazed by the act of bravado the charcoal stallion was putting on.

“I’m not calling you a king when you don’t even have an empire. Now either you take this food I have so graciously provided for you as a sign of friendship, or you make this more difficult than it has to be and you’ll suffer more of my presence.” Discord asserted as he jabbed the bunch of grapes toward Sombra.

“So what? If I bow to Celestia’s every whim and reform myself, I get to go free?” Sombra inquired with a raised eyebrow as he turned his head, since that’s what it sounded like from what Discord said.

“Well, from my understanding, yes. It’s either you promise to use your magic for good or you get turned into a statue that sits in the gardens of Canterlot. Trust me, you don’t want to pick the second option.” Discord said with a shudder for emphasis, his sense of self-preservation stronger than his pride.

Sombra, however, was cunning enough to make sacrifices. Sure, he had his pride, but if Celestia was so gullible to let him go if he played nice, he was definitely capable of playing charades. After all, he didn’t become the ruler of the Crystal Empire if he wasn’t the master of manipulation, and once he convinced Celestia that he was “reformed” enough to be set free…the Crystal Empire would be right there for his taking.

It had been so easy to take over before, if it wasn’t for the meddling of those six ponies. But this time, he had a plan to evade them. Nothing was going to stop him from taking back his rightful kingdom if he had anything to say about it. He faked sincerity as he took the bunch of grapes that Discord held for him, making himself look less hostile.

“Alright, Discord, I see what you’re saying. I suppose giving up some freedom is worth not being turned to stone, hm?” He agreed, as he took a bite from one of the grapes, levitating them with his magic.

Discord crossed his arms as he looked at Sombra with a raised eyebrow, able to tell the abrupt change in the former tyrant’s behavior. “I want to believe that you’re finally seeing reason, but I also know as a former villain myself what you might be trying to do. I’ll just say this; if you try to pull anything when you’re released, Celestia won’t be so forgiving.”

“Oh, please, isn’t the foundation of friendship trust? You can’t be the one to reform me and then suddenly not trust me when I try to change myself for the better, right?” Sombra questioned, ignoring DIscord’s advice since he never asked for it anyway. His prime objective was to get out of his confinement; strategizing would come later.

“Well…I suppose you’ve got me there. But seriously. You’ve got a second chance. Don’t waste it.” Discord advised, still unsure about whether Sombra was really being sincere. Most likely he wasn’t, and he would hate to see Sombra turned into stone if he did something stupid.

“Uh huh, right.” Sombra dismissed, deciding to change the subject since if he managed to convince Discord to tell Celestia that he was all good and ready to be released, the Crystal Empire would be right there, ready to be his.

Perfect.

Chapter 6: Small Talk

“Soooo…hm, I didn’t actually think I’d make it this far. What are your hobbies? You know, besides what you did before.” Discord inquired, alluding to his past since he honestly wasn’t sure how to carry on a decent conversation with the former tyrant.

Sombra deadpanned as he continued eating the grapes, finding Discord’s presence increasingly annoying, even though he knew he would have to tolerate it if he wanted any chance of getting out. “You mean to tell me, that you worked so hard to carry on a conversation and you have no idea how to go about it?”

“I’m not the type to make plans, alright!?!” Discord huffed, figuring that was a pretty stupid question to ask a former tyrant. Sombra probably focused all of his attention on taking over the Crystal Empire, and if he was any wiser he was probably doing that right now behind his back. Well, nothing like blind trust for friendship, right?

“Fine, since I figure you’re not the type to appreciate personal questions anyway, was there anything you wanted to know about me?” The draconequus offered, thinking maybe that would help break the ice a little.

Sombra was silent for a few moments as he thought about what he wanted to ask. Well, it didn’t really matter to him since he cared about nopony else besides himself, but he needed to come across like he was making an effort to carry on a cordial conversation. “I suppose I’m intrigued by the mention of you betraying Equestria for Tirek. I was convinced you had completely sold out to those ponies.”

“Ah, yes, wasn’t my finest moment, was it? Actually, I’ve had many moments that weren’t great, but I am still learning, to my credit. After I had been sent by Celestia to apprehend him, he told me that I had sold out to ponies, like you just did. I wasn’t going to listen, but then he called me a ‘pony errand boy.’ That kind of hurt, and I decided to join forces with him. One of the worst decisions of my life after he betrayed me.”

“You were a fool to team up with a centaur that relies on other ponies for power. Alliances never last once one person in the team has all the power. That’s why I work alone.” Sombra muttered, finding that Discord, who was practically over a thousand years old, still acted like a child was laughable.

Discord scowled, trying his best to ignore Sombra’s attitude. “Yes, well, I did say that I’ve learned my lesson, and I haven’t betrayed Equestria ever since. And I practically redeemed myself anyway when I helped to stop Chrysalis and her hive from taking over all of Equestria, so…”

“No doubt for Fluttershy, who you said was your favorite.” Sombra noted, smirking when he remembered landing a hit of his dark magic on Discord. Even if it was fake, it was a gratifying moment, to finally have the upper hoof for once in his fight for his kingdom.

“Yes, who you so graciously almost killed after you took advantage of that fact.” Discord pointed out, rolling his eyes. “But it’s for good reason. She was the one who showed me that friendship means more to me than anything else.”

Sombra resisted the urge to gag at hearing something so sappy, deciding instead to act like he was interested and ignore the jab towards him. “What’s so special about friendship, anyway?” He inquired, annoyed by how many times Discord mentioned it or alluded to it. For the Lord of Chaos to be reduced to sentimental nonsense…it must be a very powerful thing.

“Well, for one, it turned me into stone and banished you back to the Frozen North, but I suppose there’s a better explanation than that.” Discord mused, as he thought about how he was before he was reformed. “I thought that by doing everything my way and getting what I wanted, I would be truly happy.”

“I have no qualms with that.” Sombra muttered, unsure as to what Discord was trying to get at. Yes, doing everything his way got him what he wanted, and it felt good to get what he wanted. Was there nothing better than not having somepony else’s opinions get in the way of his plans for the Crystal Empire?

“But I realized, after being offered friendship by Fluttershy, that being alone didn’t feel very good. What does it matter if I have everything I want, but I’m alone in it? For me, being able to have companionship while making compromises is something that I value more than making Equestria the epitome of chaos, even if it’s still tempting from time to time.” Discord explained, while Sombra looked like he wanted to gag before catching himself.

I have to play nice if I want any chance of getting out of here. “Oh, how…interesting.” He replied, even if Discord’s words were so sickly saccharine that it made him physically sick. How someone so great could sell out to something so low, he would never understand.

“So you value companionship over your own interests. You don’t make everything chaotic just because you want to because you take other ponies' feelings into account. Is that right?” The charcoal stallion inquired, finishing up his grapes as he licked his lips. Though he found it embarrassing that he had to accept what he felt like pity from Discord, he hadn’t had proper food in a while besides stale bread, which he greatly appreciated.

“That pretty much sums it up, yep. Tirek called it pathetic, but I really do value it. Especially when I got the Equestrian Pink Heart of Courage for saving Equestria from Chrysalis; that was definitely rewarding for me. You should’ve seen it when I was cheering for myself from the crowd!” Discord grinned, materializing a duplicate of himself with comical looking merchandise on.

“I was banished to the ether, so I wouldn’t have been able to witness it even if I wanted to.” Sombra pointed out with a huff, unable to help himself since Discord was really getting on his nerves. He supposed it helped make his “reformation” seem more organic anyway, if he didn’t just turn on his hoof and decide to be nice.

“Ah, well, I’ll probably win many more as I help save Equestria! I should get one just for reforming you alone.” Discord said confidently, before looking thoughtful for a few moments as he raised an eagle claw to his goatee. “What was it like, being dispelled into the ice of the Frozen North?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t conscious at all during my thousand years of banishment, nor was I conscious when those six ponies you’re acquainted with so well banished me again. As far as I’m concerned, a thousand years ago feels like yesterday. This is the first time I’ve managed to survive being hit by the power of friendship, or whatever you’ve called it.”

“But you always manage to come back, so is survive really the right term?” Discord called into question.

Sombra was silent for a bit since Grogar had brought him back this time, but he really didn’t feel like telling Discord since he’d be doing the ponies a favor by giving them fair warning of what was to come. Not like he wanted to protect the pathetic group he had gathered together, but it was more to spite those who had dared incarcerate him.

“I always come back because I am inextricably linked with the Crystal Empire. As long as it exists, I will exist in some way with it, since I am its rightful ruler.”

Discord resisted the urge to roll his eyes at that, since Sombra never was nor would ever be the rightful ruler of the Crystal Empire, as long as Celestia and Luna had anything to say about it. “Uh huh. Who were you before you took over the Crystal Empire?”

Sombra raised an eyebrow at the personal question, deciding that he wasn’t comfortable talking about it because first of all it was none of Discord’s business, and he also didn’t know the draconequus that well. They had met only twice, and he didn’t feel like talking about his childhood with someone that was doing Celestia’s bidding.

“I grow tired of your needless questions. What does it matter who I was before I took over the Crystal Empire? I am its rightful leader, and that’s who I’ll always be. It’d be like if I asked you who you were before you reigned over chaos incarnate. It makes no sense.”

Discord sighed, assuming that word salad meant that he wasn’t going to get an answer. Well, his progress with Sombra had to hit a dead end somehow, right? “Well, fine, have it your way. I thought it was a good icebreaker too…so is there anything that’s not off limits to you? I’m just trying to carry on a conversation here.”

“Since you asked me what it was like to be banished into ice, what was it like being a statue in the Canterlot Gardens?” Sombra inquired with the hint of a smirk on his usually stoic features, knowing Discord probably wouldn’t appreciate that question, which was the point of him asking it.

Discord initially was going to vehemently protest, not wanting to go back to that point in his life, until he realized that maybe he could sway Sombra to see reason and not choose to be turned to stone, if Sombra was faking trying to be better.

“Let me tell you, it’s not a pleasant experience. Mercifully, you weren’t conscious the entire time you were banished to the ice of the Frozen North, or wherever the princesses banished you. Me? I was fully aware of whatever was going on. It’s like being paralyzed forever, and spending a thousand years without being able to speak or move is torture. Absolute torture.”

Sombra fell quiet at that, unsure of what to say to that. He even felt…was that fear? No, he was a king. He did not tremble in fear at anything; he was the one to be feared. Discord was just trying to scare him into reforming himself. But…maybe what he was saying was true? He huffed as he put on a facade of confidence, not letting himself look fearful at all.

“You managed to break out at some point. I don’t see why you’re telling me all of this anyway; I don’t plan to be encased in stone anytime soon.”

“Just in case you’re still considering breaking out and then going right back to your old way. Trust me, it’s much better when you drop the defiant and tough act and come to a compromise; it’s called acting in self-preservation, and I still have a lot of freedom, believe it or not.”

Sombra was silent at this, wanting desperately to retort something snarky since he didn’t truly believe that Discord had the freedom that he once did. Compromise wasn’t something he considered nor was it something he ever planned to consider, but Discord did have a point, when he thought about it.

He was always defeated every time he rose up again, and he couldn’t find a way to truly defeat the six ponies who stood in his way. Logically, even if he humbled himself and teamed up with Grogar and his legion, they would likely fall in the end as well. Was reformation really his only option?

“It sounds like you decided to reform yourself out of desperation, knowing that you’d be turned to stone otherwise.”

“Well…it wasn’t totally that. I do value Fluttershy’s friendship and company, but I really matured after being betrayed by Tirek. He gave me a worthless medallion that was supposedly worth more than friendship, until he turned his back on me and stole my magic. I then learned that nothing is worth more than true friendship.”

Discord paused, cringing at what he just said, knowing that probably wouldn’t sway Sombra. “Celestia, that sounded less cheesy in my head, but I meant what I said.”

Sombra sighed, muttering an noncommittal “uh huh” as he started to grow increasingly tired of Discord’s attempts to reform him. He just had to convince the gullible draconequus that he was truly reformed, and then the Crystal Empire would be his for the taking. He’d stick to his plan, despite his increasing doubts.

Chapter 7: Sparkle's Seven

“So…you actually have Sombra down in the dungeons? Right below our hooves?” Shining Armor repeated in disbelief, while Discord resisted the urge to facepalm.

He had stopped by Canterlot to update the princesses, Mane Six, Spike, and Shining since they were all there anyway for some kind of sibling competition that he could honestly care less about, but it was convenient since he supposed that Shining, who ruled the Crystal Empire with Cadance, had the right to know what had happened to Sombra after he had been taken into custody.

“You have nothing to worry about, Shining. The whole reason I asked you to improve security in the first place was because of Sombra’s return and takeover of Canterlot. We wanted to ensure that it can’t happen again, and I’m sure it won’t with what we’ve implemented. Besides, you’ve made some good progress with Sombra, right Discord?” Celestia inquired.

“Well, we managed to have a civil conversation, so I assume that’s progress. He’s going to take a while, though, if I’m being honest. After all, someone who enslaves ponies is going to need a lot of work before he suddenly decides to embrace the magic of friendship.” Discord stated, while Shining still looked unsure about this plan.

“I don’t know about this…I mean, if you think it’s the best thing to do, Princess Celestia, I trust you, but even when Sombra is reformed he should be kept out of the Crystal Empire, at least temporarily. Cadance and I can see past what he did to us when he’s set free, but the Crystal Ponies won’t be able to handle seeing him again.”

Celestia nodded in understanding. “Of course not, Shining. We wouldn’t subject the Crystal Ponies to that again, since they associate Sombra with one of the worst times of their lives. Where Sombra will go after he accepts friendship is a discussion for later; the focus is to reform him in the first place.”

“I can’t believe Sombra actually decided to carry on a conversation with you! I honestly didn’t think he was capable of saying anything without mentioning your certain failure every five seconds.” Rainbow exclaimed, murmurs of agreement coming from the rest of the Mane Six.

Twilight didn’t look so sure however, a concerned expression on her face before she addressed Discord. “What I’m worried about is whether he’s putting on an act so that we think that he’s reforming himself, and then once we put our trust in him and release him he’ll try to take over the Crystal Empire all over again! I can’t let that happen to my family.”

“Well, the other option was turning him to stone, and I think Sombra has enough good sense to not want that for himself.” Rarity opined, before raising a hoof to her chin in thought. “Unless he thinks he can evade being turned to stone? But he seems to have a habit of doing things the same way and expecting a different outcome. We always defeat him in the end.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow, appreciating the optimism but thinking realistically about it. “I don’t think havin’ a tendency to always defeat the bad guys reassures me that much if Sombra betrays us.”

“Aw, come on, Applejack!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, trying to bring optimism back into the conversation. “Friendship is the most powerful magic of all; as long as we believe that, we can defeat anyone who stands in our way. I’m sure Discord can reform Sombra in no time!”

“Well, even if Discord isn’t able to reform Sombra, I’m proud of him for trying. I wouldn’t be able to even speak around a pony like him; he’s scared me the most out of all of the villains we’ve faced.” Fluttershy said quietly.

“Thank you, Fluttershy! I know that it was going to be a challenge to reform Sombra, but if I’ve made it this far with two visits, I’m sure the more I visit him he’ll warm up to me. After all, who can resist Discord, am I right?”

Discord got dubious stares in reply, save for Fluttershy and the princesses who looked like they were about to laugh. “Tough crowd, huh? Trust me, I’ll get Sombra to open up, even if he refuses to tell me who he was before he became the ruler of the Crystal Empire.”

“That would be a very interesting thing to discover, indeed. My sister and I did not know what Sombra was like before he took over the Crystal Empire, and it’d be interesting to find out how a stallion could be overcome by so much evil.” Luna mused, Celestia nodding in agreement.

“We only knew that we had to banish him to the ice of the Frozen North after seeing the devastation he caused the Crystal Empire by ruling it with hatred and fear, enslaving the Crystal Ponies to do his bidding.” Celestia recalled, while Twilight was visibly intrigued by this information.

“He obviously uses dark magic. Maybe that has something to do with it?” She thought aloud, Discord quickly growing bored of this conversation as his gaze wandered towards where the staircase to the dungeons of Canterlot was.

“Well, as enlightening as this conversation has been, I just wanted to inform all of you how Sombra is doing. I’ll do my best to continue talking to him and building trust, but I’m not going to do that by just sitting here, am I?” The draconequus snapped his fingers to appear near Sombra’s cell, leaving the rest of the group surprised at his quick exit.

“Does he always leave abruptly like that?” Shining asked, never being around Canterlot anymore so he wasn’t as familiar with Discord as the rest of the ponies were.

“Yep. That’s Discord for ya!” Rainbow remarked, before the conversation slowly returned to Spike being the true Sibling Supreme in the absence of Discord to bring up Sombra. If they were being honest, they didn’t want to think about one of Equestria’s most dangerous ponies being right beneath their hooves, which was why they switched the topic.

Unfortunately Discord didn’t have that luxury, being Sombra’s reformer as the charcoal stallion glared at him indignantly. The former tyrant had been rudely surprised by the Lord of Chaos’ sudden appearance, jumping nearly a foot in the air from shock which made him look bad. He feared no one, and being embarrassed by a natural startle response wasn’t helping how he appeared in Discord’s eyes.

“Can you not do that!?!” He huffed as he rested on the floor of his cell, all that he could do with such dull surroundings and absolutely nothing to do when Discord wasn’t there to bother him with conversation.

“What? Yes, I usually take the stairs, but walking is so boring, wouldn’t you agree? Besides, I needed to escape Twilight and her friends, the princesses, and Shining Armor. They had just finished holding some sort of sibling competition regarding castle security.”

Sombra huffed in annoyance, not knowing why Discord thought it necessary to tell him about such insignificant things for the sake of carrying on conversation. “A sibling competition? How-” That was when a particular part of what Discord said caught his attention, stopping his train of thought in its tracks.

“Wait, you said something regarding castle security?”

“The princesses thought it’d be a good idea to increase it after it was so easy for you to take over Canterlot. Though really, I just think that’s because they up and abandoned the throne room while fighting to tame the Everfree Forest. Really, who does that? Even I as a princess would’ve thought to defend the throne room.”

Well, why should I care? Increased security will mean nothing once I’m set free from Celestia. He calmed himself down, deciding to just ask Discord about what was important to him. “Did you mention anything about my progress to them?” He inquired, as he stood up and approached the bars of his cell.

“Actually, yes. That was the whole reason why I was there to talk to them. I could care less about the whole sibling competition about the castle security thing; I just figured it would make sense to give my progress report about you when everyone was there, especially to Shining since he had no idea what happened to you after they detained you in the Crystal Empire.”

Sombra felt one of his eyes twitch at the mention of one of the ponies who were ruling his empire, but he quickly repressed that anger by telling himself that he’d have his chance to take back the Crystal Empire, which was rightfully his. He just needed patience for the right time.

“Well? Did they have anything to say about it? Surely you’ve noticed I’m more open to talking.”

Discord knew that Sombra wanted to be set free, and he probably wouldn’t be happy with his news that the princesses hadn’t given him any inkling of any sort. Did he care? Not really. “They were more interested in your backstory than setting you free. I’ve only met you three times now, Sombra. You can’t expect them to trust you so easily; after all, you don’t learn everything about friendship in a few days.”

Hmph. Obviously, I need to try harder to play nice. Sombra thought, a blank expression on his face as he moved to sit back down. “Well, that’s disappointing. Perhaps they should consider that I’d be more open to giving friendship a chance when I’m not sleeping on a metal floor and being fed stale bread and water which barely keeps me alive.”

Discord was initially going to laugh at the suggestion. Sombra wanted to be put up in one of the castle suites, after enslaving hundreds of ponies and committing war crimes? When he gave it deeper thought, however, he figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. It’d make his job easier if the former tyrant was more willing to talk, anyway.

“I could bring that up with the princesses to see whether they’d be more willing to give you better accommodation. No promises, though. And there’d probably still be a spell to stop you from using your magic.”

Well, that wasn’t exactly ideal, but Sombra figured that he couldn’t just be granted full freedom, just like that. Although the foundation of friendship did involve second chances, Celestia and Luna weren’t gullible. He knew that much. If he could charm his way to sleeping on a proper bed at least, he considered that an accomplishment.

“Fine. If it has to be that way, so be it. I would just much rather prefer a proper bed rather than sleeping on a metal floor. It’s not very comfortable, you know.” He stated with his perpetual expression of disinterest, something that got on Discord’s nerves but didn’t show.

“Trust me, I know a lot about not being comfortable. Doing a garden statue impression for a thousand years really does a number on your joints!” Discord remarked, to absolutely nothing from Sombra.

The draconequus’ expression deadpanned at that, feeling frustrated since most of his jokes fell flat. “Fine, I get the hint that being a comedian isn’t in my future. Since you don’t want to do the talking, I suppose I will. What made you want to take over the Crystal Empire?”

“This sounds related to the earlier question you had about who I was before I was the ruler of the Crystal Empire.” Sombra muttered, finding Discord not very subtle.

“Well, maybe that’s because it is.”

He’s not going to let this go, is he? Sombra sighed, knowing enough about Discord by this point that the question would come up again if he didn’t address it. Though when he thought about it, maybe if he came across as vulnerable, Discord could convince the princesses to grant him some freedom…

“Since you won’t be quiet about it otherwise, I suppose I’ll tell you.”

Chapter 8: Origins

“Wait, really?” Discord asked in confusion, not thinking that Sombra would actually agree to share about who he was before he became the ruler of the Crystal Empire. He quickly grinned as he materialized a couch and a popcorn bucket, eager to hear what Sombra had to say. “Well, this is going to be interesting! I’d better take a seat!”

Sombra rolled his eyes at Discord's antics, suppressing his temper since he thought of the reward of being granted some sort of freedom. "I was an ordinary unicorn before I learned of dark magic. Growing up in the Crystal Empire, I always knew that I wanted to lead it, but I lacked the power necessary."

“That is, until I learned of dark magic from the library, and I successfully incorporated it into my being to take over the Crystal Empire. It’s so easy to turn light and hope into darkness and fear, and once I did that, there was nothing to stand in my way. Well, until Celestia and Luna ruined all of it.”

Discord’s brows furrowed as he listened to what Sombra was saying. Dark magic? Well that was…oddly unspecific. Though he supposed that explained how Sombra was able to mind control ponies at his will, and how he could turn into shadow. “So this…dark magic that you use. You learned it from a book?”

“Yes. I don’t recall where it is now; it’s most likely gone since it’s been over a thousand years.” Sombra replied curtly, not wanting Discord to pry any further. Unfortunately for him, the Lord of Chaos wasn’t very good at picking up on nonverbal cues like that.

“And you just wanted to take over the Crystal Empire for power? Nothing else? Usually ponies have some sort of reason for wanting to have so much power.” Discord pointed out as he rubbed his chin, recalling what Twilight told him about how Starlight turned evil because of a traumatic event during her foalhood.

“What are you trying to get at?” Sombra asked with a raised eyebrow, not planning to go beyond what he said since he still didn’t know Discord that well. What right did this draconequus have to know his personal life? Why did he even care?

Discord grumbled in frustration, trying to keep his patience as he suddenly wore black glasses and held a clipboard, to look like a psychologist. “All I’m saying is that Celestia and Luna might be more receptive to the idea of you having some freedom if you had an actual reason for wanting to take over the Crystal Empire, rather than just being power hungry and an evil unicorn overall.”

Sombra glared at Discord, his temper flaring up stronger than it ever had before, and he was going to tell the Lord of Chaos to get out for prying into things he had no right to. But when he thought about it, maybe he was right. Maybe, if he told the entire truth, Celestia and Luna would let him go. If he had to sacrifice a bit of his pride to get what he wanted, the Crystal Empire, then so be it. The end justifies the means.

“Since you’re so keen on knowing about every detail of my personal life, I never met my parents. I was brought up in an orphanage, where I was rejected by all of the other orphans for looking different and not having a cutie mark. My attempts to converse with them and get them to respect me as an equal failed, so I believed that being the one to rule the Crystal Empire would finally get them to respect me.”

The charcoal stallion let out a snort as he recalled his early life more than a thousand years ago, remembering the looks on their faces. “Needless to say, they weren’t teasing me anymore when I ruled them as a full grown stallion. Having power and control guarantees anypony will listen to you. It felt good to have it all, at least until Celestia and Luna interfered. They shouldn't have meddled in things that weren't their business."

He crossed his hooves once he was done talking, waiting for how Discord would respond as he looked at the draconequus expectantly. When he stopped to think about it, he hadn't actually told anyone about his past as an orphan, and he was starting to regret his decision, even if he thought it could help him escape. Hopefully Discord knew that what he had just told him was to be private information…

Discord was stunned into silence, not expecting Sombra to open up like that. He had joked that somepony would have to have a tragic backstory to become so evil, but he didn't think that was the case with Sombra. "So…let me get this straight. You were bullied in an orphanage for being different, so you learned dark magic and took over the Crystal Empire to one up your bullies?"

Sombra looked indignant at what Discord, letting out a "Hmph!" in contempt since it sounded like the Lord of Chaos was trivializing what he went through as a colt. "It wasn't just a matter of one upping them, as you so foolishly put it! It made them feel what I felt, to be subjugated and humiliated. Being in charge of the entire Crystal Empire is a feeling so great that it's indescribable, to be able to crush any dissent under your hooves and have all that power!"

He sighed contentedly as he relived those days, much preferring them compared to the humiliating situation that he was in now, to be a king, yet relegated to a metal cell. "With the help of dark magic, I was able to take over, and have my own personal army to fight whoever stood in my way."

Discord found a disturbing number of parallels between how he was when he ruled Equestria in an eternal state of chaos and disharmony. He too loved power, but he just controlled everypony because it was for his own amusement. Sombra's desire for power was because of deep rooted foalhood trauma that had never been addressed.

"Why did your fellow orphans ostracize you, anyway?" He pried, trying his luck since Sombra seemed to be willing to talk.

Sombra scoffed at Discord's question, thinking that it was a stupid thing to ask. Had he never been around foals? "I wasn't a Crystal Pony like the rest of them, and I didn't have my cutie mark. Need I say more?"

"I assume you have one now, though." Discord replied with a raised eyebrow. He wasn't doubting what Sombra had told him; he just wanted a complete picture as to who Sombra was.

"No. I did have one, but when I learned about dark magic, it turned me into a shadow pony. That's how I can turn to shadow at will, and shadow ponies don't have cutie marks."

"Huh. And I guess that you can't just decide to become a normal unicorn again." Discord mused, as he strangely became invested in learning more about Sombra, as if he was interested in who the so-called "Tyrant of the North" was as a stallion.

Sombra chuckled darkly, as if Discord had told a joke when for once, he hadn't. He was more laughing at the draconequus' naivete, thinking that he could turn back into a normal unicorn. "Even if I wanted to, I can't. Dark magic is a part of me now, and I'm better off now than I was before I discovered it."

"But are you really?" Discord asked, looking serious for once as he thought about how he was before he learned about the magic of friendship. Yes, he loved being able to break the very fabric of reality with his chaos magic, but the joy he had when terrorizing ponies was short lived.

He had to keep on doing it to get that same amusement. Friendship was longer lasting, and it seemed obvious to him that Sombra was evil because of the lack of friendship he had early in his life. You could feel happy committing war crimes and all that, but he learned from his newfound wisdom that wasn't something to rely on.

Sombra seemed to take offense to that question, raising an eyebrow as he stood up on his four legs. "What are you getting at, Discord?"

"What I'm getting at is that I'm similar to you. I ruled Equestria in chaos and I relished in all of it, and I thought that I had found true happiness in finding amusement in other ponies' misery. After almost losing Fluttershy as a friend, however, I started to realize that wasn't the way."

Sombra became increasingly angered when Discord dared compare himself to him, or even try to say that they were similar in any way. The draconequus was just trying to manipulate him into accepting his ways! "You and I are in no way similar! What could you possibly know about being isolated and rejected by everypony?"

"Being trapped in stone for a thousand years, conscious of everything going on but not being able to do anything? That doesn't sound like isolation to you?" Discord retorted with a glare of his own. He sort of expected this response from Sombra, but he still hated being interrupted.

When the former tyrant said nothing he continued talking, intent on explaining himself. "I was bitter about what Celestia and Luna had done to me as well, which made me all the more intent on making those same six ponies' lives miserable. Yes, getting revenge felt good, but I was always alone."

"You felt like being able to control the ponies who bullied you as a colt would make you feel better, and it probably did. But that happiness is short-lived. You always have to commit more and more atrocities to get that same feeling. Friendship, at least from my experience, is self-sustaining."

Sombra was practically seething in anger at this point, however. Discord thought that he could just give advice to him because he had opened up about his past? Did he take him for a fool? "You don't know anything about me! You must be impossibly naive if you think you know what it's like to not know your own parents, and be rejected by everypony around you!"

He would've shot a powerful blast of his dark magic towards Discord if it wasn't useless within his magic proof cell, wanting to teach the spirit of disharmony a lesson about prying into other ponies' business when it wasn't asked for. "I earned respect from everypony in the Crystal Empire, and I was perfectly fine ruling them with an iron hoof!"

Obviously his anger was ruling him now, his idea to play nice and fake being reformed out of the window in his lapse of judgment when Discord went personal. The draconequus could see this as he let out a defeated sigh, hoping that Sombra would see reason at some point.

"Fear and respect are two very different things. But obviously, this conversation is going nowhere. I'll see you tomorrow morning when you've calmed down a bit." With a snap of his fingers, Discord was gone, and Sombra was left alone again.

"And good riddance!" The charcoal stallion shouted, even if Discord probably didn't hear him. He paced back and forth in his cell as he muttered incoherent curses at his situation, being stuck with talking to Discord who had no sense of personal boundaries whatsoever.

When he had calmed down, however, one particular part of what the draconequus had said stuck in his mind. "Fear and respect are two very different things." Despite his efforts to write it off as propaganda, he started to wonder whether there was some truth in that statement.

Chapter 9: Fit For A King

The night was restless for Sombra, as he could barely make out the crystals on the walls of the cavern he was imprisoned in. He tried to tell himself he was in the right, he did, but Discord had successfully sowed the seeds of doubt that festered in his mind. His eyes were closed, yet his mind was awake, and he eventually let out a growl of frustration, especially since the metal floor wasn't helping him at all in his endeavor to sleep.

That accursed draconequus said he'd convince the princesses to get me a proper room… He thought, even though that wasn't the real reason he hadn't been able to fall asleep. It wasn't the best sleep, sure, but he had been able to fall asleep without problems every other time.

He wasn't supposed to second guess what he had accomplished in his life. Taking over the Crystal Empire was a feat, and he should be proud of it. The Crystal Ponies all bowed to him, showing respect that he had rightfully earned by proving he was the most powerful, and he controlled the ones who refused.

Yet…if they had done so out of fear, was it really respect? After all, from what he had heard from Discord, respect was mutual. It wasn't a one way street. And if he was being honest with himself, he wanted to control the Crystal Empire to avenge his younger self.

But how dare Discord even try to state that they had any similarities. He didn't need friendship since he had survived without it back then, and he certainly didn't need it now. He wasn't going to become sentimental mush like Discord had become, not when he had a Crystal Empire to retake.

Eventually at peace when he made that silent declaration to himself, he was finally able to get comfortable as he curled up on the metal floor, resting his head on one of his front hooves. His red cape acted as a blanket, his silver armor making soft clangs as he fell asleep.

"You want to move him to a room in the castle?" Celestia asked with a neutral expression, Luna looking a bit more dubious as Discord nodded.

"He'd certainly be more open to conversation if he was under house arrest rather than being stuck underground in a metal cage with no sense of time. Not that progress hasn't been going well, but he's obviously angry about being kept in a cage like an animal. If we want to teach him about friendship, we should treat him like one, right?"

"I suppose that having a spell to neutralize Sombra's magic around the room shouldn't be too difficult, but he could always jump out of the window and try to escape if he was desperate." Luna pointed out, worried that Sombra might take the opportunity to escape their custody and terrorize the Crystal Empire once again.

"Need I remind you that you and Celestia just strengthened castle security because of Sombra? I'm sure that castle guards would be on him in no time even if he could escape. That spell blocking his magic would block him from leaving, anyway. It'd basically be a really luxurious house arrest."

Celestia and Luna exchanged a glance, before they both nodded in agreement. After all, as long as they had the spell to keep Sombra from escaping and using his dark magic to wreak havoc on Canterlot or the Crystal Empire, it wasn't a horrible idea. Ponies wouldn't be open to civil discussion if they were being treated as criminals.

"Alright. you're the one reforming Sombra, Discord, so if you think letting him have a castle suite is a good idea to further his reformation, we'll accommodate it. Of course, we'll transfer the magic from his cage to the walls and door of the room, and we'll have two royal guards stationed outside the room at all times." Celestia said with a warm smile, Discord grinning since he was certain this would help him reform Sombra.

"Thank you, Celestia! You won't regret it." Discord snapped his fingers and teleported to Sombra's cell, leaving the two princesses in the throne room.

Sombra was shocked once again when Discord appeared in front of his cell out of nowhere, though he figured that he should be used to this by now. He scowled as he was displeased at seeing who had planted those seeds of doubt within him, making a plan that he thought was so easy to enact more difficult than it had to be.

"You have some nerve, coming back here." He muttered, his armor making a metallic clang as he got up from his sitting position to face Discord.

The draconequus wasn't phased in the slightest, however, seeing Sombra's cold demeanor as nothing more than a facade. Maybe if he broke the good news to Sombra, he'd be more open to conversation. "What, me? Come on, I know you're angry, but I have news to bring, and I think you'll like it!"

Sombra regarded Discord with his usual disinterested gaze while he was in captivity, if he wasn't angry at somepony. "I was angry, and you should be grateful that I've decided to let your infringement on my personal life go. What news are you talking about? Out with it."

"Hmph! If I recall correctly, you volunteered that information and I responded accordingly, but I humbly accept your forgiveness." Discord retorted with a mock bow, before deciding to get to the point. "I've managed to convince Celestia and Luna to give you a castle suite so you're not locked up in the dungeons anymore. You can thank me now!"

Sombra was silent as he processed this information. Discord actually managed to convince them to let him have some sort of freedom? Well, then he supposed he had a reason to be grateful. Not that he was going to admit that. "It's about time that they treat me according to my status!"

Discord resisted the urge to facepalm when Sombra's ego was stroked once more, hoping that he wouldn't still be like that after reforming. "Not so fast. You're still under house arrest and the room will have a spell that blocks your magic. Oh, and Celestia said she'd have two royal guards stationed outside your room at all times, but really, you and I both know that they really don't do anything."

Sombra snorted in contempt when he heard what Discord was saying, though he figured that Celestia and Luna weren’t so gullible to let him have total freedom. “It’s so nice to know that there’s so much trust involved when your job is to teach me about friendship.”

“Don’t take it personally. Celestia had Twilight and her friends wear their Elements at all times while Fluttershy was reforming me by teaching me about the magic of friendship. It was quite insulting, actually.” Discord muttered, though he could understand why they wanted to take precautions now. It was crazy to think about how that was so long ago…

“Yes…the Elements of Harmony.” Sombra could barely keep his voice straight when he said that, his voice low in tone almost as if it was a growl. He really hated those damned things, and he was glad at the time that he had destroyed them. Not anymore, since he found out that it was irrelevant whether they had the Elements or not.

Seeing that Sombra was on edge as a result of the mention of the artifacts that had somehow managed to best him despite his destruction of them, Discord decided to talk about something else, at least until he was notified that Sombra could be moved to his new room at the castle.

“Anyway, since there’s no point in talking about them…” He started awkwardly, while Sombra looked at him with the same disinterested gaze, which didn’t help his attempts at making small talk without getting right down to business. How did Fluttershy make it look so easy?

“Do you have any hobbies? You know, besides being a king and all that.” Was that a safe question? He hoped it was, since he already knew about Sombra’s backstory and all that.

Sombra gave a snort of amusement at the question, knowing from what Discord asked that he wasn’t very familiar with being royalty. “I didn’t have much time for hobbies once I took over the Crystal Empire. It’s a lot of hard work to rule it, such as worrying about defense and things like that.”

“Oh.” Discord replied, feeling his attempts at small talk getting shot down by Sombra. It seemed that the former tyrant had lied, when he said that he had let the “infringement on my personal life go.” Oh well, maybe he’d be in a more talkative mood once he was in his new accommodation. Speaking of which, where was-

“The room for Sombra is ready. The spell is active, and the two assigned royal guards are stationed outside.”

A royal guard had come down the stairs to relay the information to Discord, as he purposely avoided eye contact with Sombra, who was only hoofsteps behind Discord in his magic proof cage. He visibly wasn’t happy about the news he was giving, not that it mattered to the draconequus.

“Great! Thank you. I’ll bring him right now. Just let me-” Discord started, before he was interrupted by an impatient Sombra.

“Open the door? Yes, please. I’ve had no space to walk, and I’m certain my hooves will atrophy if I don’t have some sort of physical activity.” He kept his expression neutral, but if Discord was so foolish as to do so, he’d immediately be able to use his magic once he was outside…

Discord deadpanned, knowing exactly what Sombra was trying to do. Maybe Fluttershy would’ve fallen for it, but a villain couldn’t deceive a reformed villain, who knew practically every trick in the book. “Nice try, but I already planned how to get you there.”

With a flash of his chaos magic, he transported both Sombra and himself to the castle suite, much to the charcoal stallion’s shock since he wasn’t expecting it. He turned to glare at Discord, angry that his plan had been foiled. “At least ask first before you use your magic on somepony else, you dolt!”

“You’re just mad that I knew exactly what you were trying to do. You can’t trick me when I’ve used trickery before. Honestly, Sombra, even if you escaped and retook the Crystal Empire, it would end up the same way and you’d be stone. I’ve told you this before, but you don’t want that for yourself.”

Sombra wanted to retort something about nothing about propaganda spewing from Discord’s mouth, but he held his tongue, instead opting to remain silent since he had managed to make it this far, and he didn’t want to ruin the progress he had made. He instead opted to observe his new quarters, since he’d get well acquainted with them during his involuntary house arrest.

It was certainly much better than his cell in the dungeons of Canterlot at first glance, the circular room looking quite nicely appointed and reminding him of what his bedroom used to look like in the Crystal Empire’s castle, except more sickeningly bright in color.

There was a comfortable looking bed with a nightstand and lamp next to it, large picture windows with nice views of Canterlot, a writing table with another lamp and a stool, and a large mirror which he didn’t look at for too long. The long time in which he was living in abhorrent conditions left him looking worse for wear, and he was looking forward to using the attached bathroom to clean himself up.

Overall, it was a substantial increase in comfort for him, and acceptable conditions for a king. It was a sign that Celestia and Luna had put some trust in him…a decision he planned on making them regret.

Chapter 10: Growing Doubts

"Even if you're silent, I know you're probably still bent on retaking the Crystal Empire, aren't you?" Discord muttered, his brow furrowed in a disapproving frown. "The princesses have already shown you some trust by letting you live in the castle suite; I wouldn't make them regret it."

Sombra hesitated before he replied, almost as if Discord's words were getting to him. He knew better, however, as he decided that he'd humor Discord as best as he could, at least until he was set free. "Everything that you say is based on fear of Celestia and Luna. Is that really why you decided to accept friendship?"

"Initially, it was. When I was freed from the stone prison that was a statue, I knew that I didn't really have a choice in the matter. I, of course, didn't want to be turned back into stone by the Elements, so I humored Fluttershy in her attempts to reform me, while causing a bit of chaos along the way." Discord recalled with a chuckle, remembering when he made Fluttershy's cottage spin in the air.

"I didn't value her friendship at all, by the way. I saw it as a means to an end, and once I had her wrapped around my finger I'd be able to do as I pleased. Once she put her hoof down when I refused to make things normal again, though…I realized that maybe I valued her friendship more than I thought. After all, I didn't have any friends back when I ruled Equestria in eternal disharmony. I didn't know what I missed until I didn't have it anymore."

Discord noticed that Sombra's stern gaze seemed to soften for a brief moment as he explained his road to redemption, almost as if he was considering it, before he caught himself and reverted to a more unfriendly stare. If he wasn't imagining things, at least that was some sort of progress…

"And then you told me that you had teamed up with Tirek after that, before regretting it when he betrayed you. Was it purely because of how he betrayed you, or was it because you realized the error of abandoning your friends?" Sombra inquired, this question actually surprising him as it came out of his mouth. It was almost as if it was…sincere.

Discord raised a lion's paw to his chin as he thought about Sombra's question. "Huh, that's a good one. Both, honestly. I mistook his treachery for friendship, and losing my magic was the price I paid. After seeing what I had done to my friends as a result…I realized what true friendship was. I never wanted to do that again."

"So you don't feel like you've been limited at all by accepting what these ponies call the 'magic of friendship?' You still call yourself the Lord of Chaos even though you can't rule Equestria as you wish?" Sombra asked with a raised eyebrow, not thinking that could be possible. Submitting to Celestia and Luna's will just made you their servants, and he wasn't willing to do that.

"Not at all!" Discord replied confidently, expecting that kind of question from Sombra. "After all, I'm still the only being that can make chocolate rain fall from the sky, or materialize flying pigs out of nowhere. And they tolerate it whenever I do something chaotic; it's in my nature, after all. It just has to not affect other ponies' lives too detrimentally. I mean, Celestia invited me to the Grand Galloping Gala once to liven it up!"

“…She invited you to the Gala?” Sombra was vaguely familiar with it, though he had never been in Canterlot until now during his lifetime. All he knew was that it was a golden ticket only event, and although Discord was reformed, his common sense told him that he wouldn’t be the first choice to invite for a formal event.

Discord pouted at Sombra’s incredulous expression, though he was glad that the former tyrant was at least showing more emotion than disinterest or brooding. “What, you don’t think Celestia would invite me? Yes, it was a disaster, but she was in good spirits afterwards since apparently the Gala is terribly boring.”

"I had no idea that Celestia was so…free spirited." Sombra replied, finding it out of character that Celestia would allow someone so chaotic to attend a formal ball. Then again, it had been over a thousand years, so he could have missed some things…

"Yes, well, I've found that she's mellowed out in her later years. Don't tell her I said that though." Discord said with a chuckle, afraid that Celestia would think that he was calling her old.

Sombra rolled his eyes, not finding Discord that funny at all. Unbeknownst to him, his opinion was shared by many. He was silent for a while as he thought about his past, finding it peculiar that he had humored Discord in conversation for so long.

"This is probably the most conversation I've had with somepony since before I took over the Crystal Empire, at least in an informal context." He stated matter-of-factly, chalking his behavior up to having nothing else better to do, if he wasn't ruling his rightful empire.

Discord couldn't believe it, his eyes wide as he looked at Sombra. "Really? You mean you've never had a conversation with somepony while you were ruling the Crystal Empire? No time for idle conversation when you've got royal duties, I guess."

"Running an empire is more complicated than just sitting on a throne. Yes, I had my crystal slaves to execute my orders, but there were a lot of things to handle since things soon turned hostile after I had taken over the Crystal Empire. Most of my efforts were focused on defense against Celestia and Luna." Sombra explained, his expression one of contempt since he figured Discord knew more about ruling if he had supposedly ruled Equestria in a state of disharmony before.

"Yes, yes, well I'm glad that I've reintroduced you into the world of social interaction. It's quite lonely to live the solitary lifestyle, intent on doing everything by yourself. I would know." Discord muttered, deciding not to comment about how Sombra was treating him with thinly veiled contempt.

"I would think it's easier to not have to deal with other opinions getting in the way." Sombra retorted, pushing back against what Discord was saying without being rude. After all, he was trying to escape, and he needed to be on the draconequus' good side in order to do that.

Discord nodded in agreement, something that Sombra wasn't expecting. "You're right."

"Well then, why are you so intent on making me think that friendship is such a great thing?" Sombra inquired. After all, it made no sense if Discord agreed that it was a pain to work in a team.

"It's difficult when you have to care about other people's opinions, but it's well worth fighting for. To have someone that you know will be there for you and provide companionship; any kind of social isolation would drive anypony crazy. After all, it didn't feel good when you were ostracized and cast out by the other Crystal Ponies, right?" Discord decided to test his luck, since Sombra had been talkative.

Sombra opened his mouth as if to say something in protest, before he decided otherwise since he couldn't come up with anything. What Discord said was true, and he couldn't lie about that. "Of course not! But that was more than a thousand years ago. I've been doing well for myself since then."

"I was also banished in a way for a thousand years and thought that I was fine too, just saying." Discord reminded Sombra, who just gave him an unimpressed expression in response, which he took as his cue that he was pushing too hard. Well, slow and steady was the best approach with somepony as stubborn as Sombra, right?

"If you'll excuse me, I think I'll settle into my new quarters. I need some time to get used to them, after all." Sombra told Discord, abruptly changing to subject so he could have some alone time. As enlightening as the conversation was, he had quickly grown tired of it; there was only so much of the Lord of Chaos that he was willing to tolerate at a time.

Strangely enough, Discord honored his request, something Sombra didn't anticipate either, since the draconequus had given him the impression that he wasn't good at picking up on other ponies' wishes. "Of course. At least you have a proper bed to sleep in, hm?" The draconequus remarked before he disappeared in a flash of chaos magic, leaving Sombra disorientated for a moment.

I'll have to eventually get used to that, won't I? He thought to himself, as he examined his surroundings more closely. There was anything he could ever need, especially in the attached bathroom with an actual shower which he planned on using at once, since he hadn't been able to have one ever since he was arrested in the Frozen North.

He experimentally pressed a front hoof into the bed that he was to sleep on, finding it annoying that it was only a twin instead of the lavish king he had in his old bedroom in the Crystal Empire's castle, but he found it relatively soft. Anything would be better than the metal floor he had become so acquainted with, anyway.

Having enough of prowling around his castle suite, he decided to head to the shower to clean up and look presentable again, even if he was only seeing Discord at the moment. Besides, it gave him time to collect his thoughts, mull over what Discord had said.

Really, he shouldn't have second thoughts since he was always confident in his own plans, but it was as if his mind acted on its own accord. It caused him increasing frustration as he took off his crown, armor, and cape, leaving him bare with only his dark gray fur to cover him. He turned the knob in the shower using his magic, brooding in his thoughts as he waited for the water to heat up.

Only a week ago he had no qualms about retaking the Crystal Empire, but now he was having increasingly frequent doubts about it. Of course it had roots in how he was treated in the orphanage, yes, but it was so far removed from that at this point that it was just about reclaiming his power and enjoying every second of it. Right?

Or did it really circle back to how his offers of friendship were rejected back then, and how it had never been resolved? If he wasn't lying to himself, it did. But being relegated to whatever he was now didn't feel good either, not at all. He liked being in control; he liked having power.

As he stepped into the shower and worked to clean himself up his thoughts still bothered him, incessant in their pestering. Without it, who even was he? He had made a name for himself as the ruler of the Crystal Empire, and if he didn't have that, he was just Sombra. What would he even do if he managed to convince Celestia and Luna to set him free?

I suppose those are questions for Discord, the next time he visits. He mused, deciding to rest his thoughts on that as he became content at feeling a lot cleaner and more like a king as the hot water from the shower washed away the dirt that had caked up in his coat during the time he was locked in the dungeons of Canterlot.

As he tried to clear his head in his castle suite, he only knew one thing. Those plans to make Celestia and Luna regret their decision to set him free? They were becoming less and less concrete the more he thought about them, and he wasn't sure what to think.

Chapter 11: Growing Suspicions

The proper bed was certainly more comfortable than the metal floor of his former cell, and he had a much less tumultuous sleep as a result. He was accustomed to waking up around an hour before Celestia raised the sun, but on his first full day in his new castle suite it was already mid morning when he woke up.

The bright sunlight streaming into his room through the curtains woke him up, and his eyes groggily opened as he was roused from his slumber. Well, that was certainly more pleasant than being woken up when breakfast of stale bread was practically thrown into his cell by an angry royal guard.

He was wearing nothing, his armor still strewn on the floor at the foot of his bed. Although he had worn his armor even while he was sleeping when he was kept in his cell, when he had a proper bed he took it off, finding that it got in the way when he was lying on his back, despite how fond of it he was.

The first thing he did was put his armor back on once he got out of bed, not wanting Discord to see him without it, or anypony for that matter. His crown, armor, and red cape made him look like a king, otherwise he was just a dark gray unicorn. Many would find it peculiar, but those items of clothing reminded him of his glory days, especially now.

He expected Discord to appear out of nowhere soon considering the draconequus visited him every morning, but as noon started to come around, he noted that his reformer still hadn't shown his face, even when a more substantial lunch was teleported to the foot of the door leading to his room.

Initially he just thought that Discord was running late, but by the time the sun started to set he knew that Discord wasn't coming, at least not for today. It was highly irregular of the draconequus to do so, and he had to wonder why Discord had skipped visiting him today. Had he done something to offend the Lord of Chaos?

Not that he cared about what others thought of him, no, but he had a right to wonder what had happened. Perhaps Discord was leaving him alone again, under Celestia's orders. But he had carried on a fairly cordial conversation with him, right? There was no reason for Celestia to think that he deserved being ignored again, if Discord was being truthful.

So why did Discord not visit me today? He wanted to think that he was just wondering about this because of boredom since he had nothing else better to do, but that was becoming increasingly more difficult to tell himself. He growled in frustration as he paced about his castle suite, a habit of his when he was trying to think. In the past, he never cared about what anypony thought of him.

Now…he couldn't even keep his thoughts in order without them straying back to wondering what had happened. Perhaps Celestia dismissed Discord from his job to reform him, regretting her decision. What would happen to him then? He wasn't nearly desperate enough to inquire about it to the two royal guards stationed outside his door, but he didn't want to think about it any longer.

At the end of the day, when Luna had raised the moon high in the sky, Sombra decided to turn in early, figuring that at least he could find some peace in his sleep as he lay down in his bed. This whole reformation effort was making his straightforward plan more difficult than it had to be, and he didn't like it one bit, not when it wasn't a problem before.

He didn't need friendship before, and he certainly didn't need it now, since he was fully healed from his regeneration process long ago by this point and ready to take back his rightful empire. Yet it seemed like friendship was finding him whether he liked it or not, and it was intent on changing him in ways he didn't want it to.

Sombra didn't register the burst of chaos magic when Discord had appeared in his room early the next morning, probably still making up for the endless nights of tumultuous sleep he had gotten when he was stuck in his cell, not having the luxury of a proper mattress to get proper sleep.

Discord probably could've left when he saw that Sombra was sleeping and done what any other person would've done, but he was not normal by any means. He watched with intrigue as Sombra slept on his side, his soft breathing being the only sound coming from him as his chest rose and fell slightly with each breath.

He looked almost peaceful as he slept, a stark contrast from how his brows were always knitted into a frown whenever he was talking with him. It was also interesting to see Sombra without his crown and presumably without the rest of his armor, since Discord could see it strewn about at the foot of Sombra's bed.

Discord had never seen Sombra without his characteristic armor, and he figured that the former tyrant had intended for it to stay that way, not expecting anyone to enter his quarters while he was asleep. Well, he could always blame Sombra for it if he got angry, since Celestia had already raised the sun an hour ago.

Sombra's normally a heavy sleeper. Got it. He mentally noted, as much fun as it was to be able to be in Sombra's presence without getting a snarky response from the dark gray stallion. It was almost mesmerizing to watch his mane continue to flow even while he was asleep, which he assumed was the same with Celestia and Luna.

Eventually, however, Sombra started to stir, as the sunlight streaming in from his large picturesque windows acted like a natural alarm clock. His eyes slowly opened as he raised his front legs to stretch; he didn't seem to have noticed Discord's presence yet, but he soon did when the draconequus spoke.

"Well, that certainly answers the question as to whether your mane stops flowing when you sleep." Discord remarked with an amused expression, Sombra practically jumping out of bed as his head quickly swung around to see his reformer. A furious blush dominated his features as he remembered he was wearing absolutely nothing, and no one was supposed to see him like this.

"WHAT IN THE-" Sombra stopped himself as he lowered his voice a bit, knowing that yelling at Discord wasn't going to do him any favors. "I was sleeping! Were you watching me?" He asked incredulously, figuring that most likely was the case if Discord was already there.

"Well, yes, but I usually visit you this early in the morning. I suppose having a proper bed means that you sleep in longer, hm?" Discord noted, finding it highly amusing how Sombra looked almost embarrassed, rather than angry. That was a sign of progress, wasn't it?

Sombra rolled his eyes as he walked over to quickly put on his armor, every second that he was bare like this making him feel more and more exposed, even if not wearing clothes was pretty standard amongst ponies. "Somepony actually normal would've left and come back when they saw that I was still sleeping."

"Ah, yes, but I'm not normal, am I?" Discord replied with a chuckle, thinking that Sombra walked right into that one. He found it ridiculous that the charcoal stallion was so wedded to his armor; it served no purpose really other than to be decorative from his perspective. "Why do you even bother to wear all of that stuff?"

Sombra looked offended, as he snorted in contempt. Yes, he shouldn't expect Discord to know anything about being royalty, but it was something he didn't like having to explain. "I always wear my armor because it's what makes me a king. Besides, it's the only clothes I have and I've noticed most ponies in Canterlot wear clothes."

"But you're basically under house arrest, and no one ever sees you besides me. Why do you care? I personally don't care whether you wear that armor or not. As you can see, I travel around wherever I please without wearing anything." Discord pointed out, trying his luck to see if Sombra would open up.

Sombra looked uncomfortable as he decided to change the subject, not wanting to go into how he felt more confident when he wore his royal armor, like how he did when he ruled the Crystal Empire. His red cape also served to hide the fact that he had no cutie mark; no one would respect him if they learned that he didn't have one as an adult, since he appeared as a normal stallion most of the time despite being a shadow pony.

"It's my personal preference, alright? Besides, I have more pressing questions for you. You didn't show up yesterday morning, despite how dedicated you seemed to be in your visits to reform me. I assume you were busy with something?" Sombra inquired, since he was going to ask about that anyway.

Discord looked taken aback by the question, as he tried to think of something quickly to cover up what he had really been doing that day. And those three villains didn't even manage to retrieve the bell…it was all a waste. He lamented, though he didn't have time to think much more of it now.

"Well, I didn't want to be too overbearing, right? I mean, you may think that I can't pick up on things, but it's pretty obvious that you only tolerate my presence, so I decided to spend that day having a tea party with Fluttershy. Once you're set free, you should really join us one of these days."

Sombra was pretty suspicious of how Discord acted. Sure, his response seemed to check out, but he had a gut feeling that Discord was holding something back from him. He decided to not pursue it any longer, however, since he had no concrete proof of anything and it'd only complicate things if he brought up his doubts about the draconequus' sincerity.

"I'd be interested." He replied, trying to garner favor since he really didn't care all that much about tea parties and things like that.

"I'm sure Fluttershy would be delighted to have a plus one at our tea parties! Really, she knows how to make some mean carrot-ginger sandwiches to go along with the ginseng tea. Just, no promises that it doesn't also sing show tunes and you have to catch it before you can drink it."

Discord mentioning Fluttershy once again brought Sombra back to what he was going to ask the draconequus, so he decided to ask it before he forgot. "What did you do after Fluttershy reformed you by showing you the magic of friendship?"

"What do you mean what did I do?" Discord asked, not fully understanding Sombra's question.

"Well, surely you must've felt lost when you couldn't rule Equestria in eternal chaos anymore."

"Oh, well I do have my own realm so I lived there for a while, and also caused a bit of trouble here and there since I'm always down for a prank. I really just spent my time learning about friendship since I never felt like my position as Lord of Chaos was in jeopardy at all."

"Must be nice to have that luxury." Sombra muttered, knowing that he probably wouldn't be welcome back into the Crystal Empire anytime soon, even if he was reformed.

Discord wasn't sure what to say to that, as he twiddled his thumbs nervously. Huh, well it would be more difficult for Sombra since his home was hostile to him at the moment. "Well, we can cross that bridge when we come to it. But it's nice that you're thinking about what you would do when you're reformed."

That answer didn't make anything clearer for Sombra, and it made him question whether deciding to give friendship a chance was the best option. Was that all it gave him? Confusion?

Chapter 12: Plans For The Future

"Of course I'm thinking about what I would do when I reformed! It's the only option that doesn't involve being turned into a statue!" Sombra retorted, playing off his question like he was being forced to reform himself, not that he was actually considering it of his own volition.

"So you do have a sense of self-preservation after all!" Discord remarked with an amused chuckle, glad to see that Sombra was making progress under his efforts. "You most likely wouldn't be allowed back in the Crystal Empire for a while…to be honest, I'm not sure what would be a good position for you if it doesn't have to do with the Crystal Empire. I guess that'd be a decision left to Celestia and Luna."

"Well, that's reassuring." Sombra said with a roll of his eyes, curious about how Celestia and Luna thought it was a good idea to try to reform him when they didn't even have a plan for what he would do if he wasn't ruling the Crystal Empire with an iron hoof.

"Aw, come on, don't do that!" Discord pouted, as he tried to think of something since that answer obviously didn't appease Sombra. "I don't want to suggest anything since it's not set in stone, but there are many things you could do once you've learned about the magic of friendship!"

"Like?" Sombra pressed on with a raised eyebrow, looking at Discord expectantly.

"I was thinking eventually you'd serve as an advisor to Cadance and Shining Armor or something in the Crystal Empire, but before that the possibilities are endless. You could write an autobiography since apparently those are popular nowadays, you could teach at Twilight's school, you could move in with me into my realm and we could be roomies; really, I'm sure Celestia and Luna would probably just let you go."

Sombra deadpanned as Discord listed off those examples, as he only found one even remotely realistic. "I'm not writing a book about my life or moving in with you. The only thing I see that's possible is teaching at Twilight's school, and even that's a stretch since I've never seen myself as a teacher."

"You'd be able to boss other ponies around, what's not to love?" Discord joked before deciding to change the subject, since that prospect wasn't likely. After all, if Sombra had only just learned about friendship, was he really qualified to teach about it? If anything, he himself was more qualified to teach friendship.

"Since you're eager to think about what you're going to do once you're free, I should get started teaching you about friendship. Anything you want to ask about in particular?" The draconequus offered, before he annoyed Sombra so much that he wouldn't get anything out of him.

Sombra was silent for a bit as he thought about what he wanted to ask. Well, there was one thing that Discord had said that intrigued him, but he didn't really want to ask it. Yet his brain seemed adamant on doing so, as if it was leading him to lowering the walls he usually had up.

"You said before that fear and respect were two very different things. What did you mean by that?" He asked, deciding "to hell with it" since the question would probably incessantly plague his mind unless he got it answered.

"Ah, I said that when you mentioned how everypony respected you when you ruled the Crystal Empire, right? What I meant by that is if somepony fears you, they don't really respect you. Yes, they do whatever you say and treat you well, but that's because they're afraid of punishment. Actual respect is a two way street, from my experience. You respect somepony, and they respect you back. There's no power dynamic involved."

"So you're saying the respect I was shown by the Crystal Ponies I ruled over was fake, because it was one sided and they were afraid of me." Sombra repeated, trying to sum up what Discord had told him.

"Basically, yeah. And mind control of course doesn't count since they don't have free will, right? I initially thought the same thing since I enjoyed being able to boss anypony I wanted around and make them do what I wanted with my chaos magic, but once I learned with Fluttershy how good it felt for her to care about my wishes while I cared about hers, I didn't want to lose that ever again."

Sombra fell into silence once again as he mulled over what Discord had told him. He wanted ponies to respect him since he hadn't been shown any in the orphanage, but he had been going about it in the wrong way. While it did feel good to have power, according to Discord friendship was better. But that required him to acquiesce to somepony else's wishes from time to time, something he wasn't eager to do.

"I don't particularly like how I have to take somepony else's wishes into account. It's much easier when the only things that matter are what matter to me." He said adamantly, speaking his mind.

Discord nodded in understanding. "Believe me, I understand that. I mean, I still sometimes dislike how I can't rule Equestria in chaos like how I did back then! But making compromises and understanding that you can't always get what you want is something that's important to know when you want to make friends."

"Like how you had to turn everything back to normal because you were about to lose Fluttershy as a friend?" Sombra pointed out, to an enthusiastic nod from Discord.

"Yes, exactly! I would even consider you willingly carrying on a conversation with me hooves on experience with building friendship."

Sombra was taken aback by what Discord said. Was he saying that they were…friends? He played it off, his ego not liking that one bit. He didn't need friends…or did he? "Well, you serve as decent company since I have nothing else to do while I'm locked in this room."

"Wow, I'm so flattered." Discord said sarcastically, as he tried to think of something else he could say about friendship. "Oh! I didn't tell you what actually happened at the Gala when I was invited, did I? I have loads of friendship lessons I've learned over time that I could share."

Sombra really didn't want to hear about what Discord had learned about friendship over the years since that would probably turn into his life story, but he had to remind himself that he was trying to humor the draconequus so he could put in a good word for him to Celestia and Luna.

"I suppose you talking about them would help me learn about friendship, since that's the alternative to being turned to stone."

Sombra sounded pretty deadpan when he said that, though Discord just thought that he was trying to be a tough guy again. "Great! It really is a great story, especially since Celestia didn't seem to mind in the end. So, Fluttershy mentioned going to the Grand Galloping Gala, and I assumed that she would bring me as her plus one. Instead, to my horror, I found out that she had already invited someone else!"

"That must've been tragic." Sombra muttered in a non committal tone, not really authentic but he was trying his best to humor Discord.

"Oh it was!" Discord shuddered at the thought, as he recalled what had happened. "She was some hippie named Tree Hugger, and although we made amends in the end…"

He leaned in close to Sombra, who backed away slightly due to the invasion of his personal space. "Between you and me, I still don't really get along with her. Anyway, I was determined to one up Fluttershy so I brought a guest of my own, the Smooze! He's basically a green ball of slime who grows whenever he eats shiny things. Come to think about it, maybe that's why he liked them."

"You think?" Sombra remarked dryly, to which Discord rolled his eyes.

"I didn't think about it at the time, okay!?! Anyway, when I invited him and ignored him in my attempts to impress Fluttershy, he ended up causing a huge mess when he got into a room that was full of jewelry. When Tree Hugger managed to calm him down, my jealousy came to a breaking point, and in not one of my finest moments I decided I was going to banish her to another dimension."

That got Sombra's attention, as he visibly perked up at the mention of Discord sending somepony to another dimension. Discord really had the power to do that? He knew that the draconequus was the Lord of Chaos, but that sounded quite extreme.

"You were actually about to send somepony to another dimension? I had no idea that you had the power to do that."

"Ha! Of course I have the power to banish somepony to another dimension. I can rip the very fabric of reality since I'm the spirit of disharmony and chaos. Anyway, Fluttershy convinced me not to, and I learned that just because somepony has different friends doesn't mean that I've been abandoned."

Sombra found the story somewhat ridiculous, especially since what Discord did sounded like an overreaction to him. "So you decided to banish somepony to another dimension for all eternity just because you were jealous. That sounds extreme."

"Says the pony who enslaved his entire kingdom because he felt disrespected in his foalhood." Discord retorted, not appreciating the jab towards him. "Look, I said I wasn't proud of what I did back then, and I've learned my lesson. That's all that matters."

"I suppose so. Apologies seem to be a running theme with friendship. You apologized for teaming up with Tirek and you apologized for threatening to send Fluttershy's friend to another dimension."

Discord nodded, finding this a prime opportunity to explain to Sombra the importance of apologies. "That's because it is. I know it's not very pleasant to admit you're in the wrong, but understanding when you've messed up and wanting to make it right is the first step for others to forgive you."

Sombra mulled over what Discord told him for a while, his expression clearly showing how deep in thought he was. So he would apologize for what he did a thousand years ago, and what he did when he took over Canterlot? He decided not to think about it, lest he have those feelings of doubt creep up within him again.

"Anyway, I notice that you mention Fluttershy a lot. She seems like a nice pony to meet, and since I can't leave this room and you talk a lot about your tea parties, maybe you could bring her here to host one. I would assume it would help me to learn about friendship."

Discord's eyes lit up at this idea, before he thought about what Fluttershy would think about it. "While I would love to have a tea party with you, I'm not sure whether Fluttershy would be so keen. She's gotten better at being assertive and braver, but if I know her, she'd be terrified of you."

For good reason. Sombra thought with a small smirk, before he reverted to his serious expression as he looked at Discord expectantly. "Well, you never know if you don't ask, right?"

"Hm, alright. I suppose I could ask her. You'd love the food she prepares for our tea parties! I'll be back!" And just like that Discord was gone, giving Sombra some time to himself as he let out a sigh of relief.

He hated how much he relied on Discord as his key to freedom, but maybe with this tea party and getting Fluttershy involved to advocate for him, he could finally be let out of house arrest. What he would do after that, however…suddenly it wasn't so clear for him.

Chapter 13: The Tea Party

Discord appeared in front of Fluttershy's house, having the decency to knock since he'd act normal to an extent only for Fluttershy. Hm, how to bring it up, Discord, how to bring it up… He thought to himself, knowing that it'd be quite a shock for Fluttershy if she was asked to host a tea party for Sombra of all ponies.

Well, nothing better than making up a plan on the spot, right? He decided to just knock on the door, reasoning that he could just figure out what he wanted to say when Fluttershy opened the door. He knocked a few times, waiting for Fluttershy to answer.

The pink maned pegasus soon opened the door, smiling sweetly when she saw that Discord was there. "Discord! I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow for our Tuesday tea. Please, come in!"

"You always do know how to make me feel welcome, Fluttershy! I just needed a break from trying to reform Sombra." Discord said with a chuckle as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him, while Fluttershy looked a bit worried at the mention of the former tyrant.

"Oh, I do hope he isn't being too harsh on you, especially since you've been so kind to him. I know you told us that you managed to convince Princess Celestia and Luna to move him to the castle suite so he should be in better spirits, but I don't know what's happened since then."

"He's actually been doing quite well!" Discord sat down on the sofa Fluttershy had in her cottage, while the pegasus took a seat opposite him. "A few hiccups here and there, but I think he's warming up to me! In his own tough guy act way, of course. I'm sure he'll drop it at some point; after all, if he was really dedicated to being all brooding and vengeful, he wouldn't be carrying on conversations with me."

"I still find it so surreal that you can carry on conversations with him! I would've thought that he would refuse to talk to you if you were trying to make him accept the magic of friendship." Fluttershy mused, though she was glad that Sombra was taking steps in the right direction, whether it was conscious or not.

"It certainly started out that way, but he rationalizes it by saying that I'm decent company since he can't do anything else while he's under glorified house arrest in his castle suite. He's definitely been in better spirits since he'd been moved into the better accommodation, though. I mean, I would too."

Fluttershy nodded. While she understood her friends' mixed feelings about Sombra getting to stay in the castle suite when they had gotten the news from Discord, she felt that showing kindness could be the first step in helping Sombra to open up, and it looked like she was right.

"Of course! Anypony would want to be treated with decency. So what do you end up talking about when you have these conversations with Sombra? I don't think we know much about him besides his history of ruling the Crystal Empire with an iron hoof."

"It's mostly about me, actually! I try not to pry too much into Sombra's personal life since last time I did he got angry. It's mostly me talking about how you reformed me by showing me friendship, and how I'm still learning about it all the time. Most recently I talked about my not so finest moment at the Gala…"

Discord consciously decided to leave Sombra's backstory out of what he said, knowing that the charcoal stallion entrusted him with that information for a reason. It probably wasn't something that he wanted everypony to know, at least not without his consent.

"Oh, that was such a long time ago! Tree Hugger's already forgiven you for all of that. But if Sombra learned something from you telling that story, I suppose it's good that it happened so others can learn friendship from you." Fluttershy remarked, recalling that moment vividly.

"Speaking of how you helped me learn about the magic of friendship…" Discord started, deciding that now was probably a good time to bring up what he came here for. "Sombra actually brought up the idea of you hosting a tea party with the three of us, so he could learn more about friendship."

Fluttershy was stunned into silence as she heard this, her eyes going wide. She couldn't believe it; it seemed so uncharacteristic of what she knew of Sombra. "Wait, Sombra suggested this? He wants me to host a tea party for the three of us?"

"I know, right? I was shocked too when he brought it up during our last conversation. If you're not comfortable having one with him, though, I completely understand. I just told him that I was going to ask you whether you could do it; no promises." Discord explained, making it clear to Fluttershy that she didn't have to do this.

"I…I'm just shocked that he wants to have a tea party. I wouldn't take him to be the kind of pony that would enjoy that, after all." Fluttershy looked unsure, before she tried to put on a braver face. If this could help Sombra learn about friendship, she would do the best she could to make it a great tea party.

"I'll do the best I can to host one, Discord. He still scares me, a little bit, but maybe that'll change when I get to meet him. He sounds like he's been getting a bit better."

"Oh, of course! We weren't even on speaking terms when I first tried talking to him, honestly. I think over time he's been becoming more open to talking since I'm the only company he's got." Discord said with a chuckle, before becoming serious. "He's opened up a bit more though, and I think he's genuinely interested in accepting friendship."

Fluttershy had a cute smile on her face when she heard that, until it faltered a bit when she thought of something. "That's great news! I only hope he's not faking it to be set free…"

"Ah, I already extinguished any thought of that in his mind already, I think. Any smart villain would know betraying Celestia and Luna would be foolish, and unless he wants a one way ticket to Statue City, he'll come around. Besides, even if he did, he always loses to you and the others!"

"I suppose you're right about that. So, when did you want to do the tea party? I'll need time to get everything ready; maybe a few hours' notice at least since I've run out of ginseng tea." Fluttershy explained, understanding if Discord wanted to do the tea party today.

"Oh, of course! I can tell Sombra that you'll come around in a few hours for a tea party, then. I'm sure he'll appreciate being able to talk to someone else than me, anyway, as charming as I am."

Fluttershy held up a hoof to her mouth as she laughed, standing up to head out to the market. "I'm looking forward to seeing you back here again! I'll be ready in around two hours, is that okay?"

"Certainly! I'll let Sombra know. See you later!"

Discord was gone in a flash of chaos magic, reappearing instantly back in Sombra's castle suite. This time the former tyrant wasn't fazed by the Lord of Chaos' sudden appearance, used to his spontaneity by this point.

"So, what did she say?" Sombra asked expectantly, looking up at Discord which he hated since it made him feel short.

"Well, she's on board with having a tea party, which is good! I'll teleport her here later with the tea party all set up. Trust me, her carrot-ginger sandwiches are positively delectable. Fit for a king, I should say!" Discord told Sombra, who regarded his assertion that Fluttershy's cooking was "fit for a king" with skepticism.

"I'm not sure whether to regard your assertion as an exaggeration or the truth, but I shall see soon enough. What do you mean by 'later?'"

"If you must have an exact time, Fluttershy said she'd be ready in two hours. She's the nicest pony you'll ever meet, and maybe you can learn more about friendship from her since she's the Element of Kindness. After all, you can't make friends if you're rude to everypony you meet."

"Uh huh." Sombra muttered noncommittally, really just looking forward to having someone else to talk to besides Discord, who could get on his nerves at times.

Unfortunately, he had to suffer with Discord's presence for two hours since the draconequus thought it impractical to leave only to come back, so he ended up hearing most of Discord's life story while he had to try and act somewhat interested, lest he set back and progress he made getting on his reformer's good side.

It was both a figurative and literal sigh of relief when Discord disappeared to bring Fluttershy, and Sombra had to say he was impressed when Discord appeared with Fluttershy and a couch for two and a chair opposite it, separated by a table that already had a teapot with three cups on it.

A cart with various finger foods like scones and sandwiches was next to it, and although Sombra wouldn't admit it, they did look quite delectable. The quality of food he had been getting did go up accordingly when he was moved to the castle suite, but having different food for a change was nice.

"Fluttershy, Sombra. Sombra, Fluttershy. Oh, wait, I didn't need to do introductions since you two have met already! Silly me." Discord tried to break the ice, though Sombra just looked unimpressed as he regarded the two with a curt nod.

"I appreciate you making the tea and food. It can get quite dull, staying at the castle suite where they don't bother to change the menu." He said, as he sat down on the couch next to Discord, facing Fluttershy who smiled meekly.

"Oh, it's no problem! Usually we have more than enough food and tea when Discord and I have our tea parties, so adding you makes it just enough. I'm just glad that you're trying to be a better pony from what Discord's told me." Fluttershy replied, trying to be polite and cordial even though she still felt scared of Sombra.

Sombra could sense that fear, glad that some ponies still had a sense of who he was and how he wasn't one to be messed with, unlike Discord who obviously didn't fear him at all, treating him like everypony else. Though, when he came to think of it, he could at least appreciate how open and honest Discord was with him, even if he couldn't get him to shut up afterwards.

Wait, what? No, it's better when ponies fear me, obviously. He told himself, even if he doubted it more and more. "Yes, well, the alternative was being turned into a statue for ponies to ogle at in the Canterlot Gardens."

There was a brief moment of awkward silence as Fluttershy didn't know how to answer that, at which point Discord quickly took over. "Anyway, you must try the scones at least, Sombra. Fluttershy puts extra butter and it makes them twice as good!"

Sombra used his dark magic to pick up a scone, the aura obviously making Fluttershy uncomfortable since he had used it before to take over Canterlot and materialize dark crystals everywhere. He took an experimental bite, not expecting much, until he was proven wrong. The scone tasted quite divine, in fact, and he figured he could at least give a compliment.

"The scones are quite good, Fluttershy. Thank you for baking them."

Fluttershy lit up at that compliment, not expecting something like that from Sombra. "W-Well, you're welcome! I'm glad you like them…"

Already Sombra found Fluttershy quite endearing, and he could see why Discord was swayed to reform himself as a result of her. Whether he truly wanted that for himself, well…he was still conflicted, and he knew he had to make a decision at some point.

Chapter 14: Give It A Chance

"So, what do you both usually do at these tea parties?" Sombra inquired, as he took a sip from his cup of ginseng tea that was refreshingly hot. It was a nice change from the same food he had while he lived at the castle suite, making him feel like he was actually being treated like a king and therefore more at ease.

"Well, sometimes we just sit in comfortable silence while eating food, but usually we talk about things that we want to catch up on! Fluttershy's always got her hooves full at the animal sanctuary so she talks about what's going on there most of the time. But this tea party is more about you, since you wanted to learn more about friendship, right?" Discord said as he looked at Sombra expectantly.

"It's also a nice change of scenery instead of pacing around this room all day, and eating the food delivered to the door." Sombra stated, downplaying how he mentioned learning about friendship since he felt uncomfortable otherwise.

"Oh, of course! I'm glad I could help make your stay here more comfortable, while helping you to learn about friendship at the same time. After all, that's why you're here, right?" Fluttershy replied with a warm smile, as she tried to think about something she could bring up to help Sombra understand friendship.

"Did Discord tell you everything about what I taught him when Princess Celestia gave me the task of reforming him?" Fluttershy asked, wanting to know whether she had to explain anything or not to Sombra so she could best teach him whatever she knew about friendship.

"Yes, he basically told me his life story while you were getting ready for this tea party, I assume." Sombra explained, looking quite deadpan since he was bored to death throughout Discord's verbal autobiography.

"Oh, how nice! So is there anything that you want me to clarify or add to? I'm happy to explain anything Discord may have mentioned if it helps you learn more about what friendship means." Fluttershy kept her gaze on Sombra even if she wanted to look away, trying to make the former tyrant feel comfortable.

Sombra was quiet for a bit as he thought about what he wanted to ask, taking another sip from his teacup using his dark magic. "So you managed to convince Discord to use his magic for good by refusing to be his friend if he didn't turn Sweet Apple Acres back to normal?"

Fluttershy nodded. "I wanted to build trust with him by promising to not use my Element of Harmony against him, but when it became clear to me that he was using me for his own reasons, I knew that I had to be assertive and put my hoof down and I wouldn't let him terrorize my friends like that."

"I didn't want to lose the one friend I ever had, after all! It hit me at that moment that I never had any true friends before that due to alienating everypony with my reign of chaos, despite how fun it was. I wanted to keep that feeling of companionship, and having somepony to talk to." Discord added.

Sombra tried not to think too deeply about what Discord and Fluttershy had told him, deciding to move on to his next question. "So, do you think fear and respect are different things? I believe my subjects in the Crystal Empire respected me, and knew their place in my empire. They followed whatever I commanded, even without my mind control."

Fluttershy's expression faltered when Sombra mentioned his past reign in the Crystal Empire, since she was trying to ignore Sombra's past from affecting how she treated him. "Well…yes, I'd say so. Fear means that the Crystal Ponies followed your orders or decrees because they were afraid of punishment. True respect means so much more than that; it's something that's mutual between friends."

There was a brief pause as Fluttershy thought of an appropriate example to give to Sombra. "When you talk with a friend, you don't interrupt them because you regard their wishes to have their feelings expressed without interruption, just like what you would want if you were doing the same. In my opinion, it feels a lot better that somepony respects you not because of fear of retribution, but because they admire you."

"I felt the same way when I realized that I was going to lose Fluttershy's friendship, truly. I realized that friendship was a two way street, and making everything about me wasn't fair to Fluttershy or her other friends. Yes, compromising hurts my pride a bit, but it's better than having no friends." Discord added.

Sombra was quiet as he was fighting that same internal war he fought again and again, every time Discord brought up true friendship and now Fluttershy. If he wasn't lying to himself, it sounded appealing, but then there was his prideful side that questioned why he was even thinking about this. He already had everything a pony could ever want when he ruled the Crystal Empire! He had no need for friends!

Then again, if he had no need for friends, then why was he questioning himself? If he was so sure, then why did he even need to think about it? Was he truly considering changing his ways, even if he really didn't need to by his own logic? Hmph, a simple question wouldn't hurt. I'm not selling out to their ideology… He rationalized, even if his pride protested vehemently against it.

"Why does friendship matter to you both so much anyway? I mean, you of all beings, Discord, I really don't understand. You're the Lord of Chaos; you don't have to bend to anypony's will. You obviously didn't before you were reformed, ruling Equestria in a perpetual state of chaos and disharmony. So why compromise in exchange for simple companionship?"

"There's a lot of things ponies don't understand about me, including that one." Discord quipped with a chuckle, before moving on to more serious things. "But if you really want my honest answer, having friends makes me feel good. I've probably told you this many times before, but doing things my way is only short term satisfaction. Friendship is…well, forever."

Sombra hated to admit it, but he was starting to think that Discord was right as he looked contemplative on his spot on the couch next to the draconequus, taking another sip from his teacup. "…If I gave this friendship you speak of a chance, would I be released?"

He really hoped that was the case, the extended time he was locked up in the castle suite starting to take a toll on him. He was convinced that it was taking a toll on his sanity, especially since he had just said he would consider friendship when normally he wouldn't even dream of entertaining the thought.

Fluttershy's expression lit up at that, happy that Sombra was actually considering reforming himself. If she had heard it from anypony else, she wouldn't have believed that Sombra wanted to turn over a new leaf. "I don't see a reason why you wouldn't! Princess Celestia and Luna would trust you if you said that you wanted to give friendship a chance. There's only so much you can learn from this room."

"Of course, the princesses would probably have to make a royal decree to everypony about what's going on once you're set free from your house arrest here in the castle suite. Wouldn't want to start total chaos when ponies see the King Sombra walking around the streets of Canterlot, would we? As much as I'd be amused by that."

Sombra once again showed no reaction to Discord trying to be funny, while Fluttershy politely laughed to make her friend feel better. "Well, I would probably be able to learn more about friendship if I were to meet the rest of your friends, instead of being locked in here. Although my accommodation is much nicer than my former imprisonment, I would much prefer being able to go outside."

"Anypony wouldn't like to be cooped up in here! I'd be happy to introduce you to my other friends, as soon as we get permission from Princess Celestia and Luna. Are they here?" Fluttershy asked, before one of the two royal guards stationed outside answered.

"They're not here at the moment. They had to attend a princess summit in Saddle Arabia." The royal guard chimed in from outside Sombra's door, the charcoal stallion letting out a huff of annoyance at being reminded that there were two royal guards who invaded his sense of privacy at all times.

Discord looked sort of disappointed as well, finding it quite dull to talk to Sombra in his castle suite every day. If he could observe his progress while he was out in the real world, however, that'd be much more interesting! "Well, what unfortunate timing! Oh well, I'm sure I can broach the topic with them another day, when they come back. I'm sure they'll have no qualms with the idea since they trust me as your reformer."

"Whenever they come back I'm sure you can tell them about how Sombra's ready to give friendship a try, Discord! For now, though, we should probably eat the scones before they get cold." Fluttershy suggested, which Discord readily agreed to.

The rest of the tea party went uneventfully as Fluttershy and Discord recalled more times that they spent together, Sombra more concerned with just having more of the delicious food that he thought was fit for someone of his-wait, he couldn't think like that anymore, could he?

He had already said that he was going to give friendship a try with some sort of genuinity, which surprised even himself. It's as if his mouth had acted before his brain, a Fruedian slip of something that he had been trying to suppress since he liked how things were before. He didn't need friendship complicating something that was a relatively simple plan.

Yet that plan had completely unraveled at this point, if he was brave enough to admit it to himself. He wasn't even thinking about using his freedom (if it was granted to him) to make a beeline for the Crystal Empire anymore with any sort of certainty. A small part of him wanted that, yes, but if he decided to use common sense he knew it was futile.

Those six ponies managed to beat him every time, and it was all because of friendship. If friendship was that powerful, surely it was worth at least learning more about it? That was how he rationalized his new plan to himself. Well, if he could ever put it into action, that is.

It seemed that all too common the princesses' absence wasn't a one off thing, and it was becoming more frequent. Discord never managed to catch the princesses on the rare chance that they were in the throne room, and when Sombra became desperate enough that he asked the royal guards stationed outside his room, they said Celestia and Luna were responding to "emergencies."

Even Discord didn't seem to know what kinds of emergencies were so frequent that it now seemed like the princesses were never in the throne room, thus his request to be set free so he could learn more about friendship from Twilight and her friends was left unheard and unnoticed.

He was still left on house arrest, with the same useless royal guards stationed outside his dark magic proof room, same surroundings, and same mundane schedule where Discord poofed into his room and carried on conversations that he felt were growing tired at this point.

Where were the princesses when he actually needed them?

Chapter 15: Between Dark and Dawn

Sombra was rudely shocked from his solitude when he heard the angry honking of swans that sounded like it came from below his castle suite, and one look out of his window clearly showed swans who were trying to barge through the front doors of the castle. If he didn't know any better, he would've thought his eyes were failing him.

"What in the name of Celestia is going on out there?" He muttered to himself more than to anyone else, though one of the lucky royal guards stationed outside his door answered.

"The Royal Swanifying Ceremony. Well, at least that's supposed to be it…"

Sombra didn't respond since he didn't ask for the royal guard to rudely interject, but he had to wonder whether the guard was making a joke or not. A Royal Swanifying Ceremony? He couldn't think of a better way to waste resources than that. Any sort of royal ceremony should honor the current ruler, not insignificant creatures that live in lakes.

Seeing a giant turtle-like creature eat garbage ridden by none other than Pinkie Pie (at least that's who he thought the pink pony was named, if he recalled correctly) a few hours later made him question his sanity, though he figured that it made his usually mundane day somewhat interesting.

He was rudely awakened when the sun rose earlier than usual, which made him initially think that Celestia was the culprit, until he saw the moon and the sun haphazardly darting back and forth in the sky; obviously, someone else was filling in for the princesses' jobs. Perhaps that explains why Twilight and her friends were here yesterday.

“Well, that’s quite peculiar. Though I do like a good change from the norm!”

Sombra whirled his head around to see Discord, looking quite smug since he had been able to scare the former tyrant again. After all, he was quite good at appearing out of nowhere. Sombra rolled his eyes as he didn’t even bother to rush to change into his armor; Discord had seen him like this often enough.

“Have you no manners?” He simply asked with an unamused expression, stepping back from the window to glare at Discord.

“Nope!” Discord replied cheerfully, taking Sombra’s place at the window since he liked watching chaos not of his bidding unfold. “But don’t take it personally, I appear at random to everypony. It’s not like you’ll die of shock, anyway.”

“I can’t die at all. I’m immortal.” Sombra deadpanned, to an amused look from Discord.

“Oh? Me too! I assume it’s because of your dark magic that turned you into a shadow pony?”

“Yes. Shadows don’t have age. I appear the same as I did when I learned about dark magic and decided to utilize it.” Sombra explained, before he decided to switch the subject since there were more pressing things on his mind. “I assume the princesses aren’t back, if someone who is obviously inexperienced is trying to raise the sun?”

“Well, actually, they just did!” Discord remarked, as at the same time the moon finally set and the sun came up, like normal. “Apparently, they went off to go do a bucket list of things they’ve always wanted to do while Twilight and her friends tried to host the Royal Swanifying Ceremony all by themselves. Yeah, I didn’t know that was a thing either.”

“So they decided to go on vacation knowing full well that you’re supposed to report to them how I’m doing?” Sombra replied with thinly veiled annoyance, finding it quite foolish to do such a thing.

Discord shrugged in reply, not knowing any more than that. “Maybe because they trust me so much with you! It was only for a day, anyway. Besides that, the good news is I can talk to them now, and we’ll see where things go from there!”

“Hmph, good.” Sombra muttered, glad that there was a possibility that he wouldn’t be stuck on house arrest anymore. “So? Go talk to them. I would much prefer to be out of this castle suite sooner rather than later.”

“A nice ‘please’ would be appreciated…” Discord muttered as he rolled his eyes, but he disappeared in an instant to the throne room.

Celestia and Luna had just taken their seats in their throne room when Discord suddenly appeared in front of them, but they were accustomed to the draconequus appearing randomly in front of them if he needed to talk to them. Luna looked sort of annoyed by Discord appearing out of nowhere, while Celestia regarded him with a warm smile.

“Ah, Discord! Sorry for the impromptu vacation, but you have no idea how much my sister and I needed that. How are things going with Sombra?”

“I was going to report to you how things were going sooner, but it seemed like you and Luna were off on emergencies every time I popped in the throne room.” Discord said with a snicker, since Fluttershy had told him what was going on. “Anyway, things are going great with Sombra! Actually, he said that he wanted to give friendship a chance.”

Celestia and Luna shared a glance, surprised by what they heard. “Really? Sombra is actually interested in learning about friendship?” Luna asked, wanting to hear more before she and her sister would make a decision.

“No doubt due to him meeting Fluttershy! It was actually his idea to have a tea party with Fluttershy since I talk about her so often, and I think he learned a lot. After all, that was when he suggested trying to learn more about friendship.” Discord explained, while the princesses still looked unsure.

“I’m assuming he wanted to have freedom from his imprisonment in the castle suite to learn more about friendship.” Celestia remarked, looking thoughtful as she supposed that the foundation of friendship is trust, and if Sombra was making an effort, they could put him on a sort of probation.

Discord nodded eagerly. “Of course! He wanted to learn from Twilight and her friends, I think.”

Luna was silent for a bit before she spoke, trying to decide the best course of action. “Bring him here, so we can speak to him personally. I trust that he won’t try to escape when he’s outside the spell that blocks his dark magic if he truly wants to reform himself.”

"Sure thing! I'll be right back before you know it." Discord disappeared in a flash of chaos magic, appearing back in Sombra's room in an instant.

Sombra was now wearing his usual armor, as he looked up at the draconequus with a raised eyebrow, impatiently waiting for an answer. "Well? What did they-"

"No time, they want to see you!" Discord teleported himself and Sombra to the throne room in an instant, the charcoal stallion looking annoyed before he quickly put on a more neutral expression as he stood in front of the princesses.

"Your highnesses." He addressed, even though a part of him still protested vehemently since he was supposed to treat any other royalty with contempt. "After hearing about Discord's experiences with friendship, I would like the opportunity to be set free, and learn about it from Twilight and her friends."

Celestia looked serious as she heard Sombra's words, examining the former tyrant's expression closely to ascertain if he was being genuine or not. Though he now had the power to use his dark magic to escape and he hadn't, which she supposed meant something.

"You truly want to learn about friendship and atone for what you have done in the past?" She asked, Sombra slowly nodding as he recalled those thoughts that had become more prevalent over the past few days.

"I've considered my reasons for wanting the power of ruling the Crystal Empire, and can see that they were misguided." He still felt uncomfortable that he was even admitting that he made mistakes, but Discord had told him plenty of times that he felt the same way.

"Admitting where you have gone wrong is always a good first step in reforming." Luna said with a small smile, knowing what it was like to feel the need to redeem yourself after being a villain feared by many.

Celestia looked deep in thought for a few seconds before responding, a warm smile of her own on her face.

"Twilight and her friends are an excellent group you could learn friendship from, and I'm certain with a good heart, even your dark magic can be used for good. Since you're putting forward the effort to learn about friendship and grow as a stallion, I think it's only fair that we allow you to leave the castle. Of course, you can still stay in the royal suite at night for accommodation."

"Trust me, Celestia, he'll be out all day if it means he doesn't have to see the inside of that room for as long as possible." Discord remarked with a chuckle, Sombra giving the draconequus a side-eye of annoyance.

"We'll make an official decree that will explain everything that has been going on, since nopony knows that you're alive except for us. It will be difficult since other ponies will probably not trust you as quickly as us, but it's necessary to prevent a panic in Canterlot or Ponyville at seeing you out and about in public." Luna explained.

Sombra nodded in understanding. Surely a reputation like his preceded him; he knew that even before he was considering friendship. It was something to be expected, but if friendship was as good as Discord explained it to be, he hoped the transition would be quick.

"Of course. I assume you'll notify me when I'm free to leave?"

Celestia nodded in confirmation. "Certainly! In the meantime, I'll release the two royal guards from their position by the door to your room, and the spell blocking your magic will be dissipated, since obviously you've proven to us during the course of this conversation that you don't intend on using it for evil."

Sombra sort of felt like he'd be sick from all of the sickly sweet language that was being used that was associated with his name, but he supposed that was the dark magic inside of him that was talking. "I appreciate it."

"If there's nothing else to be discussed, my sister and I should get working on what we'll say to the public, and also inform Twilight and her friends of this development. Equestria would benefit greatly with you at its side, Sombra." Luna said before Sombra and Discord left; the draconequus was gracious enough to let Sombra walk this time, since he probably hadn't been able to walk very far in a long time.

"So? Aren't you happy you're as free as a bird now? Well, at least after the princesses give the decree. I'm sure it'll be the talk of Canterlot for the next month!" Discord said with an amused chuckle.

"It's certainly better than staring at the same surroundings for what seems like forever. Besides, I won't learn anything by sitting around." Sombra replied in his usual low tone, not showing much enthusiasm even though he was sort of anticipating what it would be like to be able to roam freely.

Discord rolled his eyes as they walked through the halls of the castle to Sombra's castle suite, royal guards doing double takes as they passed by. "Do you always show no enthusiasm whatsoever to anything and everything?"

"Do you take me as the enthusiastic type like that pink pony? Besides, this is new to me. I was more enthusiastic when I was taking over Canterlot, as you saw."

"Yes, well, we're past that, aren't we?" Discord muttered awkwardly, deciding maybe calling that out wasn't the best thing to do. "Look, being able to talk to others besides me about friendship will probably help you learn a lot, and I do hope you make the right decision in the end."

Sombra just rolled his eyes in reply. He did say he was going to learn about friendship, right? All he had to do was wait a bit longer…

Chapter 16: Finally Free

Twilight waited anxiously with her friends and Spike in the throne room, having gotten a letter from Princess Celestia that she wanted to meet with the six of them. She had an idea what this meeting was about too, considering what Fluttershy had told them about her tea party with Sombra.

"This is about how Sombra was talkin' about learnin' about friendship, ain't it?" Applejack assumed, to which Twilight gave an affirmative nod.

"I can't be 100% sure, but I think Princess Celestia wants all of us to teach Sombra about friendship as much as we can. I know that he destroyed the Elements of Harmony and we all are probably a bit apprehensive about giving him a second chance, but if the Princess trusts him enough to set him free, I do too."

"I suppose…I'm just worried that he might betray us and try to take over the Crystal Empire again at some point while he's free. I don't see how somepony so absolutely dreadful could decide that he wants to learn about friendship!" Rarity opined, though she figured that anypony could change for the better, if they wanted to.

"I personally think he was quite polite and amiable during our tea party. He looks stern all the time, yes, but I think that he's genuine about learning more about friendship." Fluttershy said softly, recalling how Sombra was willing to carry on a conversation.

“I better hope he’s being honest about it! Otherwise we’ll send him on a one way trip to the Canterlot Gardens!” Rainbow said confidently, not having any fear of Sombra whatsoever. At least, no fear that she showed outwardly.

“Aw, c’mon! I’m sure Discord told Sombra all about how friendship is fun! Much better than brooding all the time and having scary dark crystals everywhere, right?” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, having a more optimistic view of the news that they’d be teaching Sombra more about friendship.

“Regardless, how have Shining and Cadance taken the news? This can’t be easy for them, knowing that the Crystal Empire’s former tyrant is now free.” Rarity asked in concern, Twilight looking somber as she recalled the letter she had gotten from her brother.

“They trust Celestia, but for the sake of the Crystal Ponies, Sombra can’t go to the Crystal Empire if we for some reason thought he could learn a friendship lesson there. It would send the Empire into a panic, and the resulting fear would allow Sombra to easily take back control, if the temptation comes back for him.”

"Of course we ain't bringin' Sombra to the Crystal Empire! It'd be a stupid idea, knowing that he wanted to take it back. He needs to prove that he's reformed to us before he could even dream of stepping hoof in there." Applejack asserted, thinking that it was plain common sense that Sombra shouldn't be allowed in the Crystal Empire.

"Well, I thought he was nice enough. He's obviously making an effort, and that's enough. Discord eventually proved himself to you all, right?" Fluttershy pointed out meekly. She wanted to give Sombra the benefit of the doubt, since they were supposed to teach him about friendship, and she doubted that being obviously suspicious of him was the way to go about it.

"Yes, after betraying us for Tirek and learning his lesson the hard way! I hope the same thing doesn't happen with Sombra." Rainbow muttered, murmurs of agreement coming from Applejack and Rarity.

"But you all have defeated him before, right? It shouldn't be a problem even if he decides to betray our trust." Spike pointed out, even if Twilight didn't look so sure.

"I know it's hard to try to give him a second chance after what he did to our friends when he took over Ponyville and Canterlot, but Fluttershy's right. The least we can do is-"

Twilight was interrupted when Princess Celestia entered the throne room behind her, and she immediately turned around to give her mentor her full attention. "Princess Celestia, we're all here like you requested."

"Thank you, Twilight. I assume you know about the new developments regarding Sombra, since Fluttershy had a tea party with him and Discord, right?" Celestia asked, continuing on when she received nods of confirmation amongst the six ponies.

"Since he's decided that he wants to learn more about friendship, I knew that it would be only natural to pick you all to teach him more about friendship, since Discord has probably taught him all he has to give. This is a great opportunity to have another powerful ally at Equestria's side, and I know you all might have reservations about treating him as an ally, but he's proven to me that he's trying to be a better pony since he didn't use his dark magic once he was outside of the magic proof spell."

"We'll do the best we can to teach Sombra everything we know about the magic of friendship, Princess Celestia. But surely it should be public knowledge now that Sombra is good, right? Since he's been set free?" Twilight asked.

Celestia nodded, trying to put Twilight's concerns to rest. "My sister and I have finished writing a decree that we'll read out in Canterlot filling in the public as to what's been going on. Surely news will travel across Equestria from there, and it won't be a problem if you want to show Sombra around Ponyville. Of course, he'll still stay at his castle suite for accommodation."

"I call dibs on the tour of Ponyville! I know this place inside out!" Pinkie Pie shouted excitedly, to Celestia's amusement.

"I'll tell Sombra that he can come down to the Castle of Friendship after I make the decree, and we'll see how things go from there. Is there anything else we need to discuss?" Celestia asked.

Twilight shook her head, not wanting to let Celestia down, especially if she was to take her place as ruler of all of Equestria. She wanted to prove that she could handle anything, after the fiasco that was the Royal Swanifying Ceremony. "No, we won't let you down."

"I know you won't." Celestia reassured Twilight, before she walked out of the throne room to head back to her chariot to Canterlot, leaving Twilight and her friends to discuss how to best start the friendship lessons with Sombra.

"How much longer must I be kept here?" Sombra muttered, growing impatient while Discord was growing impatient as well, but more because his willingness to listen to Sombra's complaining was quickly waning.

"C'mon, Sombra, surely it won't be for much longer! Celestia and Luna are just trying to ensure that you don't get screams of terror when you try to walk outside. After all, the whole point of friendship is that you meet ponies, not scare them away." Discord pointed out, having gotten quite a fair bit of ponies either being scared of him or hating him when he initially reformed.

"I highly doubt that a royal decree from Celestia and Luna is going to change how ponies think of me very much at first. After all, I'm sure most ponies saw you as a monster of chaos when you initially reformed." Sombra retorted.

"Well, yes, but it's just a matter of proving to ponies that you've changed! Saving Equestria from Queen Chrysalis certainly proved that point!" Discord explained, mentioning what he thought was his greatest accomplishment once again.

Sombra rolled his eyes, finding it quite irritating that Discord felt the need to mention that so many times. "Yes, well, that piece of vermin is honestly quite a weak foe. She's complacent because of her throne that blocks magic."

"You're familiar with her?" Discord inquired with a raised eyebrow, surprised that Sombra had interacted with Queen Chrysalis before. Well, at least before they were brought together in "Grogar's" lair for an extremely brief period of time.

"She tried to take over the Crystal Empire with her army of changelings while it was under my control, until she realized there was no love there. I easily repelled her with my dark magic. Honestly, Tirek would be more powerful than her just because he can take any kind of magic, not specifically love."

Discord looked unimpressed, mainly because he also could've easily wiped the floor with Chrysalis if he had his chaos magic at the time. "Hmph! You say it's easy to defeat her, but not when you're in her hive with nothing but your wits to try and save ponies!"

"I could easily defeat her without magic too. Unlike her, I'm not overly reliant on my dark magic. It's preferable, yes, but being able to use your hooves is important." Sombra explained defiantly, not willing to admit any kind of inferiority.

Well, we'll see about that when you inevitably fight her again, if you make the right decision. Discord thought to himself, of course not telling Sombra about that as he decided to change the subject, seeing Celestia and Luna on the castle balcony from Sombra's window.

"Oh, it looks like they're making the decree about you right now!"

Sombra joined Discord at the window sill, mildly interested as he watched the princesses say what he assumed was the decree. His assumption was obviously correct as he could hear a muffled loud gasp from the crowd gathered in the castle courtyard in shock, as some of the ponies gathered visibly turned their heads to look at the castle suite.

"Celestia must have told them that I'm staying here in the meantime. As if I didn't have enough invasions of my privacy." Sombra deadpanned, to an amused laugh from Discord.

"I'm sure you won't be here for most of the day, since you'll be busy learning about friendship, right? Think of it this way, once you're out there, learning from Twilight and her friends, time will fly by so fast you'll probably only be here to sleep. Oh, and I guess being under house arrest here is probably another incentive for you to not want to be here."

Sombra snorted at Discord pointing out the obvious, a habit he noticed Discord had. "You think?"

Before Discord could reply, Celestia showed up at the door, having finished telling basically all of Canterlot what was going on with Sombra, and how they shouldn't panic if they saw the former tyrant in public. The princess opened the door, greeting Discord and Sombra with a nod.

"Alright, you're officially a free pony, Sombra. Twilight and the others have already been briefed about what they are to do, so you can leave whenever you are ready for the Castle of Friendship in Ponyville. That's where they're waiting for you."

Sombra nodded in acknowledgement. "I'm ready to leave now. I haven't had a good walk in ages, and it's best I exercise my legs sooner rather than later." With that he abruptly turned to shadow to make the journey faster, heading towards Ponyville from his castle suite.

Celestia didn't expect Sombra to leave so abruptly, but she supposed that she should've expected it since anypony would want to be outside if they were under house arrest for so long.

"Don't worry, I'll follow him." Discord said as he levitated off the ground and followed Sombra, ensuring that the former tyrant didn't get up to anything he shouldn't during his newfound freedom.

This was unbeknownst to Sombra, who was focused on getting to the Castle of Friendship as he closed in on it, his shadow form allowing him to travel anywhere almost instantaneously. He had to admit, it felt good to use his dark magic again.

A part of him still found it troubling that he hadn't used this opportunity to take back what was rightfully his, and that he was willingly deciding to learn about friendship instead. But he did have an understanding that the brutal way he ruled the Crystal Empire was wrong, and if earning true respect required friendship, he would do everything he could to learn about it.

Chapter 17: Arrival In Ponyville

He materialized back into his pony form after giving a few ponies walking around Ponyville a shock at seeing him as shadow, the dark void with glowing green eyes always carrying with it a foreboding presence. He now stood outside the Castle of Friendship, admiring how it looked since it vaguely looked like the castle in the Crystal Empire.

Discord had told him that it grew from the Tree of Harmony, something that he found quite surprising since he didn't expect that the magic that gave Twilight and her friends so much power could do anything else besides empower them. But to grow a whole castle out of nothing? That was quite a feat, indeed.

Usually he wouldn't even dream of knocking; why should he care if someone wasn't expecting him? He was King Sombra, and anypony would be grateful to be blessed with his presence. But he had a feeling that friendship started with being polite, so he did so, using one of his front hooves to knock on the double doors.

The six ponies and the dragon gathered in the throne room immediately turned their heads towards the direction of the front door, as they had an idea as to who was at the door. They exchanged glances, wondering who would be brave enough to greet Sombra.

"I'm surprised he decided to knock. Maybe Discord really has had an effect on him." Rainbow remarked, while Twilight decided she should be the one to greet Sombra.

"Alright, I've rehearsed what I would say to Spike at least a hundred times. I can do this." Twilight said to herself more than anypony else, as she stood up from her throne and headed towards the front door.

Her friends joined her however, not wanting her to greet Sombra alone. "If we're all going to help him learn more about friendship, we should all go together!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly, also interested in seeing how this new, "reformed" Sombra behaved. "I also have to teach him about cake, because his tastes are reaaaally messed up if that black licorice fruitcake was anything to go by!"

"We do everything together, and this ain't any exception." Applejack added, murmurs of agreement from the rest.

"Thanks, girls." Twilight said with a smile, before looking serious again as she opened the door to greet Sombra, not wanting to keep him waiting too long since she wanted to be polite.

Sombra wore a neutral expression as he stood in front of the six ponies who used to be the bane of his existence, but he now found himself working with them. He was wearing his usual armor as his black mane flowed like always, his gaze with piercing red eyes enough to make anypony scared to even look at him.

Twilight and her friends weren't anypony, however, and the lavender alicorn regarded him with a polite nod, extending a front hoof in greeting. "It's great to hear that you want to learn about friendship, Sombra. We'll do everything we can to help you learn more about it. Please, come in."

Sombra raised an eyebrow since Twilight sounded quite robotic when she said that, as if she had rehearsed it, but he shook Twilight's hoof politely, following her and the others into the throne room as he looked around at the quite admirable surroundings. "Your castle is appointed quite nicely, Princess Twilight."

“Why thank-” Twilight started, before she was interrupted by a voice from above.

“Well, it would be nicer if I could’ve helped decorate it, but I suppose it’s passable! Stairs that lead to nowhere would be a nice chaotic touch, no?”

Discord appeared from above, landing on his mismatched feet to the unamused stares of all that were present, save for Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Sombra regarding him with a raised eyebrow, reasoning that he must’ve followed him from Canterlot.

“You followed me? Aren’t you freed from being my reformer?”

“Maybe I am, but as a reformed villain myself it would be good to be there if you have any questions about friendship. Besides, I have nothing better to do in my realm.” Discord also secretly liked annoying Sombra, finding it amusing.

"Hmph." That was all Sombra really had to say to that, not exactly liking that he was being forced to tolerate the draconequus' presence, but he supposed that he didn't have a choice in the matter.

"As I was saying… " Twilight started, giving a glare towards Discord since she had been interrupted. "Thank you. My friends and I helped make this place feel like home after the Tree of Harmony sprouted it from the ground when we defeated Tirek. And you can just call me Twilight. That's what my friends call me anyway, and if you're willing to learn about friendship, starting off with eight of them is a great start."

"That's…generous of you." Sombra replied, unsure of how to respond since he was a bit surprised that Twilight was so willing to treat him as a sort of friend, with no hesitation whatsoever. She obviously wasn't thrilled about it, but if she was making an effort, the least he could do was reciprocate. That's what friendship was, right?

"Anyway, if we're done with the boring talking, I want to show him around Ponyville! He'll be spending a lot more time here than boring old Canterlot, after all!" Pinkie exclaimed excitedly.

"Oh, well I was going to show Sombra around the castle first, but I suppose getting him acquainted with Ponyville first is a good idea. You should take a tour of the School of Friendship tomorrow when classes are in session, though! I think it'd be very enlightening." Twilight suggested, to which Sombra gave a nod.

"I'll be here tomorrow morning, then. For now, you said you wanted to give me a tour." Sombra stated, addressing Pinkie who bounced up and down with glee.

"Of course! And what no better place to start than Sugarcube Corner?" Pinkie excitedly asked, as she was already halfway out of the castle doors.

"I think I'll sit out of this one. You know I don't like walking too far!" Discord remarked with a chuckle, making Sombra question just how thorough this tour was going to be. It certainly seemed like Pinkie's energy was boundless, which made him question whether this was a good idea.

Before he could say anything, Pinkie was already yelling at him to follow, and when he wasn't fast enough he was yanked by his front hoof. Normally he would have somepony executed for even touching him without permission, but he figured he couldn't do that if he was to learn about friendship.

"Slow down, will you!?!" He barked with annoyance, not understanding how one pony could have so much energy.

"C'mon, Sombra! We have to go fast if we want to see everything in Ponyville!" Pinkie replied, which made Sombra's heart sink.

"Surely you don't mean everything? It's late afternoon." Sombra muttered, not thinking that Pinkie was serious when she actually was.

Pinkie just laughed, determined to show Sombra everything Ponyville had to offer. "Of course, silly! Besides, Ponyville isn't that big. You probably need to walk anyway after all those weeks under house arrest!"

While that was true, Sombra had a tolerance for how much he was willing to walk. He supposed that if Pinkie grew to be too much, he could just turn to shadow, but he still found her presence increasingly annoying, making Discord seem tame in comparison.

He looked around, noticing that no one was out on the street. They were probably hiding despite the decree from the princesses; it's not like he could judge them, however. "It seems everypony is still afraid of me, despite the royal decree. Do they not trust the princesses' word?"

"Oh, well of course they do! It just takes time for it to set in; don't feel too bad about it. I mean, Discord got a similar reception, and they'll soon warm up to you once they realize you're not out to terrorize Ponyville anymore. Honestly beats having to dodge ponies when you're walking anyway!"

They had arrived at Sugarcube Corner at this point, and Pinkie pushed open the front door to reveal the various cakes they had on display, all much better looking than what Sombra had mind controlled Mr. and Mrs. Cake to cook. "Alright, Sombra, this is Sugarcube Corner! The best confectionery shop in town! You should really try some of the cakes here since black licorice is possibly the worst flavor ever!"

"What's wrong with it?" Sombra asked with a raised eyebrow, remembering that's what he had "ordered" when he had taken over Ponyville. He had fond memories of cake when he ruled the Crystal Empire, and usually they were dark colored since they fit with the overall color of his kingdom.

"What's wrong is that it has bitter notes in it! Cake is supposed to be sweet, and because you're my friend now, I'll let you have a free sample of whatever cupcake we have in the display case! I eat half of the ones we make anyway and we have enough to sell, so one more won't hurt if it's in the name of friendship!"

Sombra looked confused before he just decided to go with it, inspecting the display case with all of the cupcakes that had been freshly baked, covered in sickly sweet frosting that would probably make him sick afterwards. "The red one covered in white frosting looks interesting."

"Ooh, red velvet! Excellent choice! For people who don't like things too sweet, they seem to like this one. Give it a try!" Pinkie took the red velvet cupcake out of the display case, sliding it over to Sombra as she watched for his reaction eagerly.

Sombra eyed it for a bit, mildly interested since he hadn't eaten this flavor before. He took a small bite before he took another one, not finding the taste objectionable. It was quite pleasant, actually; perhaps this wasn't such a bad idea after all. "The taste is quite pleasant." He commented, finishing it within a few bites.

Pinkie beamed at hearing that, glad that she could introduce another pony to the joys of Sugarcube Corner's sweets. "I'm glad you like it! The next one's two bits though." She said, before quickly heading for the door from her spot behind the counter, intent on going to the next location.

"We're already going?" Sombra muttered, to which Pinkie looked at him as if he had asked a question that should be a given.

"Well, we can't stay here forever if we're going to see the rest of the town! C'mon!" Pinkie beckoned, and soon Sombra was off again, using his legs the most he ever had since his imprisonment. It was nice to be able to walk around, yes, but he hoped that he wouldn't be eating his words later.

Sombra gave a sigh as he practically collapsed onto his bed in his castle suite, having just returned from his utterly exhausting tour. He didn't even bother to take off his armor, too tired to bother. After seeing the town hall, the hospital, Sweet Apple Acres, the schoolhouse, the Everfree Forest, and so many other locations he couldn't even recall, he was totally drained.

He had seen enough of Ponyville to be an expert on it by this point, possibly even knowing more about the town than its own locals at this point. Speaking of them, all of the residents had been holed up in their homes while Sombra was walking around, though he figured that'd be the case for at least the next few days.

As he closed his eyes to drift off to sleep he made a mental note to steer clear of Pinkie, especially since he was supposed to tour the School of Friendship tomorrow. He had to wonder what the students would think of him…

Chapter 18: Touring The School

Sombra traveled via his shadow form to the Castle of Friendship once he had woken up in his castle suite, materializing right outside the front doors as he knocked like last time. He had been getting the hang of using polite customs since he wasn't a king anymore, something that he still tried to not think about.

It wasn't that he was in denial about that; he knew at this point he was just "Sombra" to most ponies. However, he still immensely despised admitting it, as if a part of him remained that wanted to reclaim his former glory. He had a feeling that desire would never fully go away, but the best he could do now was show that he was making an effort.

Twilight opened the door with a small smile, stepping aside to let the former tyrant in. "Sombra, good morning! Did you want breakfast? We can have that first before I show you around the school."

Breakfast sounded quite good, especially since he was getting tired of what he was given during his imprisonment in Canterlot. "That sounds quite agreeable." He rumbled, as he followed Twilight into the kitchen.

He entered the kitchen of the Castle of Friendship to the nice smell of pancakes with maple syrup, as he looked around in curiosity at new surroundings. The kitchen seemed small for a castle that big, but he supposed that it was functional enough for meals.

There was a green and purple dragon sitting on a stool who he recognized as Spike, who was obviously very revered in the Crystal Empire if the statue of him was anything to go by. He didn't have a name for the light purple and cyan pony, however, only knowing that he had mind controlled her during his siege on Canterlot.

Spike looked at him with a nervous expression, something he expected due to his reputation, while the other unicorn seemed more curious than scared, something he found interesting. "I don't think you've introduced me to your unicorn friend, Twilight."

"Oh!" Twilight looked a bit embarrassed that she hadn't introduced Starlight, but she figured now was a better time than ever. "Sombra, this is Starlight Glimmer. She used to be a student of mine, but now she's the guidance counselor of the School of Friendship! Also I'm planning on making her the headmare once I take over from Princess Celestia and Luna."

Starlight smiled as she stuck out a hoof for a hoof shake, finding the situation a bit surreal since Twilight had told her all about how Sombra had ruled the Crystal Empire with an iron hoof, yet now here he was, making an effort to learn about friendship. If there was a case for nopony being beyond redemption, Sombra would be it.

"It's nice to meet you, Sombra! Twilight told me all about how you used to rule the Crystal Empire with fear. It feels like I'm meeting a historical figure or something if you're really over a thousand years old, heh…"

Sombra shook Starlight's hoof, before turning towards his breakfast. "Yes, that's the power of dark magic. And also being banished into ice."

"It's probably nice to be out of the castle for once, huh?" Twilight mentioned, probably to avoid an awkward conversation between Starlight and Sombra. She had left out Starlight's past before she was her student for a reason, after all.

"Well, it's certainly a nice change of surroundings, yes." Sombra replied, as he took a bite from his pancake. "So, do you teach fillies about friendship at the School of Friendship?"

"Not just fillies! The School of Friendship is for every creature. I actually realized that I wanted to spread the magic of friendship everywhere when my friends and I traveled to distant lands beyond Equestria to defeat the Storm King." Twilight explained, Spike looking quite relieved when she hadn't told the entire story, which would take quite a while.

Sombra raised an eyebrow at the mention of somepony unfamiliar to him; he thought he'd be familiar with anypony who crossed Twilight and her friends' paths and stood in their way. "The Storm King? I'm not familiar with that name."

"You wouldn't be! He's from lands beyond Equestria, and I never heard of him either until he decided to take over Canterlot. I'm sure you'll hear more about him as we tour the School of Friendship; classes are going to start soon." Twilight replied, noting that Sombra had finished his pancakes.

"We're leaving, then?" Sombra asked expectantly, assuming that's what Twilight meant.

Twilight nodded. "Of course! I can't be late for the start of classes as the current headmare! I'm never late for anything."

"I can back that up." Spike remarked with a chuckle, hopping off his stool as he hot ready to follow Twilight, while licking up some maple syrup from his lips.

"I'll tag along; I need to be in my office in case any students need counseling between classes, anyway." Starlight added.

The four headed out of the Castle of Friendship, walking to the School of Friendship which was conveniently right next to it. It was quite a grand structure, built into a mountain side with a moat surrounding it. Sombra could certainly see that a lot of time and effort was put into designing the school, something he could appreciate.

Twilight pushed open the doors to the main atrium, which was quite a grand affair with pillars holding the entire structure up. There were some students milling about that did double takes when they saw Sombra, but most students were obviously already in their assigned classrooms, waiting for classes to start.

"This is the main entrance! Most students see this when they first walk in, and although I wanted it to look grand and all, it's also not too stuffy, you know? I want them to feel welcome here, like this is the perfect environment to learn about friendship."

"It looks quite nice." Sombra replied, before seeing some of the students run off to their classes. He wasn't sure whether it was because of his presence, or whether it was because they were late. "Most of your students are in their classes already."

"Yep, and they're on time too! My friends teach the classes here about each of their elements, along with some foundational history of how we first met and the events occurring afterwards." Twilight explained, as they started walking towards where the classrooms were.

Starlight nodded in agreement, deciding to add on to what Twilight said when Sombra remained silent. "The whole point is for the students to learn about why friendship is so important to protect Equestria, right from the beginning with the windigos."

"You mean to say that you teach the story of Hearth's Warming as history?" Sombra replied, looking a bit dubious since he had heard the story himself; practically everypony who lived in Equestria knew of it. However, he had always thought of it as a story to give a reason for Hearth's Warming to be celebrated.

Spike looked offended, especially since Hearth's Warming was his favorite holiday, even if it was for the wrong reasons. "Hey! It's obviously true! We get presents and-uh…it's been celebrated for generations! If you know about it, it was a thing a thousand years ago, right?" He had corrected himself when he got a glare from Twilight.

"Even if it isn't, it's a good place to start since it still teaches about the importance of friendship." Twilight explained.

"Ah." Sombra simply said, not saying anything more on the subject in case he was invited to a Hearth's Warming party or something. Surely Pinkie would be involved then, and a day dealing with her was a day enough. "So, Starlight, what does the guidance counselor do?"

"Funny you mention that since we're passing my office, and I need to be there!" Starlight laughed, heading off to part ways. "I'm basically there to provide advice and be a friend for any student here who needs help. If you want to hear more, you can stop by my office after the tour. That's assuming I'm not already talking to a student!"

Sombra nodded, deciding he could meet each of Twilight's friends and get to know them to show he was at least making an effort. "That sounds agreeable."

Twilight moved on to the classrooms, proud to show off how many there were, full of students learning about friendship. "And this is where all the magic happens! Once the tour is over, I'm sure you'll learn a lot about friendship by overhearing the classes going on."

"And then there we were, trying to keep the Crystal Ponies' spirits up when Sombra was attacking…"

That overheard bit of class piqued Sombra's interest as he passed by one of the classrooms, and he stopped to see Rainbow Dash lecturing to her students through the door. Twilight looked a bit embarrassed, not expecting for Sombra himself to overhear a lecture about when he was a villain.

"That wasn't planned, I promise!" She quickly said, but Sombra said nothing in reply as he continued listening in.

"But we couldn't fool them forever, and soon they realized that Sombra was coming back. Twilight actually got trapped in a tower trying to retrieve the Crystal Heart, but Spike managed to retrieve it, and with Princess Cadance's help they saved the empire! You see guys, when you work together as friends, you can accomplish anything!"

"Isn't that Sombra himself looking through the window!?!" Silverstream pointed out loudly, which brought the attention of the entire class to Sombra who looked slightly embarrassed that he hadn't been as subtle as he thought.

"Uhhh…but he's good now and he's learning about friendship at the moment!" Rainbow quickly said, too caught up in telling her story to notice as Sombra decided to push open the door to enter, since he had been found out.

"Talk about bringing history to life, eh?" Gallus quipped with a relaxed expression on his face, to the laughter of Smolder who was seated next to him. Like Sombra expected, most of the non pony creatures didn't look as scared, probably because they had only heard stories of him, and weren't as familiar with how evil he really was when he ruled the Crystal Empire.

"How can you say that so casually?" Sandbar asked Gallus incredulously, looking a bit fearful himself because of Sombra's outwardly evil appearance. He certainly didn't look any different; he was even still wearing his armor!

Smolder looked relaxed along with Gallus however, even seeming a bit intrigued. "So, can you back up what Professor Dash just said? No exaggerations?"

"Er…yes. That's how it happened. This is very difficult to admit." Sombra muttered, trying to figure out where he went wrong in his life that he was even making time to speak to fillies.

"Wow, so Sombra pony here to tell story as well, yes? Yona like stories!" Yona exclaimed, while Sombra looked curiously at her since he had never seen yaks in person before. He knew of other creatures besides ponies, yes, but seeing griffons, dragons, yaks, and ponies in one place was quite foreign to him.

"I'm actually giving Sombra a tour of the School of Friendship, but if you want to talk to him I'm sure you can after class is dismissed!" Twilight suggested, not wanting Rainbow's class to be too disrupted.

"Before we leave, I do have a question. I recognize the griffon, dragon, and yak, but I don't recognize those two." Sombra pointed to Silverstream and Ocellus, the changeling shrinking in her desk in fear.

"Oh, I'm a hippogriff! We were hiding in the ocean for a longgg time because of the Storm King, I can explain later!" Silverstream explained energetically, while Ocellus made no move to talk.

"And you are?" Sombra asked expectantly.

"A changeling…" Ocellus said quietly, looking quite fearful since she had done extensive reading on Sombra and his ruthless reign.

"A changeling? You look different than I recall." Sombra remarked, to which Twilight beckoned the former tyrant over.

"They're good now as well; I can explain as we tour the school grounds." Twilight urged, which Sombra complied with as he left.

"Sorry, I just didn't want to interrupt Rainbow's class more than we already have. I'm sure you can talk to the students later! Now that word has spread that you're here, they'll probably be eager to meet one of the ponies they've studied about."

Sombra just nodded as he followed Twilight, finding the griffon, dragon, and yak's fearlessness quite intriguing. He'd have to converse with them more later…

Chapter 19: Meeting the Young Six

Sombra was certainly getting his physical activity in as he was almost tempted to follow Twilight wherever she wanted to go in his shadow form, but he decided staying fit and all was probably good for him, after being holed up in his castle suite for so long.

If only his legs didn't protest so much once Twilight was finished showing him around practically the entire school, including the library, fountain square, and student dorms. When they ended right where they started, they were just in time for school dismissal, as students quickly exited the school once the bell rang.

"Well, that was-" Twilight was cut off by the dismissal bell, and she awkwardly waited for students to pass by on their way back home, probably moving faster than usual due to the presence of Sombra. "That was the tour! As you can see, students here have a great space where they can learn about friendship."

The charcoal stallion noticed that the non-pony creatures weren't mixed in with the group of ponies leaving, however, which intrigued him. "How come the other creatures aren't leaving with the rest of the students?"

"Hm? Oh, that's because they live here! It'd be impractical for them to travel back to their homelands which are quite far away only to travel back here for school, so it's easier for them to live at the school if there's no extended breaks going on." Twilight explained, glad that Sombra was taking an interest in the school.

"Ah, that makes sense." Sombra murmured in reply, as he looked around for a bit before speaking again. "If you don't mind, I'll probably wander around a bit, maybe explore the library here and rest."

"Oh, of course!" Twilight agreed, knowing that Sombra probably wanted to rest from all that walking. "It's not a problem; I'll be back at the castle if you need anything."

With that, she left through the main entrance like the other students, and Sombra was left by himself. The school was quite serene when nopony was there, and he walked slowly as he decided what he wanted to do next. Starlight's offer to stop by her office came to mind, and he figured he could do that since he now had the time, assuming she was still there.

As he arrived at her office he could see that the doors were open, as he peeked his head inside to see Starlight who was filling out a calendar. When she saw him come in she smiled, gesturing over to a big green couch opposite her desk. "Sombra! How was the tour?"

"Well, I can certainly say that I've walked farther than I ever have in a millennium." Sombra snorted, to an amused laugh from Starlight.

"I'm sure Twilight's just excited to show another pony her school. It's practically her life's work, after all! So, you wanted to hear more about what I do here?"

"Well, actually, not particularly about what you do here; talking to students about their problems seems straightforward enough. I was more curious about what led you to become Twilight's student. From my understanding, since she's the Princess of Friendship, it must be quite an honor to be taught by her about friendship."

A curious expression crossed Starlight's face as she looked taken aback. It was as if he had brought up a sore subject, much like if someone rubbed in his face that he was no longer a king. She seemed to get over it though as she looked a bit awkward, tapping her front hooves together as she tried to think of something to say in reply.

"Oh! Well…it's kind of a long story, to be honest. But since you're actively trying to be a better pony, maybe my story would help." Starlight said more to herself than Sombra, as if she was trying to reason whether or not she should share something personal aloud to somepony she really didn't know that well.

"It's not like I'm in a rush or anything." Sombra replied, his curiosity piqued even more by her intriguing response to his question. Obviously, the road to becoming Twilight's student wasn't a pleasant one.

"Of course you're not! And since somepony would probably bring up my past by accident with you around anyway, there's no reason for me not to go into it." Starlight agreed, as she brought a hoof to her chin in thought while she sat in her office chair.

"Well…it all started in a small town called Sire's Hollow. You probably wouldn't know of it, but it was my hometown, and it's where I made my first friend, Sunburst. You actually might've seen him in the Crystal Empire when you came back, since he lives there. Anyway, we did practically everything together as foals, and he…he was always better at magic than me, back then."

Starlight paused as she braced herself for the part that she wasn't proud about, but she couldn't cherry pick her story. "So it was no surprise when he got his cutie mark in magic, but then soon after that he went off to learn magic at Princess Celestia's school. I never saw him again after that, and I was crushed. So…I did some pretty horrible things."

"I moved away and started a village after I learned a spell that could take away ponies's cutie marks. At that point, I was bent on the belief that if ponies didn't have special talents, they could truly live in harmony where everypony was equal. Twilight and her friends put a stop to it, and at that point I was so bent on revenge I used one of Starswirl's spells to travel back in time to stop those six ponies from getting their cutie marks."

"Twilight managed to talk me down from it though, and offered for me to become her student to learn more about friendship. I reunited with Sunburst, saved Equestria from Queen Chrysalis with the help of some friends, and now here I am, to make a long story short. It's not something that I'm proud of, but I like to think I've more than made up for my mistakes now!"

Sombra had been listening intently all this time, his eyebrows raised in a bit of shock to hear that Starlight had managed to travel through time. This unicorn was quite a powerful one, indeed! Perhaps that was why Twilight thought it best to reform her, like Celestia did for him.

"You have the power to travel through time and take away ponies' cutie marks? No wonder Chrysalis couldn't stand in your way. Then again, she's quite weak. It was foolish for her to try to take over Equestria again."

"Not really. Starswirl's spell has been destroyed, and I'm not planning on using that cutie mark spell ever again in my life. I like helping ponies' lives this way much better! It feels good to be good, you know? And Chrysalis wasn't easy to defeat at all! Discord, Thorax, Trixie, and I had to infiltrate her hive with no magic at all!"

"Ah, yes, Discord had mentioned at least a dozen times to me during my imprisonment how he helped save Equestria. Quite an annoying one, isn't he?" Sombra muttered, glad to have some sort of reprieve.

"Although he has his…quirks, he can actually die if he doesn't act chaotic! He's the embodiment of chaos, after all. Fluttershy told me when he tried to act normal to make her comfortable while he was hosting a tea party." Starlight recalled.

"Mhm, yes, he does certainly have an affinity for Fluttershy, doesn't he?" Sombra rolled his eyes, before deciding to change the subject in case Discord was eavesdropping. You never knew with that draconequus… "I do appreciate you being open about your past though, Starlight. It's interesting to hear from both you and Discord how friendship has changed your lives for the better."

"No problem! If it helps you, I don't have any regrets about sharing." Starlight smiled, before she idly glanced at her calendar and quickly realized she had something going on today. "Ah! I'm meeting Trixie at the Hay Burger in half an hour. I should probably leave."

"It's alright; I was going to explore the school a bit more before returning to Canterlot, anyway. Have fun at your outing."

"Thanks!" Starlight said as Sombra left to prowl around the school grounds some more, the non-pony students he had met briefly on his mind all of a sudden.

At least they don't fear me, so it'll be possible to have a conversation with them. He mused, deciding to head to the library since it looked quite expansive, and it was probably a nice place to relax. When he entered the library he could really appreciate the expanse of it all, hundreds of books probably contained within its walls.

Funnily enough, as he walked down the main hallway flanked by bookshelves, he spotted six students who looked quite familiar to him. On closer inspection they were the same six students who had talked when he interrupted Rainbow's class, including the pony, griffon, yak, dragon, hippogriff, and changeling.

They noticed his presence as well thanks to the sound of his hoofsteps in the otherwise empty library, and he got basically the same reaction as before. All the non-pony creatures (save for the changeling) didn't look afraid of him, while the light green pony and the changeling looked very nervous.

"Oh, it's Sombra pony! Can you tell us story about Crystal Empire so we can study for test?" Yona exclaimed excitedly.

"Better yet, can you take it for us?" Smolder quipped with a chuckle.

"I still don't know how you all can talk so casually to somepony like that." Sandbar remarked sheepishly.

"I know my reputation precedes me, but I'm making an effort to be better. So you're learning about the Crystal Empire right now? Quite fitting." Sombra noted with dry amusement. Surely Twilight hadn't planned it that way, right?

"I think she just wanted to move the Tree of Harmony unit to a later date while you're in town. Most ponies hate you for that." Gallus stated bluntly, Ocellus looking concerned that Sombra might try to kill the griffon right then and there.

"Anyway, technically it's still alive now because we built a treehouse out of its remains! So that's not a problem anymore." Silverstream pointed out, sticking to the positive since she didn't want to antagonize Sombra.

A treehouse? What a peculiar concept. Sombra thought. "You managed to build a treehouse out of what was left? From what I recall, only the roots were what remained. That certainly isn't enough to build a treehouse big enough for the six of you."

"Think again, Sombra! Apparently the Tree was still alive, because it grew what we threw together into a full fledged treehouse. Pretty cool, huh? Headmare Twilight said something about the Tree of Harmony growing into whatever Equestria needs at the moment, or something like that." Smolder revealed, to affirmative murmurs from the rest of her friends.

"Since you're so interested in it, we can take you to go see it. We were just chilling in the library anyway since it's a nice place to hang out." Gallus offered, Sandbar and Ocellus looking unsure since the Tree probably wouldn't appreciate its destroyer coming to go look at it.

"Ooh! I could also explain the hippogriffs along the way. You were curious about our history, right?" Silverstream excitedly said.

"That all sounds nice." Sombra agreed, and soon he was following the students out of the School of Friendship, while he idly questioned what he was doing, giving these students the time of day.

Well, if it helped him learn more about friendship, he supposed it couldn't hurt.

Chapter 20: The Treehouse of Harmony

They walked towards the Everfree Forest since Yona and Sandbar couldn't fly, Sombra recalling it from when he traveled there to destroy the Tree of Harmony. It was still a long way to the Treehouse of Harmony, however, so Silverstream took the opportunity to tell the entire history of the hippogriffs on the way there, much to Sombra's frustration.

Seriously, did the hippogriff ever run out of energy? He thought, before he realized that he hadn't taken the time to learn any of the students' names. Normally, he could care less, but he was under the impression from what he was taught by Discord that learning others' names was the polite and friendly thing to do.

"And then once the Storm King was defeated some of us returned to Mount Aris! However, some of us decided to stay in the ocean, so we have this little shard of a magic pearl that allows us to switch between being hippogriffs and sea ponies. My dad lives at Mount Aris while my mom lives in Seaquestria! Ooh, I should tell you about my parents! They-"

"Oh, no, no, that's quite alright." Sombra interrupted, deciding to change the subject before Silverstream decided to go on another tangent and bore him to death. "It's come to my attention that I haven't learned any of your names. It would be polite to learn them, I assume."

"No, I was actually looking forward to you just knowing me as 'the griffon.'" Gallus said with a smirk, being sarcastic like always while Yona quickly talked over him since she was excited to talk about herself next.

"My name Yona! Yona from Yakyakistan, best land in Equestria!"

"Smolder, from the Dragon Lands. Obviously."

"Silverstream, from Mount Aris! Though you already knew the last part, heh…"

"Gallus, regrettably from Griffonstone. I prefer it here better."

"Sandbar, from Ponyville."

Ocellus stayed quiet a bit before finally responding, not looking Sombra in the eyes. "O-Ocellus. From the Changeling Kingdom."

"Hm, well that's certainly a lot of names to remember, but I'll do my best. That reminds me of what I was curious about other than the hip-err…Silverstream. Did the changelings change form when they became good?"

"Yes, they did. After Queen Chrysalis was defeated by King Thorax and exiled, we all learned to share love rather than take it forcibly." Ocellus explained, to an amused chuckle from Sombra.

"Chrysalis? Exiled? Celestia, that makes being banished into the ice of the Frozen North seem like a blessing! She must be absolutely humiliated to be overthrown by one of her own subjects."

"Actually, apparently the changelings were willing to let her lead if she reformed herself, but she refused and left. At least that's what I remember from class." Sandbar chimed in.

"They can still do all the cool impressions though! Ocellus would be a master at charades since she can turn into anything!" Silverstream exclaimed.

"I try to stay in my normal form, though. It's the polite thing to do." Ocellus clarified quietly, pushing a branch away from her face as they walked towards the Treehouse of Harmony.

"I wouldn't say anything. Physically, yes, but Ocellus is too nice to be a griffon." Gallus opined, to an affirmative nod from Smolder.

"Trust me, when she became another dragon to blend in on the first day of school, I could already tell from her mannerisms that she wasn't a dragon."

"…Thanks?" Ocellus offered weakly, unsure whether what her friends were saying were compliments or not.

"That good thing! Changeling should be self! Like Yona proud to be yak!" Yona clarified, while Sombra looked amused by the discussion.

"If you could turn into any creature, you could probably turn into me, then." The former tyrant reasoned, Ocellus' eyes going wide in shock while Gallus and Smolder snickered, thinking that would be amusing to witness.

"Ooh, Ocellus as you!?! That…I can't really see that, actually." Silverstream said, recalling how distraught she was at becoming Queen Chrysalis, even if it was just a test by the Tree of Harmony.

"I mean, I could show you, but I really do prefer to stay in my original form. I've been trying to get better at being myself and not using my transformation power as a crutch." Ocellus said, before a wall of green flame revealed the splitting image of Sombra, the original one looking mildly impressed.

"I wouldn't be able to pass as you, though." Ocellus quickly said in Sombra's form before she quickly turned back to herself, looking quite sheepish.

"I had forgotten how capable changelings were at mimicking others' forms, though it has been over a thousand years." Sombra mused before they finally arrived at the Treehouse of Harmony, which looked like it had sprouted in front of an ancient ruins of some sort. "Ah, we're here."

It again had a crystalline structure which reminded him greatly of the Crystal Empire, except the crystals were in pastel colors which he clashed heavily with. Then again, he was practically the embodiment of dark magic, and he already started to feel a bit apprehensive just standing there.

If the Tree of Harmony really was sentient like Discord had told him once during their long conversations during his imprisonment, he highly doubted that the Tree would appreciate him being there. Then again, he was starting to question his sanity if he was fearful over a treehouse.

"Pretty sweet, huh? As we said, it sprouted when we tried to make a treehouse from the Tree of Harmony's remains, and it grew from there. It's a great place for the six of us to chill, and I personally think it's a sign that we'll be the new protectors of Equestria when Headmare Twilight and her friends retire." Gallus explained, sounding quite proud of himself when he mentioned taking over as protectors of Equestria.

"That won't be for a long time, Gallus." Sandbar pointed out, not that the griffon cared.

"Still! The Tree picked us for a reason. I mean, we saved Equestria from Cozy Glow, after all." Gallus retorted.

"Cozy Glow? That doesn't sound like the name of a villain to me." Sombra opined, the six students shaking their heads in response.

"Don't let the name fool you; she was a realll menace! I mean, she looks like a cute filly but she's actually a master at manipulating ponies to do her bidding!" Silverstream explained, shuddering as she recalled what happened.

"She turn entire school against us! Bad pony! She in Tartarus now!" Yona added, while the figurative light bulb went off above Sombra's head as he figured out who they were talking about.

So that's why there was a filly at Grogar's lair. What a foolish decision. He thought, having forgotten about Grogar's group until this point due to not hearing from them. Should he really warn the princesses about them, especially since Grogar had employed such weak adversaries to do his bidding?

"The princesses actually threw a filly into Tartarus for taking over a school?"

Ocellus vigorously shook her head, knowing that her peers had left a very important detail out. "No, she did a lot more than that! She was stealing magic from all of Equestria to make herself more powerful. Trust me, they wouldn't have banished her to Tartarus if her crimes weren't comparable to Tirek's."

"I guess you were just lucky that the princesses decided that you shouldn't get banished to Tartarus as well, huh?" Smolder said with a bit of a smirk.

Sombra resisted the urge to laugh. Tartarus wasn't a place that could hold him, especially since his shadow form could phase through anything that didn't block his magic. Maybe a similar cage to the one he was kept in during his imprisonment would've been able to hold him captive, but it would still be an unwise decision.

"They know better than to think that Tartarus can hold me! My options were to get turned into stone like Discord once was, or reform myself."

"Wow. Those are such great options." Gallus quipped, Sandbar looking interested by the mention of being turned into stone.

"Whoa, so they were going to put you in the Canterlot Gardens?"

"Yes, and I have enough common sense to know I would much prefer not to be fully sentient while being unable to move, as ponies ogle at me. Discord told me plenty of times how much of a living hell that was."

"Were you conscious while you were banished into the ice of the Frozen North!?!" Silverstream asked.

"Thankfully, no. When I awoke after a thousand years with the return of the Crystal Empire, it was as if the day I placed the curse on it was the day before. Though even if I had lived through those thousand years, I would still be here." Sombra explained.

"Wait, you're immortal?" Ocellus asked in shock. None of her professors had ever mentioned that!

"I kind of figured. I mean, your mane does that wavy thing like Princess Celestia and Luna. They're immortal." Smolder pointed out.

"Not exactly. The dark magic inside of me grants immortality along with its power." Sombra stated.

"Huh. Well, if Headmare Twilight puts that on the Crystal Empire test, we'll have the inside scoop!" Gallus said triumphantly, while Sombra looked a bit hesitant.

Hopefully this didn't mean that more students would approach him looking for information about the Crystal Empire.

Unfortunately, after the students at the School of Friendship started to warm up to him (no doubt due to the Young Six), he did start getting more questions, some daring students even getting personal asking why he turned to evil. Of course, he gave a half true answer of "to gain power" without going into why, since he didn't trust anypony nearly enough to talk about him being an orphan.

He humored them however because mainly he had nothing better to do, and also because although he was annoyed by incessant questions, he strangely wasn't too bothered by it. Perhaps this was what friendship was, instead of feeling powerful by ordering ponies to do your bidding.

As the days went on he spent some time with Twilight's friends as well, even if their interests didn't exactly line up with his own. It was especially painful when Fluttershy wanted him to play with animals in her animal sanctuary, when he really had no interest in doing so since it made him look pathetic and all of the animals were scared of him anyway.

One particularly intriguing day was when he attended a trivia competition where Twilight absolutely lost her mind trying to keep her win record, which was apparently a common occurrence when Twilight got extremely stressed.

He also got to meet Sunburst that day, who obviously reacted with great terror at seeing the Crystal Empire's former tyrant standing right there, but the bespectacled unicorn slowly grew to tolerate his presence when he made it clear that he was no longer actively trying to take over his former empire.

Overall he was making good progress; yes, ponies still feared him (a part of him still liked that, he had mixed feelings about it), but more and more of them were starting to ho about their daily routines, not run into their houses in fear every time he walked the streets of Ponyville.

This particular morning he was getting ready to head to Ponyville like he usually did, since he didn't like staying in Canterlot because he associated it with his imprisonment. However, he was interrupted by a knock at the door, a royal guard's voice coming from the other side.

"Princess Celestia requests your presence."

Chapter 21: The Summer Sun Setback, Part 1

Sombra was initially going to inquire as to what Princess Celestia needed from him, exactly, but he figured that he could ask her herself when he appeared in the throne room. "I'll be out shortly." He responded curtly, ensuring that he looked presentable as he used his castle suite's full length mirror to ensure that there were no creases in the red cape he wore.

He then exited his castle suite and walked towards the throne room down a long hall with stained glass windows, a route he had become quite acquainted with the first time when he met Princess Celestia and Luna with Discord, at the end of his imprisonment.

When he entered he saw the princesses at their thrones as usual, both smiling warmly in greeting. "Sombra! Thank you so much for coming. As the royal guard probably stated to you, I need your help with something. Well, more like somepony else might need your help, but you get the point." Celestia said.

"What exactly does somepony need my help with?" Sombra inquired, wanting to know why he was here.

"I requested that Twilight plan the Summer Sun Celebration, to prepare her for when she becomes the ruler of Equestria, you know? Her friends of course will be helping her, and I figured since she can become overwhelmed…well, easily, she could use your assistance with the preparations. Friends help each other all the time, anyway. It could be a good lesson in teamwork for you."

"I'm not sure whether my dark magic will do more harm than good in this case." Sombra stated bluntly, Luna waving a hoof dismissively since she had her own experience with her magic being used for evil and now for good.

"Magic is only defined by what you use it for, Sombra. You can use it to levitate things like a normal unicorn, right?"

Sombra obviously could use his magic for that, but it seemed rather menial to him. "…I suppose. So, when am I supposed to meet Twilight and her friends?"

"Twilight will be here this afternoon to plan the ceremony out, but you can meet her in the hallway you just came in from this evening, where she'll meet with her friends. I know you're probably not familiar with the ceremony since you're from the Crystal Empire, but it's simply a matter of helping Twilight with whatever she needs to get done." Celestia answered.

"I suppose I can manage that." Sombra replied, still looking quite unsure since "helping" in any sort of fashion rather than giving orders was quite foreign to him.

Celestia seemed to sense this, before she spoke. "I know friendship is new for you and it'll be difficult, but the fact that you're making an effort is already a great start. Hopefully I'll see you this evening participating in the festivities!"

Sombra resisted the urge to roll his eyes at how sentimental Celestia sounded, his buried evil side having a visceral reaction to the whole "you're making an effort to learn friendship" dialogue. He just turned around and headed back to his castle suite, deciding to rest up before he'd inevitably have to help out with whatever Twilight needed to do for this ceremony he could honestly care less about.

He had thought Discord to be quite weak to bow down to the whims of ponies after being reformed, and it was quite irritating to realize that he was basically doing the same thing. If that's what it took to avoid being turned into stone, however, he'd take it. He had enough common sense to know that returning to his evil ways wouldn't end well for him.

As the sun was setting and the moon rose in the sky, Sombra headed to the hallway that Celestia had directed him to. He opened the double doors with his dark magic to see Twilight there, straightening out a bulletin board with various diagrams tacked on to it.

The sound of the doors opening alerted Twilight to his presence, as she turned around and looked surprised when he was there, looking at her expectantly. "Sombra? What are you doing here?"

"Celestia wanted me to help you with preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. She seemed quite worried that you would overwork yourself or get stressed, and if the Trivia Trot was any indication, perhaps her concerns were well founded." Sombra explained with a bit of a smirk.

Twilight rolled her eyes, feeling quite annoyed when Sombra decided to bring that up. "For your information, Sombra, I've actually made a lot of progress in not freaking out! Especially since I'll never hear the end of that trivia night."

"Hmph. Well, I'll believe it when I see it; you certainly made an impression. So, what did you need help with?"

"Oh! I actually already gave my friends things to do, but I didn't think that you'd be interested in helping out with preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration! I'm sure I can think of-"

The double doors opened which revealed Twilight's friends along with Spike, who had just arrived from Ponyville. They looked surprised to see Sombra there, but it was certainly better than the suspicious glares he had gotten when he first arrived in Ponyville.

"Sombra? You're helping Twilight with plans for the Summer Sun Celebration?" Spike asked curiously.

"Indeed. Celestia was worried that Twilight would be short hooved, but it seems she has a plan of sorts from the bulletin board." Sombra answered.

"Princess Celestia and Luna told me that this was going to be the last Summer Sun Celebration, since they're planning to retire soon and the whole holiday is about them." Twilight explained, while picking up the amulet Celestia had given her with a slightly anxious expression.

There was a collective gasp from everyone in the room, save for Sombra who wore his usual stoic expression. He wasn't that familiar with the holiday, and if it was dedicated to the two princesses that he wasn't on particularly chummy terms with, he honestly could care less and this was more about learning about teamwork, like Celestia suggested.

"My goodness! How are you feeling about all this?" Rarity exclaimed, finding the news to be quite a shock.

"Something like this could definitely send you into full freaky-outy mode!" Pinkie added, hoping that Twilight wouldn't freak out again.

"I'm actually fine. But if this is gonna be the last Summer Sun Celebration, I want to make sure it's the best Celebration ever!" Twilight asserted, her eyes narrowed in a determined grin.

"Please-don't-give-us-more-work...please-don't-give-us-more-work...please-don't-give-us-more-work…" Rainbow repeated like a mantra as she hovered about the ground, as if she hoped that it would work.

Twilight ignored what Rainbow said, determined to go through with her plan. "So, even though everything was done, I thought of a few last-minute changes I could use your help with!"

Rainbow groaned in frustration, even if she knew that her attempts were futile. "Argh, I knew it!"

Sombra shared similar sentiments with Rainbow, not really understanding why they needed to complicate things. "This seems rather unnecessary if everything was already done, as you said."

"Trust me, we need to make this the most memorable Celebration ever if it's going to be the last one! I know I can count on all of you to help." Twilight said confidently, before a voice took them all by surprise from above.

"Oh, the end of a beloved holiday? Last-minute changes to a celebration?" Discord echoed from above, before he suddenly appeared next to Fluttershy. "That sounds positively chaotic!" He exclaimed with glee.

Of course he'd be summoned by talk of chaotic and spontaneous things. Sombra thought, as he deadpanned from Discord's annoying presence.

Applejack seemed to feel the same way, as her brow was furrowed. "What are you doin' here?"

"I've known Celestia and Luna longer than any of you! I terrorized them, they turned me into stone…" Discord turned into a statue and fell apart to prove his point. "If this is the last Summer Sun Situation, I simply can't miss it. Well, I see I've arrived just in time for the 'Twilight gives her friends an impossibly long and overly detailed list' predicament."

"I guess some draconequus isn't the know-it-all he thinks he is!" Twilight retorted, as she handed out color coded flash cards to her friends, save for Discord and Sombra. They all looked confused, Rainbow especially as she looked up from her card.

"This is it?" She wondered aloud.

"What?" Twilight asked, as if nothing was wrong.

"We were kinda with Discord on this one." Rainbow explained, Discord looking quite triumphant that he was right for once.

"No more crazy lists. No more freaking out. With your help, I know we've got this!" Twilight exclaimed, strangely calm from what Sombra knew of her.

"Ugh, character growth is so boring. Do I and Sombra at least get our own note cards?" Discord asked eagerly, Sombra shooting a glare in the draconequus' direction for dragging him into this.

"I didn't ask for one."

Discord didn't show any reaction to Sombra's glare, having been on the receiving end of it so many times he was desensitized to it at this point. "Weren't you planning on doing work anyway? Surely even a former king has done some work in his life."

"That was before I learned everything was already done." Sombra muttered, as Twilight wrote out cards for both of them and handed them over.

"There. Now, I need to go rewrite my speech. But if you all look at your cards, you'll see-"

"Can't talk now. Have so much to get done before sunrise!" Discord interrupted, before poofing them off somewhere unknown to Sombra with a snap of his fingers.

The group soon appeared in a street in Canterlot, Rainbow looking quite angry at being teleported against her will. "Could you not go popping us all over the place, please?!"

"Or at least give us a warning." Sombra added, even if he knew Discord wouldn't really care about what he thought.

"Time is of the essence. Let's go, team!" Discord turned into a cheerleader for comedic effect, even if no one laughed.

"We need to know what we're doing before we go and do it." Fluttershy pointed out, before she looked down at her card.

"Pinkie, you and I are givin' Braeburn and the Appleloosan ponies some adjustments to the menu." Applejack read off of her card.

Rainbow was the next to go. "Fluttershy and I are meeting the Pegasi from Cloudsdale to give them changes to the weather!"

"Spike, we're going to update the Flaming Sky Firework Unicorn Troupe with Twilight's new vision." Rarity told the dragon, who smiled happily.

"And I'm supposed to…make sure Discord doesn't do anything 'Discord-y?' Well, that's annoyingly specific!" Discord read with a pout, Sombra taking out his own card that was colored dark gray to read it.

"Make sure that Discord is following the directions on his card."

"Oh, great, so Twilight thought I needed a foalsitter?" Discord muttered as they all dispersed to do their tasks, Sombra looking quite smug since he had some sort of control over the draconequus.

Unbeknownst to them, Lord Tirek, Queen Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow looked on in shock at seeing Sombra alive and walking, associating with Twilight's friends of all ponies!

"Golly, Sombra's alive? I thought Grogar told us he was gone!" Cozy Glow exclaimed.

"Never mind that, he's associating with those…those ponies! I didn't think he'd fall into their hooves!" Tirek sounded disgusted. First Discord, now Sombra?

Queen Chrysalis narrowed her eyes, knowing that this new development would complicate things.

"And it seems he did it of his own free will as well. Although I don't understand how he could decide to submit to them either, all that matters is that he's on their side. It's all the more important that we work together to find out how to use Grogar's Bell, if we're going to be up against Sombra as well. I know he's not one to be easily defeated."

"Sombra's another pony we have to look out for in this sea of ponies here for the holiday! It'll be impossible." Tirek lamented, while Chrysalis thought of a plan.

"Oh, no. This is perfect! We need a distraction, and those ridiculous ponies just gave it to us. Now, do exactly as I tell you…"

Twilight's plans for a memorable Summer Sun Celebration were soon going to come tumbling down…

Chapter 22: The Summer Sun Setback, Part 2

Discord was visibly pouting while Sombra walked alongside him, as they strolled along the streets of Canterlot while looking at the ongoing preparations. Well, the re-preparations, to be precise, since apparently they were already done before Twilight thought it was a good idea to make some last-minute changes.

"To think, Twilight would give the Lord of Chaos a foalsitter! I can control myself!" Discord muttered, Sombra rolling his eyes in reply.

"I think she just wanted extra insurance. If it makes you feel better, she probably just didn't know what I could help with since she didn't think I was going to show up."

"Yes, well, even if that was the case, it's still insulting. I mean, I could decide to make a few positively chaotic changes to make the Summer Sun Celebration memorable like Twilight wanted, but I have the feeling that's not what she meant so I'm exercising self-restraint."

Discord materialized handcuffs around his eagle claw and lion paw, showing it off to Sombra for emphasis. "See?"

"Hmph. To be honest, I would be indifferent even if you decided to. I'm not familiar with this 'Summer Sun Celebration,' and all of this fanfare reminds me of the Crystal Faire that was held back in the Crystal Empire. It's wasted resources better spent on defense, or something like that."

Discord looked surprised that Sombra didn't know what the Summer Sun Celebration was, especially since he had battled against Celestia and Luna in the past. "You really don't-" The draconequus cut himself off as he remembered what the Summer Sun Celebration was actually about, and then it made sense why Sombra wouldn't know of it.

"Oh, you were banished already when the Nightmare Moon thing happened. Well, long story short Luna once turned evil about a thousand years ago because she was jealous of her sister and refused to lower the moon, and Celestia had to banish her to the moon. But ever since Luna came back thanks to Twilight and her friends, it's now a celebration of Luna's return."

"Well that explains why they want to make this Celebration the last one, then. It's all about them. No point if they're retiring." Sombra mused, still not that interested but he understood now why the Celebration was such a big deal; ponies in Canterlot had probably been celebrating this for generations, and for it to be the last one, it was quite a momentous occasion.

"Exactly. So, I assume you're not exactly a party pony if you said all of this was wasted resources?" Discord remarked.

Sombra looked amused, finding that assumption to be something that was so obvious it really didn't need to be said. "Unless it's a holiday celebrating me, no. My time with Pinkie was practically torture, and I don't exactly look like the type to party, anyway."

“Did you have a holiday celebrating yourself when you ruled the Crystal Empire?” Discord asked curiously, deciding that maybe telling Sombra to lighten up like he originally planned would just lead to him being on the receiving end of another glare.

“I was planning on creating one, but my short lived reign prevented-”

“Hey, slowpokes! We’re all done telling ponies what to do and we’re going to meet back with Twilight! Come on!” Rainbow interrupted, flying overhead towards the castle while Fluttershy trailed behind her on the ground.

“Uh, if it’s not too much trouble.” Fluttershy added meekly.

“You know, you don’t need to rush us when I can just get us there with-” Discord snapped his fingers, teleporting all of them to the castle, to the shock of the ponies who were already there. “A snap of my fingers!”

Rainbow facehoofed, knowing that she should’ve expected that. “Ughhh, seriously?”

“At least give us a warning before you do that.” Sombra muttered, not liking how Discord would just teleport him against his will. It made him feel weaker than the draconequus, which was probably true.

“Aw, but where would the fun in that be?” Discord replied mischievously, while Rarity cleared her throat to get back to the task at hand.

“Everypony has done what was written on their cards?”

“Of course! We’ve told the pegasi about the last minute weather changes.” Rainbow asserted.

“We told Braeburn and the others about the menu changes.” Applejack confirmed.

“And Rarity and I told the Flaming Sky Firework Unicorn Troupe about the new vision for the fireworks!” Spike added, excited probably just because he got to spend time with Rarity.

“I saw!”

Everyone turned to look at Twilight, who had just come in. “It's all coming together. I really think this is gonna be the best Summer Sun Celebration ever!”

“You've done an outstanding job.” Rarity complimented, before Twilight corrected her.

“We've all done an outstanding job!”

Discord, unable to stand being left out, quickly joined the group while Sombra just stood there, looking like he could care less. “And what about me? You'll be happy to know that I have been watching myself all night, and I have yet to do one ‘Discord-y’ thing.” He said proudly, while materializing a pair of binoculars.

“With my help.” Sombra added, ensuring that it was known he had some part to play in the success of the celebration as well.

“Now that truly is amazing.” Luna remarked, as her and her sister also entered the hallway in which all of the ponies were congregated.

“Twilight, we know you had, uh…” Celestia gave a short laugh, trying to broach the subject as tactfully as she could without making Twilight feel bad. “Difficulties using the amulet to raise the sun and moon. We thought perhaps a practice session before the festivities might be in order.”

Twilight sheepishly smiled, remembering how the sun and moon were darting haphazardly in the sky the last time she tried to use the amulet. “That’s… a good idea.” She admitted, as she followed the princesses towards another room.

“Thank you all so much.” She added in appreciation towards her friends, before she and the princesses headed to the throne room.

“I sure am proud o' her.” Applejack said proudly, since this was the first time they saw Twilight calm in the face of so much stress.

“Yeah! She finally realizes things will turn out fine, even when she isn't micromanaging every little detail.” Spike added, until the appearance of an earth pony with a cowboy hat, looking quite sickly, stumbled into the hallway.

Applejack’s eyes were wide in shock; she had never seen Braeburn so sick before. “Braeburn? W-What's wrong?”

“Earth ponies sick...food missin'...can't...bake...anythin'...” Braeburn managed to explain weakly, before collapsing.

A blue maned royal guard suddenly burst in as well, looking frazzled. “Something is wrong with the weather! Storms, hurricanes, fog, you name it! It's a disaster out there!”

A group of angry unicorns then stormed in, the one who looked like the leader stepping over the collapsed Braeburn. "Rarity! Please inform her highness that we will not be performing! A simple fireworks show is beneath us! We're better than that!"

"What the…? Everything was fine a minute ago!" Applejack pointed out, confused by how everything had turned south so quickly.

Fluttershy then headed towards one of the windows, looking quite worried from what she saw. "Apparently, a lot can change in a minute."

Sombra headed over with the others to inspect what was going on outside, and simply put, it was pure chaos. The earth ponies were all obviously sickly as there was an angry thunderstorm overhead; certainly not the conditions for a Summer Sun Celebration.

"Well that's going to make it difficult to hold a celebration." Sombra remarked dryly.

"It's total chaos out there!" Rainbow exclaimed, before everyone looked at Discord suspiciously.

"Don't look at me!" Discord replied defensively, especially since he had been honest when he said he hadn't caused any chaos outside.

"What are we gonna do?" Fluttershy asked worriedly, before a familiar voice came from behind them.

"Do about what?" Twilight asked, coming back from the throne room.

Everyone immediately tried to hide the chaos unfolding outside, blocking the window. "W-What are you doing here?" Spike quickly asked, trying to distract Twilight from what was going on.

"I forgot these. You guys okay?" Twilight asked, holding up some cards with her magic.

"Twilight, w-we're sorry, but-" Applejack started, trying to tell the truth, but Rainbow quickly interrupted her.

"But, uh, we don't know what to do now that everything's all ready!" Rainbow said with the most forced laugh Sombra had ever heard in his life.

"I guess I was too organized! I'll try to come up with a few last-minute errands for you before sunrise." Twilight said before she walked away.

"Well, that's a relief!" Rainbow said stiltedly. Sombra really had to wonder how Twilight didn't notice something was up.

Applejack looked unamused, knowing that well meant lies were still bad. "Explain to me why we didn't tell her the truth."

"Oh, Twilight is finally learning not to let her stress get the better of her. If she finds out everything went wrong, it could be devastating!" Rarity explained, wanting to save Twilight the trouble of worrying when she was already making so much progress.

"She would be so upset." Fluttershy added, Rainbow echoing what she said.

"She'll totally freak out!"

Applejack wasn't totally on board with the idea, but she figured she was outnumbered. "Well, what do y'all suggest?"

"Ooh, ooh, ooh!" Pinkie said, while waving her hoof in the air. "Let's just fix it all before she notices. No lying necessary."

"I guess." Applejack muttered, still looking very dubious.

"We'd need a miracle." Spike pointed out, considering everything that was going on outside.

"We have a miracle! Don't we?" Rainbow asked, looking expectantly at Discord which made Sombra feel sort of insulted since he figured he had enough magic to stop whatever was going on.

Discord appeared as an angel, playing harps in a comical fashion. "I suppose I could fix everything. But isn't the real miracle here the miracle of teamwork and character growth?" The draconequus pointed out, before he promptly vanished in a burst of chaos magic.

"OH COME ON!" Rainbow yelled in frustration.

"Y'know, I'm starting to think you're more reformed than Discord." Applejack muttered, pointing a hoof at Sombra.

"Hmph. Well, I don't see why you'd think Discord could fix all of this anyway. Maybe the weather, yes, but he can't magically heal the earth ponies or make that unicorn troupe come back. And I don't think that mind controlling them to do their firework act is a good idea."

"Anyway, Discord is right. Twilight needs us. Whatever happened, we can fix this!" Fluttershy said in determination, before a thunderclap interrupted her.

"What did happen?" Spike asked, looking out over the disaster unfolding outside.

"Never mind worrying about what happened! We need to see to what we were originally assigned to and make it right!" Rarity asserted.

"So that would leave me finding Discord and dragging him back here to help, I assume?" Sombra said.

"Yes, please! And remind him that friends don't just up and leave like that!" Rainbow yelled, as they all ran off in separate directions.

Sombra did have to admit that Discord's tendency to run off when they needed him the most was quite irritating, but he knew that he'd be able to find him in no time in his shadow form. He turned to shadow and phased through the window, flying high above Canterlot but not too high as to get struck by the constant lightning.

He found it quite illogical to hide something like that from Twilight, especially if it was so obvious that she would find out at some point. If she was the event organizer she would have to deal with any mishaps as part of her job, but if her friends thought that hiding it from her until they could fix it was the best course of action, he wouldn't say anything.

That draconequus wouldn't leave Canterlot if it meant he'd miss out on the chaos. He reasoned, and sure enough he could see Discord prowling around the celebration grounds, doing absolutely nothing to help while managing to avoid Twilight's friends who were frantically trying to make things right to no avail.

He descended rapidly as a dark cloud of shadow and reformed as he reached the ground, looking unamused as he appeared before Discord. "You seem quite amused by the chaos unfolding."

"Well of course I am, Sombra, I'm a being of pure chaos!" Discord remarked with a chuckle, before looking serious for a moment. "But seriously, this isn't me."

"I never said it was you." Sombra muttered, even if he had his suspicions. "Though I don't see how ponies could mess up making changes this badly."

Discord shrugged, materializing some popcorn to eat as he walked around. "I don't know, but it sure is entertaining! Once Twilight finds out, this will be the ultimate test to see whether she can handle ruling all of Equestria." He then spied Twilight walking with Celestia and Luna, touring the celebration grounds.

"Ooh, speaking of which, let's see how she reacts!"

Sombra was dragged along by Discord, the charcoal unicorn used to it by this point as he used his dark magic to hold up his red cape so that it didn't get dirty. "Hey, watch it!"

"You two just enjoy the festivities. I have a few surprises in store for-" Twilight cut off as she saw Discord and Sombra incoming.

"Discord, Sombra. Can I help you both?"

"Oh, well, don't mind me. I'm just here for the chaos!" Discord said, sitting himself down at a table with sunglasses as another thunderclap sounded from the sky. "And here we go!" He laughed.

Rainbow then flew through at breakneck speed, probably to round up the thunderclouds which Twilight took notice of. "What is Rainbow Dash doing?" She was about to fly over before being stopped by Pinkie mixing up some soup in a giant cauldron.

"Pinkie, is this soup?" Twilight asked in confusion, not understanding why there was soup when that wasn't on the menu.

"Yes! I…was really hungry?"

Sombra facehoofed at the lousy excuse, before he heard a commotion from angry unicorns while Rarity was talking to them from a stage with Spike. "Nopony understands wanting to take pride in your work more than I do!"

"You could do more with your magic than make frilly dresses!" An angry unicorn shouted in reply.

"Oh, pffft. Nopony makes frills anymore. This season's actually all about simplicity, and-"

"Not the point, Rarity!" Spike shouted, trying to get the angry unicorns under control.

"Princess! I beg your forgiveness! It's entirely my fault!" A bespectacled pegasus pleaded on his knees, just serving to confuse Twilight even more.

"What is?" Twilight asked, before another thunderclap answered her question.

"That!" The pegasus shouted, before Fluttershy quickly tried to cover for him.

"Oh, um, just a slight hiccup in the weather." She laughed, before pushing the distraught pegasus to the side.

Applejack then came running hauling a cart of ingredients for food, before Twilight stopped her. She then decided that she had enough, yelling at Pinkie and Fluttershy. "I told y'all this was a bad idea! But nopony ever listens to me!"

"That's it!" Twilight exclaimed in frustration, using her magic to get all of her friends in one place so she could speak to them.

"I thought everything was fine! What is going on!?!"

"Everythin' was goin' fine." Applejack started.

"Until it totally wasn't." Pinkie Pie added.

"We tried to fix it ourselves." Fluttershy explained.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Twilight asked, feeling kind of hurt that her friends didn't trust her with this information.

"We didn't want you to freak out." Rainbow answered, looking quite unsure if what they decided to do was the best course of action after all.

"And you thought not telling me everything was a total disaster would avoid a freak-out!?!"

Spike looked sheepish, unsure of what to say. "When you say it like that, it sounds like a really bad plan."

Twilight inhaled deeply, trying to get a hold of herself while Discord obviously didn't think the princess would take it well. "Here it comes!" He said excitedly, holding a pair of binoculars while Sombra looked unamused from his spot next to the draconequus at the table.

"I know how I used to react, but I really have changed. Panicking won't solve anything. But we can handle whatever problems come our way as long as we handle them together!"

Discord rolled his eyes in disappointment, as Celestia and Luna walked up to Twilight. "Spoken like a true leader. How can we help?" Celestia asked.

"I love a good to-do list. So tell me exactly what happened so we can figure out exactly what 'to do' to fix it." Twilight answered, taking out an empty scroll so they could start.

Sombra looked expectantly at Discord, since the draconequus had expected Twilight to freak out, but she hadn't. "Well, that's certainly a change from when she was freaking out over the Tree of Harmony being destroyed."

"Yes, yes, she's better at not freaking out about everything and I was wrong. I guess I have to help out now." Discord muttered with his arms crossed.

"Duh, of course you are, after leaving us like that to try and fix this ourselves!" Rainbow yelled, Twilight beckoning the two over with a spot on the to-do list with their names on it.

Sombra sighed, walking over as he had his work cut out for him. Looks like he'd have to do work after all…

Sombra growled as he battled against the thunder clouds in his shadow form, wondering how in the name of Celestia the pegasi managed to mess up the weather this bad. Sure, the Crystal Heart did most of the work for him in keeping the Frozen North back, but pegasi had managed the weather for years!

He blasted multiple dark clouds with his magic, destroying them completely while thunder sounded so frequently around him that he thought he would go deaf. His helmet was the only thing giving him some sort of reprieve from the noise, and although he hated doing what felt like others’ bidding, it did feel good to be back in action again.

“Sombra, watch out!”

He quickly dodged a lightning strike which was easy due to the speed given to him while he was shadow, but nevertheless he felt a strange feeling of appreciation for whoever warned him that he was about to be shocked. Looking up, he saw Discord who gave a nod before shoving a thundercloud into an alternate dimension.

Well, that certainly felt…good, to have somepony watching his back. Ugh, no! I’m not going to become sappy. He resolved, deciding just to focus on the task at hoof. Though it still sat in the back of his mind that maybe teamwork and friendship weren’t so awful after all.

Chapter 23: The Big Mac Question

It had been a few weeks since the last Summer Sun Celebration, now known as the Festival of the Two Sisters as decreed by Twilight, who was rapidly approaching her coronation as the ruler of all of Equestria. Sombra had helped out here and there in the preparations, even as he ignored odd looks from a few ponies who were still somewhat wary of him.

He was determined to take a break today, however, as he leaned back in a chair in his castle suite. Helping instead of ordering ponies around still made him feel somewhat conflicted, the evil side to him always protesting that he was bowing to the demands of others.

Discord had told him that it was normal for reformed villains to still have those urges, though, and the only important thing was that he wasn't acting on them. More and more ponies were starting to forget that he was ever evil, as he helped with the preparations for Twilight's coronation, which definitely felt more…agreeable.

As if the draconequus knew he was thinking about him, a burst of chaos magic was the only thing that alerted him to Discord's presence, as he appeared in front of him. Sombra scowled as he quickly got up to face the Lord of Chaos properly, instead of laying back in his chair. "You never knock, do you?"

"Nope! Surely you should know that about me by now. Anyway, no time to explain, I need your help." Without even giving Sombra a chance to respond, Discord teleported to both of them in front of Sugarcube Corner, causing Spike to jump in fright while he hovered over a basket of apples with notes attached to them. "I've got the reinforcements!"

"Unwillingly." Sombra muttered, as he was really starting to tire of Discord teleporting ponies without even having the decency to ask. Though he supposed spontaneity was Discord's specialty.

"Did you even tell Sombra what he's helping with?" Spike asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, but I will now! Long story short, Big Mac is proposing to Sugar Belle, and I need your help with putting these apples with their horribly written riddles in the right places as detailed by this map." Discord told Sombra, holding up the map while the former tyrant looked highly unamused.

"You want me to help with a marriage proposal?"

Discord rolled his eyes at Sombra's reaction. "Yes, why the long face? Not that you ever look happy, but you're acting like this is such a pain for you when you've been helping with the preparations in Canterlot."

"Because the coronation of Equestria's new ruler is an actually significant event. I've tolerated watching your Ogres and Oubliettes games despite how childish they are, but seriously? A marriage proposal? Is Big Mac not able to just ask the mare directly?

Spike looked offended by what Sombra said, his brows knitted into a frown."Okay, first of all, Ogres and Oubliettes is an epic game. Secondly, Big Mac's trying to be romantic! Even if you may not care about it, friendship is about helping your friends, even if you don't have a personal interest in it."

Sombra sighed, knowing these two wouldn't let him leave, now that he was here. He figured if he finished what needed to be done, he could enjoy the rest of his day. "Fine, let me take a look at the map."

He took a gander at the map, and with a blast of his magic, all of the apples were teleported to where they were specified on the map. "It's done."

Spike stared at the now empty basket, mouth agape since he didn't expect Sombra to do it that way. "You just teleported them? Are you sure you put them in the right spots?"

"I'm smart enough to know how to follow directions." Sombra retorted, finding it quite insulting that Spike was questioning his work. "Now, if that was-"

"Even so, we should probably double check. Just in case!" Discord interrupted with a wink, Sombra looking ready to throttle the draconequus for dragging him out here and then to dare give him more work for something so inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

That is, until his attention was turned to Sugar Belle bursting out of the front doors of Sugarcube Corner, pursuing the Cutie Mark Crusaders who were holding what looked like an apple pie. Spike seemed more concerned about the apple, however, a grimace on his face as he picked it up.

"She didn't see the apple! What are we gonna do?"

"Well, we could just give it to her." Discord pointed out.

"Finally, something we agree on. Must everything be needlessly so complicated?" Sombra asked.

"It may be complicated to you, but the whole point is to be romantic! She needs to discover it!" Spike replied.

"Don't be such a drama dragon. I've precipitated liquid cocoa on Equestria, and herded long-limbed Leporidae. I can certainly make a pony see an apple!" Discord grabbed the apple from Spike, with a snap of his fingers taking himself, Sombra, and the empty basket with him.

Sombra soon appeared in the market in Ponyville, scaring a few ponies who didn't expect him or Discord to appear out of nowhere. "Ugh, why do I even-"

"Shhh!" Discord quickly shushed Sombra, before placing an apple with the note right in front of Sugar Belle, who was buying flowers. Yet, she seemed too preoccupied to notice, thanking the salespony as she took her flower arrangement before happily trotting away.

Discord picked up the unnoticed apple, looking quite annoyed. "You know, if she's too busy to read the horribly written clues, maybe you should just tell her!" With a snap of his fingers, the apple suddenly grew arms and legs and started making incoherent chitters. He then transported the rest of the apples back from their assigned places, making them turn to life as well.

Sombra watched this with a raised eyebrow, having a feeling anything involving Discord's chaos magic was a very, very bad idea. "You can't be serious."

"Aw, come on, I can even give them orders, see?" Discord turned into a military sergeant, smoking a fake pipe. "Listen up! Each of you has a job to do! Take a look at your stems!"

The apples then proceeded to chitter again, doing what they were told. Obviously Discord was able to understand what they were saying, even if Sombra heard it as gibberish. "Tell me about it. But regardless, go to your designated location, deliver your messages, and make me proud! Dismissed!"

The apple proceeded to run off in different directions after being shown their places on the map, Sombra watching them run off to the surrounding ponies' horror. If the attention was off of him for once, that only confirmed his inkling that this was a horrible idea. "Even if I'm not invested in this, I'm fairly sure this isn't how Big Mac wanted Sugar Belle to get the message."

"Nonsense! Big Mac is lucky to have me as his friend. He does need Sugar Belle to get the riddles, and he didn't specify how."

Sombra rolled his eyes, as screams started to be heard around the market by ponies who were unfortunate enough to come across the talking apples. "Right, well, are you still so sure this is a good idea?"

"Of course! Honestly, Sombra, you're not even doing anything so can you really judge?"

"You took back the apples that I had transported to their respective locations and did it in your own chaotic way, what do you want?" Sombra deadpanned.

Discord opened his mouth to say something else in protest, before he saw Spike and Mrs. Cake running towards the market. "Well, it's about time for me to leave! You can explain everything." The draconequus conveniently disappeared with a snap of his fingers, right when Spike and Mrs. Cake arrived.

"What in the blazes is going on!?!" Mrs. Cake exclaimed, while Spike didn't even have to guess who was at fault here.

"I'm assuming it's Discord, right Sombra?"

"Obviously."

Discord then reappeared, sitting in a recliner and reading a book. "Way to throw a friend under the bus, Sombra. But yes, and I did my part already. Been done for quite a while, in fact!" He then looked around at the ponies who were all screaming and realized that Sugar Belle still hadn't exactly gotten the message.

"You know, thinking back, I probably could have been clearer which pony to deliver the messages to."

"You think? Didn't Sombra transport them to their rightful locations?" Spike asked sarcastically, his arms crossed in disapproval.

"Yes, well, his method of just sending them where they were supposed to go wasn't going to cut it, so-" The chittering apples running around interrupted him, and he quickly snapped them away before they could cause any more collateral damage.

"I sent them back to Sweet Apple Acres. Apples are terrible at taking directions. Couldn't even manage to stay in one location. Now, bananas…" Discord chuckled, holding a banana in his right paw before he brought it up to his right ear. "Are much better at listening!"

Sugar Belle then arrived at the market, confused by the absence of anypony. Sombra almost found it comical that she still didn't even receive the riddles, after that whole display. "What's going on?" She asked, to no one in particular. It was like she either was ignoring their presence or didn't notice.

"Apples running everywhere, and she didn't see the poem to get to the hilltop!?!" Spike said worriedly, while Discord deadpanned.

"Getting her to the hilltop is easy, and not seeing the poems is actually a blessing when you think about it." Discord booped Spike on the nose before transporting himself, Sombra, and Sugar Belle to the hilltop of Sweet Apple Acres.

Discord looked around for Big Mac, but not seeing him anywhere he quickly blindfolded Sugar Belle, in order to not spoil the surprise. "Darn it, I thought he'd be here!"

"Who'd be here?" Sugar Belle asked in confusion, since she couldn't see and really only got a brief glimpse of Discord and Sombra.

"Must you bring me wherever you are?" Sombra muttered.

"Take it as a learning experience about friendship. Well, since he's not here, we'll probably run into him in Ponyville." Discord said, quickly teleporting them back in front of Sugarcube Corner.

"Sugar Belle!" Big Mac exclaimed in surprise, not expecting her to be there.

"Big Mac?" Sugar Belle replied confusedly, Discord quickly taking the blindfold off since they had found Big Mac.

"Discord!" Big Mac growled in anger, since he had ruined the surprise.

"Mrs. Cake!" Discord replied, trying to take the attention off of him.

"What did I do!?!" Mrs. Cake asked, thinking that Discord was blaming her for something.

"Nothing. I thought we were just saying each other's names." Discord admitted.

Spike gave an exasperated sigh, figuring that at least Big Mac and Sugar Belle were together now and Big Mac could just ask her. "I guess this can't get any worse."

"As the Lord of Chaos, I'd advise against saying things like that." Right as Discord finished saying that, the Cutie Mark Crusaders along with Granny Smith ran up the path from Sweet Apple Acres to Ponyville, screaming in terror.

"It's comin'! Save yourselves!" Granny Smith yelled, before a giant apple monster appeared over a hill.

"SUGAR BELLE!!! SUGAR BELLE!!!"

Big Mac stood protectively over Sugar Belle, while Discord shrinked back in fear of his own creation. "Discord!!!" He yelled accusingly, Discord playing innocent even if it was blatantly obvious that this was his creation.

"Why does everypony immediately assume that this has something to do with me?"

Sombra facehoofed, finding this all very obvious. "Because it's a giant apple monster!"

"I LOVE YOU! YOU LOVE ME! OUR LOVE WILL GROW LIKE AN APPLE TREE! SO LET ME ASK, WILL YOU MARRY ME?"

Discord was now splattered with apple juice, Sombra lowering a magical shield he had created to prevent him from having the same fate. The draconequus wiped the apple crud off of him, looking quite disgusted. "Okay, but to be fair, the message did get to Sugar Belle."

Big Mac facehoofed, while Sugar Belle just looked sad, probably because her coltfriend's proposal was now ruined. Mrs. Cake looked surprised however, probably because she didn't know what Discord, Spike, and Sombra were doing.

"Wait. So you two were orchestrating a proposal? That's what I was doing!"

"Who are you proposing to?"

Apple Bloom couldn't believe Discord didn't get it. "Discord!"

"Me!?!" Discord said in shock, while Sombra resisted the urge to facehoof again.

"Use your brain! Mrs. Cake was-"

"I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU!"

Sombra hated being interrupted, and he destroyed the apple monster with a single beam of dark magic, leaving nothing but the burnt husk of about a dozen apples in its wake.

"You know, I would've done that." Discord muttered, while Spike looked deep in thought.

"So the messages that were in the desserts…"

Mrs. Cake finished Spike's sentence. "Were Sugar Belle's proposal to Big Mac before Spike set them on fire!"

"Oh, so I'm not the only one who messes things up, am I, Mr. High-and-Mighty Dragon?" Discord quipped.

"Hey! Those desserts were ruined way before I ruined them!" Spike retorted.

"They were not! Well, I…may have mixed up a…a few ingredients. It was such a rush." Mrs. Cake admitted.

"You should both be very disappointed in yourselves." Discord said with a disapproving expression, though Scootaloo wasn't going to let that slide.

"What about you and your apple monster!?!"

"Yes, but you all expect that of me!" Discord pointed out.

Apple Bloom sighed sadly. "All we wanted to do was make up for messin' things up the last time. Sugar Belle, Big Mac, we're really-"

All of them then realized that Sugar Belle and Big Mac had disappeared, Sweetie Belle wondering aloud "Where'd they go?"

"Okay, this time, it really wasn't me!" Discord insisted, while Sombra decided to be the voice of reason.

"How about we all just meet up at Sweet Apple Acres, where they probably went?"

"I'm sure I can bring whatever desserts we have left!" Mrs. Cake said excitedly, though Discord just wanted to get a move on with things.

"You know I can just make us more apple desserts in an instant, right?" Discord said as with a snap of his fingers they were closed to the intertwined apple and pear tree in Sweet Apple Acres, complete with a table full of apple desserts.

They had arrived just in time to see Sugar Belle and Big Mac holding hooves, which probably meant that everything worked out. "Well, we've all made up, and we're here for a do-over. And this time, thanks to me, we've got it right. So, why don't you two…you know?" Discord alluded to the couple kissing, while looking sort of disgusted since he wasn't really interested in romantic things.

Sugar Belle and Big Mac hugged lovingly, Spike flying over as he decided they probably needed alone time. "Uh, I think they did okay without us."

Somehow, Sombra was roped into attending the wedding since he had technically saved them from the apple monster that Discord created, and although he initially thought it would be the most boring thing he would attend in his life, dare he say he found it…slightly heartwarming?

Of course, he didn't show it outwardly as he sipped from a mug of apple cider at the reception afterwards, everypony having fun and mingling. Something was nagging at him though, which was the fact that he hadn't told anypony about Grogar's return, which was the true reason for why he was here.

He initially brushed it off as unimportant since it had been months since he had been brought back from banishment, and nothing had happened. Perhaps Grogar's plans had failed and he returned Equestria's villains to their rightful places, but from his newly developed conscience as a result of his exposure to friendship, he felt that it was right to at least tell somepony.

And who better than to tell his first friend, Discord? Yes, the draconequus got on his nerves, but he was the only other reformed villain of similar severity that he could somewhat relate to. He quickly found the draconequus in a similar position, eating a slice of the wedding cake as he watched Sugar Belle and Big Mac share a romantic dance.

"Ah, Sombra! Enjoying the party? I know you said you weren't one for parties, but there must be a reason why you've stayed this long."

"I'll admit, it's not the worst thing in the world." Sombra muttered, before he quickly got to business. "I was hoping to speak to you, in private."

Discord raised an eyebrow, but he complied, motioning over to a group of apple trees away from the reception where they could talk. "Well? Lead the way."

Sombra walked away until they were around 50 feet away from the wedding reception, when he decided to say what he wanted to say outright. "I wasn't entirely truthful with you, when I was imprisoned. I escaped banishment because Grogar brought me back."

Chapter 24: The Ending of the End, Part 1

A curious expression crossed Discord's face for a split second, as if he already knew that Grogar was back, which was not unnoticed by Sombra. The draconequus quickly recovered, however, as he laughed right in Sombra's face. "You mean to tell me the legendary Grogar has somehow returned, and he brought you back? I didn't know you had a sense of humor, Sombra."

"I'm serious!" Sombra barked, deciding to explain further. "Grogar is very real, and he's brought Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow together to do his bidding. I don't know why he hasn't made a move yet, but he's responsible for summoning me. I didn't want to team up with those I saw as beneath me, so I left to take over the Crystal Empire by myself."

Discord looked at Sombra with a curiously blank expression, as if he didn't know how to respond in this sort of situation. "…You're actually serious. Grogar somehow came back after being gone for thousands of years, and he decided to bring you, Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow together to do his bidding?"

"He claimed that he witnessed our failures and decided that we needed to work together to defeat Twilight and her friends. Not that I'm one for that sort of thing."

"Then why hasn't Grogar made a move yet?" Discord asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Do I look like Grogar to you? Look, I have nothing to gain if I was lying, anyway, but if you won't give me any credence, I'll just tell Twilight herself." Sombra muttered, to which Discord quickly backtracked, surprisingly.

The draconequus almost looked a bit panicked, quickly doing a 180. "Oh, no, no, I believe you! It's peculiar that Grogar hasn't done anything yet, but he's obviously still a threat. I can inform Twilight while you help with preparations for her coronation. You were doing that since you live in Canterlot, right?"

"Erm…yes." Sombra found Discord's reaction…peculiar, to say the least, but he had no reason to distrust the draconequus, right? After all, being weird was practically his entire personality. "Well, if you're to inform the princesses and Twilight about the danger, then that's good."

"Yes, yes, just to make preparations in case they're taking so long to plan some sort of grand plan or something. By the way, from what I've learned ponies panic easily if they're going to run around and cause chaos from just a few talking apples, so as much as I'd love that, probably best not to spout off that Grogar, Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow are back, hm?"

Sombra raised an eyebrow, finding Discord's behavior odd, even for him. Though he dismissed it again, finding nothing particularly wrong with not wanting to cause a panic. "I…I suppose that makes sense."

"Good, good! Oh, we're running low on apple turnovers. I have to replace those. If you'll excuse me…"

Discord headed back over to the wedding reception quickly, leaving behind a confused Sombra.

That had been a few days ago, and today was now the day of Twilight's coronation. Any suspicions Sombra had of Discord were at the back of his mind at the moment, as he was helping out with last minute preparations for the coronation like setting up the tables outside with his magic.

He had noticed ponies were on edge, however, especially amongst ponies of different kinds. Unicorns, pegasi, earth; they all wanted to stay with their own kind, as if there was suddenly bad blood between the different pony races. But that couldn't be correct; they all lived in harmony now, right?

He chalked it up to nerves due to the transfer of power, after Celestia and Luna had ruled for what seemed like forever. It was still a bit surreal to him that Twilight would become the new ruler of all of Equestria, though it was the logical choice.

On the day of the coronation, he was helping Applejack with transporting apples to Canterlot. For some reason she didn't want him to teleport them in front of the castle since she was afraid it'd "change the quality of the apples," so he resorted to just holding up half of the buckets of freshly bucked apples with his magic.

"Thanks for doing this, Sombra. Call me old-fashioned, but if Trixie managed to teleport the Cutie Map away, I'm not takin' any chances when I've bucked the finest apples in Sweet Apple Acres. Even if all that fancy teleportin' would save me the work." Applejack explained, pulling a cart full of buckets of apples as they arrived in Canterlot.

"Even if I may not understand it, I'll respect it. It's good to use my magic for more beneficial things, for once." Sombra mused, before they were stopped by a royal guard.

"HALT! You both have official business here?"

Sombra and Applejack exchanged a look, especially Sombra since he was familiar with Canterlot now. He didn't recall this being necessary before. "You seriously don't recognize us? We're here to deliver apples for the coronation."

"Uh huh. Well, it is necessary to supervise your preparations due to the increased security necessary for the coronation. Especially with the presence of a former enemy of Equestria."

"Oh! Uh…I suppose if it's for security and all that."

Applejack looked unsure, but followed the royal guard while Sombra resisted the urge to point out that he had done plenty to redeem himself, at least he thought he did. It was quite insulting to be treated otherwise when he thought that he had gotten past this, only making him more suspicious that something was wrong.

“Where are you dropping off the apples, Earth pony?” The guard asked quite rudely, like he didn't trust one of Twilight's friends for some reason.

Applejack was taken aback like this as well, as she narrowed her eyes. "…On one of them tables in front of the castle."

The guard gruffly escorted them to the castle, Sombra looking quite suspicious of the guard's peculiar behavior as he kept his gaze on the royal guard. Ponies were acting strangely for some reason, and if he was going off of what Starlight had told him of Chrysalis' takeover of Equestria, this could be another changeling attack.

Applejack started off loading the buckets of apples from her cart, as Sombra arranged them on one of the tables set up for the coronation. The royal guard insisted on inspecting each bucket however, much to Sombra and Applejack's annoyance since it was slowing the process down.

Applejack soon perked up however when she saw Twilight coming with Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Spike, running towards them. "Twilight! There you are! You mind tellin' your friend here that I don't need an official guard wherever I go? Especially if he ain't gonna help carry apples?"

The royal guard had followed Applejack as well, much to her displeasure.

"I appreciate you taking such good care of my friends, but we're fine now." Twilight said with a smile, the royal guard giving a wordless nod before heading off, but not without giving Applejack and Sombra a glare.

"It was the strangest thing. He kept callin' me "Earth pony", like I didn't have a name. And watchin' me like he thought I'd steal the silver!"

"Indeed. I initially thought that this could be just due to the transfer in power, but I'm starting to think something is wrong." Sombra remarked, before a loud crash interrupted him.

A pile of cupcakes came tumbling out of the front doors of the castle, Pinkie sticking her head out while she was covered in frosting. "Do not go in that kitchen!"

"You look like you were in a sugar war." Rainbow commented, looking quite worried about what could've possibly happened.

"For some reason, the bakers are super grouchy with each other. That unicorn chef started throwing dessert at Mrs. Cake! I tried to help, but I got caught in the crossfire! Tasty, tasty crossfire." Pinkie said, as she licked a cupcake stuck to her front hoof.

"I'm starting to agree with Sombra that this isn't just pre-coronation nerves…" Twilight murmured, before she was interrupted by a groan from Discord.

"My aching metatarsals! You know, you forget how convenient snap-travel is." Discord looked disheveled and tired, since he had obviously walked a long way. Fluttershy flew over in concern, while Sombra looked on with a raised eyebrow.

"You're telling me you walked all this way here?"

"Yes, actually. And I have a confession to make. You see, I might have made the teeeeeniest boo-boo. All very well-intentioned and noble on my part, of course, but-"

"Get to the point, Discord." Applejack interrupted, wanting to hear the truth.

"Sombra, you know how you came back and tried to take over the Crystal Empire? Well, that was slightly my fault. And by 'slightly,' I mean…I brought you back."

"Y-You what?" Sombra never stammered, but this was a moment that took him completely off guard. That couldn't be! Discord wasn't Grogar, and he knew for sure that Grogar was the one who summoned him. That is, unless…

"Why would you do such a thing!?! No offense." Rarity quickly added, knowing that Sombra was good now, but surely Discord didn't plan that, did he?

"Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Which is why I also brought back three other villains who are now on the loose and not really big fans of yours. So…my bad."

Twilight and her friends gasped in shock, save for Sombra who was practically seething. He had kept his temper in check, but how could he pretend this was fine. Discord, his first friend, had been lying to him all this time? He walked right up to Discord, probably looking quite comical since he was shorter, but he still visibly struck fear into the draconequus.

"You had the audacity to think you could reform me when you were the one who brought me back, along with Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow as Grogar? And you didn't even warn the others when I finally told you that Grogar was a threat!?! You…you lied to me!"

"Celestia was the one who made me your reformer, first of all. But…it was a well-intentioned lie, honest! I promise, I can explain-"

An ominous dark aura formed around Sombra's horn, and he looked ready to try and kill Discord right then and there, before Twilight quickly interrupted. She was in shock, but she knew that she couldn't let Sombra go through with his vengeance.

"You'd better explain to the princesses. They'll know what to do better than I, since obviously every obstacle I've faced was a lie."

The explanation was very, very lengthy, and by the end of it all, Celestia and Luna looked extremely angry, not able to understand why Discord thought his plan was a good one, even if it was well-intentioned.

"Let me get this straight. You wanted to boost Twilight's confidence, so you brought back Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, and Tirek to attack her!?!" Luna exclaimed in shock.

"Don't forget Sombra!" Discord added, probably to try to lighten the situation while Sombra scowled, using all of his self control to not try to attack the draconequus right then and there. To learn that he was lied to and used in order to boost Twilight's confidence…it made him feel pathetic.

"And while you united these three villains, you pretended to be Grogar!?! Even worse, you failed to tell us when Sombra told you your own plan!" Celestia scolded, unsure how Discord could even mess up this badly.

"Discord, how could you do this to Twilight?! And us!?!" Fluttershy was in tears, Applejack holding up a hoof to her back to comfort her while she glared at Discord.

"Look what a great job you did defeating Sombra. All the confidence you gained. Remember the cheering? The hoof-bumps?"

"Except it was all a lie." Twilight muttered from her place on the throne.

"A well-intentioned lie!" Discord pointed out, which didn't help the situation at all.

"For all the time you've spent with us, you really haven't picked up too much in the way of friendship lessons, huh? Even Sombra's learned more than you!" Applejack shouted.

Twilight was now obviously doubting her capabilities as the next leader of Equestria, the exact opposite of what Discord wanted. "You've been setting up challenges for us the whole time, haven't you? None of our successes were actually real!"

"Of course they were! You just had an extremely good-looking safety net." Discord was obviously trying to put a positive spin on his horrible plan, and it wasn't working.

"And how was that supposed to help again?" Spike asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I intended to prepare Twilight for anything by orchestrating an epic attack at her coronation."

Rarity ran up to Discord, obviously angry as she stepped on his goatee. "You beastly beast! Don't you know how much this day means to Twilight!?! And me! I made her dress! Why wait until now for such a horrible plan!?!"

"You don't take a final exam on your first day of class. Just think, after defeating three baddies, Twilight would have to believe that she's the leader we all know she is!"

Sombra facehoofed, while Celestia flew over to Discord, the draconequus shrinking back from her imposing presence. "You have made a grave misjudgment, Discord. Do you have anything else you'd like to tell us!?!"

"Isn't that the understatement of the day." Sombra muttered, while Discord looked very sheepish.

"Would you like the good news, or the bad news?"

"That wasn't the bad news!?!" Luna asked incredulously.

"All my chaos magic is... gone. Trapped in Grogar's Bell."

Spike sighed, faceclawing before deciding to look at the positive side of things, if there was anything positive. "So what's the good news?"

"Well, we have Sombra's help now, thanks to me!"

"You didn't even plan for that though. You expected that I'd die from being defeated, and that you wouldn't have to see me again. You treated me as if I was expendable!" Sombra yelled, obviously hurt as he turned his back to Discord.

Discord looked deeply sorry for what he did, trying to find the words to at least attempt at apologizing. "Sombra, I really didn't mean-"

Celestia interrupted Discord, focusing on the task at hoof. "Twilight, Luna, we need to make a plan. Maybe it's not too late to stop this disaster from happening!"

"I…I need some time to think first." Twilight said, unsure about what to do. She never had to deal with three villains at once before.

"Well, there isn't any time! Look what I overheard them saying!" Discord snapped his fingers, only for nothing to happen. "Ugh! Just listen to my voice and use your imagination!"

"Let the fool go. Without magic, he's no threat. Besides, we have plans."

"The "Lame Six" are so busy being perfect, they haven't even noticed what we've been up to. Have I mentioned how great revenge is?"

"I hope you got a name picked out for your future kingdom. Because it's time to destroy Equestria!"

Somehow, Sombra managed to recognize who was who during his limited time with them, while Discord reverted to his normal voice. "They're probably on their way to attack Canterlot right now!"

"Then we'll stop 'em!" Pinkie said excitedly, while Twilight wasn't so sure.

"How!?! Stopping Sombra by himself was hard enough! And that was with Lord of Chaos training wheels!" Twilight pointed out, Sombra snorting in some sort of dry amusement at being considered a challenge.

"With my support, their defeat will be swift so I can throttle Discord at a later time." He muttered, side eyeing the draconequus who he didn't plan on forgiving anytime soon.

Discord eyed Sombra warily, while Celestia landed next to Twilight. "Twilight, it doesn't matter if Discord set up your successes or not. We believe in you and always have."

"Lean on your strengths to counter your weaknesses." Luna advised, while Twilight tried to think.

"My strengths?" Twilight then looked at her friends, who offered comforting smiles.

"Right! Spike! Send a letter to Star Swirl! Tell him we need the Pillars to guard the border of Canterlot! If the villains are coming for a fight, we'll have one waiting for them! With Chrysalis on the loose, she'll go after Starlight! Warn Cadance and Shining Armor! They're our final line of defense if we fail! The ultimate battle for the fate of Equestria is coming!"

Sombra listened to this plan intently, his eyes narrowed as he readied himself for the battle to come, courtesy of Discord. Well, if he was truly going to prove himself, this will be the opportunity to do it.

Chapter 25: The Ending of the End, Part 2

"We've faced enemies of Equestria before. And we've always succeeded, no matter the odds. That wouldn't be possible without all of you."

Sombra was standing in the throne room as he listened to Twilight speak. A few hours had passed since Discord had revealed his massive misjudgment which was now threatening Equestria's very existence, and they had prepared the best they could.

He prepared by ensuring that his dark magic skills were sharp, materializing dark crystals in his castle suite which doubled as offense and defense. He wasn't sure if mind control could work on three of Equestria's most feared enemies, but he figured it was worth a try, if it came to that.

"You're welcome!"

Discord's increasingly hated voice interrupted his thoughts as he tried to plan out what he would do when Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow would inevitably attack, and he shot a glare in the draconequus' direction like everyone else, considering his stupidity was the reason they were even in this situation.

"Dude, read the room." Spike muttered, as Twilight continued.

"So I ask for your help again today in what is our biggest battle yet. All of Equestria is at stake, and I can't do this alone. But I'm not afraid. Because with friendship as our armor and teamwork as our power, nopony can ever bring us down!"

Even if that sounded slightly cheesy, Sombra did have to admit that was quite a motivating speech, and Twilight would make a good-

"Oh, come on!"

Sombra froze as he recognized that child-like voice. He knew that voice; it was the filly he had briefly met in "Grogar's" lair. He whirled around to face Cozy Glow, expression stoic and not showing any fear even if she dropped a bunch of defeated royal guards from-

That was when he noticed the alicorn wings, and that was when he noticed the horn, and then he felt a twinge of fear. Since when did she become an alicorn? No matter; if he could put up a fight against Celestia and Luna, he could put up a fight against a filly.

"Where'd you get that? A daily affirmations calendar? Yeesh." Cozy mocked, standing on top of the fallen royal guards.

"Cozy Glow!?! You're-" Twilight couldn't even finish her shocked exclamation, as Cozy interrupted her.

"About to wipe the floor with you!"

A powerful blast of magic knocked Twilight out of the air, a fairly loud "thud" permeating the throne room. Everyone gasped in shock, not expecting Cizy to have so much power. Even Sombra thought that it was just a front, but Cozy seemed much more powerful than when he first met her, indeed. However, he didn't let himself feel intimidated.

"Wow! It's true! Alicorns really do have more fun!" Cozy shot out a powerful blast of magic headed straight for everyone gathered in the throne room, intent on defeating everyone with one blast. Sombra thwarted it quickly with a wall of dark crystal, providing a quick barrier of protection from Cozy Glow to buy them time.

"You know my dark crystals block any type of magic, but it's just going to buy us some time before Cozy destroys it without magic. You need to think of something quickly, Twilight." Sombra said in a hushed tone, while Cozy's enraged yelling could be heard from the other side.

"I used to think you were cool, Sombra, then you sold yourself out like Discord!"

"I take major offense to that!" Discord retorted, Sombra shooting him a glare since this wasn't the time.

"Thanks, Sombra, pay her no mind. The royal guards can provide a first offense, while Princess Celestia, Luna, and I will attack in support. The rest of you should hide for a surprise attack when I signal." Twilight ordered.

"Hide? Wouldn't attacking all at once overwhelm the filly enough that we can defeat her?" Sombra asked.

"I don't know when Tirek and Chrysalis will arrive, and I need you and my friends to fight them in case we're preoccupied with Cozy Glow." Twilight explained, which Sombra found adequate, even if he didn't like the idea of hiding.

"We'll await your signal." Sombra said before he hid behind the massive throne with Twilight's friends and Discord.

It was just in the nick of time too, as Cozy took a large pillar that was holding up the throne room and smashed it right through the dark crystal wall, breaking it easily which left Twilight and the princesses vulnerable again.

"Finally! Now the real fun can begin!" Cozy laughed evilly as she formed a shield around herself when the royal guards started firing magic blasts at her, before eventually when the royal guards charged at her she made a portal which made them fall into the river outside the castle.

"Stand down, Cozy Glow!" Celestia ordered, which Sombra scoffed at since the filly obviously wouldn't follow that command.

"Gee, I guess I could. But…I'm having too much fun!"

Sombra couldn't see what was going on since he was hiding behind the throne, but he could assume that Cozy sent a large magic blast their way, which Twilight probably blocked.

"Ready, sister?" Celestia asked, to which Luna gave a nod as they flew into the air above Cozy.

"Wait, what are you…?" Twilight started, but before she could finish Celestia and Luna fired a combined beam of magic in an attempt to defeat Cozy.

Sombra then heard what sounded like a bell, and his eyes widened. Cozy had Grogar's Bell, which meant she could steal unicorns' magic. She had been luring Celestia and Luna to attack. Their anguished cries had only been confirmation of his suspicions, as Twilight ran over to them with an anguished cry.

"That's the problem with you magic-types. You're so reliant on all your special power, you forget to use your brains!" Cozy taunted, rubbing the loss of Celestia and Luna in their faces.

What a hypocrite, considering she's relying on alicorn magic. Sombra thought, as Twilight was filled with more determination than ever. "Keep telling yourself that. Now!"

Given the signal, Sombra along with Twilight's friends ran out from their hiding place behind the throne, and all he was focused on was taking the annoying brat down. He vaguely registered what the others were doing, as he threw up dark crystals left and right, attempting to throw Cozy off guard.

He grew too confident though and decided maybe showing Cozy her greatest fear would do even more to help with taking her down, as his eyes turned that ominous green with purple smoke coming from them. Once he sent that pulse of dark magic, however, he had barely registered it before Cozy held the Bell in front of her.

His desperate attempt to take back his magic failed as he felt it being sucked right out of him, much like Celestia and Luna probably lost theirs. The agonizing feeling went on for what felt like minutes before he fell to the floor, gasps coming from his allies which he barely registered as he tried to recover.

Cozy laughed evilly at seeing Sombra so easily defeated, rendered powerless without his dark magic. "Now I have Discord, the princesses, and Sombra's magic! Dark magic could really do a number on this place…"

"You f-fool…" Sombra grunted as he stood up, his mane no longer flowing as he tried to look defiant, despite how weak he felt. "Nopony except me can wield it."

"We'll see about-AAH!"

Cozy had been lassoed to the ground as Twilight and her friends quickly surrounded her, while she held onto the Bell protectively.

Twilight towered above Cozy with her wings outstretched, horn glowing eerily, that is until a bright light came from the stained glass above the throne, not even a second passing before it exploded. Everyone was sent flying by the blast as Tirek and Chrysalis flew in, the centaur pushing aside the throne which Discord was hiding behind.

A protective shield formed by Twilight protected them from the three villains' wrath, but not for long as they stood up inside it, facing Equestria's most dangerous threats.

"You think your pathetic shield can stop us?" Chrysalis taunted, laughing right in their faces. "The Pillars have been defeated. Your school is abandoned. Face it, Twilight. You've lost! Even with Sombra's treachery."

"I never pledged any allegiance to you, vile insect." Sombra spat in defiance, even if he was obviously on the losing side now.

"Yes, and look where it's gotten you? You should've stayed with the winning team." Chrysalis said with a smirk, before Twilight promptly shut her up.

"He's much wiser than you are! Attack us all you want, and we may fall. But Equestria will still stand, united in friendship. And we won't stop until we defeat you, no matter how many ponies you take down!"

The villains didn't take this seriously however, laughing as unbeknownst to Twilight and the others, Equestria was no longer united in friendship.

"Didn't you all notice something was wrong in Equestria? We've been busy." Tirek said, as he laid a claw on the shield.

"A whisper here, a rumor there…" Chrysalis added.

"Destroy some crops, cause some damage…" Tirek continued.

"Turn pony against pony…" Cozy said, as she flew by the back of the shield.

"Until your whole kingdom is on edge, waiting for just one tiny thing to push them over the brink!" Chrysalis finished, determined to break their morale.

"There's no backup friends or rainbow magic to save you now!" Tirek added with a sadistic grin.

"Golly, I think it's time for some redecorating!"

Without another word, the three villains turned around and shot a giant hole through the thrones of Equestria, causing the throne room to crumble around them.

"You know what's stronger than friendship, Twilight? Fear!" Chrysalis then pounced on the shield, and Twilight's shock caused the shield to break, leaving them all vulnerable to attack.

"'Cause when you have to protect yourself, you don't have time for anypony else." Tirke then levitated Twilight in the air and grabbed her by the wings, intent on killing her.

"Too bad you never taught that in school." Cozy taunted, while the three villains charged up their magic to destroy Twilight once and for all. That is, until Rarity worked up the strength to hurl a giant boulder from the rubble at Tirek, setting Twilight free.

The three villains, enraged by this, sent another powerful beam of magic towards Twilight, who held up a big slab of debris as a makeshift shield. Twilight's friends all quickly ran up to help support the slab, Sombra doing the same as he held the slab with his front hooves.

"Go, Twilight! Get help!" Rarity yelled.

"We'll hold 'em 'til you get back!" Applejack assured, putting all her might into holding the slab up to protect themselves.

Twilight was horrified by this. She'd just leave her friends when they needed her the most? She couldn't! "No! I can't leave you here!"

"It's our only chance!" Fluttershy pleaded.

"You'll come up with something to save the day!" Rainbow asserted, trying to give Twilight confidence.

"You always do!" Pinkie added.

"We believe in you!" Spike said, before he flew in to help as well.

"Just go! You're our only chance." Sombra muttered, admitting that he was of little use now, without his dark magic.

"Fly, you foal!!!" Discord yelled, grabbing Twilight and pushing her out of the line of fire.

The zap of teleportation magic was the only indication Sombra had that Twilight had escaped, right in the nick of time as the slab finally fractured, and they were all blasted backwards by the barrage of magic.

"Twilight may have escaped, but she's nothing without you all." Chrysalis said with a grin, while Tirek looked more concerned.

"How can you say that!?! You can't underestimate her. She's dangerous."

"Never mind her! Let's just take our new prisoners into the dungeon." Cozy said with an evil grin, Sombra knowing exactly what they were referring to. He had hoped to never see the dungeons of Canterlot again, but he was going there, whether he liked it or not.

"Exactly. You'd better follow us, or be immediately destroyed." Chrysalis intimidated, and as much as Sombra wanted to laugh in her face and disregard her authority, he knew that would end in defeat. He had learned from his prior mistakes, and backing down until he had a concrete plan was especially important since he had no dark magic at his disposal.

They were all silent as they were led into the dungeons of Canterlot, chains bound to their hooves to ensure they wouldn't be going anywhere. It reminded him of how he treated his slaves when he used to rule the Crystal Empire, and it certainly was a humbling experience when he was the slave himself.

"Why would you associate yourself with them, Sombra? You don't gain anything from it, as you can see now. A former king, now in chains like a slave, and magic less. I would've expected you to be more prudent." Chrysalis muttered, keeping a close eye on Sombra as she followed him from the back, ensuring he wouldn't try anything.

Sombra found it laughable, considering he had no magic to retaliate with, otherwise these chains would hold no power over him. "Obviously, you three weren't going to save me when I was defeated, so why would I decide to join you of all ponies? You know what? I don't have to explain myself to you. My reasons are my own, and mark my words, Chrysalis. You will pay for this."

"Who's gonna make her pay for it? There's nopony out there to stop us besides Twilight, and we'll find and destroy her soon enough!" Cozy said with a shrill laugh. "All that time in the ether must've made you lose your mind."

"Besides, Grogar here thought you were gone, so we weren't going to retrieve you from banishment if it meant you'd refuse to team up and fail again. Obviously, even if Discord was pretending to be Grogar, he was right." Tirek smirked, basically calling Sombra a failure.

"Now hold on, I didn't say-" Discord started, trying to defend himself somewhat, before Chrysalis shut him up.

"Oh please, we all know you thought Sombra wasn't worth reviving again because he was of no use to you. Haven't you lied enough, Grogar? It was just a coincidence that Sombra actually survived."

Discord didn't say anything more after that, hanging his head down in shame while Celestia spoke up. "Sombra has been more honorable than all of you, and you'll soon learn that friendship will always triumph over fear in the end."

"Yadda yadda, bore us to death, why don't you? We're here already, so get in your cells!" Cozy's horn glowed ominously as they reached the bottom of the staircase leading to the dungeons of Canterlot, a place Sombra hoped to never see again.

Discord was thrown into a cavern with chains still around his torso so he couldn't go anywhere, Sombra into an adjacent one as he was unceremoniously lifted into the air and thrown, knocking off his crown. He growled as he put it back on, the only shred of decency he had left as he was determined to get his revenge when he had his dark magic back.

Twilight's friends were corralled into another cavern, the entrance sealed with sticky goo courtesy of Chrysalis. Cozy laughed evilly in delight, ready to enact her reign of terror on her former professors. "And now for your complete destruction! Won't that be fun?"

"Patience, Cozy. Destruction is so…permanent. We need to show the rest of Equestria that we've broken their heroes first. Besides, we should have fun with our guests." Chrysalis interrupted, looking around at all of the heroes they had imprisoned.

"No! We should hunt down Twilight Sparkle. As long as she's out there, she's dangerous." Tirek disagreed, not wanting to take any chances.

"Is that big, strong minotaur that scared of one little pony? Relax. It's not like her friends are going anywhere." Chrysalis flew up to land on Starlight's cage, pointing out the shards from her former throne.

"The fools brought the remains of my throne to Canterlot to protect themselves. Hah! Those shards block their magic."

Cozy then approached the cavern with Twilight's friends, intent on getting her revenge before Chrysalis stopped her. "Careful. Too close and the shards cancel even our powers. But on this side of the cavern, we're the most powerful beings in Equestria, thanks to Grogar's Bell. Isn't that right, 'Grogar?'"

Chrysalis yanked Discord's chain, making him fall to the ground and hit his face on the cavern floor. Sombra watched with not very much pity, but he had to admit that it looked fairly painful, and the draconequus was getting his punishment for his stupidity.

Cozy then made a beeline for Grogar's Bell, obviously wanting more power. Tirek quickly stopped her, looking very angry. "What are you doing!?! You saw what happened when you tried to take Discord's chaos magic."

"Yeah, but there's Alicorn princess magic in there now, too! I could be so much more powerful if I just could have-" Cozy grabbed the Bell again, before Chrysalis flew up to her, pointing a hoof at her accusingly.

"What do you mean you could be?"

"Um, hello? I'm the best one out of all of us! Nobody sees-"

The three villains then proceeded to start arguing vehemently, Sombra noting this as he watched silently, preferring not to bring attention to himself as he schemed. Obviously, their combined efforts were only done through common goals; it seemed more like a "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" situation more than a true team.

If they could exploit that weakness in their alliance…perhaps they might have a chance at defeating the three, after all. Defeating them separately would be much easier, rather than trying to take them on all at once with no magic.

"I'm so sorry. It made so much sense in my head. Twilight defeats her worst enemies and is filled with confidence. I truly did have the best intentions. I swear I'll make it up to you."

Discord's voice interrupted his thoughts, after he had successfully tuned out whatever else was going on. His only response to the draconequus' apology was a scowl, what he wanted to say basically summed up in Rainbow's response.

"That's gonna need to be a pretty epic make-up."

"Stay away from the Bell, you pest!"

Everyone's attention was drawn to Tirek, who angrily shot a blast of magic at the ground since Cozy was trying to take the magic for herself. "None of us can use the Alicorns' magic until we figure out how to handle that fool's ridiculous chaos magic!"

"I could always tell you how. It would give you power over all reality. But you'd have to ask nicely and spare my friends." Discord offered, tossing a rock up and down.

Sombra's eyes went wide, as he truly feared what Discord was planning. Yes, it was good he was thinking about his friends for once, but tell them how to use his chaos magic!?! That was just asking for disaster, but he doubted Discord could truly be that stupid, right? He must have a reason or some hidden plan he didn't know about…

Chapter 26: The Ending of the End, Part 3

"No, Discord! This isn't the way to help!" Spike yelled, worried that Discord might actually give them his chaos magic.

"Discord, could you pweeeease-" Cozy was interrupted as Chrysalis yanked her back, deciding to do things her own way.

"Threats are more my speed. Speak!"

"He's lying. He won't tell us." Tirek muttered, crossing his arms as he knew he wouldn't trust Discord.

"I certainly won't tell you after the way you lied to me last time we teamed up, you muscle-bound cretin." Discord retorted, Sombra looking at the draconequus with a raised eyebrow since he questioned how making Tirek angry would help this situation.

"This 'cretin' could destroy you before you blink, so choose your words carefully."

"You're right. 'Cretin' is too polite. How about 'pathetic centaur who uses magic to compensate for the fact that deep down he's afraid he'll never be enough to please dear old dad, King Vorak?'"

Practically everyone in the dungeon was staring at Discord with wide eyes, unable to believe that Discord had brought Tirek's father into this. Tirek, angered by being embarrassed like that, shot a blast of powerful magic towards Discord, who reflected it off of the rock he was carrying.

The blast ricoheted all over the dungeon, Sombra narrowly dodging it as it flew past his cavern. When the dust eventually cleared Cozy looked smug as she laughed, thinking that Discord meant to reflect Tirek's magic blast back at them. "You missed!"

"Did he, though!?!"

Starlight shouted from her cage, the shard from Chrysalis's former throne destroyed by Tirek's magic blast. She used her magic to free herself from her cage, ensuing a mad chase for Starlight as the bottom half of her cage fell to the floor with a loud crash.

"GET HER!" Chrysalis bellowed, infuriated that her most hated enemy was free.

Starlight dodged blast after blast as she teleported away, and Sombra had to admit that she was quite talented at magic if she could avoid so many attacks in a short period of time. She then ended up in front of Sombra, Discord, and Twilight's friends, looking worried since she didn't have much time.

"Get Twilight!" Applejack urged, since Starlight was free.

"No way! She's always needed you guys!" Starlight replied, before she mustered all of her magic to destroy all of the cages holding the Princesses and the Pillars.

Immediately after she did that, she was hit in the back by a blast of magic from Chrysalis, enraged that Starlight had undone all of her hard work. Starlight was thrown forward and landed on the ground, before Celestia and Luna stood protectively over her.

"Find Twilight! We may not have our magic, but we aren't completely helpless! We'll hold them off as long as we can!" Celestia shouted, Sombra nodding in agreement as he joined the fight, figuring he had to now make use of his hooves.

"Once you all are back together, you can come up with a plan. Even without my magic, I can still fight." Sombra added.

"That…was a pretty epic make-up." Rainbow remarked, eyes wide as she watched Celestia, Luna, and Starlight fight the three villains, the Pillars joining from above to provide support.

Discord had been biting his nails in stress while watching the fight, deciding to join in. "Just save Equestria. And keep Fluttershy safe!"

Sombra grunted as he ran from green beams of magic from Chrysalis, becoming increasingly angry that he was on the defensive rather than offensive. If he had his magic it would be easy, but he was struggling to even not be hit, the fact that the three villains were massively outnumbered their only saving grace.

Discord was at least doing something to attack by hurling rocks at the villains, not that it was very effective. Sombra had only managed to land one hit on Chrysalis, a stark contrast from their prior battle more than a thousand years ago.

"So weak now, Sombra. At least it's lowered that annoying smugness of yours. Now you see it's better to work in a team?" Chrysalis quipped with a smirk, while Sombra just growled as he dodged another blast of magic.

"I've known that for a while now, but I still wouldn't work with the likes of you."

"Foolish, as always!" Chrysalis taunted, reading another magic attack before she was attacked from behind by Starswirl, who still had his magic.

Sombra nodded, glad he had some help when he was struggling. He was ready to attack Chrysalis again when Discord's voice rang out amongst the din of the fight, warning him of a strike from behind.

"Sombra, behind you!"

He whirled his head around to dodge a magic attack from Cozy, who laughed in delight at being able to terrorize someone who used to be feared by everyone in the Crystal Empire. "You can't dodge for-OW!!!"

Sombra leapt forward since he couldn't fly using his magic, able to land a square punch to the face that knocked Cozy out of the air, also knocking that smug smirk off of her face.

"Y-You just punched a filly! You can't do that!"

"You're an exception." Sombra growled, nodding in acknowledgment when Celestia took over, ensuring that at least for a short while, Cozy wouldn't be terrorizing anyone.

He turned his attention to Chrysalis and Tirek, just in time to see Rockhoof punched into the cavern wall, unable to do much without his strength. He ran back into the fight, but as time went on, he could tell that they were all losing. Starlight and Starswirl had the benefit of still having their magic, but they were soon growing tired when the three villains were still standing strong.

They fought valiantly, but soon they were growing tired from a battle they knew they couldn't win, and the advantage they had due to sheer size was waning as the three villains managed to wrestle some of the Pillars back into their cages. Sombra and Discord were unceremoniously thrown into another cavern together, this time green goo securely trapping them inside.

Eventually everyone who had managed to escape was trapped back inside, Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy laughing in delight at their handiwork. "Now we can hunt down the rest of them!" Tirek said with a grin, as they traveled up the steps to find Twilight and her friends.

Sombra scowled as he sulked in a corner of the cavern, refusing to even acknowledge Discord's presence in his magicless state. They really couldn't have imprisoned him anywhere else, could they? To be stuck with the draconequus who had started this whole mess; needless to say he wasn't pleased.

Discord didn't say anything either, probably because he didn't want to aggravate Sombra more than he already had. He honestly wasn't sure what to say which could possibly help mend things between them, even though he wanted to. Even though he initially hated Sombra due to his ego and rude behavior, he had grown to appreciate his friendship over time, and it made him feel guilty that he had ruined it.

After a lot of internal fighting, the draconequus let out a sigh as he tried to say something meaningful in apology. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for everything that I've done to you. I didn't fully understand who you were as a pony, and if I put it bluntly, I used you. Obviously I still have a lot to learn about friendship, and you don't have to forgive me. I just…felt like that was the right thing to say."

Sombra initially felt a slight inclination to forgive Discord, since he was able to tell that the draconequus' words were sincere. However, his pride took over, as he spared Discord a cold glare. He really thought that a simple apology would do it? Others may be more forgiving, but he didn't find it so easy to do that. Not when he was made to feel absolutely worthless and betrayed.

"So what did you understand about me then? That I was just a tool to do your bidding, and that if I got myself destroyed I wouldn't be worth reviving again because I wouldn't be mindlessly loyal?"

Discord shrunk back, averting his gaze since he knew what he did was horrible. "When you put it that way, it sounds horrible. Look, I know how terrible of a plan pretending to be Grogar was, and that I was treating you horribly in the process. I'm not asking for your forgiveness, just…letting you know that I wish I could take it back. Then again, I guess if I hadn't revived you in the first place we would've never been friends. That, I don't regret."

Sombra was left speechless, trying to keep his composure even if Discord's admission…kind of tugged at his heartstrings. These newfound emotions that he had buried before learning about friendship made him angry sometimes, that he couldn't continually show spite towards Discord since he was truly sorry.

Before he could respond, he started noticing the Pillars and the Princesses disappearing from their cells after being surrounded by a halo of white magic, his eyes wide from surprise as it looked like only he and Discord were left. "Wait, what's-"

He was soon transported to a field outside Canterlot, and looking around, he could tell Twilight had ultimately triumphed over Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy, as she hovered high in the air with the Pillars levitated at her side, surrounded by a purple magic aura.

"The Elements showed me and my friends how strong our friendship could be! Together we worked to bring harmony to Equestria! But there will always be more to do! Which is why we teach others about the Magic of Friendship! Others who will continue our mission after we are gone! Now I truly understand! The Elements were just symbols! The real magic has always been right here! And the more who understand how powerful friendship is, the stronger we will all be!"

As Twilight mentioned the respective groups, they flew in the air next to her as well, and Sombra could tell that friendship would definitely triumph over fear, just like he had predicted. He couldn't help the hint of a smile that was on his face as Twilight called out "Together!"

Just like that, three beams of rainbow magic shot out from the Pillars, the Mane Six, and the Young Six, meeting at Twilight who shot out a powerful beam of rainbow magic that banished the windigos who had been circling overhead. The rainbow beam then crashed down on the three villains, reverting them to their normal states as Grogar's Bell fell to the ground.

When all was said and done as the three groups landed on the ground, Chrysalis still tried to make one last stand, showing her foolishness. "You think friendship will save you!?! We will always return! Nothing will ever stop-"

She was interrupted by a giant cupcake which fell from the sky, as chocolate rain started pouring down. Spike licked his hand, greeted with the taste of chocolate. "Chocolate rain?" He asked, to which everyone gave Discord an accusatory look when he appeared from their vantage point on the hill.

"Don't look at me!" He protested, since he had no magic to speak of.

Pinkie then slowly rose up from the ground, holding Grogar's Bell as electricity sparked around her.

"Pinkie! You took Discord's magic from the Bell!?! How do you feel?" Twilight asked, concerned for her friend.

"Hmmm, tingly, itchy. Also like…"

Pinkie then grew to an enormous size as balloons and confetti flew everywhere, Sombra dreading the fact that they'd have to deal with another threat for the day. "I COULD TRANSFORM THE COSMOS SO EVERYTHING IS MADE OF ICING!"

Discord flew up to Pinkie, not planning on letting that happen. "Perhaps maybe I should…" He took the Bell from Pinkie's hoof, returning all the chaos magic to the Bell before giving it to himself, pleased when he could make a living pineapple with the snap of his fingers again.

He then appeared before the princesses and Sombra to give them their magic back, and with the sound of a ringing bell Sombra could feel the dark magic returning as his mane started flowing again, as he tested out a dark crystal to confirm that his dark magic was indeed back.

The three villains then emerged from the cupcake, before Celestia promptly approached them with a firm stomp of her front hoof. "There isn't a punishment worthy of all you've done!"

Discord then whispered in Celestia and Luna's ears, making Sombra wonder what he was up to. "Oh. That does seem fitting."

"May I help? Please?"

With those four words, the princesses and Discord promptly turned the three villains into a statue, which Sombra looked upon with slight amusement as he approached their frozen expressions of anger and shock. "Better them than me."

Discord nodded, grinning as he flicked the top of Chrysalis' horn. "Together forever. I can't think of anything that they would want less."

Everyone then cheered in celebration, Celestia approaching Twilight with a smile. "When I sent you to Ponyville, I had high hopes. When you became Princess of Friendship, I knew I made the right choice. But nothing could prepare me for how proud I am right now. Equestria is definitely in the right hooves. You are ready."

She and her sister then bowed in respect, Discord doing the same as Sombra watched them for a few seconds before sighing as he did the same, figuring that learning some humility would be necessary if he truly wanted to be reformed.

After going through so much and narrowly escaping defeat, he quite liked this outcome.

Chapter 27: The Last Problem

“You want to WHAAAT!?!”

Discord cringed as he plugged his ears with his deer antler and goat horn as he stood with Pikie in Sugarcube Corner, afraid he’d go deaf if Pinkie yelled like that one more time without ear protection. “I can hear perfectly fine, Pinkie, you don’t need to scream it!”

He had asked for a favor, a really big one from Pinkie. Sombra had retired to his castle suite right after Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow were defeated, probably because he was tired from the battle. However, Discord still felt pretty bad about what he had done, especially to Sombra since the former tyrant had never really given him a clear answer as to whether he accepted his apology or not.

After asking around his group of friends, he figured Pinkie’s advice was the best; get Sombra something that he’d enjoy. After all, everyone would appreciate a gift, right? So Discord put things together in his head and thought logically for once.

Sombra had mind controlled the Cakes during his conquering of Ponyville to make a black licorice fruitcake, so it'd be safe to assume that was his favorite type of cake. Pinkie knew how to make cakes, so if he made a black licorice fruitcake by himself and presented it to Sombra, that could be his olive branch to renew their friendship.

The only problem was that Pinkie was appalled that Discord wanted to give Sombra a cake she found absolutely disgusting.

“Well, yeah, but if you want to make a cake as a gift it should be a better one than that!”

Discord shook his head, looking unamused as he crossed his arms. “Pinkie, I don’t think you understand. I’m gifting the cake to Sombra, not you. Your tastes shouldn’t matter. Besides, it’d keep the cake safe from you taking a tax out of it.”

“Hey! I do not eat from customers’ cakes!” Pinkie protested, which Discord simply regarded with a raised eyebrow.

“…Well, maybe only one bite. But I guess you have a point; the cake is for Sombra, not me. I did say give him something he’d enjoy…alright, I’ll help you, as much as it pains me to waste flour, sugar, milk, and eggs. Now, have you made a cake before?”

“Not one that doesn’t talk. I suppose I could just snap one into existence, but the whole point is that I make it from scratch to show that I’m sorry.”

"Exactly! And making a cake is fun, in and of itself. I'm sure Sombra will love it!"

Pinkie beckoned Discord over to the kitchen, where they got right to work.

Sombra was relaxing in his castle suite, a well-deserved period of rest after his fight against Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow. He had been doing a lot of thinking, namely how he felt powerless when his magic was taken from him, yet fighting with his friends made him feel empowered in a way.

I suppose that's why learning teamwork is important. He thought to himself, before he scowled at the thought of why he had to fight in the first place. Discord had needlessly put Equestria in danger; the others might have forgiven him already since he redeemed himself by providing an opportunity for escape, but he wasn't so quick to forgive.

But he sounded genuine when he apologized to you, didn't he? Growling at the unwanted thoughts, he laid back on his bed, frustrated by how things weren't so straightforward, now that he was good. Before he could hold grudges without questioning it, but now he had a conscience that tirelessly worked to make him a better stallion. And it was working.

He was willing to admit that Discord didn't really know who he was initially, so his plan made sense if he only knew him as a ruthless dictator, but his point still stood. Discord knew that he trusted him enough to tell him about the situation with Grogar, and at that point he should've admitted his terrible plan.

That way, they could've prevented Discord from getting his magic stolen and the whole invasion of Canterlot from happening in the first place. But no, Discord just had to be an absolute dolt and go through with his plan, lying to Sombra that he'd inform everyone when he in fact did not.

Figuring that there was no use in belaboring over the past, he sighed as he looked out of the window from his bed, admiring the view. The castle was being rebuilt at a record pace, and once that was done, they could proceed with Twilight's coron-

A knock at the door snapped him out of his thoughts, and he got up to put his regal wear on to look presentable. Even after all this time he still liked to be seen as royalty, despite it being common knowledge now that he was just Sombra. His eyes went wide as he opened the door to see the one and only Discord, finding it strange that the draconequus had actually knocked.

"You actually knocked for once? Don't tell me you've lost your chaos magic again."

Discord laughed nervously, not really wanting to talk about that moment. "No, of course not! I just figured that you've always asked me to knock, so, I did. I know you're probably still tired, but I came by to give you something."

That piqued Sombra's interest, an eyebrow raised as he stepped aside. "Well, alright, come in, then."

Discord stepped inside, before transporting the cake he made with a snap of his fingers, along with a table for it to rest on. "I…I wanted to apologize. Yes, I know I already did that back in the dungeon, but I wanted to give something to you to show that I really want to make up for my mistakes. Pinkie told me your favorite cake is black licorice, so…I made one for you, with some help from her."

Sombra looked at it silently. It was quite a grand cake, and it did smell quite good. "Pinkie helped you make this?"

"You should actually be grateful that she hates this type of cake; it guarantees she didn't eat from it before I gave it to you." Discord said with a small smile, before deciding to say more. "I really have grown to appreciate your friendship over the time we've known each other, and I wanted to show it rather than saying it. So…let bygones be bygones?"

Sombra's gaze flitted between Discord and the cake, before he eventually gave in. He was already planning on forgiving the draconequus since he was obviously genuine, and this was just the icing on the cake, no pun intended. "…Fine, Discord, I forgive you. If you're willing to go through the trouble of making such a big cake for me, how can I say no?"

Discord grinned as he gave Sombra a hug, which took the former tyrant by surprise before he hesitantly hugged back, hoping that no one was witnessing this. "Do we really need to hug?"

Discord laughed, before pulling away. "Sombra, hugs and friendship are practically synonymous! Besides, no one's watching so if you still want the tough guy image, it's not ruined."

"I suppose you have a point…anyway, help me finish this cake. I don't have anywhere to store it." Sombra pointed out, not wanting to stay on mushy things for too long.

Discord nodded as he got to work, chatting with Sombra as they ate. He was glad things were back to normal after he had almost lost Sombra as a friend due to his badly thought out plan. He was well aware that he still had a lot to learn about friendship, and he liked to think this was another mistake he learned from.

Sombra headed towards the plaza in front of the newly rebuilt castle to help set up the tables for the coronation once again. He found it quite tedious that he had to help with reparations again, but at least he could be assured that this time nothing would go wrong.

He was surprised to see that his work was already done, though; it seemed all the ponies in charge were on edge and trying to get everything done early, and he was met by a nerdy-looking unicorn, who was holding up a list.

"Ah, Sombra! Sorry, we forgot that your original assignment was to help set up the tables, but I suppose you could walk around and ensure everything is set up correctly. While you're at it, you can find the table you're assigned to. We have little cards on there with ponies' names on them."

"Alright then." Sombra replied, as he walked around each table that was set up. There were probably at least 15 tables to handle all of the guests, especially since species other than ponies would be in attendance. Everything looked in place, and Sombra was impressed that whoever set these tables up managed to get it done so fast while being accurate.

When he got to his table, however, his eyes went wide in surprise. Now whoever decided who was assigned to which table? He wanted to speak with that pony, as he held the little card up with his magic.

It read himself, Discord, Prince Shining Armor, Princess Cadance, and Princess Flurry Heart.

He really had to question the logic of whoever thought it was a good idea to put him with the rulers of the Crystal Empire, especially since they had never met face to face during the entire process of his reformation. Not that he feared meeting them, but he knew it would be awkward, and he wanted to avoid that if possible.

Initially, he wanted to find who decided to put him and his former enemies together at a table, until he started to think that maybe it was a good idea after all. Yes, he didn't particularly like the idea, but it was probably good to clear the air with the rulers of the Crystal Empire in the present time.

Yes, he was willing to admit that he was no longer the king of the Crystal Empire, even if it still stung a bit. He would show that maturity, and maybe, just maybe, he could be let back into the Crystal Empire. Once he had finished checking all of the tables to ensure that everything was set up, ponies and other creatures of all kinds started streaming in.

He waited at his own table, seated on the stool provided as he idly wondered what they were planning on serving as he saw the empty glasses. A burst of chaos magic was his only warning before Discord appeared in his stool, grinning as Sombra regarded him with a nod.

"You don't even react anymore! How boring." Discord said with a pout.

"I've been around you long enough to know that you could appear at any moment. Besides, I was expecting you." Sombra replied, as he pointed at the card on their table with the names.

"Ah, yes, a pony was greeting us as we streamed in and told us where we'd be sitting! So, is it just the two of us, or-" Discord stopped in his tracks as he picked up the card and read it, having a surprised expression on his face. "Oh. Well that was…unexpected. Even for my standards!"

"I had the same reaction as well, to be honest. No matter; it's probably best that I meet them and get it over with. I do hope that I can return to the Crystal Empire someday, since it's my true home."

"Hm, I'm not entirely sure how the Crystal Ponies would feel about that, to be honest." Discord remarked, looking thoughtful as he stroked his goatee with an eagle claw. "For what it's worth, I think you've more than proved yourself to be good now, and there's no reason for Cadance and Shining Armor to think otherwise. I mean, you've been free all this time, and nothing was stopping you from trying to take over the Crystal Empire again."

Right as Discord finished saying that, Cadance, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart arrived, the royal couple looking quite shocked that Sombra was at their table before they quickly recovered, trying to look somewhat cordial while Flurry made her displeasure known.

Flurry scowled, making a fuss as she made a magic bubble around her to protect herself, Cadance quickly smothering the yellow magic with a wing in an attempt to not insult Sombra when she had heard how the former tyrant was turning over a new leaf.

"Sombra. It's nice to see you; Twilight told us all about how you helped in the fight against Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow." Cadance greeted, as she sat down on a stool next to her husband.

"Hey, I did too!" Discord pointed out, only to be on the receiving end of a glare from Sombra since this wasn't the time.

"Yes, well, it was the right thing to do. I'm glad that we succeeded, so that you and Prince Shining Armor would not have to become the last line of defense for Equestria." Sombra replied, trying to not look awkward as more ponies streamed in to watch Twilight's coronation.

"We're certainly glad that wasn't the outcome either." Shining agreed, sitting on his stool next to his wife as the Pillars of Equestria got seated behind them.

Discord sighed as he decided to try to make things less awkward, even if making small talk wasn't his forte. "So…must've been a long train ride from the Crystal Empire, hm? All worth it to see Twilight become the next ruler of Equestria though, no doubt."

"Yes, and I suppose I should just address the elephant in the room since I can tell things are awkward. I'll admit, Shining and I didn't think your reformation would be successful, but I can tell that you've changed for the better, and I really appreciate that. Both of us do." Cadance said, Shining nodding in agreement.

"The Crystal Ponies however don't feel the same way; they probably need more time to digest that you're not who they remember anymore. I don't know whether you want to stay here or go back to the Crystal Empire, but we'd be happy to have you back, after some time has passed. We can always send you a letter when we think it's the right time for you to return." Shining offered, which surprised Sombra since he didn't think they'd be so forgiving.

"I would be honored to return at some point, and I'm grateful for your forgiveness. I've been learning more about friendship through my time with Twilight and her friends, and it wouldn't hurt to learn a bit more before I return." Sombra agreed, Discord smiling since he was happy for his friend being allowed back into the Crystal Empire, at least at some point in the future.

They had settled into a comfortable silence for only around five minutes before Princess Celestia and Luna came out onto the balcony of the castle, smiling as the coronation got underway. "Citizens of Equestria, and beyond!"

A raucous sound of cheering came from the crowd gathered, full of dragons, changelings, yaks, and other creatures.

"My sister and I have ruled this land for quite some time, but even we know that change eventually comes to us all. And though we know it can be unsettling, it's as natural as the rising and setting of the sun and the moon. Both of which my sister and I feel confident leaving in the hooves of the pony who will come after us."

Celestia paused to look behind her, checking that Twilight was ready for her coronation, before continuing on. "And so without further ado, I give you the new ruler of Equestria, Princess Twilight Sparkle!"

As Twilight walked out, she tripped over her gown, causing the entire crowd to gasp as Sombra could feel the second-hoof embarrassment. She quickly got up, however, smiling sheepishly as Celestia and Luna merged their two crowns into one for Twilight.

Obviously, Twilight was supposed to be surrounded peacefully by birds and butterflies, before the routine obviously went wrong as they surrounded her too closely and haphazardly flew off as two swans lowered the crown on Twilight's head. The Wonderbolts then flew in with shades of purple trails behind them, fireworks going off around them.

The fireworks made them fall out of the sky, causing the swans to let go of the crown and send it flying into the air. Twilight then proceeded to leap off of the balcony to catch the crown, causing the entire crowd to gasp once again, including Sombra who didn't expect Twilight to do such a foolish thing.

She slowly flew into the air, looking quite embarrassed as Applejack tried to save the coronation with a toast to Twilight. That is, until waiters started pouring pitchers of…applesauce? Certainly an unconventional choice of drink. Sombra thought, Shining and Cadance looking similarly confused.

"…This is applesauce." Sombra stated matter-of-factly, unsure if this was some sort of joke as he held the glass of applesauce in his hoof.

"Yes, and you're a pony." Discord replied sarcastically, laughing as he "drank" his applesauce, soon getting Shining, Cadance and Flurry to laugh as well.

"I think Applejack got the order wrong." Shining said, as he drank from his glass.

"We'll have to check on Twilight, to ensure she isn't too mortified." Cadance added with a small chuckle, as Sombra sighed.

This was some coronation, alright…

"Sombra, a letter for you."

Sombra looked up from his desk in the Crystal Castle, motioning the royal guard to come forward with a hoof. "From who?"

"Princess Twilight Sparkle."

"Ah, thank you. Just leave it on the desk, and I'll open it."

The royal guard nodded as he dropped the scroll on Sombra' desk and promptly left, leaving the royal advisor to open it. After several years of Princess Twilight's rule, Cadance and Shining agreed that Sombra could come back, and although he got an icy reception from the Crystal Ponies at first, he slowly, but surely, earned their trust when it became clear he no longer meant them any harm.

Besides, he had already served punishment enough from being imprisoned and getting his magic taken away from him. Many years after that, once Flurry Heart had become a grown mare, Cadance and Shining agreed to retire, Flurry acceding to the throne in a grand coronation ceremony not unlike Twilight's.

He was then appointed as her royal advisor due to his "experience" in leadership, which he was happy to do since it meant he had truly gained back the trust of the ponies of the Crystal Empire. He really didn't actually have to step in as much since Flurry was a mature and intelligent leader, but she still consulted him from time to time which helped in giving him a sense of purpose.

A quick read of the scroll alerted him that he should travel to Ponyville to share his wisdom with her top student, Luster Dawn. Apparently, she was so focused on her studies that she didn't think friendship was worth learning about, and Twilight thought that he could provide a unique perspective that Luster would appreciate.

The trip wouldn't be a problem; he could easily travel long distances in a short period of time in his shadow form. However, he figured he should probably tell Flurry about his travel plans, in case she needed him for something during the short period of time that he'd be gone. Well maybe longer, if he was accosted by Discord during his time in Ponyville.

He got up from his desk in his office, pushing the double doors open to head into the throne room. Royal guards regarded him with a nod of respect as he passed by, a far cry from the reactions to him back in the Crystal Empire a decade ago.

He pushed open the doors leading to the throne room, Flurry regarding him with a smile as she put down a scroll that she was writing on, probably to negotiate diplomacy with the Changeling Kingdom as they had discussed earlier that day. "Sombra! Any news from King Thorax?"

"Unfortunately not. I actually came to inform you that my presence was requested by Princess Twilight; she has a student that she wants me to advise about friendship. I shouldn't be long; at least, not if Discord demands that we catch up."

Flurry giggled holding a hoof to her mouth at the mention of Discord. "He shouldn't, not from how many times he pops in out of nowhere to visit! That's completely fine though, Sombra. I'm sure you can share some good wisdom with her; Thorax is a great leader to talk to, anyway. I'll manage."

"Thank you." Sombra said before he left, promptly turning to shadow to head towards Ponyville. As he traversed the Frozen North to get to his destination, he couldn't help but think about where his life had taken him over what was in reality many years, even if it felt like the day he was imprisoned was yesterday.

If he had stayed banished into the ice of the Frozen North, he would have never had the chance to redeem himself. Back then, he wouldn't have even dreamed of accepting friendship, believing that ruling by force and fear was better. After everything he had been through, however, he was sure of one thing.

He wouldn't have it any other way.