The former king sat quietly in the small meeting room, the empty chair from across the desk soon to have Starlight Glimmer. The mare was taking a while, speaking with the guard ponies first. Sombra could not hear them with the door shut, neither could he use his magic to amplify his hearing.

After a minute the mare unlocked the door and entered, sitting across from sombra. She set her elbows on the top and used her magic to push a button on a small box. It began whirring and crackling, the small bands in the window rotating on cylinders. Starlight spoke first, calm and with an elevated mood, despite her expression being blank. “How’ve you been doing Sombra?”

“Good…” the stallion was also calm, reflecting on his week.

Starlight smiled, “Good, how about Ponyville? You’ve seen quite a bit of it and the ponies.”

“Hm, I would not pick it to retire.” Sombra grinned, “As much as I appreciate the help, I haven’t forgotten what you did.”

Smile gone, Starlight nodded slowly. “I see, well…”
She leaned back in her seat, “Can we talk about your past? Just give me some general perspectives.”

There was a moment of thought, and he took a breath. “I might have done some things ponies would say are ‘horrible’. But I am justified in those actions, whether they believe or not.”

Starlight’s eyes widened, very noticeable to Sombra.

“But I will try your way, if it is as beneficial as you say.”

The headmare smiled again, “It’s more than beneficial, it’s the only way to live.”

Sombra glanced away, “I… I want to do better.”

Having a more pleased look, Starlight slid some papers over in front of Sombra. “You can fill these out.”
Sombra began looking over the documents as Starlight spoke.

“You’ll be heading back to Canterlot soon, so if there’s anything you’d like to do here better decide fast.”

Sombra huffed with a sarcastic grin, “Back with little-miss-cheery, maybe staying here won’t be so bad.”

Two carriages slowed to a halt one after the other, the two guards and Sombra standing just on the side of the road. Sombra rolled his eyes at seeing the rear one, bars filled the windows and large locks on the door. Then out stepped the princess, expression souring as she saw the grey stallion.

Starlight stood by, papers levitating beside her. Twilight approached her first, casting side eyes at the prisoner.

“Hey Starlight,” She leaned down to hug her friend, “How’s it been?”

Starlight smiled, pleased with the results. “Very good, I think he’ll do well with Celestia and Luna.”

Twilight gave a less enthusiastic glance at the stallion, just as he was stepping into the strong car. Starlight brought her back with an assuring hoof on her shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry so much. He’s wearing the inhibitor, and you’ll have both princesses with you.”

Starlight then passed the stack of documents to her, “Not that he’ll do anything rash, I’m certain.”

Twilight glanced at the papers, and smiled faintly at her friend, still weary. After one more hug, Twilight stepped onto her chariot. Starlight stepped back as the convoy readied to leave, but she stopped short as Sombra caught her eye again. His eyes read annoyed and tired. The massive iron yoke that was bolted to the floor of the carriage only allowed him to sit hunched over due to his size. He saw Starlight watching, a begging look as the guards readied to lock him down. The mare walked over and levitated the harness off of him, to the surprised expressions of the guards.

“You won’t be needing that.” Starlight looked around at the guards.

The armored ponies looked at Twilight, who showed no objection, only a blank look. Starlight looked at her, smiling with a nod. The carriages rolled away now, and lifted into the air. Now it was a matter of time until there was another visit scheduled to drop off Sombra again.

Hopefully he doesn’t screw this up… Hopefully Twi doesn’t either…

Author's Note

never intended to be a super long story. but just a thing to kinda fill the gap so i can clear the air around Sombra appearing around the main six.

(was also really difficult to write, idk how to do this)