Redemption's Shadow

Ponyville - Blue's House

As the day went on, eventually Rainbow and Applejack left the house, leaving the two stallions to clean up afterward. Soon Sombra collapsed to the sofa "Ah, peace and quiet..."

Blue yawned slightly "Yeah...but it was fun. I always enjoy talking with other ponies" He said smiling as he sat next to the collapsed stallion, his eyes then darted back to the newspaper "Though...I'm still rather pissed about that fucking thing..."

Sombra pulled the stallion closer, resting his head on the stallion's lap: "Mmh... it bothers you? I admit, I do not enjoy the thought to some rat with a camera being able to go unnoticed by a royal guard and well, me. Though, the Princesses' spell has dulled my senses, but...I do have to ask."

Sombra moved a bit, his hoof directing Blue's gaze to his eyes: "Does it bother you because you wish it stayed a secret? Do you... want me to be a secret?" Sombra kept his voice even, but he felt a terrifying cold in the pit of his stomach. He was used to being unwanted, even a secret, but for some reason it hurt so much more now, the off chance that Blue was ashamed.

Blue looked to him "No...It bothers me because I was having a very nice moment with you..." He said "And the fact I have to worry about ponies spying on us now pisses me off" He said "I don't want you to be a secret no...I just would have preferred I tell The Princess something like that myself."

"Ah." The stallion's voice is nonplussed, but his expression betrays his emotions, the deep red blush visible. "I... thank you, I suppose I admit, I am... tired. I'm not much for long periods of social interaction, and the two certainly filled whatever need for interaction I had. Do you mind if I close my eyes just for a moment? You are warm and I enjoy being close to you."

"Of course...I don't mind what so ever" He said, smiling softly as he continued playing with the stallion's mane, softly looking at him with relaxed eyes.

The stallion quickly drifted to sleep, his breath steady as his mane curled slightly around Blue's hoof, the stallion just stared at Sombra, smiling softly the entire time as he did...he had no idea why but...he felt happy...truly he did feel happy around this stallion. It was a feeling Blue hadn't felt in quite some time. He enjoyed how soft and warm the stallion felt on him.

With Sombra however things felt different, he knew his reformation was going to be a controversy, but not in this angle. Surely there were many who disagreed, that was certain, but he imagined it would have come from the fearful masses. The Princesses had set in place every conceivable precaution they could think of, so unless they doubted their own system, deploying reporters made little sense. Discord wasn't in the habit of enjoying gossip columns, or giving heed to something so easy, the very creature loved a challenge.

Canterlot - Royal Castle

It was four o'clock in the afternoon, Princess Luna realized she should be asleep, but she figured she should stay up to see the end of both shifts, as there had been a lot of reports coming in between the shift changes of Day and Nightguards. Luna wanted to personally see to it that things were going accordingly.

As she walked down the halls of the castle, she would see many of the guards from her sister's battalion, keeping an eye on the capitol building and doing their rounds as per usual, as she continued on her way she'd stop at her sister's office, opening it.

There Celestia sat at her desk, trying to focus on the paperwork currently before her, and not feel a sense of being overwhelmed by the height of the stack that sat on her desk in the inbox. However what seemed to be annoying the sun princess was how it managed to sit on her desk while simultaneously conveying an utterly dull sense of superiority over her, almost as if it were mocking her with its presence.

Luna smirked softly as she entered the room "Enjoying the day's reports dear sister?"

She glared at the stack of documents in annoyance, and then in a moment of immortal immaturity, stuck her tongue out at the pile before addressing Luna "Oh yes I am...oh so enjoying them" she said, sighing softly "Is there something I can help you with dear sister?"

"Yes, I wanted to give you the most recent report from General Blue"

Celestia paused as she pulled open the top drawer on the right side of her desk, before pulling out a manila file folder and setting it down on the top of the desk. "Ah excellent, Twilight will be happy to have an update to the file, please to tell me."

"Well, from what I have been told by the General, it seems that Sombra has begun to show a lot of positive changes in his behavior and personality, it especially seems that Sombra has become quite a different pony altogether, but only around the General." Luna said "Though, that's not without issues. Sombra still has a tendency to show and speak negative actions, such as wanting to curse ponies or wish them harm. However I have been assured by the General that Sombra has never once acted upon such threats."

Celestia was about to ask what she meant when it came to Sombra's negative actions, but stopped herself just before the words could get out. She knew that Blue was quite the honest stallion, however she also knew from Luna that he had done some questionable things during the Zeebra Crisis.

"Honestly Tia, though I don't trust Sombra completely, I do trust my General...and if what he is telling me is true, then perhaps your pupil's new reformation program is worth something after all."

"Perhaps so yes...Twilight was always one step ahead of us on all of these issues." Celestia said, using her magic to write down notes and what she was told. "However I still worry about Sombra's Umbrum half...we may have cast a spell to prevent him from using his dark magic, but we can't be so sure that he won't break free of the spell."

And then Celesta heard a familiar throat-clear behind Luna, and immediately leaned over to see a guard standing behind her. All negative thoughts suddenly vanished as a sense of professionalism. "Yes Private Ranks? How can I help you?"

"E-er...hello ma'am...I'm sorry if I interrupted something" He said, speaking with a slight stutter.

"No no, you are perfectly fine Ranks...please tell me, what seems to be the issue." She asked, smiling softly.

Ranks would huff slightly, as he took out a folded newspaper from his bag, handing it over to Princess Luna, who was close to him. "Erm...I figured you two would wanna take a look at this..."

Using her magic to levitate the newspaper over to her, she would unfold it and look upon the front cover, her face immediately going sour upon seeing it.

"Luna? What's the prob-" She spoke, getting up and walking over to the newspaper herself. As she looked at the sight before her. There in the article was a photo of Blue and Sombra kissing each other, as well as a photo of them at dinner. The caption reading 'King of Darkness finds new love?' the entire article was worded either as slander to Sombra or concern over his return. Some of it even goes into detail about Blue and him being seduced or mind-controlled.

"Luna...I believe we now know why Sombra seemed to have calmed his demeanor while with Blue..." Celestia said.

"Yes...I do believe that seems to be the case" Luna said, sighing softly as she put the newspaper down on Celestia's desk "Knowing General Blue, I assume he will come to me shortly about this. We will have to talk about this with him and Sombra when they come."

"Are you so certain Sombra will come?" Celestia asked.

"Yes...I have faith in my general...even if his decisions can sometimes become...questionable..." Luna said, sighing softly before she looked to Ranks "Thank you for bringing this to our attention Sir Ranks, you are dismissed"

Ranks would solute, walking out of the door and going back to his duties in the castle, Celestia and Luna then looking to each other in acknowledgment as they left each other to their duties.

Ponyville - Blue's House

Sombra woke softly, blinking his eyes as he woke to the sound of the oven being opened. The smell of fresh food made his ears perk up and his nose sniffing the delicious smell, he looked over and saw Blue smiling and cleaning up the kitchen, as he stretched himself out, walking over to the kitchen.

"You cleaning all by yourself? why don't you let me help?"

"Nah its fine, its a good distraction for me." Blue said smiling he then huffed softly "Sombra...there is something we should discuss" he said quietly, he felt bad about ruining the moment, but he didn't want to forget.

"What is it..?" The stallion asked.

"The Article from this morning...pony who wrote it...he was from Canterlot" Blue softly explained "I don't necessarily think it was a coincidence somepony from Canterlot just happened to be here in Ponyville around the time we were out at dinner...Canterlot and Ponyville are very far away from each other..."

"Half a day in train and a week with steady march. I knew my redeeming would be a hot topic but... you think somepony's been following us for longer?" Sombra pulled away and sat up, serious. "It could also be a case of nosey neighbors."

"I know my neighbors, they don't snoop. I don't know why but I get the feeling somepony wants something to do with you" Blue said.

Sombra paused for a moment: "That's a long list. Half of Canterlot Nobles are probably threatened by me redeeming, other half by if I do not. Crystal Empire... well, better I stay away from there. Then there's those that doubt my sincerity in redeeming -not helped by Discord's little puppet of me showing off how dangerous I can be- and I know Princesses have their doubts."

Sombra took a moment to breathe: "...and I doubt myself. I...I was a weapon all my life, I thought I was going to be the wicked witch to... to my friend's brave Princess. What if.. if this is just a calm before the storm and I fail my redeeming? What if I do not redeem fast enough?"

"Hay...look at me" Blue said, using his hoof to gently guide his gaze to him "I won't let you go down that path...I'm here to help you, I will make sure you show all those ponies you're capable of change." He said "And I most certainly won't let some snobby nobles say otherwise...I work with them on a daily basis and if I could? Half their muzzles would be broken by now."

Sombra smiled a little: "That does make me feel better."

He snuggled the stallion gently, his head nuzzling Blue's cheek causing the stallion to blush softly. "I promise you, I won't let anything bad happen. Not while I'm your guardian" He said smiling softly "However...this does mean we need to start looking into this probably."

Sombra frowned, and thought: "I think we need to travel to Canterlot."

"If we do, we run the risk of the reporter following us...how good is your telleportation skills?" He asked.

"...with the Princesses' spell...I would be lucky if I can teleport out of town limits." Without it, I suppose I could reach close to Canterlot. Having never been there, teleporting is...difficult and dangerous."

The stallion blushed a little, his ears laid flat against his head, and the scowl on his face betrayed how much this fact angered him. He felt handicapped.

"If that's the case...we can take the risk of going by train" He said.

"What, a week-long march isn't your speed?" Sombra hissed, then shook his head. "No, that...Came out wrong. The train is good."

"Hay... don't worry you're frustrated I get it.." He said "Just take some breaths and calm your mind..."

Sombra frowned: "...a bit, yes. We need to get the train tickets, but...well, storming the news headquarters shouldn't be too difficult...Should be able to intimidate a paltry reporter..."

"I was suggesting we talk to the Princess first actually...knowing them they have seen the report, and while we may have talked to some of the Mane 6 about it, I think telling them in person would better defend ourselves"

Sombra held back expressing his displeasure. He loathed the idea of interacting with the Princesses, and the only thing worse was to ask for their help. But Blue had a point. They didn't fully know how much the princesses knew, and at least by explaining the situation...perhaps some of the more drastic actions towards them could be avoided.

Sombra grit his teeth; the thought that Blue might be reassigned, replaced by somepony less... enthusiastic to their task would mean what Sombra equaled to a house arrest. He did not enjoy the thought.

"...your words carry merit. You would have made good council back in the day."

Blue smiled "Don't worry, I will do most of the talking. I have a feeling that Celestia and Luna will be reasonable with me, Twilight is rarely at Canterlot and Cadence is always in the Empire so we wont have to deal with all four of them" He said "And if Cadence were there and she said something, she wouldn't hear the end of it from me."

Sombra gave a dry laugh: "Hmm... my knight in shining armor."

Blue chuckled "In any case, let's get some sleep...we have a long day prepared for tomorrow as well as a long trip" Blue said smiling softly as he walked away from Sombra to head up the stairs. "Sleep well Sombra, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Even if Sombra tried to convince Blue of being relieved, inward he still felt worry and annoyance. Because of the articles, he had to lay low and make no suspicious movements. Which meant a night spent with an empty stomach, as he couldn't slip out to feed. With reluctance, he closed his eyes, thinking that before they left tomorrow, he'd need something meaty to eat.