Sunlight

Chapter 2 - The Question

In the grand council room, just off the throne room, ten ponies were deep in debate.

It was amazing, Sunburst thought, and hard to believe, that he was sitting here across the table from two princesses and a prince, flanked by heroes of Equestria. They wanted him of all ponies to help decide what to do with the captured King Sombra.

“He’s tried to take over twice now.” Rarity said, tapping her hoof on the table for emphasis “And he’s dangerous!”

“But is he?” Applejack countered. “He seemed a lot weaker this time… and he got even weaker during the fight. Can you really believe that somepony as dangerous as the King Sombra we faced just a few years ago was taken out that easily?”

She shook her head, her loose straw-colored ponytail swishing from side to side. “Something’s different this time.”

“Maybe.” Rarity said, leaning forwards in her chair. She wore the same expression Sunburst had seen when she was considering a tricky stitch on one of Cadence’s formal gowns. “But can we contain him? Even weakened, he’s sure to be a slippery rogue.”

“His cell is designed to prevent escape by magical means,” said Shining Armor. “And he’s woken up a couple times. Briefly.”

He glanced sidelong at Pinkie Pie, who was lounging sideways across her chair, humming cheerfully as she pretended to play her frying pan like a ukulele. “If he could get out, I think he would have by now.”

“So we can hold him,” said Twilight, straight-backed and tense. “Can we really change him? You heard him, he wants ‘his’ Empire back.”

She looked over to Princess Cadence, who was leaning back in her chair and resting her muzzle against her hoof. She rarely became so pensive, in Sunburst’s experience. They waited for her to answer. After a minute, she looked up and - did… did she look at him? It was such a quick glance, but he thought she must have. Her blue eyes had locked on his, before turning to her husband, and then Twilight.

“We have done this before.” she said evenly. “You have, rather.”

Twilight’s frown deepened. Cadence reached over and rested her hoof on her shoulder, and smiled softly. Something seemed to pass between them, and Twilight sighed loudly before relaxing her shoulders.

“Yeah…” she said, with the air of a lightly scolded child.

“We took a chance on Discord,” said a soft voice on Sunburst’s far left.

They all looked over at Fluttershy, who up until now had sat quietly - just listening, as she preferred.

“Yeah, we took a chance on Discord.” said Rainbow Dash, on his right. “And we could barely contain him. For pony’s sake, he was messing with reality for fun!”

“But he changed.” said Fluttershy, much more firmly. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she regarded Rainbow Dash. “Discord just wanted chaos. He learned he could be himself and have fun being chaotic without destroying everyone else’s lives.”

“And!” she said with finality, “he learned he could have friends to share it with.”

There was a long pause as they considered her words.

Then Starlight spoke, her voice was as soft as Fluttershy’s.

“You gave me a second chance.” she said simply, looking down at the table.

When no one said anything, she continued.

“You took a huge risk, giving me a chance for redemption. And… and I’m so grateful that you did.” Then Starlight looked Twilight directly in the eyes. “Why shouldn’t Sombra get one too?”

That was a difficult point to argue with, it seemed. Sunburst considered his friend, brow furrowed. Discord had been causing chaos for the fun of it. Starlight had messed with time - one of - if not the - most dangerous uses of magic.

But that wasn’t what had upset him. Sunburst was so happy to have her back in his life, and treasured all the time they had spent together. But every moment was tinged with regret. It was his fault, he knew. If only he hadn’t let their friendship drop so easily, if he’d kept in contact, if he had been there for her. If she hadn’t felt so alone, looked for something to blame.

She should have blamed him.

“So… how do we do it?” he heard someone say. Pulling himself back to the present, he looked up. Applejack had spoken. Right. Need to pay attention, Sunburst. Important meeting. Yep.

…

How could they do that, actually? Sunburst considered it for a moment.

“What worked with Discord?” he asked, looking over at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy explained, how things had played out with Discord. How trying to force him to behave had only led to more chaos. How she had struck up a friendship with him and, when he had realized that his friendship with her meant more to him than he’d thought, he’d agreed to calm it down. Mostly.

“You showed him that friends were something he valued.” Sunburst said, summarizing. “You gave him something worth changing for.”

“You did something similar for me.” Starlight said. “You gave me something I hadn’t had for a long time. You told me I didn’t have to be alone.”

Sunburst felt a sinking sensation in his chest, and looked down at the table. Then he looked up, as a new resolve filled him.

“We should give Sombra that same chance.” he said, glancing at Starlight before averting his eyes. “Everyone… everyone should have that chance…”

Out of the corner of his eye, he was sure he saw Cadence gazing intently at him. But when he looked towards her, she was looking at her husband.

“I agree.” she said. “Shining?”

Cadence placed her hoof on his foreleg. After a moment, he nodded, putting his own on top of hers.

“Me too,” he said, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

“Very well,” said Twilight, standing up with a sigh. Then she smiled and chuckled.

“Well!” she exclaimed, clapping her hooves together. “Who wants to make friends with an evil king?”