True Colors

by AmpUpHeart

Transmission

The storm was coming in fast. The winds were blowing to the point of trees being uprooted. A guard stood at the door from the inside. He couldn't help but think of Sombra as he glanced out the window at the darkening sky.

'So Raven was Sombra,' he thought, 'I always had a minor suspicion about him. How do we know that he has changed his ways?'

A knock sounded at the enormous palace door.

'Who would be outside at this hour?' He thought. He opened the door and saw a familiar navy blue unicorn. And not Raven.

"Push Play!" He exclaimed, "What are you doing here!?"

"Despite the weather, my boss, Rewind, insisted that I come here to get some more hoofage of the empire and Clarity," Play answered.

"Not Raven?" The guard asked, before stopping himself, "Not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with it!"

"What do you mean?" Play asked.

"Nothing," the guard said, "Never mind."

Play looked at the guard suspiciously.
'Does he have something against Raven?' He thought. 'He must. Raven WAS Sombra, after all. I bet that he's not the only crystal pony who has a grudge against Raven. I might want to talk to someone about it.'

Rewind also seemed to have something against the prince-turned-tyrant. Play recalled the conversation he had with his boss just before he boarded the train.

'Don't worry about Raven!' Rewind had said, 'From how he's supposedly been acting, don't try to force the camera on him!'

Play had boarded the train, thinking about why Rewind was being so empathetic towards Raven's distant attitude.

'Rewind never says to not force someone into the spotlight,' Play thought. 'Come to think of it, he never said anything specific about Raven's behavior. It's like he thinks that.... Raven is trying to plot something!

Oh, geez, I need to tell Clarity about this. If many other ponies are like this, then Raven is going to have one heck of a time settling in.'

The guard cleared his throat, snapping Play out of his trance.

"Sorry," Play said, covering his tracks, "I was thinking about catching up with the recent events in the Crystal Empire. By the way, do you know where Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor are?"

"They should be in the mane throne room," the guard replied, "If you'd like, I'll escort you."

"No, thank you," Play said, walking off. With what just happened, he wanted nothing to do with that guard.
.........................

The howling winds outside echoed through the corridors as Play strolled through them, thinking as he went.

'I'm going to have to survey the other guards about the thought of Raven being here in the castle. I'm honestly surprised that he wasn't immediately thrown into a dungeon cell. I trust him as much as Clarity does, but for all I know, he might as well have the steel armor and the smoky eyes. That's what everyone else is seeing.

'Why are we reacting this way? This is a mirror image of Luna's return, but the ponies accepted her almost immediately. The closest thing to hatred was when the foals played scared in her presence. That's something I may want to talk to Cadance about...'

He found himself at the doorway to the throne room, where he saw Cadance and Shining Armor talking about the approaching storm. The royal ponies fell silent when they saw the unicorn. They looked at him, mildly surprised.

"Long story short, Rewind told me to come," Play said, resulting in a look of realization on both ponies' faces.

"So, what made him want you to come here?" Shining said.

"More info on Clarity, actually," Play answered.

"Not Raven?" Cadance said.

"Even though he's never even met him, he trusts that stallion as far as he can throw him."

"Which I can only assume is not very far," Shining said, "But I don't blame him."

"Honey!" Cadance said.

"I'm not saying that I don't trust him," Shining said, "But as the captain of the guard, I know the feelings of hatred and fear when fighting a threat to Equestria. I understand why these ponies fear Raven. Even I can't shake off the feeling that he may have a bit of darkness left in him."

"But why did no one act this way when Luna returned?" Play asked, rolling his camera.

"My guess is since few ponies remembered Nightmare Moon," Cadance said, "She was viewed as a villain that was an easy-come-easy-go type. After all, it was only mere minutes before Celestia banished her. Plus, many of the ponies who knew about her knew that she was a corruption of Luna. Raven, on the other hoof, was the polar opposite of all of this. No one knew who he was. He successfully took over the empire for weeks. The crystal ponies suffered the same time jump that affected the empire, so the memories of Sombra's rule were, and still are, fresh in their minds."

"That makes sense," Play said, shutting off the camera, "So where's Clarity? I honestly want to talk to her about this."

"Not Raven?" Shining said.

"I don't want him to see the full extent of the distrust," Play said, "At least not yet."

"That makes sense," Shining said, "He's been pretty distant with all of us except for Clarity. Good luck."

"With what?" Play asked.

"Everything," Shining answered.

Author's Note:

In Zedd's album, "Beautiful Now" comes before "Transmission," but I couldn't see the chapter having that name. Plus, if you listen to "Transmission," the mood sort of fits with the chapter, even though the lyrics have nothing to do with it.