Through a miraculous and cruel twist of fate, Sombra has survived death yet again. However, his many defeats have left him broken and near feral, and the Princesses see no option but to lock him away. Starlight Glimmer, seeing more than the rage and hate the others see, feels pity for the fallen king, and offers to take Sombra under her care to try and reform him.
She quickly finds out Sombra's more broken than anyone believes, and it's going to be a rocky road to redemption, but even the darkest shadows can take solace in the starlight.
Cover art drawn by my sister, linked in the art itself.
Chapters (21)
Ooooo Starlight and Sombra fall in love during this!!!!!!
I am sooooo calling it right now.
Sombra is a bad pony, but seeing him like this is painful honestly. The state of his cell, his mind, and the realization setting in that his days of being emperor of the Crystal Empire have likely left him broken. He effectively has nothing to his name but the fur on his back, maybe the flies. Beyond that the amount of pain he’s like endured after being supposedly destroyed more then once hasn’t helped his state of mind either.
Don't sell yourself short, Starlight. You are absolutely Princess material.
1. I am glad I'm not the only one that writes my stories out before had.
2. Celestia and Luna had no right to attack Sombra he was out of their domain. And you do not go and tell a king how to run his kingdom.
9759358
What? But there's not even a romance tag!
At least not yet.9760281
As much as I like Sombra as a character, he is still a villain, and I have to admit the Sisters attacking him was completely justified. As of right now they're still the overall rulers of Equestria after all, and the Crystal Empire was and is a part of that, even if it's always had a ruler of its own. Not to mention he did lay siege to Canterlot in the Beginning of the End.
Unless you mean it should be Cadence that decides his fate? Or the way Celestia and Luna captured him? Because in that case he was attacking the guards and wasn't exactly physically or emotionally stable, and they couldn't exactly let a feral half ghost stay loose in their castle, especially when that feral half ghost is someone who manipulated the entire kingdom.
Good start!! The story got my interest✨💕,good luck with rest☺❤
9760374
I ment a thousand years ago when he first appeared.
Poor Sombra,his state broke my heart))):
9760540
Ah, well, there still is the factor that he is a slave driver as Twilight brought up already, plus I did mention this story heavily references the comics so there's a few factors there. So the Princesses had a very good reason to take him down.
9760546
Oh, I can't get my hands on the comic books so I see Sombra as a regular unicorn. I mean Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Martin all owned slaves, and P. T. Barnum was an abusive, racists slave driver and he was considered a genius for his circus. I mean he has a movie sheesh. Is it really hard to believe that Celestia and Luna didn't have slave? What do you think happened to POWs? It was common in Rome and Greece, and Pegasus culture is inspired by then.
9760573
I'd really rather not show slavery in a good light, and whether or not Pegasi or the princesses participated in something so immoral will not be addressed in the story. It's not relevant. As it stands in the present time, what Sombra did was cruel and immoral, and times have changed, even if he hasn't.
But if I must add, spoilers for the comics and my story, Sombra essentially murdered the Crystal Empire's previous ruler. If that's not enough of a reason to take him down, I don't know what is.
9760608
Well I would do the same thing becauseEVIL
Hail HYDRA
It will be love at first when his mask is remove. Seeing Starlight, his heart will go boom. True love will set him free of his darkness.
Hmmm I could see a room treated to have a similar effect to sombra mask being a worth while effort a place he can feel safe and not have to wear the mask
Tail kisser.
Must post picture.
derpicdn.net/img/2019/8/5/2109486/large.png
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Funny thing, if you couldn't tell by the similar art style to the story's mane image, or my icon, that's actually my own art! I may or may not draw some things relevant to my story sometimes...
EDIT: Actually, I think I'm gonna make that my new icon
Really like this story so far. Sombra's one of my favourite villains, and it's good to see another story flesh him out. Starlight's personality thrown into the mix makes this even more interesting as well, and while I have never even considered this ship before, it'd be fun to see it play out.
Actually, strangely enough, the whole concept of this story, with a formerly evil but now turned good pony trying to reform the broken remains of an evil king with the promise that turning good would give him his life back, is pretty much the same that one of my own stories is about. Though in that case the story was about the Storm King being reformed by Luna rather than Sombra being reformed by Starlight.
I get this image of Sombra eventually caring enough about Starlight that he'll defend her from Grogar and the others.
Sombra and Starlight
9790133
Thank you! I felt like they'd be an interesting little duo, and I'm actually surprised there's like nothing involving the both of them? Guess I thought the tyrant who steals cutie marks and the tyrant without a cutie mark would hit it off pretty well.
Gonna have to check your story out when I get the chance too, sounds intriguing.
Starlight, if you already took a shower it is not only how to wash a stallion ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
This story is amazing anyway =.)
I can't wait till Sombra tells Starlight about Grogar. Or Starlight finds out about Chrysilis.
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I mean in a way he kinda did, he just happened to be in a half drugged state and Starlight still thinks he's lost his mind. Of course, they'll have to find out the truth eventually though.
9855111
Glad to hear I'm writing Starlight well! I'm always worried I'm making her too nice or something, can't forget she was once a manipulative jerk at one time. She still has her moments.
Please keep writing! I'm enjoying this story and I want to see what comes next!
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I can assure you I'm working on it, albeit a bit slower than I'd hoped! Thank you!
This is great! Best Sombra story I’ve read in a while! Keep it up!
Oh ho ho, this is good. I can’t wait for when she finds out about.....her.
Uh, DUUUH!
9914432
Good news! She does technically in the most recent chapter.
Bad news, Celestia really doesn't like Sombra.
This sooooooo great!!! Keep it up! I don’t care how long, just keep doing your thang😄!
Great stuff. Definitely looking for more.
Okay... can I call Celestia a stubborn bitch in this fic? Because she's a stubborn bitch. This is what I loathe about the Alicorns; they play with mortal ponies lives. If she wants to punish someone, she can punish her sister. Let's blast her a few times and see what happens. Don't worry, she's an alicorn, she'll regenerate.
Ha! Sombra said he already lost Hope
And Starlight heard he already lost hope.
See what you did there.
So, did you change to Sombra Radiant Hope romance or stuck with Sombra Starlight?
I would be pissed off at Discord as well. Who pretty much brought Sombra back so he would be murdered horrifically.
I still consider this worse then anything Sombra ever did.
9966284
I love word play.Nope, still Sombra and Starlight! I just love Hope too much to truly leave her out.9966659
Grogar and Discord are separate entities in my story, I began writing a little after the premier, but nonetheless I agree. Really didn't like how the Sombra & the other villains were treated, I'm not at all a fan of seeing bad guys come back just to be given worse punishments than what they'd already had. Especially when it's someone else's fault they were back at all.
Ah, but that's a rant I'll hold back on.
9966224
You know, I really was not going for making Celestia so hateable, I figured her reasons would seem somewhat justifiable, but I suppose there's good reason to be against it. But hey, leave Luna out of this, she's got some sympathy for Sombra!
Celestia should blast Discord instead. I'm sure he'd be fine.
I like that Twilight apologized to Sombra and regrets what she did to him. Even after what Sombra did to her friends. Really shows that she is a Princess of Friendship.
Although I disagree with her opinion that Starlight shouldn't be therapist to Sombra. Sombra could use some hight quality therapy sessions.
Can't wait till the next chapter is published!
...Does Stockholm exist in Equestria? Or would that be Trotholm or something? I dunno, I just noticed that and it seemed a bit strange Might have something to do with the fact that I actually live in Stockholm, but whatever.
Anyway, intriguing to know that Scorpan and Radiant Hope are now a part of this story. Will definitively look forward to when they come into play.
Hmmmm...while I see your point, I honestly thought a previous scene in this story actually made a lot of sense if it really was Discord. When Chrysalis and the others learned of Sombra's survival, they all were plotting to have him killed, but Grogar was very insistent on them not doing that. If that was actually Discord, then the motive for that would be that despite how much of a jerk he is, he would not condone shooting someone while they're down, and merely pretended to be solely doing it for pragmatic reasons. But eh, it's still your story, and I wouldn't know if you've planned the whole story out already or not.
9966937
I won't deny Sombra could use some therapy, but Starlight is simply a counselor, and I didn't want to get into a potentially uncomfortable doctor/patient romance plot. This is supposed to be a shipping story between the two of them after all! ...Even if neither of them feel anything yet.
9967179
There's probably some pony in History somewhere named some horse pun of Stockholm but I can only think of so many horse puns. That scene wasn't even in the original draft, words just flow from my brain and onto the document and I kept it because the thought of Starlight bopping him was funny. The struggles of writing horses.
As for your second bit, I absolutely like the way you think, but that chapter was posted before the finale even aired, or around when the episodes first leaked. Either way I had not known the whole plot twist at the time I wrote that scene.
Plus, Grogar did want to kill Sombra, though he never said it out loud, but knew it would be suspicious for Sombra to just suddenly wind up dead or disappear.
I suppose I could stick closer to canon, but this story is more or less planned out. Then again, last night I came up with another idea for a major point later in the story, so who knows? Things in writing never really stay the same throughout the writing process, the end never starts out as you originally wrote it, so Discord could still be Grogar yet.
Maybe I should just say 'don't take my word for anything' because despite everything even I don't know how this story's truly gonna end.
9967407
I just got this image of Sombra beating the crap out of a depowered Discord, and Starlight and the girls letting it happen.
Starlight: 'It's therapeutic for him.'
Twilight: 'Ok. Sombra can do what he wants to him, short of killing him.'
Applejack: 'Tarnation, he sure did have it coming.'
Almost all of them take out some popcorn and enjoy the show.
9967407
I didn't think my comment like a 'doctor/patient romance' plot but more like that Twilight shouldn't throw 'You can talk to me about it if you want' idea out of the window right away. Or the thing that is Starlight trying to do right now. Well, I guess Sombra will have to express his feelings to Starlight at some point to move their relationship further.
And If I can ask was there any particular reason why you used a Starlight as a character for reforming Sombra? For me, it looks like a most logical choice since as a formal villain, Starlight can empathize with Sombra a far better than other characters and thus her motives are understandable. Or is it just because Starlight is your favorite character?
9967762
Ah, yeah I can understand that now. Twilight's not stopping Starlight from talking with Sombra about his problems as much as she's telling her to stop pestering him about it. Like she mentioned, Sombra will speak on his own time, but right now he's not comfortable with doing so, and Starlight's insisting on helping him when he doesn't want to be helped is only frustrating him more.
As for why I chose Starlight to reform Sombra? That's quite a long story, actually! To put it simply, back when I first read Siege of the Crystal Empire, I got the idea to write a little oneshot with a reformed Sombra and Starlight running into each other and talking. It never went anywhere, and the idea was left dormant until I saw the rumors of S9 leaks (rather late I might add), specifically the model sheet with Sombra and Grogar. At that point the idea went from a short little oneshot about the reformed duo to one where Starlight takes a shot at reforming Sombra. This was when Grogar was added to the story as well. By the time The Beginning of the End premiered I'd actually already gotten nearly two chapters written. These were promptly scrapped and rewritten.
I thought Starlight reforming him did seem like a fitting choice, and I was surprised it hadn't been done before. The concept of a former bad guy like her taking charge and helping him just seemed like a really neat one. I mean she'd helped with the Changelings and Stygian, she'd gotten a job as a counselor, and she could probably relate to someone like him, so why not help Sombra? The two felt like they'd make an interesting story, though the romance part of it was a late addition, a crack ship that I grew a little too attached to.
And the funniest part about all this? I didn't care for Starlight until I wrote the first outline of this story. It's not that she wasn't a good or interesting character, she just wasn't one I paid much attention to until I decided to write something with her. Throwing her in a story with another (at the time) former villain just seemed like a fun little writing idea, but then canon happened and everything about that changed, and I got attached to the idea I made. The fact it wasn't an idea that I'd seen done before also gave me that boost of motivation to write it.
9967899
It is an interesting comparison of Twilight and Starlight methods and experiences. It seems to me it was Starlight's insisting on helping what got Sombra from prison in the first place. Then again it was huge progress on Starlight part that Sombra was willingly talking to Twilight for more like 2 minutes (apart from that he didn't have a much of choice).
Otherwise, I would imagine their conversion something like:
“I swear, I never expected the magic to hurt you like that, it’s never done it before. It’s imprisoned and purified, but it’s never destroyed,” Twilight said, beginning to think, “And it still hasn’t-"
“That doesn't it make an even slightly better. Congratulation Princess. You can add 'Attempted murder' to your list of achievements. I hope you will have a nice sleep. Now please leave," Sombra growled.
On the other hand, I guess Twilight is more experienced in the long-term planning approach.
Wow, thanks for the answer about Starlight. Longer then I expected.
I agree with your points on Starlight. I think that her ability to relate to villains (something like her offer of peace to Chrysalis) is an important aspect that makes her, let's say qualified, then most other characters at reforming villains.
9967665
I think that also Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow would pay a lot of bits to have this kind of therapy session.
Hello, I just read through your story (atleast what you have so far) and I have to say it is excellent. Once I started I couldn't stop until it was finished. I love how you depicted both Sombra and Starlight and while I do believe that Starlight would be the one character most equip to handle the reform of King Sombra. I have to admit, I didn't even consider the two characters romanceable but the more that I think about it the more it makes a crazy kind of sense.
When I look at all their depictions within the 'friendship is magic' franchise it is amazing to me how similar they are too each other. It is actually quite plausible and these two could form a very strong bond of friendship that would grow into something much more powerful.
Bringing Radiant hope truly has me curious to see what her role will be in the grand scheme of things but now with this story and romance. I am wondering about Sunburst and what effect all of this will have on him.
I can't wait until the next installment. Fantastic job so far.
9981906
Well hey there, I'm happy to hear you're enjoying the story so far! And I couldn't agree more, Sombra and Starlight have quite a bit in common when you think about it, and I was genuinely surprised not to see more fics or art with them interacting. Therefore I've made it my duty to rectify such a problem.
Hope is here to appease my wish for more Hope contentI kid, she's got a purpose but I obviously can't say anything yet. As for Sunburst, I do have a plan to include him at some point, but it won't be for a long while.Okay but anyway, thank you for the comment! Was very nice to see after a relatively stressful day.
I genuinely don’t understand why the heck you took away Sombra’s ability to see. Why? What’s there to accomplish by doing that? It just makes it feel like an unnecessary complication to an already complicated situation. Like really.