“Wait, you can hear Alex?” Starlight asked, both she and Twilight looking at him with interest. “Like, in your head?”
“What was he telling you?” the purple alicorn asked. “What were you apologizing for?”
“That’s none of your concern,” he told her with authority as he waved a hoof dismissively. “Although I do have to ask how you plan on having this spell end. Is it a gradual timed spell, or will you be undoing it yourself?”
Starlight gave Sombra a knowing grin at that, answering, “You know I can’t tell you that. We can’t have you trying anything funny, can we?”
The stallion scowled and bared his teeth at that, causing her smile to drop as Luna and Twilight took defensive stances. He took his own stance and scrunched his face further until he realized what he was doing. Radiant Hope put a hoof on his side and Fluttershy gave him a look as he stood straight up again.
“I’m sorry. I have to remember that nopony here is my enemy. Forgive me. It’s an adjustment I must make after months of operating that way.”
“Yes, it is,” Princess Luna agreed. “On the subject however, we must discuss your past crimes and what the appropriate retribution would be for them.”
“Ah, yes, appropriate retribution,” he repeated sarcastically, “as in the death sentence that was handed down upon me twice and delivered to me with neither trial nor testimony or even a willingness to hear my side explained.”
“The death sentence that was rightfully deserved after your crimes,” she countered. “Imprisonment of one princess in stone, the enslavement of the Crystal Empire, multiple counts of treason-”
“All of which I’ve paid for,” he interrupted, leaving out his thinking that they deserved it, knowing it wouldn't be good to tell them that now that he was fully in control of himself. “The crimes you accuse me of have been paid for with my death, more than once.”
“And so then it seems we come to this whole mess, which, while instigated by Cadance, was in part a result of your actions.”
“Don’t start with that with me,” he threatened. "This was not my fault. You and I both know that."
“Alex exists in part because of your actions,” she continued. “Even despite Cadance’s treason, this incident was set in motion because of your spell, and therefore you have responsibility as well."
“We were not the aggressor, Luna. We- I- was not the cause of this. That was those two witches disguised as princesses who brought this all on. This is not our fault.”
“What was your plan for Alex once you were finished with him then?” Luna asked. “What were you planning to do to him? Throw him away? Destroy him?”
“We’re the victim- I’m the victim- of Cadance and Celestia’s actions against me,” he said loudly, almost yelling. “As well as Amore, too, but that’s ancient history. All things being fair, I would say everypony got the justice that was delivered to them.” He paused for a second before continuing, “Actually, no, they got off comparatively easy, all things considered, seeing what my sentences were.”
“You’re in a position you’ve created for yourself. You’ve made yourself the victim of your own actions. While I will admit there was an element that Celestia and Amore played in your actions, the majority of the blame for where you are at falls upon yourself, and is rightfully deserved after your crimes.”
“My crimes were because of- no, I won’t be explaining myself further right now. I’ve done it once, and for now, I’d like to enjoy my relief, especially when you’re so unforgiving to me. Somehow every creature else seems to be able to earn forgiveness for their actions besides me.”
“Perhaps there’s a reason for that, one that a bit of self reflection will help you see, Sombra,” Luna responded flatly.
He rolled his eyes at that, grumbling, “Of course, I need to self reflect. Not anypony else. It’s always me who’s forced to take the brunt of everypony else’s actions. Somehow, despite the fact that it never starts with me, it always seems to end with my death.”
“If everypony’s problems seem to end with your being delivered justice for your crimes, then once again, it might be time for self reflection in that case to see if you are the reason for such an occurrence.”
He growled at that and bared his teeth again before calming back down and setting off to his bedroom. He only made it three or four steps though before he stopped and turned around to face the alicorn once again.
“Luna?”
She didn’t respond, but she did look up to meet his gaze for a second before he looked to the floor at his hooves.
“Thank you,” he told her a bit more softly, causing a look of confusion to make its way onto her face from the unexpected words. “For protecting us from Celestia, I mean. It was appreciated, by both of us. Even if the original goal was to trick you… I still thank you for the compassion you had.” He then looked up again, turning to the yellow pony and giving her a wide smile. “And you, too, Fluttershy. Especially you. I do consider you a friend, the same way Alex does, maybe the second I’ve ever had, even if I was unnecessarily cruel to you during the few moments that Alex was away.”
“It’s no trouble at all, Sombra,” Fluttershy responded kindly. “I forgive you.”
“Starlight, thank you for giving me this moment,” he continued, getting a smile from her before he turned to Hope. “And you,” he said as he leaned down to truly nuzzle her and kiss her for the first time in over a thousand years, “I love you with my whole heart, and thank you for always being there for me, even when everything seemed hopeless.”
“Awwww, I love you, too, Sombra,” she told him happily as she leaned into him. “I know it’s still early, but um… since I finally have you to myself… maybe we should go back to our bedroom?”
He blushed at that, and it got a few giggles from some of the ponies in the room, Luna herself even cracking a small smile. It was a nice moment despite the previous conversation, the tension that had built up between them dissipating.
I figured out how to operate the window I was looking through to view whatever memories I wanted to see. It was a strange experience to say the least, and I learned a few things operating it.
The first was that before the moment I turned into a pony, I could go back to any specific day and see all the little details that I forgot about. What shirt I wore, what conversations people were having around me, what other people were eating at restaurants, things like that. However, when I scrolled up to and after I became a pony, it was much more generalized, only showing specific moments rather than everything, and only the things I needed to know. It gave me the impression that everything before that was a guided story, one that was only intended to be built up to a specific point before I came here. It was quite impressive, and I found that I was even able to replay things like when I watched movies or read books or listened to music. How Sombra, or rather, how Sombra and I, were able to do something like this and not have our brain completely overloaded with information, I didn’t know. It was quite the feat in my opinion.
However, despite the appeal using this window offered, it wasn’t something I cared about doing. It only made me sadder, watching the life that ran away from me play out, and I could feel a few tears dripping down because of it. It didn't feel fair to me, and made me upset.
“I lost everything,” I thought to myself, somehow understanding that saying so out loud would cause Sombra to hear me and interrupt whatever he was doing. “I lost everything and everyone, and all I can do is play over what happened, all because of those dumb ponies. And they all hated me for no reason, and wanted me dead. Even Celestia, who was my favorite, who was supposed to be the kindest being in the world, hated me for existing…”
I let myself cry for a little while, going through random parts of my life and trying to pretend that I was still there before getting fed up and walking away. I felt tired, extremely tired, and just wanted to go to sleep. Another quick look around showed an empty, simple looking bed in a lonely corner of the room, and so I walked over and fell asleep, resting my mind for the first time in ages as just a couple of more tears dripped down.
oh god, Alex don't become such an edgelord. Celestia doesn't hate 'you' she despise Sombra with all her being. You are just unfortunate victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In Sombra's body.
I'm with Sombra here. What crimes does he have to pay for given that what he did before he died was paid for with that death? Between that and the others' deliberately evasive words, it's clear they're just unwilling to see Sombra as anything but the bad guy. That's how bad guys are made. If someone's only going to be seen as a villain, he's going to embrace villainy. Wasn't Amore's death just Sombra lashing out after finding out she knew the Crystal Heart was hurting him because of what he was but let him think there was just something wrong with him? I forget how much this is taken from the comics and how much is just the author taking liberties.
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Technically Amore isn't dead, but yes, in effect, Sombra was lashing out at her. His original plan was to just steal the Crystal Heart until she told him that she knew he was suffering because of it and didn't do anything about it.
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Even if he has "paid" for most of his crimes (which I disagree on), the fact still remains that he is extremely evil and has no remorse or regret for any of his actions. Which ironically makes him just like Cadence, in a way.
Plus they still need to ensure Alex is separated from him.
Definitely with Sombra on this one. Legally speaking, to no fault of his own, he was in an unstable state of mind when he lashed out against Amore. Given the circumstances, there's more evidence it was self defense, manslaughter, or 3rd degree murder than what they call murder. He enslaved the Empire, but it was the smartest thing he could do to prevent being driven from his home for what ultimately comes down to being born different and release a forgotten race, which so far, has not been stated to be a crime.
With the Empire being a separate nation, the Sisters had no legal right to invade like they did the first time. After the Empire returned, they put Cadence there to rule, usurping a still foreign throne, and killing him. Then everything else after was just a result of a power hungry princess's plan with a botched spell by her partner. The only crimes they had any legal justification to punish were crimes in Equestria, not the Empire, and his only crimes in Equestria (when he was in control) were basically just multiple acts of assault.
As I pointed out before, their justice system is shit considering their punishment all had no definite sentence and the only big bad they've given a trial was the same one they pardoned.
Nightmare Moon tried to usurp the throne and (not technically a crime) bring eternal night. 1,000 years in a location that realistically speaking would've killed her.
Discord never destroyed or hurt anything, just flipped the location he was in on it's head. Imprisoned for 1,000 years in a cell so small he couldn't even blink and had full awareness.
Chrysalis impersonated royalty, invaded to feed her hive and conquer Equestria, just got blasted out of the country when their justice system so far has been 1,000 year punishments.
Tirek drained everyone of their magic, may very well have killed many as a result (pegasi falling to their deaths, magic actually keeping some alive maybe), and attacked all the royals. Imprisoned in what is in mythology, a prison in Hell if I remember correctly for 1,000 years, then punished the same way later for the same crimes.
Stygian was a victim of a misunderstanding and contolled by an evil force. 1,000 years.
Cozy Glow, I never watched season 6 and after, but got sent to the same prison as Tirek.
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Evil or not, he's paid for his crimes. You don't punish someone for something you THINK they MIGHT do sometime in the future. That's not justice, that's just cruel.
Given that this is still friendship horse world, I'm still on Sombra's side too. He didn't kill any pony, there's no life to be repaid. Luna knows Amore is not even dead and killing Sombra again wouldn't bring her back. And hey, he's got a point with Cadance, getting let off scot-free after multiple counts of attempted murder.
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Couple that with the fact that Sombra has literally been showing these past two chapters signs that he can change, like the expression of gratitude in this chapter and the expression of remorse in the previous one, and I see no reason to keep killing him whatsoever.
My one thought of a possible happy ending is if sombra and hope have a spell cast on the so Alex becomes their foal
Geeze Luna, talk about victim blaming...
I guess I'm going to be the only one hear with the unpopular opinion. I don't stand with Sombra entirely. That isn't to say that he is beyond redemption, but there are some things I'd like to express.
1. If the Crystal Heart was hurting him, why not move away? Don't give me that BS about it being in the middle of an arctic. This guy possess' magic potential on par with Star Swirl, bone chilling weather for us normees would be nothing to great mages. Just get some supplies and rations, and travel to any of the close pony settlements in neighboring Equestria.
2. A death sentence is a permanent sentence. You don't just get to respawn and say you've served your sentence. It blatantly defeats' the purpose of a death sentence. Those affected by your crimes shouldn't have to ever see you again. And if you've truly earned that sentence, you should be dwelling in the pits of Tartarus.
3. Instead of moving away and living a fulfilling life outside of the empire, he decides to enslave ponies who in all likelihood didn't even know he existed, nor actively played a part in his pain. Yet folk seem all too forgiving of Sombra for not only committing to enslaving innocent civilians, but locking them away in a 1000+ year old purgatory.
4. Ok, let's say we're even after the first death. He's brought back in season 9, and what is the very first impression we have of him? That he is unrepentant of his action. He then invades the Crystal Empire again, assaults multiple civilians and gaurdsponies with mind magic (those funky looking helmets), takes an infant hostage and takes over the Empire again.
After a failed attempt to end him with the elements, he follows them to the Everfree and destroys the Tree of Harmony. That is the literal equivalent to infiltrating a nation and just straight up destroying their nuclear arsenal. I cannot stress how fucked Equestria would have been had Twilight not started the School of Friendship.
And to top it all off, he proceeds to brainwash a village full of innocent civilians and children no less, who again may not even know this guys' name, use them as a meat shield to storm the capital and take it over. These crimes justifiably earned him another death.
As far as I'm concerned, it just rubs me the wrong way. His unrepentant attitude towards his unjustified actions. His disdain for innocent ponies who've not once harbored any ill will nor sought out to cause him any pain. His callus nature and open willingness to manipulate and kill those around him.
Your narrative is that folks can change, and that they just need a second chance (even though this is his 3rd but I digress). Even if they've been handed a permanent sentencing, that in this world there can be redemption for even the worst kinds of people