"I think we've seen enough," Princess Cadence concluded, wiping her eyes with a wing. A blue light emanating from her horn and the image of Sombra and Twilight shifted and distorted before vanishing completely, the blue disc popping out of existence. She turned to find her companion fighting back tears of her own.
"That was beautiful!" Rarity wailed, blowing into a tissue. "Just the best thing ever!"
Melodramatics aside, Cadence had to agree with the unicorn. To think, she'd doubted the scope of the love between Twilight and Sombra but having seen it herself, all reservations had been brushed aside and replaced with hope for the couple. Oh yes, it was awkward to be sure, having her father dating her sister-in-law but she could live with it. Love was fundamentally the best thing in life and unlike in songs or fairy tales, it was a commodity that was sadly in rare supply. Plus, they looked so darn cute together!
"It kind of reminds me of me and Shiny. The way that Sombra was looking at Twilight...Shining looks at me just like that." Cadence smiled. "I suppose I'll just have to accept it and move on."
"That's the spirit, Darling!" Rarity cheered, placing a foreleg around her. "And besides, if things continue the way that they are, you might be getting a little brother or sister soon!"
Cadence frowned. "Good night, Rarity."
"Oh come now, don't be so..."
Bamf!
"...sour," Rarity finished, having been teleported back in her room at the castle. She looked up at the ceiling and stomped a hoof. "Oh real mature!"
~*~
Princess Cadence turned and leapt off the tower, her wings extending as she took to the sky. Once the young alicorn was out of sight, Princess Celestia lowered her camouflage field and stepped to the edge of the roof. Through the window across from her, she could make out two ponies engaged in a slow dance, their bodies tightly pressed together. A sliver of envy entered the Princess of the Sun's chest and she swallowed a lump of heartache. Embers steadily began to coalesce and flow from her mane, her rainbow-colored locks erupting into flames as smoke billowed from flaring nostrils.
She hadn't been lying when she said she'd felt nothing from kissing Sombra. The technique, taste and feel of his lips on her own was divine yet lacked the spark of their previous kisses. Celestia's love hadn't gone away and she couldn't figure out why the experience was so underwhelming. She may've lacked Cadence's empathic abilities but that didn't mean she couldn't pick up on the obvious amorous connection between Twilight and Sombra. Just the way that they looked into each other's eyes and made physical contact caused her skin to crawl.
As much as she loved her student and ersatz-daughter, Princess Celestia found herself glaring at the purple mare with anger and jealousy. Why? Why did Sombra choose Twilight? What was so alluring about Twilight Sparkle that made Sombra forget all recollection of her? He was her husband and her mate first! Yet he treated those facts like they didn't matter!
Well, it looked like she was going to have to remind him of that fact.
Taking a deep breath, Princess Celestia steadied her breathing, the flames changing back to flowing, rainbow-colored hair. She gave the couple one last baleful glance before teleporting away in a golden flash. Sombra would be hers again soon enough....
~*~
Twilight sighed as she and Sombra swayed from side to side, the gentle, slow-paced big band music emanating from a nearby gramophone. Bending towards each other on their hindlegs, they kept a foreleg wrapped around the other and their heads on the other's shoulder. There was were some adjustments to be made given their height differences but they made it work. She noticed some of the guards gently bobbing along to the music and bit her lip to keep from laughing. It was good to see them relaxing around them since they'd been so high-strung around Sombra earlier. Surely by now, they had to know that he'd never hurt her, right?
"You know," Sombra mumbled by her ear. "This has to be the best day I'd had in a very long time."
Words failed Twilight, a lump appearing in her throat at hearing those words so she settled for a mere, "Mmm-hmm," and nuzzled up against Sombra's cheek. She blinked away the tears of joy that'd formed and took a whiff of pine-scented musk. He was her stallion. Her love. Her King.
What fine offspring we'll make, hmm?
Sombra must've felt her jolt because he pulled back to give her a worried stare. "Twilight, are you alright?"
"Fine!" Twilight lied, feeling embarrassed. "J-just felt a chill, that's all."
Sombra chuckled and took his jacket off, draping it over Twilight's shoulders. "Is that better?"
It was soft, warm and covered in his scent. "Much better..." she sighed breathily.
Pulling her into his embrace, Sombra chuckled, "Anything for you, Twilight."
A guard cleared his throat. "It's nearly four o' clock, Your Highness."
Twilight jerked her head to face him. "Really? Wow, the time went by fast!" She turned towards Sombra and gave him an apologetic look. "I want to stay longer. I'm so sorry."
Sombra nodded and kissed her forehead right below the horn. "Don't be. I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world."
The guards gathered around them, one of the female guards leading Twilight away as the others surrounded Sombra. He stared past them and smiled softly at her. "Thank you for the perfect day, Twilight. I love you."
"I love you too, Sombra," Twilight uttered as she was escorted out of the room. The journey down the tower and through the castle was mercifully silent, as Twilight wasn't in the mood to talk. Thankfully, her guard had nothing to say but kept peeking sideways glances at her. Was it because of what she witnessed between Twilight and Sombra? Did she disapprove of their relationship or was she seeing the truth that they were happy and in love?
They were halfway to Twilight's bedroom when Pinkie Pie came bounding up to them, her usual carefree grin adorning her face. She skidded to a stop and leaned over to Twilight.
"Sooooo….how was it?!"
"It was..." Sad? Arguably the greatest day of her life? "...magical," she finished lamely.
Pinkie, bless her heart, was oblivious to Twilight's sorrow. "Yes! Operation: Give-Sombra-And-Twilight-The-Best-Date-Ever was a smashing success!"
"Yeah it was, Pinkie. Thank you for everything."
"Your welcome, Twilight! So did you two kiss? Are there any wedding bells a-ringing?"
"Pinkie," Twilight intoned a little more forcefully. "I'm tired and I want to go to bed. I'll talk to you in the morning."
If Pinkie noticed the edge in her friend's voice, she didn't show it. "Okey-dokey-lokey, Twilight! Good night!" Pinkie bounced away, loudly humming "Mendelsstud’s Wedding March."
Bidding her guard good night, Twilight shut the door behind her and sluggishly levitated her dress off. Washing her face, she brushed her teeth and crawled into bed, feeling a mash-up between depression and elation. "Deprelation," perhaps? She'd just been on the best date ever with the stallion that she loved and who had had as much fun as she had. However, it saddened her that they couldn't go out whenever they wanted, that he was locked up while she roamed free.
You could break him out.
Twilight sprang up in bed. No, she mustn't continue with that line of thought! Whatever her feelings towards her coltfriend, Sombra was dangerous and needed to be contained. Princess Celestia may've kept Twilight in the dark about aspects of Sombra's past but he was still a dark magician with a serious score to settle with the elder alicorn. It was a terrible truth but one that Twilight couldn't be blind to. If Sombra ever got out, he would kill Celestia.
"B-but I can change him, can't I?"
I think the real question is, do you want to?
"Why wouldn't I?"
Because you secretly love the darker parts of him. It thrills you to have such a menace as your coltfriend.
"Well...maybe a little..."
Admit it, you desire him as he is: dark, bold, tameless as the sea and just as deadly.
Twilight was losing this battle with her conscious. "Yes but I can still save him."
Can you? Let me ask you this: can you save somepony that doesn't WANT to be saved?
Lacking a sufficient answer, Twilight pulled the covers over herself and after a brief struggle, drifted off to sleep, her dreams comprised of cold and darkness.
~*~
The cell door latched behind Sombra and the guards filed out the door, with Gleaming Helm giving him a little wave. Sombra snorted at this. He was a bit of a wimp and doltish, but he wasn't half bad. Sighing deeply, Sombra carefully shed his dinner wear, folded it up neatly and slumped onto his cot, his belly full and his heart full of cheer. All in all, it'd been a great day, the best perhaps.
"She loves me," he said aloud, his lips tingling as he pronounced the words. "Twilight Sparkle loves me." He searched his memory and couldn't find anything that came close to matching that moment, save for discovering the existence of his supposedly-dead daughter. Sombra had done it. He found first a friend, then a lover who accepted him for who he is, sordid past and all.
Exhaling, Sombra placed his hooves behind his head and relaxed into his cot. The future was still unknown to him, however for the first time in a long time, he was focused on the present. He may've lost his magic, had his freedom stripped from him and denied his rightful vengeance but he wasn't alone. He had his Twilight.
Something clattered and Sombra jolted out of his cot. Slowly approaching the floor near his desk, he noticed a piece of coal that hadn't been there before. Placing it once more on the desk, he was about to walk away when the coal was surrounded in a black aura. His horn vibrated slightly and the aura intensified, little purple bubbles radiating off of it. The glow vanished but Sombra's grin remained.
"Well now, isn't this interesting...?"