11 Months Later
“Why do you wear that crown when you study?”
“Does it affect you? No? Then get off my back.”
Rocky Roll blew air out her snout in irritation, Sombra elected to ignore her. He studied so hard to get into this school, felt so proud to get in, turns out they let anypony in who can pay the tuition. All his hard work to get a good S.E.A.C. score; just a waste of time.
At least the school had enough spare materials around for him to experiment with false horn coverings. It took a lot of adjusting but he eventually found a mettle which allowed his magic to seep through uninhibited. He also made some makeshift armor to cover his flanks. His regular look now consisted of an almost regular looking horn, his mane in a half bun, a button up shirt, a vest, and his flank armor. He thought he looked pretty good but most of his friends said he either looked like a wannabe knight or like he was trying too hard.
Jokes on them. He was always trying too hard.
Focus. If the crystals were free floating around a center ‘point’ and they returned to that point after being disturbed by a pegasi then that should eliminate the entanglement issue everypony was so worried about. It would also allow for more complex designs. The problem was how to do that. The technology to permanently enchant artifacts has been lost for thousands of years. You could enchant an item but it either faded over time or stopped when the unicorn who enchanted it died. There were lots of theories on the nature of unicorn’s connection to magic, was it an extension of the self or an expulsion of energy? There weren’t any concreate studies with conclusive results but there were plenty of spiritual theories that were as credible as THIS FUCKING SCHOOL to be honest.
Sombra took a swig of coffee. Why was he doing this? To follow through on a throwaway lie he fed his friends just for the sake of keeping it up? It got him a place to stay and a decent job at the library in the city he wanted to move to but was it worth it? He needed a break. Rocky Roll glared at him for daring to move from his desk; probably because he was disturbing her romance novel reading. He glared back at her as he grabbed his coat with his magic and opened the door to leave. Their dorm was in the basement next to the stairs which were a straight shot to the roof, it was a nice place to think if the smokers weren’t there.
The smokers were there.
Sombra slammed the roof door shut and debated the merits of wandering the streets at 1am. But if he went back, he would have to see his roommate and the stack of dishes she refused to clean because it was ‘his turn’… for three fucking weeks in a row. The chore calendar was right there Rocky!
Sombra’s magic made the choice for him as it lashed out at the first floor ‘exit’ door hard enough to leave cracks in the cement wall. Several ponies lounging on their balconies cussed him out for making such a loud noise, he made a rude gesture at their general direction and moved on.
He wanted to be at the library but he doubted showing up to do late night work would go over well with security. He decided to walk over there anyway, he could at least sit on the bench in the nature garden out front without getting into trouble.
He really did love his job now. The smell of old books, the organizing, being able to read and do homework when things were slow, even his boss was a great conversationalist. She used to work at the Canterlot Achieves and knew a lot about a wide variety of topics. She was curious about the color of his magic field, said it looked a lot like dark magic which is what got them talking in the first place. They spoke for a bit and it turned out that was exactly what he was using, apparently, most magic acted as a natural extension of your body and had nothing to do with emotion. Sombra couldn’t even imagine magic working that way; they had spent a good amount of time together experimenting with Sombra trying desperately to turn off his emotions and make his magic field a purely physical extension but it was met with little success. And the times he did manage to do it; it just gave him a headache. She was surprised, most ponies experienced it the opposite way, with dark magic causing physical pain and unicorn magic feeling natural.
He was also surprised to learn how taboo dark magic was, it was all he could use, why was it bad? According to her, since it was fueled by emotion, it was more unstable and harder to control. Some even claimed it had a mind of its own. Most who used it went mad.
Sombra didn’t feel that way. He had been using it with no problem for almost two years now, he didn’t think he was crazy. After thinking about it for a while, he came to the conclusion that dark magic was a more… primal magic. It wasn’t a tool it was who you are. His magic didn’t have a ‘mind of its own.’ If he hadn’t thought of it then he couldn’t do it. It was limited by his imagination where as normal unicorn magic was limited by what you had trained in. He had done several things in class like teleport and levitate very heavy objects and only realized they were advanced techniques after everypony reacted like he had done the impossible.
He was grateful that the first pony who discovered he was using dark magic was her. Somepony educated and open minded who got to know him before jumping to conclusions. He was also grateful he wasn’t fired over it.
He looked into the glass windows at the front entranceway of the library and regarded his reflection. He was immediately embarrassed to discover he had never taken off his crown so he removed it and tried to shove it in his coat pocket. Too big. He thought about what he had been theorizing with dark magic and focused on the crown, it shrank just enough to fit in his pocket.
Was that an advanced spell? Fuck if he knew. He was just glad it worked and he hoped he could reverse it later at home. He wore the crown when he needed a bit of confidence but he never left the house with it on. He already had enough fear about being recognized by somepony from his past without it thank-you-very-much.
He sat down on the bench adjacent to the entrance and just looked at the inside of the building. He wasn’t thinking about much, just tracing the lines of the counter and fantasized about making a book fort next to the fireplace. Read about artifacts and magic theory until the sun came up. He liked the picture next to the printer behind the front desk, it was a young mare who had become some kind of legend because she never returned a book late a day in her life. He thought she was cute and had a kind smile. He never wanted to meet her but her picture was nice.
He leaned his head back on the bench to look up at the night sky. The only thing he missed about working for Cherry Jubilee was being able to see the stars at night, now all he had was the moon. His breath made puffs of smoke in the air as he breathed, he pretended to be a dragon for a bit.
The bell tower chimed in the distance, 2am, might as well go to bed. He hopped off the bench and decided to walk in the light snow on the grass rather than the clean sidewalk so he could make hoof prints. As he walked, he came upon a rock with more snow on it then anywhere else, just begging to be doodled on. He decided to go with a simple face shape and raised his hoof to draw it-
“HOLY FUCK!”
Sombra leapt back like he could dislodge his feet but the monstrous things remained attached. They were claws, dragon claws, as grey and black as the rest of him. He ran back to the shiny glass of the library window and examined the rest of himself. A black and grey dragon stared back at him with glowing green eyes that smoked purple at the edges. “What the ever loving-“
He looked around the deserted streets and tried to shove his body into some nearby bushes. Surprisingly, his scales prevented him from feeling the unpleasant prickling of the branches as he settled as far back into the shrubbery as he possibly could. It was not a good hiding spot; he was not a small pony by anyponies standards and that seemed to translate into his dragon body. He was broad chested, winged, with a long neck and two red horns which angled forward like a bulls.
Ok, ok, ok, you’re ok, you’re not hurt, nopony saw. Why am I a dragon? Magic, dark magic, it acted on my emotions. Perhaps when I’m calm and not thinking anything in particular I can activate it with passing thoughts? Then why didn’t I get transported into the library with a book fort instead?! This is so much more complex!
Sombra looked at his claws then felt his new horns. Can I use magic without a unicorn horn? I don’t think dragons can use magic. He placed his ‘hand’ over his chest and focused on his breathing. In, out, in, out, in… 1,2,3,4…out…Can I breathe fire? No, he should focus on turning back…
Sombra poked his head out of his hiding spot, nopony was around and there was a designated area around back that had a fire pit for ‘bedtime story community events.’ Sombra did one final check before booking it behind the decretive mural wall a few feet away. He flattened himself against the bricks, looking around to see if anypony saw, all clear. The last obstacle was the gate which closed off the back garden of the library, ordinarily he wouldn’t be able to make it but with his added height…
Sombra flexed his new wings; best to test out new body parts one at a time.
One final look around before he made a run for the wall and leapt over it; gracelessly landing dead center, desperately clutching the top of the barrier, barely hanging on by his claws.
New life goal: go the gym on a regular basis.
He lugged the rest of his new bulky body over the wall and landed with a graceless ‘kathunk’ on the other side. He was no longer excited to find out if he could breathe fire, now he just wanted to get this chore over with out of spite.
Sombra made his way over to the fire pit in the center of the outdoor stone bleacher circle. Here he was pretty sure he wouldn’t cause any property damage if he messed up, not much to burn. Sombra took a big breath in and breathed out in a pathetic breathy imitation of a roar, like a pony imitating a dragon but not an actual dragon. No fire came out but his breath did have the same smoky effect everypony else’s breath did in the cold.
Sombra was disappointed, did he not have the right biology? Just the appearance? Sombra once again reminded himself about the function and purpose of dark magic, if he imagined he could do it, it should happen. He took another deep breath in and imagined what it would feel like to actually breathe fire. He imagined something like acid reflux, a burning that began in your stomach and traveled up your throat like vomit. Not a pleasant thought but he did begin to feel something. A bubbly sensation formed in his stomach, it gathered and grew until he couldn’t keep it in any longer. It traveled up his throat and began to feel more like a belch then the beginnings of a majestic display of fire and power. He aimed for the fire pit in front of him and let it out. Black whisping flames with purple centers at their hottest points engulfed the fire pit in heat and smoke.
He was doing it! He could breathe fire! This was the best use of magic he had ever done! I am SOMBRA! Destroyer of villages! Master of the skies! I will rain fire and death on- woho.
The flames responded to Sombra’s internal play monologue and turned up the fire’s intensity.
‘No, no, no stop it! I was joking! Stop, stop, stop!’
Sombra closed his mouth but the fire only built up inside until he physically couldn’t keep it in any longer and had to let go. All he could do was mitigate the damage by only focusing on the firepit as it began to melt away.
‘I am so fired! The only thing besides my friends I actually like in this city and I ruined it! What is wrong with me? Now all I have is school and I can’t go like this. I would probably burn my homework on the way-‘
…He hadn’t finished his math homework before he came here. It was due at 8am. 26 problems front and back. How could he have forgotten?
As the shock settled into Sombra’s mind the flames slowly died down until it was only Sombra standing there with his mouth hanging open. He didn’t even bother to close it as he looked down at the bubbling remains of the firepit, then back up at the horrified night watch pony standing there mouth agape. Staring at the fire breathing dragon destroying public property.
The guard never took his eyes off of the transformed Sombra as he moved his shoulder radio towards his mouth to call for backup. But before he could utter a single syllable, the beast was gone. Up and over the fence to disappear into the night. The police looked high and low that night but they only managed to find a tired looking trade school pony on his way back from the gas station with a calculator and an ungodly amount of coffee. They warned the young cold about the threat spotted in the area and he thanked the officers kindly. He would be sure to keep a lookout.
The only clue they managed to find was a coat near the front entrance of the library with a crown in the pocket. A senior officer at the station recognized it as an item of interest.
Apparently, the Princess of Friendship herself and the Elements of Harmony had been looking for it for some time.