Grassy Glaze set the letter aside, finally done reading it. “I’m glad this is just a resignation. When he didn’t show up to work after staying late, I feared the worst with the recent attack. Right Hoof felt so guilty about allowing him to stay after closing.”
“Yes he’s… ok and is very sorry about not giving advanced notice.”
Grassy Glaze nodded, “That happens when you hire students sometimes but I really did think he was one of the good ones. He seemed like he really enjoyed working here. I’m more surprised that you are delivering this for him, I didn’t think you two were close.”
“They’re not,” Spike answered for Twilight, “it was just… on our way…?” Grassy Glaze seemed to accept this.
“Well thank you for dropping it off. He said he was going to donate his last pay check to the library to help fix the fire pit so I have to ask HR if he could technically do that; it hasn’t exactly ever come up before.”
“Thank you for your time Mrs. Glaze. Spike, you have the next address?”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Rocky Roll tossed the letter aside after she was done reading it. The Dean said he would handle the paperwork for Sombra dropping out himself under the circumstances and it just so happened that his daughter, Sombra’s old roommate, was here today.
Rocky Roll looked more like she got a parking ticket then an apology letter from the most notorious dictator in Equestrian history. Twilight technically had no further reason to be here after handing the letter over but she wanted to be there when each letter was opened and read. It was the best chance to get an insight into Sombra’s life after the Empires returned.
“So… Sombra said you two didn’t get along so well.” Rocky Roll shrugged.
“I don’t get along with anypony.”
“Um, what did the letter say?” Spike asked, his hands full of free candy from the waiting room candy bowel.
“ ‘I’m not sorry for leaving but I do forgive you for taking a bite of my ear and won’t press charges’ basically.” Rocky Roll picked up a magazine from the side table. She examined the cover before muttering under her breath about her father being a cheap skate and not keeping the magazines up to date before opening it to read anyway.
“Look,” Twilight said as she set her cup of tea down to give the mare her full attention. “Sombra’s going to be on trial, you have probably spent the most time with him out of anypony considering you two lived together. You are also the first one I met who had a violent altercation with him. Your thoughts are invaluable on the matter.”
Rocky tossed the magazine aside, “What do you want me to say? He was an annoying know-it-all who spent all his free time studying. Always bitching about how I didn’t do my share of the chores. Creepy as fuck. He lasted longer than most of my roommates but he was nowhere near my favorite.”
“Could you tell us about what happened the day he left?”
Rocky leaned as far forward as the chair would allow, “I was trying to study. He came in to bitch about the music being too loud, I told him to eat shit. He tried to fuck with my speakers but they are expensive so I tackled his ass before he could touch them. Rolled around on the ground for a bit but he wound up on top. He was crushing me and I wanted him off so I bit the first thing within mouth distance. I didn’t mean to bite that hard. He started crying about his ear bleeding and ran away like a pussy.”
Twilight waited a couple of minutes after Rocky was done before uncovering Spikes ears. She had never heard a pony tell a story with that many unnecessary expletives before. “Um, did you ever feel unsafe with Sombra? You said he was creepy?”
“- as fuck.” Rocky re-quoted, Twilight tried to quickly re-cover Spikes ear but it was too late and Spike shooed her hooves away. He had heard them all before.
Rocky sighed, “Honestly until this shit, I just thought he was a wannabe goth nerd trying to be special. The guy is super old without a cutie mark? How lame is that? He eats meat which is super gross but at least I never had to see him do it. So, to answer your question, no. It never occurred to me I was constantly fucking with a legitimate threat. Never did shit to me until the day he moved out.”
Spike and Twilight shared a look, “Thank you for your time Rocky Roll. You have been a big help.”
“Whatever.”
Twilight and Spike exited the office, as soon as the door closed Twilight shuttered with disgust. “I feel like I need to wash my ears out with soap.”
“What’s your fucking problem?” Spike asked innocently.
Twilight smacked him.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ally had the beginnings of tears in her eyes but Jerry was all out bawling. Clawson’s ears were back in displeasure but he seemed to be taking it well. Tom was leaning against a lamp post next to Twilight and Spike; said it was too crowded to read over their shoulders and he would read it later.
“Got to admit, it’ll be hard not being greeted by the little weirdo every time we come into port.” Twilight turned to Tom.
“He came to meet you at port?” he nodded.
“Always showed up the second we got in to help us unload and hear about our travels. I was really looking forward to see if his little experiments would work out; perpetually floating crystals sounded pretty cool.”
“Perpetually floating crystals?” Spike asked.
Tom pulled out a crystal from his jacket to show Spike. It was blue and diamond shaped with a swirling black mass in the center. “This was the last prototype he made, the enchantments from the one before faded over time but this one seems to be holding strong. It floats in the dark and offers a little bit of light. I used it to help fix the engine once or twice.”
“May I?” Twilight asked before picking up the crystal in a magic field. Up close, she could see that its cut edges weren’t smooth like they seemed. They were actually covered in runes, she recognized nearly all of them. “It looks like the floating characteristics of the crystal are actually barrier magic? It’s not floating but repelling the ground and anything else close to it. The residual dark magic is acting like a battery like most enchanted objects but the runes help regulate the output. This is extraordinary!” Twilight pranced in place, thinking of all the possibilities this type of magic could have. “The problem with enchanted objects is that they have no regulated output so they expend the pent-up magic inside too quickly. This allows gradual loss of magical energy, only allowing the item to activate when it’s most useful.” Twilight grabbed Tom’s shoulders and shook him, “Do you know what this means!”
“Does… does it mean Sombra will be spared?”
Twilight was jarred by the sudden emotional shift. She looked to the purple female cat who had spoken and felt immediately guilty. While she and Tom were discussing what Sombra had been researching, the rest of them had actually been reading Sombra’s letter. They were obviously devastated based on its contents but Twilight’s outburst had given them hope. Tom’s ears flattened against his head, “Spared?”
Tom pushed Twilights hooves off of him and went to join his companions. Clawson handed him the letter to read for himself. Tom’s eyes scanned over the pages, gradually growing more and more distressed. He must have gotten to the most important part because his head shot up to look at Twilight, “… you can’t.”
Twilight just shook her head, “He was the one who requested the punishment. We’re still deliberating but it looks like-“
“You can not do this!” Tom cried out, attracting the attention of every creature nearby. Ally reached for his arm to try to comfort him but he yanked the appendage away, marching over to Twilight to point a claw in her face. “This is exactly the type of shit happening in Catmando. Years of bloody civil war with everycat beheading whoever they disagreed with. MY OWN MOTHER was hung on traitor’s lane, do you know why? Our neighbor wanted to marry my father so she came to the counsel with wild accusations. They sentenced her to death in half an hour!”
Twilight backed up from the angry sphinx, “I’m very sorry about your mother, it wasn’t right, but this is different. Sombra-“
“This is exactly the same! Sombra has amnesia, no way to defend himself. He has always been nothing but kind. If he really was the last ruler of some empire, who would stand to gain from having him publicly disgraced and executed?”
Spike gasped, Twilight flared her wings in rage, “You’re not trying to say Cadence wants him dead so she can rule uncontested. That’s insane! King Sombra’s crimes are well documented and not remembering them doesn’t absolve him of guilt.”
Tom stood back up to his full height and looked down his nose at the princess, “I didn’t say anything.”
Twilight’s horn flared as Spike rolled up his metaphorical sleeves. Tom unsheathed his claws and prepared to pounce.
“TOM! Enough, we don’t have a say in any of this. This isn’t our country.”
“But it is our friend.” Jerry pointed out.
“We should have been more forceful about our offer to sail with us. We could have been far away by now…” Ally rolled up Sombra’s letter, “I assume you need a copy of this for trial? Does Sombra’s defense need character witnesses?”
Twilight used Cadences breathing technique to calm herself before floating the letter out of Ally’s paws to use a duplicate spell on it. This one she really did need to read herself and since the recipient was giving her some kind of permission, it should be ok. “I’m afraid there won’t be a trial. Like I said, King Sombra’s crimes are well documented. It’s up to the princesses to decide how best to maintain peace in this land.”
“Judge, Jury, and executioner huh?” Tom scoffed, “I’m not surprised. Seems this princess Cadence wants things over with quickly.”
Twilights temper flared all over again, “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Neither do you.”
Clawson shoved Tom back over to the ship before things could escalate any further, Jerry and Ally took the hint and lead him back the rest of the way. Clawson rubbed his neck and looked at the princess of friendship before sighing and kneeling down to speak with her eye to eye. “I meant what I said, we have no say in this but I still want you to consider something.”
Twilight breathed out, “I’m listening.”
“Execution is sometimes necessary. If the criminal won’t stop no matter what then it’s best they get taken out before they can do more damage… but that has already happened to Sombra. ‘King Sombra’ no longer exists; the Sombra we know has never once spoken ill of any creature. Has lived peacefully in your society without issue or signs of being a threat for years. Isn’t that the definition of ‘rehabilitated’?”
Twilight broke eye contact to look at the ground. Clawson rose back up to his full height and pointed behind himself at the ship. “I should check on Tom and the others. I…Hope things work out.”
“Me too.” Twilight admitted.
Clawson nodded his final farewell and ran back to his home, leaving Twilight and Spike back on the docks.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ledger Cross and Skyfall weren’t much better.
Twilight read Sombra’s letter to the sphinxes on the cab ride over. Nothing he said was misleading or untrue. He told them who he was as well as what he has done. He said he was looking forward to justice being carried out…
The two stallions were sitting on their living room couch in tense silence. They had been beyond thrilled to have a princess for a guest and broke out their best tea and cakes for the occasion. Now the food was going mostly untouched as Ledger moved his tea cup back and forth on its saucer; the scraping of pericline the only sound in the room.
Ledger looked up at Twilight with a forced smile and laugh, “You know I saved his life the day we met? Guess I should have let him be run over.” He took a sip of tea.
“Oh hush,” Skyfall hissed out. Ledger slammed his cup on the coffee table.
“What do you expect me to say? We were having breakfast every Sunday with the incarnation of fear without realizing it. How do you react to that!?”
“Ooh yes, the incarnation of fear. He was so evil, he helped me organize a crochet charity event for foals with cancer!”
“He’s a mass murderer! He tricked us!”
“Tricked us? The first thing we found out about him was that he didn’t know who he was.”
“That could have been a lie! He could have been lying to us the whole time!”
“For what purpose!? To eat pancakes with a couple of queers on 9th and 9th? What evil mastermind plan involves that?! You just want drama- “
“We were in direct contact with the tyrant of the Crystal Empire; that is the definition of drama!”
“Fine,” Skyfall said as he got up and moved over to a book shelf, picking up a colorful vase. “Since we’re pretending he didn’t exist then you don’t need the vase he got you at the flea market.” He tossed it to the floor, Ledger gasped but caught it just in time before it hit the floor in a magic field.
“Are you nuts! This is a Tiffany vase.”
“I am so sick of you loving somepony up until they do something wrong and then suddenly, they were the worst creature you ever knew. You knew it all along! ‘I always hated them; I just never told my husband because he seemed to like them sooo much’.” Skyfall picked up a framed picture, it seemed to be depicting the charity event he mentioned earlier. A crowd of ponies holding knitted hats, Sombra in front with his arm around a smiling Ledger as Skyfall held up a sign with the event name and date. He tossed it to the floor, Ledger caught that too.
“Stop pretending to be morally superior to everypony! You did this with the Oranges, the Painters, and even our own daughter! She comes back from college with a bag of weed and you toss her out! I found her crying on the apartment steps. Never mind that you occasionally smoke when work is ‘too stressful’ yourself!”
“I apologized!” Ledger grabbed his husband by the ear to drag him a few feet away for more privacy. “And not in front of the princess.” He whispered through his clenched teeth. Skyfall wrenched his head free and turned to address Twilight.
“I think you should go now.” Twilight raised her hoof to suggest staying and helping to hash this problem out with them but Spike stopped her.
“We completely understand. Thanks for the tea!” Spike grabbed a couple more cakes for the road and pushed Twilight out the door. He closed the apartment door behind them just as the yelling started up again.
“Spike! Why did you make us leave? We could have helped them.”
“You’re the Princess of Friendship, not the Princess of domestic disputes. This is more Cadences territory.” Spike tossed a cake up in the air and caught it in his mouth. “Down’t worhy, I’ll send a letter to Cadence about them.”