In His Presence

by Ocean Heart


Unkeepable Secrets

There came a knock at the door, Sombra was on his hooves and stretching slowly and carefully when the gentle rasp on the door sounded with a gruff voice on the other side said "Nash...Nash if you're in there I just want to talk..." then silence. Sombra did his best not to make a sound, but clearly his hooves stumbling for balance had alerted whoever was on the other side of the door.

"Nash I know you're mad..." he started. "And you really have no reason to forgive me, but I wanted to try and make up for it today. Just us, I cleared both our schedules for today and tomorrow; Hold Fast will handle my duties and you are on mandatory leave...Nash?"

Sombra could handle this, for sure. The king made every kind of effort to remind himself that he was a force of nature with his magic and he could outfight and outwit any opponent so long as he knew every player on the board. The Princess would sense him, he was sure of that, but she hasn't done anything to harm him, yet. Sombra worked facts over and over until it felt like too much time had passed and the rattle of the locked door made him painfully aware that discovery now would remove many options from his hoof. Though he was happy to confirm one suspicion.

Sombra worked up his throat, doing his best to clear it quietly and ready himself to be intimidating once more.

"Oh...?" he started, venom dripping off the question. "Just how many dragons did the princess enslave while I was gone?" which ended with the door crashing inward and a purple dragon holding only bare claws open to attack.

Though he was greeted with the frail king standing behind a massive green gem that oozed power and bled magic. The conjuration was all he could muster, shaky as it was, but a dragon is a dragon, he figured.

The gem shocked Spike out of his charge, drawing him in with an otherworldly property that weakened his once tense arms and left his tight grimace of an expression into a limp hang of his jaw. He really hated being a dragon, sometimes. The rock of magic and curses faded into wisps of air that quickly rushed at Spike, blinding him to all, then cursing his hesitation one last time as all went black.



Moments earlier, in the royal garden



Nashta didn't get the chance to ask the princess about her change in mood right off the bat; rather, the two were engaged in small talk. Nash felt like this was rather forced and formal, which wasn't very typical for the princess of friendship. Nash also had to tip toe over the subject of last night, trying to not arouse suspicion about her venture into Canterlot or her...outburst...at the captain of the guard. It was a minefield they both were navigating, trying to not insult, insinuate, open up or burden the other. The lunch plates couldn't come quickly enough. Once they did, however, Nash practically announced the arrival with a relieved sigh and "Oh thank Celestia!" as she grabbed a sapphire sandwich and saw the pained expression on Twilight's face.

"Are you ok, Twilight?" She asked, the momentary laps in judgment proving fatal to the calm of the conversation as she realized in her first bite that she had broken the ice. Nashta readied herself for every lie in the book she could dish out to protect her secret.

"I'm better..." Twilight replied.

Nashta gulped down her bite and took another, eyes on the Princess, waiting for her to continue.

"I feel...I'm not sure what to feel, honestly. Better is a good way to put it, but I feel as if a burden has fallen off my shoulders and I can't place as to why. I did make a rather important decision recently." hesitation, Twilight wasn't sure to share everything yet. "But, even with all the facts, I feel as if I am much more in control." another pause, Nashta gulped down her second bite and put the sandwich down to listen in full, eyes wide and full of care. "Celestia, you know the legends but rarely does anypony know the truths about her. The practical jokes, the wise and kind teacher that she was, the loving sister...but above all she cared about us. Every pony in Equestria was like family to her, and she worked so hard to protect all of it from...Discord, Nightmare Moon, Tireck, Sombra. I just...think I understand some things better, now." she ended, finally taking a bite of the vanilla cake that was brought to her.

There was a flash of green light that got both of their attention in an instant, Twilight quickly gulping the bite and Nashta nearly jumping from her seat and running. She was quick enough to stop and look to the Princess, pretending to be just as confused.

"Ah-haha...what was that?" she asked trying to contain the guilt that threatened to spill from every scale on her body.

"Isnt that your room...?" Twilight asked, puzzled, standing up slowly and horn starting to glow.

Nashta jumped up and nodded, as if remembering suddenly. "AH! Right, Dad said he was uh...going to get me back for my prank...m-maybe he just decided to wreck my room, too."

Twilight looked at the dragon, thinking that her captain of the guard playing a prank was just as incredulous a story as what instinct was telling her.

"I'll go fix it right away, Princess!" she shouted, just as a storm of black mist wrapped the dragon and the pitch black mass dashed faster than her eyes could track back into the castle. Twilight frowning deeply and walking after her at a slow, measured pace. Giving the dragon this one chance to fix it before she arrived.


Sombra had the dragon bar the door with the vanity, smiling to himself as he drew runes on the ground with a barb he plucked from his frills, the sharp scales cutting the marble floor with ease as he spent time recalling the right runes for teleportation. Normally, he would fade to shadow and fly, but he hardly trusted his body to move left and right, let alone float away unnoticed.

You're betraying her. Like everyone else, did you really learn anything all alone?

Sombra bit his lip, refusing to argue with the voice, her voice battering around inside his head. What he knew, what he needed to do was get out and get far away to some place he can recover his strength and then make plans to get his revenge again.

"The spirit of vengeance lives on, Princess..." he said as if it alone were a curse she should be reeling from.

The first smash of the door came with a shocked yelp and groan of pain. The voice belonged to the female dragon, Sombra ignored it. The next rune was almost done, and he only needed to do one more to finish the circle.

Go on, destroy her feelings before you destroy her world.

"You won't get in." he started, wondering why he felt like he needed to explain himself to her. "I don't need any more saving, thank you. If you wish to serve me, then guard the door from Celestia."

Another smash, this time the vanity slid a few inches, enough to let the dragon try and squeeze in the cracked door, only to be met by a purple claw grabbing her shirt, yanking her in hard and throwing her into the wall to watch her leave cracked rock behind and land on her bed with a pained, quiet groan. Spike, who had been standing as he was ordered, was now protecting as he was also ordered. The blank stare in his eyes and green mist flowing off them terrifying to Nashta as she rolled over to try and defend herself, not even able to get back to her feet as Spike grabbed her again and picked her up by a horn, then threw her casually to the hard floor where her vanity once was. Sombra was on the last rune, his legs shaking, the effort exhausting but he was so close...

The hum of dark magic sparking around him, the runes finished, floor igniting in green and black flames and the feeling of his body being pulled from far, far away.

You'll never stop. That's why you had to be isolated. I can't kill you, Sombra, but I can isolate you till the day I die.

And like that the world crashed around him. Tile cracked, splitting his runes apart and breaking the spell, his vision suddenly black and head pounding as his body found the ground in a head splitting crash of force. Distantly, he felt the spell over the purple dragon fail, and the black dragon sobbing in pain.

You'll never give up, no matter what you endure, you can't give up because then it's all for nothing. Isnt that right?

"Silence!" he shouted though pooling blood in his mouth.

The pressure still kept him pinned to the floor, unable to move, again, trapped and helpless. He felt his heart quicken, his limbs tremble and mind race.

"You have had no chance of recovery, of redemption, because all you know is pain and suffering. You don't know friendship, family, you think it all weakness."

Sombra tried to shout louder to be heard. "Silence I say!"

His body felt so heavy, so much pain blurred his sight to the point of useless blinking at the floor, his horn felt chipped, again, and there wasn't a thing he could do to stop that voice.

"I know you, Sombra; because a long time ago, I was like you...I thought friends were a weakness, I thought all I needed were my books."

"Haven't I been through enough!?" came from him, to his own surprise...

"That's exactly why I wanted to release you, but I hesitated, I feared what Celestia might think, what she might have done given the situation. I learned so much from her, and I learned so much more from my friends. All that...and still, I was never going to be ready to see you, face to face...you know I had nightmares about you, after we stopped you."

Sombra looked up, his limbs growing lighter and vision clearing enough to see past the white reflections of the marble floor and look into the purple hue of fur and mane with wings and horn a sign for all to see the royalty innate inside her. He hated her so unbelievably much that his vision went red for a moment and his horn sparked a curse wanting to manifest from his black heart, but all that came was a flash of white light from the royal pony and an end to consciousness for everyone in the room...