It was with trepidation that Private Iceland and Dew Doe returned home to the suburbs of Fillydelphia. Twilight and Cadance had offered to come with them, but the couple decided they might as well attempt trying this alone.
There was no sound when they entered the house. Glancing at each other for a moment, the two ponies carefully approached the living room and looked in. King Sombra lay on the couch close to the entrance. He had dropped his cape, armor and crown. He was now wearing what looked like a black silk robe with white trims. The Dark Pony was browsing a book.
“I take it since you are not accompanied by the Princesses, their champions, or heavy guards, that you have made a decision,” Sombra addressed them without looking up.
“We have,” Dew Doe responded and walked fully in, followed closely by Private.
Sombra closed the book and put it on a side table, then he turned his head towards them, regarding the couple neutrally. Dew Doe took a deep breath, she would be speaking since Private was not much of a speaker.
“We have decided to accept your offer, however, there will be a few conditions,” she started. The former king just nodded for her to proceed.
“The princesses will be monitoring. Private and I are to report to them weekly on the progress we are making. If either one of us can’t make it to their meeting, they will assume something has happened and will come and deal with it. The ground rules we established when you were staying here last time still apply,” the pegasus counted up.
“Ah yes, I believe they were that I help around the house, our rooms are our private space and, ah right, no inappropriate behavior that makes you uncomfortable,” Sombra responded, then he nodded to the entrance. “You will find I have already cleaned up your morning meal that you left unattended. I put a preservation spell on the leftovers - have no fear, standard harmless spell most unicorns know.”
I don’t, Private thought and expected a mocking remark. The king could, after all, use his powers to access his mind easily.
There was nothing.
“Oh, uh, thank you.” Dew blinked, a little in surprise. She glanced around for a moment, but the living room still looked the same, before turning back to Sombra. “So, I take it you want the same room again?”
“Well, if it’s not occupied already.” Sombra shrugged, then became thoughtful. “Can I make slight alterations?”
“Define slight alterations. This is a rented house,” Dew Doe cringed a little.
“Oh, nothing big. Just make a bed I’m more accustomed to, make the room feel more like my room, as you said last time, decorate it after my tastes,” the king said and patted his horn. “After all, I can do that now.”
“Ah right, just make sure it can be removed without damaging anything. We do have to make sure the house is still in the same condition and when we moved in,” the pegasus told him.
“Have no fear, it will all be perfectly removable.” Sombra nodded.
“Right… so uh, how are you feeling about this so far?” Dew Doe wondered, still raking her brain over how they would go about convincing Sombra to reform.
“Too early to tell. After all, our agreement is just a few minutes old. Don’t worry, I’ll give you ample time to convince me,” the king chuckled. “You still have work to do, I believe. Probably need to notify your families. I have a feeling Foxy Stripes and her daughter are not returning here.”
“Well, Foxy might, but no, Coal will not.” Dew Doe nodded and realized the Dark Pony actually had a point. They had to explain to their family and other friends about the situation.
They started to walk out.
Private hesitated before following. He took another glance at Sombra, who was already turning away, grabbing up the book he had been going through.
What are you really up to? He thought, thinking perhaps Sombra would respond to that.
“I have not linked myself to your mind, Private,” the king said without looking back. “Unless you want me to.”
“No thanks,” Private quickly muttered and hurried now after Dew Doe.
Sombra chuckled silently and went back to the book. After reading for a few minutes, the Dark Pony narrowed his eyes and glared towards the ceiling. Staring at him were a pair of mismatched eyes.
“Sooo, is it too early to invite you to the ‘reformed villains club’, Somby?” a voice addressed him, a toothy grin appeared under the eyes.
“I assume you are part of the security measures the princesses have put in place?” Sombra sighed in exasperation and closed the book.
Out of the ceiling poked the mixed-up head of the Spirit of Chaos. Discord then produced both his arms to shrug casually. “They asked nicely.”
Discord pulled himself out fully and landed on the floor, placing paw and claw on his sides as he regarded the king, still grinning. “I also just had to see it myself. King No-Sense-of-Humor, subjecting himself to this. It’s just hilarious.”
“I have my reasons,” Sombra growled and gave the spirit a glare. “If you were hoping I would reveal those reasons, keep waiting.”
“Oh no, of course not. It would be too much to ask that you would tell anything.” Discord rolled his eyes and floated up to sit in the air. He kept watching the irritated Dark Pony. “You want to know why I accepted my chance?”
“You value your friendship with that timid pegasus too much to risk losing it, everypony in Equestria knows that,” Sombra snorted and returned to his book. His eyes narrowed to a slit when Discord’s face appeared in front of him on the page, looking surprisingly solemn.
“Oh no, that’s not all of it, King Sombra,” the spirit said and did smile slightly. “Sure, I do value it greatly. Fluttershy has shown me so much and how much fun I can have without causing misery to others, even if I sow a little chaos here and there. Moderation, that’s the key.”
Discord’s face disappeared out of the book and the spirit appeared in a miniature version of himself on the armrest of the couch. He leaned now on the book with his lion paw, a very uncharacteristic scowl on his face.
“I think you know it yourself. Deep down, for all the powers you have, for all the attempts you have made to cause trouble, it never changed one thing did it?” the spirit said before disappearing and reappearing on the living room floor in his full size.
“I’m not going to interfere too much, that’s not how I work. My job will be to remove the ponies here out of harm’s way if you turn out not to be sincere. They are friends of Twilight Sparkle who is my friend and she and Fluttershy asked for my assistance. I will do that much for them,” the spirit warned. He didn’t bother trying to sound intimidating, knowing it wouldn’t impress the Dark Pony on the couch too much. Still, he did maintain the frown. “Just keep that in mind, when you figure out why it is I decided to fully accept my chance.”
With that, the Chaos Spirit disappeared in a flash. Sombra just snorted and shook his head, returning to the book while muttering about childish spirits.
“It’s a pegasus, I’m sure of it. It’s already doing somersaults in there,” Dew complained as she returned to Private’s study where she had been talking with him before having to excuse herself.
Private just nodded. He was not going to question anything. He was just happy overall that he was going to be a father. Dew Doe sat down next to him and picked up the list they had been going over. They were still trying to figure out the current unplanned event happening in their house.
“I still don’t understand why now? I mean, sure I guess we already showed him a little bit of a normal life when he was here last time, but that can’t be it,” she said as she scanned the paper.
The unicorn just shrugged. He had a long time ago stopped trying to figure out Sombra. He didn’t want to admit it, but a small part of him was actually glad to have this chance. Maybe this was an opportunity to coax Prince Sombra out. More pragmatic parts of him were grumbling that yet again the king was interfering with his life, probably just to enjoy messing it up.
“Well, he seems the most open to you, so you probably should uh…this is going to sound strange…do most of the talking with him, figure it out,” Dew looked at Private with an innocent smile.
“Sure, I get the easy jobs as usual,” Private grunted, already picturing how well that would go.
“I will be around, I might even throw in a question or two at some point,” the pegasus smiled sweetly. Then she returned to their list. “For my part, I think I’ll be trying to figure him out on a more psychological level. I already have a few ideas and saw quite a bit when his mother was around, but I think once we crack him, we could really do some proper progress.”
“Careful. He is smart and quick to realize what is going on,” Private warned her.
“Yes, yes, so how are you going to sell this to your family?” Dew wondered, looking up.
“Mom and Dad might just ask me to be careful. Barricade is going to go nuts,” the unicorn grunted, already picturing his brother’s angry reaction in his head.
“Yeah, I expect mom to visit soon… if she isn’t already on her way,” the pegasus nodded, wondering how she would convince her mother.
The two ponies were so deep in thought regarding their respective families that they jumped when there was a knock on the study door. It opened, revealing Sombra standing there.
“Um, can we help you?” Dew asked, wondering why she was surprised it was him since they had left him downstairs in the living room. For some reason, the pegasus had almost thought her mother had already arrived.
“Well, a thought occurred to me. You said this house was rented, I have done some more research myself and I understand that means you pay for living here?” the king wondered, causing Dew to momentarily glance at Private before returning her attention back to Sombra.
“Why, yes we do. It’s through a friend of my mom’s. She owns the house, but we pay rent to live here and keep up the house,” Dew Doe explained to him.
“Then I assume correctly that with me living here, I should probably pay rent as well?” Sombra frowned slightly in thought.
“Erm… can you pay?” Private asked. He could not believe the Dark Pony would have a paying job at the moment.
“I have a substantial bank account,” the king told him, raising a hoof in assurance. “All legally obtained.”
“How?” Dew asked suspiciously. Much like the unicorn, she just couldn’t believe Sombra had somehow legally acquired money.
“You never wondered where I have been hiding all this time?” Sombra chuckled a little when all the ponies could do was shrug uncertainly. “Las Pegasus. I made some hefty profit at the various establishments they have on offer for games of chances the first time I was in hiding, then added to that in these past few months.”
“You have been in Las Pegasus this whole time?” Dew’s jaw dropped. Private’s own mouth opened when Sombra nodded to confirm that.
“Just let me know what my part of the rent is and I’ll make sure to pay it on time,” the king told them as he turned to leave, closing the door to the study as he did.
“This whole time, he was in Las Pegasus,” Dew muttered, hanging her head as she shook it tiredly, recalling how long the king had been hiding the first time and now it had also been months without any sign of him the second.
Princess Celestia entered the western wing of Canterlot Castle and approached a door that led to one of the many guest rooms placed in it. The princess raised a hoof and knocked, opening the door with her magic when a voice invited her in.
“Princess Celestia,” Queen Rabia addressed her, laying down on the couch. A teacup floated in front of her in a red magic aura. “I do not believe we have anything scheduled today.”
“No, this has nothing to do with your rehabilitation program,” Celestia told her and entered the room. The queen frowned slightly as she noticed how serious the princess looked, but remained quiet.
“Your son has resurfaced,” the princess told Rabia. Celestia had figured it was best not to wait without telling Rabia about this. It would reach her ears one way or another anyway.
Rabia almost lost the magic grip she had on the teacup. Shaking it slightly, she placed it back on the side table. The queen stared at it for a moment before looking hesitantly back at Celestia.
“W-where is he?” Rabia whispered, the dark unicorn was mildly worried they thought she had something to do with whatever Sombra was doing.
“He has approached the pony he’s hounded in the past and offered him a chance to convince him to reform, or retire, as Sombra put it,” Celestia told Rabia. “He’s staying with Private Iceland and his marefriend down in Fillydelphia.”
“What?” Rabia frowned and sat up on the couch, raking her brain over what her son could possibly be up to with this.
“We are keeping a watch on the situation to see how it develops. But as his mother, I was wondering if you might have any idea if he is being sincere or not?” the princess asked, though she didn’t expect Rabia to be able to tell her anything. Rabia had known Prince Sombra, not King Sombra.
“I couldn’t even begin to tell you anything. The son I thought I knew is not the same as my son is now.” Rabia shook her head and dropped down from the couch. She walked over to a window and gazed out of it for a moment before sighing deeply. Then she looked solemnly at Celestia.
“In so many ways he is just like me, but whether that is a good thing or not remains to be seen. But in other ways, he was so much like his father…” Rabia halted and looked down. “Whether he still retains the qualities of his father is another matter.”
“I know Captain Vago is a sensitive subject for you, but what was he like? I only met him very briefly,” Celestia asked and was not surprised that Raba scowled a little and grit her teeth when the captain’s name was said.
“Soft-hearted fool like all sta…” Rabia caught herself and turned away. “If I must be generous, he was kind and loyal to those he considered his friends and very much adored our children, even if he couldn’t call himself their father.”
Princess Celestia held back any remarks about the slip-up. Rabia was after all still a work in process right now. Usually, if Vago was brought up, the queen would clam up and just mutter very unkind remarks about him. These were probably the most generous words she had ever used about him.
“Did Sombra say anything about me?” Rabia asked and slowly eyed the princess.
“I’m afraid not, you were never brought up. Whether he knows you are going through a similar program he’s voluntarily entered, I don’t know, though he might know soon enough,” Celestia told her. The queen just nodded and sat down, still facing the window.
Celestia figured this was probably enough. Rabia had at least given her some minor insight regarding her son, although whether they applied now remained to be seen. The Solar Princess turned around after bidding the queen goodbye and started to head out.
“I loved him, you know,” she heard Rabia say quietly.
“Excuse me?” Celestia glanced back at the queen.
“Captain Vago. After Sombra left us, I… wanted to do something very few queens of the empire had ever done - marry the father of their children. But before I could propose it, he killed me,” Rabia stared out the window with a stern gaze. “I just failed to see how much he hated me.”
“Rabia, it’s still on offer for you to see a therapist. It might do you good to get some of those things off your chest with a professional,” the princess told her. They had already figured out that Rabia had had some issues that needed resolving that might help with the rehabilitation.
Rabia looked at her sharply and almost shook her head no. So far the queen had absolutely refused these offers, especially so after it was explained to her what this kind of therapy was.
“I’ll consider it,” she said this time instead and returned her attention back to the outside. Celestia nodded and walked out of the room, leaving the queen be for now.
End chapter 2