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// Chapter 3 - Family meeting 
// Story: Retirement of a king 
// by Askre 
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“You are both crazy,” Barricade growled at the two ponies sitting across him. He was sitting at the dining table in his parent’s house in Trottingham.

He had been summoned there for a family meeting. Also there were of course his parents, Mirage Rock and Hard Shovel and his twin brother, Private. Sky Dive, the mother of Foxy and Dew Doe was there as well. The pegasi sisters were seated by the table too. It was towards Dew and Private, Barricade made his remark.

“Barricade, let them talk,” Mirage gently chided her brazen son, though a worried frown was on the old blue-gray mare. “Though I must confess that I am concerned about this as well.”

“I must concur with Mirage, I don’t see how this can end well,” Sky Dive spoke up. She looked about as happy as Barricade. The sky-blue pegasus gave her pregnant daughter a very hard stare.

“Look, we are not expecting miracles,” Dew Doe sighed, though she was partially agreeing with Barricade. “But, Sombra has been an absolute plague on our lives since he possessed Private. This might finally be a real chance to have that stop. Locking him up in Tartarus didn’t work. He managed to snake his way out of that sentence the moment nopony was keeping an eye on him.”

“Then why not just drag his sorry ass to the Crystal Empire and let the Crystal Heart blow him up again? There - problem solved,” Barricade snarled, hammering a hoof on the table. This time his father put a hoof on him and gave his son a stern glance to calm down.

“No thanks, I don’t want to be possessed again,” Private spoke, up causing everyone but Dew and Foxy to look at him in surprise. The unicorn for once sported his more common neutral, half bored expression. He had barely shown it since Sombra had arrived at his house.

“Sombra’s spell that made me a recipient to his spirit for possession is still in here,” he clarified, pointing at his head. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have scanned my head thoroughly and declared that the spell is just too complicated to remove safely. If Sombra dies, he is going right back in here again.”

“There is only one pony who can remove the spell. Sombra. And you think he’s going to remove it at this point in time?” Dew pointed out, having known this information herself.

“Want some salt with that hoof you just ate, Barricade?” Foxy asked with a grin when seeing Barricade’s cringe at this new information.

“Alright, alright, blowing him up isn’t an option,” Barricade grunted.

“Look, we are not here to discuss options for what to do with him. Private and I have already made the commitment. We are going to try, and right now I would rather not find out what Sombra does to ponies who break their agreement with him. We are just here to basically tell you what is happening, not seek advice on what to do,” Dew finally said with a heavy sigh.

Barricade grumbled, but said nothing more. Sky Dive looked at Private’s parents, who still looked concerned. She had though noticed neither of them had voiced anything in protest unlike her and their more brazen son, and the mare wondered why.

“Mirage, Hard. Don’t tell me you are already getting on board with this?” she finally asked, when still nothing came from them.

“Oh, we don’t like the idea at all,” Hard Shovel looked at Sky. The tangelos stallion became more solemn. Mirage put a hoof gently on him.

“Several years ago we would have definitely been against it.” His wife nodded. Barricade looked at his parents with a scowl. He couldn’t believe the only one to agree with him was Sky Dive.

“Now it’s more complicated because…” For once Hard Shovel found it difficult to talk and became a bit embarrassed. “During our own capture by King Sombra, we were forced to learn things about Private that he wasn’t ready for us to learn about. After we were freed, we have had further talks about it with him and well…it’s really not ours to say.”

Private somehow managed to refrain from cringing when all eyes went to him. Dew scooted closer to put a wing around him. Granted under normal circumstances he may not have had any problem confessing this to the ponies sitting down at the table. Barricade, for all his faults, was not exactly known for loose lips and Sky Dive herself was notorious for protecting the private lives of her daughters. Foxy and Dew and his parents were already aware of most of it by now.

“You know the Time Pony, Doctor Whooves? Many years ago, before I was possessed, he took me and Dew on a trip to the past that landed us in the Dark Pony Empire many years before it was destroyed,” Private started, though knowing Whooves was no secret.  everybody at the table knew who he was.

“Dew and I met Queen Rabia and she invited us to be guests at our court. There we…I mean I, met Prince Sombra, long before he became King Sombra. I’m bisexual, Sky Dive, and as much as I love your daughter, I am also attracted to stallions, especially a specific type of one,” he continued.

“I’m following so far,” Sky Dive remarked, not too bothered to learn of Private’s orientation. If anything she wanted to pump a foreleg and say she knew it, having long suspected, but now was not the time.

Private didn’t quite continue to talk, instead looked over to where had put a saddlebag on an empty chair. He drew out a small box and opened it, from it he produced a silver necklace with a flat medallion on it, engraved with an image of a unicorn with a curved horn.

“This is not something you find at any jewelry store nowadays. This is a token of affection Dark Ponies gave to those they deeply cared about, be it a stallion or a mare,” Hard Shovel decided to point out. He and his wife were the Dark Pony experts after all.

“We’ve found copper versions, plain old iron and stone versions in digs. Silver means it’s from someone rich or royalty,” Mirage chimed in as well.

“Prince Sombra gave this to me after our visit was over,” Private continued after his parents were done explaining the necklace, causing both Barricade and Sky Dive to look at him stunned. The unicorn sighed. Now came the difficult part. “I was in love with him as much as I’m in love with Dew Doe now. And…I now know the feeling was mostly mutual on his part.”

“What!?” Barricade exclaimed.

“Alright, maybe love isn’t exactly the right word to use from his perspective. Dark Ponies had… uh, what was it called, dad?” Private halted as he realized he wasn’t quite sure how to explain it and looked at Hard Shovel.

“Well in modern terms, the best way to call 'it is friends with benefits'. Dark Ponies, like most creatures back then,  had no modern concept of sexual orientation. A Dark Pony was likely to have intimate relationships with either gender throughout their lives, especially with close, trusted friends. You must understand that marriage back then was most of the time for convenience, not love. Plus, they were strictly segregated based on gender. A Dark Pony’s first intimate encounter was more likely to be had with someone of their own gender. Marriages to the opposite gender were for either alliance and/or procreation. Sombra is just as much a product of his time as his mother is,” the old stallion explained.

“Well, that ‘friend’ abducted Private when he was a colt, somehow, possessed him, abducted him, then forced him to be his parole officer. Exactly where is Private benefitting from this ‘friendship’ of his?” Barricade snorted.

“That was King Sombra, not Prince Sombra,” Dew Doe pointed out, receiving a glare from the unicorn.

“And the difference is? Titles aside,” Barricade growled, Sky Dive nodded in agreement.

“Prince Sombra was a kind pony, who raised and taught his sister from infancy, preparing her for the role as a future queen. Treated his servants well and always ensured they would have good futures once they quit his service. He was polite, well-mannered, dutiful and loyal, yet burdened heavily with the strict gender roles of his society and chafing under the iron grip of his mother,” the pegasus explained without missing a beat.

“King Sombra is the result of his race being brutally destroyed, his beloved sister violently butchered, years of mental and physical abuse at the hooves of his mother finally coming crumbling down on top of him. Having absolutely no one around to help to sort out these kinds of issues, which he had plenty of, ended up in him finally lashing out in the worst possible way. I’m not defending what King Sombra did, but knowing what I know now, I can kind of see how all of this would make someone like him finally snap. Considering all the powers he already had, the world got to feel it.”

Private glanced at Dew Doe, mildly amazed. He had no idea Dew had this view of Sombra. Then he realized that his marefriend was already working on creating a psychological profile for Sombra and this is what she had concluded so far.

“Now, please, nopony is expecting anypony to just kiss and make up, forgive and forget. Private and I are doing this because hopefully if we can do this, he will finally leave us alone,” Dew Doe finally stated with a sharp voice, then she immediately got a bit more embarrassed. “But…”

“I knew there was going to be a but.” Foxy shook her head ruefully. She was elbowed by her sister.

“None of us can see the future. Right now it’s easy to have this initial goal of reforming him so we can finally be rid of him. I won’t, however, completely dismiss the idea that things could change along the way. Everything is still on square one, feelings are still tense, we have no idea if anything we say or do will even work,” Dew Doe started to say.

“I already don’t like where this is going,” Barricade muttered and was shushed by his mother.

“I’m just saying we should brace ourselves to the idea that Sombra might stick around, even after he’s reformed. In what manner I cannot say, but keep in mind, we have precedence in the form of Discord,” the pegasus finished.

Things went silent at the table as various ponies pondered what had been said. Barricade rubbed his forehead tiredly, while Sky Dive had become contemplative. Hard Shovel and Mirage Rock, although looking concerned, seemed to almost be accepting of this.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a foal dancing on my bladder.” Dew Doe quickly dropped from her chair and hurried to the bathroom.

“If it makes you feel any better, Barriacde, I won’t let Coal stay there while Sombra is with us. Mom has already agreed to house her, though I'm going to be there to keep an eye on those two,” Foxy finally spoke up.

“Yeah, but my nephew/niece will be there,” Barricade grunted, referring to the unborn foal.

“We will be careful,” Private told him, but gave him an appreciative nod for the concern he was showing.

“I’m almost tempted to be there myself…however, I’m going to trust you all on this. But he better not try anything,” Sky Dive finally relented, she still looked heavy in thought.

“I think we will all be watching this closely, Sky,” Mirage told the pegasus mare with a smile, who just nodded sharply.

A momentary silence fell over the table. The ponies could now hear the rustling of papers coming from beyond the doorway that led straight to the apartment living room. All of them glanced over. Mirage and Hard still had worried frowns,  Barricade glared, Private still sported his neutral bored expression and Foxy tilted her head. Sky Dive still seemed to be considering something, rubbing her muzzle thoughtfully.

Everyone finally rose up and headed into the living room. Sitting in there on a couch was King Sombra. The Dark Pony was going through papers, several stacks of them were on the coffee table along with several books.

“I must compliment you, Mister Hard Shovel and Mrs. Mirage Rock,” Sombra said without looking up from the papers. “Your research on the Dark Pony race is very accurate.”

“Thank you,” Mirage responded warily. Although gratifying to hear that from an actual Dark Pony, it was still a bit strange it was from this one.

“Tell me again why you brought him with you?” Barricade eyed his brother, refusing to even look at the king.

Private resisted a temptation to sigh. He couldn’t blame his brother for being resentful. Barricade had suffered just as much as him at the hooves of Sombra.

Initially they weren’t going to bring him along, after all, they were really just going to notify their family what was going on. Then Dew Doe realized it was probably more proper that Sombra be present, or at the very least nearby while they basically talked about him. If he was truly serious about retiring, as he put it, it didn’t seem right to just go somewhere private to do that. They did, after all, have to convince him that it was worth it.

“How did you feel about it - that we were having meetings to talk about you, back in the day?” Private whispered finally.

Barricade scowled harder, yet couldn’t really respond to that. Back when he was still the pariah of the family, he had been well aware that his family was often meeting up to discuss him and his behavior. He never admitted out loud that it did bother him. He had pretended not to care, but it wasn’t how he really felt.

“I do have to make one minor correction,” Sombra spoke, turning the attention of the brothers back to him.

“What correction?” Hard Shovel raised his brow, hiding it well that he was actually mildly intrigued, having always been prepared that some of the research he and his wife did had some errors in them.

“Grand Duchess Espantosa was not my mother’s great-grandaunt. She was the daughter of Grand Duchess Mieto, who was Queen Rabia’s great-grandaunt, making Espantosa my mother’s first cousin, twice removed.” The Dark Pony looked up at the two elderly archeologists.

Private was a little surprised that there was no mock or condensation in the king’s voice. While Sombra waited for the family to finish the meeting, he had been allowed to access the research Mirage and Hard had done on Dark Ponies. Private had almost dreaded it that the former tyrant would be picking apart every little detail and even mocking his parents for even the slightest error.

“Of course Grand Duchess Mieto is also my mother’s cousin further down the line…” Sombra frowned as he glanced back down at the papers. “I can see how trying to piece together my family tree might be a tad confusing.”

“What, you’re telling me your family is all inbr…” Barricade didn’t get further with his mocking statement. Foxy almost immediately put her hoof over his mouth.

“Don’t. Go. There,” the mare whispered sharply between her teeth. Barricade gave her a glare, but then noticed both his parents and Private were glaring at him. Sky Dive was shaking her head, the only one smirking was Sombra.

“Please, let him speak his mind,” the king chuckled. Then the large unicorn sighed and rolled his eyes. “He’s not exactly wrong anyway.”

“We’ll leave family tree discussions be for now,” Sky Dive stated. She eyed Foxy for a moment before looking at Sombra again. “We have finished our talk. We will be watching this play out, closely.”

“Okay, enough with the ‘we will be watching’ spiel, even I’m getting tired of hearing it,” Dew Doe declared as she entered the living room, having finished her business in the bathroom. “Foxy, Private, Sombra, it’s probably time we head back home.”

Sombra watched as the pegasi sisters and Private started to say goodbye to their reluctant family members. His eyes drifted to Dew Doe. He was hiding his surprise that the mare had actually said that to her mother. The king was so used to hearing all kinds of things like what Sky Dive had said, plus other empty threats, that it was really just white noise to him.

Then he noticed Private was talking with his parents, who both kept glancing at the king, unsure. Finally Mirage and Hard turned to face him.

“If you have any other corrections you would like to make, Private has copies of our research. You can go over them and send them to us,” Hard Shovel said, with some hesitation.

Well, I suppose that will give me something to do. Although I already noticed they do not know that much about the Dark Pony connection. That's actually beneficial... Sombra halted his thought and frowned. Why were they suddenly offering him this? “I’ll consider it.”

Finally the pegasi sisters, Private and Sombra were on the streets of Trottingham, heading to the train station to catch the train to Fillydelphia. Foxy and Dew walked in the front with Private behind them. Sombra came last.

The king frowned. The three ponies in front of him were almost suspiciously relaxed. Just two days ago, Private and Dew had been nervously approaching him to agree to his deal with them. He could still vividly remember them tearing out of the house with Coal when he had first arrived.

“Private, what is…never mind. It will take forever to get you to talk without me violating my agreement with Celestia,” Sombra grunted and increased his pace so he now walked beside the pegasi. He didn’t notice Private rolling his eyes at the remark.

“Alright, what is going here,” he addressed Dew Doe and Foxy Stripes.

“What do you mean?” Dew looked up at him. Her sister glanced skeptically at the king.

“You three are acting like it’s just another day for you,” Sombra glared back at Private, who made no comment.

“Shouldn’t it be?” Dew asked, causing the king to snap his head back towards her.

“What, trying to convince an enemy of Equestria to retire is just another everyday thing for you three?” the king asked mockingly. Dew sighed and the ponies halted their walk as she turned to face the king.

“You asked us to convince you to reform… I mean retiring was worth it. I for one am not going to be walking on eggshells around you while we do that. I mean, what’s the point? It’s not like we could stop you if you wanted to do something horrible to us,” the pegasus told him.

“That is true,” Sombra concurred and glanced at Private and Foxy.

“You are just accustomed to everyone being on edge around you, wondering and dreading what you will do next. Don’t let the bored look fool you. Private is currently internally screaming,” Foxy grinned and pointed at Private. Sombra blinked and looked at the smaller unicorn whose expression hadn’t changed at all.

“Have you uh…accessed Private’s mind at all?” Dew asked. Now was the first time Private cringed ever so slightly.

“I have not.” the king frowned and wondered if he should do that. He had been keeping his powers in check. Not just because of previous agreements made. He wanted to see how things played out simply with him being present.

“Yeah, you actually have to be in Private’s head to know what he’s thinking and feeling,” Dew chuckled and gave Private an earnest smile. “I can just look at him.”

“If you think that’s amazing, Barricade can translate some of his grunts that even Dew has found tricker to understand,” Foxy chimed in. Dew shrugged and now Private smiled a little.

Sombra was stumped. This was not playing out as he had expected at all. At first it had, but now, after the family meeting, the ponies were acting normal and even talking to him normally.

“Oh, I think I get it now,” Sombra growled and started to stomp off ahead of them. “Guess it’s your first sad attempt at convincing me.”

The three ponies stared after him. Foxy looked confused and Private had resumed his neutral expression. Dew shook her head with a solemn smile before looking at them.

“Baby steps,” she reminded Foxy and Private, who both nodded in agreement.

End chapter 3