//------------------------------// // Chapter 19: Meeting the Young Six // Story: A Tyrant To A King // by ShuTodoroki //------------------------------// Sombra was certainly getting his physical activity in as he was almost tempted to follow Twilight wherever she wanted to go in his shadow form, but he decided staying fit and all was probably good for him, after being holed up in his castle suite for so long. If only his legs didn't protest so much once Twilight was finished showing him around practically the entire school, including the library, fountain square, and student dorms. When they ended right where they started, they were just in time for school dismissal, as students quickly exited the school once the bell rang. "Well, that was-" Twilight was cut off by the dismissal bell, and she awkwardly waited for students to pass by on their way back home, probably moving faster than usual due to the presence of Sombra. "That was the tour! As you can see, students here have a great space where they can learn about friendship." The charcoal stallion noticed that the non-pony creatures weren't mixed in with the group of ponies leaving, however, which intrigued him. "How come the other creatures aren't leaving with the rest of the students?" "Hm? Oh, that's because they live here! It'd be impractical for them to travel back to their homelands which are quite far away only to travel back here for school, so it's easier for them to live at the school if there's no extended breaks going on." Twilight explained, glad that Sombra was taking an interest in the school. "Ah, that makes sense." Sombra murmured in reply, as he looked around for a bit before speaking again. "If you don't mind, I'll probably wander around a bit, maybe explore the library here and rest." "Oh, of course!" Twilight agreed, knowing that Sombra probably wanted to rest from all that walking. "It's not a problem; I'll be back at the castle if you need anything." With that, she left through the main entrance like the other students, and Sombra was left by himself. The school was quite serene when nopony was there, and he walked slowly as he decided what he wanted to do next. Starlight's offer to stop by her office came to mind, and he figured he could do that since he now had the time, assuming she was still there. As he arrived at her office he could see that the doors were open, as he peeked his head inside to see Starlight who was filling out a calendar. When she saw him come in she smiled, gesturing over to a big green couch opposite her desk. "Sombra! How was the tour?" "Well, I can certainly say that I've walked farther than I ever have in a millennium." Sombra snorted, to an amused laugh from Starlight. "I'm sure Twilight's just excited to show another pony her school. It's practically her life's work, after all! So, you wanted to hear more about what I do here?" "Well, actually, not particularly about what you do here; talking to students about their problems seems straightforward enough. I was more curious about what led you to become Twilight's student. From my understanding, since she's the Princess of Friendship, it must be quite an honor to be taught by her about friendship." A curious expression crossed Starlight's face as she looked taken aback. It was as if he had brought up a sore subject, much like if someone rubbed in his face that he was no longer a king. She seemed to get over it though as she looked a bit awkward, tapping her front hooves together as she tried to think of something to say in reply. "Oh! Well…it's kind of a long story, to be honest. But since you're actively trying to be a better pony, maybe my story would help." Starlight said more to herself than Sombra, as if she was trying to reason whether or not she should share something personal aloud to somepony she really didn't know that well. "It's not like I'm in a rush or anything." Sombra replied, his curiosity piqued even more by her intriguing response to his question. Obviously, the road to becoming Twilight's student wasn't a pleasant one. "Of course you're not! And since somepony would probably bring up my past by accident with you around anyway, there's no reason for me not to go into it." Starlight agreed, as she brought a hoof to her chin in thought while she sat in her office chair. "Well…it all started in a small town called Sire's Hollow. You probably wouldn't know of it, but it was my hometown, and it's where I made my first friend, Sunburst. You actually might've seen him in the Crystal Empire when you came back, since he lives there. Anyway, we did practically everything together as foals, and he…he was always better at magic than me, back then." Starlight paused as she braced herself for the part that she wasn't proud about, but she couldn't cherry pick her story. "So it was no surprise when he got his cutie mark in magic, but then soon after that he went off to learn magic at Princess Celestia's school. I never saw him again after that, and I was crushed. So…I did some pretty horrible things." "I moved away and started a village after I learned a spell that could take away ponies's cutie marks. At that point, I was bent on the belief that if ponies didn't have special talents, they could truly live in harmony where everypony was equal. Twilight and her friends put a stop to it, and at that point I was so bent on revenge I used one of Starswirl's spells to travel back in time to stop those six ponies from getting their cutie marks." "Twilight managed to talk me down from it though, and offered for me to become her student to learn more about friendship. I reunited with Sunburst, saved Equestria from Queen Chrysalis with the help of some friends, and now here I am, to make a long story short. It's not something that I'm proud of, but I like to think I've more than made up for my mistakes now!" Sombra had been listening intently all this time, his eyebrows raised in a bit of shock to hear that Starlight had managed to travel through time. This unicorn was quite a powerful one, indeed! Perhaps that was why Twilight thought it best to reform her, like Celestia did for him. "You have the power to travel through time and take away ponies' cutie marks? No wonder Chrysalis couldn't stand in your way. Then again, she's quite weak. It was foolish for her to try to take over Equestria again." "Not really. Starswirl's spell has been destroyed, and I'm not planning on using that cutie mark spell ever again in my life. I like helping ponies' lives this way much better! It feels good to be good, you know? And Chrysalis wasn't easy to defeat at all! Discord, Thorax, Trixie, and I had to infiltrate her hive with no magic at all!" "Ah, yes, Discord had mentioned at least a dozen times to me during my imprisonment how he helped save Equestria. Quite an annoying one, isn't he?" Sombra muttered, glad to have some sort of reprieve. "Although he has his…quirks, he can actually die if he doesn't act chaotic! He's the embodiment of chaos, after all. Fluttershy told me when he tried to act normal to make her comfortable while he was hosting a tea party." Starlight recalled. "Mhm, yes, he does certainly have an affinity for Fluttershy, doesn't he?" Sombra rolled his eyes, before deciding to change the subject in case Discord was eavesdropping. You never knew with that draconequus… "I do appreciate you being open about your past though, Starlight. It's interesting to hear from both you and Discord how friendship has changed your lives for the better." "No problem! If it helps you, I don't have any regrets about sharing." Starlight smiled, before she idly glanced at her calendar and quickly realized she had something going on today. "Ah! I'm meeting Trixie at the Hay Burger in half an hour. I should probably leave." "It's alright; I was going to explore the school a bit more before returning to Canterlot, anyway. Have fun at your outing." "Thanks!" Starlight said as Sombra left to prowl around the school grounds some more, the non-pony students he had met briefly on his mind all of a sudden. At least they don't fear me, so it'll be possible to have a conversation with them. He mused, deciding to head to the library since it looked quite expansive, and it was probably a nice place to relax. When he entered the library he could really appreciate the expanse of it all, hundreds of books probably contained within its walls. Funnily enough, as he walked down the main hallway flanked by bookshelves, he spotted six students who looked quite familiar to him. On closer inspection they were the same six students who had talked when he interrupted Rainbow's class, including the pony, griffon, yak, dragon, hippogriff, and changeling. They noticed his presence as well thanks to the sound of his hoofsteps in the otherwise empty library, and he got basically the same reaction as before. All the non-pony creatures (save for the changeling) didn't look afraid of him, while the light green pony and the changeling looked very nervous. "Oh, it's Sombra pony! Can you tell us story about Crystal Empire so we can study for test?" Yona exclaimed excitedly. "Better yet, can you take it for us?" Smolder quipped with a chuckle. "I still don't know how you all can talk so casually to somepony like that." Sandbar remarked sheepishly. "I know my reputation precedes me, but I'm making an effort to be better. So you're learning about the Crystal Empire right now? Quite fitting." Sombra noted with dry amusement. Surely Twilight hadn't planned it that way, right? "I think she just wanted to move the Tree of Harmony unit to a later date while you're in town. Most ponies hate you for that." Gallus stated bluntly, Ocellus looking concerned that Sombra might try to kill the griffon right then and there. "Anyway, technically it's still alive now because we built a treehouse out of its remains! So that's not a problem anymore." Silverstream pointed out, sticking to the positive since she didn't want to antagonize Sombra. A treehouse? What a peculiar concept. Sombra thought. "You managed to build a treehouse out of what was left? From what I recall, only the roots were what remained. That certainly isn't enough to build a treehouse big enough for the six of you." "Think again, Sombra! Apparently the Tree was still alive, because it grew what we threw together into a full fledged treehouse. Pretty cool, huh? Headmare Twilight said something about the Tree of Harmony growing into whatever Equestria needs at the moment, or something like that." Smolder revealed, to affirmative murmurs from the rest of her friends. "Since you're so interested in it, we can take you to go see it. We were just chilling in the library anyway since it's a nice place to hang out." Gallus offered, Sandbar and Ocellus looking unsure since the Tree probably wouldn't appreciate its destroyer coming to go look at it. "Ooh! I could also explain the hippogriffs along the way. You were curious about our history, right?" Silverstream excitedly said. "That all sounds nice." Sombra agreed, and soon he was following the students out of the School of Friendship, while he idly questioned what he was doing, giving these students the time of day. Well, if it helped him learn more about friendship, he supposed it couldn't hurt.