"I think it would be safer just to cure him," Twilight admitted, glancing at the colt. "I just hope this is the right decision," she admitted.
"Whatever,"Luna said, rolling her eyes. Celestia gave her a cold glare. "What?" she asked.
"Don't get smart. I will respect your decision. In the meantime, I need to get back to my library. I have a few more leads I need to inspect," Celestia replied as she turned.
"Twilight, I feel this is a bad decision. But if you need any help on the cure, I am happy to help," Luna offered. Twilight twisted her hoof and could feel the disappointment from the moon princess. "Sorry, Sombra and I have some unfinished business. But I shouldn't take this out out on you. If you ever have any questions on magic and can't get a hold of my sister, feel free to talk to me," Luna said, opening the door to the student.
"Could I?" Twilight asked as she leaned on the tips of her hooves. Luna reared her head back in surprise at the sudden motion.
"Sure, I don't really have much to do outside of the star skies and keeping watch. So sure," she said with a shrug as she relaxed a bit.
"Don't you help with the research?" Twilight asked.
"This is something Celestia is set on doing. She doesn't trust me too much when it comes to Sombra," Luna admitted solemnly.
"How come?" asked Twilight.
"That's something you can ask Sombra. It goes a bit deeper than just a teacher and student betrayal," she said as she made her leave as well.
Twilight glanced over at Sombra. "Well now all we can do is wait. I need you to stay inside, okay?" she asked as he nodded dumbly.
"Well we still have a few days before we will have enough for Sombra. So, do you want me to watch him until then?" asked Fluttershy as she looked at the colt.
"No I can take care of him. After all, I took care of Spike," Twilight said. "I think i can handle Sombra for one
day," she said.
"Um, if you are sure, but if you need any help, all you need to do is ask," she said as she rubbed her opposite hoof.
"You want to watch him don't you?" asked Twilight as she looked at her friend.
"Well, um yes. You see I always wanted to have a little brother or sister to help care for, and well it would be nice to help," Fluttershy said as she kept looking at the ground as if it would give the answer she wanted.
"Sure, I need to do some cleaning anyway and it would help," Twilight said, remembering the refrigerator.
"Thank you!" she said in a loud voice for her as she scooped Twilight into a hug. She dropped her back to her feet before joining Sombra.
Twilight tilted her head when Owlowiscious flew in. Sombra noticed the bird. "Is he yours?" he asked as the owl suddenly landed on his back. He started to walk around the room as if parading the bird.
"Yeah his name is Owlowiscious," she said with a smile. "This is Sombra," she told the owl, introducing the two.
"Who?" the bird seemed to ask.
"My name is not Sombra," he said with a frown.
"Oh sorry, what is your name?" Twilight asked.
"Um," he paused as he seemed to search for an answer. "Snow Slate?" he said after a moment, not really sure. He tilted his head and the bird followed.
"Sure," she said. She felt a ping in her heart, knowing whoever was standing in front of her was going to vanish in a few days. He trotted off as Twilight made her way to the kitchen. She pulled the food out, levitating it all to the garbage. She paused. "Spike, I need a bucket of soapy water!" she called out. She paused when she heard the water running but Spike wasn't there. The next moment, a white blur scampered into the kitchen with a bucket on his back almost as big as he was. He suddenly slipped, skidding on his belly as he slowed. The bucket seemed to jump as he hit the cupboards.
"Um, Spike isn't here," he reminded as his eyes shift as if ashamed.
"Thank you," she said with a giggle as she pulled the bucket off and started to brush the refrigerator.
She soon found him popping up around the house, helping find books and doing his best to keep her company at night before falling asleep from being up to late. Snow Slate was the model of good behavior, and as time went on, Twilight couldn't help but wonder about the nature of the colt, be it Sombra or Snow Slate.
--A few Days Later--
Twilight kept a straight face as she nudged the colt into the bathtub with the poison joke cure. His mane was dripping wet and before long his body started to grow back into the Dark King she remembered. "Say anything, and I will gut you," he said as he sat in the bathtub, looking like a drowned rat.
"Sorry it took so long but they wanted Spike out of the way as well," Twilight apologized as Sombra levitated a bath towel over to dry off with. He stepped out off the bath.
"Now then, I have something I need to take care of before I was so rudely interrupted," he said with a huff.
"Are you feeling alright? That was the worst case of poison joke I have ever seen," Twilight said as she rushed after him.
"Um, Sombra," Spike tried to say. Sombra only stopped for a brief second.
"Stay here," he said as he continued out the door. Spike stopped, looking down as his spikes dropped a bit. Twilight bit her lip but followed after Sombra. He quickly made it to the edge of the Forest again only for Twilight to appear in front of him.
"Where are you going?" she shouted as she glared at him.
"Home!" he bellowed. And with that, he walked around her. "And if you don't mind, I would like to get moving." He picked up his hooves as he headed back down the trail.
Twilight kept close as she glanced around the forest, the small cliff, the broken bridge, the river and the trees. She smiled at each one as they soon returned to the old castle.
Twilight looked at the main gate and was about to step forward, only to see Sombra had head off. He kept his eyes narrowed as he glanced over the ruins, and they flashed back to a normal green. He looked over each rock and seemed to stop at an over grown field. He shook his head as he soon made his way to a small tower, far away from the ruins.
"What is this place?" she asked as she looked at the small crumbling tower. It could only have been about three stories high. It was in decent shape, but it seemed so far away from the rest of the ruins.
He pushed open the door and it groaned in protest. His horn lit up as the torches on the wall caught, revealing a small room with a round bed at the back, a few book shelves and some old pieces of wood that might have been toys a long time ago.
"Amazing," she said as she looked over all the books; she reached out to touch one.
"Don't, these books are a lot older than me. If you want them, you are going to need a spell to turn back time or something," he said off hoof. He glanced at the bed as he sat down. Twilight looked over the books. Fighting For All, Honor in Servitude, Military Tactics, Historical Battles, The Royal Line books, Foundations of Equestrian History. Each book looked to be well over a thousand years old. She stopped next to an object on one of the shelves, a half fixed egg shell. She smiled fondly thinking back to Spike's birth so long ago.
"Did you hatch a dragon?" she asked as she glanced at him with a slight smile. He spotted the dragon shell as he gave a light smirk.
"Nope, that is my shell. I was hatched from a dragon egg," he admitted. "What did you think I would do with all those crystals?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"But that would make you half-dragon, that's possible?" she asked.
"Yeah, did you not see Luna's night guard? Where do you think they got the leather wings from?" he asked. "Normally, it needs to be a female pony and male dragon. But my father used unicorn magic to fertilize a dragon egg. That's why I am so much taller and have the unnatural horn."
"What kind of effects would that have? she asked as her head spun to look at Sombra.
"Well, dragon-blooded ponies have increased strength in earth ponies, speed and durability in pegasi and the leather wing. Unicorns have a greater magic output. But if the blood gets deluded, these things can become weakened or, in rarer cases, become just momentary spikes in performance," he said as he backed up.
"So how come this was never documented?" she asked. Sombra pulled his head back as he kept pelting back, the gleam in her eye unnerving him.
"Well it was a war secret. My father reminded us it was something to keep only for mouth to mouth. My father wanted to have a son but all he got was a daughter. So he asked for a dragon egg. They gave him one, not expecting him to be able to do anything with it. So he used magic, that magic made me very strong even for a unicorn. He wanted to make a warrior out of me, but the three pony races made a peace treaty so I was put to the side."
"Interesting, so how much do you know about dragons? What kind of magic did they teach? How advanced was the technology?" she inquired, barely pausing between questions.
"Well, not much. They lived far too long for us to ask for a dead body. It was only cause my father was such a powerful magic user he was even able to get an egg. As for your earlier question, what little documentation is right here. But it's so old and brittle, I'm afraid to touch it," Sombra said.
"So as a half-blood dragon, any other side effects?" she asked.
"Well, um, the more things I have in my possession, the more potent and powerful my magic is," he admitted.
"Which would explain the slaves and the constant mining. So what are you planning with all that magical power?" asked Twilight as she moved closer to him.
"Well, ah," he glanced down and suddenly he started to turn red. Twilight tilted her head as he averted his eyes."Could you, um, back off a bit?" he asked nervously, his voice going very quiet.
Twilight glanced down to realize she was standing on his bed. "Sure," she said with a forced grin as she quickly backed off the bed.
"I am going to stay here, so um I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" he asked as he glanced back at the bed.
"Are you feeling alright?" Twilight asked. "You don't seem to be yourself," she said, noting his behavior. He suddenly slumped onto his bed as he ignored her.
"I haven't been myself in a long time, Miss Sparkle. I can feel it coming back but I don't know," he said as he got off the bed. "I don't know where the king starts and the prince ends. All the same, I remember being Slate," he said as he looked at Twilight. "And I would like to thank you for the fun. I didn't have much of a childhood," he admitted.
"Um, no problem." Twilight said as her face lit up.
"It may not seem like much, but you can have any of books you want. You may want to talk to Celestia for help with restoring them. Consider it a thanks for looking after me when I couldn't."
"I did what any good mare would do," she said certainly.
"That is a bit more optimistic than I would be inclined to believe. Still it's a nice sentiment. But the books are yours, I have no need of them," he said as he swept his hoof over the bookshelf.
"Thank you," she repeated over and over again as she leaped into the air before suddenly swallowing him up in a hug.
"Your welcome," he said as she quickly pulled back but he didn't seem to bothered by the physical touch.
"I mean, the history, everything is so valuable to the world, thank you," she said.
"Tell Fluttershy i said thank you as well, and if you don't mind, I would like to go to sleep," he said as he gave her a faint smile.
"No problem," she said, nodding as she quickly went to the door.
"Twilight," he said as she got to the door. She stopped and looked at him, "I kinda wish you would have you kept me at that age," he said. Twilight nodded sadly and closed the door to the tower behind her.