//------------------------------// // Part Two: His Temporary Home // Story: Young Sombra's Former Transgressions // by Art Inspired //------------------------------// “Spike, get me the toadstool from the pantry!” “Yes, Twilight!” “Don’t forget to cleaver the liver well!” Twilight heard a knock on the door. “I’ve got it," she yelled. "Keep chopping, Spike!” She came around the corner from the kitchen and to the door. Opening it, she saw Celestia standing right there in the entryway. Twilight bowed instantly before her. “Princess Celestia!” “Calm down, Twilight. I’ve got somepony here with me who you may remember…” Her highness walked in, sniffed a bit, and asked, “Is that… paprika?” Twilight giggled. “Just… a small experiment upstairs, nothing to worry about.” Celestia nodded her head. “Baking enchanted sweets?” “It’s to calm Pinkie Pie down for once!” Twilight took a step back, walking away from Celestia who resumed entering the premise. “She’s been party crazy lately. More so than usual! I don’t know why, but every once in a while, she gets like this. She warned me, told me her grey strand of hair meant she only one thing! She could possibly run everyone out of town, and now it’s coming true.” Twilight turned around. “I mean, I can only take so much childish behavior, games, chaos… What’s that on your back?” Celestia gulped and turned around. Sitting, curled up in his cape and using it for a blanket, the former king named Sombra laid on her back fast asleep. Twilight stepped closer with a critical eye, looking the colt up and down while saying, “It can’t be.” “It is,” Celestia assured. “It would seem, he’s been reduced to nothing more but a young, innocent colt. I found him north of the Crystal Empire.” Twilight blinked, then glanced up at Celestia. “No.” Celestia smiled kindly. “Yes.” Twilight shook her head while backing away. “No…” Celestia nodded with a snicker and closed eyes. “Yes…” Twilight finally bumped into one of her book shelves. “Princess Celestia, I’m not going to adopt this… child who just so happens to be the SHADOW DEMON KING! He’s way too dangerous even as a kid, not to mention everything he put me, and Spike, and all the others through! How do you expect this to work out?” “Twilight,” Celestia said, raising her hoof to stop her student’s excitement. “He said he’s sorry.” For a moment, Twilight stood still long enough to look over at him. She couldn’t really sense his chilling powers anymore, not like before when he was fully grown. She had to admit, something about him in this state made her feel safer, if only a little bit. “If he really said that… then, maybe I could take him in. How long will you need me to look after him?” Celestia brought her hoof up to her chin to think, and said, “Well, I'd need to get a room ready for him, so in the mean time you should just take field research notes on him for a good while… About a week.” Twilight grunted. “You’re seriously going to drop him off here for a week and dump him on me without any warning?” Celestia sighed. “I'm sorry, Twilight. It’s a sudden situation we’re in. You need to keep in mind, though, that you’d probably not only be helping myself, but all of Equestria as well.” Twilight looked down at the floorboards, defeated. “I better get some new cool spell book out of this...” Celestia giggled lightly and sat down. Her muzzle came close to the angrily sleeping colt’s chest, waking him. As he yawned with tightly closed eyes, his tongue slithering out, and then back in, he rose like a cat. Mumbling something about a bad dream, he looked around slowly, his eyes squinting more and more after each little thing came into view. “What the…” Twilight squealed at his soft voice. “Oh, that’s so adorable!” “huh?” Sombra looked up at Twilight, blinking still, and then shook his head. “Y-you! I remember you! Hiss!” Twilight was taken back by the rude spitting, and motherly said, “No, you don’t hiss at anypony you remember hating.” Celestia stood. “I think you two will get along just fine.” Sombra gasped, this action being somewhat cute to Twilight. “If she’s here, then that dragon’s here as well! No, you can’t leave me here with these imbeciles. They’re responsible for me being like this in the first place!” He stood and started adjusting his spot like he wasn’t going anywhere, and finished, “Take me to the Crystal Empire. I have ponies to enslave!” Celestia and Twilight looked at one another holding in chortles. Celestia magically placed Sombra on the floor, him fidgeting to break free, and headed for the door still chuckling. “Message me if things get out of control. I’ll be expecting those papers upon my return in a week. Oh, and Twilight…” She watched as her student turned around after getting Sombra off of the lamp post to listen. “Yes, your highness?” “Thank you for doing this.” The unicorn looked down with a smile. “Oh, no problem. I'll just be here, taking care of..." She gulped. "Taking care of King Sombra.” “One more thing.” Twilight looked back up tentatively. “No using enchanted foods to ‘calm him down’. I need to see his behavior without that sort of problem.” Twilight chuckled, “You don’t need to worry! I’ve got everything under control.” The princess bowed her head in respect. Bringing it back up, though, she sang, “Sombra’s in the kitchen with Spike,” and walked out the door while Twilight turned around suddenly with an annoyed expression on her face. Inside the kitchen, Spike resumed chopping carrots, tossing them into a cauldron. He grabbed some raven claws professionally, broke them in half over a giant bowl, and then dumped them in. The broth he tended on in Twilight's absence bubbled and boiled. He placed both his fists on his sides, accomplished with his part, and then turned around to witnessed some unorthodox intruder picking up a portion of grains that could be found within a nearby basket. “You…” Spike said, raising his free claw and pointing. Then, Twilight came in. All three looked left and right at one another in silence. Twilight spoke up first. “He’s gonna be living here for a while. He’s harmless, Spike…” The dragon simply lowered himself down from the ladder he was on, still pointing, and asked, “Is he s-still evil? Huh?” Sombra answered that himself by trying to bite Spike’s finger. Luckily, he missed, but still gave the poor creature a good scare. “I’m King Sombra, and you two will take me to my palace this instant!” Twilight looked at Spike, her eyebrow raised, and asked, “Wanna help me put this little terror to bed?” Spike lowered his hand, backing away. "Do I have to?" Twilight looked away in grief. "Celestia's order's... So If I've gotta do it, you've gotta help!" Spike groaned for a moment. "Unbelievable..." However, seeing as how it was an instance involving somepony like the princess, he knew he had no way out of it. “If it’s a command from Princess Celestia herself, then yeah, I guess I’ve got no choice.” “Hey! What do you two think you're doing?!” Sombra asked this in a harsh tone while being dragged upstairs. It would take up to an hour to get him to lie down comfily, and then another thirty minutes for Twilight to find her old book for fillies, the one that always helped her sleep at night when she was little. Finally, it would take five more minutes just for Twilight to read the story, and for Sombra to stop fidgeting with Spike. He'd eventually close his eyes and go to bed, Spike still aggressively hugging him. Morning would come, but this evening, Twilight had some books to read, most of them being from the Crystal Empire. Each and every selection contained some sort of information on the former King Sombra, be it lore or fact. Twilight hoped she would find something useful that night within the countless pages of the crystal pony history, just like Princess Celestia. At that very same time, her highness was doing the exact same thing as her devoted student. Studying the research compiled for this whole incident along with how it all developed over time might just prove useful to the princess and her pupil, and perhaps even young Sombra as well.