“You mean you’ve never even heard of friendship?” Spike asked while Twilight removed the armor underneath his forearms. The funny thing about Sombra wasn’t his soft coat, or even his compliance. It was what wasn’t there, his cutie mark. To Twilight's surprise, he had a blank flank, as smooth as any colt his age. Here Twilight was thinking it’d be a crystal, or shadows, or anything, really. Something, but instead, there was nothing.
“It’s never crossed my path before.”
Twilight shook her head. “Starswirl the Bearded, Discord, and now you, too? All the bad guys, and even some of the good ones from the past never even had a friend! No wonder you’re all evil!” She looked again. "Yeah, Sombra...? I don't see a cutie mark, by the way."
He looked up at her with a puzzled face, then looked back at his rear. He even went so far as to blink at it, and then touch it, only to jump back with a worried expression on his face. He started chasing his flank around in one place, then stopped. “Why can’t I remember what my cutie mark is?!”
Spike became more animated while Twilight grabbed a book. “You… remember having a cutie mark, but not what it looked like?”
Sombra shook his head with closed, squinted eyes. “It doesn’t even come to mind… I know I had one, but when I got it, or what it looked like…” He opened his eyes. “I don’t even remember my childhood.”
Spike looked over at Twilight who just so happened to be conjuring up yet another book. “Article three… Last time fabled and recorded, when somepony became a colt like you did, he experienced the same thing. His name was Relapse Again. He was a unicorn, and died after aging all the way through an entire life cycle again, but couldn’t remember anything before his rebirth, so to say.”
Sombra looked up. “Listen, purple one! I know my age. I’m thousands of years old! I remember being in control, but if you don’t help me remember all that and get my powers back, when I finally do regain my magic, you, your dragon, and everypony you know will be locked up in chains forced to dig up crystals for me for the rest of your days!”
Twilight was positive had he been just a bit older, that would’ve been intimidating, but coming from a colt the size he was only made her blush and giggle that much more. After composing herself from a fit of chortles, she walked up to Spike, and asked, “Tell me, think you can teach him what friendship is all about?”
Spike glanced at the tyrannical imp of a pony, and smiled. “He’s cool… I like him, but he doesn’t eat actual crystals, does he?”
Twilight looked at Sombra. He was looking at the front door suspiciously. “Say, Sombra?”
She walked calmly over to him, sat down in front, and asked, “Tell me, what was your motives behind your obsession with crystals in the first place?”
Sombra looked at her funny. “Huh?”
Twilight thought for a moment, and soon enough decided it best to use smaller words. “What did you use crystals for?”
Sombra lowered his head darkly with a mean scowl, but lightened up with a shrug. “I don’t remember…”
Twilight simply looked at him, the purple of his eyes disappearing yet again. “Why do you like them so much?”
He looked down, and said, “I don’t think I do anymore…”
Twilight huffed, and ventured to ask, “Why don’t you like them anymore?”
He sat there in front of her, just sitting, and looking at her hooves. He finally looked up sharply, and said, “Because they got be destroyed twice.” He let out a tear. To think, all it took for a once hardened ruler of an empire to cry were mere memories. “First time around, I got turned into a giant shadow, and was banished into ice for a thousand years! Then, I was blown up!”
Twilight watched as he became more and more emotional. “Sombra…”
“And, I don’t wanna get hurt again, Twilight!” Spike still observed the young colt’s behavior, a bit skeptical, but feeling sorry for the little guy all the same. After his last words were spoken, he stood back up. Still sobbing, Sombra walked into the kitchen while yelling, “I want a cookie!”
Twilight came close to Spike with an eyebrow raised. “Just like you when you’d cry.”
Spike looked up at her, annoyed at that remark. “That was when I was, like, three Twilight.”
To settle young Sombra's mood, Twilight gave him what he wanted, but warned that crying all the time doesn’t earn him another. He stuck his tongue out at that, but didn’t cry again for the rest of the day. The next time Twilight saw him aside from him being in the corner of her eyes while she read, he was at the front door again, staring at it. Spike saw him, too, from the couch, and hopped down after settling his book down on the table. “Hey?”
Sombra looked over at him. “Don’t bug me, lizard! I’m trying to formulate a plan…” He reached up, stretching for the handle, but just couldn’t reach it. Spike watched behind, rubbing his chin. Then, he had an idea. If Spike was going to befriend this little monster, he’d need to show Somba which side he was on.
Sombra could just barely touch the knob. A few inches more, and he’d be free. Suddenly, up he went. Weightlessness, the feeling of being carried rushed over him, but he didn’t very well care at that point in time where it came from. He could reach the doorknob, and that’s all that mattered to him. He looked down while grasping the circular object to see Spike below him, holding his rather heavy body up. “Why… help me?” Sombra asked.
“Because,” Spike said. “That’s what friends are for!”
The door opened, and Sombra fell out the house and onto the soft, lush grass outside. Unfortunately for Sombra, Twilight had the whole treehouse barricaded off from the rest of the world with a force field shield. “This was a set up, wasn’t it? To make me look like an idiot!”
Spike shook his head, worried he’d still have a few issues with Sombra even after deliberately trying to help him. “No, I didn’t even know Twilight had thought that far ahead! I just wanted to…”
“What?!” Sombra demanded, his horn starting to glow a sickly red.
“B-be your friend…” Spike held onto his tail, Sombra still pointing his aura threateningly in his direction. The unicorn considered stopping this mean act, but was too late. He's gone too far. Spike ran off, back into the house, narrowly avoiding Twilight while he entered. She came up to Sombra who sat down, a hoof raised in Spike’s direction, beckoning him to come back.
“Well,” Twilight huffed. “I see you’re getting along just fine…” She grabbed the loose skin on Sombra’s back neck and carried him in. Setting the colt on the couch, she sighed, “And here I was thinking it’d help you two bond, to let Spike assist in your escape.”
“He… was just trying to help?” Sombra asked, his voice breaking on the last word.
Twilight shook her head, and explained, “No, he wasn’t trying to help you get out… He was trying to become your friend, and you shunned him, pushed him away! That’s… just not right, Sombra.”
The colt looked up the stairs where Spike must’ve ran off to, and thought aloud, “Maybe I am being too mean…”
It seemed that every time he started to show some good within himself, Sombra’s eyes would cease this constant flow of dark matter. Why this was, Twilight still couldn’t be sure of. Something was definitely changing within him, but to Twilight's displeasure, what that was would simply have to remain a mystery until the right time came.
He got up, passing Twilight by. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Sombra stopped momentarily to say, “I may not know what friendship’s all about, but I know how to say sorry.”
He walked away, up the stairs. Naturally, Twilight followed and crept up to the door to listen in. She could just barely see Spike sitting on his basket bed, and King Sombra sitting before him, his head lowered ever so slightly.
“Liza- I mean… Spike…” Sombra looked up. “I’m sorry for bullying you back there… And, although I detest the word, I’m willing to give this friendship of yours a try.”
Twilight heard Spike sniffle, and then ask, “You really mean that?” With a nod of Sombra’s head, Spike almost jumped on him, hugging his new friend tightly. "That's great!”
Twilight couldn’t help but to grin widely at how precious those two were behaving. By dinner that evening, Spike and Sombra would be at the table ready to eat like normal children, and even though Sombra resumed fighting his bedtime, he gave Twilight less trouble once finding out he’d be sleeping side by side with Spike. His bed was just a bit bigger than the basket was, and comfy all the same. To Sombra, his dreams were always going by too quickly.