Sombra's Redemption

by Orion97


Here and Now

I wasn't going to lie to myself. The danger was far from over, but for once...I felt safe. It was a relief from all the had happened recently and I was glad. It had all worked out better than I expected, my friends were safe and alive and the city continued to stand proudly like a beacon of hope, if only for so much longer. No matter what happened, even if the dark force ends up winning or the city falls, the world will know it wasn't without a fight.

"Hey, Sombra!" Midnight shouted as he ran towards me. I had finished speaking with the king not two hours ago and the group was still thinking of the best way to spend the day, even Crimson Spark and Autumn were with us, though presently it was just Midnight and myself, I could see the others trailing a distance behind him.

"I need help!" he said with a frantic look.

"With what?" I was afraid he was going to tell me they found undead somewhere in the city. My muscles tensed as I prepared to run to wherever it was.

"Rune says she wants to go out with me!" he shouted at me with pleading eyes. It took all of my effort to not burst out laughing until tears came, especially since I may have been responsible for it...

"What did you say?"

"I asked to think about it for a little while. Help, you gotta hide me!" he begged as he clung to me like a tick.

"I don't know Midnight, you know how aggressive dragons can be when they don't get what they want..." I grinned. "After all, you said you wanted to go out with her."

His eyes widened in revelation. "I never said...you...evil..."

"Don't worry, she seems like a nice dragoness. Watch the claws." I teased.

Midnight huffed and backed up from me before standing up. "Fine. I'll say yes. But. You have to go on a date with Serenity too. Seriously, you two are like meant for each other and I see it constantly, she loves you and I know you feel the same about her yet neither of you do anything. You do everything together, you trust each other and sometimes I swear it's like you two share the same thoughts."

I blinked a few times in surprise. It hadn't really struck me like that until now. "I...um...she just likes being friends?"

"That's crap and you know it." he said bluntly as I noticed the others coming just within earshot.

I leaned closer to him and whispered. "Okay yes, I love her but I'm also terrified. There could be someone else she wants or she just sees me as a friend, nothing more."

He whispered back "And if you never try you'll live the rest of your life wondering."

As he finished the others arrived as a group. Midnight was probably right...I should ask her out. I know she does care about me.

"Hey guys!." Thunder Clap greeted us.

Most of them stopped to chat with me about various topics while Rune singled out Midnight and got closer to talk to him one on one.

"So, Midnight, what do you say?" she asked with a bright smile, unfortunately the razor sharp teeth could also make ponies nervous, though somehow Midnight, Thunderclap even Serenity were either oblivious to it or didn't mind.

"Sure." He smiled warmly.

"Awesome!" Rune shouted as she lifted him up into the air with surprising ease and spun in a circle.

"AHH! Help!" He pleaded in vain and tried to flap his wings to escape her vise-like grip. After a few moments Rune finally relented and set him down on the ground. I couldn't help but chuckle at how she could pick him up while he'd probably struggle to push her.

"Sombra, don't forget what you have to do as well." Midnight grinned mischievously and glanced between me and Serenity. I made a mental note to smack him later.

"What's he talking about?" she asked as she walked between us.

"Oh nothing...just the date Sombra is dying to ask you out on..." Midnight's grin widened even further while Serenity blushed. That's it, I'm telling Rune every embarrassing story I know about him.

"Sombra? I...didn't know you felt this way... do you wish to go out with me?" She asked, the tone in her voice on bordered between curious and what I thought sounded like hopeful.

"Ah...yes...I really do."

Serenity smiled and quickly hugged me. "I'm picking the restaurant." She grinned and quickly kissed me on the cheek before running off somewhere, perhaps to see if she could find a decent restaurant, leaving me alone with a stupid look on my face that resembled a mix of joy and bewilderment. Thunder Clap and Midnight both looked at me now with evil grins.

"Don't even think about singing that damn song..."

"OHHHHHHH" They began in unison, everyone else gave them odd stares. "I said I saw Sombra, with that mare from down the hall..." Thunder Clap continued. "Oh did she have a claw or a pair of balls?"

"Or was it out of pity, or is she just crazy?" Midnight cheerfully added.

"OHHHH I said I saw Sombra, kiss that mare from down the hall..."

"One more word and I swear I will strangle both of you." I said in between their song. They exchanged a glance as if determining if it was worth it. They smiled, nodded and drew a deep breath.

"I will tell Rune and Ice Mist what happened that one time when we went camping two years ago." Now it was my turn to smile.

Rune and Ice Mist both walked closer to us with eager looks.

"Oh do tell us this one." Ice Mist raised an eyebrow and looked at Thunder Clap as a bead of sweat ran down his cheek.

From in the back I heard Crimson speak up. "As fun is this is I should be going. I have work to do, a couple ponies are complaining about squeaking from around their basements, probably mice that found a way in while they were evacuated. The dragon and gryphon reinforcements are arriving as well. The enemy attacks again and we'll be ready." she said confidently before walking away with her daughter in tow.

"Alrighty, so a triple date it is?" Ice Mist asked seemingly out of the blue.

"Is that even a thing?" I asked.

"It is now! Come on, it'll be fun! We can go with whatever Serenity picks out!"

"I don't see why not, let's try it." Rune said with a shrug.

Everyone nodded in agreement at the decision.

"I don't care where it is, if it has a bar I'm good." Alsia finally added in.

"You shouldn't drink too much." Midnight said with concern.

"Say it again and I'm hitting you with the bottle."

"Okay, sorry."

"When your entire family is missing or...otherwise and most of those that know me would love to see me rot in prison, alcohol becomes your best friend and right now I'm actually in a semi-good mood. Let's all get wasted tonight!" she shouted and raised her bottle in the air.

"I bet I can out-drink all of you. You too, dragon." She cast a half-drunken glance towards Rune, whom raised an eyebrow and laughed.

"You're on! Winner owes the other twenty bits!" Rune responded with an amused grin.

"Deal!"

"Come on, Alsia, Let's see if we can't find a club to kill some time together while the boys discuss boy stuff."

"Sounds good to me."

Now Alsia and Rune departed together, shrinking the group further.

"I'm gonna go find Serenity so we can both have a say in where the date is. See ya soon!" she shouted to us before she sped off to find her.

Now it was just Midnight Hope, Thunder Clap, and myself.

"Well...that was interesting." I commented. They nodded slowly in agreement.

"We can go back to my place and play Dungeons & Hydras, I can get a couple of old friends and I can play the Game Master." I suggested the old fantasy game we used to play all the time together. Smiles slowly formed on their faces.

"Hell yeah!" Midnight said

"Just like old times." Thunder Clap added.

As one we walked the way to my home a short distance away, along the way we knocked on the doors of a few friends we knew and by the time we actually reached my house there were six of us, perfect for a good gaming session.

Once home we quickly pulled out the old books, character pieces, maps, and other items we needed and blew off the dust that had collected over time. We opened up old memories every time we opened a book. about monsters or characters.

We played for hours, and for once we were kids again and we slipped back into how things were when each of us were foals and later teenagers. Immature jokes flew and shocks of disbelief sounded when Midnight started decimating all of the monsters in the dungeons. Soon we switched game masters and Thunder Clap, Midnight and myself all played in a party with Jet Stream and North Star while Nyx played game master.

Our goal was to descend into the dungeon and slay the ancient hydra that had terrorized a nearby village for weeks, fighting through its army of goblins and ogres along the way. The game started out well at first. I led the charge with North Star and Thunder Clap while Midnight and Jet Stream fired their bows from afar for support. Eventually we made it to the hydra after all of our characters had taken a serious beating. Though they fought valiantly Thunder Clap's fighter and North Star's rogue were annihilated, leaving my Paladin to take it on alone while the arrows from our surviving members impacted with little effect on the beast.

I remembered a pitfall trap we had barely missed in the hall on the way to the hydra. Upon suggesting it my now fallen allies hailed my plan as brilliant. With my character's health falling fast I turned and ran back down the hall. Unfortunately Midnight and Jet Streams characters weren't able to get down from their perches fast enough and found themselves devoured by the fierce hydra. I was the sole survivor. Nyx did his best attempt at an evil laugh as the hydra he controlled wreaked havoc on my team. With him right on my heels I raced around the edge of the trap and waited for the creature to try and reach me. Just as planned the beast fell onto the spikes, each of its many heads still reaching up to bite me.

Although it was almost defeated it would only take a little more...and so my paladin jumped from the ledge and plunged his sword downward into the hydra's back, finishing it off for good. My paladin scaled up one of the necks and made it out of the pit. With nothing keeping him in the dungeon anymore, I chose for my lone paladin to march home and telling the village mayor of our hard-won victory.

"That was actually pretty fun guys, it's a shame we haven't done this in so long. But boy...we got our asses kicked! Nyx you were merciless!" Thunder Clap said pointing a hoof at Nyx, though he was clearly smiling, Nyx meanwhile kept a guilty grin.

"All is fair in love and war, my feathered friend." he said with his hoof over his heart.

"That's what happens when we don't play in so long. I could have used my healing abilities better." I commented.

As soon as I finished speaking there was a knock at the door. I opened it and found Serenity, Ice Mist, Alsia and Rune all standing with bemused smirks as they saw the king of nerd games sitting out on the table, only now being put away.

"Aww, are our nerdy colts having fun?" Serenity teased. Midnight and Thunder Clap stuck their tongues out and made childish noises.

"Wrap up the game children, we've picked a place out and we're going now!" Alsia grinned.

"Yeah come on, they got a band playing tonight!" Ice Mist said, practically gleaming with excitement at that aspect in particular.

I helped put the last of the pieces away before we said goodbye to our old gaming friends and they departed after a number of goodbyes and farewells. With everything set and our guests gone we were free to head to whatever place the girls had picked out. After ten minutes of walking we found it.

"Lone Star's Club?" I asked when we were in front of the odd building. Midnight took a chance to peek through the window.

"I think I see a stallion dancing around a pole...I think I'm going blind." he said, backing away and rubbing his eyes.

"No, not that one!" Serenity exclaimed, gesturing to a building on the other side of the street, a sign up top read "Golden Memories".

I exchanged uncertain glances with Midnight and Thunder Clap. While the girls cheered and walked to the front entrance.

"Oh come on, you'll love it here! They have a band, a bar, a dance floor, everything a good party could need!" Ice Mist encouraged. Before we could decide I was literally carried to the door by Serenity and Alsia while Rune carried the other two on her own, one under each arm.

Once inside we were instantly greeted with the sight of a populated bar and all that it came with. There were booths with small groups of ponies and gryphons chatting and bar stools lining a long table with a bartender serving drinks. Closer to the wall there were a couple ponies even playing pool. True to Ice Mist's words there was even a small stage where a band could be seen setting up to play.

Rune and Serenity guided the rest of our group towards one of the larger semi-round booths in the corner and we each filled a seat. It wasn't long before our group started to split into smaller groups and find activities around the bar.

Midnight remained at the booth with Rune and Alsia while they ordered drinks and prepared their little competition with the uncertain bat-pony sitting between them with his own drink.

Ice Mist and Serenity sat on the bar stools and kept stealing glances back at Thunder Clap and myself and sharing a laugh now and again.

While most of us were playing pool or chatting Rune and Alsia's game slowly began to draw more and more attention, half an hour after they started they were both still going strong as most of the bar watched the events unfold. Midnight Hope was doing his best to keep out of sight but couldn't escape without going through one of them.

"Come on! That all ya got lil pawny?" Rune taunted with a lazy smile.

"Puh-lease...I'm kickin' yer scaly ass." Alsia said with a small hic.

"Ay...Midnight happens to like my scaly ass...don't ya?" She said, wiggling her eye brows at Midnight whom was doing his best to keep pace but he was clearly losing. He blushed and tried to hide his crimson cheeks behind the dozen or so empty glasses that had accumulated between the trio.

After another ten minutes most activity in the bar seemed to freeze in time as Alsia and Rune ordered drink after drink. Midnight had long since surrendered and reclined in his seat as he watched the his friends in their battle of wills. Dragons as a species were said to have a near legendary tolerance for alcohol and rumors began to circulate about Alsia's own heritage for her to have lasted so long.

The number of empty glasses only grew until they began stacking them to make room and it began evident that the contest was slowly coming to an end. Rune proudly slammed down yet another beverage and Alsia was struggling just to lift hers, though the blue dragon was showing signs of reaching her own limits as she became increasingly uncoordinated. She slowly brought the glass to her lips and drank the contents before bringing the glass back down to the table.

"Weady to..." Rune began before being interrupted by a hiccup. "Weady to gib it up?"

"Never...I...I'm just wermin' up!"

As she spoke another pair of drinks were set between the duo and they both gulped as they mustered their strength. They both hesitantly reached out and slowly began drinking. Rune faltered but managed to finish every drop and shakily set the glass back down. Alsia, however, was at the edge of her rope. As hard as she tried she could only drink about half of it before failing and slamming the glass down in defeat as a few drops spilled onto the table. Her head smacked the table and she groaned.

"Wooo!" Rune cheered with her talons in stretched into the air. Midnight cheered her victory as well but his expression became nervous when he saw the mischievous smile forming on Rune's face.

In an instant Rune made a sloppy tackle at Midnight, catching him underneath her. As he struggled to break free Rune smiled and planted a kiss on him. She did so a few more times before quickly passing out, pinning the poor guy to the seat with a shocked look on his face. After Rune was out the normal commotion of the bar resumed and folks finally returned to whatever they were doing while Thunder Clap and I went to check on our helpless friend.

"Having fun there?" Thunder Clap asked with a smirk.

He groaned. "Ugh...come on, help me up guys. She's a lot heavier than the average pony...I can barely move."

I had to suppress my own laughter as I spoke. "I don't know Thunder Clap...should we help him?"

"Nah..."

"Oh come on!"

"Fiiiine." I used my magic to gently scoot Rune off of him without waking her up. Midnight flapped his wings and jumped over the table to avoid crossing around Alsia or Rune, both of whom were out like a light.

"Not how I imagined my first kiss would be..." Midnight said once he reached us.

"Oh crap! That was your first kiss? Congrats." Thunder Clap said first, just after he did we began to hear the first signs of music. The lyrics came in a short while after a guitar came in with an addicting melody along with the drums.

As the song really began we joined Serenity and Ice Mist at the bar and ordered drinks ourselves and began to discuss varying topics, especially involving Rune and Midnight. As more songs played and more stories were exchanged we later found ourselves on the dance floor moving to the beat of the music and enjoying our much needed reprieve from the stress each of us had endured. Eventually Rune and Alsia woke up as well and joined us, though with all the united coordination of a blind cow with their stumbling.

All in all, it was the most fun we had ever shared as a group.


"General Crimson Spark!" A guard pony said as he entered the command tent.

"Yes, lieutenant?"

"Another report of suspicious noises in a citizen's basement?"

Crimson couldn't help but let out a small groan as she turned to her daughter. "You stay right here okay? These are all good friends of mommy's and you'll be safe. I shouldn't be long." She told Autumn as she followed the lieutenant outside.

"Right this way ma'am." He led the path to a home a few blocks away. A brown pegasus opened the door as they arrived and welcomed them inside.

"Thank you so much for coming. My son, Blaze hasn't been able to sleep and his mother Sun Spear is on duty. He keeps hearing noises from the basement at night. I thought it was just nightmares but I started hearing them as well and I've looked but I can't find anything. I was hoping one of you might be able to help. He's a unicorn so that might make a difference." The father gestured to the lieutenant.

"We'll see what we can do sir."

"I appreciate it so much." He opened the doorway into the basement before turning on a light-switch that illuminated the single bulb dangling from the ceiling.

Once they were all gathered in the basement the lieutenant cast a quick scanning spell and looked around into the walls. It wasn't specific but he'd know if there was something in the walls that stood out or didn't belong. A few long moments passed before he said something.

"Hold on. There's definitely something around here..."

The door that led out of the basement opened up once more when a foal that looked much like the pegasus that stood beside them walked down.

"Daddy? Is this the help you called?"

"Yes it is. They're here to help. Think you can help point out where you've heard the sound?"

"Sure." As soon as he was among them he gestured to a spot near a corner in the far wall. "I think most of it came from here."

"Thank you, now please step aside." The lieutenant told him as he scanned the indicated spot. "It's here, whatever the source of the noise is."

"Sir?" General Crimson Spark asked the father. "We're going to need to tear down this section of wall."

"If you feel that is necessary, please continue."

She nodded to the lieutenant whom set down his spear a short distance to his side and used his magic to rip down the wall.

In a flash of movement a pair of now-revealed skeleton ponies hissed and launched themselves at the unsuspecting unicorn. Crimson Spark instinctively tackled one to the ground but the lieutenant was still on his back trying to survive as long as he could while Crimson spark fought the other with only her hooves.

The father tried his best to keep himself between the monsters and his son as he looked for his spear that he had stored nearby. The moment his eyes weren't on him Blaze raced forward to help despite the cries for him not to. He picked up the spear with as much strength as any foal could and drove it into the skeleton's head. It resisted but a second jab managed to shatter it. The monstrosity collapsed to the ground and the lieutenant threw it off before darting over to Crimson Spark just as she dispatched the other one.

"H-how in the world did they get there!?" Crimson Spark shouted as soon as her breathing settled back down.

The lieutenant lost focus for a moment while he and the father commended the boy for his brave actions while at the same time the father warned him it was extremely dangerous, though no less bold.

"Seems like somebody'll be quite the brave guard one day." He said as he rubbed his son's mane. "But please be careful, or you'll give your old dad a heart attack."

"Lieutenant..." Crimson Spark whispered as she stuck her head where the former wall was.

"Yes ma'am?"

"Look..." She pointed her hoof towards a tunnel that led away from them and further into the earth.

"Oh no...this is bad...this is very, very, very bad..." General Crimson spark whispered to the unicorn guard with her.

"Seal this wall immediately." She ordered him. "Sir, we are going to need your family to evacuate the house. We'll post a pair of guards to make sure nothing comes through again. Please go to the refugee center. I apologize for the suddenness but this is for your safety, you will be able to return once the city is no longer in danger." She said to the father.

"I-I understand...come along." He gestured to his son as he began to lead him out of the basement and out of the house.

"We need to pull more guards and search every building in the city for more such tunnels. With something like this they could launch a massive assault from within the city at any time." Crimson Spark said grimly. "I need to arrange a meeting with King Ralen as well as Sombra and his friends. I've seen them fight so we should get them some weapons and armor and I've heard Sombra has some kind of plan for when the enemy attacks again. I only hope he can finish it in time..."

As she spoke the lieutenant made short work of sealing the hole in the wall.

"Find anyone else that isn't busy and keep watch of the building. I don't want any more surprises." She ordered.

As she left the building to seek the audience of King Ralen she whispered something more to herself than anyone else. "And pray for a miracle..."