//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Defender of Justice, King Sombra! // by VashTheStampede //------------------------------// The walk back to Nurse Redheart’s home was about as eventful as the walk to the café – which is to say, apart from a few ponies stopping to say hello or ask if Sombra was her coltfriend, not eventful at all. Redheart’s house was near the center of town, and resembled most of the other buildings. A thick straw roof, visible support beams, a few windows, and painted white. A far cry from the Crystal Castle, but that’s a good thing. Stepping inside, however, revealed a surprisingly open and spacious living area, one that Redheart was quick to explain to him. “So this is the house I live in with my brother. It’s not much, but it’s nice – we’ve got a full kitchen and a separate dining area, and a nice sitting room for reading or napping in,” she started, pointing out each area in turn, “I’ve always been fond of how open it is, it would be great for entertaining ponies if many ever visited. Over there are the stairs to the second floor, which doesn’t have anything on it apart from the bedrooms, the bathroom, and a storage area. Speaking of the bathroom, I’d say I would go take a shower, but frankly,” Redheart sniffed, “You need it more. Bathroom is the first door on the left. There are spare towels under the sink, and the dark blue bottle is Snowflake’s shampoo. I mean, I wouldn’t really mind if you used mine, but you would smell rather like a mare for a while.” Sombra, for the first time, took a deep sniff through his nose, focusing on his own scent rather than those around him. Oh goodness I smell atrocious. Maybe that’s why she brought me to the tiny café on the far side of town. Sombra nodded his acknowledgement and slowly trotted over to the stairs, gently ascending them, each step creaking beneath his large hooves. The hallway turned to the right at the top of the stairs, much to Sombra’s momentary confusion, but sure enough, the first door on the left was the bathroom. Leaning his head down, he pulled open the drawer beneath the sink and withdrew a large (and surprisingly soft) brown bath towel, and set it on the floor in front of the shower before stepping into the tub. Reaching forward, Sombra spun the dial until it pointed to about two-thirds of the way between hot and cold. A slight hiss came from the plumbing behind the wall for a moment, then the water came out. That should be about warm enoooOOOOOOOOO- Sombra stiffened as the icy water hit him square in the face. Too stunned to react properly, he merely waited, eyes closed, for the icy embrace to take him. Rather to the contrary, the water gradually became warmer, until it was actually quite comfortable. Goodness, I forgot that peas- normal showers take a moment to warm up, rather than the pre-heated baths I always had in the Crystal Empire. Now, what did she say? Dark blue bottle, right? Oh good Faust there’s four dark blue bottles. Downstairs, Redheart facehoofed as she remembered she had bought a different brand of shampoo and conditioner this time, and there would, in fact, be several blue bottles in the shower. --- Twilight was alone in her libra- err, castle, reading up on some herbs for her next visit to Zecora’s hut when a timid knock came at her door. Quickly finishing the sentence she was on, she set a strip of paper down on the book to mark her place on the page, and turned to the door. Opening it, she found her good friend Fluttershy, cowering. “Oh hey Fluttershy. What’s up? Come on in. Is something wrong?” Twilight did her best to sound cheerful, but Fluttershy had been much better with the scardey-cat gig lately, and an edge of concern crept into her voice. “Black… black stallion…” the yellow mare squeaked as she crawled through the threshold and into the foyer of the absurdly grand building that now occupied Ponyville. “The Black Stallion? Oh Fluttershy, you don’t have to be so scared to ask for a book, even if I have a castle now. I’ll go grab it for you,” Twilight offered, the tidbit of concern gone from her voice again. “No, that’s not…” Fluttershy eeped, too afraid to correct the misunderstanding. Twilight turned back around, looking back at her friend, the mare conspicuously eyeing the door. “Fluttershy…” Twilight breathed painfully. I must be brave. This is important. I need to tell Twilight what’s wrong. I must be brave. I must! Fluttershy screwed her eyes shut and inhaled deeply. “I was at the café on the other side of town and I saw a pony I didn’t recognize with nurse Redheart and at first I thought that was ok because I don’t know everypony in town but then he turned around and he was a unicorn and his horn was kinda red even though the rest of him was black and he had glowing green eyes that were trailing this purple smoke and oh Twilight I think it was King Sombra!” Fluttershy’s voice drew to a squeak at the end, both due to running out of air and being a little afraid to actually say his name out loud. Twilight blinked. She sat down. She blinked again. “Did… did you say Sombra?” Fluttershy nodded, eyes still shut tightly. “With… with nurse Redheart?” Another nod. “Do… do you know where they were headed?” This time Fluttershy shook her head. “Well… maybe Miss Redheart knows where he went. Poor mare, she must be scared stiff with him. I’ll go to her house and see if she’s ok,” Twilight thought aloud, standing back up and heading to the door. When she realized she still only heard one set of hooffalls, she turned back and saw Fluttershy still stationary on the floor. “You can… stay here if you want, Fluttershy. Spike should be back in just a few minutes so you won’t be alone for too long, ok? I’m leaving now.” And so Fluttershy remained, until Spike returned to the tree. --- Back at Redheart’s house, Sombra emerged from the shower and toweled off feeling like a new Stallion. His coat and mane were shiny and silky smooth, having worked out all the dirt, grime, and knots in the shower. Best of all, though? I. Smell. Amazing. He whipped his head, throwing a bit of his mane into his face, and inhaled deeply. The soft, floral scent filled his nose, and he let the breath out with a contented sigh. He reared up to balance on his back legs as he placed the towel over one of the empty hooks on the back of the door before trotting back out into the hallway, and turning down the stairs. Redheart looked up and blushed at the magnificent hunk of a stallion trotting down her stairs. His mane bounced and shook with each step, shaking in an absolutely glorious fashion, and she could have sworn she could see his muscles working beneath the fur on his chest. Quickly looking back down at her book before he caught her eye, she waited until he had stepped over to her to look at him again. The large black unicorn beamed at her and shook his mane, and Redheart had to laugh as she realized he hadn’t used Snowflake’s shampoo after all. “I’m… I’m sorry,” she managed between laughs, “I forgot… I bought different shampoo this time… there were a bunch of blue bottles oh Celestia you smell so hilariously pretty,” she finished, taking another deep breath through her nose. He must have had to wash his mane several times because the scent of the shampoo was on him thick. Sombra shrugged and snickered. “Well, I guess I’ll go take a shower now, then,” Redheart said, setting aside her book and standing up. “There’s plenty of books on the shelves over there if you want to grab one to pass the time,” she said over her shoulder as she walked towards the stairs. However, three quick knocks on her door saw her starting back down again before she was even half-way up. I wonder who that could be. Opening the door, Redheart’s tired frown turned into a smile at the face of her friend (and new princess), Twilight Sparkle. “Oh hello Twilight! What brings you here today?” Redheart inquired, voice chipper. “I heard you were out on a date at lunch and I was a bit curious as to who it was with. Do you mind if I come in?” “My Twilight, you’ve never taken such an interest in my personal life before. Of course you can come in,” Redheart said, opening the rest of the door and stepping to the side. “It wasn’t really a date though, I was just taking –” “King Sombra!” Twilight yelled as her eyes locked on the bulky unicorn sitting on the couch. Sombra looked up and met her eyes with terror, memories of pain – both inflicted by and upon him – flashing into his mind, the small purple mare at the forefront of them. “King? No, he’s just los–” Redheart tried to say, before being cut off by Twilight again. “What are you doing here? What are you doing to her? You’re supposed to be dead! I watched you shatter into a thousand pieces right in front of me!” “Twilight what are you talking about?” “This pony is a monster who kept the entire Crystal Empire under a rule of tyranny and fear for thousands of years, and tried to kill me, my brother, my sister-in-law, and even Spike!” “Twilight, I’ve never really been one to question you, but I think you’re mistaken… Sombra’s no king, he was just lost and hurt in the woods. He wouldn’t hurt a fly, much less try to kill somepony. He’s practically scared of his own shadow for Celestia’s sake. I mean look how bad you’re scaring him!” Redheart gestured, drawing Twilight’s attention to the now-empty couch, the beast of a stallion huddled behind it, eyes wide with fear and ready to drop his head back down at a moment’s notice, praying the couch might protect him long enough for Redheart to talk some sense into the young Alicorn should she choose to try to fry him with magic. He remembered the pain of being shattered, broken, and scattered to the winds, and it was not an experience he wanted to repeat any time soon. “It’s just an act, Redheart! Don’t let him fool you. He tortured and murdered ponies for fun for a thousand years, maybe more. He’s evil! He only casts dark magic!” “He doesn’t do magic at all, Twilight. He doesn’t even speak. If he had wished me ill, he would have had plenty of opportunity last night,” Redheart looked down. “You really, really believe what you’re saying, I can tell that, but that’s just… not who Sombra is.” “No,” Sombra growled, wincing again at that awful voice of his, “She’s right,” he continued as he stood up from behind the couch and walked over towards the two mares. Redheart stepped back a little for him to stand beside her, and Twilight lowered herself as though ready to pounce at any moment. “I am a monster. Everything she said about me is true. I… I used to be the King of the Crystal Empire, and I was not kind.” “See? Evil!” “Twilight, please. Sombra… if that’s who you are, then why are you being so nice to me?” “I… it’s a long story.” “I’m willing to listen.” Sombra sighed heavily. “Many, many years ago, longer than I remember, an artifact was found in the Crystal Empire. I was the king then, yes, but I was beloved.” “Yeah right,” Twilight cut in, but quieted herself when Redheart shot her an annoyed glare. “Sorry. Well, not really. But continue.” “There are many stories of ways for a normal pony to achieve immortality. None of them are pleasant, and none of them end well, all of them resulting in the ambitious pony in question dying in vain or leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. That’s what they all said. But everypony thought they were stories,” Sombra explained, brow furrowing. “Deep beneath the Kingdom, an ancient magical artifact was found. A sealed scroll, with ancient instructions for casting a spell to grant immortality. The text was far too old a script, one that had not been written in thousands of years, even in that time, and it took many years to translate. When it was finally transcribed into a language we could read, I was very old, and dying. My mages, knowing I was a dearly beloved king, asked my permission to attempt to preform the spell on me. Being near to death as I was, I accepted their proposal, thinking nothing would come of it. What none of them realized was that the spell was not one of life, but one of death. Dark magic. Magic not meant to be used in this world. Magic not meant to be known. “I remember waking up some time later, with my court mages dead around me. I was different, though – I was decades younger, and fitter than I had ever been. My horn had grown from what was normal, to this deformed red scar you see now, and these fangs had appeared in my mouth. The kingdom mourned the loss of the mages, the greatest magic-wielders of our time, but rejoiced that their king would live on. How could they have known, how could I have known, that it would all go so wrong? As the time went on, I continued my life as normal, ruling the kingdom as I always had. However, I gradually came to realize that food was not filling, water and wine did not quench my thirst, and I grew ever hungrier. One day, a serving mare came to deliver my evening meal. I asked her to sit with me, to keep me company while I ate. She cheerfully obliged me. I remember her clearly – a beautiful young crystal mare of sapphire, with a radiant golden mane. I have no memory of the next events, but a very clear image of their results. Plates and glasses smashed, food scattered everywhere, and her lifeless body on the ground before me. I hadn’t felt that full in months, and something changed. The… rush I had. The sense of power. “My benevolent rule quickly turned to one of terror, ponies vanishing from their homes, with nopony knowing the true cause – myself. Years passed – years turned to decades, decades to centuries, and still I ruled my hollow kingdom. A small voice resembling a conscience attempted to stop me, but it never got through. I buried any records of myself from before my fall; I wanted nopony to know of who I was before. Many ponies attempted to kill me, and honestly I wish that one of them had succeeded. But none ever did. With my newfound thirst for flesh came an extreme resilience to death, and poisonings, stabbings, and even a beheading did nothing to stop me. Until the Princesses appeared. Two shining, wondrous beings, whose power far outmatched my own. Even then, however, they could not kill me, and merely sealed me beneath the ice, unfortunately with my Kingdom as well. A thousand years later, I finally overpowered the seal, and… Twilight, you know what happened next. After that, though, I can’t really explain what happened. I woke up in the woods, stumbled around for a few days, and then found Miss Redheart, who brought me here.” Sombra hung his head as he finished his story. “I am an absolute monster. I have not been anything but in a very, very long time,” he said to the ground, “and I would do anything to atone for it.” Twilight sat back on her haunches, mind attempting to process the history lesson, one told from the other side. It almost made Sombra sound sympathetic. Twilight hated it. Redheart, on the other hoof, saw a pony who hurt, and had been hurting for longer than she could even imagine. “Sombra…” the white nurse started, before realizing she didn’t have anything really to follow that up with. “Miss Redheart, I want to thank you for your hospitality to me this day. I fully understand if you want me to leave, though, and perhaps if this town has some sort of… jail, or prison, you could bring me there,” Sombra offered, before turning to Twilight. “I… I understand you have some relationship with the Princesses, given the wings that were not there last time we met. Maybe you could contact one of them and see what they would have done with me.” Twilight started. The King Sombra she had met would have fought tooth and horn to get out of a situation like this – now here stood a defeated, sad stallion on the verge of tears, seemingly willingly turning himself over to her and the Princesses for judgment. She could hardly believe it. Either he was up to something or he’d had a genuine change of heart – and being up to something seemed unlikely if what he’d said about the Princesses completely overpowering him was true. “I… several of the rooms in my castle lock from the outside,” Twilight offered, “We don’t have any sort of official jail, but if you’d feel safer in one of those rooms, I’d be perfectly willing to have you stay there.” “I think that would be best. Thank you, Twilight,” Sombra answered, his gratitude catching the purple Alicorn off guard. Turning to face Redheart again, Sombra bowed low, and once again thanked her for her kindness, before walking out of her home behind Twilight. --- Spike nearly had a heart attack when Twilight led Sombra into the castle, but calmed down as the black unicorn dejectedly meandered into a room that Twilight promptly locked from the outside. Twilight had written a letter to Celestia informing her of the reappearance of Sombra, but assuring her there seemed to be no immediate threat. Despite this, Celestia replied that she would be visiting tomorrow, and Twilight had to admit it would be nice to see her again, even if under less than perfect circumstances. Having returned to her studies on herbs and plants, the day had passed quickly, without so much as a peep or even a request for food from the voluntary prisoner. The afternoon turned to evening, and the sun fell low in the sky, and Twilight was, admittedly, having a bit of trouble staying awake reading the relatively dry book. A knock at the door jolted her back awake, though, and she quickly stood up and trotted to the door. She opened it to find Nurse Redheart, with a determined frown on her face and a picnic basket under her arm. “Oh hello again Redheart, what brings you here?” “Twilight.” Well that’s a tone of voice I haven’t heard since she hushed Pinkie after the Cake twins were born. “… yes?” “I’m saying this as a friend. I think you’re wrong about him. I heard his story just as much as you did, and all I heard was a pony who wishes more than anything he could change the past. You have a bias, you have your own reasons not to trust him, but I don’t. As a nurse I spent five long years learning how to see things objectively. I don’t see him lying.” Twilight snorted in irritation. Being talked down to was perhaps the one thing that annoyed her most in the world, behind not being able to figure something out at least. Today, Sombra had caused both of those. Silently nodding her agreement, she stepped to the side to let Redheart into her too-large-for-one-pony home. Without even asking, she undid the lock on Sombra’s door. He looked up in surprise, but a toothy smile broke out on his face when he saw Redheart coming in. “Hey there. I couldn’t very well leave you all on your own now, could I?” She asked, as Sombra nearly ran to give her a hug. “Whoa, hey now, I’m happy to see you too. Hey, I brought some food,” Redheart added, extricating herself and setting down the basket. Before she could open it though, Sombra spoke. “I’m scared,” he said, his breath catching in his throat to hold back the beginnings of a sob. Behind Redheart, the door clanked shut and he could hear the lock turn shut again. He jumped slightly as forelegs wrapped around his neck. “Shhhh… it’s ok to be scared. I’ll be here with you.”