//------------------------------// // Chapter 16: Regarding Heroes, Honesty, and Colors in the Sky // Story: Regarding Falling Villains // by naturalbornderpy //------------------------------// REGARDING HEROES   I did not sleep that night, instead spending all those long hours laying on Fluttershy’s couch and staring at the ceiling. Something large was coming and I had no way of knowing what it was. I knew I could handle trouble—sometimes I even thrived on it. This wasn’t something that everyone shared. My thoughts were of Twilight and the others, and the fact that Discord seemed on the verge of breaking apart. Jealousy and envy are terrible feelings to act on. I am reminded it was jealousy that had created me all those many years ago. In his head, Discord might have thought he was only doing what was right—isolating his small circle of friends from any outsiders. The problem with draconequuses is that what they consider “help” was what others would call reckless endangerment.                  Then again, who was I to talk about “help?”                  As soon as the sun rose, I left Fluttershy’s and walked around town as ponies slowly emptied from their homes while a half-dozen trades-ponies sluggishly set up their market stalls at the center of town. A mare with a carrot cutie-mark waved at me and I did the same in return. I should have felt elated by the simple gesture and the knowledge I might not be shunned forever, yet there was so much more pressing on my shoulders. As I walked, I absentmindedly glanced at the boarded up Ponyville town hall and saw a flicker of movement inside. Perhaps they’d finally gotten an exterminator to take care of whatever pests had infested there.                  Tired of moping about trying to clear my head, I purchased two coffees from the café and trotted to Twilight’s castle. By the wayward kink in her usually immaculate mane, I knew I had come by much earlier than she was used to. Regardless, I went inside and quickly finished my drink before brewing another pot. If there was one good thing invented during the time I’d been asleep, it was coffee. (I can scarcely imagine what would have happened if I allowed my slaves to partake in its robust delights.)                  With a single eye open, Twilight yawned and poured herself a bowl of cereal. “You’re early. Then again, you never mentioned you’d be coming by today. Couldn’t sleep well?”                  I sat at her kitchen counter and held my coffee close. “Not exactly.”                  “You want to work on your list some more today or help around here again? Yesterday we got quite a bit done, so it’s your call.” She munched her soggy oats as she flipped through the morning paper. This had to have been the first time I’d seen her in such a vulnerable light—hair down and unprepared; waking and eating and preparing to start her day. It was a simple sight and yet a nice one, too. Her hatred of me had subsided and now I was allowed to see the honest, real Twilight with little care about how she appeared or acted. It was something I wouldn’t mind seeing each and every morning.                  I tried not to stare. “I’d rather stick around, if that’s all right. If I spend all my time fixing up the town, then I’ll end up with nothing left to do. Better I let some things pile up.”                  Twilight blinked away some tiredness. “That doesn’t completely make sense, but I’m too tired to figure out why. Since you’re one coffee ahead of me, you can get started on whichever box of books is left.”                  I left the counter and carried my cup close. Hardly paying mind to which texts I was rummaging through, I thought of another question I had been pondering for a while.                  “Why do you do what you do, Twilight?”                  She propped her head on a hoof. “You’re going to need to be a lot more specific, Sombra. And use more words than ‘do’ and ‘you.’”                  “Okay. Why do you choose to protect those around you? Why do you choose to help the world? More than likely, someone else would have taken the mantle if you weren’t around.”                  The question made her sit up a bit straighter. “I protect ponies because it’s the right thing to do, Sombra. There’s no question about it. My friends would say the same.”                  I turned to her. “Or is it only because you were shoved into that role, that you help protect them?”                  Twilight’s soggy cereal was forgotten for the moment. “Do you really think I wouldn’t try and help those around me if I wasn’t a part of the Elements of Harmony?” She shook her head. “With or without that title, I’d like to think I’m just Twilight Sparkle, doing what Twilight Sparkle would do because she wants to do it. Is that what gave you the right to do what you used to do? Because you crowned yourself ‘King,’ you raised yourself above others?”                  I smiled faintly at her. “I’m only trying to understand the difference between heroes and villains, Twilight. And yes, I believe some of what I used to do was because of the title I gave myself. In a way, I had a role to play, and so I played it as best I could.” I paused. “You were given the Elements of Harmony and their powers because Celestia saw the good in you. I wished for gifts I never had out of spite and was rewarded them—only for that raw power to cause me to destroy everything around me. We were both given gifts in our youth, and we travelled down very different paths. Now I’m only curious as to what creates these archetypes: the individual, or the situation they’re placed in?” My chest tightened as I barely finished my next sentence. “And since living in this town, I’m beginning to wonder if I could have been something more than that monster that continues to thrive in the nightmares of thousands.” I turned away from her as my eyes started to water and a lump formed in my throat. It had been so long since I’d thought of days past—since I’d honestly questioned what I could have been had events turned out differently. I buried my head in a book as Twilight came closer. She put a leg on my back as I glanced away. She told me softly, “I would consider you living proof, Sombra, that an individual can be anything they want to be—if they choose to. The things you did before were terrible and perhaps some of it is beyond forgiveness, but you have the chance to start over now. If you want to be bad, I don’t think you’ll have any trouble. And if you want to be good, you can be good, too. But all that’s up to you.” I nodded along, still keeping my head down. Twilight rubbed one of my shoulders as she chewed on her next question. “Did you have a family, Sombra?” I exhaled quietly and stared at the same two pages of floating text, not reading a single word. “I did.” “Any siblings?” “I was the youngest of seven—five brothers, one sister, and myself. I had a father and a mother, though I was too young to remember a thing about her. I was very small when she died.” “What happened to them?” “When I changed, they left me. Every one of them did.” Twilight hesitated before asking, “Did you love them, Sombra?” I blinked a few tears from my eyes and tried to hide my face from her. “I hated each and every one of them until the moment they deserted me. Only then did I discover how badly I needed them—how much I wanted to be surrounded by them. But did I love them, exactly? I think I must have, in some odd way.” “You don’t need to answer my next question, Sombra, if it’s too personal, but were you always a unicorn?” When I didn’t answer, Twilight wrapped herself around me reassuringly. She whispered, “I’m sorry. I know it’s none of my business. We don’t need to talk about stuff like that.” A part of me almost wanted to continue—explain to her that every last grievous thing I had done had never been my fault. But that wasn’t true. Not entirely. I had always known what I was doing as I did it, as terrible as they were. But more importantly, there was still a draconequus to think about.   REGARDING HONESTY   Hours later, when the rest of Ponyville rose to greet the day and I couldn’t help but hear each and every pony trot past Twilight’s thin windows, the knot in my stomach felt as though it could tighten no more. I knew then I’d need to ask her for it, and hope she’d give it willingly.                  “I need you to teach me that horn spell, if you remember it.”                  Twilight regarded me cautiously. She opened her mouth once, only to shut it and rethink. Then she said, “I can teach it to you, if you want. But after, I’m going to ask you a question and I’ll need you to be honest with me about it. Sound fair?”                  No, I thought. “Yes,” I said.                  My lessons took up a good chunk of the remainder of the day. Once Twilight realized she had forgotten which text she had written it in, she tasked both me and Spike the Less Annoying Dragon to widen the search. After breaking for a hurried lunch (I made them speed up by sneezing over the last few bites of their salads), we found the thin spell book tossed aside and gathering dust under a shelf.                  A simple glance, and Twilight was ready to teach. She seemed to thrive on such tasks.                  Levitating the book in front of her, she told me sternly, “First off, Sombra, I need you to clear your head of all thoughts.”                  I was already a step ahead of her. “Easy. Done.”                  “Okay. Now I want you to picture your horn in your mind’s eye. Its shape and solidity—everything that helps keep that image in your head. Got it?”                  I thought of nothing but my horn. I could feel its length and every bit of power that lay within. To me, it felt like an elongated knife. “I have an image, Twilight.”                  She nodded. “Good. Moving on.”                  The rest of the lesson resembled close to the same series of steps: concentration, imagination, and trying to defend oneself while doing a number of things at once. Since Twilight herself hadn’t the ability to remove my horn without breaking it off with a hammer, the only guaranteed way of testing the spell’s resolve would have been by calling Discord and asking for him to try. Since that was way out of the question, it would be up to fate to see if it would all hold true.                  “What do you think, Sombra? Doable?”                  Twilight smirked at me, surrounded by her small armada of hovering books she had been systemically throwing at me to dodge while continuing the spell. Spike stood behind me and tried mostly in vain to catch each zooming text in a glove, clad in a baseball uniform I was weirdly curious why they had in their possession.                  I tried to blink away my growing headache. “It is,” I answered hesitantly. I had thought the spell would be trivial. “As long as I can mentally protect my horn, it should be safe, yet only if I remain in constant control.”                  Twilight nodded. “Basically. If you were hoping for something easier, I’m afraid it just doesn’t exist—at least not yet. Discord’s magic is something I can hardly comprehend, so any defense against it was bound to be complicated. It’s the best I can do for you, Sombra.”                  I bowed my head. “Then I thank you for your knowledge, Twilight.”                  Reorganizing her tossed books into neat stacks, she told me, “You know what this means now, don’t you?”                  I grimaced. “Question time?”                  “Question time.”                  We sat together in the corner of the library, a circular table between us. Twilight drank ginger tea while I greedily drank from my eighth cup of blackened joy that day. Soon I’d need to discover where the washrooms were in this labyrinthine place.                  I crossed my forelegs over my chest. “You want to know how I keep my hair so velvety?”                  She glared at me earnestly. “Don’t try and joke this aside, Sombra. You’ve never been all that funny.                  I sighed. “Then what’s your question?”                  “I asked you before if anything was going on between you and Discord, and you told me no. I heard you had a verbal spat with him at Fluttershy’s, but honestly, I think everyone gets into spats with Discord.” She leaned across the table. “And now I’m asking again: what’s happening with you two?”                  I stared at my steaming mug and wished it would suddenly grow to the size of a pool. At least then I could dive in and swim away—drink and swim and remove myself from the situation. Yet, I had promised her I would answer. Now the only question was whether to lie or to tell the truth.                  She grabbed one of my hooves. “If something is wrong, I’ll forgive you for lying before. But that means you need to be straight with me right now. You might not admit it, even to yourself, but I can tell you’re scared of him. You wouldn’t have asked me twice about protecting yourself if you weren’t.”                  When I still didn’t answer, she added pressure to my resting leg. “Sombra, a big part of friendship is having the ability to open up to those close to you—to ask for help if you need it. I know it’s not something that comes easy, especially for a pony like you. I think you’re the type that’s done things on your own for so many years that asking for help might feel like defeat, but you need to understand that it’s only normal. Even Applejack had trouble asking for help when it was obvious she needed it. So please, if there’s something you need help with, I will help you. All of us will.”                  I had ruled a kingdom on my own for hundreds of years and rarely asked for the opinions of others unless I simply sought agreement. Most of my time spent in Canterlot was close to the same—me, myself and I, creating half-baked plans of escape. At least then, when an idea of mine failed, I only had myself to blame. It was only when everything came crumbling down after my encounter with Sentry that I realized I had been receiving help the entire time from some book-loving do-gooder. Maybe now was the time to try something different.                  Putting aside my mug, I added my other hoof atop her own. I found I couldn’t meet her stare. “You pulled me from that lake and saved my life, Twilight. And I’m thankful that you did, and that you allowed me to be your friend again. The only thing that needs to be explained now is why I was in that lake to begin with.” I paused, ran a fang along my tongue. “Discord put me there. It was not some new attempt at removing myself from this world but the childish ploy of a creature threatened by his own illusions about me.”                  Although she tried to keep it from her voice, the hitch in her breath told me I had alarmed her.                  She turned my head to look at her, eyes awake and aware. “Sombra, I need you to be honest about this. Are you telling me that Discord tried to kill you that night? For something you did?”                  “For something he thinks I did,” I corrected. “And yes, he tried. Although I don’t imagine he’d ever admit to it. He has a way of twisting around rules.” I paused. “He’ll claim it was all some plot to bring us back together.” I smiled at her. “Although, I would have much rather preferred a surprise candlelight dinner oppose to nearly drowning in a lake.”                  Twilight took her legs away as a blush rose on her cheeks. If she thought I hadn’t noticed, she was wrong.                  I swallowed thickly. “Does this change things between us, Twilight? It was something I’d always wanted to tell you, but I thought you might not want to be my friend if you knew the truth.”                  A few controlled breaths later, Twilight appeared more herself. I could only assume at the time that attempted murder from the Lord of Chaos wasn’t all that common. I guess that made me special. My resume was coming along nicely. Sombra: very killable.                  She eventually asked, “What does he think you did?”                  I leaned back in my seat, a large weight stripped from my shoulders. I never would have thought speaking freely about my own troubles could feel so gratifying. It was all very new to me. “He thinks I’m trying to steal you all away from him—all six of you.”                  “That’s absurd. I’ve known you for months already, but the rest of my friends have only known you for a few weeks.”                  I nodded. “I know. But he thinks you treat me more warmly than you do him. And in a very small way, I can understand. I’ve been living at Fluttershy’s, I’ve been to everyone’s home or where they work, and every one of you have been nothing but supportive of me. Discord… is Discord, and he believes he’s being unfairly treated, and he fears that eventually he might be ostracized from the group. Unless I’m gone, that is.”                  Twilight shook her head and I could tell she wanted to deny each fact, but I don’t think she’d ever been the best of liars.                  “I wish you would’ve told me all this sooner, Sombra.”                  “So do I.”                  Twilight looked pained. “Do you think he’s right?”                  “I’m the last one you should be asking that, Twilight.”                  She closed her eyes and exhaled. Then she said slowly, “Although I’d never agree with his method of dealing with this problem, I think I’m starting to see why he’s feeling slighted like he does. Fluttershy was the one that reformed him, so I know for a fact they’re ‘real’ friends. But ever since he’s been reformed, all he does to the rest of us is try to trick and coerce and cause more mildly-controlled chaos. This puts us at a distance from him—all five of us. He tries his best to get on your nerves and most of us besides Fluttershy can’t deal with it. So maybe we aren’t all that close to him. He might have fun while he’s doing it and think that since we’re all apart of it, we’re somehow having fun as well, but that just isn’t the truth. Discord… he still has a lot to learn about real friendship, and I would say the same about you, too.”                  I sipped my coffee loudly. “At least I never got you and your sister-in-law almost eaten by a plant.”                  Twilight fixed me a cool stare as she tightened her jaw.                  She was really going to hold that Sentry thing over me forever, wasn’t she?                  I added quickly, “Let’s not go down that road, then.”                  “For your sake, that’s a good idea.”   REGARDING COLORS IN THE SKY   The next few hours were spent at the same table, as both our drinks became tepid and then cold. Neither of us noticed as we talked of solutions and past stories involving Discord and his misguided attempts at befriending the five of them. It was interesting to hear each and every anecdote, then giggle internally picturing the lout. Yet, after each tale ended, I was only reminded of myself and of every sordid attempt of my own in the largely uncharted world of helping others. I was starting to believe that maybe Discord and I actually had more than a few things in common.                  Save for the fact he was insane, of course.                  Because I’m not insane. Everything I do has a purpose. It might only take some time to come to its rightful conclusion.                  Yet, as much as I was learning, something still felt off. “So you’re saying we should ‘forgive’ him, and try and make him feel more included in the group?”                  Twilight nodded. “Yes. I believe that would be the quickest and most effective way of solving what’s going on between the two of you, before something really bad happens.”                  I ran a hoof along the table. “Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but I recall a certain dark stallion that was trying to be forgiven and included, and he had to nearly die to get such treatment.” I rolled my eyes. “I would hate to think you’re playing favorites now, Twilight.”                  Now Twilight rolled her eyes. “Well, Discord has the ability to retaliate in a number of ways with little regard for others. You just kind of mope.”                  I faked a frown. “You’re making me want to mope, Twilight. And once I start, I can’t stop. Not unless you pat my head and feed me cookies.”                  Twilight laughed and I chuckled deeply. Somehow, I still couldn’t get that sinister tone out from my laugh. It was something I’d need to practice, along with my friendship-face.                  I thought for a moment. “You know, Twilight, there’s always another solution to our Discord problem that we haven’t touch on yet. I mean, I’m just brainstorming here, but—”                  “We’re not going to kill him, Sombra. Or ‘destroy’ him, as you like to say.”                  “I’m merely throwing things out there, Twilight. Can’t have too many solutions.”                  “Murder is never a solution, Sombra. What Discord did to you was wrong, but to try and do the same to him isn’t right, either. There are thousands of other ways to deal with problems.”                  As hesitant as I was admitting what transpired at the lake, I found myself even more reserved discussing what had happened the night before. I had done my own mischievous misdeeds that night on the draconequus and would like to keep them quiet. The rest, I would need to fill her in on.                  “What do you think those numbers mean?” she asked. We sat in one of the upper rooms of her castle, bare besides an old couch, a few well-worn rugs, and a gramophone tucked away in the corner, a helter-skelter assortment of records next to it.                  I paced around the room only stopping to glance out the window, the twelfth cup of coffee making my legs fidgety. “I have no idea, Twilight. They might mean everything or nothing at all. The same when he mentioned something about my past.” I shrugged and trotted towards the window, the sun outside sliding away as the darkness took hold. If something was going to happen that night, I felt it would be soon. The only question was what and how. “Of course, he might be lying about everything.”                  Twilight nodded from the couch, a tired expression on her face. “That’s the trouble with Discord.”                  Only a few moments after I told Twilight of Discord’s latest ploy did she ask Spike to send letters to each of her friends. If what she said was true, they would be arriving at any moment. Where we all went from there was anyone’s guess.                  I stopped staring out at the darkening town as something familiar caught my eye. On the windowsill sat the small clay pot I had given Twilight as a gift. What was inside wasn’t a plant or anything close.                  I pointed at it. “You’re not using this right.”                  Twilight huffed. “I’m using it just fine, Sombra. I know most mares enjoy the ‘simplicities of gardening,’ but I’m much more interested in the weather. And that’s what that is—a weather reader.”                  I poked at the series of metal dials and tubes and swirly things I had no hope of understanding. I was happy enough knowing it was being used at all.                  I gestured towards the setting sun. “You could always use the window, too, you know. For accurate weather conditions.”                  Twilight chose to ignore me and laid her head on the back of the couch. Still feeling energetic, I went to her gramophone and levitated a few records. The device was similar enough to Fluttershy’s that I knew how to use it. Having zero hope of knowing a single musician or song, I randomly placed one into the slot and cranked it to mid-level. Luckily, the random selection was a slower tempo tune that seemed to match the mood of the night.                  Getting the basic rhythm in mind, I went to Twilight and held out a leg. “Dance with me, Twilight.”                  She regarded the leg bemused. “I thought you said you didn’t dance?”                  “I don’t, but all this waiting around is making me anxious. And I can’t have you falling asleep on the couch.” When she hesitated, I added, “Plus, you have no choice in the matter. Sorry.” I then levitated her over to the center of the room as she laughed.                  Setting her down, I placed a leg on her shoulder and she did the same. After the few dances at the Canterlot Gala, I had labeled the act as odd, silly and a complete waste of energy. My thoughts since then hadn’t changed much on the topic, but at the very least, this gave me a reason to be close to her.                  I shouldn’t have felt as good as I did, given the impending doom that I knew would be coming at any moment. Yet, sometimes in our lives we find things that help silence such disquieting feelings.                  I smiled at her warmly. “Am I your friend, Twilight?”                  The movement of the dance stirred her awake. “Of course you are, Sombra. You know that.”                    I paused. “Could I ever be something more to you?”                  “What do you—” The realization hit her as her pupils shrunk and her face flushed. She gulped dryly. “I… umm… well… you know…” She tried to regain herself. “I’d need to get to know you first, Sombra. You and I might have spent months together in Canterlot, but I’d hardly consider most of that ‘bonding.’ You weren’t all that open about yourself, like you were today. Plus, you need to consider just how odd these circumstances are.”                  I could barely look away—she was so adorable when she became flustered. “Life is full of surprises, Twilight. Although that doesn’t answer my question.”                  She chewed on her lip. “I think you could.”                  My heart quickened and I tried to keep my mind on the song and the dance. A lot was going through my head at the time and foremost was that I wanted to be nearer to her. Taking a hesitant step forward, I pulled her in. She glanced to the side, although she did not pull away.                  I stopped in my step and lifted her head with a hoof. Somehow, she appeared more nervous than me.                  I lowered myself to her and—                  “Hey, Twilight! Your friends are here and they all seem worried about something!”                  I turned and found Twilight’s miniature butler dragon frozen in the doorway, confused and bewildered. From him I glanced at the window, wondering how far he might travel should he suddenly be ejected into the night air with much force. Knowing dragons, he’d probably live to annoy another day. Still, I would need to ponder up a better fitting name than Spike the Distractor.                  Taking a hint, Spike vacated the room, and Twilight and I descended the stairs to her foyer. Four of her friends stood waiting, each tense and timid, save for the pink one.                  Twilight asked, “Where’s Fluttershy? And why do you all look like that?”                  Rarity came forward. “We don’t know where Fluttershy is—either she’s still on her way here or didn’t get the letter at all—but I think the more important thing is what’s happening outside.”                  “What do you…” was all Twilight said before she pushed past them and out the door.                  I followed her and, a moment later, craned my head to stare off into the distance, where the pitch black sky swirled with bright plumes of red and yellow, mixing with the clouds high above. It would have been almost hypnotizing, if it weren’t so unnatural.                  Applejack soon joined us. “Y’all reckon this is Discord’s doing?”                  I turned to her. “I would say so.”                  The mess of colorful clouds danced in Twilight’s large eyes. “What in Equestria is making it do that?”                  A piercing roar tore through the still night air in answer to her question. A wash of blinding white erupted some blocks away near the head of town, as a more vibrant stream of reds and yellows entered the sky. Now I knew what was being left in the clouds: fire.                  The ground shook as the unseen monster took its first step into town. Then it screamed in a voice that made me picture a speaking wall of crackling flames.                  “Give back what you have taken, thief! Your illusions will not work on me! I know what you have done!”                  I felt the hurried flutter of wings a moment before Luna landed by my side. Like the rest of us, she was hesitantly staring into the distance. “What did I miss?”                  I couldn’t take my eyes from the sight. “I’m not sure, but something big.” “Good. It has been some time since my nights have been troubled. What have we here, then?”                  The monster took another step into town as his mammoth silhouette blackened the hanging smoke and cloud. It unfurled its far-reaching wings and continued to roar into the air.                  “Show yourself, unicorn! I will not hesitate in burning every last soul in this town until you’ve returned what you’ve taken from me! All of you unicorns are the same, aren’t you? Cowardice, greedy, tricksters, careless fools—every last one of you! Come out now and reap your reward!”                  I told her, “A very mad dragon.”