A day turned into a week and a week turned into a month. In that time Tombstone and Twilight got to know each other on a more personal level. Twilight talked about her many exploits and what her friends were like, while Tombstone mentioned how he my meet Sombra in his youth and what he was like before he was king. All the while enjoying each other’s company and growing closer, maybe closer than either one realized. Twilight still tried to convince him that he was wrong about ponykind but he didn’t want to listen, most ponies were still vile creatures, weren’t they? But back in Canterlot a different scene was unfolding.
“Thank you all for meeting me here.”
Celestia had called a meeting with Spike, Twilight’s friends, Luna, Cadence, and Shining in the castle conference room.
“Of course princess, any new info on Twi, have ya found her yet?”
“No Applejack and so far the search has turned up empty. Tombstone has yet to contact me which leads me to believe he’s plotting something. Twilight been gone a month now and who knows what he’s done to her in that time. It’s very likely that she is not the same Twilight we knew anymore and that he’ll try to use her to carry out his plans should he fail. That’s why I’ve come to a decision. I’m going to destroy his phylactery.” The others were taken aback by this. “I realize this means we may never see Twilight again but for the safety of Eqestria it must be done.”
“Please reconsider.”
“Yes, this is Twilight were talking about, there’s still a chance-”
“I’m sorry Shining, Cadence, but my mind is made up.”
Celestia used her magic to pry the gem out of her regalia and placed it on the table. She then sent a blast of magic at it, but the gem fought back by projecting a small shield around it. Seeing this Celestia increased her power and the shield broke, the gem tried to stay strong but slowly began to crack under the pressure.
(Moments earlier)
“So you and your friends used this new found power from the chest produced by the Tree of Harmony to defeat Tirek, undo all the damage he had done, and received a castle of your very own.”
“Exactly.”
“Never a dull moment in your life is there.”
“Well I wouldn’t say that. But I’d like to talk to you about your view of other ponies.”
“This again, you’re a broken record you know that.”
“I’m telling you if you just gave other ponies a chance, especially the ones from Ponyville you’d see things differently. If Discord can change then so can you.”
“I…I just don’t know, I’ve been hurt so many times in the past…”
Twilight got up and made her way over to him.
“You wouldn’t have to go it alone you know, me and my friends would be there to help. I just have one question for you.”
“What?”
“If Celestia still refuses to give you back your phylactery then….are you still going to kill me?”
Tombstone thought for a moment, he’d been enjoying Twilights company so much that he forgot all about Celestia and the exchange.
“Well I suppose not. Your one of the good ones out here, in fact you actually remind me of Vibrant a little. You don’t deserve to die.”
Twilight never felt so relieved in her entire life. She smiled and momentarily lost control of herself, wrapping her hooves around his neck and gave him a kiss. His body was as cold as death but in that moment she didn’t care. Tombstone was surprised to say the least at what just happened, but slowly melted into it, wrapped his hooves around her, and returned it. Then Twilight pulled away, blushing profusely. If he still had a pulse Tombstone would be blushing too.
“Oh I-I’m sorry, I don’t know what-”
“It’s fine.” She kissed me and I felt something, something I’ve not felt since. No it must have been my imagination and yet. Just then he felt immense pain surge through his body. “AAAAAAAAAAAH!” He then collapsed to the floor on his side.
“Tombstone what’s wrong?”
“It’s my phylactery…its calling out to me…Celestia is trying to destroy it.” While he still could he used his magic to remove the suppressor around her horn. “Go…you don’t deserve to… die here with me.” His skin began to shrivel and steam.
“Do you know where your phylactery is?”
“Canterlot…Castle…conference…room.”
Twilight cast a teleportation spell and they were gone.
They reappeared on the other side of the conference room. All eyes fell on Twilight and Tombstone. Just then a green flame enveloped Tombstone as he wailed in pain.
“Celestia please stop!”
Celestia was so surprised to see Twilight that she stopped her assault for a moment, but a moment was all Twilight needed. Twilight used her magic to grab his phylactery and brought it over to her, then concentrated and cast a spell to repair the cracks in it, returning it to normal. This caught everypony off guard. The flames died out and Tombstone cast a spell to replenish his body and return to normal. He then rolled onto his belly and looked at Twilight.
“You saved me.”
She then turned to face him and put his Phylactery into his hoof.
“Twilight, what are you!?”
“Just trust me Celestia.”
“You’re giving this to me, but I never said I would-”
“I know you’ll make the right choice.”
“You trust me that much do you.”
“I do.”
He gave her a soft smile, got up in a sitting position, wrapped his hooves around her and gave her a hug, which she returned. “Thank you Twilight, you’re a virtuous soul in this world and have been a ray of sunshine in my otherwise bleak existence, I’m lucky to have met you even if it wasn’t under the most ideal circumstances.” The others were increasingly confused as to the scene playing out in front of them. Tombstone broke the hug and offered his phylactery to Twilight. “Here you keep it.”
“You trust me that much.”
“I can’t think of safer hooves for it to be in.” He put it in her hoof, then turned towards the others and took a few steps forward. “Celestia I would like to formally apologize for my actions and I would like a chance at redemption to make up for the things I’ve done. If someone like Discord can do it than I guess I can too.” The others were now completely baffled. What in Equestria could have happened while Twilight was with him?
He actually wants to be redeemed, this is some kind of trick, it has to be. “Twilight what exactly happened while you were away?”
Twilight strode up next to Tombstone. “You see Celestia we talked and he explained why he hated other ponies so much. I convinced him that they were worthy of a second chance, and that he could live a better life. On a side note you should really checkout his library sometime, it’s filled with near endless amounts of books. I only spent about a month in there and I only got through a fraction of the material. He even has Star Swirl the Bearded’s original notes and texts, and I got to read them.” That last part she said in a higher pitch than she would have liked. Celestia was still suspicious of him and his motives, but decided to play along for now.
“Very well you may have a chance to prove yourself, but you’ll have to wear a suppressor until further notice.”
Tombstone gave a chuckle to which Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Sorry but that will be a nuisance at most. You see I have discovered alternative forms of spell casting that don’t require a horn to use, through words and magic circles.” He saw the questioning look on Celestia’s and the others faces so he thought it best to show them. “Allow me to demonstrate. Horaat.” He held out his hoof and it began to glow as well as one of the chairs in the room. He then waved his hoof around and the chair followed its every move. The others were shocked by this, especially Celestia who had never seen magic like this nor even conceived it was possible. He then put the chair down and the spell ended. “As you can see a suppressor wouldn’t be all that useful, sure it may slow me down a little but not keep me from using magic.”
How powerful is he? “Is that how you managed to escape from Tartarus?”
“You could say it had something to do with it.”
“Very well I see your point, but I’m keeping a close eye on you. By the way what was that you spoke? It doesn’t sound like any language I’ve heard before.”
“Sorry, there are still somethings I would like to keep to myself at the moment.” Tombstone shot a quick look at twilight that said keep that info just between us for the moment. “Now I must gather somethings from my home. I shall meet you outside your castle in Ponyville Twilight.” He then teleported away.
“Twily are you ok? What happened?”
“I’m fine Shining really. Let me explain.” She told them about Tombstone’s past, her time in his lair, and everything else that had happened. Well almost everything, she did leave out the part about dovahzul and the kiss. “And then we appeared here and you know the rest.”
“Well darling that’s quite a story.”
“I’m not so sure about his sudden change of heart. Anypony that’s held a grudge for a thousand years doesn’t simply turn over a new leaf in such a short amount of time. This may be just some kind of ploy.”
“I’m not saying he’s a changed pony yet, it’s going to take time for him to heal. But I’m confident we can reform him. Please Celestia I’m asking you to trust on this. Like I once trusted you.”
Celestia was slightly taken aback by that last statement.
“Twilight look I-”
“You just gave me up for dead almost as if I meant nothing.”
“That’s not true! We did everything we could to get you back.”
“And I suppose that trying the destroy Tombstone’s phylactery was a sign that you gave up hope of ever seeing me again. Tell me I’m wrong.” Celestia didn’t know how to respond to that. “Look Celestia I understand you’re reasoning and in some ways I’m glad about how things turned out, but it still hurt.”
“Twilight I’m sorry about what happened, but right now I’m just glad you’re back.”
“We all are, right girls,” said Cadence.
Twilight’s friends all nodded, and then they rushed over and gave her a big group hug. Breaking it off a few moments later.
“All right girls let’s get going I’m expecting company soon.”