Divine Move

by Ice Star


δΈ€ (Mending What Has Broken)

Sombra,

I'm not sure if this letter will reach you, since I put it in a dead-end alley of all places, where I last saw you. I noticed after the argument we had (I am still upset at you for hurting Twilight) you dropped a parcel that you probably didn't want anypony to see. I picked it up, yes and looked inside, and brought it home to the empire, where after months of research (which was not helped by the fact that I had only a name and date to work off of), archive browsing, and carrying out the duties of the Crystal Empire (we princesses do have lives as well as responsibilities) I was able to find all the information you seemed to have been searching for.

I am also writing (in hopes that you receive this, and maybe read it, you know? Not lighting things on a fire is something you should try) to tell you I'm sorry. I had no idea that

I will I should have asked you what happened with this Onyx and you except that you might have tried to kill me

I know now that your past is extremely unsettling as opposed to something you refused to tell others for the fun of it. Once again coming back to the subject of this letter: if you get this letter at all, and accept my apology and the information I have for you, please show up at the Crystal Empire within three days of the date written on the inside of the envelope or just spam me with mail, I guess. You know where I live.

Please don't spam me with mail that most likely will consist of cursed ink or some kind of poison, if you're still angry with me, that is.

Sincerely,

Cadance, a.k.a Pink One

P.S. Please avoid committing any capitol offenses on the way to the Empire, you don't exactly have amnesty.

...

I remembered exactly where the Pink One wanted to meet, even if she apparently decided to get amnesia and skip something she placed such importance on. She also had the nerve to claim she had an existence that was meaningful, as always I'll be the judge of that. Being judgmental is a specialty of mine.

I don't care if she doesn't show up since it doesn't affect me much, I can always just devise a way to steal what she found out, assuming she wrote it down. If that isn't so I can make her write it out for me. I can't believe she of all ponies was the one to say that even though she proposed an alliance. While not entirely incompetent like a certain Purple Eyesore she is occasionally dense and rather wimpy - there's even a special word they have for this particular kind: pacifistic.

Yet however much I hate this place, the ponies in it, and all that's happened here, I'm pleased nopony else is around. The same was true of Canterlot's train station, one of those obnoxious, wide-spread social gatherings must have been occurring, it explains the collective departure of the equally bothersome citizens in both locations.

While it was harder to tell here, due to the different seasonal patterns, Canterlot's weather was shifting and becoming somewhat warmer. I didn't mind the weather, either way. It was nice on my side of the mountain, the only cause for venturing into the city was when I wanted to steal things - like books, always books - and that was rare. It was on one of these infrequent trips that I found the letter wedged under a barrel where I last saw the pink one. It was only a day old.

I tilted my head back to continue looking at the clouds, which seemed silent and still, barely moving at all. I proceeded to get lost in thoughts for a short while.

Could she really have found out where he came from? Was there anything left of wherever that was?

Towards my left I picked up a familiar emission of magic followed by a set of hoofsteps. I turned so I could see the pink princess. "You're late," I said automatically, there wasn't a hint of emotion in my voice. I think I should have her meet Phobos, the two were never formally introduced.

She smiled slightly, her magic fiddling with the fastener on her saddlepack, even though I'm very good at reading emotions and noting the smallest details she made it so obvious she felt awkward, somewhat doubtful, and the most easily observable: nervous. There wasn't anything deeper, everything was on the surface. Even though she wasn't quite as bland as those around her, she seemed like it in this moment.

"I see I'm getting the monotone treatment from you," she began, "and did you really need to turn around to face me, I was right there-" She points a hoof towards a spot I hadn't been able to see before for a very good reason. I most certainly won't tell her, I won't tell anypony. There isn't anypony that needs to know.

She continued to exist and I continued to be cold and unexpressive.

"Have I ever mentioned that virtually everypony that isn't me is just another vexation in my life?"

"Listen, I said-"

"Wrote, actually and don't try to command me." Try it again, I dare you.

"What I'm trying to say," she continued cautiously, "is can you forgive me?"

"I don't know, can I?"

She looked at me, her expression somewhat sad. I glared at her and she looked away just as quickly and still continued to speak. "I was hoping you could, but anyway about what I learned-"

I interrupted her just as she pulled a small note out of her saddlepack. "...What are you sorry for?"

"Sombra, didn't you read the letter?"

"Yes," I said flatly. Would she get the point I was trying to make? Out of the two of them, she is the least dense but that isn't saying much.

"And...?"

"I proceeded to burn it when you wouldn't show up on time."

"Sombra, I've been checking this station every few hours for the past day. I didn't list a time for you to show up, just a date."

"You should have shown up three hours ago."

This was news to her. "Why?"

"Because I said so Amore Cadenza."

Her muzzle crinkled. "It's Mi Amore Cadenza."

Why does she say 'me Amore Cadenza' like that? It makes her sound almost as stupid as the purple one. "So, once again: What are you sorry for?"

"I'm sorry for calling you a demon-"

"But I am a demon from a technical standpoint... in a way..." Except I'm not, or at least not completely, and I'm obviously not quite a pony either. I've always been, and will always be Sombra because even though they call me a demon and I'm superior to them, I am still much closer to them than they realize, as are the Alicorns. Or at least the ones that are left...

"I'm sorry for... calling you Onyx?" She tried, "As well as refusing to let you explain yourself."

"Well done, although you don't win a single thing."

Pink One's eyes went down to read the note she held in her magic. "Anyway, do you have an interest in the information? I mean I imagine that if you agree it will be your way of saying that you forgive me."

I like this one, sometimes she gets things right. This happens to be one such time. It's such a shame she had to be Celestia's apprentice when she could have been mine.

"So, Sombra is it a deal?" She holds her pink hoof out, her gold shoe gleaming despite the overcast sky.

I smirk a little. "Careful there, Pink One, making a deal with a demon."

Pink One laughs a little and nods to her hoof. "Well then, is it a deal?"

I hold out my own gray hoof, the redesigned silver metal boots shunned by the light, and shake hers. "Very much so."

"Good, I'm glad to hear you aren't secretly trying to kill me. Anything else you have to say?" Oh, but how would you know?

"Of course I have something to say, I'm me or in the few seconds that you last mentioned me by name have you managed to forget?"

Exasperated, she stared up at the sky but kept her tone level. "And that is?"

"Remember that offer you made in Gildentundra?"

I can tell by the look in her eyes that she knows exactly what I'm talking about. "Yes, what about it?"

"I accept your offer, you may count me among your friends."

She smiled so wide, it almost reminded me of him... but genuine, this mare couldn't hurt a daisy, while Onyx would hurt anypony who had so much as looked at it. Pink One also couldn't aim a dagger to save her life.

"Although I still have something to add: make me any sort of token of camaraderie and I'll choke you with it."

Pink One waved her hoof over in another direction. "It's nice to see you're marginally less grumpy, now let's go."

...

The pink one is trotting a few paces ahead of me. We're traveling - which is quite the exaggeration for merely walking - on an out of the way road in the Empire. I know so because all the major roads are made out of purple crystal but this one is a path of loose dirt. I recall traveling these only once or twice and never during... well, it really isn't worth mentioning.

There aren't a lot of ponies who live out here, this close to the mountains. The few that did were farmers, or just not particularly wealthy.

"Hey Sombra, there is a question I wanted to ask you - it's about dark magic."

I jerk up the hood on my cloak. I don't want to have to deal with the annoyances that come with being recognized by these particular ponies. I won't let his deeds become my legacy.

"Is it about dark magic or is it about me?" I may be narcissistic but you think with the first few outbursts regarding questions centered around me they would have learned. I think these silly princesses have already asked everything they can bother to come up with. What next?

My favorite color? It's green.

My favorite food? Umm... I guess I'd have to get back them on that one - or at least to Pink One here, I'm not on speaking terms with Purple Plebeian. In fact, I'm surprised such a primitive life form such as herself can speak at all. She can't be much higher than an amoeba. Despite being made up of more then one cell she is a rather simple creature.

Okay then, how about a favorite book? My current favorite is Div, Grad, Curl, and All That: An Informal Text on Vector Calculus by: H.M. Hay.

"Well, both," she replies somewhat sheepishly.

There go any potential calculus discussions I could have had with you, Pink One. Do you hear them being silenced, every last voice? I blame you for their demise.

I fix my gaze on a lone tree in a field of grain that I noticed out of the corner of my good eye. There are dark pinkish crystals creeping up the trunk. I always wished this place had more trees, the Crystal Empire has always felt so empty, even more so now that I've seen more of the world.

I sigh slightly. A few seconds have passed and Pink One's gaze clearly states that she is waiting for my answer, that is if I'll give her one.

"Go ahead. Ask."

We continue to walk. "Well, I was wondering why dark magic doesn't hurt or corrupt you when you use it."

"I am dark magic, or rather it is my origin. I cannot be corrupted by my own self, or rather what I am. If that were true I wouldn't be able to exist. There is no magic eating at my mind," I state frankly, continuing to watch the hills and fields. Some have ponies in them but they are too far away to see the pink one and myself. I'd rather not have to come here ever again. Sure, I could have just wiped some average pony's weak excuse for a mind so they would obey my every wish but there are reasons both logical and personal that I don't use that kind of magic often.

I don't tear my eyes away from the landscape. "How much did you find out?"

...And how much did you regret ever learning? Even though you know very little about Onyx, and I intend to keep it that way, I imagine you still have your own limited perspective on the matter.

"Well, I found a birth certificate with the bits you had figured out, from that I learned his parent's names as well as his family residence and..."

She doesn't pause, although her actions tell me that she is nervous. "Sombra, this Onyx has living relatives."

I don't shift in any way but my gaze travels to her. "Is that so? You'd think with a record like his, Onyx would have gotten them all."

Hear that? You missed a few. Isn't it such a pity? Are you going to whine?

Of course not. You can't.

I can't hear you and you can't hear me.

Not anymore.

Never again. I can't feel you any more then you can feel me, you little megalomaniac.

Your spell may have sealed us once, but the spell that sealed us for a second time weakened it, even when I pieced myself back together.

It is not the total separation I could have wished for but-

Pink One and I keep walking, it seems she's forgotten I'm there. There are traces of a recent layer of snow on the ground, more fascinating than any crystal. It doesn't matter that only one of them works, there's still quite a lot to see, once you look past all the annoying ponies.

-this is one thing I've always wanted.