For Her Mistakes

by Onomonopia

House Guest

"COME ON, YOU DEMON! NOW YOU FACE A GOD!" Sombra roared from atop his balcony while the giant white demon slowly continued its march towards him, crushing buildings and ponies of the Crystal Empire under foot as it charged towards him. Sombra sent up a beam of light into the sky that caused a bolt of lightning to come down and strike his horn, channeling the electric energy into him. With this power, he launched himself into the air towards the creature, firing spells laced with electricity into the demon's chest. The giant demon raised one massive arm and swatted him away, sending him spiraling down into the streets below as it turned its attention to the top of his tower.

"Ugh, that's not good," Sombra muttered to himself as he picked himself out of what remained of the streets. The demon had done a good job of completely trashing the Crystal Empire, while neither the buildings nor those who inhabited them had been spared. Sombra struggled back to his hooves and looked to his side to see a mother clutching her filly, both of them gazing at him with fear.

"Is he going to hurt us, Mommy?" the filly asked before its mother pulled her tight and shushed her.

"Be quiet dear, don't look at him," the mother replied while Sombra growled at the both of them, causing them to close their eyes in fear.

"There is a fifty-foot tall demon attacking the city, and I am the one you are most scared of?" Sombra asked them with disbelief, watching as both of them nodded with fear. Then, a wide smile spread on his face. "Good." He then turned his attention back to the white demon that had begun to climb the tower in the center of the kingdom, knowing full well what it wanted. "So the demon wants the Crystal Heart, does it? Well he cannot have it. It's mine!" Sombra tried to shoot himself back into the air, but then the building that the mother and its child were under collapsed. Without a second thought, he picked the two up and threw them out of harm's way, glaring at them as he did so.

"What are you foals still doing here? RUN!" he snarled at them, and they took no time following his orders as the mother took off as fast as her hooves could carry her with her child. Sombra snorted as they ran and turned his attention back to the demon, who was halfway up the tower. "Now then, how do I deal with you?" He looked at the weakening structure and an idea came to him, causing him to smile again. He channeled his magic into the spots where the demon was grabbing onto the structure,nand with a heave pulled them right off, sending the demon toppling down...right on top of him.

"This is going to hurt," Sombra muttered before everything went black.

/M\

Sombra grunted and shook his head as he felt himself begin to wake back up, his dreams fading away as his senses came back to him. First was his sense of feeling, and he felt like complete crap. The pain that coursed through his body reminded him of the battle with the statue that had probably broken most of his bones. The second sense that came to him was the sense of smell, and he smelled...haycakes.

'I must be dead,' he thought to himself as he opened his one good eye, the other being far too swollen to try to open. But the eye that did open, opened all the way in surprise, when he saw that he was in a very nice-looking room filled with interesting items and furniture. But at that moment, his biggest thought was on the food he smelled, and his rumbling stomach reminded him he had not eaten in weeks. His nose drew him to the source of the smell, a small kitchen where Trixie and Starshine both sat eating.

"Oh, look who's finally awake," Trixie said with a smirk when she glanced over at Sombra, who just looked around in a daze. Starshine hopped out of his chair and tried to run to Sombra, but Trixie stopped him with her magic and brought him back over to her. "We had an agreement. I help him, and you stay away from him."

"What the hell am I doing here?" Sombra growled weakly as he tried to get up, but his body gave out on him and he collapsed back down onto the pile of blankets where he had been sleeping. "Where is here anyway? Where did you take me?" Trixie chuckled at his rage, the exhaustion in his voice made anything that he said sound like he was dying.

"Relax, your high and mightiness, you are in my home," Trixie said with a frown, not liking the sound of her words." Sombra looked even more confused at that as he struggled back up, feeling a slight sway, like the ground beneath him was moving. He looked down at himself as he did so and noticed that some of his wounds had been mended, but the ones that weren't serious had been left unattended. He quickly pieced two and two together to figure out who had helped him, but that didn't stop him from glaring at her with as much rage as he could muster in his state.

"You rescued me? The evil and almighty Trixie bothered to save another pony?!" Sombra said with a half-chuckle that Trixie frowned at. "I did not know that you had such a compassionate side, but why waste it on somepony so evil as me; a pony that might just kill-" Sombra's words were cut off once again as he was hoisted into the air by Trixie's magic and pulled over to her.

"Do not thank me for the rescue, I had little to do with it," Trixie replied in a cold voice that slowly turned into an evil smile of her own. "But as for the new accessory, that you can thank me for." Sombra looked at her in confusion and then he looked down, noticing for the first time the collar that was on his neck. It was a deep green and had a number of emeralds in it, causing him to look up at her with loathing.

"I thought that the princesses banned all use of these collars in Equestria," he snarled at her. Trixie smiled back and threw him onto the pile of blankets, getting up from her chair as she did so.

"Oh they did. In fact, no half-decent pony would be caught with one. But guess what I'm not," she said with a smile. "I take it I do not need to explain what this collar does, but for my young companion over there, I will. This collar is used on the most evil and dangerous of ponies in the land to keep them in check. It comes with a shocking spell that is kept within the emerald's embedded in it that activate with the right spell, a spell that I happen to know," Trixie said as she smirked at Sombra who hissed in response. "If the wearer doesn't behave, they get lit up. You hear that Sombra?"

"Oh, I hear you just fine, but what I want to know is, why you bothered to save me if you were just going to imprison me?" Sombra asked with a snarl. "Or are you just planning to kill me later?"

"Nope, I have something else planned for you," Trixie said as she sat in front of him. "Back at the Temple of Reflections, I came across a writing that I couldn't read even with my training. But you could, and that is a skill that I may need in the future if I hope to access the secrets of Star-Swirl's chamber. And just to make it clear, you don't have much of a say in the matter because if you say no, I will drop you off with the princesses and the Elements, where they'll most likely trap you in stone or kill you, something that I don't think you want to happen again, do you?" Sombra's growl of rage caused Trixie to smile as she stood up and pointed her horn towards the kitchen, floating over a small stack of haycakes that she dropped in front of Sombra. "Now eat up, we have a long day ahead of us."

Sombra glared at the mare until she had left the small room, before he dug into the haycakes with almost an animalistic savagery, inhaling the haycakes while barely remembering to chew. But he did think, while he ate, that something didn't quite add up. 'So, she says that she needs my help, yet she didn't want to save me. Which means that somepony must have convinced her after I had passed out from the pain. And since there is only one other pony she is traveling with...'

"Why did you convince her to save me?" Sombra asked Starshine, who had been reading one of Trixie's many spell books on a small table near a window. Starshine jumped up when he heard Sombra speak to him and hid behind the book, looking over the top of it with cautious eyes.

"What are you...?"

"Don't play dumb, if you are playing, I know that it was you who told her to save me," Sombra growled as he got up before the emeralds on his collar sparked a bit, telling him that Trixie was listening. He snarled at them before he looked back to the foal. "Trixie said it herself, that she didn't want to save me, which either means that she changed her mind or you changed it for her, which is the more likely of the two. So why?"

"You needed help." That was it? The only reason that the foal had helped him was because he needed it. The sheer bluntness and the absurdity of the answer caught Sombra completely off guard, leaving him speechless for a minute before he could think of a way to answer.

"Just because I needed help? No ulterior motive or desire to see me imprisoned, like I am?" Sombra said with a scoff, not believing the foal for a moment. "Yeah right, the day I believe that is the day that I go back on all my evil ways."

"Well, it's the truth!" Starshine yelled back, hopping out of his chair and staring at Sombra with a huff. "I try to help others when I can. Even Trixie decided to help you without much convincing. It's what nice ponies do." Sombra chuckled at that as he rolled back over on his blankets.

"Yeah, right kid, keep telling yourself that," Sombra chuckled again. Starshine growled in frustration and headed towards Trixie's practice area, needing to get some of his frustrations out.

"Don't let him get to you, he enjoys causing conflict," Trixie said from where she was looking at a map while he walked by, glancing over her shoulder. "If you don't let his words get to you, there is nothing he can do to harm you. He has no horn and the collar will keep him from trying anything else."

"I'm not worried about him attacking me, I'm upset that he didn't listen to what I said," Starshine said as he brought out one of the dummies and placed it on the ground across from him, letting out all of his frustration and anger. 'I hate it when ponies don't believe or listen to me. My parents, and even sometimes Trixie, why does no pony take what I say seriously?' he thought to himself as he growled and tried to fire a spell towards the dummy, but his horn overloaded again and sent him flying across the room. He would have hit the wall if Trixie had not caught him, lowering him to the ground gently while Sombra was struck down by laughter.

"Shut up," Starshine growled at Sombra, who had fallen out of his bed by how hard he was laughing.

"I have never seen such a backlash in magic from a foal, since the days I taught at the Crystal Empire," Sombra laughed as he tried to keep tears from rolling from his eyes. "And even then, they never turned themselves into living rockets that flew across the room like that. I think that..." Whatever Sombra thought was drowned out by his laughter as he started up again, and would probably would have continued for a while longer, if Trixie did not shock him with the collar, gaining a yelp from him that caused her to chuckle.

"Why can't I work my magic?" Starshine asked with tears in his eyes, as Trixie looked over him to make sure that he was not harmed. Once she was certain that he was safe, she sat down in front of him and sighed, not sure how to answer.

"Sometimes...magic in certain foals takes a longer time to develop than it does in others their age," she said in her most comforting tone as she tried to calm him down. "It does not mean that there is anything wrong with you, it just means that you are developing at a slower state than most. It doesn't mean-"

"That's a load of bull and you know it Trixie," Sombra said with a smirk from across the room, smiling at the look he gained from her, telling him to be quiet. "We both have been around magic long enough to know that he has a defective horn which causes magic anomalies, making him a defective unicorn that can't use magic properly--or what I like to call, 'throw myself across the room like a rocket' syndrome." Any mirth that Sombra had gained from that remark was immediately gone once Trixie activated the emeralds in his collar again, but it was too little, too late as Starshine tore away from Trixie's grasp and ran off.

"Starshine!" Trixie called out as he ran out the front door, slamming it behind him. Trixie watched him from the window with sad eyes, planning to go after him in just a minute. But first she had to bring down the wrath of Celestia upon somepony else. "What were you thinking?!" She roared at Sombra as she lifted him up and slammed him into the wall, almost knocking the wagon over. Sombra coughed as he hit the side, but smiled at Trixie all the same. "You knew that he had a condition yet you still mocked and made fun of him! Have you no shame in that dark heart?!" But instead of cowering like Trixie thought he would, Sombra smiled in response as he chuckled at her.

"I could ask you the same thing, Trixie. Did you really think it was better to lie to the colt, building up his hopes so that they could one day come crashing down on him?" Sombra asked her with a raised eyebrow. "I saved him months and maybe years of pain by telling him the truth now. Sure, he'll probably be an emotional wreck for a while, but at least I had the honesty to tell him the truth, instead of lying to him and giving him false hopes. And ponies call me evil." Trixie snarled and threw Sombra to the floor, casting a spell on him that would prevent him from moving until she got back.

"Jerk," Sombra muttered to himself as Trixie ran out the door after Starshine, looking around the room since his eyes were the only part of him that he could move at the moment. 'Trust me kid, it's better if you give up magic now with a horn like that. Unless you're a genius like me, you'll never be able to beat it.'

/M\

Trixie followed Starshine's magical energies to the edge of a forest, and she didn't like the looks of it. It looked wild and natural, while the sense of dark magic made her immediately go on her guard. But her only concern at the moment was rescuing Starshine, no matter what dared to get in her way to do so. Trixie narrowed her eyes and rushed into the forest, feeling its dark magic all around her as she did her best to follow the faint trail that Starshine left behind him. But for what felt like hours she ran in circle, not feeling any closer to him than she had when she started.

'Curse this infernal forest, it truly is the bane of my existence right now,' the thought to herself as she looked around at a certain rock, which she was certain that she had passed before. 'And while I am at it, curse Sombra too for driving Starshine away like that. He should know better than to say those kinds of things to a foal, even if they are true.'

'But who was truly in the wrong in that situation? The one who hurt the foal's feelings yet spoke true? Or the one who lied when they should have told the foal what they needed to hear, not what they wanted.' Trixie spun around to see the silver mare sitting on one of the tree branches, looking down at her with eyes hidden beneath the hood.

"Of course I was in the right. No foal should be told that they are going to be a failure that cannot use magic, especially a unicorn," Trixie shot back, causing the silver mare to sigh.

'Honesty is generally the best approach, even when it can hurt. But what hurts worse, being told from the start that you cannot do something or being lied to for years, only to find out the truth on your own, knowing that others you loved have kept it from you?..' the silver mare asked as she leapt from the tree and landed on the ground, not a single leaf being disturbed from her landing.

"You make it sound complicated with your fancy talk, but being told something like this to a foal Starshine's age could permanently discourage him from ever trying to succeed at something. His only goal is to learn magic and I will not let what Sombra said take that away from him," Trixie snarled in reply, causing the silver mare to tilt her head slightly at Trixie.

'And speaking of Sombra, you now have him in your Wagon of Misfits,' the silver mare said with a bit of humor in her voice, liking the name that she had given Trixie's wagon. 'And yet you consider him an evil pony and did not wish to take him with you. Why do you now let him live among you?'

"Because I need his help in order to get to the temple," Trixie replied, but the silver mare's energy field changed a bit and she sighed once again.

'I wish that you would speak the truth to me Trixie, but then again, honesty is not in your nature,' the silver mare replied and gained herself a snarl from Trixie in doing so. 'And I know that it was not the desire to have him assist you that convinced you to take him in. What is the real reason?' Trixie narrowed her eyes at what the mare said, feeling as if the mare could see through her with ease.

"...Alright, it's because Starshine asked me to. He hates to see others suffer and does his best to see the good in everypony, no matter how bad," Trixie replied, talking more about herself than she was Sombra. "And with everything he has gone through, I know why he wants to help others. I just don't know why he would help Sombra.' The air around Trixie bristled and she immediately took up a defensive stance, feeling the energy of the silver mare shift again.

'...As I said Trixie, I wish that you would speak the whole truth with me, but I cannot force you if you do not wish to,' the silver mare said as the energy died down with a shake of her head. 'And since you are pressed for time as it is, I will inform you that Starshine is currently running for his life from the very foliage of this forest.' Trixie said nothing as she turned to run into the forest, fear already beginning to get to her. The silver mare smiled and teleported the both of them to where Starshine was, cowering under a stump as black vines slowly slithered closer and closer to him.

"NO!" Trixie roared as she sent a burst of magic skyward, the magic bursting in the air and sending magic bolts raining down upon the vines. The vines that were touched by the magic were instantly destroyed by it, while the others turned towards the new threat. Meanwhile, Trixie had run over to where Starshine was hiding and gently helped him out of the trunk, sighing in relief when she saw that he wasn't harmed.

"Starshine, thank heavens that you are-" Her words were cut off by Starshine as he tackle-hugged her, shaking with fear as he clutched her. Trixie smiled gently and wrapped her hooves around him as well. "Don't worry, you're safe now. They're not going to get you."

"I'm so sorry for running off," Starshine sobbed into her chest as she patted him on the back. "It's just that with what Sombra said, and with how I've been doing..."

"It's alright, I don't blame you," Trixie comforted, gently pushing him off of her. "But we can talk about it later. Right now, I need to let off a little frustration of my own...and I have just the targets to do it," Trixie said as she turned to face the rest of the vines that had come towards her. Trixie rolled to the side as one of the vines snapped at her and shot it in mid roll with a blast of fire, setting the vine ablaze as a shriek rang out through the forest. 'Sounds like this vine is part of a larger creature that I do not want to fight. I need to end this quick and get Starshine out of here.' The vines began to attack Trixie in a group and every time she set one on fire, two more would take their place.

"Starshine! Head back to the wagon! I need to get rid of the source of the vines," Trixie yelled to Starshine before she charged into the forest, dodging past the vines while looking for their source. But the source she found was different from what she had been expecting. It wasn't a giant beast, but instead was a black tree with rotted limbs, with the vines actually being the tree's roots. 'Okay, that's different,' she thought to herself before her horn crackled with magic. 'But manageable.' She fired her first spell at the center of the trunk, but more roots shot out of the ground to intercept her blast.

"Okay, so you can handle frontal attacks, but how about attacks from the sky?" she yelled as she fired a spell skyward, which came crashing down a moment later in a bolt of ferocious lightning. But much to her anger the lightning was channeled through the tree and out through it's roots, leaving the tree unharmed. "You are really getting on my last nerve," Trixie growled as she shot a blaze of magic towards the tree, which once again countered with its roots. While she was focused on the tree, one if the roots had managed to sneak underneath of her and wrap around her hoof. The moment she was distracted by the smaller root the larger ones shot at her, entangling her within them.

"Release me, plant," Trixie snarled as the tree lifted her into the air to pull her closer. She thought for certain that she had heard the tree chuckle as the roots began to crush her, making her unable to concentrate on her magic. 'I can't believe it. A tree is going to be the end of me. I hope that Sombra or Twilight don't hear about this.' As the tree's roots continued to tighten, she was preparing a spell that she never wanted to use as anything but a last resort. But before she could fire it, a rock smacked into the side of the tree, distracting it from Trixie just long enough for her to focus on her magic.

"BURN!" she yelled as she fired her most powerful fire spell into the heart of the trunk, setting the entire tree ablaze. With the source on fire, the roots released Trixie and dropped her to the ground. She stood up to watch as the tree went from a black monstrosity to a pile of ash in a matter of minutes, ash that she scattered to the four corners with a burst of gust magic. With the tree gone, she turned to face the thrower of the rock with a frown. "I thought I told you to go back to the wagon?"

"Yeah, but I figured that if I went back to the wagon, Sombra would just insult me again," Starshine said with a shrug as he walked over to her. "And even without magic, I thought I could still help you." Trixie looked from him to where the tree once stood, glad that he had ignored her orders.

"You could say that I might have needed a bit of help," Trixie replied as she lifted Starshine onto her back before heading to the wagon. "And thank you for your help, I was in a bit of a bind."

"Hey, everypony needs help from time to time, especially those who are taking care of me. We need to help each other out," Starshine said with a smile, making Trixie think to herself.

"You're right," she said after a few minutes of thought. "We do need to help each other out more. So when we get back to the wagon, I'm going to begin looking for a way to fix that horn of yours so you can use your magic."

"Really?" Starshine asked, unable to contain the joy in his voice. Trixie nodded and caused Starshine to begin to talk about all the magic he would perform once he could use his horn.

/M\

"ABOUT TIME YOU CAME BACK!" Sombra yelled at them from the floor, once Starshine and Trixie had entered to wagon again. "Do you know how long I've had this itch on my nose?! Release me at once"

"As you wish," Trixie said as she cut off her magic, smirking to herself as Sombra almost punched himself in the face to get rid of the itch. Once he had, he glared at Trixie as she walked by.

"I really don't like you," he muttered to her. Trixie shrugged and put Starshine on the floor, where he immediately ran over to Sombra. "What?" Sombra asked the colt, right before he got kicked in the shins. He swore as he grabbed his leg, glaring at the colt as Starshine ran over to Trixie. "I really don't like either of you."

"That's fine, you don't have to like us," Trixie said as she pulled out a map and placed it on the table, motioning for Sombra to join them. "The next temple that we are going to is the one in the Changeling Kingdom, which, thanks to some old records, I have a pretty good idea of where it is. Unfortunately, we're going to have to go through this place to get there."

"The Crystal Maze?" Starshine asked as he looked where Trixie was pointing on the map. "What's the crystal maze?"

"Only where the greatest, biggest and most impressive crystals outside of the Crystal Empire grow," Sombra said with poorly-contained excitement, not noticing the look that Trixie gave him until he looked up. "What?"

"Nothing, we should probably just get some rest," Trixie said with a sigh as she headed for her bed. "It is almost night and we have a long journey tomorrow. Hopefully we will be at the maze before nightfall of the following day." Starshine followed Trixie's example and went to bed as well, but Sombra waited until the both of them were gone and their shields were up before he looked at the map again.

'Yes, not only is it where some of the greatest crystals exist, but it is also home to one of my many hidden bases throughout Equestria,' he thought to himself with a smirk, as he looked towards where Trixie slept before he turned over himself. 'Just you wait, princesses. Soon, I will have all I need to defeat you both.'

Comments

[Kenshinryuu]

I have to say it again: SOMBRA IS TRIXIE'S BITCH!!!!
And even Starshine kicks him in the shin!!! *runs up and kicks Sombra*
I know Sombra is going to go for a backstab on Trixie later, probably by taking Starshine hostage.... in which case Starshine should fire off all the magic he can to slam them into a wall with Sombra taking the brunt of it. Also, consider having him make the "Rocket Tackle" into an offensive move, it's got plenty of power behind it and could be useful in the temples if Trixie needs to get up high quickly.

[Uzume Tennouboshi]

And as usual, it looks like Sombra won't be able to be reformed, in spite of the way he saved that mare and her foal. Still, he had a point about being honest with Starshine about his defect.

And Starshine, you don't just have to wait to get your horn repaired. Because even if you can't do magic until your horn has been repaired, you can still train your body. You might never be able to become as strong as an earth pony, but it is a fact that if you have lots of stamina, you'll be able to use some of the more powerful spells around after your horn has been repaired.

[Scarheart]

"Relax, your high and mightiness, you are in my home," Trixie said with a frown, not liking the sound of her words."

You might want to remove what I have in bold and underlined.

[DeltaOsprey]

Put some armor on Starshine, have him face away from the enemy, charge his magic and then become a living weapon.
It'll be hilarious.

[Grahf]

3846702 I think there is a marvel or DC hero that does that

[DeltaOsprey]

3849821 That doesn't surprise me in the least. As matter of fact I'd be upset if there wasn't someone who did that.

[Tristar]

3849855

I'm pretty his name I cannonball he's a mutant whose power basically boils down to hurling himself at his target like a well cannonball.

[Mr-Astounding]

Achievement earned: Great and PLANTiful (defeat the plant-creature)