• Published 2nd Nov 2013
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Sombra Dislikes Crystals - The Apologetic Pony



A story of Sombra's upbringing and how he came to be King of the Crystal Empire.

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Rise And Shine Bornite, Sunstone's Knocking

Sombra saw a Luna in his dreams, but he didn’t think it was her, it certainly didn’t act like her, and she only spoke of trivial things. So how suspicious do you wanna be? You gonna say that was her spying on you? No don’t be ridiculous, if there’s anything to be suspicious of, she wouldn’t do it like that. She’s god there, she could spy without ever being there if she wanted. That’s one terrifying thing to be suspicious of, Sombra. Well I do still love her.

‘Is that so?’ Sombra mumbled to himself in the bed, light bleeding through the curtains.

Yeah it is so, you nitwit.

The birdsong was different in Canterlot then where he used to live, a lot more sombre somehow. There was no tree to scan for phoenixes either. Don’t even think of climbing the roof, you really will break your neck on this one.

Begrudgingly, Sombra got out of bed. He thought he might ask Robyn where the curtains came from, since he didn’t remember them being there when he first looked round the house, but she wasn’t here. What was there to do on days he wasn’t seeing Luna? Are the days going to be as slow as before, has coming here changed nothing? You could go see her, wake her up, tell her how much you love her.

Somepony opened the door.

‘Hiya, Robyn!’

‘Morning, Sombra!’ Robyn replied, distracted by the keys she was still trying to get out of the door.

‘I was just out looking for some furniture to fill the empty house.’

‘Oh, find any?’

‘A few things potentially, there was this nice looking sofa...’

Sombra found the rest of the conversation fairly dull, and it was fairly dull. There was only so much you could say about furniture, but apparently his mother really liked to push the limits of that.

He was curious as to if he’d be allowed close to the sleeping princess, as well as a certain book, so he went to Canterlot Palace again. He was a little bored too.

Some guards asked him a few questions before they let him in. Clearly they’d be told to, but they weren’t too comfortable on letting somepony in who didn’t have any specific ‘Royal business’. I couldn’t exactly say, here to wake up my marefriend up could I? Not that they’ll let me, I’m sure. He got in and tried to get as close to Luna’s quarters as he could, which ended up being pretty close, but was eventually stopped by a pair of guards. That’s what I expected, I guess, I don’t even know what I would have said if I did get to wake her up.

After making his way past yet a few more guards, he reached the library and looked through the books under ‘U’.

Undertale, Undersold, Undermined, there it is, “Undefined Talent Syndrome”.

Grabbing it from the shelf, Sombra opened it with a bit of casual telekinesis.

“...Cases where the patient never discovers or attaches a meaning to the cutiemark, even far into adulthood, frequently results in feelings of loss and hopelessness, commonly said to be akin to ‘losing a great asset of themselves they never had’. This is somewhat comparable to ponies who lose their visual representation of their cutiemark, as the result of mutilation or otherwise.”

Grim.

Sombra flicked to another page.

‘In a single fringe case, a pegasus suffering from UDT came to believe a talent she possessed was what her cutiemark indicated, but later found that it was something else. When she did, she became so distraught that she–’

‘Excuse me, Sir.’

Sombra turned around.

‘Her Highness will see you in the Royal Garden now.’ the guard stated.

Confused and a little irked about being interrupted, he opened his mouth to say something, but stopped short, realising it wasn’t a request.

‘If you would.’ gestured the guard.

Did she not want me reading that book? Does Luna not want me reading that book? No, you really are being paranoid now. Unless I’m... No shut up that’s a dumb idea.

He smelt the freshly mown grass, realising that he was outside. Celestia looked at him from the middle of the garden. Sombra shivered.

‘Good morning, Sombra.’

‘Hello... What’s up?

She dismissed the guard, and told him to come closer.

‘I know I’m not Luna but that it is a bit far away to have a conversation.’

Yeah, you’re not Luna. God I’m so paranoid.

Celestia’s mane rippled in the sun.

‘You’ve made the guards anxious coming unannounced.’ she chuckled.

‘With respect, Celestia, your sister said I could.’

‘And you can! It’s only that it would be easier if you mentioned to her exactly when, it’d stop the guards from speculating. As well trained as they are, we can’t stop them from gossiping completely. But by all means, it’s only a request, if there are important matters you must attend to, do whatever.’

‘I thought it was serious when your guard told me “I was seeing you now,” being sent for a stern talk or the like.’

‘That’s how they are. Though, I did say that this was “urgent business” so I could get away from some pompous son of a farmer asking for money. Sorry for that.’

‘No not at all, thanks for making time for me!’

‘I was making time for myself, think I’ll go back now. Tell Luna I love her next time you see her, if you would.’

Will you not get to see her before then?

Celestia disappeared.

Sombra forgot about what was worrying him so for a moment, as he looked at the flattened grass Celestia’s hooves had made. He rushed straight back to the library as soon as he did, back to read that book out of more than morbid curioscity.

“When she did, she became so distraught that she scarred herself to the point that the cutiemark was unrecognisable. She went on to live a relatively normal life.”

While rather informative, the end of the passage didn’t explicitly tell him what he wanted to know. Did the talent she thought was her cutiemark effectively become her cutiemark?

Sombra was about to put down the book, to look for another, when he noticed the name of the author: Dr. Tailor.

What a joke.

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