Chapter 4: Regarding Sparkly Ponies and Luna
REGARDING SPARKLY PONIES
It’s been truly amazing how many times I can regain my composure and sense of self-worth in my new world, only to have it come toppling back on me. My run in with the “friendly” draconequus should have informed me well enough, but I had always been the headstrong type—more willing to try and try again instead of merely waiting to see what might unfold. Honestly, I should have seen it coming.
Several weeks into my seven A.M. to three P.M. grind, I steadily got accustomed to the monotony of the job. The crowds that came by my desk lessened every day and now the only types that visited me were the ones actually in need of assistance. I gave them directions (sometimes helpful ones, otherwise they’d only come back) and then sent them on their way. I kept it minimal and I dealt with it so I could get back to my latest word puzzle. After Twilight had left that first half-finished one, I visited Canterlot’s massive library in search of answers to more than a dozen unanswered questions. Onto a trolley I loaded each text, then made my guard drag them back to my desk. (It wasn’t me who took away my powers along with most of my strength.) It took two full work days to uncover the correct answers to the game, and when it was finished I left it facing outward on my counter, to let anyone who might be passing by how much intricate knowledge I still held within. The only one who made comment on it was Twilight, as she visited the castle to speak with her mentor. At first she ignored my station completely, but then she caught sight of my finished page.
She lowered her brows. “You… actually finished that?”
I leaned back in my chair and slid the small tower of texts out from view. “Of course I did.”
She held the page closer to her face, searching for something to critique. When she couldn’t, she set it back down. She appeared to be contemplating. “Do you want another one?”
I was nearly salivating from the notion. I said indifferently, “If you happen to have more, I’d take a look at them.”
From her bag she pulled out another book that she set on my desk. It read “1000 Crosswords for the Quizzical”. I couldn’t help but stare at what might lay underneath its thin cover.
Twilight caught me glaring. “You had fun with that last one, didn’t you?” She smiled. She honestly thought she could read me.
I pursed my lips. “It did away with a few dusty minutes, yes.” (Actually, hours and hours.) “But an intellect such as mine has always made short work of such rudimentary, knowledge-based games.”
“See, Sombra?” she said, her face brightening. “Doesn’t it feel good when someone does something nice for another?”
“I…” I chewed on my tongue. I had nearly forgotten the deplorable state I was in.
“I’m sure you’ll be a friend to Equestria in no time,” she told me, before trotting away.
I could only watch and then greedily grab the book that was hoofed to me, flipping to its first page loaded with oodles and oodles of unanswered questions. As I got my patient quill poised to strike, the voice that would take whatever wind remained in my sails made itself known.
“So you really are here?”
I lifted my head, ready to bluntly point the latest simpleton in the direction of the library or the restroom, but came to an abrupt halt by the familiar sight. Staring at me was a Crystal pegasus—light blue with a dark blue mane. Specks of silver dotted his entire body, while his eyes went from my unknowing expression to the nametag and shirt I wore.
“Sombra,” he said, neither a question nor a statement. “King Sombra.”
The sudden appearance of one of my subjects from years passed had always been a notion I had been waiting for. I always thought it would be good to gauge how my Empire was faring under new management. Whatever Crystal pony would visit my little desk, I had expected one of two possible reactions: for them either to flinch at my very gaze and wallow in fear as their thought-dead ruler had somehow been brought back to life, or the exact opposite of that. For heavy reasons I wanted them to curse my very soul and spit in my face. I wanted them to call me every name in the book and—if things really went well—I wanted them to leap over the counter and try and destroy the King that had been meant to die and never return. At least in those regards I would have been reminded of my past life—when I was a villain of worth and the very earth shook when I decided it should. I had wanted to be reminded that what I had done in the past could never be washed away or hidden from sight, and that the only thing Celestia was doing to me was trudging up old horrors that should have been left untouched.
All in all I wanted to feel whole again. King Sombra. Tyrant of the Crystal Empire.
Not K. Sombra the Trainee.
By all accounts I should have known I had only been sent here to fail.
When the Crystal pegasus finished staring me down he took a step back. The sight was welcome, but not his choice of words. “What happened to you?” he asked plainly.
My carefully created hard expression softened at the edges. A deep emptiness entered my gut as the pegasus regarded me with pity… and so much more.
“I was told by my parents what you did to the Empire but could hardly believe it to be true. I had to see you with my own eyes now that you’ve returned, but I can’t believe this is it. Some dark stallion with some extra big horn? My parents must have embellished quite a bit because I can’t imagine you ruling or destroying the lives of anyone, let alone an entire Empire.”
“No,” I said hastily. “I… I did. I was terrible and I was mean and—”
“Maybe the old you,” he cut in. “Because I don’t know what I see now. Not a King or a ruler or a villain or anything. I don’t think you could even pass for a regular pony, either.”
I leaned towards him, nearly pleading. “No. No! This is only a setback. I will return and you will remember what I used to be! I was great and I’m still great!” I don’t know exactly why I said these words to a stranger that didn’t know me at all. Somehow I still felt like I had something to prove.
He shook his head. “No you’re not. You’re nothing now. Actually, you’re less than that. No one fears you and no one would ever respect you enough to call you their friend. I don’t know what else to call you but a disappointment.”
I watched him leave and then dart into the sky once outside. For the longest time I did nothing at all, before I glanced at the new book Twilight had given me. As excited as I had been to uncover the latest bits of scholarly knowledge to fill up its empty pages, a hole had miraculously been punched in my chest.
I didn’t cry then but I did a few days later. And in plain view of one of my greatest adversaries.
REGARDING LUNA
Every few weeks I’m asked to stay at my counter during the overnight shift. Considering the castle is closed to the public during these midnight hours, it is a completely pointless exercise. What I quickly surmised was that it must have been another attempt by Celestia to help bridge the gap between nasty, old villains and everyday worker drones. The guards that stood atop the walls of Canterlot castle during the night seemed near the same as the day time crew (if I forgot to mention the darkened color scheme and bat-like wings). The appearance of Luna during these shifts was another noticeable difference.
“Hey, Bolt!” I half-whispered, half-yelled to my guard. He was slouched over in his chair, snoozing and nearly drooling around the edges of his hoof. If I was tasked with nightshift duties, that meant he needed to come along regardless. Since I didn’t sleep all that much anyways, I could handle the change in routine better than most. It was also welcoming not to be monitored as much as usual. Although there never really was a lot of trouble I could get into, surrounded by locked doors and hundreds of other guards, any one of which could overpower me with a single leg tied behind their backs.
Luna strolled across my counter, a cup of coffee and scroll raring to go. “Good evening, Sombra,” she said, unknowing just how much she could resemble her sister every once in a while. “I can only surmise you are staying away from trouble.”
I ignored her uninteresting query and went ahead with my own. Something I had been ruminating on for awhile. “What is it you do around here, Luna? Honestly?”
She lowered her scroll, already on the defensive. “I raise the moon and tend to the dreams of every creature in Equestria. I also share leadership duties with my sister and other alicorns. I also assist when trouble arises and deal with the affairs of nearby lands.”
I waited a moment, blew a piece of dirt from my hoof. “What else do you do around here?”
“I…” She huffed. “I already told you, Sombra. And if you’re trying to get a rise out of me, you’re wasting your time. I won’t set you free merely from your lame attempts at goading.”
“No, no, no,” I said, uninterested. “I don’t mean to pry; I’m only trying to pass the time is all. I have a lot of that these days, if you hadn’t noticed. I only ask because you mention the words ‘trouble’ and ‘arises’ and that you help when those two words occur.”
“Of course I do,” she blurted. “I’ve been the protector of this realm for thousands of years, dealing with the likes of you and Discord and hundreds more. My actions have saved the lives of millions throughout the ages.”
“Your actions?” I questioned, noticing her expression harden. “Or the actions of Celestia and Cadence and Twilight and those five other multicolored friends of hers?”
“Well, yes,” she stammered out. “For the past few years there have been more of us to protect the land, but I’d hardly consider that a bad thing.”
“Who said anything about it being a ‘bad thing,’ Luna? I didn’t. But you just did.”
She shut her eyes in annoyance. “I haven’t had enough midnight coffee for this conversation, Sombra. Help me a bit and get to the point.”
I leaned forward, propping my head on a hoof. “Don’t you miss the old days, Luna? Not a few weeks ago, but a thousand years ago? Remember when it was just you and your sister versus the adversaries of the world—how the pair of you would vanquish whatever nastiness entered the land? What happened, Luna? You used to be a warrior. Now what are you? A pusher of papers? Some simple diplomat? When was the last time you got your hoofs dirty from the heated encounter of some major villain? Isn’t there just a tiny piece of you that wants it all again? Or are you happy Twilight and her friends are around to save the day countless times over? Have you gotten lazy in the past few hundred years, Princess? It would hurt my soul to hear that my greatest nemesis wasn’t playing the game anymore.”
The coffee cup that had been hovering in the air smashed to the ground. She crossed the distance between us in one great flap of her wings until she was only inches from me. “How dare you insult me in such a way! I have remained the same as I have always been and have aided Twilight and her friends towards victory all for the greater good. I take solace in the fact that good will always triumph over evil, not by who gets to claim they did what and to whom. If I can go to bed knowing that the world is a better place because of my actions—regardless of how large a part I played—I will always sleep soundly and without worry.”
Even in the close proximity of the angry blue alicorn, I couldn’t help but smile. It was so easy getting under her skin, I had nearly forgotten. “But now Celestia is trying to take away whatever villains you have left. Discord’s gone, I’m gone, even recently I read about someone named Tirek that was crushed before he ever got going. If you change every one of your foes into friends, Luna, who will be left to save the world against?”
She said bluntly, “If there were not a single adversary in all of Equestria, I would welcome it openly.”
“Would you now?” I asked slowly. “Would you really?”
She hesitated before answering. “Of course.”
I placed my hoof overtop her own. She could have easily pulled away but didn’t. I said, “What if I could give you one last fight for the ages, Luna? Between you and I or with your sister, too. Remember our great battle together, a thousand years ago? Was that not a tale worth remembering for all times? What is exactly saving Equestria these days, hmm? Rainbows? Friendship? I thought you were above such theatrics.” I pulled her hoof closer to my chest, my eyes unblinking. “Give me back my powers, Luna, and I will give you the greatest villain you could ever want. Give me time to get things in place and you could show the world again just why you sit atop the highest throne of them all. I don’t even need to win, Luna. I can accept defeat as long as it’s worthy of me. All that I ask is once I die is that you leave me dead—stop all this friendship nonsense once and for all. Can you not see how this would only benefit us both? You get to show everyone that Twilight isn’t the only savior they have left while I get to reclaim what was taken from me—become a King again and die with dignity like I had before you took it away from me. That’s all I want, Luna. While I would love to see you and your sister burn in a hundred pieces in a hundred different fires, I can settle with the blankness of a final rest, as long as I can be the King I’ve always known I’ve been.”
Luna listened to every word I said and I could barely tell what—if anything—took hold. Finally her expression softened and she averted her eyes.
“Celestia would never go for such a thing.”
“Then you do it on your own! You blame someone else for my escape!”
She shook her head. “She would never believe such a thing. Only one of the four alicorns can grant you back your powers, and each of us only holds a quarter of that. If you thought I would be the one to set you free, Sombra, you were wrong. I cherish the memories of days past, but I cherish the wonderful world my sister and I have created more. You will not get your final fight from me.”
As the thoughts of what that Crystal pegasus had told me days prior rolled around in my head, I heard the oddest of sounds patter to my desk. Drips of water were rolling down from my cheeks and gathering in a small circle close to my leg. I couldn’t stop them if I tried.
Luna hastily scooped up her hoof and took a step back. “What are you doing?” she asked awkwardly.
“What do you think I’m doing!” I yelled at her. “I’m crying, you selfish alicorn! You’ve taken everything from me and all I want is for it to stop and none of you will let that happen! I didn’t ask for this and I don’t think that it’s right of you to force it on me!”
“How do you think your thousands of Crystal slaves felt?”
“Oh spare me the irony, Luna!” I spat. “I deserve better! I deserve validation for my years of hard villainous work! And now all you’re doing is ruining whatever small thread of credibility I once held to. I ask you, Luna: what am I anymore? I’m not a villain. I’m damn sure not anyone’s friend, even though you’ve all tried. So what does that leave me as? It leaves me as some failed experiment that won’t work right and for some reason won’t die! You alicorns are the real monsters here and you’re all too full of yourselves to understand when one of your plans doesn’t work. You think Discord’s truly reformed? Bah! You’re all fooling yourselves!”
I crumpled to my desk and covered my leaking face with both legs. I shuddered from the outpouring—hours and days and weeks of pent up anguish unloading all at once. Was that what rock bottom felt like? Or do I still have a ways to go?
“Sombra.”
I ignored the alicorn.
“Sombra, look at me.”
“No. Go away. You’ve done enough.” I had regressed to a foal and hadn’t even realized it yet.
“Look at me, please.”
Through blurry eyes I eventually peered up and already something thin and blue was coming towards me. A hard object hit the side of my head and nearly toppled me from my chair. I grabbed at my pained face and viewed the alicorn in shock. “That hurt!”
“Good,” she said. “I don’t ever want to see you crying again. It is perhaps the scariest sight I’ve ever seen—villains aren’t supposed to cry.”
I hurriedly wiped at my messy muzzle. “So you still consider me a villain?”
“I…” she began. “I’m not sure what you are anymore, honestly. But that’s not up for me to decide. Only you can figure out what you want to be, Sombra. You want to continue being some nasty enemy of Equestria forever, then go right ahead. Celestia will more than likely not sway from her original plan and only come down on you harder. I think she sees you as the biggest target of all and believes if you can be swayed, then anyone can. Tough love, I would call it. Or in this case, tough friendship. You may not be a King any more, but you still might find you can be something else in this world. That’s up to you.”
With her horn she gathered the remains of her coffee cup to dump in the trash, then she turned back to me. “If I catch you crying anymore, I’m going to hit you so hard we’ll need to resurrect you again. A King is supposed to be above such things.”
Then she was out the door and up in the air, more than likely already fixing the lazy moon in the sky. I had wanted to come back as a villain and exit this life the way I had lived. I could tell Luna wouldn’t have minded such an adventure yet too many strings came attached with it.
Despite my best efforts the friendship machine would grind on.
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Is this a Twibra story?
Damn it. Alicorns are monsters here. Maybe he could escape to foreign land and become an explorer.
Where the hell is death in all of this. A soul has escaped it's cold bony fingers of death twice. And it does nothing?
Damn, this is actually really sad. I mean yeah he enslaved an empire so whatever punishment he receives he more then had coming, but this isn't a means to make him pay for what he's done. This is literally taking away everything he is and trying to mold him into something else against his will.
If Celestia doesn't think she's tyrant, she's dead wrong
5249376 I wouldn't know...
5251255 Yeah, it's pretty high concept and far fetched, and some characters are definitely OOC. But I like flipping the tables and turning befriending into something inescapable and in Sombra's eyes horrifying. Plus turning him into a sympathetic character is always fun (even though he's done a lot of bad stuff!).
O i just hoped sombra Would use blood Magic,
I think i am Playing far to much Da2
5251716 I can't hear the words "Machine" and "Grind" on a pone site without... *shudders*
In the Rainbow Factory
Where your fears and horrors come true...
In the Rainbow Factory
Not a single soul gets through...
Du du du du du du dun du du du du doodoodoodoo...
5621041 fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/295/3/6/vault_boy_vector_by_warnerator-d318mok.jpg
The Rainbow Factory a fun and exiting place to bring the family.
That last bit reminded me of Hellsing Ultimate where Father Anderson dies and tells Alucard "Demons don't cry" heh
5252322 Blood magic is only used by vamponies, evil kings are more known for dark magic
good, if Luna hadn't hit him, I would of
Oh gawd, my heart flipped in my chest reading that.
I love situation painting both sides as the one in the wrong. Makes me giddy.
(Aw, now I'll never be able to sleep. Oh well, more reading!)
Argh!
This is the chapter I have to stop at. I love the concept, but sombra is playing with the idiot ball too much for when its convenient to dick with him so I can't buy it at all.
The part with the crystal pony shouldn't have been him panicking and tripping over words when that hasn't been a problem for the rest of the story, he should have just snarled back about not much choice when even death isn't an escape anymore. Hell he could have used that as an example!
I'm fine with out of character stuff, just not when they drop OOC in the same chapter.
While everyone's feeling sorry for Sombra, I'm just thinking, "Bolt must be confused"
I'm liking this story with each and every chapter and i'm seriously surprised, that it has so little faves. Even first chapters are no excuse for downvoting, since they were well written, serious wtf here.
All my hate towards Celestia.
If I had a list, like Sombra, It'd look something like this:
1. Celestia
2. Celestia
3. Celestia
4. Celestia
5. Luna
6. Twilight
7. Cadence
8. Celestia
9. Luna
10. Twilight
11. Celestia
12. Celestia
13. Sombra (out of mercy)
My dear Celestia.
You seem to be under the impression that you are right, because you have might. You believe that because you can "friend" a villain, that you are in the right to do so.
And you are wrong because of it.
I look forward to seeing this little project of yours crumple under its flaws.
7172179
Actually it has less to do with the fact that Sombra is a villain and more to do with his character itself.
Sombra, regardless of the title he bears, he is a warrior who lives by th sword. He wants to conquer, fight and destroy evening he sees fit for that is the nature of those who live under the will of a sword.
Celestia, by stripping him of that, is leaving a being who's entire existence spun around violence, domination and power, naked from all those things he attached himself to when he was alive.
Spare me the comparison of a great dragon suddenly turned passive and friendly. All beings can change, and that's what makes us humans so powerfu, our ability to adapt, change and evolve with our surroundings allowed us to climb to the top of the world and all living beings within.
But regardless of how many years, centuries or millenniums have passed, we still have our basic instincts intact. He still hunger for a purpose, a reason to be something, it doesn't matter if that something is good or bad, we just need a purpose, a reason to live life as our ideologies see fit.
But if we strip that away from us, then we brake down. We don't know who we can be or what can we do to reach something because we have lost our identity as a person.
Celestia is doing the same thing to Sombra, she's stripping him from his identity and now he's starting to question himself.
Celestia isn't the bad gal here, she's doing this under the name of the justice she and all equestrians believe in, and because of that (and the fact that she can) she isn't going to give up hope regarding Sombras change of heart. . . it doesn't help that he isn't interested in humouring her.
7172605
HOLY BANANAS WHY THE PHILOSOPHY!
half of me hates it, but half rejoices in man's ability to set himself apart and observe an entire psyche.
He's not allowed to cry, he's not allowed to die... Spare him some mercy, please
5760461 he has literally just cried, and you would still hit him?! No offence, but
To be fair to Luna, hitting him was probably the best thing she could have done. Even thinking about her hugging him or trying to reassure him just makes me think how that would tear him down further. Tough love at its toughest.
Sweet Celestia. Please tell me that Sombra manages to die again in the end because this is heart breaking.
8804702
No
It is truly a sad thing, to see a villain cry, not because they are reformed, but because they are but an empty, useless, she'll of a creature....
That was weird. Sombra cried...does that make him a pony? LOL
Celestia truly is a tyrant and monster. What she's doing to Sombra is just cruel and unusual punishment. I mean for crying out loud at least leave the stallion his dignity.
Oh Damm.
Sombra crying feels like Batman laughing, it's... Ti's fucking weird
Wow. He actually probably did more damage to king Sombra than if someone was to actually torture him and call him 1000 horrible names.
Sombra crying has got to be the most weirdest thing I have seen on this site, seeing Sombra crying is like seeing Twilight becoming an evil Tyrant, it doesn't fit right, that's why most people who does make a story about a Tyrant Twilight, they go with "she's been corrupted by dark magic and now kill everyone who stands in her way" rather than "she just willingly rules over a kingdom with a iron hoof."
This is a weird chapter.