Heart of Darkness

by Revenant Wings

Chapter 2 - An Unwelcome Houseguest

“I hope you don’t mind this little arrangement,” Sombra continued. “When I asked Princess Celestia if there was a tutor that might be at least comparable to Starswirl, she directed me to you.”

Twilight was aware her mouth was wide open and quickly closed it. “Well, I’ve been a student of Princess Celestia herself. I mean, I have a couple of books on things, but… I’m not exactly a ‘teacher’.”

“I’m sure something could be worked out,” Sombra purred. “Perhaps we could see what books you have and the extent of your knowledge and we’ll work from there.”

“You give me too much credit,” Twilight said. “I’m just a librarian here. I still report to Celestia.” I might have to report this to Celestia.

“And, starting today, I am to report to you. I was told you might be a little… difficult, at first, but I’m willing to be patient.”

There was something in the smooth voice of the black unicorn that Twilight did not like. Sure, he was sounding quite pleasant about the issue, but there was a touch of – what was it? –haughtiness, perhaps, that hid under the surface. The only solace Twilight had was the little gold anti-magic ring at the base of his horn. Twilight’s cheeks went from purple red. “You’ll have to give me a day or two—”

“…to come to grips with it?” Sombra said. When Twilight’s eyes widened, he laughed heartily. “Your emotion’s as plain as the look on your face.”

“Well, that’s certainly part of it, but a schedule must be arranged. I should teach you a little basic biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and literature while we’re at it, as your magic still might be taking time to recover.”

“So I was told,” Sombra said. “Now, where am I staying?”

“I have a spare room and bed,” Twilight said, turning around to reenter the library, “but I’m afraid I have to wash the sheets.”

“Do you need any help with that?”

The question took Twilight off guard about as much as the letter explaining his stay had. She turned around to see Sombra not with an eager look but an inquisitive one. “If you don’t mind using your hooves,” she said.

“It’s an inconvenience,” Sombra said with a slight shade of indifference, “but if it helps, fine.”

“Alright. I’ll get my assistant to get a bucket of water. We’ll strip the bed in the meantime. Wait here.”

“I suppose I’ve got no choice, do I? Not with these guards” – he pointed to Iron Shield and the other guard that Twilight assumed to be Stout Blade, sitting on either side with their spears pointed towards him – “around me all the time.”

Twilight looked at Sombra guardedly before ascending the staircase back to her personal library and her bedroom. Spike was still asleep curled up in his basket as she approached and she poked him a few times to get him to turn over.

“Re-shelving day?” Spike asked. “You let me sleep in a little bit.”

“It’s not re-shelving day today. Spike, we have a visitor.”

“Who’s coming around to visit?”

“A guest. I need you to take the bucket and go to the well to get me some water to wash the sheets with.”

“Alright, alright. Do I have to stick around?”

Twilight thought about it. “Do it without one complaint and I’ll let you go over to Rarity’s for the rest of the day.”

Immediately, a large grin appeared on Spike’s face. He got up and started running out of the room, when Twilight remembered that Sombra was still sitting downstairs and was even more afraid of Spike realizing he was there.

“Spike, wait!” Twilight shouted, galloping after him.

It was too late. Spike was already not only at the base of the stairs, but staring at Sombra. The black unicorn had taken a spot close to the edge of the library on a pillow and was sitting down. Spike was looking up at him, and Sombra was looking down at the dragon. For a moment, Sombra and Spike just stared at each other while the guard’s held their spears at the ready.

“You… you are…” Spike mumbled.

Sombra leaned down so that his mouth was just above Spike’s head. He parted his lips in a sort of demented smile, his eyes appearing crimson as he showed Spike two rows of white teeth, including two small fangs on the top.

Twilight thought Spike would faint with how pale he turned. Instead, the dragon gave a yelp and ran off, grabbing the bucket by the door and scurrying down the roads through Ponyville so fast he left a trail of dust in his wake.

Sombra started rolling around on the ground laughing. “Ba ha ha! Such a little dragon afraid of a pony! Did you see the way he turned pale and shivered? I couldn’t even put a dent in his scales and he ran off like he saw a ghost! Ah ha ha!”

Twilight nodded to Iron Shield, who seemed all too eager. “AAGH!” It was a tiny poke. Not enough to draw blood, but with such precision that a definite scratch had appeared on Sombra’s side. The small wound soon turned a bright red.

“I would appreciate it if you left him alone,” Twilight said firmly. “Spike is my friend as well as my assistant, and I won’t tolerate you messing with him.”

“Certainly mean business, don’t you?” Sombra said, inspecting the red mark. “Alright. I’ll give my word not to torment him like that again, lest these two cause even worse damage.”

“Very good.” Even so, Twilight didn’t trust him alone. “Come on, let’s get the sheets off and I’ll get the washing supplies.”

Unable to use his magic, Sombra was forced to use his teeth in stripping the bed, which caused to little pinprick holes to appear in the sheets and blanket put on the bed; Twilight ended up switching out the pillows herself. Twilight carried the sheets down in her magic and they went to the library’s ground floor, where Spike was returning with the bucket of water.

“Thank you, Spike,” Twilight said. “May I speak with you for a minute?”

Spike looked over to Sombra. “O-okay….”

Twilight and Spike went up to the top of the stairs. Once she was sure that they were in private and Sombra had been secured in his position by the two guards, Twilight closed the door and Spike broke out.

“What is he doing here, Twilight? Sombra tried to kill us!”

“Celestia thinks he can be reformed,” Twilight said. “I’m not so sure about it either.”

“But what are you gonna do about it? He can’t stay here.”

“He has to for now, at least. Before you go over to Rarity’s, I want you to write a letter to Celestia saying we’re uncomfortable with the idea of him staying and send it.”

“That’s it? That we’re uncomfortable? Twilight, I don’t know about you, but ‘uncomfortable’ doesn’t even begin to describe it!”

“I have a bright blue tourmaline…”

Spike sighed. “‘Uncomfortable’, it is.” He grabbed a piece of parchment and quill, quickly scribbled off the letter, and handed it to Twilight. Once she had double-checked it and handed it back to him, he quickly flamed the letter and let it fly out the nearby window before accepting the bright blue gemstone from Twilight and running out the door.

Twilight returned to the bottom and grabbed a washboard, some soap, and a clean bucket from a nearby closet. She handed them over to Sombra. “Take the soap in your hooves and carefully kneed the sheets on the washboard after soaking them in the bucket. Rinse and place them in the clean bucket once you’ve hit both sides with the soap.”

Sombra nodded and got to work. Twilight, meanwhile, started taking out stacks of books from the shelves and dusting them before placing the books back in. The two worked in silence for a while, the guards not even making any noise though their focus was kept on Sombra.

“I apologize about Spike,” Twilight said. “He’s a little excitable at times.”

“It’s fine.” The haughty tone was gone from Sombra’s voice. “I had a lot of ponies back at home that would do the same thing. Black is an uncommon coat color, even moreso among the crystal ponies.”

“Were you teased for it?”

“Avoided, mostly. I was going to be a shopkeeper like my father, but I worked with gemstones with mom, in part because cutting gemstones for jewelry kept me out of sight of the others. I particularly liked working with darker crystals and onyx, which is how I got my mark.”

“But you got noticed by Starswirl the Bearded, one of Equestria’s greatest magicians. You must have done something.”

“I tested for it. I went and took a test that was calling all unicorns available in the Crystal Empire. Since among crystal ponies we’re rare, they generally took it to mean high magic talent. Not so. Starswirl’s class was expected to have fifteen; I ended up being the only one.”

Twilight allowed herself a small smile. “I wish I could have trained under Starswirl. You must have been his pride and joy.”

“Not at first. He was somewhat leery of me in the beginning because darker colors were not common among crystal ponies. See, had I been a regular pony born in a little town like this, I’d be fine. But crystal ponies… the brighter the better, in some views.”

“That’s not true. The Crystal Empire is supposed to be the source of love in Equestria and what’s supposed to allow friendship to exist everywhere else.”

“So they all say. They’re not all alicorns though. They’re as mortal as you and I.”

He really must think everything happened only two weeks ago, Twilight thought. He still speaks of Starswirl as though he was recently dead.

“Anyways, Starswirl did eventually come to take pride in me. But it was only because of my quick learning. I was studious, did everything he said, and never stepped out of line, but I got a lingering feeling he hated me. Common knowledge was he was slightly mad, so I never blamed him for it.”

“Did he say he hated you?”

“Never directly. It was always in subtle ways. Like when I was the one who passed his test, he told me ‘Never expected it to be you’. Or, when we were a little ways along in training, he said ‘Sometimes I worry about where you’ll go’.”

“That’s horrible. Why would Starswirl say things like that?”

“I ignored it. So did most everyone, since we all believed it was just part of him being mad. If he really hated me, he wouldn’t have taken me on in the first place.”

“Did you ever tell him about it?”

“Planned to. But then that explosion happened and I got knocked out and I never got the chance to tell him.”

Twilight felt herself almost feeling sorry for Sombra. How much of this does Celestia know, and how much of it is really the truth? Twilight forced herself to harden and simply nodded at Sombra’s statement. “Are you done washing those?”

“Nearly.”

Once that was done, the two ponies went to a clothesline Twilight had set up outside and draped the sheets and blanket over the metal wire to dry in the warm sunlight. Once that was done, Twilight and Sombra went back into the library and Twilight looked through the kitchens.

“You just live in here?” Sombra said, looking around at the kitchen as much as the guard allowed him to. “Fascinating… certainly quite roomy and warm for being inside a tree.”

“It’s an old oak tree,” Twilight said. “Their limbs and trunk can get wide if grown correctly. You probably had mostly pine trees up in the Crystal Empire.”

“Pine. Yew. Yellow on occasion. But no oak.” Sombra placed a hoof against the walls and pushed. “Quite sturdy…”

“If you don’t mind me asking, how come you answered our questions so easily at Canterlot?”

“I have nothing to hide,” Sombra said, putting his hoof down and turning to face Twilight, currently pulling things out of her cupboards and an icebox. “A pony with nothing to hide has nothing to fear.”

Twilight pulled a knife out and began cutting through a head of lettuce. “Guards, can you please leave the room? I’ll call you if I have to.”

Iron Shield and Stout Blade nodded and left. The door to the kitchen closed and, presumably, the guards took their places outside the door, ready to enter if need be. Twilight sighed and watched Sombra for a minute, looking curiously at the door as though wondering why the guards had left him so quickly and easily.

“What do you remember before the explosion?” Twilight asked.

Sombra whirled back around to face her, his dark pink eyes slightly shrunk so that she could see the whites of his eyes. “I remember… I was flipping through a book that Starswirl had given me to study. It was old. Older than even him. I assume it was destroyed. And then… then I remember black crystals.”

The whites of Sombra’s eyes suddenly turned a very bright green and his eyes became crimson. Twilight stopped cutting the lettuce as he continued, his voice deeper. “I remember being angry. Then I remember the shouts of ponies. I remember the sky was dark and stormy, and shards of crystal rained down all around me…”

Twilight cautiously pulled the knife out of the head of lettuce and pointed it towards Sombra.

But before Twilight could do anything, Sombra’s eyes went back to white and his pupils became deep pink again. “Then… it was like someone knocked the wind out of me and I wasn’t angry anymore. I assume that was the explosion. Then I saw this wave coming towards me, but I don’t remember being hit. I must have been knocked out, then.”

Twilight cut through the lettuce with an unusually loud ‘thud’ against the cutting board, enough that she had to wrench it from the groove she made. “Forgive my curiosity,” she said, attempting to remain calm as possible even though her hooves were shaking and she felt like she just wanted to run.

“It’s fine,” Sombra said with an apathetic shrug. “You asked because you were curious. Princesses Celestia and Luna grilled me for hours on everything I knew. I prefer curiosity.”

Twilight nodded. “Another reason you thought you were being treated like a prisoner?”

“Actually, that happened after the whole incident in the cell, when they moved me to a room overlooking Canterlot.”

Twilight finished making lunch and asked the guards if they wanted anything.

“While we thank you for the hospitality,” Iron Shield said, “we’ll decline.”

“It’s not part of our code to force it on you, Miss Twilight,” Stout Blade said.

“No, not at all. We’ll be switching with another pair for an hour so we have a reprieve.”

“Technically we’re supposed to be working in shifts with two more, but they’re not here yet.”

“They should be here sometime this afternoon, though.”

“Ditto for a place to rest this evening. The other two—”

“Garnet Heart and Revenant Wings, I believe.”

“—are supposed to be taking over for the night shift, though we’re the main two.”

“If you insist…,” Twilight said. “Just one more question: does Sombra have any magic?”

“Mild telekinesis,” Stout Blade said. “He can lift small items so long as they’re light. About the size of a pencil at most, maybe a little heavier.”

“What about a fork?”

“I wouldn’t unless you have one made of plastic or polished wood.”

“I can use my hooves,” Sombra said, apparently listening to the conversation. “It’s how I ate in Canterlot. A bit tricky with silverware, but I’d prefer it being tricky to not eating or being uncivilized.”

Twilight gulped. The thought of Sombra with a fork for some reason was not a very good idea to her. “Very well,” she said, and pulled out two forks.

The guards stood patiently by the kitchen while Twilight served up two salads and a warm loaf of pre-sliced sourdough bread, leaving approximately two more servings of salad in a bowl. Sombra ate slowly but near constantly; while Twilight had been intending to save extras for a second meal, Sombra easily ate three servings of the salad and half a loaf on his own.

“You eat like you’re starved,” Twilight commented.

“I went five days without,” he said, still eating his third plate of salad. “Apparently I was hooked up to an IV, which gave me basic nutrition but no pounds. Then I ended up eating sparingly in Canterlot due to rationing and difficulty of ordering. I actually lost weight for a while. I’ll be back to normal tomorrow.”

He did seem healthier to Twilight now than when she saw him awake in Canterlot. “How much education did you go through while you were in the Crystal Empire?”

“I finished the basics,” Sombra said. “Reading, writing, math, history, sciences and such.”

“So I could start you on the advanced things right away?”

“Wouldn’t mind a refresher.”

“I’d do mostly the sciences and math.”

“Good. I hated history. It was boring.”

Another thought struck Twilight, one that was somewhat disconcerting. Almost all history books Twilight had were much more modern. The date in any one of them at minimum might be enough to set him off in confusion. And then there was the fact that if he bothered to read a single one of them, he might find out something about his reign as a tyrant, which at the moment seemed to be in the back of his mind at the time being.

A knock sounded at the door. “I’ll be right back, Sombra. Guards, please make sure Sombra doesn’t leave the kitchen.” The guards saluted the order and Twilight walked out of the kitchen and to the front door of the library.

Spike was present with a scroll in his claws. “I have a message from Celestia,” he said, pointing at the seal. “It came when I was over at Rarity’s.”

Twilight broke through the seal and read it.

Dear Twilight,

While I understand your concerns, I do believe this is the best option. I’ll be sending more guards down to help out, but I don’t want Sombra to feel pressured, nor do I want him to be placed in an environment that will be more detrimental than helpful.

But if he steps out of line, inform me immediately.

Princess Celestia.

P.S.: Tell Spike that, if he sticks it out, I’ll have a branch of a mine set aside for him.

“Well…?” Spike asked.

“We have to keep Sombra with us, though more guards will be on their way to help us.”

“I don’t have a good feeling about this, Twilight. I mean, what if he regains his memories?”

“I want you to write another letter on that fact, Spike. Tell Celestia I’m concerned about the books in the library being modern and that I risk him finding out about what happened.”

Spike retrieved another parchment and the quill. “Do you think it might be enough to send him away?”

“I don’t think Celestia will give in that easily,” Twilight said. “We’re gonna have to put up with him, but it is a legitimate concern.”

“…can I stay at Rarity’s?”

“No! Spike, I still need you as my assistant. I need you around…” Twilight’s voiced hushed. “…in case I have to send an emergency report.”

“Alright, Twilight.” Spike finished the letter and sent it off in another burst of flame. “It’s on its way. Do you need me to do anything?”

“No. You can still have your day off today. Head over to Rarity’s, but please don’t tell her about this yet. And come back before dark!” Twilight called as Spike started running away.

Twilight went back to the kitchen where Sombra was finishing up his plate. A smile crossed his face, but Twilight had trouble figuring out if it was genuine. “Thank you, Miss Twilight, for the excellent meal.”

“Is there anything you want to do?”

“I feel drained. Do you mind if I just take a nap for a little bit?”

“I suppose a little rest wouldn’t hurt. But let’s make sure your sheets are dry.”

They were, so Twilight brought them down from the clothesline and quickly made up Sombra’s bed in his room in addition to casting a spell on the window. Twilight allowed Sombra to take three books with him – he ended up taking two rather large high-fantasy novels and a book on gemstones – and the black unicorn was placed in his room with Iron Shield and Stout Blade on guard.

“I’m going to go to the market and see if they have things for dinner this evening,” Twilight said. “I should be back in an hour.”

Sombra nodded and laid himself down on the bed as they closed the door.

Then Twilight spoke privately to the guards. “Sombra’s not to leave his room until I return,” she said. “I’ve created a small barrier on the window so he can’t open it, but keep an open ear.”

The guards saluted and took up positions, standing stiffly on either side of the door though with an ear on the door at all times. Twilight thanked the guards, grabbed her saddlebags and a small pouch of bits, and left the library.

The sunlight was particularly invigorating, and Twilight found herself rather pleased that she was finally out of the house and not with Sombra. She just felt so uneasy around him, that feeling that he wasn’t as reformed as Celestia believed; there was his remembrance of his defeat by the Elements of Harmony and Cadence’s healing wave, not to mention the fact that he kept his fangs.

But it was strange how they came about. Because besides the knowledge of the event, Sombra didn’t seem to associate it with Twilight or Cadence, but the explosion caused by Starswirl that had to have happened at least two decades after Sombra had become a tyrant. And the remembrance came and went without Sombra even noticing it.

“Hey, Twi!”

Twilight was shocked out of her reverie. Applejack was waving to her from her stand in the market.

“Hey, Applejack!” Twilight called back, trying to push the thoughts of Sombra to the back of her mind as she approached the stand. “I thought Big Macintosh usually was the one monitoring the stand.”

“Granny Smith’s run out of meds,” Applejack said. “He’s helpin’ her with chores around the house until more comes in. Anyway, needin’ to buy anythin’?”

“Yeah… I’m thinking I need eight apples.”

“Alright, what ki— hey, ain’t that double what ya usually get?”

“Oh! Yeah, I got visitors coming in to stay for a while.”

“Oh… what sort of visitors?”

“Someone Celestia wants to show. She directed them to me because I’m her student and had large magic talent.”

Applejack raised her eyebrow. “Interestin’… anyways, what kind do ya want?”

“Oh… let’s get four of the red delicious, two of the red gala, and two of the braeburn.”

“Let’s see… we’re doin’ a sale, so that’ll be eight bits. Thanks for doin’ business, Twi.”

“No problem, Applejack. See you around!”

It was interesting. Despite the lie that Twilight had made, Applejack, the Element of Honesty, hadn’t even commented on it. Then Twilight realized something: Celestia did refer Sombra to Twilight because of her magic ability. It ended up being a white lie instead of a full lie.

But that couldn’t last for long.

Twilight managed to complete her shopping like normal. While a few other ponies noticed that Twilight was buying double her normal, no one really questioned it; who wouldn’t with a few extra bits going their way? Her final stop ended up being Sugarcube Corner, where she decided to get a small cake.

Mrs. Cake said that she would have a small cake ready, but it needed to be frosted and would take a minute or two to cool down and frost. Twilight said it was fine, ordered a buttercream frosting, and sat back to wait. Twilight was waiting when Rainbow Dash came in.

“Hey, egghead,” Rainbow Dash said. “What are you doing here?”

“I was just getting my shopping done,” Twilight said. “Had to restock on a few things and decided to pick up a cake. What about you?”

“I’m getting lunch in the middle of weather duties. Supposed to be a small rainstorm tonight; no thunder, but decent rainfall and we have to get the clouds in order. Hey, I was placing some clouds around the library when I noticed two guards standing around at the door.”

“About how long ago was that?”

“I just passed on my way here and saw them. How come guards are coming to your house?”

“Oh, Princess Celestia was going to show someone to me. Probably wanted to show off my talent.”

“Heh, wish I could say that. I’ve been itching for a chance to show off my Sonic Rainboom, and I perfected the Buccaneer Blaze; I’ll probably be using them to clear out the clouds tomorrow.”

Mrs. Cake came out from the back with the cooled and frosted cake; Twilight paid and said farewell to Rainbow Dash, left Sugarcube Corner and went to meet the two guards at her house.

Indeed, two more stallion guards were standing outside; one normal white with brown mane and blue eyes, but another with a longer blonde mane. It was the blonde one who spoke up as she approached. “Miss Twilight Sparkle, I presume. I’m Garnet Heart and this here’s my partner, Revenant Wings.”

Revenant Wings nodded.

“Forgive him; he’s a little shy,” Garnet Heart said. “We’re the replacements sent by the princesses to cover Iron Shield and Stout Blade.

“Oh, yes. Iron Shield mentioned you. Come on in. Are you the ones taking over tonight?”

“Yeah. We’ll cover for an hour now and from nightfall until you wake up in the morning, at which point Iron and Stout will change back. Shouldn’t have too many problems with scheduling.”

Twilight and the two guards went inside. Twilight dropped the saddlebags in the kitchen before heading upstairs where the two guards were positioned around the door leading into Sombra’s room. Both Iron Shield and Stout Blade were wearing nervous looks on their faces.

“Is something wrong?” Twilight asked.

“Sombra’s been having fits for the past few minutes,” Iron Shield spoke up.

“Is the anti-magic ring still on him?”

“Yes. No errant spells have been fired, but he’s still asleep and seems to be restless.”

“And the noises he’s making are terrible,” Stout Blade added. “He’s been growling in his sleep. Deep, guttural growls.”

Twilight flung open the door to find that Sombra was still lying down and still asleep. He seemed to be twitching every once in a while, jerking his head or his hooves around. Every once in a while he let out an almost feral growl and there were faint trails of purple smoke coming from the edges of his eyes.

Twilight quickly approached Sombra and started shaking him. She shook him and shook him. “Sombra! Wake up!” she shouted.

Sombra stopped jerking around and his eyes shot open. Twilight saw a faint trace of green in his eyes before it changed back to white and the purple trails left him. He got up and looked at Twilight.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking startled by the appearance of Twilight and the four guards and his sudden awakening. “What’s going on?”

“Are you alright?” Twilight asked. “You were having fits.”

“Fits?”

“You were jerking around and growling in your sleep.”

Sombra propped himself up and shook his head around. “I… I don’t know. Must have been a nightmare. I can’t remember any of it, though. It’s strange; nothing like this happened in Canterlot.”

Twilight nodded, but the look of concern on her face did not leave.

“Do you mind if I go back to sleep for a while longer?”

“If you think you can.”

Sombra nodded. He laid himself back down and quickly fell asleep. Twilight walked back out and closed the door. The guards looked at each other and nodded assent.

“We’ll take a few extra hours overtime each,” Garnet Heart said. “As a precaution.”

Twilight sighed. “Thank you.”

* * *

Later that evening, after Sombra had woken up, Twilight created a stew and a new salad. Sombra still ate heartily, but she accounted for that this time and he ate less than before, though it still took him a while due to navigating a soup spoon. After dinner, Sombra was allowed to go into the library. Iron Shield and Stout Blade left, leaving Garnet Heart and Revenant Wings to take over for the night shift; Twilight posted one on either side of the room.

Celestia had responded to Twilight’s next letter. Not with a letter, but with a package sent via speedy delivery and another guard, who left as soon as Twilight picked up the package. Inside were four old books: one on magic, one on chemistry (which seemed to barely change from the ones Twilight had), one on biology (which also hadn’t changed much), and one on sociology. Sombra had liked the gift of the books, and was now reading through the one on magic, facing away from Twilight.

But Twilight was still relatively angry. Celestia had responded to Twilight’s concern about culture shock with yet another way to hide it from Sombra. It had gotten to the point where Twilight was concerned with what would happen when Sombra did find out, and wished that he had been briefed beforehoof.

Twilight eventually decided to vent via a letter.

Dear Princess Celestia:

I thank you for the books. Sombra is enjoying looking through them, and it’s the most interest and enthusiasm he’s shown all day. It will also help me create lessons for him to help return him to a well-educated and well-informed state of mind. I plan to create a mixture of lessons that include biology, chemistry, psychology, sociology, mathematics, and magic.

“What are you doing?” Sombra asked without looking up from his book.

“Does it matter?” Twilight asked in response.

“You seem to have a rather full grip on your quill,” Sombra said lazily. “It sounds like you’re trying to scratch out whatever it is on your desk.”

Twilight lifted the paper. The words could easily be seen in the face of the wood. “I’ve always been told I’m a bit heavy on the quill.”

“I’ve heard it’s more a problem with control than experience,” Sombra said with a rather curious tone. “Emotions cloud the mind and reflect themselves in quill-handling.”

It began to rain outside, the droplets creating a soft pitter patter on the window and an easy shower on the leaves of the giant oak.

“Release the emotions,” Sombra purred, “and the quill will lighten in response to lightened mood.”

“Is that what Starswirl always told you?”

“He always insisted my scratching of the quill was worse than a hoof across a chalkboard,” Sombra spat.

“Do you still?”

“It’s been two weeks since I’ve written anything, at least, so I don’t know.”

Twilight sighed and resumed her letter.

But there have been some problems with Sombra: earlier today, he was having a nap. He suddenly had a case of the fits and purple smoke came from his eyes as though he was using dark magic. He also shows varying levels of awareness regarding what actually happened.

Princess… I don’t know how long we can keep up this ruse. Eventually he’s going to figure it out, find something that will tell him how long he’s actually been out. I have too many books in this library that could reveal the date, and there are those who could accidentally let slip what happened. What am I supposed to do?

Twilight signed the letter and called Spike over. He came down from his position upstairs, taking odd glances at Sombra as he took the letter without question and flamed it, sending it off to Princess Celestia. Almost as soon as he did so, he scampered back up the stairs and disappeared into the upper levels.

“Still afraid of me?” Sombra said.

“It wasn’t exactly a good introduction,” Twilight said, half angrily.

“I meant nothing by it,” Sombra shrugged.

Twilight pulled over the old biology book that Celestia had sent her and started looking through it. It was neatly divided, though there were a few things that she might switch around for her teaching of Sombra. Twilight started to read through the chapters and make note of the order she wished to go through them.

“You didn’t answer me,” Sombra spoke up.

“Didn’t answer what?” Twilight asked.

“I asked you what you were doing.”

“I’m arranging a schedule,” Twilight said. “I’m trying to think what is the best order to go through them; these textbooks have a different order than I’m used to.”

Sombra nodded. “Standard issue Crystal Empire books. A little more wear and tear than what I’d thought, but it’s a relief to have something familiar again.”

Twilight sighed and continued making notes on the biology textbook. She was able to go through the biology and chemistry books by the time the storm had picked up and thought she should go to bed.

“I might be able to start teaching you tomorrow,” Twilight said.

“Good, good,” Sombra said, getting up and stretching. “It’d be a relief as opposed to sitting around and doing nothing.” He yawned, showing his two fangs and causing a shiver to go up and down the guards’ spine.

“We’re not doing magic right away.”

“I figured as much.”

“But we’ll try some basics at the end of the week.”

Sombra turned around to face Twilight. “Does that mean this thing is off permanently?” he asked, pointing to the anti-magic ring at the base of his horn.

“No,” Twilight said. “Just for an hour or two while we go through magic retraining.”

“Oh, pooh. You’re not going to let me have any fun.”

Twilight looked up from her work. Sombra was giving a rather large frown. It took a while of staring at it before Sombra bust out laughing again.

“You should see the look on your face!”

Twilight, aware of the look of frustration and irritation on her face, nodded to the guards. Revenant Wings came over and bonked Sombra on the head with the shaft of his spear. Garnet Heart headed closer to Twilight.

“Do you happen to know where I can get a mild sedative for him?”

“I can get clearance through the guard to get some from the hospital to administer in case of emergency,” Garnet Heart said.

Twilight said. “Get that clearance tomorrow morning.”

Garnet saluted and resumed his position.

After a little while longer, Twilight decided to go to bed. Sombra insisted that he wasn’t tired and wanted to stay awake, so Twilight let him into his room with a lamp and told him to read for fifteen or twenty minutes before falling asleep. Sombra pouted again but this time didn’t antagonize Twilight and went to his room. Garnet Heart and Revenant Wings were allowed a lamp in the hall, as well, and use of the bathroom if necessary before Twilight headed into her own room and blew out the lights except for one above her own bed.

As Twilight approached the bed, she could see Spike already asleep, sprawled out in his basket and snoring softly. Next to him was a sealed letter; he must have been asleep when it arrived. Twilight, smiling warmly at Spike, opened up the letter and read it.

Twilight’s expression changed from warm to anxious if not fearful. It was written in a rather boldface font and made grooves in the paper.

Whatever you do, prevent him from finding out at all cost.

Comments

[SageBrony07]

This is gonna end in a BAD way!!! Man. I hope Twilight can help Sombra. I also wonder how She can lasts until Pinkie wants to hold a party.

[Bloodstone38]

I hope thing end well for Sombra. O! and who out of the mane six do u think would be the best pairing for Sombra?

[Revenant Wings]

5357880
At this point, I don't think the "Romance" tag will be added at all. Even if I did, I'm not sure who would be the best match, though at this point, probably Twilight with how I've characterized Sombra.

[Bloodstone38]

5358678 I'm not saying add a romance tag, I just wanted to know who u thought the best mare out of the mane six would be best paired with Sombra.