Chapter Eight: In Which I Finally Snap
Chapter Eight:
In Which I Finally Snap
My entry into the Crystal Empire was not very flashy, I was simply there. My eyes hardened at what I saw. Twilight and her friends were bound in chains, along with Princess Cadence, Flurry Heart, Shining Armor, and Princesses Celestia and Luna. Their horns were all covered with a thick layer of black crystal. Thorax’s horn was also magic-proofed, and was inside of a transparent box you couldn’t have fit anything through, it was completely Changeling-proof. No matter what shape he took, he wasn’t getting out. They all looked terrified. I heard dark laughter, and the King of Shadows surfed over to me on a wall of black crystal. All of my fur stood on end, and I started to growl. I dropped down into my feral stance, I was seriously pissed off, and looked it.
“Evening.” I said conversationally. King Sombra and I began to circle each-other, although neither of us moved any closer to the other. I decided to keep the conversation moving. “You know, I’m still fairly new to being a Draconequus. I’ve been learning a lot about myself and my new species. Did you know Draconequi are monogamous? When we fall in love with mortals, we stay faithful to them, even after they’ve died. Sometimes, our love goes past even death. It can take us centuries to begin to love again, death doesn’t lessen our original love at all, even if we form another relationship. You’d like the Spirit of Death actually, he’s pretty nice, and you two have similar taste in color schemes.”
Sombra bared his teeth. “Is there some point to your blathering on?”
I nodded. “Yes, I’m getting to that. It’s been scientifically proven on several worlds, that when you threaten some species’ mates, it’s generally not a good idea. It can, in fact, be lethal. Most species have incredibly strong protective instincts where mates or children are concerned.” I pointed at his prisoners. “You have foal-napped the Princess of Friendship and her friends, who are likely the greatest threat to you. You have also foal-napped the rest of the ruling class of Equestria. Among those individuals is the best Changeling I have ever met. One that I could see myself growing old with. One that I’ve come to admit to myself I love completely and irreversibly. You not only foal-napped the Princesses, you not only foal-napped my friends, you foal-napped my mate.” My lips drew back in a snarl, and my eyes glowed threateningly. “You’re going to pay for that.”
Sombra did not take well to being threatened. He charged towards me, his horn lowered and glowing. When he arrived at where I was, I was gone. He looked all around him, but I couldn’t be found. “WHERE ARE YOU?!!!” He bellowed.
*******
The Crystal Empire.
1,022 Years Ago.
I ran towards the edge of the Empire on all fours, it was a slightly faster means of locomotion. I thought to myself, If I can still be killed, and I survive fighting with Sombra when I get back, I am so dead for this. If I actually am now immortal, the Draconequine Council will still find a creative way to kill me for this. Either way, I lose. Might as well die trying.
I then skidded to a halt, as the rational part of my mind started yelling at me. Thankfully, I wasn’t arguing with myself out loud this time.
-You can’t just kill him! You’re not a killer, I don’t care how angry you are.
-If I don’t kill him, my friends, the Princesses, and Thorax will all die, and Equestria will be thrown into eternal shadow. What do you want me to do, bake him cookies?
-Need I remind you what happens whenever anyone meddles with a timeline? Did you miss what happened when Starlight Glimmer tried that? Do you want Equestria to be blown up, or who-knows what?
-Touché. I can’t just do nothing, and fangs and claws aside, I’m useless in a fight. Do you have a spell up your mental sleeve I know nothing about?
-Well, we’re here now, I suppose we could use this somehow. You know, meddling in time is forbidden, and a Really Stupid Idea, but no Draconequus ever forbade pure observation.
-You want me to just watch? What good will that do?
-You tell me, we’re two sides of the same person.
I sighed. “Fine.” I spat. I then thought, I have got to stop taking to myself! I faded out of perception, only another Draconequus would have been able to tell I was there. I entered the Crystal Empire, and began to search for Sombra. To my surprise, I found him. I’d forgotten how far back I’d come, he was just a foal.
He was a light grey, with a long black mane, and bright green eyes. His flank was cutie mark-less, I suppose he hadn’t figured out he was good at enslaving ponies yet. He didn’t have a long, sharp red horn, it was just a short grey spiral. He looked younger than some of the foals and fillies back in Ponyville. He was just sitting by himself, kicking some dirt aimlessly with his hooves. Nopony even seemed to notice him. I fought down the urge to hurt him, and was surprised to find that part of me wanted to give him a hug, he looked so lonely. Knowing what either could do to the timeline, I just watched.
I sped up my perception of time, I didn’t want to leave things hanging for almost thirty years. Watching Sombra grow up was a very surprising turn of events. He’d been adopted by the royal family, he was an outsider of the Empire, and they were childless, so it worked out well. He was being groomed to be the next King of the Crystal Empire, and it weighed heavily on his withers. Due to being an outsider, as well as royalty, he had no friends of any kind growing up. The older colts were snobbish at best, cruel at worst. I knew I was spying, and doing it for horrible reasons, but I was amazed to find that he cried himself to sleep most nights. I hadn’t ever seen anyone who was that cut off from other ponies, or from other people in the case of my last life.
As Sombra approached late colt-hood, he was even more cut off from other ponies. The King was in failing health, and Sombra was shut away in the castle almost always, cramming in lessons on ruling. He looked miserable. He had developed an amazing aptitude for nearly all forms of magic, some of the formulas on the blackboards would have made even Twilight’s head hurt. If he had been able to attend Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, he would have been either amazing, or even more unstoppable. Curious, I watched more.
When the King died, Sombra was crowned ruler, and he swore an oath to serve and protect the Empire for all his days. I had to stop my scoff from breaking through the perception filter. He was only twenty-three, and already in charge of a kingdom. I thought I had seen enough, when something caught my eye. Specifically, it was a somepony, not a something.
She was a mare from a noble family, and it seemed mine wasn’t the only eye she caught. Sombra was fascinated with her. She was a unicorn, almost as tall as Sombra, and a deep purple, with light pink and purple hair. Her eyes were a sparkling amethyst. Part of me could have sworn she was Twilight’s great-to-the-umpteenth grandmother, there was so strong a resemblance. Her name was Winter Lilly.
Sombra courted her almost as awkwardly as I had courted Thorax. His foalish side came out, he was a wickedly good practical joker, and being a master of magic only aided him. She loved every stupid trick he played on her. She suggested to him a way to make the Crystal Heart more powerful: by powering it with the Empire’s love, not simply the King’s power. He arranged the spell, the results were impressive. He said to her that the King’s heart and the Crystal Heart were one and the same, and that she had changed his for the better.
I was unsurprised when they were married, it seemed like they were prefect for each other. I felt like I had intruded enough into Sombra’s life, but wanted to see what had made him turn into the Shadow Tyrant he was today. I fast-forwarded even more, and got my answer.
Winter Lilly had fallen ill. Nopony knew what the disease was called, but I recognized it as cancer. In this age, it was invariably fatal. To say that Sombra was devastated would have been the understatement of the decade. He threw himself back into his studies of magic, convinced that there must be a spell to help her. I’m not a betting kind of Spirit, but I would have made a fortune if I’d guessed that Sombra started to use Dark Magic to help her. The problem with Dark Magic is that it gives plenty, but it takes away so much more. Winter Lilly’s health improved, but she was in constant pain. I noticed a spark of darkness in Sombra, it soon grew, and grew.
Winter Lilly eventually asked Sombra to let her go. He refused, saying there must be some way to heal her completely. He delved further and further into Dark Magic, another problem with Dark Magic is that it’s addictive. Soon not only his personality changed, his appearance did as well. He warped into the King Sombra from the time I knew, more shadow than substance. He had stopped caring for the Empire, or his subjects, throwing all his time and energy into his desperation to defy Death.
He soon became cruel, delighting in making other ponies’ lives a misery. The only pony he didn’t constantly torment was Winter Lilly. In some sort of sick joke, a part of him still loved her. The rest of him wasn’t capable of love anymore. I think he genuinely forgot what had made him study Dark Magic so intently in the first place. He continued to experiment with it more and more, and the more he practiced, the better he got at it, and the more of a monster he became. I think he was the greatest dark mage in the history of Equestria.
He heard tell of a legendary crystal, one with the power to heal any illness completely. When he heard of it, he went to visit his wife. He was still prolonging her death, instead of giving her life. He simply stared at her sleeping form for an hour with a puzzled expression, as if trying to remember who or what she was. “I’ll fix you. … I promise.” With that, he walked out of the room, and began to fulfil his destiny.
His tyranny over his empire was complete, and he quickly bound his subjects in chains, forcing them to dig for this long-lost crystal day and night. I knew how the story went from here. Celestia and Luna came to the Empire, to deal justice. One royal ass-kicking later, Sombra was sealed in the ice, and the Crystal Empire was lost. When I heard his scream, I shuddered. What I didn’t know was that Winter Lilly had died the night before Sombra’s defeat, and he hadn’t noticed, he was so focused on helping her. The Princesses flew off, heartbroken at the loss of the Empire.
I knew that one thousand years later, the Empire would return, Sombra would be freed, and Twilight and her friends would defeat him once again, helping Twilight on her path to becoming a Princess. I also knew that Sombra would return once again, and I would come back here to do what I was doing now. Temporal loops and self-causing events always gave me a headache.
When I was certain that nopony was there to see, and I was out of the Princesses’ earshot, I faded back into view. The voice in my head came back. Well?
Enough, I spat back.
You feel sorry for him, don’t you? You know you can’t lie to me.
“ENOUGH!” I screamed out loud. “I’ve seen enough! Don’t you tell me what I should or shouldn’t do about this! Yes, I feel sorry for him! There, I’ve admitted it! Happy? I also want to paint the snow red with his innards. Any suggestions about how to resolve that, oh wise one?”
Well … … maybe one …
Winter Lilly lay in her bed, trying to sleep. She knew that even with her husband’s “help” she wouldn’t last much longer. She knew with a kind of sadness that this was her last night. There was a light knock at her door. “Come in,” she wheezed, coughing so hard a bit of blood came out.
I walked into the room. She looked at me with shock. “Discord?! You look so different than the legends describe.”
I shook my head. “Not Discord. Secundus. Different kettle of fish. I’m here to talk about your husband.”
“What about him? I, I – I don’t know who he is anymore. I don’t know what happened to him, and there’s nothing I can do to help him. He doesn’t listen to anypony but himself. Can you help him?”
I shook my head. “I’m not here to help him. I’m here for a very different reason, I’m here to stop him. I actually don’t exist yet, I’m from about a thousand years from now. I’m going to be flayed alive for this. King Sombra – he has my friends. He has the Princesses. He has … somepony very important to me. Somepony I love. He’s going to hurt all of them, badly. Talking to you tonight won’t affect the timeline, so that’s one less charge against me. I’m here to ask a favor.”
She laughed, humorlessly, and with a bit of spite. “You can’t stop him, he’s not a pony anymore. He’s just something that used to be a good pony, and the pony I loved. He barely knows I even exist, he’s so far gone. How can I possibly help you?”
“I had an idea, I think it will make a difference.”
Winter Lilly sat up, and gazed at me with fire in her eyes. “Promise me you won’t hurt him!”
“I-”
“Promise me!” she said with more force than I’d ever heard a pony use.
I growled in annoyance, and snapped my fingers. I didn’t have to snap my fingers, but time stopped. I glared at the Queen. “‘Don’t hurt him?’ ‘Don’t hurt him?!’ She’s lucky I didn’t tear him apart with my teeth! Why did I even come here? I should have just ended it then and there! I can’t – I …”
I punched a hole in the wall. Since it was made of crystal, I had to rub the life back into my paw. I then fixed the hole. I looked at the ceiling, and snarled. “WHAT SHOULD I DO?!!” I screamed at the gods. I didn’t get an answer, but I wasn’t expecting one. I was ready to go back to the present and finish him, when an image popped into my head, very much against my choice. It was a young grey foal, kicking at the dirt because nopony would play with him. “DON’T!” I shouted at my mind and all its occupants.
I caught sight of myself in the mirror, and stared at my reflection like I hadn’t seen it before. I looked at the way the colors on my face split, and somehow matched at the same time. I touched the glass with my fingers, and remembered something I’d heard a long time ago in another life. Darkness in light. Light in darkness. I then remembered some recent advice. And second chances should be passed along. I sighed, and thought about it. I then nodded.
I reentered normal time. I looked at the Queen, and spat, “Fine. I’ll do it.” I took a claw, and scrapped it down my chest, over my left heart, poking through the skin. Instead of blue blood trickling down, light shone through the cut. Out of habit, I put my right paw up, and said, “I promise that I will not kill King Sombra. I also promise that I will not directly harm him unless he is harming another at the time. I additionally promise that, to the best of my ability, I will help him to come back to himself, though I don’t know if I can.”
Queen Lilly stared at the glowing cut over my heart. “What is that?”
“You’ve heard of crossing your heart?” She nodded. “Well, this is … crossing my … aether. Soul, if you want. That’s a better word for it. It means that I cannot break that promise. It doesn’t mean I die if I break it, it means I actually am incapable of breaking that promise. If I try to physically break it, I will not be able to. If I try to magically break it, my magic will not work. It’s done now, I can’t take it back, however much I may want to. You have no idea what a risk it is to make a promise like that, but that specific promise makes it worse.”
Winter’s eyes glistened. “Thank you,” she breathed. “I know it’s hard to understand, but, even after everything, I love him. I have to, or I have no hope.”
I nodded slowly. “In a way, I can understand that. I’ve jeopardized time and space to get here, so … could I ask a small favor in return for that promise?”
Winter smiled. “What exactly did you have in mind?”
Sombra did not take well to being threatened. He charged towards me, his horn lowered and glowing. When he arrived at where I was, I was gone. He looked all around him, but I couldn’t be found. “WHERE ARE YOU?!!!” He bellowed.
“Here.” I said from behind him.
He whirled around, and began to charge at me again. I held up a scroll. “Telegram for King Sombra.” I said in a deadly serious tone.
Sombra ignored that, and prepared to end me, when a smell hit his nose. He stopped dead in his tracks, and actually skidded forward a few feet on the ice. “No…” he said quietly. “That’s … that’s impossible…”
I held out the scroll, at his chest height. “She said her perfume might snap you out of it for a second. I don’t know what she said, so read it. I can wait to finish fighting.”
Sombra tore the letter out of my grip, and quickly read it. He then screwed it up, and set fire to it. “That’s just a trick, you foul, evil, …” He charged up his horn so much that red lightning shot out of it, and shadows started to flow towards me. Lightning crashed down around me, I knew this was going to seriously hurt, even to me.
I bent down, and tapped Sombra on the forehead. “Go. To. SLEEP.” I said in a tone of voice that was impossible to refuse. It was a trick I’d learned from Encore, and I’d sworn I’d never use it. Sombra’s eyes slowly shut, and he flopped down onto the ground. The almighty amount of pain he had been preparing to gift me gradually dissipated.
I sank to my knees, and then flopped onto my side. I hadn’t done all that much, and I may have been made of magic, but time travel that far back, overriding Sombra’s will even that much, and my emotions all caught up with me. For the first time in my new life, I managed to wear myself out.
I lay there for a few minutes, breathing slowly. My hearts were beating rapidly. “Grrrraaaaahhh … arrrraahhh…” I snarled, sounding like a rabid manticore. “STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!” I shouted. I slowly started to feel better. I slowly pushed myself up, then stood up. “I can lightly readjust the gravity of an entire solar system, but I can’t handle that much stress all at once.” I muttered to no one in particular. “I guess it’s a good thing I have an Achille’s heel.”
I looked up, and concentrated. I managed to undo Sombra’s weather modification across Equestria, and get rid of all the dark crystal around the Empire, but I nearly fell over again. I then walked over to everypony, and got rid of the chains, and the magic-blocking crystals. I opened Thorax’s magical box-barrier, and shattered it with my mind. I then suffocated him in a hug.
“I go away for one week, and this happens!” I cried into his neck. “I thought you were dead! If you weren’t dead, then he had you in some ghastly dungeon, doing gods-know-what to you! Do you have any idea what that felt like?!” I then practically throttled Thorax. “I know he blocked all of your magical ability, so you couldn’t use magic or visit my Realm, but the next time you get foal-napped, call me, you idiot! It’s not like I wouldn’t hear you!” I went back to crying.
As I continued to sob, Thorax rubbed my back, saying things like, “It’s ok, it’s ok. I’m fine, honest. You got here just in time, I promise. You’re ok. Breathe.”
Celestia gave everypony else a nervous look. “Why don’t we give them some time?” Everypony nodded, and politely stepped away.
When I was done crying, I blew my nose on a handkerchief, and looked at Thorax. “Sorry. That was totally pathetic. I … I just didn’t know w-what to do. I thought I lost you.”
“You’re upset, you’re allowed to act like it. I’d be more worried if you weren’t.” He gave me an interested look. “When you were getting ready to fight Sombra, you called me your ‘mate.’ What does that mean? Is it what I think?”
“Oh. Uh, it-” I closed my mouth and thought about it. “Uh, in a nutshell, it means I want to spend eternity with you. It’s about the time you propose to someone, but it’s also a lot more than that. It’s … complicated. Draconequui are funny that way. I’d rather discuss it in private.” Thorax nodded, and gave my back another rub for good measure. I hiccupped slightly, and we walked over to everypony.
They were all clustered around Sombra. He was snoring like a jackhammer, and a bit of drool was hanging from his mouth.
“Did you two have a good talk?” asked Celestia.
Thorax chuckled awkwardly. “Heh-heh. Yeah. I found out that Secundus wants to marry me, and-” I jabbed him in the ribs. He shut up.
Celestia looked at Luna, and raised a brow. Luna sighed, and her horn lit up. A few seconds later, she forked over a bag of bits to Celestia. My mouth fell open. “Y-you two had a bet about us?!”
“’Twas only for one hundred bits,” said Luna. “My sister gave you eight months after you first met, I gave you fourteen. She was closer. You surprised us both.”
“I HAVEN’T PROPOSED YET!” I shouted. “I just said I consider him my mate, it doesn’t mean I want his nymphs yet! What is it with you lot and playing royal matchmaker?!”
Instead of an answer, everypony simply gazed at Sombra again.
“So, uh, what do we do with him?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“I say we seal him in the ice! Maybe rock this time!” shouted Spike. My chest hurt a bit.
“Amen to that!” yelled Applejack. “This pony is just pure evil!”
“Ice is simply too good for him!” huffed Rarity. “He should be made to pay for his crimes against Equestria! Celestia knows he would do so much worse to us!” My chest was hurting worse now.
“I know just the spell to make him think he’s surrounded by his worst fear!” said Starlight. Everypony gave her a look. “Eh-heh. I came across it in an old book?” she said nervously. “Actually, I think that’s too good for him.”
“Well I say we have Secundus lock him in some sort of horrible dimension!” shouted Shining Armor. “That way he can’t ever come back!”
“AAUUGH!” I screamed as I clutched at my left heart.
“Are you alright there?” asked Twilight.
I clenched my teeth. “F-fine! I’m fine! Just don’t talk like that anymore, please. Honestly, what is the matter with all of you?! This is entirely out of character for all of you! You lot want to banish or kill him? What did he do that he deserves me locking him in a personal Hell?!”
Rainbow pawed the ground with her hoof. “Uh, you weren’t there, but he tried to enslave all Equestira three times now! Plus, he tried to kill us and the Princesses!”
“He wouldn’t have killed you,” I said through chattering teeth. “Imprison you, put you to work in the mines, yes. Kill, no.”
“How can you possibly defend him?” Rarity asked.
“I-it’s my j-job. My job to play devil’s advocate. Anyways, I’m not the problem. You’re all the heroes of the story, you give other ponies a chance.”I looked at Luna. “Last Nightmare Night, you told me that you’d try to reform me first, even if I was a threat to Equestria. You can’t just pick and choose like this.” I looked back at everypony. “This isn’t you. You can’t just pick and choose who you treat fairly. You’re the nice ones. You don’t just exile ponies, or outright kill them. If that’s what you do now, because of what he did, I’m in the wrong story. I – I’m the one who would k-”
I stopped, and glared at everypony. “Don’t you think you’re all overreacting by a lot?! Give him a chance! Snap out of it! If you don’t, then I don’t want to be here anymore. Y-you didn’t s-see what I saw.” My voices broke slightly.
Everypony looked at each other, and looked ashamed. They calmed down, and realized what they had been saying. “Yer right,” said Applejack. “That’s not who we are. Not even for him.”
“Yeah,” said Rainbow. “I guess we are overreacting. I still say he should be locked away somewhere
“I suppose we could give him a chance, just a small one,” said Twilight.
“Thank you for showing kindness,” said Fluttershy.
Luna and Celestia were silent, but I could tell they were remembering something from a long time ago.
“You seriously want to reform this creep?!” asked Shining. “There’s nothing left to reform! He’s a monster!”
I pointed at Thorax. I opened my mouth. “There is no such thing as a nice Changeling.” I said in Shining Armor’s voice. Shining froze. “If you can learn to trust Thorax, and learn to put up with me, you can at least wait until you’ve calmed down before you start sentencing ponies to their doom.”
“H-how did you know I’d said that?” asked Shining.
I snarled. “I remember everything. So if that one helps to jog your memory, let me know. I’ve got all century.”I stalked off into the snow, shaking from ears to tails.
I heard hoofsteps, and smelled a very familiar scent. “Sec?” said Thorax from behind me, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Well, you feel like-”
“Get out of my head, please!” I turned and ran back towards the crowd.
Shining looked at me. “You’re right. I guess I am too quick to judge, more often than I’d like to be, but you actually expect me to believe he’s redeemable? If so, we’ll all go with it, we trust you, but … this is Sombra.”
“There’s evil in everyone. Even me, even you. Yes, I think he’s redeemable, it just won’t be exactly easy. Just out of curiosity, did this castle come standard with cells?”
Cadence blinked. “Uh, yes, but they don’t exactly get a lot of use…”
“Great. Could you send us both down some breakfast around eight-ish? He likes waffles. When he wakes up he’s going to want something to eat, he’ll want to talk, and he’ll want to kill something, not strictly in that order. I’m keeping an eye on him through that. Have a great night.”
“Are you sure you’re ok?” asked Twilight.
“I’M FINE! WHY WOULDN’T I BE?!” Unnoticed by me, my eyes flashed yellow for a second, my fangs lengthened, and a small avalanche started in the North Mountains.
Twilight noticed a small scar on my chest, right on top of my left heart. “What’s that? Did you get it from-?”
“It’s not important. It’ll heal.” I picked Sombra up, and slung him over my neck like a heavy, lumpy scarf. “If you’ll all excuse me, it’s going to be a really long night.” I disappeared, and reappeared in the one of the old cells, which I locked behind me. I looked down at the still-snoring ex-king. What have I gotten myself into? This is such a mistake, and I’ve made some big ones in my time. How can I help him? I’m going to need a lot of research here… I pulled a book out of my library in my realm, and started to read as quickly as I could.
The next morning Sombra awoke to find himself in a cell, with me in a corner, surrounded by a pile of books and paper. Every book had several bookmarks sticking out of it. “Good morning,” I said, turning a page every three seconds. My paw was shaking slightly. “You overslept a bit, I was expecting you up an hour ago.” I marked my place, and snapped the book shut. “They brought some waffles, I kept them warm, on the off chance you wanted to eat something.”
Sombra sent the plate of waffles flying, and kicked all of my books and papers around. He then started cackling manically. After a minute, he blinked, and tried again, a look of intense concentration on his face.
I folded my arms. “If you’re wondering why I haven’t imploded, or am not writhing in unbearable agony, it’s because I completely took away your ability to use Dark Magic. See, not only can I balance things, I can imbalance them. Sometimes to lethal effect. Oh, I also cut your Harmony magic down to ‘Basic.’ About all you can manage is levitation, since unicorns have a very difficult time functioning without that ability. I’m sure you’ll still be able to cause plenty of harm with just that, if it’s any consolation.”
Sombra bit down on my arm so hard I felt the bone crack. Thankfully, my body had really good painkillers built in.I pried his fangs off of me, and I circled my wrist a few times as the bone quickly reset itself. “YOU, YOU…” he shouted.
“On the planet I grew up on, they were very creative with insults. You get bonus points if it’s one I haven’t heard before.”
“YOU UTTER ABOMINATION OF NATURE!”
“Nope, I’ve been called that one before. Sorry, you don’t win a new toaster on today’s show.” I then picked Sombra up, and pinned him to the wall by his neck, giving him a smile. “Look, you don’t have to like going through this in any way, and I don’t have to like that you’re still in one piece. For reasons I do not remotely understand, I felt sorry for you, and so I decided to speak up on your behalf. I am the only reason you’re not a Sombrasicle right now, so stop attacking me, or I’ll change my mind.”
Sombra grinned wickedly. “I should have killed that over-sized insect when I had the chance.”
I slightly increased the pressure on his neck. “Just because I can’t harm you any more than this doesn’t mean I can’t find very creative ways to make your life more of a Hell than it currently is. Don’t try to get that reaction out of me, you’ll get it.”
I dropped him to the floor, and clenched my fists behind my back. He coughed once or twice. “The only reason I could do that much is you bit me, and I’m very good at the ‘exact words’ thing. So! Do you actually want some breakfast, or do you want to face the music? I’d recommend breakfast first, that way you can put it off a bit, and it’s better to face things like this on a full stomach.”
“I’ll take breakfast,” he muttered. “I haven’t eaten in over a thousand years.”
“Great. What do you want?”
He scoffed. “Don’t tell me you actually care what I want for breakfast? That’s beyond pathetic, and lying to me won’t help.”
“I’d like to do extremely unpleasant things to you, yes. In this moment however, I do care what you’d like to eat, because I refuse to do the ‘crust of bread, glass of water’ thing. The reason I’m trying to be nice is precisely because I don’t want to be nice. So, what can I get you?”
“Waffles. Lightly browned, thickly cut, heavy on the syrup, easy on the butter.”
I gave it to him. He eyed the fork in his light-green aura for a minute, wondering if he could stab me with it. “Just so you know, legally speaking, if you harm anypony else, I can drop a piano on you. In this universe the laws of physics say it wouldn’t kill you, but it would still hurt. Enjoy your meal, call me when you’re done.” I picked up my books, and stalked out through the cell wall.
Fifteen minutes later, he yelled, “ABOMINATION! I’M DONE!”
I stuck my head through the wall. “My name’s Secundus. Only my coltfriend is allowed to give me nicknames. Shall we?” I unlocked the cell door, and walked around to meet him.
He eyed me warily. “Since I am not currently imprisoned in the ice, what will happen to me?”
“That’s not up to me, I’m not a part of this world’s government, I just live here. I did have an idea though…”
He gave me a strange look. “You are … very unusual. How can you wish to kill me and be kind to me at the same time?”
I gave a lopsided grin. “Spirit of Duality. Goes with the territory.”
He didn’t reply to that, but he said, “The newest Princess. The mad, purple, shrill one. Who is she?”
I laughed. “That is Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship.”
Sombra stopped walking. He snickered, then clutched his chest with a leg and started to laugh uproariously. “Friendship is so important they need a Princess for it?”
“Apparently. I think it’s weird too. Feeling any better?”
Sombra smiled warmly at me. “Actually, yes. I think I figured out how to improve my life! It’s all so clear now! The minute I find a large enough axe I can levitate, I’m nailing your head to the wall.” His smile grew, showing off his fangs to terrifying effect.
“I’ll just grow back two, and then you’ll really hate me. Why’d you ask about Twilight?”
Sombra snarled slightly. “She … reminds me of somepony, from … a long time ago. Keep moving abomination, I want to meet my doom with dignity.” I shrugged, and we kept walking.
As we walked down the hall, I commented, “You’re actually a very eloquent speaker. I’m a bit surprised.”
Sombra raised an eyebrow. “What is that supposed to mean? I am a king after all.”
“Well, there was a lot of debate as to … my, what a pretty morning.”
Sombra squinted out the window. “It’s unbearably sunny and cheerful, and you are a horrible liar.”
“Yeah, I know. About the liar part, I mean. Personally, I like sunny days.” Sombra rolled his eyes.
We came to a set of double doors. “So, neither of us is looking forward to this, but, might as well get it over with,” I said. I opened the doors.
“YOU WHAT?!” everypony shouted at me.
I sighed, and slowly repeated myself, making sure to enunciate, and stop my voices clashing. “It is my strong recommendation that Sombra be sent to Ponyville to study friendship under Twilight.”
“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Sombra bellowed. “I’ll kill you all before I – mmph! Mmmm!”
“Secundus, where did that zipper come from?” asked Twilight.
“I haven’t got a clue.”
“You want to send a crazy, evil king to Ponyville. With us. To learn friendship while hoping he doesn’t destroy us,” said Rainbow Dash flatly.
“Secundus, listen to yourself!” said Spike, “He’s, like, a total psychopath!”
I folded my arms, and glared at Spike. “He knows the difference between right and wrong, he just doesn’t care. He’s not a psychopath, he’s a high-functioning sociopath, do your research Spike.”
Sombra grinned through the zipper at that. I sighed, and removed it. He rubbed his jaw.
“Why me?” asked Twilight. “I am the Princess of Friendship, but I don’t think I have it in me to reform him.”
“In the first place, you are the only pony this century who’s on his level magically, so he would relate better to you for that, and you could keep him under control better than anypony else. In the second place, he needs to learn not only about friendship, but how to even remotely relate to somepony besides himself. That falls under your jurisdiction, not mine, or any of the other Princesses’. In the third place, he likes you.”
“I DO NOT!” Sombra yelled. I ignored that.
“I really think that you are the best pony for the job, but I will offer whatever assistance I can. Does anypony else have two bits to add?”
Everypony started shouting at once.
“Ay know yer a bit funny at times, but this is totally crazy! Even for you!” said Applejack.
“How can you guarantee that he won’t attack Equestria again?” asked Shining Armor.
“Are you absolutely certain that this is the best course of action?” asked Celestia in a worried tone.
“Yeah! How do we know he doesn’t have you under some sort of evil mind-control thingy?” said Pinkie Pie.
“I still think this is a mistake,” said Spike.
“I will never go through some pathetic ‘villain reform program,’” snarled Sombra.
As everypony continued to shout, I gripped the table we were seated around so hard a chunk of it broke off, and clattered to the floor. I covered my ears with my paws. “EVERYPONY STOP TALKING AT ONCE!” I shouted. The Palace shook for a second. When I next spoke, my voice was perfectly level. In fact, it sounded like one voice, instead of my usual two, something that hadn’t happened since I was a human. “Fine. Alright then. I have no say in this. I’m not a member of the Equestrian government, I’m not a Princess, I’m not even a pony. I will say this: when everypony at this table first met me, you all were unsure about me, and whether I was some sort of threat. Except Fluttershy, because she’s awesome. My point is that, if you can give me a chance, you can give him one. Since everypony at this table except me has saved Equestria at least once, I’m sure you can sort him out on your own. I’ll leave it up to you all.”I stalked out of the room.
When the ponies of the Crystal Empire saw me, some of them hid behind their doors. It wasn’t because they thought I was a monster, they had all met me before. It was because you could feel the anger rolling off of me in waves. Nopony wanted to mess with a Draconequus that furious.
I walked out into the ever-present blizzard surrounding the Empire, cold helped me think. I hugged my arms against my chest, and tried to calm down and at least attempt to be rational again. I could feel something nibbling at the negative emotions I felt, almost like they were a fine chocolate. I glanced up, and saw an icy ghost pony hovering above me, generating a small blizzard. “GO AWAY!” I screamed. The windigo gave a winy of fear, and bolted. “Jerk, I can’t even feel hate without something feeding on it,” I muttered to the snow.
Somepony walked behind me, I could tell they really didn’t want to talk to me when I was in this mood. “Well, it’s decided,” said Shining Armor in the tone of voice you address a charging chimera with. “We all agreed that your idea is actually the best course of action, but we still don’t know if it will work.”
“Wonderful.” I said with a broad and angry grin. I snapped my fingers, and we were back in the room where everypony was assembled. I glanced at Sombra, and snarled under my breath. Before anypony could say anything, I beat them to the punch. “Can you all handle relocating him? Can you take care of setting this up? You are the ruling class of Equestria, you probably do this over breakfast. I … need some time alone.” I said, glaring at the floor with my fists clenched.
“Uh, sure,” said Twilight, “but we’d really-”
“Great. I’ll drop by the castle in a week to see how things are going.”
“But-”
“I’LL BE BACK IN AWEEK!”
I stood up to walk or teleport out, and Thorax reached up and put a hoof on my shoulder. He looked scared. I couldn’t tell if it was for me, or of me. “Sec,” he said in a panicked tone, “please talk about this!”
I reached out to touch him, but saw my paw was covered in – NO.I brushed his hoof off of me, and quickly got as far away as I could. I didn’t want to be around any living thing, and I didn’t want anyone tracking me to my realm, so not even Princess Luna could hear me screaming from space.
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8723522
Thanks!
8723616
No problem.
8737354
Right now! I actually have the rest of the story written, but since I'm half evil, I've decided to drag it out, and post a chapter a week.
oh
oh
OH
shipping starts *whistle blows* now!
Damn that was deep... Love when the ultimate villain is nothing more than a prey to cruel fate himself... Noone is the way he is without a path/experiance leading to it...
Thorax might never be born without Sombra killing a certain Butterfly...
Seriously... messing in time instead of just messing him up in the present? What logic is that?
To learn about Sombra from foalhood was pretty clever, learning not just what he can do, but how he got there and more importantly, why...