Face your fears

by Ravenray

The first meeting

It took Sombra a few moments to fully realise he was looking at the princess of the night, however once he did the flames in his eyes flared up as he let out a menacing growl.

Luna back peddled slightly however she noticed that Sombra did not actually attack, she glanced up at his horn and found that there was indeed no magic coming from it, but why? She had expected this to turn into war as soon as they came into contact, why would he not prepare for an attack? Unless... He couldn't. To test her new theory Luna stepped forward, only for the unicorn King to recoil back slightly, so it was true then! Sombra would never run from battle, especially considering his magical prowess was far superior to the princess of the night, he was like a combination of many ponies, he had an intellect greater than that of Twilight Sparkle and maybe even Starswirl the bearded, power superior to Celestia and a heart darker than that of Chrysiles, he would not hesitate to rip Luna apart unless there was a reason he couldn't "Sombra I am not here to fight you, I'm just-"

Luna was cut off as Sombra stomped a hoof on the ground "just here to end me is that it, you don't need to fight with the power of the elements after all. I know you Luna, your petty lies won't work on me" Sombra warned with a low growl as he bared his fangs, fangs sharper than any other pony, fangs sharp enough to easily tare into any creature, how Sombra got fangs like that is still unknown due to no one really studying the tyrant, however that was besides the point.

Luna shook her head before stepping forward "then look me in the eye and tell me if I'm lying!" She commanded "I'm not here to fight, I am not here to hurt you, instead I'm here to help you, I saw your dreams last night, I saw the fear in your eyes, fear that would never show in your true face even when facing death, so tell me Sombra, what part of that is a lie" Luna explained in a stern tone, she needed to be ready for anything and that meant showing as little emotion as possible, magic or no magic this was still Sombra she was speaking to.

Sombra stepped forward and studied her face, most importantly he studied her eyes, there was no sign of uncertainty, no sign of a silver lining or half truths, no sign of any lies or deceit, it was genuine "..very well" he finally replied, his voice was slightly softer now however there was still a hint of his venomous tone like some sort of mix between a demon and a pony. With that he then turned to trot into his cave without a word.

Luna was slightly hesitant however she followed behind him, it was a slight bit warmer within the cave however if was still freezing, Luna's horn only rust managed to not hit off the ceiling while Sombra had to duck down to trot around freely, he then lay down on his stomach, likely he just wanted to be comfortable, he seemed completely exhausted and if these nightmares were a regular thing then that would explain it. Luna sat down opposite him, her legs nestled under her as she began "thank you, before we start discussing the nightmares I need to ask...how did you return? From what I heard you were blown to pieces, no one could survive that!" Luna asked with a slight bit of amazement in her tone.

Sombra let out a slight chuckle, it seemed that now he would have an opportunity to stroke his massive ego "did I die? Yes, was I blown to pieces? Yes, however while my body was turned to dust, my horn remained" Sombra put extra emphasis on his words by tapping his horn with a hoof "before I engaged in my final battle with you and your sister I used a resurrection spell on myself, meaning if I died the spell would automatically take effect as long as my horn remained and it did so now I'm here...the only problem being the spell was made to return ones life...not bring an entire body and thus I expended far too much magic and in tern I lost it all, leaving me....like this" he scoffed in annoyance "in truth I was planning on leaving soon, all it would take is one patrol from guards and they'd surely find me and I would be finished" he explained.

Luna gulped slightly, she couldn't imagine a spell that could possibly recreate somepony from nothing, the resurrection spell was originally researched by Starswirl the bearded, however he found that it was seemingly impossible, when you die you are finished, but Sombra took it a step beyond...incredible "I see....so about these dreams, how long have they been happening?" Luna asked, tilting her head slightly.

Sombra let out a long sigh "approximately 3 and a half weeks give or take, when I was ruling over the crystal empire I put a spell on myself to prevent me from dreaming, after all dreams are ruled by you and I refuse to be ruled by anyone, so once I returned that spell was no longer in tact and thus the nightmares began, likely stemming from my demise, I tried to ignore them so you would be unable to sense them within the dreamscape, however...that plan did not last forever as I'm sure you are aware" Sombra explained, glancing away from the princess of the night, he did not trust her, he could never trust her, any and all information could go straight back to Celestia or just used to exploit him later, he had to be cautious about this.

Luna's eyes widened "Sombra that is dangerous!! If you don't allow your mind to express its feelings through dreams your fears will only become more powerful and effect you more when you finally dream again! No wonder you haven't slept, have you managed to get any proper sleep since your return?" The far away look in Sombra's eyes gave her all the answers she needed "why would you need to hide your fears Sombra? What did you fear that long ago?.. What are you running from-"

"Nothing!" Sombra barked back almost causing Luna to jump up from her position "I fear nothing and even if I did I most certainly wouldn't tell you!" Sombra let out a low growl before rising to his hooves, his head hitting off the ceiling as he did so, causing him to have to pull his horn out from the rock above them.

After this action Luna glanced up to the ceiling, many similarly shaped holes were also dug into the ceiling, from this Luna took a closer inspection of the room, Sombra's 'bed' simply a bears coat as a blanket and a large rock cut into a sort of U shape as a pillow and judging from the horrible smell coming from the King it was clear he hadn't bathed for weeks, his coat and mane were completely messy, his cape was filthy, his armour looked practically pressed into him but his crown...surprisingly looked as good as it always did, as if Sombra put looking after it over his own well being.
She wanted to ask Sombra to come with him to Canterlot, he needed to get out of these horrible conditions that would easily lead to infection, however there's no way Sombra would agree to that, his actions alone was proof of that, that's when Luna got an idea "wait here" she stated, breaking the silence before standing up and trotting out of the cave before taking to the sky.

Meanwhile Celestia and Discord had finished their dual, Discord coming out as the victor due to shenanigans Celestia was unaware of, she let out a disappointed sigh with a nod "well played Discord" she giggled, struggling to hold back her laughter while Discord did a celebration dance. Luna then tilted her head to the side only to find Luna come in from the balcony, raising an eyebrow out of curiosity Celestia stood up "if you'll excuse me Discord I'll be back in a moment" Celestia explained before trotting off with Discord simply giving her a slight grin and a wave before disappearing with a loud pop.

Celestia trotted up to her sister immediately asking "did you manage to locate Sombra?" She asked, in reality Celestia wished for Sombra to face trial for his crimes.

Luna shook her head "I found him sister but I cannot tell you his location, I wish to gain his trust and the only way I can do that is to not have you evolved" Luna remarked. It was no secret that between Celestia and Luna Sombra hated Celestia the most, though his reasoning was rather unclear it was obvious, that's why she had to do this alone, if she tried bringing Celestia with her there would likely be war.

Celestia let out a sigh "Luna I understand helping ponies with their fears is your duty as princess...however this is Sombra, he's far too dangerous to ever be truste-"

"What about Discord?" Luna cut her off, when it came to Discords reformation the two sisters had a similar conversation, except it was Luna trying to convince Celestia not to try and reform such a dangerous and unpredictable being "if Discord is worthy enough to take part in reformation then so is Sombra, he may be more dangerous but at least he can be reasoned with using logical thinking" Luna spat, feeling quite frustrated "if I choose to try and help someone with their fears that is my decision, you cannot stop me, now if you excuse me I need to help Sombra" With that Luna trotted off, there were some important things that she knew Sombra needed.

Sombra was laying down feeling rather bored when he heard the sound of wings flapping causing his eyes to dart to the entrance of the cave, in came Luna who hate a pillow and a blanket which she placed down in the corner of the 'room' she then opened a box revealing it was filled with food, before she could explain what it was Sombra lunged at it and immediately began eating the food as fast as possible.

Luna was shocked, not necessarily because of how he lunged at her but more so at how desperate Sombra was just to eat, it was crazy however sadly made sense, Sombra was normally about as broad as shining armour, now she could see his ribs clearly, he looked absolutely horrible.

Luna placed a hoof on Sombra's back, feeling parts of his spine "how are you feeling Sombra?" She asked with a kind smile.

The unicorn King gave a slight nod once he finished his food "I must admit I was not expecting all this..therefore I shall allow you to help me with my situation" he replied causing Luna to smile with glee.

Luna hugged Sombra closely "thank you thank you thank you!" She giggled with glee.

Sombra rolled his eyes "ok ok let go before I change my mind" he warned with a slight groan. Luna took the message before letting go of the unicorn King who let out a sigh, it made sense, after all he was still clearly weak.

Luna trotted towards the exit of the cave and turned back to Sombra with a kind smile "I'll return tomorrow with more food, just try and stay here and be safe and we can go further into these nightmares of yours, with that I will leave you, fair well!" With that Luna took off to the sky's and returned to Canterlot, she perhaps now she could find a way to connect with Sombra, become friends with him and help everyone become more safe.... She has to find a way. No matter what.

Comments

[Ravenray]

8856046
Don't worry I'll be continuing the story now! 👍🏻

[Putangina]

MOREEE