Chapter 3: Whispered Warnings
“I don’t wanna die again! I refuse to die again!”
The way the stallion cried out pitifully for his life was nothing less of an embarrassment, shuddering with fear as another pony tried to calm him. Grogar watched the replay of the past with a scowl, his underlings watching in a mix of emotions, ranging from pity for the fallen king, to disdain at the pony trying to comfort him. It wasn't until the stallion's cries faded to weak whimpers that Grogar lay his hoof over his ball to stifle the image.
"I suppose there are some fates worse than death," He said, returning the sphere back to its orange glow, “I hope this further cements your loyalty, lest you wish to suffer a fate like his?”
“Oh no, I’m fine with sticking around!" Cozy Glow assured, looking to the two larger creatures beside her, "I’m sure Tirek and Chrysalis agree too, right?”
“I am perfectly capable of answering on my own, thank you very much,” Tirek said, shooting an irritated glance to the filly.
“Only a fool would give in to the enemy and beg for mercy,” Chrysalis scoffed.
A bit of a varied response, but one Grogar would take as a yes all around. Showing the group Sombra’s apparent demise had been one thing, but there was a bit more to cement their loyalty, and the former king’s fall into the curse of reformation was a much worse fate in their eyes.
Grogar hadn't planned for things to go the way they had, but he'd accept it. He really hadn’t expected, or even wanted, Sombra to survive and may have had half a mind to warp him back to the lair to finish him off himself. It wouldn’t have been hard, a solid stamp to the neck and Sombra would be gone in a blink. The stallion was proving to be a rather resilient creature, but even a demon in equine skin would die if their puppet was damaged enough. Reasonably thinking however, a vanishing prisoner could draw attention, so for now Sombra would stay among the living. After all, leaving him alive would save the trouble of having to resurrect him again if needed. Though with such a fragile mental state, Grogar had doubts he’d be even the slightest bit useful again.
“So,” Cozy Glow began, drawing out the word to break the silence and Grogar’s train of thought, “If he’s still alive, and with the Princesses, doesn’t that make him our enemy now? Shouldn’t we, I don’t know, get rid of him before he cracks?”
Both her companions were caught off guard by such a statement, each turning to her in surprise, though Chrysalis smiled as if proud. Cozy returned the smile, false innocence shining in her eyes.
Seemed the little filly had been thinking the same ideas as Grogar, how outstandingly morbid. He still dismissed the thought however, stomping a hoof to get his underlings to look back to him as he said, “Absolutely not, we don’t want to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves. Sombra vanishing while he’s in such a state would cause suspicion, if not outright panic.”
“There’s always framing someone else for it,” Cozy said with a shrug, “Not like that’s hard or anything, I’m sure there’s a lot of ponies in Equestria that hate him.”
“You really are a horrible little thing, you know that right?” Tirek asked. Cozy smiled.
“Murder’s not the only way to rid of a problem, we could always throw him somewhere he wouldn’t be found,” Chrysalis said, “A cave, a cocoon, it matters not to me if there’s nothing to feed off of. If he dies, he dies.”
“Isn’t that still murder?” Cozy asked.
“I believe that classifies as mareslaughter. It’s not like he’d die on purpose.”
"Ohh, I didn't know about that!"
Grogar stomped his hoof again, a jolt of magic surging through the creatures in front of him in a wave of energy. They all quieted down and looked back to him, fear etched into their faces. Though the feeling was brief, Grogar could still feel the emotion fuel him, but the strength faded just as quickly.
“We are not killing Sombra!” He yelled. His patience was wearing thin, and if he didn’t shut them up now, he might do more than make them uncomfortable. “I will not risk drawing attention in any way, and I will not repeat myself again. This little assembly of ours is over, and if any of you hesitate to leave, chances are one of you will be the one winding up dead and buried in a bog!”
The room emptied within seconds, and Grogar groaned in annoyance before laying his head on the table and rubbing it with his hooves. Any interaction with those three was an inevitable headache. Those idiots were going to be the death of him, or he was going to be the death of them.
Great, now he was considering murder again.
Rising to all fours, he walked off, his subordinates watching him from the doorway. He didn’t seem to notice them, or paid no mind to the unusual trio. Chances were good he was going out to do something he wouldn’t tell them about anyway, either something as simple as a walk, or the next step to taking over Equestria.
Waiting until Grogar’s hoofsteps faded, Tirek looked down to Cozy Glow and asked, “You weren’t really serious about the whole murder thing, were you?”
“Like you’re one to talk, Mr. Drains-the-Essence-Out-of-Ponies,” she argued, “Besides, does it even really matter what happens to him? He was kind of a jerk. Now he can be a jerk to Starlight instead.”
“An honor that should not belong to him,” Chrysalis huffed.
She glanced to Grogar's crystal ball, replaying Sombra's pathetic pleas in her mind. Starlight Glimmer had been the first thing she noticed when they’d been shown the vision. She'd been trying to comfort Sombra, trying to calm him as a nameless doctor injected him with an unholy amount of anesthetic. Chrysalis almost hoped it was too much and that Sombra would never awaken. Not out of hate for Sombra, she couldn't care less about him, but out of her desire to see Starlight suffer. She was so foolishly latched to the idea she could save a monster.
Chrysalis cocked her head as a thought came to her, a sly grin forming upon her face.
"They're taking residence in Canterlot, correct?" She asked. Her two allies had been bickering with each other, but stopped to confirm her suspicions.
"Yes, but I don't see how that matters," Tirek said. Cozy nodded in confirmation.
"I was just trying to figure out the best time to visit our dear former teammate."
As expected, Sombra's medication had worn off by the time he awoke. Starlight entered his room to see him sitting up in bed, half covered with a blanket with his injured leg elevated slightly. His head was lowered, ears bent back in discomfort, mane messily hanging around his covered face. He hardly acknowledged Starlight as she approached, simply flicking an ear in her direction when she greeted him.
"Not feeling too great now, are you?" She asked. Sombra grunted in response. "Told you. Might not mean much, but if you're interested I've got some stuff to help you feel better."
She set a tray in front of him, a bowl of fruit and oatmeal, and another full of water upon it. Sombra leaned over and sniffed at it all cautiously, identifying each fruit by scent and snorting indignantly at the oatmeal until turning to the water. He went straight to that, using his left foreleg to keep the bowl in place, drinking nearly all of it.
Licking a few droplets from his muzzle, he asked, “Surely the Princesses have kitchen staff capable of actually making a proper meal?”
“Okay first of all, I made this meal for you,” Starlight said, not even trying to hide her irritation, “Second of all, I doubt you touched any of the infested slop the guards gave you, so you probably haven’t eaten in over a week. You don’t need a proper meal, you just need something small and simple to keep yourself from starving to death. Fruit and oatmeal will do the job just fine.”
She also shoved his medication inside a few apple slices, but she wasn't about to tell him that. Something told her trying to convince a millennium old tyrant to take his antibiotics would be an insanely difficult task.
“If an agonizing blast of magic can’t claim me, I very much doubt starvation can,” Sombra huffed in annoyance, but leaned back over to sniff at the fruits again. He licked up an apple slice, look of indignance replaced with a look of disgust as he got one with the medicine in it. He swallowed it quickly, sticking his tongue out as he said, “I think these fruits are rotten. You’re not trying to poison me, are you?”
“Trust me, if I had any intention of hurting you, I would’ve left those maggots to eat you to the bone,” Starlight said.
“I’m not sure if that’s reassuring or not.”
“Take it as you see it.”
Sombra's tail twitched nervously, but he said nothing else as he went back to his breakfast. He continued to sniff around it, eating only the freshest smelling fruit before eventually going to the oatmeal. He couldn't deny the fact that he really was starving, and the oatmeal would be more filling than fruit.
"Curse this fragile, equine body," He muttered before plunging his face into the bowl.
Starlight smiled smugly as Sombra gave in. Sitting herself in the chair nearby, she looked him over. Though a bit more lively, he looked as bad as the night before, coat rough and dirty, mane and tail tangled and matted in places. He hadn’t made any mention to this, likely because he couldn’t actually see how dirty he was, but Starlight knew he had to feel it. Dirt was itchy, and tangled hair was an uncomfortable and annoying hassle. Surely he had to have been at least somewhat bothered by these things.
Waiting until he'd finished eating, something that didn’t take long with how quickly he scarfed down the oatmeal, Starlight took away his tray and asked, “Hey, Sombra? You think you’re feeling well enough for a bath?”
Sombra's ears shot up, but his tone of voice seemed less than thrilled, "Depends, how far is the nearest washroom?”
"Well, we're in Canterlot Castle so pretty close by."
"Then yes," Sombra replied, slowly raising himself to a sitting position and stretching, "I would really like to wash all this filth out of my coat."
He made his way off the bed, flinching back when he put too much weight on his injured leg. Starlight stepped over to help him, but he waved her away with his tail. It only took a moment more before he was mostly on all fours, stretching each leg out to loosen his stiff limbs.
Allowing him his moment of freedom, Starlight turned away to grab something else she'd brought in, a rope. Tying one end loosely around her neck, she did the same with Sombra. He froze when he felt it lay around him.
"What did you just do?" He asked.
"I tied us together," Starlight answered, "Can't exactly have you running around unsupervised, you know? Not to mention the fact you'd never even find the washroom and live to tell the tale in your current state."
"This is completely undignifying!"
"Yeah, maybe for me," Starlight said, securing the rope with her mouth and continuing in somewhat muffled words, "I'mma be the one scrubbin' the dirt out of your nasty hide."
She tugged the rope gently to urge Sombra to follow her, but he stayed put. She tugged again, harder. Sombra didn't budge.
Starlight sighed in frustration, spitting out the rope to say, "Sombra, I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart. If you'd rather wallow in your own filth then be my guest."
"Perhaps next time you should save that 'goodness' for somepony with a heart," He huffed, though he finally started walking.
Starlight snorted back, grabbing the rope and yanking it a little harder than necessary, prompting Sombra to stumble midstep. He let out a sharp yelp as he braced himself on his sprained leg, then muttered something in a language Starlight couldn't identify. She ignored these presumed insults and continued on her way, Sombra trudging along behind her.
To think that the first time she’d ever encountered him had involved him barging into Twilight’s castle, bending her and Spike to his will. She still remembered the nightmare he’d forced upon her, and the struggle he had taken to even control her. Now he wasn’t even half the powerful king he once was, beaten, weak, and lame. She could probably take him down with one kick if she wanted to, but shook the thought away. Even after everything he’s done, no one deserved to be kicked while they were down.
They made it to the washroom in over twice the time it would take normally, and even then Sombra was worn out from the trip. He tried not to show it of course, but Starlight could tell by the subtle droop of his head and his worsened limp that he was ready to rest.
"You doing alright?" She asked. Sombra nodded. "I'll start the water then."
She turned the water on full blast, fiddling with the knobs to figure out which was which before settling on a temperature. She wasn’t sure what Sombra preferred so she set it something reasonably warm, but not too hot. Pulling him over gently, Starlight unwrapped his sprained leg, removed the rope, and tried to help him in. He huffed in protest as she tried, but was too tired to fight, giving in and allowing her to help. A bit of relief washed over him as the water did, and he made himself comfortable, setting his head on the ledge. Hearing Starlight wander off, he sniffed at the air to try and track where she’d gone.
Her hoofsteps were muffled by the falling water, and Sombra wanted to know where she was at all times. He heard her shuffle around a bit, hoofsteps seeming to sound from random places around the room, until she was right next to the tub again. Sombra’s ears perked curiously as she set a few things on the counter nearby, sneezing as something grossly floral in scent assaulted his senses.
“Yeah, that one’s pretty strong,” Starlight said, before holding something else to his nose. Still floral, but much less suffocating. “How about this one?”
Nose twitching, Sombra asked, “What exactly is this?”
“Shampoo, obviously,” Starlight explained, squirting the cold, slimy substance down Sombra’s neck and back. He shivered at the contact, chills going down his spine as the cold soap ran over his warm skin. “I don’t think they have more than these two scents. This one is supposed to smell like ‘morning sunlight’, whatever that means.”
"I think that means I'm going to smell like a princess."
"Well, you've already got flowy princess hair, so it's a step in the right direction," Starlight replied. Sombra snorted.
Setting the shampoo aside, Starlight levitated over a brush and began to scrub the soap into Sombra's coat. The running water had already managed to loosen some of the grime, but a lot of it was still stuck to his hair and skin, and Starlight had to scrub hard to get it out. It didn’t help that his coat was quite thick, something she should’ve expected from a pony native to the northern regions.
She decided to start at his mane and neck, careful not to get soap in his stitches as she worked, gently running the brush through his hair. Sombra was surprisingly calm for her, only quietly growling in discomfort or flicking his tail if Starlight yanked too hard on his mane, or was too rough on his bruised body. Still, she didn’t even want to risk having him lash out, for both their sakes.
“If I’m too rough, just say something alright?” She asked. Sombra grunted in response, readjusting himself to be more comfortable. He seemed content enough, so Starlight went back to work and finished scrubbing the shampoo into his mane and down his neck.
The barrel of his body was a bit more difficult to clean. She knew his chest and ribs were sore after yesterday, and Starlight could feel him tense up under her if she brushed over a particularly tender spot. He made no implication of being too irritated, though he kicked at the tub wall with a snarl when she got to where the guard kicked him.
So, good chance he had a cracked rib there, if not a badly bruised one. Starlight wondered if she should tell the Princesses one of the guards was assaulting prisoners.
She then moved on to his legs, front ones bruised and raw from where his chains had rubbed against them. Starlight was more anxious washing those, worried he may snap at her out of pain again, but she knew if the wounds stayed dirty Sombra would just risk another infection. Gently lifting his sprained leg first, Starlight set the brush aside and removed as much dirt as possible with just her hooves and water before scrubbing in a few drops of soap. Sombra twitched a bit where he lay, but otherwise stayed quiet. Setting the sore limb down, Starlight did the same with his left foreleg, then made her way to his hind legs.
Starting off with scrubbing away a matt of filth on his haunches, Starlight noticed something odd. Either the matt was thicker than she thought, or something very important was missing. Rubbing a hoof over his flank to check for dirt, her suspicions were proven correct.
Sombra's flank was unmistakably blank.
Her first assumption was magic. A grown pony without a cutie mark was practically unheard of. Not impossible, there were maybe a few instances where a pony didn't get their mark until adulthood, but cases such as that were incredibly rare. Sealing his magic away wouldn't hide it either, so the only thing she could think of would be a magic spell.
Perhaps he hid it on his own accord? That was a familiar and unsettling thought.
It wasn’t something she thought too hard on however, for it took her only another moment to think about the fact that she'd been staring at Sombra's flank for an embarrassingly long time. Perhaps it was a good thing he was blinded right now, she couldn't imagine she'd have gotten away with that had he seen.
Curiosity ruined, she got back to work. By this point, Sombra had stopped twitching entirely, breathing steady, ears in a neutral position. Starlight wondered if he’d fallen asleep. She somewhat hoped he did.
The final thing to do was his tail, a nasty mat of filth and hair. Starlight doubted she’d be able to thoroughly detangle it with the bath brush, so she lathered a bit of shampoo in and let it be. She'd get to that later.
Satisfied with her work, Starlight set the brush to the side and stepped back, snickering quietly. Sombra was completely covered in bubbles. As terrifying as he was, it was still funny to see him asleep in the bathtub, his black coat a sudsy mess. It seemed even the fiercest of creatures stopped being scary when covered in bubbles, but alas, the suds had to go, and Sombra had to return to his threatening and grumpy self.
Adjusting the showerhead, Starlight took it off its hanger and began to rinse Sombra off. She was careful to keep the soapy water from slipping beneath his mask, using the brush to slick his mane back so the water ran down his neck instead. She brushed his coat as she worked, gently scrubbing away every bit of dirt until Sombra's coat was spotless. She even managed to get most of the tangles out of his tail.
Shutting the water off, Starlight turned to levitate a few towels over before nudging Sombra’s face with a hoof. He jolted up quickly, ears alert and nose twitching as he searched for whatever had touched him. He’d forgotten entirely about Starlight until she came over and helped him out of the tub, dropping a towel over his wet mane.
“I think you fell asleep,” She said.
“That’s ridiculous. Only a fool would fall asleep near the enemy,” He objected, shaking his head in an attempt to get the towel off. It feel down his back.
“I guess it’s a good thing I’m not your enemy then,” Starlight replied, using her magic to run the towel over Sombra’s mane. He pulled away from it, shaking his body like a wet dog instead, splashing Starlight with a rain of water.
"Right, right, my guardian," He said. Though Starlight couldn't see them, she didn't doubt he rolled his eyes, "Keep in mind I'm a thousand years your senior."
"Sure aren’t acting it," Starlight muttered, wiping herself dry. She must've been louder than intended, because Sombra turned away with a huff and a flick of the tail. She chose to ignore his sulking, rolling her own eyes as she tossed her towel into the nearest basket, and got to work cleaning.
Soap on the shelf, brush covered in pony hair tossed into a basket for cleaning, and Starlight was done within seconds. The only thing left was the wet floor, a hazardous mess thanks to Sombra’s attempt at drying himself. It felt wrong not to dry it, but Starlight knew Celestia had maids for such a job, and it was either that or a pile of extra towels for them to wash.
Opting to leave it be, she turned back to Sombra. Even after shaking, he was dripping wet, and Starlight noticed him shiver a bit. She couldn’t be sure if it was cold or fear, because Sombra’s ears were once again pinned back in obvious distress, and he was lightly pawing the ground. He shouldn’t be in pain, the medicine had to have kicked in by now, so it had to be something else bothering him.
“Sombra?” Starlight said, stepping toward him, “Everything alright?’
“Huh?” He shook his head, ears facing toward Starlight though he didn’t move himself, “Yes, I’m fine. We’re the only two in this room, right?”
A bit of concern in her voice, Starlight assured, “Yes, why?”
“I must hear the guards outside.”
Starlight didn’t hear anything beyond the door, so either Sombra had much keener hearing than her own, or there were some rather unfortunate implications to his initial assumption she had been an auditory hallucination. He said nothing more on the matter however, and Starlight chose to leave it be.
Instead, she grabbed yet another towel and asked, “Alright, but can I dry you off now? You’re soaking wet.”
Sombra seemed wary at the thought of being touched, but gave a hesitant nod. Satisfied with this answer, Starlight laid the towel over his head and began to rub Sombra’s mane dry. His body went stiff at the contact, anxious at someone being so rough on him, but he didn’t try to push her away as she worked. Even when she ran the towel over his bruised sides he did nothing more than flinch slightly at the contact. Finishing with his tail, Starlight tossed the towel to the laundry basket, then covered her mouth to suppress a giggle.
Head tilted, Sombra asked, “What’s so funny?”
“You’re so fluffy!”
“What did you expect? I haven’t exactly bathed in over a millennia,” Sombra snorted. Starlight couldn’t help but take notice of the hint of a smile upon what she could see of his face, but couldn’t tell if it was sarcastic or genuine amusement on his part. “I was probably about due for a good wash.”
He shook himself again, reaching up to try and smooth out his fluffed up mane with a hoof. It flowed around it, shadowy quality back after a week of sickness and filth. Despite this, something about it seemed to bother him, and he began to grow frustrated as it refused to do what he wanted.
“Do you perhaps have a brush to smooth this out?” He asked.
“Well yes, but the bath brush is dirty now. I’d offer my own but I don’t think it’ll work in your hair,” Starlight said, grabbing her rope and setting it over Sombra, “We don’t really have similar hair types.”
“Of course not,” He muttered, growling as the rope was laid around his neck. He tried to bite at it, but Starlight swung it out of his reach.
“I’ll look for a brush when I have the time, alright? First I have some studying to do.”
Leading Sombra out of the washroom, they made their way to his room. Surely enough, a lone guard stood outside, patrolling the halls. She threw a look of disgust at the two of them as they walked by, Starlight moving herself between Sombra and the disgruntled guard as she walked away. He’d already suffered enough beatings for one lifetime, she really didn’t want to take the chance of him taking another kick to the ribs. There didn’t seem to be anyone else out with the guard, but with the way she was acting, Starlight wanted to believe she must’ve said something about Sombra that he had picked up on.
Sombra didn’t seem too bothered by anything, following along at a steady pace, head held high as he listened to his surroundings. Seemed the bath and medicine had perked him up quite a bit, and Starlight could only imagine how awful he must’ve felt before all that. It took them much less time to return to his room than it had to make it to the washroom.
Opening the door and taking Sombra inside, Starlight removed the rope as Sombra stood himself against the edge of his bed. He listened around, sniffing the air before turning in Starlight’s direction and asking, “So now what do we do?”
"I'm going to the library to study," Starlight said, grabbing his breakfast dishes to take them away, "You will be staying here."
"You're leaving me alone?"
There was a certain shrillness to his voice, one that Starlight recognized as panic. She watched as his ears went back into their position of distress, a trait of his she was already growing far too familiar with.
"Only temporarily," Starlight assured, "As soon as I'm done with my studying, I'll come back, okay? I'll even bring a brush to smooth your mane out."
She turned to leave, but a small noise from Sombra stopped her. He still seemed anxious, and Starlight was beginning to wonder if leaving him on his own was really a good idea. Her only other option was to lead him around the castle with her, and that was a terrible idea. Ponies wouldn’t take kindly to him, and he needed to rest and heal.
Nervous about the silence, Sombra whispered, "Starlight?"
"Yes?"
"How many princesses are there?"
Seemed like a bit of an odd question at the moment, but it had a bit of sense to it. Sombra’s knowledge of such was probably a bit outdated. Starlight wasn't sure why it mattered, but thought it alright to answer anyway.
"There's five now. Celestia and Luna are the ones you’ve always known. Twilight you should know as well. Cadance and Flurry Heart are the other two, but I'm sure you’re aware of who they are as well."
"The wretch that stole my throne and her Love Spawn," Sombra said, "I know all too well, but surely there must be another?"
Starlight shook her head, "No, I believe that's all of them. I don’t think Twilight or Celestia would hide a princess from the public."
"Something must've happened."
“Was there another princess back then?” Starlight asked. She was genuinely curious, but Sombra shook his head.
“Not any that mattered,” He said.
Nothing more was said on the topic, as Sombra made his way onto the bed and curled up. He covered his snout with his hooves and his flank with his tail. Starlight didn’t know if he was actually tired, he’d slept most of the daylight away already, but she supposed he didn’t have much else to do. Perhaps she’d come back later and read to him or something, he was going to be bored out of his mind stuck in this quiet room all the time.
Sighing to herself, she left the room, quietly closing the door behind her as she went. She came nearly face to face with the same guard she’d encountered earlier, standing by the door with that same disgusted look upon her face.
“Is he really worth wasting your time over?” She asked.
“He absolutely is. Sombra is just as much of a pony as you or I, he deserves a chance to learn from his mistakes,” Starlight replied, taking on a bit of a defensive pose. The guard gave an almost amused laugh.
“If you think that’s true, you must be a bigger fool than I thought,” She replied, an almost sinister sneer on her face, “That stallion’s a monster, hardly a pony at all. Don’t know why Celestia even bothered keeping him alive in the first place. She should’ve left him to rot in that cell, it’s the least he deserved.”
“I'd much rather waste my time on him than I would conversing with you," Starlight said irritably, turning away. “I don’t need to hear this.”
She trotted away, a much faster pace than she had any intention of going. The guard watched as she left, only turning back toward Sombra’s door after Starlight was gone from view. A thought of finishing the stallion off crossed her mind, but she brushed it away. It wasn’t worth the punishment.
Inside the room, Sombra covered his whole head with a whine as a voice began to whisper around him.
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Really like this story so far. Sombra's one of my favourite villains, and it's good to see another story flesh him out. Starlight's personality thrown into the mix makes this even more interesting as well, and while I have never even considered this ship before, it'd be fun to see it play out.
Actually, strangely enough, the whole concept of this story, with a formerly evil but now turned good pony trying to reform the broken remains of an evil king with the promise that turning good would give him his life back, is pretty much the same that one of my own stories is about. Though in that case the story was about the Storm King being reformed by Luna rather than Sombra being reformed by Starlight.
I get this image of Sombra eventually caring enough about Starlight that he'll defend her from Grogar and the others.
Sombra and Starlight
9790133
Thank you! I felt like they'd be an interesting little duo, and I'm actually surprised there's like nothing involving the both of them? Guess I thought the tyrant who steals cutie marks and the tyrant without a cutie mark would hit it off pretty well.
Gonna have to check your story out when I get the chance too, sounds intriguing.
Starlight, if you already took a shower it is not only how to wash a stallion ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
This story is amazing anyway =.)
Uh, DUUUH!
9914432
Good news! She does technically in the most recent chapter.
Bad news, Celestia really doesn't like Sombra.
Aww they're making little jokes together
Why did I picture him as an old man? I can't breathe now! Oh please, someone freaking help me!
9790133
Same! He had so much potential.
I love that you are taking concepts from the comics and putting it into your story!
10103497
The comics are actually what got me liking Sombra as much as I do! I couldn't not acknowledge them.
Wow, I am three chapters into this and I'm well more than just pleasantly surprised by this writing quality. For some odd reason, when I first discovered your art on DA, I had this weird misperception of you in the back of my mind as more of an artist than a writer, but NO. I like your writing from what I've read of this story up until now just as much as your art, if not more than your art, not just because of the quality, but because I used to not particularly care about Sombra AUs. I was always more into what could actually happen with him in the franchise, thus why I wrote such lengthy fan theories. You have changed my opinion, and for that, I thank you!
10292048
Oh hey, I recognize you from DA! I've seen you around here as well, but the matching usernames never really clicked together. Maybe I just noticed the icons more, I'm guilty of that. But thank you! I think... You're not the first person to assume I only do one thing, and a few people have been surprised to learn I can do both! And though I wouldn't say I'm better at either of them, I've been drawing for much longer than I've been writing.
That being said, glad I could change your opinion! Theories are fun and all, and I've made up my fair share of them myself, but more often than not I end up disappointed because what I came up with, or even other theories that I've read, end up more interesting than what actually happens in canon... Sombra, and Season 9 as a whole, is a very good example
and victimof that. Also the show is over now, so not much to theorize about.Though I also never considered Shadow of a Doubt an AU as much as a fix it fic. I consider AUs anything from actual alternate universes, say the Crystal War timeline, or instances where characters switch places, or even crossovers and such. And I know my fic has a lot of elements changed from the show
Grogar is realbut I was never fond of calling it an AU. Just... Canon Divergent, I'll say.But enough of that ramble, I hope you enjoyed the rest of what I've written, and I hope you stick around for the end!
As long as it may take me to get there.10010317
Yes, it is adorable.