A Sombra Hearthswarming

by anonymous browser

Epilogue

“He's over here!”

The sound was muffled, like it was carrying over a great distance. Sombra always felt oddly detached when he dematerialised for a short time.

Oh no, not again. He thought. I was really hoping that would be the last time.

“Hey, wake up!” the voice was getting more distinct, but Sombra couldn't quite pin who it was.

Slap!

The feeling of scales on his face, leaving a sharp sting. Griselda, then. Sombra managed to open his eyes, but everything in the library was dark, much moreso than before. The gryphoness was more a suggestion of a shape in the shadows than a distinct form.

“Urgh,” Sombra managed to get out an unintelligible groan.

“Oh thank Grover!” Griselda exclaimed. “He's not dead!” She shouted over her shoulder.

Without warning, the library was lit brilliantly and both creatures had to squint at each other while their eyes adjusted. When he could see more clearly Sombra noticed that Griselda was staring at him with wide eyes.

“What the...” she mumbled.

The rapid beat of hooves signalled Luster Dawn's arrival on the scene, the unicorn skidding to a halt next to Griselda. Luster's mane was a mess, like she'd just woken up. Just one glance down though and she shared the same shocked expression as her companion.

“Don't tell me, I look as terrible as I feel?” Sombra groaned, slowly getting up from the undignified heap he'd found himself in.

“We got woken up by a scream. Something happened,” Luster said between pants.

“You uh, you look different,” Griselda offered.

With the disorientation wearing off, Sombra did notice that something felt different. Like an ache he'd carried his entire life had suddenly disappeared.

“I feel different...” he started, trying to put a hoof on exactly what it was. “I don't feel the Heart burning any more! I don't believe it!”

“We're definitely going to have to get you checked out by a doctor now,” Luster said. “You might want to look in the mirror, ponies aren't supposed to have their horns and eyes change like that.”

Luster led Sombra back over to the hearth, where the log had shifted at some point and cracked open, fresh flames starting to lick and curl at the wood. Meanwhile Griselda dashed off to go and find a mirror.

“I don't think it was any of the spells we tried earlier,” Luster said. “They shouldn't have delayed reactions like that.”

“It wasn't,” Sombra said. “I was visited by a glowing spirit that claimed to be the Tree of Harmony, then did this.”

He paused for a moment, “I thought I was going to die again. It felt the same, like every atom of my body being pulled away from each other. But this time I woke up again, instead of finding myself in a completely different time or place.”

“Wow,” breathed Luster, glancing at there the three dolls still sat on the mantel. “I wonder if it was the magic of Hearthswarming?”

Their musing was interrupted by a breathless Griselda coming screeching to a halt, thrusting out a small personal mirror in her claws. Sombra took it in a hoof, bracing himself before looking at his reflection.

A Grey stallion looked back at him, his horn now a normal shape and colour, completely free of the fractures it had been crippled with previously. Sombra's mane was now completely still, the fringes that behaved like writhing shadows gone. But what really surprised the stallion was his eyes. They were a brilliant green, now round and full of life. A sharp contrast to the flat and almost pitiless gaze he used to possess.

“I'm a unicorn,” he breathed. “The darkness, it's gone!”

Griselda chuckled, playfully nudging Luster in the ribs.

“Gotta say, this sure makes Hearthswarming a whole lot more interesting than the Blue Moon festival!”

Luster groaned, “It isn't exactly normal though. Still, looks like we should've focused on celebrating the holiday together instead of poring over books and spells. I'm sorry, Gris.”

“It's all right,” The gryphoness replied, surprising Luster by pulling her in for a hug, where she could only muster a muffled squeak before nuzzling into the feathers. “It all worked out in the end.”

Sombra watched the scene with a smile before hearing a ringing, melodic voice echo in his head.

“You have been made whole, but the path to redemption is not complete. You have taken the first steps, but the road ahead is long. Stay true to yourself and to your friends, and you will find peace.”

“Oh, and Happy Hearthswarming!”

Author's Note:

If you've made it this far, I'd like to extend my heartfelt thanks for reading!

While detailed planning got underway with plenty of time, life threw a few curve balls (it wouldn't be 2020 without it really!) so I ended up having to write most of this over the course of only a couple of days, including Christmas itself. It's very rough around the edges as a result, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.

The original prompt for the fic was "I want a fanfic that has Luster Dawn deal with a recently resurrected and heavily intoxicated King Sombra on Hearth's Warming Eve."

I admit it took me by surprise and it took several days of brainstorming to nail down something I was happy with. A big shout out to FuzzyVeeVee, without whom this whole thing wouldn't have gotten off the ground!

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and a great 2021!

Comments

[Hotel_Chicken]

I loved this story. It was a lot more comedic than I thought it would have been, and there were moments that really surprised me. Having Twilight keep the title of the town's Head Librarian got a chuckle out of me, along with a few interactions between the characters. I never imagined having one of Luster's friends be involved in the story, but I'm happy you went this route. Happy Belayed Hearths Warming!

[Late_Night]

i feel like this needs a sequel

[Venerable Ro]

Indeed, being a good person is a fair bit easier when it doesn't make you feel like you've set yourself on fire.

[Yoshifan30]

Oh wow that was a pretty good story I was sort of worried about that but it looks like it turned out pretty okay so after the light beam hit Sombra luster and Griselda found him on the floor but they saw him that he changed he even told them what really happened but then when she came back with a mirror Sombra dose not have the darkness inside of him he looks like any other regular unicorn now it was really cool to see a Redemption story especially on a holiday this was a pretty good story merry Christmas and happy holiday

[anonymous browser]

10599186
Thanks! I'm really glad you enjoyed it!

Funnily enough there wasn't originally going to be much in the way of Luster's friends in here, but as we sat down and planned it out we realised that there needed to be a third wheel in there to keep it all moving. It was always the aim for a FRIENDSHIP ending, then it was pointed out it would work a lot better if they tried to go down the wrong path and realised that it was friendship all along in the end. But I realised once they're set on that wrong path they'd need someone to pull them back off of it- Luster would just keep slaving away and Sombra certainly wouldn't initiate it, so I needed to introduce another character with a driven motivation to get them to take part in the celebration (if only for pretty selfish reasons).

Now, what I didn't expect was for Griselda to feature as heavily as she did. Originally She was going to leave the library and everything after that take place offscreen, with more interplay between Sombra and Luster while she was gone, playing for more comedic effect. But by this point I was pressed for time and drew a massive blank on how to put it all into words. Then I briefly thought about what Griselda would be doing and the "Sad Catbird in Ponyville" segment basically popped into my head fully formed and I liked the idea, so ran with it.

I figured I'd try for a more lighthearted, comedic tone as a bit of escapism form the state of the world at the moment. Haven't really tried it before and I did brush some pretty dark themes here so I felt the tone was a bit hit and miss.

[Hotel_Chicken]

10599656
Well, I really appreciate the effort you put into this. Trying something new is always challenging, and I was pleasantly surprised by the gift I got. I expected it to be a lot darker, but I lactually liked your interpretation more than the dialogue I offered to you. I read a few of your other fics before I found out you were my Secret Santa, and I liked those stories a lot for their comedy and pacing, and I really liked the direction you took for this story. I hope you were happy with the gift you got as well for Jinglemas!

[superfun]

This was pretty sweet

[23 KM To Nerdiness]

soloquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Motivational-Quotes-Stay-Amazing.jpg

[lambda]

Gee this is really sweet. Hate to see sombra getting transformed but the rest is great.