Episode 17: On & Off
The Sun had set over Equestria and the Moon had begun its ascent into the heavens and Night time descended on Equestria. It had been two days since Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor had returned with their latest "Guest" the Ex-King Sombra.
In that time several members of the Castle staff and the Royal had performed several tests to see what remained of the original Unicorn known as Sombra.
Elsewhere in the Castle the two Royal Pony sisters continued to read through document, after document regarding anything relating to Sombra and the creature that had possessed him. Every so often one of them would finish reading, before promptly setting the paper ablaze.
"So what do you think, sister? Is it still in him?" the Solar Princess asked as she scanned over her copies of the latest reports.
Luna shook her head as she lowered her papers onto the Dining Hall table.
"No, it was destroyed when the Crystal Heart was restored."
Celestia let out a sigh of relief at this surprisingly good piece of news "And what of Sombra?"
"The doctors say he should be waking up within the next few days. They've done what they could to repair the mental damage. However, there are many things he won't recover for a very long time."
Celestia smiled "That's great to hear, soon he'll be up and about, and yet you seem sad"
Luna's expression rapidly shifted to a more solemn one.
"Our mistake has cost him everything, his home, his name, his family all things he'll never have again. Everything that happened to the Crystal Empire was our fault, all in the name of "Harmony".
"There was no way we could have known the evil it was capable of." Celestia responded trying to comfort her sister.
"That doesn't change anything" Snapped Luna "Cadance's is an orphan, Sombra spent a thousand years in a personal Hell and it’s our fault."
Before Celestia could respond Luna had vanished in a brilliant flash of purple. Leaving Celestia to sit alone in the now silent Dinning Hall of Canterlot castle. Celestia knew Luna didn't truly blame herself for the events that led to her and their newest guest's corruption. However, the realm of Night and Shadows had been hers and yet she had been nearly powerless against her rogue "child."
With a flare of her horn the Sun Goddess had removed herself from Dinning Hall and now stood before her sister’s door. She prepared herself for the long struggle that would be cheering Luna up. However, when the Sun Goddess opened the door, she found the room completely empty.
Elsewhere in the Castle, their latest arrival began to show his first signs of true life within the past two days. The groggy grey Unicorn slowly pulled himself up from his pillow. His mind began to race as he was faced with all the strange sights. Many things in the room his mind was able to identify as things he had seen long ago. However many objects appeared strange and alien to him.
One thing that caught his attention light in the room. He could faintly recall the light from before, a giant ball that lit everything beneath it. However, this barely lit the room he was in and didn't hurt to look at. Slowly he reached his hoof out towards the "Small" light. Both wonder and terror rushed through his minds as he thought of what might happen when he touched the light. He could recall the light hurting him not long ago and yet he did not know why. But this light seemed much nicer.
With a faint clink his hoof made contact with the solid light and in a flash it was gone. Pure terror filled his mind as he was engulfed in the darkness. With a slight whimper the terrified Unicorn pulled himself back into the center of his bed and covered his ears as he waited for the screams to begin as they always did when the darkness came.
A minute later and nothing had happened. Slowly and extremely cautiously Sombra pulled his hooves away from his ears. Silence, no screaming, no yelling nothing but silence. Sombra wasn't sure what it was waiting for or if it was another of its tricks. But then the sounds started and his fears amplified tenfold.
*Tap*
*Tap*
*Tap*
Sombra did his best to block out the sound but it continued
*Tap*
*Tap*
"Away!" the terrified pony forced out
*Tap*
*Tap*
"Leave lone* He whimpered as he tried to find the source
*Silence*
The grey Unicorn felt a tingle of relief as silence returned. However his fears returned as a hole in the darkness appeared. Revealing the silhouette of his eternal torturer.
*Click* in a single flash the room was flooded with light. Sombra starred in silence at his savoir a large dark blue pony stood in the doorway. She had brought back the light and had sent away the darkness.
"Oh" The Lunar Goddess stated in surprise "I hadn't expected you to be up so soon." she finished as she took a step into the room.
"Who you?" The grey Unicorn cautiously asked as he pulled away.
Hmm Luna silently thought to herself The damage, must have been worse than we thought.
"My name is Luna, do you recognize me? We met.... a long time ago."
Sombra remained silent as he went through his memories. Most of them didn't seem right and some just scared him. However there was nothing about the pony in front of him.
"No.." He answered sadly as he slowly shook his head. "No Luna, only dark... and Cadance."
Luna felt a tingle of joy spike through her at the mention of the pink Alicorn.
"So you know who Cadance is?" she asked hopefully.
Sombra slowly nodded
"Cadance friend, dark afraid of Cadance." he paused as he slowly looked around the room before focusing back on Luna "Where Cadance now?"
"Cadance is currently checking up on a few things for me. She'll be back later this evening to see how you're doing." Luna tingle of joy slowly expanded as she saw the fragments of Sombra's own joy spread across his face.
"Until then though, I'll remain with you, to make sure you're okay." she finished as she took another step forward the grey unicorn, carefully scanning the room.
"You friend?" he nervously asked as he pulled forward "You made dark go away. So you friend too?"
"Yes" the Night Goddess answered as sincerely as possible "In fact, everyone in the Castle is your friend. The thing that hurt you before... The thing in the dark is gone."
"Come back?" Sombra asked as he slightly moved himself towards his new friend.
"No Sombra, Cadance killed it. Nobody will ever have to worr-" Luna was cut-off as a small explosion shook parts of the castle and the floor beneath her. As if some cruel joke by the fates, the explosion managed to knock the lights out.
"Go away" whimpered Sombra as he stared into the blackness
"You're safe Sombra" answered the voice of Luna "The lights will be back on in a few seconds." hopefully she silently added.
After a few more seconds of nearly silent waiting. Luna grew anxious and with a flare of her horn conjured to large flashlights.
"Look at that!" Luna said cheerfully as she shown the light around the room "Portable Sun! Now all we need to do is put a giant one on a stick throw into space and my sister is obsolete."
Sombra poked and prodded the metallic object Luna had placed in front of him. His did not hurt the darkness like hers. Slowly he picked up with his hooves and examined it more closely.
No flame he thought to himself "Where does light come from without fire?" Sombra asked as he turned his gaze back to the Blue Alicorn.
Luna broke away from her failed shadow puppets as the realization set in. I essentially gave a cave-pony a spaceship.
"You've been gone for a while Sombra and in that time Ponies have gotten far more advanced. This is called a "flashlight" it works off small crystals placed in the bottom, which generate a magic current to produce light."
"Crystal?" Sombra asked excitedly "Eat crystals?"
Luna facehoofed "I'd forgotten Crystal Empire Unicorns had to eat crystals to keep up their magic." She starred in stunned silence as she watched the grey unicorn attempt to eat the base of the flashlight. By sheer fluke in his attempt to retrieve his crystal prize he managed to flick the switch the flashlight on.
"woh" Sombra mumbled as moved his head around the room. The beam of light removing the darkness wherever he stopped his gaze. After a few seconds he removed the light from his mouth and carefully searched the side of it. In hopes of finding what controlled it.
"It's the little black piece." Luna said as she pointed to the small piece of mental jutting out of the side.
Sombra slowly rolled the flashlight over till he found the "switch" with a slight movement of his hoof the light went out. He quickly scrambled to undo what he had done, and in a second the light was back on. Sombra again pressed the switch. However, this time he instantly reversed it, causing the light to flicker.
Luna watched her "Cave-pony" in complete silence as he continued to turn the flashlight on and off in complete amazement. However, Sombra quickly learned that all fun things usually end horribly, as he failed to notice the position of the light.
*Click* in a single second Sombra's vision was filled with the blinding light
"Blind! Blind!" shouted the Unicorn as he covered his eyes and rolled about the bed. "No see! No see!"
Luna once again facehoofed as she stared at the poor unicorn rolling about in apparent blind agony.
"Argh!" came his cry as he rolled off the side of the bed.
"We've got a lot of work" Luna groaned as she waited for Sombra's vision to clear up.
Ten Minutes of Groaning and Facehoofing Later.
Sombra happily sat atop the bed at Luna's side as he happily retrieved another small Crystal from the bowl she had gotten him. The power had returned a few minutes previously. The source of the outage being the unconscious body of Discord shoved between the power crystals.
"Okay then, no more flashlights." Said flatly as she forced the two metal lights out of existence "Maybe we can catch ending of Mythbuckers before Cadance gets here."
Sombra silently watched as Luna pulled a large black box that had rested on top a table. Slowly and gently she turned it so the black mirrored side of it was facing them.
"Light?" Sombra asked as he carefully tapped the glass.
The Lunar goddess shook her head as she pull the Remote over from the night-stand.
"Television, it lets Ponies see things that happened in different parts of Equestria or watch stories. Like a theater" she quickly added
Sombra laughed as he looked back at the television "Theater no fit in there, too small."
Luna gave a smug grin a she hit the power button and the Television faded into blurry life. A few seconds of fiddling around with the remote and the the screen shifted to what appeared to be two ponies standing in a large field.
Sombra stared in stunned silence at the two ponies inside the box.
"Welcome back" A pony wearing a cowboy hat said cheerfully as he finished pulling the dummy pony into a chariot.
"Hi" Sombra answered in return
"No" Luna said as she placed a hoof on Sombra's shoulder "They can't hear you, this show happened a few months ago. We're watching the recording of it."
"Recording?" Sombra asked confusedly
"I'll explain that later, maybe there's something else on."
With another click of the remote the channel shifted to a black and white film. Sombra watched in silent amazement as a large lizard battled a giant moth inside a large pony city. The two ponies sat in silence watching the film for several minutes before a large group of Pegasi and Unicorns began to attack the two creatures.
"Dammit" shouted one of the Unicorns wearing a green outfit and a funny helmet "We need reinforcement; we need everyone to hit with everything they've got."
"Okay" Sombra answered happily as a black glow began to cover his horn.
Luna barely had enough time to notice the glow. Let alone realize what the Grey Unicorn was about to do. The layer of energy around Sombra's horn continued to expand in and in a split second release the Television was vaporize along with the better portion of that wall.
"Jobs done" He stated happily, knowing he had helped save the world.
"Wha... Wa... What?" Stuttered the completely speechless Moon Goddess "How did you do that?" she finally got out.
"Do what?" Sombra asked as he grew slightly worried. He wasn't sure if he had done something wrong. The pony had asked for help, so he helped.
"How did you use that kind of magic?" Luna continued to stare at Sombra's horn watching as black sparks slowly dissipated
"Pony ask for help, I help him. Did I do wrong?" He asked worriedly
"No Sombra, you didn't do anything wrong." It was only then that Luna noticed how serious her tone had become "But don't you think it was a little bit of overkill? The Monster was tiny compared to you." She said with a chuckle as she tried to ease the grey unicorn’s nerves.
"What overkill?"
"Overkill, you used a lot more of something than was necessary. Why'd you use so much magic"
Sombra began to fiddle with his hoofs as he did his best to avoid Luna's gaze.
"Well pony said to use everything. But I no want hurt monster. So I use a little bit of magic."
Luna's jaw visibly dropped at Sombra's last sentence. She shifted her gaze back and forth between the smoldering ruins of the front entrance and the surrounding wall.
"You only used a little bit of magic?" She asked still in utter disbelief that with very minimal effort the newly awoken "patient" was able to reduce the wall to nothing.
"You no tell Pony right? Don't want pony be mad at me."
"Don't worry, I won't tell him. Anyways, none of that was real. It was all a play that happened about twenty years ago." Luna finished as she did her best to assure the Unicorn he hadn't done anything wrong.
"But Sombra, I need you to tell me how you used that Magic. What you used wasn't Unicorn magic, so who taught you it?"
"Luna still be friend if tell?" an expression of fear slowly crept onto his face.
"I promise I'll always be your friend" she answered as she patted him on the head.
"Dark make me learn it. It said it would stop hurting if I take gifts and practice. Said if I no take power he just hurt me more till I do."
"Do you know why it wanted you to have those powers?"
"Dark say he only strong as me, so me had to be stronger. Said we need to be strongest so we kill "Sun" and "Moon" when we get out. But I no want to hurt anyone." He added the last sentence almost pleadingly.
"Don't worry Sombra, I believe you and don't worry the dark won't ever hurt you aga-" Luna was cut off as a brilliant flash of light quickly filled the room.
"Boo" Discord flatly stated as he appeared in front of the two Ponies. "Who pray tell felt the need to hit Discord the God of Chao-" Now it was the Draconequus turn to be cut-off as a he found himself in the line of fire of a reasonably terrified Unicorn. The poor Draconequus was hurled out through the now expanded hole in the wall and down the hall.
"Poor idiot never saw it coming." Luna said cheerfully as she squinted trying to find any sign of Discord.
"Is okay!? Not mean to" Sombra stammered as he prepared to rush to the creatures aid.
"Don't worry; you can't hurt him no matter how hard you try." Luna said with a genuine laugh. "In fact, if he's bugging you feel free to hit him with a spell or two."
Sombra slowly pulled himself back into his original position atop the bed and say something. However, once again he was cut off by the approaching sounds of Hoofsteps.
"What did you do now?" Asked a faint voice from somewhere in the dark
"Argh Gah grh" replied what sounded like the creature from before.
"Oh so he is up? That's good to hear!" answered the first voice
"Gah? Grrr ah?!"
"Ask Nightmare to pull it out, I've got a guest to attended to."
After a few more seconds of the approaching hoofsteps Princess Celestia finally made her way out of the shadows into proper view.
"First, good to see you Sombra. Second, why is Discord bleeding out on the chandelier?"
The rest of the evening had continued on without any real problem. Discord had crawled his way towards Nightmare's bedroom in hopes that she might see fit to patch him up. Obviously she didn't as he was later found the next morning unconscious in the Manticore cage.
Celestia, Luna and Sombra had spent the evening trying to get him at least somewhat technologically prepared. They also spent a good amount of time discussing his unusually powerful magic. Several times both Luna and Celestia had found themselves on fire. The power had gone out several times throughout the night and they had discovered Sombra's love for both Glow sticks and flares. Due to the previously mentioned fire, his flare privileges were revoked.
All in all, Sombra's first real night back in Canterlot had gone quite well. He had discovered several things he enjoyed like the green sticks of glow and the red sticks of fire. Though he was sad they took his fire sticks away. It was a strange night to say the least and it was only the first of an infinite amount to come. Each one almost guaranteed to be as crazy as the next.
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Really? You still want to complain about your writing? Ts a good chapter.
So help me, Thorax. If you complain about your writing, so help me!!
...
anyways, good story, given that you had trouble writing one. i'd say it's definitely one of the better ones. A nice intro to Sombra. Will love to see how he accidentally kills the others.
I liked it.
Just great.
And what happened to Nightmare's feeling's for Discord? Isn't Born to Chaos a sequel to this? I want to see Sombra walk in on them as Nightmare is about to surprise kiss Discord.
Discord has his eyes closed and when he opened them, he saw Nightmare blushing, lips still puckered as she stared at Sombra from the corner of her eye.
One question. If they're watching a black and white film how'd thew know that the pony on tv was wearing a green vest
2076303
Fuck...
So close
2075975
It's supposedly an alternate universe.
2076333 yeah I'm a prick arent I.
2076342 Oh... But still. That would be pretty funny. Like a non-canon scene where she got into some poison joke.
2075975
Born to Chaos and Nightmare's is the sequel to this.
I just don't know what I'm doing.
2076441
Bullshit you don't know what you're doing... This is one of the stories on this site that never fails to make me feel good. Even a "sad" chapter like the one before this managed to get a verbal reaction from me. Seriously, don't stop writing or i'll find some way to bitch smack you through the computer until you start back writing again.
but i'll bitch smack you with love, so it's okay.
little spelling/grammar mistake I found, but other than that this was pretty good.
2076441 Ok. But my idea still stands as an option if you hose to do so. The reactions would be priceless.
I think I remember you saying something about how before you'd take one joke and run with it, one idea and just expand on it, and that in the blog you were complaining because you were doing this with Sombra. Well, those ones were the funniest chapters, and this one is one of the best chapters we've gotten in a long time. It makes us like Sombra, appreciate the insanity going on in everyone else, and establishes his character in a way that made me smile.
That is some good shit.
2075975
2076441
They have what is called "slap slap kiss", I think. They try their utmost to hurt one another, precisely because they can't do anything permanent. (Recall that this version of Celestia responds to assassination by basically saying "nice one, didn't expect that. Same time next week?")
Besides, as anyone who's seen a married couple knows, just because you love someone doesn't mean you don't find them exasperating.
>>someguy987
Fucking magic, that's how
2076441 Nah, this is a great continuum!
I still feel that you could use an editor, some of your sentences are a little clunky. I can help with that if you want.
But you don't have to.
This is Australia...
I enjoyed this part:
Bringing back nightmares obsession with manticores = win
2081678
2085285
I had forgotten completely about the Manticores until I read a few old chapters.
All I could think of in this chapter:
929chan.us/kusaba/mlp/src/130331383650.png
i want thier to be a comic of this of sombra playing cutly with the lights :D
Sombra is UGUU!
4.bp.blogspot.com/-T83l59iJWj4/UKDS8Agfa6I/AAAAAAABBvk/VDazr7FRiV0/s1600/mini_sombra_by_popcornpuffs-d5kp8qg.png This my head canon for sombra in this story. Menacingly cute to fit in this house of weirdos but he's actually Uguu!
:>
LUL!!!
The poor Foul Discord never saw it coming!
2110989 No. No glowy purple stuffenings. Likewise, his horn is likely a bit straighter and his coat may be lighter.
Arg! Every chapter I read makes me wish I could like it over and over again! Like every chapter! Hmm... They should add that as an option for the author, because there would also be the possibility of some random asshole who went and down voted every chapter, so that it would be up to them to take that chance... Sorry I got off topic.
But really I love this! 
Hm, he likes green glow...