A Tyrant To A King

by ShuTodoroki

Chapter 15: Between Dark and Dawn

Sombra was rudely shocked from his solitude when he heard the angry honking of swans that sounded like it came from below his castle suite, and one look out of his window clearly showed swans who were trying to barge through the front doors of the castle. If he didn't know any better, he would've thought his eyes were failing him.

"What in the name of Celestia is going on out there?" He muttered to himself more than to anyone else, though one of the lucky royal guards stationed outside his door answered.

"The Royal Swanifying Ceremony. Well, at least that's supposed to be it…"

Sombra didn't respond since he didn't ask for the royal guard to rudely interject, but he had to wonder whether the guard was making a joke or not. A Royal Swanifying Ceremony? He couldn't think of a better way to waste resources than that. Any sort of royal ceremony should honor the current ruler, not insignificant creatures that live in lakes.

Seeing a giant turtle-like creature eat garbage ridden by none other than Pinkie Pie (at least that's who he thought the pink pony was named, if he recalled correctly) a few hours later made him question his sanity, though he figured that it made his usually mundane day somewhat interesting.

He was rudely awakened when the sun rose earlier than usual, which made him initially think that Celestia was the culprit, until he saw the moon and the sun haphazardly darting back and forth in the sky; obviously, someone else was filling in for the princesses' jobs. Perhaps that explains why Twilight and her friends were here yesterday.

“Well, that’s quite peculiar. Though I do like a good change from the norm!”

Sombra whirled his head around to see Discord, looking quite smug since he had been able to scare the former tyrant again. After all, he was quite good at appearing out of nowhere. Sombra rolled his eyes as he didn’t even bother to rush to change into his armor; Discord had seen him like this often enough.

“Have you no manners?” He simply asked with an unamused expression, stepping back from the window to glare at Discord.

“Nope!” Discord replied cheerfully, taking Sombra’s place at the window since he liked watching chaos not of his bidding unfold. “But don’t take it personally, I appear at random to everypony. It’s not like you’ll die of shock, anyway.”

“I can’t die at all. I’m immortal.” Sombra deadpanned, to an amused look from Discord.

“Oh? Me too! I assume it’s because of your dark magic that turned you into a shadow pony?”

“Yes. Shadows don’t have age. I appear the same as I did when I learned about dark magic and decided to utilize it.” Sombra explained, before he decided to switch the subject since there were more pressing things on his mind. “I assume the princesses aren’t back, if someone who is obviously inexperienced is trying to raise the sun?”

“Well, actually, they just did!” Discord remarked, as at the same time the moon finally set and the sun came up, like normal. “Apparently, they went off to go do a bucket list of things they’ve always wanted to do while Twilight and her friends tried to host the Royal Swanifying Ceremony all by themselves. Yeah, I didn’t know that was a thing either.”

“So they decided to go on vacation knowing full well that you’re supposed to report to them how I’m doing?” Sombra replied with thinly veiled annoyance, finding it quite foolish to do such a thing.

Discord shrugged in reply, not knowing any more than that. “Maybe because they trust me so much with you! It was only for a day, anyway. Besides that, the good news is I can talk to them now, and we’ll see where things go from there!”

“Hmph, good.” Sombra muttered, glad that there was a possibility that he wouldn’t be stuck on house arrest anymore. “So? Go talk to them. I would much prefer to be out of this castle suite sooner rather than later.”

“A nice ‘please’ would be appreciated…” Discord muttered as he rolled his eyes, but he disappeared in an instant to the throne room.

Celestia and Luna had just taken their seats in their throne room when Discord suddenly appeared in front of them, but they were accustomed to the draconequus appearing randomly in front of them if he needed to talk to them. Luna looked sort of annoyed by Discord appearing out of nowhere, while Celestia regarded him with a warm smile.

“Ah, Discord! Sorry for the impromptu vacation, but you have no idea how much my sister and I needed that. How are things going with Sombra?”

“I was going to report to you how things were going sooner, but it seemed like you and Luna were off on emergencies every time I popped in the throne room.” Discord said with a snicker, since Fluttershy had told him what was going on. “Anyway, things are going great with Sombra! Actually, he said that he wanted to give friendship a chance.”

Celestia and Luna shared a glance, surprised by what they heard. “Really? Sombra is actually interested in learning about friendship?” Luna asked, wanting to hear more before she and her sister would make a decision.

“No doubt due to him meeting Fluttershy! It was actually his idea to have a tea party with Fluttershy since I talk about her so often, and I think he learned a lot. After all, that was when he suggested trying to learn more about friendship.” Discord explained, while the princesses still looked unsure.

“I’m assuming he wanted to have freedom from his imprisonment in the castle suite to learn more about friendship.” Celestia remarked, looking thoughtful as she supposed that the foundation of friendship is trust, and if Sombra was making an effort, they could put him on a sort of probation.

Discord nodded eagerly. “Of course! He wanted to learn from Twilight and her friends, I think.”

Luna was silent for a bit before she spoke, trying to decide the best course of action. “Bring him here, so we can speak to him personally. I trust that he won’t try to escape when he’s outside the spell that blocks his dark magic if he truly wants to reform himself.”

"Sure thing! I'll be right back before you know it." Discord disappeared in a flash of chaos magic, appearing back in Sombra's room in an instant.

Sombra was now wearing his usual armor, as he looked up at the draconequus with a raised eyebrow, impatiently waiting for an answer. "Well? What did they-"

"No time, they want to see you!" Discord teleported himself and Sombra to the throne room in an instant, the charcoal stallion looking annoyed before he quickly put on a more neutral expression as he stood in front of the princesses.

"Your highnesses." He addressed, even though a part of him still protested vehemently since he was supposed to treat any other royalty with contempt. "After hearing about Discord's experiences with friendship, I would like the opportunity to be set free, and learn about it from Twilight and her friends."

Celestia looked serious as she heard Sombra's words, examining the former tyrant's expression closely to ascertain if he was being genuine or not. Though he now had the power to use his dark magic to escape and he hadn't, which she supposed meant something.

"You truly want to learn about friendship and atone for what you have done in the past?" She asked, Sombra slowly nodding as he recalled those thoughts that had become more prevalent over the past few days.

"I've considered my reasons for wanting the power of ruling the Crystal Empire, and can see that they were misguided." He still felt uncomfortable that he was even admitting that he made mistakes, but Discord had told him plenty of times that he felt the same way.

"Admitting where you have gone wrong is always a good first step in reforming." Luna said with a small smile, knowing what it was like to feel the need to redeem yourself after being a villain feared by many.

Celestia looked deep in thought for a few seconds before responding, a warm smile of her own on her face.

"Twilight and her friends are an excellent group you could learn friendship from, and I'm certain with a good heart, even your dark magic can be used for good. Since you're putting forward the effort to learn about friendship and grow as a stallion, I think it's only fair that we allow you to leave the castle. Of course, you can still stay in the royal suite at night for accommodation."

"Trust me, Celestia, he'll be out all day if it means he doesn't have to see the inside of that room for as long as possible." Discord remarked with a chuckle, Sombra giving the draconequus a side-eye of annoyance.

"We'll make an official decree that will explain everything that has been going on, since nopony knows that you're alive except for us. It will be difficult since other ponies will probably not trust you as quickly as us, but it's necessary to prevent a panic in Canterlot or Ponyville at seeing you out and about in public." Luna explained.

Sombra nodded in understanding. Surely a reputation like his preceded him; he knew that even before he was considering friendship. It was something to be expected, but if friendship was as good as Discord explained it to be, he hoped the transition would be quick.

"Of course. I assume you'll notify me when I'm free to leave?"

Celestia nodded in confirmation. "Certainly! In the meantime, I'll release the two royal guards from their position by the door to your room, and the spell blocking your magic will be dissipated, since obviously you've proven to us during the course of this conversation that you don't intend on using it for evil."

Sombra sort of felt like he'd be sick from all of the sickly sweet language that was being used that was associated with his name, but he supposed that was the dark magic inside of him that was talking. "I appreciate it."

"If there's nothing else to be discussed, my sister and I should get working on what we'll say to the public, and also inform Twilight and her friends of this development. Equestria would benefit greatly with you at its side, Sombra." Luna said before Sombra and Discord left; the draconequus was gracious enough to let Sombra walk this time, since he probably hadn't been able to walk very far in a long time.

"So? Aren't you happy you're as free as a bird now? Well, at least after the princesses give the decree. I'm sure it'll be the talk of Canterlot for the next month!" Discord said with an amused chuckle.

"It's certainly better than staring at the same surroundings for what seems like forever. Besides, I won't learn anything by sitting around." Sombra replied in his usual low tone, not showing much enthusiasm even though he was sort of anticipating what it would be like to be able to roam freely.

Discord rolled his eyes as they walked through the halls of the castle to Sombra's castle suite, royal guards doing double takes as they passed by. "Do you always show no enthusiasm whatsoever to anything and everything?"

"Do you take me as the enthusiastic type like that pink pony? Besides, this is new to me. I was more enthusiastic when I was taking over Canterlot, as you saw."

"Yes, well, we're past that, aren't we?" Discord muttered awkwardly, deciding maybe calling that out wasn't the best thing to do. "Look, being able to talk to others besides me about friendship will probably help you learn a lot, and I do hope you make the right decision in the end."

Sombra just rolled his eyes in reply. He did say he was going to learn about friendship, right? All he had to do was wait a bit longer…

Comments

[Bronycommander]

what a twist

[Misty Shadow]

I knew Sombra was immortal! I do enjoy the way things are progressing, how even though Sombra is lightening up, it's not impossible for him to take a step in the wrong direction before he gets truly reformed...

[ShuTodoroki]

11527928
Yep! He's immortal so he gets to spend the rest of eternity annoyed by DIscord. XD And we'll see whether he ends up making a step in the wrong direction...

[MarlonCalpe4000]

HI! After all this time of reading your story, You might say I just had this thought but why is it Discord that had to reform Sombra and not Twilight and her friends who are the Element Bearers considering that Discord is a chaotic being? And after Sombra was captured in the first place by the Crystal Guards and imprisoned, Why didn't they just try to kill him even in secret as its clearly shown that he is an evil being who terrorized the Crystal Ponies so much?