A Tyrant To A King

by ShuTodoroki

Chapter 16: Finally Free

Twilight waited anxiously with her friends and Spike in the throne room, having gotten a letter from Princess Celestia that she wanted to meet with the six of them. She had an idea what this meeting was about too, considering what Fluttershy had told them about her tea party with Sombra.

"This is about how Sombra was talkin' about learnin' about friendship, ain't it?" Applejack assumed, to which Twilight gave an affirmative nod.

"I can't be 100% sure, but I think Princess Celestia wants all of us to teach Sombra about friendship as much as we can. I know that he destroyed the Elements of Harmony and we all are probably a bit apprehensive about giving him a second chance, but if the Princess trusts him enough to set him free, I do too."

"I suppose…I'm just worried that he might betray us and try to take over the Crystal Empire again at some point while he's free. I don't see how somepony so absolutely dreadful could decide that he wants to learn about friendship!" Rarity opined, though she figured that anypony could change for the better, if they wanted to.

"I personally think he was quite polite and amiable during our tea party. He looks stern all the time, yes, but I think that he's genuine about learning more about friendship." Fluttershy said softly, recalling how Sombra was willing to carry on a conversation.

“I better hope he’s being honest about it! Otherwise we’ll send him on a one way trip to the Canterlot Gardens!” Rainbow said confidently, not having any fear of Sombra whatsoever. At least, no fear that she showed outwardly.

“Aw, c’mon! I’m sure Discord told Sombra all about how friendship is fun! Much better than brooding all the time and having scary dark crystals everywhere, right?” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, having a more optimistic view of the news that they’d be teaching Sombra more about friendship.

“Regardless, how have Shining and Cadance taken the news? This can’t be easy for them, knowing that the Crystal Empire’s former tyrant is now free.” Rarity asked in concern, Twilight looking somber as she recalled the letter she had gotten from her brother.

“They trust Celestia, but for the sake of the Crystal Ponies, Sombra can’t go to the Crystal Empire if we for some reason thought he could learn a friendship lesson there. It would send the Empire into a panic, and the resulting fear would allow Sombra to easily take back control, if the temptation comes back for him.”

"Of course we ain't bringin' Sombra to the Crystal Empire! It'd be a stupid idea, knowing that he wanted to take it back. He needs to prove that he's reformed to us before he could even dream of stepping hoof in there." Applejack asserted, thinking that it was plain common sense that Sombra shouldn't be allowed in the Crystal Empire.

"Well, I thought he was nice enough. He's obviously making an effort, and that's enough. Discord eventually proved himself to you all, right?" Fluttershy pointed out meekly. She wanted to give Sombra the benefit of the doubt, since they were supposed to teach him about friendship, and she doubted that being obviously suspicious of him was the way to go about it.

"Yes, after betraying us for Tirek and learning his lesson the hard way! I hope the same thing doesn't happen with Sombra." Rainbow muttered, murmurs of agreement coming from Applejack and Rarity.

"But you all have defeated him before, right? It shouldn't be a problem even if he decides to betray our trust." Spike pointed out, even if Twilight didn't look so sure.

"I know it's hard to try to give him a second chance after what he did to our friends when he took over Ponyville and Canterlot, but Fluttershy's right. The least we can do is-"

Twilight was interrupted when Princess Celestia entered the throne room behind her, and she immediately turned around to give her mentor her full attention. "Princess Celestia, we're all here like you requested."

"Thank you, Twilight. I assume you know about the new developments regarding Sombra, since Fluttershy had a tea party with him and Discord, right?" Celestia asked, continuing on when she received nods of confirmation amongst the six ponies.

"Since he's decided that he wants to learn more about friendship, I knew that it would be only natural to pick you all to teach him more about friendship, since Discord has probably taught him all he has to give. This is a great opportunity to have another powerful ally at Equestria's side, and I know you all might have reservations about treating him as an ally, but he's proven to me that he's trying to be a better pony since he didn't use his dark magic once he was outside of the magic proof spell."

"We'll do the best we can to teach Sombra everything we know about the magic of friendship, Princess Celestia. But surely it should be public knowledge now that Sombra is good, right? Since he's been set free?" Twilight asked.

Celestia nodded, trying to put Twilight's concerns to rest. "My sister and I have finished writing a decree that we'll read out in Canterlot filling in the public as to what's been going on. Surely news will travel across Equestria from there, and it won't be a problem if you want to show Sombra around Ponyville. Of course, he'll still stay at his castle suite for accommodation."

"I call dibs on the tour of Ponyville! I know this place inside out!" Pinkie Pie shouted excitedly, to Celestia's amusement.

"I'll tell Sombra that he can come down to the Castle of Friendship after I make the decree, and we'll see how things go from there. Is there anything else we need to discuss?" Celestia asked.

Twilight shook her head, not wanting to let Celestia down, especially if she was to take her place as ruler of all of Equestria. She wanted to prove that she could handle anything, after the fiasco that was the Royal Swanifying Ceremony. "No, we won't let you down."

"I know you won't." Celestia reassured Twilight, before she walked out of the throne room to head back to her chariot to Canterlot, leaving Twilight and her friends to discuss how to best start the friendship lessons with Sombra.

---

"How much longer must I be kept here?" Sombra muttered, growing impatient while Discord was growing impatient as well, but more because his willingness to listen to Sombra's complaining was quickly waning.

"C'mon, Sombra, surely it won't be for much longer! Celestia and Luna are just trying to ensure that you don't get screams of terror when you try to walk outside. After all, the whole point of friendship is that you meet ponies, not scare them away." Discord pointed out, having gotten quite a fair bit of ponies either being scared of him or hating him when he initially reformed.

"I highly doubt that a royal decree from Celestia and Luna is going to change how ponies think of me very much at first. After all, I'm sure most ponies saw you as a monster of chaos when you initially reformed." Sombra retorted.

"Well, yes, but it's just a matter of proving to ponies that you've changed! Saving Equestria from Queen Chrysalis certainly proved that point!" Discord explained, mentioning what he thought was his greatest accomplishment once again.

Sombra rolled his eyes, finding it quite irritating that Discord felt the need to mention that so many times. "Yes, well, that piece of vermin is honestly quite a weak foe. She's complacent because of her throne that blocks magic."

"You're familiar with her?" Discord inquired with a raised eyebrow, surprised that Sombra had interacted with Queen Chrysalis before. Well, at least before they were brought together in "Grogar's" lair for an extremely brief period of time.

"She tried to take over the Crystal Empire with her army of changelings while it was under my control, until she realized there was no love there. I easily repelled her with my dark magic. Honestly, Tirek would be more powerful than her just because he can take any kind of magic, not specifically love."

Discord looked unimpressed, mainly because he also could've easily wiped the floor with Chrysalis if he had his chaos magic at the time. "Hmph! You say it's easy to defeat her, but not when you're in her hive with nothing but your wits to try and save ponies!"

"I could easily defeat her without magic too. Unlike her, I'm not overly reliant on my dark magic. It's preferable, yes, but being able to use your hooves is important." Sombra explained defiantly, not willing to admit any kind of inferiority.

Well, we'll see about that when you inevitably fight her again, if you make the right decision. Discord thought to himself, of course not telling Sombra about that as he decided to change the subject, seeing Celestia and Luna on the castle balcony from Sombra's window.

"Oh, it looks like they're making the decree about you right now!"

Sombra joined Discord at the window sill, mildly interested as he watched the princesses say what he assumed was the decree. His assumption was obviously correct as he could hear a muffled loud gasp from the crowd gathered in the castle courtyard in shock, as some of the ponies gathered visibly turned their heads to look at the castle suite.

"Celestia must have told them that I'm staying here in the meantime. As if I didn't have enough invasions of my privacy." Sombra deadpanned, to an amused laugh from Discord.

"I'm sure you won't be here for most of the day, since you'll be busy learning about friendship, right? Think of it this way, once you're out there, learning from Twilight and her friends, time will fly by so fast you'll probably only be here to sleep. Oh, and I guess being under house arrest here is probably another incentive for you to not want to be here."

Sombra snorted at Discord pointing out the obvious, a habit he noticed Discord had. "You think?"

Before Discord could reply, Celestia showed up at the door, having finished telling basically all of Canterlot what was going on with Sombra, and how they shouldn't panic if they saw the former tyrant in public. The princess opened the door, greeting Discord and Sombra with a nod.

"Alright, you're officially a free pony, Sombra. Twilight and the others have already been briefed about what they are to do, so you can leave whenever you are ready for the Castle of Friendship in Ponyville. That's where they're waiting for you."

Sombra nodded in acknowledgement. "I'm ready to leave now. I haven't had a good walk in ages, and it's best I exercise my legs sooner rather than later." With that he abruptly turned to shadow to make the journey faster, heading towards Ponyville from his castle suite.

Celestia didn't expect Sombra to leave so abruptly, but she supposed that she should've expected it since anypony would want to be outside if they were under house arrest for so long.

"Don't worry, I'll follow him." Discord said as he levitated off the ground and followed Sombra, ensuring that the former tyrant didn't get up to anything he shouldn't during his newfound freedom.

This was unbeknownst to Sombra, who was focused on getting to the Castle of Friendship as he closed in on it, his shadow form allowing him to travel anywhere almost instantaneously. He had to admit, it felt good to use his dark magic again.

A part of him still found it troubling that he hadn't used this opportunity to take back what was rightfully his, and that he was willingly deciding to learn about friendship instead. But he did have an understanding that the brutal way he ruled the Crystal Empire was wrong, and if earning true respect required friendship, he would do everything he could to learn about it.

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Nicely done and this will be interesting.

[ShuTodoroki]

11528851
Indeed it will!

[Bronycommander]

11528855
Mhm. Eager about it.

[Uiniki]

the most interesting thing begins!