A Tyrant To A King

by ShuTodoroki

Chapter 17: Arrival In Ponyville

He materialized back into his pony form after giving a few ponies walking around Ponyville a shock at seeing him as shadow, the dark void with glowing green eyes always carrying with it a foreboding presence. He now stood outside the Castle of Friendship, admiring how it looked since it vaguely looked like the castle in the Crystal Empire.

Discord had told him that it grew from the Tree of Harmony, something that he found quite surprising since he didn't expect that the magic that gave Twilight and her friends so much power could do anything else besides empower them. But to grow a whole castle out of nothing? That was quite a feat, indeed.

Usually he wouldn't even dream of knocking; why should he care if someone wasn't expecting him? He was King Sombra, and anypony would be grateful to be blessed with his presence. But he had a feeling that friendship started with being polite, so he did so, using one of his front hooves to knock on the double doors.

The six ponies and the dragon gathered in the throne room immediately turned their heads towards the direction of the front door, as they had an idea as to who was at the door. They exchanged glances, wondering who would be brave enough to greet Sombra.

"I'm surprised he decided to knock. Maybe Discord really has had an effect on him." Rainbow remarked, while Twilight decided she should be the one to greet Sombra.

"Alright, I've rehearsed what I would say to Spike at least a hundred times. I can do this." Twilight said to herself more than anypony else, as she stood up from her throne and headed towards the front door.

Her friends joined her however, not wanting her to greet Sombra alone. "If we're all going to help him learn more about friendship, we should all go together!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly, also interested in seeing how this new, "reformed" Sombra behaved. "I also have to teach him about cake, because his tastes are reaaaally messed up if that black licorice fruitcake was anything to go by!"

"We do everything together, and this ain't any exception." Applejack added, murmurs of agreement from the rest.

"Thanks, girls." Twilight said with a smile, before looking serious again as she opened the door to greet Sombra, not wanting to keep him waiting too long since she wanted to be polite.

Sombra wore a neutral expression as he stood in front of the six ponies who used to be the bane of his existence, but he now found himself working with them. He was wearing his usual armor as his black mane flowed like always, his gaze with piercing red eyes enough to make anypony scared to even look at him.

Twilight and her friends weren't anypony, however, and the lavender alicorn regarded him with a polite nod, extending a front hoof in greeting. "It's great to hear that you want to learn about friendship, Sombra. We'll do everything we can to help you learn more about it. Please, come in."

Sombra raised an eyebrow since Twilight sounded quite robotic when she said that, as if she had rehearsed it, but he shook Twilight's hoof politely, following her and the others into the throne room as he looked around at the quite admirable surroundings. "Your castle is appointed quite nicely, Princess Twilight."

“Why thank-” Twilight started, before she was interrupted by a voice from above.

“Well, it would be nicer if I could’ve helped decorate it, but I suppose it’s passable! Stairs that lead to nowhere would be a nice chaotic touch, no?”

Discord appeared from above, landing on his mismatched feet to the unamused stares of all that were present, save for Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Sombra regarding him with a raised eyebrow, reasoning that he must’ve followed him from Canterlot.

“You followed me? Aren’t you freed from being my reformer?”

“Maybe I am, but as a reformed villain myself it would be good to be there if you have any questions about friendship. Besides, I have nothing better to do in my realm.” Discord also secretly liked annoying Sombra, finding it amusing.

"Hmph." That was all Sombra really had to say to that, not exactly liking that he was being forced to tolerate the draconequus' presence, but he supposed that he didn't have a choice in the matter.

"As I was saying… " Twilight started, giving a glare towards Discord since she had been interrupted. "Thank you. My friends and I helped make this place feel like home after the Tree of Harmony sprouted it from the ground when we defeated Tirek. And you can just call me Twilight. That's what my friends call me anyway, and if you're willing to learn about friendship, starting off with eight of them is a great start."

"That's…generous of you." Sombra replied, unsure of how to respond since he was a bit surprised that Twilight was so willing to treat him as a sort of friend, with no hesitation whatsoever. She obviously wasn't thrilled about it, but if she was making an effort, the least he could do was reciprocate. That's what friendship was, right?

"Anyway, if we're done with the boring talking, I want to show him around Ponyville! He'll be spending a lot more time here than boring old Canterlot, after all!" Pinkie exclaimed excitedly.

"Oh, well I was going to show Sombra around the castle first, but I suppose getting him acquainted with Ponyville first is a good idea. You should take a tour of the School of Friendship tomorrow when classes are in session, though! I think it'd be very enlightening." Twilight suggested, to which Sombra gave a nod.

"I'll be here tomorrow morning, then. For now, you said you wanted to give me a tour." Sombra stated, addressing Pinkie who bounced up and down with glee.

"Of course! And what no better place to start than Sugarcube Corner?" Pinkie excitedly asked, as she was already halfway out of the castle doors.

"I think I'll sit out of this one. You know I don't like walking too far!" Discord remarked with a chuckle, making Sombra question just how thorough this tour was going to be. It certainly seemed like Pinkie's energy was boundless, which made him question whether this was a good idea.

Before he could say anything, Pinkie was already yelling at him to follow, and when he wasn't fast enough he was yanked by his front hoof. Normally he would have somepony executed for even touching him without permission, but he figured he couldn't do that if he was to learn about friendship.

"Slow down, will you!?!" He barked with annoyance, not understanding how one pony could have so much energy.

"C'mon, Sombra! We have to go fast if we want to see everything in Ponyville!" Pinkie replied, which made Sombra's heart sink.

"Surely you don't mean everything? It's late afternoon." Sombra muttered, not thinking that Pinkie was serious when she actually was.

Pinkie just laughed, determined to show Sombra everything Ponyville had to offer. "Of course, silly! Besides, Ponyville isn't that big. You probably need to walk anyway after all those weeks under house arrest!"

While that was true, Sombra had a tolerance for how much he was willing to walk. He supposed that if Pinkie grew to be too much, he could just turn to shadow, but he still found her presence increasingly annoying, making Discord seem tame in comparison.

He looked around, noticing that no one was out on the street. They were probably hiding despite the decree from the princesses; it's not like he could judge them, however. "It seems everypony is still afraid of me, despite the royal decree. Do they not trust the princesses' word?"

"Oh, well of course they do! It just takes time for it to set in; don't feel too bad about it. I mean, Discord got a similar reception, and they'll soon warm up to you once they realize you're not out to terrorize Ponyville anymore. Honestly beats having to dodge ponies when you're walking anyway!"

They had arrived at Sugarcube Corner at this point, and Pinkie pushed open the front door to reveal the various cakes they had on display, all much better looking than what Sombra had mind controlled Mr. and Mrs. Cake to cook. "Alright, Sombra, this is Sugarcube Corner! The best confectionery shop in town! You should really try some of the cakes here since black licorice is possibly the worst flavor ever!"

"What's wrong with it?" Sombra asked with a raised eyebrow, remembering that's what he had "ordered" when he had taken over Ponyville. He had fond memories of cake when he ruled the Crystal Empire, and usually they were dark colored since they fit with the overall color of his kingdom.

"What's wrong is that it has bitter notes in it! Cake is supposed to be sweet, and because you're my friend now, I'll let you have a free sample of whatever cupcake we have in the display case! I eat half of the ones we make anyway and we have enough to sell, so one more won't hurt if it's in the name of friendship!"

Sombra looked confused before he just decided to go with it, inspecting the display case with all of the cupcakes that had been freshly baked, covered in sickly sweet frosting that would probably make him sick afterwards. "The red one covered in white frosting looks interesting."

"Ooh, red velvet! Excellent choice! For people who don't like things too sweet, they seem to like this one. Give it a try!" Pinkie took the red velvet cupcake out of the display case, sliding it over to Sombra as she watched for his reaction eagerly.

Sombra eyed it for a bit, mildly interested since he hadn't eaten this flavor before. He took a small bite before he took another one, not finding the taste objectionable. It was quite pleasant, actually; perhaps this wasn't such a bad idea after all. "The taste is quite pleasant." He commented, finishing it within a few bites.

Pinkie beamed at hearing that, glad that she could introduce another pony to the joys of Sugarcube Corner's sweets. "I'm glad you like it! The next one's two bits though." She said, before quickly heading for the door from her spot behind the counter, intent on going to the next location.

"We're already going?" Sombra muttered, to which Pinkie looked at him as if he had asked a question that should be a given.

"Well, we can't stay here forever if we're going to see the rest of the town! C'mon!" Pinkie beckoned, and soon Sombra was off again, using his legs the most he ever had since his imprisonment. It was nice to be able to walk around, yes, but he hoped that he wouldn't be eating his words later.

---

Sombra gave a sigh as he practically collapsed onto his bed in his castle suite, having just returned from his utterly exhausting tour. He didn't even bother to take off his armor, too tired to bother. After seeing the town hall, the hospital, Sweet Apple Acres, the schoolhouse, the Everfree Forest, and so many other locations he couldn't even recall, he was totally drained.

He had seen enough of Ponyville to be an expert on it by this point, possibly even knowing more about the town than its own locals at this point. Speaking of them, all of the residents had been holed up in their homes while Sombra was walking around, though he figured that'd be the case for at least the next few days.

As he closed his eyes to drift off to sleep he made a mental note to steer clear of Pinkie, especially since he was supposed to tour the School of Friendship tomorrow. He had to wonder what the students would think of him…

Comments

[Bronycommander]

this will be interesting. ah, good to come home from work on Friday and see an update to read

[Late_Night]

oh boy, School Of Friendship tour
can't wait to see the Student 6's reactions to him