A Tyrant To A King

by ShuTodoroki

Chapter 18: Touring The School

Sombra traveled via his shadow form to the Castle of Friendship once he had woken up in his castle suite, materializing right outside the front doors as he knocked like last time. He had been getting the hang of using polite customs since he wasn't a king anymore, something that he still tried to not think about.

It wasn't that he was in denial about that; he knew at this point he was just "Sombra" to most ponies. However, he still immensely despised admitting it, as if a part of him remained that wanted to reclaim his former glory. He had a feeling that desire would never fully go away, but the best he could do now was show that he was making an effort.

Twilight opened the door with a small smile, stepping aside to let the former tyrant in. "Sombra, good morning! Did you want breakfast? We can have that first before I show you around the school."

Breakfast sounded quite good, especially since he was getting tired of what he was given during his imprisonment in Canterlot. "That sounds quite agreeable." He rumbled, as he followed Twilight into the kitchen.

He entered the kitchen of the Castle of Friendship to the nice smell of pancakes with maple syrup, as he looked around in curiosity at new surroundings. The kitchen seemed small for a castle that big, but he supposed that it was functional enough for meals.

There was a green and purple dragon sitting on a stool who he recognized as Spike, who was obviously very revered in the Crystal Empire if the statue of him was anything to go by. He didn't have a name for the light purple and cyan pony, however, only knowing that he had mind controlled her during his siege on Canterlot.

Spike looked at him with a nervous expression, something he expected due to his reputation, while the other unicorn seemed more curious than scared, something he found interesting. "I don't think you've introduced me to your unicorn friend, Twilight."

"Oh!" Twilight looked a bit embarrassed that she hadn't introduced Starlight, but she figured now was a better time than ever. "Sombra, this is Starlight Glimmer. She used to be a student of mine, but now she's the guidance counselor of the School of Friendship! Also I'm planning on making her the headmare once I take over from Princess Celestia and Luna."

Starlight smiled as she stuck out a hoof for a hoof shake, finding the situation a bit surreal since Twilight had told her all about how Sombra had ruled the Crystal Empire with an iron hoof, yet now here he was, making an effort to learn about friendship. If there was a case for nopony being beyond redemption, Sombra would be it.

"It's nice to meet you, Sombra! Twilight told me all about how you used to rule the Crystal Empire with fear. It feels like I'm meeting a historical figure or something if you're really over a thousand years old, heh…"

Sombra shook Starlight's hoof, before turning towards his breakfast. "Yes, that's the power of dark magic. And also being banished into ice."

"It's probably nice to be out of the castle for once, huh?" Twilight mentioned, probably to avoid an awkward conversation between Starlight and Sombra. She had left out Starlight's past before she was her student for a reason, after all.

"Well, it's certainly a nice change of surroundings, yes." Sombra replied, as he took a bite from his pancake. "So, do you teach fillies about friendship at the School of Friendship?"

"Not just fillies! The School of Friendship is for every creature. I actually realized that I wanted to spread the magic of friendship everywhere when my friends and I traveled to distant lands beyond Equestria to defeat the Storm King." Twilight explained, Spike looking quite relieved when she hadn't told the entire story, which would take quite a while.

Sombra raised an eyebrow at the mention of somepony unfamiliar to him; he thought he'd be familiar with anypony who crossed Twilight and her friends' paths and stood in their way. "The Storm King? I'm not familiar with that name."

"You wouldn't be! He's from lands beyond Equestria, and I never heard of him either until he decided to take over Canterlot. I'm sure you'll hear more about him as we tour the School of Friendship; classes are going to start soon." Twilight replied, noting that Sombra had finished his pancakes.

"We're leaving, then?" Sombra asked expectantly, assuming that's what Twilight meant.

Twilight nodded. "Of course! I can't be late for the start of classes as the current headmare! I'm never late for anything."

"I can back that up." Spike remarked with a chuckle, hopping off his stool as he hot ready to follow Twilight, while licking up some maple syrup from his lips.

"I'll tag along; I need to be in my office in case any students need counseling between classes, anyway." Starlight added.

The four headed out of the Castle of Friendship, walking to the School of Friendship which was conveniently right next to it. It was quite a grand structure, built into a mountain side with a moat surrounding it. Sombra could certainly see that a lot of time and effort was put into designing the school, something he could appreciate.

Twilight pushed open the doors to the main atrium, which was quite a grand affair with pillars holding the entire structure up. There were some students milling about that did double takes when they saw Sombra, but most students were obviously already in their assigned classrooms, waiting for classes to start.

"This is the main entrance! Most students see this when they first walk in, and although I wanted it to look grand and all, it's also not too stuffy, you know? I want them to feel welcome here, like this is the perfect environment to learn about friendship."

"It looks quite nice." Sombra replied, before seeing some of the students run off to their classes. He wasn't sure whether it was because of his presence, or whether it was because they were late. "Most of your students are in their classes already."

"Yep, and they're on time too! My friends teach the classes here about each of their elements, along with some foundational history of how we first met and the events occurring afterwards." Twilight explained, as they started walking towards where the classrooms were.

Starlight nodded in agreement, deciding to add on to what Twilight said when Sombra remained silent. "The whole point is for the students to learn about why friendship is so important to protect Equestria, right from the beginning with the windigos."

"You mean to say that you teach the story of Hearth's Warming as history?" Sombra replied, looking a bit dubious since he had heard the story himself; practically everypony who lived in Equestria knew of it. However, he had always thought of it as a story to give a reason for Hearth's Warming to be celebrated.

Spike looked offended, especially since Hearth's Warming was his favorite holiday, even if it was for the wrong reasons. "Hey! It's obviously true! We get presents and-uh…it's been celebrated for generations! If you know about it, it was a thing a thousand years ago, right?" He had corrected himself when he got a glare from Twilight.

"Even if it isn't, it's a good place to start since it still teaches about the importance of friendship." Twilight explained.

"Ah." Sombra simply said, not saying anything more on the subject in case he was invited to a Hearth's Warming party or something. Surely Pinkie would be involved then, and a day dealing with her was a day enough. "So, Starlight, what does the guidance counselor do?"

"Funny you mention that since we're passing my office, and I need to be there!" Starlight laughed, heading off to part ways. "I'm basically there to provide advice and be a friend for any student here who needs help. If you want to hear more, you can stop by my office after the tour. That's assuming I'm not already talking to a student!"

Sombra nodded, deciding he could meet each of Twilight's friends and get to know them to show he was at least making an effort. "That sounds agreeable."

Twilight moved on to the classrooms, proud to show off how many there were, full of students learning about friendship. "And this is where all the magic happens! Once the tour is over, I'm sure you'll learn a lot about friendship by overhearing the classes going on."

"And then there we were, trying to keep the Crystal Ponies' spirits up when Sombra was attacking…"

That overheard bit of class piqued Sombra's interest as he passed by one of the classrooms, and he stopped to see Rainbow Dash lecturing to her students through the door. Twilight looked a bit embarrassed, not expecting for Sombra himself to overhear a lecture about when he was a villain.

"That wasn't planned, I promise!" She quickly said, but Sombra said nothing in reply as he continued listening in.

"But we couldn't fool them forever, and soon they realized that Sombra was coming back. Twilight actually got trapped in a tower trying to retrieve the Crystal Heart, but Spike managed to retrieve it, and with Princess Cadance's help they saved the empire! You see guys, when you work together as friends, you can accomplish anything!"

"Isn't that Sombra himself looking through the window!?!" Silverstream pointed out loudly, which brought the attention of the entire class to Sombra who looked slightly embarrassed that he hadn't been as subtle as he thought.

"Uhhh…but he's good now and he's learning about friendship at the moment!" Rainbow quickly said, too caught up in telling her story to notice as Sombra decided to push open the door to enter, since he had been found out.

"Talk about bringing history to life, eh?" Gallus quipped with a relaxed expression on his face, to the laughter of Smolder who was seated next to him. Like Sombra expected, most of the non pony creatures didn't look as scared, probably because they had only heard stories of him, and weren't as familiar with how evil he really was when he ruled the Crystal Empire.

"How can you say that so casually?" Sandbar asked Gallus incredulously, looking a bit fearful himself because of Sombra's outwardly evil appearance. He certainly didn't look any different; he was even still wearing his armor!

Smolder looked relaxed along with Gallus however, even seeming a bit intrigued. "So, can you back up what Professor Dash just said? No exaggerations?"

"Er…yes. That's how it happened. This is very difficult to admit." Sombra muttered, trying to figure out where he went wrong in his life that he was even making time to speak to fillies.

"Wow, so Sombra pony here to tell story as well, yes? Yona like stories!" Yona exclaimed, while Sombra looked curiously at her since he had never seen yaks in person before. He knew of other creatures besides ponies, yes, but seeing griffons, dragons, yaks, and ponies in one place was quite foreign to him.

"I'm actually giving Sombra a tour of the School of Friendship, but if you want to talk to him I'm sure you can after class is dismissed!" Twilight suggested, not wanting Rainbow's class to be too disrupted.

"Before we leave, I do have a question. I recognize the griffon, dragon, and yak, but I don't recognize those two." Sombra pointed to Silverstream and Ocellus, the changeling shrinking in her desk in fear.

"Oh, I'm a hippogriff! We were hiding in the ocean for a longgg time because of the Storm King, I can explain later!" Silverstream explained energetically, while Ocellus made no move to talk.

"And you are?" Sombra asked expectantly.

"A changeling…" Ocellus said quietly, looking quite fearful since she had done extensive reading on Sombra and his ruthless reign.

"A changeling? You look different than I recall." Sombra remarked, to which Twilight beckoned the former tyrant over.

"They're good now as well; I can explain as we tour the school grounds." Twilight urged, which Sombra complied with as he left.

"Sorry, I just didn't want to interrupt Rainbow's class more than we already have. I'm sure you can talk to the students later! Now that word has spread that you're here, they'll probably be eager to meet one of the ponies they've studied about."

Sombra just nodded as he followed Twilight, finding the griffon, dragon, and yak's fearlessness quite intriguing. He'd have to converse with them more later…

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Very nice! From the young, sandbar is my Favorite

[ShuTodoroki]

11535483
I really can't choose a favorite from that group! I like all of them equally, heh The next chapter we'll definitely see more interactions between them and Sombra!

[Bronycommander]

11535485
Same for the mane 6 for me but it was aj that got me into the show

[Late_Night]

11535485
excellent

[ShuTodoroki]

11536833
Simply put, for the plot. I mean, Twilight and her friends could've been the ones to try to reform Sombra, yes, but I wanted to try writing Discord as a reformer. Besides, I think Sombra, at the time, would've still loathed Twilight and her friends enough that any attempts to reform him would be rebuffed immediately. Discord, as a reformed villain himself, might be able to connect with Sombra more. As for trying to kill him in secret, my headcanon for Sombra is that he can't really be killed. Banished, yes, but he'll manage to come back at some point.