A Tyrant To A King

by ShuTodoroki

Chapter 7: Sparkle's Seven

“So…you actually have Sombra down in the dungeons? Right below our hooves?” Shining Armor repeated in disbelief, while Discord resisted the urge to facepalm.

He had stopped by Canterlot to update the princesses, Mane Six, Spike, and Shining since they were all there anyway for some kind of sibling competition that he could honestly care less about, but it was convenient since he supposed that Shining, who ruled the Crystal Empire with Cadance, had the right to know what had happened to Sombra after he had been taken into custody.

“You have nothing to worry about, Shining. The whole reason I asked you to improve security in the first place was because of Sombra’s return and takeover of Canterlot. We wanted to ensure that it can’t happen again, and I’m sure it won’t with what we’ve implemented. Besides, you’ve made some good progress with Sombra, right Discord?” Celestia inquired.

“Well, we managed to have a civil conversation, so I assume that’s progress. He’s going to take a while, though, if I’m being honest. After all, someone who enslaves ponies is going to need a lot of work before he suddenly decides to embrace the magic of friendship.” Discord stated, while Shining still looked unsure about this plan.

“I don’t know about this…I mean, if you think it’s the best thing to do, Princess Celestia, I trust you, but even when Sombra is reformed he should be kept out of the Crystal Empire, at least temporarily. Cadance and I can see past what he did to us when he’s set free, but the Crystal Ponies won’t be able to handle seeing him again.”

Celestia nodded in understanding. “Of course not, Shining. We wouldn’t subject the Crystal Ponies to that again, since they associate Sombra with one of the worst times of their lives. Where Sombra will go after he accepts friendship is a discussion for later; the focus is to reform him in the first place.”

“I can’t believe Sombra actually decided to carry on a conversation with you! I honestly didn’t think he was capable of saying anything without mentioning your certain failure every five seconds.” Rainbow exclaimed, murmurs of agreement coming from the rest of the Mane Six.

Twilight didn’t look so sure however, a concerned expression on her face before she addressed Discord. “What I’m worried about is whether he’s putting on an act so that we think that he’s reforming himself, and then once we put our trust in him and release him he’ll try to take over the Crystal Empire all over again! I can’t let that happen to my family.”

“Well, the other option was turning him to stone, and I think Sombra has enough good sense to not want that for himself.” Rarity opined, before raising a hoof to her chin in thought. “Unless he thinks he can evade being turned to stone? But he seems to have a habit of doing things the same way and expecting a different outcome. We always defeat him in the end.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow, appreciating the optimism but thinking realistically about it. “I don’t think havin’ a tendency to always defeat the bad guys reassures me that much if Sombra betrays us.”

“Aw, come on, Applejack!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, trying to bring optimism back into the conversation. “Friendship is the most powerful magic of all; as long as we believe that, we can defeat anyone who stands in our way. I’m sure Discord can reform Sombra in no time!”

“Well, even if Discord isn’t able to reform Sombra, I’m proud of him for trying. I wouldn’t be able to even speak around a pony like him; he’s scared me the most out of all of the villains we’ve faced.” Fluttershy said quietly.

“Thank you, Fluttershy! I know that it was going to be a challenge to reform Sombra, but if I’ve made it this far with two visits, I’m sure the more I visit him he’ll warm up to me. After all, who can resist Discord, am I right?”

Discord got dubious stares in reply, save for Fluttershy and the princesses who looked like they were about to laugh. “Tough crowd, huh? Trust me, I’ll get Sombra to open up, even if he refuses to tell me who he was before he became the ruler of the Crystal Empire.”

“That would be a very interesting thing to discover, indeed. My sister and I did not know what Sombra was like before he took over the Crystal Empire, and it’d be interesting to find out how a stallion could be overcome by so much evil.” Luna mused, Celestia nodding in agreement.

“We only knew that we had to banish him to the ice of the Frozen North after seeing the devastation he caused the Crystal Empire by ruling it with hatred and fear, enslaving the Crystal Ponies to do his bidding.” Celestia recalled, while Twilight was visibly intrigued by this information.

“He obviously uses dark magic. Maybe that has something to do with it?” She thought aloud, Discord quickly growing bored of this conversation as his gaze wandered towards where the staircase to the dungeons of Canterlot was.

“Well, as enlightening as this conversation has been, I just wanted to inform all of you how Sombra is doing. I’ll do my best to continue talking to him and building trust, but I’m not going to do that by just sitting here, am I?” The draconequus snapped his fingers to appear near Sombra’s cell, leaving the rest of the group surprised at his quick exit.

“Does he always leave abruptly like that?” Shining asked, never being around Canterlot anymore so he wasn’t as familiar with Discord as the rest of the ponies were.

“Yep. That’s Discord for ya!” Rainbow remarked, before the conversation slowly returned to Spike being the true Sibling Supreme in the absence of Discord to bring up Sombra. If they were being honest, they didn’t want to think about one of Equestria’s most dangerous ponies being right beneath their hooves, which was why they switched the topic.

---

Unfortunately Discord didn’t have that luxury, being Sombra’s reformer as the charcoal stallion glared at him indignantly. The former tyrant had been rudely surprised by the Lord of Chaos’ sudden appearance, jumping nearly a foot in the air from shock which made him look bad. He feared no one, and being embarrassed by a natural startle response wasn’t helping how he appeared in Discord’s eyes.

“Can you not do that!?!” He huffed as he rested on the floor of his cell, all that he could do with such dull surroundings and absolutely nothing to do when Discord wasn’t there to bother him with conversation.

“What? Yes, I usually take the stairs, but walking is so boring, wouldn’t you agree? Besides, I needed to escape Twilight and her friends, the princesses, and Shining Armor. They had just finished holding some sort of sibling competition regarding castle security.”

Sombra huffed in annoyance, not knowing why Discord thought it necessary to tell him about such insignificant things for the sake of carrying on conversation. “A sibling competition? How-” That was when a particular part of what Discord said caught his attention, stopping his train of thought in its tracks.

“Wait, you said something regarding castle security?”

“The princesses thought it’d be a good idea to increase it after it was so easy for you to take over Canterlot. Though really, I just think that’s because they up and abandoned the throne room while fighting to tame the Everfree Forest. Really, who does that? Even I as a princess would’ve thought to defend the throne room.”

Well, why should I care? Increased security will mean nothing once I’m set free from Celestia. He calmed himself down, deciding to just ask Discord about what was important to him. “Did you mention anything about my progress to them?” He inquired, as he stood up and approached the bars of his cell.

“Actually, yes. That was the whole reason why I was there to talk to them. I could care less about the whole sibling competition about the castle security thing; I just figured it would make sense to give my progress report about you when everyone was there, especially to Shining since he had no idea what happened to you after they detained you in the Crystal Empire.”

Sombra felt one of his eyes twitch at the mention of one of the ponies who were ruling his empire, but he quickly repressed that anger by telling himself that he’d have his chance to take back the Crystal Empire, which was rightfully his. He just needed patience for the right time.

“Well? Did they have anything to say about it? Surely you’ve noticed I’m more open to talking.”

Discord knew that Sombra wanted to be set free, and he probably wouldn’t be happy with his news that the princesses hadn’t given him any inkling of any sort. Did he care? Not really. “They were more interested in your backstory than setting you free. I’ve only met you three times now, Sombra. You can’t expect them to trust you so easily; after all, you don’t learn everything about friendship in a few days.”

Hmph. Obviously, I need to try harder to play nice. Sombra thought, a blank expression on his face as he moved to sit back down. “Well, that’s disappointing. Perhaps they should consider that I’d be more open to giving friendship a chance when I’m not sleeping on a metal floor and being fed stale bread and water which barely keeps me alive.”

Discord was initially going to laugh at the suggestion. Sombra wanted to be put up in one of the castle suites, after enslaving hundreds of ponies and committing war crimes? When he gave it deeper thought, however, he figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. It’d make his job easier if the former tyrant was more willing to talk, anyway.

“I could bring that up with the princesses to see whether they’d be more willing to give you better accommodation. No promises, though. And there’d probably still be a spell to stop you from using your magic.”

Well, that wasn’t exactly ideal, but Sombra figured that he couldn’t just be granted full freedom, just like that. Although the foundation of friendship did involve second chances, Celestia and Luna weren’t gullible. He knew that much. If he could charm his way to sleeping on a proper bed at least, he considered that an accomplishment.

“Fine. If it has to be that way, so be it. I would just much rather prefer a proper bed rather than sleeping on a metal floor. It’s not very comfortable, you know.” He stated with his perpetual expression of disinterest, something that got on Discord’s nerves but didn’t show.

“Trust me, I know a lot about not being comfortable. Doing a garden statue impression for a thousand years really does a number on your joints!” Discord remarked, to absolutely nothing from Sombra.

The draconequus’ expression deadpanned at that, feeling frustrated since most of his jokes fell flat. “Fine, I get the hint that being a comedian isn’t in my future. Since you don’t want to do the talking, I suppose I will. What made you want to take over the Crystal Empire?”

“This sounds related to the earlier question you had about who I was before I was the ruler of the Crystal Empire.” Sombra muttered, finding Discord not very subtle.

“Well, maybe that’s because it is.”

He’s not going to let this go, is he? Sombra sighed, knowing enough about Discord by this point that the question would come up again if he didn’t address it. Though when he thought about it, maybe if he came across as vulnerable, Discord could convince the princesses to grant him some freedom…

“Since you won’t be quiet about it otherwise, I suppose I’ll tell you.”

Comments

[Bronycommander]

one can only wait t o see if it works out for him

[ShuTodoroki]

11512360
In time, it will! Sombra just has to learn the art of patience. 😏

[Bronycommander]

11512361
indeed and i loook forward to it

[ShuTodoroki]

11513052
True, but Discord has good intentions, albeit misguided ones. He's the only one who knows the truth right now so he figures if he reforms Sombra like Celestia asked him to, then he has an additional safety net if things go awry with Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow.