A Tyrant To A King

by ShuTodoroki

Chapter 8: Origins

“Wait, really?” Discord asked in confusion, not thinking that Sombra would actually agree to share about who he was before he became the ruler of the Crystal Empire. He quickly grinned as he materialized a couch and a popcorn bucket, eager to hear what Sombra had to say. “Well, this is going to be interesting! I’d better take a seat!”

Sombra rolled his eyes at Discord's antics, suppressing his temper since he thought of the reward of being granted some sort of freedom. "I was an ordinary unicorn before I learned of dark magic. Growing up in the Crystal Empire, I always knew that I wanted to lead it, but I lacked the power necessary."

“That is, until I learned of dark magic from the library, and I successfully incorporated it into my being to take over the Crystal Empire. It’s so easy to turn light and hope into darkness and fear, and once I did that, there was nothing to stand in my way. Well, until Celestia and Luna ruined all of it.”

Discord’s brows furrowed as he listened to what Sombra was saying. Dark magic? Well that was…oddly unspecific. Though he supposed that explained how Sombra was able to mind control ponies at his will, and how he could turn into shadow. “So this…dark magic that you use. You learned it from a book?”

“Yes. I don’t recall where it is now; it’s most likely gone since it’s been over a thousand years.” Sombra replied curtly, not wanting Discord to pry any further. Unfortunately for him, the Lord of Chaos wasn’t very good at picking up on nonverbal cues like that.

“And you just wanted to take over the Crystal Empire for power? Nothing else? Usually ponies have some sort of reason for wanting to have so much power.” Discord pointed out as he rubbed his chin, recalling what Twilight told him about how Starlight turned evil because of a traumatic event during her foalhood.

“What are you trying to get at?” Sombra asked with a raised eyebrow, not planning to go beyond what he said since he still didn’t know Discord that well. What right did this draconequus have to know his personal life? Why did he even care?

Discord grumbled in frustration, trying to keep his patience as he suddenly wore black glasses and held a clipboard, to look like a psychologist. “All I’m saying is that Celestia and Luna might be more receptive to the idea of you having some freedom if you had an actual reason for wanting to take over the Crystal Empire, rather than just being power hungry and an evil unicorn overall.”

Sombra glared at Discord, his temper flaring up stronger than it ever had before, and he was going to tell the Lord of Chaos to get out for prying into things he had no right to. But when he thought about it, maybe he was right. Maybe, if he told the entire truth, Celestia and Luna would let him go. If he had to sacrifice a bit of his pride to get what he wanted, the Crystal Empire, then so be it. The end justifies the means.

“Since you’re so keen on knowing about every detail of my personal life, I never met my parents. I was brought up in an orphanage, where I was rejected by all of the other orphans for looking different and not having a cutie mark. My attempts to converse with them and get them to respect me as an equal failed, so I believed that being the one to rule the Crystal Empire would finally get them to respect me.”

The charcoal stallion let out a snort as he recalled his early life more than a thousand years ago, remembering the looks on their faces. “Needless to say, they weren’t teasing me anymore when I ruled them as a full grown stallion. Having power and control guarantees anypony will listen to you. It felt good to have it all, at least until Celestia and Luna interfered. They shouldn't have meddled in things that weren't their business."

He crossed his hooves once he was done talking, waiting for how Discord would respond as he looked at the draconequus expectantly. When he stopped to think about it, he hadn't actually told anyone about his past as an orphan, and he was starting to regret his decision, even if he thought it could help him escape. Hopefully Discord knew that what he had just told him was to be private information…

Discord was stunned into silence, not expecting Sombra to open up like that. He had joked that somepony would have to have a tragic backstory to become so evil, but he didn't think that was the case with Sombra. "So…let me get this straight. You were bullied in an orphanage for being different, so you learned dark magic and took over the Crystal Empire to one up your bullies?"

Sombra looked indignant at what Discord, letting out a "Hmph!" in contempt since it sounded like the Lord of Chaos was trivializing what he went through as a colt. "It wasn't just a matter of one upping them, as you so foolishly put it! It made them feel what I felt, to be subjugated and humiliated. Being in charge of the entire Crystal Empire is a feeling so great that it's indescribable, to be able to crush any dissent under your hooves and have all that power!"

He sighed contentedly as he relived those days, much preferring them compared to the humiliating situation that he was in now, to be a king, yet relegated to a metal cell. "With the help of dark magic, I was able to take over, and have my own personal army to fight whoever stood in my way."

Discord found a disturbing number of parallels between how he was when he ruled Equestria in an eternal state of chaos and disharmony. He too loved power, but he just controlled everypony because it was for his own amusement. Sombra's desire for power was because of deep rooted foalhood trauma that had never been addressed.

"Why did your fellow orphans ostracize you, anyway?" He pried, trying his luck since Sombra seemed to be willing to talk.

Sombra scoffed at Discord's question, thinking that it was a stupid thing to ask. Had he never been around foals? "I wasn't a Crystal Pony like the rest of them, and I didn't have my cutie mark. Need I say more?"

"I assume you have one now, though." Discord replied with a raised eyebrow. He wasn't doubting what Sombra had told him; he just wanted a complete picture as to who Sombra was.

"No. I did have one, but when I learned about dark magic, it turned me into a shadow pony. That's how I can turn to shadow at will, and shadow ponies don't have cutie marks."

"Huh. And I guess that you can't just decide to become a normal unicorn again." Discord mused, as he strangely became invested in learning more about Sombra, as if he was interested in who the so-called "Tyrant of the North" was as a stallion.

Sombra chuckled darkly, as if Discord had told a joke when for once, he hadn't. He was more laughing at the draconequus' naivete, thinking that he could turn back into a normal unicorn. "Even if I wanted to, I can't. Dark magic is a part of me now, and I'm better off now than I was before I discovered it."

"But are you really?" Discord asked, looking serious for once as he thought about how he was before he learned about the magic of friendship. Yes, he loved being able to break the very fabric of reality with his chaos magic, but the joy he had when terrorizing ponies was short lived.

He had to keep on doing it to get that same amusement. Friendship was longer lasting, and it seemed obvious to him that Sombra was evil because of the lack of friendship he had early in his life. You could feel happy committing war crimes and all that, but he learned from his newfound wisdom that wasn't something to rely on.

Sombra seemed to take offense to that question, raising an eyebrow as he stood up on his four legs. "What are you getting at, Discord?"

"What I'm getting at is that I'm similar to you. I ruled Equestria in chaos and I relished in all of it, and I thought that I had found true happiness in finding amusement in other ponies' misery. After almost losing Fluttershy as a friend, however, I started to realize that wasn't the way."

Sombra became increasingly angered when Discord dared compare himself to him, or even try to say that they were similar in any way. The draconequus was just trying to manipulate him into accepting his ways! "You and I are in no way similar! What could you possibly know about being isolated and rejected by everypony?"

"Being trapped in stone for a thousand years, conscious of everything going on but not being able to do anything? That doesn't sound like isolation to you?" Discord retorted with a glare of his own. He sort of expected this response from Sombra, but he still hated being interrupted.

When the former tyrant said nothing he continued talking, intent on explaining himself. "I was bitter about what Celestia and Luna had done to me as well, which made me all the more intent on making those same six ponies' lives miserable. Yes, getting revenge felt good, but I was always alone."

"You felt like being able to control the ponies who bullied you as a colt would make you feel better, and it probably did. But that happiness is short-lived. You always have to commit more and more atrocities to get that same feeling. Friendship, at least from my experience, is self-sustaining."

Sombra was practically seething in anger at this point, however. Discord thought that he could just give advice to him because he had opened up about his past? Did he take him for a fool? "You don't know anything about me! You must be impossibly naive if you think you know what it's like to not know your own parents, and be rejected by everypony around you!"

He would've shot a powerful blast of his dark magic towards Discord if it wasn't useless within his magic proof cell, wanting to teach the spirit of disharmony a lesson about prying into other ponies' business when it wasn't asked for. "I earned respect from everypony in the Crystal Empire, and I was perfectly fine ruling them with an iron hoof!"

Obviously his anger was ruling him now, his idea to play nice and fake being reformed out of the window in his lapse of judgment when Discord went personal. The draconequus could see this as he let out a defeated sigh, hoping that Sombra would see reason at some point.

"Fear and respect are two very different things. But obviously, this conversation is going nowhere. I'll see you tomorrow morning when you've calmed down a bit." With a snap of his fingers, Discord was gone, and Sombra was left alone again.

"And good riddance!" The charcoal stallion shouted, even if Discord probably didn't hear him. He paced back and forth in his cell as he muttered incoherent curses at his situation, being stuck with talking to Discord who had no sense of personal boundaries whatsoever.

When he had calmed down, however, one particular part of what the draconequus had said stuck in his mind. "Fear and respect are two very different things." Despite his efforts to write it off as propaganda, he started to wonder whether there was some truth in that statement.

Comments

[Bronycommander]

i fond Sombra's foalhood is somewhat sad/tragic

[ShuTodoroki]

11513912
Indeed. It's somewhat based on the backstory that they gave him in the comics, just tweaked a bit.

[Bronycommander]

11513914
mhm