Chapter 12
Sombra awoke early again the next morning, the horrific memories of his nightmarish past once again refusing to let him find peace or rest. For a moment he thanked Faust for seeing fit to continue punishing him, then remembered Twilight’s words – that everypony was important and that he had changed. Or so it seemed, at least. Sombra could see the changes in his own actions and his own thoughts and responses, but he still felt like he couldn’t, or rather, shouldn’t, trust himself completely. Shaking his head as he sat up on the futon, an ear flicked reflexively as he heard some noises upstairs. The heavy, lilted hoofsteps indicated it was Snowflake trotting around, most likely getting ready for work and taking the foals to school again. Sombra smiled – school had been fun, and he had learned an awful lot, and even made a couple friends. He’d like to go again today, if at all possible, but what Scootaloo had said to him stuck out in his mind. The Princess. The other Alicorn, the one in the Empire. Scootaloo said she had the same cutie mark as I. Perhaps Twilight would know her?
Sombra rolled out of the bed rather unceremoniously, stumbling as one of his legs failed to bear weight for just a moment. He stood up and shook the limb angrily, staring at it as though it had chosen to do that of its own volition. Snowflake chuckled from the top of the stairs.
“Sleep a little better last night?” Snowflake asked as he continued his descent.
“Yes, much. Thank you. Still with the nightmares, but there’s not much to be done about that,” Sombra replied, lightly testing his leg to see if it was going to cooperate now. It did, and he began to walk towards the chiseled Pegasus.
“Glad to hear it, Somby. Eugh, no, that sounded so much better in my head. I guess I’ll just stick to Sombra,” Snowflake replied with a lopsided grin. “You wanna come with me to the orphanage again today?”
“Somby?” the unicorn questioned, trying not to laugh, “Where on earth did that come from?”
“I was just trying to come up with a nickname for ya, like sometimes ponies call me ‘Snow’ for short, instead of calling me Snowflake. Though I guess there’s not much need to shorten Sombra, and goodness Somby was a terrible choice, let’s forget I ever said that. Anyways, Miss Horizon’s place. Yes? No?”
“I was actually thinking of visiting Twilight again today. One of the foals at school yesterday mentioned another Princess, one with a cutie mark very similar to my own. I thought that, given Twilight is herself an Alicorn, she would most likely at least be familiar with the others.”
Snowflake smacked himself in the forehead. “I knew that cutie mark of yours looked familiar! I can’t believe I couldn’t place it. Yeah, the third Princess, Princess Cadance. Miss Sparkle knows her pretty well, they’re sisters-in-law and I believe Princess Cadance used to babysit Miss Sparkle when they were both much younger.”
“Sisters-in-law?”
“Yeah, Princess Cadance married Miss Sparkle’s older brother, a stallion named Shining Armor. Captain of the Royal Guard. Anyway, yeah, that’s definitely worth looking into. I’d say wait a couple hours first though, Miss Twilight gets up pretty early but she’s not exactly a morning pony. Anyway, I gotta run. Feel free to use the shower; my sister shouldn’t be up for a few more hours, so it should be fine. See ya later!” And with that, Snowflake was out the door, without so much as a glass of milk in terms of breakfast.
I wonder if he’s getting something with Miss Horizons? Sombra thought to himself with a bit of a chuckle, before he turned and headed up the stairs and into the shower.
---
“Sister,” Luna began as she entered the throne room, then paused for a yawn, “I’m sorry to interrupt you. One of our subjects is having the most horrific nightmares, the likes of which I haven’t seen since before my banishment,” Luna finished, more than a little concern in her voice. Celestia cringed – much more so inside than out – at the nonchalant mention of the single thing she regretted most in her life, but gave her sister her full attention.
“Do continue, Luna,” Celestia said, setting down her pen and pushing away the piece of parchment she was writing on, “If you felt it is worth bringing to my attention, it probably is. Who is the unfortunate pony in question, and why have you done nothing to stop it, if it bothers you so?” Celestia tried her best not to sound condescending, but somehow the words just came out wrong. Thankfully, Luna seemed to either not notice or not care.
“That is the problem itself, Celestia,” the night Alicorn started, “I cannot ease these dreams, or change them. This is the second night in a row I have felt them, and I cannot alter them, or even override them. I can merely watch in horror as they play out to completion. These dreams are of a dark time, sister, one long past in Equestria. On top of that, I cannot identify the pony having the dream – I can tell it originates from Ponyville, but the mind is clouded and dark, full of sorrow and regret, and I cannot find anything more specific than that. Strangest of all is that the dreams are all from the dreamer’s point of view, through the eyes of the pony having them. Celestia, I feel awful. What can I do to help them?”
“Memories,” Celestia said softly.
“Sister I know I cannot interfere with dreams of memories but there is not a single pony in all of Equestria who could have these memories,” Luna objected.
“There is one,” the elder Alicorn swiveled her head over to make eye contact with her sister, “Sombra.”
Luna’s eyes widened and her whole body tensed up at the name, and Celestia realized she had forgotten something rather important. “Sombra? But he was destroyed when your niece took the throne as the new Crystal Princess in the Empire. How could he… how could I be viewing his memories?”
Celestia brought her hooves to her face, gently rubbing her eyes and groaning. “Luna it seems I forgot to tell you something… when I visited Twilight last weekend, I met a rather unexpected visitor – King Sombra. He has returned, and he is different, very much so.”
“Sister… why did you not tell me? You know how I feel about Sombra and what happened with him.”
“Luna I am acutely aware of what Sombra did and the… influence it had on you, and what resulted from it and if there was any way for me to change what happened or change places with you I would. I just… I don’t know, Luna, I’m sorry.”
“Celestia,” Luna started, then trailed off and thought for a moment. “Forgive me if I am hesitant to believe that a monster such as King Sombra has just changed, but if you can look me in the eyes and tell me he is not an immediate threat, I will continue to monitor his… memories.”
Celestia locked eyes with her sister. “Sombra is not a threat. He is also no longer a king.”
Luna sighed. “Very well,” she said as she turned back to the door, “I trust you, sister. This makes me very nervous, but I trust you. I am going back to bed.” With that, she was gone.
Celestia sat quietly for a moment before cursing to herself, forgetting something that was such a touchy subject for her sister, but decided it was for the best to leave Luna to stew with it for a while, and returned to her paperwork.
---
Sombra took Snowflake’s advice, and remained idly flipping through the pages of a dictionary he found on a bookshelf until precisely nine thirty in the morning. Or nine thirty-seven, to be more accurate. He’d gotten rather distracted by a series of words beginning with “de” – denounce, denigrate, such like things, and ended up leaving a few minutes later than he had originally intended. A few more minutes couldn’t hurt, anyways, he figured.
The town was remarkably less populated even just a couple hours later, than what he had noticed yesterday at least. Everypony must have been going to work, he thought, I suppose they’re all at work now, so that’d be why nopony is out and about. Only a hoofful of ponies crossed his path, and none of them engaged him in more than a perfunctory “Hello, how are you?” for conversation. Sombra was thankful for that – he didn’t particularly want to be anti-social, but at the same time he still didn’t really feel that comfortable just talking to strangers without Miss Redheart or Snowflake nearby.
He reached Twilight’s castle – the large crystalline structure a little too reminiscent of his own past, both beautiful and out of place – after only a few minutes walking. He raised his hoof to knock on the door, but paused a moment before acting, moments from changing his mind about the whole ordeal. As he set his hoof back down, the door opened inwards, and Twilight Sparkle stopped just short of walking into the bigger, black unicorn. She recoiled in surprise, and for just a fraction of a moment it looked like fear crossed her face, but she quickly regained her composure.
“Oh, good morning, Sombra,” Twilight offered in an only slightly-forced cheerful tone, “Is there something I can help you with?”
“Ah, no, thank you, Twilight. I was just… just going,” Sombra mumbled, his lies less than convincing.
“Sombra,” Twilight began, for a moment reaching to place a hoof on his shoulder, then awkwardly withdrawing her leg, thinking perhaps the gesture wouldn’t have been appropriate. “My lib… castle is well out of the way of anywhere you’d be going,” the young Alicorn mentally punched herself for the condescending words, “You were coming to ask me for or about something, weren’t you? Here, come in. I was just about to head out and run some errands, but I have nothing else on my schedule today, and I was heading out a bit earlier than I had originally planned, anyways.”
Sombra sighed and nodded, following Twilight back into her home. “I went to the school yesterday, and, among a great many other things I learned, a little filly named Scootaloo told me there is a Princess with a cutie mark very similar to my own. This morning I spoke to Snowflake about it briefly, and he suggested I come to you about it. He mentioned you being on good terms with her, and I was… hoping to meet her, if at all possible.”
Twilight turned, blinked a couple times, and made a not-so-subtle glance aft of Sombra’s head, searching for a good look at his flank. Sombra himself shifted his rear legs slightly to give her a better view, and Twilight gasped slightly.
“You’re right – your cutie mark is almost identical to Cadance’s,” Twilight said, offering Sombra a seat with a nod of her head. The unicorn took it graciously, suddenly feeling a spark of pity and something resembling a twisted, sad form of nostalgia for Twilight, living alone in a monstrous castle with nopony but her manservant/brother/son/friend, the little dragon named Spike.
Who I tried to kill in the Crystal Empire, Sombra thought.
“If you want, I can contact Celestia in Canterlot and ask her to talk to Cadance about visiting Ponyville, would you like that?” Twilight offered, sitting back in her chair and smiling a little at the thought of seeing Cadance again.
“That would be very kind of you, Twilight, but is it really alright for you to use the Princess as a messenger like that?”
“It’s by far the fastest way to get a letter from here to the Crystal Empire, and I’ve gotten to the point where I dare call the Princess one of my…” Twilight paused for a moment, a giddy smile spreading to her lips, “one of my friends,” she continued with a squeal.
Sombra raised an eyebrow.
“Sorry,” Twilight responded to his silent question, “I just spent my entire life looking up to her as this untouchable, unapproachable, perfect object of beau- knowledge, and I’ve finally started to get it into my head how hard she tried to get down off the pedestal I always put her on. She always wanted to be friends and I always wanted to be unworthy. I guess now I don’t really have much of a choice in where my position is relative to her,” the mare said with a fluff of her wings. “Sorry, I’m rambling. Here, let me get that letter sent. Spike!”
The little dragon came out of his room on the second floor at a trot, a comic book closed in one of his hands, a claw marking his page, and a quill and a piece of parchment in the other. His eyes widened momentarily when he saw Sombra and his gait stuttered a bit, but he continued down the stairs regardless. Sombra lowered his head and refused to meet Spike’s eyes when he hit the ground floor, and continued avoiding his gaze as he approached.
“Spike, could you get me a quill and a piece of –” Twilight started, but was interrupted as Spike presented the stationary to her. “Thank you Spike. Would you mind waiting around for a moment while I write it, so we can send the letter right away?”
Spike grunted acknowledgement and hopped up on the couch next to Twilight, resting his head against her side. Twilight, almost unconsciously, slid a wing out and rested the tip on the top of Spike’s head, and the wee drake smiled from behind his comic book.
“Do you want me to explain why we would like Cadance to come?” Twilight asked as she levitated the parchment in front of her, “It might be better not to, seeing as you being here might be reason enough to make her not want to come, and she does love surprises.”
“Whatever you think is best, Miss Twilight. Thank you very much.”
“It’s fine, really. Any excuse to see Cadance again,” Twilight responded with a reassuring smile, “Dear Princess Celestia, I have a favor to ask you…”
---
Cadance was starting to nod off on the crystal throne – sure, the fall of King Sombra had added some life to the Crystal Ponies, but a large fraction of them were still rather… monotone in their speech. Being a court day, it had kind of dragged on – and it was only ten in the morning. The pink Alicorn practically fell off the throne when the letter appeared in front of her, hooves flailing to catch herself on one of the ornately hewn arms in a rather un-princess-like manner, to prevent an even less princess-like fall. The Crystal Pony before her stopped talking, eyes filling with fear and confusion.
“My apologies, good subject” Cadance offered, “If you’ll excuse me for just a moment.”
The pony nodded, and Cadance magically popped the seal on the letter.
A message from Celestia? I wonder what it could be, she thought as her eyes scanned the page. Ah, Twilight wants me to visit for a… surprise. Cadance couldn’t hide the groan. The last “surprise” ended with a pony-eating flower. Though I suppose that wasn’t Twilight’s fault. Never being one for waste, Cadance levitated a quill over and scratched a quick response on the back of the same letter, and zapped it back to her aunt.
“Now then, where were we?”
“No, it’s fine, it really…” the crystal pony trailed off, and Cadance leaned forwards.
“Yes?”
“Thank you for your time, Princess!” the Crystal Pony yelled suddenly, and turned tail and ran out of the throne room.
Oh we need to work on this.
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First
And this one will begin with a former pony-eating pony.
Seriously, this seems like an imminent disaster. Twilight doesn't seem to have given any thought to how Cadance is going to react to this.
Oh well, more fun for us readers! ____*
*Insert evil laugh emoticon, which I really wish we had, here.
Well done, I enjoyed this chapter quite thoroughly.
LOL I love the crystal pones reaction at the end
Having just found this story today, and read it all through, I have but one thing to say. I MUST HAVE MOAR!!!
Trollestia is at it again I see
*Looks at front page of this website and sees this story*
Well new chapter out. Come on though every time this story gets a chapter its on the front page.
Also...
5443443
No one cares
5443443 f**k you anon
5443453 Don't worry I'm working on introducing an edgier genuinely evil story type. After it takes hold they'll have to add an evil emoticon.
AWESOME STORY MOAR
5443806 Who?
Whee, this is going to go either hilariously wrong or startlingly well.
5443453
It's nature taking its revenge
I guarantee Cadence knocks Sombra through a wall.
I'm very anxious to see where this goes. Cautiously optimistic, however.
And I do hope that Spike and Sombra can at least talk at some point. Maybe bring up the whole Greed Growth episode.
...and are you referring to "Three's A Crowd" as the previous meeting between Twilight and Cadance? Because that wasn't a pony-eating flower; that was a Tatlzwurm! Unless you're bringing up something that wasn't in the show, in which case, carry on good writer.
This can only end in [INSERT PLACE HERE].
5444104 It's gonna be bad. If Harmony Charmer has taught me anything it's that when Cadence meets Sombra again she is going to flip her shit, because as good as love is at being forgiving it can also hold onto hate for a long time and bite your head off if you get too close.
I really do enjoy this story. I can't wait for Cadence's reaction to Sombra, and I wonder if Redheart will be there for the meeting?
5443814 F**K You. Period.
5444451 okay
5444451 That was a little harsh. It is like you pointed out a pointless comment with a hostile pointless comment, making you a hypocrite and a moron.
Fantastic chapter, thought it is very... mid-chaptery. It feels like there was just a good chunk missing from it as if we were going to see more of Sombra's day and then it finishing with Cadance. That is my own personal thoughts though.
Awesome chapter is awesome. Next chapter is going to be a lot of fun.
On a semi-related note: What is your take on Sombra's reign of terror so to speak? What was his reason? Lot of people seem to lean towards possession of some sort [seem to recall it being the same nightmare that possessed Luna for one or two fanfics] and I am curious as to what your take is.
chaos.............. chaos everywhere
fucking celestia.
note to self: NEVER send message to sunbut for transfer
5442381 played duel monsters the entire time it was in America, ten plus years
I Always get excited whenever there is a new chapter! Once again you have impressed me. Keep up the good work!
5444884 ok
5443982 Sounds the most reasonable in this type of situation.
Well, this is going to go either horrible or not so bad. I very much it will o swimmingly. (Like a jew meeting Hitler.) Though, I do wonder, author? Are you perhaps insinuating that Sombra is Cadance's father? (Should be noted that she was found as a small child out in the middle of nowhere and from the episode, we can infer that the ponies knew of her....Yeah, it's kind of my own headcanon.)
Anyways, good work so far. Keep it up.
5445555
Basic idea is, as explained in chapter... four or five, I think, the one with Sombra's big monologue, he was dying and was revived by/healed by a spell that was supposed to grant immortality on the target. It worked, by granted him vampiric powers and restored his health at the cost of the dark magic of eating away at his soul, gradually corrupting his ideals and personality. Major difference was this was a spell, not a wearable artifact, and considerably stronger than the Alicorn Amulet, so it could not be reversed or taken off.
5443990
I was, yeah. IIRC it did attempt to kill/eat Twilight, but it has been a while since I watched that episode.
5447085 Ah that's right - forgot all about that. Sorry and thanks.
How intriguing, especially how exactly Sombra and Cadence will react upon seeing one another. I can only assume Cadence will go off on Sombra and make him burst into tears. I await the next chapter to this delicious tale eagerly.
Why do I sense that Sombra is going to do a Darth Vader moment with Cadence. "No Cadence I am your Father!" Not complaining very interested keep up the good work.
I eagerly await the next exciting chapter!
5447965
"Sombra! Only one of us can have that Cutie Mark! Die!"
*Boom, bsshhh! Pew pew pew!*
A nice change from the Sombrapie or SompraSparkle fics and I think you have an amazing version of Bulk Biceps turning him into a good character instead of comedic relief.
Kinda funny how I found this, actually...I don't know why, but I was browsing around looking for a good fic then I searched for a sombra/red heart fic and here it is
Surprise! It's your mortal enemy!
...
Not your best plan, Twilight.
This is going to end poorly.
Better have red there to help
Lol.
5697815 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
5779841
Eeyup
He did or u did author?
Death! Demise! Destruction! Mwahahahahahahah