Chapter 6
Twilight awoke sharply at seven thirty the next morning, ready to take on the day and make the final preparations for Celestia’s arrival at ten. She brushed her teeth, took a quick, cool shower to fully awaken herself, and trotted quietly out of her room so as not to wake Spike.
Downstairs in the kitchen, she poured one, two, three bowls of oats and one, two, three glasses of milk. Leaving one bowl and glass on the table, she magically grabbed the other two breakfasts and began to walk over to the locked door. Fiddling with the magic-proof handle with her hooves, a metallic clank rewarded her efforts and the door crept open a few inches. She nudged it open with her hoof, and nearly dropped the food at the sight before her.
Sombra and Redheart lay intertwined in a rather awkward position, Sombra’s head between Redheart’s fore- and rear legs, with the white nursemare slumped over him, her head resting on his flank. It almost looked as though she had been holding his head on her lap when the two of them fell asleep. Sombra snored gently from beneath the smaller earth pony, his rhythmic breathing slowly raising and lowering her head. To say Twilight was shocked at the rather intimate sleeping position would have been an understatement – just yesterday Sombra had admitted to being one of the largest mass-murderers in the history of the world, and here slept Redheart, comforting him like a child. Blushing slightly, Twilight cleared her throat. Luckily, Redheart was a light sleeper, and jolted awake at the sudden, forced cough from the Alicorn.
“Hmm? Oh, good morning, Twilight,” Redheart mumbled groggily, eyebrows slanting in angrily for a moment, before softening. “Thank you for letting me stay with him.”
“Don’t thank me just yet. The Princess – Celestia, that is – will be here in a couple hours. Once she decides what to do with him, then you can thank me,” Twilight responded, just a touch of anger in her voice. “I… I brought you breakfast.”
“Thank you. Do you think we’d be able to use your shower? With the Princess coming like you said, I’d rather not smell like I haven’t showered.”
“Of course. There’s a shower in one of the guest bedrooms you can use. Down the hall to the left of the room you were in last night, three doors down on the right. There are other bathrooms, of course – honestly I’m not sure if I’ll ever be done finding rooms in this place – but that’s the only other one with any supplies in it. I’m afraid it only has shampoos suitable for mares, though.”
Redheart smiled. “I don’t really think he minds that much,” she said, tapping a hoof against Sombra’s side, eliciting a great snort of a snore from him. Such a snore, in fact, that he managed to wake himself up. He snuffled and wrapped his forehooves around what was presumably his pillow, before his mind registered that pillows generally don’t breathe. Or giggle, for that matter. His eyes snapped open, that purple haze drifting gently upward from their corners, and he looked around to try to figure out where he was. That’s what he would have done, at least, if his vision hadn’t been completely filled with a white stomach. Blushing madly, Sombra pulled himself up and away with great haste, very nearly catching his horn on Redheart’s throat. Shuffling away from her and backing into the corner of the room, Sombra stared down at his own forehooves as his face continued to burn red.
“Just leave your dishes by the sink in the kitchen when you’re done,” Twilight said, and turned to exit the room. She didn’t lock the door behind her, though, and Redheart had to wonder if it was a gesture of trust or if she simply didn’t want to have to come open it for them again.
The odd pair of ponies ate the breakfast, with no sound between them other than the crunching of the oats in their mouths. As they finished the oats and milk, Redheart moved to the door and shrugged, seeing nopony around to tell them not to leave. Sombra followed her out, looking around nervously as he followed his friend to the kitchen. She set the dishes on the counter, and Sombra did the same, noting a third set of breakfastware that must have been Twilight’s.
“Well, I’m going to go take Twilight up on that shower, now,” Redheart stated, half to Sombra and half to herself. “How about you just wait back in that room and wait until I’m done, ok?”
Sombra nodded, and Redheart turned and walked from the kitchen. Sombra took two steps to follow her, then realized it would perhaps be nice for Twilight if he cleaned the dishes so she didn’t have to. Heading back over to the sink, Sombra grabbed the coarse sponge from its dish on the counter, the small yellow and green device seemingly enchanted to always have a little soap in it. Taking the first bowl, he set to work.
---
About thirty minutes later, Twilight came back downstairs to find Redheart in the kitchen, idly reading a cookbook. Realizing she had yet to do the dishes from breakfast, she trotted over to the sink, only to find the three bowls and glasses sparkling clean and dry.
“Oh, well thank you Redheart, but you really didn’t have to do the dishes. I can do it myself in just a few moments with magic, or I can have Spike do it if I’m feeling, well, lazy.”
Redheart looked up from the cookbook. “I didn’t do anything of the sort.”
Twilight looked back at her, confused. If she didn’t do it, and I didn’t do it, and Spike didn’t do it… that leaves two options. Either dish-cleaning ghosts haunt this place, or Sombra did it. And I don’t know which is less likely.
---
Once again, Sombra stepped from the shower feeling refreshed and oh so pretty. Mane falling majestically to one side of his head, he took the towel into his hooves and ran it over his body, the soft fabric taking most of the water with it in a single swipe – which turned out to be a good thing, as he didn’t have a chance to do the rest. A purple aura surrounded him and lifted him off the ground, pulling him out of the bathroom, through the guest bedroom, down the hall and into the kitchen, before setting him down firmly, but not violently, in a chair next to Redheart.
“Don’t. Touch. Anything. Else,” Twilight seethed, air puffing from her nose as she pulled in deep, angry breaths.
“Twilight I don’t think-”
“I’ve seen what dark magic can do, Redheart, and it isn’t pretty. I don’t want to be attacked by sponges or bowls in my sleep,” she hissed, before turning back to Sombra. “Don’t. Touch. My. Stuff. Do I make myself clear? Celestia should be here shortly.”
Sombra swallowed and nodded, head and neck sucked in, trying to lean himself as far away from Twilight as possible.
“Twilight, let him go!”
“How can you possibly be taking his side in this?” Twilight groaned, “After all he told us, after all he himself claimed to be, how can you support him?”
“Because that’s not the pony he is anymore! Can’t you see that? Look at him!” Redheart was nearly yelling at this point, her voice drowning out the soft pop from the other room. “He’s terrified of you! Eyes wide, pupils dilated, rapid, shallow breathing – that’s a fear reaction in its purest form. Why would he be afraid of you if he was still the monster you say he is?”
“I don’t know!” Twilight shouted. “I just don’t! Maybe he’s playing the long con, maybe he just wants to lure us into a false sense of security before he kills us and starts taking back Equestria!”
“That’s not who he is anymore! I don’t know why, but I can just… I can feel it. Look at you there, though, the princess of everything friendship stands for, and you’re refusing to give a pony a chance to prove himself. You are betraying everything Celestia taught you and raised you to do. What would she think?”
“Don’t you DARE bring Celestia into this!”
“She doesn’t have to. You already did, Twilight,” Celestia said calmly.
---
Rarity smiled as she disembarked from the train with her friend. The third annual Manehattan sewing convention had been a lot of fun, of course, and she’d picked up a few new fabrics she’d love to try to add to her dresses. She had, however, been holding back the question of why, in particular, it had been Pinkie Pie to attend with her. Sewing was typically something unicorns did, as the dexterity and steady hooves required to do it by hoof eluded most ponies – and Rarity couldn’t think of a pony who had more trouble sitting still than the pink earth pony next to her. She’d held the question to herself the entire weekend, but now she simply had to know.
“Pinkie, my dear,” Rarity began, and the incessant bouncing prance Pinkie referred to as “walking” slowed to a more normal pace to listen, “Forgive me but I must ask – why the sudden interest in sewing?”
The bouncing stopped entirely and Pinkie began to walk normally for what seemed like the first time in forever.
“Well you see Rarity, Rainbow Dash has this super special Teddy Bear named Mr. Fribbles she’s had ever since she was just a little filly,” Pinkie started to explain. Rarity arched an eyebrow in suspicion, but knew better than to openly question one of Pinkie’s stories at this point, and waited for her friend to continue. “And last Thursday night she accidentally tore one of his arms off in her sleep. Which, you know, sometimes just happens with really old stuffed animals. Naturally she was really upset and wanted it fixed, but she didn’t want you or Fluttershy to know about it, because she thinks it’s embarrassing that she still sleeps with a stuffed animal, and especially since subtlety really isn’t your thing.”
Rarity had to physically bite her tongue to prevent a sarcastic reply.
“Anyways, I figured since I knew about it I’d try to learn a bit of sewing to fix it for her without anypony else knowing about dear Mr. Fribbles or the unfortunate accident he had.”
Rarity thought about it for a moment, and realizing that, given it was Pinkie after all, she supposed it made sense, except for one small detail.
“Wait, how did you find out about Mr. Fribbles?”
Pinkie gasped in horror. “Wait, how do you know about Mr. Fribbles? Who told y-”
The pink mare froze. Her tail twitched, her mane shook, her knees knocked and her eyes fluttered in a spastic combination Rarity had never seen before.
“Pinkie dear, are you ok?”
“Whoa! That one was a doozy,” Rarity flinched at the word, “I haven’t felt that one since Discord came back to Ponyville! That must be the signal for ‘A new pony is in town and they used to be a villain but now they’re reformed and they’ve come back to be friends!’” she chirped excitedly. “Oh I hope it’s Trixie or Gilda – oh, or maybe even Lighting Dust!” She paused and sniffed deeply. “And it smells like they’re at Twilight’s! Come on Rarity, we’ve got a new ex-baddie to meet!” With that, Pinkie dashed off.
Rarity, startled, stood still and blinked a couple times. “Wait, what?”
---
Twilight deflated like a popped balloon, and fell to her haunches. “Celestia?”
“Princess…” Redheart breathed, dropping down into a low bow.
Sombra eyed the door, wishing he could run, but knowing he didn’t have the strength to overpower Twilight.
“Please, my little ponies. Stand up. I came here expecting to pass judgment on one who is perhaps the single most appalling pony ever to live. Someone seems to be quite convinced that he deserves a pardon, though. That said, I’d like to hear his side first, if neither of you object.”
“Of course not, Princess,” Twilight and Redheart answered in unison, Twilight dropping the magic restraining the black unicorn.
“Very well then. Sombra,” Celestia said.
“Princess,” came his growling reply. “What you say is true, I am a disgusting excuse for a pony. I have done a great many horrible, horrible things in my time, and I cannot imagine for what reason I was spared death in the Crystal Empire this past year, or all those years ago. I stand ready to accept any punishment you have for me.”
“Is that so?” Celestia inquired. “If that is the case, I did have a punishment in mind, had you been brought back from the Crystal Empire alive. It will be extremely painful, and it will not end any time soon.” Sombra nodded.
“So be it.” Celestia stated flatly, her horn flaring for a moment as she began to cast a teleportation spell.
That was the moment Redheart found herself walking on the very thin line between bravery and stupidity.
“No.”
The magic around Celestia’s horn flickered and dissipated, and Twilight’s jaw dropped. “Oh?”
“You can’t do that to him. I know what he said, he told me, he told us, everything about what he did and how he came to be. I don’t see a pony who wants to kill or eat or subjugate anymore,” Redheart said, throat dry and threatening to choke her out of every word, her voice remarkably steady for how noticeably her body shivered. “I see a pony who needs help, who needs help perhaps more than any pony who has ever lived before, a pony who has forgotten what it’s like to be loved. I look at him and my heart just cries out for me to help him. He feels it too, I know that much. He tries to help in all the silliest, most trivial ways imaginable, trying to do nice things for other ponies without even asking, even if it’s not the most proper. He cleaned the campsite and carried the trash bags, organized the desk at the orphanage, ate a salad he clearly didn’t like just because I was the one paying for it… and that’s not all. He has a good heart now, it’s new and it’s hurting, but he wants to help. I cannot believe you would be so willing to immediately condemn him like this, Princess, when everything you stand for is forgiveness and helping other ponies in their time of need. It’s absolutely shameful. Disgraceful. Pathetic.”
Oh sweet Celestia in Canterlot I just called the Princess pathetic. Redheart suddenly found every ounce of strength drained from her as the full weight of what she had just said – and more importantly, who she had said it to – hit her, and she collapsed to the ground in a state of shock.
Celestia arched an eyebrow incredulously.
“Oh Princess, Princess I’m so sorry, I just… I don’t know-”
Celestia laughed.
“It has been a very long time since I’ve been spoken to like that. A very long time indeed,” she said with a chuckle. “Thank you, Miss Redheart. Even I am not infallible – yes Twilight, I make mistakes, many more than you ever have, you can pick your jaw up off the floor – and sometimes it takes another pony’s view to bring me back around. I have let hatred and fear cloud my judgment before, and it has only ever ended in heartbreak. You’re right, Redheart, and I can hear it in your voice and see it in your eyes. You believe in Sombra, you genuinely think he has changed, and has the ability to keep changing for the better. Very well. A somewhat less tortuous punishment is in order, and one I’m sure Twilight will be familiar with. Sombra, I’m going to ask you to stay in Ponyvvmmmph.”
A gasp longer than Redheart would have thought possible pierced the air as a fluffy pink tail covered Celestia’s face and muffled her voice, the equally fluffy pink pony attached to it hovering stationary in the air longer than an earth pony should have been able to.
“Oh my gosh, it’s not Trixie or Gilda or even Lightning Dust! It’s you! I never even got to talk to you at all! Oh this is wonderful, I can’t wait to get to know you!”
---
Sombra’s mouth hung open in shock as not one but two ponies just disrespected the Princess. The fact that one of them was in his face and talking faster than he could comprehend only added to the confusion of the situation. His eyes fell upon Redheart, the one thing that seemed to be stationary now that this fuchsia nuisance had entered the room.
Redheart stood up for me. Redheart stood up to the princess for me. Why would she do that for me, even after she knows who – no, what I really was?
Somewhere in the avalanche of words pouring out of the pink one’s mouth Sombra’s ears perked up and caught the word “party.” Suddenly snapped back to reality, the next thing he caught was Twilight yelling.
“Pinkie Pie! You can’t throw a party for him!”
The mare skidded to a halt on Twilight’s polished crystal floors, and Sombra could have sworn her hair visibly lost volume.
“But I always throw parties,” the one identified as Pinkie Pie whimpered, “Why can’t I throw one for… for… umm,” she turned to Sombra. “I’m sorry mister but I don’t think I know your name.”
“My name is Sombra,” he tried to answer in the most cheerful voice possible, wincing when instead it came out as a growl. Welp there it goes, I’ve scared her off.
“Whoaaaaa, I like your voice! It sounds all… growly and fierce!”
What?
“Yeah it sounds all… royal, and powerful!”
Can… can she read minds? But she’s an earth pony!
“No silly, your face is easier to read than most of Twilight’s books,” the mare replied almost psychically, with a giggle.
“Pinkie!”
“Yes Twilight?”
“Stop fraternizing with the enemy!”
“He’s hardly the enemy, look at him. You’ve got him magically tied up and everything. And besides, look how scared he is. Wait, why does he look so frightened?”
“Twilight and I… may have had a slight altercation in the Crystal Empire,” Sombra offered quietly.
“Well I know that, I was there. I mean right NOW?”
“Pinkie! He tried to kill Spike, and my brother, and not to mention, the rest of Equestria! How can you be so calm about this?”
“Actually, Twilight,” Celestia interrupted, “I think a party would be a grand idea.”
“Princess! Not you too…” Twilight whined as she realized she no longer had any winning move in this game.
Don’t I get a say in this?
“Don’t worry, it’ll be fun!” the pink mare promised.
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I lost it when pinkie's tail suddenly muffled Celestia, that was quite unexpected to say the least.
Lol, LOl, LOL, LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, now I have the image of Sombra doing Rarity's mane flip stuck in my head.
It seems that Sombra + shower = Funny.
Ok. I Never expected to Pinkie not only to muffle Celestia's voice with her tail, but ALSO to throw a party to Sombra.
Lmao I Loved this chapter. I have to say I ALMOST felt sorry for Twilight...... But then it passed.
I loved the interactions between the characters it was very funny!
When Pinkie appeared, my first impulse was to believe that Pinkie had popped out of Celestia's mouth.
5259263 looks like sombrero is metro
5235226 The formatting of that is causing my eyes to hemorrhage at an alarmingly significant rate.
Oh Pinkie
This is gonna be like Discord's reformation process without the trolling.
Is it bad that I actually wanted fight scene to happen between Sombra and the Princesses and him still coming out on top? also mabey Blueblood defeating him for a troll chapter.
Loving this! I can't wait to see everyponies reactions to Sombra!
Yaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy great character.
Pinkie party is a less tortuous punishment!??!!
Sombra's going to go fabulous at this point with all the shampoo he's using.
Shut up Twilight
also, I WANT MORE!!!!
"“She doesn’t have to. You already did, Twilight,” Celestia said calmly."
...
PRAISE THE SUN!
5260166 AND HER GLORIOUS FLANKS
Also this is actually really nice. All I can see is Twilight getting really paranoid and becoming an unintentional villain because everyone sides with Sombra.
Wonder how Cadance and Shining are gonna take this.
Behold! Twicorn, the Princess of Hypocrisy.
No no you don't
erm merh gerd I love it
Shut the buck up, twilight...
REDHEART FOR THE WIN, WOO!!!
5259263 Hawt, too.
my response: HAHA
5259797
what do you mean cupcakes?
5260382 in all fairness, sombra seems as bad as a cannibalistic hitler, twilight has a good reason to be wary of him. I'm pretty sure there is difference between working out the past for friendship, and letting your gaurd down in front of a potential all-powerful tyrant.
...yeah I see this going to "Smarty Pants" incident levels inside 10 chapters. 20 Bits and a cookie says Twilight goes full-blown villain and tries to kill Sombra in some elaborate fashion only to fail about 2 times before going for the direct approach and needs a smack-down to come back to her senses! Also, additional 10 bits says Sombra has to relapse into dark magic to try and stop her on even footing, causing major regression in behavior.
You know, a lot of people are against Twilight here. I notice that often, even if the character is written in character, people get angry with anyone who opposes the main character of the story....Well, what the heck do you guys think Twilight was going to do? Open up her arms and except pretty much this world's version of Ganondorf/Voldermort/Hitler? For bucks sake, no matter what he is now, he won't ever be accepted in the Crystal Empire for a damned good reason.
I'm not saying we should hate Sombra. It seems he went the 'Arthas' route. Good ruler turned evil and all that. I had a similar thought of him, but still. Twilight being paranoid is understandable. Actually, it should be encouraged. He was quite thorough with his traps and ideas to halt any who tried to get the heart. He bloody nearly won. It would stand to reason that he could be faking.
So yeah, I would be as hesitant of Sombra too.
Of course, we as the readers know differently however and the ponies of Ponyville don't really know much about the Crystal Empire as it only appeared a few months ago after over a thousand years of its disappearance. So they won't hate him. Of course, be rather nervous. I mean, he's so blatantly evil looking. Hard not to get nervous, unless you're Pinkie Pie.
"He tried to kill Spike, and my brother"
Well....
That was more like, Sombra trying to take the crystal heart from Spike, Spike just jumped to catch the crystal heart
Also Shining Armor was just defending the empire and Sombra just, got his horn.
But well, whatever you write OP, i'm still reading this to know where it goes.
Stupid Sexy Sombra is now officially a thing.
So glad I finally chose to dig this out of my read-later list.
I can't wait for more. Keep up the good work.
5261832 I agree but I mean DONT TOUCH ANYTHING he fucking washes your dishes and you scold him.
I swear to god if she scolds him for playing with the twins or etc. I WILL FUCKING
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! YOU BROUGHT PINKIE PIE INTO THIS! OH FAUST I LOVE TO SEE SOMBRA AND PINKIE PIE INTERACTING! THEY'RE MY FREAKING OTP!!
...
I mean... *ahem* Cool, Pinkie's here. I love to see Sombra and Pinkie together in quirky interactions with the King of Fear and the mare who has no fears.
I REGRET NOTHIIIIIIIIIIINNNGGGGGGGG
At this point i believe Twilight deserves a good punch to the throat, several times.
Oh boy, now it's real
There needs to be a shocked emoticon
Yay!!! Someone finally got the nerve to stand up to her!
Twilight stop being a bully
Look at Celestia, laying down the BURN!
Though for everyone hating in the comments, it's actually good for her to be this cautious. She hasn't seen him behaving as benevolently as Redheart has, and he's proven near-deadly in the past. And remember, she was the only one who suspected Chrysalis, and look how that ended.
Those five people who dont like it are probably twilight fans
You know what i mean...
5272696
Well, I certainly approve of this fic, even if it is damaging a certain lavender alicorn's reputation.
5283497 oh I meant nothing to offend you, I mean twilight fans
Get the picture?
5230053 hey us bad writers don't need your shit, you'd have a nicer image in the minds of others if you just went ahead of yourself and not even bothered
5230053
5283958
I have a nice image of Elric of Melnipony. He's pretty cool (Wait, you are a he, right?).
5283954
I'm sorry, I don't understand. Are you insulting Twilight Velvet fans?
5283985 LITTERALLY?
Work it out, process of elimination,
twilight sparkle?twilight velvet?twilight?
5284100
*literally
Are You insulting fans of G1 Twilight? I mean, I know G1 is nowhere near as good as G4, but it was arguably the second best Generation. And Twilight was pretty cool.
5284119
Either you're antagonizing him on purpose or you really don't get that he's referring to Twilight, the shittily written vampire teen novels that were all the rage like four years ago, that were made into equally terrible films
5284190
Well, this is a My Little Pony fanfiction site. Why would I think he was talking about fans of a totally unrelated (and admittedly quite horrible) series disliking this fic for no obvious reason?
5284220 and I do like this story, it's on my favorited list but as sir writer said, twilight, the shit vampire books, is what I meant,
flavorwire.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/mao.jpg
A tyrant who feels
.
Yeah! Sombra gets it!
memefiles.alphacoders.com/155/1554.jpg
Whip that mane back and forth, whip that mane back and forth...
Gilda is not a villain, and neither is Lightning Dust
Pinkie can read minds...
Pinkie: Of course I do Midi-boy
... it all makes sense.. the toon deck... the magic.. the mind reading.. YOU ARE THE MAXIMILIAN JAMES PEAGASUS OF EQUESTRIA! *Whips out duel disk* Let's duel
Pinkie: okee dokee!
...
...
Masked beast des guardius! wipe out her toon dark maregician girl! (Who looks like twilight)
DARK DESTRUCTION!
Pinkie and Twilight: NOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Pinkie LP: 0
YES! Now... sit still while I take what is mine... you eye
Pinkie: Rematch! Rematch!
no... wait, you don't have the millennium eye...
Pinkie: of course not silly, where are you going?
home, that was fun but I have better things to do than kick your butt at duel monsters... but you are much better than Twilight, she is a total n00b