• Published 20th Feb 2013
  • 17,446 Views, 1,159 Comments

Defender of Justice, King Sombra! - VashTheStampede



King Sombra wakes up in the forest with a pounding headache and horrifying memories of what he had been. Now, he sets out not to change his past, but brighten his future.

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Chapter 9

“Good morning Snowflake!” Brighter chirped as he stepped through the door, the golden mare shuffling a foal through the doors out of the entry hall. “Sombra,” she added, her voice dropping to a low tone of nothing more than tolerance.

“Good morning ma’am!” Snowflake barked, the sharpness of the outburst taking Sombra by surprise for a moment. Miss Horizons giggled for a moment, the quieted when the dark stallion nodded his greetings to the unicorn.

“Alright, so,” she began with a huff, “Standard Monday morning. Snowflake, you’ll be taking the children to school in,” she glanced at the clock, “about twenty minutes. Sombra… you can… how about you… um…”

“Why doesn’t he go with the kids to school? I’m sure it’d prove educational, and Miss Cheerilee is a pony everypony should get to meet,” Snowflake offered.

That might be nice, I do have a few thousand years of history to catch up on, Sombra thought, nodding his own approval to the idea.

Brighter Horizons hummed to herself, pondering the thought for a moment. It would keep the well-intentioned, if somewhat over-enthusiastic stallion out of her mane, and Snowflake was right – everypony should know Miss Cheerilee. Celestia bless her soul, that mare gave everything she had to teaching and it showed. Ponyville’s tiny, single-room elementary school had a history of some of the highest standardized test scores in Equestria ever since she’d started teaching, falling behind only a few of the most exclusive Manehattan and Canterlot private academies.

“Very well, I think that is a good idea. Besides, I’m going to need some help cleaning up around here today, Snowflake, and I somehow don’t trust Sombra on his own with a broom,” Horizons voiced her answer, her tone half-way between humor and frustration at the end.

“Yes ma’am,” Snowflake replied, then turned to Sombra, “Alright, let’s go get everypony rounded up.”

The three ponies headed through the doors into the main living area.

Good Faust, I thought Discord was the god of chaos.

Toys, crayons, scraps of paper, and trash were strewn about the floor, with a few books tossed in for good measure. Colts blitzed around at relativistic speeds, fillies chattered in a pitch too high for Sombra’s old ears to hear, and he could hear crying somewhere. He stopped to take this all in, not noticing that Snowflake had also paused, leaving just Horizons walking into the room.

The golden-maned mare cleared her throat softly, and everything stopped. The colts ceased moving, and the fillies stopped talking immediately. Only the crying remained, but soft and muffled.

“Alright, you all know what time it is. I want this place cleaned up and you all ready to leave in fifteen minutes. Sombra will also be accompanying you to school today, so be nice to him. Understood?” Her tone was confusing to Sombra – it seemed happy and benevolent, but there was an air of a threat behind it.

“Yes Miss Horizons,” seventeen foals answered in unison, each one reaching down and grabbing the nearest bits of whatever didn’t belong on the floor. Sombra watched in amazement as the mess disappeared before his very eyes; the foals using the magic of teamwork to make what would have taken a single pony an hour to clean vanish in under five. As soon as the floor was clean, they began filling saddlebags or filing in and out of the bathrooms, sliding around and behind the three adults as they passed through the doors and gathered in the foyer.

“That was… that was amazing, Miss Horizons,” Sombra whispered in awe.

“Oh, so you talk now, do you?” she replied, annoyance apparent in her voice. When she noticed Sombra looking away, she continued, “Hey, I’m just teasing. Sorry about yesterday. My desk was long overdue for a cleaning, even if that wasn’t exactly how I would have liked it done. Would you mind going and waiting with the foals in the lobby? Snowflake and I will be out in just a minute.”

“Not at all, Miss,” Sombra said as he straightened up. He spun around and pressed the door open gently, wanting to make sure he didn’t accidentally hit anypony standing on the other side of it, and stepped through.

---

Snowflake now stood alone in the room with Brighter, save for one other filly. The one who had been crying. Tag-a-long.

Brighter Horizons took a few steps forward, only to be stopped by a heavy hoof coming gently to her shoulder. She looked over and saw Snowflake smiling at her.

“I’ve got this.”

The huge Pegasus stallion stepped forward, walking over to the crying filly, and sat down next to her.

“Hey.”

“H-hi.”

“What’s the matter?”

“I n-needed some he-help with my ma-math homework an-d Book Worm said I wa-s stupid for n-ot being a-able to do i-t,” she managed through the sobs. Snowflake sighed heavily through his nose. Book Worm was a very, very bright young pony, but he had a tendency to be kind of a jerk about it.

“That all?” He tried his best not to sound condescending – it was mean, sure, but Tag-a-long was eleven, this seemed a bit of an extreme reaction.

“He- also said tha-t I’d nev-ver get adopted if I was th-that stupid,” she whimpered.

Oh. Oh that’s just… wow.

“Hey, you wanna know something?” Snowflake asked, turning back around and leaning closer to the crying filly. She didn’t look up, but nodded, still sniffling into her hooves. “Snowflake isn’t my real name.”

That got the little earth filly’s attention, and she looked up, green eyes opening in confusion.

“Yep, that’s right. You wanna know something else?”

Tag-a-long nodded slowly.

“Miss Redheart isn’t actually my sister. I was adopted.”

The cream colored filly gave him a look of incredulity, or at least the closest she could muster through her tears.

“It’s true. Come on, why would I lie to you? There’s one more thing you ought to know, too. These muscles? I didn’t ask for them, I didn’t work for them,” he began to explain, “I was born with a genetic defect. There’s supposed to be this hormone, a chemical in the body that keeps your muscles from growing too big. My body doesn’t produce that hormone, so my muscles just swelled and swelled – I mean sure, I’ve got more muscle-mass than the combined population of Canterlot, but it came with it’s drawbacks,” Snowflake buzzed his small wings, “The growth of my wings was really stunted, and even if they weren’t so small I’d still struggle with flying like I do now,” Snowflake paused and chuckled. “All these muscles make me weigh a lot, and they take a lot of energy so I don’t have very much stamina. I’ve had to work really, really hard just to have as much endurance as your average pony. All through school everypony was surprised at how poorly I preformed in sports, but I just got too tired too quickly. I ended up picking up the violin as a hobby, but that’s another story. Point is, so what if you’re a bit different, or you’ve got something working against you that most others don’t, or you struggle with something somepony else doesn’t? We’re all different and we’re all unique, but most of all? You have the power to change that. Don’t let other ponies tell you what you can’t do – unless it’s something dangerous to yourself or others, being responsible is important – and if somepony tries to tell you otherwise, you go and prove them wrong, you hear?”

Tag-a-long smiled and nodded weakly, even with the tears still falling slowly. She sniffed a couple more times, then a thought hit her.

“Wait, wh-what’s your re-real name?” Tag-a-long squeaked out, trying to get her breathing back under control.

The muscular Pegasus smiled a broad, toothy, genuine smile.

“It’s Bulk Biceps. Didn’t exactly have the most creative parents, it would seem.”

That broke through the tears, the little filly’s laughter bubbling out from underneath her sorrows.

“You feeling up to going to school?” Snowflake asked.

“M-hmm,” Tag-a-long hummed, wiping a couple tears from her face, before gasping as Snowflake picked her up and gave her a hug.

“You go clean yourself up then, alright?” He suggested, setting her back down. The filly giggled again and trotted off to the bathroom.

“Alright, my turn to be impressed,” Brighter Horizons said, taking a few steps towards Snowflake, “You handled that really well.”

The white stallion just chuckled. “Honestly, I’ve been working here for over a year, I’m surprised you hadn’t seen me do something like that by now, it’s no-” he halted mid-sentence as the mare reached up and kissed him lightly on the cheek. He could feel his face burning as the blush rose in him, completely uncontainable.

“Miss Horizons, I… I…”

“Oh please, don’t act like that was unexpected. You’re smart, handsome, and spectacular with the kids. Why in Equestria would you not think I’ve fallen for you?”

Snowflake sat in silence as he desperately tried to digest the new information. He opened his mouth for a moment, reconsidered, and closed it again.

Brighter Horizons’ heart leapt to her throat. Oh, no, it can’t be – he’s gay, isn’t he? I should have known, anypony that perfect has to be gay.

“Alright, I must be dreaming, that’s it,” Snowflake stated flatly, letting out a nervous laugh, “That's why Sombra was awake so crazy early, why the doughnut tasted so good this morning, and why you’re confessing to me. That’s gotta be it.”

The unicorn mare’s heart returned to it’s assigned position in her chest as she realized that Snowflake was not in fact gay, but rather had a skull made of reactor-grade lead shielding. She grabbed his chin with her magic and pulled him close, this time kissing him square on the lips. The kiss only lasted a few moments, before she gently pulled away.

“Still think you’re dreaming?”

“If I am I don’t want to wake up,” Snowflake answered.

“Ewwwww! That’s so cheesy!”

Both adults looked down at Tag-a-long, who had just trotted back out of the little filly’s room. Out of fairness, it was now Miss Horizon’s turn to blush, and the unicorn mare did so copiously, everything north of her shoulders glowing a deep red as she sped into the bathroom and out of sight. Equally embarrassed, but being the only pony left in charge, Snowflake shuffled Tag-a-long into the lobby, stepping quickly after her.

---

“Oh Celestia I kissed him!” Miss Horizons worried in the bathroom, having locked herself in one of the stalls, “How could I have just kissed him like that?”

---

Sombra turned to look at the door as it opened into the lobby, as did all the foals who had been idly chatting or milling about. A very red Snowflake strode into the room behind a giggly little earth filly, the Pegasus looking like he was trying very hard to decide whether to be overjoyed or supremely self-conscious.

“He-” Sombra attempted to say.

“Let’s go, time to leave, come on, out the door with you lot,” Snowflake interrupted, “Time to get to school, let’s go,” he repeated, shuffling the foals (and Sombra) towards the door, hoping his burning face would cool soon.

---

The school was conveniently close to Brighter’s orphanage, and the walk over didn’t take more than a few minutes. The sun was fully above the horizon now, though not by much, and the group cast a long shadow in the bright light, the silhouette only interrupted by the occasional passing cloud. The standard, friendly nod-and-greet continued with every pony they passed, with the occasional pony who was headed vaguely the same direction walking with them and chatting for a minute or two.

The school itself was a small building, but a cheerful one – it looked as though it had been painted recently, with bright red and white paint covering the building. A small bell hung above the door, bright and golden, shining in the sun. A few young foals played outside the building, in a small, fenced-in playground area. Two were passing a ball, a couple others running around, and three were sitting off from the rest chatting quietly amongst themselves. Through the window, Sombra could see an earth mare sitting at the desk – the same one he had seen leaving the house the drunken pony had gone into earlier. She held an apple in one hoof, munching on it as she scribbled something on the piece of paper in front of her. She seemed to sense Sombra’s staring, and looked up, the two ponies making eye contact for just a second, before the big unicorn looked down and back around behind him. Snowflake was still at the back of the peloton of foals, the blush mostly – though not completely – faded from his face as he focused intently at the ground beneath his hooves.

As Sombra trotted onto the school grounds, the foals behind him burst forth and ran to greet their friends. The former king heard snippets of talk about the camping trip, and he thought he caught a word or two about himself or Miss Redheart. He hoped for her sake that any rumors the children spread wouldn’t get out of hand or be taken too seriously.

Can you imagine if one of these foals tried to cook up a date for us or something? That’d just be awkward. Not bad, but awkward.

A soft smile came to his face as he watched the foals play – little ponies had this unrestrained happiness about them. They didn’t hold back, they never faked smiles or laughter. They were honest – most of the time, anyways, and when they weren’t it was pretty easy to tell. Snowflake stood beside him, eyes high as though looking over the children, but out of focus, lost in thought. The bell over the door rang suddenly and Sombra jumped slightly, the hair on the back of his neck raising slightly. The noise seemed to jar the hulk of a Pegasus next to him back into reality, and Snowflake shook his head as his eyes refocused.

“Are you alright, Snowflake?” Sombra offered quietly.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m just… yeah, a bit more than alright, to be honest,” the pony replied with a chuckle, “Just a little confused is all. Hey, that was the bell, right? Come on, let’s head inside with the foals.”

Much to Sombra’s surprise, the children actually seemed more excited to be going into class than they had been to be playing with each other, smiles still wide on their faces as they trotted quickly through the door. The mare at the desk had finished her apple, Sombra saw, and was smiling up at everypony with cheerful green eyes.

“Good morning class! So wonderful to see you all again. I hope everypony had a wonderful weekend,” her high, clear voice filled the room with it’s loving, but authoritative tone, “Good morning to you as well, Snowflake, and… I’m sorry, I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“My name is Sombra. It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Cheerilee,” Sombra said, bowing low – much the apparent amusement of the foals – in a formal introduction, “Snowflake has told me you are a, and I quote, ‘pony everypony should get to meet.’”

Cheerilee giggled. “Well, I hope he hasn’t told you everything about me or there wouldn’t be much point in having to meet me, would there?”

“Nah, that’s about all I told him,” Snowflake said from behind Sombra. “If you don’t mind, he’d like to shadow the class today.”

The mare lit up like a Hearth’s Warming Eve tree.

“Oh that’d be wonderful! I absolutely love new students! Come, come in,” she said, taking Sombra by the shoulder and hustling him inside, “There’s an adult-sized chair in the back, I hope you don’t mind sitting there but you’re… well, quite a lot taller than the other students, and sitting in front would obstruct their view. Just don’t distract anypony.”

“Of course, that is not a problem at all. Thank you vey much, Miss Cheerilee.”

“Hey, Sombra, if you don’t mind, I’m gonna head back to Miss Horizons’,” Snowflake stated, moving towards the door, “I’ve got some… uh… some stuff to take care of over there.”

Sombra nodded his assent, and Snowflake slipped back out into the town.

“Well, let’s not waste any time then, shall we?” Cheerilee asked, before turning to the class and clearing her throat. The room silenced immediately as all attention was focused onto the teacher.

What is with the mares in this town?

“Class, this is Sombra,” she began.

“Hello Sombra!” The class filled in happily.

“He’ll be joining us today for class, so I want you all to be extra good today. Not like you’re ever particularly bad, though,” she said. Hoofing Sombra a textbook, she directed him to his seat, and class began.