The Queen and the Outcast Chapter 1
“I’m sorry, you want me to what?” The purple unicorn stared at the three Princesses with an incredulous look. Twilight Sparkle eyed the two sister Princesses before focusing on her sister-in-law.
“Cadence, I don’t understand. After what happened in the Crystal Empire, surely Sombra was destroyed.”
“No, what was plaguing him was destroyed. Just as what had been at my heels,” Princess Luna interjected. “As Nightmare Moon, so did this. Princess Cadence saw this through the Crystal Heart. She shared this vision with us to confirm it.”
“So you want me to… find him and reform him?” Twilight Sparkle was feeling weak in the knees. “Is there anything… left of him?”
“Twilight. You are a powerful and good being. You and your friends have the capacity to transform the lives of so many. Look at Fluttershy and Discord!” Princess Cadence offered as a suggestion. “It’s amazing! If anyone can do it, it’s you!”
'“But after what he put me… I mean us! Through,” Her mind flashed back to the testing and she as trembling, remembering how terrible she had felt.
“It wasn’t him,” Princess Celestia said soothingly. “At any point, you are free to stop and we’ll take him off your hooves. But we truly believe that you can guide him. You both have very similar mind, often too focused. You can help him look beyond his nose to look at the world around him. Like your friends helped you.”
“You just want me to befriend him, don’t you?” Twilight Sparkle asked tiredly.
“Well, it’s sort of your specialty,” Princess Cadence teased.
“Oh, for the love of Celestia.”
“Yes?” Princess Celestia grinned at her pupil.
“Not what I meant!” Twilight Sparkle hooved her face. “Look. Alright. I’ll try. I suppose you have an idea of where Sombra might be?”
“We do. He’s being healed in the hospital wing.”
Twilight Sparkle fastened her glare on the three Princesses.
“Well, at least you don’t have to look too far for him,” Princess Celestia offered.
“That’s not…”
“Funny, yes, yes,” Princess Celestia began to push her with her large wing. “Come, come, now, Twilight! Let us go and head onward!”
“Well, who found him?” Twilight Sparkle was trying to gather as much information as possible before being shoved into the isolated hospital wing. It was cold, empty, and void of most objects and things that a hospital wing would need save for a very bare corner.
The hospital bed had a still body as Twilight Sparkle inched toward the bed nervously. She sparked her horn instinctively, the light flickering as the air around her seemed to be as still as the body.
The air was tepid and tasted like alcohol and cleaning supplies. The windows were closed so there was no movement whatsoever noted save for Twilight Sparkle’s inching forward. There was a lantern over the bed, shedding a soft, soothing light as she finally began to see the slow rise and fall of the body’s breathing.
“What am I doing?” Her frantic soft whisper, usually inaudible to the rest of the world, thrown into the emptiness of the wing echoed heavily as the body jumped about three feet in the air and fell into a clump in front of her.
“Oh, dear Celestia!” Twilight Sparkle forgot everything about him being Sombra for a half-second and bent down to see if the stallion was alright and was greeted by green eyes. Not quite familiar as they didn’t resemble the warped version, she’d first been introduced to but the color was the same.
She jumped back as he did the same, both looking frightened.
“Where… where are the Princesses?” His voice was small, thin. It was weak and tired, heavy with exhaustion. “Are you a nurse?”
“No. I’m not.” Twilight Sparkle was suspicious. “Don’t you recognize me?”
“You? I’m sorry, I… I don’t have a lot of memories right now. I’ve been… I wasn’t… “ His voice faltered and he shuffled, looking sad and forlorn. “I wasn’t much in control of anything and I sort of slept, I guess.”
“Right, sure.”
His head looked up, his green eyes sparkling with a slight gleam of tears. “I see how much you believe me.”
“Well, sorry but you were pretty insistent on taking over Equestria.”
“The… thing in charge wanted that. I never wanted that. I’ve struggled with that monster since I was a colt. I even lost a dear friend because of it,” His voice broke. “I lost my life, my history. I don’t even know what… decade? Century?! This is? And you want to be mad at some monster that was controlling me…”
“Okay, okay, okay!” Twilight Sparkle used her magic to lift him into the bed, covering him up with the blanket. “Seeing something that could destroy a city is frightening, okay? That can claim the world and such the light and power, it’s terrifying. But you’re right, I’m sorry.”
Twilight Sparkle sighed as she patted the bedding. “I’m supposed to reform you. Make sure you never turn evil again.”
It took a moment. “But with the evil thing destroyed…”
“Yea. Well, there are evil things still in the world that can come and plague you, right?” Twilight Sparkle pointed out.
“Alright. I’ll do as they… I mean, as you wish. Thank you for helping me into the bed.”
“You’re welcome. Do you need anything?”
“Something to read would be nice. It’s very, ah, quiet here. And empty.”
“We can play some games too, if you’d like.”
“Games?”
“Sure! Cards, board games, word games, it’ll be fun!” Twilight Sparkle’s eyes were beaming with excitement. “Oh, it’ll be a grand day while you recover. I’ll just send for someone to get some, okay? Books too. What do you like to read?”
“Adventure books, mostly, also thrillers but nothing too scary.”
Twilight Sparkle tried to hide her snicker as she turned away.
“What?” Sombra burrowed under the sheets, his cheeks hot. “Save the judgement, okay? I get enough of it already.”
“Scared of thrillers? Horror? It’s just kind of ironic…” Twilight Sparkle began.
“I wasn’t aware of anything!” Sombra shouted, now hidden under the sheets. His voice was loud but shuddering, breaking toward the end.
Twilight Sparkle’s smile dimmed as she shuffled in place before moving toward the bed. “Look, I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to… well, tease about that, honestly. I mean, well, I guess I was,” She ended up mumbling.
“See!” He stuttered, still hiding under the sheets.
“Can you at least argue facing me?” Twilight Sparkle pointed out. “I can’t take you seriously like this.”
The stallion threw the bedding off, his tear-stained face stony. His jaw twitched with emotion as his green eyes glimmered darkly with unshed tears.
“Oh.”
“Now what?” He mumbled.
“I’m… going to go get the games and we’ll just play, okay? Just nice and slow.”
Twilight Sparkle shuffled off, turning away slowly before glancing over her shoulder. His downcast gaze, his slouched back, he seemed so sad and empty but she couldn’t help herself. “You -really- don’t remember a thing?”
“No. I don’t. It’s terrifying that the last thing I remember was looking at the Crystal Heart, saying a prayer… and never realizing it went unanswered.”
His voice was so soft yet so void of hope.
Twilight Sparkle moved back toward him and headbutted him gently. Her own tears fell unexpectedly. “We can, you know, just talk if you like. That might be better. I can always listen.”
“Yes, but what about the comments? The judging?”
Twilight pulled a chair over, sitting down and getting comfortable. “I will have no judgement, no comments unless you wish it. I give you my word.”
Sombra looked up and into her bright purple eyes, seeing honesty. “Alright, that might be nice.”
So, for the first afternoon together, Twilight Sparkle and Sombra shared stories of their lives together. Simple ones, old memories that reminded Sombra of who he used to be, what he used to be like, and what he used to dream of.
And for Twilight Sparkle, it was the start of a new destiny, all one step of a time.