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Regarding Falling Villains

by naturalbornderpy

Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Regarding Endings

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REGARDING ENDINGS

A week passed by and I uncovered close to nothing new about Twilight’s colt-friend. I rarely saw her during the days so if they were together then I had little knowledge of it. I asked my guard if he knew of him and he only shook his head. He probably did but wasn’t about to spill a word. He was dumb, yes. But not that dumb.

The night of the Gala soon arrived, and with it an influx of guests throughout the castle. Some were of higher importance than others, while some appeared as though their gowns had been rented out from some cheaper-end shop. It didn’t matter to me though. I hated everyone equally.

“That suit looks rather nice on you, Sombra. Who gave you that?”

The white unicorn that was friends with Twilight cornered me in the lavishly decorated ballroom. My original notion was to miss the event entirely, but Celestia had naturally persisted. Regardless, it did get me out of a single nightshift spent occupying the dusty counter.

When Luna had heard that I was going to attend, she fetched someone to lend me a (unsurprisingly) dark blue dress jacket with silver buckles. I might not have hated it as much as my usual white work shirt but that didn’t mean I enjoyed wearing it at all.

“Luna did,” I eventually answered, gingerly spinning the cup of punch I had grabbed hours ago on my hoof. “Against my best wishes.” I finally viewed the immaculate unicorn, her eyes not entirely meeting mine. I could tell she had been sent to converse with me. I guess I still had the power to make some ponies uneasy. I asked her, “Don’t you find it weird that every other day of the year you all run around naked and then decide on this night that not wearing clothes would be impolite?”

Instantly she harrumphed at my silly notion. “I’ll have you know that I wear differing clothes more days than not, Sombra. I can’t be held accountable for being overwhelmingly accessible to beautiful garments.”

I won’t go into much detail describing the multiple layers she had on that night. My vocabulary isn’t big enough and it’s a subject I truly don’t feel like researching. I’ll only say it was oddly bright in that dimly lit room and hurt my eyes when I stared at it for too long. She called it fashion while I would have called it something else entirely.

One by one, each of Twilight’s Ponyville friends sidled up next to me to try and pry loose a few words. I have no doubt a certain purple alicorn had requested such unwanted attention.

A pink earth pony bounced towards me and dropped a small white block into my drink. She only continued to bounce in her spot. “What was that?” I inquired.

“Sugar cube!” she yelled at me, even though the classically trained quartet playing that evening hardly passed above a whisper.

“I think there’s enough sugar in it already.”

When she stopped bouncing I grew worried. When she shoved her elastic face into mine I truly became scared. She whispered angrily, “Then you’d be wrong.”

Not wanting to push the subject further, I quickly drank my extra sweet punch.

The last one to make their introductions was the one I had been dreading most. The pegasus with yellow coat and pink mane sat lackadaisical on a seat a good dozen away from me. Each time I caught her staring, she’d only hide behind her long lock of mane. Every few minutes she’d scoot to the next open seat in my direction. Each time she did, I only retreated down the line. Then I ran out of chairs to move to.

Pfft!” I inhaled a swift batch of air when I found her forelegs wrapped around me. She had been silent and patient getting to me and I had plainly underestimated her. Now I could only wait until she’d perform the ritual of “friending,” where a piece of my blackened heart would be scooped out by her touch and replaced with a type of ice cream that wouldn’t melt. Or… that was what Discord had told me she did.

“I’m very proud of you, Sombra,” the little hugging thing told me. “I know it must have been tough but you’ve shown everyone that even bad ponies can change. Twilight’s told me of all the progress you’ve made and I hope when the Princesses believe you’re no longer a threat that you’ll come to Ponyville for a visit. I know Angel bunny would enjoy that.”

“Uh…” I could have asked a lot of question to the soft pegasus, but upon reflection that might have only warranted an extended embrace. Instead, I patted her on the head and said, “Thank you. You are clearly not as mean and terrible as the stories have made you out to be.”

She let go of me soon after that.

REGARDING ENDINGS CONT.

The night wore on and the punch was discarded in favor of more spirited libations. Twilight’s apple friend and Twilight’s rainbow friend got to drinking hard cider and soon they were barely sitting straight on their seats. From the safety of my dark corner I watched them laugh and tell stories—even the pink one stole the microphone at some point and tried to direct the attendees to sing a song about grins. (I may have admittedly mouthed a few catchy words near the end.) Although I should have been seething from the very sight of my usurpers living and breathing and being all around merry, I found the sight almost endearing.

Countless times this same band of heroes had saved the day and then returned to their normal lives, as friends and as siblings and as workers. Ponies looked at them from time to time and would recognize the accomplishments they had done, but when the day was over and the battle was done, they could still be normal ponies of the earth. They could attend Galas and get drunk and embrace those around them. They weren’t waiting for the next wave of nastiness to arrive; formulating plans of attack when others were asleep and darkness was scarcely on the horizon.

They had the ability to be many things at any time—they were not controlled by some label that had been placed on them by themselves or others. I had called myself a villain for longer than I could remember and carried that title with pride wherever I ventured. When I spoke, I spoke as a villain. When I went to sleep, I did so as a villain and I awoke each morning the same. For so long I had clung to a single definition of self and overtime it had stained everything outside and within. I had told myself it gave me joy and perhaps it had. But did I not find the same level of solace from spending time with those that wanted to spend time with me? It was unorthodox, of course, but was it wrong to want more? Was it wrong to want more than a single identity? Or even a new one at that?

In my busy musings I hadn’t noticed the one pony I had been waiting for all night.

“I hope you haven’t been sitting here this whole time,” Twilight said with a grin. She wore a light blue dress with tiny stars at its edges. I was about to comment on the redundancy but told myself to shut up instead. Nevertheless, the alicorn looked captivating that night.

I motioned to a row of seats along the wall. “Earlier I was sitting over there. Now I’m over here. I’ve only been in this seat for a couple of hours at most.”

She furrowed her brow. “That sounds terrible.”

“And yet you forget I’m a professional sitter, Twilight.”

She extended a leg to me. “Come on. Get up and stretch your legs. Let’s dance for a bit.”

I regarded the leg gravely. “Shouldn’t you be doing that with your colt-friend?”

A bit of shimmer edged out from her eyes. “He’s working tonight. He works a lot.” She paused. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to dance. Come on now.”

“I don’t dance, Twilight. I’m not sure how ponies are even supposed to dance.”

“Then don’t think about it! I never do. And who’s left to judge anyways?” She pointed at her two drinking buddies, the multicolored one snoozing quietly on her friend’s shoulder. “Plus, you have no choice in the matter. Sorry.”

She turned and headed to the middle of the floor. Unceremoniously, I was levitated from the safety of my seat and dragged along. Once set back down, she grabbed one of my legs and placed it over one of her shoulders. Even though I felt more awkward and exposed than ever before, the sly smirk on her face quelled any such verbal protests. One song. One dance. And then my butt would taste sweet seat once more. I only had to grin and bare it—the same strategy I had been clinging to this entire time.

Soon one song became two. And two became more. And then out of the corner of my eye I saw a flock of ponies watching and whispering. I had thought nothing of the dance but then I understood I’d been wrong. Was it because of Twilight they were gawking? Or because of the dark creature she was with?

“I think I’m done, Twilight,” I told her. “I suddenly don’t enjoy being the center of attention.”

She nodded. “I understand. Even if this was your first time dancing, I still think you’re better than me. I remember—” A pained expression filled her face as she looked over my shoulder. Whatever energy had been vibrant there had been snuffed out by a mere glance. “I should go,” she whispered, before hastily trotting to the back of the room and out the door.

While dancing, she had held onto my leg for so long that it now felt cold without her. I stood in the center for a moment longer while I glared at the throng of ponies still gawking. I could hardly care what they thought of me—most of them I’d never see again after that night.

I only wanted to know where Twilight had gone.

REGARDING ENDINGS CONT.

I described my brief encounter with the Crystal pegasus as one that left a deep, hollow feeling in my chest. What I witnessed in the courtyard of the castle was close to the same, only now that newly created hole was filled with such fury it made me shake where I stood. It was a feeling that reminded me of days past.

Already Twilight was in tears, staring at the ground as she awkwardly kicked at the dirt. Her colt-friend—her horrifically familiar colt-friend—was still occupied with berating her as she said a few words in her defense. I witnessed the end of their heated discussion as the yellow pegasus with blue mane pointed in the direction of the rest of the Gala. Something Sentry shook his head in disgust and then took to the air and out from view.

When I entered the scene, Twilight hitched in a breath and hurriedly wiped at her eyes. I disregarded any such hope for idle chatter.

Him!” I spat. “Sentry! You let him talk you that way?”

She sighed and sat on the ground. “Please, Sombra. I don’t want to talk about this now. He saw us dancing and took it the wrong way. I tried to explain but he wasn’t listening. He’s only tired and overworked. I’ll have to talk to him tomorrow, that’s all.”

I stepped closer, none of my original rage diminishing by Sentry’s absence. “Why would you ever go back to that pee-brained simpleton? He is a laughing stock of the guard and the fact that you even talk to him—yet alone go back to him—makes me sick!” I blinked rapidly, hooves tapping against the dirt. Already I had made up my mind. “Give me back my powers, Twilight. Give them to me and I will fix all of this.”

She looked up at me, exacerbated. “I told you before, Sombra. This doesn’t concern you. This is my problem and I’ll deal with it once everyone’s calmed down.”

The steady pulse in my ears told me I had already crossed a line. Yet my old habits made me see it through until the end. “Give me back my powers,” I said bluntly.

“No, Sombra. Just go back inside.”

“Give them to me, Twilight,” I demanded. “And I will set this right.”

I crossed the bed of flowers that divided us and with avid hunger glared at her. Somewhere inside that delicate frame she held a small portion of my wrath, and now I wanted it more than ever. Use them more than ever.

Her tears had all but dried. “You’re starting to scare me, Sombra.”

My shadow crossed over her face. I honestly wondered how she could not understand what I needed to do. Afterwards she would thank me, I knew she would. I was doing her a favor. Something friends were supposed to do for one another. How could she not understand that? Yet sometimes actions speak much louder than words.

I told her, “But you’re not the one I want to scare tonight, Twilight.”

Before she had much chance to move away I pinned her down and stuck my long horn against hers. Since that night when she had lent me a portion of my original strength, I had thought long and hard about the ritual and how it felt when that energy crossed over to me. It was that sensation I tried to focus on, as I sat atop the wriggling alicorn. Another second longer and she would have escaped from my feeble attempt with ease. Only she had been caught unaware and emotionally drained.

Arah!” In a single second I drank my essence from her and grit my teeth from the immense rush. My limbs thrummed from the sudden strength while the fury that had first entered my being only intensified once given the power to do so.

I didn’t have enough strength to take on the world. But I thought I had enough to kill at least a single soul. I hear I used to be pretty good at such tasks.

“No!” is all Twilight got out before I snapped away in a huff of black smoke. If she said more than that I was never aware. I didn’t comprehend a great deal of things following that utterly bleak moment.

REGARDING ENDINGS CONT.

I found Sentry in the first place I thought he might hide. In one of the upstairs bathrooms, well away from the rest of the party, he glimpsed himself in a mirror after he must have splashed water on his face. Before I entered he had been polite enough to remove his helmet.

When I found him I had expected evident fear from him. He surprised me a great deal when he only looked mad. “Sombra, I don’t know why you’re here but we have some things to discuss.”

I smiled at him. It was my friendship smile, too, only this time I don’t think I was doing it right. “I’m sure we do, pegasus. Only there are a few things I need to straighten first.”

“Pegasus? That’s no way to talk to your—”

I flicked my foreleg in the direction of the taps and watched with glee as Sentry’s head came smashing along the edges of the sink, splitting open the skin over his forehead. Clearly dazed, he stumbled back and tried to mumble something. Since I had heard enough from him that evening, I flicked his frail body to the wall behind him, cracking the plaster in a number of different places. Then he came to rest along the cool floor below.

I stepped over him and smelled fresh blood in the air. I closed my eyes and relished its bold flavor. During times like these it was hard to recall just how much I’d changed since entering Canterlot.

The blood from the gapping wound in his head caused him to close his eyes. With feeble strength he tried to push me away from him—truthfully I barely felt it at all. “Please…” he mumbled to me. “Please don’t… please…”

Such sweet sounds to my ears. It had been so long. Yet now we had come too far.

I told him delicately, “I will grant you more mercy than you deserve tonight, Sentry. I promise it will be brief. Ease into death like you would a well-worn suit of armor.”

I disregarded my magic in place of something more personal. With renewed strength I came down on his blood-stained face with my hooves and eventually heard the cracking of small bones. Graciously, Sentry had fallen unconscious some time ago and yet the bloodlust that ran rampant in me continued on without him knowing.

Stop!” someone shouted behind me, before I was thrown into the wall opposite the door.

I shook my head and prepared myself to welcome the newcomer, only to find Twilight Sparkle already cradling the bloodied remains of Sentry in her legs. The slow rise and fall of his chest told me he was still alive. I had waited too long—enjoyed the task far too much.

“Why would you do this?” she asked me as she held him close, fresh tears already streaking her face. “He did nothing to deserve this.”

I said calmly, “He hurt you, Twilight. I was only doing what I thought friends are supposed to do for their friends. Help one another. In whatever way possible.”

She shook her head, hitching in air. She said softly, “Then you don’t understand friendship at all. And maybe we were wrong by trying to change you. You’re a monster, Sombra. And I know now I must only be stroking your ego to call you such a thing but that’s all I seem to see now. To think you could be anything but a villain had been foolish of us. I don’t know how yet but I’ll convince Celestia to free you from this. At least then, the next time we defeat you will be the last.”

As I watched her cry tears of my own creation, I felt the mild power surge I had stolen from her sputter out and empty. I had tried to do the right thing in the only way I knew how—how I thought friendship was supposed to work. Perhaps the pairing was never meant to be.

REGARDING ACTUAL ENDINGS

This will be my last entry as once I finish writing these words I will go see Celestia along with the other three alicorns. We’re only waiting for Cadence to arrive once she’d been summoned from my old Empire. At the moment I’m back at my desk, while I hear the silent plodding of all the janitors that need to clean up after the Gala… and however many need to clean up all the bits of Sentry I left back in the washroom.

Do I feel bad about the incident? I feel it’s too early to make such calls. I only know what I did hurt Twilight more than I could have imagined and for that I am pained. I was supposed to free her from what made her sad, and instead I only buried her deeper into it. Times like these make me feel as though I’d be more help not helping at all.

Sentry will live but more than likely will be bedridden for more time than I’ve spent hunkered behind this counter. He will require surgery—many surgeries, I’m sure—but I have a feeling his ugliness will remain as constant as ever once he’s brought back to health.

It did not take long before Twilight spoke with Celestia. With more than a dozen new guards I was brought up to her throne room, her once sparkling stare now devoid of much of anything.

“I had thought we were making progress,” she began dourly. “Obviously, I had been wrong. You almost killed one of my guards tonight and attacked an alicorn, all because of a series of words.” She sighed. “I thought if I could help you, Sombra, that you might prove the lynchpin that would attract others to the side of good. You were a long shot that most doubted, and now you’ve only proven them right. It was not fair of us to force something on you I admit, but I do not regret the decision. If we do not try something brash without the knowledge of potential failure, then we shouldn’t try at all. We should have left you dead… and now it is only too late.”

“Then you plan on killing me one final time, Celestia?” I had asked. By this point I almost welcomed such a thing. “Cut down your failed conquest and cleanly dispose of it? Too bad everyone in Equestria already knows what you’ve tried to do.”

“I never said I was a perfect ruler, Sombra. I make mistakes like anyone else. But no, I will not strike you down tonight—not unless you prompt me too. I will only reverse what I have done and leave the final decision up to you.”

I edged closer to her. “What do you mean?”

“I will bestow to you your magic and set you free. I brought you back from the dead and I will suffer the consequences. Foolishly, I also pardoned you for your past crimes, in the vain attempt at speeding your rehabilitation. I have made more mistakes with you than most, Sombra.”

I couldn’t have been hearing this all correctly. “What repercussions do I face once I leave?”

“Only what you create for yourself,” she said. “The moment you leave this castle you will be followed and monitored, so that the single second you attempt your retribution you will be struck down by the powers of every alicorn. And this time you will be left to rest—what you’ve wanted for so long.”

It almost hurt to be thought of as so simplistic in design. “So that’s all you think I’ll do once free?”

“Isn’t it?”

I didn’t respond. I only contemplated all that was happening to me.

Celestia took it as an odd sign before inquiring, “I thought you’d be happy to hear this, Sombra. One final fight. One final death. All up to you. You can be whatever villain you want to be.”

I faintly smiled at her. “And the one that was never supposed to give up on me finally does.”

She shook her head. “You gave up on yourself the moment you attacked Sentry. He might have hurt Princess Twilight with words, but at least she’ll feel better come the morning sun, not breathing through a tube down her throat.”

Such gory details should have delighted me to no end. Now I only wanted the night to be over with.

Any moment now I’ll be summoned upstairs. Any moment now and I’ll be given back what was taken from me. I wonder if they think I’ll attack them the moment I can. Four on one? I might boast but I’m not blind to chance. Now all that remains is what I’ll do once free of everything. Of course there’s a part of me that wants to exit these doors and rain terror on the quiet populace once I’ve rediscovered my bottomless dark gifts. But there’s also another part of me that wants to speak with Twilight again—beg her for her forgiveness. It is more than a long shot and somehow it is still something I want to try. Of course I might not do either of those things. I found the roof easy enough that first time; why not rediscover it and greet death with a smile? Hasn’t that what I’ve been chasing after all this time? To return to that silent sea of liquid black—no cares, no feelings, no conflicting emotions.

I don’t know what I’ll do and I don’t think I’ll know until I’m free of this place.

So now I ask you, dear reader, what has become of your tyrannical King? Am I your villain again? Or have I somehow become a friend to you all? Or am I nothing more now than a bit of dried blood on the pavement outside? I used to think of myself as a villain and nothing more. Now that I can be anything, I’m not so sure what I want to be. Only time will tell, I believe.

Wishing you a swift and painless death,

K. Sombra.

Author's Notes:

I'll label this as complete for now, although I might revisit it if I think of an interesting second arc (possibly set in Ponyville with Discord playing a large part). Anywho, what an odd story this has been.

This story only exists because of the thumbnail picture, which I had as my desktop wallpaper for a while. I was going to write a short, one-shot involving Sombra working at Canterlot (possibly janitor or something) and then Twilight would come and bug him. Nothing major. Then I got the idea for a journal of sorts and I thought of doing a straight-out comedy (the first three chapters, mainly), but then if I did that, it might just go on forever because finding an ending would be difficult. So that's why you get this story; what I'd consider a mix of comedy and drama. (Perhaps too much drama. If you look at my other stories, you'd see I'm a pretty dark guy.)

I'll shut up now. Thanks for reading.

Next Chapter: Chapter 8: Regarding Ears and Armored Alicorns Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 33 Minutes
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