This story is a sequel to I Am Not Sombra
My mind is just so infested, to the point where I don't know who I am. The anger I have over the ponies who harmed me and took me away from what I lost still holds in my heart, and it drives me to agony. At least I can claim to be the ruler of a nation...
Cover art by Mayhem Moth. You can find her work here.
First!
10644081
Wells i'm second then :c
Me 3rd
Good start
Ayi didn't think it would get a sequel, nice.
Ooooh~
fuck i need to go to work
I really liked the first story. Can't wait to see how this one turns out.
Princess Luna is truly wise here, not only in her advice but in her patience and acquiescence to Alex, understanding that giving the truly 'loose cannon' time and space is the best way to get things as close as they could be to 'normal.'
Shame about Cadance, though.
10645820
I don't really agree at all (about the forgiveness, giving Alex space is the first good idea Luna has had). To forgive them without them atoning and asking to be forgiven would be to excuse them. Amore especially, since she knowingly tortured Sombra. If Celestia admitted she was in thecwrong for attacking a bictim created by Sombra specifically for the purpose of being tormented, then she'd deserve it. Hell, despite being very sympathetic Sombra certainly doesn't deserve forgiveness. He's deliberately become the monster he was qccused of being, not to mention what he's done to Alex. Speaking of which, Discord is the one who stuck Alex and Sombra together, so why not just force him to eliminate Sombra and leave Alex the sole occupying mind? Discord can't say no to that without sacrificing an innocent to save the guilty.
10646752
Just to be clear, it wasn't Discord that stuck Sombra and Alex together. That was the string being broken (which messed up Sombra's spell and caused after effects). Discord snapping his fingers was to send Sombra to Tartarus, which is why he was surprised when nothing happened to him.
10646779
So Discord didn't intentionally try and fuse Alex with Sombra? Good for him then. My general train of thought was for Alex to tell Discord that he either gets rid of Sombra so Alex can have sole control or else be turned to stone. But if he was really just trying to get rid of Sombra that changes the circumstances. I mean, it would still be telling Discord to do a thing but without being a statue as punishment for refusal. Maybe getting Fluttershy to convince him?
Radiant Hope I think is kinda screwed when it comes to friends though. Alex and Sombra seem mutually exclusive. Both of them are opposed, so if they remain fused they'll hate themselves and her for having betrayed them. If she sides with Sombra and gets rid of Alex everyone will hate her and she'd be letting Sombra hurt people. And finally she can't really be Alex's friend unless she gets rid of Sombra. Or at least that's how it seems to me.
Edit: or in short only Sombra loves her, Alex doesn't. Honestly she could make Alex love her by actually helping him (maybe not love, but it'd be a sight more genuine).
Plot moves slowly forward this time but we're getting there. Nice "setting up" for the future. :3
yay it back
Oh dear, what a conundrum. Poor Hope...
I loved the first story, so I'm very excited to see how this sequel goes. Really enjoying how it's already opening up with Alex's conflict over his humanity and Luna being a voice of reason.
I had my drink in my hand the whole time I read this, but forgot about drinking it because of how good this is.
10656825
drink your drink (im helping)
How did he know that if he was just a personality created by Sombra ?
Well, he never said he won't reveal it just that he won't for now.
Maybe when they will anger him again or Celestia will be brought back ,he will do that
Even then he should put everything about this situation Cadence ,Celestia,everyone's actions ,etc into a book ,print thousands of copies, and secretly release them.
In this way he can start to release alicorns secrets ,nations hidden crimes,etc into other books.
Maybe even confirming some later in trials or other ways, validating the contents of these books.
Maybe some books can look like Gravity Falls journals when it's contents are broad or need illustrations ,or both.
Of course, all books should be made in a way that they can't be counterfeited ,make fake ones,just like banknotes have many securities
He should be with Fluttershy instead of Hope. They're amazing together.
10657040
Because Alex has unintentionally been merged with Sombra, therefor the xombined being is calling itself Alex but has q mixture of the two being's thoughts and feelings. Imagine Nightmare Moon and Luna being two seperate people in the same body, but unabke to tell where one begins and the other ends.
10657186
I know, right? No hesitation at all, just immediate joy and intimacy.
10657300
I meant that if supposedly his life was a lie then how he knows about the show,etc
Shouldn't that ring a bell for him that his memories weren't artificial then?
10657401
Alex knows he is an artificial personality, but he is a fully fleshed out one with an entire consistent lifetime of memories and experiences. There ultimately was no "show" for Alex to watch because that's just events Sombra had pieced together to give Alex a source of knowledge about equestria to that appears to come from some other world.
10657587
How would he know about the timelines
10657587
That doesn't seem like it really matters, I think.
10657599
Sombra can see a pony's fears, and it's been established before that Starlight is afraid of having control again because of that incident. In season 9, he brainwashed all of Ponyville and Canterlot, and so was effectively able to "see" all of what all those ponies were afraid of (and presumably more), which is why here "remembers" watching Starlight fight Twilight.
Also, I severely, severely dislike season 9 Sombra, like, with my whole being
10656825
I did the same with a subway sandwich.
Better to expose Celestia's secrets so no one will be happy with her and no one would ask about her
Why he won't give up the rule anyway and destroying Celestia's image when she returns is a better option
What a moron
I hoped when reading this sentence that it was a prank or something
Or the reasons for it would have sense but I was mistaken
Moron again
Cadence actions showed that she doesn't care,all she wanted was for her and her daughter to rule both kingdoms
If there is a chance of her being ashamed of her actions,it would be on the same level if she was in prison or an even bigger level .
Equestria will know what she did if she will be imprisoned.
Her being free makes things even worse,because she can cause more trouble and can't be monitored .
I mean,what the hell are these arguments to pardon her,wtf?
She is a damm traitor and wanted to usurp the throne!
You either improsn her in the normal way or by using elements,for how many years she deserves for treason.
There is no other option that doesn't feel like an idiot ball trope
I don't think there's anything wrong with adding the romance tag at this point. Whether it ends happily or not, there will surely be plenty of romantic drama along the way, I would think.
I can hear the emperial theme play up to her judgment xD
10668676
If he was lying to Hope and won't pardon Cadence then imperial theme will fit
The Romance tag? I guess so if ypu feels its going that way. If it does though I can't see it being anything other than Hope's one-sided pining for Sombra. Really, I don't see anything in her. She may have gotten Sombra's trust by supporting him back when, but she has herself become the thing she hated and yet has bo remorse for it. She was a key part in the plan, so she is ultimately party responsible for what happened to Alex and is trying to make him into the monster he doesn't identify as or wish to be.
Fluttershy on the other hand has supported Alex and judged him by his own words and actions, never treating him as either a monster or Sombra.
10668648
It seems to me Alex is sparing her to hurt her, making her face the fact that she has become the monster she tried to make Alex into. Instead of a gorrific fate, she instead is given mercy she refused him, all the while she is stripped of her status as princess of love and looked down on by all the ponies she knows.
10669006
But she knew that it was Sombra, they planned all of this this.
She never tried to make him a monster because she knew that Alex isn't real and that it was Sombra
They planned first to fool everyone that it's Alex, not Sombra, and in the right time , Sombra would take control back and they would attack everyone unexpectedly
Cadence would get Equestria ,Sombra Crystal Empire
Honestly i wouldn't add the "Romance" tag for the time being. As your character has stated the "Alex" part of Sombra he hates her for bringing him back she should've left well-enough alone. Let "Alex" live in "his own world" forever deep in the darkest part of Sombra's mind after the snapping occured. At least the weakend Sombra was still in love with her. By bringing "Alex" back she is doomed to have a full powered Sombra that half of himself will forever hate her and since "Alex" is the dominant personality and has full control of the body minus the magic. So in effect "Sombra" will always hate her. So that is the reason at least for the time being you shouldn't add the "Romance" tag. Still this is a good story. I look forward to your Cadance trial.
What happened between Shining and Cadence? Did they get a divorce? I would hope Flurry would be kept away from an unhealthy influence.
"I'll be pardoning her!"
Oh Sombra, always taking it easy on the ponies trying to kill you...because that worked out so well for you in the show...
10671646
Old habits die hard
sus among us
Waiting for next!
10671646
From what i can see, by pardoning her after all the halaboolo. Where he exposed all her crimes to the ponies at large and not giving her the satisfaction of becoming a political matyr by going to jail he throw her back to the wolves who probably don't want anything to do with her anymore. To the crystal ponies who lost trust in their princess
Hold on a minute.
Sombra never would have known about Starlight (unless there's something in newer episodes/comics I missed), thus Starlight never could have been in the show if Alex truly was "just a personality created by Sombra."
Ergo, he cannot be just a personality.
I know this was hinted at in the end of book one, but this confirms it.
That's incredibly stupid. If he trusts them, why doesn'the just let Sombra take control? Alex knows they don't really care about what he wants, to be himself without any trace of Sombra. On the othwr hand barring Fluttershy they all consider him to be Sombra, want him to be Sombra, or are unwilling to help him be rid of Sombra.
Ergo all of them except the Element of Kindness have chosen ti deliberately try and force upon Alex the fate they did in the previous story.
10678394
Again so I won't repeat myself
10668648
10678748
From my understanding of his mental state, I don't think either Alex or Sombra can "take control." It sounds like he has one consciousness that has access to all of the memories of both their lives, but each of those lives gives him a different viewpoint and feelings regarding his situation.
Like if he focuses on his Sombra half's memories of Hope, he loves her, but if he only looks through Alex's eyes, he deeply resents her. And his thoughts are always a mishmash between the two unless he puts effort into sorting them out.
10679326
Then if Alex cannot be rid of Sombra and nobody cares about helping him be the only mind then suicide is really the only option for Alex. To do otherwise would be for him to consign himself to a hell he doesn't deserve.
10680584
It definitely sounds like it sucks pretty bad. I'm hoping there's some kind of magical solution for his condition, but I'm not expecting to see one so early in the story.
10678403
See: this reply
10657673
10686266
Ah. I've not seen above season 8. Well, that disproves my everything...
Things might be worse off for Cadence in the long run for not being punished. When people see a person do wrong, they want to see justice done to them. Letting Cadance off scott-free might just make the populace resent her more, making thing more difficult for her than a temporary prison sentence.
It still feels idiotic that he tolerates her at all when she doesn't really care about Alex and would have him just succumb to Sombra.
10689301
Yes, but Sombra cares about her, which is why he tolerates her