Twibra

Twibra
GENERAL
My Little Pony
Character	Twilight Sparkle
Character	King Sombra
Canonical?	Fanon
Status of Relationship	Enemies
IN FANDOM
Type (?)	Het

Twibra is the ship between Twilight Sparkle and King Sombra from the My Little Pony fandom.

Canon

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Twilight first learned of King Sombra in the two-part episode "The Crystal Empire", where her mentor Princess Celestia explained how the villainous unicorn had been defeated some 1000 years previously. Twilight is then charged with traveling to the Crystal Empire to help her brother, Shining Armor, and his wife, Princess Cadance, defend it from the resurgent Sombra. Appearing as a formless shadow, Sombra attacked Twilight and her friends when they arrived in the frozen north. She and her friends managed to escape into the empire, protected by Cadance's magic, but Shining Armor had his own magic disabled by a curse from Sombra.

Twilight soon discovered that Cadance was exhausting herself in the efforts to keep the empire safe from Sombra, making Twilight all the more determined to find a permanent means of dealing with the villain. Eventually, Twilight discovers that the empire is meant to be protected by the magical Crystal Heart, which Sombra stole and hid away prior to his long-ago defeat. Twilight sets out to find the artifact and manages to locate a hidden passage beneath the castle by employing the same dark magic that Sombra employs. However, she is then caught in a trap when attempting to use it a second time, and becomes stuck in a vision of failure in which Sombra succeeds in retaking the Crystal Empire.

Fortunately, Twilight is awakened from this vision by her friend Spike, and soon discovered the nature of the trap when Spike also fell prey to it. Twilight was then able to continue progressing through the obstacles Sombra put before anyone seeking to recover the heart, until she became trapped in a ring of dark crystal spikes from which she couldn't escape. By this time, Cadance had grown so weak that Sombra was able to penetrate the empire, and Twilight thus urged Spike to deliver the Crystal Heart to Cadance. As a result of Twilight and Spike's actions, Sombra was seemingly destroyed by an explosion of magical energy.

In the IDW comics arc "Reflections", Twilight sees the figure of Sombra in a mirror that acts as a portal to another world, and quickly assumes him to be a villain as well. In FIENDship is Magic #1, which details Sombra's backstory, Twilight helps Cadance to access Sombra's private chamber beneath the Crystal Castle. The two thus learn that Sombra was ostracized as a child for his oddities and longed to attend the Crystal Faire held in the empire each year. However, he was always unable to do so because of unbearable pain due to being an Umbrum, or shadow pony. In spite of the dark path he eventually took, Twilight finds herself pitying her foe, unaware that Sombra's horn-and with it his weakened spirit-has followed them down into the chamber.

In "The Siege of the Crystal Empire", Sombra's old friend Radiant Hope uses magic to restore him. Sombra quickly confronts Twilight and her friends alongside various allies recruited by Hope, and working in tandem with Queen Chrysalis manages to overpower Twilight herself. After battling and defeating Princesses Celestia and Luna, whom he turns to stone, Sombra prepares to petrify Twilight as well but temporarily lacks the strength to do so. As such, he has Twilight and her friends imprisoned instead for the time being while he turns his attention to other matters.

Twilight is eventually able to overcome the spell Sombra used to block her magic with the aid of her brother and friends and goes to confront Sombra once again. Unfortunately, when she attacks him, she hits Radiant Hope, who by this time has discovered that the umbrum she and Sombra are trying to free are, in fact, monsters. Sombra, who had previously hesitated to release his fellows, finally does so in an enraged response to Twilight's actions. Twilight is soon captive with her magic blocked once again, and Sombra prepares to turn both her and Cadance to stone after doing the same to Shining Armor.

However, during an ensuing battle between reinforcements gathered by Twilight's friends and the umbrum, Sombra has a change of heart. Restoring the Crystal Heart, he banishes the other umbrum back to their prison, but Hope intervenes to prevent him from suffering the same fate. Much to Sombra's surprise, Twilight and the other princesses-Celestia and Luna having been restored to life-join in the effort to save him. As a result, Sombra becomes an ordinary unicorn, and is left free to pursue a new life and make amends for his previous misdeeds.

In apparent contradiction of these events, however, Sombra is later restored to life as a villain in "The Beginning of the End."

Fanon

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Twibra has a surprising amount of traction among Friendship is Magic fans, given that the two of them have interacted very little over the course of the series. Sombra is, moreover, a major antagonist in the series and one of only a few antagonists not to eventually be redeemed (unless one counts his depiction in the IDW comics). As such, the idea of him forming a romantic relationship with one of the series' protagonists is highly unlikely at first glance, particularly since Twilight has played a lead role in his defeats in the series. On the other hand, there are those who favor "Enemies to Lovers" pairings, whether this involves Twilight helping Sombra become a reformed character or being lured into joining Sombra on the dark side by her feelings for him.

Sombra may also appeal to various fans as a male pony love interest for Twilight, and one who was the same variety as her up until her transformation into an Alicorn. It is, of course, not without rival ships, the most notable het ship for Twilight probably being FlashLight. Sombra is also not without alternative pairings such as Hopebra or Celestibra, and he is also paired by some fans with other members of Twilight's friend group.

There are currently 15 works featuring the pairing on AO3, roughly half of which are rated Mature or Explicit.

Fandom

FAN FICTION

King Sombra/Twilight Sparkle tag on AO3

The Twilight x King Sombra group on FIMFiction