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Shadow's Enigma

by Note Sketch

Chapter 7: 7. Time to Go

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Sombra's hooves echoed on the cold ground, his grey coat was in full display as a saddle swayed back and forth, the contents heavy. He soon came to a stop and looked over to an open door, he was greeted by a smile of a foal. He could almost be called a colt, but he wasn't there just yet.

"And how are you today?" Sombra asked as he kneeled down to pet the youngling on the head, ruffing up his mane and getting a giggle out of him.

"Goo!" The foal replied, doing his best to say 'good', but not quite there. This brought forth a chuckle from Sombra as he used his magic to levitate the foal into the air, playing with him for a while before a newcomer looked from the door way. Sombra had not yet noticed the spectator, but that was fine with her, the mare softly leaned against the door hinge as a smile stretched over her face.

"Having fun?" She finally asked. Sombra turned around as he held the child over his head. The sudden voice had caught him off guard and the magic holding the foal up suddenly went out, causing him to land on the stallion's head, holding himself up by his mane.

"Uh, yes. I just came back from the market, picked up some food." Sombra responded, looking away as he tried to hide his embarrassed face. With a giggle, the mare stepped closer to him, her blue coat sparkled like a crystal as she reached for her foal from on top of his head. The youngling, not wanting to get off, hid his face behind Sombra's spiral horn, but it was to no avail, his mother could see him and was soon yanked off the dark stallion.

"You should be more careful." She had began.

"Diane, I can carry a foal with my magic just fine. Sure I may not have magic strong enough to move a boulder but-" The mare placed her hoof to his muzzle, causing him to shush.

"I mean you're wounds silly. You shouldn't go to the market when you haven't quite healed from...whatever it was that hit you." She said with caring eyes, eyes that held a shine in the shape of a hexagon, a crystal pony's trademark along with their coat.

"I had to do something, you know I hate not doing anything and..." As he spoke, the stallion came to a realization of some sort. His voice had lost enthusiasm and his eyes were only opened half way with a hint of sadness to them. "And....this isn't real." He finished with a sigh.

Closing his eyes, the crystal mare in front of him dissolved into the wind along with the entire structure. Slowly opening up his vision again, his armor had once again appeared on him and his horn became a red spike. Sombra sighed as he turned around and saw a familiar face.

"Do you not have better things to do than enter my dreams?" He asked as he walked passed the tall mare.

"We did not wish to intrude, but We felt thou hath fallen asleep...and thought perhaps We could pay thee a visit." Luna said as she glanced at the old king walk past her. "That....wasn't the same dream as every night." She finished, a worried face upon her.

"No, it wasn't. You have Pinkamena to thank for that." Sombra responded suddenly, bringing the old scenery from how the Crystal Empire looked back in his time. Again he stared out into the snowy terrain as he sat in the grassland. Over time, he had gotten a good grasp of being able to control his dreams. It came from a thousand years of practice along with not wanting to relive memories such as these.

"Art thou alright, thou seems...troubled."

"I am fine...just...fine." He said, lowing his head as he remembered the foal he had just played with. A distant memory that he had all but forgotten. A precious moment of peace in his past. Again Princess and Tyrant sat next to each other to gaze at the dreamy scenery until Sombra would awaken, something the stallion was almost begging for at this point. He did not wish to remember anything.

《=●=》

The dark stallion slowly opened his eyes as a soft giggle went into his ears. He must have dosed off while he was watching the foals play. Pumpkin, whom he had to come to find was quite the explorer, was currently in the middle of climbing the ex king. With a soft sigh of annoyance he used his dark magic to slowly pull her off of him before looking at her with strangely melancholy eyes.

"She seems to like you." Twilight's voice said as she watched Sombra interact. He had forgotten she was there, and her voice was not a pleasant reminder. His stoic expression returned as he stood up to place Pumpkin back in her crib. As he walked away, the poor foal reached out to him with her small arms.

"I just know how to treat foals." Sombra responded as he went back to the spot of the couch that he had come to claim as his own.

"Where did you learn?" Twilight asked with a giggle, a laugh that soon faded when he suddenly turned around to face her.

"A long time ago, none of it matters now." His voice stern and almost loud enough to be called 'aggressive'.

Silence fell in the room as Sombra's words began to resonate with Twilight. It was a little rude of him to respond like that, but then again, they weren't exactly on good terms to exchange personal experiences. The quiet in the atmosphere did not last long as Pinkie suddenly bursted in the room, Pound on her head as he tried to chew her mane.

"I'm baaack~" Her overly peppy voice echoed through out the house. "Pound is all nice and clean now that I changed him." Twilight threw her friend a smile as she used her magic to levitate the foal into the crib with Pumpkin, whom greeted him with over arms.

"So one is a unicorn and the other a pegasus?" Sombra said to no one in particular, his brow raising slightly. "I smell foul play."

"Of course there's foal play, babies love to play!" Pinkie responded. The old king wasn't sure if she didn't understand what he meant, of simply masked it with an innocent comment. He shrugged the comment off as he stretched his neck. His unexpected nap seemed to have left him less rested than he was before. He blamed it on his unpleasant dream, or rather, reminder.

"They're late." Sombra finally said to shake his thoughts away from the road they were heading on.

"Well, they did go to Canterlot." Twilight began. "Maybe they got held up by potential costumers. The Cakes are a rather well know catering business there."

"Yeah! I get to visit Canterlot a lot when they needed extra help, but ever since they had twins I've been staying back to foalsit them." Pinkie said, trying to fit more exposition for Sombra's sake. Something he really did not mind too much, it was one of the few times he would allow Pinkie to talk none stop about. It was nice to have some pony explain things to him instead of having to do research to understand something as basic as what a 'timer' or a 'stove' was. Speaking of which.

Ding!

A loud noise was heard from the kitchen which prompt the pink mare to jump to her hooves.

"Oooh, you're bottles are ready!" She told the foals who were currently playing with one another. She was gone and back almost as fast as a wolf on a chase of it's prey, her antics once again taking Sombra by surprise but left Twilight unaffected. There was a silence again in the room that the old king seemed to enjoy, a moment of quiet, or rather, peace. Like it or not, his time as king had left him with little time for himself, and even less once he had become a Tyrant, which one would think would be the opposite. Memories from back then were a little scarce, even for him, but he was sure that he had been kept rather busy, so a moment of rest and quiet was something he seemed to cherish in his time of 'reforment'.

"Here you are!" Pinkie shouted at the twins as she gently squeezed a few drops of milk onto her hoof to test the temperature, content with it, she allows them to drink up. Sombra's eyes looked directly at the foals eating, how happy they seemed and how much they reminded him of the foal he used to know. Without saying a word, he stood up and began to walk away. Twilight and Pinkie stared blankly for a second before speaking out.

"Sombra, where are you going?" Twilight asked first.

"Out."

"You're not allowed to go anywhere without Pinkie." She reminded.

"I'll head straight to the library." Sombra responded coldly as he reached the door. But as he tried to open it, it was closed shut by purple magic, which only tested his patience.

"Umm, Sombrie..." Pinkie tried to say, but was quickly interrupted by the stallion.

"Sparkle, let me out, now."

"No, we've gone over this, you can't go anywhere without Pinkie or me, and we're going to stay right here to foal sit."

Sombra looked back, his cold eyes glaring at the princess who only returned his leer. They remained locked in some unspoken staring contest or sorts, only increasing the tension in the room. Twilight was unsure of what had happened, it seemed like Sombra had taken a liking to the foals and seemed to have made some progress in being reformed, her mind began to cloud with questions, so much so, that she had not noticed the lights flicking for a second of two. Once every pony looked around at the lights who had been going on and off, they heard a strange noise, like wind blowing against trees. Twilight looked back at Sombra only to find that he was gone, a dark smug remained under the door. It seemed that he had turned into his ghastly dark shade to slip under it. Frustrated, she stood up and said.

"Argh, Pinkie you stay here, I'll go get Sombra." Twilight was already out of Sugarcube corner before the pink mare could even respond. She stood there quietly for a while as she found herself alone, unsure of what had just happened, she was brought to reality when Pumpkin began to cry.

"Oh, there there Pumpkin, Sombrie and Twilight will be back soon." She said as she picked up the foal, trying to comfort her as best she could. Pinkie looked over to the door which had remained only half open from how rushed Twilight was in her exit. Some how, she had a very bad feeling about what was about to go down. A very bad feeling.

Author's Notes:

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Next Chapter: 8. The Mare Who Cried "Sombra" Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 37 Minutes
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