They say you get nervous when visiting new places, especially when it was so far from your comfort zone. But Sombra had been nervous before he arrived at Canterlot High. Before he had moved into town.

Crowds of students were already headed into the school. Some arrived by bus, some by car; others had walked from home. They talked, and joked, and bragged, and laughed. Sombra kept quiet. He noticed how some of the other students were peering at him. Fresh meat. Everything he did at this point meant something. Sombra hoped to make a good first impression.

He toyed with the idea of striking up conversation with one of the other students. But he couldn’t think of anything to say. His brief bits of chitchat with Aria Blaze were the closest he had to regular conversation with someone his own age. Whatever they were laughing about was probably something Sombra couldn’t understand.

He had dressed himself in a navy blue long sleeve, with old denim jeans; it felt funny not wearing his usual uniform. He felt baggy and seedy, dressed like that. His shirt was large for his size and exaggerated his thin frame. The students were wearing clean, well kept clothes. Some were simple, almost like Sombra’s. Others were gaudy and clearly worn to draw attention. The gaudy ones moved slowly, catlike, so everyone could see them. Sombra caught himself rushing into the school. He wanted nothing to do with those people.

Sombra was near the last, but not the very last, to find his classroom. The other students were already seating themselves. He thought of taking a seat, but didn't know if the students were arranged by seat, or if they could choose freely. He thought to wait for the teacher, and imagined himself standing by himself in the front of the classroom. He didn’t want to draw attention to himself.

“Better if you don’t sit in the back,” said Sonata. She was standing next to Sombra. “The guys who sit there smell worse than moldy old cheese.”

“You’re in my class?” asked Sombra.

“Well duh, why else would I be here,” said Sonata. “Oh, and Adagio wanted me to tell you we would be getting together at the cafeteria. You should count yourself lucky. Taco Tuesday’s are the best.” She smiled.

Sombra smiled back. He felt comfortable with Sonata. Sonata was good. And she was a friendly face. Sombra relaxed a little. He had friends here.

The teacher ordered the students still standing to be seated. Then they waited for a few hour, pretending to pay attention to lectures regarding mathematics, world history, and their possible future following graduation. Very boring stuff. Sonata had fallen asleep on her desk.

Sombra’s desk was beside the window. He could see a caterpillar chewing on leaves, and it made him smile. He had not been here for more than a day, and was already seated beside someone he considered a friend.

The other students had already left when the bell rang for lunch. Sombra and Sonata stopped by the doorway of the cafeteria, looking for Aria and Adagio. Sure enough, the two girls were headed in their direction. For a moment, it occurred to Sombra that he would be the only boy among his newfound group of friends. Yet he couldn't very well oust them over something so foolish as gender.

So he smiled broadly and waved to the pair.

They all seated themselves, leaving just enough room for Sonata’s overfull trays. Adagio had seated herself next to Sombra, smiling at him sweetly. Sombra glanced at the lunch line, and then back at Adagio. He blushed. Then he fiddled with his pendant and made his first attempt at small talk. The girls laughed, though Sonata had more difficulty doing so with her mouth full of food.

They talked about classes, school gossip, and all the other rot spewed out of the mouths of disinteresting teenagers. Then they became more personal. Adagio mentioned that she and her friends were once talented singers, but had overtime lost their prized talent. Sombra would have enjoyed hearing Adagio sing, but when he inquired as to why she didn't take classes, she vaguely explained their situation as being complicated.

Sombra thought to push the matter, but the look of dejection he had received from Adagio held his tongue. He wanted to say something uplifting, but was interrupted by Sonata.

“So where are you from?” she asked.

“Oh, from the next town over.”

“Wow, must suck living so far away.”

“He doesn’t actually live there,” said Aria grumpily. “I told you he moved here.”

“Sorry,” said Sonata sarcastically. “I was just going by what he said.”

“Well maybe you’d go by what I say if you weren’t the worst.”

“You’re the worst Aria. You even ate the muffins I bought knowing that they weren’t for you.”

Adagio and Sombra watched as the pairs little argument descended into childish mocking.

“So what brought you here?” asked Adagio calmly.

Sombra had paused to look at Adagio for a brief moment, before he realized he had been asked a question.

“My parents mostly. Couldn’t really tell you why they chose to come here. Don’t really know myself.”

“Must be awful to have to leave. Your friends back home must be devastated.”

“Can’t say I really had any friends back there. I wasn’t in the best shape. And after a while I kinda lost touch with them. I don’t even remember their faces.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up something so personal.” Still, Adagio found herself getting excited. Talking was something Adagio was good at. She and her friends knew this. Aria even pointed it out once. Adagio could persuade other people to her point of view. She could convince them they wanted what she wanted them to want. She could control, in a way, what they wanted to do. To get her teachers to do what she wanted. To get people to help her in her “time of need.” And now to get Sombra to open up to her. This is what she thought as Sombra spoke: You were all alone, but now you have me. And you won’t ever have to be alone again.

“It happens though,” said Sombra. “Friends lose touch after a while. And, to be honest, I’m kinda glad we all moved here. Gives me a chance to make a fresh start.”

“And make some new friends,” said Adagio. She knew the direction they were headed, and she thought she could tighten her grip.

“I guess so,” said Sombra.

I know so, Sombra. “You guess?” asked Adagio. “I’d like to think we’ve all become good friends.”

She was alluding to Aria and Sonata, whose little squabble had ended with Aria having a dollop of sour cream on her cheek. She immediately registered the idiocy of it all, and diverted Sombra’s attention back to her.

“From what Aria told me, I had you figured for a nice guy. Can’t say it isn’t difficult for us to make any guy friends.”

“Well you are awfully pretty.”

Sombra blushed in realization of his own words. Adagio laughed at his new features. The boy was so damned dense.

“We do get a lot of flattery from the boys here,” she said. She placed a finger along Sombra’s cheek. “Though it’s nice to know you think so to.”

Sombra’s cheeks turned a bright red. This wasn’t the way it was suppose to go. He was suppose to be talking about simple stuff, like movies, and video games. He was suppose to be making friends, not getting jittery over some girl he knew little about.

“I was just being honest,” said Sombra. This was wrong. Sombra didn’t understand why, but he felt he should get away from her.

But Adagio would not allow Sombra’s little bout of anxiety to tear himself from her. She laid her hand gently on his face, and she watched mesmerized as the boy’s disposition suddenly became relaxed and pliable.

She didn’t think such a thing was possible, until of course she remembered her first encounter with Sombra, meeting him, by chance, while wandering the town. A chance encounter, proof that some sliver of fortune still favored the Sirens.

Adagio was at last reunited with her last remaining hope, contained within the body of this puerile boy. Holding Sombra affectionately, the power that she had withdrew from him was fully aroused. Now she could feel the full presence of his magic. Willful, vicious, and not at all familiar to the energies she drained before. She felt it snake through her body, eliciting a cold, shivering sensation in her spine. A strange sense of displacement crept over her, as reality seemed to bend around the two. The other students seemed frozen in place, their movements slowed almost to a halt. But before the distortion could intensify any further she pulled herself away from him.

In the moment she released Sombra, the displacement dissipated entirely. She gazed vacantly into nothing, marveling at what she had been privileged to experience. She had pursued Sombra, hoping for a return to normalcy, pleading alone to imagined gods for a chance to return what she unfairly took away from her only friends. And in that moment she thought that perhaps some force in this world had heard her pleas, and granted her mercy from her suffering.

But her fanciful musings were interrupted by a high pitched scream. She scrambled to regain her bearing, looking over the huddle of students surrounding the table, their eyes fixed to the ground. Looking down, she saw Sombra collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily, looking deathly at the ceiling.

Adagio shouted, and rushed hastily to lift him up from the floor. Next Chapter: Among Friends II Estimated time remaining: 19 Minutes