I pressed my ear to the door.

"-just look at what she wrote about me!" Sombra's voice shouted.

Wait, Sombra?!

I slumped to the ground, which caused a soft thumping noise to occur. He was like bad luck that just never went away.

Hoofsteps came closer from the other side. Was somepony preparing to open the door? Please don't be Sombra...

I felt the cold crystal door's presence behind me vanish.

"Twilight?" asked a soft voice. That certainly wasn't Sombra!

I turned around, looked up, and smiled. "Cadance!"

I immediately bolted up, exclaiming: "Sunshine, sunshine-"

Cadance shook her head slightly and made a dismissive gesture with her hoof. She looked very concerned."Twilight, can you come in?"

Why was she being so serious?

"Okay..."

But our hoofshake... we always did that...

I followed her inside and put my saddlebags into the nearest corner.

The room was almost exactly how I remembered it: round table, small book shelves, etc. The difference was that Cadance and Sombra were sitting at opposite sides of the table, with Cadance being the closer to me, and I sighed in relief for that.

A smashed crystal bust lay on the floor. I wonder who could have done that.

"Hi," I whispered.

He growled and the next thing I knew a familiar sword was up to my throat, hilt clasped with magic aura. Sombra stood behind it, his crimson eyes half hidden by ragged bangs.

"Make one more move. I dare you. Say one more word. Breathe one more breath and you'll see-"

"STOP!" Cadance yelled, panic shining in her purple eyes.

I looked up into his eyes and realized that he would kill me. No hesitation this time. He really, really would kill me. He's killed ponies before, and that was scary. He looks at me like he thinks that I'm just some kind of paper he can tear and toss away.

I looked over to Cadance, who was visibly distraught.

She then walked over to Sombra who must have been deciding the best way to fillet me, and whispered something I couldn't catch. It must have been important because he teleported back to his seat at the table, eyes filled with fiery mania. I wish he could stop glaring at me and just glare through me. His gaze made me feel like I was being incriminated.

Was he...

...biting his lip...?

It was to restrain himself; he truly would have killed me. That and his own will were keeping him in check... and maybe whatever it was Cadance said. Did I live or die by his will in some kind of sick game? He couldn't really think that would work, did he?

Cadance noticed my frozen position.

"Come sit next to me, Twilight," she offered gently.

Despite her warm tone, I knew it was something I had to do.

Deep breaths...

I nervously padded and sat close to her.

Sombra's gaze continued to bore into me so I ducked my head, lowered my eyes, and scooted closer to Cadance, as submissive as I could possibly manage.

"So, Sombra and Twilight, I would like both of you to separately explain what happened to you two. Tell this to me, not each other, no more fighting, okay?"

I let Sombra go first, considering had it been otherwise, he would have skinned me.

"I was just doing a routine ambush of a nearby bandit camp," began Sombra, "which is a habit that might, but likely won't get me in trouble later but- oh, never mind. While I was doing this, I found her of all ponies there. With wings and nearly dead. I still don't understand why she has wings, but I doubt just anypony becomes - or is it ascends? - to alicorn status, but all that would be under the assumption that the universe operates on some high standards, and seeing her with wings is a rather glaring piece of evidence that it doesn't. So, I decided to take her with me because dead alicorns are inconvenient and I couldn't possibly think of any benefits that the uproar following her death would grant me. I had to spend a considerable amount of energy healing her - comatose ponies aren't as easy to work on as you'd think - while she is out for seven days and nights-"

Cadance was actively listening and nodding, when I realized...if I was out for a week and we were on the train for roughly two weeks, that means not only was I out for much longer then I thought, but I have been putting up with Sombra for almost a month.

"-and the way she repays me for saving her oh-so-precious life and teaching her a dead magic is by making my esteemed self out to be mindless sadist when clearly I'm not! You know I'm not, Princess Amore. Why don't you tell her, or- oh confound it all! I can just show her-"

Cadance turned to me as if he wasn't even there, looking as calm as ever.

"Twilight, it's your turn."

I wanted to tell her that interrupting him was a terrible idea and that she might meet the wrong end of his sword, but all he did was grumble and roll his eyes before taking a sudden interest in what was happening outside.

Although I was still avoiding Sombra's gaze, this didn't stop me from turning to Cadance and telling her everything.

Everything. I needed her to know just how awful he was.

She listened patiently, growing more concerned with every word until her face broke out into an expression of pity. But strangely, she didn't look surprised.

"I think I know what is wrong here," Cadance mused.

"And what might that be?" Sombra muttered sarcastically. "That winged disaster won't comply with a thing I say most of the time."

"Do you want my advice or not?" Cadance asked sternly, arching one eyebrow.

An understanding seemed to pass between them before Sombra rolled his eyes as if to say 'go on' and gave her a 'give it all you've got but I don't care too much one way or the other' look.

Cadance cleared her throat and made sure that we were both paying attention, but Sombra just gave her his typical 'humor me' look while I was sure to show Cadance that I was really listening.

"I think the main issue is miscommunication. You both are smart, powerful, headstrong, and stubborn leader-type ponies, but mark my words: the similarities end there. Sombra, you have weird communication skills, are easily provoked, a surefire loner, and have a cruel streak-"

He's also a complete jerk, I added silently.

"-but Twilight, I don't think that anything he did to you was right, although not everything you wrote was right either. Sombra, could you also try to tell her what kind of questions are off-limits, and perhaps... threaten to kill her less? It isn't a smart move for somepony who carries themselves like a genius, and the more obvious reason is it's just plain wrong."

"I'm sure it is."

I lifted my eyes from the glossy surface of the table to find Sombra staring at the floor after he spoke, lost in thought. Apparently it had nothing to do with the error of his ways if he was still saying things like that.

"Now, Sombra, you can go, but Twilight, I'd like to talk to you for a moment."

He shrugged nonchalantly and left without a second glance.

Cadance turned and faced me.

"Twilight... I think you're digging pretty deep here for his taste, and even for mine. We may not know anything about his past, but I know him and you've certainly got him pretty angry. Angrier than he was with me. I wish I could tell you more about him... but he is my friend and he has his share of secrets that I've sworn myself not to tell. But I can tell you this: you can trust him. I'm sure you'll find Starswirl's things, especially if you let him help you, even if you don't think he is... well, Sombra works in mysterious ways, but he was still able to help me. He's as introverted as you are, so just give him some space, okay?"

She gave me one last worried smile as I plopped my items on my back. What she just told me was certainly hard to believe.

I nodded and bid her goodbye, hugging her tightly.

I gazed longingly out the window towards the Empire as the train to Trotland chugged away...

"I wouldn't be missing that place too much if I were you."

Without needing to guess, I turned around, heart already back to feeling like a sunken ship.

"Did you ever have a home?"

Sombra shrugged. "Even if I did, I would have ditched it the first chance I got."

I ignored his response. It seemed so morbid, to never want a home like that... or to never have had one and not yearn for one. "So, are you going to help me on my quest?"

"To some extent, I suppose I will."

Silence. I went back to watching the the Gemheart Mountains recede.

"Purple Eyesore?"

Ugh, what could he possibly want now?

"Yes?"

"Can you read this?" he asked, passing me me a small slip of parchment with a single line of runes written on it.

I looked down at the slip, grasping it in my aura, and squinted at the runes sloppily written on it. That sloppiness was instant proof that Sombra wrote it."It says 'somber', right?"

He shook his head. "Not quite. It says 'Sombra'. I thought since I taught you to write your own name in runes I should show you mine. Names are valuable, even more so when they're true. You should remember that."

I didn't even give the paper a second glance as I shoved it in my bags. "Thank you," I lied. "Is it alright if I ask you a question?"

He didn't answer with anything other than a level stare.

"Since you only write with your mouth, I was wondering if you might let me teach you how to write using levitation magic, like I do."

I turned to look over at him. "Well...?"

He snapped back and most of the confusion disappeared from his eyes. "Yeah... we could try that."

"Can I go back to writing with my mouth?

"NO!"

We had three days until we arrived in Trottingham, Trotland's capital, and Sombra's penmanship when he wasn't writing with his mouth was the worst I had ever laid eyes upon. 'Sloppy' would be a compliment at the state it was in. I shuddered when I first saw it. How did he not learn to write?

"Sombra I told you to write the word 'cat', not draw squiggles all over the place."

"This is harder than it looks!"

Hard? For a master unicorn? I'm not buying that. Sombra probably just ignored his parents when they were teaching him, just like he ignores everypony else. I've never met anypony that was so unwilling to learn anything from writing to better behavior.

"No need to yell, at least your 'C's' don't look like quadruple loops anymore," I said as I peered across the small table in the train car to examine his work.

"They look like octuple loops now," he pointed out.

"I just thought that a powerful unicorn like you would know basic magic any unicorn under the heavens had already memorized. This is one of the easiest things for a unicorn to learn, and there's no reason that you shouldn't be picking up on this quickly. The only instances where quick learning wouldn't be the case is when a young unicorn goes through severe abuse, and the way they learn magic becomes complicated, and I wish that I could tell you just how sad it is, but you wouldn't care about those poor colts or fillies that have every chance stolen from them and aren't able to learn."

His gaze burned like embers through his shaggy mane. "It's not my fault! Maybe if you came across as something other than racist and faux educated we could accomplish something for once!"

"I am not 'faux' educated!" I said, trying not to sound angry at the accusation. "You're just cruel!"

He magically grasped his sword which was nearby, eliciting a wince from me, and stormed into the sleeper car.

Racist? How did he not know that young unicorns who go through severe abuse never grow up to have a chance at being prodigies? That feels like knowledge he would have used against somepony if he knew it, even if there aren't any unicorns that aren't half crystal pony in the Empire. In fact, I think he's the only one I've seen.

Plus, how could I be racist when we are both unicorns? I may be an alicorn now, but there were times when I still felt like a unicorn and I'd never expressed any kind of beliefs that would put down pegasi and earth ponies.

I adjusted my new hat, running a hoof over the soft gray brim, and stared out at the wild Trottish landscape of rolling green hills, small clouds of fog, winding creeks, snow dotted mountains, and stones and the occasional copse dotting the earthen canvas.

All I knew about Sombra was minor information from Princess Celestia. Besides that I had no knowledge of him, other than what I could guess.

Even more mysterious was Starswirl the Bearded, who was the whole reason this trip was taking place.

Although now that I think about it... Sombra and Starswirl did have a lot of similarities. Both of their names start with 'S' even though that is an insignificant detail. They existed around the same time in history and seem to possess immense knowledge in various types of magic. Starswirl never had an officially recorded birthdate and there is no proof of a death date, so legally he never died. Both have a connection with Celestia and Luna. Weirdest of all is that Starswirl stops being mentioned in all canon history records when the figure known as 'Sombra' emerged, from what records exist.

Those few pieces of history make it plain to see that there was such a narrow window of time before 'Starswirl' faded and 'Sombra' emerged.

Both of them were magical masters and tragically reclusive. Sombra knew where Starswirl lived and about the tribes. If anypony would have been able to find anything with dark magic, it would have been the brave and intelligent Starswirl. It was clear that they both knew Celestia and Luna before they were princesses too. After all, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna only became official rulers after they defeated Discord, which was when the first nation of Equestria fell. And before that? There was Sombra, and even before that, the end of the Tribal Era.

Was I travelling with my corrupted idol? Maybe his cloak was concealing the obvious cutie mark?

But then there were two minor flaws to my theory: Starswirl knew how to write with magic, and Sombra-possibly-Starswirl seems a bit too young to fit Starswirl's description of being the master conjurer. Sombra can't be more than twenty five years old. He must have had an amazing teacher... or horrible corruption... to be so powerful at his age.

But he was a master wizard... and there were no other male master wizards at the end of the Tribal Era, and Sombra isn't a crystal pony, even if he sounds a little like one.

Two days later.

As late dawn light shone through the train, soon to stop, I rapped the sleeper car's door gingerly.

Was this pony ever going to get up? I swear he wasn't the slightest bit diurnal.

"Sombra?"

I heard an annoyed grumble from within.

"We are approaching Trottingham now. Do you want to come out and catch a glimpse of the scenery?"

Perhaps, not be such a creep, hiding in there all the time? Smile? Socialize a bit? I'll try to be friendly if you are.

"I have a nice view from in here."

"Sombra, there aren't any windows in there."

I heard what sounded like a sigh. "Fine. You got me. I'm coming out; you will need me in about five minutes anyway."