//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: The Shadow of Sombra // by Lupus_Umbra //------------------------------// "Whoa!" I yelped, jumping out of the way of a group of girls. I watched as they had sprinted pass, running up until they had reached the kids. When they had reached them, the look that the kids had could only be described as pure regret, and the girls had then proceeded to verbally tear their ears off. "They must know them." I shrugged, continuing to make my way to the village known as ponyville, chuckling once again. When I had reached the town, I found myself to be in some sort of market place. I had observed everything that I could without looking suspicious. In the short time that I had walked, I notice three things. One of the things that I had observed is that this town's community was very lively. everyone in the town had a smile on their face and was socializing with one another. the next thing that I noticed was that these people had a much different form of currency than the one that I had on hand. They had seemed to be golden coins with a horseshoe in the center of it. Luckily, figuring out how much one of these coins was worth did not seem difficult as there only seemed to be the gold coin. The last thing that I had noticed had caught my attention more than the other two. 'Why are there so many damn women!?' I mentally screamed, for every ten women that I had counted, there would be one man that I would almost miss. It was obvious that the women of this town had heavily outnumbered the men here. It may be just me being affected by all my raging teenage hormones (won't that be exciting to experience again) but none of the women around here had a single flaw on them. sure there were some that looked better than others, but still, what the hell. 'Do everyone of them use the same beauty products?' I shook my head and pinched my thigh to rid my hormone-induced thoughts. "Stay focused," I said to myself walking to a part of town that seemed less busy than the market. This part of the town did still have people, but it was not overcrowded like the market. As I walked along the dirt road, I had established that the first thing I would need to get was money. Money would be very important in the future if I was going to feed myself and find somewhere to stay. Sure I could try to stay in the woods and try to rough it out and hunt for food. The only problem was that I had no idea what was in those woods, seeing as there are now such things as timber wolves. So staying in the town was going to be my best option. This again would lead to the fact that I have nothing, the fact that my stomach was growling loudly didn't help at all. As I tried to soothe my stomach from its aching pain, I bumped into someone head to head by mistake, knocking them down flat. I rubbed my head and looked down and saw that I had bumped into a teenage boy, maybe two years older than this body, he had looked up at me with something that seemed to be anger. I put my hand towards him to help him up. "Sorry about that man, you alr-" before I could finish my sentence, I felt my arm being pulled along with my shirt, before I was slammed against the wall, catching everyone's attention. I looked up and saw another teen the same age as the other with the same look on his face as the one on the floor. It wasn't until I looked around that I noticed that I didn't bump into just one teenager, I had bumped into a group of teenagers, five to be exact. "What the hells your problem man." The teen who was holding me said, he was a pale boy wearing a black leather jacket over a dirty, white shirt, with tight, black leather pants. His most prominent feature had to be his hair, which happened to be a spiked Mohawk dyed red. "You think you can walk into one of our boys and walk away again."I used my one free hand to move his hand away from my throat. "I didn't see you all walking." I said after a quick breath. "You didn't see this big ass group in front of you." He motioned to the other four boys, apparently thinking there was fourteen behind him. I shook my head, which seemed to further anger the boy. "I swear, dumbasses like you should learn to stay out of a Dimond dog's way when they're walking down the street." The boys behind him seemed to agree with him, and the people around us put their heads down. But I didn't care about that, I ignored all of that. 'What did he call me' I thought to myself, the last person that had insulted me had been made an example of. That being me beating said person into a bloody pulp and left hanging nude in front of all his men. That was thirty-five years ago when I was twenty-two when I had been very weak to insults, probably would have been worse if I clung on to my days on the streets. As I got older I had grown thicker skin, but I'm back to fifteen, and that insult had triggered more emotions now than I had in thirty years. I had reached for my knife, almost instinctively. "Yes, let the anger take over."I heard a voice say, the voice was one I've never heard, yet sounded so familiar. But just as my hand had touched the hilt, I had quickly stopped myself. No, you can't go killing someone on your first day here, no matter how tempting. plus, I wanted to do something that would hurt him badly. Not in a physical way, but in a way much worse. "Honestly you're right, I must be a dumbass to not have moved out of your way." I said loudly, making everyone watching jump in surprise, and the boy who was holding me to put on a cocky smirk. "Damn right you are, maybe you'll look ne-" "I mean, with hair like that, I'm surprised I didn't move out your way the moment you walked into this street." I finished, he didn't seem to catch what I said, stopping his sentence entirely to confirm what I said. But the people laughing around us had been all the confirmation that he needed. His face had turned red, from either anger or embarrassment. "You want to say that again dickhead." He said in a low growl, tightening his grip on my collar. "I'm just stating the obvious." I shrugged, letting the insult fly over my head. "That hair of yours is what makes up most of your height. I'm actually glad that I bumped into your friend instead of you. If I had, I'd be dead on the spot." The people around us just couldn't stop laughing, and I couldn't stop smirking. "Your a real funny guy, you know that." He chucked, but it was not because he thought it was funny. "You're looking a little red there buddy," I said innocently. "Maybe your pants are keeping your blood from circulating." I was surprised at this point, I would have expected him to reach his breaking point by now. But it was close, I could see it was. "You must want to die today." He said getting close, desperately trying to save face from this humiliation. "If you're going to kill me, do it fast, your breath is already doing half the job for you," I said, turning my head to the side. I was genuinely afraid of what these guys breathe was doing to my nose. "Man dude, never in my life had I breathed so clearly from my nose before. You ever try breathing through your goddamn nose, it might do the world a favor." It was then that he had reached his breaking point. "THAT'S IT." The boy screamed as he raised his fist and hurled it at me. I'm an experienced mercenary who's been in more fights then I could remember. And with all that time came experience, I had enough to where anyone who wasn't trained well tried to hit me it would look slow. But this kids punch may as well be going at a snail's pace. Before I could react to his attack the fist had been caught in a gloved hand that was many times larger. "Ah' think you boys had yer fun." I male voice said, we had both looked to see who it was, we had to look up a few inches but we saw him. He was tall, maybe six foot four, he had dirty blonde hair and green eyes. He was wearing a red, short-sleeved flannel with s green apple design on it. His pants were faded blue with dust stains on it, and on his feet were dark brown work boot. In his mouth, he was chewing on some plant. "B-Big Mac." The boy stuttered, seeming to know this character well. The boy had backed away from Big Mac and looked to the other guys. They seemed to know that they would be outmatched by this one guy. "Let's get out of here." One of the teens said, the others seemed to agree and walked a different direction. But not after sending me a glare, promising to be back for me. When they had turned the corner, I had to look up to Big Mac. "I guess I should thank you for helping me out there," I said, referring back to what happened a second ago. He didn't answer, he only played the plant in his mouth and stared. "Thank you for that." I thanked, feeling somewhat uncomfortable, I wasn't above thanking people for helping me, but it wasn't really my element. "Your welcome." He said in a deep voice. "You okay, you got slammed pretty hard?" He asked. "Yeah I'm fine," I answered rubbing my back. Which was weird, the wall I was slammed to look like popcorn ceiling. So me being slammed into it should really hurt. "You should be careful when it ,comes to the diamond dogs." He advised me, probably for the future. "Oh please, I saw you smiling in the corner." I laughed, it was weird. I don't remember the last time I acted like this. It must be this new body, along with the environment. "Who are they anyway?" He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not from around here, so I don't know." He nodded in understanding "The Dimond Dogs are a large gang that showed up about three years ago, they somewhat indirectly control this town." He explained with a sigh at the end. "You ever try to get the authority's on them?" He nodded his head. "We tried to get the princess's to get their guards on them. But they always manage to get away. They stopped for a couple of months but they came back." "Where do they hide, this town doesn't seem big enough to hide a large gang?" I asked following him as he walked. "They don't hide in town, they hide in an underground in a mound outside of town." He said before we stopped at a carriage. In the back of the carriage were two bushels of apples. The horse pulling the was a brown horse with a black mane. Big Mac had hopped on the carriage and was about ready to take off before I stopped him. "Hey before you take off, do you know anywhere with some good food?" I asked holding up a pouch. I looked inside and it seemed there where multiple gems inside, ruby's, sapphires, emeralds, they were all in this bag. One of the useful things that I learned was on the street was to pickpocket. It had been very helpful to me and it still is. I had taken it from the boy that was holding me on the wall when he wasn't paying attention. Mac nodded and held a hand towards me. "Yeah, hop on." He said. "Is it going to disturb you?" I asked. He shook his head. "Nope." He said, I shrugged and took his hand, and with one strong pull, I was up. It had taken at least five minutes to reach what Mac called 'Sugarcube Coner'. To describe it in very simple terms, it was a big gingerbread house. That's it, that's all it was. And I didn't even react to it, I could. On the way here I had seen some girl flying with transparent wing fly up and touch move a cloud. Not only that but after jumping on it a few times, she had forced it to rain over a flower pot, the woman she did it for smiled and thanked her like she did not just do the impossible. It had taken all my willpower to not jump up and scream how to see was able to do that. So seeing a big gingerbread house did nothing to me. Mac had said that this was a bakery that had very good pastries. "So I'm guessing that you're here to deliver the apples to them," I said, glancing back to the bushels of apples. He nodded. "The Cakes had got a large order for apple turnovers, but they had run out of apples halfway through the order." The Cakes, as he explained, are the owners of Sugarcube Corner. They were kind people, maybe a little too kind, as Mac said that if someone didn't have money to pay for something they would give them something from the batch they would throw away. No one's taken advantage of them yet but who am I to judge. "Need help with that?" I asked as he moved to the back. He seemed hesitant as he drew one of the bushels towards himself. "Sure." He shrugged, giving me the bushel. He had taken the other one and we had both walked into the bakery. The interior was very simple compared to the exterior. There were booths and tables set up around with posters of pastries that they were selling. "Oh, Big Mac!" A woman called I had turned and saw a woman with a...uniqe.. hairstyle that resembles frosting. She was wearing a simple yellow dress, with a blue apron over it. The apron had been dirty from frosting and flour, showing that she had been working for a while. Something was weird though. Her eyes, which were a brilliant rose, were red and puffy, and her smile, it seemed like it was forced on. "Evenin' Mrs. Cake." He greeted. "Where should we put these apples?" "Oh just put them in the kitchen." She said. We had both walked past her and put placed the apples on the counter, before walking out. "Who's this young man Big Mac?" She asked I had looked back, before realizing that she was talking to me. Mac had opened his mouth to answer, only to widen his eyes in realization. "You know what? I don't even know his name." He stated, and they had both looked at me. "I guess that I've never introduced myself huh," I said. "my name is Sombra." I introduced, sticking my hand out. And then it happened again, both of them took up shocked expressions and blinked a couple of times. After a second, Mac had reached out and shook my hand. "Big McIntosh, most people call me Big Mac though." He said, giving me a firm handshake, I then turned to Mrs. Cake. "My name is Cup Cake dear." She said, also taking my hand before turn to Mac. "So how much do I owe you for the apples?" She asked, but she looked like she didn't want to hear the answer. "It'll be 130 bits for the apples." He answered before she had flinched. "Okay, I'll go get the money." She said before going to the back. I had got curious about why she reacted the way she did and looked around the bakery. It didn't take long to see what was wrong. "What the hell?" I somewhat yelled. Catching the attention of Big Mac. "What's wron-" He started, before seeing what I saw. In this room where there should have been tables for people to sit at, was splinters of what I assumed to be tables, in some parts of the walls there were holes, posters had been torn to shreds, there was even a broken window, this place had obviously been attacked. The tables and chairs that I saw when I walked in must have been the ones they were left alone. "Okay here's the mone-" "Mrs. Cake, what happened?" Big Mac asked, voice filled with concern and worry. Mrs. Cake's eyes widened. "It's nothing you need to worry about, it's our problem." She mumbled, putting the money in Big Mac's hand. But he wasn't taking it. "Who did this Mrs. Cake?" He repeated. He had kept asking her until she had finally decided to tell what had happened. "It was the Dimond Dogs." She answered. "Why would they do this?" He asked, pointing to the damage. "They had been coming in here every week for a month. They would make us give them food and would leave without paying. They came in again today asking for more food. I said that I wouldn't give them any food until they had paid for what they had owed." She explained, but then she had started to break into sobs. "Then they had went into the dining area and *sniff* They went crazy. We wanted to stop them, Mr. Cake tried, but they had hit him with a chair. We hide upstairs with the twins to keep them safe. " She then broke down, it wasn't hard to figure out the rest. Mac them went up and held her by the shoulders, and I stood beside her. "Where's Mr. Cake right now?" He asked urgently. "He's at the hospital now, they had hurt him badly, but the medics told me he should be fine." She said in between sobs. Mac had looked relieved for a moment, before his face quickly filled with anger. "Those dirty, good for nothing sons of bitch. Once I get my hands on them I'm gonna-" He growled before I put my hand on his shoulder. "I know your angry McIntosh, but this is not the place for you to be angry," I said, trying to calm him down, it seemed to work as he took deep breaths. "Mrs. Cake, is there anyone that you know that can help you in this situation?" I asked, see what I can do to help the situation. She shook her head. "No, there's no one, we have to pay for this with our own money. And with not only the repairs but the medical bills as well. We just can't afford any of it." She sobbed once again. Mac had looked at her with sorrow and so did I, I had seen things like this happen. These people had done nothing wrong, they were kind to people and asked for nothing in return and yet, they had received the short end of the stick. And these people had children. If this place went out of business because of damages, they would have nothing to support them. No parent wanted to lose their child. I had sighed and reached towards my back. "Will this help?" I sighed, holding the pouch I stole earlier in front of her. She had stopped crying for a second and grabbed the pouch. She undid the string and opened it when she what was inside she gasped and dropped the bag, which I had caught before it touched the ground. "I-I can't take those." She said, in which I raised a brow. "Why not?" I asked, holding the bag on in front of her. "It's too much, I just met you, I can't take this from you." "But you're not taking it from me, Mrs. Cake, I'm giving it to you," I said. "Besides it's too much for me, I wouldn't know what to use all of these for. So you take it." Not like it's really coming out of my pocket anyway. She looked like she couldn't believe what was happening, this teenage boy that she had just meet after her husband was hospital and bakery destroyed, was giving her the money to pay for it all. Even now as she held the bag of gems in her hand, she still thought that it would disappear at any second. "Thank you." She mumbled. "What was that?" I asked, not catching what she said. She then jumped up and hugged me into her chest. "I can't thank you enough for this!" She cried, but instead of crying tears of sadness, they were tears of joy. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." She had continued to whisper. I hugged back awkwardly. "Your welcome." I said it was just as awkward as the hug I was giving. But she didn't care as she continued to hug me. After two minutes of hugging, we separated, she still had tears in her face, but through the tears was a beautiful smile. But the moment was interrupted by a loud growl. This leads me to blush, but her to smile. "You must be hungry if your stomach is growling like that." She said, wiping away the tears, before turning to the kitchen. "Let me see if I can make you something with what we have," she said, walking to the kitchen. As she did, Big Mac, who had been quiet up til now, had walked up to me. "You did a good thing Sombra." "I know," I sighed. "I know."