//------------------------------// // Not Alone ~ V // Story: Luna's Club of Reformed Villains... And Their Girlfriends // by ChillyKitty //------------------------------// Sombra trotted along with the rest of the group as they were being led to their rooms by one very serious guard. In fact, he was fairly certain it was the same guard who brought them to Luna’s Clubroom but Sombra honestly couldn’t tell, most of the guards looked the same. He was a grey unicorn with blues eyes, and had a tough build but was still just a bit smaller than Sombra himself. He led them silently to a hallway with numbered rooms, almost like a very expensive hotel. Although Sombra doubted that they would rent these rooms out to just any visitor despite its appearance. “This is your room, Ma’am.” The guard nodded to Tempest as he gestured his hoof to a door numbered b10. “Thank you, Sir.” she smiled, “Good night everyone.” She said as she turned, opened the door with a hoof and stepped in. “And this is your room, Sir.” The guard pointed Sombra to the room directly next to Tempest’s, b12. Sombra nodded, “Thank you.” He opened the door and started trotting in but soon stopped in his tracks. He didn’t even have the chance to acknowledge the pink pony flying towards him, “Sombra!” she screeched. The next thing he knew, he was laying on the floor with the back of his head sore and a mare on top of him. He let out a hefty sigh, “Hello Pinkie.” “Hi Sombra!” she grinned. “Why are you awake?” He asked. She shrugged, “Couldn’t sleep.” “Okay well would you be quiet? I’m sure Twilight and Fluttershy are asleep.” He pointed out. “Oh yeeaaah.. Sorry.” She whispered and showed an apologetic smile to their audience. Of course it didn’t surprise Sombra to know that everypony in the corridor was now staring at him and Pinkie. “Oh!” Pinkie jumped off him, suddenly realizing that she was still holding him down, “Sorry.” She gave Sombra that same yet slightly less apologetic grin as he got up unfazed. “I’m going to bed.” He spoke and turned back to his room. “Right! Goodnight everyone!” Pinkie chirped, following Sombra inside. The door was closed behind them with Sombra’s magic. Pinkie bounced up and down beside him as he trotted to their bed. The blanket and sheet were ruffled up, two of the pillows weren’t even on the bed anymore, and the fitted bed sheet was lifted off the mattress in one corner, Sombra didn’t become fully shocked until he realized that the mattress was skewed and no longer on the bed frame properly. “Pinkie, please tell me you were performing some sort of ritual and this wasn’t the aftermath of you trying to sleep.” She shrugged and sat on the ground as Sombra started to fix her mess, “It’s not my fault I couldn’t sleep! The bed was too cold.” Sombra glanced around the room, he spotted a fireplace not far from the bed, “You could’ve started a fire, or gotten one of the stationary guards outside to help start it.” He said as he fluffed the two used-to-be-floor pillows and adjusted the sheet. “Not that kind of cold, silly.” Pinkie said with significantly less energy. Sombra froze as he was halfway through pulling the blanket back to its normal place, “Oh.” he spoke before continuing his work. Within a moment the bed was made. Sombra judged it for a bit, it was rather large, he supposed anypony would feel lonely lying alone on it. He promptly turned and trotted towards Pinkie, only stopping when he was just less than a muzzle length away. “Could it be that you couldn’t sleep without me?” “Maybe.” she said, not making eye contact. Sombra smirked, he went to wrap his hooves around Pinkie and ended up lifting her up. She giggled as he twirled her around and set her on the freshly made bed. Her hooves caressed his mane as they each leaned into a soft kiss. Sombra needed this, he hadn’t been apart from Pinkie this long since they first met after he reformed his physical form and yet it hadn’t even been two hours. Since the day he showed up in Ponyville, she was stuck to him like glue, much to Sombra’s dismay. But now he wouldn’t trade her for all of the land in Equestria. Once they pulled away, they each allowed their noses to stay pressed together, Pinkie nuzzled him slightly, she let out a happy sigh, “I love you Sombra.” He stared for a moment, admiring her beautiful, blue eyes, “I love you too Pinkie.” He leaned in for another, albeit shorter kiss. Pinkie ended up pulling away but didn’t say anything. She just had a cute, drowsy look on her face as she continued to stare at his lips in a daze. The sight brought a smile to his face, “How about we go to sleep?” Her eyes traveled up to meet his, “Okay.” she said quietly. The bed was comfy and clearly expensive, made even better by the fact that Pinkie was snuggled into Sombra’s chest. She was right, Sombra was certain that the bed would’ve been too cold without her there. Sombra felt her breathing slow almost immediately, she must’ve been really tired to be asleep that quickly. She had prepared the baked goods for Sugar Cube Corner the night - or technically morning - before and then woke up early on top of that so who could blame her? They were used to waking up early or staying up late due to their job. Sometimes one would insist on doing all of the baking themselves just to let the other get some more sleep. Sombra was always glad to have help of course, typically it’d be Mr. Cake as the Mrs. would normally get baby duty although their roles were reversed a fair share of the time. But whenever Sombra and Pinkie prepared for the bakery to open, he felt undeniable joy of being with her but also guilt whenever she let out a yawn. He wondered if his yawns troubled her the same way. It was silly, if you think about it. Here Sombra was, laying with a mare in his arms, thinking over his normal day job as he took a vacation in the royal castle to join a Princess’ club. He was a tyrant. An enemy of Equestria. A shadow pony. A pony who enslaved others. A pony who got engaged because he didn’t have the will to have a relationship with somepony he didn’t manipulate and lie to on a daily basis. He sighed quietly. He was a baker. A citizen of Equestria. A normal pony. A pony with strange magic who was descended from shadow ponies but he acted like a normal pony and was treated as one. He was a pony who truly loved another and was willing to do anything for her happiness. He held her tighter, placing his muzzle just on top of her messy yet still bouncy mane. Feeling the warmth of her body next to his, “Goodnight, my Pinkie.” he whispered as he slowly drifted to sleep. … Tempest woke up with a start. A nightmare? She heard that you’re not supposed to get those in Equestria, or at least not bad ones. But she was used to them by now so all she did was shrug it off. Princess Luna must’ve taken the night off, Discord had teleported into their clubroom to dismiss the rest of the members. He claimed that that ‘Lulu’ wasn’t feeling well so they were free to leave and head to their rooms. Starlight accused him of lying, only half joking. But he assured her that he was telling the truth, however it was in a rather chaotic way so who’s to say whether he was actually being honest. Tempest didn’t care too much. She was immediately getting tired although she knew she probably wouldn’t sleep long with the nightmares and all. Her morning routine didn’t change much now that she was staying in a castle. Her room had a private bathroom as she assumed all the other rooms did as well. She took a quick shower, towel dried and then brushed her mane and tail, brushed her teeth, and proceeded to leave her room. There was nothing to do in there and if she left she’d at least be able to wander around the castle. She glanced at a clock that was hung on the wall at the end of the hallway, it was quarter to six. Tempest let out a little yawn, which forced her to close her eyes, when she opened them again she saw something entirely unexpected. Twilight had entered the hallway and was now staring at Tempest. “Oh hello, Twilight..” Tempest spoke in a hushed voice after having recovered from the shock, “Good morning.” “Good morning Tempest,” Twilight spoke quietly as well, “It’s rather early, what are you doing up?” She trotted towards Tempest. Tempest shrugged, “I just wake up early. How about you?” “I had a nightmare,” Twilight stated, “I stayed up late reading about some ancient curses and I guess that turned into a nightmare.” She laughed, “I tried to talk to Luna once I woke, not really for the nightmare I just figured she’d be awake but I couldn’t find her.” “Oh, um, she left last night, Discord followed her but then came back and said that she wasn’t feeling well.” Tempest explained. “Oh that’s not good, I hope she’s well enough to lower the moon.” Twilight commented. “Yeah” Tempest responded, she was then followed by an awkward silence. “Um..” Twilight faltered, leaning her weight onto one side, “If you’re not going back to sleep, which you like to hang out? I've got a lot of books you can read if you’re bored.” She looked to the floor, “I’m mean, it’s better to not be alone, right?” she smiled as she looked back up. Tempest fiercely fought away a blush that was trying to form on her cheeks. “S-sure, I could read something.” Twilight seemed to let out a breath she was holding at that, “Then come in.” She smiled as she trotted over to her door and opened it, allowing the unicorn to enter just behind her before she shut the door behind Tempest.