Sombra walks through a dark tunnel. There is no one else there; he is all alone. The rhythmic hammering of pickaxes on rock reverberates through the mine. He smiles darkly. He is close, so very close to freeing the Umbrum... something shifts and the tunnel disappears... He is weightless. He is without form. His mind, dark and powerful, is embedded in the swirling currents of space, twisting them, shaping them. He yearns to spread his might, to force anguish on all living things. He must break through, he must tear, the Light shall perish, he is -
Somepony gave off a loud snort. Sombra was immediately wide awake. His eyes snapped open and he almost fell off the plank bed.
He groaned and staggered to his feet. This was pointless. He could hardly sleep and once he managed to doze off he had those - You are weak! - nightmares. And they kept mixing up with other nightmares that made no damn sense. What time was it anyway? There was no way to tell in this place. He had to get out of here, this smelled like an orphanage for the old...
Sombra folded the blanket, donned his cloak and snuck through the dark hall, trying not to step on anypony who had not been given a plank bed. The snores and sniffs of approximately fifty homeless ponies filled the room. Every now and then, someone would groan or talk in their sleep. He was hungry. Maybe they had already put out the bread and soup in the chapel three blocks down the alley.
Leaving the hall, Sombra took a right and followed the bland corridor. The red glow of an early morning sun shone through the windows, tinting the opposite wall in a warm light and drawing abstract patterns. It was very quiet, his hoofsteps the only thing that could be heard.
As he left the buiding and stepped into the crisp air, the gruff guard from the day before was not there anymore. Instead, Sombra found Abrasive Paper waiting for him. The earth pony had left his thick cloak at home. His glaive leaned against a shoulder-high wall with the words Compassionate Heart Centre on it in large brass letters.
"Ready to catch some worms, early bird?"
Sombra just grunted and changed direction. Abs grabbed his weapon and swiftly joined Sombra's side.
"There's soup at the -"
"Chapel, I know." Sombra huffed. "Why do you keep following me around?"
"Orders," said Abs, stifling a yawn.
"No. I mean, why you specifically?"
"Once you figure it out I won't have to anymore," Abs replied cryptically. He smiled when Sombra just stared at him in confusion.
When Darren left the entrance hall of the Valiant Prince, a pleasant surprise was waiting for him.
"Good morning, Fluttershy," he said.
"Good morning," the pegasus said gently. She graced Darren with a warm smile. "How did you sleep?"
"I slept well," he lied, "thank you. You, too, I hope?"
"M-hm." Fluttershy nodded with the smile still in her eyes. They both turned to walk in the direction of the Market Box. "It's lovely weather today," said Fluttershy after half a minute of silence.
Darren chuckled. "Yes. But you came here for something, didn't you. Jonathan told me your plans for today and I happen to know that the jousting grounds are in the opposite direction."
Fluttershy stopped dead in her tracks and blushed. "Uh, well, I, I... yes," she stammered.
"Are you alright?" Darren asked, worried he had been too straightforward.
Fluttershy nodded, her pink mane bouncing along with the movement.
"I'm fine, no, I came here because I wanted to see if you were okay."
"Me?' Darren said, raising his brows in surprise and resumed walking. "Why?"
"Well, I just thought that... you seemed to be upset about something," Fluttershy said hesitantly. She flapped her wings once to catch up to him. "Maybe I can help?"
"I'm not sure what you mean," said Darren. He suppressed a sigh, glad that she did not know about his pile of regrets.
"You - you looked so sad before we meditated yesterday. I'm sorry if I'm prying, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"You're very observant." Darren sighed. "I miss the Light. I could wield it once. Years ago. Meditation is still good for the soul but it's... not the same."
"Oh," Fluttershy muttered. "Were you a priest?"
Darren shook his head. "Paladin. Do you know what that is?"
To his surprise, Fluttershy nodded. "Warriors of the Holy Light," she said, maybe quoting a term she had heard from Jonathan. "When Twilight came home after her adventure she was so sad that they lost you. I helped to distribute the 'Missing' posters across Equestria. And we talked a lot... about all of it. She was worried something awful might have happened to you. Jonathan said, 'He'll be fine' but you know Twilight." She smiled apologetically. "She just got more worried than she was already. She said that ponies might be scared of you and hurt your feelings..." Fluttershy halted again. "I - uh, I asked her why... and so she told me. If I hadn't known Jonathan by then, I would have been really scared just by thinking about death knights."
Darren's eyes widened in shock as Fluttershy explained, "Twilight has this book about the history of Azeroth. She got it as a Hearth's Warming gift from Jonathan, with personal annotations and everything. I borrowed it a while ago and I, well, I skipped the gory parts but I read the entire chapter about Kel'Thuzad and the Scourge." Fluttershy proudly raised her head. Her shoulders sagged forward when she saw Darren's dark frown. "Anyway, that's... why I know what paladins and death knights are," she finished meekly.
He just gaped at her, dumbfounded. He never would have expected that Fluttershy, the timid one, would have had the heart - or the possibility, for that matter - to read a book about the Scourge. According to the stories that Twilight had told him Fluttershy was kind but she usually avoided conflict and dark subjects, she was easily scared and preferred the company of animals over that of other ponies. Apparently, there was more to that pegasus than met the eye and Darren chided himself for being prejudiced against her.
"You must have felt terrible back then," Fluttershy empathically offered Darren the understatement of the year.
He cleared his throat.
"Er. Yes. I did."
Fluttershy's ears splayed back and she bit her lower lip, suddenly unsure again.
"I'm sorry. I guess it's not my place to say. It's just that you're the second human I've ever met and I wanted to know more about your kind. I thought you might feel lonely."
Darren smiled.
"You're very kind, Fluttershy. But there's no need to worry about me. I have friends here." His smile grew wider and he shook his head in fascination. "You're so much like my daughter. She had the sweetest soul. You could have put a snarling, double axe-wielding orc before her and she would have offered him her favourite toy to cheer him up."
"Oh, thank you," said Fluttershy, her cheeks red hot from the compliment, "but cheering ponies up is more of Pinkie Pie's specialty. And I'm not really that brave, Rainbow Dash is much braver..."
"Don't sell yourself short," Darren said. He winced as the bell from the nearby school tolled eight times. "Oh, damn. The time. I have to run or I'll be late for work."
"Right. Sorry for delaying you," Fluttershy apologized once again. "Have - have a nice day!" She gave Darren a wide smile.
"You too, Fluttershy. See you later!" Darren called, already jogging ahead.
The Market Box did not have any music boxes or radios. Yet today, a cheerful whistle filled the air, accompanied by heavy footsteps. The whistling stopped, followed by a grunt and the sound of glass sliding on polished wood.
"Well, somecreature's in a good mood today." Peppermint looked up from his calculations, smirking.
"Hm? Uh, yes, Sir," Darren quickly replied, wiping his hands on his apron. He straightened his back and wondered if he should bring two more ten-litre oil jars to the rack.
"I already told you, you don't need to call me that, Darren." Peppermint rolled his eyes. "You've been here long enough to drop the 'Sir'. I'm a shop owner, not a guard."
"Yes, S- Alright," Darren amended. "Force of habit," he sighed.
"Seriously, though, where the hay have you been over the weekend? I wouldn't say your personality did a one-eighty but something definitely happend," Peppermint went on, putting his receipts into a drawer in the back of the counter.
"It was an... interesting weekend," Darren admitted, tilting his head. "I was in Ponyville."
"Ponyville, huh? Isn't that some town behind Canterlot? They's infamous for attracting trouble like honey does..." Peppermint's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Ah, no, no, no way... You're not a changeling, are you?"
"A what?" Darren's brow furrowed in confusion. His employer had suddenly adopted an extremely suspicious look.
"A changeling! A shapeshifter, a love drainer. Your eyes, didn't they glow blue?" Peppermint's eyes narrowed.
"Seriously? You accept my services and just now, after weeks, you question my identity?" Darren could not believe it. "What happened to, 'We have griffins as customers'? And to be clear, I'm not a changeling; I'm human, moreso than ever, in fact, you -" Realizing where he was headed, Darren ground his teeth and swallowed the insult that sat on his tongue.
"Sorry," Darren said curtly. He took a deep breath. "I still don't know what a changeling is. Pony subspecies?"
Peppermint's mouth opened and closed again. He blushed, looking to the ground in embarrassment. "Tartarus if I know. I just read that they can take the shape of any creature. They invaded Canterlot and almost prevented the royal wedding." He eyed Darren. "Dunno what came over me."
"Pony paranoia," Darren snorted, shaking his head. "No... to be fair, that happens to practically any species. Humans are escpecially good at it. I'll forget it if you do, Sir."
"I'll drop the charges if you drop the Sir," said Peppermint, rubbing his neck.
"Deal."
"Sorry," Peppermint muttered, almost inaudible.
They exchanged stiff smiles and both returned to their tasks. Darren grumbled under his breath, his good mood evaporated. He did not pay attention to the now frozen oil as he went back into the storage room.
Peppermint was quick to let the matter slide and the rest of the week went by in peace. Sometimes, after he had to deal with a difficult customer, Darren noticed that he had accidentally frozen food that stood nearby. To his relief, nothing else was affected by his involuntary frost spells. He decided to practice his own magic late into the night, paired with more meditation, and conduct different experiments.
Darren found out that, given that he focused really hard, he could willingly lower the temperature of anything near him. When a crow landed on his windowsill, attracted by the bread he had brought to his room, he froze its claws to the ledge for a few seconds before getting a bad conscience and releasing the flustered bird.
On Thursday, late into the night, Darren returned to the inn with cold, wet boots. He had managed to walk across the park's small lake by freezing the water directly below his feet into an icy path that melted away a few steps behind him. Even though he mainly honed his magic skills to keep control over them, Darren found that it was also a fun distraction. There was a thrill to walking over a water-filled basin in the middle of the night, relying only on his concentration, sense of balance and a thin layer of ice. If he had slipped it would have made for an uncomfortable way home.
He soon discovered another upside of his abilities. Inspired by the refrigerators in Peppermint's shop which needed a constant supply of ice from the Frozen North, Darren bought three watertight boxes of different size. He put them all into each other and filled the two spaces in between with straw and water respectively. Now he had the possibility to preserve food which he did not want to eat right away - until he could afford his own kitchen.
Every day, when work was over, Darren and Jonathan went to White's to train Eclipse. Fluttershy's involvement was actually minimal. After his first successful attempt at shadow magic, Eclipse had lost most of his uneasiness and was eager to continue the lessons. Darren himself found that the shared meditation time helped him to wind down. Watching the colt grow more sure of himself also did its part. After only four days, Eclipse managed to call for the shadow, focus it into a tight beam of dark lightning and hit a wooden box he had actually aimed at.
The box splintered with a loud bang. Darren instinctively raised his arms and ducked. Jonathan quickly called up a shield of Light around himself and Fluttershy. Pieces of wood and carrots flew across the room and bounced off the glowing sphere.
"Eek!" Fluttershy squeaked, startled by the sudden explosion, and hid her head even though Jonathan's shield protected her.
Panting heavily, Eclipse risked a look at his teachers. The purple haze that had risen from his eyes during the spell quickly faded away.
"Was... was that right? Was it supposed to blow up like that?" he stammered timidly.
Wiping carrot mash from his arms, Darren chuckled.
"Sorry. I suppose I could have warned you. But you just cast an advanced spell, kid. Once you fine-tune it a little, you'll be able to move things around without detonating them. Creatures, even."
"I really, really don't wanna explode my Mom," Eclipse stated firmly. He shook his hoof which felt as if a thousand ants were crawling over it. "My leg feels funny," he said.
Jonathan dropped the Light shield and exchanged a look with Fluttershy. Aside from the surprise she seemed to be okay.
"Does it feel as if you sat on it too long?" Darren asked, kneeling down to have a look at Eclipse's hoof.
"Yeah, kinda..."
"Keep moving it to get the blood flowing," said Darren. He took a good look at the colt. "You alright?"
Eclipse nodded, still shaking his hoof around. "I'm fine, I guess. Whew! Wow. I just blew up a - a carrot box." He stared at Darren. "And I sprayed carrot mash all over you," he realized. "Sorry!"
"It'll wash out. There's a trick for every kind of stain," said Darren.
Jonathan raised an eyebrow, knowing full well that carrot stains could be removed in almost the same way as blood.
Hooves clattered on the stairs to the basement and Feather burst into the room.
"I heard a bang! What happened? Are you okay?" she called, frantically turning her head to look for Eclipse.
"I'm fine, Mom," drawled Eclipse, slightly annoyed. "We're fine."
"Oh, honey, you're all covered with -" Feather wiped the squirming Eclipse's face with her hoof. "- are those carrots?" she asked incredulously. Her eyes darted to the scorchmark where the carrot box had stood a minute ago.
"Sorry about that," said Darren. "I'll pay for it."
"No, it's fine, I'll just - My goodness, you're covered in mash, too," Feather realized. "What the hay did you do?"
"Errr, training?" Eclipse offered.
"Oh, yes, it was very impressive, and, uh, loud. You see, Eclipse has learned to focus his magic into a beam," Fluttershy explained.
"A - beam?"
"Yeah, a beam of lightning! Mom, remember how at first I just, like, had this dark smoke all around me and couldn't control it? Well, now I can! I can direct it somewhere nopony gets hurt! And Darren says that, with more training, I'll be able to not explode things when I do it!" Eclipse beamed at his mother, grinning from ear to ear while carrot juice dripped from his muzzle, mane and chest.
Feather rubbed her temples and heaved a strained sigh.
"I see," she said finally. "Well, let's get you cleaned up, alright? And we," Feather shot a sharp look at Darren and Jonathan, "are going to discuss this later." She turned to Fluttershy who immediately shrunk before her. Feather's gaze softened as she smiled at her. "Not you, my dear, I know that you don't teach him that nonsense." She led the still giddy Eclipse upstairs, leaving his teachers behind without another word.
Fluttershy awkwardly cleared her throat and fiddled with her mane.
"That concludes today's lesson, I suppose," Darren commented dryly.
"Well, tomorrow's our last day in the Empire. We can show Eclipse a bit of practical use for the Death Grip you just taught him." Jonathan grinned slyly. "After all, there's a trick for every stain."
Darren gave him a deadpan glare, wordlessly slung the sword belt around his shoulder and left the basement.
"That's what it's called?" Fluttershy whispered to herself in shock.
"What did you teach my son?! You never said anything about fighting!" Feather stared daggers at the two men who felt significantly smaller than usual. "That box is trash! The power he must have used..."
Jonathan raised a hesitant hand, trying not to conjure up a shield just in case the fuming mare decided to spit fire. Instead, he said, "Ma'am, the power already is inside of him. And he needs to know how to get rid of excess energy. If he doesn't, well... uh..." He looked at Darren for help.
"If he doesn't, the shadow magic slips from his control," said Darren. "That's what happened in Ponyville. Better to obliterate a box than somebody's mind."
Feather's ears folded down and she visibly deflated.
"He could do that?" she whispered. Steadying herself at a chair, she exhaled and rubbed her forehead. "Merciful stars..."
Darren and Jonathan nodded in unison.
"His magic could make him insane and everybody else with him," said Darren. Something in his tone made Feather believe him without further question. "That's why he needs to learn control - and not because of some desire of mine to play teacher."
"I need a drink," said Feather. She unlocked a kitchen cabinet and pulled a bottle with a copper-coloured liquid from it. A hint of pine, oak and caramel filled the air.
"Feather," Darren said quietly.
Her hoof, outstretched to take a short glass from a wooden board, halted.
"I made your husband a promise," said Darren. "I will honour it. Jonathan needs ro return home tomorrow but I will remain in the Empire and keep teaching Eclipse. Once we are done he will have proper respect for his powers but he won't have to fear them anymore. I've already learned some things about him. He is... tenacious and very eager to learn. He doesn't fool around because, despite his age, he understands what's at stake here."
Darren took the glass from the board and two more along with it. Pouring a little from the drink into all of the glasses, he continued, "His compassion is what kept him from lashing out and attacking others. His power is dark - but his heart, that's full of light. A kind heart. It will... guide him. And it will safe him." He held his hand over the drinks. "Trust me on that." With a smile, Darren gave Feather one glass and Jonathan another.
Feather stared at the two ice cubes which definitely had not been in her glass a moment ago. Jonathan smiled wryly and raised his glass, making a silent toast to her.