//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: A Shadow of Your Former Self // by anonbecause1 //------------------------------// He was so, so tired. A week of neurotic prep work culminating in a 12-hour train ride followed by 4 hours of transportation shenanigans until he could finally get to his hotel room for a solid 3 hours (if he was lucky) sleep before the first of many meetings. If he didn’t already have amnesia, he would still find himself standing here in front of a mirror staring at his bloodshot eyes not really knowing if he was alive anymore after the day he’s had. Was it worth falling asleep at this point? Maybe he should get some coffee and grab a shower. Fuck, his eyes look almost green but to be honest, he didn’t trust his vision at this point. He levitated his toothbrush from his bag and got to work on his teeth; his mouth tasted awful and it had been bugging him for hours. …Levitated? Sombra dropped his toothbrush in shock then instantly regretted it with how filthy the floor probably was. How did he do that?! He wasn’t even trying, it just kind of happened. Sombra resisted the urge to pick up his toothbrush with hooves and clean it immediately, trying to clear his mind like it had been before… nothing. He was so sick of this! Sick of everything! He was like a foal, everything was confusing, little memory after little memory of constantly messing up at work came to mind. How he knew some things without even trying but fucked up things that came so easily to others. He was tired, he was hungry, thirsty, fucking dirty, he desperately wanted another job but if he sucked so bad at these simple tasks did he even deserve better? Was this punishment for crimes he couldn’t even recal--- The tooth brush flew up and stuck itself in the ceiling. Sombra looked at it, trying to think past his exhaustion headache and metal temper tantrum to interpret what was going on. After who-the-fuck-cares amount of time, Sombra summoned up a vague sense of anger and frustration and focused it on the toothbrush, it floated down in a field of dark magic no problem. Ok, one issue solved. Sombra didn’t even celebrate, he wandered over to his hotel bed and used his new magic to shove his bag onto the floor, all of his meager possessions scattered. He laid down over the covers with toothpaste still on his mouth and went to sleep. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ “Good morning sugar! Did you get any sleep? I’m so sorry about the mishap at the station. I swear I ordered more carts then that.” Ms. Jubilee explained as she gave a half dead Sombra a good morning hug which he could only return because of sleep deprivation. “It’s alright ma’am, long distance coordination is difficult. Where is the coffee?” Sombra pushed past the mare to get at the machine clearly in sight at the breakfast buffet. He had brought his toothbrush into a boiling hot shower to disinfect it and multitask his way to being moderately acceptable today. He was clean, brushed, and wore a leather vest that, in his humble opinion, just screamed ‘look! I tried.’ “Owh, you’re so sweet, we have 20 minutes before the bus arrives so I’m afraid you only have 15 minutes to get yourself some grub.” Jubilee clopped her hooves together as she said this like a tour guide on Vicodin as Sombra shoveled food onto his plate. ‘She could have told me that last night. I thought the plan was to take a taxi and give us more time. I would have set my alarm for earlier had I known.’ “Oh! Sugar, you’re using magic!” Sombra looked at Cherry like she had lost her mind before noticing that both his breakfast and his coffee was floating in a black field next to him as if he had done it a million times (he likely had). His irritation at the schedule must have activated it. “I figured… With how difficult it was to get everything settled yesterday; I could make an acceptation for my vow. This deal should go as smoothly as possible and levitation does make transporting fragile goods easier.” Cherry looked completely pleased with his lie and practically bounced her way to the table she had saved for them. “I’m so happy you’ve made this decision! I was worried about unpacking everything for the client and imports inspector but with your magic it’ll be a snap!” Sombra took his place across from her and tried to stem the rising panic of having to go from 0 to levitating about 400,000 individual cherry’s at once. “Um… imports? Are we… in another country?” Cherry looked at him like he had lost his mind, again, making him feel both exposed and stupid. A common feeling for one with amnesia it seemed. He decided to smother his feelings with food and dug into what he had grabbed from the bar. “Um… No, Equestria does have trade with other nations but it’s not very common so the import inspectors mostly inspect perishable goods that have crossed multiple climates in transit. We went from desert, through forest, to coastal -Um, oh… sugar? What are you eating?“ Cherry looked mildly sick as she pointed to the rectangular food he was chewing. Sombra looked from her, to it, and back again before swallowing. “What? Does it smell bad?” Sombra sniffed it, it smelled strong but very good. It was by far the best tasting thing he had eaten and he didn’t want to give it up. He had hoped to ask the hotel staff what it was before they left. “It’s um ooh-“ Cherry cut herself off by gagging and pointed to a group of large cat-like bipeds congregating in the corner. They were all eating what he was eating; was it a special food for a gathering they were having? He wasn’t giving up what he already had on his plate. “It’s for foreign species. It’s fish.” Sombra looked at her blankly, ‘and?’ Cherry pushed his hoof still holding the fish down while holding her nose. “It’s a living creature Sombra! Ponies don’t eat meat of any kind. The fact that you can even put it in your mouth at all-“ Cherry cut herself off again with a series of gagging faces. “… But it tastes fine.” Sombra wanted to say it was better than most things he has eaten but he felt like he was already pushing his luck. Maybe he could shove most of it in his mouth while she wasn’t looking. Cherry still looked disgusted and got up to leave. “I can not- go eat a mint or something. The bus is almost here!” Cherry trotted out of the dining hall to wait at the bus stop. Sombra watched her go before looking around to see if anypony was watching then shoved all the fish on his plate in his mouth. He placed the rest of the food on his plate in the trash before walking up to the cat creatures. “Excuse me, sorry to bother you but do you mind telling me where I can get more ‘fish’ in town?” ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ “Oooh, quite impressive Mss. Cherry Jubilee. The colors on these barriers is exquisite!” “And there isn’t a single worm or parasprite in the bunch. I’m happy to say I have no objections to granting you your imports license, provided all future shipments are this immaculate.” Cherry graciously accepted Mr. Ice Rook of Wholeoats and Mr. Fine Line of Equestria’s imports inspection division’s compliments and approval as Sombra loitered in the background constantly chanting that he was a ‘normal unicorn. Normal everyday unicorn’ in his head as he levanted all of Cherry’s stock in the air. If he dropped a single berry he was screwed for the rest of his life. He winced as Mr. Ice Rook plucked a red cherry from his magic field to taste it. It felt like been poked directly in the brain! “And they are as sweet as you promised! I can’t wait to get these on the shelves as quickly as possible. Our customers love this sort of organically grown produce.” A few other employees and the inspector took the initiative and plucked their own berries from the air as Sombra silently begged Cherry to let him put the stock down. Luckily, he only had to wait for everypony to take a bite before Cherry gave him the all clear to put the stock into their original crates. He had never been more grateful… as far as he remembered. “Sombra honey, could you bring around the old spittoon for the pits please?” He took that back; he wasn’t grateful at all. At least his flare in temper gave him enough magic to float the thing as far away from himself as possible as they spat out the pits. “Thank you everypony for being here to sample our fine wares! I’m positive that this will blossom into a mutually beneficial relationship for all. Now the boring part, discussing the finer details.” “I whole heartedly agree. Why don’t we discuss the contract somewhere more comfortable then a distribution floor? My office is right upstairs and if this discussion goes late, I’ll treat you to dinner.” Mr. Ice Rook gestured up the stairs to where his office supposedly was. Sombra watched his boss for any direction in this situation. Did she want him to follow her or what? He saw Cherry blush a bit at Mr. Ice Rook as he took her hoof… He guessed Mr. Ice Rook was ok looking, if this did turn into a romantic dinner for two, all the better for him and his plans in the city. Cherry caught his eye last minute and yelled instructions to put the remainder of the stock in the carts for now and take the rest of the night off. Sombra smiled and waved his boss goodbye. ‘Fuck her till she can’t move Rooky boy! The longer she’s entertained the longer I have in the city unsupervised.’