//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: A Shadow of Your Former Self // by anonbecause1 //------------------------------// Sombra pushed the cart of new returns down to the history section where most of them belonged, having the decency to wince at the melted fire pit covered in crime scene tape he could see out the window. It was the first time he has seen it in broad daylight. He had spent the beginning of his shift listening to the new safety spiel with the rest of the staff. A dragon had been spotted on the grounds during the weekend when the library was closed and melted it. But that wasn’t all, a task force of ‘very important ponies’ wanted to interview the staff and they were all to remain available for it. Sombra fiddled with his horn covering, he wore it all day every day except to shower and sleep but he was always worried somepony would notice. He found the section he needed and began to put the books away but stopped the second he spotted a set of familiar buildings. The book he currently held in his levitation field had a picture for its cover of a bright city made of crystal, “History of the Crystal Empire by Sunburst.” Sombra placed the book back on the cart, staring at it. He had been avoiding this exact subject since he woke up in the throne room. It was his past, he should be curious, it should have been the first thing he did after fleeing the castle. He continued to look at the book, as if he had just seen it open wide to show gnashing teeth then close as if nothing had happened. ‘Coward. You’re a coward. Open and read the book. Do it. Do it.’ A familiar cream-colored mare walked right by him headed towards the front desk. “Hey Moon Dancer?” The mare stopped in her tracks and turned to him, Sombra held up the book and floated it over to her. “If you’re headed to the front desk; could you do me a favor and put this on hold for me?” Moon Dancer rolled her eyes, very put upon, but nodded and took the book anyway and continued on her way to clock in. Now he had two-to-three weeks to tell himself to read the book but never actually do it until it was time to return it to the library. Brilliant. Sombra laid his head on the cart trying to collect his courage to move on with the day. He must have been there too long because Moon Dancer came up next to him with her own cart of archeology returns; the sections blead into each other. “You look like you were run over by a bus. And what happened to your ear?” “Like you said, I was run over by a bus.” Sombra sassed with his face still full of books. He turned his head to look at the mare he was talking to, noticing for the first time that she didn’t look much better. “What happened to you? Did the bus get you too?” Moon Dancer pushed up the glasses on her snout, “Yes, Somepony needs to really catch that thing.” Sombra smiled and got back to sorting, Moon Dancer pushed her cart closer to the end of the row where the archeology section started. Sombra had fewer returns then she did so it wasn’t long before he was close enough to justify a conversation. “You remember Rocky Roll my roommate?” Moon Dancer nodded her head without fully taking her attention off her task. “The messy one with loud music like some kind of sitcom cliché?” “She almost bit my ear off and I had to sleep in the DA’s apartment for the night.” Moon Dancer gave him her entire attention. “What did you do?” “Why do you assume I did something?” Moon Dancer gave him a skeptical look, Sombra wanted to be mad but he understood by now that she needed at least three perspectives on any given event before she made a judgment call of any kind. “Her music was too loud for me to study, I yelled at her to turn it down, she refused, I went to go unplug her speakers and she blocked me. We wrestled on the floor and then she gave me a spontaneous piercing.” Sombra slammed the last book back on the shelf harder than strictly necessary, “Happy?” “Ecstatic.” She deadpanned. Sombra didn’t feel like ending the discussion so he took the liberty of grabbing some books from Moon Dancer’s cart and sorting them back himself. “Your turn. Why do you look half dead?” Moon Dancer made a dismissive tick noise but allowed him to help her sort the section with her. “You know the ponies who are going to interview the staff today?” “Not personally but as a general event on the calendar then yes.” “I… Used to know one of them. Not very good memories. I also put in my resignation.” Sombra dropped the books he was levitating like they burned, “What?! Why?” Moon Dancer shushed him for being too loud. “Personal reasons. One of which is that I want to move back to Canterlot.” “But-but, you can’t go. Why would you go? You are the manager of the floor staff and you have a spotless reputation. You’re a sure win for any promotion opportunities to come up if money is your concern. Everypony loves you and if you leave, they’ll hire Page Turner in your place.” Sombra grabbed the mare and shook her for emphasis, “PAGE TURNER.” Moon Dancer shoved him off her and smoothed out the wrinkles in her sweater. “I understand your concerns but I honestly think this is the best opportunity for me. And, I’m pretty sure that by ‘everypony loves you’ you mean just you. I’m not very well liked among the staff.” “Screw em!” Sombra yelled, this time loud enough that multiple ponies shushed him. Sombra was irritated but lowered his voice. “Don’t leave me alone with these idiots.” Moon Dancer just smiled and took the now empty cart back to the front desk, Sombra followed like a lost puppy. “We can have dinner my last night in town. And you can write me if you want some intelligent conversation. But I’m afraid my mind is made up and I really want to get out of here before the interrogators arrive. I just came by this morning to talk to HR and needed something to keep me busy until they opened.” She deposited the cart back where it belonged, Sombra stood directly behind her looking miserable. The one pony he loved working with was leaving for good, his life was just a rotating door of guest stars wasn’t it? Nopony ever seemed to stick around. Moon Dancer patted him on the shoulder, “You’ll be ok, Page Turner isn’t so bad. At the very least he’s negligent so you could probably get all your homework done on shift.” Moon Dancer seemed to think of something and took out a box from under the counter where all the extra event brochures were kept. She pulled one out and handed it to Sombra, “I’m sure you would have seen this on your own but there is a traveling exhibit of magic artifacts coming to town. You might learn something about perpetual magical energy.” Sombra looked over the lame consolation prize for loosing his favorite boss. He would go but it would have been much more fun and productive to go with her. His disappointment shown all over his face but she only gave him a look of mild sympathy. “I have to talk to HR now. Why don’t we have dinner at our usual lunch spot on the 14th? About 6?” Her expression suddenly shifted to a darker one of hidden trauma. “Don’t be late or forget.” Sombra knew being late to an appointment was a touchy subject he never felt like he had the right to poke at. “I won’t.” Moon Dancer smiled and walked past him to the stairs. “6pm, the 14th, write it down.” She looked back at him with a frown, “I said write it down.” Sombra lifted his hooves up in surrender and made a show of grabbing a pen and scribbling on the back of the brochure. She seemed satisfied enough and continued up the steps. Sombra sighed and slipped the brochure in his shirt. Could today get any worse? “Excuse me, we have an appointment with Grassy Glaze today at 10am. Is she around by chance?” Sombra took a moment to put on his customer service face and turned to help the guest. His smile didn’t faulter but his pupils shrank in both recognition and panic. Before him stood an alicorn and that would be enough for most ponies to panic but that wasn’t what his eyes were focused on. Behind her flew a blue pegasi with a rainbow mane. The same mare who tried to kill him. Sombra was frozen, a cold sweat began to seep through his fur. She didn’t seem to recognize him, looking around with disinterest at the rest of the library. The purple alicorn smiled awkwardly and coughed to clear her throat. “Is something the matter?” “N-no I’m very sorry but she’s in her office. Feel free to wait in the sitting area while I go get her. Any-Anything to drink while you wait?” He doesn’t know why he said that. They don’t have drinks for guests. “Oh, how thoughtful. I would love a water actually. Rainbow Dash?” The pegasi rubbed her chin in thought. “Uh, got any soda?” Page Turner actually had a large supply of rainbow crush soda nopony was allowed to touch. “Is rainbow crush ok?” “Awesome, with ice.” “Of course.” Sombra walked as calmly as he could to the door behind the counter where the breakroom was, smile firmly in place. As soon as the door was closed he panicked, running the rest of the way to get their drinks as fast as he could. Luckily only Sunlight Cast was in there, if it had been Page Turner he would have had to fight for the soda. He grabbed the only two matching cups in the entire breakroom cupboard and filled them with ice, he held one under the nozzle in the sink while levitating the soda out of the fridge. “Sombra, what’s going on?” “I offered the inspectors drinks because I don’t handle stress well.” He floated the drinks over to her which she caught in her own magic field just in time. “Could you deliver these while I get Mrs. Glaze please, please, please?” “Um, ok, what do they look like?” Sombra took care to stand in the center of the room where he couldn’t teleport anything along with himself accidentally. “One of them’s an alicorn.” “Oh, ok. Wait, WHAT!?” But Sombra was gone.