Sombra's POV
The walk to the library didn't take that long, it was probably about a fifteen minute walk. I spent that time just trying to clear my head of what happened at the hospital. So many things happened that I couldn't make any sense of. But what had me concerned was that voice. That was the second time I heard that voice, and both time after I heard it I felt like i was going to lose control of myself.
"Am I starting to go crazy?" I muttered, I would say that was the only explanation. But right now, I wasn't sure about that. Especially since I was pulled into this world of magic and fantasy. I stopped in front of the tree and finally saw it for what it truly was, A literal tree house. I looked at the sign in the front of the tree and sighed
"Of fucking course the tree is the library." I muttered, taking in a deep breath to calm myself. I was seriously going to strangle architech that made this town.
Putting the crazy architecture of this town aside, I walked up to the door of the library to hopeful answer some of my questions and take the rest of the day to read.
"Hopefully there's no more meetings today."
"Umm...Am I interrupting something?" I asked warily to the odd group of young women in front of me. Now I say odd not because they looked weird or crazy, I say odd because all of these girls looked like they should want anything to do with each other. Mostly because they looked so different from each other.
The first girl I saw looked to be in her early twenties. She had brown skin, was about 5'5, and had violet eyes. She looked to be wearing a dark blue school uniform, with a skirt that ended just above the knees that matched the color. Over the school uniform, she was wearing a bright purple cropped jacket with golden buttons. Under her skirt, she was wearing purple tights that were tucked in to laced, knee length boots. Her hair was black and hung just below her shoulders. From her bangs I could see that had a pink and purple stripe running through it that was off center from her face. She had a look that made her seem the studying type and if I had to guess, she's probably here a lot.
The next girl I looked to was a tall, tanned blonde girl with green eyes. Just by looking at her, I could tell she was a hard working farm girl. She wore a orange, button up flannel with the bottom tied in the front, with the sleeves rolled up just above her elbows. She had blue work pants that were slightly dirty. The pants were tucked into a what looked like brown steel-toed boots. Her long blonde hair was tied near the end of it, with an orange band. And to complete the farm girl look, she wore a old brown Stetson hat on her head.
'I bet she even has the accent.' I mused, moving my eyes to the next girl.
This one looked to be the shortest woman here. She had honeyed skin, stood just over five feet and had bright red eyes. She was wearing a white tank top that had a cloud shooting a rainbow lightning bolt printed on it. Over her tank top was a blue track jacket. She wore Jean shorts that seemed to almost cling to her tanned legs. Her feet were cover with black boots that had wing designs on them. She had the craziest hair I've seen so far, instead of being just one or two colors, she had the entire rainbow on her head. It also seemed like the hair had a mind of it's own, going in so many directions, not even the rubber band that was ment to hold it in a ponytail could do much. Not only that, but on her head was a pair of flying goggles that seemed to fit snuggly on her forehead.
Then next one looked like small animal that was trying to go unnoticed. She had clear white skin, cyan eyes, and stood just around 5'6. She wore simple clothing, a bright yellow dress that was under a blue cardigan. On the front of thr dress was three butterfly went perfect with her look. She wore dark pink tights on her legs and blue flats that match the color of her cardigan. Her hair was a pale shade of rose and was straight until the ends, where it curled. It was strange to look at her, she was a fully grown adult, and yet, looked like a shy child. I put it in the back of my mind and moved to the next girl.
This woman nearly made my heart skip a beat, easily being one of the most beautiful women I've seen in this town, though all of them were beautiful. She had pearly white skin, azure eyes and stood 5'10. She was wearing a white, sleeveless blouse that had a little white bow tied close to her neck. The blouse was loosely tucked into a black pencil skirt that hugged her leg so tightly, I had a hard time believing she could move in that thing. She was also wearing purple tights on her legs, leading down to a pair of four inch black heels. Her hair was a deep purple that reached down to her mid back. Multiple strands of hair curled upwards. She seemed to have some accessories, a silver bracelet one her left hand and a pair of diamond earring on her ears. She nearly sent my teenage body and mind wild, nearly making me blush. But I forced it down with experience and will, moving on to the last girl before it got bad. The next woman was....waving at me, that threw me off for a second before I got back to examining her.
She looked to be the most eccentric one in this room. She had white skin that nearly looked pink, her eyes were cerulean, and looked to be my height, 5'8. She wore a light blue cropped jacket with a white shirt with a pink cup cake design on it. The shirt was tucked into a thick purple ribbon that was tied on her hip. Her lower half was covered with a VERY frilly skirt that had three shades of pink on it. Her legs were bare, unlike her friends, but she wore a pair of blue, lace up boots that went up her calf. On each of her wrist were golden bracelets that seemed to fit perfectly. What really drew my attention thought was her hair. It was just a pink, that was it pink and curly. Though her hair was done in a ponytail, it was still very curly. She let a few strand hang loose and they almost seemed to circle her face.
'A scholar, a farm girl, a athlete, a socially awkward, a fashionista, and a party girl.' I thought, once again noting how different each of them were. 'This sounds like the start of a really bad joke.'
In the five second it took for me to examine all of them, they seemed to be doing the exact same to me. Getting the attention of six women did make me feel slightly uneasy, but I didn't shy away from them. I needed answers and this library seemed to have them. If they wanted me to leave because of a meeting that would be fine. But I needed to find something out before I go insane. Before any further examing went on, a voice called out.
"Sombra!" Called a young, familiar voice. I looked to the side and was surprised to see a familiar girl jump off a couch and run up to me.
"Scootaloo?" I guessed, she didn't look disappointed when she got close to me so I guessed right. I raised my hand to wave at her, unsure how to really greet her. I looked back at the couch and saw three more face I recognized. "Spike, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle?" I called as they rose from the couch, also giving them a small wave.
The three of them gave me polite waves back, looking a little unsure of what to do in this situation. Although they were unsure, Scootaloo took my sleeve and tried to pull me towards the group of women.
"This is him girls." She said, so excited that she didn't even care that her pulling wasn't moving me at all. "The is the guy that saved us in the forest."
That seemed to break then out of their shock. Though before any of the girls could get their words in my vision was suddenly flooded with pink. After a second, I saw blue eyes.
"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh." She repeated, taking both my hands, unintentionally shoving Scootaloo, before I could react and jumping up and down in excitement. "ItsyouididntthinkidseeyousosoonmyameispinkiepieohihavesomuchIwanttoaskyouwhereareyoufromhowoldareyouwhendidyougetherewhatsyourfavoritecakewhatsyourfavoritegam-."
'What the hell is wrong with her.' I thought, so shocked that I didn't even try to get away from her. I couldn't keep up with what she was saying and there was nothing I could do to stop her. Luckily, the tall blonde and the rainbow athlete in, each of them grabbing a wrist and giving a hard pull.
"Pinkie! Slow down!" The blonde said, a thick southern accent in her voice.
'I knew she had a accent.' I thought absent minded from the absolute shock I felt. Forget eccentric, this girl just wasn't normal, the way she was jumping, how fast she was talking. Even now she was bouncing as she gave me a look that said she would find out my secrets. Scootaloo and the younger kids came to my side while the women tried to calm their friend down.
"What was that?" I asked, the shock clearing my system. The kids all looked at me and shrugged.
"That's normal for her." Spike answered, the others nodding along with his answer. I shook my head.
"That's normal for her?" I gasped, watching as she nearly put a hole in the floor from all her bouncing. Once again, all the kids nodded. It took a minute to calm the girl down, though she still had a wide smile on her face.
"I think she's excited to finally meet you." Sweetie Belle said, watching as all of them finally let her go. And it was at this moment that I finally recognized them.
"You're the girls that nearly ran me down." I said, not even realizing that I said it outloud at first until all of their eyes fell on me. All of them, but the party girl, had a blush on their cheeks as they looked at me.
"Yeah, we are." The scholar said, scratching her cheek. "We're really sorry about that, we were sorta in a really bad panic." She explained, everyone else agreeing with her.
"And I'm guessing that panic had to do with these kids right here." I gestured to the kids. They looked up at me and gave me embarrassed looks.
"Yes, dear." The fashionista answered, her voice sounding regal with every syllable that left her lips. "We had been in a panic all day yesterday, trying to find them. We asked everybody in town if anyone had seen them and when we found out they headed into the Everfree forest. We all ran as fast as we could. We saw them at the entrance and were so relieved that we ignored everything else." She finished, looking at Sweete Belle.
"Though, I could have sworn to Celestia that we told them to never go into the forest alone." The athlete added, giving Scootaloo a scolding look along with the farmer, scholar. I watch the kids turn beat red and turn away and from their scolding looks.
"But thankfully nothing terrible happened," The scholar said. "And from what we hear, that would be thanks to you.". Once again, I got that feeling in my chest.
'Damn it, I thought I had enough of this.' I thought, feeling as the warmth filled my body. The other girls looked at me, some of them smiling, the others examining me again.
"So, you heard about all that?" I asked, hoping this wouldn't cause me any problems, they all nodded.
"Not only that." The party girl said, her excitement showing in her voice. I thought back and tried to remember if there was anything else I did, then it hit me.
"You girls went to visit the Cakes after I left." I started, once again they nodded. "Are you all close with the Cakes?"
"Close with them, I live with them." Party girl said, once again getting past her friends and reaching for my hands. I didn't stop her. "The Cakes are like my second family, that why I'm so excited to meet you."
"We all wanted to meet you, sugercube." The farm girl said. "We wanted to thank you for saving the kids, but Pinkie wants to do something more."
"I guess I should start us off then." I said, quickly think in my head something i can say without sounding too suspicious. "My full name is Angelus Sombra, but everyone I knew just called me Sombra." I said, introducing myself taking my hand back from the pink girl and giving a small salute with two fingers.
'Is that something a teen would do?' I thought, looking to everyone to see their reactions. None of them really looked suspicious, fact they almost looked a little relieved, but one of the kids had something to say.
"Hey! Wait a minute!" Scootaloo said, now getting everyone's attention. "I thought you said your name was just Sombra."
"We it is my name, it's my last name. I never said I'd give you my full name." I chuckled, watching her almost puff her cheeks in frustration. The other kids seems to share her feelings, but didn't show it as much as the little tomboy.
"Well why didn't you say your full name in the first place?"
"If I'm being honest, I thought I'd never see you kids again." I admitted. "I thought we would say our goodbyes and not look back, but now here I am, meeting what I assume is your family and friends."
She didn't continue after that, just stared at me with a suspicious gaze. That didnt stay for long though as the party girl made her way to my vision once again.
"Oh, oh, my turn!" She said excitedly."My name is Pinkie Pie. But everyone in Ponyville just calls me Pinkie." She said, I blinked after that.
'Again with the names.' I thought, thinking that the name was both ridiculous and fitting for her. The names in this world was so weird.'
"Thank you so so so so so much for saving my home." She said, looking me in the eyes and giving me a smile so bright and pure that I thought my heart would melt.
"You don't have to worry Pinkie Pie, it was-" I paused, remembering the talk with Mr. Cake. How much me saving his shop ment to him and his wife. And now I was face with what someone who claimed to to also live with the Cakes. "No problem at all." I finished, hoping that would be good for her. It seemed to work as her smile just got brighter.
"I've got so many questions I want to ask you after this." She said before letting go of both of my hands and and moving to the side. I didnt give what she said too much thought, all I would need to do is to be careful with my words. She moved to the side for her friend, the farm girl to walk up to me.
"Mah name is Applejack," She started, I hide a wince at her food related name. "But my friends call me AJ. It's nice to meet you Angelus Sombra." I reached out and took her hand. Just from the grip she had, I could already tell that this girl was very strong. Enough to give me a match in my prime if it was for strength.
"Its nice to meet you too Applejack." I greeted.
"What did I just say?" She said suddenly, her eyes narrowing as her grip tightened slightly. My eyes narrowed as well, ready for whatever might happen. "I told you to call me AJ." She finished.
"Oh," I sighed, grateful that no problem would happen. "But you said that your friends call you that." I said, recalling her earlier statement.
"Sombra, you saves my sister's life, even if we just meet, my family and I will consider you a friend." She explained, her sister smiling up at us. "And from what I hear, you already met our older brother, Big McIntosh." She said, letting go of my hand as I recalled the name she mentioned.
"Oh, Big McIntosh is your older brother?" I asked, both AppleJack and her sister nodded. "I guess that means that I have one less introduction out of the way?"
"Maybe, but I'll have to take you down to our apple farm, Sweet Apple Acres. I'm sure him and granny want to thank you as well." She said.
'I should have guessed that they owned an apple farm.' I deadpanned in my head, watching as she gave one wave to me and guided her sister to the side to wait with Pinkie Pie. The fashionista was the next on to walk to me, her heels clinking with every step she took.
"Hello Sombra dear." She greeted, looking down at me with a soft smile. "My name is Rarity, Sweetie Belle's older sister, and the owner of Carousel Boutique." She said.
"Well it's nice to meet you Rarity." I said, extending my hand to shake hers. Her eyes narrowed as I did and she grabbed it and pulled me towards her.
"Oh my goodness dear!" She gasped as she examined my sleeve. "Whatever happened to your clothes?"
"What's wrong with them?" I asked, as I let her go and examined myself.
"They're filthy."
Well she wasnt wrong there, my clothes did have some dirt, and the occasional stain here or there. And my cloak probably had the worst of it, being completely covered in dirt from when I fought in the forest. But it didnt really bother me, it was the only set of clothes I had, and I didnt really have much time to clean myself from when I arrived here to now.
"Well, there's not to much I can do now." I said, shrugging at her while she examined me.
"Do you have no extra clothes?" She questioned, looking up from my clothes to me, I shook my head. "Well that does it then."
"What?"
"I'm going to make you a brand new set of clothes dear." She answered, I stood blinked at her statement.
"You'll what?" I asked dumbly. "Why would you do something like that?"
"It will be my way of saying thank you for what you did." She answered, beckoning Sweetie Belle towards her, Sweetie then left my side. "If it wasnt for you, I probably would never able to see my little sister again. So me making you extra clothing will be the very least I can do dear."
I thought about her offer for a second, think on if I would truly need more clothes. It wasn't something that I really needed, but I didnt want to stay in the same sweaty clothes if I could avoid it. After all, I might be traveling after I get the information I needed, and I didnt want to stick out just because of dirty, smelly clothes.
"Okay then Rarity," I nodded. "I take you up on that offer, I'll just have to scrape up some money first an-"
"Oh don't be silly dear." She interrupted, pulling her sister to the side and waving her hand towards me. "I wont charge you a single bit for the clothes. Just show up to my boutique and I'll do the rest."
"What? Rarity I cant do-"
"Forget about it." A voice interrupted, I looked and almost missed the tuff of Rainbow hair below me. I looked down and looked at the tan girl with a raised brow.
"What do you mean?"
"Rarity can be really stubborn when she chooses to be, and when it happens, not too much we can do about it." She explained, I didn't try to go any further with that and watched as she extended her hand. "My name is Rainbow Dash, the fastest flyer in Equestria." She said, her voice taking on a tone of confidence.
"Really?" I raised a brow to her. "Is that proven?" She smirked as I asked that.
"Yep." She replied, no signs of boasting or arrogance, just confidence. I nodded my head to her.
"Nice to meet you then Rainbow Dash." I said, giving her my hand and a firm shake.
"You too kid." She said, making my eye twitch in irritation. "Though from the way Scootaloo talked about you yesterday, it feels like I've meet you already."
"Oh," I said, surprised by what she said. "Are you Scootaloo's sister?"
"She's not my sister." Scootaloo interrupted, suddenly in between the both of us. "I'm Rainbow Dash's number one fan though.".
"Oh, so you have your own fan club too huh?" I said. "You must be the real deal then."
"Of course I'm the real deal, I've got no reason to lie." She said, almost looking offended, before shaking her head. "We're getting off topic, I really appreciate you saving my number one fan, but her aunts' want to thank you personally."
"I'll try to meet them if I can, but no promises." I said, Scootaloo looked somewhat deflated, it almost pained me to see it before a thought came to mind. "Though, I might be able to do it tomorrow."
"You can!" Scootaloo said excitedly, perking back up, I nodded to her.
"Sure, I've already got a lot to do tomorrow, one more wont kill me. I just need a guide to help me."
"Oh! Oh! I can, I can." I heard Pinkie shout on the side. "Ive lived here so long, that I know it like I know my kitchen. We can talk while I show you around town to! Oh my goodness, I have to get all my questions ready." She said, before sticking her hand in her hair and producing a note pad and pen.
"Uh...okay." I blinked when I saw that, trying to understand how she was able to produce the supplies from her hair. I felt a hand pat my shoulder, and saw Rainbow Dash shake her head.
"Just don't question it too much, it will save your brain." I didnt answer, just nodded as she walked towards her friends.
The next one to come was the scholar, but she wasn't alone when she came up. Slightly behind her was the shy woman with the yellow dress. Spike seemed to know them, as he met them halfway and went beside the shy women.
'She looks like she's going to have a anxiety attack.' I thought, watching them stop in front of me. 'Maybe I should try to look nicer. I nodded to myself, thinking of ways I could go about making myself seem less intimidating.
"Hello there." I said, facing all of them with what I assumed was a soft smile. It probably didnt look as good as I thought it did. Both Spike and the Scholar cringed when I smiled and the woman damn near fainted. "Is it that bad?" I sighed, they didnt answer, just nodded.
"What was that about?" Spike asked, I sighed once again, crossing my arms.
"I thought I'd try to smile, put someone at ease." I explained, they seemed to catch my meaning and they all gave smiles of their own.
'Oh sure, show off wont you.' I thought, remembering all my acting from years before. 'I used to be able to pull off that smile all the time, what happened?
"You didnt need to do that." I heard the Scholar say, I looked to her and she continued to talk. "This right here is Fluttershy." She gestured to the woman behind her. She walked slightly around her friend until she was at her friend's side.
"Hello there." Fluttershy said, giving me a smile and a wave. "Its very nice to meet you." She finished. She didn't seen like the social type so I only waved back and gave my attention to the Scholar.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle, I'm the resident librarian here." She said, and I had to keep my eyes from widening.
Twilight, this is the girl who was suspicious of me.' I realize, berating myself for not coming up with it sooner. But with so much going on, last night's small talk eluded, only remembering the name that Spike threw out. 'I'll need to watch my words around these girls.'
"So I'm guessing one of you is Spike's guardian." I questioned, gestering to the child with a jut of my chin, Twilight nodded.
"Yes, Spike is my assistant." She said, stepping forward and letting spike and Fluttershy have their own conversation. "I truly want to thank you for what you did, I wouldn't know what to do if you hadn't been there to save him when you did."
"I'd like to think that anyone would do what I did if given the proper chance." I said, gestering to the growing group. "Though, I still don't understand why those kids were out there in the first place. They told me something about cutie Mark's, but I still dont understand much of it."
"Yes, Spike did mention that you told them no magic is used where you come from or that you had no cutie marks." She sound skeptical as she said that. "I wanted to ask you a couple questions about yourself actually.". All conversation had died after she said that, and I once again had everyones attention.
"Yeah, Scootaloo also said some interesting things to last night." Rainbow Dash said, her eyes now taking on a accusing look. "Told us that you didn't just save them from any regular animal, you saved them from a pack of full grown timber wolves."
"I thought you said that where you came from, no one had cutie marks." Rarity added, now looking at my hands, I tried to cover my left hand, but it was too late. "I've seen enough of them to know that that mark on your hand dear is a cutie mark."
Slowly, the others started to add their own questions, except for pinkie, who was still writing on her note pad.
I wanted to scream as the questions started to come in . I had totally forgotten that I had mentioned that to the little snitches yesterday and now that I had, it was coming back to bite my ass.
''I got to think of a way out of this." I wasn't ready for this, I never thought I would have to explain myself to anyone while I was in this town and I hadn't thought of a real story to tell anyone who would question me.
"I would love to answer your guys questions now. But I can't. " I said cautiously, that seemed to slow them down from their rapid fire question. But the look that some of them gave me was saying that I'd better have a reason I cant do it now. Even the kids looked like they wanted more answers. I tried to think of some excuse that would get me out of this mess without looking more suspicious then I already am. Luckily, an excuse for me came falling out of the sky, literally. "I have to leave right now."
"Why do you have to leave now." I heard Apple Bloom ask, I pointed my finger towards the large window that was above the large staircase. Everyone followed my finger and saw that outside the now wet window was a gloomy sky.
"I was hoping just check out some books and leave before the rainstorm came in so the books wont get damaged. But it looks like I wont be able to do that anymore." I explained. Rarity gave me a sharp look.
"Do you not have a bag to carry your things darling."
"Not anymore." I said simply, slowly making my way towards the door. "Maybe we can do these questions another time." I turned to make my way out.
"Tomorrow!" I heard Twilight shout, I stopped my exit and turned around. "You're taking going to be doing your tasks all over Ponyville tomorrow and you're already going to go with Pinkie. Maybe all of us can join you tomorrow and continue." She seemed like she was just suggesting it, but to me, it was like she was daring me to refuse.
"Oh, I wouldn't mind that, but wouldn't it interfere with all of your day's." I said, sounding as sincere as I could, but hoping it would interfere with their plans. Sadly, I wasn't lucky enough to have two miracles, as they all shook their heads and tried to find a time that would work best.
'damnit all, why cant I just have a day to myself in this world.'
"Okay, it looks like twelve is the best time for all of us to meet. And we'll all meet here again tomorrow." Twilight said, as her hand glowed a light purple and quil and parchment floated to her hands. Though the parchment and quill were in her hand, the aura did fade. Her face seemed to tense up as she wrote down the time and place and when she finished, she floated the parchment in my direction.
'Do you really need to go that far.' I mentally critiqued. 'The meetings tomorrow, who the hell's going to forget something so simple.'
"Thank you Twilight," I thanked as I took the parchment and made my way to the door. "See you girls tomorrow." I called, they all gave polite waves except for Scootaloo who called out when I closed the door.
"Bye Sombra, See you tomorrow."
Twilight POV
I watched as Sombra closed the door on us, all previous thoughts I had on him resurfacing at his little display just now.
"Well, what did you girls think?" I asked to everyone, they all thought for a second, but Applejack was the first to speak.
"I honestly couldn't get a good read on him Twi." She admitted, the others, save for Pinkie and Fluttershy, agreed with her.
"What do you mean Applejack?"
"Well he doesnt seem like a bad guy, but he's hiding something." She elaborated.
"I agree with Applejack," Rarity added, folding some of her hair behinds her ear. "He's definitely hiding something. Some of what the kids told us isnt adding up." Rarity finished.
"You mean his Cutie mark, right?" I asked, and she nodded. "I wasn't able to see it, I actually never noticed until you pointed it out."
"It was the strangest mark I've seen. It just looked like a crudely drawn arrow."
"Oh he told us about that mark." Sweetie piped up. "He told us that it a symbol for 'hunter' or 'huntsman' where he's from.". That seemed to pique everyones interest, mines included
"So that means that he's a hunter?" Rainbow asked, and I can see why. Such a talent was a rare one, even outside of Ponyville. Most people whose made it their job to hunt usually had a talent related to hunting, whether it be tracking, archery, some even had trap making. But for one's special talent to just be described as a hunter, could imply more then just one talent.
"Well that doesn't matter right now, we're going to meet him tomorrow anyway. We can just ask him himself." I said, almost everyone nodded in agreement, but Spike seemed to have something bothering him. So I asked him what was wrong.
"Well, I don't want to think about it, but what if he doesnt show up tomorrow." He said, and some eyes widened at that. Pinkie seemed to nearly take offense in that as she looked like she was about to go on a rant, but I jumped in before she could start.
"I really doubt that he would do that Spike." I said, I could already see the question that was going to come up, so I continued. "I doubt that because if he truly didn't want to do this, I'm sure he would say no. He doesn't seem to know what who he resemble, or that we thought him a suspect of anything. He has no obligation to answer any of our questions or to continue any type of connection we have."
That didn't seem to satisfy him so I continued once again.
"And besides, even if he didn't show show up, I would still be able to find him." That seemed to confuse him along with the rest of the girls.
"What do you mean Twilight?" Fluttershy whispered, a puzzled look on her face. I felt my checks go pink as I said the next part.
"Well, I wanted to make sure that we could track him incase he actually didnt show up. You know, so we could see if he's the real Sombra or just a teen with a similar name." The others nodded along, so I continued. "So when when we decided a time, I decided, just to be safe, i would make sure there would be a way to find him if he didnt show."
"Twilight," Spike said, warily. "You didn't."
"So i gave him a parchment that would mark the next person it touches with a tracker spell."
"Oh my goodness." Spike groaned when I finished, and I my face flushed pink again.
"I just wanted to be sure, besides, I can remove whenever I want." I explained once again, I looked to the girls. "Come on, you can berate me later, let's just figure out what we're going to say."
And with that last statement, we got to our own work.