“Where is Fluttershy?” I asked as Hope and I walked around the castle a bit. “I just realized she wasn’t there with Starlight, and neither was Twilight for that matter.”
“Oh, she and her are out looking for Princ- err, Amore’s pieces, remember? You… well, Sombra, told them where they were, and now they’re going to reassemble them. It might have been when Sombra was in charge of your body.”
“While I was sleeping. That makes sense. It’s still annoying though, because I wanted to talk to her.”
“What about?”
“Just… talk,” I told her. “She’s my friend. I just wanted to hang out with her and talk about whatever came to mind. I told Sombra I would give fronting for a while a try, and I figured talking to her would be a good way to spend some of my time.”
“Oh, well… like I said, I’ll be your friend. You can talk to me if you want… like, do you remember that time that guy came to the court saying Equestria’s wealth should be evenly distributed to all of Canterlot? What was his name?”
“Shallow Point, I think, and yeah, I remember that,” I told her, smiling a little bit at the thought.
“He was completely ridiculous. He didn’t even want to give it to all of Equestria, just Canterlot. And he expected us to grant his request. Like, what were we going to do? Say yes? Either way, it would’ve been a no.”
“And then he stormed off ranting about how Celestia would’ve done it if she were still in charge. That was the highlight of my week, honestly. Heh…” I chuckled a bit before sighing sadly, continuing, “I don’t know. I’m not really in the mood for joking. Especially with memories. It just reminds me of everything I lost… I’m probably depressing you.”
“You’re fine, and I understand. Although I think I remember Fluttershy saying something about that. Do you?”
“No…?”
“It was when we were in the statue garden?” Hope continued. “She said that even if your experiences weren’t real, they still kind of are. That you were still whatever creature you were before, even if you weren’t before… I’m probably not saying what she said correctly at all.”
“I do remember that, but it’s easier to think that to myself when I’m stuck together with Sombra. On my own, being out and about on my own with him doing whatever he’s doing in our head, it’s harder to get in that mindset. I just miss it all, and it hurts more that it’s not real...”
We had stopped walking by that point, Hope looking at me sympathetically for a moment before starting, “Well, what was it like?”
“What do you mean? What was what like?”
“Your life, I mean,” she continued. “I don’t think you ever talked about it with anypony, and certainly not me. What was it like? Where you were from and such?”
“What’s the point of talking about it? It’s not like it’s real anyway…”
“It’s real to you, right? And you miss it, so… I’m curious about what it was like…”
“Well, I mean, Earth is like Equestria, mostly. There are restaurants and stores and schools and stuff, except there’s also roads and internet and cars, too. It’s… it would take a while to describe it all. Basically, it’s Equestria, except better and with more technology, but also no magic.”
“That sounds weird. So, like, what does everyone do for jobs? The same thing?”
“Kind of, but there are also other jobs like working in factories or I guess my job working in a call center and answering people’s questions. Basically, anything you can think of, there’s a job for it or someone will pay for it.”
“That’s interesting… you said you missed your family. What were they like?”
I realized what she was doing, but decided to talk about it anyway. There wasn’t much else to do, and I missed them, so I figured letting someone else know what they were like wouldn’t do any harm. Besides, it wasn’t like anyone else ever asked to talk about them before, and I wanted to tell someone about them and remember them. I figured it might help me feel better for a little while anyway.’
Radiant Hope wasn’t trying to manipulate Alex.
Well, she was, but not really. She genuinely did want him to feel better about being in Equestria, but not entirely for the right reason. She couldn’t bear the thought of seeing him and Sombra tied together as one consciousness for the rest of her life. Being in the same body was bad enough, this would just be over the top, and she wanted to do what she could to prevent it.
“And Alex is my friend,” she thought to herself as she listened to him talk about the ponies, well, people as he called them, that were his friends before. “Even if it didn’t benefit me, I'd still do it. It’s nice to see him feel better because he’s my friend, not just because of Sombra. That should be what matters most.”
Even as she tried to make it so, she knew it wasn’t what mattered most to her, and felt guilty because of it. Still though, she pushed that thought aside. She was doing a good thing making him feel better, even if her reasons weren’t exactly the best, and did like seeing him smile as a result. She was going to be his friend like she said, and that was that; there was no reason to feel guilty about the reasons why they talked if it benefited him too. Plus, she did honestly enjoy hearing about where he came from. It was very interesting.
Before the two realized it, they were sitting in their room, on their bed, Hope smiling politely as Alex laughed and joked about funny memories he had about being a child on Earth. The mare could say she genuinely liked seeing him like this, not having seen Alex specifically look happy in the whole time she knew him.
“Ah, this- this is nice,” he finally told her after a long while, looking out the window to see that the sun was actually being lowered by Luna right then. “This makes me feel so much better, reliving what I used to have. It hurts, but it’s nice. No one here has asked about it at all, and it feels nice that you did… even if I know the reason why.” She blushed at that, starting to apologize to him, but he stopped her, continuing, “I know you’re doing it because you don’t want to deal with me sharing Sombra’s… let’s say consciousness… but it’s still nice anyway, and I appreciate it. It makes me feel better, even if it’s not for the right reasons."
“That’s not all true,” Hope protested. “I won’t lie, that’s part of it, but I also do like seeing you feel better.”
“Do you really?”
“Of course. I said I wanted to be your friend. And you know I saw how sad you were since… well, since you’ve been here. Since I met you. I really do want you to feel better. Partially because of… well, Sombra, but also because I do want to be your friend. Plus, I actually am interested to hear about the place you said you’re from.”
He let what she said roll around in his head before telling her, “Thank you. I do appreciate it. I- I still know you’re doing this more for Sombra, but I still do appreciate it. It’s nice to talk about, because like I said, no one has asked me much about it yet, not since Celestia, and even she didn't delve that deeply into it. She just wanted me to admit to something I didn't do. No one’s really cared to ask genuinely, not even Fluttershy. So… thank you.”
She smiled kindly at him, saying, “It’s no trouble, and like I said, I’m talking to you because I’m your friend, too. Anyway, it’s well past time for dinner. Let’s go get something to eat.”
“Sombra..." she thought to herself as the two walked to the kitchen, "I don’t want to lose you… Alex, please don’t make a bad decision. Please don’t make me lose my friend. Staying how you were for the last year isn’t going to be helpful for you. It hurts to see either of you like that. Please don’t make a stupid decision.”