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// Chapter 10: Luna and Sombra 
// Story: Before the First 
// by foxfyre2 
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	Sombra crawled out from the dense marsh scraped and bruised. Nopony knows for sure what happened to him back in the swamp, perhaps not even Celestia herself, but battered and sore as he was, he carried his body back the way he initially came. The words that were spoken to him by the Elders were still fresh in his head. He knew what he had to do.
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“What did the Elders tell him, Soarin?”
“Well, after hundreds of years of the telling of this story, some parts may have been altered. So much so that there was a 20 foot cockatrice at one point in the telling of this story, but that’s later on. I’m rambling now, so will you let me get back to the story? Whatever the Elders spoke will make sense later on.”
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Sombra walked off in the direction that the wind blew, for that was the way in which he was told to travel. He had a vague sense of where he was going and what he was looking for, but he would know when he found it. He limped through the snow for half an hour before the stinging of his cuts settled down. After another half hour of trotting with less discomfort, he slowly let his mind wander off about what the Elders said. He became oblivious to where he was stepping and fell right into a shallow ditch.
“Ow! Can I help you?”
“Pardon me! My sincerest apologies. I wasn't watching where I was going and appeared to have tripped into this ditch.” Sombra picked himself up off of our Princess Luna. He looked at her and noticed two things. “Madam, why are you laying in this ditch and if you don’t mind me asking, why are you crying?”
Luna sniffed and wiped her eyes off on her hoof. Trying to contain her tone, Luna replied, “I’m not sure anymore. I first left home because I felt outcast by my own sister and ended up here. It’s partly my fault but I just feel like our family is non-existent. It’s lonely when you have nopony to talk to. Oh-I must seem like such a mess right now.” Luna buried her face back down into her hooves to avoid a judging stare, but none came.
“I can imagine exactly how you feel. In fact, that’s sort of why I’m out here in this forest right now. I understand.”
“How so, er, I’m sorry, I never asked for your name. I am Luna.”
“Where are my manors? My name is Sombra. It is very nice to meet you, if not for this strange circumstance.”
“Tell me, Sombra, how can you possibly relate to my situation?”
Sombra had no reason to hold back from telling Luna his story, so he told her everything, from how his parents left him with his aunt and uncle when he was just a filly to how recently he’s been feeling lonely without a family. Luna sat and listened while he spoke. He had gone through as much dejection in his life as she had, even worse than she had.
“You make my troubles seem so irrelevant. I feel bad for making a deal about them at all.”
Sombra smiled warmly, “Dear Luna, you shouldn't feel a bit of dissonance. Everypony has problems, and to each individual, their problems seem like the worst there is. Just because yours is not as significant as another’s, does not mean that it does not matter.”
A small smile broke on Luna’s sorrowed face. “Thank you for those words and thank you for being so understanding. But can you tell me this, why are you out here in the forest? I would think this would be the last place one would seek a family for.”
“I’m out here for the same reason you are. The same reason anyone who has ever felt lonely and rejected would be out here for. Sometimes we feel the need to match our physical state to our mental one: lost and in a dark place. It is here that we see the world as it truly is. The answers to our hardest problems aren't easily found, so we must go to where it is easy to become lost to find them.”
The two talked easily for the next few minutes, talking in a calm tone as the storm quietly breezed overhead. They easily became friends in their chatter and even managed to break out in a hearty laughter.
“It was very nice talking to you, Luna, but I must be off. You see, there is something I am compelled to do right now. Official business, you could say. I wish you the best of luck in finding your answers.” With that salutation, Sombra left off once again in the way of the breeze. Luna thanked him once more for his company and watched as he left. She got up herself, and trotted off, happy to have found such a good friend.