//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: "Surprise, Sombry!" // Story: The Not-So-Normal Adventures of King Sombra and Pinkie Pie // by Harmony Charmer //------------------------------// "You used magic to save Sweetie Belle?" Twilight inquired. She was wearing her reading glasses while holding a notepad, taking notes on Sombra's answers. "Yes," he replied flatly. "Do you know how you did it?" "No." "Can you do it again?" "If I don't know how to do it, then how can I do it again?" he countered. He had been answering her questions non-stop for almost an hour. She had interrogated him thoroughly after his magic stunt to save Sweetie Belle and himself from a gruesome death. "I was only asking," she snapped, taking her glasses off, "I thought that your magic had worn off, remember?" When Twilight had first found him eating out of their garbage cans outside, he had attempted to use his dark magic, but his horn hadn't even sparked. Twilight hypothesized(after he had spent an hour throwing up in the bathroom), that after regenerating himself with just his horn, his magic had been disabled, possibly forever. Forever. The word sent chills down his spine. "I can't believe the girls put themselves in danger like that," Twilight mused aloud, taking her mane out the bun she had put it in, "They nearly got killed because they wanted to take a shortcut through Sweet Apple Acres!" Sombra cringed in remembrance of the event that nearly cost him and the Crusaders' lives. After being lectured by their older siblings, the girls were grounded for a month and weren't allowed to have sleepovers or hang out at the CMC Headquarters. Sombra looked at the old clock on the wall and read the time as 11:57. He had about 3 minutes until Pinkie arrived to pick him up for his daily walk. He felt his ears grow hot with embarrassment when he remembered how Pinkie had kissed him in front of everypony. 'Well, on the bright side, we know she likes you back,' The Voice reminded him. Sombra frowned and his ears flattened against his head. 'Or, she did it because she was emotional and wasn't thinking,' Sombra countered, walking over to his cot, 'She tends to do that.' He heard The Voice sigh heavily and Sombra swore that if the voice was a pony, he'd be rolling his eyes. 'You're still an idiot,' The Voice commented, 'I figured you'd understand by now.' Before Sombra could ask what he had meant, the door opened and in came Pinkie, smile and all. "Hay, Sombry!" she greeted, bouncing over to him. He tried hard to ignore the flip his stomach did when she said that ridiculous nickname. "Oh, hello, Pinkie!" he heard Twilight reply. The alicorn looked up from the book that had been sent to her a few days ago, before the incident at Sweet Apple Acres. "Hay, Pinkie, I'd like to discuss something with you," Twilight said, walking over to the earth pony. When Sombra stood there, Twilight cleared her throat loudly, nodding her head to the kitchen. Sombra sighed and turned around, walking into the kitchen. Pinkie felt her insides turn as her nervousness picked at her. "What is it, Twilight?" she asked with forced nonchalance. All of her friends had been there when Pinkie had kissed Sombra after finding out he was safe from harm. Just thinking about it made her blush. "Well, I was reading this book that I got from the Crystal Empire's library," Twilight said, ignoring the obvious elephant in the room, "And I found out that some things about Sombra had been documented." Pinkie felt her dread grow even more at Twilight's statement. 'Oh, sweet Celestia, if he was married to somepony...' she thought, her anxiety levels rising. What Twilight was about to say next instead would shock her more. "I found out when his birthday is," the alicorn told her. Pinkie could feel her surprise take over and almost let out a cry of joy, but reminded herself that Sombra was in the next room and could possibly hear her. Instead, she let out a small squee and grinned like a maniac. "Ohmigoshohmigoshohmigoshohmigosh!" she said in a stage whisper, "When is it? When is it? When is it?" Pinkie began to bounce in place, practically vibrating from excitement. "Well, that's what I wanted to discuss with you," Twilight admitted, levitating the book towards her. Pinkie looked at the page it was on, titled, "Biography of King Sombra". After reading the first few bullet points about him, she reached the one subtitled, "Brthdate". Her eyes widened in shock and her jaw dropped as she gasped. "It's tomorrow?" she breathed, staring at the page. Twilight took the book away from her, but Pinkie continued to stare at where it used to be. After a moment of pure silence and stillness, Twilight began to think she had broken the pink mare. But, slowly, Pinkie hunkered down to the ground and then leaped into the air. "Ohmigoshohmigoshohmigoshohmigosh!" she called as she stay suspended in the air, "I need to start planning right now! Promise you won't tell Sombra!" "Alright, but I-" before Twilight could even finish her sentence, Pinkie zoomed out of the library, the door wide open. "But, what about your walk?" Twilight called, but her words fell on deaf ears. She sighed heavily and shut the door behind her. "Where did Pinkie go?" Sombra asked as he walked into the room, "I thought I heard her shout something...?" Twilight was about to explain what had happened, but remembered that she had promised Pinkie not to tell him. "Uh, nothing!" she lied, "She just had to go do something!" Sombra quirked a brow at her, a look of puzzlement on his face. "Uh-huh," he said in a disbelieving tone, "I'm just going to go to my cot..." Once he turned around, Sombra frowned to himself. 'See?' he thought to The Voice, 'Now she's avoiding me.' He laid down in the small cot, pulling the covers over himself. He faced towards the wall and away from Twilight, who was watching him rather curiously. 'I'm sure that it was nothing,' The Voice tried to convince him, 'I mean, maybe she did have something to do.' Sombra shook his head doubtfully. 'No,' he said to The Voice firmly, 'She doesn't feel how I do.' 'And what would that feeling be?' The Voice asked, his interest piqued. Sombra paused for a moment, then closed his eyes in thought. "Foolish," he said to himself, pulling the covers tighter around himself, "I feel foolish." * * * Pinkie hadn't been able to make out Twilight's shout as she ran out of the library, but she didn't think it to be important. Upon looking back at her alicorn friend's home, however, she ran into something fast and hard. The force knocked both her and the pony she bumped into onto their rears. "Whoops, sorry!" Pinkie called as she came to her hooves. She blinked in surprise when she realized it was Applejack, whose eyes were still rolling around from dizziness. "Oh, hey, AJ!" she greeted as if she hadn't just run her over. Applejack stood up and shook her head in order to lose her dizziness. "Where ya goin' in such a hurry, Pinks?" she asked, dusting off her stetson. "Twilight got a book from the Crystal Empire a couple days ago and she found a section about Sombry and saw that his birthday was tomorrow and I was all WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT , then I was super excited because Sombry is my friend and I wanted to throw a party for him that was super special awesome and I ran out just now and then I ran into you and you asked me why I was such in such a hurry and then I told you that Twilight got a book from-" "Whoa, Nelly!" Applejack held out her hooves, "Ah get it, ah get it! So, ya say Sombra's birthday's tomorrow, eh?" Pinkie enthusiastically nodded while grinning like a hyena. "Yeppy deppy!" Pinkie chirped, then her ears flattened against her head while her eyes widened, "I gotta get the supplies!" She jumped into the air, running in the air as she defied gravity. Just as she zoomed off, Applejack grabbed her tail and pulled her back. "Whoa, there!" she called through Pinkie's tail, "Ya don't have to go worryin' about that by yerself, Sugarcube!" Pinkie remained in the air for a few more seconds before falling onto the ground. She jumped up, her mane covered in rocks and dirt then shook them out, the debris flinging in every direction. "Whatcha ya mean, AJ?" the pink mare asked, dusting off her shoulder. "What ah mean is that ah can help ya with the party," AJ told her, pulling a curly hair from her mouth. Pinkie's eyes widened and she grinned so widely that AJ thought it would break her face. Pinkie tackled Applejack to the ground in a hug, squealing happily as she did so. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she cheered, then stopped laughing suddenly and got off of her, "I thought you didn't like Sombra!" Applejack blinked at Pinkie, then sighed. "Well, ah didn't," she admitted, "But, after ah saw how he was with you and he helped save Applebloom and her friends, ah figured that he wasn't as bad as ah had thought." 'And that you two shared a saddle together...' she added silently. Pinkie smiled again and began to bounce in place. "Well, come on!" she exclaimed, "Let's get to it!" She started hopping down the dirt path, with Applejack in tow. "Ya know, we can probably get the others to help, too," Applejack told her, trotting to keep up with her bouncing friend. Pinkie stopped abruptly, levitating in the air. "That's..." she said quietly, then shouted, "A GREAT IDEA! Let's split up and cover more ground!" Before applejack could react, Pinkie zoomed away, leaving a pink streak behind. Applejack sighed and shook her head while smiling. "Sombra, you are one lucky stallion," she said to herself, watching her pink friend quickly disappear down the road. * * * Twilight paced around the library, her brows creased in thought as she frowned. 'This is going to be a disaster,' she thought to herself, sneaking a glance at Sombra's "sleeping" form. When she had shown Pinkie the page showing Sombra's birthday the day before, she had failed to make good on reading the paragraph below it. "Birthdate: November 2nd King Sombra, may He reign forever, prohibited the celebrations of birthdays, especially His own. The reason behind this restriction is unknown. On the celebration of His day of birth, The King closes the castle and requests that all His servants leave His presence for the day. No one knows what His Highness does in His solitary confinement and it shall more than likely remain that way." 'What am I going to do?' she thought, continuing to pace, 'If I tell Pinkie to call off the party, she'll be crushed! But, if I let her put all that work into it and Sombra reacts badly...' She cringed as she imagined Sombra yelling at Pinkie and possibly causing her to fall into that frightening persona that she'd only seen twice before. While Twilight continued to pace, Sombra laid in his own inner turmoil. He hadn't known why Pinkie disappeared so suddenly, but he could hazard an awful good guess. 'She's embarrassed to be near me,' he thought darkly, 'Now that her friends know what happened between us, she doesn't want to be seen with me.' 'It's not like that!' The Voice told him for what seemed like the hundredth time, 'She's not like that!' Sombra could feel his anger rise and bit his tongue to keep from shouting. 'You don't know her,' Sombra replied with venom in his tone, 'You can't make that judgement...' The Voice sighed and Sombra felt that The Voice would shake his head if he had a body to do so. 'I do know her,' The Voice told him, 'More than you know, Sombra.' Sombra's ears pricked upwards and he blinked in shock. 'What's that supposed to mean?' he snarled, but The Voice did not reply. Sombra groaned and rolled over, facing away from the wall. He quirked a brow at Twilight's pacing, his eyes following her for a moment before asking, "What the devil are you doing?" Twilight jumped and let out a small, "Eep!" After realizing it Sombra who had spoken, she sighed. "Nothing you should worry about," she replied, resuming her pacing. Sombra narrowed his eyes at her and let out a ragged sigh. "Too late," he said, getting out of his cot. He walked over to the alicorn, who began to sweat under his gaze. He leaned towards her, his eyes scrutinizing her nervous expression. "What are you hiding, Sparkle?" he whispered, causing Twilight's pupils to dilate to small pixels. "I-I don't know what you're talking about!" she exclaimed, her ears flattening against her head. Sombra glared at her and opened his mouth to interrogate her. But, just as he was about to speak, the door to the library opened. "Twilight, Sombra!" Spike called as he waddled into the room, "You guys gotta get to Sugarcube Corner!" Sombra felt his stomach drop at Spike's tone and he felt his eyes grow wide. Did Pinkie get hurt? Or perhaps it was something far worse? "Uh, Spike, I don't think-" Twilight's statement fell on deaf ears as Sombra dashed out of the library. Upon running out, he scooped Spike up and slid him onto his back. "Explain what happened quickly and do it now, Lizard!" Sombra ordered the small dragon, running as hard as he could. Spike clung onto Sombra's mane and let out a yell. "Whoa, slow down!" he called, but Sombra didn't let up. "Explain, Spike!" he shouted, turning back briefly to give Spike an angry look. Spike's eyes widened, but he nodded in response. "Look, I can't really explain it," he admitted, yelling as Sombra made a sharp turn around a corner, "But, I know you need to get there right now!" Sombra was about to make a scathing remark about the baby dragon, but refrained from doing so when Sugarcube Corner came up in his sights. Upon seeing it, he galloped even harder, nearly knocking Spike off in the process. He dashed up the steps of the building and swung the doors open. "Pinkie, where are y-" "SURPRISE!" Sombra blinked in shock as the lights to the bakery flipped on and several ponies jumped out of furniture and hiding places. Confetti fell from the ceiling, showering Sombra in a flurry of rainbow paper. "Wait, what?" he said in a confused tone, his eyes darting around the room, "What?" "Surprise, Sombry!" Pinkie cheered, hopping over to Sombra. She was wearing a party hat and a small noisemaker hung at the side of her mouth. "What is all this?" Sombra asked, still looking around the room. Pinkie smiled and giggled. "Twilight found a book with some information about you in it and it said your birthday was today!" she chirped, "So, do you like it?" Sombra blinked as he realized why Pinkie and Twilight were acting so strange, relief overtaking him. 'See?' The Voice said, 'I told you it wasn't like that!' Sombra resisted the urge to roll his eyes at The Voice. Then, he fully realized what Pinkie had told him. 'Today is my birthday...' he thought to himself, looking around the brightly decorated room. He didn't particularly enjoy his birthday, the reason beyond his knowledge. He remembered how he used to stay in the castle by himself whenever the date rolled around. What he couldn't remember was why he did it. "Sombry?" Pinkie's voice broke through his thoughts. Sombra looked around the room once more, scanning the faces of the crowd. All of Pinkie's friends, save for Twilight, were there, along with the Crusaders. They watched expectantly for Sombra's judgement on the party, each holding their breath. "I-" he started, then looked at Pinkie's nervous expression, "I like it." Pinkie's face brightened and she hugged Sombra tightly. "Yay!" she cheered, snuggling into his neck. Sombra fought against the heat that came onto his cheeks, but failed to hold back the shade of pink that overtook his face. Unlike Pinkie, all her friends saw this and they exchanged knowing looks with one another. Suddenly, a techno, poppy song came on, causing Pinkie to gasp loudly. "Oh, this is my jam!" she exclaimed, jumping onto the dance floor. Sombra watched as Pinkie and her friends joined in a collective dance, moving to the time of the music. Dale a tu cuerpo alegria Macarena Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegria y cosa buena Dale a tu cuerpo alegria, Macarena Heeeeey Macarena AAAhAA! "Come on, Sombry!" Pinkie called, grabbing Sombra's hoof. Before he protest, she pulled him into the dancefloor, in the center of her friends. "Pinkie!" Sombra shouted, trying to get off the dance floor, "I don't dance" Pinkie ceased her dancing and grinned at him while giggling. "Don't worry, Sombry!" she said, "I'll teach you!" Despite his protests, Pinkie walked him through the steps of the dance he soon realized was called, "The Macarena". After a few run throughs with Pinkie, Sombra began to get the hang of the dance and actually started to enjoy himself. Macarena, Macarena, Macarena Que le gusta los veranos de Marbella Macarena, Macarena, Macarena Que le gusta la movida guerrilera While the couple were dancing, Twilight rushed into the bakery, disheveled and panicked. "Where's Sombra? I have to-" she stopped talking when she saw Sombra and Pinkie dancing with one another, smiling and laughing. She felt her jaw drop in shock and her eyes became as wide as saucers. "Oh, hello, darling!" Rarity greeted, walking over to her alicorn friend, "When did you get here?" Twilight snapped out of her daze, shaking her head as she did so. "I- uh, just came to see how the birthday boy was doing!" she said quickly, grinning nervously. Rarity quirked a brow, but didn't question her. "Well, he seems to be having fun, if ya ask me," said Applejack, who was munching on an apple. Twilight glanced over at Sombra again, who had started to sing along to the song. "Does Sombra speak Spanish?" Twilight asked, her eyes wide with surprise. Rarity shook her head. "I don't have the qualifications to say so," she admitted, "I took Prench in High School." "He's speaking Spanish, alright," Applejack said, causing both Twilight and Rarity to look at her, "What? Ya pick up that kind of stuff at Mexicolt!" When the two mares didn't stop their incredulous stares, Applejack sighed. "Ah have to send orders to Mexicolt every so often, alright? That's how I picked it up." When both mares let out silent, "oh"'s, Applejack facehoofed and sighed. Meanwhile, Sombra and Pinkie continued to dance along to the foreign song, ignoring the surrounding ponies. Sombra watched Pinkie smile and laugh as she expertly popped and locked her hooves, not caring if anypony stared at her. While Sombra admired her, he misplaced his hooves and tripped over himself, falling to the floor in a heap. Pinkie stopped dancing and leaned down to Sombra's level. "Cool!" she said, "Freestyling!" Before Sombra could react, she forcefully tripped over her hooves and fell onto the floor, smiling when Sombra gave a her a bewildered look. He cracked a smile and they shared a laugh together, while everypony gave them strange looks. "They are so weird together," Rainbow Dash said aloud, earning a look from Rarity and Twilight. "Rainbow Dash!" they shouted collectively. Applejack grinned lopsidedly at the laughing couple and shook her head. "Said it once, and ah'll say it again," she said, "Sombra, you are one lucky stallion."