A week had past, and Sombra was glad he was finally going to see Luna. He hadn’t particularly enjoyed school, (sparing the wit Tinker provided) but Sombra was disgruntled with having nothing to do. It felt like wasted time, though as his mother sometimes said, ‘Time enjoyed is not time wasted.’ Sombra had long noticed the spacious room for interpretation the statement provided, but he’d always assumed Robyn wasn’t trying to insinuate anything. Only I’d be so wicked as to consider the thought.
He’d have to go by train. It wasn’t the longest train ride in the world, but the unicorn did consider the whole hour it took to be fairly substantial. The few times he’d been on a train was to visit his fuddy-duddy relatives, over in Baltimare. They weren’t much fun.
Luna had been kind enough to have an escort waiting for him at the station.
‘Welcome to Canterlot, Sombra. I’m Felix, your guide,’ he said, bowing.
Felix the pegasus took him to the palace, left Sombra in an antechamber, and told him the Lunar Princess would be coming to see him soon. As Sombra should have expected, the palace interior was grand in both size and design, yet he was still surprised by it. A lone pillar covered in cosmic etchings stood in the centre of the space... he’d never seen one of them displayed quite so directly before. The few times he’d been in or close to buildings that needed pillars, they were pushed aside for some other visual delight. He hardly noticed that he’d stood up from his chair and started to walk around the support, admiring the insane grandeur of it all.
‘Hiya, Som-bra!’
‘Oh hi!’
‘You look like you’re lost.’
‘No, it’s just that it’s really magnificent.’
‘The column? It is splendid.’
Luna let Sombra adore it a while longer, before she politely reminded him why he’d come.
‘My intention is to lead you to the garden.’
‘Okay... Why’s that?’
‘Technically, so there’s a chance what havock you may wreak will find itself in the heavens, instead of the ceiling ponies worked so hard to make.’
‘Oh.’
‘But there’s going to be a lot of talking before that. I think you’ll find the garden to be least intimidating in this unfamiliar place for you.’
‘Talking?’
‘Yes, talking when we get there.’
‘What kind of talking?’
‘What happened to that colt I met at your school? Wasn’t he shy around me?’
‘Well I did like, challenge you on that law.’
Luna took a moment to remember.
‘Haha, so you did! Good for you.’
A flight of stairs and some high ceilings later, the two arrived at the garden, which turned out to be plain compared to the rest of the place. ‘That might be why she thinks I’ll be comfortable here. Makes sense,’ Sombra thought.
‘Over here.’
She took him to a set of marble benches, but the back was too steep, making Sombra feel like he was a monk when he sat on it. I’ll get used to it. To Sombra’s slight embarrassment, Luna swiftly sat right next to him, instead of the bench opposite. Jeez she’s huge! She really was huge—his head barely met her shoulder when they were sitting like this!
‘Are you scared of me now, Som-bra?’
‘I’m confused why you’re calling me that.’
‘Are you offended?’
‘No.’
‘It’s reminiscent of how I called my sister in our foalhood, but I can stop if you prefer.’
‘No, no call me whatever.’
‘Whatever.’
‘You’re really a child, Luna.’
‘Thank you!’
‘So...’
‘Right, the talking.’
Luna took a deep breath, and looked Sombra in the eye before continuing.
‘Sombra, let me be frank. If we plunge ourselves into the depths of your power, whatever it may be, we will be leaping into the unknown. I told you before, I’m confident we’ll find some worth, and I stand by that, but you must realise that attempting to do so is not without risk. While I don’t doubt I’ll be able to stop you if need be, if it comes to that, you’re unlikely to leave unscarthed.’
‘Like what?’
‘At best some bruises, at worst your ability to use magic may be... compromised for the rest of your life.’
Sombra was skeptical. He wasn’t that powerful, was he?
‘Why is it worth trying then? I mean, if it turns out all I can do is make some pretty lights, I’d have risked it for nothing.’
‘I assure you, it’s very unlikely to come to such drastic measures.’
‘How reassuring!’
‘For to be hurting you at all would already mean I’d have failed. That’s the only reason why it’d happen, I’d have messed up.’
Sombra frowned and faced away from the intense stare she’d been giving him.
‘Sorry was I too... earnest?’
‘No no, it’s rather serious. But why didn’t you tell me before?’
Luna looked away.
‘What?’
‘...I forgot.’
Sombra had been expecting something convoluted.
‘That’s ridiculous!’
‘Completely irresponsible of me. I’m sorry.’
‘...I think I’ll do it anyway.’
Luna chuckled.
‘Then we need to learn to trust each other. That’s what were going to be doing for these first few sessions.’
Sombra asked how, but Luna put his question aside. She just told him that it would be beneficial for them to have a normal conversation for now. They did try to have a normal conversation, though they didn’t have much in common. What was he supposed to talk about, the latest album from The Horsefellas?
‘Perhaps I should warn you we might end in delving into some fairly unsavory topics. Purely in pursuit in of our mutual trust, of course.’
‘Why’s that?’
‘For honesty! How am I supposed to trust someone I’m not honest with?’
‘Are lying and trusting incompatible for you?’
‘You can lie to me, if you want. I’m not at all used to talking somepony such as you.’
Sombra waited for Luna to actually answer the question, but all he got was an expectant look back. I can’t understand her at all. It was then that Sombra felt something was really off. Where’d her wing gone?
Sombra lept off the bench when he realised just where she’d put her wing—she’d draped it over the back of the bench! From the conventions of less civilised times anything with wings wasn’t supposed to relax them like that. Since the wings were both vital and delicate for the majority of creatures that possessed them, they never left the flank outside of flight, privacy, or intimacy. Nopony expected to have their wing spontaneously maimed anymore, but the gesture retained its amorous, even carnal status for everypony old enough to have such desires.
‘Oh my I didn’t mean to do that! It slipped!’
‘It slipped a long bloody way!’
‘I’m just not used to having anypony around! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean anything of the sort!’
Sombra sat heavily on the opposite bench.
‘That wasn’t your trust was it?’
‘Sombra, enough. I’ve apologised, don’t take advantage of my mistake. You’ll lose a lot of friends that way.’
It could have gone better.