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// Phoenixes Don't Gift Tanzanaites 
// Story: Sombra Dislikes Crystals 
// by The Apologetic Pony 
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As usual it was late when he got home, so Sombra didn’t expect his mother to be awake. He did expect her to be present, however, and she wasn’t. Her bedroom door was wide open, as was the space on her bed. She run away too?

Sombra wasn’t too great at making breakfast, so he only made himself some toast. It was a bit frightening, being alone... No, it wasn’t that, it was the possibility nopony might come back. He wondered what he was doing, and what he ought to be doing, as the birds chirped outside. You’re staring at the wall, that’s what you’re doing. And what ought I be doing? Don’t get all existential on me! 

Sometimes we escape.

A vast, open field, blue clouds, white sky, and a crystalline owl flowed into consciousness. Somepony, somewhere was floating. 

‘Poof poof,’ went the clouds. ‘Where have my parents gone?’ they asked, and fell into the field.

‘Scrunch scrunch,’ went the field, eating the clouds. ‘Your misery is so tasty, I think Im going to–’ it said, then bursting into sparkly shards.

‘Smash smash,’ went the owl, climbing over the remains. ‘I dislike crystals and I got hit by a stone, but you are neither.’ it said, landing on the pony's impossibly long horn.

‘Woosh woosh,’ went the pony, crushing the owl beneath it. ‘None of this is related.’ it said, beating the owl into mushy red.

‘Related to what?’ the owl asked in its dying breath.

The pony didn’t answer until the owl was dead.

‘Related to your death.’

There came a knock on the door, and a startled Sombra. Waking up as Sombra did, with drool down your cheek is never pleasant, especially with thick fur. At least yours is dark, else it’d be noticeable to everyone else for ages.

‘Are you hungry Sombra? I can make you some late breakfast!’ 

‘No I’m fine. I made some myself, earlier. Why weren’t you here last night and this morning?’

‘Dull errands.’

Scandalous relations. Do you think your father will ever return, Sombra? I don’t know, I don’t know.

‘Were you just having a nap?’

‘Apparently.’

‘Excuse me for bothering you then.’ Robyn said, and closed the door.

Sombra looked out the window, feeling a bit better now that Robyn was back. There were three trees in a bank of grass on the middle of the street, casting pretty shadows on the ponies below.. With a gust, the leaves rustled, while spots of light shifted and merged, and Sombra saw an outline of something very unusual. Perched on a branch barely visible to him, was a bird—a huge bird! It looked as if its wingspan alone was bigger than him! 

Spurred by curiosity, Sombra rushed down the stairs and ran outside before Robyn could ask where he was going. He couldn’t see much but branches from ground level though. I could try the roof... But like most roofs in Equestria, they were sloped. You feelin’ risky? You wanna try balancing on the spine of it? I’m gonna have to try like, lying on it. He could have tried teleporting onto the tree instead of course, but he decided to leave tree-climbing to the monkeys. Very few trees supported the weight of a full grown stallion, but he wasn’t sure roofs did either. Like a colt once more, Sombra teleported himself so that his torso lay on the peak of the roof, and he was facing the tree (more importantly bird) he was so interested in. Unfortunately he’d placed himself  too high, leaving him to fall onto the roof scrabbling, and utterly winded. Gradually he succeeded in securing his (incredibly uncomfortable) position, and peered into the tree once more. Where was it again? There I think...

Just as he found the right branch, Sombra heard a flapping of wings, and turned to the right to see a phoenix landing beside him. It wasn’t just the shadows, it really is massive, could gouge my eyes out if it wanted to. Supposedly, phoenixes weren’t violent though. From what little Sombra had heard about them, you were supposed to treat them like ponies or griffins, not like animals.    

‘Hey.’ Sombra said.

It cocked its head, and looked at him.

‘You can understand me, right?’

It shuffled a step closer. Obviously, it wasn’t justan animal. Sombra was still acutely aware of the rooftop dividing his front and back legs.

‘Wonder why you’re here, apparently you don’t visit cities much.’

Qutie suddenly, the phoenix opened its left wing, and gently stroked Sombra’s back. Maybe I’m the animal here. 

‘Oh, er, thanks. Your feathers feel funny, a bit tickly, ahaha.’

He wasn’t sure if the whole open wing to intimacy association carried over to phoenixes, or even birds in general. But I mean come on, even if it does, it’s a phoenix. Try to relax.  As hard as Sombra tried to not think about it, he was still scared of the thing, with its giant claws and tiny eyes. Why there aren’t more picture of them, they’re gorgeous. ‘Cus of their rarity, I guess. 

‘I bet you’re all poetic in your head... I’ve got a question for you though. Would you happen to know what it meant if a phoenix left three feathers together? One tail, one plume, and one wing feather I think it was.’

The phoenix went rigid, and instantly withdrew its feather.

‘Woah woah, easy there! Didn’t mean to upset you, sorry.’

So something bad then... Roof’s getting pretty hot.

‘This is getting a bit uncomfortable for me, being up here. You probably don’t want to come down with me, do you? Well then, nice talking to you, really interesting! I guess it's goodbye.’

And just like that, before Sombra had even started to prepare to get off the roof, the phoenix flew away. It’d left two claw marks you could only see from the ground if you were looking for them, which Sombra thought suitable for such an ethereal being. It’s a pity there was nothing ethereal from where he’d come from, and where he was going.