It was strange, sitting in the living room of Pinkie's childhood home. And it was just as, if not more, awkward, due to the silence and lack of any movement whatsoever. Except for Pinkie, of course.
"Ooo, so this is chamomile?" Pinkie asked as she took in a sip of tea, "I like my tea with a lot of sugar! Like, a ton! It's so it tastes sweet!"
Sombra spared her a glance as he took in a sip of tea of his own. "It's a wonder you haven't crashed, what with all the moving around you do with all that sugar in your system."
"That's the trick, Sombry!" Pinkie told him as she put in three more sugarcubes, "I always eat sugar!"
Sombra noted the crunch she made before she swallowed her "tea". "So I see."
"Dear, do you really think that it's a good thing to eat so much sugar, especially before dinner?" Cloudy Quartz asked, a name Sombra had just learned, "You could spoil it."
Pinkie didn't seem to hear her as she readied herself to down another cup of sugar cubes. Sombra put a hoof over the cup and he put it away from her face. "You might want to save that for later," he told her.
Pinkie blinked innocently. "Why? This is nowhere near the amount I have everyday!"
Sombra furrowed his brows. "Pinks, the last time you ate that much sugar, you nearly went into catatonic shock. You were about to be in an actual sugar coma."
Pinkie waved a hoof. "It's not as bad as you think. It's actually really enlightening! Like, I think I found out the reason that life exists!"
Sombra gave her a deadpan look. "If it's what I think it is, I swear, I might just be a psychic. Especially with matters concerning you."
Pinkie rolled her eyes. "So I said that the reason behind life was a toaster once." She narrowed her eyes at him. "You really have to learn to--"
"Don't you say it," Sombra tried to say.
"--let it go," Pinkie finished. She giggled at Sombra's face. "It was worth it."
Sombra's ears flattened against his head. "Was it?"
Cloudy cleared her throat. "So, Sombra, what is it that you do, again? Pinkie tells me that you work at a library?"
Sombra's ears perked up at the question and he put on a good face. "Yes. I help Twilight and Spike at the library, especially since now Twilight has a lot more responsibility with her new title. Poor Spike can barely handle the size of the new library."
Cloudy's eyes widened. "Twilight? As in, Princess Twilight?" She looked at her tea cup. "I wasn't aware you two knew each other."
"She's... how I met Pinkie," Sombra told her, "she accommodated for me while I was... working through some things."
Cloudy nodded. "I see."
Pinkie was quick to change the subject. "Twilight's a really good friend to everypony! Helping out Sombra isn't the biggest thing she's done, though! Like that fight with Tirek a couple months ago!"
Cloudy turned to Pinkie. "It seems a lot of strange things have been happening in the past couple of years. A threat of eternal night, a short reign from a chaos god, Changeling invasions." She sighed. "Biggest thing I had to worry about as a filly were Parasprites!"
Sombra arched a brow. "Parasprites?"
Cloudy smiled. "Mama Surprise was the only pony I knew who could scare off Parasprites." She laughed lightly. "She actually taught herself how to play ten instruments at one time so that she'd be able to lure them off!"
Sombra blinked. "What?"
Pinkie giggled. "Paraspites like music, for some weird reason! Granny Pie told me all about it when I was just an itty-bitty twinkie Pinkie!"
"I'm afraid I'm not familiar with Parasprites," Sombra said, "so I can't really express my opinion on the matter."
"Oooo, I gotta tell ya the story of the time we had a Parasprite infestation at the farm!" Pinkie told him, "It was a long time ago, in a land that happened to be here!" She held up her hooves flamboyantly, like she usually did whenever she told stories. "When Mom and Dad were gone for business and Granny Pie was watching us, Limestone was out one day when she found one of the Parasprites and she had no idea what it was! But, when Granny saw that there were Parasprites, she went off to get a trombone, but everypony else was like, 'Wha?'" She put on a ridiculous face to convey the confusion before continuing. "But, when she told me all about them, I was like , 'oooooh'. And then, the Paraspites multiplied! Like, poof!"
"So, they're an asexual breed?" Sombra asked.
Pinkie arched a brow. "What does the alphabet have to do with a Polka Parasprite Parade?"
Sombra gave her an incredulous look. "What does that have to do with anything?" He gave her a deadpan look. "You're doing that thing where you jump to a part in the story that you're nowhere near again, aren't you?"
"Am I?" Pinkie questioned as she put a hoof to her chin, "hmmm... It would seem so." She shrugged. "Oh, well! Anyway, when I found out how bad the infestation had gotten, I found out that the only solution to the problem was a banjo!" She pointed her hoof to the sky. "That, and a harmonica, a trombone, a tuba, a tambourine, some cymbals, and a pair of maracas."
Sombra was silent for a moment. "I want to ask if you did it by yourself, but I realize how ridiculous it would be to do so."
Pinkie let out a light 'pfft'. "Please, seven is hardly the amount of instruments I can play! I just prefer to keep it simple!"
"Playing seven instruments is normal for you?" Sombra questioned. Then, he sighed. "Actually, I'm not surprised."
Pinkie giggled. "It's 'cause playing only one was too easy, two was too peasy, three was like A, B, C, four was like do re mi, five was like--" She paused. "Shoot, I run out of rhymey-whymeys!"
"There's one," Sombra offered, then blinked, "why did I say that?"
"'Cause you're helpful!" Pinkie proclaimed before continuing, "Getting back to the story, after I found everything, the farm was in total chaos! I mean, not like Discord chaos, but still pretty bad!" She gasped. "Oh my, gosh, what if Discord made Parasprites or something?!" She shook her head. "No, that's crazy! Or is it?" She shook her head again. "Nah, it's crazy. Anyway, when I finally started playing the instruments, the Parasprites finally stopped eating everything! Well, most of what they ate was rocks, but that's besides the point, because they started to follow me and Granny off the farm! It was so fun! Well, except for having to clean up after the Parasprites and then having to explain to Mom and Dad what happened."
Cloudy Quartz chuckled. "Poor Igneous was so upset! Once I told him about the Parasprites, he almost took to going after them with a pickax!" She laughed. "He only cooled down when I told him it would make them multiply faster."
"And then there was the infestation in Ponyville a couple years back!" Pinkie said with a giggle, "Poor Fluttershy brought them into town and they multiplied overnight! It wasn't until after they started eating the town's food supply that they started to get rid of them!"
"Did they know about the instruments?" Sombra asked, somewhat intrigued by the story.
"Nope!" Pinkie replied, "I tried to tell them, but nopony would listen! Well, I guess it's 'cause I wasn't making any sense and sometimes even I don't make sense to myself!"
Sombra chuckled. "Which makes you even more interesting."
Pinkie smiled at him before continuing. "Anyway, once I found all the instruments I needed, I found out that Twilight tried to cast a spell on the Parasprites!"
Cloudy Quartz gasped. "She didn't!"
"Why?" Sombra asked, "Is that a bad thing?"
Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Duh! Unicorns can't cast spells on certain creatures because it would have catastrophic side effects!" Pinkie flailed her forelegs briefly before putting them down. "It's kind of why we avoid Timberwolves and manticores and stuff like that. I mean, offensive and defensive magic is fine, but you can't cast spells or anything like that."
Sombra arched a brow. "How do you know all that?"
"How do you not?" Pinkie asked, "anyway, when Twilight cast a spell, it was supposed to make them stop eating everything in town."
Cloudy giggled. "Let me guess: it made them start to eat the town instead?"
"Bingo!" Pinkie exclaimed, "That's when I jumped in and stopped the Parasprites from eating anymore! And just in the nick of time, because Princess Celestia showed up for her visit right when I was luring the Parasprites out!" She giggled. "She thought it was a parade!"
Sombra chuckled at the idea of it. "That's even better than the time I heard Twilight sent the town into a frenzy about a charmed Smarty Pants doll."
Pinkie giggled. "Did Spike tell you about that?"
"Actually, it was the Crusaders," Sombra told her, "those three get into all kinds of trouble, it would seem, what with them being the first three to get charmed."
Pinkie laughed. "Do you remember that time they tried to be pyrotechnics?"
Sombra shivered. "Don't remind me. My flank was burned for weeks and Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow tried to kill me." He sighed. "Why can't they do something less dangerous with themselves?"
Pinkie giggled. "Come on, it's not so bad! Remember when they made you an honorary Crusader?"
"Pardon my asking, but what exactly is a Crusader?" Cloudy Quartz asked.
"Allow me to explain how the girls would," Sombra said, "'Cutie Mark Crusaders, lives dedicated to finding out what we're meant to do with our lives and working together to get there!'" He sighed. "They even made me a cape for members."
"Aw, that's adorable!" Cloudy gushed.
"Not when they steal fabric from Rarity to make it and even use her special one of a kind silk gold cloth that is extremely difficult to make," Sombra told her, "I had to take an earful from Rarity and the blame so the girls wouldn't get caught in the warpath."
Cloudy put a hoof to her mouth to smother giggles. "Reminds me of the little fillies I raised." She turned to Pinkie. "But, now they're turned into lovely, mature mares."
"Did you say something?" Pinkie asked as she readjusted the teaspoon on her nose, "I was in the middle of doing something."
"Well, almost mature," Cloudy corrected.
Sombra spared Pinkie a glance and sighed. "Sweet Tartarus, this is just like our sixth month anniversary."
Pinkie giggled. "I had the spoon on my nose for ten minutes and you didn't even know it!"
"Oh, I did, I just didn't say anything about it," Sombra told her, "I try not to question what you do unless I don't understand why."
"Oh, don't act so sour!" Pinkie said as she smacked his foreleg, "You laughed for 15 minutes and you know it!"
Sombra frowned, but he finally gave in and smiled at her. "You're such a dork. A dork I'm lucky to have."
"Aw..." Pinkie cooed. She perked up. "Speaking of dorks, where are Limestone and Marble?" She snort giggled. "Just kiddin'! But, really, where are they?"
Cloudy looked to the clock on the wall. "They should be home soon... Limestone is probably looking for more geodes to add to her collection, and knowing Marble, she's probably doing the same thing."
"And knowing both of them, they're probably arguing over who gets what geode," Pinkie concluded. She rolled her eyes playfully. "Some things never change, huh?"
Cloudy sighed. "Those two have really been arguing as of late, sometimes over the silliest of things. It's a wonder they live under the same roof together."
Sombra shrugged. "Some sisters tend to get into petty squabbles because they love each other, just not in the usual manner." He picked up his teacup. "I've seen Sweetie Belle and Rarity do the same to one another all the time, but I'd be lying if I said they didn't love each other."
Pinkie giggled. "Applejack always told me that having a sister is like apple pie!"
Sombra arched a brow. "Apple Bloom says the same thing." He shrugged. "Must be an apple farmer thing, then."
Suddenly, the front door swung open, which let out a loud slam as it did. Before anypony could ask who was there, two loud, angry voices broke through the air.
"I told you, Limestone, that the crystals in geodes are amethyst!" said one voice.
Cloudy Quartz sighed. "Looks like they're home."
"And I told you, Marble, that it isn't!" said another voice, who Sombra could only deduce to be Limestone's.
"Look, I know more about geodes, you dumb brick!" Marble exclaimed.
"I'd call you that, too, but it'd be an insult to all bricks!" Limestone shot back.
As the two sisters argued, they continued on into the living room, unaware of the company in there. And as they continued on with their shouts, Sombra finally managed to get a good look at the two sisters. There was a light gray mare with a slightly darker gray mane with a cut open geode on her flank, revealing shining crystals within. The other sister was shorter, and possibly younger, but Sombra couldn't say for sure. Her mane was a light gray and her coat was a dark blue with a rock on her flank, several golden lines running through it,
"Ahem," Cloudy Quartz said, "girls, we have company."
Both sisters ceased their death glares and turned simultaneously to see Pinkie and Sombra sitting on the couch. "Oh, hey, Pinkie," Limestone greeted.
Marble's attention immediately went to Sombra. "Is this your coltfriend we heard about?"
Pinkie nodded erratically. "Uh-huh!" She leaned against Sombra affectionately. "This is Sombra!"
Marble arched a brow. "He's pretty cute."
Limestone jabbed her sister in the foreleg. "Marble!"
"Ow!" Marble cried as she held her foreleg, "What? He is!"
"Er, thank you?" Sombra said with uncertainty.
Limestone waved a hoof. "Don't worry about her, she was dropped as a filly."
"Was not!" Marble protested.
Limestone ignored her and focused her attention on Sombra. "So, what do you do?" She spared Sombra's flank a glance and her eyes widened. "Oh, sweet Celestia, are those Aegirine crystals?"
Sombra spared his cutie mark a glance and looked down at the three black crystals that adorned it. "Er, actually, I don't--"
"Ugh, no way!" Marble groaned, "Those are totally Hermatite crystals!"
Limestone faced her sister. "Are you seriously that ignorant? They're Aegirine crystals!"
"No, they're Hermatite crystals!"
"Aergirine!"
"Hermatite!"
"Aegirine!"
"Hermatite!"
Pinkie let out a dreamy sigh. "Some things really never change."
Sombra furrowed his brows. "And that's something I'm afraid of."