Shadowy Love

by FinnPony

Chapter 19

“How about this,” Twilight said to Spike. “You will clean up your room and after that is done you can go see Apple Bloom.”
“I don’t know why I‘m even listening to you,” Spike said with his arms crossed over his chest. “I am a grown up dragon after all.”
“You aren’t even eighteen yet,” Twilight calmly remarked while sorting out some royal parchments in her study, making Spike roll his eyes in irritated manner.
“Well…” he said, thinking for a good reply. “You’re not my mom or anything.”
“But you are my assistant,” Twilight said and smiled towards the purple dragon. “My number one assistant.”
Spike pouted and tried to look angry, failing in that. Twilight giggled and said, “Remember to mop under the shelves too.”
“Yeah yeah…” Spike muttered and started to stomp towards his room, but as Twilight glanced over her shoulder, she saw a small smile on his lips.

He was a good boy. Always there to help her and her friends. They just had a bad habit of forgetting about him sometimes. Twilight knew how that made him feel, and lately she had become worried by it. Luckily Spike was a social young dragon, and had lot of friends of his age, which made her actually a bit sad. It was because Spike spent more time with his friends than with Twilight herself. She didn’t know why that made her feel like that, but she was sure that it had something to do with them spending almost all of their life together.

A familiar deep voice snapped away from her thoughts.
“I see that you are very close with the dragon,” Sombra said from the door of her study. Twilight winced and turned to look at him.
“Wh- Oh. Yes. We are,” she managed to say after recovering from her surprised state.
Sombra leaned against the invisible magic barrier that guarded her study from him. He examined the room with his eyes.
“What is your story with him?” Sombra asked curiously. “How did a princess like you get a dragon like him as your servant.”
“I wasn’t a princess back then,” Twilight said and laid the parchments on her working table. She kept an eye on Sombra, who was still eying at her study.
“That didn’t really answer my question,” Sombra commented from the door.
Twilight lifted her gaze from the parchments towards him, still remembering their little dinner yesterday. The thought of it made her grimace. What had gotten into her?
“When I was just a little filly, I applied to Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns,” Twilight told him. “As a qualifying test I had to make dragon egg hatch. That’s how Spike was born.”
“So you are like his mother?” Sombra asked casually from the door.
Twilight winced at his words. She confusedly looked at Sombra and said, “No. I didn’t give birth to him or anything.”
“Technically, you did,” Sombra said and smirked at her.
Twilight frowned angrily and asked, “Where are you trying to get with this?”
“Nowhere,” was Sombra’s answer. “I just wanted to know something about you. We’ve been talking a lot about me lately, and it is getting boring.”
Twilight could see that he was joking with her again. That meant that he was bored out of his mind again. This time she couldn’t help him though. She was too busy with her duties as a princess, so she just said, “Don’t you have somepony else to bother? I’m a bit busy right now.”
“Splendid idea,” Sombra chuckled and turned around. He started to walk away from her study and Twilight could hear him calling, “Oh Flash? Where are you?”
“He’s not in the town right now. He left yesterday to visit his mother in Crystal Empire,” Twilight called after him, and soon Sombra was back in the doorway, a disappointed look on his face.
“What a shame,” Sombra sighed. “Who will I bother now?”
“Sam is still here. He is probably having a quick dinner in the crew quarters at this hour,” Twilight told Sombra, and he seemed to think about her proposition.
“I might give him a try,” Sombra said, maybe to himself, before leaving towards the crew quarters where the unlucky guard was.

Even though Twilight disagreed with Sombra teasing her guards, she couldn’t help but to giggle a little. She continued to sign the parchments she had on her table, but quickly her mind wandered back to what Sombra had said. She had technically given birth to Spike, and she had raised him to be the dragon he was now. She had fed him through a bottle and changed his diapers when he was just a baby. She thought how she had made Spike feel better when he had hurt himself, and how she had scolded him for doing something wrong. She had also punished him a couple of times. She had not like it at all, but sometimes it was necessary. She drooped her ears and smiled when she thought that it must have been really embarrassing for Spike.

She turned around and walked towards the window in her study. She looked out and saw the busy ponies going about in Ponyville’s streets. She kept thinking about her times with Spike. She realised that she felt proud when looking at him. A handsome, well mannered, educated dragon. If he was a pony, he would be everything a normal pony would want from one’s son.

Twilight sighed and pressed her snout against the glass of the window. Spike didn’t know his mother, and Twilight herself raised him. Was she actually like a mother to Spike? She herself didn’t know what to think about it, but was it really important? She loved Spike, and Spike surely loved her. Wasn’t that enough?

“I cleaned my room!” she heard Spike calling to her from the living room. “I’ll go now!”
“Wait!” Twilight shouted after Spike and trotted to the door of her study, where she could see Spike standing near the big front doors of the living room with somehow confused and waiting look on his face. Twilight trotted over to him and lunged towards him, wrapping her front-hooves around his chest.
“Twilight?” Spike asked confusedly as the mare embraced him. “What’s gotten into you?”
“I just needed a hug from you,” Twilight said, burying her face into his chest. Spike stared at her confusedly for a moment, before carefully hugging her back, patting her on the back awkwardly.
“Okayy,” he dragged and slowly pushed the mare away from him.
Twilight smiled widely at him and said, “Did you remember to swipe the dust from top top of the lamp?”
“Yes,” Spike said annoyedly, but Twilight just giggled and hugged him again.
“Get going already,” she said when she released the poor dragon, who was equally confused and happy by her sudden affection.
“Alright,” he chuckled. “I’ll be going now. Bye”
“Bye Spike. Be back before ten,” Twilight said and waved her hoof at the dragon, who waved back with a goofy smile on his lips. He shook his head amusedly, and closed the big door behind him.

Twilight waited until the door was closed before sighing deeply. If the feelings what she felt towards Spike weren’t motherly affection, then she didn’t know what they were. She slowly turned around, and saw Sombra standing atop of the living room stairs. He smiled mischievously.
“Sam is boring,” he said and started to descends the stairs. “He doesn’t respond to my provocation.”
“Why are you always bullying my guards?” Twilight asked from him when he walked past her, settling comfortably to the other couch. He stretched his fore-legs and yawed.
“I’m not bullying them, I’m just having fun with their expense,” he said, and Twilight groaned, rubbing her forehead.
She walked over to him, sat next to him and said, “That’s not very kind you know.”
“Hah,” Sombra laughed. “Nice try Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight just rolled her eyes. She stood up and headed towards her study. She decided that she would finish those parchments at last.

“Don’t go,” Sombra said. “I might die because of boredom if you do.”
Twilight glanced at him. He had that sly look on him again, and he surely just wanted to make a fool of her again. Fat chance. Still, she just couldn’t leave without saying something.
“And how would me staying here help at all?” she asked and kept on walking.
“You are an interesting conversation partner,” Sombra said, and Twilight stopped walking. She turned around and had a deadpan look on her face.
“Suddenly you want to talk?” she asked suspiciously.
“Why not?” Sombra asked. Twilight thought for a moment. What was he plotting? She hesitated, but decided to play along for now.
“Okay,” she said and sat down to the couch again. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Well… We have been talking a lot about me and my unfortunate past,” he spoke with that same sly smirk on his face. “So why wouldn’t we talk a bit about you?”
“Okay,” Twilight said calmly, and she could see the smirk disappearing from Sombra’s face. She almost smiled, knowing that she hadn’t acted the way he had wanted. Sombra was quick to recover though, and the smile crept on his lips again.
“I am sorry if seem a bit… intrusive, but I have been wondering one thing lately,” he spoke with his deep voice as slick as silver. Twilight had bad feeling about it.
“Yes,” she asked carefully.

“How come that a mare like you has not found a prince for herself yet?”

Dammit. He did it again. Twilight was dumbfounded by his question, which was either him simply trying to make her feel awkward, or maybe he was curious. Why would he be curious or even care? Did… Did he find her attractive in some way? Oh dear Celestia. It wouldn’t be good for her image. And she didn’t even find him attractive with his deep voice and fluffy mane, his muscular body and those red eyes… Damn. What should she say? What was the question again?

“What?” was all that she could mutter.
“I am just wondering why haven’t you married anypony yet,” Sombra said, making a shocked look spread on Twilight’s face.
“I’m twenty-three years old!” Twilight exclaimed, completely confused by his words.
“I know that you are a bit over the ideal age, but I think that you still have all the right features to be a wife for a prince of some wealthy nation. Think what benefits it would bring to your kingdom.”
Twilight stared at him with her mouth open and ears drooped, a goofy look in her eyes. She blinked confusedly and muttered, “Ideal age? Benefits? Right features!? What do you even mean by that!?”
“Well you are a princess of one of the most wealthiest kingdoms in the world, an element of harmony, smart for a mare and you aren’t too bad looking either.”
“A..uh..” Twilight muttered. She had to gather her thoughts for a second, before she improved her posture and gave Sombra a piece of her mind, “I would never marry just any stranger just to benefit Equestria. I think that I am selfish in that way.”
“Why?” Sombra asked, the grin widening on his lips. Twilight knew that she was walking right into his trap, but she just had to continue.
“Because that’s would be just awful!” she said and crossed her fore-hooves over her chest. “A marriage without love is something that I don’t want.”
“Every other nation is doing it,” Sombra said, and Twilight rolled her eyes.
“Why am I even talking about this… With you?” she asked with her ears folded.

There was a short silence between them. Twilight Sparkle sulked silently and Sombra just kept smiling teasingly. Why was he like that again? Did he like annoying her like that? If he did, he was a complete jerk. Her angry expression was failing when she started to think about the things he had said she was.
“You think I’m smart?” she asked, still trying to sound angry.
Sombra nodded and said, “You have to be. I believe that Celestia wouldn’t have picked you if you were as dumb as your friend Applejack.”
“Hey! Do I still have to tell you to stop bullying my friends?” Twilight exclaimed, but in a way she liked how Sombra had praised her.
Sombra shot an apologetic look to her, which seemed surprisingly genuine to her. It made her calm slightly, and she carefully said the other thing that she was thinking about, “You said that I was good looking.”
“Yes I did,” Sombra said calmly. He didn’t continue after that, like what he had said would have been nothing serious, and technically it wasn’t. For Twilight it was serious.
“What… makes you think that?” she asked and rubbed her front-hooves together.
“You have some good physical traits that a stallion can admire on,” Sombra spoke, clearly knowing that that answer would drive her mad.

It almost did. With great efforts of self-control Twilight could restrain herself from starting to blush and instead she asked with just slightly trembling tone, “W-what traits are you talking about exactly?”
Sombra chuckled and stood up slowly, saying with his slick voice “You know that Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight watched at him with wide eyes and her ears drooped. She didn’t want to ask what exactly he meant with that, but it bothered her greatly. She didn’t have time to gather enough courage to ask for more specific answer, when Sombra turned around and walked towards the stairs again.
“Where are you going?” she asked from the dark stallion, who gave her a teasing smile.
Sombra ascended couple of stairs before saying, “To find dear Sam again.”
“What? We are in a middle of conversation here,” Twilight said and watched as he kept climbing the stairs.
“I know,” Sombra chuckled. “And I like the way how uncomfortable my insufficient answer is making you.”
Twilight grunted angrily and a deep, annoyed frown appeared onto her face. So Sombra really had been just teasing her on purpose.
“That’s really mean!” she said angrily.
“I know,” Sombra chuckled. “But it is amusing.”
“Hmph!” Twilight snorted. She then turned around and sat with her nose up in the air. She didn’t look at him when she said, “Fine. It’s not like I care or anything.”
“Sure thing princess Twilight Sparkle,” Sombra said in a way that made it sound like he was meaning just the opposite. With that he disappeared to the corridor on top of the stairs, leaving Twilight alone. She didn’t turn around for a moment, still holding her nose up in the air. Carefully she glanced towards the doorway on top of the stairs, and saw nopony.

“What a jerk,” Twilight grunted moved towards her study. She stopped after a couple of steps. Sombra’s words still ringing in her head, even though she knew that he was just messing with her.

She craned her neck and stretched her other wing. She examined it carefully. Her feathers were well kept and long, something a pegasus stallion could find likeable. Weren’t pegasi considered brutes? Sombra was a brute, maybe he had some pegasus blood in him or something? Twilight rested her wing against her side again.

Next she looked upwards at her horn. She was originally an unicorn. She was smart and well educated. Something that unicorns valued in each other. Sombra was an unicorn, and something told Twilight that he wasn’t the stupidest of ponies either.

Okay. So two out of three tribes could find her attractive in someway. So what does earth ponies like in their partners? They need a strong body in their lives. She blushed a bit and glanced towards her rear. She lifted her other rear leg and stared at her cutiemark. She didn’t have Applejack’s hips gained by hard work, but she didn’t see anything wrong with her own flank either. She blushed again, looking up towards the ceiling. She thought that pretty much every stallion liked the more physical features of a mare, no matter from what tribe he was.

Twilight shook her head and sighed. She was all messed up again. She needed to calm down somehow, and what better way is there than to do some royal paperwork, and maybe a couple of hard algebras, just to calm her nerves. She glanced towards the doorway on top of the stairs again. There was nopony. She sighed and walked towards her study again.

She didn’t know that there indeed was somepony in the doorway, hiding in the shadows. The dark stallion had been lurking there for the whole time, enjoying the show that the purple alicorn had been putting out in front of him. Sombra leaned against the wall and watched as she entered her study. He was chuckling to himself. There was something in that mare that made him feel like a young colt around her, tempting him to do stupid mischief like that.

“Damn you Twilight Sparkle,” he muttered amusedly and shook his head, before heading towards his room.