Shadowy Love

by FinnPony

Chapter 21

Sombra and Twilight Sparkle were walking towards Carousel Boutique. Sombra yawned as he walked. His eyes had small bags under them and his head hurt. Even though the rest of the night had gone without another nightmare, he was still feeling a strong fatigue. He took a deep breath, only to yawn again. He could still see the horrible, snowy scene in front of him when he closed his eyes. It was troubling at the very least.
“Are you okay?” Twilight asked from him.
“Yes,” Sombra answered. “I just had too little sleep last night.”
“Trouble sleeping? Are you having nightmares?” Twilight asked worriedly. Sombra didn’t want to lie, so he stayed quiet. That made Twilight walk a couple of steps closer to him when she asked, “Do you need some help with that? I have some good spell to take care of a nightmare, or if you think that they have a meaning, I could ask Luna about them. She is good at explaining dreams.”
“No!” Sombra grunted. “Nopony is going inside my dreams.”
Twilight gave him a curious look and asked, “How did you know that Luna can visit other ponies’ dreams?”
“You don’t seem to remember that she has been living for much longer time than I have, Twilight Sparkle,” Sombra said. “I was just a small colt when adults used to tell us that a princess from another country had a talent to go inside your dreams and control your life by doing so.”
“What?” Twilight asked with amused tone. “That’s absurd! Why would she do something like that?”
“It was propaganda,” Sombra said with a shrug. “The relations between Equestria and The Crystal Empire were not so good at the time.”
“Oh…” Twilight said with a surprised look. “I didn’t know that.”
“The princesses haven’t told you?” Sombra asked with a raised eyebrow.
“A… uhh…” Twilight mumbled. She wasn’t too pleased with the way where their conversation was going. “Well anyway, she could help you with those nightmares.”
“No,” he answered.
“Fine,” Twilight huffed. “If you change your mind, I can contact her about it.”

“I will remember it.”

They kept walking, and soon Sombra spotted their destination. It wasn’t hard to guess that the building in front of them belonged to a dressmaker. Carousel Boutique, like it’s name told, was shaped like a carousel. It stood out from the rest of the buildings with it’s decorated facade. There were renaissance styled windows and pillars around the round building, and the walls were painted full of different kinds of decorative symbols, mainly fleur-de-lis. The building narrowed towards the second floor, making it look like a small tower on top of the building itself. There was a round balcony going around the whole second floor, where a pony could get a good view of the town and a field that opened behind the shop. On top of the small tower-like structure was a small flagpole, where a small red banner flapped happily in the wind, telling that the owner of the shop was present.

Sombra couldn’t help but think what was wrong with Twilight Sparkle’s friends. Why couldn’t they just live in normal houses like all the other ponies? Well, that farmer Applejack had a nice, normal house, but she was pretty down-to-earth mare. Unlike Rarity it would seem.

They got closer to that rather pompous looking building, which started to seem even bigger as they got closer to it. Sombra realised that all of Twilight Sparkle’s friends were in quite a good financial situations. All the one’s he had met lived in a houses that couldn’t be bought by just anypony. Still, the one he was facing right now was probably the most expensive one by it’s looks, so Rarity really had to make some bits with her work.

On both sides of the door there were big spiral like pillars. Twilight trotted over to the door and rang the doorbell. From inside the building they heard a muffled melody, making Sombra roll his eyes. Luckily Twilight Sparkle did not see it. She was just changing her weight from side to side, humming quietly.

Soon they heard a small click and the door started to open. Behind it stood Rarity. White, well kept coat and stylishly curled violet mane that flowed down her neck. Her eyelashes were long and she had lightly blue eyeshadow, highlighting her azure eyes. On her muzzle rested red glasses, giving her a slightly more mature look. Her horn was glowing in light blue color, it’s magical aura holding a measuring tape.

“Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where every garment is…” she started with her sophisticated, slightly snobbish tone, but stopped mid-sentence when she saw who her visitors were. She blinked confusedly and then a calm, professional-like expression spread on her face.
“Oh hello Twilight,” she greeted and the two mares shared a quick hug. “Nice to see you again.”
“Sorry about the short notice. I have been having my hooves full lately,” Twilight said when they broke the hug, glancing a bit annoyedly towards Sombra.
That made a slight smirk appear on Rarity’s lips, but it went unnoticed by both Twilight and Sombra. She just chuckled very daintily and then said with suggestive tone, “So I’ve heard.”

Both of her guests gave her a confused, asking look, but before either one of them had time to ask anything, she started to smile and said, “Please come in. I hope that you don’t mind me working while we speak.”
Twilight drooped her ears and scratched her neck. She smiled sheepishly and started to speak, “Well actually I kinda promised that you would make a suit for Sombra so…”
Rarity seemed to think about it, eyeing Sombra up and down. He felt more than awkward under her gaze, so he had to say something.
“Miss Rarity…” he started, but Rarity corrected him.
“Missis Rarity,” she said, then giving Sombra a small nod to continue.
“Missis Rarity. I want to tell you that I am sorry for calling you a…” Sombra started, not quite remembering what he had called her when they had last met.
“A diva,” Rarity helped him, looking at him down her nose in a pretty judging way. Sombra grimaced and nodded. Rarity then sighed and said calmly, yet sternly, “As a lady I will appreciate your apology, but you must behave like a real gentlecolt for me to accept it.”

Sombra looked at her a bit strangely. What did she mean with him having to behave like a real gentlecolt? Did his apology not please her in someway? Had he not done it properly or something? He gave her a bit better look. She was clearly a mare with good sense of proper etiquette. Maybe she would appreciate a proper apology?

Sombra shrugged and decided to go with it. He reached his right front-hoof towards Rarity’s, snatching it into his own. Both Rarity and Twilight were too surprised to do anything before he lowered his head, giving a light kiss to Rarity’s well kept hoof.
“Missis Rarity, I am sorry for my mocking words,” he said and let go of her hoof and lifted his head. To his surprise, the mare in front of him was staring at him with her eyes wide, mouth open and her ears drooped. Confused by this, Sombra gave a questioning look towards Twilight Sparkle, but she too was staring at him with similiar look on her face. What was wrong? He thought that maybe he had done something wrong?
“W-Well that I did not expect…” Rarity said, still blinking a little from the surprise. She then glanced at Twilight, who shrugged with her wings. Sombra was stone-faced himself. Everypony was quiet for a while.
“Uhm… Come in, please,” Rarity said after recovering from her shock, motioning them to enter. Sombra nodded deeply and walked past the white mare, entering the building. Twilight quickly trotted next to Rarity, who asked from her with hushed voice, “What was that?”
“I don’t know!” Twilight whispered back at her. “He’s been acting all strange lately!”
With that Rarity started to smile mysteriously.
“I wonder what’s the reason to that...” she said in a way that told that she might have an idea about the reason of Sombra’s strange behavior. Twilight noticed it.
“What did you mean with that?” she exclaimed quietly, but Rarity just smiled that mysterious smile and started to trot after the dark stallion.
“Rarity!” Twilight tried to whisper after her, but she was already gone. Twilight sighed and decided to follow her. Rarity was playing her games again.

Sombra was already examining the large workspace of Rarity’s boutique. The inside of Carousel Boutique was filled with mirrors and mannequins with different kind of dresses on them, every one more unique than the previous. Shelves were full of different kind of fabrics, from simple wool to the smoothest of silks. Most of the tables there were full of different kind of needles, threads, cutting instruments and a big, expensive looking sewing machine. Many papers with charcoal sketches of Rarity’s creations were pinned to the walls with thumbtacks.

“Just have a seat while I finish this seam,” Rarity said to her guests and trotted over to a red dress, continuing her work.
Twilight laid down on a long divan, laying her saddlebag down besides herself, digging her notebook out of it. Sombra noticed it, but did not say anything. He sat down on a decorated armchair that was too soft for his taste, but it had to do. It didn’t take long before Rarity joined them, sitting down on the same divan where Twilight was lying. She took her glasses from her muzzle and placed them down on the table next to the divan. Then she cleared her throat and asked, “Well have you thought about what kind of suit you would like?”
Sombra lifted his hoof to his chin, tapping it couple of times. Just as he was about to answer, Twilight cut in, “I was thinking something simple, maybe dark grey color?”
Rarity blinked, before looking towards Sombra with skeptical look. Sombra in turn snorted and looked at Twilight amusedly, he swept his hoof through his mane and asked from Twilight, “Grey suit against my coat?”
“Yes, I thought that it would look good on you,” Twilight answering, making Rarity look upwards with a look on her face that told that she was disagreeing with her.
Sombra noticed it and said, “I have to disagree with you.”
“I would want to be on your side dear, but I think that black would suit him better,” Rarity said with serious expression. “Grey suit would simply fade against his fur.”
Sombra nodded, satisfied that Rarity knew her job. Twilight kept looking between him and Rarity, confused. She then let out a small ‘hmph’ and said with bitter voice, “Fine. Go ahead and tell us what kind of an suit do you want.”
She shot an challenging stare at Sombra, who just calmly fixed his pose. He turned towards Rarity and told her, “If I could choose, I would like to have a classic fit black tuxedo with a peak lapel, center vent, flap and chest pocket. Two buttons of course. I believe that a simple white undershirt, primitive red vest and a tie of same color would go fine with it. I don’t know if it is too much, but I would like a red pocket silk too.”

The mares almost couldn’t believe that they had heard him right. Sombra smirked at their incredulous expressions, and said to Rarity, “What do you think, missis Rarity?”
It took couple of seconds before she managed to answer, “I think that… it would actually suit you, yes.”
“Wait a minute,” Twilight said with suspicious look on her face. “I think that I remember you telling me that you didn’t like wearing suits? Weren’t you into some more ‘practical’ clothes?”
“That is right,” Sombra answered with a nod. “But if I have to wear a suit, it might as well look good on me.”
Twilight gave him a sour look, but Rarity smiled a little weirdly. She levitated a paper and a black charcoal to her and started to sketch while she spoke, “I didn’t know that you know about fashion so much. I always kept you as some kind of an brute.”
“He is a brute,” Twilight retorted, but none Rarity or Sombra paid any attention to.
“But Fluttershy told me that he acted rather nicely, even when Discord was trying to tease him,” Rarity said, making Sombra look slightly surprised.
“I thought that she was scared by him?” Twilight asked.
“Oh yes. She’s absolutely terrified by him,” Rarity said with a nod. Sombra grunted, and Rarity continued, “But she said that he acted really polite.”
Twilight rolled her eyes and said, “That’s because he probably is crushing on her too, just like Applejack.”
“Am I hearing a jealous undertone?” Sombra asked with an raised eyebrow.
“What? No!” Twilight exclaimed. Rarity kept eying between those two, curious sparkles in her eyes.
“Whatever, Twilight Sparkle,” Sombra said and turned towards Rarity again. Rarity quickly swept her excited expression away.

“I don’t know nothing about fashion, but I don’t want to look like some plebeian when I present myself to ponies,” Sombra said.
“Of course not darling,” Rarity said.
Darling. Sombra didn’t like it when she called him that. She kept drawing lines on her paper for a moment longer, before stopping to examine the sketch. She soon nodded in approving manner and stood up, facing Sombra.
“Shall we get started? I have to take some measurements first,” she asked, and Sombra answered with a nod.
“Excellent!” Rarity exclaimed. She then pointed towards a small space surrounded by mirrors, and said, “You go stand there, while I get my things ready.”

Rarity went to get her measuring tapes and such. Sombra in turn walked to the mirrors, and waited. It didn’t take long before Rarity arrived with a measuring tape hanging around her neck. She stopped in front of the big stallion and looked up at him.
“I believe that I must also try to tell you what generosity is, no?” she asked while levitating the measurement tape around Sombra, placing it so it was stretched out between his shoulders.
“Yes, it is the main reason for our visit,” Sombra said to her.
Rarity wrote down the measurements and then sighed, “I have to admit that I am not quite fond to teaching. It is hard enough to try to teach sewing to Sweetie Belle.”
She placed the tape against his right front-hoof and continued, “What do you think that generosity is?”
“I know that it has something to do with giving somepony something without wanting anything back, for some weird reason,” Sombra said and shrugged.
“Well… yes,” Rarity said slowly. “Lift up your leg.”
He did so and the tape wrapped itself around his ankle.
“Generosity is that, but it also has a lot deeper meaning for me,” Rarity told him, moving the tape around his chest. “Many times I offer more than just material things in order to help the ones that don’t have the same benefits that I have in my life.”
She thought for a moment before continuing, “I offer my skills as a fashionista for this town at very cheap prices. -” There was a small pause, and she started to smile. “- And they really need my help. These poor ponies have no sense of fashion at all.”
“Hey!” Twilight exclaimed from her place.
“I didn’t mean you honey,” Rarity said with a smile. “You are the single most gorgeous mare I have seen… Isn’t she?”

The question was aimed at Sombra, who gave Rarity a blank stare. He didn’t give her the answer that she clearly wanted, and instead asked, “But why would I want to be generous? It sound that somepony could use my generosity for their own advantage.”
“Oh yes…” Rarity said with a troubled tone. “That has actually happened to me once. I was attending a fashion week in manehattan. I had the most beautiful fabric a pony has ever created, and this mare called Suri Polomare stole my design… Oh it was the worst possible thing…”
“Generosity sounds like a weakness,” Sombra said with a frown. “I don’t like weaknesses.”
“Oh no no no!” Rarity exclaimed, holding her chest in shocked manner. “Generosity is a wonderful thing! I love to make ponies happy! You could say that I am like Pinkie Pie… But a little bit less… random. I like to see a pony smiling, knowing that it was because of me.”
“So you actually are getting something in return?” Sombra asked with a raised eyebrow.
“In way yes… I guess that you are right,” Rarity said a bit thoughtfully. “But It doesn’t really matter. I think that what I am trying to say is that by making others happy, you will be happy too, and what better way to make that happen than by helping others?”

Sombra looked at the white mare into her azure eyes, that were full of determination. Like the other element bearers, she too was passionate towards her beliefs. Even though Sombra did not find her explanation for generosity reasonable at all, he had to admire her passion towards it.
“Missis Rarity,” Sombra said slowly. “I have to admit that I don’t see the logic behind your explanation.”
Rarity and Twilight both seemed to frown at his answer, but Sombra then continued with a slight smile, “But after spending so much time with Twilight Sparkle, I know that some of these crazy sounding things actually work. Who knows, maybe I will someday understand how they work, but not today.”
Twilight wrote frantically to her little notebook, while Rarity pouted. She huffed and then said a bit snobbishly, “The perfectionist in me doesn’t like that answer, but it must have to do for now.”
“I can assure you, missis Rarity, that I learned a lot more than I expected to,” Sombra said a bit embarrassed by it.
“I was a bit unsure about this meeting too,” Twilight said. She then started to smile awkwardly, saying, “I thought that you might be acting… over-dramatically.”
“Over-dramatically? Me!?” Rarity gasped, lifting her hoof over her mouth. “How can you say something like that!?”

Sombra and Twilight shared a knowing look, before turning to look at the fashionista with a deadpan stare. Rarity saw it and pouted embarrassedly. She then cleared her throat and started to gather the measurements that she had taken from Sombra.
“The suit will be ready in couple of days,” she said. “I hope that it will come out to be like you wanted it.”
“I trust that you know how to do your job, missis Rarity,” was Sombra’s answer. Rarity nodded with a smile, before turning towards Twilight.
“Twilight, darling, could you help me with one thing?” she asked matter-of-factly, pointing towards the back room of her workspace. First Twilight didn’t understand why she needed her help. She didn’t know anything about suits!
“Where do you need my help for?” she asked and Rarity sighed, rolling her eyes.
She jerked her head towards the door that lead towards the back room and said with hushed tone, “I need you help with something. In the back room.”
“Oh… Oh! You need my help,” she said when she started to realise that Rarity wanted to talk in private. “Sure I’ll help you right away.”
She got up from the divan, and followed Rarity. Sombra just snorted and called after them, “Don’t gossip for too long.”
“How did he know?” Twilight asked from Rarity, who sighed deeply.
“I truly don’t know Twilight…” she said with deadpan stare.

They got into the back room that was filled with different kinds of older dresses and fabrics. Rarity waited for Twilight to enter the room, before closing the door and without warning tackling the surprised alicorn against the wall, pinning her between her own front legs.
“What the hay Rarity!?” Twilight exclaimed, trying to struggle free. Rarity didn’t budge, and had the most strange, goofy smile on her lips.
“What’s going on between you two!?” Rarity asked in hushed, yet excited tone, making Twilight droop her ears.
She opened her mouth in confusion, before asking with wide eyes , “What!?”
“Oh don’t you try to act like you two wouldn’t have got anything going on between each other,” Rarity said, pressing her snout against Twilights, a frown on her face.
“We don’t!” Twilight squaked.
“Then how do you explain this?” Rarity asked with a smirk, as her horn came to life. Soon a magazine enveloped in a light blue magical aura flow down from one of the shelves. When Twilight saw the front page, her left lower eyelid started to twitch, and her ears drooped.

In front of the magazine was a big picture of herself… Dancing with Sombra in very intimate position. How had somepony managed to take a picture without them noticing? What would Celestia say if she would see that?
“I-I-I…” was all that she could muster up, before gulping and mumbling, “It was just a dance!”
“Do you even believe that yourself honey?” Rarity snickered, letting go of Twilight. She wrapped a hoof around the baffled mare’s shoulder, giggling a little. She smiled at Twilight and said, “I am not judging you though, after all my special somepony is pegasus who barely knows the very basic table manners.”
“He’s not my very special somepony!” Twilight grunted, blushing wildly. “What makes you even think like that!? He’s totally not my type!”
“Then what is your type?” Rarity asked with teasing smirk.
“I-ah… uhh Well I don’t know! But I know that he’s not my type!” Twilight mumbled, crossing her hooves over her chest.
“Whatever you say darling,” Rarity said amusedly. “Whatever you say.”

On the other side of the door Sombra waited for the duo to return patiently. He used the time to walk around the large room, examining the many dresses made by Rarity. It took a while before those two mares came out from the linen storage and walked towards him. Rarity was smiling a mysterious smile while Twilight had hard times trying to keep a straight face, and the slight blush on her cheeks didn’t help at all. Sombra gave a teasing smirk towards them.

“If I wouldn’t know better, I would think that you two would have done something rather… intimate back there,” he chuckled. “Judging by Twilight Sparkle’s face at least.”
“What!?” Twilight exclaimed, the blush getting darker.
Rarity in turn rolled her eyes and said, “What is it with all the stallions? They always think that every time when ladies like ourselves spent time with each other they are doing something naughty? I am not that kind of an mare.”
Sombra chuckled and said, “Pardon me missis Rarity.”
“Oh it is alright,” Rarity said, before she smiled teasingly and continued, “But I’m afraid that I have broken many poor mare’s heart though.”
Sombra shot an asking glance towards Twilight, who nodded. It seemed that Rarity wasn’t considered desirable only between stallions. Sombra turned to look back at Rarity, who was now looking at him weirdly.
“It is kinda sad,” she sighed. After that she walked past Sombra, swatting him on the muzzle with her tail, saying, “But I like big, hunky stallions.”
Sombra snorted and looked at Twilight surprisingly. She too had at least as confused look on her face. Rarity circled Sombra, stopping right next to him. Sombra felt rather uncomfortable with her staring at him in such way. Sombra was almost sure that she was playing some weird games with him, so he decided to meet fire with fire.
“I’m sure that a mare as graceful as you doesn’t have any problems finding one,” he said with a sleek voice, earning a giggle from the white mare.
“Oh I most surely don’t,” Rarity said seductively, making Sombra grin. Then Rarity continued, “Because I already have one.”

Sombra chuckled. He had been right about Rarity trying to play tricks on him.
“Isn’t that nice,” he said and Rarity chuckled. He then added, “It’s a shame actually.”
“Is it now?” Rarity asked with half lidded eyes. “I’ve thought that you would have been more interested about some… other mare I know?”
“Do you mean that farmer?” Sombra asked with a frown appearing onto his forehead. “I can assure you that she is nothing like you are, missis Rarity.”
That answer seemed to please Rarity, but it wasn’t the one she was looking for.
“Well thank you,” she purred like a happy cat. “But I wasn’t speaking of her. I was thinking more like somepony who is…”
She turned towards the pony she was supposed to refer to, but to her surprise there wasn’t anypony else in the room besides her and Sombra. She spun around and then frowned.
“Now where in heavens did Twilight go?” she asked, and Sombra just shrugged.
The answer to their question came in the form of Carouselle Boutique’s door slamming shut quite angrily. Both of them looked at each other with confused looks on their faces.
“What was all that about?” Rarity asked.
“That,” Sombra started and held a small pause before saying, “That was my cue to leave.”
“Oh yes, of course,” Rarity said, accompanying Sombra to the front door. “We don’t want to make Twilight angry by her having to wait.”
“No, we do not,” Sombra said. “And I know that from experience.”
Rarity giggled and opened the front door with her magic, and she could see that Twilight was already walking away from her boutique. It was more than odd behaviour for Twilight, and Rarity scratched her chin in thought. Sombra didn’t seem to care about Twilight acting weirdly.
“Before I go,” Sombra said and turned towards Rarity. He bowed a little and said, “I wish that you consider my apology.”
Rarity snapped away from her thoughts and it took a couple of seconds before her brain managed to register Sombra’s words. When she finally understood what he had said, she just waved her hoof and said, “Oh it is already forgotten my dear. After all you acted like a proper gentlecolt, and you did make quite a good impression to Fluttershy too. That counts a lot in my books.”
Sombra chuckled and gave her one last nod, before saying his goodbyes and starting to trot after Twilight Sparkle.

Rarity closed the door calmly, but then dashed to the nearest window, looking after the pair. She started to smile victoriously when she saw Twilight angrily folding her ears backwards as Sombra reached her side. She saw how Sombra said something, and only got an irritated glance from Twilight in return.
“Jealous are we?” she asked, before starting to snicker and rubbing her front-hooves together as she thought how right she once again was.

Sombra was walking down the corridor that lead towards the living room. They had gotten back from Rarity’s boutique a good while ago, and he was bored again. He heard a clatter of hooves from the living room, and from the brisk pace he could tell it was Twilight Sparkle. She had been acting strangely after they had left Rarity’s place, which meant that she was a very open target for provocation. She would be a perfect target to relieve some stress.

He nodded to himself and entered the living room. From the top of the stairs he watched Twilight Sparkle trotting around the bookshelves, while levitating a long paper and a quill in front of her. She read the titles on the spines of the books, making small crosses on her long paper as she went. It took a moment for Sombra to realize what she was doing. He had heard Spike talking something about reshelving day. This had to be it.

He kept watching as she walked around the shelves for a while longer, before stopping on her tracks and looking at her list with a broad smile.
“There!” she exclaimed and turned to look the last book she had checked. “ZZZ, guide to sleeping is under Z.”
She did the one final cross to her list and then just stood there, looking around the shelves. She perked up, her horn came to life and enveloped all the books into a purple glow. Sombra’s eyes went wide when he saw what happened next. All the books were pulled away from the shelves simultaneously, floating in the air for a moment, before tumbling down to the floor. He watched with his mouth open as Twilight walked to the closest pile of books, starting to go through all those books again. One by one.

“Is there a reasonable explanation behind all this?” Sombra asked, making Twilight turn towards him for a moment. She then folded her ears and said quite bluntly, “Yes.”
“Aha...” Sombra mumbled and started to walk down the stairs. “But why did you do that? Didn’t the order please you?”
“It was perfect,” Twilight answered shortly, only fuelling his confusion. Twilight didn’t turn to look at him when she said, “I just like to make a double check, just to be sure that everything is on it’s place.”
“It must take a lot of time,” Sombra said, snatching one of the books with his teeth carefully, then trotting to the sofa. He laid down to his back and opened the book with a smug smile on his lips.

Twilight continued to work in silence, not answering his question. She already had almost half of the first a wall long shelf organized. Sombra didn’t try to continue the conversation, and kept reading the book. He liked it. It had some nice pictures in it. After a while he rested the book to his chest and lifted his head enough to see over the backrest of the sofa. He saw that Twilight was about halfway done. He glanced at the book on his chest and then said with a playful tone, which sounded a bit weird on him, “Do you need any help, Twilight Sparkle?”
She clearly was surprised by his friendly gesture and seemed to forgot that she was supposed to sulk at him. Actually she was so surprised that she didn’t even see what was coming.
“A-uhh.. Sure!” she muttered, before starting to smile. She thought how Sombra could help her, and then said, “Just say the name of the book and I’ll tell you where to put it.”
Somba chuckled quietly, then lifted the book up for Twilight to see and spoke.

“Where does The Pony Sutra go?”

He bit his lower lip, waiting for the answer with excitement. He could almost feel the embarrassed atmosphere in the room, before a purple glow covered the book in question, lifting it off from Sombra’s hooves.
“I-It goes under T in manuals…” Twilight answered, trying to sound as calm and professional as she could. It didn’t work out too well and her voice broke into a high pitched squeak.
Sombra laughed, rising to a sitting position so he could see Twilight. The sight was more than amusing. Twilight levitated the book over to it’s right shelf, walking with stiff legs and a visible discomfort on her face.
“Twilight Sparkle, you don’t need to feel embarrassed by things like this. It is just some lighthearted fun.”
“It is not fun in my opinion,” Twilight muttered, still not able to look at him with serious face. She hated it when Sombra did things like that.
“I think that you should really loosen up Twilight Sparkle,” Sombra said and watched as she kept working. “No wonder that you are so boring. You don’t have a sense of humor.”
“Do you consider making me embarrassed humor?” she asked, pretty vexed by his constant teasing. “Because I think that it is annoying and stupid!”
The way Twilight Sparkle’s volume rose surprised Sombra. He looked at the purple mare with a raised eyebrow, before saying, “What is troubling you Twilight Sparkle?”
That made something snap in Twilight’s head, and she spun around with her ears folded.
“What’s troubling me?” She asked and then chuckled quite weirdly. “Oh I don’t know. Maybe it is that you just keep making me crazy with all those stupid jokes that you do!”
She took a deep breath, before continuing to almost shout at a surprised Sombra, “And that’s not all! I try to help you and all you do is go crushing on my friends!”
“What?” Sombra said with a expression of surprise mixed with amusement on his face.
“Yeah!” Twilight exclaimed, starting to walk in circles. “First there was Applejack…”
“I only said that she is quite attractive,” Sombra said with a frown, but Twilight didn’t seem to notice his remark.
“And then there was Fluttershy,” she continued, shaking her head.
Sombra bettered his posture and said with louder voice, “I remember saying that she was a lovely mare, but I don’t have any intentions towards her!”
“Well what about Rarity then?” Twilight asked, eying at Sombra angrily. “You seemed to enjoy her company today!”

“Well she was a mare who…” Sombra started with a small grin on his lips, but suddenly his eyes went wide. He turned towards Twilight Sparkle, who was staring at him. The corners of his mouth slowly moved upwards, forming a teasing grin on his face.
“Twilight Sparkle,” he spoke slowly, leaning over the backrest of the sofa.
“Are you jealous?” he asked, and Twilight’s ears drooped. Sombra started to smile as a visible blush covered her cheeks.
“You are!” he exclaimed and clapped his front-hooves together.
Twilight turned around and trotted back to the shelf that she had been reorganizing and continued her work. Sombra kept laughing for couple of seconds, before saying, “I have to say that I am quite flattered by all this. A mare like you finding a stallion like me…”
“I don’t find you attractive!” Twilight defended herself, but Sombra’s grin only grew.
“I was going to say interesting,” Sombra chuckled, making Twilight let out a loud groan. She continued to put the books back to the shelf as Sombra got up from the sofa.
“You shouldn’t be angry at yourself for feeling..:” he started, but Twilight interrupted him.
“I’m not angry at myself!” she exclaimed angrily. “I’m angry at you!”
Sombra stared calmly at her. She returned the stare with her ears folded backwards for a moment, before she snorted and continued her work. Sombra sighed. He knew that it would be more than awkward to live with a mare that was sulking at him. He had to do something.

“Twilight Sparkle,” he said in his deep voice. There was no response from her, so he continued, “I am sorry for making fun of you.”
Again no response. Sombra grunted and said more loudly, “It’s not very princess like to be sulking over some stupid thing like this!”
No response. Sombra started to get annoyed.
“Fine,” he huffed. “Be childish if you like.”
With that he slumped back down to the sofa. They both were quiet, but there was glances shared between them. Every time when their gazes met, they huffed and looked away. After a while it started to feel stupid to be acting like a damn foal, at least Sombra thought so.

Sombra looked at the scowl on Twilight’s face. It was somehow amusing, but at the same time it made him feel weird around his chest. It wasn’t the same burning that he felt during his worst emotional bursts, but it felt uncomfortable. He rubbed his chest, looking at the purple mare flexing her wings angrily. Seeing her pout made Sombra roll his eyes. He didn’t like how it made him feel to see her like that, and worst of all, he got a stupid idea.

Twilight kept lifting books to the shelves with that irritated pout on her face for a while. Suddenly she was surprised by Sombra’s deep voice asking, “Does Chess 101 go under C in manuals?”
Twilight spun around. Sombra had the mentioned book in his hoof, and he was staring at the floor in front of Twilight. She blinked confusedly, before giving a slight nod to him. Without a word Sombra walked to the right self, placing the book on it’s right place. He then clumsily picked up another book, read the title. Twilight saw that it was the Hitchhiker’s guide to nightsky. Sombra opened the book and read couple of lines, before closing it and placing it under H in science fiction.

She kept looking at him, lifting books with his teeth and placing them on the right shelves, not even asking for help. She kept staring at him for a while more, before she too joined him, reshelving the many books on the floor. After about twenty books, Twilight stopped and turned towards Sombra. He too was looking at her.
“Thanks for the help,” she said shyly, and lifted up another book.
Sombra chuckled and he too took picked up another book from the floor.
“I truly am sorry Twilight Sparkle,” he said, giving a sideways glance towards the purple mare. He saw how she started to smile shyly.
“About that little scene I put up…” she said slowly, blush re-appearing to her face. Sombra didn’t let her continue though.
“It is nothing,” Sombra said. “I deserved to be scolded.”
They were quiet for a while. Before a Sombra started to smile weirdly. It took a while for Twilight to realize why the smile on him looked so weird, but soon she got it.

It was a warm, friendly smile. Something that she hadn’t seen on him. She soon realized that she was staring, and quickly looked away. Why was he smiling at her like that?
“I hope that you will not get angry with me again when say this,” he said carefully, still smiling that smile. Somehow Twilight was sure that she would get angry.

“But your friends have none of the charming features that you have.”

She didn’t get angry. Embarrassed and flustered maybe, but not angry. She was sure that her face was red as a tomato, and she had some troubles with her voice.
“T-t-thanks,” she stuttered and flashed a meek smile to Sombra.
He didn’t answer, but the smile grew wider on his lips.