This is math. Why are there so many letters? What’s this squiggly thing? This is… this is math, isn’t it?
He looked up and did a quick take of the classroom – to his relief, most of the other foals appeared to be having just as much trouble as he was, with that question at least, and seemed to be asking around. Then he noticed the little orange Pegasus next to him, who was staring into space in a rather bored fashion, everything on her paper complete.
“Umm…”
“The answer to seven is square root of two over twelve x, all to the fourth power,” she said, before turning to him and smiling. “Don’t worry, not even most adults know how to do that one. We’re not supposed to know how to do differentials yet but it just… kinda comes to me, you know? That and I asked Miss Twilight how to do it. I just find math really fun.”
“That is… impressive. I don’t think this kind of math had even been invented when I was your age,” Sombra replied, doing his best to compliment the filly. Noticing her lack of a cutie mark, he continued, “Perhaps maybe math is your special talent?”
She perked up visibly – this was a filly who had been waiting for a while, it seemed, though a pained look came to her face after a moment. She sighed.
“I know, I’ve been thinking that maybe that’s the case but… I mean I like math and all, but I really want it to be something to do with my scooter or my bike, or if I’m really lucky, flying, like Rainbow Dash!”
Sombra thought for a moment – going against one’s natural inclinations was not the way to get a cutie mark, he himself could attest to that with how long he had fought his royal bloodline, and how no matter what he was eventually drawn back to being a prince, and then a king. Though it had come in a way he hadn’t quite expected, so why couldn’t the same go for this little filly?
“Perhaps you could use your proficiency in math to design a better ramp, or to get some extra air on your bike or something?”
“Actually, yeah, that might b-”
“Scootaloo, Mister Sombra, let’s get back to the worksheet, shall we? There will be plenty of time for talking after class,” Cheerilee’s icy-cold glare cut both of them to the soul, and they immediately straightened up.
“Yes Miss Cheerilee,” they said in unison, the unicorn’s deep voice nearly completely drowning out the little filly’s. The two shared one last glance, and both smirked.
---
The day had proved most enlightening to Sombra – they had spent a fair amount of time on history after the embarrassingly difficult math section, and he had learned a great deal about what had happened in the void centuries during his isolated rule in the Crystal Empire. Nations had fallen, united, and risen anew, and birthed the country of Equestria as it was today. When he had cut all ties with the world south of his borders, the fleshy ponies had still been three separate, constantly bickering tribes of really generally awful folks.
As promised, though, there was some time to chat after the lessons had ended, and Scootaloo, as she was called, found her way over to Sombra in the schoolyard as he and the other foals from Miss Horizons’ waited for Snowflake to return.
“So… sorry about getting you in trouble earlier, Miss Cheerilee was really giving you an earful while we were at recess, wasn’t she?” the little Pegasus apologized meekly.
“Ha, rather the other way around,” Sombra laughed, “I had some more questions for her, I stayed inside of my own volition,”
“Oh,” Scootaloo said, pausing, unsure of how exactly to continue, “So… if you don’t mind me asking, we were talking about cutie marks earlier and I was curious, how did you get yours? It looks an awful lot like the Princess’.”
Sombra stood, mouth agape. The Princess? Surely not Luna or Celestia, and it wasn’t Twilight… is there a fourth Alicorn? There was – I saw her only briefly, but the pink one in the north. Her mark… it was the same as mine! One of my bloodline, a new Crystal King – no, a Crystal Princess – still lives, and reigns in the Empire? Impossible, I had all my concubines executed after they became no longer… pleasurable.
“Umm… Mister Sombra? If you don’t wanna talk about it that’s ok.”
Sombra shook his head, dispelling the thoughts. They were something he could ask Redheart, or perhaps Twilight, about, later. “Sorry, just got lost in thought for a moment. How I got my cutie mark, eh? That was a very, very long time ago indeed, let me think for a moment…”
---
A great many centuries ago…
A young black unicorn sat on the throne in the Crystal Empire. He fidgeted and wiggled uncomfortably, his father standing beside him, as the closing words were said for the day’s court. The hard, smooth throne was far from the easiest thing to sit on all day, but it was something Sombra had begged his father to let him do. He was still a child, merely seven years old, but his dad always impressed upon him the importance of hearing those under his rule. Even still, King Eclipse had been surprised that his son had wanted to overhear the day court at such a young age, especially with how hard the foal tried to shirk his other princely duties. Eclipse loved his son dearly, but the colt had a long ways to go before he was fit to be a king. Today’s willingness, no, not even willingness, outright eagerness, to fill in the role Eclipse normally played in the day court, was a very good step in the right direction.
Even being used to it for a great many years now, Eclipse knew day court was no easy task. Being that there was no real time to take a break, apart from lunch, it was one big twelve-hour stint starting when the sun rose in the morning and ending when it fell below the horizon again, with a mere thirty minutes for a meal during the day. As such, it was only held once a week, but it was one of the things Eclipse held most sacred in his rule. His own father, King Aphelion, had always been a little distant from his citizens, and Eclipse took it as his own personal life goal to be a better king than his father had been.
The old stallion voicing the closing words finished, and everypony but Sombra and his father had filed out of the room.
“You did well today, son, very well,” Eclipse told his child, “I’m very proud of you, you held up well in that great unpleasant chair, and delivered fair rulings with so little of my input. Go on, go play with your friends, you’ve earned some time this evening. Be home before it gets too dark, though.”
“Thank you so much dad! I will, you know me – I’d lose myself in the dark if I’m not careful,” Sombra said as he stood and stretched his legs, letting out a miniscule groan of pleasure as blood began to flow back into his tired muscles. He skipped to the door, waved goodbye to his dad, the elder pony smiling and waving back, and slipped through.
It didn’t take long for him to find his friends – peasants, technically, but Sombra didn’t care – in fact, he would have been happy to be in their social circle with how they always hoof-toed around him, careful not to say anything that might be upsetting, never playing as rough with him as they did with the others. No matter how often Sombra insisted they didn’t, they still treated him as their prince. He hated it, but from the stories his father told, he was grateful to have friends in the civilian class at all.
Of all his friends, though, Law Letter was the pony he considered his best friend. The blue crystal pony was a few years older than Sombra himself, and bit of a brainiac and very interested in his father’s trade of lawyer. At the same time, though, he was remarkably down-to-earth, and always enjoyed playing sports with Sombra, from hoofball to soccer to an ill-advised attempt at field hockey on a cobblestone street that had landed seven foals in the infirmary in the Crystal Castle.
This, though, this was much worse than a few bruises and a chipped tooth or two. Law lay in a ditch, the crystal pony fractured to his core, after trying his hoof at something he’d heard about called “parkour,” an activity Sombra hadn’t really understood before his friend attempted to scale a building with absolutely no safety equipment.
“Hahaha… oops,” the sapphire child coughed, his whole form shimmering in a rather unhealthy manner as he shook, “Guess I coulda thought that one through a bit better.”
“Just… just stay there!” Sombra yelled as he tried his best not to let panic set in, “I’ll go get help!”
“Not much else I can do right now, Sombra,” Law said, shuddering again.
Sombra ran. He ran through the alley, back into the street, and flew as fast as his little hooves could carry him, running to the nearest station to summon the guard.
“Please,” Sombra wheezed upon his arrival, “My friend… needs help… he’s hurt badly…”
“Yeah, just a second, kid,” the guard said from behind his book, taking a sip from his mug, “Just a min-”
“Please, if you don't hurry-”
“I said just a minute, kid!”
Something inside Sombra snapped. This was not the time for the typical royal politeness, this was urgent and required immediate action – a pony’s life was at stake, for Faust’s sake. “I am Prince Sombra, son of King Eclipse, first in line as Heir to the Crystal Throne, and if you do not come with me right this second so help me you will clean every toilet in this Empire with. Your. Teeth. Do I make myself absolutely CLEAR?”
The guard looked up, the color draining from his emerald face as he realized he really had better listen to the foal in front of him. Several ponies in the general vicinity stopped walking or talking to each other, their cheerful conversations turning to hushed whispers about the guard that seemed to be ignoring a direct order from the prince. Without another thought, though, he recognized the young heir, and the officer dropped his book and mug, the ceramic drinking cup shattering on the stone floor as the two ponies ran from the office. Sombra, still winded from his sprint to the station, ran out of steam about half way back, and the emerald officer picked him up and had the little unicorn direct him from atop his back. They found Law, right where he had been (as per Sombra’s instructions), unconscious, his breaths rapid and shallow as his fragmented torso rose and fell in time.
---
“We made it back to Law and got him transported to a hospital just in time. He was never quite as athletic again, but he remained my friend for a long time after. I apologized a lot to the guard in question as well, and got him a replacement mug, and he too became a close friend as the years went on. I did not even realize I had gotten my cutie mark until I arrived home later that evening and my mother pointed it out to me. It was the moment I had truly accepted my responsibility as a King, the moment I realized I could not just be one of my subjects, but had to use my authority to protect them and help them in their times of need. The point is, though, my dear little Scootaloo, you have to let your talents work for you, and not just focus on what you want to do, but also how you can make your natural talents work into what you want to do,” Sombra finished, the little filly drinking in his every word.
“So… so what you’re saying… is to work my natural talent at math into my passion for extreme sports?” She asked tentatively.
Sombra smiled happily. “That is exactly what I am saying. Be careful, though – always use proper safety equipment, like that helmet of yours there. One would not want to end up like Law, now would we? Fleshy ponies are a great deal more difficult to heal than a Crystal pony, believe it or not.”
“Thanks Mister Sombra! That’s actually really helpful! I’ll be sure to share that with my other friends, too, I’m sure they’d appreciate it!” Scootaloo turned and grabbed her scooter, and buzzed off to a yellow earth pony and a white unicorn. She stopped just short though, and turned to yell back at the big stallion. “Wait, how old did you say you were?”
“You are the math genius, I am sure you can figure it out!” He called back to her. Other friends, she said. She considers me a friend after having known me for only a few hours. How kind ponies have become, how fearlessly loving. Scootaloo laughed and turned back around, scooting off to her friends. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a white mare trotting towards the school, and swung his head to see that it was, in fact, Miss Redheart.
“Oh hello, Miss Redheart!” He smiled broadly and waved to her, “I was expecting Snowflake again, but seeing you is not a disappointment at all. How are you?”
She responded by yawning and rubbing a hoof over her eyes, blearily looking at Sombra, before groaning out a “hello.”
“Ah, still tired from the party last night? I was having trouble sleeping, so your brother offered to take me to breakfast and to Miss Horizons’ for the day, and one thing lead to another and I ended up going to school,” Sombra explained to his sleepy host, “It really was quite informative, Miss Cheerilee is truly brilliant at what she does.”
“Yeah, about my brother. He seems to have absconded with Brighter for the evening. I was supposed to have the morning off because I’m on call at the hospital right now, but I was needed to come in to run the place. Which I’m technically not trained to do. So that’s how my day has been.”
“I am terribly sorry about that! Would you like me to help?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”