Our Next Step, Together
Snow, snow, and more snow. It’s often hard to believe that any one place can have so much snow, regardless of how far north it might be. In the vast wastelands surrounding the Crystal Empire, snow is always the dominating force. Every square inch of land is covered in some form of snow, or ice, or other type of frozen ice that’s very uncomfortable to touch.
That’s not to say snow is the only feature. The mountains of the Crystal Empire are truly a sight to behold; shining brilliance in the light of the sun, and a glittering calm under the care of the moon. Caves dot the mountainsides, teeming with soft, gentle creatures, or the hostile presence of dangerous abominations. Only the bravest of souls choose to wander such treacherous conditions. Brave… or simply very, very stupid.
Somewhere about five miles from the entrance to the great Crystal City, two ponies trudge through the high snow. One, an earth pony with fur a sort of cafe au lait color, trots onward with a smile on her face. Her brown mane up in a ponytail falls gracefully down to her pine green winter coat, the lining of which is made from what appears to be the shed fur of a wolf. Likely a very friendly, fuzzy wolf whom the pair had befriended earlier in their journey.
The second, a sullen looking grey unicorn with the outward disposition of a gothic teenage girl. His wild black mane is not dissimilar to that of a certain evil villain from The Lion King. Jutting out to break between the hair is a curved horn covered in bandages, it’s color the sort of red you might see when a cut gets infected, or when you get a bad rash from an allergic reaction. The strangeness of no butt tattoo on his haunches is offset only by the quite obviously disproportionate muzzle on his face. His wild eyes emit a weird purple-y smoke that is also somehow edible, and when he shakes his head you can almost hear the sound of a shelf falling over in all the empty space between his ears.
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“Sombra, hurry up! We’re almost there, I can feel it!” The brown pony exclaims in an excited, perpetually upbeat manner.
“Hmpf.” The unicorn dubbed Sombra trods along at the pace of an injured snail. “You think maybe the reason you can feel it is because we could see the city back at that last rise?”
“Oh, stop being such a grump! This is what we’ve been working for, the whole reason we’ve been walking through these wastes for the past… for how long have we been doing this?”
“FOREVER” Sombra flops face first into the snow, a loud whump sound echoing around the mountains. “Please, Smocky Knock! Stop here for the night!”
“It’s Coffee Talk, for the thousandth time. I swear, one day you will get my name ri-” As she turns around to deny him his request, she reflexively rolls her eyes when she sees the puppy dog eyes he uses to get his way. “Fine! We can stop here. But tomorrow we are making it to the city, whether you like it or not!”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
After a quick booty shake to light a fire for the night, our valiant heroes settle into the snow to sleep until morning. All around them, the sounds of night’s many denizens reach their ears, the unchanging noise of thousands of animals trying to find food, or get laid. Above their heads, Luna’s night shines in all its glory. Through the few pieces of sky that can be seen through the clouds, that is. Sombra lays on his back, staring up at the stars with a wistful sigh. A thousand thoughts wist around in his normally empty head. Many of which worry him.
I can’t believe we’re finally going to reach the city. Didn’t I think this through at all? What’s even my plan when I’m inside? Who’s to stop them from just killing me again? Do they already know I still have my dark magic? What am I going to do about her?
At that last thought, he stops and glances over at sleeping Coffee. Wait, what do I mean, “do about her?” Why do I have to do something about her? Why do I care what happens to her? I don’t care. She can leave for all I care. Oh gosh, what if she leaves? What do I do?!
For some reason that he can’t explain, this particular train of thought scares him more than any other aspect of tomorrow’s future. He sits up and shakes his head, trying to clear his mind of these traitorous thoughts. He looks almost guiltily over at his companion, and doubles takes when he sees her.
Coffee Talk is asleep and curled up in a fetal position; shivering like all Tartarus is after her. Even right next to the fire, she can’t seem to get any warmer. A few possibilities rummage through Sombra’s mind, such as building up the fire or even letting her freeze. Before he can decide on a course of action, he notices both Coffee and the fire are much closer than they were a second ago. Looking down, he notices his hooves are carrying him forward. Surprised at this “total lack of control of his appendages,” it is totally not his fault or his choice when he lays down behind Coffee and pulls her close to him. Expanding on that point, his heart totally did not skip a beat when she not only stops shivering, but turns over and snuggles into his chest. It was however, of his own volition when he adjusted his pelvis away from Coffee, just in case.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
“AAAAUGGHHH WHAT THE HOLY %#@$^&!?!?!”
This is the sound to which Sombra woke up. Assuming that some weird creature or bad pun (or both) was dragging them off to some doom again, he bolted to his hooves and lit up his horn.
It was morning. The area was clear. On the other side of the now burnt out fireplace is the annoying brown pony, looking at him as if he had just sprouted wings. Quickly checking to make sure he hadn’t, Sombra gives the mare a serious look of total seriousness.
“What? What is it? Wolves? Ice cats? Weird ponies? A giant loaf of pumpernickel bread?!” Sombra glances at the sky, ensuring that no such baked good was there.
“OH MY GOSH SOMBRA WHY WERE WE CUDDLING THAT’S SO WEIRD!!!” Coffee looks on the verge of having a panic attack.
“Excuse me? Cuddling?! Nononononono, we doing no such thing! You were clearly so close to me because you were stealing my body heat. Temperature thief!” He holds his head high, trying his best to look offended.
But Coffee Talk would not be so easily fooled. She calms herself down, there’s clearly something else to this story. “Was I… were you… trying to keep me warm?”
“Pfft. As if I would care if you froze to death while you were sleeping and I had to keep going all by myself. Yeah, right.” Not carrying the conversation any further, Sombra gathers his things and starts walking toward the city.
Neither of them say anything more on the issue, but something between them has clearly changed. For the first time ever, they walk side by side, at the same pace. Not more than a hoof-length or two separate their bodies, and they occasionally steal glances at each other, smiling and blushing when they look away. Hours pass without either saying a word. No complaints from the unusually silent Sombra, and no exasperation from the unusually passive Coffee Talk. For the first time ever, the two friends simply enjoy each other’s company.
“Soooo…” Sombra starts, breaking the long silence. “What are your plans for when we get to Crystal City?”
Coffee opens her mouth, then closes it again. What were her plans? She had given absolutely no thought to what she would do when she left Sombra. “I… I have no idea. Going back to my old job almost seems boring after all this!” She chuckles, her life having changed so much. “Why what were you planning to do?”
Why, take over the Empire, of course. That had been his plan from the beginning! Sombra is about to tell her just that, but can’t. That was the plan, wasn’t it? To be king again? That’s what he wanted. Of course it is.
Is it?
“I’m not really sure, either.” Is what he settles on. “I assume Luna has something in mind for me, one way or the other.”
Neither of them say much after that, both pondering the implications of no longer being with the other. After another twenty minutes of silence, Coffee perks up and darts forward to peer over a small cliff. “Sombra, look! It’s the city!”
Suddenly very unsure of himself, Sombra trots over to stand beside Coffee. Sure enough, the Crystal City stood before them in all its glory; fairly close to their location, yet not nearly far enough away. In all his travels, he never thought he would be so unhappy to see what used to be his prize.
“Yep. There it is.” On a normal day, Sombra would be considering pushing Coffee Talk off of the cliff, but this was no ordinary day. Harming Coffee was the furthest thing from his mind.
“Come on! If we hurry, we can get there within an hour!” She makes to bolt away, but Sombra’s hoof darts out and holds hers, keeping her from moving away. Her eyes widen, and a blush crosses her face. He’s never done that before, and she’s certainly never reacted that way.
“Not yet! I’m… I’m not ready.” He tells her. She’s about to blow him off and move forward anyway, but something in his voice keeps her by his side. She sits down, their hooves still wrapped around each other’s. She’d never seen Sombra nervous before, and somehow had no compulsion to tease him about it as she normally would.
Five minutes and a bunch of deep breaths later, Sombra turns to his friend, his face a mix of emotions ranging from hope to fear. “Coffee Talk?”
“Yeah? What’s wro-” She stops dead, her eyes almost welling up with tears. Did she just hear what she think she heard? No, it couldn’t be. He didn’t even know those words. “Sombra, did you just… say my name?”
“Stay with me.” He turns to her, and she turns to him. Their hooves still grip each other tight. “I don’t know what’s going to happen when we enter that city, and it really doesn’t matter. I just need you with me when it does.”
Now Coffee does start crying. Tears roll down her cheeks, past the huge smile on her face. She had no idea why she had needed to hear those words so badly, but now that they had been said, she felt as if she could fly across the world. “Sombra, oh my gosh…”
“They might throw me out, they might send me to jail, and they might try to kill me. I don’t care. So long as you stay by my side, I can face the whole world. I don’t need some big country to be happy. YOU are my kingdom.” A tear falls from Sombra’s face as well, a bevy of totally new feelings spreading through his chest and making him feel invincible.
As an answer, Coffee wraps her forelegs around Sombra and buries her face in his chest. Totally out of character for him, he returns the hug and rests his head on hers, feeling truly happy for the first time in a very long time.
They pull out of the hug, Sombra raising a hoof to wipe the tears from her eyes. “Whatever happens, wherever we go. No matter how bad things may seem, we’ll take each step together. I promise.”
Coffee beams up at him, not a trace of doubt in her eyes. “Together. I promise.”