The Journals of Silas Sombra

by DreamWings

Entry Three- A Shadow

Entry Three.

Well, I suppose this is where it all kicks off. After my Dad died my Mother pretty much decided there was no point in staying on the farm. The farm had been my home ever since I was a baby foal, and it seemed strange to think I could ever live without it. However, Mother was desperate to leave. She had felt the crushing blow of my Father's death more than anypony else-- even more than me. Dad and her had always been so in love, even I knew when I was little, and so without him she felt like she had nothing left for her.

The only thing she had left was me, and she didn't want me growing up with only her there to talk to. It was okay when my Dad was there. It meant there was always the opportunity of bonding with another pony as well as her. But now, now it was just me and her. Even the cows had been given to a neighbouring farm to care for. The field where they lived had been damaged quite badly in the storm, so Maisy Moo had apologised to my Mother and moved on to another home. She cried buckets when she had to leave me behind, and gave me and my Mother the longest hug you could ever imagine.

But that just meant that, whilst my Mother was busy trying to sell the house, I was all alone to play with myself. Being a creative foal I decided I could do better than that, and worked hard to come up with an idea for a new friend. The blue smoke came past my eye just at that point, and I turned to look at my shadow stood on a box next to me.

"Hi there," I said to it. It copied my words, and I laughed. "You're funny," I told it, to which it seemed quite happy.

My shadow became one of the greatest friends at that point. It looked exactly like me, and loved everything that I loved. It was the greatest friend I could ever ask for, especially considering the sadness my family had experienced recently. I don't think I spoke to my shadow much after I'd left the farm. I found new ponies to speak to and new friends to make, and so I didn't need it anymore.

The only time I ever really played with him still was inside my dreams. And it was in my dreams that his name began to haunt my mind. Sombra was the nightmare monster of my dreams as soon as I'd left that farm. He was the one who ruined every happy thought I could ever have. It was my shadow that introduced him to me. We both feared him more than any other pony we'd ever encountered. My shadow and I only gained a stronger friendship by our fights against him inside my mind.

But when I first began to play with my shadow, Sombra was nowhere to be seen. It was just my imagination back then-- it was playing. It was only later that it became scarily real to me. I can't remember many of my dreams, but I know that was where he was first introduced. But like I said, those dreams didn't start until a bit later. I'd already left the farm at that point.

My shadow was my best friend in those times of loneliness. To some extent he's still the one colt I can rely on to keep me company. I know that, even when I'm locked into my room all by myself, he'll always be with me. They both will-- whether I like it or not. Either Sombra comes with that shadow, or that shadow comes with Sombra. Either way it's a possibility I never had one without the other.

Thankfully a much happier chapter was to follow the farm; when we moved to my Mother's own childhood home, and the place she cared for most: The Crystal Empire.