A Shadow of Your Former Self

by anonbecause1

Chapter 5

Sombra had left a message at the hotels front desk for Cherry Jubilee since he hadn’t seen or heard from her since she disappeared yesterday evening. It basically said that If she got back and needed him or wanted to meet him and his new acquaintance for breakfast, to meet him at the Checkered Stirrup. This time he had scoped out the location before hoof and left an actual map along with his note. He found out the hard way that the front desk pony was no artist.

He hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before but he felt too excited to care. He had spent most of the night wandering the city taking notes and drawing up plans. He had a general idea where most things were and, thanks to some local late-night bulletin boards, knew where and how much his apartment would be. Better news, he found some job adds posted. He had a general resume written but if he could use the type writer at the ranch it would leave a better impression. Luckily the jobs posted allowed for submissions by mail or he would be in serious trouble. He decided to hold off on telling Cherry he was looking for work and only asking her to be a reference if he got a serious inquiry. Honestly, from her perspective, it was a terrible time to lose a trained employee with the expansion. So, he was going to write a simple training book for any new replacements and stay on top of his work in the meantime. Hopefully this would be enough to lessen the blow and she would give him a good reference.

Sombra arrived at the Checkered Stirrup just after it opened and got a booth right next to the door so he could wave his guests over. The extra time and solitude was ideal to work on his notes so they were less of a convoluted mess. Maybe he should index them by location instead of by topic and price? That way he could see where everything physically was.

He stopped his writing and smiled to himself. He really liked researching and organizing hah? That may be the first thing he discovered about himself that wasn’t negative. Maybe he should apply to a library? If he did, he would have to convince Cherry to give him more experience in that area to put on a resume. Shouldn’t be too hard with the business starting a new supply chain and all-

“Pardon me but are you Sombra?”

Sombra looked up and found a turquoise stallion with a white mane looking directly at him. He had no idea who this was. Sombra searched his memory with a fine-toothed comb trying to place him when he spotted a familiar light-yellow stallion not too far behind. “Oh! You must be Ledger Cross’s husband; It’s nice to meet you.”

The turquoise stallion stuck out his hoof to shake Sombra’s, “Likewise.”

Ledger kissed his husband in greeting and slid into the booth to sit across from Sombra, “This is the love of my life Skyfall; note the irony of him being an earth pony.” Skyfall ‘accidentally’ jammed his elbow into Ledgers side as he scooted into the booth right next to him.

“So, I hear my husband saved your life and by ‘hear’ I mean incessantly recounted with each version being more dramatic then the last.”

“I’m just trying to impress you.” Ledger teased as he waved his napkin directly in Skyfall’s face, Skyfall responding with a mock irritated look. Sombra was both entertained and mildly uncomfortable. It felt like he was intruding on a private moment.

“He did, I would have been killed or seriously injured had he not pulled me out of the road.”

“So, no burning orphans then?” Skyfall sassed as Ledger childishly stuck his tongue out at him.

“Be quiet, we’re getting a free omelet out of it.”

Skyfall rolled his eyes, “Is a life worth so little?”

“Mine is.” Sombra vouched.

Ledger stuck a fork at Sombra’s snout and angrily mouthed the word ‘NO’ to admonish his self-deprecation. It was not very effective. Sombra turned to Skyfall, “He seems livelier than yesterday.”

“He hasn’t had his coffee yet I’m afraid. Nor has he had to interact with Babs today.” Ledger groaned dramatically and slammed his forehead on the table.

“Why must you taint this sacred meeting with such sacrilegious words?”

“Oh hush, she’s only a foal.”

“If this is a religious meeting, can I be Luna? I’m already darkly colored,” Sombra asked.

Ledger perked right up and stuck his hoof in the air like a filly at school, “Dibs on Celestia!”

“What? No, that leaves me with Cadence,” Skyfall protested with genuine offence.

“What’s wrong with Cadence?”

“She sucks! She’s not princess of anything important. ‘Princess of love’ my flank. If you ask me you should only get to be a princess if you get to control something that matters.”

Sombra was smiling so much his cheeks hurt. He had never done this before! This felt like… play but the adult accepted sort of play where you didn’t move toys around like a schizophrenic. He took a moment to jot down the name ‘Cadence’ to look up later. He had learned about Celestia and Luna through osmosis by being around so many ponies who knew about them but a princess of love was news to him. What did that even mean? Did she sleep around a lot?

“What you got there Sombra?” Skyfall asked as Ledger did some sort of complicated summoning ritual with the waitress at the bar. Apparently, they knew each other because they were both waving their arms at each other from across the room like the inflatable tube men outside of stores; waiting to see who would cave first and officially begin the process of ordering.

“Nothing just some notes. I want to move here so I’ve been looking into what it would take.” Sombra pushed his notebook towards Skyfall to see. The turquoise stallion pointed at one of the apartments addresses and shook his head.

“Don’t move there. The rent says it’s cheap but that’s only when you first move in. They get you in a contract and raise the prices by 70%. My firm has gone after them once or twice but it’s technically all still legal.” Skyfall thought a moment then gestured to Sombra’s pen which he handed over. Skyfall wrote a name and contact information on the page then passed it back to Sombra. “So long as you can pass a background check you can call this agency. They mainly work with students but you look pretty young…” Skyfall looked at Sombra to confirm his age; Sombra shrugged and nodded. He didn’t know how old he was but if he looked young then he was young. “Are you a few years out of school? Like 2 or 3?”

Why did everypony want to know about his history? Couldn’t he just exist?

“I, um, want to get back into a trade school?...” Skyfall nodded and Sombra had to physically stop himself from sighing in relief.

“That should work. As long as you get accepted within a reasonable amount of time, you can live here with a roommate or two. What trade are you trying to get into?”

Crap. Sombra’s eyes darted around as he looked for something that can be done at a trade school. For some reason, his eyes landed on a pair of dangly crystal earrings, they reminded him of the chandeliers at the crystal palace he woke up in- “Crystal chandeliers…” Skyfall tilted his head so his ear was closer to Sombra.

“Sorry, what was that?”

FUCK!!!

“I said I want to make crystal chandeliers…?”

“Really!?” Ledger had tuned back into the conversation at exactly the wrong time. “I love crystal chandeliers! They fell out of style once the pegasi work safety movement became more popular but I just love them! You can only get antiques and they are incredibly expensive. I fully support you and want to be your first customer… But I still want a discount since, you know, I saved your life and all.”

“Who saved whose life now?” The much darker yellow waitress asked as she finally made it over to the table to take their order. Sombra hadn’t seen who won the arms waving contest, being preoccupied with forming a life’s ambition out of the blue and all. All he wanted was to move into a safer place to live where he wouldn’t be noticed and spend the rest of his life pretending that his (possible) war crimes never happened. Now he’s a college applicant with a business plan… go figure.

“Meringue, didn’t you go to trade school to be a chief? Were there other tracts there?”

‘Meringue’ rubbed her hoof on her chin in thought. “Not my school but there is one that focuses on crafts and construction near the new public library called… Rockhoof – something, I think? Why? And who almost died?”

Skyfall nudged Ledger in the side, “Tell her about the burning orphans and the Truckstop.”

So, Ledger re-accounted his heroic tale of heroism and bravery that incurred a debt that could only be repaid through omelets, coffee, and interior decorating. Meanwhile Sombra listened politely while scribbling down his new life plan and only interrupted at the end of Ledgers tale to tell Meringue the actual story. Cherry never did show up but her absence wasn’t missed as Sombra enjoyed his moderate breakfast with his new friends.

Sombra left on the train that evening with a rather Love-struck Jubilee staring longingly at Manehattan’s shrinking skyline, six empty crates of cherries, and an increasingly color-coded and well indexed journal.

Comments

[Ice Star]

Sombra was smiling so much his cheeks hurt. He had never done this before! This felt like… play but the adult accepted sort of play where you didn’t move toys around like a schizophrenic. He took a moment to jot down the name ‘Cadence’ to look up later. He had learned about Celestia and Luna through osmosis by being around so many ponies who knew about them but a princess of love was news to him. What did that even mean? Did she sleep around a lot?

Poor Cadance. :C

FUCK!!!

Never use multiple punctuation marks.