What a wonderful world

by a touch of sparkles

Chapter 27: Prepare for the time skips (they do be necessary)

It has been a whole year. Sombra had kept his hunting almost strictly to the river, he stayed well away from the East. Every now and again however, it would come for him in his nightmares. He often woke up, yet he fell asleep on his own now, he felt like he was going numb to them. Perhaps maybe they won’t disturb him so much now. Unless it learns any new tricks of course.

The small family was all in the living room. The two adults were shifting through different papers and leaflets, saying things the two foals really didn’t care about. Hope and Sombra were together on the sofa as always, Hope was lightly pinned on her back, casually being used as a pillow by Sombra.

“What’s the date?” Miss Chestnut popped up out of the blue. Cloud looked at her slightly confused by the question.

“err, twenty third offff June- no July”

“July?”

“July”

“Oh, Sombra” she turned to face him, his ears perking up.

“Do you remember when your birthday was or have you lost track?” he stared at her, and he realised he really did lose track of his own birthday. All he knew was it was at some point in the polar day, in which he hadn’t learned how the day and night was split up into months.

“I don’t know, but it was in the day…(“what months are the day?)”

(“Ari to Aur, which I believe is April to August for ponies, I assume you don’t remember how far into the day you were born do you?”)

(“No”)

“That’s…not very helpful” Miss Chestnut told him, confused.

“Day is April to august though”

“Well, today was when you were bought to me, we can make that your birthday if you want”

“Okay”

“Happy birthday” Hope bopped him on the nose. His head recoiled and lightened his grip, which Hope slipped out from under him, then she leapt on top of him.

“Now you’re the pillow” she hooked her forelegs around his neck, she laid on his still slightly bony back.

“Don’t worry bud, we’ll sort out a birthday for you next year” Cloud told him, before returning to the different papers.

“What you lookin’ at?” Hope asked, craning her neck to try and see the words.

“Were trying to find a school that both of you can go to…without too much trouble” Miss Chestnut said, Sombra caught a sympathetic glance towards him. He knew why she had said that, it had been quite obvious with her cautious nature in finding places to go with him. He had put two and two together a few months ago.

(“Strawberry?”) A talon forced a strawberry into his nose.

(“No, I’m fine”)

(“Eat”)

(“I ate five minutes ago”) with a force he didn’t quite know the bird to have, Opal wretched his jaw open and shoved the strawberry in his mouth.

(“I don’t like-“)

(“How do you not like strawberries?”)

(“I prefer peppers”)

(“Do you want me to shove a habanero in your mouth then or what”)

(“I don’t know what they are”)

(“Oh I will get you some just you wait, don’t think I don’t know how to use a market”)

(“Fine”)

“Why are you looking at each other weirdly?” Hope asked, they looked at her like they had been caught cheating. Opal took off back to the kitchen, smacking Sombra with air.

“You sure we can’t just home-school him? It would be easier for him and us” Miss Chestnut said, the adults still in their own conversation.

“Small problem with that, I failed high school”

“You what?”

“Don’t sound disappointed I had tonsillitis which turned into an ear infection during exam week it’s not my fault”

“Alright…actually I’ll have a look at some at the orphanage, we always send the older ones of too high school”

“Gets ‘em of your rump doesn’t it”

“well there’s also a chance that their friends family will take them in, but it does also do that” they continued there talk. It was like that for a month, it was mostly what the couple talked about. School. While Hope was utterly miserable about the subject, Sombra was almost curious. Mostly on what a school even is. The conversation changed when the crystal fair came around again.

Sombra was in bed, it was easier that way. This time there was a looming dread that rested on him, perhaps he could try and sleep through it. But then it could come get him, or maybe he wouldn’t have the ability to dream. He was already in his blankets, just waiting for the next day to roll around.

“I’ll be here ok, well, I won’t be here in the morning but I’ll try and get back as soon as I can alright” Miss Chestnut comforted him.

“Why can’t you stay?” his voice was already weaker, mostly from the wait.

“Oh, I wish I could but I have to take the other foals around the fair, but I’ll bring some stuff back ok”

“Ok” he pushed his nose into his blankets. He didn’t want to go through it again, even if he really couldn’t remember much of the pain.

“I want to go home” it took her a few seconds to prosses his words and she deflated when she did.

“I know you do, and we’ll get you home eventually ok”

“But…I don’t have a sirri anymore” he fully hid his face in the blankets. That scene still haunted him at times. She held his hooves gently with a little squeeze.

“Look, I know he’s gone, but I promise we’ll get you back with the rest of your tribe eventually okay”

“You say ok a lot” he pointed out with a sniffle, noticing the trend in her speech.

“Oh do I? must be a force of habit…you’ll be okay, I’m sure Hope will be with you again o- er alright…right, good night” she kissed his forehead and patted down his blankets. He watched her descend down the stairs, before closing the hatch. He liked it shut. But he had his curtains open, it let some light into the room. He couldn’t stand darkness. He didn’t have a nightmare, yet he didn’t sleep. He couldn’t sleep knowing what will happen the next day. He laid and just tried to get through the night with his eyes open.

It was blurry now, but he felt a little like the bouncing feeling this time. His muscles were barely there functionally, he didn’t dare move them if he could. He didn’t know if he could move his legs, they might be numb. He just didn’t have the energy to try. He had a feeling Hope was next to him, the blurry figure was too small. But now that he noticed it, colours seemed weird. Hope isn’t green. But it was definitely her, he could tell from her voice. He could feel what he believed was Opal on his shoulder, then his long tail draping down his side. His stomach was churning again, he was shivering as well. He hated this.

He couldn’t read his clock for the time it was when he managed to hear Miss Chestnut return. He heard the tones of voices but nothing specific, but he could smell something. It was food, sweat and salty if his nose was right. He heard Miss Chestnuts voice, very faintly.

“You feeling any better?” she asked him, he weakly lifted his head, but it dropped almost instantly.

“You should probably eat healthy, but I bought you some corn anyway, I’ll hold it for you” he felt the corn on his nose, it had a sticky coating which stuck to his fur. he took a hesitant bite, just managing to bull the corn of. Fortunately he had retained most of his taste, he could taste the smoke and salt, yet the sweetness wasn’t there. His stomach didn’t lurch when he swallowed, so he took another bite. He realised he was hungry and he hadn’t eaten the whole day, which encouraged him to use his legs to reach out. They screamed yet he denied them for the need of that corn. He felt Opal move, then a tugging on the other end of his corn. He let Opal have some corn, he was probably ill too Sombra thought.

The day finally finished, his symptoms wore off as it went dark. He could see and move again, but he was still incredibly tired. He just went back to sleep.

A year passed again, the same as the last. His birthday wasn’t grand, he didn’t know how specifically old he was. But there defiantly wasn’t a birthday card for seven hundreds. They were all in the living room again, but the adults were packing a bag and grabbing coats. They had found what seemed to be a suitable school for the pair to go to and they had a meeting with the headteacher.

“Come on you two, we have to be there for half four” Miss Chestnut told them, nudging them forward.

“Do I have to go?” Hope complained, her voice was a tiny bit less squeaky now.

“Well we can’t leave you here, so you’re coming with” Cloud told her, pushing her out the door. Sombra followed quietly with Opal on his back as always. They made their way down to a part of the empire Sombra hadn’t seen before. But even so it looked pretty similar to everywhere else, the only main difference was the large building they were approaching. They walked down a pathway that had a grassy area and some trees next to it, a squirrel scampered away. Sombra tried to figure out the shape of the building. There was one part that was three stories tall, there was an extension of the bottom which he believed gave it a t shape. But there were lots of extra side buildings. They went down a small set of stairs and under an overhang, where they entered.

Miss chestnut talked briefly to the receptionist, who lead them to a small room. Inside there were two ponies, a stallion and a mare. The stallion was similar colours to miss chestnut, except he had green eyes and skin stones. Then the mare was green with blond hair, her skin stones were pink and almost seemed transparent. She seemed familiar.

“Good evening Miss Chestnut and Mr Star, it’s nice to meet you, please take a seat” the stallion greeted them. They all sat down around the table, Sombra sat next to Cloud and pulled his chair a little closer to him. Hope slumped down next to him, still annoyed about the situation.

“I received your letter about your concern, to make sure I went around my staff a couple days ago and indirectly and I’ve come to the conclusion that Sombra should be alright with my staff, I just can’t guarantee the students”

“We understand” Miss Chestnut said almost blankly.

“What we can do is make sure that Sombra is with Hope at any time possible” it was that which perked Hope’s ears up.

“I have also informed my peer students that a new student could be coming who may be a little troubled”

“At the moment, his nightmares have calmed down, there was one time where he went to far East, but so far I haven’t noticed anything to severe showing up” Miss Chestnut informed the head teacher.

(“What does she mean?”) he asked Opal.

(“Shell shock triggers and stuff, I’ve seen some Umbrum not respond to well to the sound of chains, I have noticed you sleep with the curtains open, but that wont affect you at school”)

(“Ok”)

“This is Mrs Morning, she’s one of my history teachers, I’ve known for a while that she had rather strong opinions, she was one of the few willing to brave the castle” Sombra pierced his eyes through the mares face, he recognised her. He swear he could recognise her. Her eyes paced over his neck, mottled with fur and no fur, bumpy white scars and pits laced around. She recognised him before he did her.

“Your that foal that mare was protecting, I…didn’t expect you to get out” now he recognised her, she was with that pegasus and bought them food.

“Did your mother get out?”

“No” he told her quietly.

“oh, I’m sorry…is this your friend?” Mrs Morning lifted a hoof to touch Opals head softly. Sombra nodded, the other three adults kept talking school things, so he just kept talking to Mrs Morning. Hope stayed primarily unfocused, until Sombra nudged her face.

“What” she complained, long and drawn out. Sombra tilted his head over to Mrs Morning.

“Are you an orphan to?” she asked.

“Yeah why?”

“I was just wondering, since you look nothing like your parents” Hope flopped her head back down on the desk, she seemed tired, although it appeared more like boredom. It was half four now, and the other adults had mostly finished talking.

“In that case I cant wait to see them in September, I’ll send you on your way, I think some pony’s getting tired” the head teacher said, the adults stood up and Hope and Sombra followed. As they were leaving Mrs Morning stopped them.

“By the way, I think the factory still has its services open, I’m pretty sure they’ve caught on to an umbrum being around”

“I’ll wait until he’s a bit older before I put him in labour” Miss Chestnut replied.

“It just might be easier if he needs medical attention at any point” Miss Chestnut just nodded as she lead them out the building. The adults talked quietly between themselves, but Sombra kept hearing “factory”.

(“What are they talking about?”)

(“That over there”) Opal flicked his wing, following it Sombra saw a large series of box like buildings, each with giant oversized chimneys puffing smoke.

(“It’s a safe haven, but missy is right in making sure you’re a bit older before you go, you got to pay your rent in work”)

(“Have you been there?”)

(“ i used to hang out there for a while at a time, for the umbrum in there, but i never ventured to far into the empire other than there”)

(“Why?”)

(“They started to catch on with us being smarter than we seem, they shot us on sight but never quite figured out the mental chords, it is why I never came to you sooner, I was drawn to you for a long time”) they made their way home again, in which their were a few more ponies on the street leaving work. They get home and tea is put on straight away.

“I wanna show you something” Hope told Sombra, taking him upstairs. He followed her into his room, in which she used her magic to light a candle with out to much thought. She pulled out a little notebook and she opened it to a page.

“I found that paper you put your letters on, I’ve been practicing” Sombra held the notebook to find a bunch of umbral scribbles messily written down. He flicked the page seeing the imprints of letters on the back. He could just make out the words, the letters not quite right.

We could use this at school as a secret language

Some of it was spelt wrong though, she had forgotten a few letters.

“You…fluffy” she told him slowly. There was an overwhelming silly happiness in Sombra, to see that she had started to teach herself some umbrum. He flipped to the next page where he wrote down something for her. She sat focused for a while.

“You’re…pretty…really?” she asked, Sombra nodded.

“Er…thank you” Sombra nuzzled her, than wrote down for some more things for her to translate. he told her what different animals were, and then the days, months and seasons. They went like that until they were called down for tea.

Author's Note:

this chapter was an utter doozy to get through and it probably the same case to read it. it has probably been guessed by now that this story is going to take place over a heck of a long time so expect chapters that have massive time jumps or multiple time jumps. they are definitely necessary.

Comments

[Rainny Night]

" Você é... bonita ... sério?" ela perguntou, Sombra assentiu.

So sweet and cute.