True Friends Stab You In The Front

Sombra made his way through the streets again, except this time it was noticeably darker. Sombra could swear that sometimes that sun was in a hurry to set, as if going down was a chore that needed to be taken care of as soon as possible. Regardless, the streets were darker and colder as Sombra made his way home.

As he walked Sombra thought to himself about the things that Luz had said. Luz and him were friends, but them becoming friends was more by chance than anything else. It felt like forever ago to Sombra. When Luz was a colt he had a rebellious streak a thousand miles long and he seems to make it a personal challenge to irritate the guards as much as possible each day. To that end he figured out no less than fifty secret ways out of the castle, and he wasn't shy about using them.

One day Luz was up to his usual antics, but apparently unbeknownst to him the guards had made a recent addition to their ranks: one Lightning Lance. Lance had no patience for anything the young prince was up to, and he didn't chase after him; he hunted him down. Luz was so terrified of this guard he ended up making his way to the one place he thought the guards would never think to look for him, namely the so called “shady” side of town, so named for how it was forever in the shadow of the larger buildings including the castle, and for how one was very likely to be stabbed for having the wrong color coat, or looking at somepony the wrong way.

Sombra was walking from his home that day when he saw Luz sprinting down the street as if the gates of Tartarus themselves had swung open and were trying to swallow him up. Sombra didn't know what was going on, but he had a general rule about trying to help out ponies that looked like they were running for their lives. He flagged down Luz and together they made their way to one of the more inconspicuous alleyways. Not long after a squad of thoroughly upset guards went tearing down the street, narrowly missing the alley they colts had dived into.

After he caught his breath Luz introduced himself, conveniently leaving out the part about how Sombra was now aiding and abetting a runaway prince. Sombra gave his name and tried to leave, but something had fascinated Luz: Sombra’s horn. Luz was a unicorn too, but apparently Sombra was the only other crystal unicorn outside of his family he’d ever met, which really wasn't that surprising; crystal unicorns were probably the biggest rarity in the Crystal Empire. Sombra knew this, but Luz seemed to obsess over their similarity. Sombra laughed when he remembered Luz saying, “we must be long lost brothers.”

Sombra recalled the good things about that day, but he also recalled that being one of the first times that he had ever truly feared for his life. Maybe they were talking a bit too loudly, or maybe Lighting Lance really could smell fear, but either way the colts soon found themselves with their backs against the wall, cornered by the oversized pegasus in the alley. Sombra remembered things going down pretty much the same way they had in the bar not too long ago, except when he was a colt he recalled being swatted across the alley so hard he thought his bones must’ve turned to dust.

Not long after that Luz showed back up in the “shady” part, except this time he was looking for Sombra, and it wasn't long after that the two had a routine going. Luz breaks out, the two get hounded, and hopefully neither ends up dead. After a while the guards had caught on to the routine though, and whenever they couldn't find Luz they’d go stake-out Sombra, so Sombra got good at shaking off tails. He memorized every building, alley, cart, booth and routine that he could use to get the guards off him when he wanted to, and his dark coat and short stature only helped him even more.

Sombra came to a halt just outside of his home and looked it over. To call it modest would be far too generous, the place was hardly enough to constitute a functional house… but it was home. Sombra shot a glance up to the castle, high enough in the sky to be seen from just about anywhere in the Crystal Empire. Luz was probably back there being reprimanded… or maybe not. Really it depended on whether the queen was busy or not, because if she was around to save his ass he had nothing to worry about. It wasn't much a secret in the Empire that things didn't function by splitting up power; in this case there was the queen with all the power, and the consort, whose sole purpose was to help expand the family and provide companionship. It also wasn't a secret that Luz was the queen’s favorite.

Sombra let out a sigh and watched his breath become visible in front of him. It was cold tonight, like the night before and all the nights before that. That was something that was tough about the Empire, it was always so damn cold. Complaining about it never got anypony anywhere though, and like the saying went, “ask not for a warmer coat, but for the will to withstand even the coldest night.” As much as that was ringing true for Sombra, it was still cold enough he had no desire to stay outside. Sombra turned his head from the castle and went inside his home.

It was pretty much the same as it always was. Old furniture that looked like it belonged more in a landfill and the lingering smell of smoke reminded Sombra he was certainly home. Sombra began to walk through the living room to make his way to his own room when the sound of somepony clearing their throat caught his attention. Sombra let out another sigh and turned to face the coach.

The mare on the coach narrowed her eyes on Sombra. "Usually when somepony says they'll be home by sundown they actually mean they won't leave their mother worrying about whether they were growing cold in some alley somewhere."

Sombra let his face fall slightly. "I know we have the standing 'home by dark' rule in place, but I'm a grown stallion and sometimes I get held up. Its nothing to worry about."

Sombra's mother let more irritation creep into her expression. "If you knew that you'd be home late, then you'd tell me and give me a reason. That leaves me with two possibilities: either you didn't know you'd be home late, and something happened to you that you didn't plan for, and that makes me worry, or you knew you'd be home late, and didn't want to tell me the reason, and that makes me worry even more."

Sombra turned his head away. "You're going to have to stop doting on me sometime. I can take care of myself."

Sombra's mother closed her eyes and sighed. "Lightning Lance came by again today. Told me 'miss Yoru, the prince seems to be making our lives more difficult again; do you know where your son is at and if he's severely hurt or not?' Tell me you weren't out with him again."

Sombra kept from making eye contact. "If I were, it still wouldn't concern you."

Yoru began to rub her temples. "Sombra, we've been over this so many times. He's your friend and I get that, but he's worlds away from you and me, and mark my words, if you keep this up you'll be the death of each other."

Sombra turned and began to walk into his room. "Good night, mother."

"Don't you—"

Sombra shut he door behind him and ran a hoof through his mane. This really wasn't the way it should be. Disagree as they might they were all each other had. He could apologize later though. For now his head was still ringing from hitting the bar floor and he was tired.

Sombra crawled into bed and closed his eyes.