Tomb of Magic

"I have a reason!" I cried, wincing as the charm loosened. Now, how persuade him not to kill me?

"You'd better."

He was friends with Cadance so maybe this might...

"I'm Cadance's sister-in-law."

He snorted, "Not helping you."

He is a fairly power hungry individual right?

"I'm the Spark of Magic?"

He rolled his eyes. "And I can just as easily spark a fire. Does this make me a Spark too? Where's my reward?"

He has a sense of humor? Think, Twilight! How do you persuade a murderous, sarcastic, power hungry individual not to kill you? Although its not like I'm going to let him if only I could just get a plan ready and then a back-up plan and a back-up plan for the back-up plan...

"Because-"

"Hmm, one more poor answer and I get a reason to be sadistic." He smiled wickedly as if to acknowledge what I thought of him.

Okay...what should I try now? I could just tell him what I was doing there is only so much he can do to stop me...

I'd better get a power surge or a spell breaker going as a back-up somehow...

Sombra shrugged slightly and blew a lock of his mane out of his face as if to say 'any day now'.

Here goes nothing...take a deep breath as best as you can and-

"I'm going-on-a-quest-to-find-Starswirl-the-Bearded's-stronghold-and-lost-works. I-am-also-quite-sure-that-Celestia-ordered-you-to-be-my- accomplice."

I paused quickly, breathing rapidly before continuing at a faster pace adding anything it might take to persuade him.

"We-get-to-go-to-Trotland-ride-trains-and-read-old-books-and-I-know-you-are-friends-with-Cadance-and-wouldn't-you-know-a-visit-to-Cadance-is-right-in-the-schedule."

I stopped and started to pant a bit, hoping I came out legible and noticed that the charm and aura were gone. Next, to show proof I teleported my bags outside and showed him the order and the letter from the Princess.

He skeptically read them before putting them back into my saddlepacks.

"Okay," he muttered in an unamused manner, "What exactly do you want me to do?"

I was taken back by his response. Was he always this aloof and bizarre with Cadance? She never specified his exact behavior very much.

"Where do you want to board a train?" he grumbled.

"Huh?"

"Are you deaf or just plain incompetent?! I asked you where you wanted to board a train."

What kind of a question was that? The closest city was Appleloosa...he had been living around here for a while, right? So for him to ask an odd question like this and rule out Appleloosa made no sense to me.

"Appleloosa is the closest station," I began, "but if we combine both our powers while still being exhausted, also considering you are a unicorn and I'm not an Alicorn like Celestia and Luna... although, Canterlot has a nice-"

"Canterlot?" Sombra interjected.

"Yes, Canterlot, haven't you been-"

"Okay Purple Eyesore, get ready."

"Wait, get ready for-"

POOF

...

"Sombra?" I inquired nervously.

"Yes?" he looked at me in that manner somewhere between annoyance and sarcasm, aura clasping his sword hilt.

"We are in Canterlot alive, from a spell you performed solo that should have killed us or worse! Even I can't perform a spell to that extent!"

He immediately shot me a dismissive look. "Listen, Purple Eyesore, I just performed a normal teleporting spell. Now be quiet and let's just board a train."

Is he mad? How can he just dismiss a spell like that? Something is very wrong here!

I made a mental note to ask Cadance where he learned magic like that.

After boarding a private first class train car - because apparently there was something wrong with the second class cars - with the use of our passes I donned my new garb and returned quickly to make sure Sombra wasn't stabbing anypony.

He wasn't. Instead he was just nonchalantly looking out a window.

Except, when you stare nonchalantly you don't visually nitpick every little blade of grass furiously...

I plopped down at the small table the car featured, staring at an insignificant plate with a few crumbs scattered on it.

Maybe I could try to talk to him. If I could work my way from banter to personal questions about how he learned magic and where, I might be able to learn something valuable and research it!

"Why were you burning cacti?"

He looked away from the window. "Why was I...oh, the cacti? I'm from the north so any plant I see I considered food or an herb. I tried to eat the first cactus I saw."

He tried to eat a cactus? Still odd, considering they have visible prickles, and the Empire did have plants, so he must have interacted with them in some way. The only kind of cause to generate that reaction, at least to my thinking, is that he must have lived somewhere with little to no vegetation which is not the Empire...but isn't that where he is from?

Okay, back to questions.

"Why did you rescue me from the bandits and how did you-"

"Are you going to be asking me the questions of a lack-wit this entire voyage? I recognized you from the few times I saw you before, I'm not a fool you know."

He put his head in his hoof and shot me a dirty look, which I promptly ignored.

"Will you continue calling me 'Purple Eyesore'? I'd appreciate it if you would stop."

I'd heard of glaring daggers, and to stare knives at somepony, etc. but the look he was giving me now made me wish he was staring daggers at me.

It would be less uncomfortable, for one thing.

"Why? Would you like me to come up with something better? How about 'Lavender Loudmouth'? Will that work you little-"

"Why don't you use heavy decorum when speaking? Cadance wrote to me about her trip and she never mentioned you using any kind of decorum." I blurted this out as quickly as possible cutting him off, hoping to distract him, maybe even puzzle him.

It did anything but that.

Sombra stiffened his posture and growled in a low voice: "That is a personal question and I would deter from asking those if you wish to keep all your internal organs."

"You say that like you've killed ponies before, other than those bandits!"

His scleræ began to turn green and his teeth elongating into sharp fangs while his pupils and irises began to acquire a demon shape.

I stood my ground.

"Oh, yes, Purple Eyesore, would you like to add yourself to that list?"

After all I had put up with from him I was fuming. He can't kill me! This was MY quest and he wasn't going to sabotage it.

"An old saying is 'Kill once mourn 'ever, kill twice mourn never'! But in your case you are just a mindless sadist who doesn't even know how to mourn!"

He gritted his teeth. "Somepony just doesn't know when to quit!!!"

I flinched and suddenly, I felt a sharp pain on my cheek and a warm wet stickiness.

After all I had been through these past few days I just couldn't hold it in anymore.

I snapped and began to cry. One or two small tears leaked out of my wet eyes making a dark depressing orange that flowed down my face.

Sombra stood there blankly for a moment, slowly reverting back to normal, before registering what had happened.

His sword was still in midair, grasped in aura, blood trickling down the black blade which gleamed cruelly.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

My blood.

His face grew ashen and he got a strange look in his now restored eyes with their crimson color. Suddenly, he ran into the sleeper car and began yelling at himself.

I stood up, rising from the floor, and slumped into a nearby chair, placing a hoof on my cheek. I began to start a healing spell, knowing I was lucky the cut wasn't very deep.

Was it my fault?

No, perhaps...I just provoked him.

Or...

Wiping the last bits of blood from my cheek I wondered if I should apologize. Not only was it my question but if I didn't apologize I doubt he would.

It might help to keep us from fighting...at least for a little bit. I quietly padded over to the bunk car and pressed my ear up against it. He had obviously cast a muffling spell which was inappropriate considering it only muffled his screaming instead of completely silencing it.

I still couldn't hear a word he said.

I went back to the table and reached into my bags. With my magic I pulled out a pen and scrap of paper and wrote 'I'M SORRY'. I sneakily slipped it under the door before going back to the table and curling up on one of the chairs and counted the days until we reached the Crystal Empire.

What were my friends doing?

Surely anything else would be better than this.

I sat and stargazed for a while before my eyelids became heavy.