Before she opened her eyes, Twilight had a strange feeling.

Previously, she had felt her consciousness vanish into a deep sleep, one that sought to take her to another plane different from her own. But now it was different.

Now she could feel as if that same consciousness was trying unsuccessfully to decipher why her magic felt different, but at the same time it hadn't changed at all. However, when she opened her eyes fully, that thought was quickly displaced. All because of what she saw in front of her.

"Saint Celestia..." She really couldn't contain her amazement when the vision of a huge night sky lit up her gaze. Although in reality... It wasn't a sky as such.

Twilight blinked quickly when she realized that it was in the infinite, dark void of a gigantic galaxy full of stars where she was just now suspended. Suspended as if in the middle of the deep waters of an immense sea. She even had the impression that she could feel the wetness in her coat.

"It's pretty impressive, isn't it?" announced a female voice behind her, causing Twilight to turn to face who she had been.

And it was not very great to be surprised when she found the same water pony with a calm voice that had received her and Sombra in the bed of the underground river. But now she noticed that her body gave off a slight bluish glow. Twilight took a brief look and realized hers was too, in a purple glow.

"Yes..." she replied to her words while her gaze returned to delight for a second with her surroundings. After that second she returned to her, she still had a question in mind. "May I know where we are?"

"Of course." She nodded as she moved her tail fin, causing a small cluster of stars to move to her beat as well. "This place is only an immaterial representation of a small fragment of our universe, through a dream. A dream that is always constant in my own species."

Unexpectedly, the star-studded space blurred and was replaced with the dark blue background of a real ocean. Now Twilight could justify the feeling in her coat.

"As you can see, it's possible to manipulate it," explained the pony in front of her.

"I can see it," murmured Twilight, then once more assumed the serious expression that the situation required. "But I know you didn't bring me here just for that."

The pony's eyes emitted a quick glimmer of understanding. Then she shook her head.

"No, we had already shown you in our warning," she said and paused briefly. "Do you know why this place is so isolated? That it even seems to follow its own rules?"

Both questions provoked in the alicorn a feeling of strangeness, more by its nature than by the way or intention in which she had expressed them. But regardless, she continued with her answer.

"Most likely due to the fact that it was created..." Her voice hesitated for a second, "with a different kind of magic than usual."

She had no fond memories of it. Or especially anything that had to do with the subject of dark magic.

"It has a lot to do with that," said the pony as the fin of her tail moved with the gentle current. "It had no apparent entrance and those who are bound to its essence from birth cannot leave," she said as she moved slowly around her. "Then how do you explain that you were able to get here?"

"It was more of an accident," Twilight replied after that memory assaulted her. It almost felt like it had happened so long ago. "But I can remember that there was a mirror hidden in a cave..." Her brow furrowed for a moment when she realized something else. "And a crystal flower."

"Do you remember its color?"

"Purple". Twilight closed her eyes when she remembered the flash that had lit up the cave in the midst of all that chaos. "It was a purple crystal lily."

Twilight realized something and opened her eyes again, her face looking a bit confused from all her questions.

"But what does that have to do with all this?" she asked. "Explain how we got there, yes; we even have an idea how to get out," she spoke quickly and moved her hooves in the same way for emphasis. "But Spike, my baby dragon... We still don't know how to get to him."

Twilight felt so distraught and so lost in these moments, that this very feeling was almost palpable to anypony around her.

"Unfortunately we don't have that answer either," the pony murmured with a certain sorrowful tone in her voice. "But instead it is important that you know, that you understand this information better before they reach their hiding place: this place was not always like this, and those creatures did not always exist." Her tone changed again, this time in a less peaceful feeling. "Even we aren't really from here, but those beings... They are simply something that should never have existed."

The alicorn's eyes narrowed because of the suspicion that the latter had generated in her. Therefore, the question in her mind was quickly expressed by the words that came out of her mouth.

"Something that was created?" suggested Twilight as she recalled the memory of her last visit for answers and her conversation with Sombra. "Or something that came out of nowhere?"

She nodded her head slightly.

"Listen to me well, I know that you are most likely aware that if you want to face your enemy, you must first know him," she continued in her detour while continuing to speak. "Nobody created them, it was more like the second thing you expressed. It was as if they had risen from the ashes of some kind of ancient chaos." A contemptuous tone began to take over her voice. "Ashes made of dark magic."

Twilight frowned when her words confirmed everything she had previously suspected after Sombra had told her a part of the story version. After all, like the aftermath of a disease, what was left of the mysterious creation of that island did not simply vanish into the cursed depths of the earth.

"Of everything that was once forbidden," Twilight continued, biting her lower lip when one more question that would not leave her alone came to light. "But I don't think they appeared so suddenly. Something must have caused it, right?"

"It may be," replied her opponent while giving a slight tilt of her head. "Actually, even we don't know the whole truth."

Twilight was thinking about that. Thinking that maybe they didn't know that answer, but maybe somepony else did.

In the end, she ended up letting out a new sigh.

"Okay, I understand," she muttered slowly as she returned to another question. "But if all this is so, how did you get to this place in the first place? You are practically trapped, so to speak."

Twilight wasn't surprised that the other pony took a few moments to answer her question. She wasn't even surprised by her surprised reaction, even though she didn't quite understand it. In the end, her opponent ended up lowering her ears.

"Just like everyone here," she replied in a sudden hurry. "Long before I existed."

Twilight imagined she would say that, though she didn't explain why they looked similar, but at the same time so different with the same species that lived beyond her home. Although not that she had asked either.

In the end it was not entirely necessary, since it turned out to be the curious expression shown by her opponent that betrayed the pensive countenance that was noticeable on her face. Twilight noticed this and nodded her head slightly.

"Sorry, but I can't help but wonder why you look different from the sea ponies in my land."

The pony simply shrugged, not having a concrete answer in her mind that she could tell her.

"We have already adapted."

Twilight nodded to that simple answer, not really needing to dig too deep. What did intrigue her from before was the way in which they had been found. Because in reality, there was only one viable option.

"I have this memory of a short time ago, when I wanted to clear up the doubts I had in my head," she said suddenly, as if it were just another piece of information. "But now there's more, and it seems to be coming all the time, so I can only ask you this." Twilight frowned a bit in an expression of slight desire to know. "Did you meet me at the other point of connection? The other cave, I mean."

The pony nodded again, but this time she also seemed to harden, in a certain way, the expression of her gaze.

"Yes, that's why I wanted to talk to you myself when I realized who you had been," her voice continued with the same tone of soft tranquility. "I was there, watching you as you consciously summoned its power."

She stopped again in front of her and looked her straight in the eye again. Twilight held her gaze, not letting her know the sense of judgment she suddenly began to feel.

"I didn't imagine you'd be watching me, in fact I never imagined there would be anypony there," Twilight replied without looking away.

The pony smiled in a calm and peaceful way, transmitting that same feeling to the environment around her.

"You know? Your friend is not the only one of his kind that my species has seen."

Twilight was a bit surprised by the sudden change of subject, but in the end she quickly recomposed herself. The pony kept talking.

"But most of them aren't with us anymore after all, and that's not the issue we're concerned with right now," she said in a dismissive gesture of her hoof/fin. Her countenance became serious again. "Remember this, you must not let your guard down or those creatures will take advantage of any moment of weakness to launch themselves against you. Magic is usually very tempting."

Yeah... Twilight knew very well how attractive that source of energy and power was to many creatures. So at her warning she just ended up nodding without saying anything more about it.

"We'll keep that in mind, but what did you mean by that you said a little while ago?" asked Twilight in a somewhat doubtful tone, referring to whatever she had meant earlier about Sombra.

Twilight knew that the pony had understood the question, so she couldn't explain why she took her time answering it. The reasons were hers alone.

"I meant that because in the past, there was only one species that had the power to keep them at bay."

This was definitely something Twilight was interested in.

She moved a little closer to her, who was only suspended in front of her as if she had expected that same movement. So the pony did not wait long and continued with the next thing she was going to say.

"And those beings were the Umbrums."

Twilight didn't know what, but something inside her mind seemed to have clicked when she finished processing what she said. And when she did, then came the confusion.

"Who?" she asked in her desire to know. "Who were they?"

And how had they disappeared and left that place at the mercy of whatever those things were?

"That's something I can't tell you," she said to Twilight's dismay, though she continued, "But there's somepony who can, and he's traveling right next to you."

She thought about it. Something about that made sense, after all he was the only one who could give her a concrete answer that would clarify her doubts. Now she just wondered how she was going to approach him, because she didn't really have a very good feeling about that subject.

Twilight closed her eyes and let out another sigh, even if she ran out of air. Honestly, it was a miracle that her head didn't start to hurt yet, but she shouldn't be overconfident on that part. Nor, perhaps, did she worry about the fact that she only now had that information.

"Is something wrong?" asked the other pony when she saw how she suddenly stood still and with her eyes closed longer than she should.

"Yes, I'm wondering why," Twilight said as she opened her eyes once more. Almost inevitably, her face reflected a look of weariness, "Why do you decide to show up and tell me all this now?"

The pony frowned even though it wasn't actually directed in apparent disgust at her question, but rather towards something she was thinking.

"It was because it was very difficult for us to keep track of you," she finally answered. "As you can see, we can't move on land, and our magic isn't powerful enough to span a range beyond what our source of power allows."

"The source of your power?" Twilight asked with some intrigue.

"Any body of water," she clarified.

Twilight blinked quickly after that and ended up nodding her head.

"I understand," she whispered.

Suddenly, Twilight began to take several peeks around her when she felt an unexpected tug all over her body. However, the dark landscape of the ocean around her remained undisturbed. Although she was not the only one who realized that.

"I think it's time for you to come back," murmured the other pony in that soft, gentle voice. "Dreams are good but you can't stay in them all your life; plus, there's somepony else who needs you."

Twilight sighed and lowered her head slightly, thinking for a few seconds about those words. At least until she picked it up once more.

"Yes, you're right, they both need me," she whispered while cracking a small smile.

And she needed them.

Then she finally closed her eyes and completely relaxed her presence when the blue-eyed pony brought a hoof to her forehead again. Twilight again had that pleasant feeling of when the mind fell into the unconsciousness of sleep, but the difference was that in this case she would wake up.

She climbed slowly through the haze of sleep, searching for that warm feeling that had surrounded her and brought her so much comfort. She sighed and stirred unconsciously against her unexpected source of heat.

Twilight began to wake up slowly, still dazed by the effects of her little astral trip, but she really didn't want to wake up. She felt so comfortable lying in the softness of something that had been placed next to her head, enjoying the sensation of gently running her cheek over whatever it was as she relaxed inhaled the comforting scent that reached her nose.

Wait... Scent?

And why did she move slowly up and down while she was lying on?

Twilight opened her eyes wide and the first thing she noticed was a dark gray fur that tickled her nose slightly, the same fur that had given her the feeling of warmth and comfort she had before. And the second thing she realized was that she herself was leaning against the owner of that fur.

"Fine, you've woken up."

Twilight heard the stallion's deep voice, and she didn't know what to say. She raised her head slowly as she parted her lips in a small "o," but quickly brought them back together as her gaze met that of Sombra's deep scarlet eyes. Meanwhile, her newly awakened mind was barely aware of the heated blush that was beginning to appear on her cheeks.

She could only highlight one thing. On one occasion she never would have expected, he had done more than just watch over her dreams.

"Are you really awake? Because your face indicates another thing," he said when he saw the expression of confusion and slight bewilderment that she also carried.

"Uhm... I-I..." She looked down with some embarrassment, but she didn't leave his side. "S-sorry, i-it wasn't my intention, I didn't want to...

"Twilight."

For some reason, the tone of his voice caused her to stop her ramblings, although she was actually more surprised by the fact that he finally said her name. Sombra continued, ignoring the expression on her face.

"You don't need to apologize," he snorted with some impatience. "Just... don't make a fuss about this."

After that he just looked away and closed his eyes, without waiting for her answer. Twilight just blinked quickly anyway and let out a soft giggle to herself.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone that you were watching," she said in a calm tone, the latter in a whisper, "and protecting me."

Then she only ended up closing her eyes and rubbing her nose lightly with the back of her hoof, without being aware that he was watching her. Without being aware of how he had looked at her while she slept without sleeping.

"Uhm?" replied the alicorn suddenly.

Twilight opened her eyes again, and Sombra turned his gaze toward the river when the same sound reached both of them. A rapid splashing noise caused by the pony's fin; by her action she almost seemed to be saying goodbye. Twilight sighed when she realized that it had been just that.

"I think it's about time we left," Sombra said as he got up from his seat, which made Twilight move a bit to let him do that.

She also intended to get up at that instant, if it weren't for the fact that she still needed a few more seconds for her body to get used to it and comply with the orders her brain was sending her. In fact, it hurt just to stretch out one of her cramped hind legs.

"Wait, just a moment."

In the end, after some stretching in her wings and legs, Twilight got up and arranged the bag on her side, which apparently hadn't moved there. But before she began to follow the stallion again, she looked for a moment at the calm river of bright blue waters.

Then, she only let out a sigh and began her walk once more. They walked the same path by which they had come, but this time with an air of a certain tranquility that had permeated the atmosphere.

And that was something that was reflected in both of them.

For the first time in quite some time, Twilight remained calm without the constant doubts and worries that had populated her mind before. She didn't mean that it wasn't quite gone yet, just that it was now rather silenced, allowing her to have a moment to herself.

The only concern that was always there was Spike's, and that was partly related to the other thing she was later to inquire about who the Umbrums had been. Twilight pointed to a mental note to ask Sombra later, on some occasion when they weren't trying to preserve their lives.

And from one moment to the next, a soft flash that began to illuminate in front of her eyes ended up pushing aside everything that was in her head for a moment.

But in contrast to the other side, there was something that didn't feel right to Sombra. The silence of the princess, in particular, was not something that was very common, but neither was it that that same silence caused him a strange and somewhat unpleasant feeling. As if that calm was only waiting for one occasion to release all that tension.

However, it was also a fact that he was not going to admit the way he had watched her sleep so peacefully. Although at that moment, for obvious reasons, he had had nothing more to do and his gaze had eventually been directed to the peaceful face of the alicorn. A face that had unconsciously given him a certain peace.

Sombra frowned to himself as he realized the direction his thoughts were going, pushing them out of his mind for a moment after Twilight suddenly beat him to it. All because in front of them opened the luminous entrance of that deep place.

"At last," Twilight murmured as she almost ran in. She crossed the exit a bit more cautiously and slowly to let her eyes get used to the evening light.

Had so much time passed? She wasn't entirely sure, but she didn't really care much about that either.

She then turned when she caught Sombra's voice behind her, apparently intending to ask the question she was expecting.

"You were a long time wherever that pony took you. Am I to suppose that you have found out something new?"

Twilight looked him in the eye again without feeling so embarrassed this time, and ended up nodding her head in affirmation. However, she felt a little tired at the time to tell him everything that had happened.

"I did, but I'd rather you didn't ask me anything right now if possible." She saw clearly how he frowned, so she hurriedly clarified quickly while gesturing with her hooves. "It's not because I don't want you to know, don't think that! It's just that I'm feeling tired for now, you know?"

Sombra had looked at her suspiciously before she began her sudden babbling, but after what she said he only approached her until he was in front of her, in passing while softening his face a bit more.

Twilight didn't know why, but the way he was looking at her somehow caused something strange inside her; almost as if she began to feel nervous, which was not strange on certain occasions but it was with herself. Or at least that's what she could highlight from whatever she was feeling, or thinking, or noticing... Or whatever her head was telling her in those moments! Honestly, she couldn't even understand herself at the time.

Suddenly, the train of thoughts that had taken course in her mind completely derailed as Sombra's voice once again reached her ears.

"Fine, princess, I can understand it," he replied as he passed by her again.

Still, Twilight looked at him again, and frowned on her face in a slight annoyance grimace.

"Hum, are we back to the 'princess' thing yet?"

"I never said I wouldn't go back to the same thing."

Twilight could almost swear that she saw a mocking smile on his face when he looked slightly over his shoulder, before he returned to his usual countenance. At this she could only roll her eyes with a snort.

"Whatever," Twilight conceded as she shrugged. Then she began to follow him again as she stood by his side. "Where should we go now."

"We can follow this same path," he indicated and pointed with his head to the path opposite the location of the cave. "But since we deviated a bit further than we were following, we will now take longer to get there."

Twilight was not very happy about this information and showed it while putting on a dissatisfied expression.

"What if we continue the one we came before?" she asked as a suggestion, but Sombra only ended up denying it to her dismay.

"If we came back it would be worse," he replied for the last time.

In the end, they could do nothing but move on. That didn't stop Twilight from letting out a frustrated sigh, though. And that Sombra did not notice her understandable attitude of discontent and slight discouragement. But anyway he couldn't do anything that was in his hooves, could he?

Sombra let out a light sigh in the hope that it would be inaudible to her. Maybe she didn't have to if he showed her that she didn't need to worry about it.

"By all the ponies, don't make that face," he said while letting out a somewhat annoyed growl that was not really directed at her.

Technically, he didn't mean for her to misunderstand his wish, but the way and tone he had said it left him much to be desired. In the end, Twilight simply raised an eyebrow.

"It's the only one I have."

The stallion snorted for his answer.

"You know what I mean," he said with a slight frown and with the intention of continuing, but what he didn't expect was that she suddenly began to laugh.

Twilight let out a laugh at the bewildered expression he initially made, though she didn't look back at him to see his current reaction.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help it," she whispered when her gaze met his again.

"It's good that at least one of us finds this funny," Sombra snorted while making a gesture of denial, but he still ended up smiling slightly sideways that she couldn't see.

A few minutes of silence passed in which they advanced in their walk much more than they expected, until finally Twilight spoke when they reached a section of the forest that was ideal for taking a break.

"The truth is... I react like this because there is something I have to tell you, also ask you." She stopped her walk little by little and began to knock absentmindedly on the pebbles on the road. "And I don't really know how to start..."

"Start at the beginning because I was already thinking you'd never say it," he replied, also stopping next to her as he ran a hoof across hid chest.

Twilight grimaced lightly when she heard him.

"Don't say that, you know I only needed a moment," she said after running a hoof over her forehead and fleetingly over her mane.

With a sigh that she didn't know she was holding back, she decided to stay seated, although when she thought about it she had already dropped her hind legs on the floor. In the end, Twilight took a quick look at the tree-lined spot where they were, thinking it didn't seem too bad.

"I think we can stay here while we wait for nightfall, is that okay?" she asked him, almost reflexively the fact that she wanted to know his opinion.

The stallion did not miss that small detail while, like her, he slid his gaze around.

"I don't really have any objection," he said after several seconds in which he looked in her direction again. Several seconds in which Twilight felt strange when her eyes met the scarlet irises.

She forced herself to look away a bit as the flash of fleeting thoughts flashed through her mind.

"Oh, well... that makes me happy," she whispered in spite of everything.

A whisper that he ended up listening to and that he also took advantage of.

"Although thinking about it I think there's a lot of clarity here, it's too open," Sombra replied in a complaint, and when she raised her head to look at him badly, he simply showed her a fanged smile. "We should move to a darker place."

Twilight rolled her eyes and began to prepare for the night, after deciding not to fall for his provocation. Still, she turned once more to face him.

"I know you like the dark so don't worry, it will get dark soon," And after those last words, Twilight got up and left without waiting to see his reaction for having played along.

Not knowing that he had let out a giggle of amusement at her attitude. Leaving him alone with the thoughts that were beginning to run through his head, while he shook his head slightly with the same feeling of amusement.

"Twilight Sparkle... You don't seem to be aware of the effects you can cause."

She may not have noticed but he did in some other way, while he watched in silence what she was doing from afar. From time to time he calmly watched as the aura of her horn shone in a constant magenta flash, while the owner of that magic that still could not extend its full potential invoked the proper protective spells around the entire area.

And when he took another look, she was apparently done and was walking calmly in his direction. The dark blue cloak of night had already begun to make itself present in the firmament.

Twilight sat down and let out a sigh as she took her dinner wrapper out of her saddlebag and tried not to think about her lost little dragon, after her eyes hit something inside it. Once again she tried to push those thoughts away, so she took advantage of the presence of her current companion to distract herself. She hoped he didn't catch her gaze while keeping his eyes closed.

"Aren't you planning to have dinner?" she asked after swallowing a bite and seeing how he sat at a not too long distance from her, just realizing that he was not wearing his cloak. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Not for now," Sombra opened his eyes again, and let his deep voice refine his words. "I'm waiting for you."

If it hadn't been for the fact that she hadn't put anything in her mouth at the time, Twilight would almost have choked. Even so, she couldn't help but cough quickly in her amazement and pray to Celestia that he hadn't noticed that.

"Waiting for me?" she whispered cautiously, wanting to know the reasons why he had said that.

"Of course, or have you already forgotten that you have something to say?"

"Oh, yes... That's right," Twilight spoke quickly and with a certain tone of relief. Honestly, she was already beginning to get several ideas of the reasons for his insistence.

He didn't say any more words until she finished her meal. And Twilight unconsciously thanked him for that.

"Fine," she said at last when she was ready. "You mentioned a while ago that I was asleep a lot longer than I imagined, when for me it should have only been about thirty minutes that I was talking to that pony."

"Your perception of time was altered for wherever your mind has gone, that's clear to me."

Twilight nodded, agreeing with his words. She continued with their conversation as she began to gesture with her hooves.

"The most important thing I can tell you is that essentially, she was in charge of giving us more information about those things from before". Her mind recoiled in the memory of an incomplete warning. "Although I still need you to find out where they are."

"Well, at least she didn't say something we already knew," he growled with some sarcasm.

"She said what I needed to hear." Twilight frowned a bit at his attitude, but only for a moment. "Those things shouldn't even exist in the first place, but instead they do, and through dark magic," she clarified. "Something or someone caused their creation, I have no idea what, she didn't know either."

As she spoke, Twilight watched intently the countenance Sombra had taken on his face, but at first glance she could see nothing that might betray that he possessed any knowledge. Perhaps it was so.

"You mean, what then can we have an idea of how to destroy them?" he asked as he crossed his front hooves in a position of apparent comfort.

"I can have one, if we consider that it only takes a powerful magic of light to displace their own darkness, something as powerful like..."

"The Crystal Heart?"

Twilight didn't know why the tone in which he said it gave her a small, unpleasant shiver, but she could actually imagine it. After all, it had been that same artifact that had ended up disintegrating his own form long ago.

She guessed it wasn't very pleasant for him to remember or mention anything that had to do with it.

"Something like that," she concluded at the end, ignoring that brief feeling. "The point is, I don't know if I'll have enough magic to stand up to them." The tone of her voice rose several octaves as she spoke and gesticulated rapidly. "And even less so if it's as limited as it is now! It is impossible for us to face a whole horde of these things!"

"It doesn't matter, there's always a way and a weakness," Sombra commented suddenly, without any concern that could stand out in his tone.

Twilight removed the hoof that had begun to pass over her forehead and was quite surprised that he wasn't so worried. If her mind at that moment was in a constant frenzy to find a solution!

"Aren't you worried? Don't you consider all the variables that could go wrong because we don't have a method to deal with them?"

Sombra just shrugged his shoulders and Twilight almost felt right there that she was starting to get a tic.

"The important thing is to have a plan to go with, princess," he replied in a low tone, slowly. "It can always be modified according to what we find out along the way."

"I agree with you, but..." Twilight closed her eyes and let out a rather long sigh as she slowly calmed down. Then she looked at him again, without the concern having left her eyes. "You can't make one if you don't have the most information available."

"That's what I mean," he said when he noticed her expression. "There's still a long way to go that you can take advantage of if you want to know more than you now have."

She was silent for a few moments, making her brain analyze his words until in all those thoughts she highlighted the question that she also needed him to answer her.

"More things like something she said to me and left me too intrigued," she said to herself in a murmur that the stallion heard and that ended up arousing his interest. "Sombra..."

The aforementioned narrowed his eyes slightly when he heard her and remembered that she had said something before asking him about a certain thing. And although from his silence he said nothing, Twilight realized that in his eyes was the confirmation that she could continue.

"Who were the Umbrums?"

Once again, silence.

The atmosphere around their seemed to tense, but contrary to what she could imagine, it wasn't too great or dangerous a tension to make her feel uncomfortable. It was rather as if her question had awakened old memories that had once remained dormant.

Until the tension broke when he answered her.

"Creatures that once walked the cold wastelands of your land." A slight sound of mockery came from his mouth. "Commonly called 'shadow ponies,' they extended their reign at a distant time, long before you or me were born."

Twilight had looked away a bit when he began his story, but hearing the tone of melancholy that she thought she had noticed in his voice, she wanted to see his face once more. A face that looked in a different direction than hers, as if observing in a distant distance something she simply could not have any idea of. And though his countenance of seriousness had not changed, Twilight saw in his eyes how he seemed to recede back into memories of more than a thousand years ago.

Until he looked away in her direction when he noticed hers, causing a faint feeling of shame to spread across her face at being discovered. However, she did not look away.

"That's all I can tell you for now, Twilight."

In spite of everything, she could not prevent her lips from letting out a little sound indignant at knowing that her curiosity had not been completely satisfied.

"Why?"

"Because the real story is much more twisted than you imagine." He didn't hold back the sigh that threatened to come from inside him, it didn't matter that she was watching, because when it had to do with the memories of his damn past he couldn't help it. "It's just not something that gives me much encouragement to tell."

Twilight noticed, how could she not? Even though his expression hadn't changed, the tiredness in his voice, a feeling that was much more than just something physical, indicated something that he kept repressed deep inside.

And it was then that, perhaps because of that, Twilight began to feel a kind of knot inside her chest as she looked at the stallion that stood in front of her.

"Okay, I understand," she said before doing what she had in mind.

Twilight got up from her seat and walked the short distance between them to lie down beside him. And just like the previous time, she again left a hoof on his shoulder as she leaned against it.

"You don't need to tell me anything now if you don't want to.

Sombra just looked at her and ended up nodding slightly. But in any case he did not let the opportunity slip away that was in front of him, or rather next to him.

"This is becoming a habit for you, you know?" he said, referring to the fact that they were once again in that situation.

Twilight just rolled her eyes as she let out a snort as she remembered the first time they were like that.

"You started that time, or did you already forget?"

"That time I only did it to stop you from crying, even if you ended up leaving my coat full of mucus."

Sombra smiled mentally quite complacently when he noticed the blush of embarrassment that quickly began to spread all over the alicorn's face.

"Ah, don't say that!" she exclaimed in a cry that made her spread her wings, though she quickly arranged them on her side as she looked away and whispered to herself, "I still want to keep that memory."

This time he did let a faint smug smile burst onto his face, as he spoke the words again in his harsh, deep tone.

"As you like, princess."

Twilight couldn't help but shudder slightly, but when she turned her gaze again he had already kept his eyes closed in his usual expression of rest. She smiled and prepared to do the same as she settled into her place.

But in the end, Twilight was left thinking again about those last words Sombra had almost said about his past.

Author's Note

Happy Father's Day.