The dry leaves and branches around the road creaked slightly at the sharp passage of the hooves that opened with some difficulty through the undergrowth. The afternoon sunlight lightly illuminated that part of the dark forest, allowing Twilight and Sombra to continue on their way until night began to fall.

There was a strange but quiet silence that had prevailed around both of them, as if something had finally changed after everything that had happened in that place. After all that had been said.

Sombra led the way with a quiet step, feeling somewhat calm, as he had seldom done before. From time to time he would take quick glances at Twilight, who stood silently behind him, lost in her thought. He realized that she was only paying attention to the path because she could trust that he was leading them in the right direction.

He didn't quite know if that thought was right, but there was something, a voice inside him that told him that maybe that might be possible. It was enough for a discreet smile to show at the corners of his mouth.

Things between the two had changed a lot, for better or for worse.

However, there was still a long way to go, and Sombra was well aware of it. He turned his gaze back to the road once more, revealing nothing beyond his expression other than his typical serious countenance. Once again, he focused on the goal they eventually had to reach.

Twilight, on the other hoof, continued to be immersed in her thoughts for a while longer. Thoughts that, for the first time in her life, were not as focused as it really should be. Unable to help herself at the time, her mind was going back and forth on issues that she couldn't even define exactly. She felt as if something had stirred her mind, leaving her somewhat unprotected against the effects of the emotional feeling of her being.

And that wasn't something she liked very much.

Suddenly, Twilight let out a light sigh and shook her head to at least try to push away the strange mess of emotions that had been unleashed inside her. Once a little more relaxed, she turned her gaze back to the road and to the stallion that was waiting for her with a slight eyebrow arched some distance from her.

"At what moment...?" She whispered with some confusion.

Suddenly she realized that she had been so immersed in her thoughts that she did not realize the moment in which she had been left behind. Seconds later she reacted and hurried back to him. She flashed a slight nervous smile as she looked at him.

"I'm sorry about that," she said with a little embarrassment. "Sometimes I can't help but do it, but usually this doesn't happen to me," she explained after noticing his attentive and inquisitive expression, with a slight shrug of the shoulders.

Sombra stared at her for a few more seconds before nodding simply, and continuing on his way. Twilight stayed by his side as they walked, once again not knowing how to feel.

He hadn't spoken much since he'd said those words about his past, since he'd opened up a little more with her. It had been several days since they had left that place, while they were following the path previously marked out on that old map they had both found, and neither of them had mentioned much about that subject again. They only spoke when necessary, and always related to other trivial issues regarding their route.

Twilight didn't want to pressure him to open up again like he had before, she just decided to give him his space to reflect and thus calm the thoughts in his mind little by little. She was sure that what she had done was something as new and unusual as the strange feeling that was inside her. That strange feeling that confused her more than she really wanted to admit.

With a slight movement, Twilight shook her head again so as not to concentrate on that thought again and just returned her eyes to the road.

Sombra, on the other hoof, couldn't help but notice how she seemed to stir with a slight awkwardness next to him. At first he had tried not to make such a big deal out of it, but now that he was much more aware of what she really meant to him, he knew he could no longer feel indifferent to her state. Not because he didn't want to, but because there was simply something that prevented him from being oblivious to everything that was happening to her.

"Is something wrong, Twilight?" He asked in a calm voice, looking back at her.

"Huh? What?" She looked at him again with a bit of confusion, her eyelids gave a couple of quick blinks while waiting for him to explain the reason for his words.

Sombra hid the true sense of inner amusement she had generated behind the slight smile that formed on his features. Then he proceeded to clarify what he had wanted to ask in a more leisurely and patient tone than usual.

"I notice you are a little uneasy, I thought that maybe you had something to say, or that you had felt something strange in the environment, perhaps some presentiment that I have not yet noticed, wherefore I ask," he said simply and leaned a little more towards her, lowering his voice. "Is my guess correct, princess?"

Twilight didn't really know why it was, whether it was because of his closeness, maybe because of his tone of voice, or because he mentioned her title in such a peculiar way for her, but soon she felt a sudden, slight warmth begin to rise to her cheeks and she couldn't do anything about it. All she could do was look away and nod slightly, as she let out the sigh she'd been holding back.

She knew she needed to be honest with herself. She still didn't want to bother him with the erratic thoughts that populated her mind, not now that he had been more assertive than on all his previous occasions. She simply needed to clear them up, these and whatever was inside her, before taking any irreversible steps that would inevitably make them uncomfortable.

But for now, she could answer his question without needing to see how her feelings were also involved.

"I could say yes," she replied in a certain hesitant tone, then straightened up and cleared her throat shortly. "There's just something..." she murmured with a slight frown, unable to ignore the feeling that had crept around her before. "I feel a little cold in the air that doesn't feel quite right."

Suddenly, Sombra's gaze became stern when he heard her say that. It wasn't directed at her, but at the fact that he couldn't ignore as he watched the sky begin to darken. Night would soon fall, and that wasn't a very good thing.

"Fine, then we'd better stop for today," he said as he stopped in the middle of a slightly open area, a small clearing he'd noticed. The last thing he said came out in a murmur from his mouth that she couldn't hear. "Before they decide to show up."

Twilight looked at him again, this time with a serious expression, and nodded. She knew very well what he meant when she saw how his expression changed and muttered something that she had not been able to hear, but that she could perfectly intuit anyway what it was about.

Ever since they had left that kind of ancient temple, days ago, every night without fail they were stalked by a dark presence that in one way or another was impossible for them to ignore. She had not yet been able to see them, hidden as they were in the middle of the night by the forest around them, but the oppressive feeling they caused in her being was one she had unfortunately experienced before.

They could both feel these creatures of darkness and shadow following them from a distance, getting closer and closer as their path took them toward the center of the island, as if in some strange and twisted way they were aware or sensed what they were really looking for.

A shiver suddenly rose up Twilight's spine, unexpected but at the same time too annoying for her to decide to pay attention to it again. It had been the same in all those past days, always at the same hour, when dusk fell.

In an attempt to overcome that recent sensation, Twilight decided to distract her mind from other, more pressing issues. Several minutes later she began to execute the proper protection spells along with the force field around the small clearing. It really was a welcome dose of good luck that her magic was recovering more and more as they moved deeper into the island, in the direction of its center. It didn't matter that it was at a slow but steady pace, it was still a feeling she had truly missed, one that was as familiar as it was comforting.

At least, Twilight knew she could trust that the barrier created by her magic would keep those creatures at bay and far enough away, just as Sombra had explained to her the first night they spent it out in the open after leaving the place. As she had understood from the stallion's words, any protection invoked by light magic, especially her alicorn magic, helped repel them. At the same time, however, they were attracted to the natural darkness that lay within his own being.

Neither of them could do anything about the latter. Just hope that the force field would be stronger than everything else. And for the moment, they could trust that it would.

A few minutes later, her task finally completed, Twilight retraced her steps and turned back to where Sombra sat in silence. Their little resting space had already been arranged by him, and she soon lay down in the same way in front of the comforting warmth of the fire as she heaved a broad sigh of relief. Little by little, she began to feel her body relax.

Soon, the sky above their heads darkened even more, giving way to the starry mantle of night. Both settled in their respective resting places while that happened. However, before either of them could close their eyes and relax completely, a strange and much more intense sensation than usual alerted them that something was not right in the environment.

Nothing felt right around them.

Twilight frowned as another unexpected chill ruffled the fur on her back and back of her neck. She raised her head quickly and turned to Sombra, only to realize that he seemed to have felt the same too. The countenance of his face had become more severe than usual.

"Could it be...?" She hinted uncertainly, her voice coming out in a worried nuance that she couldn't help while looking at him.

Sombra didn't respond immediately. He merely gave a slight nod, several seconds later, and ended up muttering in a deep tone that enclosed the warning behind it.

"They are watching us."

Suddenly, his gaze was directed in a certain direction, to some point beyond the tree line. His expression changed again, and Twilight soon realized it. Although it wasn't addressed to her, something made her feel slightly uncomfortable when she noticed the cold menace that could be seen inside that pair of crimson eyes with narrow, dark pupils.

Twilight shrank slightly in place as she tried to shake off that feeling, ignoring for a moment that Sombra had stayed too still in place. Something about that alerted her and made her immediately turn her gaze to that exact place he was observing. That's when she saw it. She couldn't stop her heart from starting to beat with a force she had never felt before.

However, it was not of emotion.

It was of fear.

"Damn," she murmured, her brow frowning once more, without taking her eyes off the spot.

Her whole body was unconsciously put on alert, ready to face the possible threat that was shown before her. Her wings were half-spread and her ears had been pulled back at the subtle danger that had appeared so suddenly for both of them.

There, behind the pink magic of the barrier, in the distance but still recognizable, the eerie crimson glow that these beings seemed to have as eyes could be seen. Twilight had no idea exactly how many of those creatures were involved, but she didn't really need to know either.

Suddenly, Sombra's voice distracted her for a second from her observation.

"No matter how many there really are, in the end they won't be able to pass," she heard him say in a calm tone, and it was almost as if he had read her mind. She turned to him once more, a slight eyebrow raised across her face, but in time to see him nod in her direction. "The force field supports it, as I told you, so here we will be safe for now."

Twilight, however, couldn't help but bite her lip worriedly.

"I'm really a little worried that 'for now,'" she admitted with a slight frown, looking away for a second again. "How long do it take us to get to that place you said?"

Sombra was silent for a couple of seconds, in which he seemed to be thinking about something she couldn't yet define.

"A couple more days as long as we continue with this same step," he replied simply and let out a brief, somewhat tired sigh.

Twilight nodded again and moved to stay close to him, not taking her eyes off that direction. At that moment she could no longer see anything, no red dots that indicated that they were still there. She didn't know how to define later if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

However, she still couldn't help but stay alert, and in the end, it took several minutes before she started to relax.

"Well... I guess that's all right," she replied to the stallion's words with a sigh that betrayed some of the relief she felt. Suddenly, the memory of something important that might be useful to her came to her mind without warning, and she ended up showing a light smile because of it. "That means that the faster we get to that place, the faster you can teach me that spell that allows me to use the powers of the lily consciously. Maybe it'll be convenient for us later at a time when I need to increase my magic."

After hearing her words, Sombra nodded and looked at where the alicorn was keeping her bag on one side. Now that he was fully aware of its existence, he could feel the core of his magic react to the flower's warm and calm presence as it had never done before.

Somehow, he still couldn't believe that he hadn't been able to recognize it before.

"I just hope time and stuff allow us," he muttered under his breath, looking sideways for a couple of seconds.

Twilight couldn't help noticing it, just as she couldn't help but say the question that had been on her mind for days. Still, she tried to bite her lip to curb that curiosity. She still didn't know if he could answer that, but it was useless for her to remain silent just because of that assumption.

"By the way, before, when we were in that place, you told me that yours and those things didn't get along, because of their very nature, but that they still formed a kind of balance between the two of them," she said as she recalled the conversation they had had earlier, putting a hoof under her chin. "I don't know why, but I feel like you meant that they were like the guardians who kept those creatures from getting out of here. Or were they something more than I imagine?"

There were a few seconds of silence between the two of them while Sombra found an answer to her question, the crackling of the fire was the only thing that could be heard at that moment. Then he spoke again just as the atmosphere seemed to get colder.

"Well, you're right, you might say they were really much more than that," he confessed in a calm voice. "As you know, because these things feed on the magic of any creature through the dreams they induce, or in this case nightmares, what my species did was to prevent them from devouring without any control all the ponies that existed on this island at that time; after all these have always been their easiest prey, as you could see that time when we passed through that village."

Twilight remembered that time again. She remembered it perfectly, so she couldn't help but let a slight grimace of displeasure twist her expression when she heard the confirmation of her words. But there was one question that immediately assailed her mind.

"Then, if it really was that..." she whispered slowly as her brow frowned a little, in a somewhat more thoughtful expression. "What was it that stopped them from doing that once they left here?"

Sombra stared at her for a few moments when he heard her question, causing a somewhat inexplicable sensation to lodge inside Twilight as it met her eyes. She couldn't help but stir with a little awkwardness in place as she watched him.

"I'm not entirely sure," he admitted, looking away for a moment. Still, he could feel the slight sigh of relief she seemed to emit, "but I suppose they must have done something to make sure they kept them at bay, even if they weren't there. "he replied in a nonchalant tone; then he looked back in her direction once more. "Unfortunately, I was the only one who was allowed to return to this place while I was in training to consummate that revenge, and at that time I had not been interested in knowing more than I had been told at first. In my naivety, I didn't think it was really necessary."

Twilight listened calmly to those words, and finally nodded her head one last. Without saying much more, she looked down at her hooves and in the following minutes she dedicated herself to sinking into her thoughts and analyzing all that information in more detail.

It made sense that these creatures would almost always go after the ponies, the weakest prey. Although they appeared to be nothing more than monsters, it was obvious that they possessed an intelligence comparable to any being on Equestria, or on that same island, with reason. But with respect to the others... She still didn't quite know what to think about.

What serious conflict could they have had with the ruler and the habitants of the Crystal Empire that they were practically annihilated?

Twilight felt that there was still something more to that whole story that she really needed to unravel, but she didn't want to pressure Sombra into saying more than he had already said. For now she had to admit that that had been enough. After all, he had told her, even he didn't fully know what had happened.

Sombra looked at her again and, without expecting it from himself, let out a light, tired sigh as he realized that she was once again in an introspective moment with herself, probably going over every detail of what she knew so far.

Against all odds, he felt the need to add something else that he hadn't mentioned until now.

"You may not believe me," he began slowly again, and she turned to look at him with interest, "but there was a time when even a single umbrum could face a dozen of these monsters and emerge victorious too."

Twilight was a little more surprised by what he had just said. She couldn't help it. Even more so when she realized the fact that he could do it too.

"But if you're one of them..." She pointed to the obvious that was in front of her. "Wouldn't it be easy to get rid of an attack of such things?"

However, despite what she had just said, Twilight also had the thought that there was something else that prevented that from being possible. Sombra soon proved it, nodding and leaning a little closer to her.

"It's not that easy really, as I know you can imagine," he admitted with an exhausted exhale and closed his eyes again, reflecting a part of the weariness that was inside him. "It has been more than a thousand years since the last of my species set foot in this place. Although time here passes in unknown ways, things do not remain static. By this I mean that, apparently, they have become stronger as the moons go by."

It didn't take long for Twilight to stress the importance of everything she'd said, but in the end there was something that caught her attention much more strongly, and it made her feel like there was something wrong with it.

"What do you mean by 'time passes in unknown ways'?" Suddenly, a heavy certainty began to creep into his mind. "Isn't it the same as in the outside world?"

The look of uncertainty that Sombra had noticed in Twilight's eyes after opening his eyes again reminded him that there were still things he needed to clarify. And this one in particular was a very important one.

"Hmm no, it's not quite like that," he replied with a slight shrug of the shoulders, as if in fact that fact wasn't something too important. "In the past, no matter how many umbrums were in this place at the same time, the time in relation to the outside world could be the same, fall one month behind a year, or the opposite in reality."

Then he went silent again, and Twilight couldn't help but be taken aback to see that he simply didn't plan to say anything else. The silence had crept back between them after his words, but this time it was not a reflective silence, no. Quite the opposite.

Then, slowly, Twilight began to slowly say the question her mind had just fallen into.

"Then... that means that if we've only been here for a pair of months..." she hinted, slowly, and turned her gaze in his direction very slowly. "Has it been more than a year outside?"

Foreseeing what was going to happen upon seeing her erratic expression, Sombra made an attempt to get her attention immediately.

"Twilight..."

But she didn't listen to him.

"Ahh! But how can that be possible!? I'll pretty much still be a year younger when we get out and I didn't even know it!"

Ignoring everything around her, the alicorn began to walk around the small clearing while immersed in her little emotional crisis. Meanwhile, the stallion continued to make the attempt to get her attention.

"Twilight."

"I know that doesn't make much difference since I'll still be the youngest of the seven, counting Starlight, but it's still strange! In addition...!"

"Twilight!"

She stopped her external monologue at the moment when her ears could be better positioned to hear Sombra's voice, somehow managing to calm down. She immediately fell sitting on her hindlegs.

He, taking advantage of the fact that she had finally stood still, approached carefully and and sat right in front of her.

"Listen to me," he said, and put his helmets on her shoulders. "You won't have any age change or be that younger than all your friends when we go out. Do you want to know why?"

Twilight nodded stiffly to his question. The closeness of their bodies didn't help much with her nerves and even less when he leaned over more, looking her straight in the eyes. In spite of everything, she saw something in them, although she did not know how to define what.

Sombra began to speak again in a low tone.

"Because as long as I'm here, that won't happen."

Twilight moved a little farther away the moment he said those words. After all, she couldn't let him see the small blush she'd felt appear on her cheeks after that.

"W-what do you mean?" She asked in a slight stutter as she gently rubbed her nose.

Sombra walked away completely, sitting next to her as he looked back at her. Twilight raised her head once more and returned hers. Seeing that she was now giving him her full attention, he began to speak.

"Although I could never tell any pony of my race, I realized long ago that our own presence alone has the capacity to cause quite drastic changes in the way time passes in this place," he explained in a deep and calm tone, avoiding any possible startle. "After experiencing it for myself, I discovered that even the permanence of a single Umbrum was necessary for the passing of the moons to occur much more quickly than in the outside world."

Twilight soon understood what he meant. And one way or another, she was quite surprised when she did.

"You're trying to tell me... That if you're here, time contracts?" She asked in doubt, feeling a little more surprised when he answered her with a simple gesture of assent; but she still needed to clarify it completely. "But you had told me that this could be random, that even if there were more of your kind, time could become slower or faster compared to the outside without anypony to intervene."

Sombra tilted his head slightly, as if he was thinking of a better answer to give her.

"Everything I told you is true," he said, "but what I also mean is that time, in our presence, tends more to contract than to dilate, or, in other words, to become faster," he clarified, smiling at Twilight's slightly gaping expression. "That is why when they disappeared and did not return, there was nothing to prevent the slow passage of the years again compared to the outside world."

"Which suggests that now that you're here the process is reversed," Twilight added, waiting for Sombra's confirmation, indeed, to give her.

"It seems so," he said in a low, simple tone.

Finally, with some weariness in her voice, Twilight replied to his words as she began to settle into place.

"It's okay," she whispered and rested her head between her crossed forelegs. "Then I just hope that when we get out of here there hasn't been such a drastic change from that..." A soft yawn escaped her mouth. "I really hope so."

Letting out one last gasp of tiredness, Twilight stretched out her hind legs, adjusted her body, and finally closed her eyes to take her well-deserved rest. Sombra watched her all the time without saying anything else, knowing that for now, in reality, there was nothing more to say.

After letting out one last breath, he turned his gaze once more to that point. They were gone, but their oppressive presence still lingered in the air, menacing and subtle. And in the face of this, he simply couldn't let his guard down.

Sombra settled into his place, similar to what Twilight had done, but he did not close his eyes. It was going to take him a long time to fall asleep, at least until he was sure that the danger had passed... for now.

Twilight calmly looked at the snow that had accumulated on the side of the road. However, in addition to being immersed in that quiet observation, there was also a lot of scientific curiosity stored inside her that made her want to go and investigate that strange climate further.

Because this time neither of them was on the top of a very high mountain, nor by chance of life had winter come to that place, as Sombra had explained to her when she had had a chance to ask him, so it remained partly a mystery. Because of this, she felt compelled to go, find out the unexplained cause of it, and determine how the wild magic of the forest that she had previously felt had an influence.

However, that had to wait for now.

Twilight looked away from the road and went to where the stallion was waiting for her. She stopped next to him, right at the entrance to a large clearing, taking in the sight of ruins destroyed by nature.

A place that, even though it had been abandoned long ago, still retained a good part of the magic that its habitants had impregnated in every house, every rock and every forgotten and ruined corner.

And she could feel it perfectly.

Author's Note

Sorry to disappear for so long.

I will return as long as inspiration reaches me and the block allows me to.

I hope you enjoyed it.