Healing Shadows (My Little Pony)

Nightly Walk

When the moon finally dawned the sky, Meadowbrook held Sombra’s hoof, much to his annoyance, and guided him out of the hut. The population of Hayseed Swamp was still lively, playing music on the bridges and fishing the waters for glowfishes.

Meadowbrook and Shadow Grove were greeted by the populace and even cheered by some much to Meadowbrook’s annoyance. Some of her ponies would entertain the idea that the two were an item and engaged in acts while couped up in her small hut. Obviously she would denounce this, but Shadow Grove seemed to take delight in her embarrassment and chose not to help her in her case. She never figured him to be so petty...okay maybe, but not in this case.

“Must you continue harassing me with your filthy hoof,” Sombra commented as he tried to pull his hoof away from Meadowbrook, but the mare held her grip.

“Not unless you mind falling on the dirt,” Meadowbrook said. “Then you’d be no different from a mudpony, wouldn’t you?”

“You have a lot of nerves comparing me to your kind,” Sombra growled. “I’ll have you know that I ruled everypony with an iron hoof.”

“Oh for goodness sake,” Meadowbrook sighed. “We’re not going to be arguing at each other through the whole walk, are we? I’d be more interested in hearing more about your past.”

“Hmph,” Sombra harrumphed. “Fine then. Basking back into my younger days would remove the horrible sight of this unsanitary place.”

These were the only conversations where the two could ever compromise on. Memories of a time that made sense to them, where everything felt normal and familiar. Meadowbrook thought she had found peace in her new reality, but for somepony like Sombra who has infested his ties with anger and cruelty may have a much harder time to look forward.

“My rise to power began with my long strife to comprehend the power of dark magic,” Sombra started. “ Though it may be hard to believe, I was quite inept with magic in the beginning. Often I would lag behind other unicorns, but as I grew close to the darkness and quelled into the shadows of creatures and the magic crystals themselves, I became something that no other became an equal to..”

“That’s nice and all,” Meadowbrook intervened before Sombra became overbearingly passionate in his speech. “But could you go a few more years back. I really like the stories about your foalhood. You sound so much more innocent and pure in that time.”

“It was a lie that I was living,” Sombra retorted. “I could never fit it with crystal ponies as their equals. They scoffed at my weakness and so I became something more than what they could ever dream of.”

“Did you hate your foalhood that much?” Meadowbrook wondered.

“...No,” Sombra admitted. “Despite it being an illusion, there were plenty of blissful moments. Especially with her.”

“I would think so,” Meadowbrook smiled. “She was your best friend.”

“She was,” Sombra said. “But I wanted more than just that.”

“You were in love with her?”

“How could I have not fallen for her?” Sombra remarked. “She was the only one to accept me for who I was. And her company always brightened the darkness around me. If only she was still alive, I would have…”

“It’s hard to imagine that everypony we knew is now long gone in the past, isn’t it?” Meadowbrook asked. “When I came to realize that my old family had long passed and been replaced with a whole new generation, it was something I had a hard time coming to grips with. I made that choice for myself when I joined my friends in limbo but seeing that all of it was the result of a misunderstanding...It makes me have some regrets. I don’t like thinking too hard about it, so maybe that’s why I decided to start a whole business and teach a whole bunch of creatures about my herbs. And maybe that’s why I’m helping you as well if I’m being honest.”

“Two creatures lost to time,” Sombra mused. “Morbidly poetic, but that shall be irrelevant when I make my return to my empire.”

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Meadowbrook asked. “After everything you’ve done, do you really believe you’ll be welcomed back now.”

“Of course,” Sombra stated. “It’s my kingdom and I shall reclaim what is mine.”

“All you did was bring fear and disharmony to those ponies,” Meadowbrook argued. “Now that they’re finally happy, you want to take that away from them, again? Do you really think Radiant Hope would be happy about that?”

“She should have!” Sombra retorted. “I wanted to give her everything that she deserved. She told me that she loved me, so she shouldn’t have had no issue becoming my queen.”

“Whatever dark magic that you learned, Radiant didn’t like what it made you. Honestly, I think you should have left that kind of magic alone, to begin with. Maybe then this wouldn’t have happened to you.”

“It’s going to come back,” Sombra halted his movement as Meadowbrook followed suit.

“And if it doesn’t?”

“It has to,” Sombra stressed. “Where else would I go if it doesn’t?”

“Auntie Meadow?” Meadowbrook perked to a familiar voice that resounded beside the two ponies. Along their side was a large lake that revealed the Hayseed Swamp from the distance. On the coast of the lake, Meadowbrook noticed a young orange mare with a fishing rod within her hooves.

“Pye,” Meadowbrook said. “What’re you doing out here this late at night?”

“Fishing for glowfishes, remember,” Pye answered. “I found that a lot of them like to come over here at night, so I made this my spot.”

“Oh,” Meadowbrook said. “Well, that’s convenient.”

“Hi Shadow Grove,” Pye waved at Sombra. She then gasped when she noted how Sombra and Meadowbrook’s hooves, “Are you two finally dating?”

“What!?” Meadowbrook voiced and instinctively pushed Sombra away from him when she recognized she was holding his hoof. “Of course not. He’s just my patient.”

“So this is how you treat all your patients then,” Sombra voiced as he struggled to pick himself not.

“Of course not,” Meadowbrook defensively said as she stretched out a hoof for Sombra to pick upon.

“Well, if the two of you aren’t on a date,” Pye voiced. “Think you could mind helping me collect some glowfishes then?”

“I’m sorry, Pye,” Meadowbrook said. “Maybe after I finish walking my patient I’ll come back and join you. Shadow Grove here doesn’t like fishing.”

“This is actually an acceptable scenery,” Sombra said. “It would be wasteful to not bask on this sight.”

“Huh?” Meadowbrook was surprised. “You weren’t saying that earlier.”

“Then go ahead grab a spare rod,” Pye said. “I’m looking to have dozens.”