The bowls were empty, and had been for longer than she knew how to track. Fluttershy lay on her side on the cold floor, not fully conscious but unable to drift into merciful sleep. When she heard the door open—a sound at last!—she hardly had the energy to twist her head around to look.
“Prisoner! I am in need of information,” Sombra announced. Fluttershy stared with glassy eyes. “Up, you lazy worm! Stand so I can address you!”
Fluttershy wasn’t afraid of his anger. There was little more he could do to her, she thought, that would noticeably increase her already great suffering. Nonetheless, it was something to do. Her stiff, starving body worked and pushed until Fluttershy was just barely balanced in a drooping sit. Sombra watched her struggle wordlessly, his frown deepening but his eyes softening.
“Your bowls are empty, I see.” With his magic he refilled the water bowl. Fluttershy turned toward it and shifted her weight as if to begin walking across the room for a drink, but instead her front legs gave out and she slumped back onto the floor.
“Flimsy mortals,” Sombra grumbled. Seeing that Fluttershy was too weak to reach the water, the shadow King lifted her in his magic, teleported the bed back into the room, sat on it, and then sat Fluttershy right in front of him so he could support her in the upright position. Then he levitated over the bowl of water and tilted it up to her lips. She drank greedily and in no time had emptied the bowl. Meanwhile, Sombra held and watched her, and his eyes lit up with an idea.
“There now, that should do for the moment. See? I want to take care of you, little pony, but I can only do that if you cooperate. Just answer a few questions for me, and I’ll give you more water, and food too. And I’ll come back more often to make sure you never run all the way out. Does that sound good?”
“Why should I believe you?” Fluttershy croaked.
Sombra shrugged. “I don’t think you have any other choice, really.”
“They’ll come for me. I just have to… keep waiting...”
“Ha!” Sombra twisted Fluttershy around and held her by the shoulders so he could look her in the face. “Don’t you think if they really cared, they’d have come already? It seems they have much more important things to do than come rescue such a helpless creature as yourself.”
Fluttershy was about to exclaim “That’s not true!” but when she opened her mouth, her stomach heaved and expelled the water she’d drunk all over the bed and the King.
Sombra sat dripping and speechless for a moment as Fluttershy collapsed on her side in the filth.
“...Let’s get a bath, and then we’ll talk.”
The bed and Sombra’s soiled apparel vanished, and a large tub appeared in the room. First Sombra stepped in and magically poured water over himself as a rinse. Then he stepped out, put Fluttershy in the tub, and did the same to her. Once all the nasty water had drained away, it refilled with clean, steaming hot water. Sombra stepped back in with Fluttershy.
“There,” Sombra purred, lathering his hooves with soap. “Isn’t this nice?” He began rubbing the soap into Fluttershy’s fur, starting at her neck and working his way down her shoulders and back. Fluttershy merely shut her eyes and stood still, willing the ordeal to be over.
When he started getting too close to her hindquarters, Fluttershy suddenly allowed her legs to buckle and plunged herself under the water. Immediately, she rubbed at her left ear, cleaning away all the fermenting blood and pus from the puncture wound while she had the chance. Sombra soon lifted her back up, and in response she gave her whole body a shake, flinging water into the stallion’s face.
“Heh, fiesty.” He chuckled. “Even when you’re half-dead. Come now. I will feed you, and you will answer questions.” Fluttershy’s sunken eyes grew wide at the word “feed”. Sombra rinsed and toweled them both off and then brought back the now-clean bed.
Fluttershy sat on it and looked down at herself. It was such a relief to be clean at last! Her coat was a shade darker than it should have been, and every one of her ribs were visible. Then Sombra took her and settled her in his lap again, levitating an apple tart before her face.
It withdrew when she reached toward it.
“Not yet, little mare. I need you to talk to me. Let’s start with this: What did you do for a living before I brought you here?”
Surely there could be no harm in answering such a question. The tart was still hanging before her face and Fluttershy’s mouth was watering.
“I rehabilitate animals, and I am a teacher at Twilight’s school.”
“Ah, very interesting.” The tart floated up to Fluttershy’s mouth and she took a large bite before it retreated again. “You and this Twilight, you were always together in your little group. Tell me, what are all the others’ names?”
Fluttershy did not answer this time. Sombra waited and then answered himself.
“Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie… You see, I already know. Care to continue?”
“Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Starlight.”
“Good, good.” Sombra gave Fluttershy another bite. “And remind me, which one are you?”
“Fluttershy.”
“Fluttershy,” he repeated. “And I am King Sombra. Here.” The rest of the apple tart floated into Fluttershy’s mouth, and then a glass of water appeared before her. She took it and guzzled it down.
“Now that you’re feeling a little better, Fluttershy, let’s move to some harder questions.” A bowl of hot carrot soufflé now appeared out of the mare’s reach. “When you and your friends recently attacked me in the Crystal Empire, you used the power of some gemstones, which I then destroyed. What were the names of those stones?”
“The Elements of Harmony.” A bite of soufflé rewarded her answer.
“And six of you each wielded an element. What was the name of your element?”
“Kindness.” Another bite.
“Fluttershy, Element of Kindness, I noticed that after I destroyed your elements, you and your friends were still able to perform the same magic. How can that be?”
Now Fluttershy broke out in a sweat. While she would never want to keep friendship or its many benefits from anycreature, she knew if she taught Sombra about it now, when he was trying to take over Equestria again, he’d find some way to weaponize it like Cozy Glow did.
“Weren’t you paying attention to us last time we used our magic against you? If you didn’t listen then, I’m not about to tell you now!” Fluttershy crossed her hooves.
“I see.” The soufflé teleported away. “I do so wish to take care of you, Fluttershy, but I can only do so if you cooperate.”
Fluttershy merely shook her head. Sombra drew himself up to his full height on the bed and levitated his prisoner up before his face.
“If I can’t reward you for your obedience, then I’m afraid I must punish you for your obstinance. Either way, I will get my answers! Do you change your mind?”
Fluttershy trembled within Sombra’s magical grip, but after a moment, she meekly shook her head. Purple flames immediately burst from her eyes and Sombra’s as he whirled her into nightmarish fantasy.
The elements flew to the ground and shattered. Then, one by one, each of her friends stepped forward and shattered too. Fluttershy was alone and the glowing eyes all opened to laugh at her again. And as they laughed, Fluttershy felt herself growing bigger and bigger, and fangs grew in her mouth and the feathers fell from her wings, leaving behind terrible, membranous bat wings. When she reached full bat pony form, she couldn’t stop herself from rampaging about and capturing the owner of each set of mocking eyes in her teeth, and she would bleed her prey into husks and leave them barely alive to suffer. Her friends were gone and in her grief she had transformed into the embodiment of cruelty.
Aching and weak, Fluttershy moaned as she regained consciousness. She found herself lying in a corner of the room, bruised all over from thrashing about against the stone. Horror filled her as she floated upward in Sombra’s magical grip again. He was still standing on the bed, a look of amusement on his face.
“Ready for round two? Or will you answer my question now? How did you and your friends use your magic again after I destroyed the source of your power?”
Fluttershy shuddered and panted in fear. And the corners of her eyes were still burning, unbearably burning, from the flames of Sombra’s possession. “It’s friendship!” She burst into tears. “It wasn’t the elements that made the magic; it was our bond as friends!”
“Good pony,” Sombra cooed, setting her back on the bed. “Now, I wish to experience sleep again. Do as you did before, and if it works, I will leave you food and water again when I wake.” He laid himself flat on his stomach and Fluttershy moved over to begin massaging out his muscles, her tears still freely flowing. After a while, when her weeping stopped and Sombra had grown still, Fluttershy sang her lullaby and soon fell asleep herself.