Sombra liked Hope. That was the easiest way to put it. Miss Chestnut had told her that Sombra may have difficulty understanding her (which he did), so the first thing she did was grab what was called ‘books’. He only partly understood what the stories were but as she spoke he followed her eyes and the number of words she said, and slowly he started to relate certain letter combinations with those words.
“Hey, do you have your own language?” Hope asked with heavy curiosity. Sombra nodded and she eagerly sat in front of him.
“What’s hello?”
“Hueeleio” Sombra told her rather quietly, he had lapped down the bowl of water yet his voice was still a little weak.
“weelio?”
“Hueeleio”
“Hueeleio…That good?” she asked. Sombra nodded again but with more enthusiasm.
“So if you have a language do you have writing as well? Like this” Hope asked pointing at the letters in the book. Nodding again Hope got a little excited. She sprinted out of the room for a moment before retuning with a ‘notebook’ and pencil. Opening it onto a blank page she gave him the pencil.
Sombra could remember his parents teaching him the alphabet at one point. They didn’t often write but him and his cousins did sometimes scratch and stain rocks. So using what he remembered he wrote down the versions of Umbrull letters. They for one went down the page which fascinated Hope along with their swirling shapes.
“So, how do you say them?” Sombra just stared at her, before it clicked what she must have meant, he took a deep breath.
“aa, bee, cuu, di, ee, fi, gi, hue, ii, jee, kai, lei, mai, nai, oo, pai, quu, ree, sou, tee, uu, vee, wee, xii, you, zee”
“that’s like ours!” she then repeated out theirs which did indeed sound similar. The pair of them sat there for the next hour matching together the letters that link. Doing so Sombra started to learn Ponish, while Hope started to learn Umbrull. But they weren’t very good at teaching each other. Then there was the ring of a bell.
“Tea’s ready kids!” they heard shouted through the floor. Hope leaped of the bed.
“Come on, food” she said to him, just as she bumped into Miss Chestnuts legs.
“mm? srr hp” her muffled voice apologised through the plate in her mouth. It smelt good surprisingly since Sombra had a feeling it consisted entirely of plants. Walking around Hope she placed it down on the bedside table.
“Go have your tea Hope”
“Okay” Hope left leaving Sombra and Miss Chestnut in the room again. Looking at the plate Sombra saw a red chunky liquid with large green veggies in it. then there was a flat weird thing. He had no clue what he was looking at.
“It’s green bean curry and nann. I know you eat meat but we don’t have that” She picked up a fork while stabbing one of the beans lifting up the red sauce as well. She pointed at his nose which Sombra sniffed curiously before he slightly opened his mouth, only for Miss Chestnut to force the food in. He expected to crunch but instead it was oddly soft. Despite that it was an herbal taste that came to his tongue which he didn’t half mind.
“That nice?” she asked him, the fact that he swallowed was enough confirmation for her. So she picked up another fork full to feed to him. Rather quickly did the curry disappear, in fact Sombra cleared his plate, he even liked his lips.
“So, do you like Hope?” she asked him, silently hoping at least someone would like her. She got another nod.
“well that’s good” then she noticed the papers strewn across the bed. She noticed what they were teaching each other.
“I guess I might as well teach you how to speak” she said as she ruffled through the papers. Sombra watched the door creak open again and was rather happy to see Hope there. She trotted through hand hopped onto the bed to sit next to him.
“did you eat all your tea Hope?”
“yep”
“I’ll leave you two together then until bed” Miss Chestnut started to leave the room, but just as her tail was about to leave Hope called out to her.
“Do you know Umbrull miss?” she asked. Miss Chestnut reappeared in the doorway again.
“Yes I do. Let me guess, you want me to teach you it”
“Please” Hoped begged her.
“Alright, I’ll start teaching you tomorrow shall I. Sombra needs to learn ponish anyway” with that promise she left. They sat there for a little while in silence, until Hope yawned. Sombra noticed how tired and lazy she suddenly was, he felt the same. Looking behind him he saw the sky had turned gold and red. It was his turn to yawn and his face split open all the way to the back, half rotten teeth lined it. Hope stared at him in shock.
“Why is your mouth so big?” she asked, he looked at her confused. Neither new how to answer in their tired state. Sombra just thought his mouth was normal and her yawn was small. They sat there again in silence for a long time, each nodding of as the sun set. It was Sombra though who was the first to properly drift off.
The word was dark and damp around him. He didn’t know where he was. But there was mud beneath him, and he could hear the trees rustle. Standing up he looked around him. There was only the light of the stars to illuminate his way for the moon was new. It was eerily silent, he couldn’t hear his own breathing. He continued forward through the mud, he could see a light in the distance. A faint golden glow like a fire.
He found something lying in the mud. He could smell blood, it was a body. Looking down upon it Sombra noted how it was pin cushioned with arrows. Despite the dark he could recognise the face.
“sirry?” he believed he spoke, he couldn’t hear himself. He nuzzled the stallions head desperately, for at least some form of a response. Yet there was none.
“wake up!” he shouted as he tugged at his sire’s ear.
“please!” he begged without noticing the golden light drawing nearer. He tugged at his sire again and again only for his face to start crumbling. Tears started to drip from his eyes as he collapsed down next to his sire.
Something tall and gangly approached. But it was fast despite seemingly walking. The glow was atop its head and it was pony like. Then it lunged and Sombra looked up in terror to see a set of gnarly teeth
“AAAAA” he shot upwards from his sleep, sweat trickled down his head. He panted and whimpered. He curled up into his sheets, hiding under the covers by instincts. Shivering he cried. He didn’t fall asleep again that night.