//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Frienimies // by Melody_Wings //------------------------------// His head hurt... A terrible pain throbbed repeatedly through his mind as he stirred, another in his right hoof. Groaning, he tried to lift his aching body off the bed he had been lying on for... Wait, bed? Sombra immediately opened his eyes to find himself in a small and unfamiliar room. And it wasn't crystal. Panicking, Sombra lifted his head to try to understand where he was, only to receive confusion by the room's looks. The tiny suite gave of a warm red glow despite having no red in it. Purple and white spirals covered the walls, giving off the illusion of movement. The windows were cresent-shaped, and dotted about randomly on the walls. Some paintings littered the walls. Sombra moved his aching head to look at them yet only manager to confuse himself more as the paintings were moving! Sombra desperately lit his horn to teleport away from this frightening place yet nothing happens. He tried again but his horn didn't even show a spark. "Stupid horn," he muttered, cursing the world. Princess Lovey-Dovey was sure to find him if he didn't leave soon. He thought about going back to the forest but then re-thought it. Something wanted to kill him, he was sure of it. It must be Princess Lovey-Dovey and her Princess Squad. Who else would be brave enough to go against the most powerful unicorn in Equestria? Not that they were brave, they were the most cowardly cowards there ever was, are and will be. Hiding in their little towers, waiting for a miracle to save them from the constant dangers they keep looking for. He tried lighting his horn again but to no avail. He was stuck here. Unless... Sombra tried lifting a hoof, groaning. The pain was electric. Clenching his teeth, he crawled off the surprisingly comfortable bed and flipped his beaten-up body onto the floor. He tried getting up but kept failing miserably. Groaning, he contracted his body, whimpering slightly at the pain, and extracted it, moving in some sort of formation of a crystalworm. Every few moves, he cursed the stupid princesses, especially Lovey-Dovey. Sweat lingered on his back as he shuffled forwards, towards the door. Finally reaching it, he clambered up to his hooves, shakily, and reached out his left hoof towards the doorknob. Big mistake. His blood-red eyes widened with realisation as he felt something rip in his right front hoof and he came crashing down to the floor, swearing under his breath as he tried getting up again... *** The loud noise coming from upstairs startled Fluttershy, who has been sitting on her couch reading 'The Pony of the Opera' with great interest. She glanced at the window to see that it was already around late evening. She quickly put down the library book and hastily made her way up the stairs, groaning inwardly at the fact that he had to gain consciousness now, right in the middle of a good book she borrowed off Twilight. Her thoughts lingered on the lavender mare as how she was starting to sound like her bookish friend but shook them off. After taking a deep breath, Fluttershy entered the guest room. What she saw surprised her greatly as she found herself face-to-face with a certain scowling, former King of Shadows. He grunted before crashing to the floor and Fluttershy's horror, did not move. Fluttershy immediately started checking for his pulse and realised that he had only lost consciousness. She glanced over at his face, almost giggling at his current situation. A mighty (well, not so much after the events at the Crystal Empire) unicorn King literally lying unconscious before a weak pegasus mare. She immediately scoulded herself for thinking in such a mean way about him and began thinking about his wounds. To her terror, she noticed that most of her neat stitching had came undone and her bandaged were dirty and blood-soaked. Fluttershy managed to carefully lift him onto his bed, he was actually not that heavy because of his forest weeks, and began unravelling his bandages. She dashed out the room to grab the first aid kit, a needle and some thread, bottle of disinfectant and a painkiller. Her gestures reminded her of the afternoon when she just brought him into her care. Hearing a groan coming from the room, she galloped into the room again with her medical supplies to find her eyes were met with confused red ones. She squeaked and hid behind the door, dropping the stuff she had been carrying. When she finally felt brave enough to see what he was doing, she felt surprised that he had not moved at all. Instead, he seemed to have been watching her with great interest. Slowly, Fluttershy crept up to him until they were about a leg away from each other. "Um... Hi Sombra," whispered Fluttershy, hiding behind her mane. "I am Fluttershy, you probably don't remember but I was there at the Crystal Empire when you... Um... Came back all... Um... Um... Scary." 'Nice going, Fluttershy!' a voice commented. She shook her head, thinking that it was her imagination. She saw that the armour- less former-king was staring emotionless at her. "Anyway, I am looking after you here. This is my cottage... Your in the guest room... Um..." She started feeling uncomfortable being the only one speaking but swallowed the feeling away as she continued her one-sided conversation in hope of something she did not know yet. He cocked his head to one side and whispered in a quiet, raspy voice. "Wounds... How? Attacked?" He knew better than to trust a little pegasus filly but he bet that she was so scared, she probably won't even dream about lying. "Oh... Well... Um..." Fluttershy stammered. "I found you in the Everfree Forest very weak and I took you in." she muttered, quietly, avoiding his eye contact. The silence thickened for a few minutes until Fluttershy whispered "Can I have you right front hoof, if you don't mind..." Sombra's eyes narrowed as his gaze flickered between his partly unbandaged hoof to her teal eyes and back at his hoof again. Reluctantly, he gave in, extending his hoof and watched curiously as she began her work on his hoof. 'Why did she take me in?' was his last thought for the day as he slipped out of consciousness. 'Stupid filly...'