Faint
"Sometimes... horror hides in the open sight. Stay away from the light!" a trembling female voice befell Sombra's ears as he walked through the forest.
The trees, every single one of them, were crooked and rotten, and yet leaves, long and tough, with edges sharper than razors, were still growing on these lifeless husks. Their branches looked more like hands with long sharp claws, ready to tear through him at any moment. The grass was dry and pale, crunching sounds echoed through the woods, making the leaves shudder, unused to any sound in this forgotten forest. The shadows, even though there was no light at all, were still present in the form of bubbling boiling puddles. Sombra carefully approached one of them and tried to touch it with his hoof, but quickly jumped back as the unknown creature jumped out of the goo and tried to bite him.
Shadows were his enemies; that much he knew now. He continued onward, avoiding the deadly shadows, and sticking to the small amount of sturdy ground left here.
There were no sounds of nature; this forest was completely devoid of any life. No crickets, no birds, not even fireflies. Sombra was all alone here... alone to face something that was hunting him.
As he stepped over another shadow, Sombra heard gurgling sounds and hoofsteps. It sounded like somepony sick, with the sound of frequent coughs sounding through the air. Suddenly, a barrage of light pierced the total darkness. It was like a sword cutting through the body of an evil creature, a beacon during the storm. Sombra felt the need to bask in its warming embrace, step out of the shadows and rest. But he remembered the warning the soft voice of his mother had given him at the beginning. Avoid the light.
The gurgling became louder as he heard something approaching him, tearing through the bushes and crushing the grass underneath its hooves. It was getting closer and closer, and, at last, it revealed itself by speaking.
"Sombra! Come out! I won't hurt you!" Amethyst said in a worried voice, treading carefully through the woods. Sombra hid in the bush, resisting the desire to scream from pain as the leaves cut into his flesh. Amethyst stepped out of the thicket, revealing himself.
His body looked scratched and torn. There were large scars on his chest and sides. It seemed the leaves had left a sign of him as well. His hooves were covered in grey dust as well as the remains of grass. He’d probably ran. His face wore an expression of fear, worry, and pain at the same time.
But the scariest feature of his were his eyes. They were burning bright with flames, whose light Sombra mistook for the beacon that was coming from his eyes. When the boy's eyes adapted to the semidarkness he was using as cover, he saw the white of Amethyst's eyes being completely red, filled with blood. It was literally overflowing, and dripping from his eyeballs, forming small drops and running down his face and cheeks.
"Sombra! Please, show yourself! Where are you?" his father anxiously called out, looking worriedly around. Sombra shrunk in the bush even more, trying not to breathe, trying to hide his existence from Amethyst.
"I won't hurt you! I am your friend, your father. Please, come out!" he called out again, his voice trembling like he was about to burst into tears.
Sombra was struck by a thought, ‘what if he's being honest right now?’ What if this was his real father, the real Amethyst? He carried the light of hope in his eyes, destroying the darkness, the dark forces had tried to stop him, tried to kill him, but he had endured, and now he’d come for his only son.
What if the voice had been mistaken? What if this was just a false whisper from the dark forest? Sombra lifted his head, and looked at his tormented father, took a deep breath and stepped outside the bush.
"Father! I'm here!" he shouted, and Amethyst turned his head towards the poor boy. The light blinded Sombra for a second, but it was a pleasant pain, like the one he’d imagine to feel when he’d finally leave a dark cave to bask in the rays of the burning sun.
Sombra rubbed his eyes, smiling, happy to feel something besides pain and cold. But when his eyes adapted and he looked upon his father again, he finally understood the message given to him.
Evil was hiding in plain sight. Only stepping into the light allowed Sombra to see behind the mask of the innocent tormented body. The vile monster, with his maw wide open, reeked of booze and cheap liquor. The veins on his neck were swollen, pulsating in time with the heartbeat. Its belly was a huge blister, filled with some disgusting liquid, which bubbled and made him gag each time he moved.
"Found you!" the monster cooed, pinning its burning eyes right at Sombra. It slowly started moving towards him, opening its mouth, aiming to gobble him up. The stench of rot and bile steamed from his mouth as Sombra backed away. It seemed the bush and trees behind him disappeared, evaporated, when touched by the gaze of this creature.
"Weakling! You are pathetic!" Monster-Amethyst growled as he cornered Sombra and prepared to devour him.
***
After a gentle pat on the shoulder, Sombra sprung up, awaken from the horrifying nightmare. He shuddered for a second and shook his head, still trying to process everything in his brain, struggling to separate the dream from reality. Blurred spots appeared in his sight. It seemed he’d shaken his head too violently.
After he’d gotten accustomed to the light, he quickly looked around, trying to find the pony who gave him what saved him from the horrific nightmare. He only found Krystal, who stared at him anxiously.
"Are you alright?" she asked in a worried voice. Sombra, disappointed by this discovery, sighed and turned back to the empty table.
"Yes. I am. As always," Sombra said, rubbing his eyes. What did she want with him, this strange girl with bright smile?
"I was just taking a nap, nothing more. Can't I just sleep for half a minute?" Sombra groused in a quite rude manner. Krystal's face changed from anxiety to passive disappointment.
"Sorry, didn't want to disturb you. I thought you were having a bad dream. You were all twitching and whispering to yourself. It looked very creepy, and I thought it would be a good idea to wake you up," she apologized in a slightly disappointed tone. It was clear she didn't like Sombra's attitude. But he was bothered by another thing.
"So... you were watching me... sleep?" he raised his eyebrow and eyed her accusingly. Krystal's cheeks were filled with bright red color in seconds. She opened her eyes widely, gazing at Sombra with confusion and a little bit of shame.
"Wha... I didn't... No! No, I didn't!" she said in an abashed voice. "How could you even think that?"
"It wasn't that hard to figure out. Why do you even bother? Who am I to you? Why do you waste your time on me?" Sombra asked in a serious tone, after any shyness was finally defeated by irritation and just simple curiosity. Krystal looked at him with signs of mixed anger and disappointment.
"I just wanted to help you. Nothing more. You were sitting there, completely alone, maybe even in pain, and I thought I could help you," she said in a quiet voice, and Sombra felt very bad for being so rude.
"You know, it's hard to find friends nowadays. I thought I would find some luck with you. I mean, lonely ponies are always more interesting than sociable," she continued, and now Sombra just felt like a complete jerk. "I think I shall go now, since my help is not required."
Two voices started arguing in Sombra's head. One was telling him to just let her leave, that his mission had been accomplished, and he’d be finally left alone. He did perfectly on his own with a small help from Iron Wheel. He could continue to live on his own just alright. The other told him to abandon the lonely life and try to make a friend – a real friend.
Sombra was torn between the two possibilities, between going back to his old style of life, and trying out something new: something unknown, mysterious, complex. Like a land, never explored before with blooming flowers and trees, looking so beautiful, but also hiding something inside of it. The land of social interaction. Something that Sombra had tended to avoid for these two years. But maybe, the time had come to change everything?
"Wait... no... please... don't go. I'm sorry," Sombra stuttered, before she could turn and walk away. "I didn't mean to offend you... It just doesn't happen that often... That ponies just come up to me and offer to help."
The choice had been made.
"You mean this isn't the first time you are just sitting here without food?" Krystal asked, her expression changing to curiosity. Sombra was glad to see that she’d quickly exchanged the temper-justice for mercy.
"Yes... I—" Sombra started stammering, reluctant to share any of his problems with his new supposed friend, but he drove away the doubt and spat it out. "I don't have the money to buy food."
"Ow.... Do you want me to share with you? Don't worry, I'm not hungry. Need to lose weight anyway," Krystal said and sat down without even asking for permission, probably on instinct. Sombra didn't mind, he wanted to ask her to take a seat anyway.
Suddenly, she slammed her forehead with her hoof and laughed for a second.
"Oh my, I just realized. We were just talking for such a long time, and I haven't even introduced myself. I'm so sorry!" she said, smiling awkwardly. "My name's Krystal! What's your name?"
"I'm Sombra. Nice to meet you," he replied. It felt kind of weird to know her name even before she introduced herself, but what could he do?
"Sombra? Wow... Did your parents name you after a character from 'A Runaway from Fate'?" she asked, looking very intrigued and interested. Sombra arched an eyebrow. ‘'A Runaway from Fate'? What could that be?’ he wondered.
"What? I don't know anything about any runaways..." he replied whereupon Krystal giggled.
"It's a very well-known book. A classic, even. Written by Dostrotevsky fifty years ago, it tells the story of a simple pony, who rose from a simple merchant to the king of the merchant's guild," Krystal explained, looking somewhere afar, lost in her memories of the book. "However, he achieves all of this through horrifying methods, and thus, he will be punished by fate for his crimes. He tries to escape it, but in the end, it catches up and delivers the final blow to him, as cholera takes the life of a mare he loved."
"Ow... that's grim," Sombra noted, looking at Krystal with a little bit of confusion. He heard that book had three volumes over 1000 pages each. And this girl had read it all?
"I really like that book. I can't help but sympathize with the main character. Even though he makes a lot of mistakes on his way to power, somewhere deep inside, he is a good pony," she absentmindedly said, smiling and looking at the ceiling. It seemed she enjoyed this little fantasy of hers. Maybe that hero was her first love, who knew? Sombra smiled to this. He hadn’t read too much fiction, except the fairytales he and Willemite had read when he was only learning to read. He couldn't recall the exact titles, but the cute heroes of those small books with nice drawings would forever stay in his memory.
"Alright... I guess that's a very good book, if you like it so much. I wish I could read it," Sombra lamented, and Krystal suddenly turned bright and shining.
"You want to read it? Cool!" she cried, jumping up from the bench. "Let us go to the library at once. They ought to have a few copies of the first volume!"
"But... I don't have any money to pay for it," Sombra weakly gainsaid, but Krystal just smiled.
"Do not worry – money is no problem. I'll pay for you!"
"No... No, you really shouldn't" the boy said, feeling completely embarrassed. Just a few minutes ago, Krystal wanted to leave, and now she wanted to help him, this time not just by giving him sandwiches, but by paying real money? So embarrassing!
"Pff, don't worry. It's no problem at all! Come on, let's go to the library!" she said and promptly started dragging Sombra along. He could barely do anything, as the swift mare made her way through the cafeteria hall, dragging this half-lifeless dark body along with her. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks.
"I think I forgot something... Oh yes!" she exclaimed suddenly. "I forgot to eat. Are you hungry?"
Sombra only nodded silently and she quickly dragged him back to the table, put him on the bench, ran away, and returned with the same box as yesterday in seconds. The boy couldn't even catch a breath. Krystal was far too fast for him to follow, so full of energy, so quick, nimble, so alive. She smiled at him, and he smiled awkwardly in return as she offered him the delicious sandwiches.
"They're all yours! Eat up, and let's go! The library doesn't stay open the whole day!" she urged impatiently as Sombra gobbled up one sandwich after another. Salad, butter, just plain bread – he didn't care. They tasted so good, he couldn't stop.
Soon, Krystal's lunch box was completely empty, but she smiled widely and giggled.
"He-he, that's some appetite! So, should we go?" she asked, and Sombra nodded, still getting used to the feeling of having his stomach filled.
They slowly went out of the cafeteria, for Sombra was far too full to walk faster, whereof Krystal couldn't stop joshing about. He didn't mind, and just giggled along with her as they made their way through the school corridors.
***
The snowflakes were dancing in the wind, slowly falling down on the ground, as well as upon shoulders and backs of adult and young ponies. Just as always, the parents came to meet their children. They took their bags, so their beloved little pony wouldn't feel burdened and ventured onward home as it was getting colder.
Sombra and Krystal walked side by side, with her looking around dreamily, gazing at the beauty of the winter, and him barely managing to keep his school bag from crushing him into goo. The rumors weren't lying – 'A Runaway from Fate' was just as humongous as they said. Along with other books Sombra had to carry, it piled up into an unbearable load that his weakened body couldn't handle. The effects of starving for a few days had finally shown themselves. The nutritious lunch provided by Krystal gave him some strength to carry on and not to fall into the snow.
"I can help you, if you want," Krystal said, turning her head to cast a concerned look at her friend. Sombra forced a smile out of himself.
"Don't worry. I got this!" he assured, crushing another pile of snow under his hoof.
Sombra looked through the crowd in the hope he’d spot Iron Wheel, but he was nowhere to be seen. It seemed the sight of him and Krystal walking side by side had scared him off. He was still in doubts.
Krystal seemed nice; she definitely wasn't anything of those horrible things that Iron Wheel had described. In fact, Sombra was still unsure who exactly she was. Her expensive warm clothes gave away a child with parents who didn't lack money. Her positive and friendly attitude would usually make her a very sociable pony, an 'everypony's must-have friend', but she didn't seem to say hello to any other pony they passed by. She didn't even pay any attention to the crowd around her; she seemed to be sucked in by the beauty of the nature.
As they went farther from school, the snow started falling harder, turning from innocent snowflakes into a thick wall of white. Krystal smiled and ran a little bit faster, losing herself in the milky fog. Sombra could barely slog through snow, but he too hurried up, trying to catch up with his companion. He could only track her by the hoofprints in the snow.
While on his way, he glanced at the view around him. He looked at lonely trees, which stood like powerful giants holding the white milky clouds on their shoulders. The white veil only revealed the outlines, but they could not be mistaken for anything else – the sturdy pillars that reached to the very skies from young Sombra's point of view. Tired of carrying his baggage, Sombra decided to stray from the path of hoofprints, and leaned on the nearest tree. It felt like heaven when the bag fell into the snow, the crunching sound of snow reaching his ears. He took a deep breath and just sat down nearby. The cold pierced his skin, but he was far too tired to get up and keep moving.
The exhaustion, the sleepless nights, the rough surface of the table he used to sleep on – it all piled up, at this exact moment. Sombra scratched his cheek on the rough bark of the tree, but the pain was almost unnoticeable. He was just so tired, he needed to rest. This seemed like a good enough spot.
The wind changed its tone from howling to lulling, the snow seemed fluffier than featherbed now. Sombra slowly closed his eyes as the cold turned to warmth, carrying him away to the land of dreams.
***
"Sombra! Sombra, wake up! Sombra!" Krystal shouted in a worried voice, shaking him, as the small white dust fell from his mane and fur. He didn't respond, but his chest was still moving up and down. He seemed alive enough.
Krystal was at a loss. What happened to him? She just went a little bit forward to check out the snowy landscape, and several minutes after she noticed that her companion was missing, she found him lying by the tree in the snow, just... sleeping. At first, a slight touch of confusion and annoyance reached her soul, but when Sombra didn't reply to her nagging, she was seriously scared.
"Wake up! Wake up!" she shouted, but his only response was some mumbling she couldn't understand. She looked around, hoping to find at least one pony passing by and ask for help, but fate gave her no such gifts.
Suddenly, after another push to the side, Sombra finally started to show signs of life, as he slowly moved his head and opened his eyes.
"Oh, thank the Emperor!" Krystal said, shaking him a few times more to help him get to his senses.
"Wha....?" Sombra uttered in a confused manner.
"You scared me to death! What happened to you?! I turn away for half a second and then I find you sleeping here!" she scolded in an angry voice, enraged by the stress and fear she had to endure.
"I... I...ehm...." Sombra said as he got up. He felt nauseous and he reeled from side to side, barely managing to stand on his hooves. Krystal managed to catch him before he fell again.
"You need to get home. Now!" she said and took his bag. "I'll carry it for you. Come on, let's go."
"I..." Sombra said, blinking, still trying to process what was going on around, but Krystal let him lean on her. After taking a few steps forward, making sure this construction was going to work, she took a long careful look at him.
"Oh, my.... I hope it's just the chilblain... you look so pale...” she said. Sombra looked at her, clearly not knowing what she meant.
"I'm... ooh... " Sombra started before fainting again. Krystal barely managed to prevent him from falling.
"Please, stop! You're scaring me! Stop!" she started freaking out, for she was left to only guess what was happening to him. She wanted to ask where to go, where he lived, but the only thing Sombra could utter right now was a weak moan.
"... just wait a second... just a second..." Krystal started babbling while she looked around in fear. She took a deep breath to calm down, and then started quickly taking off her fur coat and put it on Sombra, carefully trying to wrap it around his neck.
She looked around, trying to find a place that could provide further protection from snow. The outlines of an old summer house on the hill caught her attention, and she quickly dragged herself and her friend there.
The cold was biting her sides, but she continued to drag Sombra along up the hill. Through the entire path that seemed so difficult for a child, she never had a thought of backing down. She felt tired, cold, scared, the traitorous instinct of self-preservation was screaming to leave the burden and get somewhere warm, but she refused to even notice it. She carried on without any doubt.
When Krystal carefully put Sombra on the bench and sat down beside him, she could finally breathe calmly. The snowfall could no longer reach them, and Sombra was wrapped in her fuzzy coat that would protect him from the biting cold. She shivered when the slight breeze flew through the summer house, carrying several snowflakes inside. She started to quickly rub her hooves against each other as she waited for the storm to subside.
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3552645 I am happy that you are enjoying it!
Any thoughts on the characters so far?
Early update, I like it!
I wonder, if they stayed there for the whole day or maybe even the night would Amethyst even acknowledge Sombra was gone, or would he beat him up again for not arriving home.
And congrats on getting 50 likes!
That book you mentioned; what's it called?
3555038 "A runaway from fate"?
3555041
Is it a real fic or is it a fanfiction?
Sorry, stupid question.
3555079 It's a title of a book I came up with
3555082
I see.
beautiful just beautiful. This deserves to be on Equestria Daily.
3555442 I'll be working on that quite soon.
3555442
That's what I said. I know it's nowhere near the same exposure level, but I did put it here.
That's it,i finally made an account,out of every other story on fimfiction,for the year i knew about this site,your story compelled me to make a fucking account,not even 5 minutes ago was i done reading your chapter when it happened,i realized this was a fucking masterpiece! Look at that green bar on your ratings,ITS FUCKING IMMACULATE! Your story god damn groped me into fimfiction,and if you think your doing a bad job,THEN SHAME ON YOU SIR! THIS IS A GOD DAMN WORK OF ART,NOW EXCUSE ME AS I CONTINUE READING WITH MY NEW ACCOUNT!
Yeeeesssssssssssssssss! Kkrrryysstal.
this is all I can say about Amethyst: FUCK YOU YOU LITTLE ASSHOLE. I HOPE YOUR SON GETS TO MEET LUNA IN HIS DREAMS TO HELP HIM GET OVER HIS NIGHTMARES AND I HOPE THAT YOU GO FUCK A DUCK.
I truly feel sorry for sombra as he experiences the pain for so long wanting to get away
from it all and explain it to everypony.
Krystal seems like such a darling.