What a wonderful world

by a touch of sparkles

Chapter 14: Miss Chestnuts orphanage for lost foals

Rustle, Rustle.

Sombra opened his eyes to see the familiar pegasus guard poking his head through the leaves. His whole body ached as he moved.

“Heyya bud. I bought you something” the guard softly told him while placing a bag on the floor.

“I heard about what your diet is. So I went to one of the local hunters to get you something better to eat” Sombra inched a little closer to the bag only to see the familiar look of meat. At the sight it was like his legs kicked in and he hastily grabbed the large leg and instantly started to gobble it down. He even sucked out the marrow which was the most his rotted teeth could handle. For a moment they stared at each other silently, the rushing river filled it.

“Let’s get you somewhere safe…I wouldn’t forgive myself if I gave you in” the guard said, looping a wing under Sombra’s body and leading him from the willow. The stallion constantly talked to him gently as they crossed the grassy plane.

“Were going to the outside of town, its less likely they’ll find you there”…

“I would keep you myself but I can’t, but Velvet’s a lovely mare, she’ll look after you”…

“She was against Amore as well, she helped in the same way we did” Sombra’s legs slowly started to grow weak again.

“Nearly their bud, you can collapse on a nice cosy bed”…

The grass turned to hard crystal as they entered the sparse town edge. There were little building scattered all over, although Sombra could still see the remnants of chaos like collapsed lampposts. Apart from that it looked as if nothing happened.

They came up to a large lilac building. On its front there was a large sign which Sombra couldn’t read. Knocking on the wooden door they waited for a short time. It then opened and a tawny mare with long dark brown hair stood in front of them. Her fur shimmered brightly in the sunlight.

“Good morning sir- oh my, come in” she said surprised as she moved out the way, the guard led him into the building. Sombra could loads of voices, all relatively high pitched.

“I can’t believe you found one, let alone a foal” the mare said as she looked Sombra over, brushing hair out of his face, although her nose wrinkled.

“I’d rather be hanged than send a foal to their death, that’s why I bought him to you” there was a brief silence between the pair.

“Thank you for bringing him to me, you better get going. Let’s get you a bath sweetie” with a nod the guard left, he heard wing beats through the door. Sombra was led by the mare down a well-lit cosy corridor which split of many ways. He was then led upstairs and round a corner to a colder white tiled room. She started to turn on the taps.

“Just let that run for a little…so do you have a name?” she asked him, but he stared at her blankly.

“Oh right erm…naaimaee?” she asked again, in rather fluent Umbrull.

“Sombra” he barely croaked out air.

“well, I’m Miss Chestnut. Me and my col…collea…my friends will be looking after you from now on ok” she said incredibly well, he understood every word. That alone made him trust her, so when she helped him into the shallow water he didn’t doubt her. Despite the harsh sting.

“I might just leave that in there…” she said to herself as she poked the arrow in his rump. Miss Chestnut began to spill water down his back, it was warm but not hot and soon the sting disappeared. Gently with a flannel she wiped down his wounds, removing the dirt and filth that had built up. The water beneath him had turned brown and a layer of oil floated on top after it had finally been removed from his matted fur. The feeling of being clean relaxed him as he felt almost three pounds lighter.

“feeling better?” he nodded his head quickly.

“you smell better too” she said, then she helped him out the tub. She turned to grab a towel, but Sombra had already shook of half the water, flinging it everywhere. Miss Chestnut was stunned when she heard the water fling and was even more so to see the soaked bathroom.

“Please don’t do that on a daily basis…” she said quietly to both herself and him. She still rubbed him down with the soft towel, going lighter over his wounds. Once dried she lightly brushed out his mane and tail after prying the knots out. Their noses booped together as they were similar hights. Sombra licked her nose.

“Hey!...Right, let’s get you downstairs and get a nurse round, that arrow doesn’t look good, I’ve seen what they use on you poor things as well” she said solemnly as she led him out the bathroom down the stairs again. Entering another room lined with cabinets with a table in the middle, Sombra saw sparkling blue gas swirl around a handle.

“Nicking biscuits again are we Hope?” Miss Chestnut sternly said. A small squeal and the gas disappeared. A dull magenta filly appeared from behind the table, she didn’t shimmer like the other ponies. An incredibly guilty look was plastered on her face.

“Sorry Miss Chestnut…” she apologised looking down at her hooves.

“How about this, if you can resist the shops biscuits in the cupboard, then you can help me make fresh ones at the weekend”

“Really!” her face lit up.

“Of course”

“yay!...hey” the filly looked at Sombra with wide eyes. But they widened more and her ears folded. The little horn on her head ignited with the sparkly gas and a cabinets contents flew out in front of Miss Chestnut, who placed a hoof over them.

“I’m getting a medic in for him Hope. Just go back to the playroom ok” Miss Chestnut told her, the filly trotted away with flat ears. He watched her leave and listened to her hoof steps as she travelled through the building. He was startled by the scraping of the seat across the stone floor.

“Just sit here, I’ll call the medic” Miss Chestnut told him, Sombra could faintly here her talking to nobody. As he sat there he became a little nervous. He trusted the mare yet at the same time he didn’t. It was only now did he realise fully that his dam wasn’t with him. He didn’t feel safe without her, he didn’t want to be without her. He missed her warmth and her fur. He missed the way she gently wrapped her tail around him. A single tear started to well in his eyes.

“Are you ok? You poor thing has everything just hit you?” Miss Chestnut asked as she returned to the kitchen. She held him closely, her curly mane provided a nice cushion for his head. Her gentle touch only calmed him partly, it wasn’t his dam.

“Ssh, ssh it’s ok” she whispered to him.

“Velvet?” He looked up to see a new mare, she was yellow with a green mane.

“Yes Lemon?”

“It’s lunch, er, where did he come from?”

“We got him an hour or two ago now”

“Have we even got a spare room? we did have an influx of new orphans”

“I think thirty two’s free. I’ll take him up now. send the nurse up when she arrives ok”

“Sure thing” The other mare walked away and Miss Chestnut led Sombra back up the stairs. He couldn’t see much through his blurry eyes but he just knew he was led down a long corridor and into a room. She gently wiped his eyes and he was able to see. He was sat on a large soft rectangle. There was a wooden box next to it with a strange hut like thing on top. Then one of the walls had see-through holes in it.

“Right. You’ve lived in caves your whole life…or cells. Are there even words in Umbrull for this? this” she placed a hoof on what he was sitting on “you sleep on. then this next to it you can put things in. this” she poked the hut “is a light. That you can see through, but you can’t go through it. just don’t hit it, it will break” she pointed at the opposite wall. He could in fact see more buildings through it along with the lower branches off a tree. He started to poke the soft blanket beneath him, it was made of something he hadn’t seen before. It wasn’t leather or fur. But it was very soft, like very thin fur woven together.

“Hey Velvet, the nurse is here” the other mare said through the door.

“Oh that was fast. Hello miss” She said to the nurse. The nurse was minty green with a white mane tied up.

“Hello. Is this the…not so little guy?”

“Yes this is Sombra. It’s this arrow I’m most worried about” Miss Chestnut pointed at the arrow still lodged inside him. The nurse gritted her teeth at the sight.

“well good news, it seems to have missed anything major. He would have been dead by now. Can I have a look?” she asked after the quick assessment.

“Of course. Can you look at his neck and legs as well, there much worse than I’ve seen on other Umbrum” Miss Chestnut asked her.

“Oh yeah there bad as well. What happened to you?...ah that’s a nasty arrow” The nurse said as she lightly poked around. She pulled some stretchy material over her hooves. Then she delved into her bag and pulled out a bottle and a soft piece of material. Soaking some into the fabric she dabbed it into the puncture. His eyes narrowed as the burn spread into him. He winced and whined and squirmed.

“It’s okay, it won’t hurt in a moment” the nurse said as she petted the fur on his back. Slowly the burning disappeared and he felt that small area of his body go numb.

“Just hold him while I pull this out ok. It may still hurt” The nurse told Miss Chestnut, she held his forelegs gently.

The nurse began to pull the arrow out of his flesh. It stung and Sombra winced as he felt the awful sensation down his leg. Slowly the arrow was pulled from within him, the tip was nasty, it wasn’t the standard sharpened metal point. Instead it was more like the stereotypical triangle, but many more were linked on, creating a brutal grapple that hooked meat.

“Oh yeah that was a nasty one. You’re a lucky boy you are. If that had gone any deeper or slightly to the right you would have been gone moments after impact” She told him, putting the arrow in a bag. She then stitched him up.

“Make sure he doesn’t strain that leg to much, speaking of which you did say he was a different case than most Umbrums, it seems like some pony really hatted them. These are acid burns, repeated dousing most likely” she said as she lifted his hind leg examining the wounds.

“Ointment and clean bandages can help these, just have them a little looser on his neck so it can bend. I’ll put the first ones on, do you know how to tie them?”

“I’ve wrapped a few legs in my time”

“Alright then, I’ll be back in a couple weeks to see how he’s doing”

“Thank you” The Nurse left, and Sombra now sitting up played with the fabric around his legs. It was itchy and wet.

“Don’t play with them, just leave them be” Miss Chestnut told him. So he shifted his attention to something else. Being the gemstones that stuck out of her skin around her shoulders, hips, cheeks and above her hooves. Poking them with his nose they wouldn’t budge as they simply pulled skin around them. Miss Chestnut pushed his head away.

“They won’t come off, they grow out of us” She told him while he stared at the gemstones, the light reflecting of her fur bounced around inside them. They were pale yellow and he could see his face in them.

There was a small knock at the door. Sombra saw that little filly again, above her two bowls floated in mid-air.

“Mrs Drops asked me to bring these up” she said, still seeming slightly guilty from earlier. Sombra could see little, tiny rocks forming on her skin.

“Oh thank you Hope, just place them on the bedstand” Miss Chestnut told her, Sombra watched the bowls float over and land (on what he know knew was) the bedstand. She looked up at him with big eyes again.

“Are you feeling better?” she asked him. Sombra looked between her and Miss Chestnut. All he knew was she asked a question simply based of her voice.

“He’ll be feeling better soon Hope”

“Ok” She began to walk out the door. However Miss Chestnut called her back.

“Hope, You say the other foals don’t like playing with you don’t you”

“They say I’m dirty”

“Right, don’t listen to them. But how about you be Sombra’s buddy?”

“Really!?”

“Why not” the little filly jumped up onto the bed with Sombra.

“Hey. I’m Radiant Hope!”

Author's Note:

Ay finally the only other character mentioned in the tags is finally here...
CUE
THE
SHIP!

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[ARandomLonelyDude]

ship is sailing now