“Come on, what’s wrong?” Hope begged him, patting his shoulder. Sombra hid his face under his for legs, the rest of his body was tangled between his duvet and his sires blanket. They weren’t properly pulled over him. Behind him Opal was making a crude drawing explaining what happened, the pencil was held unwieldy in his talon. Cloud watched over him, his wings loose at his sides.
“Hope, just go downstairs for a moment will you”
“But he needs hugs” Hope gripped onto Sombra’s shoulders. He didn’t want her to leave, but at the same time he wanted to be alone.
“Hope-“
“But-“
“Downstairs” Hope reluctantly let go off him, Sombra heard her very slowly go down the staircase. But she stopped midway, before going down. He could feel the weight of Clouds wing on top of him, but he couldn’t feel the soft feathers through the blanket.
“Just let it out ok bud, it’s not good to keep it in” Cloud said softly, although Sombra had already let out most of his tears. His cheek fur was damp as well as a small patch of the bed under his head. All that was left was the dry tears and heavy heaves of his ragged breaths. He laid there for some time, whimpering. He wasn’t sure how long, he had lost track of how long it had been since he returned home. Slowly though, he settled and calmed down but he felt empty. He heard Hope come back up the stairs.
“I have cookies” Sombra’s ears perked up, he twisted to see a few cookies floating above Hope. One drifted over and he grabbed it in his teeth. Between his hooves he took small little bites. She sat in front of him a chewed on her own, often she gave him a sorrowful look. She looked back down at her cookie.
“Hey!”
(“Gimme the crumbs Bean”) Opal had snuck beneath her, sneaking crumbs off the wooden floor. He hopped around her hooves, tail swinging under the bed, picking up a plume of dust. A small smile flickered on Sombras face.
They were all distracted by the front door opening and the dropping of a bag. Cloud made his way down the staircase, a little confused looking.
“Your home early” they heard him say, they both knew who he was talking to and it prompted both of them to head down. Miss Chestnut being home was really the only thing that got Sombra out of his blankets. Hope was down the stairs well before him, hearing her grip onto her legs with a giggle. Sombra trundled down the stairs, ears still folded.
“Oh, are you okay?” Miss Chestnut asked him, holding his chin lightly. His lip started to quiver.
“He’s err…seen some things, I think he’ll be more comfortable talking to you” Cloud told her, almost as a whisper.
“Ok, let me put some stuff away sweetie” she told Sombra. She picked up her bag again and went up the stairs.
“Oh, why are you home early?” Cloud asked up to her.
“I got somepony else in so I can work half days” she disappeared upstairs, a couple of minutes later she returned downstairs, to find just Sombra at the door who had patiently waited. Hope had chased Cloud, jumping to bite his tail feathers.
“Alright, do you want to go for a walk? We have a few hours for tea so we can take our time”
“O-okay” he whimpered, following her out the door with Opal perched on her rump. They walked down the street, a couple of ponies were also around. They split of into smaller pathways going South towards the crystal mountains.
“I haven’t been this way before” Sombra told her.
“Have you not? Where do you normally go?”
“I go to the river, animals like to be by rivers” they were passing into an area that was in the process of being built. New crystals being spread up over wooden frames. Eventually they hit the grass, they went a little further until they were well away from the busy areas.
“You can tell me when you feel like it, I won’t make you” they walked for a minute as Sombra contemplated what to say. He didn’t want to relive it, yet he had to tell her. Slowly he got words out, he started with the roses, the skeleton, the colosseum, his sire. Miss Chestnut was silent the whole way through, not saying a word. Her eyes were watering, he could see her working to hold them back. She looked away to catch her breath, yet it faltered when her eyes fell onto an orchard.
“They’re weird trees” Sombra commented, he wasn’t used to the dome like shape. The apple tree in the back yard was like it, but these were much larger.
“Its my family orchard, they grow chestnuts, hence the name” She told him, Sombra having recovered quickly, attempted to wander over, but she stopped him.
“No, they won’t like you”
“Why not?”
“They were for your slavery, most farmers were. Its another reason they don’t like me”
“Why don’t they like you?”
“I was against Amoree, it split up a lot of families…I also cant have my own foals…but you wont understand till later…lets just stay away” she pushed him back to their original rout continuing to walk a wide birth from the orchard.
“You know, I don’t think I ever got to ask you about your own tribe” she asked him. Sombra’s ears perked up, his eyes developed a little shimmer.
“Me and the twins used to jump on our sires in the morning, we normally woke our dams up doing so. But their sire was a bit grumpier than mine, but it was the both of them at the same time” he began to trot ahead of her, a couple of hops in his gait.
“Our tribe hunted these giant wyverns, and when we killed one we would chop it up. Then when we got home my granddam would cut it up more and she would keep some for us. But most of it she would but different leafy things on it and we would trade it for metals and leather from other tribes” Miss Chestnut was trotting to keep up with him now.
“So you had a trading system?”
“Yeah! Me and my uncle would go around other tribes with smaller things to trade. Although sometimes we would take a portion of meat and we would trade it for other meat. We would go to this other tribe that hunted tormentors, and granddam would boil it in the shell and it was super good!”
“She sounded like a good cook, did anyone else cook in your tribe?”
“No not really, but dammi helped sometimes”
“Hey, slow down a little” she asked him. Sombra had trotted off, not quite realising how far he had gotten from her. He stopped and waited for her to catch up. The sun was starting to set now, the golden light making her skin stones shine.
“Actually, we should be getting back now” they turned tail and went back down the path they came, passing the orchard again.
“Why didn’t Mrs Drops like me?” Sombra asked her.
“Oh its not that she didn’t like you, its just that she lost her parents to an incident with some umbrum, it soured her a little. I think she tried to stay unbiased around you though, but you don’t have to worry about that okay”
“Okay” they continued walking, back into the half built houses, the work ponies had left now. The small night breeze started to wash over them, Sombra heard some feathers ruffle.
(“Why are you so quite?”)
(“It was nice hearing you talk, that’s all”) they made it home, the sun mostly set. Hope was already in bed, there bedtime was a little while ago now. They sat in the kitchen together. Eating some warmed up sweet potato soup.
“Don’t eat to much, you’ll struggle to fall asleep” Miss Chestnut told him.
“I thought it was easier to fall asleep on a full stomach?” Cloud commented, his voice was quiet and tired.
“Well lying down straight after isn’t good either”
“I’m done” Sombra told them, his bowl half empty and most of his bread eaten. The adults exchanged some glances, then cloud took his bowl.
“Come on, let’s get you to bed”
“I literally just said-“
“I’m not fighting Hope again, come on bud” he followed Cloud up the stairs again and up into his room. He relaxed in his bed, Opal perched on its foot.
“Good night bud” Cloud left him comfortably tucked in, relaxed on his side. But a hesitation to sleep came over him.
(“What if I have another nightmare?”)
(“You’ve been alright recently, and talking normally gets stuff off your mind, just relax alright”)
(“Ok”)