Shy Can See

         Twilight and Rarity were still in Zecora's now severely damaged hut. Rarity was placing potions and decorations back to their appropriate locations while Twilight tended to the zebra's cuts. The alicorn's horn glowed as Zecora's injuries were looked over and repaired. "Please, my friends..." Zecora uttered, short of breath. "You must report to Celestia before next daylight ends."

"And leave you here all by yourself? It's too dangerous for you to be out in Everfree alone. What if he comes back?" Twilight asks, concerned for her friend's safety.

"She makes a valid point, dear." Rarity agrees.

"It's alright, princess; I'll be fine. It's highly important that you inform Celestia while there's still time."

The princess contemplated for a moment about her suggestion. She soon turned to Rarity, "Stay here with Zecora and help her clean up. I'll return to the library." She instructed to the white unicorn. No one knew for sure what Sombra would do now that he's free; But most of them feared the worst. Twilight stepped outside and took flight. King Sombra's crude words replayed in her head: I've already killed her. "He was just trying to deceive me.." the mare thought as she flew. Tears began trickling down her cheeks, becoming unsure. "... Right?"

The soft light of the moon fell onto Twilight's purple coat as she was now out of the Everfree Forest. In the distance, she saw Fluttershy's Cottage below her to the right as she glided through the open sky. This time, however, the lights were on. She wiped away her tears quickly. Suspicion overcame her as she changed her direction to the lit Cottage. With a few soft beats of her wings just before landing, she smoothly drifts right above the beige path leading up to the house. Her hooves make contact with the ground once she's a couple feet away from the front door.

Instead of knocking like before, she wastes no time and peeks through the side window.. Nopony was to be seen. The observant alicorn notices a light blood stain on Fluttershy's green living room couch. With no hesitation, her horn illuminates hot pink, and quickly spreads throughout the rest of her body. She walks forward, disappearing into the wall, and emerging through the other side. Her aura fades once she is completely inside Fluttershy's living room. Her eyes are fixed on the couch as she trots over to it. Slowly, she places a hoof on the blood stain. It's still slightly damp.

She twirls back around, her eyes shooting about the living room, sensing that somepony may still be here. With heightened caution, moves across the hallway, and into the bathroom.  She opens the shower curtain to find that water resides. I hope it was Fluttershy that was here. Twilight thought to herself.

"Twilight?"

Startled, she gasps and spins around, facing the doorway. There stood Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy!" She beamed in joy as she ran over to the Pegasus, giving her a hug. "I can hardly believe it's you!" Twilight began thoroughly inspecting her friend from head to hoof, and from tip of her muzzle to flank.

"Uhm... Twilight, what are yo-"

"What did he do to you? Where did he hurt you?!" She demanded as she continued on with her physical inspection.

"Sombra? He didn't hurt me or anything."

Twi stopped and gave her friend a quizzical look. "Then what's with the blood on your couch?"

"Oh. Uh..." Fluttershy trailed off on her words, and turned away from Twilight. She scratched her head as her eyes wandered. Eventually, she continued on with what she was going to say. "Okay. Twilight, please don't be mad-"

"Who in the hell's blood is that?!" The now wide-eyed alicorn blurted.

"It's Sombra's blood. Not mine."

"Sombra... Was in your home... But he didn't hurt you at all?" Twilight now began to ask all sorts of questions. "Where were you the whole time? What has he been saying to you? Why-"

Fluttershy silently raised her hoof and smiled, quieting her friend down. "I'll explain everything. Don't worry." She motions for Twilight to follow her upstairs, and into her bedroom. Both ponies lay down on the bed, facing each other.

"Me and Angel ended up in Sombra's prison in the Everfree Forest, and..."

"Wait.." Twilight interrupted. "His cell is in the forest?"

Fluttershy nodded. "You didn't know? I thought Celestia would've told you."

"All she told me was that she imprisoned him. She didn't say anything about where he was imprisoned at."

The Pegasus looked genuinely surprised. "I thought she did, since you're so close with her and all. But anyway... He cast a spell on me and Angel bunny that allowed us to pass through the barrier. His prison is invisible, so I couldn't even see that I was approaching his cell. Once I was inside, I couldn't leave. At first it seemed he did have intentions to harm me, even though he ended up not doing so. However he did hurt Angel..."

Twilight put her hoof over her mouth as she gasped. "Is Angel okay? Where is he?"

"He's okay now." Fluttershy smiled. "And he's still in the force field. But Sombra volunteered to go back and get him."

"Sombra hurt your pet, and now you're leaving him alone with Angel?!"

"You don't understand, Twilight. The only reason Angel is all better is because Sombra healed him using regular magic. For some reason, he was willing to go through a large amount of pain just to heal him..."

Twilight looked away from her in thought. She looked out of the bedroom window. The sun was approaching over the horizon. Fluttershy continued, "He told me he eventually found out how to leave, using a spell. He left his prison last night... And he came back soon after with a large flesh wound on his rib cage. He finally let me leave the force field, and he came with me back to my Cottage, which explains the blood stains. I cleaned his wound and bandaged it-"

"You did WHAT?!" Twilight barked, causing Fluttershy to flinch. "Would you like to know HOW he ended up with that wound?!"

"All he said was that you were the cause of it.."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "There's a lot more to it than that. Me and Rarity went into Everfree to look for you, when we heard Zecora screaming. We went to her hut to find Sombra trapping her in the corner with cuts and bruises all over her body. Then he lied and said you were dead! That wound was for good reason!"

Fluttershy lowered her head from hearing about him hurting Zecora. Tears formed in her eyes as she looked back up at her friend. " He can be reformed, Twilight. I know he can."

"Bullshit..." The scowling alicorn mumbled under her breath. "He's a tyrant, and he always will be."

"Twilight... think about it: How come he didn't fight back after you hurt him?"

"There are multiple possibilities as to why, Fluttershy."

"Wait... Twilight, you haven't told Celestia yet, have you?"

"No, I haven't. That's what I was just about to do before I noticed the lights in your Cottage were on."

Fluttershy beamed, knowing Celestia isn't aware yet. "PLEASE don't let Celestia know. She'll probably banish him to a place much worse than his current prison!"

"So?!" Twilight replied. " Princess Celestia would be in her right mind for doing so!"

"Please just give him a chance. I promise I'll keep close watch of him at all times. If he purposely hurts a single living thing... You can tell her."

Her alicorn friend thinks for a moment, then sighs. "I really don't know, Fluttershy." She speaks up. "I really need some time to think about all this..."

Faint hoofsteps were heard , and they got progressively louder with each step. Sombra soon appeared in the doorway with Angel right behind him.

"Angel!" Fluttershy exclaimed in joy as she held her arms open. Angel hopped on the bed and into her arms happily. Twilight threw King Sombra a face of slight disgust. He only smirked as a response. She turned back to Fluttershy. "I'll need to talk about this with the other girls." Twilight said as she got off of the bed. She gave the king a cold glare. "As for you... I'd advise you return to Everfree and stay in your confinement until the decision is made."

Sombra gave a slight nod, and watched as Twilight went downstairs, leaving him be. Once he was sure the princess was out of the Cottage, he shifted his attention to Fluttershy.

"How much did she tell you?" He questioned.

The mare finished snuggling her beloved pet, and looked up at the king. "Everything." She replied simply.

"Shit..."