Shy Can See

There was a loud knock on the wooden Cottage door. Fluttershy slept on her green living room couch with Angel. A long yawn protruded her lips as she awoke. She craned her head to look at the clock. "I didn't sleep for very long..." Fluttershy muttered to herself. It was now 2 o' clock in the afternoon; 4 hours later from when she finally fell asleep. A second knock was heard. "Just a minute!" She called as she hastily got off of the couch. Angel woke up to the sound of her voice and sat up, watching his owner's actions. Despite her drowsy condition, she put on a bright smile before opening the door. On the other side she saw all five of her close friends.

"Hi Fluttershy." Twilight smiled warmly, waving a forehoof. "After some debate, we've decided that—"

"YES!" Pinkie Pie blurted in her usual bubbly voice — Interrupting Twilight. The princess only nodded confirmation instead of finishing her sentence. The yellow pegasus wasted no time to pull her Alicorn friend in for a hearty hug. "Thank you so much, girls!" Fluttershy began. "I'll try my absolute best..." She stated as she broke the hug.

"So where is Sombra, anyway?" Rainbow Dash questioned as she flew in front of everpony else except Fluttershy. The curious rainbow pony stuck her head past Fluttershy and looked around the living room. No one. She stuck her head back out and waited for a response.

"He's asleep upstairs."

Everypony gave the yellow mare a quizzical stare. "Is he sleeping... In your bed?" Rarity asked.

"Well... Yes. I couldn't let him sleep in the living room. Somepony might see him through the window. So me and Angel slept in the living room instead." Flutter turned to Twilight. "I really hope you aren't mad at me for letting him stay here..." The pegasus' ears lowered along with her head.

Twilight's mouth opened, ready to scold her friend. Then she quickly re-considered what she was going to say. "It's fine, I guess. As long as you're okay..." She changed the subject to what she brought the rest of her friends to the Cottage for. "Fluttershy, since we all agreed to give Sombra a chance... We'd like to properly meet him." Everypony else behind Twilight smiled.

"Of course!" Fluttershy beamed. "Just let me go get him. You all can come in and make yourselves comfortable if you want." She left the door wide open, and ascended upstairs to her occupied bedroom. Once she entered the room, she noticed King Sombra's grey regalia laid out in the far corner of the room. On the bed, Sombra slept exposed without any covers over him. Fluttershy crept forward to the sleeping stallion. "Uhm... Wake up? Please.. I mean if you want to....."

Her attempts were highly ineffective. She placed her left forehoof on Sombra's arm; Nudging him gently. At last the king's eyes blinked open. "My friends are here to meet you." Fluttershy smiled. Sombra raised his head off of the bed. Strands of his obsidian hair hung over his eyes from his crown being absent. He seemed reluctant as he forced himself off the bed and onto the floorboards. His eyes were half closed as he wearily followed Fluttershy downstairs, remaining silent.

All of her friends had their eyes locked directly onto Sombra as soon as he became visible. Pinkie Pie wasted no time introducing herself. She boldly trotted up to the drowsy king, displaying a bright grin on her pink face. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! But you can just call me Pinky! Or Pie, or Pink! Or you can call me —"

The coal-grey unicorn held his hoof up; Silencing the pink pony. "Charmed, really." His voice sounded fairly groggy and monotonous despite his attempts to make a decent impression.

"Applejack, your highness." The farm pony tilted her hat and smiled faintly.

A white unicorn trotted in front. "And I'm Rarity." She flipped her elegant purple mane as she eyed the king up and down.

"And don't forget the totally awesome Rainbow Dash: Best flier in Equestria!" Dash boasted confidently.

King Sombra nodded in acknowledgment. "It's a pleasure to meet all of Shy's friends," His eyelids drooped lower over his red eyes. Still, he maintained his obsequious attitude in hopes of being able to return to his slumber. He could truly care less about who everypony was at this moment in time. "But forgive me for cutting this gathering short. I need some time to myself." He turned around and headed upstairs

"Hold it, Sombra. We've only talked for so long."

With a noticeably loud grunt, he descending back down to the first floor.

"I know you're just going to go back to sleep up there. Trust me; I want to rest also, but we need to lay down some rules." Twilight motioned for Sombra to come closer. Everypony else plus Angel watched them both in silence. "First and foremost... NO harming anypony. Second —"

The annoyed stallion interrupted. "That's a bit of a no-brainer, don't you think? My IQ is no lower than yours; I guarantee you." He taunted the Alicorn. Fluttershy winced from his words; Worried he might deeply upset her friends.

Twilight scowled at his insulting comment, but continued on. "Second: Don't go out in public. You may not be in common pony history books, but there are still some who have heard of you. There's no doubt the other princesses will find out; Which leads me into my third rule: Wherever Fluttershy goes, you go, and vise-versa. Any time I see either one of you; I expect to see the other. The only exception is when Fluttershy is in public, got it?" Twilight asserted in a strict tone.

King Sombra gave a careless nod, and ascended back upstairs. "I'm pretty sure he hardly listened to anything you said..." Rainbow Dash said to the princess.

"Well now that he's upstairs," Applejack began as she walked towards Rarity, "Ah think now is a good time ta apologize at the very least."

Rarity took a deep breath and gave a soft smile as she turned to the yellow pegasus. She nervously dug at the ground with her hoof. "Fluttershy... I —"

Fluttershy stopped her early. "Oh, uhm.. It's okay, really."

Rarity's voice suddenly soared in volume. "No, it's not okay!" She stamped her forehooves onto the wooden floorboards. "I've been treating you so poorly for so long, and yet you never complained...." She stopped for a moment, and took a shaky breath. "I was only truly mad at you for a short time. You don't know just how much I wanted to turn my attitude back around. But I didn't know how..."

Her eyes were now red-rimmed and glistening. Twilight noticed this, and hastily came to her side and escorted her outside.

"Maybe right now actually isn't a good time." Dash whispered to A.J. She then turned to Fluttershy, who was now frozen in place; Tears streaming out from her puffy eyes. "You and Rarity can sort this out alone at a later time; When you're both more calm." Rainbow Dash murmured into the pegasus' ear softly.

Everypony except Fluttershy headed outside. She was now alone in her living room with....

Where's Angel?

→♦Upstairs♦←

King Sombra was now laying on his left side on the bed, fast asleep. Angel bunny hopped into the bedroom, and thumped his back foot on the floor. No response came from the king. Impatience took hold as he jumped up onto the bed, and tugged on Sombra's ear. Nothing seemed to work. Then, Angel noticed the bandaged wound. Without considering the consequences, the bunny jumped on top of his injured rib cage, and thumped his back foot. The once sleeping unicorn shot up; Causing Angel to almost stumble onto the ground.

He shot the startled bunny a purely bitter glare. Angel pointed to the doorway and hastily hopped out of the bedroom and downstairs. Despite how aggravated the king had become, he forcibly lowered his temper and complied; If it meant he could go back to sleep afterwards. Once they both made it downstairs, he pointed once again; This time to Fluttershy. She was laying on the large crimson rug in the middle of the living room, facing in the opposite direction. Sniffling was clearly audible. He hesitated; Unsure of himself. Angel gave the king a stern look.

"Fine..." Sombra muttered. He crept up to Fluttershy and laid down beside her. "Are you... Upset?" He asked rather awkwardly; Unsure of how to approach the situation.

She shrugged, "I guess I'm both happy and upset.." Fluttershy smiled as she wiped some of her tears away. She was surprised to see that Sombra cared — Even if it wasn't much.

"What happened, Shy?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll be fine." Fluttershy ensured in a brittle tone. At this point, she expected Sombra leave her to herself. However, he did the complete opposite. The stallion unexpectedly placed his hoof on her back and gingerly rested his chin on her head; Careful not to cause her any discomfort. He could feel her shivering.

His voice softened immensely as he spoke, but still kept a clear hint of exhaustion. "Are you alright with this?"

Fluttershy nodded, snuggling up against his body.