King Sombra has lived a very interesting life. He was once King of the Crystal Empire. Everything and everyone was at the palm of his hand. Whatever words that came out his mouth was obeyed or law. However, as life would have it-- all of that power was completely destroyed. All thanks to Celestia and Luna the first time around. Everything that was his was taken away just like that like a snap of a finger. He came back for round two and failed again thanks to Twilight and her friends. Was this life's of way getting back at him for being evil? The answer was obviously yes, however, he always expected life to just end his life as revenge for all the evil atrocities he committed. Maybe life was just playing the long game with him. That would be the most ethical explanation because Sombra never expected his life to end up in the situation of the last few days. Given an opportunity at redemption? There is no redemption for him that ship passed a very long time ago. This kind of joke was very cruel even for life to make. He always had the choice of taking himself out of the world, but it always felt too disgusting to even think about. However, there was one little knocked out yellow mare that was laying on his lap that was the biggest joke of all, even topping her ruling Princess.
This innocent girl playing with her life mostly torturing herself and for what? "Saving" him. That's just another joke on top of all the others.

At least there was some good to come out this current mess Sombra found himself in. His magical ability came back a little bit. That little recovery he had gotten Nightmare Moon's spellbook worked really well. Now the question was; what could Sombra do with the recovery he received? A whole host of ideas came to his mind. But, only one stuck out that was the most enticing.

"Dark absorption?? I need a target for that spell. Nobody in this Castle is suitable either. I can't pick fights. Wait, I have this child right here… Then if I do that it's actually over for me. Hmmm.. Wait, dark absorption doesn't require the target to be physical, it can be pure magical. To my knowledge there isn't any pure magical creatures in this city. I'm willing to bet there's some magical creatures in the everfree forest though." Sombra took some more time to think of other plans, but this one kept coming back to the front of the line since it was the safest. Obviously the biggest question now was; how could he convince or trick Fluttershy into taking him into the everfree forest?

"What's the matter, Sombra? You look too deep in your thoughts. You worried about your future or something?" Sombra looked upwards towards the entrance to the cell and saw Discord standing there with his usual mocking grin.

"What do you want, Draconequus?" Sombra asked calmly. Discord took two steps in an expression that was the opposite of his mocking grin and at that moment Sombra knew where this was going. Discord snapped his fingers once making Fluttershy disappear from Sombra's lap. Discord snapped his fingers again and Sombra's environment changed. Suddenly he was high in the sky above canterlot being physically held by Discord who's demeanor went from trolly to actively ready to drop Sombra.

"Did you really think you could knock my best friend out and I wouldn't find out about it!" Discord angrily stated. Sombra couldn't help but laugh.

"Listen here "lord of chaos". I don't want to listen to any filler you may have planned out. So how about we skip to the good part where you drop me and this "fight" actually starts?!" Sombra said while channeling his magic. Discord seemed to think about it for a second and then simply Shrugged. With his strength Discord lifted Sombra a little higher, put him in a magical box and threw Sombra as hard as he could.

"Aw! Shit I didn't think he would throw me this hard!" Sombra had to think of something because he had twenty seconds before his grave would be a massive crater in the middle of a city. Sombra took a very deep breath, closed his eyes and charged his magic. With a quick swipe of both of his hands Sombra destroyed Discord's spell and managed to reposition himself to see exactly where he was going to crash headfirst. With the city rapidly approaching his face, Sombra had to think of something else quickly. He looked to his left and right, saw two clouds on both ends, magically pulled both of them under him and turned them solid just enough to land on them. With another quick movement Smobra placed his hands on the clouds and the rapidly approaching city suddenly stopped. "Five seconds left… ah aha ah ah…" Sombra's vision suddenly got worse and he so had his body and in that moment-- he collapsed.

"Rapidly falling to the city below and instead of teleporting back to the Castle he decided to take the hard way out and spend his energy landing on clouds. Can't say I'm not impressed but now that he leaves me with a hard decision. Leave him here and see what happens or take him back to the castle??" Discord sat on the cloud and thought about his choice. Of course the consequences of each decision came knocking on the door, but leaving Sombra passed out a cloud seemed more pleasant. As a final act of personal revenge for his best friend Discord pushed the clouds back into the original spot he threw Sombra from. Discord chuckled "I can only imagine the amount of rage that's gonna happen when he actually wakes up."

"Ughhh.. My head.. Wha-"

"Shhh, my dear you're still a little groggy"

"D-discord?" Fluttershy looked around to see where she was at. Her room still looked the same, but that only brought up a few questions. Questions Discord was more than happy to answer for his friend.

"Long story short; I had a gut feeling something happened to you. So when I came to find you I found you knocked out next to Sombra and I acted accordingly" Discord stated with no hint of lying or regret. Before Fluttershy could respond Discord made her feel a little better by making her headache go away with a snap of his fingers.
From the look on Fluttershy's face she still had more questions. "I took Sombra high above Canter lot and sent him flying towards the city at very dangerous speed. Of course he survived and now I'm disappointed that I'm thinking about it." Fluttershy laid on her bed staring at Discord. He was doing what he always did and not worry about anything, especially what he just said. In that same moment Fluttershy started to femininely giggle.

"Oh, Discord what am I going to do with you? I supposed to be upset with you, but I can't!" Fluttershy then pulled Discord into a hug. "Thanks" she happily stated.

"No problem at all, Fluttershy" Discord said, hugging her back. The hug ended and then Fluttershy looked outside. The sky was dark and the moon was currently rising.

"Uh.. Discord?"

"Yes?"

"How long was I asleep for?"

"Oh, um a few hours. Nine hours to be honest with you."

"Did you cast a sleeping spell on me?"

"Yes"

SMACK

The sound bounced around the round every way possible. Discord had a massive handprint on his face. He saw the smack coming, but that didn't make it any less painful. On top of that Fluttershy pulled down his face to look at hers and she was very upset at him.

"Do you realize the risk you just took!"

"Oh come on, Fluttershy I did it so you could rest. You got to understand that right?"

"I do, HOWEVER! you, Discord! didn't have to have put me to sleep for nine hours straight and risk everything! Do you even know where Sombra is?! He could be anywhere right now! Doing whatever!"

"To be fair, Fluttershy. He was completely out of energy when I left him. I find it very difficult to believe he could do anything effectively. Besides look on the bright side you basically got a whole day to yourself for once."

Even though Fluttershy could poke holes in Discord's logic she found it best to just let it go for now. With a frustrated sigh she let him go and laid back on the bed with an arm over her eyes. She thought about what to do next. Finding Sombra was the first thing to come to mind, however he could be anywhere by now doing who knows what.

"If it makes you feel any better, Fluttershy he's right where I left him before" Discord said.

"Discord, I'm not going to call you a liar, but we're talking about a pony who wants to enslave all of us. Why wouldn't he be somewhere else doing whatever an evil king does?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well, my dear I hate to remind you, but that's exactly what you're trying to figure out. Okay bye."

"Wa-" Before Fluttershy even knew how to process Discord's incorrect statement she found herself outside and on a cloud that Sombra just happened to be on.

"You've been gone all day, Child. I actually started to think I'd gotten rid of you for good. How unfortunate for me that you suddenly show up out of thin air" He claimed staring off into the distance. Fluttershy looked below her and saw canterlot. She'd never been this high in the sky before and longer she looked down the more she felt uncomfortable at this height.

"I have so many questions," She said out loud.

"You get three. So choose wisely" Sombra fired back. Fluttershy stared at Sombra who continued to stare off into the distance. Clearly he was focused on something.

"Well okay.-" Fluttershy tried staring off into the distance just like Sombra, but since she had no idea what he was truly focusing on-- it was mostly a failed endeavor. "What are you staring at?" She asked nicely as she took her seat next to him.

"The everfree forest" Sombra replied.

Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion "Wha- why would you-? Wait.. What's the dangerous plan this time!? Are you.. Actually planning to go in there??" She questioned with an obvious hint of worry and fear. Sombra meant Fluttershy by turning his attention to her with the blank expression as in his voice.

"Don't tell me you're scared of a forest, Child. Because that would be the saddest joke ever."

"It's literally the most dangerous and scary place in Equestria. The creatures in there don't care about anything except their own lives and will kill anypony if they feel even slightly threatened. Just thinking about it gives me the shivers." Fluttershy wasn't lying because she started to shake. Sombra sat there looking at fear taking over Fluttershy. Even at their first ever meeting Fluttershy was shaking this much and that meant Sombra had to do something he hadn't done in a very long time. With his magic he grabbed Fluttershy and forced her down onto his lap. From there he stroked her head in a relaxing rhythm. It worked, but in the back of Sombra's mind he hated this. On the other end Fluttershy just let it happen. "I shouldn't be enjoying this," Fluttershy thought to herself. When Sombra finished consoling Fluttershy he pushed her off his lap and suddenly teleported them both to the everfree forest.

*****

Every step taken was another step towards the obvious question of what Fluttershy and Sombra were actually looking for. Fluttershy tried to play it as cool as she could, but hearing creepy sounds all around her, to having little moonlit to actually seeing where she was going, and on top of that she could have sworn to hear very faint sounds of something roaring in anger. Sombra was unfazed by this environment since he used to live in it. The walking continued as normal until both Fluttershy and Sombra heard that faint roar again. It sounded closer this time, but still far away. Then another roar came soon after. However this sounded young, very young like a beast child. Sombra looked towards the direction of the roaring and went that way with Fluttershy very close behind him.

Five minutes later Sombra and Fluttershy came across something unusual. A very big purple Ursa major and it's child facing down ten Timberwolves. It was a very tense standoff. Fluttershy noticed the damage the Ursa minor took. The deep cuts on its legs and feet meant the poor thing could barely stand up straight. It's claws were also damaged probably due its the battle with the Timberwolves. Its mother had the same if not way more damage done to her too.

"Well, what now?" Fluttershy asked.

"I need those Timberwolves. So I need you to deal with those Ursas" Replied Sombra.

"But I never dealt with Ursas before and look at them, do you think they will listen to anything I'll say?"

"They will after you give me your hand." Sombra held out his hand to Fluttershy. She hesitated at first, but then she took Sombra's hand. Suddenly she felt a rush of power within her. It felt completely different from the power from her element necklace. This felt way more focused in one direction and it felt really good. "This should get both groups to listen to you for a while. Now go, it won't last long."

With that said Fluttershy gulped, took one step forward, then another until the shadows of the everfree forest no longer covered her presence. Whatever Sombra did to her it must have worked because both Timberwolves and the Ursas took notice of Fluttershy. With a very deep sigh the mare took another step forward which caused the intensity of the situation to turn up a little. Fluttershy took a few more steps until she was in the middle of the standoff. She could feel the hot breaths of the Ursas so she turned to them first. The growling from the mother increased when Fluttershy got closer. Soon the two were staring into each other's eyes.

"I don't know what started this fight. I wish I could heal you both, but believe me when I say I don't want you or your getting anymore hurt. It's a mother's duty to protect her family and right now you're failing at doing that. So I want you to turn around, forget about this fight okay?" Fluttershy spoke with a cool head. The Ursa major roared in Fluttershy's face in order to scare her, but when Fluttershy gave her "the stare" the mother started to back up slowly. Eventually she and her cub went back into the darkness of the everfree forest. "That's one down. What about the others?" Fluttershy turned around to face the ten Timberwolves. Unfortunately they were pissed off at her for ending their "fun" so two of the ten charged straight for Fluttershy. "Sit" Fluttershy demanded. All of the Timberwolves suddenly sat down and were afraid of Fluttershy. Fluttershy then raised her hand above her head and snapped her Fingers. All the Timberwolves exploded leaving behind their magic. For some reason this did not faze Fluttershy not one bit. Then she heard clapping of the highest praise.

"Congratulations, Child. You handled that very well. I'm actually impressed" Sombra announced proudly. Sombra's horn glowed and the ten Timberwolves magic were collected. Sombra immediately felt the effects of it and felt extremely good about himself. "If I knew this worked I would have done it A long time ago!"

Fluttershy stood there watching an actually excited Sombra be proud of himself for once. For a few moments his body language wasn't the emotions of extremely cold, extremely distant, angry or emotionally empty. Genuine excitement leaked from the dark king which made Fluttershy happy for him. That feeling only grew when Sombra snapped his fingers and suddenly his old armour came back as well as his old cape. He only wore the outfit for a minute, but due to his current situation he couldn't wear it like normal. So he switched to a normal cantorlot street outfit. With that being over and done with Fluttershy walked up to Sombra with a question on her mind.

"So what did you do to me?" She asked.

"Temporary fear removal. I didn't actually expect you to kill the Timberwolves. So you have my praise for that, child" Sombra replied with a grin. "The effect should wear off in a bit. Now come-" Suddenly out of nowhere Sombra hit his head on the ground facing the moon above. He didn't have to think about what just happened because Fluttershy got on top of him. Her facial expression told Sombra that she wanted something out of this and she will get it.

"I'm not going to waste my time, Sombra. I don't why I'm doing this again, but I'm warning you; don't do anything stupid. I don't want to fail because the pony I'm supposed to be "saving" went on a stupid power trip!" Fluttershy yelled. Being dead serious only made Sombra chuckled like it didn't bother him.

"Okay, Child here's the thing you need to realize. For as long as you're alive and a Thorn in my side your friends and family are safe. I can't believe that I have to explain this very obvious fact to you. Are you happy now?" Sombra asked while looking straight into Fluttershy's eyes. She wasn't satisfied with that.

"Promise me" Fluttershy said softly.

"Come on, c-"

"PROMISE ME, SOMBRA! YOU SAID IT YOURSELF, I'M PLAYING A DANGEROUS GAME HERE AND I NEED THAT FUCKING SAFETY NET FOR FUCKS SAKE!" Fluttershy yelled. Sombra sighed. He couldn't believe Fluttershy of all ponies were making him do this.

"Fine. You have my word, Child. Anything else?" Sombra asked. Although he knew what was coming next.

"Yeah. Before I pass out, my house is seven minutes west from here and the key is under the mat at the front door. Carry me home." with that Fluttershy did indeed pass out on top of Sombra. Things suddenly got silent and Sombra could hear himself think again.

"After all that you have the nerve to pass out on me, Child? If I didn't find you so entertaining I would have killed you long ago." Sombra got up from the ground with Fluttershy on his shoulder. "I have the chance to leave her here and see what happens. No.. no I already opened my big mouth and made a promise. How unfortunate for me that I keep my promises.."

With more of his magical ability restored to him Sombra had no problem avoiding potential problems while heading to Fluttershy's home. That doesn't mean Sombra could be careless though he knew when he was being followed either by something or someone and they knew how to keep just enough distance to not be outed completely. When Sombra finally got close enough to see full moonlight the thing(s) that were Following Sombra stopped too.

"She lives near the entrance to this place. Why doesn't that surprise me?" Sombra thought. He teleported to Fluttershy's front door, magically moved the key to its pairing lock and went inside. Sombra was greeted by a regular looking home, nothing out of the ordinary stuck out. The moonlight shined on the stairs thanks to a conveniently placed window. Sombra teleported to the top of the stairs and opened the door to Fluttershy's bedroom. He was greeted by a room the same yellow and pink color as the mare he was carrying. Sombra placed Fluttershy on her bed and for a second he had a thought.

"WHY IN THE LIVING FUCK ARE YOU DOING THIS?! KILL HER AND BE DONE WITH IT!" Sombra tilted his head and clinched his fist. Why was he having this inner debate now? He stood there thinking really fast, thought after thought after thought came and went until suddenly Sombra put his hand in the air and it came back down bright red magic in hand. This is it-- all he had to do was fire and it would be over. In that moment in time Sombra took the time to reflect on his time with Fluttershy.

"It hasn't been too bad so far. Sure, she's Celestia's chess queen on the chess board, but really nothing has happened so far that I couldn't handle… Uugghh! Fine! You win this time, Child. I hate the fact I put myself in this toxic situation!" Sombra dispersed his magic and put his hand down. He walked out of Fluttershy's bedroom, went downstairs into the living room and decided to take a much needed relaxating sleep. Hopefully with more of his magic back the rest of time with Fluttershy won't be so "annoying" to him.

Author's Note

I'm sorry this took so long. It was not supposed to be this way! Forgive me dear readers!