//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4. The King. 
// Story: Temor 
// by Askre 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 4
 
The Crystal Empire – King Sombra’s reign.
 
Private Iceland’s uneasy sleep was disturbed by strange sounds. The colt looked up from the corner of his cage and blinked when he saw sparks shoot out from the red circle on the floor where he had first appeared. The boy huddled and didn’t dare to move, fearing this was something new the evil unicorn that kept him here was doing.
 
He gasped when he himself suddenly lit up for a moment. Private whimpered, not knowing what to do. The light surrounded him before it started to flicker on and off like a lightbulb that was burning out. Then there was a loud bang from the red circle and from it rose a faint wisp of smoke and the colt stopped glowing.
 
The boy laid his head back down, wondering in confusion as to what had just happened. He could smell something burning, but saw no sign of fire. Curling up, Private tried to go back to sleep. 




He suddenly woke up at a loud surprised shout of “What!?”
 
Whimpering, Private looked up and saw that King Sombra was now in front of the cage and looked down, utterly baffled, at the colt. The dark unicorn looked between the cage and the red circle, nothing but confusion on his face.
 
“How can this be? You should have been sent back to your time during the night,” Sombra growled. He eyed the circle one more time. His horn lit up and for a moment the king concentrated hard.
 
Daring himself to approach the front of the cage, Private crawled over and peeked at the ring. He could see faintly in the dim red light that there were scorch marks in the middle. The colt gulped and then hurried back to the corner when Sombra’s attention returned back to him.
 
“The spell shorted out...how in tarnation?” Sombra looked at the covering colt, unsure, then suspicion crawled over his features. Without a word, his eyes turned red and green, purple mist sprouted from their corners. Then, without much effort, he entered the mind of the boy to see the events of last night.
 
“Well it tried to send you home, but something shorted out the spell and it failed. The tether that should have dragged you back to where you belong is gone,” he grunted as he pulled back, his eyes returning normal, the smoke vanishing.
 
Private didn’t say anything, just kept hugging the corner of the cage, trying in desperation to keep the small distance between himself and the king, even if the boy knew by now that it wouldn’t do much good if Sombra wanted him closer. He cried when noticing a red magic aura envelope him, but nothing else happened. The king’s horn was activated, but he didn’t do anything more, concentration again on his face.
 
“The nearest I can figure is that because I infused my essence into you, the spell got muddled,” the king muttered and arched his brow. He deactivated his horn and let go of the boy. “The tether got damaged. It was pretty much a fifty-fifty chance that it either sent you home or broke. Well, looks like you didn’t win that gamble.”
 
The boy finally dared himself to look up. His tormentor still stood there, staring at him critically, yet there was a mild interest now in his eyes. Sombra was clearly considering this new turn of events. Then a crooked smile crossed the king’s lips.
 
“Well, looks like I do get to keep you after all,” he said and opened the cage. Using his magic, he grabbed the whimpering boy and drug him back out.
 
“W-what?” Private sniffled, still confused. He hadn’t really understood anything the king spoke about.
 
“You’re not going home after all, boy,” Sombra said in a deadpan tone. The colt’s eyes widened in shock and horror, not wanting to hear the next words spoken.
 
“You’re stuck here!”
 



 
The Present.
 
Prince Temor woke up with a start. At first he blinked at the blanket that was over him and the one he lay on top of. Glancing to his right revealed where Emerald lay nearby. She had dug out most of the snow so she could lie on the bare rock underneath. The stallion frowned then looked forward and gasped in surprise.
 
Sitting in front of him was a large dark gray unicorn with black mane, the horn was red and curved like a knife, his red intent eyes stared critically at the prince. Temor immediately inclined his head downwards, but not before noting that the other pony was see-through and showed no visible marks on the snow.
 
“F-father… it is good to see you…” Prince Temor stammered.
 
“Sit up. It is unbecoming of a prince to lie like a discarded sack of corn when addressing his father,” King Sombra snapped, his voice ghostly, but still carrying its commanding overtone.
 
Temor immediately sat up straight, throwing the blanket off himself and straightening his cape as he did so. He still kept his eyes downcast, not daring to anger the stallion any further.
 
“Did… did I find your horn? I thought it was your horn. What has happened? Did the spells you put on me long ago work?” he asked, speaking more calmly now.
 
“You did find my horn, though I altered the spells a long time ago. My horn has fused with yours, healing the damage the Crystal Heart did to yours and binding my spirit to you,” King Sombra explained, still maintaining a stern glance at his son.
 
“Binding your spirit, am I your vessel?” Temor dared himself to look up at his father. To his confusion, the king shook his head.
 
“That was your original purpose yes, but now, no. I do not possess you. My spirit is bound to you and I can appear before you like this, but that is about it,” Sombra responded and raised a hoof to glance at it. His image flickered a bit.
 
“I am still weak from the blast from the Crystal Heart. I won’t be able to do much except advise you for now,” the king continued and glanced south, towards Equestria. “I’ve also deactivated the spells that would have sent others to search for my horn. Though it would be an amusing thought to let them all drop down and regularly wake up to scream prophecies of my return, I think our best strategy right now is secrecy.”
 
“So… I was drawn by the spells to the mountain after all. I just looked at it and felt compelled to come here,” Temor whispered and looked down, missing Sombra looking at him with mild surprised.
 
“That is strange. I hadn’t activated the beacon yet. For that I am still too weak. Then again, the spells within you and my proximity probably drew you. How far away were you from the mountain?” the spirit asked curiously.
 
“Ah, hour I think? Maybe more. I was trying to get out of the city quickly before the usurpers caught wind of me,” Temor answered.
 
“Fascinating. Then again, this is not implausible since these spells were untested. That is sometimes the problem with experimental magic,” Sombra mused, but then his glance went to Emerald, who still slept. “Is that not your concubine?”
 
Prince Temor looked over at the sleeping Crystal Mare. Once again he wondered why she had saved him and helped him escape the city. The unicorn looked back towards his father and nodded.
 
“I was blasted clear by the Crystal Heart. For some reason it didn’t kill me like it did you. She dragged me away so I would be hidden. She’s declared her loyalty to us. I’m confused as to why.  The other crystal ponies seemed happy to be rid of us,” Temor grunted.
 
“Sometimes a beaten animal prefers its cage,” Sombra snorted and looked at the crystal pony.
 
“Now that my horn is healed, I can use my dark magic to scan her mind,” his son said and lifted his hoof to feel his horn, smiling to find that the crack was gone.
 
“Not yet. Your horn is only newly healed and can still crack again if you put too much stress on it. We will judge her loyalty for now on her actions,” the king said.
 
Temor didn’t argue, just nodded his head. He looked at his father, who was staring towards the crystal tower in the north. There was no scowl or sign of disgust on Sombra’s face. The dark unicorn appeared to be thinking.
 
“Are you certain that no pony saw you?” the king finally asked as his attention went back to his son.
 
“Nopony saw me; I did not make myself known to the usurpers or those that helped them…” Temor hesitated as he now had admit to why. “I didn’t trust myself to take on an alicorn. So I observed instead, though I tried to hinder the purple unicorn that was searching for the Crystal Heart, but it was difficult without remaining unseen. She may have thought someone was watching her.”
 
“I would not have expected you to take on an alicorn,” his father simply said, betraying no emotion on his ghostly face. Temor was unsure if this meant that he had done right or if there was a ‘but you could have tried’ unsaid in the sentence.
 
The two stallions then became aware that Emerald was stirring. Sombra didn’t really move, barely shifted his eyes to glance towards the mare, but Temor turned a bit to look towards her. The crystal pony opened her eyes and when seeing that her master was awake, she sat up and bowed.
 
“She cannot see or hear me, so make no mention that I am present. For the moment only you can interact with me,” the king instructed his son. “Later, once we are certain of her loyalty, we can make it known to her that I am here as well.” 
 
Temor was almost tempted to disregard his father’s previous advice of not using his dark magic at the time, wanting to just immediately check Emerald’s mind. However, he didn’t dare, knowing that his father was staring at him right now and would be able to tell if the unicorn tried. Instead, he simply rose up from his blanket and stepped off, ordering Emerald at the same time to clean up the camp. Without hesitation, the mare started gathering up the blankets, dusting off the snow and repacking them. The stallion in the meantime walked away, facing towards Equestria in the south. He still couldn’t bear looking at the tower. It looked so alien and strange to him.
 
“So father, what do we do now?” he asked in a quiet voice, not sure if Sombra could hear his thoughts in the state was in.
 
“Our highest priority is to resurrect me. I can’t do it like I originally planned. I can only gather so much power and I can’t siphon it from you, either. We’ll need to find another way and there is only one place that might contain information on the magic that we need,” King Sombra explained. He was also staring towards the south.
 
“Equestria?” Temor cringed knowing that as of right now that was enemy territory. He didn’t even have to look at his father to know that he had just nodded. “I did bring some books from the castle library and some other things.”
 
“Believe me, if there was anything in the castle library that would actually aid us, I would already know about it,” his father retorted sternly, causing the younger pony to lower his head and ears.
 
“So we go to Equestria,” Temor said, glancing back towards Emerald, who was putting her bags on.
 
“You may want to keep your armor to a minimum. All this gear is sure to attract attention,” Sombra then said.
 
Temor glanced at his gear. He had very seldom gone anywhere without at least his cape. Yet he saw his father’s point. Most ponies went without any clothes unless they were clearly advertising status or had to due to the weather. The cape might escape notice, but his metal armor would probably raise eyebrows, especially if they wanted to travel in secret.
 
“I’ll keep at least the cape on until we reach the warmer areas in the south,” Temor said and he carefully activated his horn, feeling the strain on his dark magic. His horn may have been newly healed, but as his father had said, too much strain might crack it again. Fortunately the spell he needed wasn’t a complicated one, it was simple one that could either conjure up clothes or make them vanish until needed. This he did to his helmet, hoofguards and metal breastplate, leaving only the cape on.
 
“One more thing,” Sombra said as they started to walk back towards Emerald. “You cannot openly call her your slave or concubine in Equestria. Such terms are frowned upon down there.”
 
“Right, what should I do then?” Temor frowned. He was used to being waited on and treating the crystal ponies as slaves. He could barely recall a life when he had had to do menial tasks on his own.
 
“You have much to learn of life on the road. If you have a traveling partner, you will both depend on each other for defense and other things. This might even help ensure her loyalty. You will need to assist her just as much as she assists you,” King Sombra told his son, who barely could believe what he just heard his father say.
 
“You mean I should…” Temor cringed and looked at the saddlebags now on Emerald’s back.
 
“You have a simple logical reason, my son. You’ll be travelling for a while and she will be of no use to you if she is constantly too exhausted to carry out her duties,” the king simply said.
 
Sombra fell silent and spoke no more once they reached Emerald, who stood and waited for the prince. Temor hesitated as he approached the mare. This was a completely alien experience to him. With a grunt he finally spoke. “Uh… we’ll be travelling for a while. We have to go to Equestria to see if we can find information on resurrection, so since you are still of use to me and you are of no use if you’re exhausted, I can carry half of the baggage,” the prince said with some effort.
 
Emerald looked mildly surprised to hear this, but made no protest as Temor used his magic to take one saddlebag and put it on himself. The prince grunted at the sudden weight on his back, wondering how the mare had managed to carry two up the mountain. He didn’t know that crystal ponies without horn or wings weren’t that unlike Equestrian earth ponies and had more natural strength.
 
King Sombra watched his son perform his first menial task since he was a foal. The dark unicorn didn’t show it on the outside, but deep down he was smiling. Unlike Temor, the spirit was no stranger to having to rough it, having traveled far and wide before he had come to the Crystal Empire and conquered it.
 
Sombra had never allowed himself to get too used to fine, comfortable living standards, even back when he was a prince himself in the court of the Dark Pony Empire, always feeling that being able to stand on his own and take care of himself without the help of others was critically important. The dark unicorn half-regretted not having instilled that same standard into his adopted son.
 
There was just so much to do, so much to take care of, I just couldn’t be bothered to teach him every little thing about life, the king thought as he now floated next to Temor, who was heading towards the path that led down the mountain.
 
Then again maybe I should have found the time… Sombra sighed. The thought of him kept my mind sane during my exile. Well, I suppose he’s learning it now.




 
The Crystal Empire – King Sombra’s reign.

King Sombra had to admit he was a little stumped as to what to do. Although he had expressed an interest in keeping the colt, he had pretty much no real actual plans for it. It had been an amusing thought, a fleeting idea after magically learning that the boy had distant ancestors that were dark ponies like him, but nothing he had seriously considered.
 
It also still confused him what had happened. Something had disrupted the spell and right now the best idea he had was that when infusing some of his essence into the colt, it had interrupted the process. The problem with that idea was that it sounded a bit contrived and too coincidental to his mind, but in lieu of other ideas, he had to settle for such an explanation.
 
Sombra looked down at the colt who huddled by the cage, still crying after the news had been broken to him that he wasn’t going home. The king hadn’t put him back into it, simply put him down on the floor as he mulled this change of events over. The boy hadn’t moved, just pressed himself up against the cage as he cried.
 
He may be a mixed breed, but now that he’s not serving the purpose I initially had in mind for him, I am not going to throw him in with the slaves, Sombra rubbed his muzzle with a hoof. I need time to think this over. He turned away, but did look back at Private.
 
“You have two options, boy, you can either go back into the cage or you will follow me and I’ll show you a better room,” Sombra said and with tone of voice that indicated that he meant every word of it.
 
The king watched as the colt slowly glanced up, the tears still staining his cheeks. Then the boy gave the cage a look, cringing in horror before rising up. Sombra had to admit being mildly impressed when the colt followed him out of the laboratory, though with hesitation in his steps.
 
Sombra led Private through a hallway and up to the castle proper. The boy for a moment seemed to forget his grief as he stared amazed at the armored guards and halls that he was walking through. The king paid no attention, but some of the guards, mostly those who were working for the dark unicorn willingly, did glance curiously at the colt.
 
“For the time being you are my guest, I will have servants attend to you until I figure out what to do with you,” King Sombra simply told the boy. There was no point in lying right now.
 
“W-when c-can I go home… I want my mommy and daddy…” the boy whimpered, clearly the thought of going back home having not left his mind.
 
Sombra halted his walk and looked at Private who flinched, waiting for something bad to happen. The king growled softly, not really having the patience to be constantly reminding the child that he wasn’t going back home.
 
“I am only going to be saying this one more time, boy. You are not going back home. You are stuck here and you best start learning to live with it,” he snapped and turned his head back forward. Sombra paid no attention to the soft sobs coming from behind. He had already figured this would cause the boy to resume crying.

However, the king’s patience was growing very thin and right now he just wanted some peace and quiet to figure out what to do next. He spotted a slave that was by the looks of it, finishing washing duties. It was a crystal pony mare. She was blue with a light blue mane and tail with dark streaks.
 
“You. Slave,” Sombra snapped, causing the mare to stop her walking and turn around with her head bowed. She was elderly and looked tired and ragged.
 
“Yes, my lord,” she addressed Sombra quietly.
 
“This child here is currently my guest and shall be treated as such. See to it he is given a guest room and fed. I’ll be seeing him tomorrow once I’ve decided what I’ll do with him,” the king ordered before glaring at the still crying colt. “You go with the slave here. She will tend to you.”
 
King Sombra didn’t even wait for a response from the colt, he simply left the boy standing with the old mare. Now however, he turned his direction to go to his own chambers. He had much to think about.
 



 
Present

The ghostly image of King Sombra continued watching the two ponies descend down the mountain. Prince Temor was clearly not used to carrying much, already showing some signs of being bothered by the load on his back. Emerald showed concern in her expression, but didn’t dare to speak up, clearly wanting to honor her master’s wish.
 
To his credit, Prince Temor still looked to be in good shape and didn’t really show any weariness. It was clear that this was far more a sign of someone not used to carrying things. As they finally came down to the bottom of the mountain, the unicorn didn’t appear tired, but was somewhat annoyed.
 
Even so, they rested for a little bit at the foot of the mountain before Temor started towards the south. The spirit of Sombra cast a glance back to the Crystal Empire, once again he was in deep thought as he regarded the city he had once ruled with an iron hoof.
 
No, he is not ready for it, the power would be too much for his mind, he then thought as his eyes turned northwest and stared at a large mountain much further away with a jaw-like peak. We will come back for it later, if it is even still there. It has been a long time.
 
They will already be missing the slave, but hopefully we will have a good head start on any search. The king turned his attention back to the two ponies that trudged south through the snow.
 


The king didn’t need to worry too much as Celestia’s prized student was still just only now arriving in Canterlot to receive the instructions regarding his son. Back in the Empire, Amber and Rubinstein had not yet received an audience with Princess Cadance regarding their sister, Emerald. By the time the royal couple realized that there was still a missing prince to contend with, the two travelers and their ghostly companion would be long gone into the wilderness between Equestria and the Crystal Empire.
 
End chapter 4