Sombre

by Philosopher of Arcane

Chapter 1: Another year past

"Sombra? Wake up Sombra! Hellooo? Cmon, get UP sleepyead!"

Sombra opened his eyes half-way to see his older sister standing next to his bed.

"Whadyouwant Helle?"

Sombra mumbled, still half asleep.

"It's YOUR birthday, I would think you of all ponies should know THAT!"

Sombra jolted, his head flying off the pillow.

"WHAT?! I'M LATE? Ughhh. What time is it?"

Sombra asked, rubbing his neck with one hoof.

"It's already four hours past noon! I would've thought you'd be up by now!"

Hellebore replied, poking her brother's snout. Sombra rubbed his eyes and rolled out of bed, knocking over a candle on the bedside table as he did, stepping on the still lit candle and letting out a loud yelp.

"AH!"

Hellebore could barely control herself, it took amazing effort to keep from laughing at her tired brother's antics. Sombra placed the silver platter the candle previously resided on back upon he table and glared at Hellebore. He began scraping the quickly hardening wax off his underhoof.

"Tell mother I'll be down shortly."

Sombra muttered, using his magic to toss the misshapen lump that used to be a candle into the nearby metal bucket that served as a trash bin. Hellebore was already out the door and down the stairs. Sombra shook his head and proceeded to open a drawer, pulling out his white fur trimmed, red cloak as was custom for royalty among the Crystal Empire. His mother, Garnet, purposefully had Sombra's cloak tailored for an older colt with an explanation of, "You'll grow into it." Sombra ran a brush through his mane an tail, he had to make sure he was groomed to is finest, after all, he was going to be of age for succession, albeit his father was strong and healthy. The main doors into the dining hall slowly swung open to allow a view of Sombra peeking his head through. The entire hall was packed full of relatives, royalty, and family friends. He walked over to a seat near his mother and sat down.

After a few minutes of talking to friends and feasting, it was time for his speech. Sombra walked ever so slowly up to the front of the room and up the short stairs to a podium.

"Oh how I detest speeches."

He thought silently to himself. He pulled a large stack of papers out from inside the podium that had been prepared for him and set them atop the table behind him. His horn let off a faint glow as he amplified his voice to be hear throughout the entire hall.

"Uh, hello all. Uhh. I'm not all that great at speeches so I'll make this short, for your sake as well as my own. I'm just now coming of the age of 19 years and we all know what this means. Or. I think... everyone here does. Uhh."

Sombra scratched his head nervously.

"It um, it means I've come of age to claim the throne, however my father stays strong as ever, which I am ever grateful for. As I see it, I still have much too learn and would be unfit to rule at this point in time. I can't say that I look forward to it, as it is an enormous responsibility to lead an entire people. Through darkness and light, through sorrow a happiness, to be the one that's always there and can be relied on, the one trustworthy of their lives. I'm just not ready for it. Yet should something happen to my father, I will adorn the mantle of King and act as such. I will perform whatever duties may arise to the best of my ability."

Slowly, there were a few hoof stamps in one corner of the room, then more, and more, until the entire room was filed with the sound of stamping hooves and hoots and hollers. Sombra started down the stairs to his seat, but tripped on the last step and fell straight forward onto the cobble floor. His chin smashed into the floor with an audible crunch and he bit his tongue, the last thing he knew was a bitter taste in his mouth and then darkness.

"Why are you sad?"

"I'm not sad. Why do you ask?"

"Your name is Sombra, is it not?"

"Yes, that is my name, what does that have to do with anything?"

"Sombra, namesake: Sombre, the state of sadness, despair, and general unhappiness. Such an eloquent word yet with a dark meaning."

"What do you mean? Who are you? What do you want?"

Nothing. Silence. Drifting in the darkness, Sombra wondered who the voice belonged to and why they spoke of such strange things and why they were so cryptic. Whoever, whatever it was, made him feel uneasy.

"Sombra?! SOMBRA?! Oh no. Nononono. Sombra! SOMBRA!"

One eye. Then the other.

"What happened?"

Sombra asked slowly. Belledore had tears in her eyes, she quickly grabbed Sombra nad hugged him close in a tight embrace.

"We thought we lost you..."

Garnet said quietly.

"What do you mean?"

Sombra asked.

A deep baritone voice came from behind him,

"You were unconscious for a month, son."

Sombra turned towards the familiar voice.

"Father? You are bac- wait, a month?! What did I miss? Did anything happen is everything alright?"

King Argyne laid a hoof on Sombra's head.

"Well, I had a victory in battle against the Diamond Dogs, they ran with their tails between their legs like the little pups they are. HAH!"

Sombra stood, slowly.

"That's great father! Have they sent a representative?"

Sombra asked.

"Tch, no. They are too terrified. We sent a representative over and he returned, laden with "gifts" from the dogs. I care not for their damned jewels. It's honor at stake here. Not wealth. They attempted expansion into our land and collapse multiple villages with their Celestia be damned tunnels. They care not for lives, only themselves."

Author's Note:

I have a general idea of where I want to go from here, I'm laying the track now. Only difficulty is getting the fluff and story in between to explain what exactly is going on here. Something foul is afoot, something worse then encroaching windigos or a land feud with the diamond dogs. I'm enjoying writing this, but please don't expect regular updates, I'm nowhere near a professional writer, I don't do it for money but the pure enjoyment of it. So if I write something without "being in the mood" I feel the writing may be poor quality and just take away from the story. Some updates might only be a few days apart, sometimes it might be daily, other times it might be a week or two, maybe even a month. But just know, I will never abandon this project. (cause yknow, ocd n stuff)