> Dark Dawn > by Sawtoothetherium > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > First Encounters > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dawn ran through the alleyways of her home city, fleeing for her life. The soldiers had come out on nowhere, and burst into her home without warning. They were clearly dark crystal soldiers by their attire, meaning black scaled armor that wasn’t entirely standard issue, dark purple clothing underneath, roundshields of varied quality with a black background and a dark purple X in the middle. They carried spears and a sword. Otherwise she didn’t know what to expect, aside from murder. Silent Dawn was a small, black coated Pegasus mare with large wings for her size. She was flat chested-ish with a white evening gown over her for the purpose of the ball she had been attending that night on her parents insistence. She had a white mane with purple tips. And a shy look to her at all times, but in this case a terrified look on her face. She ran through the muddy alleyways, the bottom of her once-white evening dress now colored brown from all the mud. Turning back to see how close her pursuers were, she did so just as she turned a corner and didn’t notice the figure that was standing in the way. She ran right into him so hard she fell back on her butt, after a second of dazed confusion she looked up, and a gasp of fear caught in her throat. Standing there in front of her, was King Sombra himself, king of monsters, father of darkness and so many other things, none of them good. Looking back Dawn would prefer to have taken her chances with the soldiers, but then again, they probably would have brought her to him in the first place. She began to inch her way back ever so slightly, her frightened gaze fixed upon the sight of the demon king in front of her. He wore something that she did not recognize, he wore a form of plate armor made of steel segments that overlapped downwards (Roman armor lorica segmentata). He also had a set of greaves over his leather boots which had grey pants tucked into them and a loose, red, short sleeved woolen tunic and scarf under his armor, likely to prevent chafing. On his left hip was a shortish sword but it appeared that overall length would be from his shoulder to the tip of his middle finger, it was straight and double edged with a sharp stabbing point. Over all of that he had a long grey trench coat and no helmet. His curved horn with a reddish tint on the upper half, his shoulder length black mane and his sharp fangs with his attire and weapon made him a terror to behold. Right at that moment the soldiers turned up, and upon seeing the king got into an aggressive stance surprisingly enough. They moved right past the mare on the ground and seemed intent but hesitant to attack the large stallion in front of them, especially with him being almost a full head taller than both of them. King Sombra drew his gladius calmly, completely ignoring the mare observing the scene. The soldier to the right of Sombra thrust foreward with his spear, emmediately Sombra twisted to the side and wrenched the spear from his grasp pulling the soldier foreward with it. Pulling his left hand up in a fist he smacked the soldier across the face followed up with a slash through half of the soldiers neck, then reversing the motion cut through the other half then punched the stallions face, sending his head flying to the wall of the alleyway. The second soldier, apparently horrified by his comrades fate faltered for a second, but then tried himself to attack the king. He was quickly deprived of both of his weapons and his shield, so he tried tackling the king, he was struck in the back with the pommel of Sombra’s gladius making him stop moving. Switching his grip and holding it like a dagger Sombra tried to stab the stallion, although the soldier prevented this with a black with his forearm. Flipping the gladius over to his left hand he cut across the stallions stomach, then stabbed into his toe, cutting up at an angle he switched back to his right hand and cut the bent over stallion’s head off. After that he sheathed his gladius then looked down at the mare now paralyzed in fear. The king drew from beneath his coat a short dagger, and Dawn thought it was all over, until he tossed the dagger down almost right next to her. “Use it only if you have to.” He says holding a very, very subtle but not unnoticeable accent in his voice. “If there is any place you can go to go there.” He then just turned around and walked away, relaxed but ready, one hand always on the hilt of his gladius. Silent Dawn, a young noblemans daughter who had seen her fair share of strangeness despite her lack of any experience with anything more exciting than a little bit of stage fright. She gingerly picked up the dagger and got up, she walked out to the end of the alleyway and found Sombra making for the edge of town, without knowing what the hell she was doing she began to follow him at a distance. The Front Princess Luna stood over the map depicting the areas over the northern mountains of the Crystal Empire, although in her eyes it was hardly an empire. She remembered from about one thousand five hundred years ago she and the rest of Equestria came into contact with a true empire, and it was quite an adventure for her to have. Her memories were happy ones up until the end, at least for her, for her sister not so much. She never trusted the empires ruler, and conquerer of much of its territory. Luna was a tall and lean but muscular mare with large majestic wings and a long horn atop her head. Her mane was like that of the night sky in a waving flag of smooth silk strands. She had this tied back in a ponytail as to not hinder her combat effectiveness, she wore a thick leather breastplate with large rectangular shoulder plates and a knee length skirt of leather plates to protect her thighs, she had iron greaves and bracers and in front of her was a cowrinthian helm with a horizontal crest on its top, the hairs colored blue. (Typically portrayed Greek style armor.) On her hip was a kopis sword, next to her was her dory spear and hoplon shield. She was often on the front line of her unit and therefore her equipment was battered and scratched with use. She was observing how the Equestrians were desperately in need of allies because of how badly they were losing the war when a messenger came in. “Princess, one of our spies has returned with news.” “Send him in.” The messenger left, and in stepped another stallion with a hooded cloak. He bowed to Luna then put down several papers in front of her. “There has been a development.” He says, “Something quite shocking frankly. It appears King Sombra has disappeared from the playing board, and declared a traitor by the Dark Crystal Republic. This has reportedly happened almost four years ago when the war began, but because all of our spies have been killed until now we haven’t received any news. Apparently a new king has been appointed but none of us spies have been able to get eyes on him.” Luna was shocked, could it be? She took a look at the papers, then she looked up at him with a shocked look. “Thank you, you are dismissed.” Luna then left to tell her sister the news. > An Adventure Begins > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sombra had managed to kill his way out of the city, although he didn’t do much aside from sneak and fight some lonesome soldiers. He had jogged from the city to the snow covered forest outside of the city, he jogged for a while until he realized he was being followed. He jogs slightly faster then backtracks stepping precisely in his original footsteps, then hid in the bushes beside his tracks. He waits there for his stalker. The bitter wind washes over him as he waits in the bushes for the one following him. The pinewood forest rustled noisily, the treetops bending slightly in the winds up higher. Sombra was not bothered by this cold, he did not remember any of the details of or leading up to his banishment, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t effected him. He was all but immune to the cold temperatures of winter thanks to being stuck in a glacier for a full millennium, although he had doubts about weather or not that was how long he was banished as he was mortal, always was. His silently roving gaze was patiently and carefully searching the area, as were his ears listening for any sign of movement. His hand rested on the hilt of his gladius, ready to cut down anyone or anything he came across and determined a threat. His feet were planted into the ground, he was on his toes in case he needed to move suddenly and to brace himself against the ground in case any hard contact was made by the stalker. His breathing was slow and quiet and even, his armor weightless on his shoulders and waist. He waited, he watched. After several minutes of waiting he saw that it was the mare that had run into him earlier that was following him. She looked frightened and he could clearly see that, her eyes were wide and her breathing quick. She had a tight grip on the dagger he had left with her, clearly never having had to use one before or had any training in that area. She hugged herself to keep out the cold and shivered visibly, her evening gown not being very well suited to the cold weather. She kept looking down at the tracks he had made in the snow, leaving no doubt that she was the one he had heard walking behind him. She continued to follow his tracks, obviously intent on finding him. He waited until she passed him before emerging, if he wanted answers quickly it was most effective to catch her off guard, he didn’t yet know if she was friend or foe. He followed her for a ways, until she came to the end of his tracks. Once she reached that area she had wrapped herself in her wings to block out the cold, and groaned in annoyance. She turned around to search the area and ended up shrieking in fright when she found him right behind her. She fell back in the snow and looked up at Sombra’s towering figure. “Why are you following me?” He demands calmly and almost without emotion. “I... I had to k-know why you l-let me go. Why did you give me the dagger?” She stutters. “I was confused, if all the stories were true why did you help me?” “Why should you think about it?” He counters. “You had a chance, why didn’t you take it?” “I... I don’t know,” She said obviously frightened, she began to inch away again. “I had heard so much about how King Sombra was a vicious and ruthless murderer who showed no mercy to anyone. And yet when I ran into you, you didn’t seem intent on hurting me. Then you give me a weapon and leave, it’s... intriguing to say the least.” “Well you won’t be receiving answers anytime soon.” He tells her coldly. “Is there nowhere for you to go? No family in Canterlot or any other Equestrian controlled cities or towns.” “No, all of my family lived in Marescow, the city those soldiers just took.” She says. “I have nowhere to go.” Sombra sighs in exasperation. “Would you be in any way able to make it to any of the cities in Equestrian control?” “I d-don’t th-think so. I’ve never been a big survivor, or a survivor at all. I wouldn’t make it very far.” She says. Sombra hides his annoyance. “If I see you to the nearest Equestrian city, will you continue to bother me?” “N-no.” She tells him. “Very well. I will make sure you get to Stalliongrad, but once there we part ways. Tell whomever you wish, but don’t follow me again.” “Y-yes sir.” She says to him. He offers her his hand, surprising her, she hesitantly takes his hand and he helps her up. “We had best move quickly, the quicker we get there, the sooner you leave.”