//------------------------------//
// Love and Cake 
// Story: Dark Arts and Kind Hearts 
// by Boomstick Mick 
//------------------------------//

Fluttershy cracked her eyes as the rays of Eastlight warmed her cheeks. She let out a well-rested sigh as she brushed the sinewy ripples of her husbands arms, which were loosely tangled about her. She could feel him stirring behind her, felt a gentle kiss on the back of her head. 


"Good morning," he said sleepily, pulling her body against his.


Welcoming the embrace, Fluttershy nuzzled herself against him. His touch, she noticed, was growing more tender by the day. However, there was still an edge of intensity in his displays of affection: A glow of his eyes, a hint of insistence in his touch, an almost irresistible thrum of desire in his voice. The Queen was especially fond of the latter. That voice of his was like sanguine velvet. It was tainted honey, sweet yet dark, oozing with temptation.


And he's all mine, thought The Queen. She caressed her husband under the blankets with her flanks. 'Good morning.' That was all he had said to her, and that was all she needed to hear to put her in the mood for some morning delight. Fluttershy had awakened in a good mood. Possibly the best mood of her life. But she knew her husband could make it even better. It didn't take long for that sleepy yet attentive king of hers to take the hint.


Fluttershy had to bury her face in the pillows to stifle the cadences of her pleasure. That morning, her husband had taken her in every conceivable way a stallion could take a mare. He had done things to her that made her melt back into her pillow, things that had her clutching at the sheets, things that overwhelmed her as her consistent sensations barraged her.


Her hind legs were numb when she climbed the dais to her seat. Pink faced and smiling, she fell back into her chair, and it was there she relaxed back into its plush cushioning while awaiting her breakfast.


"Someone's in a good mood this morning," Ethey observed.


"I'm having a good morning so far," The Queen sighed in her reverie.


Ethey tittered. "I could kinda figure, from the way you were wobbling up those steps."


Fluttershy blushed slightly, but she wasn't ashamed. It was no secret as to what a husband and wife got up to in the privacy of their own bedroom. Or Bedchamber. Whatever her husband of a thousand plus years was wont to call it.       


Nevermore approached them, her bat wings fluttering in synchronized rhythm with that habitually goofy smile of hers plastered across her face. "Oi hoi!" she cheered.


Fluttershy was about to return the greeting, but her husband spoke before she could get the words out. "Where is breakfast?" he demanded.


"Don't be rude," Fluttershy hissed under her breath.


Sombra snorted in response to her admonition. Hunger stood at or near the top of the long list of things that exacerbated the austere stallion's temperament - along with disrespect, nonalcoholic beverages, insolent looks, flatulence, and the wind shifting directions.  


"Yeah, sorry about the wait," Nevermore offered. "Me as well as the rest of the kitchen staff have actually been up all night preparing a special breakfast for everyone. Its my greatest piece of culinary art yet. I figured I'd whip up something nice in honor of our new guests." She swept her hoof out toward those which she had mentioned down below, as if the King couldn't see them already.


Sombra's eyes gleamed with intrigue, his impatience all but forgotten. "Special, you say?" 


"Yepyep!" Nevermore replied with a vigorous nod. "It's a cake." Then, for no obvious reason, she threw her hoof up in the air and went, "Wooo!"


Fluttershy was astounded by the energy Nevermore could exude in the morning, especially after staying awake all night.


"Cake for breakfast?" Sombra said, one part amused and two parts inquisitive.


Fluttershy and Ethey enjoyed watching the two interact. The King, impatient and no nonsense as he was, had evidently taken a liking to the loony bat girl. The Queen couldn't lie, she liked her too. Her neurotic mannerisms and sporadic tendencies reminded her of a certain pink friend back in Ponyville.   


"It's a work of art!" Nevermore promised. "You'll have to taste it to believe it." She then winked, as if she was hinting at something of a lascivious nature. "You'll have to see it to believe it."


"Very well, then. Where is it?"


"I'll go roll it out right now. I just wanted to let you guys know what the wait was all about." And with a bow and a twirl the frantic bat mare was off to retrieve the sweet confection she and her staff had concocted.


Ethey, Sombra, and Fluttershy were engaging in a conversation over the boarding and the assigned occupations of the new residence when a cart pulled by the cooking staff was rolled out before the threshold of the steps down below. Nevermore was using a megaphone she had acquired from Celestia-knows-where to announce its arrival. Manse staff and former slaves all gawked at the cake laid across the surface of the cart.


Fluttershy did a double take before her mind could fully register what it was she was looking at. 


It was a cake — that had been artfully yet explicitly detailed in the sculpted depiction of a mare and a stallion intertwined in the throes of passion.  


Red-faced, The Queen raised an abashed hoof to her mouth. "Oh, my."


Mothers and fathers in attendance looked on disapprovingly as they covered their kids' eyes.


Ethey face-hoofed. 


Clash could be heard somewhere in the hall guffawing.


A sinister smirk tugged at the corner of Sombra's lips. "My favorite flavor," he mused.


Blustering, Ethey sprang from her seat. The little skull in her ribbon jingled. Her glasses slid down her muzzle. "Nevermore, you dingbat!"


"What!" The cook started, her expression the portrait of obliviousness. "What did I do?"


"There're children here!"


Nevermore blinked stupidly. "They'll get a piece too."


Again, Ethey face-hoofed. "Take that eyesore back to the kitchen and cut it up in to pieces!"


"But I haven't even taken a picture of it yet!" Nevermore whined.


Sombra, amongst the bickering, laid back in his seat and he chuckled a deep, throaty chuckle.


Fluttershy forgot all about the cake as her disbelieving gaze shifted to her husband. Sombra was laughing. He was actually laughing; not in a condescending or malicious manner, but in a genuine display of delight and amusement. Even Ethey was nonplussed by the sight. 


Nevermore frowned indignantly after a moment of gauging the crowds reaction to her 'master piece'. "Fine!" she grumbled unintelligibly as she and her staff painstakingly wheeled the massive cake back to the kitchen.


They returned shortly after. The cake had been sliced into numerous sections and the pieces were reorganized into a more nonrepresentational abstract of cubes and slivers.


Ethey pondered over the piece that was served to her, which possessed a suspicious likeness of what was most likely the stallion's proficiently sculpted rump. Nevermore was in possession of her own brand of humor, it had seemed.


Ethey forked a piece into her mouth. "It's good," she said, as if oblivious to Nevermore's indiscretion.


"We can trade pieces, if you want," Fluttershy offered. Her piece was cut from an undefinable origin. In truth, she didn't want to know the area from which her slice had been carved; it was still good cake, despite the fact that it was presented in such an obscene manner.


"Nah, its fine," Ethey declined. Then she sighed, "It's probably the closest thing to a piece of ass I'll ever get."  


Sombra chuckled again.







A kingdom was an autocracy. There was no getting around that. Kings and Queens were not politicians. There were no laws or amendments that held them to any specific standard. When Sombra had imparted this information unto Fluttershy, she was quick to remind him that not even a king or queen was immune to the repercussions of their actions. 


"You must rule with an iron hoof," he insisted, as they strolled leisurely along the cobblestone path that bisected the garden. 


Fluttershy liked the interaction. The way Sombra had taken time to go on a walk with her like two lovers on a canter through the park almost made her feel normal for the first time in forever. 


"You can only achieve so much through being kind," Sombra said. "Your enemies are not always those who openly rally against you waving blades and banners. There are parasites who will seek to take advantage of your soft heart. They'll exploit you until there's nothing left to take."


Fluttershy pondered that. "Iron is too stiff, my king," she replied. "Iron might not bend, but it will break. You should reconsider your notion, lest you repeat your past mistakes."


"I..." Sombra stammered. He was too proud to admit that she had a point. "A steel hoof, perhaps. Steel is strong, but it can yield, given the right circumstances."


Fluttershy tried not to giggle at the absurdity of the notion, of her husband's attempt to compare their rule to some sort of metaphorical alloy. "I think I'd rather be a mongoose."


"Mongoose," Sombra pondered. "Curious creatures, they."   


The Queen illuminated her king to her analogy of the snake, the mouse, and the mongoose. Sombra could compare the way in which he intended to rule to various types of metal, but Fluttershy preferred to use animals.


"I like it," The King conceded. "Though a rodent is hardly fearsome, especially to its natural predators."


"Mongooses aren't rodents, silly," Fluttershy corrected him in the way a teacher might correct a young student. The Queen might not have known much in the ways of a governing hierarchy, but she did know a thing or two about animals. She recognized her opportunity to impart knowledge and shine in the eyes of her king, and she seized it. "That's actually a popular misconception, but they are members of the Herpestidae family, which relates them more to meerkats than anything else. They're not rodents, but their diets consist of rodents, as well as carrion, eggs, insects, and, as I've previously mentioned, snakes."


Sombra's expression grew blank as he politely and patiently allowed her to finish her lecture. The King was visually uninterested, but he remained dutifully attentive.  "I... Yes, I see," he offered obligatorily when she finished. "Fascinating." 


They stopped when they had come upon a lone tree near the iron gate. The fallen snow gleamed in the midday sunlight. There was no wind. It was unusually calm. Even the temperature was bearable. Fluttershy spied a family of snow rabbits across the courtyard. "What's your favorite animal, my king?" she wondered, watching the rabbits frolic about. He was quick to reply, much to her surprise.


"Dogs."


"Dogs?" Fluttershy echoed in an attempt to extract an explanation. She wasn't expecting such a simple answer. 


"Loyal beasts. Strong. Intelligent. Noble."


Fluttershy rested her head against his arm. "Affectionate?"


The King hummed an affirmation. Then, out of the blue: "I love you."


A gentle gust liberated a strand of hair from Fluttershy's crown as she digested the words. Her heart fluttered. Sombra faced her, brushed the strand of hair out of her muzzle. They were just three simple words, but they meant everything to her. Bereft of speech, her eyes became watery.


Sombra intercepted a tear rolling down her cheek. "Why do you cry?"  


"I'm not crying," Fluttershy fibbed, wiping her eyes. His declaration was just so unexpected. "I-I love you too," she heard herself say. 


Her reaction evoked a flicker in the King's eyes. He disguised his feelings well behind the mask of an amused smile, but he wasn't fooling her. "Truly?" he said, as if he expected that the queen's response had come from obligation rather than from her heart. 


Fluttershy smiled up at him. Her voice cracked as she laughed, "Of course I do, you silly king!"


The King's expression illuminated in the closest thing he could muster to resemble joy. It was the type of smile one might manage with facial muscles honed from a lifetime of scowls and sneers.  


And for that brief moment the world was perfect.


Fluttershy's first instinct was to throw herself into his arms, but a strange, amber-tented veil began to materialize about her. More curious than startled, she began to look around at the transparent golden bubble that had somehow formed around her. "What is this?"


The King's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he touched it. The bubble's surface crackled with a harsh, electric report as it repelled his contact. He drew his hoof back, sneered at it in alarm. He was saying something to her, but Fluttershy couldn't hear him. The only sound that her ears could detect was the warbling of the force field that now encompassed her. The bubble had seemingly negated the possibility of physical and audible contact with anything outside of it.


Alarm began to grip the queen. She made an effort to reach out to her husband, but was unable to breach the shield's surface. She knocked on it with her hoof, but her efforts were to no avail. She struck it harder and harder until her attempts devolved into frantic scraping at the unyielding surface. "What is this!" she cried. "What's happening?"


Sombra's horn flickered. He shot some sort of projectile at the bubble, but it feebly fizzled out upon contact. He said something, most likely a curse.


"Help me!" Fluttershy pleaded. She couldn't hear what her husband was shouting, but she could draw a guess from the words his mouth formed: 'Who's doing this?' and 'Show yourself!' followed by a long string of threats and oaths toward an unseen assailant.


Suddenly, across the garden, light began to bend and refract around a figure hidden under a thick cloak. With her illusion of invisibility cast aside she pulled her hood back. 


"Twilight!" Fluttershy gasped. She was almost happy for that moment. 


Sombra whipped around. His glare fixed hotly upon her. He scowled at her viciously. 'You!' he seemed to be saying. 


'Me!' Twilight Sparkle agreed, the tip of her horn flickering. 


Fluttershy's heart sank as she began to grasp the situation. They were going to kill each other! "No!" She scraped desperately at the bubble's surface. It began to levitate, far beyond Sombra's reach. "No, no, no, no, no! This can't be happening! Twilight! Don't! Please, wait!"


Sombra watched helplessly as the bubble carried his bride away. He lifted a hoof in a vain attempt to make a grab for her, as if he'd forgotten the combatant across the way from him. He yelled something, but Fluttershy couldn't hear him. He was suddenly assaulted by a conical stream of lavender light.


Twilight Sparkle's expression was almost cocky. Fluttershy could just barely manage to read her lips. Something along the lines of 'Don't let your guard down.' 


The smoke cleared, and Fluttershy's heart sank as she beheld her husband. Any semblance of sanity he had had disappeared along with his ability to negotiate. He staggered to his hooves as smoke wafted from his singed body. His lips curled back to reveal his fangs. His irises were concealed behind blazing flames of jade, and underneath them, purple wisps of light began to form.