//------------------------------//
// Penance 
// Story: The Return of the King 
// by MisterEdd 
//------------------------------//



From the private diary of King Carnelian, Sovereign Ruler of the Crystal Empire
(Recovered from the site of the Crystal Empire's disappearance)  
~*~
Dated February 14th, 1401 PES (Post-Equestrian Settlement)  




What in Hyperion's name have we done? The village, a collection of simple wooden huts, towers and walls, lay in ruins, either smashed or burned in the aftermath of the attack. No. "Attack" isn't strong enough to describe what I'm looking at. There isn't a spot of soil I can step on without coming into contact with a dead umbrum. This was a MASSACRE. I stopped before the bodies of a male and female, about sixteen or seventeen, their fore and hindlegs wrapped around one another in a protective embrace.    

My ears swiveled to register the approaching hoofsteps but I didn't turn to look at their owner. Even blindfolded and locked in the wine cellar, there was no way I could mistake those for anypony else's but those of General Sunstone. 

"What have we done?" I whispered, not caring whether or not he heard me.

"Your Majesty? Are you alright?" 

I felt a hoof on my lower foreleg; Sunstone wasn't tall enough to reach my shoulder. 

"We just committed genocide and slaughtered civilians, including foals. Should I be alright?" 

My tone came off more sharp and bitter than I meant it to be but his question, while intended to be sympathetic, was slightly idiotic. Out of the corner of my eye, Sunstone shook his head.    

"No, Your Majesty." He then added: "We're all going to Tartarus for this." 

"Indeed we are." 

And with that, I gave the two one last glance before marching away, Sunstone accompanying me. Now don't get me wrong, I've seen my fair share of dead bodies. I had, after all, spent the last four years fighting on the front lines, despite the protests of my advisors. But that was war! These were carpenters, potters, millers. And the foals... Sweet Alicornia, the foals! May Hyperion have mercy on all of our souls. 

Even from inside the palace, the bonfire could seen roaring in the distance, the smell of burning flesh and clothing sickeningly choking the air. After the few dozen bodies, it was determined that burying the corpses would take too long so one of the privates suggested simply burning them and nopony objected. To my everlasting shame, I agreed. The huts were quickly ransacked of any and all valuables, no matter how trivial, and loaded onto the wagons. Food, spare clothing, blankets. The more personal items were either burned or tossed out into the snow. So this is how it happens. A race is killed and all remnants of their existence destroyed. This is what Equestria is being built on? 

"Carnie?" 

My head swiveled around. It was my wife and queen. Terror was written across her face in all capital letters as she surveyed her surrounds, her chest slowly breathing in an out. Her wings twitched at her sides. Every hoofstep slow and heavy. It was as though she was sleepwalking.   

"Aquamarine, I thought I told you to remain in the carriage. You weren't meant to see any of this." 

"Nopony was," came her response, her eyes filling up with tears. 

For once, I had nothing to say to her. Instead, I placed a wing around her and sighed as she rested her head against my chest. She shuddered and sank deeper into me. I shook my head, my mind still reeling at the sight of the slaughter. We knew that the umbrums were dangerous but Queen Concordia made it absolutely certain that they had to be exterminated. I don't know what happened to have enforced this idea in her head. Was the loss of Solaris so daunting that this seemed reasonable?     

"Your majesty!" Sunstone pointed and I followed his hoof. 

A young mare, perhaps twenty-two or twenty-three, was laid out on her stomach in front of the entrance of a hut, presumably hers, if her outreached foreleg was of any indication. Her top half was rising up and down and I could hear little frenzied grunts coming from underneath her. What the hay? Puzzled, I magically turned her over and what I saw next will forever chill my blood whenever I write or speak of it. 

A colt, six years of age by looking at him, sat up, his dark gray coat stained with dried blood and soot. His little chest was speedily sucking in pained breaths of air, small rasps accompanying each lungful. Large red eyes stared ahead of him, unblinkingly observing nothing but seeing everything. It was the look I'd see on many a soldier's face, what they called, "the Thousand-Yard Stare." It was the look of one who'd seen great horrors and tried to leave them behind. 

The look of Death.     

"UMBRUM!"

A detachment of guards had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, swords and spears raised as they surrounded the colt, who continued to stare off into space as if they didn't exist. General Sunstone had unsheathed his own blade and had it leveled in the direction of the colt like a teacher's pointing-rod. Something shoved me slightly backward and I became aware of a lack of warmth that'd been there but was now absent. I saw Aquamarine lunge forward and face the soldiers, her wings displayed aggressively as she shielded the absent-minded colt. We were all stunned.

"Aquamarine, what are you doing?!"

She flapped her wings forward at a guard that'd gotten too close and shot another a death-glare, causing the youth to drop his spear and jump backwards. 

"Carnelian, please. No more." 

Her green eyes pleaded with me, begged me to intervene. My response was hesitant but swift. 

"General, tell your guards to stand down." 

Sunstone glanced back at me questioningly but nodded. "Everypony, you heard your king. Stand down." 

The guards looked to another perplexingly and slowly did as they were told. Aquamarine shot me a grateful smile and my heart immediately began to race. Lowering herself to the ground, she faced the colt. He didn't hear her approach, instead muttering the same word over and over again:

"Móðir..." 

Although I didn't speak umbrumese fluently, I knew enough to know that he was saying "Mother" and my eyes focused on the dead mare beside him. For the briefest of moments, I saw my own mother lying there in the snow, the mare's dark gray coat replaced with one of teal green and her long black mane was now short and colored winter green with streaks of white. I dislodged the illusion and watched as Aquamarine began to say something, cooing in the colt's native tongue. Slowly, she enveloped him into her forelegs. The colt offered up no resistance.   

Then, his eyes blinked away the fog that had inhabited his mind and he looked confusingly at my wife. 

"Hvar er móðir mín?" >Where is my mother?<

Aquamarine paused, one wing brushing his mane. 

"Hún hefur flutt á, litla einn." >She has moved on, little one.< 

I'd expected tears or shouting, but no. Instead, he turned away from her and resumed staring out into nothing. Aquamarine pulled him in close, humming as she continued to stroke his mane, fresh tears racing down her cheeks. None of the guards moved or said anything. What could they say or do? Aside from his family and culture, we'd also killed his innocence.  

The carriage ride to the Crystal Empire was occupied mostly by silence, interrupted now and then by Aquamarine humming or whispering positively to the colt, who was wrapped in a blanket and laid with his head against her chest. I knew why she was doing this. I couldn't blame her but somepony had to be the voice of reason. Reluctantly, I cleared my throat. 

"Aqua, I know what you're thinking but don't. We can't keep him." 

She scrunched her face up painfully, both wings moving to cover the colt in a protective cocoon. 

"Carnie..."

"He isn't ours. By order of Queen Concordia, all umbrums are to be-..."

"Carnelian..."

"...executed on sight. Just by harboring him, we are committing treason."

Aquamarine's head dropped but her eyes were still on me. "After what happened to that village, are you really going to sit there and tell me that you're going to kill this colt? Just...add him to the fire?"  

The colt in question was sleeping, his face oddly serene considering what he'd endured. A soft whimper or rumbling purr would slip out of his mouth but he was otherwise quiet. I looked out the window. 

Taking advantage of my lack of a response, she continued. "The physicians said that we're both healthy and yet we're unable to conceive. Don't you see? This colt is the answer to our prayers."  

I watched the snowflakes drift on by. "You're asking me to help you commit treason against our queen, against the Equestrian Empire and risk the safety of our kingdom. He's an umbrum."

"He's a child!" She hissed, being careful not to wake the colt. "He's a child with nowhere to go and nopony to care for him. We're not going to throw him out there to freeze to death nor butcher him and feed him to the fire. We have a chance to give this poor colt a loving home. Please Carnie, do this. If not for us, then do it for him. For me." 

I met her eyes and was awestruck by their brilliance. I knew how badly she wanted a foal of her own and I couldn't deny how heartbroken I was when the physicians told us that we might never be able to have that luxury for ourselves. But this? I stared once more at the sleeping colt and a pang of remorse hit me. Even though the red had been washed off of his coat, he was still covered in blood. As were my hooves. 

I sighed, "Very well then. We'll have to be very careful about how we do this." 

Aquamarine chirped happily and nuzzled the colt, who in turn smiled in his sleep. 

"We've been out of the public eye since the war began. It shouldn't be too hard to convince everypony that we had a child in secret. His birth was confidential as to keep our enemies from finding leverage on us during this crisis." 

I smiled despite my reservations. My darling wife was quite clever when she wanted to be. I'm still convinced she somehow tricked me into proposing to her. 

I hummed in contemplation. "That shouldn't be an issue. However, he's not a crystal pony. Then again, the mages do say that the Crystal Heart has certain transfigurative powers. Plus his memory could always be altered." 

"He needs a name," Aquamarine beamed joyfully. Giving him a once over, she smiled, "I like 'Tourmaline'. It was my grandfather's name and is strong-sounding." 

The colt lazily kicked one hindleg and nestled in close, causing her to giggle.         

"'Tourmaline'. Hmm." I tossed the name around in my head. "Tourmaline it is then."