Daring had dozed off in the sauna and when she woke the slave who should have been waiting with her towels was gone. She found the little minx in her royal chambers, wearing Daring’s glowpaz earrings. The table was cluttered with the rest of Daring’s jewelry, drawers torn out, flipped over and then discarded piled unceremoniously on either side of the table; her treasures rummaged through and then swept aside as the slave searched for the headdress to complete her mockery.
The carpet was littered with tufts of gray hair from the trim she’d just given herself, copying Daring’s mane style, and her arms and torso were marked with black lipstick in crude recreations of her tattoos. Once in a while between drawers, she’d stop to add a few more marks on her arm and then continue, all the while holding an imaginary conversation in an intimidating accent with Daring’s beloved husband. “Why thank you Sombra, this new dress does look good on me, but it would look better on the floor. Yes Sombra, I was pretty awesome when I assassinated Smart Cookie in front of his whole battalion, but not as awesome as you.”
Daring paused… she had every right to be furious and punish the brat then and there but the flattery was amusing. Could she really blame anyone for being jealous of one of the most blessed mares in the world? The slave was so focused on her fake tattoos, futile search, and imaginary conversation that she hadn’t noticed her yet. Activation her glyph of stealth made sure she wouldn’t. Daring walked behind her to the adjoining closet, pushed against a mosaic, whispered the password, and slid the panel away to reveal her most prized possession; the headdress Sombra had given her when he made her queen of his Crystal Empire, which she kept separate from the rest of her jewels.
Sneaking up behind the wayward Daring plopped the headdress over her head, “There” she said cheerily, “Now you have the matching set.” The slave froze, her eyes widening in terror and she tried to bolt out of the room, but Daring caught her with one wing and forced her back into the chair, wings pinned to her side. Without saying a word Daring took the black lipstick and finished the glyph she was missing, “There” said Daring smiling, “You have my mane, you have my markings, and you have my glyphs and you have my jewelry. Now you’re just missing the most important thing.”
“Yeah?” the slave smiled through panicked breaths, “What’s that?”
“He will never love you.” Daring growled, as she grabbed both earrings in her hooves and pulled.
....................……………….………………………………………………………….
Daring woke with a jump, heart pounding in the middle of the night. She checked her earrings and made sure they were still there and then ran to the collapsed master bedroom of the dig. It wasn’t much to look at now, just a bare stone floor surrounded by a broken-down wall that used to hold up a painted roof and a closet that had been stripped bare years ago save for a faded mosaic. Daring had studied it, taken photographs and charcoal rubbings of it, but now she walked confidently towards the mosaic and whispered into it the password from the dream.
There was a faint click from inside and a squeak from Daring as the door swung slowly open to reveal a perfectly persevered headdress. Without hesitation, she grabbed it gently and placed it over her own head, delighted to find it fit perfectly.
“Hello Jeopardy.” a voice spoke from the void. “It’s been a while.”
“Sombra?” asked Daring hopefully.
“No.” The strong feminine voice tittered back. “I am Somnambula, queen of the crystal empire, and first wife of his majesty King Sombra.”
“...First?”
“Yes Jeopardy, don’t you remember?”
“Why do you keep calling me Jeopardy, my name is-”
“Not important. I’ve watched you for the last week since you found the first piece of me and I know who you truly are. All your life you’ve felt drawn to royalty, dead or alive, and felt the need to take what was theirs for yourself. You set yourself to a prize and once you do you never back down. Doubtless, you have died and been reborn a dozen times since our war against Celestia, but whether you remember it or not, I still see the unmistakable fire in you as when you stood beside me and Sombra in our crystal empire as Jeopardous Zeal.”
“You mean… we were a harem?”
“Yes.” the voice obviously smiling, “You, me, and a unicorn magi named Welkin.”
“And you… err… didn’t murder us?”
The voice laughed, a joyful haughty laugh that somehow put Daring at ease. “I admit I was hostile to you at first. You were a lowly scout in the army who had gained some renown after securing several victories. When plots were made against my life Sombra made you a captain of the palace security and my personal bodyguard. We fought, but your stubborn persistence earned my begrudging respect. When Sombra left us for six months to lay siege to The Silver City, you and I learned to rely on one another and enjoy each other’s company. When he finally returned, with Welkin in tow, you claimed your piece of our master’s heart, not through your ridiculous efforts to mimic me but by being yourself. We were a family and we were happy.”
“So… three wives… and two husbands?”
“What? No! One!”
“Weren't you also married to Hisan?”
“You think I married... my brother?”
Daring related to her the official story that she was remembered for, saving her beloved Prince Hisan from the sphinx by passing two trials to which Somnambula scoffed bemusedly, “When I wed Sombra I swore loyalty to my new family and nation and renounced that of my birth. On the sixth day of the wedding feast, both Sombra and Hisan went missing. I scryed their position and tracked them to the Sphinx who offered a different trial to save each and only time to save one of them. I saved Sombra, carried him outside and thought I had time to go back for Hisan. If the poison gas filling the chamber was real I’d have perished but it was only a test arranged by Sombra to prove my loyalty. He was quite pleased with me and presented the sphinx as my slave for his wedding gift.”
Daring somehow wasn’t surprised. She’d studied history her whole life and not just from the latest editions of history books. She knew history changed over time and books written two hundred years ago always contradicted the ones from four hundred and yet if Celestia was as old as they said it you’d think she could have kept things straight. “Any idea why would Celestia change this story.”
“I am surprised the harridan bitch chose to laud me at all after the war I put her through. What does she tell about Sombra?” Daring grit her teeth trying to think of a delicate way to explain but Somnambula read her silence, “A demon?”
“Pretty much.”
“I surprised only Celestia did not record me as his demoness.”
“Why did you fight a war against Celestia?”
“We defended ourselves after Celestia refused to tolerate Sombra’s dominion over earth.”
“So you did try to take over the world.”
“No. Celestia’s brother died and his power of earth chose Sombra as it’s new wielder.”
“Wait!?” Daring’s wings flared, “You mean like how Celestia controls the sun?”
“Yes.”
“But only an alicorn can steward one of the cosmic forces!”
“Did an alicorn tell you that?” Somnambula asked calmly
“Ummm...”
“And if any equine of sufficient will was able to harness the immortal power of the universe what would happen to Celestia and her ilk? Would they be… important? Would they tolerate their claim to power being challenged or would they seek to discredit and destroy that threat by any means possible?
It began by inciting several of our neighboring cities to raid and plunder us, but Sombra conquered them in return. Then Celestia did what she could to restrict sunlight from our land so the crops never grew, but our soil was poor to begin with and our wealth was in the crystals we mined and traded for sustenance. There was a tentative peace, but as the days grew colder the northern ice spread like a bridge over the oceans, bringing the windigos down upon us. We fought them back at great cost until Sombra was able to parlay with their king and promised to restore Nightmare Moon from Celestia’s prison if they joined us and we marched together against Canterlot. Celestia began withholding the sun from the other kingdoms, blaming it on us, to unite all the nations against us.”
“… Do you reckon I should believe you?”
“You never did trust easily which is one of the reasons you were always so good at gathering information.” Somnambula smiled, “I don’t expect you to take my word for it, simply help me find your phylactery, you will remember your past life and everything will become clear. From there we find Welkin, she and I will find new hosts and then together the three of us can find Sombra’s phylactery, restore him and then our empire.”
“… I will find my phylactery but make no promises after that.”
“As you say.”
“Do you know where it is?”
“You’ve been bathing yourself for the last week in my scrying pool. The enchantment has degraded over the years and repairing it without magic will not be easy but with clear sunlight I will be able to show you how. Sleep now and dream with me of our lord, at sunrise we start.”
“Tomorrow? I… can’t. I sort of promised my dog I’d play with him.”
“I’ve been with you for the last week. You don’t have a dog.”
“Do to.”
“Then where has he been?”
“Building a dungeon to lock me in. FYI, I did a fly-by a few days ago and watched him rounding off some rocks with his pet cats so we’re probably in for some rolling boulder traps.”
“...What?”