Flurry was exhausted, two nights in a row to talk to the imprisoned king was a bad idea, however, she didn’t care. It was well worth it, the information she was gathering about the Crystal Empire from a thousand years back was going to help her rule over the empire. She also knew she was going to use the lost information to enlighten the crystal ponies about their lost history since no textbook in the entire empire even mentioned Princess Amore or how Sombra came to power. Something she chalked up to Somber destroying the records and wiping their minds. She had light bags under her eyes, she only had about four hours of sleep and she had to keep up appearances. Sleeping in wasn’t an option. She couldn’t afford to let her parents know what she was up to. In order to avoid them today, she ran and ate breakfast as quickly as she could and bolted to the library. Neither of her parents saw her as they were just entering the dining hall as she was running out. Making it to the library in record time, she sat at her usual table and grabbed some books up in her magic, they were all about Canterlot. Although she didn’t care about Canterlot right now she had to keep up the act that she was studying the castle. She opened a book and started to read it, however, about ten pages into reading it her vision blurred as she read. Her mind repeated the same sentence over and over again till everything went dark.
~hour later~
Something was shaking her, it wasn’t violent but a light-loving shake. She groaned as she opened her eyes, turning her head slightly towards the hoof on her shoulder. Her eyes
meet her mother’s loving face, a warm smile upon her lips.
“Flurry, sweetie are you alright? You were sleeping in a book!”
Concern laced her voice and overtook her features.
“Wha? Yeah, I’m fine, just tired is all.”
“Is something going on?”
“What, no! It’s just that all these books are a bit dull. Well, that and I’m so excited about reading about Canterlot and learning about its vast history.”
Cadence cocked an eyebrow at her, giving her a look of disbelief
“Are you sure? It seems like something else is occupying your mind right now.”
Flurry looked at her mother with a curious look
“Why, what do you think? Do you think something is going on mom?”
“Well, I think you're occupied with something or with someone else?”
Flurries face turned a bright shade of crimson as embarrassment burned through her. She couldn't believe what her mother was implying
“I’m in no way infatuated with anypony right now! I'm infatuated with my research! How dare you say or imply such a thing!”
“I never said anything about liking some pony.”
Flurry looked dumbfounded, she forgot who she was dealing with. Her mother could make you spill the beans about anything she wanted and she never even had to try. It was a special talent of her mothers and it was one she feared and respected. She had watched it in action many times and always told herself that it would never work on her but that was always a lie she told herself.
“I-I um well maybe I’m a little distracted but it's not because I like somepony.”
“I know, I was teasing you. Have you forgotten what I’m the princess of, my love?”
She smiled lovingly at Flurry
“Now let’s go get some lunch, I’m guessing you’ve been napping since this morning.”
“What no! I’ve only been napping for a few minutes now! I did research today, I swear.”
She answered defensively, Cadence just smiled
“Whatever you say, dear. Now let's go, I’m sure you're starving.”
Before she could protest her stomach let out a loud growling noise. She got up reluctantly and followed behind her mother.
The rest of the day passed without any incidents, which made Flurry happy. It seemed that her secret was still safe for now as night fell upon the empire once more. She gathered her usual supplies preparing to go down to the dungeons again to talk to Sombra. She made her way to the dungeons in record time avoiding all the guards and entering the secret passage. She was once again in front of the familiar cell, however, she didn’t see Sombra inside his cell.
“Sombra?”
She asked aloud, she watched the cell carefully. Her eyes caught a glimpse of something moving in the back of the cell, approaching her. She held her breath for a moment, as a dark thought crossed her mind.
Have I been caught?
To her relief it was the all too familiar unicorn king, his ruby eyes glaring at her with disgust.
“You're back again? Your persistence is commendable, I'll give you that. However, it's also quite annoying.”
He sat in the middle of his cell, his last sentence dripped with venom aimed at her to take the hint and leave him alone. She just smiled at him as she sat in front of the cell and pulled out both journals from her saddlebag and a quill.
“Well I still have questions, King Sombra and I'll take your, ummm,... comment as a compliment. Besides, we're friends now.”
“You really shouldn’t take that as a compliment. And we're not friends.”
Lowering his gaze and snarling slightly. She ignored his disdain and looked into his journal. Flipping through some pages until she stopped and smiled triumphantly
“Aha! Here it is now in your journal you wrote ‘little did I know I was meeting my greatest enemy.’ That was about the Crystal Heart, what exactly did you mean by that? I mean on this page where you wrote ‘It was either me or the heart. Finally, I know I would never have to suffer through another Crystal Faire.’”
“It’s exactly as I wrote, child. What more do you want?”
He hissed at her, annoyed to hear her ask such ridiculous questions. She narrowed her eyes at him, frowning
“Well, I’m so sorry MR.KING! If I don’t understand what you wrote. I don’t exactly know what an umbrum is; there's no record of them anywhere besides what's in your journal. And I don’t know of any instance of the heart killing or hurting any pony either. I find this part to be very confusing. Sorry, I’m not educated on the umbrum.”
“Hmm, I suppose there wouldn’t be any record of the umbrum since they have been locked away for a millennium. Well all but me…”
He hummed, a hint of despair laced his voice. Just mentioning that his people were still imprisoned, just like him, seemed to sadden him. However, that despair quickly faded as he continued
“They, I, am a pony made of shadows and smoke, a dark being that feeds on fear and negative emotions. Although I don’t know what they look like, even my appearance now is false. They may be ponies but they don’t look like normal ponies. I imagine they are large beings with sharp jagged fangs and very powerful dark magic. Something only found in the nightmares of young children. Or maybe they are like pixies, somepony always said they had fairy friends that hid in the shadows. Either way, it doesn’t matter.”
Flurry was unsatisfied with the answer but continued her line of questions
“Okay, so then if you're an umbrum why do you look like a pony, and more importantly how did you get out of their original prison? And why did they send a kid? ”
“I don’t know why I look like a normal unicorn pony. I hypothesized that a powerful spell was cast on me to make me look like a normal pony and due to the appearance I gained; I was able to escape the prison. But that’s just a guess, besides my own, I don’t really know the nature of umbrum pony magic. I also don’t know why they sent a child, maybe it was easier to cast the spell on a child than an adult… Then again I never bothered to ask ‘why me, why did I have to suffer?’ That’s such a pain to ask because it happened so what's it matter.”
“I see…”
Did he just give up asking why cause it was easier to accept than to be upset at ponies he's never met? That bothers me but I gotta keep asking about the Crystal Heart, learning about the umbrum seems to be a dead-end, since Sombra himself doesn’t know much about them either.
“Is that why your horn is curved and smooth?”
She pointed to it, he just gazed at her unamused as he answered monotoned
“I believe it’s like this now because I awakened my dark magic. It was just like any other unicorn horn until I gained my dark magic.”
She furrowed her brow as she asked a new question,
“So how exactly is the crystal heart your enemy? It’s an artifact that's been here for a long time and it spreads love and joy throughout all of Equestria. It was even here when you were growing up.”
As she finished speaking she realized why it was his enemy, he said so himself the umbrum, the creature he was, fed on fear and negative emotions. The heart probably purified what they needed to survive and thus was a threat. She also hypothesized that the heart’s magic was the complete opposite to any umbrums and thus it needed to destroy what was bad. His voice snapped her out of her thoughts
“It’s the enemy because it can kill me. It also keeps the seal on the umbrum in place so they can’t escape their prison. Besides keeping the Frozen North's weather away, it's a seal and threat to my people… It has already caused me much pain; ever since I saw the thing for the first time.”
“Right, it made you sick when you were young and the faire helps keep the heart powered up. No, wonder you cursed the heart and stole it. I'm guessing you cursed the faire too. I mean any pony would fear death if they were told ‘If you have not removed the heart by the next Crystal Faire. It will destroy you.’ I understand why you took it.”
He raised an eyebrow at her
“What are you talking about? Sure enough, I was indeed told the faire would kill me that year if I didn’t steal the heart. But I never cursed the faire. I only cursed the crystal ponies and the princess who powered the heart. The ponies who hated me and caused all my pain and sorrow. And the princess who knew everything and said nothing till it was too late.”
His face contorted into a rage just recalling the princess and the crystal ponies. Flurry was confused
“You never cursed the faire? But it made you sick and you hated that feeling didn’t you? Or at least weren’t you tricked into believing the heart and empire was your enemy?”
“Of course, I hated being sick. Who would want that ailment? Unable to move, a fever, no appetite, and pain throughout your whole body. It made me feel like death was always upon me that day. But I only ever wanted to see the faire, something you could never understand. I also don’t know if I was tricked but I’m guessing you're talking about what that red crystal told me.”
She nodded.
“At that time I was upset and filled with grief, anxiety, and anger. Anything said to me at that time would have swayed me. I suppose now that I think about it I may have been tricked or used to benefit another. But fate has a funny way of making everything that’s supposed to happen, happen. If I didn’t have that encounter with the red crystal then something else would have caused me to realize my dark heritage. ”
“Wait, you're just NOW thinking about that!?”
He felt insulted that she thought he wouldn’t have come to that concussion on his own. He answered her
“No, I've had these kinds of thoughts for years now. Isolation in this prison has given me time to think about my poor choices, however, we're not discussing that right now. Get back to the topic at hoof.”
Anger filled his voice as Flurry frowned but complied with his request as she continued from where she left off
“Fine, so the crystal faire which powers the crystal heart would kill you? How are you still here now? Since I’m guessing you’ve been here for a number of years.”
“I’ve been down here sixteen years now; do you listen at all? Well, whatever. I suppose I haven’t succumbed to the heart's vile attack every year because I assume I’m too far down to feel its effects. Or the spell used to bring me back was powerful enough that I can’t die right now.”
Flurry suddenly felt a ping of guilt for him. Now knowing that all he wanted was to see the crystal faire and even now trapped in the empire he still couldn't see the faire. She folded her ears asking
“You really wanted to see the faire didn’t you?”
“More than anything. Every year I hoped and every year was the same thing, disappointment.”
He answered, looking straight at her. She noticed he wasn't looking at her but through her. Looking at something that wasn’t there. Her ears flattened as she dropped her gaze to the light blue floor.
“I’m sorry to tell you, Sombra but the crystal faire already happened this year. Maybe next year you can see it.”
She said hopefully but her words echoed in his ears, as silence took over the pair in the dungeon. The air felt colder to her as she watched Sombra. He appeared to be lost in thought, he suddenly got up and walked back towards the darkness that lined the back of his cell. Flurry watched him, trying to stop him before he disappeared
“Ah wait, don't go yet. I just want to know why you still want to see the faire after all this time?”
He looked back at her and she could see that deep in his eyes despair filled them.
Is he depressed about never seeing the faire?... Did I make a mistake?
It felt like a knife was digging into her heart.
“Because it’s all she ever wanted to do with me. It is after all ‘ the most magical celebration in all of Equestria. It’s the most beautiful thing in the world.’ But alas a monster can never dream of seeing something so beautiful. Now, can they.”
His words weighed heavily as he disappeared back into the cell, Flurry had tears in her eyes. She put everything back in her bag peering back at the cell,
“I’ll be back again... If it's worth anything… I don't think you're a monster. And I'll make sure you see the fair next year with me.”
No response, only the cold silence that sat between them. She sighed heavily in disappointment as she turned away to leave