//------------------------------// // The Uncrowned // Story: Secondo: Shores of Zebrica // by Lil Penpusher //------------------------------// Zamni was seated on a relatively simple wooden stool in his room. Before him was a wooden desk, equally simple and made out of the same wood it seemed. There was a paper on it, and a pencil in his right hoof, but he couldn't really figure out what it was he wanted to write. He sighed and dropped the pencil on next to the paper. Everything was so boring ever since the hippogriffs had abandoned Zumidia. At least back then he was allowed to go outside and speak his mind but... now, with Zumidia independent, he was treated as little more than a child too stupid for their own good. The regency council had been very kind to him overall but he always thought they weren't truly listening to him. He was just holed up in here, his room, with even his windows being covered up now to stop him from looking outside. Knock, knock, knock. He perked up and turned his head. A visitor? He had had few of those in the last days. Even the regents didn't want to come to him anymore when he summoned them. There had been all those explosions in the distance days ago but they said it was just him being sleep-deprived or something. He was still mad about that. Maybe this was gonna be them apologising for that? "Come in." He hopped off the stool and properly turned to face the door on the other end of the admittedly compact room. He heard and saw the handle push down, and heard the door creak as it swung open to reveal... something. He gasped as his heart skipped a beat, maybe two. A large, blue monster came crawling through the doorway and reared its head once it was properly inside, towering over him as it floated just above the ground. It had a large, finned tail and an even larger fin spreading across its back, though it did seem to have hooves of a sort, as well. Worst of all, though, its head, including the sharp teeth inside its mouth, was turned directly towards him. "W-Woah! Woah woah!" He simply choked out as he backpedalled, stopped only by the desk behind him, which he ended up pressing himself up against. His chest heaved as he breathed in a frenzy. "W-What are you!? Some kind of monster?" The monster cocked its head, and looked to its left, then right, before once again looking down at him. "Oh! You mean me!" it replied in a relatively high-pitched, feminine voice. "Sorry! I'm Sonata. You know, one of the famous sirens?" Sonata held out her hooves sideways and presented herself proudly. The gem that seemed to be embedded into her very chest glowed faintly, distracting Zamni for just a moment. "A... a siren?" he repeated faintly. "Are you going to kill me?" He was met by laughter. Not demeaning, evil laughter but... seemingly genuine, entertained chuckling. "Nahhh. Actually, I just came to talk to you!" Sonata replied with a smile. "You are the king, right?" Slowly, Zamni collected the vestiges of his courage and dared himself to move a little closer. He gulped before replying. "Yes. Yes, that's me." The siren put a hoof up against her snout as if thinking to herself. "Hmmm. You're so young though. Plus, you don't look the part. Usually there's a crown, right?" The monster gestured to her own head and mimiced wearing headwear, which prompted the young zebra to raise a hoof of his own. He found no crown, as expected. "I... guess, yeah." "Oh, I have an idea!" Sonata flared. She suddenly swam through the air as if Zamni was surrounded by water, drawing circles around him as she continued. "How about we get you a crown so I can recognise you better? And maybe an awesome suit, too!" She giggled, excitement sprinkled throughout her speech. "That would help, right? Right?" "I guess so, yeah. That'd be nice." Zamni didn't realise it at the time, but he couldn't help but smile. He still had no idea who this 'siren' really was, what her intentions were, or what a siren even was at all, but what he did know was that this was the most entertaining thing he had enjoyed in recent days. "Although I do wonder," Sonata continued, stopping roughly where she had floated after entering. "Why don't you have a crown already? You're the king, so what gives?" "That's... a good question, in a way." He stroked his left hoof with his right awkwardly. "Long story, I suppose." "You don't wanna talk about it? Because I've got time to stay awhile." Zamni's awkwardness and timidness was repeatedly blown away by this odd monster and her smiling and cheerful way to speaking. He blushed a little and nodded. "If you don't mind..." "You're kidding! I always listen to friends, especially since I usually don't have many besides the others." "Others?" the young king asked. "Wait, there are others like you?" "Like me, as in, sirens? If so, yep! Adagio and Aria are with me!" Sonata replied. "Or, well, not 'with me' since they aren't here, but we rule together and generally do things together and... I think you get the idea, right?" "I think so. Sounds like you've got great friends if you can all link up like that." Sonata nodded eagerly. "You bet! We've been together since forever. I don't know what I would do without them!" Zamni chuckled. It reminded him a little of his own friends, before the declaration of independence and all that. Back then, under the hippogriffs, he could have something like that, at least. Their princess, Skystar, came over a few times too and played games with him. He kinda missed her with how boring things were now. "As for me, well... it started with the Storm King a few years ago. When he approached North Zebrica, everycreature submitted to either fight or flight. The hippogriffs evacuated to Seaquestria, but Colthage and all the other zebra nations around stood firm to face the Storm King." Sonata lowered herself all the way to the ground as she listened in, occasionally nodding her head. Her long, scaley tail wrapped around her back as she did her best impression of 'sitting' on the floor, what with no legs or behind to speak of. "I was way too young to do much of anything then, but I do remember Colthage being in control of us back then. Unfortunately, like all the other nations, the Storm King's armies rolled over them in a breeze. Luckily for us, though, by the time they'd gotten here, to the capital, the hippogriffs re-emerged out of hiding and ambushed the Storm King's forces. As a result, the Storm King's main army was routed, and the hippogriffs effectively took control of Zumidia at large since Colthage was... not doing very well after the Storm King fiasco." "The hippogriffs conquered you when you were down and out?" Sonata wondered. "I think they called it a 'mandate'. I was technically still king here, but was never crowned, and... well, in practice everything was done by the hippogriffs and Queen Novo." "Huh," the siren remarked, scratching her chin. "And you think you know somecreature. Guess the hippogriffs were a lot meaner than I thought they were, even before the three of us came in." Zamni raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" "O-oh, no worries!" Sonata dismissed, waving her hooves in front of Zamni as she blushed a little. "Just continue, alright?" The king shrugged it off as a slip of the tongue, sat down on the floor and continued his tale. "Truth be told, the hippogriffs were fair rulers. Princess Skystar came over several times to talk to me, and so did her cousin Silverstream." "Oh, I see. I think I heard of them before." Sonata tactically avoided the fact that Silverstream was hiding abroad in Equestria, that Skystar was one of the mind-controlled beacons of music, and that both had been armed terrorists against her for a while. "They seemed nice!" "Right?" Zamni agreed, his stubby little tail waving with excitement. "I admit it was a weird time since I was in this weird limbo where I wasn't sure who or what I was, but the hippogriffs made sure Zumidia was fine and took care of me, as well." "Hmm. And then you zebras declared independence, right?" Zamni opened his mouth but closed it soon after, nodding instead as the siren had taken his own words out of his mouth. "Yeah. Or rather, the regency council did. I agreed to its creation beforehand but their first act was to separate from Hippogriffia for some reason. They said that the hippogriffs were up to no good, and that they were planning to do harm to all zebras..." Sonata sat still. She really pondered, wondering what she could, and should, say in this situation. The siren was well aware that the reason for independence had been her and the other girls. But could she really tell the king that, right now...? "Do you think they were telling the truth?" she asked, simply. Zamni gave that question some thought, taking his time with replying. Finally though, he came out and said: "Mm, not entirely. I'm fourteen and not the stupid child I used to be, I can tell when someone is clearly lying to me. But I don't think it was entirely untrue either." The king shrugged. "I think the truth is somewhere in the middle." Sonata smiled faintly back at him. "It usually is." "Anywho, after we declared independence, the regency council made sure to keep me locked up in the palace, saying it was too dangerous for me to go outside. Ever since, I've more or less relied on being told what's going on." "You don't know what is going on in your own country?" Sonata asked. She put a hoof over her snout, then waved dismissively. "Sorry! I realise that may have sounded offensive just now." "Not at all," Zamni disregarded. "It's the truth, after all. Just me and whoever the regents allowed to come visit me which... have been fewer and fewer ponies every week. Up until a month ago when no one came in anymore. And for the last 5 days, not even the regents have come!" Sonata kept herself from gulping or otherwise showing how bad she felt for this innocent kid. Sure she was technically a sea monster that was helping Aria and Adagio subjugate his nation, but the way this kid had been treated and now abandoned was seriously awful in her mind. "I'm..." Sonata cleared her throat and coughed as she realised she was sounding a little too down and sad. She began speaking once again with a more joyful tone of voice, as usual. "I'm sure they're just really busy! And besides: you've got me now to hang out with!" Zamni smiled. "Really? The Regents allowed you to come over?" "Regularly!" Sonata corrected. "Whenever we want, actually!" The young monarch jumped to his hooves and nearly jumped with excitement, his tail wagging back and forth like a dog's. "No way! For real?" "For realsies!" Sonata gleefully replied. "So we can come visit one another everyday from now?" "Ehhhh, not quite," Sonata rebuffed. "You're still gonna have to stay in here for now. It... is dangerous outside, after all." The teal siren smiled as best she could, knowing full-well that showing him the fortifications right outside the palace doors, or the mind-controlled and enraged inhabitants of the city was probably not going to do much good for him. "Oh..." Zamni replied, his enthusiasm dying down a little. "You can still come visit me though, right?" "Everyday, if you insist." "I'll take that! Beats sitting around with nothing to do and nopony to talk to!" Sonata grinned. His childish excitement was a great change of pace from what she'd always known with Adagio and Aria, who were always so serious about everything. "Then it's a deal?" Sonata held out her right hoof, and though Zamni blinked at it for a moment, she quickly reverted to a smile and marched over to give the siren a joyful hoofshake, even if his own hoof was about half the size of hers. "It's a deal!" he replied as he touched her hoof. "Great!" the gleeful sea creature gave out as she retracted her hoof. "Unfortunately there's, like, loads of things to do for me right now, though, so I don't have a lot of time today... probably not for the next two days, actually." Sonata was prepared to weather the face of a disappointed, sad, even crying kid when she told her host that... but instead found an understanding smile, and a nod. "It's fine! Just come visit when you can, alright? Everypony around is always busy, or so they say. I'll look forward to it, and you!" Sonata's own smile widened, and she also nodded. "I'll come around when I can. I can't wait to spend some time together! Oh, I'll definitely bring in some food too! You wouldn't believe some of the stuff they serve in some places!" Zamni laughed at the suggestion. "I'll look forward to it, Sonata. Oh, I'm Zamni, by the way, but you already knew that." The lone siren smiled, calming herself. "It's been a real joy coming here, Zamni. I'll definitely look forward to coming again in a few days time." "Likewise!" Sonata lowered her head for a second, which was probably her best impression of a bow from a creature that had literally never done one before. She heard the young king chuckle into a hoof of his as she recovered, and she smirked back at him as she opened the door. "I'll see you then!" she called out. The door fell shut then, and she was left with a whole bag of mixed emotions to process. This had not been her intention for this at all. She'd not meant to lie to the king as the others before her had, and she certainly didn't intend to regularly visit him. That was going to be such a massive time investment and distraction, right!? And yet... she felt it was right, in a way. She knew if she had told him everything just then - who and what she really was, that she mind controls people and literally eats hatred for breakfast, and that the reason all that recent bad stuff happened to him was her and the other girls. Not to mention the literal ongoing invasion and brainwashing of his people. Not to mention... she felt bad simply. For a supposed king, he'd always been sidelined and ignored, fooled and toyed with. Why couldn't she just spend some genuine, quality time with him to make him happy? Surely the king of Zumidia was worth investing into. Then again, was she any better than those regents or Queen Novo if all she was doing now is keeping him locked up and ignorant? And what would Aria and Adagio say if... no, when they found out? Wasn't she meant to sing for the young zebra to get him safely on their side? Last time she'd tried to avoid singing to somepony to befriend them and get their support that way, Aria had scolded her and taken them away. Sonata would be unusually quiet for the rest of that afternoon as she saw to her other duties.