//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Who here is the Princess? // Story: Shards of the Truth // by Disciple of Chrysalis //------------------------------// Shard lay in her bed, she was a full grown teen and getting tired of all this, but her fathers word was law, inside and, unknown to Shard, outside the palace. Sure she was a princess and all, but wheres the fun in that when she didn't even know any of her subject, the only one she knew was Jade Candle, who she had begun into a relationship with recently and though they weren't up to anything yet, things might soon change. She used her magic, her magical aura was a bright orange, and brought over a small device with a large button on it, she pressed the button. It took a moment, but finally a Crystal Guard entered the room, his armor was different from the other guards so it showed he was far higher ranking then them, through the armor it show his pelt was a dark blue and his mane and tail were a dull gray. "Yes, Lady Shard" he said with a gruff voice which demanded respect, but such things didn't work on her highness. " Lord Graceling, I grow bored and required some sort of entertainment" she said, her voice as luscious and beautiful as she. "Lady Shard, you know as well as I that, that is not in my job description" he said in a tone that clearly indicated that this wasn't the first time he'd received this request from her. Shard let out a loud huff "Excuse me, but who here is Princess?" She said to him. Lord Graceling sighed "You are, Lady Shard" he said, clearly unhappy, Shard put on a smug expression "Good, now entertain me" she said, and Lord Graceling could only obey. He removed his armor and drew three knives and he began to juggle them "Faster" Shard said and He could only comply. She kept telling him to go faster and eventually Graceling began to lose track of where the knives were and he slipped up. The knife came down and with a sickening cry, left a long gash down his hoof joining older, more faded scars around the new gash. Shard pouted, unhappy that her little show was over and she dismissed the guard to go tend to his wound. Shard often ordered Graceling for that show because sometimes she enjoyed watching him in pain, not just because, the reason she did was because she didn't like him, his eyes were too free in her presence and knife juggling required all concentration and she wanted to see if he could focus, but he never learned. Shard was once again, bored so she felt it was high time she gave her father a visit, because she hadn't seen him in a couple of days and she enjoyed her time with him. She walked down a hallway that seemed to go on forever, she had asked her father if she could just fly outside because it would take less, but his answer was always the same, no, and he never even gave a reason just a plain no and she'd have to drop the subject. She finally reached the throne room and she poked her head inside, empty. Shard thought nothing of it so she headed for her fathers room to see if he was there. His room wasn't far from the throne room and she poed her head inside the door, empty. Shard had no idea, those were the only to places she new he father to be in so she decided to just roam for a bit. Shard wandered into the west palace wing, she rarely went there because she wasn't really allowed, but her father wasn't here to scold her. Shard stopped in front of a mirror in the hall, she never understood why she, but she liked her looks, it wasn't a crime. She starred for quite sometime and she looked at the one flaw in her beauty, her cutie mark. Shard was a blank flank and at her age it was rather worrisome, but no one pointed it out, unwilling to risk the wrath of their princess and she never got mad about it so why they thought that, she had no idea. Shard walked past a door that was slightly ajar, normally she wouldn't care, but she heard her father's voice from within. Shard peeked through he door to see. She saw her father turned away from her, sitting at a desk and he appeared to be writing, but the way he sat showed that he didn't want anyone to know what he was writing. Shard used a spell she rarely used, but came in handy sometimes, it was a spell that momentarily increased eyesight. She looked at the book he was writing in, but she could only see one word on the page, it was her name. Shard saw her father move and the spell wore off, he moved a painting off the wall and he placed the book back with at least well over a dozen book and he came towards the door. Shard moved, jumping away from the door and silently flying away down the hall, she'd see what her father had written in the journals later. Shard ran into her room and dove under the sheets of her bed and made it look like she was asleep and not a moment later, Sombra entered the room and gently kissed his daughter before exiting and going to his own bed. Later... Shard crept down the hall of the palaces east wing, she wore a black hood and hovered a glowing lantern in front of her to guide her path. She was determined to find what her father had written in this journals and nothing would stop her and after about five minutes of creeping down the hall and jumping at every sound, she arrived at the door. Shard tried turning the knob, but it wouldn't budge "Damn it, locked" she whispered, but thankfully, she had come prepared for this. Shard opened her left wing a bit and she reach in and pulled out a lock pick and she went to trying to open it, but the lock pick obviously had to break. Shard sucked in a small amount of breath because the small snap of the lock pick echoed down the hall, but no one came rushing to investigate the noise thankfully. Shard eyed the key hole, it didn't look like the kind she was used to, instead of an hourglass like design, it was just a round hole. Shard looked inside and saw it was basically just a cylinder. She contemplated this when a slightly crazy idea struck her, she tentatively pushed her horn inside the hole and she twisted her head and the door unlocked itself with a silent click. She pulled her horn out and shouldered the door open, it was dark in the room. but thankfully she had her lantern and she stepped towards the desk.