//------------------------------// // Chapter Two // Story: The King // by Ocean Heart //------------------------------// Somber Crystal...now sixteen and entering the first real trial of his life, one that truly sets him on the path to becoming Sombra. It was an oddity that he had yet gotten his cutie mark(or mark of destiny as they referred to it as.), but Blaze and Diamond had earned theirs. Blaze, a black and white flame;her sense of right and honor earning her a spot as captain of the metal guard. Diamond was a born to be a showman, the top hat and playing card on his flank; he took up entertaining the city with his excellent and occasionally mind boggling magic. Through my studies, I can confirm with out a doubt now that Sombra was of royalty origins, to much weighed on him as he grew older to cast doubt on the fact. Somber though was pulled between his relationship with Silver getting a bit more deep and Blaze constantly trying to provoke them. Fine art was still his focus, but he couldn't have that moment of true understanding... I managed to acquire a few notebooks and information concerning Silver Tongue. It appears that for all intensive purposes, she did have feelings for Somber; her father though was a power hungry council* member. Eventually, he forced her to ask Somber to the ball those months back. After that night, Somber did make it official with Silver...much to Blaze's disappointment. (*The metal pony political system was set up where king and queen would rule as figure heads and representatives while a council makes the more tedious decisions) The part where Somber really takes that step to becoming a tyrant, when a very formal meeting is called...his father places the burden of preparing the castle for the dinner. Every ear of the council would listen to Somber give his first speech; the dinner formal at the start of a new year to give a more personal feeling of festivity among the political heads and king. It was there that the council would determine if he is ready for the throne... "I'm gonna go for a walk, the dinner is starting to stress me out..." "I understand, it's your big night." Silver said, walking slowly with Somber down the hallway of his home, royal pieces of art hanging on the wall and drapes made of silk covering the gap between them. Over time, Somber got to meet the true Silver Tongue; at heart, she just wanted to be friends with a normal crowd; father issues did nothing to help her either. Somber tried to talk to Blaze...and earned a scolding...she wanted nothing to do with Silver, she was obsessed with some idea that Silver was going to hurt him. Somber already thought it though, if Silver left, he would take a long drink and move on...as a real stallion should. As a real king should. "Thanks...take care." He said quietly. Silver stopped in the foyer and watched the doors close with a echoing bang. Somber walked in the knee deep snow, thankful for the summer sun overhead. The winter ball was long past, winter was coming soon...but for now, as the sunlight created a sparkling tundra along the mountain, a few brave birds sang into the air as they passed overhead; everything seemed peaceful... "Crystal." Somber stopped mid-stride...putting his hoof back down and crunching the snow underhoof. "Blaze..." "And me." Diamond said. Somber turned around, Blaze was still in her onyx black uniform and Diamond was wearing a grey cloak. Their judgmental glares made Somber take a step back instinctively. "We need to talk about what Silver is doing..." Blaze said.. Somber furrowed his brow and stepped forward, the stress of the coming evening was mounting. Every important pony that his father knew was going to be there, it was a test to see if Somber could truly find the leadership inside himself and become a stallion... "I don't have time for another lecture! I'm already at my wits end with this damn meeting-" Diamond opened up the cloak and a poster levitated out in aqua blue magic and rested on the snow, rolled and sealed with his family seal...neither Blaze or Diamond had the right words to explain, resorting to simply showing their friend the truth... "What is that?" Blaze stepped forward and stomped on the seal...crushing the paper a little but breaking the wax with her sharp armor...a portrait of Silver in his mothers crown with the words 'Your New Queen' in bold red letters, a slight smile on her face shows just a fraction of how how happy she was to steal his mothers crown. Somber couldn't hide the shock on his face... Silver Tongue...the most popular mare in school and even the most beautiful noble he had ever seen. Sure Blaze was upset, Diamond wasn't as happy either...but it felt real. Silver had even helped put together the dinner, without her, he would've fallen apart by now with all the little details... "Where did you find this?" He asked flatly. "I was patrolling her estate...I found it in her room in a secret closet. This is just one of many..." Blaze said. It was an atrocious violation of privacy, Somber wanted to argue that point so much...but the fact stood. Blaze stepped back, angry and bitter, but now worried about how Somber would react... "Five months...five months I've told you that she was up to something...that she was driving a spike between you and us..." Blaze said starkly... Somber looked at the crown...It was beautiful, elegant, stunning even...but Silver made it foul and revolting. This was disrespectful, disgraceful...it made his stomach turn... Somber picked up the poster and rolled it with dark magic...the power crisping the corners of the paper with his fury. Blaze and Diamond stepped out of his way when he came though, following closely when Blaze realized Somber had snapped...every moment by the fire, every kiss and laugh...a lie... "Somber? Somber, throw her out but do not harm her..." She said sternly. Somber ignored anything Blaze and Diamond said...their plan had backfired...Somber was about to present his home to a dozen dignified council members...and there was a witch sitting next to him the whole time... This wasn't just a betrayal of his heart...it was the fact that she made him betray his only friends. Silver was to pay for her insolence... Somber threw open the doors and shouted. "Silver! Where are you?" Silver came out from the gallery hallway, looking worried as soon as she saw Blaze and Diamond behind him. "I thought I asked you not to bring them here...you know they only want to hurt me." Somber threw down the poster,dark magic billowing out like a storm under it. It smoked and the edges glowed as if it was seconds from catching fire. "Explain this!" He shouted with a fear inspiring authority... Silver flushed pale... "I-I-I...t-this is a mockery! A lie by that wretch, Blaze! Her friend is a forger, this poster is nothing but smoke and mirrors!" Somber glared down at Silver..walking close enough to make her reel back,eyes watering up... "You use me...turn me away from the ponies that I love! How dare you call Diamond a forger! How DARE you call Blaze a wretch! You, leave this house! Leave before I tear your heart out, as you have done to mine!!!" Silver couldn't handle it...her legs gave out and tears flowed freely;quiet sobs echoing in the castle while Diamond and Blaze both felt sorry...Somber's anger was terrifying...the darkness in his green eyes and mane blacker than night disheveled, it was almost surreal just how quick the quiet natured colt turned into a nightmare of rage... "It was my father..he is obsessed with you! Please, I will always love you; but he only seeks power! Just a madman!" She shouted. Somber suddenly forced her head against the ground as if groveling for forgiveness with dark magic, a tight bind around her throat, causing her to gag and cry more.. "I thought I said leave! Leave before I..before I...." Somber saw her eyes..fear, regret, loneliness...the tears...even the truth...the shadow mass around her neck burned into her flesh with the raw power he was pouring into the hold. What am I doing..? Somber was using the thing he hated to harm an innocent pawn in a power hungry struggle for the throne... somepony he thought he could one day love, not just young and flirtatious adoration...but really love... Somber let her go carefully and felt a dark green mist coming from his eyes, chest burning painfully. "Blaze..." he said before falling to the ground...heart beating so fast that it hurt his chest.. In the mothers diary, she explains that Somber suffered a surge of dark magic, mind and body unable to withstand the raw power pouring into him; thus a moment of lapse in judgment ended with all the stress and anger in Somber, directed at one poor soul... Oddly enough, the dinner went off without a hitch, Somber was free of stress by the time he left the doctor, and he used that to announce his plan for heavier restrictions on new age magic. The council was against him until he began telling how he nearly took a life that afternoon; calling it "An act of a more powerful force than we can understand." In the end, they agreed to set new standards for new age magic, the medical files for that year are laughably thinner... This was also the time when Somber experienced the first trial in his life. Dark magic was becoming common place and adults were gaining an understanding of how it worked. In order for someone to be a proficient user of dark magic, they had to have a level of focus to devote into the art. More often the case became, those who experienced traumatic events gained that focus, that understanding that powered the magic; and thus passed on the knowledge to all. It was only recorded in the mothers personal diary, that we learned how Somber gained that focus. "I don't understand what i'm seeing...his body has become a shell...every joint clotted and useless, the muscle torn apart by...I just don't understand it.... " The grey doctor said.. Lucks Chance was in his bed, eyes closed and body no longer the soft coal grey, instead it was midnight black and a trail of green mist hung on his eyes while his horn was crooked in a disgusting way. Lotus was sitting next to the bed, face stained with tears and eyes bloodshot. "I cant wake him up and the medicines are not working....I suspect he will pass in the next twenty-four hours." Somber sat in a corner of the room, staring blankly at the bed, he kept thinking to himself that some miracle would happen and his dad was going to be fine like he always is... Chance was so proud...for just a moment...one fleeting moment...he was proud of his son, not as a father, but as a mentor. The speech went off better than anyone could have predicted, Somber was even formally accepted by the council as the prince...soon to be king once his father stepped down..now it was an induction though a funeral. "Somber...go outside and play with your friends, daddy is going to be fine.." Somber looked up at his mother, perhaps a child would have accepted the lie, but he knew better than to lie to himself... "Dad..can't die.." he said quietly...screaming on the inside in bitter hate. "He'll be okay like he always is..." Somber managed to lie.. Maybe part of being an adult was that you could lie, even if the truth was sitting right in front of you...you lied so that you could run from the truth... Deep down, a part of his heart felt numb...ice cold and bitter like the snow outside. He felt...betrayed in a way...like the world was cheating him; why should everypony else have so much while he...a prince...watches his only father die. An excerpt from the diary of Lotus Lilly: "I have no words to describe my feeling this night...my only love has left me for the afterlife, and my only child has run away. If ever there was more misery in this world, I do not wish it upon anypony else. I don't know *illegible due to water stains; suspecting to be tears.* goodbye, my love..and goodbye my somber prince. *Dried blood stains have decomposed the rest of the message.* "Somber...just go..." "Mistress, he's failing..." "Somber go outside, now." Lilly said with a sharp tone. The doctor pressed a hoof into Lucks neck..feeling the pulse drop slowly. This was the end, Somber would have to burn his fathers body and take a job he was no longer prepared for... "Somber, leave!" Louts said though tears... Somber turned and ran..bursting though the door and running head first into a blizzard outside. The cold seeped into his bones and made his limbs heavy as they trodden though the snow. Shame....anger, misery,fury, loneliness, rage...every heartbeat sent a new wave of burning emotions though him; but he ran...he ran so that he wouldn't have to face the truth... "He'll be fine, he'll be fine!" Somber kept running, running until his throat burned each time he drew breath from the icey winds. Running past the gates and into the wilds of the mountain. "You cant die! Not now!" The guards along the wall shouted at him, something about stopping...which he couldn't do. The prince ran for what felt like hours , he ran until his legs gave out of pure exhaustion. Somber had the unfortunate luck of passing out on a down slope, tumbling down as soon as his front legs failed...he fell over and over,legs hitting hidden rocks and head running into blocks of ice until a white light filled his vision, ending all thought and feeling until he rested against the bottom of the slope. The cold...it was painful...even though his legs were numb, the bone rested against the ice and chilled the marrow; his jaw felt numb, yet blood seeped into the snow; his heart was just cold inside.. Somber's eye was half lidded as the snowfall started to cover his body. Half of it already sunken into the snow; with no hope of the snow storm ending anytime soon, it looked like the end for the new king... Somber woke up hours later in a pile of old blankets in a cave, with a black fire suspended in the air a few feet away. Every inch of his body was in pain; though he lacked the energy to move the blankets aside to see the injuries, It took a little effort to recall how ended up in this condition, yet he couldn't remember why... "It should've been me...." he mumbled incoherently for some strange reason.... "Ah...you are awake..." Somber didn't have the strength to lift his head, it sounded like a very old male voice, a distance away but still close enough to cause worry. "Do not be alarmed...if, for some reason I wished you harm, I could have just left you out in the snow...now, I shall attempt to speed the healing process, I needed you awake...so as not to further alarm you." Somber hear the air around him ignite with a deafening crack, suddenly he was drowning in pain, every nerve lighting up and every broken bone making a sickening snap...using the last of his conscious energy to scream.... It was difficult to find any records concerning Sombra's mentor, I was even considering giving up the search when by chance, I stumbled upon a very strange name. Tome was all I found, the damn near decomposed birth certificate as the only evidence to prove my findings; it was a certificate from before the exile of princess Luna... Meaning that if the time lines are correct; Sombra's mentor was nearly a hundred and fifty years old. Following a paper trail, I managed to build a good profile, he came from royalty as well(the only way the records were still in existence; (I thank the Tail lineage for letting me access their family history.) the partial name even appeared on a few artifacts concerning Dark magic that are still being uncovered. The most significant and still currently missing from records, is the book that was the ultimate guide in dark magic, supposedly written by Tome. From then on, Somber drops off of the world for a long time; he only later reappears in his late teens. _ _ "Somber Sombra King...King king king Crystal...no NO! Calm down, Celestia...I didn't think she actually...can I write this? ...I have to; he deserves the dignity at the least." "...By the stars, whats going on in here?" "I just hit....a really dark revelation...Here look at this artifact." ".....Goodness..." "Exactly! All these scrolls and books all lead to the same thing, yet that page! That page is the most compelling piece. Do you see now? He was just like us. Suffering in agony for years until he simply gave into the darkness..." "....I'm going for a walk." "...Please don't hate me, love..."