//------------------------------// // Chapter Six // Story: The King // by Ocean Heart //------------------------------// I'm sorry for the....stains of ink on the page, my hooves won't stop shaking and I haven't slept in two days. I never expected to find such detail of the attack and...I felt like I was there, watching helplessly as a culture is erased, the homes burnt for days; families, women, children trapped and burnt alive. The body count unthinkable and blood stained the show for weeks... ..... I'm sorry. It's just harder to continue than I previously expected; perhaps it is the old fact that the hardships are easiest to remember. We continue just before the final days of the metal equines and their city. The king, Sombra, had built up his defenses and took steps to protect himself from his growing paranoia. As the days grew long, Celestia's aid had yet to show and it seemed that no attack was on its way. The Crystal Empire had yet to respond to any call from Sombra; messengers sent out wouldn't return...it made for a very violent mix of anticipation and unsure trepidation. A mix that even began to nag at the great king's mind. "Any reports?!" Sombra spat at the captain currently standing in his chambers. The royal colors and paintings in the bedroom were signs of recessive memories that still held root, his ignorance to the fact was what upset Blaze. "None..." Sombra resumed his pacing and mumbled to himself, the green pouring from his eyes getting more intense as the darkness within him changes... Blaze watched her friend shake a little as he walked, his growing rage given no direction and no cause...yet his blood was boiling and fears growing. The look in his eye made her angry; angry for letting this happen, angry for letting it continue...she hated herself more than she hated Sombra. That's when she realized...she was alone with him in an almost private setting...she had to act! "Stop pacing, Somber!" Blaze shouted. The king stopped dead in his tracks and held his head low, black mane disheveled and covering over his face, the blood red eyes stuck to the ground and slowly moved to stick on the armored form of his captain, such disobedience and insolence would be punishable by imprisonment...yet he felt something inside him changing still. "You know that name but you don't know who it belongs to!" She said with a slow joy creeping into her tone. Realizing that maybe there is a fragment of her friend that remains. Sombra felt pain in his chest; not normal pain like a wound or illness, it felt like a scar being reopened. The shadowy stallion lifted his head up and slowly moved his heavy limbs across the ground, the malice in his eyes not even causing the mare to flinch and he walked across the carpet and stone. Suddenly he felt a heat burn into his leg that caused him to stop, he remembered the cold of the snow that fell upon his broken leg... "Somber...remember who you are, remember your friends and family, the ones who love you." Managing to carry his leg still and continue the slight limp, the room starting to darken as the overflowing power seeped from his very skin and fur. The darkness became unstable, volatile as it sat unused; now Blaze felt fear work into her stance as the very air became hard to breath. "Is this who you want to be?! The shadow and fear in foals dreams, the ones you want to protect? What about me?! Or Diamond!" Sombra felt his nose start to bleed and eyes glaze over with a toxic green, no iris remaining to show any sign of mercy...or humanity. The memories were too much, a white coat and grey cloak...red eyes...black and white fire...red jewel on leather cover. The king was finally standing over his captain, horn crackling with its destructive energy and Blaze only barely holding her ground, her will outweighing her fear and doubt...and one other emotion..the one that survived the test of time. "Somber...I have always loved you." She said with a firm voice and tears starting to form under her eyes for the first time... _ _ It is..strange, to once think that love has no power beyond its invisible tangents. Now we understand that love itself is its own magic, one very powerful kind and unpredictable in its strength. I visited the ruins of the metal city...I walked the empty halls and saw the dead bones frozen in time as my team stepped over them. I could feel the very souls of those trapped in the place watch us; it was unnerving to say the least. Yet as I entered what we suspected to be Sombra's room...it was like stepping into another relem. The air was light, it was peaceful and even warm. Something happened in that room that my assistants can only describe as a "Unbelievably powerful love",changed the very stone in the room. At one point, one of the females of my group began crying uncontrollably for no apparent reason, claiming that "she" told her something. Log: August 1st 1:38pm Our lead dark magic researcher, Hidden Mystique, just...collapsed...Weeping on the floor. After just entering a tower on her own and being assaulted by the spirits within, she spoke of an unyielding feeling of, shockingly, love. It leads me to believe that something occurred in that room that directly relates to Sombra; I'll be looking more into the subject and seeing if I can find any reports of a massive shift in the castle, unusual surges in magic or perhaps a...the thought made me laugh until I remembered the Canterlot invasion...A wedding. 1:55pm Mystique just spoke of another memory, one of a black and white flame burning so brightly that it made her eyes hurt in the few moments she saw it. I should check any records of that symbol bearing significance. In the mean time, I shall contact my friend in the priesthood to come and bless this old building...I feel like the dead are suffering here...they want to move on. _ _ Sombra felt his strength regain, his leg no longer hurt and he felt the dark magic begin to quell. Blaze was holding him tightly and crying into his fur; it made his heart stop when he remembered the name. It was the first time in years that he had felt the cold of the wind outside cease; replaced by warmth that filled his body head to hoof. Looking down slowly, mouth agape in exhaustion, shock, fear; had she really cared this much all this time...? This...is this...love? Sombra lifted a hoof slowly, unsure how to react to this. Never once thinking that anypony would ever display a true gesture of love to him; it felt like a great haze was lifted from his mind. Everything he did, all the brutal training to one day return to his home, to return here...all of it he would have done just to feel this feeling. Heavy arm laying across Blaze's back and pulled her in closer as he rested his head gently against hers; eyes shutting just to make this moment last as long as he could. "I'm so sorry..." He said softly, whispering to her. Blaze smiled a little and relief washed over her; she had her friend back...her old crush back...her young love. Sombra wanted the moment to last a little longer, let the lost time come back slowly and spend it with his best friend, Diamond. Sitting on the wall eating ice cream like kids again. Sombra silently wondered how much had changed...and was Somber really his true name? It felt like eons since he heard it. Blaze was about to let him go when something made her heart stop, her body tense and neck fur stand on edge. Sombra heard it as well, the ringing echo that send a cold spike of fear into his hear and made his eyes shoot open. The dreaded sound that shook the very ground with its weight. A war horn had been sounded.