//------------------------------// // Act 2 | Night Life // Story: Daughter of the First Reign // by LegionPothIX //------------------------------// A quiet whimper came across the barracks from a filly who was squirming in her sleep. Sombra was also having trouble sleeping. His mind was too busy from the events of the previous day to put his body to rest; so he quietly trotted over to wake her up. She was having a nightmare, the first he had ever seen her have, though they weren't uncommon in the Crystal Empire. Rumor had it that the Night Princess would come into the dreams of fillies and colts to help them through such experiences, but with the shield still in effect, there would be no way for Luna to find them here. For the past five years the peace of mind of the night was just part of the price they had to pay for peace of mind during the day. After stirring her from her slumber they quietly crept out to the mess-hall for a mid-night snack. While they walked he talked to her about their day. He reminded her how much fun she was having meeting all the ponies who were looking forward to playing with her tomorrow, and she smiled. He called her ma'am, and she giggled. She had been treated with so many ridiculous formalities all day that she couldn't help but laugh. Treeling reminded him a little of his own daughter. A daughter whom he was certain would be being raised to assume the throne in his absence and, before he left, was quite the same way with the formalities. Since he had been out of contact for five years he knew that they had no choice but to assume that he was dead. "Princess Platinum of the Steel Ponies." he told the filly, "That's what they'll call her when I finally can go home." He hung his head low at the idea of missing his baby girl grow up and being a failure of a single father. Treeling reached out and gently tapped him on the top of his head with a question in her eyes. "Yeah," he said, "I am, but I didn't want anyone to know. If they knew the king himself had come to seek an alliance they might think us weak, and it was my intention to prove that we were anything but. Through commerce and trade, but now..." The filly gave him another consoling pat. She was as tough as they came and knew that he wasn't weak. He slid her a sandwich with a wistful smile. It was against regulations to eat after lights out but didn't care, and since he wasn't part of this nation's military there was little they could do to reprimand him– let alone her. She was almost like a daughter to him, and that was what was keeping him awake. He couldn't rest with the burden of what he had advocated, and participated in, doing to her. While he blamed Nurse Clarity for her methods, they were his idea in the first place, and he hadn't considered how screwed up they were. Now that Treeling was Treeling Asheveld there was no going back, but there had been no going back since the moment she wandered into the Crystal Empire. At least, that was the rationalization he used then. A rationalization that now failed to have any meaning. As the filly ate, he thought about what Crystal Clarity had said about giving the child a normal life, and wondered if they were strong enough to make that happen. After they had finished eating Sombra shared some of his feelings on the subject with Treeling and asked her what her plans were after the war ended. She drew him sitting on the throne of the Crystal Empire. He thought that she might have been confused by the question so he rephrased it. "I meant, what do you plan to do after the war is over?" She wiped the slate clean while considering her answer. Several minutes of her staring at the blank stone canvas passed before Sombra gently tapped her hoof. "You don't know?" he asked. She shook her head and then slowly drew a lone tombstone that bore her cutiemark. "I won't let that happen," Sombra told her in a definitive but reassuring tone. The look she gave him said all he needed to hear. He couldn't stop it. "Nurse Clarity will be here tomorrow. Let's try to get some rest before then." It was as fatherly as Sombra had been in several years and she really needed a father. He reached over to where she was sitting and pulled her into a deep hug. Both ponies could feel their stress melt away in the embrace, as if it had manifested through their willful obtenebrations, and was countered by the light of love. The hug went on for much longer than Sombra felt was appropriate, as the child kept her face buried in his chest, and refused to let go. She was genuinely afraid of something, but he couldn't quite place what, nor could she articulate it. If anything it would be that she had never had a nightmare before. The longer he held her the more her muscles relaxed until she reached the edge of sleep. He scooped her up onto his shoulders and carried her back to her bed. After tucking her in for the night he returned to his cot to get some shut-eye. Laying perfectly still for as long as she could Treeling simply stared at the cot above her; refusing to close her eyes for fear of what lie on the other side of her lids. In time her eyes dried and stung but still she persisted. The occasional blink became mandatory, then one wink turned into two, and two turned into forty. *** You return. The words were not spoken, they were not drawn, and they were not conjured with thoughts. They were a shared existence between Treeling and Asheveld that occurred as their eyes met. The whole world was on fire but that fire was distant and the filly was safely out of harm’s way. The backdrop of burning cities flickered like tea-candles. Small. Insignificant. Like ants. Though she too burned even mother stood flat; like a cardboard cut-out of her former self. The swarming black and red armies now had diverse forms of ponies and non-ponies alike. Treeling longed for the calm-quiet before their rise… the followers of Discord and the Celestial Sisters. The time before the biting and casting. She glanced up and their eyes briefly met again. Peace. The feeling came the same as before: as though it had always existed within her. The recognition that their eyes shared in passing alone expressed all that need be said. The filly desperately stomped at the warring armies that had brought death to her home. She tore the fire from her mother, which caused the prop to fall flat on the ground, as she whipped them with a wreath of flames. The more she lashed out the more her own skin and fur bore the tell-tale signs of the blaze rampaging through Asheveld's heart. *** The child was still thrashing as she came to. Her arms and legs were restrained and her chest confined. She struggled for breath between the tears and she could feel arms around her neck. She bucked as hard as she could until a soothing voice called to her and she recognized she was in the comforting embrace of another. "Shh..." Nurse Clarity whispered. "I'm here now." She had arrived as early as she could though she didn't know the details of Sombra's training she knew him and she knew herself. The filly would need her. "I'm here now..." she cooed again and again, "I'm here..." "I'll always be here for you." << Leashing the Beast | Royal Royale >>