//------------------------------// // The Calm and the Storm // Story: Dark Hearts Chronicles: King Sombra // by Ex-Machina //------------------------------// Despite the lingering paranoia that loitered around the corners of his mind, Sombra found it was difficult to not enjoy himself. Neither the foreign nor Crystal Ponies looked at him funny and for the first time since he could remember, he was actually having fun. "I knew you were hungry." Lucida said triumphantly as she watched Sombra finish off yet another cupcake. In reality, he wasn't so hungry anymore. In fact, he was starting to feel a bit sick from eating so much. But everything tasted so good... Why had he barely ever gotten any of this kind of food before? Maybe they weren't allowed to have it in the castle for some reason. Making the king was just that generous, he reserved the best food for his subjects. Sombra almost couldn't believe that somepony could be that noble. "So where are you from?" Lucida questioned, "I don't think that many ponies have pelts as dark as yours. Are you from the south? Perhaps extremely far south? I don't think I've ever met a pony from there." "Yeah, I'm from as south as you can go." Sombra told her quickly, wondering whether or not it would be a good idea to eat any more cupcakes. He finally decided that the last thing he wanted was to tell Ella Care why he'd thrown up a glittery, sugary substance all over his room. "Really? So you must live at a beach." Lucida frowned, "At least, I think you should... I never really payed attention when we were being taught geography." "It's really nice." Sombra told her with only half an idea what he was talking about, "The sunrises are the best." it wasn't exactly a lie. The sunrises from his tower did look nice. The snow outside of the empire was dyed bright red and gold, spreading out over the mountains like a glimmering blanket. "Lucky." Lucida sighed wistfully, "We have to stay in the palace all the time. Daddy says it's not safe for a young princess to wander around the streets. He's worried of us getting captured and held ransom, but I don't know who would want to do that." Sombra nodded, "That happens to me, too." he told her, "Well, I don't live in a palace, but I'm not really allowed to go places either. This is the furthest I've been away from home." that wasn't a lie, either. Lucida laughed, "Looks like we've got something in common." she remarked and then after a pause, added, "When I'm queen, I think there are some changes I should make. I'll be allowed to go out whenever I want." she took another cupcake and bit into it, coating her muzzle with icing, "And I want to eat as many of these things as I can. Queen's orders!" The two of them shared a laugh as they sat in the sun together, surrounded by ponies of all kinds. Crystal, Earth, Pegasai, Unicorns, with a plethora of pelt colours; blue, red, green, silver, pink, yellow, purple: a swirling rainbow of life that talked, shouted, whispered, screamed, hushed under a cyan sky. And among the beautiful chaos stood a colourless pelt, for once a part of the world he had always dreamt of seeing. The wind whipped at Diamond Heart's cloak, sending the royal blue fabric fluttering. His pale eyes observed the ponies outside, way down outside his palace. Both his subjects and visiting foreigners weaved themselves into a tapestry of colour. Pride swelled at his heart, this was his empire. So many ponies had come from so far to be here, to see truly how prosperous the Crystal Empire really was. And Diamond Heart was not the kind of pony who disappointed others. By now, he had to be the last pony left in the palace. All the servants had been excused from their duties to join in the festival and most of the guards had shed their armour and mingled with the crowds. He stretched out his long wings, ruffling the feathers. It had been a while since he'd gone out for a fly, he'd been busy these past few weeks planning the Fair. He toyed with the idea of flying down to be among those ponies who had flocked to the city centre. He imagined himself walking among them, not as a king, but as a fellow pony. Almost as soon as he'd considered it, he shoved the thought away. No, it was just too ridiculous. He was a king, not a commoner. It was not his duty to linger with the simple folk who lived below him, his life was here: in his palace, raising his heirs and ruling his empire. He straightened himself and gazed cooly down upon the ponies of his city. His empire, his rule, his responsibility. The silence was broken by a gentle clip clop of hooves. A lone servant appeared in the doorway, bowing deeply as his king turned to face him. "Your Majesty." the servant addressed him, "You have a visitor." A visitor? Today? Why would anypony be visiting him now? This was the day when everypony's attention was turned to the fair and the continuous stream of events that washed over them. "A visitor, you say?" Diamond Heart said, getting lazily to his hooves, "And who might this be? Is there a problem with the fair? I shall attend to it immediately." The other pony blinked in surprise, "Nothing is wrong, my Lord." he told him, "It's Starswirl the Bearded. He wishes to speak with you." The moment the name reached his ears, the king froze. He had returned? But why? His mind raced, something was wrong. Something had to be wrong. But what? What could he, Diamond Heart, had possibly done that could summon him? He thought back to the abomination he hadn't seen for years, he'd kept it hidden for so long. Occasionally, it would even slip his mind that that thing existed. He had assumed that Starswirl had forgotten about it after so long. "Tell him I'll be right with him." Diamond Heart said stiffly. Casting one last look after his shoulder at the ponies surrounding his palace, he marched toward the drawing room where all honoured guests were made wait. The unicorn was sitting in a cozy armchair, a thick book open before him that his eyes calmly skipped over. He looked up as the king entered the room and his mouth curved into a smile. "Although there be creatures as deadly as the cockatrice or as fearsome as the dragon, there be nothing more haunting as the beast known as the tenebris equum.." he grinned at Diamond Heart's stunned silence, "I found it, your highness. And to think, I didn't even need to search that hard!" Diamond Heart checked the halls outside the room to make sure nopony was listening before closing the doors and sitting down opposite the mage. "Tell me everything you have discovered." "Tenebris equum." Starswirl repeated, "Dark Horse. It's a rare phenomenon, only one is born every five hundred years." he drew another book out of his saddlebag and opened it to a bookmarked page, "And even then, they're rare. They can only be born into royalty, you know. And they must have to other siblings who are triplets, born at night. They are either marvelled or feared." his hoof ran over the black ink writing on the pages, "There have so far only been three recorded tenebris equum in history, one born over four thousand years ago, although she's believed to have just been a myth. Another one appeared in the legends of the great warrior Thunder Strike about two and a half thousand years ago and the most recent one, I believe, is Princess Luna herself." Diamond Heart shifted uncomfortably, "Princess Luna?" he echoed. He wasn't entirely sure what this think Starswirl was talking about meant, but he had a bad feeling about it. "Of course, it's just a suspicion of mine." Starswirl told him without looking up, "There is plenty of evidence to suggest it, I have heard legend about there being a third princess but nothing is certain." he indicated to the book, "It was a few months ago that I started to research this creature. I noticed it appearing in myths across Equestria and it was then that I was reminded of you. I can't express how grateful I am toward you for letting me observe that creature. It will assist me greatly in my studies." "But what exactly is that thing?" Diamond Heart insisted, trying to expel images that kept rising in his mind's eye. That demon, that monster. It was living just a few floors away from him, its glowing red eyes filled with hatred, its mane as black as sin. "Nopony is certain what they are or why they exist." Starswirl explained, "They are ponies, there's no doubt about that. But they're neither unicorns, nor pegasai, earth ponies, alicorns or even changelings. They appear to be an entirely new breed, born from the shadows of a king's guilty conscience." Diamond Heart's stomach lurched. He could feel a bead of sweat trickling down the back of his neck, but the unicorn payed him no mind. "Tenebris equum all share a similar set of skills, no matter what kind of pony they take the form of." the wizard carried on, "They all are exceptionally gifted in dark magic. It comes naturally to them, they're practically bubbling with magic the moment they're born. With little practise, they can master some of the most difficult spells there are. They can make great allies, and terrible enemies." he closed the book and got to his hooves, "I must warn you, Diamond, these creatures are powerful. If it chooses, one can bring an entire empire to its knees." Diamond Heart nodded shakily, Starswirl's words echoing in his brain. A deadly creature, capable of crumbling empires, born from darkness, a guilty conscience. The phrase danced around him. A guilty conscience. A guilty conscience. A guilty conscience. He was barely aware of his muscles tensing, his ears flattening against his skull. A guilty conscience. A guilty conscience. A guilty conscience. Starswirl's voice broke through his thoughts. "I would like to speak with him once more." The king hesitated. The more he learned about it, the more he wished that he'd just have that thing put down the moment it was born. But he doubted that Starswirl would allow it, now that the unicorn was so obsessed with it. And he could feel the creeping paranoia that the wizard knew. He had said it himself, 'a guilty conscience'. He couldn't have him running around, telling everypony all the dirty things that Diamond Heart had to do to claw himself up to the top. "Very well." he said softly, turning toward the door, his cloak billowing out behind him as he led the way through the empty silence of the palace, his heart beating in his mouth. The walk seemed to take years, every step taking hours. They reached the door that was barred and locked, requiring three keys to open. Starswirl impatiently waited as Diamond Heart took his time in unlocking each one and barged past the king to shove the door open. All they were met with was an empty room and the laughter of the fair drifting through the small window.