//------------------------------//
// Chapter-2 
// Story: Hearts as Black as Night 
// by Enderborn 
//------------------------------//

	Sombra’s eyes shot open, but the intense throbbing in his head forced him to close his eyes again. He started to open his eyes slowly this time, grim thoughts forming in his head as he realized that he was on a cold cave floor. He looked around in the dim room and saw that one wall was made of metal bars with a door in the middle of it. Behind those bars stood two creatures. He looked at the creatures for awhile before realizing what they were.
"Changelings..." Sombra thought. He moved a little to see better around himself. He was lying in the middle of the room. Whoever had put him there hadn't even bothered to lay him on the bed, not that the bed would have been any more comfortable. It was made of stone. Sombra groaned as he turned his head, making his neck crackle uncomfortably. One of the changelings noticed it and stepped to lean against the bars.
"You awake?" he asked bluntly. Sombra didn't answer, and slowly rose up, not giving a glance at him. The changeling grunted and trotted away, leaving the other one to stand guard.

Sombra walked with stiff legs towards the bed and sat down. His head was on fire. He didn't show it though. He decided to go through it like a stallion. He took a better look at the room he was in. The only thing to add to his earlier observations was a small piece of mirror hanging on the opposite wall. He couldn't understand why there was a mirror in a prison cell. Maybe it was so prisoners could see themselves being all alone. Sombra didn't mind. He liked to be alone.

At that moment he realized that he was in fact still alive. The memory of what had happened who knows how long ago, in the ice of the frozen north came back to him. All that time alone in the ice.
"Well not completely alone…” he thought. He tried to grasp the small mirror with his magic, but felt that something was wrong. He couldn't feel the magic rushing through his horn. Sombra cursed mentally and rose up from the bed.

The sound of approaching hoof steps broke his train of thought. The guard that left a couple of minutes ago came back into Sombra's vision and said with a loud voice, "Prisoner against the wall!"
That made a jolt of pain run through Sombra's throbbing head. He gave a deadpan look at the guard and did nothing to obey his command. The guard seemed angry and was about to shout commands at him again, but then Sombra heard another voice saying "It's fine Agrius."

The guard nodded to somepony behind the wall and soon another changeling stepped into Sombra's vision. She walked in front of the bars and stood there looking at Sombra. This changeling was different from the others Sombra had seen, she was taller and her eyes actually had pupils instead of just being one solid color.

"Are you willing to talk?"  she asked him, waiting for an answer. Sombra did not move for a while. He kept staring at the wall.
"What is there to talk about?" Sombra asked with a low, cold voice, not breaking his stare away from the wall.
"There are many things we could talk about, like how you managed to resurrect yourself. But no, you are here because I need your help," she said.
Sombra snorted before asking, "And who are you to ask me for help?"
She studied Sombra a moment before answering, "I am Queen Chrysalis, ruler of the changeling Swarm."
"I'm guessing you already know who I am."
"Correct."
There was a long silence, before Sombra spoke again, "What is it you would ask of me?"
He could guess the answer, but he had to ask it. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a smile begin to form on Chrysalis' face and he suddenly turned to face her.
"I will help you take over the Crystal Empire, and as payment you will assist me in defeating the princesses so I can gain control of Equestria." she purposed.
"If you control all of Equestria won't you also control the Empire?" Sombra challenged.
"What I would want from the Empire, I could get anywhere else in Equestria. So I see no problem with letting you have full control of the Empire and it's surrounding areas.”
Sombra stared at Chyrsalis a moment longer and then started to walk back towards the bed. He laid down on it and said, "I have  nothing else to talk about... for now. I will think about your offer."
After that, he closed his eyes. Chrysalis stared at him for a moment, and then turned towards the door. Before leaving, she took a last look towards Sombra, and saw for a fraction of a second that he was looking at her, before he closed his eyes again.


***


Sombra laid on his bed. He was weak, his limbs were heavy and his stomach hurt. It had taken quite some time before he had realized what the weird feeling was. Hunger. He realized that it was something he hadn't felt in more than a thousand years. Not since... he pushed the thought away and shook his head. Now wasn't the time to reflect. Suddenly his stomach rumbled. He cursed mentally. Luckily the guards outside hadn't heard and Sombra moved his hoof slowly and as quietly as possible to hold his stomach. The pain was something new and it was there constantly. He looked outside his cell again. He could ask the guard to bring him something to eat, but the idea quickly washed away. Of course Sombra would not do that. He refused to show any sign of weakness, especially when he had been brought down this low. His stomach rumbled again, making him wince. More than anything, it was embarrassing. Sombra felt like shouting. How did he get himself into this situation?

As if on cue, he heard the sound of approaching hoofsteps. He perked up and looked towards the direction where the visitor would be entering his vision. It was a another changeling, only this one was not wearing any type of armor. What she had with her made Sombra's eyes go wide and he could feel his mouth starting to water. The changeling was carrying a cup filled with something steaming, probably some kind of a soup, and a slice of bread. He was ready to rush to the door but the urge to keep his calmness managed to kill the thought.

When the changeling entered the room, one of the guards looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
"Queen Chrysalis ordered me to get him something to eat." she said as she nodded her head toward Sombra. The guard nodded and opened the door. The changeling stepped into the cell, levitating the cup of soup and the slice of bread next to Sombra. When the smell of hot soup reached his nostrils, Sombra almost couldn't restrain himself from just gobbling it all up. Luckily he could and he took only a small sip from the cup. It was almost like a piece of heaven. Sombra felt the warmth of the soup travelling down to his stomach. He just had to take another sip, before turning towards the changeling that had brought him his food. There was a small silence between them, before Sombra decided that it was time to speak.
"Did you cook the soup?" he asked as he motioned toward the cup next to him.
The changeling chuckled before saying, "Have you seen these idiots try to cook? They can't even boil water properly.”
"Hey!" yelled one of the guards as he turned to face the changeling that had served Sombra.
"Do you remember the last time you tried to cook?" she asked as she gave the guard a deadpan look.
At that, the guard shut his mouth and faced the opposite direction.
Chuckling again, the changeling turned back to face Sombra, "Yes, I am the chef around here. My name's Eisa, by the way."
Sombra stared at her for a second, before taking a small sip of soup.
"So I heard Chrysalis is hoping you will help her defeat the princesses," she said, trying to start a conversation.
Sombra didn't reply. He was too busy soaking his slice of bread into the soup and greedily eating it.
But, despite Sombra's best hopes, she kept talking, "I'll admit, her plan to take over Canterlot was idiotic to put it lightly. But she wasn't ready to lead when she became Queen..."
"What do you mean?" Sombra asked, he was surprised to find himself interested in what Eisa was saying.
"Well, before Chrysalis was queen, her mother, Ambrosia, ruled over the Swarm. She was a good queen, kept the Swarm fed and hidden in the Griffon territories for almost 50 years. But around the time Chrysalis began training to become the next queen, the griffons discovered us and brought an army to wipe us out. Most of us escaped but..." she said slowly.
Sombra didn't need to hear the rest of the story to figure out how it would end, but before either of them could speak, the guard outside Sombra's cell finished Eisa's sentence, "But they managed to kill Ambrosia."

A defining silence filled the room and it was not broken until Sombra spoke again. "I'm... Sorry for your loss." he found himself saying. Why was he showing symphony for these creatures? Leaders rise and fall, he of all ponies would know that.

"Um, are you done with your soup?" Eisa asked, trying to change the subject.
Sombra looked down at his cup to find it empty, "Yes, thank you for the meal," he said.
"Hey, don't sweat it," she said as she levitated the cup towards her and began walking towards the door.
"Tell Chrysalis I accept her offer," Sombra said suddenly.
"You do?" Eisa asked with surprise clearly visible on her face.
Sombra slowly nodded, before adding, "I might regret it later, so go now."
"Oh... heh... I'll tell her right away," she replied as the guard quickly opened the door and locked it after Eisa had gone through.
Sombra nodded. Then Eisa did something strange. She smiled at Sombra. Something nopony had done to him ever since he conquered the Crystal Empire, and what she said before leaving the room was even stranger. "Your lucky I'm not into stallions, otherwise I might have just kissed you."
Sombra heard the guard snort as Eisa disappeared from sight.
"Oh what did I get myself into?" he groaned silently and rested his head onto his folded forelegs again.