Maiden of Sombra

by Cocoa Swirl 10201


"You stayed by my side?"

Cocoa Swirl fluttered her eyes open. She saw her friends, the two crystal mares, sitting idly in the corner just chatting quietly. Cocoa looked to her right and saw outside the window that it was noticeably darker outside. She gasped and flew out of bed, only to crash into the unlikeliest of victims.

"Well, it looks like your finally awake." Cocoa Swirl crashed into King Sombra, he had landed onto his back and caught Cocoa in an accidental hug. She blushed and pushed away from him, sitting on her haunches. Sombra's tone sounded humorous, but his face told her that he was worried about something.

"King Sombra, is something wrong?" Cocoa tilted her head a bit. Sombra sighed and looked away, still holding a half stoic, half worried look on his face.

"Nothing is wrong, don't worry about it..." His tone lost his fake humor, it sounded monotone. King Sombra stood up and began to walk to the door, at it's entrance he stopped and looked back at her.

"Dinner will be soon, you should get ready." With that he left the room, Cocoa held a bewildered face and looked at her friends.

"What the hell was that about?" Cocoa switched glances with Crystal Spirit and Morning Skies. Spirit just looked away like Cocoa didn't say anything, While Morning had a huge grin on her face... oh no.

"It seems that you've caught King Sombra in your web. He really seems to like you." Morning trotted over to sit by Cocoa, She just rolled her eyes and huffed.

"What happened to me after I went with Golden Evening?" Cocoa said impatiently. Morning just sat and smirked.

"You passed out, just, boom, knocked unconscious. So me and Spirit dragged you out of the bathhouse, dried you off and laid you on the bed."

"Yeah but, how the hell did the king get in here?!"

"Hold on hold on, I'm getting there! Anyways, Somepony knocked on the door, and I was obliged to open it. Surprise surprise, it was King Sombra himself." Morning threw up her forelegs to emphasize the surprises.

"And what did he want?" Cocoa was growing impatient.

"Well, he asked to see you, but he didn't tell us what he wanted to do with you, but then he saw you passed out and asked what was the matter with you. And Crystal Spirit, having to be the most honest pony ever... told him that you just suddenly went unconscious!" Morning leaned in and whispered quietly into Cocoa's ear.

She made it sound worse than it was, but that's what she does naturally... Cocoa nodded in a somewhat understanding manner. She mentioned for Morning to continue.

"Upon hearing this, the king went into an unusual worrying fit! He paced back and forth across the room, stayed by your side pretty much the entire time, and even refused to leave the room unless it was with you." Cocoa's slightly annoyed demeanor changed to one of regret.

"He... He waited the entire time... just for me to wake up? I didn't mean..." Morning laid a gentle hoof on Cocoa's shoulder, she smiled a kind smile and her mischievous look vanished

"Hey, I know you didn't mean to cause worry. He just likes you, 'k? He watches out for you more than you know..."

"more than I know huh?" Thought Cocoa Swirl. She stood up and went to the mirror wall to brush out her mane. It was very tangled and in disarray.

"Well, The King said that dinner was soon... lets get a move on then, shall we?"



~O~



The dining room was splendid indeed. It was grand hall, just one size down from the throne room. There was a long narrow table that stretched from one end to the other, on the table was a beautiful banquet of only the finest cuisine imaginable. The king of shadow's sat ominously on onside of the table, while Cocoa Swirl was on the other. He watched her closely, as if making sure she stayed all right.

"I really wish he hadn't sent the others away, this is really awkward just by ourselves..." Thought Cocoa uncomfortably. She looked down at her food and her mouth watered a little. "Wow, I hadn't realized till now... just how long it had been since I'd eaten something..." She clumsily picked up her fork with her hoof and dug it into her salad, she lifted it into her mouth, savoring the lovely taste of the mixed flavors dancing on her tongue.

"This is delicious!" Cocoa exclaimed, she began to shovel large mouthfuls into her mouth, spilling a little bit of the ranch from the Corners of her mouth. King Sombra laughed loudly and she gulped her food.

"Is it that good?" Sombra chuckled. Cocoa looked up with a smile and nodded. Sombra laughed again. Wow, this mare is something else entirely, not like some other mares I've seen before..." Sombra thought humorously. Cocoa sat up a little bit more and asked a question.

"Sooo... um, I heard that you stayed by my side the entire time I slept?" The King choked on his bite of salad. The question caught him off guard and Cocoa was laughing mercilessly.

"I did nothing of the sort!" He had an incredible blush on his face, making Cocoa laugh only more.

"Oh yes you did! Just look at yourself, that blush gives you away!" She gasped between laughs, Sombra miraculously hid his blush and continued with his denial.

"Oh yeah, prove that I did!" Cocoa gave a victorious smirk. "Then why were you waiting by my bedside then?" Cocoa gave a long 'hmm' to justify her questioning. He gave a hard smack to his own face, trying to hide any sign of laughter. His bad facade lifted and he smiled.

"Alright, I hate to admit it, but I did. There! happy now?" King Sombra had a pretty shade across his face. It made Cocoa smile. Him, of any tyrannical creature, a king of shadows, had a blush on his face.

"Yep! That's what I wanted to hear, now if you don't mind, I'm going to get ready to head off. M'kay?" She jumped off her chair and reached for her plate, only to be stopped by the dark stallion.

"Where do you think your going? The night is still young, why don't we just walk around for a little while? I want to know you better." Without a word from her, Sombra approached the Dining Hall's door and held it open. "Hm, nopony ever has held a door for me before..." Cocoa thought cautiously. She slowly approached the door, as if she thought something bad would happen. The king tilted his head.

"What's wrong, have you never had somepony to hold a door open for you?" Cocoa Swirl shook her head and Sombra sighed.

"Well, I'll make sure that at least I will be a gentlecolt." Cocoa walked through the door, and King Sombra followed, they were side by side. The king loomed over her at an alarming height, but yet, he was surprisingly close to her. They walked down the beautiful crystalline halls, just enjoying the company. By then, Cocoa had unknowingly entered the throne room with Sombra, they approached a Giant window, that lead to a balcony that looked over the entire kingdom.

"Why do all those ponies look like they're slaves?" Cocoa asked, she looked down upon them and saw rows upon rows of slave ponies. They were all shackled together, some hauling enormous carts of crystals and gemstones. Others were pulling carts of what seemed to be food supplies, and farm goods.

"Because they are slaves, I made them all slaves..." Cocoa's eyes widened.

"Why?! Why did you do this to them?!"

"Because I had to! This is the frozen north, it's extremely hard to have any agriculture here. When I came to power, I figured out there were rich supplies of precious gemstones and other minerals. And almost everypony had given up on farming. This empire was going to burn in hell if I didn't do anything. We had nothing, no Kingdom was willing to trade because we didn't have anything to trade. So I did what was necessary. I forced them into slavery, so that we may live!" King Sombra almost his composure entirely, he swung around an faced her. Cocoa gasped, she wanted to flee, but she couldn't. There was something in his eyes, an unbearable sadness that broke her heart. She almost choked out his name if he hadn't said something before her.

"T-Titania? Please, don't look at me that way! You knew I had to do this... There was, no other way..." Cocoa's mind scrambled, it was running at the speed of sound right now. Who was Titania? Why did King Sombra have this unbearable look in his eye's... Why is he looming over me right now?! Cocoa snapped out of here daze to realize she was cowering below him, he was a giant shadowy figure that towered over her. His gaze unblinking, he had a sick green hue faintly shadowing his eyes, purple flames flickered from his eyes like a snakes tongue.

"What's wrong with you Sombra, are you... even in there? Sombra... your scaring me!" This caused things to get out of hand, now instead of just slight flickering sparks, it combusted into an inferno of raging fire. The green had completely covered his irises and pupils. A snarl formed on his face, he was trying as hard as he could to speak, but all she heard were struggled grunts and panting. When he looked up she gasped. He was clenching his teeth so hard that some had shattered, blood oozed from the spaces between his teeth. Cocoa was no longer afraid, but determined to help him.

"King Sombra! Stop... Stop! Your hurting yourself!" She rushed over to him, only to be thrown aside by a powerful gust of purple aura. She flew through the air a short distance and skidded on the crystalline floor. Cocoa wasn't hurt, but she was winded, she couldn't catch her breath and was struggling to breath properly. She noticed that every time she drew a haggard breath, her lungs felt a sharp, searing pain. Not the usual soreness of having the wind knocked out of you. The frightening king looked around frantically, as if he where searching where she went.

"S-Sombra, I'm right...h-here..." Cocoa staggered to her hooves, using one foreleg to hold her lungs as she drew in painful breathes as best she could. Blobs of inky blackness floated around her vision. She shook her head and made her way slowly to the frantic king. he was finally able to speak some words behind his unexplainable outrage.

"I'm sorry...where are you...I didn't mean to do this... please come back Titania..." Titania, that was his focus right now, he was looking for this pony called, Titania. Maybe if she played her cards right, she could get Sombra to snap out of it. She remembered a line from a very old book that Morning had read to her before. She stumbled over her thoughts and attempted to speak a few of the lines.

"Out of this...place do not desire, to go?" She called out. Her voice was unsure, but it must of been correct because the king's ears perked up in alarm. He looked in her direction and slightly lifted a hoof. Sombra was the one to continue the next verse.

"Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no." His voice was fluid and enchanting, but dangerous and dark. He took a lengthy step towards Cocoa and waited for her to respond. She acted quickly and perfected the next line.

"I am a spirit of no common rate, the summer still doth tend upon my state." Cocoa took a mental note of her self, she felt as if her old spirit were dragged from her, and replaced with something else. Something more, magical. She unconsciously took a step towards King Sombra, her gaze was unfocused, she saw the world through a dreamy film.

"And I do love thee, therefore, come with me." Sombra's voice was like a flowing stream of fluid words that filled the air around them. Cocoa's perception of the world grew dimmer and dimmer, the edges of her reality fading at the edges and stopping at one center point. And that center point seemed to be with a beloved stallion, the one she could dream of spendind her life with.

Her beloved King Of Shadows...