The newly-consecrated queen and her king awaited the carriage that would take them to their mansion, far away to the North Eastern peninsula of Equestria, beyond the reaches of Celestia's law, from which tales of savagery and brigandry had become infamous. It was not oft that travelers ventured through Brigand's Hook without some form of martial contingent accompanying their ranks, but Sombra hadn't felt the need for such rabble. Celestia had appointed an armed escort to accompany the servants that had left the day before, and she offered the same courtesy for Sombra. "Do not presume to insult my might by offering me protection behind your petty band of armed lapdogs," he said. "Any savage who dare attack their king will soon find themselves running in the other direction."
"My concern is for Fluttershy, not you!" the princess snapped, the king's consistent displays of impertinence visibly chipping away at her courtesy. "And stop calling yourself a king; a king without a kingdom is no true king."
Sombra's blasphemous quip came without missing a beat or pause for reconsideration. "And a whore who raises the sun is still a whore." The statement elected a chorus of horrified gasps. All within earshot were wide-eyed and open-mouthed like an audience of aghast guppies. Only a pig wallowing about in the nearby menagerie of the royal garden oinking and grunting dared make a sound, which inspired yet another invective from Fluttershy's new husband. "Hear that?" he asked. "Your consort beckons your counsel."
Celestia, flustered and bereft of a retort made her excuses and left the king and his bride and all her friends to await their transport. Once he was rid of her presence, Sombra resumed his brooding state and stood silently in front of the castle gates, staring coldly into the distance as he awaited the carriage. He sat there with an eerie stillness, a living statue carved from black marble, his coarse, ashen grey coat strikingly contrast to the freshly-fallen snow around him. There was something unsettling about that haunting stillness of his.
Fluttershy was deaf to her friends' meaningless words of comfort and promises of a hasty rescue. Why does he have to be so creepy? she thought, watching him, weighing whether or not he was more frightening in his brooding silence than when he was when he was snarling and spewing threats. There was still the unknown that brought many unsettling prospects; what was he going to do to her? Expectations of a thousand slow tortures, each more cruel than the last filled her mind. All the horrible things she had heard about him. She thought back to when she was a filly in school, learning of the dark king and all his evil deeds he had committed before Celestia stepped in to set things right: torture, mutilations, public executions, slavery. It was said that the wails of anguish and gnashing of teeth emanated day and night from his dungeons. Fluttershy could feel Rarity hugging her, but there was no warmth from the contact. Rainbow Dash said something - a promise to "whoop Sombra's butt" once they came for her, but Fluttershy garnered no assurance from the proclamation. The icy fingers of fear brushing down her spine was all she felt.
The transport finally arrived, massive and decadent like a pleasure barge on wheels. It was purple and ornate with intricate patterns of gilded steel that wrapped around it like a shimmering, flaxen spiderweb. The king considered it for a moment before opening it to inspect the interior. He then whirled around to beckon his bride entry with a languid dip of his head. "The time is thus that we away, my queen. We may yet arrive upon the break of twilight if conditions are fair," he announced in his archaic dialect, which almost made him sound like an actor in a play. His absurdly theatrical mannerisms and poetical way of speaking would have made Fluttershy giggle if it were anyone else conducting her in such a fashion.
With great effort, and courage she wasn't even aware that she possessed, she managed to pull herself up and begin the long walk to the carriage that would take her far away from everything she had ever loved. Her thoughts turned to her precious animals that resided back at her cottage. Who would take up the responsibility of caring for them? Surely not Rainbow Dash. The last time she tried they almost ate her alive. Her brother, perhaps?
"Fluttershy," Twilight Sparkle called out to her. "Wait. Hold on just a minute." The princess unfurled her wings and landed herself in Fluttershy's path, intercepting her. "Sombra," she pleaded, "listen to me. I'm begging you. Hear me out." The King's expression remained an impassive mask of perpetual irritation. "It's not too late to change your mind. I'll allow you to keep everything you have demanded so long as you change your mind about Fluttershy. I will gladly take her place, if you so badly require a queen. My terms aren't so unreasonable, are they?"
"What are you doing?" Fluttershy whispered. "I already agreed to go with him. I can't just let you--"
"Fluttershy, please," Twilight spoke over her. "I have one last ace up my sleeve."
Sombra regarded Twilight's plea with nothing more than dull contempt. "She became mine the moment I kissed her. By rights of Equestrian royal decree, she is now my queen. My decision has been made. "
"A decision you may come to regret," Twilight Sparkle replied icily. "The laws of politics have progressed over the course of the past thousand years, Sombra. There are no more kings, and a kiss does not a queen make. This is my final offer: I will be yours. I will cooperate with you. I promise to play my role as the dutiful bride and hold true to my promise that I will machinate no plots against you. I will swear total and absolute fealty to you, but, this offer also come with a warning. Take me, and this ordeal will be done with, but if you don't, you'll be forcing me to involve another player to this game. Fluttershy has a certain friend who will be wroth once the news of her being taken away has reached him. He's a madman, far older and more cunning than you by spades. His powers are practically limitless as to what he can do."
Discord, Fluttershy thought with a sudden glimmer of hope. If anypony, or, draconicus could rescue her, it would be him... But how would the message get out to him? Discord's visits have been less frequent as of late, and his nomadic nature made him difficult to track down; it wasn't like he had a PO box.
"This mad friend of yours intrigues me," Sombra replied, a narrow-eyed look of bored disdain on his face, "though I regret to inform you that I have no intention of changing my mind. If the laws of kings no longer apply, than I shall reinstall them within the lands that Celestia has so graciously provided for me."
"Are you kidding me!" Twilight bristled. "I'm offering you a way out of this horrible decision you're making for yourself! Do you not realize that the downfall of every king in history was brought upon by their own stubborn hubris?"
At that, Sombra began to approach her. He came at her slowly with an icy stare, large mailed hooves sloshing through the snow as his long-legged gait brought him closer. Twilight did her best to stay composed in light of his sudden approach, but the way she stiffened as she back-stepped betrayed the illusion of her bravado. Fluttershy could hear Shining Armor give a whispered command to his guards to draw their weapons and prepare to defend his sister. Sombra halted before Twilight and stared her down, cold and unblinking, the wind swirling his cape and snapping his dark, voluminous mane. Twilight Sparkle stood blanketed in the dark shadow he cast, looking as though she was reaching for words that she could not find. The king leaned in close to her, his smoldering eyes glowing cherry red as he cast an unsettling glare upon her that rendered the necessity of a verbal threat pointless. "Young lady," he said, "presume not to give me a history lesson." He spoke quietly, though his voice remained deep and resonating. Smooth as oiled glass, it had a thrum to it, an inky trill that was mellifluous and dark at the same time, like the eldritch hum of a cello.
Fluttershy decided to step in and placate the situation before her husband could make good on the threat his burning eyes so fiercely articulated. Placing her hoof gently on Twilight's arm, she smiled the bravest smile she could and said, "I know you're trying to protect me Twilight, but I'll be okay."
The lavender mare looked back at her, her eyes betraying her scepticism. "I... Fluttershy... I can't just stand by and let this happen to you."
"I know that you think of me as fragile and helpless, but I'll be fine. To tell you the truth, I'm happy things turned out this way. How do you think it would make me feel to have to watch you or any of our other friends being taken away? I don't know if I'd be able to live with that."
Fluttershy was surprised when her friend suddenly took her in a fierce, desperate embrace. "We'll come for you!" Twilight swore in a tone that allowed no leeway for argument, seemingly uncaring that her husband was standing within earshot. "Sombra has no idea what he's set into motion by taking you away from us. The moment we can figure out a way to get you a safe distance from him, he's a dead stallion."
Fluttershy dared a glance at her husband and saw that he was already walking back to the carriage. He's letting me say goodbye, she realized. The embrace only became tighter as she could feel all her friends joining in. "I love you all," she sniffed, trying her hardest not to croak on her words. There was a chance that this may be their final memory of her - she wouldn't allow it to be of her weeping like a coward. Besides, her friends, who were now clinging to her as if they had no intention of ever letting go, were weeping for her more than she ever could.
The inside of the carriage was plush with thickly cushioned seats. A golden brazier in the shape of a dragon's head protruded from the floor at its center. At the far wall between two windows was an inverted tear-shaped wine cask that tapered into a nozzle. Just under it was mounted a shelf which accommodated fine crystal goblets and rough stone tankards. Sombra wasted no time in helping himself to the sweet red from the wooden cask. Fluttershy sat as far away from her husband as she could at the opposite side of the carriage. It was her first time alone with him. She couldn't remember a time in her life when she had been so scared. Seconds were like hours. Minutes were like days. Hours were like weeks, and all she could do was huddle against the farthest wall of the carriage like a frightened field mouse in the hopes that her husband wasn't taking insult from her desire to keep an ample amount of distance between them. It was as if all the warmth had been sucked out of the air when his eyes finally fell upon her. "My queen," he said, "wouldst thou join me?" He gestured to a spot at his side.
"Why, what are you going to do to me?" Fluttershy heard herself blurt out.
Her words seemed to vex him. "I would like you to come enjoy this wine with me," he replied pointedly. "It is frightful cold where we are bound. Some wine in your belly will warm you. It may even relax you."
"I, uhm... I'm quite relaxed as I am."
Sombra cocked a disbelieving eyebrow at her. "You don't say..."
"And I'm quite warm too... Over here... By the window..." It was a lie. She knew her husband knew it. The frigid air seeping in through the drawn slats of the nearby window made her shiver unconvincingly.
The king's expression was inscrutable. "Do as you will, then." He reached for a stone tankard, filled it, then set it down on the flat section of the brazier. He then sat back and looked thoughtfully into his glass, the cleft of his leg wrapped gingerly around its stem. Fluttershy stared ponderously at the tankard her husband had left out. Was it for her should she change her mind?
Hours went by, and on the path the carriage trundled, through frozen tundra and over snowy hills, shaking and swaying to the unmerciful whims of the howling Northern wind. Fluttershy shivered as the harsh elements bit into her bones. Her rumbling belly did nothing to alleviate her of her suffering. She hadn't eaten in nearly a whole day, and she hadn't slept in two - not since Sombra had announced his intention of making her his bride. There were several times when sleep threatened to take her, but she couldn't allow herself to relax; not around him. Her stomach grumbled again.
"You're hungry," her husband said after the long intermission of silence. It wasn't a question.
"I'm fine," Fluttershy insisted, looking to the stone tankard of wine the king had placed upon the brazier, which was now steaming hot from being left on its surface for so long. She was almost tempted to drink it, hot as it was. She wanted something in her belly. Anything. What good was lying to her husband about being hungry going to bring her? What ever kind of fate awaited her at their manse, she might as well face it with a full stomach. "Actually..." She tried to speak up. Sombra's eyes fell upon her, and the words abandoned her. "I..." She looked away from him, shrinking back. "I'm fine," she lied, even as her growling stomach protested.
Sombra sighed. "You are a terrible liar." He opened the shutters of his window and peered outside, looking as if he was eyeing something of particular interest. "Drivers," he shouted out the window. "Halt." The carriage lurched to a sudden stop. The tankard of hot wine almost spilled over but Sombra caught it deftly and placed it back upon the surface from which it had fallen. He then threw open the door.
"W-what's going on?" Fluttershy asked in a panic, shivering as the cold instantly chased away all the warmth that had accumulated within the carriage. Was he kicking her out? Would he really bring her all the way out here just to leave her for dead in the frozen trail they had been traversing? "I— Did I say something to anger you?"
"Stay here," was Sombra's only reply before he slammed the doors behind him. Fluttershy didn't need him to tell her that. How far could she possibly get before she would freeze to death? She sat alone as the howling wind jostled the carriage from side-to-side, lifting her hooves closer to the brazier to warm them. It only took a minute or two before the heat returned to the carriage, for that much she was grateful... What was her husband doing out there..?
She jumped with a start when the doors suddenly flew open. Sombra entered the carriage levitating a cluster of small round objects that looked like tiny purple frostbitten grapes in front of him. "What are those?" Fluttershy wondered aloud.
Sombra grasped the stone tankard heating on the brazier, and levitated the tiny grapes into the cup of steaming hot wine. "Snow berries," he said, the tip of his horn twinkling with an eerie black light as he conducted the last one into the cup.
"Aren't those poisonous?" Fluttershy inquired.
"When they're raw, however you will find them quite delectable after they have been scalded in wine. Wine-boiled snow berries were a popular dessert in my era."
"Oh..." Fluttershy didn't know what else to say to that. She hadn't expected that the monster that was her husband would bother braving the frigid terrain to go out foraging for her.
Sombra observed the berries bubble and froth and swell as they soaked up the wine within the tankard. "It lacks some of the required spices, but the taste should be sweeter still." He placed the tankard upon the brazier and slid it over to his bride. "You're hungry," he said, his voice stern. "Deny it not. Drink this. It will warm you. It will soothe you. It will sate your hunger. And it will help you rest." He didn't wait for her to take it. He simply left it there on the brazier within her reach before calling out the window for the drivers to proceed. The axles of the carriage creaked as the drivers moved to resume their pace through the frozen trail. Fluttershy reached out for the tankard, sensing the king's eyes on her. She tipped her cup back against her lips to allow a single wine-bloated berry into her mouth. The flavor was a tad bitter, but when she chewed there was an explosion of intoxicating sweetness that danced on her taste buds. She eagerly drained the rest of her mug.
The carriage came to a stop. The sudden lurch roused Fluttershy from her involuntary nap, to which her hot dessert and warm brazier had ferried her. Her king and husband threw open the doors, and the invasion of the icy gales immediately chased away any warmth that had been contained within the carriage. Sombra seemed to be surveying something outside before he beckoned to his bride. "We are home, my queen," he said to her before climbing out. Fluttershy could only sit there, teeth chattering, cold, somnolence, and trepidation playing into her shuttering and shivering.
Sombra poked his head in through the open door. Tiny droplets of ice and snow were already forming in his dark mane. "Are you coming?"
"It's too cold!" Fluttershy protested, unable to remember a time in her life when she had shivered so violently.
Sombra extended his hoof toward her, which gave the startled mare cause to flinch back from him. "Come, my queen," he said. "It shall be warm in our bedchamber."
I think I'd rather freeze to death, Fluttershy wanted to say, but just thinking it was undoubtedly a safer course of action.
Sombra led her by her hoof through the entrance of tall, ominous-looking wrought iron gates that, Fluttershy guessed, spanned all around the perimeter of the compound. The old but sturdy-looking barrier disappeared into the fog going in both directions, making it difficult to determine how much of the area was actually gated off. It was beyond these gates her new home loomed, a dark figure through the fog at first. As they traversed the snowy courtyard, Fluttershy could just barely manage to make out the forms of the gargoyles and snapping stone dragons that were stationed at pedestals on the roof. She stared at them, half expecting the horrid things to come to life, spread their wings and charge after her - ridiculous as the thought was. The manse stood immense amidst the sprawling snowy garden that encircled it. It was too large to be called a house, yet too small to be a castle. Five stories tall it stood, ancient, dark, ominous, crumbling in a state of disrepair. She shuttered at the thought of the massive ruin serving as her home. Fluttershy preferred cottages and huts and other cozy, quaint little spaces. "How old is this house?" She heard herself say.
"Old," Sombra replied. "Among the servants I have taken for us are masons, smiths, carpenters, and artisans. All of them are journeyman level workers, at least. They will restore this manse to its former glory."
"How did you know where it was?"
"It was my childhood home," Sombra told her, leading her on through the path that cut through the court yard.
Fluttershy was incredulous to the response. He was the king of the Chrystal Empire, wasn't he? Didn't that mean he lived in the Chrystal Castle? She thought about pressing the matter, but she was cold, exhausted, and terrified out of her wits.
When they arrived at the front stoop of the house, Sombra led his bride up the stairs, to the large double doors that looked like they may have been ornate at one time, but the thousand years of neglect and harsh elements had long faded them to a dull, rotting brown. The rusted black hinges of the double doors screamed as they slowly opened, leading into a massive lobby, where the songs of hammers and saws and other tools filled the air.
A broad-muscled stone mason who was busying himself with the repair of the cracked floor tiles straightened himself to wipe his brow and stretch his back when he must have noticed them. The large earth pony with a prominent brow and brutish features dropped his chisel and turned milk white at the site of them. "Everyone fall into line! The king and queen have arrived!" he announced in a booming voice. Stallions and mares alike halted in their labors to come scrambling into formation, forming prostrated lines on either side of their king and queen that led to the wide staircase at the center of the lobby. The Pegusi who were working on the upper stories of the manse forsook the need for the stairs and vaulted over the railings to hastily join the lines' ranks.
Fluttershy was taken aback at the sight of the prostrated ponies throwing themselves before her. It's not me they're afraid of, she thought, still shivering from the trudge through the frozen garden. It was that ashen grey giant who strode beside her, the devil in equine form that was their new master who they feared. Celestia must have offered the workers and servants a munificent severance in order to incentivize them to pledge new fealties and relocate to the frozen, brigand ridden wasteland which they now called home. Fluttershy could tell by how dirty and grimy they all were that they had been working feverishly for their new king's approval. Shouts of "My king!" "Your grace!" and "My queen!" emanated throughout the lines of groveling ponies. They kept their heads down, seemingly too afraid to make eye contact. Fluttershy took note of one mare who's belly was too swollen for her to kneel and keep her balance, so she just stood with a foreleg crossed protectively over the swell of her midsection as she bent forward as far as she could, keeping one hoof planted firmly to the ground to hold herself up, her face reddening with the effort. That made Fluttershy feel guilty. Who was she to have some poor girl heavy with child to exert herself in such a way?
Sombra led his bride past the pregnant mare and the stallion beside her who must have been her mate, without even so much as sparing them a second glance. He stopped once he had brought Fluttershy to the threshold of the staircase. "Where is my adviser?" he said with an authoritative deepness.
A tiny, ivory white filly with a dark midnight blue mane bound back with a scarlet skull brooch ribbon came scurrying from one of the prostrated ranks, levitating a clipboard along with her as she ran. "That'd be me, your grace!" Her voice cracked before she threw herself before him. The little white filly reminded Fluttershy of Sweetie Bell. The two were almost of a height.
"You are to be my adviser?" Sombra looked down at her curiously. "What is your name, child?"
The little skull at the center of the filly's red ribbon gleamed reflectively. "Ethereal Moon. My friends call me Ethey, if it please your grace."
The king considered her for a moment. "It does. Rise, Ethey."
And she did at once. She looked up at him, her amethyst eyes shimmering through the lenses of her thick glasses, which constantly slid down to the tip of her muzzle whenever she moved too quickly. She pushed them back up and added, "Oh, and just so you know, I'm not a child. I'll be twenty five next spring. It's okay though, everyone makes that mistake."
Twenty four? Fluttershy thought incredulously. The tiny mare that she had presumed to be a filly was seven years her senior?
Sombra hummed reflectively. "Four and twenty. I will remember. Now, I'll have your report."
The scholarly-looking unicorn hovered her clipboard in front her and cleared her throat as she adjusted her specs. "Your's and the lady's quarters have been restored, as you have commanded. The kitchen and the dining hall have been fully refurbished, and the cooks are stocking the larders as we speak. The servants' wing, the tower, the lobby, and the main hall are still being worked on. The rushes for the staircase are almost complete, so the seamstress has said. The surrounding iron gates are still in disrepair because the smiths are in need of materials." She flipped the page on her clipboard. "I've set them to working along side the maids and stewards with some of the more menial tasks until we can acquire more metals. The guards who escorted us are posted throughout the manse and are awaiting your leave to return to the Crystal Empire. That is all I have to report at this time, your grace."
"The library?" Sombra asked her.
"Oh, right!" The adviser pushed her glasses up her muzzle and flipped yet another page on her clip board. "I can't believe I left that part out. This was actually my favorite task so far. Let's see now... Oh, yes. My king, I regret to inform you that the books that were in the library have been rendered illegible due to age, neglect, and poor preservation. However, we have brought in over a dozen carts packed to the brim with books, scrolls, writs, and other literature from the Canterlot library. The librarian is organizing everything as we speak. I've even taken the liberty of assigning one of the carpenters to build new racks and book cases to replace the older ones."
"Good work. Your dedication toward your station pleases me," Sombra critiqued, though the consistent frown he wore seemed to conflict with his words of praise.
"My king is most gracious for saying so." The mare seemed ecstasized by the perfunctory compliment. She bowed again, her glasses sliding down to the end of her muzzle. "Your trip has been a long one. Shall I escort my king and queen to their quarters?"
"I know the way, thank you." The king looked to the lines of servants and said to them, "We break our fasts in the dining halls upon eastlight. This rule shall also apply within the ides and the passing of each solstice."
The servants were murmuring in confusion and trading perplexed looks.
Ethey rolled her eyes. "Breakfast will be served every morning at sunrise," she interpreted.
The servants all nodded in comprehension and resumed their murmuring amongst one another.
Sombra sighed irritably. "It seems that I must assimilate with this modern dialect. Mine own servants looketh upon me as if I were a mummer..."
"The fact that you speak Old Equestrian in a non-ironic way is a part of your charm, my king," Ethey pointed out. "It's actually kind of hot." Sombra gave her a look, causing the adviser to blush as she hid half her face behind her clipboard. "I-if I may be so bold, sire," she squeaked.
"And how exactly does one's way of communing elevate the climate?" Sombra inquired with genuine curiosity.
"Oh, uhm..." The adviser stammered, but she quickly recovered and replied with, "It's an expression. You know? Hot? It means, uhm, intellectual..?"
"Ah, well then, I thank you for your kind words," the king said, accepting the fib with a naivete that was almost comical. "The time has come that my queen and I must take our leave." He turned his attention to the prostrated servants and imparted to them, "You may all resume with your tasks. If you are in need of rest, taketh respite within the quarters that you have claimed within the servants' wing. Know that you shall all be well rewarded for your fealty. It will not be an easy task restoring this manse to its former glory. I shall put in mine own share of sweat to rebuild it. A fair eve I bid thee all."
Awkwardly, slowly, one by one, the workers found the courage to stand and return to their duties, none of them daring to look upon the king or his queen as they ascended the stairs together. Fluttershy watched as the stallion near the pregnant mare helped her stand, once again feeling a pang of guilt. She hadn't even been a queen for a full day, and she was already feeling like a cruel tyrant.
The queen knew where her husband was taking her. She wasn't going to delude herself; a marriage required consummation to become official - and no one was coming to rescue her, at least not tonight. She was so nervous that she wasn't even able to swallow. Her stomach felt as if it had been tied in a knot. She had given little thought into marriage, much less the one to whom she'd surrender her virtue. She had figured that the right one would be kind, gentle, caring, and would share her passion for animals, but alas, her husband was none of those things. Based on what she had witnessed of him, he was... He was... Fluttershy wasn't sure what he was, now that she was giving the subject some thought. He hadn't raised his voice. Not to her, anyway. He has yet to raise his hoof to her, or threaten her. He went out of his way to forage food for her out in the frozen pass. He even made promises of rewards to his servants, which negated any expectations of his plans to enslave them. But what was Sombra if not the vicious beast she had learned so much about? Was he, perhaps, lulling her into a false sense of security? But why would he do that? If he wanted to torment her, he could have started at any time.
All that could be seen as Sombra led Fluttershy on through the stony corridor were the iron sconces mounted along the walls that reflected the bright burning green of the king's eyes, but they were bereft of torches. Some torchlight could have done the frigid hall some good. It felt as if they were walking through a cobblestone ice box. Fluttershy's extremities were numb, and her teeth wouldn't stop chattering, both from the cold and out of anxiety. The lengthy stone hallway eventually led to some stairs that led up and wound about, which led to another hallway of bare sconces. When they finally stopped, Fluttershy was just barely able to make out the details of a door in front of them. The gold handle caught the glow of Sombra's eyes, reflecting them like a jade beacon in the twilight - until his large black hoof eclipsed it, unsecured it, and pushed the door open with a loud creak.
The fire crackling away upon the rack in the large fireplace illuminated the lavish red rushes that covered the floor. Not a single inch of stone showed. The bed was large and decadent, piled high with thick padded blankets that seemed suitable for such a cold climate. Across the bedchamber, twelve and a half paces to the left of the bed was a glass pane that led out to a balcony. The full moon could be seen high in the sky, beyond snowcapped mountains that reflected vividly the moon's immaculate glow. The manse had to have been built on one of the highest peaks in the area for such a grandiose view.
Sombra's hoof once again took Fluttershy's and he brought her to the bed. She could feel her heart pounding so hard that it threatened to stop at any moment. This was the precise moment she had been dreading. Her husband placed his hoofs under her arms and lifted her up, with the comparative ease of an adult lifting an infant, and sat her gently on the edge of the bed. Fluttershy felt her hind quarters and flanks sinking deep into the bed's thickly cushioned padding. She had to plant her hooves directly behind her like a tripod to keep from falling backwards. Sombra made a motion to caress her face, but she shied away. She could only hope she didn't give offense. Her body was acting purely on its own panicked impulses.
Sombra regarded her perturbed demeanor with a look of dark amusement. "Wine?" he offered, drawing his hoof back.
"Y-yes, please!" Fluttershy said at once, grasping for any excuse to forestall her husband's advances.
She watched him approach the mantle above the fireplace, where two crystal goblets and a large bottle had been set out for them as a wedding gift. Sombra took a moment to read the label before he returned to his wife, levitating the bottle and glasses along with him. "This is a fine vintage," he proclaimed as he poured a glass for his bride, the bottle glowing with a crimson aura as he telepathically manipulated it. "No one makes wine like the griffons of blue harbor." He then levitated the bottle to a second glass and filled it. "My queen," he said, presenting one of the crystal goblets to her.
Fluttershy carefully took the glass, feeling its weight as Sombra released it from his telepathic grasp. He then lifted his own cup and said, "To us."
Fluttershy sighed and dutifully lifted her glass. "To... To us." The words came with all the reluctance in the world, but her husband either didn't notice or didn't care. He filled the air with a single high note as he tapped his glass against hers, then he drained it. Fluttershy did the same. It was cold and bitter, but she couldn't deny the pleasantness of the warmth spreading throughout her chest. Her husband had left the bottle on the stand, and she doubted that this was going to be a night that she wanted to remember. She took the liberty of filling another glass for herself. She was sipping from her second cup when the rasping sounds of metal and leather drew her attention.
Cautiously, she managed to pull her gaze away from the deep red within her glass, and she turned her head to witness her husband fidgeting with the fastenings of one of his gauntlets. She took a ponderous sip from her second glass as she eyed him. What is he? she wondered to herself as she watched him undress. His heavy steel gauntlet suddenly crashed to the floor, revealing a long, muscular leg. He began to fidget with the other one. A demon? A monster who takes pleasure only from the suffering of others? That was what the history books said about him. The king removed his other gauntlet, then his gorget, then the gold clasp that held his cape in place, letting it fall around his hoofs like a sanguine puddle.
Fluttershy noticed how the roaring fire behind him cast shadows upon his features that seemed to accentuate his magnificently corded frame. It was the first time she'd bared witness to him without his armor and cape. What are you? Fluttershy found herself wondering again as her husband approached. Would it have been okay to ask him? Would he take offense to the question?
He sat on his haunches, facing her. He placed his hooves upon his crown. Fluttershy couldn't tell if it was the wine that was emboldening her, or if her curiosity made her forget to be afraid, but she lifted her hoofs to meet with his before he could remove it. The king looked at her curiously. Fluttershy forced herself to look into his eyes, she even managed a faint smile. It was the first time she didn't immediately avoid eye contact with him. "Allow me..." She paused, as if to taste the next word before she'd allow it to dance off her lips. "My... My king." Surprise seemed to flicker in her husband's eyes. It was vague, almost inscrutable, but Fluttershy was learning quickly how to read them.
"As you will," her husband allowed after a long, ponderous silence. The expression in his eye was almost tender. Not tender perse, but it was the first time Fluttershy had seen anything in his visage that didn't convey murderous intent. She grasped the dragon bone crown with both hoofs and had to stretch as high as her forelegs would allow in order to completely remove it. A thick, black, leonine mane tumbled down his back and fell down the sides of his face, flowing softly like long dark raven feathers.
He's handsome, Fluttershy observed as she beheld his image that was now unobscured by his royal adornments. She couldn't believe that she was thinking such a thing. It wasn't even an hour ago when she thought of his features as demonic and bestial.
Sombra moved to take her hoof, then he slid his free arm around to the small of her back. Fluttershy's lips were as stiff as stone at first, but they eventually opened under his. She began to shake again, a combination of her returning anxiety and a sensation that was entirely something else consuming her. She was breathless by the time he released her. Fluttershy had questions for him. So many questions. Yet she couldn't think of how she would put any of them to words. The fluttering in her heart was back, more intense than ever. The kings eyes were calm as he caressed her cheek. "My queen," he purred with a deep sweetness.
Fluttershy's tremulous hooves wrapped themselves about his neck as he laid her against the pillow. She hated this thrill, this fevered desire intermingling with her dread and fear. It made her feel unloyal. Her friends were undoubtedly thinking of her at this very moment, worrying about her, wondering of her well being, yet here she was, allowing the monster that had whisked her away from them to take her into his bed. Her thoughts swam chaotically in her mind as she could feel powerful yet gentle hooves pushing her hind legs apart. She wanted to ask him why he had taken her, why he needed a bride, why he chose her, and, most importantly of all, If she would ever see her friends again. Yet, there was only one thing at that moment she was able to put into words. It came out as a coo, a soft, nervous whisper as she pulled him in closer.
"My king."