The Journals of Silas Sombra

by DreamWings

Entry Four- The Crystal Empire

Entry Four.

My shadow friend disappeared for a while when the big move happened. Mother had previously lived in the Crystal Empire, before she'd married Dad. She was a crystal pony at heart, yet she'd never previously shown any need to move back. She was perfectly content with the farm before Dad died. I'd never even been to the Crystal Empire to visit, let alone to stay, but from this day on I'd practically always be living there. At least until I moved to N.E.M.I. that is.

I wasn't really that excited about moving to the Crystal Empire, though I wasn't scared about it either. I loved the farm more than anything, and to this day I still do, but there were memories there-- memories that, even when I was young, I could tell hurt my mother way too much. It was unfair of me to think about myself when she was so upset and downcast whilst we were there. All I wanted was for my mom to be her old, happy self again, and I thought (for some reason I can't explain) that moving back to her home town would help her in someway. All of her best friends lived there, and so would mine in the years to come.

Saying goodbye to the farm was an upsetting day. The cows had already been moved on to another farm, a few miles away, so I didn't have to suffer through the pain of saying goodbye to them at the same time. I wish I had though; a pep talk would be exactly what I'd need at that moment in time.

After saying my goodbyes, to my shadow as well, I went to find my mother. I found her huddled up in an old pile of sacks left over from the last time a storm came and we had to place them in front of the doors. It prevented leaks. It certainly wasn't coping with the amount of water dripping onto it now. Tears were freely flowing from her eyes, and they didn't seem to want to stop. I stepped forward to comfort her and she pushed me backwards. I stumbled and nearly fell onto my backside. She didn't flinch.

The carriage stood waiting nearby, packed with the bare minimal stuff we had. My dad's stuff had been chucked in the bin somewhere earlier that week. I'd tried to argue and tell her to take something of his with us, but she had simply pushed me off and told me to stop sticking my nose in her business. I think she was regretting saying that at this moment. Right now, she needed something of my dad's to comfort her. And apparently, I wasn't enough of his to count as something comforting.

I was only a young foal so I couldn't understand what was properly going on. I could never understand the scale of the situation, or how many problems were going to arise from it. When my mom turned to me and told me to shut my mouth, or else a fly would get in, I simply told her that it would be fun to see if you could hear the buzzing louder in your head if it did. She shrugged, and heaved herself up off the sacks.

With one last look she shoved me inside the back of the carriage, took hold of the reins and began to steer us away from home. The back of the carriage was closed tight, so all I could see was pitch black. All of my few belongings, my few comfort-items, were locked away in trunks. It was too dark to see them, so I couldn't get anything out. Every now and then I heard a sniffle from my mom, but for the most she stayed quiet. I never could figure out what she could have been thinking about, but given what was to come later I know it couldn't have been anything positive and good.

If there's one thing they teach us at N.E.M.I., it's that positive thinking will help us more in the long run than pesticides, pest control, spelling big words (you know what I mean, you're meant to be a doctor). My mom certainly didn't think that way back then. Of course, I didn't know it at the time. All I knew when we were travelling to the Crystal Empire is that the road was extremely dark (well, the carriage was anyway), and that it was also extremely bumpy. I kept being flung around on the wooden planks like I was in some insane game of piggy in the middle, and I was never being caught by anypony. They just kept dropping me, over and over again.

And then, all of a sudden, it got cold. And when I say cold, I mean freezing off your ears, mouth, eyes, backside cold. It was absolutely freezing. And the wind was howling outside the carriage. The sides of the sheets covering the top, and my sight at the same time, flung around fiercely. I had a few sharp smacks to the head and back whilst the wind was doing its angry dance against us.

The Crystal Empire's a strange kind of place. One minute you're absolutely fine, bored but overall okay-- the next you're absolutely freezing and just wish you could let it go, and not be so bothered by the cold outside (I really wished I wasn't as frozen a statue as I felt at that point)-- the next it feels like all you are is air. I literally felt like I'd suddenly just turned into a puff of black smoke and a head when we entered through the gates of the Empire. It's a magical feeling nopony could ever try to describe.

It made me feel joy I hadn't felt in a while. I was really excited about it. When we moved into our new house, I was still excited. When I saw other ponies and how much like my mother they looked with their gorgeous sheen (which my mother was beginning to lose at this point) I was excited.

This excitement wouldn't last forever though-- But it would last for a little while longer still. I still have plenty of happy moments left it my head. But then, that's for another entry, isn't it?

Comments

[JumpingShinyFrogs]

just wish you could let it go, and not be so bothered by the cold outside (I really wished I wasn't as frozen a statue as I felt at that point)

Gotta love that Frozen reference.

[DreamWings]

3970672 Really? That's a Frozen reference. I had no idea .