Daughter of the First Reign

by LegionPothIX

Act 1 | Mind Games

The morning light filtered into the window where Treeling was perched. She didn't want to miss her favorite time of day, after having not seen it for so long, but this one was different from the ones she remembered. The sun moved slowly with a purpose and direction she had never seen it take. She sat and watched the sky for an hour before the maid came to wake her. Finding that she was already awake the maid turned to leave before the filly gently tugged her coat to get her attention.

“Yes?” she asked in anticipation of some equivalent of a common “I’m hungry” from the filly, but one did not come. Treeling instead pointed to the sun and gazed to the sky as she tapped her chalkboard. She slid it onto the windowsill and drew a quick sketch before she flashed it to the maid.

“The sun?” the maid asked. The board had a horizontal line that separated a makeshift sun and moon. She quickly scribbled many crazy arrows to indicate their normal paths before pointing again to the sun in the sky.

“Oh, honey no, the sun isn't supposed to move like that,” the maid said in a reassuring tone.

The filly was unconvinced. All her life the sun moved like that, except on the day that her mother died, and here under the glossy sky the sun was still strange. It was more of a blur than a ball of fire.

The maid addressed her perplexed stare. “With the war going on outside and Discord controlling the sun it takes the strength of our most powerful magicians to keep us safe and secure.”

The filly stamped her hoof and tapped her diagram again.

A worried tone filled her voice as the maid tried once again to reassure Treeling. “That’s not the kind of thing that little fillies should be thinking about. You should be–”

An annoyed voice interrupted her with a shadowy inflection: “It’s not really the place for you to say what she should and should not think about.” Both females turned to see Sombra standing in the doorway. “Leave.” Sombra’s command was swiftly obeyed. The maid made her way through the door as he entered the room. “Door,” he added. The attendant returned with a permissive glance and a timid curtsy before she pulled the door closed.

Sombra escorted the filly to a small table and pulled the chair out for her to have a seat before sitting himself across from her. “Tell me what you told me last night– about the room,” he said to her.

She recreated her image depicting the assault on Nurse Clarity before Sombra continued, “Where did you learn to do that?” he asked. At its core it was the same question as all the times before and was only slightly different in its presentation. This time it wasn't how, but where, and the answer was still the same. Treeling drew the picture of the great oak—with tremoring leaves—enshrouded in a magical field. Unlike the white mare the black stallion did not chastise her for getting the answer “wrong” but instead encouraged her.

“Please, tell me more,” he said in a tone that was nearly grateful.

This was not the response she had expected and she had not left room on the slate for further articulation. She took a moment to drag her cheek across the surface to clear it once again before she quickly drew in just the aura and the waviness of the leaves to one side. Then she added her cutiemark in the middle and connected the two ideas with an arrow.

“I see,” said Sombra before asking: “How does that relate to the magical barrier that protects the Crystal Empire?” His tone was as soft and calm as one would expect from an adult questioning a child for the first time. He even took the time to make sure that she knew he enjoyed her drawings, so that she would keep making them, as they were the only way she knew how to communicate.

As the filly drew, he gave pensive consideration to how she was able to learn to draw in and cast magic from a tree. Magic so near the nature of the Crystal Heart and yet somehow surprisingly different… more versatile.

When finished the sketch was held up so that Sombra could see it clearly. A group of large boxy structures signified the city from the perspective of the filly. A large bubble signified the shield keeping the chaotic world at bay, and a small bubble around the filly’s stick-figure representation of herself. The smaller circle was filled with arrows going both into and out of the filly.

“Interesting… Like with Nurse Clarity,” he said.

The filly nodded at first, then shook her head, before she cleared the board with her other cheek. She drew two faces on the board. One very large, very angry face, where the last image of the shield had been; and one small yet tranquil face with a paper cap.

“So… They’re different kinds of magic? How are they different?” Sombra asked in a perplexed tone.

The unicorn child patted her cheeks to shake the dust from her coat, cleared the board once more, and drew the locations each incident occurred in– including her home island.

“Different places have different magic?” Sombra asked, and Treeling nodded readily. With the conformation he went on to ask: “If I show you how I came into this city... will you show me how you did?” Sombra needed to see it himself if he was going to explain it to the Queen.

Treeling questioningly tapped the image of the cell on her board while Sombra voiced her concern, “How?” Though it was an apparent simplification of the idea Treeling nodded in confirmation.

To answer her he reached over and blew out the lantern. The ambient light of the mock sun was not enough to keep any shadows at bay. Sombra stood up and motioned for the filly to take her slate off the table so he could move it to the corner of the room with his chair. “With crystals,” he said. His words accompanied the creation of a large diagram on the floor. There were six points on a circle where resonance crystals shot up like wild fire.

The filly was ushered out of her seat before the two chairs were placed in the circle at points of harmonious concert. Whereupon Sombra motioned that she should return to her seat and he himself returned to his.

“Clear your mind,” he said, expecting that she could actually do it. “Think only of the sound of my voice,” Sombra added as the hypnotism began. “Think about the walk we took down that long hall yesterday and imagine we are walking down another. There is a bright light at the end of this hall. It is three paces away. As I count backward we’ll take another step together before passing into the light." His voice was soothing as he braced her for the transition.

Though their eyes were closed Treeling could sense magic flowing out of the unicorn and into the crystals before circling around to her.

"Three… Two… One...”

***

The filly crouched in place as she waited for a dump of images and sounds that did not occur. She peaked out to find that she was in Sombra’s chambers as he was dressing for an important meeting.

A voice came to her from somewhere outside. It was also Sombra but he was distant as he explained: “You are safe. No harm can befall you here... none knew that you even exist yet." Treeling moved toward Sombra to test that theory by tapping him on the flank. Though he seemed solid enough he did not react to her, and went he on preparing and practicing his speech. He stopped and restarted several times to change little things here or there.

Not satisfied she lowered her head and rammed her horn into his thigh. She could feel it pierce the skin and muscle all the way to the bone. However when she pulled it out there was no wound and he still failed to react in anyway.

"Satisfied?" the distant voice of Sombra asked. "You are in my mind and I can still see you," he remarked with a chuckle.

In an instant the two were standing in the court of the Crystal Queen. Her massive stature towered over even that of Sombra. Her glorious pegasus wings spread far and wide as she reciprocated a bow from the approaching dignitary before folding back in quite compactly to her sides. Sombra approached the foot of the throne and bowed before the Crystal Queen and the Crystal Princess before he delivered his missive.

Something about trade between the Steel Ponies and the Crystal Empire including, but not limited to, building materials and labor. Much of the memory was skipped over as to get to the good part. The Queen's advisers took a moment to review the proposal when another guest found his way into the closed-chambers meeting.

"Who are you?" shouted the guards, but it was obvious that the Queen knew all too well the identity of the draconequus.

"Hello, Princess," Discord said, "Or should I say Queen now that you've had a princess of your own?" The question was displaced in space as Discord appeared on the arm of the princess's throne and stroked her cheek gingerly while staring past her to the Queen. A shutter was sent down the Queen's spine as her daughter stuck out her tongue in disgust.

"Bleh..." Cadence's voice reflected the creepy familiarity with which she was being handled.

"What do you want Discord." The Queen glowered at the goat-headed demon who manhandled her filly.

"Well..." Discord started, but let his voice peter-out as he teleported from throne to throne. He appeared on the Queen's lap as if she were Santa Whooves. "It was so nice of you to play with me but the last game got boring. So I'm thinking of a new one."

The distant voice of Sombra drifted in, in the lull between the suggestion and the response. "Imprisoned in crystal for a hundred years is a child's game to this immortal being."

"I will not entertain you. You do nothing but harm. Be gone!" The Queen angrily shouted in his face as she used both wings to buffet him across the room while rising into a battle stance.

"I'm hurt," Discord said as he stopped in midair, "You haven't even heard the name of the game yet!"

The Crystal Queen surveyed the court room before nervously stating: "I care not for your sick propensities. I will not entertain you."

Discord laughed immediately at her words as they suggested she even had a choice. After taking a breather he said: "I think you're going to like this one, Queeny," before slowly raising his arm. "It's called: stop me if you can." The Queen jerked forward at Discord, but wasn't able to even lift her hoof before his fingers snapped away the young Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.

"Raise the alarm! Cordon off the city! Now!" shouted the captain of the royal guard, "Get him!" Guards rushed towards Discord as he turned his attention back to the Queen.

"Don't keep us waiting," he said venomously before he too disappeared.

Heartbroken the Queen countermanded the captain's orders. "He's gone. Raise the shield."

The memory of Sombra protested. "My Queen!" he said, "How am I to return home?"

The Queen turned her judgment on him. "I would like to consider you our guest, and welcome you to extended negotiations, but with the shield up... you're not going anywhere."

***

The magical memory sequence came to a close with the same exercise that it began with. Sombra walked Treeling back to the room they were now in. "That was five years ago." he said, "Now, please, think about how you came to be here. My magic will do the rest."

The filly closed her eyes. She imagined the two of them standing and walking back out the door, down the long hall, and into the bright light once again. Though advice was issued by Sombra to sit back and let him handle it; such advice was summarily disregarded. With a gilded glimmer she breathed deep to pull the magic out of the air, the crystals, and Sombra himself before redirecting it on their link. Its effect was instantaneous.

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Comments

[The A I]

Dun. Dun. DUNNNNNNN!

[LegionPothIX]

4900743 The majority of this story has setups for the natural flow from scene to scene.