• Published 17th Mar 2015
  • 952 Views, 48 Comments

Maiden of Sombra - Cocoa Swirl 10201



A young girl falls asleep one night to have a strange dream, only to wake up in the crystal empire...and being told that she must serve King Sombra as his maiden of choice!

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The garden.

"So you would never lay a hoof on a maiden then?" Cocoa Swirl warily inquired, she still looked directly at his eye's, so she can see if there was truth in them or not.

`"Like I said, I may be a tyrant, but I'm not a kind of stallion to strike mares, that's out of line!" Sombra changed his look to one of total sincerity. He was telling the absolute truth she concluded. The shadow king continued.

"I like you, your the kind who doesn't stand down, or bows down just because their intimidated. I hereby name you my Maiden of Choice. This will by your title from here on out." King Sombra's smile returned, and he got close enough to whisper in Cocoa's ear.

"I'll see you later tonight..." Cocoa flushed to an apple red. "Nope nope nope, so much NOPE!" She screeched. "There is no way in hell that you'll be seeing me tonight!" She puffed her cheeks out in anger and embarrassment. How dare this stallion do this in front of an audience!

"You look irresistible when your angry! I was just teasing, don't be angry." King Sombra laughed more loudly than he intended. He looked back down at the cute looking angry mare. "But if you do chose to be in the gardens this night, just be careful not to get lost, it's quite literally a jungle out there." With that, the king turned around and headed for his chambers. He walked past his other maidens and whispered something inaudible to her ears, he did the same with the guard that had escorted them. Sombra looked back at cocoa one last time, and he shut the throne room doors behind him using his magic.

"There's a garden?" Cocoa Swirl looked back at her mare friends, they shook off their dumb-founded expressions and nodded. "Yes! the garden, uh..." Golden Evening lost her train of thought, it was Morning Skies who picked it back up again. "The gardens are at the entrance of the palace!" She quickly stated. Cocoa Swirl's eyes widened, the idea of having a garden excited her, but she hid her emotion and faked a yawn.


"That's pretty cool, I guess. I'm gonna head to my room and have some rest. My journey here was exhausting. Could you tell me where my room is?"

"Your bedroom? Your bedroom is the one where we came from, remember?" Cocoa recalled the dimly lit room in which she arrived. "Oh, that room? Could you take me back there? I'm really tired." "Of course we will silly! Every maiden shares the same chamber."

"T-They do?! I-I don't think th-" She was silenced by Crystal Spirit, those eyes startled her, again. "Are you used to having your own room?" She asked. She was used to having her own room, wasn't she? She kept her mouth shut. Spirit nodded and started to lead the way to the maiden's chambers. They walked quietly back down the long corridor, she fell in step with the golden crystal filly.

"How ever did you become one of Sombra's maidens? You look younger than me. The gold filly looked straight up at her with a dark and somber expression.

"I'm much older than anypony else knows of." Her voice itself was dark and foreboding. Cocoa looked away, she didn't like how the filly looked at her. She dared a glimpse back at her, and she wish she didn't. She saw in the filly's eyes a gruesome image, a mare version of Golden Evening laid sprawled on a bloody floor, her eyes rolled back onto her head, and her mouth open in a silent scream, foam and blood lined the corners of her lips, and the worst part, was that her stomach was ripped open, and from the stomach was a little newborn colt....he to was dead. Cocoa Swirl stifled a scream and clenched her teeth, she wrenched her gaze away from the fillies eye's and ran ahead next to Crystal Spirit.

"D-do you know a-a-about Golden Evening?" Cocoa stammered. She had just witnessed the most horrible thing she would ever see in her entire life. "Yes, I do." Whispered Spirit. Her voice barely audible, she leaned in to hear the amethyst mare's words more clearly. "But Only I, Morning Skies, and now you, know about her. She's actually a spirit that takes on a filly's form, be careful to not ask her questions, you may not like the answer you seek.

"But why only the three of us? Why are we the only ones who see her?" "I can see her because I was born with special talents." She pointed out her cutiemark, which was a crystal ball with mist wrapping itself around it. "Morning Skies can see her because she is her energy source, the reason why she can take form. Why you can see her, is out of my comprehension." Spirit stopped in front of a giant door and pushed her way through it, holding it open for the other mares to come in.

"It's darker than before...." Cocoa stated flatly. She looked for a light source, only to have an unexpected light come on. She squinted her eye's against it, she looked back and saw that Morning had just an enchanted candle, and that one candle alone filled the rest of the ginormous room with light.

"Whoa. This room is gigantic!" Cocoa looked across the lovely, sparkling room. One whole wall was made of super finished and polished clear crystal, It was made to function as a mirror. On the other side of the room were enormous feather pillows that were big enough to fit three children, they were embroidered with beautiful designs and were made with very rare silks and other expensive materials. The blankets were just as beautiful.

"Welcome to the maiden's chambers!" Cheered Morning Skies happily. She bounced around the room like a filly would in a bounce house. "This is were you'll sleep, that's were you can find you clothes, and over there you ca-" Morning Skies was once again silenced by Crystal Spirit. "this must be a regular habit of theirs." Thought Cocoa. She made her way towards the closet of clothing that Morning had pointed out, she stood and gawked at all the beautiful flowing dresses that filled every inch of the closet, they all hung in hangers, while under the dresses, jewelry and hair accessories and other miscellaneous glittering items were lined up neatly for easy access.

"Ahem, I think that blue ribbon would look nice..." Whispered Morning as she pointed out a thin blue silk ribbon that looked very valuable. Cocoa awkwardly, but gently, grabbed at the ribbon with her hoof. Morning Skies giggled at her attempt to pick it up.

"Your so silly! Your a unicorn like King Sombra, use your magic to levitate it!" Cocoa Swirl never realized that she had a horn on her head ever since she had arrived. She went to touch it, she could feel the spiral marking, this was a strange attachment.

"Well go on, imagine the ribbon levitating! King Sombra said that that's how levitation magic works." Cocoa nodded and turned back to the beautiful blue ribbon. She imagined the ribbon levitating, just to simply float in one place, she sat and stared intently at the ribbon. "Come on, just float upwards a bit, come on..." Cocoa stared at the ribbon for what seemed like hours, the center inched upward by just a tiny bit, but eventually, the entire ribbon floated in the air.

"Ah! How do you do that?!" Morning Skies gaped at her, the magic aura that was supposed to be there, was void of existence. "Do what, aren't unicorns supposed to use magic?" "Yeah, but they also have magic aura's with a specific color, you don't have any aura at all!" Crystal Spirit came over to see the commotion. She to noticed that Cocoa was void of a magic aura.

"That's because she's not using magic..." Morning looked at the amethyst mare. "What the hay does that mean?" "It means exactly what I said, she's not using magic, she's using her mind to move the ribbon with her own will, and not the will of magic." Her blind gaze went to Cocoa Swirl.

"You never cease to amaze me." She blankly stated. Cocoa stared back, they held each other in this stare-down for quite some time, until Morning yawned a overly exaggerated yawn.

"Well, I guess it's time to bed down, isn't it?" Cocoa and Spirit broke their stare from each other, and nodded agreement. "Yeah, it is getting late now, Celestia's sun set a while ago, and Luna's moon has been above horizon for a while now. We should all sleep now." Spirit headed for the biggest pillow, the center of if sinking deeply as she settled down and closed her milky eye's. Morning Skies headed towards a beautiful purple embroidered pillow-bed and flopped onto it with a big sigh.

"Hey Morning, where's the little fillies room?" Asked Cocoa awkwardly. She looked around for an extra door that might lead to a restroom. Morning Skies got up regretfully and lead her to the mirror wall. Cocoa Swirl stared at her questionably. Morning grabbed hold of a door handle that was nearly invisible, (Unless you looked good enough.) and opened a door that lead to an extremely large room, the bathhouse.

"If you go beyond the pools, you'll see several doors, each one leads to a separate restroom, and be careful not to slip on the floor on your way there!" Morning turned around and closed the door behind her, leaving Cocoa alone in the bathhouse. She carefully picked her way across the slippery floor and around each crystal clear pool. The water was so still that Cocoa could see her reflection almost perfectly.

"Hm, so that's how I look, huh?" She looked at the creme pony figure that stared back at her. It's eye's were a deep chocolate brown, and her mane was a little lighter shade, with a creme swirl smoothly flowing throughout her mane and tail. She lost track of how much time had passed. Surely both Spirit and Morning had fallen asleep now, and it was at least moon-high time. She had never really needed to use the restroom, or even was tired really, she wanted to see the garden. That's what she was doing, just biding her time, and the time was right to make a break for it.

Cocoa came back the way she came from the mirror like pool, she took hold of the handle with her mind's will and slowly opened the door. "Good, there sleeping, just what I need." She thought happily, getting excited with the thought of the garden. Cocoa made her way to the door, she made one final check towards her roommates, and headed out.


~O~


"Getting to the garden was easier than I expected." Cocoa said quietly to herself. The maiden's chambers were surprisingly close to the entrance, that must've been why it took them so long to get to the throne room. She looked out upon the extravagant garden, there was great big willow trees with long branches that looked like swaying silver chains in the moonlight. Below the willow's were expanses of wildflowers of all sorts. And to top it all off was a beautiful pool of moonlit water in the center of it all, reflecting the moon's light as it danced on the leaves of the willows. A truly romantic scene, worthy enough to make even the most tomboyish of mares swoon.

Cocoa gently picked her way to the pool of light, careful not to crush the delicate wildflowers beneath her, she laid down by the edge of the water and sighed. Cocoa hummed a slow tune, it reminded her of a lullaby she seemed to have heard of long ago, the very melody itself sounding ancient. Her favorite part of the garden were the lotus's that have grown naturally in the pool, there was very little of them though. She began to sing out loud the words from her song, mysteriously remembering the words in precise order.


Fate has been cruel, and order unkind.

How can I sent you away?

The blame was my own, the punishment yours.

The harmony's silenced today....


Cocoa felt a feeling of serenity wash over her as she sang her tale of two sisters. Yes, she had known this song before, but it's origin will be forever unknown. She continued, totally unaware that a pair of bloody eye's were watching her sing this beautiful ballad.


But into the stillness, I'll bring you a song,

and I will your company keep.

Till your tired eyes, and my lullabies,

I've carried you softly to sleep....


She sighed as she paused for a moment, looking blissfully into the depths of the lotus pool. Cocoa was in a state of serendipity.

"Please continue, I don't wish for you to stop singing." Cocoa nearly punched Sombra in the face and made a break for it, if it wasn't for his startling fast reflexes it would've happened. He held her hoof in his magic grasp, the smoky red aura matching his eye color. "How long have you been watching me?!" She demanded, wrenching her hoof out of his grasp. He gave his signature smirk and had a teasing gleam in his eye's.

"Long enough to know that your voice is beautiful, and you seem to have a love for nature." He gestured to the nature that surrounded them. "It's lovely enough for a kiss, isn't it?" Cocoa grew embarrassed, and she puffed her cheeks out.

"What do you imply? Do you think that I would ever kiss a stallion I just met this day?" "I don't know, maybe?" He said teasingly and wriggled his eyebrows. Cocoa tried to keep her annoyed composition, but the gesture he made was to much, she burst out in a fit of laughter, her sides heaved as she laughed to her hearts content, rolling around like some crazed idiot if I might add.

"Th-that's the funniest thing I-I've ever seen!" Cocoa got back up as her laughter died down, she noticed that the King was staring at her, more of a gawk really. She grew uncomfortable, and she scratched the back of her neck. Things got awkward... really fast.

"Ahem, Sombra, your kinda staring at me right now." Cocoa said weirdly. The king shook his head and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, it was unkind of me to stare. It's just, your laugh. It was as beautiful as your voice." Cocoa turned away, she didn't want King Sombra to see how red her face was. She was flattered, she really was. But she wasn't used to getting compliments, especially from a king who has enslaved an entire empire just for the sake of mining crystals. "He's such a handsome stallion though, I bet not many mares would get complimented like this... WAIT! No! Stop thinking like this, he's just like everypony else, besides his strange dark color
pallet."

"Would you please continue your song? I want to hear more." She turned around to face Sombra, only to bump noses with him. She flinched away the touch, but Sombra thought little of it. All he wanted was for her to continue her song of the two princesses.

"Okay fine, but only a little bit more, k?" She settled herself back down by the water's edge and sighed. She picked up were she had left off in her song. Sombra came and laid down by her side, he rested his head on his hooves and leaned on Cocoa. She could feel her face instantly heat up at the touch. She wanted to move away, but she also didn't want to be rude. She drew a small breath and continued.


Once did a pony who shone like the sun look down on her kingdom and sigh.

She smiled and said 'Surely there is nopony so beautiful, and so well beloved, as I.

So great was her reign, so brilliant her glory,

that long was the shadow she cast.


Sombra closed his eye's and sighed content as he listened to her sing. "It's such a lovely voice." He thought. "Maybe she'll agree to go on a date someday. It just takes time and patience.. Cocoa began to forget that King Sombra was even there. She closed her eye's and sang the tale of the two sisters, one of which was swept away by the limelight, being negligent to the jealousy of her beloved sister

Lull lay moon princess, goodnight sister mine.

Rest now in moonlight's embrace.

Bear up my lullaby, winds of the earth.

Through clouds and through sky and through space.

Cocoa felt King Sombra gently begin to snore by her side. She looked at him and and wondered what she should do "crap, he fell asleep. What should I do? I definitely can't carry him, for one he's simply just to heavy, second is that if I could carry him, that would wake him up, and that's bad luck to wake a sleeping horse. And final thing is that I don't even know where he sleeps anyway." Cocoa pondered her options. She started to lose her composure.

"What if somepony came out here, and saw me and the King... that would be a bad situation! What if... what if... they thought I was trying to SEDUCE HIM?!?! She began to wheeze, she whispered her worries to the chilled night air. "Ohhh! What am I supposed to do?! Please... just give an answer anypo-" Cocoa heard a stifled laughed and she whirled her head to face a fully awake, shadow stallion, looming over her.

"Wow, I didn't think you would react so much! I was wondering how you felt about me..." He tossed his head back and laughed heartedly. Cocoa Swirl was fuming angrily, her face beat red in embarrassment

"HOW DARE DOES THEE LAUGH AT OUR FRUSTRATION!?" She bellowed, King Sombra stopped immediately and gaped at her. The only ones that King Sombra knew who used the royal Canterlot voice were the royal pony sisters. "How do you know about the Canterlot voice?" Sombra stated blandly, he tilted his head very slightly. She was still in a red faced rage.

"CLOSETH THINE MOUTH AND SILENCE THINE TOUNGE! LEST THOU WOULD LIKE FOR US TO RIP IT FROM THOU HEAD!?" Her rage sent silver sparks flying from her horn. her mane wavered and she levitated slightly, here eyes gleaming white. King Sombra though quickly and shot her down with a neutralizing beam of magic. She instantly felt the magic drain from her being, she fell to the ground, the sparks of magic that flew from her horn ceased.

Cocoa lay there for a moment, her face had a 'what the hell just happened?' look plastered all over it. She turned her head to look over at King Sombra and asked a silent question. He seemed to know what she meant, he had no idea either. He just shrugged his shoulders and cautiously made his way over to the defeated mare. He lowered his head and spoke softly.

"Cocoa? Are you okay, did I hurt you?" On the inside, Sombra was struggling not to hold the mare in an embrace, but he kept his stoic expression and waited for an answer. She struggled to get up and sat on her haunches, she gave the king of shadows the same look. She looked at the ground around her, there were extremely charred circle around her.

"Wh-what did I do?" Sombra quickly explained what happened, Cocoa's jaw remained dropped for the whole explanation. The only thing she remembered was being really mad at him, then yelling at him. She closed her mouth and looked at the eastern horizon. She noticed that the sky in the east was a faint orange.

"Aw crap! I have to head back!" She zoomed back to the castle's entrance, she called out an exasperated goodbye over her shoulder, with the King looking dumbfounded. He shook his head and smirked his signature smirk.

"That mare is something special' that's for sure." Sombra headed for the entrance of his castle, entered the throne room. and took his place on his throne.

Author's Note:

Phew! I finally did it! in the next chapter, thing might get REALLY girly.

BEWARE THE GIRLINESS!!! :pinkiecrazy: