> The King's Golden Apple > by Petitprincess > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1: A Simple Task > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It had been an odd year for the Crystal Empire. First, not only they had to readjust to being brought back from their disappearance, but they also had to stop the nightmare-bringing dictator, Sombra, from reclaiming the kingdom back. Second, they had strange thorn vines that ended up almost shrouding the kingdom, but those ended up getting dealt with by the Tree of Harmony (although they never knew what it was, but they didn’t question its power). Third, they had to deal with the debacle at the Equestria Games, where a misfire from the ice archery competition caused a stray cloud to turn into a massive ice asteroid. Luckily, the “brave and glorious” Spike dissipated the glacier to nothing but rain. Finally, the strangest one of all, they had reintroduced Sombra back into their community. Yeah! The tyrant that wanted to turn his own kind into his own personal slaves, and work them until they were exhausted and deprived, was welcomed back into the kingdom! It turns out Sombra was able to rejuvenate his body from the explosion, due to the immortality curse within his dark magic. His reoccurrence would’ve been more of a disturbance, if it wasn’t for the fact that the crystal heart had weakened his dark magic and brought light into his darkened soul. At first everypony was skeptical, thinking that he was obviously faking it to bring Shining Armor and Cadence into a false sense of trust. Although, after a while, everyone started believing he was being earnest. What with him helping the prince and princess with their royal duties, participating in fun events (such as jousting), or even helping with fairs, he had seemed to turn over a new leaf. Of course, it didn’t break down some of the crystal pony’s skepticism, but they certainly don’t scowl at him any longer or shout rather obscene insults at him. Although, despite all those respectable feats, Sombra was still having a hard time adjusting to good behavior. For example: when he was uninvited to go to a formal ball, he told the ponies in charge that they can go to the deepest pit of Tartarus and burn for all their damnable life. Unfortunately, those ponies in charge happened to be Princess Celestia and Princess Luna who turned Sombra back into a shadow, but instead, kept him inside a mason jar. Sombra learned three things that night. One: Never piss off the royal sisters (how he didn’t learn this already, no one will ever know). Two: It’s very hard to realign your spine after being put into such a small place. Three: Who in all of Equestria keeps a mason jar? Someone must be making moonshine; he wouldn’t mind hanging out with them. Another time would be when the librarian at the Crystal Empire refused to give him a book, he threatened he would torch down the library, her house, and finally her body. Sombra came home with two carts full of books that day. And finally, when the Mane 6 were visiting, Pinkie Pie was planning a party for Cadence’s birthday. But when she presented the daily activities, Sombra called her ideas foalish and that she should go back to the horror freak show that she was brought up from. Instead of bursting into tears, Pinkie instead laughed her head off and gave an extended history about her family (that oddly went into Applejack’s, but Cadence nor Shining questioned that). This almost sent Sombra into a murderous frenzy, since he didn’t care to hear about what Pinkie’s great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather did to find his lucky mare. Sombra ended up getting chained and was heavily guarded for the rest of evening, and, yes, Pinkie was still teaching him her history. Anyway, Shining Armor and Cadence wanted to find a way to help Sombra get over his "habits". So, they decided to give him a mission that requires him to go all over Equestria and connect with the other ponies. A mission that is so important, so delicate, so amazing that even he won’t dismiss it. “You want me to find crystals?” asked a deadpanned Sombra. He stood in front of the two in the throne room. They said they had called him down for something urgent that they thought it was best for him to take the task. Sure, he had partaken in events in the Crystal Empire to remain social, but they all got boring fast. They held nothing to challenge the king mentally or physically. Hell, even the jousting was monotonous (it probably wouldn’t be if everypony didn’t always cower away from him). So, hearing that he was actually needed in the kingdom was actually really exciting! And what do they want him to do? Find crystals for the Crystal Empire! Sombra sweetly informed, “Shining. Cadence. Darlings,” the two grimaced at the way Sombra said darling, but they continued to listen. “You two do realize that you live in the Crystal Empire, right?” The two nodded, completely ignoring his rudeness, since they were used to it. “So, I don’t think it would make such a huge difference, if I bring a few paltry crystals to the fucking CRYSTAL Empire!” King Sombra shouted causing his voice to echo a bit. The two just glanced at each other, sharing looks of regrets of ever giving him this assignment. But, they digressed. When they thought about it, it does sound stupid for someone to find something that a whole kingdom is made from. Cadence sighed and clarified, “These crystals aren’t ordinary crystals, Sombra. These crystals are said to have once been a part of the crystal heart. If you bring them here, the pieces may strengthen the crystal heart’s power.” “So, you want me to go out and find rare crystals to reinforce the relic that almost killed me?” Sombra asked mostly to see if they were joking. Cadence smiled and exclaimed, “Exactly!” Sombra just scowled at the princess and growled, “I’m not doing it!” Before Sombra could turn around, Shining Armor got in front of him and said, “Look, Sombra. We want you to do this because you’ve been a bit…destructive lately,” Sombra smiled at that part, which made Shining roll his eyes. He continued, “We thought this was the best assignment to give you, despite the irony of the situation. Besides, what would you rather do: sit in a castle with nothing to do or go on an adventure?” Sombra was about to quip back, but then really thought about it. It would be nice to get out this retched kingdom, but is it really worth it just to find some stupid crystal shards? I wonder if this just a stupid ploy to get me to connect with other commoners. I already have a hard time with these plebeians, what makes them think it’ll be better with anyone else? Still, I’d actually be leaving here. Fine, I’ll go, but I refuse to speak to anyone. I’ll need someone to do the talking for me, but who? Shining went up to Cadence and whispered, “How long is he just gonna stand there?” She responded, “I have no idea; maybe he’s just thinking about it.” “Thinking about it? We may want to get some medical aid out here, just in case he kills himself,” Shining’s joked made them go into a giggling fit. Cadence giggled, “Hahaha! That’s so mean!” Despite knowing this, she still laughed even harder. Sombra shouted, “Alright!” The two instantly got quiet and quickly wiped away a few tears. Cadence took a deep breath to calm herself. She asked, “You’ve made your decision?” He nodded and said, “I will go,” Shining and Cadence were about to say something, but Sombra raised a hoof to silence them. He went on, “I will go, but I demand a cohort.” Cadence whispered, “Demand, my ass,” and then she responded aloud, “Oh, well, that’s no trouble at all. We’ll bring in one of the guards and-” Sombra shook his head and explained, “No! I refuse to be with those lazy bastards. The only thing they know how to do is stand at attention.” “You do realize I was one of those “lazy bastards”, right?” Shining asked in serious tone, but Sombra wasn’t taken aback. Sombra just quipped, “Right, so you understand.” Shining mumbled something under his breath, but still took the high road. Shining took a deep breath and asked, “Well, then, who do you want to come with you?” Sombra just sent a smirk to Shining, who just stared back at him uncomfortably. He turned to give a questionable look to Cadence, but she seemed to be shocked by Sombra’s smirk. Then a little light bulb went off in Shining’s head, he glowered at Sombra, who just smirked even wider. Shining shouted, “No! There’s no way you are going get me to-” Shining sat near the window on the train, just glaring out at the passing scenery. He glanced up at Sombra, who was sitting across from him looking at a map. The ex-tyrant felt Shining’s stare and took his focus off the map. He smiled at Shining and said, “You know, I’m really glad you voluntarily agreed to do this assignment with me.” Shining rolled his eyes and groaned, “Shut up, you asshole!” “Who knew train rides made you cranky?” Sombra questioned in a snarky manner, which made Shining roll his eyes. Sombra informed, “If you keep on rolling your eyes like that, they’ll get stuck in the back of your head.” Shining just scoffed, “Please, that’s just a saying parents say to stop foals from being rude.” “You don’t know that. It could be true,” Sombra responded smartly. This almost caused the prince to roll his eyes again, but thought it was best to stop that before that saying became the truth. Shining sighed and asked, “Where are we going anyway?” “I thought it was best to stop at this place called Ponyville. You know, I’ve seen it on maps, but I figured to be nothing but a boring-” Sombra stopped in mid-sentence when he looked up from the map to see Shining just staring and smiling wide at him. This caused the ex-tyrant’s skin to crawl, since he never got used to seeing happy face. He preferred looks of misery, pain, or even false hope, but happiness was too creepy. He commanded, “Would you stop that, right now!?” Shining noticed he was smiling to widely and apologized, “Sorry, it’s just that that’s where my sister lives.” “Sister?” “Yeah, you know her,” he hesitated for a bit and then said, “Twilight Sparkle.” Sombra immediately grimaced and groaned, “Oh, her.” “Oh, come on, don’t be like that. Technically, it was Spike who ruined your plans,” Shining tried correcting the ex-tyrant. Now, it was Sombra’s turn to roll his eyes. He scoffed, “Please, the only thing that clumsy, foolish dragon did was almost fall to his death. If it wasn’t for you throwing your-and might I add-dying wife, that dragon would’ve been nothing but a purple-greenish red chewed-up gum on the ground.” Shining Armor winced at the graphic image that went through his mind. Sombra innocently grinned at him and asked, “By the way, I’m curious, how did Cadence punish you for that?” “Punish? Cadence completely understood why I made that rash of a decision,” Shining explained matter-of-factly. Sombra gave him an “I’m-not-buying-it” look, and Shining corrected, “Okay, I had to sleep on the couch for three months.” “That seems about right.” The two chuckled a bit, which was a rarity to see the two get along, and just sat in silence. Shining looked out the window and noticed Luna’s moon rising. He turned to Sombra, and noticed that he was still looking at the map. Why is he even still looking at the map? We already have our destination. Is he planning future travels? Shining thought quizzically. Feeling like he knew what Shining was thinking, Sombra said, “You’ll be able to see your sister in the five or six hours.” Shining snapped out of his thoughts and just nodded, even though he really didn’t hear what the ex-tyrant said. Sombra levitated the map inside the bags that were next to Shining, and then started walking towards the sleeping cars. He turned to Shining, who was still sitting, seemingly in thought. He shouted, “Hey!” Shining jumped and turned his head to Sombra. The ex-tyrant said, “Carry the bags and follow me. We’re going to our sleeping barracks.” Levitating up the bags, Shining followed after Sombra and queried, “Barracks? This isn’t like one of your slave camps, you know.” “I never gave my slaves sleeping quarters; that would be too much of a luxury for them,” Sombra explained. Shining was about to question him why, but he figured it had to do with the slaves being “beneath him”. So, he just stayed silent and trailed behind Sombra. Once they were inside the sleeping train, Shining’s eye twitched a bit when he noticed their room was separated from everypony else. It kind of made him fear why they needed so much seclusion. Not only that, but there was only one bed in the whole room, so that didn’t even come close to any alleviation. Shining gulped, “Uh…Sombra, why are we separated from witnesses and why is there only one bed?” Shining didn’t hear Sombra come up behind him. All he felt was Sombra’s hot breath on his ear when he whispered, “So that no one can see me have my way with you.” Shining jumped and instantly scooted to a corner of the cart, far from Sombra. The ex-tyrant snorted, “I’m only joking, Armor. I’m not that deprived to have sex with you,” Shining responded with a blush of embarrassment and a glare. Ignoring the stare, Sombra walked over the bed and started placing the pillows, so there was a wall in between the two. Sombra gave Shining Armor an “are-you-happy-now” look and the young prince just nodded. The two climbed into a different side of the bed to get ready for sleep. Right when Sombra was about to close his eyes, Shining asked, “Why did you need me to come with you anyway?” Sombra answered, "Well, I need someone to speak to the ponies for me." Shining turned to the wall of pillows and informed, "You know Sombra, I can't do all the speaking for you." "Why not?" Sombra asked, peaking his head over the pillows. Shining sighed, thinking the answer was obvious. He explained, "Well, no doubt you probably already know that Cadence and I thought it'd be a good idea for you to take this assignment, so that you can meet other ponies. And, you can't meet other if I just did the talking for you." Sombra groaned and flopped down on his side of the bed. Shining Armor just shook his head at the childish act, and turned to his side to get comfortable for sleep. Before he closed his eyes, Shining said, "Who knows, Sombra, maybe you'll actually meet someone you like?" Sombra laughed, "If that happens, I'll serve you for the next two months." The two chuckled a bit and then drifted off into a deep sleep.