Diary of a Mad King

The morning sun began to make its way across the sky, in this region that was a rare but welcomed occurrence. The warm beams slowly melted some of the thinner sheets of snow that covered most of the tattered empire. Through a small opening in the tents entrance, the warmth of the sun spread over Amber's body. Feeling the sudden change in temperature and light, Amber slowly woke up. Hugging what she first thought to be a blanket, she wondered what time it was. She began pushing the blanket off when it moved, realizing it wasn't a blanket, Amber opened her eyes and noticed it was Relic's forearm. This was a first, and she didn't know how to react. Her heart started beating faster against her golden coat and blood rushed to her face. How long had they been dating? A year? Yeah, that sounded about right. This was only their second time ever sharing sleeping space, they had both agreed to take it slowly, the first time was during an expedition in some forsaken corner of Equestria and boy had it been awkward. The usually cool and smooth Relic Wonder had acted like a complete goof, not knowing what to say or do; he had even kept his distance from her. Calming down, she realized it was actually very comfortable. She smiled and wondered how far they had come as a couple, then, the bliss of the moment was broken when the diary of King Sombra entered her thoughts.

The king had written about several things that made her uncomfortable, everything she had read raised questions about the princesses and the Crystal Empire. The poor queen Umbra pushed her way to her consciousness next. Remembering the portraits of her she saw while in the castle, a tear formed in her eye. She sounded so...perfect...Sombra definitely loved her, and reading of her death caused Amber great sorrow.

"Rise and shine!!" bellowed Granite from outside. "Let's get up ladies, it's a beautiful day and I made some delicious oatmeal!" The wonderful news was met with plenty of less than enthusiastic 'Yays.'

Relic groaned and withdrew his arm, much to Amber's disappointment. Wiping his eyes with his hooves he forced himself to sit up, "It can't be earlier than six, is he insane."

"You guys know I'm insane when it comes to new expeditions, now move your flanks." Relic always knew having an ex-royal guard as a team leader would have its downsides. He couldn't remember a single time Granite had let them sleep past 7.

Once outside, Relic finally noticed how beautiful the day was turning out to be. The sun loomed over the dead kingdom and brought much needed light to the valley.

Breakfast was quick and silent, it usually was. Still drowsy form being woken up, all 12 ponies sat in silence and ate their oatmeal. It wasn't until Prime asked what everyone thought the day would bring that conversation finally entered the unusually warm atmosphere.

Thanking Granite for the food, they all began hastily strolling to their tents and soon the camp site was filled with exited chatter, along with the clanking of tools.

Relic approached Granite, the stallion was cleaning the dishes while wearing an apron, it took everything Relic had to not laugh. "Say Granite, we haven't bathed in two days, don't you think we should make a shower?"

"I've had that in mind too, which is why I have decided to stay behind today and build it myself."

"By yourself?"

Granite straightened and looked at Relic quizzically, "Is something wrong with that?"

The tone of his voice sent a chill down Relics spine, as he remembered the one time he had unknowingly insulted the earth pony, he started thinking more of what he was about to say, "Um, what I meant is that wouldn't it be more efficient if you had some help?"

Granite's gaze bore deeper into Relic. It felt like Granite was getting ready to sentence him to life or death, he wanted to look away but he knew Granite took that as a sign of weakness. Granite opened his mouth and Relic readied himself for some drama...and instead got hysteric laughter. "I'm just messing with you, don't worry, I made some blueprints last night, now go get ready, I'm sure there is still a lot to discovering to do."

...Oh you have no idea,Relic thought to himself as he walked away from the still laughing pony. He felt his lips quiver and soon enough he was giggling too. Been a good day so far, let's hope it stays that way. Parting the entrance of the tent, he stepped inside only to find it empty, looking around for his saddle bag something else caught his eye. Lying on top of the single piece of furniture in the tent, was the diary of Kind Sombra. He looked at it hesitantly, pondering if it was a good idea to read a little more before going back to the castle. Bracing himself for whatever else he might read about, he lifted the book from its resting place. Taking a deep breath, he opened the book and hoped Amber wouldn't walk in while he read.

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Entry# 2

       Why does fate treat me as such? I don't recall ever doing something so vile as to deserve this. I am witnessing the fall of my empire...and I am powerless to do anything about it. They cry and beg for what I cannot provide. The weather continues to take its icy toll, our crops lie dead, we have no allies to turn to, no resources to depend on. They are starving! I am starving! Is this how we are meant to die?! Slowly starving over the remains of this once glorious and proud kingdom. Damn it! Damn it all! They are past reasoning, they beg for what they know I do not possess. I tried to reason, but their shouts muted all else. They grew more frantic, more desperate, I saw pitchforks, axes, tools once used to bring food for the land now tried to break past the rank of guards separating them from me. What good does violence do now? I told the guards to not attack anyone and they obeyed, but one, one of them managed to break through and charged me. He provoked me! I had no choice! I...I struck him down. Quick, as painlessly as I could...It all happened so fast, I didn't know how to react. The shouting had been replaced by utter silence, I stared at the lifeless corpse...and so did everypony else. One by one, the air was filled with horrible weeping. The angry shouts had been converted to cries of agony and starvation, even one of the guards dropped his weapon and broke down in tears...but that wasn't the worst part.

I could hear them...I could hear them Umbra, the shadows, they spoke to me! After I killed the mournful stallion and stared at the weeping masses. What they said frightens me, they told me to-

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Relic closed the diary, whatever the King was going to say, he didn't want to hear it, at least not right now.

"Relic, what are you doing?!"

Quickly jolting up, Relic turned to Amber, the light seeping in from the entrance reflecting on her golden coat, making her look radiant. He must have been so allured by the diary he didn't even notice her walk in. "...I thought it would be a good idea to read some more before we departed." he answered flatly.

"...and?"

He looked down at the blanket covered floor, suddenly feeling exhausted, "If you expected things to suddenly cheer up, I hate to disappoint."

Sighing, Amber made her way across the tent and sat next to him, resting her head on his shoulder, she whispered. "You should stop reading that diary, it's taking over your thoughts, and I should be the only one allowed to do that. Now come on, get moving. The Canterlot Institution of Paleontology is paying us a lot to finish this job and I want the house we raise our future foals in to be big."

A grin slowly made its way across Relic's face and he was filled with new determination. Picking himself up, he made his way to the entrance. "Thanks...you always know what to say. Even if it sounds a little bold sometimes."

Feeling relieved, Amber followed him, "I try..."

Once outside, the sun was being rapidly overwhelmed by the clouds, the earlier sheet of warm sun was now nothing more than a thin layer of light. "Maybe we should take our sweaters, just in case things start getting ugly."

Looking down, there were several hoof prints that indicated the rest of the team had left. Only Granite remained, and he was busy building some sort of weird structure, often starring at a piece of blue paper and scratching his head. As Amber observed him, she began to laugh. The rich, sweet sound filled the air. Relic loved the sound of that laugh, it made him feel like things were alright.

Finally, they were on their way back to the castle of Kind Sombra, although now they went with a different attitude. They knew the truth of what had transpired inside this kingdom, the horrors war had brought upon it, and the terrible fate that met all those poor ponies. When they stepped into the courtyard, Relic could almost see the ponies begging for food, food that didn't exist. Shaking his head, he silenced these thoughts and tried to focus on the matters at hoof. "Amber, I want to show you the room where I found the diary. For being over a thousand years old, it looks like it was only yesterday that it has been fixed.

"That...sounds...unsettling..." they were now past the giant hall of pictures, they had gone up the stairs and were in the room were the battle meetings must have taken place. "Something doesn't feel right Relic," Amber started, getting closer to him.

"Don't worry, I'm here remember, now get ready for a breathtaking sight." Going up the same staircase he had the day before, Relic made his way to the door of the king's room and swung it open, "Behold!"

"Waaah!" cried out Amber, frozen in place.

"That wasn't the reaction that I was expecting. Don't you think it looks-" The words stopped cold in his throat and his heart almost stopped. The room, which looked glamorous yesterday, was in complete shambles. Dust, spider webs, and debris littered every inch of the room. The mirror that had been resting on the dresser was shattered and the bottles of perfume were in no better condition. The window was broken and a vicious wind was blowing inside, covering everything in snow. How had the weather worsened so quickly? Relic couldn't believe what he was seeing. This all felt very wrong.

"Relic, can we please leave now? I'm getting a really bad feeling about all of this."

"But...shouldn't we at least look around to see if we find somethi-"

SCREEEEE

"What the hell was that?" Relic's heart pounded like a drum, whatever had caused that horrible sound was close. "Amber, get behind me." Amber did as asked and became Relic's top priority, slowly closing the door, he began sidestepping to the stairs leading down, by doing that, he could keep an eye out for whatever might be down the long hall. The door he had just closed began to shake, that was the last thing he expected. Amber's breathing grew heavier, he needed to remain calm, for her. The doors burst open, an unrelenting gust of wind hit them, and a black veil seeped from within, quickly covering the walls, floor, and roof of the hall. "RUN!" Making their way down the stairs, the horrible screeching sound could be heard again. Relic stole a quick glance behind him and noticed that the shadows weren't following them. Relief flowed through his body, but that was short-lived as he heard Amber gasp.

"Smoke! Relic, I can't see anything."

They should be in the room with the round table, but it was full of smoke, it was seeping through the tiny cracks in the stone floor. It was thin, but black as the moonless night. He could still breathe, but he was sure that could change if whoever, or whatever was doing this wished it to. Vaguely remembering where the stairs leading to the first room where, he carefully felt his way around until his hoof sank about 6 inches. The stairs! "Amber, follow my voice, I found the stairs!" seeing the outline of her hoof, he grabbed it and galloped down the stairs. The smoke whizzed past them and Relic hoped the entrance wouldn't be closed. Once in the main hall, what he saw made his knees weak. The entire room were the giant portraits and chandeliers had been was completely covered in black; however, the entrance was still opened! This filled his body with new adrenaline and he motioned for Amber to follow him.

Galloping for the exit, Relic heard a loud whoosh sound, and a second later, a huge black spear implanted itself in front of Relic. The force of the impact was enough to knock him back. "Relic!" Amber screamed and rushed to help him up, she was about to ask him if he was hurt when he pushed her back. At first stunned, she soon realized why he had done it. Where she had been standing, there now was a black spike that could have easily impaled her. The spear appeared to be made of smoke, but it was definitely solid. Following it with her eyes, she noticed it came from the far right wall.

"Amber, hurry!" screamed Relic, helping her up. The two were now running at the speed only adrenaline can provide and more than once had to dodge a spear that landed too close for comfort. Once they were close enough to the entrance Amber jumped and landed on the courtyard, there appeared to be no sign of the shadows there. Gripping one of the iron doors with his mouth, Relic began to pull them shut, the veins in his neck becoming clearly visible from pulling the heavy doors. Amber made her way to help him when a sword like point made its way through the slit that was now the entrance and directed itself towards Relic.

"NO!" she screamed and pushed him out of the way. A sharp, cold pain on her chest immediately followed. She landed on one of the three remaining steps that shadowed the doors and tried to get up, but the pain wouldn't let her.

The bloodied sword like object banished into thin air when Relic closed the door. "AMBER!" Rushing to her, he quickly checked her wound, it didn't look too bad, but she still needed medical attention. "Hold on Amber, you're going to be fine. He opened his saddlebag and frantically searched for a smoke signal. They each carried a couple in case something happened and they needed to be located quickly. Taking out a box of matches, he lit it and threw it a couple of feet away. Next, he searched for a scarf he carried and ripped it in half, folding one half into a solid square. Taking off her wool sweater, he picked her up and began applying pressure to the wound. "You're going to be fine..." he whispered.

"Relic...I never want to go back in there...please..." she said softly, and finally broke down crying...