Maiden of Sombra

by Cocoa Swirl 10201

Rating: teen
Tags: Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Romance, King Sombra, Crystal Ponies, Slice of Life, Human
Length: 11418

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!

A young teenager, no more than thirteen, has a fight with her mom and storms off to bed. her mothers last words were, "never go to sleep angry." What the hell did that mean?! But she didn't care, or listen. She just went straight to bed and closed her eyes, thinking about how angry her mom made her. "I hate her! I hate hate hate her so much! She finally falls asleep....

(this wonderful cover was done by the amazing Note Sketch!)

[NOTE:] Human tag because of the beginning of the story

Published 2015-03-17 01:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-05-08 04:10:57 UTC

When She Arrived.

"Mom! I'm Hooome! Hello?" This is Autumn, the average 'don't ignore me or I'll cut you' thirteen year old who doesn't have much of a home life. Her best friends are Jordyn, Seqoia, and Jayden, all equally as psychotic and crazy in their own way. Autumn's mom was never there much at home, but she could still hope that she would be there at least once when she came home from school, Right?

Autumn huffed and threw her backpack on the couch, she threw herself on her favorite spot and turned on the television, there she found (another) note saying:

"hey, won't be home for tonight. there's top ramen when you get hungry, make sure to go to bed on time. from, mom."

The handwriting was crude and scrawled, definitely it was her mom's drunken handwriting. "Thanks for the lovingly written note mom." Autumn said half-heartedly, she said the word 'lovingly' as if it were venomous on her tongue. With another sigh she looked through the recorded episodes of Attack on Titan. She turned on the latest recording and watched as Eren turned into his titan form and moved a gigantic boulder to plug the breach in the wall. She even laughed at how most of the squad got devoured by the titans.

"Yep, story of my life..." Autumn said to her self as she looked around during a commercial break. "Mom went out to get even more drunk, and I'm once again alone." She got angry and sad at the same time as she said those words. Why was mama always gone? Did she not like me, did I do something that would make mama not want to be around me? Autumn asked herself this almost every single day. She understood why her mom was an alcoholic, because life was just simply stress full. But why would her mom always be gone? What did she do wrong? Her stomach interrupted her thoughts.

"Well, might as well make some top ramen. after that I should get to bed. God, I hate how late the bus drops me off! It pisses me off..." Autumn grumbled to her self as she prepared the water on the stove. She had different school hours, she would start at about 8:45 a.m., but school didn't get out till 5:00 p.m., and living further away from school didn't help either, she was the last one off the bus, getting home at about 6:30.

"Holy crap! I better hurry, I watched way to much Attack on Titan!" The time had already reached 10:00. Time flies so fast when you watch anime. Autumn slurped up her noodles as fast as she could without making a mess, cleaned up the kitchen a bit, and did the rest of her nightly routine. There was a loud banging at the door.

"Coming! Hold your horses 'k!?" Autumn dashed to the door, this is unusual. Her mom never came home this early before, this worried her, it couldn't be good at all. There was only one time when her mom came home this early and it was because she was angry, her mom would blame all of her life problems on her, and how they had no stable home was all her fault. After that, was when her mom became less and less present in Autumn's life. Autumn's mom rushed in with a small grocery bag, it contained a thing of Espresso Chocolate Chunk ice cream and a thing of cinnamon liquor, both these items were for Autumn's mom only. (but she would eat some ice cream behind her back anyway)

"Autumn, your supposed to be in bed by now." Autumn's mom, Jennifer said nonchalantly, paying her no heed as she walked past. She smelt strongly of cheap, stolen perfume and alcohol.

"I was just about too mama, sorry. how was your night though mama? was it good?" Autumn said quietly, trying not to disturb the moment of silence in the house, also because she was worried if her mom was upset or angry.

"No, it was horrible! no one would take me to the liquor store, so I had to walk, but when I got there, it was closed! so I had to walk all the way back here so I could get some ice cream and this." she held up a tiny cinnamon flavored liquor bottle and wriggled it between her fingers. Autumn felt dread in her stomach as she heard her moms words, but she held a dead-pan face. She nodded in fake sympathy, hoping her mother was to drunk to notice her anyway. Unfortunately, not drunk enough.

"I hate it here! And it's all your fault, you spoiled rotten brat! It's all your fault because you can't even be respectful to your own mother! Your so stupid! Why can't you do anything right, oh yeah that's right! Because you were a mistake! you were born on accident you stupid girl, your nothing, and always will be!" Jennifer ranted for what seemed to be eternity. She went on about how she can't respect her elders, how she was doing awful in school, how she can't do anything right, and so on.

Autumn just ducked her head down and cried silently, not making a sound as she felt some of the tear drops land on her bare feet. Finally, Autumn had enough of this bull shit that her mother ranted on about, she was tired of her coming home late, she was tired of her awful smell, she was tired of being around her mom in general. Autumn's dead-pan face finally gave way to one of pure hatred.

"Shut up." She mumbled, her voice sounded deadly. It was as deadly as a dagger held to the throat. Jennifer stopped ranting immediately at the sound of her voice. "Excuse me?" Yelled Jennifer, outraged that she was interrupted.

"You heard me, I told you to shut up" Autumn said a bit louder, her voice still hate filled and sharp. she looked up very slightly to gaze at her mom's eye's. They looked almost fearful, good, that's what she wanted.

"You, mother, are the one who's mistaken. I'm no fool, unlike you, you drunkard wrench I smell you from here. You smell disgusting, so much so it burns my nostrils." She flared her nostrils to emphasize her words. Not moving an inch, she started again.

"Just how much do you hate me that you can't even consider the thought that I will miss you while your gone. How much I worry that you won't come back? Just how much do you hate me?" Autumn's gaze to her mother went from pure hatred, to almost evil looking. Jennifer's eye's widened a bit more, showing more fear. This made Autumn almost giddy, she could maybe talk some sense into her mom for once.

"Well, wrench? ANSWER ME WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU!!!" Autumn roared at her mom. It felt good. It felt god to scream and yell at someone you hated. Autumn didn't even know that she hated ~~mama~~ Jennifer until now.

"Autumn....I'm sorry...." Jennifer had tears streaming down her face, not tears of sadness or remorse, but tears of fear. Autumn looked fully at her Jennifer, her eye's were terrifyingly evil looking. enough to say that others would think she's possessed, which was true, she was possessed by her true feeling of hatred towards one person. And that person was the one who stood directly across from Autumn.

"Your SORRY!? NO, THOU IS NOT SORRY! THOU HATES US! AND WE HATE YOU!" Autumn's voice didn't sound human. It was like a bellowing growl. And for some mysterious reason, she spoke like an ancient being. With her last scornful words, she turned and rushed to bed. She heard her mother say something faintly.

"Never go to bed angry......you'll regret it." Autumn nearly laughed out loud at her mother's weak threat. She was still filled with spiteful anger, she was still shaking in rage as she threw herself on her bed and mercilessly beat her pillow with her fist.

"We hate you! We want to beat you to a bloody pulp! We want you DEAD! Autumn could hear two voices in her head. She heard herself, and the other one that she never gave a name too. It tended to be her darker side, and they both wanted their mother to be dead, dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead!!! She turned over on her back and stared at the ceiling. She gave one last sigh and closed her eye's, she was extremely exhausted. She didn't realize how much energy she used up. All the better though, she would rest better tonight now that she let it go, express her true feelings.

~O~

"H-Hello? Who's there?" Autumn's voice was barley a whisper. She could feel a presence with her, and it was the very darkness it's self. It was as if she could feel the darkness move around her, trying to become a full presence, it was truly ghostly indeed.

"Hello? Is anybody here? Hello?!" This time she called out louder. She was not going to fall victim to this darkness around her, but the silence was making her antsy and fidgety. She started to mumble to her self to keep away the deafening silence, this would do her so much good for- what seemed to be - a couple hours. But it could've been mere minutes, or seconds! But right now, the silence was starting to even break through her mumbled conversation.

She huddled herself into a little ball and try to hide from the silence, but to no avail, Autumn started to cry. This place, it was so torturous! This place that she was in, it was maddening, so....Lonely.....

"Come to the light, and begin again in this place......." Autumn heard and echoing voice that seemed to come from everywhere, but sounded so distant. She looked up from her knees and searched the dark area. 'In this place'? she hoped that those words didn't mean what she thought they meant... having to stay in this wretched place for eternity!

Autumn covered her eye's as she saw an extremely bright white light ahead of her, she winced as she felt a burning sensation consume her body. So many thoughts were running through her head as she was pulled ever closer to the light. Am I going to Die?! I don't want to die! not yet! Why does this burn so badly?! Please, make it STOP!

The burning didn't stop, but Autumn also began to feel extreme pain in her back, her legs, arms and shoulders. This was all so painful, never had she felt anything as torturous as this! Her head felt as if it were going to split right open, she could here her blood pumping in her ears, feel every inch of her being be consumed in pain and dread.

~O~

"Shut up shut up! She moved, Will she open her eye's soon? Ooooh, I just can't wait to be the first to greet her here!"

"Shh! Quiet now young one, we must be calm. I can tell that she went through something awful. That must of been painful for her..."

"Has the newcomer arri- wow...wow! I've never seen a pony like that before! She doesn't sparkle or anything! I'm surprised that she can be sooo pretty!"

"Hush now, the newcomer awakens..." Autumn could hear unfamiliar voices from an echoing distance, but that could just be the after affects of her conscious slowly reawakening. She slowly fluttered her eyes open to find strange glimmering ponies look at her. They were the most beautiful creatures Autumn has ever seen! Their -so called- fur glimmered and shimmered in the dim light of her resting place. "Huh? Wait...what!? Autumn thought abruptly, having her conscious crash back into her head like a out of control freight train.

"Where am I?!" Autumn shouted, "Oh dear! We're sorry for startling you!" Said a golden crystal mare, she looked young, probably even younger than Autumn. There was also a slightly bigger sized crystal mare, standing beside her bedside with a concerned look on her face, she was a beautiful Amethyst pony and silvery platinum mane that hung in loose waves on her shoulders.

"Dear, a-are you alright? Was the journey painful for you? oooh, I hope you're okay...." The amethyst mare was clearly blind, her eye's we're as gray as a dead fish, her cataracts very noticeable, but the way the mare spoke, it was... olden speech, wasn't it? Autumn couldn't stop shaking, she huddled her self up to hide her face, only to notice that instead of her hands and knee's, she was greeted with crème fur and dainty jet black hooves. She burst into tears,

"What am I? Please.... I can't.... Autumn mumbled this out loud, rather than in her head as she had thought she did. The Blind mare tried to comfort her, but her attempts lend only to more tear-shed. Autumn Cried for a very long time, because she was scared, confused, angry, etcetera, etcetera. The other two mares sat down as Autumn bawled her eye's out, they two, were on the verge of tears.

"W-Wh-What am I? P-Please tell me what I am." Autumn managed to choke out in between her sobs. The blind mare spoke softly.

"Hush now little one, calm down. You are a Pony, but yet you are different, your coat does not shine like ours, more like the ponies that they have in Canterlot. Please, calm now, quiet now..." Cooed the mare as she stroked her mane like the same a mother would a child. Autumn finally become to calm down enough to at least stop shedding tears, but she still shook fearfully.

"Is she alright? Is she hurt? What's wrong, what's wrong, what's wrong!" The oldest of the mares in the room, a rather tall cerulean crystal pony with ruby red hair, stood up to get a closer look at the cowering Autumn, but the blind one held up a hoof, warning her to not come closer. Autumn looked up and asked for the amethyst pony's name

"I'm Crystal Spirit, the blue one is Morning Skies, and the filly there is Golden Evening." Spirit leaned in to whisper in her ear: "Morning is Hyper-Active, and rather redundant, she's a filly at heart." Autumn looked at the oldest of the Mares, she did have a silly air about her, but nothing to extremely childish. She simply nodded her head at the advice she was given.

"What's your name, miss?" Inquired Golden Evening. Autumn was about to speak her name, but it felt like she was denied from saying it. Now that she was in this universe, she was denied to mention any of her past, whether to even speak or think of it, because it would possibly destroy this world knowing that their is someone else sharing their existence.

"I guess she can't remember, huh? Oh well! we can rename her!" Cheered Morning Skies. At once all the crystal mares joined together in the center of the room to converse about names.

"Come on no-name! we have to figure out a name for you!" Morning held out her shimmering hoof for the new comer to grab. The new comer tried very hard to remember her name, but it was completely forgotten now, left behind along with the rest of her memories, in the world of which she originated.

"Well..." said Evening, looking over the new comer with intent eyes. "She has such creamy fur, and her mane and tail are the exact same shade of chocolate! How about.... Cocoa? Maybe?" The little filly seemed to be trying really hard with this.

"Oh Oh Oh! I know I know! how 'bout swirly? She does have that creme swirl in her hair, it reminds me of hot chocolate, or a latte, or ma-" The jumping blue mare was silenced with a hoof shoved in her mouth. "Honestly Morning, you must contain yourself! you'll break something again." Spirit added something under her breath "or I'll break some of your bones...."

"I think we should put them together, I'm sure it would sound appealing to the King." Spirit looked directly at the new comer with those strange, dead fish like eyes. It startled her, how did she know she was right there?

"Cocoa Swirl? Well, sure. why not? And, who is this 'King' that you speak of?" The newly named Cocoa Swirl was given unsettled looks from her new mare friends. "What? Is something wrong?" Nopony answered her question, but a rapping at the door did. Crystal Spirit, being closest to the door, opened it to see a crystal guard.

"Has she arrived?" The guard pony looked over Spirit's shoulder to see Cocoa. "Bring her at once, she will be introduced to King Sombra right away." The guard beckoned her over as well as the other mares.

"Sir, who is this 'King Sombra' that you speak of?" Cocoa inquired. The guard whirled around to face her. "You don't know who King Sombra is?!" This pony looked stark raving mad! His eye's went wild.

"He is the great and powerful unicorn king, the all-mighty ruler of the frozen north, he is The King Sombra!!!" Cocoa took a step back. "Wow, this stallion really takes pride in his king" She thought. The guard took a step back also, taking a moment to compose himself.

"Sorry." He apologized, blushing to a pretty apple red. "I shouldn't have done that in front of His Majesty's maidens." Cocoa said that he was forgiven and they continued down their long walk down the corridor. what did he mean by His Majesty's maidens? It didn't make sense. The group arrived to there destination. It was magnificent, the throne room in which a enormous dark crystal throne was presented for all to see.

"Whoa..... just, whoa...." The words that Cocoa muttered pretty much summed it all up. Upon this throne of dark crystals sat a dark stallion, he had handsome features, a stoic position, and strange curved spiked horn, the tip was a bloody red. "He looks pretty threatening, better watch out!" She teased inside her head, she could tell a pony's personality just by looking at them, and she knew that there was something more to this handsome stallion than his title and dark expression. The dark one looked directly at her, his eyes where the same bloody red, with dark maroon slit pupils.

He gave Cocoa a devilish smirk that would of made any other mare swoon on the spot. The dark king gave a mighty leap and landed accurately in front of her, He had a death black mane that was surprisingly fluffy, it reminded her of a lions mane.

"Welcome, new one. I hope that when I summoned you, you weren't harmed in anyway?" He towered over her in an alarming height difference. She craned her neck to look him straight back in the eye's.

"It was extremely painful. Next time you summon somepony, make sure you don't almost kill them, you idiot!" Still fully remembering her visit to the place of no sound, she could remember the voice she heard, and it was a perfect match. Everypony in the room gaped at her in awe, if anypony spoke like that to the King of shadows, the cost would be their head.....or hell.

"How dare you speak to your king that way! King Sombra lifted a hoof to strike her, but she grabbed hold of it before it made contact.

"And how dare you, for almost striking a young mare, especially one that you've only just met!" She gave him a dagger like stare, she threw his hoof back at him. He gave a small chuckle that surprised everypony in the room, except Cocoa Swirl, who was still furious.

"Your brave, I'm surprised you even stood up for yourself. I like a mare who can be bold." He finished his sentence with another smirk, she noticed that he had fangs.

"And I'm surprised you have the audacity to strike a stranger, I ought to strike you for putting me through that much pain." She huffed. how can this stallion be so nonchalant?

"Well, some may call me the 'Tyrant King' but I would never ever strike a mare."

Author's Note

Phew! My first chapter to my first Fanfiction is finally done!

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:

The girly things in life

Cocoa Swirl burst through the door, her mane was in disarray, and the ribbon threatening to fall out at any moment. She was greeted with the giddy faces of Golden Evening, Morning Skies, and even Crystal Spirit. They approached her, smiling mischievously at the same time.

"Why are you looking at me that way? And how come you guys are awake, the sun is just barley over the horizon." They were now face to face, Morning stared at her, her ruby eyes had a playful gleam.

"We saw everything Cocoa, that was the cutest thing ever!" Morning gave a tiny bounce and gestured towards the window, Cocoa looked out and saw the place she was at moments ago. Around the lotus pond was a huge expanse of trees of all types, with flowering vines growing throughout the entire space, wrapping itself around every tree that was in its grasp.

"Oh Cocoa, your voice is so lovely, sing to me please!" Morning mocked, with a fake sappy voice. She held out a glittering hoof towards Crystal, she acted out the part of Cocoa, also mimicking that really dumb voice.

"Oh King Sombra, I would be honored!" She grabbed Morning's hoof and they started twirling around the room, singing the song about the puppy in the window. Cocoa slapped a hoof to her face, muttering curses while trying to hide her face of shame. She eventually started to laugh at the ridiculousness.

"Wow you guys, that was an amazing performance, BRAVO!" Cocoa said sarcastically, clapping her hooves in mocking manner. They both bowed, and gave smiles and waves. "That was the dumbest thing ever! You guys are ridiculous..." Crystal walked up to her and sat eagerly on her haunches.

"DETAAAIIILLLSSS!!!" She demanded, stomping her hoof for affect. Morning quickly joined and Golden followed suite. "Aw no, hell no! There is no way in tartarous that I'm telling you anything more than what you saw!" With that, she crossed her fore legs and huffed. Her friends faces were pleading and they begged at her hooves. Cocoa sighed and angrily slumped in defeat onto one of the bed pillows. landing face first and sprawling out onto the comfortable bed.

"You do know that I hate you guys, right?" She mumbled through the pillow. "Yep!" They all ecstatically replied in unison, Literally waiting at the foot of her bed, waiting for details like fillies with a bed time story. "Ok, fine! So this is what happened, I went to the garden after you guys fell asleep, and that garden, is, beau-ti-full,! Anyway, I just felt so serene by that pool. It was as if a piece of heaven was brought to earth..." She finished her sentence with a sigh. Her 'audience' was hanging on to every word she said.

"As I was saying... When I looked at the pool, I felt like singing, y'know? Just one of them impulses." "Get on with it!" demanded Crystal Spirit, her voice breaking surprisingly, it was unlike her to lose her composure like that. "Ahem, I mean, please continue..." She hung her head.

"So I started to sing a song, I paused to feel the moment. But apparently The king has no patience, he was hiding in the bushes spying on me, then he comes out of them and nearly gives me a heart attack!" Cocoa turned over and placed a dainty hoof on over her eyes. "He was funny though, that eyebrow thing was just to much!"

"He kissed you didn't he?! OMG HE DID! It's written all over your face!" Morning Pointed an accusing hoof at Cocoa, giving her a sly look. "Did he slip you the tongue? Eww, he probably did!" She scrunched up her face and made kissy faces, making an obnoxious kissing noises as she teased Cocoa. She grabbed a throw pillow and smacked her right in the face. Hard.

"Oww! That hurt! Why are you so violent?!" She whined. Cocoa's eyes sparked with an unknown ferocity, they looked feral and fearsome. "nemer mine..." Mumbled Morning, looking away from Cocoa's wild looking expression.

"Well, let's get ready for the day! I look horrible anyways." Cocoa Swirl's demeanor changed entirely, as she got up from her pillow bed and made way for the secretly hidden bath house door. She pulled at the handle and gasped. A huge stained glass window (or maybe it was crystal, perhaps) Made up the entirety of the bath house wall, Each color in the window was placed so symmetrically in pair to the light at this time of day, that each pool was flooded with a different color, while others stayed the same.

"H-how could ponies even construct something like this? It's beyond my comprehension..." Cocoa Swirl gaped. Crystal Spirit mused behind her. Morning trotted up behind cocoa and tossed a hoof around her.

"It's marvelous, is it not? As the crystal palace was being constructed, This window took just as long to perfect then the palace itself." "How long did it take to build this window?" questioned Cocoa. Morning gave her a cheeky smirk. "This window took 150 years to make. 100 to build and construct, the other 50 to perfect and give it more symmetry to the pools."

~O~

"MORNING, THAT WAS NOT FUNNY!" Coca Swirl screeched. She was dripping with the bath water, still pale as a ghost with sleep bags under her eyes. Morning was laughing her plot off, she had a bellowing laugh, that echoed off the crystalline walls.

"Y-yes it was! Y-y-your face, you should of s-seen it!" The cerulean pony was holding her stomach, gasping for breath. She had just played an awful prank on her. In one of the crystal pools, the color red was being reflected into it, which just so happened to have a sleep deprived Cocoa snoozing in there. Morning had walked up behind her and shouted 'Wake up' as loudly as she could. Unfortunately, when Cocoa suddenly opened her eyes, she thought the water was blood, and not what it was really meant to be. Cocoa jumped about four feet into the air, spraying water in every direction possible.

"The prank was pretty funny even if I didn't' see it, I still heard it." Spirit chuckled slightly, musing at Cocoa outburst, But she continued in a more serious manner.

"But the prank was rather uncalled for... don't you remember the stories of that mare-napper? The incident only happened mere years ago, and they still haven't caught him..." Spirit's face was grim, a dark shadow covering her dead eyes. Morning gulped, and Cocoa began to sweat. (The thought of having some kind of mare-napper still on the loose was terrifying, even if she's never heard of him before.)

"May I be bold to ask, but, who is this 'mare-napper', you speak of?" Cocoa gulped. Crystal Spirit and Morning Skies both shuffled their hooves and gave each other grim, unsettling looks.

"Well, who is it?" Cocoa almost didn't want to know who it was, but her curiosity was getting the best of her. It was then that Morning motioned for Golden Evening to come up. She trotted up and Morning whispered something in her ear. Golden Evening's face went cold looking, the face of the dead.

Author's Note

Oh gawd, here we go, prepare for creeps and chills, my little ponies...

The Mare-Napper

The filly looked at Cocoa Swirl with such an intense dark stare, it might as well have been demonic. The air in the room seemed to get very heavy, so much so that it seemed to darken the light, invert it to shadow seemingly. Golden's stare seemed to bear the weight of the world, and she placed it right on Cocoa's shoulders.

"Cocoa Swirl... do you wish to hear how we died?" Golden's voice seemed to travel from reality and back. It was doubled over by two other voices. The main one speaking was an enchanting mares voice, as if the milky way itself was put into vocal form. The other two was that of the little filly's, sounding ethereal and unearthly. And the last one was that of an old mares voice, it was witchy and dark.

"I...I do. I want to hear of the mare-napper." Cocoa's voice had a slight fearful edge to it. At that moment, the universe she resided fractured and fell apart. Cocoa felt the crystalline floor collapse beneath her, and she fell endlessly. Cocoa screamed horribly, grasping at the empty space hoping to find hold. Then everything stopped, her mane that she had just felt whipping her face a she plummeted a moment ago stayed in place. Cocoa's pose had her back to the ground, her fore leg reaching at empty air. Around her was nothingness, just endless black, beyond black, beyond black.

"We do hope that we didn't startle you..." A beautiful enchantress looking mare stepped out of the black, She had a a gorgeous golden crystal coat, her mane was a dreamy white, flowing from her head as if itself was a unicorn's aura. The same with her tail. She was very tall, but not quite enough to compare to Celestia.

"W-where are we? What is this place?" Cocoa looked down at the ground. (that is, if there is any ground at all).

"This is our spiritual plane, the place in which a soul resides and is created from." She cast her slender hoof to gesture at the expanse of nothingness.

"Do all planes look like this?" Cocoa Inquired. "No, ours only looks like this because we are already dead, we simply wait until a new life is ready to be born again for us. Think of it as a waiting room..." Cocoa nodded, she wanted to ask just a couple more questions about this strange place.

"Then how come you can go to and from this place and the living world, aren't you supposed to stay here until a new life is ready for you? And how are you going to show me the story of the mare-napper?"

"It's because of me." This time the old witchy mares voice took lead in the trio. Her appearance warped and faded in and out of this realms reality. She eventually Gained composure of her form and took a solid figure. She was an ancient mare who wore a cloak. The cloak looked like it was made out of the very fabrics of the universe.

"It's because of me that we can travel to and fro. I practiced astral travel for many, many years when I was alive. I know enough on the subject to let us travel whenever the time is right." The old witch gave a small smile. Cocoa couldn't help but smile back until she felt the universe around her shift at an odd angle. She looked at the witch and realized that she had suddenly changed back into the enchantress mare. The world shifted again, Cocoa felt like vomiting, it was as if the plane was a snow globe, shifting and shaking at every movement.

"I hope your astral traveler form is fitting for you..." Cocoa Swirl opened her eyes and observed herself with a few sweeping glances. She was definitely taller, about Golden's size. Cocoa had swirls of her astral essence misting and swirling off from the joints in her legs. Her eyes were faded over in a slight ghostly glow, just barely seeing the pupils. And her mane and hair ribbon were indeed the most fascinating. Cocoa's astral mane had an ethereal glow, it was triple the length it was before, the outline was a solid creme colored while the center was a partially see through dark chocolate brown. Her Blue ribbon also tripled in length, it threatened to fall out, it wavered and floated in a wind that wasn't there, her mane also wavered and floated.

"Wow.... this form.... it's just, wow." Golden Enchantress chuckled, it sounded like the tinkle of a bell. The expanse around them changed. Before them was the layout to what looked like a dungeon, there were tiny bird cage like cages hanging from the ceiling. The air was heavy and rank of bodily odor and...flesh?

"What is this place? Why does it smell so badly, and why does it look like a dungeon?" The Golden Enchantress mare sighed, She flicked her hoof slightly and an apparition appeared before them, but could not see them.

"This is the Mare-Nappers lair, she kidnapped young mares and even fillies and bathed in their blood." Cocoa gulped, bathe in blood? What sick joke was this?! Cocoa swallowed her retort and remembered that some crystal ponies believed a lot of weird stuff, why would this be any different?

"Wait, she?!"

"Yes, she. She was a very vain crystal pony. She believed that bathing in the blood of others beauty would help her absorb some of it. Enough was never enough." Golden sighed as she watched a golden crystal mare was dragged into the room, gutted, and drained. Cocoa stared in horror and realization that from being gutted an unborn colt was dragged out and tossed aside like garbage, and the mare-napper carried on like it was daily routine.

"Th-this scene here, was it the one I saw in your eyes from earlier before?" The taller mare nodded and hung her head.

"What happened to the killer?"

"So many reports of missing mares lead to King Sombra leading search parties, checking every alley and crevice. King Sombra has the nose of a hound, when he was passing this secret dungeon he smelt the death coming from the cellar. and as King the mare was obliged to let him in, or risk dying herself." Golden stopped there in the story and looked at her friend.

"You probably know the rest, you can put two and two together can't you?" The golden mares voice was deep and monotonous, Cocoa gulped and pictured the rest of the story in her head. She nodded in agreement.

"Good, I'm getting low on my spiritual energy, let's return..." In an instant the atmosphere dissipated around them like mist, and they were in blackness again. But in the blackness was seven spheres of light, one for every color of the rainbow.

"Go towards the violet ball of light, that's were you'll find consciousness." And just like the atmosphere, the golden mare vanished without a trace. Cocoa did as she was commanded and headed for the violet light.

Author's Note

oh boy, this chapter took me for EVER!!! Sorry for an late update, but the next one might come as late as the last. please dont be angry! :twilightsheepish:

"You stayed by my side?"

Cocoa Swirl fluttered her eyes open. She saw her friends, the two crystal mares, sitting idly in the corner just chatting quietly. Cocoa looked to her right and saw outside the window that it was noticeably darker outside. She gasped and flew out of bed, only to crash into the unlikeliest of victims.

"Well, it looks like your finally awake." Cocoa Swirl crashed into King Sombra, he had landed onto his back and caught Cocoa in an accidental hug. She blushed and pushed away from him, sitting on her haunches. Sombra's tone sounded humorous, but his face told her that he was worried about something.

"King Sombra, is something wrong?" Cocoa tilted her head a bit. Sombra sighed and looked away, still holding a half stoic, half worried look on his face.

"Nothing is wrong, don't worry about it..." His tone lost his fake humor, it sounded monotone. King Sombra stood up and began to walk to the door, at it's entrance he stopped and looked back at her.

"Dinner will be soon, you should get ready." With that he left the room, Cocoa held a bewildered face and looked at her friends.

"What the hell was that about?" Cocoa switched glances with Crystal Spirit and Morning Skies. Spirit just looked away like Cocoa didn't say anything, While Morning had a huge grin on her face... oh no.

"It seems that you've caught King Sombra in your web. He really seems to like you." Morning trotted over to sit by Cocoa, She just rolled her eyes and huffed.

"What happened to me after I went with Golden Evening?" Cocoa said impatiently. Morning just sat and smirked.

"You passed out, just, boom, knocked unconscious. So me and Spirit dragged you out of the bathhouse, dried you off and laid you on the bed."

"Yeah but, how the hell did the king get in here?!"

"Hold on hold on, I'm getting there! Anyways, Somepony knocked on the door, and I was obliged to open it. Surprise surprise, it was King Sombra himself." Morning threw up her forelegs to emphasize the surprises.

"And what did he want?" Cocoa was growing impatient.

"Well, he asked to see you, but he didn't tell us what he wanted to do with you, but then he saw you passed out and asked what was the matter with you. And Crystal Spirit, having to be the most honest pony ever... told him that you just suddenly went unconscious!" Morning leaned in and whispered quietly into Cocoa's ear.

She made it sound worse than it was, but that's what she does naturally... Cocoa nodded in a somewhat understanding manner. She mentioned for Morning to continue.

"Upon hearing this, the king went into an unusual worrying fit! He paced back and forth across the room, stayed by your side pretty much the entire time, and even refused to leave the room unless it was with you." Cocoa's slightly annoyed demeanor changed to one of regret.

"He... He waited the entire time... just for me to wake up? I didn't mean..." Morning laid a gentle hoof on Cocoa's shoulder, she smiled a kind smile and her mischievous look vanished

"Hey, I know you didn't mean to cause worry. He just likes you, 'k? He watches out for you more than you know..."

"more than I know huh?" Thought Cocoa Swirl. She stood up and went to the mirror wall to brush out her mane. It was very tangled and in disarray.

"Well, The King said that dinner was soon... lets get a move on then, shall we?"

~O~

The dining room was splendid indeed. It was grand hall, just one size down from the throne room. There was a long narrow table that stretched from one end to the other, on the table was a beautiful banquet of only the finest cuisine imaginable. The king of shadow's sat ominously on onside of the table, while Cocoa Swirl was on the other. He watched her closely, as if making sure she stayed all right.

"I really wish he hadn't sent the others away, this is really awkward just by ourselves..." Thought Cocoa uncomfortably. She looked down at her food and her mouth watered a little. "Wow, I hadn't realized till now... just how long it had been since I'd eaten something..." She clumsily picked up her fork with her hoof and dug it into her salad, she lifted it into her mouth, savoring the lovely taste of the mixed flavors dancing on her tongue.

"This is delicious!" Cocoa exclaimed, she began to shovel large mouthfuls into her mouth, spilling a little bit of the ranch from the Corners of her mouth. King Sombra laughed loudly and she gulped her food.

"Is it that good?" Sombra chuckled. Cocoa looked up with a smile and nodded. Sombra laughed again. Wow, this mare is something else entirely, not like some other mares I've seen before..." Sombra thought humorously. Cocoa sat up a little bit more and asked a question.

"Sooo... um, I heard that you stayed by my side the entire time I slept?" The King choked on his bite of salad. The question caught him off guard and Cocoa was laughing mercilessly.

"I did nothing of the sort!" He had an incredible blush on his face, making Cocoa laugh only more.

"Oh yes you did! Just look at yourself, that blush gives you away!" She gasped between laughs, Sombra miraculously hid his blush and continued with his denial.

"Oh yeah, prove that I did!" Cocoa gave a victorious smirk. "Then why were you waiting by my bedside then?" Cocoa gave a long 'hmm' to justify her questioning. He gave a hard smack to his own face, trying to hide any sign of laughter. His bad facade lifted and he smiled.

"Alright, I hate to admit it, but I did. There! happy now?" King Sombra had a pretty shade across his face. It made Cocoa smile. Him, of any tyrannical creature, a king of shadows, had a blush on his face.

"Yep! That's what I wanted to hear, now if you don't mind, I'm going to get ready to head off. M'kay?" She jumped off her chair and reached for her plate, only to be stopped by the dark stallion.

"Where do you think your going? The night is still young, why don't we just walk around for a little while? I want to know you better." Without a word from her, Sombra approached the Dining Hall's door and held it open. "Hm, nopony ever has held a door for me before..." Cocoa thought cautiously. She slowly approached the door, as if she thought something bad would happen. The king tilted his head.

"What's wrong, have you never had somepony to hold a door open for you?" Cocoa Swirl shook her head and Sombra sighed.

"Well, I'll make sure that at least I will be a gentlecolt." Cocoa walked through the door, and King Sombra followed, they were side by side. The king loomed over her at an alarming height, but yet, he was surprisingly close to her. They walked down the beautiful crystalline halls, just enjoying the company. By then, Cocoa had unknowingly entered the throne room with Sombra, they approached a Giant window, that lead to a balcony that looked over the entire kingdom.

"Why do all those ponies look like they're slaves?" Cocoa asked, she looked down upon them and saw rows upon rows of slave ponies. They were all shackled together, some hauling enormous carts of crystals and gemstones. Others were pulling carts of what seemed to be food supplies, and farm goods.

"Because they are slaves, I made them all slaves..." Cocoa's eyes widened.

"Why?! Why did you do this to them?!"

"Because I had to! This is the frozen north, it's extremely hard to have any agriculture here. When I came to power, I figured out there were rich supplies of precious gemstones and other minerals. And almost everypony had given up on farming. This empire was going to burn in hell if I didn't do anything. We had nothing, no Kingdom was willing to trade because we didn't have anything to trade. So I did what was necessary. I forced them into slavery, so that we may live!" King Sombra almost his composure entirely, he swung around an faced her. Cocoa gasped, she wanted to flee, but she couldn't. There was something in his eyes, an unbearable sadness that broke her heart. She almost choked out his name if he hadn't said something before her.

"T-Titania? Please, don't look at me that way! You knew I had to do this... There was, no other way..." Cocoa's mind scrambled, it was running at the speed of sound right now. Who was Titania? Why did King Sombra have this unbearable look in his eye's... Why is he looming over me right now?! Cocoa snapped out of here daze to realize she was cowering below him, he was a giant shadowy figure that towered over her. His gaze unblinking, he had a sick green hue faintly shadowing his eyes, purple flames flickered from his eyes like a snakes tongue.

"What's wrong with you Sombra, are you... even in there? Sombra... your scaring me!" This caused things to get out of hand, now instead of just slight flickering sparks, it combusted into an inferno of raging fire. The green had completely covered his irises and pupils. A snarl formed on his face, he was trying as hard as he could to speak, but all she heard were struggled grunts and panting. When he looked up she gasped. He was clenching his teeth so hard that some had shattered, blood oozed from the spaces between his teeth. Cocoa was no longer afraid, but determined to help him.

"King Sombra! Stop... Stop! Your hurting yourself!" She rushed over to him, only to be thrown aside by a powerful gust of purple aura. She flew through the air a short distance and skidded on the crystalline floor. Cocoa wasn't hurt, but she was winded, she couldn't catch her breath and was struggling to breath properly. She noticed that every time she drew a haggard breath, her lungs felt a sharp, searing pain. Not the usual soreness of having the wind knocked out of you. The frightening king looked around frantically, as if he where searching where she went.

"S-Sombra, I'm right...h-here..." Cocoa staggered to her hooves, using one foreleg to hold her lungs as she drew in painful breathes as best she could. Blobs of inky blackness floated around her vision. She shook her head and made her way slowly to the frantic king. he was finally able to speak some words behind his unexplainable outrage.

"I'm sorry...where are you...I didn't mean to do this... please come back Titania..." Titania, that was his focus right now, he was looking for this pony called, Titania. Maybe if she played her cards right, she could get Sombra to snap out of it. She remembered a line from a very old book that Morning had read to her before. She stumbled over her thoughts and attempted to speak a few of the lines.

"Out of this...place do not desire, to go?" She called out. Her voice was unsure, but it must of been correct because the king's ears perked up in alarm. He looked in her direction and slightly lifted a hoof. Sombra was the one to continue the next verse.

"Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no." His voice was fluid and enchanting, but dangerous and dark. He took a lengthy step towards Cocoa and waited for her to respond. She acted quickly and perfected the next line.

"I am a spirit of no common rate, the summer still doth tend upon my state." Cocoa took a mental note of her self, she felt as if her old spirit were dragged from her, and replaced with something else. Something more, magical. She unconsciously took a step towards King Sombra, her gaze was unfocused, she saw the world through a dreamy film.

"And I do love thee, therefore, come with me." Sombra's voice was like a flowing stream of fluid words that filled the air around them. Cocoa's perception of the world grew dimmer and dimmer, the edges of her reality fading at the edges and stopping at one center point. And that center point seemed to be with a beloved stallion, the one she could dream of spendind her life with.

Her beloved King Of Shadows...

Author's Note

I'm taking a small break from this story to write another one. The hiatus will not be forever I promise! (Pinkie Swear) But I hope that you'll keep this story in your tracking long enough to see the next chapter come out eventually!

See you later, my little readers! :trollestia: