It was a crisp morning as the sun rose upon the burlap hills, I swung myself away from the situation I was in to admire the beauty that I also beheld. I could smell the brisk lemontymes (A flower only in season two weeks out of every Greens Growth.) and could hear our wind chimes singing a song of steadiness and peace. I cuddled under a wide oak, dreaming of the day I could liberate myself from this accursed mount, knowing that day could be far, and dreary.
I awoke to my father shaking me, hooves against my shoulders, yelling profanity and speak of such. Before I knew it we were settled up and away from my mother who wept as I gave a glance back at her, I began to do so as well, my father quickly shushing me, saying,
"This is what needs to happen, colt."
Anger grew inside of me, thoughts of shame and violence shot back and forth; what should I do? Should I run? Should I fight? My home was beginning to look like a speck upon a hilltop, barely noticeable, and barely notable. I was frozen in a state of shock, I didn't know what I needed to do!
We we're now on a wagon, my father bore a face I'd never forget as his eyes became black and lifeless, and his muzzle high and full of pride. I could tell I wasn't the only one waging war with myself. I continued to look around. One, two, three stallions and a mare sat near us, all tiresome from planting crops, however, the mare, something was strange about her. And it wasn't her mane, or the color of it, but she glowed a bright white. How did I not notice before? And how did nopony else? I continued my investigation and I also noted she didn't bare a cutie mark, but how? In my short life of trotting in and out of village and town I had never seen a Mare without her mark.
Abruptly, as this day was, the wagon came to a halt, my father led the way as we walked towards oblivion, I stopped and said.
"Where are we going?" he replied without even turning around,
"To the Crystal Empire."
Giving a face of confusion I muttered, "W-what? Why? That's on the other side of Equestria!" I continued in a rant, "What about mom?!" He didn't reply, but instead left me. Which was response enough.
On the dirt road I sat only, wishing I was older, wiser. I was lost...like my father.
This mood was interrupted when somepony arose behind me, and began to comforted me, saying,
"I will be with you, learn my voice."
I quickly shot around to see who was speaking but saw nopony! Dazed I figured it was my imagination, but the powerful voice echoed through me. I stood and decided to go home, my mother will need me. So I rode the first wagon back to the mount and swiftly trotted up the steep slope, only to find my mother gone! She must've gave up hope of anypony returning for her, but then thoughts of ponynapping and burglar's came to mind. No, she had to have moved away.
(Understand that these wagon rides my father and I took were a week-long. Often when we would need to find work harvesting it wouldn't be uncommon to be away for three or four weeks at a time.)
I cleared my throat, blinked once of twice more, and started my journey to Canterlot.
I arrived at the sterling gates of the majestic capital city, walls of guards stood steadfast, I took my first step through the threshold, the fierce stallions staring me down, observing. The bustling and hustling of the city was anything but underwhelming as I tried my best to navigate the expansive city to the Princesses castle, I could see it in the distance, the tall spires with gold tops were intimidating. With a clip and clop here and there I made it to the entrance. Two half-spiral ivory stair cases and either side led to the two large golden doors. I continued, but in vain, as I was stopped by a blue-maned sentry, he told with an unfamiliar accent,
"Where do you think you're going?" I glared him down for a little while, to where he repeated,
"I said, where do you think you are going?"
Still unmoving, I said, "I need to see the Princesses, I have something very important to tell them!"
He responded with a slight attitude to his voice, "Well, if it's so important you can first tell me."
So, I did.
"Whoa! Okay, let's go tell the Princesses right away!”
And with that we were off, rushing through the castles vast corridors and libraries, we reached Raven, as the yellow-coated sentry called her, who let us in to the throne room on an urgent matter. Calming our pace, I cooed and awed at the gorgeous stained glass windows, almost forgetting why we were here. We approached her royalty Celestia, in all of her glory upon her helm, and began to explain why we were here.
And at once she sent the captain of the royal guard, a squadron of sentries, and one of the Princesses, Mi Amore Cadenza, to oversee preparations and security. I however, was not vital to the mission, and I was given a place to stay in Canterlot until the Crystal Empire was recovered.
The morning was all too familiar, I could almost see the Macintosh Mountains from the room I rested in aloft the city streets, and a lemontyme candle burned to my left. I stared out of my balcony for quite some time, until I saw something peculiar, all that morning I saw only pompous unicorns with their snouts high and baring only the newest of fashion, but these six I saw did not fit that description; One was pink, the other orange. One was floating, the other bouncing. They all giggled and chattered, though I couldn't hear them I could only obverse the fondness they shared with one another.
For two weeks I stayed in that room, food was delivered, toiletries, all that was needed and asked for. I didn't care much for being pampered like this, but I also didn't want to go down into that hoity-toity city. Though it's beauty surpassed that of any other ponymade thing I've seen, it hardly masked its true residents. I could only watch as ponies were wrongfully swindled and treated. And though I couldn't make out their words, I could read their body-language, which told enough...muzzles high, and proud.
But this all ended when one night, in deep sleep, I heard a voice say,
"Hear me, for I have seen your intensions, and have heard your cries. It was not three months ago I saw you alone on that road, broken between two worlds. Go see my daughter Luna at once!"
I shot up out of bed, flummoxed, what had just happened? No doubt treaded my mind then, I had to find the princess of the night at once!
Bursting the doors open, I ran to the throne room to find two bat ponies, I asked one of them,
"Where is Luna, I must find her!" The two of them give each other a look, as if determining if they should tell me or not. That's when Princess Luna appeared behind me, and questioned,
"Who might this be? Are you the one call Sir. Thauron?"
Startled, I stumbled a few steps ahead of me right into the two bat ponies, to which they shoved me back with a hiss. I bowed to her royalty and told.
"Yes Ma'am!" I confessed "I needed to see you at once."
I stood and gazed into the tall and fair mare's eyes,
"I know, as soon as I saw your dream, or, heard, for there was nothing to be seen!" She said astounded, "I knew we must obey the voice."
Ordering her guards (Echo and Nocturn.) out of the room, we elaborated upon this phenomenon we both experienced, informing me that in all of her years as the protector of dreams, she had never heard this voice, but had only heard humors from the great Star Swirl the Bearded. He had told this voice was the embodiment of the tree of harmony, which only spoke when a pony was chosen to change the tide of time from settling where it was predestined. In other words, upholding harmony. "Star Swirl always spoke in riddles." Luna gave with a chuckle.
We sat and spoke for an hour, her telling all she knew about the tree of harmony, and I telling all about my parents. "Your father was an ex-militant during the Great Dynasty? Why haven't you told us this?" She said shocked, "This could explain why he was taken host by the spirit of Sombra."
She then told me a tale...
"When Celie and I when just fillies, our mother and father where ambassadors of the Tricorn kingdom, they were very wise and respected members of the senate, who in those days, decided where the species of ponies would live and what would be their career. And to complete their control of the other species, they also maintained reproduction.
All Alicorns settled in one place, and that was the mountain we sit on today, besides of course keepers of law in the villages below. However, one day a king arose from the north, in the arid cold of the crystal mines a unicorn stallion by the name of Pyrope Sombra discovered a gem so powerful, it corrupted his heart, and gave him the power of a hundred Alicorns.
The crystal mines homed ponies who through dozens of generations adapted the immunity to cold, and developed hides almost as tough as crystal itself! These were the ponies he enslaved to construct his Crystal Empire. This empire is what brought the Alicorn race to the brink of extinction. Until my sister and I overthrew him."
"This must be why the tree of harmony is intervening, your father is being lured back to the power of the one crystal to rule them all." She finished with a shudder.
I saw only terror in her eyes as she starred into the marble floor. Only silence followed, in that silence...I knew what I had to do.
Early that morning I packed my things, food and all, and headed out towards the Crystal Empire. Luna asked with a yawned, "What do you plan on doing? You can only hope your father isn't too far gone." Halting from my onward trot, I told,
"I know." I continued, looking over my shoulder, "But hope is all I have left." With those words there was no stopping me, either I die...or Sombra does.
Clearing my throat, I take my first step off of the locomotive, as if expecting instant doom, and galloped towards the crystal spire that was the castle. Gleaming and shimmer was all I saw, almost blinding bliss as I observed the depressed ponies who were the ancient citizens of the Crystal Empire, whose fates, whether they'd liked to accept it or not, were intertwined with mine. I trudged up the long staircases that lead to the throne room of the mirrored castle, and gave a grunt as I pushed open the double doors.
Expecting only a few guardsponies and the princess herself, I was confused when I saw the same six ponies who trotted their way through Canterlot not but three weeks ago! There hovered the blue Pegasus, with a rainbow mane, and the same purple scholar I had seen many addition times beside Celestia herself. For just a few moments I gave a pondering look, to which they replied. But quickly one of us broke the quietness with a loud,
"Heeelllooo!" The pink ponies squeaky voice echoed through the halls.
"Wait, let me get this straight; You're King Sombra's son!?" Rainbow Dash hollered.
"No, my father once was a soldier for the Crystal Empire, he isn't Sombra himself." I sternly corrected, as if protecting my father's honor, or what was left of it.
The blonde earth pony (Whose name I have yet to learn) added, "Dad or evil king, this here stallion has to be stopped!"
I gave a half-hearted nod in agreement. Conjecture was thrown here and there, plans of victory and plots were delivered, but in the end we hadn't gotten any closer to when I first arrived. This herd of stallion and mare become increasingly louder as confusion and strife was among us. I had enough, I climbed one of the nearby crystal pillars, and bellowed with all my might,
"Be quiet!" What quickly follow was dead silence. I told,
"I came to the Crystal Empire not seeking a position of equality with you plans makers or sergeants, but to thwart King Pyrope Sombra!"
I huffed and puffed, but steadied and went on, "I am going out into the tundra to face him."
I had finally exited the safe heaven bubble that encased all of the Empire and trekked the frozen wasteland. Half an hour, two hours had passed without a trace of Sombra. Frost had crept its way into my nostrils and had intercepted my saddlebag. I was without at least a hoof print to follow, the Crystal Empire was nowhere to be seen. Hope had escaped me...what was left?
A flash followed a boom as I look behind me, it was him, it was Sombra.
My wits had left me long ago, all I had was words, but they came out like mutter in a crowd. He began to speak,
"So this is the one my host has been trying to return to all along? A colt?" A hiss followed his words, revealing the snake he was.
"Your father had a strong will, oh doesn't he love you dearly?" Snickering, he furthered, "His soul was like a fire, but we both know fires can be stomped out! And that fire only aided mine to become even more powerful."
Accurately he shot, one, two bolts of shadow at me, disabling me even more.
I collapsed into the icy snowflakes that carpeted everywhere around me, my view was dreary as I watched the blizzard mask the growing shadow that was the king of darkness. Face to face we were as he lifted me by the neck with his sorcery. Snouts so near I felt his cold breath.
"Don't you worry, I won't destroy you yet."
With that he conjured a green and purple mist, to which I witness my mother upon our hilltop home, after we had left her. It was dusk, and as she slept I could see four ponies dressed in leather and black break into the house.
"No!" I yelled in disbelief, breaking myself out of the trance. "This isn't so!" My words returned to me.
I fought back, though not with hooves, "You are a coward Pyrope, a snake of this world, you will always seek power and control, but what you will receive is hate and confusion!"
I snuck a smirk, and chomped down on the snake's snout. Profanity leaked out of the stallion's mouth. But I might have been a mistake as he said, "Infantile colt! I don't need this from a pathetic being."
I believe to this day that the tree of harmony was responsible for saving me, how else would Luna have known where I was? And at the exact moment Sombra sent his evil magic aloft, that's when Luna pushed me out of the way and retracted the shot. I never will understand harmony, a thing so fragile a simple prick can collapse an entire infrastructure. And a motion so powerful it can hold together an entire country.
Epilogue
Night and I became close ally's, as I had many a conversation upon a dream.
Dread and tears fell as I think of my mother in the hand of fiends, never to discover her.
War and humor spread through the moons but harmony stood steadfast, ready to keep such.
My father, I will remember you in love and fondness, I knew you as a stallion of valor, a caretaker.
