Equestria Underground-Book I: Hope Is Magic

Night fell quickly as the temperature dropped, forcing Sombra and Grogar to seek shelter in a small cave that they barely found and one magically-created fire later, were warmed up and protected from the frigid harshness of the Frozen North. They were nearing the edge of the tundra and after a few more days of travel, would be out of there and in a more temperate climate. But food was quickly becoming an issue as they were forced to travel without any provisions over than the clothes on their backs. Water wasn’t as much of a problem as they could simply eat the snow to stay hydrated. Sombra still refused to speak, instead staring off into space with a haunted gaze that made him look far older than he really was. He also slept very little as he was prone to nightmares and fits of hysteria. Grogar had known Sombra since he was a colt and it broke his heart to see his prince and basically grandson so damaged.

“Sombra...look at me.” Sombra barely glanced at him. Grogar did what he thought was right: he grabbed Sombra’s chin and forced him to look. “Look at me. It was not your fault, damn it! You couldn’t have stopped the sisters or even knew they were coming. IT. WAS. NOT. YOUR. FAULT.”

Sombra stared at Grogar. “Then why do I feel responsible? Why is it I feel as though all those deaths are on my head?”

“Because you are a good stallion, Sombra.” Grogar simply but earnestly stated.

“I...want to cry but I have to be strong,” Sombra muttered, his voice cracking. “My parents raised me to be strong but I feel like I’m made of glass.” His red eyes fogged up but shed no tears.

“Even mountains fall eventually, Sombra. You can’t hold it in forever.” Grogar said sadly.

Sombra’s chest hitched in and out as images of his parents being struck down flashed before his eyes. Blood. Fire. Mad cackling. The dam broke, tears racing down his cheeks. He wrapped his forelegs around Grogar’s neck and wept heavily. “I miss them so much!” He gasped between sobs. “I ran away! I just ran! I left them to diiiiiie!” Grogar said nothing as Sombra let it all out.

“Why? Why did I live when there were so many others more deserving? There were foals back there and yet I’m still alive and they’re dead! I’m nopony special!” Sombra choked, burying his face into the warmth of Grogar’s fur. “I don’t deserve to live. I don’t…” He trailed off, sobbing until there was nothing left. Finally, he released his hold on Grogar and sank to the floor of the cave, staring deeply into the fire. Silence once more enveloped the two. Until:

“I’m going to kill them,” Sombra intoned coldly, his red eyes illuminated by the flames. “I’m going to kill the princesses and avenge my parents, as well as everypony else who died. I swear it.”

“I will follow my King.” Grogar uttered solemnly, as now he felt sombra would accept the title.

“I’m no King.” Sombra’s horn glowed as he lifted a charred rock up to his face. For the briefest moment, his red aura flickered black. “Not yet anyway.”

“Lets get some rest it won’t do us any good if we are exhausted.” Grogar suggested and Sombra had to admit that after his cry he was dead tired. The pair fell asleep with empty bellies but healing hearts and with a goal in their sights to overthrow the sisters but they would need help as they knew they could not do it alone.

Sombra soared over the white depths of the Frozen North, zooming past the Crystal Mountains and over fields of grass, yet he felt no wind nor cold. He arrived in a thick forest, one that was ancient and teeming with old magic. He followed a path he’d never seen before but knew as intimately well as his own face. Something was calling to him. Calling FOR him.

“Sombra…”

Before the young prince stood a tree, one that appeared to be made of crystals and humming with mystical energy that he’d never felt before. Six gems adorned its branches and Sombra wished to touch them. However, it was the purple gem in the center that compelled him forward.

“Assemble the six...true harmony is nigh…”

Almost...there...Sombra struggled to reach for it, his hooves only a breath away and yet the gem was somehow pulling itself out of his reach. Just then, the purple gem turned black and began to sink into the tree’s surface. What in Tartarus…?

“You are so close and yet so far…”

“What does that mean?!”

The most horrid smell entered his nostrils. His eyes shooting open, Sombra was sent into a coughing fit as he struggled to get some fresh air.

“By the ancient ones Grogar, you are nasty.” All of Sombra’s wheezing had woken up the elderly goat who, after smelling the air, chuckled quite proudly of his feat.

“Who ever smelt it, dealt it, Your Highness.” Grogar went from chuckling into a full-blown laughing fit.

“What are you, five years old?” Sombra sputtered and hacked. “Seriously?”

“I’m 505. Does that count?” Grogar joked, finding the relief in tention to be much welcomed.

Sombra leveled his eyes in a deadpan gaze. “Well, thanks for the disturbing wake-up call. I was having the most delightful dream about some gems and a tree but hey, your flatulence is sooo much more interesting!”

“A tree? Was it made of Crystals?” Grogar asked after he suddenly stopped his laughing altogether. A queer look of intense curiosity crossed his elderly face.

Sombra’s eyes widened in shock. “How did you know that?”

“Back before the Sisters showed the world their true colors, the empire gave them a magic tree sapling.” Grogar began as he got into his storytelling pose. “It was made with pure harmony and friendship. The purpose of the tree was to show the future of our alliance. I don’t know everything as I was but a kid at the time. But I thought they would destroyed it. They must of planted it somewhere hidden in Equestria so they can use its power for themselves should they need to.”

Impossible mental image of Grogar being a kid aside, Sombra was intrigued by the old ram’s story. “Wait, I’ve never heard of this tree before. So how is it that I dreamed about it?”

“Beats me but I think that it to grows tired of the Sisters’ rule.” Grogar suggested

“The tree...grows tired.” Sombra raised a skeptical brow. “The tree’s alive?”

“It is incredibly hard to kill harmony and friendship after all.” Grogar pointed out. “Almost impossible in fact.”

All of this was strange but Sombra had no reason to doubt Grogar nor his own sanity, so he simply went with it. “The tree had these gems...six gems...and asked me to ‘Gather the six.’ Six what, exactly? The six gems? If so, then why was I only trying to grab one of them?”

“Perhaps the gems are its seeds and it wants you to find the proper areas for them to sprout.” Grogar was very clearly grasping at straws but it was based in facts about every other tree to exist ever.

Rubbing his muzzle with his hoof, Sombra sighed, “So I go from a king with no throne to a mystical tree hunter? I think somepony’s messing with me.” He took a deep breath and stared at the ground. “Still, I don’t know why, Grogar, but it’s like...I have to find that tree. It’s a compulsion otherwise, I just feel...incomplete. Does that sound crazy to you?”

“Oh absolutely but I have seen a lot of crazy things in my life” Grogar said completely serious. “It just means that we will need supplies before we starve to death.”

While uncertain of his path, Sombra at least now had a starting point. He patted a pocket on the interior of his cloak, hearing the satisfying clinking of the bits that it contained. “I don’t think supplies will be an issue but I think we should careful. They’ll probably be looking for us.” And aristocrats on the run are worth double the money. He added internally.

“Be that as it may, we still need food and we are a long ways away from any villages, towns or cities.” Grogar said as he stood up and started to leave the cave “Let's get going before the sun gets too hot for us.”

Sombra nodded and rose to join him but paused. For whatever, logic-defying reason, Sombra picked up a soot-covered rock and drew an image of the tree onto the floor. Well Magic Tree, here we come. As they trudged through the snow, Sombra shot Grogar a wicked grin and let loose the quietest but stinkiest fart he could conceive.

Grogar never saw it coming until it was too late. “Gaahhh! Your Majesty, really? I had my mouth open.” Grogar coughed as he gave Sombra a wide range to walk. “And you call me nasty.”

Sombra merrily trotted past Grogar and with a cheeky grin replied, “Revenge stinks, doesn’t it?”

Grogar chuckled at the pun. “That it does, My lord, that it does.”

Despite their situation, or because of it, they then proceeded to cackle like lunatics.