King Sombra's Rise and Fall

Chapters

Chapter 1: To Fill the Void
Chapter 2: A Pack of Murderers and Thieves
Chapter 3: Crystal Death

Chapter 1: To Fill the Void

Chapter One: To Fill the Void
Crystal Empire: Circa 722 After Discord (Approximately 1,290 years before Season 2)

On a dirt road in the northern Crystal Empire, the unicorn Sombra of Canterlot trudged against an onslaught of wind and snow. The gusts whipped at the layers of protective clothing he wore. Snowflakes rapidly clumped together on his muzzle as he stopped every minute or so to brush them off.

If only the pegasi had control over this country's weather, then I would have known about this snowstorm, he lamented internally.

Few souls lived in this frozen desert; most of the population lived in the capital city of Crystopolis, which Sombra was headed for this particular day. Though it was hardly a day, as this far north a perpetual dusk prevailed across the land, cloaking it in dimness.

Sombra’s pearly white teeth chattered in his skull as his heavy breathing sent fog plumes into the air. He wondered why anypony would want to live in such a cold place. Like many Equestrians, Sombra often puzzled at the strange culture of the crystal ponies. They were quite the survivalists, and built structures from crystal rock for insulation. They kept the blizzards out of their cities through the use of the Crystal Heart, an artifact which could banish darkness, evil, and cold.

Based on his proximity to the Crystal Mountain range to his north, he estimated that he had only fifty miles to go until he reached the city. The mountain peaks towered over the dim landscape, and their jagged black pinnacles pierced the sky.

Sombra's saddlebags were bulging at the seams; the string tying them together was strained to its limit. His hooves buckled as he took each step. He was eager to find a place to rest his back. Even with a weight-reduction enchantment, the cumbersome load took its toll on the unicorn.

Sombra was a graduate of Starswirl the Bearded’s School For Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot and was thus skilled in many different forms of magic. His main emphasis was in enchanting, and he could enchant a variety of objects to do a variety of things. In addition to his weight-reduction charm, he could cast good luck, far sight, warmth, and many other charms. Unfortunately, these enchantments did not translate much into income. Sombra had attempted to sell his enchanted wares in Canterlot but had found fierce competition, and soon he had become destitute. His brow furrowed at the thought. He stomped his hoof into the ground at his next step forward. He had spent years in Starswirl’s college and had ultimately ended up homeless, with nothing but knowledge and the contents of his saddlebags.

The enchanter believed the Crystal Empire to be an untapped market for magical items; he was unaware of any unicorns living in the Crystal Empire. Even if they did, there would likely be no enchanters of his skill level present.

"You’ll never make it up there alive,” his competitors had warned him, “even if you do, good luck selling anything!” Despite these nay-sayers, Sombra was confident that he could sell his wares in the Crystal Empire.

Sombra continued along the path until it reached the foot of the mountains. The path steepened as he slowly ascended the incline. As he gazed onward, he noticed the path was becoming dimmer. The blizzard blew furious flurries of snow at his face, and the cold stung his eyes. This increase in snowfall combined with the darkness meant that he could hardly see more than a few yards in front of him. Even under his warmth-enchanted cloak he was feeling outright frigid. I must find someplace to stop or I shall die!

He followed the path and eventually it turned right and continued alongside the mountain. As he walked he gazed to his right, and then he drew his head back. The hill was precipitous below him, dropping at a seventy degree angle. To his left, the mountain towered above him at the same angle. The path he was on was only about two feet across. As Sombra walked along, the path narrowed further until soon it was no more than eighteen inches across. He hugged the mountainside and tried not to look to his right to the steep mountainside. He hoped that the path would soon widen again.

Suddenly, Sombra felt his hoof slip off the side of an icy rock in the path. A sharp pain shot up his hoof, and he heard a sickening cracking sound. As he drew his hoof back, he lost his balance, and tripped down onto the slope to his right.

He landed with a thud on the slope, his momentum carrying him further downward into a roll. He stuck his hooves out in front of him and stopped his roll, but continued to slide downward on the steep grade. Branches from passing trees whipped at him, lashing at his coat as he passed them by, but they did nothing to slow his descent. As he gazed ahead of him he saw that he was about to slide straight into the trunk of a large pine. He focused through the pain and cast a teleportation spell.

With a loud crack and a flash of light, Sombra was back on the path above. Breathing a sigh of relief, he limped forward on the path. Sombra was freezing from his rolling in the snow, and his leg still smarted from the rock. He hoped that he hadn’t broken it. He continued for about five seconds until he realized that he no longer had his saddlebags. His heart skipped a beat as he gazed around himself in a frantic search. He looked down onto the slope where he had fallen, but his pack was nowhere to be found; he figured that it had rolled down the mountain.

Sombra’s head sunk. His entire life was in that saddlebag: all of his books, his tent, his food. He wondered how he would get along without it. His heart skipped a beat as his mind raced through all of the horrible possibilities of freezing or starving to death.

Despite this, Sombra kept limping forward, as he had no other choice. He desperately needed a place to rest. His ears and tail were now numb from the cold. He was in agony from his hoof, and he wished more than anything to take his weight off of it.

Sombra walked for another half hour, eventually reaching a wider area of the path. Then, when Sombra thought he could no longer go on, he saw a little rocky outcrop out of the corner of his eye. He limped over to investigate it, and he noticed that it was the entrance to a small cave. The entrance was only about two feet in diameter, but Sombra figured that he might be able to get in out of the wind. He crouched down, wincing from his hoof, and crawled into the cave. His hoof shouted out pain, but he continued dragging himself forward through the narrow crag.

He continued for about ten feet, and the air became warmer as he progressed. His teeth were chattering slightly less as he continued. Sombra gazed around himself and could not see a thing, so he used a horn-light spell to illuminate his way. His horn’s light reflected back at him, lighting up the entire cave with purple rays shimmering against the walls. Sombra realized that the cave walls were covered in many thousands of small crystals, which were translucent and reflective. He looked above and saw he could stand up; he was now in an area of the cave which had a ten foot tall ceiling.

Sombra, mindful of his aching back and throbbing hoof, laid down on the cold, crystal floor of the cave.Though the sky this far north was always dark in the winter, he felt as though in Equestria it was right around night time anyway. His mind was racing with concerns of how he would ever make it to Crystopolis, but he eventually drifted off to sleep from sheer exhaustion.

*****

Sombra woke up, unsure of how much time had passed. He did not feel any more refreshed than before. He thought he had heard a loud rumbling sound, but was unsure of what it was. Hopefully it wasn't a bear who called this cave home.

He lit up his horn again and trudged along towards the exit, crawling back through the nook he had entered the cave through. He continued for about three feet through the narrow passage but then found that the entrance had been snowed in. That rumbling must’ve been an avalanche! Sombra attempted to teleport out but found he could not. Teleportation does not work in an enclosed space when solid matter is in the way; there must be open air to move through.

No matter, he thought. I’ll just dig my way out. Sombra attempted to levitate the snow out of the way with his magic. He grimaced as he poured more power into his horn, but the snow did not budge. It was too tightly packed, and was even solid ice in some areas. He poked his sharp horn against the ice, causing a few chunks to fall. He continued to do this for a minute or two, using his horn as a makeshift icepick. However, his horn soon became too cold for him to bear. He would need some sort of ice pick or other tool to get through this impediment.

Sombra’s heart raced. If he could not find a way out, he would die in here. He backed out of the passage, stood up onto his hooves, and looked around the cave for anything he could use as a tool. He searched the ground of the cave but could not find anything bigger than a pebble. He wondered if there were any spare rocks further back in the cave.

No such luck. A few minutes later he had explored the entire grotto but had found nothing he could use. Well, GREAT, he thought, now I’m stuck here until Celestia-KNOWS-when! He pounded his head against the wall in frustration and was surprised to hear the wall crack.

Sombra looked up and discovered that his horn had knocked several crystals off of the wall. The crystals were softer than he had thought, about as brittle as candy canes. He held up his good hoof and knocked it against the wall. A few small chunks of purple crystal fell to the ground with a clinking sound, the largest about three inches in diameter. He picked the large chunk up with his magic and examined it.

There was no way he could do anything with this chunk, he thought. He had no way to sharpen it into a pick. Even if he did, it was far too brittle. Frustrated, he impulsively tried to crush the brittle crystal clump into bits with his magic. Instead, the crystal flattened like a pancake.

Sombra’s eyebrows raised. Odd, so now the crystal is a putty? He fiddled around with the crystal and managed to fashion it into a ball. He experimented around with it and found he could fashion it into any shape with his magic. He made it into a pyramid, then a cube. As an experiment, he dropped it onto the ground but found that it cracked, as brittle as ever. So only magic had that effect on it. He wondered how the magic-less crystal ponies made structures out of such crumbly stuff. Perhaps it was one of many different types of crystal, and others were harder, he (correctly) theorized.

Let’s see if I can make it any stronger, Sombra thought. He knocked several more chunks off of the wall, levitated them up, and fused them together. He quickly fashioned the crystal clay into an icepick. He then focused his magic on the pick, his horn glowing from the effort. He used an enchantment to harden it, a spell which he often used on glass to make it more difficult to break. After a few moments, he took the pick in his mouth, headed towards the entrance of the cave and hit the pick onto the snow and ice. He found he could get a few chunks of snow out of the way.

The process was laborious, and his progress was slow. After about a minute of use, the handle of the ice pick broke off and brittle shards of crystal fell to the ground. He had only gotten about two inches through the snow and ice, and he had at least ten feet to go. Sombra figured it would take ages to get out at this rate.

He crawled back into the cave and stood up. Maybe he should try a different spell. He thought back to his magical education. “Hmmmm...” he muttered aloud. There were no hardening spells he could recall other than the one he had tried, but perhaps he could try a heat spell. He figured such a spell could heat up and possibly harden the crystal “clay” like pottery in a kiln or like metal ore in a furnace. He recalled a spell he had learned which could heat up a small object to hundreds of degrees.

Sombra would have used a heat spell on the ice itself, but the spell was far more difficult for larger objects than smaller ones. Such a spell was “black magic,” named this due to the black aura this and other spells caused the horn of the user to emit. Though such magic was incredibly difficult, and he personally had only used the spell once or twice, Sombra was confident in his powers. Even though Starswirl advised against such a spell’s use at all outside of academic settings due to its possible danger, this was an emergency situation.

Sombra fashioned yet another ice pick out of the malleable crystal. He focused intently at it, his horn glowing black as he attempted to heat up the crystal. Sombra continued to heat it up for a few seconds, but then he realized that he himself was becoming warm. It was not his horn, nor his hooves; he somehow was feeling the warmth of the crystal itself.

The enchanter stared at the crystal pick, and wondered what was happening. This had never happened when he had used the spell on other objects. Sombra magically molded the pick back into a ball once more, and then his head bolted up. His eyes widened. Sombra could feel the crystal as if it were an extension of himself, some sort of fifth limb. The heating spell which he had cast must’ve had the effect of somehow imparting sensations from the crystal onto him. Though it did not hurt. On the contrary, the feelings the crystal gave him were quite pleasant.

He wondered what would happen if he were to add more crystal to the orb he was holding. Could he feel it also? He hit his hoof against the wall, knocking more fragments loose from the cave wall. He picked these up telekinetically and melded them into the orb he was holding. Sure enough, the sensation he felt from the crystal was amplified, and felt better than before! Grinning from ear to ear, Sombra paused for a moment. Then, he looked back at the wall. Wall? More like a large, delicious platter!

The enchanter powered up his horn and wildly pried more and more crystal fragments from the wall with his magic, adding them to the orb as fast as he possibly could. He drooled and panted with sheer ecstasy as soon, he had absorbed the entire cave wall into his orb, down to the rock wall beneath. Sombra stood there for several hours, enjoying his wonderful crystal ball, which was now six feet in diameter.

Suddenly, he realized that he no longer cared about his problems. His money, his broken hoof, his hunger, his fatigue, the frigid cold... they didn't matter to him in the slightest. Why should they have mattered? It all pertained to some flesh and blood unicorn, but that wasn't him. THIS was him, he decided. He identified more with the crystal and the sensations they gave him than he identified with his own body. He decided that he must have MORE crystal, but there were no more crystals in the cave. Surely there were more places to find crystal than this cave.

Well, now that I have more to work with… Sombra molded his crystal ball into a massive hammer. He walked back towards the entrance and took quick, powerful swings at the icy impediment. Though the hammer gradually weakened, Sombra continued to re-strengthen it with his magic as needed until soon, he had all but the last few inches of the icy impediment cleared out.

With one last heave, Sombra broke the remaining ice away. He crawled through the entrance, and walked onto the snow outside. He shivered as he realized that it was colder than ever, and he still might freeze to death.

"Aha!” Sombra exclaimed aloud. He wouldn’t freeze at all, because now he had the crystals to protect him. The enchanter re-formed the crystal hammer into a ball and set it down in front of him. Keeping his magic focused on the crystal ball, he stuck his hoof into it. It was the consistency of quicksand, but he found he could move through it well enough while his magic had made it malleable.

Soon, he had immersed himself inside the orb. He magically created a small opening for his face so he could see and breathe. Now, he just needed to figure out how to move.

Sombra manipulated the rear of the crystal ball and extended a crystal pole out with his magic, which he pushed against the snow. The momentum from this caused him to roll forward. He continued to do this, moving along the path inside of his crystal zorb encasement.

The unicorn continued on for several hours, no longer cold since the crystal offered far more protection than his coat or jacket. Soon, the blizzard subsided and the skies were clear. He approached the red crystal gates at the city limits of Crystopolis. Here, he would certainly find all of the crystal he could ever desire.

As he continued, he noticed that, though he could still feel sensations from the crystal, it was not to the same extent that he could feel it earlier. He would have re-cast the heating spell which enabled him to feel the crystal sensations in the first place, but didn’t want to have to stop. It still felt a bit pleasant, and he was in no mood to stop his journey.

He still had about half a mile to go until he reached the city proper. He looked up in the sky above the city. It was as bright as day due to the many crystal street lamps in place around the town, crystal being a natural light amplifier as he now knew.

Sweating from the heat of his crystal ball enclosure, Sombra cast his telekinetic magic on it once more, making it take on its putty consistency. He then stepped out. He turned behind himself and raised an eyebrow, as he noticed something about the crystal that he hadn’t been able to see when he was inside of it. The color of the crystal ball had changed in the hours since he had first discovered it. Rather than purple, it was now a deep black.

Sombra also noticed that he could no longer feel this crystal at all. He tried to re-cast the heating spell on it, but it did not impart any sensation unto him. It had somehow been depleted. He would have to find new crystal for sure.

However, he did not ditch the crystal that he had. He could still form it into shapes, and he decided that in this capacity may still prove useful. He fashioned the black crystal ball into a cart with wheels that he could easily pull. He figured the cart wouldn’t look too out-of-place in the crystal city. The cart was a bit heavy, and his hoof still hurt, but he still continued on.

*****

As Sombra pulled his crystal cart through the streets of town, the residents gave him odd looks. They were hardly used to seeing an outsider in their city. Even in Canterlot the unicorn was an oddity, as black was an uncommon coat color. It also seemed to be an uncommon crystal color; Sombra could see red, blue, purple, and green crystal buildings, but no black. However, most of the Crystal Ponies were friendly enough. A few even said hello to him as he passed them on the road.

He wondered how he would go about acquiring more crystal. Maybe he would trade for it. His initial cause for the journey was to trade his enchanted goods for bits. No reason he couldn't trade those bits for more crystal, he thought.

Sombra approached the town square where the marketplace was. When nopony was looking, he furtively fashioned his cart into a table with his magic. The table was similar to the other dozens of tables and market stalls and tents that other traders had set up. Fletchers proffered their bows and arrows to prospective archers. Gardeners displayed fresh produce such as crystal berries, celery, crystal apples, and all manner of fruits and vegetables. Gypsies, mystics, and other fortune tellers claimed the ability to read the future for a few bits.

An old gray hag called out to passers-by, “Hoof readings, tea-leaf readings, and all kinds of prognostications for an affordable price!” One stallion stopped and entered her tent upon hearing this advertisement. Sombra figured this was the approach he would use. He stood behind his table and called out to the shoppers in the market.

“Attention everypony! Get your enchantments here! All I ask is for a few bits in return.”

About an hour passed and nopony stopped. Was it because he was a unicorn? No, he could hardly imagine that. In Equestria, the worst he ever heard regarding the Crystal Ponies was that they had funny accents and ate strange food. He hardly knew anypony in Equestria who distrusted or disliked the crystal ponies. The Kingdom of Equestria and the Crystal Empire had enjoyed good relations since Equestria’s founding a thousand years ago. The two nation had even signed a mutual defense treaty, each country agreeing to defend the other from foreign aggressors. It was possible that the Equestrians’ amicable attitude was not reciprocated by the crystal ponies, but unlikely.

Maybe Sombra just wasn’t specific enough. “You there, ma’am!” he called out to a yellow pony walking past his table, “Would you care to have those horseshoes enchanted to bring you luck?”

“Um, sure,” she said, and she approached the stand and took off her horseshoes. Sombra placed the horseshoes on his table and focused his horn at them. They glowed a bright purple and soon, after the spell was complete, they were enchanted with a luck charm. He gave them back to her.

“Whenever you wear these, you are sure to be luckier in all of your endeavors! Now, let’s talk about payment—”

“Um, hold on a second, sir. How do I know this will really work? I would prefer to pay you after see these horseshoes bring me luck. Otherwise, for all I know, you are only swindling me. I don’t even know who you are. No offense to you, newcomer, but it takes a lot of time to build up a reputation to do business here.”

Sombra was taken aback. Nopony ever doubted the validity of his enchantments. Though, then again, ponies unfamiliar with magic might not realize that enchantments are even a real thing. No problem, he decided he would find somepony else who would pay him immediately.

He got a few more lookers, but all of them insisted on paying him later. Even the enchantments that he could demonstrate did in fact work, such as his self-sweeping broom or his enhanced vision glasses, ponies only were willing or able to pay a few bits for. Nopony wanted to pay the prices that Sombra demanded for his goods.

Sombra clenched his teeth. He NEEDED to have new crystals. It had been hours since he last felt their sensations. He saw a periwinkle stallion walking by, and asked him, “Excuse me, sir. Where does this town get its crystal?”

The stallion answered, “Well, years ago when we were constructing these buildings, we pulled giant blocks from an old mine shaft. It’s on the other side of town.” He motioned with his hoof towards the north end of town, continuing, “but that shaft is mostly depleted. Not that it matters much, we are a small city and don’t use a lot, unless we need it for a new building, but nopony is mining it at the moment.”

“Would anypony be willing to let me into the mine so I could try mining it myself?” Sombra inquired.

The pony shook his head, “I doubt so, sir, that mine is private property. Besides, it’s all closed off and boarded up anyway.”

No matter, Sombra thought, I’ll just go in there regardless. Trespassing was hardly his biggest concern. Besides, as the stallion said, they didn't even need the crystal in the mine anyway.

*****

Sombra walked towards the north end of town, his cart in tow. As he walked down the dirt road, he noticed it the sky getting dimmer as he left the artificial glow of the city. The houses lining the street became sparser and sparser until he was past the outskirts of town and into the wilderness.

The enchanter observed his surroundings and ascertained that nopony was watching him. He surrounded himself with his crystal ball and rolled for about a mile. Eventually, up against the side of the mountain he saw a mine shaft.

He rolled on over to the shaft. It was boarded up with planks of wood. No matter, Sombra thought. He formed the crystal into the shape of a hammer and pounded against the boards. One by one they broke, clanking as splinters fell to the ground.

He freed his unicorn body from the crystal ball, and then disguised the crystal mass in the form of stalagmites on the ground. Sombra figured the stalagmites would not look too out of place, and that way any random ponies who happened to stumble into the mine would not think to take his crystal.

After Sombra climbed down into the shaft, he walked along the mine for about a hundred feet, lighting the way with his horn. He could not see any crystal yet, just dirt. Sombra noticed that this cave was quite a large place. Unlike the grotto he found himself in earlier when he first discovered the crystals, this cavern seemed to extend on for a long ways back into the mountain.

He walked over to a passageway extending out from the cavern. This particular section of cave didn’t appear to have been mined previously, as it was undisturbed by the wooden support studs and the telling pickaxe indentations he had seen near the entrance to the mine.

This mine will take hours to explore, Sombra thought. He walked along the passageway, eyeing all the nooks and crannies of the walls to see if any crystal was left. After about an hour, he discovered a small deposit of a few red crystals. He tore them off, and cast the heating spell on them. He breathed a sigh of relief as the warm, pleasant sensation returned. It was nowhere near as intense as the sensation from the pounds and pounds of crystal that he had from the cave, but it was something, at least.

Sombra explored the rest of the cave, but could not find any more crystal rocks. He even walked around the cave a second time just to be sure, but he could not find any. He was not a miner, and had no implements available for digging. Besides, even if he did, he doubted he would even know where to dig for any, as he knew nothing of prospecting.

*****

Sombra rolled in his crystal ball back towards town. He simply needed more crystal, but he had no idea where to get it. He could not purchase it, as he had no money or possessions with which to make money. All he had were his under-appreciated enchanting spells.

As he entered the town, he re-shaped his crystal ball back into a cart. He trudged along depressingly. Nopony was willing to buy any of his wares for any price he would accept. He could not mine any crystal or find any more of it. In fact, the only place he knew of to even get more crystal was the very buildings of the town.

Then why not just take it? Sombra thought. After all, he was more than powerful enough to get what he wanted through force. Why not just force these ponies to give him their crystal?

That would be cruel, of course. I am not that sort of pony, Sombra reasoned to himself.

He stopped, and then thought, Not that sort of pony? I am not even a pony at all. I am a magnificent crystal creation! The “pony” that I call me is simply a convenient tether to the use of magic. A crystal has no desire but to expand itself. To feel itself grow in its size and glory! Who cares for the lower flesh-and-blood life-forms?

A smirk spread across his face, but he had one last doubt, What of peace and love? Isn't stealing wrong?

He chuckled. Peace? These ponies had their chance to supply me with crystal peacefully through trade. They refused. Now I am simply reclaiming what is rightly mine. I AM crystal. All the crystal in the world is mine. THEY stole it from ME.

“Crystallllll…” he repeatedly droned, his mouth drooling at the thought. Sombra entered the town square. The artificial lights of the city were dimming as shopkeepers were putting away their wares in preparation for the night. No matter. There was still enough daylight left to do this.

His eyes glowed red. His horn glowed purple as he rearranged his cart into the crystal ball, encasing himself in it. The shoppers looked at him with mouths agape.

Sombra bellowed out to the shoppers in the town square, “Attention, citizens of the Crystal Empire! I am Sombra, your new king! You are now my crystal slaves! You shall pay me tribute, starting with your homes.”

A few of the residents of the town looked on at him in fear, trembling. Fillies and colts hid behind their mothers. Some of the residents, however, simply laughed at him. They evidently did not view him as a threat.

Laughing? I will show them not to laugh.

Chapter 2: A Pack of Murderers and Thieves

Chapter Two: A Pack of Murderers and Thieves

Sombra's voice bellowed out amongst the shoppers, “STARTING NOW, I AM YOUR KING AND YOU ARE MY SLAVES, AND YOUR PROPERTY IS MINE. I DEMAND MY SLAVES SURRENDER THEIR HOMES TO ME."

Some of the ponies ran. Some of them cowered in fear. Some of them continued to laugh. Some of them still stood watching Sombra with mouths agape. Yet other ponies hollered for the town guards.

Two ponies in shining armor ran towards the town square. They drew their bows back and aimed them at him.

“Alright, ‘king’, time to cart you off to the nuthouse,” one of them said, “You wanna come peacefully or what?”

Sombra grinned, powered up his magic, and rolled his crystal ball at one of the archers, crushing him.

“AAAAH! Get off!” The pony screamed under the hundreds of pounds of crystal.

The other guard drew back his bow and aimed it at Sombra. The arrow glanced off of the crystal with a clink.

“Perhaps it is time to take more fatal measures!” Sombra yelled as he used his magic to shape part of his crystal ball into a lance, which he stabbed the archer with. The stallion fell to the ground, clutching his chest in pain.

With the two guards taken care of, Sombra rolled over to one of the crystal buildings. Though the building was made of crystal as hard as brick rather than the brittle substance he found earlier, he found that his magic could still make even this crystal take a clay-like consistency. He used his magic to slowly pull crystal out, which he cast his heat/transference spell on. The enchanter once again felt the sheer bliss of the crystals return to his mind. He added each brick to his crystal ball as he took them, and the sphere was soon eight feet in diameter. With a newfound vigor, he had soon demolished half of the building before three more guards arrived to try and stop him.

One guard charged at Sombra with a lance. The unicorn did not even notice the guard until he heard the sound of some of the crystal shattering off of his ball. Angered, he turned to face the guard and extended a crystal lance of his own out, impaling the pony. The other two guards, seeing this, retreated.

“Grab the Crystal Heart!” one of them yelled. They both galloped towards the town center.

Sombra heard these words, and thought, The Crystal Heart? The artifact which banishes darkness? Reacting to this, he rolled towards to the town square where the heart stood. However, his enlarged diameter meant that he was slower, so he feared he wouldn’t make it there before they did.

Thinking quickly, he extended a lance ten feet out from himself, hooked it around and tripped the running pony. He then rolled his crystal ball over the pony, crushing him. Soon, Sombra had the crystal heart within his grasp.

He attempted to absorb the crystal heart as he had with the other crystal, but to no avail. The crystal heart was impervious to Sombra’s magic. No matter. He simply surrounded the crystal heart with his crystal encasement as he did with his own unicorn body, to protect it until he could find a better place for it.

The remaining pony, who Sombra now identified as the superior officer, yelled out to the other guards who had arrived on the scene, “Fall back! Fall back! He’s too powerful! Retreat to the south entrance, regroup there!” He saw the rest of the guards running back.

Sombra moved back to the building he had been destroying earlier. The only significant armed resistance, the town guard, he had dealt with in short order. Sombra could now focus on obtaining all the crystal he wanted.

*****

After he had demolished two more buildings, he sat back and relished in the glorious sensations of the crystals. His crystal ball was now thirty feet in diameter. However, his unfocused attention was quickly drawn back by the continuing pleas of the ponies who had not abandoned their homes.

"I beg of you, unicorn, have mercy!"

"Please, quit destroying our homes!"

Sombra looked back towards them, his tears of joy turning to tears of rage. How dare they ask him to give up his crystal? He was entitled to it!

He responded, “NO, It is mine! ALL MINE! I’m magically educated, and received nothing but poverty for it all of my life! You fools in the marketplace would condemn me to live in misery, with no crystals or bits to buy them. But now I am finally rich! And I shall be damned if futile pleas from powerless individuals stop me from obtaining my desire! ”

“What if we mine more crystal for you?” one of them asked.

Sombra paused at this statement. He considered that it took half an hour to pull apart a single building with his magic, and he could only demolish one at a time. If he could get crystal from the ponies directly, it might be faster.

He called out to them, "I shall grant a concession. Ponies who mine crystal for me shall have their homes spared."

"Please give us time, Sombra. It takes time to sink a mine shaft and find crystal," the pony said.

The impatient Sombra obliged, groaning, "Two days, maximum. In exchange, I desire custody of your former king. Bring him to me in the town square.”

*****

In about an hour, the Crystal Ponies obliged and brought the king, Reginald the Fifth, to Sombra. A crowd gathered to observe the fate of the monarch.

Reginald approached Sombra’s crystal ball and spoke, “I have heard that you threaten to enslave my people. What is the meaning of this, you ruffian?”

Sombra paid no mind to the king, instead magically extending a crystal claw from the edge of his sphere and grabbing the king with it.

Sombra bellowed out, “One of you shall be responsible for hanging your old king. I shall pick a pony at random from this crowd to be my hangpony. If he refuses, I shall personally impale him with my crystal spikes.”

The crowd of ponies attempted to run away, but Sombra used his magic to extend crystal pillars upwards from the ground, blocking off the two streets leading away from the town square.

King Reginald writhed in the crystal claw, desperately banging his hooves against the fingers, breaking chunks from it, but Sombra kept re-absorbing the chunks into the claw and re-strengthening the fingers. The king’s struggle was no use.

“Don’t listen to him! I am still your king! Your loyalties—” Sombra used his magic to insert a crystal gag into the king’s mouth, silencing him.

“This city belongs to ME now, and your citizens shall execute you to prove it! Now, to pick my hangpony...”

Sombra looked around the crowd, eyeing the horrified onlookers to select a candidate. After about thirty seconds, he extended a twenty-foot long crystal needle towards an old stallion with a gray mane. The tip of the needle lay just inches from the pony’s face.

"OUR EXECUTIONER!" Sombra yelled.

The stallion stared down at the needle, trembling. He stood for about a minute, and then finally lifted his head and said, “Shall you allow an old, wizened pony his words?”

Sombra hesitated. Then, he responded, “Speak, but know that if you refuse this task, these words are your last.”

The pony spoke, “I won’t do it. King Reginald is the true king, and you are nothing more than a beast! You are a pathetic wretch, not a king. I heard your rant earlier; you need that crystal just like the boozer needs the bottle! You may call us your slaves and yourself the king, but it is WE who are free and YOU who are enslaved. You’re nothing more than a shell of a pony, with a heart as black and hollow as the crystal ball that you hide inside of. You cower there in fear, rather than ever dare come face to face with those who you torment. You will NEVER be a true king, no matter how many orders you bark or innocent ponies you slaughter. Remember that, you cretinous addict, you!”

Sombra’s needle trembled an imperceptible amount as he hesitated. His words... They... No. NO. NO! Two seconds later, his needle grew to the size of a lance as he impaled the pony and the onlookers screamed in terror.

“THIS EXECUTIONER FAILED TO PERFORM HIS DUTY. MY NEXT EXECUTIONER!” King Sombra next extended his killing tendril towards a middle-aged mare. She was the pony whom he had originally given the lucky horseshoes to. The mare recoiled in shock, and tears streamed down her face.

“No… please… not me… please just give us our kingdom back. I know there is still some good in you. Your lucky horseshoes worked, I found a ten-bit coin on the ground after walking away from your stall, before you went on your rampage! I’m sorry I didn’t pay you. You never had to do this. We will give you whatever you want. We’ll mine crystal for you, fine, even for free. Just stop killing us and demolishing our homes. Don’t kill our king.”

Sombra paid no mind to her objections, instead he impaled her instantly. He could not allow himself to feel or display weakness as he did before. He was strong, despite what that old stallion had said. His strength was why HE was still alive and these two ponies were dead.

“THIS EXECUTIONER FAILED TO PERFORM HER DUTY. MY NEXT EXECUTIONER!” Sombra extended his crystal tendril towards a young navy blue colt.

The colt quaked in his horseshoes. “Daddy, what does ‘executioner’ mean?” the colt asked, looking towards his father with a trembling lower-lip.

“NO, DON’T!” the colt’s father, a stallion named Starry Night, yelled. “I’ll do it! I’ll kill the king! Just let my son go!”

Sombra’s strategy worked perfectly. He never expected a child to be his executioner, but he did expect the child to have a father or mother. Sombra replied, “I shall spare the child and allow the father to serve in his place.”

Sombra rolled over towards the town prison, on the far side of town, the crowd of distressed onlookers following in his wake. Some of them stayed behind, unwilling to witness such a spectacle. This precession took some time, as Sombra was unwilling to remove himself from his thirty-foot-in-diameter protective crystal encasement, lest some assassin try to kill him.

Finally, Sombra reached the prison. It was a large, red crystal building with a little over two dozen windows and a gallows in the front yard. Sombra glanced over at Starry Night, who was simply staring at the rope.

“Well, get up there. Now!” Sombra commanded him. The stallion hesitated for about ten seconds, and then finally trudged up the steps to the top of the wooden platform.

“That’s better! Now, for the king.”

Sombra magically extended his crystal claw which held the king towards the rope, and fitted the noose around his neck. He then drew the crystal claw back towards himself and re-integrated it into his sphere.

By this point, many of the prisoners had heard the commotion and were looking out their windows towards the gallows below. They banged against the bars and hooted and hollered upon seeing the former king about to hang.

Starry Night reached over towards the trap door lever with his hoof. Many of the ponies in the crowd looked away, unable to bear the sight. The stallion’s eyes moistened as he placed his hoof on the lever.

“I am sorry, King Reginald!” he yelled as he threw the lever. The trapdoor opened and the old king fell through. The ponies in the crowd gasped and screamed. A few fainted. However, amongst the hundreds gathered, the reactions were not all horror. A small number of ponies in the crowd actually applauded, while everypony in the prison cheered. King Sombra knew the reason: terror is an effective motivator.

After a few minutes, Sombra spoke once more, “Now, there is one last vestige of the old order which I shall remove. This prison behind me houses ponies who are locked up for crimes they were sentenced to before I became king. Since I do not recognize the old courts, they shall all be freed!”

The prisoners all cheered, while the ponies in the crowd gasped. One of them tried to plead with Sombra.

“No, Sombra! These are the Empire’s most dangerous murderers and thieves! All of them have been condemned to hang at these very gallows. If you let them go, it will be anarchy!”

“Ah, so it’s a death row, then?” Sombra asked. The ponies in the crowd nodded.

Sombra responded with a mocking, cynical tone in his voice, “Well, you know, I am a fair king. Any of these ponies could have just been wrongfully accused. You must admit that it is at least possible, however unlikely, that they are all somehow innocent and your old justice system has failed them.”

Most of the ponies in the crowd scowled, but a few of them nodded their heads. His statement, though manipulative, was technically correct.

“Ah. That settles it then; today is amnesty day!” Sombra turned to face the prison, and cast a telekinetic spell against the bars of the windows, making them soft.

“PRISONERS! Free yourselves from your unjust bonds and join the rest of the society which had once so wrongfully condemned you to die! I am sure you shall show them more mercy than they have shown you. See now, I have cast a spell on the bars to your windows, you can now easily pull them apart!”

The twenty-five prisoners ripped the now-softened bars apart and jumped out the windows, jumping up and down, screaming and hollering and rolling around in the grass, ecstatic at their newfound freedom.

Sombra said to them, “Now, don’t run off just yet. I still have positions to appoint for my new regime, and now that you are free citizens, you are as eligible as any to become public servants!”

“Servant, eh? I could serve that one over there really well,” a chartreuse freed stallion said, pointing his hoof towards a young filly as he licked his lips. The filly cowered behind her mother.

Sombra pointed towards him with a crystal tendril and shouted, “Our new Minister of Education! You shall be responsible for teaching our young fillies and colts how to mine crystal for me, and punish them as you deem fit if they step out of line.” He tapped the chartreuse pony on each shoulder with his tendril, as if to knight him. The pony grinned from ear to ear.

“Oooh, oooh! I’d just love to slit some throats and drink some bloooood!” another stallion said, his teeth chattering as his entire body tremored.

“The commander of our armed forces! This needs no explanation; you shall do quite well defending my kingdom from any invaders,” Sombra said, “knighting” him as well.

“I’d like to get my hooves on some of these townsponies’ belongings. What’s mine is mine, and what’s theirs is also mine!” another pony, a light blue mare, said.

Sombra responded, “Since you say ‘mine,’ you shall be my new crystal mine overseer! It shall be your job to ensure these ponies are mining adequate amounts of crystal and giving it to me. You shall obviously be paid quite well yourself for this.”

“Sounds good to me! I’m gonna be rich!” She jumped in the air in excitement.

Sombra appointed many more positions, all from the ranks of the freed inmates. By the time he was done, all twenty-five inmates were government officials.

After he was finally done, Sombra hollered towards the crowd, “Now, let’s hear it for your new government, Crystopolis! Hip-hip!”

The inmates, as well as a handful of ponies from the crowd, responded, “Hooray!”

*****

“So Lanceforth, you are guarding the doors, yes?”

“Of course, your majesty,” Lanceforth answered.

“And Pennington, you are guarding the windows?”

“With utmost vigilance, your highness!” Pennington said, offering a salute.

“Good, then I can finally step out of this hot crystal ball!” Sombra said. He was slightly hesitant to expose himself even in front of these ponies, as he was unsure as to where their loyalties lied. After all, despite his ironic speech to the crowd that he gave before freeing them, they HAD all been convicted of capital crimes.

He had no doubt that they would stab him in the back the second that it served their interests to do so. However, he did not want to display mistrust towards them. So, he cast his telekinesis over the crystal ball and emerged, wading out through the black crystal like some triceratops from an ancient tar pit.

“Ah, so nice to be out in the fresh air. And this crystal palace is quite the lovely castle for my new kingdom! So nice of old Reginald to die and bequeath it to me,” Sombra said, motioning with his hoof around the throne room in which he and his administration of former inmates stood.

“So, is everypony who has volunteered to be part of my administration present in this room?” he asked.

“I’m counting twenty-five, that’s everypony,” Pennington said as he glanced around the room.

“Good. So, I trust that you all know your jobs, yes? So the two of you who are my personal guards will stay here and guard me so that I can get some sleep. The rest of you shall assume your positions throughout the town.”

The stallions and mares in the room nodded. However, one of the ponies raised a hoof into the air. It was Larceny, the blue mare who Sombra had appointed as his mine overseer.

“Yes, Larceny?”

“Well, King Sombra. You told me and some of the others as well that we would be paid for our time. In what form will that remuneration come and when?”

Sombra glanced around. The other ponies nodded their heads in agreement. He scratched his head with his hoof.

“I should think that the mere fact that I have freed you all from prison and certain death is payment enough!” Sombra said, somewhat annoyed, though not surprised that he had yet to buy their complete loyalty to him despite freeing them.

“Well, sorry, it’s not. No honor among thieves, you know,” Larceny responded, shrugging.

“Indeed, I think we should be paid,” said Lanceforth, glancing back from the throne room doorway, “What if one of the king’s old guards comes around here? I might have to fight him. I could die. I should receive hazard pay.”

Sombra’s blushed slightly, which, thankfully for him, was concealed by his ebony coat. He replied, rather reluctantly, “Well, I have no money to give you. I am sorry. Whatever you want, you’ll have to take from the townsponies.”

“But you haven’t appointed a tax collector,” said one of the ponies, “I think you should. You need revenue to support your services.”

“I don’t need a tax collector. They are to mine crystal for me in exchange for me not destroying their houses. The crystal is the tax, and my mercy is the service provided.”

“Crystal? They’re paying you in Crystal? What about bits?” Larceny asked.

“I don’t desire bits. Only crystal.”

“What, are you going to build an even bigger palace with it or something?”

“No.”

“What do you do with it, then?”

“I, well, I... you wouldn’t understand. You aren’t a unicorn,” he responded.

“What has that got to do with it?”

Sombra paused, and then decided he might as well tell them the whole story. If he didn’t tell them, some of the townsponies certainly would.

“You are aware that I can manipulate crystal as if it were a soft and malleable clay, yes?”

“Yeah, how do you do that, anyway?” one of the stallions asked, “If I could do that I would’ve broken those prison bars ages ago.”

“Magic has a different effect on the crystals than hooves do. So, when I use my telekinesis on it, it becomes soft as clay and I can make it take whatever shape I want to mold it into. But that is not the only thing which my magic can do to the crystals. I also have another spell. Normally, this spell only heats up objects. But, by using this spell on a crystal, I am able to FEEL, or sense the crystal as if it were an extension of myself. As if it were a part of my body.”

“So?” Larceny answered, “That’s all? Pardon me, your majesty, but that doesn’t sound very special.” A few ponies snickered at her remark.

“No, you don’t understand. The crystal feels magnificent, like... like...”

“What, orgasm?” The Minister of Education said, eliciting more chuckles from the group.

“Yes, exactly! Except, many times better than even that,” Sombra answered.

“Well gosh, if we were unicorns like you, then you could just pay us all in crystal if it’s THAT great,” said Larceny. The others agreed.

“Yeah, you could just pay us all in crystal, and then whatever food or water or fillies that we needed, we could just take from the citizens,” said the Minister of Education.

“You know, I think that you SHOULD have been hanged,” said Larceny, scoffing at the chartreuse-coated pedophile, “All I did was rob caravans. You’ve scarred dozens of little foals for life.”

“Lives that they still HAVE at least, unlike certain cold-blooded murderers in this room,” the Minister responded, looking towards Lanceforth. He responded in kind, sparking a debate as the ponies in the room bickered amongst each other accusingly.

“SILENCE!” Sombra yelled. The twenty-five ponies obeyed.

“As I said earlier, Reginald’s justice system and the sentences that his judges gave are not recognized under my rule. You’ve all been given clean slates. Now, as to our problem of payment. I believe I may have a solution. I can’t guarantee that it will work, but it’s worth a try. Now, who among you would be willing to accept payment in crystal if, hypothetically, you could derive the same joy from it that I do?”

Everypony in the room raised their hooves into the air.

“Alright, then I may have a solution. No guarantees, but I may be able to impart the crystal’s sensation upon you all by using telepathic magic.”

“All of us?”

“Yes. Now, I could only do this spell with one of you at a time,” said Sombra, “and I’m not sure how long it will work or how powerful it would be. Telepathy was never my specialty; I’m an enchanter by trade. But I learned a few telepathy spells at Starswirl’s college, so I think I might be able to do it. Now, I need some fresh crystal. The blackened ones won’t work; those are depleted so I can’t sense from them anymore.”

“Can you use this table over here?” One of the stallions stood by an ornate, carved green crystal table from the back of the room. It was a small round table, only big enough for about four chairs to sit at.

“Yes, that will do perfectly. Bring it here.”

The stallion dragged the table over to Sombra. He cast a telekinetic spell on the table, breaking it down into an orb about two feet in diameter. Then, his horn glowed black as he cast the heating spell on it. He was now receiving the crystal sensations.

“First volunteer?” he asked.

“I go first, since it was my sarcastic idea in the first place,” said Larceny. Nopony objected.

Sombra responded, “Larceny, I want you to open your mind. Let down all of your guard. Allow me into your mind. Now...”

Sombra touched his horn to the blue mare’s forehead. At first, the mare’s eyes widened. Then, she blinked a few times. A giant grin spread across her face. She began to moan repeatedly with pleasure.

“Um... should we be watching this?” Pennington asked. The group chuckled.

“Shut up, Pennington, your immaturity about this is breaking my concentration!” Larceny snipped. Pennington shied away. Nopony else spoke for the remainder of the session.

About five minutes later, Sombra said, “Alright, Larceny... I am cutting you off in three, two, one...” He lifted his horn from her forehead and Larceny fell to the floor.

“That’s all?” she asked, “But that was so amazing!”

“You’ll get more once you’ve done your duty in service to my administration,” said Sombra, “I have twenty-four more ponies to get through before this crystal is depleted. Now, who’s next?”

All twenty-four hooves in the group shot up into the air. Sombra grinned. So, this was how he would win their loyalty.

About two and a half hours later, he had given each member of the group his "payment." He lifted his horn from the final servant, Pennington, just as the crystal had finally turned a shade of deep black.

“Just in time,” Sombra said, “the crystal was about to run out.”

“Wow... just, wow,” Pennington said.

“I could do that all day,” said another.

“No wonder you’ve enslaved them into mining this crystal for you,” said Lanceforth, “I would too, if I were you.”

Sombra responded, “So now you all see why your jobs are so critical. Hopefully, now that you’ve received payment, you will provide adequate services towards securing my position in power.”

“Yes, your highness!” they chanted, obediently. The twenty-three non-bodyguards then filed out of the throne door, off to their various positions in the city.

Sombra grinned from ear to ear. In the span of a little over an hour, he had managed to secure the fealty of twenty-five ponies to him. Dangerous killer ponies, no less, who would defend Sombra to the death. He had them all wrapped around his horn. None of them would dare to attempt a coup against him, as he was the only one who could allow them to access the crystals’ powers.

*****

Over the next week, the citizens of Crystopolis succeeded in sinking a mine shaft in the heart of the city. Its location, right in the town square, was a strategic decision on Sombra’s part because then his mine guards would not come under attack from any possible Reginald loyalists who may be hiding outside of town.

The Reginald loyalists still did mount sporadic attacks on his city. He lost three of his twenty-five loyalists and five of the Crystopolis residents who had agreed to join his militia in exchange for not having to mine.

Over the next month, Sombra managed to transform the once-proud city into a shell of its former self. Tons of his blackened, depleted crystal littered the landscape of the city. He did not want them cluttering up his palace, so he simply used his magic to place them around the city as ominous obelisks to remind the city’s residents who was in charge.

Sombra did in fact use some crystal to expand the Crystal Palace. He hid the crystal heart atop a large tower, building a secret passage and and protecting it with dark magic enchantments which only magic could reliably break. He figured that this would stop almost any of the crystal ponies who wanted to retrieve the Heart and use it against him, as they were all magic-less.

Eventually, Reginald’s loyalist guards stopped attacking. Sombra took this as a sign that his rule was now entirely unchallenged.

However, he did not realize that Reginald’s loyalists had in fact gone south to Equestria to call upon Princess Celestia for help.

Chapter 3: Crystal Death

Chapter Three: Crystal Death
Everfree, One Month After Sombra Executed Reginald

In the heart of the Kingdom of Equestria sat the arboreal, wooded city of Everfree, located in the giant forest bearing the same name. Hundreds of grand old oak trees surrounded the many stone buildings of the city. They formed a canopy which covered the streets in a consistent shade. Rows of colorful flowers and uniform, thatched-roof cottages lined the many cobblestone streets of the city, streets which crisscrossed the city in a hash-like grid. This was a systematically planned city, unlike the other towns and settlements in Equestria which had sprung up and expanded haphazardly over the years.

Seven hundred years ago, upon banishing Discord and taking the throne of Equestria, the royal pony sisters Luna and Celestia founded the city of Everfree. They called the city “Everfree” because every pony was free to live there, unlike some of the other cities in the kingdom which were segregated by pony race. Cloudsdale, for instance, was an exclusively pegasus city, where Equestria’s weather was managed. Canterlot was an exclusively unicorn city, where the unicorn sorcerers raised the sun and moon. Fillydelphia was an exclusively earth pony city, where ponies grew crops in the surrounding fields. Not all cities were like this: Baltimare and Horseshoe Bay for instance admitted all three races of ponies, but Everfree was the first and most noteworthy of the racially-integrated cities of Equestria.

The grand Everfree River flowed east through the city towards Horseshoe Bay from its tributaries near the Unicorn Range further Northwest. The north side of the city consisted mostly of trading posts where earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns gathered in fellowship to exchange goods. Unlike the sour relations between the three tribes of ponies hundreds of years ago before Celestia deposed Discord and founded Equestria, the three tribes were cordial to one another and conducted business in fellowship and friendship.

The south side of the city was occupied primarily by the giant Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters and its several support structures. In the Equestrian capitol building, Princess Celestia sat in her throne room, busy attending to the day-to-day administration of Equestria. She signed paperwork and managed her court, listening to ponies and their concerns.

As her horn glowed and she wrote with her quill, the doors to the throne room burst open as a shimmering silver stallion in crystal armor ran into the room. He gave a quick bow to the Princess and asked to be heard.

A crystal pony? Celestia pondered. Now what could he possibly want?

“Rise and speak, sir. We shall hear your concerns,” Celestia addressed the stallion with the royal “we,” indicating she was speaking for both herself and her absent sister, Luna. Though this was before the princesses took over the job of raising the sun and moon, Luna was still known as the “Princess of the Night” because she slept during the day and ruled the kingdom at night while Celestia slept.

“Thank you, your highness. I am Arrowmark, the captain of the Crystal Guard. A month ago, a unicorn named Sombra overtook the capital of the Crystal Empire. He has used some form of magic to control and mold the crystal which can be found in the ground of the Crystal Empire. He has made himself unspeakably powerful through use of this spell, which causes his horn to glow black, a color the crystals turn to when he controls them. He has enslaved the denizens of Crystopolis, and forces them to mine crystal for him.

“Our guards have retreated to those small towns in the empire which we still control, but Sombra is far too powerful for us to take on. He surrounds himself in crystal which our lances and arrows cannot penetrate. He has killed our old King and amassed a small cadre of loyalists; they are mostly robbers and thieves from the prison which he demolished. We do not know for sure, but we believe he uses some form of mind control magic to control his followers. One of our spies has witnessed a cult-like ceremony in which he touches his horn to each of the thirty or so of them for about five minutes.

“It's only a matter of time before he and his forces overruns every last corner of the empire. We have thoroughly exhausted all of our own national defense options. As captain of the Crystal Guard, I hereby invoke our mutual treaty of defense and request Equestrian aid immediately.”

Celestia blinked several times. A single unicorn had taken over the entirety of the Crystal Empire? How was this possible? She had known of some incredibly powerful unicorns, but none powerful enough to single-hoofedly take over an entire nation, even one with as small of a population as the Crystal Empire.

“Stallion Stephen,” Celestia motioned towards one of her white pegasus guards and said, “I want you to gather all of the information you can on this unicorn, Sombra.” Stallion Stephen scampered from the room.

"As you have exhausted all of your own national defense options as per the terms of our treaty, we shall assist you in retaking your empire, Arrowmark. However, we need time to prepare a counter-attack for whatever strange spell that this unicorn is using. Please tell us more.”

Arrowmark expounded, “Certainly, your highness. He appears to have the body of a unicorn, but he also has a crystal embodiment which he can move as if it were his own body.”

“He can form this crystal body into nearly any shape. We have seen him form spears and lances, a wheeled cart, tendrils and limbs, a giant ball, even a claw like a dragon's. Though the crystal is brittle, he can still use it to impale ponies who disobey him. We have no idea why he is doing this or what his motivation is, though he appears to derive great joy from acquiring new crystals. He is never quite satisfied.”

Princess Celestia blinked several times, unsure of what to make of this. She inquired, “Now, Arrowmark, we were under the impression that crystal is difficult to shape. How is Sombra able to form it into such shapes at will?”

He responded, “I believe that it has something to do with magic, your highness. Though I have not been able to test it, crystal appears to take on different properties when Sombra manipulates it with his magic versus how it would behave when acted upon by hoof or any other physical object. I have brought a crystal rock with me, if your highness would care to investigate with your own magic.” Arrowmark held out a small rock.

Celestia levitated the rock towards herself. At first, she was not able to form it into shapes in the same way that Sombra did, but after about a minute of fiddling with it she was able to make it take the shape of a cube, and then a sphere.

The Princess floated the sphere back to Arrowmark and remarked, “This Sombra is in possession of some powerful magic if he is able to shift the shape of this crystal so easily. Even I have a bit of difficulty with it. However, it would appear that you are correct: magic makes it take different shapes than it otherwise would be able to.”

The two conversed for another few hours, discussing military strategies which had been attempted on Sombra and a plan of attack for when the Equestian Army was called up. Princess Celestia offered Arrowmark a room to stay in for the night, which he accepted.

The next day at about midday, Stallion Stephen returned to Celestia’s throne room. “Your Highness, the other guards and I have searched the Royal Census and determined that Sombra is a unicorn who lived in Canterlot. After finding this out, we sent a delegation overnight to Canterlot to gather more information on him.

“Sombra of Canterlot was a craftspony and a graduate of Starswirl’s School. He received high marks in enchantment and in dark magic. His special talent was in casting enchantments on a variety of objects to give them various properties. He owned a small enchantment shop in Canterlot and did modest business enchanting horseshoes, necklaces and the like. However, he started facing financial difficulties and lost his home and his business. According to his neighbors, he left for the Crystal Empire a month ago to seek out new prospects. That indicates he started his rule almost immediately upon arriving in Crystopolis.”

“Thank you, Stephen.” Celestia summoned for Arrowmark and relayed the information to him, “Arrowmark, we believe that Sombra is an exceptionally-powerful enchanter who is able to use his power of enchantment and black magic to manipulate these crystals in the manner which you speak of. It will take powerful magic in order to counteract this. My sister and I will fly to the Crystal Empire as soon as we can and we will fight to the death to restore your Kingdom to its proper leadership.”

“Thank you, your highness,” Arrowmark bowed and exited the throne room.

*****

Under a steel gray sky, Princesses Luna and Celestia soared over the snowy plains of the Crystal Empire towards their destination in Crystopolis. Behind them flew hundreds of pegasi towing chariots full of battalions of earth pony warriors and unicorn magicians.

The two alicorns were far enough ahead of their forces to speak privately amongst each other without anypony hearing.

“Sister, I am quite scared of this pony's power,” Princess Luna said, “He is but a single unicorn, yet he has managed to overthrow the government of our northern neighbor. Although I am a princess, this is troubling even for me.”

Celestia responded, “It troubles me too, sister. I had long suspected that someday a rogue pony, in all probability a unicorn, may be powerful enough to take on entire nations by himself, but I never really believed it until this incident confirmed my fears. We shall have to discuss this further after we have dethroned him. And do not worry, I am confident that we shall.”

*****

Meanwhile, in the Crystal Empire, King Sombra sat upon his Crystal throne. He overlooked his subjects on the ground below, who were busy carting loads of crystal from mine shafts below the city up to the surface. They emptied these carts into giant piles, then returned to mine once more. These ponies were supervised by Sombra's loyalists, who carried whips in their mouths to whip slow ponies.

He heard a knocking on the door, and Lanceforth gazed through the peephole before letting the pony in. It was Hidingway, his scout.

Hidingway spoke, "Your majesty, we have spotted an army from Equestria heading north towards the City. We believe it is Celestia and Luna, acting under the mutual defense treaty that Reginald had with them."

“How nice,” said Sombra, “We will have to send a little surprise their way. Find me any five crystal ponies who have children, and bring them here.”

*****

Celestia's army set up camp for the night in a snowy valley five hundred miles from Crystopolis. Ponies removed tents from their saddlebags and pitched them upon the powdery ground. Cooks fried up eggs on pans over fires, feeding the hungry and tired soldiers who lined up to eat their fill.

At about a quarter till ten, the soldiers were just beginning to go off to bed, when over the hill they could hear the faint sound of hoofbeats.

A pegasus watchpony hovering in the air flew over to investigate and noticed a squad of about a half-dozen or so ponies about two hundred feet from the edge of the camp. They were running towards the camp and closing in. He trained his spyglass upon them. They were crystal ponies. They did not appear to be carrying any weapons that the watchpony could see, though they did have large sacks on their back.

The watchpony flew towards the group and shouted, “Halt! State your business!” The group did not comply; they continued running towards the camp. The watchpony drew his bow back and fired a warning arrow towards the front of the group, but still the rumbling of their hoofbeats became louder and louder as they approached.

By this point, the crystal pony in the lead of the pack had reached the outer edge of the encampment, running in between two large sleeping tents. He opened his sack, drew some flint from it and yelled, “I am so sorry, Equestria! Sombra said he’d kill my family, please forgive me!”

Before the watchpony had time to react to this, the crystal pony struck the flint against a tinderbox. Sparks dropped down into the open bag. At that moment an incredible ball of fire exploded outward.

A thundering boom sounded as a dozen tents burst into flames. The force of the explosion threw several ponies from their tents, as they cried out in confusion and pain. Many ponies began running around on fire. Unicorn wizards cast water spells to douse the flames as thick black smoke billowed into the night sky.

In the confusion, another pony from the group managed to set off another bag of explosive black powder. A second boom rang out as the ground shook at this newest bomb, and more tents lit up.

A squad of pegasi flew up into the air. Their leader commanded, “We have to stop this! Round up these ponies immediately!” They flew lightning-fast towards the three remaining bombers, tackled them to the ground and restrained them with ropes.

After the unicorns extinguished the remaining fires and the nurses ensured that the injured ponies were being treated, Celestia and Luna flew towards the captured crystal ponies.

“What is the meaning of this destruction!?” Luna bellowed, “We are not invaders, we are here to free your people from Sombra!”

“We are so dreadfully sorry, your highness,” One of the crystal ponies, a neon green mare, attempted to bow to Celestia but tripped over the rope bonds around her hooves. “Sombra threatened to kill us and our families if we did not complete this mission. We were to attempt to kill as many of you as possible.”

“How would Sombra know if you completed your mission or not? You didn’t have to do this. I realize the threat against your family is terrifying, but terror is how ponies like Sombra manage to obtain power to begin with,” Celestia consoled.

“He has spies everywhere,” the mare fretted. “He has loyal allies from prisoners he freed when he took over. They’ve suppressed any dissent against his rule. They have spied on our homes and our places of gathering and have rounded up anypony who dares speak against Sombra.”

“I see,” Celestia responded, “However, there is one way to fight fear: with hope.”

Celestia undid the bonds on the ponies and commanded them to give a message for Sombra: that his campaign of terror and oppression would soon be over.

“But what of our families, your highness?” One stallion implored.

“Do not trouble yourself with that,” Celestia reassured, “I shall send scouts ahead to their homes to ensure their safety.” With that, the would-be bombers headed back north ahead of the Equestrian army with the message for Sombra.

*****

. Pegasi swooped through the air and into formation in lines, unicorns stood behind earth pony warriors as the Equestrian army massed on the city limits of Crystopolis, right in front of the red crystal gates. They were joined by Arrowmark and the remaining forces of the Crystal Empire guard.

Luna and Celestia had been to this city on business before, but it no longer resembled its once-proud state. Several crystal buildings were crumpled and in ruin from Sombra's rampage when he initially came to power. Huge, ugly black crystal obelisks cluttered the city streets like bins on garbage day, cracking through the crystal streets of the city like tenacious weeds through sidewalk cracks.

In the center of town, mine shafts sunk into the ground and ponies pulled chunks of crystal out in carts. Celestia gazed in disgust at the enslavement of the Empire's citizens, as they trodded along depressingly, driven only by their desire to keep their homes intacts and flanks free of scars. They dumped loads of crystal into huge mounds of red and blue and purple hues. They stopped from their arduous labor and gazed upon the army in front of them. One pony realized what this meant and began applauding, but was immediately struck by a blow from one of Sombra’s loyalists.

Princess Celestia flew through the crystal gates, but stopped in her flight as she saw King Sombra walking down the city street towards the gates. He was flanked by several of his loyalists, who held bows with arrows drawn around them, fending off any would-be assassins.

Sombra was directly under the princess as he gazed upwards at her, grinned, and then his horn glowed as the crystal street below him assembled obediently into a pillar which carried him upward to meet her gaze at eye level.

“Ah, your highness. What business brings you to the Crystal Empire?" he asked.

"You know very well, Sombra of Canterlot! You have overthrown the legitimate government of the Crystal Empire and have replaced it with tyranny! You have also forced some of the crystal ponies to carry out a cowardly suicide attack on my forces," Princess Celestia said.

"You are out of your place, Princess. I AM the legitimate government. I deposed the prior king and I am now the new monarch. As you can see, all of my subjects are quite obedient to me and my rule," he motioned towards the miners, "You have invaded the Crystal Empire, so I rightly ordered my citizens to attack you. Retreat now and I will allow you to go in peace."

Princess Luna flew forwards to stand, or rather hover, beside her sister. She yelled, "You are out of your place, Sombra of Canterlot! You are not even a crystal pony, so how can you inherit the throne legitimately? You can not, and your reign of terror is soon to end! We shall replace you with a new monarch.”

"From where, exactly?" King Sombra asked, "I have killed the old king, and he had no heirs!"

"We shall replace him, and YOU, with an alicorn from Equestria," said Princess Luna.

King Sombra let out a hearty laugh. "That's rich! You accuse me of having no claim to the throne because I am a unicorn from Equestria. Yet who shall you replace me with? The very same type of pony you say can have no legitimate claim upon the throne! I expected an invasion, not a comedy routine!"

"It's different and you know it," said Celestia, "For I have the power to create princesses and alicorns legitimately."

"You say that, but I know the truth; you wish to take advantage of the situation to expand your power and create from the empire a puppet, a vassal state. Never let a crisis go to waste, eh Celestia? HEAR THAT, CRYSTAL PONIES? WHEN YOU ARE SAVED, YOU SHALL BE SUBORDINATE TO EQUESTRIA! NO MORE SELF-RULE!" He yelled out towards the miners, many of whom had stopped working and had walked to the edge of town.

Princess Celestia, tiring of debating with Sombra over the finer points of investiture, commanded, “Wizards, begin your spells! Show this cretin of a king who really rules over these lands!”

The unicorns fired magical blasts towards the crystal pillar which Sombra stood atop. It cracked and fell to the ground. Sombra fell through the air for a few moments, but then he surrounded himself with his protective crystal ball.

“Two can play at this game! Attack these wizards, my followers!” Sombra’s thugs galloped towards the line, aimed their bows, and fired at the unicorns. Some of the arrows hit their mark, but most were stopped by a protective force-field that the wizards projected over themselves. The wizards cast spells at the sympathizers, bringing several of them to the ground.

During this, the pegasi forces charged towards Sombra. He used his magic to extend a wall of crystal immediately in front of the pegasi. Most of them saw the wall in time and veered out of the way, but a few of them hit the wall and fell towards the ground, their wings broken upon impact.

The earth pony warriors swung maces at Sombra's crystal ball, their powerful blows knocking large chunks of crystal out of the pillar. Sombra attempted to repair it as quickly as he could and fended off some of the earth ponies with crystal lances, but presently they reached the center of the orb and Sombra.

His sympathizers fought the earth pony warriors with swords and axes, but were no match against Celestia's superior numbers. The pegasi above sniped at Sombra's sympathizers with arrows, taking out several, and yet others were hit by magic spells. But this gave Sombra enough time to repair his crystal ball.

Back inside of his protective encasement, he extended several crystal lances out from himself, impaling some of the earth pony warriors. This time, however, the earth ponies were joined by the Crystal Ponies of the town, who swung at Sombra's orb with their pickaxes. With most of Sombra's followers dead or wounded, his crystal ball broke apart as two pegasi grabbed Sombra and carried him up into the air to Celestia and Luna.

“Your army has been defeated, Sombra, give up!” Celestia commanded as she levitated a sword towards Sombra's neck. Though he attempted to raise more crystal weapons and defenses, unicorn wizards fought back against the crystals and kept them from springing up from the ground.

“Fine, I suppose that I have been defeated.” Sombra lowered his head in resignation and said, “I will give up my rule over these lands. However, there is one thing which you did not anticipate…”

Luna and Celestia paused for a moment, waiting for Sombra to finish his sentence.

“I'm a unicorn, remember?" In a flash of light, Sombra disappeared from the pegasi's grasp.

"Search the city and find him!" the Princess commanded. The Pegasi fanned out across the city, searching through every alleyway and house.

Back at the Crystal Palace, King Sombra stood in his throne room with his two remaining followers, Pennington and Larceny.

"Sombra, what do we do? They'll put us back on death row for sure!" Pennington asked.

"Yeah, and if they kill you, we can't even enjoy those crystals anymore!" Larceny lamented.

Sombra's head hung low, and he did not speak for about a minute. As he heard hoofbeats coming up the steps, his head sprang up alert.

"If I can't have my crystallllll..."

His two followers looked at him in anticipation.

"THEN NOPONY CAN!"

Sombra fired a spell from his horn, which glowed dark black with power. A loud rumbling rose from the earth as the ground shook.

Two pegasi flew into the throne room as Pennington and Larceny fended them off with swords. The veins from Sombra's forehead bulged, and he yelled in agony as his body dissolved. But the spell was working, and all around the city, houses and buildings crumpled into the ground. Sombra was using his magic to set loose the crystal from the mines below and collapse the city!

Thinking quickly, Celestia and Luna fired protection spells and commanded their unicorn wizards to as well. As the city sunk into the ground, they preserved it. The mages held up the buildings telekinetically to preserve them. They extended force-fields around the crystal ponies to save them from the falling debris. Though the city collapsed into the earth, it was preserved. They cast a stasis spell on the city to preserve it from decay while under the earth. Finally, they cast a spell on Sombra himself, which turned him to shadow.

The soil fell into the cracks between the buildings of the submersed city as it was now entirely buried underground in a sinkhole. Where the city once stood, now there was nothing but the tip of the Crystal Palace spire.

Sombra was defeated, but the kingdom was as well.

*****

Princess Celestia, Luna, and the entire Equestrian army flew back with their heads down. Everypony had despondent looks on their faces. Though they had defeated Sombra in one way, in that he no longer ruled the Crystal Empire, they had lost to him in another way. The great city of Crystopolis was no more.

“I simply cannot believe it,” Luna dismayed, “We had the most elite of the Equestrian army forces here, and he still managed to sink the city into the ground!”

“Do not despair, sister,” Celestia said, “We have cast protection spells on the city and its buildings. None of the residents shall perish during this time. Sombra has been turned into smoky shadow and will no longer be able to terrorize the citizens of Crystopolis while it lies beneath the earth. However, Sombra’s curse ensures that the city shall remain underground: frozen in time until we can find a way to defeat him once and for all."

Luna replied, “I am concerned that Sombra was able to do such a thing. He is but a single unicorn. Even though he had followers, he still was a singularly powerful individual.”

“Yes…” Celestia said, “That is the trouble with unicorns, isn’t it? They have the potential to do so much with those horns of theirs. So much good, yes, but so much evil as well. I foresaw this when we first came to power over Equestria, which is why I took certain steps to prevent evil on behalf of anypony, unicorns in particular. However, I do believe further steps are needed. When we get back, I shall explain.”

*****

Celestia sat upon her throne, and Luna sat by her side. It was a rare occurrence when both of them were awake in a non-emergency setting.

At this time, many hundreds of ponies were gathered around in the massive throne room, chatting amongst each other and scribbling on notepads and parchment with quills. This was an important event, and ponies from across the realm had gathered to hear what the Royals had to say. Several stragglers continued to flood into the chamber through the doors. The royal guards briefly frisked them before allowing them entrance to the room.

The Issuance of Decree was an uncommon event in Equestria, happening perhaps once or twice in a decade. Most of the laws were simply handed down over time, based upon the rulings of judges and local councils. Even laws promulgated by Celestia herself were done in a subdued, uneventful manner. Usually new laws were simply passed by parliament and made law unceremoniously with the stroke of her quill and attended by a few witnesses.

This time, however, Celestia had wanted the entirety of the kingdom to be aware of the proclamation she was about to make. Excited murmurs continued among the crowd of ponies.
After a few moments, Celestia was confident that everypony had arrived who was going to arrive. The Princess eyed the guards at the entrance to her chamber and signaled to them. They responded and shut the giant oak doors with a thud. At this thud, the ponies in the room quickly simmered down.

Princess Celestia spoke, her voice booming throughout the chamber, “My faithful subjects, we call you here today with great sadness and despondency. As some of you are aware, our northern neighbor the Crystal Empire has all but vanished. Its main city, containing some three-fourths of its peoples, has descended into the bowels of the earth due to a curse by an evil usurper. When or even if it shall return is uncertain.”

Some audible gasps were heard throughout the room. Most ponies did not gasp, however. Either they had already heard this two-day-old news through the grapevine or they were not the gasping type. Though the magic which Sombra cast was not technically a “curse,” (in fact, Celestia knew such things did not exist) she felt it easier to explain it to magically-unaware ponies in this way.

She continued, “The Crystal Ponies were great friends to Equestria. They helped our nation in our founding days to defeat Discord and recover from his chaos. There one day may come a time when we shall have to come to their aid again, when their capital city rises from the depths of the earth once more. We shall gladly give them this aid, as we came to their aid in the past few days and fought to the bitter end to save Crystopolis.”

She paused for a moment before continuing, “We learned some unfortunate facts about the stallion who came to power over the Crystal Empire. For one, he was not a crystal pony. Rather, he was a unicorn from our very own city of Canterlot.”

Some ponies gasped at this statement as well.

“Sombra used a powerful form of magic to defeat the armed forces of the Crystal Empire by controlling the crystals there and shaping them into weapons and armor. This magic, black magic, is taught in Starswirl the Bearded’s School For Gifted Unicorns as well as other schools. Scrolls in many libraries across this continent also teach about black magic. This magic is incredibly hard to learn and use, nevertheless, Sombra used it. He also used an unknown form of what we believe to be telepathic mind control to secure a small group of loyalists to fight for him.”

Celestia’s statement, like her curse statement, was both a misunderstanding and deliberate miscategorization of the events which actually transpired and are recorded in the preceding text. Celestia did not know that Sombra never used mind control, rather simple telepathy. However, she did know that he would’ve been able to manipulate the crystals with simple telekinesis, not black magic. Black magic simply allowed him to sense the crystals. But nevertheless, Celestia’s statements were used as justification for the following decree,

“Thus, as of this day forward, unicorns may only learn powerful magic in Starswirl the Bearded’s school, and only trusted ponies may learn it. These restricted spells include four categories which are subject to abuse: black magic and mind control are to be restricted, as these were two spells which Sombra used. Additionally, time travel and celestial control will be restricted. Though Sombra never personally used them, I hope we can all agree we can no longer allow any but the most trusted ponies to learn these powerful magicks.

“All of the ancient scrolls giving instructions on how to cast black magic and the other three spells I have mentioned shall be destroyed immediately. The only remaining written knowledge of these spells shall be kept behind lock and key in the Canterlot Library.”

The ponies from across the land jotted down this latest decree on their parchment. As a promulgation with full force of law, it was to take effect immediately.

Celestia continued, “Such spells may not be used outside of an academic setting under penalty of the offending pony being turned to stone. Anypony doing what Sombra did and using these spells to kill another shall himself face the gallows.

“The only academic setting permissible to use these spells is in Starswirl’s School, which I shall now administer personally as it contains such dangerous knowledge. However, to administer this school I shall have to be in close proximity to it. For this reason, I am hereby relocating the capital city from Everfree to Canterlot, effective immediately. As our nation’s new capital, Canterlot shall now be opened to residence by all three races of ponies, rather than exclusively unicorns.”

Ponies began furiously jotting down these notes. Such top-down changes were unprecedented in Equestrian history.

“As part of my royal duties I shall take over the great responsibility of raising the sun, and my sister shall raise the moon. This change is due to my previously stated decree against the usage of spells which control the celestial bodies. Though I appreciate the past work done by our unicorn astrologers and thank them for having kept our skies well lit for eons, this power is simply too great to allow anypony besides my sister and myself to use. Rest assured that the day and night shall remain the same length, as bright and as dark as ever.

“Finally, I also shall be writing additional magical laws and regulations in the future. Rest assured that I will keep the populace informed as I do so.”

Though it was highly discouraged, many ponies shouted questions at Princess Celestia, not unlike a modern-day press conference. These decrees fundamentally changed Equestria, after all. However, Celestia remained silent and simply ordered that the soldiers of the land begin burning the scrolls. She then exited her throne room along with Luna, and they both boarded their chariot and flew off to their new home in Canterlot. Everfree was abandoned almost overnight, and the great castles and stone buildings gradually broke down. Vines and moss grew over them until eventually they were entirely forgotten. Hardly a pony alive remembered that Canterlot had not always been the capital.

Starswirl's school was renamed Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, and it remained the only place where ponies could legally learn the four categories of restricted magic, all of which were detailed in the Canterlot Archives and kept under lock and key and guard.

When Sombra was finally defeated over 1,000 years later, Celestia made good on her promise and installed Cadance, an alicorn from Equestria in the throne. Though normally, such infringement on their national sovereignty would elicit cries of revolt from the Crystal Ponies, they were so thankful to be free of Sombra that they did not mind the fact that their new Princess was little more than a puppet of Celestia. They also, quite wisely, figured that having an alicorn with magic of her own in power would help stave off any other potential usurpers.

However, Celestia's changes made in response to King Sombra were not well taken by all. Particularly, her magical laws and treatment of the unicorn race as a suspect class would, 1,000 years later, inspire one pony to revolt.

Author's Note

Want to read about the ultimate result of Princess Celestia's magical laws? That's detailed in the sequel, The Trouble With Unicorns. http://www.fimfiction.net/story/89803/the-trouble-with-unicorns