I lay in the dust and mire of a long forgotten realm, my body broken, my subjects.. my children scattered and moribund. I had failed.
For years my sanguisuge realm had preyed upon the emotionally ripe ponies of this world without obstruction.
That is until THEY appeared. The sisters came into this world and gave aegis to the desperate populace, and in return were given undisputed control. The age of the Sister Princesses saw the decline of my kingdom. At the point that extinction seemed imminent I acted.
I had infiltrated the Empire the Sisters had created, seized the young Princess Cadence and masqueraded as her as the bride to her betrothed.
I had nearly succeeded and in my imminent victory I had become complacent and gloated over my victory. In doing so I failed to see the threat Equestria's Heroes were.
My arrogance ensured my subjects and myself would be cast into the forgotten histories, that is until he spoke to me, I was certain it was the clouded visions that come in the throes of death, but no; it was a foreign thought, it was a powerful and terrifying presence. It was a presence that by its mere existence had brought fear to the young Princess Cadence and nearly saw the Crystal Empire brought back under the yoke.
For reasons unknown even to myself I was reinvigorated and urged to return to the realm of ponies one last time. I returned cloaked as a mere earth pony, not imposing in the slightest.
The first time I beheld my King was amidst the shops and parks of the Crystal Empire, beneath a cerulean firmament. From the uppermost spire of the Crystal Palace he descended, taking each megalithic tier in a single stride, until his final step cracked wide the world itself. His bloodshot, emerald eyes stared out at me from beneath his cinereous crown; wide, perfectly round, with a sickly amethyst steam emanating from them.
I revealed myself to my King in the antechamber of the Crystal Palace. Upon seeing his true might.. his true magnificence.. his true malice.
“Hail!” I cried out, “Hail! Our King is descended from beyond, to rule all of Equestria!”
For my ardor, and for my obedience to his reign for all time my King presented myself and his subject with a gift. Encased within the mighty alembic which was host to many arcane engines and within it's vessals were the bodies of the young Princess Cadance and her companion Shining Armor. Radiant jewels, preserved by eldritch devices which would protect their youth and splendor despite the passage of time.
Through the crowded civilization of Ponies he carved his path, and into the ruin of his wake I followed him. His ironhide proved impervious to all the war implements that Ponykind’s magic and science could conjure; Ballista and Bolt, Bomb and Spear.
“Do you not see?” I cried out to the weeping masses. “He is your King! Bow! Bow before his grace and his might!”
To those who display the proper obeisance my King was most merciful and magnanimous, dispatching them to spend the remainder of their days in a most blessed fashion: Beneath the whips of my children, engaged in the construction of his onyx temples and glass cities.
To those who... opposed, my King had their entrails ripped out from their bodies by his dagger horn and their heads split open by his steel hooves. Their steaming blood ladled into their own hollowed out skulls to be held high in toasts of victory!
To the Empire of Celestia, my King heaped destruction untold with his eldritch abominations of brass and flesh. To her sister Luna, my King pursued her into the very dreamlands wherein she dwelt in and destroyed her, body and soul. To all of Equestria, my King casted down all the false idols of Ponykind and heaped them into a fire that lit the sky from horizon to horizon.
Foolish. Desperate. The forces of Ponies gathered their six Heroes against my King for one final attack. He staggered beneath each impact of their Harmony and stumbled wreathed in magical fire, but he emerged from the blinding conflagration unharmed.
My King looked upon the heroes of Ponies with pity, and to each he bore into their souls and, spoke the ultimate truth. They fell into the pit of despair and madness that all mortals find themselves in when forced to see the reality. Kindness became Cruelty, Generosity became Greed, Loyalty became Betrayal and so on as their true desires were released.
He lifted high his hoof and from them arose his six Champions; carved from the living flesh of Ponykind’s last desperate hope, and driven by the fierce animus of hidden emotions. Vengeful, hungering for their rightful place atop the thrones of Equestria. Against their fury none could stand, against their hatred none could compare.
In the end my King and his Champions stood over the ashen realms of Ponies. Ruling the pitiful survivors without mercy; driving them ever onward in the construction of greater and greater palaces, temples, and obelisks, all dedicated to his glory everlasting.
Then, as quickly as his arrival, my King departed. He strode into the North from whence he came, taking each league with a single step. His Champions crumbled to dust, and the shrieking chants emanating from his temples fell silent.
The half-wild Griffins, which populate the mountains bordering the deep arctic wastes, whisper of my King; tales that he still resides somewhere in the blasted, frozen reaches of the North Pole, resides enwrapped in his dark glory, resides within an obsidian castle which broods beneath the gaze of ancient other things.
Now Ponies creep fearfully betwixt the rubble and wreckage, which were once their greatest empire. Now they are timid, afraid... Weak. They hold out their hooves, scratching the old signs into the dirt, but asking not for their sane and loving Princesses.
They ask, instead for my King to return. To return in his violence and his hatred. To return with his malice and destruction, to give them purpose once again.
With my tattered wings drawn tight, with the wind screaming through my legs. I watch them with a Queen’s crown perched atop my horn, and I laugh.
I watch them from my perch, atop the mighty alembic my King had gifted me. The young Princess Cadance, aware of her imprisonment with perfect clarity and having experienced each moment of the end of her world. I feed on her despair and I laugh.
Amidst the desolation and wastelands, I laugh.
I call into the wind, and I laugh.
