A Tyrant Uplifted

A thousand years had passed. Sombra was now nothing more than a shadow of what he once was. The stallion he'd been before lingered in his mind, unable to surface and give up the new creature's desire for power and revenge. He had all but forgotten the voice he'd once had, and the memories of Aurora were nearly gone as well.

Where were these thoughts coming from?! The creature growled, his crystal slaves would bow in terror once more when--

The Crystal Heart. Somepony had found it, and been foolish enough to activate his alarm spell around it. He growled and activated the trap connected to it, locking whoever it was in the circle. He'd finally broken through the barrier that the filly had created. She was stronger than Lumaria had been, but now it didn't matter. Nopony could stop him from taking his kingdom, and his revenge.

It was mildly amusing when he realized who was now carrying the Heart. A tiny purple dragon desperately trying to get away from the black crystals surrounding him.

On his ever-growing pillar of crystal, it would be easy to catch the dragon when he resorted to jumping, and from there, he would simply dash him on the pillar itself, leave the impaled corpse for all to see. Just as he expected, the dragon jumped towards the balcony below, only to be met by the King himself. Or so the creature expected. The filly flew past, catching the Heart and the dragon, and descending down.

He barely had time to register what was happening. The Crystal Heart was returned to its pedestal, started spinning, and a flash of light. Searing pain shot through his entire body, and it didn't stop. The blinding light stopped, but the pain did not. Sombra surfaced to nothing but excruciating agony and cold darkness.

Twilight paced back and forth, books levitating straight from the Empire's library in front of her face and then returning where they came, "I see nothing about this! Why is this so bucking hard to figure OUT?!"

As Twilight shouted, she burst into flame. Her fur turned white hot, her mane and tail stood on end as tongues of gold fire, and her eyes turned red. This lasted for a few seconds before she cooled down, and realized that Spike was trying to get her attention. "Twilight! The Heart! It's spinning!"

Twilight turned around to look at it, "What in equestria..? Spike, go get the other princesses. Tell them what's happening."

The pain stopped. The blinding light returned, and dimmed down to normal levels. Sombra shakily got to his hooves and looked around, only to realize he was now in between Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Shining Armour, and some purple alicorn. All looking at him with anger.

Run, was the only thought that came to Sombra's mind, run or they'll kill you again. RUN!

With that, the dark unicorn bolted right past the royals in front of him. "Stop him!" He heard, followed by the hoofbeats of  more than one pony, and the sound of wings. He didn't even think to look behind him as he turned corner after corner, desperately trying to get away from the Empire, as he should have done over a thousand years ago. The purple one teleported in front of him, and he did the only thing he could think of. He cast his translocation spell to end up behind her again, before realizing he'd run into a corner. He looked up. Celestia. He looked to the left. Luna. He looked to the right. The corner. He looked behind himself. The purple one and Shining Armour. Cadence came from behind them, and Sombra's horn flashed. The red crystals emerged from the ground, forming a protective cage for Sombra in that corner.

Tears were streaming down his face as he curled up, knowing that some crystals wouldn't keep them separated from him for long, and he braced himself for the royals' strike.

The strike never came. Sombra had been just sitting there curled into a ball for nearly five minutes, and nopony had even tried to get past the crystals. He looked up to see that Celestia and Luna were having some form of whispered argument, the purple one and Cadence were talking to each other, and Shining was simply staring at him. Finally, Celestia spoke up, "Twilight. Get four members of the Royal Guard. Two unicorns and two pegasi. Shining Armour, you and those guards will watch King Sombra until we figure out what to do with him."

King Sombra... Sombra thought to himself, I had thought that title would've brought me some joy, or at least satisfaction. But I was wrong. From the start, I never really felt good about it.

If they're going to kill me, they'll be well within their rights to do so, Sombra continued to watch as the purple one bowed to Celestia and left. But what if I go back to that state? All that pain...

It didn't take long for the guards to arrive, and soon enough, the alicorns left.

"I don't want to hear it!" Celestia snapped, "He's a criminal, and needs to face justice!"

Luna stared her sister in the eyes, "He's died for his crimes! That's justice enough if you ask me."

"And yet he's alive," the sun Princess countered, "We have to keep him from harming anypony again."

"He's alive, yes," Luna responded, "And terrified. I saw nothing but fear in his eyes."

"Emotion in his eyes is completely irrelevant. He came back."

"Via the Crystal Heart! An object that operates on love, Tia!"

"It doesn't matter. He used it to hijack our power. He's nearly killed you twice now, Luna. And now he's back, and I will not risk letting him loose on the world!" Tia's words were getting more and more agitated.

"He needs a second chance!" Luna started to raise her voice.

"He doesn't deserve one!" Celestia matched it, "And I will not allow him to hurt anypony again."

"Well, you certainly didn't act that way with ME!"

Both of them recoiled upon realizing they'd both used the royal Canterlot voice, and had the worst timing about it as well. Cadence was standing there in the doorway, wide-eyed, "C-Celestia..? Luna..?"

Both of them looked away, showing a bit of shame, but Celestia was the first to speak, "I'm sorry if we scared you, Cadence. We were having a disagreement regarding Sombra's arrival."

Cadence shook her head, "I was more surprised than scared. But about Sombra.."

Luna sighed, "Celestia wants him punished for his past crimes. I feel he should be given a second chance."

Cadence looked between them, "To be honest, I agree with Luna. You gave her a second chance, after all, and that clearly wasn't a mistake. However..."

Both of her seniors looked at her, "Yes?"

"I want him out of the Crystal Empire."

Sombra woke with a start, realizing he'd fallen asleep in his 'cage.' He looked around again, finding himself somewhat more calm. He also couldn't see the guards or the prince anymore, and so he removed the crystals and started to walk away. He avoided the crystal ponies on the streets, headed for the field.

He stopped, passing a hoof across some marks on the ground, "I'm so sorry, Aurora... I let my anger take control over and I didn't even give you the proper respect." His tears fell as he crouched over the scorched spot on the field, aura lighting up once more. This time, the crystals growing were of various colors, colliding and compressing into each other. Sombra turned around and started to walk towards the border, only to find Princess Luna standing in front of him.

"Sombra," she said immediately, "Come with me."

The unicorn looked up at her shaking slightly, "What are you going to do with me?"

"Have you had a meal in the past thousand years?" Luna asked him.

Sombra's fear was quickly replaced by confusion, "What? I don't understand what this has to do with--"

"Just answer the question," Luna interrupted him, "Have you eaten?"

"Well, no..." Sombra answered softly.

"Then we'll start with that. Cadence wants you out of the Crystal Empire, but we'll get you something to eat back in Canterlot." With that, Luna turned to lead the unicorn to her carriage.

I guess I have no choice.. Sombra thought, taking one last look at the crystals he'd created. His statue of Aurora Borealis reflected the sunlight around the field.