A Darkened Heart

There's nothing quite like being surrounded by dying trees to make you feel so alive. At least that's the case if you're the one killing them.

Sombra growled in satisfaction as his magic sucked the life from the surrounding forest. Although it wasn't much, the life from the trees was enough to keep him from fading into nothingness. For now.

Before the Crystal Heart had shattered King Sombra's body and fragmented his soul, Sombra was just able to channel his essence into his horn. Although much of his power and most of his soul had remained in his body he still was able to form himself a new body from the shadows but the magic he used left his body tired and ravenous.Only through stealing life could he calm the rumblings of his new vessel for a time.

Just a temporary condition, he reminded himself. My power will return to me. Eventually the corrupted pieces of his soul would escape the shattered remains of his old body and seek him out but until then he was very weak with nothing but his knowledge and a few simple but dark spells to aid him.

Unfortunately, it couldn't return fast enough before news of his weakened condition had spread. Some foolish wanderer had seen Sombra and recognized him from the recent rumors of the Crystal Empire's return. The pathetic magician, fearing for her life, attacked the fallen king and quickly overpowered him. Although he managed to escape, the stories of the weakened pariah soon circulated through the land and soon reached the ears of almost every being in Equestria.

Sombra had soon found himself hunted by not only the Equestrian royal guard, but also by wannabee bounty hunters, novice wizards wishing to prove their mettle, and monsters that the world had long since forgotten but that had not forgot Sombra.

To Sombra's great annoyance, the first to have come seeking him for vengeance had been of a race of creatures that had once tricked travelers and caused mischief to those lost in forests until Sombra had had them systematically destroyed for interrupting his crystal mines with their pranks.

The small glowing creature, known as a pixie, had shown itself only to laugh at the "foolish jester that dared call itself a king" before changing his form to resemble said jester. When Sombra tried to shoot it out with a weak spell blast, the pixie sent up a purple light that soon expanded to show a sign that said simply HERE IS SOMBRA! COME GET HIM! in the sky. He soon found himself running from a group of guards that happened to be passing by on a nearby road.

That's how Sombra had ended up in this forest, with the colorful jester outfit torn to pieces behind him, sucking the life from the trees. Most upsetting about the situation was the loss of Sombra's regal clothing leaving him with nothing but the coarse gray hair on his back.

After his body had drank it's fill of the forest's life energy, Sombra resumed his journey to...actually Sombra didn't have a destination in mind. He knew that as long as the new Crystal Princess had the Crystal Heart, he would be unable to reclaim his kingdom but he also knew that he would have no hope in taking over another even if he was at full power. So he chose just to wander until the pieces of his soul returned to him and work from there.

Sombra soon had the feeling that he was being followed. Although he kept at a normal pace and kept his head facing forward, he was silently using his magic to scan the area for any signs of life. He soon found it in abundance overflowing from two creatures creeping along the shadows.

Sombra's black heart skipped a beat as he recognized the energy flowing from the creatures. He had felt it many a time while marveling at the Crystal Heart. Something so pure and powerful yet so insignificant and intangible. The love that seeped from the creatures was enough to make Sombra drool.

He stopped and turned around slowly to see the forms of two changelings following him close behind. The changelings stopped moving and fixed Sombra with their cold blue eyes.

"What is it you want from me stealers of love?" Sombra inquired while starting to focus some of his magic into his horn. "I have done nothing to you."

One of the changelings opened it's mouth. "You dare forget your actions against our people Sombra?" What was most unnerving about it's speech is it didn't move it's tongue nor did it's lips move to form words. The words simply came rolling out.

Sombra knew it was someone else speaking despite all logic of the situation. "Who are you?" He asked simply.

An ear shattering screech echoed from it's mouth. "YOU FORGET YOUR ACTIONS AND THEN YOU FORGET THE QUEEN OF THE CHANGELINGS? YOU WILL SUFFER SOMBRA!" With that the changeling closed it's maw and both lunged towards Sombra.

Sombra growled and quickly fired a small but powerful shot into the chest of the closest one and it dropped to the ground without a sound.

Despite using very little magical energy for that spell, it still made Sombra's head spin. It certainly didn't help when the remaining changeling crashed into his chest and send him rolling.

Sombra soon found himself on his back staring into a glowing green horn. Again the horrible voice echoed from the changelings unmoving mouth. "Die foolish king."

Sombra refused to close his eyes as the energy flew from the changelings horn. Time seemed to slow as it hurtled towards his face and still he did not blink. Mere inches from his face and he could feel the heat from blast on my face. Only when the blast stopped right in front of his nose did he blink.

The ball of energy floated there for a moment in front of his eyes before it vanished in a flash of purple. The confusion on the changeling's face echoed his own as they both puzzled the disappearance of the shot. The answer quickly came in the form of a blast of purple energy crashing into the side of the changeling sending it flailing in the air.

Unlike Sombra's shot which had been controlled and small, this blast was large, unstable and released a lot of it's initial energy on impact. Obviously the work of a novice, Sombra thought as he quickly got to his feet and looked over to see his rescuer.

He quickly felt the urge to charge at the pony standing nearby. The violet coat, the streaked purple mane, the pink star cutie mark. Although he had never seen this pony in the flesh, he had felt her through his dark door. This was the pony that had ruined everything. This was Twilight Sparkle.

Seconds crawled by in what seemed like hours to the king before the alicorn turned her attention to the unicorn that she had saved. She calmly walked up to him and smiled before asking. "Are you okay?"

Sombra's pupils dilated in pure anger and in a fit of insanity he tackled Twilight. The look of surprise on her face only increased as she ended up under the pony and she took in the expression of seething rage on his face. "EVERYTHING IS NOT OKAY YOU FOOL!" After that words seemed to fail him as his anger completely took over and he tried to bring his hoof back to swing it at her, he felt himself coated in a warm feeling before he was lifted into the air.

"Calm down!" The alicorn quickly scrambled to her hooves. "I know you're freaked out but everything is okay now. You're safe." She smiled again and Sombra felt his anger quickly become replaced with confusion.

Calm down? This is the pony who ruined everything and she expects me to calm down? Sombra seethed. Why would she try to comfort me anyways? Doesn't she recognize me?

Regardless of what Sombra thought, he did calm down enough that Twilight placed him back on the ground. "So. What are you doing out here in the Everfree Forest? This place is really dangerous to be wandering around in as you can tell." She said gesturing towards the two unconscious changelings.

"I could ask you the same thing Twilight Sparkle." He spat out the last two words like poison. If Twilight thought this weird, she didn't say.

"How do you know-never mind. Forgot that the whole kingdom knows me now. One of the weird things about being a princess I suppose." She mused. "I heard there was increased changeling activity in here recently and I wanted to see for myself. Good thing I happened along when I did." She chuckled lightly. "Well you better follow me back to Ponyville. It's dangerous out here."

Although Sombra would like nothing more than to try his hoof at attacking the princess again, he knew that without his magic it was a losing battle and she was right about the forest being dangerous. If there were more changelings about, he should leave. Although he couldn't remember quite why the changelings wanted to hurt him nor why Twilight didn't recognize him after causing his very downfall.

Despite the questions whirling around in his head, Sombra decided to accept the princess as his bodyguard/meatshield/escort and see what this Ponyville was.

And how best to destroy it.