The Rise of Shadows

Chapter 1

In the far reaches of Equestria lies the Crystal Empire, a gleaming paradise in the cold of the Frozen North. Today, the rulers of the Crystal Empire are planning quite a wonderful occasion – The Crystal Fair.

Princess Cadence looks at herself in the mirror. Today is a very special day, and it was only right that she dress properly. Cadence smiled as she applied the finishing touches to her makeover. Then, whistling came from outside the door. As it opens, Shining Armor’s head pops in.

“Cadence, honey, are you ever going to be done dressing up?” He teased, entering the room they shared together. He was dressed in his favorite shirt, the same one he had worn on his wedding.

“Aww… But Shiny, this is the first Crystal Fair we’ve had in at least thousand years.” Cadence coos. “And besides, I’m done dressing up.” She adds, slipping her tiara on.

The two lovebirds makes their way to the throne room, where there is a door to the balcony. Shining tries to open the door, but it is locked. He tries again, with a little more force. Cadence helps, trying to open the door with her magic.

“My, my” A deep voice says, coming from everywhere around them. Cadence takes a step back. She remembers that voice, and she could only label it as Sombra. “it seems you two are stuck in the throne room.” Ha said, his sadistic personality sounding.

“Sombra! What are you doing in The Crystal Empire?!” Shining yells at the walls, jumping in front of Cadence.

“Why, I’m getting my throne back, of course. What else would I be doing here?” Sombra replies. Dark magic seeps from the walls, making him a body. More magic comes, but it is the Crystal Heart’s magic, trying to fight Sombra. The dark magic pulses, deflecting the Crystal Heart’s magic.

The dark magic finishes, condensing into Sombra.

“Sombra, go away! My sister can destroy you once, she can do it again!” Shining yells at Sombra. Sombra didn’t reply, but he had a sadistic light in his eyes. He charges his horn, directing the spell at the two lovebirds in front of him. A blast of dark magic, and they were stone.

Sombra laughs evilly, as he walks to the balcony and opened the locked door. As soon as he enters, he hears many gasps of terror from the crystal ponies. “Bow down before your king!” Sombra booms.

In unison, the Crystal Ponies falls to their hooves. It was the one order they dreaded, but they did it anyway.

Some miles away from the border of the Crystal Empire, three griffins fly towards it. The one in the middle is a griffin prince, Lightwing. He was albino, with the exception of his head, being white. His two bodyguards are Garrow and Gallu. Lightwing looks forward to visiting The Crystal Empire, where his old friend Shining Armor lives.

Soon after the Crystal Heart was returned, Lightwing was sent a letter by Shining Armor. It describes the details of how the Crystal Heart was saved and bears an invitation to the Crystal Empire.

The following weeks, Shining repeatedly sent letters about life there, since Lightwing was so interested. Now, Lightwing finally gets a chance to visit Shining, as that his father, King Lucient, is on a diplomatic trip to Equestria.

Lightwing gasps as he sees the scenery in front of him. The houses were crystal, but twisted and dark. Below him, instead of happy and extravagant ponies, all he can see are dull, lifeless and sad ponies. He gasps again as he flies lower and sees the chains on the ponies’ hooves.

“Sire, are you sure this is a good idea?” Garrow asks Lightwing as they land on a courtyard.

“Well, of course not.” Sombra says as he materializes from the darkness, flanked by two grey ponies in crystallite armor. “After all, when is visiting evil ponies a good idea?” Sombra sneered.

The two soldiers charged, yelling a battle cry that sounds more like a dragon’s roar. “Griffins, meet my crystal soldiers.” Sombra stated as he turns around and leaves the area.

Gallu rushes towards the first crystal soldier, a unicorn. She slashes the unicorn with her talons. The blow connected cleanly, but the unicorn wasn’t effected at all. The unicorn hits Gallu with his hooves, making Gallu stumble backwards. The unicorn jumps, achieving more height than normally posssible. He throws a beam at Gallu, hitting her in the jaw.

Meanwhile, the other soldier, a pegasus, had his hooves full with Garrow.

“Sire, you must escape!” Garrow yelled, while narrowly missing the pegasus’ hoof.

“No! I will stay here and fight!” Lightwing yells.

“Sire, the ponies are our last hope, if what Shining Armor says is true.” Gallu said.

That was enough to convince Lightwing to fly away. After he gained some distance, he managed to gather the courage to look down. Blood was all over the place. Feeling sick, Lightwing forges ahead.