Psycho Pony Killer

I remember it all as though it were only yesterday... The injustice wrought upon that colt; the great king who was stripped of everything and imprisoned for an eternity by my sister. The missing truths in these revised history lessons, the heartache I still feel for him.

Celestia and I had only been ruling side by side for a little while by this point, but we had already attained a couple of fairly large towns inhabited by trusting, loyal ponies. It was a bright sunny day when that pony came to us in need; it had always seemed odd to me, the urgency in which they spoke, the danger and chaos happening in someplace called The Crystal Empire. Celestia and I hadn't had to deal with very many problems to be honest, just small matters like knowing where to set up a village and raising/lowering the sun and moon for our little ponies. There had only been the one incident where we made a huge difference and that was when we came across the first town around here, discovering Him. Discord was ruler here at the time but a few, grueling epic fights and we had managed to imprison him in stone and took over as the new kind and caring rulers.

But I digress as I seem to be getting sidetracked. This isn't the tale of how we defeated Discord and became Equestria's princesses, but rather a sad and true memory of what I found when I went out to The Crystal Empire to scout it out. This was unknown territory, a neighboring kingdom ruled by a colt named Sombra and we had never set hoof in his domain. I was in charge of memorizing every twist and turn of the large crystal kingdom and gathering any information I could without blowing my cover. As it turned out however, I did not care. When I found King Sombra I did not stay in the shadows as I should, but rather, I got right in his face and shook him by the shoulders.

I had gathered enough information to be certain he was not who my sister and I were after, rather he was the father of the true evil here. However, I shook him just the same because you never know what is and isn't true, and perhaps he still played a darker part in all of this as Celestia had thought?

"Are you done?" He asked me, an eyebrow raised in surprise and amusement. I cast him a quizzical look and asked what his part was in all this, blowing my cover further (or completely) by explaining why I was there and what my sister and I hoped to accomplish. "Ah," he said after some time, playing with his words. "So you are here for me then. Just not...me."

This just led to even more confusion, which was frustrating because princesses aren't known for being patient mares. I bore with him though as he told me of his twin of sorts. Of his sentient shadow who now walked amongst the living, taking his life out from under him and leaving all of the atrocities for him to take the blame. He told me of a night of horror; one he could never forget.

Our meeting was short lived however as one of his still loyal subjects had need of him elsewhere. That wasn't the last time I saw him though, and perhaps I should have been looking into this shadow thing of which he spoke, but I was young and ignored my immediate duties because something stronger was calling me. My heart, and not only mine, but his as well. As the days passed we hardly parted as well fell for one another into a forbidden love. The supposedly evil king I was tasked with dethroning turned into the caring colt I could barely stand to be away from, but I knew there was a limit on our time as my days with him turned to weeks at much too fast a rate...

It had crossed my mind only once in the very beginning hat he might be lying to me, that is was all false and he truly was an evil king, but I had placed my faith in him, trusting him fully. Also, there were two occasions during my stay in The Crystal Empire I had come face to face with the shadow, that dark and devious colt born from the embers that had once been Sombra's anger and hatred. He still had the dark flames inside but after the shadow had been birthed he had found it easier to control. It really wasn't the guy's fault though, he had never been angry a day in his life...until he came across something in his research at the library.

Both times I had had to battle the fiend they were close calls. The shadow was no pushover by any means and his power was growing with each passing day as he fed off of the crystal ponies' fears and rage. He was just too powerful to defeat alone and the shadow knew better than to show his face around the real Sombra. They have fought before and they were evenly matched, and while the shadow is surely the stronger of the two now that he has everypony's fears and hate fueling him, he is also clever and knew quite well when something was risky. The shadow hated taking risks, because taking risks meant he might fail and that would put a stop to all his fun.

The time had finally come to depart though. A part of me inwardly seethed as I got a letter from Celestia telling me to return. How could I go back now? I couldn't stand leaving Sombra and I hated leaving him to defend his kingdom all by himself. It was a battle he could not win, not on his own. Begrudgingly, I said my farewells and left at dawn, making my way back to the castle where Celestia waited for my arrival.